An Intro to Canadian Arctic Border Disputes and Unclaimed Sovereignty Rights

Arctic Sovereignty Demonstrations:

Canadian & Russian Planes Soar Overhead During Harper Arctic Tour

I have done some study on 'the arctic problem' over the last year, and while I am by no means any form of expect, as an ever astute autodidact, I have indeed made some measure of hobby from the internet resources on the topic. Including cartographic and historical studies utilizing some of the most advanced research technology available in the public(ish) sphere.

Tonight there was another confrontational although non-combative launch of aircraft from both the Canadian and Russian air forces. The Russian economy is also wasting no time with its efforts to exploit relations with Europe which are made more expedient through the global-warming phenomenon of receding ice-sheets along the mythical north-east passage [http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_asiapacific/view/1076993/1/.html].

Regarding the air scrambles, I would assume Russia is doing routine patrols along their cargo routes and other assets, but it is highly possible that there are misleading readings coming to both sides because of electromagnetic interference caused by aural-electrical events in the region. It is imperative that the Arctic should be immediately declared a 'no weapons zone' stretching hundreds of miles from the north pole, outward towards the nations preexisting 200km maritime borders. Without this sort of gesture of trust it is highly likely that the American-inspired Canadian forces will make a preemptive or super-aggressive defensive maneuver. Of course the same possibility exists of the Russian stations one would suppose. There are indeed a great number of natural treasures in the north, but the further accumulation of material treasures is really not at issue in the modern world. There might indeed be vast untapped petrol resources, but is that something that we NEED to pursue with the same urgency as a concern for the very sources of the supposed good fortune of receding ice sheets ? My central argument here is that the arctic, in fact, is unclaimed in any sort of multilaterally endorsed way. For many, many years the area was considered desolate and too mysterious to really be taken very seriously at any rate (except for the affections of a few like Mowat).

Because the legal and logistical and scientific problems are all quite new to the human experience, I think it is justly deserving of new mechanisms for resolution. Much like with the laws which internationally prohibit the weaponization of space; if we do not adhere to these idealistic principals we risk dooming the future generations to unending strife through the servitude to superior powers who have the ability to conduct wars without end as humanity spreads across the solar system. Our alternative is to take the lessons of past armed conflicts seriously, not to disregard the most hopeful wishes of our elders and veterans. today it is very common to consider a world full of war and the great potential for mass destruction which exists in the world (as we are reminded every day through food recalls and reports of wars and rumors of wars) but at the end of the day I am certain it is a great affront to the generations that believed they were already engaged in the decisive and somewhat mythically inspired battles for good and evil. If these were not the perceptions involved in the foundational ideology of WW2 it is not likely the citizens would have participated.

Now in the modern era we are prepared to immediately engage each other in nearly open warfare in order to protect our supposed claims to nothing more than mineral or otherwise physical resource. I feel strongly that there should be several immediate actions undertaken by the united nations on the matter. The arctic council should be called in for a special preparatory session where the issues outlined in this article (among others of course) might be formally addressed in a public and important way. If the resources in the arctic are so valuable and the importance of securing or enforcing supposed lines of division is worth a mans life, shouldn't he at least be confident that this is completely necessary, that the other elements involved are hostile and that a threat exists beyond the prospect of a two mile flight-plan miscalculation or magnetic storm interference.

On the other hand with the teaming up of Russia with Iran to produce nuclear energy the world does indeed always feel a little less certain these days. It would appear we are on the verge of some sort of changes, yet it also appears that some sort is about due by now. I just hope it is positive. On late night radio I heard a good quote one time by a fellow who asked "what do you think the future will be more like, star trek or madmax" ... one person I asked this question to told me 'both'.

Irregardless, this whole blog is mostly a plug for my YouTube videos, attached. the provide background on some of the resources and legal situations involved, but there is more and more cropping up in the news about it all the time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNTQGPxv9-Q

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gNZfpN25lU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkrOeSsR8dw

An Age of Private Space has begun... just as another ended

private space. for many a long year this had only one meaning to us humble creatures. the little bubble we liked, the place we could talk to friends about anything we wanted. safety, security, privacy - perhaps even the very nature of individual and personal identity. As time has worn on and language and sciences have evolved, Private Space now means commercialized orbital and exoplanetary technology and related processes. SPACEX launched their first serious orbital test flight in the recent past and now the floodgates are open... errr, sort of.

