From The Edge Daily, earlier this month, concerning cost and benefit of incineration vis-a-vis two other disposal methods (tag):
I apologize for the quality of the document. I scanned the table from the dead tree edition of The Edge
Category: Environment
Categories
[828] Of cat, dog and god
A joke told by one of my friends on one peaceful Friday afternoon, not verbatim:
A dog has a human being to feed it, bathe it, pat it and give it everything. So, the dog thinks, “Hey, my master must be a god!”
A cat has a human to feed it, bathe it, pat it and give it everything. So, the cat thinks, “Hey, I must be a god!”
Joke asides, are you a dog or a cat?
Anyway, I’ll be leaving for Singapore soon. A day after I’m done with that tiny island, I’ll be leaving for Bangkok. Suffice to say, for the rest of the week, I won’t be in Malaysia. So, unless I’m able to connect to the internet, my blog would be sparsely updated.
During the duration of the World Cup, my blog get little visitors. And now, I’m leaving my blog behind. I hate that. I want all my visitors back. You stole my visitors World Cup! Damn you! And Italy too!
By the way, nicely done Zidane! You’re my hero!
p/s – the 11th anniversary of the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior.
The Bangkok Post reported yesterday that southern Thai states of Satun and Pattani were covered with haze. From the sound of it, the haze is still there (tag):
Smog from forest fires in Indonesia has moved across the south now including Pattani on the Gulf of Thailand, Faisol Kasetkala, head of the provincial disaster prevention and mitigation office said Tuesday.
In another report by Bangkok Post suggests that the states have already been experiencing haze since July 2 or earlier:
Satun – Thailand’s southern Andaman Sea coastal province of Satun on Sunday remained covered by a blanket of smog, believed to be caused by forest fires in nearby Indonesia.
The provincial public health authorities warned the public to suspend regular outdoor exercise to avoid excessive breathing of the toxins in the atmosphere.
Another report dated July 2 by Bangkok Post states that northern Malaysian states of Kedah and Perlis are suffering minor bout of haze too. And as you can see, Indonesia is the alleged culprit yet again.
As for Kuala Lumpur around 9:15 AM today, from the 35th floor of the Petronas Twin Towers, Tower 2:
I can’t really say for certain if that is really haze since approximately two weeks ago, it was like this:
On a fairly good day, it should be something like this:
Most probably, in the first photo, that is just local smog. I don’t want to see anything worse and I definitely hope that that is not a mere wishful thinking. Despite that, in 2005, I’ve said the haze will return. I had no reason to believe the governments of ASEAN were willing to do anything effective, especially when Indonesian government had proved to be very non-committal to the Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution of ASEAN. And so, here we are – possibly – again.
I hope, by the time haze hit Kuala Lumpur, I’d already be in Bangkok, Thailand.
Whatever it is, brace yourself!
p/s – a bad way to start the day. Italy defeated Germany to progress to the final match of the FIFA World Cup. Well, it’s going to be a boring game, that’s for sure.
pp/s – a victory for science:
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – NASA gave the shuttle Discovery a majestic Fourth of July send-off and said early signs showed the spacecraft was in good shape, despite once again being struck by the flying foam that has plagued the program.
The first-ever Independence Day manned launch came after two weather delays and over objections from those within NASA who argued for more fuel-tank repairs.
This is the first launch since the Columbia tragedy in 2003.
The group stage is coming to an end and I’m preparing to switch my attention from the group stage to the second round (tag). Before I leave the group stage behind, I’d like to visit some of the teams that I feel should have gone through to the second.
To start off my list is Ivory Coast. The African nation, along with the Netherlands, Argentina and Serbia and Montenegro, is in Group C. Ivory Coast played strongly and they did give the Oranje a hard time. In fact, they gave everybody a hard time. Though I’m glad that the Dutch managed a 2-1 victory over Ivory Coast, Ivory Coast deserves praises for the way they played and fought. Alas, there are only two slots and there are three strong teams within the group. Something has to give and with regrets, Ivory Coast has to go.
Second is the Czech Republic. As I’ve blogged earlier, I look highly upon the Czech. To see them packing for home so early in the tournament is saddening. Ghana was a wild card and I was certainly caught off-guard by the way Ghana performed. Within Group E, I’d have preferred to see the Czech Republic and Ghana winning the two top spots. The Czech had so much to offer but Italy beat them to it. How unfortunate.
From Group F, it’s Japan. I had expected Japan to tag along with Brazil into the second round. Never had I expected Australia to withstand the Japanese. So, I made the mistake of overestimating the Japanese strength.
Finally, in Group G, there is a possibility of France or South Korea being stuck in the first round. If either one failed, then the one that failed will join my list of “teams that I feel should have gone through to the second”. But from the way Team France is playing and with Zidane on suspension, the two teams that I’d bet on to get to the next round is Switzerland and South Korea. Teams of Group G are playing tonight. So, the question of who gets into my list will be answered soon enough.
p/s – by the National Academy of Sciences:
WASHINGTON – The Earth is running a slight fever from greenhouse gases, after enjoying relatively stable temperatures for 2,000 years. The
National Academy of Sciences, after reconstructing global average surface temperatures for the past two millennia, said Thursday the data are “additional supporting evidence … that human activities are responsible for much of the recent warming.”Other new research showed that global warming produced about half of the extra hurricane-fueled warmth in the North Atlantic in 2005, and natural cycles were a minor factor, according to Kevin Trenberth and Dennis Shea of the National Center for Atmospheric Research, a research lab sponsored by the
National Science Foundation and universities.
Something that we already knew?
While at Kuala Kangsar (tag), I and a few friends spent two nights at a resthouse by the Perak River. Roughly 200 meters away from our balcony was Sultan Abdul Jalil Bridge.
The concrete bridge is different from those modern bridges of stainless steels and wires that are so prevalent nowadays. It’s a breath of fresh air.Kuala Kangsar has another bridge farther upstream. The name is Sultan Iskandar Bridge and it’s made out of steel. If I got my fact right, the concrete bridge was built because the locals complained that the steel bridge was too far away from the town.
Across the river is a village called Sayong. Before the newer bridge was constructed, those that planned to travel by land from Kuala Kangsar to Sayong, or Sayong to the town or to and fro had to suffer one huge U-turn with kilometer as the proper unit of measurement. Walking was simply not a good idea. Therefore as late as year 2000, boats still played an important mean of transportation between Kuala Kangsar and Sayong.
With the concrete bridge, I observed that the river’s role as a mean of transportation has diminished. Not completely though.
p/s – last year, I said I expect Malaysia to see another bout of haze in 2006. Well, Indonesia promises that we won’t:
Indonesia promises this year will be less hazy
Sat May 27, 11:36 PM ET
KUALA LUMPUR (AFP) – Indonesia has said the choking haze that annually blankets parts of Southeast Asia will be reduced this year as it cracks down on oil palm plantations that clear land by burning.
Indonesia’s Agriculture Minister Anton Apriyantono said authorities would enforce a 2004 law that imposes stiff penalties on plantations that burn land, a practice largely blamed for contributing to the haze.
I’m skeptical. Especially that enforcement part. But if Indonesia needs Malaysia’s help, by all means, please ask. I don’t want another “no thank you but we can handle this by ourselves” again.