New Moore Island is just one of many islands that are sinking into the sea. Image from Flickr.

New Moore Island is just one of dozens of islands around the world that are slowly but surely sinking into the sea. Situated between India and Bangladesh, New Moore Island has long been the subject of a diplomatic dispute between the two countries. Residents of Bangladesh have long since taken a short term loan of living space on other, drier shores, but the issue will only get worse as time goes on. Rising sea levels have claimed more than just New Moore Island, but this tiny disputed island is bringing more attention to the issue than ever before.

New Moore Island by any other name

The disputed New Moore Island was a tiny chunk of land – less than 2 miles long and 1.5 miles wide. The government of India claimed the island as part of its territory, saying that New Moore Island fell within established maritime borders. However, the government of Bangladesh also claims the island, which they call South Talpatti.

There have never been any permanent settlements on New Moore Island. The island came under dispute only about 40 years ago, when New Moore Island/South Talpatti appeared after the Bhola cyclone. India had at one point established a base on South Talpatti/New Moore Island, but international opinion was split on the question.

Rising sea levels engulf New Moore Island

The School of Oceanographic Studies in Calcutta reported to the BBC recently that New Moore Island had been entirely engulfed by rising sea waters. Confirmed by local fishermen and satellite pictures, New Moore Island is officially no more. Before the year 2000, sea levels in most of the world went up by approximately 3 millimeters a year, but between 2000 and 2010 sea level has risen at about 5 millimeters per year. In the Bengal Basin region and Sundarban Island chain, where New Moore Island was situated, sea levels have been rising by about 3.14 centimeters a year. New Moore Island is the fifth island in the Sundarbans to sink into the sea – preceded by Bedford, Lohachara, Kabasgadi, and Suparibhanga.

Other island nations at risk

New Moore Island and the Sundarban Island chains are not the only islands at risk of sinking into the ocean. The Maldives, an island nation in the Indian ocean, has been losing land mass to the sea for years. The highest point in the Maldives is only 8 feet above ocean level, so even a high tide can cause problems for residents. The government of the Maldives is building an artificial island called Hulhumale nearby for residents to move to. Tuvalu, a Pacific Ocean island between Hawaii and Austrailia, is also quickly losing land mass. Tuvalu has 11,000 residents, and experts estimate the island will be entirely engulfed by the sea in as little as 50 years. Each year, 75 Tuvalu residents can use military personal loans to move to New Zealand – but many more are left behind. Tonga, Kirbati, and the Marshall Islands are also at risk of disappearing just like New Moore Island did.

How to stop the sinking?

In the end, there is no way to accurately measure the cause and effect of small islands ending up in the ocean. Sea levels rise and fall regularly, and island land masses can also rise and sink on their own. There are also arguments about if the increased water levels are due to global climate change or natural variations in the climate. No matter who or what is to blame, though, island nations that are sinking are being forced to find solutions – because there is not yet a way to simply stop the rise and fall of an island in the ocean.

Sources:

Times of India
BBC News
Wikipedia

Last week, more users typed www.facebook.com into their browser than www.google.com. Image from Flickr.

Last week, Facebook took a crown that Google has long held as its own: the most visited web site for the week. As reported by web traffic ranking service Hitwise on March 15, Facebook accounted for 7.07 percent of United States web traffic in the week ending March 13, while Google accounted for 7.03 percent. It may seem like a very minor difference, but in the battle of the web giants, the Google/Facebook rivalry has implications bigger than guaranteed payday loans.

How Facebook is catching up to Google

As reported on CNN.com, the most surprising thing about the report from Hitwise wasn’t necessarily that Facebook overtook Google’s visit statistics. It was, instead, that Facebook can claim 185 percent growth in traffic in just the past year, while Google’s growth is pegged at 9 percent. This explosion in growth shows that more and more people are treating Facebook as a web destination – and the growth in games, applications and tools on Facebook helps account for this expansion of market share.

How Facebook and Google differ

Of course, when looking at these numbers, it is important to consider the basic differences between Google and Facebook. Facebook is very much the “social destination” — the place you go on the web to chat with friends, play games, and generally hang out. Google, on the other hand, is more like a jumping-off point. Users don’t tend to hang out on Google.com. Instead, they use it as a portal to find exactly what they are looking for.

While both web sites make a large portion of their operating cash from advertising, the basic business model and offerings of the web sites are, at their base, different. This is not to say there is not crossover. Google’s recent launch of Google Buzz brings the search giant into the social-sharing sphere, though Facebook has yet to offer anything that directly competes with Google’s search offerings.

How the Google/Facebook numbers were calculated

As the New York Daily News points out, the Hitwise numbers that put Facebook as the most-visited site in the United States do not include “visits to other Google websites, such as Gmail, YouTube and Google Maps.” What this means is that the numbers only indicate the number of times users typed www.facebook.com and www.google.com into their browsers.

