Am I the only one who wants to compare the names of these scientists with those who ginned up gerbil worming?
The threat of a cataclysmic California storm has been dormant for the past 150 years. Geological Survey director Marcia K. McNutt told the New York Times that a 300-mile stretch of the Central Valley was inundated from 1861-62. The floods were so bad that the state capital had to be moved to San Francisco, and Governor Leland Stanford had to take a rowboat to his own inauguration, the report notes. And now if there's a puddle everyone starts running around with their hands over their heads.
Even larger storms happened in past centuries, over the dates 212, 440, 603, 1029, 1418, and 1605, according to geological evidence. So there's still hope.
#2
In 1998 (an El Nino year), CA had very heavy rainfall. In Feb of that year, rainfall ranged from 300% to 700% of normal.
Flooding was bad. lives were lost and property lost but it was not a catastrophe because, unlike the situation in 1881, there is flood control infrastructure.
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
01/17/2011 17:35 Comments ||
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#3
Didn't Dick Cheney say something about the storm of 440 being one of his favorites? Good news is they can take all that gutter water and refill their drinking supply.
Yesterday out here our bodies had just become used to 20 degrees being hot; today it was 60 by noon...we call that weather.
#5
so we should, what? Increase the infrastructure capacity to deal with a 400-yr storm? Yeah....right. Idiot grant whores
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/17/2011 19:14 Comments ||
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#6
Cali is definitely overdue because there is a giant weather capacitor that builds up charge if you don't have a mega-storm for a century or so. It works much like the red capacitor in a roulette wheel that builds up red charge if black come up more than 3 times in a row. Bah! And double Bah!
#9
H.F. Of course the majority aren't legit :-) it is all go with the flow dude. And clothes aren't for warmth or water repellancy, just pron or the Red Carpet.
Posted by: Fire and Ice ||
01/17/2011 21:25 Comments ||
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#10
Hey, whatcha say
There goes LA
Hey, whatcha know
Tie up the boat in Idaho
#11
Good news is they can take all that gutter water and refill their drinking supply.
Water supply comes from the snow-pack. And that's already at record levels (with two more months of snow season)
so we should, what? Increase the infrastructure capacity to deal with a 400-yr storm?
Frank, my impression is that, with the exception of the High Desert areas, most of SoCal is already set up for '100-year'. But methinks if one show up, that's not where it's going to happen.
And clothes aren't for warmth or water repellancy, just pron or the Red Carpet...
That's Southern California, for those of you that are geographically impaired or get easily confused. Y'know - like asking folks in Syracuse if they can see the Statue of Liberty from their apartments...
When it hits (just statistics speaking), it'll more likely be central and northern California. The Central Valley will take it worst, since it's now more or less semi-desert.
#2
And I think good-looking stupid people are given a greater margin of tolerance and/or receive help, possibly making a better functioning group activity at the loss of a less capable individual, but I'm not an ambi-turner.
#8
Beauty can be a curse though. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to know that beauty doesn't last, and children who are mostly complemented on their appearance instead of accomplishments tend to get neurotic about it, since they are worried they don't have a fall back position.
Likewise they find it harder to make friendships, because beauty is often seen as aloof, and being alone can inhibit social skills.
#12
The study indicated attractive men have IQs that are 13.6 points above the average, while beautiful women are 11.4 points higher than average.
Directionally better than the mean, but IQ test score error bars are plus/minus ten points, and one standard deviation is about fifteen points, depending on who is counting. I mean, gee whiz! Barack Obama is supposed to have an IQ of 125, and he can lay claim to no special physical beauty.
The decision to float down a flooded river on an inflatable sex doll backfired yesterday when a woman lost her latex love toy in the floodwaters. This prompted a warning from police that blow-up dolls are "not recognised flotation devices''.
Australian police and an emergency crew were called to the rescue when the woman and a man, both 19, struck trouble yesterday. They were floating down the Yarra River on two inflatable dolls when the woman lost her toy in rough water.
She clung to a floating tree and called for help while the man remained with her. Fortunately, a witness called triple zero and a kayaker took life jackets to the pair. Police and the emergency crew then rescued the two of them.
With 50 rescues from flood waters around Victoria in the last week, police were not happy about the pair's "stupid" actions.
"We've got people busy with rescues and to have to divert resources to that sort of thing is not ideal," Senior Constable Wayne Wilson declared.
"Most rescue organisations would frown on people behaving in such a manner because there are people out there who are in genuine need of assistance," he stated.
The failed floaters were checked by paramedics but did not need any medical attention.
