Scientists plead for action to save poles from 'tipping point' disaster
Robin McKie, science editor
Sunday March 12, 2006
The Observer
Researchers have uncovered compelling evidence that indicates Earth's most vulnerable regions - the North and South Poles - are poised on the brink of a climatic disaster.
The scientists, at an atmospheric monitoring station in the Norwegian territory of Svalbard, have found that levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere near the North Pole are now rising at an unprecedented pace.
In 1990 this key cause of global warming was rising at a rate of 1 part per million (ppm). Recently, that rate reached 2 ppm per year. Now, scientists at the Mount Zeppelin monitoring station have discovered it is rising at between 2.5 and 3 ppm.
'The fact that our data now show acceleration in the rise of carbon dioxide level is really a source for concern,' said Professor Johan Strom, of Stockholm University's department of applied environmental science, which runs the Mount Zeppelin station. 'The increase is also seen at other stations, but our Zeppelin data show the strongest increase.'
The news of the latest carbon dioxide figures comes as scientists prepare to announce details of the forthcoming International Polar Year programme, which will involve teams of scientists from around the world making a concerted attempt to understand the impact of global warming in the world's high latitudes. In particular, they will concentrate on the social impact of climate change there and also the threats to the regions' wildlife, such as polar bears and walruses.
In the last two decades, carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere have risen from 350 to 380 ppm and scientists warn that once levels reach 500, there could be irreversible consequences that would tip the planet toward disaster: glacier melts triggering devastating sea-level rises and spreading deserts across Africa and Asia.
Scientists and campaigners are desperate for politicians to reach agreements that will prevent the 500 ppm 'tipping point' being breached in the next half-century. These new data suggest they may have a far shorter period of time in which to act.
'Fortunately, this rate of rise of carbon dioxide is not yet seen round the world,' added Strom. 'However, it may be that we have been the first to detect it, and that we are seeing some kind of special effect that could have widespread consequences in a few years.'
One theory proposed by Strom is that heating of the oceans could be leading to the release of carbon dioxide. Other scientists suggest that as the world warms, the Arctic tundra - previously gripped by permafrost - may be giving off carbon dioxide as it melts, releasing gas from vegetation trapped within it that has now started to rot. Thus levels of the gas would increase with particular rapidity near the North Pole.
The latest data from Mount Zeppelin comes in the wake of a series of other alarming reports about the effects of global warming in the Arctic and Antarctic. It was recently discovered that ice sheets are now covering less of the Arctic Ocean than ever before; that Greenland is shedding sheets of ice far faster than previously realised; that the West Antarctic ice cap is dwindling at an unexpectedly high rate; and that the Gulf Stream is showing worrying signs of being disrupted by Arctic meltwaters.
The last effect is particularly worrying, because the waters of the Gulf Stream play a key role in keeping Britain and Europe from freezing in winter. Should it disappear, the consequences for the country would be profound.
'The crucial point is that you can't look at the Arctic and Antarctic in isolation,' said Professor Chris Rapley, head of the British Antarctic Survey. 'What happens there has profound consequences for the rest of the planet.'
It was thought until recently that it would take up to 1,000 years for heat to penetrate the Greenland ice shield and melt it. But the latest data show that large parts of it are actually sliding in lumps into the sea. 'That means it is likely to take far less time to raise sea levels,' added Rapley. 'And if Greenland's ice melts, we will be in trouble. There will be a seven-metre rise in the oceans. The Thames Barrier would be swamped.'
13 March 2006
10 March 2006
Fryday
I'm fried. It's been one of those weeks. I went for hot Vietnamese soup with Jeffy, Doug and BK at our regular haunt in Chinatown. Not much going on with the gang this week. Everyone's just focused on making it through March in one piece. Things will start looking up in April - I hope.
Nothing much to report. I'm cutting out of work early and heading home. I have no doubts that I'm going to get service calls this weekend, so the idea of sticking around the office until 5pm can blow me.
I'm planning on laying low tonight, getting some eBay auctions lined up for Ryan's paintings and going to bed early. Tomorrow I don't have to curl, but I have my regular running and gym 'appointments' in the morning and afternoon, and then everyone's getting together pre-Mardi Gras for some drinks and prayers. I'm encouraging everyone to at least make a weak attempt at showing up in some sort of festive attire for the dance.
Depending on how Saturday night goes, Sunday may or may not be an sluggish day. I'm supposed to go down to Ryan's to take more digital pics of the artwork for the eBay sales, and then I have a Synergy exec meeting at 5pm at Cafe Beano. I've managed to get all the financial reporting done for Alberta Corporate Registries AND the AGLC, but now I need to round up the auditors to look over everything and sign off on the stupid documents so I can try to get them submitted AGAIN. Frackin' bureaucracies. The government spends more on postage to send documentation BACK to people that they would ever publicly admit. It's all quite ridiculous.
But I digress. Here's to one more quiet weekend. Oh yeah! Some new Trezlie pics!
Snowbabies
Big smile
Nothing much to report. I'm cutting out of work early and heading home. I have no doubts that I'm going to get service calls this weekend, so the idea of sticking around the office until 5pm can blow me.
I'm planning on laying low tonight, getting some eBay auctions lined up for Ryan's paintings and going to bed early. Tomorrow I don't have to curl, but I have my regular running and gym 'appointments' in the morning and afternoon, and then everyone's getting together pre-Mardi Gras for some drinks and prayers. I'm encouraging everyone to at least make a weak attempt at showing up in some sort of festive attire for the dance.
Depending on how Saturday night goes, Sunday may or may not be an sluggish day. I'm supposed to go down to Ryan's to take more digital pics of the artwork for the eBay sales, and then I have a Synergy exec meeting at 5pm at Cafe Beano. I've managed to get all the financial reporting done for Alberta Corporate Registries AND the AGLC, but now I need to round up the auditors to look over everything and sign off on the stupid documents so I can try to get them submitted AGAIN. Frackin' bureaucracies. The government spends more on postage to send documentation BACK to people that they would ever publicly admit. It's all quite ridiculous.
But I digress. Here's to one more quiet weekend. Oh yeah! Some new Trezlie pics!
