March 19, 2007
Zimbabwe in the news
It's been largely under the radar in the States, but the political situation in Zimbabwe is perhaps approaching its logical conclusion. We might just see some real democratic change there. Someday.
- Diplomatic posturing.
- The beatings continue until the economy improves?
- The Beeb has most of the coverage. Follow the links.
- The Zimbabwe Independent.
- Beating with iron bars. Let's not give the Republicans any ideas though.
- A different view from Harare's middle class.
February 15, 2007
January 08, 2007
Life in a southern town
Well, I'm off of the ice, out of Antarctica. Back to Christchurch, definitely becoming a familiar town for me. A favorite Indian place, a favorite Thai restaurant, and I even found a Halloween costume for next year. Am waiting for a seat on an airplane flying north, to Auckland, and then on to LAX. Haven't been any seats the last couple of days, but hopefully tomorrow...
Though it's a beautiful, green place to stay, I miss people back in the states. And I have to start teaching again in a few days.
December 21, 2006
December 14, 2006
Today's "Writer's Almanac" on Amundsen
It was on this day in 1911 that the Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen and his team became the first people ever to reach the South Pole on the continent of Antarctica.
As far as we know, Antarctica was the last continent on earth to be explored by people. No one knows for sure who saw it first, but a Polynesian legend from New Zealand tells of a man in a war canoe sailing south and discovering a frozen ocean. In 1774, the English explorer James Cook saw vast mountains of ice to the south when he sailed around the southern tip of South America, and he believed there was probably a land mass behind the ice.
The first people to really explore the edges of Antarctica were the seal hunters who began to slaughter the fur seals that gathered by the thousands on Antarctica's shores. The Englishmen Robert F. Scott and Earnest Shackleton were the first men to lead teams into the interior of Antarctica, and Scott went on to try to find the South Pole. He was followed by another explorer named Roald Amundsen, who had decided to join the quest at the last minute.
Amundsen's expedition was a full eight weeks behind Scott's, and when word got out that he was racing to beat the famous English explorer, most people thought Amundsen was crazy. But he had a secret weapon: a team of well-trained Greenland sled dogs. Scott had decided not to use dogs for transportation because, he said, "No journey ever made with dogs can approach the height of that fine conception which is realized when men go forth to face hardships, dangers, and difficulties with their own unaided efforts."
As a result of Scott's aversion to dogs, Amundsen's team arrived at the South Pole more than a month before Scott's team did. And Scott's team perished in a snowstorm on their way home.
November 16, 2006
35th anniversary of the Cannonball
Brock Yates is still reveling in his 15 minutes of fame. But it was a great moment. "At no time did we exceed 175 mph." Hopefully they'll figure some way of pulling off a 2007 version of the race...
November 12, 2006
"World's most dangerous road"
Scary-sounding mountain road out of La Paz, Bolivia. Vehicles off the edge, dirt road washing away, crazy bus & truck drivers, and speeding.
October 09, 2006
North Korean nuclear test
Interestingly, the yield is in considerable debate. With a quake magnitude of 4.2 (USGS), I can't derive a yield as low as the South Korean claim of 550-800 tons (TNT equivalent). Such a yield would either be a fizzle (if it has a sharp leading edge in time) or a hoax (using a LOT of chemical explosives). For magnitude 4.2, I get a yield of kilotons, though it depends a lot on geological conditions for which I don't know how to compensate or calculate.
Thumbing around the web, I find Jane's Defense Weekly agrees that it needs to be "2-12 kton" to match up with the 4.2 magnitude. The Russians 5-15 kton. Other reports come in with lower figures and possible fizzles.
October 04, 2006
How bad is it in Baghdad?
Pretty darned bad. No one on the ground seems to disagree that the civil war is spiraling out of control. What will the US do? "Stay the course?" "Mission accomplished?"
September 22, 2006
Mallory & Irvine replica gear on Everest
It adds to the plausibility of them making it to the summit. I have to admit that the romantic in me has always rooted for them making the summit in 1924.
