Some reading for the weekend

Reuters: Alp-sized peaks found entombed in Antarctic ice

H. P. Lovecraft: At the Mountains of Madness

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The Wall Street Journal: The War on Drugs Is a Failure

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Also, the latest in global warming alarmism, from the New Scientist:

How to survive the coming century

How unbiased is it? The author is called Gaia.

(I'm kidding, but they are being a bit extreme)

For instance:

"All of the world's major deserts are predicted to expand, with the Sahara reaching right into central Europe.

Glacial retreat will dry Europe's rivers from the Danube to the Rhine, with similar effects in mountainous regions including the Peruvian Andes, and the Himalayan and Karakoram ranges, which as result will no longer supply water to Afghanistan, Pakistan, China, Bhutan, India and Vietnam."

Is it just me, or does it seem like the author is saying Europe's river water comes from glaciers? The one link the article had anywhere near that was to an article that said no such thing. There seems to be some consensus that rainfall in Europe will decrease by as much as 20% in the worst case scenario, but that's nowhere near enough to "dry Europe's rivers". As with so many other impacts of climate change, the effect will be to increase rainfall in the winter and decrease it in the summer.

The idea that the Himalayas will "no longer supply water" is ludicrous. Maybe someone should explain to the author what a drainage basin is and where river water comes from. Yes, a significant portion of river water in summer comes from glaciers, and apparently in a worst-case scenario the Ganges may become a seasonal river, flowing only in the summer, but rivers will not vanish because of glacier retreat. They'll only vanish if rainfall stops completely.

After scaring you with overblown images of desertification, the author gets to the real point:

"In order to survive, humans may need to do something radical: rethink our society not along geopolitical lines but in terms of resource distribution."

"If we use land, energy, food and water efficiently, our population has a chance of surviving - provided we have the time and willingness to adapt."

And the article goes on and on about what kind of a global planned economy we need to set up to "survive the coming century":

"We need to look at the world afresh and see it in terms of where the resources are, and then plan the population, food and energy production around that."

I have to write some more on environmentalist alarmism in the future, but the biggest reason articles like this make me highly sceptical is the effortless way in which the writers go from looking at the science of global warming to positing global fascism to deal with it. From the author's own website:

"The most obvious logical solution is to move the people where the resources are, and I explore this idea in a recent article. There are other options. How about enforced sterilization of people that have produced one child - this would immediately shrink the population?"

Um, because human population may decrease in the future, we should decrease it ourselves by force? Why not just advocate shooting people? One of the comments to the post hits right to the heart of this kind of thinking:

"Hi agree with limiting population growth - people should have to apply to have children, instead of it being everyones god given right. The world is being filled up with the ill-conceived offspring of degenerates and criminals, from families too large to already look after themselves."

Maybe a little extreme, but then again, James Lovelock, creator of the Gaia theory, basically agrees with him: 'humans will survive and be "culled and, I hope, refined."' Also, how does Ms. Vince imagine we would go about "moving people to where the resources are"? By force? What other way is there?

I'm not a global warming skeptic, and I'm not arguing global warming isn't happening. I'm arguing that I'm frightened by the possibilities of what might happen if global warming gets worse; I'm also frightened by the idea of the kind of people who write these articles getting to impose their ideas on the world.

The idea of "planning the world" in the way the article describes would require a total abandonment of many of our basic human rights and of representative government. Environmentalists try to justify this by saying it is necessary to the survival of our species. Somehow, eco-fascism doesn't seem like too extreme a word to describe these people.

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Finally, some old school Internet humor: Niilo Paasivirta

The Flyers and goaltending

The buzz is that the Flyers are looking for a number-one goaltender, and on Firday night's Flyers-Montréal game on TSN Pierre Mcguire directly told them to go get a goalie now.

I disagree. The Flyers' problem isn't their goaltending, it's their defensive play. Of the three goals Niittymäki allowed in regulation against the Habs, one was a fluke and the other two were results of horrendous defensive play by the Flyers skaters. Getting a new goalie is not going to make your team play better defense, and defensive play has been a constant problem for the Flyers ever since the lockout.

The most ludicrous idea that was floated by the TSN panel was getting Niklas Bäckström to Philadelphia. Bäckström is a positional goalie who's been phenomenal behind Minnesota's trapping defense, and consistently garbage every time he's played behind a weak defensive corps. Most spectacularly so for the Finnish national team.

What the Flyers need badly is a defensive leader. Heck, maybe they should try to land Pronger. Changing goaltenders isn't going to help. Martin Biron has already proved he can play at the NHL level, and if you think Niittymäki can't hack it against the best players in the world, maybe you should remind yourself who was the MVP of the Torino olympics. Goaltending is not the problem, defense is.

The trading starts

Yesterday the Penguins traded Ryan Whitney to Anaheim for Chris Kunitz and a prospect (TSN).

