Monday, June 27, 2005
flying dinosaur
Sehwe came up with a great name for me, which used almost every time she spoke to me. Pabo Nick. It means Dumb Nick. Behind us, on the right, is the vehicle that transported our bicycle. That skeleton you see is of the dinosaur Arc'teryx, which I think was a flying dinosaur, and the one our birds today are descended from. Pabo Nick?
I was about to throw my camera into the garbage can when I took this picture. Bottom right is tofu soup. In the black pot is some denjangtsegae (beef soup). It's this sort of food and setup that you're less likely to come across and enjoy if you're travelling always travelling with other foreigners in a foreign country.
The Ilsan Triathlon Team having lunch about 25km from Sokcho. The bus driver is on the far left (sorry, I'm not sure what his name is). Pete is sitting next to him, with the blue cap (Pete and I went skiing together last year in December, and on my last day in Korea on December 24th hours before my flight home, the one I nearly missed). The guy in the middle started triathlon last year and has improved a lot, and the girl squeezing zits is Sehwe, who came 2nd at the Jeju Superman Triathlon. She's doing her first Ironman this year in August. She seems to be Ee Sung Hee's apprentice, as the two are always together, wearing the same clothes, and Sehwe is using all of Ee Sung Hee's old equipment, including bike.
This was our mode of transport to Sokcho. We had 9 people inside, and great air conditioning. This is just as well because the temperature was 35 degrees C outside (according to my heart rate monitor anyway). The owner of this sleek beauty works by day as a bus driver. You could tell, because he pulled some interesting moves on the way, some pretty confident driving, including driving up a one way, and very elegantly missing one of those yellow and black barriers in the middle of the road the separate cars going one way and cars going another. He also owns a very expensive bike. Pete said he sold his house to pay for the bike, and I can't honestly say whether that is a joke or not. The bike is worth W8 million, which is about R45 000. Some friend's of mine that I used to train with in Bloem bought Zipp beam bikes. One of them had a car accident, and used the insurance money that paid for his car to buy a R22 000 bike frame. Interesting characters who do this sport.
Bird flu virus in Vietnam evolves
www.chinaview.cn 2005-06-27 10:33:57
HANOI, June 27 (Xinhuanet) -- Laboratory tests in Vietnam and abroad have indicated that the antigen structure of bird flu virus strain H5N1 in the country is changing, local newspaper Labor Monday quoted a Vietnamese Health Ministry report as saying.
The change, which might increase the possibility of bird flu infections on humans, explains why people in Vietnam have still been infected with H5N1 in recent months, although it has detected no major outbreaks.
The mutation also makes it more difficult for health agencies to identify high-risk areas, since poultry infected with H5N1 with a change in the antigen structure do not exhibit the disease's symptoms, said the report.
An international team, consisting of top virologists and epidemiologists from Chinese Hong Kong, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States, is studying the possibility of more widespread H5N1 human transmission, changes in the virus strain, and the likelihood of increased person-to-person transmission. The experts are expected to make initial conclusions on the virus's mutation late this month.
To minimize infections on poultry as well as humans, Vietnam will start vaccinating fowls against bird flu viruses in northern Nam Dinh province and southern Tien Giang province on a trial basis in early August, and then do the same in other localities with high risks of outbreaks in October if the vaccination proves effective.
The country's Veterinary Department is asking localities to reduce the number of poultry flocks, raise and slaughter them on large scale in concentrated areas, and cull infected poultry as well as flocks of less than 30 fowls which are raised freely in gardens or fields, regardless whether they contract H5N1 or not.
The total of bird flu patients confirmed in Vietnam since mid-December 2004 has increased to 59 cases, of which 18 were fatal.
HANOI, June 27 (Xinhuanet) -- Laboratory tests in Vietnam and abroad have indicated that the antigen structure of bird flu virus strain H5N1 in the country is changing, local newspaper Labor Monday quoted a Vietnamese Health Ministry report as saying.
The change, which might increase the possibility of bird flu infections on humans, explains why people in Vietnam have still been infected with H5N1 in recent months, although it has detected no major outbreaks.
The mutation also makes it more difficult for health agencies to identify high-risk areas, since poultry infected with H5N1 with a change in the antigen structure do not exhibit the disease's symptoms, said the report.
An international team, consisting of top virologists and epidemiologists from Chinese Hong Kong, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States, is studying the possibility of more widespread H5N1 human transmission, changes in the virus strain, and the likelihood of increased person-to-person transmission. The experts are expected to make initial conclusions on the virus's mutation late this month.
