#BBC World Service

[traveltobeprovedwrong]

The Dark is Rising is being adapted into a podcast/audio drama and I am STOKED!

It’s adapted by Robert McFarlane, creator the magical and haunting Lost Words/Spell Songs (that I am absolutely in love with), and he also worked with Susan Cooper & a few other artists to write songs for it!!! And it will be released on Midwinter’s Eve - how perfect is that? I can’t wait!!!!

“When the dark comes rising, six shall turn it back

Three from the circle, three from the track

Wood, bronze, iron, water, fire, stone

Five shall return, and one go alone”

[nonesuchrecords]

The Magnetic Fields’ Stephin Merritt is on BBC World Service’s Music Life with Beirut's Zach Condon and Blondie's Debbie Harry and Chris Stein. They discuss artistic self-expression, the influence of location on songwriting, and what unexpected musical genres have inspired them. You can hear it here.

The Magnetic Fields, who just completed a European tour, will tour the US with 69 Love Songs next year for the album's 25th anniversary. Their 2004 Nonesuch debut album, i, was released on vinyl for the first time this past spring; you can get it here.

[thoughtportal]

Six and a half million dead. More than a hundred times that infected. The Covid-19 pandemic has wreaked havoc across the globe. But in the final months of the third year of this health crisis, some now claim it’s all over.

Scientists with key roles in the global response join Claudia Hammond to consider the evidence behind the declarations that the pandemic has finished and they set out how, officially, this global health crisis will be brought to an end.

They reject claims that the pandemic is over, but say the emergency phase of this global health crisis is coming to a close.

But only if countries remain vigilant and maintain pandemic preparedness.

If vaccines reach arms, if treatments are shared equally and if nations re-introduce public health measures like mask wearing and social distancing when the inevitable new waves (and potential new variants) emerge, the appalling loss of life we saw at the beginning of the pandemic, they tell Claudia, won’t be repeated.

There are stark warnings too that the dramatic global drop in the sequencing of virus samples (which enables us to see how the virus is evolving) is posing a serious risk.

We can’t react to a new threat, Claudia’s panel say, if you can’t see it. Sequencing, as well as testing, has fallen by 90% since January this year, from 100,000 weekly sequences ten months ago to less than 10,000 now. This severely limits the ability to track the known variants (currently 200 sub-lineages of the Omicron variant).

Produced in collaboration with Wellcome and recorded in front of a live audience in Wellcome’s Reading Room in London, Claudia’s expert panel includes Dr Maria Van Kerkhove, the World Health Organisation’s Technical Lead for Covid-19, Professor Salim Abdool Karim, co-chair of the south African Ministerial Advisory Committee on Covid-19 and a member of the Africa Task Force which oversees the African continent’s response to the virus and Professor Sir Jeremy Farrar, the Director of Wellcome and a former adviser to the UK government on its Covid response.

[lazcorp]

The Dark Is Rising - 1. Midwinter Eve

A young boy’s time-travelling fight against ancient evil. When the Dark comes rising, who will hold it back? This dramatisation of Susan Cooper’s cult novel is a magical journey into the supernatural.

(New episodes will be released every day)

[littlethingsmakebigchanges]

TRIGGER WARNINGS. blood, killing, victims, death.

government funding is complicated. nations spend billions, easily, on maintenance, upkeep, repair. roads, waterways, sewage systemes, ports and air traffic control.

the liste is endless.

i wanted to take a momente to look at the government of Iran's funding.

here are some pictures to help You remembre.

just a few exemples of the spending priorities of the Islamic regime in power in Iran.

[weshallc]

The BBC doesn’t deserve nice things. It just spoils them.

[maple-clef]

It's started! Forgot they're releasing the episodes in 'real time' with the story, so they're a day in. It's BBC World Service so I think you can listen in live wherever you are; I think for the replay you may have to register for free access (I seem to have downloaded it without registering, may differ regionally though)...

Edit: Ok, so they're calling it a podcast. Downloads page here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w13xtvp7/episodes/downloads

[foulpoetryzombie]

YMInHw

CLICK HEAR TO HAVE SOME FUN!

[russianreader]

Traitor(s)

Traitor by Dennis Potter. Source: Internet Archive Traitor First broadcast in 1981, this Hidden Treasure play by Dennis Potter stars Denholm Elliott as Harris and Ian Ogilvy as James. It has not been heard for over 40 years. In a dingy flat in Moscow, he sits alone — a traitor to his family, his friends, his colleagues. Then the international press descend upon him and he gives his first…

[xtruss]

Mount Everest: Climbers Will Need To Bring Poo 💩 Back To Base Camp ⛺️

— By Navin Singh Khadka | BBC World Service | Wednesday February 7, 2024

Many Mountaineers use open spaces as toilets on the higher camps of Everest

People climbing Mount Everest will now have to clear up their own poo and bring it back to base camp to be disposed of, authorities have said.

