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Today's Topics:
1. Unlocking cell phones does not violate DMCA (Monty Solomon)
2. Town explores offering WiFi (Monty Solomon)
3. How much for a moon base? Don?t ask (George Antunes)
4. Comcast confident in cable-phone war (George Antunes)
5. Congress Passes Law Against 'Pretexting' (George Antunes)
6. Media Titans Again Discuss Site to Rival YouTube (George Antunes)
7. Vast African Lake Levels Dropping Fast (George Antunes)
8. Scientist Marvel at Sea Life Miles Deep (George Antunes)
9. Geothermal test halted after quake (George Antunes)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Message: 1
Date: Sun, 10 Dec 2006 01:02:58 -0500
From: Monty Solomon <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Medianews] Unlocking cell phones does not violate DMCA
To: undisclosed-recipient:;
Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
Excerpt from
[Federal Register: November 27, 2006 (Volume 71, Number 227)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Page 68472-68480]
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
Copyright Office
37 CFR Part 201
Docket No. RM 2005-11
Exemption to Prohibition on Circumvention of Copyright Protection
Systems for Access Control Technologies
http://www.copyright.gov/fedreg/2006/71fr68472.html
5. Computer programs in the form of firmware that enable wireless
telephone handsets to connect to a wireless telephone communication
network, when circumvention is accomplished for the sole purpose of
lawfully connecting to a wireless telephone communication network.
The Wireless Alliance and Robert Pinkerton proposed an exemption for
"Computer programs that operate wireless communications handsets."
The proponents of this exemption stated that providers of mobile
telecommunications (cellphone) networks are using various types of
software locks in order to control customer access to the
"bootloader" programs on cellphones and the operating system programs
embedded inside mobile handsets (cellphones). These software locks
prevent customers from using their handsets on a competitor's network
(even after all contractual obligations to the original wireless
carrier have been satisfied) by controlling access to the software
that operates the mobile phones (e.g., the mobile firmware).
Many reply comments were submitted in support of this exemption and
only one reply comment provided any opposition to the proposal. Only
two witnesses testified at the hearing on this issue: a
representative of the principal proponent of the exemption and a
representative of some copyright owners (none of whom operate
wireless telecommunication services, manufacture wireless handsets or
make bootloader or operating system programs for cellphones). It was
undisputed that mobile handset consumers who desire to use their
handsets on a different telecommunications network are often
precluded from doing so unless they can obtain access to the
bootloader or operating system within the handset in order to direct
the phone to a different carrier's network. The evidence demonstrated
that most wireless telecommunications network providers do not allow
a consumer to obtain such access in order to switch a cell phone from
one network to another, and that the consumer could not use the cell
phone with another carrier, even after fulfilling his or her
contractual obligations with the carrier that sold the phone. In
order to switch carriers, the consumer would have to purchase a new
phone from a competing mobile telecommunications carrier.
The obstacle that prevents customers from using lawfully acquired
handsets on different carriers is the software lock. At least one
wireless telecommunications service has filed lawsuits alleging that
circumvention of the software lock is a violation of section
1201(a)(1)(A) and has obtained a permanent injunction (albeit by
stipulation).
The Register has concluded that the software locks are access
controls that adversely affect the ability of consumers to make
noninfringing use of the software on their cellular phones. Moreover,
a review of the four factors enumerated in ? 1201(a)(1)(C)(i)-(iv)
supports the conclusion that an exemption is warranted. There is
nothing in the record that suggests that the availability for use of
copyrighted works would be adversely affected by permitting an
exemption for software locks. Nor is there any reason to conclude
that there would be any impact - positive or negative - on the
availability for use of works for nonprofit archival, preservation,
and educational purposes or on the ability to engage in criticism,
comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, or research. Nor
would circumvention of software locks to connect to alternative
mobile telecommunications networks be likely to have any effect on
the market for or value of copyrighted works. The reason that these
four factors appears to be neutral is that in this case, the access
controls do not appear to actually be deployed in order to protect
the interests of the copyright owner or the value or integrity of the
copyrighted work; rather, they are used by wireless carriers to limit
the ability of subscribers to switch to other carriers, a business
decision that has nothing whatsoever to do with the interests
protected by copyright. And that, in turn, invokes the additional
factor set forth in ? 1201(a)(1)(C)(v): "such other factors as the
Librarian considers appropriate." When application of the prohibition
on circumvention of access controls would offer no apparent benefit
to the author or copyright owner in relation to the work to which
access is controlled, but simply offers a benefit to a third party
who may use ? 1201 to control the use of hardware which, as is
increasingly the case, may be operated in part through the use of
computer software or firmware, an exemption may well be warranted.
