Gymea Village Fair 2011
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gymea
gymea village fair
tradies
tradies gymea
caringbah
tradies caringbah
sutherland district trade union club
max the meerkat
endota spa
lunes, 31 de octubre de 2011
Le gardien de la nuit | The night guard
Le gardien de la nuit | The night guard
Les Sables d'Olonne, souvenirs d't, au coucher du soleil.
Bonne journe tous. merci pour vos visites et commentaires.
Have a nice day. Thanks for your visits and comments.
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france
pays de loire
vende
sables d'olonne
mer
sea
sky
ciel
nuages
clouds
bateaux
boats
sable
sand
night
nuit
bercolly
flickr
sables d olonne, nice day, souvenirs, de la nuit
domingo, 30 de octubre de 2011
Renfe Cercanias Sol Madrid
Renfe Cercanias Sol Madrid 2011
Sony DSC-P10
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Sol
Madrid
Cercanias
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Station
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DSC-P10
2011
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Leander Pretorius
Lee
Pretorius
Leander
Europe
City
C-3
renfe cercanias, dsc, sol, madrid
sábado, 29 de octubre de 2011
20111029-0192-Union Pacific 844
20111029-0192-Union Pacific 844
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2011
America
CVKC
Carr
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North America
Steam engine
Time Frame
U.S.
UP 844
USA
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United States of America
land transportation
railroad
railway
transport
Doubts Rise on EU Deal
Initial relief over Europe's latest attempt to end its debt crisis faded on Friday as investors fretted about the plan's lack of detail and grew more skeptical about Italy's turnaround effort.
One day after European leaders announced a series of measures aimed in part at enticing investors back to the region's debt markets, bond buyers demanded higher yields on Italian and Spanish debt. An auction of new Italian bonds was met with weak demand, forcing the nation to pay higher interest rates than in previous sales.
The wan response from bond markets underscores how challenging it will be for European leaders to convince financial markets that Thursday's broad agreement is sweeping enough to enable troubled countries such as Italy and Spain to work their way out from mountains of debt. The plan calls for beefing up the region's bailout fund, recapitalizing banks and reducing Greece's debt burden.
With European leaders finally hammering out a deal on the region's debt crisis, David Wessel on The News Hub looks at the risks that remain and why they can spillover to the U.S. economy and markets.
Stock markets across Europe gave back some of Thursday's big gains. Italy's stock market closed down almost 2% and Spain dropped about 0.5%. In the U.S., the Dow Jones Industrial Average edged up 0.2% to close at 12231.11.
Bond markets are a more important audience for Europe's governments: It is there that financially strapped nations must turn to borrow money. On Thursday, when many stock markets staged strong rallies, bond markets were lackluster. Yields on Italian and Spanish debt declined, meaning their prices rose, but only slightly.
On Friday, attention focused on Italy. The nation is saddled with €1.9 trillion in debt, with more than €200 billion of it coming due next year. Some investors worry that unless Italy lowers its borrowing costs, it could become the center of a renewed flare-up in the crisis.
In Friday's bond auction, Italy was forced to pay more than 6% interest on its new 10-year debt, approaching levels that some analysts said the country can't afford for long.
"Italy remains a big problem," said Alessio de Longis, a portfolio manager at OppenheimerFunds. Italy has been failing to deliver on promises, he said. Instead "it's only talk—chiacchiere in Italian," he said.
Under pressure from euro-zone authorities, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has pledged to pass measures aimed at reigniting the country's stalled economy, including reforms to Italy's labor market and pension system.
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On Friday, Mr. Berlusconi noted the rising borrowing costs would "further damage our finances."
But the prime minister faces significant hurdles in gaining approval for his plan to boost growth. He not only needs to persuade his fractious cabinet to sign off, but also the Italian Parliament, where he has a thin majority.
"The truth of the matter is that the issues are not entirely resolved," said Steven Walsh, chief investment officer at bond manager Western Asset Management, which oversees $433 billion. With this week's agreement, European officials "are addressing the important issues…but the biggest caveat out there is Italian and Spanish debt, where you have not seen a response that 'this is game-over, this is perfect.'"
