Eideard

Click on the image twice – to bring up the whole disaster.

Brown shaded area = Amsterdam City, Green = Amsterdam Schiphol Airport

Beijing has started construction on a new mega-airport that will be roughly the size of Bermuda and have nine runways. When Beijing Daxing International airport opens in 2015, the Chinese capital will become the world’s busiest aviation hub, handling around 370,000 passengers a day.

It is only three years since the opening of Terminal 3 at Beijing Capital Airport, a sweeping structure designed by Sir Norman Foster that is far bigger than all of Heathrow’s five terminals combined.

But an enormous boom in China’s aviation industry has already left the capital’s existing facilities stretched to breaking point. “It is impossible to add even one more flight to the tight daily schedule of the Capital airport,” said Li Jiaxing, the minister in charge of China’s Civil Aviation Administration.

“The existing airport in Beijing has an annual capacity of 75 million passengers. Last year it handled 73 million,” said Cao Yunchun, a professor at the country’s Civil Aviation University. “In two years, it will be totally packed. And it cannot be expanded infinitely,” he added.

Instead, Beijing’s planners have found a 21 sq mile site to the south of the city, in the suburb of Daxing. Currently the site is around an hour’s drive from the city centre, but planners are pencilling in an extension to Beijing’s metro, and perhaps even a high-speed train line.

The new facility will not only serve Beijing, but also Tianjin and parts of Hebei as the Chinese capital morphs into a mega-city, its suburbs merging into those of the cities around it. The airport will be Beijing’s third, after Capital and the smaller, primarily military, Nanyuan airport.

Phew! While we prattle on about whether or not it’s “fiscally appropriate” to repair infrastructure built a half-century ago – and crumbling – the nations we compete with for commerce on a global stage are building for future business and other travel.

This is not how we got to be the nation we are; but, it certainly may be how we continue to lose stature and competitiveness.

Click to enlarge

Scientists have produced what they say is the first complete map of how the ice moves across Antarctica.
Built from images acquired by radar satellites, the visualisation details all the great glaciers and the smaller ice streams that feed them…

It should aid the understanding of how the White Continent might evolve in the warmer world being forecast by climatologists.

“This is like seeing a map of all the oceans’ currents for the first time. It’s a game changer for glaciology,” said lead author Dr Eric Rignot. “We are seeing amazing flows from the heart of the continent that had never been described before”…

The map incorporates billions of radar data points collected between 1996 and 2009 by satellites belonging to Europe, Canada and Japan.

Ice drains from the interior via huge glaciers that calve icebergs into the sea…Ice velocities on the new map range from just few cm/year near places where the ice divides into different paths, to km/year on fast-moving glaciers and the ice shelves that float out from the edges of the continent.

RTFA for history and details. Interesting stuff.

One of my favorite parkway bridges down in Stamford

A mountain lion killed on a Connecticut highway in June was a wild animal from South Dakota that prowled more than 1,500 miles eastward before meeting his death 70 miles from New York City, genetic tests confirmed this week.

The big cat with a long tail and an even longer tale was determined to have travelled through Minnesota and Wisconsin in late 2009 and 2010 before arriving in the posh suburb of Greenwich, Connecticut, according to DNA testing of the animal and his scat.

The cougar was struck and killed on a commuter roadway, the Wilbur Cross Parkway, on June 11.

“I think it’s staggering that he was able to go 1,500 miles but also travel through those areas without being detected or killed,” said Mark Dowling, a director at the Cougar Network.

“Moving through the Midwest and Northeast, it’s a gauntlet of potential detection — roads, highways, rivers and dogs to get through,” he said.

The cross-country trek is one of the longest movements on record for a land mammal and nearly doubles any known distance traveled by a mountain lion, according to Connecticut environmental officials. It’s also the first recorded confirmation of a wild mountain lion in Connecticut in more than 100 years, officials said…

But DNA tests on the 140-pound animal, believed to be two to five years old, matched the genetic structure of the mountain lion population in the Black Hills region of South Dakota, officials said.

Other signs that he was a wild animal included the fact he was not declawed, neutered or implanted with a microchip but did have porcupine quills embedded in his tissues.

