Friday, December 23, 2011

Merry Christmas

The Ilgachuz Range, left, and the Itcha Range, right, viewed from the West across a stretch of the Chilcotin Plateau, British Columbia, Canada. Most inhabitants of this region are First Nations people, members of the Tsilhqot'in and Dakelh peoples.

The so-named Ilgachuz Range is not a mountain range but rather a single, heavily-eroded extinct volcano formed about five million years ago. It is located in British Columbia, Canada, on the Chilcotin Plateau, 350 kilometres north-northwest of Vancouver and 30 km north of Anahim Lake.

The Itcha Range is the 2.5-million-year-old remnant of a 10-kilometer-diameter volcano that has been eroded by glaciers.

Image: The Bella Coola Blog

Scrooge (1951) with Alistair Sim




Paul Craig Roberts: The Greatest Gift for All

Mark Stein: THE MULTICULTURAL DEPARTURE LOUNGE

8 comments:

  1. Merry Christmas .. I had a placer gold claim at one time where the Cottonwood meets the Quesnel river.. I did some dredging near Likely also..

    Merry Christmas to you too.. Happy postin's in the New Year

    ReplyDelete
  2. Ha! Likely, BC.

    I once gave a talk there at the village hall. Just before I was on, I sought out the bathroom for a nervous pee. Through there, someone said. So I stepped through the door to find myself cascading through the air into the bush.

    A night at the local inn was interesting too, being disturbed at one AM by fellows in the parking lot firing rifles in the air.

    At a local gas station I asked at the office if they knew where I could get drinking water. The girl looked bemused, then said: "don't think anyone round here drinks water."

    ReplyDelete
  3. Chilcotin Plateau, British Columbia.

    Where BC liberals are falling all over themselves to please ENBRIDGE and it's Gateway LNG pipeline. Gas collected from fracking in N. Eastern BC forming underground pollution pockets in the effort to market gas to Asian markets. All this to divide and conquer First Nation communities.
    It's about less jobs in BC and more profits for provincial hydrocarbon corporatist buddies.

    Santa flies with electric/nuclear engine not a gas powered fart bag sled.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Less jobs? How so?

    and "It's about ... more profits ..."

    Yes, well all business is about more profits.

    ReplyDelete
  5. @Anonymous:
    It about big business corporatism in BC and in Canada.
    It's not about a fair playing field.

    Show me where in Canada small-medium enterprises SME's have investment opportunity or even contract work from gov't or private projects in real bids not rigged bids for corporate buddies?

    ReplyDelete
  6. "Show me where in Canada small-medium enterprises SME's have investment opportunity or even contract work from gov't or private projects in real bids"

    You're probably right about that. My own experience, is consistent with that view.

    Still, building pipelines does create jobs, whoever gets the contract. And why "to divide and conquer First Nation communities?"

    ReplyDelete
  7. @anonymous
    And why "to divide and conquer First Nation communities?"

    Because hydrocarbon gov't subsidized corporations will tend to hire other First Nation labor for pipeline projects just to fill First Nation people hiring quota. And not hire within reserve First Nation area-of-operation.

    How many First Nation small business sub-contractors will BIG hydrocarbon corporations hire for pipeline projects?

    Answer: zero to maybe one.

    Because process is tilted toward big hydrocarbon corporations.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Hm. This is puzzling. Wouln't Enbridge hire contractors purely on the basis of commercial advantage?

    I can see if they have a First Nations quota to fill they might hire people they already know and have worked with before rather than inexperienced local people. But that does not imply any political bias or corruption in the process -- though I agree it would be upsetting for the local Indian bands.

    It seems to me that there must be a better approach to providing economic opportunity to native people than employment quotas on infrastructure projects, which make those hired under those rules a kind of second class worker. However, I admit I have no suggestion as to a better approach.

    ReplyDelete