Read About W-N NP story on W-N Contact W-N and Map Invite to Wed1326 Wednesday Night Salon #1326 1 Aug Page 2 Introduction Jaime Webbe photo imgs Catherine Gillbert The Report The Chilcoot (Klondike) Trail The evening started on an unusual and adventurous note as Catherine Gillbert gave a riveting description of her recent trip to Alaska and the Yukon, notably her hiking experience on the Chilcoot Trail. Although Alaska was sold by Russia to the United States in 1867 [for $7,200,000], few Wednesday Nighters are aware of the strong Russian influence that is still evident. The native Indians are Russian Orthodox, the Churches still exist and services are conducted in Tlingit, an indigenous language. The Chilcoot Trail crosses the international boundary between the United States (Skagway) and the Yukon and provided the shortest, cheapest access to the Klondike for prospectors during the Gold Rush (1896-99) prior to the completion of the railway. This was one of the key trails for the Gold Rush, used during the winter of 1883-84 by some 40,000 people, each of whom brought one ton of supplies to enable them to survive for a year in the Yukon. In the end, it seems that nobody made the dreamed-of fortunes from gold discoveries, while the some-300 people who did prosper did so through providing goods and services to the luckless prospectors. Today, the Trail, designated as part of the Klondike Gold Rush International Historical Park, is jointly administered by the U.S. and Canadian national parks services. Catherine was extremely impressed by the quality of the service offered by the Canadian Park Rangers and the extreme care taken of the environment. She noted that last year Alaska had record snowfalls, confusing those observers who do not fully comprehend that the effect of global warming is increased precipitation and therefore, if it is cold, there will be more snow. Russia’s claims to the Arctic (continued) In the great traditions of the Scandinavian saga, the Russian expedition is now poised to lay claim to the Lomonosov Ridge as part of Russia’s continental shelf. Whether this should be viewed as a negotiating ploy or a genuine flexing of the Russian Bear’s claws remains to be seen. Meanwhile, The “New Government” of Canada announced in June that it was devoting $150 million over six years to a research programme in the context of the International Polar Year. Part of the programme is to focus on climate change impacts and adaptation [Editor’s note: on Thursday, August 2, it was reported that Russia symbolically staked its claim to billions of dollars worth of oil and gas reserves in the Arctic Ocean yesterday as two mini-submarines reached the sea bed more than two and a half miles beneath the North Pole. In a record-breaking dive the two craft planted a one metre-high titanium Russian flag on the underwater Lomonosov Ridge, which Moscow claims is directly connected to its continental shelf. The Guardian offers a good background piece]. As the BBC points out , it is not only Canada and Russia who have disagreements over the Arctic. “The US and Canada argue over rights in the North-west Passage, Norway and Russia differ over the Barents Sea, Canada and Denmark are competing over a small island off Greenland, the Russian parliament is refusing to ratify an agreement with the US over the Bering Sea and Denmark is claiming the North Pole itself.” Thus, in the opinion of Wednesday Night, the only certainty is that the international decision-making process will be a long, drawn-out affair that could go on for as much as 40 years. Energy As the race for sovereignty over the polar region is precipitated by the promise of oil, gas and mineral rights worth trillions of dollars, in the interim, New Brunswick and Ontario are opting for new nuclear energy plants for reliable supply of electricity. The next hydro project in Northern Quebec will deliver electricity at 5 cents/kwh; operational nuclear plants that are fully amortized are delivering at 2-3 cents. One criticism of new nuclear plants is the amount of carbon emissions generated by the construction of the facility. But wind power has an equivalent amount of emissions (though without decommissioning costs) and requires a back-up system. Wind farms, under the very best of conditions can only deliver power 35% of the time. The question of how/where to best (most safely) store nuclear waste is still the subject of debate, but there are alternative solutions today and surely better ones will be developed in the near future. We must, however, bear in mind that there is no global prescription and what will work in the developed world is not applicable in other nations or regions. These parts of the world have already demonstrated success in small-scale solutions like solar ovens and the brilliant “playground solution” that allows kids to pump water while