Snowbabies
Big smile
09 March 2006
Retraction
My source for said entry below is incorrect, and I must retract it. The original discoverer of this lovely video montage was Jon of the JKE. Keep finding those StumbleUpon treasures, Jon!
08 March 2006
Don Hertzfeldt's Rejected Movies
Jon sent out this link today. I love sick and twisted cartoons! These ones are hilarious.
James' favorite new quote: "MY ANUS IS BLEEDING"...
REJECTED MOVIES
http://www.bitterfilms.com
James' favorite new quote: "MY ANUS IS BLEEDING"...
REJECTED MOVIES
http://www.bitterfilms.com
Mør Nooz
Alberta's oil sands royalties surge
Alberta's revenue will jump by hundreds of millions this year as the soaring price of crude pushes oil sands megaprojects into a higher royalty bracket. The province is already swimming in record energy income, which will top $14.3-billion in fiscal 2005-06, according to the budget update released last week. But most of that comes from natural gas royalties of $8.2B. Oil sands royalties are a distant fourth, with $1.2B projected for the current fiscal year, even though just under half of Canada's crude production comes from the megaprojects of northern Alberta. The reason for the discrepancy - the generous royalty breaks that Alberta has extended to the oil sands sector, which allow a project to pay a much lower rate until it has recouped its initial capital investment. So, many new projects will have to earn billions before they start paying the higher rate, when royalties typically rise eightfold. But Syncrude Canada, the second-oldest oil sands project, has already started to pay higher rates, since it will shortly exhaust its credits. And that will give Alberta - already racking up a budget surplus of more than $10B for 2005-06 - an additional half a billion dollars in oil sands royalties for this year.
(Globe and Mail 060308)
So much freakin' money. We really need some competent leadership at the helm, now. Otherwise this fabulous windfall is going to disappear due to political idiocy.
Report accuses oilsands of fuelling US war machine
Canada should slap a double-barrelled moratorium on oilsands and Arctic pipeline development, according to a group of think-tanks that believe the country needs time to take a sober second look at its energy future. Ottawa has a duty to address far-reaching questions about Canada's cross-border trade relationship and the wisdom of a current energy export policy which, they say, is feeding the US energy addiction at the expense of domestic supplies. The attention-getting call is packaged in an offering commissioned by three left-leaning policy groups titled, Fuelling Fortress America: A Report on the Athabasca Tar Sands and US Demands for Canada's Energy. While long on principle, the report's author admits that calling for a moratorium is unlikely to see any practical follow through. "It's intended to be a kind of wake-up call," said Hugh McCullum, a journalist retained by the University of Alberta's Parkland Institute, the Polaris Institute and the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives to write the report. "It's intended to try to draw attention in as graphic a way as we can . . . to these serious issues." Moratoria aside, the report says Canada's open-door export policy puts its own energy security at risk. Specifically, the policy groups believe Ottawa needs to rescind NAFTA's energy-sharing clause, which basically says Canada can't curtail exports without cutting back consumption by a proportional amount. Philosophically, the report says Canada's energy policy offers complicit support to American foreign policy in general, and the US military-industrial complex in particular.
(Calgary Herald 060308)
This is an interesting development. I think a lot of Canadians have secretly wondered this themselves, but because of the FTA and NAFTA, everyone knew we had no recourse. We really still don't - oil is still sold on the global market. If you're getting into selecting customers based on what they do with the product, then you're getting into planned economy territory. IF things become dire and oil becomes a lot more sought after than now, and it's a matter of keeping Canadians from freezing in the dark or selling it to the American or International market, what would happen?
Exxon Mobil to boost spending
Exxon Mobil forecast Wednesday that its spending on oil and gas drilling, refining and chemicals manufacturing would rise from about US$18 billion now to almost $20B a year between 2007 and 2010. The world's largest publicly traded oil company said in a presentation prepared for Wall Street analysts that roughly three-fourths of that amount would go to oil and natural gas exploration and production, and that this would help boost its output capacity by two million barrels a day by 2015. In 2005, Exxon said it produced more than four million barrels of oil equivalent. Exxon ceo Rex Tillerson said the company's estimated boost in spending "is not driven by short-term swings in commodity prices or earnings," but rather reflects a methodical completion of projects already waiting in the wings. "We invest our shareholders' money wisely, in projects that remain attractive over the long term," Tillerson said. Tillerson said the company is also focused on reducing costs, pointing out that the company found $1B worth of operating efficiencies in 2005 and would hit that target again in 2006 - "more than offsetting inflation." He said Exxon's workforce is about 14% smaller than it was five years ago. The company identified 46 major projects that would start up between 2006 and 2008, including development of oil and gas fields in Canada, the Gulf of Mexico and West Africa.
(Associated Press 060308)
Oil exploration, extraction and processing is only going to get more and more expensive as we have to plunder more exotic locales to find less and less of the stuff in poorer qualities. This all costs a lot more to bring to market. Of course some people would argue the point with me that there's still a lot of easy oil still to be found. I beg to differ.
Carmakers join oil companies in synthetic fuel venture
International oil companies and carmakers have joined forces to promote a new generation of synthetic fuels derived from natural gas or coal at a time when many are seeking alternatives to oil. DaimlerChrysler, Renault and Volkswagen have teamed up with Royal Dutch Shell and SasolChevron in a new body, the Alliance of Synthetic Fuels in Europe. The two oil companies are pioneering a novel technology that can be used to produce high-quality diesel fuel from natural gas or biomass instead of oil. Diesel engines burning the synthetic fuels are cleaner-running, making them appealing both to carmakers facing strict exhaust gas controls and to governments trying to deal with vehicle pollution in cities. But only fuel made from biomass -- a process still at the experimental stage -- provides improved greenhouse gas emissions, with coal-based fuel producing almost twice as much carbon dioxide as ordinary diesel. GTL produces about the same level as ordinary diesel. Oil companies are investing billions of dollars in new "gas to liquids" plants that use a method developed in Nazi Germany and apartheid-era South Africa to turn gas, coal or biomass into products traditionally refined from oil. Of the three processes, GTL is the most commercially advanced. The first large-scale commercial GTL plant is due to open in the coming weeks in Qatar, a joint venture between Sasol and Qatar Petroleum.
