If Animals Could Talk They Would Have Said These 10 Things in 2010

To read an article entitled, "If Animals Could Talk They Would have Said These 10 Things in 2010" which was written by Jocelyn Saurini please click on the following link:

http://tinygreenbubble.com/animal-rights/item/1299-if-animals-could-talk-they-would-have-said-these-10-things-in-2010

Dolphin left to die in Dolphin Base Resort pool in Taiji

Please watch this video:






How disgusting! How could anyone treat another life form like this? In 1999, the Japanese Parliament passed a revised Animal Protection Law (Doubutsu Aigo Kanri Hou). This law permits criminal prosecution for "cruelty" and "neglect" of animals. Before this law's enactment, prosecution was possible for abuse of other's animals, but not abuse of those in one's possession. Irresponsible dog owners were free to abuse their own pets without legal or civil repercussions. This new law authorized the arrest and prosecution of willful abuse and neglect regardless of ownership. So why isn't this law being enforced?? What kind of a human beings would allow another animal or life form on our planet to be mistreated  like the dolphin is in the video above? How ironic it is that in World War 2 the Japanese considered Allied prisoners of many different Commonwealth countries to be inferior to the Japanese. Now on the basis of this video  we can  state that in fact it is these Japanese people who are inferior to the rest of the World's population!!!  What kind of people  are the Japanese? They murder dolphins and whales and other life forms indiscriminately! They cut fins off a shark and let the shark
suffer the most excruciating death you could image by drowning helplessly. Why? So they can add the fin to a bowl of soup, the fin adds absolutely no taste to the soup, yet despite World outrage concerning this behavior of the Japanese they continue to keep killing sharks.

Their air pollution in Japan is  so bad that they are causing people in neighboring countries to experience severe health effects. "Environmental quality standards for organic pollution are still not being met at about 30% of Japan’s total water area. In particular, there has been little improvement in urban rivers and enclosed water areas such as inland seas, inlets, lakes, and reservoirs." (source:http://www.env.go.jp/en/water/wq/pollution/index.html ).

If we allow the Japanese to continue to act as they are in the present world, it is only a matter of time before they try and spread their behavior to other places in the World (much like they did after they attacked Pearl Harbour). Are the people of the non-Asian World going to allow the Japanese to continue to engage in their disgusting forms of behavior? I say no! I say we need to send a very strong message to them that their behavior in many ways is unacceptable,immoral  and will not be tolerated.

I suggest that you write the Japanese Minstry of Foreign Affairs using the following information:

The address for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is:
Kasumigaseki 2-2-1, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 100-8919 Japan
   Tel: +81 (0) 3-3580-3311

 Alternatively you can contact the Japanese Embassy or  Consulate in your country by going to this website:

http://www.mofa.go.jp/about/emb_cons/mofaserv.html 

Dust Study May Invalidate Most Warming Modeling Work Done to Date

Image: Toronto Ontario, December 14, 2010  Heavy snow stranding hundreds of drivers in southwest Ontario  caused a state of emergency


According to a new scientific study,  it has been revealed that  the models scientists have been using  to estimate the causes and effects of global warming may be dramatically flawed due to errors in one of their most important inputs!! You can read about this new study by clicking on the following link:

http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2010/12/23/1014798108.abstract 

To read  
a news article about these findings at the  Washington Times website please click on the following link:
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/dec/28/no-proof-man-causes-global-warming/ 

Back to the drawing board for Climate scientists!  

2010/2011 Hastings Chess Tournament

The traditional Hastings Chess Festival has begun in Hastings, England. This festival consists of a number of tournaments which are divided up on the basis of rating of the players.Here are the rankings of the players after one round of play in the top "Premier" section:

Ranking after round 1 (Wednesday, 29 December 2010)

