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Bravery, Canada, Events, Food for Thought, Louisiana, T.V. Antony Raj, United States

December 20, 1803: The Day United States Bought Louisiana for a Song – for Less than 3 Cents per Acre.

December 20, 2016 tvaraj 1 Comment

“Let the Land rejoice, for you have bought Louisiana for a Song.” – Gen. Horatio Gates to President Thomas Jefferson, July 18, 1803

“Never did the united states grab so much for so little.” – Henry Adams

French Tricolor Flag - 1803 — French Tricolor Flag – 1803

US Flag of 15 stars - 1803 — US Flag of 15 stars – 1803

“Vente de la Louisiane” or “Sale of Louisiana” also known as “The Louisiana Purchase” considered the greatest real estate deal in history took place on December 20, 1803.

The Louisiana Purchase of 1803 (marked in green).

Louisiana has a long rich history. Native Americans settled there first, and then it became the mainspring of an empire, and finally it got incorporated into the United States. Various cultures: Native American, French, Spanish, the Caribbean, African, and the English influenced Louisiana, evolving it into a region of exuberant and intrinsic blend of ethnicity.

In 1528, a Spanish expedition led by Panfilo de Narváez were the first European to visit Louisiana. They located the mouth of the Mississippi River.

When the first Europeans set foot in this region many native groups inhabited there such as: Acolapissa, Adai, Appalousa, Atakapa, Avoyel, Bayougoula, Caddo, Chawasha, Chitimacha, Choctaw, Houma, Koroa, Nakasa, Natchitoches, Natchez, Okelousa, Ouachita, Quinipissa-Mougoulacha, Taensa, Tangipahoa, Tunica, Washa, Yagenechito, Yatasi and so on.

In 1542, another Spanish expedition led by Hernando de Soto ventured into the north and west of the region where they encountered the Caddo and Tunica groups. In 1543, they followed the Mississippi River down to the Gulf of Mexico. As they drifted along the river, hostile tribes besieged them. The natives followed their boats in large canoes. Continually shooting arrows they killed 11 Spaniards and wounded many more.

Gradually, Europeans lost interest in Louisiana until the late 17th century, when sovereign, religious and commercial aims surfaced once again. The French established their first settlements, on the Mississippi River and Gulf Coast, and claimed a vast region of North America. France then set out to establish a commercial empire and a nation under the French rule that stretched from the Gulf of Mexico to Canada.

In 1682, the French explorer René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, or Robert Cavelier de La Salle (November 22, 1643 – March 19, 1687)named the region Louisiana to honor France’s King Louis XIV. In 1699, Pierre Le Moyne d’Iberville, a French military officer from Canada established the first permanent settlement, Fort Maurepas, at what is now Ocean Springs, Mississippi, near Biloxi.

The French explored the Mississippi River valley and established scattered settlements in the region. By the middle of the 18th century, France controlled more of the modern United States than any other European power. The French colony of Louisiana originally claimed all the land on both sides of the Mississippi River and north to French territory in Canada.

The following present-day states were part of the then vast tract of Louisiana: Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota.

In 1719, two ships, the Duc du Maine and the Aurore, arrived in New Orléans, carrying the first African slaves to Louisiana. From 1718 to 1750, transportation of thousands of Africans to Louisiana from the Senegambian coast, the west African region of the interior of modern Benin, and from the coast of modern Angola took place. The influx of slaves from Africa strongly shaped the Louisiana Creole culture.

Having suffered damaging defeats in the Seven Years’ War against the British, the French wanted to prevent losing its Louisiana territory and the city of New Orléans to them. So in 1762, King Louis XV of France ceded the French American territory west of the Mississippi River to his cousin, King Carlos II of Spain by the Treaty of Paris of 1763. However, in 1763, France transferred nearly all of its remaining North American holdings to Great Britain.

Napoleon in his study — Napoléon Bonaparte

At the end of the 18th century, Napoleon Bonaparte after grabbing the French throne looked westward to enlarge his empire. In 1800, the secret Treaty of San Ildefonso between Spain and France gave the son-in-law of King of Spain power over Tuscany in trade for returning the Louisiana Territory to French control.

Thomas Jefferson Painted by Rembrandt Peale, 1800 — Thomas Jefferson (Painted by Rembrandt Peale, 1800).

