Japan: Beat the heat with..pears :..[ 1737 ]

Beat the heat with Tottori Prefecture's '20th-century Japanese pears'

(Mainichi Japan) September 3, 2010
As the scorching summer lingers on, if you're looking for some cool fruit to beat the heat, you may want to bite into a "Nijisseiki" (20th-century) Japanese pear.
The pears, of which Tottori Prefecture is the number one producer, are approaching their harvesting time, and some varieties are already available. The pears have "a good balance of sweetness and acidity, as well as a crisp, fresh texture and high level of juiciness," says Tottori Prefecture's tourism and goodwill ambassador Shiori Nakahara.

Tottori's tourism and goodwill ambassador Shiori Nakahara holds a "natsuhime" Japanese pear next to a banner reading "Tottori Nijisseikinashi". (Mainichi)

Japanese pears are a different shape from those in the West. Rather than being fat at the bottom and thin at the top, they are almost perfectly round, and they are more firm and crisp. Though generally a tannish or yellowish color, many nijisseiki varieties are a light, yellow-green.

The Nijisseiki pear has two historical "fathers" -- Kakunosuke Matsudo, who in 1888 at the age of 13 discovered the pear tree growing in Chiba Prefecture, and Eiji Kitawake, who began cultivating the pear in Tottori Prefecture in 1904. People who tasted the fruit at the time were impressed by its juiciness and sweetness, and the name "nijisseiki" was bestowed, reflecting the expectation that the new fruit would be the pear of the new century.

The "natsuhime" Japanese pear is a new, sweeter, "elegant" variety whose name means "summer princess." (Mainichi)

There are competing theories about when the name was given. One theory says that it was in 1898, when the first nijisseiki pear tree bore fruit. Another theory suggests it was in 1904 during the editing of a magazine, released in 1905, that marked the first appearance of the name in print. If the former theory is correct, 2010 is the 112th year since the fruit was named.
Even today, the original sapling that Kitawake brought to Tottori Prefecture -- the ancestor of all nijisseiki pears being cultivated today -- is still alive and healthily bearing fruit in "Tottori Deai no Mori" (Tottori Forest of Encounters), a park in Tottori City. A tree called the "hyakunenju" (One-hundred year tree), grown from a branch received from Kitawake, also continues to grow in Yurihama, Tottori Prefecture. The Tottori Nijisseiki Pear Museum in the city of Kurayoshi, meanwhile, includes various exhibits on the nijisseiki pear including a re-creation of the lives of nijisseiki pear farmers in the mid-20th century.

Today, farmers in the prefecture continue to work on developing new breeds of nijisseiki pears, and two that are receiving particular attention are the "natsuhime" (summer princess) and "shinkansen" (new sweet spring) breeds. Both are resistant to disease and grow large and sweet fruits. They are harvested in late August, earlier than regular nijisseiki pears, which are harvested in mid-to-late September. Natsuhime pears are said to be refreshing and with less acidity than regular nijisseiki pears, while shinkansen pears are said to be especially sweet. All the prefecture's pears have gone through a strict inspection and choosing process. Despite an early rainy season in Japan this year, the sunny weather that followed allowed for a good crop with "a high level of sweetness," says Nakahara.

The prefectural government, farmers and the Tottori Nijisseiki Pear Museum are holding an event on Sept. 5 from 3:00 p.m. (quiz from 12:30 p.m.) at Fuji Terebi Kids Cafe Mamatoko on the sixth floor of Aqua City in Odaiba, Tokyo, where visitors can taste the natsuhime and shinkansen pears, buy pear-related goods, and see crafts made using pears.

NASA Image of the Day,Sep 2nd..[ 1736 ]

The latest NASA "Image of the Day" image.

Orbital Sunrise

The Expedition 24 crew on the International Space Station photographed this image of polar mesospheric clouds illuminated by an orbital sunrise. Polar mesospheric, or noctilucent ("night shining"), clouds usually are seen at twilight, following the setting of the sun below the horizon and darkening of Earth's surface. 

 

Occasionally the station's orbital track becomes nearly parallel to Earth's day/night terminator for a time, allowing the clouds to be visible to the crew at times other than the usual twilight because of the station's altitude. 

 

This photograph shows polar mesospheric clouds illuminated by the rising, rather than setting, sun at center right. Low clouds on the horizon appear yellow and orange, while higher clouds and aerosols are illuminated a brilliant white. Polar mesospheric clouds appear as light blue ribbons extending across the top of the image. 

 

The station was located over the Greek island of Kos in the Aegean Sea (near the southwestern coastline of Turkey) when the image was taken at approximately midnight local time. The orbital complex was tracking northeastward, nearly parallel to the terminator, making it possible to observe an apparent "sunrise" located almost due north. 

 

A similar unusual alignment of the ISS orbit track, terminator position and seasonal position of Earth's orbit around the sun allowed for this striking imagery of over the Southern Hemisphere. 

