Since the virus is present in chicken shit, it is also advisable to avoid chicken eggs as the eggs come out of chicken arses.
And under no circumstance should you suck raw eggs.
Copyright 2003-2006 Azlan Adnan Legal Notice
Monday, February 27, 2006
Bird Flu Advisory
Since the virus is present in chicken shit, it is also advisable to avoid chicken eggs as the eggs come out of chicken arses.
And under no circumstance should you suck raw eggs.
Copyright 2003-2006 Azlan Adnan Legal Notice
Saturday, February 25, 2006
Think Nordic AS
Copyright 2003-2006 Azlan Adnan Legal Notice
Sudanese forced to 'marry' goat
A Sudanese man has been forced to take a goat as his "wife," after he was caught having sex with the animal.
The goat's owner, Mr Alifi, said he surprised the man with his goat and took him to a council of elders. They ordered the man, Mr Tombe, to pay a dowry of 15,000 Sudanese dinars (US$50) to Mr Alifi.
"We have given him the goat, and as far as we know they are still together," Mr Alifi said.
Mr Alifi, of Hai Malakal in Upper Nile State, told the Juba Post newspaper that he heard a loud noise around midnight on 13 February 2006 and immediately rushed outside to find Mr Tombe in an act of bestiality with his goat.
"When I asked him: 'What are you doing there?,' he fell off the back of the goat, so I captured and tied him up."
Mr Alifi then called elders to decide how to deal with the case.
"They said I should not take him to the police, but rather let him pay a dowry for my goat because he used it as his wife," Mr Alifi told the newspaper.
Copyright 2003-2006 Azlan Adnan Legal Notice
The goat's owner, Mr Alifi, said he surprised the man with his goat and took him to a council of elders. They ordered the man, Mr Tombe, to pay a dowry of 15,000 Sudanese dinars (US$50) to Mr Alifi.
"We have given him the goat, and as far as we know they are still together," Mr Alifi said.
Mr Alifi, of Hai Malakal in Upper Nile State, told the Juba Post newspaper that he heard a loud noise around midnight on 13 February 2006 and immediately rushed outside to find Mr Tombe in an act of bestiality with his goat.
"When I asked him: 'What are you doing there?,' he fell off the back of the goat, so I captured and tied him up."
Mr Alifi then called elders to decide how to deal with the case.
"They said I should not take him to the police, but rather let him pay a dowry for my goat because he used it as his wife," Mr Alifi told the newspaper.
Copyright 2003-2006 Azlan Adnan Legal Notice
Africa drought reaches catastrophe levels
Images like this one in Niger mobilise donors, but often too late
The world is in danger of allowing a drought in East Africa to become a humanitarian catastrophe, the UN warns.
The UN special envoy to the Horn of Africa, Kjell Bondevik, says a disaster can be avoided if funding comes "in a matter of weeks... not months".
Around 11 million people are in serious danger in Kenya, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia and Djibouti, the UN estimates.
The World Food Programme, leading the aid effort, says it has only a third of what it needs to close the shortfall.
Donors had committed just $186m (£106m) of the $574m (£327m) needed, the WFP says.
"I urge donors countries to pledge more and pay. Not only to pledge, but to pay," Mr Bondevik said on a tour to see first-hand the situation in Kenya.
Copyright 2003-2006 Azlan Adnan Legal Notice
Friday, February 24, 2006
Money laundering for beginners
The Washing Machine:
How Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Soils Us
by Nick Kochan
Crime School: Money Laundering
True Crime meets the World of Business and Finance
by Chris Mathers
Art and Science of Money Laundering
by Brett F. Woods
Money Laundering:
A Guide for Criminal Investigators
by John Madinger
Dirty Dealing:
The Untold Truth about Global Money Laundering,
International Crime and Terrorism
by Peter Lilley
Funding Evil:
How Terrorism Is Financed--and How to Stop It
by Rachel Ehrenfel
Terror Incorporated:
Tracing the Dollars Behind the Terror Networks
by Loretta Napoleoni
Copyright 2003-2006 Azlan Adnan Legal Notice
Thursday, February 23, 2006
Nuclear energy for Iran
KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 22 (Bernama) -- Malaysia strongly believes no country, regardless of political ideologies, racial composition or religious inclinations, should be deprived of the right to acquire or develop new technologies.
Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Datuk Seri Dr Jamaludin Jarjis said knowledge-rich countries should not deliberately create barriers that prevented less knowledge-endowed nations to strive for scientific and technological progress.
"It saddens me that one of our fellow OIC (Organisation of the Islamic Conference) member states is being prevented from developing nuclear technology for its own economic and social well-being," he said at the 12th General Assembly of the OIC Standing Committee on Scientific and Technological Cooperation in Islamabad, Pakistan, Wednesday.
The text of his speech was made available to BERNAMA.
Dr Jamaludin said even when the widespread use of the Information and Communications Technology had made accessing global knowledge much easier, there were other dimensions, political and social, that might obstruct the ability of developing countries to advance in science and technology.
This, he noted, had widened the gap between the knowledge-rich countries and the knowledge-poor countries.
"We cannot allow such a situation to dampen our nations' goals to harness scientific and technological advancements to enhance the social well-being of the ummah," he added.
-- BERNAMA
Nuclear Energy May Be Back in Vogue
Nuclear energy in combination with renewable sources of energy represented a safe alternative to fossil fuels.
Expectations of a sharp rise in energy demand and the risk of climate change are pushing many countries to return to the idea of nuclear power, the head of the United Nations' International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
Even the most conservative estimates predict at least a doubling of energy usage by mid-century, Mohamed ElBaradei, director general of the IAEA, told a conference on nuclear energy in the 21st century.
He said any discussion of the energy sector Òmust begin by acknowledging the expected substantial growth in energy demand in the coming decadesÒ.
It was unclear what role nuclear power would play, though it appeared to be an increasingly important one, he said.
ÒAll indicators show that an increased level of emphasis on subjects such as fast growing energy demands, security of energy supply, and the risk of climate change are driving a reconsideration, in some quarters, of the need for greater investment in nuclear power,Ò ElBaradei said.
ÒThe IAEAÕs low projection, based on the most conservative assumptions, predicts 427 gigawatts of global nuclear energy capacity in 2020, the equivalent of 127 more 1,000 megawatt nuclear plants than previous projections,Ò he said, Reuters reported.
ElBaradei pointed to nuclear energy policy plans in China, Finland, the United States and possibly Poland as proof that nuclear power may be returning to vogue.
But he warned despite an improved atomic energy industry: ÒNuclear power was dealt a heavy blow by the tragedy of the 1986 Chernobyl accident, a blow from which the reputation of the nuclear industry has never fully recovered.Ò
The explosion at the Chernobyl plant in then-Soviet Ukraine, the worldÕs worst civil nuclear accident, spewed a cloud of radioactivity across Europe and has been blamed for thousands of deaths from radiation-linked illness. More than 100,000 people had to be resettled.
On the topic of climate change and the threat posed by greenhouse gases, ElBaradei said nuclear energy in combination with renewable sources of energy represented a safe alternative to fossil fuels.
ÒNuclear power emits virtually no greenhouse gases. The complete nuclear power chain, from uranium mining to waste disposal, and including reactor and facility construction, emits only 2-6 grams of carbon per kilowatt hour,Ò he said.
ÒThis is about the same as wind and solar power and one to two orders below coal, oil and even natural gas.Ò
The Shifting Sands of Nuclear Public Opinion
16 February 2006
When fashion magazine Elle lists nuclear energy among its top ten "cool, new things" for 2006, you know public opinion is shifting. Scott Peterson, Vice-President of Communications at the Nuclear Energy Institute, told an industry conference in Vienna that rising energy prices had triggered a more popular and positive view of nuclear power.
In the United States at least, support appears to be growing for an industry long haunted by the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear reactor accident. A survey conducted last year by the Nuclear Energy Institute found that 70% of the 1000 American«s surveyed were in favour of nuclear energy. Two thirds of those surveyed said that they would find it acceptable if a new reactor was built at an existing site.
In a separate survey, the Institute asked over 1000 people living within a 10-mile radius of 64 nuclear power stations how they felt. Over 8o% were in favour of nuclear energy. While seventy-six percent of residents said it would be acceptable to add a new reactor to an existing site.
