Read the article below:
http://www.centerforinquiry.net/blogs/entry/un_to_take_up_measure_suppressing_religious_criticism_votes_against_sexual_/
"Readers might pause to contemplate this horrific irony. The Organization of the Islamic Conference supports protecting religious ideas and symbols from desecration, yet balks at protecting human beings from hate-motivated violence and death.
"
"Racism, sexism, homophobia amongst many other horrible prejudices are fueled by theism. Our world is almost always at war because of differing religious beliefs! Tens upon millions have died in the name of one theistic fairy tale or another.
"
Doesn't sound like people are going to learn to be liberal in their opinions anytime soon...
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Friday, November 19, 2010
New Layout!
Old Wine in a stinky new bottle!
Same crappy stuff, but a new look. Hope you like.
Well, can't help if you dont like unless you leave me a comment saying what needs to change.
Cheers :)
Same crappy stuff, but a new look. Hope you like.
Well, can't help if you dont like unless you leave me a comment saying what needs to change.
Cheers :)
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Story of a planet
This is the story of a planet.
A small globe spinning about itself and running around a larger sphere, a hot ball of predominantly gas.
The Planet, had Life - extravagant in its numbers and variety. There were jumping spiders at the Chilly tops of the highest moutains and sulfur-eating worms in the hot vents gushing up through ridges on the ocean floors. There were beings that could live only in concentrated sulfuric acid, and beings that were destroyed by concentrated sulfuric acid; organisms that were poisoned by oxygen, and oranisms that could survive only in oxygen, that actually breathed the stuff.
A particular form, a lifeform with a modicum of intelligence, had recently spread across the planet. They had outposts on the ocean floors and in low-altitude orbit around the planet. They had swarmed to every nook and cranny of their small 'word'. The boundary that marked transition of night into day was sweeping westward, and following its motion millions of these beings ritually performed their morning ablutions. They donned greatcoats and dhotis' drank brews of coffee, tee, or dandelion; drove bicycles, automobiles, or oxen; and briefly contemplated school assignments, prospects for spring planting, and the fate of the world.
This world is beautiful, life is precious and the whole period of 'living' beings much less the one dominated by these intelligent forms is but a tick of a minute hand in the clock that is the evolution of the planet.
Earth, is the planet. We dont know of any other that's anything like it. It's our home and it's our responsibility to try to keep it they it was intended to be, at least as much as we can, for the future generations - not just the future generations of humans but those of the jumping spiders and the sulfur-eating worms and the like; at least those that survive in the nature and that are spared by us.
(Heavily inspired by Carl Sagan, and then muddled it with my thoughts)
A small globe spinning about itself and running around a larger sphere, a hot ball of predominantly gas.
The Planet, had Life - extravagant in its numbers and variety. There were jumping spiders at the Chilly tops of the highest moutains and sulfur-eating worms in the hot vents gushing up through ridges on the ocean floors. There were beings that could live only in concentrated sulfuric acid, and beings that were destroyed by concentrated sulfuric acid; organisms that were poisoned by oxygen, and oranisms that could survive only in oxygen, that actually breathed the stuff.
A particular form, a lifeform with a modicum of intelligence, had recently spread across the planet. They had outposts on the ocean floors and in low-altitude orbit around the planet. They had swarmed to every nook and cranny of their small 'word'. The boundary that marked transition of night into day was sweeping westward, and following its motion millions of these beings ritually performed their morning ablutions. They donned greatcoats and dhotis' drank brews of coffee, tee, or dandelion; drove bicycles, automobiles, or oxen; and briefly contemplated school assignments, prospects for spring planting, and the fate of the world.
This world is beautiful, life is precious and the whole period of 'living' beings much less the one dominated by these intelligent forms is but a tick of a minute hand in the clock that is the evolution of the planet.
Earth, is the planet. We dont know of any other that's anything like it. It's our home and it's our responsibility to try to keep it they it was intended to be, at least as much as we can, for the future generations - not just the future generations of humans but those of the jumping spiders and the sulfur-eating worms and the like; at least those that survive in the nature and that are spared by us.
(Heavily inspired by Carl Sagan, and then muddled it with my thoughts)
Thursday, November 04, 2010
Wordplay
In the bus this morning, saw this store named 'Stop & Shop'. Just yesterday had see one of those 'Save A Lots's. This got my brains working on my brains' favorite pastime – wordplay. When I'm not busy, I'm usually busy working word combinations and finding patterns and stuff. 'The voices'. They don’t speak to me, they're just me, just about a more confused me.
Well, so there's this famous chain in India – Shoppers' Stop.
And then there is Stop & Shop.
St Louis had a lot of Shop & Save stores.
And of course, Save-A-lot.
Combining em all – Shoppers Stop & Shop & Save-A-Lot. Not bad at all…
Wanted to add Lotto too, but thought it'ld be stretching it too much...
Shoppers Stop & Shop & Save-A-Lotto - Probably a 'thrift' store where you waste your savings playin Lottery... :D
Talking of wordplay, unscrambling is another fun thing to do. The best-known one:
Impossible says I'm Possible
Trying to find a few other, similar cases of funscrambling:
Woman is incomplete without a MAN!
During these days of hi-tech, everybody wants to be mobile. Even Immobile says I'm Mobile!
Can a LADY be IntelliGENT?
Do you still COMPUTE with a COMPUTEr?
Can't think of any more at this moment… later gators!
Well, so there's this famous chain in India – Shoppers' Stop.
And then there is Stop & Shop.
St Louis had a lot of Shop & Save stores.
And of course, Save-A-lot.
Combining em all – Shoppers Stop & Shop & Save-A-Lot. Not bad at all…
Wanted to add Lotto too, but thought it'ld be stretching it too much...
Shoppers Stop & Shop & Save-A-Lotto - Probably a 'thrift' store where you waste your savings playin Lottery... :D
Talking of wordplay, unscrambling is another fun thing to do. The best-known one:
Impossible says I'm Possible
Trying to find a few other, similar cases of funscrambling:
Woman is incomplete without a MAN!
During these days of hi-tech, everybody wants to be mobile. Even Immobile says I'm Mobile!
Can a LADY be IntelliGENT?
Do you still COMPUTE with a COMPUTEr?
Can't think of any more at this moment… later gators!
Friday, October 29, 2010
Rajnikant Jokes (mostly abridged Chuck Norris ones, but what the heck I think they're funny)
OK, so ever since that copy-cat 'Robot' 'Endhiran' was out, there have been Rajnikant jokes all over facebook/twitter.
So, thought I'll get them all together for 'future reference' :D
- On the 7th day Rajnikanth rested.
- Evolution is a myth. We exist because Rajnikanth has allowed us to.
- Rajnikanth doesnt wear a watch. He decides what time it is.
- Rajnikanth doesnt move at the speed of light. Light moves at the speed of Rajnikanth.
- Rajnikant is so fast he always comes yesterday.
- The fat lady asks Rajnikanth if its over (THIS IS MY PERSONAL FAVORITE)
- Rajnikanth can unscramble an egg!
- When Rajnikant plays cricket he doesn't hit the ball for a six. He hits it for a century!