"The fate of the inflatable dolls is unknown," Senior Constable Wilson quipped.
[Asharq al-Aswat] Tunisian authorities on Sunday denounced a plot against the state by backers of ousted strongman Zine El Abidine Ben Ali as talks on national unity got under way while heavy gunfire broke out here.
Officials said they had jugged the general in charge of Ben Ali's security apparatus, Ali Seriati, for plotting against the new leadership amid fears of a backlash by supporters of the deposed president.
Ben Ali's nephew, Kais Ben Ali, was meanwhile jugged earlier on Sunday along with 10 others in the central town of Msaken -- the Ben Ali family's ancestral home -- overnight for "shooting at random" from police cars during the night.
The developments came as Tunisia's main parties held talks on forming a national unity government following the abrupt departure after 23 years in power of Ben Ali, who decamped to Soddy Arabia after a wave of protests against his regime.
In central Tunis, security forces exchanged fire with unidentified attackers hidden inside buildings, AFP news hounds said. The shooting kicked off after an exchange of fire outside the headquarters of the main opposition party.
Around 1,500 protesters meanwhile held a peaceful rally in the town of Regueb in which they slammed the political talks in the capital saying the new government would not be truly democratic, a local trade union leader said.
The army broke up the rally as protests are banned under the rules of a state of emergency declared in the country on Friday. Regueb was the scene of several violent protests in the run-up to the ouster of Ben Ali.
Representatives of two parties banned under Ben Ali -- the Communist party and the Islamist Ennahdha party -- were excluded from the government talks.
The head of Ennahdha, Rached Ghannouchi, who lives in exile in London, told AFP earlier that he now intended to return to Tunisia.
Some cafes had re-opened earlier on Sunday in the centre of Tunis -- the scene of violent festivities in the days running up to Ben Ali's abrupt departure on Friday -- as the army continued its lockdown of the city centre.
"There are major food shortages. We don't have enough bread and flour. We risk a food crisis if this continues," said Najla, who was filling her basket with meat and vegetables at the main market in Tunis.
Normally there's a shortage of meat and vegetables during a food crisis...
Long queues were seen outside the few bakeries and groceries open.
A French photographer from the EPA agency hit in the head by a tear gas canister during the protests in central Tunis on Friday died of his injuries on Sunday, his relatives and a source at the French consulate said.
A source at the military hospital in Tunis earlier on Sunday also said that Imed Trabelsi, a nephew of the wife of former president Ben Ali, was stabbed and died on Friday -- the same day that the president decamped the country.
The night in Tunis was punctuated by the crackle of gunfire and army helicopters circled overhead, as eyewitnesses reported people riding around in ambulances and cars in the suburbs shooting up homes at random.
Observers said the transition of power in Tunisia would be far from smooth.
"You can't ignore the power of disruption of the presidential security apparatus that was headed up by general Ali Seriati. It has thousands of supporters of Ben Ali," an informed source said on condition of anonymity.
Tunisia's new acting president, speaker of parliament Foued Mebazaa, was sworn in on Saturday after Ben Ali resigned and decamped Tunis following weeks of social protests in cities across the North African state.
Mebazaa said earlier that all Tunisians "without exception" would now be able to take part in national politics in the once tightly-controlled country and a presidential election is due to be held in two months' time.
Mebazaa called for a unity government for "the greater national interest."
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01/17/2011 00:00 ||
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[Ennahar] Former security chief of ousted President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali was jugged at the request of the Tunisian justice who accused him of being responsible for the recent atrocities committed against the people, said Sunday an official source.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[Ennahar] The Nouakchott juvenile court has sentenced on Sunday, three women to prison for the "exploitation" of two children aged 10 and 14, whose situation has been denounced by activists against slavery.
The woman with whom lived the two children, Oumoulmoumnine mint Bakar Vall, was found guilty of "exploitation of minors in violation of the laws of Mauritania" and sentenced to six months in prison.
The court also sentenced the mother of two daughters, Aicha Mint Haboud and Fatimetou Mint Mahmoud, to six-month suspended sentence.
Both mothers had been brought from their village near Rosso (200 km south of the capital) for the trial. They were accused of having "put their daughters to earn money" and they were prosecuted for "negligence" and "participation in the exploitation of minors."
