Reminiscences: Arctic Geography Forty Years Ago

Nearly 40 years ago, in 1948, the writer presented a paper entitled "Some Problems of Arctic Geography in Canada" to the annual meeting of the Association of American Geographers. He noted that geographers were just then appearing in Canada and in so doing were encountering the challenge of describing the North. Evaluation and forecasting were difficult. Local geographers were expected to help politicians assess the value of the arctic region in the Canadian economy. Physical geographers had a good deal to do in describing the arctic environment, including the landforms of the mountainous islands and the central lowlands. In the summer of 1947 new information on sea ice from Canadian and American air and sea expeditions gave the first overall picture of sea-ice conditions in the Canadian Arctic. In 1948, economic geographers were to be concerned with the distribution and utilization of natural resources. Experts concerned with administration were to consider administrative division of the North into an Eastern and Western Arctic, along with a third region, the far northern Arctic Islands. Changes in the lives of Canadian Eskimo had already taken place as "civilization advanced into the Arctic." In the field of human geography, "a geographer had a natural laboratory in the Canadian Arctic" where "the environment offered little, the choices were few, the utilization was direct." Forty years later, the author still believes that the Arctic will play only a minor role in the future development of Canada.Key words: development, geography, Arctic, division, sea ice, civilization Il y a près de 40 ans, l'auteur a présenté un article intitulé «Some Problems of Arctic Geography in Canada» à l'assemblée annuelle de l'Association of American Geographers. Il faisait remarquer que les géographes, vu leur toute récente apparition au Canada, avaient à faire face au défi de décrire le Nord. Il leur était difficile de faire des évaluations et des prévisions. On attendait des géographes locaux qu'ils aident les politiciens à estimer la valeur de la région arctique dans l'économie canadienne. Les géographes physiques avaient beaucoup à faire pour décrire l'environnement arctique, y compris la forme du terrain des îles montagneuses et des basses terres centrales. Pendant l'été de 1947, de nouveaux renseignements sur la glace marine, recueillis par des expéditions aériennes et maritimes venant du Canada et des États-Unis, donnèrent la première vue d'ensemble sur l'état de la glace marine dans l'Arctique canadien. En 1948, des géographes économiques devaient se préoccuper de la répartition et de l'utilisation des ressources naturelles. Des experts intéressés par les questions administratives devaient considérer la division du Nord en Arctique de l'est et Arctique de l'ouest, avec en plus une troisième région, l'archipel Arctique du Grand Nord. Des changements étaient déjà survenus dans la vie des esquimaux canadiens alors que «la civilisation progressait dans l'Arctique.» Dans le domaine de la géographie humaine, «le géographe trouvait un laboratoire naturel dans l'Arctique» où «l'environnement avait peu à offrir, les choix étaient restreints et l'utilisation directe.» Quarante ans plus tard, l'auteur croit toujours que l'Arctique ne jouera qu'un rôle mineur dans le développement futur du Canada. Mots clés : développement, géographie, Arctique, division, glace marine, civilisatio

It was forty years ago today. . .Of grammatology 1967-2007

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The First Steps in Fuzzy Set Theory in France Forty Years Ago

International audienceAt the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the founding article “Fuzzy sets” by L. A. Zadeh, we briefly outline the beginnings of fuzzy set research in France some ten years later, pointing out the pioneering role of Arnold Kaufmann and few other

Temporal Variations on Allocation of Time

This study investigates the allocation of time and trip-making across time-of-day, day-of-week, and month-of-year, as well as over the past forty years. Some interesting findings result. People are working much more, shopping somewhat more on weekends, and stay at home less today than forty years ago. Time spent in travel on each weekend day (Saturday or Sunday) exceeds that on any weekday, as it did forty years ago. Time spent shopping on a typical day in the busiest month (December) is more than double that in the least busy month (September). Monthly variations in daily time in travel exceed 10 percent. The time of day patterns of shop and other trips for workers and nonworkers are both rational: nonworkers peak in mid-day away from rush hour while workers peak just after work, indicating trip chaining. .

On the Origins of the Fleming-Mundell Model

Forty years ago, Marcus Fleming and Robert Mundell developed independent models of macroeconomic policy in open economies. Why do we link the two, and why do we call the result the Mundell-Fleming, rather than Fleming-Mundell model? Copyright 2003, International Monetary Fund

A Failed Twist to an Old Problem: A Reply to John N. Williams

John N. Williams argued that Peter Klein's defeasibility theory of knowledge excludes the possibility of one knowing that one has a posteriori knowledge. He does that by way of adding a new twist to an objection Klein himself answered more than forty years ago. In this paper I argue that Williams' objection misses its target because of this new twist