Schuss' Run

The arrogance of clergy by Pat Condell

2009-10-02T19:13:02+02:00

Yet again Pat voiced his best thought!! One day there might be no religion discrepancies, it could be solved with education, in about two more centuries, when all people will abandon RELIGION and its propaganda in every nomination!!!!

Religion is just a put-down to other religion, just look at all the wars about it!! In this century, you and I will never see it gone, but maybe sometimes in the future some people on this planet will live in peace without it!!

The arrogance of clergy by Pat Condell

A word to the faithful
www.youtube.com/watch?v=STlYN5KCiWg

PLEASE SIGN THE PETITION AND SUPPORT THE GLOBAL CAMPAIGN AGAINST SHARIA LAW
www.onelawforall.org/
- Sharia Law Petition!
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You can download an audio version of this video at
http://patcondell.libsyn.com/

Do people have to be into a radical religion abiding to Iran's credo? As a woman the USA and UK leaders let me be an Atheist or an Agnostic if I want to, but radical Islamist doesn't... why do Ayatollah believers kill and terrorize their own women if they do not obey their clergy? WHY? Why all the violence in Iran when they wanted to get another leader?

Amelie

Comments

Nuke plan medical purposes??

2009-09-25T18:32:59+02:00

Demo and geographically -- Israel is far too small of a country to HOUSE a huge NUKE PLANT!!

People like the Iranian and the Libyan president should be locked up, they spread lies, chaos, and hatred not thinking about their own people!!

Amélie

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad addressed the United Nation's General Assembly. Delegates from the US, Israel and EU stormed out as Iran's leader was speaking.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=5EBgqgIWuoc

Ahmadinejad: Nuke plan has medical purposes

Iranian president meets with US newspaper editors, says his country's disputed nuclear program is a 'humanitarian issue'

Yitzhak Benhorin
Published:
09.24.09, 09:49 / Israel News

WASHINGTON – On the backdrop of his fiery UN General Assembly speech and the dispute over Tehran's nuclear program, the Iranian president says he wants to cure the world. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has stated that he is willing to have Iranian nuclear experts meet with their American counterparts and experts from other countries involved in talks on the nuclear issue.

Ahmadinejad spoke Wednesday with editors and reporters of the Washington Post and Newsweek magazine. He said he would examine whether US President Barack Obama's intentions of hold a real dialogue are serious. "I think it is a very solid proposal which gives a good opportunity for a start," he said.

ynetnews.com/articles/

Comments

Doctors without borders

2009-09-21T22:38:03+02:00

The organisation that helps people to get well during war and epidemics is called: Médecins Sans Frontières

"DOCTOR WITHOUT BORDER" is a secular humanitarian-aid non-governmental organization best known for its projects in war-torn regions and developing countries facing endemic disease.

Médecins Sans Frontières was created in 1971 by a small group of French doctors in the aftermath of the BIAFRA secession, who believed that all people have the right to medical care regardless of race, religion, creed or political affiliation, and that the needs of these people supersede respect for national borders.

An international medical and humanitarian aid organization.

Doctors without borders
www.msf.org

Comments

Calgarian goes for a breastfeeding protest!!

2009-04-03T19:53:28+02:00

For God's sake does a partially visible breast offend people that much? There are more offensive things we see in pools than just a breast…like G-string bikinis and transparent bathing suits that roam the public pools relentlessly. Will there be any rules against those fashion glitches? Talk about a sight for raw meat on display! I breastfeed my 2 daughters everywhere and I never had a problem, because I did it discretely, it's just a breast, men, women, we all got it...

However there’s greater concern on what kind of mother would subject her infant to the vulnerability of public pool water? It’s not clean water as they say...

Amelie

Nice bum, but...

Mothers plan breastfeeding protest in Calgary pool

Last Updated: Friday, April 3, 2009 | 10:57 AM MT

CBC News

A group of mothers plan to breastfeed in a Calgary pool Sunday morning to protest what they are calling harassment from lifeguards.

The women say it's their right to breastfeed wherever they want to, but the lifeguards at the southwest Killarney pool have asked them to get out of the water or use the change rooms for nursing.

Gemma Kelsall takes her two children to the pool every Thursday morning where they meet up with other families. If her 21-month-old Kaliya gets hungry, they don't leave the pool to breastfeed.

But lifeguards have told her she is not allowed to breastfeed in the water, she said.

More: ....
cbc.ca/canada/calgary/story/

Comments

No climate change for Fish

2009-01-16T20:42:54+01:00

Fish 'an ally' against climate change

13:02 16 January 2009 by Catherine Brahic

An unlikely ally may have been found in the fight against the effects of climate change. Fish excretions seem to play a key role in maintaining the ocean's delicate pH balance, says a study that also reveals that there are 2 billion tonnes of fish in the world's oceans.

Bony fish excrete lumps of calcium carbonate, known as "gut rocks" which are thought to dissolve in the upper layers of the ocean. A team led by Rod Wilson of the University of Exeter in the UK has now shown that the sheer amount of gut rocks produced plays a key role in buffering the carbon dioxide that acidifies seawater.

"This study really is the first glimpse of the huge impact fish have on our carbon cycle - and why we need them in the ocean," says Wilson's colleague Villy Christensen of the University of British Columbia in Canada.

Protective role

While marine biologists have known for some time that fish produce gut rocks, until now no-one had estimated just how much calcium carbonate is spewed out into the ocean in this way.

It was widely believed that most marine carbonate is provided by the external skeletons of marine plankton. These microscopic organisms are likely to be hard hit as climate change increases the acidity of the oceans and their skeletons literally dissolve away.

The new study reveals that fish play an important role in stopping this from happening.

The researchers used two different models to estimate the amount of fish biomass that is in the global oceans, and its distribution.

By drinking salt water, fish ingest a lot of calcium, and they excrete more or less calcium carbonate depending on their size and the temperature of the water. "For a given total mass of fish, smaller fish produce more than bigger fish, and fish at higher temperatures produce more than fish at lower temperatures," explains Wilso

[:MORE:]

* For similar stories, visit the Climate Change Topic Guide
www.newscientist.com/topic/climate-change

Comments

One year in minutes

2008-12-30T18:01:13+01:00

One year in two minutes

Images from the same spot through one year. Audio recorded from the same location. Visit his blog to download this in HD, get all the original images and read about how I did this.

www.youtube.com/user/eirikso

seasons, nature, spring, summer, autumn, winter, tree, trees, forest, norway, oslo, skøyen, nature

Comments

Australia Japan whalers

2008-11-21T18:32:49+01:00

Whales are getting the worst... I think it's that they don't have the budget for surveillance anymore...

This here below is what they used to do!!

Gunboat diplomacy rules seas

December 29, 2007

Australia's deployment of an armed ship to monitor whaling is part of a bigger political picture, writes Andrew Darby.

Take a group of fit young paramilitary Australians, give them a need to let off steam while they policed a beat in the vast Southern Ocean, and a big ship to do it on.

What did they come up with? Dodgeball.

In a former life, the Australian fisheries patrol ship Oceanic Viking, now tasked with chasing Japanese whalers, was a cable layer. It carried long lines of undersea cable, coiled in tall cylindrical holds amidships.

Page 1 of 4 | Single page

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www.smh.com.au/news/world/
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Australia govt says will not monitor Japan whalers

Friday, November 21 12:20 am
Reuters Rob Taylor

Australia will not send a fisheries patrol ship this year to shadow Japanese whalers and protests near Antarctica, the government said on Friday, appealing for activists to keep high seas protests peaceful.

As Japan's whaling fleet heads to the Southern Ocean to hunt close to 1,000 minke and fin whales, Canberra said it was pursing a diplomatic solution to Tokyo's yearly research hunt after Japanese complaints last season about the Australian patrol ship.

Environment Minister Peter Garrett said the ship had already gathered photographic and video evidence of the hunt to back a possible international legal challenge to the cull, while this season's hunt would be mostly in New Zealand patrol areas.

"We said we would monitor the whaling activity and we did. We won't be using the (patrol icebreaker) Oceanic Viking again to monitor the whaling fleet this year," Garrett told state radio.

The annual five-month cull will begin in weeks.