To minimize infections on poultry as well as humans, Vietnam will start vaccinating fowls against bird flu viruses in northern Nam Dinh province and southern Tien Giang province on a trial basis in early August, and then do the same in other localities with high risks of outbreaks in October if the vaccination proves effective.
The country's Veterinary Department is asking localities to reduce the number of poultry flocks, raise and slaughter them on large scale in concentrated areas, and cull infected poultry as well as flocks of less than 30 fowls which are raised freely in gardens or fields, regardless whether they contract H5N1 or not.
The total of bird flu patients confirmed in Vietnam since mid-December 2004 has increased to 59 cases, of which 18 were fatal.
The Science of Lance Armstrong
A friend just called me and told me to turn on the Discovery Channel. I didn't have to change channels once the TV beamed on, since Discovery is the most worthwhile TV today.
I didn't learn much that I haven't heard or read already on the subject, but some of their sights and sounds were rivetting. Lance does say this will be his last Tour. Looked a bit teary eyed.
If you're into cycling, or are after some fresh inspiration, make sure you catch this. It explains in fairly simple terms the incredible behind the scenes process of Tour De France preparation, including the aging of tubular tyres in wine type cellars. Lance will use a 7 year old tyre for his prologue, for example.
"Excuse me, what vintage is this tyre please?"
I didn't learn much that I haven't heard or read already on the subject, but some of their sights and sounds were rivetting. Lance does say this will be his last Tour. Looked a bit teary eyed.
If you're into cycling, or are after some fresh inspiration, make sure you catch this. It explains in fairly simple terms the incredible behind the scenes process of Tour De France preparation, including the aging of tubular tyres in wine type cellars. Lance will use a 7 year old tyre for his prologue, for example.
"Excuse me, what vintage is this tyre please?"
US pushes oil past $60
REUTERS
Posted online: Monday, June 27, 2005 at 1008 hours IST
SINGAPORE, JUNE 27 : Oil prices leapt one per cent to a record above $60 a barrel on Monday as robust US demand appeared undaunted by soaring fuel costs, threatening to strain global production capacity later this year.
US August crude oil futures traded as high as $60.47 a barrel, up 63 cents, extending a rally that has added 12 per cent to prices in two weeks and 39 per cent since January.
Oil was up 61 cents at $60.45 a barrel by 0216 GMT, surpassing the $60 mark for the first time since it began trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange in 1983.
London Brent crude was up 59 cents at $58.95 a barrel, also a new record.
"It really has been a momentum-driven push to $60 over the past week, we've seen the funds really pile in hard in an effort to push it over (that level)," said Daniel Hynes, resource analyst at ANZ Institutional Banking.
Prices have soared as investors bet refiners and producers would struggle to meet peak winter demand in the world's biggest energy consumer. Speculators boosted their net long positions in US crude to nearly 20,000 lots last week.
While high prices are eroding strength from a world economy already vulnerable to upsets, the overall picture remains solid, central bankers meeting in Switzerland said at the weekend.
This has encouraged speculators to keep testing consumers' ability to absorb higher costs, with some analysts saying only a significant pull-back in demand -- due to conservation, fuel switching or an economic slowdown -- will tame prices.
"The market is testing higher to see what price levels this demand can endure," said Naohiro Niimura, vice president at the derivative products division of Mizuho Corporate Bank.
Crude oil contracts for delivery through next August are now all trading above $60 a barrel as dealers see tight market conditions running for at least another year, especially for distillate products such as heating oil and diesel.
Rest of article at:
http://www.financialexpress.com/
latest_full_story.php?content_id=94940
Posted online: Monday, June 27, 2005 at 1008 hours IST
SINGAPORE, JUNE 27 : Oil prices leapt one per cent to a record above $60 a barrel on Monday as robust US demand appeared undaunted by soaring fuel costs, threatening to strain global production capacity later this year.
US August crude oil futures traded as high as $60.47 a barrel, up 63 cents, extending a rally that has added 12 per cent to prices in two weeks and 39 per cent since January.
Oil was up 61 cents at $60.45 a barrel by 0216 GMT, surpassing the $60 mark for the first time since it began trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange in 1983.
London Brent crude was up 59 cents at $58.95 a barrel, also a new record.
"It really has been a momentum-driven push to $60 over the past week, we've seen the funds really pile in hard in an effort to push it over (that level)," said Daniel Hynes, resource analyst at ANZ Institutional Banking.
Prices have soared as investors bet refiners and producers would struggle to meet peak winter demand in the world's biggest energy consumer. Speculators boosted their net long positions in US crude to nearly 20,000 lots last week.
While high prices are eroding strength from a world economy already vulnerable to upsets, the overall picture remains solid, central bankers meeting in Switzerland said at the weekend.
