Christopher Rener's Blog

Ever since the record high gold prices in 2011-2012, there has been a steady decrease in the price per ounce of gold. Gold is currently at a price so low that it hasn’t been hit since mid 2010. Data is showing that the projected price per ounce of gold by the end of 2015 will hit as low as $900. With such a low price, will mining companies continue to be able to return a profit?

As the trends show, I believe with the continued decline in price for gold, many mining companies will struggle to stay afloat. There is only so much a company can do to outrun the downward trend. Eventually the market will catch up and ultimately swallow low profit margin gold mining companies.

With the price of gold being heavily influenced by the global economy, the current improvement in the global economy is largely contributing to the decrease in price. At the current rate of global economic growth, the price per ounce of gold will easily hit the forecasted $900 by the end of 2015.

If the price per ounce of gold will indeed fall to $900 as predicted, I can foresee many mining companies closing down as it will become too costly to continue producing. The select few that will manage to stay in business will return a much lower profit than they have before.

Why The Drop In The Price Of Gold Is Good For Mining Companies

http://www.gold-eagle.com/article/truth-about-where-gold-price-headed

http://www.smarterwithmoney.in/Article/What_are_the_factors_that_influence_gold_prices

Image: http://forums.macrumors.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=444212&d=1383123030

With the crash of the Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo, there have been setbacks and heartbreaks. This does not mean that the committed team will stop. They have now shifted their attention to the second model of SpaceShipTwo. “The 60-foot-long craft would lift passengers just past the edge of space, where they’d be allowed to unbuckle for about six minutes of weightlessness before being transported back to earth.” This new model has been under construction for two and a half years and is 90% structurally complete.

Why continue on the project that has already taken the life of one?

The reason to this is that without risk, there is nothing gained. I believe that innovations such as Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo should continue to push the limits of what we currently believe is possible.

In the foreseen future, this aircraft technology will be able to be applied to areas such as “traveling from Sydney, Australia to New York, United States in under an hour.”

Without brave men such as pilot Peter Siebold and co-pilot Michael Tyner, even the travel by airplane wouldn’t be possible as there wouldn’t be anyone to take the risk of flying the machine to make it safer for the people following. In our current society, I cannot even imagine a world without planes as they make our world that much more efficient.

http://money.cnn.com/2014/11/09/technology/virgin-galactic-ceo-interview/index.html

Image: http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/files/2014/11/spaceshiptwo2.jpg

Gregor Allan’s post is a fantastic example of the misaligned dynamics in the UBC sports programs. The best example that I can think of would be the UBC football team and their success. Their limited success continues to bring them large amounts of funding while that money could be spent wisely on other sports.

The rowing team is a great example of a sport with very limited funding but manages to do very well on the international stage. The amount of funding the rowing team receives is very low. Some high school rowing teams in Vancouver receive more funding than UBC’s. This hinders the ability for UBC’s rowing team to expand. With this in mind, UBC has continued to prove year after year that the rowing team is a force to be reckoned with.

Curiously enough, possibly the large amount of funding the football team receives has made the team have a sense of fulfillment and comfort. Maybe they need a little shock to their systems to get them going once again. Whatever it is, I am sure that UBC will be closely following, funding whatever is necessary to reach success.

https://blogs.ubc.ca/gregorallan/

Image: http://news.ubc.ca/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/tbirds-770-2.jpg

In the current years, Vancouver’s housing market has exploded. The high amount of affluent immigrants from China especially are to blame. Because of this, the housing prices have nothing to do with the state of the local economy anymore.

Many of the properties in Vancouver are not even used. They are just scooped up by foreign investors and held empty. The problem with this is that very little is known about the influence of foreign ownership because the data to support this claim does not exist.

While this is happening, all the middle class families are forced to move out of the city because it is simply too expensive. The rents and price of purchasing a home have gone up substantially while the wages have barely risen.

The majority of the original population in Vancouver has moved out of the city in way for the new immigrants. If the housing prices do not change, we will see that there will be a small percentage of locals left in the city of Vancouver as all the wealthy immigrants flock to our city.

http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/vancouver-election-focuses-on-housing-prices-but-observers-say-little-cities-can-do-1.2093798

Image: http://www.ratehub.ca/images/blog/vancouver%20housing%20bubble%202011.jpg

BMW has continued to outdo themselves with their technical innovation. The i8 for example; a hybrid electric car with a carbon fibre chassis.

