Snow Tubing Bus Trip

(seb)

Friday, January 18, 2013

Bus departs The Commons Circle @ 6:15pm

All Guests = $15

Ticket #: 3 of 27

Image By: Jim Lukach

Every family get-together has that one relative who is best kept busy with a mouthful of holiday pie.

But this year, millions of people used Twitter to immortalize those quirky, unusual and embarrassing things they heard while home for the holidays. Here are some of our favorites:

@kendracomedy: Mom: what does Feliz Navidad mean? Me: Merry Christmas Mom: Merry Christmas to you too. What does Feliz Navidad mean?

@morninggloria: Grandparents addressed fiance’s Xmas present to “Erin’s friend.” Should I spill the beans that there’s been some unplatonic hand holding?

@katespencer: “Go put that on your Twitter site!” – Dad, after confusing Kate Middleton with Katie Holmes.

@alisonhaislip: It’s okay if we don’t finish this bottle of wine tonight. I’ll have it for breakfast tomorrow.” – my Uncle Frank, the pragmatist.

@meganganz: My mom just called IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE “kinda far-fetched.” Merry Christmas, one and all!

Can’t get enough? Check out the Huffington Post’s slideshow of 2012′s best tweets here.

On New Year’s eve, Royal Dutch Shell watched its unmanned offshore drilling rig, the Kulluk, ground itself just off Kodiak Island, Alaska, where it still sits today.

This is the latest development in a series of problems Shell has experienced while attempting to move the Kulluk from Unalaska/Dutch Harbor, Alaska to the Seattle area for winter maintenance.

The offshore oil rig aground near Kodiak Island, Alaska.  (US Coast Guard photo)

On December 21, a Shell-contracted vessel embarked on this voyage with the Kulluk in tow. Within a week, the vessels encountered a large winter storm, and the crisis began.

First, the towline connecting the Kulluk to the tow vessel broke. An emergency towline connection was established, but then the tow vessel lost power to all of its engines. A fleet of rescue vessels arrived, and the original tow vessel regained power. However, four attempts to reestablish towlines each resulted in the Kulluk floating freely in the rough seas.

The Kulluk’s 18 person crew was evacuated by a Coast Guard helicopter as the storm grew to 50-mile an hour winds and 20-foot seas.

The drifting Kulluk ran aground on December 31. It contains 143,000 gallons of diesel and 12,000 of other petroleum products. So far, it appears that no environmental damage or major injuries have occurred.

Currently, a 250 member Anchorage-based command team comprised of representatives from the Coast Guard, the State of Alaska, and Shell are working to resolve the crisis. Stormy weather has prevented efforts to move the Kulluk to a safe harbor on Kodiak Island or put people on the Kulluk to assess its condition. Flyovers continue to monitor the Kulluk.

The Kulluk was used this fall to begin drilling an exploratory oil well in the Beaufort Sea, off Alaska’s west coast. This unfolding crisis adds to the concerns of whether Shell is really prepared to drill safely in the Arctic. They have faced a number of setbacks including when their oil spill containment dome was damaged during testing and when a drilling rig received a Coast Guard citation for problems with safety and pollution discharge equipment.

Do you think Shell is ready for the difficulties of Arctic offshore drilling?

Where  the Kulluck sits aground. (Anchorage Daily News)

Undoubtedly, everyone has been busy with their friends and families during the holiday season.  As we collectively settle into 2013, we have assembled this list of headlines and articles that you may have missed over the last few weeks.

Egypt

Over much controversy, the Egyptian Draft Constitution has passed on December 25, 2012.

Almost a month ago, Amnesty International listed their concerns about the draft and what its implications were for women and religious minorities in Egypt.

Total number of citizens eligible for voting: 51,919,067 
Total number of votes: 17,058,317 (32% voting rate)
Total number of valid votes: 16,755,012
Total of 10,693,911 Yes Votes (63.8%)
Total of 6,061,101 No Votes (36.2%)

Israel and Palestine

The UN General Assembly recently passed a non-binding resolution condemning expanded settlement activity by 196 to 6.  Since Palestine’s upgrade to non-member observer status in the UN in late November, Israel has announced the planned construction of approximately 6,000 new homes.

Israeli Military Chiefs upgraded the status of an Israeli college in the West Bank.  It now has the same status as universities inside Israel.  The Palestinian Higher Education Office has called upon the international community to boycott the new university, considering it an obstacle to peace.

Syria

Bashar al-Assad’s regime has most recently resorted to “cluster bombing” civilian towns.  Citizens fear that measures of collective punishment by the government are taking hold as the main choice of attack. 

According to United States Department of State spokesman Mark Toner in a State Department daily press briefing (starting at 22:38),

Any use or proliferation of chemical weapons by the Syrian government would cross a red line.

Associated Press reporter Matthew Lee Hammers questioned Toner,

Aren’t you at all concerned that this sends a message that ‘you can go out and slaughter as many people as you want with conventional weapons and we won’t intervene’? Is there any concern that that is the message that is being sent?  That unless you do something that uses WMDs, we don’t care what you do, you can kill as many of your own people as you want to.

Hammers is referring to the approximate 45,000 casualties in Syria since the uprisings have began.