CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Sunday warned Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice not to "mess with" him days after Rice described Venezuela as a menace to regional democracy in the midst of tense diplomatic relations between the two countries. "Don't mess with me Condoleezza. Don't mess with me, girl," Chavez said during his weekly Sunday broadcast, sarcastically offering her a kiss and jokingly referring to her as "Condolence." The warning comes days after Rice described Venezuela as one of the "biggest problems" for the Western Hemisphere and promised to develop regional alliances as part of an "inoculation" strategy to expose what the State Department calls anti-democratic behavior in Venezuela. Chavez has repeatedly accused Washington of trying to topple him, and says the United States will attempt to sow chaos this year as he launches a re-election bid. Diplomatic relations between the United States and Venezuela, the world's No. 5 oil exporter, have been strained since Chavez accused the United States of plotting a coup d'etat that briefly ousted him in 2002.
"Don't mess with me Condoleezza. Don't mess with me, girl," Chavez said during his weekly Sunday broadcast, sarcastically offering her a kiss and jokingly referring to her as "Condolence."
The warning comes days after Rice described Venezuela as one of the "biggest problems" for the Western Hemisphere and promised to develop regional alliances as part of an "inoculation" strategy to expose what the State Department calls anti-democratic behavior in Venezuela.
Chavez has repeatedly accused Washington of trying to topple him, and says the United States will attempt to sow chaos this year as he launches a re-election bid. Diplomatic relations between the United States and Venezuela, the world's No. 5 oil exporter, have been strained since Chavez accused the United States of plotting a coup d'etat that briefly ousted him in 2002.
The wildlife in East Africa is dying of thirst and starvation, the people are suffering - and now the lack of rain threatens even the Serengeti migrations In cracked riverbeds once flowing with water,dozens of hippos lie decomposing in the stifling heat. Elsewhere, the thin delicate frames of rare Grevy's zebras lie on parched grass, felled by anthrax. East Africa should now be preparing for the migration of the wildebeest - the biggest movement of wildlife in the world - but instead, the animals are slowly starving. The people are suffering too. The UN estimates that 11 million people in Somalia, Kenya, Ethiopia, Eritrea and Burundi will need food airlifts to survive this drought. Soon, more than one million wildebeest are due to thunder their way through the Mara River, on their Spring migration through the plains of the Serengeti in Tanzania and onto the golden expanse of the Masai Mara in Kenya. Hidden in the dust kicked up by their hooves 200,000 zebras and 300,000 Thomson's gazelles will run alongside. On the fringes there should be an army of predators, waiting to pick off the weakest as they stumble in the vast crowds. But this year, there is nowhere for the animals to go. The Masai Mara, dry at the best of times, is a dustbowl - parched from a season of pitiful rains that has driven many animals out of their natural homes in search of water. The few wild animals that remain are spooked by Masai herdsmen who have driven their cattle into the nature reserves searching for a few patches of grass where their livestock can feed.
In cracked riverbeds once flowing with water,dozens of hippos lie decomposing in the stifling heat. Elsewhere, the thin delicate frames of rare Grevy's zebras lie on parched grass, felled by anthrax.
East Africa should now be preparing for the migration of the wildebeest - the biggest movement of wildlife in the world - but instead, the animals are slowly starving. The people are suffering too. The UN estimates that 11 million people in Somalia, Kenya, Ethiopia, Eritrea and Burundi will need food airlifts to survive this drought.
Soon, more than one million wildebeest are due to thunder their way through the Mara River, on their Spring migration through the plains of the Serengeti in Tanzania and onto the golden expanse of the Masai Mara in Kenya.
Hidden in the dust kicked up by their hooves 200,000 zebras and 300,000 Thomson's gazelles will run alongside. On the fringes there should be an army of predators, waiting to pick off the weakest as they stumble in the vast crowds. But this year, there is nowhere for the animals to go.