More
Benefits Run Out for Spain's Jobless
Despite the bond market's skepticism, many investors and analysts said Thursday's agreement is likely, for now, to prevent a serious escalation of the crisis, which could have tipped the global economy back into recession. They said the effort to shore up the finances of Europe's banks was an important step in addressing a problem that many officials had until recently denied existed.
Still, bond investors see plenty of reason to remain wary. One basic question is whether the plan to expand the bailout fund, known as the European Financial Stability Facility, will succeed.
Under Thursday's measures, the EFSF would "backstop" countries such as Italy should they not be able to finance themselves, as well as offer investors a partial guarantee against losses on government debt.
Uncertainly persists on both of those fronts, especially if Italy gets shut out of the bond markets by investor demands for even higher interest rates, which happened to both Greece and Ireland.
"The firepower of this fund…is not enough to calm fears," said Silvio Peruzzo, an economist at RBS Global Banking & Markets in London.
Some investors also are skeptical of the plan to use the EFSF to insure against losses on government debt. Under the agreement, the EFSF would absorb the first 10% of losses on debt issued with the insurance. Investors figure that if losses amount to 50%, which was the case with Greece, that wouldn't provide enough protection.
"If you had the 10%, it wouldn't help much," said Western Asset's Mr. Walsh.
Another question: To what extent will the European Central Bank be the buyer of last resort for sovereign debt? The ECB started buying bonds of indebted European governments in mid-2010. After an 18-week pause, it restarted the program in August as the euro zone's debt crisis spread to Spain and Italy. But influential voices within the ECB, in particular in Germany, want to end the program.
Bond investors also are worried about the potential for a European recession. RBS's Mr. Peruzzo said a recession "will be much more severe on the countries struggling to get their public finances in order." That could make it more difficult for some countries to reduce their budget deficits, which, in turn, could lead to addition downgrades in their credit ratings.
Those sorts of concerns played out in Italy's €7.935 billion debt sale on Friday. On each of the four bond issues it sold, Italy was forced to pay higher yields than in the recent past. Most significantly, 10-year debt—a market benchmark—was sold at a yield 6.06%, up from 5.86% only a month ago.
"With a 120% debt-to-GDP ratio and 10-year Italian bonds yielding roughly 6%, they can't do that forever or the borrowing costs will get to an unsustainable level," said Eric Stein, portfolio manager at the Eaton Vance Global Macro Absolute Return Fund. "As your rates go up, it means you're paying more and more to service your debt, and your whole debt dynamics become harder and harder and harder."
—Emese Bartha and Stacy Meichtry contributed to this article.
Write to Tom Lauricella at tom.lauricella@wsj.com and Matt Phillips at matt.phillips@wsj.com
dow jones industrial average, dow jones industrial, david wessel, turnaround effort, bond auction, initial relief, troubled countries, previous sales, bond markets, debt markets, debt crisis, european leaders, dow jones, debt burden, stock markets online, spillover, bailout, financial markets, stock market, flare
Victoria Azarenka
Victoria Azarenka returning Serena Williams' serve in a semi final action at WTA Rogers Cup 2011 in Toronto. Williams won the match and the tournament.
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Williams”
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Victoria Azarenka
rogers cup, tenniscourt, unitedstates, serena williams, wta, victoria, match ebook download, toronto
viernes, 28 de octubre de 2011
France - Normandie - Rouen
France - Normandie - Rouen
Europe Europa
France Frankrijk
Normandie
Rouen
Place Gnral de Gaulle
Mardi, 19 avril 2011.
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Europa
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Frankrijk
ponte
antonio ponte
A. Ponte
Ponte Antonio
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jueves, 27 de octubre de 2011
Georgia Sets Offer to Russia On WTO
BRUSSELS—Georgia offered Russia new conditions on accepting its bid to join the World Trade Organization, Sergi Kapanadze, the Georgian deputy minister of foreign affairs, said Wednesday.
