According to several media reports, two Navy pilots flying F/A-18 Super Hornets, flew a couple hundred feet above Bobby Dodd Stadium last November, just before a Georgia Tech football game. While it is a tradition to fly the planes above the stadium following the national anthem, Navy requires that flyovers stay over 1,000 feet from the ground. Apparently pilots Lt. Cmdr. Marc Fryman and Lt. Cmdr. Christopher Condon, both Georgia Tech graduates, simply made a slight miscalculation in flight height, and the incident cost them both their careers as naval aviators. Both pilots were permanently reassigned to non-flying positions.
Fryman's family tells the AJC that he was upset about the incident and reported it immediately after landing. "He would never intentionally put his career or lives on the line to give 'a good show.'"
In the Navy Times, Rear Adm. R.J. O'Hanlon advises that 'despite his spotless record, his complacent, passive response to a major altitude transgression is unforgivable in my view'.
Fryman's family was not satisfied with the decision. After 2,500 hours of service to the Navy, seven medals, and countless operations during Operation Iraqi Freedom, his family see's him as nothing short of a hero. Fryman graduated from Georgia Tech with a degree in Earth and Atmospheric Sciences and was the top jet pilot in his Navy flight class.
The decorated fighter pilot is now about to leave for his third assignment in the Middle East, a one year deployment in June. His family tells the AJC, We are astounded by the fact that he still remains grateful of heart to serve in whatever capacity his career takes him -- even if that means he can never fly for the Navy again. We see that as a heart-wrenching consequence of this incident."
#3
The Navy is now run by people who think its purpose is not to fight as indicated by Ms O'Hanlon's comments. They're going to suffer major defeats in the beginning of our next war until they are replaced by folks like Lt. Cmdr Fryman. It is unfortunate, but probable.
#5
When I was in college, some ROTC graduate buzzed his frat house on a Sunday morning with an F-4. 200 feet AGL, at best, with the afterburners lit. I was walking past the frat house when it happened.
I heard he got a dishonorable out of it.
Posted by: Mike ||
03/23/2010 18:22 Comments ||
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#6
The guy is decorated, spotless record, self reported, and they copped his wings?
Lemme guess that RADM, therefore ring knocker.
No chance of informal "Rocks and Shoals" style being put in hack instead?
I would think that don't destroy a career like that so capriciously unless you can reliably determine there was serious intent to break the rules. Doesn't sound like that was the case to me.
But what do I know, I was only an NCO, and knew that some of our best usually got a little slack because they were worth it, having a real soldier next to you in the shit, instead of some rules bound pogue.
#7
Sorry, I have to agree with Adm O'Hanlon on this one. If the rules say to stay above 1000 feet, they need to stay above 1000 feet, especially over a civilian area. Some small glitch in the engine could have caused a loss of altitude, and they could have crashed in to the stadium, killing who knows how many hundred or thousand people.
Pilots, especially fighter pilots, try this crap all the time, using the "I forgot" excuse.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
03/23/2010 19:53 Comments ||
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#8
Hotspur - you broke the page - see frequent "tips to commenters" on page width...
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/23/2010 20:15 Comments ||
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#9
As I thought: got more facts, it was the RADM being an ass.
According to documents obtained by The Virginian-Pilot, Lt. Cmdr. Christopher Condon and Lt. Cmdr. Marc Fryman reported the breach immediately after landing. The Navy quickly convened an evaluation board to consider whether they should continue flying.
The board found that they chose to fly using barometric altitude measurements (feet above sea level) instead of radar altitude measurements (feet above ground level) but failed to adjust their low-altitude warning systems accordingly.
By the time the alarm sounded, the pilots didn't have enough time to correct the mistake.
Although the pilots "inexplicably failed to recognize" how low they were flying, the board concluded, their lapse was neither intentional nor malicious. It recommended putting both pilots on probation, an outcome endorsed and forwarded up multiple levels of the chain of command.
The removing them from flying was exclusively the RADM showing his ass. Another flag-rank politician.
You have to figure that other than SOCOM rotor heads, and some Coasties, these are probably the best pilots in the world. To hit those wires on a moving flight deck at 100+ kts after flying and taking the war ot the enemy, that takes courage and skill that we can ill afford to lose on the basis of some ring knocker's fit of spleen.
