Monday, August 17, 2009

It would seem as though the Russians have turned up. Curious about the freight.


..."At 1:00 p.m. Moscow time [09:00 GMT], it was found 300 miles off Cape Verde islands. The crew is alive. They were taken to the Ladny frigate," Anatoly Serdyukov said....

Hm? Odd.

August 15, 2009
Santa Rosa Sound, Florida
Photographer states :: ...in passing...


August 15, 2009 - Saturday
Destin, Florida
Photographer states :: Storm coming ashore over the Destin Beach Saturday evening.

Texas drought produces long, busy fire season

Updated 8/17/2009 12:14AM
...They check in daily to the Forest Service's (click title to entry - thank you) command center in this north-central Texas town, no days off, waiting for the call that puts them into the teeth of another galloping, 1,500-degree wildfire. A typical summer wildfire season begins in June. This year, they've been fighting fires since early February....

A worker points to a map of Texas with locations for fire staging areas at the Fire Operations Center. The Texas Forest Service, which set up a command center in this Texas town, about 75 miles west of Dallas, has brought in 229 firefighting personnel from around the country, from Oregon to Arizona and Florida, to help fight the fires.


The charred remains of a car which started a 20-acre grass fire sits alone in Steele Creek, Texas. Gov. Rick Perry has issued disaster proclamations for 167 counties due to wildfires and issued burn bans on 152 counties. Gov. Rick Perry has issued disaster proclamations for 167 counties due to wildfires and issued burn bans on 152 counties.


Property owner Ray Fahnders walks aside a smoky ravine on his ranch in Steele Creek, Texas. A drought that started in late 2007 and has broiled central and southern Texas has been the main impetus for the wildfires, said John Nielsen-Gammon,. the state climatologist. Record-breaking, triple-digit heat combined with low humidity and very little rainfall has created the tinderbox conditions, he said.


A piece of construction equipment that was used in preparing fire breaks ultimately fell victim to the grass fire in Steele Creek. "Texas has the perfect storm lined up for fires," says Stewart Turner, a fire behavior analyst working with the Texas Forest Service. "We're looking at extreme fire conditions."

If one recalls there were deadly fires of February in Australia. It would seem the drought continues and the fire response report is expected.


One hundred and seventy-three people died in the Australian fires in February. Facing continued drought, the report about the inadequate fire response is due today. There is no doubt the fires were fueled by extreme drought of which the Australian people have yet to see any relief.


Australia's fire system 'flawed' (click title to entry - thank you)
By Nick Bryant BBC News, Sydney

An official investigation into Australia's wildfires earlier this year has called for sweeping changes to the warning system and evacuation policy.
The fires, which swept through a number of towns in Victoria state, killed 173 people. Many died trying to defend their homes from the flames.
The report urges a rethink of the stay-and-defend approach and identifies failings in the emergency response....



Evacuate children from fire zones (click here)
Darren GrayAugust 18, 2009
CHILDREN should not be involved or present during the defence of a property under attack from a bushfire, the Bushfires Royal Commission has recommended.
In recommendations concerning the controversial ''stay or go'' policy, the commission's interim report said that ''families with young children, older people, and disabled people'' should plan to relocate to safety early.
During the hearings the commissioners were clearly saddened by the number of children who were killed in the fires. Royal commissioner Bernard Teague told a hearing in June that more than 20 children had been killed. A further 17 children under 18 lost one or both of their parents in the blazes.
To help protect the safety of school children during future bushfires, the royal commission has urged the Department of Education to review all refuges in schools located in areas that are at risk of bushfires.
This was one of three important recommendations made in the interim report concerning schools, kindergartens, childcare centres, preschools and early learning centres....



Climate change fuels forest fires: Greenpeace (click here)
August 14, 2009
Greenpeace has warned of an imminent "global emergency" as climate change fuels forest fires that have already destroyed tens of thousands of hectares in southern Europe this year.
"Climate change is driving a new generation of fires with unknown social and economic consequences," said Miguel Soto, Greenpeace Spain forests campaigner.
Spain, Italy, France, Greece and Portugal have been among the countries worst hit by wildfires that swept across southern Europe in July amid sizzling temperatures and fierce winds.
Europe as a whole has lost some 200,000 hectares of forest to fires so far this summer, far more than the whole of 2008, when 158,621 hectares were destroyed, the EU said on Monday.
In Spain, fires have ravaged about 75,000 hectares of land this year, almost double the number for the whole of 2008, the Government in Madrid said.
"Forest fires are becoming more intense and out of control in Spain and across southern Europe, as well as in other semi-arid regions such as California and Australia," Soto told reporters on Thursday at the launch of their report on the issue....