Japan, which considers whaling to be a cherished cultural tradition, abandoned commercial whaling in accordance with the international moratorium in 1986, but began what it calls a scientific research whaling program the following year. Australia's Foreign Minister Stephen Smith met his Japanese counterpart Hirofumi Nakasone ahead of an Asia-Pacific leaders meeting in Peru on Thursday and said Australia was determined to end the cull, but through diplomacy.

Japan is Australia's biggest export market and a security partner with a defense pact drawing the two together as Asia-Pacific allies with the United States.

Nakasone in turn asked Australia to crack down on anti-whaling protest groups that disrupted last season's cull with stink bomb attacks and boardings that resulted in the brief detention of two activists on a harpoon ship.

The hardline Sea Shepherd protest group captain Paul Watson said he expected more clashes this season between the fleet and his flagship the Steve Irwin, which has previously been involved in ramming incidents.

"If you want to stop piracy, you need a pirate to do it," Watson told Australian media, adding that "hanging banners and just witnessing" was not enough to stop environmental plunder.

Watson, who will leave Australia in days, said he believed the whalers were close to financial collapse after incurring what he said was a $70-million loss last season, in part due to protest action disrupting the cull. The yearly hunt generates $120 million in revenue.

Greenpeace will not go to Antarctica this year to concentrate on an anti-whaling campaign in Japan and a court case against some of its activists over the alleged theft of whale meat.

Garrettappealed to activists to keep this season's protests peaceful, saying the hunt would take place mostly in New Zealand's maritime rescue area of the Ross Sea.

"We certainly don't support action which places the jeopardy of anybody in the Southern Ocean ... at risk," he said.

(Editing by Valerie Lee)
Australia and New Zealand
http://uk.reuters.com/news/environment

Comments

Sarcophagus: Herod family tombs

2008-11-19T19:03:52+01:00

Great discovery that shows how old this part of the world is!!

This sarcophagus, is one of three found where Herod's fortress palace once stood, is seen at Hebrew University in Jerusalem November 19, 2008. Archaeologist has unearthed the 2,000-year-old remains of two sacrophagi in which a wife and daughter-in-law of the biblical King Herod had been interred.

The findings announced by Ehud Netzer of Jerusalem's Hebrew University could cast new light on the lavish lifestyle of the Roman-era monarch also known as the "King of the Jews."

REUTERS/Baz Ratner

Israeli archaeologists unearth Herod family tombs

Wed Nov 19, 2008 8:54pm GMT

By Allyn Fisher-Ilan

BEIT SAHOUR, West Bank (Reuters) - An Israeli archaeologist said on Wednesday he had unearthed what he believed were the 2,000-year-old remains of two tombs which had held a wife and daughter-in-law of the biblical King Herod.

Other findings announced by Ehud Netzer of Jerusalem's Hebrew University provided new evidence of the lavish lifestyle of the Roman-era monarch also known as the "King of the Jews."

Herod, a Roman-anointed king who ruled Judea from 37 BC until his death in 4 BC, has a special place in biblical history. Herod rebuilt the Jewish temple in Jerusalem, making him a focus of study in the Jewish state.

The Gospel of Matthew says Herod ordered the "Massacre of the Innocents," the killing of male infants in Jesus' birthplace of Bethlehem, out of fear of losing his throne.

Netzer, an authority on Herodian excavations, showed reporters portions of two limestone sarcophagi he says had contained remains of one of Herod's wives, Malthace, and a daughter-in-law.

He said these findings supported his claims that another sarcophagus he found at the site in 2007 had been Herod's tomb. Some experts had said then the evidence seemed inconclusive.

Based on the additional sacrophagi he has found, and despite the absence of any inscriptions or documentation by the ancient Jewish historian Josephus Flavius, Netzer said:

"I would eat my hat if it were someone else's tomb."

At a visit to the dig site in Herodium, outside Jerusalem in the occupied West Bank, where one of Herod's palaces once stood, Netzer showed reporters evidence of what he said was a mausoleum at the site, where the remains of the sacrophagi had been found.

Some bones were also found nearby but Netzer could not verify they belonged to any of the Herod dynasty.

Netzer said the remains of the monarch and his relatives likely disappeared when their tombs were smashed, possibly by Jewish rebels against the Romans from 66 to 72 AD.

He said his team was surprised when they came across further evidence of Herod's cushy lifestyle, a well-preserved mural of gazelles decorating walls of what Netzer believes was luxury seating for a theater.

(Editing by Angus MacSwan)

Reuters 2008.
uk.reuters.com/article/scienceNews

Comments

Blainville's beaked whale

2008-09-30T10:56:52+02:00

Seeing, hearing the beaked whales

A beaked whale is any of at least twenty species of small whale in the family Ziphiidae.

They are one of the least-known families of large mammals: several species have only been described in the last two decades, and it is entirely possible that more remain as yet undiscovered. Six genera have been identified.

Whilst sailing (or drifting as we were at the time) from Portugal to Lanzarote we enjoyed the company of these two beautiful beaked whales for most of the afternoon and early evening. One was a lot more curious than the other.

Three of these, Indopacetus, the Hyperoodon and the Mesoplodon, are united in a single subfamily, the Hyperoodontinae.

Beaked whales are creatures of the ocean deeps, feeding, so far as is known, on or near the sea floor. They have an extraordinary ability to dive for long periods—20 to 30 minutes is common, and 85 minute dives have been recorded—and to great depths: 1,899 metres and possibly more.

Blainville's beaked whale.
Image courtesy of Victor Gonzalez Otaola, University of La Laguna, taken under permit from the government of the Canary Islands.

The Blainville beaked whale is seen around the Canaries
Environment correspondent Richard Black joins researchers on board the yacht Song of the Whale as they look and listen for whales around the Canary Islands.

Beaked whales are probably the least understood large mammals on the planet, but sound can help us track their mysterious movements.

MONDAY 29 SEPTEMBER: FIRST SIGHT
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7634123.stm

Comments

Cyclone Nargis survival

2008-06-22T16:58:01+02:00

Two months after Cyclone Nargis flounced across Myanmar's Irrawaddy Delta, taking an approximately 134,000 lives and destroying crucial farm lands the military rulers are as secretive as ever and its people still linger far and removed from the rest of the world.

Burmese saved by survival instincts

SEVEN weeks have passed since Cyclone Nargis swept through the Irrawaddy Delta in southern Burma, leaving a trail of flattened villages and broken lives and arousing international sympathy that turned to anguish as the military government obstructed foreign aid.

While it is estimated that the cyclone may have killed 130,000 people, the number of lives lost subsequently is much lower than at first feared, in part because of the resilience of villagers used to coping with a brutal junta.

Reports from Burma, obtained despite heavy media restrictions which don't allow this journalist to give their name, find relief workers continuing to criticise the government's secretive posture.

They say the main problems include an obsession with security, restrictions on foreign aid experts, and weeks of dawdling that has left bloated bodies befouling waterways and survivors marooned with little food.

But the specific character of the cyclone, the hardiness of villagers and aid efforts by private citizens have helped prevent further death and sickness, according to aid workers

More...

news.scotsman.com/Burmese-saved-by-survival-instincts

Comments

Burmese after the Cyclone Nargis storm

2008-05-05T23:50:23+02:00

One day you've got everything and the next absolutely nothing, but there's hoipe since we're going to help out!

DEADLIEST RECENT STORMS

Hurricane Katrina, US, 2005 - at least 1,836 dead
Orissa Cyclone, 1999, Northern India - at least 10,000 dead
Hurricane Mitch, 1998, Central America - at least 11,000 dead
Typhoon Thelma, 1991, Philippines - 6,000 dead
Bangladesh cyclone, 1991 - about 138,000 dead
Bhola cyclone, 1970 - at least 300,000 dead

Animated guide: Hurricanes

Burmese storm toll 'tops 10,000'

More than 10,000 people were killed in a devastating cyclone that hit western Burma on Saturday, Foreign Minister Nyan Win has said on state TV.

He said his government was ready to accept international assistance. Aid shipments are now being prepared.

Thousands of survivors of Cyclone Nargis are lacking shelter, drinking water, power and communications, but in many regions help has not yet arrived.

Five regions in which 24 million people live have been declared disaster zones.

Expressing his sadness at the scale of the disaster, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon confirmed that UN officials were meeting Burmese government representatives to discuss how to help.