- Rajnikanth does not mow the lawn. He just stares at the grass and dares it to grow!
- James Bond to M: Can we borrow Rajnikanth for this mission
- The Bermuda triangle was the Bermuda square till Rajnikanth kicked one of the corners off.
- Rajnikant does do headstands. He carries the Earth on his head.
- When Rajnikanth stares at the sun, it hides behind the clouds & it rains.
- Rajinikanth has already been to Mars, that's why there are no signs of life there.
- Rajnikant can moonwalk on the sun.
- Rajnikanth has counted to infinity - twice!
- Rajnikanth can factorise a prime number. In more than one way !
- Rajnikanth can divide 22/7 to a whole number.
- Rajinikanth once kicked a horse in the chin. Its descendants are today called giraffes.
- Rajinikanth's calendar goes straight from March 31st to April 2nd. No one fools Rajnikanth!
- When Rajinikanth does push-ups, he isn't lifting himself up. He is pushing the earth down.
- When Rajnikanth hits you even Google won't be able to find you.
- Even if Google fails to find you, Rajnikanth will!
- Why doesnt Rajnikanth show up on Google? You dont find Rajnikanth. Rajnikanth finds you.
- Rajnikanth's email id. gmail@rajnikanth.com
- Twitter gets its account verified by Rajnikanth.
- Only a blind man sees Rajnikanth as bald. Even the sightless love his locks.
- When Rajnikanth is asked to kill someone he doesnt know he pulls the trigger and tells the bullet to go find the target.
- Rajnikanth doesnt own a microwave because revenge is a dish best served cold.
- Rajnikanth is so fast, he can run around the world and tap himself on the shoulder.
- Rajnikanth doesnt breathe air. Air hides in his lungs for protection.
- Rajnikanth never wet his bed as a child. The bed wet itself in fear.
- Rajnikanth doesnt need an iPhone. He can talk to himself.
- Rajnikanth once got into a knife fight. The knife lost.
- Rajjnikanth knows Victoris's secret. (This deserves special mention :D)
- Rajnikanth can make onions cry.
- Rajnikanth can leave an entire message before the beep.
- Rajnikanth can judge a book by its cover.
- Rajnikanth can divide by zero and add zero to zero to make a billion.
- In an average living room there are 1242 objects Rajnikanth could use to kill you, including the room itself.
- When you say No One is Perfect, Rajnikanth takes it as a personal insult.
- Rajnikanth can checkmate Vishwanathan Anand with his first move.
Nobody blogs Rajni jokes. Rajni blogs them himself!!
(Feel free to add more in the comments - 'for future reference' ;))
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Religion!!
Well, as I understand people increasingly expect the next World War to not be fought over Oil or resources, but it would rather be a war of Religions.
What I heck dont understand is this - why are people so hell-bent on spreading their religion? It is not their's to start with.
I am termed a Hindu, for the records. But who decided it? Not me for sure... Hinduism is not my Idea... what is written in the so-called religious scriptures is not my creativity, neither did I witness those incidents nor was told about those by 'The God'.
Similar is the case with Christianity - the Christ is a 1000 year old story and you know how things get distorted over a couple of decades. Why would one have believe what is written in Bible is from 'The God's Son'??
Same is the case with Islam - who knows what the prophet meant to tell the people. Who knows if ever there was a prophet and he was 'in touch' with the God? It is all a collection of books and hear-say.
Other religions too - Budhism, Taoism and all the shit-load of religions all over the world.
WHY? Why would you lose your identity to believe in something that you never thought of on your own- why would you be led into believing some ideas (I am careful not to say stupid or idotic ideas, because I am trying hard to not be judgemental) that were surely 'created' at some point by someone and have since been 'abridged' 'tweaked' 'fiddled' or whatever.
Self-check makes me question myself why I am using English, afterall it is not invented by me. And why follow the english grammar and Syntax. Yes, given - it is not my own invention. Nor do I like having to communicate in this language.
But I can understand why one needs to try to stick to the language - because it is easier for me to communicate to the people around me and have the things I require or get what I wanted done. But again, I dont want to spread English - I dont force people to learn english and I dont think that people who do not learn English are traitors or sinners and I dont preach them the goods and bads of English. Nor do I do that with the other languages that I know, Hindi/Telugu. I am least bothered if someone thinks that English is shit - so be it, how does that matter to me? Its just my means of communication.
If someone thinks that Telugu is loud or Hindi is rude, so be it.
If someone calls me names and writes, say in the comments, that I am an SOB or an MFer, it doesnt matter to me much - afterall, those are just letters to form words. They cant and wont change the truth that I know, truth that is not in English nor in Hindi nor Telugu nor any other language. Language is just a means - and since everyone around me follows the same, it is easier for me to follow the same than to invent my own.
Not the justification you can give for religion. Why do I have to believe in One 'GOD' and deride and despise other 'GOD's. Why do I believe when someone wearing a saffron cloth or green attire and white poros cap or wearing a white robe and white chef-like cap tells me the 'Truth' and wants me to spread it?
Why am I bothered if someone around me believes in a 'GOD' that I donot believe in or vice versa? ya - I am not bothered, I dont hate Hindus, I dont hate Muslims, I dont hate Christians, I dont hate Atheists either. I dont judge anyone on their religion. It doesnt define one.
So this is not a hate speech, but I am just confused why one has to go to the extent of killing others or protesting against someone 'converting' people of 'MY' religion to 'THEIR' religion. Why does one frikking care?
These religions, these scriptures are mostly creations of some dumb idiots compared to the extent of knowledge we possess now - the practices must have been great and requisite to 'bind' the people together for collective survival at the time they were formed, much like the false boundaries of a 'community' or a 'province' or a 'Country' - but now the boundaries are seamless, I am not patriotic - make no mistake I love the Indian culture, tradition, but I dont hate Pakistan or America or any other country for that matter. Because again for me, Country, India, are just words. They carry no meaning. The people make sense to me - and I know there are good people in India, good people in Pakistan, good ones in America, good ones in Antarctica. And again, good is just a word and the definition that I apply to 'Good' may not be applicable to others - and thats understandable. And thats what I dont understand, why one needs to go by the set definition of 'Good'!?
My definition of 'Good' is something that I built over the span of over 25 years and I cant define it because it is a truth within me that cant be put in words - not in English, not in Hindi, not in Telugu. When I look at a person and interact with one or when I read about people I FEEL someone is good and may be someone isnt. So, for me there is no problem with a MUSLIM, or a PAKISTANI, or a BLACK or a WHITE or a CHINESE or an INDIAN or a HINDU as such. I might try to not be around any of these based on what they are personally, but not because of what they believe in. Because, again, it frikking doesnt matter to me.
So, back to my point - why does one have to spread their religion - why does one have to believe in some 'GOD' and the 'GOD' that others have 'told' them? Personally I wont believe in a 'GOD' unless the 'GOD' comes to me and shows up, but then I might write-off that interaction as just a perception and an imagination, because that is what life is anyway - just a speck of imagination. Not much of a meaning. And for such a thing why destroy other's imagination (life) just because he doesnt believe in someone else's imagination(God) the way you do?
