9999

In 2005, the Huygens probe landed on Saturn's moon, Titan. It snapped pictures for an hour before its power ran out. Wired News is reporting that one of the images has been announced as proof that methane exists in liquid form on the moon. Astronomers have cause to believe that there might be a full environmental cycle of liquids on Titan, similar to what we have on Earth. Except where Earth's cycle involves water, Titan's cycle would involve methane. Methane would evaporate from the surface, form into methane clouds, fall back to land as methane rain, and gather in methane lakes. Titan has observable clouds and lakes, so the question is whether methane mingles between the two. If so, Titan may be supporting life at the microscopic level. On earth, microbes that live off methane do quite well for themselves. (In fact, we may soon start farming them to help curb our greenhouse gases.) Titan's atmosphere is similar to that of the early Earth's, and if microbes lived here, they could easily have a foothold on Titan as well. The evidence for liquid methane on Titan is… let's just say "shaky." Spots and splotches appeared on many of the Huygens probe's pictures, and most of them were ruled out as "electronic imprints created by cosmic rays." However, one of the spots were deemed too large to have been caused by cosmic rays. The spots appeared out of nowhere, and vanished shortly thereafter. Titan's average surface temperature is 94 K (-290 degrees F), so the theory is that the heat from the Huygens probe may have vaporized some methane, which then gathered on its lens as dew. This is an interesting first (first alien dewdrop), but it's hardly evidence that methane usually falls from the sky. Astronomers pored over the Huygens probe's pictures with interest, but found no evidence for methane rain. The photos show "high, wispy clouds" and a lot of dust in the air. Presumably if rain was common, dust would be cleaned from the air. However, the Huygens probe only took pictures for an hour, and only in one location on Titan. One can't discount the evidence of Arizona, where it's often dusty and rains infrequently.

The Anchorage Daily News recently reported that the Assembly is thinking about staffing Anchorage with a "bear cop." The idea was proposed by Eagle River Assemblyman Bill Starr, and will be discussed at a public hearing tonight at the Assembly meeting at Loussac Library. Grizzly bear attacks within the city limits have been on the rise in the past few years. Last summer was one of the worst for bear attacks in Anchorage history. In the past, bears in the city have been handled by the Department of Fish and Game and, in emergency situations, by the city police. The idea behind adding a dedicated bear manager to the city payroll is that they would be able to consult in both short-term emergencies and in long-range planning. The presence of wildlife (BIG wildlife) in the city is one of the benefits to living in Anchorage. Nevertheless, it's understandable that people are thinking about drawing the line at bears. Bear attacks are sudden and violent, and there's no doubt that a grizzly bear can be a dangerous animal. At the same time, no one is proposing that Anchorage hire a "moose cop." Even though moose are indirectly responsible for more annual deaths than bears. Despite the moose fencing along several major roads and highways, moose still find a way to engage in what seems to be their favorite pastime - dashing across a road in the middle of the night. (Anchorage Daily News writer Doug O'Hara called this "moose roulette.") When I was growing up in Anchorage, my parents impressed upon me a need for caution with regards to grizzly bears. Actually, it didn't require very much "impressing." The word "bear" is enough to get anyone's attention, even a young teenager taking her dog out for a walk in a local park. We lived off Muldoon near Tudor, and I would often take my dog for walks through the Chugach Foothills and what is now Bicentennial Park. I always clipped my keys to a belt loop, and felt that the jangling of the keys and my dog's tags would keep us safe against bear attacks. We never ran into any bears, although we often saw moose. (And once at dusk a snowy owl suddenly whooshed silently across the path about three feet from my face. That gave me quite a start.) The closest I ever got to seeing a bear was the time my friends and I started up the path to Flattop. We hadn't gone more than fifty feet before a group of hikers ran down the trail towards us, and warned us about a grizzly sow with cubs up ahead. We briefly considered sneaking farther up the trail to have a peek. But teen bravado failed, discretion took the upper hand, and we walked back to the parking lot. I can't remember bears ever having been sighted within the Anchorage city limits when I was a kid. A lot of people are blaming the rise in bear sightings on suburban dwellers pushing farther into the edges of the city, setting up remote subdivisions with bear-accessible trash containers. The city has considered requiring bear-proof trash containers for all residents of particular neighborhoods, which would certainly improve matters. Unfortunately, these trash cans are pricey, and the city is reluctant to insist that everyone shell out hundreds of dollars on a trash can. Two things are certain: the rate of bear encounters inside the city limits isn't likely to wane any time soon, and some measures will have to be taken. Actually, there's a third thing: if I had seen this map of the locations of radio collared grizzly bears when I was a teen, I might not have been so sanguine about the power of a jangling ring of keys to ward off a grizzly bear attack.

Monday, December 15th 8:30am Dear Diary, Just saw that Bush has made his final visit to Baghdad, Iraq. But apparently, not all were glad to see him. During a meeting with the Iraqi prime minister, an Iraqi TV journalist threw his shoes at the president! I could hardly believe it when I saw the video! Bush avoided being hit by ducking, but it was very obvious that the journalist planned on hitting the President since the shoes were thrown with quite a bit of force. The journalist was hauled out of the room (naturally), but he wasn’t arrested or anything, which surprised me. I sure hope that doesn’t happen to me when I travel overseas. It would be pretty nasty, especially if I didn’t get a chance to duck. Then again, I didn’t start a pointless war that has already killed almost 100,000 Iraqi civilians. Wow, Bush has a lot of blood on his hands. He’s lucky that the worst to happen during his trip out there was a loose shoe. In other, slightly less serious news, obama-in-puppy-race/">Jill and I have picked out a puppy – a three-month old male German Shepherd.  I’m hoping this gives me some much needed publicity. Barack told the world that the Obamas would finally get their long-awaited puppy. But I beat them too it. It seems that the media hasn’t jumped all over how cute this is yet. And I’m still waiting for it. perhaps if I’d framed it in terms of a White House gift, it would have been a more popular story. I’ll have to continue to think up ways for this to get more media attention. Until next time, Joe the Veep