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Posts Tagged ‘finance’

Suntrust when I google it I keep getting business banking?

I click on the first thing that shows on google and it’s business banking.
Sometimes it does this – sometimes it doesn’t
Anyone else?
What can I google so I get suntrust for personal accounts every time.
I’ve even tried googling Suntrust Personal – still takes me to suntrust business in which my id does not work since I don’t have a business account.

I have to type Google Maps Suntrust, find the nearest branch and click on that link.
LOL larry.
It took me to business banking – yet again.
Thanks for trying
Business banking does not allow me to see my checking account.

https://www.suntrust.com/portal/server.pt

EDIT when i click on link it takes me to suntrust personal finance
maybe close your web browser and reopen it and try one of the links.

UCF Profiles – Dr. Stan Smith, the Suntrust Chair of Banking at UCF’s College of Business-Finance

Event-Driven Architecture: How SOA Enables the Real-Time Enterprise $27.74 Improving Business Agility with EDA Going beyond SOA, enterprises can gain even greater agility by implementing event-driven architectures (EDAs) that automatically detect and react to significant business events. However, EDA planning and deployment is complex, and even experienced SOA architects and developers need expert guidance. In Event-Driven Architecture, four leading IT innovators pre…

J.D. Power: SunTrust Mortgage ranks tops in customer satisfaction.(J.D. Power and Associates): An article from: Mortgage Banking $5.95 This digital document is an article from Mortgage Banking, published by Thomson Gale on September 1, 2005. The length of the article is 450 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.Citation DetailsTitle: J.D. Powe…

Balancing act: SunTrust Mortgage Inc., Richmond, Virginia, keeps most of the servicing it originates. The mortgage company’s president and CEO, … SERVICING): An article from: Mortgage Banking $5.95 This digital document is an article from Mortgage Banking, published by Mortgage Bankers Association of America on February 1, 2005. The length of the article is 3071 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.Citat…

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question on renting retail space?

ok im looking to start my own business but i found a couple of spaces avalible however for some reason im not quite getting how they charge? this might sound odd. on one it said $17 is that 1.700 is it weekly or monthly ?? i dont get it ..any ways here is an example

http://www.beangroup.com/real_estate/listings/Commercial/NH/Nashua/1227136?utm_source=prop_res-image&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=bgcom-click-tracking

Commercial space for lease is usually quoted in $ per square foot per year. To use the number you referred to, $17 as an example – $17 per square foot per year. To calculate the actual monthly rent amount, multiply $17 by the square feet of the space (this is the total annual rent) and then divide by twelve to get the monthly amount. For example, $17 * 1,000 square feet = $17,000 annually; $17,000 / 12 = $1,416.67 monthly. Also, check out this web site for a web-based rent calculator that does the math for you.

July 1st, 2011 Weekly Real Estate Market Update for Summerland & Penticton Okanagan BC

Texas Instruments BA Real Estate Financial Calculator $45.00 BAIIPlus Financial Calculator…

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How To Rent Vacation Properties By Owner: The Complete Guide to Buy, Manage, Furnish, Rent, Maintain and Advertise Your Vacation Rental Investment $23.54 Author and speaker Christine Hrib Karpinski takes readers through all the steps necessary to purchase and rent out a vacation home. This book contains practical, hands-on advice that shows the reader how to do it without property management companies, and keep 100 percent of the profits. It offers realistic strategies to create a situation in which renters pay the mortgage, while still allowing th…

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how can i get a loan with bad credit to start a small business?

10,000 dollar loan to start a carpet cleaning business.

Unless you have collateral like a house or newer car to take a loan against, you can probably forget about getting a loan to open your business. I know a lot of people think the Small Business Administration will help, but their funds are limited and so they can help only select applicants with good credit and a sound business plan that will likely succeed, after they have been turned down by a couple of different banks.

The other route is to find someone with good credit or assets who will guarantee the loan, and there really aren’t a lot of people willing to take that risk, even for a friend or family member. I’ve started businesses before, I had good credit in a time when the banks would lend money to almost anyone, but they turned me down. I ended up having to run up my credit cards and pay off high interest from them. That’s what a lot of entrepreneurs do. It’s sad you have to put your personal credit and all your personal assets at risk but that’s what most of us do when we are starting out.

Now, if you have limited assets and no one who trusts you personally enough to lend the money, here’s a few options:

Start a general cleaning business on the side. Using your vacuum cleaner, home carpet cleaner, a mop and bucket, some rubber gloves and other general cleaning supplies which you probably already own. Some people will even provide the cleaning supplies if you will do a good job and come when you are supposed to. It pays pretty well and it really mostly all labor. Don’t forget to with-hold enough to pay your own taxes, use the rest to set aside as extra income toward your goal of opening your own carpet cleaning business.

Ask the person selling you the equipment for the carpet cleaning business if he/she will let you pay it out in installments as you earn money with it. If someone is selling a used van and carpet cleaning system, they might let you do that. Even offer to “technically” work for them, but with the total profit of doing each job they send you to going toward the selling price of the equipment. Work other carpet cleaning jobs you line up in the evenings or on weekends for personal income. They may charge you a little more for the equipment to do this, but figure that as finance charges. Just be honest, true to your word and pay them no matter what, no excuses. If the equipment breaks down, be ready to fix it yourself, they are doing you a favor, you shouldn’t expect them to pay for it.

Start lining up carpet cleaning jobs, rent the equipment at the hardware store or tool rental place. Most people don’t care if it is a van, they just want a clean carpet.

Make sure carpet is popular where you live. Many people have been switching to wood floors and laminate wood floors. Go to work for one of the companies installing wood laminates. Learn how to do it, it really isn’t that difficult to install them with just a little practice. The customer picks out and purchases the flooring and sound barrier, at one of the “do it yourself” stores, all it takes for you is a power saw with the correct blade, a tool to snug the planks together…very inexpensive and some knee pads. Try to learn how to sand and refinish existing wood floors. Again you could rent the equipment when you have a job until you can afford to buy your own.

If you do things that will be mostly all competitive labor cost to get the money, you will find it will add up within a year or less. Just don’t spend the “extra” money for anything else.

BAD CREDIT SMALL BUSINESS LOANS

Historic Consumer Credit & Bank Loans Films (1940s) $12.99 This compilation features films from the 1940′s about banking, money management, consumer credit, and the importance of a good credit score….

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How to Get a Business Loan With Bad Credit How to Get a Business Loan With Bad Credit spells it out, just as its title says: You really CAN get business loans, these days, even with bad credit. Small businesses, real home business efforts, can find the organizations and methods laid out by Shirley Wright, MBA.The resources, contacts, phone numbers, associations and government agencies available to you, today, whose purpose is to GET YOU A …

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General Knowledge Pt. VI

• WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A LAWYER AND A BARRISTER?

A lawyer is a person who practises law; one who conducts lawsuits for clients or advises clients of their legal rights and obligations. A barrister is a legal practitioner whose main function is to practice advocacy in court. They often have less interaction with clients. Barristers spend their working hours in chambers where they prepare their cases.

• WHAT’S SPECIAL ABOUT THE KEW GARDEN?

Kew Gardens in Thames, London is best known for being the home of the Royal Botanical Gardens (now a world heritage site). Other points of interest-include the Kew Palace and the National Archives (previously known as the Public Records Office) The Kew Gardens is special because it is an important international botanical research and education institution with a staff of over 700 people.

• WHAT IS THE ‘COOL BIZ’ CAMPAIGN?

This is a campaign introduced by Japan. In order, to save energy, it asks office goers and politicians to remove their ties and jackets to minimise the use of air conditioners and thereby reduce consumption of electricity and also the emission of greenhouse gases. German Chancellor, Angela Merkel who is currently visiting Japan to discuss, among other things, ways to tackle global warming, had a taste of the ‘cool biz’ campaign when the Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe informed her that his entourage wouldn’t be wearing their ties to adhere to the ‘cool biz’ campaign.

• WHAT IS THE ORIGIN OF THE TERM POCKET MONEY?

Before the advent of pockets in shirts and trousers, money was kept in bags and sachets. Later, a smart tailor made a pocket on a garment and it became so useful, further innovations made a pocket suitable to safely keep money From then on, money kept in pockets for expenses came to known as pocket money

• WHAT IS ENTABLATURE?

It is the horizontal upper part of a wall or storey of a building designed on the principles of classical architecture. It is usually supported on columns, and consists of  three parts. These are the architrave, the lowermost part; the frieze, the decorative band in the middle; and the cornice, the crowning ornamental projection. Entablature was originally conceived by Vitruvius, an ancient Roman architect.

• WHICH IS THE WORLD’S FIRST AIR SHOW?

The world’s first air show was the International Air Meet held at Rheims, Franceheld in 1909. India’s first air show, AVIA-93 was held in December, 1993 in Bangalore. The world’s biggest air show was the  47th Paris Air Show. However, the world’s largest military air show  the RoyalInternational Air Tattoo (RAF Fairford, United Kingdom), held annually in July.

• WHAT IS A CIRCUIT FILTER?

A circuit filter is used in trading of shares in stock exchange. It’s applied to all the shares, to supposedly safeguard the interest of general investors from the extreme volatilities in markets by preventing any unexpected fall or rise of share price in a single day beyond a limit. If the limit is crossed by any of the shares in a single trading day it is frozen for trade.

• WHAT IS THE GINI COEFFICIENT?

The Gini Coefficient is a measure of inequality of income distribution or inequality of wealth distribution. It is defined as a ratio with values between 0 and 1: the numerator is the area between the Lorenz curve of the distribution and the uniform distribution line; the denominator is the area under the uniform distribution line. Thus, a low Gini Coefficient indicates more equal income or wealth distribution, while a high Gini Coefficient indicates more unequal distribution.

• WHAT IS THE TRIPLE FINGER SALUTE?

The three-finger salute is used by members of Scouts and Guides organisations around the world when greeting other Scouts and Guides and at some ceremonies. The salute is made with the palm face out, the thumb holding down the little finger, and the fingertips on the brow. In computer parlance, the triplefmger salute refers to describe the three-key sequence — Alt + Ctrl + Del — developed by David Bradley This term became popular after IBM PC compatible users continually hold down these keys each time their computers froze or had other problems.

• WHAT IS REFERRED TO AS THE WELL-COME COLLECTION?

The Wellcome Collection traces The development of medicine through history and spanning several cultures. Located in central London, it is a combination of exhibitions, libraries and cafes where people can learn more about the development of medicine. Part of the Well-come Trust, it was founded by Sir Henry Wellcome, a pharmacist, entrepreneur, philanthropist and collector, who garnered  a unique collection of articles relating to medicine and health. Recently, a British heart transplant patient, Jennifer Sutton, donated her old heart to the Well-come Collection, after receving a new one.

• WHAT IS KNOWN AS THE BAUDHAYAN THEOREM?

Baushayan Sulv Sutra (1000 BC) is today known as the Pythogorus theorem, which states that in a right-angled triangle, the square of the hypotenuse is equal to the sum of the squares of the other two sides. In Baudhayan theorem, this has been expressed as follows: in a Deerghchatursh (triangle), the chetra (square) of rajju (hypotenuse) is equal to the sum of squares of the parshvamani (base) and triyangmani (perpendicular line). It is amazing to note that the pythagorus theorem was known in our country as far back as 1000 BC.

• WHY IS THE NUMBER 1 NOT CONSIDERED A PRIME NUMBER THOUGH IT FITS THE DEFINITION?

The number 1, in fact, does not fit the definition of a prime number. A positive integer is called a prime number only if there are exactly two divisors of that number. Since 1 has exactly one divisor (which is 1 itself), it does not fit this definition. Another equivalent definition of a prime number is this prime number’s only positive divisor should be less than 1 and itself. Again, 1 does not fit this definition either— there are no positive divisors of 1 which are less that 1.

• WHICH NATION HAS THE SMALLEST ARMY IN THE WORLD?

Vatican City, the world’s smallest country, has the smallest army. This army of 110 men, is also known as the Swiss Guard. Last year, the Vatican celebrated the 500th anniversary of the Swiss Guard. The celebration commemorated the 150 Swiss Helvetian mercenaries who came to Rome to serve Pope Julius II, on January 22,1506. The mercenaries covered a distance of 723 km in 27 days to enter Rome from Bellinzona, Switzerland. Swiss Helvetian mercenaries, famous for their courage, die-hard attitude and loyalty to their employers, were part of the regular armies of various countries at that time. As allies of the Pope, they helped to shape Italy’s destiny and thus they were granted the title ^Defenders of the Church’s freedom’ by the Pope. During the Sack of Rome on May 6, 1527, the Swiss Guard, comprising 189 personnel at that time, resisted a Spanish attack on Rome and the Vatican. But they had to retreat after suffering heavy casualties. Only 42 men survived the attack. However, the Guard was able to ensure Pope Clement VII’s escape to safety.

• WHERE WAS WINE FIRST MADE?

