Needy or Greedy?

Killer Virus

Yesterday I posted an article about a virus that was found in Bolivia. A comment was posted that questioned my reason for writing the article. So today I begin to search for more information to determine if this was a story worth posting and for people to read. Here is what I have found as of today:

New deadly virus discovered by scientists
The Tech Herald, IN - Apr 20, 2008

New virus prompts Bolivia to declare health emergency
Xinhua, China - Apr 22, 2008

LIMA, April 22 (Xinhua) --
Bolivia declared a health emergency Tuesday after identifying a confirmed new virus that can cause death by hemorrhage.

The country's Epidemiological Department has issued an alert, and control and watch action has begun across the country, according to reports from La Paz Tuesday.

Authorities said the latest discovery is a new species of the arena virus, which may have caused the deaths of at least two persons this year.


New virus causes South American fever
Reuters - Apr 18, 2008

Researchers discover new arenavirus associated with haemorrhagic fever
Science Centric, Bulgaria - Apr 18, 2008


This story is beginning to be reported by more and more news agencies. This could be an indicator that there is more to this story then people first thought.

I try very hard to find stories before the mainstream media reports them and then share the information with the readers of the Worldview blog. This may be a story that proves to be nothing or this is going to become a much bigger story in the next month.

We will see...

Oil Prices

Oil prices continue to rise and a recent news report may indicate that the prices could be going up again:

Nigerian militants report another oil pipeline bombing

The source of the report is the, International Herald Tribune.

LAGOS, Nigeria: The main militant group behind a string of recent attacks in Nigeria's southern oil region sabotaged another pipeline as a workers' strike Friday began hitting ExxonMobil's production in Africa's biggest exporter.

White-collar workers at ExxonMobil Corp.'s local joint venture — one of the largest producers in Nigeria, with an output of about 2 million barrels a day in crude — have "commenced a safe and orderly shut-in of production" to push for more pay, the company said in a statement.

Officials had no firm details on the amount of oil production lost but said the were operating at "partial production."

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, or MEND, said its fighters hit a pipeline late Thursday in southern Rivers State, bringing to four the number of pipelines the group claims it has blown up in the past week.

The group said in a statement that the pipeline belongs to a Royal Dutch Shell PLC joint venture. A Shell spokesman confirmed one of its pipelines had been hit, but had no more details.

The rest of the report can be read at: Oil

The Associated Press is reporting:

Oil prices rise after Nigeria pipeline attack

prices rose Friday, largely reversing an earlier $2 a barrel drop, after a militant group behind recent attacks in Nigeria's southern oil region said it had sabotaged another pipeline and a strike hit Exxon Mobil production in Africa's biggest exporter.

Light, sweet crude for June delivery climbed $1.89 to $117.95 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange by midday in Europe. Before news of the pipeline attack, it had fallen as low as $114.51 a barrel.

The contract had dropped $2.24 in the previous session to settle at $116.06 a barrel.

Here is the link to the story:

Prices

New kind of killer virus discovered in Bolivia

A team of disease hunters has announced the discovery of a deadly new virus, found in a remote village in South America. Experts say the virus – named Chapare – is probably limited to a small swathe of Bolivia, but urbanisation and climate change could expand its range.

"These pathogens will markedly increase the risk of outbreaks with significant loss of human life," says Stefan Kunz, a virologist at Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois in Lausanne, Switzerland, who was not part of the study.

Here is the link to the original report: Virus

After finding the story I decided to do some searching for additional information, here is what I found:

Chapare Virus, a Newly Discovered Arenavirus Isolated from a Fatal Hemorrhagic Fever Case in Bolivia

A small focus of hemorrhagic fever (HF) cases occurred near Cochabamba, Bolivia, in December 2003 and January 2004. Specimens were available from only one fatal case, which had a clinical course that included fever, headache, arthralgia, myalgia, and vomiting with subsequent deterioration and multiple hemorrhagic signs. A non-cytopathic virus was isolated from two of the patient serum samples, and identified as an arenavirus by IFA staining with a rabbit polyvalent antiserum raised against South American arenaviruses known to be associated with HF (Guanarito, Machupo, and Sabiá). RT-PCR analysis and subsequent analysis of the complete virus S and L RNA segment sequences identified the virus as a member of the New World Clade B arenaviruses, which includes all the pathogenic South American arenaviruses. The virus was shown to be most closely related to Sabiá virus, but with 26% and 30% nucleotide difference in the S and L segments, and 26%, 28%, 15% and 22% amino acid differences for the L, Z, N, and GP proteins, respectively, indicating the virus represents a newly discovered arenavirus, for which we propose the name Chapare virus. In conclusion, two different arenaviruses, Machupo and Chapare, can be associated with severe HF cases in Bolivia.