After about two years, the United States government discovered the re-transfer of Louisiana from Spain to France. At this time, the Mississippi River had become the chief trading route for goods shipped between the states it bordered. President Thomas Jefferson sought to acquire New Orléans because of its vital geographic position at the mouth of the Mississippi River. The acquisition would ensure its right to sail its vessels down the Mississippi River through Spanish territory, and unload goods at New Orléans for shipment to the Atlantic coast and Europe.

In 1801, President Jefferson sent Robert Livingston to France to negotiate the sale of New Orléans; but Napoleon refused to sell the city.

In early 1803, the French commander Vicomte de Rochambeau lost a fierce battle in Saint-Domingue (present-day Haiti). This battle consumed much-needed resources and it also cut off the French connection to the ports on the southern coast of North America.

Napoleon realized that France did not have a strong enough navy to maintain control of its lands far away from home separated by the Atlantic ocean. Napoleon’s sole aim was to consolidate his resources to conquer England. To raise funds for the troops and materials to wage an effective war against England, he decided to sell the French territories in North America.

Again in early 1803, President Jefferson sent James Monroe to France to negotiate the sale. However, in April 1803, just days before Monroe arrived in Paris Napoleon offered to sell to the United States not only New Orléans but all of Louisiana.

The Louisiana territory encompassed all or part of the 15 present U.S. States and two Canadian provinces. The Marquis de Barbé-Marbois, Napoleon’s minister of the treasury negotiated the terms of the Louisiana Purchase with Livingston and Monroe.

The land purchased contained all of present-day Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Nebraska; parts of Minnesota that were west of the Mississippi River; most of North Dakota; most of South Dakota; northeastern New Mexico; northern Texas; the portions of Montana, Wyoming, and Colorado east of the Continental Divide; Louisiana west of the Mississippi River, including the city of New Orléans; and small portions of land that would eventually become part of the Canadian provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan.

The United States of America purchased Louisiana for 50 million francs ($11,250,000) plus cancellation of the claims of its own citizens against France worth 18 million francs ($3,750,000), for a total sum of 15 million dollars – less than 3 cents per acre.

Upon concluding the purchase Robert Livingston, U.S. Minister to France, said of the transfer:

“We have lived long, but this is the noblest work of our whole lives … From this day the United States will take their place among the powers of the first rank … The instruments which we have just signed will cause no tears to be shed; they prepare ages of happiness for innumerable generations of human creatures.“

The Cabildo – Two Centuries of Louisiana History (crt.state.la.us)
The Louisiana Purchase Agreement (thomaslegion.net)
Travel the Lewis and Clark Trail – December Events (lewisandclarktrail.com)
The King Must Amuse Himself (tkmorin.wordpress.com)

Canada, Greetings, Niagara Falls, Post A Day 2014, Travel, tvaraj, United States, Videos, YouTube

We Wish You All A Happy New Year 2015!

December 31, 2014 tvaraj 1 Comment

By T.V. Antony Raj

Happy New Year 2015

May Love, Joy, Happiness be bestowed on all our relatives and friends Around the World!

My wife and I Wish You All
A Happy New Year 2015!

#WPLongform, Bangladesh, Canada, Food for Thought, India, Passports, Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka passport, This is Life, tvaraj, United Kingdom, Writers

The Travails of Traveling Abroad on a Sri Lankan Passport

May 2, 2014 tvaraj 1 Comment

. By T.V. Antony Raj

“All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone.” ― Blaise Pascal, Pensées

On April 28, 2014, I wrote an article titled “Is a Passport Necessary for the Queen of England, US President, and the Pope to Travel Abroad?” After reading it, my friend Joe Croos, a constant reader of my posts, now living in Germantown, Maryland, USA, forwarded me the following hilarious piece of writing sent to him by his friend Tony Rajanayagam.

Neither Tony nor Joe knows who the original author of this article is. Obviously he must be a Sri Lankan.

I enjoyed reading every word of this sarcastic, thought-provoking dissertation, and wish to share it with you.

I have used my editorial discretion, to strike out two phrases in the first paragraph which, though hilarious might seem objectionable to a few. Also, I have added images to spruce up the presentation.

Sri Lanka Passport (Source: elankanews.com) — Sri Lankan Passport (Source: elankanews.com)

There are three things in the world that are of no use to anyone, viz. a man’s breast, a priest’s balls,, and a Sri Lankan passport. The uselessness of the third item becomes absolutely clear when one tries to apply for a visa to go abroad.