(National Post 060308)
I've read that these ventures are very optimistic in the amount of energy required to produce viable energy alternatives. The EROEI (energy returned on energy invested) for most of these alternative fuels is very low, thus barely, if ever, economical. Maybe that sort of stuff won't matter much in a future of energy shortages - maybe it will. Who knows?
Alberta's revenue will jump by hundreds of millions this year as the soaring price of crude pushes oil sands megaprojects into a higher royalty bracket. The province is already swimming in record energy income, which will top $14.3-billion in fiscal 2005-06, according to the budget update released last week. But most of that comes from natural gas royalties of $8.2B. Oil sands royalties are a distant fourth, with $1.2B projected for the current fiscal year, even though just under half of Canada's crude production comes from the megaprojects of northern Alberta. The reason for the discrepancy - the generous royalty breaks that Alberta has extended to the oil sands sector, which allow a project to pay a much lower rate until it has recouped its initial capital investment. So, many new projects will have to earn billions before they start paying the higher rate, when royalties typically rise eightfold. But Syncrude Canada, the second-oldest oil sands project, has already started to pay higher rates, since it will shortly exhaust its credits. And that will give Alberta - already racking up a budget surplus of more than $10B for 2005-06 - an additional half a billion dollars in oil sands royalties for this year.
(Globe and Mail 060308)
So much freakin' money. We really need some competent leadership at the helm, now. Otherwise this fabulous windfall is going to disappear due to political idiocy.
Report accuses oilsands of fuelling US war machine
Canada should slap a double-barrelled moratorium on oilsands and Arctic pipeline development, according to a group of think-tanks that believe the country needs time to take a sober second look at its energy future. Ottawa has a duty to address far-reaching questions about Canada's cross-border trade relationship and the wisdom of a current energy export policy which, they say, is feeding the US energy addiction at the expense of domestic supplies. The attention-getting call is packaged in an offering commissioned by three left-leaning policy groups titled, Fuelling Fortress America: A Report on the Athabasca Tar Sands and US Demands for Canada's Energy. While long on principle, the report's author admits that calling for a moratorium is unlikely to see any practical follow through. "It's intended to be a kind of wake-up call," said Hugh McCullum, a journalist retained by the University of Alberta's Parkland Institute, the Polaris Institute and the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives to write the report. "It's intended to try to draw attention in as graphic a way as we can . . . to these serious issues." Moratoria aside, the report says Canada's open-door export policy puts its own energy security at risk. Specifically, the policy groups believe Ottawa needs to rescind NAFTA's energy-sharing clause, which basically says Canada can't curtail exports without cutting back consumption by a proportional amount. Philosophically, the report says Canada's energy policy offers complicit support to American foreign policy in general, and the US military-industrial complex in particular.
(Calgary Herald 060308)
This is an interesting development. I think a lot of Canadians have secretly wondered this themselves, but because of the FTA and NAFTA, everyone knew we had no recourse. We really still don't - oil is still sold on the global market. If you're getting into selecting customers based on what they do with the product, then you're getting into planned economy territory. IF things become dire and oil becomes a lot more sought after than now, and it's a matter of keeping Canadians from freezing in the dark or selling it to the American or International market, what would happen?
Exxon Mobil to boost spending
Exxon Mobil forecast Wednesday that its spending on oil and gas drilling, refining and chemicals manufacturing would rise from about US$18 billion now to almost $20B a year between 2007 and 2010. The world's largest publicly traded oil company said in a presentation prepared for Wall Street analysts that roughly three-fourths of that amount would go to oil and natural gas exploration and production, and that this would help boost its output capacity by two million barrels a day by 2015. In 2005, Exxon said it produced more than four million barrels of oil equivalent. Exxon ceo Rex Tillerson said the company's estimated boost in spending "is not driven by short-term swings in commodity prices or earnings," but rather reflects a methodical completion of projects already waiting in the wings. "We invest our shareholders' money wisely, in projects that remain attractive over the long term," Tillerson said. Tillerson said the company is also focused on reducing costs, pointing out that the company found $1B worth of operating efficiencies in 2005 and would hit that target again in 2006 - "more than offsetting inflation." He said Exxon's workforce is about 14% smaller than it was five years ago. The company identified 46 major projects that would start up between 2006 and 2008, including development of oil and gas fields in Canada, the Gulf of Mexico and West Africa.
(Associated Press 060308)
Oil exploration, extraction and processing is only going to get more and more expensive as we have to plunder more exotic locales to find less and less of the stuff in poorer qualities. This all costs a lot more to bring to market. Of course some people would argue the point with me that there's still a lot of easy oil still to be found. I beg to differ.
Carmakers join oil companies in synthetic fuel venture
International oil companies and carmakers have joined forces to promote a new generation of synthetic fuels derived from natural gas or coal at a time when many are seeking alternatives to oil. DaimlerChrysler, Renault and Volkswagen have teamed up with Royal Dutch Shell and SasolChevron in a new body, the Alliance of Synthetic Fuels in Europe. The two oil companies are pioneering a novel technology that can be used to produce high-quality diesel fuel from natural gas or biomass instead of oil. Diesel engines burning the synthetic fuels are cleaner-running, making them appealing both to carmakers facing strict exhaust gas controls and to governments trying to deal with vehicle pollution in cities. But only fuel made from biomass -- a process still at the experimental stage -- provides improved greenhouse gas emissions, with coal-based fuel producing almost twice as much carbon dioxide as ordinary diesel. GTL produces about the same level as ordinary diesel. Oil companies are investing billions of dollars in new "gas to liquids" plants that use a method developed in Nazi Germany and apartheid-era South Africa to turn gas, coal or biomass into products traditionally refined from oil. Of the three processes, GTL is the most commercially advanced. The first large-scale commercial GTL plant is due to open in the coming weeks in Qatar, a joint venture between Sasol and Qatar Petroleum.
(National Post 060308)
I've read that these ventures are very optimistic in the amount of energy required to produce viable energy alternatives. The EROEI (energy returned on energy invested) for most of these alternative fuels is very low, thus barely, if ever, economical. Maybe that sort of stuff won't matter much in a future of energy shortages - maybe it will. Who knows?