Basically, the two hot trade deadline commodities are proven playoff players and puck-moving defensemen. In fact, ever since the lockout it feels like every NHL team is constantly looking for a "puck-moving defenseman". I mean, Minnesota were so desperate for one they even brought Petteri Nummelin back from the Swiss league. Apparently they figured that a guy who was dropped by the Columbus Blue Jackets in 2001 could be an offensive force in the league five years later. But I digress.

In Whitney Anaheim gets a fairly good offensive defenseman who happens to be having a bad year, who might even be able to step into Scott Niedermayer's shoes when he retires. Obviously Pittsburgh is hoping Kunitz will finally be the winger who "clicks" with Crosby. He's no sniper, though, and so far Crosby hasn't shown any ability to transform 20-goal scorers into something more. This is unlikely to be a major differencemaker for the Pens. Besides, given their distaste for veterans, once Kunitz gets a few more years under him the Pens will let him go.

Kunitz has three years left on his contract at $3,725,000 a year, so swapping Whitney's $4 million for him only saves them a quarter million for next year. So their cap troubles are pretty much unaffected.

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Whitney was probably the proverbial first domino in this year's deadline crunch. Now that he's gone, the premier offensive D-man on the move if probably Filip Kuba. He and Tomas Kaberle will now be getting more attention, and with Burke unwilling to part with Kaberle except for a high price, Filip Kuba's stock just went way up.

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A good column on the Hockey News on Washington's winning windown. Edward Fraser maintains the Caps need to make a playoff push now, and I think he's right. Certainly they're going to be in salary trouble in 2010 when both Nicklas Bäckström and Alex Semin have a contract year.

I also agree wholeheartedly with his assessment that the Caps are going to need some grit and defensive power to make a more complete playoff team. At times, the Caps defense is wide open, and they're going to need a proper shutdown unit.

There are some excellent two-way forwards to be had, and I for one think the Caps should definitely try to get either Chris Neil or Jarkko Ruutu from Ottawa, and I'd be thrilled to see either Gary Roberts or Mark Recchi join the team from Tampa. However, the Caps have absolutely no cap space. In fact, they're over the cap at the moment. The biggest problem? Michael Nylander's monster contract. With two more years at $4,875,000, Nylander is actually the third-best paid player on the Caps roster.

Looking back now, it's almost impossible to understand what possessed the Caps to sign him to such a monstrous contract. He's managed just 7+20 points in 57 games this season, and the amount of money he's being paid is crippling the Capitals. In 2007 he was coming off an 80-point season; he was also 35 years old.

In the current economic climate, with the cap expected to stay the same or even drop, it's almost unthinkable for any team to be willing to take on Nylander's huge salary. Who wants to be paying a 39-year-old 40-point scorer five million a year?

If the Capitals go into the playoffs with the current roster and can't add some shutdown players, it's going to be largely because of the huge contract they gave to Nylander.

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Some brief notes:

* my opinion of Milan Lucic continues to fall. In last night's Ducks-Bruins game he dropped the gloves with Mike Brown, and after Brown fell to the ice he kept pounding on him, punching him in the back of the head. Fighting advocates are big on the "Code", and I think somebody might want to remind Lucic that it's usually been part of the "Code" that when your opponent falls to the ice, the fight is over. Lucic still has some growing up to do; right now, he's not a fighter, just a punk.

* It was a good night for Jokerit players on Long Island: Sean Bergenheim scored a shorthanded goal and Tim Stapleton, making his NHL debut, scored the game-deciding shootout goal in last night's Leafs-Isles game. Stapleton played for Jokerit before signing with the Maple Leafs, and we loved the guy. Go Tim!

Lex Nokia is coming

Yesterday, the Finnish Parliament voted, and the Lex Nokia proposal is going ahead. They'll be voting on it later, but as Finnish parliamentary voting is what it is, the governing coalition will have the votes to see the law through.

None of this is surprising, but it is sad. Soon not only the Swedish military but also your university, housing co-op and library can monitor your Internet use.

So long, privacy. It was nice while it lasted.

News roundup

A couple of items from Reuters. First, hilarity:

You're in big trouble now, Mr. License!

Then, you think we're not living in Cyberpunk 2020 yet?

China's artificially induced snow closes 12 highways

In hockey, check out the value of draft picks on TSN.

Also, in terrible news, apparently Limp Bizkit is back.

The Pirate Bay trial continues in Sweden. This is the latest showdown between the medieval guild priviledges of content producers and consumers, and it could very well be one of the most important lawsuits of our lifetimes in terms of cultural history. Finnish readers can keep track on the Piraattiliitto website.

Also, the Finnish singles chart #1 at the time of this writing is Lady GaGa's Poker Face. In many ways, that song exemplifies what's wrong with pop music today. Yes, the hooks are well crafted. That's exactly the problem. The song, lyrics and artist are crafted, scientifically designed to appeal to your senses. The whole thing is so unrelentlessly artificial. This really is music as a mass-produced commodity. There is no art here.

