The September issue is a fantastic mix of photographs and stories. I'm a little disappointed in the photo caption used in the 'Visions of Earth' Papua New Guinea - it does not describe the lightning bolts in the picture directly and leaves me wondering if the volcano is spewing pink and green lava bombs.

The rest of the issue looks great. Well done,

Marty

Thank you for the wonderful article on Vesuvius in the September 2007 issue. As an active duty U.S. Military member, my family and I lived in the shadow of Vesuvio for three years and were very fortunate to enjoy the rich and beautiful culture of Napoli from the inside.
I have to protest the mentioning of the discovery of artifacts at the US base in Gricignano, however. When artifacts were found, the construction of the commissary and exchange on the base was put on hold for over a year. The sites themselves were preserved and are viewable to shoppers beneath thick glass on the floors of the new support facility. They were not documented for a short time and then destroyed as Signore Petrone stated.
James Barnes
Camarillo, CA

The July article on malaria is rambling and incoherent, spraying out dubious 'facts' unsupported by scientific references. The writer visits Zambia and gets very carried away. Zambia is not poor because of Malaria; bed nets are being sold, not given away - but they are being sown together and used to pulverize the fishery; Coartem, like all drugs, except some paludrine, is not free here, its free of drugs; the quoted Malaria programme man saying there are no national models of success for malaria control in Africa, obviously was not around in Northern Rhodesia days, a time when all diseases where under reasonable control. A country does not have to be prosperous to control malaria; it has to allocate its resources wisely and manage the conrol programmes. In the last 20 years, this country spent a mere 16% on agriculture, health, education and district councils. So it is all a function of good governance and getting the donors to put their money where it is needed, not in the Government coffers but in the mission hospitals and clinics. And spare us from the UN programme to spend 1.5 billion dollars every year on mossy nets.

Wonderful issue! Pakistan, Vesuvius, bogs, etc. Packed with great stuff.

And it is beautiful. Are you using new stock for the magazine? The glossy pages are wonderful and the photos never looked better.

I was impressed by the look, the feel, the impact of holding something so fine.

You have made having the printed version more desirable in the days of the move to online publication.

I couldn't wait to show it to my wife the next morning, but during the night I knocked over my water glass and got the magazine wet. Even damp the pages looked great and did not fall apart or stick together.

Thanks

I read your Pakistan story with interest. After a long time Pakistan was give its deserved place in your magazine. Although the photographs and article were done in the balanced style - as is the hallmark of Geographic - yet I believe or somehow think that your writer did not cover Pakistan as it should have been. Aparently, either he did not have enough time to document Pakistan or was afraid to do so due to prevailing situation in the country.

By the way, your photograph of spiralling derveshes at Sehwan Sharif, Pakistan's prime Sufi spot, was brilliant.

Regards,
Ameer Hamza

Re: Albatrosses (December 2007)- While flying with the USAF out of Midway Island, we would run our propeller driven engines to high power for a test before flight and the local albatrosses behind the plane would launch themselves to fly in the strong prop wash. As the power increased they could not keep sufficient power of their own to keep airborne and would either crash or do wild aerobatics as they tumbled behind us. This, together with the ungainly landings from their youngsters' initial "test" flights at their shoreline nesting grounds provided much of our amusement on this remote island.

