Clipmarks | Marcariel's clips

9/11 Health Issues Still Affecting New Yorkers

Thu, 21 Aug 2008 02:28:30 GMT

clipped by: Marcariel
clipper's remarks: I remember this day. It was an ongoing horror, and it appears the nightmare continues for a great many of the first responders and others.

Clip Source: healthcommentary.org

As one of our nation’s greatest tragedies -- 9/11 -- approaches its 7th anniversary, it is a fading memory to some. But for many -- including thousands of people who lost loved ones, witnessed the events, or participated in the recovery efforts – the pain lingers. Increasingly, federal and state officials are acknowledging a significant disease burden in these survivors which will last their lifetime. Physical and mental ailments are now beginning to be reported in careful follow-up studies. And the news is not good:

Dr. Robin Herbert, co-director of the hospital's program monitoring afflicted workers, told lawmakers in 2006 that new patients are still arriving at Mount Sinai to be treated for 9/11-related illnesses and thousands probably will need lifelong care.

One of the biggest problems is the effect of dust-laden air tied to the catastrophe. What was in the air that day? Pretty much everything that had been in two 100-story buildings

Read the full transcript of this story.

Tags: 9-11, twin towers, world trade center, disease

Glove Translates Sign Language into Text/Speech

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 00:46:07 GMT

clipped by: Marcariel
clipper's remarks: This new glove will be available to the general public within a year and will cost less than $100.

Clip Source: www.sciencedaily.com

A new high-tech glove enables the translation of sign language into written text, facilitating communication for the hearing or speech impaired. The glove senses movements of the hand and fingers, and a computer turns those signals into letters and words. Future versions will also translate sign language to speech.

Clip Source: s107.photobucket.com

Clip Source: www.sciencedaily.com

There are more than 28 million deaf and hard-of-hearing Americans, yet there are still communication barriers between the deaf and the hearing world. Now, a new technology is breaking sound barriers and lending a helping hand to the hearing impaired.

Communication is a challenge that electrical engineers are now helping the hearing impaired overcome, with an electronic glove that turns American Sign Language gestures into text.

"What it does is detects the position of the fingers and the position of the hand so it translates positions of fingers into letters,"

the high-tech glove will bridge the communication gap between the deaf and hearing -- a sure sign of the times.

Tags: asl, sign language, translate, deaf, acceleglove

AMA Calls For Reduced Sodium in U.S. Foods

Thu, 17 Jul 2008 16:55:14 GMT

clipped by: Marcariel
clipper's remarks: I stopped salting my food years ago. It's about time someone regulated the food industry so we can live longer and be healthier, and still enjoy canned foods, eating out at restaurants, and purchasing convenient frozen foods without the added worry of killer sodium added to these foods.

Clip Source: www.ama-assn.org

In an effort to reduce the burden of cardiovascular disease, the American Medical Association (AMA) today passed new policies to help change the way Americans think about salt with the goal of reducing sodium intake throughout America.

Cardiovascular disease remains the number one killer of Americans. People who reduce dietary sodium intake are taking an important step in preventing future health problems

"We hope these recommendations will encourage food manufacturers and restaurants to modify their current practices of adding unhealthy amounts of sodium to their products."

most Americans consume two to three times the amount of sodium that is healthy, with an estimated 75 to 80 percent of the daily intake of sodium coming from processed and restaurant foods.

recommendations adopted

minimum 50 percent reduction in the amount of sodium in processed foods, fast food products and restaurant meals

improve labeling

eventually lower the incidence of hypertension and cardiovascular disease

Tags: sodium, food, salt, ama, diets

U.S. Congress Overrides President Veto on Medicare Issue

Thu, 17 Jul 2008 17:02:44 GMT

clipped by: Marcariel
clipper's remarks: I am one of those who would have been effected by this. Hurray for congress!

Clip Source: www.ama-assn.org

July 15, 2008

today we celebrate that Congress heard the voices of millions of patients and physicians and voted to override President Bush’s veto and protect the health of America

"The 10.6 percent cut in payments to physicians who treat Medicare patients would have been devastating to seniors and the disabled who rely on Medicare for the health care they need, as well as to military families who rely on TRICARE for their health care.

"This congressional debate underscores the need for lawmakers to permanently replace the flawed Medicare physician payment formula so physicians can focus on the real work at hand: taking care of patients.

many patient, physician, and military groups called on Congress to pass this bipartisan bill. The only group opposing the bill was the health insurance lobby

Seniors, the disabled, and military families celebrate with us today as this bill becomes law to protect their access to needed health care.

