ldquo;In the 1920s O G S Crawford invented aerial archaeology, one of many services this eccentric Marxist misanthrope performed for the study of antiquity.rdquo;

- Jonathan Meades: Link

Bloody Old Britain: O G S Crawford and the Archaeology of Modern Life

By Kitty Hauser

Granta Books, 286pp

Amazon: Link

ldquo;Future archaeologists will perhaps excavate the ruined factories of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries when the radiation effects of Atom bombs have died away.rdquo;

- O. G. S. Crawford, from Archaeology in the Field (1953)

O. G. S. Crawford @ Wikipedia: Link.

~ Karl Jones

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ldquo;In the 1920s O G S Crawford invented aerial archaeology, one of many services this eccentric Marxist misanthrope performed for the study of antiquity.rdquo;


- Jonathan Meades: Link

Bloody Old Britain: O G S Crawford and the Archaeology of Modern Life

By Kitty Hauser

Granta Books, 286pp

Amazon: Link

ldquo;Future archaeologists will perhaps excavate the ruined factories of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries when the radiation effects of Atom bombs have died away.rdquo;


- O. G. S. Crawford, from Archaeology in the Field (1953)

O. G. S. Crawford @ Wikipedia: Link.

~ Karl Jones

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ldquo;In the 1920s O G S Crawford invented aerial archaeology, one of many services this eccentric Marxist misanthrope performed for the study of antiquity.rdquo;

- Jonathan Meades: Link

Bloody Old Britain: O G S Crawford and the Archaeology of Modern Life

By Kitty Hauser

Granta Books, 286pp

Amazon: Link

ldquo;Future archaeologists will perhaps excavate the ruined factories of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries when the radiation effects of Atom bombs have died away.rdquo;

- O. G. S. Crawford, from Archaeology in the Field (1953)

O. G. S. Crawford @ Wikipedia: Link.

~ Karl Jones

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AMSTERDAM - Chronic hunger may be "the defining human tragedy of this century," as climate change causes growing seasons to shift, crops to fail, and storms and droughts to ravage fields, an advocacy group said.

Oxfam International released a report Monday as leaders of the Group of Eight wealthiest nations prepare to meet in Italy this week, with an agenda to include both food security and climate change.

It says that as the weather changes, millions of people in areas suffering food scarcity will have to give up traditional crops, possibly leading to social upheavals such as mass migrations and possible conflict over water resources.

Rich countries in temperate climate zones, such as northern Europe and parts of the United States, will benefit from warmer weather and more rainfall, but far more people in hotter, poorer countries will face more erratic and expensive food supplies, said the British-based nonprofit group.

The report, "What Happened to the Seasons?" was meant to add urgency to the G-8 meeting and to a broader group of 17 countries, the Major Economies Forum, which convenes later in the week to try to unblock negotiations on a new climate change agreement due to be completed in December.

Oxfam said it prepared a study for the Institute of Development Studies by surveying farmers around the world, who report that changing seasonal patterns were already affecting their ability to plan the sowing and harvesting of crops. The results, it said, were "strikingly consistent across entire geographies. "

Rice farmers hit hardest
Farmers have begun changing their crops in the tropics, where a 1 degree Celsius (1.8 Fahrenheit) temperature shift can make traditional crops unsustainable. Unpredictable rainfall makes their choices of new crops a gamble, the report said.

Among the worst hit are nations that grow rice, the world's most common food. Yields are predicted to drop an average 10 percent for every 1 degree C rise in temperature in countries like the Philippines, where production could fall 50-70 percent as early as 2020. At the same time, China will grow more rice as the area of warm temperatures spreads, it said.

Corn is another staple that will be widely affected by climate change since it is particularly vulnerable to water stress, it said. Corn is the main source of food for 250 million people in east Africa and is used as animal feed around the world.

Negotiators at U.N. climate talks have been tasked with setting up an adaptation fund to help poor countries deal with the affects of climate change. U.N. estimates suggest as much as $200 billion a year may be needed by 2030 for developing water resources in increasingly arid regions, shifting agriculture to more suitable crops, building sea walls to protect coastal cities from rising sea levels and helping fishermen whose stocks would be affected by acidification of the ocean.

