The Year of the Ox

According to Chinese Zodiac, the Year of 2009 is a Year of the Ox which lasts from January 26, 2009 to February 14, 2010. The Chinese New Year (Lunar New Year) does not begin on 1st of January, but on a date that corresponds with the second New Moon after the winter equinox, so it varies from year to year.

The years progress in cycles of 12 and each year is represented by an animal. The Year of the Ox is the second one in the 12-year cycle. The cycle of 12 repeats five times to form a large cycle of 60 years, and in each of the 12-year cycles, the animals are ascribed an element (Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, or Water) with Yin or Yang characteristics, which determines their characters. The 60 years' circle is also called the Stem-Branch system. This New Year is the year of Ji Chou and 2009 is the 10th year in the current 60-year cycle.

Chinese calendar

The Chinese calendar has been in continuous use for centuries, which predates the International Calendar (based on the Gregorian Calendar) we use at the present day which goes back only some 425 years. The calendar measures time, from short durations of minutes and hours, to intervals of time measured in months, years, and centuries, entirely based on the astronomical observations of the movement of the sun, moon, and stars.

Years of the Ox

February 19, 1901 - February 7, 1902: Metal Ox

February 6, 1913 - January 25, 1914: Water Ox

January 25, 1925 - February 12, 1926: Wood Ox

February 11, 1937 - January 30, 1938: Fire Ox

January 29, 1949 - February 16, 1950: Earth Ox

February 15, 1961 - February 4, 1962: Metal Ox

February 3, 1973 - January 22, 1974: Water Ox

February 20, 1985 - February 8, 1986: Wood Ox

February 7, 1997 - January 28, 1998: Fire Ox

January 26, 2009 - February 14, 2010: Earth Ox

2021 - 2022: Metal Ox

2033 - 2034: Water Ox

Spring Festival

The oldest and most important festival in China is the Chinese New Year, which marks the first day of the lunar calendar and usually falls somewhere between late January and early February of the Gregorian calendar.

Like all Chinese traditional festivals, the date of the New Year is determined by the Chinese lunar calendar, which is divided into 12 months, each with about 29.5 days. One year has 24 solar terms in accordance with the changes of nature, stipulating the proper time for planting and harvesting. The first day of the first solar term is the Beginning of Spring, which cannot always fall on the first day of the year as in the Western Gregorian Calendar.

Besides celebrating the earth coming back to life and the start of plowing and sowing, this traditional festival is also a festival of reunions. No matter how far people are from their homes they will try their best to come back home for the reunion dinner.

Although the climax of the Spring Festival usually lasts three to five days, including New Year's Eve, the New Year season extends from the Laba Festival (mid-12th month) of the previous year to the Lantern Festival (middle of the first month of the lunar new year). The Lantern Festival marks the end of the New Year season and life becomes routine again.

What are Oxen like?

Pragmatic and down-to-earth, Ox people are motivated to work hard and have no respect for lazy or careless people. Although they can be easily trusted and find it easy to put trust in others, they are not dependent on friends and family and would rather find an answer or a solution themselves than to ask these people for help or guidance. However, others can, without a doubt rely on Oxen, who are always honest and meticulous about their responsibilities. While they do not feel the need for many distant or acquaintance-oriented friendships, they value the strong bonds they share with their partners and families, and make close friends that last a lifetime.

Though they are quite open-minded, once Ox people have made a decision about something, they rarely change it. This is a defining characteristic that can be seen as obstinacy, but it is actually the way an Ox learns to be strong, brave and straightforward. It is the way the Ox learned to take on tasks and responsibilities and how he learns to be reliable for others. Oxen are more comfortable with the well-known as opposed to the unfamiliar. Yet, beneath their unpretentious, tranquil exterior lies a heart of gold and a motivation to prosper.

They are most compatible with Snake, Rooster, and Rat people.

(China.org.cn January 6, 2009)

Shengxiao: the Chinese Zodiac

Rat (1924 – 1936 – 1948 – 1960 – 1972 – 1984 – 1996 – 2008 – 2020 – 2032)
Zi means seed, fruit, root and inheritance. It represents due north, the eleventh Chinese lunar month, when many animals begin to hibernate, and 11 PM to 1 AM, when the rat is most active.
Ox (1925 – 1937 – 1949 – 1961 – 1973 – 1985 – 1997 – 2009 – 2021 – 2033)
Chou corresponds to the ox. The shape of its Chinese character is like threads coming together to form a strong rope, so represents things being connected. It denotes the twelfth lunar month, known in some places as Muyue or "month of harmony." In northern China, it is freezing winter, when people gather round the fire and wait for spring. It also stands for 1 PM to 3 PM, when the ox is chewing the cud, and even the grass and trees are thought to be asleep.

Tiger (1926 – 1938 – 1950 – 1962 – 1974 – 1986 – 1998 – 2010 – 2022 – 2034)
Yin is associated with northeast by east and 3 AM to 5 AM, when the tiger is most ferocious. In the Chinese lunar calendar it represents month one, the time trees begin to sprout.

Rabbit (1927 – 1939 – 1951 – 1963 – 1975 – 1987 – 1999 – 2011 – 2023 – 2035)
Mao represents due east and 5 AM to 7 AM, when the moon, the home of the legendary jade rabbit, still hangs in the sky. It also denotes the second lunar month, a time of reawakening and new life. The rabbit's relatively meek temperament makes it an appropriate symbol for the sun just coming up over the horizon.

