The video was made by InFocus Imagery and I found it thanks to Bad Astronomy. Enjoy!

But this is the real world, and in the real world things don’t work the way they should. Particularly when it comes to the debate on global warming.

The Earth is warming up. Sorry,but it is.

And human production of carbon dioxide is causing an accelerated rate of warming. Sorry, but it is. 

In the last Conservative budget, funding for an independent advisory group called the National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy (NRTEE) was cut so that the organization would fold after a year.

The reason for the cut? Well the NRTEE advises on how government and business policies can work toward sustainable development. On the issue of climate change, they made the mistake of suggesting that carbon taxes would be a good route to go.

The Conservatives did not like that. No, not one bit. At first they said that the funding was cut because this kind of research could easily be found online or through universities.

However our Foreign Affairs minister said on Monday that the funding cut actually came because the party wasn’t getting the advice that it wanted.

Why should taxpayers have to pay for more than 10 reports promoting a carbon tax, something that the people of Canada have repeatedly rejected?

It should agree with Canadians. It should agree with the government. No discussion of a carbon tax that would kill and hurt Canadian families.

Actually, according to an Environics poll from December of last year, Canadians are in support of action on climate change, including a carbon tax.

But the bigger issue in my mind is that this agency lost its funding because it didn’t give advice the Conservatives liked. The government should take the advice of these groups to form their policy so they can do what is best for Canadians, not pick and choose what they want to hear and punish researchers for giving them bad news.

And this isn’t the first time they’ve done this.

The Conservatives have been criticized for pulling funding from a number of other organizations over the years for ideological or policy reasons, including arm’s length group Rights and Democracy, international aid group Kairos, and for research and advocacy work funded by the women’s program at Status of Women Canada. [The Globe and Mail]

I know politics is never going to be totally honest and efficient, but silencing those who disagree with you not a good direction for a government to be heading.

In fact, the day is getting quite a bit of attention here in Canada, thanks to Intergalactic Star Wars Day Toronto

Sadly, I live in Calgary so I will be unable to attend. I imagine I’ll be able to sneak in a screening of Episode IV in my living room, though.

One episode in particular stuck out in my mind, when Levar went behind the scenes at the set of TNG. And thanks to the magic of the interwebs, we can all enjoy that episode again!

With such a large number of particles out there, this is actually a pretty cool way to see the differences between them.

There was laughter, tears, Trekkies and Bronies. There was also an intervention on the part of the fire marshal at one point, but I’ll get to that in a bit.

The Calgary Comic Expo has quickly become one of the largest science fiction conventions in North America. With roughly 50,000 attendees this year, it easily destroyed it’s  previous attendance record, set last year with around 30,000 attending.

This was due in large part to the presence of the entire cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation. It has been 25 years since the pilot episode, “Encounter at Farpoint”, and the show continues to delight fans both old and new.

To celebrate the 25th anniversary of the show, organizers of the Expo managed to snag all nine original cast members to attend. It was every bit as awesome as it sounds! But first things first…

My experience began on Friday after work. There were no panels on Friday that I wanted to see, so I was just planning on getting a lay of the land.

I walked by some of the booths of the actors and creators who were in attendance and snapped a couple of creepy stalker photos of Michael Dorn and Gates McFadden.

I then had a chance to see two of the most famous vehicles in the world of movies and television.

The original Batmobile

C'mon, does this really need a caption?

On Saturday I had a full plate. The first panel of the day was for cartoon voices and featured Billy West (Futurama), Jim Cummings (Winnie the Pooh and Shrek) and Tara Strong (My Little Pony, and she was Harely Quinn in Batman: Arkham City).

Next was something to which I was really looking forward: a panel with Brent Spiner, Wil Wheaton and Levar Burton from Star Trek: The Next Generation!

One thing that really struck me with the TNG folk was how much fun they had on stage. You would think that after 25 years they would get sick of discussing the same characters, but they were all really good sports and put on an entertaining show.

I had heard that Brent Spiner can come off as a bit arrogant. While it’s true he was a bit…unpolished when it came to answering questions, I think he is just a regular guy who speaks the way a regular guy would.

Levar Burton then delighted the crowd by giving a rendition of the Reading Rainbow theme song, to much fanfare. I don’t have a video, but the crowd’s reaction was somewhat like this:

After that I got to see the one and only Adam West. He is a great guy with an incredible sense of humour. He had some very fond memories of filming ‘Batman’ and recalled his initial trepidation eventual enjoyment saying lines like “You’re causing some strange sensations in my utility belt, Catwoman.”

After Adam West entertained us for about 45 minutes, we got some strange news from the event organizers over the PA system. It seems that the event was over capacity and we weren’t allowed to leave the area we were in until the crowds cleared out.

This was really unfortunate. The draw of all the great guests the Expo this year resulted in too many people showing up at the door to buy tickets. Volunteers and organizers were unprepared for such large crowds, so the fire marshal had to try to get a hold of the situation.

They stopped selling tickets at the door, and nobody else was allowed in the building. In fact, more than a few people who had stepped out for lunch were unable to get back into the venue and see their favourite stars.