'Still enough land to feed everyone'
The Oxfam report said steps can be taken to bolster the world's food supply.

"The world's agricultural potential is less than 60 percent exploited: there is still enough land to feed everyone, even with population levels at the 9.2 billion currently predicted by the United Nations for 2050," it said. Modern agricultural methods, irrigation and fertilizers could dramatically lift yields.

More on: G-8 summit | Climate change

L’exemple de la ville de Mbouda, dans l’ouest du Cameroun

L’accès à l’eau sera de plus en plus difficile en Afrique dans les prochaines décennies. 75 à 250 millions de personnes auront du mal à satisfaire leur besoin d’ici 2020, selon les dernières prévisions. Principale raison : la forte croissance démographique du continent. Dans l’ouest du Cameroun, le cas de la petite ville de Mbouda dont les autorités ont récemment tiré la sonnette d’alarme, illustre bien le problème. Afrik.com a interrogé Elvis Tangwa Sa’a, le responsable de l’ONG Knowledge for All (KFA) qui opère sur le terrain.

ans la petite ville de Mbouda, dans l’ouest du Cameroun, se procurer de l’eau pour ses besoins quotidiens relève du parcours du combattant. Les autorités de cette localité, frappée par une grave pénurie d’eau, ont récemment lancé un appel aux dirigeants du pays. Le système d’alimentation de Mbouda a été conçu pour répondre aux besoins de 50 000 habitants. La ville compte aujourd’hui près du double. A cela s’ajoute le gaspillage des ressources en eau de cette petite ville. L’exemple de Mbouda confirme les problèmes d’approvisionnement en eau, dans le monde notamment dans les pays pauvres, que prédisent les experts pour les prochaines décennies. Les principales raisons avancées sont : la mauvaise gestion des ressources naturelles en eau, le changement climatique, mais surtout la démographie galopante. Selon un rapport des Nations unies publié lundi, à l’ouverture du 5e Forum mondial de l’eau à Istanbul, en Turquie, la population mondiale, qui se chiffre à 6,6 milliards aujourd’hui, croît de près de 80 millions par an. Conséquence : les besoins en eau dans le monde augmente de 64 milliards de mètres cube d’eau portable par an et ils sont plus criants dans les pays africains.

Afrik.com : Comment se traduit concrètement la pénurie de l’eau dans la ville de Mbouda ?
Elvis Tangwa Sa’a : Mbouda est une ville de près de 100 000 habitants. Concrètement, il n’y a plus d’eau dans les robinets tout comme dans les réservoirs de la société nationale des eaux, la Camerounaise des eaux. A la station de captage de Balatchi située à une dizaine de kilomètres au sud de la ville de Mbouda, le lit de la rivière est sec. Les populations s’approvisionnent dans les sources d’eau naturelle de la ville, dont la plupart ne sont pas aménagées. Les gens se lèvent dès 4h du matin pour aller faire la queue dans les points d’eau où on voit encore des queues vers 22 heures dans la nuit. Certains points d’eau comme la source dite "Des 24 escaliers" sur la route de Bamesso sont monopolisés par des gros bras qui sont les seuls à puiser. Il faut leur donner 400 F CFA (environ 60 centimes d’euros) pour qu’ils vous puisent un bidon de 20 litres. Les plus nantis prennent leur voiture pour aller puiser l’eau dans les fûts à Bafoussam. Le médecin chef du service de santé de district de Mbouda a déclaré, samedi 14 mars, que des cas de diarrhée avaient déjà été enregistrés dans les formations sanitaires de la ville. Le maire de Mbouda a loué un camion citerne avec lequel il va puiser l’eau à Bafoussam, pour ensuite la distribuer aux populations. La distribution se fait dans une bousculade incroyable.
Afrik.com : Qu’est ce qui explique cette pénurie d’eau ?
Elvis Tangwa Sa’a : La pénurie est le résultat d’une absence d’anticipation de la part des autorités. Par exemple, notre association, Knowledge For All, a lancé une alerte en février 2003. Mais personne n’a réagi. Les 222 hectares de réserve forestière des monts Bamboutos ont été presque entièrement accaparés par des individus pour des activités agricoles et pastorales. Bien que les monts Bamboutos [situés près de la ville de Mbouda, Ndlr] soient un château d’eau, il n’y existe pas de projet gouvernemental de gestion durable des ressources naturelles, comme c’est le cas avec le mont Cameroun, le mont Oku, le mont Manengoumba, le mont Mbappit et bien d’autres.