In 2004 VIRGIN GALACTIC won the ansari X prize as the first private outfit to successfully launch humans into LEO and return them safely to earth. Since this glorious, sunny day the private space business has gone into 'eyes only, at the right time' mode real fast. We have hardly heard a peep from SC/Virgin crew for nearly 10 years. We dont expect too much in the next 12 or 24 months from the current media and official positioning of both the company and the governement.

Nevertheless the Obama space budget is something to consider. When the shuttle (sadly) retires in a few months America will be looking hard at available alternatives. Now I dont want to rain on Mr. Musks parade, he was a gem in Ironman2, I think he should leave the human element to a company that can afford to focus on providing the comfortable and luxurious accoutrement that travellers preferr. I have seen clips of the dragon module, and while efficent, it has NOTHING on the VIRGIN clips of their LEO vehicle. Virgin has long experience in Arilines and luxury safari, etc, Mr. Musk should try to focus on and provide what is really needed, a revolution in heavy-lift vehicles.

VIRGIN GALACTIC = human cargo

SPACEX = heavy cargo

I think this should be the basic plan for the first few years. Obviously as the technology grows and competetion for efficency and profits intensifies these monopolistic endeavours will have to subside, but it would still be wise for virgin to try to be the 'big boys' (airliners) and leave the personal units (one or two man spacecraft) to independent enterprise.

Al this aside we are definately looking at the serious dawn of a unified planetary system. The space stations and craft all need to be able to maintain stable communications around the globe at all times. Personal identification and location need to be easily accessible in order to approve and tract extra-planetary travellers and craft (space pirates are always a danger). so we see that there is some real relationship we do not yet understand between exoplanetary activities and one world government and a surrender of certain liberties... but then most of those liberties are already being stripped away day by day with no remuneration for the people, no invitation to a new frontier and new opportunities.

As our species sets about the business of exploring and 'conquering' the solar system, the question aptly becomes; what will happen to our sacred private space? Will it be sequestered away in memory and future illegalities ? Who will be the Fred Rogers of future advocates on behalf of our right to own our very lives and thoughts, to choose our own paths, do be free. Never mind shady beta-max copies of other peoples ideas in VHS that no one even looks at anymore.

Is information free ? Is space open ? Who owns planets we have not visited yet ? If I get there first, do I own it ? If I do, I will make it my private space. ;)

Ernst Zundel as popular as saving the Earth

I (we) recently attended Earth Hour in my town. It was a rather comparable event. Of course if you were to ask any of the 30,000 dough-heads around here if saving the earth is more important than getting wasted this weekend, they would invariably answer yes. Ask those same 30,000 to show up for an hour, walk a few blocks and hold a candle - and you see (or hear them drunkenly shout) their support from the sidelines at best.

I had to review this mans material as a part of my studies in preparation of university law, and I was utterly shocked at what I read. In my work I had to consider three cases; Keegstra, Andrews and Zundel.

The first two were unrepentant neo-nazis, foisting their views of 'jew-hating' onto either immature or otherwise undesirable intellects. It is not proper in any estimation to force certain political views which incite the hatred or degradation of any racial or ethnic class, this should go without saying. Thusly the first two are obviously culpible in a criminal offence... but as I began to review the works (and trials) of Mr. Zundle (an incomplete review I might add here [mostly due to its volumnous content) I was shocked. This man was never charged with hate crimes, mostly it seems he was charged with the dissemination of 'untrue messages', specificallly related to the question of wether 6 million people really died from gaseous executions at internment camps sanctioned and operated by the federal governemnt of Nazi germany and its legitimate (as in established and documented) policy programs.

Now obviously we are not likely to find a note to the effect:

Dear Fellow Nazis,

Please execute all joos in gas chambers.