"We think, we hope we will be able to proceed" with Russian accession to the 153-nation body, Mr. Kapanadze said in a phone interview from Geneva, where he is leading his country's delegation in meetings with Russian diplomats. "We are now in the endgame of this."
Russia, which has been negotiating to join the WTO for 18 years, has now settled virtually all of its issues with key trading partners such as the U.S. and the European Union, leaving only Georgia's opposition in the way.
The nation of 4.6 million, which lost a war in 2008 over the pro-Russia enclaves of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, possesses a rare piece of leverage: It can veto Russia's accession, because joining the WTO requires the unanimous consent of its members.
And so far, Georgia has been threatening to use its veto power.
The clock is ticking, as a vote is scheduled at a summit of WTO trade ministers in Geneva on Dec. 15. And talks in Geneva, mediated by Swiss trade officials, have frequently been suspended and restarted.
The new compromise proposed by Mr. Kapanadze involves setting up a neutral monitor to oversee commerce of goods involving the two enclaves.
"The essence of the proposal is international monitoring," he said. Mr. Kapanadze declined to discuss further details, but said, "The ball is in the Russian court." Since Russia has settled its outstanding issues with the U.S. and EU, the West's interest in the Russia-Georgia talks has become "more intensive," Mr. Kapanadze said.
Gunnar Wiegand, a senior EU diplomat, visited Tbilisi this week for talks with Georgia. He didn't, however, make any threats or offers of deals, as had been previously reported, Mr. Kapanadze said. Russian officials weren't available to comment.
Both EU and U.S. officials say they want Russia inside the WTO—whose members pledge to lower tariffs and trade barriers—to eliminate the headaches that currently characterize trade with Russia.
Write to John W. Miller at john.miller@dowjones.com
abkhazia and south ossetia, russian accession, russian diplomats, swiss trade, world trade organization, minister of foreign affairs, russian court, rare piece, trade officials, trade ministers, russian officials, veto power, enclaves, wiegand, deputy minister, phone interview, unanimous consent, sergi online, trade barriers, endgame
An American Wedding
An American Wedding
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California
Foothills Congregational Church
Los Altos
South Bay
USA
United States
United States of America
miércoles, 26 de octubre de 2011
or landscape?
Kangaroo Island Kangaroo
Kangaroo Island Kangaroo ( Macropus fuliginosus fuliginosus )
" Hey stranger, welcome to the island of the kangaroo "
I was taking a break in my travel across Australia when a friend of mine asked me to come with him to Kangaroo Island in South Australia. During one of the stop, i saw this famous Kangaroo species hoping calmly among the trees by the dandelion field. So , my Canon do the job ..........
This species is the subspecies of Western Grey Kangaroo (Macropus fuliginosus) which occur through western part of the continent. They said the kangaroo in the island is different from the mainland ...... which i dont know, coz to me they look the same.
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Kangaroo Island Kangaroo
Macropus fuliginosus fuliginosus
Kanggaru
Kangaroo Island
western grey kangaroo, macropus fuliginosus, stranger welcome, kangaroo island, hey stranger, welcome to the island, kangaroo, dandelion, south australia, subspecies, quot, mainland, continent, canon, trees, job
lunes, 24 de octubre de 2011
Tree Lined Streets, Empty Lots
domingo, 23 de octubre de 2011
Knuckles
Knuckles
Tags
Bones
whale
biodiversity
vancouver
cantata
glee
choral
choir
singers
music
piano forte
Joints
timeline
antlers
moose
stag
deer
corridor
miércoles, 19 de octubre de 2011
Catch a Wave
Catch a Wave
These surferboarders were more impressive than the weather outside this day so I turned my attention and 200mm lens to them.
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surf
surfing
surfer
water
sea
sanluisobispo
pentaxk10d
nature
outdoor
ocean
coast
centralcoast
cayucas
california
beach
martes, 18 de octubre de 2011
P1040325 Stitch
P1040325 Stitch
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lake
ingalls
washington
mt
mount
stuart
backpacking
fall
snow
larch
mountains
I Don't Want to Wait...