Wine is the fermented juice of grapes. Probably, the first people to make wine were Persian farmers living near the Caspian Sea. The Egyptians learned how to make wine from them as long back as 3000 BC. In the fourth century BC., the Greek conqueror Alexander the Great carried grapevines and the knowledge of wine-making to Central Asia. Roman invaders probably took vines to northern France and Germany in later centuries. Wine was common in the everyday lives of the early Greeks and Romans. It was important to their religious ceremonies. The God of wine was called Bacchus by the Romans and Dionysus by the Greeks.

• WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MARXISM AND SOCIALISM?

Socialism is a modern doctrine and is Western in origin, emerging with the development of industrial capitalism at the start of the nineteenth century. Socialism denotes a broad system of ideas. Marxism is a materialistic conception of history which seeks to explain the development of all societies and furthermore, make predictions about future social change. Marxists consider the material world, nature and society as constantly moving. Whereas, the socialists emphasise the organic unity of society. Marxists consider the material world as an integrated whole in which all things and phenomena are interconnected and interdependent. Whereas, socialists believe in equality and abolition of private enterprise. Marxism provides a scientific explanation of nature and society and hence, was a powerful instrument for revolutionary transformation. The society envisaged by socialists rests on certain values: redistribution of wealth to get rid of inequality, cooperative production to get rid of selfish competitors and new patterns of work and education to promote the growth of well-rounded individuals.

• WHAT IS A HYPERCUBE?

Hypercube is the generalization in n-dimensions of a square in two dimensions and a cube in three dimensions. A square has four vertices (22), a cube, 8 vertices (23). Similarly, an n-dimensional hypercube has 2n vertices. In the famous painting ‘Christus Hypercubus’, Salvador Dali depicted Christ crucified on an unfolded four-dimensional hypercube. Examining the shadow of a cube reveals a square within a square. Similarly, the shadow of a four-dimensional hypercube will be a cube within a cube.

• WHY IS THE ALPHABET WRITTEN IN A SPECIFIC ORDER?

The alphabet has often been described as an arbitrary collection of symbols representing an arbitrary collection of sounds. Its order is equally random. The word alphabet comes from alpha and beta, the first two words in the Greek alphabet.

• WHAT IS STEAMING DISTANCE?

Steaming distance is the shortest distance between two ports, which a ship traverses while sailing from one port to another. It need not be along a straight line as, due to various physical and political constraints, it may not be always be desirable to sail along a straight route.

• WHICH IS THE OLDEST CIVILIZATION IN THE WORLD?

This has long been a subject of much debate and to this day no one is absolutely sure which is the oldest civilisation. This is mostly because people cannot agree on the definition of the word civilisation. The most common definition of the word is ‘an advanced state of development in human society, marked by progress in the arts and sciences, the extensive use of writing, and complex political and social institutions’. Mesopotamia is considered as the most likely answer to the question, based on archaeological evidence and the above definition. It is believed that Mesopotamian history starts from the emergence of urban societies in Southern Iraq in the 4th millennium.

• HOW IS A COUNTRY’S GDP MEASURED?

GDP or Gross Domestic Product is the monetary value of all the finished goods and services produced within a country’s borders in a specific time period. GDP is customarily reported on an annual basis. It is the nation’s broadest gauge of economic health. It includes all of private and public consumption, government outlays, investments and exports and imports that occur within a defined territory The most common approach to measuring GDP is the expenditure method: GDP = consumption + investment (govern- ment spending) + (exports – imports). Another way of measuring GDP is to measure the total income payable in the GDP income accounts. This should provide the same figure as the expenditure method. Another formula is: GDP = rent + interests + profits + statistical adjustments (like corporate income taxes, dividends, undistributed corpo-1 rate profits) + wages.

• WHAT IS SPECIAL ABOUT UNIVERSITY OF TOULOUSE?

University of Toulouse is one of the oldest universities of France and is located in Toulouse, a city in Southern France on the banks of the Garonne river. It was founded in 1229 AD as a result of the Paris Treaty marking the end of the battle between the Roman Catholic Church and its opponents. Foulques de Toulouse, the then bishop of Toulouse, played a major role in the setting up of the university. Now, the university has an enrolment exceeding 1,00,000, and is the second largest university in France. The sixteenth century philosopher and astronomer Bruno and the Chemistry Nobel Laureate Sabatier, and the artist Dulac were some of its most illustrious faculty members.

• IN ANCIENT TIMES, WHY WERE PIGEONS USED FOR SENDING MESSAGES?

Pigeons were used for sending messages not only in ancient times, but as recently as early the 1900s, during World War I. A particular breed of pigeons called homing pigeons are specially suited for carrying messages, because they possess the uncanny ability of flying back to their home over long distances at high speeds. According to some reports, a homing pigeon flew back to its home after flying over 1600 miles at the peak speed of 60 miles per hour. Exactly how such birds navigate themselves is still not clear. Scientists hypothesise that the pigeon uses a variety of sources like the direction of the Sun, Earth’s magnetism, and odours associated with different places for finding its direction. Before the advent of telegraph, telephone and radio, using pigeons for sending messages was quite popular among the military, newspapers, and stock brokers. Such a messaging system was known as pigeon post.

• WHAT IS AN ATLAS CALLED SO?

Atlas is the term used to refer to a collection of maps, printed in a set order: world map, maps of the continents, each followed by maps of the several regions within that continent, and with an alphabetical gazetteer or list of place names, giving coordinates for various places, rivers, regions etc. The first use of the term atlas dates back to 1595 with the publication in Duisburg of the Atlas Sive Cosmographicae Meditationes de Fabrica Mundi Et Fabricati Figura by Gerard Mercator (1512-94). It was named after King Atlas, a mythical King of Mauretania in Libya, who was, according to legend, a wise philosopher, mathematician and astronomer and who supposedly made the first celestial globe. However, the more widely known Atlas is a figure from Greek mythology He is the son of the Titan lapetus and Clymene^or Asia), and brother of Prometheus. Atlas was punished by Zeus and made to bear the weight of the heavens and Earth on his back.

• WHAT IS THE ORIGIN OF THE TERM ‘RULE OF THUMB’ ?

One theory about the phrase’s origin lies in the misplaced public belief that the English law allowed a man to beat his wife with a stick measuring no longer than his thumb. There was actually no such English law enacted at any time. This phrase has been in circulation since the 17th century This phrase commonly refers to any means of estimation based on a practical and ready method but not on scientific measurement. Another theory concerning the phrase’s origin involves the numerous ways in which thumbs have been used for estimation. Some examples are — measurement of distance based on an estimated inch which is about the length of a thumb; judging the alignment or distance of an object by holding the thumb at eye level etc.

• WHAT IS RED CORNER NOTICE?

Certain requests used by Interpol are sent in the forms of notices. The colour of each notice determines the type of information being sent or received by Interpol and its members. A red corner notice is issued at the request of a country’s law enforcement authority. The requesting country asks for a red notice to be issued when a criminal evades arrest and escapes from the country.

• WHICH IS THE SMALLEST AND LARGEST CITY IN THE WORLD BY AREA AND POPULATION?

The largest city in the world by population is Tokyo with over 35 million people. It was the world’s most populous urban area between 1965 and 1970. However, despite Japan’s declining population, it is still growing. The smallest city in the world by population is Hum. It has a population of only 23 people. It is a tiny town in the central part of Istria, North-West Croatia, 7 km from Roh, 14 km South-East of Buzet on a hill above the Mirna Valley The largest city in the world by area is Hulun Buir, encompassing 263,953 km. The smallest city in the world by area is Vatican City with an area of 44 hectares (108.7 acre). It is a landlocked sovereign city state whose territory consists of a walled enclave within the city of Rome. It is officially called State of the Vatican City.

• WILL CREATING TWO TIME ZONES FOR INDIA SAVE ENERGY?

There is no statistical evidence of two time zones being economically beneficial other than restoring a sense of normalcy to the area that follows its local meridian time zone. India geographically extends from 68 degrees East to 97 degrees East (29 degrees) from Gujarat to the Andaman & Nicobar Islands, thereby encompassing two time zones. However, it has adopted the Allahabad meridian of 72 degrees, which makes it convenient for the railways, airlines and media. This leads to weird experiences for travelers from Central India who visit the North-Eastern states which receive daylight before 5 am. This entails an extra cost to the economy in terms of industrial arid office lighting spent in these regions, since daybreak here doesn’t coincide with the rest of the country. Also, there tends to be more traffic when it is dark.

• IS IT TRUE THAT CREATING TWO TIME ZONES FOR INDIA WILL SAVE ENERGY?

The Indian Standard Time is based on the meridian at 82 1/2 degrees East, which is 5 1/2 hours ahead of the Greenwich meridian. India’s geographical middle lies at 82 1/2 degrees East, which was incorrectly mentioned as 72 degrees East.

• WHAT IS SECURITISATION?

Securitisation is the process through which existing assets or future cash flows are converted into marketable securities. Those assets or cash flows are, inherently, not marketable. There are two types of securitisation — assetbacked securitisation and futureflows securitisation. Some of the assets that can be securitised are loans and future cash flows like credit card payments, car rentals or any other form of future receivables. Securitisation is common in the US and Europe, but in India it is in a nascent stage.

• WHEN AND WHERE WAS THE NEWSPAPER PUBLISHED?

Acta Diurna’ was the first news paper published in Rome, around 59 BC. In 1605, the first printed weekly newspaper to be published in Antwerp was called Relation. Johann Carolus (1575-1634) was the publisher of the Relation aller Furnemmen und gedenckwurdigen Historien (Collection of all Distinguished and Commemorable News). The ^Relation’ is recognized by the World Association of Newspapers, as well as many authors, as the world’s first newspaper. The German Relation was published in Strasbourg, which had the status of an imperial free city in the holy Roman empire of the German nation.

• WHEN WAS THE BATTLE OF LOS ANGELES?

The Battle of Los Angeles took place during the night of February 24/25, 1942 in Los Angeles, California. The battle involved heavy firing of anti-aircraft shells by the US forces aimed at several mysterious flying objects reportedly sighted in the sky over Los Angeles. These objects were thought to be Japanese military aircraft. However, even till today, their identity has not convincingly established. Even though six civilians lost their lives in the bombardment, there was no evidence that the firing destroyed any flying object. The firing was preceded by a blackout and Sounding of air raid sirens. Now, many believe that the battle was the result of a false alarm, triggered by weather balloons, or Japanese blimps. Some even think the source of the alarm could be a flying object of extraterrestrial origin.

• WHO IS LADY JUSTICE?

The origin may be Themis, a Greek mythological goddess, who advised Zeus after his purge of the old pantheon. A daughter of Themis and Zeus, Dike, known as a goddess of justice but not divine justice, presided over the apportionment of things among mortals, the protection of individuals and the social and political order. At times, Dike is said to be the same as (or is confused with) Astraea. Astraea is also a daughter of Themis and Zeus and is known as a goddess of justice. In western tradition, Lady Justice sometimes wears a blindfold and carries a sword and scales. She symbolises the fair and equal administration of the law, without corruption, avarice, prejudice, or favour.

• WHO DESIGNED THE LINCOLN MEMORIAL?

The Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. is a United States presidential memorial built to honour its 16th President Abraham Lincoln. The architect is Henry Bacon (an American Beaux-Arts architect), the sculptor is Daniel Chester French, and the painter of the murals inside is Jules Guerin. The building is in the form of a Greek Doric temple and contains a large, seated sculpture of Abraham Lincoln and inscriptions of two well-known speeches by Lincoln.

• WHICH COUNTRY HAS THE MAXIMUM NUMBER OF UNIVERSITIES?

According to UNESCO, India tops the list with 8,407 universities. It’s followed by the United States  (5,759), Argentina (1,705) and Spain (1,415).

• WHO ARE HOBOS?

Hobos is an American word which refers to homeless people wandering about in search of work. In earlier days, hobos were supposed to move around by hopping from one freight train to another, just to save the cost of transportation. Hobos and hobo culture began in mid-19fh century, when the ending of the Civil War caused severe unemployment in the US and several people left their homes and started moving about the whole country in search of jobs. A similar phenomenon happened during the Great Depression of the 1930s. Although the term owes its origin to the above phenomena, it is used today to refer to a tramp in general, an aimless traveller not necessarily looking for work. There are several theories related to how the word hobo got coined: some say the word has been derived from the phrase hopping box cars, and some others that it is a shortened version of the rail-road greeting ‘Ho Beau,’ popular in the 19th century

• WHICH CONTINENT HAS THE MOST NUMBER OF PORTS?

With over 1,000 ports, Europe is perhaps the continent with most number of ports. The UK alone has over 200 ports and European ports handle about 3.5 billion tones of cargo.

• WHY IS A SANDLOT USED AS A PLAYING AREA FOR CHILDREN?

A sandlot refers to a vacant lot used by children to play games, mostly unorganised ones. Unlike a playground specifically created for certain games, sandlots perhaps developed as informal spaces which children made use of to serve as makeshift playgrounds. In the US, sandlot baseball refers to an advanced version of the game played by teams not affiliated with either the Major or Minor leagues in the country

• WHO ARE WING WALKERS?