If the guy had a habit of cutting corners or ignoring rules, then yeah. But that's not the case, and the entire chain of command recommended otherwise. Not to mention this is the FIRST flyby this pilot has done as a lead, so there is possibility of the error described. On top of that his record was spotless and he has tons of combat hours as well. "All that Attaboy gets wiped out by one Awshit", as we used to say, but it shouldn't have gotten his ticket pulled.
#11
VARIOUS NET POSTERS > opine or believe that POTUS BAMMER intends to use Amerika's newfound national weaknesses to "justify" a weak andor non-response by the US to ANY SERIOUS ISLAMIST/JIHAD-LED ESCALATION IN REGIONAL-OR-BEYOND VIOLENCE, NEW INSURGENCIES DURING THE BAMMER PERIOD OF PRESIDENCY [2010-2012/2016].
IOW, ARTIC SCOPE > "Permanently reassigned" may not be so???
#12
OS, I doubt the administration wants skilled military personnel anymore - if you don't have them you CAN'T fight wars, and don't have to make phony excuses.
#13
"I doubt the administration wants skilled military personnel anymore "
It's like with the Mambo Chimp Hoogo Cha-vez,
who set up his own private army based on Al Qaida,
the Caliph Hussein has stated repeatedly that
he is GOING TO SET UP HIS OWN MILITIA!
The foreigner from Kenya has managed with his friend to hijack the US Presidency,
you'd think that will be a piece of cake.
First, like hoogo, he'll pack the supreme court,
set up a crisis like Putin did(blow up something
big downtown)delay elections then get himself nominated "President for Life".
The formidable Iranian Military went out
without even a wimp, the present one here
will do the same, it will obediently go home...
#14
If you want a low flyby, by a navy jet, watch this Marine show you how its done - this was TCU at Navy. I guess the Admirals have a different standard for USNA games.
Coulda snagged the flag mast with his tailhook.
Supposedly featured it on 60 minutes, supposedly he was trying to avoid a civilian aircraft. Pre 9/11. Allegedly did not cost him his wings. (Can anyone verify?)
#15
OS, I am not a pilot, (but I wanted to be when I was a kid), but it seems to me that a qualified pilot should be able to tell the difference between 1000 ft AGL and 200-300 feet visually.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
03/23/2010 21:40 Comments ||
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#16
The formidable Iranian Military went out
without even a wimp, the present one here
will do the same, it will obediently go home...
I wouldn't bet on that. I do believe there is a line that should he cross it, that will be all she wrote.
Posted by: Secret Asian Man ||
03/23/2010 21:57 Comments ||
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#3
The story doesn't mention that his work was ripped off by Chinese, and they took all the credit for solving the Poincare Conjecture. He was really angry and bitter about it. His rejection of the award is the only way that he can have any sort of control over the situation.
#5
Contrasting people who will do anything for fame and celebrity (see any "reality" show contestant), with those who would avoid such attention, I would suggest it is the former who have the "problem". This guy is just smart, shy, and principled. I respect him.
#10
He's an ascetic. His life is focused entirely on his pursuit of mathematics.
He understands that accepting the prize and the money will bring distractions and change his life no matter how he tries to avoid it. Even rejecting is is a major distraction.
He also appears to have made a realistic self-appraisal. It seems to me that he's quite sane.
#13
He's very likely sane. Like all Russians above a certain age he a) doesn't trust any authority, b) is terrified of financial swindles and violent crime, both of which are rampant in the new Russia, and c) owns an apartment which was assigned to him in the Soviet era, and he probably makes enough money from tutoring and some consulting to live in the style he's accustomed to.
Were he to accept the cash, he would quickly become a mark for neighborhood criminals, including those who wear the uniforms of the Moscow police. Not everyone is sophisticated enough to spirit money into Cypriot or Swiss bank accounts and keep it from being stolen.
#14
The "Dumbbell Award" was given in Dallas every year at a charity event. Ross Perot won the award for waiting 30 days to cash his GMC check. This guy should at least be nominated.
#15
When it comes to mathematical eccentrics, Dr. Perelman is hardly the strangest. See Grothendieck, Erdős, Gödel, Bloch (who murdered his mother-in-law), Newton, and many others.
He's probably embarrassed by the attention.
I should know; I'm an ex-mathematician myself. I didn't publish enough.
Posted by: Eric Jablow ||
03/23/2010 20:30 Comments ||
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The Chinese National Tourism Administration has said that from April 12, 2010, the Democratic People's Republic of North Korea and the Federated States of Micronesia will be new outbound travel destinations for Chinese citizens in tour groups.
