Daily Archives: 05/23/2012

Hans Rosling: Religions and babies – video talk

05/23/2012 – 7:23 pm

Hans Rosling: Religions and babies – video talk

Hans Rosling had a question: Do some religions have a higher birth rate than others — and how does this affect global population growth? Speaking at the TEDxSummit in Doha, Qatar, he graphs data over time and across religions. With his trademark humor and sharp insight, Hans reaches a surprising conclusion on world fertility rates.       Continue reading →

By guyaneseonline | Posted in Commentary, Medical, Messages, Science | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments (0)

Medical devices – A ticking time-bomb

05/23/2012 – 6:44 pm

Medical devices – A ticking time-bomb

May 23rd 2012, 10:46 by M.H. | SEATTLE – The Economist Magazine

A MAN with one clock knows what time it is, goes the old saw, a man with two is never sure. Imagine the confusion, then, experienced by a doctor with dozens. Julian Goldman is an anaesthetist at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. Like many modern health care facilities, it has become increasingly digitised and networked, with hundreds of high-tech medical devices feeding data to a centralised electronic medical record (EMR), which acts as both a permanent repository for health information and a system that can be accessed instantly by doctors to assist with clinical decisions.

After beginning to administer blood-thinning medication during an urgent neurological procedure in 2005, Mr Goldman noticed that the EMR had recorded him checking the level of clotting 22 minutes earlier. The correct interval was 30 minutes and he had, in fact, waited that long. His digital coagulation monitor was running eight minutes slow.  Continue reading →

By guyaneseonline | Posted in Education, Medical, Science, Technology | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments (0)

Why Facebook’s Plummeting Stock Price Is a Good Sign

05/23/2012 – 6:10 pm

Why Facebook’s Plummeting Stock Price Is a Good Sign

By YUVAL ROSENBERG, The Fiscal Times

May 23, 2012

Facebook (FB) stock tumbled again Tuesday – and despite the hue and cry that has intensified as the share price has deteriorated and as more and more revelations emerge about the IPO process, the slide is not necessarily a bad thing.

The stock, which went public at $38 a share and opened for trading Friday at $42, has since plunged more than 25 percent to close Tuesday at $31.12. Facebook, which had been valued at $104 billion, is now worth $85 billion – still well above the value some pre-IPO analyses assigned the company.          Continue reading →

By guyaneseonline | Posted in Business, Commentary, Economics/Finance | Tagged , , , , , | Comments (0)

The Fortunes of Bauxite – Part 1 – History

05/23/2012 – 8:18 am

The Fortunes of Bauxite – Part 1 – History

By Dmitri Allicock  – for Guyanese Online

Read complete article: THE FORTUNES OF BAUXITE- HISTORY – Part 1

For 100 years Bauxite dominated the lives of the people in the Upper Demerara River. The town of Linden is synonymous with bauxite. The discovery of bauxite in the Demerara shaped every aspect of a family’s life. The community grew from a small and sparsely populated one to become the second largest town in Guyana.

Bauxite is not a rare mineral. Over eight per cent of the earth’s crust is composed of bauxite. It is mined only in areas with access to mechanical transport. Though the large deposit of bauxite at Linden was costly to mine, the cost was offset by the fact that Guyana’s bauxite is exceptionally rich in quality.

HISTORY OF BAUXITE

Bauxite was found at Christianburg and discussed as early as 1860 before its full potential was realized. Interest in this ore peaked as aluminum became of age.   Continue reading →

By guyaneseonline | Posted in Business, Government, Guyana, History, Local Government, Mining | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments (2)

The Fortunes of Bauxite – Part 2 – Alumina

05/23/2012 – 8:15 am

The Fortunes of Bauxite – Alumina – Part 2

By Dmitri Allicock – for Guyanese Online

The Opening of the Alumina Plant in 1961

The Alumina Plant opened Tuesday, March 28, 1961. Minister of Trade and Industry, Dr. Cheddie Jagan, declared Demba’s $65 million Alumina Plant open with the turn of the control lever. He set the loader in action, giving a token finish to the loading of the S.S Sunhenderson with the first shipment of alumina ever to leave British Guiana.