The Masai Mara, dry at the best of times, is a dustbowl - parched from a season of pitiful rains that has driven many animals out of their natural homes in search of water. The few wild animals that remain are spooked by Masai herdsmen who have driven their cattle into the nature reserves searching for a few patches of grass where their livestock can feed.
And that was last month. And still there is no help on the way. Do the weak always need to suffer and die first?
Droughts are nothing new to Africa, even such harsh ones like these. As always, it's the western culture and consumer life style also adopted in Africa that exacerbates it.
Do the weak always need to suffer and die first?
I know this is a rhetorical question, but the fact is that they don't "need" to, but, being weak, they are the first to feel any strain.
But putting it this way stresses that fact that any good policies should usually care for the weakest as a priority, because if you solve the problem for them (and they don't suffer), chances are that nobody else will face that problem either. In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes
MILWAUKEE (AP) - Saying the nation is on the verge of technological breakthroughs that would ``startle'' most Americans, President Bush on Monday outlined his energy proposals to help wean the country off foreign oil. Less than half the crude oil used by refineries is produced in the United States, while 60 percent comes from foreign nations, Bush said during the first stop on a two-day trip to talk about energy. Some of these foreign suppliers have ``unstable'' governments that have fundamental differences with America, he said. ``It creates a national security issue and we're held hostage for energy by foreign nations that may not like us,'' Bush said. Bush is focusing on energy at a time when Americans are paying high power bills to heat their homes this winter and have only recently seen a decrease in gasoline prices. One of Bush's proposals would expand research into smaller, longer-lasting batteries for electric-gas hybrid cars, including plug-ins. He highlighted that initiative with a visit Monday to the battery center at Milwaukee-based auto-parts supplier Johnson Controls Inc.
Less than half the crude oil used by refineries is produced in the United States, while 60 percent comes from foreign nations, Bush said during the first stop on a two-day trip to talk about energy.
Some of these foreign suppliers have ``unstable'' governments that have fundamental differences with America, he said.
``It creates a national security issue and we're held hostage for energy by foreign nations that may not like us,'' Bush said.
Bush is focusing on energy at a time when Americans are paying high power bills to heat their homes this winter and have only recently seen a decrease in gasoline prices.
One of Bush's proposals would expand research into smaller, longer-lasting batteries for electric-gas hybrid cars, including plug-ins. He highlighted that initiative with a visit Monday to the battery center at Milwaukee-based auto-parts supplier Johnson Controls Inc.
That having been said, advances in solar techonogy where plastic membranes embedded with solar cells can be produced in sheets at a very low price, could be huge. Called solar laminates, they're basically plastic sheets that can be integrated into shingles.
Looking online, I can see that currently it shows that for a sheet 2.19 M long by 30.48 cm wide they wants over $100 USD. Not cheap, and rated to produce only 17 W (or $6 per installed watt of generating power), not a very good deal when you can get a wind turbine that's a little over a mtr in diameter that generates 400 W for $0.70 per installed watt. And these are the less effective propellor types.
I guess I'm tilding at windmills, but they seem far more effective to me. And I'll give my consent to any government that does not deny a man a living wage-Billy Bragg
I forget the Kurt Vonnegut novel, but in one of his books, he has the entire American economy being run on a miracle new energy source, chickenshit. Somehow seems oddly appopriate.</sigh> And I'll give my consent to any government that does not deny a man a living wage-Billy Bragg
Or c. 11W/m². That is less than a tenth of Si-based solar cells and the best CIS solar cells. Way to go, it seems - but I read that this solution has much potential, the theoretical limit is beyond that of the 30-33% of Si-based solar cells.
not a very good deal when you can get a wind turbine that's a little over a mtr in diameter that generates 400 W for $0.70 per installed watt.
