The world is not respectable; it is mortal, tormented, confused, deluded … with glints of courage and laughter; and in these, the spirit blooms…
– George Santayana
New York City officials set a July deadline yesterday for a city contractor to have a wireless network up and running in Central Park, in what would be a major expansion of free Internet access that the city plans to replicate across its vast ribbons of parkland during the next several years…
…In pushing ahead, New York is, perhaps, trying to catch up with other cities, including Philadelphia and San Francisco, which have vowed to create citywide wireless networks and to treat Internet access as a broadly available public utility.
Catching up to Philly shouldn’t be hard: I think only one park has wireless so far.
Over the last six years, as the Musée de l’Orangerie underwent a $36 million renovation and expansion, its most valued treasure, the eight tranquil paintings of Monet’s large-format waterlily series, remained trapped inside a noisy and muddy building site…
…Built in 1852 to house an orange grove, with a glass facade facing south across the Seine, the Orangerie was used to billet soldiers on leave from the trenches during World War I. After the armistice of Nov. 11, 1918, the French prime minister, Georges Clemenceau, invited his friend Claude Monet to display his large-format nymphéas there.
Monet had been working on them since 1914 in a spacious studio added onto his Normandy home in Giverny. And he would continue painting these vast canvases until his death at 86. The following year, 1927, eight were finally installed in two specially designed oval-shaped rooms in the Orangerie.
Waterlilies dominated the last 30 years of Monet’s life.
WASHINGTON, DC, May 16, 2006 (ENS) – The Jordan River is dying and the Jordanian and Israeli governments are failing to come to its aid, according to local officials and environmentalists from both sides of the revered river, scene of many events of Biblical history.
The international community needs to make saving the river a priority, the delegation told a Washington, DC audience, and should encourage Jordan, Israel, Syria and the Palestinian Authority to develop a regional environmental and economic rehabilitation effort.
“We cannot say our governments are doing nothing, but they are not doing enough,” said Dov Litvinoff, mayor of the Tamar Dead Sea Region Council in Israel.
The river and the ecosystem it supports, including the Dead Sea, face “ecological catastrophe,” said Litvinoff, who was joined at the forum by two Jordanian mayors, a fellow Israeli mayor, the mayor of Jericho, and three directors of Friends of the Earth Middle East (FOEME).
The delegation spoke last week to an audience at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, a nonpartisan institute for advanced study.
“We are here to tell the world that we need help to preserve this wonder, to preserve one of the most unique places in the world,” Litvinoff said. “We came here to shout loudly – all the mayors – for the world to help us.”
Although there is growing international concern about the state of the Dead Sea, the delegation said, most of the world is unaware of the sorry state of the Jordan River because much of the river flows through a closed military zone.
TORONTO, ONTARIO (Market Wire) May 15 — Hollinger Inc. announced that it has signed a Cooperation Agreement with the United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois (“USAO”). In signing the Agreement, Hollinger has agreed to fully cooperate with the USAO’s ongoing investigation and prosecution of Conrad Black, Jack Boultbee, Peter Atkinson, Mark Kipnis and The Ravelston Corporation Limited.
The USAO has agreed not to prosecute Hollinger for any crimes committed by its former officers, directors or employees relating to the $16.55 million in non-compete payments diverted from Hollinger International Inc. to Hollinger, as long as Hollinger abides by the terms of the Cooperation Agreement.
The full text of the Cooperation Agreement is appended to this news release.
According to the BBC, bugs are already appearing in one of the industrialized world’s most publicized weapons for fighting climate change – the program for trading carbon emissions. The big idea is that polluters can keep emitting carbon dioxide – the most damaging greenhouse gas – and even make money, if they are able to cut emissions, by trading the pollution. But several recent developments in the carbon markets, especially under the European Trading Scheme (ETS), have raised the question about how well this market actually works. According to Tony Ward, energy director of consultancy Ernst & Young, unpredictability within the ETS has had a two-fold effect: “ETS has created volatility in carbon prices and it has also [failed to] encourage meaningful investment in carbon reducing technologies.” It is this second aspect that most concerns opponents of carbon trading. By allowing polluters to keep polluting, carbon trading fails to change the underlying behavior that causes emissions, they say. The N.Y. Times has its take on emissions trading in today’s business section as well.