07 March 2006
How to Cook Your Treasury Goose
Take one average empire bird, fat and happy from years of self-congratulatory rhetoric; pluck out all manufacturing and outsource most services. Liberally sprinkle with billions and billions of trade deficit dollars. Stuff with debt until bursting and tie together with an asset bubble. Stick into medium oven and frequently baste with (higher priced) oil.
Question – how long will it take the bird to cook? Multiple-choice answers below:
a) It will never cook properly. Since debt expands when heated, the bird will explode soon after placed in the oven.
b) One minute. With all the goodies plucked out and outsourced, there is nothing left but skin and bone.
c) Forever. The bird has Manifest Destiny genes and petrodollar hormones that keep it cool when heated.
d) Indeterminate. The Fed’s cooks can inflate the bird in proportion to the heat applied, thus keeping everyone guessing.
e) None of the above. The particular bird was shot in a Dick Cheney hunting trip and is not immediately available for cooking.
Question – how long will it take the bird to cook? Multiple-choice answers below:
a) It will never cook properly. Since debt expands when heated, the bird will explode soon after placed in the oven.
b) One minute. With all the goodies plucked out and outsourced, there is nothing left but skin and bone.
c) Forever. The bird has Manifest Destiny genes and petrodollar hormones that keep it cool when heated.
d) Indeterminate. The Fed’s cooks can inflate the bird in proportion to the heat applied, thus keeping everyone guessing.
e) None of the above. The particular bird was shot in a Dick Cheney hunting trip and is not immediately available for cooking.
03 March 2006
Güd nooz, båd nooz
Canada looking like Switzerland, economist says
Forget suffering from "Dutch disease." Canada is thriving with "Swiss syndrome," an economist said yesterday. Many analysts have warned Canada may be falling into the same trap that befell the Netherlands in the late 1950s when the discovery of North Sea gas sent the Dutch currency soaring and the manufacturing sector tumbling soon after. But Douglas Porter, deputy chief economist at BMO Nesbitt Burns, said Canada's economic fundamentals may be more in line with those of Switzerland, which is typically viewed as the gold-standard economic model with a massive current account surplus, a super-strong currency, rock-bottom unemployment, miniscule inflation and consistently low interest rates. "Switzerland may have beaten Canada at its own game in the recent Olympic hockey tourney, but we are catching them at their game - now boasting some of the soundest economic fundamentals in the world," Porter wrote in a report. Canada can also point to some positives that Switzerland can't, including solid gross domestic product and a government budget surplus.
Raging commodity prices may have been a major factor driving the loonie to new peaks - it reached a 14-year high of US88.50 cents yesterday as oil rebounded - but Canada's dramatically improved fiscal and credit position should not be overlooked, he said. Canada's overall government sector was in surplus to the tune of 1.7% of GDP, according to recent 2005 figures, the second-best annual performance on record dating back to the 1960s, trailing only the boom year of 2000. While the government is set to loosen the purse strings this year, Canada should remain in surplus while Switzerland's deficit is expected to stay above 1% of GDP. Sliding government debt has combined with persistently low interest rates to chop Canada's foreign net liabilities to 12% of GDP from more than 44% in 1994 and brought net interest and dividend payments on that debt to their lowest share of GDP in at least 40 years. In addition to reaching new highs against the US dollar, the loonie also broke below $2 per British pound this week for the first time in more than a decade. Porter said it is likely only a matter of time before Canada's foreign net liabilities shrink to zero and Canada joins Switzerland, Japan, Germany and Norway as net creditor nations. Perhaps then, the loonie could join the Swiss franc in having "safe-haven" status, acting as a port of call in times of global distress, especially with Canada one of the few geopolitically stable countries exporting oil. Canada's manufacturing sector will likely continue suffering some element of Dutch disease, Porter said. "Beyond bragging rights and a triple-A credit rating, the real economic payoff from very healthy economic fundamentals is found in rising living standards flowing from a deservedly strong currency and low long-term borrowing costs," he added.
(National Post 060303)
Raw materials exports are rosy these days, however this can change in very short order. Canada still has big issues with diversification and productivity lags. We are still stuck in the 'drawers of water, hewers of wood' mentality in this country. Too many natural resources, not enough population to plunder it to unsustainability.
OPEC has sense market needs more crude oil: Bodman
US energy secretary Sam Bodman said on Friday he believes OPEC has a sense that with current high oil prices, markets need more, not less, crude oil from the cartel. Bodman said he did not know what OPEC ministers will do to their production levels when they meet next week. However, he said in his meeting this week with OPEC's president that "their sense was that with the prices that we're looking at it, that market is going to need more rather than less oil." Separately, Bodman said the Bush administration now sees problems with creating separate US gasoline and natural gas emergency stockpiles and that idea has become less of a priority with the administration. Bodman also said the Bush administration has no plans to raise taxes on gasoline or other forms of energy.
(Washington Post 060303)
*Urgh* Politicians. I just don't get it. Freakin' raise taxes already! What are you waiting for? It's so simple. You agree that North Americans are addicted to oil and a free-driving lifestyle, but you don't want to do anything about it for fear of losing power and prestige and upsetting your corporate cronies. How pathetic. Yeah, yeah, the economy suffers, until you realize there is still as much money in the system as before, just better appropriated. Use that extra tax money to stimulate alternate energy research and technologies and public transportation initiatives. Make car owners and drivers pay a more accurate reflective cost of their lifestyle choices. Car ownership should still be seen as a privilege, not a right. Everything will even out after the adjustment period. Europe has followed this model for decades. Fuck!
Spineless thieves, the whole lot of them. Government for the people, by the people was a concept lost long, long ago.
Forget suffering from "Dutch disease." Canada is thriving with "Swiss syndrome," an economist said yesterday. Many analysts have warned Canada may be falling into the same trap that befell the Netherlands in the late 1950s when the discovery of North Sea gas sent the Dutch currency soaring and the manufacturing sector tumbling soon after. But Douglas Porter, deputy chief economist at BMO Nesbitt Burns, said Canada's economic fundamentals may be more in line with those of Switzerland, which is typically viewed as the gold-standard economic model with a massive current account surplus, a super-strong currency, rock-bottom unemployment, miniscule inflation and consistently low interest rates. "Switzerland may have beaten Canada at its own game in the recent Olympic hockey tourney, but we are catching them at their game - now boasting some of the soundest economic fundamentals in the world," Porter wrote in a report. Canada can also point to some positives that Switzerland can't, including solid gross domestic product and a government budget surplus.
