Possible Meteor Lights Up The Skies In Northern Alberta

This is pretty amazing stuff there was another one that was seen over Quebec about a month or so ago but nothing was found this one sounds like it's big enough that they will find pieces of it. I also hope to have some images that I will post as they become available.

Possible meteor lights up the skies in northern Alberta

EDMONTON — A possible meteor lit up both the sky and the telephone lines in Western Canada on Thursday evening.

Around 5:30 p.m., a huge flash of light briefly turned the dark skies into daylight. Reports of sightings of the light and possibly a fireball came from Edmonton to Regina to Swan River, Man. People got so excited that RCMP in Lloydminster, on the Alberta-Saskatchewan boundary, issued a news release asking people to stop calling them.

The excitement quickly spread to the scientific community, which was agog with the possibility the fireball might have dropped meteorites to the ground.

"Wow. That's impressive," said Chris Herd, associate professor of Earth and Atmospheric sciences at the University of Alberta, when told of the wide geographical swath of reports.

"To see something from that far away, that's pretty substantial. The potential is that it's big. That tells you that the meteoroid is probably a good size. There's a pretty high chance that it dropped meteorites."

He said that pinpointing the location of any meteorites depends on two factors - people calling in to say they've found such space rocks, and people calling to report how far afield the fireball was spotted.

"The more reports that you have into that fireball-reporting ... the more data you have and then people can reduce that data and try and pinpoint where it may have landed."

He said typically, meteorites fall within a radius of a few kilometres.

The source of the meteor can only be determined once the meteorites are examined, said Heard, who is also curator of a collection of meteorites at the Edmonton university.

"The vast majority of the meteorites that we have, we're fairly certain, come from the asteroid belt between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter."

Marcel Gobeil was on his acreage west of Beaumont, Alta., waiting for his wife to come home at the time.

"I just happened to look outside facing east," he said. "All of a sudden I saw this big flash coming down and I thought somebody was playing tricks on me, like fireworks behind the house or something.

"Just before that I heard a boom. I didn't know if it was a tree against the house. It was green and blue and it was coming down pretty fast."

Gobeil said the light display eventually turned orange, yellow and red and lasted 10 seconds.

"I was waiting for it to explode," he said. "It looked similar to when we watch (news reports) in Afghanistan. When I didn't see that, I said, 'well, that's something from outer space.' I'm sure it landed way out in Winnipeg or something."

Gobeil said he only wished he'd gotten a picture of the other-worldly event.

"It's exciting - both scary and really nice."

File Under Silly

This should be filed under silly!

"In “Market Economy and Ethics” the future pope said a decline in ethics “can actually cause the laws of the market to collapse,” Bloomberg reported."

That statement is just common sense when any market starts breaking it's own rules and the ethical standards decline you will see a decline and the absence of trust in those markets, it's not a prophesy though no matter how much one might try and make it so.



Pope credited for predicting financial crisis
Posted: November 20, 2008, 9:09 AM by Jonathan Ratner
Economics, Credit Crisis, recession

There is no shortage of experts claiming that they foresaw the global financial crisis. While some have a legitimate argument, many others don’t.

The most interesting such suggestion to emerge recently gives credit to the head of the Roman Catholic Church. Pope Benedict XVI was the first to predict the crisis, a “prophesy” in a 1985 paper presented when Joseph Ratzinger was a cardinal, according to Italian Finance Minister Giulio Tremonti.

“The prediction that an undisciplined economy would collapse by its own rules can be found” in that paper, he said Wednesday at Milan’s Cattolica University.

In “Market Economy and Ethics” the future pope said a decline in ethics “can actually cause the laws of the market to collapse,” Bloomberg reported.

Jonathan Ratner

Photo: Pope Benedict XVI kisses a baby at the end of his general audience in Saint Peter Square at the Vatican October 8, 2008. REUTERS/Max Rossi (VATICAN)

A New Era Begins

As I write this I'm waiting for President Elect Barack Obama to make his speech. I wait with anticipation knowing I'm witnessing History. It is hard to believe that until recently the thought that an African American could be the President of one of the most powerful country's in the world was unthinkable, no one thought they would live to see it, let alone it could be possible.

At a time like this I think it is important to remember all the people who fought in the civil rights movement of the 1960's who in some cases gave their lives for the dream we see made into reality on this night.

The time is 11:57Pm and President Elect Barack Obama is standing at the podium, a crowd of One hundred sixty thousand plus has gathered at Grant Park to hear Obama speak. History speaks,a new voice of hope, of inclusion, this moment of time is hard to describe, it's full of awe and a hopefulness that I have not experienced before.

This is a moment in time I will remember, perhaps America will become a Beacon of Hope and freedom once more for those who are still oppressed in the world, I can not help but to think that a new era begins.

There Can Only Be One II

As of the time of writing this Barack Obama is poised to be the next President of The United States Of America. MSNBC has projected that Obama will be elected according to their exit polls and forecasts for the western states.

We are seeing history in the making, perhaps we will see a new era for the United States where it once again becomes a beacon for freedom and inclusion as opposed to the politics of exclusion.The World will be watching.

There Can Only Be One

After about a year of debate, it all comes down tonight with the world watching. Will history be made! Will we see the first African American President in The United States Of America's History!

I think Obama is going to win, I do have some fears though about the electronic voting in some regions as well as some fears around voter fraud after the last two elections one can not be too careful, either way it's going to be fun to watch.