It’s Irene, Kory and Kerry, not Corey and Carey!
But glad you liked my hometown!

I would like to say somthing about your comment on the price of seal skin. The seal skins are never usually that low, it is a low price. But Inuit families hunt seals, not in large numbers, but enough to feed the family. The whole seal is used the fat, the meat..etc. so is the skin for traditional clothing, many people in kugluktuk buy clothing from whatever stores we do have, but traditional clothing is still used alot during the cold months. So its not like we kill the seal and take the skin to sell for such low prices and leave everything else. Anyway I did hear of the american visiting this small community, and I hope you enjoyed your stay. Koana. april

I stumbled upon this guys self built Flight Simulator Hand Build over 10 years.

As a pilot and scientist, I thought it would be of great interest.

http://www.hanskrohn.com/start.htm

Make sure you checkout the photos of it in operation. 8 seperate computers run the whole thing.

Although for the time and expense, it might be time for real flight lessons.

The seals are cute animals, but we must not forget that, as far as I understand, the economy of the Inuits depends heavily on fishing and the hunting of marine mammals for food and skin. Campaigns demanding sanctions (such as those by Greenpeace and various celebreties, notably Brigitte Bardot) in order to save the seals may sound rational to us but could have profound impact on their societies. Unless the species being hunted is endangered, of course, which would be an altogether different story.

Speaking of dogs and planes: “Love animals … and love to fly? Volunteer pilots are needed who have planes, or access to planes, that can be used for companion animal rescue / transport. Flying Paws is comprised entirely of volunteers and restricted only by the physical geographic boundaries of our volunteer base. Your participation could not only help rescue and transport needy companion animals, but you could help expand the reach & scope of these vital services.”

http://flyingpaws.org/

I suppose any amount of engineering of long haul wifi would be preferable than trying to figure out how to dig trenches and puts spools of wire into the ground, considering the short summers and the frost heaving.

Sounds a lot like Teller (the town just outside of Nome we visited in 2002). Gotta love these wireless Inuit towns. Makes Cambridge seem, well, a bit backwards . Why is it that these cultures north of the Arctic Circle are so more technologically advanced than us here in the lower 48? Is it the heat?

It seems to me that Philip’s plane is very efficient:

“The Cirrus SR20 can be run “lean of peak” with remarkable fuel efficiency: 8.5 gallons per hour at 140 knots.”

140 knots = 161 mi/h

161 mi/h / 8.5 gal/h = 19 mi/gal

That’s better than a lot of cars these days and I doubt that Philip is going to fly his plane nearly as much as an average soccer mom!

Also note that a fully loaded 737-400, an efficient aircraft, gets about 60 passenger-miles per gallon. (If a plane is half loaded, a common occurance in my experience, then it is only 30 pmpg). Philip’s plane is getting about 38 with a passenger aboard.

“The saddest number for me was the CDN$80 average price paid for a seal skin; it was painful for me to think about a wild animal killed for such a low price.”

Interesting comment from a person who pollutes the air by flying in private plane. Ah the hypocricy and hollier than thou attitude!