inkycircus

Truly Loonie

Guys! Our Canadian coinage, our meagre and colourful coinage, is being used to spy on American defense dept. employees and no one knows who's to blame. The French? Chinese? Russians? The Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) is clueless, and the Americans are wary and pissed off. The coins were implanted with teeny tiny radio-frequency transmitters, a novel sleuthing tool, as far as us ignorant public can tell:

In a U.S. government report, the [defense] department said the mysterious coins were found planted on U.S. contractors with classified security clearances on at least three separate occasions between October 2005 and January 2006 as the contractors traveled through Canada.

Though The Seattle Times is quick to point out in their article that the use of coins as spy gear is fraught with risks "because the spy's target might inadvertently give away the coin or spend it."

Now if you want to test your own pocket change to see if you're being eavesdropped on, radio frequency detectors are on sale at this super spy store for only $189 (that's down from $249 I'll have you know).

So nuts, I'm screwed

The other day I was shopping at my local grocery store, which has become surprisingly posh these last few years. They were giving out free samples of sweet-potato fries, coated and baked with this awesome tasty chili sauce. I ate some. They were darned good. So darned good that I asked for a jar of the chili stuff and planned on heading straight for the frozen section to grab the fries. I was all chattin' with the fry lady, who was particularly proud of the dipping sauce she'd made, mayo and more of the tasty chili, which I heartily enjoyed as well. So we're chattin' and I'm all "what is IN this nectar of the gods chili deliciousness?" And then I see it. Third ingredient. PEANUTS.

Anyone who's read this website before probably knows that I, Anna Gosline, am deathly allergic to nuts. But I really didn't want to freak out the lady. She was nice and blonde and happy. I wanted her to keep on having a good day. I wanted the thought that she just about killed me in front of the deli cheeses to never pass her mind. So I handed her back the jar and said "Oh, this has peanuts in it. I can't get any because my brother is allergic (LIE LIE LIE)." She replied, kindly, perky and concerned, "Well we're reformulating with cashews!" And I had to tell her that he (ME ME ME)) is allergic to them too. To which she said, all sad-faced, "poor thing, but you are sure lucky to have escaped it!" Cough. "Yeah." I snuck away, took two Benadryl and hoped I wouldn't fall asleep on the 6 minute drive home.

It's funny, see, all the press attention that peanut allergies get. Mars are spending MILLIONS of advertising dollars promoting their new Canadian bars are totally peanut-free. Which is cool. Nestle makes an assortment of Halloween candy (Smarties, Coffee Crisp, Kit Kat. Aero) that is likewise free of peanuts. It's been a long hard battle by folks like Anne Munoz-Furlong of Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network, to gain this ground. I salute people like her who have given us peanut allergy freaks the ability to enjoy our candy.

But what about us losers stuck with the multi-nut allergy, eh? An estimated 1.1% of Americans are allergic to peanut and/or tree nuts (almonds, cashews, walnuts etc). But just 0.3% are allergic to both - like ME! Of course then there are the weirdos like my brother, who can down a jar of peanut butter in 7 minutes but will blow up like a balloon at the first sight of a walnut. Go figure.

I just want to know how many more years it will take before all the nuts, either pea or tree, are considered equal. Both are lethal - some studies suggest that peanuts and tree nuts account for up to 90% of deaths by anaphylactic reactions - though peanut death is nearly twice as prevalent. Both are ground and buttered, used as fillers and thickeners in all sorts of places you wouldn't expect to find them - though peanuts, being cheaper, are used more often.

So yes, peanuts are the uber-killer, and have been granted their special status according. I guess I won't hold my breath until the lesser nut assassins make the grade. Though really, I should practice for all those times when my asshat brother breathes peanut breath on my face OR when my windpipe starts to swell shut after I eat someone's "there are no nuts in this, only almonds!" curry.

Did I mention that I hate snow, too?

The Snow Monster

Anne and I grew up in Vancouver - a city that, while in Canada, actually gets little snow. Even less that actually sticks. For every winter morning that saw even a few centimeters of good solid accumulation, us school kids would wait by the radio, hoping for classes to be canceled. It didn't take much. Us West-Coasters aren't know for our snow-driving abilities. Our pansy-assed school canceling still makes my Ontario friends laugh. That is until they brought in the ARMY for a snow storm during my first winter living in Toronto...the university was closed and we played football in a field of near waist-deep fluffy stuff. It was awesome.

