Uganda: School closed over poor sanitation

Mary Hill Junior Academy, a day and boarding pre-primary school was on Tuesday closed over poor sanitation. The school located in Kiwologoma village Kira town council in Wakiso District was closed down by the Kira Division Education Officers with help the police. The school is owned one Moses Mpanga.

Students who arrived at the school in time for classes looked stranded as class rooms were being locked with no one allowed in.

“Your school has been visited according to the education act 2008 section 45 and the following have been recommended, close the boarding section, and improve on sanitation of the school,” a letter by director of education Kira division, Mugoya Higenyi to the school management read in part.

He said the school was closed due to a lack of facilities like classrooms, dormitories, lack of multiple exits in case of a fire outbreak, windows and pit latrines. He said the school received several warnings but it declined to comply with what was recommended.

According to Mugoya, Mary hill Junior Academy was also found operating without authority. According to the education pre-primary and post primary Act of 2008 section 40, no school should operate without a valid license.

Helen Musiitwa one of the parents blamed the councils director for education, for threatening private investment in education. “Around this place we only have this school which is good because other schools are very far up to Kireka and students have to walk long distances to access education which is very risky to them,” she complained.

She said this is intended to make parents poorer as the school was closed after they paid school fees.


Meanwhile Florence Abenakyo the Woman Superintendent in charge of family unit at Kira Police division blamed parents for taking their children to boarding sections when they are still very young. “We visited this school on a fact finding mission and found out that these toddlers are not given a balanced diet yet they are very young which exposes them to more dangers of contracting diseases from school,” Abenakyo said.

Original source here

Cambridge Women Students Demand DSK "DISINVITED" From University Talk

The euro zone crisis, the future of the global economy, French presidential elections. Such is the ambitious program of the event organized by the Cambridge Union Society, the British university's prestigious debate society. Just one small detail: the main speaker for the March 9 event happens to be named, Dominique Strauss-Kahn.

The former head of the International Monetary Fund is currently under investigation in France over an alleged prostitution ring, which follows last year's case in New York where DSK was charged with sexual assault of a hotel maid, before charges were dropped by the prosecutor.

The debate society speaking engagement has outraged female members of the Cambridge University Students’ Union (CUSU), who have launched a "Disinvite DSK" campaign. A petition opposing Strauss-Kahn's appearance has already been signed by more than 800 people.

Douglas H. Wigdor, the American lawyer of Nafissatou Diallo, the maid who claims she was sexually assaulted by Strauss-Kahn, is scheduled to join a protest against the participation of the former French Finance Minister, who until his arrest in New York last spring was the frontrunner to challenge Nicolas Sarkozy in the 2012 presidential election.

The Cambridge’s Women’s Campaign also noted that the scheduled event is not a debate, as is traditionally the case, but rather consists a conference followed by a Q&A session. They say this would give DSK a platform to speak on the economy without having to answer the sexual allegations against him.

The University justified the invitation by saying that the former head of the IMF was “exceptionally well qualified to speak on some of the greatest headline topics of the world in 2012.”

Cambridge’s debate circle is known for inviting controversial celebrities, like France’s extreme-right politician Jean-Marie Le Pen, the Dalai Lama and members of the then apartheid regime in South Africa.

Trying to cope with the influx of requests, the University of Cambridge decided to distribute tickets to the talk by lottery. The event is sold out.

Read article at the original source here.

Not Only Youth, German Hostels Now Want Whole Families

For a long time, “youth hostel” conjured up an image of noisy kids on school trips staying 10 to a room, with shower and other facilities shared by the whole floor and peppermint tea for breakfast. That doesn’t exactly sound like a vacation. But times have changed. Hostels are now marketing to families – and, according to Knut Dinter, spokesman for the German Youth Hostel Association (DJH), “more and more [families] are staying at hostels every year.” Families generally account for about a fifth of the total number of guests, and in some areas of the country it’s as much as a third.

Obviously, hostels are not going to appeal to all families, since a certain amount of sacrificed comfort is inevitable. "There is often very little space to put suitcases and clothing , sometimes just a locker you can’t fit a lot into,” says Torsten Kirstges of the Jade University of Applied Sciences in Wilhelmshaven. "And instead of double beds, the parents have to sleep in bunk beds.” Plus, there are only a few rooms with their own toilet and shower.

DJH speaker Dinter agrees, but points out that – with the family market in mind -- hostels are making big investments to upgrade bathroom facilities. Winning the family market is increasingly important to the establishments since class trips are no longer as routine as they once were and hence the traditional market is on the decline.

Hostel owner Kerstin Krause says that is indeed the case. Together with her husband Ronald, she has spent the past 17 years running the “Waldkater” hostel in the town of Thale in central Germany’s Harz region. "When we started out, we mainly got school kids and college students staying here,” she says. But things started to change in the 1990s, and now the hostel has an unusually high number of family guests. Says Krause: "In 2011 for the first time we actually got more families than school classes.” And that trend continues to snowball – when one family has a good experience they tell friends, who often then decide to book a holiday with their families.

The 200-bed “Waldkater” hostel now has a number of families as regular customers. The facility offers packages for families that include children-friendly activities like movies, mini-golf, hikes. It even employs its own director of kids’ activities.

Read article at the original source here.

Lecturer expels students over wearing veils

A lecturer at Masaka School of Comprehensive Nursing recently sent out two female Muslim students for wearing veils while in class. Olivia Kyere reportedly ousted Shamim Nakitende and Hanisha Nangoye, saying the school was not an Islamic training centre.

