Part Time Scholar

Stephen Hawking is spending a few weeks in Waterloo, Canada.  He even gave a presentation of his research to invited guests near the University of Waterloo, where I attended school.  I am sure he wowed the audience with his lecture.  I would certainly be impressed by someone of his stature! -PTS

When visiting International Antarctic Centre in New Zealand, I came across the Hagglund.  It was the designated land vehicle for exploration of the ice-covered continent. I was impressed by the joy ride that they offered at the centre and did a little more research upon returning. What is a Hagglund? Hagglunds are all terrain vehicles (ATV) that are used for special navigation purposes. They are often utilized in unusual or hazardous terrains. Their uses are widespread, ranging from military load carriers, emergency medical services, firefighting, territorial exploration, wilderness search and rescue. It can also operate in extreme weather conditions like those in Antarctica.   Structure Hagglunds consist of two track-driven cars with fibreglass reinforced bodies, coupled to each other by an articulated steering joint. It can traverse across a wide range of terrains including paved roads, muddy swamps, snow- or ice-covered fields, mountainous slopes, and bodies of water (semi-sub

New Zealand was a joy to visit as it offers many scenic natural wonders!  In fact, much of its beauty seem to have something to do with glaciers.  For one, the scenic Milford Sound and its surrounding cousins in South Island were carved by glaciers long ago. As you travel northwards from the sounds, you will be met by two actual glaciers in Fox and Franz Josef .  We joined a walking tour on Franz Josef, the bigger of the two brothers.  The tour was an intriguing experience and I decided to do some research upon returning. What Are Glaciers?  Glaciers are perennial masses of ice that moves over land. They form when precipitation accumulates faster than it disappears on the surface of a terrain (a.k.a. ablation). As layers of ice and snow build upon each other, the granular ice at the bottom fuses to form firn.  Glacial Types Alpine glaciers - form on mountain slopes.  Those that form on valleys are called  valley glaciers . Franz Josef is an alpine glacier. Ice sheets - are ice

Life is taking a hectic spin these days as the 9 to 5 is creeping past the 5!  Needless to say, part time blogging has taken a suffering.  It's not all bad, however.  I have a vacation coming up in New Zealand in two weeks.  Besides breathtaking sceneries, New Zealand's South Island is internationally renowned for its adrenalin inducing activities, such as jet boating, bungy jumping, sky diving, and the list goes on.  I have my eyes set on a few choices to get the juices flowing. To top it off, I will also squeeze in a glacier hike and may be a LOTR tour. The good news is we will be living out of a camper van so we have great flexibility on the itinerary; the bad news is we only have 8 days to do everything my wife and I wanted.  Time to plan it all out! -PTS

I know I am supposed to start a project on the origin of the universe.  But I came across this  interesting perspective on the meaning of life. The article claims that life is nature's way of releasing locked free energy in CO 2, in order to adhere to the second law of thermodynamics (entropy increases).  If this really is the case, then our mere existence already fulfills the purpose of life.  Whatever else we achieve in life is simply extra!    I refuse to subscribe to this theory because this puts me in the same class as a cockroach, except that I burn more energy and have a bigger contribution to entropy. Woohoo! However, it does raise a point in that the Earth we live on seems to be a intelligent system with its constituent organisms all serving a common purpose.  What will the next article say?  That all creatures are interconnected in a giant neural network like on  Pandora ? -PTS

The 9 to 5 has lately taken centre stage in my life. I find it hard to muster the energy to pick up a book at night, not to mention getting the creative juices flowing in writing a post.  This week my job has taken me to Adelaide. Despite eating well, the 9 to 5 has become the 8 to 10.  I am back in town now, but my PADI open water dive course is about to start. Is it really necessary to have ten hours of e-learning before the first class? Life right now is busy but exciting! It will be just perfect if I can find more time to blog. -PTS

I would like to start a research project on.... What? I don't know yet, but here are some topics worth exploring: 1. Origin of the universe 2. Origin of life 3. Rise of consciousness 4. Purpose of life These are difficult questions, some would even say impossible to answer.  Well, this is exactly why I want to dig a little deeper. Why go for low hanging fruits if the ones at the top are sweeter? Enough said. Let's get started!  -PTS