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Saturday, March 30, 2013

Yesterday, the Milwaukee County district attorney charged Cory J. Feerick, a 33-year-old from Brookfield, Wisconsin, with five misdemeanor counts of stealing US$35,000 worth of flush valves from fast food restaurants and university toilets and urinals. If convicted, Feerick could spend to 9 to 45 months in jail, and pay between US$10,000 and US$50,000 in fines.

Initially arrested in late January following a local news television story on the thefts, he stands accused of stealing parts worth between US$300 and US$600 each from locations that included Milwaukee Area Technical College, Waukesha County Technical College, ITT Technical Institute, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Marquette University, the Pick ‘n Save on Capitol Drive in Brookfield, and the Arby’s also located on Capitol Drive in Brookfield.

Feerick was dubbed the “Backpack Bathroom Bandit” by the media because video showed him committing the thefts while wearing a backpack. The thefts reportedly took place in September and October of last year, with several area police departments involved in investigating them.

Wednesday, November 8, 2006

As of 10:00 p.m EST November 8, 2006, the Democratic Party is projected to have gained control of both the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate in the 2006 United States general elections. MSNBC projects that the Democrats now control 234 seats in the House of Representatives, 16 more seats than the 218 needed to control the House of Representatives as all 435 seats were up for election. In the Senate, where the balance of power is closer, one-third of all seats were up for grab. As of 10:00 p.m. EST, AP and Reuters were projecting that the Democrats had picked up all six seats they needed to retake the Senate, including the seats of incumbents Rick Santorum (Penn.), Lincoln Chafee (R.I.), Jim Talent (Missouri), Mike DeWine (Ohio), John Tester (Montana), and Jim Webb (VA). The Tester victory by less than 3,000 votes was projected at approximately 2 p.m. EST after the State of Montana announced the results of overnight recounts. Democrat Jim Webb has prevailed in that race by slightly more than 7,000 votes, though his opponent has not conceded and a recount may still occur.

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Last Tuesday, AusAID Australia and the World Bank’s Global Environment Fund (GEF) reached an agreement to give the government of Kiribati US$5 million (AU$4,779,000, NZ$5,985,000, €3,885,000) to install solar panels around the country capital, located on the Tarawa atoll. According to Business Desk of the Brunei Times, AusAID promised AU$3.2 million in funding, while GEF promised US$1 million. The country was the first in the Pacific to make a deal with the World Bank.

The funding was part of a US$530 million (NZ$635 million) package announced at yesterday’s Pacific Energy Summit in Auckland involving New Zealand and the European Union, Australia, the Asian Development Bank, the European Investment Bank, the Japan International Cooperation Agency, the World Bank Group, and the United Arab Emirates. Also at the summit yesterday, New Zealand’s Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully had announced a national commitment of USD$54,262,000 (AU$51,861,000 NZ$65 million, €42,178,000) to Pacific region energy solutions, of which US$8,348,000 (AU$8 million, NZ$10 million, €6,483,000) would be specifically earmarked for renewable energy and improved energy efficiency in the Cook Islands, Kiribati, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Tonga, and Tuvalu.

Kiribati is heavily dependent on diesel fuel for most of the energy available on the national power grid, which supplies power to half Kiribati’s population of 110,000. In addition, a third of the country’s population lacks access to electricity. Once installation of the solar panels is complete, they are estimated to reduce diesel consumption by 230,000 liters (60,760 gallons) a year and give access to the electricity to some parts of the population that currently have no electricity. The European Union already has committed €100 million to sustainable energy in the region, with €10 million of that coming as a result of an announcement made last week.

In a press release about the news, Kiribati President Anote Tong was quoted as saying, “Kiribati faces big challenges it is remote, it is at risk from the effects of climate change, and it is vulnerable to economic shocks. […] Shifting Kiribati’s focus to reliable solar energy will provide a more secure, more sustainable power source for the country’s people.” Radio New Zealand International quoted Tong as saying, “It’s the first time we are doing this. We’re excited at the prospect of even substituting fossil fuel to a small extent at this stage. What the system being envisaged will only produce around 500 kilowatts, but this is the beginning of what I hope will be a pattern, the trend in the future.”

