Before everyone gets upset, it's NOT our Muck4Doo.
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - State water and wildlife managers are taking advantage of an unprecedented drought by removing life-choking muck along Lake Okeechobee's shoreline. I take offense at the description of Muck as life-choking. He's a bit odd but not that way.
The 500,000 cubic yards of rotted, dead plant life and sediment - enough to fill Dolphin Stadium from the field to its highest seat - will be trucked from the lake starting Thursday. Its removal over several months will return the bottom of the lake along its southwest shoreline to a more natural sandy base and create clearer water and better habitat for plants and wildlife.
Lake Okeechobee is a backup drinking water source for millions in South Florida and the lifeblood of the Everglades. It has dropped to a near-record low after a months-long drought experts say is the worst the region has ever seen. It wouldn't have dropped that low if not for "Flood Control".
While the drought has led to severe water restrictions across the state, it has presented an opportunity to clean portions of the highly polluted lake, as water levels have dropped enough to expose typically submerged shoreline. The muck, which has accumulated over the years, is choking life from the lake's shore. It prevents sunlight from reaching the bottom, keeps fish from laying eggs and inhibits plant growth. I think they should call it Sediment. Muck is a really nice person. I think he should sue for defamation of character.
Portions of shoreline will soon see the return of wading birds, fish and native plants long smothered by the blanket of muck, which has become more of a dry, soil-like material after baking in the sun, said Don Fox, a biologist with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
He said fish breeding attempts have been futile. "When they try to lay eggs in this muck, they just sink down," Fox said. "There's low oxygen content and they just die."
The initial removal is part of an $11.5 million project that will eventually take out about 3.8 million cubic yards of muck along up to 15 miles of shoreline, he said. It is the largest ever such project at the 730-square-mile body of water, the second-largest natural freshwater lake in the contiguous United States, behind Lake Michigan. Wonder where they're gonna put it. It's Hazardous Waste.
Just dump it in some suburb somewhere, no one will notice.
Much of the lake's problems lie in its high phosphorous levels, which cause pollution in estuaries and in the Everglades. The majority of the life-killing nutrient is buried in muck at the lake's center - about 50,000 tons of it over 300 square miles, experts say. This is from fertilizers.
The project beginning Thursday will remove some of the phosphorous, but state water managers are still devising a plan to get out the rest of it. "The big benefit will be getting that material off the lake bottom so we can get the plant life back and restore the fisheries habitat," said Susan Gray, deputy executive director of watershed management for the South Florida Water Management District, which is also working on the project. "But when you get the vegetation growing back in the lake, you also get an improved ability for the lake to absorb phosphorous."
Audubon of Florida scientist Paul Gray called the effort a step in the right direction, but noted, "it's not going to save the lake." "It's still a really good thing," Gray said. "But if the lake would fluctuate normally, we wouldn't have to do this. Mother Nature would fix it."
Lake Okeechobee has suffered from years of dikes, dams and diversions intended for flood control. Its main water source, the Kissimmee River, starting to the north near Orlando, was diverted in the 1960s by the Army Corps of Engineers with a 22-mile canal. The move flushed massive amounts of water and pollution from urban runoff and agriculture into the lake. The corps is working to restore the river.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
05/25/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Hey, if all ya got is cherries, make cherry pie. Take the barge to Columbia and dump it on Hugo.
#3
Phosphorous is the single most critical element in fertilizer, and the hardest to find & process. This project could be a phosphorous mine/recycling program as much as a lake restoration program. Bag the muck up and sell it to farmers.
#5
Deacon: Wonder where they're gonna put it. It's Hazardous Waste.
Doc Steve: Just dump it in some suburb somewhere, no one will notice.
I thought the reporter's idea of putting it in Dolphin Stadium was a good one. Couldn't stink any worse than the team.
#6
The muck could have been removed years earlier but for the regs that, for all practical purposes, prohibit dredging. Thus the State has to wait for droughts to get this done. Regarding disposel, this should not be a problem. Florida (like most States) has landfills that have reached capacity and need to be topped with material that provides a growth medium. Florida also has abandoned sugar plantations which could use a layer of muck.
