The Road to the Horizon

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Rumble: Sahara!
2008-03-24 14:35:00
"Y", a friend of "E" sent me this story. A story of a rally turn love affair with the desert.It all started with? It all started with phone call from my brother in law, asking if I wanted to go to the Libya Desert Challenge. The rally is mostly made up of people from Belgium, Holland, and Germany, under the umbrella of the Paris-Dakar Rally. So my answer was ?Yes, of course.?A few weeks later, we walked out of Sebha airport, greeted by plenty of people holding up signs. We found our guides, who grabbed our bags and loaded them in the vehicles. In a few minutes, we were off to what was supposed to be a short trip to the camp?Around two hours and plenty of check points later, we stopped and asked how much longer we had. We were told: ?About 2 more hours?. Ok cool, no biggie. A few hours later, we were getting rather antsy and we were told ?Another hour or so?.We were tired at that point, but still in a good mood and flying down the road.Eventually what was supposed to be an hour long ...
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News: Current price of a slave? $50 and a plane ticket to Haiti.
2008-03-23 18:42:00
With $50 and a plane ticket to Haiti , one can buy a slave.That is one of the findings of Benjamin Skinner while researching his book, "A Crime So Monstrous: Face-to-Face with Modern-Day Slavery."As the definition of "slave" is still "a human being forced to work under threat of violence for no pay beyond sustenance", Skinner concluded there are more slaves on the planet today than at any time in human history... Even though slavery is now illegal throughout the world. There is one difference, though: slaves got cheaper. After adjusting for inflation, Skinner found that, "A slave sold in 1850, would not roughly cost $30,000 to $40,000. Today you can go to Haiti and buy a 9-year-old girl as a sex slave for $50. The devaluation of human life is incredibly pronounced."In the fall of 2005, he visited Haiti, which has one of the highest concentrations of slaves anywhere in the world. "I pulled up in a car and rolled down the window," he recalls. "Someone said, 'Do you want to get a perso...
More About: News , Current , Price , Plane

News: Corporate Hall of Shame. Open for Voting.
2008-03-23 11:54:00
Global warming. Toxics in toys. Sub-prime mortgage lenders preying on the poor. Hired US guns killing civilians in Iraq. It?s been a year of corporate abuse.Corporate Accountability International opened its poll booths. Vote for the Corporate Hall of Shame or submit a company you think should be set as an example of unresponsible corporate behaviour.This year?s nominees include:ADM (Archer Daniels Midland), for helping make Indonesia the world?s third worst contributor to global warming through its clearing of endangered forests and wildlife habitat for palm oil plantations. Blackwater Worldwide, for killing unarmed Iraqi civilians, hiring paramilitaries trained under military dictatorships, and using its close political and financial ties with the Bush Administration to secure lucrative contracts. Countrywide, for predatory mortgage lending to elderly and non-English-speaking borrowers, and for gouging minority borrowers with discriminatory rates and fees.Mattel, for producing tens...
More About: News , Open , Voting

Rumble: A Happy Easter Gorilla
2008-03-23 11:13:00
A gorilla picking Easter eggs at the Cincinnati ZooPicture courtesy AP Photo/Al Behrman. Source: Universal Jellyfish
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News: The World's Oldest School Boy: 88, Kenyan and Refugee
2008-03-22 22:02:00
Kimani Maruge is his name. You might never have heard of him.This Kenyan peasant farmer and great-grand father was illiterate all his life, until at the age of 83, he jumped at a belated opportunity to educate himself when free primary schooling was introduced in Kenya, five years ago.Maruge became something of a national celebrity and poster boy for free education campaigners worldwide. The U.N. even sponsored a trip for him to New York.Now, at the age of 88, he is faced with a new challenge. In the recent post-election violence, members of his Kikuyu tribe were attacked by gangs and Maruge became one of the 300,000 refugees around the country are still scared to return home.So every morning, "Mzee" as he is called - Swahili for 'elder' - gets out of his white Red Cross canvas tent at an agricultural showground housing 14,000 displaced people, to collect his books, don his uniform - shorts and all - and walks with a limp the 4 km (2.5 miles) to his beloved Kapkenduiywo Primary Sc...
More About: News , School

