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Friday, February 17, 2012
Xi waves off China economy fears, triggers deals (Reuters)
[unable to retrieve full-text content]Reuters - Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping said on Friday the Chinese economy would experience stable growth and avoid a hard landing this year, discounting a scenario economists fear may upset the global economy.
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Afghan leaders asks Pakistani help in peace bid (AP)
ISLAMABAD ? The Afghan president appealed for Pakistan's help Thursday in negotiating a peace deal with Taliban militants ahead of a summit that will be also include the leader of Iran.
The meetings in Islamabad come at a time when momentum for peace talks with the Taliban seems to be growing, even as all parties to a stuttering process marked by intense mistrust say that success in ending the 10-year war in Afghanistan is far from certain.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai told The Wall Street Journal in an interview published Thursday that talks among the U.S, the Afghan government and the Taliban had taken place in the past month. If true, it would mark a significant development because till now the Taliban had said they would only negotiate with the Americans, maintaining Karzai was a puppet leader and that the movement was the legitimate ruler in Afghanistan.
Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid denied Karzai's comments that negotiations have already taken place, saying in a statement "the Taliban did not talk with the Kabul government anywhere."
Pakistan is regarded as a key player in any peace process because its historical ties with the Taliban and other insurgents mean Islamabad could help bring them to the table or be a spoiler. The Taliban leadership is widely believed to be based in Pakistan, and under some influence of the country's security establishment.
Iran, which also neighbors Afghanistan and Pakistan, is also important to the future stability of Afghanistan. In the past, it supported campaigns against the Taliban, a radical Sunni Muslim group opposed to the Shiites who make up a majority of Iran's population. But some reports have suggested Tehran ? Washington's archenemy ? also has supported the Taliban against U.S. troops.
The U.S. launched the war in Afghanistan after the 9/11 attacks, but has been unable to defeat the Taliban, which once sheltered Osama bin Laden. Washington wants to withdraw most of its troops from Afghanistan by the end of 2014, and try to ensure the country remains moderately stable.
Relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan have been badly strained, but the meeting between Karzai and President Asif Ali Zardari suggested that ties are improving. An Afghan statement said the leaders had agreed to restart a joint peace commission that was shelved after the assassination last year of Afghanistan's envoy to Taliban peace talks in Kabul.
Afghan officials had accused Pakistan of playing a role in the killing ? allegations it denied.
In a statement, Zardari said Karzai told the meeting Thursday that Pakistan's support "was critical to the success of Afghan owned and Afghan led peace process" and that both countries should cooperate for peace.
Earlier, Ismail Qasemyar, the international relations adviser to the Afghan-government appointed council for talks with the Taliban, said Karzai would ask Zardari to "put positive and constructive pressure over the leadership of the Taliban to come close and to come together to start intra-Afghan dialogue and a process of negotiation."
During his three-day trip, President Karzai is also scheduled to meet Pakistani clerics and politicians who are close to the Afghan Taliban in a bid to get their support for peace, including Maulana Samiul Haq, known as the spiritual father of the Taliban because he runs an Islamic seminary in northwestern Pakistan that has taught many of the group's leaders.
"This is a time when the Taliban are defeating Western forces in Afghanistan," Haq told The Associated Press. "A forceful stance by Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran will bring peace and stability in this region by pushing out the foreign forces."
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad arrived in Islamabad in the late afternoon and met separately with Zardari. The two men discussed a proposed pipeline that would deliver natural gas from Iran to Pakistan, according to a statement from Zardari.
The U.S. opposes the initiative. It wants to isolate Tehran because of its nuclear program, and is threatening sanctions against Islamabad if the project goes ahead. Pakistan says it needs the gas to meet chronic industrial and domestic energy shortages.
On Friday, all three leaders will meet for talks likely to focus on the Afghan war.
Ahmadinjad's trip coincides with rising Western concerns after Iranian state TV broadcast pictures of the president overseeing what was described as the first Iranian-made fuel rod being inserted into a research reactor in northern Tehran. Tensions between Israel and Iran are also rising following an attack in India on an Israeli diplomat that Israel has blamed on Iran.
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Thursday, February 9, 2012
Workers Compensation Insurance Is It Necessary | Accident in Work
Article by Elissa Joyce
At times accidents do happen at the work place leaving the worker with either traumatic or physical injuries. Such worker is forced to relinquish duties that we bestowed on him when still in shape to work in such post. In the recent past pursuing for compensation was only possible through a civil court process. When there is prove that the accident that accursed was due to negligence in the part of the employer, then an individual has a provision by law to peruse compensation by following the newly established workers compensation.
Workers compensation is a form of out of court settlement. This is an agreement that is reached between an injured worker and the employer that bars the worker from suing the employer for negligence as provided by the tort law. In return, the worker gets some form of wages in an agreed period of time and medical benefits. The law concurs with the provision of personal injury law where the worker will only apply formally for personal injury should the worker serve the firm with a notice to own up liability and the firm declines to address the concerns. This is especially beneficial to small scale business owners.
