lunes, 31 de octubre de 2011

Gymea Village Fair 2011

photo

Gymea Village Fair 2011

Tags

gymea

gymea village fair

tradies

tradies gymea

caringbah

tradies caringbah

sutherland district trade union club

max the meerkat

endota spa

endota
Flickr.com

Le gardien de la nuit | The night guard

photo

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.

Tags

france

pays de loire

vende

sables d'olonne

mer

sea

sky

ciel

nuages

clouds

bateaux

boats

sable

sand

night

nuit

google

bercolly

flickr

sables d olonne, nice day, souvenirs, de la nuit

Flickr.com

domingo, 30 de octubre de 2011

Renfe Cercanias Sol Madrid

photo

Renfe Cercanias Sol madrid

Renfe Cercanias Sol Madrid 2011

Sony DSC-P10

Tags

Renfe

Sol

Madrid

Cercanias

Train

Station

Spain

Sony

Cybershot

DSC-P10

2011

Urban

Photography

Platform

Rail

Travel

Public

Transport

Underground

Leander Pretorius

Lee

Pretorius

Leander

Europe

City

C-3

renfe cercanias, dsc, sol, madrid

Flickr.com

First Snow Of The Season

photo

First Snow Of The Season

Tags

snow

forest
Flickr.com

sábado, 29 de octubre de 2011

20111029-0192-Union Pacific 844

photo

20111029-0192-Union Pacific 844

Tags

2011

America

CVKC

Carr

Colorado

Greeley

North America

Steam engine

Time Frame

U.S.

UP 844

USA

Union Pacific

United States

United States of America

land transportation

railroad

railway

transport

transportation
Flickr.com

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

Online.wsj.com

Victoria Azarenka

photo

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.

Tags

Serena

Williams

“Serena

Williams”

Rogers

Cup

Toronto

Ontario

Canada

2011

“Rogers

Cup”

2011”

Toronto”

Tennis

USA

“United

States”

“Tennis

court”

star

champion

star”

Victoria

Azarenka

Victoria Azarenka

rogers cup, tenniscourt, unitedstates, serena williams, wta, victoria, match ebook download, toronto

Flickr.com

viernes, 28 de octubre de 2011

France - Normandie - Rouen

photo

France - Normandie - Rouen

Europe Europa
France Frankrijk
Normandie

Rouen
Place Gnral de Gaulle

Mardi, 19 avril 2011.

Tags

Europe

Europa

France

Frankrijk

ponte

antonio ponte

A. Ponte

Ponte Antonio

saigneurdeguerre

normandie

Rouen
Flickr.com

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

Online.wsj.com

An American Wedding

photo

An American Wedding

Tags

California

Foothills Congregational Church

Los Altos

South Bay

USA

United States

United States of America

wedding
Flickr.com

miércoles, 26 de octubre de 2011

or landscape?

photo

or landscape?

Amidst the shingle on Dungeness beach, with all its ruinous fishing shacks and abandoned boats...

Tags

Kent

Dungeness

beach

pebbles

hut

boat

tracks

blue

sky

shacks

nets

sea

waves

shacks, shingle, boats, landscape, fishing

Flickr.com

Kangaroo Island Kangaroo

photo

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.

Tags

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

Flickr.com

lunes, 24 de octubre de 2011

Wachturm auf Alcatraz

photo

Wachturm auf Alcatraz

Tags

USA

Kalifornien

San Francisco

Alcatraz
Flickr.com

Tree Lined Streets, Empty Lots

photo

Tree Lined Streets, Empty Lots

All that remains of Centralia PA is tree lined streets with empty lots.

More photos Here in the Centralia PA set.

Tags

Anthracite

Centralia

Pennsylvania

coal

deserted

disaster

ghost town

mine fire

Ashland

United States

USA

centralia pa, photos

Flickr.com

domingo, 23 de octubre de 2011

Knuckles

photo

Knuckles

Tags

Bones

whale

biodiversity

vancouver

cantata

glee

choral

choir

singers

music

piano forte

Joints

timeline

antlers

moose

stag

deer

corridor

museum
Flickr.com

miércoles, 19 de octubre de 2011

Catch a Wave

photo

Catch a Wave

These surferboarders were more impressive than the weather outside this day so I turned my attention and 200mm lens to them.

Tags

surf

surfing

surfer

water

sea

sanluisobispo

pentaxk10d

nature

outdoor

ocean

coast

centralcoast

cayucas

california

beach

surfboarding
Flickr.com

martes, 18 de octubre de 2011

P1040325 Stitch

photo

P1040325 Stitch

Tags

lake

ingalls

washington

mt

mount

stuart

backpacking

fall

snow

larch

mountains

sunrise
Flickr.com

I Don't Want to Wait...

photo

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

Flickr.com

lunes, 17 de octubre de 2011

sábado, 15 de octubre de 2011

Cannon Beach Trip - 2

photo

Cannon Beach Trip - 2

Taken during a daytrip to the Cannon Beach & Hug Point State Park areas of Oregon, USA.