A white bear with brown patches shot dead in northern Canada is the first grizzly-polar hybrid found in the wild, DNA tests have confirmed. Canadian wildlife officials say it is the offspring of a male grizzly bear and a female polar bear. Until now, grizzly-polar hybrids, dubbed “grolar bears” or “pizzlies”, have been found only in zoos. The hybrid bear was shot last month by an American big game hunter on Banks Island, Northwest Territories, Canada.
Tiny “bubbles” may deliver genes to help fight diabetes, researchers say. Their experiments in rats have shown that this method can deliver insulin genes specifically to the pancreas, where insulin is needed. The team injected microscopic spherical shells into rodents, and using a directed ultrasonic pulse they caused the bubbles to break and release their genetic contents in the target organ.
Another example of “everything’s connected”: The first ecosystem-scale experiment confirms that the sulfate in acid rain speeds up the production of the methylmercury that bioaccumulates in fish. The research implies that acid-rain regulations, such as the 2005 Clean Air Interstate Rule, could control methylmercury as well and thus tempt policymakers to relax controls on mercury itself. However, any evidence that acid rain controls alone could reduce mercury concentrations in fish will take 15 to 20 years to be fully evident.
To find other Earths, we’re going to have to search from space: The most sophisticated simulations yet conducted show that it will never be possible to detect Earth-sized planets around other stars using ground-based observatories on Earth, due to uncorrectable atmospheric interference. The smallest planets that can be detected on the ground are Jupiter-sized.
And here are some hopeful environmental news items, after several gloomy days here in the Science Headlines:
– Environmentalists and corporations are engaging in a new spirit of compromise: If politics makes for strange bedfellows, global warming, dwindling water supplies and scary new technologies have made for even stranger ones. “Our informal motto used to be ‘Sue the bastards,’ ” Fred Krupp, the president of Environmental Defense, said. “Now our official tagline is, ‘Finding the ways that work.’ “
– An Italian company has begun marketing a cement that is capable of decomposing pollution from vehicles. Italcementi, which spent 10 years developing its TX Active, said the building material is capable of reducing urban pollution by more than 40 percent, the Italian news agency ANSA reported Tuesday. Tests on a road near Milan showed TX Active cut the levels of nitrogen dioxide and carbon monoxide by as much as 65 percent. The cement functions via a chemical process called photocatalysis, where sunlight triggers a chemical reaction when titanium dioxide on the surface of the cement comes into contact with pollutants in the air. TX Active works most effectively in bright sunlight.
The Washington Post – ABC NEWS POLL: Trust in GOP Is Eroding
Notice that Democrats are now trusted more to deal with terrorism. These numbers are encouraging. With all the recent bombshells on domestic spying and some of the more doomsday diaries, I thought that this graphic would raise some spirits. I know it sure helped my spirits.
Iraq’s Impending Fracture to Produce Political Earthquake in Turkey
Unusual political stability in Turkey faces upheaval from Iraq’s impending fracture along sectarian lines. The birth of an independent Kurdish state in northern Iraq will end Turkey’s E.U. accession hopes. The collapse of the accession process will strongly undermine the legitimacy of the ruling Justice and Development Party (A.K.P.), making it increasingly vulnerable to political attacks from Turkey’s secular establishment. These attacks could prompt the disintegration of the Erdogan government as soon as the end of 2006. [snip]
Bush administration officials blame the escalation of sectarian violence in Iraq on the inability of the country’s political parties to form a government. More likely, it is the other way around. Iraq’s descent into civil war, which began with the February 2006 bombing of the al-Askari mosque in Samarra, has made it impossible for Shi’a and Sunni political parties to work together. Meanwhile, sectarian violence has raged out of control. At least 3,000 Iraqis have died in sectarian-related violence since February 2006. [snip]
In the past six months, the Turkish military has amassed nearly 250,000 troops in southeastern Turkey and along the border between Turkey and Iraq. This buildup has two aims: thwarting Turkey’s own Kurdish separatists operating in the region and protecting the interests of the Turcoman population in Iraqi Kurdistan. The birth of an independent Kurdistan could agitate Turkey’s Kurdish population, which has suffered decades of repression at the hands of the Turkish military. It could also undermine the rights of the Turcoman living in Kurdistan.
