You can also watch this video by clicking HERE or on the Play Button below
10/30/2011
Bicycles: The plague of the Pavement
Fully 55 percent of residents travel to work or school on bikes. Some roads, including bridges, are just for them. (Photograph by Johan Spanner for The International Herald Tribune) By JOHN TAGLIABUE
COPENHAGEN -- Mikael le Dous, 56, a power plant engineer, rides a bike, though he also has a car. He just wishes bikers behaved.
''We call cyclists the plague of the pavement,'' he said.
As the head of the Danish Pedestrian Association, which he founded six years ago, he dedicates his spare time to doing something about them.
Armed with a digital camera and a video recording device mounted on the dashboard of his car, he photographs bikers who ignore traffic lights, or go up one-way streets the wrong way. He gathers material to present to the authorities to argue for stricter surveillance of cyclists.
Sometimes, he says, the results of biker misbehavior can be fatal.
''It happens occasionally that you'll have an older woman, not hit but surprised and frightened by a bike so that she falls and maybe even dies,'' he said. ''Then they say, 'Is the cyclist to blame?' ''
In a nation dedicated to bicycling, however, Mr. le Dous has been fighting an uphill battle. The association now has only about 160 members, with a meager annual budget of a little over $2,000. But the focus of their annoyance is clear.
''I cycle a lot. We don't mind cyclists,'' Mr. le Dous said over coffee on a recent afternoon. ''We mind people who don't respect the law.''
Andreas Rohl thinks he has seen the future and is convinced that it moves on two wheels. Over at the city's immense neo-medieval town hall, he heads a successful program to make bicycles the dominant means of transportation. Every day, fully 55 percent of Copenhageners travel to work or school on a bike, though last year, he admits, the number sagged a bit because of a severe winter. Why so many bikes? Simple, he says: ''Because it's an easy way to get around.''
Broad bike lanes abound in the Danish capital, population 1.2 million, and bikers fill them. Some thoroughfares, including bridges over the harbor, are exclusively for bikes. On some days, as many as 36,000 bikers swarm through the Norrebrogade, one of the streets leading to the city center that now consists of wide bike paths in both directions and of narrow lanes for cars and buses.
Mr. le Dous looks enviously at the Danish Cyclist Federation. Founded in 1905 and boasting 17,000 members around the country, the federation wields the enormous clout in Denmark on matters of traffic that automobile associations have elsewhere.
With 25 employees in its main office, the federation has grown in recent years to make the bike an exportable item, not just physical bicycles and biking equipment but also consulting and advice for cities elsewhere seeking to become more biker friendly
Bike safety has improved recently thanks to a range of measures, including wider bike paths and programs to alert bikers to the need for discipline. ''Last year, we had the lowest number of traffic accidents ever, including the lowest number of fatalities involving bicycles ever,'' the Federation spokesman said. In 2010, the number of seriously injured cyclists dropped to 92, including 3 fatalities, compared with 252 seriously injured only five years earlier.
Like many in Copenhagen, Natalia Privalova, 37, an office manager, has two bikes, including a cargo bike with a wooden platform in front to transport her children. Cyclists respect pedestrians, she said and then added, ''when they follow the rules.''
''Of course,'' she said, ''rush hour is another story.''
In a market stall where he sells beer and wine downtown, Simon Barfoed, 32, was tougher on cyclists. "Pedestrian anger is 'justified,'' he said. ''I think many bikers drive like they own the place.'' He owns no car and uses a bike to ride work, yet he said the bike brought disadvantages for businesses like his. ''If you want to buy a case of beer, it's hard to carry on a bike,'' he said.
Ullaliv Friis, 66, a retired city official who is the pedestrian association's managing director, says the sidewalks have become risky for retirees and older people because of cyclists. ''The cyclist has taken over everything,'' she said.
Over at City Hall, Mr. Rohl hears the pedestrians' complaints, and says the city has taken measures to improve biker behavior. It occasionally sends out field workers, for example, stopping cyclists they see displaying exemplary behavior, like making proper hand signals or respecting pedestrians, and rewarding them with small boxes of chocolate.