I seemed to have lost that love of snow somewhere along the line. Like my Californian father before me, I now strongly believe that snow BELONGS ON MOUNTAINS NOT ON MY ROADS, THANKS. This likely has something to do with car ownership. Or actually having to GO somewhere. Especially because, at this very moment, Anne and I are trapped in Victoria, BC (my car is buried under 2 feet of snow), waiting for the roads to become clear enough to drive, hoping that the ferries don't crap out and that the Vancouver highways aren't filled with frozen solid car-crash victims. Fun. Did I mention that I hate snow?

Now I don't mean to go all Bah Humbug on you people for snow is, yes, silvery pretty winter wonderland fairy dust happy magic (especially on mountains). But I didn't sign up to live in a place that gets snow storms in November. Sort of like the nice people of Tuvalu didn't sign up to live underwater.

Now I know that sea level rise is a more accepted, simpler-to-model outcome of increased global temperatures and melting sea ice, but the connection between climate change and severe weather is becoming harder to ignore. Take this very informative page from Environment Canada (the same people who couldn't predict it wouldn't freakin' stop snowing on the island, hence landing me in this mess, but anyways). According to government figures there were about 20 weather-related disasters in Canada from 1920 to 1929. From 1990 to 1999, however, there were 130. Now sure, disasters are rated by economic impacts and hence with more development there is more stuff to destroy..so you can take that metric however you choose.

Maybe NASA's Atmospheric Infrared Sounder will find the data to show that yes, climate change is totally extremifying our weather. Maybe not. But I have to go and check the weather reports now and warm myself with the angry hatred off all things snowy..except snowy owls...oooooooh and snow leopards..don't forget snow geese! and snow crabs- I'm allergic, but I hear good things...

Nelvana of the Northern Lights in the hood

Nelvana of the Northern Lights (left), for those of you who don't know, was the world's first comic book heroine. This protectress of the North was born in 1941, some four months before Wonder Woman, but was just as fleeting as her namesake. She last appeared in Triumph Comics in 1947. Her powers included the ability to turn into dry ice and travel at the speed of light on a giant ray of the Aurora Borealis.

Why is this timely you ask? It's just that there are some giant Aurora Borealis forecast for right now - like right NOW this very second - and tomorrow evening. And they're dipping way down below even the 49th parallel, according to the rocking map at The Geophysical Institue Auroral Forecast Page:

AURORAL FORECAST FOR SAT. OCT 21ST IS "HIGH+" FOLKS
Weather permitting, highly active auroral displays will be visible overhead from Minneapolis, Oslo, and Yakutsk, Russia, and visible low on the horizon from Chicago and Moscow.

What are you waiting for? If you're in the I'm-A-Lucky-Sod zone (which all of Canada is) go. Go outside right this second. Dr. Charles Deehr, from the institute, notes that if the display is delayed relative to the forecast, which has happened for the past five solar rotations when this particularly fruitful coronal hole on the Sun has been in position, then Americans even farther west might glimpse some auroral action.

If you aren't reading this until Saturday, no worries. The show should be even better then.

(Thanks Isla!)

The safety of Vancouver's safe-injection site

Many Canadians, especially Vancouverites, are aware of the massive drug problem festering in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside. In all honesty, sometimes it's not a pretty place to be. And mere blocks from historic/trendy/touristy Gastown, I've heard many stories from people visiting the city of their accidental forays into the "wrong side of town." 

A couple of years ago the people of Vancouver elected a mayor who promised to change all that. Former chief coroner Larry Campbell had all sorts of ideas to help people with drug addiction get off the streets and out of the vortex of petty crime, prostitution and HIV infection. One arm of the plan was Insite, a safe injection facility where addicts can come in off the street, inject their drugs with clean needles, under the supervision of nurses..and...in front of beauty salon type mirrors.

That was three years ago. Now, Stephen Harper, Canada's conservative Prime Minister has suggested that the legal loophole that allows Insite to open will soon be closing. I understand where Mr. Harper is coming from. The people who elected him do not live in big cities with crippling drug problems. Or if they do, they certainly don't hang out in that part of town. The people who elected him do not condone the using, selling or unseemly nature of drugs. It's just so dirty. And think what it does to property values.

But the government has an ethical obligation to treat people with addictive diseases. And the science says that places like Insite are a good start. They help addicts avoid lethal overdose, HIV and Hepatitis infections, not to mention giving them the opportunity to talk with counselors and medical professionals about the options for drug treatment. Studies of similar institutions in Europe have found them to be a success. Even the Vancouver Police like the place. Of course the Canada-wide police, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, have said they don't want to see the program expand until the data is in.

But the data kind of IS in. 2000 people being referred to counseling in three years? Sounds good to me. I guess scientific studies are nice and all, but when they don't tell you what you want to know about drug addicts (Mr. Harper) or climate change (Mr. Bush) then you get to discard the evidence as preliminary or limited in scope or not applicable to your location or what have you.

