Up to 140 people are feared dead after a boat carrying passengers and goods capsized on a river in the Democratic Republic of Congo, officials say.
The accident happened on the Kasai river – a tributary of the Congo River – in the western province of Bandundu.
Information Minister Lambert Mende told the BBC the boat had been overloaded and 80 people had been confirmed dead.
After decades of conflict, DR Congo has few roads or rail links and many people travel on often overloaded vessels.
Daily Archives: July 29, 2010
The end is near
So, do you think there is any connection between this:
Mark your calendars! The end of the world is nigh, and we’ve got a specific date: the Rapture will occur on 21 May, 2011, and the world ends on 21 October 2011. How do we know this? As near as I can tell, it’s pure numerology…
and this:
That Killer Asteroid You Heard About Yesterday? We Knew About It Last Year
… there’s a giant asteroid out there called 1999 RQ36, and there’s a small chance it might hit us …
Certainly not, but both are interesting reads.
Quick, we need five or ten bucks…
For a new project to fund progressive candidates, with the intention of countering the 200 million or so that Republican-aligned special interests have raised for the 2010 election. Click here.
Barry Glassner, Fear, Poor people and their babies: Friday!
I’ve been interested forever in human perceptions of risk and culturally mediated fear. I got to work with some of the cook risk perception people at the Kennedy School of Government for a while (as a bystander), and as an archaeologist, I find the question of risk and fear important in human foraging (and other) decisions. For instance, humans can specialize or not as foragers, and they can include or exclude certain kinds of resources. Did early humans in southern Africa avoid dangerous bovid prey and prefer allegedly less dangerous antelopes? Did various groups that avoid fishing (East African pastorals and, of course the Tasmanians) do so for any reasons related to risk? And so on.
Continue reading Barry Glassner, Fear, Poor people and their babies: Friday!
Livingston, LA School Board To Implement Discovery Institute’s “Academic Freedom” Law
Barbara Forrest, author of Creationism’s Trojan Horse: The Wedge of Intelligent Design
Yellowstone area griz kills one, mauls several UPDATED
As you know, I have a long standing interest in dogs and bears and in the topic of animals eating people.
(SEE UPDATE AT END OF POST)
Continue reading Yellowstone area griz kills one, mauls several UPDATED
From Mountain to Sea: A Movie about Lava
Hat Tip: Highly Allochthonous
Tim LaHaye: Obama will cause the End of Days
There is an open seat in the White House press room. Who gets it?
Bloomberg? NPR? Or FOX?
Continue reading There is an open seat in the White House press room. Who gets it?
Argumentum ad hominem vulpes
It turns out, Sponge Bob Square Pants Roolz. But never mind that. Keep focused on the racism, it is actually important:
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Sociosexually, what is “safe”?
Are you a “safe guy”? Or do you know someone who (you or he or some else thinks) is?
Stephanie Zvan has written about this at Quiche Moraine, and I think I might have been living in a different world than Stephanie’s because my experience has always been that the attribute of “safeness” is a negotiated one, and it has not always been about “safe guys” but also “gals.”
Perhaps this is an East Coast vs. Midwestern/Plains thing, or, perhaps the difference is that we field scientists can spend months at a time (rather than hours now and then) dealing with this issue. There is a difference between a “safe guy” tagging along with the gal to which he is safe while she shops for panties at Victoria’s Secret, and being thrown into a situation where the custom is that everyone bathes (for safety reasons) at the same spot daily and clothing is not an option. Or you share a tent for a week with someone of the opposite sex. Or you are arrested and tossed in a jail together for 24 hours. For instance.
Anyway, go read the post and see if your experiences are more like hers or more like mine, and don’t forget to leave a comment!
A headset that reads your brainwaves?
Tan Le’s astonishing new computer interface reads its user’s brainwaves, making it possible to control virtual objects, and even physical electronics, with mere thoughts (and a little concentration). She demos the headset, and talks about its far-reaching applications.
Is BP Cutting Corners in Alaska?
The word on the street: Yes.