Dude Builds Airship For Arctic Transportation

... and by "dude" we mean respected University of Manitoba professor; and by "airship", we mean AIRSHIP.

We're calling it now: The best technological innovation of 2011 has to be that of Winnipeg professor Barry Prentice, who's building a freakin' airship to transport goods to the far North. Airships, or zeppelins or dirigibles (we were really just looking for a way to incorporate the word “dirigible” somehow), haven't really been used as a source of transportation since that little Hindenburg crash way back in 1937, but Prentice, a professor of supply management at the University of Manitoba, figures they could make for a cheap, environmentally friendly way to ship goods to remote locations. Plus, they are no longer inflated by hydrogen, so the chances of a Hindenburg repeat are slim to none, although Prentice is working to make sure they can withstand the brutal Arctic winters. Prentice someday hopes to have a whole fleet of the airships based out of Winnipeg, but, for now, he's content to settle for just the one that's set for lift-off (float-off?) in September.