Afrik.com : Que font les autorités pour résoudre ce problème ?
Elvis Tangwa Sa’a : Le ministre en charge de l’eau était à Mbouda le 14 mars dernier. Une panoplie de mesures sont envisagées. Prospections géophysiques aux environs immédiats des réservoirs pour réaliser des forages destinés à stocker l’eau et la mettre dans les bacs de traitement, construction en amont du site de captage de Balatchi d’un barrage de retenu d’eau pour augmenter la capacité de stockage de ce bassin, la construction sur la branche de la Mifi (un fleuve, ndlr), de Bamesso d’une station de pompage pour amener l’eau à Mbouda... Mais encore une fois, la pénurie résulte d’une absence d’anticipation de la part des autorités compétentes.

http://www.afrik.com

The body of Muslim woman, killed in a German courtroom by a man convicted of insulting her religion, has been taken back to her native Egypt for burial.

Read more here:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8136500.stm

Appearing on CNN's Reliable Sources, CNN anchor Don Lemon emphatically defended the media's extensive coverage of Michael Jackson's death over the last two weeks. He argued that Jackson was an "accidental civil rights leader" and that critics of the coverage were "elitist."

Here's a bit of the transcript:

HOWARD KURTZ: Don't you feel deep down that this is overdoing it?

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: No, I don't feel it's overdoing it. And I don't -- and when I hear people say that, I have to be very honest with you, Howie, I think it's elitist. I don't remember -- I'm sure there was some criticism when there was the coverage of Princess Diana's death, but I don't think that there was this sort of criticism that we're having with Michael Jackson.

Michael Jackson is an accidental civil rights leader, an accidental pioneer. He broke ground and barriers in so many different realms in artistry, in pictures, in movies, in music, you name it. So, no, I don't think it's overkill.

KURTZ: Okay. He did all of those things. He also was accused of child molestation, and was a seriously weird person. But he has been dead for more than a week and we are still going almost wall-to-wall.

LEMON: Well, he has been dead for more than a week, yes, but Michael Jackson twice -- well, once, I should say, he was acquitted of child molestation. The other time it was settled out of court.

KURTZ: Right.

LEMON: And if you talk to people who were involved in those cases, they don't believe that he did it. So let's put that aside.

The Pew Research Center released findings last week indicating that "nearly two-in-three Americans say news organizations gave too much coverage to the story. At the same time, half say the media struck the right balance between reporting on Jackson's musical legacy and the problems in his personal life."

Blacks followed the death of the African American singer - who had been on the national stage for four decades - more closely than the population as a whole. Eight-in-ten African Americans say they followed news about Jackson's death very closely, compared with 22% of whites. Women followed the story more closely than men (35% very closely compared with 26%). Close to four-in-ten (38%) of those under 40 say they followed the music icon's death very closely, compared with 27% of those between 40 and 64 and 20% of those 65 and older. [...]

About two-thirds of the public (64%) say news organizations gave too much attention to the death of the 50-year-old performer, who had been rehearsing for a major comeback tour. About three-in-ten (29%) say the coverage was the right amount. Only 3% say there had been too little coverage.

More on Michael Jackson

This is a photo of one of the formations in Red Rock Canyon on the west side of Las Vegas in the northwestern Mojave Desert. I live a couple of miles from the Canyon and often go there to enjoy the scenery and to cool off -- it is about 10º cooler there than in the less elevated parts of the Las Vegas Valley and, as it lacks the heat-holding concrete and human-made structures, those 10º are really noticeable.

The fact that Las Vegas has desert climate was certainly no surprise to me. I mean, it wasn't like I'd never been here before or that I was unaware that the desert is dry, hot, inhospitable to such flora as lilacs and hospitable to fauna that includes a variety of snakes and deadly insects. Of course I was aware of all that. And I was also aware -- and am constantly reminded -- of how beautiful the desert landscape is. The sky is that amazing blue that you see in movies. The colors are breathtaking. In fact, if you think Red Rock Canyon is spectacular, just take a ride to the northeast of Las Vegas and spend some time in the most aptly named Valley of Fire.