September 21, 2006
Top Gear, responsible driving, and global warming
For BBC Top Gear watchers, the hamster is in the hospital after crashing during a British land speed record attempt. If you don't know Top Gear, you should go to youtube and watch some pirated clips from the show. Probably the best TV show on cars ever made, and really quite funny. Some of their previous controversies are outlined here.
In an effort to not be seen as a mindless "petrolhead" let me also mention California's suit against automakers for releasing greenhouse gases. Hmmmm...suing the US government for not improving fuel economy standards would make more sense, but I suppose that is a losing strategy.
September 19, 2006
The Zimbabwean disaster continues
It wasn't that many years ago when I visited, camping in the parks, walking through the cities, enjoying the hospitality of the people. This is a country that has been destroyed. The bakers have been arrested for charging more than the governement says they should for bread.
- Life expectancy 30 years
- High dependency on food aid (This was the "bread-basket" of Africa!)
- 20% adult HIV prevalence
- Shortages of basic foodstuffs (No bread on the shelves now.)
- High unemployment
- Inflation 1,200%
It's been a while since I've seen any US coverage, though there are comments from Zimbabweans living in Minneapolis if you click into the BBC's articles, though there isn't much for a full-on genocide in Sudan either...
September 11, 2006
September 07, 2006
September 06, 2006
Brazil in the news
Okay, we can't say the rain forests are regrowing, nor that they aren't being destroyed, but they are being destroyed less quickly than before! Still 17,000 square kilometers per year. Good thing we don't need that forest to stop global warming. Oh, we do?
Rio, city of sex? Perhaps if this City of Sex is built on the Copacabana. Sex pods, artwork, swinger clubs, the Roman Catholic Church. Yup it's all in there.
September 04, 2006
Steve Irwin!
Killed by a stingray? Just bizarre. In Fort Sumner, NM, during balloon campaigns, Animal Planet was one of the few useful channels available. Got a reasonable kick out of Mr. Irwin's antics, and his love of animals.
August 28, 2006
From coast to mountains...
The New England salt marshes are dying for unknown reasons. I remember almost yearly biology, ecology, or similar field trips to these marshes. Very unusual systems, and lots of fun for kids, knee-deep in muck and all.
August 19, 2006
August 18, 2006
Oddity at the MSP airport
Unless my jeg-lagged eyes were completely deserting me, an SR-71/whatever-NASA-calls it was sitting out at the airport with an engine sitting next to it. Weird sight to fly in and see.
Aha! It's one of the surviving A-12 Blackbirds, and had just been rolled out or some such. Normally on display at MSP, I never knew! See here for details.
August 01, 2006
July 25, 2006
Nuclear explosion expected at the UN
At least according to the folks at True Bible Code.com. In the next couple of days. And they even told the FBI, via a webpage link.
July 24, 2006
June 28, 2006
Al Gore's presidential moment
Okay, truth be told, he's had several presidential moments and we all know that's a few more than the current occupier of the oval office. Still, what to say about An Inconvenient Truth? I saw the movie over the weekend and came away with a string of opinions and a fear that someone would note that I had driven to the movie theater rather than walked...
- The science looked accurate. Scientists in the relevent field agree with a few minor caveats. Still, it's an interesting experience to hear a politician get facts straight.
- The animated bear and frog are just ridiculous.
- Not a bad powerpoint (or Keynote) presentation. I suspect that the interns/staff has a lot to do with it.
- Apple advertising! (Thanks Anne for the thought.) If this movie gets the US working towards lowering carbon emissions, someday Apple will use it in an ad.
- The bear and frog? Drop them in the director's cut.
- The whole human interest bit with Gore's son, hit by a car, reeked of cheap manipulation. The story of his sister (who died as a smoker of lung cancer while the family farm grew tobacco) was much more effective.
- There's a decent review of what's happening here from the New Haven Advocate.
- And the NYT talking about geoengineering "solutions" to ameliorate the global climate change.
