Author: Alan

Asteroid Impact Calculator

I love fun web games that have neato results statements like:

The fireball is below the horizon. There is no
direct thermal radiation.

Whew…except…this is a real time, real outcome
widget to figure out how you would be affected in the case of an asteroid
strike. It takes into account the angle of the strike, the density of the
object, your distance from the impact, etc. For the true worrywort amongst you
from the good folks at the University of Arizona’s Department of Planetary
Sciences.

Water View

Took a trip on the Wolfe Island Ferry (which is a very fine ferry) and got this view of the face of Royal Military College, Fort Henry and the Cedar Island Martello. Here are a couple of other posts on the martellos and the harbour defences.


The vista – too tiny to really see anything


Detail of the Cedar Island martello, unspruced, south of Fort Henry (green above)


Detail of Fort Henry (blue above)


Detail of Royal Military College behind Point Frederick martello, north of Fort Henry (red above)

Egg Hunt

Right in the middle of a four day weekend, the inhabitants of one street in Kingston gather to let over 100 kids run over their lawns for 23 minutes every Easter Saturday.

The crowd gathers: mass quantities of caffine consumed in preparation for the sugar rush

This took an amazing amount of time, 1500 eggs being filled Friday and spread out over 40 front lawns at 6:45 am. Some sort movies here:

80 pounds of candy for about 80 households worth of kids.

Good Friday

Woke at the crack of noon. Amazing to get that opportunity with little kids around.

When I woke, CBC was playing Bach’s “Passion of St. Matthew” and making great efforts to explain why this day, in multi-faith times, is a day off – it is, apparently, an example of faith to all the faithful. I don’t know if I buy this. Christmas has been commercialized beyond recognition and Easter is not far behind but Good Friday, the central day of the Christian faith, cannot be drawn in by marketers, the toy makers. You will, of course, note that I was not at morning service nor do I mark the hours of the passion throughout this day matching Christ’s steps to mine. But some do. Just as others mark their holy days untouched by the mall and a dinner. Should this be a day off or is it just a reminder of the past dominance of Christianity in Canadian society? We need to have another day off, for some other faith’s great moment – preferrable on the Friday before Easter.

Easter Monday I have no problem with. At university, lobbying to be excused due to religious observance was joined in by some claiming Easter Monday as a holy day but when asked what occured on the day, there was no answer. It is just Boxing Day in springtime.