Rank Name Flags Score Fed. M/F Rating TPR W-We 1
1 GM EDOUARD, Romain 1.0 FRA M 2636 3021 +0.11 1
2 GM ISTRATESCU, Andrei 1.0 ROU M 2616 3010 +0.12 1
3 GM HOWELL, David W L 1.0 ENG M 2611 3005 +0.12 1
4 GM KOTRONIAS, Vasilios 1.0 GRE M 2591 3002 +0.13 1
5 GM SENGUPTA, Deep 1.0 IND M 2558 2992 +0.15 1
6 GM NEVEROV, Valeriy 1.0 UKR M 2522 2988 +0.17 1
7 IM DAS Arghyadip 1.0 IND M 2476 2982 +0.21 1
8 GM GORMALLY, Daniel W 1.0 ENG M 2470 2981 +0.22 1
9 IM PERT, Richard G 1.0 ENG M 2464 2972 +0.21 1
10 IM SHYAM, Sundar M 1.0 IND M 2439 2964 +0.23 1
11 IM RAMNATH, Bhuvanesh R 1.0 IND M 2427 2954 +0.23 1
12 IM WOHL, Aleksandar H 1.0 AUS M 2424 2942 +0.22 1
13 IM ASHWIN, Jayaram 1.0 IND M 2420 0 +0.00 +
14 IM SWAPNIL, S Dhopade 1.0 IND M 2409 2930 +0.23 1
15 IM RENDLE, Thomas E 1.0 ENG M 2400 2928 +0.23 1

The official tournament website for the Festival is at: http://www.hastingschess.org.uk/

53rd Reggio Emilia Chess Tournament

The 53rd Reggio Emilia chess tournament has begun in Reggio Emilia, Italy. This tournament runs from Tuesday December 28th 2010 until Thu January 6th, 2011. Some of the strongest chess players in the World are participating in this year's top section: GM Vassily Ivanchuk, GM Alexander Onischuk, GM Vugar Gashimov, GM Sergei Movsesian, GM Fabiano Caruana, GM David Navara, Alexander Morozevich,Nigel Short and Michele Godena. This is a round-round event consisting of 9 rounds. The official tournament website for this event is: http://www.ippogrifoscacchi.it/tablaGeneral.asp?iTorneoIppogrifo=25
Best wishes to all the players in this tournament. One of the games from round 1, between GM Navara and GM Morozevich had to be postponed until today due to the weather in Europe which prevented Morozevich from making it to  Italy on time.

Groningen Chess Festival 2010

The Groningen Chess Festival is currently being played in Groningen, Holland. Among those participating in this event is Canadian Grandmaster Mark Bluvshtein of Ontario. This tournament began on December 21st and runs until tomorrow (December 30,2010).  Here are the standings after  8 rounds of play:


Ranglijst na ronde 8

Nr Naam Score Federatie M/V Rating TPR W-We 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
1 GM Bojkov, Dejan 5.5 BUL M 2542 2660 +1.00 1 1 ½ 1 ½ ½ 1
2 IM Nyzhnyk, Illya 5.5 UKR M 2535 2720 +1.65 1 1 1 ½ ½ ½ 1
3 GM Gupta, Abhijeet 5.0 IND M 2600 2601 +0.06 1 ½ ½ 1 0 1 1
4 GM Bluvshtein, Mark 5.0 CAN M 2587 2559 -0.09 0 1 1 1 1 ½ ½
5 GM Andriasian, Zaven 5.0 ARM M 2585 2608 +0.29 1 1 ½ ½ ½ 1 ½
6 GM Rotstein, Arkadij 5.0 GER M 2538 2629 +0.96 1 ½ 1 ½ 1 ½ ½
7 IM Brandenburg, Daan 5.0 NED M 2515 2613 +1.10 1 1 ½ ½ 1 ½ ½
8 GM Baklan, Vladimir 4.5 UKR M 2613 2502 -0.78 ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 ½ ½
9 GM Ernst, Sipke 4.5 NED M 2590 2540 -0.39 1 ½ 1 ½ 0 1 ½
10 GM Werle, Jan 4.5 NED M 2578 2531 -0.22 1 1 0 1 0 1 ½
11 GM Prohaszka, Peter 4.5 HUN M 2536 2584 +0.56 1 1 ½ ½ 1 ½ 0
12 IM Lobzhanidze, Davit 4.5 GEO M 2496 2464 -0.11 1 0 1 1 ½ 0 1
13 IM Bok, Benjamin 4.5 NED M 2458 2377 -0.47 0 1 ½ 1 + 1 0
14 IM Van Kampen, Robin 4.5 NED M 2454 2529 +0.83 1 ½ 1 ½ 0 1 ½
15 IM Grover, Sahaj 4.5 IND M 2432 2468 +0.44 1 ½ 0 ½ 1 ½ 1
16 IM Van Oosterom, Chiel 4.5 NED M 2426 2358 -0.43 ½ ½ 1 ½ 0 1 1

Source:http://www.schaakstadgroningen.nl/festival/2010/Open%20A/SMWSite/index.html 

