History of Nova Scotia
with special attention given to
Communications and Transportation

Chapter 65
2000 August 6-31

2000 August 6

CKJM Opens New Digital Recording Studio

La cooperative Radio Cheticamp (CKJM) will officially open its brand new recording studio on Sunday afternoon, August 6th, at 1:30pm. Situated in the basement of Les Trois Pignons building in Cheticamp, Inverness County, Nova Scotia, the studio, with its high-tech digital equipment, was designed by Steven Durr, professional acoustic engineer from Nashville, Tennessee. The studio, which cost $150,000, was made possible by contributions from both federal and provincial governments, as well as an important financial investment by the Cooperators. Many area businesses and organizations have also contributed financially to the project. Clarence Deveaux, a well-known professional musician, has been hired to coordinate the activities of the new studio. The official opening ceremonies will be followed by the national broadcast of a musical radio program live from the new studio. The program will be broadcast on eighteen French community radio stations across Canada via the satellite network of Le Reseau Francophone d'Amerique.
[The Inverness Oran, 19 July 2000]

References:
Inverness County
http://www.invernessco.com/
"Nashville's top acoustics expert, Steven Durr..."
http://www.patchnet.com/caravell/news.htm

2000 August 8

Trail Groups Must Ask for Help in Writing

BRIDGEWATER — Lunenburg Municipal Warden Jack Wentzell told representatives of two groups interested in developing recreational trails along abandoned railway lines to put their requests for municipal assistance in writing. Scott Hamilton, chairman of the Dynamite Trail Association, and Carlo Testa, president of the Bay to Bay Trail Association, appeared before council August 8th to ask for help with their respective projects.

The Dynamite Trail Association plans to develop the old rail line from Mahone Bay to Martins River, and the Bay to Bay group wants to enhance the trail from Mahone Bay to Lunenburg and from the southern boundary of Lunenburg to Battery Point. "We're looking for support from the municipality," said Mr. Hamilton. Among the support items was a request for a municipal trails co-ordinator to work with volunteers on trail development, he said.

Mr. Testa said his group also wanted support from the municipal planning department in helping decide where is the best location for a central terminal for the trail. Both men asked for use of municipal office services such as faxes, telephones, desk space and possibly accounting.

During the discussions, members of council asked the representatives what uses they planned to allow on their trails. "We haven't decided what kind of usage we're going to have," said Mr. Hamilton. Mr. Testa said, "our association has decided it will be a multi-functioning trail." Councillor Diane Tanner questioned, "won't all the trails be the same usage?" Councillor Merle Kaulback noted, "I don't look at ATVs and horses as being a great mix on a three-metre ten-foot (trail) bed (in width)." Mr. Testa said, "we have dealt with ATV associations. We have found them to be very responsible."

Councillor Lee Nauss said, "I don't know how you can control the renegades. They'll splash you, they'll do anything. There has to be a lot of discussion before you put multi-use on it."

[The Bridgewater Bulletin, 16 August 2000]

2000 August 11

Point Tupper Gas Lateral Pipeline Approved for Operation

The National Energy Board (NEB) has approved the transmission of natural gas through the lateral pipeline from Goldboro, Guysborough County, to Point Tupper, Richmond County. The NEB notified Sable Offshore Energy Incorporated and Maritimes and Northeast Pipeline Limited that the lateral pipeline has been given official approval for operation at a reduced pressure of 4710 kPa.

"Technical literature has established that at this pressure, the risk of a pipeline rupturing from any of the known causes of pipeline failure would be negligable," the NEB wrote. "The reduced operating pressure will still allow us to deliver natural gas to our contracted customers," Maritimes and Northeast Pipeline spokesperson Steve Rankin said.

Three customers in Point Tupper, including Sable's fractionation plant, Stora Enso, and the Canadian Gypsum Company (CGC), have been awaiting the gas service since last year. Both Stora and CGC have converted their operations to burn natural gas as soon as it becomes available.

Rankin said it could still be a while before the customers receive gas. "It won't be an immediate thing," he said. "There's a bit of work we have to do on the line to allow it to operate at the 50 percent pressure." A pressure reducing station will be installed at the main pipeline take-off near Goldboro to reduce the gas pressure from the main line working pressure to the approved lateral working pressure. The pipeline owner is also required to file an integrity management plan with the NEB by November 1st of this year.

Negotiations between SOEI and M&NP also have to take place to pass over ownership of the line. "Now that we have the leave to open, we have to enter into discussions on how to proceed with SOEI," he said. "We have to purchase the line. Over the next few weeks we should have a timeline developed but we don't have a date for that yet," he said.

Sable Offshore Energy built the 55km pipeline for Maritimes and Northeast Pipeline while simultaneously constructing the Sable-owned NGL (natural gas liquids) pipeline. The two pipes were laid in the same trench about 50cm apart.

The liquids pipeline is under provincial (U&RB) jurisdiction, while the gas pipeline is under federal (NEB) jurisdiction. The NGL pipeline was approved for operation last winter, and has been carrying condensates for several months to the fractionation plant in Point Tupper. The NGL pipeline operates at a lower pressure than the gas lateral's design pressure.

The gas lateral will carry "more than we need for the contract," Rankin said. He added an additional market could develop in Cape Breton for natural gas, including distribution to homes and businesses. "We feel there is enough capacity in the line to serve that market ... it will depend on market acceptance."

Rankin said the NEB has not yet made clear whether the pipeline will ever be permitted to operate at the original planned pressure. "It would be through discussions with them that we could determine if we could (operate at full pressure)," he said.

The pipeline owners have had a series of information exchanges with the NEB since last December, after the application to open the line was filed. Landowners along the lateral were also involved in the discussions. The Board questioned the integrity of the line, after hydrostatic (water pressure) tests carried out last year failed. In late February 2000, the NEB denied the request to open the line, and asked the owners to establish the integrity and safety of the line by providing additional information. Maritimes and Northeast Pipeline and SOEI submitted a joint response in late April, including a technical plan.

[The Guysborough Journal, 16 August 2000]

4710 kPa = 683 psi
4710 kilopascals = 683 pounds per square inch

1999: Installation of NGL pipeline and Point Tupper gas pipeline side by side in one trench.
Source: http://www.soep.com/soep-bin/getpage?section=5&subsection=1&subsubsection=8

The Point Tupper Lateral Pipeline is approximately 59km in length and includes associated metering, control and pressure regulation facilities. The first 55km of the pipeline, from the main pipeline, is 8 inches 20cm in diameter and was installed at the same time as the Sable Offshore Energy Inc. natural gas liquids pipeline. The remaining 4km of the pipeline is 6 inches 15cm in diameter.
Source:
Maritimes and Northeast Pipeline website — Project Overview
http://www.mnpp.com/canada/project_overview.html

References:
Maritimes and Northeast Pipeline website
http://www.mnpp.com/
SOEI, Sable Offshore Energy Incorporated
http://www.soep.com/
National Energy Board
http://www.neb.gc.ca/

NEB approves Maritimes & Northeast's application
for leave to open the Point Tupper Lateral at 30 per cent
of specified minimum yield strength of the pipeline

11 August 2000

The National Energy Board has approved an application from Maritimes and Northeast Pipeline Management Limited (M&NP) for leave to open the Point Tupper Pipeline Lateral. The Board decided to grant leave to open the pipeline on the condition that the pipeline is operated with a maximum operating pressure of 4710 kilopascals, which results in an operating stress of 30 percent of the Specified Minimum Yield Strength of the pipeline material. In arriving at its decision, the Board has reviewed the application, additional information submitted by M&NP and submissions by interested parties.

In December 1999, M&NP applied for leave to open the Point Tupper Lateral. As part of its application, M&NP filed a report entitled Technical Report — Point Tupper Lateral Pipeline Integrity Engineering Assessment. The Board was of the view that considerable uncertainty existed regarding the integrity and safety of the Point Tupper Lateral as presented in the Technical Report.

On 29 February 2000, the Board advised M&NP that it was not satisfied that the information filed by M&NP demonstrated that the Point Tupper Pipeline Lateral could be safely opened for the transmission of natural gas and that prior to further considering the application for leave to open, it expected M&NP to establish that the integrity and safety of the pipeline are equivalent to the integrity and safety the Board normally expects for new natural gas pipelines. On 17 April, M&NPand Sable Offshore Energy Incorporated (SOEI) filed a Technical Plan, amended on 23 June 2000, to address the Board's concerns with respect to the integrity and safety of the Point Tupper Lateral.

The Point Tupper Lateral, which was approved by the Board in January 1999, consists of approximately 55 kilometres (34.2 miles) of 219 millimetre (8 inch) diameter pipeline from a point near Goldboro, Guysborough County, Nova Scotia to the delivery point at the SOEI Fractionation Plant in Point Tupper. Construction of the Point Tupper Lateral, between the M&NPMainline and the SOEI Fractionation Plant was carried out at the same time as construction of the SOEI Natural Gas Liquids pipeline. The Point Tupper Lateral was installed in the same trench as the NGL pipeline.

Source:
National Energy Board press release, 11 August 2000
http://www.neb.gc.ca/regupd/releases/nr2000/nre0023.htm

2000 August 12

Half Island Cove CAP Site Opens

A new Community Access Point (CAP) site opened in Half Island Cove last month, and was officially launched with an open house today. Half Island Cove is in Guysborough County on the southern shore of Chedabucto Bay, about halfway between Canso and Guysborough.

Located at Hanham's Gas Station and Convenience Store, the site contains six computers with an Internet connection, and scanning, photocopying and fax services. Cecelia Jamieson is the chair of the CAP site's board of directors. She said her efforts to establish a local site began last year. "SENCEN (Strait East Nova Community Enterprise Network) advised me that because we are a rural community between two larger communities that we could possibly have access to money that would help us to start a CAP site for ourselves," she explained. There are six people on the board, including Sandra Jamieson, Arnold Hendsbee, Mary Miller, Val Richardson and Howard Creamer. They got $12,000 from Industry Canada to develop and supply the site with equipment. They bought three new computers, and SENCEN donated three reconditioned computers. The space is a room at the side of the convenience store, provided rent and utility free by Dave Hanham.

Jamieson, a teacher, said the service is a necessity for students. "This way they can do work that they can't do at school because they have to catch the bus (right after the end of classes). A lot of school age kids around here don't have access to the Internet, don't have computers at home, and this will provide them with the ability to keep up with their school work and not worry about trying to arrange a way home if they had to stay at school and do work on the computers," she said. She said it also provides an important service for adults who want to learn how to use a computer or become more literate in the technology. Parents must sign permission slips for children under 18 years old to be on the Internet.

Tourists have also been using the site. "We've had tourists stop in and do e-mail; we've had people from Florida come in and fax papers to work and do work on the computers," she said.

The site has low usage fees. They will burn a CD for $10.00, including the blank CD. Computer use is $2.00 per hour on the new computers, and $1.50 on the reconditioned machines. Printing is 10¢ a page and faxing is $1.00 a page.

[The Guysborough Journal, 16 August 2000]

2000 August 14

350 New Radio Stations Launched Today in Canada

From 'Alternative Rock' to 'Groovin' Oldies'

All Available in Nova Scotia on Internet Radio

Suddenly the CRTC is Irrelevant

Toronto August 14, 2000 — Martz Communications Group Inc. announced today that FMcanada.com is live and on the air in Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Winnipeg, Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver. FMcanada.com is now streaming CD quality radio with local and national news and information from 50 Internet radio stations in each city. All are available everywhere on the Internet.