Rumble: Water for the Toposa in South Sudan
2008-03-22 19:33:00
Meet the Toposa people. These traditional herdsmen live in a remote area on the shared borders of Uganda, Kenya and Sudan . Their tribe is called "Karamojong" in Uganda, "Turkana" in Kenya (an area stretching from the Rift Valley to Lokichoggio) and "Toposa" in Sudan (from Lokichoggio to Narus and Kapoeta, in the eastern Juba).They live the life as it once was. Clothing is optional in their "country". If they have a cloth, serves the whole village, used when travelling outside the community. Their life is centered in function of their cattle. Their cattle is their life. Traditional diet is cow blood mixed with a sort of cassava.The family and tribe is patrimonical. Toposa men take decisions on behalf of the family or tribes in meetings where women and children are kept at a distance while the men discuss the people?s affairs. Tradition has it that important matters are decided in the early hours of the morning before sunrise. Last year, the Toposa in South Sudan faced drought, cuttin...
More About: Water , South Sudan

News: "World Water Day": One billion people without clean water.
2008-03-22 10:57:00
Today is World Water Day. This annual event highlights the need for clean water and proper sanitation. Let's have a closer look...FACT: More than one billion people throughout the world have little choice but to drink from potentially harmful sources of water. 2.6 billion people have no access to proper sanitation. (International Red Cross)FACT: The consumption of unsafe water results in diarrhoea, worm infestation and other water and sanitation-related diseases. (International Red Cross)FACT: About 200 million tonnes of human waste are discharged untreated into watercourses every year -- exposing people to bacteria, viruses and parasites. (International Red Cross)FACT: On a typical day in sub-Saharan Africa, half the hospital beds are occupied by people with faecal-borne diseases. (UN)FACT: Poor sanitation, hygiene and unsafe water claims the lives of an estimated 1.5 million children under the age of five every year. (International Red Cross)FACT: Every dollar spent on improving ...
More About: News , People , Clean

News: Czech car crash rivals the Dubai record
2008-03-21 20:52:00
Thirty people were injured in a massive car chain collision accident on the D1 motorway between Prague and Brno in the Czech Republic yesterday. The crash involving 116 cars, left thousands blocked in the tailbacks along the motorway in a snowstorm.It was was a record car jam for the Czech Republic, but it did not come close to the sad record the UAE set a couple of days ago, which involved 227 cars.Picture courtesy Reuters
More About: News , Dubai , Crash , Record

Rumble: First Day of Spring 2008. The Belgian Way.
2008-03-21 17:02:00
I flew from Rome to Belgium yesterday. From one home to the other. It was 24°C in Rome. And 4°C when I landed in Belgium yesterday. Raining, wind. Today was even worse. It hailed, rained, snowed. Dark, foggy, wet, cold,... Hannah said in the car: "Well, I am happy it is the first day of spring today...". She is an eternal optimist. I could never ever live in Belgium again. Or any other wet country. The picture above I took at noon time today, during a hail storm. Luckily, one week from now, we're off skiing in the North of Italy...
More About: Spring , Belgian , 2008

Rumble: PlayPumps: Play for Clean Water
2008-03-20 23:28:00
Access to clean drinking water is critical for human survival and is an essential ingredient for improving the lives of those living in poverty in developing countries. And yet:More than one billion people worldwide do not have access to clean water.Water -related diseases are the leading cause of death in the world, taking the lives of 6,000 people a day, and are responsible for 80 percent of all sickness in the world.40 billion hours are lost annually to hauling water, a chore primarily undertaken by women and girls. All this can change: An innovative Play Pump® water system, provides easy access to clean drinking water while bringing joy to children leading to improvements in health, education, gender equality, and economic development.The PlayPump systems are innovative, sustainable, patented water pumps powered by a children at play: Installed near schools, the PlayPump system doubles as a water pump and a merry-go-round for children. (Learn more)Source: How to Change the World a...
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Rumble: Aquaduct, the Solution to Third World Clean Water?
2008-03-19 23:23:00
The Aquaduct was the brainchild of five California-based design students who wanted to address the problem of 1.1 billion people in the world who don't have access to clean drinking water. The pedal-powered machine transports and filters water without burning fossil fuels or wood, both of which contribute to a reduction in CO2 emissions. The winner and five runners-up, you can find on innovate-or-die.Looking at the video, it makes me think... Hmmmm... A typical First World solution to a Third World problem.. Or am I too cynical?Let me explain:- I always thought that polluted water needed filtering AND cooking (or treatment by chemicals) to make it safe.- The filters will need to be replaced, which costs money. A supply chain would need to be set up, which costs money. Is this affordable?- Where clean water is needed most, people survive on less than a dollar per day. Could they at all afford this tricycle?Source: The Other World News
More About: Clean , Water , Solution