Ms. Ayfer Baykal, 35, the deputy mayor for technology and the environment, was born in Copenhagen of Turkish immigrant parents, and is proud of what the city has accomplished. When relatives visit from Turkey, where the automobile remains a symbol of success, they are stunned at her use of a bike. ''They say, 'Can't you afford a car?' '' she said with a laugh.
"Biker abuse of pedestrians happens, but then pedestrians walk in bike lanes, too. They have to respect each other. It's not that bad.''
Mr.le Dous, while not discouraged, is realistic about his chances of bending the discussion toward pedestrian rights. Their plight, he said, ''is not looked upon as something serious, it's simply not their field of interest.''
Then, referring to cyclists, he added ''The new kid has all the attention.''
adapted from The International Herald Tribune - NYT
10/28/2011
Gadhafi Remains Popular in Much of Africa's Sahel (video)
You can also watch this video by clicking HERE or on the Play Button
Please read the following linkers carefully and then use them to paraphrase the sentences below. You can't use the words in capital letters
- anyway
- although
- because of
- due to
- due to the fact that
- however
- nevertheless
- since
- therefore
- whereas
1. Gadhafi admirers recall Gadhafi's support for South Africa's African National Congress in the 1970s.
BUT Gadhafi's detractors recall his support for brutish rebellions in Sierra Leone and Liberia in the 1990s.
2. "Gadhafi's death is a huge loss for Africa and there is no doubt the continent will miss how much he did. He helped all of Africa, not only Libya. BECAUSE Africa did not support Gadhafi when he needed it, Africa will ultimately come to regret losing him".
Businessman Marius Navarro, in the Burkina Faso capital Ouagadougou.
3. "I wonder about the future of the alliance without him BECAUSE Gadhafi was one of the biggest financial contributors to the African Union. Gadhafi helped develop many African countries and Africans should mourn his death. In Burkina Faso, for example, he helped build a hotel and medical clinics.
SO his death is a loss for the country and for all of Africa"
Burkinabe student Assita Compaore
4. "The ultimate cost of Gadhafi patronage is too high for Africa. Gadhafi sold weapons to Africa that Africans used to kill each other. I'm happy that he is dead BECAUSE he was a terrorist. He gave us food BUT later he gave us weapons and those weapons were used to kill"
Burkinabe businessman Adama Badame
5. "The nature of Gadhafi's death makes him a martyr, BUT a trial would have exposed his brutality".
Nigerian human rights activist Shehu Sani, author of the book Civilian Dictators of Africa.
10/16/2011
10/12/2011
USA Drone Campaign and the Law
THE killing in Yemen of Anwar al-Awlaki and three al-Qaeda associates by a drone on September 30th has caused far more fuss in America than previous drone attacks. The reason is that al-Awlaki and one of his fellows were American citizens. Such apparently extra-judicial executions provoke three broad questions. Are drone strikes compatible with the laws of war? Was this killing legal? And, whatever the legality, is this system of justice compatible with America’s longer-term interests?
Our answers are yes, maybe and no.
The use of drones has increased dramatically, especially under Barack Obama. Many people find the computer-games aspect of what the Pentagon likes to call “Unmanned Aerial Systems” creepy, but drones are much better than manned aircraft at hunting fleeting targets. Their remote pilots can pick the moment to release their missiles when there is both the greatest chance of success and the least risk to innocent bystanders.
Ethical worries may mount in the future, especially if the armed forces ask for permission to give their machines greater autonomy. But for the moment they remain conventional weapons, with humans subject to the conventional tests that their action be discriminate and proportionate. The remote-pilot in, say, Nevada who pushed the button that killed al-Awlaki is as accountable for his actions as the pilot in the cockpit of a fast jet; and so are the drone pilot’s commanders—right up to Mr Obama himself.
In Pakistan, drone strikes are conducted to support a counter-insurgency ope
ration. Al-Awlaki was killed in Yemen, not in a war zone. The president’s defenders claim that strikes against al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters are legal under the September 2001 Authorization to Use Military Force Act, which allows Mr Obama to employ “all necessary and appropriate force” against any country, organization or person involved in the September 11th attacks or “to prevent future acts of international terrorism”. They add that killing a man who is plotting to kill Americans is a legitimate act of self-defense, given that al-Awlaki was in a country that was unable to act against him.