June 08, 2006
Mt. Foraker (Sultana) appears to have claimed a couple more climbers
Searchers found footprints and some equipment, but not the climbers.
June 07, 2006
Emergency frog rescue
One of the more interesting, and utterly cool, examples of "emergency" science. Rescuing frog species ahead of a lethal fungus infection. And bringing them back to the states in carry-on baggage...
June 05, 2006
May 31, 2006
100 thousand Zim-bucks
Zimbabwe introduces the $100,000Z bill with inflation now above 1000% per year. The previous $50,000Z bill is not sufficient to buy a loaf of bread.
May 25, 2006
May 15, 2006
Gator troubles
Ouch! Ouch! Ouch! On a related note, my daughter Sylvia had bad dreams last night about sharks in her Mom's bathroom. Scary stuff for a seven year old.
May 11, 2006
May 02, 2006
Continuing with failed states: NYT on Zimbabwe's inflation
Headed towards 1000%. If you have cash, you use it right away. Tomorrow it will be worth 5% less. A sheet of toilet paper is not about the same value as a Z$500 bill. And the government is printing money as if it was going out of style.
Failed states
Sudan is at the top of the list. Also up there, the Congo, Somalia, Iraq, Zimbabwe, and Afghanistan. Genocide bad, insurgency bad, chaos bad, inflation bad. Norway is "least failed" state.
April 28, 2006
Crocodile vs. Chainsaw
No photo available. Crocodile and chainsaw operator are fine. Chainsaw is toast.
April 27, 2006
Darfur & Biafra
Been thinking about the big rally being held this Sunday, April 30th at the State Capital. "What did you do to try to stop the Darfur Genocide?" Been thinking about Biafra in light of what is happening now (and heck, for years now) in the Sudan. Got a book on the Biafran War a few days ago. Hadn't thought about it in quite some time. Anyway...there's not a lot of good material (at least that I could find quickly) on Biafra online, but you can try these to start:
- Wikipedia if you didn't remember where Biafra was.
- eXile web magazine's offbeat homage to Carl Gustaf von Rosen---hero of Biafra and general aviation saint of Africa.
- Frederick Forsyth got his start as a journalist in Biafra. His book remains the classic telling of the story.
- The Nation of Biafra, in exile.
So, what to do?
April 26, 2006
Build your own Iraqi police/death squad
It's pretty cheap, and the cool mullahs are doing it. Guns, uniforms, bulletproofed cars. All available for cash transactions.
April 21, 2006
Bush, the nuclear blunders
It's clear now how the Iraq distraction has harmed us in the pursuit of bin Laden, with North Korea's nuclear weapons, and now with the standoff with Iran. The US is immeaurably weaker today than when Bush decided to launch a war of aggression with Iraq.
April 14, 2006
April 10, 2006
Iran's bomb
Next week's New Yorker has an article from Seymour Hersh claiming the US is getting quite close to making a decision of military action in Iran. That article is being referenced around the world noting that the use of nuclear weapons is under consideration.
April 07, 2006
April 06, 2006
Walking to Siberia
These two guys walked across the frozen 56 mile Bering Strait crossing into Russia as part of a walk-around-the-world expedition. Then didn't register with the authorities in time and got arrested.
March 22, 2006
Avian flu
The City Pages here locally has an excellent article on the bird flu which is clearer than anything I had previously read about the real risks and issues with the H5N1 virus. Important reading I think.
March 20, 2006
Welcome to the brain of the Don
The Donald Rumsfeld that is. Plastic has an excellent resume of web links from his halcyon days in the Nixon and Ford administrations to leading two failed wars (see what sort of freedom and democracy has brought to Afghanistan?) for Dubya.
Read his own words, justifying what has been accomplished in the past three years in Iraq. Believe any of it? Like Rummy's $50 billion dollar and 5 week estimates of the war costs and length? And what's up with his comparisons of very and sundries with Hitler? Do we really fear that a 1000 year Venezualan Reich is right around the corner? Or is he projecting a bit?
