I have long resisted the phrase "citizen-journalist" because it usually
means "anybody with a camera who sends what they document to the Internet." But maybe what is happening in Myanmar (also known as Burma) does, in fact,
qualify as "citizen journalism."
Check out
this Web site. It certainly keeps a point of view, but it has been a
collection point for videos and photos from inside Myanmar, even when
the junta cut Internet and phone lines.
The Wall Street Journal includes
a story about how important the "citizen
journalist" has been to this story.
The BBC may have
the most complete coverage. It has been
urging readers to send pictures and videos of
what is happening inside Burma/Myanmar.
YouTube, of course, is also brimming with video from Burma. I would recommend
this documentary clip about "Burma's Secret War," which is about the government's war against its people.
Helium Shortage: Not All About BalloonsThe global shortage of helium is growing. More than birthday party balloons are at risk here, though
party supply stores say they are hurting right at the edge of homecoming parade and holiday party season.
About one-fifth of the global helium market is used in the cooling of magnets in MRI diagnostic machines. Another 17 percent is used in laser welding. Helium is also used in microchip production and even to cool the space shuttle upon re-entry.
ScientificAmerican.com says the price of helium has more than doubled in the past five years, partly because the demand for MRI machines keep growing.
The CBC says the helium shortage is showing up even at the consumer level:
Supplies of helium -- which is extracted from natural gas -- were
first reported to have sunk to record low levels in 2006 as refineries
in the U.S., Algeria and Russia reported production problems.
The growing use of MRI machines, which use helium to super-cool
magnets, in hospitals around the world is also contributing to the
demand.
Retailers have steadily absorbed the rising costs of the gas but now some businesses are reporting access has been cut entirely.
"We were told there's no helium, so that's going to change the face
of our business, temporarily if not long term," said Leah Garven,
who runs a party decorating business in Saskatoon.
"We've been trying to figure out what we can do with air and still
satisfy the customer because let's face it, everyone loves a helium
balloon."
NorthJersey.com says:
North Jersey's party stores are starting to feel the pinch of gas
rationing -- not the gas that fuels cars, but the gas that floats
balloons.
The global helium shortage the compressed-gas industry has been
warning users about for more than a year has finally hit home, and
balloon sellers -- described by one expert as "the bottom of the helium
food chain" -- have been the first to take a hit.
Helium -- the lighter-than-air gas that is a byproduct of natural
gas refining -- is used in dozens of industries. It cools the giant
magnets in MRI machines and is used in scientific research for New
Jersey's pharmaceutical industry. But it is best known as the gas that
keeps party and Thanksgiving Day parade balloons afloat.
An explosion that reduced output at a plant in Algeria, production
delays at a new processing plant in Qatar and the shutdown of a major
U.S. plant in Wyoming for maintenance have combined to create what Phil
Kornbluth, executive vice president for global helium at Matheson
Tri-Gas in Parsippany, calls "the perfect storm" for the helium
industry. He predicts demand will continue to exceed supply for at
least two years.
Balloon inflation is considered the least essential use of helium,
and balloon sellers have been the first to see their helium orders cut.
Last year, NPR said:
Another customer of helium is NASA, which requires a train-car-load of helium for each space-shuttle launch.
Helium
balloon fans -- of whatever age -- shouldn't worry about a shortage,
however: The balloons suck up only 8 percent of the helium stock.
Learn more about the history of helium as a "strategic" resource and about a new kind of helium that could be a fuel of the future.
Scientific American provides some interesting background:
Helium prices have doubled in the past five years. The high demand is
not exactly coming from people with party balloons to fill. Rather
helium cools the superconducting coils of magnetic resonance imaging
(MRI) devices, and the sale of those machines has grown tremendously,
driving the demand for helium up by 25 percent since 2003. In contrast,
helium production has increased by only about half as much.
