Space Phone Tag

          With the recent discovery of the very Earth like planet, Kepler 22b, we could soon be playing a game of space phone tag. Since the beginning of the 20th century, we have relentlessly been beaming radio waves into the depths of space. Traveling at the speed of light, they should be about 1/6 of the way to Kepler 22b (roughly 600 light years away).

          Now now, I know, that means there has to be some type of life on Kepler, never mind an advanced civilization capable of receiving our existence commercials. Regardless, it still stands that the chances of opening communication with potential E.T.'s is expanding everyday.

          The question is, if and when a civilization hears us, will we humans still be here to answer back?

http://www.seti.org/

Finding Nemo No More

          One of the best animated stories we have today, may soon be based on fiction. That's because a large percentage of the character based species in "Finding Nemo" are dying off, threatened by extinction. The sad story of it all is not that this is an isolated event, but a snapshot of a dying film, in which we are all the director, and main actors in.

          Like most cases of human thought, out of sight out of mind. The ocean, being 3/4 of the Earth's surface, can hide many things from our eyes. However, when a floating plastic island, spanning thousands of square kilometres exists in our Pacific ocean, it becomes hard to accept that it is out of sight, out of mind. Simply, it is not our problem, I don't live along the coast, that's not my bottle cap.

          We are all in this together. One person, along with a billion others, can bring drastic, positive change. Canadians are contributing to this immense problem, and we must accept this, and act upon it. Demand changes in political policy towards the Environment.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/14/finding-nemo-species-thre_n_1148160.html?ncid=edlinkusaolp00000003

Niqab No More

          Canada has just banned the wearing of conservative muslim niqabss and burqa's while swearing citizenship. The reasoning is derived from politicians and citizenship judges feeling that it is hard to witness ones swearing of the oath when cloaked behind a veil.

          The decision is a political, cultural and moral tug of war, with one side for religious freedoms and tradition, and the other for authenticity and tradition of swearing the Canadian Citizenship Oath. Now, I have never sworn our oath, nor even witnessed one doing so, but I would like to imagine that both parties could compromise without having to create laws and offenses. Surely a judge could listen to one oath at a time, for if they are concerned about the authenticity of the oath, it should not be done as a group, but rather as individuals anyway. As I am sure any legitimate person wishing to become a Canadian citizen, could spare a few extra minutes to personally swear oath, where any judge or politician can clearly hear that person, and only that person swearing allegiance.

          This should not have came down to creating laws and regulations, rather simple communication between both parties, along with some oh so constructive thinking, would have resolved this issue without making it a potentially political hot potato.

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/americas/2011/12/201112135531620401.html

Fossil of The Year Award: Canada!

          Well, we are the winners! Of the Fossil of The Year Award that is, as Canada has continued to show disregard for environmental concern and action. We are 23% higher in emissions then what we sought to be when signing the original Kyoto Accord. Environmental minister Kent argued we should not continue in an agreement that is unrealistic.

          Okay, we understand that, obviously we cannot reach those goals right now, so as Canadians you are speaking on behalf of us when you say "well we can't, so we're out of here, good-bye and good luck!" No, as Canadians we accept we failed, and make it our Goal to learn, improve and become leaders. We should not have kept silent during the Durban talks, instead voice that we will, not should, but will do better.

          We are well aware that by trying to delegate discussions at the conference would look very hypocritical, because it is! Regardless, we deserve the criticism that is due, and we need to hear it. Sometimes we need that fire light up under our assess to get into gear.

          Let the World know that our Government did not show Canada's true face, that we are going to make changes, we are going to be better, that we are Canadian and will show you all we are the damn best at what we do, and that is being Environmentally friendly and conscious!

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/12/13/us-kyoto-withdrawal-idUSTRE7BB1X420111213

Kyoto 2.0 Cut Short

          With the talks in Durban, South Africa winding up, the nations of the world are walking out with their heads held high, a sense of job done. With nothing more then being far from the truth, we again fall witness to these hollow acts. The nations struggle to agree on what provisions are applicable, what is and what's not 'legally binding' and when to start it all. Though it is good to know that the nations of the world's smartest men and women can agree on some things, it still is only talk.

          The reason why these talks are so hollow, is because the voices behind those elected officials, are not speaking loud enough. In Canada, we have not demanded enough from our politicians to take the Environment into more consideration.

          We will only begin to see actual progress towards the Environment, when we all show it is a priority. So how can you help?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/11/climate-talks-avert-failure_n_1141856.html?ncid=edlinkusaolp00000003

(Nic Bothma/EPA)

• Write a letter to your MP about something locally, provincially, or internationally that you feel needs attention.
• Home renovations for energy efficient appliances
• Start walking more, cycling or carpool 
• Get used to having the thermostat 1 degree cooler
• By local Food and products

Through the political tear gas

          Quiet ironic, but certainly not unexpected, we saw this week Hilary Clinton expressing the need for political demonstrations in Russia to occur, all the while in the States, severe violations of constitutional rights are being violated. Like the political power pendulum swaying back and forth, it is America's opportunity to turn the light on the 'Enemy'.

          Earlier this week, Fox news, I kid you not, aired a segment on the developing Russian protests, depicting chaos, violence and civil disobedience. However they forgot to edit out the clip that showed a sign in the background, which in Greek translate to 'Greek Central Bank'. Now quite obvious, Fox was fabricating their news to pull attention away from the chaos on their own streets, and put the attention somewhere far from home.

          Now, it is not only American entities trying to sway the attention away, reports have surfaced that Pro-Russian government 'botnets' were used to generate artificial chatter on Twitter to hide the discussions of the protests. These 'botnets', which operate anonymously on hijacked computers, can tweet scripted pro-government statements, which would dilute the true discussions around election fraud.

          Fox News Clip

          Russian Botnet on Twitter

The God Particle

          From the astronomically large, to the ever so miniscule small. We search for answers at every level, and with that comes the anticipated "God Particle" or Higgs Boson; the matter in which gravity is thought to originate from. A science fiction like machine, the Large Hadron Collider has produced some remarkable findings, from the still unconfirmed speeding fines of particles (matter traveling faster then a beam of light in a vacuum, which is not allowed in Einsteins theory of relativity) to potentially finding the God Particle.

          We are standing at the edge of discovery, looking out upon a vast frontier of knowledge...

http://www.latimes.com/news/science/la-sci-higgs-boson-search-20111209,0,311628.story

(Michael Hoch, CERN / December 9, 2011)

Eyes in the Sky

          Here's an exciting new addition to humans eyes to the sky! We have all been amazed by the images produced by Hubble, and now the next generation has arrived. This satellite, in coordination with ground telescopes on earth, can now take images with 10,000 times greater resolution than Hubble. Perhaps we will begin to peer upon Kepler 22b, the new planet discovered this year, with very similar Earth like characteristics.

The ever growing frontier...

http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/shortsharpscience/2011/12/biggest-telescope-starts-obser.html

(Lavochkin Association)