February 2, 2011
The mood of the demonstrators in Cairo is captured by the waving shoes in Tahrir Square as Mubarak announces he will not stand again — far too little, much too late.
The political message of shoe throwing or waving is quite unambiguous.
The shoes are out in Tahrir Square: image i.huffpost.com
In the meantime the duplicitous and corrupt Tony Blair praises Mubarak and reveals his view of democracy – “Democracy is Ok provided I like the result” !!!!!
“Blair said that meant there should not be a rush to elections in Egypt.”
It is incomprehensible for me that a corrupt and intellectually bankrupt lightweight such as Tony Blair with all his demonstrated failings could be “rewarded” by being made an envoy to the Middle East.
Tags: corruption, duplicity, Egypt, Hosni Mubarak, revolution, shoe throwing, shoe waving, Tahrir Square, Tony Blair
Posted in Behaviour, Corruption, Egypt | 1 Comment »
February 2, 2011
Dallas Morning News:
Rain, sleet and snow pushing ahead of the coldest weather in more than 20 years left broad swaths of North Texas virtually impassable Tuesday. And with below-freezing temperatures locked in until at least Friday, conditions won’t improve soon.
Low temperatures Wednesday morning will be in the single digits across much of the Dallas area, and the afternoon will warm only to the low 20s, forecasters said, meaning the snow and ice that paralyzed the region Tuesday will linger, especially along neighborhood streets.
Crews work to clear a wreck involving an 18-wheeler on northbound I-35E at Pleasant Run Road. Photo: Jim Mahoney/Staff Photographer
New York Times:
A paralyzing 2,000-mile swath of winter at its snowy, icy, messy worst pushed eastward across the United States on Tuesday, disrupting the rhythms of everyday life and punctuating this season’s recurring lesson that humankind has no dominion over nature.
Airlines canceled thousands of flights. Governors called out the National Guard. Schools closed early, if they opened at all. Interstate highways became treacherous ribbons of black ice. Top officials from the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agencyapprised President Obama of their battle plans for foul weather threatening more than 30 states.
By Tuesday evening, the storm had brought Tulsa to a virtual halt with more than a foot of snow, layered the roadways of St. Louis with an icy sheen, and draped Chicago with a swirling snowfall so thick that the white-gray sky and the gray-white ground blurred into one enveloping test pattern. All the while, the storm was moving inexorably to the Northeast, where many people watched the televised weather reports — of blinding snow and stranded cars — and imagined their Wednesday. …..
The National Weather Service was issuing warnings for certain areas that read like snippets from a disaster-movie screenplay:
“DANGEROUS MULTIFACETED AND LIFE-THREATENING WINTER STORM … BEFORE MAKING DECISION TO TRAVEL … CONSIDER IF GETTING TO YOUR DESTINATION IS WORTH PUTTING YOUR LIFE AT RISK … DO NOT TRAVEL! IF YOU ABSOLUTELY MUST TRAVEL … HAVE A WINTER SURVIVAL KIT WITH YOU.”
Rex Benz of Moline, Ill., did not let conditions stop him from his job search recently. Todd Mizener/The Dispatch, via Associated Press
Tags: ice in Dallas, Super storm, United States, Winter storm
Posted in US, Weather | Comments Off on Ice in Dallas as super-storm ranges from Texas to Maine
February 2, 2011
Cyclone Yasi still at Category 5 strength is due to hit the North Queensland coast in about 8 hours from now (between midnight and 0100 on 3rd February local time).
Yasi approaching: image news.com.au
The latest BoM warning is warning of a dangerous storm tide as well as destructive winds.
Yasi track: bom.gov.au
SEVERE TROPICAL CYCLONE YASI IS A LARGE AND VERY POWERFUL TROPICAL CYCLONE AND POSES AN EXTREMELY SERIOUS THREAT TO LIFE AND PROPERTY WITHIN THE WARNING AREA, ESPECIALLY BETWEEN CAIRNS AND TOWNSVILLE.