If the toll is confirmed, Nargis is now the world's deadliest storm since a 1999 cyclone in India killed 10,000 people.

Nargis hit the south-east Asian country on Saturday with wind speeds reaching 190km/h (120mph). It brought with it a sea surge that smashed through towns and villages.

Earlier on Monday, the death toll was being put at 351 but the foreign minister later went on TV to announce the figure of at least 10,000.

With information still coming in, he warned the toll could yet rise.

The towns of Bogalay and Laputta, in the region of Irrawaddy, are among those locations particularly badly hit, state media have reported.

None of the casualty figures have been independently confirmed.

The BBC is not permitted to report from Burma, also known as Myanmar.

Houses 'skeletal'

Thousands of buildings have been flattened, power lines downed, trees uprooted, roads blocked and water supplies disrupted.

Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play.

Aerial footage of the cyclone aftermath

A Rangoon resident who spoke to relatives in Laputta told BBC Burmese that 75% to 80% of the town had been destroyed.

Houses along the coast had been reduced to skeletal structures, 16 villages had been virtually wiped out and no help had reached Laputta, he said.

Pictures on state TV show security services working to clear roads but in Rangoon and elsewhere there are complaints that the response to the disaster has been weak.

Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play.

An eyewitness describes the cyclone

"Where are the soldiers and police? They were very quick and aggressive when there were protests in the streets last year," a retired government worker complained to Reuters news agency.

He was referring to protests led by Buddhist monks last year that were quickly put down.

Earlier, a BBC journalist monitoring the situation in Burma from Bangkok, Soe Win, said the shortages of power and water were particularly critical.

Local people were saying that if the situation continued for another two or three days, it would be really difficult for them, he reported.

Aid assessment

Several hundred thousand people are in need of shelter and clean drinking water, UN disaster response official Richard Horsey said.

But damage to roads and communications mean it is impossible to tell the true extent of the situation, he added.

Prices of food, fuel and basic necessities have also risen dramatically.

The UN and international aid agencies are sending assessment teams to the worst-hit areas and shipments are being prepared.

Thailand has announced it is flying in a transport plane loaded with nine tonnes of food and medicines and India is sending two naval ships carrying food, tents, blankets, clothing and medicines.

The US, which released an immediate funding package of $250,000 (£127,000) to be channelled through the UN, said that Burmese authorities had refused permission for an American disaster assistance response team to enter.

Meanwhile, Burma's military junta has said a referendum on a new national constitution will go ahead on Saturday. People were "eagerly looking forward to voting", it said.

But some people are now wondering if this natural disaster could have serious political repercussions, reports the BBC's Andrew Harding in the Thai capital Bangkok.

Are you in Burma, or do you have friends and family there? Have you - or they - been affected by the cyclone? Send your comments and pictures using the post form below:

Send your pictures to yourpics@bbc.co.uk , text them to +44 7725 100 100 or you have a large file you can upload here .
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Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/asia-pacific/7384041.stm

Published: 2008/05/05 19:14:58 GMT

Comments

Teen's cyber crime

2008-04-01T16:35:01+02:00

So now the big question is, where's all that money stored? Can the authorities get the money back? If yes, will the government keep it, and on what grounds can they? Could the victims get their money back? How long will this take to be ironed out for a fair deed?

Amelie

NZ teen convicted of cyber crime

A New Zealand teenager accused of being the ringleader of an international cyber-crime network has been convicted. Owen Thor Walker, 18, admitted six charges of using computers for illegal purposes and will be sentenced in May.

Police allege the group infiltrated more than one million computers and used them to skim at least $20.4m (£10.3m) from private bank accounts. He was detained last November as part of an FBI investigation into global botnets - networks of hijacked PCs.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/asia-pacific/7323733.stm

Exceptional talent

A botnet can be controlled over the internet by a single computer.

It installs malicious software on PCs around the world to collect information such as login names, bank account details and credit card numbers.

Walker pleaded guilty to charges of accessing a computer for dishonest purposes, interfering with computer systems, possession of software for committing crime and accessing computer systems without authorisation, the New Zealand Press Association said.

New Zealand police said he had begun committing the crimes at school, and had designed an encrypted virus that was undetectable by anti-virus software.

It allowed him access to usernames and passwords as well as credit card details, and was used by others to commit the frauds.

Walker faces up to five years in prison for several of the charges, but Judge Arthur Tompkins indicated he was not considering a custodial sentence.

Walker was detained in New Zealand's North Island city of Hamilton and is reported to have Asperger's syndrome - a neurobiological disorder which can result in deficiencies in social skills.

Although patients have normal intelligence, some may have exceptional talent in a specific area.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/asia-pacific/7323733.stm

Published: 2008/04/01 01:05:10 GMT

Comments

Lights were switched off on Earth Hour

2008-03-31T15:46:14+02:00

The symbolic campaign was launched last year in Sydney, Australia, and 24 cities took part on Saturday. Environment Minister Jane Davidson said it was a "simple yet powerful way" to show how everyone can play their part.

The minister said: "Climate change is one of the greatest challenges we all face today and cutting down on the energy we use will be one of the most effective ways to reduce the C02 emissions that contribute to climate change."

Assembly government offices in Cathays Park, Cardiff, Merthyr Tydfil, Carmarthen, Llandrindod Wells, Caernarfon and Colwyn Bay all took part in the one-hour blackout.

Nelley has done a brilliant VIDEO about Earth Hour.... here

Phil Jenkins took this picture of Sydney Harbour Bridge just before they switched off the lights during 'Earth Hour'.

This was the first one in 2007!

Sydney in climate change blackout

Lights have been turned off across Australia's largest city, Sydney, in a hour-long event aimed at raising awareness of global warming.

At 1930 (0930 GMT) the city's skyline dimmed and normally bright landmarks like the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge went dark.

The so-called Earth Hour is supported by the New South Wales government, environmental groups and businesses.

Sydney hopes the event will make a very big statement on climate change.

The city of four million people is aiming to become the first anywhere to achieve a blackout on this scale.

The BBC's Phil Mercer, in Sydney, says by and large Sydney had never been this dark.

He says lights were off in the majority of the central business district's office blocks and large parts of the suburbs were also in darkness.

Co-operation

Greg Bourne of environmental group WWF, one of the driving forces behind Earth Hour, said the big switch off took months to plan.

"The logistics is really quite amazing in the sense every tower block is owned by one company, maybe leased by another company, have 10 tenants in and a manager and working through all of these people has been fantastic."

Many restaurants signed up and planned to serve diners by candlelight.

The owner of the Newtown Hotel, which says it is Australia's oldest gay bar, told the BBC before the blackout that they would have fun while trying to send a serious message.

"Sometimes drag queens [female impersonators] do look better in the dark anyway," said Roger Zee.

"It's up to the patrons. They'll actually have their own torches so they'll be able to light up the drag queens on the stage themselves."

Organisers want to encourage Australians to conserve energy and to think carefully about what they can do to cut pollution.

Every day millions of lights and computers are left on in deserted office blocks as well as in apartments and houses.

Campaigners have said that simply switching them off could reduce Sydney's greenhouse gas emissions by 5% over the next year.

Australia is one of the world's largest per capita producers of carbon dioxide and other gases that many scientists believe are helping to warm the earth's atmosphere.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/asia-pacific/6509437.stm

Published: 2007/03/31 10:41:06 GMT

Comments

Black Rino

2008-03-18T17:27:24+01:00

Rhinos are hefty mammals, second in size to the elephant, with limited eye sight, with dire temper but outstanding to look at. Unfortunately there aren't too many left these days due to poaching. Rhino horns are used for a mythical medicinal purposes, is much prized in the Middle East and the Far East whereas it’s seen as valuable as gold.

The WWF's African Rhino Programme is celebrating its 10th anniversary. Until the mid-1990s, many feared that the animals were staring extinction in the face as a result of extensive hunting. Since 1995, the population of the critically endangered black rhino has grown, on average, by 4.5% each year.