Dragon (1928 – 1940 – 1952 – 1964 – 1976 – 1988 – 2000 – 2012 – 2024 – 2036)
Chen symbolizes southeast by south and 7 AM to 9 AM, believed to be the best time for the magic dragon to generate rain and when the sun strengthens and everything is about to wake up. The dragon is the only mythological animal in the system, and was considered one of the "four sacred animals" along with the phoenix, kylin and tortoise. It was imagined to have a horse's head, snake's body and chicken's claws, with 81 scales on its back. It could fly and swim, and appear and disappear mysteriously. In the Chinese lunar calendar, it represents month three.

Snake (1929 – 1941 – 1953 – 1965 – 1977 – 1989 – 2001 – 2013 – 2025 – 2037)
Si represents south by east and 9 AM to 11 AM, when the snake is most lively. It is associated with the fourth lunar month, when green abounds and seedlings begin to grow.

Horse (1930 – 1942 – 1954 – 1966 – 1978 – 1990 – 2002 – 2014 – 2026 – 2038)
Wu stands for due south and the time around noon, when the sun is most severe. It is believed that 11 AM to 1 PM is when horses travel best. It also signifies the fifth lunar month, when farmers till the land and everything is full of vigor.

Sheep (1931 – 1943 – 1955 – 1967 – 1979 – 1991 – 2003 – 2015 – 2027 – 2039)
Wei represents the sixth lunar month and the height of summer. It also stands for 1 PM to 3 PM, when it is said that if a sheep eats a patch of grass it will grow more luxuriously, and for the direction of southwest by south. The sheep represents love, happiness and perseverance of spirit.

Monkey (1932 – 1944 – 1956 – 1968 – 1980 – 1992 – 2004 – 2016 – 2028 – 2040)
Shen's character in Chinese looks like two hands grasping a stick and, with one addition, becomes another shen meaning to stretch, with the implication of using one's mind to the full and with flexibility. 3 PM to 5 PM is believed to be when monkeys play.

Rooster (1933 – 1945 – 1957 – 1969 – 1981 – 1993 – 2005 – 2017 – 2029 – 2041)
You represents the eighth lunar month in early autumn and 5 PM to 7 PM, when the sun sets and the rooster returns home - an animal considered by many to be associated with prophecy. You also symbolizes due west.

Dog (1934 – 1946 – 1958– 1970 – 1982 – 1994 – 2006 – 2018 – 2030 – 2042)
Xu, associated with the dog, represents northwest by west, 7 PM to 9 PM, when the dog is said to watch the night, and the ninth lunar month, when grass and trees start to wither but the weather is pleasant.

Pig (1935 – 1947 – 1959 – 1971 – 1983 – 1995 – 2007 – 2019 – 2031 – 2043)
Hai represents month ten in the Chinese lunar calendar, when everything begins to stagnate. It also represents 9 PM to 11 PM, when all is silent apart from the pig's snores.

Shengxiao: the Chinese Zodiac

In the Chinese zodiac, 12 animals are used to denote the year of a person's birth: rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, dog and pig. This is called a person's shengxiao (sheng means the year of birth, xiao means resemblance) or shuxiang.
Since ancient times, Chinese have denominated years using combinations of 10 Heavenly Stems and 12 Earthly Branches to form sixty-year cycles. The 10 Heavenly Stems are: Jia, Yi, Bing, Ding, Wu, Ji, Geng, Xin, Ren and Gui. The 12 Earthly Branches are: Zi, Chou, Yin, Mao, Chen, Si, Wu, Wei, Shen, You, Xu and Hai. This year, February 9 is the first day of Yiyou, which is the 22nd year of the 60-year cycle.
As well as being associated with each year, the same 12 animals and Earthly Branches are assigned to each month and to a two-hour period of the day. Their origin is variously explained by a number of stories and theories.
One legend is that the order of animals is the result of squabbles that followed Emperor Xuanyuan's summoning them to be his imperial bodyguards. The rat tricked the cat out of going, and ever since they have been enemies. The rat also managed to drive the elephant away by climbing into his trunk. Of the other animals, the ox took the lead, but the rat jumped onto its back, hitching a ride into first place. The pig, busy complaining about this, came last. Since the tiger and dragon refused to accept the result, the Emperor compensated them with the titles "King of the Mountain" and "King of the Ocean," and placed them immediately after the rat and ox. But the rabbit would not accept this either, so raced and won against the dragon for fourth place. The dissatisfied dog bit the rabbit, and was punished with penultimate place. The other animals filled the other positions in the order in which they arrived.
The use of 12 animal symbols is not unique to the Hans in China. Many minority ethnic groups have their own series with minor differences. For example, Mongolians use tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, dog, pig, rat and ox; the Dai people use rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, dog and elephant; and the Li people use rooster, dog, pig, rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep and monkey. Some believe that the Han inherited their twelve from northern tribes in ancient times. Another possibility is that exchange between different cultures cultivated the various sequences of twelve.
Shengxiao are held to be of great significance by many Chinese, and people tell numerous stories and follow rich and colorful customs associated with the Earthly Branches:

