Apparently president was informed about the issue, nevertheless there is not much he can do.
Some historical context (About Nikolai Vavilov)
Friday, 20 August 2010
Pavlovsk seed bank faces destruction
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/aug/08/pavlovsk-seed-bank-russia
Famine in Niger 2010
Niger is now facing the worst hunger crisis in its history, the UN's World Food Programme says, with almost half the population - or 7.3 million people - in desperate need of food.
I want to announce some brighter side of this situation. World Food Program managed to collect more than $100m dollar in donations and feeding campaign has started.
An underlying set of factors makes Niger more vulnerable to food insecurity. These include:
* Extreme poverty -- the country ranks bottom in the 2009 UNDP Human Development Index.
* Niger has one of the highest rates of population increase in the world and highest fertility rate.
* Cereal prices have remained above the pre- food price crisis levels of two years ago.
* A large part of the population is dependent on subsistence farming. Illiteracy amongst female population is highest in the world and most of existing elementary schools was created in last ten years.
* Malnutrition rates in Niger are high: Ten percent of children under five suffer from acute malnutrition and 40 percent of children suffer from chronic malnutrition.
* A harsh environment is made even worse by climate change and the poor management of environmental resources.
You can expect that people started planting new food in this week, or they are going to start in the next, but they cannot harvest the crops before October.
Wednesday, 18 August 2010
Tuesday, 17 August 2010
Sharks attacks
They aren't so dangerous, as it seams. In recent 339 years there were 49 fatal shark attacks in United States.
In whole world there have been 464 fatal attacks since 1580.
AFAIK, most of these fatal attacks happened during WWI and WWII (when people were jumping off a sinking ship). Generally speaking being wounded on a sinking ship surrounded by dead crew-members is a bad position to be. It is high on my list places to avoid.
University of Florida advice:
Always stay in groups since sharks are more likely to attack a solitary individual.
Do not wander too far from shore --- this isolates an individual and additionally places one far away from assistance.
Avoid being in the water during darkness or twilight hours when sharks are most active and have a competitive sensory advantage.
Do not enter the water if bleeding from an open wound or if menstruating --- a shark's olfactory ability is acute.
Wearing shiny jewelry is discouraged because the reflected light resembles the sheen of fish scales.
Avoid waters with known effluents or sewage and those being used by sport or commercial fisherman, especially if there are signs of bait fishes or feeding activity. Diving seabirds are good indicators of such action.
Sightings of porpoises do not indicate the absence of sharks --- both often eat the same food items.
Use extra caution when waters are murky and avoid uneven tanning and bright colored clothing --- sharks see contrast particularly well.
Refrain from excess splashing and do not allow pets in the water because of their erratic movements.
Exercise caution when occupying the area between sandbars or near steep dropoffs --- these are favorite hangouts for sharks.
Do not enter the water if sharks are known to be present and evacuate the water if sharks are seen while there. And, of course, do not harass a shark if you see one!
About under-reporting in food intake surveys
NHANES is a survey study and under-reporting of food intake is pretty well-known.
Google scholar has thousands reports about underestimation of food intake.
Actually under-reporting of habitual food intake amongst pregnant American women is so high they should looks like skeletons (according to survey.
You need to know, how read the data. Survey can register changes through time, but it's unreliable as record of events.
Recommendations for Afghanistan concerning women
I. As fas as government is concern:
Ensure that all those who agree to the reconciliation process have made explicit their acceptance of the constitutional guarantees of equality for men and women, including the right to an education, the right to work, and the right to participate in political life.
Mandate the Constitutional Oversight Committee (appointed but not yet operational) to ensure that reintegration and reconciliation do not breach the constitutional guarantees of women’s rights.
Ensure that the reconciliation process includes all elements of society, including women, and ethnic and religious minorities.
Commit to a timeline for advancing the Action Plan for Peace, Reconciliation, and Justice in advance of or in tandem with a reconciliation process.
Ensure that the High Level Peace Council and the Joint Secretariat for Peace, Reintegration and Reconciliation Programs have a specific mandate to consider the impact of reintegration and reconciliation upon the rights of women and girls.
Ensure that background checks are carried out on insurgent commanders to be considered for reintegration and reconciliation, and that political and bureaucratic positions at the district, provincial, or national level are not offered to those who have a track record of rights abuses, including attacks on schools and threats or attacks against women. Reintegrated or reconciling ex-combatants should also be subject to vetting procedures for government positions.
Include in reintegration and rehabilitation of former insurgents, appropriate training on women’s rights enshrined in the Afghan constitution, Afghan law (such as the Elimination of Violence Against Women law), and international human rights law.
Publicly condemn all attacks against women in public life.
Ensure that sufficient security is provided for women in public life who are under threat, and that government security is provided to individuals on the basis of need rather than status or favor. Consider an oversight mechanism to ensure that security provision is needs based.
Give priority to investigations into assassinations and other attacks on women in public life, ensure all reported attacks are recorded, prosecute the perpetrators, and identify preventive measures.
Ensure that women are appointed to key political roles, including as ministers and deputy ministers.
Recognize that a lasting peace will have to address underlying grievances, including addressing past crimes. Consider the use of forums such as the Consultative Peace Jirga to start a national discussion on healing the wounds of the decades of war, how to bring justice for victims of rights abuses, and how to provide protection to vulnerable communities.
Repeal the Amnesty Law, and ensure that those against whom there are credible allegations of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and other serious human rights abuses are excluded from the reconciliation process.
Commit to a timeline for advancing the Action Plan for Peace, Reconciliation and Justice in advance of or in tandem with a reconciliation process.