Such appears to be the case with respect to the software locks
involved in the current proposal.
The copyright owners who did express concern about the proposed
exemption are owners of copyrights in music, sound recordings and
audiovisual works whose works are offered for downloading onto
cellular phones. They expressed concern that the proposed exemption
might permit circumvention of access controls that protect their
works when those works have been downloaded onto cellular phones. The
record on this issue was fairly inconclusive, but in any event the
proponents of the exemption provided assurances that there was no
intention that the exemption be used to permit unauthorized access to
those works. Rather, the exemption is sought for the sole purpose of
permitting owners of cellular phone handsets to switch their handsets
to a different network.
Because the Register has concluded that, in appropriate
circumstances, a class of works may be refined by reference to uses
made of the works, this issue can best be resolved by modifying the
proposed class of works to extend only to "Computer programs in the
form of firmware that enable wireless telephone handsets to connect
to a wireless telephone communication network, when circumvention is
accomplished for the sole purpose of lawfully connecting to a
wireless telephone communication network."
On September 18, 2006, long after the comments had been submitted and
the hearings had been conducted in this rulemaking, the Register
received unsolicited submissions from CTIA - The Wireless Association
(a nonprofit trade association that promotes the interests of the
wireless industry, representing both wireless carriers and
manufacturers) and TracFone Wireless, Inc. (which describes itself as
"America's largest prepaid wireless company"). The submissions
included the submitters' responses to written questions that the
Copyright Office had submitted to the two witnesses who had testified
at the March 23, 2006, hearing on the proposed exemption - witnesses
who had no relationship with Tracfone or CTIA. The submissions also
contained arguments opposing the proposed exemption.
In the course of his consultation with the Register of Copyrights on
this rulemaking, the Acting Assistant Secretary of Commerce for
Communications and Information shared his concern that the record on
this proposal appeared to be incomplete and stated that he was
pleased that the Register had sought additional information (in the
form of the written questions to the witnesses) to supplement the
record. Subsequently, he expressed to the Register his view that the
CTIA and TracFone comments "afford you a complete record in which the
views of both users and creators of content are currently
represented," and urged the Register to consider those submissions in
making her recommendation.
The Assistant Secretary's concerns are understandable, and the
Register shares his desire that the views of both users and creators
of content be represented in the rulemaking. However, complying with
the Assistant Secretary's request and accepting the last-minute
submissions of CTIA and TracFone would undermine the procedural
requirements of this proceeding and of the rulemaking process in
general. While it is preferable that all interested parties make
their views known in the rulemaking process, they must do so in
compliance with the process that is provided for public comment, or
offer a compelling justification for their failure to do so. In this
case, they have failed to offer such justification. CTIA (which
counts TracFone among its members) was aware of this rulemaking
proceeding and this request for an exemption as early as January or
February, 2006. Yet it remained silent until September 18, long after
the opportunities provided for comment and testimony had expired. Nor
did it offer any explanation for its silence. If these extremely
untimely submissions were accepted, it would be difficult to imagine
when it ever would be justified to reject an untimely comment. Such a
precedent would be an invitation to chaos in future rulemakings.
Therefore, the late submissions of CTIA and TracFone have not been
considered.
------------------------------
Message: 2
Date: Sun, 10 Dec 2006 01:50:59 -0500
From: Monty Solomon <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Medianews] Town explores offering WiFi
To: undisclosed-recipient:;
Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
FRAMINGHAM
Town explores offering WiFi
By John C. Drake, Globe Staff | December 7, 2006
Framingham officials say they are ready to push forward with a plan
to blanket the town with wireless Internet service, a proposal seen
as a potential boon to law enforcement and a source of revenue.
But they are undecided on whether to build the network themselves or
leave the work to private companies.
That decision is significant, said Bill Ennen , program director for
the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative's Innovation Institute.
The choice of business model can determine whether the town's effort
to provide Internet access to town employees in the field and
residents in their homes can be sustained or will be just a passing
fad.
...
