The CBC reports on prominent losers: Lawrence Cannon [Conservative minister of foreign affairs], Gilles Duceppe [Bloc Québécois leader], and Michael Ignatieff [Liberal leader]. In better news, Elizabeth May, Green Party leader, can now add MP [Member of Parliament] after her OC [Officer of the Order of Canada] and can’t be refused entrance to any election debates. [Assuming the Conservatives don’t eliminate elections.]

Jack Layton and the New Democratic Party are now the official opposition.

Confirmed wins: Number of seats and [Percentage of total vote]

Conservatives :
167 [39.62%]

New Democratic Party :
102 [30.62%]

Liberals :
34 [18.91%]

Bloc Québécois :
4 [6.05%]

Greens :
1 [3.91%]

[Read more →]

Dr. Jeff Masters posted on the Mississippi – Ohio flood situation. He showed the results of the actions by the Corps of Engineers last night, which is a major decrease in the height of the crests on the rivers.

In passing almost, he explained that what the Corps did, wasn’t really blowing up the levee, but removing the plug across the Birds Point-New Madrid Spillway. The segment of the system that was removed, was built with removal in mind, the holes for the explosives were part of the construction. The Corps simply removed the caps over the holes and packed the explosives in for a pre-designed removal of the segment. The other side was a concrete spillway to forestall erosion if the “plug” was removed.

When the segment was built, it was obvious what could happen, and the people on the other side had to be aware of it. They were safe from flooding most of the time, but they were in a designated flood plain that was part of the overall plan for the river. This shouldn’t have come as a surprise to Missouri, as it was done in 1937 for the same reason.

There is more rain today.

The BBC reports that Air France cockpit voice recorder recovered

The cockpit voice recorder from an Air France plane that crashed into the Atlantic two years ago has been found, French investigators have said.

The discovery comes two days after the airliner’s flight data recorder was also retrieved from the ocean.

Both recorders are said to be in good physical condition.

The Airbus A330 was flying from Rio de Janeiro in Brazil to Paris when it went down on 1 June 2009, killing all 228 people on board.

“We can now hope to find out what truly happened within the next three weeks,” French Transport Minister Thierry Mariani told French radio.

Earlier the Flight Data Recorder was located, so, if they still function, the two devices should indicate what the aircraft was reporting to the instruments in the cockpit, and what the aircrew were saying about those readings.

We know that the aircraft encountered severe weather over the Atlantic, but we don’t know why it went down.