Each of the 50 Internet radio stations features professionally selected music in a specific format. Choices range from Top 40 to Jazz to Classical to Reggae to Christian rock.. This high quality content provides a range of choices not available from commercial broadcasters with limited commercial interruption.

Local information provided by each station includes live traffic reports, AccuWeather, TV listings, maps and directions and a host of useful information specific to the local communities. Each FMcanada.com website provides continuously updated local and national news and sports. Listeners can access any of these features without interrupting their audio stream from anywhere in the world.

Music is selected and scheduled by Everstream.com Incorporated, an Internet music provider based in Cleveland, Ohio. News, weather, and traffic information is now available only as on-screen text.

All 350 Internet radio stations are run out of offices in Ottawa, but Timothy Martz, the 49-year-old chief executive of FMcanada.com, said this may change if the project is successful. "Ultimately, my wildest dream is that we will have studios in each city as we compete with local radio," he said, adding he hopes each city eventually will have an Internet station playing strictly local and independent music.

Mr. Martz would not say how much he's spending to start this Canadian network, but said he expects to turn a profit within 18 months. Revenue will come from advertising. Currently, the online radio stations have no commercials, but Mr, Martz expects increasing Internet traffic to begin generating advertising revenue over the next few weeks.

"The Internet is dramatically changing the way we listen to radio," says Mr. Martz. "Internet radio gives listeners an amazing array of music options and advertisers the power to get their message directly to the people who buy their products; it provides listeners with CD quality sound and puts them in control of what they want to hear and see. With 50 formats, FMcanada.com provides more outlets for more artists than today's limited traditional radio formatted stations."

Using state of the art audio streaming technology and the Windows Media Player each of FMcanada.com's 350 stations offers innovative features such as:

No commercials until October (and limited commercials later)
Name and artist of current song
"Pause a song" for a minute or an hour and resume at the note you left
"Next selection", tells you what artist is up next
"Skip to the next song" lets you jump immediately to hear the next song
One step "click and purchase" the current CD (through CDNow.com).

With no CRTC restrictions, FMcanada.com actually opens the doors for Canadian artists, Mr. Martz says. There are many Canadian musicians who are unable to get adequate airplay on traditional tightly formatted radio stations. FMcanada.com will provide a much needed outlet for these talented artists. FMcanada.com has only one content requirement, to play the best music regardless of origin.

Building local content is the key to the future success of Internet radio, said Brahm Eiley, president of Convergence Consulting Group Limited of Toronto. Local advertisers account for about 75 percent of the close to &1,000,000,000 in annual advertising revenue generated by private Canadian broadcasters, Mr. Eiley said.

Traditional radio is going to disappear

"Traditional radio, as we know it today, is going to decline and eventually disappear," according to Wall Street Journal columnist, Walt Mossberg. "But not the concept of radio — of listening to audio content as a pleasant way of passing the time."

Mr. Martz, who operates nine radio stations in New York, said the Internet's ability to respond to specifictastes and demands is forcing traditional radio to change. He's convinced the future of radio is on the Internet, where listeners will be able to shape the programming they listen to. Suanne Kelman, director of broadcasting at Ryerson's School of Journalism in Toronto, agrees. "This is the only hope for radio, as far as I can see," Ms. Kelman said. "The Internet allows a great deal of experimentation and tailoring of tastes, so if radio were to revived in all of it's potential, that's how it would be done."

According to Statistics Canada, however, traditional radio isn't in decline. Canadians are listening to the radio more frequently than they have since 1995. The agency reports Canadians listened to an average of 20.5 hours of radio each week last year, the third straight annual increase.

FMcanada.com is a division of FMcities.com, a network of more than 650 local internet radio stations in North America serving U.S. markets in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Washington and Seattle with more on the way. FMcities.com is privately owned by Canadian Tim Martz and has offices in San Francisco and Ottawa.

The Globe and Mail, 15 August 2000
The National Post, 15 August 2000
FMcanada.com media release, 14 August 2000
http://www.fmcanada.com/nr8-14-00.html

References:
FMcanada.com website at
http://www.fmcanada.com/
FMcanada.com Technology Fact Sheet
http://www.fmcanada.com/techsheet.html
Internet Radio Fact Sheet
http://www.fmcanada.com/factsheet.html

2000 August 14

Salter Street in Running for a Category One Licence

Cable Companies Must Carry Category Ones

When it is time to kick back and unwind, many Canadians tune out by tuning in to their favourite TV show. Increasingly, that show is being carried on a specialty TV channel such as the Golf Channel or the Women's Network or Star TV.

Soon it may be the Computer Channel, or Technology TV. Indeed, in an online world and a 500-channel universe, it is probably only a matter of time before the two become one.

The New World of Digital Television

That union may be just around the corner. The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) has put out a call for specialty programming channels to be carried in the new world of digital television.

For the first time, TV, production and cable companies can apply for what are called Category Two licences, as well as Category One licences. Category Ones must be carried by a cable operator. Category Twos are not mandatory, and carriage of each Category Two channel on cable distribution systems has to be negotiated between the production company and individual cable companies — the survival of a Category Two channel depends on it being able to wangle enough distribution.

At least five companies, including CTV and Global TV, have pitched the concept of a computer channel and all five are pitching the concept in Category One.

A Computer Channel Will Be Licensed by the CRTC

"A computer channel will be one of the ten licensed by the CRTC," says Alison Clayton, a media consultant who is help Rogers Cablesystems Limited prepare its applications, one of which is for a technology channel called ZDTV. "There has to be an incentive for Canadians to get off of analog and into digital [service]. People are betting on computers. The level of interest is very high."

It is high even among those applications not specifically pitching a technology network. Salter Street Films, which produces This Hour Has 22 Minutes, has filed 30 applications with the CRTC of which six are in Category One. The six must-carry applications include Girls TV, Nature Television, and the Independent Film Channel Canada.

Consumer Choice and Control is the Main Point

Also included is ZTV, which is aimed at the 20-something market and will be techno heavy, says Claude Galipeau, vice-president of corporate planning with the Halifax-based production company. "The penetration of Internet users among 18-to-24-year- olds is very high, in the 60 to 70% range. We did focus groups. The most salient issue [for this age group] is choice and control of programming. This comes from being a sovereign consumer on the Internet."

ZTV would carry such standard television fare as a talk show featuring young entrepreneurs who have made it big in the IT industry. "The Internet and the new economy has empowered this new generation. They are acutely aware of the potential of the new media," says Mr. Galipeau.

But technology TV must go beyond standard television fare and offer viewers the bells and whistles they have come to expect in a wired world. For example, the talk show on young entrepreneurs might well offer interactive features such as a pull-down menu from which viewers could bring up a bio of the guest being interviewed, or they could key in a question and have the guest answer it live on the air. "If you hang around young adults, they multi-task on technology," says Mr. Galipeau. "They might be watching TV and talking in a chat room linked to the TV program."

The concept of a technology channel is well founded, says Paul Lima, a dot-com writer based in Toronto.

"People are fascinated with and by technology ... People want to know what's new, what's old, what's working, what isn't, what's invading their privacy, what allows them to snoop," he says. "If you build it, people will watch."

Jim Carroll, a Canadian Internet consultant and author of the book From Light Bulbs to Yottabits: How to Profit From the Internet of the Future, is less convinced of the merits of a computer channel. "Well, if the Golf Channel is still on air, I suppose a computer channel could be," he says. "I think there is an interest, obviously, in the topic, but I don't know if it could sustain an entire channel."

Salter Street Wants to Develop an Interactive Soap Opera

What seems certain, however, is that even if Canadians are not watching TV to learn more about technology, they will increasingly use technology to watch TV.

As part of its ZTV lineup, for example, Salter Street wants to develop Argyle 6, an interactive soap opera. Viewers would watch the characters slip in and out of situations, but they would also have direct input into story lines and character development as the soap opera unfolds on screen.

"We're experts in niche programming and offering programs targeted to a particular demographic. In the television industry, fragmentation has occurred. In order to compete, you have to become an expert in demographics," says Mr. Galipeau.

Salter Street's research with the 20-something crowd, in particular, shows they want more high-tech whiz bang along with their daily dose of TV. "ZTV focus groups feel they are not being well served in terms of interactive options," says Mr. Galipeau. "They feel they're more empowered on the Net."

[The National Post — Financial Post, 14 August 2000]

Salter Street Films Limited has its main office
at 1668 Barrington Street, Halifax.

2000 August 14

Worldwide Online Election

Historic First

Scheduled for 1-10 October 2000

NEW YORK, Aug. 14 /PRNewswire/ — The At Large Members of ICANN are scheduled to participate in a historic first — a worldwide online election to choose Directors for the Internet's governing body, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN).

Closing a fifteen-day window to apply for nomination on August 14th, At Large Member candidates have just fifteen days more — August 15th to August 31st — to garner enough endorsements for a spot on ICANN's October ballot.

Endorsement requires support from 2% of the At Large Members in her/his geographic region, or 20 members, whichever is greater; and support from residents of at least two countries. The final ballot for At-Large Director will include the candidates nominated by ICANN'S Nominating Committee, and any candidates who have met the conditions for member-nomination.

In an effort to help voters meet the candidates, ICB Toll Free News queried each by email as to their opinions and positions on such issues as domain name dispute arbitration and new top level domains (TLD's), and today published the survey results at http://icbtollfree.com/txt/icbsurveyresults.htm (registration required).

"This survey only covers Domain Name issues that we felt impact end users significantly on a day-to-day basis," says Judith Oppenheimer, publisher of ICB. "We provided a multiple choice format, as well as an open-ended option for nominees to write in their own response, of which most took generous advantage."

The survey presents an overview of the candidates' positions on major issues, in their own words, unedited. This overview clearly shows which candidates favor global governance; which favor individual country's rights under their own laws; and which of them have definite bias in favor of intellectual property interests, etc.

There is currently an overabundance of representation for major commercial and intellectual property interests on ICANN's Board of Directors. These candidates are running for seats to represent the at-large community's interests.

Source: Mailing-List list tollfree-l@egroups.com
Date: Mon, 14 Aug 2000 17:39:41 -0400

ICANN At-Large Membership Exceeds 158,000

July 31, 2000 Marina del Rey, California — The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) announced today that it had ended its first At-Large Membership registration period with more than 158,000 Internet users signed up worldwide. The registration period extended from February 25th to July 31st, 2000.

Preliminary total registration numbers by region are:
Africa — 787
Asia/Australia/Pacific — 93782
Europe — 35942
Latin America/Caribbean — 6486
North America — 21596

ICANN's At-Large Membership program is intended as a means for Internet users from all over the globe to have a voice in ICANN's technical policymaking structure for the Internet's domain name and numbering systems. ICANN's At Large Membership will select five members of the ICANN Board of Directors in a worldwide online vote, currently scheduled for October 1-10, 2000. One Director will be elected from each of five geographic regions:
Africa
Asia - Australia - Pacific
Europe
Latin America - Caribbean
North America

Sources:
http://www.icann.org/announcements/icann-pr31jul00.htm
http://members.icann.org/news.htm

References:
ICANN's website
http://www.icann.org/
ICANN At Large Membership and Elections
http://www.icann.org/at-large/at-large.htm

Election Info for Voters

For those of you who registered to vote in the upcoming ICANN elections, you can now, and for the next two weeks, formally endorse a candidate seeking to make the final ballot. The endorsement URL is:
https://members.icann.org/cgi-bin/atlarge/endorse.cgi

(The endorsement process is simply to determine who makes the final ballot. You could endorse a candidate for ballot purposes and then vote for someone else in October, when the election is held.)

