Bill Murray's Blog, page 114

Here Comes Cuba

Headline today: Obama administration approves first ferry service to Cuba

Friday Photo #21

Day labor, Istanbul. There are 384 more��photos in the Turkey Gallery at EarthPhotos.com. And see all the other Friday Photos.

The Fire at Chernobyl Is a Real Danger Right Now

Articles with titles like Ukraine Fire Near Chernobyl Disaster Site Brought Under Control create an incorrect impression.��They probably mean to reassure by suggesting��that the sarcophagus that contains the ruined reactor four is not under threat.

But as I’ve been tweeting this afternoon, it’s not that simple. The forests around the Chernobyl nuclear facility��have been irradiated since the event itself in April of 1986, and the forests are still toxic. A study has shown that radioactive cesium 137, for example, with a half life of 30 years, “isn���t disappearing from the environment as quickly as predicted.”

Ukrainian authorities established the exclusion zone in the first place to keep people away from dangerous materials like cesium 137, strontium 90 and others. Visitors to the exclusion zone are made to sign an agreement not to wander into the woods and disturb the ground. We were instructed not even to rest a camera bag on the ground while changing batteries.

Fire needn’t reach the reactor proper to cause the dispersal of cancer causing material. It can be lifted from the forest floor into the air in clouds of smoke from the fire. People in Kyiv, Minsk and rural areas of Ukraine and Belarus must be careful not to breathe smoke from this fire.

Thoughts Are with Nepal Today

Friday Photo #20, Obscure Islands Edition

Any guesses where this idyllic little spot might be? Hint: It’s where Napolean Bonaparte died. He was exiled here after the Elba thing didn’t work out. Click the photo to enlarge.

This is St. Helena Island, a British possession off the east coast of Africa. Up to now St. Helena has relied��on the last remaining Royal Mail ship for its survival, as there is no airport. But for better or worse, that should change by this time next year, as an airport is under construction. This photo is from our visit, via the RMS St. Helena, sailing from Walvis Bay, Namibia, in January 2010, and you can see more in the St. Helena gallery at EarthPhotos.com. And here are collected articles about and photos from St. Helena on CS&W.

Wildfires, Now Wild Winds, Too

I don’t know what he said, but I know what he meant. This is in Chita, east of Lake Baikal in Russia, last week. Via Meduza.

Volcan Calbuco Eruption Today

Here, in quieter times, is the Calbuco volcano in the completely lovely Lakes District of Chile.

Here is dramatic YouTube video from today.

Best of luck to everybody in Puerto Varas, Puerto Montt and around.

Whistle Stop Iran

Check out��a nice, quick tourist’s view of Iran’s major cities. It’s��by Matthew Stevenson, here in New Geography magazine.

Friday Photo #19, Prayer Flags in Sikkim, India

This photo comes from a December, 2013 visit to Gangtok, Sikkim, India, on the Chinese border. Specifically, it’s from a day trip out to Changu (Tsomgo) Lake. Because of the terrain, the nearest airport to Gangtok is several hours drive away. Here is what I wrote at the time about getting to Sikkim. There are more photos from in and around Gangtok in the India Gallery at EarthPhotos.com.

And see all the other Friday Photos.

Torshavn, Faroe Islands. Sort of.

This has been a fun Photoshop project for a couple of rainy days back here on the farm: It’s the gorgeous, tiny little capital of the Faroe Islands, Torshavn, rendered as an oil painting. Click it��to enlarge it to��a nice, big version and see what you think.