Wing walkers are those who walk on wings of an airplane in flight. Recently, a wing walker hung from a 450 Stearman aircraft when it was in flight. This stunt was performed as part of the Flying Circus Air Show in Bealeton, Virginia.

• WHAT ARE P-NOTES?

P-Notes are financial instruments that facilitate investment in Indian securities by foreign investors or hedge funds that are not registered with the Securities and Exchange Board of India. Indian brokerage houses buy the securities on behalf of these foreign investors and hedge funds and issue P-Notes to them. Any dividends or capital gains collected from the underlying securities will keep going back to the foreign investors and hedge funds. The value of P-Notes is determined on the basis of shares listed on the stock exchanges.

• WHY IS THE REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA REFERRED TO AS A RAINBOW NATION?

The Republic of South Africa is referred to as a Rainbow Nation to describe the unity of various cultural, racial or ethnic groups in the country during the postapartheid era (after 1994) compared to the earlier divisiveness based on skin colour. This phrase was coined by the then Archbishop of Cape Town, Desmond Tutu, and later used by Nelson Mandela, the first President of the Republic of South Africa elected in the first polls conducted after apartheid rule officially ended. In some South African cultures, the rainbow is always associated with hope and a bright future. Incidentally, the South African Hag also has six rainbow-like colours.

• WHO IS THE SECOND ASIAN AFTER RABINDRANATH TAGORE TO WIN THE NOBEL PRIZE FOR LITERATURE?

Shmuel Yosef Agnon (1888-1970) of Israel shared the 1966 Nobel Prize for Literature with Nelly Leonie Sachs (1891-1970), a GermanSwedish poet. This was 53 years after Tagore won the prize in 1913. The first Asian after Tagore to win it solo was Kawabata Yasunari (1899-1972), a Japanese novelist, in 1968.

• WHICH IS THE WORLD’S FIRST POST OFFICE?

Although the origins of the postal system date back to antiquity, the British Postal Museum claims the oldest functioning post office in the world is on High Street in Sanquhar, Scotland. According to the museum, this post office has functioned continuously since 1712 AD. Sanquhar is a quiet, insignificant town, but in its heyday, its residents included many influential aristocrats, who must have played a significant role in having the first post office located there. Those days, horses and stage coaches would carry mail.

• WHAT IS A CALLIOPE?

It is a musical instrument with a loud, shrill sound that’s audible miles away It is used to attract attention at circuses and fairs. It was invented in the United States around 1850 by A S Denny and patented in 1855 by Joshua C Stoddard. It consists of a boiler which forces steam through a set of whistle pipes. Either a keyboard or a pinned cylinder (like that of a barrel organ or music box) controls the entry of steam into the pipes.

• • Calliope was one of the nine muses in Greek mythology. Her name means beautiful voiced and she was the daughter of Zeus (God of sky and thunder) and Mnemosyne (Goddess of memory). She is the muse of epic poetry and eloquence. She was the oldest and wisest of the muses as well as the most assertive. She is often represented as a stately young woman whose brow is crowned with gold, while in some legends, she is seen with a writing tablet, scroll, or book in her hand and wearing a gold crown. She is best known as the inspiration for Homer’s Miad and the Odyssey.
• WHY IS SUN TEMPLE, KONARK CALLED THE ‘BLACK PAGODA?

Today, the Sun Temple, a magnificent pagoda, is located 2 km from the sea but, in olden times, it was much closer. So, the temple was used as a navigational point by European sailors. They referred to it as the ‘Black Pagoda’ due to its dark colour and its magnetic power that drew ships into the shore and caused shipwrecks.

• WHEN WAS THE SICAB HORSE SHOW FIRST HELD?

In 1980, the first Sicab (Salon Internacional del Caballo) was organised in Seville. The following year, it took place in Madrid. Today, there are more than 200 horse shows a year dedicated exclusively to the Purebred Spanish Horse.

• WHEN WERE CHOPSTICKS FIRST USED?

Chopsticks were made over 5,000 years ago in China. The earliest version of chopsticks were plain sticks or branches from trees which were used to retrieve food from fire. The teachings of Confucius forbade followers to use knives at the dining table, which further increased the popularity of chopsticks in Eastern Asia. Today, chopsticks are no longer confined to culinary purposes. Japan has even launched a bra called ‘My Chopsticks Bra’ which is made from recycled chopsticks. This would reduce the decimation of entire forests to manufacture chopsticks.

• WHAT IS A ‘BREATHING FABRIC’?

A ‘breathing fabric’ is designed to prevent the wearer from getting too hot or cold by adjusting itself to both the internal and external temperatures. The textile is made up of a layer of thin spikes of wool, or another water-absorbent material that opens up when it’s made wet by the wearer’s sweat. When the layer dries out, the spikes automatically close up again. A second layer underneath protects the wearer from the rain.

• WHAT IS A TITANIUM TOOTHBRUSH?

Titanium toothbrushes, which were invented in Japan and now are being exported to the US, might help do away with toothpaste. One variety of the toothbrush uses titanium dioxide, which causes an electrochemical reaction while brushing and this helps remove plaque. The other type uses titanium bristles that last for several years.

• WHY IS SATURN ASSOCIATED WITH AGRICULTURE?

In Roman mythology, Saturn is regarded as the god of agriculture. He is usually depicted holding a scythe to harvest land. Farmers in ancient Rome believed that Saturn had the power to bring a good harvest and if made angry could destroy it. In order to receive his blessings, they held a festival named Saturnalia. According to another myth, Saturn established the Golden Age in Rome. He introduced agriculture to his people by teaching them how to farm the land.

• WHAT CAUSES THE HEILIGENSCHEIN EFFECT? WHO DISCOVERED IT?

If an observer stands on dew-covered grass with his or her back turned towards the early morning sun, the observer is likely to observe a faint glow around the shadow of his or her head on the grass. Such a faint glow is called Heiligenschein, and the above optical phenomenon, the Heiligenschein effect. It occurs because the dew droplets act as tiny lenses focusing both the sunlight falling on the surface on which the shadow is cast, and the light that is back-scattered by the surface. In general, when a long shadow is cast on certain irregular surfaces with specific optical characteristics, the above effect occurs. Although Heiligenschein must have been known for a long time, it was first described in writing by the Italian sculptor and painter Benevenuto Cellini (1500-1571). Sometimes it’s called the Cellinis halo. In German, Heiligenschein means holy glow.

• WHAT ARE THE OLEFINS?

An alkene, olefin or olefine is a class of highly reactive unsaturated hydrocarbons, recovered from petroleum, with at least one carbon-carbon double bond. The simplest alkenes, with only one double bond and no other functional groups, form a homologous series of hydrocarbons with the general formula CnH2n, eg. Ethylene (ethane), propylene (propene), butylenes (butene) and so on. The olefins are widely used for making synthetic fibres.

• WHO BROKE THE SOUND BARRIER?

Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier on October 14,1947. He flew a plane faster than the velocity of the sun and broke the sound barrier which caused explosive vibrations over the atmosphere.

• WHAT IS THE MONTY HALL PROBLEM?

The Monty Hall problem talks about a situation where there are three closed doors —a goat lies behind two and a car behind the third. A person is asked to select a door (which is not opened immediately). Instead, one of the two unchosen doors are opened and the content is revealed, which incidentally turns out to be a goat. The person is now asked whether he would like to switch his choice to the other unopened door. This gets him thinking. Will changing his choice increase the possibility of winning the car? Common knowledge lets us assume that since now there are two closed doors (one with a goat and the other with a car), chances of winning a car if either of the doors are chosen is 1/2. Hence, it really isn’t a winning situation to motivate a person to change the choice. However, what one needs to remember is the fact that when the person initially made the choice, all three doors were closed and the probability of having a goat behind a closed -toor was 2/3. Now that we already know of ie door that has a goat behind it, chances f winning the door with the car if the peron decides to change his initial choice is /3, which is higher than what he would am if he refuses to change his decision.

• WHO INVENTED THE HELICOPTER?

French inventor Launoy and Bienvenue created a toy with rotary wings which could take off vertically and fly The term helicopter was later coined by French writer Ponton D’Amecot: helico for spiral and pter for wing. It was only in 1907 that the first helicopter was piloted by PaulCornu, who also created the model. The 100th anniversary of the helicopter’s first flight was celebrated on November 13,2007.

• WHAT IS THE ORIGIN OF THE LAUGHING BUDDHA?

Hotel or Pu-Tai is better known as the Laughing Buddha. The image of Hotel is based on a Chinese Zen monk who lived over 1000 years ago. Many regarded him a future Buddha because of his benevolent nature. It was due to his large protruding stomach and smile that he came to be known as the Laughing Buddha; His image graces many temples, restaurants and homes in China and Japan. Legend has it that if one rubs the Laughing Buddha’s great belly, it brings wealth, good luck and prosperity

• WHAT ARE BLUELAWS AND WHY THEY ARE CALLED SO?

A bluelaw is enacted by the people of the Dominion of New Haven. These laws in the United States and Canada are designed to enforce moral standards, particularly the observance of Sunday as a day of worship or rest. They came to be known as bluelaws because they were supposedly printed on blue paper. Contrary to popular belief, there is no evidence to support this assertion.

• WHO IS CREDITED WITH HAVING THE HIGHEST IQ?

Marilyn vos Savant is an American magazine columnist, author, lecturer and playwright who rose to fame through her listing in the Guinness Book of World Records under the Highest IQ category, with a score of 228. She wrote for acolumn called Ask Marilyn in a magazine in which she answers questions from readers on a variety of subjects.

• WHICH IS THE WORLD’S FIRST COURIER SERVICE?

Overseas Courier Service, the world’s first courier service providing firm, was established in 1957 by a consortium of major newspaper publishers in Tokyo as a global, overnight delivery system for time-sensitive business publications. It was the first such private international network, dedicated entirely to overseas air-speed shipping.

• WHY IS LAS VEGAS CALLED SO?

Las Vegas was named by Spaniards in the Antonio Armijo Party, who used the water in the area while heading along the Old Spanish Trail from Texas. In the 1800s, areas of the Las Vegas Valley contained artesian wells that supported extensive green areas or meadows (vegas in Spanish) and hence the name Las Vegas.

• WHO INVENTED THE CLOCK?

The earliest way of telling the time was by looking at the progress of the shadow cast by a twig stuck up-right in the ground. Round about 1300 BC, this was developed by the inhabitants of ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia into the sundial. The sundial served for a thousand years until the invention of the clepsydra, or water clock. This was the first clock with moving parts. The mechanical clock was not invented until the 13th century and it was driven by weights. The spring-driven clock was invented sometime around 1450 AD.

• WHO INVENTED THE CLOCK?

The primitive type of clock was invented by Henry de Wick in 1368. He installed it on the tower of the castle of the king of France. Using the technique of a pendulum, the clock was developed by French engineer Hyudhence in 1639. Electricity was deployed in the clock by Alexander Ben around 1840-50.

• WHO ARE ‘THE LITTLE EMPERORS’?

They refer to obese little boys in China without any siblings. They are heavily doted on by their parents and grandparents, who feed them calorie-laden candies and fast food. As a result, obesity has become a problem amongst Chinese teenagers. It’s also seen as a fallout of the strict population policy of China which restricts couples from having more than one child, because of which parents and relatives tend to spoil their children with fatty foods.

• WHAT WERE GULAG CAMPS?

The Gulag, a system of forced labour camps in the former USSR, was first established in 1919 under the Cheka, its secret police. Prisoners included murderers, thieves, and other common criminals along with political and religious dissenters. The Gulag, whose camps were located mainly in remote regions of Siberia and the far North of USSR made significant contributions to the Soviet economy in the period of Joseph Stalin. Conditions in the camps were extremely harsh. After Stalin died in 1953, the Gulag population was reduced significantly, and condition of inmates somewhat improved.

• WHO IS CHE GUEVARA?

Ernesto Che Guevara was a Cuban revolutionary leader. Though communism may have lost its fire, he remains the symbol of rebellion and the alluring zeal of revolution. By the time Ernesto Guevara, known to us as Che, was murdered in the jungles of Bolivia in October 1967, he was already a legend, not only in Latin America but also around the world. His fearless last words, reportedly, were “Shoot, coward, you’re only going to kill a man”.

• WHO IS CHE GUEVARA?

Though a comrade of Fidel Castro in the Cuban revolution, Ernesto Che Guevara was actually from Argentina, not Cuba. His nickname ‘Che’ (loosely translates as ‘yaar’ in India) is an Argentinian slang.

• WHAT IS THE ORIGIN OF JAZZ MUSIC?