Going back to the resume, we have to reflect on his successful running of the Office of Economic Opportunity under Nixon and his back-room efforts to help get the US out of the Vietnam War. For that he was shuffled off to be NATO ambassador. Then triumph as chief of staff and defense secretary under Ford, fighting against the whole nastiness of detante. Off to the private sector until Dubya decides to bring the Nixon crowd all back to the White House. The epic Shinseki-Rumsfeld fight seems now to be a footnote in the story, but certainly marked part of the White House team's decent into unreality.
Afghanistan. Iraq. Some investigations into what Rumsfeld has wrought.
March 02, 2006
How war is reducing adventure travel options
Nepal is getting harder, and no tourists have been in Chechnya in years. Last Summer I wasn't able to make it up to Srinagar (from Mumbai) due to the terrorist activity. Angola is getting questionable again, and Zimbabwe wouldn't be nearly as much fun as it was a decade ago.
March 01, 2006
Mardi Gras in New Orleans
As many of the people haven't returned yet, it appears to mostly for the tourists. The most amazing statistics was the population drop from 500k to 200k folks living in New Orleans.
February 27, 2006
Falklands 2.0
The Argentinian sabre-rattling is starting to get British attention. Isles Malvinas may once again be a useful distraction for the Argentine government faced with domestic problems.
February 15, 2006
If you haven't looked at hotzone before...
...you should now.
They have an ongoing, excellent, series of articles offering vignettes from both sides of the Israel/Palestine war. Doctors, film-makers, innocent victims. It's good reporting in a blog format.
Zimbabwe
- Life expectancy 30 years
- 3m expecting food aid
- 20% adult HIV prevalence; 3,000 Aids deaths each week
- 500,000 left homeless this year; 200,000 lost livelihoods
- Inflation has reached 600%; Crisis compounded by drought
I think that figure from the BBC tells a lot of the story. A life expectancy of 300 years? A little bit of an update, and also the results of the Valentine's Day women's protests in Harare and Bulawayo.
February 13, 2006
Olympic oddities
Well, the Winter Olympics are off and running. We had Sofia Loren, Susan Sarandon, and Yoko Ono in the opening ceremonies. I hear Yoko has been seriously considering a comeback in the biathalon. The African women carrying the flag outnumbered African women competing in the games, but we do have the Australian skeleton team. Hmmm...they're probably not going to do too well. Nor the skiers from Senegal.
Living in Minnesota, we do have the special thrill of the Bemidji men and women's curling teams representing the US. The olympic trials in Duluth were impressive. I'm told.
Who do I complain to about the lack of cross-country and biathalon coverage though? I remember not seeing enough modern pent at the summer games as well...
February 10, 2006
February 07, 2006
You know how sometimes you go click on a link...
...and, presto, there it is. And it's really quite strange. And you scroll down, and it gets stranger. And it reminds you that Joy Division was a really long time ago, though I suppose not as long ago as Hank Williams. Senior. So, you click on the mp3s and listen while, oh my god!, the music plays and you read of Tuva and stolen passports. Then you look around on the site, reviews of Captain Beefheart in a Tuvan style. Feynman pretty much has to be to blame for making Tuva hip again. Kyzyl! The throat singing is amazing stuff, but covering the Rolling Stones? They just did the halftime show at some Bowling match or other. And got censored. Painted black. Black as black. The link already!
Music for today, tomorrow, and last Tuesday.
Sample lyrics from KAMGALANYR KUZHU-DAA BAR (We have protection force.):
Yenisei river's banks are full of natural richness, our amazing country has protection force.
Yenisei runs and kicks his banks by his waves, if an enemy invades we have a lot of power to destroy him.
In taiga there is a lot of gold and other richness, in the north and south we have brother countries.
In the south and north parts of taiga there are a lot of minerals and furs, -- we have the powerful USSR giving a happy life to us.