Scientists: Australian Aboriginal Knowledge Could Curb Carbon Emissions (click here)
By Phil Mercer Sydney12 August 2009
...Since the European settlement of Australia the aboriginal fire management practices have faded.
But Scott Heckbert, an environmental economist at Australia's national science agency, the CSIRO, thinks that aboriginal knowledge can help reduce carbon pollution.
"Being able to go out in the early dry season when fires that are lit don't turn into massive infernos, they can create a mosaic of patchiness in the fuel that exists on the ground. In the late dry season, large wild fires that will inevitably start do not carry for thousands of kilometers across the landscape, as would happen in a completely unmanaged situation," he said.
Heckbert notes that wildfires account for about three percent of Australia's carbon emissions. Scientists have estimated that the widespread use of traditional fire management methods could cut the country's greenhouse gas emissions by up to five million tons.
Offsetting these reductions under a proposed carbon trading system could generate millions of dollars for indigenous communities, which are some of Australia's most disadvantaged.
Some aboriginal groups are considering renting out their woodlands and plains to store carbon as part of giant sequestration programs. Those plans aim to harness the ability of trees and soil to soak up carbon dioxide....

Looks like "Bill" is going to stablize and carry the ball for now.

Oddly enough the article and picture below is from The New Zealand Herald.


Bonny Doon residents watch as smoke billows over a field in Santa Cruz County, California. Photo/ AP, Noah Berger (click here)

In addition to the tropical storms in this late season, Des Moines, Lincoln and Topeka are getting some significant weather today. There is also a significant low pressure system that has formed in the last 12 hours in the Gulf of California. Maybe there will be relief from those western fires after all.

"Ana" is taking a path along the islands without a well defined 'eye.' Both these storms will bring the Gulf Coast of the USA considerable flooding. Bill is skirting a bit north, but, unless it finds a better source of water vapor, the eye will not contract enough to sustain a strong storm. The 'eye' is wobbling a bit, but, that has become standard for these storms. They struggle to maintain their velocity due to sparcity of water vapor.


August 17, 2009
1430z
UNISYS water vapor GOES East satellite (click here for 12 hour loop)
PENSACOLA BEACH, Fla. — Hurricane Bill picked up strength (click title to entry - thank you) in the open Atlantic as it churned on a path toward Bermuda, while what was left of Claudette brought rain to the southern U.S....

August 17, 2009
1217 gmt
Tropical Atlantic Map

Right Wing Republicans love to hate. They always want to kill somebody.

...It's an epic brawl between the heaviest of heavyweights (click title to entry - thank you). As in 1945, when Harry S. Truman first proposed a national health-care system, the battle is on between a Democratic White House that wants changes, and conservatives and health-care industries that oppose them....


A lot of the anger expressed by right wing voters is cultural. A man isn't a man unless he's out to kill off the opposition. No lie.

On a right wing radio station they are now playing this as their theme, "...I hope this sparks a revolution...."

Today, going down the road was a black pick-up truck with North Carolina license plate CN1761, with a slogan written on the rear cab window of the truck stating, "When the revolution begins you better remove the Obama bumper sticker from your Subaru."

The issues surrounding the loud mouths at the town halls have to do with culture and not politics. It is why no one can ever 'reach' these people while expecting any American to be reasonable. They are 'locked into' a culture they want and will live within that culture forever. It is about masculinity and femininity and the roles they play in their own lives.

No sense to try. Nothing will move them and they will be a ball and chain on the USA forever. The people that are the movers and shakers in this country that want health care reform, climate policy and are brave enough to stand up for change will have to overcome the 'old culture' of the Republican mind speak. They will never change. They love to hate and they love to think about killing other people that aren't rubber stamped out of the same mold. I would not under sell their ability to actually kill others either. I believe some of these bubbas and that's what I wrote, bubbas are so 'invested' into their cultural roles and identity they would be forced into carrying out their threats, form militias and seek to demonize the government.

Yep.

They are cowards, hide behind an identity rather than living a real life and are too scared to allow change to enter their lives. These same jokers will bankrupt a country in order to save their sorry hides for the greed they sought under a 'user friendly' president.

Real 'jerks' that wouldn't know compassion or logic if it big them in the behind actually still do live and thrive in the year 2009 in the USA. Morons. Basically. They are easily swayed and follow any populous moment they can identify while stereotyping everyone along the way. Amazing this is the year 2009 and we still have Americans that can't get out of their own way to find progress to the future. Absolutely amazing.