A wise employer might avoid getting in a catch 22 situation where he can neither pay for compensation to the worker nor afford to pay fines related to a successful application by the employee. This is by getting a Workers Compensation Insurance kitty for his employees. There are several California Workers Compensation Insurance plans by which one can take advantage of. The plans are guided by their own policies as well as convenience. One should therefore be very careful when it comes to choice of Workers Compensation Insurance plan.
If an employee makes a falsified claim of illness or injuries caused directly on indirectly by the environs within which the employee works then one can establish a special kitty to cover such expenses. One can also establish a Workers Compensation Insurance kitty which will be responsible to cover for employees who get injuries outside your working parameter in the course of duty. Another plan guarantees covering of expenses related to funeral arrangements and financial supports to dependents should the employee lose life in course of duty.
One can get a customized California Workers Compensation Insurance to cover selected expenses depending on the employer and the kind of eventuality. This is because there are some accidents that can happen in one?s working conditions while others are deemed unlikely. One should however check for one cover that is affordable and which has affordable premium rates. This is by comparing several cover and their quotes. The quotes that are provided online are normally free and easy to check your qualifications for Workers Compensation Insurance. Of importance is the fact that one should have Workers Compensation Insurance because the alternative is living in a world on uncertainty. When an employee sues your business as provided by the law and compensation granted, the compensation rates under current economic times are usually high.
The Workers Compensation Insurance will take care of various costs related to costs filed by workers under tot laws. But one will also find solace under various packages to cover compensations with should the said employee win the case.
Tags: Compensation, Insurance, necessary, workers
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Monday, February 6, 2012
Saturday, February 4, 2012
Superbowl Sunday Food: Jalapeno Popper Mac ... - Tv Food and Drink
Once you start showing off what you?ve managed to learn to make in the kitchen (say, on a blog for example), you have to take a certain level of responsiblity when friends and family start making certain food assumptions about what you?ll prepare for them when you invite them over. I became accutely aware of that fact earlier this week when my friend Travis asked what I was going to be serving at my weekly LOST viewing party and dinner:
Travis: ?What are you making tonight, Gary??
Me: ?I?m making this?amazing jalapeno popper mac and cheese.?
Travis:? ?Cool? what else??
Me:? ?What do you mean what else??
Travis:? ?I mean? what else are you making to go with it?? And what, no dessert??
I guess my days of gliding by with spaghetti and meatballs served on plastic plates I stole from my college dining commons are over, but I?ll happily leave that era in my past. MG often reminds me of my typical day?s food rundown from our first year or so of dating. I don?t recall, but apparently I lived exclusively on Hot Pockets, McDonalds and Tombstone frozen pizzas. I?m guessing MG is happy I?ve left those days behind as well.
On to the mad mac and cheese recipe I found over at Let?s Cook.
It?s not going to win any awards for keeping your arteries shiny and clear, and it may cause your eyes to spontaneously cross every few bites, but it is deadly satisfying in the way really bad Catholic sins are satisfying. And don?t worry about preparing anything else to go alongside it. Trust me, it is not necessary. This meal is covered in cheese, and since the cheese stands alone, this meal does as well.
Jalape?o Popper Mac and Cheese from Let?s Cook Adapted from Rachael Ray
- 16 ounces dry pasta (cavatappi was listed in the recipe, but I used mostaccioli ? just make sure it?s hollow)
- 2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 3 jalape?o chiles, seeded, ribs removed and thinly sliced
- 2 serrano chiles, seeded, ribs removed and thinly sliced
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 1/2 cups milk
- 8 ounces cream cheese, sliced into cubes
- 2 tablespoons dried minced onion
- 8 ounces (about 2 cups) shredded Mexican-blend cheese
Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan, heat oil over medium. Stir in jalape?os, serranos and garlic ? cook until tender, about 5 minutes. Add to the pot with the drained pasta.
Preheat the broiler.
In the same saucepan, add milk, cream cheese and onion ? heat over medium-low, stirring, until very smooth, about 5 minutes. Pour in to the pot with the pasta and add the cheese ? season with salt and fresh ground black pepper, tossing well to coat. Scoop mixture into a casserole dish coated with cooking spray. Place under the broiler and bake until lightly browned on top, about 3 to 5 minutes.