KALDAK-KHAMAR
music - trad arr. A. Kuvezin
lyrics - Salchak Toka
"The name of a mountain pass through Tannu-Ola range at the south part of Tuva. In 1933-1934 the road from Kyzyl (capital) to region on Mongolian border was built; and on this pass for one year people were digging using only simple tools like picks, spades, hand-trolleys and enthusiasm. Now it is road of state importance connecting Siberia, Tuva and Mongolia. The lyrics written by first General Secretary of Communist Party of then-independent state of "Tannu Touva". Salchak Toka, leader of the Government and also one of the great writers of classic Tuvan literature - a Soviet Union State Prizewinner. This song about wish and striving to dig out Kaldak-Khamar pass, to build a smooth road and to rush by an iron devil-car like a kite."
February 04, 2006
Egyptian ferry
Sounds like a poorly managed disaster. With the captain disappearing too...
Shades of the General Slocum disaster off New York City harbor the day before Bloomday.
There's an interesting science fiction novella Time Adrift about a time traveler visiting the burning General Slocum. You can read it online.
January 27, 2006
An excellent bit on myths of Challenger (20 years on)
The myths article appears here. And the top level 20th anniversary stories are here.
So, I was walking home from school, we had had exams that day and I was finished for the day. When I got home my mother had heard it on the radio. I remember the next day watching the footage again and again in school and noticing when someone decided to add the explosion sound to the tape. It wasn't delayed at all. You saw the explosion and heard the bang. I remember that faking of the news video almost as much as the whole tragedy at NASA sort of thing. Columbia bothered me a lot more---probably by being closer to NASA and the space program at that later date, and also understanding it as the end of the era. (Or maybe of the error of the shuttle.)
January 24, 2006
Modern diesels
Maybe coming to America sometime soonish... Once the last memories of GM's attempt at diesel cars in the early 1980s is completely erased.
January 15, 2006
January 10, 2006
Keeping you informed of Zimbabwe events and news (well, via the Beeb)
Cholera outbreak in Harare. Someday I hope to post some positive news here from Zimbabwe.
January 07, 2006
Heinrich Harrer RIP
Despite the popularity of Seven Years in Tibet, Harrer was a complicated figure: first to climb the north face of the Eiger, a Nazi, and outstanding wilderness survivor all before Lhasa. Afterwards, well, read the book.
December 19, 2005
Must have been free elections (in Iraq)
Preliminary results of Iraq's parliamentary elections show that the Shiite fundamentalist United Iraqi Alliance swept the south aof the country and won ~60% of the Baghdad vote. US backed candidates did poorly and Iranian backed candidates did very well. No word on rumors that Dubya is a mole working for the Iranian government.
December 15, 2005
November 15, 2005
November 07, 2005
Portland, OR
For some Fall travel. Budget plenty of time in Powell's and do take a trip out to the coast.
November 04, 2005
Russian holidays (in the sun?)
Only 8% of Russians could name their new holiday. Day of People's Unity. With seperatist movements afoot across the FSU, it doesn't look to be a very popular holiday.
November 03, 2005
November 01, 2005
October 24, 2005
The digital dump
Our old, donated computers are filling landfills in Africa. I also noticed that the US hasn't signed the Basel Convention which seems to be focused on the trade in hazardous materials. Will have to look into that a little...
October 18, 2005
Last Australian World War I veteran dies
At age 106. He enlisted when he was 14 years old in the Australian Navy.
October 07, 2005
September 30, 2005
Bizarre web advertising
The Hans Brinker Budget Hotel. With an archive at this blog entry. Pretty funny though, in an Adbuster's sort of way.
September 28, 2005
September 26, 2005
Superdome carnage? Myth.
Murder and rape of children? Myth. I think we can pretty easily understand the reason for the fake stories, but it remains critically important for us to read the truth and mentally cross-off the stories intended to produce hatred of the poor.
September 23, 2005
UNESCO cultural heritage sites
There's a good discussion going on. How many have you visited? Or will visit?
