Archive - Oct 2017

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Panda couple Tuan Tuan and Yuan Yuan get ELECTRIC SHOCK after zoo in Taiwan put up a wire fence inside their enclosure
Two giant pandas, Tuan Tuan and Yuan Yuan, received electric shock from a wire fence in their enclosure in Taiwan earlier this week.

PANDA stuck up a tree! Bao Bao the cub made for higher ground after getting a shock on electric fence
It's usually cats being coaxed down from trees.
But famed panda cub Bao Bao is currently sky-high in the branches at the National Zoo in Washington D.C. after being spooked by an electric safety fence in her enclosure.
Apparently the one-year-old touched the charged barrier on Tuesday afternoon and the shock caused her to shoot above ground to safety.

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Photo courtesy chinatourmap.com and Washington Post

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The world’s oldest commissioned warship afloat got underway for the first time in three years as the USS Constitution got underway from the ship’s berth in Charlestown, Massachusetts, on Oct. 20, in commemoration of the ship’s launching 220 years ago and the U.S. Navy’s 242nd birthday.
At 11:40 a.m., Constitution performed a 21-gun salute which was returned by the Concord Battery and 101st Field Artillery near Fort Independence on Castle Island. Fort Independence is a state park that served as a defensive position for Boston Harbor from 1634 to 1962.

The ship also fired an additional 17 shots at 12:15 p.m. as she passed the U.S. Coast Guard Station, the former site of the Edmund Hartt shipyard where Constitution was built. Each round of this salute honored the 16 states that comprised America when Constitution launched in 1797 and one in honor of the ship.

“Getting Constitution back on the water has been my mission ever since I took command in 2015,” said Cmdr. Robert S. Gerosa, Jr., Constitution’s 74th commanding officer.

USS Constitution is a wooden-hulled, three-masted heavy frigate of the United States Navy, named by President George Washington after the Constitution of the United States of America.  read more »

Image courtesy CAL FIRE @CAL_FIRE

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18 Oct 2017 - First floating wind farm, built by offshore oil company, delivers electricity - Anchored, floating turbines allow offshore wind installations in deep waters.
The world’s first floating offshore wind farm began delivering electricity to the Scottish grid today.

The 30MW installation, situated 25km (15.5mi) from Peterhead in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, will demonstrate that offshore wind energy can be harvested in deep waters, miles away from land, where installing giant turbines was once impractical or impossible. At peak capacity, the wind farm will produce enough electricity to power 20,000 Scottish homes.

The installation, called Hywind Scotland, is also interesting because it was built by Statoil, a Norwegian mega-corporation known for offshore oil drilling. Statoil has pursued offshore wind projects in recent years, using the company's experience building and managing infrastructure in difficult open sea conditions to its advantage.

Hywind Scotland began producing power in September, and today it starts delivering electricity to the Scottish grid.

The five 6MW turbines are the first commercial turbines to lack a firm attachment to the seafloor. The towers extend 176m (577ft) above the water and 78m (256ft) below it. Each tower is capable of pitching its blades to reduce unwanted motion and optimize power output depending on the wind direction and strength.  read more »

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Lyon (AFP) - Animal lovers may be delighted that wolves are roaming the French mountains once again -- but the predators' increasing attacks on sheep have farmers longing to get their guns out.

On Monday, farmers flooded the streets of the city of Lyon with hundreds of sheep, demanding more government action after what authorities say were more than 10,000 animal deaths blamed on wolves last year.

Some farmers wore t-shirts emblazoned with photos of their bloodied livestock as they marched alongside their flocks, who filled the city air with the sound of bleating and tinkling bells.

"When you discover the body of one of your sheep with its throat ripped out by a wolf, it is horrible. It's traumatic," said Nicolas Fabre, a 38-year-old farmer from Cornus in the southern Aveyron region.

Wolves have targeted his flock twice in recent months, killing three sheep.

Wolves used to be common in France before dying out in the early 1930s. They reappeared naturally at the beginning of the 1990s and are now believed to number around 360.

Farmers across Aveyron, a sunny agricultural region famed for its pungent Roquefort blue cheese, say they have tried protecting their flocks with dogs, fences and netting, but to no avail.

And they say it is impossible to watch permanently over their animals, which are often spread over hilly, wooded land stretching dozens of hectares.

"There are 800,000 sheep in Aveyron," says Francois Giacobbi, a breeder in charge of the issue for the local farmers' association. "It's basically a pantry for the wolves."  read more »

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A Chicago-area man who goes around the country in his pickup leaving handmade wooden crosses at murder scenes was inspired by a personal tragedy 20 years ago.

The retired carpenter said the cross helped him cope with his father-in-law's death and that he wanted to provide that closure for the Las Vegas community after the mass shooting at the Route 91 Harvest festival Sunday.

He drove to Las Vegas Tuesday evening and on Thursday installed 58 crosses, each displaying the name and photo of a victim, at the "Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas" sign. By Friday, visitors had contributed flowers, collages and handwritten messages to the growing impromptu memorial. He also left about 100 markers for people to write messages on the crosses.

On Friday, people lined up to view the crosses and sign a "Vegas Strong" sign. Backed-up traffic forced visitors to park a couple of blocks away.

Heather Melton of western Tennessee visited the memorial with her three children and mother-in-law in honor of her husband, James "Sonny" Melton, 29, who was fatally shot in the back while shielding her from bullets.

"I think the (memorial) is really nice. It's comforting, but also it's just really heartbreaking," she said as she wiped away a tear.

Tina Lund and her son David of Summerlin visited as representatives for the family of Brian Fraser. His family lives in Pomona, California, and asked David Lund to leave photos at the cross.  read more »

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Last Pacific Coast Coal Terminal Nixed - Industry’s dream to export U.S. coal to Asia is dead
The state of Washington's Department of Ecology has rejected a necessary water-quality permit sought by Millennium Bulk Logistics for its proposed coal-export terminal at Longview, Washington. Barring a successful appeal of the decision, this means the end of the line not only for Millennium's dream of building the largest coal-export facility in North America, but also for the coal industry's larger scheme to ship vast amounts of U.S. coal to Asian markets.

"This is the end," says Bruce Nilles, senior campaign director of the Sierra Club's Beyond Coal campaign. "Almost exactly seven years ago, Peabody Coal proposed its first project to move huge amounts of coal around the globe. This is a testament to the tens of thousands of people who raised their voices and said, 'Hell no.'"

Shipping coal abroad was supposed to be a lifeline for the U.S. coal industry, given plummeting domestic demand as renewables became cost-competitive with fossil fuels. With vast coal reserves readily available in the Powder River Basin in Montana and Wyoming, coal companies pinned their hopes on exporting it to Asia via seven proposed terminals on the West Coast. With Longview blocked, coal opponents are now seven for seven in stopping those terminals. (The others were to be at Cherry Point and Grays Harbor in Washington; Port Westward, Coos Bay, and Port of Morrow in Oregon; and Oakland, California.)

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