Less heat

Here in our town, we've had a record-breaking heatwave for over a week, highly unusual. Our entire province has been subject to the same phenomenon. As a result, there have been a number of serious fires caused, and new ones started by, sad to say, careless people and also thunderstorms. We had a spectacular storm here a few days ago. Our son took some great pictures. After that storm, the sunset was an eerie orange-red (picture taken through living room window). I suppose that the cause was the smoke from the various wildfires, even though those are some distance away from our city.





The heatwave here made all of us look for ways to cool down (temperatures reached 38 degrees Celsius - about 100 degrees Fahrenheit). The night temperatures stayed at what are normally our summer daytime values - so cooling fans were in great demand. As usual, kids are inventive, and our younger granddaughter and a friend made use of the garden sprinkler hose to get cool.







The ravens, which are numerous in our area, were also "taking baths". One took advantage of the birdbath in our back yard. I admire these clever and inventive birds. When they look at you, the intelligence in their eyes is obvious. Who knows, if we manage to wipe ourselves out, maybe they'll become the dominant species?





Today, temperatures have moderated, and we're very happy to sit outside to enjoy another beautiful day and evening.

Past glory

There is a lot of interest and comment today regarding the exact day, 40 years ago, on which humans first set foot on the Moon. To me, this is a bittersweet memory. The sweet part relates to the fact that our son, whose birth had occurred three weeks before, was having his mother's milk while we were watching the landing on TV. At the time I wondered whether he would grow up to be one of many future space travellers who would naturally go to space, with an ease similar to travel by airplane. In my mind, the image of Neil Armstrong stepping onto the Moon's surface will forever be linked with those memories.

The bitter part of that memory is that mankind's ability even just to repeat that forty-year-old feat has withered on the vine. We are reduced to admiring achievements which occurred four decades ago, and treat them as though they are today's. No one is in a position to place a human on the Moon now, both for technical and financial reasons. It is sad to think that much of the talent and money which could have furthered our progress in space was instead directed toward, and wasted on, conducting useless wars and persuing infinite greed.

I find it a hopeful sign that a return to the Moon, and also an expedition to Mars are seriously being contemplated. Maybe our son's daughters will one day go into space. I wonder whether I'll be around to see it?

Musical Telescopes

This past Sunday, the Vancouver Symphony put on a concert at Deer Lake park here in Burnaby. This is a casual affair for the listeners (there is no cost), and everyone is free to bring their own lunch, chairs, etc. It's a "picnic atmosphere". For the occasion, food vendors, and others interested in making the public aware of what's going on in the community, are set up as well. Among the latter, the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, of which I'm a member, showed telescopes, handed out brochures and other astronomy related publications. We would have pointed the telescopes at stars and other interesting objects in the sky, had it not been cloudy. As it was, we picked some distant targets to show what telescopes can do, and how they work. Here are some pictures:

The orchestra playing











The audience











People at the telescopes




Looking through the C-8

Pseudo vacation

Over the last few weeks, at various times, we've had visitors from both Mexico and Germany. Since the weather here has been great during the last six weeks or so, we decided to show our guests around. We went to the various Vancouver showpieces, and also included a trip to Whistler.

At Whistler we spent a day which included taking a ride on the new Peak2Peak gondola. This is a great experience, and I recommend it to anyone not afraid of heights. We went all the way to near the top of Blackcomb mountain ('seventh heaven') which gave us a great view of the snow-covered mountain peaks for 100km around. The viewpoint is located above the Horstman Glacier; we had a birds-eye view of the skiers and snowboarders who were displaying their talents.

Last weekend, Derek had his 40th birthday bar-b-q at home, attended by about one hundred of his friends, and our family and friends as well. Lots of food was consumed. The next day we took part in an open house at Derek's friend and former IHR partner Paul Garay's house in Maple Ridge - again with lots of food.

The last two weeks have therefore been filled with many social activities for my wife and me. Every now and then, though, I had to do things related to my business, but since the universities and colleges are running on summer hours right now, I wasn't too busy.

So this episode has been like an unplanned break - a "pseudo vacation" .