The volunteers did their best, but the crowds were just too much. It was great to see the event be so popular, but it became very difficult getting around for the rest of the afternoon.

Crowds became overwhelming (from the Calgary Sun)

We hid in the area near the Adam West panel until we were allowed to move about the expo again. It was not easy getting around, and there was a lot of confusion as to what exactly was causing all the delays.

But I did manage to get over and see the ReBoot panel. If you’ve never heard of ReBoot, it was a Canadian CGI show which had a short run, but has accumulated a cult following. I was a big fan as a kid and was glad to see that I wasn’t the only one who was so enthralled by the show.

After the ReBoot panel was finished, we took one look at the crowds and decided to take a break for a few hours. We grabbed some dinner and returned around 7 PM for the reunion panel of the entire cast of Star Trek: TNG!!!

It was incredible. I’ve been a fan of the show since I was a kid; it’s part of what inspired me to go to school and study physics, so seeing all these people in the flesh and in one place was a big moment for me.

The cast had a great time. They reflected on the impact of the show on science fiction and popular culture, shared some great behind-the-scenes stories, and just seemed to enjoy being in each other’s company.

Wil Wheaton in particular found it very emotional to be on stage with the people who had such a strong impact on his early life.

A surprise guest toward the end of the evening brought the show to a new height, as John de Lancie strolled out for the final 15 minutes to chat with the other stars.

Well, now we have made it to Sunday. The event organizers were prepared this time around, and were much better than funneling the crowds through the maze of buildings which housed the artist booths and exhibitors.

Even though I had to wait about 45 minutes just to get into the building because of the lines, I quite enjoyed the day.

It mostly consisted of panels, including the delightful Stan Lee:

Stan Lee had no shortage of great stories to tell. He told us how the Incredible Hulk was originally just supposed to be more muscle-bound than Dr. Banner, but the publisher insisted that all superheros must have a costume. Stan gave in and decided to make the Hulk’s skin grey, but the printer was not able to print the colour properly.

On some pages the Hulk was grey, on the next page he’d be light grey and on the next page he’d be almost black,

They eventually decided to make the Hulk green, since it printed very easily.

The Expo was capped off with a spotlight on Sir Patrick Stewart.

Although his voice was strained after a long weekend of speaking with fans (and I suspect going for a few drinks with the cast the evening before) he happily took questions from the crowd, spoke of his current acting projects and his life across the pond.

He talked about how great an honour it was to be knighted, though he still finds being called “sir” a bit uncomfortable.

“Sometimes” he said, “when people call me by my title, I wonder who it is they’re talking too.”

Despite all the crowds, I think the weekend was a success. I got to see some of my childhood heroes, and a record turnout to the Expo has shown that geek culture has broken into the mainstream.

Being able to hang out with such a large group of people who enjoy the same movies and TV shows and characters as myself is an indescribable experience. Everyone is free to be who they are at the Comic Expo, free of judgment or ridicule, to dress up as Link or Harry Potter or Harley Quinn or a character from “My Little Pony”.

It was a great time and I can’t wait for next year.

That’s right, it’s the best weekend of the year! I’ll be at the Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo all this weekend, embracing my inner nerdiness.

There’s going to be lots of great panels with guests from Battlestar Galactica, Futurama, Reboot (yeah, Reboot!), The Walking Dead, and tons more!

Some of the big-name attendees include Stan Lee, Adam West, James Marsters, and oh yeah you may have heard of THE ENTIRE FREAKIN’ CAST OF STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION!

Once the weekend is over I’ll give a full rundown of all the panels, signings, photos and everything else that is awesome about this event.

I’ll be tweeting about it all weekend as well, so be sure to follow me!

]]> http://www.aquantumofknowledge.com/2012/04/26/great-explanation-of-higgs-boson-from-phd-comics/feed/ 0 http://www.aquantumofknowledge.com/2012/04/22/danielle-smith-ignores-the-science-of-climate-change/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=danielle-smith-ignores-the-science-of-climate-change http://www.aquantumofknowledge.com/2012/04/22/danielle-smith-ignores-the-science-of-climate-change/#comments Sun, 22 Apr 2012 22:51:39 +0000 Ryan http://www.aquantumofknowledge.com/?p=2647

Screen grab of CBC Forum video

The marks against the Wildrose party continue to pile up (in my books anyway).

On Thursday the leaders of the Alberta Provincial parties got together for a discussion forum on CBC. A question came up regarding the science of climate change.

Said Danielle Smith, leader of the WildRose party:

We’ve been watching the debate in the scientific community and there is still a debate in the scientific community

Although this is a frightening viewpoint coming from someone who could very well be the next premier of Alberta, there was at least some comfort to be taken in the yells of protest from the crowd.

At this point, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Wildrose party begins denying the science behind evolution as well.

Whether Danielle Smith actually believes the science of climate change is truly in debate, or if she is just pandering to her base is not clear, but either way it shows she is not fit to be a leader of a province which has a very important future in the energy sector.

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