Be happy while you're living, for you're a long time dead (Scottish proverb)
Mekong Tipping Point from Henry L. Stimson Center on Vimeo.
…China’s cascade of eight dams in Yunnan, of which four have been completed, pose the most immediate but by no means the only threat to the river. Laos, Thailand, and Cambodia are planning to build up to 11 dams on the lower half of the river. Although Vietnam itself has no dammable stretch of the river a Vietnamese company, PetroVietnam Power Corporation, would finance one of the Lao dams. The greatest downstream ecological impact will be felt in Cambodia’s Tonle Sap Great Lake that connects to the Mekong mainstream at Phnom Penh, and Vietnam’s Mekong Delta. Upstream dams, including two planned by Cambodia itself, will seriously degrade the Tonle Sap, by far Cambodia’s most important fishery and the seasonal “nursery” of many of the Mekong’s most important fish species. The Mekong Delta of Vietnam will also be severely impacted. The Delta, which produces about 52 percent of Vietnam’s rice and most of its aquaculture fish and shrimp exports, will suffer major consequences from the upstream dams, including the capture of vital silt in dam reservoirs, pollution from mining operations, and a large increase in the use of chemical fertilizers and increased effluents from accelerated urbanization and a decrease in natural soil replenishment. …Apart from the impact on the river’s natural functions, the combined effect of the Chinese and Lower Mekong dams will have significant geopolitical implications. Several dams planned by Laos and Cambodia are to be financed by Chinese state-owned banks and large state-owned construction and energy companies. Several if not most of the lower Mekong projects will not be commercially viable without the release of water from the dams at the right times and in the right amounts to allow them to operate uninterrupted throughout the dry season, when the normal flow is a tiny fraction of that during the flood stage. In the absence of any mechanism for basin-wide water management, this dependent relationship between the downstream countries and China will create an inherent and unhealthy geostrategic advantage for Beijing. …Worse, from the perspective of regional peace and stability, China’s upstream location means that it will reap the main benefits from exploiting the rivers immense hydroelectric power potential, while the costs (which are already being felt in the northern half of Laos and Thailand in terms of riverbank erosion and erratic water levels) will be borne by China’s downstream neighbors. These costs will be greatly compounded if the Lower Mekong countries go through with their plans for mainstream dams. …China recently completed construction and has begun filling the fourth of a massive eight-dam cascade at Xiaowan, west of Kunming, the provincial capital. The 292 meters-high Xiaowan Dam, the world’s highest compound concrete arch dam, would tower 71 meters over the Hoover Dam. Most importantly, the reservoir at Xiaowan will hold 15 billion cubic meters of water, enough to regulate the river for the benefit of China’s hydropower production, water storage, and continuity of navigation in the dry season, when the river is often only inches deep in many places. China has also begun to construct other dams upstream of Xiaowan, as well as one downstream, Nuazhadu, that will multiply its already massive cumulative storage capacity. Although China will not be able to completely turn off the water to downstream countries, it will regulate the resource to suit its needs first, and this will impact everything from fish migration triggers to agricultural cycles, and the shipping operations of Southeast Asian companies especially in Thailand and Laos. China has several goals in constructing a massive dam cascade in Yunnan. First, the Upper Mekong, which the Chinese call the Lancang, has nearly the energy potential of the Three Gorges Dam, heretofore China’s largest construction project. China sees the exploitation of the river’s energy potential as the key to its “Go West” infrastructure development project, now Beijing’s most expensive and highest priority national endeavor. Second, China wants to maximize the navigation potential of the river as far south as the Khone Falls, the only really large geographic obstacle between Yunnan and the Mekong Delta, where the river disappears into the South China Sea. Third, despite growing recognition of the human and environmental cost of past infrastructure projects, China continues to suffer from a mind-set that is strongly biased towards harnessing nature for development. Fourth, China is determined to incorporate the natural resources of the Mekong Basin into its manufacturing supply chain and expand its political and economic influence. China’s military actions in the South China Sea, its break-neck economic development, and geopolitical objectives pose the most important but by no means the only threat to human security and regional stability in the Mekong Basin. To varying degrees the former warring countries of Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam also are pursuing short sighted, environmentally unsustainable development policies. In the cases of Laos and Cambodia, this is being done in conjunction with Chinese ambitions for regional economic integration. The plans of Thailand, Laos, and Cambodia to build up to 13 dams on the mainstream of the lower half of the river are, if anything, even more immediately threatening to the human and food security and livelihoods the population. Two dams in particular – Laos’ Don Sahong project in the Siphandon area on its border with Cambodia and Cambodia’s plan to build a broad dam across the river at the Sambor Rapids, roughly equidistant between Laos to the north and Phnom Penh to the south – will be especially damaging. These two dams, more than others planned further north, threaten critical migratory paths for 70 percent of the most commercially valuable species of wild fish… Source: 2010.06.25: Richard P. Cronin and Timothy Hamlin. Mekong Tipping Point: Hydropower Dams, human Security and regional stability. The Henry L. Stimson Center.
