Rooster "Cock-A-Doodle-Do"
"Okeydoke"
History
Today is Friday, Dec. 16, the 350th day of 2005. There are 15 days left in the year.
1770, composer Ludwig van Beethoven was born in Bonn, Germany.
1773, the Boston Tea Party took place as American colonists boarded a British ship and dumped more than 300 chests of tea overboard to protest tea taxes.
1809, Napoleon Bonaparte was divorced from the Empress Josephine by an act of the French Senate.
1870 A Negro Methodist Episcopal Church is founded at Jackson, TN.
1895 Songwriter Andy Razef, who will write the lyrics to "Ain't Misbehavin'" and "Honeysuckle Rose", is born in Washington, D.C.
1905, the entertainment trade publication Variety came out with its first weekly issue.
1961 Dr. King and Rev. Abernathy lead 250 demonstrators to Albany's City Hall and are arrested for parading without a permit
1976 Andrew Young is nominated by President Jimmy Carter to become U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations
1980, Harland Sanders, founder of the Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant chain, died in Shelbyville, Ky., at age 90.
1985, reputed organized-crime chief Paul Castellano was shot to death outside a New York City restaurant.
Ten years ago: President Clinton and congressional Republicans traded accusations as their budget impasse led to a second shutdown of the federal government.
Five years ago: President-elect Bush selected Colin Powell to become the first black secretary of state.
One year ago: Britain's highest court dealt a huge blow to the government's anti-terrorism policy by ruling that it could not detain foreign suspects indefinitely without trial.
Agnes Martin, one of the world's foremost abstract artists, died in Taos, N.M., at age 92.