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2006/12/07/town_explores_offering_wifi/
------------------------------
Message: 3
Date: Sun, 10 Dec 2006 12:54:17 -0600
From: George Antunes <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Medianews] How much for a moon base? Don?t ask
To: medianews@twiar.org
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED],
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Message-ID:
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"; format=flowed
How much for a moon base? Don?t ask
It?ll be less than the $104 billion cost of getting there, NASA chief says
By Seth Borenstein
The Associated Press
Updated: 3:53 p.m. CT Dec 9, 2006
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16126918/
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - It?ll be cheaper to build a permanent moon base and
keep it running than it will be to get to the moon. Just don?t ask how
much, NASA?s boss says.
The U.S. space agency?s newly unveiled grand plan for a continually staffed
lunar outpost starting around 2024 doesn?t come with a similarly grand
price tag. It doesn?t come with a price tag at all.
?You ask what things will cost, I don?t know yet,? said NASA Administrator
Michael Griffin, a detail-oriented engineer. ?We just rolled out a very
preliminary architecture.?
Griffin?s lack of specifics is partly because NASA is budgeting its large
cosmic construction projects differently, more ?pay as you go? than ?get
there at all costs.?
It?s a departure that outsiders call either a brilliant way to avoid cost
overruns and sticker shock ? or a blank check that will end up squeezing
taxpayers.
?Typically a habitat is less than the cost of large rocketry,? Griffin said
in an interview with The Associated Press as he awaited a space shuttle
launch that was foiled on Thursday.
To infinity and beyond?
Last year, NASA said it would cost about $104 billion leading up to the
first moon landing, now scheduled to happen by 2020. But that doesn?t
include the cost of multiple and continuous moon flights and the price of
building and running the newly unveiled lunar outpost.
The Government Accountability Office, the independent auditing arm of
Congress, puts the cost of NASA?s lunar program through 2025 at $230 billion.
There is still no estimate from anyone for the second phase of President
Bush?s 3-year-old ?vision of space exploration? ? an expedition to Mars.
Griffin contends NASA should be able to pay for the lunar phase of this
space vision simply by using its existing yearly budget of about $16.8
billion. If something has to give, he said, it will be the target dates.
American University public policy professor Howard McCurdy said that method
? which he said is smarter and far different from the Apollo days when
unlimited moon spending ?was eating everybody?s budget? ? gives NASA ?a
real incentive to invest that money wisely.?
And it gives the space agency a mission without an end date when the budget
axes start coming out, he said.
?You don?t know when to draw the line in the sand and say ?the program is
over,?? McCurdy said. ?It is a program like Buzz Lightyear that does
whatever it can and reaches infinity,? he added in a joking reference to
the ?Toy Story? movie character.
Avoiding sticker shock
This way there are not the massive budget overruns that have forever dogged
the international space station, which was once projected to cost $17
billion but is actually in the $50 billion range, McCurdy said. It also
avoids the sticker shock of a $500 billion moon-and-Mars program proposed
by President Bush?s father that collapsed when the cost was revealed.
But Taxpayers for Common Sense, a fiscal watchdog group, calls the moon
plans a waste.
?You?ve got to have some price tag on what you?re going to do, otherwise
you?re going to continue to waste money,? said Steve Ellis, vice president
of the group. ?This is like building a house and not knowing how much it
is. You don?t have plans.?
Griffin says many of the details of the lunar station are purposely being
left to future rocket scientists. He envisions the outpost not as a city,
but more like America?s research station in Antarctica.
?It is the choice of the next generation to decide to avail themselves of
that option,? Griffin said. If they don?t want to stay and research on the
moon ?then we?ll move on more rapidly to Mars.?
What Griffin doesn?t want is a repeat of the mistaken choice to mothball
Apollo, made by the White House in the early 1970s.
?We?re rebuilding systems that we had 40 years ago and that we built at
that time and then discarded,? he said. ?That was not a NASA mistake. It
was a policy mistake at the highest level of the U.S. government.... My
generation now has the task before it of fixing that mistake.?
URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16126918/
================================
George Antunes, Political Science Dept
University of Houston; Houston, TX 77204
Voice: 713-743-3923 Fax: 713-743-3927
antunes at uh dot edu
------------------------------
Message: 4
Date: Sun, 10 Dec 2006 14:47:53 -0600
From: George Antunes <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Medianews] Comcast confident in cable-phone war
To: medianews@twiar.org
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Message-ID:
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed
Comcast confident in cable-phone war
Analysis: Cable firm believes early advantage is crucial
By Jeffry Bartash
MarketWatch
Last Update: 5:10 PM ET Dec 8, 2006
http://custom.marketwatch.com/custom/myway-com/news-story.asp?guid={F8C09A0C-9A88-4057-AD62-3917AB81D79F}
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- The battle between cable and phone companies to
dominate in U.S. households is just starting to sizzle, but cable leader
Comcast Corp. isn't feeling the heat -- yet.