The students reported the matter to the school administrators, who referred them to Masaka district Muslim leaders. “Kyere must apoligise to us within one month. If not, we shall declare her among the Muslim enemies,” Masaka district deputy kadhi Sheik Hamidu Mugera told Muslims in Masaka Mosque.

However, a school official, who preferred anonymity, told New Vision that the Ministry of Education’s policy is that students should not wear anything other than the school uniform. “We held a crisis meeting with the ministry’s officials and James Mugerwa, the principle education officer, said if they were not part of the school uniform, veils should not be allowed in lecture rooms,” the official said.

Original source here.

Demand-driven system boosts student numbers

The federal government’s lifting of restrictions on enrollments that individual universities could accept had boosted student numbers this year by more than 30,000, Minister for Tertiary Education, Skills, Science and Research, Senator Chris Evans, told the Universities Australia conference this week.

“Some 220,000 university offers have been made this year, an increase of more than 4% on last year,” Evans said. “Student places are up 27% since 2007 [when the Labor government was first elected] and that means 150,000 additional students are now getting a university education in Australia.”

Taking the opportunity to spell out the government’s achievements in higher education to the nation’s vice-chancellors and their senior executives, Evans said one in six of the additional students were from low socio-economic backgrounds and many were the first in their families to go to university.

Growth in enrolments had been strong across disciplines such as health and engineering, and the nation was on track to reach the government’s 2025 target for 40% of 25- to 34-year-old Australians to have a bachelor or higher degree.

Read details here.

Girl's heroic act to save mother

(Amazingnews) Kali Collins is just 10 years old but this week she has been making headlines for her incredible bravery that helped save her and her mother’s lives. Collins’ mother was driving along just this week when she suffered a major diabetic attack, thanks to Kali’s quick thinking though they and the entire family onboard survived what could have been a catastrophic afternoon.

Kali apparently realized shortly after her mother started driving that something wasn’t right. The van they were riding in was apparently out of control and driving on the wrong side of the road. Kali quickly took control of the van and proceeded to car her father and then 911 to get help. The quick thinking and quick reaction by this young girl was credited with saving the lives of everyone in the van that day.

Paramedics and emergency personnel have all agreed that Kali is in fact responsible for saving her and everyone else’s lives that day. Diabetic attacks happen frequently while driving and rarely do those affected fare very well in the endeavor. If Kali had not been in the front seat along side her mother that day they would likely never survived. This is a truly heartwarming story that shows just how much a small difference can make in the big picture of life, especially in the case of a medical emergency. Kali Collins is a true hero at only 10 years old thanks to her bravery and heroism this week.

Sea Shepherd claims Victory for restricting Japan's whaling fleet

Anti-whaling activists Sea Shepherd Conservation Society declared victory this week as Japan's whaling fleet left the Antarctic with less than a third of its expected catch.

Japan's Fisheries Agency announced Friday from Tokyo that its fleet was heading home "on schedule," but that its catch of 267 whales fell far short of the approximately 900 projected, AFP reports. According to an agency official, "factors including weather conditions and sabotage acts by activists" were to blame for the weak results.

After pursuing the whalers for much of the season, Sea Shepherd announced its mission a success on its website Thursday.

"Is it a victory? Yes. We kept them running almost for the whole three months," Captain Paul Watson told Australia's ABC News24.


The activists claimed to have used laser beams and flares to disrupt the whaling ship Nisshin Maru, The Associated Press reports.


The controversial group has come under legal fire recently. In February, Japanese whalers asked a U.S. judge to freeze Sea Shepherd's bank accounts, accusing the group of financing terrorism. Earlier this week, the Maltese government initiated libel proceedings against Watson after he accused government officials of accepting bribes from tuna fisherman.

Watson seems untroubled by the criticism:

"It has been a successful campaign. There are hundreds of whales swimming free in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary that would now be dead if we had not been down there for the last three months. That makes us very happy indeed."


Source: Huffingtonpost.com

Climate change endangers nuclear plants, scientists warn

The Fort Calhoun nuclear power station, in Neb., surrounded by flood waters from the Missouri River 

WASHINGTON -- A year after a 30-foot tsunami ravaged the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan, some scientists say regulators underestimate the threat that climate change poses to nuclear power plants in the U.S.
Climate Change Endangers Nuclear Safety
"There are clear lessons learned from the Fukushima disaster, yet our government allows the risks to remain," said Jordan Weaver, a scientist with the Natural Resources Defense Council.

"It doesn't have to take an earthquake and a tsunami to trigger a severe nuclear meltdown. In addition to human error and hostile acts, more common occurrences like hurricanes, tornadoes and flooding -- all of which took place around the country last year -- could cause the same type of power failure in U.S. plants."

Nuclear reactor facilities, which need a reliable source of water for cooling purposes, are usually located near the ocean or alongside a large lake or river. There are 104 nuclear reactors at 65 sites across the U.S., nine of them located within 2 miles of the coast. That's a somewhat fraught positioning from the lens of climate science, particularly since the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report from 2007 found that ocean levels are rising roughly 1.2 inches each decade, with some scientists predicting that water levels could rise by as much as a meter by the end of the century.

That may not sound like much, with most nuclear power plants a full 20 to 30 feet above sea level, but each additional inch of water increases the risk of flooding and heightens storm surges, two of the more significant threats of a warmer planet.