DURING THE EVENING, THE VERY DESTRUCTIVE CORE OF CYCLONE YASI WILL CROSS THE COAST BETWEEN CAIRNS AND INGHAM, ACCOMPANIED BY A DANGEROUS STORM TIDE SOUTH OF THE CYCLONE CENTRE.
Tropical Cyclone Yasi, CATEGORY 5, will continue to move in a west-southwesterly direction. The cyclone is expected to cross the coast between Innisfail and Cardwell close to midnight.
Coastal residents within the warning area, and particularly between Cairns and Proserpine including the Whitsundays, are specifically warned of an EXTREMELY DANGEROUS SEA LEVEL RISE [i.e. storm tide] as the cyclone approaches, crosses the coast and moves inland. The sea is likely to steadily rise up to a level which will be VERY DANGEROUSLY above the normal tide, with EXTREMELY DAMAGING WAVES, STRONG CURRENTS and FLOODING of low-lying areas extending some way inland. People living in areas likely to be affected by this flooding should take measures to protect their property as much as possible, and be prepared to follow instructions regarding evacuation of the area if advised to do so by authorities.
DAMAGING WINDS with gusts to 90 km/hr are currently affecting the coast and islands, and are forecast to spread into the tropical interior overnight and west to Julia Creek during Thursday.
Between Port Douglas and Ayr these winds will become DESTRUCTIVE with gusts in excess of 125 km/hr developing during this afternoon and early evening, spreading into the tropical interior overnight. VERY DESTRUCTIVE winds with gusts up to 290 km/hr are expected to develop between Cairns and Ingham during the evening as the cyclone approaches and crosses the coast. These VERY DESTRUCTIVE winds will also occur on the seaward side of hills to the north of the cyclone and also affect the Atherton Tablelands.
Due to the large size of the cyclone, people in the path of the VERY DESTRUCTIVE WINDS are likely to experience these conditions for about 3 to 4 hours.
Tags: Cairns Queensland, Category 5, Cyclone Yasi, destructive winds, storm surge
Posted in Australia, Natural Disasters, Weather | Comments Off on Queensland prepares as Yasi is due to hit in 8 hours
February 1, 2011
Asahi News reports:
Mount Shinmoedake. (Yusaku Kanagawa)
MIYAZAKI–Hundreds of residents have fled their homes as fears are growing that volcanic activity on Mount Shinmoedake will culminate in a huge eruption triggering destructive pyroclastic flows of searing gases and rocks.
The town of Takaharu in Miyazaki Prefecture advised 513 households of 1,158 residents to evacuate from late Sunday night. About 600 braved the frigid temperatures and arrived by Monday morning to take shelter at public facilities in the town. The 1,421-meter volcano, part of the Kirishima mountain range straddling Miyazaki and Kagoshima prefectures, began erupting last week for the first time in 52 years, spewing rocks and ash that blanketed nearby areas.
The Fukuoka District Meteorological Observatory said the diameter of the lava dome, which was found within the crater last Friday, had grown from dozens of meters to 500 meters. The crater is 700 meters in diameter.
Motoo Ukawa, director of the Volcano Research Department at the National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Prevention, said the lava dome may be preventing the magma from escaping, causing the pressure of the volcanic gas to build.
Such a situation could lead to an explosive eruption that destroys the dome and sends large-scale pyroclastic flows down the mountain slopes, Ukawa and officials warn. The eruptions at Shinmoedake are the first large-scale ones since 1716, when major eruptions continued for a year and a half.
Tags: Kirishima, lava dome, Miyazaki Prefecture, Mount Shinmoedake, Takaharu Miyazaki, Volcano
Posted in Japan, Volcanos | Comments Off on Lava dome has expanded within the crater of Mount Shinmoedake in the Kirishima range
February 1, 2011
The Australian BoM warning for northern Queensland is being couched in stronger language as Cyclone Yasi has intensified to category 5. This is the highest level on the Seffir-Simpson Scale and Category 5 is reserved for storms with winds exceeding 155 mph (69 m/s; 135 kn; 249 km/h).