The all new BMW X5 M will go on as the fastest suv on the market once again. As it goes from 0-60 mph in four seconds with a massively powerful twin-turbocharged V8 that outputs 567 horsepower. This is an astonishment since most cars cannot get near this time weighing significantly less that the X5 M.

Cars alike are getting faster day by day. I am always astonished with all the new technologies and innovation put into every new car. Not too long ago, suv’s were very slow moving as they were very heavy with relatively small engines. That has all changed within the past six years as more people want a practical car that can also act in the most unpractical way. With the new X5 M the user is allowed to drive a race car, while still have the capability of picking up the little children at school.

http://www.caranddriver.com/news/2015-bmw-x5-m-photos-and-info-news

Image: http://www.bmwblog.com/2014/08/19/2015-bmw-x5-m-rumored-hit-around-600-hp/

The OPP (Ontario Provincial Police) say that the key to their success in peaceful resolution with Aboriginal Peoples is by building relationships within First Nations communities. Gary Maracle said “the framework is all about communication, but education and knowledge of First Nations issues is also important.” The largest concern of the OPP is the safety of everyone involved in the incident and with the framework known as “Police Preparedness for Aboriginal Critical Incidents”, they have been successful.

I agree with what the OPP are doing to lower the amount of violence between themselves and the First Nations. Ever since the habitation of the “white man” in North America, there has been tension with the Aboriginals. Taking steps such as what the OPP are taking will improve the country that we live in. Avoiding conflicts while building relationships will be very beneficial for the peace in Canada’s future.

I believe that other police forces in Canada should take on a similar framework as the OPP. Their tactic of reducing casualties by building relationships with the First Nations is a solution that I can see working in the foreseeable future.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/thunder-bay/aboriginal-conflicts-can-be-peacefully-resolved-opp-report-1.2496143

Image: http://i.cbc.ca/1.2125412.1382105866!/fileImage/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/16x9_620/canada-natives.jpg

We have all heard about the poor working conditions within China. Apple’s iPhone factories are no exception to this. “Working excessive overtime without a single day off during the week, living together in crowded dormitories and standing so long that their legs swell and they can hardly walk after a 24-hour shift.” This is how Mark Duell of Mail Online would describe the conditions facing the workers in the Foxconn manufacturing facility.

Two fatal explosions occurred last year due to a build up of aluminium dust killing 4 and injuring over 75 as well as 140 workers were injured while using a poisonous glass cleaner to clean iPhone screens. In addition 18 workers attempted to commit suicide within two years while working for Foxconn.

Above is a photo of nets to prevent workers from jumping to their deaths outside one of the Foxconn factory buildings in the township of Longhua.

I believe that these conditions are unreasonable and should be drastically improved. When you look at the apple product in your hand, chances are you are not thinking of how it got there. The poor working conditions give me an amazing product but does that sound right? Is the product worth all the hardship the employees have to go through?

When put into the context above it may be hard to answer but when put on the shelves, all the background information seems to disappear.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2092277/Apple-Poor-working-conditions-inside-Chinese-factories-making-iPads.html

Image: http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/01/26/article-2092277-117966E4000005DC-774_634x462.jpg

As a way of expanding Verizon’s “advertising program”, they injected a cookie-like tracker that includes an HTTP header called X-UIDH and it is used to unencrypt all websites a Verizon customer visits from their mobile device. Third-party advertisers and websites are then able to create a deep, permanent profile of a user’s web browsing habits without consent.

Similarly to Verizon, the United States has been doing similar things with regards to “spying” but the key difference is that one is for our peoples security and the other is for ones profit.

Is this right or not?

This implication that Verizon has been using has become extremely damaging for their reputation and rightfully so. It is not reasonable for a company to go behind your back and to know everything about what you have been searching on your mobile device for the benefit of the company’s profits.

Verizon’s corporate responsibility is in part to protect the users privacy and they have sold that away to third parties. Their reputation will be heavily damaged but by being the largest telecommunications provider in the United States they will most likely continue to stay afloat.

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2014/11/verizon-x-uidh

Image: http://cnnmoneybuzzblog.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/verizon-nsa-monitor-614xa.jpg?w=1228&h=800