Scientists want to use lasers to make clouds, cause rain and control lightning

Lasers could soon be used to direct dangerous lightning away from sensitive areas, like airports.

A few weeks from now, scientists will be gathering in Geneva, Switzerland, at the second Conference on Laser, Weather and Climate, to discuss how they can use lasers to generate clouds, produce rain and control lightning strikes.

Controlling the weather has long been a dream for humankind, whether its to give us rain for parched crops or to prevent disastrous hurricanes and tornadoes. Attempts at weather control so far have mostly involved firing or dumping particles into the air, either to get clouds to form or to dissipate storm clouds before they can produce damaging hail, winds or even tornadoes. These attempts have had mixed success, and there is a growing concern about dumping these particles into the air, as they may have unknown effects on the environment. Lately, though, scientists have been turning to lasers, as a cleaner, easier and more high-tech option.

There has been plenty of research in recent years about using lasers to cause or direct lightning strikes. Lightning always takes the path of least resistance, but it has to create this path itself (by forming a trail of ionized air), and it doesn't always create that path to areas that are in our best interests. However, if you fire a powerful laser into a cloud, it can create that same kind of ionized trail, giving the charge in the cloud an artificial path to flow along, thus discharging the lightning safely. Researchers have found that you can even accomplish this while the lightning is in mid-strike.

The research into weather control through lasers doesn't end there, though.

Scientists have also found that extremely short bursts of laser light can cause water to condense out of the air, even in situations where conditions where clouds can't form on their own. The effect is so strong that it might even be able to produce rain if more continuous pulses are used.

Other experiments (so far conducted in cloud chambers) have shown that lasers can cause rapid formation of ice crystals in conditions that match where high cirrus clouds form in the atmosphere. Given that cirrus clouds are very effective at reflecting sunlight back into space, there is great potential to use this method to reduce the strength of thunderstorms and hurricanes, and possibly to help alleviate some of the effects of global warming while we ween ourselves off fossil fuels.

[ More Geekquinox: Water found on the moon points to deep underground source ]

Weather manipulation has been a staple of comic books, cartoons and science fiction for years, usually involving some kind of evil scheme to take over the world. Outside of fiction, though, these techniques could be used to guide the weather into producing more favourable results for us, whether for growing crops, or even to prevent disasters. Hopefully we'll see some great results coming out of next month's conference, to advance this science even further.

SOURCE : yahoo.com

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Subway Opens 40,000th Location

Celebrates 48 years in business.

The SUBWAY restaurant chain, which has been providing franchising opportunities to entrepreneurs since 1965 and will soon celebrate its 48th year in business, opened its 40,000th location at an AppleGreen petrol station in Ipswich, England.

The milestone opening further illustrates the strength and consistent growth of the SUBWAY brand, which has opened 1,761 new locations around the world since the start of the year.

“This is certainly a testament to the dedication and hard work of the entire Subway team, who I often refer to as The Greatest Team in Franchising History,” said President and Co-Founder Fred DeLuca, who opened the brand’s first sandwich shop on Aug. 28, 1965.

“I am proud to be part of a team that provides thousands of jobs for people at our restaurants, field offices, headquarters, and partner offices around the world,” DeLuca continued. “Our franchisees are the best in the business. They are a diverse group of small business owners who take a great deal of pride in serving their customers.”

This latest milestone achievement puts the SUBWAY brand far ahead of its competitors in the Quick Service Restaurant industry, making it more convenient for customers to eat a delicious SUBWAY submarine sandwich or chopped salad. Of the top restaurant chains, the next closest is more than 5,500 locations behind the SUBWAY brand. Beyond that, the next three are between 21,000 and 33,000 behind.

According to Subway Area Development Manager for the UK and Ireland Trevor Haynes, it is the “low startup costs, flexibility, and simple footprint that makes Subway so appealing to entrepreneurs who look to our brand as a way to reach their goal of owning and operating their own business. That is what makes this work. We are thrilled to have this opening in our market.”

The milestone restaurant location highlights the flexibility of the SUBWAY brand. There are more than 9,000 non-traditional locations worldwide and about 4,500 of them are in gas/petrol stations. The SUBWAY chain can open in spaces where other brands may believe to be too small or impractical, such as hospitals, health clubs, movie theaters and train stations. In fact, customers enjoy SUBWAY sandwiches and salads at restaurants on a German riverboat, in a car dealership in California and even in a church in Buffalo, New York.