…China’s cascade of eight dams in Yunnan, of which four have been completed, pose the most immediate but by no means the only threat to the river. Laos, Thailand, and Cambodia are planning to build up to 11 dams on the lower half of the river. Although Vietnam itself has no dammable stretch of the river a Vietnamese company, PetroVietnam Power Corporation, would finance one of the Lao dams.
The greatest downstream ecological impact will be felt in Cambodia’s Tonle Sap Great Lake that connects to the Mekong mainstream at Phnom Penh, and Vietnam’s Mekong Delta. Upstream dams, including two planned by Cambodia itself, will seriously degrade the Tonle Sap, by far Cambodia’s most important fishery and the seasonal “nursery” of many of the Mekong’s most important fish species. The Mekong Delta of Vietnam will also be severely impacted. The Delta, which produces about 52 percent of Vietnam’s rice and most of its aquaculture fish and shrimp exports, will suffer major consequences from the upstream dams, including the capture of vital silt in dam reservoirs, pollution from mining operations, and a large increase in the use of chemical fertilizers and increased effluents from accelerated urbanization and a decrease in natural soil replenishment.
…Apart from the impact on the river’s natural functions, the combined effect of the Chinese and Lower Mekong dams will have significant geopolitical implications. Several dams planned by Laos and Cambodia are to be financed by Chinese state-owned banks and large state-owned construction and energy companies. Several if not most of the lower Mekong projects will not be commercially viable without the release of water from the dams at the right times and in the right amounts to allow them to operate uninterrupted throughout the dry season, when the normal flow is a tiny fraction of that during the flood stage. In the absence of any mechanism for basin-wide water management, this dependent relationship between the downstream countries and China will create an inherent and unhealthy geostrategic advantage for Beijing.
…Worse, from the perspective of regional peace and stability, China’s upstream location means that it will reap the main benefits from exploiting the rivers immense hydroelectric power potential, while the costs (which are already being felt in the northern half of Laos and Thailand in terms of riverbank erosion and erratic water levels) will be borne by China’s downstream neighbors. These costs will be greatly compounded if the Lower Mekong countries go through with their plans for mainstream dams.
…China recently completed construction and has begun filling the fourth of a massive eight-dam cascade at Xiaowan, west of Kunming, the provincial capital. The 292 meters-high Xiaowan Dam, the world’s highest compound concrete arch dam, would tower 71 meters over the Hoover Dam. Most importantly, the reservoir at Xiaowan will hold 15 billion cubic meters of water, enough to regulate the river for the benefit of China’s hydropower production, water storage, and continuity of navigation in the dry season, when the river is often only inches deep in many places. China has also begun to construct other dams upstream of Xiaowan, as well as one downstream, Nuazhadu, that will multiply its already massive cumulative storage capacity. Although China will not be able to completely turn off the water to downstream countries, it will regulate the resource to suit its needs first, and this will impact everything from fish migration triggers to agricultural cycles, and the shipping operations of Southeast Asian companies especially in Thailand and Laos.
China has several goals in constructing a massive dam cascade in Yunnan. First, the Upper Mekong, which the Chinese call the Lancang, has nearly the energy potential of the Three Gorges Dam, heretofore China’s largest construction project. China sees the exploitation of the river’s energy potential as the key to its “Go West” infrastructure development project, now Beijing’s most expensive and highest priority national endeavor. Second, China wants to maximize the navigation potential of the river as far south as the Khone Falls, the only really large geographic obstacle between Yunnan and the Mekong Delta, where the river disappears into the South China Sea. Third, despite growing recognition of the human and environmental cost of past infrastructure projects, China continues to suffer from a mind-set that is strongly biased towards harnessing nature for development. Fourth, China is determined to incorporate the natural resources of the Mekong Basin into its manufacturing supply chain and expand its political and economic influence.
