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WEEKLY WEATHER OUTLOOK FOR BELIZE
Valid: Sunday, June 10 until Monday, June 18, 2012

The showery weather will resume this week after the brief respite over weekend as pressure gradient tightened over the NW Caribbean, which lead to a brisk and drier ESE'ly airflow over Belize. The ridge will weaken during the next 36 hours and the fresh winds will gradually abate.

Moisture will increase over Belize and the NW Caribbean from the eastern Pacific on Sunday night and Monday, while a diffluent wind flow pattern will dominate the upper atmosphere ahead of an approaching trough from the west during the next 72 hours. A weak tropical wave will reach Yucatan and Belize by Friday morning. Coupled with this feature will be a surface low forming over or just offshore Belize by late Thursday and Friday. The Models resolved this low to deepen a bit before drifting ENE into the western Caribbean by late Saturday and early Sunday.

During this week we can expect conditions to become more favorable for outbreaks of showers and thunderstorms. The thunderstorm activity will increase later on Thursday and Friday, and the unsettled weather will continue across the country over the upcoming weekend through Monday of next week. Daily rainfall accumulations will range from 0.10-0.25 of-an-inch on Sunday and Monday, but will increase to 0.25-0.50 of-an-inch on Tuesday and Wednesday, mostly over central and northern areas. Daily rainfall totals on Thursday, Friday and Saturday will be ranging from 0.50-1.75 inches, especially over the central and NE areas of the sea and the mainland on Friday. Rainfall will then be concentrated in the South on Sunday and Monday.

CLICK HERE for the full Belize Weekly Weather Report


Last night's TV news on Channel 7 and Channel 5
Also with the most recent Open Your Eyes, and the Dickie Bradley Specials

The San Pedro Sun

Editorial: Taking back our streets
On Monday night a group of fifty some folks gathered at El Divino to discuss a growing concern in the areas where they live. A total of four neighbourhoods were represented, including Alta Mar, San Marcos, San Pablo and Escalante. The sad stories that most of these folks shared in common was falling prey to thieves, while the others who have been spared the traumatic experience fear for the worse. With stories of brazen in-broad-daylight break-ins, residents have come home to find broken windows, ransacked rooms and missing items of personal and monetary value that they most likely will never see again. Although the point of the meeting was for each area to organize their own Neighborhood Watch program, the stricken residents could not help but share their horror stories with one another. Sadly, the fact is that this small group of victims represent the majority of people here on the island. Do you know ANYONE in San Pedro who does not have a story about having a bike stolen, their golf cart stolen, their house broken into, items missing from their yard, mugged on the beach or ripped off by an embezzling employee? I challenge you to find someone who has lived here for any amount of time and doesn't have some story to share. So is it just me or do you find this observation disturbing? How are we letting this happen to us? Is this how we want to live, behind bars on our windows and in fear of sounds that go bump in the night?

Hermit Crabs Form Sophisticated Social Networks
Carrie Bow Cay is a tiny island in the Caribbean Sea, about 14 miles off the coast of Southern Belize. The island is so small-0.77 acres-that you can walk its entire perimeter in under 10 minutes. Scientists regularly visit Carrie Bow Cay to study coral reefs, mangroves and seagrass meadows, as well as the animals that live in these unique ecosystems. When Sara Lewis and Randi Rotjan of Tufts University travel to Carrie Bow Cay, they spend most of their time underwater, examining corals. But they also wanted to make the most of their time on land, inbetween dives. So the biologists decided to study the behavior of Caribbean hermit crabs (Coenobita clypeatus), around 1,000 of which live on Carrie Bow Cay's sandy shores.

Misc Belizean Sources

La Poderosa's Tag the Town Mural at Macal Park
La Poderosa III has been doing their Tag the Town murals, and the latest one is done.

