Motley Moose – Archive

Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, by Stefano in SE Idaho on flikr.com

JanF and I are going to give you news clues.

This is your open news thread through Sunday night.

I get stories from my twitter feed, or I look at various web editions of newspapers (in English) around the world.  

Diary Rediscovered: Franz Ferdinand’s Journey around the World

Der Spiegel: Matthias Schulz

In December 1892, Ferdinand, who was 28 years old at the time, set sail from the Mediterranean port of Trieste on board the SMS Kaiserin Elisabeth, a cruiser bound for North America via India. He was accompanied by over 400 people, ranging from a navy chaplain to a royal treasurer. During the voyage, “FF,” which were his official initials, penned over 2,000 pages of notes. It is a nearly forgotten account of his adventures.

In his powerfully elegant style, the globetrotter describes the narrow streets of Aden and the allure of the South Pacific. He climbed the rubbish dump of Calcutta and lamented the exploitative colonial system of the Western powers. When he first caught sight of the Himalayas, he started to yodel.

The Wild West, which the archduke visited with only a small entourage, turned out to be the “disappointment of the tour.” As editor Frank Gerbert explains: “The hoped-for grizzly bears refused to run in front of his rifle, cowboys cavalierly put their feet on the table in his presence, and smoking was prohibited everywhere.”

The destruction of the wilderness also bothered FF. He wrote from Vancouver about a “ruthless war of extermination” fought against “500- to 600-year-old cedars, hemlocks and Douglas firs.” The entire horizon, he noted, “is smoldering and glowing, and the sound of axes can be heard everywhere.”

He was killed on my future birthday.  I am wondering if the lack of smoking in the Wild West (which wasn’t very wild by 1892) was a fire danger thing?

Legislators steering another $300,000 to anti-wolf crusade

Salt Lake Tribune: Brian Maffly

Although no one is proposing to reintroduce the gray wolf in Utah, lawmakers want to spend $300,000 for the second consecutive year to lobby federal officials against such a move, arguing that the return of wolves, extirpated almost a century ago, would wipe out big game.

The line item, listed among priority one-time spending requests from the Legislature’s natural resources budget committee, has drawn ridicule from conservationists and citizens who say these expenditures are a silly misuse of tax dollars that could be invested in education or other worthy programs.

Kirk Robinson Ph.D., Executive Director of the Western Wildlife Conservancy, speaks at a press conference Wednesday, March 6, 2013, about his opposition to a line item in a legislative appropriations proposal that was heard in the Natural Resources and Agriculture committee. On February 21, 2013, at a meeting of the Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environmental Quality subcommittee, Senator Ralph Okerlund, R-Monroe proposed that $300,000 from the general fund be appropriated to pay a firm in Washington, D.C. to lobby against “wolf-reintroduction” in Utah.

“Utah is not overrun with wolves, but it is overrun with children in classrooms,” said Marlene Foard, a 33-year Salt Lake City school teacher dismayed that Utah remains at the bottom among states in per-pupil spending. But Don Peay, the influential anti-wolf advocate seeking the money, says the Utah economy could take a massive hit should wolves, protected in Utah under the Endangered Species Act, gain a foothold.

Protected under the Endangered Special Act means “shoot a lot of them fast”?

Northern Cheyenne Tribal Members Demand Comprehensive Study of the Otter Creek Coal Mine

National Wildlife Federation blog

If developed, the Otter Creek mine would be one of the nation’s largest coal mines, as the lease area contains at least 1.3 billion tons of coal. At peak production, the Otter Creek mine is projected to produce 33.2 million tons of coal each year. The Otter Creek and Tongue River valley’s are raptor and ungulate migration corridors and also are rich in historic and cultural sites.

“We believe our community will bear the brunt of the negative impacts from the Otter Creek mine. Sacrificing the land, water, animal and plant life for mining and money is not worth what our ancestors fought and gave their life. Our group is worried about the crime, accidents, drugs and other social issues that come along with boomtowns that our Tribe is not equipped to handle. We are being asked to deal with this so that a transnational corporation can make billions of dollars shipping coal to Asia,” said Tom Mexican Cheyenne.

The proposed mine’s proximity to the border of the reservation is of particular concern to Northern Cheyenne tribal members. Otter Creek valley, used for thousands of years by tribal peoples contains cultural, historic and burial sites important to the Cheyenne people and many other Plains Tribes and serves as important habitat for hundreds of wildlife species.

NSW Environment Minister Robyn Parker has not met the state’s climate change council – a group set up to advise the government – for more than a year, despite repeated pleas during the recent heatwaves and floods.

Departmental staff said the delay was a symptom of ”paralysis” afflicting the government over its climate change policies, with key studies delayed or shelved. The council – comprising top business, emergency services and science leaders – has written to Ms Parker, seeking her response to its ”request for engagement”.

After Fairfax Media contacted the government this week, the minister indicated she would start consulting the council again.

Rigging claims throw Kenya presidential vote into chaos

Mail & Guardian; Daniel Wesangula

The accusations on Thursday by Odinga’s running mate came a day after his chief rival, Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta, protested at the inclusion of spoiled ballots in the vote count, a process that could increase the chances of a second round runoff.

Monday’s elections in the regional powerhouse were the first since 2007 when a dispute over the counting process erupted into weeks of deadly violence that left more than 1 100 people dead.

“We have evidence that the results we have received have been doctored,” Odinga’s running mate, outgoing Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka, told reporters, adding that in some cases “total votes cast exceeds the actual number of registered voters”.

Syrian opposition to meet in Istanbul to elect prime minister

Hurriyet Daily News; Reuters

The main Syrian National Coalition opposition organization will meet in Istanbul on Tuesday to elect a provisional prime minister, coalition members said on Thursday.

Also, in Syria:

Syrian rebels ‘want to release UN troops’

AlJazeera

Syrian rebels who seized 21 Filipino UN peacekeepers in the Golan Heights want the Red Cross to escort them out of the area, according to the Philippine military.

Colonel Arnulfo Marcelo Burgos, Philippine military spokesman, said on Thursday the rebels said the peacekeepers have to be removed because there was heavy fighting with Syrian government forces.

The peacekeepers were seized on Wednesday near the Syrian village of Jamlah, just 1.5km from the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights in an area where the UN patrols a ceasefire line between Israel and Syria.

Burgos said the information came from the UN command in the Golan Heights, which was negotiating for the release of the peacekeepers.

“They want the ICRC to pick them up and escort them,” Burgos said.

“Hopefully they will really be released and we are also waiting for that.”

The peacekeepers said in videos posted online on Thursday that they were being treated well.

House Pushes Bill to Limit Everglades Cleanup Costs for Agriculture

Tampa Bay Times; Mary Ellen Klas

A bill that would shift some of the cost of cleaning up the Everglades from sugar and agricultural interests to Florida taxpayers and South Florida property owners is on the fast track in the Florida House.

The measure, which phases out the tax on the agriculture industry to pay for pollution cleanup, received unanimous bipartisan approval Thursday in the House State Affairs Committee, just two days after it was introduced.

Supporters say the legislation, PCB 13-01, is needed to codify the Everglades cleanup settlement between Gov. Rick Scott and the federal government. The state agreed to spend $880 million under the deal to follow through on cleaning up the state’s famed River of Grass.

Theoretically, just a quick fix for one settlement, but will it apply to other events?

LEGO Craftmanship of the Day: 400,000 Brick Hogwarts

It took Seattle-based LEGO artist Alice Finch one year and 400,000 bricks to complete this recreation of Harry Potter’s Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

There is a video for clicking through.  I don’t know how to embed.  ICanHazCheeseburger is good for more than cats 😉