In Loyalty to the Fatherland,

Your Loving Furher,

A

But some would argue that for such a sweeping campaign to have been enforcable it would have had to have been officially sanctioned, authorized and documented at some level if not many. Obviously I am no authority on these matters, but what I was able to easily deduce is as follows:

1) Mr Zundel is a racist in as far as he recognizes that chinese people generally have different physical attributes and psychological tendancies than, let us say, africans. I hope I dont come off as racist for saying this (as my black girlfriend will likely have at me if I do) but my lady-friend and I do have different physical characteristics because we came from parents of wildly different linage and or historical location. She is more 'black' and I am more 'white and middle eastern'. This is also somewhat reflected in our habits. Where she is quite taken with the causes of american civil liberties, I am more interested in spaceflight. Obviously this does not mean that white people are not interested in civil liberty no more than charles bolden is a basketball star, the point here is that genetic or environmental - race exists. Me and my girlfriend are obviously human, but we have different charactistics based on genetics (she loves the sun and I am more dormant, and we are physically built to suit such preferences).

2) Mr Zundel is as pro-neo-nazi as Ronald McDonald is pro-pure-beef. Even though Ronald and Mr Zundel 'sell a product (not an experience)' that seems like the real deal, it is, upon observation not as it first appears. Even when I had been discussing the interests of protecting such a man as this because he has not caused or purposfuly caused others to harm any identifyable group or individuals so far as I can tell - my friends look to me askance and ask "are you defending this?!"... to which I reply, absolutely not, but I am addicted to cheezeburgers.

That was a bit of fun, but I have been asked by reasonable people during a discourse about protecting the rights of free speech if I do then ALSO endorse the killing of millions in gas chambers as a solution to their...umm.... their... being jewish ? The answer to this rediculous postulation is of course "I dont think you understand the issue here." And we move on to more interesting topics like ass-to-mouth-matt-wrestling or which beer tastes better with these nuts ...really strong, heady stuff like this. This illustrates the problem I believe Mr Zundel faced quite aptly;

Bob: I must say, Andrew, after reviewing all the information I am not sure that much more thurough a job was done here with the holocaust than in the 9/11 comission... I dont think people have the whole picture, the people may be uninformed or underinformed even, I mean building WTC 7, come on !

Andrew: Hello, 911, Please inform Mr Harper that I am here with someone who supports 9/11 terror, osama, saddam and nazis.... yes at this address... I should be able to keep him busy yes...okay.... yes we'll be here just come in the back door and I'll act all suprised ----- oh, ahem, what was that bob ? --- yes yes, no I dont want any reward just please leave me to live in peace with freedom and security.... oh you can't guarantee that... well.....ok. Please hurry.

The point is that as soon as you start to talk about this you are painting yourself with a sitcky and stinky brush... is that appropriate ? In my review I found Mr Zundel not to be very aggrevating or purposful so far as supporting any ideas which end with "so lets kill all the jews". Much the contrary I have found him to be rather dry and academic [it is much more the people questioning him who jump to: so then you want to kill the jews?]. His analysis of the FACT of allied propoganda and manipulation in pre and post-war germany (and beyond) is not anything shocking. In any war you dont re-educate the defeated in the ideologies that led to war in the first place, you try to prevent it, even at the cultural expense of the victim state (ask the North American Indiginous People)

3) No one really cares about anything anymore anyway. Al Franken said it best in MOTY.

Paraphrased:

TV has destroyed my perception of reality, here on the left - a man who is fully accredited, supported and papered telling me that after years of research the holocaust never happened. Here on the right a man who claims to have survived the horrors of a death camp... now they sit and debate the points and their views back and forth... this happens for a while until I loose interest and basically decide that it doesn't really matter to me either way, I'm not a scholar or a survivor, so why worry - really I can never know which of these two people is correct.

In the years he has been gone Mr. Zundel has missed out on how the rest of us just stopped caring anymore. Mr Zundel may be the last of a dying breed... the ideological martyr. When all this was big news there was still some hope that perhaps Mr Zundel was wrong, a faith that he was an incorrigable individual, not even worthy of the paper he consumed to push forward his empire of disinformation... Now the attitude would be different on two accounts.

i) everyone KNOWS that the government is full of shit. If obama doesn't really wow us on April 15th then expect another domestic terror incident really soon after as people will be without purpose, direction, liberty or security for far too long to remain civil

ii) most of the 'falsehoods' that mr zundel was accused of propogating have been basically revealed as, at least, partial truth - or well closer than we'd imagined before !

