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The Strangest Disaster of the 20th Century

Tue, 22 May 2007 06:00:44 GMT

clipped by: thefoxalmighty
clipper's remarks: Creepy.

Here’s the story of how scientists unlocked the secrets of the worst natural disaster in the history of the West African nation of Cameroon… and what they’re doing to try and stop it from happening again.

Overnight, something had killed nearly 1,800 people. Plus more than 3,000 cattle and countless wild animals, birds and insects—in short every living creature for miles around.

The official death toll was recorded as 1,746 people, but that was only an estimate, because the survivors had already begun to bury victims in mass graves, and many terrified survivors had fled corpse-filled villages and were hiding in the forest. Whatever it was that killed so many people seemed to have disappeared without a trace just as quickly as it had come.

There was no evidence of bleeding, physical trauma, or disease, and no sign of exposure to radiation, chemical weapons, or poison gas. And there was no evidence of suffering or “death agony”: The victims apparently just blacked out, fell over, and died.

Tags: disaster, news

History's greatest replies

Mon, 03 Mar 2008 18:35:06 GMT

clipped by: Aribeth
clipper's remarks: "All of them—along with many, many hundreds more—appear in my Viva la Repartee book."

Pope John XXIII

One of the few pontiffs in history with a rich sense of humor, Pope John XXIII once reported to an interviewer that important problems would frequently come to mind in the middle of the night, disturbing his sleep. Half awake, he'd make a mental note: "I must speak to the pope about that." "Then," he confessed, "I would be wide awake and remember—I am the pope!" Once asked by a journalist, "How many people work in the Vatican?" the pontiff pondered the question, giving the impression that he was trying to come up with an accurate estimate. Then, with a straight face, he answered: "About half."

(more at the source)

Clip Source: www.drmardy.com

John Barrymore

As he was relieving himself, a woman entered and was shocked to see a man urinating into one of the toilets. "How dare you!" she exclaimed, "This is for ladies!" The actor turned toward the woman, organ in hand, and resonantly said in full actor's voice:

"And so, madam, is this."

Robert Benchley

After lunching at the Algonquin Hotel one day

Benchley offhandedly said to the uniformed man standing by the front door, "My good man, would you please get me a taxi?" The man immediately took offense and replied indignantly, "I'm not a doorman. I happen to be a rear admiral in the United States Navy." Benchley instantly quipped:

"All right then,
get me a battleship."

Calvin Coolidge

At a White House dinner one evening, a female guest sidled up to the President and whispered in his ear, "You must talk to me, Mr. President. I made a bet today that I could get more than two words out of you." Coolidge whispered back:

"You lose."

The 5 Smallest Countries in the World

Tue, 20 Feb 2007 07:40:51 GMT

clipped by: Deepti

Clip Source: www.neatorama.com

1. Vatican City

Size: 0.17 sq. mi. (0.44 km²)
Population: 783 (2005 census)
Location: Rome, Italy

2. Monaco

Size: 0.8 sq. mi. (1.96 km²)
Population: 35,657 (2006 estimate)
Location: French Riviera on the Mediterranean

3. Nauru

Size: 8 sq. mi (21 km²)
Population: 13,005 (2005 estimate)
Location: Western Pacific Ocean

4. Tuvalu

Size: 9 sq. mi. (26 km²)
Population: 10,441 (2005 estimate)
Location: South Pacific

5. San Marino

Size: 24 sq. mi. (61 km²)
Population: 28,117 (2005 estimate)
Location: North-central Italy near the Adriatic coast.

Tags: world, country, smallest, nations, photos, info, data

Modern Slavery 101

Sun, 30 Mar 2008 01:17:59 GMT

clipped by: lifecyce1898

Clip Source: www.iabolish.org

Contrary to popular belief, slavery didn’t end with Abraham Lincoln in 1865. Experts estimate that today there are 27 million people enslaved around the world. It’s happening in countries on all six inhabited continents. And yes, that includes the United States. The CIA estimates 14,500 to 17,000 victims are trafficked into the “Land of the Free” every year.

Why hasn’t more been done to end a dehumanizing, universally condemned practice? One challenge is that slavery today takes on myriad, subtler forms than it did during the Atlantic Slave Trade — including sex trafficking, debt bondage, forced domestic or agricultural labor, and chattel slavery — making it tougher to identify and eradicate.

Types of Slavery

CHATTEL SLAVERY

DEBT BONDAGE

SEX SLAVERY

FORCED LABOR

Concrete that literally eats pollution.

Fri, 10 Nov 2006 14:44:08 GMT

clipped by: TheCatWhisperer
clipper's remarks: If it works, then this could be a big breakthrough indeed.

