Hockey Night in Canada

Back home we called it 'Ice Hockey' and my only association with that sport was the movie ' The Mighty Ducks' and the hockey jerseys you would see people wearing in the movies. For us, hockey meant Dhanraj Pillay with a wooden stick and wearing a blue Sahara India jersey.It is the national sport of India. Or at least it used to be till cricket took over. Well on paper it still is thou because if you say cricket is the national sport in a general knowledge quiz, you get it wrong.

It is not called 'Ice Hockey' in Canada. It's just 'Hockey'. And it really is a big thing out here. I would say it is as popular as the IPL in India. You have passionate fans, over priced tickets, people rambling nonsense on TV, the works. Well. you will get those things with any popular sport. I am not much of a fan of the sport but I have started following a bit of hockey now a days because as they say, when in Rome do as the Romans. 

Occam's Razor

The other day, I was reading a book and came across the term Occam’s razor. It is a philosophical principle that has applications in the field of problem solving.  It states that among all the possible solutions, the one that has the least assumptions should be selected.  The book was about mineral exploration by Majoribanks. He goes on to say that every exploration geologist should follow the principle of Occam's razor

If everyone followed this principle in more aspects of their lives, life would be simpler.  We tend to complicate things sometimes by over thinking about things. It can sometimes affect relationships with the people around us or hinder us from developing new relationships. We read about so much of violence happening today, police brutality etc. I feel, if more people followed this principle then violence around us would certainly reduce. Life is meant to be simple. We don't need to complicate it.

A warm winter's day

The other day at work, in the cafeteria the guy sitting next to me said,"What a wonderful day it is, good weather outside." It was cloudy and drizzling and the temperature was 3 degrees outside. Few months ago if someone would have told me that I would have just laughed at him and thought he was crazy. But now that kind of weather is a blessing considering the fact that it was -20 degrees a few days ago.

Like they say about life. you really have to experience the bad times to appreciate the good times. Same goes with the winter in Canada. You really have to experience the cold to appreciate the weather when it is 3 degrees outside. For me now during the winter any day the temperature is in positive numbers is a good day. Guess I am getting used the winter one day at a time.

Cold Wave

Last week was one of the coldest weeks of the year in the GTA area, with temperatures going down to -30 deg C with the windchill.A extreme cold weather warning was also issued. It was a first of a kind experience for me. I wasn't outside for long but for the little while that I was my face went numb after a while and my nose became frosty.The 40 kmph winds made it a bad day to be outside. The worst part was waiting at the bus stop for the bus.

It was a really bad day for those people who didn't have adequate heating in their homes and for those without a home. There were reports of two homeless people dying in two days because of the cold weather. This week is also going to be chilly. That's the Canadian winter for you.

Any day the temperature is in positive degree Celsius, is a good day during the Canadian winter. Even zero degree is a good day for me now. People from the more tropical countries would not agree with me. But they should come here and experience the cold to appreciate the warmth of zero degree Celsius. :)

Is fracking good or bad?

The other day I read an article in the newspaper about fracking process causing problems in Oklahoma. For those of you who don't know what Fracking is, it is the process of extracting natural gas from shale rock layers from deep within the earth. This is done by sending fluid down the well with high pressure which cracks the rocks thereby releasing natural gas.

In Oklahoma, this process is said to cause an increase in the number of earthquakes recorded. So far they have been mild ones but it is only a matter of time before a big one hits. While we, as a civilization have made huge advances in technology to extract resources that were once thought impossible to reach, there is only so much mother earth can take before it does something to balance itself out.

As new gas containing shales are discovered, this technology is going to be used more and more. As if people did not have enough things to worry about like the economy, wars, global warming etc now they have to worry about man made earthquakes. Not to mention the amount of chemicals that are pumped into the ground. I have nothing against the use of technology in the extraction of natural resources from the earth but when we reach a point where can make the earth rumble, it is time we start looking for other sources of energy.