LOVE FM

Sunday Lottery Draw
1st prize is 0066 ; 2nd prize is 6298 and 3rd prize is 5349 Jun 10, 2012

Caye Caulker Chronicles

Arts & Crafts Boulevard�
If you walk on Front Street on the way to the Split, you will find yourself passing many interesting arts and craft street-side stands. I call the area "Arts & Crafts Boulevard." We would like to introduce you to a few interesting ones �

Blogs

http://tacogirl.com/2012/06/saturday-action-san-pedro-belize
We made it to the fundraiser at BC's beach bar but unfortunately missed the food, we were still able to get raffle tickets though and most important we were there when Lori Purdy made an appearance. It was great to see her and in spite of all she has been through she was looking great. She brought her x-rays so we could all see the pins - wow. Afterwards we made it to the Diamond Jubilee party at Catamaran Beach Bar. Ruth and Graham dis a fantastic job for the party and the pibil was out of this world as were the jalapeno poppers. Since there were about 8 people's birthdays around the same time, they had cupcakes and a lovely cake as well. Thanks to Maureen for packing her camera and sending me a few pics to post this morning.

No Shoes, No Shirt, No Pants, No Problem? A Nudist Island in Belize
I received an interesting tip from a friend about the planning stages for a nudist-eco island in Belize. Intriguing. So I became a fan of the project on Facebook for a bit more information. The page is relatively new but has some. Here is what I found... The idea right now is called Bare Island Retreat and will be more rustic, eco-lodge set up and less 5 star hotel. (When I am nude, rustic and "eco" are the last words I want to hear...bugs, dirt, splinters oh my. My friend Cesar insists that the only materials used to construct a naturist colony should be the finest marble and rabbit pelts. He may have a point...) There will be villas for sale for those who like to be sans clothing year round and there will be cabanas for rent. The island (west of Ambergris Caye) will be self sufficient with wind and solar energy and a collected water source. There will also be a "small grocery store and additional assorted shops that will offer such things as hair cuts /styling, nails salon, restaurant etc. This little island community will also offer those that choose to live there to have the opportunity to work an/or volunteer their expertise."

International Sources

Owasco students send books to Belize
Local students teamed up to support their former school principal in her mission to bring children's books to her new students in Belmopan, the capital of Belize. Mickie Cuevas-Post, who retired as Owasco Elementary School principal in month of year, went to Belize to work for the Peace Corps with her husband, Ken. She has been teaching at the Garden City Primary School, where the students - who speak English and Spanish - don't have any children's books to read. Owasco kindergarten teacher Amy Bryan kept in touch with Post and heard about the book shortage at the Belize school. "She said, 'It's terrible. There's no books here,'" Bryan said. "We all said we wanted to help. Every child should have a book to read. ... I sent out notes to the kids, said it was for Mrs. Post's library, and the books started coming in." Owasco students had donated about 2,000 books by the conclusion of the book drive, Bryan said. Volunteers packed the books last Wednesday for shipping to Belize.

New Local Book: 'Fulfillment - It's All About Power'
TWIN FALLS � A new novel by former Times-News city editor Michael C. Sullivan draws on his interest in Native American culture and history. "Fulfillment - It's All About Power" is available as an ebook for Barnes & Noble's Nook. In 2006, Sullivan drove through Mexico to learn more about ancient Mayan civilization, visiting Mayan ruins en route to Belize, where he lived in the jungle for two months near the Mayan village of San Pedro Columbia. There he discovered that the nearby ruin of the ancient city of Lubaantun was where a crystal skull was allegedly uncovered by the daughter of a British archaeologist in 1924, Sullivan wrote in an email. The artifact, known as the Mitchell-Hedges Skull, supposedly holds mystical powers. "I went there to do more research on the Mayan calendar and its predictions about the year 2012," Sullivan wrote in the email. "I had already written and published a nonfiction book about prophecies and end-times scenarios entitled 'In Search of a Perfect World,' and I was hoping to come up with more information. But the local Maya are ... more concerned with day-to-day living than prophecies and the Mayan calendar. So, without coming up with new information, I decided to write a mystery/thriller novel focusing on the crystal skull." The story centers on a couple who visit the region and find themselves caught up in a strange struggle with U.S. government agents for another crystal skull - reputed to hold the key to free energy. "I had some interesting experiences in Belize and met some fascinating characters, which I incorporated into the novel," Sullivan wrote. "As I began writing, I saw similarities between the rise and fall of the Mayan civilization and that of the Ancestral Puebloans, or the Anasazi, of the Four Corners region. So I tied them together." Sullivan's novel can also be downloaded or read electronically for $5 through his website: insearchofaperfectworld.blogspot.com.