Executives of the cable giant, which delivers television to more than 24
million households, say they won't lose many TV customers over the next
three years to AT&T Inc. and Verizon Communications as those two behemoths
ramp up their new video services. Phone carriers are upgrading networks for
video to counter the entry of the cable industry into the phone business.
Whatever customers Comcast does lose, cable executives say, would be more
than offset by big gains in phone and high-speed Internet users from now
until 2010.
"In that time frame, it is entirely conceivable and even probable that we
could add 10 million phone customers," said John Alchin, co-chief financial
officer of Comcast. "We could add 5 million high-speed Internet customers."
Early advantage
Comcast (CMCSK: news) thinks those sorts of gains are reasonable given the
low percentage of customers who now subscribe to those services.
Although Comcast serves 11 million high-speed Internet customers, more than
any other cable or phone rival, that only represents 24% of the homes
within its territory. And only 2.1 million customers, or 4% of Comcast's
potential base, subscribe to phone service.
"Our own penetration rates still leave us a huge amount of upside," Alchin
said.
Part of what makes Comcast executives so confident is that the company
moved into the phone market earlier than the phone companies entered the
video business. They believe that will allow Comcast to sell phone plans
much faster than Verizon (VZ: news) and AT&T (T: news) will add video
customers.
"We had much more experience to be able to scale what we're doing right now
on the phone side compared to the telcos trying to get into the video
business," said Dave Watson, executive vice president of operations at
Comcast. "Video is difficult for somebody just starting off."
So far, the data supports that contention. Comcast had added 1 million
digital-phone customers in the first nine months of 2006, the first year
the company has heavily marketed the service to most of its subscribers.
Verizon, on the other hand, said it expects to sign up about 175,000
customers by year end for the TV service it's offering over the company's
new multibillion-dollar fiber network. And AT&T, which has proceeded more
slowly than Verizon, only has a few thousand video customers so far.
Leveling the playing field
Of course, the phone companies are still rolling out their TV service and
most of their customers aren't eligible to receive it right now for
technical or legal reasons. That will change start to change in 2007.
"You will see both a number of markets and a number of households being
covered and marketed to expand dramatically throughout the year," AT&T CFO
Rick Lindner said this week.
For now, the bigger threat Comcast faces comes from Verizon. Still, cable
executives estimate they would lose no more than 650,000 video customers to
Verizon over the next three years.
Alchin points out that only one-third of the territory covered by Comcast
and Verizon overlap. Even if Verizon achieves its target of reaching 15
million homes with its fiber-TV service by 2010, only about 5 million of
those homes would be in regions served by Comcast.
What's more, Verizon has said its goal by 2010 is to achieve a penetration
rate of 20%, meaning the company hopes to sign up one in every five
households capable of receiving the fiber-TV service. Verizon CFO Doreen
Toben said internal surveys show that about two-thirds of the company's
initial fiber-TV customers switched from cable and the rest came from
satellite.
If Verizon meets its goal, Comcast calculates the phone company would
siphon off about 1 million video customers in its territory, including a
sizable segment who are served by satellite operators DirecTV and The Dish
Network.
Alchin figures half to two-thirds of Verizon's video customers would be
Comcast defectors, representing a potential loss of 500,000 to 650,000
subscribers. Yet those losses would be miniscule compared Comcast's
expected gains in phone and high-speed Internet users.
"We think we are going to do very, very well in this competition," Alchin said.
Just to be sure, though, Comcast is holding the line on cable prices. The
company's planned increase in 2007 for its most basic TV package is
expected to average about 4.5%, the lowest in more than 10 years, The Wall
Street Journal reported this week.
Customers, it seems, are likely the biggest winners in the intensifying
competition between the cable and phone industries.
----------------
Jeffry Bartash is a reporter for MarketWatch in Washington.
================================
George Antunes, Political Science Dept
University of Houston; Houston, TX 77204
Voice: 713-743-3923 Fax: 713-743-3927
antunes at uh dot edu
------------------------------
Message: 5
Date: Sun, 10 Dec 2006 14:49:45 -0600
From: George Antunes <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Medianews] Congress Passes Law Against 'Pretexting'
To: medianews@twiar.org
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED],
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Message-ID:
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed
Congress Passes Law Against 'Pretexting'
By DAVID ROGERS
Wall Street Journal
December 9, 2006 12:06 a.m.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB116563905971245504.html?mod=home_whats_news_us
Spurred by the Hewlett-Packard Co. scandal, Congress sent President Bush
legislation that would make it a federal crime to obtain someone's
telephone records without his or her approval.
