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Saturday, November 14, 2009

According to scientists, the land territory of Russia has expanded by about 4.5 square kilometres within the last few years in the Far East due to seismic and volcanic activity.

The gained land was recorded in the Sakhalin Peninsula. Boris Levin, head of the Institute for Sea Geology and Geophysics of the Russian Academy of Sciences, said that the increase happened primarily due to two seismic events.

The first, in August of 2007, was when a heavy 6.8 earthquake near the city of Nevelsk in the Far East raised about three square kilometres of seabed above the level of the water. The second was in June of this year, when the Sarychev Peak volcano on the Matua Island erupted. GPS trackers on the Matua island were used to monitor the eruption, and the volcano changed its shape, adding 1.5 square kilometres of land, scientists said.

Geologists also reported that the Kuril Islands nearby were slowly moving towards mainland Russia at an estimated rate of eighteen milimetres per year.

Friday, March 30, 2007

At Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, students are finding that popular MP3 players, such as Apple’s iPod, are very convenient devices for listening to music at the gym, while traveling on foot, and in the car.

In a recent ad-hoc survey conducted by Wikinews contributor Darren Mar, 150 students were randomly pulled aside in the hallways of the university, and asked if they own an MP3 player. 94 of the 150 students (62.66%) did in fact own MP3 devices, most of who were found to be carrying it on them when questioned. There was one simple follow up question for those who had a player: “If it were possible to have complete and safe control of the device on the steering wheel of a car, would you rather listen to your device, or the radio?” There were three answers possible, yes, no or both. Of the 94, 78 (82.98%) said yes, eleven (11.70%) said no, and five (5.32%) said both. The reporting took place primarily on March 16, 2007. The reasons for those who would listen to their device were commercial free music, personalized choice of music, and complete control of what you are listening to.

This study was motivated by the new design of 2006+ model cars. Many are being built with auxiliary jacks for the stock radio, allowing the driver to easily connect any audio playing device to the car’s sound system with a simple 3.5mm plug. What’s more, cars in the upper price echelon are being built with (1) a custom made area in the dash for MP3 players (iPod’s being the most popular), and (2) implementing audio device control right onto the steering wheel. A good example of this is the Ford Fusion or the 2007 Lexus IS250: “The centre console input port allows an iPod, MP3 or Windows Media Audio player to be plugged into the IS audio system.”

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Last Tuesday, AusAID Australia and the World Bank’s Global Environment Fund (GEF) reached an agreement to give the government of Kiribati US$5 million (AU$4,779,000, NZ$5,985,000, €3,885,000) to install solar panels around the country capital, located on the Tarawa atoll. According to Business Desk of the Brunei Times, AusAID promised AU$3.2 million in funding, while GEF promised US$1 million. The country was the first in the Pacific to make a deal with the World Bank.

The funding was part of a US$530 million (NZ$635 million) package announced at yesterday’s Pacific Energy Summit in Auckland involving New Zealand and the European Union, Australia, the Asian Development Bank, the European Investment Bank, the Japan International Cooperation Agency, the World Bank Group, and the United Arab Emirates. Also at the summit yesterday, New Zealand’s Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully had announced a national commitment of USD$54,262,000 (AU$51,861,000 NZ$65 million, €42,178,000) to Pacific region energy solutions, of which US$8,348,000 (AU$8 million, NZ$10 million, €6,483,000) would be specifically earmarked for renewable energy and improved energy efficiency in the Cook Islands, Kiribati, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Tonga, and Tuvalu.

Kiribati is heavily dependent on diesel fuel for most of the energy available on the national power grid, which supplies power to half Kiribati’s population of 110,000. In addition, a third of the country’s population lacks access to electricity. Once installation of the solar panels is complete, they are estimated to reduce diesel consumption by 230,000 liters (60,760 gallons) a year and give access to the electricity to some parts of the population that currently have no electricity. The European Union already has committed €100 million to sustainable energy in the region, with €10 million of that coming as a result of an announcement made last week.

In a press release about the news, Kiribati President Anote Tong was quoted as saying, “Kiribati faces big challenges it is remote, it is at risk from the effects of climate change, and it is vulnerable to economic shocks. […] Shifting Kiribati’s focus to reliable solar energy will provide a more secure, more sustainable power source for the country’s people.” Radio New Zealand International quoted Tong as saying, “It’s the first time we are doing this. We’re excited at the prospect of even substituting fossil fuel to a small extent at this stage. What the system being envisaged will only produce around 500 kilowatts, but this is the beginning of what I hope will be a pattern, the trend in the future.”

The European Union’s Fiji-based head of operations for the Pacific region, Renato Mele, supported alternative energy solutions like solar power for the region, but said that solar power had limitations because climate and environmental conditions sometimes meant batteries required to power the panels had a life of only 12 months, compared to other climates where batteries normally last five years. This created the potential to drive up standard operating costs. Mele has also noted these additional costs though are still lower than the cost of diesel power.

