Venice's Regata Storica (from Metafilter)

"Yesterday Venice had its annual Historical Regatta, a traditional rowing competition whose origins date back to the 13th century and is held each year on the first Sunday of September. As it coincided with the Venice Film Festival, photographers were probably busier snapping pictures of George Clooney and fellow stars... so there's not much online about this year's event yet [like the photo above] but for your visual enjoyment here's a quick selection of images from past editions of the regata (more from this gallery of last year's event), showing both the rowers in the actual competition as well as the historical parade in traditional costumes; a few black and white images from the past (sorry, small and not good quality but still interesting): the regata in 1918, in 1956, in 1969, and in the 1970's; and, from the age before photography, famous paintings and engravings."

(posted by funambulist on Metafilter at 3:26 AM PST
[2 comments total])

The race course of the Regata Storica follows the full length of Venice's Grand Canal. Venetians row rather oddly... Traditionally, they stand up rather than sit down (that way they could make out better the narrow navigable channels which wind their ways through the Venetian lagoon). And they don't just row gondolas either! Every year for the Regata, there are traditional youths' races in pupparini, women's races in mascarete, team races in 6-man caorline and the climax with men's races in streamlined racing gondolini. (You can even get a sense of what these different traditional boats are like on the website of the rowing club of Venice's Giudecca island here!)

According to today's Gazzettino newspaper of Venice, this past year there was also a new contest between the city's rowing clubs in 4-man gondolas (won by our own nearest rowing club, the Remiera Casteo) and a challenge in galeoni (which hold eight rowers and a steersman) between the University of Venice at Ca' Foscari and the city's architectural university (IUAV). UVe won, and all its student team members apparently earned a tuition-free year as a result! The rectors of the two universities hope to open the competition up next year to other Italian and foreign universities, so be sure to start training now!!

Categories: Venice

"Katrina's real name: global warming" (link from "cyberpunk" author Bruce Sterling)

Snip from Boston Globe story by Ross Gelbspan:

Although Katrina began as a relatively small hurricane that glanced off south Florida, it was supercharged with extraordinary intensity by the relatively blistering sea surface temperatures in the Gulf of Mexico. The consequences are as heartbreaking as they are terrifying.

Unfortunately, very few people in America know the real name of Hurricane Katrina because the coal and oil industries have spent millions of dollars to keep the public in doubt about the issue.

The reason is simple: To allow the climate to stabilize requires humanity to cut its use of coal and oil by 70 percent. That, of course, threatens the survival of one of the largest commercial enterprises in history.

In 1995, public utility hearings in Minnesota found that the coal industry had paid more than $1 million to four scientists who were public dissenters on global warming. And ExxonMobil has spent more than $13 million since 1998 on an anti-global warming public relations and lobbying campaign. In 2000, big oil and big coal scored their biggest electoral victory yet when President George W. Bush was elected president -- and subsequently took suggestions from the industry for his climate and energy policies.

As the pace of climate change accelerates, many researchers fear we have already entered a period of irreversible runaway climate change.

Against this background, the ignorance of the American public about global warming stands out as an indictment of the US media.

(Thanks, Bruce Sterling)

A related item, from a 2001 National Geographic story:

[T]he North Atlantic, Caribbean, and Gulf of Mexico regions can expect increased hurricane activity in the next 10 to 40 years. The number of major hurricanes has more than doubled in the last six years. The increase is part of a long-term climate shift that is likely to persist for several decades..."

(from Boing Boing, posted by Xeni Jardin at 03:14:46 PM)

Categories: Southern

Borders' Coupon: 20% Off TOTAL PURCHASE for Students!!

Borders - Feature - students

"Katrina:Anecdote on civil defense in Cuba"

Don't know how accurate all this is, but it certainly gives food for a lot of thought...

• "less than 2 months ago, cuba was able to move 1.7 million people on short notice.
• the whole civil defense is embedded in the community to begin with. people know ahead of time where they are to go.
• they come to your door and knock, and tell you, evacuation is coming, then they come and tell you, now.
• if no electricity, they have runners who communicate from a headquarters to central locations what is to be done.
• the country's leaders go on TV and take charge. but not only the leaders are speaking. the TV weatherpeople are knowledgeable. and the population is well educated about hurricanes.
• they not only evacuate. it's arranged beforehand where they will go, who has family where. not only pickup is organized, delivery of people is organized.
• merely sticking them in a stadium is unthinkable. shelters all have medical personnel, from the neighborhood. they have family doctors in cuba (!), who evacuate together with the neighborhood, and already know who, for example, needs insulin.
• if they evacuate to a countryside high school -- a last resort -- they have dormitories there.
• they also have veterinarians and they evacuate animals. they begin evacuating immediately, and also evacuate TV sets and refrigerators, so that people aren't relucatant to leave because people might steal their stuff.
• it's not throwing money at the problem. it's not financial capital, it's social capital. the u.s. in this sense has zero social capital.
• dealing with hurricanes in cuba, as compared with how it's done in the u.s., is similar to the differences in how they deal with medicine. it's not reactive; it's proactive. they act as early as possible. the u.s. doesn't have civil defense, it has civil *reaction.* "

(more from Boing Boing)

Categories: Southern

"18-year-old 'pirates' a school bus, rescues 100 from NOLA"

"Eighteen-year-old Jabbor Gibson jumped aboard the bus as it sat abandoned on a street in New Orleans and took control. 'I just took the bus and drove all the way here... seven hours straight,' Gibson admitted. 'I hadn't ever drove a bus.' The teen packed it full of complete strangers and drove to Houston. He beat thousands of evacuees slated to arrive there. Authorities eventually allowed the renegade passengers inside the dome. But the 18-year-old who ensured their safety could find himself in a world of trouble for stealing the school bus. 'I dont care if I get blamed for it,' Gibson said, 'as long as I saved my people.'"