Tags

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

Flickr.com

Bangkok Marriot Resort and Spa Thailand Pre-Wedding: Gok & Jay

<a href=photo" width="640" height="426" onload="F.imageChecker.load(this);" onerror="F.imageChecker.error(this);">

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

Tags

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

destination

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

Flickr.com

viernes, 14 de octubre de 2011

Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park

photo

chesapeake and ohio Canal National Historical Park

Catoctin Aqueduct

Tags

National Park

Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park

Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Nation

Maryland

USA

chesapeake and ohio canal, chesapeake and ohio

Flickr.com

jueves, 13 de octubre de 2011

Tea for two.... Or sort of....

photo

Tea for two.... Or sort of....

Tags

instagram app

square

square format

iphoneography

Lomo-fi

tea, fi

Flickr.com

...

photo

...

Tags

rdpic

ERA

FET

blue

sky

white

black

clouds

sea

harbour

boat

water

castle

architecture

S.nicola l'Arena

Palermo

Sicily

cielo

azzurro

nuvola

bianca

nera

porto

barca

acqua

mare

castello

architettura

Canon G7

g7, nicola

Flickr.com

miércoles, 12 de octubre de 2011

Moon Reflection_0522

photo

Moon Reflection_0522

That's Baker's Island in salem harbor. The light from the lighthouse is visible.

Tags

ocean

wake

reflection

moon

moonlight

salemharbor

baker'sisland

island

sea

norhtshorema

light from the lighthouse, moon reflection, salem harbor

Flickr.com

"Knife Figure"

photo

"Knife Figure"

Exposio Louise Bourgeois "O retorno do desejo proibido"

museu de Arte Moderna (MAM) do Rio de Janeiro

Tags

museu

museum

arte

art

louise

bourgeois

retorno

return

desejo

desire

forbidden

proibido

moderna

modern

rio

janeiro

rj

brasil

brazil

centro

downtown

exposio

exhibition

exibio

escultura

louise bourgeois, museu, de arte, rio

Flickr.com

lunes, 10 de octubre de 2011

22 | 365

photo

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.

Tags

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

photography

brillo

reflejo

macro

bokeh

reflection

sun

franco

rostan

naranja

orange

amarillo

verde

green

yellow

francorostan

fotgrafo

load10

day192

day193

week41

google

geo

flickr

i365

naturaleza

jpg

oc10

dof

pring

primavera

proyect212

proyect365

photograph, greetings

Flickr.com

Leaves 1

photo

leaves 1

On my annual autumn river walk.

Tags

saskatchewan

fall

autumn

leaf

leaves

water

nikon

autumn, leaves

Flickr.com

sábado, 8 de octubre de 2011

Puerto de las Nieves

photo

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. [?]

Tags

agaete

agua

beach

grancanaria

inmensidad

mar

marina

playa

sea

seascape

summer

verano

water

geotagged
Flickr.com

The Mayor

photo

The Mayor

Tags

newcastle

nsw

australia

laman st

street

cooks hill

fig tree

protesters

activists

save our figs

sof

ncc

newcastle city council
Flickr.com

viernes, 7 de octubre de 2011

Mountains & Water

photo

Mountains &amp; Water

Took this one near the amazing red sand beach in hana on the island of Maui, Hawaii.

Tags

red sand beach

hana

maui

hawaii

beach

water

ocean

pacific ocean

red sand beach, maui hawaii, hana, amp, mountains, ebook download

Flickr.com

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]

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.

video  

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.

video  

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."

video  

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.

video  

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.

video  

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.

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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.

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“ 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

photo

Miner with Pick and Candle Lit Helmet

Tags

Kapunda

The Big Miner

statue

attraction

promotion

tourism

pick

helmet

candles

moustache
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A Lazy Afternoon's Fishing

photo

A Lazy Afternoon's Fishing

Cei and Catherine relax by the river at Bendeela.

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kaptainkobold

bendeela

nsw

australia

river

water

kangaroovalley

catherine

cei

fishing

light

relaxed

lazy

afternoon
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martes, 4 de octubre de 2011

lunes, 3 de octubre de 2011

Something Strange in the Suffolk Sunrise Sky 41/47

photo

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.

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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

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Full swing

<a href=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.

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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

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Autonomy

photo

Autonomy

Autonomy

Pancho's
Chicago, Illinois
September 30, 2011

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Autonomy

Photo by Patrick Houdek

Chicago

Illinois

USA
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domingo, 2 de octubre de 2011

At the Seaside

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At the Seaside

1920s glass plate negative.

Blackpool, england.

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Vintage

Glass

Negative

Blackpool

Swimsuit

Bathing

Costume

Pavilion

Beach

Sea

England

English

British

Great Britain

glass plate, england

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