Today, international travel for a bona fide traveler from Sri Lanka is fraught with unbelievable red-tape, undesirable paperwork and unforeseeable pitfalls. It is, for example, much easier for the proverbial camel to go through the eye of a needle than for an honest Sri Lankan passport holder to enter the United Kingdom. Everything in life has a price.

Ironically, these days, it is relatively easy for a Sri Lankan illegal immigrant to enter any western country of his choice and claim asylum, become a citizen and sponsor his kith and kin. This way, entire villages from Jaffna peninsula have been uprooted and are now relocated to Scarborough in Toronto, Canada.

A Sri Lankan passport is not unique. Israeli passport is the next most useless document as it is not recognized by 23 countries in the Middle East and also by North Korea and Cuba. Presenting an Israeli passport to an immigration officer in a Muslim country would be the equivalent of waving a red flag at a bull in Spain.

Although the Sri Lankan passport clearly states that “The President of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka requests and requires all those whom it may concern to allow the bearer to pass freely without let or hindrance and to afford the bearer such assistance and protection as may be necessary” the document is more often than not treated with total disdain while its possessor is regarded with suspicion by almost all countries including Bangladesh, Benin and Bulgaria.

Although the purpose of the Sri Lankan passport is to promote and facilitate international travel, the way in which its owners are treated at foreign embassies makes one wonder if it was instead designed to dissuade and restrict international travel as much as possible.

Applying for a visa to a western country in Sri Lanka has become such a complex, confusing and complicated activity that some people, especially old men and women, come down with the condition known as “visaitis“. This is a relatively new disease which emerged in Sri Lanka at the end of July 1983.

The symptoms include a certain dryness of the mouth, dizziness, and mild dementia. Patients afflicted with this disease also suffer from outrageously watery diarrhea and are in the habit of passing urine frequently, and in rare cases, may be subject to catatonic schizophrenia. They can be nervous, irritable and immune to therapy. The mere thought of going to a western Embassy or High Commission in Sri Lanka is so traumatic that one or two people have in fact died of a broken heart, following the mandatory medical check-up.

There is a particular Hindu place of worship known affectionately as the “Visa Pillayar Temple” (VPT) in Colombo where people go to break a coconut and offer a silent prayer to ensure success prior to their interview (or interrogation) for a visa at the Embassy. Visa aspirants from places as far away as Valluvettithurai (VVT) in the north come to VPT to collect the vipoothi (holy ash), which when applied on the forehead is supposed to confer divine protection during the inquisition at the Embassy.

The insults start at the gate of an Embassy where you experience the taste of what is in store for you in the country you plan to spend your hard-earned money.

At the French Embassy in Colombo, rated 9.5 in the “Richter Scale of Rude Shocks,” it is the illiterate gatekeeper who functions as Cerberus, the three-headed dog guarding the entrance to Hades, to whom one must give the sop to slip into the Embassy.

At the Japanese Embassy in Colombo, you cannot see the visa officer through the one-way opaque glass window when you submit your application. He can see you, but you cannot see him. The experience can be quite unnerving. It is a bit like speaking to an Oracle in Greece.

The application for a Canadian tourist visa is 10 pages long and has more than 60 questions, including the names, places and dates of birth of yourself, your wife, your siblings, parents, grandparents, your wife’s relatives, your in-laws and outlaws! All these details have to be submitted first electronically before you are given a date for the interview.

Once I went to the Bangladesh Embassy in Colombo to apply for a visa. The Embassy looked more like a tuck shop and I was the only applicant. Even then that bored consular officer rudely told me that it would take five working days to issue a visa!

In the Indian Embassy, one would witness the death of common sense. However, much you gather the required documents you need to substantiate your application for a visa, the officer will ask for the one that you forgot to bring.

By contrast, the US Embassy in Colombo offers one of the best services in the world. The US staff are extremely kind, helpful and patient and they genuinely try to assist the potential visa applicant to the best of their ability. The US evaluation process is very fair, thorough and proper. If you are a genuine visitor to the USA, you need not worry. You will get a fair hearing. All the US immigration officers are trained well to be civil and polite to the visitor. They would often engage you in small talk just to find out if you were a genuine visitor or not to the Land of the Free and Home of the Brave.

Today, many embassies have subcontracted the TT Services to deal with the initial stages of processing the visa.

