Antarctica News Blog

African villagers pay high price for our greenhouse gas emissions

Fri, 29 Jun 2007 15:39:02 +0000

BUJUMBURA, Burundi - If we need any more proof that life is unfair, it is that subsistence villagers here in Africa will pay with their lives for our refusal to curb greenhouse gas emissions.

When we think of climate change, we tend to focus on Alaskan villages or New Orleans hurricanes. But the people who will suffer the worst will be those living in countries like this, even though they don't contribute at all to global warming.

My win-a-trip journey with a student and teacher has taken us to Burundi, which the World Bank's latest report shows to be the poorest country in the world. People in Burundi have an annual average income of $100, nearly one child in five dies before the age of 5, and life expectancy is 45.

At the Movies

Fri, 29 Jun 2007 15:39:02 +0000

Based on the novel by Susan Minot and adapted for the screen by Minot with Michael Cunningham, this drama was directed by Lajos Koltar. Two pairs of real-life mothers and daughters - Vanessa Regrave and Natasha Richardsonm and Meryl Streep and Mamie Gummer - portray, respectively, a mother and her daughter and the mother's best friend at different stages in life, Overcome by the power of memory, Ann Lord (Redgrave) reveals a long-held secret to her concerned daughters, Constance (Richardson) and...

Rated PG-13 for thematic elements, a brief accident, sexual material, and language - Movies 16.

Ratatouille (?)

At the theaters 6/29/07

Fri, 29 Jun 2007 15:39:02 +0000

Starring Mandy Moore, John Krasinski and Robin Williams. Ben Murphy and his fiance, Sadie Jones, have always dreamed of getting married in a traditional wedding at the family church. The problem is St. Augustine's only has one wedding slot available in the next two years, and its charismatic pastor, Reverend Frank, won't bless Ben and Sadie's union until they pass his patented, foolproof marriage-prep course. Rated PG-13 for sexual humor and language, running time 100 minutes. Starts Tuesday. (Cape West Cine)

'Ratatouille'

Starring the voices of Patton Oswalt, Lou Romano, Janeane Garofalo, Ian Holm, Peter Sohn, Brian Dennehy, Brad Garrett and Peter O'Toole. Remy is a little rat with big dreams of becoming a world-class chef. So he makes a home under a fancy Parisian restaurant and forms an unlikely bond with a lowly garbage boy, Linguini, that will take them both to new, unimagined culinary heights, if Remy doesn't get caught by the real chefs first. Rated G, running time 110 minutes. (Town Plaza Cinema)

Capsule movie reviews: Live Free or Die HardEl Paso Times StaffArticle Launched: 06/29/2007 12:00:00 AM MDT var requestedWidth = 0;

Fri, 29 Jun 2007 15:39:02 +0000

"Evening" (PG-13) Boasting an ensemble of Hollywood's best actresses, this drama is unabashedly sentimental but still effective. Ann (Vanessa Redgrave) is dying. Her two adult daughters -- reduced from the book's five kids via three marriages, an extra layer of soap operatic entanglement that the filmmakers wisely jettison -- have come home to await the inevitable. As she's waking from a nap, Ann groggily mumbles something about Harris, a name that Constance (Redgrave's real-life daughter Natash...

"Live Free or Die Hard" (PG-13) "Live Free or Die Hard" doesn't strain for novelty, staying comfortably within the plot conventions of the earlier episodes (and of Bruce Willis' recent run-the-gauntlet thriller "16 Blocks"). McClane, who has "borrowed" an unmarked car to visit his resentful daughter at her New Jersey college, is assigned to pick up a nearby free-lance hacker linked to a high-security Advertisementbreach in the nation's cyber-infrastructure. Matt Farrell (Justin Long) is everythi...