China’s military actions in the South China Sea, its break-neck economic development, and geopolitical objectives pose the most important but by no means the only threat to human security and regional stability in the Mekong Basin. To varying degrees the former warring countries of Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam also are pursuing short sighted, environmentally unsustainable development policies. In the cases of Laos and Cambodia, this is being done in conjunction with Chinese ambitions for regional economic integration.
The plans of Thailand, Laos, and Cambodia to build up to 13 dams on the mainstream of the lower half of the river are, if anything, even more immediately threatening to the human and food security and livelihoods the population. Two dams in particular – Laos’ Don Sahong project in the Siphandon area on its border with Cambodia and Cambodia’s plan to build a broad dam across the river at the Sambor Rapids, roughly equidistant between Laos to the north and Phnom Penh to the south – will be especially damaging. These two dams, more than others planned further north, threaten critical migratory paths for 70 percent of the most commercially valuable species of wild fish…
Source: 2010.06.25: Richard P. Cronin and Timothy Hamlin. Mekong Tipping Point: Hydropower Dams, human Security and regional stability. The Henry L. Stimson Center.
Some interesting tablet PCs to watch
2010-07-02, Toshiba Libretto: 0.8kg, dual-screen (7″ each), Windows 7, Intel Pentium U5400 dual-core CULV 1.2GHz, 2GB DDR3 RAM, 62GB Solid State Drive, built-in USB, Wi-Fi & Bluetooth, 4-5h battery, splittable virtual keyboard (no pen yet). Speculated price at US$1000.
2010-06-29, Cisco Cius: 0.52kg, 7″ screen, Android OS, Intel Atom 1.6 GHz, 1 GB RAM, 32 GB eMMC flash, dock with USB & Ethernet ports, Wi-Fi, 3G/4G & Bluetooth, 8h detachable battery, dual-camera, virtual desktop client for cloud-based apps, built-in collaboration apps (TelePresence inter-operable video calls, Cisco Quad, Cisco WebEx, IM, etc.). Only for corporates.
2010-02-23, Lenovo ThinkPad X201 tablet: 1.6kg, 12.1″ multi-touch screen, Windows 7, Intel Core i7-620M 2.66-3.33 GHz, max 8GB DDR3 RAM, 128 GB Solid State Drive or 500GB disk, built-in USB, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, 4-5h battery. Around US$1100-1700.
2010-01-07, Fujitsu T900 tablet: 2kg, 13.3″ multi-touch screen, Windows 7, max Intel Core i7-620M 2.66-3.33 GHz, max 8GB DDR3 RAM, 128 GB Solid State Drive or 500GB disk, built-in Wi-Fi, 3G, Bluetooth, 4-5h battery. Around US$1900-3000.
If you should watch one film this year, let it be ‘The cove‘. It received Oscar for Best documentary this year and a whole lot other awards, and really deserves them, unlike ‘The hurt locker’. It’ll haunt you, and probably will make you want to take part as well.
It’s a documentary – covertly filmed in Taiji, Japan – about a small cove, where Japanese fishermen drive dolphins there to capture and kill. 23,000 dolphins every year. It shows how Taiji fishermen and polices tried to prevent people from knowing that, and how Japan literally buys other countries in the International Whaling Commission to support its whale killing for “scientific purposes” and defends itself (watch carefully these parts, very interesting).
A very brief part is about Ric O’Barry, the former dolphin trainer who captured and trained dolphins for the international television ‘Flipper’ in 1960s. The series, as they said, ignited people interests in dolphins and helped created a multi-billion-dollar dolphin entertainment industry today. And one day, he changed heart.