Factsheet: African Rhinoceros

08 Mar 2006

Just 150 years ago, Africa's savannas teemed with rhinos and other wildlife. However, relentless hunting by European settlers saw rhino numbers and distribution quickly decline. The southern white rhino particularly suffered from this colonization, and in the late 19th century was actually thought to be extinct.

www.panda.org/news_facts/publications/

Comments

If you have never been to Agrodome Rotorua

2008-01-25T17:32:59+01:00

If you have never been to New Zealand:

Rotorua is one of the very well known thermal wonderland of New Zealand. Its hot springs and geysers have attracted tourists for over a hundred years.

click on the image to see more

If you have never been lucky enough and favourable to hike to the top of any mountain in Auckland (NZ), as you may be fortunate to see from up there the hazy clouds floating on the plane, that seemed to be designed by nature as a reward for anyone to make the trek up there… then you have never witness the best sunset as I have seen the mystical thermal wonderland of Rotorua...

Amelie

Rotorua sits on the shores of Lake Rotorua. There are several other lakes nearby. Along with the geothermal wonders, there are also the more usual water activities such as fishing and boating.

More here: ...

Map of Roturua

MORE "IF YOU HAVE NEVER BEEN" at Nelley's other spiritual trip...

Comments

Evolution vs Creationism, yet again!

2007-10-07T16:15:46+02:00

Will religion and fanatical belief set us all back to ignorance? Will religious conviction and obsessive belief get us back to Stone Age because of lack of knowledge?

Yet again, some people still question this old issue: Evolution vs. Creationism!

The creation-evolution debate is a chronic political dispute about the origins of the Earth, humanity, life, and the universe, between those who espouse the validity and superiority of a particular religiously-based origin belief and the scientific consensus, particularly in the field of evolutionary biology, but also in the fields of geology, palaeontology, thermodynamics, nuclear physics and cosmology.

Within the scientific community and academia the level of support for evolution is overwhelming, while support for biblically-literal accounts or other creationist alternatives is very small among scientists, and virtually nonexistent among those in the relevant fields.

The question is often focused on issues such as the definition of science education and whether the teaching of the scientific consensus view should be 'balanced' by also teaching fringe theories; free speech, Separation of Church and State, and theology particularly how interpret the Book of Genesis.

Amelie

''Further discussion of creationism should occur in religious education as it is a belief system, not one based on science''
Hilary Leevers
Campaign for Science and Engineering

''The days have long gone when science teachers could ignore creationism when teaching about origins.''

Professor Reiss

Teachers 'fear evolution lessons'

The teaching of evolution is becoming increasingly difficult in UK schools because of the rise of creationism, a leading scientist is warning.

Head of science at London's Institute of Education Professor Michael Reiss says some teachers, fearful of entering the debate, avoid the subject totally.

This could leave pupils with gaps in their scientific knowledge, he says.

Prof Reiss says the rise of creationism is partly down to the large increase in Muslim pupils in UK schools.

He said: "The number of Muslim students has grown considerably in the last 10 to 20 years and a higher proportion of Muslim families do not accept evolutionary theory compared with Christian families.

"That's one reason why it's more of an issue in schools."

Prof Reiss estimates that one in 10 people in the UK now believes in literal interpretations of religious creation stories - whether they are based on the Bible or the Koran.

Many more teachers he met at scientific meetings were telling him they encountered more pupils with creationist views, he said.

"The days have long gone when science teachers could ignore creationism when teaching about origins."

Instead, teachers should tackle the issue head-on, whilst trying not to alienate students, he argues in a new book.

'Not equally valid'

"By not dismissing their beliefs, we can ensure that these students learn what evolutionary theory really says - and give everyone the understanding to respect the views of others," he added.

His book; Teaching about Scientific Origins: Taking Account of Creationism, gives science teachers advice on how to deal with the "dilemma".

He supports new government guidelines which say creationism should not be discussed in science classes unless it is raised by pupils.

But Prof Reiss argues that there is an educational value in comparing creationist ideas with scientific theories like Darwin's theory of evolution because they demonstrate how science, unlike religious beliefs, can be tested.

The scientist, who is also a Church of England priest, adds that any teaching should not give the impression that creationism and the theory of evolution are equally valid scientifically.

Dr Hilary Leevers, of the Campaign for Science and Engineering, said science teachers would be teaching evolution not creationism and so should not need a book to tell them how to "delicately handle controversy between a scientific theory and a belief".

"The author suggests that science teachers cannot ignore creationism when teaching origins, but the opposite is true," she said.

Teachers could discuss how creationism differed from scientific theory if a student brought up the subject, but any further discussion should occur in religious education lessons, she said.

A Department for Children, Schools and Families spokesman said it had recently published guidelines to teachers on the issue.

"Creationism and intelligent design are not scientific theories nor testable as scientific fact - and have no place in the science curriculum. "But we advise science teachers that when questions about creationism come up in lessons, it provides an opportunity to explain or explore what makes a scientific theory."

Story from BBC NEWS:

Published: 2007/10/04 23:28:30 GMT

Comments

East Beach, Lossiemouth

2007-10-07T16:05:19+02:00

Is it a turtle or an old tree trunk?

Here's my photo of the week! Your deduction might better than mine!

Coincidentally I found this marvellous photo on BBC people's photo, one of the best seen in a long time!

Bill Anderson sent in this picture of a strange 'creature' spotted on East Beach, Lossiemouth.

Amelie

Comments

Huge 'cosmic void' discovered

2007-08-25T23:18:50+02:00

The sighting will be described in a document in the Astrophysical Journal.

The Very Large Array (VLA) in New Mexico, operates at radio wavelengths. There are some 27 dishes like the ones you may see at the link below. Each one is 25m in diameter.

New Mexico
www.astro.wisc.edu/VLA_Summer_School/

Socorro, New Mexico
www.aoc.nrao.edu/

Great 'cosmic nothingness' found

The result comes from a sky survey by the VLA in New Mexico

'It's hard to picture'

Astronomers have found an enormous void in space that measures nearly a billion light-years across.

It is empty of both normal matter - such as galaxies and stars - and the mysterious "dark matter" that cannot be seen directly with telescopes.

The "hole" is located in the direction of the Eridanus constellation and has been identified in data from a survey of the sky made at radio wavelengths.

The discovery will be reported in a paper in the Astrophysical Journal.

Previous sky surveys that have traced the large-scale structure of the nearby Universe have long shown, for example, how the clustering of galaxies is strung into vast filaments and sheets that are separated by great gaps.

But the void discovered by a University of Minnesota team is about 1,000 times the volume of what would be expected in typical cosmic gaps.

"It's hard even for astronomers to picture how big these things are," conceded Minnesota's Professor Lawrence Rudnick.

"If you were to travel at the speed of light, it would take you several years to get to the nearest stars in our own Milky Way galaxy; but if you were to go to this hole and enter one side, you'd have to travel for a billion years before you would get to the other side," he told BBC News.

The void is roughly 6-10 billion light-years away and takes a sizeable chunk out of the visible Universe in its direction.

Dark evidence

The team used data from the US National Radio Astronomy Observatory's VLA Sky Survey (NVSS) to make its discovery. The VLA - which stands for Very Large Array - is a collection of 27 radio telescopes in New Mexico.

The finding is said to fit neatly with observations of the Universe's "oldest light" - the famous Cosmic Microwave Background (CM radiation, the study of which has earned several scientists the Nobel Prize.

This is the radiation that comes from just 380,000 years after the Big Bang when the Universe had cooled to such a degree that hydrogen atoms could exist. Before that time, scientists say, the Universe would have been so hot that matter and light would have been "coupled" - the cosmos would have been opaque.

THE CMB - OLD AND COLD
Nasa Probes have mapped the Cosmic Microwave Background which is all around us in space
This radiation from the infant Universe shines at weak radio (microwave) wavelengths
The maps show up tiny temperature fluctuations - the mottled colours above

These fluctuations correspond to the early distribution of matter in the fledgling cosmos
Nasa's WMap satellite sees a cold spot lying in the path of the newly found void

Today, this light shines at microwave wavelengths at a frigid -270C; and observations of the CMB made by Nasa's Wilkinson Microwave Anisotopy Probe show a particular "cold spot" in the direction of the newly identified void.

The explanation for this may lie in the enigmatic "dark energy" that scientists know so little about but which is said to be accelerating the expansion of the Universe.

Light particles passing through the void would be expected to lose a little more energy than those passing through space cluttered with matter - if dark energy is stretching the Universe apart at a faster and faster rate.

