Clipmarks | vk2yoc's clips

Nature loss 'dwarfs bank crisis'

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 12:33:55 GMT

clipped by: vk2yoc
clipper's remarks: It's only money, could be worse, we could lose our planet.

The global economy is losing more money from the disappearance of forests than through the current banking crisis, according to an EU-commissioned study.

The figure comes from adding the value of the various services that forests perform, such as providing clean water and absorbing carbon dioxide

"It's not only greater but it's also continuous, it's been happening every year, year after year," he told BBC News.

"So whereas Wall Street by various calculations has to date lost, within the financial sector, $1-$1.5 trillion, the reality is that at today's rate we are losing natural capital at least between $2-$5 trillion every year."

The greatest cost to western nations would initially come through losing a natural absorber of the most important greenhouse gas.

A number of nations, businesses and global organisations are beginning to direct funds into forest conservation, and there are signs of a trade in natural ecosystems developing, analogous to the carbon trade,

Incredible Transport Pics.

Wed, 24 Sep 2008 16:19:24 GMT

clipped by: vk2yoc
clipper's remarks: Check out the last one, amazing!

Clip Source: damncoolpics.blogspot.com

24 of the most peculiar creatures known to mankind.

Wed, 24 Sep 2008 05:39:50 GMT

clipped by: vk2yoc

Clip Source: stressbuster1.com

Alapca

Angora Rabbit

Axolotl

Aye-aye

Blobfish

Dumbo Octopus

Emperor Tamarin

Frill-necked Lizard

Hagfish

Komondor Dog

'Chemical equator' divides hemispheres: scientists say.

Tue, 23 Sep 2008 13:35:57 GMT

clipped by: vk2yoc
clipper's remarks: Always good to be an Aussie.

Clip Source: www.abc.net.au

Scientists have discovered a "chemical equator" that divides the polluted air of the Northern Hemisphere from the largely uncontaminated atmosphere of the Southern Hemisphere

Researchers from Britain's University of York found evidence for an atmospheric chemical line about 50 kilometres wide in cloudless skies in the Western Pacific, with levels of carbon monoxide four times higher on the northern side.

The discovery will provide clues to help scientists model simulations of the movement of pollutants in the atmosphere more accurately, and to assess the impact of pollution on climate, the researchers said in a statement in Singapore

Previously, scientists believed that a cloudy Pacific region where the trade winds meet formed a barrier between the Northern Hemisphere and the clearer air of the Southern Hemisphere

Powerful storms may act as pumps, lifting highly polluted air from the surface to high in the atmosphere where pollutants will remain longer and may have a global influence

THE MOST BEAUTIFUL AND POWERFUL WORDS EVER WRITTEN

Mon, 22 Sep 2008 06:26:27 GMT

clipped by: vk2yoc
clipper's remarks: When was the last time you saw this?

Clip Source: i60.photobucket.com

Tags: mightier, than the, sword.

CREATIVE CELEBRITY PHOTOS USING MONEY

Mon, 22 Sep 2008 06:10:55 GMT

clipped by: vk2yoc
clipper's remarks: I'd settle for just the money.

Clip Source: www.unfabulouz.info

Donald Trump

Keira Knightly

Brad Pitt

Morgan Freeman

Steve McQueen

Tom Cruise

Hugh Laurie

Kevin Spacey

Mel Gibson

Bruce Willis

Tags: photos, funny

CREATIVE ANIMAL ADVERTISING

Mon, 22 Sep 2008 05:27:54 GMT

clipped by: vk2yoc
clipper's remarks: Pics say it all.

Clip Source: www.smashingapps.com

Foundation Nicolas Hulot - Our destinies are linked. Protect biodiversity

EDF (French Electricity) - If you don’t preserve nature by installing solar panels, who will?