"My Country" - a dedication to Australins for Australia Day

Dorothea Mackellar

"My Country" is an iconic patriotic poem about Australia, written by Dorothea Mackellar (1885-1968) at the age of 22 while homesick in England.
After travelling through Europe extensively with her father during her teenage years she started writing the poem in London in 1904and re-wrote it several times before her return to Sydney.
The poem was first published in the London Spectator in 1908 under the title Core of My Heart. It was reprinted in many Australian newspapers, quickly becoming well known and establishing Mackellar as a poet.
Mackellar's family owned substantial properties in the Gunnedah district of New South Wales and the inspiration for her poems undoubtedly came from the time she spent on the rural properties as a child.
My Country uses metaphorical imagery to describe the land after the breaking of a long drought. Of ragged mountain ranges possibly refer to the Mount Royal Ranges, and the Barrington Tops.
The first stanza refers to England, and the fact that the vast majority of Australians of that era were of British birth or ancestry.
Most Australians are generally not aware of this first stanza even though the second stanza is amongst the most well-known pieces of Australian poetry.
MacKellar's first anthology of poems, The Closed Door, published in Australian in 1911 included the poem.
Her second anthology, The Witch Maid & Other Verses, published in 1914 included the original version as shown below.

My Country
By Dorothea Mackellar (1885 - 1968)

The love of field and coppice
Of green and shaded lanes,
Of ordered woods and gardens
Is running in your veins.
Strong love of grey-blue distance,
Brown streams and soft, dim skies
I know, but cannot share it,
My love is otherwise.

I love a sunburnt country,
A land of sweeping plains,
Of ragged mountain ranges,
Of drought and flooding rains.
I love her far horizons,
I love her jewel-sea,
Her beauty and her terror
The wide brown land for me!

The stark white ring-barked forests,
All tragic to the moon,
The sapphire-misted mountains,
The hot gold hush of noon,
Green tangle of the brushes
Where lithe lianas coil,
And orchids deck the tree-tops,
And ferns the warm dark soil.

Core of my heart, my country!
Her pitiless blue sky,
When, sick at heart, around us
We see the cattle die
But then the grey clouds gather,
And we can bless again
The drumming of an army,
The steady soaking rain.

Core of my heart, my country!
Land of the rainbow gold,
For flood and fire and famine
She pays us back threefold.
Over the thirsty paddocks,
Watch, after many days,
The filmy veil of greenness
That thickens as we gaze…

An opal-hearted country,
A wilful, lavish land
All you who have not loved her,
You will not understand
though Earth holds many splendours,
Wherever I may die,
I know to what brown country
My homing thoughts will fly.

Did Amelia Earhart attempt to return to Rabaul after failing to locate Howland Island?

