Science: The Manmade False God

In the end it took the winter of 1944-45 and The English Channel to finally put an end to the ambitions of the Nazis and their science. If Hitler had won the war, surely he would have been hailed as the supreme political figure of the twentieth century, if not also of all time, and consequently his deadly ideas would have ruled the planet, perhaps even for a thousand years.

New Port Coming Up North

PM in favour of a second port

Prime Minister David Thompson on Tuesday suggested creating a second port in the north of the island, saying this would help to address security concerns at the current port in Bridgetown.
Speaking during debates on the 2008-2009 Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure, Thompson said there were "security concerns for a country like Barbados have five or six massive cruise liners in one port".
"There are other related concerns but I'm also saying that if we are interested in the development of Barbados as a whole, a lot of our natural attractions are in the north of Barbados and there is absolutely no reason why Barbados should not be looking to develop an addition cruise facility," Thompson said.
He added that Government would be going in this direction as long as it could find the resources to do it.
Thompson's Democratic Labour Party came to power on January 15 after it defeated the Barbados Labour Party which had ruled for 14 consecutive years.
CMC

http://www.cbc.bb/index.pl/article?id=267419

After The Storm

BEACH DAMAGE...coastlines could take months to recover
Web Posted - Wed Mar 26 2008
By Shawn Cumberbatch

IT could take beaches along Barbados' east, north and west coasts more than two months to recover from last week's battering by the sea.

Director of the Coastal Zone Management Unit (CZMU), Dr. Leo Brewster, gave this initial assessment yesterday as CZMU teams began determining the full impact of the nine to 18-foot waves which pounded some of the island's popular beaches.

Speaking during an interview with the Barbados Advocate, he also said that his organisation is working out the logistics of investigating coral reef and other damage at more than 20 dive sites on the west coast, before starting that work either later this week or next week.

Brewster said it typically took between two and eight weeks for beaches to recover to "near normal condition" after such erosion, depending on how close the sand had been deposited offshore, but he cautioned this could take longer if the sand was in deep water, or if more bad weather came calling.

"Once the wave energy has calmed right down there is then a period of recovery that would start to take place and once the sand is close enough to the shoreline then within two weeks you can possibly start to see recovery, but we normally have to give it, at a minimum, four to six weeks or longer for the beaches to recover. So we just have to hope that there are no more bad weather systems out there between now and the beginning of the Hurricane Season," he said.

The director explained that CZMU was scheduled to start its quarterly beach profile yesterday, therefore experts from that entity would be able to fully assess the damage over the next two and half weeks without having to use additional resources.

With the last beach profile having taken place in December, Brewster said they would be able to "actually measure the height and width of the beach in profile at specified distances from a fixed point within that beach area. That information helps you calculate the slope of the beach and can actually assist in calculating approximate beach volumes, in terms of how much sand has been lost or shifted in position".

"When you compare the profile to the last time, or other previous times that you would have done it, you would then be able to see changes/variations. Because of the storm waves, the position of the high water mark (where the waves would have been breaking and uprushing on the beach) would have shifted much further inland now because of the storm. And therefore if a lot of sand has been lost or pushed up onto the back beach area, you can calculate how much the beach volume has been changed," he noted.

The official said the large sea swells had not taken the CZMU by too much surprise, since large waves were normally expected around Easter. What was, unusual, however, was the frequency and direction they came from.

"We normally expect large waves at Easter time, not as high or as persistent as those, but there have been instances where three-metre waves have come in the past. When we even had that major erosion in 2006, we had three-metre waves coming in regularly, so it isn't really and truly unfamiliar... in that case, however, the wave direction had been predominantly from the south. I think the real issue was that the waves in this recent event were coming straight down from the north and that's why a lot of damage was really done on either side of the coastline," Brewster stated.

Meanwhile, the CZMU spokesman said teams would be visiting some of the more popular dive sites "to look for damage from the waves, in terms of large coral heads being dislodged or broken off".

"Also, we will be looking to see if there is evidence of a lot of sand being deposited on the reefs or not. We will normally have to do that through transect lines and video recording and that sort of thing. It might take as long as a month because we can only do two tank dives within one day and you have both near-shore and offshore reefs in varying water depths to do. We will do a general reconnaissance first to identify which areas were the worst hit, and then go back and plan how we are going to deal with those areas intensively," he explained.

Brewster said the teams would try to assess each of the more than 20 sites along the west coast that are regularly used by dive operators, once time and other factors permit.