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Posted in Homemade and Super Bowl Food 19 hours, 43 minutes ago at 10:47 am. Add a comment
Source: http://tvfoodanddrink.com/2012/02/superbowl-sunday-mac-and-cheese/
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After IPO, Facebook will face new profit pressures
FILE - This Oct. 15, 2011 file photo, shows Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg smiling during a meeting in San Francisco. Will Facebook list its stock on the New York Stock Exchange or the Nasdaq? It comes down to "where Mark Zuckerberg wants to get his picture taken," the founder of one market research company says. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma, File)
FILE - This Oct. 15, 2011 file photo, shows Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg smiling during a meeting in San Francisco. Will Facebook list its stock on the New York Stock Exchange or the Nasdaq? It comes down to "where Mark Zuckerberg wants to get his picture taken," the founder of one market research company says. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma, File)
This Dec. 13, 2011 file photo, shows workers inside Facebook headquarters in Menlo Park, Calif.Facebook, the social network that changed "friend" from a noun to a verb, is expected to file as early as Wednesday to sell stock on the open market. Its debut is likely to be the most talked-about initial public offering since Google in 2004. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma, file)
FILE - This Dec. 13, 2011 file photo shows a sign at Facebook headquarters in Menlo Park, Calif. Facebook, the social network that changed "friend" from a noun to a verb, is expected to file as early as Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2012, to sell stock on the open market. Its debut is likely to be the most talked-about initial public offering since Google in 2004. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma, file)
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) ? For all the huge numbers in Facebook's IPO papers, a surprisingly small figure stands out: $4.39, the amount the site generated per user last year.
It's one of the company's major challenges because the total is paltry compared with competing Internet companies. Google makes more than $30 a year from each registered user. Even struggling Yahoo and AOL make $7 and $10, respectively.
Once Facebook goes public, Wall Street will surely demand more. That means the social network will almost certainly have to attract a lot more users or be more aggressive with its advertising, perhaps by mining personal data even more than it does now.
But can Facebook do all that without spoiling the user experience?
The company may have a tough time increasing the number of ads on a site that has become primarily a home for online conversations.
"It's a communications tool. Can you imagine what a turn-off it would be if we were talking on the phone and AT&T tried to play an ad in the middle of our conversation?" said University of Notre Dame finance professor Tim Loughran, who studies IPOs.
Facebook stock probably won't begin trading until at least May, but analysts already believe the company will try to sell shares at a price that will give it a market value of at least $100 billion ? more than Yahoo, AOL and Hewlett Packard Co. combined.
To justify a valuation like that, Facebook will need to maximize its revenue to get closer to Google, one of its biggest rivals. Google's revenue of nearly $38 billion last year translated into about $35 per registered user.
Facebook recorded $3.7 billion in revenue last year.
The question is whether it can bring in more money without alienating the 845 million users who have become accustomed to hanging out with friends and family on the social network without an onslaught of ads.
Part of that online environment has been by design. Facebook co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg wanted to get as many as people as possible to create profiles on the website before figuring out the best ways to profit from all the information about their interests and connections.
In theory, those insights should enable Facebook to target ads to people most likely to be interested in certain products or services. That should appeal to marketers, giving the site enough leverage to charge more for its ads than other sites. If the ads work, Facebook should easily be able to increase revenue per user to $10 to $12 annually, said Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter.
Before Google went public, it also faced questions about its ability to make money from selling ads next to search results, in emails and within videos. Evidently most users don't mind because Google's annual revenue is now about 25 times higher than in 2003.
Advertising isn't the only way Facebook can make money. It charges a commission for some of the sales of games and other services on its website. Although advertising accounted for 85 percent of Facebook's revenue last year, that was less than at Google, where ads accounted for 96 percent of revenue.
Most of Facebook's non-advertising revenue comes from commissions paid by Zynga Inc., the maker of such popular Web games as CityVille and Words With Friends. In its IPO papers, Facebook says it may try to increase its revenue by introducing fees for other e-commerce features on its website.
Facebook, which is based in Menlo Park, Calif., easily could offer sales of movies, music, even houses and cars. But believing it can expand into those markets requires a huge leap of faith, said Hudson Square Research analyst Daniel Ernst.
"It's like saying because Chipotle has been good at selling burritos in certain urban markets in the U.S., it should be able to make more money selling Chinese food in France," he said.
Facebook says roughly half its audience ? about 425 million people ? now gets access to its service on smartphones, tablet computers and other mobile devices. But the site acknowledges it hasn't figured out the best way to make money from mobile users.
The application-driven systems on mobile devices pose another threat because they could allow Zynga and other services to offer their own mobile apps to bypass Facebook and connect directly with users.
The rise of mobile devices also opens up an opportunity for Google to expand the audience of Plus, its social networking alternative to Facebook. Although it hasn't done so yet, Google could make Plus part of the Android operating system that runs 250 million smartphones and tablets.
Zuckerberg, Facebook's controlling shareholder as well as its leader, is promising to put users' interests ahead of the company's financial interests.
"Simply put: We don't build services to make money; we make money to build better services," Zuckerberg wrote in a letter included in Wednesday's IPO filing. "These days, I think more and more people want to use services from companies that believe in something beyond simply maximizing profits."
___
AP Technology Writer Barbara Ortutay in New York contributed to this report.
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Friday, February 3, 2012
Health Benefits of Pizza | Healthy Food & Drinks
[unable to retrieve full-text content]Providing Varied Information About Healthy Food & Drinks in the web ... Enjoy this article? For more pizza and pasta tips and recipes visit our Seattle Pizza Blog [http://seattlepizzablog.com/]. Jessica Ackerman is a senior staff ...