It does not account for anybody typing search strings such as “military personal loans” into the Google search boxes available in web browsers, on outside web sites, in Google toolbars or on their mobile phones. It also does not account for many of Google’s more popular web properties, such as the fifth-most visited site in that same week, YouTube. Taken in combination, Google and its properties most certainly still have significantly more traffic and daily users than Faceboook.

What this means for both Google and Facebook

Basic differences in offerings and statistics calculation aside, the fact that Facebook surpassed Google in number of visitors last week does still fire a shot across the bow of Google. Because both web sites are advertising-supported, both web sites are essentially competing for the same number of dollars, just in more places. Google, a relatively new startup itself (though ancient in web terms), has always considered the possibility of “the next startup” dethroning it. Facebook does definitely have the user base to be able to give Google a run for its money.

At the same time, Facebook is focused on the social networks and groups that individuals form for themselves, while Google is more focused on providing search and services for individuals. The difference in their business models mean that both Google and Facebook will continue to draw in hundreds of millions of page views – the real question is where will advertisers decide to spend their money? Only time will tell.

What has transpired appears to be somewhat more than coincidental. According to The Atlantic, shortly after the House Ethics Committee was informed of Congressman Massa’s conduct during his Navy days, Rep. Massa announced his resignation.

Congressman Massa and his conduct

This isn’t to say that politicians don’t all have dirt to be uncovered. Far from it. But Congressman Massa is now under investigation by the House Ethics Committee for allegedly groping three young male staffers. Eric Massa has denied this, but his former shipmates are speaking out. That’s serious business – unless they were all paid off by pro-Obamacare as Mr. Massa claims!

Anybody want a “Massa Massage?”

That’s what fellow Navy men Peter Clarke and Stuart Borsch claim Congressman Massa used to call his special kind of military manner. Further revelations from Clarke included other allegations of inappropriate forms of physical contact, including “snorkeling.” I won’t be explaining that one, but I can tell you it doesn’t have anything to do with military personal loans

Dickert’s libel suit nearly brought Massa’s Navy accusers forward

But they did not come forward at the time. It sounds like quite a mess to me. If Rahm Emanuel is the “son of the devil’s spawn,” then who is Congressman Massa? The red-headed stepchild of Captain Bligh?

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Image from Flikr.com.

The September 11 Education Trust — founded in 2001 as the World Trade Center United Family Group — has spend the past eight years developing September 11 Lesson Plans to teach kids about the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center.

The group’s web site says “The September 11th Education Trust produces comprehensive, flexible, and engaging 9/11 and civic literacy education programs that are personalized and enriched through first-hand accounts, filmed oral histories, and authentic, primary archival materials to permanently record this shared historic event in a way that is not stagnant, but inspiring and relevant to the nation’s youth.”

Another chapter in the history books

HispanicBusiness.com reports that six states will be adding the September 11 lesson plans to their agenda this year. The curriculum includes video footage and information gleaned from 70 interviews of eyewitnesses, family members of victims and politicians such as former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and current Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as well as Muslim scholars.

The September 11 Education Trust isn’t funded by military personal loans or defense funds. It’s a non-profit organization funded mostly by donations and directed by victims’ families, survivors, rescue workers and educator.You can donate to the cause and read about September 11 lesson plans at the September 11 Education Trust web site.

September 11 lesson plans

The Associated Press reports that the September 11 lesson plans also include interactive elements, including using Google Earth to map terrorist activity. Rudy Guliani said:

“This is one of the critical subjects on which young people should develop some ideas and thoughts; they’re going to have to live with this for quite some time. It gives young people a framework in which to think about Sept. 11, all that it meant and all that it means to the present.”

Professors helped develop the September 11 lesson plans through the Taft Institute for Government at Queens College. “The real trick is to get kids to see that it’s not just a dramatic event like 9/11 that connects them to these issues, it’s connected to their lives in the everyday,” said Michael A. Krasner, a political scientist at Queens College.

The truth, the whole truth

Anthony Gardner, the executive director of the September 11 Education Trust, said the September 11 lesson plans give an open-eyed view of the events that happened that day in 2001.

“We’re not sugarcoating the event. We’ve included some images that are challenging,” Gardner said.

Gardner’s brother died in the World Trade Center because of the attacks.

Taking advantage of technology

September 11 lesson plans are not limited just to traditional classroom teaching methods. There’s a interactive web site built around the curriculum.

Professors and students are encouraged to share their own videos and lesson plans as well as discuss the questions raised in their classrooms.

The National September 11 Memorial & Museum has also developed educational materials for high schools, which are intended to augment classroom discussions, not to serve as an in-depth curriculum, The Associated Press says.