Map shoing the distance from Lae to Howland Island

Taking off from Lae in July 1937

Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan

By MIKE FEENEY in AeroHub
Zillions of words have been written about Amelia and Fred’s last flight; much of it rather ‘imaginative’, to put it delicately. (I do not tell a porky when I say that I found a ‘Star Trek” site that said that they had been abducted from the cockpit by some aliens.) I do not wish to add too much to the story, but an aircraft engineer who used to be with Air Nuigini, has a theory which is explained below. I noted some aspects of David’s views which I suspect could do with some examination. If anyone knows where he currently is, would you mind giving him my regards and forwarding this on?
Below is an article from a recent issue of Papua New Guinea’s “The National” newspaper. The ‘Wings over Kansas’ link further down within the text is well worth opening but is a lengthy read.Whilst I have a very open mind, my feeling is still that Amelia and Fred got to somewhere far east out into the Pacific and in the general vicinity of tiny Howland Island (2,000 by 600 metres) and either ran out of fuel searching along a sun-line for Howland Island, or force-landed/ditched somewhere in the region; probably back in the Gilberts.
It seems highly improbable that they would have had enough fuel to return to New Britain unless they had turned back well before nearing their intended destination. But let’s crunch a few numbers and see.
Their aircraft was the L-10E variant with the larger Pratt & Whitney R-1340-49 ‘Wasp” engines. These produced 550 bhp when on the fuel they were using. I estimate the basic operating weight of the aircraft, with crew, oil, the weight of the extra tanks and various items of personal and survival gear, as about 7,000 lbs. The fuel load of 920 Imp. gallons weighed 6,624 lbs. Therefore the take-off weight out of Lae was about 13,600 lbs. This was some 3,000 lbs above the L-10E’s standard max. weight. An overload of about 27%.They departed Lae at midnight GMT. That was 10.00 hrs at Lae in order for Fred to take some three-star fixes before dawn the next morning. Now to fuel consumption.
Given the weight and the tropical temperatures of an average of 15-18 degrees above ISA, I estimate that the initial minimum power setting must have been at 80% during the long cruise-climb needed to hold the cylinder-head and oil temperatures within limits. Then progressively I am guessing that Amelia would have reduced power every hour or so until, near the end of the flight, the settings would have been about 40%. So the mean outbound power setting was something like 60%. 60% of the available 1,100 bhp = 660 bhp. I assume Amelia had expertise in manual mixture leaning procedures (she had had briefings and information from Lockheed’s famed “Kelly” Johnson) so my estimate of their average Specific Fuel Consumption (SFC), allowing for the long heavy slow climb with mixture somewhat on the rich side for cooling, is 0.45 lbs per bhp per hour. Being a SFC figure, this would not have changed significantly during most of the flight, no matter what the altitude. So we can now be reasonably sure that the average fuel-flow of the aircraft was pretty close to: 660 bhp x 0.45 = 297 lbs per hour = 41.25 Imp. gallons per hour…about 20 gph per engine. I know those engines and this figure seems sensible when the engines are operated by someone with expertise and finesse.
So we can now estimate that, given all of the above, the endurance of the aircraft was: 920 divided by 41.25 = 22.3 hours. When the aircraft was very light, this could be stretched even further by using extreme measures; reduce the rpm to the limits of the governor and set manifold-pressure to achieve whatever indicated airspeed was appropriate. About 1.7 times Vs for range or about 1.3 or 1.4 Vs for endurance. I believe we can work on a figure of about 23 hours to fuel exhaustion.As to the cruise speeds used, this is my view. The L-10E’s max. cruise true airspeed within the 7,000 - 12,000 feet altitude band is about 150 knots. But that is at normal weights and at ISA temps. I am fairly sure that, at the overload weights, albeit reducing, and at the air temperatures in the region and considering that they were flying to optimise range over a very long sector, that their cruise-climb speed would have been about 110 - 115 knots true airspeed and their true airspeed on cruise approx. 125 knots from a few hours into the cruise phase, slowly creeping up to perhaps 135. This also tends to tie in with their ground-speed outbound with a 15 knot headwind.
David Billings has said that the range of the aircraft was “4,000 miles”. That is 3,470 nautical miles. I consider he may be mistaken as, with 23 hours of fuel, and even assuming a cruise true airspeed speed of, say, 140 knots, the maximum air- range could not possibly exceed 3,220 nm. (3,700 statute miles). Those of you who have flown grossly overloaded aircraft, as I have, will know just how much performance is degraded; particularly climb and airspeed. I personally consider that the range of their aircraft for that flight was about 3,000 nautical miles tops!
David also said that after 14 hours they had burnt only 577 US gallons. That is 480 Imp. gallons which is only 34.3 gph; that is 17.14 Imp. gph. per engine. Given the climb and overload weight, that is improbable. At that sort of power percentage, at the high weight, I doubt the aircraft would even maintain level flight.
So let us now look at the route map. The great-circle distance is 2,220 nautical miles. Howland is located at 00.48′28″ N 176.37′06″ W. Lae is about 7 degrees south so there is little difference between the great-circle and the rhumb-line tracks. After take-off, they planned to track along the mainland coast and then abeam the south coast of New Britain. Then over Buka Island at the north end of Bougainville. They gave a position report passing Nukumanu Island and then it was towards the long Gilberts group which has a very large number of islands, most low-lying. As you can see, Howland is quite a few hours further on and is about 1,670 nm south-west of Honolulu. I am not going to go into why they could not locate it. There are numerous theories. But what we are considering is David’s belief that they could have tried to make it back to Rabaul which is at the eastern end of New Britain. You can see it is much closer than Lae.
At an average ground-speed of 120 knots, their time to the Howland longitude would have been about 18.5 hours; not allowing for weather diversions. (which they did make) 18.5 x 40 gallons per hour = 740 Imp. gallons. This would have left them with 920 - 740 = 180 Imp. gallons for search and/or diversion. Now at a very light weight, they could have used emergency low rpm settings and best-range airspeed to produce perhaps 30 gallons per hour and 110 knots true airspeed = 6 hours x 110 = 660 nautical miles to dry tanks. If heading back to the Gilberts with a 15 knot tail-wind component, their range would have been about 6 x 125 = 750 nm. That is hugely short of the fuel needed to get them back all the way to Rabaul.
One has only to sit back and consider the meridians on the map. At this latitude 5 degrees = 300 nm. From Howland (just eye-ball estimates) it is 500 nm back to the Gilberts. It is a further 900 to Honiara in the Solomons where, I think, there was some sort of airfield. Or about 900 from the Gilberts to Nukumanu Island. And from those two places, close to 500 nm to Rabaul.So, without going into a range of possible PNR calculations (I say chaps, this is your chance to dig out your ancient Jepp. “prayer-wheels” and enjoy a few jolly calculations like we did in ye olde times), one can readily see that Amelia and Fred would have had to have made a decision to return to New Guinea or divert to somewhere for an emergency landing long before they got to the longitude of the horrible little Howland Island.
Actually, I have long thought that they should have gone via Fiji… a lot longer, but far safer. I have also believed that they should have remained in Lae until they had sorted out their H.F. comm. set and their L.F. Direction-Finder problem…..Ah! What might have been…..
Just some final musings. If the engine found by the Australian Army patrol was a single-row, ungeared Pratt & Whitney R-1340 fitted with a two-blade propeller, then that would be compelling evidence that the aircraft could well be a Lockheed L-10E Electra. There were few that were fitted with that engine. I can recall no twin-engined wartime aircraft types, with that type of engine, that operated in that area. The RAAF Rabaul-based Wirraways used the geared version of the R-1340 with three-blade props. The two civil Lockheed L-10As that Guinea Airways operated out of Lae were flown to Australia when the Japanese invaded. It is remotely possible that the machine could have been a Lockheed Hudson; but they used Wright Cyclones. Anyway, the story still makes for absorbing reading. I have attached an old photograph of the aircraft on take-off from Lae. It was hugely overloaded with fuel (a staggering 1,100 US gallons) and used virtually all of the runway. Eyewitnesses reported that, after lift-off, it sank to near sea level with its props creating two lines of disturbance on the calm surface of the Huon Gulf. I would imagine that the wing-tip vortices would also have been creating some disturbance! The aircraft was last seen by the Lae people as it took up heading and flew at low-level until out of sight. The other photograph is one I have always rather liked. Just a simple one of Amelia and Fred discussing something together.
An idea that I just thought of. The Japanese captured various civil types during their invasions, and used them. Is it possible that the mystery aircraft could be one of those? Something to mull over perhaps?Please do feel free to contact me and “shoot me down” over my above thoughts and calculations. I dashed off this item in a hurry as the PNG news item seems to be running hot around the internet. I have received the Earhart news from eight people so far.
PS: Since writing the above, I have heard from David Billings and we have been exchanging E-mails. I have since been crunching many numbers again. Briefly, David asked me if I thought they might have made it to Rabaul if they had turned back 260 nm short of Howland with 250 Imp. gallons remaining. Withour weather diversions, they would have had 1,600 nm to fly. After a lot of sums, I advised him that, if they used 30% power, reduced rpm to about 14 or 1,500 rpm, used extreme mixture leaning and could maintain height on 330 bhp total, burning just 9 Imp. gph per engine, and achieve 90 knots indicated airspeed at 5,000 feet, and had an average tailwind component of 25 knots; then they might just have made it…but there are a lot of “Ifs” there.Have any of you older chaps flown an L-10? Or perhaps the similar Beech 18?This is an ongoing study which may continue to be of interest.
Earhart’s plane found at last?
THE discovery of the wreckage of an aircraft in the Ip River in East Pomio, East New Britain province last week, has generated renewed speculation that it could be the aircraft belonging to famed American aviatrix, Amelia Earhart.What makes this particular discovery significant is the fact that an Australian aircraft engineer, who has been involved since 1994 in a project to locate Ms Earhart’s Lockheed Electra 10E, had pinpointed the location where the wreckage was found as the place where he believed Ms Earhart’s plane went down.An entry on the free internet encyclopaedia Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amelia_Earhart#Departure_from_Lae) says the engineer, former Air Niugini employee David Billings, asserts that a map marked with notations consistent with Ms Earhart’s engine model number and her airframe’s construction number, was seen briefly by Australian soldiers during World War II.Mr Billings’ theory originates from the WWII Australian patrol stationed on East New Britain and indicates a crash site 64km (40 miles) southwest of Rabaul, which is only a few kilometres away from where the wreckage was found last week.Mr Billings speculated that Ms Earhart turned back from her intended destination of Howland Island in the Pacific Ocean after unsuccessfully trying to rendezvous with an American warship, and tried to reach Rabaul for fuel.Mr Billings and his team had made 10 attempts to locate the wreckage. His theory is contained in an exhaustive article on an American aviation website
http://www.wingsoverkansas.com/earhart/article.asp?id=850
detailing the reasons for his conclusion that the wreckage spotted by the Diggers on April 17, 1945, belonged to Ms Earhart.Ms Earhart and her navigator, Fred Noonan, took off from Lae on July 2, 1937, in the heavily loaded Electra for Howland Island 4,113km (2,556 miles) away. To date, their disappearance had remained an enduring mystery.A brief report in Monday’s The National prompted one reader from Australia to write in to suggest that the wreckage could belong to Ms Earhart’s Electra.Further research on the internet revealed Mr Billings’ theory pinpointing the area 64km southwest of Rabaul where the Diggers spotted the wreckage in 1945.A community leader from the Kalip ward in East Pomio, Isidor Vote, said last week that the aircraft was discovered by a group of youths in the Ip River in the bushes of East Pomio.Local villagers believed the aircraft might have been shot down during World War I between 1913 and 1914, and even suggested it was being flown by a female American pilot. It is not known what their theory is based on.Mr Vote said the wreckage had the serial number 06751 on one of its body parts that had remained intact all these years, and parts of one of its wings had dents on it.Mr Vote wanted Government authorities to visit the site and inspect the aircraft in order to get more information.He said it would serve as a record for the War Museum in Kokopo.If the find proves to indeed be Ms Earhart’s Electra, it will have far more significance and could prompt an international media frenzy in the Pomio area.

