There’s been a lot of things going on this week. In Newfoundland traffic on the highway was tied up by a runaway snowmobile.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/driverless-snowmobile-causes-hazard-on-newfoundland-highway-1.2987459
It apparently threw it’s rider and ran off down the road evading oncoming traffic and Constables trying to bring its break for freedom to an end.  Finally it stumbled and was turned off before it could regain its footing. This is why I love Canada. If it isn’t moose sitting in someone’s pool, it’s snowmobiles on the highway. The only thing more Canadian would be Mounties playing hockey,
https://twitter.com/bcRCMP/status/578678981488148480/photo/1
Oh I guess that’s here too.

And speaking of the cold part of Canada, the East has been getting hit really hard, again. Here’s a few pictures:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/trending/photographic-proof-that-canada-s-east-coast-is-basically-the-ice-planet-hoth-right-now-1.3003008
I really feel for them. This is bad even by Canadian standards. Meanwhile, this week I picked a few wild daffodils in the woods for Marsha. (And they smell so good!)

But in other Canadian news, the federal government has announced a change in the rules for vets. Currently a disabled veteran, one that has lost an arm or a leg etc., has to contact the Ministry to verify their disabled status every year. The Ministry of Veterans affairs saw that was silly. There’s no reason that someone missing a major appendage would suddenly get better in twelve months. They have proposed a change so vets will only have to let the Ministry know every three years. 
http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/wounded-vets-and-amputees-told-to-verify-condition-and-needs-every-3-years-1.2976893
I mean if a leg is going to grow back it will take a few years at least.

Locally we had some more visitors at work. On Friday Federal Industry Minister James Moore, along with James Lunney, MP for Nanaimo-Alberni, and Mark MacDonald, the nominee for the new riding of Nanaimo-Ladysmith, (plus a bunch of other VIPs who I couldn’t identify) stopped in for a photo op.
http://www.nanaimodailynews.com/news/nanaimo-region/industry-minister-pays-a-visit-to-nanaimo-business-1.1800390
We drug out a bunch of finished goods, had a robot climbing on the steel wall, a camera running, and a few other things. As luck would have it, we are finishing an order for mechanical hands (or manipulators as they are officially known). Several were out on the bench for testing when they came by so I just left them there as part of the demo. Overall it went well. They seemed quite impressed with what we produce. They were even more impressed when Colin told them that we make nearly everything, we don’t buy parts out of a catalog. From all the mechanical parts to the circuit boards, to the gear train, to the wiring, we actually fabricate nearly everything in our tracks, cameras, and robots. The only disappointing bit was that the reporter shot lots of pictures of our stuff in action, Colin talking to the Minister, and such but none of it ended up in the story. Oh well. 

In other news I had an eye appointment. This was actually last Friday but I’m just mentioning it now, well, because it took me some time to process it. It was a but more, ahem, intense then most of my appointments. Finally by mid week I sat down and recorded a video about the experience. 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kpArpZpPo1E
Those of you who are nurses or otherwise medically inclined might be especially interested. Anyone put off by discussions of needles or profanity (yes there’s a bit of that) have been warned. Several of those that have seen it have find it quite amusing though.

Finally there was an Eclipse Friday. No, we didn’t see it here. Clouds were in the way. Well, and the Earth. Maximum eclipse was at about 2:30 in the morning for us and the sun kinda has to be UP to see an eclipse, so we didn’t bother checking. You had to be near the Orkney’s or Svalbard, or the upper tip of Greenland to have any chance of seeing the event and as I expected most places were weathered out.
http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-31965456
It was why we decided several years ago to skip this one. The North Atlantic/Arctic in March is a bad place for Astronomy. On the other hand August of 2017 looks like a great opportunity.
http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEgoogle/SEgoogle2001/SE2017Aug21Tgoogle.html
So lets all plan to get together in Missouri in August of 2017 to watch that eclipse. I know a place we can all stay. 

Doug & Marsha.

PIX: I finally figured out how to take Panoramic shots with my iPad.