What's more, recent reports show accelerated glacial melt, indicating sea levels will rise more dramatically than previously predicted. The Arctic ice study by the International Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Program found that sea levels could rise 35 to 63 inches by 2100, far more than the 7 to 23 inches predicted by the IPCC in 2007.


Source: Huffingtonpost.com

'Super lice' leave parents scratching their heads

THEY'VE been dubbed "super lice" and they can't be killed by conventional means. They are leaving growing numbers of parents scratching their heads as they battle to rid their children of head lice and nits.
Rick Speare, a professor in public health at James Cook University, said many of Australia's head lice treatments were no longer effective, with research showing resistance to insecticide-based treatments had grown rapidly over the past decade.
After failing to kill head lice on her daughter, 8, using store-bought treatments, Melissa Barrett took matters into her own hands.
The research nurse experimented, eventually hitting upon a successful formula using wormwood, an old-fashioned remedy for fleas.
As a result she has launched Hit Nitz 4 6, which she claims is effective against super lice.


Source: news.com.au

Gorilla genome sheds new light on human evolution

Scientists have sequenced the genome of the gorilla, the last great ape to have its genes decoded, and say it gives new insights into differences between the apes and humans -- including their ability to produce competitive sperm.

While confirming that our closest relative is the chimpanzee, the research also shows that around 15 percent of the human gene map resembles the gorilla more closely than it does the chimpanzee genome.

Chris Tyler-Smith, who worked with a team of scientists who presented their findings in a telephone briefing, said that while many human genes are similar to the gorilla versions, it is the ones that differ that are often most intriguing.

One difference that stuck out was in the genes involved in sperm production, he said.

"Gorillas live in groups with one male and lots of females, so there's not much opportunity for sperm competition," he explained. "It was interesting for us to see that some genes involved in sperm formation...had either become inactive in gorillas or had decreased in copy number."

The study was published in the journal Nature on Wednesday.
(Reuters)

Japan Quake - 7 shaking facts

(LiveScience): One year ago on March 11, the intense shaking and massive tsunami set off by a 9.0 magnitude earthquake off the coast of Japan wrought noticeable effects on our planet.

Not only did the twin events cause widespread damage along Japan's coast — the quake was the largest in the country's history — but they also triggered effects across the globe, from the surface to high up in the atmosphere. They even slightly altered the Earth's gravity.

Here, OurAmazingPlanet reviews the strangest effects the 2011 Japan earthquake and tsunami had on our planet.  
 
7 – Cracks in the seafloor
The earthquake ruptured below the seafloor off the coast of the Tohoku region, ripping open cracks along the ocean bottom. Submersibles spied these cracks, which measured around 3 to 6 feet (around 1 to 3meters) across, in the months after the earthquake.

The massive 9.0 temblor shook large sections of Japan and is still setting off aftershocks in the area. But the shaking wasn't limited to the immediate region, some scientists think. There is evidence that the quake set off microquakes and tremors around the globe, mostly in places already known for their seismic activity such as Taiwan, Alaska and central California. These events likely didn't exceed a magnitude of 3.0.

However, some of the quakes occurred in low-activity areas, such as central Nebraska, central Arkansas and near Beijing. Tremors were even detected in Cuba. Scientists hope that linking these seismic events can help them better understand the inner workings of earthquakes.

5 – Antarctic ice stream sped up

Thousands of miles away from Japan, the seismic waves of the Tohoku earthquake appeared to temporarily speed up the flow of the Whillans glacier. Glaciers are essentially rivers of ice that slowly flow, in the case of Antarctica, from the interior of the continent out to sea. The increased pace of the ice stream was detected by GPS stations located on the ice.

4 - Antarctic iceberg broken

The earthquake and its resulting tsunami were so powerful and far-reaching that they also broke off huge icebergs from Antarctica's Sulzberger Ice Shelf. (An ice shelf is the part of a glacier that floats atop the sea.) Satellite images detected the tsunami waves breaking off chunks of ice some 18 hours after the earthquake.



3 – Atmosphere was rattled

The massive earthquake not only shook the earth, but also rattled the atmosphere.

Research had indicated that the surface motions and tsunamis that earthquakes generate can also trigger waves in the atmosphere, and the Japan earthquake generated the largest such disturbances seen yet, creating ripples in electrically charged particles reaching nearly 220 miles (350 kilometers) above the Earth.

2 – Gravity altered

The earthquake was so powerful that it altered the pull of gravity under the area affected by the quake, as detected by the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellites. The quake slightly thinned the crust, causes a slight reduction in the local gravity field.

1 – Earth's day shortened

The temblor accelerated Earth's spin, shortening the length of the 24-hour day by 1.8 microseconds. A microsecond is a millionth of a second.

The planet's rotation sped up because the earthquake shifted the distribution of Earth's mass, said geophysicist Richard Gross at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., who made the calculation.

Greece averts immediate default, as 80% bondholders agree to bond-swap offer

Greece’s government says over 80% of bondholders have agreed to its bond-swap offer, and that it has agreed collection-action clauses for the rest, in a key development that is expected to help the nation avoid default on its debt obligations.

Greece averted the immediate threat of an uncontrolled default on Friday, winning strong acceptance from its private creditors for a bond swap deal which will eat into its mountainous public debt and clear the way for a new bailout.

