Floodwaters Close in on Heart of Thai Capital

Bangkok, Capital of Thailand:

Bangkok is the capital and largest urban area city in Thailand. It is known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon or simply Krung Thep, meaning "city of angels."

The full name of Bangkok is Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahintharayutthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom Udomratchaniwet Mahasathan Amon Phiman Awatan Sathit Sakkathattiya Witsanukam Prasit. \

The 167 letters make Bangkok's name the longest city name in the world. Bangkok is by far the most densely populated city in Thailand with about 9 million people.

Bangkok was originally a small trading post on the west bank of the lower Chao Phraya River during the Ayutthaya Kingdom. It became the capital city in 1768 following the death of King Taksin when the capital was moved to the east bank of the river by Rama I. Today, Bangkok is one of the most important commercial centers in South East Asia and a gateway and principal destination for many visitors. It has more than 400 richly decorated temples, some of the biggest shopping centers in Asia, and six universities. Its numerous canals, some of which are home to floating markets, give Bangkok the name "Venice of the East.

From ABC News: Floodwaters Close in on Heart of Thai Capital
Floodwaters lapped Bangkok's largest outdoor market Saturday as officials warned that there were no major barriers between the water and the heart of the Thai capital, less than 6 miles (10 kilometers) away.

The country's worst flooding in half a century has affected more than a third of the country's provinces and killed almost 450 people nationwide. It has been spreading across Bangkok's north and west for more than a week, and officials have been struggling to protect the economically vital center of the city of 9 million people.

Hoping to divert some of the mass of water still piled up in northern Bangkok, workers Friday night completed a 3.7-mile (6-kilometer) flood wall made from massive, hastily assembled sandbags, said Bangkok city spokesman Jate Sopitpongstorn. But the city will have to rely on its existing drainage system to fight water that was already beyond the wall and just a few miles (kilometers) from the central business district, he said.

Over the past two decades, the city's much enlarged and improved drainage system has been able to effectively siphon off water during monsoon seasons with average rainfall. But it will be put to a severe test given the volume of water not seen in Bangkok since perhaps a great flood in the 1940s.

Sound predictions are difficult because various government officials, including the Bangkok governor and prime minister, have given often widely different versions of what can city residents can expect.
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AP
Vehicles cross a flooded street at the Lod... View Full Caption
Vehicles cross a flooded street at the Lod Praow district in Bangkok, Thailand, Friday, Nov. 4, 2011. Thailand's record floods encroached deeper into the capital Friday, swamping a major intersection in the northern edge of the city center and threatening the subway system. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila) Close

Water flowed past the eastern side of the famed Chatuchak Weekend Market, a sprawling, open-air shopping zone and major tourist attraction north of the central business district. Associated Press reporters saw only a few vendors and shoppers on a day that would normally be packed with sellers and buyers.

The floodwaters were also advancing southward in adjacent Lad Phrao, a district studded with office towers, condominiums and a popular shopping mall.

The floods, fed by unusually heavy monsoon rains and a string of tropical storms, started in northern Thailand in late July. They have destroyed millions of acres (hectares) of crops and forced thousands of factories to close, though few of the country's most popular tourist areas have been affected.

The government has asked residents in eight of the city's 50 districts to evacuate and said Saturday that Bangkok authorities have set up 231 evacuation centers capable of holding more than 65,000 people. More than 10,000 people have flocked to 121 of these shelters so far.

Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra told a radio audience Saturday that a plan to be put before the Cabinet on Tuesday would allocate 100 billion baht ($3.3 billion) for post-flood reconstruction.

"I admit that this task has really exhausted me, but I will never give up. I just need the public to understand," Yingluck said.

Jate, the city spokesman, denied a newspaper report that authorities would not defend Bangkok's key link to its southern provinces. He said the city will seek to divert any water headed into the area via a canal to the Thachin River west of the city.

While some roads out of the capital are still passable in every direction, the two major safe corridors from the city run to the south and the east, where Bangkok's international airport is located. Officials maintain they are confident that Suvarnabhumi Airport — the city's only aerial gateway to the outside world — will remain open. Bangkok's second airport, used for domestic flights, is already underwater and remains closed.

National Geographic Searches For Longevity Secrets in Icaria

From Greek Reporter: National Geographic Searches For Longevity Secrets in Icaria
Residents of the island of Icaria on average live up to 90 years, which is thrice as much as in the USA. This fact has been enough to gather the attention of a National Geographic team, who visited the island in search of the secrets leading to a long healthy life.

The team of experts found out that cancer, cardiovascular, diabetes and senile dementia incidents are considerably less frequent, since the geographical features of the island require constant physical exercise.