"Ratatouille" (G) "Ratatouille" may be the first Pixar movie that is so advanced, so sophisticated, it doesn't feel like it was made for kids. On a fundamental level, sure, children will probably enjoy watching the animated adventures of Remy, a plucky Parisian rat who leaves the colony to pursue his dream of becoming a gourmet chef. But there's nothing silly or childlike about it. If you st

Drifting Iceburgs Can Be Hotspots of Life

Fri, 29 Jun 2007 15:39:02 +0000

Icebergs that break off Antarctica and drift away turn out to be

hotspots of life in the cold southern ocean, researchers

Climate warming has led to an increase in the number of icebergs

John G. Streeter

Fri, 29 Jun 2007 15:39:02 +0000

John G. Streeter died on Tuesday, June 26, 2007, at Akron General Medical Center. John was born in Ellwood City, Pa., the son of John R. and Janet Streeter. He graduated from Ellwood City High School and from Penn State University, receiving a Bachelor of Science Degree in agronomy. John completed his Masters in agronomy at Penn State and received his PhD in botany and plant physiology from Cornell University. He moved to Wooster and began his career in the Agronomy Department at Ohio State University and the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center in 1969.

John served his country in the United States Army and Army Reserves. He was a member of Phi Eta Sigma, Phi Kappa Phi, Gamma Sigma Delta, and Sigma Xi. He was a National Science Foundation Graduate Fellow, a recipient of the American Soybean Association Researchers Recognition Award and a fellow in the American Society of Agronomy and Crop Science Society of America.

He was a member of the First Presbyterian Church, serving on the Board of Deacons for many years. He was a member of the Rotary Club of Wooster and often played the piano for their weekly meetings. John served on numerous boards in various capacities over the years.

Live Earth Concerts to Deliver Climate SOS: Gore

Fri, 29 Jun 2007 15:39:02 +0000

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Former Vice President Al Gore on

Thursday urged people worldwide to pressure their governments

to cut global warming pollution by 90 percent in developed

Ochsenschlager: Ants in your plants? It?s natural in summer

Fri, 29 Jun 2007 15:39:02 +0000

Myrmecochory (mir-mek’-e-cory) is the dispersal and planting of seeds by ants.Myrmecochory has developed independently on all continents except Antarctica. It is a very successful symbiotic relationship where each organism benefits.Myrmecochory is extremely important for many spring wildflowers in this area. Many of these plants are small, low, and some even nod down or are hidden under their own foliage.To solve the problem of being hidden from the usual seed spreaders, some of them have ...

PC Open rides wave of heightened security demand

Fri, 29 Jun 2007 15:39:02 +0000

Growth forces Spokane concern to make third move since 1999

By Emily Brandler

PC Open Inc. CEO Rick Sheppard says the company plans to move soon to a 27,000-square-foot building in Liberty Lake from a leased structure near downtown.

Poorest country pays highest price

Fri, 29 Jun 2007 15:39:02 +0000

BUJUMBURA, Burundi — If we need any more proof that life is unfair, it is that subsistence villagers here in Africa will pay with their lives for our refusal to curb greenhouse gas emissions.

My win-a-trip journey with a student and teacher has taken us to Burundi, which the World Bank’s latest report shows to be the poorest country in the world. People in Burundi have an annual average income of $100, nearly one child in five dies before the age of five, and life expectancy is 45.

Reservist served as chief of interrogations in Iraq

Fri, 29 Jun 2007 15:39:02 +0000

"What are you thinking right now?" Driscoll, a U.S. Navy reserve commander, asked the man through an interpreter.

"I'm wondering how I can get that pen out of your hand and drive it into your eye," the man replied.

As he recalled one of the more chilling interrogations he had supervised in Iraq, Driscoll sat in a quiet law library in Martinez.

Sands: Mockumentary ‘Surf’s Up’

Fri, 29 Jun 2007 15:39:02 +0000

(Editor’s note: “Surf’s Up,” rated PG — parental guidance suggested — for mild language and some rude humor, plays this week at the Sands Theatre in Brush.)