One News Pacific Correspondent Barbara Dreaver noted, “Governments will be able to put the money they (currently) spend on diesel into things like education and health.”

Friday, December 15, 2006

High winds and heavy rains have left 4 people dead, and much of the Seattle, Washington area is without electrical power. A number of large trees have been downed and heavy rains have caused minor flooding in many areas of the city. According to first-hand reports as many as 1 million people and several large organizations such as Microsoft are without power this morning.

Flood, storm, and strong wind watches were in effect last night as a rare thunderstorm system moved into the Pacific Northwest region, hitting areas from Seattle to Portland with high winds and heavy rains. Interstate 5 through Seattle was closed at its intersection with Mercer Street due to standing water. The State Route 520 floating bridge, a major conduit across Lake Washington to the technology-rich Eastside was closed and its drawspan opened to protect it from storm damage well into Friday. Local roads throughout the region were strewn with debris, especially evergreen branches and leaves. Authorities advised people to stay off the roads.

Four deaths were reported in connection with the storm as of Friday. A Seattle woman died in the basement of her home after floodwaters caused the basement door to close and jam shut. Two others died in outlying areas after tall Northwest evergreens fell on their vehicles, and a man in Grays Harbor, near the Pacific coast, died in his sleep after a tree fell on his mobile home. KOMO news reported a caller saying a 100-foot evergreen had fallen into his house.

Downed trees and high winds also brought down powerlines throughout Western Washington. Seattle City Light, the municipal electric utility for the city, reported a peak of 175,000 customers without power, most in the north and south ends of the city, as well as the east edge of town and the Green Lake area.

Puget Sound Energy, the electric utility for much of the Seattle metro area, reported 700,000 customers (over 66%) without power, with the area around Seattle the worst hit. PSE, which had already enlisted additional powerline workers from neighboring states, did not send crews out until mid Friday morning due to continued high winds. Estimates for power restoration were anywhere from a few days to over a week. Island County, at the mouth of Puget Sound, was completely without power.

Schools in Seattle and throughout its suburbs were closed Friday, many due to power outages. The city of Mercer Island, connected to the mainland only by Interstate 90, is reportedly inaccessible.

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer failed to print due to power failures at the printing facility, which had redundant power feeds from both the Seattle utility as well as PSE. It is the first time in 70 years that the paper has not been printed. The Seattle Times, a competing paper under a joint operating agreement, managed to print only 13,000 copies of its regular circulation of over 200,000. The papers located alternate facilities to print a reduced version of their Saturday editions, and their joint Sunday issue was also expected to be reduced.

At Sea-Tac Airport, three terminals were shut down overnight due to the storm. Concourse A and the South Satellite terminal lost power, and a blown-out window caused Concourse C to also close. All terminals were back in working order by midday Friday. Many flights were delayed or cancelled. Likewise, in Oregon, Portland International Airport reported at least 40 flights cancelled. At Seattle’s Boeing Field, winds flipped a private plane over, colliding with another plane.

The Seattle Seahawks vs. San Francisco 49ers football game was delayed 15 minutes. A pre-game power surge temporarily took the Qwest Field’s video displays offline. The gridiron was plagued by standing water, as the stadium’s loudspeakers played “Who’ll Stop The Rain?” shortly before kickoff.

Thursday night’s storm comes after a previous regional storm in the Seattle area earlier in the week, in which trees in a few Seattle suburbs fell onto roads, powerlines, and two school buses. In those incidents no one was hurt, and there were a few spotty power outages.

This is the second serious storm to hit the Northwest since Thanksgiving, In late November, record-setting snowfall had a similar disabling effect on the region.

Thursday, June 21, 2007

File:Durion-interdit-malaysia.jpg

In southeast Asia, durian is known as the “king of fruits,” but with its pungent odor, the large, spike-husked fruit receives less-than-royal treatment in many quarters.

A Thai scientist thinks he has found the key to more widespread acceptance of durian, by creating odorless varieties of the fruit. After 20 years of cross-breeding, researcher Songpol Somsri has come up with a durian “that smells as inoffensive as a banana,” according to an article today by The Guardian.

“I’ve got friends from Australia, Europe and Japan who just won’t eat durian because they can’t stand the smell,” Songpol was quoted as saying. “But I’m sure producing those with a mild smell will help us find new markets.”

Despite their popularity, the fruits are banned from the subway system in Singapore. In Bangkok, taxi drivers will often balk at a passenger with durian. The region’s airlines won’t allow them to be brought onboard. Across southeast Asia, a sign that denotes a finer hotel is a placard in the lobby with a red circle and cross through a silhouette of a durian.