Posted by: Fred ||
01/17/2011 00:00 ||
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[Ennahar] Heavy gunfire were heard Sunday afternoon in Tunis, whose centre was totally deserted, except for a strong police presence, reported AFP journalists. Regular shots, at first sporadic, then more and more nourish, were exchanged around 3:00 pm GMT, between people hiding in buildings and police, near Bourguiba Avenue.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/17/2011 00:00 ||
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[Maghrebia] Tunisia is trying to restore order following the "Jasmine Revolution" that led former president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali to leave the country on Friday. Until new presidential elections are held within the next two months, Chamber of Deputies Speaker Foued Mebazza will be Tunisia's president.
Ben Ali is now in Jeddah, the Saudi Royal Palace confirmed Saturday (January 15th). The same day, Mebazza was sworn in as interim president. He asked Prime Minister Mohamed Ghannouchi to start talks with all parties for a coalition government.
Under the constitution, Mebazza has up to 60 days to hold new presidential elections. In the meantime, officials are trying to restore calm after nearly a month of civil unrest.
"I call upon all men and women of Tunisia, from different political and intellectual affiliations, and from all sects and parties, to embrace a spirit of patriotism and unity to enable our country, which is dear to all of us, to get past this tough stage and restore its security and stability," Ghannouchi said in a televised address to the nation on Friday.
Amid the chaos and confusion, however, many people on the street are excited about the change in leadership.
"The events that took place today show that the Tunisian people are great," said Nabil Labbassi of the Tunisian League for Human Rights.
Still, the situation remains fluid. Uncertainty prevails on the Tunisian street and the country remains in a state of emergency. On Friday evening, Tunisian army helicopters were heard flying in the capital sky in response to people's calls to rescue them and protect their properties.
Many members of the former first lady's family were allegedly nabbed while trying to flee the country. Some properties owned by the Trabelsi family, including villas in the Gammarth suburb, a Carrefour store and a car company, were set on fire.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/17/2011 00:00 ||
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[Pak Daily Times] Tunisian security forces fought shootouts with gunnies in the capital on Sunday, as politicians tried to form a unity government two days after the president was ousted after more than 23 years in power.
Breaking a relative calm enforced by the army in Tunis earlier in the day, state television reported. ... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
two separate shootouts, one near the central bank building and another outside an opposition party's headquarters around one kilometre away.
A military source said that Tunisian special forces were also exchanging fire with members of the ousted president's security force near the presidential palace in a Tunis suburb.
The fire fights suggested a worsening of violence following drive-by shootings and jailbreaks on Saturday in which scores of inmates were killed in the chaos.
State TV and police said people holding Swedish and German passports had been jugged after the latest festivities.
Military and police sources said security forces had killed two gunnies stationed on a rooftop near the central bank, state TV's news hound said from the scene, a block from the Interior Ministry. A military official told the station that the two men had been killed by fire directed from a helicopter.
Earlier, the opposition PDP party said police and military had stopped a carload of gunnies and shots were fired outside its headquarters. Police said two of the suspects caught after chasing them into apartment buildings had Swedish passports, and they also jugged a Tunisian.
Police nabbed four people carrying German passports over the same incident, state TV said, quoting a security source.
The official who was in charge of security for ex-President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, who decamped the country to Soddy Arabia on Friday after a wave of rioting, is to appear in court on charges of stoking violence and threatening national security. A private TV channel reported that a replacement had been appointed.
On Sunday, tanks were stationed around Tunis and soldiers were guarding public buildings. Residents, some of whom had said they were starting to get back to normal life during daylight hours, rebuilt makeshift barricades from branches and trashcans to block their streets and protect property as the night curfew approached.
"We came out on the streets and dressed in white vests so we can identify one another. We told the police in the neighbourhood that we are here and we are dressed in white -- it was during curfew hours .... some brought sticks and we collected rocks," one man said.
Analysts say there may be more protests if the opposition believes it is not sufficiently represented in a new government.
Sunday was not a working day but some people were shopping for food. For the first time in days, a few vans and pick-up trucks were making deliveries.
On the highway, heading north into Tunis, a group of youths with sticks and knives were stopping private cars and robbing them just a few kilometres from an army checkpoint, a Rooters TV crew said.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/17/2011 00:00 ||
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The Mufti of Uganda, Sheikh Shaban Ramadhan Mubaje, has blamed the Muslims for using a violence while rescuing Nakasero Mosque land saying the rule of law should prevail.
While speaking to senior religious leaders at Old Kampala, Sheikh Mubaje asked the government to intervene into the mosque dispute before the two parties clash again.
"Why should Muslims always fight each other instead of following the law? If we continue to be violent the public can easily link us to terrorism acts," said Mufti Mubaje adding, "What you have seen regarding the mosque grabbing should not be entertained, the government should come in to ensure that there is law and order."