Scientists refer to this as the Integrated Sachs-Wolfe Effect and a corresponding "warm spot" in the CMB associated with an area of space dominated by a supercluster of galaxies was identified some years ago.

"In essence, this latest study gives us a very elegant demonstration of the existence of dark energy in a way which is very convincing," commented Professor Carlos Frenk, the director of the Institute for Computational Cosmology at Durham University, UK.

"We keep getting evidence for dark energy, this component of the Universe which is so dominant, and yet we still have only a tiny glimmer of what it could be."

The reason the void exists is not known. "That's going to be a challenge for people that work on the development of structure in the Universe. It's a very hot topic in the cosmology right now," said Professor Rudnick.

Story from BBC NEWS:
news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/science/nature/6962185.stm

Published: 2007/08/24 18:14:12 GMT

Comments

Chimps offer human evolution insight

2007-07-17T14:36:37+02:00

As we all already know that Chimps are the closest inherent cousins to humans and thought to have a common ancestor with us dating back to 4 million to 7 million years, depending on the assessment through the years… here’s a research that might make you think how it went about with the investigation!

Amelie

Chimps on treadmill offer human evolution insight.

Tue Jul 17, 2007 5:59AM EDT.

By Will Dunham.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Chimpanzees scampering on a treadmill have provided support for the notion that ancient human ancestors began walking on two legs because it used less energy than quadrupedal knuckle-walking, scientists said.

Writing on Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the researchers said people walking on a treadmill used just a quarter of the energy relative to their size compared to chimpanzees knuckle-walking on four legs.

The scientists equipped five chimpanzees and four people with face masks to track oxygen usage and looked at other measures to assess energy expenditure and biomechanics on a treadmill.

Bipedalism is a defining characteristic of the human lineage and marked an important divergence from other apes.

Chimpanzees are the closest genetic cousins to people. They are thought to have a common ancestor with humans dating back anywhere between 4 million and 7 million years, depending on the estimate.

Some scientists for decades have advanced the hypothesis that millions of years ago, human ancestors began walking upright because it used less energy than quadrupedal walking, gaining advantages in things like food foraging.

But there has been scant data on this notion, aside from a 1973 study looking at locomotion energy in juvenile chimps.

"This paper provides strong support for the fact that energy savings played a role in the evolution of bipedalism," one of the scientists, University of Arizona anthropologist David Raichlen, said in a telephone interview.

The chimpanzees were taught to walk on the treadmill both quadrupedally and bipedally, the scientists said.

"These guys are smart enough that they would hit the stop button on the treadmill when they were done. If they didn't want to walk on the treadmill, they'd just hit the stop button or they'd jump off," Raichlen said.

Raichlen, who worked with Michael Sockol of the University of California-Davis and Herman Pontzer of Washington University in St. Louis, said chimpanzees on occasion walk on two legs in the wild, but are not very good at it.

Overall, the chimpanzees used about the same amount of energy walking on two legs compared to four legs, but the researchers saw differences among the individual animals in how much energy they used based on their gaits and anatomy.

One, for example, used a longer stride and was more efficient walking on two legs than four, the researchers said.

They also looked at the fossil record of human ancestors and found anatomical features such as hind legs that might use less energy in locomotion, and pelvic structural changes allowing for more upright walking.

Reuters 2006.
www.reuters.com/news/science

Comments

No smoking heads allowed!!

2007-07-05T10:31:01+02:00

"No Smoking Laws" in Afghanistan will be applied!

This is too funny to overlook! They kill anyone that doesn't abide to their weird religious and godly laws, and now this? Will some of them lose their heads over this one?

Amelie

Afghanistan begins campaign to cut smoking

Tue Jul 3, 2007 9:42AM EDT

KABUL (Reuters) - Afghanistan may be the world's largest producer of heroin, but the government has taken the first step towards to a ban on smoking in public places.

Local media said on Tuesday that the council of ministers had ordered a campaign through the media and mosques to inform the public that smoking in educational institutions, hospitals and government offices has been outlawed.

The ban will be widened later to cover hotels and restaurants.

The reports did not say how the government would monitor the ban or what penalties there might be for violators.

There are no official figures on the number of smokers among Afghanistan's 25 million people, but unscientific observation and questioning by Reuters correspondents suggest around half the men have smoked at some point or another.

Afghans say there are very few women smokers.

War-torn Afghanistan produces over 90 percent of the world's heroin and despite the government's repeated efforts, backed by force and tens of millions of dollars from donor countries, drugs cultivation and consumption is rising each year.

Reuters 2006.
www.reuters.com/news/science

Comments

Who killed the electric car?

2007-05-05T21:51:15+02:00

The lucky few who drove it never wanted to give it up.

The world is in need of attention, and this is what Al Gore is doing! He is not alone in this many people before him tried to explain it, but no one listens – Just picture this - just imagine if you live in a house or an apartment (let's say for four) both parents and two children just like (us) my mate and my two toddlers - but suddenly those two kids grow up and get their own mates, that makes two more (6) in whole in the same house, they have two kids each that makes eight in the same house and so on and so on... you will soon find out you need more food, more heat to cook it, more cleaning products to clean, more water running more soap for hygiene, more toilet paper, more space to store - more space to move around more cars in that case -- you name it... this is what the world endures... so we need to plan things in consequence. To make more space for more people more heating, we need more food; more means to grow more of everything and this makes more pollution - more and more path to create harmony – so please consider checking this out as well, and since my friends Eagle Wings mentioned it too!

It was among the fastest, most efficient production cars ever built. It ran on electricity, produced no emissions and catapulted American ... technology to the forefront of the automotive industry. The lucky few who drove it never wanted to give it up. So why did General Motors crush its fleet of EV1 electric vehicles in the Arizona desert?

WHO KILLED THE ELECTRIC CAR?

Chronicles the life and mysterious death of the GM EV1, examining its cultural and economic ripple effects and how they reverberated through the halls of government and big business.

WHO KILLED THE ELECTRIC CAR?

It's not just about the EV1. It’s about how this allegory for failure—reflected in today’s oil prices and air quality—can also be a shining symbol of society’s potential to better itself and the world around it. While there’s plenty of outrage for lost time, there’s also time for renewal as technology is reborn in WHO KILLED THE ELECTRIC CAR?

Sony Pictures Classics
2 Min. 13 Sek. - 16.05.2006
www.whokilledtheelectriccar.com
Label hinzufügen

SHORT VIDEO

video.google.com/videoplay

Comments

Boy to remain with mother

2007-03-02T18:21:48+01:00

The mother cannot embrace the kid around his waistline!

That boy will be subject to long term illness and disease if someone doesn't do something about it…. although I do not support unnecessary government intervention, I can see a case in terms of the kid’s welfare and the cost that will be realized in the healthcare system.

The one good thing here is that his mother has agreed to start controlling what he eats and he is starting to exercise and has lost a little weight. As long as they do follow up and make sure both mother and child continue to do the right things it would appear all will be okay. I hope for his sake that he learns healthy eating habits forever… on thing I don’t get hasn’t the mother seen this coming?

Amelie

Obese boy to remain with mother

Overweight boy Connor McCreaddie has been allowed by North Tyneside social services to remain with his mother.

Health experts met to decide the future of the eight-year-old, who weighs more than 14 stone (89kg).

Connor, from Wallsend, North Tyneside, who lost some weight but still prefers processed food to fruit and vegetables, could have been taken into care.

His mother, Nicola McKeown, had been called to a child protection conference with the local authority.

'Formal agreement'

A statement issued on behalf of the council's Local Safeguarding Children Board said it had a "useful discussion" with all agencies and the family concerned.

It continued: "The Local Safeguarding Children Board was able to confirm that its hope and ambition is to enable this child to remain with his family.

"In order to move this matter forward we have made a formal agreement with the family to safeguard and promote the child's welfare."

The hearing was held under Section 47 of the Children Act.

Minister concerned

Connor has slimmed down from 15st 8lbs since Christmas thanks to an exercise programme and eating healthier foods.

Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt has expressed concern about the case, and backed the involvement of local services.

Ms McKeown, 35, earlier told the BBC: "He refuses to eat fruit, vegetables and salads - he has processed foods. When Connor won't eat anything else, I've got to give him the foods he likes.