The Truth about Global Warming
By Willie J. McDonald
Non- Fiction
Dec-2007

I’m an expert in the subject of global warming. The real reason for global warming is the earth’s orbit around the sun is decaying, in other words the earth is moving closer to the sun. I’ve studied this phenomenon since July-1983, warning people of the coming destruction, and death. People called me crazy at first. I understand the weather was normal at that time, now the weather is beginning to support my finings. December- 2007: Houston, Texas is experiencing warm sunny winters, a record high of 81degrees. Eventually Houston’s winters will completely disappear, as time goes on. Houston is the perfect place to observe global warming, what’s occurring in Houston in winter will occur to the rest of the world. The sun is over the southern hemisphere now, and in the past the sun’s peripheral heat, and rays stayed within that part of the hemisphere, away from the equator, and the outer edges of the polar ice caps. The sun is thousands of times larger, than earth. The earth has moved, so close to the sun that it’s peripheral rays, and heat has spread over the equator from the southern hemisphere to the southern part of the northern hemisphere, where Houston, Texas is located, and the sun’s peripheral heat, and rays has spread over the outer edges of the south pole, and is melting the ice. The same thing will occur, when the sun reaches the northern hemisphere. The peripheral heat and rays will spread over the equator, and heat the northern part of the southern hemisphere, and melt the ice on the outer edges of the North Pole, Just ask the governments of Greenland, and Iceland about their melting ice packs. This trend will continue, until all the ice in both polar ice caps are melted, and until winter no longer exist in both hemispheres, back, and forth one polar ice cap at a time. There is enough ice in both polar ice caps to flood 90% of the existing land mass of this planet. The warmer the winters, the hotter the summers. The direct heat, and rays from the sun will intensify as the earth move closer, that’s the area of the earth the sun is stationed directly over. I grew up in Houston, Texas. I remember the hotter part of the day use to be 12:00 noon, now its 5:00 o’clock in the after noon. This is more evidence of earth’s orbit is decaying. December- 2007: The thunderstorm, and floods that occurred in the States of Oregon, And Washington was suppose to by a snowstorm, after all its winter, but the atmosphere was too warm to support a snowstorm, so a thunderstorm was created instead, the flooding was extraordinary. January-2008 tornadoes touch down in the mid-west of America, causing death, and destruction in the millions of dollars. The only different between a snowstorm, and a thunderstorm is the temperature of the upper atmosphere. The position of the sun to the earth determines the temperature of the upper atmosphere. This is the type of weather that will dominate in the future, floods, and tornados during the winter months, when these storms are not suppose to develop. The weather will go from one extreme to the other, from flooding to droughts in various parts of the United States, and the world. Food production will gradually come to a halt, because of the weather.

