Putin Trying to Redraw the Maps

In an effort to grab up huge oil reserves and potential shipping lanes, Russian geologists are claiming that a massive piece of the Russian continental shelf extends under nearly half the Arctic ice sheet, and therefore belongs to mother Russia.

The claim could even be a challenge to Canadian sovereignty, so we need to be getting our facts together. I think Rob should return to his family heritage and start re-charting the Arctic. If we play our cards right, we might even still have time to turn the whole thing around and annex Russia:

"Frankly I think it's a little bit strange," Sergey Priamikov, the international co-operation director of Russia's Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute in St Petersburg, told the Guardian. "Canada could make exactly the same claim. The Canadians could say that the Lomonosov ridge is part of the Canadian shelf, which means Russia should in fact belong to Canada, together with the whole of Eurasia." (Quoted in The Guardian)

Our Empire needs you Rob. All hail the Empire of Canada!

Bayblab Book Club

I occasionally get reading recommendations from an online book retailer. Their state-of-the-art matching algorithm sometimes turns me on to books and authors I might not otherwise read. Their supercomputers must have had a glitch this weekend, when they actually sent me the following suggestion, likely from Rob's reading list:

"Camp Princess 2: Unicorns? Get Real!
When rumors of wild unicorns come to Camp Princess, there's a frenzy of excitement as the royal maidens prepare for the Unicorn Round-Up. But Princess Gundersnap has more important things to worry about. Her war-inclined mother has taken her beloved pony, Menschmik, into battle, and Gundersnap fears for his life. Besides, Gundersnap is much too practical to believe in unicorns.

Or is she? Both the magical tapestry in the tower and her favorite local witch, Berwynna, seem to be trying to tell Gundersnap something. Could the Unicorn Round-Up be more than just a bunch of royal hooey?"

The book is set to go on sale tomorrow, so I'd better finish off Camp Princess 1 before my preorder arrives.