More recently, on arrival in Christchurch, New Zealand (the Land of the Long White Cloud), the immigration officer asked me, very politely and with a pleasant smile, what the purpose of my visit was? When I told him that I had come to deliver a talk on elephants at the University of Canterbury, the bewildered officer exclaimed, “But we do not have elephants!” and stamped my passport and wished me a pleasant stay. It spoke so well about the country of just 4.5 million people and 60 million sheep.

Once when I worked for WWF-International, I was a member of a small working committee planning the next International Theriological (= Mammal) Congress. Two countries, Australia and Colombia, were interested in hosting the event. The Australian delegate was interested in moving the Congress to Sydney, but cautioned us that the only requirement for the visa was that none of the foreign participants had any criminal record. On hearing this, the Colombian delegate jumped up in sheer joy and informed us that on the contrary, his Government would welcome delegates with a criminal record! The Congress was held in Sydney.

In the unlikely event of a visa being issued, it does not automatically guarantee that you’d be allowed to enter the country at the other end. That depends on the mood and the maturity of the immigration officer.

One of the most traumatic experiences one could have on arrival is at the Heathrow airport in London. You had been travelling 16 hours from Colombo and the flight lands at 9 am. It is supposed to be summer, but the sun is nowhere to be seen in the Land of Ceaseless Fog and Drizzle. Thus, even before the plane comes to a complete stop, you would get an idea of the weather that awaits you on arrival. Sometimes it appears that the plane had been taxiing through ginger beer or syrup. That’s the colour of the atmosphere outside.

Heathrow airport inside

On arrival I have to join the cattle class and then go to the queue reserved for aliens. No wonder I am often treated as if I am an extraterrestrial phenomenon!

Almost all British immigration officers are most unfriendly to non-Caucasian visitors, and often act like tinpot Hitlers. They are as hard as nails and bored as the people who serve you at McDonalds. They look miserable knowing they are stuck in dead end jobs.

Welcome at Heathrow Airport (Photo: Steve Parsons – WPA Pool/Getty Images)

Right behind his shoulder you can read in letters big, bright and bold, the banner that reads, “Welcome to Heathrow”. The welcome you receive is frostier than the weather outside.

The first question the bored and grumpy immigration officer with a smirk on his face asks the hapless visitor is: “When are you getting back?”

If you ask for a three-month stay in England, you are more likely to be given just a month. On the other hand, if you were to request for only a week, just to attend a conference and get back home, you may be granted a stay for six months. More disturbing is the recent news from the UK that in the future, visitors to Britain from ‘high risk’ countries such as Sri Lanka, India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nigeria, and Ghana coming to Britain on a six-month visit visa will have to put up a 3,000 pound (equivalent to Rs. 594,000 in Sri Lankan currency) bond as security, according to the Home Secretary Theresa May.

Sometimes things can go wrong. During my first visit to Australia in 1990, I flew into Sydney from Jakarta. Before the plane landed, we were given immigration forms to be filled. There was an additional yellow card that had to be filled as well, and one of the questions on it was: “Are you carrying live semen?” to which I promptly ticked the yes box, given that I had already fathered two kids.

As I cleared the immigration and moved to the customs, I was stopped and taken to a small room where I was interrogated by a big, bespectacled, Wagnerian white woman with a pair of enormous Bristols and a face like a bulldog chewing a wasp. She waved a yellow card at me and exploded, “Is this a joke?”

I was genuinely clueless as to why she blew her top and asked her what was it all about, to which she pointed the box I had ticked off to say that I was indeed carrying live semen. I told her that I believed so, to which the human volcano erupted once more and thundered in no uncertain terms that it referred to livestock and warned me not to make a joke of it ever again! It was literally a seminal experience for me. The yellow card is no longer issued.

In the 1960s, we had a Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO) member from the United States who became friends with us while we were doing research on wildlife in Wilpattu national park with Dr. John F. Eisenberg from the Smithsonian Institution and his assistant Melvyn Lockhart. The VSO chap was a hippie who loved smoking ganja (marijuana). In his lucid moments he managed to learn a few words in Sinhala which Melvyn taught.

When he left Colombo, he was in fact carrying some ganja with him, and given his long hair and hippie demeanor, he was promptly stopped by a vigilant customs officer who wanted to see the contents of his handbag. In a flash of brilliance, despite the perspiration which had commenced its journey down his spine, he began to engage the customs officer in small talk, and told him that he had lived in Ceylon for a month and that he could even speak the local language a bit.