Jazz originated among the Black people in New Orleans in the late 19th century and is characterized by syncopated rhythms and improvisation. It has since developed various styles. Jazz originally drew on Ragtime, Gospel, Black spiritual songs, West African rhythms, and European harmonies. The term jazz originated in southern United States (it is first recorded in 1909, applied to a type of ragtime dance), and it is tempting to speculate that its ancestor crossed the Atlantic on the slave ships from Africa. In the absence of any certain origin, various colourful alternative theories have been put forward, for instance, the name jazz came from the nickname of a certain Jasbo Brown, an itinerant musician along the banks of the Mississippi.

• WHAT IS AGENT ORANGE?

Agent Orange is a defoliant herbicide mixture used during the Vietnam War to destroy forests in Vietnam. The United States sprayed 20 million gallons of Agent Orange over forests in Vietnam, and as a result, members of the armed forces were exposed to it. Agent Orange, named as such due to the orange colour of its storage drums, is a 50:50 mixture of the butyl esters of 2, 4-D and 2,4,5-T. It is probable that damage to humans would be due to the highly toxic impurity dioxin present in Agent Orange.

• HOW OLD IS THE JERUSALEM OLD CITY?

Jerusalem is one of the oldest cities of the world, having a history that begins in the fourth millennium BC. There was a mention of the city even in the Egyptian texts that belonged to 20th century BC. David was the first Jewish king to conquer the city of Jerusalem in 1007 BC and adopt it as his capital. Over the next several centuries, the city has been conquered and ruled by several different groups of people and countries, and has become a holy city for Jews, Muslims and Christians. Today, it is under the control of Israel and happens to be Israel’s largest city. What has been the city of Jerusalem until 1860s, is the 0.9 square kilometre walled portion inside the modern city of Jerusalem. The walled portion is called the old city today. The old city is divided into four quarters, Armenian, Muslim, Christian, and Jewish, and houses many important shrines.

• WHO IS KNOWN AS A MATHLETE?

Just as athletes participate in athletic events, matheletes are those who compete in mathematics competitions. The word is a trademark of MathCount Foundation. Recently, a French mathlete named Alexis Lemaire calculated the 13th root of a 200-digit number in just over 70 seconds. By doing so, he beat his own previous record of 72.4 seconds at an event in London’s Science Museum.

• WHAT IS A MOM-AND-POP SHOP?

A mom-and-pop shop is a colloquial expression for a single-family operated business with few or no employees other than the owners. Sometimes, fewer than ten employees work in these small or micro businesses. People who speak of mom-and-pop businesses often refer to the unique perspective offered by patronizing a family business. Some encourage the unknown experience of entering a mom-and-pop establishment over franchise businesses, which typically offer comparable stores and similar consumer experiences, regardless of location. For example, mom-and-pop businesses are often highlighted in travel guides, because going to a business owned and operated by a family allows a traveller to fully experience and understand the people of another culture.

• WHO INVENTED CHEWING GUM?

Thomas Adams, a rubber scientist, invented chewing gum. He was working with a substance called chicle, a gum prepared from the latex of the saphodila tree, a tropical evergreen plant. By chance, he popped a small piece of chicle into his mouth and chewed it casually to while away time. Suddenly, it occurred to him that others may derive pleasure from chewing chicle, which is, even today, a chief ingredient in chewing gum.

• WHICH IS THE LONGEST ACRONYM IN USE?

Adcomsubordcomphibspac is the longest English acronym. It’s a navy term which stands for Administrative Command, Amphibious Forces, Pacific Fleet Subordinate Command.

• WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A FRESCO AND A MURAL?

A mural is any large painting on a wall, ceiling or any other large structure. There are many techniques used to make them. A fresco, executed using water-soluble paints on wet or dry limestone, is one of the techniques and probably the most popular. A primary characteristic of a fresco is that the paintings, though often done in parts, are generally related by a common thread. For example, the frescoes on the walls and ceilings of Ajanta caves in India (6th century) depict the Jataka tales — stories from Buddha’s life.

• WHAT DOES THE WORD ‘WOOT’ MEAN?

If lay persons say ‘yay’, then hardcore gamers would say ‘wOOt’. This phrase, an expression of joy by on-line gamers, has been selected as the word of the year by the US dictionary publisher Merriam Webster.

• WHAT IS THE NYQUIST RATE?

In data communication, the sampling theorem states that a continuous signal can be completely represented in its sampled form and recovered from the sampled form if the sampling frequency f is equal to 2W, where W is the maximum frequency of that continuous signal. This minimum sampling rate of 2W samples per second for a signal having maximum frequency of W is called the Nyquist Rate.

• WHAT IS THE PHOBIA OF ALIENS CALLED?

Fear or dislike of foreigners or aliens is called xenophobia. The word xenophobia is a combination of two Greek words — xenos (foreigners) and phobos (fear). When a majority of people in a country suffer from xenophobia, the phobia can lead to mass expulsion of people of foreign origin, or banning of certain foreign cultural elements. Xenophobia is different from racism, although often both words are used interchangeably Racism implies a hatred of people of other races, irrespective of whether they belong to one’s own country, whereas xenophobia implies hatred of people of other countries or regions. In science fiction, xenophobia refers to fear of extraterrestrial beings. Scientists explain xenophobia as a defence mechanism evolved in humans in response to the need to win in inter-group competition in society and Nature.

• WHAT IS THE GUDERMANNIAN FUNCTION?

The Gudermannian function, named after Christoph Gudermann (1798 -1852), relates to the circular and hyperbolic trigonometric functions without using complex numbers.

• HOW IS A BARGE DIFFERENT FROM A REGULAR BOAT?

The word originally referred to any small boat; the modern meaning arose around 1480. A barge is a flatbottomed boat, built mainly for river and canal transport of heavy goods. Most barges are not self-propelled and need to be moved by tugboats or towboats. Barges on canals contended with the railways in the early industrial revolution but were outclassed when it came to carrying high-value items due to the higher speed, falling costs, and route flexibility of rail transport. A boat is a watercraft designed to float on, and provide transport over water.

• WHAT’S THE GREEN GOLD PROJECT?

The Green Gold or Oro Verde project seeks to ensure the safety of miners and also protect them from exploitation. A jewellery shop in Chichester, England along with miners in a cooperative in Choco in North-East Colombia and the Fair Trade Foundation embarked on this project which promotes the purchase of green gold or jewellery which isn’t created by putting labourers through hardships.

• WHAT IS THE ANTARCTICA TREATY?

The Antarctica Treaty, signed in 1959, was a path-breaking agreement among countries of the world. There are certain regions located beyond the sovereign jurisdiction of any country of the world. Therefore, they require common governance by the international community These are known as ‘res communis humanitatis’ or Global Commons. It includes not only Antarctica but also the ocean floor and outer space. According to the treaty, Antarctica’s environment and ecosystem will be protected. Since 1959, activities in the area have been limited to scientific research and development, fishing and tourism. Even these limited activities have not prevented this region from being degraded by waste, for example, oil spills. The expansion of the treaty was Antarctic Environmental Protocol of 1991.

• WHAT IS A PAGODA?

A pagoda, in South-east Asia, is a cone-shaped monumental structure built in memory of the Buddha. But in the Far East, a pagoda is a tower-like, multi-storeyed structure of stone, brick, or wood, usually associated with a Buddhist temple complex. The pagoda is derived from the stupa of ancient India, which was a dome-shaped commemorative monument, usually erected over the remains or relics of a holy man or king.

• WHY DOES FEBRUARY HAVE 28 DAYS, AND JULY AND AUGUST, 31 DAYS?

According to a popular legend, July was named after Julius Caesar and hence it had 31 days. Later, when Augustus Caesar took over the Roman Empire, he wanted August, the month named after him, to have 31 days as well. Hence, the two extra days were taken from February, which was then left with 28 days. However, some historians d.on’t agree with this reasoning. They believe February always had 28 days ever since the time of King Numa Pompilius. He decided that a year would have 355 days, the length of 12 lunar cycles. Back then, even numbers were considered unlucky So, he created seven months with 29 days, and four with 31. Since he now needed one short even-numbered month, he chose February, as it was considered the least favourite month for it arrived during the middle of winter. And hence, it was given only 28 days.

• WHAT IS RICE WINE?

Rice wine is made from fermenting freshly steamed glutinous rice. Most rice wines are low in alcohol content, light in colour, noncarbonated and have a sweet flavour. Rice wine is categorized according to the degree to which rice is polished. It does not usually improve with age and should be preferably consumed within one year of bottling.

• WHY WAS THE NEW AMSTERDAM COLONY ESTABLISHED?

New Amsterdam was established by Dutch colonisers in 1624 in what is known today as New York city The town of New Amsterdam became a city in 1653 when it received municipal rights and was reincorporated as New York city in June 1665. The town was founded on the southern tip of Manhattan island as the most optimal place for permanent settlement by the Dutch West India Company and was strategically located on the south of the Hudson river. The location was best suited to defend the integrity of the New Netherlands province and was entrusted to safeguard the West India Company’s exclusive access to New Netherlands’ other two estuaries — the Delaware river and Connecticut river.

• WHICH WAS THE FIRST WAR FOUGHT IN THE HISTORY OF MANKIND?

If we define war as a large-scale violent conflict between two states employing the military, the earliest recorded wars might have taken place between various city states in the Mesopotamian region during the period 3,000-2,300 BC in the Bronze Age. The first recorded evidence of such a war was the one between the two city states Lagash and Umma, estimated to have taken place in 2525 BC. From the stone slabs bearing inscriptions related to the war, it could be inferred that the war employed professional soldiers wearing helmets who moved on chariots. The weapons employed were maces and swords.

• WHERE DOES SANTA CLAUS LIVE?

The original Santa Claus lived nowhere near the North Pole. If the 4th century bishop known as Saint Nicholas of Myra — the inspiration for Santa Claus — existed at all, he lived in Lycia, a province of the Byzantine Anatolia, now in Turkey Santa Claus is a corruption of the Dutch name Sinte Klaas for St Nicholas, the patron saint of children and unmarried girls. Tradition says he gave bags of gold to three daughters from a noble, but poor family as their dowries, thus saving them from a life of prostitution. As the legends developed in the Netherlands, the three bags of gold were replaced by a bulging sack of presents which Santa Claus distributed to children on December 6, St Nicholas’ feast day Later, this custom caught on to other parts of the world, to give gifts to good people and punish the bad.

• WHAT IS THE SEEHECK EFFECT?

The principle of the thermocouple was first described by Seebeck in 1821. Seebeck discovered that when wires of two dissimilar metals were joined together to form a circuit of at least two junctions, a current would flow when the junctions were at different temperatures. This phenomenon, called the Seebeck Effect, is the basis upon which thermocouples are designed.

• WHAT IS FOUR-DIMENSIONAL CINEMA?

What we normally see today in theatres are two-dimensional movies with multi-channel sound. In three-dimensional movies, viewers are required to wear special glasses which create 3-D images of objects in the movie. Chhota Chetan and Shiva Ka Insaaf were such movies released two decades ago. Fourth dimension in a movie creates an overall different experience. In addition to the effects of 3-D features, viewers can experience the movies through other senses like sight, sound, odour, touch and also have personal remote control. Viewers are seated in special seats which have bass shockers and other special fittings which make them a part of the complete 4-D experience.

• WHAT IS BOW SHOCK?

In aerodynamics, bow shock is a normal shock that occurs in front of an object within a supersonic flow. Unlike an oblique shock, the bow shock is not attached to the tip, off the object in the flow. Oblique shock angles are limited in formation based on the corner angle and upstream Mach number. When these limitations are exceeded, a bow shock occurs instead of an oblique shock. Therefore, bow shocks are often seen forming around blunt objects. In astrophysics, bow shock is a boundary between a magnetosphere and an ambient medium. For stars, this is typically the boundary between their stellar wind and the interstellar medium. In a planetary magnetosphere, the bow shock is the boundary at which the solar wind abruptly drops because of its approach to the magnetopause.

• WHAT IS ASSUMPTION DAY?

Assumption Day is, according to the Roman Catholic church, the day on which the Blessed Virgin Mary was, along with her body and soul, accepted (or ‘assumed’) in heaven. It is usually celebrated on August 15 by Roman Catholics. In some parts of the world, Assumption Day is a public holiday; in some parts it is a day of solemnity and prayers, whereas in some other parts, it is a day of feasting and festivities. Although in the early days of Christianity some held that it was not certain how the Virgin Mary’s life ended, from the 5th century AD onwards, Christians believed that the Virgin Mary did not actually suffer a physical death and that she passed into heaven with her physical body and soul on Assumption Day The above day was officially recognised through a Dogma by the Church only in 1950. The Assumption has also been a subject of Christian art for several centuries.

• WHAT IS HEIRLOOM GARDENING?

An heirloom plant, heirloom variety, or (especially in the UK) heirloom vegetable is an open-pollinated cultivar that was commonly grown during earlier periods in human history, but not used in modern large-scale agriculture. Since most popular heirloom plants are vegetables, the term heirloom vegetable is often used instead. The trend of growing heirloom plants in gardens has been growing in popularity in the United States and Europe over the last decade. This is called heirloom gardening. Some examples are heirloom tomato, forbidden rice and Bhutanese red rice.