I know the area well where his life was ended. My family lived for years right next to the parkway, just over from Milford – it’s called the Merritt Parkway or the Wilbur Cross Parkway depending on whether you’re east or west of the Housatonic River.. It was one of the first limited access, dual lane highways with a median – built starting back in 1934.

Not that any of that impressed Mr. Mountain Lion. Our loss.

The personal data of millions of passengers who fly between the US and Europe, including credit card details, phone numbers and home addresses, may be stored by the US department of homeland security for 15 years, according to a draft agreement between Washington and Brussels leaked to the Guardian.

The “restricted” draft, which emerged from negotiations between the US and EU, opens the way for passenger data provided to airlines on check-in to be analysed by US automated data-mining and profiling programmes in the name of fighting terrorism, crime and illegal migration. The Americans want to require airlines to supply passenger lists as near complete as possible 96 hours before takeoff, so names can be checked against terrorist and immigration watchlists.

The agreement acknowledges that there will be occasions when people are delayed or prevented from flying because they are wrongly identified as a threat, and gives them the right to petition for judicial review in the US federal court. Well, isn’t that special?

The 15-year retention period is likely to prove highly controversial as it is three times the five years allowed for in the EU’s PNR (passenger name record) regime to cover flights into, out of and within Europe. A period of five and a half years has just been negotiated in a similar agreement with Australia. Germany and France raised concerns this week about the agreement and the unproven necessity for the measure.

Britain has already announced its intention to opt in to the European PNR plan, in which the home secretary, Theresa May, played a key role, and is expected to join the US agreement this summer…

The US Senate passed a resolution last week saying it “simply could not accept” any watering down by European ministers of data-sharing, describing it as “an important part of our layered defences against terrorism”. Senators said it was an important tool in the security agencies’ “identifying possible threats before they arrive in our country”.

But the European parliament, which would have to approve it, has demanded proof that such a PNR agreement is necessary, and said it should in no circumstances be used for data-mining or profiling…

This draft agreement appears to give the Americans all they have asked for…

The data to be collected includes 19 separate items relating to each airline passenger, including their billing details, contact numbers, the names of those they are travelling with and how much baggage they have, as well their itinerary.

Well, we certainly are assured our government cares enough about our safety and security that they are willing to keep an eye on us for years and years. I feel safer, now. Don’t you?

Animal welfare officers in Wales were on Thursday trying to trace a man seen trying to board a train with a pony.

CCTV images showed the pair unsuccessfully attempting to buy a ticket at a station in Wrexham. The man then led the horse onto the platform as a train pulled in, but they were turned away by the conductor.

Later in the day the man also took the horse to a hospital in the town, media reports say.

Wrexham Council’s animal welfare staff are now trying to speak to the man to confirm the horse is not in danger, spokeswoman Gill Stevens told CNN…

Arriva Trains Wales said dogs and other small pets were allowed to travel on its trains, but larger animals such as horses were banned for “common sense” reasons.

A spokesman said: “Apart from dogs all other animals have to be in a basket or a cage. Obviously it’s common sense that we don’t allow horses or ponies on the train. He tried to buy a ticket and was refused and then left the station.”

Are we certain the horse wasn’t trying to put the man on the train?

European politicians rejected three cost-cutting measures, which would have seen salaries frozen and travel allowances cut, in a move branded as “shameful”.

The first amendment to be voted down called for MEPs and senior EU staff to fly economy class for journeys of less than four hours around Europe instead of business class – a proposal that would have saved an estimated £20m a year.

They then rejected an amendment which recommended that “savings in the Parliament should start by its own members”, which called for no further increases in MEP salaries and their various parliamentary allowances in 2012.

Finally they rejected a third amendment which stated MEPs should not be paid for both being in the Parliament and travelling to or from it. MEPs receive an average flat rate allowance of £168 to cover the cost of travelling from their homes to either Brussels or Strasbourg.

MEPs are paid an average £83,000 per year, compared to MPs in Britain, who have an annual salary of £65,738.