The UK is the brand’s third largest market, behind the U.S. and Canada, with more than 1,500 locations. In all, there are 14,000 International locations in 102 countries outside the U.S. In addition to celebrating this recent milestone, the European team just opened their 4,000 location. Other milestones include Brazil with 1,200, Mexico with 700 and Argentina and Columbia each with 100 restaurants; and the Eastern European nation of Estonia recently witnessed the opening its first SUBWAY franchise.

“There is still a lot of opportunity in our International markets,” said Chief Development Officer Don Fertman. “The brand has regional and country offices that provide education and support to the franchisees in the field; all working to ensure we are the best brand out there for both our customers as well as entrepreneurs looking to get into the restaurant business.”

SOURCE : Csdecisions

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Eight metre floods submerges Russia

 Authorities in eastern Russia are battling with some of the worst flooding in 120 years, which has already forced thousands from their homes, local media reports say.

The Jewish Autonomous Region remains the worst hit: farms and villages, according to Russian television, have been submerged under the floodwaters.

Authorities said the situation was deteriorating after water in the Amur river near the city of Khabarovsk rose to new levels on Thursday, threatening residential areas and electricity plants.

“We've got 24 electrical substations in the flooded area with the water level up to 8 metres,” said Sergey Kotov, head of the engineering services department of the Khabarovsk city administration.

“As of today, six substations where the water is too close are banked up to protect them from water,” Kotov said.

It said more than 600 soldiers had been drafted to build temporary dykes along the embankment of the river to prevent further flooding.

Nearly 300 residential buildings, including 14 apartment buildings, are flooded in the Khabarovsk area, officials said.

The floodwaters damaged property, infrastructure and crops, displaced tens of thousands and raised fresh questions about the Russian government's readiness to handle natural disasters.

Thousands have already been forced from their homes in eastern Russia, and authorities predicted that up to 40,000 people could be affected as the flood zone widens.

SOURCE : di-ve

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Canada Post settles with commercial clients over shipping costs

Canada Post settles with commercial clients over shipping costs

 Roughly 54,000 commercial clients of Canada Post are part of the class-action lawsuit, Rod Winsor, class counsel with law firm Blaney McMurtry, said Wednesday.

 

Canada Post may have to return more than $5-million in shipping charges to thousands of customers and change the way it bills for parcels as part of a tentative settlement reached in a long-running class-action lawsuit.
As part of the proposed settlement — reached in March and subject to court approval during an Ontario Superior Court hearing on Oct. 30 — Canada Post denies any liability, but will pay $5,050,000 in claims and contribute $1.3-million towards legal expenses of the plaintiff, Ottawa-based Lee Valley Tools.
Roughly 54,000 commercial clients of Canada Post are part of the class-action lawsuit, Rod Winsor, class counsel with law firm Blaney McMurtry, said Wednesday.
More important, said Mr. Winsor, the proposed settlement would halt Canada Post’s billing methods regarding parcels shipped by commercial clients — practices that Lee Valley argued were confusing to customers, violated federal regulations and cost as much as $1-million in additional payments.
“It was not about financial gain for Lee Valley. Lee Valley will recover very little money, and it’s cost them far more to pursue the matter,” said Mr. Winsor. “But it’s a matter of bringing Canada Post’s practices in compliance.”
Related
After legal expenses, Mr. Winsor estimates that $3-million will be distributed proportionally to class members, based on the amount paid to the postal service between 2000 and 2007.
A spokesman for Canada Post said that after evaluating its options, it felt the settlement “was the best way to move forward.”
“We’re not admitting fault, but we would like to keep moving forward on this,” said Jon Hamilton.
The lawsuit, certified in 2007, alleged Canada Post was keeping overpayments by customers, worth roughly $1-million annually, said Mr. Winsor.
Business customers were required to pre-pay and weigh their packages, and if Canada Post determined that the total weight was underestimated it would levy an extra charge. If customers overpaid, until January 2007, Canada Post did not refund the difference.
Lee Valley has said the alleged overcharging cost his company tens of thousands of dollars per year.
Canada Post also bills customers based on the greater charge of actual weight or “volumetric weight,” the latter being a calculation based on volume and weight to ensure bulkier but lightweight items are charged accordingly.
Lee Valley alleged that billing for “volumetric weight” rather than actual weight was confusing for customers and violated the federal Weights and Measures Act.
Canada Post stopped keeping overpayments in January 2007, after the lawsuit was launched. But as part of the proposed settlement, if approved, Canada Post will stop charging customers based on “volumetric weight” within two years of the judgement, said Mr. Winsor.
“It will enable the customers of Canada Post to deal with them on a more transparent and consistent way,” he said. “And not just with Canada Post, but as well between couriers. So that when a customer wants to compare couriers, compare prices, and so on, it’s more easily done.”