• WHAT IS DIES IRAE?

Dies Irae literally means day of wrath. The mediaeval Christians were preoccupied with the end of the world; they anticipated the Last Judgement, followed by the millennium. After the fall of the Roman Empire in the West there was a revival of the belief in the end of time. The year 1000 likewise excited mythological speculation, as did famines, plagues, and earthquakes. Most influential were the views of the visionary Joachim of Fiore. He divided history into several ages and said that 1260 would be the fulfilment of the Age of the Spirit, which had begun with St Benedict. At that time, mankind could expect a new revelation, the coming of the anti-Christ, and the last days of wrath. This myth, written down at the behest of the Papacy, exerted a potent influence on mediaeval thought, and in its vision of a future world where the Holy Roman Empire and the Church of Rome would give place to a free community of perfected beings who have no need of clergy or sacraments or scripture, it anticipated modern millennial theories.

• HOW MANY COUNTRIES DOES THE DNIEPER FLOW THROUGH?

Russia, Belarus and Ukraine are the three countries through which Europe’s third-longest river flows. It originates in the south-west of Moscow and flows through Smolensk (Russia), Mogilev (Belarus), Kiev (capital of Ukraine), Dnepropetrovsk and Kherson (Ukraine) and empties into the Black Sea.

• WHAT IS ANTHROPOCENE EPOCH?

The current geological epoch we live in is called Holocene, which began around 9600 BC. However, considering the way humans have altered the course of the Earth scientists suggest that the epoch be renamed anthropocene. Nobel-prize winning chemist Paul Crutzen coined this term in a casual remark in 2002, while talking about how the Earth was entering a new epoch due to increasing human population and economic activity However, other scientists want this word to refer to the human impact upon the planet.

• WHAT IS ANTI-DUMPING DUTY?

If any company exports a product at a price lower than what it normally charges in its home market, then it is dumping the product. Opinions differ as to whether or not this is unfair competition, but many countries take action against dumping by imposing anti-dumping duty Thus, anti-dumping duty is an extra import duty on a particular product from a particular country in order to bring its prices closer to the normal value of that product in the country it is imported to. It is done to protect its own industry from predatory pricing. The World Trade Organisation does not prohibit antidumping policies and allows any country to take anti-dumping action against the countries which violate the principles of General Agreement on Trade and Tariff.

• WHAT IS A CASCADE EFFECT?

An unforseen chain of events due to an act affecting a system, much like how a waterfall cascades down, is called cascade effect. Cascade effects are commonly visualised in tree structures called event trees.

• WHAT IS LAPIS LAZULI?

Lapis Lazuli is an intense blue semiprecious stone. It has been mined for 6,500 years in Badakhshan, Afghanistan. It has lazurite as the main component. It’s used in jewellery, mosaics, architecture and as a pigment called ultramarine in tempera paintings. It was used by Assyrians and Babylonians for seals, as an eyeshadow by Cleopatra and Romans believed it to be an aphrodisiac. It was thought to keep limbs healthy and free the soul from error, envy and fear.

• WHAT ARE MAGIC BULLETS IN PHARMACEUTICAL TERMS?

In pharmaceutical terms, magic bullets are those drugs which attack the affected organ/cells and not the healthy ones. For example, the medicine for blood cancer I — called Glivec — is known to be a magic bullet as it attacks only those cells which are affected by the disease and not the healthy or surrounding cells.

• WHAT IS THE ‘ART OF MOVING’?

‘The art of moving’ or Parkour involves moving from one point to another as quickly and efficiently as possible. It entails overcoming obstacles using the power of the human body and is practised in several urban areas the world over. Recently, members of the Du Yize Parkour Club of Beijing showed their prowess at the Forbidden City

• WHAT ARE POLAR COORDINATES?

It is a system of coordinates in Geometry whereby the position of a point, say P, in a plane can be determined with reference to a fixed point called origin, denoted by 0, and a predetermined direction represented by a ray OA. The measure of length OP, denoted by r, and the measure of the angle that OP makes with OA, generally denoted by a Greek letter theta, are called polar coordinates of P and, P is called the graph of r and theta. One pair of values of r and theta corresponds to only one point in the plane and one point in the plane corresponds to only one pair of the values of r and theta.

• WHAT ARE SLATS?

These are thin narrow flat strips made of wood or metal, which are used as an auxiliary air foil at the leading edge of the wing of an aeroplane.

• WHEN AND WHERE DID JALLIKATTU ORIGINATE?

Jallikattu, which is bull-baiting or bull fighting, is an ancient Tamilian tradition. There are several rock paintings, more than 3,500 years old, at remote Karikkiyur village in the Nilgiri district in Tamil Nadu that show men chasing bulls. Another single painting discovered in a cave at Kalluthu Mettupatti, about 35 km west of Madurai, between Madurai and Dindigul, shows a lone man trying to control a bull, Researchers estimate that this painting, done in white kaolin, is about 1,500 years old.

• WHAT’S THE ORIGIN OF THE TERM ‘TOP DOG’?

‘Top dog’ means one who is dominant or victorious. When wooden planks were sawn by hand, two men did the job using a two-handed saw. The senior man took the top handle, standing on the wood, and the junior took the bottom, in the saw-pit below. The irons that were used to hold the wood were called dogs and that the bottom position was much more uncomfortable. The term ‘top dog’ originated from this practice.

• WHICH IS THE FIRST ART GALLERY?

The term art gallery refers to two different kinds of places: 1. A place which exhibits items of art (an art museum), and 2. A place which sells art items. The oldest art museum is supposed to be housed in the Cosquer Caves, the under-water caves, near Marseilles. The caves consist of finger tracings, impressions of painted hands, and painted and engraved figures of animals. The oldest works in these caves were estimated to have been created 29,000 years ago. Art galleries that exhibit and sell works of art on a large scale have been in existence since the 17th century AD. Most of the oldest art auction houses that exist today in Europe have been founded in the first half of the 18th century Viennabased auction house Dorothium, which claims to be the oldest art auction house of the world, was founded in 1707, and Sothebys, the oldest and largest art auction house of England, was founded in 1744.

• WHAT ARE TEXTONYMS?

They refer to the new language developed by cellphone-addicted teenagers, based on predictive text on their handsets. They are also known as adaptonyms or cellodromes. Using predictive text, the first alternative to certain keywords are used in textonyms.

• WHAT ARE BANKURA HORSES?

The vibrant tradition of folk art in West Bengal’s Bankura district includes a variety of clay handicrafts. The district’s most famous product is the Bankura Horse, a very stylised figure with a long neck and elongated ears, in warm terracotta colours. Artisans have used the same techniques of hollow clay moulding and firing for generations. Sizes vary from minute, palm-sized to gigantic creations over 1 metre high. The horses are votive figures and are usually kept or placed in front of local deities.

• WHO WAS THE FIRST INDIAN TO BE KNIGHTED?

Queen Victoria founded The Most Exalted Order of the Star of India in 1861, which was an order of chivalry, meant to be given to viceroys of India, nawabs and princes for their meritorious service and loyalty to the British empire. The people admitted to this order were called knights. In the year of its founding, Nawab Sikandar Begum Sahiba, Nawab Begum of Bhopal was made the Knight Grand Commander of the Star of India (GCSI). La

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Michael Knight Hesperia California Realtor

Athabasca Oil Sands

History

The Athabasca oil sands are named after the Athabasca River which cuts through the heart of the deposit, and traces of the heavy oil are readily observed on the river banks. Historically, the bitumen was used by the indigenous Cree and Dene Aboriginal peoples to waterproof their canoes. The oil deposits are located within the boundaries of Treaty 8, and several First Nations of the area are involved with the sands.

Athabasca oil sands on the banks of the river, c. 1900

The Athabasca oil sands first came to the attention of European fur traders in 1719 when Wa-pa-su, a Cree trader, brought a sample of bituminous sands to the Hudson’s Bay Company post at York Factory on Hudson Bay where Henry Kelsey was the manager. In 1778, Peter Pond, another fur trader and a founder of the rival North West Company, became the first European to see the Athabasca deposits after discovering the Methye Portage which allowed access to the rich fur resources of the Athabasca River system from the Hudson Bay watershed.

In 1788, fur trader Alexander MacKenzie (who later discovered routes to both the Arctic and Pacific Oceans from this area) wrote: “At about 24 miles (39 km) from the fork (of the Athabasca and Clearwater Rivers) are some bituminous fountains into which a pole of 20 feet (6.1 m) long may be inserted without the least resistance. The bitumen is in a fluid state and when mixed with gum, the resinous substance collected from the spruce fir, it serves to gum the Indians’ canoes.” He was followed in 1799 by map maker David Thompson and in 1819 by British Naval officer Sir John Franklin.

Sir John Richardson did the first geological assessment of the oil sands in 1848 on his way north to search for Franklin’s lost expedition. The first government-sponsored survey of the oil sands was initiated in 1875 by John Macoun, and in 1883, G.C. Hoffman of the Geological Survey of Canada tried separating the bitumen from oil sand with the use of water and reported that it separated readily. In 1888, Dr. Robert Bell, the director of the Geological Survey of Canada, reported to a Senate Committee that “The evidence … points to the existence in the Athabasca and Mackenzie valleys of the most extensive petroleum field in America, if not the world.”

In 1926, Dr. Karl Clark of the University of Alberta perfected a hot water separation process which became the basis of today’s thermal extraction process. Several attempts to implement it had varying degrees of success, but it was 1967 before the first commercially viable operation began with the opening of the Great Canadian Oil Sands (now Suncor) plant using surfactants in the separation process developed by Dr. Earl W. Malmberg of Sun Oil Company.

Oil sands production

Commercial production of oil from the Athabasca oil sands began in 1967, when Great Canadian Oil Sands Limited (then a subsidiary of Sun Oil Company but now an independent company known as Suncor Energy) opened its first mine, producing 30,000 barrels per day (4,800 m3/d) of synthetic crude oil. Development was inhibited by declining world oil prices, and the second mine, operated by the Syncrude consortium, did not begin operating until 1978, after the 1973 oil crisis sparked investor interest. However, the price of oil subsided afterwards, and although the 1979 energy crisis caused oil prices to peak again, introduction of the National Energy Program by Pierre Trudeau discouraged foreign investment in the Canadian oil industry. During the 1980s, oil prices declined to very low levels, causing considerable retrenchment in the oil industry, and the third mine, operated by Shell Canada, did not begin operating until 2003. However, as a result of oil price increases since 2003, the existing mines have been greatly expanded and new ones are being planned.

According to the Alberta Energy and Utilities Board, 2005 production of crude bitumen in the Athabasca oil sands was as follows:

2005 Production

m3/day

bbl/day

Suncor Mine

31,000

195,000

Syncrude Mine

41,700

262,000

Shell Canada Mine

26,800

169,000

In Situ Projects

21,300

134,000

TOTAL

120,800

760,000

As of 2006, output of oil sands production had increased to 1.126 million barrels per day (179,000 m3/d). Oil sands were the source of 62% of Alberta’s total oil production and 47% of all oil produced in Canada. The Alberta government believes this level of production could reach 3 Mbbl/d (480,000 m3/d) by 2020 and possibly 5 Mbbl/d (790,000 m3/d) by 2030.

Future production

As of December 2008, the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers revised its 2008-2020 crude oil forecasts to account for project cancellations and cutbacks as a result of the price declines in the second half of 2008. The revised forecast predicted that Canadian oil sands production would continue to grow, but at a slower rate than previously predicted. There would be minimal changes to 2008-2012 production, but by 2020 production could be 300,000 barrels per day (48,000 m3/d) less than its prior predictions. This would mean that Canadian oil sands production would grow from 1.2 million barrels per day (190,000 m3/d) in 2008 to 3.3 million barrels per day (520,000 m3/d) in 2020, and that total Canadian oil production would grow from 2.7 to 4.1 million barrels per day (430,000 to 650,000 m3/d) in 2020. Even accounting for project cancellations, this would place Canada among the four or five largest oil-producing countries in the world by 2020.

In early December 2007, London based BP and Calgary based Husky Energy announced a 50/50 joint venture to produce and refine bitumen from the Athabasca oil sands. BP would contribute its Toledo, Ohio refinery to the joint venture, while Husky would contribute its Sunrise oil sands project. Sunrise was planned to start producing 60,000 barrels per day (9,500 m3/d) of bitumen in 2012 and may reach 200,000 bbl/d (30,000 m3/d) by 2015-2020. BP would modify its Toledo refinery to process 170,000 bbl/d (27,000 m3/d) of bitumen directly to refined products. The joint venture would solve problems for both companies, since Husky was short of refining capacity, and BP had no presence in the oil sands. It was a change of strategy for BP, since the company historically has downplayed the importance of oil sands.