Euro zone ministers held a teleconference call and were expected to declare Greece had met the tough terms of the 130 billion euro ($172 billion) rescue, and approve the release of funds which Athens needs to meet heavy debt repayments later this month.

But markets sharply marked down the value of new Greek bonds to be issued to the creditors, reflecting the risk of paralysis after elections expected this spring and doubts about whether Athens can bring its debt to a more manageable level by 2020.

On the streets of Athens, some Greeks denounced the deal as a sham that would impose more crippling austerity on a people already enduring pay and pension cuts and soaring unemployment.

However, Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos hailed the swap - which the European Union and IMF had demanded in return for the country's second bailout since 2010 - as marking a long-awaited success for all Greeks enduring a painful recession.

"Today, after a very long time, is a very good day (for Greece) as well as for me personally," he told parliament, saying the deal had cut its debt burden by 105 billion euros.

"I hope everyone will realize, sooner or later, that this is the only way to keep the country on its feet and give it the second historic chance that it needs," said Venizelos, who led often ill-tempered negotiations with the European Union and International Monetary Fund on the bailout.
(Reuters)

Your personalized newspaper on facebook

A new feature of facebook allows users to subscribe to 'interests', as well as people's updates, making their news feeds more like 'personalised newspapers'.Which means users can start creating and subscribing to these interest lists – such as recipes or sports teams.

The "interest list" will roll out to Facebook’s entire 850 million userbase over the next few weeks.This will create popular topics in real-time, which people can then ‘follow’, in a similar fashion to the microblogging site.

Facebook members will find the ‘interest list’ tab through the home page’s left hand sidebar – and if clicked upon, will reveal a new view entirely comprised of stories from a list's members.Only a creator of a list can edit it and choose the privacy settings. Users can recommend lists to each other too.


General lists already live include the 2012 Presidential Candidates and several business, style and sports lists – published by Facebook.

Facebook describes the feature as “a new way to keep up with the stuff you care about and tidy up your experience…Interest Lists can help you turn Facebook into your own personalized newspaper”.

This description has led several technology pundits to say the site is also going after personalised social news feed services, such as Flipboard.

Shop, Shop, Shop Till You Drop

People love accumulating things. With this basic understanding of the human psyche, Tourism Malaysia encourage tourists to shop when they visit, with three shopping periods or mega sales, namely the Grand Prix Sale, Mega Sale Carnival and 1MYES, where all shoppers will find discounts up to 70 or even 90%!

Tourism Malaysia is positioning the country as a shopping heaven for tourists who visits Malaysia

It was reported recently that tourist spending on shopping in Malaysia continued to increase with RM16.2 billion recorded in 2010 over RM15.1 billion in 2009, Tourism Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ng Yen Yen said.

Dr Ng added that positioning Malaysia as a duty-free shopping destination for tourist goods was one of the three Entry Point Projects undertaken to increase shopping receipts under the Malaysia Tourism Transformation Plan.

Just imagine if plans to make Malaysia a duty-free shopping destination became a reality! Imagine the range of goods that would be available. Isn’t it just wonderful to be in Malaysia?
Read the full article below:
Tourist spending on shopping in Malaysia continued to increase with RM16.2 billion recorded in 2010 over RM15.1 billion in 2009, Tourism Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ng Yen Yen said.
She said tourists in Malaysia shopped to the tune of RM13.3 billion on shopping in 2008 and RM12.2 billion the previous year.
Dr Ng said positioning Malaysia as a duty-free shopping destination for tourist goods was one of the three Entry Point Projects undertaken to increase shopping receipts under the Malaysia Tourism Transformation Plan.
“We’re targeting RM50 billion of tourist spending on shopping by 2020 comprising around 35 per cent of the total tourist spending,” she said when launching the 1Malaysia Year-End Sale (1MYES) here.
Present were Tourism Malaysia chairman Datuk Dr Victor Wee and acting director-general Datuk Azizan Nordin.
Speaking to reporters later, Dr Ng said local traditional products especially handicrafts were also being promoted during the nationwide 1MYES.
She said the ministry was also planning to lure tourists from Turkey, Uzbekistan and Russia as they were the emerging markets in the tourism industry.

Source: Malaysia.com

Harry Potter Author J.K. Rowling's Billionaire Status Disapparates

J.K. Rowling is down a few hundred-million galleons.

The Harry Potter author, estimated in recent years by Forbes to be worth $1 billion and therefore one of only a few dozen British billionaires, is no longer worth 10 figures, according to the bean-counting magazine.

Turns out Rowling is just a really lovely person who paid her taxes (apparently they tax the 1 percent a whole lot in Britain) and gave a hunk of her fortune—roughly $160 million—away to charity.

And, don't worry, the creator of the entire Harry Potter world isn't going to be writing her next novel out of her car or anything: The decrease in net worth only means she's got less than 640 million pounds in the bank, according to London's Daily Telegraph.

We won't weep for her just yet. We will, however, take that novel-for-adults she's working on ASAP if she's concerned about padding her savings account.

Source: eonline.com

Charlotte Casiraghi's First Images for Gucci Campaign Revealed

Italian fashion house Gucci has presented the first images of its "Forever Now" campaign featuring Princess of Monaco Charlotte Casiraghi, daughter of Caroline of Monaco.



A young show jumper, Charlotte Casiraghi was photographed in an equestrian setting. The princess models items featuring the brand's signature red and green stripes in a campaign celebrating its heritage.