#8
Phosphorous is the biomass-limiting element on the planet. There is excess available supply of all the other elements common to life (carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, sulfur, etc.), but not phosphorous. 'New' phosphorous enters the ecosystem with volcanic eruptions - hence the exceptional fertility of volcanic hillsides, once new life gets started.
I was not being facetious when I said they should bag this stuff and sell it - it really could be a business opportunity.
#9
I went to the depot for some dry lake bottom
all they had left was north shore muck
I bought 8 bags and drove home in a downpour
that's how I got a gator in my pickup truck.
Kurt Are Boine Nikkinen was on a fishing trip, but made his biggest catch with his camera. Nikkinen, 31, was on his way home from a fishing trip when he spotted a white moose in Tanadalen, 30 kilometers east of Karasjok in Finnmark County in northern Norway.
Around Wednesday midnight, the albino moose was out in a field, just about 100 meters from the road. "It stood and looked at me," Nikkinen told Aftenposten.no.
Lucky you, it could have charged.
The Finnmark man had a video camera in his car and filmed the moose, also driving after it when the moose ran along the road, and at one point was only about 20 meters from the animal. "It was completely white and had red eyes," Nikkinen said.
After a while the animal turned and crossed the road behind Nikkinen's car before disappearing into a field on the other side. "Don't miss our next exciting episode: 'Don't Fire Until You See The Reds of the White Moose's Eyes' or 'All the Moose That's Fit to Print.'"
Posted by: Mike ||
05/25/2007 12:42 ||
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#1
A Møøse once bit my sister...
Sorry, it's a Friday.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
05/25/2007 13:43 Comments ||
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#2
...And good night, Jay Ward, wherever you are...
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
05/25/2007 13:55 Comments ||
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#3
"This time for sure!"
Posted by: Jonathan ||
05/25/2007 14:42 Comments ||
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#4
The moose could have charged, but it let Nikkinen use his Nikon for free.
#2
Several possibilities. First is a big diversion of diesel somewhere else. Second is that the refineries are cracking some other type of fuel so are producing less diesel.
Since the US has the 3rd Army Area Support Group in Qatar, this would most likely mean diversion for US forces in Iraq, for the purposes of stockpiling in POL depots.
If it is for the Stennis, Nimitz and Bohomme Richard groups in the Gulf, it would not be diesel, but the refineries would most likely be producing a LOT of jet fuel, for LOTS of air sorties (ahem).
As for the ships, they consume "bunker fuel" aka "Navy special", but at a very predictable rate, for which they have their own refuelling oilers.
A fresh look at Rommel.
The gentleman-warrior image of Desert Fox general Erwin Rommel has been shattered in a new German documentary, which paints him as a lickspittle of Adolf Hitler whose victories were meant to pave the way for the export of the Holocaust to the Middle East.
#1
Interesting that they acknowledge the Arabs' alliance with the Nazis, not just for military reasons, but shared values and goals. Doesn't seem politically correct to mention that.
Rommel was a truly brilliant General and perhaps the most gifted tank commander who ever buttoned up, despite the fact that he was fighting for an evil cause, and a truly evil leader. Not that it excuses him, but Rommel absolutely despised Hitler....all American intelligence accounts of the period agree with this. Sorry but I don't trust Germans to get their own history right.
#3
As a student of the war iin the east, when you think of all the field commanders the German Army used on the eastern front: von Manstein, von Kliest, Guderian, von Bock, Hoepner, Hausser, von Kluge and so on, one name stands out rather glaringly for its absence and that is General Irwin Rommel. Why, if Rommel was this great field commander, he never was assigned a field command in the east is a mystery to me.
The German generals listed and more stand heads and shoulders above Rommel in sheer abiliity.
Also, the Afrika Korps was 80 percent Italian troops, so if Rommel was knee deep in the Nazi's plan to exterminate Jews in Palestine, the Italians were eyeball deep in them.
The relationship of German generals to Hitler could be summed up in one word: Chief of the General Staff. Top field commanders were required to go through the chief of general staff if they wanted Hitler to intervene for them or if they wanted to appeal an order. It was rare that Hitler met with German generals one on one and after Hitler assumed the role of chilef of general staff, relationships with field commanders changed for the worse. It is very unlikely Hitler had a personal relationship with Rommel.