Here are the moves from GM Bluvshtein's victory today:

Polar bears no longer on 'thin ice': researchers say polar bears could face brighter future

To read a new scientific article which discusses the fact that scientists now believe  that the possibility of a severe decline in the population of Polar Bears  in our World could be averted if greenhouse gas emissions are significantly reduced please click on the link below:

http://www.physorg.com/news/2010-12-polar-longer-thin-ice-brighter.html

Here are some links to articles which explain how you can personally reduce the amount of greenhouse gas emissions you contribute to the problem:

http://www.wikihow.com/Reduce-Your-Greenhouse-Gas-Emissions



http://www.envirorentals.com/Topic_of_month/reduceemissions.html

Please begin to engage in the behaviors which are suggested in these articles to save Polar bears and other animals from possible extinction!

Hippo saves wildebeest calf and zebra foal

Watch this fantastic video as a Hippo first saves a  Wildebeest calf and then a Zebra foal! This Hippo is a hero:

Take a break at the ocean: courtesy of this video

Has the holiday season been  a stressful one for you? Why don't you listen  and watch this  video and relax for a while, I hope they do that for you!

The World's bees may have been saved from the Varraoa mite!

According to an article at the PhysOrg.com entitled, "Bee scientists force killer mites to self destruct" "scientists at the Scotland Government’s National Bee Unit and Aberdeen University have worked out "how to ‘silence’ natural functions in the (Varraoa) mites’ gene — with the potential to make them self destruct. You may recall that he Varraoa mite has been linked to Colony Collapse disorder in bees."

"Dr. Alan Bowman from the University of Aberdeen said: “Introducing harmless genetic material encourages the mites’ own immune response to prevent their genes from expressing natural functions. This could make them self destruct."

“The beauty of this approach is that it is really specific and targets the mites without harming the bees or, indeed, any other animal.”


To read the article about this finding please click on the following link:

http://www.physorg.com/news/2010-12-bee-scientists-killer-mites-destruct.html

The full report concerning this research can be read at the following website:

http://www.parasitesandvectors.com/content/3/1/73

It is amazing how quickly this idea has been thought of in order to help the World's bee populations. Scientists are amazing! Let us hope that it works for the sake of the bees and all the crops  that bees pollinate,. Here is a list of all the crops that bees have been found to pollinate:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_crop_plants_pollinated_by_bees 

Source of image:http://library.thinkquest.org/07aug/02034/gallery.html 

If you are an adult listen to Severn!!

Four things everyone needs to know about Sharks

Save the Sharks

Please watch this videos and tell your friends and family to watch them. We have to change how we treat sharks in our World! If we don't they may disappear forever from the World's waterways and oceans, and so may we!

Merry Christmas to all Shark Lovers!

Merry Christmas from Alexandra Kosteniuk

Please click on the Comic to enlarge it for reading.

Hou Yifan is the new FIDE Women's World Chess Champion

Sixteen-year old Hou Yifan of China (pictured above)  is the new FIDE Women's World Chess Champion. She defeated countrywoman Ruan Lufei in a 3-1 rapid play-off to day in Hatay, Turkey to win the title.The playoff consisted of 4 games played at a time control of Game in 25 minutes plus a 5 second increment for each move made. Congratulations to both Hou Yifan and Ruan Lufei for making it to the Championship, and congratulations to  Hou Yifan for being  the youngest Woman ever to become World Champion, breaking the mark held by GM Maia Chiburdanidze of the Republic of Georgia had previously held the record for youngest champion. Maia won the title in 1978, when she was 17, and held it until 1991, when she was defeated by Xie Jun of China.Here is the crosstable which shows the results for the final match:

You can read more about Hou Yifan's victory today by going to these websites:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/25/world/asia/25chess.html

http://players.chessdom.com/yifan-hou/yifan-hou-world-chess-champion

http://www.chessvibes.com/reports/hou-yifan-13th-women-world-champion/

Here are the moves from all the games of the Final match which have been posted online to this time:




Source of image:http://www.chessville.com/News/index.htm

Analysis of Ruan Lufei-Hou Yifan, game 4 2010 FIDE Women's World Chess Championship

Here is analysis of this game. I used the program Deep Rybka 4 in analysis mode for 2 hours and also used Chessbase 10, Chessbase Megadabase 2010 and some online resources.