"I can't starve him. But I'm confident I can get his weight down with a bit of help."

Peer pressure

Brian Dow from the School Food Trust said: "Of course there's an element of parental responsibility here, but it's hard for a child to go out of the school gates now without being bombarded by messages about the wrong kinds of food.

"We also have an awful lot of peer pressure as well. I think what you see there is a child who's probably addicted to the kinds of food that are making him obese."

The boy's story was featured on ITV's Tonight With Trevor McDonald, which followed Connor and his mother for a month.

Story from BBC NEWS:
Published: 2007/02/27 18:16:39 GMT

Comments

Alps glaciers will melt by 2050

2007-01-23T19:06:45+01:00

The know-how and available science is finally being developed in a creative way and more productive way for evidence, as they have been accumulated for years. We can now get a good sense of what anthropogenic activities are having on the Earth's climate. If you can't have a mountain to ski on and it used to be? If you think that's okay, wait and see how hot it will be in Central America and Central Africa?

Amelie

Experts: Alps glaciers will melt by 2050

By WILLIAM J. KOLE, Associated Press Writer
Mon Jan 22, 9:07 PM ET

Glaciers will all but disappear from the Alps by 2050, scientists warned Monday, basing their bleak outlook on mounting evidence of slow but steady melting of the continental ice sheets.

In western Austria's Alpine province of Tyrol, glaciers have been shrinking by about 3 percent a year, said Roland Psenner of the University of Innsbruck's Institute for Ecology.

And 2050 is a conservative estimate, he said: If they keep melting at that rate, most glaciers could vanish by 2037.

"The future looks rather liquid," he said.

Experts at a regional conference on the Alps, held annually in the mountain resort of Alpbach, stopped short of blaming global warming. But they called for a review of preventive measures to protect people living in valleys at risk of dangerous flooding.

Runoff from melting glaciers caused severe flooding that devastated parts of Switzerland in the summer of 2005.

Glacial melting is a global problem, according to the Zurich-based World Glacier Monitoring Service, which keeps tabs on 30 ice sheets in nine mountain ranges worldwide and says their average mass is steadily eroding.

Glaciers are the planet's largest source of fresh water after polar ice, which scientists say also is melting to 100-year lows. In Europe, they're also hugely popular with skiers and snowboarders seeking year-round thrills and help anchor a multimillion-dollar tourist industry.

In 2005, glacier thickness decreased by an average of 23 1/2 inches, and in 2004 by an average of 27 1/2 inches, the Swiss agency said, citing preliminary measurements. Since 1980, it said, Europe's glaciers have lost about 31 1/2 feet of ice. About 7 feet melted away in a single summer — 2003 — when a heat wave zapped much of Europe, said Michael Zemp, a glacier expert at the University of Zurich.

"What's important for a glacier is winter snow accumulation and a cold summer with not a lot of melting," Zemp said Monday in a telephone interview. "A bad year for a glacier is a dry winter and a hot summer, and these are the conditions we've been seeing."

"Glaciers have been in a general retreat worldwide since the end of the last Ice Age," he said.

Forecasting their demise is problematic "because we don't know what scenarios there will be, and there are a range of scenarios. This isn't a weather forecast. But we are seeing an accelerated glacial melting."

In the 13 years spanning 1991-2004, twice as much glacial ice melted away in Europe than in the 30 preceding years from 1961-1990, climatologists say.

To be sure, a few glaciers have more staying power: Switzerland's Great Aletsch Glacier is still more than a half-mile thick and seems destined to survive well into the 22nd century.

But data collected by aircraft and satellites since 2002 has shown that many of Earth's estimated 160,000 glaciers from the Rocky Mountains to the Himalayas have been shrinking.

Scientists say the phenomenon has been occurring for more than a century, suggesting that manmade emissions of carbon dioxide are combining with purely natural factors, such as a shift in jet streams pumping warmer air into traditionally cooler northern climes.

Even in Austria, a relatively sparsely populated country of 8.2 million people, passenger cars alone chug 11.4 million tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere each year, the nation's leading automobile club said Monday.

It urged commuters to consider walking or cycling to work, and called on motorists to ease back, saying a recent study showed that 10 percent of drives covers less than a half-mile — a distance easily traveled on foot or with a bike.

Europeans, meanwhile, have fretted and sweated their way through an unusually balmy winter that has shattered temperature records and forced World Cup ski organizers to cancel competitions for lack of snow.

"Winter has been in a holding pattern," said Gerhard Baumgartner, a meteorologist with Austria's national weather service.

World Glacier Monitoring Service,
www.geo.unizh.ch/wgms/index.html

The Associated Press.

Comments

North Atlantic getting warmer

2007-01-23T19:00:04+01:00

The amount of tremendous weather change and the events doubles from a decade before: deadly heat waves in Europe, floods in Africa, droughts in Asia and the United States. A record 300 million people flee their homes from natural disasters. Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere hits record level. Warming increases the range and virulence of diseases. Trees die in New England. Glaciers melt faster in Alaska. There's a major influx of freshwater in the North Atlantic and a slowdown of ocean circulation below the Arctic Circle. Antarctic ice flows faster into the ocean.

Amelie

Swordfish and jellyfish thrive in warm N. Atlantic

By Alister Doyle, Environment Correspondent
Fri Jan 19, 8:39 AM ET

Parts of the North Atlantic are setting winter heat records, allowing species ranging from swordfish to jellyfish to thrive beyond their normal ranges in a shift linked by many scientists to global warming.

Temperatures in Arctic waters off northern Europe at the tail end of the Gulf Stream, for example, are about 6.7 Celsius (44.06 Fahrenheit), the highest for early January since records began in the 1930s, according to Norway's Institute of Marine Research.

The world's oceans are already in a warming trend that could alter fish stocks, perhaps damaging coral reefs that are vital nurseries for tropical species while boosting northern stocks of cod or herring.

"The global oceans have been warming since the middle 1970s and several studies have shown that the warming can be attributed to a human-produced signal," said James Hurrell of the U.S. National Center for Atmospheric Research.

Off New York this week, rescuers guided eight dolphins into open water after they became stranded in a shallow cove, apparently because unusually warm waters meant fish on which they feed were staying closer to the coast.

A type of Black Sea jellyfish seems to have become established off Scandinavia, perhaps flushed out of the ballast tanks of visiting ships and now able to survive because of less chilly waters in winter.

TROPICAL SWORDFISH

Norway's Institute of Marine Research said 18 tropical swordfish had been seen off Norway since 1967 and sightings were becoming more frequent. Four were spotted in 2006 alone, including a 22 kg (49 lb) specimen caught on November 14.

"There have been many record high temperatures in recent months," said Jan Aure, a researcher at the Institute. "The climate regimes are changing and moving northwards."

In Lista by the North Sea, for example, water temperatures were a record 8.5C (47.3F), 2-3 degrees (4-5 F) above normal for January.

In recent years, salmon have been seen swimming north of the Bering Straits between Russia and Alaska, and jellyfish plagued Mediterranean beaches in 2006. Over-fishing and destruction of habitats is also disrupting marine life.

Many scientists link high global air and water temperatures in recent months to an El Nino weather event warming the eastern Pacific, and to global warming stoked by burning fossil fuels.

The longer-term warming trend is affecting all oceans.

"The Indian Ocean has had an overall warming trend attributed to the overall warming of the oceans," said Nerilie Abram of the Australian National University.

Abram said droughts in Indonesia and perhaps Australia might become more frequent as a result of changing ocean and monsoon conditions.

Not all is gloom, however. In a sign of how higher temperatures might help some fish stocks, a period of warmer waters in the 1920s allowed cod to spawn off Greenland and let a new stock break away from Icelandic waters. In the cooler 1960s, cod were unable to reproduce off Greenland and the stock collapsed.

2007 Reuters Limited.

www.reuters.co.uk

Comments

Inverted Jenny stamp

2006-11-15T19:44:42+01:00

How can anyone use a stamp that old without knowing its value?

Amelie

Rare stamp 'used on US post vote'

A rare stamp worth as much as $200,000 (£105,000) may be on an envelope sealed in a ballot box after the US mid-term elections, poll officials say.

Officials in Broward County, Florida, say they saw a famous "Inverted Jenny" stamp while reviewing postal ballots.

