Family Transportation along the waterways of the USA.

May 2, 2005. Stellacoom, Washington State. This is on a water ferry that transports people and their vehicles along the waterways of Washington State and Alaska. Depending on the destination the trip can last 5 days. On the horizon is Ketron Island, Washington.

Sedementary Rock with Original Horizontality

May 9, 2005. Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah. The reason this rock hold up well as does the rock in the Grand Canyon is because of the dry climate that does not encourage erosion. If I may point out, the Grand Canyon, is deep because of the erosion of a river. Sedementary rock unless it is a Sandstone, when it is deposited as shales such as seen here in the foreground is highly erodible when exposed to water. Valley and Ridge structures exist because the valleys erode while the ridges don't. Shale vs. Sandstone. The very top of the foreground is highly erodible sedimentary rock. The layer just beneath that which is marginally thick could be although not completely certain, but, it could be a sandstone and less erodible. The point here is that allowing Climate Change is a very bad idea.

May 7, 2005. Nassjo, Sweden. 

Morning Papers - continued. . .

The People Daily

Why does FORTUNE Global Forum choose China for three times?

The ninth Fortune Global Forum opened in Beijing on May 16. This is the third time that the forum is being held in China after it was held in Shanghai in 1999 and Hong Kong in 2001. The forum will bring world's best-known CEOs and senior executives back to China, this time to Beijing, which has aroused great attention from various circles of the society. Is there any special consideration for the Fortune Global Forum to choose China as its holding site for the third time?

http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200505/17/eng20050517_185442.html

Full text of Hu Jintao's speech at 2005 Fortune Global Forum

Following is the full text of the speech Chinese President Hu Jintao delivered at the opening ceremony of the 2005 Fortune Global Forum on Monday:
Address by President Hu Jintao of China at the Opening Ceremony of the 2005 FORTUNE Global Forum

http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200505/17/eng20050517_185302.html

Civil friendship vital to developing Sino-Japan relations

The Sino-Japan friendly cooperative relations has achieved remarkable development despite frequent frustrations since the normalization of diplomatic relations more than 30 years ago. However, the Sino-Japan relations still faces serious tests in view of the intricate problems these years.

http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200505/17/eng20050517_185478.html

China becoming growth engine for world: President Hu

Chinese President Hu Jintao said Monday that with surging economic globalization, China and Asia are quickly becoming a new growth engine for the world while the global boom is also generating more important opportunities for China and Asia.
Hu made the remark in an address delivered at the opening ceremony of the 2005 Fortune Global Forum held in China's capital of Beijing.

http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200505/16/eng20050516_185296.html

China never yields to outside pressure on RMB exchange rate: Premier

Reform of RMB exchange rate system is matter of China's sovereignty and any pressure and speculative exploitation of the issue or any attempt to turn the economic issue into a political one will not be conducive to resolving it, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said during his meeting with guests from the US Chamber of Commerce Monday.
Wen said as long as conditions are ripe, the Chinese government "will take the initiative to advance the reform of the exchange rate system without any pressure from outside the country."

http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200505/16/eng20050516_185298.html

China not in favor of artificial time frame for UN reform

China is not in favor of setting an artificial time limit for the reform of the United Nations or forcing through the reform proposal by vote, as there remain major differences on the reform proposals owing to the lack of broad consensus.
Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing made these remarks during his talks with Ali Alatas, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan's special envoy Tuesday in Beiging.

http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200505/17/eng20050517_185512.html

US expresses "great regret" over beating of Chinese citizen

US State Department on Thursday expressed regret over the beating of Chinese businesswoman Zhao Yan by officers of the US Customs and Border Protection.
"We regret the apparent mistreatment of a Chinese national by a US customs officer in the Niagara Falls. We have communicated to the Chinese Government that the US customs officer was arrested by the Customs and Border Patrol Police and his case referred for criminal prosecution," the State Department said in a statement.

http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200407/30/eng20040730_151343.html

Chinese woman beaten by US officers vows to seek justice

Chinese businesswoman Zhao Yan, who was beaten up by officers of the US Customs and Border Protection last week, has vowed to bring the assailants to justice by legal means.
"I will never give up in the lawsuit until the perpetrators are brought to justice and punished," Zhao said in an interview on Wednesday with a group of Chinese reporters at the office of her attorney Stanley Legan in Queens borough, New York, sobbing, with tears running down her cheeks and her shoulders shivering.

http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200407/29/eng20040729_151192.html