Tags: congress, presidential veto, medicare, physicians

Changes Approved Allowing Hundreds of New Domain Names

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 19:08:06 GMT

clipped by: Marcariel
clipper's remarks: It's about time! They are also looking to clamp down on the "domain tasters" who tie up domain names seeing what the traffic is for certain names, and then they buy the domain and hold out for the highest bidders.

This is why a lot of brand names are at strange named domains ... their domain name was already bought by an investor, and they would not pay the price to buy the domain name.

Clip Source: news.wired.com

The Internet's key oversight agency relaxed rules Thursday to permit the introduction of hundreds, perhaps thousands, of new Internet domain names to join ".com," making the first sweeping changes in the network's 25-year-old address system.

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers unanimously approved the new guidelines as weeklong meetings in Paris concluded. ICANN also voted unanimously to open public comment on a separate proposal to permit addresses entirely in non-English languages for the first time.

New names won't start appearing until at least next year, and ICANN won't be deciding on specific ones quite yet. The organization still must work out many details, including fees for obtaining new names, expected to exceed $100,000 apiece to help ICANN cover up to $20 million in costs.

Domain names help computers find Web sites and route e-mail. Adding new suffixes can make it easier for Web sites to promote easy-to-remember names

Tags: domains, web addresses, internet, icann

North Pole Could Be Ice-free This Summer

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 18:56:38 GMT

clipped by: Marcariel
clipper's remarks: Global warming ... global warming ... warning ... warning!

Clip Source: www.cnn.com

(CNN) -- The North Pole may be briefly ice-free by September as global warming melts away Arctic sea ice, according to scientists from the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colorado.

Clip Source: mail.google.com

Clipmarks

Clip Source: www.cnn.com

50-50 bet that the thin Arctic sea ice, which was frozen last autumn, will completely melt away at the geographic North Pole

The ice retreated to a record level in September when the Northwest Passage -- the sea route through the Arctic Ocean -- opened up briefly for the first time in recorded history.

Specific weather patterns will determine whether the North Pole's ice cover melts completely this summer

Tags: north pole, ice, global warming, arctic ocean, northwest passage

World's First Air Powered Car

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 15:12:45 GMT

clipped by: Marcariel
clipper's remarks: I just love the comment that it will NEVER come to the USA. Come on ... give us a break from the gas prices!

Clip Source: www.popularmechanics.com

India’s largest automaker is set to start producing the world’s first commercial air-powered vehicle. The Air Car, developed by ex-Formula One engineer Guy Nègre for Luxembourg-based MDI, uses compressed air, as opposed to the gas-and-oxygen explosions of internal-combustion models, to push its engine’s pistons. Some 6000 zero-emissions Air Cars are scheduled to hit Indian streets in August of 2008.

Barring any last-minute design changes on the way to production, the Air Car should be surprisingly practical. The $12,700 CityCAT, one of a handful of planned Air Car models, can hit 68 mph and has a range of 125 miles.

Of course, the Air Car will likely never hit American shores, especially considering its all-glue construction. But that doesn’t mean the major automakers can write it off as a bizarre Indian experiment — MDI has signed deals to bring its design to 12 more countries, including Germany, Israel and South Africa.

Tags: air powered car, non-poluting, zero emissions, india

Biofuel Craze Could Starve Millions

Thu, 08 May 2008 07:24:40 GMT

clipped by: Marcariel
clipper's remarks: Joachim von Braun, director general of the U.S.-based International Food Policy Research Institute supports a moratorium on grain- and oilseed-based biofuels but not for sugar-cane-based fuels.

Sugar-cane is the source of many sweeteners used in breakfast cereals and soft drinks. We should start seeing those prices begin to shoot up.

I looks like we are just going to have to find another alternative to the biofuels sources.

Clip Source: dsc.discovery.com

A "biofuels frenzy" and other misguided policies have led to the global food crisis in which rice consumption is outpacing production, threatening a billion people with malnutrition

International agriculture researchers warned that farmers will need to double global food production by 2030 to meet rising demand, and said countries should impose a moratorium on grain-based ethanol and biodiesel to rein in skyrocketing prices for corn, rice, soybeans and wheat.

For the first time, it's been clear that we are consuming more rice than we are producing globally

Joachim von Braun, director general of the U.S.-based International Food Policy Research Institute, cited "major policy failures" at the core of the crisis, in which recent food price spikes have led to violent riots and threats of starvation in poor nations, and prompted United Nation calls to lift export bans.

Clip Source: dsc.discovery.com

high prices could force a billion people to limit their food consumption, leading to drastic malnutrition.