Source: http://www.americannewsgroup.com/health-benefits-of-pizza.html
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Picking The Best Auto Insurance For A Vehicle | Boat Insurance ...
Sorry, Readability was unable to parse this page for content.
Source: http://www.411boating.com/picking-the-best-auto-insurance-for-a-vehicle/
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EU official: Greece needs extra $20 billion (AP)
BRUSSELS ? Greece needs about an extra euro15 billion ($20 billion) to get its debt down to manageable levels ? and the rest of 17-country eurozone is being asked to help foot the bill.
Debt-ridden Greece is close to a deal with private investors to reduce its debt burden by about euro100 billion and that ? plus an agreement to enact deep spending cuts ? could pave the way for a euro130 billion bailout from its European partners and the International Monetary Fund. But on Thursday a European Union official said this plan was not enough to help fix Greece's problems, which are getting worse as the effects of the recession take hold.
In order to bring Greece's debt burden to a sustainable level ? 120 per cent of its economic output in eight years' time ? the country's international debt inspectors calculate that Greece needs an additional euro15 billion ? a shortfall it believes should be made up by the rest of the 17-country eurozone, the European official. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter
The extra money, in theory, could come either from the other euro countries or by having the European Central bank, its national counterparts and state-owned banks like France's Caisse de Depots taking a loss on their Greek bond holdings, the official said. Analysts estimate that the European Central Bank holds euro50 billion to euro55 billion in Greek bonds by face value but it can't simply write them down without breaking the EU treaty, which prohibits the bank from financing governments. Writing off a debt would be, in effect, transferring money directly to a government.
The new push for Greece's public and government creditors to take a cut on their investments ? dubbed the official sector involvement, or OSI ? is a new front in the battle to save the country from a potentially devastating default. So far the eurozone and the International Monetary Fund have given billions in bailout loans to the struggling country, but they haven't been asked to take losses.
It is also an acknowledgment that Greece's economy is in such a dire state that the country's debt inspectors ? the so-called troika of the Commission, the European Central Bank and the IMF ? are having a hard time finding more ways in which Athens can save money.
Greece has been at the heart of Europe's debt crisis since it revealed in 2009 that its debt was far larger than its official estimates. It piled on the debt during a decade in which the government overspent and its economy was growing. Those fortunes turned when the world went into recession in 2008.
The challenge now is reducing the debt at a time when the economy is shrinking. Spending cuts, tax increases and the general uncertainty of the crisis have already pushed Greece into a deep recession, which in turn has eliminated many of the gains from the austerity measures.
Asking private creditors like banks and investment funds to share the burden of saving Greece was the first reaction to this problem; getting the public sector creditors involved is the next.
The official said a deal with private creditors to take losses on their holdings will have to be announced before the end of the week to make sure it can be implemented before Athens has to pay back euro14.5 billion in bonds on March 20.
Experts from national finance ministries will examine the details of the deal on the so-called private sector involvement ? or PSI ? on Friday, and will likely also discuss how the euro15 billion gap can be closed, the official said.
People familiar with the tentative deal have said it would see investors take losses of more than 70 percent of their holdings. On top of having to accept a 50 percent cut in the face value of their bonds, investors will also receive lower interest rates of between 3.5 per cent and 4.5 per cent and give Greece 30 years to pay back the debt.
If agreed, the deal would end negotiations with bondholders that started this summer and have become increasingly tenuous in recent weeks.
Getting public creditors like central banks or sovereign wealth funds to take a hit may be even more controversial, since any losses or foregone profits ultimately come out of taxpayers' pockets. Germany, the strongest economy in the eurozone, is also one of the strongest opponents of OSI.
Germany's finance minister, Wolfgang Schaeuble, said on n-tv television Thursday that he didn't see the need for "any extra contributions from the public sector; we're carrying everything anyway."
Schaeuble didn't address the issue of the euro15 billion funding gap.
The majority of the ECB's Greek bonds were bought at a discount in the summer of 2010, when the central bank was trying to stabilize their prices. Even though it is bound by the rules of the EU treaty, it could find a way to give up the substantial profit it would earn by holding the bonds to maturity. It could do that by selling the bonds to the eurozone bailout fund or to Greece at the knockdown prices it bought them for.
However, the ECB has so far given no indication that it is willing to do so, with some of its governing board members saying that giving up on profits would clash with the bank's ban.
Alternatively, eurozone states could boost their bailout loans beyond the promised euro130 billion, or provide some, more-limited, relief by further lowering interest rates on these loans.
Analyst Carsten Brzeski at ING in Brussels said the ECB and President Mario Draghi might be open to giving up the profits on the bonds. But the bank will wait to take action so it does not appear to be acting at the request of politicians.
The bank is legally independent and the EU treaty forbids it to take instructions from government officials.
"I think Draghi could live with it, but they will not bow very easily," said Brzeski. "It has to look like it is their own idea, their own initiative."