What I heck dont understand is this - why are people so hell-bent on spreading their religion? It is not their's to start with.
I am termed a Hindu, for the records. But who decided it? Not me for sure... Hinduism is not my Idea... what is written in the so-called religious scriptures is not my creativity, neither did I witness those incidents nor was told about those by 'The God'.
Similar is the case with Christianity - the Christ is a 1000 year old story and you know how things get distorted over a couple of decades. Why would one have believe what is written in Bible is from 'The God's Son'??
Same is the case with Islam - who knows what the prophet meant to tell the people. Who knows if ever there was a prophet and he was 'in touch' with the God? It is all a collection of books and hear-say.
Other religions too - Budhism, Taoism and all the shit-load of religions all over the world.
WHY? Why would you lose your identity to believe in something that you never thought of on your own- why would you be led into believing some ideas (I am careful not to say stupid or idotic ideas, because I am trying hard to not be judgemental) that were surely 'created' at some point by someone and have since been 'abridged' 'tweaked' 'fiddled' or whatever.
Self-check makes me question myself why I am using English, afterall it is not invented by me. And why follow the english grammar and Syntax. Yes, given - it is not my own invention. Nor do I like having to communicate in this language.
But I can understand why one needs to try to stick to the language - because it is easier for me to communicate to the people around me and have the things I require or get what I wanted done. But again, I dont want to spread English - I dont force people to learn english and I dont think that people who do not learn English are traitors or sinners and I dont preach them the goods and bads of English. Nor do I do that with the other languages that I know, Hindi/Telugu. I am least bothered if someone thinks that English is shit - so be it, how does that matter to me? Its just my means of communication.
If someone thinks that Telugu is loud or Hindi is rude, so be it.
If someone calls me names and writes, say in the comments, that I am an SOB or an MFer, it doesnt matter to me much - afterall, those are just letters to form words. They cant and wont change the truth that I know, truth that is not in English nor in Hindi nor Telugu nor any other language. Language is just a means - and since everyone around me follows the same, it is easier for me to follow the same than to invent my own.
Not the justification you can give for religion. Why do I have to believe in One 'GOD' and deride and despise other 'GOD's. Why do I believe when someone wearing a saffron cloth or green attire and white poros cap or wearing a white robe and white chef-like cap tells me the 'Truth' and wants me to spread it?
Why am I bothered if someone around me believes in a 'GOD' that I donot believe in or vice versa? ya - I am not bothered, I dont hate Hindus, I dont hate Muslims, I dont hate Christians, I dont hate Atheists either. I dont judge anyone on their religion. It doesnt define one.
So this is not a hate speech, but I am just confused why one has to go to the extent of killing others or protesting against someone 'converting' people of 'MY' religion to 'THEIR' religion. Why does one frikking care?
These religions, these scriptures are mostly creations of some dumb idiots compared to the extent of knowledge we possess now - the practices must have been great and requisite to 'bind' the people together for collective survival at the time they were formed, much like the false boundaries of a 'community' or a 'province' or a 'Country' - but now the boundaries are seamless, I am not patriotic - make no mistake I love the Indian culture, tradition, but I dont hate Pakistan or America or any other country for that matter. Because again for me, Country, India, are just words. They carry no meaning. The people make sense to me - and I know there are good people in India, good people in Pakistan, good ones in America, good ones in Antarctica. And again, good is just a word and the definition that I apply to 'Good' may not be applicable to others - and thats understandable. And thats what I dont understand, why one needs to go by the set definition of 'Good'!?
My definition of 'Good' is something that I built over the span of over 25 years and I cant define it because it is a truth within me that cant be put in words - not in English, not in Hindi, not in Telugu. When I look at a person and interact with one or when I read about people I FEEL someone is good and may be someone isnt. So, for me there is no problem with a MUSLIM, or a PAKISTANI, or a BLACK or a WHITE or a CHINESE or an INDIAN or a HINDU as such. I might try to not be around any of these based on what they are personally, but not because of what they believe in. Because, again, it frikking doesnt matter to me.
So, back to my point - why does one have to spread their religion - why does one have to believe in some 'GOD' and the 'GOD' that others have 'told' them? Personally I wont believe in a 'GOD' unless the 'GOD' comes to me and shows up, but then I might write-off that interaction as just a perception and an imagination, because that is what life is anyway - just a speck of imagination. Not much of a meaning. And for such a thing why destroy other's imagination (life) just because he doesnt believe in someone else's imagination(God) the way you do?
Compassion is not told or taught - what I feel for animals was not taught - I used to kick puppies (sick kid) or stomp spiders (Damn it!) when I was kid, and I was never told that I shouldn't. Never told that I need to be compassionate towards the fellow living creatures. I do not eat meat, not because I was told not to - but because I don't want to. I don't want to be called a Vegetarian/Vegan because thats just a word. I know what I feel and what I want to and no one can change that. That is what I understand. And what I don't understand is the incompatibility, forceful spreading of thoughts own or others'; more so of others'.
Stop the killing - stop the preaching - keep believing if you have to - Eat, make merry and sleep - if you like to.
Stop the killing - stop the preaching - keep believing if you have to - Eat, make merry and sleep - if you like to.
But why did I write this post and share it with you? Am I trying to make you believe in what I do? Up to you to decide, but I dont WANT to, and surely I wont come killig you or banish you for not agreeing with me.
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
RRR!
Its getting more and more critical everyday that we check out acts and start doing what would save our future!!!
For, you might not have realized, but it's no longer an option! Its the emergent need of the day, of the hour, of the moment - to encourage and be eco-friendly.
Here is something I found really good:
The Internet Consumer Recycling Guide http://www.obviously.com/recycle/
Guys in the US, check this out:
http://www.obviously.com/junkmail/
Junk mail on the email Inbox is a menace, but junk mail in the postboxes is an even bigger menace and is a major waste of paper/plastics. STOP IT!
This website details Recycling ways to stay Earth-easy:
http://www.eartheasy.com/live_recycling.htm
Its easy and less expensive to go green and stay green.
You don't need to be obsessed with being eco-friendly - just need to be AWARE of your options!
Rock on!
For, you might not have realized, but it's no longer an option! Its the emergent need of the day, of the hour, of the moment - to encourage and be eco-friendly.
Here is something I found really good:
The Internet Consumer Recycling Guide http://www.obviously.com/recycle/
Guys in the US, check this out:
http://www.obviously.com/junkmail/
Junk mail on the email Inbox is a menace, but junk mail in the postboxes is an even bigger menace and is a major waste of paper/plastics. STOP IT!
This website details Recycling ways to stay Earth-easy:
http://www.eartheasy.com/live_recycling.htm
Its easy and less expensive to go green and stay green.
You don't need to be obsessed with being eco-friendly - just need to be AWARE of your options!
Rock on!
Monday, April 21, 2008
Earth Day!!!!!
