MIT’s Technology Review – Google Earth Becoming a Standard

Wade Roush writes an article at MIT’s Technology Review about the explosion of new geographically annotated data on the Internet and how Google Earth’s KML is becoming a de facto standard for sharing geo-referenced information. He interviewed Google Earth Blog for the story. The story comments on how the Google Earth Community and many thousands of people are publishing all kinds of useful geo-referenced data, and many applications are now supporting KML. He also points out how Google is using its new “Featured Content” layer to showcase some excellent examples of geo-referenced information uniquely suited to Google Earth’s abilities. I found it interesting how he picked up on a small part of our interview when I commented that Microsoft may someday release its own competition for Google Earth in the form of a 3D virtual earth.

Myanmar worked in that area from before?

With Korean, Chinese and Indian companies in the field, Myanmar’s attempt to drill an exploratory oil and gas well within Bangladesh maritime boundary indicates that the country has been working on this plan for a long time.

The presence of drilling rig in the oil-gas exploration ship of Korean company Daewoo working for Myanmar in the disputed area is a proof that Myanmar might have physically worked in the area without drawing the notice of Bangladesh in the recent past.

To mobilise a rig is very costly and an oil company would do so only when it has previously done seismic survey and found strong chances of hitting oil and gas, geologists say.

This spot is located 55km southwest at 227 degrees from St Martin’s Island while 180 degrees from St Martins marks a southward straight line, which should be Bangladesh’s maritime boundary. The location is marked as deep-sea oil and gas exploration blocks 8-13 of Bangladesh.

But Myanmar claims the area to be part of its economic zone and marked the area as some of its own oil and gas exploration blocks.

In August last year, Daewoo declared that it discovered 7.7 trillion cubic feet (TCF) of gas in three offshore blocks close to Bangladesh, says AP.

According to Xinhua, Myanmar’s autocratic military regime highly depends on oil and gas exports to Thailand and China to earn foreign currency. Gas export in 2006-07 fetched Myanmar over $1 billion.

Almost all the offshore gas discoveries are close to Bangladesh maritime territory. With three main large offshore oil and gas fields and 19 onshore ones, Myanmar has proven recoverable reserve of 18.012 TCF out of probable reserve of 89.722 TCF offshore and onshore gas. The country is also estimated to have 3.2 billion barrels of recoverable crude oil reserve, according to official statistics.

Myanmar’s latest oil and gas explorations are being conducted by China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) of China, Daewoo and South Korea Gas Corporation, ONGC Videsh Ltd, Gas Authority of India Ltd (GAIL) and Essar of India under various Production Sharing Contracts (PSC). In the past, US company Unocal (now Chevron) discovered and developed a number of oil and gas fields.

CNPC signed the PSC with the Myanmar Ministry of Energy in January 2007 covering crude oil and natural gas exploration projects in three deep-sea blocks off western Myanmar, which is close to Bangladesh maritime border.

A consortium of Korean and Indian companies led by Daewoo owns stakes in blocks that include the Shwe, Shwephyu and Mya fields off western Myanmar, also close to Bangladesh territory. Daewoo has 60 percent stakes in the consortium, South Korea Gas Corporation has 10 percent, ONGC 20 percent and GAIL 10 percent.

The Shwe field holds a gas reserve of 4-6 TCF while Shwephyu 5 TCF and Mya 2 TCF with a combined reserve of 5.7-10 TCF estimated by experts.

In May this year, Daewoo and CNPC signed a deal for join exploration in Myanmar.

Statistics reveals that foreign investment in Myanmar’s oil and gas sector has reached $2.635 billion as of March since the country allowed foreign investment in late 1988.

Charles Gordon Suffers Nasty Ankle Injury

Vikings cornerback/punt returner Charles Gordon suffered a nasty ankle injury when his leg got stuck under a Packers player while Gordon was returning a punt in the first half of Sunday’s game at Minnesota. Though Joe Buck and Troy Aikman missed the fact (both live and via replay) that Gordon’s foot was pointing in the wrong direction once the play had ended, it was obvious when FOX went to commercial that something was horribly wrong.

