From Hua Shan to the Cliffs of Moher
22-Jan-07
Your workout becoming a bit boring? Why not take a stroll on China's Hua Shan?
(Via flutterby.)
Or perhaps a short bike ride on the Cliffs of Moher?
(Via . Originals created by Hans Rey. )
Via :
20 short animations to see before you die
Colored smoke
Price for border fence up to $49 billion
22-Jan-07
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/01/08/BAG6RNEJJG1.DTL&type=printable
Study: Price for border fence up to $49 billion Study says fence cost could reach $49 billion
Lawmakers' estimate falls far short of total, research service says
- Tyche Hendricks, Chronicle Staff Writer
Monday, January 8, 2007
Click to View
The cost of building and maintaining a double set of steel fences along 700 miles of the U.S.-Mexico border could be five to 25 times greater than congressional leaders forecast last year, or as much as $49 billion over the expected 25-year life span of the fence, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service.
A little-noticed study the research service released in December notes that even the $49 billion does not include the expense of acquiring private land along hundreds of miles of border or the cost of labor if the job is done by private contractors — both of which could drive the price billions of dollars higher.
The Congressional Research Service also questioned the effectiveness of a fence in preventing people from crossing the border illegally, especially if it does not span the entire 1,952-mile border. Secure fencing of some kind already exists along 106 miles of border, mostly in short stretches around cities.
The findings did not deter Congressional backers of the border fence, including Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-San Diego, the fence's principal proponent.
“Mr. Hunter firmly supports expanding the San Diego border fence across the U.S.-Mexico border,” said spokesman Joe Kasper. “This doesn't have to be and should not be as costly an endeavor as some are suggesting.”
Congress has so far provided the Department of Homeland Security with $1.5 billion for upgrading infrastructure and technology at the border this fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30. No money has been allocated specifically for the 700 miles of fence.
A spokesman for Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., was circumspect as to how the money should be spent, given the report's findings.
“Sen. Feinstein has been supportive of the idea of a fence and thinks it has been effective in California,” said Feinstein spokesman Scott Gerber. “At the same time, we have to be realistic about the costs of both construction and maintenance. Priorities need to be made, estimates need to be made based on the real world, and as additional information comes forward, we'll take another look at it.”
The fence would be built under the auspices of the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees Customs and Border Protection. Boeing Co., under a September contract with Homeland Security, already has begun constructing a “virtual fence” along all 6,000 miles of the U.S. border, north and south, that is expected to run to $2.5 billion.
A state-of-the-art fence constructed on almost 10 miles of border in western San Diego County has reduced the number of Border Patrol arrests of illegal entrants there, the research service reported.
But “the flow of illegal immigration has adapted to this enforcement posture and has shifted to the more remote areas of the Arizona desert,” the research service said. The number of arrests along the entire border in 2004 was 1.2 million, the same as in 1992, before the San Diego fence was built and other enforcement was increased.
“The main difference is that, while San Diego accounted for the majority of apprehensions in 1992, in 2004 (the) Tucson and Yuma sectors accounted for the majority of apprehensions,” the study noted.
When the House of Representatives first approved a border security bill last winter, Hunter estimated it would cost $2.2 billion. The Congressional Budget Office echoed that figure in May with an estimate of $3 million per mile — $2.1 billion for 700 miles.
But the Congressional Research Service noted that the 14-mile San Diego fence is expected to cost $9 million per mile once it is finished. The research service also used a larger figure — 850 miles — for the length of the fence.
Recent fences along the border have been constructed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for Customs and Border Protection. The Corps has obtained the land, drafted the environmental protection plan, designed the project and overseen construction. Labor has been provided by National Guard and military units on loan from the Department of Defense.
The Dec. 12, 2006, nonpartisan congressional report said the corps predicted that the combined cost of building and maintaining the fence over a 25-year life cycle would range from $16.4 million to $70 million per mile, depending on how heavily and how often the fence is damaged by would-be border jumpers. At $70 million per mile, a 700-mile fence would cost $49 billion.
Though much land on the border in California and Arizona already belongs to the federal government, most of the Texas and New Mexico borderlands are privately held. And 70 miles of Arizona border lie along the Tohono O'odham Indian Reservation, whose leaders have vowed to fight the fence, a stance that could lead the government into a protracted legal battle.
Douglas Massey, a professor of sociology at Princeton University who studies the border and illegal immigration, said the government should spend its money differently.
“It's a waste of money,” he said. “If you want to increase security, better to use some of that money for ports and transportation systems. If you want to lower the rate of Mexican immigration to the U.S., I would spend it on development assistance for Mexico.”