The beset former leader of Nakasero mosque, Sheikh Sulaiman Kakeeto surfaced at Old Kampala Mosque earlier but did not attend the religious leaders workshop.
Meanwhile, Sheikh Kakeeto is at liberty to attend prayers at the mosque but will have no powers, the mosque's new management declared on Friday
Speaking at the disputed mosque, Sheikh Yunus Kamoga, the new leader of the Tabliq Muslims in Uganda, said Sheikh Kakeeto had completely abused the trust Muslims had placed in him.
"He (Sheikh Kakeeto) is free to come for prayers like any other worshipper but will not handle any managerial issues as it was before, He misused his authority by disposing of the mosque and we can't trust him anymore," he said amid chants of Allah Akbar!
The mosque, which has been headed by Sheikh Kakeeto since 1994 is currently in the hands of Muslim youth vigilantes.
Sheikh Kamoga introduced Sheikh Muhamud Kibatte as the new imam of the mosque promising that new management will soon be announced.
Nakasero Mosque was the center of ugly scenes on Wednesday night when two Muslim warring factions - one for and another against the redevelopment of the mosque - fought with each other.
This followed plans by the developer to raze the temporally [sic] shelter at the mosque and put up a shopping mall. In the fracas that ensued, two excavators being used to pull down the structures were set ablaze by angry Muslim youth. Police have maintained a presence at the mosque avert any further clashes.
[The Nation (Nairobi)] Ivory Coast strongman Laurent Gbagbo Saturday extended a curfew slapped on Abidjan districts largely loyal to his rival for the presidency, saying weapons used against his troops were still hidden there.
The 7:00 pm to 6:00 am curfew in Abobo and Anyama "is extended to the morning of Saturday, January 22," a presenter on state television said. ... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
reading a decree extending the measure that had been due to expire on Saturday.
The first curfew followed two days of unrest in which at least 11 people died, including eight members of Gbagbo's Defence and Security Forces (FDS), after hundreds of the troops moved into the area searching for weapons.
Abobo is a bastion of support for the man the world says beat incumbent Gbagbo in a November 28 presidential run-off, Alassane Ouattara, who remains holed up in an Abidjan hotel resort, besieged by Gbabgo troops.
More than 200 people have died since the vote. Most of the world, the United Nations, aka the Oyster Bay Chowder and Marching Society and the Independent Electoral Commission say that Quattara is the winner and he has been sworn in as president.
The constitutional council has declared Gbagbo the winner, and he has also been sworn in as president.
Asked why the curfew had been extended, Gbagbo's government front man Ahoua Don Mello told AFP: "Because there are a certain number of places that have been identified as concealing weapons of war.
"These places have not yet all been completely looked at so it is important for the curfew to continue so that we can find these weapons. These are weapons of war, Kalashnikovs etc have been found in these areas.
"The work continues until we have collected all of these weapons," he said, declining to say how many had so far been seized.
A security source said that police in the neighbourhood had come under attack from rocket-propelled grenades when they first moved into the area.
Residents said that the district has been calm at night since the curfew was first decreed, and the United Nations peacekeeping mission in the country has been able to carry out some night time patrols there.
Gbagbo's camp has accused Ouattara of inciting acts of violence in the area, something Ouattara's side has denied.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/17/2011 00:00 ||
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Tan, rested, ready...
Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier, a once feared and reviled dictator who was tossed in a popular uprising nearly 25 years ago, has made a stunning return to Haiti, raising concerns he could screw up efforts to solve the nation's interminable political crisis, a cholera plague and the dilatory reconstruction from last year's devastating earthquake.
Baby Doc's arrival at the airport Sunday was as mysterious as it was goofy. He greeted a crowd of several hundred cheering knuckle artists and pistoleros but did not say why he chose this tumultuous period to suddenly pop up from his exile in La Belle France -- or what he intended to do while back in Haiti. My guess would be that he intends to hand out some bucks and get the Ton Tons back to work keeping the anarchy level high enough to generate demands for "stability."
"I'm not here for politics," Duvalier told Radio Caraibes. "I'm here for the reconstruction of Haiti." Then his lips fell off.
His longtime concubine, Veronique Roy, told news hounds at one point that he planned to stay three days. He planned to talk to newsies on Monday.
President Rene Preval -- who told news hounds in 2007 that Duvalier could return to Haiti but would face justice for the deaths of thousands of people and the theft of millions of dollars -- made no public comment on the former dictator's re-emergence. But Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive shrugged it off. Meaning they're not going to do anything.