Missing in Action
1965 WICKHAMM DAVID W. II WHEELING WV
1967 HILL HOWARD J. RANTOUL IL 03/14/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE IN 98
1967 LOW JAMES FREDERICK SAUSILITO CA 08/04/68 RELEASED HANOI
1969 BUCKLEY VICTOR P. FALLS CHURCH VA
December 15
1965 CLARK JERRY P. DAVENPORT IA
1969 SCHUMACHER JAMES K.
1970 DEUSO CARROLL J. RICHFORD VT
1970 MC COY MERIL O JR. NORTH SACRAMENTO CA
1970 OWEN CLYDE C. ELKLAND MO
1970 PIERSANTI ANTHONY J. JR. PENNSAUKEN NJ
December 14
1966 BRIGHAM ALBERT SAVANNAH GA
1966 HOLMAN GERALD A. NORTHVILLE MI ACFT DITCHED 2 SURV REFNO 0548
1966 KOENIG EDWIN LEE SPOKANE WA ACFT DITCHED 2 SURV REFNO 0548
1966 MOWREY RICHARD L. SHAWNEE MISSION KS ACFT DITCHED 2 SURV
1966 NEWELL MICHAEL T. ELLENVILLE NY
1966 WILSON CLAUDE D. JR. STOCKTON CA REMAINS RETURNED 06/89
1967 SEHORN JAMES E. FOREST GROVE OR 03/14/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE IN 98
1971 BOYANOWSKI JOHN G. HARRISBURG PA "RADIO CONTACT LOST, SEARCH NEG."
1971 BREMMER DWIGHT A. OAKLAND TN "RADIO CONTACT LOST, SEARCH NEG."
1971 CALDWELL FLOYD D. ST LOUIS MO "RADIO CONTACT LOST, SEARCH NEG."
1971 HOLLINGER GREG N. PAUL ID "RADIO CONTACT LOST, SEARCH NEG."
1971 PERKINS CECIL C. PORTSMOUTH VA "RADIO CONTACT LOST, SEARCH NEG."
1971 PERRY OTHA L. DETROIT MI "RADIO CONTACT LOST, SEARCH NEG."
December 13
1966 WATERS SAMUEL EDWIN JR. MOCKSVILLE NC 03/18/77 SRV RETURNED REMAINS TO PCOM
1967 BENNETT ROBERT E. III SPRINGFIELD NJ PARA IN RIVER SANK
1968 ALBRIGHT JOHN S. II HUNTINGTON WV "MID AIR COLLISION, PARA OBS"
1968 CLARKE FRED L. TROUTMAN NC "MID AIR COLLISION, PARA OBS"
1968 DAILEY DOUGLAS V. WATERFORD MI "MID AIR COLLISION, PARA OBS"
1968 DONAHUE MORGAN J. ALEXNADRIA VA "MID AIR COLLISION, PARA OBS"
1968 DUGAN THOMAS W. READING PA
1968 FANNING JOSEPH P. LONG ISLAND CITY NY "MID AIR COLLISION, PARA OBS"
1968 MC GOULDRICK FRANCIS J. JR. NEW HAVEN CT
1968 WALKER SAMUEL F. PHILADELPHIA PA "MID AIR COLLISION, PARA OBS"
December 12
1963 ANGELL MARSHALL J. ROANOKE VA REMAINS OK RECV-N/SUBJ
1966 FLESHER HUBERT K. CLARKSBURG WV 02/18/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE IN 98
1970 DUCKETT THOMAS A. LA GRANGE GA
1970 SKINNER OWEN G. LIMA OH
December 11
1964 TADIOS LEONARD M. LANAI HI 03/11/66 DIC ON PRG LIST
1965 HORSKY ROBERT MILVOY CEDAR RAPIDS IA AC MISSING 740600 REMAINS RECOVERED MASS GRAVE
1965 MC KNIGHT GEORGE PARKER LAFAYETTE LA AC MISSING REMS REC 06/74
1965 SALINAS MERCEDES PEREZ MISSON TX AC MISSING REMAINS RECOVERED 06/74 MASS GRAVE
1965 STEWART DONALD DAVID COATS NC AC MISSING REMAINS RETURNED 06/74
1966 ALFRED GERALD O. JR. SEATTLE WA POSS EJECTED INTO SEA
1968 GALBRAITH RUSSELL D. TIPPECANOE OH
December 10
1964 SANSONE DOMINICK NEW YORK NY REMAINS POSS MIX W/VMS&BURIED REMAINS RETURNED 07/17/84
1964 VADEN WOODROW W. CLARKSVILLE TN REMAINS POSS MIX W/VMS&BURIED
1967 GRZYB ROBERT H. 09/04/68 DIC ON PRG LIST
1971 MC INTIRE SCOTT W. ALBUQUERQUE NM
New Zealand Herald
Climate, storms hit extremes in 2005
16.12.05 5.20pm
By Robert Evans
GENEVA - Catastrophic storms like Hurricanes Katrina and Stan took weather extremes to new levels in 2005, with flooding and heatwaves touching almost every continent, the United Nations weather body WMO said today.
But in an annual review, WMO secretary-general Michel Jarraud said that while high temperatures and heavy rains could probably be linked to global warming, this phenomenon could not yet be firmly blamed for the summer's Caribbean hurricanes.
"This year is currently the second warmest on record, and could end up being the warmest once all the figures are in," Jarraud told a news conference. "It has certainly been exceptional in the intensity of its storms."
A long-time weather scientist who has headed the Geneva-based World Meteorological Organisation for the past two years, he said extreme heat -- often bringing severe drought -- had spread across all continents but Europe.
Europe itself -- mainly in its eastern and south-eastern regions -- had suffered both torrential rains and flooding, which also affected Bangladesh, China, New Zealand and Guyana in South America, among other areas.
And the tropical systems that swept around the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico trailing destruction and human tragedy were -- taken together -- the worst ever, with 26 named storms easily breaking the previous record of 21 in 1933.
Of these, 14 became hurricanes -- two more than the previous record in 1969 -- and seven were classified as "major hurricanes", including Katrina which devastated New Orleans and other US Gulf cities in August and killed some 1300 people.
Hurricane Wilma, which tore around coastlines in Central America in October, was the most intense ever recorded in the region, Jarraud said.
Earlier that month, Hurricane Stan had swept across Guatemala and El Salvador, laying waste to many poor communities, destroying coffee and other crops and killing more than 1000 in mudslides and floods.
Jarraud said it was not yet possible to assert that global warming was responsible for generating the hurricanes.
"The honest answer is: we don't know if it is," he said. "A lot of research is being done, and the IPCC (the UN's advisory Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) will be issuing a new report in 2007, and that could shed more light on the question."
However, the WMO chief said, global warming was clearly tied to the increasing incidence of heat waves, and the spread of deserts in areas short of rain.
"We can be much more confident about saying that," he declared.
Jarraud said Arctic sea-ice was melting -- another phenomenon linked to global warming -- more than ever before, and that the average cover in the key month of September was down 20 per cent on the average for 1979-2004.
