Only a couple of days left... I fly to Moscow on Saturday and overnight there for an VERY early flight on British Midlands to Heathrow airport, London... then on to Edmonton and Yellowknife via Air Canada on Sunday...
Just got back from an excursion to the Russian countryside... I was told I was going to visit with my host's friends (one who turned out to be an ex-border guard and Russian army Ranger and the other that had something to do with the design of rockets that are shot from 'choppers.. the kind that fly.. not the two wheeled bikes one rides) and would be treated to a "Russian Bath"... their version of a sauna that adds being beaten around the body with birch branches (leaves still attached) while sweating in a sauna... Indeed that did happen... after food.. so much food I wonder if the airlines seat belt will still fit on the return trip... vodka of course..
But all that started rather later in the evening after sunset because almost as soon as we got there.. there being the tiny Ural mountain home village of the ex-army guy.. he got us into his second car (a Chevy Neva 4X4) and we zoomed around the hay fields between villages until we got to a local pure water natural spring... here he collected about five gallons of spring water.. had us taste it... wash our faces in it... and then have a vodka and apple to celebrate that... then he pulls out a rifle from the back of the car.. lays it across my lap and his in the front see (barrel pointing towards his door.. thankfully...) and we once again roar off along muddy field tracks across the steppes of the Urals... before I can figure out what the heck is going on... he slides to a stop grabs the rifle and starts taking aim at a set of three little elk that are running across the field but disappear before he can get a shot off... he revs the car to action once more and we're off on the hunt anew... nothing till he spots a young buck in the remains of last year's corn field at about the same time the buck spots us ... the chase is on until the buck takes a breather by the edge of the forest... our ex-Ranger stops.. grabs the gun... takes aim and in one shot... during a hazy dusk fells the three year old buck ..
Pictures of the hunt later...
Needless to say it was an interesting trip into the Russian countryside for a sauna..
Lots of great pictures of tiny Russian village to come...
George
---
GEORGE LESSARD
CESO-SACO VA # 11799
http://www.ceso-saco.com
Follow my Russian trip on my Overseas Blog at
http://mediamentor-overseas.blogspot.com/
See my interview on Russian TV here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OtlEjNTb3Tw
See my pictures here..
http://www.flickr.com/photos/george-lessard/sets/72157613820810814/
Items of interest from around the Circumpolar region.
Thursday, 9 April 2009
Friday, 27 March 2009
GN cuts gasoline prices, hints at more to come
GN cuts gasoline prices, hints at more to come
Nunatsiaq News - Iqaluit,Nunavut,Canada
As of last Saturday, it cost 10 cents less to gas up your automobile in Nunavut. Lorne Kusugak, the minister of Community and Government Services,
...
<http://www.nunatsiaq.com/news/nunavut/90327_2023.html>
OTTAWA, CANADA: Nunavut students challenge seal protesters
Students challenge seal protesters
Northern News Services (subscription) - Yellowknife,Northwest Territories,Canada
The Nunavut Sivuniksavut (NS) Training Program students were on the Hill on
March 15 to counter demonstrators who were there in support of the
International ...
<http://nnsl.com/northern-news-services/stories/papers/mar25_09sc.html>
Darrell Greer
Northern News Services
Published Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Northern News Services (subscription) - Yellowknife,Northwest Territories,Canada
The Nunavut Sivuniksavut (NS) Training Program students were on the Hill on
March 15 to counter demonstrators who were there in support of the
International ...
<http://nnsl.com/northern-news-services/stories/papers/mar25_09sc.html>
 A group of about 20 students and staff members from the Nunavut Sivuniksavut Training Program in Ottawa took part in a counter-demonstration to an anti-sealing protest on Parliament Hill earlier this month. - photo courtesy of Murray Angus |
Students challenge seal protesters
Darrell Greer
Northern News Services
Published Wednesday, March 25, 2009
OTTAWA/KIVALLIQ - Kivalliq youth played a major role in having an Inuit voice among those heard on Parliament Hill in Ottawa earlier this month.
The Nunavut Sivuniksavut (NS) Training Program students were on the Hill on March 15 to counter demonstrators who were there in support of the International Day of Protest against the Newfoundland seal hunt.
The students sang songs and distributed literature while dressed in beautiful sealskin clothes provided by the Government of Nunavut's Department of the Environment.
Karen Tutanuak and Reanna Sateana of Rankin Inlet, both 20, were among about 20 of the students and staff members at the demonstration.
Tutanuak said she really wasn't too nervous about meeting the protesters.
She said she went to the Hill to display the sealskin clothes and show the seal-hunt protesters how vital seals are to Nunavut's economy and the Inuit way of life.
"We don't go around clubbing seals to death like they do in Newfoundland and we don't leave the meat on the ice to rot," said Tutanuak.
"We eat the meat, use the skins and don't waste any part of the animal."
Tutanuak said the protest was held on a Sunday, so there were a lot of people on Parliament Hill.
She said a number of tourists wanted photos of the Inuit students.
"We sang songs for them while we waited for the protesters to arrive and they asked some questions about life in Nunavut.
"There were about 60 or 70 protesters and, when they arrived, we had to move so they could go up the hill without any direct contact between our two groups.