Follow the progress of our Papua New Guinea cricket team

Find out the progress of Papua New Guinea’s cricket team, the Milo PNG Barrumundi's, in their participation in the ICC World Cricket League in Argentina. For the official website http://www.pepsiiccworldcricketleague.com/ .

Tournament Schedule

	Belgrano	Hurlingham	Corimayo
Saturday 24 January	PNG v Cayman Islands	Argentina v Hong Kong	Uganda v Afghanistan
Sunday 25 January	Afghanistan v Hong Kong	Cayman Islands v Uganda	PNG v Argentina
Monday 26 January	Rest/Reserve Day
Tuesday 27 January	Uganda v PNG	Argentina v Afghanistan	Hong Kong v Cayman Islands
Wednesday 28 January	Cayman Islands v Argentina	Afghanistan v PNG	Hong Kong v Uganda
Thursday 29 January	Rest/Reserve Day
Friday 30 January	Argentina v Uganda	PNG v Hong Kong	Cayman Islands v Afghanistan
Play-offs
Saturday 31 January	1st v 2nd	3rd v 4th	5th v 6th St George's College

 

Culturing local crops for improved yield

By SENIORL ANZU

The plant tissue culture technique and biotechnology play an important role in crop improvement for healthy materials made available to farmers and other stakeholders. Such developments are part of National Agriculture Research Institute’s ongoing research and development initiatives in which through its crop improvement programme, the Institute develops disease free and healthy planting materials, readily made available which can be cultivated for some generations with improved yields without major impacts of common pests and diseases.