…They’re looking for bottlenose dolphin, primarily. They’re looking for Flipper, and so they collect young females, just like we did for the Flipper show. And they’re flown to different parts of the world. I could have my own dolphin facility somewhere in the Caribbean and be making 2 or 3 million dollars a year like these guys, if I wanted to. But I walked away from that. The thing that turned me around was the death of Flipper, of Cathy. She was really depressed. I could feel it. I could see it. And she committed suicide in my arms. That’s a very strong word, suicide. But you have to understand dolphins and other whales are not automatic air breathers, like we are. Every breath they take is a conscious effort. And so they can end their life whenever life becomes too unbearable by not taking the next breath… She did that. She swam into my arms and looked me right in the eye and… took a breath… and didn’t take another one. I just let her go, and she sank straight down on her belly to the bottom of the tank. The next day, I was in the Bimini jail for trying to free a dolphin at the Lerner Marine Laboratory. That’s how I reacted to it. I was going to free every captive dolphin I could. I spent ten years building that industry up. And I spent the last 35 years trying to tear it down. When I started out, there were only three dolphinariums. Today it’s become a multi-billion-dollar industry. In all of these captures, we helped create the largest slaughter of dolphins on the planet.
…They’re looking for bottlenose dolphin, primarily. They’re looking for Flipper, and so they collect young females, just like we did for the Flipper show. And they’re flown to different parts of the world. I could have my own dolphin facility somewhere in the Caribbean and be making 2 or 3 million dollars a year like these guys, if I wanted to. But I walked away from that.
The thing that turned me around was the death of Flipper, of Cathy. She was really depressed. I could feel it. I could see it. And she committed suicide in my arms.
That’s a very strong word, suicide. But you have to understand dolphins and other whales are not automatic air breathers, like we are. Every breath they take is a conscious effort. And so they can end their life whenever life becomes too unbearable by not taking the next breath…
She did that. She swam into my arms and looked me right in the eye and… took a breath… and didn’t take another one. I just let her go, and she sank straight down on her belly to the bottom of the tank.
The next day, I was in the Bimini jail for trying to free a dolphin at the Lerner Marine Laboratory. That’s how I reacted to it. I was going to free every captive dolphin I could. I spent ten years building that industry up. And I spent the last 35 years trying to tear it down.
When I started out, there were only three dolphinariums. Today it’s become a multi-billion-dollar industry. In all of these captures, we helped create the largest slaughter of dolphins on the planet.
So, i think you won’t see me at any dolphin show anymore (beat me if i’m there). At least, we can always vote on where to spend our money.
NB: 2010.07.02: Dolphin hunt film, the Cove, screened in Japan
“Blood diamonds” have faded away, but we may now be carrying “blood phones.” An ugly paradox of the 21st century is that some of our elegant symbols of modernity — smartphones, laptops and digital cameras — are built from minerals that seem to be fueling mass slaughter and rape in Congo. With throngs waiting in lines in the last few days to buy the latest iPhone, I’m thinking: What if we could harness that desperation for new technologies to the desperate need to curb the killing in central Africa? I’ve never reported on a war more barbaric than Congo’s, and it haunts me. In Congo, I’ve seen women who have been mutilated, children who have been forced to eat their parents’ flesh, girls who have been subjected to rapes that destroyed their insides. Warlords finance their predations in part through the sale of mineral ore containing tantalum, tungsten, tin and gold. For example, tantalum from Congo is used to make electrical capacitors that go into phones, computers and gaming devices. Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/27/opinion/27kristof.html
I’ve never reported on a war more barbaric than Congo’s, and it haunts me. In Congo, I’ve seen women who have been mutilated, children who have been forced to eat their parents’ flesh, girls who have been subjected to rapes that destroyed their insides. Warlords finance their predations in part through the sale of mineral ore containing tantalum, tungsten, tin and gold. For example, tantalum from Congo is used to make electrical capacitors that go into phones, computers and gaming devices.
Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/27/opinion/27kristof.html
Apple original commercials: I’m a Mac, I’m a PC
Enough project’s video: I’m a Mac… and I’ve got a dirty secret
A twist
As Apple instructs here, you need only 4 following steps to update your iPhone with iOS4
The problem is the first and the last steps could take forever. In my case, iTunes 9.2 didn’t work after update/fresh installation on Windows Vista due to Data Execution Prevention (DEP) error, so had to install it in another machine with Windows XP.
