Softwaves.net

I am a retired science and vocational teacher. These are a few of my hobbies and interests over 70 years. My desk is at left.

I now live solo in Ucluelet on the west coast of Vancouver Island, the friendliest town I have ever seen. Rather than complain about 10 feet of rain a year, I have taken up kayaking at age 70. I am living my tsunami novels which partially take place here.

*Current Weather Pages* Tofino Cox Beach webcam from Long Beach Lodge Resort Click to see bigger picture, which updates every few seconds F11 to toggle full screen Ucluelet-Tofino Alerts -- current weather, roads, quakes, etc.	Juan de Fuca Emergency Mangement Resource pages -- JDFEM.com Lots of Information and links, especially Earthquakes, Tsunamis, and Radiation.
*Amateur Seismology* I grew up in California and became fascinated with earthquakes, and have built several seismographs. Earthquake models. Volunteer at the Pacific Geoscience Centre near Victoria making earthquake demonstration models
	Amateur Radio VE7SVR I earned an advanced amateur radio license in April 2010 to help in the Juan de Fuca Emergency Program, where I helped with the weekly net. *The Sun Now* My resource page for solar activity, Ionosphere, radio reception, aurora, and other links useful for amateur radio. This image is of a recent CME, coronal mass ejection .
Tsunami Rider novel I'm writing a novel about the next big earthquake and tsunami on the West Coast. It includes many useful details how a small neighbourhood can survive and have fun doing it. The novel is an old-fashioned, pro-marriage, teen romance plot, with tips about how a girl, an artist, can catch and keep Mr. Right, a float plane pilot. They save each other's lives in the tsunami, she almost dies from hypothermia, and have other adventures.	Tsunami 1700 Nootka Sound ..."You are there." This is a "you are there" small novel about the effects of the 26 Jan 1700 earthquake and tsunami on the First Nations villages, culture and history of the Nuu-chah-nulth on the west coast of Vancouver Island, and the Mowachaht-Muchalat Band in Nootka Sound. In 2009 I visited an old village site with Head Chief Norman George and met with elders at Gold River. I have given PowerPoint shows on this to scientists at the Pacific Geoscience Centre (21 Jan 2010), and at the Victoria Natural History Society (26 Apr 2010).
*Hidden Talents.org --* *How Your Brain Works* As a teacher of subjects ranging from academic physics to vocational logging, I wanted to learn about why my students had such varied talents. After studying textbooks on neuropsychology, I developed simple diagramsabout how the brain works, and brain maps to help people understand talent differences. I'm working on a book called "Hidden Talents" that shows how parents and teachers can respect natural differences in children, including helping find the right music instrument, sport or career to fit a child's talents. A long-term project.
Physics Virtual Pair Bonding A muon may be just an electron bonded to a virtual pair, hence a "massive electron." Therefore, Higgs bosons may be just another name for virtual pairs.	Astronomy Galactic Tectonics -- A Galactic Life Cycle Galaxies are born, mature, age and die to recycle their matter, just like stars. However this idea contradicts the Bang hypothesis.
Vocational Education I have taught both academic physics and vocational logging programs in high school, and I respect both talent areas. However, more than 90% of youth do not go to academic universities, and non-academic youth are often treated as "dummies" and 2nd class citizens by teachers.	Little Farm 2000-2011 urban agriculture (sold in 2011)
.High School Logging From 1973-1983 I developed and ran for 10 years a production logging operation in grades 10-12, putting out 17 truckloads of logs per year in rural high school. We completely rebuilt a 1960 Kenworth truck, and owned a bulldozer and skidder. Students learned logging, heavy duty mechanics, truck air brakes, forestry principles, blasting with dynamite, and many other useful career skills. The program is still running in 2010.	High School "Career-Prep" Based on the success of the logging course, the BC Ministry of Education in 1975 asked me to work with several other shop teachers to develop a better plan for vocational students in BC high schools. We developed the "Career-Prep" program for the province. Examples of current Career-Prep Programs: Central Okanagan, Victoria High, Esquimalt High,
*Flying Clubs* I got a private pilot's license in 1964, but couldn't afford to keep it up as a college student and just getting married. Instead I have encouraged other youth to fly by running Flying Clubs in many schools, ranging from grade 5 (10 years old) to grade 12. After learning on Microsoft Flight Simulator, students took demonstration flights at local airports with professional flying schools. Parents love to see their youngsters in such a responsible activity. Youth can fly a plane solo at age 14. In my Tsunami Rider novel, the boy is taking flying lessons while 15. On his 16th birthday he gets his "Recreational License" and can legally (in US and Canada) take his girl friend for a "flying date." He is also just old enough to apply for a "learner's license" so he can learn to drive a car.
Prostate Cancer What the doctor is talking about -- After I was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2002, I did some research on the web which might be useful to other men to explain the terminology. (I had a successful operation in 2003.).	*Rotary Club of Sooke* Member 2003 - 2010. Rotarian-of-the-Year award in 2004. I did the weekly newsletter, Audio-Visual, and computer data processing. Left Rotary to give me more time for my other projects.
Colorblindness About 1 in 15 men have some form of color vision deficiency, or one boy per classroom (but only 1 in 300 women),. As part of the Hidden Talents project, I developed some on-line tests that can help parents check their children to see if professional testing might be appropriate. 1=Normal vision 2=Most common (weak green) 3=second most common (no red)