News: US Soldiers Testify About War Crimes in Afghanistan and Iraq
2008-03-18 21:21:00
Dozens of Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans publicly testified this weekend about crimes they committed during the course of battle, many of which were prompted by the orders or policies laid down by superior officers. The weekend gathering, called the Winter Soldier Event demonstrated that well-publicized incidents of U.S. brutality, including the Abu Ghraib prison scandal and the massacre of an entire family of Iraqis in the town of Haditha, are not isolated incidents perpetrated by "a few bad apples," as many politicians and military leaders have claimed. They are part of a pattern, the organizers said, of "an increasingly bloody occupation." One testimony:"Apr. 18, 2006 was the date of my first confirmed kill. He was innocent, I called him the fat man. He was walking back to his house and I killed him in front of his father and friend. My first shot made him scream and look into my eyes, so I looked at my friend and said, 'Well, I can't let that happen,' and shot him again. A...
More About: News , Middle East , War Crimes

News: Life in Baghdad Since Saddam
2008-03-17 23:41:00
Five years after the US invasion, no one misses Saddam , but some Baghdad is are nostalgic for the relative freedom and stability they had before the Americans came.Saddam's 24-year reign of terror ended in spring 2003. What followed, say Iraqis, was a brief period of freedom and prosperity before their nation fell apart.The situation in Iraq on the eve of the anniversary of "Operation Iraqi Freedom" has both opponents and supporters of the American military campaign puzzled. The body of a Catholic archbishop is found near the northern city of Mosul, and yet the US embassy in Baghdad is holding a flea market as if it were peacetime.The United States has been in Iraq longer than it fought in World War II. Only a quarter of the US citizens knows 4,000 American soldiers were killed in Iraq. According to Joseph Stiglitz, winner of the 2001 Nobel Prize in economics, the war has already cost the country at least $3 trillion.Der Spiegel published an interesting article with reflections on "...
More About: News , Middle East , Life

News: The cost of saving the planet: US$190 billion.
2008-03-17 21:11:00
What would it cost to wipe out world poverty, guarantee universal health care, stabilise population growth and roll back the ravages of global warming?About $190 billion a year, or the equivalent of a third of U.S. annual military expenditure, says Lester Brown, a prominent environmental economist, in his new book."Once you accept that climate change, population growth, spreading water shortages, rising food prices are threats to our security, it changes your whole way of thinking about how you use public resources."From eradicating adult illiteracy to restoring fisheries and stabilising water tables, the head of the Earth Policy Institute think tank in Washington calculates the cost of saving civilisation in a new edition of his best-selling "Plan B". (Full)Thanks to "E" for the link. Picture courtesy Michael Huggins (WFP).Source: International Aid Workers Today.
More About: News , Planet , Cost , Saving , Billion

News: Mozambique Cyclone Jokwe Flooding
2008-03-17 20:19:00
Mozambique continues to suffer from excessive rain fall this season. Last month, it was Cyclone Ivan, last week it was Cyclone Jokwe.It looks like the prediction we made early January unfortunately came true. In an earlier post, I showed pictures of the flooding from January. Here is a pictorial update from the relief operation on the ground, by Joakim Kembro, one of our colleagues who just returned from Caia in Mozambique.This is why we do this work:Moving food relief by barges and by air:Anyone who thinks we live and work in poshy offices, think again...:Actual food distributions:Nice sunsets are an added bonus:Click on the collage for the slide show:Pictures courtesy Joakim Kembro
More About: News , Mozambique , Flooding

