Saturday 20 September 2008

Canadiana "odd but true"


Canada's foundation - permafrost - may be more solid than previously thought, scientists say.

University of Alberta geologist Duane Froese, lead author of a report today in the journal Science describing the ancient permafrost found just south of Dawson City. Scientists speculate that their results may cast doubt on a number of assumptions about past temperature measurement that predict immediate catastrophic Climate Change.

A swath of frozen mud and ice, inadvertently exposed by miners in the Central Yukon, is proving to be scientific gold. The permafrost turns out to be about 740,000 years old and contains the oldest ice yet uncovered in North America, researchers say. It predates the arrival of long-extinct creatures such as the woolly mammoth, and has weathered some remarkable swings in the climate, including two notable warm spells 120,000 and 400,000 years ago when temperatures were higher than they are today.

The discovery suggests permafrost more than a few metres below the surface, and the huge store of carbon it contains, may be more stable than previously thought.

Ocean's 11 hits Orillia


This article was too good! One wonders how long after the movie came out that someone twigged to the problem. The National Post has done a good job on covering this story. It seems to simple to take the Casino's on from this story.












Thursday 18 September 2008

Russia market meltdown due to... KGB?

Diane Francis notes that the shutdown of the Russian Stock market has more to do with the Vlad (the impaler) PUTIN's nostalgia for the "good ole days" - than Lehman Bros & Wamu's financial meltdowns.

This flags the result of a "financial market referendum" on the Georgian Invasion - among other things. Military support provided to Hugo CHAVEZ in Venezuela. Declaration of aggressive boundary disputes in the Arctic - which will challenge Canadian Sovereignty. Continued agitation in Ukraine Parliament which just disolved and distribution of Russian "passports" to large native russians in Sebastopol - the Black Sea port city and home to Russian Fleet. Russia similarly distributed passports in South Ossetia in order to provide it with a justification for the invasion in August.

Francis also writes "Moscow actually thinks it's a super power, but economically size-wise it's about as important as Alberta, or Norway. It's a tiny economy with an attitude and lots of oil and nobody will help the Ruskies."

That is only partially true. At the time the wall fell in 1991 Russian oil production was struggling at 5-6 mb/d. It is now (2008) at 13.5 mb/d and domestic demand is at most 4.5 mb/d. That leaves excess supply of almost 9 mb/d or 3-4 times Alberta (3.5 mb/d) or Norway(2.5 mb/d). That said, it would not generate enough cash to run a Superpower of the size Putin clearly intends to resemble.





Wednesday 17 September 2008

A primer by Justin Trudeau!

Is Justin taking a page from Obama's playbook? (or should that be bookplay?) One can just tell that he is a "chip off the old block". This group has a Quebecois comedy site (roughly translated "curb your dog").

Is Sarah Palin a Feminist?

Sarah Palin is Annie Oakley.

Camille Paglia - my long-time favourite feminist - correctly chastises Democrats for attempting to maliciously destroy their opponents like Palin. If democrats cease to stand for independent thought and speech, Paglia contends they will have committed political suicide.

What brought me to her was this discussion about Paglia's support for Plain's Pro-Life opinions under title "the uneasy conscience of feminism". Finally I believe I see the way clear on this debate.

Another thing I like about her is that she is practically Canadian - a "hockey mom" - how much more Canadian can you get! While Governor of Alaska she has been a proponent of getting a natural gas pipeline deal completed with TransCanada Pipelines - to the horror of the incumbents Exxon and Conoco who won/run the Valdez oil pipeline. This will a huge bonus for Alberta and makes alot of sense since it can hook up with the existing gas pipeline network.

Another thing is that Teck's Red Dog large lead-zinc mine (supplier of 5% of World Zinc concentrate) on the Bearing Straits, near Nome AK has been a model of "how to negotiate native land claim settlements". I recall learning all about them back in 1990 when I toured the state visiting mining operations in Nome, Anchorage, Fairbanks and Wrangell.

Thursday 11 September 2008

New element discovered

With the initiation of the new Large Hadron Collider (LHC) yesterday in Switzerland, a new element has been discovered:

Governmentium (Gv).