playing. Biofuels are also controversial. Not only are they less efficient than other available fuels, but in developed nations such as Canada, the amplified demand for corn (which has the worst environmental impact) and ill-advised western government subsidies have caused farmers to shift their fields to make room for corn, decreasing the supply of other grains, such as soybeans and wheat and inevitably affecting food prices. There is an argument for countries like Brazil where the land used for sugarcane for ethanol production is of no ecological value. The international community is now working to develop standards for the third and fourth generation biofuels that will ensure that they have a positive carbon footprint. The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) is not fundamentally opposed to biofuels - or Genetically Modified Organisms, commonly referred to as GMOs - provided such standards and safeguards are internationally agreed. Biofuels do pose severe risks to the environment if managed carelessly, but they also have the potential to reduce greenhouse gas levels, produce local sources of energy, and restore rural economies. Biofuels will not be able to replace fossil fuels in the future; however, with climate warming, and the cost increases in fossil fuels, biofuels will have to become a significant part of the long-term energy outlook for the planet. One nuclear proponent emphasizes that the first, cheapest, easiest and most obvious policy is Conservation - we could save 30% of the energy we use today without affecting our lifestyles. This can be accomplished by changing not what we do, but the way we do it, e.g. the way we transport goods, the way we make our cars, production methods, etc. Rupert Murdoch & The Dow Jones Corporation Common wisdom has it that as Ruppert Murdoch is a smart businessman, he is unlikely to do anything to damage the Wall Street Journal or Barron’s brand other than to make it more accessible to broader readership, while aggressively competing for the New York Times’ advertising, market share and standing. Amidst all of the wailing and gnashing of teeth over the acquisition, it must be remembered that the Dow Jones Corporation had the lowest return over the past 20 years of any media conglomerate, so this represents a real business opportunity. A more generic question is whether there is a complete disconnect between those (intelligentsia) who report and write the news and the vast number of readers and potential readers whose values are vastly different. A corollary is that in Canada, while the National Post is avowedly conservative and to the Right in its thinking, other ‘mainstream’ national media have a less obvious liberal atheist bias. A heated discussion of the role of believers/nonbelievers, declared and undeclared religious affiliations, and their role in the media and in society followed. The underlying issues are perhaps not so much the role of the publisher, editor or reporter, but the concentration of ownership across the media, and the role of the reader in sifting through the declared and undeclared biases, reading - or viewing - a sufficiently broad sampling of commentary and arriving at conclusions based on his or her own analysis. Given the concentration of media ownership, this requires effort on the part of the audience to go further afield to seek out other information, news and views. One Wednesday Nighter pointed to the Internet as the solution, stating that, at least in the case of CBC, the greatest number of downloads are not of news, but of ideas. In support of this statement is the fact that one of the most downloaded [AWFUL adjective] sites is Quirks & Quarks, which is very encouraging, especially by young Canadians. Dee Thursday 25 Apr 2007 To day NYT Podcast | Menu Radio Like the report of Mark Twain's death, reports of the death of radio –at least FM – are greatly exaggerated. Real estate Bulletin Board www.flickr.com More of davidnicholson's photos tagged with Wed1326 Wed 1326 slide show Canadian dollar is expected to decline against its U.S. counterpart. The economy See also JACQUES CLEMENT: Pages ON THE ECONOMY Previous Videos Notes by Herb Bercovitz OWN Editor: Diana Thébaud Nicholson OWN Radio, the long-lasting treasure intro Wed1326 | Wed1326 slide show Oil DTN OWN more Louise | DTN Diana Nicholson OWN slides | hands | all | & Louise 3-M slides | albums | all Jacques Clément OWN slides Gerald Ratzer OWN Note Wednesday-Night creates charts and follows stocks, including timely related financial news items, in which Wednesday Nighters are interested and in order to demonstrate a service that could eventually be developed and marketed. Wednesday Nighters are invited to participate and help to test the service. see Wednesday-Night.com Flip charts QUOTES of the EVENING from recent Wednesday Nights 2007 From #1326 