The Los Angeles Times

Losing ground?
Development in Eastern Sierra threatens the mule deer herd, biologists say.
By Martin Griffith, Special to The Times
Mike Dobel is worried. A biologist with the Nevada Department of Wildlife, Dobel charts mule deer populations in California and Nevada, and he doesn't like what he sees.
Development running along the backside of the Sierra Nevada, a 300-mile section of U.S. 395 running between Bishop and Susanville, appears to have compromised the deer's habitat and may threaten the future of the herd. The problem is especially acute in and around Reno, where about 13,000 deer live.

http://www.latimes.com/features/outdoors/la-os-deaddeer17may17,0,6369937.story?coll=la-home-headlines

Wine Sale Curbs Lifted
The Supreme Court strikes down laws that bar direct shipping to out-of-state consumers. It's a victory for California vintners.
By David G. Savage and Jerry Hirsch, Times Staff Writers
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court opened the way Monday for vintners to sell their wines directly to consumers across the nation, a major victory for California's $15 billion-a-year wine industry.
The 5-4 decision struck down laws in New York and Michigan on the grounds that they discriminated against out-of-state wineries by prohibiting them from selling directly to consumers while letting local vintners do so.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-scotus17may17,0,3143833.story?coll=la-home-headlines

The Merlot Split
What got into Supreme Court justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas? Eternally joined at the hip, these deeply conservative justices parted ways Monday over fine wine.
Scalia joined the 5-4 majority in deciding that state governments may not treat out-of-state wineries differently by banning Internet and other direct sales to individuals and retailers, if they allow such sales by in-state wineries. The decision was ominously close — simple logic would seem to dictate overturning the ban, though the majority also had the mighty "commerce clause" of the Constitution on its side.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/la-ed-wine17may17,0,4273960.story?coll=la-news-comment-editorials

Gov. Readies Special Election to Attack Legislature, Unions
One proposed initiative could halt political fundraising by labor through paycheck dues.
By Robert Salladay, Times Staff Writer
SACRAMENTO — After five months of failing to sway Democrats to his "year of reform," Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has directed his political staff to prepare for a special election campaign that would attack the California Legislature and its union benefactors.
Escalating the governor's fight, chief political consultant Mike Murphy said Monday that Schwarzenegger would almost certainly call a special election that would include his package of reform initiatives, and possibly another measure that could disable the money-raising machine of public employee unions.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-arnold17may17,0,3337697.story?coll=la-home-headlines

More Backlash Than Bliss 1 Year After Marriage Law
Massachusetts gays can celebrate, but their gain has energized foes of same-sex unions.
By Elizabeth Mehren, Times Staff Writer
BOSTON — In the year since Massachusetts became the only state to permit gays and lesbians to wed, more than 6,000 same-sex couples have traded marriage vows.
To commemorate today's anniversary, many of those couples plan to waltz at a gala party at Boston's swank Fairmont Copley Plaza hotel and pose for a group photograph outside the statehouse. Among other festivities around the state, the Boston suburb of Belmont plans an ice cream social.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-anniversary17may17,0,413176.story?coll=la-home-headlines

Low-Fat Diet Found to Reduce Recurrence of a Breast Cancer
By Thomas H. Maugh II, Times Staff Writer
A low-fat diet can decrease the risk of breast cancer recurrence by more than 40% in patients with a form of the cancer that is not sensitive to levels of the hormone estrogen, researchers said Monday.
Those patients account for a third of all breast cancer cases. The other two-thirds — those whose tumor growth is stimulated by estrogen — showed little benefit from a reduction in fat intake, Dr. Rowan T. Chlebowski of Harbor-UCLA Medical Center told a meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology in Orlando, Fla.

http://www.latimes.com/news/science/la-sci-cancer17may17,0,4015010.story?coll=la-home-headlines

Iraq's Cracks Widen
The installation of a new government in Iraq has done nothing to end the fighting between adherents of the rival branches of Islam, Sunnis and Shiites. Sunni insurgents have killed more than 400 people since the new regime was announced last month. Now Shiites appear to be taking revenge on Sunnis, a nightmare threatening to fracture the nation.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's visit to Iraq Sunday was an important reminder of the large U.S. stake in having the country ruled by a government that reflects Sunni and Shiite Arabs and the Kurds, who are Sunni but not Arab. Nearly 140,000 U.S. troops remain in the nation more than two years after the invasion, and it still isn't clear whether the legacy of American occupation will be a functioning constitutional democracy or outright civil war.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/la-ed-iraq17may17,0,6703387.story?coll=la-news-comment-editorials

U.S. Is Its Own Worst Enemy in Iraq
So far this month, more than 450 Iraqis and dozens of U.S. troops have been killed by an Iraqi insurgency that, even after two years, shows signs of intensifying. Yet the Bush administration, which originally expected U.S. troops to be greeted as liberators and then promised that elections would fatally undermine the rebel cause, remains clueless as to the composition of this virulent enemy.
"The Mystery of the Insurgency" was the headline on a Sunday New York Times article reporting on the consensus of U.S. guerrilla warfare experts that the insurgents' motives and actions are simply baffling. However, "it clearly makes sense to the people who are doing it," said defense analyst Loren B. Thompson. "And that more than anything else tells us how little we understand the region."