Step 4 is 100 times worse. Downloading the iOS4 (378 Mb for iPhone 3GS) only took 20-30 minutes, but it needs to back up your iPhone before updating the new OS. In my case, it took a straight 16 hours to back up 27Gb data (Norton Ghost normally takes about 30 minutes to fully backup a 100-150Gb disk). The backup progressing bar seemed to stay in one place forever. So it’s better to start your update at night, leave the phone there, and come back after lunch next day. Cancelling in the middle, doing restore or anything else with the phone just make you further frustrated.
Anyway, the good thing is after backup, the iOS4 will update itself in only 15-20 minutes. Among all new features, folder, multitasking, and single mail box are pretty good. Must try.
It’s 2001 when i read about the convergence trend of telecommunication, media, and Internet in some academic books. 2003 is when Skype was founded and launched its peer-to-peer VoIP application, which has provided much better voice quality compared to other VoIP applications. So, let’s hope in 2011 everyone (not just everyone in US since yesterday) can enjoy Google Voice with one single number, voicemail transcription, SMS to email, screen callers, and cheaper international calls); and in 2012, can consolidate all of our remote controls into something like this Ericsson IPTV Remote (introduced on 15 Feb in Barcelona), or even better, into a single application in our phones.
Google decorative logos (doodles) have been always fun. This Pac-man game on doodles brings them to the next level.
More stories: Marcin Wichary’s introduction, Danny Sullivan brief and FAQ.
Update 2010.06.13: Direct link to Pacman doodle http://www.google.com/pacman/
2010-05-19: Day 1, full-length keynote
2010-05-20: Day 2, keynote on Android
Got some free time last weekend and decided to change my boring standard iPhone ringtone.
iTunes Help was not very helpful: “You can create ringtones (the sound your iPhone makes when someone calls you) from many songs purchased from the iTunes Store. You pay a fee for each custom ringtone.” then a list of steps. Very very surprise to see Apple wants you to pay for something could be done freely and easily on any standard mobile phone.
A quick search brought me these guides: Custom ringtone free application for iPhone (pretty good guide with visual image), and eHow guide (same as the above app, 17 steps). Tried to follow them but couldn’t pass through the last step: “Connect your iPhone and sync your ringtones. If you are having trouble syncing the ringtones to your iPhone, find the ringtone in your Ringtones folder and change the extension back to .m4a; then attempt to sync again.” Really don’t know why.
Anyway, here are the steps to create our truly free ringtones for iPhone
NB: My big uh-oh ringtone (need to rename from .m4a to .m4r)
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Propping up a prime minister: Tony Blair used alcohol as a 'prop' during his time in power but how many of us do the same? View It.
Been and Gone: Our regular column covering the passing of significant - but lesser reported - people of the past month. View It.
What does the future hold for television?: Rory Cellan-Jones tries out 3D video equipment and looks at the latest ultra thin and bright OLED TVs. View It.
'Worst earthquake I have ever felt': A 7.0-magnitude earthquake strikes New Zealand's South Island, causing widespread minor damage and power cuts. View It.
Panda twins delight Japanese zoo: New-born twin giant pandas made their first public appearance at a zoo in Japan on Friday in Shirahama. View It.
Canine Cinema gets audience howling: In an attempt to reach people who do not normally go to the cinema, Shetland film festival is targeting their pets. View It.
Sharks swarm off Australian coast: Hundreds of sharks have been spotted off the Queensland coast. View It.
Bath tub sailor - it's Odd Box: A man sailing the sea in a bath tub, mud sculptures and an ugly fish who finds love - it's the week's weird and wonderful video stories in Newsbeat's Odd Box with Dominic Byrne. View It.
Probably the world's oldest beer: A team of divers say they have found the world's oldest drinkable beer in a shipwreck off the coast of Finland. View It.
On board UK's newest attack sub: Commander Andy Coles shows BBC News around the control room of the Royal Navy's new attack submarine and talks about life on board. View It.
Now you see it, now you don't: A glimpse on board the UK's new stealth submarine View It.
Midnight feast: Why bed-bug infestations are on the rise again View It.
Massive Mini: How far can BMW stretch the brand before it snaps? View It.
7 days quiz: How much is a bottle of beer under new price laws on booze? View It.
Troubled waters: Why aren't black American children taught to swim? View It.
Speaking the lingo: Does the NHS do enough for non-English speakers? View It.
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