"The poll«s results show that support for new nuclear plants is strong among those residents who live near nuclear plants. This bodes well for the prospect of new plant construction, particularly for those companies considering adding new reactors at existing nuclear plant sites," Mr Peterson said.
As consumers are hit by escalating oil and gas costs they are taking a renewed look at nuclear energy, Mr. Peterson said. Other driving factors include: energy supply and demand; geopolitical consequences; climate change and clean air. Public opinion holds safety and waste issues as the main concerns about this energy source, Mr. Peterson told the annual Conference on Public Information Materials Exchange (PIME) in Vienna, 12-16 February 2006. Some 400 public information specialist from the nuclear industry worldwide met to discuss topics ranging from crisis communications to the future of nuclear energy.
"appalling old waxworks"
He did marry one, after all.
Copyright 2003-2006 Azlan Adnan Legal Notice
Tuesday, February 21, 2006
Hydrogen as a source of energy
Energy will be one of the defining issues of this century. One thing is clear: the era of easy oil is over. What we do next will determine how well we meet the energy needs of the entire world in this century and beyond.
Hydrogen is abundant. It's non-polluting. It's not a greenhouse gas, nor does its burning generate greenhouse gases. Hydrogen has shown great promise in meeting the world's growing energy demand. But many challenges still remain:
- While advances are made every day, the production, storage and transport of hydrogen is not yet cost-effective.
- It takes energy to free hydrogen—it's almost always bound to another substance—and concerns still remain about its safety and practicality.
- Without an established customer base, there's little incentive for businesses to invest in a hydrogen distribution system. And without a distribution system, customers won't purchase vehicles which run on hydrogen.
Governments, energy companies and automakers continue to do research and launch pilot projects in the hopes of solving some difficult issues. We hope you'll voice your opinion on how to meet the world's future energy demands.
In a recent poll, respondents were asked:
When do you think hydrogen will become a viable part of the solution?
The Results:
- 38% chose 10 years
- 28% chose 25 years
- 11% chose 50 years
- 23% chose never
Making Sungai Langat navigable
BANTING, Feb 20 (Bernama) -- A RM30 million project to deepen Sungai Langat so that it can be used as an alternative means of transport will begin soon, Selangor Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Dr Mohamad Khir Toyo said.
He said the state project would be carried out with the cooperation of Megasteel Sdn Bhd, the company which has an integrated steel complex in Olak Lempit near here.
Dr Mohamad Khir said Megasteel had agreed to build a 10 km long canal on its land and a jetty to facilitate transportation of its steel products.
"The canal will not divert the river's flow while the project will help improve the cleanliness of Sungai Langat," he told reporters after taking a boat ride along the river, Monday.
Dr Mohamad Khir added that maintenance of the river would later be handed over to the company which would use the river to transport goods.
Copyright 2003-2006 Azlan Adnan Legal Notice
Monday, February 20, 2006
Pak Lah: close down Guantanamo Bay
Guantanamo accommodation includes world-class torture facilities at no extra charge
MELAKA, Feb 20 -- Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said it is better for the United States to close down the Guantanamo Bay detention centre in Cuba following the disclosure of photographs and stories about the centre becoming more of a torture concentration camp.
The Prime Minister said the United States itself had admitted the offences committed against the detainees there.
"Many groups are of the opinion that the centre should not be continued and should be closed down because the photographs and stories about the centre had indicated that it is being used as a place where torture is being carried out without public lnowledge," he said on Monday.
"Now, it has alrady been exposed and the United States itself admitted the offences, but more (atrocities) are being committed. When the matter was widely talked about, there should no longer be any more cruelty.
"It's better for the United States if the centre were closed down," Abdullah added.
Copyright 2003-2006 Azlan Adnan Legal Notice
China's energy future
China, with a fifth of the world's population, consumes only 4% of the world's daily oil output. It imports about three million barrels a day. As China's economy has surged ahead at 10% a year, its own supplies of oil have begun to dry up. The only option has been to import. From zero 10 years ago, China became the world's number two oil importer in 2003.
China seeks end to power shortages
China expects its electricity shortages of recent years to come to an end in 2006. The country could even reach the point of having too much electricity, because of the large number of new power stations coming online.
China's global hunt for oil
China's craving for oil to drive its industrial boom and, to a lesser extent, satisfy its love affair with the motorcar, has helped it in 2003 to race past Japan to become the world's second biggest consumer of petroleum products after the US. In 2004, its thirst grew by 15%, while its oil output only rose 2%.
China's thirst for oil gets into top gear
China is not the biggest oil consumer in the world, that prize goes to America, nor is it the biggest importer - which is also the USA. What China outdoes the rest of the world at is the growth of its appetite. Ten years ago China imported no oil at all. In 2003, it overtook Japan to become the world's second biggest importer. Its thirst continues to grow.
Copyright 2003-2006 Azlan Adnan Legal Notice
The Old Man and the Sea
Click on one of the images above to get a copy of the book or DVD.
It also led directly to his receipt of the Nobel Prize in 1954 (an award Hemingway gladly accepted, despite his earlier observation that "no son of a bitch that ever won the Nobel Prize ever wrote anything worth reading afterwards").
A half century later, it's still easy to see why. This tale of an aged Cuban fisherman going head-to-head (or hand-to-fin) with a magnificent marlin encapsulates Hemingway's favorite motifs of physical and moral challenge. Yet Santiago is too old and infirm to partake of the gun-toting machismo that disfigured much of the author's later work:
"The brown blotches of the benevolent skin cancer the sun brings from its reflection on the tropic sea were on his cheeks. The blotches ran well down the sides of his face and his hands had the deep-creased scars from handling heavy fish on the cords."
Hemingway's style, too, reverts to those superb snapshots of perception that won him his initial fame:
Just before it was dark, as they passed a great island of Sargasso weed that heaved and swung in the light sea as though the ocean were making love with something under a yellow blanket, his small line was taken by a dolphin. He saw it first when it jumped in the air, true gold in the last of the sun and bending and flapping wildly in the air.
If a younger Hemingway had written this novella, Santiago most likely would have towed the enormous fish back to port and posed for a triumphal photograph--just as the author delighted in doing, circa 1935. Instead his prize gets devoured by a school of sharks. Returning with little more than a skeleton, he takes to his bed and, in the very last line, cements his identification with his creator: "The old man was dreaming about the lions." Perhaps there's some allegory of art and experience floating around in there somewhere--but The Old Man and the Sea was, in any case, the last great catch of Hemingway's career.
Study Guide
Copyright 2003-2006 Azlan Adnan Legal Notice
The Catcher in the Rye
Click on an image to get a copy of the book (left) or CD (right).
"If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you'll probably want to know is where I was born and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don't feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth. In the first place, that stuff bores me, and in the second place, my parents would have about two hemorrhages apiece if I told anything pretty personal about them."
His constant wry observations about what he encounters, from teachers to phonies (the two of course are not mutually exclusive) capture the essence of the eternal teenage experience of alienation.
Study Guide
Copyright 2003-2006 Azlan Adnan Legal Notice
To Kill a Mockingbird
Click on an image to get a copy of the book (left) or DVD (right).
Like the slow-moving occupants of her fictional town, Lee takes her time getting to the heart of her tale; we first meet the Finches the summer before Scout's first year at school. She, her brother, and Dill Harris, a boy who spends the summers with his aunt in Maycomb, while away the hours reenacting scenes from Dracula and plotting ways to get a peek at the town bogeyman, Boo Radley.
At first the circumstances surrounding the alleged rape of Mayella Ewell, the daughter of a drunk and violent white farmer, barely penetrate the children's consciousness. Then Atticus is called on to defend the accused, Tom Robinson, and soon Scout and Jem find themselves caught up in events beyond their understanding.
During the trial, the town exhibits its ugly side, but Lee offers plenty of counterbalance as well--in the struggle of an elderly woman to overcome her morphine habit before she dies; in the heroism of Atticus Finch, standing up for what he knows is right; and finally in Scout's hard-won understanding that most people are essentially kind "when you really see them." By turns funny, wise, and heartbreaking, To Kill a Mockingbird is one classic that continues to speak to new generations, and deserves to be re-read often.