Raging commodity prices may have been a major factor driving the loonie to new peaks - it reached a 14-year high of US88.50 cents yesterday as oil rebounded - but Canada's dramatically improved fiscal and credit position should not be overlooked, he said. Canada's overall government sector was in surplus to the tune of 1.7% of GDP, according to recent 2005 figures, the second-best annual performance on record dating back to the 1960s, trailing only the boom year of 2000. While the government is set to loosen the purse strings this year, Canada should remain in surplus while Switzerland's deficit is expected to stay above 1% of GDP. Sliding government debt has combined with persistently low interest rates to chop Canada's foreign net liabilities to 12% of GDP from more than 44% in 1994 and brought net interest and dividend payments on that debt to their lowest share of GDP in at least 40 years. In addition to reaching new highs against the US dollar, the loonie also broke below $2 per British pound this week for the first time in more than a decade. Porter said it is likely only a matter of time before Canada's foreign net liabilities shrink to zero and Canada joins Switzerland, Japan, Germany and Norway as net creditor nations. Perhaps then, the loonie could join the Swiss franc in having "safe-haven" status, acting as a port of call in times of global distress, especially with Canada one of the few geopolitically stable countries exporting oil. Canada's manufacturing sector will likely continue suffering some element of Dutch disease, Porter said. "Beyond bragging rights and a triple-A credit rating, the real economic payoff from very healthy economic fundamentals is found in rising living standards flowing from a deservedly strong currency and low long-term borrowing costs," he added.
(National Post 060303)
Raw materials exports are rosy these days, however this can change in very short order. Canada still has big issues with diversification and productivity lags. We are still stuck in the 'drawers of water, hewers of wood' mentality in this country. Too many natural resources, not enough population to plunder it to unsustainability.
OPEC has sense market needs more crude oil: Bodman
US energy secretary Sam Bodman said on Friday he believes OPEC has a sense that with current high oil prices, markets need more, not less, crude oil from the cartel. Bodman said he did not know what OPEC ministers will do to their production levels when they meet next week. However, he said in his meeting this week with OPEC's president that "their sense was that with the prices that we're looking at it, that market is going to need more rather than less oil." Separately, Bodman said the Bush administration now sees problems with creating separate US gasoline and natural gas emergency stockpiles and that idea has become less of a priority with the administration. Bodman also said the Bush administration has no plans to raise taxes on gasoline or other forms of energy.
(Washington Post 060303)
*Urgh* Politicians. I just don't get it. Freakin' raise taxes already! What are you waiting for? It's so simple. You agree that North Americans are addicted to oil and a free-driving lifestyle, but you don't want to do anything about it for fear of losing power and prestige and upsetting your corporate cronies. How pathetic. Yeah, yeah, the economy suffers, until you realize there is still as much money in the system as before, just better appropriated. Use that extra tax money to stimulate alternate energy research and technologies and public transportation initiatives. Make car owners and drivers pay a more accurate reflective cost of their lifestyle choices. Car ownership should still be seen as a privilege, not a right. Everything will even out after the adjustment period. Europe has followed this model for decades. Fuck!
Spineless thieves, the whole lot of them. Government for the people, by the people was a concept lost long, long ago.
02 March 2006
How many planets do you require?
Very interesting to put things in perspective. Even me, Mr. Environment lives a lifestyle that requires 4.2 Earths if everyone lived the same way as me. Sad, isn't it?
http://myfootprint.org/
http://myfootprint.org/
$13 Trillion
The total public and private debt of the United States at the end of 2003 was $39.384 trillion.
The total public and private assets of the US at the end of 2003 was $26.134 trillion.
Hence, a $13 trillion insolvency.
Total US debt now stands at 315% of US GDP (160% in 1980).
...We are on our own. I find it funny that the higher the US government debt gets the more often they start adding the total wealth of its citizens as if this were an asset which could be tapped, piled up, and used to pay it off with.
Debt is funny, assets are funny.
The wealth and strength of a nation lies not in its material possessions, but rather, in the people themselves. TPTB ("The Powers That Be") forget this from time to time and need to be shown. If people quit cooperating with the government, quit playing the game, I doubt very much that the elites will do all the work themselves, or finance the government, or fight the wars themselves, don't you? Hell, they don't even cook their own meals. If you want to change things you have to change the way you think. Quit playing the game, quit helping them win. The only way their money has any value is if we let them use it to manipulate us. I doubt very much they can force us to do anything we don't want to do. One of these days people will revolt against working 55 hours a week in a dead end job just to see them steal it by one ploy or another. I suggest to anyone who wants to stop this madness to slow down, simplify your life, reduce your overhead, quit playing their game so much. They can't be beaten in a game where they make the rules and keep changing them all the time. I laugh in advance at all the control freaks, the government debt, the bureaucrats. Ha! In your face guys and gals. They can do whatever they want but I can guarantee you one thing, I won't be helping them down the path.
Mr. X, Jerry Johnson, and Jorge have it figured out!
The total public and private assets of the US at the end of 2003 was $26.134 trillion.
Hence, a $13 trillion insolvency.
Total US debt now stands at 315% of US GDP (160% in 1980).
...We are on our own. I find it funny that the higher the US government debt gets the more often they start adding the total wealth of its citizens as if this were an asset which could be tapped, piled up, and used to pay it off with.
Debt is funny, assets are funny.