#5
Hell, the Haitians could do worse than Baby Doc right about now, and have done so for the past two decades. At least under the Duvalier regime, Haiti had a functional economy and infrastructure was being built. Compare and contrast that with what has happened since the end of the Duvalier regime.
#6
And before people go all high and mighty on me about Duvalier, why is it that Haiti the SECOND independent republic in this hemisphere has always been a hellhole? At least under the father and son team of Duvalier, the country was approaching the modern era - that and the US Marine occupation period immediately before the Duvalier era was the only time that benighted country has had any growth or development. Haiti is America's little bit of African heaven right down in the Caribbean, and like Africa, it is doomed to squalor and decline unless occupied or run by a strongman - see Uganda and the Ivory Coast for examples.
#7
from the CIA factbook: Already the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere with 80% of the population living under the poverty line and 54% in abject poverty, the damage to Port-au-Prince caused the country's GDP to contract an estimated 8% in 2010. Two-thirds of all Haitians depend on the agricultural sector, mainly small-scale subsistence farming, and remain vulnerable to damage from frequent natural disasters, exacerbated by the country's widespread deforestation. US economic engagement under the Haitian Hemispheric Opportunity through Partnership Encouragement (HOPE) Act, passed in December 2006, has boosted apparel exports and investment by providing tariff-free access to the US. Congress voted in 2010 to extend the legislation until 2020 under the Haitian Economic Lift Act (HELP); the apparel sector accounts for three-quarters of Haitian exports and nearly one-tenth of GDP. Remittances are the primary source of foreign exchange, equaling nearly a quarter of GDP and more than twice the earnings from exports. Haiti suffers from a lack of investment because of insecurity and limited infrastructure, and a severe trade deficit. In 2005, Haiti paid its arrears to the World Bank, paving the way for reengagement with the Bank. Haiti received debt forgiveness for over $1 billion of its debt through the Highly-Indebted Poor Country (HIPC) initiative in 2009. The remainder of its outstanding external debt was cancelled by donor countries in early 2010 but has since climbed back to about $500 million. The government relies on formal international
economic assistance for fiscal sustainability.
see: "economic basketcase" with few resources they haven't already stripped, sold, or compromised
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/17/2011 16:51 Comments ||
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#8
Why not open Papa Doc's tomb and let Baron Samedi rule again! Unless the tomb is already empty?
#9
The tomb is empty. Crowds that broke in after Baby Doc took a powder found it that way. So either he was put someplace else to begin with, or some back-woods hougan has a heck of a trophy.
Gulet Mohamed had a plane ticket to go home to the U.S. at the request of a Kuwaiti deportation official, but was forbidden to board the plane. A lawyer for CAIR says that the teen is on a no-fly list and that CAIR plans to file a challenge in court.
#1
Our first mistake was not permitting Saddam to finish the job in Kuwait before we liberated the any survivors. I've always agreed with Saddam, the Kuwaiti's are worthless pieces of kak.
A Seattle man's trial in Albuquerque on charges of making trouble at an airport security checkpoint is getting attention from civil liberties groups all over the country. Read on and you'll actually have some sympathy for the TSA.
Phil Mocek was arrested at the Albuquerque Sunport in November of 2009
Nothing like the mills of justice grinding slowly...
after he refused to show I.D. to TSA officers at the security checkpoint. Mistake #1. The TSA has every right to ask for a valid ID.
Police say Mocek became disruptive. Mistake #2. Becoming disruptive gets you a quick exit from the security line and a short ride to the airport lockup.
They arrested him and charged him with disorderly conduct, refusing to obey an officer, criminal trespassing, and concealing his identity. After many delays, his trial in Bernalillo County Metropolitan Court was scheduled to begin this morning, but the judge ordered it postponed until January 20. Guess you're not getting to where you wanted to go quickly.
Representatives from several civil liberties groups were at the courthouse this morning, including Edward Hasbrouck of the San Francisco-based Identity Project.
"This is the first time anybody anywhere in the country has actually been arrested and put on trial on criminal charges for anything that happens at a TSA checkpoint," Hasbrouck said. There's always a first time.
Police told Eyewitness News 4 that when somebody becomes disruptive or offensive in an airport, they have a responsibility to stop it - and that's what they said they did when they arrested Mocek. Correct. That's one reason why we have police.
Hasbrouck said the demand for Mocek's I.D. started all the trouble.