ICB endorses Karl Auerbach. His platform (proposing significant, much needed reform of ICANN ) is at:
http://www.cavebear.com/ialc/platform.htm

... and many of his writings and essays can be found in ICB's Editorial Section.

ICB's Domain Name Survey of At Large Member Nominees is at:
http://icbtollfree.com/txt/icbsurveyresults.htm (Registration required. Names/contact info not divulged sold leased rented shared whispered etc.)

You can read the nominees' ICANN candidate pages here:
https://members.icann.org/nom.html

To endorse a candidate, you'll first need to activate your membership. To activate, you'll need your membership number, password and PIN. You can activate here:
http://members.icann.org/members_only.htm

The reminder URL to have your membership number and password e-mailed to you is at
https://members.icann.org/reminder.access.html

Your PIN was sent via postal mail. (This is the way the place of residence is confirmed for each voter — to get your PIN you have to receive mail sent to this address.)

You can only endorse one candidate, so you might take the time to read the candidate pages and survey responses etc. carefully.

From Judith Oppenheimer <joppenheimer@icbtollfree.com>
president of ICB Consultancy
http://www.1800TheExpert.com/
publisher of ICB TOLL FREE NEWS
http://www.icbtollfree.com and
WhoSells800.com Toll Free Service Provider Directory
http://www.whosells800.com

Source: Mailing-List list tollfree-l@egroups.com
Date: Tue, 15 Aug 2000 19:50:39 -0400

ICANN North America Region
Candidates for Nomination by Activated Members

These individuals named in this webpage have put their names forward as candidates for member-nomination in the ICANN North America Region. From August 15-31, activated At Large members can endorse a candidate in their region.
Source: http://members.icann.org/nom/cp/NA.html

[ICS comment, written 16 August 2000, while browsing the complete list of North America candidates and their campaign material:]

Many of these candidates are well-qualified, and it's going to be tough to make a final voting decision from such a large number of excellent choices.

But some of the candidates have been surprisinlgy slipshod in preparing their information — which is intended to persuade people to vote for them. Three candidates have llinks to additional information which do not work. Two others have webpages that obviously have not been looked at after they were posted (an underline turned on and never turned off; the entire text rendered in strike-through font...). Several are fond of obscure acronyms (obscure to me and likely to others) which they don't explain. In my opinion (as an activated voting member) these deficiencies eliminate them from consideration.

And some of them apparently consider spelling to be irrelevant in a written message. The following examples were copied and pasted from their own material:

"...address technical deficiencies as they are razed..."
razed raised

"...and delt with..."
delt dealt

"..I gues I didn't realze..."
gues guess realze realize

"...and oppenions regarding..."
oppenions opinions

"...intellectual freedom, individeual liberty, and personal privacy..."
individeual individual

"...not an official of any goverment..."
goverment government

"...have become verse in the intricacies..."
verse versed

"...intrigued by the shear inability..."
shear sheer

"...proof of consept..."
consept concept

"...the real benefactors of the Internet - individuals..."
benefactors beneficiaries

"...less we be forever lost in the realm of the committee..."
less lest

Reference:
North America member-nominees sorted by number of endorsements
http://www.icannnot.org/icannel.cgi
(Note: Much of this site is meant to be a parody of ICANN.)

2000 August 15

Chester has STARS Landing Site

Ten minutes from Chester to Halifax

Chester has joined the company of Nova Scotia communities with rescue helicopter landing sites. The Municipality of Chester supported the Chester Area Fire Department's endeavours to install a Shock Trauma Air Rescue Society (STARS) approved helipad near the village.

With permission from Irving Oil, the new landing site is located on a barren lot of land at Exit 8. "It's close to the 103 with accessibility for many different areas," said local fire chief Bill Zinck. Mr. Zinck said other communities in the Municipality of Chester, including Blandford, already have a STARS approved rescue helicopter landing site — and more local communities are looking into getting one.

Chester's helipad was installed August 15, 2000.

STARS Nova Scotia is a dynamic outreach air medical program that links critically ill and injured patients in the community with specialty services. Regional general manager John Roderick said that during the daytime, STARS helicopters can land at or nearby the scene of an accident. But there are a lot of dangers in the dark, including hard-to-see telephone lines that run across Nova Scotia highways, making night-time landings unsafe. Mr. Roderick said designated landing sites in rural communities ensure that rescue helicopters responding to serious accidents have a safe landing zone.

Helicopter transport to hospital reduces the time it takes to get a patient to hospital. Mr. Roderick said it takes about ten minutes to get from Chester to the Queen Elizabeth Health Sciences Centre rooftop helipad in Halifax. And the faster you can get someone to the definitive level of medical care, he said, the higher their survival rate.

[The Lunenburg Progress-Enterprise, 4 October 2000]

2000 August 16

Ottawa Contributes $65,000 Toward Feltzen South Wharf

LUNENBURG — The head of the Feltzen South Harbour Authority says government is getting good value for the money it's investing in small harbours like the one he fishes from. "Do you know what this would cost if Public Works Canada came in to do this?" Tim Wentzell said, referring to the authority's current plans to replace the 31-metre middle section of the government-owned wharf. "I'll bet it would be a quarter of a million dollars." As it is, the work will be done using recently-announced funding of $65,000, nearly all of which will be spent on materials. "We do all of the planning and labour," said Mr. Wentzell, who estimated that contribution would put the project's value at well over $100,000.

And this is not the first project to be carried out on Feltzen South wharf, on Nova Scotia's Atlantic coastline about 7km south of Lunenburg. In fact, this work to the wharf's middle section follows earlier projects to restore first the outer section of the wharf, known as the key, then work to the inner section, parking lot and breakwater. In all cases, the harbour authority, a group composed of approximately twenty full and part-time fishermen, plus a few pleasure boaters, have contributed the labour. "It represents a lot of time," said Mr. Wentzell. But he said members realize this is the only way to see these projects done.

Funding for the group's latest project, to include 30 metres 100 feet of new timber cribs topped with concrete, dredging of the basin area adjacent to the cribs and minor repairs to the breakwater, was announced last week by Senator Bernie Boudreau. Other grants went to harbours at Mabou, Terence Bay, Delaps Cove, Louisbourg, Cape St. Mary's, Lower Wedgeport, and West Head for a total investment of $1,600,000. "Harbours need consistent maintenance for their safe and efficient operation," said the senator. "These projects will make a real difference to fishers and members of communities who rely on these harbours for their livelihoods."

[The Lunenburg Progress-Enterprise, 16 August 2000]

Boudreau announces $1,675,000 federal investment
for improvements at Nova Scotia fishing harbours

10 August 2000

TERENCE BAY, Nova Scotia — The Honourable Bernie Boudreau, Leader of the Government in the Senate and Minister responsible for Nova Scotia, announced today on behalf of the Honourable Herb Dhaliwal, Minister of Fisheries and Oceans, that the Government of Canada will invest $1,675,000 in projects at the fishing harbours of Mabou, Feltzen South, Terence Bay, Delaps Cove, Louisbourg, Cape St. Mary's, Lower Wedgeport (Tuna Wharf) and West Head in Nova Scotia.

"Harbours need consistent maintenance for their safe and efficient operation," said Senator Boudreau. "These projects will make a real difference to fishers and members of communities who rely on these harbours for their livelihoods."

The breakwater protecting the entrance channel to Mabou harbour has sustained major damage over the years due to storm conditions. This project entails the reconstruction of a section of 270 metres of this structure and dredging of approximately 10,000 cubic metres of material at the entrance channel. It is anticipated that construction will start early this fall and should be completed by February of 2001.

At Feltzen South the project consists of the reconstruction of the 31-metre middle section of the wharf by installing new timber cribs topped with a concrete deck. Dredging of the basin area adjacent to the new cribs will also be carried out as well as minor repairs to the breakwater.

At Terence Bay the top 43-metre section of the skidway will be repaired. This will complete the work begun last year.

The project at Delaps Cove consists of repairing the marginal wharf and the wave-break wall, which were severely damaged by a January storm.

At Louisbourg the project consists of wharf repairs and other work to remedy safety issues caused by the January storm.

At Cape St. Mary's and Lower Wedgeport (Tuna Wharf), repairs will be undertaken to the wharves in order to restore them to safe operating conditions.

The work at West Head will involve dredging an unused area of the harbour and extending a natural ledge to provide safe access and protection for berthing vessels.

These projects are being undertaken by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Small Craft Harbours Program, in close collaboration with the Harbour Authorities which manage and operate these facilities for the benefit of local users. It is this close cooperation with clients that enables the federal government to continue to provide an operable system of harbours and facilities throughout Canada in support of commercial fisheries.

Source:
Department of Fisheries and Oceans news release, 10 August 2000
http://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/COMMUNIC/NEWSREL/2000/hq74_e.htm