The saddest thing about it is that NOBODY in his camp or mine is strongly advocating or in any way vocalizing hatred against jews or anyone else. What is happening here is an attack on dissent and the very nature of truth, history and democracy. What this case says to me in my limited understanding is: that its better to be in line with the current party line than it is to have an opinion. That it is safer not to worry than to do my due-dilligence and critically analyse the mythos of my own origins and history. We will tolerate no review of history or historic events that shape and define our national goals and ambitions, and we will not protect pepoles rights a human beings if we dont like what they are saying.

Take the content out and change his book to read: Is (and was) it really 100% (non-madcow) beef ? and you may have a libel suit on your hands but hardly a criminal charge for trying to incite hatred against McDonalds or the companies that brought us Bovine Suppliment (even though we should be nearly equally enraged as if the holocaust was a lie).

At the end of the day, I titled this blog as I did because its an important fact: Earth Hour in my community attracted about 30 supporters, many of whom were personal friends of one another - linked to the mayor and the city power structure - and a few were just plain friends of the Earth with no agenda. It may also be worth noting that me and my partner were the only ones between 1-50 who did not seem to have been brought to the event as part of a 'family outing'.

Mr Zundel was recieved by a small but intimate crowd who were there as, perhaps, the last supporters of common poeples right to think... to speak... and to be common people. As I have studied this mans work and persecutions I tremble in fear at the notion that when his generation is gone we will loose all connection to a western culture before income tax, SINs, modern economy, and the global village...free-range humans will be endangered if not extinct at that time. Here I am watching what may be the last truly free man on Earth be released from one of the most rediculous and illegal imprisonments in a long time... an no one cared... not like they cared for him when he was advocating their right to not be persecuted because of their german ethnic heritage.... not like they cared for him when his books were fuel for the pyres the white-heads used to stoke hatred and violence which mr zundel so abhorred... not like they cared so much when they opposed his re-admission to Canada... the only prominant article I could even find on his release came from the SUN (that bastion of truth) and was written by a very one-sided columnist, not even close to an impartial, someone with an old axe to grind.

I have seen interviews mr zundel was a part of which featured highly reliable british testimony in support of his 'cause' and I have seen him allow an interview, in what seems to be his home, to a jewish journalist whom he says he respects because that journalist at least came and asked mr zundel face to face. He in no way and at no time strikes me as a person who intends to cause any harm, in fact it seems his actions are motivated only by personal conviction and a quest for truth and knowledge on behalf of himself and all humanity.

Only one great truth lunges at me from the pages upon pages I have reviewed from both sides on this issue... the precedent in law has been made... if I ever publish my book "Was September 11 really a murder conspiracy created by Osama Bin Laden that killed 3,000 New Yorkers?" I'm done for.

Not because I am saying that it was an inside job, that it was a false flag tactic to spurr two middle-eastern wars.... but because it may have been closer to 2,500.

I dont expect much love for writing this, but I just want to say that I think it a grave miscarriage of justice what happened to this man and I hope he is vindicated one day for the remarkable dedication to principle and concience that he has shown. We may not agree with his views, we may find him personally objectionable, we might not even like Hitler, but that does NOT give us the right to imprison someone, nor to discriminate against them in an application for citizenship, etc.

Mr Zundel was specifically persecuted in several countries on account of ONE THING - he did not support the historical dogma about the holocaust. Worse still he questioned it openly !! This has made him a very dangerous man in the eyes of the government in several countries... What I wonder now is why ? If he is wrong about all this and the facts of the holocaust stand up to review then who cares... indeed who cares enough to distort the laws of several countries to secure his imprisonment... and who has the power... who benefited ?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tJy4IZFsG4&feature=related

Is the theory of Continental Drift true?

The question before us is indeed interesting. That a seperation of the continents did occur is certainly true, however I am afraid I must take issue with the standard model and expound my views towards a preference for ‘expanding earth’ theories of continental drift over more traditional concepts of ‘plate techtonics’. It goes without saying that elements of this established notion are also, invariably of high value and remain true. I will attempt to be subtle yet thorough in my analysis of the similarities and differences between the two models, and why I believe what I do, without detracting from the overal assignment.