———By CHRISTY LEMIREAP Movie CriticWhat the world needs now is not another penguin movie, it would seem, following the animated “Happy Feet” and the documentary “March of the Penguins,” both Oscar winners, as well as the spoof “Farce of the Penguins” and movies like “Madagascar” in which penguins steal the show.But “Surf’s Up” is so different from its predecessors, and so different from the slew of animated films that have come out in the past couple of years, it’s hard not to be charmed.

Researchers: Antarctica Ice Sheet Stable

Thu, 28 Jun 2007 15:29:50 +0000

An ice sheet in Antarctica that is the world's largest _ with enough water to raise global sea levels by 200 feet _ is relatively stable and poses no immediate threat, according to new research.

While studies of the Greenland and West Antarctic ice sheets show they are both at risk from global warming, the East Antarctic ice sheet will "need quite a bit of warming" to be affected, Andrew Mackintosh, a senior lecturer at Victoria University, said Wednesday.

The air over the East Antarctic ice sheet, an ice mass more than 1,875 miles across and up to 2.5 miles thick centered on the South Pole, will remain cold enough to prevent significant melting in the near future, the New Zealand-led research shows.

U.S. & WORLD

Thu, 28 Jun 2007 15:29:50 +0000

1 The Senate's revived legislation to legalize millions of unlawful immigrants faces another key test after surviving potentially fatal challenges. 4A

2 Breeders are protesting a bill that would require most California dogs and cats to be spayed or neutered. 5A

3 U.S. soldiers patrol on foot in tense Baqouba, Iraq, to avoid setting off large bombs deep underground. 8A

Williams reflects on 41 years in education

Thu, 28 Jun 2007 15:29:50 +0000

However, it's not likely many people know that the departing Rochester school district leader once delivered a baby in the back of an ambulance. Or, that working in Antarctica is one of many possibilities he's identified for life after 41 years in education.

On Friday, Williams will end a career that started out with teaching social studies, included being a middle and high school principal and a human resources director, and ended up with an unexpected opportunity to become a superintendent.

Small town boy

Climber devotes 3rd life to hope

Thu, 28 Jun 2007 15:29:50 +0000

Face burnt by the sun and burnished by the wind and cold, one good lung afflicted with a staccato cough, the Man With Three Lives arrives back in Colorado to a crescendo of anonymity.

Sure, there are three friends there to greet him, to unfurl the congratulatory banner. But in the hollow, 6:41 a.m. stillness of Denver International Airport no one else knows Sean Swarner.

No one knows that he's done something not just unprecedented, but borderline impossible. No one knows he's a guy who, as a teenager, survived assaults from two different forms of cancer so virulent the doctors gave him two weeks to live. No one knows he squirmed free of the cancers' grasp and went on to stand atop the world's highest mountain - and then went on to summit the highest peak on each remaining continent.

Forever Eames

Thu, 28 Jun 2007 15:29:50 +0000

HEAR the name "Eames," and you probably picture bent plywood "potato chip" chairs, or midcentury tables resting on "paper clip" legs — iconic home furnishings that shaped the legacy of their designers. Less celebrated is Charles and Ray Eames' 1949 Pacific Palisades home, though it has profoundly influenced how Southern Californians nest, even to this day.

Their glass-and-steel house and studio — like monolithic Mondrian canvases springing from the ground — were not merely a residence and work space. They were incubators for a new way of living. Today, upon the centennial of Charles' birth and a yearlong schedule of events honoring the Eameses' oeuvre, the Palisades house remains an enduring symbol of post-World War II design and L.A.'s indoor-outdoor lifestyle.

About 200 Eames devotees gathered at the house recently for brunch, cookies and cocktails, and a game of musical chairs ensued, with grown-ups scampering around like children. Hosted by three generations of Eames descendants, the June 17 picnic celebrated what would have been Charles' 100th birthday and marked the formal dedication of the Eames House as a national historic landmark.

On Film for June 8, 2007

Thu, 28 Jun 2007 15:29:50 +0000

Danny Ocean and his band of merry thieves are back in Las Vegas. They team up again after a casino owner, played by Al Pacino, double crosses Reuben, one of the original eleven and played by Elliott Gould.