Study Guide
Copyright 2003-2006 Azlan Adnan Legal Notice
Challenges facing the US wind industry
In Denver, optimism was readily apparent from the record pace at which the industry is installing (an anticipated) 2500 MW of turbines in 2005. Installed US capacity at the end of 2004 was 6740 MW. Another sign of enthusiasm was the record number of participants, 4100, (up 14%) that flocked to the annual conference. Many of the newcomers, groomed in suits, represented the growing institutionalisation of what was once a cottage industry.
Reflecting the worst of times, however, was the continuing uncertainty over the fate of the production tax credit (PTC). Under US law current at the time of the conference a tax credit of 1.9 cents/kWh was allowed for the production of electricity from qualified wind energy facilities and other forms of renewable energy. The credit, created by the Energy Policy Act of 1992 is applicable to qualifying wind facilities placed in service before 1 January 2006, The Bush administration budget request called for a two-year PTC extension, while the wind industry was looking for five years. In June, the Senate proposed a 10% federal renewable portfolio standard and a three-year PTC extension. The House proposal in April did not include either provision.
Wind advocates said that removing the production tax credits would not necessarily undermine the industry, but continuing them would be a stabilising factor that would remove the ongoing uncertainty that has created a tentative, boom/bust mentality.
According to AWEA, four to six months before the tax credits expire, financial lenders hesitate to provide capital for wind projects. A rush to complete projects before the deadline creates a herd effect. Developers and sponsors dash to stick pylons in the ground, spiking turbine prices, and they largely recede once the PTCs expire. The US wind industry scored banner years in 2001 (1697 MW), 2003 (1687 MW) but nearly withered in 2000 (67 MW), 2002 (446 MW) and 2004 (389 MW) as a result of production tax uncertainty. By comparison in Germany a simple fixed price incentive has led to a burgeoning market with an installed capacity of 16,629MW at the end of last year. There, producers of renewable energy receive r70 per MWh when sold to a utility and some regions generate as much as 25% of their electricity from wind power.
Bold state initiatives
While questions regarding the federal PTCs have contributed to uncertainty in the market, the strongest drivers of new installations have been initiatives taken at the state level to mandate a minimum amount of electricity to be supplied from renewable sources. At the beginning of 2005, such renewable portfolio standards (RPS) existed in 18 states including the most populated Ð California, Texas and New York. Earlier this year, Illinois proposed legislation that would require 8% of the stateÕs power to come from renewable energy by 2012. In addition to its statewide mandate, the government of Connecticut is planning to purchase 20% of its electricity from renewable sources by 2010 and all of its electricity from renewable by 2050.
California and Texas with 2096 MW and 1293 MW had the greatest installed capacity at the end of 2004 followed by Iowa (632 MW), Minnesota (615 MW) and Wyoming (285 MW). For 2005, major installations are being undertaken in Texas, California, Iowa, Kansas and Oklahoma.
Rising turbine prices
Rising prices for wind turbine generators has complicated the US market. Its on-again, off-again nature, unfavourable dollar/euro exchange rates, and climbing steel and energy prices have all contributed. Mark Little, vice president of Power Generation, GE Energy, said in Denver that the company is supplying 1100 1.5 MW machines into the North American market. ÒWhile we have a strong US supply base, because of the ups and downs of the industry, we have not been able to requisition all of the supplies to fulfil our North American demand. We are looking for some stability ... with stability we could have supplied all of the demand from our US operating base.Ó
Thomas Carbone, president of Vestas Americas, a large supplier to the US market, says that less than 50% of the value creation is from US companies. The intermittency of the PTC adds additional costs to his operation, and precludes Vestas from making the type of investments it needs to make to become a steady and price-stable supplier. ÒThe short planning horizon that has emerged as a result has driven up costs 20% higher,Ó he says. ÒIf we could add more regulatory certainty, we could do a whole lot better than we do now working with one to two-year renewals.Ó
Rising prices have complicated developersÕ efforts to respond to RFPs where they must commit to a price in the form of a bid in a power purchase agreement. Rising turbine prices, as well as balance of plant costs, can undermine a project because it is difficult to legitimately forecast costs a year down the line. This has led to a number of bids for projects that can never be built, or to a lot of renegotiating of rates to which utilities are sometimes sympathetic, sometimes not.
Despite the constraint due to the price of turbines, the economic attractiveness of US wind projects nevertheless remains good, says Vivek Mittal, Bank of Scotland, who is exploring opportunities to finance projects in the US. ÒThere is a good track record of performance so we are interested in diversifying away from Europe ... if somebody is financing wind, the US is important because of the volume of deals and the regulatory framework. The available incentive framework is still good despite the production tax credit uncertainty. Because power prices are high, you can argue that you really donÕt need some incentives. You could do away with the production tax credit in some markets.Ó
Transmission bottlenecks
Capital does not flow readily to transmission projects, and, especially in the wind resource rich northern plain states, incremental transmission investment is necessary for wind to have a big impact. Some analysts contend that it is difficult to envisage that the necessary transmission infrastructure will be in place to support wind energyÕs growth. ÒThere is a great vast resource in the middle of the country, the industry is working with policy makers and the market, but you donÕt want to be the first one in that market and have to pay for that transmission line,Ó says one turbine vendor.
An exception to the rule is the Western Governors Association, which launched an initiative in late 2004 to develop 30 000 MW of clean energy by 2015 and achieve a 20% improvement in energy efficiency by 2020, and is starting a 15-year planning process for expanding transmission
A vision for wind
According to Robert Thresher, director of the National Wind Technology Centre at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, the US department of EnergyÕs research and development support is aimed at expanding wind energy markets. NREL initiatives support low wind speed technology, off-shore wind, distributed wind technology, and generator drivetrain and power electronics.
At Denver, Thresher characterised the US market in 2005 as consisting of principally land-based, bulk electricity producers capable of generating power at 4 to 6 cents/kWh at wind speeds of 15 mph. By 2012, DOE would like to see on-shore 2 to 5 MW low wind speed turbines (LWST) generate power for 3 cents/kWh at wind speeds of 13 mph. Off-shore by 2012 and beyond, DOE envisions 5 MW and larger machines generating power for 5cents/kWh. Reaching these goals would bring wind sites five times closer to load centres, increase the areas for wind development by a factor of 20, and open significant off-shore wind resources for development.
Toward this end, DOE has awarded, or is negotiating, technology subcontracts to Clipper WindPower Technology for 2.5 MW, 93m rotor distributed drive generators; to Northern Power Systems for 2+ MW direct drive turbines; and to GE Wind Energy for next generation compact integrated drive trains and optimal off-shore full system prototypes.
ÒThe US is blessed with a great wind resource. The wind potential here is greater than the electricity demand,Ó says Thresher. ÒOn-shore development is happening now. The new horizon is moving off-shore and building wind turbines in dry docks for transport to off-shore sites. We can create a whole new energy industry similar to the off-shore oil industry but that is not extractive and that keeps the jobs and benefits at home.Ó
How competitive is wind?
Rising natural gas prices have certainly helped make wind energy more competitive and have provided room for wind to operate in a portfolio of generating options. However, large LNG terminal projects coming on line could depress the price of natural gas, or new large coal-fired plants coming on line, could change the dynamics of the industry and affect the competitiveness of the wind industry, cautions GEÕs Mark Little.
ÒGE Energy will improve the technology, we will drive the cost down but it is hard to say which of the technologies will be most competitive over a period of time.Ó
Technology challenges
To make its turbines more cost competitive, GE is designing bigger, lighter and more sophisticated wind machines. ÒThe whole thrust of modern turbine design is to design a big rotor for high capacity to capture wind energy, yet to design it to mitigate loads more effectively,Ó says Jim Lyons, a chief engineer for GEÕs Electric Systems Technologies. ÒThe industry is scaling up to larger and larger machines. In moving to five to seven MW machines, the entire design paradigm has to shift. Wind turbines are deceptively complex machines.Ó
There are a lot of challenges, Lyons says, in reducing the structural weight of turbines and in creating more intelligent machines that are more compliant, lightweight structures. There is also the challenge of designing and manufacturing bigger blades that are very large composite structures.
