（旧）Here and There Blog

QM2のサイト

Cunard QM2 Cruise Ship

Crowds cheer QM2's arrival in US：　BBCのニュース
maiden voyage（処女航海と言う意味。そりゃそうだ（笑））は既に、1月から始まっていたそうな。
今日には、姉妹船のQueen Elizabeth 2がニューヨークに入港するらしく、
また、今度は2隻揃って、5月1日にSouthampton港に入港する予定との事。
ちょっと、写真見てみたいです。

QM2 liner returns to home port
QE2 to end New York route

ちなみに簡単な比較：
QM2
総排水量：　150000トン
乗客数：　2620人

QE2
総排水量：　85000トン
乗客数：　1800人

ロイヤルカリビアン・クルーズラインクラスの客船
総排水量：　140000トン
乗客数：　3500人

と言う事で、QM2のほうがスペーシャスで、豪華と言う事らしい。

Times Online - Sport

Threat to Games forces IOC to seek £100m insurance
By Laura Peek

Like watching paint dry: a bystander waits patiently for heavy lifting equipment to roll a section of roofing into place over the main Olympic stadium yesterday. It is the painfully slow process of construction work in Athens that has in part caused the IOC to seek an insurance policy against cancellation of the Games

THE International Olympic Committee (IOC) is seeking insurance to cover the Olympic Games in Athens in case they are called off, The Times has learnt. Athens 2004 would be the first modern Olympiad to be insured against cancellation. The decision comes amid growing fears about increasing construction delays and concerns that Greek security may not be up to scratch.
The IOC last night confirmed that it is negotiating more than £100 million of insurance coverage to protect against the full or partial cancellation of the Games, but a spokeswoman insisted that the decision does not indicate a lack of faith in the Greeks. “It is a policy issue whereby the IOC is looking to manage its risk regarding its core business, the Olympic Games,” Giselle Davies, the IOC spokeswoman, said.

Davies added that it is being sought as part of plans announced in 2002 by Jacques Rogge, the President of the IOC, to shore up IOC finances against the loss of revenue should an Olympics be cancelled. However, insurance experts last night said they doubted whether the IOC would find insurers at such a late stage for such a high-risk event.

The Times revealed last week that construction delays mean that there will be less time to erect security fences, install CCTV and train security guards before the Games open on August 13. Scotland Yard is so worried about security that it is considering controversial plans to arm British police officers in Athens.

“Insurers know that, given the timescale, the likelihood is that stadiums may not be completed and therefore there is a very good chance there could be a claim,” one insurance broker said. “They will also be thinking that terrorists could have penetrated these unfinished stadiums. All that will load up the premiums.

“They should have taken out the insurance between two and five years ago, when it was more up in the air whether everything would be finished or not.”

Heightened fears about a terrorist attack after the bombings in Madrid make the Athens Games an even less attractive prospect for would-be insurers. Francis Fernandes, partner at the London actuaries, Lane Clark & Peacock, said: “With increasing concerns over a possible terror attack, there will be more reluctance for insurers to cover this kind of risk. There is so little time left, the level of premium that insurers will charge has to reflect the risk and the risk is higher.” An IOC source said that there is no “understudy” city standing by to host the Games in case Athens is not able to do so.

A letter sent last month to the heads of the 28 sports on the Athens programme indicates that the IOC is seeking insurance to the value of a little more than £100 million. The policy would apply to any events outside the control of the organising committee or the IOC that would lead to full or partial cancellation of the Games.

The IOC would like the Athens Olympics to be covered against earthquakes and terrorism. The coverage is intended to be a “safety net”, the IOC said.

At an IOC meeting in Mexico in 2002, Rogge acknowledged that he was looking at the issue of cancellation insurance. He said then: “The international political situation and the danger of terrorism means the insurance market is reticent against taking these kind of risks. But we will continue our efforts in this area.”

A final decision on whether to purchase the coverage could come at the May meeting of the executive board.

Since 1992, the IOC has maintained a reserve fund to cover such a calamity as cancellation. In 2002, the Swiss-based fund totalled £78 million, with the IOC calculating that it would need £106 million to continue operating for four years if an Olympics was called off.

