Umm..., My Own Home Page Last Updated June 22, 2009

Nicknames: Big Dave, Daypid, Taavelli
From: Sioux Lookout
Occupation: A Wannabe Astronomer and Astro-physicist, but that's not my day job :-(
Hobbies: Astronomy, physics, history, culture, golf, weight lifting, x-country skiing, outdoor stuff, running
Quote: umm....

Umm...

Life could be 12.5 billion years old

They say that life could have started 12.5 billions years ago. Considering that the big bang was a couple of billion years before..., that’s not too bad. Life on this planet began 3.5 billion with homo sapiens being around for the past couple of hundred thousand years with us only understanding what is really out there the past 100 year... The sun is 4.5 billion years old..., life taking a cool billion after that..., the math words... Umm..., maybe there is more to this Halo and the forerunner..., who knows eh...

First day of summer 06-21-09

It is the first day of summer or the summer solstice, the longest day if the year. It is a hot one out there. Did you know that light travels from the sun to the Earth in 8 minutes and 19 seconds... Well..., most of the time. Like our moon the distance various throughout the year. Our orbit ranges from 147,100,000 km to 152,100,000 km. Our Sun is about 4.5 billion years old..., half way through it’s life. We need to get off this rock sooner or later because in a few billion years from now..., our sun will grow and grow into a red giant. Then we’ll be burnt to a crisp. Something to look forward too... After that things will cool down as the sun will collapse onto itself and become a white dwarf... Then it will be too cool for us...

The nearest stars are Alpha Centauri which is 4.37 light years away and a binary star. It is about 1.1 times the mass of our sun so it will have about the same properties. The only problem is that the age is 4.8 billion years old so that’s no good. Barnard's Star or Barnard's "Runaway" Star is a very low-mass red dwarf star approximately 6 light-years away..., umm..., but Red Dwarf..., no good... Wolf 359 is a Red Dwarf too...., 7.7 light years from the Earth. Sirius A is the brightest star in the night sky but it is twice the size as the sun..., too hot... Plus the larger the star..., the quicker it burns... It isn’t that old..., 200 million years old... When it formed..., life already started on this rock. It wouldn’t be too hard to find either... It’s buddy..., Sirius B is the same size as our sun...

Things wouldn’t be too bad if we could fly at the speed of light... The biggest problem we would have is after we reach 100 times the distance between the Earth and the sun... The sun’s magnetic field gives out and any ship will be exposed to everything the Milky Way can throw at us which isn’t good.

Congrats to Stephen 06-20-09

This is really something... My bud and cuz Stephan from Mattice is one of a few Aboriginal artists that will be featured... “First Nations, Inuit and Métis artists participating in the program are from every province and territory in Canada and include Brendalynn Trennert of Hay River, NWT; Alan Syliboy of Millbrook, NS; Stephen Peltonen of Hearst, ON; Brent Sparrow and Kevin McKenzie of Vancouver, BC; and Jason Baerg of Toronto, ON. A complete list of participants is available at www.vancouver2010.com.”

All this from looking up 06-06-09

It’s still pretty cool out there..., 9 C for June. This is the third year that we had a very cool spring. Some parts even seen some snow a couple of weeks ago..., yikes... Just going through some old stuff on the history of physics and astronomy...., we got so much from just looking up. Still we don’t know what gravity is... Quantum Physics says it is all Graviton while General Theory of Relativity says space time is curved... All we know it just happens... I like the theory that everything is an illusion, it’s all in my head... Yup..., works for me.

World no tobacco day 05-31-09

Today is world no tobacco day. Some of this stuff does make sense..., don’t smoke with your kids in the car..., house etc... I think some of this stuff goes a little too far. Its all former smokers that are the hardliners. People who never sparked up..., I don’t really think they care. Oh well... Penny is off to Quebec City for the week..., never been to Quebec before..., been close to never all the way. I haven’t set up a telescope in a while. Think I’ll do that this week. Yup..

Happy Birthday Ethan 05-30-05

I would like to wish the “Master Chief” Ethan, a happy birthday. Little chilly this weekend. Third day in a row of a frost warning.. Gonna have to cut my grass very soon... Umm..., other than that..., life is ok... Not one black fly or mosquito to be seen and it’s at the end of May.., odd huh..., but not that I am complaining..

Tim’s is coming to town 05-26-09

Here is something hot from the presses, Tim Hortons is coming to Sioux Lookout. How about that huh..., that’ll make five coffee shops in town. Two at the airport and three in town. I didn’t think that coffee was such a hot commodity. Go figure... Here is something that needs figuring... Last year when the oil prices were extremely high.., they said demand..., demand..., demand... Then a few investors who were driving up the prices withdrew all their money from oil futures..., oil drops to $40 a barrel... I don’t get how a few clowns with extra money to burn are not held accountable for what they did... I think about all the people who lost their jobs, homes, investments... etc..., their whole entire life and no one is blinking an eye... How is that possible.., not even the news media said a word. It’s like everything else..., oh well...