In mid December 2007, ConocoPhillips announced its intention to increase its oil sands production from 60,000 barrels per day (9,500 m3/d) to 1 million barrels per day (160,000 m3/d) over the next 20 years, which would make it the largest private sector oil sands producer in the world. ConocoPhillips currently holds the largest position in the Canadian oil sands with over 1 million acres (4000 km2) under lease. Other major oil sands producers planning to increase their production include Royal Dutch Shell (to 770,000 bbl/d (122,000 m3/d); Syncrude Canada (to 550,000 bbl/d (87,000 m3/d); Suncor Energy (to 500,000 bbl/d (79,000 m3/d) and Canadian Natural Resources (to 500,000 bbl/d (79,000 m3/d). If all these plans come to fruition, these five companies will be producing over 3.3 million bbl/d (500,000 m3/d) of oil from oil sands by 2028.

Major Athabasca Oil Sands Projects (as of December 2007)

Project Name

Type

Major Partners

National

Affiliation

2007 Production

(barrels/day)

Planned Production

(barrels/day)

Suncor

Primarily Mining

Suncor Energy

Canada

239,100

500,000

Syncrude

Mining

Syncrude

Canada (some USA)

307,000

550,000

Albian Sands

Mining

Shell(60%), Chevron(20%), Marathon(20%)

UK/Netherlands, USA

136,000

770,000

MacKay River

SAGD

Petro-Canada

Canada

  30,000

190,000

Fort Hills

Mining

Petro-Canada(60%), UTS Energy(20%), Teck(20%)

Canada

 

140,000

Foster Creek, Christina Lake

SAGD

EnCana Energy(50%), ConocoPhillips(50%)

Canada, USA

    6,000

400,000

Surmont

SAGD

Total S.A.(50%),ConocoPhillips(50%)

France, USA

193,000

Hangingstone

SAGD

Japan Canada Oil Sands (JACOS)

Japan

    8,000

  30,000

Long Lake

SAGD

Nexen(65%), OPTI Canada(35%)

Canada

240,000

Horizon

Mining and in situ

Canadian Natural Resources Limited

Canada

500,000

Jackfish I and II

SAGD

Devon Energy

USA

 ??

  70,000

Northern Lights

Mining

Total S.A.(60%), Sinopec(40%)

France, China

100,000

Kearl

Mining

Imperial Oil, ExxonMobil

USA

300,000

Sunrise

SAGD

Husky Energy(50%), BP(50%)

Canada, UK

200,000

Tucker

SAGD

Husky Energy

Canada

 ??

30,000

Oil Sands Project

Mining and SAGD

Total S.A. (76%), Oxy (15%), Inpex (10%)

France, USA, Japan

225,000

Ells River

SAGD

Chevron(60%), Marathon(20%), Shell(20%)

USA, UK/Netherlands

100,000

Terre de Grace

SAGD

Value Creation Inc

Canada

300,000

Kai Kos Dehseh

SAGD

Statoil

Norway

200,000

Black Gold Mine

Mining?

Korea National Oil Corporation

Korea

  30,000

Total

726,100

5,068,000   

Development

The key characteristic of the Athabasca deposit is that it is the only one shallow enough to be suitable for surface mining. About 10% of the Athabasca oil sands are covered by less than 75 metres (246 ft) of overburden. The mineable area as defined by the Alberta government covers 37 contiguous townships (about 3,400 km2/1,300 sq mi) north of the city of Fort McMurray. The overburden consists of 1 to 3 metres of water-logged muskeg on top of 0 to 75 metres of clay and barren sand, while the underlying oil sands are typically 40 to 60 metres thick and sit on top of relatively flat limestone rock. As a result of the easy accessibility, the world’s first oil sands mine was started by Great Canadian Oil Sands Limited (a predecessor company of Suncor Energy) in 1967. The Syncrude mine (the biggest mine in the world at 191 km2)[citation needed] followed in 1978, and the Albian Sands mine (operated by Shell Canada) in 2003. All three of these mines are associated with bitumen upgraders that convert the unusable bitumen into synthetic crude oil for shipment to refineries in Canada and the United States. At Albian, the upgrader is located at Scotford, 439 km south. The bitumen, diluted with a solvent is transferred there in a 610 millimetres (24 in) Corridor Pipeline.

Bitumen extraction

Main article: Oil sands#Extraction process

The original process for extraction of bitumen from the sands was developed by Dr. Karl Clark, working with Alberta Research Council in the 1920s. Today, all of the producers doing surface mining, such as Syncrude Canada, Suncor Energy and Albian Sands Energy etc., use a variation of the Clark Hot Water Extraction (CHWE) process. In this process, the ores are mined using open-pit mining technology. The mined ore is then crushed for size reduction. Hot water at 50 80 C is added to the ore and the formed slurry is transported using hydrotransport line to a primary separation vessel (PSV) where bitumen is recovered by flotation as bitumen froth. The recovered bitumen froth consists of 60% bitumen, 30% water and 10% solids by weight. The recovered bitumen froth needs to be cleaned to reject the contained solids and water to meet the requirement of downstream upgrading processes. Depending on the bitumen content in the ore, between 90 and 100% of the bitumen can be recovered using modern hot water extraction techniques. After oil extraction, the spent sand and other materials are then returned to the mine, which is eventually reclaimed.

More recently, in-situ methods like steam assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) and cyclic steam stimulation (CSS) have been developed to extract bitumen from deep deposits by injecting steam to heat the sands and reduce the bitumen viscosity so that it can be pumped out like conventional crude oil.

The standard extraction process requires huge amounts of natural gas. Currently, the oil sands industry uses about 4% of the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin natural gas production. By 2015, this may increase 2.5 fold.

According to the National Energy Board, it requires about 1,200 cubic feet (34 m3) of natural gas to produce one barrel of bitumen from in situ projects and about 700 cubic feet (20 m3) for integrated projects. Since a barrel of oil equivalent is about 6,000 cubic feet (170 m3) of gas, this represents a large gain in energy. That being the case, it is likely that Alberta regulators will reduce exports of natural gas to the United States in order to provide fuel to the oil sands plants. As gas reserves are exhausted, however, oil upgraders will likely turn to bitumen gasification to generate their own fuel. In much the same way the bitumen can be converted into synthetic crude oil, it can also be converted into synthetic natural gas.

In-situ extraction on a commercial scale is just beginning. A project nearing completion, the Long Lake Project, is designed to provide its own fuel, by on-site hydrocracking of the bitumen extracted. Long Lake Phase 1 is extracting 13,000 barrels/day of bitumen as of July 2008, ramping towards a target of 72,000 in late 2009. and “upgrading” of bitumen to liquid oil in 2007, producing 60,000 bbl/day of usable oil. The hydrocracker is scheduled to complete commissioning by September 2008.

Environmental impacts

See also: Environmental issues surrounding oil sands exploitation

Mining operations in the Athabasca oil sands. Image shows the Athabasca River about 600m from the tailings pond. NASA Earth Observatory photo, 2009.

Critics contend that government and industry measures taken to minimize environmental and health risks posed by large-scale mining operations are inadequate, causing damage to the natural environment. Objective discussion of the environmental impacts has often been clouded by polarized arguments from industry and from advocacy groups.

Land

Approximately 20% of Alberta’s oil sands are recoverable through open-pit mining, while 80% require in situ extraction technologies (largely because of their depth). Open pit mining destroys the boreal forest and muskeg. The Alberta government requires companies to restore the land to “equivalent land capability”. This means that the ability of the land to support various land uses after reclamation is similar to what existed, but that the individual land uses may not necessarily be identical. In some particular circumstances the government considers agricultural land to be equivalent to forest land. Oil sands companies have reclaimed mined land to use as pasture for wood bison instead of restoring it to the original boreal forest and muskeg. Syncrude asserts they have reclaimed 22% of their disturbed land.

Water

A Pembina Institute report stated “To produce one cubic metre (m3) of synthetic crude oil (SCO) (upgraded bitumen) in a mining operation requires about 24.5 m3 of water (net figures). Approved oil sands mining operations are currently licensed to divert 359 million m3 from the Athabasca River, or more than twice the volume of water required to meet the annual municipal needs of the City of Calgary.” and went on to say “…the net water requirement to produce a cubic metre of oil with in situ (emphasis added) production may be as little as 0.2 m3, depending on how much is recycled”. Jeffrey Simpson of the Globe and Mail paraphrased this report, saying: “A cubic metre of oil, mined from the tar sands, needs two to 4.5 cubic metres of water.

The Athabasca River runs 1,231 kilometres from the Athabasca Glacier in west-central Alberta to Lake Athabasca in northeastern Alberta . The average annual flow just downstream of Fort McMurray is 633 cubic metres per second with its highest daily average measuring 1,200 cubic metres per second.

Water license allocations total about 1% of the Athabasca river average annual flow. Actual use in 2006 was about 0.4%. In addition, the Alberta government sets strict limits on how much water oil sands companies can remove from the Athabasca River. According to the Water Management Framework for the Lower Athabasca River, during periods of low river flow water consumption from the Athabasca River is limited to 1.3% of annual average flow. The province of Alberta is also looking into cooperative withdrawal agreements between oil sands operators.

Natural gas use and greenhouse gases

The processing of bitumen into synthetic crude requires energy, and currently this energy is generated by burning natural gas, which releases carbon dioxide. In 2007, the oil sands used around 1 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day, around 40% of Alberta’s total usage. Based on gas purchases, natural gas requirements are given by the Canadian Energy Resource Institute as 2.14 GJ (2.04 mcf) per barrel for cyclic steam stimulation projects, 1.08 GJ (1.03 mcf) per barrel for SAGD projects, 0.55 GJ (0.52 mcf) per barrel for bitumen extraction in mining operations not including upgrading or 1.54 GJ (1.47 mcf) per barrel for extraction and upgrading in mining operations.

The forecast growth in synthetic oil production in Alberta also threatens Canada’s international commitments. In ratifying the Kyoto Protocol, Canada agreed to reduce, by 2012, its greenhouse gas emissions by 6% with respect to 1990. In 2002, Canada’s total greenhouse gas emissions had increased by 24% since 1990. Oil Sands production contributed 3.4% of Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions in 2003.

Ranked as the world’s eighth largest emitter of greenhouse gases, Canada is a relatively large emitter given its population and is missing its Kyoto targets. A major Canadian initiative called the Integrated CO2 Network (ICO2N) has proposed a system for the large scale capture, transport and storage of carbon dioxide (CO2). ICO2N members represent a group of industry participants providing a framework for carbon capture and storage development in Canada, initially using it to enhance oil recovery. Nuclear power has also been proposed as a means of generating the required energy without releasing green house gases.

Population

The Athabasca oil sands are located in the northeastern portion of the Canadian province of Alberta, near the city of Fort McMurray. The area is only sparsely populated, and in the late 1950s, it was primarily a wilderness outpost of a few hundred people whose main economic activities included fur trapping and salt mining. From a population of 37,222 in 1996, the boomtown of Fort McMurray and the surrounding region (known as the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo) grew to 79,810 people as of 2006, including a “shadow population” of 10,442 living in work camps, leaving the community struggling to provide services and housing for migrant workers, many of them from Eastern Canada, especially Newfoundland. Fort McMurray ceased to be an incorporated city in 1995 and is now an urban service area within Wood Buffalo.

Estimated oil reserves

The Alberta government’s Energy and Utilities Board (EUB) estimated in 2007 that about 173 billion barrels (27.510^9 m3) of crude bitumen are economically recoverable from the three Alberta oil sands areas based on benchmark WTI market prices of $62 per barrel in 2006, rising to a projected $69 per barrel in 2016 using current technology. This was equivalent to about 10% of the estimated 1,700 billion barrels (27010^9 m3) of bitumen-in-place. In fact WTI prices topped $133 in May 2008. Alberta estimated that the Athabasca deposits alone contain 35 billion barrels (5.610^9 m3) of surface mineable bitumen and 98 billion barrels (15.610^9 m3) of bitumen recoverable by in-situ methods. These estimates of Canada’s reserves were doubted when they were first published but are now largely accepted by the international oil industry. This volume placed Canadian proven reserves second in the world behind those of Saudi Arabia.

Syncrude’s Mildred Lake mine site and plant

The method of calculating economically recoverable reserves that produced these estimates was adopted because conventional methods of accounting for reserves gave increasingly meaningless numbers. They made it appear that Alberta was running out of oil at a time when rapid increases in oil sands production were more than offsetting declines in conventional oil, and in fact most of Alberta’s oil production is now unconventional oil. Conventional estimates of oil reserves are really calculations of the geological risk of drilling for oil, but in the oil sands there is very little geological risk because they outcrop on the surface and are easy to locate. With the oil price increases since 2003, the economic risk of low oil prices was reduced.

The Alberta estimates only assume a recovery rate of around 20% of bitumen-in-place, whereas oil companies using the steam assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) method of extracting bitumen report that they can recover over 60% with little effort.