The IOC was not insured against cancellation of the 2002 Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City, which took place soon after the September 11 terror attacks. Before then, insurance companies were offering £110 million of Olympics coverage for about £3 million.

Stratos Safioleas, spokesman for Athens 2004, which is organising the Games, said: “It is not for us to comment on an IOC policy that concerns not just Athens but the Olympic Games in general. We are working hard to make sure that on August 13 we will be ready to hold a very successful event.”

Greek authorities were last night keen to emphasise that Rogge has expressed the wish to insure all future Games against cancellation. The Athens Organising Committee for the Olympic Games (Athoc) is still finalising its own £10 million insurance package that covers 15,000 athletes, 20,000 officials, 1.5 million spectators and four million Athenians involved in the event.

The most important contracts cover damages that organisers might cause to third parties. Coverage of organisers’ assets such as installations and rented facilities also constitute a considerable chunk of insurance. But the Games’ mostly new venues, construction of which were entirely financed by Greek taxpayers, are not covered by the package, according to an Athoc spokesman.

BBC SPORT | Olympics 2004 | IOC seeks Olympic insurance

IOC seeks Olympic insurance
The International Olympic Committee is trying to organise an insurance deal to cover the risk of the Athens Olympics being called off.

Concerns over construction and security have led many to believe the Games will not take place late this summer.

But IOC spokeswoman Giselle Davies said the current effort did not reflect any lack of confidence in the Athens Games.

"The IOC has been working for some time to have a policy to manage any risk regarding our core business," she said.

The deal, which would reportedly be worth more than £110m, could allow for terrorism, earthquakes or other factors and cover full or partial cancellation of the Games in August.

It would also be likely to cover future Olympics.

Greek officials, however, downplayed the move.

"The president of the IOC has announced some time ago his intention to provide insurance coverage for future Olympic Games," Greek government spokesman Theodoros Roussopoulos said.

"This does not concern Athens (specifically) but is a general IOC policy."

The Athens Games will be the first summer Olympics since the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001.

There was no insurance coverage for the 2002 winter Games in Salt Lake City, which took place five months after the attacks.

一応、
サーチして、Badgerを紹介。

Badgers Page
こんなものもある
National Federation of Badger Groups
ニホンアナグマ
＜アナグマとは？＞

以下は、一応記録、

Aljazeera.Net - Keeping foreigners out of Japan

Keeping foreigners out of Japan
By Julian Ryall in Tokyo Monday 12 April 2004, 4:49 Makka Time, 1:49 GMT

Japanese society is very safe, traditional and homogenous

The man in front of me laughs and shakes his head when I ask for his name.

"You can call me Mr Tanaka," he says. Tanaka is one of the most common family names in Japan, but this man is clearly not Japanese. He is tall and and quite apparently non-Japanese.

His English is heavily accented, a cigarette is in one hand and the way he balances on the balls of his feet and constantly scans the crowds passing through Tokyo's busy nightlife district of Shibuya suggests that he is ready for anything.

And "Mr Tanaka" has good reason to be wary. He and his three friends are illegally selling phone cards that have been altered so they can be re-used.

As well as not having a proper job, they do not have the correct documents allowing them to live in Japan. As illegal immigrants, they are the target of a new crackdown by Japanese authorities that has been condemned by some as Draconian.

We talk - guardedly - for a couple of minutes, until a friend gives a low whistle.

Before I have a chance to determine where the danger has come from, all four men have disappeared; one into a computer game centre, two down a subway entrance and the last into a narrow alleyway behind the restaurants and bars.

Sure enough, seconds later, three policemen with batons patrol down the street.

Rights violated

"The immigrants that I speak to feel as if they are victims and that their rights are being violated," said Manami Yano, secretary general of Solidarity Network, an umbrella organisation for 90 human rights groups in Japan.

"Many are already scared to go out of their homes to go shopping or just to see friends as they are often stopped by the police and arrested.

"It's true that it has been hard for immigrants for many years, but it has already gotten worse in the last year," she said. "These people don't have a big voice and the government is simply using them as scapegoats. They need a target to blame for the rising rate of crime here."