The article looks like a smear job, but then Rommels absence from the Eastern Front really blemished the man's rep as a field commander in my eyes.
#4
He definitely did have an in with the Nazi Party in the late 1930's, as he was a sort of military celebrity from WWI. He does not seem to have been to shy about being a political soldier, at least early on.
Rommel was very junior for Corps or Army command in spite of his age, as he jumped straight to Divisional command from battalion - a political plum after possibly having been held back because of these political appointments.
He was a newly-minted divisional commander (7 Panzer) in May 1940. He got a Corps level command just six months after the French campaign, and an Army six months after that, but he was effectively commanding an Army even before his formal appointment.
I.e., months before the beginning of the Russian campaign he was already effectively an Army commander - and in actuality a Theater commander. He was on the same formal command level as Guderian, Kleist, Manstein and co. by August 1941 and he was trusted to run a much more independent operation than these others, being a sort of proconsul. Why should he have been moved to the Eastern Front ? He already had a much higher profile and more difficult job.
Everything considered, and considering the very intense opposition he faced with minimal resources, he compares very well I think with the best of the Eastern commanders.
Post-1943 there was a shortage of Army Group commands (the Africa command having been wiped out, and a lot of the Eastern Front commands were skeletons as well), and Rommel wasn't in such good odor anymore - besides being obviously burnt-out.
May german generals started to despise Hitler... after the first defeats. Most of the conjurees in the 20 July assassination attempt were totally unrepentant about the agressions and (probably) abput the holocaust. In fact they even pretended to keep part of Germany(s ill gottens gains in the West. Their coup was uniquely for getting a separate peace with the Allies and concentrate on the Russians.
Kaufenberg himself one of the few who really opposed Hitler for moral reasons had campaigned for Hitler against Hindenburg in the 1933 elections.
For Rommel I don't know in what group he belonged (people who had opened theuir eyes about Nazism or people who mereley wanted Hitler gone) but in 1940 his unit was involved in war crimes against Sengalese soldiers of teh French Army and in 1942 the Afrika Korps threatened the Bir Hakeim defenders to execute the Free French they had capturted but the order was cancelled after the Free French informed the Germans they would execute their (more numerous) German prisoners.
#6
Also, the Afrika Korps was 80 percent Italian troops ...
So, in 1942, Rommel captured Tobruk (and its garrison of 30,000+ Aussies and Brits) with an army composed of 80% Italians? Sounds like a battlefield genius to me :)
#7
The australian defence of Tobruk was in 1941. In 1942 Tobruk's garrison was South African not Australian and the Afrikaaner element was not too hot on the war due to 1) Many elemnts of the National Party (who was to create the apartheid) having some affinities with Nasis even if AFAIK they disn't share the geniocidiacl part of their ideology 2) Memorioes about British war crimes during the Boer War.
South African troops in WWII never came close to the superb performance they used to provide or to Australian or New Zelander performance.
#8
So, in 1942, Rommel captured Tobruk (and its garrison of 30,000+ Aussies and Brits) with an army composed of 80% Italians? Sounds like a battlefield genius to me :)
I knew a fella, an Italian, on a wargaming maillist some time back who argued somewhat futilely that the Afrika Korps was vaunted because of what Italian Army did in combat, not in spite of it.
His argument was that starting in 1940 the Italians grew from a colonial force whose main task was to chase civilians around to a seasoned fighting force capable of engaging and defeating the best militaries in the world.
Thanks for the history lesson, buwaya. It only somewhat degrades my argument that out of all the general officers in the Red Army only Rommel never received an east front appointment.
The Germans always sent their best to the east, always, and inasmuch as Rommel may have been young and capable of handling army group appointments, he may well have been over his head in the east.
Also on the eastern front, the German Army had its share of field commanders who rose just as fast as Rommel, not as intellectual as Rommel to be sure, but just as capable who fought their troops with distinction and to the high standards in the German that existed at the start of the war, despite constant shortages of men and materiel.
General Walter Model was one of those commanders and I am certain there are other I haven't even considered.
What's the origin of the expression, "Hands Down", I wonder?
