Month: December 2007

Mega-yacht Half-way Free

The Triton – Nautical news for captains and crews

Click on the link above to see more pictures and the whole report from Capt. Tom Serio
Phone calls to government officials and others involved with the recovery were not returned in the past two months so, in late November, I flew over Legacy to find out her status. She is still in the marine sanctuary just north of Key West, where she was deposited by Hurricane Wilma two years ago a few dozen yards from Bluefish Channel.

The latest recovery process of pulling her out the way she went in has freed her from the bottom and continues. Originally speculated in early September to take three weeks, pulling Legacy to deep water has so far taken three months, with probably several more to go.

This current recovery process (others have been tried but failed) includes creating a channel in front of Legacy by removing the sandy bottom using an auger and pump. The sand is then relocated aft as the yacht moves forward. A series of cables connected to her hull run along the initial path of entry cut in the sea grass (almost a mile long), out to a utility boat, the Helen B. Legacy is pulled several feet at a time by the utility vessel.

Search on this blog for “Mega-yacht” to see more articles on this ongoing sea saga.

Don’t Cry For Me Pakistan

Don’t Cry For Me Pakistan

Bhutto was a frivolously wealthy feudal landlord amid bleak poverty. The scion of a thieving political dynasty, she was always more concerned with power than with the wellbeing of the average Pakistani. Her program remained one of old-school patronage, not increased productivity or social decency.

Educated in expensive Western schools, she permitted Pakistan’s feeble education system to rot – opening the door to Islamists and their religious schools.

During her years as prime minister, Pakistan went backward, not forward. Her husband looted shamelessly and ended up fleeing the country, pursued by the courts. The Islamist threat – which she artfully played both ways – spread like cancer.

But she always knew how to work Westerners – unlike the hapless Gen. Pervez Musharraf, who sought the best for his tormented country but never knew how to package himself. Continue reading “Don’t Cry For Me Pakistan”

Your Camera Phone As Scanner

scanR
scanR is a free service that lets you use your mobile camera phone or digital camera to clean photos of whiteboards, documents and business cards, extract the printed information, and get a digital file in your email, contact manager, or fax.

7 Medical Myths

BBC NEWS | Health | ‘Medical myths’ exposed as untrue

Drink at least eight glasses of water a day
We use only 10% of our brains
Hair and fingernails continue to grow after death
Reading in dim light ruins your eyesight
Shaving causes hair to grow back faster or coarser
Mobile phones are dangerous in hospitals
Eating turkey makes people especially drowsy
But a review of evidence by US researchers surrounding seven commonly-hold beliefs suggests they are actually “medical myths”.
Continue reading “7 Medical Myths”

China 40% smaller than thought – IMF

News & Broadcast – 2005 International Comparison Program Preliminary Global Report Compares Size of Economies
The International Comparison Program (ICP) today released new data showing the world economy produced goods and services worth almost $55 trillion in 2005 and that almost 40 percent of the world’s output came from developing economies.

  • Twelve economies account for more than two-thirds of the world’s output. Seven of them are high-income economies (United States, Japan, Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Italy and, Spain), and five are developing or transitional economies (China, India, Russia, Brazil, and Mexico). The five largest developing economies account for more than 20 percent of global output and over 27 percent of the world expenditures for investment purposes. 
  • China participated in the survey program for the first time ever and India for the first time since 1985. These results are more statistically reliable estimates of the size and price levels of both economies. The previous, less reliable, methods led to estimates of their GDPs that were 40 percent larger than the results of the new, improved methods and benchmark. China still ranks as the world’s second largest economy with over 9 percent of world production and India follows as the fifth largest with over 4 percent of the world total.

Our Unlimited Energy Source – Methane Hydrate?

Warning Signs on the Ocean Floor: China and India Exploit Icy Energy Reserves – International – SPIEGEL ONLINE – News

World reserves of the frozen gas are enormous. Geologists estimate that significantly more hydrocarbons are bound in the form of methane hydrate than in all known reserves of coal, natural gas and oil combined.
In the West, this potential fuel from the ocean floor has for the most part been the stuff of fantasy. But it’s a different story in Asia. The People’s Republic of China is investing millions to study this massive source of energy. The same holds true for India, South Korea and Taiwan.

But many scientists see the flames licking out of samples in Indian and Chinese laboratories as a warning sign. They fear that one day the methane from the ocean floor will heat up the world’s climate to a far greater extent than coal, oil and natural gas do today.

This is precisely what scientists at the Institute for Marine Research (GEOMAR) based in the northern German seaport of Kiel want to avert. They hope to be able to transform a potential curse into a blessing before it’s too late. They envision a method whereby the flammable gas would be extracted from the sediment with the help of carbon dioxide. Continue reading “Our Unlimited Energy Source – Methane Hydrate?”