The concerns of people such as Yano have been heightened after the Japanese government set loose a special investigation team in April to flush out illegal immigrants and meet a self-imposed deadline of halving the number of illegal aliens in Japan within five years.

According to the Justice Ministry, the new outfit will be made up of immigration officers and positioned in four areas of Tokyo with high concentrations of foreigners.

In the Shinjuku, Shibuya, Ikebukuro and Akasaka districts, the officers will work closely with police officers to identify foreigners who are working illegally.

According to the ministry, about 220,000 people have overstayed their visas and another 30,000 have been smuggled into Japan.

But of the tactics the authorities have deployed in the fight against foreigners, several have been strongly criticised.

World's safest country

In its white paper on crime for fiscal 2002, the National Police Agency reported a record 3.69 million crimes, an increase of 3.1% on the previous year and a new record for the seventh consecutive year.

And while the clean-up rate for crimes was an improvement on the previous year's 19.8% - the first time it had fallen below 20% since the end of World War II - an anaemic 20.8% was still too small for the authorities to be proud of.

"This is Japan, which is known as the safest country in the world. We have to seriously consider how we are going to restore that reputation," Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said at the time.

The white paper singled out juveniles and foreigners as the leading causes of deteriorating public safety.

"Robberies perpetrated by foreigners became increasingly organised" during the year, the paper said. The situation "needs to be carefully monitored, because Japanese people are increasingly becoming the victims" of foreigners' criminal acts.

Amnesty International, Japan, has criticised the government's efforts to link rising crime to the foreign residents of the country as a political move to use "gaijin" - the pejorative Japanese word that literally means "outsiders" - as "scapegoats".

"We believe this is all part of the government's attempt to link
foreigners with crimes committed in Japan and it's simply propaganda," said Amnesty's Sonoko Kawakami.

"There were similar crackdowns on over-stayers in the early 1990s, but not like this. This is on a much larger scale."

Illegal residents

Amnesty was also outraged at the "big brother" tactics of Japan's Ministry of Justice.

It teamed up with other human rights organisations to demand that the ministry remove from its web site a section that encourages Japanese to inform on foreigners they suspect of being illegal residents.

The ministry's Immigration Bureau introduced the section on 16 February and, according to spokesman Mamoru Fukudaki, received more than 780 tip-offs from the public in the first month.

The site allows Japanese to report the presence of a foreigner in their neighbourhood whom they believe may be working or living in Japan without the appropriate documentation.

The site requests information such as name, nationality, home address or place of work, as well as the times they are most often at home.

The informant must also give a reason for reporting the person, with the choices including anxiety about the presence of foreigners.

"I don't think the ministry is even aware that this is discriminatory," said Kawakami. "They are under a lot of pressure from the public and the police and this just shows how racially discriminatory Japanese society has become in recent years."

And while it is true that many overstayers have violated the immigration laws, "the government must ask itself why", she added. "The reason is that Japanese don't want to do manual labour, which Japanese industry needs, so these people are contributing to Japanese society."

Known as the "3Ds" - for dirty, dangerous and difficult - foreigners work on building sites and in restaurant kitchens for lower wages and none of the benefits afforded to Japanese.

The ministry, however, remains unaffected by the criticism.

"There is no problem with using this internet system from a legal point of view and we are not thinking of stopping the system," Fukudaki said.

Yasushi Higashizawa, a lawyer and secretary general of the Japan Civil Liberties Union, expressed little surprise at the news.

"They fear pressure from the politicians and the public if they withdraw it," he said. "But that overlooks the fact that they are contravening the basic human rights of foreigners, most of whom are not connected in any way with misconduct or crimes."

Some foreigners, however, are fighting back.

Blatant racial discrimination

Debito Arudou is a vocal critic of racial discrimination in Japan since being refused entry to a hot spring in Hokkaido in 1999 on the grounds that he would scare the regular clients away.

He is calling on the prefectural government of Hokkaido to pass a local ordinance that would punish stores, restaurants, bars and any other public venue that turns a foreigner away.

A naturalised Japanese, who even changed his name from the original David Aldwinckle, he went as far as showing the owner of the hot spring his Japanese passport, but was still denied access.