[Courtesy Wikipedia]
Earth Day is a name used for two different observances, both held annually during spring in the northern hemisphere, and autumn in the southern hemisphere. These are intended to inspire awareness of and appreciation for the Earth's environment. The United Nations celebrates Earth Day, which was founded by John McConnell in 1969, each year on the March equinox, while a global observance originated by Gaylord Nelson as an environmental teach-in, and since January 1970 also called Earth Day, is celebrated in many countries each year on April 22, including the U.S.
http://ww2.earthday.net/
http://www.epa.gov/
[More]
The 3 Rs of recycling:
http://dnr.missouri.gov/env/swmp/pubs-reports/threers.htm
http://www.factmonster.com/ipka/A0775891.html
http://www.epa.gov/msw/reduce.htm
All you ever wanted to know about recycling!
http://www.earthodyssey.com/symbols.html
Earth Day is a name used for two different observances, both held annually during spring in the northern hemisphere, and autumn in the southern hemisphere. These are intended to inspire awareness of and appreciation for the Earth's environment. The United Nations celebrates Earth Day, which was founded by John McConnell in 1969, each year on the March equinox, while a global observance originated by Gaylord Nelson as an environmental teach-in, and since January 1970 also called Earth Day, is celebrated in many countries each year on April 22, including the U.S.
http://ww2.earthday.net/
http://www.epa.gov/
[More]
The 3 Rs of recycling:
http://dnr.missouri.gov/env/swmp/pubs-reports/threers.htm
http://www.factmonster.com/ipka/A0775891.html
http://www.epa.gov/msw/reduce.htm
All you ever wanted to know about recycling!
http://www.earthodyssey.com/symbols.html
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Great Funny Irish Quote... On Life...
Here's to a long life and a merry one
A quick death and an easy one
A pretty girl and an honest one
A cold beer and another one!
Irish Saying
A quick death and an easy one
A pretty girl and an honest one
A cold beer and another one!
Irish Saying
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
NicePoem- My Sordid Life
move quickly from man to man,
Often going from hand to hand.
Some men hide me from their wives,
They say I tend to upset their lives.
They love taking me to fancy restaurants,
While in there I'm often in their pants.
Men take me to dances, you know,
One even played with me in a casino.
I was once taken on a Caribbean Cruise,
While there, I suffered some abuse.
I hated the way I was taken for granted,
Some very serious issues were being planted.
This man traded me for some drugs,
Then I was fought over by some thugs.
I must admit, it made me feel wanted,
Knowing that I have them all taunted
I seldom see the inside of a church,
No matter how far and wide I search.
In spite of all this, I enjoy it still,
I love being me...a hundred dollar bill!!
:>)
Often going from hand to hand.
Some men hide me from their wives,
They say I tend to upset their lives.
They love taking me to fancy restaurants,
While in there I'm often in their pants.
Men take me to dances, you know,
One even played with me in a casino.
I was once taken on a Caribbean Cruise,
While there, I suffered some abuse.
I hated the way I was taken for granted,
Some very serious issues were being planted.
This man traded me for some drugs,
Then I was fought over by some thugs.
I must admit, it made me feel wanted,
Knowing that I have them all taunted
I seldom see the inside of a church,
No matter how far and wide I search.
In spite of all this, I enjoy it still,
I love being me...a hundred dollar bill!!
:>)
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
I Am
I am Strange and Strong
I wonder What the world is all about
I hear Someone calling
I see Some bright place
I want All the fun in the world
I am Strange and Strong
I pretend That I am funny and happy
I feel I am lying
I touch My heart every day
I worry I lose it to this hectic life!
I cry that I cant help myself
I am Strange and Strong
I understand Life is short
I say Live life the way you like it
I dream of a day when everyone knows me
I try to know me first
I hope I will succeed
I am Strange and Strong
I wonder What the world is all about
I hear Someone calling
I see Some bright place
I want All the fun in the world
I am Strange and Strong
I pretend That I am funny and happy
I feel I am lying
I touch My heart every day
I worry I lose it to this hectic life!
I cry that I cant help myself
I am Strange and Strong
I understand Life is short
I say Live life the way you like it
I dream of a day when everyone knows me
I try to know me first
I hope I will succeed
I am Strange and Strong
Saturday, February 02, 2008
60 acres lost a minute - Rain forests fall at 'alarming' rate
ABO EBAM, Nigeria - In the gloomy shade deep in Africa's rain forest, the noontime silence was pierced by the whine of a far-off chain saw. It was the sound of destruction, echoed from wood to wood, continent to continent, in the tropical belt that circles the globe.
ADVERTISEMENT
From Brazil to central Africa to once-lush islands in Asia's archipelagos, human encroachment is shrinking the world's rain forests.
The alarm was sounded decades ago by environmentalists — and was little heeded. The picture, meanwhile, has changed: Africa is now a leader in destructiveness. The numbers have changed: U.N. specialists estimate 60 acres of tropical forest are felled worldwide every minute, up from 50 a generation back. And the fears have changed.
Experts still warn of extinction of animal and plant life, of the loss of forest peoples' livelihoods, of soil erosion and other damage. But scientists today worry urgently about something else: the fateful feedback link of trees and climate.
Global warming is expected to dry up and kill off vast tracts of rain forest, and dying forests will feed global warming.
"If we lose forests, we lose the fight against climate change," declared more than 300 scientists, conservation groups, religious leaders and others in an appeal for action at December's climate conference in Bali, Indonesia.
The burning or rotting of trees that comes with deforestation — at the hands of ranchers, farmers, timbermen — sends more heat-trapping carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than all the world's planes, trains, trucks and automobiles. Forest destruction accounts for about 20 percent of manmade emissions, second only to burning of fossil fuels for electricity and heat. Conversely, healthy forests absorb carbon dioxide and store carbon.
"The stakes are so dire that if we don't start turning this around in the next 10 years, the extinction crisis and the climate crisis will begin to spiral out of control," said Roman Paul Czebiniak, a forest expert with Greenpeace International. "It's a very big deal."
The December U.N. session in Bali may have been a turning point, endorsing negotiations in which nations may fashion the first global financial plan for compensating developing countries for preserving their forests.
The latest data from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) helped spur delegates to action.
"Deforestation continues at an alarming rate of about 13 million hectares (32 million acres) a year," the U.N. body said in its latest "State of the World's Forests" report.
Because northern forests remain essentially stable, that means 50,000 square miles of tropical forest are being cleared every 12 months — equivalent to one Mississippi or more than half a Britain. The lumber and fuelwood removed in the tropics alone would fill more than 1,000 Empire State Buildings, FAO figures show.
Although South America loses slightly more acreage than Africa, the rate of loss is higher here — almost 1 percent of African forests gone each year. In 2000-2005, the continent lost 10 million acres a year, including big chunks of forest in Sudan, Zambia and Tanzania, up from 9 million a decade earlier, the FAO reports.
Across the tropics the causes can be starkly different.
The Amazon and other South American forests are usually burned for cattle grazing or industrial-scale soybean farming. In Indonesia and elsewhere in southeast Asia, island forests are being cut or burned to make way for giant plantations of palm, whose oil is used in food processing, cosmetics and other products.
In Africa, by contrast, it's individuals hacking out plots for small-scale farming.
Here in Nigeria's southeastern Cross Rivers State, home to one of the largest remaining tropical forests in Africa, people from surrounding villages of huts and cement-block homes go to the forest each day to work their pineapple and cocoa farms. They see no other way of earning money to feed their families.