Rumble: I claim your country with this flag!
2008-03-16 13:27:00
Thanks for the link, Liz!
More About: Country , Flag

News: Iranian and US politics finally found their common ground: sex.
2008-03-16 11:07:00
A raid in one of the Tehran's brothels last Friday found police chief Reza Zarei in a bed with six nude women. Zarei was immediately removed from his post. Zarei was in charge for the "was in charge of the programme for the "moralisation of the city", including the crackdown on women "infringing Islamic dress rules". Since he came to the post six months ago, thousands of young women received warnings as their hair was visible under headscarves. (full)Spitzer, the governor of New York, spent thousands of dollars on a call girl named Kristen at a swanky Washington hotel on the night before Valentine's Day. Later details leaked from investigators alleged he was a repeat customer who spent as much as $80,000 with the high-priced prostitution service over an extended period of time. He resigned over the allegations. (full)Pictures courtesy: AP, Reuters
More About: News , Politics , Iran , Ground , Common

Rumble: Mohammed wants baksheesh
2008-03-15 20:30:00
On the road from the hotel in Cairo to the airport, we took a local taxi. The concierge had warned us: "70 Egypt ian pounds, not more!"...Our driver took off, cutting off a roundabout by driving in the wrong direction. He rolled down his window, snorted up and spit whatever came up from deep, deep inside his throat with a well expressed Arrghaaat-[spit]. Mafoud, my colleague sitting in the back behind the driver, pulled away from the open window, hoping the snot would not hit him.The driver introduced himself as Mohammed and asked if it was OK if he would smoke. We are all smokers and of course we did not mind.. We joked around with the little English he could understand, and the little Arabic Mafoud could come up with. We cursed at the bad drivers (the other ones), laughed at the near-hits as Mohammed cut off other cars, cheered as we passed yet another taxi, but loudly protested as he pulled in at a gas station to join a queue of twenty cars. "Petrol, petrol!", he smiled at us. We ...
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Rumble: Lovely Day
2008-03-14 19:38:00
When I wake up in the morning, loveand the sun light hurts my eyesAnd something without warning lovebears heavy on my mind.Then I look at youand the world's alright with meJust one look at youand I know it's gonna be -A lovely day...Bill Withers (track)
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News: Dubai the Biggest. Also in Road Accidents.
2008-03-13 23:02:00
Three people were killed and 277 injured in the United Arab Emirates yesterday when a total of 227 cars and 12 buses collided. The police blamed reckless driving and a thick fog to cause what is now said to be the world's largest traffic pile-up. The accident happened during peak rush hour on the main Dubai -Abu Dhabi road. (full)Recent figures released by the Ministry of Interior show that there were 6,813 accidents on UAE roads in 2007, resulting in 10,526 injuries (about one per hour) and 1,050 deaths (almost three a day). The 2007 casualties went up by 18% compared to 2006. (full)The UAE is said to have the world's highest fatal accident rate. I lived in Dubai for five years. Two of my friends died in car accidents during that period. Due to reckless driving of someone else. I never had an accident, but dozens of near misses.More posts on Dubai.Pictures courtesy AP and Reuters
More About: News , Middle East , Accidents , Road