Overall, the average temperature at the earth's surface so far for 2005 had been 0.48°C higher than the comparable average for 1961-90 of 14°C, used as a reference period, the WMO said.
The hottest year since governments began sharing data was 1998, when the average surface temperature was 0.54°C above the reference period average.
- REUTERS
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10360303
Shrinking habitat 'islands' doom hundreds of species
14.12.05
Mexico's volcano rabbit and monkey-faced bats in Fiji are among hundreds of species facing imminent extinction but protecting the remaining scraps of their habitat could save them, according to a new study.
Conducted by scientists working with the 52-member Alliance for Zero Extinction (AZE), the study identifies 794 species on the brink of oblivion.
"Safeguarding 595 sites around the world would help stave off an imminent global extinction crisis," the organisation said. "The study found that just one-third of the sites are known to have legal protection, and most are surrounded by human population densities that are approximately three times the global average."
The report focuses on highly threatened species that are for the most part now confined to a single piece of habitat. It said large concentrations of such sites were to be found in the Andes of South America, in Brazil's Atlantic Forests, throughout the Caribbean, and in Madagascar.
The United States is also home to many of the pinpointed sites.
Mexico's rare volcano rabbit - restricted to the slopes of four volcanoes in the country's remote interior - is one of the species at greatest risk.
The "imminent extinction" list includes the Bloody Bay poison frog of Trinidad and Tobago, the monkey-faced bat of Fiji, the ivory-billed woodpecker in the United States, the cloud rat of the Philippines, and the marvelous spatuletail, a hummingbird limited to one Peruvian valley.
"This is a one-shot deal for the human race," said Mike Parr, Secretary of AZE. "We have a moral obligation to act. The science is in, and we are almost out of time."
The study, published in the US-based Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, is the latest to suggest that human activities are causing a new wave of extinctions, which the authors say is 100 to 1000 times greater than natural rates.
"In recent history, most species extinctions have occurred on isolated islands following the introduction of invasive predators such as cats and rats," AZE said.
"This study shows that the extinction crisis has now expanded to become a full-blown assault on Earth's major land masses, with the majority of at-risk sites and species now found on continental mountains and in lowland areas."
Scientists say that extinctions are creeping onshore because continental habitats are being diced up by human activities - a process that is creating what some biologists term "virtual islands", isolated fragments that are cut off from each other by fences, asphalt, farms and cities.
Habitat destruction, overhunting, climate change and pollution are other major factors behind extinctions.
Vanishing species
* According to the World Conservation Union, almost 800 species have become extinct since 1500, when accurate historical and scientific records began.
* Hundreds of species are on the brink of oblivion.
* Human activity leading to destruction of habitats, climate change and pollution are factors killing off species.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=10359803
Rare snail given ministerial protection
17.12.05
A community of giant snails sitting on 5 million tonnes of valuable coal on the West Coast have ministerial protection following a High Court ruling yesterday.
The rare Powelliphanta "Augustus" snails were first discovered in 1996 and named after the Mt Augustus ridgeline they were found on, within Solid Energy's Stockton opencast mine.
The Crown company wants to mine the snails' 5ha habitat and plans to move up to 100, or 10 per cent of the population, to an adjoining site about 800m away.
The Royal Forest and Bird Society says the snails risk extinction if the mining goes ahead, and it asked the court to protect them under the Wildlife Act.
Yesterday the court issued a declaration requiring Solid Energy to have the consent of both the Conservation Minister and the Energy Minister before it carries out any activity which would kill the snails or put them in the company's possession.
Green Party conservation spokeswoman Metiria Turei said the "commonsense" ruling left the snails one step further away from extinction.
Solid Energy yesterday applied for consent from the ministers via the Department of Conservation to "direct transfer" the snails.
Solid Energy chief executive Don Elder said the snails' habitat was on about 5 million tonnes of high-quality coal not found anywhere else on the mine.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=10360416
Dark side to teeth whitening
14.12.05
By Martin Johnston
Gleaming white celebrity smiles and TV makeover shows are encouraging a surge of tooth-whitening, but dentists warn that do-it-yourself kits can cause serious mouth trouble.
Some in the New Zealand tooth whitening industry say increasing numbers of people are having their teeth bleached or doing it themselves in a bid to beam like Catherine Zeta-Jones, Kate Beckinsale or Britney Spears, who have helped popularise the treatments.