As I said in the past global warming has nothing to do with C02 gases, R-12 gases, CFC gases, a hole in the ozone, the sun going nova, nor methane gases leaking from the ocean’s floor, as you will see in the future. Global warming will not be reverse by riding the atmosphere of these gases. Some of these gases have polluted the atmosphere since the industrial revolution in America, and Europe. In the early 20th century, before emission devices were installed on automobiles, and trucks the air in many cities was, so polluted it blotted out the sun, And cause breathing problems. There was no global temperature increase during this time period. Global warming is in its beginning stages, and will gradually get worse. It will not occur over night, and the winters will diminish gradually, over the decades. June-1978: I went to the mountains of Big Bear, California. It over looks the city of Los Angles, California. The greenhouse gas emissions from automobiles, trucks, and industrial activity was, so bad a very noticeable thick haze formed reducing visibility by 40%.There was no noticeable spike in temperature in Los Angeles, California, during that period. Carbon dioxide is poisonous to all animals, including humans. If the levels of C02 gases are, so high why there haven’t been reports of carbon dioxide poisonings, such conditions require hospitalization. The reason the earth is moving closer to the sun the molten core of the planet is cooling, because it’s not getting enough crude oil (fuel). The oil companies drill into an oil well to extract the crude oil. These oil wells are actually self- pressurizing fuel cells, and over time the crude oil extraction process used by the oil companies releases the pressures needed to force the oil into the outer core. All oil wells (self pressurizing fuel cells) must be capped off, and the pressure within them brought back to normal, so the crude oil can be forced into the outer core. This will raise the temperature in the core, and strengthen the earth’s magnetic field, and push the earth away from the sun. The higher the temperature in the core the stronger the earth’s magnetic field, and the cooler the temperature in the core, the weaker the earth’s magnetic field. The core is cooling, because it’s not getting the fuel (crude oil) it once did, before man discovered crude oil, and new uses for it. Everything that generates energy, or expends energy needs fuel, and the earth is no different from any other machine. Animals derive their energy from food, plants derive their energy from water, and sun light, automobiles from gasoline, rockets from rocket fuel, thunderstorm, snowstorms, hurricanes, and tornados derive their energy from electricity, because these storms are electro- magnetic phenomenon. The earth generates a magnetic energy field, and it is derived from combustion of crude oil in its outer core. This is a man made situation, not the will of God. People take the earth’s magnetic field for granted, because it’s invisible, and silent. The magnetic field holds people, object, and the oceans to the surface of earth; it keeps the air we breathe from escaping into space. It protects life on this planet from the harshness, and radiation of space, it protects life on the surface of this planet from sun flares, and it locks the earth in orbit around the sun, locks the moon in orbit around the earth, and keeps the earth at a safe distance from the sun. Contrary to popular belief the electro- magnetic energy in thunderstorms, winter storms, hurricanes, and tornados are not generated by sunspots, neither sun flares, nor energy flares from deep space. The energy in these storms is generated by the earth magnetic field. The earth acts as a generator’s armature. The earth turns at a thousand miles per hour, its magnetic field brushes against the magnetic field of the surrounding universe. The energy is trapped in the earth’s atmosphere, and dispersed throughout the earth’s atmosphere, and that’s just some of the things earth’s magnetic field does.
The earth is a self-contained biosphere. These fuel cell (oil wells) can be re-pressurized by igniting the methane gases in them. In fuel cells thought to be empty, such as spindle top in Beaumont, Texas. It will be necessary to pump in a mixture of air, and methane gas, and ignite the mixture. The gas will expand, when ignited creating the necessary pressure to force the remaining oil into the core. These fuel cells extend for thousands of miles, from the upper crust down to the outer core of the planet.The oil companies can only drill less, than ten miles down. There are millions of gallons of crude oil remaining in these fuel cells, and they are located all around this planet for even heating of the core. Uneven heating of the core will result in a shift of the earth’s axes. Normalizing the flow of crude oil to the core will increase the temperature in the outer core, and the outer core heats the inner core, which generates the earth’s magnetic field. If left alone the temperature in the outer core will stabilize. This is the only way to save all life on this planet. The evidence that large quantities of crude oil is combusted, and sustain the high temperatures in the core. Every conceivable by-product of crude oil is ejected from volcanoes all around this planet, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, and sulfur dioxide, etc. The materials ejected from volcanoes originate from the outer core. There is a point of no return, because it will take decades to reheat the core back to normal temperatures. Volcanoes are the means by which the outer core rids itself of spent fuel, and volcanoes regulate the pressures in the outer core.Volcanoes extends from the surface of the planet down to the outer core.Volcanic eruptions in the past occurred more frequently, and they occurred in various parts around the planet, and were much more powerful, than volcanic eruptions in present days. This is more evidence the core is cooling. The more violent, and frequent the eruption, the higher the temperature in the core, and the cooler the temperature in the core, the less frequent, and the less violent the eruption. Many volcanoes are lying dormant, and haven’t erupted in centuries. Crude oil is capable of generating temperatures found in the core, after all crude oil is a hydro- carbon, and hydro-carbons are used to melt, and manufacture steel There are three types of hydro- carbons, crude oil- a liquid, methane- a gas, and coal- a solid. The tremendous pressures ejected from volcanoes are due to the combustion of crude oil in the outer core. The gases in all hydrocarbons expand, when ignited, and will create pressure in an enclose vessel, such as the core of this planet. I pray someone read this letter, and is intelligent enough to see the truth. There are two different diagnoses, but only one right solution. My solution is the only correct one. The leading scientists are wrong about everything. Cleaning the air will not reverse global warming. Please keep an open mind. If we choose the wrong solution we will leave our grandchildren and great grandchildren a future that doesn’t exist. It will be a hellish existence. The leading scientist will think of another excuse for global warming, when they realize they are wrong, and their plans are not working. Please don’t let them do that, times is running out! Remember there is a point of no return.

Mr. Willie J. McDonald
4640 Main St. #221
Houston, Tx. 77002
713-987-4841
Mcdnldw6@aol.com

I was quite interested to read the story in the April issue, “Last Days of the Rickshaw,” especially since I pitched that idea to the magazine a few years ago. At that time it was deemed “not to meet our editorial needs.” I guess the magazine’s needs changed.

The photography is quite good but the story is thinner than your average rickshaw wallah. I realize this is a story specifically about Kolkata’s rickshaw trade and the controversy over their use, but there wasn’t a single line of background, such as that rickshaws may have been invented by an American or simultaneously by a number of Westerners. As early as 1707 a French painting depicts two human-powered carts which can only be described as rickshaws.

These are just interesting facts, but the story lacked heart as well. I didn’t step into the sandals of a wallah; I didn’t hear how it is to work like a horse and to live on the streets. There wasn’t a single direct quote from one of the people Trillin was supposed to be writing about.

National Geographic Magazine can do better, but I’m glad to see a photographer, Chris Johns, make it into the editor position.