Charlotte Casiraghi has been called a natural choice for the brand since she has attended several editions of the Gucci Masters -- including the last edition (December 3-5, 2011) where she competed in the International Jumping Competition.

(Source: AFP Relax News)

ARE WOMEN LEAVING RELIGION?

Both religion and conservative politicians are on the verge of losing the support of many of their constituents: women.

That's the conclusion Washington Post religion columnist Lisa Miller comes to after reading The Resignation of Eve by Jim Henderson and comparing it to the current election season.

"Unless the strident, authoritarian social conservatives loosen their stranglehold on American women, American women will abandon the Republican Party (as they're quitting church) and look for their candidates elsewhere," she writes in her most recent column.

Data back up the arguments: Henderson cites the Barna Research Group in his book in reporting that the number of women who attend church on a weekly basis dropped 20 percent between 1991 and 2011.

And those numbers, Henderson says, don't represent the number of women on the verge of leaving.

"Until those with power (men) decide to give it away to those who lack it (women), I believe we will continue to misrepresent Jesus’ heart and mar the beauty of his Kingdom," writes Henderson, who is an evangelical minister.

Discovery News

TITANIC WRECK SITE MAPPED

The first comprehensive map of the Titanic wreck site has been created as researchers pieced together some 130,000 photos taken by underwater robots in the depths of the North Atlantic Ocean.

Resembling the moon's surface, the map shows debris and parts of the ship scattered across a 15 square-mile patch of ocean floor.

The detailed images might provide new clues about what happened after the "unsinkable" luxury liner hit an iceberg and sank on April 15, 1912, killing more than 1,500 of the 2,200 passengers and crew on board.

ANALYSIS: Did the Moon Conspire To Bring Down Titanic?

"If we are going to do our best to manage the Titanic wreck site as a testament to those that sailed on her, we need to understand the disposition and physical state of what's there," Titanic expedition co-leader David Gallo, director of special projects at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Falmouth, Mass., told Discovery News.

"In addition, we need to put Titanic in context of it is natural setting on the deep Atlantic seafloor," Gallo said.

It's not the first time that the Titanic wreck site has been mapped. The first attempts began soon after the doomed liner was discovered in 1985. Explorers used photos taken with cameras aboard remotely controlled vehicles, which did not hazard too far from the bow and stern.

Therefore, all the maps are incomplete, covering only fragmented portions of the wreck area.

"As much as 40 percent of the wreck site has not been fully studied and documented, including multiple hull sections," RSM Titanic Inc, the legal custodian of the wreck, said on its website.

From Discovery News

Fruits Make You Cuter

Eating lots of fruits and veggies may not only improve your overall health, but may actually make you more attractive, a new study has found.

Fruit and vegetables are rich in red-yellow pigments called carotenoids, which guard against cell damage from pollution and UV rays and can prevent age-related disorders like heart disease and cancer, the Times of India reported. Researchers from the University of St. Andrews in Scotland monitored the fruit and vegetable intake of 35 people over a six-week period and measured skin color changes. In a separate experiment, they investigated how attractive people found the skin color changes associated with the increased intake of fruits and vegetables, according to ABC News.

globalpost.com

3D printing: A stepping stone to new human tissue and body parts

 His team of doctors and engineers triggered headlines around the world last week by successfully operating to replace an elderly patient’s diseased jawbone with a prosthetic generated by 3D printing. Now Prof. Jules Poukens says that could be just the start of a bionic revolution.

“I think there are no limits to this,” Poukens said, adding that the digitalized three-dimensional printing technique can be used for larger bones and in the longer term, even organs. “You can compare this to the first walk on the moon,” he said in a telephone interview. “We can replicate bones and even make them stronger than the original. It’s like the Six Million Dollar Man.” Poukens’ Belgian-Dutch team announced on early February that they had achieved a medical first by using a 3D printer to create an exact replica of the patient’s jawbone made from powered titanium. In a four-hour operation, the implant was inserted to replace the 83-year-old patient’s severely infected original jaw. The woman was able to leave hospital within three days after the operation and quickly recovered breathing, speech, chewing and sensation functions, announced the University of Hasselt, in eastern Belgium, where Poukens teaches. The shape of the woman’s face was also restored.

More on GlobalPost

Carbon Neutral Schools: A Greener Education

With a visionary pilot project in three high schools, Lisbon hopes to be one of the first cities in the world to create carbon neutral schools.

The Smart Urban Energies for Schools project began in 2008 when Parque Escolar, in of the Portuguese Ministry of Education, noticed that recently renovated schools were using a lot of energy. So the government enlisted the help of international companies to try to make them more efficient.

First, engineers with the company Cisco developed a unique system that allows staff to easily manage the energy consumption of IT devices in their schools. They can program policies depending on schedule and computer use.
“The interesting part is that it’s not very complex and it’s not very technological, which means that it can be used as part of a day-to-day management of the school,” said Carla Pedro, the main project lead for Cisco Systems.

This part of the project is already saving the schools 5% in overall energy costs. The next step, which is currently being tested with Schneider Electric, will integrate the computer monitoring into a system that tracks 90% of all energy usage: in IT, lighting, heating, ventilation and cooling.

But school officials want to do more than just cut power usage. They also want to make schools sources of renewable energy. The plan is to connect the energy produced through the schools’ photovoltaic panels and mini wind turbines to Lisbon’s power grid. Electricity produced when the school doesn’t need it will be sent to power the city.