In the United States the industry has swelled nearly 500 per cent since 2000 to be worth an estimated US$2 billion ($2.83 billion).
The costs can range from $20 for a paint-on home treatment to around $1000 for light-activated gel applied in a dentist's chair. For around $500 to $600 dentists will custom-make thin, close-fitting, plastic trays for use at home with a smear of bleach gel.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=10359801
Tea lessens ovarian cancer risk, study finds
14.12.05
CHICAGO - Drinking two or more cups of tea a day may dramatically cut the risk of ovarian cancer, a Swedish study of more than 61,000 women has reported.
The findings by researchers at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm were based on a look back at the habits and long-term health of the women, the report published in the Archives of Internal Medicine said.
Of the women recruited for the study that began in 1987, two-thirds reported drinking tea. When it concluded at the end of 2004, 301 participants had developed ovarian cancer, a particularly deadly form of the disease.
"We observed a 46 per cent lower risk of ovarian cancer in women who drank two or more cups of tea per day compared with non-drinkers," said study authors Susanna Larsson and Alicja Wolk. "Each additional cup of tea per day was associated with an 18 per cent lower risk of ovarian cancer." Black and green teas are believed to contain antioxidants that help ward off the cell mutation that leads to cancer.
The researchers cautioned that additional studies were needed to confirm their findings.
Ovarian cancer will be diagnosed in about 22,000 US women this year and 80 per cent of cases are not detected until the cancer has spread. More than 16,000 US women are likely to die of ovarian cancer in 2005.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=5&ObjectID=10359804
Western peacekeepers begin pullout from Eritrea
16.12.05
ASMARA - Western peacekeepers began leaving Eritrea yesterday after the United Nations agreed to pull out Americans, Canadians and Europeans from its mission set up to prevent war with Ethiopia.
The UN Security council said in a statement the world body would "temporarily relocate" military and civilian staff from Eritrea to Ethiopia in the interests of safety.
Last week, Eritrea ordered out peacekeepers from the United States, Canada and Europe.
The decision affects some 180 military observers and civilian logistics staff, but the United Nations said roughly 20 extra staff from other nationalities would also be leaving.
"It is confused," said one UN staff member when asked about the mood inside the so-called Green Building of the UN Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE).
The head of UN peacekeeping, Jean-Marie Guehenno, arrived in Eritrea late on Monday in a last-ditch effort to resolve the crisis. But by Wednesday, he still had not had a meeting with Eritrean officials.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10360214
Bird-flu virus coming to NZ
17.12.05
By Martin Johnston
The deadly bird-flu virus will be imported into New Zealand early next year.
A ministerial paper obtained by the Weekend Herald under the Official Information Act reveals that Biosecurity NZ wants the virus for diagnosis and staff training.
"Rapid diagnosis could mean the difference between a disease being confined to a small group of individual birds, or spreading widely throughout the country," the paper says.
Fast diagnosis would allow swift culling of affected birds, but is at present hampered by having to send samples to Australia.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10360427
Link seen to video games in prostitute's murder
17.12.05
By Jarrod Booker
A man will appear in court today charged with the murder, rape and kidnapping of a prostitute who pleaded for her life as she was repeatedly run over by a car.
The body of the 24-year-old woman was found in Christchurch's Avon River with her hands bound about 14 hours after the attack in a central city carpark early on Thursday.
Witnesses described someone laughing as the woman was repeatedly run over and then propped up against a brick wall and rammed into.
Her body was then dragged into the car.
Similar scenes are depicted in video games such as Carmageddon, where running down people is the goal, and Grand Theft Auto, where prostitutes can be run down by a car in the player's control.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10360424
Auckland's next volcanic eruption
17.12.05
By Errol Kiong
When Auckland's volcanic field next erupts it will look something like this. The picture is the creation of scientists and animators for Volcanoes, a new permanent exhibition at Auckland Museum.
Scientists who worked on the exhibition say an eruption is likely to come from a new volcano, rather than a known one such as Rangitoto.
It will be at a random location, as the molten rock finds the easiest route to the surface.
The exhibition, which opens today, may be fictional, but scientists say an eruption in Auckland is a matter of when, not if.