Fishing and Recreational Harbours in Nova Scotia

30 April 2000

Abbotts Harbour
Advocate
Alder Point
Allendale
Anderson Cove (Hillsburn)
Arichat
Arisaig
Arrow Point
Aspotogan
Aulds Cove
Back Harbour (Chester)
Baileys Brook (Lismore)
Bald Rock
Ballantynes Cove (McNair's Cove)
Barrachois
Barrington
Barrios Beach (Tracadie)
Battery Point (Victoria Beach)
Bay St. Lawrence
Bayfield (Pomquet Point)
Bayport
Bear Point
Big Bras D'Or
Big Island
Big Tancook Island
Blandford (Shoal Cove)
Blue Rocks (Sand Cove)
Boudreauville (Cowley Point)
Boutiliers Point
Broad Cove
Broad Cove Marsh
Brooklyn - Fishermen's Wharf, Skidway
Bush Island
Camp Cove (Lower Argyle)
Canada Creek
Canso
Cape John
Cape St. Marys
Caribou (Little Caribou Entrance)
Caribou Ferry - Fishermen's Facilities
Carters Point (Murphy Cove)
Central Port Mouton - Fishermen's Wharf
Central Port Mouton (Nickersons)
Centreville (Trout Cove)
Chapel Cove (L'Ardoise West)
Charlos Cove - Breakwater, Groyne and Fishermen's Wharf
Chebogue (Town Point Hill)
Chegoggin (Pembroke Dyke Channel)
Chegoggin Point
Chester
Chester Basin
Cheticamp (La Digue)
Cheticamp - Town Wharf
Cheticamp Point
Church Point
Clark's Harbour
Coffin Island
Comeauville
Cooks Cove
Coopers Point
Cottage Cove
Crane Cove (Eskasoni)
Cribbons Point
Cripple Creek
Culloden (Culloden Cove, previously known as Broad Cove)
Deep Cove Island
Delaps Cove
Dennis Point (Lower West Pubnico)
Dingwall
Dover (previously known as Little Dover)
Drum Head
Dublin Shore
East Chezzetcook
East Dover
East Ferry
Ironbound Island East
East Jeddore (Bakers Point)
East Petpeswick
East Side Port L'Hebert (East Port L'Hebert)
Eastern Passage
Ecum Secum
Ecum Secum West
Englishtown
Factory Cove
Falls Point
Feltzen South
Finlay Point
Fishermans Harbour
Five Islands
Flat Mud Island
Forbes Point
Fourchu
Fox Point
Freeport - Fish Point Wharf
Freeport (Northeast Cove)
Freeport (South Cove)
Gabarus
Gammons Creek (previously known as John Voglers Shore)
Glace Bay
Grand Etang
Gullivers Cove
Gunning Cove
Half Island Cove
Halls Harbour
Hampton
Harrigan Cove
Havre Boucher
Herring Cove
Hubbards Point
Hunts Point
Indian Harbour (Yankee Cove)
Indian Point
Ingomar (Black Point)
Ingonish (Kings Cove)
Ingonish Beach
Ingonish Ferry (South Ingonish)
Inverness (McIsaac Pond)
Janvrin Harbour
Jersey Cove (Beach Point)
Joggins (Two Rivers Point)
Johns Island
Jones Harbour
Judique (Anse Baxters)
Kelleys Cove
Ketch Harbour
Kingsport
Kraut Point (Riverport)
L'Archeveque
Larrys River
Ledge Harbour
Lingan
Liscomb
Little Anse
Little Harbour (Cherry Hill)
Little Harbour (Halifax County)
Little Harbour (L'Ardoise)
Little Harbour (Pictou County)
Little Harbour (Shelburne County)
Little Judique Harbour
Little Judique Ponds
Little Liscomb
Little River (Digby County)
Little River (Victoria County)
Little River Harbour (Yarmouth County)
Little Tancook
Livingstone Cove
Lockeport
Lockeport Harbour (also known as Ragged Island)
Long Cove (Medway)
Long Cove (Pennant)
Louisbourg
Lower East Pubnico
Lower Jordan Bay
Lower Prospect
Lower Sandy Point
Lower Wedgeport - Tuna Wharf
Lower Woods Harbour
Lunenburg - Fishermen's Wharf
Lunenburg - Railway Wharf
Mabou Harbour
Ingonish (MacLeods Point)
Main-a-Dieu
Malagash
Marble Mountain
Margaree Harbour (Belle Cote)
Margaretsville
Marie Joseph
Marion Bridge
Meat Cove
Meteghan
Meteghan River
Middle Point Cove
Mill Cove
Mira River
Moose Harbour
Morris Island
Muises Point
Murphys Pond
Neils Harbour
New Campbellton
New Edinburgh
New Harbour (Guysborough County)
New Harbour (Lunenburg County)
New Haven
New Waterford
Newellton
North Sydney - Ballast Grounds
Northport
Northwest Cove
Osborne Harbour
Ostrea Lake
Owls Head
Oyster Creek
Parkers Cove
Peggys Cove
Pereaux (Delhaven)
Petit-de-Grat - Co-op Wharf
Petit-de-Grat - Fishermen's Wharf
Petit-de-Grat - North Entrance Breakwater
Petit-de-Grat - Richmond Wharf
Pictou Island
Pictou Landing
Pinkneys Point
Pirate Harbour
Pleasant Bay
Plymouth
Point Aconi (McCreadyville)
Poirierville
Port Bickerton East
Port Bickerton West
Port Felix
Port George
Port Hilford
Port Hood
Port Hood Island
Port La Tour
Port Lorne
Port Maitland
Port Medway
Port Morien
Port Mouton
Porters Cove
Portuguese Cove
Prospect
Pugwash
Queensport
River Bourgeois (Bissetts)
Rose Bay
Rossway
Sambro
Sambro Creek
Sandford
Sandy Cove East
Sandy Cove West
Saulnierville
Saw Pit (Lunenburg) - Back Harbour
Scatarie Island
Scots Bay (Little Cove)
Seal Harbour
Seal Island (Crowells Cove)
Seal Island (East Cove)
Shad Bay
Shag Harbour
Shag Harbour (Prospect Point)
Shelburne
Short Beach
Skinners Cove
Sluice Point
Smelt Brook
Smithsville
Sober Island
Sonora
South Bar
South Side
South West Port Mouton
Spectacle Island
Spry Bay
St. Catherines River
Stoney Island
Surettes Island (The Tittle)
Swims Point
Tangier (Masons Point)
Terence Bay
The Hawk
Three Fathom Harbour
Tiverton - Fishermen's Wharf
Toney River
Townsends Harbour
Upper Port La Tour
Upper Prospect
Victoria Bridge
Voglers Cove East
Voglers Cove West
Wallace
Wedge Point (Wedgeport)
West Arichat
West Baccaro
West Berlin
West Dover
West Green Harbour
West Green Harbour (The Blazes)
West Head
West Pennant
Western Head (Queens)
Western Shore
Westport - Ferry Wharf
Westport (Irishtown)
Whale Cove
White Point
Upper Whitehead
Yarmouth Bar

Source:
Fishing and Recreational Harbours Regulations, 30 April 2000
http://canada.justice.gc.ca/FTP/EN/Regs/Chap/F/F-24/SOR78-767.txt

2000 August 16-21

Kings-Hants Byelection
11 September 2000

Campaign Websites for the Three Major Candidates

Shown here in order of date launched

Kaye Johnson's Website Launched August 16th

On this day, 26 days before the Kings-Hants byelection in which she is running for election to the House of Commons in Ottawa, Kaye Johnson's campaign website was uploaded to the Internet. Her campaign office was located at 9121 Commercial Street (Gardens Mall), New Minas.

Kaye Johnson's campaign website
http://www.geocities.com/kayejohnsonndp/
email: kaye.johnson@ns.sympatico.ca

Gerry Fulton's Website Launched August 18th

On this day, 24 days before the Kings-Hants byelection in which he is running for election to the House of Commons in Ottawa, Gerry Fulton's campaign website was uploaded to the Internet. His campaign office was located at 8986 Commercial Street, New Minas.

Gerry Fulton's campaign website
http://www.canadianalliance.ca/by-election/kings.html
email: gerry@canadianalliance.ca

Joe Clark's Website Launched August 21st

On this day, 21 days before the Kings-Hants byelection in which he is running for election to the House of Commons in Ottawa, Joe Clark's campaign website was uploaded to the Internet. His campaign office was located at 203 Main Street, Wolfville.

Joe Clark's campaign website
http://www.electjoeclark.com/
email: campaign@electjoeclark.com

Candidates

Clark, Joe
Progressive Conservative Party of Canada
Fulton, Gerry
Canadian Reform Conservative Alliance
Johnson, Kaye
New Democratic Party
Neron, Alex
No Affiliation
Turmel, John C.
Independent
(The Liberal Party did not field a candidate in this byelection.)

Source:
Elections Canada
http://www.elections.ca/cgi-win/riding_cand_e.asp?ridingID=12006&showLink=no

Deficiencies in Candidates' Websites

Written by ICS, Wednesday afternoon, August 23rd, 2000

Seems to me there are some basic items a citizen might reasonably expect to find in a campaign website operated by a candidate for public office, but which are missing from the websites operated by these three candidates.

A Map of the Consituency,
showing the constituency boundaries and ten or twenty of the larger communities, certainly should be part of any candidate's website, so that citizens can find out whether or not they live in the area where the election is being held. It may seem, to political junkies, that everyone knows what constituency they reside in. But many people are hazy about such arcane matters as constituency boundaries — the fact that boundaries are altered about every second election doesn't help.

I can hear a webmaster sputtering: "But we clearly stated that the constituency of Kings-Hants comprises Kings and Hants Counties." That would be good enough if practically everyone was clear about county boundaries, but the fact is many people aren't all that sure about county boundaries either. Even media people often are less than well-informed about such matters.

An online map would be of considerable value to many people, but none of the three websites above has a map — none even has a link to a suitable map. This omission is an astonishing oversight. (A current map of Kings-Hants is provided below.)

There are a few elementary requirements for a useful constituency map. (These may be elementary but they have been overlooked in all the online maps I've seen, including those provided by Elections Canada.)

The community names should be legible — they should be easy to read on-screen, including by most people over fifty. This means that a scanned map is likely to be unsatisfactory — most maps have fairly small type for many community names, and when such a map is scanned and placed online these small-type names become unreadable, even for people who are more or less familiar with the local geography. If a scanned map is to be used, then, after scanning, the community names should be re-done with painting software to make small type as legible as the screen will allow. (Most monitor screens nowadays will do a surprisingly good job of rendering small type legibly, especially in sans-serif fonts, if the type is inserted by painting software.)

Names of communities close to the boundary should be shown, even if they are small communities. This is to help peple who live close to the boundary to figure out if they are inside or outside.

Basic Election Information,
beginning with the date of the election, and the voting hours. Same information for the advance polls. The last day for voter registration sould be stated. Voter qualifications should be described. All of this in plain English, of course. Yeah yeah yeah, all this is available elsewhere — for the alert and attentive voter — but it should be spelled out clearly in the campaign website of any serious candidate for election to public office. The absence of such basic and important information can easily convey the impression nobody is minding the store.

When stating dates, it is very helpful to include the day of the week.
"Monday, Sep. 11" is much clearer than just "Sep. 11".

The advance polls will be on
Friday, September 1
Saturday, September 2
Monday, September 4
conveys considerably more useful information than
The advance polls will be on
September 1
September 2
September 4

John Turmel's Websites

These appear to be John Turmel's personal (not campaign) websites
http://www.geocities.com/WallStreet/9347/engineersteachings.htm
http://www.freenet.carleton.ca/~aj624/johnturmel.html
http://www.cyberclass.net/turmel/
http://www.nousury.net/johnturmel.html

References:
Turmel: The Perennial Candidate, Ottawa Citizen, 26 August 1997
http://www.thecitizen.com/city/970826/1100977.html
1982 press clips about John Turmel
http://cyberclass.net/turmel/prspol82.htm
Lowell Green ducks John Turmel, 2 September 1997
http://cyberclass.net/turmel/ow9706.htm

2000 August 19

Cost of Hard Drive Data Storage
Falls Below $10.00 per Gigabyte

Below 1¢ per Megabyte

PC Medic, 50 Akerley Blvd., Burnside Industrial Park, Dartmouth, and 2760 Robie Street, Halifax, in a large two-colour display advertisement in the Halifax Chronicle-Herald on this day, offered for sale Maxtor 30.7 gigabyte hard drives priced below $10.00 per gigabyte — below 1¢ per megabyte. The store price was stated as $214.00 plus 15% HST, yielding a cost of $8.02 per gigabyte — 0.81¢ per megabyte.

This price is half of the best price obtainable eleven months ago. On 25 September 1999, I saw for the first time hard drives advertised for sale in Nova Scotia at a price below $20.00 per gigabyte — below 2¢ per megabyte

The same ad offered for sale Maxtor 20.4 gigabyte hard drives at $164.00 plus 15% HST, yielding a cost of $9.25 per gigabyte — 0.93¢ per megabyte.