While officials have stressed the need for Greece's financing to be set before the bailout goes through, the main players have been flexible before and "it's not as hardball as it looks."
On the official side, "someone will have to bite the bullet, or everyone," he said. European officials are trying "to have everyone take part in the burden sharing and thereby get the ECB involved."
The euro130 billion second bailout package also still depends on labor market reforms that the EU and IMF are asking Greece to implement. Unions and employers resumed talks on Thursday over troika demands to lower wage costs in the private sector and possibly lower the minimum wage.
__
AP Business Writer David McHugh contributed from Frankfurt.
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Thursday, February 2, 2012
The Reasons Why This Fantastic Video Gaming Console Is So ...
Published on February 1, 2012 in Uncategorized.
Of course these are just a couple of reasons to get a ps2, you might have the ability to think of a lot more reasons. Truthfully, I ordered the playstation 3 when it first was released and wound up putting it on e bay to get rid of it. And I was very satisfied simply going back to my ps2. You?ll find the playstation 2 in a number of stores but they may cost more as compared with if you order it from amazon. If you would like to get the best cost on the console and the games you should check it out on Amazon. . call of duty modern warfare 3 online guide You may have noticed that each time a new video game console comes out, that is what your youngsters say they need to have. One of the very first games which became available was the Atari 2600 and it is a device that I still have and use from time to time. I remember when I first received it on Christmas, and I spent every waking hour enjoying those games. Today we all are all over our youngsters about turning of the games and going out so they can get some physical exercise. Then needless to say after we tell them to go outdoors we will still end up getting them the new game anyway. However we will offer you with a couple of reasons why you need to stick with or get the playstation 2. call of duty black ops xbox 360 cheats I have heard people claim there are no new game titles that are created for the ps2. The reality is that Sony continues to be making new games for this player, just not as many as they do for their ps3. Yet another way you will be able to save money by getting a ps2 is due to the fact the games for this unit can be picked up for just $10, that is a lot less than the up to $50 for the ps3 games. If you break it down you will recognize that for the exact same money you can acquire 5 ps2 games or merely one game for the ps3.
Source: http://smallstatesdata.org/?p=2101
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Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Conflicts and Cooperation in Conservation: Adventures in Researching the Pygmy Hippopotamus on Tiwai Island, Sierra Leone
CamTrapTeam ? (Left to right): Bockary, Kenewa, April and Alusine at a camera trap on Tiwai Island
Our vehicle pulled into the village late one rainy night. Dozens of my new neighbors, Sierra Leone?s Mende people, emerged from their thatch-roof houses, looking cross at being woken up and not exactly welcoming. We unloaded some of my gear underneath the dripping eaves, and as I tried to find something dry to wear, I realized that all my equipment: books, electronics, and gear, were soaking wet in the back of the truck. I had spent the entire day with a driver whose accent was so thick that several minutes into a conversation about cheese, I realized we were discussing chiefs, not cheddar. I had eaten entrails soup for lunch, been bounced over dirt roads for over 10 hours, and knew not a single person around me. I was suddenly glad it was dark so that nobody could see the silent tears streaming down my face.
I rummaged around in the dark and found a flashlight and rain jacket, and clinging to these items as a lifeline, I trudged down to the riverside after my guides to set off across the water to the island. It was pitch black, and I could hear the roar of rapids downriver. I was terrified that we would hit a rock or miss the landing point, but we reached safely. Escorted to a musty tent, I collapsed, exhausted and wondering what I had gotten myself into.
This journey to Sierra Leone was the first step towards my dissertation research. However, my first experiences in Africa were spent as a Peace Corps volunteer in Niger, West Africa after graduating from the University of Georgia in 2003. Living without electricity or running water in a small rural village in Niger, I was frequently sick with parasites and lost 80 pounds in a year. The temperatures soared over 120?F on some days, and Harmattan winds brought the sands of the Sahara to my doorstep.
However, I challenged myself to participate in every aspect of village life: pounding millet into the daily meal with women, farming alongside men (to their vast amusement), and carrying water from the well on my head. In my second year, I teamed up with park rangers to conduct mammal surveys and organize school gardens and tree nurseries. In this village on the opposite side of the river from one of the few protected areas in the country, I developed a greater appreciation of the struggles facing conservation in a developing country.
HippoInTrap ? Male pygmy hippo caught in a pit trap during the trial event
Park W, named for its location along a W-shaped curve in the Niger River, is home to a diverse array of creatures, including cheetahs, lions, elephants, and an amazing bird community. Despite this biodiversity, people in Niger are some of the poorest in the world. The land in Niger is desolate and barren; not much time is spent pondering the merits of conservation when daily life is so difficult. One day I tagged along with park rangers on one of their river outings in a local canoe. Suddenly we spotted another canoe filled with grass on the park side of the river, and the men inside paddled frantically away from us. As we followed behind, a surreal feeling came over me as I realized I was in a ?high speed? canoe chase pursuing illegal grass.