The wealth and strength of a nation lies not in its material possessions, but rather, in the people themselves. TPTB ("The Powers That Be") forget this from time to time and need to be shown. If people quit cooperating with the government, quit playing the game, I doubt very much that the elites will do all the work themselves, or finance the government, or fight the wars themselves, don't you? Hell, they don't even cook their own meals. If you want to change things you have to change the way you think. Quit playing the game, quit helping them win. The only way their money has any value is if we let them use it to manipulate us. I doubt very much they can force us to do anything we don't want to do. One of these days people will revolt against working 55 hours a week in a dead end job just to see them steal it by one ploy or another. I suggest to anyone who wants to stop this madness to slow down, simplify your life, reduce your overhead, quit playing their game so much. They can't be beaten in a game where they make the rules and keep changing them all the time. I laugh in advance at all the control freaks, the government debt, the bureaucrats. Ha! In your face guys and gals. They can do whatever they want but I can guarantee you one thing, I won't be helping them down the path.
Mr. X, Jerry Johnson, and Jorge have it figured out!
Ideological applications
A group of 12 writers have put their names to a statement in French weekly newspaper Charlie Hebdo warning against Islamic "totalitarianism". Here is the text in full:
"After having overcome fascism, Nazism, and Stalinism, the world now faces a new global totalitarian threat: Islamism.
We, writers, journalists, intellectuals, call for resistance to religious totalitarianism and for the promotion of freedom, equal opportunity and secular values for all.
Recent events, prompted by the publication of drawings of Muhammad in European newspapers, have revealed the necessity of the struggle for these universal values.
This struggle will not be won by arms, but in the ideological field.
It is not a clash of civilisations nor an antagonism between West and East that we are witnessing, but a global struggle that confronts democrats and theocrats.
Like all totalitarian ideologies, Islamism is nurtured by fear and frustration.
Preachers of hatred play on these feelings to build the forces with which they can impose a world where liberty is crushed and inequality reigns.
But we say this, loud and clear: nothing, not even despair, justifies choosing darkness, totalitarianism and hatred.
Islamism is a reactionary ideology that kills equality, freedom and secularism wherever it is present.
Its victory can only lead to a world of injustice and domination: men over women, fundamentalists over others.
On the contrary, we must ensure access to universal rights for the oppressed or those discriminated against.
We reject the "cultural relativism" which implies an acceptance that men and women of Muslim culture are deprived of the right to equality, freedom and secularism in the name of the respect for certain cultures and traditions.
We refuse to renounce our critical spirit out of fear of being accused of "Islamophobia", a wretched concept that confuses criticism of Islam as a religion and stigmatisation of those who believe in it.
We defend the universality of the freedom of expression, so that a critical spirit can exist in every continent, towards each and every maltreatment and dogma.
We appeal to democrats and free spirits in every country that our century may be one of light and not dark."
Signed by:
Ayaan Hirsi Ali
Chahla Chafiq
Caroline Fourest
Bernard-Henri Levy
Irshad Manji
Mehdi Mozaffari
Maryam Namazie
Taslima Nasreen
Salman Rushdie
Antoine Sfeir
Philippe Val
Ibn Warraq
"After having overcome fascism, Nazism, and Stalinism, the world now faces a new global totalitarian threat: Islamism.
We, writers, journalists, intellectuals, call for resistance to religious totalitarianism and for the promotion of freedom, equal opportunity and secular values for all.
Recent events, prompted by the publication of drawings of Muhammad in European newspapers, have revealed the necessity of the struggle for these universal values.
This struggle will not be won by arms, but in the ideological field.
It is not a clash of civilisations nor an antagonism between West and East that we are witnessing, but a global struggle that confronts democrats and theocrats.
Like all totalitarian ideologies, Islamism is nurtured by fear and frustration.
Preachers of hatred play on these feelings to build the forces with which they can impose a world where liberty is crushed and inequality reigns.
But we say this, loud and clear: nothing, not even despair, justifies choosing darkness, totalitarianism and hatred.
Islamism is a reactionary ideology that kills equality, freedom and secularism wherever it is present.
Its victory can only lead to a world of injustice and domination: men over women, fundamentalists over others.
On the contrary, we must ensure access to universal rights for the oppressed or those discriminated against.
We reject the "cultural relativism" which implies an acceptance that men and women of Muslim culture are deprived of the right to equality, freedom and secularism in the name of the respect for certain cultures and traditions.
We refuse to renounce our critical spirit out of fear of being accused of "Islamophobia", a wretched concept that confuses criticism of Islam as a religion and stigmatisation of those who believe in it.
We defend the universality of the freedom of expression, so that a critical spirit can exist in every continent, towards each and every maltreatment and dogma.
We appeal to democrats and free spirits in every country that our century may be one of light and not dark."
Signed by:
Ayaan Hirsi Ali
Chahla Chafiq
Caroline Fourest
Bernard-Henri Levy
Irshad Manji
Mehdi Mozaffari
Maryam Namazie
Taslima Nasreen
Salman Rushdie
Antoine Sfeir
Philippe Val
Ibn Warraq
"Sorry"
I bought the "Sorry" remix CD yesterday. I've been loving the Pet Shop Boys remix for a couple of weeks now, but wow! The Paul Oakenfold mix KICKS ASS! Best work he's churned out in a couple of years, maybe.
Track Listings
"Sorry" (Radio Version) — 3:58
"Sorry" (Man With Guitar Edit) — 6:04
"Sorry" (PSB Maxi-Mix) — 8:36
"Sorry" (Paul Oakenfold Remix) — 7:22
"Sorry" (Green Velvet Remix) — 6:07
"Let It Will Be" (Paper Faces Vocal Edit) — 5:24
Wikipedia Trivia
The languages used in order as they appear in the song:
Intro
French: Je suis desolée ("I am sorry")
Spanish: Lo siento ("I'm sorry")
Dutch: Ik ben droevig ("I am sad")
Italian: Sono spiacente ("I am sorry" in a formal way)
Spanish: Perdóname ("Forgive me")
Bridge
Japanese: Gomen nasai ("I am sorry")
Hindi: Mujhe maaf karo ("Please forgive me")
Polish: Przepraszam ("I'm sorry")
Hebrew: Slihah ("Forgiveness")
1. The dutch translation in the song is "ik ben droevig" which translates to "I am sad". The correct dutch translation of "I am sorry" is "Het spijt me". Strangely Altavista's babelfish makes the same english-to-dutch translation error (the dutch-to-english translations are correct).