SEVERE TC YASI IS A LARGE AND VERY POWERFUL TROPICAL CYCLONE AND POSES AN EXTREMELY SERIOUS THREAT TO LIFE AND PROPERTY WITHIN THE WARNING AREA, ESPECIALLY BETWEEN PORT DOUGLAS AND TOWNSVILLE.
THIS IMPACT IS LIKELY TO BE MORE LIFE THREATENING THAN ANY EXPERIENCED DURING RECENT GENERATIONS.
The Cyclone has now reached CATEGORY 5 and will continue to move in a west-southwesterly direction during today.
image: bom.au.gov
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Tags: Category 5, Cyclone Yasi, Queensland, Saffir–Simpson Hurricane Scale
Posted in Australia, Natural Disasters, Weather | Comments Off on Cyclone Yasi intensifies to category 5
February 1, 2011
Only 3 more flights – money permitting – for an iconic series of space craft before they are retired.
BBC:
The US shuttle Discovery has rolled out for what should be its final mission. The orbiter completed its slow journey to the Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Pad 39A overnight, Monday into Tuesday.
Discovery’s flight to the space station is scheduled to begin on 24 February. With its crew of six astronauts, the ship will deliver a storeroom to be attached to the 350km-high platform, along with further supplies and spares.
NASA last tried to launch the vehicle in November but technical hitches, including cracks on its giant external fuel tank, kept the ship on the ground. The agency said engineers had now fixed those defects and carried out further work to strengthen the tank.
President Barack Obama and the US Congress have determined that the shuttle fleet should be retired this year. Discovery is the oldest of the three surviving orbiters. First launched in 1984, it has since completed 38 missions, travelling some 230 million km in the process. Endeavour is expected to fly to the station in April. Atlantis will go no earlier than June, if Nasa has sufficient money left in its shuttle programme budget.
Following the fleet’s retirement, the plan is for US astronauts to fly to the space station on Russian Soyuz rockets until perhaps the middle of the decade.
Space shuttle Discovery : image NASA
Tags: Discovery final mission, International Space Station, NASA, Space shuttle Atlantis, Space Shuttle Discovery, Space shuttle Endeavour
Posted in Science, Space, US | 1 Comment »
February 1, 2011
Tony Blair: Image via Wikipedia
Apparently Tony Blair and his government were more than mere US poodles. That Blair was an accomplished liar regarding his “sexed up” Iraq dossiers has become apparent. But that he had (has) little sense of ethics and could treat with the Devil for the sake of trade deals has always been suspected but is coming out clearly now.
British ministers secretly advised Libya on securing the successful early release of the Lockerbie bomber and demonstrate that Tony Blair’s Government was “playing false” over the issue.
If corruption is taken to be “having or showing a willingness to act dishonestly in return for money” it is not difficult to attach a label to Tony Blair and his government.
The Telegraph:
A Foreign Office minister sent Libyan officials detailed legal advice on how to use Abdelbaset al-Megrahi’s cancer diagnosis to ensure he was released from a Scottish prison on compassionate grounds, documents obtained by the Daily Telegraph show.
The Duke of York is also said to have played a behind-the-scenes role in encouraging the terrorist’s release.
The Scottish First Minister said the revelations confirm that while his administration acted according to its public pronouncements on the affair, Tony Blair’s Government was behaving duplicitously.
“The cables … show that the former UK Government were playing false on the issue, with a different public position from their private one,” said a statement released by Mr Salmond’s office.
Downing Street maintained at the time that is was not complicit in the release of al-Megrahi, and that the decision to free the convicted terrorist was taken by the Scottish Executive alone.
The Libyans closely followed the advice which led to the controversial release of Megrahi – who was convicted of the murder of 270 passengers on Pan Am Flight 103 – within months of the Foreign Office’s secret intervention.
According to American officials, Mr Blair was suspected of securing trade deals after agreeing to include Megrahi in the agreement.
After Megrahi was released in August 2009, another American document records Colonel Muammar Gaddafi’s comments – which suggest that Prince Andrew, the UK’s trade envoy, may have played a role. The document records: “He [Gaddafi] went on to thank his ‘friend Brown’, the British Prime Minister, his government, Queen Elizabeth, and Prince Andrew, who ‘against all odds encouraged this brave decision’. [Gaddafi] noted that the UK efforts would positively affect ‘exchange’ between the two countries.