" What's really at root in this case is whether travel is a right that we have under the Constitution - an ability to move about the country without having to show papers - which has been one of the defining characteristics of American freedom, " Hasbrouck said. I don't recall anything in the Bill of Rights about travel. Air travel is a public conveyance. It's regulated by the Federal government, and airports are also regulated by state governments. If the government wants you to show a valid ID, you show a valid ID (unless you're voting in an airport).
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/17/2011 15:16 ||
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#1
it's already been established in the supreme court if a cop ask for ID thenyou have too show it. Sounds like he will be going down on these charges.Don't fly if you don't wanna go throught the rigamarole of dealing with the TSA.
Posted by: chris ||
01/17/2011 16:39 Comments ||
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#2
Or fly chartered flights from smaller airports - they are not subjected to the TSSA's grope check in most cases.
#3
The whole TSA exercise is frustrating and pretty pointless, but I really don't have anything bad to say about the individuals in it I personally have had contact with. And you have to have some sympathy for them on the whole groping thing - just imagine YOUR job required you to do that to the person squeezed into the seat next to you (and overflowing into yours)!
#4
This guy claims that the Constitution guarantees him the right to travel without showing id. I am neither a constitutional scholar nor a lawyer, but I think he is wrong on several counts:
1) If you walk where you go, you don't have to show ID. (Unless a police officer asks for ID.)
2) I haven't read the whole Constitution lately, but I don't remember anything about traveling without ID.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
01/17/2011 19:56 Comments ||
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#5
Actually, I doubt the constitution has anything whatsoever to say on the subject of ID at all, pro or con.
#6
Picked the wrong place to play this out. Albuquerque usually has a number of unscheduled commercial landings because some fool decides to do something stupid on a transcontinental flight. I'm sure the court and prosecution are pretty much versed in the particulars covering air transportation.
OPEC's leading oil price hawk Iran joined Venezuela and Libya yesterday to say it saw no need for the cartel to consider raising crude supplies to rein in prices which are nearing $100 (74) a barrel.
Iranian oil minister Massoud Mirkazemi said some OPEC members saw no need to act even if prices went to $120 a barrel. The comments will be of concern for consumer countries worried that rising commodity costs are igniting inflation and jeopardising economic recovery. "None of the OPEC members find $100 concerning or irrational. Some of the OPEC members see no need for an emergency meeting even with prices at $110 or $120," Mr Mirkazemi, OPEC president for 2011, told a news conference.
#3
The 2008 oil spike occurred because of speculators in the commodities market. The new rise is because of the speculators at the Fed debasing the currency.
#8
I am sure there are a couple formulations out there which do a fair job of running the risk of the USA not only supporting but then not repealing domestic drilling; the goal to get as much money as possible without being told to stuff it.
And once the formula is figured, it can be adjusted for many major countries and variety of fuel sources; and likely simplified enough even a politician can do it.
Then if someone had nothing better to do than contemplate the undermining of the people buying that fuel, I am sure another line could be plotted considering how much/bad getting caught red-handed until told to stuff it, overlay onto fuel charges for optimum return on selling people your camel piss/milk drink and telling them it tastes good and is good for you. Lots of variables there, so increase the margin for error by controlling word on the street, which is media and education.
#9
Quite a deal if China decides to send troops into south Sudan and surrounding area for stability purposes, improves Horn port facilities, chases pirates out or at least from china flagged vessels. Thats how I'd do it - international mandate for troops and bases, control of oil and infastructure, dominance of pirates, badda boom all ya need is an Indian Ocean fleet to make sure those chinese products get to Europe safely, you knowz.
#10
Our currency being worth less will drive manufacturing back home and help with the trade deficit.
If only that were true. Our byzantine nightmare of a regulatory state, massively inflated (and rising) tax rates, and shooting gallery legal system will guarantee that those sorts of businesses will not return to the US until and unless we undertake significant structural reforms. Why build a factory here and deal with higher costs, more regulation, and governments at most levels which view you as an enemy when you can avoid all of that by going almost anywhere else in the world?
Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak broke away from his center-left Labor Party on Monday in a move Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said made his government stronger and more stable.
Barak will remain as defense chief in the right-leaning government, while the three remaining Labor ministers quit the cabinet, bringing the once-dominant political party that pioneered peace efforts with the Palestinians into opposition.
The split removes the risk that a left-wing rival could have replaced Barak as Labor leader and pulled the whole party out of the ruling coalition, possibly bringing the government down.
The split could further marginalize Labor, which dominated Israel for most of its history but saw its support erode in the past decade with the failure of the peace process pioneered in the 1990s under Labor leaders Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres.