Historical notes about Cost of Hard Drives

Reference:
PCmedic website
http://www.pcmedicdirect.com/

2000 August 24

Internet Bandwidth Upgrade at Kentville

From: "Auracom Head Office"
To: <ken-users@listserv.interhop.net> <han-users@listserv.interhop.net>
Subject: Kentville upgrade
Date: Thu, 24 Aug 2000 10:07:45 -0400

The Kentville POP (Point Of Presence) will be off line this afternoon between 4:00pm and 5:00pm to perform a much needed bandwidth upgrade.
Rick Fonger
General Manager, Auracom Internet Services, a division of Ziplink Canada
http://www.auracom.com/

2000 August 25

High-Speed Internet Coming to Kentville-New Minas-Wolfville Area,
also Digital Television Distribution Infrastructure

Wolfville — On this day, Shaw Communications Inc. upped the ante in the competitive market for Internet and cable television services.

The giant cable TV company has launched two new services that will bring high-speed Internet access and digital TV to customers in the Kentville-New Minas area. "We are fierce competitors," said Greg Keating, Shaw's regional manager in Nova Scotia. "We want your business."

Mr. Keating was speaking at a company and media briefing in Wolfville, attended by about 50 industry reps, where the services were officially launched.

Second-largest cable TV company

The company has spent about $50 million building a fibre-optic network in Nova Scotia over the past year. It has about 1,800,000 customers in 34 cities and towns across Canada, making it the second largest cable company in the country, after Rogers Communications.

Along with 200 channels of digital television and 40 channels of music, the new cable service offers unmatched picture and sound quality, company officials say. Subscribers purchase or rent a digital cable terminal, about the size of a videocassette recorder, which sits on top of the television. For a monthly fee of $49.95, they get full cable service, plus five U.S. superstations, five movie networks and dozens of other choices, including 40 stations of uninterrupted music. There is no installation fee.

Other services are planned, including movies on demand, said Dale Henderson, a product specialist at the company's corporate offices in Calgary.

High-Speed Internet Connection

The other new service is the Shaw@Home high-speed cable Internet connection. The service has three advantages over its competitors: speed, access and content, said company Internet specialist Chris Benoit.

The Internet cable service has no dial-up, so there is no waiting to get connected. The service is also 100 times faster than conventional telephone access, company officials said. For $89.95 per month, customers get both the full digital cable and high-speed Internet services.

[The Halifax Chronicle-Herald, 26 August 2000]

2000 August 26

Cape Forchu Light to get $195,000 Renovation

Ottawa — The popular Cape Forchu lighthouse is about to get a $195,000 makeover. The federal government and the Municipality of Yarmouth are putting up the cash to remove lead-based paint from the lighthouse and interpretation centre. The majority of the money, $100,000, will come from ACOA while $27,000 will be provided by Human Resources Development Canada. The municipality, which bought the facility earlier this year for one dollar, will contribute about $68,000 to the project. The work will also involve interior renovations to the shop and other buildings on the site, landscaping and the installation of fencing, retaining walls and sidewalks to safely accommodate expanded tourist traffic. About 45,000 people visit Cape Forchu every summer, according to the Friends of the Yarmouth Light Society, which has operated a museum on the property since 1996.
[The Halifax Chronicle-Herald, 26 August 2000]

2000 August 28

Government Bookstore Closing — Reopening Online

Offers a new opportunity to learn about N.S. meatspace

By Barry Boyce

One of the places I went to when I visited Nova Scotia for the first time was the government bookstore. It helped me to fall in love with the place. I bought a large map of the province, had it mounted and hung it at the end of my bed to remind me of where I wanted to live. I still have it hanging in my office, but it's a little the worse for wear.

In about a month, I won't be able to go to the bookstore to get a new copy. At the end of September, the Nova Scotia Government Bookstore will close its doors forever. The thinking of the current government is quite simply that government should not be in the bookstore business. Private businesses can do a better job of running a retail book outlet and turn a profit while they're at it. There's a certain logic to that, but unfortunately no bookstore will concentrate as fully on the province as the current outlet on Granville Street, across from Province House.

While the physical version of the bookstore is dying — and I will sorely miss it — the bookstore has already been reborn in cyberspace. Since they have built such a wonderful Web site, which accepts credit-card purchases, I suspect they will keep that facility in operation.

This is the way of the world. What some Webomaniacs call "meat-space," the world outside cyberspace where people (a.k.a. meat) live, is just not as efficient.

The bookstore's online catalogue at http://www.gov.ns.ca/bacs/books/catalogu.htm offers 38 categories of books, reports, manuals, directories, atlases, maps, audiotapes, videotapes and legislative documents ranging from acts and regulations through treatises on the Titanic and the Westray mine disaster. Browsing the cyber-catalogue does not offer the pleasure of actually turning pages, but the descriptions are usually detailed enough for you to make an educated guess.

For example, in the marine history section, you can find Chris Mills's Vanishing Lights, which the catalogue tells us is a lightkeeper's record of this bygone life. Mills "relates his experiences while working on four unique islands: Seal, Cross, Machias Seal and Gannet Rock." Chances are that his "personal anecdotes" about "the strangeness of foggy days" and "the excitement of winter storms" are not great literature, but for $12.95 it provides a window on a vital Maritime tradition that is gone forever.

In the same section, you will find a bit of real Maritime literature in Silver Donald Cameron's Once Upon a Schooner: A Foreign Voyage in Bluenose II. For a mere $8.99, you can read Silver Donald's adventuresome account of his own journey on Bluenose II, as well as tales told by people who knew Angus Walters, the Bluenose's first skipper.

For real excitement, though, look under gambling, where you'll find Romancing the Odds, A Video on Problem Gambling, produced by the Health Department. According to the blurb, "It places you inside the gambler's head and helps you understand their irrational drives and feelings. Featuring renowned comedienne Bette MacDonald, the video is at times heart-rending, at times humorous, but always hopeful." Getting inside the gambler's head is not cheap though. The video is aimed at health professionals and so it sells for $125, the equivalent of a few minutes at the blackjack table for me.

If you're wired, I encourage you to visit the Web site, but I also recommend stopping by the live bookstore before it closes. You're guaranteed to learn something more about the meatspace we call Nova Scotia.

[The Halifax Daily News, 28 August 2000]

Reference:
Nova Scotia Government Bookstore OnLine
http://www.gov.ns.ca/bacs/books/catalogu.htm

2000 August 28

Seeking Oldest Working Automobile

Do you have the oldest car in Atlantic Canada? If you think so, the folks at the sixth annual Sherbrooke Show and Shine want to see you (and it, of course.)

Motor vehicles have undergone tremendous changes since they began chugging over the primitive roads of a century ago, but antique cars are still near and dear in the hearts of many.

Historic Sherbrooke Village and St. Mary's Tourism Association, both in Guysborough County, host their popular antique/custom car and truck show on Saturday, September 9th and Sunday, September 10th.

This year, they're searching for the oldest operating automobile in Atlantic Canada. The winner will receive two nights' lodging for two at the Sherbrooke Village Inn, meals, and a special award. If you think you might have the oldest car, call Sherbrooke Village at 1-888-743-7845 or email macdoncr@gov.ns.ca.

[The Halifax Daily News, 28 August 2000]

2000 August 28

Newfoundland Capital Corporation receives CRTC approval in Moncton

DARTMOUTH, NS, Aug. 28 /CNW/ — Newfoundland Capital Corporation Limited announced today that its subsidiary, Atlantic Stereo Limited (ASL), received the approval from the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) to operate a new FM radio license in Moncton, New Brunswick (CRTC Decision 2000-360). ASL presently operates the most popular radio station in Moncton, CJMO (C103), and intends to launch a new Country FM station. Pat Donelan, General Manager of ASL, said: "We are excited to have the opportunity to bring Country music in FM stereo back to southeastern New Brunswick." Newfoundland Capital Corporation Limited is a communications company engaged in Radio and Publishing and Printing. It operates 24 radio licenses across Canada and publishes 19 community newspapers and magazines. Its Head Office address is 745 Windmill Road, Dartmouth, Nova Scotia.
Source:
Newfoundland Capital Corporation news release, 28 August 2000
http://www.newswire.ca/releases/August2000/28/c3951.html

Reference:
Newfoundland Capital Corporation documents in the SEDAR website at
http://www.sedar.com/dynamic_pages/issuerprofiles_e/i00002995.htm

2000 August 30

Natural Gas Pipeline Working Toward Halifax

Lateral to Tufts Cove Generating Station in Dartmouth

For many Nova Scotians, a greenish-blue pipeline snaking its way along Highway 102 toward Halifax is the first real sign of Sable natural gas. The $78,000,000 branch line will carry gas from the $3,000,000,000 Sable Offshore Energy project to Dartmouth, on the east side of Halifax Harbour.

Near Stellarton, Pictou County, the 124-kilometre lateral branches off to Halifax from the main line that starts in Goldboro, Guysborough County. The main line runs all the way to Dracut, Massachusetts, near Boston.

A worker picks up and readies
some foam pads to be placed
under a lateral pipeline being
installed along Guysborough Road.

The Halifax lateral will end at Nova Scotia Power's Tufts Cove generating station in Dartmouth. It is scheduled to be in service in November, providing natural gas to its only customer, Nova Scotia Power. NSP has converted its coal-fired generating station at Tufts Cove to burn the cleaner fuel and eliminate the flume of sulphur.

Excavators and backhoes are currently digging up ground along the route through Burnside Business Park and will soon be digging a trench in which the pipe will be laid along Windmill Road in Dartmouth.

The urban section of the lateral, about seven kilometres long, will take as long to build as the 117 kilometres of rural pipeline, said Maritimes and Northeast Pipeline spokeswoman Kathy van Buskirk. Ms. van Buskirk said "meticulous planning" is required to put the 12-inch 30cm diameter pipe underground in the city. Excavation crews are working in confined spaces and dealing with a lot of traffic and underground utility lines, she said.

Before any pipe is put in the ground, Maritimes and Northeast Pipeline must first acquire the land for the right-of-way, clear the area, grade it, and dig the trench. Steve Samson, Maritimes and Northeast Pipeline safety operations manager, has worked in industrial construction for the past 28 years. He said building a pipeline happens "very quickly."

Mr. Samson said representatives of the federal pipeline regulator, the National Energy Board, visit the worksite often to ensure all safety regulations are being followed.

After each 80-foot 24.4m piece of pipe is laid, it is clamped and welded to the adjoining piece. The process takes about 45 minutes. An on-site X-ray machine checks each joint for any flaws in the weld, Mr. Samson said.

Before gas is shipped through the pipeline, the company must do a series of tests, including a hydrostatic (water under high pressure) test, to ensure the line is safe to operate. Then it seeks official approval from the National Energy Board.

Maritimes and Northeast Pipeline is a partnership of Duke Energy, Westcoast Energy, Mobil Canada and Nova Scotia Power.

[The Halifax Chronicle-Herald, 30 August 2000]

On 9 December 1999, the National Energy Board issued a certificate to M&NPto construct and operate the Halifax Lateral. At that time the Board also approved the general route of the pipeline.

M&NPsubsequently applied to the Board for approval of plans showing the proposed detailed route of the pipeline. In addition, the company served notices on owners of lands proposed to be acquired and published notices in newspapers in the vicinity of the proposed detailed route. Landowners and other interested persons had thirty days in which to file an objection with the Board. One written statement of opposition was received by the Board.