The European Union’s Fiji-based head of operations for the Pacific region, Renato Mele, supported alternative energy solutions like solar power for the region, but said that solar power had limitations because climate and environmental conditions sometimes meant batteries required to power the panels had a life of only 12 months, compared to other climates where batteries normally last five years. This created the potential to drive up standard operating costs. Mele has also noted these additional costs though are still lower than the cost of diesel power.

One News Pacific Correspondent Barbara Dreaver noted, “Governments will be able to put the money they (currently) spend on diesel into things like education and health.”

Saturday, April 30, 2011

Acclaimed Swiss mountaineer Erhard Loretan died Thursday on his 52nd birthday when he fell in a climbing accident.

According to Swiss police, Loretan was climbing with a client to the summit of Gruenhor, a 4,043 meter peak in the Bernese Alps, when both fell for unknown reasons from a height of around 3,800 metres. He was killed immediately while his client was hospitalized in serious condition.

Loretan, originally from Fribourg, was eleven years old when he began climbing. In 1982, he climbed his first 8,000-meter peak, Nanga Parbat in Pakistan. He was the third person to summit all fourteen of the world’s 8,000-meter peaks, which he accomplished by the age of 36. This confirmed his reputation as one of the world’s top mountain climbers. In 1986 he ascended Mt. Everest in 40 hours without using supplementary oxygen, a feat that astonished other mountain climbers.

Saying that he was essentially a solitary person, he told a Trento film festival in a video posted on its web site last year, “First of all I’d like to thank the mountains, for almost 40 years they have allowed me to climb, and with this passion I’ve lived an extraordinary life up to now, that’s why I’d like to thank them.”

He added, “I now want to share this passion more with others, and it’s because of this that being a mountain guide is a good profession because you can help someone who dreams about climbing mountains. This is something very beautiful.”

In 2001 his personal life was marred by a manslaughter charge for shaking to death his seven-month old son to stop him from crying. He plead guilty in 2003 and received a four-month suspended sentence. The case ignited a debate in Switzerland over shaking babies.

Monday, November 28, 2005

SpaceX called off the much-delayed inaugural launch of their new Falcon 1 rocket on Saturday from Kwajalein’s Omelek Island launch site. The intent was to launch the U.S. Air Force Academy’s FalconSat 2 satellite, which will monitor plasma interactions with the Earth’s upper atmosphere and magnetosphere.

The launch was delayed, then finally cancelled after an oxygen boil-off vent had accidentally been left open. The oxygen was unable to cool the helium pressurant, which then proceeded to evaporate faster than it could be replenished. A main computer issue, probably serious enough to cause a scrub on its own, was also discovered.

This long-anticipated flight was originally expected to be launched in January 2005, however a series of setbacks forced a series of delays, with the flight most recently scheduled to be in early 2006. It was intended to be launched from the Kwajalein atoll in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

The maiden voyage was originally intended to launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California with a Naval Research Laboratory satellite and a Space Services Incorporated space burial payload.

Friday, November 3, 2006

A Richmond Hill, Ontario man is currently released after he was abducted and escaped last night.

Chee Kian Jeff Chan, 28, was forced by three people into a black Mercedes SUV (which was caught on security camera) in the parking garage of his condominium at 23 Oneida Cresant in the Yonge Street and High Tech Road area. A small amount of blood was found at the scene. He was dropped off at an unnamed location in Toronto Wednesday night.

The suspects were wearing black clothes and balaclavas covering their faces at the time of the incident. The licence plate number of the Mercedes SUV is not known because there was no plate on the front of the vehicle.

Chan walked into the Major Mackenzie Dr. W. police station, at about 6:45 p.m. last night, suffering from injuries and went to a hospital for examination.

York Regional Police say that he is a poker player, after hearing about a man with the same name that took seventh place at the River Rock Casino Resort near Vancouver, British Columbia on November 19, 2005, earning him $44,753.

No ransom note was received and police believe that it was an extortion attempt.

“He was unaware of a lot of things during his ordeal,” Constable Laurie Perks said. “He didn’t know what they looked like. His vision was concealed and so he therefore didn’t know where he was through most of his ordeal.”

It is believed that Chan’s three captors released him after 28 hours because of the media coverage surrounding his disappearance.

The investigation is still ongoing.