"The developed countries want us to keep the forests, since the air we breathe is for all of us, rich countries and poor countries," said Ogar Assam Effa, 54, a tree plantation director and member of the state conservation board.
"But we breathe the air, and our bellies are empty. Can air give you protein? Can air give you carbohydrates?" he asked. "It would be easy to convince people to stop clearing the forest if there was an alternative."
The state, which long ago banned industrial logging, is trying to offer alternatives.
Working with communities like Abo Ebam, near Nigeria's border with Cameroon, the Cross Rivers government seeks to help would-be farmers learn other trades, such as beekeeping or raising fist-sized land snails, a regional delicacy.
The state also has imposed a new licensing system. Anyone who wants to cut down one of the forest's massive, valuable mahogany trees or other hardwoods must obtain a license and negotiate which tree to fell with the nearby community, which shares in the income. The logs can't be taken away whole, but must be cut into planks in the forest, by people like David Anfor.
He's a 35-year-old father of one who earns the equivalent of 75 U.S. cents per board he cuts with a whizzing chain saw. "The forest is our natural resource. We're trying to conserve," he said. "But I'm also working for my daily eating."
A community benefiting from such small-scale forestry is likely to keep out those engaged in illegal, uncontrolled logging. But enforcement is difficult in a state with about 3,500 square miles of pristine rain forest — and few forest rangers.
On one recent day deep in the forest, where the luxuriant green canopy allows only rare shards of sunlight to reach the floor, the trilling of a hornbill bird and the distant chain saw were the only sounds heard. As forestry officials rushed to investigate, the saw operator fled deeper into the forest, sign of an illegal operation.
Environmentalists say such a conservation approach may work for rural, agrarian people in Nigeria, which lost an estimated 15 million acres between 1990 and 2005, or about one-third of its entire forest area, and has one of the world's highest deforestation rates — more than 3 percent per year.
But lessons learned in one place aren't necessarily applicable elsewhere, they say. A global strategy is needed, mobilizing all rain-forest governments.
That's the goal of the post-Bali talks, looking for ways to integrate forest preservation into the world's emerging "carbon trading" system. A government earning carbon credits for "avoided deforestation" could then sell them to a European power plant, for example, to meet its emission-reduction quota.
"These forests are the greatest global public utility," Britain's conservationist Prince Charles said in the lead-up to Bali. "As a matter of urgency we have to find ways to make them more valuable alive than dead."
Observed the World Wildlife Fund's Duncan Pollard, "Suddenly you have the whole world looking at deforestation."
But in many ways rain forests are still a world of unknowns, a place with more scientific questions than answers.
How much carbon dioxide are forests absorbing? How much carbon is stored there? How might the death of the Amazon forest affect the climate in, say, the American Midwest? Hundreds of researchers are putting in thousands of hours of work to try to answer such questions before it is too late.
___ courtesy Yahoo! News:http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080202/ap_on_re_af/60_acres_a_minute_i
ADVERTISEMENT
From Brazil to central Africa to once-lush islands in Asia's archipelagos, human encroachment is shrinking the world's rain forests.
The alarm was sounded decades ago by environmentalists — and was little heeded. The picture, meanwhile, has changed: Africa is now a leader in destructiveness. The numbers have changed: U.N. specialists estimate 60 acres of tropical forest are felled worldwide every minute, up from 50 a generation back. And the fears have changed.
Experts still warn of extinction of animal and plant life, of the loss of forest peoples' livelihoods, of soil erosion and other damage. But scientists today worry urgently about something else: the fateful feedback link of trees and climate.
Global warming is expected to dry up and kill off vast tracts of rain forest, and dying forests will feed global warming.
"If we lose forests, we lose the fight against climate change," declared more than 300 scientists, conservation groups, religious leaders and others in an appeal for action at December's climate conference in Bali, Indonesia.
The burning or rotting of trees that comes with deforestation — at the hands of ranchers, farmers, timbermen — sends more heat-trapping carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than all the world's planes, trains, trucks and automobiles. Forest destruction accounts for about 20 percent of manmade emissions, second only to burning of fossil fuels for electricity and heat. Conversely, healthy forests absorb carbon dioxide and store carbon.
"The stakes are so dire that if we don't start turning this around in the next 10 years, the extinction crisis and the climate crisis will begin to spiral out of control," said Roman Paul Czebiniak, a forest expert with Greenpeace International. "It's a very big deal."
The December U.N. session in Bali may have been a turning point, endorsing negotiations in which nations may fashion the first global financial plan for compensating developing countries for preserving their forests.
The latest data from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) helped spur delegates to action.
"Deforestation continues at an alarming rate of about 13 million hectares (32 million acres) a year," the U.N. body said in its latest "State of the World's Forests" report.
Because northern forests remain essentially stable, that means 50,000 square miles of tropical forest are being cleared every 12 months — equivalent to one Mississippi or more than half a Britain. The lumber and fuelwood removed in the tropics alone would fill more than 1,000 Empire State Buildings, FAO figures show.
Although South America loses slightly more acreage than Africa, the rate of loss is higher here — almost 1 percent of African forests gone each year. In 2000-2005, the continent lost 10 million acres a year, including big chunks of forest in Sudan, Zambia and Tanzania, up from 9 million a decade earlier, the FAO reports.
Across the tropics the causes can be starkly different.
The Amazon and other South American forests are usually burned for cattle grazing or industrial-scale soybean farming. In Indonesia and elsewhere in southeast Asia, island forests are being cut or burned to make way for giant plantations of palm, whose oil is used in food processing, cosmetics and other products.
In Africa, by contrast, it's individuals hacking out plots for small-scale farming.
Here in Nigeria's southeastern Cross Rivers State, home to one of the largest remaining tropical forests in Africa, people from surrounding villages of huts and cement-block homes go to the forest each day to work their pineapple and cocoa farms. They see no other way of earning money to feed their families.
"The developed countries want us to keep the forests, since the air we breathe is for all of us, rich countries and poor countries," said Ogar Assam Effa, 54, a tree plantation director and member of the state conservation board.
"But we breathe the air, and our bellies are empty. Can air give you protein? Can air give you carbohydrates?" he asked. "It would be easy to convince people to stop clearing the forest if there was an alternative."
The state, which long ago banned industrial logging, is trying to offer alternatives.
Working with communities like Abo Ebam, near Nigeria's border with Cameroon, the Cross Rivers government seeks to help would-be farmers learn other trades, such as beekeeping or raising fist-sized land snails, a regional delicacy.
The state also has imposed a new licensing system. Anyone who wants to cut down one of the forest's massive, valuable mahogany trees or other hardwoods must obtain a license and negotiate which tree to fell with the nearby community, which shares in the income. The logs can't be taken away whole, but must be cut into planks in the forest, by people like David Anfor.
He's a 35-year-old father of one who earns the equivalent of 75 U.S. cents per board he cuts with a whizzing chain saw. "The forest is our natural resource. We're trying to conserve," he said. "But I'm also working for my daily eating."
A community benefiting from such small-scale forestry is likely to keep out those engaged in illegal, uncontrolled logging. But enforcement is difficult in a state with about 3,500 square miles of pristine rain forest — and few forest rangers.