However, it's not like cities are going to start re-paving roads that don't need it, or demoing & rebuilding building, (or even just repainting them with this solution)... The cost would be prohibitive. So that 50% savings (just off of 15% of concrete surfaces) is a LONG way away.

Plus, this definitely doesn't curb the need for changing the way we pollute...

Clip Source: www.businessweek.com

Venice hardly counts among the most-polluted places in the world. There are no cars traveling its narrow streets, and all traffic is either by foot or by boat. So despite the crowded walkways and canals, the air in Venice is far cleaner than that of, say, Milan, Italy's economic capital, which recent figures indicate has some of the worst air quality in Europe.

Even so, visitors to the Italian Pavilion of the architecture exhibition in the Venice Biennale, which will remain open until Nov. 19, will get a breath of fresh air. That's because parts of the concrete walls and grounds have been built with cement containing an active agent that, in presence of light, breaks air pollutants such as carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxide, benzene, and others through a natural chemical process called photocatalysis.

The results so far are astonishing: A street in the town of Segrate, near Milan, with an average traffic of 1,000 cars per hour, has been repaved with the compound, "and we have measured a reduction in nitric oxides of around 60%," says Italcementi's spokesperson Alberto Ghisalberti. In a test over an 8,000 square meter (or approximately 2 acres) industrial area paved with active blocks near Bergamo, Italcementi's hometown, the reduction was measured at 45%.

In large cities such as Milan, with persistent pollution problems caused by car emissions, smoke from heating systems, and industrial activities, both the company and outside experts estimate that covering 15% of all visible urban surfaces (painting the walls, repaving the roads) with products containing TX Active could abate pollution by up to 50%, depending on the specific atmospheric conditions.

Of course, this approach isn't meant to replace efforts to curb pollution, but it can significantly magnify their effects. Here's how it works: The active principle—basically a blend of titanium dioxide that acts as photocatalyzer—can be incorporated in cement, mortar, paints, and plaster.

Tags: pollution, clean air, global warming, environment, technology

Do Not Read This !

Fri, 25 Jul 2008 14:08:56 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver
clipper's remarks: At the current state of our planet, and mounting evidence to human induced climate change, these rich resources of fossil fuels are nothing short of a Faustian proposition.

Clip Source: www.sciencedaily.com

The area north of the Arctic Circle has an estimated 90 billion barrels of undiscovered, technically recoverable oil, 1,670 trillion cubic feet of technically recoverable natural gas, and 44 billion barrels of technically recoverable natural gas liquids in 25 geologically defined areas thought to have potential for petroleum.

The U.S. Geological Survey assessment released July 24 is the first publicly available petroleum resource estimate of the entire area north of the Arctic Circle.

These resources account for about 22 percent of the undiscovered, technically recoverable resources in the world.

The Arctic accounts for about 13 percent of the undiscovered oil, 30 percent of the undiscovered natural gas, and 20 percent of the undiscovered natural gas liquids in the world. About 84 percent of the estimated resources are expected to occur offshore.

we're providing the same information to everyone in the world so that the global community can make those difficult decisions.

Tags: fossil fuels, environment

7 Steps to Making Your Future Clearer and Brighter

Sun, 28 Sep 2008 11:35:16 GMT

clipped by: wildcat

Clip Source: iamalwayslate.org

Along with lack of motivation, such factors as vagueness, uncertainty and lack of clarity are among the key reasons of our bad habits, discouragement and procrastination. For those who are determined to fight with these problems and look for positive changes in their life, I would like to offer a strategy created by Dr. Brian Tracy, an experienced time management specialist, lecturer and business coach, who wrote several books of special techniques and recommendations for those who suffer from chronic procrastination and lack of personal effectiveness. He argues that everyone who wants to be successful in this world has to define own goals and aspirations. This can be done in the following 7 steps:

Step 1. Decide

Step 2. Think on paper

Step 3. Estimate an optimistic deadline and a pessimistic deadline for your goals

Step 4. Think about everything you need to do, learn or accomplish in order to achieve your goals

Step 5. Organize

Step 6. Take action!

Step 7. Make a habit of doing something

Tags: mind, clarity

Kites could provide electricity for 100,000 homes

Sun, 10 Aug 2008 22:53:25 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver
clipper's remarks: Several other scientists are investigating the use of kites to harness energy from the wind - which some researchers estimate provides more than 100 times the amount required to power the entire planet. In 2007, Google´s philanthropic arm invested about $10 million in a US kite company called Makani. An Italian company called Kitegen has a multi-kite scheme that could generate a gigawatt of power, as much as a standard coal plant.

Clip Source: www.physorg.com

High-flying kites tethered to generators could supply as much as 100 megawatts of electricity, enough to power 100,000 homes, according to researchers from the Delft University of Technology in The Netherlands.