They also receive a daily “subsistence allowance” of £265, they can be refunded up to £3,600 per year for other travel outside their own country, and be reimbursed for up to 24 return journeys within their own country. Members also receive up to £242,000 annually in staff salaries and office expenses and benefit from a generous health care and pension system. It is estimated that an MEP can cost around £400,000-a-year…

Marta Andreasen said: “This proves categorically and unambiguously that when the European Parliament speaks of austerity measures it applies to everybody else except the institution itself…

At the same time, MEPs gave their blessing to the multi-million-pound House of European History museum project and also voted to approve a 2.3 per cent increase in the Parliament’s budget for 2012 to £1.5bn.

I’m certain everyone who gets to contribute to the maintenance of politicians to this standard feels just tip-top about the expense. Right?

For young, single city professionals, the Spring Festival holidays present many reasons to be fearful: standing in line for hours to get a train ticket, exhausting long journeys, stuffing red envelopes with cash. Arguably the No 1 reason is the prospect of turning up at home alone. Not only does it give parents the opportunity to nag – “Your classmates and cousins are married and have children. What’s wrong with you?” – but it is also likely to result in a holiday spent on blind dates. To ease the pressure, Chinese singletons are simply paying people to pose as partners for their holiday homecoming.

On Dec 14, Tang Yongxue stood on a street in Chengdu, capital of Sichuan province, and waved a placard that read: “Fake boyfriend needed for Spring Festival – 10,000 yuan ($1,500) for five days’ work.” She told reporters she wanted to rent a man to accompany her home to reassure her parents. The candidate had to be aged 26 to 30, at least 1.75 meters tall and “insightful”.

Although dismissed as a publicity stunt by many people, the incident highlights the huge pressure on China’s growing population of single urbanites to marry.

Tang’s tactic has been widely adopted online by desperate bachelors and bachelorettes. Want ads for fake holiday partners run for pages on many popular Chinese micro-blogging websites, such as Sina, while some stores on Taobao, the online marketplace, also offer boyfriends and girlfriends for hire.

“It’s a fun idea to help another person temporarily release the pressure of getting married,” said netizen “Howe.C”, who declined to give his real name. “Plus, spending the holiday with total strangers is interesting.”

The office worker, who is in his late 20s and lives in Wuhan, capital of Hubei province, said he will not go home this Spring Festival as he fears the long journey may stop him from returning to work on time. He posted an advertisement on Douban, a major online community, offering to pretend to be someone’s boyfriend in Wuhan or neighboring cities. He describes himself as athletic, outgoing and humorous, not handsome but well educated and polite.

Speaking for his generation, “Howe.C” said: “We shouldn’t marry simply because we reach marital age. We’ll find true love but it takes time. Sometimes parents push us too hard. The pressure is especially bad for women who are almost 30. The general conception goes that the older a woman gets, the fewer marriage opportunities she is left with. I empathize with them…”

Although renting a boyfriend or girlfriend sounds like cheating the people who care most, supporters often defend the practice by saying it is a white lie with mutual benefits. Not only does it bring comfort to elderly family members, they argue, but it also saves singles from a holiday of arguing with their parents. For hired lovers, they get their fee, as well as free accommodation and travel.

There’s already been an episodic drama based on this “solution” on Chinese TV. It probably would make a decent film on the order of “You’ve got mail”. Which Hollywood would copy and set in New York City for Xmas, no doubt.

The interest for me is in the dynamics of a rapidly-changing society. It ain’t ever easy.

It has been an exciting year for hybrid power train development in major racing series, with the teams deciding that KERS will return to Formula One in 2011, the growing success of the Porsche 911 GT3 R Hybrid in the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup and now the news that Oshkosh Corporation will be fielding a 400 bhp hybrid diesel-electric Light Concept Vehicle in the Baja 1000 desert race which begins later this week in Mexico. Perhaps even more interesting than the hybrid powertrain is its TAK-4 suspension which offers 20 inches of independent wheel travel…

Just what to expect of the Oshkosh LCV is difficult to predict. It’s Oshkosh ProPulse® diesel-electric powertrain design will obviously deliver excellent fuel economy, but it’s not really been designed for desert racing. The U.S. military uses two sources of power on the battlefield – everything with an internal combustion engine runs on diesel and everything else runs on electricity. This latter category accounts for an increasing percentage of the military’s in-theatre energy requirements, and one of the many advantages of the ProPulse® drivetrain is that it is capable of exporting “significant levels of electrical power”. One day soon, the LCV might well be used as an in-theater, high-speed, autonomous electrical power station.