This will the first time that the DPRK will allow foreign tourists to enter the country after it froze visits by Chinese tourists from December 10, 2009. CNTA is reminding travel agencies that they should prepare group visas before taking tourists to the DPRK.
According to some travel agencies, most Chinese tourists would leave for the DPRK from Dandong in Liaoning province or from Beijing or Shenyang on flights to Pyongyang the capital of North Korea. Statistics show that Chinese tourists account for 90% of overseas tourists visiting North Korea each year.
#1
ION WMF > RUSSIA INTENDS TO COPY, BUILD, AND DEPLOY "MISTRAL"-TYPE AMPHIBIOUS CARRIER-ASSAULT SHIPS AGZ CHINA'S "VARYAG" AND THE NEW HELO CARRIERS OF JAPAN AND SOUTH KOREA. RUSSIAN NAVAL FORCE MODERNIZATION 2015-2025.
The only prob wid Russia's desired schemas is having the $$$ = strong Econmy, Mil Budget to support, carry out the above.
[Iran Press TV Latest] Internet search giant Google has stopped providing service in China over 'rows' with the Beijing government, a move seen as a step toward quitting world's largest online market.
After months of disputes with Beijing over purported cyber attacks on Google's email service, Gmail, from China, the search engine gianr announced Monday that it has stopped censoring search results on its China search engine, and decided to provide Chinese Internet-surfers with anti-government material via redirecting Chinese searches through its Hong Kong server.
"On January 12, we announced on that Google and more than twenty other US companies had been the victims of a sophisticated cyber attack originating from China," Google wrote on its official blog.
The Internet search provider claimed China "routinely accessed Gmail accounts of dozens of human rights activists" through phishing, pharming and placing malicious software programs on theirs computers.
The world's number one Internet search engine said the decision comes after it failed to reach an agreement with the Chinese government for permission to operate an uncensored search site in the country.
The move has drawn the ire of Chinese officials, with China's State Council Information Office, a regulatory body on information access, condemning the decision and dubbing it "violation" of prior negotiations with the California-based company.
US authorities have also reacted to the latest row, with the White House expressing "disappointment" for a lack of headway in China-Google talks.
Google is the second-largest search engine in mainland China, after Baidu.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/23/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Google.com is being redirected to google.com.hk now. Freaking irritating as hell.
#2
I'd be more impressed if they hadn't colluded with China previously to censor searches. They only got religion after the Chinese gov't hackers got into their email system. Lie down with dogs, etc.
Four German pensioners have been found guilty of kidnapping James Amburn, the financial adviser they blamed for US property investments that went awry.
When the group's attempts to recover their money in the courts failed, they kidnapped Mr Amburn from his home in Speyer, Rhineland-Palatinate, in western Germany last June.
They tied him up with tape and gagged him, put him in a box in the boot of a car and drove him to Bavaria.
Along the way, they beat him up, breaking two ribs when he tried to flee during a stop.
They finally locked him in a well-prepared basement of a house close to the Chiemsee lake in Bavaria.
He was then forced to sign papers promising to refund the money the pensioners had lost in the US property crash.
But Mr Amburn managed to insert a message to call police in a fax sent to his Swiss bank. The bank then raised the alarm with German police, who stormed the lakeside house.
#1
Banksters and their allies should pay attention. Actions have consequences and eventually their frauds will trigger 'investor rage' which will come back to bite them on their sorry asses.
The country will probably see a "record trade deficit" in March thanks to surging imports, Minister of Commerce Chen Deming said on Sunday, while warning that Beijing will "fight back" if Washington labels China a currency manipulator.
Speaking at the three-day China Development Forum that ends on Monday, Chen said: "I believe there will be a trade deficit in March" - which will be the first since May 2004.
After China's exports rebounded in December, US legislators and economists have been demanding the Barack Obama administration label China a currency manipulator in a US Treasury report due out in mid-April, which will make it possible for Washington to slap duties on Chinese imports.
Continued on Page 49
#1
The artificially low value of the Yuan is like a tax on everyone _in_ China directed towards supporting exports. I'm sure the nomenklatura or whatever the equivalent in China is would like to stop trading for worthless dollars, but it looks to me like they're too addicted to their tax-in-all-but-name.
[Iran Press TV Latest] Turkey's chief of the Supreme Court of Appeals has attacked Ankara's bid to amend the constitution, mounting official resistance against the proposals.