I Don't Want to Wait...
Shooting from the bellybutton I managed to capture a true "Dawson's Creek" moment in Sydney.
Turns out they were British tourists.
Anyway, it gave me a royal chortle!
Steve J W Photography Blog
Tags
Street
People
Arm in arm
Sydney
Candid
Tourist
dawson s creek, british tourists, bellybutton, chortle, quot, sydney, photography
lunes, 17 de octubre de 2011
Station
Station
Perth, Western Australia.
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train
rail
railway
underground
perth
station
movement
western australia, p2, olympus
sábado, 15 de octubre de 2011
Cannon Beach Trip - 2
Cannon Beach Trip - 2
Taken during a daytrip to the Cannon Beach & Hug Point State Park areas of Oregon, USA.
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oregon
OR
usa
america
beach
sand
sea
pacific
ocean
haystack
rock
stack
seastack
blue
water
hug
point
state
park
cannon
trip
travel
hug point state park, state park areas, cannon beach ebook download, point state park, daytrip, beach trip, oregon usa, amp
Bangkok Marriot Resort and Spa Thailand Pre-Wedding: Gok & Jay
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Bangkok Marriot Resort and Spa Thailand Pre-Wedding: Gok & Jay
Gok & Jay's Pre-Wedding photos taken at Bangkok Marriott Resort and Spa in Thailand
( Photo by Natthawat Wongrat / thailand-wedding-photographer.com )
See more photos from this shoot in my blog : net-photography.com/2011/10/15/the-circle-ratchapruk-bang...
These photos are also in my archive : netphoto.photoshelter.com/gallery/The-Circle-Ratchapruk-B...
net-photography.com
net-photography.com/blog
archive.net-photography.com
thailand-wedding-photographer.com
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Bangkok Marriott Resort & Spa
gok
hotel
jay
marriott
natthawat
net-photography
netphoto
pre-wedding
web_blog
wongrat
bangkok
couple
thailand
wedding
photojournalist
photographer
freelance
freelancer
net-photography.com
engagement
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service
photography
documentary
THA
professional
phuket
chiang
mai
photo
asia
nikon
lover
before
lovely couple
destination wedding
planner
marriot resort and spa, bangkok marriot resort, bangkok marriott resort and spa, resort and spa thailand, marriott resort, weddingplanner, wedding photographer, resort and spa, wedding photos, marriott, amp, photography, photo
viernes, 14 de octubre de 2011
Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park
jueves, 13 de octubre de 2011
Tea for two.... Or sort of....
Tea for two.... Or sort of....
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instagram app
square
square format
iphoneography
tea, fi
...
...
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rdpic
ERA
FET
blue
sky
white
black
clouds
sea
harbour
boat
water
castle
architecture
Palermo
Sicily
cielo
azzurro
nuvola
bianca
nera
porto
barca
acqua
mare
castello
architettura
Canon G7
g7, nicola
miércoles, 12 de octubre de 2011
Moon Reflection_0522
"Knife Figure"
"Knife Figure"
Exposio Louise Bourgeois "O retorno do desejo proibido"
museu de Arte Moderna (MAM) do Rio de Janeiro
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arte
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louise
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return
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proibido
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modern
rio
janeiro
rj
brasil
brazil
centro
downtown
exposio
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exibio
escultura
louise bourgeois, museu, de arte, rio
lunes, 10 de octubre de 2011
22 | 365
22 | 365
Hoy presento mi proyecto N 22. Es feriado, el dia esta lindo. Esta fotografa la saque en un parque de mi pueblo. Caminando me di cuenta de esa textua que tenia el borde del camino. Espero que les guste. Saludos.
Today I present my project No. 22. It's a holiday, the day is nice. This photograph her out in a park in my town. Walking that I realized that I had the textual side of the road. I hope you like it. greetings.
