Farewell To Granma Captain

April 2, 2008

NORBERTO Abilio Collado Abreu, the outstanding revolutionary fighter and captain of the yacht Granma, died in the early hours of this morning.
During WWII, in April of 1941, Collado, still very young, joined the Cuban War Navy, having been trained as a sonar technician to detect submarines. From his sonar room aboard the CS-13 destroyer, on May 15, 1943 he participated in the sinking of the German U-boat 176, much feared at that time given the number of ships it had attacked in the Atlantic.
After the 1955 amnesty, he went into exile, joining the group of youth training in Mexico to bring to life Fidel's commitment, "In 1956, we will be free or be martyrs!"
His distinguished experience as a sailor led to his selection as captain of the yacht Granma. Navigating the boat through stormy seas, he landed the expedition on December 2, 1956. After the battle of Alegría de Pío he was captured and imprisoned until the triumph of the Revolution.
In January of 1959, he joined the Revolutionary War Navy, taking on different responsibilities within this branch of the military, until in 1981 he was assigned to the care and maintenance of the Granma.
Captain Collado was always characterized by his lack of pretension, his modesty and discipline in the completion of whatever tasks required of him.
As requested by his family, the body will be cremated and his ashes will be placed in the Revolutionary Armed Forces Pantheon in Colón Cemetery at 3:00 p.m. (AIN)
Translated by Granma International

Is this man Veronica Guerin's killer?

By Chris Summers BBC News

A man has been jailed for his part in a plot to kidnap and torture a London tycoon using a woman as a "honey trap". But did Patrick "Dutchy" Holland murder Irish investigative journalist Veronica Guerin?
Veronica Guerin was a heroine to many people in her native country in the mid-1990s for her tireless exposure of the drug barons who were undermining its "Celtic tiger" image.
The Irish investigative journalist was shot dead in June 1996 by the pillion passenger on a motorbike as she stopped at traffic lights at Naas, just outside Dublin.
Three men were later put on trial for murder. One - Dublin drug dealer John Gilligan - was acquitted.
The prosecution had claimed he ordered Ms Guerin be killed after she wrote about him in the Sunday Independent.
But the judge, Mr Justice O'Donovan, said while the court had great suspicions about Mr Gilligan's involvement in the murder, it had not been persuaded beyond reasonable doubt.
A second man was convicted but cleared on appeal.
Only one man was convicted. Brian Meehan is believed to have been riding the motorbike and he is still in jail for the murder. But the actual gunman has escaped justice.
The man who pulled the trigger is widely believed to be Patrick "Dutchy" Holland, who was jailed on Friday, for his involvement in a kidnap conspiracy.
MURDER OF VERONICA GUERIN
26 June 1996: Investigative journalist Veronica Guerin shot dead in Naas, near Dublin
1997: Eugene "Dutchy" Holland named as her killer during an Irish court case
July 1999: Brian Meehan jailed for life for his involvement in the murder
Mar 2001: John Gilligan, acquitted of ordering Ms Guerin's murder, is jailed for 28 years on drugs charges
May 2008: Holland jailed for eight years after being convicted of conspiring to kidnap a tycoon in London
Holland, a 69-year-old career criminal, was named in court by a Garda officer as being the killer during a trial in the Irish Republic a decade ago.
But he was never tried for the crime.
The crime editor of Ireland's Sunday World newspaper, Paul Williams, has no doubt that Holland was the killer and says he has seen documents which prove it.
He said: "There were several witnesses who named Dutchy as the gunman but they were too terrified to stand up in court and give evidence."
In his book, The Evil Empire: The Irish Mob and the Assassination of Veronica Guerin, Mr Williams described why she was killed.
"A major Irish criminal wanted to shut her up and he considered himself untouchable. But he didn't realise what a big story it would become and how much pressure the state would come under to react," Mr Williams told the BBC News website.
'Honey trap'
Holland was jailed for possession of cannabis by an Irish court in 1997 but in April 2006 he walked out of Portlaoise prison.
He moved to London and a few months later was getting involved in another criminal enterprise.
In early 2007 he teamed up with fellow Irishmen John McDonnell and Gerard Booth and London villain Simon Young, and cooked up an ambitious "honey trap" kidnap plot which they hoped would raise £10m.
After several attempts were made to follow tycoon Nasir Zahid to his home address the gang came up with the "honey trap" idea.
The gang planned to use 24-year-old secretary Khan Coombs as "sex bait" to lure Mr Zahid from the office of his company, Tradex Limited, in Chiswick, west London, so they could kidnap and torture him.
The trial heard Mr Zahid's kidnap was ordered and financed by a Belgian businessman called Patrick van Cantfort, known as "The Banker", who felt Mr Zahid had double crossed him over a deal.
But police heard about the plot and bugged the gang.
I haven't killed anybody ever - there is no blood on my hands "Dutchy" Holland
They overheard McDonnell telling Miss Coombs: "We're going to send you into the office and you're going to try to flirt with this bastard to see if he'll ask you out - which he will, that's the type of dog he is.
"If he comes out we're going to grab him. If this comes off there's £10m involved in this job. When you bring him out we can take him to the slaughterhouse."
The plan began to collapse on 30 April 2007 when Miss Coombs, wearing a £500 Cerutti jacket, arrived at Mr Zahid's import/export firm asking about job vacancies but was turned away without being able to speak to him.
Drug barons
Police swooped before the gang could try again and in March Holland, McDonnell, Booth, Young and Coombs were convicted of conspiracy to kidnap.
But the question remains - did Holland kill Veronica Guerin?
In a television interview 10 years ago Holland said: "I haven't killed anybody ever. There is no blood on my hands."
Mr Williams says the Irish state cracked down on the drug barons for about a year after the Veronica Guerin killing but he said things were now as bad, if not worse, than in the mid-1990s with large-scale drug dealing and frequent gang violence.
"The situation is arguably worse than it was when Veronica was writing her stories," he said.
Last year there were 84 murders in the Republic of Ireland, the highest number since the civil war.
Story from BBC NEWS:http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/uk/7332221.stmPublished: 2008/05/02 19:46:41 GMT© BBC MMVIII