Tags: starvation, biofuels, grain, malnutrition, food

Crystal Skulls - Real or Fake?

Fri, 06 Jun 2008 02:48:59 GMT

clipped by: Marcariel
clipper's remarks: Interesting article about forgeries and the search for the true MezoAmerican artifacts.

Clipping this was inspired by the comments and discussion from a clip by invictus. http://clipmarks.com/clipmark/E2744391-1065-40C7-98A0-5A8B868ABFAA/

Clip Source: www.archaeology.org

In 1992, this hollow rock-crystal skull was sent to the Smithsonian anonymously. A letter accompanying the 30-pound, 10-inch-high artifact suggested it was of Aztec origin. (James Di Loreto & Donald Hurlburt/Courtesy Smithsonian Institution)

Crystal skulls have undergone serious scholarly scrutiny, but they also excite the popular imagination because they seem so mysterious. Theories about their origins abound. Some believe the skulls are the handiwork of the Maya or Aztecs, but they have also become the subject of constant discussion on occult websites. Some insist that they originated on a sunken continent or in a far-away galaxy.

These exotic carvings are usually attributed to pre-Columbian Mesoamerican cultures, but not a single crystal skull in a museum collection comes from a documented excavation, and they have little stylistic or technical relationship with any genuine pre-Columbian depictions of skulls, which are an important motif in Mesoamerican iconography.

Tags: crystal skulls, mezoamerican, artifacts, iconography

Ley Lines & Vortices - Earth's Sacred Lines

Tue, 18 Sep 2007 08:22:30 GMT

clipped by: Marcariel
clipper's remarks: Triangles on the earth. A crystalline matrix similar to a geodesic dome. I've heard of this before, but never investigated it any further. Very interesting reading and theory ... jet lag ... mineral deposits ... sacred sites ... volcanoes ... trying to wrap my imagination around all of this.

Clip Source: www.vortexmaps.com

Vortices appear to be points of power or energy on the Earth, and ley lines are the relationships between those points. An analogy might be that the vortices are accupressure points. and the ley lines between them are meridians on the skin of the body of Mother Earth.

LEY LINES AND VORTICES OF THE AMERICAN WEST

This system of vortices and ley lines is not a new idea. Sacred temples of the ancient world around the Mediterranean are located at powerful vortices, and drawing lines between them will bring out patterns of triangles. The Indians in the American Southwest as well as those in Peru and other parts of South America located their cities and the roads between them on vortices and ley lines

The Chinese have practiced geomancy for thousands of years, and the cathedrals of Europe are located on powerful vortices.

these major lines "crack" the Earth in a regular, mathematical pattern. a function of pi.

aeronautical charts note areas of magnetic disturbance.

Tags: ley linesvortices, pi, electromagnetic disturbances, sacred sites

Fossil Poop - Back Dating American Inhabitants

Fri, 04 Apr 2008 19:32:07 GMT

clipped by: Marcariel
clipper's remarks: Good to know they can tell where we came from by the s**t we leave behind. I doubt these people were considering leaving a DNA trail when they were passing through.

Interesting find providing new dates to add to our science books.

Clip Source: dsc.discovery.com

New evidence shows humans lived in North America more than 14,000 years ago, 1,000 years earlier than had previously been known.

Discovered in a cave in Oregon, fossil feces yielded DNA indicating these early residents were related to people living in Siberia and East Asia

This is the first time we have been able to get dates that are undeniably human, and they are 1,000 years before Clovis

The petrified poop -- coprolites to scientists -- is yielding a look at the diet of these ancient Americans

The oldest of several coprolites studied is 14,340 calendar years old

it isn't clear exactly who these people living in the Oregon caves were, since there were few artifacts found. He said there was one stone tool, a hand tool used perhaps to polish or grind or mash bones or fat.

they most likely came from Siberia or Eastern Asia, and we know something about what they were eating

adds to the evidence for a pre-Clovis human presence in North America.

Tags: coprolites, oregon, america, asia, diets

Invasive Species Flood Into China

Fri, 04 Apr 2008 20:09:46 GMT

clipped by: Marcariel
clipper's remarks: The article says this will be one of the hidden costs of the Olympics for China. Welcome to the real world of international trade.

The South (USA) has been over-run with an invader vine brought her from an Exposition (visitors pinched a piece off and took it home), and later for cattle feed.

Clip Source: dsc.discovery.com

It's not just China's economy that's booming. Invasive species are thriving there, too.

Non-native organisms are arriving in growing numbers thanks to increased trade. And they are penetrating once-isolated areas now accessible via new transportation routes

By any measure, China's trade and transportation infrastructure are growing like weeds.