ProWildlife - Help mother nature to fight back

Eco India- At least now, plant more trees

WWF - Stop Global Warming

WWF - Fashion claims more victims than you think

SBP - No insects life

Eukanuba - Everybody wants to be a dog

Bureaucracy kills nature - Demand approval for preservation laws of the rain forest

Tags: green, animals, nature

SEARCH FOR SYDNEY'S 'BIG CAT' CONTINUES

Fri, 19 Sep 2008 10:15:40 GMT

clipped by: vk2yoc
clipper's remarks: There have been over 20 sightings near the creek that runs through the back of the property where I live.

Clip Source: www.news.com.au

NSW Premier Nathan Rees believes something big and furry is roaming Sydney's west, announcing a hunt to find the mysterious creature usually considered an urban myth.

Mr Rees today said a western Sydney woman had written to him with a database of around 600 people who have supposedly sighted a bit cat in Sydney's outer suburbs.

"I don't think it's necessarily an urban myth,'' Mr Rees told reporters in Penrith today.

"There are too many people reporting sightings.''

Sighting of big cats - dubbed either the Penrith Panther or Lithgow Panther - have been part of local folklore in Sydney's west and the Blue Mountains for decades.

While many people believe it is some type of exotic cat, possibly a panther, cougar or leopard, myth busters say they are nothing but large feral cats with thick winter coats.

Believers say the big cats have been able to survive by roaming the three large national parks - Kanangra-Boyd, Blue Mountains and Wollemi - which connect across the mountains.

Tags: big cat, myths, legends

Faster than the Speed of Light? A New Theory Says, "Yes"

Wed, 17 Sep 2008 13:25:36 GMT

clipped by: vk2yoc
clipper's remarks: How would this affect the LHC? If he's right of course.

Clip Source: www.dailygalaxy.com

A brilliant young physicist João Magueijo asks the heretical question: What if the speed of light—now accepted as one of the unchanging foundations of modern physics—were not constant?

Magueijo, a 40-year old native of Portugal, puts forth the heretical idea that in the very early days of the universe light traveled faster—an idea that if proven could dethrone Einstein and forever change our understanding of the universe. He is a pioneer of the varying speed of light (VSL) theory of cosmology -an alternative to the more mainstream theory of cosmic inflation- which proposes that the speed of light in the early universe was of 60 orders of magnitude faster than its present value.

Magueijo’s varying-speed-of-light theory (VSL) would have stunning implications for space travel, black holes, time dilation, and string theory—and could help uncover the grand unified theory that ultimately eluded Einstein

Could Einstein be wrong and Magueijo right?

Time will tell.

Tags: science, lhc, e=mc2, black holes, big bang

Physics Heavyweights Predict Discovery of the God Particle

Fri, 12 Sep 2008 08:14:19 GMT

clipped by: vk2yoc
clipper's remarks: There's still time for it to blow us all up.

Clip Source: www.dailygalaxy.com

For many of us, counting down until the 10th of September has been fun. We’ve inadvertently been hoping for a black hole or strangelet to pop up near the Geneva border, as the Large Hadron Collider was switched on. As of writing this, the world still manages to survive, so things are looking up. Sure, it would have been cool to say “my planet got eaten by a strangelet” but, who’s complaining?

Already images are arriving from the LHC, showing us who-knows-what, and it won’t be long until data starts streaming out along their dedicated intranet to scientists across the planet.

But the real interest, having moved past the initial phase of not being eaten by a strangelet (I’m having a hard time getting over that), is whether the Higgs boson will be found, the so called “God particle.”

But not everyone is as optimistic. Everyone’s favorite physicist and mathematician, Stephen Hawking, has bet $100 that the LHC will not find the Higgs boson.

Is "ElectroSmog" Destroying the Planet's Bee Population?

Tue, 09 Sep 2008 16:40:15 GMT

clipped by: vk2yoc
clipper's remarks: Bee afraid, bee very afraid.