From this perspective, America has a prima facie case that it acted legally. But that argument clearly needs to be tested. It is not just that international law, which surely applies in this case, is less generous towards targeted assassination. There are questions to be asked even under American law.
Is the president’s right to place an individual on a “kill or capture list” greater than that individual’s constitutional right to due process? The Supreme Court should look at this rapidly.
Finally there is the impact on America’s broader aims. Targeted assassination may cause more problems than it solves. Although drones have decimated al-Qaeda, they have also helped to destabilize Pakistan, a nuclear-armed country of 190m Muslims. Nobody wants to make America’s “long war” even longer.
Two things would make America’s conduct somewhat less controversial. First, all drone killings should be carried out by the armed forces, not the CIA: they must be part of the conventional chain of command. And second, there should be some system of formal judicial review to determine whether the evidence against someone is sufficiently strong to make that person a target for assassination.
America has a potent new weapon. Now it needs to adapt it to its principles.
10/10/2011
Fan throws hot dog at Tiger Woods at Frys.com Open
SAN MARTIN, Calif. — Tiger Woods ……………………………(be) sure to make news at CordeValle in his first tournament in seven weeks. Only it ……………………………(negative - be) from any of his scores or any of his shots. It ……………………………(be) from a hot dog.
As he …………………………… (stand) over a putt on the seventh green in the Frys.com Open, he …………………………… (hear) a commotion from security and …………………………… (see) remnants of a hot dog being tossed in his direction.
A 31-year-old fan from Santa Rosa ……………………………(yell) out Tiger Woods's name and ……………………………(throw) a hot dog at the former No. 1 player in the world in the final round on Sunday.
"Some guy ……………………………(come) running on the green, and he ……………………………(have) a hot dog, and evidently he ……………………………(throw) it, but I ………………………… (focus) on my putt when he ………………………… (start - yell)," said Woods, who ……………………………(negative seem) bothered by it.
"He ……………………………(be) far away from me," Woods said, "and when he ……………………………(start - make) the commotion, I ……………………………(hear) the security behind me--I was still……………………………(bend) over my putt. And when I ……………………………(look) up the hot dog ……………………………(be) already in the air."
The fan ……………………………(be) cooperative.
According to Woods, "The man immediately ………………………(get) down on the ground, ……………………………(put) his hands behind his head and ……………………………(allow) security to handcuff him without resistance" said the 14-time major winner.
Woods ……………………………(stop) his pre-shot routine and …………………………… (miss) his birdie try, but he ………………………(do) birdie the par-5 ninth hole, his final hole of the day, for his third consecutive 68.
Sgt. Jose Cardoza said the man ……………………………(arrest) for disturbing the peace and ……………………………(remove) from the property. The man …………………………… (negative - go) to jail and his name ……………………………(negative - disclose). Cardoza also said the man ……………………………(acknowledge) having a drink earlier in the day, but the man ……………………………(negative - be) drunk.
The fan later ……………………………(deny) throwing the hot dog at Woods, saying it simply ……………………………(slip) out of his hands.
A Golf Channel employee ……………………………(catch) the incident on tape, but following most sports leagues' policy on streakers and other fans who willfully ……………………………(disrupt) play, the PGA Tour ……………………………(choose) not to air it.
"I guess he ……………………………(want) to be in the news," Woods said, "and I'm sure he ……………………………(be)."
The hot dog incident briefly ……………………………(steal) the spotlight anyway.
Now that you have all the information, what about watching the 18" video mentioned above?
Question asking time. Try to get the following answers:
1. Seven weeks ago
2. 31 years old
3. From Santa Rosa
4. A hot dog
5. On Sunday
6. For disturbing the peace
7. Woods did not
8. The fan won't
9. Most sport leagues don't
10. I don't think so
Universities in Latin America
LATIN AMERICA has some giant universities and a few venerable ones: the University of Buenos Aires (UBA) and the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) enroll several hundred thousand students apiece, while Lima’s San Marcos was founded in 1551. Even so, the region is hardly synonymous with excellence in higher education. Research output is unimpressive, teaching techniques are old-fashioned and students drop out in drove. Faster economic growth is driving a big rise in demand for higher education in the region and a large crop of new universities. Now, at last, comes an effort to assess the quality of Latin American higher education.