When the customs officer asked him to say something in Sinhala, he promptly remembered what Melvyn had taught him, and blurted out in a loud voice “මගේ පුක්කෙ මයිල් නෑ” (Transliterated: “Magey pukkay mayil naa“) meaning “my arse has no hair” in his native Texan drawl.

All the customs officers who heard him burst out in uncontrollable laughter and began to dance (a few even had tears of joy streaming down their cheeks). They complimented him on his language skill and wished him “bon voyage“. It was the hippie who had the last laugh.

Melvyn later received a “Thank you” note from Amarillo, TX.

As a Sri Lankan, I feel that we are treated abroad as if we do not matter, despite our education, ancient culture and proud heritage. We may be short on geography, but we are long on history. We deserve better treatment in the western countries. Unlike the ASEAN countries where citizens of the member states enjoy a 14-day visa free entry to each other’s country, we who belong to the SAARC cannot go to India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal, or Bhutan even for a short stay without a visa!

In the final analysis, given the limitations of our Sri Lankan passport, it is far better for us to enjoy a local holiday than be subject to untold indignities and interrogations at the hands of immigration officers. As Blaise Pascal once remarked, “All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone.“

A contemporary ordinary Sri Lankan passport (Author - Chamath237) — A contemporary ordinary Sri Lankan passport (Author: Chamath237)

RELATED ARTICLES

Sri Lankan passport (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sri_Lankan_passport
Is a Passport Necessary for the Queen of England, US President, and the Pope to Travel Abroad? (http://tvaraj.com)
Green MP has passport taken off her in Sri Lanka (radionz.co.nz)
Three Sri Lankan women held, gold seized at Bangalore airport (thehindu.com)
Terror suspect took photos of consulates (thehindu.com)
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Architecture, Canada, Food for Thought, Japan, Poland, Post A Day 2013, Russia, This is Life, United States

Would You like to Live in a Topsy-turvy House?

May 24, 2013 tvaraj Leave a comment

. By T.V. Antony Raj

For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength. (1 Corinthians 1:25)

The upside down house in the village of Szymbark , Poland

Would you like to live in a topsy-turvy house like the above one? This house can be found in the tiny village of Szymbark in the municipality of Stężyca, in northern Poland. It is a center for winter sports.

As on December 31, 2011, the village of Szymbark had a total of 627 residents, with 544 people living in the main part of the village. The above upside-down house was built in 2007 by Daniel Czapiewski, a Polish businessman, builder and philanthropist.

Normally, it takes hardly three weeks for Czapiewski’s company to build a house. However, this extra-ordinary creative project took 114 days because of its structural design; moreover, the workers were a bit confused by the topsy-turvy architecture.

In 2010, in a poll conducted by “Official Baltic,” voted the Kashubian entrepreneur as “The Man of the Year 2010” for his ingenuity of design that has become a tourist attraction in Szymbark.

In the first place, what prompted Daniel Czapiewski to design the house to stand upside down? Well, the eccentric person that he is, Daniel Czapiewski opines that it represents his view on the current state of the world – the time of uncertainty after the end of the communist era in Poland.

By the way, this house in the village of Szymbark, Poland is not the first upside down house to be built. Wonderworks Upside Down Building in Florida opened in 1998. There are also upside down houses in Austria, Germany, Russia, Spain, Turkey, South Korea, a café in Japan and so on.

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This is not a house, it is a statue in Vancouver, Canada (Image credits - papalars) — This is not a church, it is a sculpture in Canada (Image credits: papalars)

The above image is a unique statue and not a church. American sculptor Dennis Oppenheim designed this imposing 22 x 18 x 9 feet sculpture composed of galvanized structural steel, anodized perforated aluminum, transparent red Venetian glass, and concrete foundations, as an upside down church, with its steeple buried in the ground.

The piece, initially called “Church,” was proposed to the Public Art Fund in the city of New York to be built on Church Street. It was commissioned by the President’s Panel on Art. However, the president of Stanford University turned down the sculpture since he considered it as “not appropriate” for the campus. The director thought it was too provocative and might infuriate the Church and the religious folks in that area. To evade this situation Dennis Oppenheim then changed the title to “Device to Root out Evil”.

Though the “Device to Root Out Evil” was too hot for New York City, too hot for Stanford University, it finally found a public home in Vancouver. It was first installed in a public park in Vancouver, Canada. As expected, people again considered it too hot for Vancouver as well. The public had a mixed reaction towards the work and the Vancouver public parks committee voted to remove the sculpture. The Glenbow Museum in Calgary, Canada seized the opportunity to display the sculpture. After removing it from Vancouver, the museum placed it in Ramsay, Calgary’s most creative neighbourhood where it is now being celebrated.