As I mentioned, I do not have any issue with the idea of ‘continental drift’, there can be no doubt from simple observation (and more detailed data which we shall hereafter explore) that, at the very least, parts of South America and Africa were once much closer in proximity than they are today, indeed perhaps they were even directly connected. Moreover we cannot ignore the distribution of plant and other proto-life around the globe. Even a child can plainly detect the jig-saw fit between the coasts on the east and west Atlantic Ocean, but the biological and fossil records reveal even more upon examination and consideration.

Regardless of our preference of opinion regarding the mechanics or means of drift theory, we can deduce that the ends are certain, that the continents were at one time joined even though they are now seperated by miles upon miles of oceanic expanse. There are a number of bodies of research which support this position. Data related to mesosaur, plant and glacial distribution have yeilded some of the strongest support for the idea of drift. From the diagram below we can see that creatures in the distant pass had easy access to the various present land masses in what is now the southern hemisphere.

Throughout this analysis we will gather data from several fields which support the theory of continental drift. We have already addressed one, biology. The distribution of mesosaurs and some types of proto-mammals, marsupials, and others all point towards a geologic history which included easy access between the continental regions for animal life.

In paleobotanical studies we see that across the entire southern region of the planet the fern Glossopteris is found on all coninental regions. In the north aswell, as illustrated in the diagram below, the trees all share a similar genetic ancestry indicating one contiguous landmass at some point.

This diagram illustrates similarities in the diversity of some plant species across vast regions. We should note that the areas of present-day Eastern South America and Central-South Africa contain high levels of diversity, implying similarities beyond the geologic jigsaw. From this map we can see correlation between the Phillipene and the Central American/Caribbian regions in their density which may imply a ‘total’ Pangea with Pacific-Bio-Jigsaw fit.

In our mesosaur maps we saw easily that the southern regions had been connected in pre-history, but this map includes illustrations on the similarity in plant distribution across the northern hemisphere which is excluded from the previous diagram. Even though we notice similar increases in density in the south and central regions, here we also see less diversity is similar through North America and the northern Eurasian areas. Examples of global plant fossilization which point us towards acceptance of a unified planetary suffaceinclude various grasses, seeds and planet-wide examples of Lycopodiophyta among other things. It is worth noting here that the amount of diversity is similar over North America and North Eurasia but so is the contents of that diversity. The evergreen and oaks that grow in Canada and the corrisponding areas across the oceans are one in the same. Their lack of divesity has preserved them, and this correlation, for our examination. There are always going to be specific localized varieties in areas of great diversity, but even the presence of plant life in all quarters of landmass not innundated with heat or frost suggests either simultaneous distribution or easy access at one time across the now disperate regions.

Much established data is existant regarding glaciation of the southern portions of pangea. I believe this is because of two main reasons. One, there seems to be a great deal of hesitation about cosing up the pacific rift in these models. By leaving the northern and western most portions unexamined, theories of a constant earth size and traditional plate techtonics can be more easily maintained. Two, this may also be in part because the northern polar cap is without landmass, but again I wonder how much of this is because of a reluctance to close up the pacific much as we do with the atlantic in simulations. There seems to be equal or greater growth indicated in the pacific area from the analysis of the ocean spread, yet in models showing the progression of pangea this area seems to have been ever covered in water, 75% of the Earths surface. I believe this would result in destabilization of orbit, but admittedly this is only speculation. However regarding the paleoglaciation of the southern region; the polar ice cap which we are able to identify from the carboniferous period, covers the southern end of pangea. Glacial deposits, specifically ‘till’, of the same age and variety are found on many now separate continents as a result of the migration and termination of this glaciation.