Only 3% of the initial established crude bitumen reserves have been produced since commercial production started in 1967. At rate of production projected for 2015, about 3 million barrels per day (48010^3 m3/d), the Athabasca oil sands reserves would last over 170 years. However those production levels require an influx of workers into an area that until recently was largely uninhabited. By 2007 this need in northern Alberta drove unemployment rates in Alberta and adjacent British Columbia to the lowest levels in history. As far away as the Atlantic Provinces, where workers were leaving to work in Alberta, unemployment rates fell to levels not seen for over one hundred years.

The Venezuelan Orinoco Oil Sands site may contain more oil sands than Athabasca. However, while the Orinoco deposits are less viscous and more easily produced using conventional techniques (the Venezuelan government prefers to call them “extra-heavy oil”), they are too deep to access by surface mining.

Economics

Despite the large reserves, the cost of extracting the oil from bituminous sands has historically made production of the oil sands unprofitablehe cost of selling the extracted crude would not cover the direct costs of recovery; labour to mine the sands and fuel to extract the crude.

Oil prices 1996-2008 (not adjusted for inflation)

In mid-2006, the National Energy Board of Canada estimated the operating cost of a new mining operation in the Athabasca oil sands to be C$9 to C$12 per barrel, while the cost of an in-situ SAGD operation (using dual horizontal wells) would be C$10 to C$14 per barrel. This compares to operating costs for conventional oil wells which can range from less than one dollar per barrel in Iraq and Saudi Arabia to over six in the United States and Canada’s conventional oil reserves.

The capital cost of the equipment required to mine the sands and haul it to processing is a major consideration in starting production. The NEB estimates that capital costs raise the total cost of production to C$18 to C$20 per barrel for a new mining operation and C$18 to C$22 per barrel for a SAGD operation. This does not include the cost of upgrading the crude bitumen to synthetic crude oil, which makes the final costs C$36 to C$40 per barrel for a new mining operation.

Therefore, although high crude prices make the cost of production very attractive, sudden drops in price leaves producers unable to recover their capital costslthough the companies are well financed and can tolerate long periods of low prices since the capital has already been spent and they can typically cover incremental operating costs.

However, the development of commercial production is made easier by the fact that exploration costs are very low. Such costs are a major factor when assessing the economics of drilling in a traditional oil field. The location of the oil deposits in the oil sands are well known, and an estimate of recovery costs can usually be made easily. There is not another region in the world with energy deposits of comparable magnitude where it would be less likely that the installations would be confiscated by a hostile national government, or be endangered by a war or revolution.

As a result of the oil price increases since 2003, the economics of oil sands have improved dramatically. At a world price of US$50 per barrel, the NEB estimated an integrated mining operation would make a rate return of 16 to 23%, while a SAGD operation would return 16 to 27%. Prices since 2006 have risen, exceeding US$145 in mid 2008. As a result, capital expenditures in the oil sands announced for the period 2006 to 2015 are expected to exceed C$100 billion, which is twice the amount projected as recently as 2004. However, because of an acute labour shortage which has developed in Alberta, it is not likely that all these projects can be completed.

At present the area around Fort McMurray has seen the most effect from the increased activity in the oil sands. Although jobs are plentiful, housing is in short supply and expensive. People seeking work often arrive in the area without arranging accommodation, driving up the price of temporary accommodation. The area is isolated, with only a two-lane road connecting it to the rest of the province, and there is pressure on the government of Alberta to improve road links as well as hospitals and other infrastructure.

Despite the best efforts of companies to move as much of the construction work as possible out of the Fort McMurray area, and even out of Alberta, the shortage of skilled workers is spreading to the rest of the province.. Even without the oil sands, the Alberta economy would be very strong, but development of the oil sands has resulted in the strongest period of economic growth ever recorded by a Canadian province.

Geopolitical importance

The Athabasca Oil Sands are now featured prominently in international trade talks, with energy rivals China and the United States negotiating with Canada for a bigger share of the oil sands’ rapidly increasing output. Output at the oil sands is expected to quadruple between 2005 and 2015, reaching 4 million bbl/day, increasing their political and economic importance. Currently most of the oil sands production is exported to the United States.

An agreement has been signed between PetroChina and Enbridge to build a 400,000 barrels per day (64,000 m3/d) pipeline from Edmonton, Alberta, to the west coast port of Kitimat, British Columbia, to export synthetic crude oil from the oil sands to China and elsewhere in the Pacific, plus a 150-million-barrel-per-day (24,000,000 m3/d) pipeline running the other way to import condensate to dilute the bitumen so it will flow. Sinopec, China’s largest refining and chemical company, and China National Petroleum Corporation have bought or are planning to buy shares in major oil sands development.

On August 20, 2009, the U.S. State Department issued a presidential permit for an Alberta Clipper Pipeline that will run from Hardisty, Alberta to Superior, Wisconsin. The pipeline will be capable of carrying up to 450,000 barrels of crude oil a day from the Athabasca Oil Sands to U.S. refineries.

Indigenous peoples of the area

Indigenous peoples of the area include the Fort McKay First Nation. The oil sands themselves are located within the boundaries of Treaty 8, signed in 1899. The Fort McKay First Nation has formed several companies to service the oil sands industry and will be developing a mine on their territory. Opposition remaining within the First Nation focuses on environmental stewardship issues.

Oil sand companies

Planned mining operation oil production by various companies. Data from table below.

There are currently three large oil sands mining operations in the area run by Syncrude Canada Limited, Suncor Energy and Albian Sands owned by Shell Canada, Chevron, and Marathon Oil Corp.

Major producing or planned developments in the Athabasca Oil Sands include the following projects:

Suncor Energy’s Steepbank and Millennium mines currently produce 263,000 barrels per day (41,800 m3/d) and its Firebag in-situ project produces 35,000 bbl/d (5,600 m3/d). It intends to spend 3.2 billion to expand its mining operations to 400,000 bbl/d (64,000 m3/d) and its in-situ production to 140,000 bbl/d (22,000 m3/d) by 2008.

Syncrude’s Mildred Lake and Aurora mines currently can produce 360,000 bbl/d (57,000 m3/d).

Shell Canada currently operates its Muskeg River Mine producing 155,000 bbl/d (24,600 m3/d) and the Scotford Upgrader at Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta. Shell intends to open its new Jackpine mine and expand total production to 500,000 bbl/d (79,000 m3/d) over the next few years.

Nexen’s in-situ Long Lake SAGD project is now producing 70,000 bbl/d (11,000 m3/d). Plans to expand it to 240,000 bbl/d (38,000 m3/d) have been made. Expansion plans were delayed in early 2009.

CNRL’s $8 billion Horizon mine is planned to produce 110,000 bbl/d (17,000 m3/d) on startup in mid 2009 and grow to 300,000 bbl/d (48,000 m3/d) by 2010.

Total S.A.’s subsidiary Deer Creek Energy is operating a SAGD project on its Joslyn lease, producing 10,000 bbl/d (1,600 m3/d). It intends on constructing its mine by 2010 to expand its production by 100,000 bbl/d (16,000 m3/d).

Imperial Oil’s 5 to 8 billion Kearl Oil Sands Project is projected to start construction in 2008 and produce 100,000 bbl/d (16,000 m3/d) by 2010. Imperial also operates a 160,000 bbl/d (25,000 m3/d) in-situ operation in the Cold Lake oil sands region.

Synenco Energy and SinoCanada Petroleum Corp., a subsidiary of Sinopec, China’s largest oil refiner, had agreed to create the 3.5 billion Northern Lights mine, projected to produce 100,000 bbl/d (16,000 m3/d) by 2009. This project has since been indefinitely deferred (as of 2007).

North American Oil Sands Corporation (NAOSC), a subsidiary of Statoil, is expected to produce in the Kai Kos Dehseh project around 100,000 bbl/d (16,000 m3/d) by 2015. It is expected to ramp up production to around 100,000 barrels per day (16,000 m3/d) by around 2015.

Mining Projects

Operator

Project

Phase

Capacity

Start-up

Regulatory Status

Royal Dutch Shell

Jackpine

1A

100,000 bbl/d (16,000 m3/d)

2010

Under construction

 

1B

100,000 bbl/d (16,000 m3/d)

2012

Approved

 

2

100,000 bbl/d (16,000 m3/d)

2014

Applied for

Muskeg River

Existing

155,000 bbl/d (24,600 m3/d)

2002

Operating

 

Expansion

115,000 bbl/d (18,300 m3/d)

2010

Approved

Pierre River

1

100,000 bbl/d (16,000 m3/d)

2018

Applied for

 

2

100,000 bbl/d (16,000 m3/d)

2021

Applied for

Canadian Natural Resources

Horizon

1

135,000 bbl/d (21,500 m3/d)

2009

Operating

 

2 and 3

135,000 bbl/d (21,500 m3/d)

2011

Approved

 

4

145,000 bbl/d (23,100 m3/d)

2015

Announced

 

5

162,000 bbl/d (25,800 m3/d)

2017

Announced

Imperial Oil

Kearl

1

100,000 bbl/d (16,000 m3/d)

2010

Approved

 

2

100,000 bbl/d (16,000 m3/d)

2012

Approved

 

3

100,000 bbl/d (16,000 m3/d)

2018

Approved

Petro Canada

Fort Hills

1

165,000 bbl/d (26,200 m3/d)

2011

Approved

 

debottleneck

25,000 bbl/d (4,000 m3/d)

TBD

Approved

Suncor Energy

Millenium

 

294,000 bbl/d (46,700 m3/d)

1967

Operating

 

debottleneck

23,000 bbl/d (3,700 m3/d)

2008

Under construction

Steepbank

debottleneck

4,000 bbl/d (640 m3/d)

2007

Under construction

 

extension

 

2010

Approved

Voyageur South

1

120,000 bbl/d (19,000 m3/d)

2012

Applied for

Syncrude

Mildred Lake & Aurora

1 and 2

290,700 bbl/d (46,220 m3/d)

1978

Operating

 

3 Expansion

116,300 bbl/d (18,490 m3/d)

2006

Operating

 

3 Debottleneck

46,500 bbl/d (7,390 m3/d)

2011

Announced

 

4 Expansion

139,500 bbl/d (22,180 m3/d)

2015

Announced

Synenco Energy

Northern Lights

1

57,250 bbl/d (9,102 m3/d)

2010

Applied for

Total S.A.

Joslyn

1

50,000 bbl/d (7,900 m3/d)

2013

Applied for

 

2

50,000 bbl/d (7,900 m3/d)

2016

Applied for

 

3

50,000 bbl/d (7,900 m3/d)

2019

Announced

 

4

50,000 bbl/d (7,900 m3/d)

2022

Announced

UTS/Teck Cominco

Equinox

Lease 14

50,000 bbl/d (7,900 m3/d)

2014

Public disclosure

Frontier

1

100,000 bbl/d (16,000 m3/d)

2014

Public disclosure

Royal Dutch Shell – misleading advertisement

In August 2008 the British Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) ruled that Royal Dutch Shell had misled the public by claiming that its oil sands project in Alberta was a “sustainable energy source”. Although widely used, “sustainable” had been deemed a “vague” and “ambiguous” term, in light of DEFRA’s advice that companies should avoid vague environmentally-friendly terms intended to simply give a good impression. They concluded the claim of sustainability was misleading “[b]ecause we had not seen data that showed how Shell was effectively managing carbon emissions from its oil sands projects in order to limit climate change”.

See also

Canadian Centre for Energy Information

History of the petroleum industry in Canada (oil sands and heavy oil)

Mackenzie Valley Pipeline

Utah Oil Sands Joint Venture

References

^ IHS CERA (May 18, 2009). “Oil Sands Move from the ‘Fringe to Center’ of Energy Supply”. RigZone. http://www.rigzone.com/news/article.asp?a_id=76219. Retrieved 2009-05-19. 

^ a b Andy Burrowes; Rick Marsh, Nehru Ramdin, Curtis Evans (2007) (PDF). Alberta’s Energy Reserves 2006 and Supply/Demand Outlook 2007-2016. ST98. Alberta Energy and Utilities Board. http://www.ercb.ca/docs/products/STs/st98_current.pdf. Retrieved 2008-04-12. 

^ “Alberta’s Oil Sands 2006″ (PDF). Government of Alberta. 2007. http://www.energy.gov.ab.ca/OilSands/pdfs/osgenbrf.pdf. Retrieved 2008-02-17. 

^ Mackenzie, Sir Alexander (1970). “The Journals and Letters of Alexander Mackenzie”. Edited by W. Kaye Lamb. Cambridge: Hakluyt Society, pg. 129, ISBN 0521010349

^ a b Hein, Francis J (2000). “Historical Overview of the Fort McMurray Area and Oil Sands Industry in Northeast Alberta” (PDF). Earth Sciences Report 2000-05. Alberta Geological Survey. http://www.ags.gov.ab.ca/publications/ESR/PDF/ESR_2000_05.pdf. Retrieved 2008-02-17. 

^ “Oil Sands History”. Unlocking the Potential of the Oil Sands. Syncrude. 2006. http://www.syncrude.ca/users/folder.asp?FolderID=5657. Retrieved 2008-02-17. 