The militarization of southeastern Turkey in response to Iraq’s fracturing and moves toward Kurdish independence has already prompted new repression designed to foil any separatist designs by Turkey’s Kurds. This repression, combined with probable Turkish military action against the new Kurdistan, will probably end Turkey’s hopes of eventual E.U. accession. Without E.U. accession as an anchor, the Erdogan government will quickly lose its legitimacy.
Not only has Turkey massed troops on the Northern Iraqi border; Iran also has a troop buildup and has begun lobbing bombs into the Kurdish mountains. Iran also has a significant Kurdish population. Iraq is not in a vacuum. The whole region is destabilizing along with Iraq. In the US media we hear none of this… it’s been sanitized for your protection.
BROOKLIN, Canada, May 17 (IPS) – The world is now eating more food than farmers grow, pushing global grain stocks to their lowest level in 30 years.
Rising population, water shortages, climate change, and the growing costs of fossil fuel-based fertilisers point to a calamitous shortfall in the world’s grain supplies in the near future, according to Canada’s National Farmers Union (NFU).
Thirty years ago, the oceans were teeming with fish, but today more people rely on farmers to produce their food than ever before, says Stewart Wells, NFU’s president.
In five of the last six years, global population ate significantly more grains than farmers produced.
Ecuadorean President Alfredo Palacio sent troops to guard oil facilities seized from Occidental Petroleum Corp. as they are transferred to state control, officials said Tuesday.
But officials said the cancellation of Occidental’s operating contracts and the seizure of its assets did not mean the Andean nation is nationalizing its oil industry.
Defence Minister Oswaldo Jarrin told reporters late Tuesday that Mr. Palacio issued a decree directing the soldiers, who started arriving to the oil fields earlier in the day, “to provide protection and safekeeping” for up to 60 days “of all hydrocarbon complexes” formerly held by the U.S.-based oil company.
(snip)
Occidental produces about 100,000 barrels of crude daily in Ecuador, about 20 per cent of the country’s total output, and has invested about $1-billion (U.S.) since 1999 in its operations.
“The state awarded Occidental the development of a resource, but now it must leave the country for having failed to meet its contract and violated the laws,” Fernando Gonzalez, president of state-run PetroEcuador, told reporters early Tuesday.
How fortunate for Ecuador that their production is only about 500,000 bbl/day…
Troops to come mostly from South Asian, African and Islamic nations, diplomats say
UNITED NATIONS — The Security Council voted unanimously yesterday to begin the process of establishing a UN peacekeeping force to end the slaughter of civilians in the Darfur region of Sudan.
The 15-member United Nations body also threatened to take “strong and effective measures” against any group or individual that violates or blocks the implementation of a peace agreement signed by Khartoum and the main Darfur rebel group almost two weeks ago.
(snip)
UN diplomats say the force is expected to be largely drawn from African, South Asian and Islamic nations so as to reduce opposition to the move in Khartoum, while the United States and NATO would provide logistical support behind the scenes.
I’ve heard (perhaps on DemocracyNow!) that there are thousands of refugee camps that are lawless misery holes. I doubt that the UN can send anywhere near enough troops to make much of a difference, sadly.
This is true, Nag.
The challenges are astronomic. I have no figure for the number of camps, but we are talking in excess of 3.2 million refugees.
Currently the UN estimates that the conflict-affected population in Darfur stands at a staggering 3.2 million, about 1.4 million of them children under 18 and 500,000 children under 5. Over 1.8 million people have been forced to flee their homes and relocate in camps in Darfur, and more than 200,000 have fled across the border into eastern Chad.
I was asking someone about this last night, and he heard that the US wants to build a wall between US and Canada … haven’t found a link to that yet but it wouldn’t surprise me.
The U.S. government has no plans to post soldiers along the Canadian border, U.S. Ambassador David Wilkins said Tuesday.