After the break, Buck and Aikman acknowedlged the serious nature of the injury — but they decided not to air the replay again.

It wasn’t pretty, but it was no Joe Theismann or dude from Houston who broke his leg at Marshall.

We’ll be looking for the video of the Gordon injury on YouTube. Someone had posted it a little while ago, but then promptly removed it.

The vdo:

Engaged to Kill (2006)

Dr. Abby Lord is a pediatrician. Her husband Robert sells boats. They have a 19-year-old daughter Maddy who is in college and somewhat rebellious, and a 14-year-old son Corey who loves computer games.

When Abby is kidnapped, the ransom is one million dollars. Robert will do anything to get his wife back, and that includes not telling the police–if he does, he has been told, Abby will die. Lester Denton can get Robert the money; Robert owns a business, the nice home his family lives in and even a vacation home, all of which he could lose if he can’t pay back the money, but he is dealing with legitimate businesses, not loan sharks.

We never see the kidnapper’s face, at least not early in the movie. But his accomplice and girlfriend is a sweet young woman named Sally who is either too dumb to realize that what she is doing is wrong, or too dependent on her boyfriend to question his actions. Abby behaves admirably on learning Sally feels sick; as a doctor, she must put the patient’s health above other concerns.

Abby is released relatively quickly, but her nightmare is not over. Certain people are behaving suspiciously, and there are some genuinely scary moments. And then weird things start happening.

Robert must work hard to get enough money to repay his creditors, and this means dealing with Crawford Blake, who was once his partner and is now his competitor.

And Maddy has a new boyfriend named Nick, who is 25 years old. Abby and Robert have enough stress in their life without this.

This was pretty good for a TV-movie. It was entertaining to watch the family’s situation get worse and worse.

I will say the actor playing the kidnapper did an impressive job, but I can’t say who he is. Daniella Evangelista was so sweet and I hated that we didn’t see more of her. And despite her rebellious nature, Katharine Isabelle’s character was so easy to like. Plus she looked good topless, at least from the back. Shame on anyone for calling her fat (I can’t remember now whether it was her brother or someone considering dating her).

Maria del Mar played a strong character, but one that could be pushed too far. She wasn’t superwoman. Plus she was as pretty as the daughter, and they looked so much alike.

I was disturbed by Robert’s anger toward his son in one scene. I suppose stress could be blamed, but it just seemed extreme.

The V-chip rating was TV-14, with a V, though it needed an S too. My theory is that the sexual content was PG, though the violence wasn’t that bad. Perhaps the logic in the TV-14 rating was that this was too adult, for other reasons.

Overall, a good effort.

Ever have a lunch in Hooters?

Hooters is the trade name of two privately held American restaurant chains: Hooters of America, Incorporated, based in Atlanta, Georgia, and Hooters, Incorporated, based in Clearwater, Florida.

Hooters targets male customers with a serving staff comprising only well-endowed waitresses, although Hooters does employ males as cooks, hosts (at some franchises), busboys, and managers. The menu includes hamburgers and other sandwiches, steaks, seafood entrees, appetizers, and the restaurant’s specialty, chicken wings. Almost all Hooters hold alcoholic beverage licenses to sell beer and wine, and where local permits allow, many offer a full liquor bar. Ancillary offerings for sale include T-shirts and various souvenirs and curios.

Between company owned locations and franchises, there are now more than 435 Hooters throughout the United States. The company has restaurants in 46 U.S. states, US Virgin Islands, and Guam. In addition, Hooters operates restaurants in 24 other countries, including Bahrain, Brazil, Canada, China, Colombia, Argentina, the United Kingdom, Israel, Mexico, Guatemala, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Croatia, Chile, Australia, Panama, Costa Rica, South Korea, Greece, Venezuela, Spain, Switzerland, and Singapore – its first overseas location to open. Hooters plans to open its first branch in Dubai in 2008. The first location in Colombia was opened in Bogota in 2008. A Hooters was opened in St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands in December 2007.

