The Perseid meteor shower will be peaking this Saturday and Sunday night. So, if you get the chance, look up at the night sky to see some shooting stars whizzing by. You might see 80 to 100 meteors per hour colliding with our atmosphere and burning up.
The meteor shower is caused because the earth is passing through the tail of the Swift-Tuttle comet. This phenomena was known about long before the comet was spotted and it was named after the Perseid constellation.
Perseid was a queen of Messenia and Sparta. Her name in Greek was Gorgophone, which means “Gorgon Slayer” because her father killed the gorgon Medusa. Apparently, there were a lot of monsters roaming the earth in those days and the gods were tasked with killing them.
Now this has nothing to do with meteors but Medusa was a real gem of a monster. She was a winged human woman with venomous snakes instead of hair and if you looked into her eyes you would be turned to stone. So, while you are waiting to see the next meteor burn up you can imagine the terrors of Medusa flying by. Just don't look her in the eye. A little mythology, regardless of whose it is, can make the world a more interesting place.
Before telescopes, mass media and books on astronomy, I am sure that many humans who saw the meteor shower might have assumed it was a sign from the gods and an omen of things to come. It just might be true this year because August 31 is the opening date for nominations for those seeking to run in the Oct. 15 municipal election.
Be prepared for a month and a half of people campaigning, of more signs then you can count along the roads, of pamphlets in the mail or left at your doorstep. Of potential candidates wanting to talk to you, to the news outlets, at public meetings and anywhere people gather. Combine this with dropping temperatures, shorter days and getting prepared for winter and it could make for a busy and interesting fall.
I am sure many people have issues they want to talk to the candidates about. One of mine is the city dump, of course. Will the candidates try to restore the dump to its former salvaging glory? It is no secret that our former administration did all they could to stop the practice of salvaging at the dump. So let’s bring back the salvaging whenever and wherever we can.
Good, active, comprehensive salvaging has many benefits. It helps keep stuff from being wasted and buried needlessly. So, it actually cuts down on the amount of garbage and saves space at the dump. It is one thing that the city council can do to help reduce the cost of living in the North for those who salvage. For some it helps generate income and for others it creates part-time jobs. So it is good for the environment and for the public. It should be a no-brainer win-win situation if only the politicians realized its worth.
Our dump is famous and will become even more famous when the documentary being done by Amy Elliot is released this winter. It is a natural a tourist attraction that the city can capitalize on. It could become a much bigger tourist attraction because believe it or not, a lot of visitors like to tour the dump, looking for souvenirs. We can also become ecological heroes showing the rest of North America and the world a better way to manage our garbage. Not only that, there are enough building materials thrown away and destroyed in the dump every year to tackle the housing problems not just in Yellowknife, but in the entire NWT.
That is one issue I plan to ask candidates about but there are many others. So, if you have any issues or concerns it will soon be time to ask those who are running what their views are.
Enjoy the meteor shower and get ready for the campaigning, which is about to begin in earnest.