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Nikon
D3100
Nikon D3100
art
nature
foto
fotografa
cmara
summer
new
nueva
argentina
perspectiva
enfoque
nitido
nitidez
2011
live
love
light
top
luz
color
colors
contraste
encuadre
colores
luces
sky
photo
365
da
day
explore
explored
photos
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brillo
reflejo
macro
bokeh
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sun
franco
rostan
naranja
orange
amarillo
verde
green
yellow
francorostan
fotgrafo
load10
day192
day193
week41
geo
flickr
i365
naturaleza
jpg
oc10
dof
pring
primavera
proyect212
proyect365
photograph, greetings
Leaves 1
On my annual autumn river walk.
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saskatchewan
fall
autumn
leaf
leaves
water
nikon
autumn, leaves
domingo, 9 de octubre de 2011
bahnhof SBB sd
bahnhof SBB sd
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basel
schweiz
suisse
switzerland
silhouette
lyooa
europe
window
people
nikon
analogue
sábado, 8 de octubre de 2011
Puerto de las Nieves
Puerto de las Nieves
Recordando el verano una foto de la sensacin de inmensidad que provoca un bao en el Puerto de las Nieves.
See where this picture was taken. [?]
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agaete
agua
beach
grancanaria
inmensidad
mar
marina
playa
sea
seascape
summer
verano
water
The Mayor
The Mayor
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newcastle
nsw
australia
laman st
street
cooks hill
fig tree
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save our figs
sof
ncc
viernes, 7 de octubre de 2011
Mountains & Water
Speed, Commerce Skewed Track's Design
(See Corrections & Amplifications item below.)
Years before a young luge racer from the Republic of Georgia flew to his death at the Olympics last week, officials made a series of decisions designed to make the icy track a commercial success after the Games but that left it faster, and ultimately more dangerous, than any competitive track before.
Whistler's Fast Track
View Interactive
See details from the engineer on specific curves on the Whistler luge course.
View Slideshow
![[SB10001424052748704804204575069611057394680]](http://s.wsj.net/public/resources/images/OB-HO796_lugepr_D_20100216140736.jpg)
AFP/Getty Images
A luger slid past an improvised safety wall at the Whistler Sliding Center Saturday.
View Interactive
Tour luge tracks around the world.
More photos and interactive graphics
Driven in part by the desire to locate the luge and bobsled track for the 2010 Vancouver Games in a high-traffic tourist area with cold temperatures, planners chose a valley at Whistler resort that was steeper and narrower than sites of previous Olympic tracks, according to press reports and interviews with those involved.
The result was a track whose speeds marked a quantum leap in a sport where even small increases require big adjustments from the athletes. After trials of the track in 2008, the course's German designer says he told the Vancouver Games' organizers and the international luge and bobsledding governing bodies that he was revising the track's projected luge speed upward by 5.5%—to 96 miles an hour—nearly nine miles an hour faster than the standing 2000 world speed record.
According to 2008 engineering documents and letters reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, officials signed off on the course's speeds. By last year, some of these officials said such speeds are unsafe and recommended that courses built in the future be slower.
Following the death of Nodar Kumaritashvili, the Vancouver organizing committee, Vanoc, and the international federation that governs luge racing said the track was safe. The racer, they say, failed to control his sled.
In the wake of the death, Vanoc and the governing bodies for luge and bobsledding, which use the same track, added a large wooden wall on the outside of the turn where the Georgian flew off the track. They padded the steel posts that bore the brunt of the collision. They also made moves to slow top speeds, including starting all luge athletes from lower points on the course to slow them down by as much as five miles an hour.
Olympics: Luge Track Compromised From the Start
1:51
WSJ's Reed Albergotti reports about how design and location choices may have compromised the luge track that proved fatal during a training run.
Georgian Luger's Body Arrives Home
1:58
The body of Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili arrives at his family's home, as those close to him vent their anger about his death at the Olympics. Video courtesy of Reuters.
"It's a high-speed sport," said Renee Smith-Valade, spokeswoman for Vanoc. "A miscalculation can have serious and sometimes fatal consequences." She added that there were no major injuries in two years of trials and training and that athletes were exhilarated by the course.