Judge Hasan Gerceker denounced the constitutional reform package as "unconstitutional," Reuters reported on Monday.
The opposition has already claimed that the package is driven by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP)'s quest for more power.
The AKP, which enjoys a large parliamentary majority, says the package is needed to control the power of judges and prosecutors and to pave the way for Turkey's EU membership.
"The government should avoid actions that could damage the principles of separation of powers and independence of the judiciary," Gerceker said.
The government has begun talks with opposition parties to rally support for the reforms and says it might hold a plebiscite on the package, should it fail to earn the required two-thirds parliamentary approval.
"Turkey cannot continue with this constitution," Deputy Prime Minister Cemil Cicek told reporters in Ankara. "These changes have to happen."
Posted by: Fred ||
03/23/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
This sounds like something Nancy Pelosi would say.
Forget all that indecorous talk of animal flatulence, cow burps, vegetarianism and global warming. Welcome to Cowgate.
Lower consumption of meat and dairy products will not have a major impact in combating global warming — despite persistent claims that link such diets to more greenhouse gases. So says a report presented Monday before the American Chemical Society.
It is the bovine version of Climategate, complete with faulty science and noisy activists with big agendas.
Cows and pigs have gotten a "bum rap," said Frank Mitloehner, an air quality expert at the University of California at Davis who authored the report. He is plenty critical of scientists and vegetarian activists such as Paul McCartney who insist that livestock account for about a fifth of all greenhouse-gas emissions.
He also is critical of highly-publicized campaigns that call for "meatless Mondays" or push the motto "Less Meat = Less Heat," a European campaign launched in December during the Copenhagen climate summit. Talk of pricey air pollution permits of a "cow tax" for already cash-strapped farmers has surfaced in the U.S. and abroad.
Mr. Mitloehner said the claims that livestock are to blame for global warming are both "scientifically inaccurate" and a dangerous distraction from more important issues.
He has traced the problem back to a 2006 United Nations report, "Livestock's Long Shadow," that read: "The livestock sector is a major player, responsible for 18 percent of greenhouse gas emissions measured in CO2e (carbon dioxide equivalents). This is a higher share than transport."
Yes, livestock are major producers of methane, one of the greenhouse gases. But Mr. Mitloehner faults the methodology of the U.N. report, contending that the calculations were off.
In the report, the damning livestock "emissions" included those of the digestive variety — along with gases produced by growing animal feed and actual meat and milk processing. But the transportation analysis factored in only fossil fuel emissions from cars.
"This lopsided analysis is a classical apples-and-oranges analogy that truly confused the issue," Mr. Mitloehner said.
Livestock burps have been vilified for a decade, however.
In 2000, Australian scientists reported that cows and sheep created 90 percent of methane emissions in that nation. German scientists went so far as to create fist-sized indigestion pills for their burping cows. Two years ago, Argentine scientists resorted to strapping plastic tanks to the backs of their cows to collect and measure their gaseous outputs.
"We certainly can reduce our greenhouse-gas production, but not by consuming less meat and milk. Producing less meat and milk will only mean more hunger in poor countries," Mr. Mitloehner said.
The focus of confronting climate change, he said, should be on smarter farming, not less farming.
"The developed world should focus on increasing efficient meat production in developing countries where growing populations need more nutritious food. In developing countries, we should adopt more efficient, Western-style farming practices to make more food with less greenhouse gas production," Mr. Mitloehner said.
#1
Lower consumption of meat and dairy products will not have a major impact in combating global warming -- despite persistent claims that link such diets to more greenhouse gases
So did the idiots just figure out that cows can eat way more grass than I can?
#2
Yokay, I'll bite, IIUC the future OWG-NWO must wipe out or otherwise control the Bovines + otherfarm Animals in righteous anti-Flatulence, COmmie-Socialist World Order Regulatory indignation, in order to save the natural Biomass which will be wiped out in favor of ALLEGED BIOMASS-DESTROYING? GRREN/GREEN ENERGY TECHS = NT which many Netters + Perts argue is inefficient andor at best ineffective in conserving and meeting our national energy demands???
*1970's YOUNG JOHN TRAVOLTA = VINCENT "VINNY" BARBARINO = "I'M SOOO-O-O CONFUSED, MR. KOTTER"!
[Iran Press TV Latest] In Thailand, the leaders of anti-government street protests have called for a historic rally in the capital Bangkok this weekend.