This has encouraged speculators to keep testing consumers' ability to absorb higher costs, with some analysts saying only a significant pull-back in demand -- due to conservation, fuel switching or an economic slowdown -- will tame prices.
"The market is testing higher to see what price levels this demand can endure," said Naohiro Niimura, vice president at the derivative products division of Mizuho Corporate Bank.
Crude oil contracts for delivery through next August are now all trading above $60 a barrel as dealers see tight market conditions running for at least another year, especially for distillate products such as heating oil and diesel.
Rest of article at:
http://www.financialexpress.com/
latest_full_story.php?content_id=94940
Climate change threatens humanity's cradle Africa
By Ed Stoddard Sun Jun 26,10:24 AM ET
THE STERKFONTEIN CAVES, South Africa (Reuters) - Climate change in Africa gave rise to modern humans
Now experts fear that global warming linked to carbon emissions will have its worst impact on humanity's cradle. "Africa is the most vulnerable continent to climate change," said Jennifer Morgan, director of the Global Climate Change Programme at conservation group WWF.
"Most African livelihoods depend on rain-based agriculture so droughts and floods will have a serious impact on the workforce," she said, adding that the continent's extreme poverty reduced its ability to cope. Africa's plight will be high on the agenda of a Scottish summit of the Group of Eight industrialized nations next month which could herald increased aid flows to the region.
British Prime Minister
Tony Blair has also made climate change a priority of Britain's year-long presidency of the G8.
Global warming is widely blamed on emissions of heat-trapping gases from cars, factories and power plants -- gases mostly spewed from the rich world.
"If leaders don't deal with climate change effectively they won't be doing all they can for Africa," said Morgan.
APOCALYPSE NOW
Climate change in Africa prodded mankind's distant ancestors along their evolutionary path as forests gave way to grasslands, forcing early humans into an open environment where it appears stone tools and long strides first developed.
But while most past changes in weather patterns were gradual -- giving our pre-historic ancestors a chance to adapt -- the pace of global warming today could overwhelm modern Africa.
The United Nations projects that temperatures may rise by 1.4-5.8 Celsius by the year 2100.
Desertification threatens to drive millions of Africans from their homes, said a recent international report drawing on the work of 1,360 scientists in 95 nations.
The problem is illustrated by gullies of eroded, barren earth scarring the shoreline of Lake Victoria, which borders Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. The Kenya-based World Agroforestry Center says one of them, the Katuk-Odeyo gully, now extends to a remarkable 45 km (30 miles).
Global warming may already be a source of violence in central Nigeria, where nomadic cattle herders and peasant farmers have been locked in conflict over scarce land for decades as the desert creeps southwards.
Deforestation, dwindling water supplies and rising sea levels could spark mass migrations, provoking ethnic conflict.
"Regions that are already least secure in food production, like sub-Saharan Africa, stand to be worst affected by global warming as wet areas become wetter and dry areas become drier," says a recent global report on climate change.
Uganda's climate has become hotter and its rains more erratic in the last decade, researchers and the government say, posing a threat to its key coffee crop.
Rising sea temperatures are also among the threats seen to the coral reefs off Africa's lush east coast, the life-blood of poor coastal communities dependent upon fisheries and tourism.
HUMANITY'S CRADLE
And this tragedy of the weather is unfolding across the continent where climate change gave birth to modern humans.
The evidence for this is embedded in the Sterkfontein caves, 30 km (18 miles) northwest of Johannesburg, where hominid fossils dating back over 4 million years have been unearthed.
"There was a drying up of Africa around 2.5 million years ago ... There was a change from forest to grassland," said Dr. Ron Clarke, who heads excavations at Sterkfontein.
Intriguingly, it was in this period that the Sterkfontein fossil record reveals our ancestors first making stone tools.
"The change in climate may have forced us into an open environment with new challenges which meant we had to adapt by using tools. That of course is speculation," Clarke said.
Climate change would continue to steer humanity's path.
"About 130,000 ago, the climate switched ... briefly into a warmer, moister mode," write Chris Stringer and Robin McKie in their book "African Exodus: The Origins of Modern Humanity."
"The deserts began to retreat and the forests to expand again, a situation that probably led to prototype modern humans' first tentative steps out of Africa into the Middle East 120,000 years ago," they say.
The Sterkfontein Caves, surrounded by rolling farms, are again witness to environmental change -- this time man-made.
"The water table below the caves is dropping because it is being pumped out by local farmers," said Clarke. And water in the area will become more scarce if temperatures rise as fast as some fear.