Vanoc on Tuesday declined to make officials involved in track planning available to respond to specific questions about the track's safety and planning, citing their packed Olympic schedules.
A reconstruction of the events leading up to Mr. Kumaritashvili's death shows that the track was the result of decisions that weren't entirely related to sport.
Before Vancouver bid for the 2010 Winter Games, the city's organizing committee consulted closely with the two international federations that set standards for bobsledding and luge tracks: the International Luge Federation and International Federation of Bobsleigh and Tobogganing. The federations and organizing committee members first looked at Grouse Mountain in North Vancouver, which they considered a top choice for the track, say people involved in the course's early planning.
But soon, the Vancouver bid committee agreed to move the location up into the Coast Mountains to the ski resort of Whistler, where the alpine ski events would be taking place.
Tim Gayda, the vice president of sport for the Vancouver organizing committee, told the Vancouver Sun in October 2002 that the decision would make the track financially viable after the Games.
"In order to make this thing financially sustainable, we want it someplace where people will pay top dollar to go whipping down this thing in both summer and winter," Mr. Gayda told the newspaper. The luge and bobsledding federations, he added, were "pushing us to look at options at Whistler."
The Sport of Luge
1:37
Olympic silver medalist in luge, Gordy Sheer, shares some details about the sport, speed and safety with WSJ's Reed Albergotti.
Changes Made in Olympic Luge
1:26
While insisting that the track at the Whistler Sliding Center was safe, Olympic and luge officials announced several changes to the luge competition. Video courtesy of Reuters.
Georgia Leader: No Mistake Should Lead to Death
4:39
Georgian President Mikahail Saakshvili speaks about the death of Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili.
Journal Community
The Vancouver organizing committee didn't make Mr. Gayda or others associated with constructing the track available for comment. Officials with the International Olympic Committee referred questions about the track's specifications to the luge and bobsled federations.
The International Luge Federation declined to respond to multiple phone and email requests for comment on detailed questions about the track.
Bob Storey, the bobsled federation's president and a former bobsledder, said it would be jumping to conclusions to blame the Mr. Kumaritashvili's crash on speed. "The Royal Canadian Mounted Police did not attribute it to design flaws and did not attribute it to speed," he said. "The reason they call it an accident is that nobody can define the cause."
Weather was one factor in locating the run in Whistler, said Terry Gudzowsky, a technical delegate for the bobsled federation who, as a then-member of Canada's bobsled federation, participated in the initial planning. Grouse Mountain often has warmish, wet winters that could lead to mushier, slower ice. Mr. Gudzowsky said he advocated at the time moving it to Whistler, whose higher elevation made it more appealing to the sport.
"That was not an engineering decision," said the bobsled federation's Mr. Storey. "That was a commercial decision."
The available land at Whistler was steep and narrow. The committee found a plot about 100 yards wide by roughly 800 yards long. The topography meant the course would be unusually difficult and fast, according to the bobsled federation's Mr. Gudzowsky.
Mr. Gudzowsky recalls sitting in a municipal-building room in Whistler with a topographical map and drawing a fall line for the course. "It would have been nicer if the site would have been wider," he says. But the land seemed good enough. "The perfect location for a track has not been found yet."
Mr. Gudzowsky says his sketch was sent to German luge-course designer Udo Gurgel.
The 71-year-old Mr. Gurgel had built most of the major new luge runs in the world, including six Olympic tracks, over four-plus decades. He says the Whistler terrain was one of the steepest and narrowest possible. Its 100-yard-wide valley compares with Calgary's 300 yards and Salt Lake City's 500 yards.
That meant the site was too narrow to build in typical speed-slowing long curves, such as "kreisel" curves, he said. Whistler's had to be short and tight, which meant high gravitational forces against the driver in the curves and, toward the end, because the G-forces would be too much to bear, almost no curves, allowing sleds to break through previous top speeds.