On one recent day deep in the forest, where the luxuriant green canopy allows only rare shards of sunlight to reach the floor, the trilling of a hornbill bird and the distant chain saw were the only sounds heard. As forestry officials rushed to investigate, the saw operator fled deeper into the forest, sign of an illegal operation.
Environmentalists say such a conservation approach may work for rural, agrarian people in Nigeria, which lost an estimated 15 million acres between 1990 and 2005, or about one-third of its entire forest area, and has one of the world's highest deforestation rates — more than 3 percent per year.
But lessons learned in one place aren't necessarily applicable elsewhere, they say. A global strategy is needed, mobilizing all rain-forest governments.
That's the goal of the post-Bali talks, looking for ways to integrate forest preservation into the world's emerging "carbon trading" system. A government earning carbon credits for "avoided deforestation" could then sell them to a European power plant, for example, to meet its emission-reduction quota.
"These forests are the greatest global public utility," Britain's conservationist Prince Charles said in the lead-up to Bali. "As a matter of urgency we have to find ways to make them more valuable alive than dead."
Observed the World Wildlife Fund's Duncan Pollard, "Suddenly you have the whole world looking at deforestation."
But in many ways rain forests are still a world of unknowns, a place with more scientific questions than answers.
How much carbon dioxide are forests absorbing? How much carbon is stored there? How might the death of the Amazon forest affect the climate in, say, the American Midwest? Hundreds of researchers are putting in thousands of hours of work to try to answer such questions before it is too late.
___ courtesy Yahoo! News:http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080202/ap_on_re_af/60_acres_a_minute_i
Thursday, January 31, 2008
How to Stay Online, Even in Your Sleep
Jan. 31, 2008 -- The next thing in your life to go wired could be your bedroom.
Meet the Starry Night Bed: It has sensors, temperature controls, Internet connectivity, and a home theater option.
"No one in the bedding industry has ever put so much technology into a bed or sleep system. It's a first for us, and a first for the industry," said Mark Quinn, group executive vice president of sales and marketing at Leggett and Platt in Carthage, Mo.
Vibration sensors in the mattress are designed to pick up a number of things, including snoring, tossing and turning, and breathing patterns. If it catches you snoring, the bed will automatically elevate your head seven degrees to open airwaves. When the snoring stops, the bed returns to its original position.
For the first 30 days, the bed tracks a sleeper's habits, learning the sleep pattern. If it senses unusual restlessness on a given night, it will flag the event and in the morning, offer recommendations for a better night's sleep. For example, it may suggest using the bed's massage unit to get the body in a more relaxed state before sleep.
Water circulating through small channels in the mattress can also be warmed or cooled to a sleeper's preference.
The bed's computer, Internet connection, and sound system can be used for Web surfing, music, or downloading and watching movies (a projector displays them on the wall).
The electronics can also be programmed with individual preferences. For example, if a person typically goes to bed at 11 p.m. and reads for 30 or 40 minutes, the mattress can be programmed to rise to the desired angle for reading.
"I think it's a phenomenal step forward combing the best technology with some in-depth psychological principals," said Rubin Naiman, author and sleep specialist as well as a clinical assistant professor of medicine at the University of Arizona's program in integrative medicine.
"As the technology becomes more refined and economical, it can set a new standard for bringing sleep monitoring into the home," he said.
But too much technology can be a bad thing, too.
"One concern is that people would overdo the entertainment piece," said Naiman. Watching news or over stimulating action or horror films right before bed can disrupt the sleep, as can the light emanating from television or computer displays.
"It's the blue end of the spectrum that suppresses melatonin," said Naiman, referring to a natural hormone closely associated with sleep patterns.
Cost may also be a problem, initially hindering the bed from making its way into the average home. The company hopes to bring the bed to market by 2009 and plans to sell it for between $20,000 and $50,000.
Courtesy: Discovery News (http://dsc.discovery.com)
Meet the Starry Night Bed: It has sensors, temperature controls, Internet connectivity, and a home theater option.
"No one in the bedding industry has ever put so much technology into a bed or sleep system. It's a first for us, and a first for the industry," said Mark Quinn, group executive vice president of sales and marketing at Leggett and Platt in Carthage, Mo.
Vibration sensors in the mattress are designed to pick up a number of things, including snoring, tossing and turning, and breathing patterns. If it catches you snoring, the bed will automatically elevate your head seven degrees to open airwaves. When the snoring stops, the bed returns to its original position.
For the first 30 days, the bed tracks a sleeper's habits, learning the sleep pattern. If it senses unusual restlessness on a given night, it will flag the event and in the morning, offer recommendations for a better night's sleep. For example, it may suggest using the bed's massage unit to get the body in a more relaxed state before sleep.
Water circulating through small channels in the mattress can also be warmed or cooled to a sleeper's preference.
The bed's computer, Internet connection, and sound system can be used for Web surfing, music, or downloading and watching movies (a projector displays them on the wall).
The electronics can also be programmed with individual preferences. For example, if a person typically goes to bed at 11 p.m. and reads for 30 or 40 minutes, the mattress can be programmed to rise to the desired angle for reading.
"I think it's a phenomenal step forward combing the best technology with some in-depth psychological principals," said Rubin Naiman, author and sleep specialist as well as a clinical assistant professor of medicine at the University of Arizona's program in integrative medicine.
"As the technology becomes more refined and economical, it can set a new standard for bringing sleep monitoring into the home," he said.
But too much technology can be a bad thing, too.
"One concern is that people would overdo the entertainment piece," said Naiman. Watching news or over stimulating action or horror films right before bed can disrupt the sleep, as can the light emanating from television or computer displays.
"It's the blue end of the spectrum that suppresses melatonin," said Naiman, referring to a natural hormone closely associated with sleep patterns.
Cost may also be a problem, initially hindering the bed from making its way into the average home. The company hopes to bring the bed to market by 2009 and plans to sell it for between $20,000 and $50,000.
Courtesy: Discovery News (http://dsc.discovery.com)
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Have to post something... My blog isnt an orphan!!
While I know I hhave to post something to my blog, and I am not sure of what to... I figure it is best if I write what I am thinking of right now :)
Funnily, I am playing a telugu song in my jukebox...
NO! It is not a software or a hardware... its the jukebox in my Mindware :D... the invisible jukebox or junktray in everyone's minds that keeps telling you (who?) something and relaying sounds, getting memories back and all that...
I really miss those days of my college... when I learnt so much about life...
All those days of Fun and Tragedy... :-)
Of Advancement and degradation...
Of Knowing new stuff and also realizing what I knew or Believed was wrong! :)
It was when I made so many friends...
That was when I actually knew how to Make Friends, not just to Be A Friend :-)
I had all types of friends... Good Friends, Best Friends, College Friends, Local Friends... Friends who arent friends but try to be friends :-), the Book Pals specially...
And then the friends of the other gender... and the Just Friends!! :-) (this is the best part as we called in Telugu Friendini)
What times...? If I could get those times back, I would do a lot of things different from what I did then... But... I dont repent having done what I did... coz its all part of life... it was all part of learning... that made me what I am today... now... and now... (I will post a separate blog on what I think about the nouns defining the time-axis like Now, Just Now, these days, etc.)
