Clipmarks | HelioSmith's clips

DO NOT KEEP ACID IN YOUR SOCK

Tue, 14 Jul 2009 19:54:57 GMT

clipped by: HelioSmith

I was a rave in the desert in Rajasthan about 12 years ago that got busted by the police cos the promoters hadn’t paid them off.

We ended up with me being chased a mile into the desert by 3 coppers – they were the last people we saw for the next 12 hours…. What I did see was lots of snakes, UFO’s, bottomless pits and sand beings from another dimension, none of which were actually there… However, I did have three paper trips I had stashed in my sock and forgotten about which had now absorbed through my skin and I was tripping my tits off…

The Water Wars Begin

Mon, 13 Jul 2009 17:22:05 GMT

clipped by: HelioSmith

Clip Source: www.guardian.co.uk

It was a little after 8pm when the water started flowing through the pipe running beneath the dirt streets of Bhopal's Sanjay Nagar slum. After days without a drop of water, the Malviya family were the first to reach the hole they had drilled in the pipe, filling what containers they had as quickly as they could. Within minutes, three of them were dead, hacked to death by angry neighbours who accused them of stealing water.

In Bhopal, and across much of northern India, a late monsoon and the driest June for 83 years are exacerbating the effects of a widespread drought and setting neighbour against neighbour in a desperate fight for survival.

The UN has warned for many years that water shortages will become one of the most pressing problems on the planet over the coming decades, with one report estimating that four billion people will be affected by 2050. What is happening in India, which has too many people in places where there is not enough water, is a foretaste of what is to come.

Oil Companies and Nigeria Accused of Mass Pollution in Niger Delta

Mon, 13 Jul 2009 13:24:33 GMT

clipped by: HelioSmith

Clip Source: e360.yale.edu

Amnesty International says Royal Dutch Shell, other oil companies, and the Nigerian government have violated the human rights of residents of the Niger Delta by polluting their land and harming their health with oil spills, natural gas flaring, and waste dumping. In a 141-page report, the human rights group said that at least 9 million barrels of oil may have been spilled in the past 50 years in the delta, home to an estimated 500,000 Ogoni people.

“They eat fish contaminated with oil and other toxins. The land they farm on is being destroyed... yet neither the government nor oil companies monitor the human impacts of oil pollution.”

Chinese to Break Ground On Massive Wind Power Installation

Mon, 13 Jul 2009 13:22:37 GMT

clipped by: HelioSmith

Clip Source: e360.yale.edu

China will break ground this month on a gigantic, $17 billion wind power farm in the northwestern part of the country that will produce 5 gigawatts of power by next year and 20 gigawatts by 2020, according to the official Xinhua news service.

The installation in Gansu Province is known as the “Three Gorges of Wind Power” after the gigantic Three Gorges hydroelectric dam on the Yangtze River.

The Chinese are building wind farms at about one-third the cost of European and U.S. rivals because the price of manufacturing the turbines and installing them is so much cheaper in China. In addition to its huge installation in Gansu — which is expected to produce power for more than 10 million Chinese households by 2020 — the Chinese also are planning a half-dozen similarly large projects, many on the windy western plains.

Harry Potter and the 6'8" Transsexual

Mon, 13 Jul 2009 13:20:05 GMT

clipped by: HelioSmith

Clip Source: www.advocate.com

On the eve of the release of the latest installment in the Harry Potter franchise, Daniel Radcliffe is making the rounds on the interview circuit --

"The one piece of advice I would give to any actor is, if you want to go out on the street without being recognized, without even being looked at, go out with a 6-foot-8 beautiful transsexual," he said. "No one gives you a second glance. Especially when you're 5-foot-5."

Israeli Navy seizes humanitarian aid ship in International Waters.

Thu, 09 Jul 2009 16:36:16 GMT

clipped by: HelioSmith

Clip Source: www.indymedia.org.uk

Activists from Free Gaza.org and the International Solidarity Movement, determined to break the Israeli blockade on Gaza, gathered in Cyprus and set sail for Gaza on the ‘Spirit of Humanity’ on June 29th. The following morning, over 20 miles off the coast of Gaza, the boat was surrounded by Israeli Naval vessels who threatened to fire on the boat unless it turned around. The boat continued towards Gaza, and was then boarded by Israeli soldiers, who took control of the boat, and took all 20 passengers and the captain hostage, along with aid including building materials, medical supplies and childrens art supplies. By attacking the vessel in International Waters, and by preventing it from sailing into Gaza, Israel once again showed that it has scant regard for International Law, and confirmed that it is the de facto occupier of Gaza.

Human Adaptation Is the Key to Conservation in a Changing Climate

Mon, 06 Jul 2009 18:10:23 GMT

clipped by: HelioSmith

Clip Source: blog.nature.org

The Global Humanitarian Forum (GHF), a think-tank lead by former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, recently released a report on the human impacts of climate change.

The terrifying touchstones of human impacts by 2030 are:

Poverty — 20 million extra people in poverty as a result of weather-related disasters and desertification.
Food security – 75 million people suffer hunger as a result of climate change induced environmental degradation (hundreds of millions are likely to suffer from degradation of fresh water supplies).
Displacement — 200 million people displaced as a result of sea level rise, desertification and floods.