There is indeed a great deal of evidence to support the theory of plate techtonics. Not least of which is the plates themselves. Using seismographs and other methods, geologists have been able to actually map the shapes and locations of these plates with, what is presumed to be, a great deal of accuracy. I have faith in this data also. I do believe that beneath the surface, the continents and parts of the ocean shelf may ride on a hardened series of plates as described. What I am not so sure about is subduction; it seems to me areas of subduction are mountainous indicating the plates are pushing up not down into the Earth (their age correlates roughly to that of the ocean floor also, the highest ranges being only some estimated 40- 70,000,000 years old. Even though we do know that the ocean floors are spreading, plate techtonics theory does little to address the differences in age between the seafloor and the continental crust (and the size difference). The difference in age is quite tremendous. When this age data is examined it leaves us with a map and details of how the Earth seems to have grown. While subduction and creation of the ocean floor are possbile and allow for the maintenance of size, I believe the evidence of the age of the underwater shelfs indicates that at one point the entire planet was mostly solid on the surface, much smaller and with perhaps small traces of water in the form of lakes or chemical pools dotting the surface. However, later on, I believe an ice meteor or something similar crashed to the earth and interfered with the natural cycles inside. I think this caused a variety of heating and cooling to occur which resulted in destabilization of the size to some degree, part became hotter and the Earth expanded perhaps because of the liquid nature of part of the interior. I also deduce that the composition of the impact site, considering the meteor and the planet at that time, caused for the massive distribution of water around the globe and unleashed a great change in the planets overall composition and dimension on the outside, the cooling from the formed water and ice deposits may have cooled and stabelized the planet surface. Once more, much of this is speculation, but if we do not measure continued growth then there must have been a reason for the changes at that time. The fact that we still measure new production and subduction may be residual from the fractures in the interior structure which, though healed, seem as molten scars of an old wound. I believe that this impact likely occurred in the Mexican peninsula and this shattered completely the landmass of the caribbian and phillipines and caused a tremendous and lasting push through the pacific. Obviously these theories are incomplete. From my present humble position I cannot verify these claims, they are simply my deductions and observations from this study of continental drift.

Mostly from these studies I have developed an understanding of how limited our knowledge base is on these topics, how new the field and how intersting and important these studies can be. The implications are tremendous. We really have not explored into the earth very much. It even seems to me that it has been easier for us to get into space than it has been for us to get into the Earth to a very significant degree. Perhaps current plate theory is the ‘end all be all’ of this geologic research. It has certainly helped to cement the debate around continental drift into a very one sided affair. We are no longer concerned with if the continents did or are drifting, rather we are interested in why or how they did or are.

The purpose of this assignment was to address wether the theory of continental drift is accurate. In my opinion drift is accurate, but plate techtonics is only the tip of the proverbial iceburg.

I would encourage you to observe the following digital maps and videos of ‘growing earth’ theory.

Continental Seperation Animation - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kL7qDeI05U

Wiki Link - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expanding_Earth

Interview on C2CAM - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-ylrPfLxFI

Planetary Models - http://www.nealadams.com/nmu.html

Bibliography for Study and Data related to plate techtonics and continental drift.

Internet

-Videos

The Eruption of Mt. St. Helens (1975-1995) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRfXn6WzetI

Plate Techtonics (1976 Production) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzWKR--ovbI&feature=PlayList&p=12491D2AE0BC3C02&index=0&playnext=1

-Data

Bio-Diversity Map Study - http://www.nees.uni-bonn.de/infodocs/MutkeBarthlott_2005_GlobalDiversity_BiolSkrift.pdf

Continental Drift, Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continental_drift

Title Image - http://www.novacelestia.com/images/earth_impact_moon_space_art.html

Book

- PLANET EARTH – Johnathan Weiner (1986) [Fully Illustrated with data and maps]

The Penultimate Shuttle Endeavour, STS 130, Flight

The shuttle stands proud on the pad. Gently lit, steely and strong. Pulsating with potential energy, one of the most forceful inventions of man. She breathes deep, looks around and considers her fate.

This is the second to last flight of this shuttle. It will fly once more and then NASA will shut it all down. Some speculate that NASA is lost. That the cancellation of constellation is a shock instead of a practical retraction from the heady days of the bush era (one of the few we've actually recieved). I mean who isn't happy to be rid of an idea which revived the passion and furvor of early 1950s design styles ?

I am glad its gone. I look forward to the future; spacex, virgin, bigleow, with nasa subsidizing and funding development at home and around the globe. Hopefully, soon we will have a group mission to the moon a truly international crew and mandate. Personally I think NASA should focus on R&D, funding and subsidizing private operations until the industry can stand up on its own. Very similar things happened with almost every large industry in canada and they have been, on the whole, successful by any international standard. In america where the economy and government are somewhat more open than Canada, I think it makes sense to support the private sector. It has built itself up to a viable entity and the government should sanction and support it.

