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Yes, school buses work rather better when they leave town early and often taking the poor out of harms way. New Orleans taught some lessons but I suspect the biggest lesson was to follow the plan.
Written by jay on September 22nd, 2005 with no comments.
Read more articles on Katrina and Rita.
At the center of a hurricane is the eye. That dot in the middle of the cloud. In that eye the air pressure drops. A lot. In huricanne Rita’s case, a whole lot.
Hurricane Gilbert (888 mb, 1988)
The Great Labor Day Hurricane (892 mb, 1935)
Hurricane Rita (897 mb, 2005)
Hurricane Allen (899 mb, 1980)
Hurricane Katrina (902 mb, 2005)
Hurricane Camille (905 mb, 1969)
Those numbers are from Jeff Masters at Weather Underground who is worth reading for the science and the weather in the Gulf
Written by jay on September 22nd, 2005 with no comments.
Read more articles on Rita and Uncategorized.
The study warned that if the British aviation industry continues to expand at two thirds of its current 8 per cent growth rate then the Government’s entire emissions policy will be rendered moot because pollution from aircraft alone will exceed the national target.The study warned that the aviation industry is a particularly damaging source of pollution because aircraft release significant quantities of greenhouse gases high in the Earth’s atmosphere. Aviation technology also changes slowly, with aircraft frequently flying for 30 years or more.
times of london
Apparently the British government in crafting its emissions strategy “forgot” to include the aviation sector. Little wonder Blair is backing away from his Kyoto advocacy.
Written by jay on September 22nd, 2005 with no comments.
Read more articles on International and tech.
As the death toll from Hurricane Katrina passed 1,000, oil prices hit $68 a barrel and Rita, potentially more powerful, bore down on the Texas coast. It is expected to hit land on Saturday. Officials in New Orleans issued a warning that even 3in of rain could overwhelm the damaged protective levees. Army engineers worked round the clock to make repairs.Rita, with wind speeds of 165mph, is expected to make landfall southeast of Houston, near the coastal city of Galveston, the scene of a hurricane that killed up to 12,000 people in 1900. Standing in its presumed path are three of the country’s five largest refineries.
times of londonLooks as if the folks in Texas have learned the lessons Katrina taught. They are in full evacuation and they are making sure the sick, the old and the poor are at the front of the line.But you can’t evacuate oil refineries.
Update 21/12/05: “While looking for something else, I discovered your web site “Archive for the ‘Rita’ Category” (URL = http://jaycurrie.info-syn.com/?cat=20). In it you list the number dead from Galveston, Texas’ 1900 storm at 12,000. Please correct that to 6-8 thousand.
Sign me a Galvestonian with great-grandparents who remember that storm.
Written by jay on September 22nd, 2005 with no comments.
Read more articles on Katrina and Rita.
With Dithers getting ready to turn federally funded day care into a little creche for future workers so that we can make our kids, er, Chinese, its nice to see that there may be one or two opportunities left for those poor tykes whose parents selfishly keep them at home.
To see just how far things have come—and how far they have yet to go—I visited Hall 16. The massive space was entirely filled with row upon row of booths manned by Chinese sales reps. They were hawking Chinese-made vacuum cleaners and power tools, fans and air conditioners, masking tape and panini presses, drill bits and tape measures, shovels and irons, clocks and coffee makers, juicers, and blow-dryers.
What was just as remarkable as the goods on display was the incompetent salesmanship that accompanied them. Here is a piece of good news for America: The Chinese can make anything, but they still need us to teach them how to sell it.
slate
It’s not much to offer my deprived children, but it’s something.
Written by jay on September 22nd, 2005 with 1 comment.
Read more articles on Canadian Politics and Homeschooling and Liberals.
It is possible that hurricane Rita will have an even greater economic impact than Katrina. A good deal of the American oil and gas industry’s refining capacity is on the Gulf coast of Texas. Which is, on the projections, where Rita, as she goes to Cat 4, is expected to make landfall. Galveston and Houston are potentially at risk.
“The Houston area is ground zero of the refining industry,” said Rick Mueller, an analyst with Energy Security Analysis Inc. in Tilburg, the Netherlands. “If it suffers the scope of damage caused to refineries in Louisiana by Katrina, we could see rationing and queues at the gas pump. This is something OPEC can’t do anything to remedy.”
bloomberg
There is already speculation about $5.00 a gallon gas. Evacuation will be better than it was for Katrina. There is a good chance fewer lives will be lost. But the potential to cripple the US economy is much greater than Katrina’s.
“Between 15 and 20 percent of the nation’s refining capacity is at risk from this hurricane,” said Bill O’Grady, assistant director of market analysis at A.G. Edwards & Sons in St. Louis. “A Category 3 or above storm is going to down power lines and refiners will lose power. It will take at least 1 1/2 to 2 weeks before they come back.”
If there is flooding the situation would be much worse, O’Grady said.
bloomberg
With luck Rita may stall, or blow out, or hit where there are very few people and refining capacity. But that’s luck and there is no predicting it.
Written by jay on September 22nd, 2005 with 1 comment.
Read more articles on Rita and Uncategorized.
“While Iran is co-operating with the IAEA, while it is not enriching uranium and observing a moratorium, while IAEA inspectors are working in the country, it would be counterproductive to report this question to the UN Security Council,” Mr Lavrov said in a speech in San Francisco. Russia, together with China, which also opposes taking the issue to New York, has a Security Council veto.
financial times
OK, I’m stumped. Why would Russia oppose the UN taking Iran’s nuclear program seriously? Where’s the benefit? A nuclear Iran is as much, if not more, of a threat to Russia than it is to, say England.
So is this just Russia trying to box above its weight by using the threat of its vestigial security Council veto?
Written by jay on September 22nd, 2005 with no comments.
Read more articles on Uncategorized.
So Finance Minister Ralph Goodale projects a surplus of around 1.5 to 3.0 billion. But, oops, it was coming in at around 5-7. What to do??
A flurry of spending during the spring helped drive down the federal budget surplus to just $1.6 billion.
That is roughly what Finance Minister Ralph Goodale had predicted for fiscal 2004-2005, which ended March 31….
And federal Finance Department officials acknowledge the fact a flurry of spending in the spring helped soak up much of the surplus, to lower the final results to less than $3-billion.
globe and mail
So rather than have, say, 5 billion to pay down the deficit and think about cutting taxes with, Ralph just turn on the spending tap and had a little binge.
I note that this was for a year end of March 31 so the bribes during the contitutional crisis and Katrina relief are not included.
Reducing the size of the surplus by blowing money out the federal government’s door is simply fraudulent. Which Dithers and Goodale know. Their surplus is not play money; it is money which is taken from Canadian taxpayers. If there is a surplus it should be used to pay down the debt and cut tax rates, not fund some loony federal iniative or another.
Written by jay on September 22nd, 2005 with 4 comments.
Read more articles on Canadian Politics and Liberals.
Canada’s marginal effective tax on business capital — combining such things as depreciation deductions together with capital and corporate tax rates — averaged 39% in 2005, the second-highest among 36 industrial and leading developing countries.
national post
But I’m not worried because Paul Martin going to unleash the power of state run daycare centers to turn our four year olds into tiny engines of production. That, no doubt, has the Indians shaking in their boots.
Written by jay on September 22nd, 2005 with no comments.
Read more articles on Canadian Politics and Education and Homeschooling.
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