(And if you want to learn all about the local flora and fauna, be sure to visit the wonderful Springs Preserve where they have all sorts of exhibits and cultural events and -- because this is Las Vegas, after all, they also have a very nice, very moderately priced "cafeteria." That word is in quotes because it is a Wolfgang Puck-owned cafeteria so it features extraordinarily good food for a public institution.)

I arrived here at the tail end of winter and while was a much milder winter than I knew from the northeast, it did feature one element that came as a surprise. The wind. The first month I lived here the wind would awaken me at night, howling and roaring like I'd never heard. You can walk outside after a windy night and find your car covered with detritus from the trees. It was a new phenomenon, but one I easily got used to.

But the heat? Yeah, I'd heard stories. I'd also been one of those people who'd say to friends in Las Vegas, "You have heat, but you don't have humidity. We have humidity in the east."

Well, please, if you and I are discussing the heat in Las Vegas, don't say that. One moves to Las Vegas and, almost instantly, the skin gets dry, soaking up moisturizer like.....like....it's trying to survive in a desert. (Duh.)

(It's important to note the very serious fact that in Las Vegas, in the summer, many, many elderly people die from dehydration. I spoke to a dietitian once who said, "In this climate, never ask the elderly friend or relative you're visiting, 'Would you like a glass of water?' They don't want to be a bother, so they'll say no. "Always get the water and give it to them. Don't ask.")

Anyway, this year Las Vegas had one of its coolest Junes on record. It seems to be making up for it in July. Today the nearby thermostat read 105º even before the hottest part of the day -- late afternoon -- arrived.

What does it feel like? Some people say it's like being what they'd imagine being inside an oven would be like. At night, when the warm wind is blowing, I imagine it's like being inside a clothes dryer just when it's winding down and the clothes have dried. Not a drop of dampness, just the driest heat imaginable.

A true Las Vegan does not complain about the heat. A true Las Vegan goes swimming, plays golf, grills dinner and generally goes about his or her business as if it were only a temperate 95º outside.

I, however, as much as I love the scenery and as much as I enjoy being a resident here, am apparently not a "true" Las Vegan. I know this because when I said to a friend who's lived here five times longer than I have, "It was sooooo hot out today," she said, "Hot? This isn't hot. 'Hot' is at least 110º."

Oh.

The nation's largest insurers, hospitals and medical groups have hired more than 350 former government staff members and retired members of Congress in hopes of influencing their old bosses and colleagues, according to an analysis of lobbying disclosures and other records.

Sarah Palin, who's only served as Alaska's governor since 2006, resigned today, effective in a couple of weeks. She made the stunning announcement in a press conference where she sounded like cross between a high school basketball coach giving the team a half-time pep talk and Cheech & Chong after a particularly wop-wop-whizzly-do episode with some fine Colombian, north slope weed.

She was so unclear and evasive about the reasons for her resignation that I kept banging my car's dashboard thinking my radio was just giving off a lot of static. It didn't work. No matter how much I pounded on her, I couldn't get a straight answer. See if you can figure it out in this AP post.

Sarah Palin The Quitter. I think she said she quit because the media was too negative and she didn't want to waste millions of tax dollars to fight ethics investigations. But really, it doesn't matter. She quit. She gave up. She betrayed everybody who gave money, made phone calls, and invested all their energies into electing her. This is the legacy that Sarah Palin leaves behind:

Thanks, Sarah Palin for being a role model our daughters can look up to. Thanks for living up to the stereotype that women aren't tough enough to stick it out. Thanks for showing everybody that the best way to shoulder responsibility is to wiggle out of it. That when things aren't to your liking the best thing to do is run. And thank you especially for the reminder that quitting is a gift for the people you quit on.

Sarah Palin, Meet Hillary Clinton. She has a thing or two to teach you. Against all odds, Hillary never quit the presidential race until every note of the swan song played out. Weren't you listening when she said that she got up for every American that got hit and went down? Didn't you see her when she refused to wave the white flag you so furiously wave now? Has she taught you nothing? Let me repeat her mantra to you: Never give in; never give up.

Sarah, you're a sissy.

Why men relate to Governor Sanford More on Hillary Clinton