The good news: that is not likely to be any time soon. Auckland has a big volcanic eruption every 5000 years on average and the last one was Rangitoto, about 600 years ago.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10360428
Customs officer's eyes pop at billionaire's boat
17.12.05
By Julie Middleton
It's a very good time to be a Customs officer or marine policeman when the world's fifth-largest yacht makes its first visit to NZ waters.
On Thursday night, as Le Grand Bleu sat at sea off Auckland, some of those who had business on board got a tour of what is believed to be the biggest private vessel to visit this country.
There's a 2m x 2m glass bottom in the bowels of the yacht, surrounded by lounge chairs, an awed customs officer told the Herald.
There's a cool-off pool the size of a large spa that abuts an aquarium.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10360421
Businessman admits sex offences against 13 boys
17.12.05
A businessman has admitted sexually abusing schoolboys lured with video games and groomed using alcohol and junk food, according to police.
Brian Edward Avent, 40, yesterday pleaded guilty to 44 representative charges of sexual offending against 13 boys aged between 9 and 16 at the time of the abuse, between March 2000 and March 2005.
Avent pleaded not guilty to five charges and will appear in the High Court at Auckland again next year.
In a summary of facts given to the district court in September, police said Avent was a paedophile who groomed his victims by first offering them access to computer games and supplying them with junk food.
He met his victims at church and through his West Auckland computer business, police said.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10360370
Sydney's summer of hate
17.12.05
By Greg Ansley
Today, hot westerlies will sear through the streets of Cronulla, whipping past the white apartment towers on the Pacific's edge, through the Norfolk Pines and palms of the beachside park, and over the tops of waves fanning across Voodoo Reef and Shark Island.
Temperatures will drive into the high 20s or low 30s, broiling already-tanned beachgoers as they head to Northies Hotel or the cafes and outdoor tables lining Bicentennial Plaza. It is iconic Sydney summer.
To the west, tar will be melting in the streets of Lakemba, bouncing off the red brick houses of a suburb dominated for three decades by the city's most important mosque.
In better days, the young Lebanese whose home this is would have thrown their towels in their cars for the 40-minute drive to Cronulla and the white sands of the beaches stretching north towards Botany Bay, the genesis of European settlement.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10360373
China topples US to grab top spot for high-tech exports
14.12.05
By Brian Love
China has trumped the United States to become the world's leading exporter of high-tech goods.
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's data, which shows China taking over last year in the export of laptop computers, mobile phones and digital cameras, highlights how fast the country has emerged as an economic power that the US and other long-industrialised countries can no longer ignore.
China exported US$180 billion ($250 billion) worth of ICT (information and communication technology) goods in 2004, compared with US exports of US$149 billion. The OECD said China was likely to have kept the newly conquered top spot this year too but it would take several months to verify.
The US was world leader in 2003 with US$137 billion of exports of ICT goods, which include video equipment and electronic components, followed by China with US$123 billion.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=10359851
Animal transplants into humans given go ahead
13.12.05 5.30pm
By Kent Atkinson
Using pig and other animal parts for human transplants moved a step closer today after the Government's biotech ethics advisor gave the green light.
The Bioethics Council opened the way for transplants of animal tissue into humans to be resumed once the Government is satisfied with the disease risk and other medical issues involved.
But it wants patients receiving animal parts to be registered, to declare their status at the border, and for any subsequent medical treatment to be recorded.
Six New Zealanders would already qualify for such registration -- they were injected with pig islet cells in 1996 as part of a clinical trial of treatment for diabetes.
In recent years the Government has taken steps to stop further such trials in New Zealand and the Cook Islands. This year, it extended to December 31 2006 a law which requires the Health Minister to specifically approve the use of organs, tissues or cells from animals - xenotransplantation - under strict criteria.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=10359788
The weather in Antarctica (Crystal Ice Chime) is still warm:
Scott Base
Snow
-4.0°
Updated Saturday 17 Dec 9:59AM
The weather at Glacier Bay National Park (Crystal Wind Chime) is not frozen. GLACIER BAY IS NOT FROZEN !
39 °F / 4 °C
Clear
Windchill:
37 °F / 3 °C
Humidity:
87%
Dew Point:
36 °F / 2 °C
Wind:
4 mph / 6 km/h from the NNW
Pressure:
29.87 in / 1011 hPa
Visibility:
10.0 miles / 16.1 kilometers
UV:
0 out of 16
Clouds:
Clear -
(Above Ground Level)
continued …
