20080922 一條枕木 港鐵用足40年

clipped from hk.news.yahoo.com 【明報專訊】雖然本港鐵路路軌的枕木都用混凝土枕，但傳統的木枕仍有其功能，主要用於路軌分岔的「波口位」中。港鐵指不會浪費這些來自熱帶樹林的木枕，它們在一般列車路段用上15年後，會再安放於行車壓力較低的貨場或車廠內繼續使用，故其「服役」期可達40多年；即使功成身退，也可轉到學校、靶場作循環再用。而港鐵仍貯存約200條枕木作後備用途。 港鐵軌道執行經理黃永健解釋，木枕較石屎枕、混凝土枕等容易分割，使用彈性高，很切合轉線位較多的鐵路路段。他舉例指一般枕木每條長約2.6米、闊30厘米、重200多磅，但在紅磡站入站前一段波口位有多條路軌，轉線位較多，那裏的枕木長約7米，重600多磅，可見不同環境的需要亦不同。大部分木枕都是以防腐後的紅柳桉樹樹幹製成，主要原產地是中國、馬來西亞    等地。由於這類樹木生長在熱帶樹林，不但因為樹林面積縮減而愈見罕有，而且不少原產國都會限制出口，令這些木枕的數量有減無增。 港鐵基建執行經理黃永健指路軌分線「波口位」需要長度不一的路枕承托路軌負重，故仍有需要以天然製成的枕木作為木枕，減輕負重壓力。（陳朗昇攝）

20080911 Indonesia issues tsunami alert after strong quake

clipped from www.chinadaily.com.cn JAKARTA -- Indonesia's meteorology agency issued a tsunami warning on Thursday after a strong quake, measured at 7.6 on the Richter scale, hit the eastern Indonesian Moluccas islandson Thursday morning. The quake rattled at 07:00 Jakarta time (0000GMT) with the epicenter at 122 kilometers northwest Ternate of North Maluku province and at 10 kilometers under sea bed, he said. The intensity of the quake was felt 3 MMI (modified mercalli intensity) at Manado, the capital of North Sulawesi province, said Sudrajat. The agency said the quake was potential to bring about a tsunami. The Military command in coastal areas of Ternate had instructed the people to be on alert after the warning, according to an official of the national disaster management agency. Indonesia sits at a vulnerable zone so called "the Pacific Ring of Fire" where two continental plates, stretching from the Western Hemisphere through Japan and Southeast Asia, meet that cause frequent volcanic movements.

20080908 Haiti's storm toll climbs to 600; Cuba evacuates 800,000

clipped from www.chinadaily.com.cn HAVANA -- Hurricane Ike slammed into Cuba, the second major storm to hit the island in a little over a week, making landfall in the eastern province of Holguin as a major Category Three hurricane, weather officials said. UN peacekeepers cross a river after floods near Port-au-Prince September 7, 2008. [Agencies] Packing 120-mile (195-kilometer) per hour winds, Ike is the second powerful storm in just eight days to strike Cuba, following the devastation of Hurricane Gustav. "In all of Cuba's history, we have never had two hurricanes this close together," lamented Rubeira. More than 800,000 Cubans were evacuated ahead of the Ike's arrival, including more than 9,000 foreign visitors who were moved out of the tourist mecca of Varadero, some 120 kilometers (75 miles) east of Havana. An evacuated house is submerged in floodwaters in Baracoa in this frame grab taken from Cuban state television September 7, 2008. [Agencies]

20080908 North China mud-rock flow death toll rises to 34

clipped from www.chinadaily.com.cn Houses buried in mud are seen in this picture taken on September 8, 2008. [Xinhua] The accident occurred around 8 am on Monday in a warehouse holding waste ore dregs of the Tashan Mine in Xiangfen County, Linfen City, which was soaked by torrential rain. But rough terrain, poor telecommunications and continuous rainfall hampered the rescue effort The mud-rock flow also destroyed a three-story office building, a market and some villagers' houses in the valley. Witness said the flow roared down the valley and washed away the market and the houses in a few minutes The specific number of the people trapped underneath the rubble is still under investigation.

20080908 Mine mudslide kills 26 in northern China

clipped from www.chinadaily.com.cn A car destroyed by the mud-rock flow is seen in Xiangfen County of North China's Shanxi Province, September 8, 2008. At least 26 people were killed on Monday in a rain-triggered mud-rock flow that caused the collapse of a warehouse holding waste ore dregs in Shanxi Province. [Xinhua]

20080904 大西洋罕見四風暴

clipped from http://www.mingpaonews.com/20080904/tal1.htm 【明報專訊】9月2日的衛星圖片顯示，大西洋海域上同時出現4股風暴，由左至右依次為「古斯塔夫」(Gustav)、海地與古巴之間的「漢納」(Hanna)，以及在東部海域的「艾克」(Ike)與「約瑟芬」(Josephine)。「古斯塔夫」周一在美國路易斯安那州登陸後，造成部分地區水浸。美國國家颶風中心現正密切留意其他3股風暴的動向。

