windywave wrote:
Does Canada even have a foreign intelligence service or is it still a mountie and a moose hunting the Russians?
At a recent meeting the Canadian Minister for the Environment and the US head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration were discussing the their respective nations ability to forecast long term weather. The Canadian described his nations process - "Well, we got a good process, eh. We get Doug from Forecasting to rent a Devailland Otter bush plane fly up north. There he visits the native tribes and checks out how much wood they have been stock piling for the winter. If its a lot of wood, the winter will be long and cold. If it a small amount it'll be a mild winter.
His US counterpart chuckles gently and slightly condescendingly. He then explains the American system. The NOAA, with a budget of billions, has partnered with NASA and Boeing and positioned 3 geosynchronous satellites in orbit over North America. The data from these satellites is processed by a super computer system, and then that data is interpreted by a team of expert satellite imagery analysts, located in Silver Spring, Maryland. The end result is a much superior and high tech forecasting system.
The Canadian is duly impressed... but still a little confused.
"What do these satellite pictures show you that give you such high tech predictions?" he asks.
The NOAA head replies: "Crystal clear images of the amount of wood being stockpiled by the northern tribes"
Remember - It's important to be comfortable in your own skin... because it turns out society frowns on wearing other people's