 The technology also provides mass propagation of superior cultivars of food crops using the in-vitro technique, germplasm conservation and molecular crop research. Such work is facilitated at Aiyura in Eastern Highlands and Keravat in East New Britain.

Some of the common food crops cultured locally are potato, sweet potato, taro, cassava, yam, broccoli and vanilla.

Pictured is Niligur Rangan, a NARI research associate at Keravat culturing a banana crop at the NARI Keravat laboratory.

 

In search of the perfect wave in Papua New Guinea

Caption: Locals with SAPNG executives during the presentation of surf boards to the club by SAPNG.

 Little known Ulingan Bay in the Madang province is gearing up for its first international visitors from Japan on February 27,  2009.

A team of Japanese surfers with a film crew are touring Papua New Guinea’s three premier surfing destinations commencing February 22,  2009 starting in Lido village, Vanimo, Sandaun Province and arriving in Madang on 27 February 2009 where they will spend four days until  March 4, 2009.

Their tour ends in New Ireland on  March 8.

The visitors will be spending three to four days on each location riding waves besides meeting people, filming and learning different cultures.

The project is a combined surf tourism project between the Surfing Association PNG and PNG Tourism Promotion Authority  which the SAPNG is very grateful for their continued support in the expansion of the SAPNG surf tourism program throughout PNG to help empower the village communities to ensure and equitable and sustainable future for the people who wish to embrace the sport of surfing and surf tourism industry for the collective benefit of their communities.

President of Surfing Association of PNG, Andrew Abel recently spent four days at Tupira Surf Club, Madang’s own first surfing destination, to check on the preparations of the work undertaken in readiness for the Japanese visit.

Mr Abel was accompanied by his wife Margaret and son, Cheyenne, senior executive members of the association, Mr Richard Farrell, Secretary of SAPNG with his wife, Lyn, and child and SAPNG Contest Director, Jason Pini.

Mr Abel and team were quite impressed by the progress of the work and the efforts that the executive committee and the community were committing to this project.

This was Mr Abel’s second official visit to Ulingan in a space of eight months since he first launched Tupira Surf Club on April 12, 2008 and declared Ulingan as Papua New Guinea’s eighth surfing spot and Madang’s first.

On this visit Mr Abel donated a further five surfboards to Ulingan surfers and urged the community to take care and use them properly.

He also promised the Club further surf boards from the Japanese visiting surfers and more from the donated boards awaiting shipment from Sydney.

The presentation ceremony was witnessed by Ms Erigere Singin, a lecturer from Hospitality and Tourism Department of the Divine Word University, Professor Dean, a senior lecturer in Mathematics and his wife, also from the Divine Word University and Ms Jennifer Baing, Madang Representative on SAPNG Board.

Mrs Verna Mom, Vice President of Tupira Surf Club received the boards on behalf of the members and thanked Mr Abel and SAPNG in the presence of close to 150 people gathered to witness the occasion.

 The boards will be shared between Tupira and one of its affiliated surfing sites.

Mr Abel was overjoyed by the quality of waves and surfs in Tupira which were as good as any place in the world.

He said that the consistency of the waves and the commitment of the people to realise their aspiration of establishing a surfing destination in their area clearly projected Ulingan as one of the best surfing sites in the country.

He assured those gathered that Ulingan presented itself as the ideal location for the next National Championships to be hosted by Tupira Surf Club.

For further information on surfing in PNG, log on to www.surfingpapuanewguinea.org.pg.

 

 

Websites, blogs and politicans

Bulolo MP Sam Basil called me before leaving for Washington DC to attend the inauguration of Barrack Obama as 44^th President of the USA.

He wanted to set up a website of his electorate as well as one of his US-Government funded trip to attend the inauguration.

Over dinner, at his Port Moresby residence, I told him that blogs were fast replacing websites as the fastest-growing means of mass communication in the world – now even replacing traditional media such as newspapers, radio and television - and that his best bet was to start up a blog.

I also told him that Barrack Obama was hailed throughout his campaign and transition as a politician who makes clever use of technology to communicate his message.

After dinner, he hooked up his laptop, and I helped him to set up a blog for the Bulolo electorate and another for his trip to the USA.

The blog http://sambasil2009usa-trip.blogspot.com/   will inform those back in Mr Basil’s electorate of Bulolo, Morobe province and PNG about his trip to the USA.

Apart from his blog about his visit to the USA for the inauguration, Mr Basil has also set up another blog about his Bulolo electorate http://sambasil.blogspot.com/,   which also features the Morobe province and PNG.

He is, as far as I know, the first Member of Parliament from Papua New Guinea to have a blog, as opposed to a website.

For matters of transparency and accesibility, Mr Basil has also listed down all his contact details, including email addresses and mobile phones, so that everyone can be in touch with him.

A little bit of tweaking here and there, plus promotion through our network of PNG bloggers, and the ratings of http://sambasil2009usa-trip.blogspot.com/  and http://sambasil.blogspot.com/ are already shooting through the roof.