Update: Here are a few pictures from the Whistler excursion:

(click on any frame)

Pictures by K. Pelk

Ferries

Yesterday, I had some business in Victoria; So my wife and I took the ferry from Tsawwassen (Vancouver) to Swartz Bay (Victoria). For the trip to Victoria, we caught one of the Spirit class of ferries. We had a buffet breakfast on board (all you can eat, about $17.00 per person). You get a nice window table, if get there early enough.


"Spirit class" (BC Ferries' web page)

These vessels are 11,700 ton ships, built about 16 years ago, can carry over 400 cars at a time, and were the "stars" of the BC ferry fleet on the Vancouver-Victoria run until the arrival of the Super-C ferries within the last year, or so. They are capable ships, and are an important part of BC's transportation system.


Since we hadn't been on one the new ships yet, we arranged to return on the "Coastal Celebration", one of the three new Super-C class ferries. These are somewhat smaller than the "Spirit" vessels (10,100 tons - about 370 cars at a time). The major difference is that they are "double-ended", so they head straight into and out of their docking berths. By way of contrast, the Spirit ships need to turn around before they dock (Swartz Bay) or after they leave(Tsawwassen) the dock.



Super-C class (from BC Ferries' web page)

In other respects, the new ships have perhaps slightly more comfort and convenience in the on-board services, but they don't differ substantially from the older ships in that regard. A ferry trip to Vancouver Island always feel like a "mini-cruise" to us - the beautiful scenery through which BC Ferries' ships sail makes this a "word-class" experience, in our opinion. If you intend to visit Vancouver Island, this is a nice way to go.

Progress

37 years have elapsed since a human being last set foot on the Moon. Had the story continued as many space science pundits predicted at the time, we would have had space colonies there by now, and would be making ready for a manned expedition to Mars. As it has turned out, the political will (and that is what it was to begin with - a political exercise to 'win the race to the Moon' against the Russians) to do that disappeared after the US succeeded spectacularly. Right now there is no nation which has the capability to place humans on the Moon (including the USA).

Lately, there has been a concerted effort to "restart" a (continuous) human presence on the Moon, this time with the USA as only one of the "contenders". Some others are China, Japan, India, and the Europeans, all of whom seem to be at various stages of "fleshing out" the idea. The severe constraints to spending money in this field imposed on the USA by its immense deficits may mean that one of the other nations involved will be the next to land a human being on the Moon.

A continued human presence on the Moon requires the availability of "local" raw materials (the most important being water in either frozen or liquid form). Notwithstanding the comparative proximity of the Moon to Earth, in some respect we know less about the presence of water on the Moon than on the planet Mars. The robotic landers and orbiting satellites which are currently exploring Mars have given us very good evidence that water is present there in sufficient quantities to make human habitation possible.

A first step towards an expedition to Mars (a return trip would take several years) would involve learning about the details of maintaining human life on an extraterrestrial body; the Moon is the closest and most easily reached. There are many ideas about such an endeavour (an example: http://www.geoffreylandis.com/pole.html). It is important to have the necessary resources wherever humans may find themselves. To that end, the US is preparing to send some orbiters back to the Moon to explore specific areas - particularly the north and south poles where there are some spots which have eternal sunlight (for energy to supply a human settlement), and perpetual shadow (for possible water ice). For all the lunar observations which have taken place over the past four centuries or so, both from Earth and by lunar rovers, humans on the Moon, and samples brought back from there, we know little about what may be found at the lunar poles.

Another of the concerns to be addressed in any extraterrestrial human undertaking is how to deal with illness. While we are far from knowing all the answers, I feel that medical science here on Earth has made tremendous strides since the time of the Moon landings. As an example, our son's fight with cancer is certainly helped by the availability of drugs which did not exist at that time (as his parents, of the greatest importance to us). This is one area where progress has been greater than predicted.

I have a hope that I'll see more Moon landings in my lifetime, and, with luck, even a landing on Mars. Personally, the closest I can come to a "landing" is to look through my telescopes, and to use the internet links which keep me up-to-date in that regard.