The rest of the report is posted at this link: Chapare


Chapare virus causes hemorrhagic fever and is a member of the arenavirus family of viruses.
Source: Wikipedia

Chapare virus, a newly discovered arenavirus

authorities, U.S. Navy health experts based in Lima, Peru, and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has characterized "Chapare arenavirus," a previously unrecognized arenavirus, discovered in serum samples from a patient in rural Bolivia who eventually died of the infection.

The rest of the report can be found at: virus

Food Crisis

I have posted a few articles telling people about the world food crisis and today I want to point people to more information on this subject.


Food-buying panic hits Canadian stores

With food riots spreading from Haiti to Thailand and retail giants such as Wal-Mart implementing rice rationing in the United States because of shrinking supplies, analysts say Canadians will soon be paying a lot more at the grocery store.

Already, panic buying has hit some Canadian stores.

To read the rest of the story follow this link: Crisis


Food, gas prices will only get worse, experts say

Soaring prices on everything from food to gasoline walloped consumers Thursday as the Bank of Canada warned of weaker economic growth to come - new evidence the U.S. recession has deepened and is dragging down other sectors of the economy as it continues to slide.

Basic food items are becoming more scarce and the price of those commodities is soaring, matched only by the rapid increase in the cost of gasoline. Food shortages, hoarding by producing countries and a pernicious cycle of energy prices driving up production costs is only making the situation worse.

Here is the link to the story: Prices


Some Texas Stores Rationing Staple Food Items

Consumers may have a good reason for feeling uneasy about food prices. Some stores have begun rationing certain items. TXA 21 News has learned that Sam's Club's are now rationing rice, but the warehouse store isn't to blame.

Adriana Ramos describes how her grocery bill has grown by 33%. With prices going up, worldwide food shortages, individuals and businesses stocking up, some warehouse stores have begun to limit the amount of certain staples consumers can buy.

Sam's Club has placed a limit, of four per customer, on large bags of rice at their stores in North Texas. Officials with the warehouse say it's another consequence of rising food costs.

Oddly enough part of the problem begins with produce. The U.S. Congress has mandated that America turn a large percentage of corn crops into biofuel. Thirty-percent of the current U.S.

corn crop is now dedicated to those fuels.
Since farmers make more money in corn, they grow less of other food staples like wheat and soy. And the price of corn to feed chickens, cattle and other livestock has also skyrocketed.

The rest of this story can be found here: Food

This situation is becoming serious and is one everyone should be watching carefully.

Somalia, Food, and Oil

On Saturday, June 17, 2006 I posted an article called "3 Parts of the World to Watch"

You can read that post at this link: 3 Parts of the World to Watch

In that article I suggested that Somalia was a part of the world we should watch.


Somalia is back in the news:

Somalia clashes 'the worst since 1991'

(CNN) -- Somalia's main opposition group Monday accused Ethiopian troops of killing six leaders of a Muslim sect during weekend street battles in Mogadishu, clashes one observer called the worst since the country's government collapsed in 1991.


You can read the rest of the report at this link: Somalia


Here is a link to another story about the situation:
Somalia violence 'the worst in two decades'


I posted a story a few day's ago about the rising food cost. Tonight I want to point readers to more information about this issue:

Food costs endanger UN poverty efforts

UN chief warns world must urgently increase food production

Call for world food crisis action


Not only do we have food prices rising we should not forget the Oil prices:

Oil rises to yet another record

Oil prices in London and New York have hit fresh highs as fears over supply problems continue to drive the market.

US light, sweet crude hit a new peak of $117.76 a barrel in US trading before settling at $117.48 while Brent crude peaked at $114.86 a barrel.

To read the rest of the report follow this link: Oil


It should be obvious the everyone that these are serious issues that could have major consequences for all of us!

Cereality

I like to keep an eye on what is being searched for across the Internet and about an hour ago I noticed something very strange. The most searched for thing on the Internet is Cereality!

I am not joking! I had to read the list twice and then I had to ask myself, what is cereality?

World News

I hope everyone is having a great Saturday. I listen to a lot of World News in an effort to know what is going on outside of the United States. For many Americans they don't know what is going on in other parts of the world and they don't care to know. Maybe it is American arrogance to think that what happens in other countries has no real meaning or impact on us but this way of thinking is wrong and foolish.

One big story that I have been following is, "The Rise of Food Prices".

Here are links to the relevant stories on this subject:

Asian states feel rice pinch

Asian countries have been struggling to cope as the cost of rice has reached record levels.

The price of the staple crop has risen by as much as 70% during the last year, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), with increases accelerating in recent weeks.

Shortages have begun to hit some importing countries.

