Clipmarks | mona's clips

Wash Your Hands! Not just today.

Wed, 15 Oct 2008 11:44:30 GMT

clipped by: mona
clipper's remarks: important message.
banale as it may sound at first glance.

Millions mark UN hand-washing day

Millions of children around the world are marking the United Nations' first Global Handwashing Day.

The UN says it wants to get over the message that this simple routine is one of the most effective ways of preventing killer diseases.

Nearly half the world's population do not have access to adequate sanitation.

Nepal's new Maoist government is sending out mobile text messages. In Bhutan, special animated videos have been made with Bhutanese characters.

The UN says washing hands with water alone is not enough "because you fail to wash off the germs".

"We are recommending hand-washing with soap," Ms Dooley said.

The UN is celebrating 2008 as the International Year of Sanitation.

unlikely causal link

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 14:46:48 GMT

clipped by: mona
clipper's remarks: "They found that when otters were abundant, eagle prey consisted of predominantly kelp-forest fish and sea otter pups. When the otters were rare, however, the proportion of marine birds in the eagles' diet was much higher. "

Clip Source: www.wildlifeextra.com

Orca killing Sea otters means Bald eagles kill more birds

In near-shore marine communities, kelp can reach heights of 250 feet and functions similarly to trees in a forest, providing food, homes and protection for fish and invertebrates. The most important enemies of these giant algae are tiny sea urchins, only inches in diameter, which live on the kelp and eat its tissue. When urchin populations become too large, they can defoliate entire kelp forests, leaving only barren remains

Enter the sea otter. Otters can eat the spiky urchins whole, making them the major urchin predator. The otters' presence keeps urchin populations in check and maintains the balance of the ecosystem

presence or absence of otters can also affect the diet of bald eagles

The otter decline has caused a phase shift in the coastal ecosystem from a kelp dominated phase state to a deforested phase state

This shift means many fewer kelp forest fish for the eagles to eat

not extinct (yet) after all!

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 14:38:14 GMT

clipped by: mona

Clip Source: www.wildlifeextra.com

Legendary deer rediscovered in Sumatran national park

The Sumatran muntjac, a 'lost' species of deer, has been rediscovered in the remote mountains of western Sumatra, Indonesia, nearly a century after its last positive sighting

The Sumatran muntjac was originally discovered in 1914 but had not been seen since 1930

New species - not a subspecies
Taxonomists have now confirmed that the Sumatran muntjac is a new species and not a local sub-species as previously assumed. The species is distinctly smaller and darker than its more common sister species, the red muntjac (Muntiacus muntjac). The 'lost muntjac of Sumatra' has now been placed on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) ‘Red List' of species in danger, under the category ‘data deficient', meaning field research is urgently required to establish the details of the deer's range, ecology and population status

Sumatran muntjac - rediscovered in 2008 after 78 year absence. Credited to D Martyr FFI-KSNP.

save our words

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 13:32:21 GMT

clipped by: mona

Clip Source: entertainment.timesonline.co.uk

It may appear agrestic to ask, but The Times is calling on its readers to come to the rescue of words that risk fading into caliginosity.

Dictionary compilers at Collins have decided that the word list for the forthcoming edition of its largest volume is embrangled with words so obscure that they are linguistic recrement. Such words, they say, must be exuviated abstergently to make room for modern additions that will act as a roborant for the book.

Will you vote to save them? Some of the words heading for extinction

Abstergent

Agrestic

Apodeictic

Caducity

Caliginosity

Compossible

Embrangle

Exuviate

Fatidical

Fubsy

Griseous

Malison

Mansuetude

Muliebrity

Niddering

Nitid

Olid

Oppugnant

Periapt

Recrement

Roborant

Skirr

Vaticinate

Vilipend

NOT clever

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 13:08:16 GMT

clipped by: mona

Clip Source: www.news.com.au

Man faked lung cancer to avoid work

Ben Phillip Lyons, 28, from Queanbeyan near Canberra, repeatedly wrote fake medical certificates to avoid work in 2006.