Gin and Platonic

Fri, 26 Jun 2009 00:34:14 GMT

clipped by: HelioSmith

Clip Source: theonepercentclub.blogspot.com

I spy with my little eye
Out of focus girl who's about to cry
I'll buy her a beer or two
that she can cry into
She says isn't it ironic
All you want is gin and platonic.

Relationships I never wanted
Relationships I have avoided
Gin and platonic never lets me down.

Tallest Building in U.S. To Undergo Green Energy Makeover

Thu, 25 Jun 2009 23:16:57 GMT

clipped by: HelioSmith

Clip Source: e360.yale.edu

The owners of the 110-story Sears Tower in Chicago — the tallest building in the U.S. and the Western Hemisphere — will spend $350 million to install new energy and water systems that they say will slash the tower’s electricity consumption by 80 percent and its water usage by 40 percent.

the green retrofit will replace 16,000 single-pane windows with insulated windows, install natural gas boilers with a new fuel cell technology, renovate 104 elevators and 15 escalators to cut their electricity usage by 40 percent, install new lighting that will automatically dim based on available sunlight, plant green roofs, erect wind turbines, conserve 24 million gallons of water with new plumbing fixtures and “condensation capture,” and install solar panels to heat water.

Drugged Out Wallabies Are Trying To Get In Touch With Aliens

Thu, 25 Jun 2009 23:14:58 GMT

clipped by: HelioSmith

Clip Source: io9.com

Don't waste another second attempting to decode Aussie crop circles — the alien mystery has been solved. They are, in fact, just a gang of no-good wallabies getting high and running around in circles.

Turns out the wallabies of Tasmania have been getting high in the medical poppy fields and crank-calling the stars with phony crop circles, for some time now.

Attorney-General Lara Giddings explains:

"The one interesting bit that I found recently in one of my briefs on the poppy industry was that we have a problem with wallabies entering poppy fields, getting as high as a kite and going around in circles...
Then they crash. We see crop circles in the poppy industry from wallabies that are high."

First Wolverine arives in Colorado in 90 years

Mon, 22 Jun 2009 17:24:48 GMT

clipped by: HelioSmith

Clip Source: www.scientificamerican.com

A lone male wolverine arrived in northern Colorado earlier this month, making him the first confirmed wolverine in the state since 1919.

In December, conservation biologists had outfitted the young wolverine, which is part of a reintroduction program farther north, with a tracking collar and watched him make the 500-mile (805-kilometer) journey from the Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming, crossing rugged landscapes and even busy Interstate-80, reports the Denver Post.

A popular target of early fur trappers in the American West, wolverines had pretty much vanished from the lower 48 states 80 years ago. Today, according to Inman's estimates, there are about 250 roaming the country.

"It is one of the most elusive and just mysterious creatures," Inman told The New York Times.

Sonic Black Hole Swallows Every Sound It Hears

Thu, 18 Jun 2009 00:29:22 GMT

clipped by: HelioSmith

Clip Source: io9.com

The Technion in Israel developed this "black hole," creating a well into which air flows faster than the speed of sound. That means that any sounds trying to pass through this moving air just can't keep up with the flow of the air into the "hole."

This is achieved by two clouds of atoms (called a Bose-Einstein condensate) cooled to almost absolute zero, with a pool of very low density between them. Atoms can flow very rapidly, pretty much unhindered, into this area of low density at speeds over four times the speed of sound.

The result is a well into which all sound falls and cannot escape. Any sound that passes close enough to the "black hole" essentially ceases to be.

U.S. Government Report: Effects of Warming Already Being Felt

Wed, 17 Jun 2009 16:11:53 GMT

clipped by: HelioSmith

Clip Source: e360.yale.edu

U.S. government scientists have issued a report saying that evidence of climate change is already “unequivocal” and that warming this century could significantly alter the nation’s weather and coastlines. The report, “Global Climate Change Impacts in the United States,” says that average U.S. temperatures have increased by 2 degrees F in the past 50 years and can be expected to rise 4 to 11 degrees F by 2100, depending on the success of cutting carbon dioxide emissions.

Gay diversity in animals

Wed, 17 Jun 2009 15:42:53 GMT

clipped by: HelioSmith

Clip Source: www.pinknews.co.uk

More than 450 species of animals display gay behaviour, scientists have found.

The paper, Trends in Ecology and Evolution, suggested that homosexuality among animals may be vital for the survival of the species.

“The variety and ubiquity of same-sex sexual behaviour in animals is impressive,” wrote the paper's authors Nathan Bailey and Marlene Zuk. “Many thousands of instances of same-sex courtship, pair bonding and copulation have been observed in a wide range of species, including mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, insects, molluscs and nematodes.”

Eye-fi wireless memory card

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 12:39:26 GMT

clipped by: HelioSmith
clipper's remarks: Rather cool tech and geotagging options also available.

Clip Source: www.eye.fi

The Eye-Fi Card is a wireless SD memory card for your digital camera. It stores photos and videos like standard SD memory card. But the Eye-Fi Card makes your camera wireless.

Built in Wi-Fi helps you organize and share your memories. Specify where you want your photos and videos sent. Select the Wi-Fi networks it can use. Then just turn on your camera to effortlessly transfer photos and video. No cables, no hassles, no kidding.