The pilot project hopes to eventually serve as a blueprint that can be applied in other schools in cities across the world. It has already attracted international interest from the European Commission, Amsterdam and Rio de Janeiro.

GlobalPost.com

Flying car coming to New York auto show

A flying car is set to make its debut at next month's New York International Auto Show. And with about $280,000 you may be able to buy one by the end of the year. 

The Transition is the brainchild of Massachusetts-based Terrafugia Inc., a company founded by pilots and MIT engineers. The company describes its the Transition as "a roadable aircraft." The Transition has folding wings, a propeller and the equipment to "be driven on roads like a car or flown as a two-seat aircraft," it said. The flying car has been shown at aviation trade events, but next month will mark its mainstream debut. In New York, the company plans to unveil its latest prototype during a press preview and leave it on display throughout the auto show to give attendees a chance to "get up-close and personal with the street-legal vehicle." 

GlobalPost.com

Celebrity Detox by Rosie O'Donnell

From the Publisher:
When Rosie O'Donnell was 10 years old, her mother was diagnosed with cancer, and Rosie began to fantasize about what it would be like to become famous. As she puts it: "I began to dream I was Judy Garland or Bette. If only I could get famous, I believed my mother would live. Money would pour in from heaven. We would use that money to get her a special cure. For me, fame was survival."

Told in Rosie's inimitable voice, Celebrity Detox is an unflinching look at her climb to fame and the experiences along the way that slowly led her to realize that fame was a dangerous addiction, a potent powder that, once inhaled, brings about both loss of self and a need for more, more, more. Aware that she was losing her humility and her humanity to the big glitz, Rosie stepped off the fame train in 2002, leaving her top-rated television show and going cold turkey for the next three years.

Since that time, Rosie has changed a lot. She has done a lot of painting, spent her days raising her four children, gotten to know what silence sounds like and what it means to experience relative anonymity and the associated feeling of being a has-been. And then, in the Fall of 2006, she decided she was ready for a re-entry, this time as co-host of ABC's The View. In this book, Rosie tells the story of her detox and retox, and tries to answer the question of whether or not it is possible for the addict to return to the scene of the crime and, this time, avoid the perils of her fame addiction.

Celebrity Detox will be an insider's guide to The View--Barbara Walters and Star and Ro and cameras and lights -- and about television in general, its major players, the behind-the-scenes action, and a load of good gossip. But, more than that, as it moves between the past and present, it will tell the full story of a 1,098-day detox filled with the real stuff of life -- family, friends, art, and a painful, mind-expanding journey from feeling lost to feeling found.

Seeking Justice

Seeking Justice, formerly known as The Hungry Rabbit Jumps, is an action film starring Nicolas Cage, Guy Pearce and January Jones. The film was directed by Roger Donaldson and produced by Tobey Maguire and Ram Bergman. Filming took place in New Orleans, Louisiana, and is set to be released on March 16, 2012.

Synopsis: One night at the hospital, waiting for news about his wife’s condition after she is attacked and brutally raped by a stranger, Will is approached by a mysterious man named Simon, (Guy Pearce) who says he represents an organization that 'deals with people', whom he describes as 'a few citizens seeking justice'. Simon proposes an intriguing offer: Simon will arrange to have a complete stranger exact vengeance on Laura’s attacker, in exchange for a favor from Will in the near future. Distraught and grief-stricken, Will consents to the deal, and unwittingly pulls himself into a dangerous underground vigilante operation. While continuing to protect his wife from the truth, he quickly discovers that his quest for justice could lead to frightening and deadly consequences.

Cesc Fábregas: 'Wenger will bring Arsenal back to where they belong'

Cesc Fábregas, enjoying life in Barcelona. Photograph: Puma

Midfielder Cesc Fabregas has said that Arsenal is painful to watch but belives manager Arsene Wenger will bring back glory days.

Fabregas finally rejoined Barcelona, his home-town club, last summer but remains in touch with Wenger and has watched "90 per cent" of their games on television this season.

"It has been painful," said Fabregas. "It's been painful because I want them to do well as a club, and they're my friends and then there is the boss, who I admire so much and who I'm so grateful to.

"I don't want to see them losing or being sad or having bad moments. Hopefully they will finish the league well. I watch virtually every Arsenal game - unless we play at the same time. I've watched 90 per cent of their games this season."

Of Wenger, Fabregas said: "Whatever he suffered I suffered it as well. We feel the same and we always try our best.
"The boss is very strong and he believes in the club so much I am sure he will find a means to bring Arsenal back to where it belongs. I have no doubt because he's a great man. He knows when he is wrong and when he is right. He will find a way - for sure."

Fabregas also compared both the training and the system at Barcelona with Arsenal.

"At the training ground it's unbelievable," he said. "This is the best group of footballers I've ever seen in my life. The quality is incredible. Everyone is so humble and the atmosphere is the best I've ever seen.

Indian Legend, Rahul Dravid retires

Rahul Dravid had retired from international cricket after 16 years of fine service. Rahul Dravid was one of cricket’s best classical batsmen scoring 13,288 Test runs, 2nd best after Tendulkar, and 10,889 one-day international runs.

Rahul Dravid's retirement from international cricket was announced at his home ground, the Chinnaswamy Stadium, in a function room filled with more than 200 people. Family, team-mates, friends, KSCA members, officials and journalists had gathered - as did fans watching a live broadcast on national television.