The scientists have recently demonstrated that flying a single 10-square-meter kite could produce 10 kilowatts of power, which could supply electricity for about 10 homes.

In their next experiment, the researchers plan to test a 50-kilowatt version, called Laddermill. Eventually, their goal is to build a multi-kite system that could generate a full 100 megawatts.

Electricity produced by kites in the wind could be inexpensive, too. The researchers predict prices to be comparable with generating electricity using coal power, and half that of using wind turbines.

kites generate power by pulling on their strings that are attached to generators on the ground. After reaching their maximum height, the kites are reeled back down to repeat the process.

Tags: energy, clean energy, wind, kites

High IQ: Not as good for you as you thought

Sun, 08 Jul 2007 12:58:37 GMT

clipped by: lifecyce1898

Clip Source: scienceblogs.com

Angela Duckworth and Martin Seligman estimate that for every ten articles on intelligence and academic achievement, there has been fewer than one about self-discipline. Even so, the small body of research on self-discipline suggests that it has a significant impact on achievement. Walter Mischel and colleagues found in the 1980s that 4-year-olds' ability to delay gratification (for example, to wait a few minutes for two cookies instead of taking one cookie right away) was predictive of academic achievement a decade later. Others have found links between personality and college grades, and self-discipline and Phi Beta Kappa awards. Still, most research on self-discipline has achieved inconsistent results, possibly due to the difficulty of measuring self-discipline. Could a more robust measure of self-discipline demonstrate that it's more relevant to academic performance than IQ?

Tags: iq

Ain't Eccentricity Great!

Sat, 10 May 2008 17:37:43 GMT

clipped by: Socratoad
clipper's remarks: Fascinating! methinks

Clip Source: www.newyorker.com

Our Own Devices

Does technology drive history?

James Prescott Joule, whose findings led to the first law of thermodynamics, spent his honeymoon jury-rigging a thermometer to take a reading at the top and bottom of a waterfall where a lesser man might merely have canoodled. Joseph Henry shredded his wife’s silk petticoat to make insulation for the coil of wire he needed to wrap around an electromagnet. Thomas Edison didn’t wash, and was convinced that changing his clothes would alter his body’s chemistry, and not in a good way. Nikola Tesla, who developed the first motor for alternating current, had to do everything in multiples of three: twenty-seven laps in the pool, twelve hundred electric lamps for the city of Strasbourg. He was also afraid of earrings, peaches, touching people’s hair, dropping tiny square slips of paper into bowls of liquid, and eating food whose cubic footage he had not been able to estimate at a glance.

0.3% of Saharan Sun Enough To Power Europe

Sat, 26 Jul 2008 23:42:28 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver
clipper's remarks: The visionary proposal comes as the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission released its strategic energy technology plan which highlighted photovoltaic cells as one of the eight technologies that need to be developed in the future. The plan also includes fuel cells, hydrogen, clean coal, second generation biofuels, nuclear fusion, wind and smart grids.

Clip Source: www.environmentalgraffiti.com

The major obstacle to using renewable energy has always been the inability to produce a constant supply of electricity to consumers.

However, scientists now believe that they have found a way to solve the supply and demand problem.

Arnulf Jaeger-Waldau of the European Commission’s Institute for Energy, speaking at the Euroscience Open Forum in Barcelona (ESOF), believes that the creation of solar farms in the Sahara desert could produce enough energy to meet all of Europe’s energy needs.

Power could be generated either through photovoltaic cells or by using the sun’s heat to boil water and power turbines.

The argument for solar farms in the Sahara is solid in that photovoltaic panels there could potentially generate three times more energy than panels in northern Europe.

It is estimated that capturing 0.3% of the sunlight falling on the desert would meet all of Europe’s needs.

around €450bn would be needed and scientists estimate that it would take until 2050

Tags: energy, economy, europe, solar energy

World War III Cancelled

Tue, 04 Dec 2007 16:35:32 GMT

clipped by: Elisabeth Eaves
clipper's remarks: So it turns out that Iran stopped developing nuclear weapons in 2003, according to the new National Intelligence Estimate. It's easy to distrust the U.S. intelligence community, which not only made mistakes on Al-Qaeda and Iraq, but also told us in 2005 that Tehran was determined to build nukes. But there's at least one thing we can all be relieved about today: Imminent open warfare between the U.S. and Iran is almost certainly off the table.

Clip Source: www.slate.com

If there was ever a possibility that President George W. Bush would drop bombs on Iran, the chances have now shrunk to nearly zero.

In one of the most dramatic National Intelligence Estimates ever, the 16 agencies of the U.S. intelligence community concluded today "with high confidence" that Iran "halted its nuclear weapons" four years ago, in the fall of 2003.