And if you conpare actual energy produced (for wind and solar, the number give in watts is maximum power!), the solar laminate is even worse in comparison. (Taking Germany as standard, average yearly power of a photovoltaic installation is one ninth of maximum power, for a large wind generator it is one fourth, though for small wind less.) *Lunatic*, n. One whose delusions are out of fashion.
Couldn't yet figure out what the significant difference between the two models is. Anyway - assuming 100m² awailable roof surface, that would be about 6290W with the first product and 2540W with the second, giving average powers of 700W and 360W in Germany, the second five-eight times more expensive than four-five 400W wind turbines. *Lunatic*, n. One whose delusions are out of fashion.
Osama bin Laden vowed never to be captured alive, in an audio message posted on a militant Islamist website yesterday. "I have sworn to only live free. Even if I find bitter the taste of death, I don't want to die humiliated or deceived," the al-Qaida leader said, also accusing the US of "barbaric" tactics in Iraq similar to those used by Saddam Hussein. The recording, 11 minutes 26 seconds long, appears to be the full version of a tape sent to al-Jazeera last month, breaking a year-long silence from Bin Laden. US officials declared the tape, only extracts of which were broadcast, to be authentic. In the longer version that surfaced yesterday, Bin Laden mocked George Bush's "mission completed" declaration aboard an aircraft carrier in April 2003 when he said major conflict in Iraq had ended: "The Pentagon's figures indicate an increase in the number of your killed and injured in addition to the massive material losses, not to mention the collapse of troop morale and increase of the suicide rates."
The recording, 11 minutes 26 seconds long, appears to be the full version of a tape sent to al-Jazeera last month, breaking a year-long silence from Bin Laden. US officials declared the tape, only extracts of which were broadcast, to be authentic.
In the longer version that surfaced yesterday, Bin Laden mocked George Bush's "mission completed" declaration aboard an aircraft carrier in April 2003 when he said major conflict in Iraq had ended: "The Pentagon's figures indicate an increase in the number of your killed and injured in addition to the massive material losses, not to mention the collapse of troop morale and increase of the suicide rates."
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Secretary-General Kofi Annan said on Monday he hoped a power struggle at the United Nations between the major powers and developing countries would not derail U.N. reforms. Many of the developing nations that make up a majority of the U.N. membership have expressed outrage in recent days over what they see as a power grab by the 15-nation U.N. Security Council led by the United States. A group of countries known as the Non-Aligned Movement and a bloc of 132 developing nations and China have formally protested that the council, chaired this month by U.S. Ambassador John Bolton, was trespassing on U.N. General Assembly turf by scheduling meetings this week on procurement fraud and sexual abuse by peacekeepers. The two blocs argued these were General Assembly matters rather than the council's, a stand Annan supported. Bolton dismissed their concerns, saying the two U.N. bodies shared jurisdiction over the matters and the assembly was free to hold its own meetings. "While others talk, the United States will act to solve problems," Bolton told reporters on Monday. "When we uncover problems, we want to solve them. The Security Council is perfectly capable of doing that."
Many of the developing nations that make up a majority of the U.N. membership have expressed outrage in recent days over what they see as a power grab by the 15-nation U.N. Security Council led by the United States.
A group of countries known as the Non-Aligned Movement and a bloc of 132 developing nations and China have formally protested that the council, chaired this month by U.S. Ambassador John Bolton, was trespassing on U.N. General Assembly turf by scheduling meetings this week on procurement fraud and sexual abuse by peacekeepers.
The two blocs argued these were General Assembly matters rather than the council's, a stand Annan supported.
Bolton dismissed their concerns, saying the two U.N. bodies shared jurisdiction over the matters and the assembly was free to hold its own meetings.
"While others talk, the United States will act to solve problems," Bolton told reporters on Monday. "When we uncover problems, we want to solve them. The Security Council is perfectly capable of doing that."