Japan is the only developed nation in the world that does not have laws to specifically eliminate racial discrimination

Even more bizarrely, he says, the management said his oldest daughter, who more closely resembles her Japanese mother, could enter, but his three-year-old, Western-looking daughter, was banned.

"This is obviously not a matter of citizenship, it's a case of blatant racial discrimination," says Arudou, 39, originally from New York but a permanent resident of Hokkaido since 1991.

"I've been refused entry to discos, barber shops, a sporting goods store and bars - even with a Japanese passport and where the hostesses are all foreign.

"The reason is usually that foreign customers are known to be criminals and the management doesn't want them mixing with their regular clients," he added.

That argument leaves him fuming.

"No-one can tell who's a foreigner in Japan any more," he said. "There are now thousands of international marriages every year and you simply cannot tell by looking at a person's face whether they are Japanese or not."

Japan is the only developed nation in the world that does not have laws to specifically eliminate racial discrimination, he said.

A good first step to achieving an open and multicultural society in Japan, he says, would be for signs that read "Japanese only" or "No foreigners" to be removed from establishments across Hokkaido and, eventually, all of Japan.

If the Hokkaido government does pass the law that he has suggested, it will be the first of its kind in Japan, although Arudou is not optimistic.

Previous attempts have ended up with the proposal "buried in committees", although he is hopeful that one day, "it will happen and Japan will accept its internationalisation overnight".

村の中心部にある　Biddestone Armsというパブ
中がなかなか綺麗で、料理もまあまあで、気に入っているパブに一つです。
夏になったら、綺麗な花が建物じゅうに飾られます。

で、よく見たら、
「クリスマスの予約」の垂れ幕が・・・・・。
いくらなんでも気が早いよ・・・・・。

以下がシマンテック社によるスパムメールの対処法ですが、
殆どが、一般的という感じですが、中にはホームページを運営していたりすると簡単には出来ない部分もあり、ある程度のスパムメールは覚悟しておかなければならない状況のような気がします。

1. 信用できるかどうか判断しづらい店舗や企業、個人などが販売するノートンブランド製品にはご注意ください。

2. 不審なスパムメールには返信しないでください。返信すると相手にあなたのメールアドレスを教えてしまうことになり、さらに多くのスパムメールが送られてくる事態になりかねません。

3. 不審なメールや登録の覚えがないメールを受け取った場合、配信停止申し込み用のリンクをクリックしないでください。このようなリンクは配信元がユーザのメールアドレスを確認する手段として使用していることが多いため、クリックしてしまうと、さらに大量のスパムメールが届く結果になります。
   
   ⇒不審なメール以外でも、メーリングリストや、ニュースサイトにたくさん登録している方等は、なかなか区別が付けづらいのではないでしょうか?　違うサイトの登録時に、同じメーリングリスト登録されてしまった等もあるのでは？

4. 安全でないWebサイトには、クレジットカード情報やその他の個人情報を絶対に送信しないでください。(安全なWebサイトには、オーダーフォームページを表示したときに必ず、Webブラウザ下部のステータスバーに、ロックされた状態の黄色の鍵アイコン、または黄色い枠内にロックされた鍵アイコンが表示されます。)
   
   これも必ず確認しているかと言われると自信ありません。

5. スパムメールをフィルタリングあるいは遮断するソフトウェアを使用してください。

6. メールアドレスを送信する場合、チャットルーム、インスタントメッセージサービス、インターネットの掲示板やニュースグループを通じて送信することは絶対に避けてください。
   
   ⇒掲示板の管理者などは、メールアドレスを表示しないのは難しいですね。

7. シマンテック製品またはノートンブランド製品に関する不審なオンライン広告を発見した場合は、spamwatch@symantec.comまでメールでご一報ください。代わりにBusiness Software Allianceの現地連絡先(www.bsa.orgで確認してください。) に通報してもかまいません。また、米国内でスパムメールを受信した場合は、Federal Trade Commission (FTC) に告訴することもできます。その場合、FTCオンラインを通じて告訴手続きを行うか、あるいは、受信したスパムメールをFTCに転送して調査を要請してください。