Upside down house: A Polish village’s topsy-turvy tourist draw (digitaljournal.com)
Device to Root Out Evil (iam-architect.com)
30 Most Amazing Upside own Houses around the world (funnyneel.com)
50 Strange Buildings of the World (villageofjoy.com)
50 Strange Buildings of the World (Part II) (villageofjoy.com)
50 Strange Buildings of the World (Part III) (villageofjoy.com)

Bravery, Canada, Events, Food for Thought, Louisiana, Personalities, Post A Day 2012, This is Life, United States

December 20, 1803: The Day Louisiana Was Bought for a Song

December 20, 2012 tvaraj 1 Comment

By T. V. Antony Raj

“Let the Land rejoice, for you have bought Louisiana for a Song.” – Gen. Horatio Gates to President Thomas Jefferson, July 18, 1803

“Never did the united states grab so much for so little.” – Henry Adams

“Vente de la Louisiane” or “Sale of Louisiana” also known as “The Louisiana Purchase” considered the greatest real estate deal in history took place on December 20, 1803.

In 1528, a Spanish expedition led by Panfilo de Narváez were the first European to visit Louisiana. They located the mouth of the Mississippi River.

In 1801, President Jefferson sent Robert Livingston to France to negotiate the sale of New Orléans; but Napoleon refused to sell the city.

Upon concluding the purchase Robert Livingston, U.S. Minister to France, said of the transfer:

The Cabildo – Two Centuries of Louisiana History (crt.state.la.us)
The Louisiana Purchase Agreement (thomaslegion.net)
Travel the Lewis and Clark Trail – December Events (lewisandclarktrail.com)
The King Must Amuse Himself (tkmorin.wordpress.com)

Canada, Earthquake, Food for Thought, Post A Day 2012, This is Life

Earthquakes Trigger More Earthquakes: Imminent Magnitude 9 Earthquake?

November 29, 2012 tvaraj 4 Comments

November 8, 2012, Submitted by: Ken (Admin, Modern Survival Blog)

eminent-magnitude-9-earthquake — Earthquakes trigger more earthquakes

UPDATE: Magnitude 6.3 NOV-8 Earthquake At Cascadia Raises More Concern
Scroll down for more…
———-

At the Seismology Lab at the University of Washington, there is concern that the 7.7 magnitude earthquake that occurred on the British Columbia coast over the weekend could affect the Pacific Northwest including Washington, Oregon, and northern California.
“We need to watch the whole region with extra care,” said a seismologist there.

The magnitude 7.7 was a big earthquake, considered one of the most significant along the northwest coast in 60 years.

Reported by NWCN.com in Seattle, scientists also looked to see if the quake affected volcanoes in Washington, and will remain on alert for at least several more weeks. So far, everything is quiet…

The problem is that the West Coast, from Alaska to northern California, is under tremendous geologic pressure as it’s forced up against the basin that forms the Pacific Ocean.

Release the pressure in a major way along one fault, and it can then add to the pressure on another fault. More than 100 aftershocks were recorded following the 7.7, including one of them more than 100 miles south of the quake’s epicenter, thought to be on the Cascadia Subduction zone.

The subduction zone threatens a much larger quake…
a magnitude 9…
from the northern tip of Vancouver Island to Cape Mendicino California.

Such an earthquake would be devastatingly catastrophic, particularly to Seattle, Portland, and all of the cities and towns that run up and down the west coast, even through mid California.

I’m posting this as an alert that something ‘could’ happen as a result of this recent aftershock earthquake, which is well south of the main quake on the Cascadia Subduction zone… this looks potentially ominous.

If you live in or near those regions, examine your existing supplies, food, water, bug-out capabilities. Make a plan. Be ready. Just in case…

UPDATE: It is now being reported that the centuries old and famous “Haida Gwaii” Hot Springs in the region of the 7.7 earthquake… HAS DRIED UP AND GONE COLD.

A Parks Canada inspection party set out to investigate and stepped ashore to find that the island’s three main hot spring pools, which once bubbled with water as warm as 77 Celsius, were bone dry. “Not even a small puddle,” Surrounding rocks, once warm to the touch, were cold.

source: ‘It’s just dried up’: B.C. earthquake pulls plug on centuries-old Haida Gwaii hot springs

(This is obviously IMO related to the recent B.C. earthquake, and further indicates the great unseen changes that have taken place as a result.)