Gone are the staid days of Mr Basil’s predecessors, replaced by a dynamic new means of communication reflective of the tech-savvy incumbent.

A Blog, a shortened form of the term ‘web log’, is a website, usually maintained by an individual, with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video.

The Blogosphere is the collective community of all blogs.

Since all blogs are on the Internet by definition, they may be seen as interconnected and socially networked.

 Discussions "in the Blogosphere" have been used by the media as a gauge of public opinion on various issues.

But as the Blogosphere grows in size and influence, the lines between what is a blog and what is a mainstream media site become less clear.

Larger blogs are taking on more characteristics of mainstream sites and mainstream sites are incorporating styles and formats from the Blogosphere.

In fact, 95% of the top 100 US newspapers have reporter blogs.

With blogging so firmly entrenched in the mainstream, the story now is about the Active Blogosphere.

The trends, stories and behaviors here influence not only the rest of the Blogosphere but mainstream media as well.

Blog entries are commonly displayed in reverse chronological order.

"Blog" can also be used as a verb, meaning to maintain or add content to a Blog.

Many Blogs provide commentary or news on a particular subject; others function as more personal online diaries.

A typical Blog combines text, images, and links to other blogs, web pages, and other media related to its topic.

The ability for readers to leave comments in an interactive format is an important part of many Blogs.

Most Blogs are primarily textual, although some focus on art (artlog), photographs (photoblog), sketchblog, videos (vlog), music (MP3 blog), audio (podcasting) are part of a wider network of social media.

 A Blog gives you your own voice on the web.

It's a place to collect and share things that you find interesting— whether it's your political commentary, a personal diary, or links to web sites you want to remember.

Many people use a Blog just to organise their own thoughts, while others command influential, worldwide audiences of thousands.

Professional and amateur journalists use Blogs to publish breaking news, while personal journalers reveal inner thoughts.

Whatever you have to say, Blogging can help you say it.

Blogging is about more than just putting your thoughts on the web.

It's about connecting with and hearing from anyone who reads your work and cares to respond.

With Blogging, you control who can read and write to your Blog — let just a few friends or the entire world see what you have to say!

Blogging let anyone, anywhere, to offer feedback on your posts.

You can choose whether you want to allow comments on a post-by-post basis, and you can delete any comments you don't like.

Access Controls let you decide who can read and who can write to your Blog.

You can use a group Blog with multiple authors as an excellent communication tool for small teams, families and other groups.

Or as a single author, you can create a private online space for collecting news, links, and ideas, to keep to yourself or share with as many readers as you want.

Bloggings let you find people and Blogs that share your interests.

Your profile, where you can list your blogs, your interests, and more, lets people find you (but only if you want to be found).

Whether you're starting your Blog or just think it's time to give your existing Blog a facelift, user-friendly editing tools help you easily design a great-looking page.

A collection of templates will get you started with an attractive site right away without you having to learn any HTML, though you can edit your Blog's HTML code whenever you want.

When you're ready to take the next step, you can further customise templates to create a design that perfectly reflects you and your Blog.

You can easily upload photos on your Blog.

The fastest way to understand Blogging is to try it out, and in less than five minutes, you could be part of the phenomenon that’s transforming web and media to a participatory approach.  

 

 

 

Tribe of Jubal is Coming Back

They were here last year and they're back again this year.
Inspired by the traditions and legends of PNG culture, Tribe of Jubal delivers a truly unique, entertaining and mystical performance.

Mixing traditional Melanesian rhythms with a modern, contemporary sound, the band creates an intense tone of tribal harps, flutes, horns, warups, garamuts (drums) and kundus seamlessly grooved with contemporary jazz and funk arrangements.
The event organisers are offering early bird tickets and if you're one of the first 50 to buy a ticket you get a free copy of T'mme Yakinso film clip DVD.
When: Saturday, 28 February 2008
Where: The ARENA, Lamana Hotel, Port Moresby
Tickets: K25 Gold Club Members - K40 Non members
MELANESIAN FUNK BAND WITH AN INTERNATIONAL REPUTATION
"An imposing debut album"…Toni Hillier
Weekend Australian Review, October 2007
www.tribeofjubal.com

 

Follow our Papua New Guinea cricket team

Find out the progress of Papua New Guinea’s cricket team, the Milo PNG Barrumundi's, in their participation in the ICC World Cricket League in Argentina.

For the official website http://www.pepsiiccworldcricketleague.com/ .

Bulolo MP witnesses Barrack Obama's inauguration

Bulolo MP Sam Basil witnessed the inauguration of Barrack Obama as 44^th President of the USA yesterday.

Mr Basil’s trip – sponsored by the US Government and from Jan 13 to 29 - is a huge vote-of-confidence in this businessman-cum-politician, who in only his first term in office has won the admiration of the whole of Papua New Guinea for his hard work, honesty and transparency.

No doubt he will learn a lot from his trip to the USA, be a good ambassador for Papua New Guinea, and be inspired by his role model in Obama.

Mr Basil has set up a blog http://sambasil2009usa-trip.blogspot.com/  in which he will inform those back in his electorate of Bulolo, Morobe province and PNG about his trip to the USA.

You can log on and post your comments on Mr Basil’s blog.