More
Complete Coverage: Vancouver Olympics
The course's dangers became part of its marketing.
"Vivid, violent and rough— the Whistler Sliding Centre is not for the faint of heart," the Web site of the center, operated by Vanoc, said in promotional material that remained on the site this week. "The track has a rhythm that every slider must try to capture. Sliders must find it early in their run. If they lose it, it will be hard to get back on the beat."
Soon after the track opened for testing in March 2008, it became apparent that it was faster than expected. Mr. Gurgel had projected a top speed of about 91 miles an hour for the luge. That speed was matched immediately by a test rider, Mr. Gurgel said, implying that speeds would rise once athletes got used to the tracks.
"It was crazy fast," recalls Polish luger Maciej Kurowski, who tried the track when it opened. "Everyone wants to go faster and faster in this sport."
Mr. Gurgel reprogrammed his computer simulator to take into account the early test runs and came up with a top speed of about 96 miles an hour.
Mr. Gurgel says he relayed his findings to the two federations and Vanoc in March 2008. In a letter dated March 17, 2008, and reviewed by the Journal, the International Federation for Bobsleigh told Mr. Gurgel that the federation had formally approved the Whistler Sliding Centre as a venue for international competition.
According to the letter, the federation conditioned its approval on the construction of safety walls and guidelines that require inexperienced riders to start lower down the course.
Lugers themselves were beginning to express concerns. Austrian Wolfgang Kindl said that after test runs in 2008, he and his teammates discussed how the course's lack of turns and ever-increasing speed made it hard to make corrections. "If you started to have problems there was nothing you could do because of the speed," he said after placing ninth at this week's medal competition.
Journal Community
discuss
“ The error wasn't in designing a difficult, fast course - the error was in failing to ensure that, at any given point on the course, a crash would NOT result in a head-on collision with a solid piece of metal. That error made the difference between injury and instantaneous death. ”
—Jon Stokes
Luge federation officials reacted to those concerns about the Whistler course earlier this year, saying that future luge runs shouldn't exceed 87 miles an hour, the old speed record. But the decision didn't affect existing tracks, so the Vancouver track wouldn't be changed. The day before Mr. Kumaritashvili's death, another Austrian luger hit Mr. Gurgel's projected 96-mile-an-hour maximum speed.
That prompted Josef Fendt, head of the luge federation, to tell the Journal in an interview after the death that he was surprised by the new speeds.
But Mr. Gurgel says that even that speed was lower than he had told officials to expect. Late last year, working from data from 2008 and 2009, he modeled a possible top speed of about 102 miles an hour. He says he forwarded his findings to officials at the two federations, who he said agreed the facility would be safe at higher speeds.
As often happens during Olympic controversies, it is unclear who bears ultimate responsibility among numerous committees and federations.
The IOC and Vanoc have both said they aren't responsible for the tracks because they essentially subcontract technical specifications out to the luge and bobsleigh federations.
It's unclear whether anyone can be held legally liable. All athletes involved in the games must sign a legal liability waiver with the IOC, which says that they participate at their own risk.
Some legal experts say that any potential lawsuit filed against the IOC, the luge federations or the designers by Mr. Kumaritashvili's family—which has said it doesn't want to sue—would face significant hurdles. The law in Canada, the U.S. and many other countries provides that people participating in potentially dangerous sports "assume" the risks inherent in them and therefore are often barred from suing, unless lawyers could show organizers' negligence.
Related
Luger Who Died Was Terrified of Track
IOC Comments on WSJ Investigation Into Luge Track
That authorities made changes to the track after the accident might seem to indicate an acknowledgment of fault. But Ryan Rodenberg, a lawyer who teaches sports law at Indiana University, says that for public-policy reasons, such evidence would likely not be admissible in court as proof of such acknowledgment. "You don't want people shying away from corrections or improvements because they fear they'll be used against them in court," said Mr. Rodenberg.
