I hope they are not illegal beavers...

In Detroit they have been celebrating because for the first time in 75 years a beaver was spotted near the Detroit River, it's actually made the news all over, even national news. This beaver spotting took place in November according to the Detroit Free Press but was not reported then, supposedly to make sure the beaver was safe.

Which of course leads to questions, was he moved into some type of beaver protection program? If beavers were gone from the area for almost 75 years, where did he come from? Is he an illegal beaver? A terrorist beaver? A Toledo area beaver leaving the area because of the economy? (Wait, Michigan's economy is as bad as ours)...

Will more beavers follow? Is the water intake harmed? Will we now see a few years from now reports that there is a huge beaver problem impacting the water supply for Detroit? (See the is it a terrorist beaver question)...

Bangladesh has faced cyclones before

While the death toll is still more than anyone would want to see anywhere in Bangladesh, this time in some areas there was a better evacuation done which is believe to have resulted in lives saved. On the Weather Guys Blog they share some of the history of previous disasters to strike that area:

The 150-mph winds from Tropical Cyclone Sidr make it the second-strongest storm to hit Bangladesh since records began in 1877, the Weather Underground reports. Only an unnamed April 1991 cyclone, which killed 140,000 people as it lashed the country with 155-mph winds, was stronger.

Bangladesh is no stranger to devastating cyclones. Almost 37 years ago to the day, the storm surge from the intense Bhola cyclone killed an astonishing 500,000 people in East Pakistan (which is now Bangladesh). This was one of the deadliest single natural disasters in modern times. By comparison, the 2004 Asian tsunami killed about 225,000 people.

Hurricane destroying beaches...

It would be a rough time to be a real estate agent in Florida right now, especially along the Palm Beach area. I was just watching Night Line as they discussed how beach erosion is endangering 20 million dollars worth of real estate property. An interesting question was asked if such properties should be built on the beach in the first place with the response being since they were already built the government had a duty to protect them. That I have to wonder about, given the property owners built there, I am not sure if it is the duty of the government to continually fund saving property that is involved in a constant battle with Mother Nature...

The birds do not like our car...

I don't know if the birds around here are not happy with the fact that I'm not putting out as much birdseed during the less than colder days or not but for some reason my side of the car seems to receive a daily dusting of bird poo. Since our garage has been taken over to store items for my one daughter who moved in, car covers might work, but then again, we'd have to hose those down as well...

Not enough water in Georgia?

While we see below that Bangkok is worried about being under water, in Georgia there is a disagreement as to is Georgia in a drought and should they be allowed to stop having to pump so much of their water so that Florida can power hydro-electric plants or not.

CNN is reporting Georgia governor, corps differ over extent of water emergency, which highlights some of the disagreement:

Perdue blasted what he called the "silly rules" governing the water supplies, noting that even if the state got replenishing rains, it could not by law conserve those, but must release 3.2 billion gallons a day downstream.

"The actions of the Corps of Engineers and Fish and Wildlife Service are not only irresponsible, I believe they're downright dangerous and Georgia cannot stand for this negligence," Perdue said.

The corps sent a letter to Perdue assessing the situation and pointing out that they are "not going to run out [of water] any time soon," Payne said.

The corps -- under an agreement reached in the 1980s with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the state and downstream users -- releases 5,000 feet of water per second from the dam between Lake Lanier and the Chattahoochee River.

The figure was based on a Florida hydroelectric power plant's needs, as well as concern for endangered species in the river, including mussels and sturgeon.

When you look at the pictures, it seems fairly clear that the water levels in Georgia are low...

Bangkok eventually will be under the sea...

Whether you want to believe it's climate change brought upon by man or a natural cycle of the Earth, Bangkok faces underwater future. What will happen to the 10 million people remains to be seen as Bangkok is one of the 13 of the world's largest 20 cities at risk of being swamped as sea levels rise in coming decades, according to warnings at the recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

It's obvious part of the problem was brought about by bad advice:

Once known as the "Venice of the East," Bangkok was founded 225 years ago on a swampy floodplain along the Chao Phraya River. But beginning in the 1950s, on the advice of international development agencies, most of the canals were filled in to make roads and combat malaria. This fractured the natural drainage system that had helped control Bangkok's annual monsoon season flooding.

Also illegal activity:

But the city, built on clay rather than bedrock, has also been sinking at a far faster pace of up to 4 inches annually as its teeming population and factories pump some 2.5 million cubic tons of cheaply priced water, legally and illegally, out of its aquifers. This compacts the layers of clay and causes the land to sink.