Buying components from different vendors and stitching together solutions Ð the way the industry has grown up Ð is simply not going to work anymore as machines get larger, says Lyons. Scaling up results in bigger and heavier machines, so the industry is moving toward compact drive trains where the functions of the main shaft, bearings, gearboxes and generators are combined into more compact assemblies. ÒDoing so can save a tremendous amount of weight,Ó says Lyons. ÒYou can shrink the nacelle and supporting structure from the 400 to 500 ton range to 200 tons. The whole structural design paradigm needs to change to make the economics going forward work.Ó
The same approach applies to blades, where there are some critical internal load bearing structures whose design can take advantage of the extra stiffness of carbon fibre with a minimal amount of material. It is more expensive, but judiciously placed carbon fibre can carry stress loads more effectively and achieve significant weight reduction, enabling much larger blades. ÒThe 6 MW machine would require a blade that is 70 m long,Ó says Lyons. ÒThe biggest rotor constructed to date is 126 metre diameter. The industry consensus to date is that to build off-shore, more power is needed to make the economics work because of the extra costs associated with the electrical distribution networks, cable and foundations systems off-shore.Ó
The UK government, according to Lyons, is pushing the industry to bigger sizes. They plan on installing 500 MW scale projects to meet their EU renewable obligations by the end of the decade and they have a plan to reach 15 GW of wind power by 2015, almost all of it off-shore. ÒRight now three MW is the standard, there is a lot of experimentation going on in the four to five MW range. The industry will morph into the larger five to seven MW machines by the end of the decade.Ó
Managing reactive power
Another challenge facing the industry, according to Lyons, is integrating large wind projects with the grid. In the early days, wind turbines were designed to trip off when the grid became unstable. Once the grid stabilised, they would resynchronise and come back on line. With large wind projects comprising a significant part of the generation capacity of a given area, tripping off the grid is not the best solution.
ÒThe whole thrust now is to make the wind farms act more like thermal units from a power point level,Ó says Lyons. ÒThere is a tendency of moving from a partial power conversion solution like we use today to a full power conversion solution that separates the dynamics of the rotating machine from the dynamics of grid response. This is now strictly governed by the power electronic converter.Ó
Changing the view from Washington
Rebecca Watson, assistant secretary of the US Department of Interior, told the media in Denver that the wind industry needs to tell a new story. Like changing the paradigm of designing larger turbines, the wind industry also must change the paradigm of how it is viewed Ð perhaps by conveying the idea that wind is not only a $2 billion business for GE in 2005, but also a source of clean energy and local jobs. ÒMaybe there is the wrong impression back in Washington of what wind energy is ... the flower child syndrome. The industry has changed, and that story needs to be told to WashingtonÕs policy makers.Ó
The five states with the greatest wind potential are North Dakota, Texas, Kansas, South Dakota and Montana. In Nebraska, despite its sixth place ranking, development lags behind because of the availability of inexpensive power from municipal utilities throughout the state.
Assessing the energy bill
The Energy Policy Act of 2005, signed in August, added a two-year extension to the wind energy production tax credit, suggesting to industry analysts that strong growth momentum will continue in 2006 and 2007. AWEA believes that this will keep the USA on track to derive 6% of its power from wind by 2020.
Another bright spot in the Act is the requirement that utility system reliability rules to be developed be Ònon-discriminatoryÓ and provide incentives to encourage the construction of new and upgraded transmission lines. AWEAÕs Randall Swisher said these long-term provisions could help Ôlevel the playing fieldÕ and brighten the long-term planning horizon for wind power.
There is concern that the North American Electric Reliability CouncilÕs comments to FERC in FERCÕs currently ongoing generator interconnection proceeding create a higher hurdle for wind than other resources. The Transmission Infrastructure Modernisation is a provision of the bill that adds significant pressure to relieve interstate transmission bottlenecks, and could allow for the designation of corridors between wind-rich areas and the high voltage transmission system, based on the criteria of energy independence and diverse supplies. According to AWEA, the provision does not help with cost allocation, which is typically the more difficult challenge in building the transmission necessary to carry wind power to market from windy areas in the heartland.
US Wind Industry ends most productive year, sustained growth expected for at least next two years
Industry Expected to Build on Momentum;
No Slow-Down for 2006
The U.S. wind energy industry easily broke earlier annual installed capacity records in 2005, installing nearly 2,500 megawatts (MW) or over $3 billion worth of new generating equipment in 22 states, according to the Washington, D.C.-based American Wind Energy Association (AWEA). Instead of the slow year that has previously followed boom years for the industry, 2006 is expected to be even bigger, with installations topping 3,000 MW.
The final tally of 2,431 MW boosted the cumulative U.S. installed wind power fleet by over 35%, bringing the industry's total generating capacity to 9,149 MW1. The previous record capacity figure was set in 2001 when 1,697 MW of new capacity was installed. There are now commercial wind turbine installations in 30 states. The figure was just shy of an expected 2,500 MW because several projects were subject to weather-related delays.
Wind energy facilities now installed in the U.S., AWEA said, will produce as much electricity annually as 2.3 million average American households use2, and will displace emissions of more than 15 million tons of carbon dioxide (the leading greenhouse gas) annually.
"Thanks to Congress’s extending the wind energy production credit before it expired for the first time in the credit’s history, the wind industry is looking forward to several record-breaking years in a row,” said AWEA Executive Director Randall Swisher. “Companies can now plan for growth, create jobs, and provide more clean power to customers nationwide. We are finally beginning to tap into wind energy's enormous potential."
The growth in wind power construction comes at a time when customers across the country are facing electricity and natural gas rate hikes due to the natural gas supply shortage, with 2005-2006 winter gas prices peaking as high as $15/thousand cubic foot (mcf). Monthly average prices range from $6-13/mcf, compared to last year’s monthly average prices of $5-7/mcf. Wind power, which generates energy without using fuel, provides a hedge against rising energy costs because wind energy production is immune from fuel price spikes. AWEA estimates that an installed capacity of 9,149 MW of wind power will save over half a billion cubic feet of natural gas per day (Bcf/day) in 20063, alleviating a portion of the supply pressure that is now facing the natural gas industry and is driving prices upward. The U.S. currently burns about 13 Bcf/day for electricity generation, which means during 2006, wind power will be reducing natural gas use for power generation by approximately 5%.
Other highlights include:
- California is still the state with the most wind power installed, with 2,150 MW, but Texas is gaining fast with 1,995 MW installed and more proposed for 2006. Iowa remains in third place with 836 MW installed. Minnesota is in fourth with 744 MW, and Oklahoma moves into fifth place with 475 MW.
- GE Energy turbines accounted for nearly 60% of the new capacity in 2005. Vestas turbines accounted for nearly 30%. Mitsubishi was the third largest wind turbine supplier to the U.S. market, supplying about 8% of the new capacity. Suzlon and Gamesa round out the top five.
- FPL Energy was the project developer responsible for adding the most new wind power capacity, with over 500 MW of new capacity added to its fleet. PPM Energy was in second place, adding 394 MW4. Horizon Wind Energy added 220 MW5; Invenergy added 200 MW; and enXco added 150 MW.
- The wind farms completed in 2005, AWEA said, will generate approximately $5 million in payments to landowners annually6 and create skilled, long-term jobs in areas where such employment is scarce, as well as short-term construction jobs and associated economic activity.
A state-by-state listing of existing and proposed wind energy projects is available on AWEA's Web site at http://www.awea.org/projects/index.html The full list of projects installed in 2005 is available on the AWEA newsroom site at http://www.awea.org/newsroom/2005_projects.pdf
AWEA, formed in 1974, is the national trade association of the U.S. wind energy industry. The association’s membership includes turbine manufacturers, wind project developers, utilities, academicians, and interested individuals. More information on wind energy is available at the AWEA web site: www.awea.org
Project information is available at www.awea.org/projects
1. 7.45 MW of capacity was reported decommissioned in 2005. Capacity installed as of the end of 2004 was adjusted to 6,725 MW from 6,740 MW due to more information about decommissionings and duplicates.
2. Assuming an average capacity factor of 31% for the total cumulative installed capacity and using the Department of Energy’s Energy Information Agency’s latest household electricity consumption number of 10,656 kWh per year (2001).
3. Assuming that approximately 10 cubic feet of natural gas are required to generate 1 kWh of electricity and that, on average, 80% of wind generation ultimately replaces natural gas-fired electricity.
4. Including a half interest in the Maple Ridge Wind Project, of which 137 MW were reported as installed by year’s end.
5. Including a half interest in the Maple Ridge Wind Project, see previous footnote.
6. Approximately 1,650 wind turbines were installed in 2005. Although leasing arrangements vary widely, a reasonable estimate for income to a landowner from a single utility-scale turbine is about $3,000 a year.