Some officials had raised the possibility after U.S. President George W. Bush outlined new border security and immigration measures in a speech on Monday night.
But in a statement released Tuesday, Wilkins said the president’s plan “is designed specifically for our southern border. There are no changes for our northern border.”
Bush didn’t mention Canada in his speech, but administration officials indicated that northern state governors might ask to have National Guard troops sent to the Canadian border, Canadian Press reported. (…)
Oh, sure. Let’s send another 6,000 troops North and then maybe we can use a few thousand more to help with port security. Then come hurricane season, Governors will have to wait in a long line to be able to call up their own troops.
Thanks, Olivia, I had totally missed this little tidbit.
From Attytood , the Philiadelphia Inquirer’s blog.
The coming tidal wave
If there really is such a thing as a “Starbucks Republican” (aside from Rick Santorum), he (or she) lives in Chester County, Pa. The western exurban fringe of the Philadelphia area, it is a woody sprawl of bland subdivisions, gleaming office parks, and Ruby Tuesday’s hamburger joints.
Overwhelmingly white and upscale, Chester County has voted for Bush even as Pennsylvania has become a “blue state” and Philly’s other suburbs went Democratic. (In fact, the last GOP presidential candidate it shunned was Barry Goldwater in 1964.) Voters in Chester County normally care about three issues: Lowering taxes, reducing taxes, and preventing higher taxes.
That’s why anyone seeking a Democratic tidal wave in 2006 need look no further. There was only one major special election in Pa. last night — thus pitting a Republican against a Democrat — and it was in Chester County. Check out what happened:
Andrew Dinniman has defeated Republican Carol Aichele to become the first Democratic state senator from Chester County in memory.
I lived in Chester county back in the early 70’s for a short time and even then it voted Repub. Woohoo… this is fantastic. Let’s hope that it is an indicator of things to come.
I live in Chester County, and I was psyched to see Andy had beaten Carol last night. Carol is the county commissioner whose favorite trick was calling secret meetings at her home and not inviting some of the members (one of whom was Andy) and then she tried to campaign against him by saying he had “missed” meetings. Not to mention trying to get pro-choice AND pro-life support at the same time…
According to CNN’s Kyra Phillips a few minutes ago, administration sources expect the Hayden nomination to go through with little difficulty. Damn, I was really counting on anonymous White House-coordinated leakers to lead the opposition. I guess we might as well give up now.
in Central Park this summer? NYT
Catching up to Philly shouldn’t be hard: I think only one park has wireless so far.
Newly re-opened: NYT
Link
.
TORONTO, ONTARIO (Market Wire) May 15 — Hollinger Inc. announced that it has signed a Cooperation Agreement with the United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois (“USAO”). In signing the Agreement, Hollinger has agreed to fully cooperate with the USAO’s ongoing investigation and prosecution of Conrad Black, Jack Boultbee, Peter Atkinson, Mark Kipnis and The Ravelston Corporation Limited.
The USAO has agreed not to prosecute Hollinger for any crimes committed by its former officers, directors or employees relating to the $16.55 million in non-compete payments diverted from Hollinger International Inc. to Hollinger, as long as Hollinger abides by the terms of the Cooperation Agreement.
The full text of the Cooperation Agreement is appended to this news release.
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."▼ ▼ ▼ MY DIARY
According to the BBC, bugs are already appearing in one of the industrialized world’s most publicized weapons for fighting climate change – the program for trading carbon emissions. The big idea is that polluters can keep emitting carbon dioxide – the most damaging greenhouse gas – and even make money, if they are able to cut emissions, by trading the pollution. But several recent developments in the carbon markets, especially under the European Trading Scheme (ETS), have raised the question about how well this market actually works. According to Tony Ward, energy director of consultancy Ernst & Young, unpredictability within the ETS has had a two-fold effect: “ETS has created volatility in carbon prices and it has also [failed to] encourage meaningful investment in carbon reducing technologies.” It is this second aspect that most concerns opponents of carbon trading. By allowing polluters to keep polluting, carbon trading fails to change the underlying behavior that causes emissions, they say. The N.Y. Times has its take on emissions trading in today’s business section as well.