About 700 of the stamps were mistakenly printed in 1918 with an upside down illustration. Just 100 went on sale.

But it will be 22 months before laws will permit the box with the envelope to be reopened and the stamp checked.

The original stamps bear a picture of a Curtiss JN-4 plane, known as a Jenny, which was used for training pilots in World War I and later became an airmail plane.

'Oh my God'

Broward County Commissioner John Rodstrom told reporters he spotted the red and blue Inverted Jenny on a large envelope with two stamps from the 1930s and another dating from World War II.

"I thought: 'Oh my God, I know that stamp, I've seen that stamp before,'" said Mr Rodstrom, 54, who collected stamps as a boy.

"I'd forgotten the name. I just remembered there was a stamp with an upside-down biplane on it, and that it was a very rare, rare stamp," he told Reuters news agency.

The official said the envelope had no return address, and the ballot was disqualified because it gave no clue as to the identity of the voter.

The box containing the envelope was sealed before the stamp could be authenticated, and election laws do not allow the box to be reopened for 22 months.

In October 2005, a block of four Inverted Jenny stamps sold for $2.7m (£1.52m) at auction.

Maynard Guss, president of the Sunrise Stamp Club, told the Associated Press news agency that a cancelled [postmarked] Jenny would likely sell for $20,000 (£15,547) to $100,000 (£77,736).

Story from BBC NEWS:
2006/11/13 13:04:58 GMT

Comments

Obesity could hit economies

2006-11-15T19:24:36+01:00

Why can't we just give the excess to those that do not have enough food? The lamest excuse I have heard is: "I can't give the food up because nobody loves me, and it is comfort food!" Why not comfort someone that does not have food at all?!

Amelie

Obesity could hit economies as hard as malnutrition.

By Emma Ross-Thomas

Obesity could knock economic output as severely as malnutrition, which shaves as much as 3 percent off production in the poorest countries, a World Bank specialist said on Wednesday.

The World Health Organization estimates obesity has tripled in the past two decades and that one in 10 children and one in five adults will be obese in Europe and Central Asia by 2010 unless action is taken.

Dr. Meera Shekar, senior nutrition specialist with the World Bank, says malnutrition slices 2 to 3 percent off gross domestic product in the hardest-hit countries, and obesity could cost the same.

"We suspect that these estimates will be just as high," she said at a WHO-sponsored conference on obesity in Istanbul.

"If you're obese you're more likely to be sick, to be absent from work...the opportunity cost of not working, these are indirect costs," Shekar told Reuters.

Already, six percent of health costs in the WHO's European region, which includes Central Asia, come from obesity in adults, the organization's data show.

In 1992 obesity cost France $12.1 billion in direct costs alone, while in 2000 obese and overweight people cost the state of California $22 billion, including indirect costs, Shekar said.

Obesity is also expected to reduce life expectancy, which could have a knock-on effect on the economy. A recent UK study forecast men would live five years less by 2050 if current trends were not reversed.

POOR HIT

"The important thing is that because the problem is increasing we would see an increasing drain on economies, particularly developing economies," she said, adding obesity had appeared recently in the Middle East and North Africa and was a big problem in Latin America.

As developing countries' economies grow, the prevalence of obesity shifts to the poor from the rich.

That has happened in rich countries, and in France obesity is five times more prevalent among low-income groups than high earners, WHO Regional Adviser Dr Franceso Branca said.

Speaking at the same conference, he said he would like to see economic incentives to encourage consumers to buy healthier food.

"Taxes on soft drinks, for example, should be considered," he told Reuters, adding current European farming subsidies should also be re-examined.

"The whole problem is that consumers ... we are not completely free in deciding our own food choices," he said.

More here

Comments

Antarctic peninsula

2006-10-16T18:36:46+02:00

We see the huge warning signs about the warming and we're still not doing anything about it!

Antarctic ice collapse linked to greenhouse gases

Mon Oct 16, 2006 12:44 PM ET
By Alister Doyle, Environment Correspondent

OSLO (Reuters) - Scientists said on Monday that they had found the first direct evidence linking the collapse of an ice shelf in Antarctica to global warming widely blamed on human activities.

Shifts in winds whipping around the southern Ocean, tied to human emissions of greenhouse gases, had warmed the Antarctic peninsula jutting up toward South America and contributed to the break-up of the Larsen B ice shelf in 2002, they said.

"This is the first time that anyone has been able to demonstrate a physical process directly linking the break-up of the Larsen Ice Shelf to human activity," said Gareth Marshall, lead author of the study at the British Antarctic Survey.

The chunk that collapsed into the Weddell Sea in 2002 was 3,250 sq kms (1,255 sq miles), bigger than Luxembourg or the U.S. state of Rhode Island.

Most climate experts say greenhouse gases, mainly from fossil fuels burned in power plants, factories and cars, are warming the globe and could bring more erosion, floods or rising seas. They are wary of linking individual events -- such as a heatwave or a storm -- to warming.

But the British and Belgian scientists, writing in the Journal of Climate, said there was evidence that global warming and a thinning of the ozone layer over Antarctica, caused by human chemicals, had strengthened winds blowing clockwise around Antarctica.

The Antarctic peninsula's chain of mountains, about 2,000 meters (6,500 ft) high, used to shield the Larsen ice shelf on its eastern side from the warmer winds.

"If the westerlies strengthen the number of times that the warm air gets over the mountain barrier increases quite dramatically," John King, a co-author of the study at the British Antarctic Survey, told Reuters.

WARMER SUMMERS

The average summer temperatures on the north-east of the Antarctic peninsula had been about 2.2 Celsius (35.96F) over the past 40 years.

But on summer days when winds swept over the mountains into the area the air could warm by 5.5 C (9.9 F). And on the warmest days, temperatures could reach about 10 C (50.00F).

King said temperature records in Antarctica went back only about 50 years but that there was evidence from sediments on the seabed -- which differ if covered by ice or open water -- that the Larsen ice shelf had been in place for 5,000 years.

"Further south on the main Antarctic continent temperatures are pretty stable," he said. "There is no clear direct evidence of human activity affecting the main area."

The collapse of the Larsen B ice shelf did not raise world sea levels because the ice was floating. A brimful glass of water with an ice cube jutting out will not spill if it melts because ice contracts as it melts.

But King said the removal of the floating ice barrier could accelerate the flow of land-based glaciers toward the sea, at least in the short term. That extra ice could raise sea levels.

REUTERS

Comments

Killing Nature

2006-07-31T20:31:05+02:00

Killing innocent women and children, and nature?

Not only masses of people get killed during war conflicts but nature as well? This is ghastly, sickening, disgusting and I hope that they will all get fined and thrown into jail for all of this.

Beside get a criminal charges with warmongering and the demise of so many people and wild life.

No pity for those evil people... no pardon, no repentant excuses anymore!!!

Amelie

An United Nations officer from China, center, accompanied by Lebanese army officers, watches as an UN bulldozer works on the rubble of a demolished building that was struck by Israeli war plane missiles at the village of Qana near the southern Lebanon city of Tyre, Sunday July 30, 2006. Israeli missiles hit several buildings in a southern Lebanon village as people slept Sunday, killing at least 56, most of them children, in the deadliest attack in 19 days of fighting.

Middle East conflict causes massive oil spill
(published on 31-July-2006)

The Israeli bombardment of Lebanon has led to a major oil spill off the coast of the republic and the continuing violence is hindering the clean-up operation.

Up to 35,000 tonnes of oil have been spilled into the sea off Lebanon.

The Lebanese Environment Ministry says the spill happened between July 13 and 15, when Israeli jets bombed fuel storage tanks at the Jieh power station, south of Beirut.

Estimates put the amount of heavy fuel oil spilled at between 10,000 and 35,0000 tonnes and the Lebanese Government has said that even in peace time it would be ill equipped to deal with a problem on that scale.

Yacoub al-Sarraf, the country's environment minister told the Arabic news network Aljazeera: "We have never seen a spill like this in the history of Lebanon. It is a major catastrophe.

"The equipment we have is for minor spills. We use it once in a blue moon to clean a small spill of 50 tonnes or so. To clean this whole thing up we would need an armada."

The environmental outlook for the Lebanese coast has been made even worse by oil leaking from an Israeli warship hit by a Hezbollah missile.