Endeavour has a great history. The shuttle has docked with MIR and the ISS both. It has played a major role in the history of human spaceflight. With functions ranging from the launching of satellites to the assembly of the ISS Endeavour will ever be remembered as a reliable and dependable unit.

The delivery of the eye node is a big step forward. It will allow a VFR overview of operaions. this can be used for flight control and construction supervision or supervision of walks, etc. more still it may also function as a testbed for tourists of short duration. People who can stop in for a day or two take a look sit in the command area, Chat with their friends online and return home. The command area makes it feel much more comfortable. It also makes it look much cooler.

I think they should put the shuttles to use. I know one or two should be taken away to museums, but I would love to see one left in space, either for later activation or to be anchored to the ISS and used as an auditorium or a huge addition of space. I am sure it could work and it would be a nice, cost effective addition. I think we should consider the further use of the shuttles in a less traditional role.

But on the whole, I think Obamas people get it. They can do alot, they can invest in the schools and research today that can really change tomorrow. I dont think we need a date and direction. If we can make an engine to travel to different star systems, then why goto the moon only, if we can only go two or three times our current speed, Mars will be most viable. But I do like the idea of an international moon mission, not primarily american anymore. It would look good for america to woo other nations into a more formal international space development agency.

I guess we will have to wait and see. Even this launch is currently red... only a couple hours left... maybe global cooperation for the peaceful and effective exploration of space is a bit much to hope for. Maybe not.

MOON HOAX a NECESSARY EVIL for GREATER GOOD ?

So then, we didn't land on the moon ??

Some of you may have heard about this. As I am considering a career in space I have come across it in a bit more detail of late.

THE MOON HOAX.

**PLEASE LOOK ALL THIS UP FOR YOURSELF IF YOU DONT BELIEVE ME. I WILL PROVIDE LINKS AT THE END.**


So 1969 (lol, go figure) and the Americans land on the moon... or did they ?

First lets look at the evidence we have FOR the case...

Basically everything that has been produced regarding the moonlanding...

1) Original Video of the Apollo 11 landing

-Nah, the original tapes were destroyed by accident in the 1970s-80s.

2) Original Photos of the Apollo 11 and several subsequent voyages.

- many, many of these photos have technical errors or lighting issues such as faulty parallells indicating manipulation.

3) The successful completion of the missions

- This has since been proven a practical impossibility. The VAN ALLEN RADIATION BELT, and other parts of the earth-space atmos-magneto-sphere are hazardous to humans. Much of this information was unattainable in the 50s and 60s... but since that time THERE HAVE BEEN NO MORE MANNED MISSIONS TO THE MOON BY ANY NATION (since Apollo Program).

- Russians never attempted to settle the moon even though they carried on the cold war for a further 20+ years. Their reason ? Humans cannot survive the radiation.

4) Surely there is a telescope on Earth where we can look at the items on the moon ??

No. This never occured. In America you would expect a 'Lunar-Scope' in some backwater town always lined upto the lander, etc, to attract tourists, etc... the reverse is the case... no images were ever supplied from any of the lunar satellite images until very recently. Even these images are never 'raw' they are always 3D renderings or HI-DEF (CGI).

By the time we get there to check it is quite feasable that the USA can plant faux devices. Now imagry technology is better and better and a third party verification like this is less and less acceptable to people who follow this and make the calls for disclosure.

Recently the Japanese (JAXA) SELENE project was to deliver the final 'proof' of landing... this proof has never been revealed.


There are many many reasonable grounds to state that in 1969, no human went to Luna... I encourage you to review the material.

But why ? Well, basically I believe that if we didn't lie about it, the Russians would have. I think both sides knew about the hazards (or learned in tandom though independantly), and how far it would be from the ability of civilians to uncover the truth. I am certain that it was only a day or two ahead of Russia that america announced the landing mission success. Russia would have announced the landing in a similar fashion if they were so prepared, but America beat them to it... then Russia went on about the radiation to discredit America, but in the euphoria, no one listened. Honestly I am glad that we lied, if we hadn't and Russia had beat us there (or lied), I am sure that WW III would have followed as USA will not long remain #2 to anyone if they can prevent it.

But really, I guess it is far fetched to think that America would devote billions of dollars, man hours and even human casualties towards an end based only on lies... Afterall, it was the moon landing, not Iraq.