Barak served as Labor's last prime minister from 1999-2001, but was voted out after failing to finalize a peace deal with the Palestinians. His decision to join Netanyahu's right-wing government had alienated many core Labor supporters.
At a news conference announcing he and four of Labor's 13 legislators would form a new Atzmaut (Independence) faction, Barak said he had faced a "never-ending fight" watching Labor's "continuous drift to the left and again to the left."
Satellite data indicated that Arctic sea ice, glaciers, winter snow and Greenland's ice were bouncing less energy back to space from 1979 to 2008. The dwindling white sunshade exposes ground or water, both of which are darker and absorb more heat.
The study estimated that ice and snow in the Northern Hemisphere were now reflecting on average 3.3 watts per square meter of solar energy back to the upper atmosphere, a reduction of 0.45 watt per square meter since the late 1970s. "This reduction in reflected solar energy through warming is greater than simulated by the current crop of climate models," he said. I wonder how many climate models are out there? Then the Rooters author/editor goes on about MMGW for a couple of paragraphs.
But Flanner said that it was impossible to draw conclusions from the study about the rate of future melting, for instance of Arctic sea ice, since it was based on only 30 years of data. So only 30 years of data is not a confidence builder?
The study estimated that each degree Celsius (1.8 degree Fahrenheit) rise in temperatures would mean a decline in solar energy reflected out to space of between 0.3 and 1.1 watts per square meter from the Northern Hemisphere's snow and ice. Not enough precision (factor of 3) to give you much confidence, is it?Temperatures in the Northern Hemisphere have risen by about 0.75 degree Celsius in the past three decades. So only 30 years of data is not a confidence builder?
The study did not look at the Southern Hemisphere, where Antarctica has far more ice but is much colder and shows fewer signs of warming.
"On a global scale, the planet absorbs solar energy at a rate of about 240 watts per square meter averaged over a year. The planet would be darker and absorb an additional 3.3 watts without the Northern Hemisphere cryosphere," Flanner said. Or an additional 1.375%. How much does solar output vary, year to year? I know one of you out there knows!
Posted by: Bobby ||
01/17/2011 13:32 ||
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Link ||
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#1
Some info on historical Solar Activity variations here.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
01/17/2011 14:16 Comments ||
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#2
The Knights of Gore, who could not resist the monster Katrina, are off to slay the Gods Poseidon and Ra? Is there a cruel and vicious rabbit in this story?
The United States is working on re-establishing its military bases in the Philippines, a Filipino bishop said today.
He said the Philippine government must be careful in dealing with the US, especially now that the issue of amending the [Philippines] Constitution is being pushed in Congress. The bishop is probably putting his concerns about US sailors' injections into the economy over the economy itself.
#1
PI and US have had a very long history together. Lots of folks in the PI love the US (and there are a number of large ex-pat PI folks here). This bishop sounds like a liberation theology knee-jerk anti-military type. Send him down into Moro Islamic Liberation Front territory for a while, see if the opinion is the same, if he lives.
#2
US-ROK-JAPAN [+ Russia = former Japanese Kuriles], versus US-TAIWAN in Center, versus US-PHIL-VIETNAM[+ Russia, India, Japan = GULF OF TONKIN/SEA OF VIETNAM] in South China Sea.
Iff true,, just more MORE BOTTLENECK(S) for CHINA + PLAN in EAST ASIA = "FIRST ISLAND CHAIN".
#3
We're broke. We can't afford more 'bases' to prop up those who won't/can't fix their own internal problems. The problem with bases is that the boys in the Pentagon drag their feet in leaving them with hand wringing and dire portents. Go back and read all the end of the world predictions when we last left PI. Keeping bases means over stretching reduced resources even more just to keep stuff in place. If they can't be assisted with a force no bigger than what we can park on amphibious assault ship parked off shore or in the port, negotiations need to stop.
#5
General Santos is on the Souther tip of Mindanao, so it's actually pretty close to the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao
Posted by: European Conservative ||
01/17/2011 9:24 Comments ||
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#6
Catholic bishop opposes return of US military bases to Philippines
Not your damn business, you deal with the afterlife, not with The Military Keeping people safe from Murderous thugs.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
01/17/2011 10:42 Comments ||
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#7
Its mainly about military port facilities and an airfield with that - aimed at China, strategically (look at the Spratleys for instance).
We are already unofficially supporting a lot of the PI's actions against the Islamics there, ask around the Army, if you know the right people you'll find quite a few that have been there as "Advisers", as well as other US overt and other assets involved.