That’s only part of its unique and ingenious design. The ProPulse system also simplifies the transmission of power to the wheels. The diesel engine powers an electric generator, which provides direct power to the wheels, eliminating the torque converter, automatic transmission, transfer case and drive shafts. The system has no batteries, using ultracapacitors for energy storage. A regenerative system uses the traction motors as generators for vehicle braking, storing the energy and then uses it during the next acceleration event, thus reducing wear and tear on the brake system…

In honesty though, the race participation is all about testing new technologies, and the truly fascinating aspect of the LCV for me is the next-generation TAK-4® independent suspension system. I have been riding off-road racing bikes since a few inches of suspension travel was state-of-the-art, and hence the Oshkosh patented TAK-4® suspension system, which is designed to use up to 20 inches of travel on each wheel, is … astonishing. That’s a lot of suspension travel at race speeds and controlling that much wheel travel at high speeds with obstacles arriving at 90 mph is highly problematic. The press release claim that its speeds may be up to 40% faster than the competition will make it well worth watching.

The extreme wheel travel is clearly being developed so that it can transport goods (and humans), very quickly, over very rough terrain, without damaging its cargo. Military R&D has been delivering breakthrough technology to peacetime society for thousands of years, and it’ll be interesting to see how the TAK-4 suspension copes at racing speeds, given it’s raison d’etre is unquestionably to increase off-road mobility, improve vehicle maneuverability and provide a smoother ride for military purposes. Could the next quantum leap in desert racing be provided by the military?

Worth checking in on the race, this weekend. No matter which way things end up, this is an exciting vehicle and development program. Oshkosh has already kicked the snot out of traditional suppliers to the Pentagon with some of their earlier iron.

Although Mr. Frommer, the founder of Frommer’s Travel Guides (which is an online content partner of The New York Times), has used his blog to express strong opinions in the past, his post on Wednesday — expressing horror at the spectacle of about a dozen gun-toting protesters on Arizona’s streets during a visit by President Obama — stuck out from other recent entries like “Current Room Rates in Orlando at Non-Disney Properties Are Almost Too Good to Be True” and “Southwest Airlines Announces a Four-Month Airfare Sale — and It’s a Dilly.”

In his post on Arizona, Mr. Frommer explained that news coverage of the president’s visit — a trip that was intended, in part, to promote the state’s tourism industry — had convinced him to avoid going there:

“I am not yet certain whether I would advocate a travel boycott by others of the state of Arizona; I want to learn more about Arizona’s gun laws and how they compare with those of other states. But I am shocked beyond measure by reports that earlier this week, nearly a dozen persons, including one with an assault rifle strapped about his shoulders and others with pistols in their hands or holsters, were openly congregating outside a hall at which President Obama was speaking to the Veterans of Foreign Wars.

“For myself, without yet suggesting that others follow me in an open boycott, I will not personally travel in a state where civilians carry loaded weapons onto the sidewalks and as a means of political protest. I not only believe such practices are a threat to the future of our democracy, but I am firmly convinced that they would also endanger my own personal safety there. And therefore I will cancel any plans to vacation or otherwise visit in Arizona until I learn more. And I will begin thinking about whether tourists should safeguard themselves by avoiding stays in Arizona…

“I would feel as I do regardless of the political identity of the speaker whom these thugs attempted to intimidate. The continued tolerance of extremists carrying guns is a frightening development which strikes at the heart of the political process and endangers the ability to carry out a reasoned debate. Is there any responsible citizen of the United States who believes that people should carry guns to a public debate or speech? If Ronald Reagan were delivering a political talk in Phoenix, Arizona, would they have felt it was proper for protestors with guns to mill about outside the hall from which he would leave?”

Most media types are still too cowardly to identify this event as stage-managed, filmed and offered as “news coverage” by long-standing militia nutballs. The history of these clowns is tied directly to previous convictions of members of the Viper Militia as a public danger. Yet, Talking Heads from the world of TV news-as-entertainment never questioned a damned thing.

Even now, as a travel writer confronts these fearmongers – most broadcast journalists still describe the event as news coverage rather than a staged political farce. No different from teabaggers or “questions” from concerned Republicans at town hall discussions.