Dravid told that his dicission was not sudden but came with his long thoughts.

"I didn't take the decision based on one series… these decisions are based on a lot of other things, it's the culmination of a lot of things. I don't think it's based on what happened in the last series. For each one it comes differently, for me it's come with a bit of contemplation, a bit of thought, with friends and family."

On his return from Australia, Dravid spent a month, taking out the "emotion" from the overall result in order to "look at things dispassionately," he said. At the end he said, "I came to this decision and when I came to it, I was very clear in my mind." It had, he said, been easy as it was difficult, that he had known "deep down in his heart" that it was time for the "next generation of the young Indian cricketer" to take over.

It was tough to leave "the life I have lived for 16 years and, before that, five years of first class cricket. It [cricket] is all I have known all my grown life … it wasn't a difficult decision for me because I just knew in my heart that the time was right, and I was very happy and comfortable in what I had achieved and what I had done. You just know deep down that it is time to move on and let the next generation take over… "

Teenager sends lego space craft into space

Raul Oaida built the tiny replica spaceship from the famous building blocks in just three days, gluing the Lego bricks together and attaching the toy shuttle to a helium balloon which took it 22 miles towards the edge of space.
The 18-year-old Romanian also attached a parachute to the vessel along with a GPS navigation system and an on-board camera to record the flight.
The video footage shows the Lego model climbing through clouds and eventually soaring high above the Earth with ice particles forming across the toy.

The mini shuttle was launched from Germany and spent three hours withstanding 320mph winds on the edge of space before landing in a field 155 miles away from the launch site without a scratch.
While the US might have spent £124 billion putting shuttles in orbit, Mr Oaida's expedition was distinctly low budget costing just £1,600.

Telegraph.

US joblessness rise, but downward trend intact

NEW claims for US unemployment benefits rose last week but overall clung to a months-long decline amid a fragile recovery in the distressed job market, official data has shown.

The Labor Department reported 362,000 initial jobless claims were filed in the week ending March 3.

That marked an increase of 8000 from the prior week's upwardly revised number of 354,000.

The weekly claims numbers have fallen to 2008 lows since the middle of last year.

The four-week moving average, which helps smooth week-to-week volatility, rose by a marginal 250 claims to 355,000.

The disappointing reading on jobless claims added to signs of improvement in the labour market ahead of today's official unemployment and job creation numbers.

Outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas reported earlier today that businesses' planned layoffs remained virtually unchanged in February.


On Wednesday, payrolls firm ADP said the nonfarm private business sector added a net 216,000 jobs in February, and pointed to "solid" job growth averaging just over 200,000 for the past five months.

Most analysts expect today's Labor Department data will show the economy added a net 206,000 jobs in February and the unemployment rate will remain unchanged at 8.3 per cent from December.


Source: AFP

Financing to Value Instagram at $500 Million

Instagram is poised to raise a new round of financing that will value the popular photo-sharing application at as much as $500 million, people familiar with the matter said, despite some skepticism that the fast-growing company will find a way to make money.

The potential new valuation—roughly 20 times what the fast-growing company was worth around a year ago—highlights the promise and pitfalls of technology start-ups that have built their business around users of mobile devices, such as Apple Inc.'siPhone.
Instagram/Bloomberg News

Instagram Chief Executive Kevin Systrom said in an email that he couldn't comment on any speculation about fund raising.

The company's technology, which lets users touch up and share photos taken with smartphone cameras, has caught on quickly, allowing Instagram to build a base of more than 15 million users in just two years.

But as with other mobile-focused start-ups, such as Foursquare Labs and Flipboard, its success in attracting users has yet to translate into significant revenue in the way it has for some desktop-oriented Internet companies, such as Facebook Inc. and Zynga Inc.

Instagram was founded in the fall of 2010 by two Stanford University graduates, Mr. Systrom and Mike Krieger, and has just 13 employees, said Mr. Systrom.

The application, which is free and available only on the iPhone, allows users to share photos with followers on Instagram or other social networks, such as Facebook. Users also can comment on photos and "like" them. Some people describe the app as a visual version of Twitter.

The current funding round, in which Instagram is poised to raise about $40 million, is considered a hot deal, and has drawn a lot of interest. Still, some top venture-capital firms have decided to pass on it because of the app's high valuation and immaturity of its business, people familiar with the matter said.

Instagram may face some unique challenges in trying to develop a business model, said one of the people familiar with the matter. Since the app is only available on a smartphone and devotes most of its screen to featuring photos, it lacks the real estate of a desktop site for displaying advertising.

Instagram doesn't yet offer its content on a website, unlike other popular mobile services such as Twitter and Tumblr. It also doesn't lend itself easily to e-commerce strategies, such as offering daily deals, which mobile apps like Foursquare are pursuing.

Still, Instagram's valuation has grown considerably since the company first began raising money, said one of the people. During its last financing, in early 2011, Instagram raised $7 million from Benchmark Capital, Baseline Ventures and Andreessen Horowitz in a deal that valued the company at around $25 million, the people said.

One reason for the interest may be that many venture-capital firms are under intense pressure to finance hot Internet companies so they can use those marquee deals to help them raise capital for their new funds. Last year, location-based social network Foursquare raised $50 million in an investment valuing the company at $600 million, and news reader Flipboard raised $50 million at a $200 million valuation.