Rape case: Victim’s mother withdraws charges

The mother of the German minor, who was allegedly raped by Goa Education Minister Atanasio Monserratte’s son Rohit, has withdrawn the charges against him.

The German woman has written a letter to police, saying ‘the whole system has failed her’.

On November 5, Rohit was remanded to three days police custody by a Goa court in connection with the rape case. Rohit had surrendered before the Goa police.

He was booked by Goa police on October 14 for allegedly raping the German girl and had gone missing after that.

He appeared before the police on November 1 to give his statement, a few hours before the 14-year-old German girl deposed before a magistrate after initial reluctance.

2 Clergymen Arrested After Brawl Between Monks Next to Jesus’ Tomb Site

Israeli police rushed into one of Christianity’s holiest churches Sunday and arrested two clergymen after an argument between monks erupted into a brawl next to the site of Jesus’ tomb.

The clash broke out between Armenian and Greek Orthodox monks in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, revered as the site of Jesus’ crucifixion, burial and resurrection.

It began as Armenian clergymen marched in an annual procession commemorating the 4th-century discovery of the cross believed to have been used to crucify Jesus. It ended with the arrival of dozens of riot policemen who separated the sides, seizing a bearded Armenian monk in a red-and-pink robe and a black-clad Greek Orthodox monk with a bloody gash on his forehead. Both men were taken away in handcuffs.

Six Christian sects divide control of the ancient church. They regularly fight over turf and influence, and Israeli police are occasionally forced to intervene.

The feud revolves around a demand by the Greek Orthodox to post a monk inside the Edicule — the ancient structure built on what is believed to be the tomb of Jesus — during the Armenian procession. The Armenians refused, and when they tried to march the Greek Orthodox monks “We were keeping resistance so that the procession could not pass through … and establish a right that they don’t have,” said a young Greek Orthodox monk with a cut next to his left eye. The monk, who gave his name as Serafim, said he sustained the wound when an Armenian punched him from behind and broke his glasses.

Father Pakrat of the Armenian Patriarchate said the Greek demand was “against the status quo arrangement and against the internal arrangement of the Holy Sepulcher.” He said the Greeks attacked first.

Archbishop Aristarchos, the chief secretary of the Greek Orthodox patriarchate, said his monks had not initiated the violence. “I’m sorry that these events happened in front of the Holy Sepulcher, which is the most holy religious monument of Christianity,” he said.

After the brawl, the church was crowded with Israeli police holding assault rifles and equipped with riot gear, standing beside Golgotha, where Jesus is believed to have been crucified, and the long smooth stone marking the place where tradition holds his body was laid out.

Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said police were forced to intervene after fighting was reported. They arrested two monks, one from each side, he said.

The feud is only one of a bewildering array of rivalries among churchmen in the Holy Sepulcher.

The Israeli government has long wanted to build a fire exit in the church, which regularly fills with thousands of pilgrims and has only one main door, but the plan is on hold because the sects cannot agree where the exit will be built. In another example, a ladder placed on a ledge over the entrance sometime in the 19th century has remained there ever since because of a dispute over who has the authority to take it down. More recently, a spat between Ethiopian and Coptic Christians is delaying badly needed renovations to a rooftop monastery that engineers say could collapse.

PTHC-yes that means: Child pornography

Child pornography (or “CP”) refers to material depicting children being in a state of undress, engaged in erotic poses or sexual activity. Child sexual abuse occurs in the production of child pornography when sexual acts are photographed, and the effects of the abuse on the child (and continuing into maturity) are compounded by the wide distribution and lasting availability of the photographs of the abuse. In both common usage[citation needed] and for research purposes, the word “child” in the phrase “child pornography” refers to prepubescent children, and does not refer to post-puberty teenagers. For practical reasons, legal definitions of child pornography generally refer to a wider age range, including any pornography involving a minor, according to jurisdiction. Most possessors of child pornography who are arrested are found to possess images of prepubescent children; possessors of pornographic images of post-puberty minors are less likely to be prosecuted, even though those images also fall within the statutes.