~ BEST MOON HOAX DOCUMENTARY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5MVVtFYTSo

~Apparently Google has better satellites around the earth than NASA does the moon

http://www.tass-urvey.org/richmond/answers/lunar_lander.html

~VAN ALLEN RADIATION DATA (IMPORTANT)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyl1LsB7Xr8

ALSO GOOGLE: CAPRICORN ONE ;)

Be It Resolved That: "It is immoral to lie to children about Santa Claus and people should not do so."

Saint Nicholas (Greek: Άγιος Νικόλαος , Agios ["saint"] Nikolaos ["victory of the people"]) (270 - 7 December 346) is the common name for Nicholas of Myra, a saint and Bishop of Myra (Demre, in Lycia, part of modern-day Turkey). Because of the many miracles attributed to his intercession, he is also known as Nicholas the Wonderworker. He had a reputation for secret gift-giving… [c/o Wikipedia 2009]

(gift giving does not seem the most amazing portion of the history, not to me anyway :P)

I concur with this resolution for a number of reasons which I shall herein explain, however I wanted in my introduction to state that I do not intend this position to resolve any matters related to religion, Christology, history, etc. This is neither a defence of Christianity nor an inducement for any other to believe as I do. Much rather I hope to root my arguments in simple historical precedent and I hope all who read it will be able to make this distinction.

So let me briefly outline my main three points before I delve too deeply into any one of them.

Firstly, though I do not believe that children come to believe that, for example, break and enter is an acceptable act, because of the Santa myth, I fear the real damage come from the exclusion of a historically rooter personage. Santa as he is presented is a mythical figure after the tradition of titans, he ever was, ever will be, is all seeing and bears no particular religious affiliation, serves no master, in effect Santa is almost godlike, thus replacing the true representation of a man who served his life humbly and with love and charity for the sake of his Lord.

Secondly, the sprit of fellowship and Christmas is not enhanced in any way I can perceive because of the presence (or presents) of Santa Clause. Whereas St. Nicholas was a generous and charitable Christian figure who we wish to save for posterity and who we wish to remind people of, the fictional Santa claims no affiliation to this human character. Though in an outside analysis we readily conclude that Santa is based on St Nicholas, Santa himself makes no such claim. He does not wear red Catholic regailia, nor does he bear the cross, and moreover, his qualifications for “good and bad “ seem far more based on secular concerns than religious obedience. Though I do not advocate the forced assimilation of or for any religion, by removing this real and historical element from the events and character we create a certain ignorance in the children we subject to this figure. Moreover the secularization of society at large has led to deteriorations in the family and fellowship lifestyles of many ‘main stream/ secularized’ families. More, by removing historical and religious concerns from the young masses they will grow in life more ignorant of their history, with less interest in the real history behind basic symbols. Studying the life of St Nicholas may be both enlightening and entertaining. Studying the life of Santa… well, you get the idea.

Thirdly and finally, the content of this lesson seems to have hit the nail on the head, so to speak. We tell people it is wrong to lie, and then we inundate them with falsehoods. I recently asked a friend of mine how she thought I would respond to this. He initially did not know, then she surmised that I would want the Santa myth to continue because it is good for the development of imagination, that without these such myths children would not be able to interpret imaginative stories, that they needed this in order for their development. I was somewhat aghast as her opinions until I realized they were far more common that I had perhaps previously considered. My response was that no. I did not feel lies were necessary and that the true history of the individual was more than sufficient to provide enough activity for their brains that they might still grow up being okay, without the Santa myth. However, in a society where few read and fewer still read anything factual or encyclopaedic, perhaps I am wrong and lying to children is acceptable as a mean of destroying their connection to history, religion and independent analysis or thought… but then I would wonder why these outcomes were desirable… alas, such is not the purpose of the present assignment.

In conslusion I do hope that I have shed some light on my position. I am happy that this is being discussed. Even as an elementary example, this sort of mass conditioning is quite prelevant in our western society. You will also notice the content for this assignment states that most of what we believe about Santa here in Canada is based on American ideas. Indeed, in much the rest of the world Santa ONLY exists as an impersonation of St. Nicholas and his, as well as church history is greatly intertwined with the festive season. The North American ideal of “St. Nick” has somewhat different underpinnings.