invite It’s not a Bush problem, it’s an American problem. He is playing double or nothing. He is trying to shift the responsibility from the Coalition to the Iraqis New York City has more police officers than Iraq has troops More Quotes Short | Full List www.flickr.com This is a Flickr badge showing public photos from davidnicholson tagged with diananicholson. Make your own badge here. Diana Nicholson Past Quotes Best or All Mouse bio see Diana show hands | RJG | Album Herb Bercovitz OWN Galbraith imges his page See slides | Album and Art slides | Album W-N Links for #1326 a NewYorker Cartoon every 30 sec. see w-n Right Menu => Harper's Home 2007 Notes for #1326 Rex Murphy's Point of View index July 9 The Fox In the Henhouse Several TIME stories Rupert Murdoch is a 21st century media mogul. So why does he want to buy the Wall Street Journal? Inside his quest for the paper and posterity Thursday 02 August 2007 ISN’T RUSSIA BIG ENOUGH ALREADY? CTV News and the Globe front, while the Star goes inside with Russia’s most recent move in the ongoing diplomatic chess match over Arctic sovereignty. Yesterday, a Russian icebreaker arrived at the North Pole after plowing through an unbroken sheet of multiyear ice in the Arctic Ocean, making way for two Russian mini-submarines. The subs are to become the first ships ever to descend to the seabed under the North Pole, where, at a depth of 13,200 feet, they will place a Russian flag. This symbolic gesture is the latest move in a longstanding debate over which country—or countries—has a legitimate claim to the oil-rich ground beneath the Arctic Ocean. Canada, Russia, the US, Greenland and Norway all claim sovereignty over the land, which is thought to hold roughly 10 billion tons of oil and gas deposits. The Globe reports that both Canada and Russia are preparing to make an official claim to the continental shelf by the end of 2013, according to their ratification of the UN Law of the Sea. However, even if Canada were to be officially granted sovereignty over the land, there’s not much that could be done with it: the Globe reports that of the five extreme-depth submarines in the world, two belong to Russia and none to Canada. Besides the brazen land-grab, Russian scientists aboard the subs also plan to gather geologic samples and study the unexplored plant and animal life of the Arctic. Downtown landmark for sale Landmark Windsor Station, once the bustling hub of Montreal's passenger-rail network, is up... Gallery: A look at Windsor Station Archive: Travelling in time Archive: End of line for headquarters Archive: Dressed up, nowhere to go Wednesday 01 August 2007 rci TORONTO: ACQUITTAL IS VERDICT IN CASE OF WORST MINING SCANDAL A court in the Canadian province of Ontario has handed down a verdict in the worst fraud case in the history of Canada's mining sector. The court found former geologist John Felderhof of the defunct mining company Bre-X not guilty of illegal insider trading. The Ontario Securities Commission claimed he traded $84 million worth of Bre-X stock in a few months in 1996 while being aware that there was no gold at the company's site at Busang, Indonesia. The former geologist lives in Indonesia and was not present for Tuesday's verdict. more | imgs Menu to mitworld.mit.edu/ on-demand videos of significant public events at MIT. in RealPlayer Ex Thomas L. Friedman. While you were Seeping The World IS Flat Video length is 1:15:04. Stephen S. Poloz VP EDC Economics Weekly Commentary Car Production Clouding Economic Signals - August 1, 2007 Economists have at their disposal an amazing array of statistics on the economy – production, sales, shipments, exports and imports, employment, and so on. Rarely do all these statistics offer the same story, and sometimes a single development can truly cloud things. Consider two widely-held perceptions. First, the U.S. economy slowed dramatically in the early months of this year, but there are signs from manufacturing that things strengthened a little in the summer months. Second, the consensus view is that the Canadian economy has been humming overall, but manufacturing has been struggling. Yet, even in Canadian manufacturing the news appears to have improved in the summer months, as shipments have picked up. Past issues | his WN page Commentary podcast. Wednesday-Night.com on Privacy Canadian dollar vs euro | Dow 30 w-n chart | TSX Fed Parties Stéphan Dion | Stevie Harper 25 see also Wednesday-Night.com MedicalNotes Would you like to the Computer Box Click Here To Add Wed1326page2.asp To Your Favorites More Info About... Read Cookie for Site Please click here to see new/updated pages since last visit www.iedm.org/ coming Events Wed1325 report Wed1326 invite Wed1327 invite The views above are neither those of the authors nor the owner of the website, but merely reflect discussions that took place on this evening