Siberia: Zeppelins poised to make a comeback in Siberia
Giant airships seen as ideal way to transport heavy lifting equipment to remote mining locations.
It is 76 years since the Hindenburg tragedy in the US yet a new generation of zeppelins, filled with a gas that cannot ignite, are seen as perfect for supplying remote mining industry sites. Two projects in Siberia and the Russian Far East are seen as ideal for modern versions of the flying machine, according to a new report by Bloomberg. ...
This could avoid a $150 cost of ‘building a 350km road to truck in heavy construction gear’. ...
The Siberian Times
Greenland: Sub glacial lakes discovered beneath Greenland ice sheets
For the first time ever, lakes have been discovered beneath the ice sheets of Greenland, following a discovery from researchers from Cambridge University. ”Our results show that sub glacial lakes exist in Greenland, and that they form an important part of the ice sheet’s plumbing system,” says, Steven Palme from the team. ...
“Because the way in which water moves beneath ice sheets strongly affects ice flow speeds, improved understanding of these lakes will allow us to predict more accurately how the ice sheet will respond to anticipated future warming,” Palme said. ...
Ice News
South Korea: ‘Homeless millionaire’ claims he lost wallet containing $1.8 million
A South Korean homeless man told the police last Thursday he had lost a wallet containing 1.91 billion won ($1.8 million) in it, local media reported Monday.
The 53-year-old surnamed Park reported to the police at Bupyeong-gu, Incheon, that he was missing a wallet which had contained 19 cashier’s checks each worth 100 million won, along with 12 million won in cash. Park said he had lost the wallet after he fell asleep on the subway en route to Bucheon Station. ...
“I can’t tell you the specifics, but he gets over 10 million won in interest every month,” a police official said. ...
The Korea Herald
France: ‘Banksy in Paris’ rumour takes internet by storm
French art-lovers and internet users came to life on Monday, after the intriguing appearance of two murals and a website, both bearing the hallmarks of none other than Banksy. Could the enigmatic British street artist be in Paris?
“Is Banksy in Paris?” was the question on the lips of many in France and beyond, on Monday, after the emergence of a new website and two murals in the French capital, both strongly resembling the work of the anonymous Brit. ...
The Local
Jakarta: An astronaut, Czech artists & the Yali Mek in Papua
Czech photographer and painter Barbora Šlapetová and sculptor Lukáš Rittstein have captured the slow shift toward “modernization” for the Yali Mek through photos, sculpture and by even introducing an astronaut to the tribe, which lives in a remote part of Papua.
The journey of Šlapetová and Rittstein started when the couple decided to fulfill a childhood dream to travel the world after living under a communist regime.
“Because our borders were closed by the communists during our younger times, we dreamed of going as far as we could; not only over land, but traveling through culture and time,” Šlapetová said. “So that’s why we wanted to go to as far as a ‘stone age’ time.” ...
The Jakarta Post
Bhutan: Garden of Prospect
Marchen Gurung is living his dream.
As a young man of 23 years, sent for training in West Bengal, a gently descending terraced land thriving with a variety of vegetables caught his eyes when driving around Kurseong hill station.
That was in 1975 and Marchen Gurung always dreamt of growing and nurturing a variety of vegetable on a similar patch of land on retirement.
Today, on a 12-acre land of a gentle slope, which locals call “18km” in Orong, just above the highway belongs to him where he grows cauliflowers, cabbages, broccoli, potatoes, radish and mixed fruits. ...
Kuensel Online
Chile: Hunt for Latin America’s oldest human artifacts resumes in Chile
Tom Dillehay is back in Chile after a 26-year hiatus, revisiting the Monte Verde site that produced the most significant archaeological discovery in the country’s history. ...
“The Clovis Theory is now dead, it died years ago,” Dillehay told The Santiago Times. “The first humans probably arrived some time between 15 and 20 thousand years ago.”
Tentatively, the researchers made a more intriguing discovery still. Located several hundred feet from the main dig near a green knoll south of the 14,800-year-old habitation, they unearthed rocks worked by human hands. According to radiocarbon dating, the artifacts were 33,000 years old.
Dillehay explained that the most widely accepted theory — the Pacific Coast Migration (PCM) theory — holds that humans entered North America from Asia, travelling south into Latin America. ...
The Santiago Times
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