8. 受け取ったメールに、シマンテックのノートン製品の販売に関する記述が含まれ、販売価格や製品の仕様などの内容が疑わしい場合は、弊社Webサイトhttp://www.symantec.co.jpを参照し比較確認して下さい。また、販売サイトおよびその運営会社が信頼できるかどうか、確認された上でのご購入をお勧めします。シマンテックの正規オンライン販売パートナーの一覧はhttp://www.symantec.com/region/jp/ec/index.htmlで一部ご覧いただけます。

9. 重要なメールアドレスをオンライン登録やe-コマースサイトに使用しないでください。別のフリーメールアドレスを取得し、人目につくような場所ではそのアドレスを使用するようにしてください。
   
   ⇒これ、難しいですね。オンライン登録では、相手の追跡が出来るようフリーのサイトでの登録を拒否しているところがあります。
   　ホームページなどに掲載しているメールアドレスはどうしても多量のスパムメールが送付されます。それを前提にしたメールアドレスの使用・公開が必要です。

10. チェーンメールが届いても他の人に転送しないでください。この種のメールはスパムメールとみなされています。このようなメールは一方的に送られてきて、他の人に転送を強要するものであり、メールサーバーが停止したり、インターネットの通信速度が低下する原因の一つとなっています。
    
    

サイトの中には、本当に突然更新が止まっているサイトがあります。　悲しいです。いつか更新が再開されるといいなと思うようにしています。

イラクで、ブログサイトを持っている人は、インターネットに接続できる環境にある人です。自宅からの電話回線。停電の場合は、インターネットカフェ等から、メールのチェック、ブログのアップをされています。当然殆どがバグダッドからの更新で、いわゆる中産階級の方々が多いと思われます。医者、歯医者さんやその家族等も多いです。　だから、ブログを全部読んだとしても、それはイラクの人たちの一部の事かもしれません。
ただしサダムフセインの政権下でこのような自由なブログサイトの投稿が出来ていたか疑問です。というか、ブログサービス自体がなかったと言った方がいいかな?

殆どのブログサイトは、2003年の夏以降、始まっています。ちょうど日本でも、ブログのサイトが増えだした頃でしょうか？
サイトは、フリーのブログサイトBLOGGERを使ったものが多いです。

Baghdad Burning
Baghdad Burning（日本語版）
はなゆーさんのところで知った日本語に翻訳されているブログサイトです。
イラク人女性のウェブログを日本語に翻訳するプロジェクトが始動していた！
翻訳に参加されている皆様、ご苦労様です。

NO TO TERRORISM：
いくつかのサイトは、バナーを張り、はっきりとテロに対して"NO"と言っています。　これは、イラク国内にいて、凄く勇気のいる事ではないかと思います。

イラクのブログサイトは、特に英語のサイトは世界中からアクセスされている為、コメントの数が凄いのですが当然色々なコメントが送られてきています。応援のコメントが多いと思いますが、コメント側も自分の意見を堂々とぶつけてきます。でも、中にはかなり攻撃的なコメントも多く、本当は「凹む」程度以上なのでしょうが、皆さんコンスタントに投稿されています。頑張って欲しいです。
中には若いブロガーもいて、「今日は何も投稿する事ナシ」で終わっていたりして、ホッとしたりします。後は、「アメリカ人の知り合いと町を歩いていて襲われたら、どうしよう」、「自分は逃げないで、守ろうとするのかな?」等というエントリーもあります。

最後に、ここ1週間位で、主に人質事件に関して日本の事に言及してくれているサイトとエントリーを自分が気が付いた分だけ紹介します。他にもあるかもしれません。

Hammorabi

Release the Japanese Hostages Immediately

The Japanese hostages should be released immediately and their captives should be punished sooner or latter if not by the Coalition by the Iraqis. Other hostages should be released as well and the maximum penalty should be used against their captives.

Raed in the Middle

An open letter to the Japanese People...
An open letter to the Japanese People...(kagegeさん訳）
An open letter to the Japanese People...（nofrillさん訳）

Healing Iraq

人質事件への言及多数あります。　日本からもたくさんのメールを受け取っておられるようです。

いろんなエントリーが日本語に翻訳されていくのはすばらしい事だとお思います。
同じように、アラビア語のエントリーがイラクのブロガー達によって英語にも翻訳されています。

益々、ブログは凄い！

再構築上手くいけよ(笑)

Telegraph | News

Concorde takes to the waves
Concorde began its final and slowest journey as the last of the decommissioned fleet to be moved to a new permanent home was ferried down the Thames on the way to a museum in Scotland.