Scientists have uncovered a class of gold atom clusters that are the first known metallic hollow equivalents of the famous hollow carbon fullerenes known as buckyballs, named after Buckminster Fuller. Their discoverers call the molecules “hollow golden cages.” While fullerene is made up of a sphere of 60 carbon atoms; gold requires many fewer–16, 17 and 18 atoms, in triangular configurations more gem-like than soccer ball. At more than 6 angstroms across, or roughly a ten-millionth the size of this comma, they are nonetheless roomy enough to cage a smaller atom.
A white bear with brown patches shot dead in northern Canada is the first grizzly-polar hybrid found in the wild, DNA tests have confirmed. Canadian wildlife officials say it is the offspring of a male grizzly bear and a female polar bear. Until now, grizzly-polar hybrids, dubbed “grolar bears” or “pizzlies”, have been found only in zoos. The hybrid bear was shot last month by an American big game hunter on Banks Island, Northwest Territories, Canada.
Tiny “bubbles” may deliver genes to help fight diabetes, researchers say. Their experiments in rats have shown that this method can deliver insulin genes specifically to the pancreas, where insulin is needed. The team injected microscopic spherical shells into rodents, and using a directed ultrasonic pulse they caused the bubbles to break and release their genetic contents in the target organ.
Another example of “everything’s connected”: The first ecosystem-scale experiment confirms that the sulfate in acid rain speeds up the production of the methylmercury that bioaccumulates in fish. The research implies that acid-rain regulations, such as the 2005 Clean Air Interstate Rule, could control methylmercury as well and thus tempt policymakers to relax controls on mercury itself. However, any evidence that acid rain controls alone could reduce mercury concentrations in fish will take 15 to 20 years to be fully evident.
To find other Earths, we’re going to have to search from space: The most sophisticated simulations yet conducted show that it will never be possible to detect Earth-sized planets around other stars using ground-based observatories on Earth, due to uncorrectable atmospheric interference. The smallest planets that can be detected on the ground are Jupiter-sized.
Here’s another one of those animal studies that make you take a second look at human nature: A study, published today in Nature, shows that lower-ranked female wasps work harder to help their queen than those higher up the chain because they have less to lose, and consequently are prepared to take more risks and wear themselves out. The study reveals that those higher up the chain and therefore with a greater chance of being the next in line to breed are much lazier than their lower-ranked nest-mates: rather than use up their energy in foraging to feed the queen’s larvae, high-rankers sit tight on the nest and wait for their chance to become queen themselves. Hmmmmm…
link to WaPost page… behind free sub.
Notice that Democrats are now trusted more to deal with terrorism. These numbers are encouraging. With all the recent bombshells on domestic spying and some of the more doomsday diaries, I thought that this graphic would raise some spirits. I know it sure helped my spirits.
.
Vietnam -- 5/71 61%
Iraq -- today 59%
Korea -- 3/52 51%
Serbia -- 6/99 47%
Gulf War I -- 1/91 30%
Afghanistan -- 11/01 9%
16. Do you aprove or disapprove of the way (ITEM) are doing their job?
May 15 2006 – Summary Table
Approve Disapprove No opinion
a. the Republicans in Congress 33 64 3
b. the Democrats in Congress 39 58 4
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."▼ ▼ ▼ MY DIARY
This link comes from Juan Cole.
Unusual political stability in Turkey faces upheaval from Iraq’s impending fracture along sectarian lines. The birth of an independent Kurdish state in northern Iraq will end Turkey’s E.U. accession hopes. The collapse of the accession process will strongly undermine the legitimacy of the ruling Justice and Development Party (A.K.P.), making it increasingly vulnerable to political attacks from Turkey’s secular establishment. These attacks could prompt the disintegration of the Erdogan government as soon as the end of 2006.
[snip]
Bush administration officials blame the escalation of sectarian violence in Iraq on the inability of the country’s political parties to form a government. More likely, it is the other way around. Iraq’s descent into civil war, which began with the February 2006 bombing of the al-Askari mosque in Samarra, has made it impossible for Shi’a and Sunni political parties to work together. Meanwhile, sectarian violence has raged out of control. At least 3,000 Iraqis have died in sectarian-related violence since February 2006.