Mutations

Yesterday, my wife and I stopped by Granville Island for lunch, and to pick up some fruit and vegetables at the Granville Island Market. The little over 1 pound of cherries we bought came prepackaged in a cardboard box (the proprietor emptied them into a plastic bag after we had purchased them).

Today, we had some of them as a snack. About 20% of them exhibited some marked deviations from the norm. Several had some "outgrowths"; some of those suggested another cherry (an identical twin, if you like) which did not develop properly. A couple of them were actual twins, and the weirdest one had some hairy growth breaking through its skin (see picture at left, below). I broke open the one with the hairy outgrowth (see picture at right). It looks to me as though there may have been a new cherry tree in the making - perhaps the cherry was germinating while still on the tree. Any ideas?

The old and the new

The other day, CBC radio aired an episode about things old and new. The theme concerned typewriter keyboards, and other older technology. The question in the background was why some of the old technologies have survived and been incorporated into the latest technologies, and why some people stick with the older technologies (I'm one of those).

For example, the sound equipment in our home is decades old. The radio show (Spark) mentioned and interviewed a number of people who have the same philosophy as I, namely: if it ain't broke, don't fix it (or throw it away). As far as I'm concerned, use this older equipment, take reasonable care of it, and it'll serve you for many years. This goes for our cars, television sets, computers, kitchen utensils and equipment, and generally for all those things which are subject to the exhortations of the people who want to sell you new stuff.

That's not to say that I'm against the new technologies. We own digital cameras, a flat-screen computer display, an MP3 player, etc. I also own a computer-driven telescope which has been updated from its original state - I bought the telescope itself about 32 years ago at which time computer control of amateur telescopes was extremely rare. In the 1980's I wrote a computer program for an Apple II, as well as constructed the necessary mechanical additions for the telescope to make this telescope obey computer navigational commands. I have now replaced all that with up-to-date hardware and software. This is to show that I like new technology too, I'm certainly no Luddite. I definitely wouldn't be running my business if new technology was my "enemy".

This weekend, my wife organized a family dinner (for my 70th birthday - we usually have around 20 people on occasions like this), and even though we asked for no presents, I received some very nice ones. Derek, being the technical "geek" in our family, presented me with a portable GPS car display (a Tomtom ONE), with which I have played around for the last couple of days. Today my wife and I went for a walk in the neighbourhood, and I took it along. It's amazing how well that unit showed our position in real time all along the way. Being into astronomy, electronics, and computers, I well know the amazing underlying technologies that make this possible. I'm very pleased with this unit and will likely use it for many years to come.

So. I'll adopt any new technology which I consider useful, but I'll certainly not buy anything that is intended to replace those things that work well and whose replacement would result in little improvement. I really don't care about what's fashionable - for me it's what's practical.

Mother's Day

The years go by in a hurry when you're our age.

Yesterday our granddaughters lived up to family tradition and made some "Mother's Day" bread for their Mom. The breadmaking session was all part of my wife's making a large loaf for the granddaughters' piano recital which took place today.

At that recital, our older granddaughter played a moving interpretation of the "Moonlight Sonata", the younger one played a wonderful rendition of "the Lion sleeps tonight"; she also sang a medley of Beatle tunes. Both of them teamed up to sing a duet towards the end of that medley. Each has a beautiful voice (no bias here!) - we're proud grandparents.

Time goes by.

Since it was Mother's Day, the many mothers who go through a lot of effort to make it possible for the music students to attend the Crowe Music Studio were given their due recognition - as was Ms. Crowe (the teacher, mentor, confidante) herself. All her family was in attendance; they handed her a nice flower bouquet. It was nice to see them all. We've come to know Ms. Crowe as a wonderful and accomplished music teacher (she's also an examiner for the Royal Conservatory of Music) - and it showed in the calibre of the students' recitals. There is also another connection: Ms. Crowe and I both have German roots. When I drop off our granddaughters for their lessons, we occasionally converse in that language - to the apparent wonderment of most of the students attending her studio at the time.