Opposition leaders said Monday they want to paralyze Bangkok, adding that the rally would be their largest show of force yet. Anyone who's ever experienced Bangkok traffic realizes that "paralyzing" the place isn't much of an accomplishment. It happens every day, protesters or not!
Tens of thousands of protesters have remained on the streets near Bangkok's tourist district in their trademark red shirts. They want Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva to dissolve the country's parliament.
However, Abhisit, governing with parliamentary and military backing, has repeatedly refused to bow to the protesters' demands. He argues the deep political divisions would undermine chances of any peaceful elections.
The red-shirted protestors are mainly supporters of the ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
The twice-elected Thaksin was ousted in a military coup in 2006 and later sentenced to two years in jail for alleged corruption. Nevertheless, the former prime minister remains hugely popular among the rural poor, who have staged frequent rallies calling for his return to power.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/23/2010 00:00 ||
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[Al Arabiya Latest] Rose Hatem's home overlooks the Mediterranean and is just a short distance from one of Lebanon's longest rivers. But twice a week the 60-year-old has to buy water for her daily needs.
"I have been buying in water since I moved here 14 years ago," Hatem told AFP in the picturesque village of Amsheet, north of the Lebanese capital Beirut. "In the summer, when demand is high, I'm often left without a drop."
Hers is a story repeated across Lebanon, one of the rare countries in the Middle East considered relatively rich in water. But many people still have to buy it because of a lack of a proper supply network and effective conservation.
Experts warn that unless Lebanon takes proper measures to protect its precious water resources, little will be left for future generations as the population, which currently stands at four million, increases.
Fadi Comair, who heads hydraulic and electrical resources at the energy and water ministry, said that unless the problem is addressed, and quickly, Lebanon could even run dry within four years.
"There is no miracle solution," he said. "We need to build dams, artificial lakes, a new network and work hand in hand with the private sector.
"If you take into account population increase and climate change, we have enough water to last us another four years, until 2015," Comair said.
It is a warning that hits home hard where it hurts the most.
"As we celebrate World Water Day on Monday we must reflect on the fact that Lebanon should be exporting this resource rather than sitting by and watching it slowly diminish," said Antoine Issa, head of the local council in Amsheet.
"This is a blessing and we have no idea how to preserve it."
The tiny country bordering Syria and Israel has no fewer than 40 major streams, 2,000 springs and numerous waterfalls that form each year with the melting snow.
But the 1975-1990 civil war and years of political unrest have relegated the water issue to the backburner. Water rights are also a constant source of dispute between Lebanon and Israel, where the resource is even more scarce.
Comair said Lebanon annually has an average 2.1 billion cubic meters (73.5 billion cubic feet) of renewable hydraulic resources.
"We use about a billion of that as drinking water or for irrigation and industrial purposes," Comair said. "The rest, meaning more than half, is dumped in the Mediterranean."
Posted by: Fred ||
03/23/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Lest we fergit, AFRICA'S/NORTH AFRICA'S WATER WARS + AFRICA: THE GREAT WATER WAR OF 2050, and related.
* IIRC TOPIX > LAND OF LAKES AND NOTHING TO DRINK [lack of water infrastructure].
#4
And when Israel gets annoyed at Hezbollah and bombs its enablers back into the stone age....
Posted by: Eric Jablow ||
03/23/2010 20:32 Comments ||
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#5
ION WMF > EXPERTS: GLOBAL WAR(S) MAY DETONATE/EXPODE AS EARTH'S CLIMATE CONSTINUES TO DETERIORATE, WORLD POLITICAL, MILITARY LEADERS MUST PAY CLOSE ATTENTION TO THE GEOPOL CONSEQUENCES OF CLIMATE CHANGE.
As per,
* CLIMATE REFUGEES [Climate-forced Mass Migrations,
* "RUN DOWN" POOR OR WEAK STATES, REGIONS [read, THIRD WORLD e.g. AFRICA], espec those Weak-Poor wid LARGE TRACTS OF SURVIVING ARABLE LANDS + COLDER/COLER CLIMATES.
* WATER ISSUES > State, Region, Multi-region "Water Wars".
* OTHER VITAL-STRATEGIC RESOURCES > Struggles, Wars oer Replacement of CLIMATE-INDUCED LOSS(ES) E.g. VITAL-STRAT MINERALS, ADVANC OR NEW TECHNOLOGIES.