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-scheer17may17,0,3297877.column?coll=la-news-comment-opinions

Right-Wing Protests Jam Highways Across Israel
Thousands denounce Gaza pullout. In West Bank, work is to begin on enclosing settlement.
By Laura King, Times Staff Writer
JERUSALEM — In the biggest and most disruptive protests yet against Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan to relinquish the Gaza Strip, thousands of right-wing demonstrators snarled evening rush-hour traffic across the country Monday, using burning tires and their own bodies to block highways and urban thoroughfares.
Police detained about 300 protesters, some of them barely in their teens.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-israel17may17,1,1017818.story?coll=la-headlines-world&ctrack=1&cset=true

The New Zealand Herald

Wind power back on the agenda
17.05.05 1.00pm

Wind power is again being considered as a solution to electricity demand.
Northpower and Mighty River Power are seriously exploring setting up wind farms at Kaipara in Northland after Energy Minister Trevor Mallard predicted that up to 35 per cent of New Zealand's power needs could be provided by wind in the future.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10125924

Daughter of Australian hostage makes heartfelt plea
17.05.05 4.00pm

CANBERRA - The daughter of Australian hostage Douglas Wood has made a heartfelt plea to kidnappers to free her father.
Mr Wood's daughter Christina told her father's captors via a letter on the internet that her thoughts and prayers were always with the Iraqi people.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10125959

Breakthrough on genetic disorder
17.05.05 4.00pm

Researchers hope a breakthrough in understanding a severe genetic disorder that has plagued at least five generations of a New Zealand family may eventually lead to a treatment for the disorder and have application to other disorders.
University of Otago researchers today announced an alteration in a particular gene had been identified in members of the family.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10125960

10 feared dead in Chile plane crash
17.05.05

A small plane crashed in bad weather yesterday in a remote southern area near the Chile-Argentina border and authorities say all 10 people on board are feared dead.
The crew of a police helicopter who spotted the crashed Beechcraft aircraft reported that "there were no signs of survivors".

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10126085

Jump into cold river killed man - coroner
17.05.05 1.00pm

The shock of hitting cold water caused a young man who jumped into a river to die of a heart attack, the Nelson Coroner has ruled.
Christopher Elliot, 20, died on November 28 last year after jumping from an 18m cliff into the Roding River in the Aniseed Valley.
He landed awkwardly in the water at the popular recreational spot Busch Reserve, 24km southwest of Nelson.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10125921

Kuwait grants women right to vote
17.05.05 10.40am

KUWAIT - Kuwait's parliament has passed a law granting women the right to vote and run in elections for the first time, after pressure from the pro-Western Gulf Arab state's reformist government.
"We made it. This is history," prominent activist Roula al-Dashti told reporters. "Our target is the parliamentary polls in 2007. I'm starting my campaign from today."
Outside parliament, people danced and cheered, passing drivers hooted their horns in support and fireworks lit the sky.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10125913

I didn't see anything in this article about mortality rates.

Stomach-trimming surgery most effective in study
17.05.05 5.20pm

CHICAGO - A comparison of four types of obesity surgeries, all risky procedures, concluded that vertical gastrectomy, in which most of the stomach is removed, was both the quickest and resulted in the most weight loss, researchers said on Monday.
While all types of obesity-related surgery are seen as risky and a last option for most obese people, particularly older patients, vertical gastrectomy was preferred over three other methods evaluated in a yearlong study of 166 patients over the age of 50.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10125941

The weather in Antarctica is still not known.

Scott Base
--
--
Updated Tuesday 17 May 8:59PM

concluding...

May 16, 2005. This picture came from Anchorage, Alaska. It was uncertain whether this was a female in the wild or captivity but either way the flesh throughout her face is sunken, especially near her ears. If this is a wild moose then the food supply is dwindling, which might be the case as we already know Alaska is experiencing a severe drought of which has resulted a dying tundra. 

July 18, 2004. This is an old picture. I am sure this Siberian Tiger is more sinewy than this now. But, I consider him to be underweight due to his collapsed facial features. They need exercise as well. This Siberian Tiger is in an Alaskan Zoo. 

May 15, 2005. There are many fine and healthy animals at the Brookfield Zoo, Chicago, Illinois. However. I have a growing concern some of these animals are under weight and failing. This mountain goat seems older and under weight to me. 

May 15, 2005. This is the Wind Chime at Brookfield Zoo, Chicago, Illinois. Oddly, for the windy city there is no wind today. 