The measure, which passed the House in April and was called up and quickly
passed Friday night in the Senate, spells out new federal criminal
penalties for those who buy and sell such fraudulently obtained records.
The bill targets so-called "pretexting" tactics, where investigators use
various schemes to impersonate their target and gain access to private
phone records. Investigators hired by H-P used the strategy earlier this
year in a now-infamous investigation into who leaked information to reporters.
About 12 states have made telephone pretexting a crime, but there's
currently no clear federal prohibition. Former H-P executive Patricia Dunn
and several others were charged in the pretexting scandal for violations of
California's state privacy laws.
Journalists and media organizations that purchase confidential records --
knowing they were obtained without the consumer's consent -- could be
subject to fines of up to $500,000 and imprisonment for up to five years.
Additional penalties would be imposed in cases where the information is
used to commit further federal crimes, or causes substantial financial
harm, for example, to a consumer whose identity has been stolen.
The law contains an exception for law-enforcement agencies.
Until recently, telephone pretexting has existed in a murky legal realm,
and federal regulators and state attorneys general have often been forced
to bring cases under general consumer protection or antifraud statutes.
================================
George Antunes, Political Science Dept
University of Houston; Houston, TX 77204
Voice: 713-743-3923 Fax: 713-743-3927
antunes at uh dot edu
------------------------------
Message: 6
Date: Sun, 10 Dec 2006 14:53:06 -0600
From: George Antunes <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Medianews] Media Titans Again Discuss Site to Rival YouTube
To: medianews@twiar.org
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED],
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Message-ID:
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed
Media Titans Again Discuss Site to Rival YouTube
By JULIA ANGWIN and MATTHEW KARNITSCHNIG
Wall Street Journal
December 9, 2006; Page A4
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB116562879957245276.html?mod=technology_main_whats_news
Four major media companies, including News Corp.'s Fox, Viacom Inc., CBS
Corp. and General Electric Co.'s NBC Universal, are in talks about creating
a video Web site to compete with Google Inc.'s YouTube, according to people
close to the situation.
The companies, owners of most of the major TV networks, envision a jointly
owned site that would be the primary Web source for video content from
their networks, allowing them to cash in on fast-growing Web video
advertising. They also have discussed building a Web video player that
could play video clips from across the Web. A deal to create a competitor
remains far off, however.
Walt Disney Co., owner of ABC, isn't participating in the talks, because it
wants to rely on the strength of its own brands, according to a person
close to the discussions. ABC and the networks participating in the talks
already offer some of their programming on their own Web sites.
The talks are driven by media companies' belief that the fast-growing
YouTube has built a huge business off their video content. Although many of
the videos on YouTube are homemade videos uploaded by users, some of its
most popular clips are pirated copies of television shows. YouTube was
acquired by Google for nearly $1.8 billion in stock last month.
Some of the media companies have been discussing creating a YouTube
competitor since the beginning of the year. Fox, CBS, NBC and Viacom, for
instance, discussed a proposal from News Corp. that video content be hosted
on Fox's MySpace Web site, a popular social-networking site. But CBS, NBC
and Viacom weren't willing to put their content on a News Corp.-owned
outlet. The current talks, which were revived by NBC this fall, are not
contingent on using MySpace, according to a person close to the situation.
The latest round of talks could still founder. All the media companies are
weighing attractive offers from Google to pay them licensing fees for their
videos to play on YouTube. Google has offered to pay fees of as much as
$140 million over three years to Fox, according to a person with knowledge
of the offer. So far, NBC and CBS have struck deals to air some content on
YouTube. NBC has said it was in talks with YouTube about reaching another
unspecified content deal.
News Corp., Viacom and NBC previously held discussions about filing a joint
lawsuit against YouTube for copyright infringement. YouTube contends that
it hasn't run afoul of copyright laws, because it immediately removes clips
when copyright holders such as the networks complain about their inclusion
on the site.