"While others talk, the United States will act to solve problems,"
Quiz for kiddies:
He did become president. The issue is whether he did so legally. guaranteed to evoke a violent reaction from police is to challenge their right to "define the situation." --- David Graeber citing Marc Cooper
BTW, completely off-topic, did you have a go at my two problems in the Brainiac thread? *Lunatic*, n. One whose delusions are out of fashion.
When you use the Internet today, your browser glides from one Web site to another, accessing all destinations with equal ease. That could change dramatically, however, if Internet service providers are allowed to tilt the playing field, giving preference to sites that pay them extra and penalizing those that don't. The Senate held hearings last week on "network neutrality," the principle that I.S.P.'s -- the businesses like Verizon or Roadrunner that deliver the Internet to your computer -- should not be able to stack the deck in this way. If the Internet is to remain free, and freely evolving, it is important that neutrality legislation be passed. In its current form, Internet service operates in the same nondiscriminatory way as phone service. When someone calls your home, the telephone company puts through the call without regard to who is calling. In the same way, Internet service providers let Web sites operated by eBay, CNN or any other company send information to you on an equal footing. But perhaps not for long. It has occurred to the service providers that the Web sites their users visit could be a rich new revenue source. Why not charge eBay a fee for using the Internet connection to conduct its commerce, or ask Google to pay when customers download a video? A Verizon Communications executive recently sent a scare through cyberspace when he said at a telecommunications conference, as The Washington Post reported, that Google "is enjoying a free lunch" that ought to be going to providers like Verizon. The solution, as far as the I.S.P.'s are concerned, could be what some critics are calling "access tiering," different levels of access for different sites, based on ability and willingness to pay. Giants like Walmart.com could get very fast connections, while little-guy sites might have to settle for the information superhighway equivalent of a one-lane, pothole-strewn road. Since many companies that own I.S.P.'s, like Time Warner, are also in the business of selling online content, they could give themselves an unfair advantage over their competition.
The Senate held hearings last week on "network neutrality," the principle that I.S.P.'s -- the businesses like Verizon or Roadrunner that deliver the Internet to your computer -- should not be able to stack the deck in this way. If the Internet is to remain free, and freely evolving, it is important that neutrality legislation be passed.
In its current form, Internet service operates in the same nondiscriminatory way as phone service. When someone calls your home, the telephone company puts through the call without regard to who is calling. In the same way, Internet service providers let Web sites operated by eBay, CNN or any other company send information to you on an equal footing. But perhaps not for long. It has occurred to the service providers that the Web sites their users visit could be a rich new revenue source. Why not charge eBay a fee for using the Internet connection to conduct its commerce, or ask Google to pay when customers download a video? A Verizon Communications executive recently sent a scare through cyberspace when he said at a telecommunications conference, as The Washington Post reported, that Google "is enjoying a free lunch" that ought to be going to providers like Verizon.
The solution, as far as the I.S.P.'s are concerned, could be what some critics are calling "access tiering," different levels of access for different sites, based on ability and willingness to pay. Giants like Walmart.com could get very fast connections, while little-guy sites might have to settle for the information superhighway equivalent of a one-lane, pothole-strewn road. Since many companies that own I.S.P.'s, like Time Warner, are also in the business of selling online content, they could give themselves an unfair advantage over their competition.
The planned execution of a man convicted of raping and murdering a 17-year-old girl was delayed until Tuesday night after two anesthesiologists refused to participate because of ethical concerns. With the execution scheduled for 12:01 a.m. Tuesday, defense lawyers requested a stay from the federal judge who last week ordered San Quentin State Prison to have an anesthesiologist on hand to minimize Michael Angelo Morales' pain as he was put to death by lethal injection. A second anesthesiologist was retained as a backup.
With the execution scheduled for 12:01 a.m. Tuesday, defense lawyers requested a stay from the federal judge who last week ordered San Quentin State Prison to have an anesthesiologist on hand to minimize Michael Angelo Morales' pain as he was put to death by lethal injection. A second anesthesiologist was retained as a backup.