Here are some pictures:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mimiandpapa/sets/72157617884534175/

Astronomy Day May 2, 2009

The Royal Astronomical Society of Canada (RASC), along with many other like-minded groups is "observing" Astronomy Day with a host of activities for all ages and involving many space-related topics. Here in the Vancouver area, telescopes, talks, and exhibits will be set up at the "Gordon Southam Observatory" (GSO), next to the Planetarium in Kitsilano. Here are a couple of links to further information:

http://astronomy.meetup.com/131/calendar/9744297/
http://rasc-vancouver.com/

The event will take place rain or shine. If weather permits, you can view the Moon, the planet Saturn, and other interesting astronomical objects through various telescopes.

The event is free to anyone.

Have an educational time!

A few travel notes

As mentioned in my last post, we've spent some time with friends in California, and travelled there by car. We returned yesterday, taking four days to come back, and driving along some of the roads less travelled.





While the American interstate highway system goes through some magnificent scenery (the view at left is of Mount Shasta), the smaller roads offer some wonderful, sometimes unexpected views of nature as well.


As an example, we stayed in Calistoga, a small city in the Napa Valley of California (this area is known as one of the top wine-producing areas in the world). The hotel was a beautifully restored place, reminiscent of high-class hotels of about 100 years ago, mixing "Art-deco" and "American-West" styled rooms with present-day wireless internet access, DVD players, and TV in every room.

On our way out, just outside of town, we stopped at a place featuring the smaller sibling of "Old Faithful" (in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming), also called "Old Faithful", seen at left. This geyser erupts every ten minutes or so. Each eruption is preceded by about a minute of bubbling, gurgling sound, not unlike that of our electric coffee maker at home. The geyser is located on private land, so we had to pay some admission ($6 each); we considered it well worth the experience. Since we had arrived early, we were the only visitors and could look at the geyser, the museum and videos at leisure and without interfering with anyone.



During our travels, the other amazing thing to consider was the fact that all the roads on which we travelled were either blacktopped, or concrete-covered. The picture shows the road through a part of California's famous Redwood Forest. If you consider the immense road system in the USA alone, how much does this represent in natural resources and evironmental alteration? How could the majority of people learn to appreciate these natural wonders without such cost?






Our vacation ended on a beautiful and romantic note. We headed to Cannon Beach (Derek's family's favourite vacation spot), on the Oregon Coast, for our last evening "on the road". It happened to be the day of our 44th wedding anniversary. Accommodation was in a beachside hotel room with balcony, looking west over the Pacific Ocean. With a bottle of red Oregon wine, and a couple of piccolos of champagne, we had a nice, sunset French "Dinner" on the balcony (consisting of French bread, some cheeses and sausage, rather more like an elaborate picnic). This was a fitting end to a trip which included the reunion with many good friends and good times with them.

Southern California?

We have spent the last week here in San Diego visiting close friends. The occasion was a birthday get-together with some of the members of our "travel group" (we meet in various places at unspecified times). This time, my wife and I travelled here by car. On the way, we hit a lot of "unCalifornian" weather - strong winds and rain. It DOES rain in Southern California, notwithstanding the hit song of three decades ago. Fortunately, the days on which the birthday festivities took place, and on the day of the Easter Sunday brunch, the sun was shining and the temperature was more like what you'd expect. Today, it's cold and windy again, and it just rained for a few minutes. Feels more like home.

All this pales in comparison to better news. Derek's latest CT scan shows that his cancer has been stable over the last two months - as his parents that means more to us than anything.

Halo

This afternoon, I was sitting in the back yard, soaking up some sun. The sky was somewhat hazy. Momentarily glancing at the sky in the direction of the Sun (with my eyes shielded against it), I noticed a faint halo around the Sun. Here is the image, taken with a Canon Rebel Xt, 18-200mm Sigma zoom lens at 18mm, ISO 100, f22, 1/1000th sec exposure.

According to Wikipedia, a halo is an optical phenomenon that appears near or around the Sun or Moon, and sometimes near other strong light sources such as street lights. There are many types of optical halos, but they are mostly caused by ice crystals in cold cirrus clouds located high (5–10 km, or 3–6 miles) in the upper troposphere. The particular shape and orientation of the crystals is responsible for the type of halo observed. Light is reflected and refracted by the ice crystals and may split up into colors because of dispersion, similarly to the rainbow.