Friday, September 11, 2009

Dear Tom Friedman: Are You a Fascist Wannabee? — MasterResource
The New York Times chief foreign affairs correspondent, Thomas Friedman, has finally come out of the closet as a fascist wannabee. Harsh words, but consider the evidence.
The Reference Frame: CO2 makes Earth greenest in decades
In less than 20 years, the "gross primary production" (GPP) quantifying the daily output of the biosphere jumped more than 6%. About 25% of the landmass saw significant increases while only 7% showed significant declines.
Svensmark: “global warming stopped and a cooling is beginning” – “enjoy global warming while it lasts” « Watts Up With That?
This opinion piece from Professor Henrik Svensmark was published September 9th in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten.
Arctic Shortcut, Long a Dream, Beckons Shippers as Ice Thaws - NYTimes.com
MOSCOW — For hundreds of years, mariners have dreamed of an Arctic shortcut that would allow them to speed trade between Asia and the West. Two German ships are poised to complete that transit for the first time, aided by the retreat of Arctic ice that scientists have linked to global warming.
Northeast Passage: Definition from Answers.com
A water route along the northern coast of Europe and Asia between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. A goal of navigators since the 15th century, it was first traversed by the Swedish explorer Nils A.E. Nordenskjöld in 1878 to 1880.
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In 1915 a Russian expedition led by Boris Vilkitsky made the passage from east to west.

One year before Nordenskiöld's voyage [ie, 1877], commercial exploitation of the route started with the so-called Kara expeditions, exporting Siberian agricultural produce via the Kara Sea. Of 122 convoys between 1877 and 1919 only 75 succeeded, transporting as little as 55 tons of cargo. From 1911 steamboats ran from Vladivostok to Kolyma (the Kolyma steamboats) once a year.

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