 

Image Credit: NASA

Πέμπτη, 2 Σεπτέμβριος 2010 7:00:00 πμ

Russia celebrate last day of WW II..[ 1735 ]

For the first time Russia celebrate last day of WWII

CHINATODAY: 02-09-2010., 16:40

MOSCOW - Russia on Thursday formally celebrated the last day of the Second World War for the first time.

Earlier this year, President Dmitry Medvedev signed a law about the days of military fame in Russia. This law for the first time included the day of September 2 when Japan surrendered in 1945, thus putting the end to the WWII.

In the far eastern city of Vladivostok, the construction of the Museum of WWII started Thursday, local media reported.

The museum will be devoted to the liberation of Sakhalin and the disputed Kurils islands in the final days of the war. Military parade also took place in this southernmost Russian port. War veterans put a wreath into the sea, according to a naval tradition.

In Tyumen in western Siberia, a 1,800-km car rally hit the road to celebrate the day.

The former Soviet Union declared war on Japan on August 9, 1945.

Japanese forces surrendered to the Soviet command on August 18. ????

Israel and Palestinians talks..[ 1734 ]

Israel and Palestinians set for face-to-face talks

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President Barack Obama (2nd R) walks in with Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak (L), Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (R) before making a statement on Middle East Peace talks in the East Room of the White House in Washington September 1, 2010.

Credit: Reuters/Jason Reed

By Andrew Quinn and Jeffrey Heller

WASHINGTON | Thu Sep 2, 2010 5:48am EDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - With a diplomatic push from President Barack Obama, Israeli and the Palestinian leaders will start direct peace talks on Thursday shadowed by skepticism on all sides and fresh violence in the volatile West Bank.
 
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will meet at the State Department, relaunching talks after a 20-month hiatus and seeking a deal within one year that will set up an independent Palestinian state side-by-side with a secure Israel.
Obama, who has staked considerable political capital on the Washington talks during a pivotal U.S. congressional election year, urged both sides to grasp the chance for peace after separate meetings at the White House on Wednesday.
"This moment of opportunity may not soon come again. They cannot afford to let it slip away," Obama said after a day of personal diplomacy on a problem that has confounded generations of U.S. leaders.
But the issue of Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank looms over the talks, with the Palestinians saying they will drop out of the negotiations unless Israel extends its self-imposed moratorium on new settlement construction when it expires on September 26.
Thursday will see both sides get down to business after the pomp of their White House reception.
 
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will host the State Department talks, with opening statements expected around 10 a.m. EDT (1400 GMT).
U.S. Mideast peace envoy George Mitchell, who has been shuttling between the two camps for months to lay down the parameters for the negotiations, will give a public briefing after talks conclude to explain what -- if anything -- has been accomplished.

AMBITIOUS TIMELINE

Violence flared anew as the leaders arrived in Washington, underscoring the challenges ahead.
Four Israeli settlers were killed by the Islamist Palestinian group Hamas in a shooting attack in the West Bank on Tuesday and another two people were injured in a similar attack by suspected Palestinian gunmen on Wednesday.
 
Both Netanyahu and Abbas condemned Tuesday's attack, which Obama described as "senseless slaughter."
But they put new emphasis on Israel's security concerns and Netanyahu, who heads a coalition dominated by pro-settler parties, has resisted any formal extension of the partial construction freeze, leaving a question mark over the prospects for the talks.
Obama's personal foray into Middle East peacemaking, and his ambitious one-year timeline for a deal, comes as his fellow Democrats face potentially big losses in November's congressional elections, with U.S. voters already frustrated over the slow pace of economic recovery.
The talks are also seen as a test of Obama's faltering drive to improve ties with the Muslim world as he pushes for a united front against Iran's nuclear ambitions.
Both Netanyahu and Abbas were conciliatory after their meetings with Obama on Wednesday but both also stressed their own political imperatives: security for Israel in Netanyahu's case, and a halt to settlement activity for Abbas.
Abbas in particular is in a delicate position. His Fatah party holds sway over only the West Bank after Hamas seized control of Gaza in 2007, and analysts say it would be politically perilous for him to accept any resumption of settlement construction on land captured in the 1967 war while talks are under way.
Obama's White House meetings on Wednesday also included Jordan's King Abdullah and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, drawing in two key moderate Arab leaders whose countries already have peace deals with Israel.
 
Mubarak spokesman Soliman Awaad said all sides should be ready for long, tough negotiations -- provided the talks are not quickly derailed by the settlement issue.
"It will take more than handshakes, smiles and photo ops to make this long-awaited peace in the Middle East. What is really needed is for the United States to step in, remain committed, remain engaged," he told reporters.

(Additional reporting by Matt Spetalnick, Ross Colvin, Steve Holland, Jeff Mason and Alister Bull; editing by Eric Beech)

Hurricane ''Earl" Approaches..[ 1733 ]

Some Bunker Down, Some Flee as Earl Approaches

Published September 02, 2010

| Associated Press

 

NOAA

A Sept. 1 satellite image provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration shows Earl, a Category 3 hurricane, moving westward toward the North Carolina coast.

