SHALLL WE TRY COMMANDING THE TIDES AGAIN?

Canute The Great was the guy who put it all into perspective. He was A Viking King, conqueror of England and most of Scandinavia and by all accounts a formidable commander and monarch. He ruled from approximately 1016 to 1035, just after the turn of the first millennium. As was the habit of those days, the people who lived under his rule tripped over themselves to attribute all sorts of omnipotent powers to their kings (hence the nickname "The Great"), figuring maybe on the one hand he'll favor them and on the other that some of those supernatural powers will reflect back on themselves. Pretty foolish notions, but that was the way of the world back then.

Either way, Canute was unimpressed by all this idolatry and invented glory for himself, who he knew to be just a man. To emphasize his point, he had his subjects take him down to the sea where he commanded the tides to obey him, with of course the predictable result of the tide paying no attention whatsoever to Canute The Great and rolling in and out right on schedule, proving themselves perhaps Greater Than Canute. His point made, he resumed his reign over men and matters in which he could make a difference. Who knows, maybe that symbolic act of demonstrating the limits of earthly royal power planted the seeds of doubt in men's minds that led to the social and revolutionary reforms of later centuries.

So now here we are just after the turn of the 3rd millennium and some people have their eyes on the tides again. Only this time, nobody's planning to order them around. You see, unlike in Canute's time, there's a bit of a shortage of energy in the world as we run out of things to burn. But some have noted that since Roman times the tides have been used to power mills. They were not harnessed or anything so dramatic or unattainable, just sort of tapped into while they made their way in and out of the shoreline. The tide rolls in, a wheel spins and crushes grain into flour, the tide rolls out, the same thing happens in reverse. Bingo, pulverized grain without having to have men or oxen walk in a circle pushing heavy millstones, the energy instead provided by the oceans; steady, reliable and completely predictable.

Now it's time for these tides to spin turbines and produce electricity. We've been producing power from waterfalls forever, but not every nation is blessed with a bunch of powerful Niagaras or Victoria Falls, and some rivers and waterfalls dry up to a trickle during dry seasons and prolonged droughts. Not so the oceans. You could set your watch to the coming and going of the tides and the power that propels them is immeasurable. Just as Niagara is not controlled in any way, the tides too can be tapped into for energy, lots and lots of it. And unlike other forms of alternate energy, the tides keep their appointed rounds whether or not the wind is blowing or the sun is shining.

So let's go down to the beach and do something besides getting sunburnt and building sand castles. We'll still be able to do plenty of that too, especially if the ocean is providing us with enough electricity to produce electric cars and trains and the like. And the beauty of it is that nothing needs to be invented to harness wave power. The technology exists, the tides exist and we exist. Time to put those ingredients together. Old Canute would be proud, maybe even say "Now, that's Great!"