Tags: Blair's governmnt engineered Megrahi release, corruption, First Minister of Scotland, Lockerbie bomber release, Muammar al-Gaddafi, Prince Andrew, Tony Blair
Posted in Behaviour, Business, Corruption, Ethics, International Trade, UK | 2 Comments »
February 1, 2011
Husky dog sled: Image by Feuillu via Flickr
Outdoor Adventures Whistler (ph.604 932 0647) ordered the massacre of up to 100 huskies when their business dipped after the Winter Olymics.
Barbarism takes many forms and is not confined to the Balkans or the Middle East or Afghanistan or Africa. It is also found in British Columbia.
UPI reports:
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Jan. 31 (UPI) — A dogsled tour company in British Columbia is accused of killing 100 dogs when its business faded after the Winter Olympics in Vancouver.
Vancouver radio station CKNW said documents from WorkSafeBC, the provincial occupational health agency, show an employee of Outdoor Adventures Whistler got compensation for post-traumatic stress disorder after allegedly being made to kill the dogs.
The radio station reported the dogs were shot or had their throats cut, and were buried in a mass grave.
Read more: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2011/01/31/Sled-operator-accused-of-killing-100-dogs/UPI-47971296497350/#ixzz1Ch1K4uQo
Tags: British Columbia, Dog massacre, Husky massacre, Outdoor Adventures Whistler
Posted in Behaviour, Canada | 4 Comments »
February 1, 2011
This is actually two years old from 27th July 2008 but is doing the rounds again on Twitter.
But as a commentary on the competence of some of the more superficial main stream media it remains valid.
Tags: geography, incompetence, media
Posted in Media | Comments Off on Egypt, Iraq, Who Cares!
February 1, 2011
Northern Queensland is bracing itself for Cyclone Yasi which is now expected to cross the coast at about 1am on Thursday morning (3rd February).
The Australian BOM has this warning:
YASI IS A LARGE AND POWERFUL TROPICAL CYCLONE AND POSES A SERIOUS THREAT TO NORTH QUEENSLAND COMMUNITIES
Cyclone Yasi track: image bom.gov.au
- The cyclone is expected to slowly intensify overnight as it moves westwards over the Coral Sea.
- SEVERE TROPICAL CYCLONE YASI, CATEGORY 3 is expected to turn on a more west-southwesterly direction in the next 12 hours.
- DAMAGING winds with gusts to 90 km/hr are expected to develop on the islands during Wednesday morning, then extend onto the coast during the day, and further inland across southern Cape York Peninsula and north of Charters Towers overnight.
- Between Cooktown and Townsville these winds will become DESTRUCTIVE with gusts in excess of 125km/hr late Wednesday afternoon.
- As the centre approaches the coast sea levels will rise above the normal tide with damaging waves and flooding of low lying areas near the shoreline.
- Flooding rains will develop from Cooktown to Sarina during Wednesday afternoon and then extend inland overnight.
- People between Cooktown and Sarina should immediately commence or continue preparations, especially securing boats and property [using available daylight hours/before nightfall].
SMH reports that forced evacuations are are now taking place:
Authorities doorknocking homes in north Queensland are now ordering people to leave their properties, as severe Tropical Cyclone Yasi bears down.
Queensland Premier Anna Bligh said this afternoon councils between Cook and Hinchinbrook shires had given the go-ahead for forced evacuations to be carried out, amid fears a storm surge would cause water levels to rise by two metres.
She said officials who were door-knocking homes in high-risk areas now had the power to issue directives for people to leave.
Cyclone Yasi approaches the Australian coast from the Coral Sea. Photo: Reuters/Japan Meteorological Agency
Tags: Cairns, Cyclone Yasi, North Queensland, Tropical cyclone
Posted in Australia, Natural Disasters, Weather | Comments Off on Cyclone Yasi is intensifying and closing
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