On Your (Last) Calendar: Mayan Sleepovers
Before the Mayan calendar ends in December, travelers to Belize can pay homage to the indigenous culture in overnight stays at the Caracol archaeological site. Organized by Belize's National Institute of Culture and History, the sleepovers take place on solstice and equinox dates - June 20, Sept. 21 and Dec. 20 - at the site, in the country's Cayo district. The stay begins with a pre-sunset tour led by Dr. Jaime Awe, who directed the excavation and restoration of Caracol in the 1980s. Dinner and breakfast are included in the $150 fee ([email protected]), but a good night's sleep is not. In the middle of the night, shamans wake campers with drumbeats, calling them to a Mayan fire ceremony, which lasts until dawn.

A Scientist's 20-Year Quest To Defeat Dengue Fever
This summer, my big idea is to explore the big ideas of science. Instead of just reporting science as results - the stuff that's published in scientific journals and covered as news - I want to take you inside the world of science. I hope I'll make it easier to understand how science works, and just how cool the process of discovery and innovation really is. A lot of science involves failure, but there are also the brilliant successes, successes that can lead to new inventions, new tools, new drugs - things that can change the world That got me thinking that I wanted to dive deeper into the story of an Australian scientist named Scott O'Neill. Scott had come up a clever new way for combating dengue fever. Dengue is a terrible disease. It sickens tens of millions and kills tens of thousands. There's no cure, no vaccine and pretty much no way to prevent it. It's one of those diseases transmitted by a mosquito, like malaria. About 20 years ago, a lot of scientists got excited about the idea of genetically modifying mosquitoes so they couldn't transmit these diseases. People are still pursuing this approach. But I thought genetically modifying mosquitoes would be really hard to do. Even if you were able to make these disease-blocking mosquitoes in the lab, I didn't see how you would ever get them to survive in the wild, and displace the disease-transmitting mosquitoes that were already there. There was also a societal problem with the scheme. Most people probably wouldn't be thrilled about having swarms of genetically modified mosquitoes released in their backyards.

'Eliminate Dengue' Team Has A Deep (Lab) Bench
Every profession has its symbols of success. For opera singers, it's performing at La Scala or the Met. For mountain climbers it's making it to the top of Everest. For scientists, if you get two papers published in the same issue of a prestigious journal like Nature, you're hot. So when an Australian named Scott O'Neill had two papers published in Nature last year describing his big idea for combating a disease called dengue, the world took notice. O'Neill is a medical entomologist and dean of the faculty of science at Monash University in Melbourne. "We were getting bombarded by people around the world, from different governments, wanting us to come work in their countries because people are so desperate for something to try and stop dengue," says O'Neill. Dengue is nasty. It's transmitted by a mosquito and can be a deadly disease. But even if it doesn't kill you, it knocks you out with a week or more of high fever and a pounding headache. Billions of people around the world are at risk for getting dengue if they get bitten by a mosquito carrying the dengue virus. O'Neill's big idea for stopping dengue didn't involve a vaccine or a medicine. Instead, it involved attacking the mosquito that transmits the disease. There are two parts to the idea. First, find a way to treat mosquitoes in the lab so they could no longer transmit dengue. That took him more than a decade to figure out. And five years ago, O'Neill finally managed to do it.


Last edited by Marty; 11/17/12 10:04 AM.