"Our Mountains Have Begun To Stink," Mingma Sherpa, Chairman of Pasang Lhamu Rural Municipality, told the BBC.

The municipality, which covers most of the Everest region, has introduced the new rule as part of wider measures being implemented.

Due to extreme temperatures, excrement left on Everest does not fully degrade.

"We are getting complaints that human stools are visible on rocks and some climbers are falling sick. This is not acceptable and erodes our image," Mr Mingma adds.

Climbers attempting Mount Everest, the world's highest peak, and nearby Mount Lhotse will be ordered to buy so-called poo bags at base camp, which will be "checked upon their return".

Where Do You Poo Up a Mountain?

During climbing season mountaineers spend most of their time at base camp acclimatising to the altitude, where separate tents are erected as toilets, with barrels underneath collecting the excrement.

But once they begin their treacherous journey things get more difficult.

Most climbers and support staff tend to dig a hole but the higher you go up the mountain, some locations have less snow, so you have to go to the toilet out in the open.

Very few people bring their excrement back in biodegradable bags when climbing Mount Everest's summit, which can take weeks.

Rubbish remains a huge issue on Everest and other mountains in the region, although there has been an increasing number of clean-up campaigns, including an annual one led by the Nepali Army.

Clean-up campaigns have led to the removal of some rubbish, but that is mostly in lower camps

'Open Toilet'

"Waste remains a major issue, especially in higher up camps where you can't reach," says Chhiring Sherpa, Chief Executive Officer of the non-government organisation Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee (SPCC).

Although no official figure exists, his organisation estimates that there are around three tonnes of human excrement between camp one at the bottom of Everest and camp four, towards the summit.

"Half of that is believed to be in South Col, also known as camp four," Mr Chhiring says.

Stephan Keck, an international mountain guide who also organises expeditions to Everest, said South Col has gained a reputation as an "open toilet".

At 7,906 metres (25,938 feet) high, South Col serves as the base before climbers attempt to reach the Everest and Lhotse summits. Here, the terrain is very windswept.

"There is hardly any ice and snow, so you will see human stools all around," Mr Keck says.

The rising number of climbers means there has been a significant increase in waste on Everest

Authorised by the Pasang Lhamu rural municipality, the SPCC is now procuring about 8,000 poo bags from the US, for an estimated 400 foreign climbers and 800 support staff for the upcoming climbing season that begins in March.

These poo bags contain chemicals and powders that solidify human excrement and make it largely odourless.

On average, a climber is thought to produce 250 grams of excrement per day. They usually spend about two weeks on the higher camps for the summit attempt.

"With that as the basis, we plan to give them two bags, each of which they can use five to six times," Mr Chhiring explains.

"It certainly is a positive thing, and we will be happy to play our part to make this successful," says Dambar Parajuli, president of the Expedition Operators Association of Nepal.

He said his organisation had suggested that this should first be brought in as a pilot project on Everest and then replicated on other mountains too.

Mingma Sherpa, the first Nepali to have climbed all 14 mountains above 8,000 metres, said use of such bags to manage human waste has been tried and tested on other mountains.

"Mountaineers have been using such bags on Mount Denali (the highest peak in North America) and in the Antarctic as well, that is why we have been advocating for it," says Mr Mingma, who is also an advisor to the Nepal Mountaineering Association.

Mr Keck, the international mountain guide, echoed the same message, saying the idea will help to clean up the mountain.

Ropes and ladders left behind by climbers are collected and brought back, but human excrement remains on the mountains

Nepal's central government has announced several mountaineering rules in the past but there has been criticism that many of them have not been properly implemented.

One of the main reasons is the absence of liaison officers on the ground. Government officials are supposed to be with expedition teams at the base camps but many of them have been criticised for not showing up.

"The state has always been missing at base camps leading to all kinds of irregularities including people climbing our mountains without permits," Mr Mingma, chairman of the Pasang Lhamu rural municipality, says.

"This will all change now. We will run a contact office and make sure our new measures, including making climbers bring back their excrement, are implemented."

[jakewittlin]

[nonesuchrecords]

Caroline Shaw is on the latest episode of BBC World Service’s Music Life with fellow musicians Patrick Watson, Weyes Blood (with whom Vagabon is touring North America this spring), and Flume. You can hear their conversation here.

[thoughtportal]

Max Pearson presents a collection of this week's Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service.

We hear about the invention of the labradoodle, the first dog in space and how a Yorkshire terrier called Smoky became the world's first therapy dog.

Author Mackenzi Lee talks about her book, The History of the World in Fifty Dogs. She discusses Napoleon Bonaparte's turbulent relationship with pugs and the first guide dogs in America.

Plus, the guide dog who saved its owner's life during the 9/11 terror attacks and the man who dressed up as a dog to protest life in post-Soviet Russia.

[littlethingsmakebigchanges]

the people are having great successes!

we just have to do our parte!