Clean Water for the World!

Even with the "massive" 1700 person cryptosporidium outbreak in New York State this past summer, the water quality problems of the developed world pale in comparison to the more than 1 billion people throughout the world without access to safe drinking water. A large percentage of these people suffer because their drinking supply is infected with bacteria, or microorganisms brought on by agricultural pollution and poor sanitation. But a much touted new device called the life straw seeks to give those billion a fresh look at water...
The Lifestraw is a little longer than a toilet paper tube, and about the same diameter(the model shown above is an earlier prototype). Inside the tube, a series of mechanical screens, carbon particles, and resin beads filter and kill most pathogenic bacteria and microorganisms common in water systems throughout the world. Using a patented material called PuroTech Disinfecting Resin, the filters are rated for 700 liters of water -- approximately one year's use for a single individual. They require no training to use (just suck) and minimal maintenance (parent company Vestergaard Frandsen recommends periodically blowing the straw clear of water to clean the filters)
But perhaps most exciting is the cost: Only 2 dollars US if sold individually (presumably, volume discounting could apply). Obviously, this is a large amount of a subsistence farmer's income, but the amount of wages earned during the time lost to illness is probably comparable. And it's still awfully cheap for drinking water -- My water bill was 5 dollars US for just last month, and these last a year.
We're excited to see developments like this which have such potential for improving life quality. At the same time, we recognise that this product needs a philanthropist or great business plan behind it to make sure it gets to the right people. Keep an eye on this one. It's going to be big. :: Lifestraw at Gizmag

The Air-Powered Motorcycle by Jem Stansfield
by Michael Graham Richard, Gatineau, Canada on 04.21.08
Cars & Transportation

Jem Stansfield is not exactly the average tinkerer. He has a degree in aeronautics and is an inventor and special effects technician. But still, his DIY air-powered motorcycle, the first of its kind according to him, is quite cool.
How Does an Air-Powered Motorcycle Work?Unlike the hilarious single-piston air-powered bicycle that he previously made, this air-powered bike can actually be used in real-world situations.
He took carbon-fiber air tanks that are usually used by firefighters as part of their breathing equipment and connected them to two rotary air engines that drive the rear wheel. One of the benefits of using compressed air over batteries is that you can recharge in a few seconds.
Of course, the compressor works on electricity, so that's not always a clean power source. But even if your local utility uses coal, if you recharge at night or off peak, chances are you are using power that would be wasted otherwise because coal power plants take too long to shut down and restart, so they are often kept producing at night.
But it is with a clean electricity source for the compressor that the air-powered motorcycle becomes a truly green ride. Any companies paying attention? A commercially available air-powered bike would be great. One more option for people wanting to drop their car...
Specifications for Jem's Air-Powered MotorcycleTop speed is 18 mph (29 kph), range is 7 miles (11.2 kilometers) between compressed air fill ups.
Could definitely be used for short commutes. Even better would be if it was turned into a hybrid, with pedal-power as an option.

Volunteer Workday

Volunteer Workday Held Sunday
The Cuban Workers Federation (CTC) reported that more than a million people turned out for a voluntary workday held Sunday. The national effort was led by CTC general secretary Salvador Valdes Mesa.

BY SUSANA LEE - Susan.ll@granma.cip.cu -
A massively attended and productive volunteer work day was held Sunday throughout Cuba as a salute to the upcoming International Workers Day celebration on May 1. Preliminary reports estimate that 1,262,407 people took part in the effort. The main work carried out was planting and harvesting vegetables and tubers, sugarcane cultivation related activities, construction of homes and other prioritized government projects, factory work and clean up efforts.
THOUSANDS PARTICIPATED IN AGRICULTURAL WORK SUNDAY THAT INCLUDED THE PLANTING AND HARVESTING OF VEGETABLES AND TUBERS.
CTC General Secretary Salvador Valdes Mesa led the participation of the national leaders of the labor organization who were joined by staff of the Small Farmers Association (ANAP) National School at the La Iberia cooperative farm at Yaguayay in the Havana municipality of Guira de Melena. The voluntary effort there consisted of planting four hectares of malanga on land recently harvested of potatoes.
Valdes told the press that the effort Sunday was part of a national campaign of volunteer work began on April 1, which will extend through January 28, 2009, as a salute to the 50th anniversary of the Cuban revolution and 70th of the founding of the CTC. The goal is to boost all the programs and plans contributing to the country’s economic recovery.
The campaign involves a minimum of 70 hours of volunteer labor per worker as prioritized during the period, both on massive turnout days and others according to the needs in each locality and workplace.