Cultivated across all of southeast Asia, the fruit measures about 12 inches (30 centimeters) long and 6 inches (15 centimeters) in diameter, and weighs around 2 to 7 pounds (1 to 3 kilograms). The fruits are green on the outside, and covered with a thick, spike-covered husk. In Malay, the name durian literally means “thorny fruit”.

Inside is a yellow, custard-like flesh that has been described as nutty and sweet, perhaps like a fine French cheese. But because of the smell, which can be overpowering, durian is an acquired taste.

The Guardian quoted a travel writer who described the smell like “pigshit, turpentine and onions, garnished with a gym sock.”

Devotees of the “king of fruits” say a major part of the experience of eating the smelly fruit is the aroma, or fragrance, if you will.

“To anyone who doesn’t like durian, it smells like a bunch of dead cats,” Bob Halliday, a food writer in Bangkok was quoted as saying by The New York Times in April. “But as you get to appreciate durian, the smell is not offensive at all. It’s attractive. It makes you drool like a mastiff.”

Swanzea Banchee, manager of Sunshine Fruit, a major Thai exporter of durian, told National Public Radio (NPR) last month that he thinks an odorless variety of durian would help increase orders from overseas. But, he said he’d never eat one, adding that if a durian doesn’t smell, then it isn’t really a durian.

“I don’t think it’s possible to make a durian that doesn’t smell,” orchardist Somchai Tadchang was quoted as saying by The Times. “Anyway, durians actually smell good,” he told The Times. “Only rotten durians stink.”

But Dr. Songpol, senior agricultural scientist for the Thai government’s Department of Agriculture, has put a lot of time and effort into creating his varieties of odorless durian, called Chanthaburi No. 1 and Chanthaburi No. 2. They were developed at the department’s Horticultural Research Institute in Chanthaburi Province, in eastern Thailand, near the border with Cambodia, about 200 miles (320 kilometers) from Bangkok. Growing up on a durian farm, he has studied them all his life, he said.

The research farm has several thousand durian trees, and Songpol has spent about 20 years crossing more than 90 different varieties to produce Chantaburi No. 1. It started with only one tree, planted 18 years ago, and which produces about a dozen fruit annually, Songpol told NPR.

Songpol has also been working on another variety of durian, without either the smell or the spikes. It’s called Chanthaburi No. 3, he said.

The Thai government is keen to produce and export odor- and spike-free durian, announcing a plan back in April to distribute saplings of the three new varieties to farmers. It’s expected that the odorless durians will hit the market in around three years.

Friday, May 12, 2006

Peter Costello’s budget announcement has led to rejoicing for small businesses, but the lack of joy for those pushing for radical corporate taxation reform has led to many businesses asking “what about us?”

Personal taxation and small business have been the big winners after this year’s federal budget. Although dampened by the twin economic threats of rising interest rates and petrol prices, there should be a reasonable amount of real income savings for both low and high income earners, with those receiving Medicare, or a superannuation benefit, privy to an even lower level of taxation (0% for those on super benefits).

Small business also has benefited from the Howard government’s 11th annual budget, with them receiving a higher level of reducing depreciation, leading to a higher level of deductions in the years following the uptake of new technology or other capital. They are also privy to a AU$435 million dollar tax cut to compensate for their changing accounting requirements under the government’s new AIFRS reporting standards, as well as increasing the uptake of both the small business tax relief scheme and CGT (Capital Gains tax) Concessions.

The budget was not a complete loss for big business however, as superannuation laws have been tweaked to streamline contribution and payment rules previously impeding those with multitudes of staff.

But this is not enough, says Big 4 accounting firm Ernst & Young. In their newly published paper “Taxation of Investment in Australia: the need for ongoing reform”. In it they lead the charge for a greater streamlining and organization of the corporate tax system in Australia, submitting that it will lead to reductions in “disincentives to work save and invest in Australia [as well as improving] the international competitiveness of Australian businesses.” This follows from a recent report brought out by Mr. Costello himself about the need for tax reform in Australia.

A budget night Mr. Costello was notably coy about any future reform of corporate tax in Australia. He alluded to the report by his ministers but kept from outlining the government’s plan precisely.

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Construction workers in Seattle, Washington located in the United States are nearing completion of a new light-rail trolley, but it is not the trolleys that are making the residents of the city laugh, it is the abbreviation that city officials designated for the new transit system.

The new transit system, South Lake Union Streetcar (SLUS) has had an unofficial change in its abbreviation to “S.L.U.T.” by local residents. Some have even designed and sold more than 100 t-shirts saying “Ride the S.L.U.T.”.

City officials admit that they were aware of the notion before they named the system, but did not care enough to rename it and didn’t give the acronym ‘streetcar’ to avoid the outcome. Officials say that streetcar sounded more modern than trolley.

The project, built by Vulcan Development, is costing US$50.5 million to build.