The Linnean Society of London is to publish a biological survey of the Yasuní National Park located in Ecuador’s Amazon basin. Studying an area of just two hectacres, a team of German scientists counted over a 100 different species. Most surprising was the find that ten different species of bats roosted in the zone. It is unclear how so many different species of bats coexist.
Unfortuntately, Yasuní is threatened by logging and oil and gas exploration.
My own personal fascination is with catepillars. I just think them amazing. In the first video, check out the one at the 1:10 mark and another at the 1:39 mark. Just amazing. In my native Colombia, I have seen so many amazing specimens. Frogs in Colombia are unbelieveable. The second video boasts a giant tree sloth that has to scurry for safety when its tree is felled by loggers.
Via Context Crawler, thanks to a new article in the American Sociological Review, we should revisit the zombie meme of Opt-Out, the already-debunked idea that women are leaving the workforce to return to homemaking responsibilities. It is a meme that won’t die (hence, the zombie part) because it seems to validate the social conservative and “family values” crowd that women REALLY belong at home with their children and if everyone understood and abide by that, the entire society would be better off.
The correlated belief is that the family is the base institutional structure of society, which has not been true in several centuries, as Stephanie Coontz has aptly demonstrated. But then, social conservatives and “family values experts” are never really bothered by facts and truth. After all, they still maintain that abstinence-only program and virginity pledges work, despite the evidence.
But back to the Opt-Out myth.
According to sociologist Christine Percheski, the author of the ASR article, debunks the myth:
“Despite anecdotal reports of successful working women returning to the home to assume child care responsibilities, less than 8 percent of professional women born since 1956 leave the workforce for a year or more during their prime childbearing years, according to the study,
Percheski’s research shows that the number of women with young children who work full-time year-round has increased steadily, growing from a rate of 5.6 percent of women born 1926 to 1935 (referred to as the “Baby Boom Parents” by Percheski), to 38.1 percent of women from Generation X (born 1966 to 1975). More professional Generation X mothers of young children were working full-time year-round than their counterparts in any previous generation.
Percheski finds that among mothers of older children (those age 6 to 18), full-time employment is the norm for professional women of Generation X.”
How can we reduce our dependence on foreign oil? T. Boone Pickens explains his plan for alternative, domestic energy in a 60-second TV commercial. Please listen to him. He has been an oil man and the energy crisis we face is the most daunting issue that humanity faces. He is running the above commercial on US media.
In the videos below, T. Boone Pickens gives an extended account of his plan to break America’s dependency on foreign oil. With a combination of domestic natural gas and renewable alternative, Pickens offers an action plan to save America’s energy future.
For more on T. Boone Pickens’ views of our energy policy and solutions, please visit Picken’s Plan.
Let’s put it this way, the American media is a joke. CNN doesn’t hold a candle to Al-Jazeera. This is an interview. The Larry King Live interview pales in comparison to this interview with Felicity Barr.
Al Jazeera’s Inside Story asks if the Union for the Mediterranean will work and if Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, is the right man to spearhead the ambitious project. The following videos are interviews with a panel of experts that includes Ignasi Guardans Cambó, Saad Djebbar and Isabel Schäfer. Ignasi Guardans Cambó is a Catalan politician and Member of the European Parliament with the CiU (CDC), Member of the Bureau of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe and is vice-chair of the European Parliament’s Committee on International Trade. Maître Saad Djebbar is Deputy Director of the CNAS. He is a well-known lawyer and political analyst and an associate fellow at the Royal Institute for International Affairs at Chatham House. He appears regularly in the Arab and British media as a commentator on North African affairs. Isabel Schäfer is an Assistant Professor of Middle Eastern Studies at the Freie Universität Berlin.
President Sarkozy has spearheaded this effort and the inaugural session was held in Paris. All 27 European Union members and 16 non-EU countries including representatives from the Palestinian Authority from the Mediterranean attended the meeting. Only Libya did not attend.
Broadly speaking, the new Union of Mediterranean is aimed at fostering North-South cooperation across the Mediterranean on subjects such as immigration, the environment and terrorism. So far, the meeting seems to be a coming out party for Syria. Syria’s Assad and Israel’s Olmert sat in the same room, marking the first time a Syrian President had ever been in the same room with an Israeli Prime Minister. The event was carefully choreographed so that the two would not cross path though. Sryrian President Bashar al-Assad said it could take between six months to two years to reach a peace agreement with Israel if the two sides, who have held indirect negotiations, agreed to face-to-face talks. In addition, Syrian diplomatic recognition of Lebanon was assured. Syria and Germany signed a repatriation agreement.