The researchers have also discovered that herbs and the green tea consumption are placed high on the locals’ everyday nutrition list, which result in a low blood pressure. Many of the longevity secrets revolve around the Mediterranean nutrition including fruits, vegetables, fish and olive oil, elements prolonging the estimated duration of life.

Furthermore, the slow pace of life followed by the Icariots is contributing to their well-being. Most of them do not wear a watch, so the concept of time-stress is completely strange to them. Last but not least, the afternoon siesta (sleep) seems to be a powerful weapon against depression.

Underwater volcano creates a brand new Canary Island

The Canary Islands, also known as the Canaries, are a Spanish archipelago located just off the northwest coast of mainland Africa, 100 km west of the border between Morocco and the Western Sahara. The Canaries are a Spanish autonomous community and an outermost region of the European Union. The islands include (from largest to smallest): Tenerife, Fuerteventura, Gran Canaria, Lanzarote, La Palma, La Gomera, El Hierro, La Graciosa, Alegranza, Montaña Clara, Roque del Este, Roque del Oeste and Isla de Lobos. The Canary Islands are legally recognized as a nationality of Spain.

The archipelago's beaches, climate and important natural attractions, especially Teide National Park and Mount Teide (the third tallest volcano in the world), make it a major tourist destination, with over 12 million visitors per year, especially Tenerife, Gran Canaria and Lanzarote.

The islands have a subtropical climate, with long warm summers and moderately warm winters. Due to their location close to the equator yet away from tropical storms and location above the temperature inversion layer, these islands are ideal for astronomical observation. For this reason, two professional observatories, Teide Observatory on the island of Tenerife and Roque de los Muchachos Observatory on the island of La Palma, have been built on the islands.

The capital for the Autonomous Community is shared by the cities of Las Palmas and Santa Cruz, which in turn are the capitals of the provinces of Santa Cruz de Tenerife and Las Palmas. Las Palmas de Gran Canaria has been the largest city in the Canaries since 1768, except for a brief period in 1910. The third largest city of the Canary Islands is La Laguna (a World Heritage Site) on Tenerife.

During the times of the Spanish Empire the Canaries were the main stopover for Spanish galleons on their way to America because of the favorable easterly winds.

From Travel.aol.co.uk: Underwater volcano creates a brand new Canary Island

An underwater volcano near the Canary Islands has been releasing so much lava that it could protrude so far above the Atlantic Ocean it creates a brand new island.

It has been growing steadily over the last three weeks, and is already 100 metres above sea level. Another 150 metres would see it becoming the Canary Island's first new holiday hotspot for over a million years.

The volcano is situated off the coast of El Hierro, the most southern Canary Island, and is causing the ground to shake several times a day.

Experts say it currently only poses a risk to the immediate area around it, but a submarine taking pictures of the ocean floor is monitoring the situation.

However, a cloud of ash bigger than El Hierro itself is floating off the island, and schools of dead fish have been spotted on the sea surface.

Although it sounds scary, fresh magma flow is responsible for creating the archipelago, and is also a huge factor in protecting the Canaries from coastal erosion.

The Canary Island's local residents are already mulling over names for the potential new island, with some including The Discovery, Atlantis and The Best, according to the report in the Daily Mail.

The Canary Islands, located 100km northwest of the Africa's mainland, are a major tourist attraction.

Over 12 million holidaymakers flock to the islands every year to enjoy the subtropical climate, beaches and natural attractions, like the Teide National Park and Mount Teide, the highest mountain in Spain and the third tallest volcano in the world.

NATO chief rules out no-fly zone for Syria

The Libyan rebels would never have succeeded in toppling Ghadafy if the US hadn't intervened with its drones and air strikes (and never openly declaring war.) Ghadafy's family is now suing NATO.

Meantime, Syria is the next country in the region to whom the US might...or might not...help topple the government and replace it with...who knows? Sharia law?

From The Egyptian Gazette: NATO chief rules out no-fly zone for Syria

TRIPOLI - NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen ruled out the possibility of a no-fly zone for Syria, in remarks to an AFP correspondent as he travelled to the Libyan capital Monday on a surprise visit.

"It's totally ruled out. We have no intention whatsoever to intervene in Syria," Rasmussen said when asked if there was a possibility NATO would now spearhead a no-fly zone in Syria.
Rasmussen made a surprise visit to Tripoli hours before NATO's mission in Libya was due to end officially, seven months after Western powers fired the first barrage of missiles against Muammar Gaddafi's forces in an air war that played a major role in ousting the veteran dictator.

Just where is Syria?

Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest.