^ “Oil Sands”. Alberta Energy. Alberta Government. 2008. http://www.energy.gov.ab.ca/OurBusiness/oilsands.asp. Retrieved 2008-01-30. 

^ “Oil sands & western Canadian conventional production, December 2008 interim update”. Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers. 2008-12-11. http://www.capp.ca/. Retrieved 2009-01-03. 

^ Franklin, Sonja; Gismatullin, Eduard (2007-12-05). “BP, Husky Energy agree to form oil-sands partnerships”. Bloomberg. http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601082&sid=a18oTMnaz4zQ&refer=canada. Retrieved 2007-12-12. 

^ Dutta, Ashok (2007-12-12). “ConocoPhillips aims high”. Calgary Herald. http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/calgarybusiness/story.html?id=b9f4f1b4-d404-4d23-bfd9-394d1703e3f5&k=84901. Retrieved 2007-12-12. 

^ Alberta, Employment, Immigration and Industry (December 2007). “Alberta Oil Sands Industry Update” (PDF). Government of Alberta. http://www.alberta-canada.com/energyCommodities/files/pdf/oilSandsUpdate_December_2007.pdf. Retrieved 2008-04-01. 

^ Albian Sands Announces Operator Agreement News Release, November 18, 2008

^ Fort Hills Project page – Petro-Canada website

^ Encana website on Oilsands projects

^ a b ConocoPhillips – Canadian operations

^ Jacos homepage

^ Opti sells 15 per cent stake of oilsands joint venture to Nexen for $735 million Yahoo Finance, Dec 17, 2008

^ Nexen Clinches Additional Long Lake Interest for $735MM – RigZone, Jan 27, 2008

^ Horizon project homepage

^ Devon Energy Obtains approval for Second Jackfish Oil Sands Production Project – Oilvoice.com, September 08, 2008

^ Synenco & Sinopec Enter Deal for Canadian Oil Sands Project RigZone – May 31, 2005

^ Synenco page regarding SinoCanada

^ [http://www.total-ep-canada.com/press/documents/2008-04-28-Synenco.pdf Agreement to Buy Synenco Energy Inc. - Total strengthens position in Canadian Heavy Oil] – Total E&P Canada News Release, April 28, 2008

^ Kearl proposed project site – Imperialoil.ca

^ a b BP Enters Canadian Oil Sands with Husky Energy – BP press release,December 5, 2007

^ Tucker project site

^ Chevron finishes Ells river drilling – Heavyoilinfo.com (by Schlumberger), March 30, 2007

^ Terre de Grace project page – Value Creation Inc website

^ Heavy Investment – Statoil arrives in the oil sands – WoodMackenzie, Upstream Insight, May 2007

^ S. Korea Buys Canadian Oil Sands Property – redorbit.com, July 24, 2006

^ “Operational excellence: the land we borrow”. http://www.syncrude.ca/users/getdownload.asp?DownloadID=311. Retrieved 2009-02-27. 

^ “Alberta Inventors and Inventionsarl Clark”. http://www.abheritage.ca/abinvents/inventors/karlclark_biography.htm. Retrieved 2006-03-29. 

^ Gu G, Xu Z, Nandakumar K, Masliyah JH. (2002) “Influence of water-soluble and water-insoluble natural surface active components on the stability of water-in-toluene-diluted bitumen emulsion”, Fuel, 81, pages 18591869.

^ R. J. Mikula, O. Omotoso and W. I. Friesen (2007) “Interpretation of Bitumen Recovery Data from Batch Extraction Tests”, Canadian Journal of Chemical Engineering, v 85 n 5, pages 765-772.

^ “Canada Energy Future: Reference Case and Scenarios to 2030″ Pages 45-48 ISBN 978-0-662-46855-4

^ “Questions and Answers”. Canada’s Oil Sandspportunities and Challenges to 2015: An Update. National Energy Board of Canada. 2007-06-30. http://www.neb.gc.ca/clf-nsi/rnrgynfmtn/nrgyrprt/lsnd/pprtntsndchllngs20152006/qapprtntsndchllngs20152006-eng.html. Retrieved 2007-08-23. 

^ Long Lake Project

^ “Operationsthabasca Oil Sandsong Lake Projectroject Overview”. Nexen Inc.. http://www.nexeninc.com/Operations/Athabasca_Oil_Sands/Long_Lake/project_overview.asp. Retrieved 2006-03-29. 

^ “Nexen Nods Positive Reservoir Performance at Long Lake” Nexen, 17 July 2008

^ “Alberta Plan Fails to Protect Athabasca River”. http://www.oilsandswatch.org/media-release.php?id=1182. 

^ “Alberta’s tar sands are soaking up too much water”. The Globe and Mail (Dogwood Initiative). 2006-07-05. http://www.dogwoodinitiative.org/newsstories/oilandwaterdonotmix. 

^ “‘Conspiracy of silence’ on tarsands, group says”. CTV News. http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20080215/tarsands_enviroreport_080215/20080215?hub=SciTech. Retrieved 2008-02-16. 

^ “Tar won’t stick”. Edmonton Journal. http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news/opinion/story.html?id=09dd2691-c993-44a3-a254-26619a230a80. Retrieved 2008-02-16. 

^ “Time for Ottawa to stop tiptoeing around Alberta oilsands sensibilities”. Oil Week. 2008-02-15. http://www.oilweek.com/news.asp?ID=14357. Retrieved 2008-02-16.  (industry publication)

^ “Environmental Protection and Enhancement”. Alberta Environment. http://www3.gov.ab.ca/env/protenf/landrec/definitions.html#equiv_land_capability. 

^ “Syncrude Land Reclamation”. Syncrude Canada. 2006. http://www.syncrude.ca/users/folder.asp?FolderID=5909. Retrieved 2009-08-07. 

^ “Troubled Waters, Troubling Trends”. The Pembina Institute. May 2006. http://pubs.pembina.org/reports/TroubledW_Full.pdf.  (advocacy)

^ “Primer”. Environment Canada. http://www.ec.gc.ca/water/images/info/pubs/primer/prim08-e.htm. 

^ “Athabasca river water management framework”. http://www.environment.alberta.ca/1547.html. 

^ “Typical River Flows”. Environment Canada. http://www.ec.gc.ca/water/images/nature/prop/a2f5e.htm. Retrieved 2008-12-13. 

^ “Environmental Aspects of Oil Sands Development-Backgrounder” (PDF). Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers. http://www.capp.ca/raw.asp?x=1&dt=PDF&dn=105401. Retrieved 2008-12-13. 

^ “Athabasca River Water Management Framework”. Alberta Environment. http://www3.gov.ab.ca/env/water/Management/Athabasca_RWMF/index.html. 

^ “Enhancing Resilience in a Changing Climate, Water Supply for Canada’s Oil Sands”. Natural Resources Canada. http://ess.nrcan.gc.ca/ercc-rrcc/theme1/t7_e.php?p=1. 

^ McColl, David; Slagorsky, Martin (November 2008). Canadian Oil Sands Supply Costs and Development Projects. Canadian Energy Research Institute. ISBN 1896091830. 

^ “Section 2 Crude Bitumen” Alberta Energy Resources Board Graphs and Data (Powerpoint file)

^ Top 50 countries by greenhouse gas emissions Reuters

^ “Carbon Capture and Storage” 30 November 2007.

^ Planning and Development Department (2006). “Municipal Census 2006″ (PDF). Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo. http://www.woodbuffalo.ab.ca/business/demographics/pdf/2006_census.pdf. Retrieved 2008-02-06. 

^ “Urban Service Areas”. Unincorporated Places. Alberta Population. 2008. http://www.altapop.ca/unincorp.htm. Retrieved 2008-02-06. 

^ Department of Energy, Alberta (June 2006). “Oil Sands Fact Sheets”. http://www.energy.gov.ab.ca/oilsands/954.asp. Retrieved 2007-04-11. 

^ Canada, Statistics (April 5, 2007). “Latest release from the labour force survey”. http://www.statcan.ca/english/Subjects/Labour/LFS/lfs-en.htm. Retrieved 2007-04-11. 

^ a b NEB (June 2006) (PDF). Canada’s Oil Sands Opportunities and Challenges to 2015: An Update. National Energy Board of Canada. http://www.neb-one.gc.ca/clf-nsi/rnrgynfmtn/nrgyrprt/lsnd/pprtntsndchllngs20152006/pprtntsndchllngs20152006-eng.pdf. Retrieved 2006-10-30. 

^ Nikiforuk, Andrew (2006-06-04). “The downside of boom: Alberta’s manpower shortage”. Canadian Business magazine. http://www.canadianbusiness.com/managing/employees/article.jsp?content=20060522_77876_77876. Retrieved 2006-10-30. 

^ Statistics Canada (2006-09-14). Study: The Alberta economic juggernaut. Statistics Canada. http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/060914/d060914c.htm. Retrieved 2006-10-30. 

^ Enbridge and PetroChina Sign Gateway Pipeline Cooperation Agreement | Business Wire | Find Articles at BNET

^ http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2009/aug/128164.htm

^ http://albertaclipper.state.gov/clientsite/clipper.nsf?Open

^ Financial Post Articleboriginal implication in the project

^ Oil Sands Projects Oilsands Discovery

^ Synenco conference transcript

^ Wojciech Moskwa (2007-04-27). “Statoil to buy North American Oil Sands for 2 bln”. Financial Post. http://www.financialpost.com/story.html?id=fc2c62db-792e-44e9-9819-3480d41ddcbf&k=99838&p=1. Retrieved 2007-12-09. 

^ Shell rapped by ASA for ‘greenwash’ advert – guardian.co.uk, August 13, 2008

External links

Alberta Oil Sands: Key Issues and Impacts

OnEarth Magazine  Canada’s Highway to Hell

Mud, Sweat and Tearsuardian Newspaper, 2007

Hugh McCullum, Fuelling Fortress America: A Report on the Athabasca Tar Sands and U.S. Demands for Canada’s Energy (The Parkland Institute)xecutive SummaryDownload report

Oil Sands Historyyncrude Canada

Oil Sands Discovery Centreort McMurray Tourism

The Trillion-Barrel Tar Pitrticle from December 2004 Wired.

Oil Sands Reviewister publication to Oilweek Magazine

Alberta’s Oil Sandslberta Department of Energy

Alberta’s Reserves 2005 and Supply/Demand Outlook 2006-2015lberta Energy and Utilities Board 2006-06-15

Canada’s Oil Sandspportunities and Challenges to 2015: An Updateune 2006ational Energy Board of Canada

Oilsands overview- Canadian Centre for Energy Information

Alberta Plan Fails to Protect Athabasca River

Megaprojects

“Energy Statistics Handbook” (February 2008) Statistics Canada ISSN 1496-4600

Alastair Sweeny, History of the Oilsands to 1914

(French) Du sable dans l’engrenage tv document by Guy Gendron and Jean-Luc Paquette describing the Athabasca oil sands issues.

Further reading

Kunzig, Robert (March 2009). “The Canadian Oil Boom: Scraping Bottom”. National Geographic 215 (3): 3859. http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2009/03/canadian-oil-sands/kunzig-text. Retrieved 29 May 2009. 

v  d  e

Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin

Hydrocarbon history

Oil sands and heavy oil  Frontier exploration and development  Natural gas liquids  Natural gas

Depositional Regions

Southern Alberta  Central Alberta  Northwestern Alberta Plains  South-central Canadian Rockies foothills  North-east Plains  North-central foothills  Liard River  Fort Nelson  Northern Rocky Mountains  Fort St. John  Saskatchewan  Western Manitoba

Oil and gas fields

Athabasca  Greater Sierra  Hamburg  Leduc  Pembina  Wabasca

Categories: Athabasca Oil Sands | Oil fields of Alberta | Bituminous sands of Canada | History of the petroleum industry | Petroleum production in Canada | Economic history of Canada | Oil companies of Canada | History of Alberta | Economy of Canada | Planned or proposed energy projectsHidden categories: All articles with unsourced statements | Articles with unsourced statements from March 2009
About the Author

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whats a good macroeconomics papaer topic? news 2010-present that can affect a business firm in the Philippines?

Please help! sentence outline is due tomorrow and i still don’t have a topic! the current events from late 2009 – present would be good. thank you! i suck in macroeconomics so please help thank you!

I googled Philipines and found these news articles. It looks they have more inflation than anyone else. If you don’t like any of these articles, try googling “Philipines” and stuff like money, finances, inflation, trade agreement, economics.

This one is good. They are lacking in Free Trade agreements. This is Economics related.

http://www.mb.com.ph/articles/304947/philippines-lags-behind-forging-free-trade-agreements

This one has something to do with Economic growth.

http://www.asiaone.com/News/Latest+News/Asia/Story/A1Story20110220-264450.html

http://business.inquirer.net/money/topstories/view/20110219-321044/Higher-policy-rates-seen-to-curb-inflation

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Can You Start a Commercial Real Estate Business with Nothing?

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