SOURCE: Theprovince

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81% think neither foreign nor Canadian companies should be favoured in wireless auction: poll

A new poll suggests 81 per cent of Canadians would prefer if neither foreign- nor Canadian-owned companies are favoured in the upcoming wireless spectrum auction.

The government auction could allow a foreign company like Verizon to enter the Canadian marketplace, and let Canadian companies buy blocks of the spectrum to improve services for their consumers.

Only four blocks of the wireless spectrum will be auctioned. Under the government’s rules, a foreign company would be able to buy two of the blocks. Canada’s three major telecoms would then bid on the remaining two blocks.

The survey, conducted by Nanos Research for Bell Canada (which owns CTV) and Telus Corp., asked respondents which of the following would be in the best interest of consumers, and the results were:

• Allow Canadian-owned and foreign-owned companies to bid for and win airwaves without favouring either: 81 per cent
• Allow foreign-owned companies the advantage of bidding for and winning more than Canadian-owned companies: 10 per cent
• Unsure: 9 per cent

“We think it’s important that Ottawa hears that more than 80 per cent of Canadians disagree with special advantages for any wireless company, and prefer a level competitive playing field,” Bell said in a statement Tuesday.

In terms of general competition, most respondents said they would prefer if the government favoured Canadian companies.

When asked who should be given an advantage in the Canadian marketplace, only two per cent thought it should be foreign companies:

• Canadian-owned: 70 per cent
• Neither: 25 per cent
• Unsure: 3 per cent
• Foreign-owned: 2 per cent

Overall, respondents were split evenly on whether they supported foreign-owned telecoms entering the Canadian market to compete for business:

• Support: 27 per cent
• Somewhat support: 19 per cent
• Somewhat oppose: 17 per cent
• Oppose: 33 per cent
• Unsure: 5 per cent

The poll results are from a random telephone survey of 2,000 Canadians, conducted between August 12 and 19.

The margin of error is plus or minus 2.2 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

SOURCE : CTVNEWS

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Calgary Transit will be featured on Undercover Boss Canada.

Calgary Transit will be featured on Undercover Boss Canada.

Calgary Transit will be featured in an upcoming episode of Undercover Boss Canada, Corus Entertainment announced on Monday.
Calgary Transit is one of 10 companies that will be featured on the reality show, which finds high-ranking executives going undercover as frontline workers. The Calgary episode runs Oct. 31 on the W Network.
Other companies included this year are Food Banks Canada, Sodexo, Mexx and Sunnybrook Hospital. The new season starts Sept. 19.

Source : Calgaryherald

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Lac-Megantic train blast: Canada revokes rail firm licence

The blasts from the train's oil tankers destroyed a large area of Lac-Megantic

Canada has suspended the operating licence of the rail firm involved in last month's Quebec fuel train disaster, officials say.

The Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA) says the company did not have enough third-party liability insurance.

The CTA's order covers both Montreal, Maine and Atlantic Railway (MMA) and its Canadian subsidiary.

Forty-seven people were killed in Lac-Megantic after a train carrying crude oil derailed and exploded in the town.

The licence suspension becomes effective on 20 August.

The CTA said MMA did not have adequate third-party liability insurance, one of the requirements to operate Canada.

"This was not a decision made lightly, as it affects the economies of communities along the railway, employees of MMA and MMAC, as well as the shippers who depend on rail services," Geoff Hare, CTA chairman and CEO, said in a statement.

"It would not be prudent, given the risks associated with rail operations, to permit MMA and MMAC to continue to operate without adequate insurance coverage."

Bankruptcy

MMA filed for bankruptcy protection in Canada and the United States last week in the wake of the 6 July derailment.

The company said its insurance was not sufficient to cover liabilities of up to C$25m ($24.2m; £15.7m), when the clean-up costs may well exceed C$200m.

The train, with 72 tankers full of crude oil, had been parked uphill from Lac-Megantic and was unattended when it began rolling out of control into the town.

Several tankers exploded, destroying 40 buildings.