One potential issue may have been the division of labor in laying out the course. Mr. Gurgel said that at other tracks, he has been the general contractor, in charge of building the safety walls and other equipment. This time, he was limited to designing the sheet of concrete that became the track, with the Vancouver organizers contracting out the safety features and the roof, which required the supporting column that Mr. Kumaritashvili hit. Officials from the luge and bobsled federations say the safety walls weren't the problem.
—Geoffrey A. Fowler, Ashby Jones, Matthew Futterman and Adam Thompson contributed to this article.
Write to David Crawford at david.crawford@wsj.com, Reed Albergotti at reed.albergotti@wsj.com and Ian Johnson at ian.johnson@wsj.com
Corrections & Amplifications
Whistler, British Columbia, is situated in Canada's Coast Mountains. An earlier version of this article incorrectly indicated it is in the Canadian Rockies. The above article has been corrected.
Online.wsj.com
miércoles, 5 de octubre de 2011
Miner with Pick and Candle Lit Helmet
Miner with Pick and Candle Lit Helmet
Tags
Kapunda
The Big Miner
statue
attraction
promotion
tourism
pick
helmet
candles
A Lazy Afternoon's Fishing
A Lazy Afternoon's Fishing
Cei and Catherine relax by the river at Bendeela.
Tags
kaptainkobold
bendeela
nsw
australia
river
water
kangaroovalley
catherine
cei
fishing
light
relaxed
lazy
martes, 4 de octubre de 2011
Paseos en el mar
lunes, 3 de octubre de 2011
Something Strange in the Suffolk Sunrise Sky 41/47
Something Strange in the Suffolk sunrise Sky 41/47
The hot, record breaking weather and clear nights of early October 2011 was an ideal time to get up early and watch the sunrise over Suffolk, England, UK.
Sunday 2nd October 2011. This probably wasn't the best sunrise I have seen, as soon as it came over the top of the trees it became hazy and the sun lost it's round orange glow.
This is a series of photos taken between 6.54am and 7.21am at Haughley near Stowmarket, Suffolk, England, UK.
There was something else that caught my eye in the sky. It looked like something was on fire and falling out of the sky. Could this have been a satellite dropping to earth from space? It was very hard to guess how far away it was from the field I was standing in.
It appeared to break into two pieces then three and left behind a cloud of smoke.
What was it or who was it? Maybe a UFO?
If anyone has any idea what this was or witnessed it themselves please get in contact.
Tags
Suffolk
Sunrise
England
UK
Great Britain
Europe
Haughley
Sky
Strange
Weird
UFO
Fire
Smoke
Sun
Orange
Field
Trees
Clouds
Canon EOS 550D
Canon
550D
Karen Roe
Female
Photographer
Image
Picture
Photo
Photograph
Witness
Morning
East
falling out of the sky, eye in the sky, orange glow, earth from space, cloud of smoke, suffolk england, stowmarket, england uk, two pieces, left behind, eos, ufo, sunrise, weather, satellite, trees, photos, sun
Full swing
photo" width="640" height="312" onload="F.imageChecker.load(this);" onerror="F.imageChecker.error(this);">
Full swing
Hello Flickr World. :)
Long time no see. I got back here after getting reminder emails from Flickr that my Pro account is going to expire... As I also do not wish to waste the space, I am uploading some photos again.
This photo is taken during my company retreat in Phuket, Thailand. I took the speedboat which was following our boat on the way coming back from Phi Phi Islands Trip.
Tags
thailand
holidays
companyouting
clouds
2011
phuket
sea
blue
boat
wave
phi phi islands, phuket thailand, reminder emails, company retreat, flickr, speedboat, long time, photos, photo
Autonomy
Autonomy
Autonomy
Pancho's
Chicago, Illinois
September 30, 2011
Tags
Autonomy
Photo by Patrick Houdek
Chicago
Illinois
domingo, 2 de octubre de 2011
At the Seaside
At the Seaside
1920s glass plate negative.
Tags
Vintage
Glass
Negative
Blackpool
Swimsuit
Bathing
Costume
Pavilion
Beach
Sea
England
English
British
Great Britain
glass plate, england
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