But he went too far when he produced a letter, reportedly from the head of the oncology unit at Canberra Hospital, stating he needed surgery for lung cancer.

Cath Winter, visited the hospital in September 2006 to see how Lyons was recovering.

"However, on making inquiries with hospital staff there was no record of him as a patient," a statement of facts tendered to the court states.

"Concerned, she then made inquiries with Calvary Hospital, National Capital Private Hospital and John James Hospital, none of which had any record of (Lyons)."

Magistrate Maria Doogan ordered Lyons to repay his sick leave wages and to pay a $1000 fine.

He was also placed on a two-year good behaviour bond.

Virus that kills cancer cells

Thu, 09 Oct 2008 15:51:43 GMT

clipped by: mona

Clip Source: www.scientificblogging.com

The Senecavirus is a "new" virus, discovered several years ago by Neotropix Inc., a biotech company in Malvern, Pennsylvania. It was at first thought to be a laboratory contaminant, but researchers found it was a pathogen, now believed to originate from cows or pigs. Further investigation found that the virus was harmless to normal human cells, but could infect certain solid tumors, such as small cell lung cancer, the most common form of lung cancer.

the virus demonstrates cancer-killing specificity that is 10,000 times higher than that seen in traditional chemotherapeutics, with no overt toxicity

"It will be critically important to find out what region of its structure the virus is using to bind to tumor cells, and what those cancer cell receptors are," Reddy says. "Then we can, hopefully, improve Senecavirus enough to become a potent agent that can be used with many different cancers."

death by noise

Thu, 09 Oct 2008 15:38:02 GMT

clipped by: mona

Clip Source: afp.google.com

'Acoustic smog' is major threat to whales, say researchers

Underwater cacophony caused by commercial and military ships has become so intense that it is killing whales, scientists at the World Conservation Congress here say.

Just as air pollution reduces one's field of vision, "noise pollution in the sea reduces the zone in which whales can feed and hampers their ability to communicate

Recent research on a population of some 300 sperm whales living around the Canary Islands provide an unique window onto the problem.

Sperm whales normally migrate, but the squid upon which they feast are so plentiful in these waters that this group has made the region their permanent home

Some forms of noise pollution are so powerful that "a whale can be killed outright by the shock,"

Sonars used by the military and the oil industry can exceed 230 decibels in volume, and can be deadly within a one- or two-kilometer

radius

Eighty-five decibels

can cause permanent damage to the human ear

not for the faint hearted

Thu, 09 Oct 2008 15:10:17 GMT

clipped by: mona

Clip Source: einestages.spiegel.de

231,000,000% inflation rate

Thu, 09 Oct 2008 14:38:47 GMT

clipped by: mona

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

Zimbabwe inflation hits new high

Zimbabwe's annual inflation rate - already the world's highest - has soared to 231,000,000%, newly released official figures for July show.

The new banknotes have failed to curb inflation

UN says it needs $140m for food aid over the next six months.

The UN World Food Programme estimates that two million people are in need of food aid, and that the figure will rise to 5.1 million - or 45% of the population - by early 2009.

Instant eyedropper tool for Windows

Thu, 09 Oct 2008 09:17:09 GMT

clipped by: mona
clipper's remarks: SUCH a useful development!

Clip Source: lifehacker.com

Instant Eyedropper Grabs Any Color from Your Screen

Windows only: Instant Eyedropper, a free system tray utility, is a color-finder's best friend. Simply pick up the app's icon from your system tray, drag it toward the color you want to find, and a magnified, pixel-by-pixel view lets you pinpoint exactly what shade you're looking for. The color code—HTML, RGB, or whatever you prefer to set in the options—is instantly copied to your clipboard for easy pasting in any editing tool. Instant Eyedropper is a free tool for Windows systems only; if you're an avid Photoshop user, you can adapt the color picker for universal use, and Mac users can do the same.