BUXTON, N.C. (Fox News/AP-- 

Tourists were largely gone from North Carolina's Outer Banks, but those resolute residents who stayed behind say they were prepared Thursday to potentially face down the most powerful hurricane to threaten the coast in years.

Hurricane Earl with winds swirling at around 140 mph continued to barrel toward the Eastern Seaboard and forecasters were trying to pinpoint exactly how close the strongest winds and heaviest surge would get to North Carolina's fragile chain of barrier islands. They also were trying to figure out whether the storm would stay off the Northeast coast or bring hurricane-force winds to Long Island, the Boston metropolitan area and Cape Cod.

"There is still concern that this track, the core of the storm, could shift a little farther to the west and have a very significant impact on the immediate coastline. Our present track keeps it off shore, but you never know," National Hurricane Center spokesman Dennis Feltgen said.

Earl's first encounter with the U.S. mainland should come around midnight Thursday, as the storm is forecast to just off Cape Hatteras, bringing wind gusts of up to 100 mph and several feet of storm surge both from the Atlantic and the sounds to the west of the islands.

Early Thursday though, the Outer Banks had only light winds and high clouds as the eye of Earl was hundreds of miles south of Cape Hatteras. Those conditions were expected to deteriorate throughout the day, said National Hurricane Center forecaster Todd Kimberline.

While thousands of tourists heeded calls to evacuate Hatteras Island, locals familiar with hurricanes vowed to ride out Earl, preparing to spend days stranded from the mainland. Dare County officials said the daring should be ready to fend for themselves for up to three days.

Residents like Nancy Scarborough, who manages the Hatteras Cabanas, said Outer Banks residents have a tight-knit community that takes care of its own.

"I worry about not being able to get back here,"' she said. "I'd rather be stuck on this side than that side."

Along with the 30,000 residents and visitors asked to leave Hatteras Island, 5,000 more tourists were ordered to leave Ocracoke Island, which is only accessible by ferry and airplane.

Farther to the south, Carteret County Emergency Services Director Jo Ann Smith said the evacuation order for people on the barrier island known as Bogue Banks was starting at 5 a.m. It wasn't immediately known how many people the order would affect.

"We just stress to them the importance of if they are going to stay that they contact relatives and let the relatives know that they are staying," she said.

Many people -- boaters, beachgoers and residents alike -- were adopting a wait-and-see approach, making simple preparations like stocking up on food or attaching hurricane shutters to their houses. But with the likelihood that the storm's ultimate path will become clear on Thursday, officials expect planning to shift into high gear.

"Post-Katrina, people are really sensitive to storm preparedness," said Atlantic Beach, N.C., Mayor Trace Cooper. "I don't think we're going to see too many people sticking around and saying they're going to have hurricane parties. You see enough pictures of people waiting on their roofs to be rescued and you decide to take precautions."

The North Carolina National Guard is deploying 80 troops to help and President Barack Obama declared an emergency in the state. The declaration authorizes the Department of Homeland Security and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to coordinate all disaster relief efforts.

As Earl whirled into a powerful Category 4 storm, the governors of North Carolina, Virginia and Maryland declared states of emergency, the USS Cole hustled to return to its port in Virginia and volunteers carried sea turtle nests to safety. The highest storm category is 5 that has winds of 155 mph and higher.

Farther up the East Coast, emergency officials urged people to have disaster plans and supplies ready and weighed whether to order evacuations as they watched the latest maps from the hurricane center -- namely, the "cone of uncertainty" showing the broad path the storm could take.

If Earl moves farther east, Friday might just be modestly wet and blustery for millions in the Northeast. If the storm runs along the western edge of the forecast, dangerous storm surge, heavy rain and hurricane-force winds could slam the populous region.

In Boston, some boaters had already pulled their crafts from the water in anticipation of rough seas, said Harwich Assistant Harbor Master Heinz Proft. The Labor Day weekend is about the time of year when people start pulling their boats anyway, so some are just accelerating the process.

"It's been a small percentage so far, but we are encouraging people to be proactive," he said.

In Virginia, Gov. Bob McDonnell activated the National Guard and sent 200 troops to the Hampton Roads area on Chesapeake Bay. The area was not expected to get the brunt of Earl, but many remember the surprise fury of Isabel, which killed 33 people and caused $1.6 billion in damage in September 2003.

Tugboat captain Randy Francis planned to ride out the storm on his 40-foot trawler named "Invictus" at a marina in Norfolk, Va. He said most people didn't appear to be taking the hurricane seriously.

"I was somewhat frustrated that they were somewhat nonchalant about it here," Francis said. "I'd just rather be safe than sorry."

Red Cross officials in New York prepared to open as many as 50 shelters on Long Island that could house up to 60,000 people in an emergency.

Emergency officials on Cape Cod braced for their first major storm since Hurricane Bob brought winds of up to 100 mph to coastal New England in August 1991.

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