On October 4th Quacquarelli Symonds, an education consultancy, published the first regional ranking of Latin American universities, combining measures of reputation, research output, academics’ qualifications and staff-student ratios. Of the 200 top universities, 65 are in Brazil, 35 in Mexico, 25 apiece in Argentina and Chile and 20 in Colombia (see table for the top ten). The University of São Paulo (USP), the richest and biggest university in Brazil’s richest state, came top.
This week USP became the only Latin American university to make it into the world’s top 200 universities in another much-watched list, published by Times Higher Education, a British specialist weekly. USP ranked 178th this year (up from 232nd last year). Founded and supported by the government of São Paulo state, USP has been helped by a big increase in private funding and in international collaborations and recognition. It also led the Latin American contingent in another list compiled by Shanghai’s Jiao Tong University and released in August, ranking in the cluster between 101st and 150th. This list focuses on scientific research; USP is becoming a world leader in tropical medicine, parasitology and biofuels.
Nowhere else in Latin America can match USP. The other leaders in the region are a mix of old-established public universities (the University of Chile, for example), Catholic institutions or secular non-profit places such as Bogotá’s University of the Andes and Monterrey’s Tecnológico.
University rankings miss hard-to-measure factors such as the quality of teaching and the campus atmosphere. They are biased towards bigger universities, which tend to be better known and to produce more research. (This may have helped Argentina’s UBA, whose glory days are in the past.)
At many Latin American public universities students pay nothing, staff are unsackable, and the curriculum is old-fashioned and politicised. Good teaching and research are not rewarded with extra funding or promotions; institutions do not lose money if their students drop out. Except in Brazil many faculty members are part-timers without PhDs.
In the past three decades, governments have accepted a huge expansion of private provision. That has allowed them to expand higher education quickly without spending more, but before they decided what made a good university, says Francisco Marmolejo, a Mexican consultant on university administration. The result is that mechanisms to ensure quality are weak or nonexistent.
No country in the region has worked out satisfactorily how to share the cost of degrees between students and taxpayers. Chile’s government is currently suffering the consequences. Months of student protests against the exorbitant cost of for-profit universities have seen the popularity of the president, Sebastián Piñera, plunge. The country’s education system, from primary school to university, is probably the region’s best. But Chile also has one of world’s lowest levels of public funding for higher education, some of the longest degrees and no comprehensive system of student grants or subsidised loans. When a flat jobs market was added to this mix, it became combustible.
In Venezuela Hugo Chávez’s government has expanded higher education by forcing existing universities to accept a massive increase in student numbers, and by setting-up a giant new open-access state institution, the “Bolivarian University”. This is supposed eventually to have around 200 campuses. The result, says Mr Marmolejo, is a “time-bomb”. “Unprepared institutions; non-existent infrastructure; 300 students in classrooms that used to hold 15. You end up with a system where hundreds of thousands of people have degrees that are totally worthless.”
If Latin America’s universities are to flourish their governance must be reformed, says Philip Altbach, director of the Centre for International Higher Education at Boston College in the United States. “In most countries the flagship public universities are simply too big to be managed,” he says. Creating a world-class modern university needs flexibility in hiring, promotion and pay rather than the rigid rules that are traditional in the region.
Stronger mechanisms to ensure quality and more equitable student financing will also make a big difference, says Andreas Schleicher of the OECD, an organisation of mainly rich countries. He is optimistic that USP’s growing pre-eminence could show the way for the entire region.
10/05/2011
Steve Jobs dies
Apple co-founder and CEO Steve Jobs, the charismatic visionary who reshaped both the computing and entertainment industries, died today. He was 56.
- Apple’s board of directors issued the following statement.
We are deeply saddened to announce that Steve Jobs passed away today.
Steve’s brilliance, passion and energy were the source of countless innovations that enrich and improve all of our lives. The world is immeasurably better because of Steve.
His greatest love was for his wife, Laurene, and his family. Our hearts go out to them and to all who were touched by his extraordinary gifts.
Apple has lost a visionary and a creative genius, and the world has lost an amazing human being. Those of us who have been fortunate enough to know and work with Steve have lost a dear friend and an inspiring mentor. Steve leaves behind a company that only he could have built, and his spirit will forever be the foundation of Apple.