The poachers reached the other side before us, but had to leave the grass behind, and the rangers burned the contraband. It seemed so wasteful, when I knew they were stealing grass to feed their livestock. My own education on conservation up to this point had been from a preservation standpoint, where resources should be protected from humans. However, in a country so devoid of resources on one side of the river, and with so many on the other, I began to realize that conservation is far more complicated.
When my Peace Corps tenure ended in 2007, I returned to the University of Georgia to obtain a doctorate in Forest Resources. At the end of my first year of classes, I received an email about an endangered, elusive creature ? the pygmy hippopotamus. I was intrigued. There was a possibility for funding field research to study pygmy hippos on a river island in Sierra Leone. I searched the scientific literature, and did not find much information. With the help of my advisors, I wrote a proposal to Conservation International, who agreed to fund me for my first field season.
I arrived in Sierra Leone in October in 2008 to begin my dissertation research on remote Tiwai Island. This 12 km2 river island was designated a Wildlife Sanctuary in the 1980s, and contains one of the highest primate densities in the world. However, I was setting out virtually alone in a war-torn, impoverished country to find an animal that is notoriously difficult to study even for experienced researchers.
Looking at hippo ? A boy looking at the freshly painted Pygmy Hippo Mural
Although they superficially look like the well-known common hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius), pygmy hippos (Choeropsis liberiensis) differ in ecology, behavior, and most conspicuously, body size. The common hippopotamus can reach upwards of 3,000 kg, whereas the diminutive pygmy hippopotamus rarely tops 300 kg. The hippos are so distinct that the species are two different genera. While common hippos congregate in large social groups, the pygmy hippopotamus is rare, solitary and nocturnal; traits that make direct observation nearly impossible and survey methods more complex.
I arrived that rainy night on Tiwai Island armed with 20 remote-sensing camera traps to capture pygmy hippos in digital pictures. I was also exploring methods to safely capture a pygmy hippopotamus and attach a radio tracking device. Since locally pygmy hippos are known to be delicious and they routinely destroy farmer?s crops (see video below), I also created questionnaires to learn about local knowledge of pygmy hippos and conservation perceptions.
During my field research, I spent almost every moment of every day with my 2 local field assistants, Kenewa and Bockary. Although they could not read or write, they knew the forest with its flora and fauna better than any foreigner. By the end of my stay, Kenewa had converted one of his storage rooms into a home off the island for me. He carved my name into the door and said this room would always be mine, no matter where I was in the world. Bockary was the joker of the team and a lady?s man. He claimed to have 10 girlfriends?in one town. Unfortunately this meant that sometimes work items would go missing, as the girlfriends decided they wanted what he had for themselves.
Minah, Tiwai Island?s research coordinator, was also my guide to culture, villages, and the island. He had worked on the island helping foreigners since before I was born. He taught me how to ride a motorcycle and demonstrated local fishing techniques. My team and I discussed all aspects of our cultures, trying to understand our differences and where we had common ground. Although work took up much of our time, my team and I would sometimes go to the local dances, where DJs would set up in a village meeting area and we would dance the night away to ?sweet Salone?s? music. Sierra Leone, affectionately known as Sweet Salone, has a burgeoning music industry. Songs range from pure entertainment to expression of inequalities and political commentary.
PoundingRiceFlour ? April with the village women while they are pounding flour for a funeral
For many months, we explored forests, farms and the Moa River learning about pygmy hippos? habits and habitats through photos from the camera traps (see video below). However, though I saw many footprints and dung and captured images of hippos, I had yet to see a single pygmy hippo with my own eyes. Tourists who came to the island for the weekend would sometimes wander into the research station for a conversation. They often implied that I must be a pretty poor researcher if I had never seen the animal I had traveled thousands of miles to find. Even knowing that few foreigners see these rare creatures in the wild, I began to despair.
One day in May 2009 as we paddled upriver in our dugout canoe, Kenewa uttered a small gasp of surprise. There, in the water next to the riverbank, was the animal for which I had been searching for over seven months. With a splash, the pygmy hippo clambered out of the water onto a sandy beach and stopped to watch us. This was the moment I had been waiting for, and I could not help but grin. It locked eyes with us for a few moments before turning and running into the forest. Although pygmy hippos depend on water sources like common hippos, pygmy hippos spend most of their nights in the forest. They have a more sloping profile and their feet are more splayed than the common hippopotamus, which allows them to quietly tunnel under dense vegetation through the forest.
Hippo_OpenMouth ? One of the pygmy hippos caught on camera trap on Tiwai Island
Project money ran out after 10 months, and I returned to the States for a 9 month hiatus to write grant proposals appealing for funds. Armed with new funding from several zoos and a Fulbright Scholarship, I flew back in August 2010. Sierra Leone was deep into the rainy season. Although everything was soggy from the unrelenting rain, my arrival that year was far different than my first. People ran out of their houses to greet me and cheer as I stepped out of the vehicle. I looked around and saw familiar smiling faces, and it felt like coming home.