The blasts destroyed a large area of Lac-Megantic and forced some 2,000 residents to flee their homes.

The company has blamed the train's operator for failing to set enough hand brakes.

Investigators have said the train's handbrakes are one focus of their inquiries.

Tests are being conducted on the brakes and samples of the oil taken from the scene, as well as other evidence gathered over the four weeks since the disaster.

The process could take months, says the Transportation Safety Board.

SOURCE: BBC

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Tories: Senate reform need not touch Canada’s Constitution

OTTAWA – Canada’s highest court should be flexible in deciding whether proposed reforms to the Senate fit with the Constitution, in much the same way it ruled to allow same-sex marriage, the Harper government argued Tuesday.

The government has submitted legal arguments to the Supreme Court of Canada in a reference it sent to the high court earlier this year on proposed Senate reform legislation, Bill C-7.

Pierre Poilievre, minister of state for democratic reform, says the government’s proposed changes to the Senate do not require consent of the provinces.

The government asked the Supreme Court in February to clarify its powers to reform or abolish the Senate.

The high court should provide a “progressive interpretation” of the Constitution as it relates to Senate reform, rather than strictly adhering to the wording of a document created nearly 150 years ago, as it has in other recent high-profile cases, says a factum submitted to the court.

“Slavish adherence to original intent has been rejected by this Court in, for example, the Same Sex Marriage Reference, where the Court held that the understanding of ‘marriage’ that prevailed in 1867 should not be determinative of our present day understanding,” said the 68-page document.

The government introduced the proposed Senate Reform Act in June 2011, and has blamed the opposition for delaying its passage.

But senators and some provinces have resisted the Harper government’s proposals.

There are also questions about whether a majority of provinces have to be on side with reforms, or whether all of them have to agree.

The high court can decide, in some circumstances, to allow the federal government to side-step the provinces in making changes to the Senate, the Conservatives argue.

“Provincial involvement of any kind in changes to the Senate was only contemplated for a few matters,” said the factum.

Bill C-7 would limit senators’ terms to nine years and allow the provinces to hold elections to choose senators-in-waiting.

The prime minister would then recommend that senators who win the provincial elections be appointed by the Governor General.

As well, the Conservatives want to change the rules that require senators to own property of a certain value to be appointed to the chamber.

Under the Constitution Act of 1867, a senator must possess land worth at least $4,000 in the province for which he or she is appointed.

The property qualifications were originally put in place to ensure that the Senate represented Canada’s wealthy class and social elite.

“The Senate Reform Act does not require the amending formula of the Constitution to be applied,” Poilievre told an Ottawa news conference.

“We can amend the term limits of senators, the property requirements and we can provide a democratic vote to recommend senators to the upper chamber, all without an amending formula to the Constitution.”

The reference also asks the court whether the Senate can be abolished, and if so, by what method.

Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall has been pushing for abolition, although most of his provincial counterparts prefer reforms, and some, including Quebec and Ontario, have said they oppose getting rid of the red chamber entirely.

The NDP also wants the Senate abolished.

And that may just be what the Conservatives want as well, with the blessing of the courts, suggests Errol Mendes, a University of Ottawa constitutional law professor who has testified before Parliament about Senate reform.

Mendes is convinced the Supreme Court will reject most of the Harper government’s arguments because what is being is proposed is “substantive change” and not just housekeeping amendments to the way the upper chamber functions.

“It is an end-run around the (constitutional) amending formula,” said Mendes, who was an adviser to former prime minister Paul Martin.

Rather than bulldoze a bill through Parliament, the Tories referred the questions to the high court with the full realization that they would be rejected, said Mendes.

Such a ruling would “excite their political base and rally Conservatives” around long-standing grievances, such as abolishing the upper chamber and restraining activist courts.

Calls to reform or abolish the upper chamber became pronounced in the spring as a controversy unfolded over the expense claims of a handful of senators.

Poilievre defended Sen. Mike Duffy in the Commons in the spring amid allegations that Duffy made improper housing expense claims. Duffy eventually resigned from the Conservative caucus.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s chief of staff Nigel Wright also resigned his position after writing Duffy a personal cheque for $90,000 to reimburse his expenses.

Questions have also been raised about the expense claims of Senator Pamela Wallin, who also left Tory caucus, Liberal Mac Harb and former Conservative Patrick Brazeau, who was kicked out of the Tory caucus over a criminal investigation unrelated to his expenses.

Source : GlobalNews

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