Ruan Lufei wins game four of FIDE Women's World Chess Championship

Ruan Lufei has tied up the 2010 FIDE Women's World Chess Championship. She did so by defeating her opponent, Hou Yifan today.Tomorrow a tie-break will be played to determine the new FIDE Women's World Chess Championship. The tie-break will consist of the 4 rapid games. If the two players are tied after this tie-break, then a second tie break consisting of 2 blitz games will be used. If the two players are still tied, then the next Women's World Chess champion will be decided in blitz Armageddon match (groan!).

Here are the moves from today's game: (I will hopefully have full analysis of this game using my chess resources sometime later tonight).

Skiing Industry threatens survival of Wolverines

How can some people believe having another one of these in Colorado:

is more important than having this species of animal living in Colorado as nature intended it to???:

This blog post concerns the Skiing Industry and its lack of willingness to share the environment with Wolverines.

First, please go to the following website and read this article:

"Wolverine reintroduction in Colorado?Possible protected status has ski group wary"
which was written by Bruce Finley of the Denver Post. Here is the link to this article:
http://www.skyhidailynews.com/article/20101222/NEWS/101229961/1079&ParentProfile=1067

As stated in the article:

" Colorado Ski Country USA president Melanie Mill "Why the rush? "The fear, she said, is that ski-resort expansion on federal land, and even existing operations, could be restricted if the government embraces wolverines."

 Scientists don't know exactly how many wolverines are in the contiguous U.S., but they estimate there are 300 or fewer, most living in the northern Rocky Mountains." 

I (as in this blog owner)  say 300 wolverines deserve the right to have enough habitat to live in, this should take precedence over the expansion of existing ski resorts in Colorado or anywhere for that matter!!

According to an article at this link:  http://www.greeleytribune.com/article/20101213/NEWS/101219994
http://www.greeleytribune.com/article/20101213/NEWS/101219994  

"Wolverines likely exist as a network of semi-isolated populations, and they require gene flow between groups to support each other and prevent individual populations from going extinct. If that dynamic breaks down, the entire population may be jeopardized, the Fish and Wildlife Service said"

"The ruling said that outcome is likely due to wolverines' naturally low reproductive rates and low densities." 
 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
How selfish can some humans be? How many ski runs does a skiing resort need? I can't believe Melanie Mill is so ignorant of the behavior and life style of  wolverines, and I can't believe she is so driven by the all-mighty United States dollar that she would be willing to risk the entire population of a species of life for a small percentage of the United states population (as in downhill skiers, and Colorado ski resort owners)  and her own wallet! 

This kind of mentality on the part of humans is happening more and more in our era. If it is not one set of humans who think they can do anything  they want, without regard to the other life on the planet, then it is another set of humans who are engaging in this form of behavior! I  certainly am glad that I do not ski anymore, if this is how these Ski resort owners and their associations think the World turns! I hope that some of you who ski downhill at resorts in Colorado and elsewhere stop to think about Melanie Mill's comments and philosophy towards life! It is exactly this type of mentality that has caused the extinction of many plant and animal species on the planet.  Isn't it interesting to learn that Melanie Mills was once a practising attorney (source:  http://www.ropeways.net/programm/seite.php?wert=1496 ). She only seems to be interested in power and  the fact that she spent 14 years as a  "Ski Country's lobbyist", (source:http://www.allbusiness.com/transportation/road-transportation-trucking-road/11860110-1.html ) indicates to me whose interests she is most interested in!!! .  The Wolverines of Colorado and of this World deserve to be spoken for and heard as well!! They deserve the right to have even territory to live as a species in Colorado before any expansion of any ski resort in Colorado is permitted!!

Source of image of Wolverine: http://animals.timduru.org/dirlist/wolverine/Wolverine_00.jpg

This species of animal deserves to live where it was meant to! Please watch the following  videos about Wolverines


Wolverine: Devil Of The North from Cogent Benger on Vimeo.





Here are some links which will help you learn more about Wolverines:

http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/wolverine/

 http://www.ehow.com/about_5438022_wolverine-animal.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolverine

http://a-z-animals.com/animals/wolverine/

http://www.defenders.org/wildlife_and_habitat/wildlife/wolverine.php 

Analysis of Vallejo Pons-Gashimov, Linares 2010

Analysis of Kosteniuk-Cramling, 2008 FIDE Women's World Chess Championship

Analysis of Anna Muzychuk-Anish Giri, Corus B Chess Tournament 2010