The name Syria formerly comprised the entire region of the Levant, while the modern state encompasses the site of several ancient kingdoms and empires, including the Eblan civilization of the third millennium BC. In the Islamic era, its capital city, Damascus, the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world, was the seat of the Umayyad Caliphate and a provincial capital of the Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt.

The population of Syria is 74% Sunni Muslim, with a 13% Shia Muslim population, 10% Christian and 3% Druze. Combined, some 90% of the Syrian population is Muslim, which largely includes Arabs and significant minorities of Kurds and Circassians, while some 10% are Christians, which mainly includes ethnic Assyrians, but also Arab Christians and Armenians. The ethnic minorities include Kurdish (10%), Assyrian/Syriac, Armenian, Turkmen and Circassian populations, while the majority is Arab (90%).

The modern Syrian state was established as a French mandate and attained independence in April 1946, as a parliamentary republic. The post-independence period was tumultuous, and a large number of military coups and coup attempts shook the country in the period 1949–1971.

Syria was under Emergency Law from 1963–2011, effectively suspending most constitutional protections for citizens, and its system of government is considered non-democratic. Bashar al-Assad is the current president, and was preceded by his father Hafez al-Assad, who was in office since 1971. The Syrian government is currently facing massive protests as part of the Arab Spring, and one government, that of Libya, has de-recognised it in favor of the opposition Syrian National Council.

Heidelburg University in Triffid, Ohio vs Heidelburg, Germany

Germany's Heidelburg:

The Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg (Heidelberg University, Ruperto Carola) is a public research university located in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Founded in 1386, it is the oldest university in Germany and was the third university established in the Holy Roman Empire. Heidelberg has been a coeducational institution since 1899. Today the university consists of twelve faculties and offers degree programs at undergraduate, graduate and postdoctoral levels in some 100 disciplines. It is a German Excellence University, as well as a founding member of the League of European Research Universities and the Coimbra Group.

Rupert I, Elector Palatine established the university when Heidelberg was the capital of the Palatinate. Consequently, it served as a center for theologians and law experts from throughout the Holy Roman Empire. Matriculation rates declined with the Thirty Years' War, and the university did not overcome its fiscal and intellectual crises until the early 19th century.

Subsequently, the institution once again became a hub for independent thinkers, and developed into a "stronghold of humanism", and a center of democratic thinking. At this time, Heidelberg served as a role model for the implementation of graduate schools at American universities. However, the university lost many of its dissident professors and was marked a NSDAP university during the Nazi era (between 1933 and 1945). It later underwent an extensive denazification after World War II.

Modern scientific psychiatry, psychopharmacology, psychiatric genetics, environmental physics, and modern sociology were introduced as scientific disciplines by Heidelberg faculty. The university has an emphasis on research and has been associated with 30 Nobel Prize laureates. It is consistently ranked among Europe's top overall universities, and is an international education venue for doctoral students, with approximately 1,000 doctorates successfully completed every year, and with more than one third of the doctoral students coming from abroad. International students from some 130 countries account for more than 20 percent of the entire student body.

Heidelberg comprises two major campuses: one in Heidelberg's Old Town and another in the Neuenheimer Feld quarter on the outskirts of the city. The university's noted alumni include eleven domestic and foreign Heads of State or Heads of Government.

and Heidelburg University in Triffi, Ohio
and Heidelburg University in Triffin, Ohio

Heidelberg University is a private liberal arts college located in the city of Tiffin, Ohio in the U.S. state of Ohio. Founded in 1850, it was known as Heidelberg College until 1889 and from 1926 to 2009.

History
Heidelberg University was founded by the German Reformed Church in 1850 and is currently affiliated with the United Church of Christ. At that time, there was a significant number of German immigrants in Ohio, and the German Reformed Church had seventy-four churches in the state when members decided to establish the college. The College had an initial graduating class of five students.

From Advertiser-Tribune.com: Things to go bump at the ’Berg
Enter if you dare.

Trick-or-treaters brave enough can participate in activities Thursday in Heidelberg University's France Hall, which is believed to be haunted by several ghosts.

Rebecca Dickinson, a sophomore from Middleburg Heights studying history, has helped organize the fundraiser, which is to be 7:30-10 p.m. Thursday at the residence hall. The resident assistants of Brown and France halls are putting on the event with the help of other organizations.

"We worked hard on trying to get campus organizations involved with the project," she said.

Dickinson said the family-friendly event is to have activities and candy for children and also areas geared more toward adults.

There is no cost, although any donations are to go toward the renovation of France Hall's basement, she said.

"It's a haunted house, but we do have an area designated for kids," she said.

A couple of months ago, a Heidelberg class went ghost-hunting in France Hall.