#10
Do not look for the resurrection of Subic Bay, Cubi Point of Clark; not when we could spend LOTS more developing a completely new bunch of sites for MORE money. I am sure that there is some value left to the three mentioned, not counting all the short time girls, and jeepneys in Olongapo.......
( sure do miss Jolo's)
#11
I suspect that the US would have to move there, if for no other reason than to keep the Chinese, or a proxy, from trying to get a deep water port there.
However, the US might get crafty and go in for "halfsies" with other interested Asian and Oceanic nations, creating an international, non-Chinese, military port.
#12
Don't forget Vietnam's offer of docking facilities for 'friendly nations' : NO ship inspections, and NO demands as far as not bringing nukes in with you. And that is definitely aimed at the Chinese.
#13
Well Cam Ranh Bay has been mentioned as well as a site on the PI. PI logistics might be a bit less complex, physically and politically. Still the irony of having Vietnam invite us back is pretty rich.
Follow-up to the story from earlier today.
Russia's state nuclear corporation Rosatom on Monday denied a reported virus contamination in the Iranian Bushehr nuclear power plant (NPP)'s computer system. "Lies! All lies!"
Earlier in the day, British newspaper Daily Telegraph said a Stuxnet virus, which was developed supposedly at Israeli Dimona NPP, had installed itself into the computers of the NPP built by Russians, also Iran's first one. "Soviet Russian computers are immune to viruses!"
However, according to Sergei Novikov, a Rosatom spokesman, "there are no viruses in the power plant's computer network, especially in units responsible for security, because this network is totally autonomous and isolated from external sources." "We say it cannot happen, therefore it did not happen!"
The Daily Telegraph referred to some Russian experts specialists working in Bushehr, saying that the virus had already done "enormous damage" to the reactor and that Russian team "cannot guarantee safe activation of the reactor." "Russian nuclear officials have warned of another Chernobyl-style nuclear disaster at Iran's controversial Bushehr reactor because of the damage caused by the Stuxnet virus," the newspaper said. Ignore those infidel experts, Mahmoud, light that sucker up...
In response, Rosatom said the virus had not sneaked into the automatic control system of the NPP's technological processes, and stressed that nothing has endangered the reactor control system. "The reactor control system is every bit as safe as any in Russia!"
Fears about possible aftermath of the Stuxnet computer virus on Bushehr NPP's security first appeared in October 2010, when Russian technicians started loading the first nuclear rods into the reactor.
The commercial launch of the Bushehr NPP was expected within weeks, according to Russia's Foreign Ministry.
"Later in this year, we will become self-sufficient thanks to the gasoline produced by our refineries and will no longer be reliant on either imports or petrochemical units," he said.
Foreign analysts said they doubted the sustainability of the plan and Iranians complained of worsening air quality, something many people suspected was at least in part due to the sudden use of lower-quality fuel. If we had a CIA worth anything, we'd find out if the Stuxnet virus works on the refinery control systems.
Mirkazemi blamed Iran's foreign foes for spreading that idea. "It is a ridiculous claim raised by those countries which believed that by imposing sanctions on gasoline, we would face problems."
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
A study in England conducted by researchers at the London School of Economics found that attractive men and women generally have higher IQs.
The decision to float down a flooded river on an inflatable sex doll backfired yesterday when a woman lost her latex love toy in the floodwaters. This prompted a warning from police that blow-up dolls are "not recognised flotation devices''.
[Asharq al-Aswat] Tunisian authorities on Sunday denounced a plot against the state by backers of ousted strongman Zine El Abidine Ben Ali as talks on national unity got under way while heavy gunfire broke out here.
[Ennahar] Heavy gunfire were heard Sunday afternoon in Tunis, whose centre was totally deserted, except for a strong police presence, reported AFP journalists. Regular shots, at first sporadic, then more and more nourish, were exchanged around 3:00 pm GMT, between people hiding in buildings and police, near Bourguiba Avenue.
The Mufti of Uganda, Sheikh Shaban Ramadhan Mubaje, has blamed the Muslims for using a violence while rescuing Nakasero Mosque land saying the rule of law should prevail.
Satellite data indicated that Arctic sea ice, glaciers, winter snow and Greenland's ice were bouncing less energy back to space from 1979 to 2008. The dwindling white sunshade exposes ground or water, both of which are darker and absorb more heat.
The United States is working on re-establishing its military bases in the Philippines, a Filipino bishop said today. 