2. The van was "pimped" by the UK edition of MTV's Pimp My Ride (to be broadcast on MTV UK on Sunday 19th February 2006)
3. The single cover for "Sorry" marks the first time that a picture taken by a Madonna fan is being used as the cover image for one of her singles. Members of the Mad-Eyes Madonna fansite were contacted by Madonna's management in December 2005 after they saw pictures of Madonna's November show in London's G.A.Y nightclub, made by Mad-Eyes photographer Marcin Kokowski. Designer Giovanni Bianco changed the colour of Madonna's hair to red, like he did for the album cover.(The original artwork photograph)
4. The "Let It Will Be (Paper Faces Mix)" will also be available on the single. The mix, produced by Stuart Price, was recently performed on her promo tour, most memorably at KOKO club, in London and has become a favourite among fans.
Two years wait
PARIS (ResourceInvestor.com) -- ‘Peak oil’ has well and truly grabbed the oil agenda if latest figures and pronouncements are anything to go by. Whether major oil companies, state or private, like it or not, peak oil cannot be ignored. The subject, ridiculed just three years ago, now sits centre stage.
When Lord Browne, head of BP [NYSE:BP; LSE:BP], spoke to a dinner at the Energy Institute in London, he was forced to confront the theory head on.
“We’re at a point of great change in this industry,” said Lord Browne. “Demand is growing, but we have to meet that demand in different ways from different sources.
It is impossible to predict the future, except to say that it won’t look like the past.”
One thing that may not look like the past is the way major oil companies replace their reserves. Or rather do not replace their reserves.
Only Exxon Mobil [NYSE:XOM] and Conoco Phillips [NYSE:COP] managed to replace their reserves without buying out other companies or fields in 2005. Even BP appear to have failed to replace their oil pumped last year, although final figures are not yet out.
Other companies like Chevron [NYSE:CVX] came in at 175% of reserve replacement. A stunning figure until you realise that Chevron bought Unocal. If it was not for the controversial buy out they would have failed to get anywhere near 100% of reserve replacement, closer to 80% was more likely.
The same can be said of companies like Amerada Hess [NYSE:AHC] and Marathon [NYSE:MRO], whose return to Libya boosted their reserve replacement over the 100% mark. The same cannot be said of a company like Repsol [NYSE:REP]. It is rumoured that the downgrade of their reserves by 25% in January might be added to when they produce final figures for 2005 expected in March - possibly by another 2.5%.
As Resource Investor has reported, there are some unusual figures concerning OPEC production as well. According to latest figures from the Middle East Economic Survey (MEES). Iran’s OPEC quota is 4.1 million barrels per day (mbpd). After producing 3.89 mbpd in December the MEES figures for January saw that production at 3.65 mbpd.
Both Platts and MEES have now reported declining OPEC production for the last three months. The production figures were 29.73 mb in December, declining to 29.27 mb in January.
Of course this does not mean peak oil theory is correct. It could easily be that OPEC countries see the market well supplied in terms of inventories. US NYMEX crude inventories are some 26% up on this time last year at 22.4 mb for example. This would allow some countries to rest tiring fields or individual wells that have been running at full tilt since last summer.
On the other hand the opacity of OPEC supply and reserve figures mean these statistics will be instantly seized upon. That very opacity is now being openly challenged by men like Lord Browne.
“The reality is that we have a serious problem,” admitted Browne.
“Unless the geologists succeed in finding new and so far unidentified provinces…we will all be dependent on supplies from just three areas – West Africa, Russia and, most important of all, the five states around the Persian Gulf, led by Iran, Iraq and Saudi Arabia."
http://www.resourceinvestor.com/pebble.asp?relid=17479
There is so much discussion going on about Peak Oil (new term = "petronoia" from Syriana, apparently), it makes your head spin. What's the truth? I think most experts agree that we're in sort of a grey zone of statistics right now, that nothing is truly clear and the numbers could be interpreted in many ways. They also agree that things will look much more clear in a few years. Can we wait another couple of years to get some more clarity on the issues? Not too long to wait in the scheme of things I guess. Especially considering there are those experts who think these concepts should have been seriously tabled back in the Carter days. Yeesh. I guess if the ice caps and glaciers are irreversibly melting and the polar bears are dying and we're still pushing out babies and cars like there's no limit to what we can consume and destroy in the name of capitalism, what's two years?
When Lord Browne, head of BP [NYSE:BP; LSE:BP], spoke to a dinner at the Energy Institute in London, he was forced to confront the theory head on.
“We’re at a point of great change in this industry,” said Lord Browne. “Demand is growing, but we have to meet that demand in different ways from different sources.
It is impossible to predict the future, except to say that it won’t look like the past.”
One thing that may not look like the past is the way major oil companies replace their reserves. Or rather do not replace their reserves.
Only Exxon Mobil [NYSE:XOM] and Conoco Phillips [NYSE:COP] managed to replace their reserves without buying out other companies or fields in 2005. Even BP appear to have failed to replace their oil pumped last year, although final figures are not yet out.
Other companies like Chevron [NYSE:CVX] came in at 175% of reserve replacement. A stunning figure until you realise that Chevron bought Unocal. If it was not for the controversial buy out they would have failed to get anywhere near 100% of reserve replacement, closer to 80% was more likely.
The same can be said of companies like Amerada Hess [NYSE:AHC] and Marathon [NYSE:MRO], whose return to Libya boosted their reserve replacement over the 100% mark. The same cannot be said of a company like Repsol [NYSE:REP]. It is rumoured that the downgrade of their reserves by 25% in January might be added to when they produce final figures for 2005 expected in March - possibly by another 2.5%.
As Resource Investor has reported, there are some unusual figures concerning OPEC production as well. According to latest figures from the Middle East Economic Survey (MEES). Iran’s OPEC quota is 4.1 million barrels per day (mbpd). After producing 3.89 mbpd in December the MEES figures for January saw that production at 3.65 mbpd.
Both Platts and MEES have now reported declining OPEC production for the last three months. The production figures were 29.73 mb in December, declining to 29.27 mb in January.
Of course this does not mean peak oil theory is correct. It could easily be that OPEC countries see the market well supplied in terms of inventories. US NYMEX crude inventories are some 26% up on this time last year at 22.4 mb for example. This would allow some countries to rest tiring fields or individual wells that have been running at full tilt since last summer.