Posted by: Bobby ||
05/25/2007 7:08 Comments ||
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#10
The hands-down origin of the word, however, is from horse racing. A hands-down victory is one that is so assured that a jockey can drop his hands and relax his grip on the reins as he approaches the line.
The phrase is first found in the late nineteenth century. The two earliest examples are literal references to horse races, which makes pretty clear the notion that this is the origin.
#11
I knew a fella, an Italian, on a wargaming maillist some time back who argued somewhat futilely that the Afrika Korps was vaunted because of what Italian Army did in combat, not in spite of it.
It was the staunch reesitance of the "armored" Ariete (who charged Sherman tanks with their undearmored, undergunned, underpowered tanks)and from the paras of the Folgore who saved the Afrikorps at el Alamein.
Problem of the Italian soldiers (aside of the disastrous effect on his morale of Italy's traecherous backstabbing of France and poor commanders) was that his country was Italy and thus his equipment was inferior to everyone's (the little industrialized countried like Greece bought weapons to the great powers so Greek soldiers were better equipped than the Italians). To give an idea of Italian army's poor equment second line units still had guns without recoil absorbers meaning that every time they fired they had to be brought in position again and they couldn't adjust fire (I am referring to the capability of post 1890 guns to base on outcome of previous shot for aiming: "100m long, 50m short, on target, fire for effect"). Soldiers must have faith on their weapons and on their ability to avoid being killed by killing the enemy first. Otherise they lose heart.
#12
For present purposes all you need to recall is that Patton called Rommel a "magnificent bastard".
Rather high praise from one warrior to another.
Posted by: Mark Z ||
05/25/2007 11:34 Comments ||
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#13
As far as Rommel being in bed with the Nazis:
If you look at the example of Guderian, Guderian often attended Nazi Party rallies. There is considerable evidence that Hitler's sponsorship of blitzkreig stemmed from the political alliance between Hitler and Guderian.
In contrast, Rommel is not known to have attended Nazi party functions. Also, the North African campaign was noted as one of the "cleanest" campaigns of WWII.
As far as the Italians and the Holocaust: The Italians and the Spaniards were among the least co-operative of Hitler's allies when it came to the New Order. Italian Fascists were very active in helping Jews hide and escape.
This argues against Rommel planning to export the Holocaust to the Middle East. Simply Stated, Rommel had a surplus of Italians (saboteurs) and a shortage of SS (enforcers). Any attempt to imtroduce the Holocaust to the Middle East was DOA.
Al
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
05/25/2007 12:52 Comments ||
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#14
Churchill to Parliament, 1.27.42: "We have a very daring and skilful opponent against us, and, may I say across the havoc of war, a great general."
#15
Some quick research to verify an old memory: Rommel was involved with the von Stauffenberg plot to kill Hitler and mount a coup. He differed with them on tactics- wanted to try Hitler, rather than make a martyr of him.
He was nobodys poodle. A look at the makers of this doco would be revealing.
#16
Quite a lot there far beyond Rommel's role. Also, wonde rif anyone's bothered to seke the views of Rommel's son - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manfred_Rommel
#17
You may well distrust the Germans to get their history right. But I hardly trust the British any better. The British Army's bungling in North Africa could be justified by a "brilliant adversary" and Rommel was manufactured for the purpose.
My grandfather fought in North Africa, btw. I am blaming the leadership - and Churchill, for that matter - and not the men or the technology. British tanks often out-classed their German and Italian equivalents. But for some reason the British could never work out their anti-air could be applied in an anti-tank role despite watching the Germans do precisely this to them over and over again.
#18
...My understanding is that Rommel was and is rightfully revered as a brilliant general and tactician, who - along with George Patton and others - created the foundations of modern armored warfare. But politically, Rommel was as bad as most of the others - as long as they thought they were winning, they backed Hitler. And although Rommel was involved in the plot against Hitler, it needs to be kept in mind that Rommel wouldn't have surrendered had he been part of a post-Hitler military. He wanted the western Allies to join Germany in going after the Russians.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
05/25/2007 17:02 Comments ||
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#19
I watched Rat Patrol...we clearly kicked his ass with .50's on jeeps ... a couple more, and this would've been shorter war
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/25/2007 17:22 Comments ||
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#20
I agree with some here that Rommel's legendary reputation was a bit inflated to excuse Allied losses at his hands. He was an audacious commander nonetheless--it was likely because an army as outmanned and under-supplied as his shouldn't have been attacking that caught the Allies flat-footed as much as Rommel's tactics.