The cost of food: facts and figures

World Bank tackles food emergency

Is India facing a food crisis?

China's Growing Thirst for Milk Hits Global Market

One of the most important stories I saw related to this topic was about the food crisis within North Korea:

Huge Gap Predicted In Supply Of Food

TOKYO, April 16 -- North Korea is facing a humanitarian crisis this year and will likely need large food donations from the international community, the U.N. World Food Program said Wednesday.

"Major sources of food for North Korea are all going down, and there is no very good prospect that any will go up soon," said Tony Banbury, the agency's regional director for Asia.

This year's food shortfall is projected to be 1.66 million metric tons, about double the need of last year and the highest since 2001, according to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization.


Why is that story so important?

The United States and North Korea have been locked in a long going dispute about Nuclear weapons. We now have a major tool to negotiate with! They need food and we could supply them with what they need. The question is simple, is North Korea willing to make real compromises to get the needed food?

Here are more reports about the food crisis in North Korea:

North Korea close to major food crisis: UN agency

North Korea 'faces food crisis'

Another important aspect of this food crisis is what will happen if countries desperately need food? Will they turn to war to obtain it?

I believe this is a story that every reader should be concerned about and follow carefully.

If you see a story related to this issue please forward it to me. My e-mail is tsrk30@sbcglobal.net

I welcome your comments

Dance Craze Tecktonik

The following was found at NPR.org


With the Macarena long past, a new European dance craze is set to invade U.S. shores.
The Tecktonik began just outside Paris — and is spreading to nightclubs and onto the streets across Europe.

At the Metropolis, one of the biggest nightclubs in the Paris region, the music goes by a lot of different names. Electro. Jump style. Hard style. Hard core. But the only dance is the Tecktonik.
The customers at the club are mostly in their teens and early 20s, middle class, and from every ethnic background. They look as if they were raised by Madonna and Marilyn Manson.

Neon colors are the order of the day, as are slim jeans, tiny T-shirts and outrageous haircuts — a cross between a mohawk and a mullet.

The Tecktonik, involving a lot of arm movements, is all the rage.

Explaining the Dance

"I move my hands up in the right, in the left, put your hands up for Detroit, on every side," says patron Vlad Vladsy.

Others try to explain the dance in their own ways.

Jeremy Vachayeiu says it's sort of like you're an elastic band.

Fabien Amadeau says it's like a windmill. He says it's a mix of a lot of different dances – vogue-ing, hip hop, the moonwalk, smurfing — and the point is pure hedonism.

Any sort of accident or catastrophe could happen to our generation at any time, he says. So this dance is a way of living life to the fullest, in case we're not here tomorrow or two days from now, he adds.

Growing Popularity

Seven years ago, Tecktonik was limited to a few dance clubs in Paris. It moved into the mainstream about a year ago, when dancers started posting videos of themselves on
DailyMotion and YouTube.

In one video explaining the dance, the dancer says "you need big sunglasses, a ridiculous haircut, a flashy belt and a tight T-shirt. And above all you must know how to move your body."

Now, the Tecktonik is also a fashion movement and a brand name. There's a Tecktonic brand T-shirt and a Tecktonik haircut — the official version of the mohawk-mullet cross costs $140. Soon there'll even be a Tecktonik brand mobile phone.

The dance also has moved onto the street. Here on the square at the Trocadero in Paris, dozens of dancers gather every Saturday afternoon to make up and share new moves.

Narcos Vidrine, 21, says he and his friends don't just dance for pleasure. They dance because they want to prove something, that they're better than others. But instead of fighting with fists, they fight with the dance.

And then there are the apprentices. Riot Jimere, 11, has been dancing since November. He says he really likes dancing, but that he gets exhausted if he dances too much.

Jimere and his friends can already be seen on the Internet.


It is hard to really understand a dance from a news article so I have looked for some videos that may help the readers see what the dance looks like.





Here is a link to another video

http://video.aol.com/video-detail/tecktonik/1895077257






Here is another video

NEW MUSIC

It is Friday and I thought I would point everyone to some new music.

The B52s
It has been 16 years since they have released a new CD! They are back with their new realese:
Funplex


















NPR recently did a stroy about the new CD: You can listen to the story and to two tracks from the new CD at this link:
The B-52s, Bringing Back the Party

The official web site for the B52s can be found here:
B52s

You can buy the new CD here:
Funplex

You can download the album through I-tunes as well.

Next we have:

Death Cab For Cutie

Their new Cd is set to release May 2008.

The first single for the CD is I Will Possess Your Heart and it is my favorite song right now! It is truly amazing.

You can listen to the song at this link:
Possess

The Offical Death Cab For Cutie web site can be found here:
Cab

To hear another track from the CD follow this link:
Sneak Preview