News: Vatican releases "Sins - version 2.0"
2008-03-11 00:20:00
In the Vatican 's latest update on how God's law is being violated in today's world, Monsignor Gianfranco Girotti, the head of the Apostolic Penitentiary, in an interview with the Vatican newspaper "L'Osservatore Romano", cited the new sins. (Full)For your reference, "Sins Version 1.0" featured as deadly: Pride, Envy, Gluttony, Lust, Anger, Greed and Sloth."Sins - Version 2.0" now also has (drum roll): "Bioethical" violations such as birth control, "Morally dubious" experiments such as stem cell research, Drug abuse, Polluting the environment, Contributing to the widening divide between rich and poor, Excessive wealth and Creating poverty.Can I suggest that in the next release, "Sins - Version 3.0", they include the upgrade of their opinion on the use of condoms to limit the spreading of Aids?Source: The Road Daily, Picture courtesy BBC
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News: Feel Safer Now?
2008-03-10 18:30:00
After September 11th 2001, most countries beefed up security at airports and other vulnerable places. Tough-looking immigration officials no doubt made passengers feel safer, offsetting the irritation of longer queues. Yet doing something because it makes people feel good is not adequate justification. Is money devoted to counter-terrorism well spent?What claims to be the first serious study of its costs and benefits, by economists at the Universities of Texas and Alabama, says no. It was commissioned by the Copenhagen Consensus, a think-tank that aims to scrutinise public spending on the world's woes and to ask ?should we be starting from here??The authors of the study calculate that worldwide spending on homeland security has risen since 2001 by between $65 billion and $200 billion a year. But in either case the benefits are far smaller. (full)Picture courtesy t4toby.wordpress.com. Source: The Road Daily
More About: News , Feel

News: International Women's Day. Yesterday. Noticed Anything?
2008-03-09 20:28:00
March 8th was to celebrate International Women's Day. This event was hardly noticeable in the international press. A sign?Some sad statistics:Women produce nearly 80% of the food on the planet, but receive less than 10% of agricultural assistance (iamapeacekeeper.com)More than 1 billion people live in abject poverty on less than $1 a day. 70% of people in abject poverty are women (kamilat.org) Only 1% of the world?s assets are in the name of a woman (unesco.org)Although women do two thirds of the work in the world, the rate of paid employment for women is two thirds that of men (ilo.org)There is no country in the world where women?s wages are equal to those of men (learningpartnership.org)Worldwide, when women do the same work as men, they are paid 30-40% less than men (newint.org)Discrimination at its finest. (more statistics)Picture courtesy Shehzad Noorani (WFP). Source: WomanKind.org.uk.
More About: News , Yesterday

News: Bush Tries to Justify Torture.
2008-03-09 01:08:00
Fact: US President Bush vetoed a bill that would have banned the CIA from "waterboarding" or "simulated drowning", and other coercive interrogation methods, to gain information from suspected terrorists. (link)Fact: The bill would have limited the CIA to 19 interrogation techniques that are used by the military and spelled out in the Army Field Manual. In a recent speech, Bush said he vetoed the measure because it is important for the CIA to have a separate and classified interrogation program for suspected terrorists who possess critical information about possible plots against the United States. (link)Fact: Waterboarding (picture) involves strapping a person down and pouring water over his/her cloth-covered face to create the sensation of drowning. It has been traced back hundreds of years to the Spanish Inquisition and is condemned by nations around the world and human rights organizations as torture. (link)Fact: The CIA admits the use of waterboarding as one of its interrogation...
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News: One tank of biofuel could feed one person for one year.
2008-03-06 21:13:00
To fuel our discussion about "The Global Food Crisis- A Perfect Storm", here is an interesting article about the efficiency of biofuel. Or rather the lack thereof:Corn is being diverted from human consumption, kicking off a domino effect of problems tied to food prices. It starts with ethanol produced from corn, which optimists hope will help solve the U.S. reliance on foreign oil, as well as provide a fuel that burns cleaner. "The U.S. is now using more corn for the production of ethanol than the entire [food] crop in Canada".And it is going to get bigger. In 2000, world production of ethanol totalled 20 billion litres. In 2007, world production climbed to 60 billion litres. In the month of January 2008 alone, six billion new litres of ethanol were produced in the United States. Scores of ethanol plants are under construction and as a result, it is predicted that the United States will produce 52 billion litres of the fuel in 2008.When all the plants are running, the United States ...
More About: News , Biofuel , Tank , Feed , Person