But I think his legendary reputation really takes a hit from his association with the Atlantic Wall. To think of all the thousands of man-hours, tons of concrete, and Reichmarks they poured into their "wall", and the best it did was hold up the Americans on Omaha for several hours. By the afternoon of 6.June, the entire wall was useless.
Posted by: Dar ||
05/25/2007 17:31 Comments ||
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#21
Dar - is this what you're getting at:
"Fixed fortifications are a monument to the stupidity of man. Anything built by man, can be destroyed by him." - General George S. Patton Jr.
Prof. Anthony Komjathy, an instructor in tactics at the Hungarian Military Academy at the time of WWII, later became a history professor in the US at Loyola University in Chicago and Dominican University (Rosary College). I had the pleasure of taking modern world history from him at Rosary in the 1970s. He desctibed Italian armaments this way:
In the late 1930s an Italian unit was conducting tank maneuvers. Not far away, some Hungarian troops were staging maneuvers of its own. One of the Italian tanks got lost and blundered into the Hungarian area. When the Hungarians couldn't get the crews attention, somebody fired a machine gun at it. It blew up.
Prof. Anthony Komjathy, an instructor in tactics at the Hungarian Military Academy at the time of WWII, later became a history professor in the US at Loyola University in Chicago and Dominican University (Rosary College). I had the pleasure of taking modern world history from him at Rosary in the 1970s. He desctibed Italian armaments this way:
In the late 1930s an Italian unit was conducting tank maneuvers. Not far away, some Hungarian troops were staging maneuvers of its own. One of the Italian tanks got lost and blundered into the Hungarian area. When the Hungarians couldn't get the crews attention, somebody fired a machine gun at it. It blew up.
Section of interest in article is towards the bottom.
"Thompson railed in his southern drawl against "the pork-barrel spending and corruption" in Washington.
He mostly targeted the Democratic majority, but said some Republicans are also to blame. He said the party has been making compromises on issues like immigration and the Iraq war over fear of losing more seats in Congress.
"I think (the American people) want our leadership," Thompson said. "What should we do? Get our own house in order É We can't make decisions (that are) not in the best interests of our country."
He said America is beset by a variety of challenges, from government inefficiencies, to "entitlement programs (that are) bankrupting the next generation," to protecting citizens from terrorists.
"We're living in a nation beset by suicidal maniacs," Thompson said, launching into criticism of the immigration bill.
A strong supporter of the Iraq war, Thompson criticized Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid for publicly stating the war has been lost -- "fine, fine message to those people giving their lives for us" -- and the Democrats for debating a timetable for "surrender.
"Al-Qaida have a 100-year plan," Thompson said. "We have a plan until the next election."
Thompson also reiterated his support for President Bush's tax cuts, which have particularly benefited many of the lower Fairfield County residents who sat in the audience last night."
The coach of Bangladesh team, Dav Whatmore has turned down an offer from the Pakistan Cricket Board to consider coaching its national team.
A Pakistan Cricket Board official confirmed that negotiations with Whatmore had failed to come through.
"He has rejected our offer to have negotiations and has given no reasons for this," the official said in Karachi.
Whatmore's refusal would come as a big blow to the board as Sri Lankan coach Tom Moody, who was also approached, ignored its offer.
"Moody was asked to give his contact details but he refused saying he didn't want to deal with the Pakistan board," a source said.
Pakistan is searching for a new coach after the tragic death of Bob Woolmer during the World Cup on March 18, a day after Pakistan lost to Ireland and were bundled out of the prestigious tournament.
While Whatmore, who has also coached Sri Lanka, has ended his contract with Bangladesh and is negotiating with India, Moody who guided the Lankans to the final of the recent World Cup has signed up as coach of the Western Australian state
Posted by: John Frum ||
05/25/2007 18:33 ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
