Archive for the ‘News’ Category

Jersey Flood

My place of work has been closed for 2 consecutive days due to the “Nor’easter” which swept up the coast yesterday. The complex itself is fine, but as you can see, the roads to and from are inaccessable.

Here’s a link to the rest of the pictures.

We made it through ok, no flooding here, no water in the basement, no power loss. Just lots of wind and rain.

Fortress New Orleans

I’ve become addicted to reading the day to day account of this guy and his friends and co-workers. Seems an internet startup is holed up inside of a building in downtown New Orleans, and they’ve managed to keep their servers online using a diesel generator. They balance staying online with guarding their buisiness against the looters who are tearing apart the town around them. The site has links to photos and a live webcam, so you should check it out.

The scenes of devastation look like something out of an apocalyptic Hollywood zombie movie.

- h/t Stephen Den Beste

Why don’t they report this?

From Centcom…selected highlights from the first year:

Law/Governance:
-Since July, the 25-person Iraqi Governing Council has had the authority to: name interim Ministers; exercise government oversight; prepare policy initiatives on Iraq’s national security, including reform of the armed forces, police and courts; lead development of a constitution; and approve Iraq’s national budget. 24 Iraqi Cabinet Members also contribute to the business of the government.
-First time in 13 years, an ambassador to the US was appointed to restore diplomatic relations.
-90% of Iraq’s districts have municipal/government councils with more than 19 million Iraqis engaging in local political discourse
-Ministry of Justice has established a Council of Judges to oversee the judiciary and prosecutors. Also, defendants are now provided lawyers.

Public Health:
-240 hospitals and most of Iraq’s 1200 clinics have reopened. 70 private hospitals are operating
-800 tons of high protein biscuits have been delivered to 15 Governorates for malnourished children and pregnant/nursing mothers.
-1.09 million humanitarian daily rations have been distributed to date.
-22 million children and 700,000 women have been inoculated against diseases since the war; 90% of all Iraqi children now receive routine vaccinations
-Pharmaceuticals distribution improved from 0 to 12,000 tons today,
more than $210 million approved for the Iraqi Ministry of Heath for pharmaceutical supplies and equipment, basic health care services, medical equipment and power generators for hospitals

Schools:
-Nearly all schools are open and 5.1 million students are attending class
-25 Fulbright Scholarships awarded for the first time in 14 years; Fulbright Office added 2 new programs for Iraqis
-Over 13,500 school buildings in Iraq; $4.4 million spent to complete 2,299 school renovations; UNICEF and other NGOs are rehabilitating 105 schools; 183K desks, 57K chairs, 61K chalkboards and 25K metal cabinets have been distributed
-33,000 teachers and 3,000 supervisors trained in instructional practices and classroom management strategies

Commerce and Trade:
-Iraqis use a single, unified currency for the first time in 15 years; 4.6 trillion new Iraqi dinars in circulation
-Iraq Stock Exchange will open in April; Iraq Central Bank is fully independent and has been opened since Sept 03;
-83% of all pre-war bank branches are open
-Umm Qasr Port turned over to Iraqi control in Jan 04
-393,950 jobs have been generated
-Estimated crude oil export revenues exceed $3.3 billion for Iraqi reconstruction.
-Telephone service continues to expand with 95% of service outside Baghdad.
-More than 170 newspaper are published in Iraq

Power:
-4400 megawatts per day is the current seven-day average, this is up from 300 megawatts per day in 2003.
-USAID will spend more than $250 million infrastructure repair funds on power rehabilitation and an additional $75 million allocated to power reconstruction.

Water:
-Coalition programs have cleared over 16,500 km of irrigation canals, helping over 10,000 farms
-Water storage in most Iraqi reservoirs is approaching historic averages
-Rehabilitated water treatment plants will treat nearly 800 million liters/day, benefiting 3.5 million people
-90% of Iraqis will have potable water by Apr 05

Spirit Imagery

This page gathers and displays the latest images from Mars in a convenient and easy to navigate place.

Unforutnately, It may not be updated much in the future, due to the untimely software failure the Spirit lander is undergoing. Today it sent a 20 minute burst of information, so lets keep our fingers crossed.

In the meantime, the site is worth visiting. Some images there that I’ve seen nowhere else.

I have a name for this

In my world, I have a name for this guy.

Hero.

CNN

U.S.: Uday, Qusay confirmed dead
U.S. officials confirmed that ousted Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein’s sons Qusay and Uday were killed today in a firefight in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul. A special task force led the raid, backed by 101st Airborne troops, after intelligence indicated that Qusay and Uday were in the area together.

The article still hasn’t been updated to match the headline…keep checking it.

The Truth

The truth behind Bowling for Columbine.

Hint: It’s not what Michael Moore would have you believe.