Somali pirate negotiations underway

Wed, 01 Oct 2008 22:13:56 GMT

clipped by: mona

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

Somali pirates 'in ransom talks'

Somali pirates who hijacked a Ukrainian ship laden with 33 Soviet-made battle tanks are negotiating with the ship's owners, says the Somali government.

Pirates are demanding a $20m (£11m) ransom for the Faina, which was carrying T-72 tanks, rifles and heavy weapons when it was seized last week.

"The international community has permission to fight with the pirates," Mr Ali said.

Earlier, the East African Seafarers' Association urged international community to "cool off" so as not to endanger the lives of the crew.

Large Hadron Collider on hold

Tue, 23 Sep 2008 21:57:04 GMT

clipped by: mona

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

Collider halted until next year

The Large Hadron Collider near Geneva will be shut off until spring 2009 while engineers probe a magnet failure.

A spokesman for Cern told BBC News it was unclear at this stage when the collider could re-start operations after the lab's regular winter shut-down - which is partly done to save money on electricity during this period of peak demand.

The accelerator chain prepares the beams of protons to be fired through the machine to make possible the collisions that physicists will use to study the make-up of our Universe.

The problem occurred last weekend, when a failure, known as a quench, caused around 100 of the LHC's super-cooled magnets to heat up by as much as 100 degrees.

These magnets carry and steer beams of protons which will whizz around the machine at close to the speed of light.

Cern said the most likely cause of the equipment failure was a faulty electrical connection between two of the accelerator's magnets.

effective attitude of a consultant

Tue, 23 Sep 2008 21:54:31 GMT

clipped by: mona

Clip Source: cepatoolkit.blogspot.com

The client is always right.

e never blame him for his mistakes. Like a physician will not blame the patient for being sick. Our aim is not to be ‘right’. We accept a ‘second best’ solution, as long as it comes from the client. The client’s organization never functions in an ideal way. There is always something to improve. Even when implementing our advice they make many mistakes. As long as there is a positive impact, we wait until the next opportunity to help them improve.

erse 13 of the Tao Te Ching

Accept disgrace willingly. Accept misfortune as the human condition

Accept being unimportant. Do not be concerned with loss or gain.

Accept misfortune as the human condition

Misfortune comes from having a body. Without a body, how could there be misfortune?
Surrender yourself humbly; then you can be trusted to care for all things.
Love the world as your own self; then you can truly care for all things.

South African cabinet resignations

Tue, 23 Sep 2008 21:44:14 GMT

clipped by: mona

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

Eleven members of the South African cabinet say they are resigning along with President Thabo Mbeki, who is to step down on Thursday.

The resignations are a blow to the African National Congress government

One of the eleven, respected Finance Minister Trevor Manuel, says he has been asked to stay on by the ANC leaders and he is happy to do so.

ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe said only six of the 11 had "no intention of serving in the new government".

Mr Mbeki is to leave office on Thursday after accusations that he interfered in the prosecution of Mr Zuma on corruption charges.

Mr Mbeki on Saturday accepted a decision by the ANC to recall him as president.

He said the ruling was "unfair and unjust" as he had not been able to defend himself in court.

The "vexatious, scandalous and prejudicial" judgement had already cost him his job and damaged his reputation, he said.

ingrish

Fri, 19 Sep 2008 16:39:30 GMT

clipped by: mona
clipper's remarks: ten points if you can guess what this text is advertising

Clip Source: www.alibaba.com

Highest grade while resting the head on our nature pillow. Our company is advanced according to china's traditional Chinese medicine theory that the changes in temperature two-sided health care of the pine torch rests the head on, through the research and practice for many years, adoptedding the modern science and technology to choosing the traditional Chinese medicine carefully, the small and roundish thing of the pine torch was processed and made, this products are health care strengthenning the body, the changes in temperature double layers, quality of" five stars" of regulating of stage suitably and freely, groove structure alone, sell well in the whole country.