A guest worker program would reduce the illegal traffic at the border, he also said, and free up the Border Patrol to focus on keeping out drug smugglers and potential terrorists.
Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., who has spoken adamantly in favor of restricting both legal and illegal immigration, remains a supporter of the fence for security reasons as well.
“It's simple: What did 9/11 cost us versus what would it cost to maintain a fence to help prevent that?” said Carlos Espinosa, a Tancredo spokesman. “If we could prevent another terrorist attack, then absolutely it's worth it.”
E-mail Tyche Hendricks at [email protected].
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URL: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/01/08/BAG6RNEJJG1.DTL
Schoolboy cruises on the SS Uganda
21-Jan-07
http://www.ssuganda.co.uk/educ/index.html
“Schoolboy cruises were pioneered in the UK during the 1930's using troopships that were idle during the summer. Inevitably this venture was stopped by the Second World War and unfortunately it was not resumed when peace returned. However, when the Government announced that it would cease trooping by sea in 1960, the British India Steam Navigation Company Ltd. (known as B.I.) decided to convert one of its troopships, MS Dunera to a permanent educational cruise ship.
MS Dunera, of 11,162 tons and built in 1937, was converted to a floating school with dormitory accommodation for the pupils, classrooms, a lecture theatre/cinema, a library and deck space for sports, together with cabin accommodation for teachers and independent cabin passengers. She set off on her first cruise from Greenock on the 12th April 1961 and completed a further 14 cruises that year.
Although initial school bookings were poor, B.I. demonstrated their faith in the venture by introducing a second ship the following year. The MS Devonia, formerly the MS Devonshire of the Bibby Line, was a near sister of the MS Dunera. As the educational cruising scheme developed momentum, and pupils had time to save and/or earn money towards their fares, loadings improved and B.I. introduced their third and largest ship, the 20,527 ton SS Nevasa in 1965. Educational cruising reached its peak with around 60 cruises each year.
However, the MS Dunera and MS Devonia were both approaching 30 years of age and becoming expensive to maintain. Hence the decision to replace them with the SS Uganda that was becoming redundant on the company's East African service. In contrast with the three previous educational cruise ships, which were all former troopships with mess areas that needed relatively little modification to form dormitory accommodation, the SS Uganda required a major conversion. Work was carried out by Howaldtswerke AG at Hamburg. Most of her former cargo holds were converted to the student areas and the upper decks were extended to provide additional cabin accommodation. Moreover the quadrupling from around 300 passengers to a total of 1,200 students and cabin passengers necessitated a substantial increase in the galley, laundry, fresh water and electrical generation capacities. Her tonnage had increased from 14,430 to 16,607 tons. “
http://www.merchantnavyofficers.com/KenUg.html
Educational cruising was not new to BI for they had been organising 'schoolboy cruises' as far back as the 1930's. They were not a permanent occupation for BI vessels in those days, but were run in the summer months prior to the start of the trooping seasons. The students slept and lived in the mess decks fitted with hammocks as used by the servicemen.
The first 'schoolboy cruises' were in the BI troopship of 1912, Neuralia (9,082grt).
They had been organised by a retired post office official from Edinburgh, George White. George White had the idea of using a suitable passenger ship for schoolboy cruises and he discussed this with some Scottish headmasters. As a result Mr George Robertson, headmaster of George Watson's College, formed the Secondary Schools Cruise Association which later became the Scottish Secondary Schools Travel Trust. Charter arrangements were negotiated through James Little & Co Ltd, a firm of shipbrokers on the Baltic Exchange. The first cruise, between 5th July and 8th August 1932, was such a success that others followed. In 1935 the cost of a 14-day cruise was £5! The old Nevesa (9,070grt) os 1913 joined Neuralia and, in 1936, they were replaced by the newly built Dilwara (12,555grt) and Dunera (12,615grt). In 1938n the deterioration in the political scene necessitated an extended trooping season and this brought an end to the 'schoolboy cruises'. . I wonder how many of them travelled on them later as servicemen, perhaps on their last voyage before making the ultimate sacrifice.
It was these pre-war cruises which provided the germ of an idea in 1961, when a decision by the government to discontinue trooping by sea suddenly made all the troopships redundant. BI had to find an alternative employment for the vessels, or sell them.