20080904 石硤尾工廈變身 逾百藝術團進駐

clipped from http://www.mingpaonews.com/20080904/gmb1.htm 【明報專訊】浸大和馬會合作，耗資近7000萬元，花4年將石硤尾工廠大廈翻新成為創意藝術中心，工程終完成，並在月底舉行開幕儀式。中心內逾百單位已全數租予藝術團體及個人藝術家，主要作為視覺藝術工作坊。由於租金偏低，進駐申請相當踴躍，申請數目超額逾4倍。但有租戶表示，進駐中心後發現人流稀少，營運出現困難，相信與業主欠缺宣傳有關。 於1977年落成的石硤尾工廠大廈，改建成藝術中心，但部分舊被刻意保存。負責人表示，改建大廈曾向北京、台灣及英國取經，大廈佈局亦恍如北京「798」文化區一樣，集本地與外國風味。大廈內每層牆壁，還留有不少黑底白字的公司招牌，而當年工廈內的部分設施，如舊式手動印刷機，亦會保留作展覽。 石硤尾工廠大廈樓高9層，改建成藝術中心後，共提供124個工作室供藝術團體租用，市民將來參觀時，可參觀藝術家的工作情，而大廈中間的天井，則會舉行藝術活動。（尹錦恩攝） 石硤尾工廠大廈昔日被不同工廠租用，牆上留下不少招牌，這些招牌被保留下來，令藝術中心更有本土風味。（古治雄攝）

20080904 19-square-mile ice sheet breaks loose in Canada

clipped from www.chinadaily.com.cn An undated photo from the Center for Northern Studies shows the Ward Hunt Ice Shelf disintegrating. The incredibly rapid rate at which Canada's Arctic ice shelves are disappearing is an early indicator of the 'very substantial changes' that global warming will impose on all mankind, a top scientist said on Wednesday. [Agencies] Formed by accumulating snow and freezing meltwater, ice shelves are large platforms of thick, ancient sea ice that float on the ocean's surface but are connected to land. "These changes are irreversible under the present climate and indicate that the environmental conditions that have kept these ice shelves in balance for thousands of years are no longer present," said Mueller. today, warmer temperatures and a changing climate means there's no hope for regrowth. The loss of these ice shelves means that rare ecosystems that depend on them are on the brink of extinction

20080904 Coke offer for Huiyuan triggers widespread worry in China

clipped from http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2008-09/04/content_6999559.htm Huiyuan juice and bottles of Coca-cola on sale at a super market in Yichang, Hubei province, on September 3, 2008. The world's biggest beverage maker Coca-Cola has offered to buy China's Huiyuan Juice for $2.3 billion, 300 percent more than its last closing price.[Asianewsphoto] While Coca-Cola and Huiyuan both seem satisfied with the deal, many ordinary Chinese think otherwise. Having just been listed among the top 25 domestic brands last year by China Brand Union Association, Huiyuan had the largest share in the Chinese juice market and was the pride of many Chinese as an example of a domestic brand that competes successfully among its international rivals. "Huiyuan would become a brand under Coca-Cola, which has achieved a major strategic triumph. It will get not only the top brand in China, but also the market. It would take Coca-Cola back to the top of the Chinese beverage market," "But it would mean a heavy loss to Chinese domestic brands, which are under severe crisis now," said Li.

20080902 New Orleans largely spared by Hurricane Gustav

clipped from www.chinadaily.com.cn NEW ORLEANS - New Orleans evacuees scattered across the country were eager to return home after their city was largely spared by Hurricane Gustav, but Mayor Ray Nagin warned they may have to wait in shelters and motels a few days longer. The city's improved levee system helped avert a disaster like Hurricane Katrina, which flooded most of the city, and officials got an assist from a disorganized and weakened Gustav, which came ashore about 72 miles southwest of the city Monday morning. Eight deaths were attributed to the storm in the US after it killed at least 94 people across the Caribbean. The state and city took pride in a massive evacuation effort that succeeded in urging people to leave or catch buses and trains out: Almost 2 million people left coastal Louisiana, and only about 10,000 people rode out the storm in New Orleans. Gustav was downgraded to a tropical depression early Tuesday, the National Hurricane Center in Miami said.

20080901 New Orleans: Gustav is just the start of a major hurricane season

clipped from www.telegraph.co.uk Gustav marks the latest storm in what could be a particularly violent hurricane season. A street at a railroad crossing near the Inner Harbor Navigational Canal is flooded as Hurricane Gustav hits New Orleans Hurricanes are created when a cluster of thunderstorms gather to form a low-pressure area, which draws in air and generates spin in a counter-clockwise direction. Warm ocean water, typically in excess of 27C, fuels the transfer of heat and moisture to generate thunderstorms that rise upward. If there are no strong winds to break up the storm, it intensifies. Prof Bill McGuire, Director of the Benfield UCL Hazard Research Centre in London said: "There is growing evidence that higher sea-surface temperatures resulting from climate change have driven increased Atlantic hurricane activity in the last few decades. Given this scenario, the locations of a number of major US cities in the hurricane belt, in particular New Orleans, Miami and Houston, are becoming increasingly precarious."