Strengthen existing vetting and complaints mechanisms for elections as well as political, bureaucratic, and judicial appointments so that individuals against whom there are credible allegations of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and other serious human rights abuses from all existing and former armed factions are excluded from public office.
Build transparent and credible dispute resolution and accountability mechanisms into the reintegration and reconciliation process, including measures to address grievances against government officials. Ensure that the government officials implementing these accountability mechanisms are not themselves subject to complaints from the local communities.
II. As far as International Military Forces are concern:
Provide assistance for government background checks and vetting of those to be included in reintegration and reconciliation programs, and offer verification of background checks where intelligence is available, particularly regarding those being considered for political office.
Recognize that civilian casualties, night raids and detention practices have helped fuel the insurgency, continue efforts to reduce unnecessary deaths, and fully investigate and hold accountable military personnel responsible for wrongful acts.
Ensure that international military assistance to reintegration efforts does not exacerbate impunity or corruption, and that any engagement with communities or individuals seeking reintegration or reconciliation involves adequate intelligence and background checks for serious allegations of human rights abuses including attacks on women and girls’ education.
Ensure that women’s security is a key consideration for the international military in all its reintegration and reconciliation efforts, including funding that is separate from the Peace and Reintegration Trust Fund, such as the Commanders’ Emergency Response Program.
Tuesday, 10 August 2010
Slash and burn?
It surely looks that way.
Angola: Normal forest Area with fires
Congo: Normal forest Area with fires
Madagascar: Normal forest Area with fires
Madagascar is especially ghastly, because there are vast places without any trees to cut down.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deforestation
Sunday, 8 August 2010
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
Lets find out what panels of experts think about it.
UN lists in Millennium Development Goals:
End Poverty and Hunger,
Universal Education,
Gender Equality,
Child Health,
Maternal Health,
Combat HIV/AIDS,
Environmental Sustainability,
Global Partnership,
For $120m you can have several km of road or maybe more than 1 km of metro. Same grand could boost productivity for 280 000 small-holder farmers in Rwanda. Source.
For price of single metro line GAVI funded:
233 million vaccines against hepatitis B.
60 million vaccines against Hib.
69 million vaccines against DTP3 (diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis),
over 200 million disposable syringes,
vaccines against yellow fever, pneumococcus, rotavirus and other projects.
Global Warming
OK, lets start with human contribution.
Human activities contribute to climate change by causing changes in Earth’s atmosphere in the amounts of greenhouse gases, aerosols (small particles), and cloudiness. The largest known contribution comes from the burning of fossil fuels, which releases carbon dioxide gas to the atmosphere. Greenhouse gases and aerosols affect climate by altering incoming solar radiation and out-going infrared (thermal) radiation that are part of Earth’s energy balance. Changing the atmospheric abundance or properties of these gases and particles can lead to a warming or cooling of the climate system. Since the start of the industrial era (about 1750), the overall effect of human activities on climate has been a warming influence. The human impact on climate during this era greatly exceeds that due to known changes in natural processes, such as solar changes and volcanic eruptions.
Now, can we say much about climate based on one year of unusually high temperature anomaly? **NO** Only 10 years or so of high temperature anomaly could be attribute to change in climate. Describing climate based on 6 months of observation is stupid.
Favourite contrarian argument are there:
- plate tectonics,
- Milankovic cycles,
- Pacific Decadal Oscillation,
- solar irradiance,
- volcanoes,
Arctic Council, Impacts of a Warming Climate: Arctic Climate Impact Assessment, Cambridge U. Press, Cambridge, 2004.
About blog-post "10 poorest countries"
I want to point out, how disingenuous this list is.
On this graph I've putted health and income in these countries and China in times of Mao for comparison.
Author putted such disastrous sub-Saharan states like Congo Democratic Republic, Liberia or Zimbabwe with quite successful like Ethiopia or Comoros and strangely Solomon Island, which are richer and almost as healthy as Bangladesh.
Difference between Comoros and Niger is relatively like difference between USA and Brazil.
List according to IMF shoul be:
- Malawi,
- Togo,
- Sierra Leone,
- Central African republic,
- Niger,
- Eritrea,
- Liberia,
- Burundi,
- Zimbabwe,
- and Democratic Republic of Congo.
About wind power and wind turbines
Great, but do steel mills run on wind power? How much oil, coal and natural gas do you need to build wind turbine?
How much Dysprosium and how much Neodymium does single wind turbine need? Where are new mines for these metal being opened? How much they are going to produce? At what environmental and economical cost?
These metals are the same as used in electric engines. How large portion of their resource are GE and other companies are willing to spend on wind turbines?
These are hard questions.
Dubai
This is common misconception in reality it is much poorer than neighbouring Abu Dhabi.
Current ruler of Dubai is very involved in speculation of immobilities, so he spend large money on advertisements and PR.
Wealth of Dubai is largely just facade. You can't build entire economy on real estate. Dubai lacs industry, education and healthcare.
Current ruler of Dubai is very involved in speculation of immobilities, so he spend large money on advertisements and PR.
Wealth of Dubai is largely just facade. You can't build entire economy on real estate. Dubai lacs industry, education and healthcare.
Deep Underground, Miles of Hidden Wildfires Rage
A surprising number of us live close to them. According to a review by the Department of Interior's Office of Surface Mining Enforcement and Reclamation, more than 100 fires are burning beneath nine states, most of them in Colorado, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Utah and West Virginia. But geologists say many fires go unreported, driving the actual number of them closer to 200 across 21 states
Read more: http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,2006195,00.html#ixzz0w0ks0E8H
Read more: http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,2006195,00.html#ixzz0w0ks0E8H
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