Time to update 05-24-09

I figure its time to update this sucker. Got a few of tickets to AC/DC in August..., seeing them in Winnipeg. I heard those tickets are now going for 1000 bucks a pop on e-bay... They sold out like in 15 minutes. If I was wiser..., I should have bought like a few more and make a couple of bucks on the side..., but that’s if I was a wiser man. Pretty soon I’ll be cutting the grass..., looking pretty green out there. Hard to believe it was snowing out there.

I was listening to the interview with an EA cutting an Aboriginal boy’s hair in Thunder Bay... If that isn’t pure racism and hatred towards a race of people..., I don’t know what is. Its the same kind of racism that almost wiped the Jews off the face of the earth.. I find it hard to believe that the police and the school board are blowing it off as an “unfortunate incident”. It really makes my blood boil...

Working on some websites today..., including this one... Wish there was more time to do all the things I like to do...

Internet driving me up the wall 03-18-09

It’s hard to update when your internet is slows as a snail..., then it boots you off. Guess Shaw Cable max out their pipe for this area and installing new microwave towers at the end of the month. Nothing I can really do about it now. Haven’t been updating this page much lately... Gets like that once in a while. Hopefully gonna put more effort into updating..., plus I always have my facebook anyways... Graeme Cracker is here for the March break. Isabella and Ethan are happy to have their brother around. Spending my time with them. St. Pats has come and gone.. Yup..

It’s a whole new year 01-03-09

Happy New Year to everyone!!! Yup..., it’s a whole new year. Been on a X-Files kick... I am about half way the entire series..., right now towards the end of season four. I’ll try and get in as much as I can before the end of my holidays. It’s just too short. I’ll have to thank Santa Claus for my nano..., good call.

Back to work tomorrow 01-04-09

Back to work tomorrow..., oh well... Getting back into lifting after a couple month layoff. It’s the first couple of weeks getting into it that is the hardest just because you’re not at the same level when you stopped. I know a lot of people who try too hard then it just doesn’t happen. I go really light for the first cycle then work myself up. Looking at the “List of Banished Words” by Lake Superior State..., I agree “Green” and “Carbon Footprint” are words that should be banished. I have no use for them.

Now that Tricia Walsh-Smith is one big loser. First of all this lady marries a guy who is 25 years her elder. She signs a pre-nup and once things go awry..., she takes her views to the world wide web via youtube. When she does that..., she shoots herself in the foot and cries about that. Listening to her rant..., the impression I got is this lady married the guy for his money and she wanted more. In the pre-nup, the husband agreed to pay her $750,000. That’s no small change for anyone. Why couldn’t she be happy with that..., loser... It’s kinda Phillip’s fault anyways for marrying a loser but I guess he had some idea because he got her to sign a pre-nup...

Blog Archive

Thanks...

In case you are wondering where the hell Mattice, Ontario is on Highway 11 (where I grew up), look for this dinosaur on the side of the road. Also if you are parched after hours..., this is the place to be along with 9 other excellent locations to serve you.

This is me in a Lapplander Traditional "Dwelling" in Finland Near Fort Severn's Goose Camps Near Tampere, Finland Me with Grandpa Sandy

Back in the day in Mattice

Quotes

"Everything is determined, the beginning as well as the end, by forces over which we have no control. It is determined for insects as well as for the stars. Human beings, vegetables or cosmic dust, we all dance to a mysterious tune, intoned in the distance." - Albert Einstein

"I intend to live forever, or die trying" - Justin Neegan

"Ninty-Five percent of enjoying the wilderness is knowing it's there" - John Sills in reference to the people of the south.

"When traveling (abroad) ..., sometimes it is hard to tell someone what they just ate, it could be a monkey, dog, anything..." Osmo's answer when I asked what I ate for breakfast.

“Donna Orr, the only Orr I know besides Bobby” - Ted Nolan

"...keep your goals as high as you can dream, and if you fall short they will be higher than is you aimed too low." - Dale

Religion is the opium of the masses - Tom Wassakeesic

The only thing that interferes with my learning is my education. - Albert Einstein

Gas to Calstock: $40.00, Food for the road: $40.00, Getting to Calstock at 4:30am, no one awake, going to Hearst for a hotel, no rooms available, heading to Mattice at 5:30am for other hotels and finding out there are no longer any hotels there: PRICELESS - Tanya Spence

Locks only keep the honest people out - Mike Peltenon

“..... if the coffee is too strong, just add water. You can make strong coffee weak but you can’t make weak coffee strong..” - John Perry's memo to KO staff

“The last three or four reps is what makes the muscle grow. This area of pain divides the champion from someone else who is not a champion. That's what most people lack, having the guts to go on and just say they'll go through the pain no matter what happens” - Arnold Schwarzenegger

"I worked myself up from nothing to a state of extreme poverty." - Groucho Marx

Wishing everyone the best in 2009!!!

This is me

This is me on drugs...

This is me enjoying a smoke

61.1 km north of Sioux Lookout