At Home: Storm Chaser
Move over, tornado trackers: the latest Canadian technology’s after the bigger game. This Sunday will see the launch of a new satellite, one whose mission is to track space storms.
As the CBC reports, Cassiope is part of the Canadian Space Agency’s quest to ?[make] a significant contribution to unravelling the mysteries of space weather,? the agency told reporters. The agency explained that the satellite will enable the collection of ?new data on space storms in Earth’s upper atmosphere.?
The information will help scientists understand Earth’s weather patterns.
Cassiope’s mission ?was developed by the Canadian Space Agency together with 10 Canadian universities,? including the University of Calgary.
Around the World: Wedding Bells
A wedding’s already a stressful event, what with coordination and planning and deposits and contracts. But what happens when the wedding’s cancelled and all those plans must be put aside? For one US couple, the answer was simple: throw the party anyway, and invite the homeless.
As ABC News reports, by the time ?Willie and Carol Fowler’s only daughter cancelled her wedding 40 days before she was set to walk down the aisle,? they’d already put down deposits on the ?venue, food and entertainment.?
Faced with losing their deposits, the Fowlers decided to change a sad situation into a happy one, and changed ?the guest list — to 200 homeless people.?
They contacted Hosea Feed the Hungry, a ?nonprofit organization . . . that provides homeless individuals with services and resources,? explaining their dilemma and proposed solution.
While at first the charity’s administrators thought it was a joke, they soon agreed to the generous plan, and two weeks ago 200 ?homeless women, children and families? were bused to the upscale venue, where they ate salmon and chicken and enjoyed the evening’s entertainment (including a room with children’s entertainers for the younger guests.)
The Fowlers? daughter, who attended the alternative celebration, found the day ?bittersweet but rewarding,? her father told reporters. ?There is no way to explain how it makes you feel,? he added.