(Additional reporting by Andrew Cawthorne in Nairobi and Daniel Wallis in Kampala)
THE STERKFONTEIN CAVES, South Africa (Reuters) - Climate change in Africa gave rise to modern humans
Now experts fear that global warming linked to carbon emissions will have its worst impact on humanity's cradle. "Africa is the most vulnerable continent to climate change," said Jennifer Morgan, director of the Global Climate Change Programme at conservation group WWF.
"Most African livelihoods depend on rain-based agriculture so droughts and floods will have a serious impact on the workforce," she said, adding that the continent's extreme poverty reduced its ability to cope. Africa's plight will be high on the agenda of a Scottish summit of the Group of Eight industrialized nations next month which could herald increased aid flows to the region.
British Prime Minister
Tony Blair has also made climate change a priority of Britain's year-long presidency of the G8.
Global warming is widely blamed on emissions of heat-trapping gases from cars, factories and power plants -- gases mostly spewed from the rich world.
"If leaders don't deal with climate change effectively they won't be doing all they can for Africa," said Morgan.
APOCALYPSE NOW
Climate change in Africa prodded mankind's distant ancestors along their evolutionary path as forests gave way to grasslands, forcing early humans into an open environment where it appears stone tools and long strides first developed.
But while most past changes in weather patterns were gradual -- giving our pre-historic ancestors a chance to adapt -- the pace of global warming today could overwhelm modern Africa.
The United Nations projects that temperatures may rise by 1.4-5.8 Celsius by the year 2100.
Desertification threatens to drive millions of Africans from their homes, said a recent international report drawing on the work of 1,360 scientists in 95 nations.
The problem is illustrated by gullies of eroded, barren earth scarring the shoreline of Lake Victoria, which borders Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. The Kenya-based World Agroforestry Center says one of them, the Katuk-Odeyo gully, now extends to a remarkable 45 km (30 miles).
Global warming may already be a source of violence in central Nigeria, where nomadic cattle herders and peasant farmers have been locked in conflict over scarce land for decades as the desert creeps southwards.
Deforestation, dwindling water supplies and rising sea levels could spark mass migrations, provoking ethnic conflict.
"Regions that are already least secure in food production, like sub-Saharan Africa, stand to be worst affected by global warming as wet areas become wetter and dry areas become drier," says a recent global report on climate change.
Uganda's climate has become hotter and its rains more erratic in the last decade, researchers and the government say, posing a threat to its key coffee crop.
Rising sea temperatures are also among the threats seen to the coral reefs off Africa's lush east coast, the life-blood of poor coastal communities dependent upon fisheries and tourism.
HUMANITY'S CRADLE
And this tragedy of the weather is unfolding across the continent where climate change gave birth to modern humans.
The evidence for this is embedded in the Sterkfontein caves, 30 km (18 miles) northwest of Johannesburg, where hominid fossils dating back over 4 million years have been unearthed.
"There was a drying up of Africa around 2.5 million years ago ... There was a change from forest to grassland," said Dr. Ron Clarke, who heads excavations at Sterkfontein.
Intriguingly, it was in this period that the Sterkfontein fossil record reveals our ancestors first making stone tools.
"The change in climate may have forced us into an open environment with new challenges which meant we had to adapt by using tools. That of course is speculation," Clarke said.
Climate change would continue to steer humanity's path.
"About 130,000 ago, the climate switched ... briefly into a warmer, moister mode," write Chris Stringer and Robin McKie in their book "African Exodus: The Origins of Modern Humanity."
"The deserts began to retreat and the forests to expand again, a situation that probably led to prototype modern humans' first tentative steps out of Africa into the Middle East 120,000 years ago," they say.
The Sterkfontein Caves, surrounded by rolling farms, are again witness to environmental change -- this time man-made.
"The water table below the caves is dropping because it is being pumped out by local farmers," said Clarke. And water in the area will become more scarce if temperatures rise as fast as some fear.
(Additional reporting by Andrew Cawthorne in Nairobi and Daniel Wallis in Kampala)
The drive to Sokcho the next morning was tough. My seat was a smaller one, with no headrest and I had less than 3 hours sleep so I was pooped. Eventually I pushed my back against the side of the door, and rested my head on the top of the seat. Awkward, but temporary relief. In the delirium I asked myself a few times, "Why are you doing this?" And, "Why are we doing this?" It's so expensive, so much effort... Well, part of the answer I guess is on my wrist. It doesn't say LIVESTRONG for nothing. LIVESTRONG not LIVEFAT or LIVELAZY. Will provide more info on Sokcho tonight. Got to go to work now. Am feeling really sore in my muscles, sunburnt and still very sleep deprived.
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