Personally, I am G-L-A-D to know that drug addicts can shoot up at Insite instead of littering the streets with dirty needles (I have been known to traipse about clubbing in Gastown wearing some remarkably open-toed shoes).

Tang's magic goodness and other science trivia arrived at in the wilds

While the minor hike we went on this past long weekend reignited our love of the BC wilds, especially those gotten to by logging roads, and fanned the flames of our affection for the activist hippies, it mostly caused us to fall in love with Tang all over again.

Imagine our delight when we learnt that the same drink that gave us neon orange mustaches from gulping it down in wide-mouth nalgene bottles only became popular once the Gemini astronauts took it up with them into space starting in 1965. NASA's seal of approval galvanized sales of the not-so-successful "breakfast" drink. And that is the power of manned spaceflight. Amen.

Plus, you can make Tang bubbly. Mmmm delicious.

As another aside, the ubiquitous nalgene water bottle is just one product within a science-tastic array of lab gear made by Nalgene Labware. Who knew. Turns out that the granddaddy of the Nalgene company invented the first plastic pipette holder in 1949. The company fast expanded to supply all manner of lab gear. And lo and behold it didn't take long before scientists started sneaking their state of the art polyethylene plastic bottles out of the lab and into the wild. By the 1970s the unofficial use of Nalgene caught the eye of then company prez Marsh Hyman. Like any good father, he decided to test the gear on his son's boy scout troop. It worked like a charm and the rest is history. It's rumoured that the factory now rolls out the bottles 24hrs a day to keep up with demand.

(big big thanks to Lou and Chris who dragged my lame ass into the woods)

Our newest friend crush

David Ng is brilliant. Period. He's the genius behind the Science Creative Quarterly. He's a witty scientist inspired by the likes of McSweeney's and Believer mags. Dude. And from the looks of it, he and his wife have adorably funtastic kids too (see them repeatedly defy gravity in his recent vacation pics). 

Well now he and his pal Benjamin Cohen have got a SEED:ScienceBlogs thing going. It's called The World's Fair and it puts all other attempts to make sciencey blogs pretty and witty to shame. Shame I tell you. Shaaaame.

   

Plus he just majorly beat me to the punch of blogging the oldest known scientific experiment. He's just that on top of the game man. I'm telling you. For some kickass science writing, visit his musings as of late.

Our Intrepid Readers

Look! It's our very first digital science postcard. Click to blow up.

Forget eco-tourism and embrace being a scientourist. If you've got some proper mail to send us, just ask and we'll email you our mailing address . We promise to scan and post your missives. Cause we love hearing of your nerdy travels and travails.

Suddenly clueless about the ISS

THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION COURTESY OF NASA. NOTE TO ALL CANADA-LOVERS OUT THERE - THE CANADARM. ODD TRIANGULAR POINTY BIT TO THE LEFT.

I was talking to my cousin tonight, and mentioned that the shuttle Discovery has now docked with the International Space Station, which I think is pretty cool. So she says "Where is the international space station, exactly?" So I say "Dur, in space." "Where in space? How long's it been up there? How fast does it go?" "Um. Er. Um. Damn."

How did I not know this? Most embarrassing. I did say that didn't think that there was gravity on the ISS and on checking this evening I was gratified to find out that I at least knew ONE thing about it. It's in a state of constant free-fall so there is almost no gravity. Now (having done a bit of research on the wikipedia page) I know that it's between 352 and 354 km away from us depending on its orbit, and it takes about 91 minutes to put a girdle round the earth (as it were). It shoots past about 15 times in every 24 hour period moving at a speed of about 28,000 km/hour. It's been up there for 2,783 days, and has been occupied for 2,070 of those days. It is a collaboration between five space agencies, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (USA), the Russian Federal Space Agency (Russian Federation), the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (Japan), the Canadian Space Agency (Canada) and the European Space Agency (Europe). It has been visited by 3 space tourists. No data exists on how many visits from space cowboys.

Lots more handy information here from NASA, including space journals, pictures, radio broadcasts etc. I feel better now.

Last of Alaska

While we were driving the highways of Alaska, Isla and I repeatedly overtook, passed, and tipped our hats, to the CanaDream, a kind of geezer camper van. Well, suffice to say, we really liked the word and are doing our best to incorporate it into our own lingo.

But now that I'm back on Canadian soil, the time has come to move on and tend to my own CanaDream. I could wax lyrical about Alaska forever and a day, but instead I'll just pass you over to the photo album. It says it all and more, saves my shoddy typing skills, and is easier on the eyes.