This time around, Andy Garcia's character, Terry Benedict, their original target, is in on the action.

While the boys are all back, the girls are not. Julia Roberts and Catherine Zeta-Jones are out and Ellen Barkin is in.

Pannar paves the way for research

Thu, 28 Jun 2007 15:29:50 +0000

BROOKSTON - A major player in the worldwide seed business officially opened the doors on its not so little house on the prairie Tuesday, with plans to grow from there.

Pannar Seed Inc. performs genetic research and develops new corn inbreds and hybrids for the U.S. hybrid corn market, and chose Brookston as its first research station east of the Mississippi River.

"White County has a long and rich agricultural heritage, and as such, I think many of us here maybe have a better appreciation for the change that's taking place right now in agriculture," said county commissioner John Heimlich to a crowd of producers and others involved in agribusiness gathered for the research station's grand opening on Tuesday. "It's a change that's coming at a pace that I think is unprecedented. White County wants to be in a position to benefit during that period of revolutionary change. And I think this opening today certainly represents a step in that direction for us."

Researchers: Biggest ice sheet is stable

Wed, 27 Jun 2007 06:59:31 +0000

WELLINGTON, New Zealand - An ice sheet in Antarctica that is the world's largest - with enough water to raise global sea levels by 200 feet - is relatively stable and poses no immediate threat, according to new research.

Dust in West speeding up snow melting

Wed, 27 Jun 2007 06:59:31 +0000

DENVER—Ranching, mining, energy exploration and other activities that raise dust in the West are helping diminish the snowpack that supplies much of the region's water, a new study says.

Colorado scientists reported Tuesday that dust is blowing from the deserts onto the state's snowcapped mountains, absorbing more of the sun's warmth because of its darker color and melting the snow earlier and more quickly than in the past. That results in less water late in the summer for farmers relying on stream flows and for cities and towns.

"The snowpack 150 years ago was probably much cleaner, and by being cleaner, it lasted longer, potentially weeks longer," said Tom Painter, a researcher with the National Snow and Ice Data Center at the University of Colorado in Boulder.

Discovery of 5-foot penguin fossil alters scientific views

Tue, 26 Jun 2007 06:43:24 +0000

Researchers reported Monday that they have unearthed two fossil penguins, one of which stood 5 feet tall, that lived in the warm climate of prehistoric Peru a discovery that promises to change the way scientists think about penguins and cold weather.

Until now, scientists were comfortable with the notion that ancient penguins first appeared more than 60 million years ago in cold habitats and did not move close to the equator until 8 million years ago. Large penguins, in particular, were thought to live only in colder climes.

The fossils, described online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, disproved these theories.

Dusty snow blamed for faster melting

Tue, 26 Jun 2007 06:43:24 +0000

Desert dust loosened by cattle's hooves and miners' machinery is blowing onto Colorado's snowcapped mountains, catching the sun and making snow melt faster, according to a new report.

More than a month faster.

Fossils point to penguin life in warm climate

Tue, 26 Jun 2007 06:43:24 +0000

Researchers reported Monday that they have unearthed two fossil penguins, one of which stood 5 feet tall, that lived in the warm climate of prehistoric Peru — a discovery that promises to change the way scientists think about penguins and cold weather.

Until now, most scientists thought ancient penguins first appeared more than 60 million years ago in cold habitats and did not move close to the equator until 8 million years ago. Large penguins, in particular, were thought to live only in colder climes.

The fossils, described online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, disproved these theories.

Jumbo penguins are not a tall tale

Tue, 26 Jun 2007 06:43:24 +0000

WASHINGTON - Giant penguins as tall as 5 feet roamed what is now Peru more than 40 million years ago, scientists reported yesterday.

Known mostly for their presence in Antarctica, penguins today live in many islands in the Southern Hemisphere, some even near the equator.

But scientists thought the flightless birds hadn't reached warm areas until about 10 million years ago.