The Halifax Lateral consists of approximately 124 kilometres (77 miles) of 324mm (12 inch) outside diameter pipeline from a point near Stellarton, Nova Scotia on the M&NPmainline to the delivery point at the Tufts Cove generating station in the Halifax Regional Municipality.

Source:
Excerpted from a National Energy Board news release, 18 February 2000
http://www.neb.gc.ca/regupd/releases/nr2000/nre0006.htm

National Energy Board

Maritimes & Northeast Pipeline Management Ltd.

Halifax Lateral Pipeline Project Application
Hearing held at Halifax, Nova Scotia, 13 May 1999

Ian Blue, Q.C. representing the Province of New Brunswick
Terry F. MacDonald, representing Nova Scotia Power

MR. BLUE: ...And what you are telling us in the Opening Statement is that Tuft's Cove has 350 MW capacity. Is that correct?
MR. MacDONALD: Yes, that is the name plate capacity.
MR. BLUE: And at present, all three units are fuelled by Number 6 oil?
MR. MacDONALD: Correct.
MR. BLUE: And you are adding gas firing capability?
MR. MacDONALD: Correct.
MR. BLUE: And you will now have dual firing capability at Tuft's Cove. Is that correct?
MR. MacDONALD: Correct.
MR. BLUE: And what does dual firing capability enable you to do at Tuft's Cove?
MR. MacDONALD: It will give us the ability to run either fully on heavy fuel oil or fully on gas or any combination thereof.
MR. BLUE: Sir, you just mentioned that the name plate capacity of Tuft's Cove was 350MW. What is the effective capacity?
MR. MacDONALD: Today it is around 333, perhaps.
MR. BLUE: And when it is converted to natural gas firing on gas, what would be its effective capacity?
MR. MacDONALD: It will be similar. It will either be 331, 333, something in that range.
MR. BLUE: Would 331 be an acceptable number to work with?
MR. MacDONALD: Sure.
...
MR. BLUE: And would you agree with me that this does illustrate schematically what happens when you add gas firing to a conventional boiler?
MR. MacDONALD: Yes, it does.
MR. BLUE: And would you agree with me the efficiency of the boiler, once converted, would be about 38 percent?
MR. MacDONALD: Yes, approximately.
MR. BLUE: Sir, could we refer to document number 5 in Exhibit C-28-8, which is the April 21, 1999 letter that Nova Scotia Power received from the Nova Scotia Utilities Review Board? Do you have that, sir?
MR. MacDONALD: Yes, I do.
MR. BLUE: And I take it that you saw this letter before I did.
MR. MacDONALD: Probably.
MR. BLUE: All right. What it tells us, sir, is that the expenditure on the Tuft's Cove plant for gas conversion is $23,800,310.
MR. MacDONALD: Yes.
MR. BLUE: And it tells us that the payback for the converted facilities is ten years.
MR. MacDONALD: Yes.
...
MR. MacDONALD: It is our opinion that the plant will last in excess of 20 years.
MR. BLUE: All right, sir. How much longer?
MR. MacDONALD: Considerably longer.
...
MR. BLUE: All right, sir. I just want to understand something. Under what circumstances, once Tuft's Cove is converted to burn natural gas, would you not burn natural gas but burn No. 6 fuel oil instead using your dual-firing capability?
MR. MacDONALD: All three units at Tuft's Cove will be capable of burning either gas or oil, so from time to time two of the units will be taking gas and the third unit will be burning oil. If one of the units is off-line either because of system load demand being lower or for some other reason, then the other unit can switch to gas. That was the one that previously burning oil. So we can maintain a very high load factor on gas utilization from that plant.
MR. BLUE: All right, sir. What I want to find out, though, is: What would be the economic circumstances that would make you burn No. 6 oil instead of gas?
MR. MacDONALD: There may be occasions when the price of gas is quite high and an alternative market might exist for that gas, and we would let that gas go into that alternative market and use oil instead.
MR. BLUE: You qualify the price of gas by "quite high". Would you operate the Tuft's Cove units on No. 6 fuel oil when the marginal cost of operation on oil is less than the marginal cost of operation on gas?
MR. MacDONALD: What we will attempt to do is minimize our cost of operation, which will include minimizing the cost of fuel. And if it happens that changing the mix at Tuft's Cove is appropriate in the circumstances, we will do that. What we will do is find an alternative market for the gas if an alternative market exists. If it does not, we will use the gas at Tuft's Cove.
MR. BLUE: Thank you, that is clear. But can I just write down in my notebook that you intend to operate Tuft's Cove by economic dispatch, meaning that you will always operate it at the lowest cost fuel at the day and hour, subject to not being able to find another market for the gas, in which case you will burn natural gas at Tuft's Cove?
MR. MacDONALD: We intend to buy gas at 100 percent take from our supplier, and pay the pipeline at 100 percent take. Where the gas is consumed from time to time is incidental to that point.
MR. BLUE: In answer to my question, do you intend to operate Tuft's Cove on an economic dispatch basis, subject only to not being able to find an alternative market for your gas?
MR. MacDONALD: Yes, of course.
MR. BLUE: Thank you. And just to be clear -- because it has been a long time since the Board really got into the electricity business -- the principle of economic dispatch of electric power facilities tells us that you run your plants in the most economic way possible with your least cost alternative in order to keep the cost of electricity as low as possible to your customers.
...
MR. BLUE: Did Nova Scotia Power Inc. tell the Board, the Utilities and Review Board, that it would be using sufficient natural gas to justify building a gas lateral to Tuft's Cove?
MR. MacDONALD: Yes.
MR. BLUE: At Tuft's Cove. And does sufficient gas to justify building the lateral, at least in the sense that you put it to the Nova Scotia Utilities and Review Board, mean 61,600 MMBtu per day?
MR. MacDONALD: What we told the Utility and Review Board was that our commitment to take 61.6 MMBtu per day would facilitate the construction of the lateral to the Tuft's Cove plant, thereby enabling the conversion of the plant to take place.
MR. BLUE: Thank you, sir, that is clear. Now, I think we have agreed for working purposes to assume that once Tuft's Cove is converted to natural gas, it would have an efficiency rate of 38 percent, and an effective capacity of 331 megawatts, right?
MR. MacDONALD: Yes, approximately.
MR. BLUE: What megawatt-hours output could Nova Scotia Power Inc. obtain from burning the full 61,600 MMBtu per day at 100 percent load factor at Tuft's Cove?
MR. MacDONALD: It would be approximately 1900 to 2000 gigawatt-hours.
MR. BLUE: That would be a capacity factor of the Tuft's Cove plant of about 65 percent?
MR. MacDONALD: That may be right.
MR. BLUE: Do you want to do the arithmetic?
MR. MacDONALD: Sure.
— (A short pause)
MR. MacDONALD: Yes, about that.
MR. BLUE: How many megawatt-hours a day could you generate from 45,000 MMBtu per day?
MR. MacDONALD: Approximately 1400.
MR. BLUE: What would that capacity factor be?
MR. MacDONALD: On the basis of the full station's capability?
MR. BLUE: Yes.
MR. MacDONALD: Somewhere in the 60 percent range.
MR. BLUE: Now, if you only had 16,600 MMBtu per day, what would the megawatt-hour output be in a day and what would that capacity factor be?
MR. MacDONALD: About 22.
MR. BLUE: All right, sir. Now, do I assume that 90,000 MMBtu per day would be about 100 percent capacity factor at Tuft's Cove if gas was your most economic fuel?
MR. MacDONALD: Yes.
...
MR. BLUE: Can you agree with me that this table shows the capacity factor at Tuft's Cove for the years 1993 to 1998 fairly accurately?
MR. MacDONALD: It is probably right, yes.
MR. BLUE: Thank you. But what it shows us is that on No. 6 Oil, Tuft's Cove has played the role of a swing plant for the Nova Scotia Power Inc. system. Is that correct?
MR. MacDONALD: In this particular example, yes, that is right.
MR. BLUE: Okay. And that is true today, is it not?
MR. MacDONALD: It is generally true.
MR. BLUE: Once you convert the units to gas, will it continue to play the role of a swing plant subject only to not being able to sell the gas that may be uneconomic somewhere else?
MR. MacDONALD: No, we expect the units will be of a must-run nature in order to accommodate the gas volumes that we are purchasing and we expect that from time to time, though, as I said earlier, that there just may be a home for the gas where there would be a net benefit to our ratepayers if we were to change the fuel and let the gas go to a higher priced market.
MR. BLUE: Thank you. That answer I think is saying the same thing as I asked you, which is —
MR. MacDONALD: That would be a coincidence.
MR. BLUE: Okay. What I am trying to understand is you told me that you are going to operate the Tuft's Cove converted to gas by way of economic dispatch except when you can't sell the gas to another user at times when gas costs more on a per-megawatt than another fuel, right?
MR. MacDONALD: Tuft's Cove will run in a fashion so as to honour contractual commitments we have with Shell and Maritimes & Northeast.
MR. BLUE: I understand that and you have said that, and it is unnecessary to repeat it. I am just trying to see how the person in the control centre is going to operate the plant. What I am trying to understand is whether it will maintain its role as a swing plant in times when you can sell the gas when gas on a megawatt- hour basis is more expensive than, say, No. 6 oil. That you would switch over, burn oil at Tuft's Cove and sell the gas somewhere else.
MR. MacDONALD: That is possible.
...
MR. BLUE: Mr. MacDonald, there the Province of New Brunswick in Question (c) said: "Please indicate the expected order of dispatch for the Tuft's Cove plants when converted to gas for each of the years of the contract, i.e. is the plant expected to provide base load or will be used to meet fluctuations in demand?" In Answer (c), you say: "It is our understanding that the Tuft's Cove plants will be base loaded units." Maritimes says that.
MR. MacDONALD: Yes, I see that.
MR. BLUE: In light of our discussion, is that statement correct?
MR. MacDONALD: I previously indicated, I believe I used the words "it would become a 'must-run' plant", and therefore from that perspective it will be base loaded.
MR. BLUE: But must-run only if, when on a per-kilowatt hour oil is less expensive than gas, you cannot sell the gas elsewhere. Is that correct?
MR. MacDONALD: It is our expectation that it will more or less always run on gas.
MR. BLUE: All right, sir...
...
MR. BLUE: Mr. MacDonald, I have acted for electric utilities for some time in my career, and I put it to you that there is an inherent contradiction between saying that a plant is a must run plant, on the one hand, and saying that it would be operated according to economic dispatch on the other. Would you agree with that?
MR. MacDONALD: If it is a must run plant, then there may be circumstances when the output from the unit may vary. You are familiar with the New Brunswick system, I am sure. And in the City of Saint John there is a station called Courtenay Bay which at some times of the year must run. It doesn't run all the time but it must run some of the time.
MR. BLUE: I understand that. What I am asking you though is: Is there an inherent contradiction for the Tuft's Cove plant between saying it is a must run plant and saying you will operate it on economic dispatch? Or are you saying that —
MR. MacDONALD: Not at all. I am saying this. Let me try one more time.
MR. BLUE: Okay.
MR. MacDONALD: We are going to buy 61,600 MMBtu per day of gas. And we are going to consume 61,600 MMBtu of gas at Tuft's Cove every day unless there are circumstances when that gas can be sold to another party on a short-term basis, an at-will basis, that will reduce costs to Nova Scotia Power by making a profit on the sale of that gas. The other unit at Tuft's Cove, which is not going to be gas fired, is going to be economically dispatched. So we have three units at the Cove. One and three, two and three, can take 61,600; the other unit will fire on oil when it is economical to do so.
MR. BLUE: You will only seek to sell gas to other customers at times when gas is more expensive than No. 6 oil. Is that fair?
MR. MacDONALD: And if it happens to be in our interest to do it.
MR. BLUE: Thank you. So I will get back to my question. You will economically dispatch Tuft's Cove when you can, subject to your obligations to use the gas that you can't sell when gas is uneconomic. Is that fair?
MR. MacDONALD: The fuel that is going into the plant is one thing. Whether the plant is running or not is another. The unit may stay on-line at 100 percent load but it may be fired 75 percent on gas and 25 percent on oil.
MR. BLUE: I understand that. But would you now answer my question.
MR. MacDONALD: And the question was?
MR. BLUE: The question was: Can we agree that you will operate Tuft's Cove on economic dispatch except when you cannot otherwise use the gas, when it is uneconomic to do so?
MR. MacDONALD: We will use the Tuft's Cove plant to maximize the value to the Nova Scotia Power's electricity customers.
MR. BLUE: What is wrong with the way I asked the question?
MR. MacDONALD: If that means the same thing, then the answer is what I just said.
MR. BLUE: Thank you. Does it mean the same thing?
MR. MacDONALD: To me it does.
MR. BLUE: Thank you. Sir, the gas that you propose to attempt to sell when gas is uneconomic to use at Tuft's Cove, where do you intend to sell it?
MR. MacDONALD: At this time we have no market.
MR. BLUE: What are the possibilities?
MR. MacDONALD: We think there is going to be a market. We heard folks talking yesterday and the day before about the need for additional pipeline capacity because there is going to be an enduring market, a non-Nova Scotia Power market. And there may be, from time to time, opportunities to sell into that market to reduce the cost to consumers in that market. So there could be opportunities. We just don't know what they are at this time.
MR. BLUE: One area that you are looking for sales opportunities in would be in Nova Scotia to the LDC itself?
MR. MacDONALD: It could be simply a load balancing function that Mr. Langan referred to yesterday.
MR. BLUE: Would you think of selling it in New Brunswick? Is that a possible market?
MR. MacDONALD: Absolutely. We have friends in New Brunswick.
MR. BLUE: Would the U.S. be a possible market?
MR. MacDONALD: That becomes something different because the pipeline firm service agreement that we have will permit delivery of the gas to anywhere in the Maritimes Northeast system within the postage stamp toll. So it is possible that some of the gas, on occasion, on a day or two, might find its way into Courtenay Bay, for instance, if it is in the interest of New Brunswick Power and the interest of Nova Scotia Power.
...
MR. BLUE: ...Mr. MacDonald, why doesn't Nova Scotia Power put its money where its mouth is and sign either a 20-year transportation agreement for gas at 61,600, or a 10-year agreement for 90,000? Could you explain that to us?
MR. MacDONALD: At this time it is not appropriate for us to enter into an additional contract. We have approval from our regulator to go forward with the conversion of Tuft's Cove 1, 2 and 3. They have approved our ability to take 90 million cubic feet a day of gas by giving us authority to convert all units. We do not know how the future of the electricity industry regulation is going to unfold in this province. And until we get some signals, we think it is not appropriate at this time to go beyond where we are.
...