Apart from his blog about his visit to the USA for the inauguration, Mr Basil has also set up another blog about his Bulolo electorate http://sambasil.blogspot.com/,   which also features the Morobe province and PNG.

Mr Basil is the first PNG MP to have a blog, as opposed to a website.

“I never dreamt of going to America in my lifetime but now I have been given the opportunity by the Embassy of the United States of America in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea,” he writes on his blog.

“The trip was announced unofficially before Christmas 2008 and the news spread like wildfire throughout my district.

 “I was very surprised that people from all walks of life enquired during my electoral visit.

“During the festive season, I was summoned by village elders in Mapos No. 1 village to brief them about my trip.

“I thoroughly briefed the leaders.

 “Some of the elders were very concerned about my security as they know and have heard about the evils of this world and some were even worried about my personal security.

“After lengthy discussion, I got many words of caution and advice from the village elders.

“They also prayed for my safety and to return home in one piece as Wau/Bulolo District needed my leadership to deliver the much-needed basic goods and services.

“The elders were right in some cases, as I do still have six projects waiting to be launched in January but postponed to February, due to the trip I will be taking to the United States of America.”

The projects are the  Wagau water project;  Moneyau/Gabansis Road; Upper Watut Local Level Government headquarters office and public telephone installations; Middle Watut public telephone project; Wau Bulolo Urban grader project; and Rural LLGs (Watut, Buang,Wau Rural and Mumeng LLGs) tractors.

 

 

 

Potato flourishes in Northern province despite disease threats

Caption: Potato farmers in the Western Highlands province admiring tubers of some promising potato varieties resistant to potato late blight.

Potatoes are growing very well in the Northern (Oro) province, according to outspoken farmer Graeme Ross.
Mr Ross, who runs Alele Farm Fresh Produce, said that potatoes were flourishing in the Afore area where he was carrying out a project.
Potatoes can also be grown in Kokoda to feed the increasing number of trekkers walking the wartime Kokoda Trail as well as supply Popondetta and other centres.
“We’re out in the bush doing a project on growing potatoes with no chemicals added,” he said.
“We’re being 150% successful.
“Seeds are leaping out of the ground.”
“A count has shown to us that Kokoda would very much like to produce potatoes for Popondetta but farmers need training on how to grow potatoes.
“We’re very excited.’
Mr Ross, however, re-iterated his earlier calls for a total ban on all potatoes imported from Australia for fear of bringing in new diseases.
“We are gravely concerned about potato cyst nematode in Australia, which will come in when potatoes are brought into the supermarkets,” he said.
“Fresh Produce Development Corporation general manager, Ambassador Aiwa Olmi, also wants a total ban on all potatoes coming into the country due to the threat of diseases being introduced.”
Papua New Guinea’s K100 million potato industry faces threats from new diseases which can be far more destructive than potato late blight, according to Mr Ross.
“The industry has been threatened since 2003 by over four major diseases, and a new threat is looming on the Australian supply chain,” he said.
“Major diseases are leaf roll virus, bacteria wilt, black lake and a new virus that the government hasn’t identified.
“These diseases are uncontrollable with chemicals.
“If introduced into new soil, the soil can be unproductive for up to 10 years.
“Potato late blight is totally controllable with chemicals and farmer training.
“A major new threat not clearly reported by Australian quarantine has been discovered in Australia and distributed by a certified seed grower in Victoria.
“The distribution of disease seeds in Australia now threatens ware or eating potatoes.
“It is now a high risk importing from Australian into Papua New Guinea.
“The industry is demanding total protection from this potato disease outbreak in Australia.
“Major government agencies support a total ban on ware potatoes coming from Australia.
“To date, Trade & Industry and quarantine have not responded to this threat,
“How can Papua New Guinea survive without potatoes?
“We need potatoes in Papua New Guinea.”

Bulolo MP supports calls for ministers to perform

Bulolo MP Sam Basil (pictured above in Washington DC with Capital Hill looming in the background) has welcomed moves by the National Alliance party for its national ministers to give their respective performance reports to the party executive.

Opposition MP Mr Basil, who is in the USA to attend the inauguration of Barrack Obama as US President as well as tour the country, made the call after reading the online version of The National yesterday.

“If the intentions are good, then I welcome the move wholeheartedly on behalf of my people in Bulolo district,” he said in a statement emailed from Washington DC.

“Appointment of ministers too often has been regarded as reward from the ruling party to its party members and the coalition for successfully providing their numbers to form   government.

“Because many of our urban/rural population are not educated enough and do not have access to the media, they cannot monitor their MPs, including the Government and its ministers’ performances, therefore, cannot effectively demand or pressure for their performance.

“Often, ministers take ministry portfolios as a gift and take every opportunity available to travel overseas, live extravagant lifestyles, thus, using up every expense account available.

“This must change now.

“Services are not flowing into the rural areas, such as health, which is currently the worst affected followed by other departments that need not to be mentioned.

“Corruption also finds its place in departments if the ministers are not focused in their core responsibilities.

“What the National Alliance Party has demanded from the ministers must be set as a good precedence to all political parties: if you can’t perform there is always another MP who can do the job.

“It will also play a part in effective delivery of services while elevating the performances of the ministers to another scale.

“However, if this request is basically cooked up for reshuffle purposes only, then it may bring along with it a lot of questions of integrity and trust among the coalition partners and fellow party members.”