Copyright 2003-2006 Azlan Adnan Legal NoticeRenewable energy sources
What's the Alternative?
Hydropower & Wind
Water
Wind power
Electricity generation from the wind
British Wind Energy Association
Wind power in the UK: Sustainable Development Commission report
Denmark's wind energy industry
Sun, Wave & Tidal Power
Solar power
International Solar Energy Society
Geothermal energy
Biomass, Geothermal, Hydrogen & Ocean energy
Copyright 2003-2006 Azlan Adnan Legal Notice
Nuclear energy in the UK
Click on the map above for an introduction to
the nuclear energy debate in the UK
Energy White Paper: UK Government, February 2003
The nuclear debate in the UK
Nuclear sector of the DTIÕs Energy Group website
Guide to the nuclear fuel cycle
Nuclear power
BNFL: British Nuclear Fuels Limited
Comparison chart: the UK's major current and likely future energy sources
Energy Choices: nuclear energy in the context of other energy sources.
British Energy
Finland's new nuclear reactor
Olkiluoto 3: the EPR (European Pressurized Water Reactor)
Renewable energy
Useful links
Copyright 2003-2006 Azlan Adnan Legal Notice
Blair under pressure over Guantanamo
In the wake of the UN report, UK Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Hain said: "I would prefer that it wasn't there and I would prefer it was closed."
Asked if Blair agreed, Hain said: "I think so, yes."
The UK prime minister was asked about the controversy after talks in Berlin with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Blair said: "I've said all along... that it [the camp] is an anomaly and sooner or later it's got to be dealt with."
Sir Menzies Campbell, the Liberal Democrats foreign affairs spokesman and acting leader, is writing to Blair asking him to urge the US either to put the prisoners in Guantanamo Bay on trial or release them.
"The systematic violation of human rights undermines the moral authority of the West and makes it impossible to win the long-term battle for hearts and minds," he said.
"It is time for the prime minister to take action and to demand the closure of the camp. Detainees should either be charged or released."
The nine Britons who were held at the camp have all been released but three former British residents ~ Bisher al-Rawi, Jamil el-Banna and Omar Deghayes ~ remain as detainees.
Sir Menzies is also asking what representations the UK has made to the American authorities about them.
Chairman of the Commons foreign affairs select committee, Labour's Mike Gapes, welcomed Peter Hain's comments but said there was a feeling among MPs that a "more forceful statement" should be made about the concentration camp.
Asked why he thought Tony Blair was not being "bolder," Gapes said: "I suspect it's part of a general approach to speak quietly to the Americans and not make big public statements."
Maybe it's because Blair is a running dog for Bush?
Copyright 2003-2006 Azlan Adnan Legal Notice
Merkel criticised Guantanamo Bay
In an interview published in the German magazine Der Spiegel on Monday, 9 January 2006 Mrs Merkel criticised the US concentration camp in Cuba, saying "different ways" should be found to deal with prisoners.
Mrs Merkel told the magazine: "An institution like Guantanamo can and should not exist in the longer term.
"Different ways and means must be found for dealing with these prisoners."
But said she would not demand the immediate closure of the camp when she meets with President Bush.
On Friday, 13 January 2006 US President George W Bush rejected criticism over the Guantanamo Bay camp raised by German Chancellor Angela Merkel during talks in Washington.
President Bush said it was a necessary part of protecting the American people.
It is her first official US visit since her election which, Mr Bush joked, much like his own, was not a landslide win.
"We openly addressed that there sometimes have been differences of opinion, and I mentioned Guantanamo in this respect," Ms Merkel told the press conference afterwards.
Copyright 2003-2006 Azlan Adnan Legal Notice
Camelid resources
Llamapaedia
Pack Llama Literature and Links
International Llama Association
Australian Alpaca Association
British Camelids Association
New Zealand Alpaca Association
New Zealand Alpacas
Books
The Wonderful World of Alpacas by M. Brandon James
Caring for Llamas and Alpacas: A Health & Management Guide by Claire Hoffman, Ingrid Asmus
The Camelid Companion by Marty McGee Bennett
Storey's Guide to Raising Llamas: Care/Showing/Breeding/Packing/Profiting by Gale Birutta
Llamas and Alpacas as a Metaphor for Life by Marty McGee Bennett
Five Acres and Independence: A Handbook for Small Farm Management by Maurice Grenville Kains
Copyright 2003-2006 Azlan Adnan Legal Notice
Sunday, February 19, 2006
Malaysian entries
Two Malaysian films were entered in the 56th Berlin Film Festival. As far as I know, they didn't win anything. Better luck next year!
Lampu merah mati (Monday Morning Glory)
Malaysia, 2005, 82 min
Director: Woo Ming Jin
Cast: Azman Hassan, Azman Ismail, Patrick Teoh, Hariry Jalil
Section: Forum
Lelaki komunis terakhir (The Last Communist)
Malaysia, 2006, 90 min
Director: Amir Muhammad
Section: Forum
Copyright 2003-2006 Azlan Adnan Legal Notice
Lampu merah mati (Monday Morning Glory)
Malaysia, 2005, 82 min
Director: Woo Ming Jin
Cast: Azman Hassan, Azman Ismail, Patrick Teoh, Hariry Jalil
Section: Forum
Lelaki komunis terakhir (The Last Communist)
Malaysia, 2006, 90 min
Director: Amir Muhammad
Section: Forum
Copyright 2003-2006 Azlan Adnan Legal Notice
The Road to Guantanamo wins Silver Bear
It tells the true story of three British Muslims caught in Afghanistan and who end up at the Guantanamo Bay concentration camp.
The film looks set to re-ignite the whole debate about the Guantanamo Bay American concentration camp in Cuba.
The three British Muslims, from Tipton in the Midlands, went to Pakistan to arrange a wedding, travelled to Afghanistan and were transported to Guantanamo Bay.
They were held there without trial for more than two years before charges were dropped and they were released in March 2004.
Dramatised scenes, charting their journey, are interspersed with interviews with the men themselves, who explain what happened to them and how they felt.
"I don't think the film is anti-American because there are plenty of Americans who are against Guantanamo Bay too," says Michael Winterbottom.
"But the very fact that this camp exists is shocking.
"We're not trying to say Americans are bad... What we're saying is that just the fact of Guantanamo's existence is shocking and terrible and it shouldn't be there."
The film script was based on interviews with the so-called "Tipton Three" - Rhuhel Ahmed, Shafiq Rasul and Asif Iqbal - who were inmates at Guantanamo before being released in 2004.
"We are telling the story of these three people so you can imagine yourself what it is like to be in a situation where your rights are taken away from you, you have no contact with your family and no idea when you will be released," he adds.
Winterbottom first came up with the idea of making the film when he met Shafiq Rasul, Asif Iqbal and Ruhal Ahmed two months after they had been released.
He interviewed the men, and turned the resulting 600 pages of transcript into a 95-minute feature.
"If someone had said five years ago that the US would set up a camp, in Cuba of all places, to hold people for four years without trial or charges, then you would have thought he was crazy.
"But the problem is, people have got used to it."
'Hard to sleep'
Shafiq Rasul and Ruhal Ahmed came to Berlin to promote the film and said they were pleased with the film.
"When you are first released it's hard to sleep," says Shafiq Rasul.
"You keep hearing soldiers banging on the cells and you wake up sweating and thinking of soldiers and then you realise you're back home. But as time goes on, you have to move on and live your life."
Winterbottom is no newcomer to Berlin. In 2003 he won the festival's top prize, the Golden Bear, for the documentary-style drama In This World, which followed two Afghan asylum seekers on their journey to the UK.
Luke Harding, Berlin correspondent for The Guardian newspaper, said: "I thought the film was brilliant. You could really feel empathy for them."
Judging from the amount of interest already generated at Berlin, distribution for the film is likely to be widespread.
Winterbottom plans to release the film simultaneously online and on DVD, and on 9 March it will be shown on Channel 4 television in the UK.
Revolution Films, a venture between Winterbottom and film producer Andrew Eaton, are planning to show The Road To Guantanamo in up to 30 cinemas, and as many digital screens as possible.
The project cost £1.5m and was shot in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran.