Source:
Excerpted from transcript of NEB hearing on the
Halifax Lateral Pipeline Project Application, 13 May 1999
http://www.neb.gc.ca/regupd/trnscrpt/gh299/volume04.htm

Reference:
Halifax Lateral Pipeline Project Application, May 1999, online NEB transcript
http://www.neb.gc.ca/regupd/trnscrpt/gh299/index.htm

What is an MMBtu?

The term "MMBtu" appears eight times
in the above excerpt from the NEB transcript,
and is central to this discussion.
What does it mean?

One MMBtu = one million BTU

One MMBtu = 1.055056 GJ
One GJ = 0.947817 MMBtu

The following information is excerpted and adapted from General Terms and Conditions of the Gas Tariff filed with the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) by Maritimes and Northeast Pipeline LLC; Original Sheet No. 205 — Effective Date: December 1, 1999 . The section numbers shown below match the corresponding section numbers in the MNE Gas Tariff.
Source: http://infopost.link.duke-energy.com/gisb/mn/tariff/gtc/mn205.htm

Section 1.13 Dekatherm or DTH means the quantity of heat energy which is equivalent to 1,000,000 British Thermal Units. One "dekatherm" of gas means the quantity of gas which contains one dekatherm of heat energy. One dekatherm equals one MMBTU.

Section 1.17 Joule is the name of the unit of energy in the SI (metric) system. One joule is equal to the work done by a force of one newton with a displacement of one metre in the direction of the force. [This is the usual definiton, found in any Physics textbook.]

Section 1.26 Mcf means one thousand cubic feet of gas.

Section 1.28 MMBtu shall mean one million Btu. One MMBtu equals one Dekatherm.

Section 1.29 MMBtu Conversion Factor shall mean the formula defined herein which Maritimes and Northeast Pipeline will use to convert International System "gigajoules" into "MMBtus" of natural gas for purposes of transportation under this Tariff. The Conversion Factor is 1 MMBtu = 1.055056 gigajoules (GJ)

Long ago, in a universe far away, there was a huge empire. It was so large that many believed it included the whole world — certainly the whole known world. We call it the Roman Empire. The Romans had a number system in which numbers were represented by letters. Many of us have heard of that system:
V means five
X means ten
D means fifty
C means one hundred, and
M means one thousand.

The term Mcf, which appears frequently in the legal documentation (contracts, price schedules, bills, testimony before regulatory tribunals, etc.) of the Maritimes and Northeastern Pipeline companies and their customers, is derived directly from that ancient Roman numeral system, in which M means one thousand.

"cf" means "cubic foot" or "cubic feet"; and "M" means one thousand, thus "Mcf" means "one thousand cubic feet."

Which leads to the next usage, "MMcf" which means
one thousand thousand cubic feet, or one million cubic feet.

Similarly, "MMBtu" means one thousand thousand British Thermal Units (BTU), or one million BTU.

One has to be careful to distinguish
the ancient usage M meaning one thousand from
the modern usage M meaning one million (the standard metric prefix).

There are two separate companies with similar names:
Maritimes & Northeast Pipeline LLC (Limited Liability Company)
on the U.S. side of the border, and
Maritimes & Northeast Pipeline LP (Limited Partnership)
on the Canadian side of the border.
Both are controlled by Duke Energy Corporation, Charlotte, North Carolina.

Ownership of Sable Offshore Energy Incorporated:
50.8% by Mobil Canada (a wholly-owned subsidiary of ExxonMobil)
31.3% by Shell Canada Limited
9.0% by Imperial Oil Resources Limited
8.4% by Nova Scotia Resources Limited, and
0.5% by Mosbacher Operating Limited.

Ownership of Maritimes and Northeast Pipeline Limited Partnership:
37.5% by Westcoast Energy Inc.
37.5% by Duke Energy
12.5% by Mobil Oil Canada
12.5% by Emera Inc. (formerly Nova Scotia Power Holdings Inc)
Maritimes & Northeast Pipeline Limited Partnership is a Limited Partnership incorporated under the laws of New Brunswick. It owns the pipeline system extending from Goldboro, Guysborough County, Nova Scotia, to the international border between Canada and the United States where it interconnects with Maritimes & Northeast Pipeline, L.L.C.

Sable Offshore Energy and Maritimes and Northeastern Pipeline LP are both based in Halifax.

References:
National Energy Board
http://www.neb.gc.ca/
National Energy Board's conversion table for energy units
http://www.neb.gc.ca/stats/metric.htm
Maritimes and Northeast Pipeline
http://www.mnpp.com/
Map of the Maritimes and Northeast Pipeline, Nova Scotia to Massachusetts
http://www.mnpp.com/canada/map_page.html
Duke Energy Corporation
http://www.duke-energy.com/
Duke Energy Corporation news releases
http://www.prnewswire.com/micro/DUK
History of Duke Energy Corporation
http://www.duke-energy.com/internet/aboutus/history/history.asp
Duke Energy top executives
http://www.duke-energy.com/internet/aboutus/leadership/leadership.asp
Duke Energy subsidiary: Maritimes and Northeast Pipeline
http://www.duke-energy.com/internet/businesses/gastransmission/mne.asp
Maritimes & Northeast Pipeline LLC (U.S.A.) project
http://www.mnp-usa.com/
Overview of the Maritimes & Northeast Pipeline LLC (U.S.A.) project
http://www.mnp-usa.com/overview.html
Sable Offshore Energy Incorporated (SOEP)
http://www.soep.com/

2000 August 30

Recent History of Rural Postal Addresses

Three decades, three involuntary changes of address

By Parker Barss Donham

CANADA POST has decided to move my home. Again. It's going to a better place this time, but like most changes, the move entails trauma. Computer types might call it a virtual move. No Maritime Moving and Storage van is involved, and I won't be hiring a pair of Cape Islanders to float the house down St. Andrews Channel from Bras d'Or to Kempt Head.

The house stays put. Only the address will change. Again.

When I moved here 32 years ago, my address was simply, Ross Ferry, Nova Scotia, or even, Ross Ferry, C.B., in acknowledgment of Cape Breton's lost provincehood.

Next to wood stove

The post office was next to the wood stove in Angus MacLeod's kitchen, five minutes down the road. First thing each morning, a truck on Her Majesty's service would discharge a bag at Angus's, and Ruth MacFarlane would run the mail it contained around the neighborhood in her half-ton.

Sometime in 1969, a map of Newfoundland appeared on Angus's kitchen wall. The Postal Department was improving service by closing its Ross Ferry office. Angus would get a job sorting Newfoundland mail in North Sydney, and we would get mail from Bras d'Or, 35 kilometres away in the next county.

With the change, Kempt Head and Ross Ferry were subsumed into one of the longest rural routes in Nova Scotia. The service improvement meant that instead of getting mail from Ruth by 10 a.m., we'd got it from Dolly O'Toole by 2 or 3 p.m.

Glaring defect — random mailbox numbers

My mailbox acquired a number, and a postal code followed a few years later. My address became R.R.1, Box 188, Bras d'Or, N.S., B0C 1B0 — a horrible label for such a lovely spot.

It also had a glaring defect. In numbering rural route boxes, the postal- planning geniuses neglected to leave room for new arrivals. When people moved into the neighbourhood, they got the next box number, regardless of where they lived.

The result was a non-ordinal numbering system. When giving directions to my house, I would tell perplexed visitors to watch for box 187, then box 455, then box 188.

That system lasted a quarter century. It came as a relief when Nova Scotia adopted civic addressing in 1996. At last, we could direct people to our homes, and mail to our mailboxes, by a system of consecutive numbers corresponding to physical location.

Alas, nothing is that simple. Canada Post rebuffed requests for a changeover from random box numbers to orderly civic addresses. Such a change was a big deal, we were assured, requiring surveys, planning, consultation, and much stroking of highly paid chins.