** SAME > UK INTERIOR MINISTRY REPORT: MUMBAI-STYLE MARITIME TERRORISM THE GREATEST THREAT TO 2012 LONDON OLYMPICS. Use of Riverine, Coastal Crafts to covertly deliver heavily armed SUICIDE, OTHER TERR STRIKE TEAMS AGZ LONDON = URBAN, OLYMPIC TARGETS.
#6
SAME > BRITAIN: INTERIOR MINISTRY FORECASTS AL QAEDA BRANCHES IN SAUDI ARABIA, EAST AFRICA TO STEADILY GROW STRONGER, MORE CAPABLE OF LAUNCHING OVERSEAS INTERNATIONAL TERROR STRIKES.
The soldiers in standard-issue fatigues and combat boots stood side-by-side repeating their creed: "I am an American soldier. I am a warrior and a member of a team. I serve the people of the United States and live the Army values ..."
Capt. Tejdeep Singh Rattan was no different except that he wore a full beard and black turban, the first Sikh in a generation allowed to complete U.S. Army basic officer training without sacrificing the articles of his faith. He completed the nine-week training Monday after Army officials made an exemption to a policy that has effectively prevented Sikhs from enlisting since 1984.
"I'm feeling very humbled. I'm a soldier," said the 31-year-old dentist, smiling after the ceremony at Fort Sam Houston. "This has been my dream."
Rattan had to get a waiver from the Army to serve without sacrificing the unshorn hair mandated by his faith. An immigrant from India who arrived in New York as a teenager, Rattan said he hopes his military commitment will allow him to give back to his adopted home country and will help diminish prejudice Sikhs sometimes face in the U.S.
The Army in 1984 eliminated an exemption that had previously allowed Sikhs to maintain their articles of faith while serving, but officials can issue individual waivers to the uniform policy after considering the effects on safety and discipline, said Army spokesman George Wright. Only a handful of such individual religious exemptions are ever granted.
Rattan and Dr. Kamaljeet Singh Kalsi, who will attend basic training this summer after completing an emergency medicine fellowship, are the first Sikhs to receive exemptions in more than 25 years.
Rattan — who received a master's degree in engineering before pursuing a dental education_ and Kalsi both offer health care skills that are in high demand in an Army stretched by wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Rattan said he encountered no trouble from fellow soldiers during training.
"The Army is all about what you have to offer. If you're sitting back there, not doing anything, they're definitely going to talk about you. But if you're up there running with them, you have good scores, you run neck-and-neck with them, they love you," he said. "I made a lot of friends."
1st Sgt. Jeffrey DeGarmo said he made sure the officers-in-training in his unit understood that Rattan wasn't a foreign national and had received the Army's permission to maintain his beard and turban. Once the other soldiers understood that, there were no issues, he said.
"It went pretty well," DeGarmo said. "I think he did an outstanding job adjusting."
During training, Rattan wore a helmet over the small turban, which he doesn't remove, and was able to successfully create a seal with his gas mask despite the beard, resolving the Army's safety concerns, said Harsimran Kaur, the Sikh Coalition's legal director.
Rattan also worked with an Army tailor to create an insignia patch normally worn on soldiers' berets that could be affixed to his black turban, she said.
An estimated 300,000 Sikhs live in the United States. The unshorn hair wrapped in a turban and beard are required to keep adherents in the natural state in which God made them, said Amardeep Singh, director of the Sikh Coalition, a New York-based advocacy group that helped Rattan and Kalsi push for Army admittance.
The Sikh community has a long tradition of military service in India, from where most adherents originally emigrated, and in other countries, such as the United Kingdom and Canada. Sikhs represent 2 percent of India's population but make up about 30 percent of that country's army officers, Singh said.
Before the Army's regulation change in 1984, Sikhs served in the U.S. military during every major armed conflict going back to World War I. Those who joined before the change were allowed to serve with their beards and turbans, but the policy effectively prevented new enlistment of Sikhs, Kaur said.
The coalition continues to push the Army to change the overall policy.
"If government can say to someone, 'You can't serve, not for any reason that has to do with your abilities,' that sends the wrong message," Singh said. "We don't want to be perpetual outsiders." I am glad to see the Sikhs back in uniform. As a rule of thumb they are a strong asset to any unit to which they belong.
Do I smell desperation?
KUALA LUMPUR: A rose may stop smelling like a rose. This is the concern of environmentalists as flowers are losing their scent due to climate change and air pollution. And their fragrance may be lost forever.