Rumble: The World's 10 Most Dangerous Landing Strips
2008-03-05 23:59:00
Landing at Rome's Fiumicino airport tonight, I wondered how on earth pilots succeed in landing a plane if their top technology does not even allow them to keep the lights from flickering on and off in the passenger area. I thought about my last weekend's post on the near-crash at Hamburg's airport (picture above). That post spurred quite some reactions from frequent travellers.Well, if you are in fear of flying, don't visit Top 10 Most Dangerous Aircraft Landings in the World. This site describes and shows videos from the world's most dangerous air strips, listed as:Kai Tak Airport, Hong KongFunchal Airport, Madeira (*)Gustaf III Airport, St. Barts (*)Courchevel Airport, FrancePrincess Juliana International Airport, Saint Maarten (*)Wellington International Airport, New ZealandParo Airport, Bhutan (*)Narsarsuaq Airport, GreenlandSaba Island Airport, Netherlands Antilles (*)Lugano Airport, Switzerland (*)Those indicated with (*) I have seen or landed at.I would definitively add ...
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News: Zimbabwe flies in plane loads of money
2008-03-05 09:52:00
With inflation topping 100,000% and the highest value 10 million Zimbabwe dollar note worth just US$0.50, planeloads of banknotes are flying into Harare almost every day to keep up with the demand. The Munich company Giesecke & Devrient is receiving more than ?500,000 (£382,000) a week for delivering bank notes at the rate of Z$170 trillion a week.?The regime is surviving by printing money,? said Martin Rupiya, professor of war and security studies at the University of Zimbabwe. ?At this stage there is no other way.? (full)Picture courtesy goeasymoney.com (how appropriate!)
More About: News , Money , Africa , Plane

Rumble: A Day in Hell - Part II: Shaken and Stirred...
2008-03-04 13:02:00
This is Part II of the (horror) travel story of my Friend "E" (The Other "E"), trying to fly from Rome via Zurich to Nairobi, last weekend. The only problem was, eh, there was rather a severe storm.We pick up the story after "E" finally got to Zurich after a forced stop-over in Geneva. One aborted landing, one failed take-off and four gin tonics later:James Bond always preferred his Martini shaken...not stirred....well, I did not have a choice, I was shaken AND stirred the whole day. As the day went on, things did not start to look any better:I am kind of looking forward to try out the famous Virgin services on the flight from Heathrow to Nairobi. After a couple more hours of waiting around at Zurich airport, we now move on to Campari Orange (as I thought "enough Gin for the day!"), and we board the flight to London. Free seating on the flight and 400 CHF to anyone who is willing to take a later flight as they are overbooked and the plane is smaller. As we have to catch our connecti...
More About: Hell

Rumble: A Day in Hell - Part I
2008-03-03 21:21:00
This is a story by "the other E", who flew (or rather tried to fly) to Nairobi last Saturday, while Europe was hit by a major storm (see this video of a near crash the very same day).A wake up call at 4:00 am is not an ideal way to start the day. But hey, it is part of the job. Am at the airport on time for a scheduled flight to Zurich. All is good. Flight takes off on time.I am flying with a colleague and I meet a man I know on the plane. He is going to a forestry assessment mission to Dar. I managed to get a cup of coffee at the airport before take off.The flight gets pretty bumpy over the Alps. The captain comes on the PA and says to buckle up as the winds are getting stronger. Allright, we don't have too long to go, so how bad can it get? Right? Right?We start our descent. We are about 500 meters -maybe less- from the ground. The plane is all over the place. Left, right, up, down. People start to rumble... It is not pleasant. The bumps are really big, the people more nervous. W...
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News: Weekend Storm in Europe Causes Chaos
2008-03-03 20:28:00
A storm dubbed "Emma" crashed into Europe last weekend, with wind gusts up to 190 km/h (118 mph), the strength of a Category 3 hurricane. Air traffic was disrupted for most of the weekend.Why? Well, have a look at the video above, taken in Hamburg last Saturday. A Lufthansa Airlines flight scraped its wing on the ground during a landing attempt with cross wind.Luckily, the Airbus A320 recovered, took off again and landed safely the second time around. All 131 passengers were safe.My friend "E" (the other "E") was flying the same day. Read her (horror) story here.Source: CNN and LiveLeak (with thanks to "E" - not that one, the other "E" for the link)
More About: News , Storm , Weekend , Chaos