Report of the Canadian Auditor General to the House of Commons October 1994 Chap. 11
or
Welcome to my web
site.
I am known as Dr. Dave. I am a problem thinker.
As
you can see, outwardly I was a typical research physicist.
For thirty years I existed on hand outs as a
postdoctoral fellow, a research associate, and a temporary
contract worker. I ended in the gutter, sponging on the taxpayer,
employed as a Canadian federal bureaucrat running obsolete
equipment and shuffling old data. Inwardly, all my existence, I have
nursed an ugly secret: I am addicted to original, creative
science.
While managers were
preoccupied writing memos, holding meetings, drafting proposals and
fighting over turf, I furtively published reviewed papers in
the Journal of the British Interplanetary Society, The
Quarterly Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society, the Journal of
the Practical Applications of Space, and the Journal of the Canadian
Aeronautical and Space Institute. As a result of my efforts I was
invited to be a charter member of the Exo-biology, (now
astro-biology) commission of the International Astronomical Union
while I was not profitably employed. As my addiction to
creative thinking became worse I wrote commentaries for the
prestigious Interdisciplinary Sciences Review. I now confess my
pathological creativity finally led me to write the 'Ulysses
Speaks' satirical column for the back page of 'Canadian
Research' Magazine. The government disposed of me, but still I
kept thinking. I was an editor of the 5th Cosmic Study of the
International Academy of Astronautics, and in 1999 presented its
conclusions to the congress of the International Astronautical
Federation in Amsterdam. Indeed, for over twenty five years I have
enjoyed a dubious after office hours life as a panellist
and lecturer at science fiction conventions.
The fen in
my audience have often urged me to come into the open about my
thinking. But I feared being recognized, severely managed
and defunctioned. I was eventually downsized to the
government's discards file more than ten years ago, and now that high
speed Internet has come to the Village I can make my thoughts public.
You read them at your own risk. Eventually I hope to convert their
illustrations on 35 mm slides to a file format. Bracketing
the presentations will be quotations from on high and graffiti
from the lower depths. In this world there are managers and
there are peons. Managers p** on peons, who, as always, will
remain faceless, disposable and anonymous.
Click on
the links to download the following Word (.doc) files.
I have sat on many panels that have addressed some aspect of the world energy crisis, and I have always felt the big picture was being overlooked. This is my attempt to rectify that omission. |
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The old standby. I
first presented this in 1985 and after twenty years |
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I presented this at
the Boston World Science Fiction Convention in 2004. |
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In 1992 as
I shuffled paper for my director's presentation to the
taskforce on Canada's Space Policy, I submited my own
presentation as |
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A few musings about the problems of lunar transport. |
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This examines an essential aspect of frontier life has been strangely overlooked by the world's space agencies. |
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After the drinks comes food! The potential for space based, high cuisine has been neglected. I was living in Calgary when I wrote this essay, however I believe undercurrents carried a copy to Ottawa where it graced the notice board of the NRC (No Research Council) during the late '80's. |
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Everyone has written an unpublished S.F. novel. Please remember I wrote mine before Y2K, Extreme Makeover and the recent revelations about modern business practice. Please enjoy. |
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Prospecting for the ore bodies on the last frontier. I was invited to present this at the I.S.P.G. (Institute for Sedimentary and Petroleum Geology) in Calgary in 1988 and no one turned up. I had, however, a large and enthusiastic audience at the International Space Development Conference in Toronto in 1992. In 2005 'Sky News' announced the Baker-Nunn camera at the Rothney Observatory had been refurbished and was now searching for asteroids. A fine example of well managed Canadian Research...better 15 years late than never. |
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A 1990 paper on the potential of a reusable sounding rocket |
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'Ulysses speaks' columns that were abandoned when "Canadian Research" folded. |
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Presented in 1986,
published in 'NorthWords' 1994: |
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My answer to the challenge of a senior manager of an Aerospace Company to "Think Commercially" |
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Hal, the computer of the film '2001' has frequently been maligned. He was working perfectly. As you can read here Hal is the only prediction of 2001 to have come to pass in today's reality. |
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The discovery of Nanotubes has made the building of a space elevator to take cargoes up to the Clarke orbit a physical possibility. But would a ski lift to the stars be a practical, profitable and wise investment? |
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My first anime presentation. A tour through the skies of Myazakiland to view the flying machines to be found in Hayo Myazaki's films and the history behind them. |
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This is the outcome of a panel discussion at ConCept in Montreal in 2008. I confess, I am a scientist,therefore I am an enemy of the only people who matter! |
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A letter written to a fellow panellist following a discussion about how to convince politicians of the importance of science. It is impossible! |
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Solar Power Satellites: Panacea or Pie in the Sky? |
During the past decade I have participated in several panels concerned with the global energy future. This is a brief outline of the options before the world in the twenty first century. |
Abandon hope
ye scientists who come hither
Please
send any contributions to the scientific tin cup, comments and
criticisms to
dstphnsn@gmail.com
Please include 'Dr.
Dave' in the subject to avoid the spam filter
Thank
You.
About_me
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You lead from the front, you manage from the rear, that's why you can smell MBA's coming