In 2006 the U.S. sold 23,000 metric tons of helium, which filled 71
percent of the world's helium needs (Algeria and Russia supplied most
of the rest). At least one third of the U.S.'s contribution came from
the federal helium reserve. Started in 1961, when helium was considered
to be a crucial military and technological resource, the stockpile had
grown by 1996 to 170,000 metric tons, stored mostly in porous rock beds
in the Cliffside gas field near Amarillo, Tex. As part of an effort to
privatize government programs, a 1996 act mandated the sale of all but
2,900 tons by 2015. As a result, according to a 2000 National Academy
of Sciences report, the total U.S. helium resources will disappear by
2035 -- probably sooner, because of rising demand. "If within the next
five years, new sources of helium are not brought to market, there will
be a helium shortage" if demand continues to grow at current rates,
says Joseph Peterson of the Bureau of Land Management, the agency that
manages the reserve. Recycling of this rare and nonrenewable resource
may need to improve greatly to prevent shortfalls.
Businesses That Won't Survive 10 Years
Entrepreneur.com came up with an interesting list of businesses that will be gone or severely changed within 10 years. The list includes crop dusters, which are about 60 years old now. Also on the list are gay bars, which are closing because gays feel they can travel more freely in mainstream clubs and bars. Camera film manufacturing and record stores are on the list as victims of technology changes. Additionally, the story says used bookstores are going out of business at a rapid rate because online booksellers have taken over that market.
Attacking the 'Skinny Model' Image
Have you see the
big dust-up in Italy, where anti-anorexia billboard and magazine ads featuring a 70-pound model have focused the country's attention on anorexia?
Colleges See Racial Incidents Flare
The Washington Post took note of a collection of racial incidents that have boiled to the surface at several schools:
A couple of weeks into classes at the
University of Maryland,
a rope tied into what looked like a noose was found hanging outside the
campus's African American cultural center. Campus police reports this
month included two incidents of racially disparaging remarks, one
written on a workstation and one on a bathroom stall in the student
union.
(Last) weekend, a swastika was spray-painted onto the car of a member of
the Kappa Alpha fraternity, which one member described as a Christian
fraternity.
A
Maryland congressman is asking for an investigation into nooses left among the personal effects of a black cadet at the
U.S. Coast Guard Academy and on the office floor of a staff member doing racial sensitivity training after the initial incident.
This month, more than 200 students at the University of Virginia protested cartoons depicting starving Ethiopians and a slave that ran in the student paper.
Because so many colleges are more racially and culturally diverse than
ever, with students hanging out, dating and studying together, such
incidents have left many wondering: What's going on?
And what are schools doing about it?
Some professors think there are more incidents than ever. Others think people are just more aware of them thanks to YouTube, Facebook and e-mail.
The story also lists examples of Halloween party incidents that raised eyebrows and offended people:
An In-Depth Look at MoveOn.org
The Center for Responsive Politics has
a useful, in-depth look at what
MoveOn.org is and what it does with the millions of dollars it raises. MoveOn.org, of course, has come under intense fire after the organization ran its "General Petraeus or General Betray Us" ad in
The New York Times.The controversy that followed has reportedly attracted so much attention that MoveOn.org's membership and fund-raising increased.
In an effort to distance themselves from the Petreaus ad scandal, candidates have handed back contributions. As the Center for Responsive Politics points out, these contributions have been gathered by so-called "bundlers."
Click here to see MoveOn.org's expenditures item by item.
Click here to see the major recipients of MoveOn.org's money.
Click here to see MoveOn.org's independent expenditures in the last election cycle:
Total For Democrats: $296,936
Total Against Democrats: $0
Total For Republicans: $0
Total Against Republicans: $2,560,707
We are always looking for your great ideas. Send Al a few sentences and hot links.
Editor's
Note: Al's Morning Meeting is a compendium of ideas, edited story
excerpts and other materials from a variety of Web sites, as well as
original concepts and analysis. When the information comes directly
from another source, it will be attributed and a link will be provided
whenever possible. The column is fact-checked, but depends on the
accuracy and integrity of the original sources cited. Errors and
inaccuracies found will be corrected.
These people that smuggle video and pictures out are citizens...