Science and Technology Professor Emeritus at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Dr Abdul Latif Mohamad, said genetically modified flowers might be the way out.
Climate change is also the reason Kuala Lumpur City Hall is increasingly turning to shady trees, because flowers which previously formed the centrepiece of its beautification programme have been wilting fast.
Datuk Bandar Datuk Ahmad Fuad Ismail said City Hall used to spend RM1.5 million ($635,100) a month to plant and maintain flowers in the city, but the contractor's services were terminated in March last year. City Hall has taken over the planting, opting for bou-gainvillea and the tropical shrubs, Ixora, for their durability and cheaper cost.
Under the previous arrangement, some of the small flowers cost RM3.50 per seedling.
"It was getting too costly to beautify the city. Flowers were dying fast," he said, adding that City Hall would continue to plant shady trees more suited for soaking up the increasing pollution and coping with global warming.
Latif said UKM might have offered plausible reasons as to why some pollinators were not spreading flower seeds, a pattern caused by the missing "scent trail" with scent tissues burning easily due to global warming.
"The aroma producing chemical compounds in flowers dry up faster now compared with before."
The only way out, he said, was to genetically modify the flowers so that the effects would not be permanent and the future generation would not be robbed of nature's beauty.
"The act is almost like producing essential oils. Scientists add on certain chemicals for stronger scent."
He said scents in flowers last longer in colder climate as plants can hold on to their essential oils longer. "The flowers may still have strong scents in colder climate. But locally, we fear this might be lost forever."
With flowers emitting lesser scent, the insects and butterflies are travelling further and longer to get a share of nectar.
Latif said birds and insects were heading towards hilly areas and deeper into the jungles where the weather is cooler.
He related an incident in Sungai Siput, Perak, where the farmers failed to get fruits from their orchards. Upon investigation, Latif's team discovered that the flowers were no longer pollinating after dust from a hill blast blocked the growth of stigmas.
He said Malaysians could no longer rely on nature to heal itself without the help of science. He said Malaysia needed to follow in the footsteps of Japan, Europe, the United States, China and South Korea which have invested millions in the research of genetically modified seeds.
Forest Research Institute Malaysia (FRIM) director-general Datuk Dr Abdul Latif Mahmod said recently the extreme weather change might affect the life span of trees as a result of lighter or heavier rain.
"We should look at how trees can be mutated so that they will not be destroyed."
He said experts, including from FRIM, should look at ways to prolong the lifespan of certain plants.
Meanwhile, Natural Resources and Environment Deputy Minister Tan Sri Joseph Kurup said given the extreme climate changes, every country should work together and not in isolation.
He said the decline in global biodiversity and ecosystem services urgently called for proactive measures. "Both policy-makers and researchers need to work hand in hand to strengthen forest genetics, breeding and conservation."
#3
In actuality, the problem was due to local pollution. This gets changed in the article to "pollution and climate change" and then in the headline it's just Climate Change.
I've noticed the same thing regarding coral reefs in Indonesia and Malaysia dying of pollution. It's described as "pollution and climate change" and then reported as Climate Change without the pollution, when it turns out that the area is suffering from fish kills from chemicals dumped in the water....
#4
Scientists' ability to do science diminished by gerbil worming...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
03/23/2010 12:34 Comments ||
Top||
#5
Riiiiight. Heat is so bad for roses that most of the ones you buy in the florist shops are from places like Colombia. Rose attar is harvested from places like Iran, India, and Pakistan...and many of the rosebushes for sale here started out in Arizona. (The largest rose bush in the world is in Tombstone, Arizona, BTW.)
I know it is politically incorrect, but maybe they are just crappy gardeners???
#6
Breeding for beautiful blooms rather than scent. This has been going on for decades. It's amazing how manmade selection works as effectively as the natural kind.
Posted by: trailing wife on the other computer ||
03/23/2010 14:52 Comments ||
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#7
Have they blamed the Toyota acceleration problems on gerbil worming yet? You know it's coming.
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.
The Chinese National Tourism Administration has said that from April 12, 2010, the Democratic People's Republic of North Korea and the Federated States of Micronesia will be new outbound travel destinations for Chinese citizens in tour groups.
[Iran Press TV Latest] Internet search giant Google has stopped providing service in China over 'rows' with the Beijing government, a move seen as a step toward quitting world's largest online market. 