Mr al-Sarraf has called on the EU and UN for urgent help with the clean-up but even with help from Europe's civil protection mechanism and the United Nations Environment Programme the work will be complicated by Israel's naval blockade of the Lebanese coastline.

"Wars do cause enormous human suffering as we are witnessing now in Lebanon," said Stavros Dimas, the EU's Environment Commissioner.

"But another aspect is also the significant environmental destruction caused by it. The recent oil spill off the coast of Lebanon could affect the livelihood and health of the Lebanese and people in neighbouring countries as well as the status of the marine environment in the region.

"With the help of the MIC, Member States will be able to provide co-ordinated assistance, including experts and specialised materials."

A stretch of coastline of at least 80km has so far been contaminated by the spill which has affected rocky and sandy public beaches as well as ports and marinas.

The request for assistance includes dispersants, booms, absorbents, skimmers, as well as specialised boats and any other material needed for clean up operations, as well as a list of specialised registered companies which could assist.

Several states have already responded to the request and offers of assistance are being assessed in view of their submission to the Lebanese authorities.

The cost of the clean-up is expected to be in the region of US$40-50 million.

UNEP's executive director Achim Steiner said: "We stand ready to do all we can as soon as it is possible to carry out this urgent work.

"We share the Lebanese authorities' concerns over the impact on coastal communities who are being affected by an environmental tragedy which is rapidly taking on a national but also a regional dimension.

"We must also be concerned about the short and long term impacts on the marine environment including the biodiversity upon which so many people depend for their livelihoods and living via tourism and fishing."

Sam Bond

This story was printed from www.edie.net

URL:
www.edie.net/news/news_story.asp?id=11787

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"Magic" mushrooms

2006-07-11T19:36:25+02:00

My generation have been the warned ones, so I never tried it, but has anyone taken this thing?

Amelie

And the effects lingered.

"Magic" mushrooms mystical for many: study

Tue Jul 11, 2006 5:52 PM ET
By Maggie Fox,
Health and Science Correspondent

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - "Magic mushrooms," used by Native Americans and hippies to alter consciousness, appear to have similar mystical effects on many people, U.S. researchers reported on Tuesday.

At least one team of doctors is already testing whether using them can help terminal cancer patients come to terms with their fates.

More than 60 percent of volunteers given capsules of psilocybin derived from mushrooms said they had a "full mystical experience."

"Many of the volunteers in our study reported, in one way or another, a direct, personal experience of the 'beyond,'" said Roland Griffiths, a professor of neuroscience and psychiatry and behavioral biology at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore who led the study.

A third said the experience was the single most spiritually significant of their lifetimes. Many likened it to the birth of their first child or the death of a parent.

And the effects lingered.

Two months after getting the drug, 79 percent of the volunteers said they felt a moderately or greatly increased well-being or life satisfaction, according to the report published in the journal Psychopharmacology.

Griffiths said the drug might be used to treat addiction as well as severe pain or depression.

Griffiths and colleagues tested 36 healthy, educated volunteers who all reported they had active spiritual lives, the idea being that spiritual people would be less troubled by the drug's effects.

He said he did not want to be accused of working like Timothy Leary, a former Harvard University psychologist known for 1960s experiments with LSD, another mind-altering drug.

NOT TURNING ON AND DROPPING OUT

"We are conducting rigorous, systematic research with psilocybin under carefully monitored conditions, a route which Dr. Leary abandoned in the early 1960s," Griffiths said.

"Even in this study, where we greatly controlled conditions to minimize adverse effects, about a third of subjects reported significant fear, with some also reporting transient feelings of paranoia," he added.

"Under unmonitored conditions, it's not hard to imagine those emotions escalating to panic and dangerous behavior."

Psilocybin, which is nontoxic and not addictive, acts like a message-carrying chemical called serotonin on brain cells. Serotonin is linked with mood.

It is produced by several species of mushrooms native to the Americas. Under U.S. law it is a Schedule I hallucinogenic substance, on a par with drugs such as heroin.

But its use in medical experiments is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and one team led by Dr. Charles Grob at the Harbor-UCLA Medical Center in Torrance, California is testing the drug on patients with end-stage cancer.

Grob said in a telephone interview his team has tested the drug on seven terminal cancer patients to see if it could work to reduce pain, calm them down and provide them some sense of well-being.

Dr. Solomon Snyder, a neuroscientist at Johns Hopkins who says he has experimented with LSD himself, said the experiment might lead to a way to find the "locus of religion" and the biological basis of consciousness in the brain.

But Griffiths said such study would be purely scientific.

"We're not entering into 'Does God exist or not exist.' This work can't and won't go there," he said.

REUTERS:

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Tropical Stonehenge

2006-06-28T12:29:10+02:00

Looks like the Christians didn't get around to covering up this work of man that predates and outshines any accomplishment Jesus cult members can claim. Unless you count the destruction of history, medical and scientific advancement, and human life as an accomplishment.

Amelie

Tropical Stonehenge may have been found

By STAN LEHMAN, Associated Press Writer
Tue Jun 27, 11:04 PM ET

A grouping of granite blocks along a grassy Amazon hilltop may be the vestiges of a centuries-old astronomical observatory — a find archaeologists say indicates early rainforest inhabitants were more sophisticated than previously believed.

The 127 blocks, some as high as 9 feet tall, are spaced at regular intervals around the hill, like a crown 100 feet in diameter.

On the shortest day of the year — Dec. 21 — the shadow of one of the blocks, which is set at an angle, disappears.

"It is this block's alignment with the winter solstice that leads us to believe the site was once an astronomical observatory," said Mariana Petry Cabral, an archaeologist at the Amapa State Scientific and Technical Research Institute. "We may be also looking at the remnants of a sophisticated culture."

Anthropologists have long known that local indigenous populations were acute observers of the stars and sun. But the discovery of a physical structure that appears to incorporate this knowledge suggests pre-Columbian Indians in the Amazon rainforest may have been more sophisticated than previously suspected.

http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0700world/

"Transforming this kind of knowledge into a monument; the transformation of something ephemeral into something concrete, could indicate the existence of a larger population and of a more complex social organization," Cabral said.

Cabral has been studying the site, near the village of Calcoene, just north of the equator in Amapa state in far northern Brazil, since last year. She believes it was once inhabited by the ancestors of the Palikur Indians, and while the blocks have not yet been submitted to carbon dating, she says pottery shards near the site indicate they are pre-Columbian and maybe older — as much as 2,000 years old.

Last month, archaeologists working on a hillside north of Lima, Peru, announced the discovery of the oldest astronomical observatory in the Western Hemisphere — giant stone carvings, apparently 4,200 years old, that align with sunrise and sunset on Dec. 21.

While the Incas, Mayans and Aztecs built large cities and huge rock structures, pre-Columbian Amazon societies built smaller settlements of wood and clay that quickly deteriorated in the hot, humid Amazon climate, disappearing centuries ago, archaeologists say.

Farmers and fishermen in the region around the Amazon site have long known about it, and the local press has dubbed it the "tropical Stonehenge." Archeologists got involved last year after geographers and geologists did a socio-economic survey of the area, by foot and helicopter, and noticed "the unique circular structure on top of the hill," Cabral said.

Scientists not involved in the discovery said it could prove valuable to understanding pre-Columbian societies in the Amazon.

"No one has ever described something like this before. This is an extremely novel find — a one of a kind type of thing," said Michael Heckenberger of the University of Florida's Department of Anthropology.

He said that while carbon dating and further excavation must be carried out, the find adds to a growing body of thought among archaeologists that prehistory in the Amazon region was more varied than had been believed.

"Given that astronomical objects, stars, constellations etc., have a major importance in much of Amazonian mythology and cosmology, it does not in any way surprise me that such an observatory exists," said Richard Callaghan, a professor of geography, anthropology and archaeology at the University of Calgary.

Brazilian archaeologists will return in August, when the rainy season ends, to carry out carbon dating and further excavations.

"The traditional image is that some time thousands of years ago small groups of tropical forest horticulturists arrived in the area and they never changed — (that) what we see today is just like it was 3,000 years ago," Heckenberger said. "This is one more thing that suggests that through the past thousands of years, societies have changed quite a lot."

http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0700world/

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