(from Boing Boing)

"Bird's Eye View of Destruction"

"If you go to Google Maps and type in 'New Orleans,' you'll see that along with 'map,' 'satellite' and 'hybrid,' a red "Katrina" tab has been added." (from The Presurfer)

Bird's Eye View of Destruction (from MetaFilter):
"Post-Katrina [aerial] images are now available on Google Maps. Click 'satellite' to see the before. Here's Superdome. Here's Highway 610 disappearing into the water, abandoned cars littering it. via Google Sightseeing." (posted by Kattullus at 8:02 PM PST) [15 comments total]

Categories: Southern

"The real disaster in New Orleans"(from Metafilter)

"David Aaronovitch of the London Times observes, 'It isn't the failure to act in New Orleans that is the story here, it's the sheer, uninsured, uncared for, self-disenfranchised scale of the poverty that lies revealed. It looks like a scene from the Third World because that's the truth. It's a quiet disaster that's been going on for years.' The truth is the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans has a poverty level of 36.4 percent. A quarter of households have an annual income of less than $10,000, while half live on less than $20,000. Over half of the population in the ward is categorized as 'not in the labor force,' mainly because they have ceased looking for work. The truth is that even on a normal day, New Orleans is a sad city. 'Sure, tourists think New Orleans is fun: you can drink and hop from strip club to strip club all night on Bourbon Street, and gamble all your money away at Harrah's. But the city's decline over the past three decades has left it impoverished and lacking the resources to build its economy from within. New Orleans can't take care of itself even when it is not 80 percent underwater.' The National Review is already blaming it - predictably - on the breakdown of the family. Conservatives in America are already dismissing the problem, as they have for years. But to those outside the United States, the scale of poverty in the world's richest country comes as a shock." (posted by three blind mice at 1:30 AM PST) [71 comments total]

Pest, Pet, Appetizer

A snapshot from a fantastic ad campaign by HSBC I saw while travelling... It's supposed to highlight cultural differences throughout the world (with the implication, of course, that HSBC has the know-how to be your bank wherever you travel all over the globe.)

My favorite showed three identical photos of a grasshopper...
...with the captions:

U.S.A. = "Pest"; China = "Pet"; Thailand = "Appetizer"!

I'd love to get more of these ads.
Anybody know where I could find 'em?

Categories: Humor

The world's ugliest dog. Really.

And I thought that Venice had several contenders for this title... I now stand corrected: "Sam, the world's ugliest dog, now has his own weblog..." (from The Presurfer)

Categories: Dogs&Cats, Humor

"English as She is Spoke"

"This 1883 book is without question the worst phrasebook ever written. The writer, Pedro Carolino, who was Portuguese, did not particularly speak English, nor did he have a Portuguese-English dictionary available. Instead, he worked with a French-English phrasebook and a Portuguese-French dictionary. The results, I'm sure you'll agree, are staggering." (from grow-a-brain)

Categories: Humor, Language

"Learning from Europe: Rebuilding New Orleans Into the New Amsterdam/Venice of the Gulf"

"Learning from Europe: Rebuilding New Orleans Into the New Amsterdam/Venice of the Gulf. Canals, built in and around parts of New Orleans, could be an engineering and asthetic marvel. It would also and provide testament to the beauty,soul,and rebirth of this great city and people. Living with the sea is a science that places like the Netherlands have mastered over the years. What would Frederick Law Olmsted do?"

(from Metafilter)

Categories: Venice

Hurricane Prompts Planning in Venice & Amsterdam

Weird Venice: Hurricane Prompts Planning in Europe

Categories: Venice

Create your own online travel diary!

"Tell the world...

A new travel web resource, launched earlier this month, lets you create your own online travel diary, which will help your friends and family keep up to date with all your adventures.The site is based around a tight knit community of travellers from all around the world, who share the knowledge and experiences from their travels and in doing so help other members plan future holidays.The site also includes many other sections to help members plan their next trip, including Travel Tips, Travel Ideas, Travel Links, Useful Advice and Language Resources. One of the highlights of the site is its Travel Forum. Check out http://wordtravelsfast.com/travel - WordTravels Fast!"

(Clark Howard's Travel e-Scapes - 1 September)

Categories: Blogs

UPDATED AGAIN:"Class, Race and Katrina: A Perfect Storm"

Since I've been travelling and getting ready for the new semester this week, and able to watch the media on Katrina only every now and then to get the updates on the latest data, I wouldn't presume to accept wholesale this claim without investigating.

But, still... as a Southerner by birth, and a one-time Louisianian by residence, I think we need to start demanding explanations as to why the U.S. has suffered a higher percentage of human casualties than many so-called "Third World" countries in similar circumstances. To me, it looks like class and race were definitely deciding factors for who lived and who died. I understand and appreciate many people's various opinions about welfare, but stranding and leaving thousands of impoverished people to drown is a crime against humanity.

And, as in any case of negligence, somebody needs to answer for it.

UPDATED: "Did New Orleans Catastrophe Have to Happen? 'Times-Picayune' Had Repeatedly Raised Federal Spending Issues"

UPDATED (9/02):

"New Orleans is sinking. According to a Houston Chronicle article FEMA warned in 2001 that the three most likely, most catastrophic disasters facing the United States were 1. A terrorist attack on New York City. 2. Flooding in New Orleans. 3. A San Francisco earthquake..." (from grow-a-brain)

Categories: Southern

I guess terrorists never upgrade to business class!

"In the next week Air Canada will allow its business-class passengers to use metal knives. The government approved the move but knives must have dull blades and rounded tips. Economy-class passengers will still be served meals with plastic knives."

(from "Clark Howard's Travel e-Scapes - 1 September")

Categories: Humor