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November 11, 2005

Nuuk youth try hand at bank robbery

SIKU CIRCUMPOLAR NEWS SERVICE

There was another “first” in Greenland recently: Nuuk’s first bank robbery.

The break-in at the Greenland Bank, which occurred in late October, was a night-time operation: burglars tried to open the safe, with no success, but took 2,000 krøner (about $400) from one of the counters.

The identity of the thieves came to light recently when a mother came to the police station in Nuuk with her 17-year old son and a cash bag from the Greenland Bank.

The mother of the young man found the bag in the boy’s bedroom. There was only 400 kroner ($100) left.

November 11, 2005

Greenlandic glossary for IT words in the works

A new project aims to compile a glossary of computer words in Greenlandic.

Suggestions will be vetted by the Greenland Language Council, Oqaasileriffik, while the project is sponsored by software giant Microsoft, the online computer news site ComOn reported.

The initiative is the brainchild of Greenland’s main IT company, Kimik IT.

“I felt that it was a bother and problematic for both users and programmers not to be able to use their mother tongue. That is why we contacted Microsoft and the Greenland Language Council, which [fortunately] backed the idea,” Ian Wennerfeldt of Kimik IT said.

Per Langgard, who has been selected to look over any suggestions, said the initiative was important since a language’s health depends on having a “professional terminology.”

“I hope that the project will contribute to strengthening the Greenlandic language,” he said.

November 11, 2005

Inupiat whalers try out new ammunition

A supersonic explosive is replacing whaling-era black powder in the Alaskan bowhead hunt.

Penthrite, short for pentaerythritol tetranitrate, is usually used in blasting caps and easily detonates. In whaling, once the grenade penetrates the whale’s skin and explodes, the penthrite produces a concussion that fatally shocks the central nervous system.

“It’s a lot safer,” Eugene Brower, a Barrow whaling captain, who chairs the Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission’s weapons improvement program, told the Anchorage Daily News.

Brower trains whaling captains to handle a harpoon-launched grenade loaded with penthrite.

“They love it,” Brower said of captains from the North Slope villages who now use the penthrite device for the spring and fall hunts. “It’s four times the strength of black powder. With black powder, the meat has a gas taste.”

Alaska’s whaling commission began researching new weaponry when the International Whaling Commission said more humane methods needed to be developed.

The IWC wanted to reduce the number of whales lost at sea after being hit by explosives and to decrease the time it took for a whale to die after being struck.

Alaska bowhead whales lived about 60 minutes after being hit with black-powder grenades; bowheads hit with penthrite grenades survive only about 15 minutes.

Penthrite grenades increase the chance that a whale will be pulled in safely.

About 30 of Alaska’s 160 whaling captains have completed a training and certification program in the use of the new grenades.

For news every day from around the circumpolar world, consult www.sikunews.com

November 4, 2005

Bird flu will come to Arctic

SIKU CIRCUMPOLAR NEWS SERVICE

It is only a matter of time before the avian flu virus reaches the United States and the rest of North America, an expert in bird migration patterns told Reuters news service. No corner of the world is immune, he said.

“By knowing the migratory patterns of birds and areas where species overlap while traveling between their breeding sites and winter grounds, one can predict precisely where problems will occur,” said Thomas Van’t Hof, an ornithologist at Wright State University in Ohio.

The avian flu, which has spread from Asia to Europe, has killed an estimated 61 people. But officials fear it may soon change into a strain that could be passed easily between people.

The World Health Organization recently warned that “the world is now in the gravest possible danger of a pandemic.”

Next spring, when infected birds migrate to the Arctic to nest, they will mix with birds from North America, Van’t Hof explained.

“There is really no populated area of the world that will be immune,” Van’t Hof said.

November 4, 2005

Norway experiences tropical temps

SIKU CIRCUMPOLAR NEWS SERVICE

The Norwegian community of Tafjord enjoyed a startling night-time temperature of 22.6°C on Oct. 30.

Other areas along western side of central Norway, registered overnight lows of just under 20°C, which Norway defines as a tropical night. The newspaper Sunnmørsposten said residents driving on Sunday evening had to use their air-conditioning to keep cool.

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