================================
George Antunes, Political Science Dept
University of Houston; Houston, TX 77204
Voice: 713-743-3923 Fax: 713-743-3927
antunes at uh dot edu
------------------------------
Message: 7
Date: Sun, 10 Dec 2006 15:07:33 -0600
From: George Antunes <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Medianews] Vast African Lake Levels Dropping Fast
To: medianews@twiar.org
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Message-ID:
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed
Vast African Lake Levels Dropping Fast
Dec 9, 2006 7:17 PM (ET)
By CHARLES J. HANLEY
Associated Press
http://apnews.myway.com//article/20061210/D8LTL4K01.html
JINJA, Uganda (AP) - At Jinja pier the rusty red hull of a Lake Victoria
freighter sat barely afloat in water just six feet deep - and dropping.
"The scientists have to explain this," said ship's engineer Gabriel Maziku.
Across the bay, at a fish packing plant, fishermen had to wade ashore with
their Nile perch in flat-bottomed boats, and heave the silvery catch up to
a jetty that soon may be on dry land and out of reach entirely. Looking on,
plant manager Ravee Ramanujam wondered about what's to come.
"Such a large body of water, dropping so fast," he said.
At 27,000 square miles, the size of Ireland, Victoria is the greatest of
Africa's Great Lakes - the biggest freshwater body after Lake Superior. And
it has dropped fast, at least six feet in the past three years, and by as
much as a half-inch a day this year before November rains stabilized things.
The outflow through two hydroelectric dams at Jinja is part of the problem
- a tiny part, says the Uganda government, or half the problem, say
environmentalists. But much of what is happening to Victoria and other
lakes across the heart of Africa is attributable to years of drought and
rising temperatures, conditions that starve the lakes of inflowing water
and evaporate more of the water they have.
An extreme example lies 1,500 miles northwest of here, deeper in the
drought zone, where Lake Chad, once the world's sixth-largest, has shrunk
to 2 percent of its 1960s size. And the African map abounds with other,
less startling examples, from Lake Turkana in northern Kenya, getting half
the inflow it once did, to the great Lake Tanganyika south of here, whose
level dropped over five feet in five years.
"All these lakes are extremely sensitive to climate change," the U.N.
Environment Program warned in a global water assessment two years ago.
Now, in a yet unpublished report obtained by The Associated Press, an
international consulting firm advises the Ugandan government that
supercomputer models of global-warming scenarios for Lake Victoria "raise
alarming concerns" about its future and that of the Nile River, which
begins its 4,100-mile northward journey here at Jinja.
The report, by U.S.-based Water Resources and Energy Management
International, says rising temperatures may evaporate up to half the lake's
normal inflow from rainfall and rivers, with "severe consequences for the
lake and its ability to meet the region's water resources needs."
A further dramatic drop in Victoria's water levels might even turn off this
spigot for the Nile, a lifeline for more than 100 million Egyptians,
Sudanese and others.
"People talk about the snows of Kilimanjaro," said Aris P. Georgakakos, the
study's chief author, speaking of that African mountain's melting glaciers.
"We have something much bigger to worry about, and that's Lake Victoria."
Each troubled lake is a complex story.
Lake Chad's near-disappearance, for example, stems in part from overuse of
its source waters for irrigation. Deforestation around Lake Victoria,
shared by Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania, makes the area a less efficient rain
"catchment" for the lake, and overfishing and pollution are damaging its
$400-million-a-year fishing industry. Kenya's Rift Valley lakes, some just
a few feet deep, have always fluctuated in size, even drying up with drought.
But African leaders say things are different this time, because long-term
climate change may eclipse other factors.
"These cycles, when they've happened, they haven't happened under the
circumstances pertaining now - the global warming, overpopulation,
degradation," said Maria Mutagamba, Uganda's water and environment minister.
African temperatures rose an average 1 degree Fahrenheit in the 20th
century - matching the global average - and even more in the past few
decades in such places as Lake Tanganyika, climatologists say. If
greenhouse gases continue to build in the atmosphere, temperatures may be
several degrees warmer by this century's end.
At Lake Victoria's receding shoreline, a place of scavenging storks, weedy
expanses of water hyacinth, fishing boats derelict on dried lake bed,
people see what's happening but don't understand why.
"In just a few years, the lake pulled back from there, maybe 60 meters (200
feet)," said fisherman Patrick Sewagude, 24, pointing to old high-water
marks at Ssese Beach, near Kampala, Uganda's capital.
Someone had planted a few rows of corn on the exposed lake bed. Grass was
taking over elsewhere. "It's tough. The fish have gone way out. You pull up
stones in your nets," Sewagude said.
