Summertime is a good time to relax in the sun and do some good reading. But as you know, it’s sometimes difficult to separate the fact from the fiction. Take a recent feature story in America’s science consumer magazine Omni, published by Bob Guccione of Penthouse fame, for example.
In it you’ll learn all about the earth science research that’s going on in the world to unlock the secrets of this marvellous, dynamic planet we live on. Accurate and factual descriptions are given of deep drilling projects in Sweden and the U.S.S.R. and of seismic surveys in California.
Not until the end of the article, however, will you find mention of Canada. But here, the article seems to lapse into science fiction: “In Canada a high-tech gold mine thousands of feet underground is so self-contained, with air-conditioned shops and residences, that miners need to return to the surface only a few times a year,” Omni says.
Doesn’t it give you a rather warm feeling to think that Americans south of the border could actually believe this? Do they think our climate is so inhospitable that our gold miners would prefer to spend their free time in the equivalent of an underground lunchroom? Next month we’ll probably learn how Canadian gold miners have adapted to the darkness of underground gold mines to such an extent they have developed the ability to “see”, like a fish in the deep oceans, without the need for expensive underground lighting.
Stay tuned, America has more in store.
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