Channel 4 decided to finance the film as a TV venture, aware that it would gain the project a great deal of momentum.
Winterbottom's other film credits include 24 Hour Party People, Welcome To Sarajevo and A Cock And Bull Story.
Michael Winterbottom dedicated his award to the three men which inspired his film.
This year's festival appears to have an overtly political theme. The head of the jury, British actress Charlotte Rampling, said this year's films "reflected the mood of the world today."
The Golden Bear award at the 56th Berlin Film Festival was won by a Bosnian film, Grbavica, by director Jasmila Zbanic, which looks at the aftermath of the mass rape of women during the siege of Sarajevo in the Bosnian war.
Two films won the Silver Bear: Offside, by the Iranian director Jafar Panahi, a drama about a girl who has to disguise herself as a boy to watch a football match, and Danish-Swedish film A Soap about a woman's relationship with a transsexual.
Silver Bear awards for best actors went to two Germans - Moritz Bleibtreu for his role in the film Elementary Particles, and Sandra Hueller for her part in Requiem.
Guantanamo actors held at airport
The actors who star in movie The Road to Guantanamo were questioned by police at Luton airport under anti-terrorism legislation, it has emerged.
The men, who play British inmates at the detention camp, were returning from the Berlin Film Festival where the movie won a Silver Bear award.
One of the actors, Rizwan Ahmed, said a police officer asked him if he intended to make any more "political" films.
The men were released quickly and not arrested, said Bedfordshire police.
Inquiry
"Six people were stopped under the Terrorism Act. This is something that happens all the time and obviously at airports and train stations," said a spokeswoman.
"There is a heightened state of security since the London bombings. Public safety is paramount."
Actor Farhad Harun was also questioned, along with Shafiq Rusul and Rhuhel Ahmed, the men whose detention in Guantanamo is chronicled in the film.
Mr Ahmed also alleges that he was verbally abused by a police officer and had his mobile phone taken from him for a short period.
The actor also claims that he was told by police that he could be held for up to 48 hours without access to a lawyer.
He says he was initially questioned at the airport's baggage pick-up area and taken to a separate room when he demanded to know why.
Human rights organisation Reprieve, who Mr Ahmed has asked to speak on his behalf, called Thursday's incident an "ugly farce."
They have called for an urgent government inquiry into what happened while one of the film's producers, Melissa Parmenter, said the detention was outrageous.
Bedfordshire police have said they will issue another statement specifically concerning the allegations made by Mr Ahmed and Reprieve.
The Facts
On Thursday, 16 February 2006, when their plane arrived back at Luton from Berlin, first Shafiq and Rhuhel were detained, and then the actors Rizwan Ahmed and Farhad Harun, who play the two men in the film. The actors were thoroughly shaken by the experience.
Rizwan Ahmed, an Oxford graduate who plays Shafiq, was interrogated by three Special Branch officers. Mr Ahmed was initially questioned at the baggage claim and then, when he demanded to know what this was about, was taken to a small room. The Special Branch insisted on going through his wallet and taking down his financial information, as well as details on business cards he had. When he asked to speak to a lawyer, he was initially told that he could be held for 48 hours without access to anyone at all.
A female officer played the main role. "She asked me whether I intended to do more documentary films, specifically more political ones like The Road to Guant‡namo. She asked 'Did you become an actor mainly to do films like this, to publicise the struggles of Muslims?'"
When the officer left the room, Mr Ahmed called a lawyer to ascertain his legal rights. Upon her return, he was told that he could not call anyone, and he had a telephone wrestled from his hand by a male officer. This officer then went through the numbers on his mobile phone, noting them down, and called him a "fucker."
Ultimately, Mr Ahmed received a call from Clive Stafford Smith, legal director of Reprieve, who arranged for a solicitor from Birnberg, Peirce to call him with legal advice. At this point, he was told he was free to leave. When Mr Ahmed demanded a name and rank, none of the Special Branch officers would provide it.
Copyright 2003-2006 Azlan Adnan Legal Notice
Grbavica wins at Berlin Film Festival
Grbavica is Jasmila Zbanic's first feature length film
A Bosnian film has won the Golden Bear award at the 56th Berlin Film Festival.
Grbavica, by director Jasmila Zbanic, looks at the aftermath of the mass rape of women during the siege of Sarajevo in the Bosnian war.
This year's festival appears to have an overtly political theme.
"War in Bosnia was over some 13 years ago and yet war criminals Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic (former Bosnian Serb leader and army commander) still live in Europe freely," Ms Zbanic said.
"They've not been captured for organising the rape of 20,000 women in Bosnia. This is Europe and no one is interested in capturing them," she added.
The head of the jury, British actress Charlotte Rampling, said this year's films "reflected the mood of the world today."
Single mother Esma lives with her 12-year-old daughter, Sara, in post-war Sarajevo. Sara wants to go on a school trip and Esma starts working as a waitress in a nightclub in order to earn the money.
Sara makes friends with Samir, who, like Sara, has no father. Both of their fathers allegedly died as war heroes. Samir is surprised that Sara doesn't know the circumstances of her father's death. Samir's own father was massacred by Chetniks near Zuc when he refused to leave the trench he was defending. And yet, whenever mother and daughter discuss this delicate topic, Esma's responses are always vague.
The situation becomes more complicated when the school offers to take pupils on the trip free of charge, provided they can furnish a certificate proving that they are the offspring of a war hero. Esma explains to Sara that her father's corpse was never found and that she does not possess such a certificate. She promises to try to obtain the document. In reality she attempts to borrow the money Sara needs Ð from her friend, Sabine, from her aunt and from her boss.
Sara can't get rid of the nagging feeling that something's not right. Shocked and bewildered when she discovers she is not mentioned as the child a war hero on the list of pupils on the school trip, she lashes out at a classmate, explaining that her father was massacred on the front near Zuc when he refused to desert his trench. At home, however, she confronts her mother, demanding to know the truth. Esma breaks down and brutally reveals the painful facts: Esma was raped in a prisoner-of-war camp and forced to have the child that resulted from this violation.
All at once, Sara realises that she is the child of a Chetnik. And yet, the knowledge also brings them a step closer to overcoming the trauma...
Copyright 2003-2006 Azlan Adnan Legal Notice
Guideless in government
KUCHING, Feb 19 (Bernama) -- Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi will ask the Public Works Department (PWD) to prepare a guide to detect damage to facilities provided by the government, to repair and to maintain them.
Are we to infer that all this while, PWD doesn't have one?
Something is definitely wrong.
Samy, tolonglah cepat resign!
Copyright 2003-2006 Azlan Adnan Legal Notice
Are we to infer that all this while, PWD doesn't have one?
Something is definitely wrong.
Samy, tolonglah cepat resign!
Copyright 2003-2006 Azlan Adnan Legal Notice
Bigfoot colony found
Johor Wildlife Protection Society claims to have Scientific Evidence of Bigfoot Colony
JOHOR BAHARU, February 18, 2006 19:43 PM -- The Johor Wildlife Protection Society said it has "scientific evidence" to prove the existence of Bigfoot whose reported sightings recently in the Johor jungles have excited the world's media.
Not just one Bigfoot but a whole colony of the giant, hairy creatures which the society named "Orang Lenggor" (Lenggor People) as one was spotted in an area by that name, said the society's secretary Tay Teng Hwa.
"We will make public the evidence soon," he said today.
He said a member of the society had studied the creatures for six years and interacted directly with the colony.
"The adult creatures are between 10 and 12 feet tall while their children are 6 to 7 footers. Seventy per cent of the Orang Lenggor have a human appearance but the rest resemble apes," he said.
Tay declined to reveal the location of the Bigfoot colony or the type of "scientific evidence" in the possession of the society.
The claim by the society followed a statement by Johor Menteri Besar Datuk Abdul Ghani Othman that he was convinced about the existence of Bigfoot based on information provided by Orang Asli.
Tay said the society decided to reveal its discovery because foreigners armed with sophisticated equipment were entering the Johor jungles to track down Bigfoot without the knowledge of the state government.
"We are worried these foreigners might find Bigfoot and then announce to the world as their discovery," he said.
Relating the background to the society's study of the creatures, he said a member of the society, who was a logger, came across Bigfoot when the creature encroached into the logging company's base camp to look for food.