Child pornography is a multi-billion dollar industry and among the fastest growing criminal segments on the Internet, according to the USA The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), the International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children (ICMEC) and other international sources. According to the NCMEC, approximately one fifth of all Internet pornography is child pornography. New technology such as inexpensive digital cameras and Internet distribution has made it easier than ever before to produce and distribute child pornography. The producers of child pornography try to avoid prosecution by distributing their material across national borders, though this issue is increasingly being addressed with regular arrests of suspects from a number of countries occurring over the last few years.

Child pornography is viewed and collected by pedophiles for a variety of purposes, ranging from private sexual uses, trading with other pedophiles, preparing children for sexual abuse as part of the process known as “child grooming”, or enticement leading to entrapment for sexual exploitation such as production of new child pornography or child prostitution.

Obamamania in the book world; sales are up even in McCain’s Arizona

Barack Obama is the hottest name in publishing.

On the weekend after he became the country’s first black president-elect, Obama’s “The Audacity of Hope” and “Dreams from My Father,” both already million sellers, ranked No. 1 and No. 2, respectively, on Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble.com.

Both hardcover and paperback editions of “Audacity of Hope” were out of stock Sunday on Amazon.

Sales are up even in Arizona, home state of Obama’s former presidential opponent, Republican Senator John McCain.

“People are generally much happier this week than they were last week,” Gayle Shanks, co-owner of the Changing Hands Bookstore in Tempe, said Sunday.

Demand also has surged for “Change We Can Believe In,” a collection of Obama’s speeches and policy proposals that had been selling modestly; for “Barack Obama in His Own Words” and for such works about him as “Barack Obama: Son of Promise, Child of Hope,” a children’s book by Nikki Grimes, and Robert Kuttner’s “Obama’s Challenge,” a call for a sweeping, progressive economic agenda.

Analysts see McDonald’s Dollar Menu changes ahead

McDonald’s Corp will likely raise the price of its flagship Dollar Menu item, the Double Cheeseburger, and replace it with a new double hamburger with one slice of cheese, analysts said.
“The double cheeseburger will likely rise from 99 cents to $1.19, while a new product, called ‘McDouble,’ will be a double hamburger with one slice of cheese,” J.P. Morgan analyst John Ivankoe said in a client note on Friday.

McDonald’s Double Cheeseburger has two beef patties and two slices of cheese. The new McDouble would be different in that it would have only one slice of cheese.

McDonald’s executives said on the company’s October 22 earnings conference call that they were testing products and that a decision about Dollar Menu changes would be made “soon.”

One recommendation the company is weighing is to add the McDouble to the Dollar Menu and to move the Double Cheeseburger from the value menu to the main menu.

Greg Watson, McDonald’s U.S. marketing vice president for McDonald’s U.S.A., said on Friday the company was still weighing potential changes to the Dollar Menu, which has been credited with luring customers to the No. 1 restaurant chain amid a sharp U.S. economic downturn.

“The recommendation to adjust the price of the Double Cheeseburger allows us to continue to provide the same great tasting burger our customers know and love, still at a great value,” Watson said. “No final decisions have been made. These are just recommendations at this time.”

The value menu changes would likely boost prices without denting consumer perception that McDonald’s prices are affordable, he said.

The J.P. Morgan analyst said the introduction of the McDouble as well as the Double Cheeseburger price increase could improve margins at company-owned restaurants and boost franchisee cash flows.

Stifel Nicolaus analyst Steve West said in a recent note that he expects the Double Cheeseburger price hike to be steeper. He expected its price to go to $1.29, the same price as McDonald’s chicken snack wraps.

McDonald’s is slated to report October sales on Monday, November 10.