The repudiation of Barack Obama continues unabated. It is something so unprecendented in American history to have so many rebel against the presumptive Democratic nominee even before he has been nominated.
Yet another anti-Obama website has been launched and this one is by former supporters of the very junior Senator from Illinois.
The Chicago Tribune picks up the story of Obama’s supporters now wincing.
When Jesse Jackson’s Castrato-gate or the Barack Obama Nuts Controversy or whatever you want to call it erupted last week—as captured by the hot microphones of Fox News—terrible cries of pain went unnoticed.
Not from Obama, who, as presidential historians will tell us after his inauguration in January, was the great beneficiary of the rhetorical (and never actually attempted) Jacksonian castration, and no cries from Jackson, either.
Jackson’s too busy to shriek. He’s suffering the ambition of African-American politicos eager to replace him as America’s race broker. And he’s been hooted down in the style of pre-Revolutionary France, by white liberals who once feared him, though they no longer feel compelled to feign interest in Jackson’s ridiculous rhymes.
The cries of pain came not from Obama or Jackson but from the American political left, from scribes and liberal editorial writers and broadcast analysts and eager bloggers. The true believers who evangelized that Obama would transcend politics as we knew it are suffering a Barackian hangover.
I have lost count. I think that this is Miss Venezuela’s fifth Miss Universe triumph but first in over a decade. If so, it ties Venezuela with Puerto Rico for second place. Colombia has won the title once back in 1958 when Luz Marina Zuluaga won the contest. However, Miss Colombia has been the First Runner Up now four times. Colombia had three first-runner up placements in a row (1992-1994) a streak that has been unparalleled in competition history. Overall, Miss Colombia has been a semi-finalist 27 times. Miss Venezuela 34 times.
In all three countries, the Miss Universe contest is serious business. There are schools that teach aspirants how to compete in these contests. Hundreds of girls attend. No doubt, the training is often seen a launch into a career in modelling or fashion.
And it was a good night for Latin beauties: Miss México, Miss Venezuela, Miss República Dominicana and Miss Colombia all made the top five. Miss Russia was the other top five contestant. And Miss México won the swimsuit competition.
It’s hard to say which title would bring Colombia more joy, a World Cup or a Miss Universe title. They are both big deals.
Peaking Your Interest is an irregular feature of By The Fault dedicated to exploring the world’s energy crisis. Today we take a look at wind energy plus an interview with Matt Simmons on CNBC on Friday.
Danish Wind Energy
Denmark is at the forefront of developing wind energy. The Danish wind industry had a 4.7 billion euros in exports in 2007 up from just under a half billion euros ten years ago and up over 30% over 2006 levels. The industry employs 20,000 in Denmark and 90% of its wind turbines are exported.
“The wind industry is already Denmark’s largest exporter of energy technology. If global growth and market development for wind power continue in double digits as expected the wind industry is poised to become our largest industry within a few years,” says Jakob Lau Holst, Acting Director of the Danish Wind Industry Association.
“All industry forecasts show that the market for renewable energy and wind power will expand at an impressive rate. Danish manufacturers and suppliers are in an advantageous position to benefit from this growth,” says Jakob Lau Holst, but adds: “However, it is crucial that the industry also in the coming years is allowed to install, test and demonstrate state of the art wind turbines in Denmark. Even though the Danish market is dwarfed by the combined global markets, it is hugely significant as a global industry show room.”
For more on the Danish Wind Energy Industry, please visit Wind Power. The website is in English, Danish, Swedish, German, French and Spanish.
Here is the Monday, July 14th, 2008 edition of interesting reads from around the world.
A Deadly Day in Afghanistan
Nine US soldiers and several militants were killed after rebels stormed a remote outpost in Afghanistan in one of the deadliest attacks on international forces in years. Another 15 US soldiers were wounded. It was the deadliest day for US troops in Afghanistan in over three years. A video report from the Associated Press:
Fighting in Sri Lanka Intensifies
Fighting along the front lines in northern Sri Lanka killed 31 Tamil Tigers on Sunday as the civil war between the rebels and government forces continued to escalate. Over the weekend, at least 60 rebel were killed. Reports from the International Herald Tribune and Reuters India.