If you would like to share your thoughts, memories, and condolences, please email rememberingsteve@apple.com
- Jobs is survived by his wife and four children, and in a separate statement they said:
Steve died peacefully today surrounded by his family.
In his public life, Steve was known as a visionary; in his private life, he cherished his family. We are thankful to the many people who have shared their wishes and prayers during the last year of Steve’s illness; a website will be provided for those who wish to offer tributes and memories.
We are grateful for the support and kindness of those who share our feelings for Steve. We know many of you will mourn with us, and we ask that you respect our privacy during our time of grief.
Jobs had taken a medical leave of absence earlier this year, his third in a continuing battle with pancreatic cancer that began in 2004.
10/02/2011
"Occupy Wall Street " protesters speak before arrests (video)
Protesters decrying corporate greed and other grievances maintained a presence in New York City's financial district Sunday, one day after more than 700 of them were arrested as they attempted to march across the Brooklyn Bridge.
The group "Occupy Wall Street" has been camped out for two weeks. On Saturday, the Brooklyn Bridge was shut down for several hours as protesters rallied against what they said was corporate greed, social inequality and other issues.
New York police said the protesters were arrested when they broke off from the bridge's pedestrian lane and onto the roadway, blocking traffic. The majority were issued citations for disorderly conduct and released.
Cuban-Americans divided over expanded flights (video)
- After watching the video, please list the opinions for and against the flights to Cuba
- What questions would you ask to fill in the blanks with the missing information?
1. This is a very big day because ………………………………
2. More than …………………. passengers will take the flight.
3. The occasion inspired ……………………….
4. No, Fort Lauderdale is not the only one.
5. Vivian Mannerud chairs ………………………………..
6. Some Cubans do not …………………...
7. Emilio Izquierdo spent more than ……………. years as a prisoner.
8. Emilio Izquierdo and other Cubans often meet at ……….
9. Antonio Esquivel heads the……………………………….
10. According to Antonio Esquivel U.S.-Cuba flights provide …………….
11. The Castro regime is looking for …………………..
12. Manuel Marquez has his ……………………. in Cuba
al-Qaida Leader Killed in Yemen (video)
- After watching the video, please fill in the blanks.
Missiles fired from a drone aircraft …………………………………….. (kill) radical U.S.-born cleric Anwar al-Awlaki early Friday as he …………………………………….. (rode) in a convoy in eastern Yemen.
He …………………………………….. (be) a vocal critic of America and alledgedly …………………………………….. (motivate) others to commit violence against U.S. interests.
President Barack Obama …………………………………….. (call) Awlaki's death a "major blow" to one of al-Qaida's most active affiliates.
Speaking to a military audience outside Washington, Mr. Obama said the operation that ……………………………….. (kill) Awlaki ……………………… (be) proof that the terrorist group and its affiliates …………………………………….. (not find) a safe haven anywhere in the world.
Western news organizations …………………………………….. (quote) U.S. officials as saying the raid …………………………………….. (coordinate) by the CIA and …………………………………….. (head) by U.S. Joint Special Operations Command, the counterterrorism unit that …………………………………….. (lead) the May operation killing Osama bin Laden.
Several other suspected militants …………………………………….. (kill) in the operation, including Samir Khan, an American of Pakistani origin who …………………………………….. (produce) an English-language magazine for al-Qaida on the Internet.
Awlaki ……………………………………. (link) to the group al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, based in Yemen. Both the U.S. and Yemen ………………………………………… (want) him for his suspected role in terrorist attacks.
Authorities …………………………………… (believe) Awlaki …………………………………….. (advise) a suspected Nigerian bomber and that he ………………………… (instruct) a U.S. Army psychiatrist Major who …………………………………………… (carry out) a mass shooting that …………………………………….. (leave) 13 dead in 2009.
Awlaki's death …………………………………….. (find) Yemen in a political crisis, marked by heightened calls for President Abdullah Saleh's resignation.
Activists say that last Friday thousands of anti-government protesters …………………………………….. (rally) in the capital, Sana'a and in the southern city of Taiz.
And now, please state what information is mentioned in the video
and in the article.
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