The aircraft once hailed as the future of air travel floated through the capital on a 225ft barge en route to the coast where it will be carried up the North Sea to the Museum of Flight near Edinburgh.

For Golf Bravo Oscar Alpha Alpha (G-BOAA), which in 1976 had flown the first British Airways commercial supersonic flight and travelled faster than a speeding bullet between continents at twice the altitude of a jumbo jet, it was a humble departure.

Hundreds of spectators still lined the river's banks and bridges to catch a glimpse of the aircraft as it passed at little more than walking pace. The vessel paused for an hour and a half from 4.30pm opposite the Houses of Parliament so that enthusiasts packing both sides of Westminster Bridge could snap one last photograph.

But shorn of its swept-back wings and tail to fit into the barge, the one-time Queen of the Skies appeared pitiful compared with the sleek shape booming through the heavens that was remembered by those who had come to say a last goodbye.

Even the trademark nose had been only temporarily stitched back on after being removed when the aircraft was squeezed into a trailer to carry it from Heathrow to the Thames at Isleworth. "Concorde was once a testament to British engineering and a pride to millions in this country," said Gavin Porter, a taxi driver from Hounslow waiting on the Embankment with his two children, Penny, seven, and Eliza, four.

"Now it looks like an Airfix model someone hasn't completed," he said.

"I loved that plane. I wish it was still flying as I would have liked to have gone on it one day," said Penny.

Half a dozen pleasure boats had accompanied the barge. Two vessels gave a couple of hoots of their horns as the aircraft's fuselage was lifted up to give the crowd a better view during its pause at Westminster.

At 6pm it was lowered back into its metal carrier and taken to Dartford. Today the top of the barge will be sealed and it will set off on the £300,000 six-day journey to Scotland.

Without licences from the Civil Aviation Authority, it could not fly.

Once it arrives at the museum the aircraft will undergo a four-month restoration before going on permanent display. The jet is the last of seven British Airways Concordes to find a home following the airline's decision last year to end commercial services. Three others remain in Britain and are on show at Heathrow airport, Manchester airport, and Filton in western England where the aircraft were made.

The others were sent abroad: to the Museum of Flight in Seattle, the Intrepid Sea Space Museum in New York, and Grantley Adams Airport in Barbados.

2 December 2003: Bidder blows £320,000 on Concorde nose

「ろうそくない？」
「バースデーケーキに使った残りはあるけど・・・・。」
などと言っているうちに停電が復帰。
明るいうちに、懐中電灯と電池を用意し始めていたところだった。
停電なんて久しぶりだった。
今の時代に停電の不便な所は、
”いつ復旧するか分からない事”
昔の日本のように台風シーズンにはろうそく等を取り揃えておく事もないし。

以前、アメリカで自分は出張中に自宅の近辺が
アイスストームで停電となり、2日間に渡って停電していたとか。
その時は大変だったらしい。

いろいろ調べたら、今日の停電がニュースになっていた。
6万世帯以上が停電になったのですね。

BBC NEWS | England | Wiltshire | Power cut hits 61,000 properties

Power cut hits 61,000 properties

More than 61,000 properties were affected by power cuts across Wiltshire on Wednesday evening.

Supplies to homes and businesses in the west and north of the county went off at about 1900 BST.

Engineers from Southern Electric were working on the problem and supplies to Trowbridge were restored by 1950 BST.

Melksham, Devizes, Trowbridge, Semington and Bradford on Avon were all affected, as were Chippenham and Corsham and surrounding areas.

At the height of the outage, 61,500 properties were without power.

Southern Electric traced the fault to Norrington primary substation and sent out engineers to repair it.

Some customers claim it is the seventh time in the past year that power supplies have been interrupted in places like Hilperton.

えっ？うちの家はHilpertonですが、７回も停電あったかな？