Weather on the holodeck
What to do in a tropical state — take the kids to a snowsim. Check out the modest SnowWorld in Hyderabad:
And the vastly more ambitious Ski Dubai indoor ski slope:
There’s something deeply melancholy about having to visit a simulator to see snow. It’s like getting kachoris in a little India, yes, but worse — it’s like Ray Bradbury’s ‘All Summer in a Day.’
… these children… could never remember a time when there wasn’t rain and rain and rain. They were all nine years old, and if there had been a day, seven years ago, when the sun came out for an hour and showed its face to the stunned world, they could not recall. Sometimes, at night, she heard them stir, in remembrance, and she knew they were dreaming and remembering gold or a yellow crayon or a coin large enough to buy the world with. She knew they thought they remembered a warmness, like a blushing in the face, in the body, in the arms and legs and trembling hands. But then they always awoke to the tatting drum, the endless shaking down of clear bead necklaces… [Link]
on Friday, December 15th, 2006, 5:47 pm in Environment, Video clips › 
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‘melancholy’ is the word. and reminds me of one time i was in northern quebec and this trapper/dog breeder/sledder lady was telling me about global warming and how it is affecting the local lifestyle - they arent seeing as much snow as in the past. people think if it gets warm you can grow pineapples (her words) in quebec and it will be fun but it will not, because they will have lost what is essential to their lifestyle. i had gone mushing with her team and there just wasnt snow in the ground to make it as much fun - the runners hit dirt in spots and her dogs were so antsy from the lack of exercise i got whiplash everytime they kickstarted. mind you… this person is the equivalent of a farmer in deep rural india - eco-awareness and terror starts with people whose lifestyle directly depends on their environs - not the armchair environments thinking deep thoughts in canned environments. so… the melancholy affects me as well… i hope my kids will see snow in toronto… and not have to go to a museum.
The mood’s a little somber out here. No snow with any real meaning ANYWHERE in Ontario or Quebec. some of us who were planning a week howling at the moon dont want a brown christmas. it isnt the same.
i leave you with a ballad - La ceremonie du loup
it is the song a man sings to his grandon hoping to pass on the song of the wolf, the love of the wild. he calls out but noone answers. he tries again and again, but there is no response and he realizes why. the world he grew up in is no more and his grandson would rather go home and watch TV.
joyeux noelle, bonne annee mes amis.
-V