The school cruises of the 1960's were to be very different from their earlier counterparts. Then there had been no formal education on board, they had simply enabled the students of the 1930's to travel abroad. This time there would be proper facilities for classes and lectures and purpose built accommodation. The first ship to run a post-war cruise was the Dunera in April 1961. After a slow start the idea of educational cruising had really caught on by 1963. By the time Devonia (12,795grt ex-Bibby Line Devonshire) had joined Dunera, and both ships were well booked. One factor that helped to make the ships a success was the first class accommodation had been left intact, and additional revenue was obtained from the 190 full-fare paying passengers who lived entirely separately from the students. Although the profits for the company were marginal, the growth in demand from education authorities and schools, at home and abroad, encouraged BI to take the decision to convert the troopship Nevasa for educational cruises. Nevasa had been built in 1956, and, after only six years of service, she was laid up in the river Fal. This bold move proved that BI were convinced there was a long-term future for educational cruises.
….
Her first class accommodation and, fortunately, all the beautiful decoration and woodwork were left intact. This, and the forward swimming pool, was for the use of the fare paying passengers. Further aft all the cargo holds and handling gear were gone, and in their place were 43 dormitories fitted with two tier-bunks. There were 14 well-equipped lecture rooms, seating over 330 students at a time, and also a library and information room. The tourist class dining saloon was now a mess hall, fitted for cafeteria service with seating for over 300 students at one sitting. Right aft, on the promenade deck, was the student's common room with large panoramic windows. Above this, at the after end of the boat deck, was the students' swimming pool and sports deck. The students' dormitory accommodation was totally separate from that of the cabin passengers, although the assembly hall/cinema, situated on the boat deck, was shared by all the passengers. It could seat 400 people at one time. This meant that the cabin passengers did not need to improvise and use their ballroom for film shows. Additionally, the whole ship was fitted with air conditioning which added to the comfort of both passengers and crew. Uganda could now carry 920 students and 304 cabin class passengers on her 'voyages of discovery'.
Uganda sailed from Southampton on her first voyage in her new role on 27th February 1968 with over 860 students from the counties of Norfolk and Northumberland and 50 from Czechoslovakia. Her cabin accommodation was almost full as well. This cruise took her into the Mediterranean with calls at Athens, Istanbul and Heraklion and it would not be long before the ship became a very familiar sight at ports all round the Mediterranean Sea. During these early years in her new career Uganda operated in conjunction with Nevasa. In the summer months she would sail from UK ports on cruises to the Atlantic Isle and the Iberian Peninsula, and in mid-summer, to the Baltic ports and the North Cape. Sometimes she would run charter cruises for various organisations, one of the most popular being for the National Trust for Scotland, when she would call at lesser known ports round the Scottish coast. On these chartered voyages cabin and dormitory accommodation were usually both occupied by adult passengers, all of them sharing the cabin class public rooms. In the autumn of each year Uganda would undertake a positioning cruise into the Mediterranean and operate fly cruises during the winter months, usually undergoing an annual overhaul at Marseilles.
For Uganda's cabin passengers there was the plush comfort of the ship's original first class accommodation, which, fortunately, was unspoilt. The wooden veneers, and the atmosphere of 'colonial splendour', so different from the 'plastic' cruise ships that were being built, soon became very popular and it was not long before the Uganda had built up a regular cruising clientele. For them there was also the added interest of the ports of call, all of them directed towards the educational aspect for the students. One example of this was when, in November 1973 she visited the locations of many epic sea battles. The battles which took place in the Dardanelles, off Malta, Greece and Crete and during the North African campaign in the Second World War, were all fully described by the distinguished naval historian and author, Captain Eric Bush DSO, DSC, RN (ret'd).
Revenge of the Birds
21-Jan-07
I'm sorry birds! Whatever I did, I'm sorry!
(Note that what you see on my car appeared overnight last Friday. My car was not parked under trees, and the cars to my immediate right and left were untouched.)
MFF vs. Evil Dead
19-Jan-07
Via .
"Come Get Some"
19-Jan-07
…Bruce Campbell lovin', that is. Via
Decomposition of Baby Pigs
17-Jan-07
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1CD6gNmhr0
Via Boing boing.
Waves of fear
14-Jan-07
http://www.economist.com/books/PrinterFriendly.cfm?story_id=8516034
Waves of fear
Jan 11th 2007
In a controversial new book a British economist asks why so many people are against the free movement of labour
Immigrants: Your Country Needs Them
By Philippe Legrain
Little, Brown; 374 pages; £12.99
FOR years now, free trade and free movement of capital have been respectable economic tenets, espoused—if sometimes reluctantly—by most politicians. But no sane politician in the rich world would advocate free movement of labour. As a result, most people are trapped in their native lands, never likely to have a legal opportunity to see the world outside.