[snip]
In the past six months, the Turkish military has amassed nearly 250,000 troops in southeastern Turkey and along the border between Turkey and Iraq. This buildup has two aims: thwarting Turkey’s own Kurdish separatists operating in the region and protecting the interests of the Turcoman population in Iraqi Kurdistan. The birth of an independent Kurdistan could agitate Turkey’s Kurdish population, which has suffered decades of repression at the hands of the Turkish military. It could also undermine the rights of the Turcoman living in Kurdistan.
The militarization of southeastern Turkey in response to Iraq’s fracturing and moves toward Kurdish independence has already prompted new repression designed to foil any separatist designs by Turkey’s Kurds. This repression, combined with probable Turkish military action against the new Kurdistan, will probably end Turkey’s hopes of eventual E.U. accession. Without E.U. accession as an anchor, the Erdogan government will quickly lose its legitimacy.
Not only has Turkey massed troops on the Northern Iraqi border; Iran also has a troop buildup and has begun lobbing bombs into the Kurdish mountains. Iran also has a significant Kurdish population. Iraq is not in a vacuum. The whole region is destabilizing along with Iraq. In the US media we hear none of this… it’s been sanitized for your protection.
Global Food Supply Near the Breaking Point
Ecuador sends military to seized oil facilities
How fortunate for Ecuador that their production is only about 500,000 bbl/day…
UN decides to send peacekeepers to Darfur
I’ve heard (perhaps on DemocracyNow!) that there are thousands of refugee camps that are lawless misery holes. I doubt that the UN can send anywhere near enough troops to make much of a difference, sadly.
This is true, Nag.
The challenges are astronomic. I have no figure for the number of camps, but we are talking in excess of 3.2 million refugees.
This is a good resource page.
I was asking someone about this last night, and he heard that the US wants to build a wall between US and Canada … haven’t found a link to that yet but it wouldn’t surprise me.
No troops on Canada-U.S. border, U.S. ambassador says
Oh, sure. Let’s send another 6,000 troops North and then maybe we can use a few thousand more to help with port security. Then come hurricane season, Governors will have to wait in a long line to be able to call up their own troops.
Thanks, Olivia, I had totally missed this little tidbit.
Is it to keep others out or you all in?
I think it’s to keep us clod-hoppers from trampling your flower gardens, so you’d better show a little gratitude! 😉
I could put up w/ a little garden stomping. 🙂
From Attytood , the Philiadelphia Inquirer’s blog.
If there really is such a thing as a “Starbucks Republican” (aside from Rick Santorum), he (or she) lives in Chester County, Pa. The western exurban fringe of the Philadelphia area, it is a woody sprawl of bland subdivisions, gleaming office parks, and Ruby Tuesday’s hamburger joints.
Overwhelmingly white and upscale, Chester County has voted for Bush even as Pennsylvania has become a “blue state” and Philly’s other suburbs went Democratic. (In fact, the last GOP presidential candidate it shunned was Barry Goldwater in 1964.) Voters in Chester County normally care about three issues: Lowering taxes, reducing taxes, and preventing higher taxes.
That’s why anyone seeking a Democratic tidal wave in 2006 need look no further. There was only one major special election in Pa. last night — thus pitting a Republican against a Democrat — and it was in Chester County. Check out what happened:
Andrew Dinniman has defeated Republican Carol Aichele to become the first Democratic state senator from Chester County in memory.
I lived in Chester county back in the early 70’s for a short time and even then it voted Repub. Woohoo… this is fantastic. Let’s hope that it is an indicator of things to come.
I live in Chester County, and I was psyched to see Andy had beaten Carol last night. Carol is the county commissioner whose favorite trick was calling secret meetings at her home and not inviting some of the members (one of whom was Andy) and then she tried to campaign against him by saying he had “missed” meetings. Not to mention trying to get pro-choice AND pro-life support at the same time…
Glad she lost.
According to CNN’s Kyra Phillips a few minutes ago, administration sources expect the Hayden nomination to go through with little difficulty. Damn, I was really counting on anonymous White House-coordinated leakers to lead the opposition. I guess we might as well give up now.