April Beisaw, assistant professor of anthropology at Heidelberg, taught an honors class titled "Science or Pseudoscience?" that focused on testing methods and whether ghost-hunting is a science. She said she purchased ghost-hunting equipment, and students broke into small groups to go hunting in the attics of France and Pfleiderer halls and the basement of Founders Hall.

She said France Hall is the only place where something that could be considered paranormal happened, and unfortunately, it happened to her.

"I did research afterwards," she said.

Beisaw recalled preparing to take her students into France Hall and securing two keys, one for each side of the attic. She explored the attic before taking her students up, closed the door and went downstairs to get the students. She then returned to the attic with them.

"I went to open the door, and the door wouldn't open," she said.

Beisaw said she had been given the keys to a padlock, which she was holding. The door had locked with the old mechanism, which staff wasn't using anymore.

"We couldn't get the door open," she said.

She and the students went downstairs and returned to the attic through the other entrance. After the ghost hunt, she did research and learned the female ghost who is supposed to be in the attic is known for locking doors.

"I didn't know that when that happened," she said.

Beisaw said some students believed the experience because they wanted to, while others weren't sure.

"It was fully locked, so that was really the main thing that happened up there," she said.

Wednesday, Beisaw is taking students ghost-hunting in an octagonal house the university owns on Perry Street. She said the class is going to be giving a report about the history of the house and what the class thinks should be done to it to President Robert Huntington.

"It's just falling apart sitting there by itself. ... We'll see how (the ghost-hunting) goes," she said.

Delhi zoo to get a major facelift

From the Hindustan Times : Delhi zoo to get a major facelift

Aquarium, insectariums and a butterfly park along with different zones representing different geographical areas of India will be part of the revamp work to be carried out at the National Zoological Park over the next two decades. Authorities at the park, popularly known as Delhi Zoo, are all set to unveil the masterplan with focus on its overall upgrade and increasing its inhabitants.

The draft plan, which is almost finalised, envisions that Rs 150 crore will be spent on the park's upgrade over the next two decades.

Ever since 2008, thanks to reasons ranging from a court case to changes in the administration, had delayed the zoo's masterplan, which is under the purview of the Union ministry of environment and forests.

Major re-hauling works include a new comprehensive visitor centre along with automated parking and a fine dining facility outside the ticketing area. On the premises, revamp work will include re-working the visitor circulation path
and coming up with an aquarium, insectariums and butterfly park. With the introduction of three new sections, the administration plans to increase the number of species and figures of animals, birds and reptiles at the zoo over the next few years.

At present, the zoo houses 105 species and 1,300 inhabitants. “We plan to increase the species to more than 200 and the number of animals, birds, reptiles etc to more than 2,000,” said zoo director AK Agnihotri.

“For living up to the nomenclature of ‘national’ zoological park, the zoo will also have different zones representing Himalayan foothills, Central Indian highlands, Peninsular India among other areas,” Agnihotri added.

The Central Zoo Authority (CZA) — a regulatory body for zoos across the country — has cleared the master layout plan and on its basis, the zoo masterplan will be prepared.

Investors failed to study the geography

From the Bangkok Post: Investors failed to study the geography

Re: ''Foreign companies show restraint as losses mount'' (BP, Business, Oct 24).

A glance at a physical map of Thailand should have given sufficient warning before the development of modern Bangkok.

The capital and its greater urban sprawl is built on silt that has been washed down into the valley that stretches for 200 miles to the north. This valley is nature's main drain into which flows all the surface water from the higher land to its north, west and east: hence the build-up of silt. It has done this for millennia and the two main rivers carrying the water to the sea, the Chao Phraya and the Tha Chin rivers are slow moving as can be seen by their shape. Therefore their capacity is low and before development of roads, factories and housing, additional auxilliary channels should have been formed.

Marc Spiegel of the JFCCT mentions taking ''proactive measures''. It is too late for pro-active measures, the disaster has happened. Any measures now taken will be reactive, following the avoidable, appalling suffering of thousands of innocent people.

There is a great deal more to sound investment than finance and the ''bottom line''. Prime consideration must be given to social well-being, location and dependable infrastructure such as drainage, water and energy. Chasing the easy, quick buck is not sound investment; consider the ''wisdom'' of Wall Street over the past decade.

This current flooding disaster is no more the doing of nature than was the Fukushima disaster. Building a nuclear plant close to a sub-marine fault line at sea level was the cause of the disaster. Bangkok is a large block in a natural drain and it is sinking slowly under its own weight. It could face submersion both from the sea in the south and fresh water from the north due to its geographical position. But, as with the fresh water flooding, if consideration is not forthcoming, in the future the current flooding will be seen historically as a picnic.

J C WILCOX