Sarkozy’s Club Med
President Nicolas Sarkozy yesterday sought to shift Europe’s strategic focus towards the Middle East, north Africa and the Balkans, hosting 42 heads of state and government at a summit in Paris to launch a new Mediterranean Union. Initially concentrated on infrastructure and energy projects such as making north Africa a hub for solar power, Sarkozy’s grand initiative is acutely political, claiming a pole position for France in European foreign policy-making after years of drift and seeking to redirect policy from the east of Europe to the south. From the UK Guardian. I am often perplexed by Sarkozy and I am cautious on this initiative but the Financial Times does note that Sarkozy managed to get Israeli Prime Minister Olmert and Syrian President Assad to sit down in the same room, though Assad did leave the room for Olmert’s speech. And then there is this:
After meeting Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian Authority president, on the sidelines of the Paris summit, Mr Olmert declared: “It seems to me that we have never been as close to the possibility of reaching an accord as we are today.”
In concrete terms, however, the most striking outcome of the weekend’s diplomatic activity appeared to be the announcement that Syria would open an embassy in Beirut and Lebanon an embassy in Damascus for the first time since Lebanese independence in 1943.
Such a step would imply Syrian acceptance of the sovereignty of Lebanon, a state where Damascus has always sought to exert influence and where Syrian troops were stationed for almost 30 years after 1976.
“We can say that Lebanon has moved from being a zone of turbulence, a war zone, to a more pacified zone where the Lebanese, and only the Lebanese, have the right to determine their own future,” Mr Assad said after talks on Saturday with Michel Suleiman, Lebanon’s president.
Since taking power in 2000, Mr Assad has on several occasions dangled the prospect of diplomatic recognition of Lebanon. If there is a difference this time, it may rest in Mr Sarkozy’s statement on Saturday that he intends to visit Syria in September – a gesture that the French leader could withdraw, if by then Mr Assad has not fulfilled his promise to open an embassy in Lebanon.
I still don’t fully trust Sarkozy but this is an achievement that is worth underscoring and I congratulate him on his success.
Seoul Demands Investigation of Shooting Death of Tourist in the DPRK
Last week’s shooting death of a female South Korean tourist who wandered off a resort and into a military installation is raising question. Apparently, tourists have wandered off before and none had been shot. The government yesterday urged North Korea to allow in South Korean investigators to learn the details of the killing of a South Korean tourist at the Mount Geumgang resort. The Unification Ministry also demanded the North take “responsible measures” to prevent a recurrence of the shooting death, which it said “cannot be justified under any circumstances.” More details from the Korea Herald.
An Update on Malaysia
The Asia Sentinel looks at Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s decision to step down in 2010 in favour of his deputy Najib Tun Razak, who is scandal-riddled. All in all, it has been a topsy turvy year in Kuala Lumpur.
Thailand’s Temple Row
A dispute Khmer temple along the Thai-Cambodian border has become a major issue in Thai politics. More from the Straits Times.
Iran Executes Six In Public Reuters reports that Iran has executed six people in public in the northeastern city of Sabzevar, state radio said on Monday, the second report of a public execution in the Islamic Republic in less than a week. Iranian radio reported the execution but did not offer details. Execution is by hanging in Iran. In Saudi Arabia, beheadings still occur. Amnesty International in April listed Iran as the world’s second most prolific executioner last year, with at least 317 people put to death, trailing only China which carried out 470 death sentences.
Allons enfants de la Patrie,
Le jour de gloire est arrivé!
Contre nous de la tyrannie,
L’étendard sanglant est levé.
L’étendard sanglant est levé.
Entendez-vous dans les campagnes
Mugir ces féroces soldats?
Ils viennent jusque dans nos bras
Égorger nos fils, nos compagnes!
Aux armes, citoyens!
Formez vos bataillons!
Marchons, marchons!
Qu’un sang impur
Abreuve nos sillons!
Aux armes, citoyens!
Formons nos bataillons!
Marchons, marchons!
Qu’un sang impur
Abreuve nos sillons!
Vive La France!
To my friends Jean-Paul, Henri, Benoit and Christine I wish you the happiest of Bastille days.
Though Mireille Mathieu does a fine job above, I much prefer the passion from this scene in Casablanca. I don’t think they were acting.
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