The Demba Digest 1said no single construction project ever done in British Guiana has been as big as the building of Demba’s Alumina Plant. It dwarfs all others in cost, in the amount of materials it absorbed and in the quantity and quality of work that have been expended in its erection. Continue reading →

By guyaneseonline | Posted in Business, Education, Government, Guyana, Mining | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Comments (0)

The Fortunes of Bauxite – Part 3 – Negatives to Remember

05/23/2012 – 8:13 am

BAUXITE – SOME NEGATIVES TO REMEMBER  – Part 3

 By Dmitri Allicock  –  for Guyanese Online

 It is important to remember that there were some very unpleasant things that occurred with the Demerara Bauxite Company. The people of Upper Demerara were immediately tied to this industry in every manner. The bauxite plant, nearby community and some mining areas were either built or obtained illegally on Allicock’s and Paterson’s land, like the mining area at Plumba, Christianburg.

Two plants had to be built to process bauxite and later Alumina. The Bauxite and later Alumina plants were constructed. An entire town was needed – and built – for the mining of bauxite. Homes, schools, hospital, clinics, roads, drainage and other infrastructure, the Mackenzie Sports Club, a public pool, railways, and pretty much every aspect of an entire town. Demba did just that in the wilderness 65 miles up the Demerara River.          Continue reading →

By guyaneseonline | Posted in Business, Government, Guyana, History, Local Government, Mining | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments (0)

The Fortunes of Bauxite – Part 4A – When Bauxite was King

05/23/2012 – 8:12 am

The Fortunes of Bauxite – Part 4A –

When Bauxite was King – Tribute to DEMBA

By Dmitri Allicock   –  Guyanese Online

To ask any resident of Upper Demerara if they knew bauxite, would be like asking a coal miner in West Virginia if he or she knew coal. My father would jokingly say that they could mine his lungs and find quality bauxite there. He served 47 distinguished years with this company. As we reflex on bauxite, I can hear the deafening words ringing in my ears, “you never miss the well until the well run dry”.

 The story of bauxite is the story of Upper Demerara. The decline of bauxite would lead to many families leaving their ancestral homes, as they never did before. Most will never return.    Continue reading →

By guyaneseonline | Posted in Business, Economics/Finance, Government, Guyana, Medical, Mining, Technology | Tagged , , , , , | Comments (1)

The Fortunes of Bauxite – Part 4B – A Trumpet fit for a King

05/23/2012 – 8:10 am

A TRUMPET  FIT FOR A KING

By Dmitri Allicock  – for Guyanese Online

When Bauxite was king, the horn was a part of your natural neurological response.

The blowing of the horn at the power house occurred at 5.30 am to wake the mines workers. Buses and train ran trips in every direction taking workers. The 6.50am horn was to alert you to be at the North or South gate. Then the 7.00am horn would let you know that workers should be at their stations in the plant. There was the 11.00 am horn for lunch or breakfast which is a confusing mixed up of meals that have historical past. The 1220 pm horn was to alert the workers that they should be close to their stations before the 12.30 pm horn announced the back to work rhythm. The wonderful 4.30 pm horn was that the day shift was heading home.   Continue reading →

By guyaneseonline | Posted in Business, Guyana, Mining, Technology, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments (3)

The Fortunes of Bauxite – Part 5 – Summary of Bauxite

05/23/2012 – 8:08 am

THE SUMMARY OF BAUXITE – Part 5

 By Dmitri Allicock – for Guyanese Online                

Dmitri Allicock

The influence of this industry on the people of Upper Demerara and Guyana as a whole was extremely significant. An entire town revolved around this industry and was ultimately tied to its success or failure.

Bauxite is not gone. The bauxite resources of Guyana are still being mapped and the ore mining potentials are still, to some extent, not fully known. What has changed is that the bauxite industry has drastically declined from what it was.

I can hardly write about bauxite and Linden and skip over some significant events that occurred with the Bauxite Industry and Guyana. Guyana’s aspiration to join the third world family  of independent nations was successful with independence from Britain in 1966. The journey to political maturity was complex and difficult.    Continue reading →

By guyaneseonline | Posted in Business, Government, Guyana, History, Mining | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments (18)
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