But, now that I cant get those times back, but this Juke Box keeps playing stuff from different times (not sure if it plays stuff from the Future, as some people claim)... I pen down what is playing now(and this is different from what was playing when I started typing this post and has changed since I started this paragraph!! )...
Ananaganaga Voka Roju:
Aemma Kopama...?
Letayyindana...?
Naa Friendu Chellelni Kondaredipinchaaru...
Veedelli Vallatoti Godava Pettukocchadu...
Aa Villain Gangu Vocchi Maa Vaaanni Kotta bote... Chesaanu Pedda Fightu Kaabatte Inta Laetu...
Ohh Cheli Khaminchamannanuga...
(F) Neekidi Eevaala kotta kaadu gaa...?
Ayya Baaboi Enta Vedi?
Aem Chasete chellarutundidi?
(F) Po povoi... Chaalugaani!
(F) Overaction Taggiste Manchidi...
Sare le... Tomorrow Ila... Lateu Cheyyanante Vottu...
:-)
Must be a few mistakes here and there, as the Jukebox doesnt play copyrighted material... but anyway... and it sure doesnt play the whole song...
So this is what I have!!
Funnily, I am playing a telugu song in my jukebox...
NO! It is not a software or a hardware... its the jukebox in my Mindware :D... the invisible jukebox or junktray in everyone's minds that keeps telling you (who?) something and relaying sounds, getting memories back and all that...
I really miss those days of my college... when I learnt so much about life...
All those days of Fun and Tragedy... :-)
Of Advancement and degradation...
Of Knowing new stuff and also realizing what I knew or Believed was wrong! :)
It was when I made so many friends...
That was when I actually knew how to Make Friends, not just to Be A Friend :-)
I had all types of friends... Good Friends, Best Friends, College Friends, Local Friends... Friends who arent friends but try to be friends :-), the Book Pals specially...
And then the friends of the other gender... and the Just Friends!! :-) (this is the best part as we called in Telugu Friendini)
What times...? If I could get those times back, I would do a lot of things different from what I did then... But... I dont repent having done what I did... coz its all part of life... it was all part of learning... that made me what I am today... now... and now... (I will post a separate blog on what I think about the nouns defining the time-axis like Now, Just Now, these days, etc.)
But, now that I cant get those times back, but this Juke Box keeps playing stuff from different times (not sure if it plays stuff from the Future, as some people claim)... I pen down what is playing now(and this is different from what was playing when I started typing this post and has changed since I started this paragraph!! )...
Ananaganaga Voka Roju:
Aemma Kopama...?
Letayyindana...?
Naa Friendu Chellelni Kondaredipinchaaru...
Veedelli Vallatoti Godava Pettukocchadu...
Aa Villain Gangu Vocchi Maa Vaaanni Kotta bote... Chesaanu Pedda Fightu Kaabatte Inta Laetu...
Ohh Cheli Khaminchamannanuga...
(F) Neekidi Eevaala kotta kaadu gaa...?
Ayya Baaboi Enta Vedi?
Aem Chasete chellarutundidi?
(F) Po povoi... Chaalugaani!
(F) Overaction Taggiste Manchidi...
Sare le... Tomorrow Ila... Lateu Cheyyanante Vottu...
:-)
Must be a few mistakes here and there, as the Jukebox doesnt play copyrighted material... but anyway... and it sure doesnt play the whole song...
So this is what I have!!
Saturday, December 29, 2007
Millennium Park - Water Fountain - Changing colors
DIfferent colors of the same fountain lights at Millennium Park, Chicago. Such an asset to Chicago.Dont miss it if you happen to visit Chicago!!
Friday, December 28, 2007
Funnny.....
Do you know this guy? This is Venkat Vedam... :D
Any one with decent idea of Martial arts would know that I am a novice trying to pose in some stance no martial arts class would ever teach ;-)
Any one with decent idea of Martial arts would know that I am a novice trying to pose in some stance no martial arts class would ever teach ;-)
Sae's 5 years @ Wachovia
Sae Lee @ wachovia completes 5 years and gets an apperciation certificate.Also seen are Colleen, Bob and Tim.
Unseen but worth mention is Venkat, who took the photo :p
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Ominous Arctic Melt Worries Experts - Dooms Day is here... Sooner than expected... Is this theh POINT OF NO RETURN???
Ominous Arctic Melt Worries Experts
By SETH BORENSTEINAP Science Writer
AP Photo/JOHN MCCONNICO
Watch Related Video
Ominous Arctic Melt Worries Experts
WASHINGTON (AP) -- An already relentless melting of the Arctic greatly accelerated this summer, a warning sign that some scientists worry could mean global warming has passed an ominous tipping point. One even speculated that summer sea ice would be gone in five years.
Greenland's ice sheet melted nearly 19 billion tons more than the previous high mark, and the volume of Arctic sea ice at summer's end was half what it was just four years earlier, according to new NASA satellite data obtained by The Associated Press.
"The Arctic is screaming," said Mark Serreze, senior scientist at the government's snow and ice data center in Boulder, Colo.
Just last year, two top scientists surprised their colleagues by projecting that the Arctic sea ice was melting so rapidly that it could disappear entirely by the summer of 2040.
This week, after reviewing his own new data, NASA climate scientist Jay Zwally said: "At this rate, the Arctic Ocean could be nearly ice-free at the end of summer by 2012, much faster than previous predictions."
So scientists in recent days have been asking themselves these questions: Was the record melt seen all over the Arctic in 2007 a blip amid relentless and steady warming? Or has everything sped up to a new climate cycle that goes beyond the worst case scenarios presented by computer models?
"The Arctic is often cited as the canary in the coal mine for climate warming," said Zwally, who as a teenager hauled coal. "Now as a sign of climate warming, the canary has died. It is time to start getting out of the coal mines."
It is the burning of coal, oil and other fossil fuels that produces carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, responsible for man-made global warming. For the past several days, government diplomats have been debating in Bali, Indonesia, the outlines of a new climate treaty calling for tougher limits on these gases.
What happens in the Arctic has implications for the rest of the world. Faster melting there means eventual sea level rise and more immediate changes in winter weather because of less sea ice.
In the United States, a weakened Arctic blast moving south to collide with moist air from the Gulf of Mexico can mean less rain and snow in some areas, including the drought-stricken Southeast, said Michael MacCracken, a former federal climate scientist who now heads the nonprofit Climate Institute. Some regions, like Colorado, would likely get extra rain or snow.
More than 18 scientists told the AP that they were surprised by the level of ice melt this year.
"I don't pay much attention to one year ... but this year the change is so big, particularly in the Arctic sea ice, that you've got to stop and say, 'What is going on here?' You can't look away from what's happening here," said Waleed Abdalati, NASA's chief of cyrospheric sciences. "This is going to be a watershed year."
2007 shattered records for Arctic melt in the following ways:
- 552 billion tons of ice melted this summer from the Greenland ice sheet, according to preliminary satellite data to be released by NASA Wednesday. That's 15 percent more than the annual average summer melt, beating 2005's record.