Philippe Legrain, a liberal economist who once worked for The Economist, has already written a book stoutly defending globalisation. Now he takes on an even more emotive subject. There is not a shadow of doubt about his own views. He wants open borders. He believes that they will, on balance, enrich both sending and receiving countries; he thinks diversity generally makes life more interesting; and he detests bureaucratic restrictions on human freedoms. “Immigrants are not an invading army,” he points out. “They come in search of a better life. They are no different to someone who moves from Manchester to London, or Oklahoma to California, because that is where the jobs are. Except that a border lies in the way.”
Mr Legrain has assembled powerful evidence to undermine the economic arguments against immigration. In the case of skilled migrants, that is relatively easy. But the migrants who arrive in the back of lorries and huddled in small boats are unskilled. For them, there are hardly any legal tracks across borders. Yet, argues Mr Legrain, they too bring economic benefits and do “little or no harm” to the wages or employment prospects of native workers. As for the economic impact on sending countries, many now gain more from remittances than from official aid or inward investment. He quotes approvingly a government minister from the Philippines who says: “Overseas employment has built more homes, sent more children of the poor to college and established more business enterprises than all the other programmes of the government put together.”
Mr Legrain makes a robust economic case—though he surely understates the impact of immigrants on holding back the pay of the poorest, often themselves the children of immigrants. He is more successful at rebutting the argument that taxpayers give willingly only to those with whom they feel some kinship and that immigration, therefore, jeopardises support for the welfare state. A willingness to pay taxes to support the poor is independent of levels of immigration, he shows.
Less convincing are his proposals for encouraging immigrants to go home after a period of working abroad. If immigration were temporary, he reasons, people might tolerate it more readily. So why not get immigrants to post a bond on arrival, say, or have a portion of their wages withheld until they leave? The trouble with such ingenious ideas is that immigrants from the world's poorer countries have many reasons to stay overseas, especially in Europe or America. The financial gains are huge, but they are by no means the only rewards. Life is much easier where there is the rule of law, less petty corruption and a better health-care system than exists at home.
But hostility to immigration is not just, or indeed mainly, about economics. It is based on fear of change and on racism. It has also, since the World Trade Centre attacks, been based on growing worries about Muslim terrorism. Such anxieties are not easily assuaged by economic logic. It is striking, for example, how little serious protest there was in Britain at the absorption of over 500,000 east European immigrants in the two years after Poland and nine other countries acceded to the European Union in May 2004. Surely at least one reason was that these white Christian Europeans look and (seem to) think extraordinarily like most British people, and their children and grandchildren will be distinguishable only by their unpronounceable names.
By contrast, many Muslim immigrants and their children have become more estranged, not less. Their ambivalence towards the West and its secular liberalism has appeared to grow, not diminish. It is, of course, wholly unreasonable to see most Muslims as potential terrorists—but reason may not have much chance here.
So no government in the rich world is likely to open its borders to all comers, as Mr Legrain urges. For politicians, the tricky question is who to let in. And how to define a coherent policy? The harsh truth is that voters find it easier to accept immigrants who look and behave as they do than those who are different. That, as a basis for policy, still leaves most of mankind outside the gates.
Immigrants: Your Country Needs Them.
By Philippe Legrain.
Little, Brown; 374 pages; £12.99
Hawaiian cattle fly on Boeing 747's
14-Jan-07
http://betterhawaiibureau.blogspot.com/2006/06/to-fix-economy.html
“In Hawaii, for example, shipping prices are so expensive because of the Jones Act, that Hawaii cattle ranchers find it less expensive to send their cattle to the mainland via Boeing 747s. As Congressman Nick Smith wrote in May, “It doesn't have to be this way. There are 164 cattle carriers floating around the world's oceans that would love to be of service to the Hawaiian cattlemen but are barred from serving them because of the Jones Act.”
That same month, the president of the 110-member Hawaiian Cattlemen's Council Inc. noted that “as much as 60 percent in costs could be saved utilizing competitive livestock carriers transporting whole herds at one time. The Jones Act costs consumers and small businesses in Hawaii approximately a billion dollars per year.”"
A couple of things that surprised me here:
* Who knew that Hawaii had cattle ranchers? I wonder if they exist due to some other subsidy.
* That traditional shipping is so expensive that it is more cost-effective to fly their cattle via Boeing 747's!!! How is that at all economical?!? Is there something special about Hawaiian beef?
What didn't surprise me:
* That the cost of shipping was so high due to protectionist legislation (the Jones Act) that prevented non-U.S. carriers from shipping between two U.S. ports.