"If it proves too difficult, then we will prioritise which ones we should go to because some have unique features that are important as attractions. So you might start with them first and then phase in the others as we go. Where there are wrecks or sites that have actual physical features which give rise to some of the dive site names, we need to make sure they are still there," he said.

http://www.barbadosadvocate.com/NewViewNewsleft.cfm?Record=35175

Air Bridges At Grantley Adams International

On Monday night this week they were reporting on the Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation that GAIA will finally be getting four air bridges - http://www.cbc.bb/content/view/4475/10/ - as part of the next phase of expansion. Not that this is the first time it is being reported, we have heard it several times before but so far I have not heard of a date by which to expect them; and that is probably intentional given the massive delays and problems we have seen over the last several years in the current phases of construction. The larger question is - do we really need air bridges at GAIA.

The factor of the matter is that these contraptions were developed in and for places with long periods of foul weather which makes boarding and de-planing very difficult for everyone. Barbados is blessed with good weather most of the time making this facility more of a luxury than a necessity (and I am speaking as someone who was doused in a shower of rain at GAIA at least once). And, although Bajans have been speaking of themselves days more in terms of a developed nation rather than a developing one, judging by the state of the roads, water shortages and sanitation problems, I would say this is a luxury Barbados can probably do without at this time.

Keep in mind too that air bridges were not part of the original design of the expansion project, a design which won some architectural acclaim, I might add. Indeed, these four bridges, IMHO, will do great violence to that aesthetic. Tourists and locals alike will now see a back door rather than a front one when they land at GAIA. As far as I can tell, the decision to add air bridges was a political one made to keep up with our neighbors to the south who have fourteen (note the 4 in 14) such bridges at the new Piarco. We seem to have forgotten the late Dr. Williams warning about Trinidad - "money is no problem, the problem is money."

What Ails Tourism In Barbados

I checked the online Barbados papers this morning and learned that yet another up-market property is in receivership, Villa Nova in St. John. It?s seems like it was only yesterday that this hotel was winning all kinds of accolades and even made the coveted Conde Nast Hot List. So, the question is ? if Villa Nova can?t make it, who else can? Sam Lord?s and a whole bunch of other prominent hotel properties in Barbados are also in deep financial trouble, and many have closed. All of this in the context that it was just reported that Barbados just had its best year ever in terms of tourists arrivals ? including the fact that long term visitor numbers were also up.

IMHO, the problems are of our own making. Barbados is trying to market itself as an up market destination with precious little to show for all the over-pricing. There are very few good beaches and even those are being eroded and very little is being done about it. Duty-free shopping has been reduced to alcohol and perfumes, the roads are bad, customer service sucks and ?you can?t get there from here.? Fix these problems and we would see less Villa Novas.

GOD BLESS RONALD REAGAN

It’s a real shame to read the posts relating to Reagan’s passing on some Bajan forums on the Internet over the past week. There is such utter lack of respect for the dead - not to mention all the ubiquitous liberal vitriol – that I am ashamed to be identified with them. Bajans seem to have forgotten that were in not for Reagan they would probably be all now languishing in some Soviet Gulag if not pulverized by some Soviet nuclear bomb. They have forgotten and/or are downright ungrateful for Reagan’s sending American boys to get the Cubans and the Soviets out of Grenada and the Eastern Caribbean where they were setting up another Caribbean base to destabilize the entire region. They have forgotten that it was Reagan’s CBI (Caribbean Basin Initiative) that established the foundation for all the present day prosperity Bajans now enjoy. And, they have forgotten that Reagan was the very first sitting American president to set foot on Barbados underlining the importance he placed on America’s relationship not only with Barbados but with the entire Caribbean region.

MONEY DOWN KENSINGTON DRAIN

It is interesting to read all the enthusiasm in the Barbados for the rebuilding of Kensington Oval in order to host World Cup Cricket matches in 2007. It should be clear by now that we are spending well over the $70M BDS we were led to believe it would all cost. Recently, the Government of Trinidad & Tobago refused to go along with the wild spending to upgrade Queens Park for the simple reason that there are too many more important pressing issues facing Third World economies in the Caribbean. Apparently, the "powers that be" in Barbados think that prestige on the world stage is more important than fixing pot-hole ridden highways, supplying working buses and ambulances - not to mention - attending to the deplorable conditions at the QEH or providing a reliable water supply throughout the island. Derek Walcott used to say Trinidad was all about carnival and sex. Perhaps they exported that mentality to Barbados.

Article in today's Nation:

Bid Look - Sunday 30, May-2004
by PHILIP SPOONER
Barbados was in the spotlight and shone brightly yesterday, as it again signaled its intention to be a major player in the International Cricket Council World Cup 2007 (ICC CWC 2007).

Some stunning details for the redevelopment of Kensington Oval and other magical elements to the island’s bid book were unveiled before the high-powered Venue Assessment Team (VAT) assembled by the game’s world governing body.

The VAT had an inter-active look and feel of the atmosphere at the 20,000-seater that Kensington Oval will become when the grand event comes to Barbados in three years.

Details unveiled included: - more - http://www.nationnews.com/StoryView.cfm?Record=50175&Section=LO&Current=2004%2D05%2D30%2000%3A00%3A00