Back in Jinja, 40 miles east of Kampala, researchers at the Lake Victoria
Fisheries Organization said falling water levels are the latest blow to the
dying biology of Lake Victoria, where pollution has helped kill off scores
of unique species of tropical fish in recent decades. Now tilapia, once a
prime food fish, are declining because their inshore breeding grounds are
vanishing.
"People for many years haven't seen such a sudden change in the lake
level," said the fisheries office's Richard Ogutu-Ohwayo, a biologist on
the lake for 35 years. "Right now it's very difficult to say what will
happen. It's a grim scenario, of worldwide climate change."
Around the lake shore, everyone has his own theories.
"The water's too hot, and the fish are going deeper, beneath the nets,"
said Modi Kafeel Ahmed, a Jinja fish processor. But the lake has been
overfished, too, he said. "If it goes like this another five years, the
lake will be empty of fish."
For 30 million people living in its basin, Lake Victoria is a vital source
- of livelihoods and food, of water, of transportation, of electric power.
Almost 200 miles across the lake from here, Tanzanian authorities have
reduced water supplies to the city of Mwanza because an intake pipe was
left high and dry. The same is happening in Uganda, where German engineer
Erhard Schulte is pushing work crews to finish refitting Entebbe's city
water plant, extending its intake pipe 1,000 feet farther out into the lake.
"The old Britisher who designed the original plant never expected the lake
would drop this way," Schulte told a visitor.
Perhaps the worst impact is on power supplies. Tanzanian factories have
shut down because the rivers powering hydroelectric dams, and replenishing
Lake Victoria, are running dry. Kampala, a city of more than 1 million, has
endured hours-long blackouts daily.
Uganda's two big hydro dams, side by side on the Victoria Nile, the lake's
only outlet, are victims and - some say - prime suspects in the crisis.
In 2003, facing growing Ugandan demand for electricity, the Nalubaale and
Kiira dams produced a peak 265 megawatts of power. In the process, their
operators began overshooting long-standing formulas regulating flow of
water out of the lake, an independent hydrologist later concluded.
That outside study, cited by environmentalists, contends 55 percent of the
lake-level drop since 2003 is traceable to excessive outflow. But the dams'
private operators and Ugandan officials strongly dispute that.
Paul Mubiru, Ugandan energy commissioner, says the dams have had a
"negligible" impact on Lake Victoria, and points to Lake Tanganyika's
similar fall in levels - with no dams involved.
Earlier this year, the operators announced they were reducing the dam
outflows, "but our observations show that even with the reduced outflow,
the water loss is still on the increase," Mutagamba, the water minister,
told the AP.
Falling lake levels, meantime, mean lower "head" pressure at the dams.
Their output has dropped to 120 megawatts, pushing Uganda deeper into
economic crisis.
It is such unanticipated ripple effects - from abrupt environmental change
- that underlie the warnings worldwide about global warming. Scientists
find another unexpected example in Lake Tanganyika, where they say warmer
surface waters may be depleting fish stocks.
Many African lakes go unvisited by scientists, but what is known is
troubling enough, says veteran researcher Robert E. Hecky, of Canada's
University of Waterloo. "It is some of the most imperative data we have,
that global climate change can be affecting these African water bodies," he
said.
A "very comprehensive, very realistic" study of Lake Victoria is needed,
preferably conducted by U.N. specialists, said Frank Muramuzi, the head of
Uganda's leading environmental organization.
"Businesses are standing still, not working. Fishermen can't get enough
fish. We do not have enough water supplies," Muramuzi said. "Rains alone
won't bring back the lake levels, because there would still be climate
change, a lot of heat, evaporation. It's reached a point where people don't
know what to do."
================================
George Antunes, Political Science Dept
University of Houston; Houston, TX 77204
Voice: 713-743-3923 Fax: 713-743-3927
antunes at uh dot edu
------------------------------
Message: 8
Date: Sun, 10 Dec 2006 15:09:08 -0600
From: George Antunes <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Medianews] Scientist Marvel at Sea Life Miles Deep
To: medianews@twiar.org
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Message-ID:
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed
Scientist Marvel at Sea Life Miles Deep
Dec 10, 2006 12:02 PM (ET)
By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID
Associated Press
http://apnews.myway.com//article/20061210/D8LU3RMG0.html
WASHINGTON (AP) - Peering deep into the sea, scientists are finding
creatures more mysterious than many could have imagined. At one site,
nearly 2 miles deep in the Atlantic, shrimp were living around a vent that
was releasing water heated to 765 degrees Fahrenheit. Water surrounding the
site was a chilly 36 degrees.