Instagram isn't without commercial possibilities. It has a growing and involved user base, and the app is also catching on with companies. The Ann Taylor clothing chain, Urban Outfitters Inc. and fashion label Marc Jacobs, for instance, have created accounts and use Instagram to promote their brands. The app is also popular with celebrities and politicians who have created accounts, including singer Justin Bieber, President Barack Obama, professional skateboarder Tony Hawk and rapper Snoop Dogg.

Last year, Apple named Instagram the iPhone app of the year.Instagram said it is working on a version of the app for smartphones that run on Google Inc.'s Android operating system, but it has yet to release it.

Foursquare, which was founded in the spring of 2009, is nearing 20 million users but it is available on several platforms, including Apple, Android and BlackBerry among others. Flipboard, which launched its app in July 2010, has more than 8 million users on the iPad and iPhone.
 Original source here.

Exercise's effect on DNA

A study focused on exercise and its affect on DNA and cells showed that there is a more direct link than we previously though. Scientists already knew that exercise triggered various genes in the DNA strand which helped metabolism and muscle growth but they did not know exactly how fast, now we know that it occurs almost immediately.

Almost100% change of DNA and genes being impacted almost instantly. This is quite surprising given the fact that researchers generally believed it would at least take a short bit of time. The immediate reaction by DNA was seen in both active, and inactive workout participants so even if you don’t frequently workout it will have the same affect.So for people that haven’t worked out at all there will be an instant chance on the DNA level which boosts metabolism and cell energy burn rates. Of course this alone is not enough to lead to significant weight loss but every little bit helps, especially when it is an instant reaction. Further research is being conducted to see if this reaction could possibly replicated with a medical drug or something that would function as a weight loss pill.

Kiribati Global Warming Fears: Entire Nation May Move To Fiji

Fearing that climate change could wipe out their entire Pacific archipelago, the leaders of Kiribati are considering an unusual backup plan: moving the populace to Fiji.
Kiribati, which straddles the equator near the international date line, has found itself at the leading edge of the debate on climate change because many of its atolls rise just a few feet above sea level.
Fiji, home to about 850,000 people, is about 1,400 miles south of Kiribati. But just what people there think about potentially providing a home for thousands of their neighbors remains unclear.

Kiribati President Anote Tong told The Associated Press on Friday that his Cabinet this week endorsed a plan to buy nearly 6,000 acres on Fiji's main island, Viti Levu. He said the fertile land, being sold by a church group for about $9.6 million, could be insurance for Kiribati's entire population of 103,000, though he hopes it will never be necessary for everyone to leave.

"We would hope not to put everyone on one piece of land, but if it became absolutely necessary, yes, we could do it," Tong said. "It wouldn't be for me, personally, but would apply more to a younger generation. For them, moving won't be a matter of choice. It's basically going to be a matter of survival."
Tong said some villages have already moved and there have been increasing instances of sea water contaminating the island's underground fresh water, which remains vital for trees and crops. He said changing rainfall, tidal and storm patterns pose as least as much threat as ocean levels, which so far have risen only slightly.

Some scientists have estimated the current level of sea rise in the Pacific at about 2 millimeters (0.1 inches) per year. Many scientists expect that rate to accelerate due to climate change.


Source: Huffingtonpost.com

Headline March 10th, 2012 / GROUND MINUS ZERO

GROUND MINUS ZERO

Respectful dedication to the heroic people of Japan!!

On the morning of August 6, 1945, the Americans dropped a Uranium Bomb on Hiroshima. The destructive force of the Atomic bomb equalled 20,000 tons of TNT. 80,000 men, women and children just evaporated and as many were injured. Thousands more would die the worst kind of death as a result of their wounds and radioactive fallout, over the ensuring weeks and years. Three days later an even more powerful plutonium bomb was dropped on the city of Nagasaki, killing 60,000. Thus the world entered nuclear insanity!!

65 years on, we've learnt nothing but to continue growing our nuclear arsenals. We can now boast of a capability to destroy ourselves countless times over, and to irradiate ourselves from a millenia. Mankind it seems crossed some sort of Rubicon when it harnessed the power of Atom. Nuclear weapons may not have been used since 1945, but they have been assiduously developed, recklessly tested and despite successive arms reduction treaties, stockpiled in staggering numbers. Somehow we've managed to convince ourselves that we have grown out of nuclear power because we have avoided it for 65 years. 

Dutifully, we debate, the morality of attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki and ignore all the evidence that they were no more than bludgeoning real politick: the US wanted to give Stalin a fright with its new wonder weapon, and the Japanese provided an ideal target of opportunity. The end of the cold war it now seems has not reduced the chances of us all being consumed in superpower Armageddon. Every country it now seems is  an emerging nuclear power.

The world never learns! We now talk off nuclear politics and nuclear diplomacy! Neither works! A strong deterrent creates only, a cul de sack. It freezes old stalemates! It solves nothing! The whole world is fractured and paralyzed! Man kind must see the bigger picture! A horrendous and irrevocable nightmare of global public health and financial disaster will follow a nuclear exchange. So it is in our direct self-interest to think wisely as it is the world's natural resources and environment are under a lot of pressure. Niall ferhuson sums up brilliantly: "As Keynes may have written, nothing can then delay for very long that civil war between the forces of reaction and revolution, before which the horrors of the late war on terror will fade into nothing!" Goodnight and God bless!

SAM Daily Times - The Voice Of The Voiceless