The NIE, which was released this afternoon, also judges "with moderate confidence" that Iran won't be "technically capable" of producing enough materials for an atom bomb—much less the bomb itself—until 2010-15 or possibly later.

Tags: iran, nuclear weapons, intelligence

String Theory Faster-Than-Light Drive Proposed

Wed, 13 Aug 2008 22:18:29 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver
clipper's remarks: Dreams of interstellar travel may need to be put on hold for the moment, however. Cleaver and Obousy estimate that the amount of energy needed to influence the extra dimension is equivalent to the entire mass of Jupiter being converted into pure energy for a ship measuring roughly 10 meters by 10 meters by 10 meters. "That is an enormous amount of energy," Cleaver said. "We are still a very long ways off before we could create something to harness that type of energy."

But what if we could make ourselves very very small??? I am ready to squeeze myself quite a bit to get really far...

Clip Source: www.scienceagogo.com

Physicists Gerald Cleaver and Richard Obousy, of Baylor University, believe they have come up with a new method for a spaceship to travel faster than the speed of light without breaking the laws of physics.

They theorize that by manipulating the extra spatial dimensions of string theory around a spaceship with an extremely large amount of energy, it would create a "bubble" that could cause the ship to travel faster than the speed of light.

The Baylor physicists believe that manipulating the 10th spatial dimension postulated in string theory would alter the dark energy in three large spatial dimensions: height, width and length.

The new method is based on the Alcubierre drive, which proposes expanding the fabric of space behind a ship and shrinking space-time in front of the ship.

The ship would not actually move, rather the ship would sit in a bubble between the expanding and shrinking space-time dimensions.

Tags: physics, string theory, faster than light drive

Top Ten Languages in the Internet

Wed, 22 Nov 2006 17:58:58 GMT

clipped by: lauriecorona
clipper's remarks: Definitely I should learn Chinese and Japanese `cause it seems I'm missing a lot of pages!

Clip Source: www.translation-services-usa.com

The Top Ten Languages in the Web
( Number of Users of the Internet by Language )

TOP TEN LANGUAGES
IN THE INTERNET

Internet Users,
by Language

Average
Penetration

World Population
Estimate for Language

Language as % of
Total Internet Users

English

291,821,168

26.3 %

1,109,729,839

32.8 %

Chinese

113,414,713

8.6 %

1,316,007,412

12.8 %

Japanese

67,677,947

52.8 %

128,137,485

7.6 %

Spanish

56,844,480

14.6 %

389,587,559

6.4 %

German

54,244,805

55.4 %

96,141,368

6.1 %

French

37,502,485

10.0 %

375,066,442

4.2 %

Korean

31,600,000

42.0 %

75,189,128

3.6 %

Italian

28,610,000

48.8 %

58,608,565

3.2 %

Portuguese

21,691,837

9.5 %

227,621,437

2.4 %

Dutch

14,655,328

60.5 %

24,218,157

1.6 %

TOP TEN LANGUAGES

718,062,762

18.9 %

3,800,307,391

80.8 %

Rest of the Languages

170,618,369

6.5 %

2,611,759,794

19.2 %

WORLD TOTAL

888,681,131

13.9 %

6,412,067,185

100.0 %

(*) NOTES: (1) Internet Top Ten Languages Usage Stats were updated on March 24, 2005. (2) Average Penetration is the ratio between the sum of Internet users speaking a language and the total population estimate that speaks that referred language. (3) The most recent Internet usage information comes from data published by Nielsen//NetRatings, International Telecommunications Union, and other reliable sources. (4) The population information is from world-gazetteer.com. (5) Statistical data taken from InternetWorldStats.com.

Tags: internet, languages

Living People Outnumber the Dead- fact or fiction

Fri, 14 Dec 2007 12:15:06 GMT

clipped by: wildcat

Clip Source: www.sciam.com

The human population has swelled so much that people alive today outnumber all those who have ever lived, says a factoid whose roots stretch back to the 1970s. Some versions of this widely circulating rumor claim that 75 percent of all people ever born are currently alive. Yet, despite a quadrupling of the population in the past century, the number of people alive today is still dwarfed by the number of people who have ever lived.

In 2002 Carl Haub, a demographer at the Population Reference Bureau, a nongovernmental organization in Washington, D.C., updated his earlier estimate of the number of people that have ever existed. To calculate this, he studied the available population data to determine the human population growth rates during different historical periods, and used them to determine the number of people who have ever been born.

For most of history, the population grew slowly, if at all

in the Middle East in 9000 B.C., Earth held an estimated five million people.

Tags: life, human, population, demography