We soon began our first pit trap attempts to capture a pygmy hippopotamus. If the pit traps were successful in catching a pygmy hippopotamus, we would bring a wildlife veterinarian to Sierra Leone to help us anesthetize a hippo. When the hippo was asleep, we would place a radio collar to track the hippo?s movements through the forest. We were interested in learning more about hippo habitat to identify what pygmy hippos need to survive. Using local hunter knowledge and maybe a little bit of ?juju?, we dug several holes and covered them with rattan mats and debris. Then it was time to wait.
One morning I woke up in the village and went about my morning routine. Suddenly, Minah approached me. The trap monitors had radioed in to say there was a red river hog in one of our traps. Although it was not a pygmy hippopotamus, it was a great animal to practice our pit trap method on. I gathered a few men and we zoomed to the island on the boat. We rushed to the trap and I looked gingerly over the rim.
HogCapture ? Four red river hogs caught in a pit trap
My first thought was ?Oh there are two hogs in there.? As they squirmed around, I realized there were more than two. There were four. Apparently the trap checker had only gotten close enough to the trap to see that there was a hog in there before running away in fear. My plan had seemed a lot simpler from the village. We would throw a sheet over the red river hog to distract it, while collapsing one side of the trap so it could climb up. However, red river hogs are one of the most aggressive animals on the island. None of the men were eager to approach the trap. They all looked at me for instruction, but I was flummoxed.
We approached closer, and the hogs started squealing and trying to scramble out. Suddenly all seven of us were up in trees. One of the men looked over at me from his tree and exclaimed that he didn?t know I could move that fast. We debated how to get these animals out without anybody getting hurt. Bockary volunteered to collapse the side, and the rest of us left the area with relief. The hogs soon exited and ran away, too tired to bother with us. Later, Bockary admitted that he volunteered only because he was hungry and the only thing between him and food was making sure the hogs got out safely. Success!
A few tense weeks of waiting later, Minah came to knock on my door and whispered ?There?s a hippo in one of your traps.? I called Kenewa and Bockary into my room and said ?OK, this is really something amazing, but I don?t want you to tell a soul in this village.? I was afraid of a village riot, with dozens of people rushing to the scene to get a glimpse of hippo if word got out. I did not want anybody getting hurt, so the fewer people at the trap the better. My assistants let out a quiet whoop of joy and we danced around hugging for a few seconds before gathering up a few key people and materials to head to the trap.
As we approached the trap, I saw the most beautiful animal in the world ? a pygmy hippopotamus (see video below)! He was lying down, obviously tired from trying to climb out and glistening dark purple in the early morning light. Although we had now successfully captured the hippo, we had to let it go because this was just a trial. Kenewa began to try to collapse one of the walls, but the hippo roared in agitation.
Learning from our previous experience with the hogs, we brought empty canvas bags to fill with dirt to form steps. We filled the bags with dirt and dropped them in. The pygmy hippo attacked the first one and tore it to pieces, which had us all running for the nearest trees (unfortunately I chose the one covered in razor grass). When we placed the second bag in, the hippo used the extra bag as a step to exit the trap, and then ran off into the forest. ?Ah bwa!? He?s out! We returned triumphantly to the village. There was a very large party in the village that night. I sent excited text messages to my professors to let them know we were ready to try the real captures.
Pit Trap ? The pit trap team circled around a new pit trap
Now that we knew the traps could successfully and safely capture a pygmy hippopotamus, my major professor, Dr. John Carroll and a wildlife veterinarian, Dr. Michele Miller, flew to Sierra Leone to help me capture and radio-collar a pygmy hippopotamus. My advisor, Dr. Sonia Hernandez, would coordinate everything from the United. I added 2 more field assistants (Alusine and Lahai) who could read and write to help. Unfortunately we did not successfully capture a hippo during this time, although we had several near-captures (the pygmy hippos fell halfway in but were able to escape). We hope to travel for another attempt later this year if we can raise the funds.
One of the highlights of my research on Tiwai was when the U.S. Ambassador to Sierra Leone came to visit me as I was one of the few Fulbright Scholarship students in the country. When we arrived in the village, very few people were around. We had arrived earlier than expected and everybody was still in their fields. I was worried that my plans for a smooth trip would go awry. We made some short introductions to the people in town, and left for the island.
That evening, when I was chatting with the visitors, I heard drums in the distance. As the sound grew louder, we all popped up from our chairs. Out of the forest came the villagers, drumming, singing and dancing. Among them was a man dressed in a full length raphia palm costume. Although I had arranged for a general cultural show in honor of the U.S. Ambassador, this ?pygmy hippo devil? (see video below) was a surprise: constructed painstakingly by the villagers just for this night. I was speechless that the villagers took so much pride in their pygmy hippos that this was the animal they chose to display to the Ambassador.