Since that incident, the member began to study the creatures and went close to their colony.
Tay said the creatures, despite their size and rough appearance, were timid and showed no aggression to humans who approached them.
The "Orang Lenggor" had a covering of black hair on their bodies when they were young but the hair gradually turned brown as they grew older, he said.
"They like to eat fish and fruits they gather in the jungles, including durian. They also have a liking for river water that contains dissolved salt and would walk for miles to get it," he added.
Tay said the society would organise an expedition to the "Orang Lenggor" colony in either March or April.
JOHOR BAHARU, February 18, 2006 19:43 PM -- The Johor Wildlife Protection Society said it has "scientific evidence" to prove the existence of Bigfoot whose reported sightings recently in the Johor jungles have excited the world's media.
Not just one Bigfoot but a whole colony of the giant, hairy creatures which the society named "Orang Lenggor" (Lenggor People) as one was spotted in an area by that name, said the society's secretary Tay Teng Hwa.
"We will make public the evidence soon," he said today.
He said a member of the society had studied the creatures for six years and interacted directly with the colony.
"The adult creatures are between 10 and 12 feet tall while their children are 6 to 7 footers. Seventy per cent of the Orang Lenggor have a human appearance but the rest resemble apes," he said.
Tay declined to reveal the location of the Bigfoot colony or the type of "scientific evidence" in the possession of the society.
The claim by the society followed a statement by Johor Menteri Besar Datuk Abdul Ghani Othman that he was convinced about the existence of Bigfoot based on information provided by Orang Asli.
Tay said the society decided to reveal its discovery because foreigners armed with sophisticated equipment were entering the Johor jungles to track down Bigfoot without the knowledge of the state government.
"We are worried these foreigners might find Bigfoot and then announce to the world as their discovery," he said.
Relating the background to the society's study of the creatures, he said a member of the society, who was a logger, came across Bigfoot when the creature encroached into the logging company's base camp to look for food.
Since that incident, the member began to study the creatures and went close to their colony.
Tay said the creatures, despite their size and rough appearance, were timid and showed no aggression to humans who approached them.
The "Orang Lenggor" had a covering of black hair on their bodies when they were young but the hair gradually turned brown as they grew older, he said.
"They like to eat fish and fruits they gather in the jungles, including durian. They also have a liking for river water that contains dissolved salt and would walk for miles to get it," he added.
Tay said the society would organise an expedition to the "Orang Lenggor" colony in either March or April.
Avian influenza
If you're traveling to a country with bird flu, please call me to get some travel insurance.
019-28-AZLAN
Copyright 2003-2006 Azlan Adnan Legal Notice
Saturday, February 18, 2006
Solar energy & ethanol
According to the International Energy Agency, if you take large-scale hydro projects out of the equation, only about 2% of the world's electricity is currently generated through solar, wind and other renewable technologies.
The reason is simple: cost.
"Technically, you could supply all of the world's energy needs by covering 4% of the world's desert area with photo-voltaic panels," says Martin Green from the Advanced Silicon Photo-voltaics and Photonics research centre at the University of New South Wales in Sydney.
Yet according to International Energy Agency forecasts, renewables (once again excluding large-scale hydro) will make up only 6% of the world's energy economy in 2030, with solar cells contributing a small fraction.
It is an improvement on today's 2%, but hardly a ringing endorsement of their potential.
The problem is that solar cells convert only about 15% of the sunlight they receive into electricity; at these rates, it's not generally an economic technology.
Martin Green's research unit is in the vanguard of those trying to improve performance and bring down prices.
In the lab, his team can achieve sunlight-to-electricity efficiencies of 25% and intends to go higher, through using materials other than the conventional silicon wafer, or by stacking cells in layers which each absorb different components of the Sun's radiation.
Costs are tackled through investigating cheaper forms of silicon or cheaper ways of processing it; while on the horizon are organic cells, not very efficient, but cheap and easy to make.
"There's a well-demonstrated history of cost reductions in photo-voltaics; every doubling of the amount produced brings the cost down to about 80% of what it was before that doubling," he says, "and that's gone on for about 30 years.
"So if you can maintain that trend, you can work out how many systems you need to install to get them to a price where they'll be competitive with what else is there, and it's perhaps just a hundred times more we need to manufacture than what's been manufactured up to the present."
The German government certainly believes in this theory. It has instituted a whole raft of financial incentives designed to boost solar installation; more than 10% of the nation's electricity now comes from renewable sources, and the government believes that ramping-up production will bring costs down.
Ethanol production from sugar-cane in Brazil
More than 80% of new cars now sold in Brazil are equipped to use ethanol derived from sugar-cane as well as gasoline according to the Brazilian motor manufacturers' association (Anfavea).
Both fuels are available almost everywhere, and since ethanol can cost about a third less than petrol per litre at the moment (though the mileage is not quite as good), the home grown fuel is more popular than the foreign import. More than 70 new sugar-cane/ethanol mills are due to open in Brazil by 2012.
At one such mill, Grupa Carlos Lyra in Sao Miquel dos Campos, 90% of the cane is still refined into sugar, but the sticky syrup leftover is pumped into a distillery.
Yeast is added and a simple process of turning sugar into ethanol, not unlike rum, produces the fuel of the future.
It takes about three days to transform a burnt and bruised sugar-cane into the clear liquid which Brazilians can put in their tanks.
The Brazilian President, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, is delighted with the "energy revolution" that's taken place as Brazil has already been able to cut imports by US$400 billion by reducing its reliance on oil.
The focus now is on boosting exports say the Sao Paulo sugar-cane industry association. Japan is considering a deal to import up to six billion litres of Brazilian ethanol by 2008.
Fueling the Future:
a series of articles on meeting our energy needs
Copyright 2003-2006 Azlan Adnan Legal Notice
Malaysia's murky energy future
One thing is clear: fossil fuels are not renewable and Malaysia does not have a clear plan to meet its future energy needs.
Hydro-electricity has unacceptable long-term environmental impacts. Bakun is not going to solve all our energy problems. Petronas cannot fuel Malaysia forever. However, these are not notions Malaysian politicians like to hear.
A few months ago, at a public forum, I told Datuk Mustapa Mohamed (now Higher Education Minister) that Malaysia should put policies in place to make oil companies like Petronas obsolete.
His dismissed my suggestion as a pipedream. Last week, Mona Sahlin, Sweden's minister of sustainable development said "Our dependency on oil should be broken by 2020," announcing Sweden's hopes to wean itself off fossil fuels completely within 15 years, without building more nuclear plants, by expanding its extensive renewables programme.
In 1980, amid heightened fears over nuclear power, Sweden decided to phase out nuclear power, though its closure programme has been delayed several times. Like Malaysia, a large proportion of Sweden's electricity is generated by hydro-electric power, but Stockholm had decided in the 1960s and 70s to increase nuclear capacity to reduce dependence on oil.
The Scandinavian country, which was hard hit by oil price rises in the 1970s, now gets the majority of its electricity from 10 nuclear reactors and hydro-electric power. In 2003, 26% of all energy consumed came from renewables, compared with an EU average of 6%.
Western Europe has the most developed wind-power sector in the world, with Denmark now getting about 19% of its power demand from the wind and aims to increase this to 25% in 2008.
Malaysia, despite spending billions on projects like Puspati and MINT, still does not generate any electricity fron nuclear energy. Europe's most enthusiastic devotee of nuclear power, France, generates 78% of its electricity needs from 59 working nuclear reactors.
France has been constructing dozens of reactors since the 1970s oil crises spurred on its desire for energy independence. In doing so, it has become the world's biggest net exporter of electricity, and is also a major exporter of nuclear technology.
France began a public debate in 2003 on future energy policy, but the government is committed to nuclear energy. President Jacques Chirac has announced the fourth generation of nuclear reactors, using nuclear waste as a source of energy, while France will be the site for an international experimental nuclear fusion reactor.
Although nuclear power accounts for 78% of electricity generated in France, it does not actually have the biggest nuclear capacity in the world. The USA produces almost 30% of nuclear electricity generated globally, whereas France accounts for just under 17%. Altogether, there are 440 commercial nuclear reactors worldwide.
As the newly-appointed Higher Education Minister, Datuk Mustapa Mohamed can do no worse than to commission Malaysian universities to come up with a viable national renewable energy programme. He can arrange for some nuclear technology transfer from France by getting Malaysian nuclear scientists involved in the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER).