Governmentium has one neutron, 25 assistant neutrons, 88 deputy neutrons and 198 assistant deputy neutrons, giving it an atomic mass of 312. These 312 particles are held together by forces called morons, which are surrounded by vast quantities of lepton-like particles called peons.

Since Governmentium has no electrons, it is inert; however, it can be detected, because it impedes every reaction with which it comes into contact. A tiny amount of Governmentium can cause a reaction that would normally take less than a second, to take from four days to four years to complete.

Governmentium has a normal half-life of two to six years; It does not decay, but instead undergoes a reorganization in which a portion of the assistant neutrons and deputy neutrons exchange places. In fact, Governmentium's mass will actually increase over time, since each reorganization will cause more morons to become neutrons, forming isodopes.

This characteristic of moron promotion leads some scientists to believe that Governmentium is formed whenever morons reach a critical concentration. This hypothetical quantity is referred to as critical morass.

Experiments have taken place using the latest in Confusion Reactor technology.  When Governmentium is catalysed with money, it becomes Administratium (Ad.), an element that radiates just as much energy as Governmentium since it has half as many peons but twice as many morons.

[Much thanks to Dr. Donald Simanek for his assistance on atomic structure of these elements.]

Wednesday 10 September 2008

Stephane DION: Hypocrite One

Lorne Gunter in this piece nicely dices Dion's hypocritical stance on The Green Shift, noting that his aircraft is the "dirtiest" of all the parties election air-transport. He paints a valid parallel to the revelation that Al GORE's home in Atlanta used 20 times the electricity of an average U.S household!

Gunter further "pulls back the curtain" on the hypocrisy of many in the Green movement with the disclosure that during last years Suzuki Foundation cross country campaign, they didn't want to risk the cost of invalidating their vehicles warranty by burning "bio-diesel".

Gunter was also on the money with this article - Dion Ex Machina - the day before.

[Sept 20 - Stephen TAYLOR logs in with this question about CarbonZero new sticker on Hypocrite One. ]

Sunday 7 September 2008

World War II - VJ day

In reading about the end of WWII, I was intrigued about the race to Berlin by the Russian Red Army leading upto "Victory in Europe" Day (VE Day was May 9, 1945). I wondered why the Allies had faced greater challenges in terms of terrain and perhaps resistance. I am not sure if this really even relevant, but I will investigate further in another post.

I was , however, drawn to review developments in the Pacific Theatre that led to VJ Day on Aug 15, 1945 - some 4 months later. After the Japanese rejected terms of surrender proposed at the Potsdam Conference on Jul 26, 1945, President Truman was faced with the worst outcome as described by his military intelligence - that the Japanese would defend every inch of their homeland according to what Emperor Hirohito called the "One Hundred Million" honour. This meant a "kamikaze defense" to be mounted by all citizens to repel invaders known as Operation Ketsu-Go.

General McArthur expected his men to face fierce resistance and be virtually guaranteed hand-to-hand combat until he reached Toyko. The combined invasion force required for the U.S plan (Operation Downfall 1) was 766,700. From May until late July 1945, intelligence estimates of Japanese troop strength rose steadily from 500,000 to 750,000 (8 battle divisions to 10) reinforcing concern about the outcome of invasion. In addition the Emperor and Japanese High Command were strongly influenced by the fateful experience of the 1905 Russian-Japanese War in which a last decisive battle set the stage for a more generous peace settlement.

General McArthur anticipated casualties (killed, missing and wounded) in the final invasion forces to mirror those of the hard-won, sea-land battle for Iwo Jima and Okinakwa (U.S casualties of 20,000 and 46,700 versus Japanese 25,000 and 119,000 - a ratio of U.S/Japanese of 1:1 and 1:2). Losses were placed around 200,000 - 250,000 (50,000+ dead and 150,000+ wounded) - and deemed unacceptable to the American public. These considerations played heavily in the decision to drop the nuclear bomb on Hiroshima on Aug 6, and then Nagasaki on Aug 10.

Final Terms of Surrender were made on Aug 14, 1945.

Footnote:

1) Operation Downfall consisted of two plans - Operation Olympic and Operation Coronet - expected to begin in October 1945.


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