NOV-8, 6.3 Quake at Cascadia Subduction Zone Raises More Concern

Since the large magnitude 7.7 earthquake of OCT-28, not only have hundreds of aftershocks occurred in the immediate vicinity, but other curious earthquakes have been triggered further south, within the Cascadia subduction zone. On NOV-8 an especially large earthquake shook that region, further indicating that stresses have transferred into that region. Why is this significant? Because the Cascadia fault is EXTREMELY DANGEROUS for the entire Pacific Northwest.

The Cascadia subduction zone (Cascadia fault) is a type of tectonic plate boundary that stretches from northern Vancouver Island to northern California. It is a very long sloping fault that separates the ‘Juan de Fuca’ and North America plates.

The ocean floor is sinking below the continental plate offshore of Washington and Oregon. The North American Plate is moving southwest, riding over the top of the oceanic plate. The Cascadia Subduction Zone is where the two plates meet. Unlike other faults that slide alongside each other, this one is particularly dangerous because one plate rides over the top of another.

To make matters worse, the Cascadia fault intersects and transitions with other faults at its north and south boundaries, including the infamous San Andreas fault which runs down the length of California. Studies of past earthquakes on both the northern San Andreas Fault and the southern Cascadia subduction zone indicate that quakes on the Cascadia subduction zone may have triggered most of the major quakes on the northern San Andreas during at least the past 3,000 years, with the exception being the great 1906 San Francisco earthquake.

The next rupture of the Cascadia Subduction Zone is anticipated to be capable of causing a magnitude 9+ earthquake and widespread destruction throughout the Pacific Northwest. And in fact, evidence suggests that a major Cascadia earthquake will likely rupture the San Andreas fault as it splits down into California, the combined effects of which would be more than devastating.

Geologists and civil engineers have broadly determined that the Pacific Northwest region is not well prepared for such a colossal earthquake. The tsunami produced may reach heights of approximately 100 ft. The earthquake is expected to be similar to the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, as the rupture is expected to be as long as the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami.
Left: Cascadia Subduction Zone
Right: Earthquakes since the OCT-28 quake (until this update)
Note the significant recent quakes south of the initial quake (the top cluster)

UPDATE NOV-10, Aftershocks creeping towards Cascadia fault and Vancouver Island…
This could all be inconsequential, while I’m simply pointing out observations.

Link: Video which shows the dangers of volcanoes in the Cascades…

‘It’s just dried up’: B.C. earthquake pulls plug on centuries-old Haida Gwaii hot springs (news.nationalpost.com)
Major quakes can trigger faraway ‘slow’ quakes (news.yahoo.com)
Pacific Northwest – at risk for a huge quake ? Not imminent , just another reason to prepare ahead,,,,,, (fredw-catharsisours.blogspot.com)
British Columbia quake forces Tsunami Warning after being Hit with 7.7 Magnitude Earthquake (americanlivewire.com)
4.4 Earthquake off Oregon Coast, Foreshock?
Baja Earthquake Gash While Sea Rushes In
Magnitude 6.5 Earthquake Deep in Mexico

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GE’s Toronto Uranium Secret

November 7, 2012 tvaraj 2 Comments

“Ask more questions about what’s around you. Demand truthfulness, full disclosure, and safety. Keep the uranium in the ground.” – Dr Helen Caldicott

The nuclear industry sponsors its own science to trivialize the doses of exposure to the public, they say it is within acceptable limits – but radiation is deadly. Uranium is a toxin, and connected to both waste, pollution, and weapons along the nuclear fuel cycle

Many did not know that GE Hitachi plant at Lansdowne & Dupont processes uranium powder into fuel pellets for the province’s CANDU reactors. GE Hitachi intentionally kept residents of the neighbourhood in the dark. However, now the people know, and they are very concerned. Here is the story by Saul Chernos published in nowtoronto.com

GE’s West-End Secret

By SAUL CHERNOS

Fifty years later, uranium pellet factory still a mystery to locals.

I’ve known for a while that the four-storey grey GE building at 1025 Lansdowne harboured some process tied to our waste-oblivious nuclear industry, but it’s stayed off my radar – just as it seems to have for other enviros.

But recently I learned that an activist fresh from a drawn-out battle against a similar GE facility in Peterborough had relocated to T.O., and was starting to campaign.