"Some in our group were a little nervous when the protesters came, but I knew the police were there and we weren't looking for trouble."
Tutanuak said the protesters were very loud as they came up Rideau Street to Parliament Hill.
She said they went from being so loud to almost quiet as they passed the Inuit students.
"They got really quiet as they moved closer to our group, but, as they moved past us, they got really loud again."
Sateana said she was nervous at the start, with everyone wearing sealskins and holding signs.
She started to feel better along the way when people clapped their hands and honked their horns to the Inuit students as they passed by.
"We were told not to interact with the protesters because an argument might start, but a few students did," said Sateana.
"Some protesters said they support how Inuit hunt seals, and they realized we didn't let any part go to waste, but they still didn't realize how bans hurt our economy.
"That's why we didn't really get involved in a discussion with them, because we would have argued with them over how their actions affect our way of life."
Sateana said the students gave out pamphlets about Nunavut and how important the seal is to Inuit.
She said many, many people took the literature and were reading it as they walked away.
"They seemed really interested in the information and trying to understand our point of view."
Tutanuak said the appearance by the Inuit students seemed to make a real difference with the people who weren't on either side of the protests on the Hill.
She said those people seemed to take something from the information they provided, but not the protesters.
"The protesters just support one side and they're not really interested in our viewpoint," said Tutanuak.
Sateana said she was surprised there weren't many media people at the event.
She said it was disappointing that there was no major story on the protest in any of the Ottawa papers.
"Someone gave one of our information papers to a protester and asked her to consider reading it," said Sateana.
"But she didn't want anything to do with it.
"She actually said, 'You're just a cannibal!' and sprayed the paper with Mr. Clean."
Tutanuak said the two groups walked parallel to each other, on opposite sides of the street, as they left the Hill.
She said the students held their own as they jockeyed for public support.
"We were still very active as we moved away, and we kept putting up our signs really high and singing loudly.
"When we got back to NS, we all talked about the whole experience.
"The most disappointing or frustrating part is that the protesters really won't take the time to consider our side.
"They're just so convinced they're right and that's all there is to it."
Thursday, 26 March 2009
Iqaluit aggravated assaults 1,033% above the Canadian average
Northern blight - Canada - Macleans.ca
By Nancy Macdonald
Iqaluit, Whitehorse and Yellowknife, the biggest cities in the three
northern territories, with a combined population of around 50000, are too small to figure into the roll, which ranks Canada's 100 largest cities.
...
<http://www2.macleans.ca/2009/03/26/northern-blight/>
The rate of aggravated assault in Yellowknife was more than 350 per cent higher than average. And Iqaluit recorded an aggravated assault rate 1,033 per cent above the Canadian average. Its rate of sexual assault is more than 1,270 per cent above the average—and, according to the RCMP, climbing.
By Nancy Macdonald
Iqaluit, Whitehorse and Yellowknife, the biggest cities in the three
northern territories, with a combined population of around 50000, are too small to figure into the roll, which ranks Canada's 100 largest cities.
...
<http://www2.macleans.ca/2009/03/26/northern-blight/>
The rate of aggravated assault in Yellowknife was more than 350 per cent higher than average. And Iqaluit recorded an aggravated assault rate 1,033 per cent above the Canadian average. Its rate of sexual assault is more than 1,270 per cent above the average—and, according to the RCMP, climbing.
Aggravated assault in Yellowknife: 350% higher than rest of Canada
Northern blight - Canada - Macleans.ca
By Nancy Macdonald
Iqaluit, Whitehorse and Yellowknife, the biggest cities in the three
northern territories, with a combined population of around 50000, are too small to figure into the roll, which ranks Canada's 100 largest cities.
...
<http://www2.macleans.ca/2009/03/26/northern-blight/>
The rate of aggravated assault in Yellowknife was more than 350 per cent higher than average. And Iqaluit recorded an aggravated assault rate 1,033 per cent above the Canadian average. Its rate of sexual assault is more than 1,270 per cent above the average—and, according to the RCMP, climbing.
By Nancy Macdonald
Iqaluit, Whitehorse and Yellowknife, the biggest cities in the three
northern territories, with a combined population of around 50000, are too small to figure into the roll, which ranks Canada's 100 largest cities.
...
<http://www2.macleans.ca/2009/03/26/northern-blight/>
The rate of aggravated assault in Yellowknife was more than 350 per cent higher than average. And Iqaluit recorded an aggravated assault rate 1,033 per cent above the Canadian average. Its rate of sexual assault is more than 1,270 per cent above the average—and, according to the RCMP, climbing.
Child Porn: One person in the Northwest Territories was arrested this week
Police arrest 57 in countrywide child pornography sweep
CBC.ca - Toronto,Ontario,Canada
One person in the Northwest Territories was arrested this week and charged
with possessing and distributing child pornography. RCMP told CBC News that
no ...
<http://www.cbc.ca/canada/montreal/story/2009/03/26/project-salvo.html>
CBC.ca - Toronto,Ontario,Canada
One person in the Northwest Territories was arrested this week and charged
with possessing and distributing child pornography. RCMP told CBC News that
no ...
<http://www.cbc.ca/canada/montreal/story/2009/03/26/project-salvo.html>
Tuesday, 24 March 2009
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