Morning Papers - concluding

The weather at Glacier Bay National Park (Crystal Wind Chime) is:

50 °F / 10 °C
Overcast

Windchill:
48 °F / 9 °C

Humidity:
58%

Dew Point:
36 °F / 2 °C

Wind:
5 mph / 7 km/h from the ESE

Pressure:
29.57 in / 1001 hPa

Visibility:
-

UV:
0 out of 16

Clouds (AGL):

Few 4700 ft / 1432 m

Mostly Cloudy 7500 ft / 2286 m

Overcast 9000 ft / 2743 m

end

May 10, 2005. Yuba, California. An example of what California weather has been as of late. 

California is of course on the west coast of North America where rains have sent landslides into neighborhoods. Where is Yosemite Naitonal Park in California?

Yosemite National Park, high water flood. Yosemite Valley is closed on 5/16/05 from floods due to rain and big snow pack in the mountains. Cascade Waterfall in flood stage.  

Yosemite National Park, high water flood, 5/16/05 Yosemite Valley is closed on 5/16/05 from floods due to rain and big snow pack in the mountains.  

High water from rain and snow in Yosemite Valley on 5/16/05. Yosemite Valley is closed from the flooding on 5/16/05. 

Yosemite National Park, Flooding. Yosemite Valley is closed on 5/16/05 from floods due to rain and big snow pack in the mountains. Here they are fishing out trees pinned against the bridge on the road out of the park.  

Yosemite Drapes Itself in Its Splendid Liquid Veils, and Preens

By DEAN E. MURPHY

YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK, Calif., May 8 - It poured again on Sunday in the Yosemite Valley, but people were smiling in their ponchos and galoshes. It has been that kind of spring here: dreadful weather and delighted visitors.

With extraordinarily heavy snowfall in the higher elevations, and lots of rain elsewhere, the rivers and waterfalls in the Sierra Nevada are gushing. Hikers must hopscotch around muddy puddles, and much of the park remains closed because of impassible roads, but the Yosemite water show is at its best in years.

"There are places we've stood, where you can look around and see six waterfalls at once," said David Cosio of Watsonville, Calif., getting soaked from head to toe near Yosemite Falls with his wife, Linda, and three young sons. "We've been here before in May, but nothing like this."
Dan Gudgel, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Hanford, Calif., said the unusually wet winter and spring had snapped a six-year dry spell in the Sierra Nevada. Though the dryness was not as severe as in the drought-stricken Northwest and Southwest, the annual precipitation over the period was about 80 percent of the average.

So far this year, Mr. Gudgel said, the Sierra snowpack is about 180 percent of the average, and the snow keeps falling. More than a foot was forecast for parts of the Sierra in the next few days, and some hikers this weekend to Nevada Fall, a popular destination about 2,000 feet above the valley floor, found enough snow from past storms for snowball fights.

"The Sierra has been extremely dry, so this is a welcome respite," Mr. Gudgel said. "I can't underscore that enough."

In nuts-and-bolts calculations, the wet weather means more reliable water supplies for the California farms and cities - the water is piped as far away as San Francisco, 160 miles to the west - that depend on the Sierra snowmelt to fill reservoirs and irrigation ditches. But for those who live and visit here, the benefits are beyond quantification.

Kathy Langley, concierge at the Ahwahnee Hotel and a resident of the park for 23 years, said she had been taking hikes up little-visited trails with great water vistas near places like Indian Creek and Sentinel Fall, one of the park's tallest, at 2,000 feet.

Aside from the abundance of water, Ms. Langley has been struck by the dogwood blossoms, which because of the cool weather have remained on the trees for weeks.

"A lot of our clientele comes every year at this time of the year," Ms. Langley said, "and they can't believe what they're seeing. We haven't even had two 80-degree days in a row yet, so everyone knows there is more to come."

How long it remains relatively cool will determine how long the spectacle lasts, Mr. Gudgel said. A sudden heat wave would melt the snow rapidly, creating a dazzling but brief show and probably some flooding. A slower melt would keep the waterfalls flowing well into the summer but might also keep parts of the park inaccessible to visitors.

For now, only one thing is certain, said Adrienne Freeman, a park ranger, "There's so much water, it's insane."

Yosemite Falls. Flood Stage. This is from The New York Times. 

Yosemite's Mirror Lake as seen through the eyes of the New York Times. 

Yosemite is Closed due to Flooding. Lack of Public Scrutiny can lead to Bush's Exploitation as well. Just a word of cauthion.

Yosemite National Park, California, USA

This is the type of soils at Yosemite. Soils hold up differently under water and exposed to erosion.

Yosemite National Park USGS Map