I figured I’d better learn more. So one afternoon earlier this month, I joined Zach Ruiter of Safe and Green Energy Peterborough as he went door to door informing locals of something it appears they didn’t know: the GE Hitachi plant north of Dupont has been processing uranium into fuel pellets for the province’s CANDU reactors for the last 50 years.

Invariably, it hit those living across the street like a bombshell. Ruiter explained that uranium dioxide powder supplied by Cameco Corp. in Port Hope is processed in the plant into hard ceramic pellets that are then transported to GE Hitachi in Peterborough, where they’re slipped into rods and fuel bundles for reactors.

And it looks like the operation will continue for another 10 years. In early 2011, both the Lansdowne facility and the Peterborough one received a joint licence renewal following Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission hearings in Ottawa.

The fact that something radioactive is going on in the neighbourhood is greeted with astonishment and scepticism. “That sounds weird. I don’t believe it,” said a man walking a yellow lab on Brandon.

I admit I also felt seriously underwhelmed. There are no visible markers on the building and fence indicating the presence of radioactive or dangerous materials. Just signs warning about video surveillance.

Without noise or obvious signs of pollution, GE Hitachi’s uranium business has been low-key. The building is not on Toronto Public Health’s online ChemTRAC database list of places where toxic substances are used. Some enviros are aware of the site, but are up to the gills with nuclear waste and power plant issues.

When I contact GE Canada, company spokesperson Kim Warburton tells me GE Hitachi’s Signage meets Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) requirements and doesn’t need to go further “because we use uranium that is not enriched.

”Uranium powder, she says, “is safe to handle with standardized controls and does not emit a significant amount of external radiation either on- or off-site.

”Many who follow nuclear issues, however, remain wary. Gordon Edwards of the Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility observes that “the industry generally has a policy of keeping as low a profile as possible. No news is good news.

”The problem, he says, is that uranium dioxide powder can potentially become airborne in fugitive emissions from windows, doors and cracks and other areas not fully sealed. “Radioactive material, when it’s inhaled, adheres to the lungs, irradiates the lungs and causes damage,” he says. “The real question is why such a facility is even in a residential area. It should be in a special designated area and surrounded by an exclusion zone. The plant should be planning to move.”

A few days after my tour, I drop into a Dupont Improvement Group meeting and talk to member Richard Mongiat, who’s lived three blocks from the plant for a decade. It has “always been a mysterious building,” he tells me. “I knew it was attached to GE, but I’ve never really known what’s been going on there.

“There were a ton of toxic plants,” Mongiat says, referring to the area’s industrial past, and contrasting several ongoing Brownfield cleanups with quiet, unobtrusive, neatly manicured 1025 Lansdowne.

Ruiter says he isn’t surprised by the lack of local awareness. In 2010, when he intervened in the CNSC licence renewal hearings, he noticed that while there were nearly 50 objections from Peterborough residents, there were none from T.O.

The same thought seems to have occurred to CNSC, the regulator. In transcripts of the 2010 hearing, CNSC member Alan Graham asks GE Hitachi president Peter Mason if those near the Lansdowne site are aware of the presence of radioactive material.

“We do have a website where we post information. We also keep people within half a kilometre informed of what we are doing,” Mason replies. “We have a long history of dialogue with the residents there.”

The CNSC ultimately deemed GE Hitachi’s public engagement efforts to be adequate.

(In Peterborough, the stakes were higher. GE Hitachi initially sought to process low-enriched uranium there, but then withdrew the plan.)

GE’s Warburton tells me the company liaised regularly with a residents’ group until the organization disbanded in the early 2000s. In advance of the 2010 hearings GE Hitachi placed notices in a Toronto daily and on its website. “There was no door-to-door or drop for the neighbours,” Warburton added.

A leaflet GE delivered door to door in 2008, advising of a planned emergency exercise, did not mention the plant’s function. In 1999, a fire in the vent stack caused the evacuation of some neighbouring properties.

“There are so many other fights going on that this one hasn’t gotten as much attention as it should,” Greenpeace Canada nuke campaigner Shawn-Patrick Stensil tells me.“

The GE Hitachi facility is part of the nuclear supply chain. This fuel chain is high-risk for Toronto.

Do you know what is happening in your neighborhood? Ask more questions. Speak up and go to meetings. Silence can literally equal illness or death. Keep uranium, thorium and other harmful elements and ores in the ground where they belong.