Malaysia should adopt new technologies such as the REVA electric vehicle based on technology developed by Dr Lon Bell and the Honda FCX powered by hydrogen fuel cells.
Fueling the Future:
a series of articles on meeting our energy needs
Copyright 2003-2006 Azlan Adnan Legal Notice
Malaysia supports Surakiart for UN Sec-Gen
The Foreign Ministry said in a statement Friday night that the support was following the endorsement made by Asean at its summits in 2004 (in Laos) and last year (in Malaysia).
"Malaysia, as chairman of the Asean Standing Committee (ASC), would like to reiterate that support," the Wisma Putra statement said.
The term of current UN Secretary General Kofi Annan expires on Dec 31 this year. Kofi Annan, who is from Ghana, has held the post since Jan 1, 1997. He is serving his second term.
South Korea's Foreign Minister Ban Ki Moon and Sri Lankan diplomat Jayantha Dhanapala are among those from the Asian region said to be also eyeing the post.
Candidates from several European countries are also said to be interested in the post which is rotated by region and, by tradition, after Annan's term it is that of a candidate from Asia.
-- BERNAMA
Mystery migrant deaths in Malaysia
By Jonathan Kent
BBC News, Kuala Lumpur
Walk along the streets of Selayang, a suburb of the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur, and the phone shops tell you everything you need to know about the population.
The shops sell discount international phone cards, posting the rates to Bangladesh, Indonesia and Vietnam.
Selayang is an area where the capital's migrant workers live, legally and illegally.
For years Malaysia has been trying to contain a burgeoning number of illegal migrant workers.
In late 2004 it declared an amnesty allowing hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants - mostly from Indonesia and the Philippines - to leave before launching a major operation to deport the rest in March last year.
But illegal immigrants still make up a large population - hundreds of thousands of people, according to estimates - and the economy depends heavily on foreign workers.
And they live largely anonymously, so anonymously that when five bodies were dragged out of a small lake in Selayang this week it did not merit a single mention in the media.
Exactly how the five died is unclear. There are conflicting accounts from migrants living in the area and from the authorities.
But what is known is that in the early hours of last Saturday, 11 February, an immigration raid took place. The officers jumped from their trucks and made for Selayang's large open market, where many of the migrants work. Mohammad Shaiku, a Burmese with a work permit, was working that night.
"I was inside the market," he said. "The police arrived after two that night and rounded up people. And after that some people ran off to the lake and after that I think the police beat them."
I asked him whether it was the regular police, polis biasa, who carried out the raid, or Rela, Malaysia's controversial baton-wielding volunteer reserve, which was mobilised last March to tackle the immigration issue.
"Rela," he said. "Rela, Rela."
The use of Rela has been criticised by Western human rights groups who say its members are not properly trained or supervised.
'Screams'
Hamzan Ali Abdullah was another Burmese Muslim working at the market. I asked him whether he had seen the authorities arrive.
"Yes we did see them and we had to run and hide very, very quickly," he said.
He ran out the back of the market, through a nearby street and across the road to a lake - a flooded open cast mining pit - about five minutes away at a jog. There he says he hid in the undergrowth and the dark. And through the blackness he heard screams.
"We heard they were crying in their own languages, and some in Burmese crying 'help help'."
He could not see the Rela officers in the darkness so I asked whether he had heard them speaking Malay.
"Yes, there were, there were," he said. "The police were shouting: 'Come out come out, if you run away we will kill you'.
"Those caught in their hands were beaten by two or three policemen. They treated them like cattle. Their voices were very haughty and arrogant. Their voices were like soldiers and policemen." The first of the bodies was found later that day.
Malaysia's Interior Ministry has said that police have confirmed the discovery of two bodies.
But according to several local witnesses, five bodies were dragged from the lake over the days that followed.
One was that of 29-year-old Thant Zaw Oo, the uncle of Mohammad Shaiku's wife.
Mr Mohammad said the body showed signs of having been beaten.
"It was half in the water and I saw his teeth, his two front teeth were missing". Black blood [was visible] in his mouth and on wounds on his head and neck, Mr Mohammad said.
Government denial
Other workers at the market also said Rela volunteers appeared angry and had chased migrants towards the lake.
They produced pictures of Zaw Oo's funeral and of another dead man, who they said was a Sikh, being pulled from the water.
Kuala Lumpur Hospital confirmed that four bodies had been taken there from the lake in Selayang. Zaw Oo's body was not taken to hospital, being buried quickly instead.
While they showed no signs of stab or slash wounds, a doctor said the bodies were too badly decomposed to be able to tell whether they had been beaten with batons, such as those carried by Rela volunteers.
Malaysia's Interior Ministry firmly disputes suggestions anybody died during the raid.
It issued a statement rejecting the migrants' account of events.
"At 2am on 11 February Rela carried out an operation to check documents of foreign workers in the open market at Selayang," it said.
"Nothing serious happened and the operation went smoothly. However many illegal immigrants were seen running away."
The ministry statement referred to two bodies on which post mortems had been carried out and which it said exonerated the Rela team.
"Based on the post mortem report made on 13 February 2006 the deaths occurred about three to five days previously, meaning on 10 February at the latest, proving that these deaths have nothing to do with the Rela operation on 11 February," the statement said.
Human rights groups say the controversy about the incident shows that the government should not be using semi-trained Rela volunteers for such tasks.
"Malaysia should withdraw this authorisation and reserve immigration enforcement for trained government authorities," Human Rights Watch said in a statement issued from New York.
Amnesty International (AI) in London wanted to see tighter controls.
"AI continues to have grave concerns about the training, command and control supervision, and accountability of Rela "volunteers" and Immigration Department officers," it said.
Malaysia's civil liberties groups such as Suara Rakyat Malaysia (Suaram) have taken a similar line.
Off the record, government sources said that Selayang was an area notorious for both organised crime and for gang warfare between rival foreign gangs.
The same sources have suggested that the five may have been victims of such clashes - which does not seem to square with the Interior Ministry's statement that post mortem results showed no sign of any violence.
None of which leaves anyone any clearer about why five bodies turned up in a short space of time in a small lake on the fringes of the capital.
Still, Malaysians are certainly worried about crime and blame much of it on foreign workers. The economy may rely on them but there is limited tolerance for immigrants, illegal or even legal.
And five foreigners can turn up dead in one small area and it does not merit a single mention anywhere in the Malaysian press. Nor did reports widely circulated last year that two migrants died after being struck by a Rela truck, also in Selayang.
From time to time there the deaths of migrants workers does make the news, but it is written small, on the inside pages.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/asia-pacific/4720386.stm
Published: 2006/02/16 16:09:07 GMT
BBC MMVI
February 17, 2006 21:53 PM
Azmi refutes BBC Report on Death of Illegals during Raid
KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 17 (Bernama) -- National Resources and Environment Minister Datuk Azmi Khalid has refuted a BBC report last Wednesday on the deaths of five illegal immigrants in an operation involving People's Volunteer Corps (Rela) personnel last Saturday.
Azmi, who was previously Home Affairs Minister, said Rela conducted an operation against foreign workers around the Selayang Baru Wholesale Market at 2 am last Saturday to ensure that they were not illegal immigrants.
"During the operation nothing serious happened that could result in deaths. The operation went on smoothly even though many illegal immigrants were seen running away," he said in a statement Friday.
He also said that at 8.10 pm on Sunday, the Jinjang Police Station received a report about people having been found dead in a mining area near the wholesale market.
On Wednesday, at about 10 am, the Rela headquarters received a telephone call from the BBC asking about the discovery of mutilated bodies of five illegal immigrants in the mining area.
Rela then made enquiries with the Jinjang police and Kuala Lumpur Hospital and came up with the following:
* Only two bodies were found in the area.
* The body parts were grossly intact. There were no obvious injuries seen on external examination. Internal examination did not reveal any obvious skull or skeletal fractures.
* The estimated time of death was three to five days prior to the post-mortem examination. (The date of autopsy was Feb 13.)
Azmi said: "Based on the post-mortem report that said that the death occurred three to five days prior to Feb 13, 2006, the latest date of the deaths was Feb 10.
"So, it is proven that the Rela operation on Feb 11 had nothing to do with the deaths," he said.
-- BERNAMA
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