An underwater peak in the Coral Sea was home to a type of shrimp thought to
have gone extinct 50 million years ago.
More than 3 miles beneath the Sargasso Sea, in the Atlantic, researchers
collected a dozen new species eating each other or living on organic
material that drifts down from above.
"Animals seem to have found a way to make a living just about everywhere,"
said Jesse Ausubel of the Sloan Foundation, discussing the findings of year
six of the census of marine life.
Added Ron O'Dor, a senior scientist with the census: "We can't find
anyplace where we can't find anything new."
This year's update, released Sunday, is part of a study of life in the
oceans that is scheduled for final publication in 2010. The census is an
international effort supported by governments, divisions of the United
Nations and private conservation organizations. About 2,000 researchers
from 80 countries are participating.
Ausubel said there are nearly 16,000 known species of marine fish and
70,000 kinds of marine mammals. A couple of thousand have been discovered
during the census.
The researchers conducted 19 ocean expeditions this year; a 20th continues
in the Antarctic. In addition, they operated 128 nearshore sampling sites
and, using satellites, followed more than 20 tagged species including
sharks, squid, sea lions and albatross.
Highlights of the 2006 research included:
_Shrimp, clams and mussels living near the super-hot thermal vent in the
Atlantic, where they face pulses of water that is near-boiling despite
shooting into the frigid sea.
_In the sea surrounding the Antarctic, a community of marine life shrouded
in darkness beneath more than 1,600 feet of ice. Sampling of this remote
ocean yielded more new species than familiar ones.
_Off the coast of New Jersey, 20 million fish swarming in a school the size
of Manhattan.
_Finding alive and well, in the Coral Sea, the type of shrimp called
Neoglyphea neocaledonica, thought to have disappeared millions of years
ago. Researchers nicknamed it the Jurassic shrimp.
_Satellite tracking of tagged sooty shearwaters, small birds, that mapped
the birds' 43,500-mile search for food in a giant figure eight over the
Pacific Ocean, from New Zealand via Polynesia to foraging grounds in Japan,
Alaska and California and then back. The birds averaged a surprising 217
miles daily. In some cases, a breeding pair made the entire journey together.
_A new find, a 4-pound rock lobster discovered off Madagascar.
_A single-cell creature big enough to see, in the Nazare Canyon off
Portugal. The fragile new species was found 14,000 feet deep. It is
enclosed within a plate-like shell, four-tenths of an inch in diameter,
composed of mineral grains.
_A new type of crab with a furry appearance, near Easter Island. It was so
unusual it warranted a whole new family designation, Kiwaidae, named for
Kiwa, the Polynesian goddess of shellfish. Its furry appearance justified
its species name, hirsuta, meaning hairy.
---
Associated Press writer John Heilprin contributed to this report.
---
On the Net:
Census of Marine Life: http://www.coml.org
================================
George Antunes, Political Science Dept
University of Houston; Houston, TX 77204
Voice: 713-743-3923 Fax: 713-743-3927
antunes at uh dot edu
------------------------------
Message: 9
Date: Sun, 10 Dec 2006 15:10:59 -0600
From: George Antunes <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Medianews] Geothermal test halted after quake
To: medianews@twiar.org
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Message-ID:
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed
Geothermal test halted after quake
Swiss managers apologize for setting off public fears in Basel
Reuters
Updated: 6:19 p.m. CT Dec 9, 2006
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16128362/
ZURICH, Switzerland - Engineers halted an experiment to extract geothermal
heat from deep below ground because a small earthquake occurred during the
test in the nearby city of Basel, the Swiss news agency SDA said Saturday.
The tremor late Friday measured magnitude-3.4 and caused widespread fear,
prompting about 1,000 calls to emergency services, but caused no injuries
or serious damage, the agency said.
Managers apologized for any fears aroused by the mishap, which occurred
after water was injected at high pressure into a 16,000-foot-deep
(5-kilometer-deep) borehole, but said the experiment posed no danger, SDA
reported.
The Basel public prosecutor launched an investigation into the
government-subsidized project after the quake in the historic city, it said.
The $66.95 million experiment, known as "deep heat mining," is designed to
extract enough superheated water to drive a power plant providing
electricity for 10,000 homes and heat for 2,700 others.
URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16128362/
================================
George Antunes, Political Science Dept
University of Houston; Houston, TX 77204
Voice: 713-743-3923 Fax: 713-743-3927
antunes at uh dot edu
------------------------------
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End of Medianews Digest, Vol 118, Issue 1
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