On the other hand the opacity of OPEC supply and reserve figures mean these statistics will be instantly seized upon. That very opacity is now being openly challenged by men like Lord Browne.
“The reality is that we have a serious problem,” admitted Browne.
“Unless the geologists succeed in finding new and so far unidentified provinces…we will all be dependent on supplies from just three areas – West Africa, Russia and, most important of all, the five states around the Persian Gulf, led by Iran, Iraq and Saudi Arabia."
http://www.resourceinvestor.com/pebble.asp?relid=17479
There is so much discussion going on about Peak Oil (new term = "petronoia" from Syriana, apparently), it makes your head spin. What's the truth? I think most experts agree that we're in sort of a grey zone of statistics right now, that nothing is truly clear and the numbers could be interpreted in many ways. They also agree that things will look much more clear in a few years. Can we wait another couple of years to get some more clarity on the issues? Not too long to wait in the scheme of things I guess. Especially considering there are those experts who think these concepts should have been seriously tabled back in the Carter days. Yeesh. I guess if the ice caps and glaciers are irreversibly melting and the polar bears are dying and we're still pushing out babies and cars like there's no limit to what we can consume and destroy in the name of capitalism, what's two years?
28 February 2006
Vancouver-bound
Olympic flag raised in Vancouver
Last Updated: Tue Feb 28 23:04:18 EST 2006
CBC Sports
The countdown to the Vancouver Winter Games officially got underway Tuesday when Mayor Sam Sullivan presided over the raising of the Olympic flag during a ceremony at Vancouver City Hall.
An honour guard made up of the Vancouver police ceremonial unit along with the Vancouver Fire Department brass band, played as the massive 5-by-7.5 metre flag was unfurled.
Sullivan was beaming as the Olympic banner slowly made its way up the newly-built 25-metre flagpole. As it reached the top, a gust of wind caught the banner and the crowd erupted into applause.
The flag will stay at city hall until the Games begin in February of 2010.
"So now the world's eyes are on Vancouver," said John Furlong, the head of Vancouver's Olympic organizing committee.
"And as we look up at this flag – as it looks down on our city – we will be reminded of the responsibility we have taken on. We will be reminded of the promises that we've made to stage truly great Games for the world."
The Olympic flag has been passed from host city to host city since the 1952 Winter Games in Oslo.
But the flag that was raised on Tuesday isn't the same one Sullivan took from International Olympic Committee chief Jacques Rogge and proudly waved from his specially-equipped wheelchair during the closing ceremony.
It's a replica flag flying on the lawn of city hall that will be replaced every six months. The replacements are manufactured in Vancouver.
A tired-looking Sullivan arrived in British Columbia with the flag on Monday. He said being at the Olympics was like nothing he's ever experienced before. He also admitted there were some anxious moments in the hours before the closing ceremony.
"I never had a billion people watch me do anything, and I also realized that I had to think what this was all about," Sullivan said.
"It was all about the athletes. It was about people striving to be their best."
Canadian athletes combined to win 24 medals at the Torino Games – Canada's best-ever medal haul.
Canada's previous best total was 17 medals. That plateau was reached in 2002 at the Salt Lake City Games.
Canadian Olympic officials are hoping to do even better in Vancouver. The goal is to win 35 medals and finish atop the medal standings.
I'm always a little sad when the Olympics, much like any big sporting event like the Tour de France, ends. It is always such a great distraction from the normal prime-time crap found on TV. Luckily the Commonwealth Games are starting in a few weeks so that will prolong the good television coverage. It will be nice to see some summer sports for a change too!
Anyone planning on going to Vancouver in 2010? I'm hoping to snag on to some event tickets when they come out for sale. It will be a great party and great time in a great city!
Last Updated: Tue Feb 28 23:04:18 EST 2006
CBC Sports
The countdown to the Vancouver Winter Games officially got underway Tuesday when Mayor Sam Sullivan presided over the raising of the Olympic flag during a ceremony at Vancouver City Hall.
An honour guard made up of the Vancouver police ceremonial unit along with the Vancouver Fire Department brass band, played as the massive 5-by-7.5 metre flag was unfurled.
Sullivan was beaming as the Olympic banner slowly made its way up the newly-built 25-metre flagpole. As it reached the top, a gust of wind caught the banner and the crowd erupted into applause.
The flag will stay at city hall until the Games begin in February of 2010.
"So now the world's eyes are on Vancouver," said John Furlong, the head of Vancouver's Olympic organizing committee.
"And as we look up at this flag – as it looks down on our city – we will be reminded of the responsibility we have taken on. We will be reminded of the promises that we've made to stage truly great Games for the world."
The Olympic flag has been passed from host city to host city since the 1952 Winter Games in Oslo.
But the flag that was raised on Tuesday isn't the same one Sullivan took from International Olympic Committee chief Jacques Rogge and proudly waved from his specially-equipped wheelchair during the closing ceremony.
It's a replica flag flying on the lawn of city hall that will be replaced every six months. The replacements are manufactured in Vancouver.
A tired-looking Sullivan arrived in British Columbia with the flag on Monday. He said being at the Olympics was like nothing he's ever experienced before. He also admitted there were some anxious moments in the hours before the closing ceremony.
"I never had a billion people watch me do anything, and I also realized that I had to think what this was all about," Sullivan said.
"It was all about the athletes. It was about people striving to be their best."
Canadian athletes combined to win 24 medals at the Torino Games – Canada's best-ever medal haul.
Canada's previous best total was 17 medals. That plateau was reached in 2002 at the Salt Lake City Games.
Canadian Olympic officials are hoping to do even better in Vancouver. The goal is to win 35 medals and finish atop the medal standings.
I'm always a little sad when the Olympics, much like any big sporting event like the Tour de France, ends. It is always such a great distraction from the normal prime-time crap found on TV. Luckily the Commonwealth Games are starting in a few weeks so that will prolong the good television coverage. It will be nice to see some summer sports for a change too!
Anyone planning on going to Vancouver in 2010? I'm hoping to snag on to some event tickets when they come out for sale. It will be a great party and great time in a great city!
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