Clip Source: www.dailygalaxy.com

"If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe, then man would only have four years of life left." -

Albert Einstein

Mobile phones, Wi-Fi networks, electric power lines are sources of "electrosmog" disrupting nature on an unprecedented, massive scale causing birds and bees to lose their bearings, fail to reproduce and die, according to controversial research by Dr. Ulrich Warnke, a lecturer at the University of Saarland, in Germany, who has been studying the effects of man-made electrical fields on wildlife for more than 30 years. Warnke believes that "an unprecedented dense mesh of artificial magnetic, electrical and electromagnetic fields" is being generated, disrupting the "natural system of information" on which the species rely. Bees are able to change the polarity of their antennae at will, which enables them to navigate using the Earth's magnetic fields.

fundamentally changed the natural electromagnetic energies and forces on the earth's surface

Tags: nature, environmental

Arctic Permafrost Holding a Huge Carbon Pool & Potential Climate Threat

Tue, 09 Sep 2008 16:33:47 GMT

clipped by: vk2yoc
clipper's remarks: Is politics really more important than this?

Clip Source: www.dailygalaxy.com

Permafrost blanketing the northern hemisphere contains more than twice the amount of carbon in the atmosphere, making it a potentially serious contributor to global climate change depending on how quickly it thaws according a group of nearly two dozen scientists lead by Ted Schuur, an associate professor of ecology at the University of Florida.

When permafrost thaws, bacteria and fungi break down carbon contained in this organic matter much more quickly, releasing it to the atmosphere as carbon dioxide or methane, both greenhouse gases.

With the Arctic warming and permafrost thawing, shrubs and trees are likely to grow on ground formerly occupied by tundra – indeed, such a transformation has already been observed in parts of Alaska, where some arctic tundra is becoming shrub land.

"This will lead to a type of global warming which will be impossible to stop," he said.

The methane and carbon dioxide levels will increase as a result of permafrost degradation

Tags: global warming, climate, environment

Planet-scale Geo-Engineering Needed to Reverse Global Warming?

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 10:50:17 GMT

clipped by: vk2yoc
clipper's remarks: James Lovelock tells it like it is. I hope he's wrong!

Clip Source: www.dailygalaxy.com

Whether or not we use ... geo-engineering, the planet is likely, massively and cruelly, to cull us, in the same merciless way we have eliminated so many species by changing their environment into one where survival is difficult,” he added. “Before we start geo-engineering, we have to raise the following question: are we sufficiently talented to take on what might become the onerous permanent task of keeping the Earth in homeostasis [balance]?

Lovelock issues stark warnings that "even with geo-engineering, or a new deal on reducing emissions mapped out in Bali last year, any course was 'likely to lead to death on a scale that makes all wars, famines and disasters small."

"This puts a special responsibility on us to stay civilized and give refuge to the unimaginably large influx of climate refugees,' he said, adding that carrying on with 'business as usual' would probably kill most of us this century.

Tags: disaster, global warming, solutions, environment

Heartbreaking picture of the polar bears with 400 miles to swim.

Mon, 01 Sep 2008 11:59:52 GMT

clipped by: vk2yoc
clipper's remarks: Unfortunately we'll see more of this.

Clip Source: www.dailymail.co.uk

Struggling against the waves, this polar bear faces almost certain death after becoming lost at sea in the Arctic.

It is one of a group of nine to have plunged into the ocean after the ice float they lived on melted.

The bears were spotted miles from their normal hunting ground by U.S. government oil survey scientists flying over Alaska's Chukchi Sea.

They said the creatures' homing instinct has sent them north towards the edge of the polar cap instead of 60 miles south towards the nearest land.

Enlarge

Yesterday, researchers also warned they feared the annual ice-melt has passed its 'tipping point', where not enough freezes each winter to make up for the previous summer's melt.

'We thought it was slowing this year, but it’s suddenly sped up instead.'

Experts with WWF, the World Wide Fund for Nature, fear the bears can’t make it.

Polar bears are strong swimmers but would not be able to make it that far.

When Your Dad’s a Graphic Designer

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 12:48:03 GMT

clipped by: vk2yoc
clipper's remarks: Cute Photos.

Clip Source: www.frakincool.com

We all know that Moms love to dress up their kids. However, when Dad’s a graphic designer, anything is possible. It all started out with the morbid baby picture above… Hulk Hogan is my favorite