In fact, the only thing that can be categorized as art in the song are the clothes she wears in the video. I like those, and when she climbs out of the swimming pool in that skin-tight outfit, hey, I'd hit that. And that's exactly what I'm supposed to think. It's human nature to resent being manipulated.

But for those of us with any conception of music as art, there's nothing there. And that's a shame.

NHL watchlist

Things to look out for in the coming weeks:

* the Montréal Canadiens. I watched the Pittsburgh game, and the whole thing was an unbelievable disaster. I don't think I've ever seen Saku Koivu be that invisible on the ice. The team played horribly, and Carbonneau stood behind the bench like a statue. Mute, unresponsive. He continues to play Price in goal despite easy goals and horrible numbers, and doesn't seem to be able to do anything to stop the Habs' tailspin. They're nearly out of the playoffs.

If the Habs drop their game against Ottawa today, look for something to happen. I can't imagine the Canadiens will let the team slide out of the playoffs in their centennial year. If a totally different Habs team doesn't take the ice on Saturday and thump the Senators 10-0, I can't believe they won't fire Carbonneau.

The alternative seems to be missing the playoffs.

* the Penguins. New coach Dan Bylsma got his first win against the never-showed-up Montréal Canadiens, but his tactics seem eerily reminiscient of Therien. Constant line-juggling in a game the Penguins were winning doesn't look like good coaching, it looks like desperation. If Bylsma's system works and the Habs stay in freefall, the Pens could contend for eighth spot in the conference.

It'll also be interesting to see what the Pens do on the deadline. More below.

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Obviously, the trade deadline is coming up on March 4th. My picks for things to look forward to:

* the Habs, again. The loss of Robert Lang and the ongoing Alex Kovalev situation point toward a trade. The rumors are they're looking for a center. I still hope the Vincent Lecavalier deal goes through, but failing that, Olli Jokinen is another name that crops up.

* Florida should learn from what happened to Atlanta last year and trade Bouwmeester. Atlanta's express trip to the playoffs and out was not worth sacrificing a piece of the organization's future. If they still want to make the playoffs, they can swap Bouwmeester for a player who will be useful to them now, as well as future considerations. But they have to trade him.

* Speaking of Atlanta, Kovalchuk and intriguingly, Kari Lehtonen are rumored ot be on the way out. I for one can't imagine Kovalchuk would even consider resigning with Atlanta, and Lehtonen's job is going to be handed over to Pavelec. Lehtonen will be a restricted free agent this summer, and Kovalchuk has a year left on his contract. Whether Atlanta trades them now or next season remains to be seen. TSN sez the Flyers are interested in Lehtonen.

* Pittsburgh really ought to trade Ryan Whitney. With Gonchar back in the lineup and Goligoski on his way up, Whitney is the odd man out, especially with the way he's played since he returned from injury. Also, the Pens desperately need cap space. The Whitney trade could be one of the more interesting ones as the Pens may shoot for a scoring winger to play with Crosby as opposed to just prospects or draft picks. Many teams should be interested in Whitney as lately puck-moving defensemen are worth their weight in platinum in the NHL.

* What else Pittsburgh does will be interesting. There's no question the team has underperformed, but they're also nearly crippled by the amount of money sunk in their top players. Will Ray Shero blow up the team to the extent he can? Or will they just move Whitney and some other easily interchangeable pieces?

* Speaking of blowing up a team, what will the Senators do? They're playing better under new leadership, but their structural problems persist. One guy who might be on the move is Chris Neil, who'd be a welcome addition to any playoffbound team. Will they blow up the team? Probably not. Will they part with some of their more experienced players in exchange for a better future? They should. Doesn't mean they're going to.

(edit: last night they traded for Mike Comrie and Dan Campoli from the Islanders, giving up San José's first-round pick. Are they really planning to make a playoff push? Seems, erm, optimistic...)

* Anaheim is in for some decisions as well. Most of their experienced players from the Stanley Cup run will be free agents next summer. The question for Anaheim all season has been whether to make another run with this lineup or trade away some of the soon-to-be free agents. Nearly all of their potential UFAs have playoff experience and a Cup ring, so they'd be attractive commodities to playoff teams. For my money, Anaheim should trade. They have a good core of young players and will have to let go of a lot of the free agents anyway come summer, so the smart thing to do is to get a decent return for them and set up for another Cup run in a few years' time.

* look forward to the epic booing Sundin deserves, and will get, in the Air Canada Center today.

RIP Miika Tenkula

According to Iltalehti, former Sentenced lead guitarist Miika Tenkula was found dead at his home in Muhos yesterday.

As a founding member of Sentenced, Tenkula was instrumental in creating one of the greatest heavy metal albums in Finnish history, Amok.



Tenkula had an acknowledged alcohol problem for many years, which only got worse after he left Sentenced, according to blabbermouth.net. His cause of death has yet to be released, but alcohol-related causes seem likely.

This is a strange coincidence. I was just challenged to do a Facebook meme on albums that have had an impact on your life, and Amok is one of them. So Miika had an impact on my life as well.

Rest in peace.