Conflicts in Conservation
The relationships I developed with the local people during my tenure in the Peace Corps and in Sierra Leone gave me a unique perspective of conservation. I witnessed the frustrations that protecting wildlife and land can bring in an area where people are struggling for daily survival. Most of the villagers could not grow enough food to support themselves through the entire year, and have to rely on imported rice when the food ran out. Although they live in areas of great plant and wildlife diversity, this honor means little to people who are subsistence farmers trying to scratch out a living in an unforgiving land.
Radiotelemetrypractice ? Radio telemetry, a way of tracking animals through the forest, requires a lot of practice
A civil war devastated the country and Sierra Leone is still struggling to recover. My own field assistants struggled during the war. Kenewa, who was 12 when the war began, was forced to take drugs by soldiers and risked his life to raid food from the rebels. Bockary escaped to Monrovia, Liberia, only to return when the war was over. Minah had to flee for his life into the forest because the rebels thought all foreign researchers had left their money with him. Many of the village men had become Kamojors, the grassroots militia claiming to have magical powers that allowed them to be bullet proof.
During our daily walks in the forests, my assistants told me horror stories of amputations and executions. The decade-long war ended in 2002, when the rebel Revolutionary United Front was defeated. However, with a high infant mortality rate, low literacy rate, and overall bleak poverty level, conservation tends to take a backburner to more pressing issues. Malaria is a major concern in this area, as I personally experienced several times.
However, malaria had an even more personal affect because it killed some of the people I care about. My good friend and confidant, Kenewa?s brother (also called Kenewa), died shortly after my return to the US in 2009. I was in Sierra Leone for his first bout of malaria and took him to the doctor for treatment. However, shortly after I left Sierra Leone, I received a phone call from Minah. Kenewa had complained of headache, and later in the evening told everybody that he was dying. Thinking he was being overdramatic, his brother told him to try to sleep. He complied, and never woke up.
Residents who live near Tiwai hope that conservation of their land can bring foreign assistance in the form of tourism, research or development assistance. However, often the expectations outweigh the reality. When I asked villagers what they would do if they were the ?bossman? of Tiwai Island, they responded that they would bring cell phone towers, schools, mosques, clinics, and much more. When I asked them how they would get money to build these, they responded that they would ?cry to the outside world.?
Hippo_Devil ? Villagers dancing around the pygmy hippo devil
Tiwai is remote by Western standards; the road conditions are unpredictable and never pleasant. A 200 mile journey from Freetown can take anywhere from 6 to 15 hours depending on your vehicle and the season. The tourist facilities on Tiwai Island are best described as rustic, although there is usually electricity (solar-powered) and running (river-pumped) water. Lodging is tents with foam mattresses.
While these amenities definitely provide a full rainforest experience, some tourists do not want to rough it or make the long journey. One visitor remarked to me ?I knew it was ?country?, but I didn?t know it was this country!? Without many visitors, there are not enough funds to satisfy the eight villages that ?own? Tiwai. Each year the tourism revenues are divided among the 8 villages for community development. However, during my first year in Sierra Leone, the annual fees were first given to the chiefs to distribute in the communities. These chiefs took what they felt was their share (which was a substantial portion), before handing the money over to the next chief who also took his ?share?. The money that actually reached the villages was very small, but the villages did not feel that they had the power to change things. Fortunately, a new system was created, and the amount of money that reaches the villages now is greater.
Researchers can help generate more direct funds by providing employment for local residents, introducing capital directly into the local economy. In countries with few educational opportunities, any sharing of knowledge between researcher and resident is beneficial. Field assistants often bring the scientific knowledge they learn during their employment to their families and friends. My field assistants became ambassadors for the pygmy hippopotamus, and helped to disseminate new findings to the communities.
Roads ? The road system in Sierra Leone can be unpleasant
Sierra Leoneans place a lot of hope on their children. Some families spend a major portion of their income to send their children to school. The parents hope that one day the children will return the favor and take care of their parents when they are old. A better educated child has a better chance of supporting the family. However, a better educated child also has the chance to improve development in the entire country. If environmental education is also incorporated into the local schools, these children will be equipped to make land management decisions when they begin their own families and, if they return to the village, farms.
For this reason, I conducted environmental education programs in local schools and villages alongside my collaborators, the Across the River Transboundary Peace Park project and the Environmental Foundation for Africa. We also painted murals and printed posters depicting wildlife and the importance of conservation, placed conservation bumper stickers on public transportation vehicles, and created a Pygmy Hippo Awareness Day with t-shirts and contests.
So far the response to our project has been excellent. Residents are proud that their island is an important habitat for this rare animal, as demonstrated during the Ambassador?s visit, and they believe this project will help advertise tourism and research on Tiwai Island. When people view pygmy hippos and other wildlife as more than protein or pests, they are more willing to help in conservation efforts. Our hope is that one day the pygmy hippo can be seen as the diamond of Sierra Leone. As Kenewa once said ?We shall never again eat pygmy hippo meat. We have tasted pygmy hippo benefits, and they are sweeter.?
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All images belong to the author, April Conway, and all people in photographs have given permission for the photos to be used.
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