Around the neighbourhood, we knew how to decode that: Canada Post wanted to figure out how many community mail boxes it could slip in with the changeover.

Once the fire department began distributing inexpensive reflective signs, many of us began using civic address numbers anyway, and our courteous and resourceful mail carrier kept right on delivering our mail. Last week, denizens of rural route 1 began learning their official fate in the latest service improvement. Most of us will get a mailing address that corresponds to our physical location. Those of us who will keep getting home delivery, that is.

Some will get their mail in the hated community postal boxes. A few others will get boxes at the post office (although Canada Post was unable to say whether all of these will be at the Bras d'Or post office).

Lost positive

I'm one of the lucky ones. Not only will my street address become my official mail address, the "town" in my address will become Kempt Head, where I actually live, in lieu of distant Bras d'Or.

I like the name Kempt Head. Grammatically, it's a lost positive, like gruntled or ept.

Alas, as a postal address, it comes with a new postal code. For some unfathomable reason, Canada Post has decided to "urbanize" this utterly rural domain. Every kilometre of moose pasture on Boularderie Island now has its own, unique, alphanumeric designator, and a similar change is on its way to every rural route in Nova Scotia.

For the record, my own unique address, the third in three decades, is 8190 Kempt Head Road, Kempt Head, N.S., B1X 1R8.

Canada Post has kindly supplied postage-free change-of-address cards, and flyers exhorting us to fill them out and send them off.

But if you have any thought of sending me mail, my advice is to take this column as notice. It could be a while before I get around to dealing with the little cards. You have twelve months to get used to the change, after which Canada Post will begin returning mail.

It's all part of the service improvement.

[The Halifax Daily News, 30 August 2000]

2000 August 30

Cape Breton Genealogy Database Growing

IONA — From its modest beginning in 1987, Roots Cape Breton Genealogy and History Centre, based at the Nova Scotia Highland Village in Iona, has expanded to a database of close to 400,000 with a goal of 700,000 over the next two years. Co-ordinator Pauline MacLean, who has been with the project from the start, said the program quickly outgrew its original database.

The information included in the database comes from published births, marriages and deaths, school records and land grant records covering Cape Breton Island. With the partnership of Human Resources Development Canada, Enterprise Cape Breton Corporation, Nova Scotia Department of Economic Development and the Municipality of Victoria County, all the genealogical data that Roots has in its archives will be transferred from paper and microfilm records to a digital format on a computer database.

"We started with a small computer program and each year we would put a certain amount of information into the database," she said. "You never know what kind of information you may come across. I had one marriage published in Margaree in the late 1800's where the groom was listed as a tight rope performer from England." MacLean said causes of death also provide for some interesting reading. Some of the causes listed included visitation from God, intemperance, killed by a cart, brain fever, broken heart due to loss of property, and gathering in the head.

[Cape Breton Post, 30 August 2000]

References:
Roots Cape Breton Genealogy and Family History Centre
http://eagle.uccb.ns.ca/mining/iona/roots.html
http://www.highlandvillage.ns.ca/MainR.html

Cape Breton Genealogy Goes Electronic

30 November 1999

A Cape Breton genealogical centre will soon begin an electronic make-over of its archives, easing the workload for researchers worldwide looking for Nova Scotia connections.

The Roots Cape Breton Genealogy and Family History Centre will hire nine employees to develop an interactive website and convert more than 90,000 records into electronic form over the next three years.

Funding for the project was announced today by Nova Scotia Economic Development Minister Gordon Balser and Senator Bernie Boudreau, Leader of the Government in the Senate and Minister responsible for Nova Scotia, on behalf of Jane Stewart, Minister of Human Resources Development Canada, and George Baker, Secretary of State for the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency and Enterprise Cape Breton Corp. The government of Canada will invest $169,554 through Human Resources Development Canada and $105,625 through Enterprise Cape Breton Corp.

Roots Cape Breton will also receive $25,000 through the province's Community Opportunities Fund, a program of Nova Scotia Economic Development designed to support projects with significant long-term benefits to a local economy. The Municipality of Victoria County and the Nova Scotia Highland Village Society will each contribute $4,300 toward the project.

"Building a future on the foundation of our past is a smart economic venture, especially as interest in our personal roots grows across North America," said Mr. Balser. "Roots Cape Breton taps into that interest with a project that has the potential of leading the way for years to come in the area of electronic research."

"Working together, the government of Canada and its partners are committed to finding ways to help stimulate economic growth in Cape Breton," said Senator Boudreau. "Roots Cape Breton is an excellent example of our efforts to build sustainability in the area by creating long-term employment opportunities, expanding tourism activity and capitalizing on its strengths such as its heritage and culture."

The Nova Scotia Highland Village Society started Roots Cape Breton almost ten years ago in response to the increasing popularity of genealogy in Victoria County. Among its archives are digital census records, conventional census accounts, birth and marriage records, formal and informal family histories, published and unpublished community records, and church documentation.

The funding announced today will help Roots Cape Breton to gain an advantage in using CD-ROM technology and in the world of e-commerce with online sales of genealogical publications, educational services, and records, data and information in digital format.

The Nova Scotia Highland Village Society, established in 1959, is a non-profit organization dedicated to protecting, interpreting and furthering the buildings and artifacts at the Nova Scotia Highland Village Site in Iona, and to preserving and promoting the Scottish Highland culture in Nova Scotia. The village includes an Outdoor Pioneer Museum, the Roots Cape Breton Genealogy and Family History Centre and Highland Village Gift Shop and Outdoor Entertainment and Theatre facility.

The village attracted more than 43,000 visitors between 1998 and 1999, of which about half were from outside Nova Scotia. The Highland Village Society currently employs about 20 people and is complemented by a board of directors and group of volunteers.

Source:
Nova Scotia Government news release, 30 November 1999
http://www.gov.ns.ca/ecor/press/1999/1130_cbgene.html

Index with links to the other chapters

Go To: History of Telegraph and Telephone Companies in Nova Scotia
http://epe.lac-bac.gc.ca/100/205/300/nova_scotias_electronic_attic/07-04-09/www.littletechshoppe.com/ns1625telephone.html
Go To: History of Electric Power Companies in Nova Scotia
http://epe.lac-bac.gc.ca/100/205/300/nova_scotias_electronic_attic/07-04-09/www.littletechshoppe.com/ns1625electric.html
Go To: History of Automobiles in Nova Scotia
http://epe.lac-bac.gc.ca/100/205/300/nova_scotias_electronic_attic/07-04-09/www.littletechshoppe.com/ns1625automobiles.html
Go To: History of Railway Companies in Nova Scotia
http://epe.lac-bac.gc.ca/100/205/300/nova_scotias_electronic_attic/07-04-09/www.littletechshoppe.com/ns1625railways.html
Go To: Index to other online Nova Scotia History
http://epe.lac-bac.gc.ca/100/205/300/nova_scotias_electronic_attic/07-04-09/www.littletechshoppe.com/ns1625histindx.html
Go To: Home Page
http://epe.lac-bac.gc.ca/100/205/300/nova_scotias_electronic_attic/07-04-09/www.littletechshoppe.com/ns1625index.html

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Latest revision: 2001 October 12

History of Nova Scotia with special attention given to Communications and Transportation

2000 August 6

CKJM Opens New Digital Recording Studio

2000 August 8

Trail Groups Must Ask for Help in Writing

2000 August 11

Point Tupper Gas Lateral Pipeline Approved for Operation

NEB approves Maritimes & Northeast's application for leave to open the Point Tupper Lateral at 30 per cent of specified minimum yield strength of the pipeline

11 August 2000

2000 August 12

Half Island Cove CAP Site Opens

2000 August 14

350 New Radio Stations Launched Today in Canada

From 'Alternative Rock' to 'Groovin' Oldies'

All Available in Nova Scotia on Internet Radio

Suddenly the CRTC is Irrelevant

Traditional radio is going to disappear

2000 August 14

Salter Street in Running for a Category One Licence

Cable Companies Must Carry Category Ones

The New World of Digital Television

A Computer Channel Will Be Licensed by the CRTC

Consumer Choice and Control is the Main Point

Salter Street Wants to Develop an Interactive Soap Opera

2000 August 14

Worldwide Online Election

Historic First

Scheduled for 1-10 October 2000

ICANN At-Large Membership Exceeds 158,000

Election Info for Voters

ICANN North America Region Candidates for Nomination by Activated Members

2000 August 15

Chester has STARS Landing Site

Ten minutes from Chester to Halifax

2000 August 16

Ottawa Contributes $65,000 Toward Feltzen South Wharf

Boudreau announces $1,675,000 federal investment for improvements at Nova Scotia fishing harbours

10 August 2000

Fishing and Recreational Harbours in Nova Scotia

30 April 2000

2000 August 16-21

Kings-Hants Byelection11 September 2000

Campaign Websites for the Three Major Candidates

Shown here in order of date launched

Kaye Johnson's Website Launched August 16th

Gerry Fulton's Website Launched August 18th

Joe Clark's Website Launched August 21st

Candidates

John Turmel's Websites

2000 August 19

Cost of Hard Drive Data Storage Falls Below $10.00 per Gigabyte

Below 1¢ per Megabyte

2000 August 24

Internet Bandwidth Upgrade at Kentville

2000 August 25

High-Speed Internet Coming to Kentville-New Minas-Wolfville Area, also Digital Television Distribution Infrastructure

Second-largest cable TV company

High-Speed Internet Connection

2000 August 26

Cape Forchu Light to get $195,000 Renovation

2000 August 28

Government Bookstore Closing — Reopening Online

Offers a new opportunity to learn about N.S. meatspace

2000 August 28

Seeking Oldest Working Automobile

2000 August 28

Newfoundland Capital Corporation receives CRTC approval in Moncton

2000 August 30

Natural Gas Pipeline Working Toward Halifax

Lateral to Tufts Cove Generating Station in Dartmouth

National Energy Board

Maritimes & Northeast Pipeline Management Ltd.

Halifax Lateral Pipeline Project Application Hearing held at Halifax, Nova Scotia, 13 May 1999

What is an MMBtu?

The term "MMBtu" appears eight times in the above excerpt from the NEB transcript,and is central to this discussion. What does it mean?

One MMBtu = one million BTU

One MMBtu = 1.055056 GJ One GJ = 0.947817 MMBtu

2000 August 30

Recent History of Rural Postal Addresses

Three decades, three involuntary changes of address

History of Nova Scotia
with special attention given to
Communications and Transportation

NEB approves Maritimes & Northeast's application
for leave to open the Point Tupper Lateral at 30 per cent
of specified minimum yield strength of the pipeline

ICANN North America Region
Candidates for Nomination by Activated Members

Boudreau announces $1,675,000 federal investment
for improvements at Nova Scotia fishing harbours

Kings-Hants Byelection
11 September 2000

Cost of Hard Drive Data Storage
Falls Below $10.00 per Gigabyte

High-Speed Internet Coming to Kentville-New Minas-Wolfville Area,
also Digital Television Distribution Infrastructure

Halifax Lateral Pipeline Project Application
Hearing held at Halifax, Nova Scotia, 13 May 1999

The term "MMBtu" appears eight times
in the above excerpt from the NEB transcript,
and is central to this discussion.
What does it mean?

One MMBtu = 1.055056 GJ
One GJ = 0.947817 MMBtu