This growth has brought with it exotic species -- some imported deliberately as garden plants or pets, and others introduced accidentally, hitchhiking in products or packaging materials.

Its roster of 400 invasive species costs China a minimum of $14.5 billion a year, according to an estimate cited by the researchers.

This is just what happens with international trade

For decades the United States has battled its own invaders, including increasing numbers of Chinese species like the Asian longhorned beetle, which arrived in 1996.

Aquatic plants may cause some of the worst damage

Clip Source: dsc.discovery.com

It will definitely be a hidden cost of the Olympics

Tags: invasive, species, olympics, china, international trade

Kudzu - The Invader That Ate the South

Fri, 04 Apr 2008 20:24:45 GMT

clipped by: Marcariel
clipper's remarks: In the southern US these photos are typical of the sites you see when driving anywhere. Vines covering signs and fences ... covering poles and electric lines ... close along highways and roads as if making an attempt to grow across. There are even recipes to cook Kudzu in the South.

A very beautiful, picturesque nuisance.

Clip Source: www.yahoolavista.com

native to Japan and China, however it grows well in the Southeastern United States. Kudzu is a vine that when left uncontrolled will eventually grow over almost any fixed object in its proximity including other vegetation.

Kudzu, over a period of several years will kill trees by blocking the sunlight and for this and other reasons many would like to find ways to get rid of it.

In the south where the winters are moderate the first frost will turn kudzu into dead leaves and soon after just gray vines. The kudzu vine will continue growing the next summer almost from where it was stopped by cold weather the previous year.

No one seems to care much or even pay much attention to it. Maybe that is because we accept it since there isn't much we can do about it

Kudzu vines will cover buildings and parked vehicles over a period of years if no attempt is made to control its growth. A number of abandoned houses, vehicles and barns covered with kudzu can be seen in Georgia and other southern states.

Tags: kudzu, vine, invasive, cattle, southern

Suicide Machine Sparks Outrage

Fri, 04 Apr 2008 14:41:13 GMT

clipped by: Marcariel
clipper's remarks: This seems like the best of the worst in suicide machines. This one seems similar to the ones Dr. Kevorkian uses.

Dr. Kevorkian links:
http://www.fansoffieger.com/kevo.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Kevorkian
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/05/opinion/05tue3.html

Clip Source: www.cnn.com

A former top-level German politician has invented what he calls a "suicide machine" for terminally ill patients who want to die.

"It is the most bearable method for those with a death wish

a modified perfusor, a machine normally used to inject medicine over a long period of time, and Kusch has installed a button that allows the patient to set off the mechanism.

the patient is technically killing himself, protecting doctors who would assist by mixing the toxins and setting up the device.

the suicide machine would administer an anesthetic and a lethal dose of potassium chloride, which would lead to death within minutes.

society must help terminally ill patients deal with their pain rather then accepting suicide as an option.

"To those who criticize me, I say: it is none of your business," Kusch said

German politicians, the medical community and especially churches are outraged by Kusch's presentation of the killing machine. What do you think about the suicide machine?

"Astro Comb" Looking for New Earth-like Worlds

Fri, 04 Apr 2008 19:54:00 GMT

clipped by: Marcariel
clipper's remarks: "Those afraid of the universe as it really is, those who pretend to nonexistent knowledge and envision a Cosmos centered on human beings will prefer the fleeting comforts of superstition. They avoid rather than confront the world. But those with the courage to explore the weave and structure of the Cosmos, even where it differs profoundly from their wishes and prejudices, will penetrate its deepest mysteries." - Carl Sagan

Clip Source: dsc.discovery.com

Compared to the sun, Earth is a fleck. You would need 109 of them to cover the sun's face and another 1.3 million to fill its interior. Yet puny Earth and all its sibling planets make their presence known with gravitational tugs that cause the mother star to wobble just a bit.

The shifts are revealed by analyzing changes in the light coming from the sun.

Planets' gravitational tugs become profoundly more difficult to detect if you are far away -- like in another solar system.

Nevertheless, scientists have charted 277 extrasolar worlds, though none as small as Earth. A new technique, described in this week's Nature, adds a formidable arrow to the planet-hunters' quivers.

filter laser pulses so that infinitesimally minute changes in starlight spectras can stand out

like looking at the reflection of trees, clouds and sky in a pool of standing water. Just as water is used to bear the images, laser light serves as the reflecting pond for analyzing starlight.

Clip Source: dsc.discovery.com

Earth-like planets doing the tugging

Tags: space, worlds, sun, wobble, spectrograph, wavelength