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Home My WebLink AboutClinton News Record, 2015-12-30, Page 44 News Record • Wednesday, December 30, 2015 www.clintonnewsrecord.com NewsCl Record PUBLISHED WEEKLY — EST. 1860 53 Albert St. P.O. Box 39 Clinton ON NOM 1L0 (519) 482-3443 www.clintonnewsrecord.com LJ POSTMEDIA MARIE DAVID Group Advertising Director - Grey Bruce Huron Division 519376-2250ext514301 or 510 364-2001 ext531024 NEIL CLIFFORD Advertising Director neil.cl ifford@sunmedia.ca VALERIE SILLIES Journalist clinton.reporter@sunmedia.ca DAWN JOHNSTON Sales Representative clinton.ads@sunmedia.ca TERESA SMITH Front Office clinton.classifieds@sunmedia.ca SUBSCRIPTION RATES 1 YEAR $50.00 (47.62+2.38 GST) 2YEAR $95.00 (90.48+4.52 GST) SENIORS 60 WEEKS $50.00 (47.62+2.38 GST) 120 WEEKS $95.00 (90.48+4.52 GST) Advertising is accepted on the condition that in the event of a typographical error, the advertising space occupied by the erroneous item together with a reasonable allowance for signature, will not be charged but that balance of advertisement will be paid for at the applicable rate. In the event of a typographic error advertising goods or services at a wrong price, goods or services may not be sold. 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Canada .431cnaI Member of the Canadian Community Newspaper Association and the Ontario Community Newspapers Association Sci fi a safe way to confront our fears Postmedia Network In the next couple of weeks, mil- lions of human beings will be visit- ing a galaxy far, far away. As we stand in line for the new Star Wars film, let's at least keep the brain exercised by wondering why. What is it about outer space and distant planets that has captured our imagination since H.G. Wells and Jules Verne began inventing alternate realities? Is it merely escapism, in which we selfishly turn away from the marvels and evils of earthly real- ity? Is it a reluctance to be bound by the hard work of science? As any sci-fi fan knows, to even ask such questions is to entirely miss the point. In a galaxy far, far away, we can play with universal ideas about evil empires and free- dom fighters without worrying too much about messages and impli- cations for life back home. We can imagine how a better, saner, Less unfair society might work — or how evil it could be if modern imbalances of wealth and power were taken to extremes — without worrying about shadowy folks at Homeland Security putting people like Luke on a no-fly list. Science fiction has always played a role -modelling, normal- izing function — putting a black female communications officer on the bridge of the Enterprise back in 1966, when we knew it had to come some day, but didn't yet have the courage to make it so. It has also almost always been a place where we expressed and tested our fears for the future, partic- ularly the worry that the individual might become trapped by technol- ogy, not just by limited thinldng. The current spate of post -apoca- lyptic scenarios involving unac- countable rogue institutions are no more a coincidence than the fact heroes and heroines are the beautiful, brave folk all our inner Walter Mittys would like to be. Once upon at time, things changed so slowly that people found it difficult to place faith in the power of change. Today, we compare the present with the past — for example, a past without home computers only 30 years ago — and imagine an almost infinite range of possibili- ties. Indeed, instead of having too little a sense of possibility, we now arguably have too great an expec- tation of what time and physics will allow. But what makes science fiction most compelling is the new insights we can gain about humanity by imagining how our species, collec- tively or individually, might react in different scenarios. It doesn't hurt us to imagine how we'd respond to a War of the Worlds invasion. It doesn't hurt us to see how we could embrace our common humanity in a Star Trek future. And it doesn't hurt us to agree with Han, Luke and Leia that human institutions can get out of hand. Mme. Sophie Gregoire Trudeau participates in NORAD Tracks Santa Answering calls from children across the country Special to Clinton News Record PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. - Sophie Gregoire Trudeau took some time on Christmas Eve to answer phone calls and update children on Santa's journey — as part of the annual NORAD Tracks Santa program. Mme. Gregoire Trudeau surprised young children who called in to the NORAD Tracks Santa Operations Centre by per- sonally answering their ques- tions about Santa, his reindeer, and when they could expect him to visit their homes. Sophie used NORAD's global tracker to share Santa's exact location with the kids and assured them that Santa had left the North Pole and was on time and on schedule. The NORAD Tracks Santa program began in 1955 after a phone call was made to the Continental Air Defense Com- mand Operations Center in Col- orado Springs, Colorado. The call was from a local youngster who dialed a misprinted tele- phone number in a local news- paper advertisement. The com- mander on duty who answered the phone that night gave the child the information requested - the whereabouts of Santa. This began the tradition of tracking Santa, a tradition that was car- ried on by NORAD when it was formed in 1958. The NORAD Tracks Santa pro- gram has grown immensely since first presented on the Internet in 1997. The website, www.norad- santa.org receives millions of unique visitors from hundreds of countries and territories around the world. In addition, a live Oper- ations Center is occupied for 23 hours with more than 1,200 volun- teers each year who receive hun- dreds of thousands of phone calls and emails from families around the world. 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