- A record amount of surface ice was lost over Greenland this year, 12 percent more than the previous worst year, 2005, according to data the University of Colorado released Monday. That's nearly quadruple the amount that melted just 15 years ago. It's an amount of water that could cover Washington, D.C., a half-mile deep, researchers calculated.
- The surface area of summer sea ice floating in the Arctic Ocean this summer was nearly 23 percent below the previous record. The dwindling sea ice already has affected wildlife, with 6,000 walruses coming ashore in northwest Alaska in October for the first time in recorded history. Another first: the Northwest Passage was open to navigation.
- Still to be released is NASA data showing the remaining Arctic sea ice to be unusually thin, another record. That makes it more likely to melt in future summers. Combining the shrinking area covered by sea ice with the new thinness of the remaining ice, scientists calculate that the overall volume of ice is half of 2004's total.
- Alaska's frozen permafrost is warming, not quite thawing yet. But temperature measurements 66 feet deep in the frozen soil rose nearly four-tenths of a degree from 2006 to 2007, according to measurements from the University of Alaska. While that may not sound like much, "it's very significant," said University of Alaska professor Vladimir Romanovsky.
- Surface temperatures in the Arctic Ocean this summer were the highest in 77 years of record-keeping, with some places 8 degrees Fahrenheit above normal, according to research to be released Wednesday by University of Washington's Michael Steele.
Greenland, in particular, is a significant bellwether. Most of its surface is covered by ice. If it completely melted - something key scientists think would likely take centuries, not decades - it could add more than 22 feet to the world's sea level.
However, for nearly the past 30 years, the data pattern of its ice sheet melt has zigzagged. A bad year, like 2005, would be followed by a couple of lesser years.
According to that pattern, 2007 shouldn't have been a major melt year, but it was, said Konrad Steffen, of the University of Colorado, which gathered the latest data.
"I'm quite concerned," he said. "Now I look at 2008. Will it be even warmer than the past year?"
Other new data, from a NASA satellite, measures ice volume. NASA geophysicist Scott Luthcke, reviewing it and other Greenland numbers, concluded: "We are quite likely entering a new regime."
Melting of sea ice and Greenland's ice sheets also alarms scientists because they become part of a troubling spiral.
White sea ice reflects about 80 percent of the sun's heat off Earth, NASA's Zwally said. When there is no sea ice, about 90 percent of the heat goes into the ocean which then warms everything else up. Warmer oceans then lead to more melting.
"That feedback is the key to why the models predict that the Arctic warming is going to be faster," Zwally said. "It's getting even worse than the models predicted."
NASA scientist James Hansen, the lone-wolf researcher often called the godfather of global warming, on Thursday was to tell scientists and others at the American Geophysical Union scientific in San Francisco that in some ways Earth has hit one of his so-called tipping points, based on Greenland melt data.
"We have passed that and some other tipping points in the way that I will define them," Hansen said in an e-mail. "We have not passed a point of no return. We can still roll things back in time - but it is going to require a quick turn in direction."
Last year, Cecilia Bitz at the University of Washington and Marika Holland at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Colorado startled their colleagues when they predicted an Arctic free of sea ice in just a few decades. Both say they are surprised by the dramatic melt of 2007.
Bitz, unlike others at NASA, believes that "next year we'll be back to normal, but we'll be seeing big anomalies again, occurring more frequently in the future." And that normal, she said, is still a "relentless decline" in ice.
---
On the Net:
National Snow and Ice Data Center on 2007 Arctic sea ice:
http://nsidc.org/news/press/2007-seaiceminimum/20070810-index.html
NASA's "Tipping Points" panel and slide show materials:
http://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/tipping-points.html
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Purchase this AP story for reprint.
Source: WIRED.COM - CondéNet, Inc
Sunday, December 02, 2007
What did I see? My interaction withe everything and truth and existence... I am stupid...
I keep having these visions( hallucinations?) all the while... some of them are termed dreams, but I treat the 'dreams' and the visualizations during meditation or during sudden loss of consciousness or during a casual close of the eye.. all of them as visions.
And today I had the baap (hindi for the father) of all visions...
Let me describe it very very briefly:
It is just the combination of White and Black.
I call White as the Color of Everything and Black the Color of 'Nothing that I know'. I am not sure if 'Nothing that I know' is actually absence of anything or absence of something or presence of something that I am not capable of detecting...
Back to the Vision...
I think I experienced a singularity, as the physicists would call it. A single point... One Dimensional... or is it Zero Dimensional? or one with Infinite dimensions that are beyond my cognition? Whatever it is, it embodies everything that can be expected to exist... it holds all my and our universe - I dont want to talk about the Humongous and odd-sounding numbers of galaxies and stars, though being a great fan of Astronomy and Physics, I somehow feel that all the numbers and calculations are a trick; a trap to fool the observers into things more and more complicate and inherently confusing; same with the atoms, sub atomic particles, they say they have found out 200+ particles that compose atoms; I would say they would keep finding hundreds of thousands of such varieties, there is no limit because there are infinite possibilities... to make the observers confused, to make the observers not focus on what it actually is all made of - I talk of the bigger picture, the Cognitive Universe or Mental Universe or however it can be called by what I explain it as here - It is everything we know of, we might come to know, we think of, we imagine, we expect... all of that... all we can possibly perceive.
The Singularity is one such point that has all that we (CAN) perceive.
I like MIB for what they say Size doesnt matter - true! size is what we perceive in 3 Dimensions. A being can exist in many different dimensions but still possess the energy (or whatever can be perceived) for the observers who operate or can perceive different dimensions.
Again, my vision has an infinite space with a Singularity in the middle... that undeniable White Glow (the glow of everything, termed White for the lack of better word or the lack of ability to describe it). And when I look at the Singularity everything around seems to be perfectly Black... may be that was meant to describe the relative nature of the whole process of perception, because when I turn away from my White-point (I m going to call it by this stupid-sounding name, coz I consider myself the most stupid of all living organisms... infact each organism should consider the same about itself and strive to improve), the Black area suddenly turns white... again that perfect white... would be blinding if seen with eyes, but when perceived outside of the physical or metaphysical existence... when perceived with that sense which symbolizes the non-existence... when I am neither attached nor detached... when I am nowhere... when perceived from that sense, the bright light seems to be the best place to be in... there is everything you want in that light... infinite happiness and sorrow together... its the ABSOLUTE being...
Wherever I see I only find the Bright Light of EVERYTHING, yet when I look back at my white-point, everything fades to Black. Thats what prompts me to say that it is a singularity and whatever I see when looking elsewhere is the projection of the Singularity in one of its infinite ways and is actually not the complete picture.
This indicates:
1. The relative nature of the existence or perception... specially Truth and otherwise. I know now that truth is one such all-inclusive being, the 'otherwise' only exists when you find the absolute truth. Otherwise the Truth manifests itself on the 'Otherwise' and you have something that is neither true nor false...
2. The future of lives and time... or the Past Present and Future of it... because this is a stagnant and never-changing view of the existence... the absolute can never change, but its projection can...
3. This also tells me that the Future is bright... if I look the right way I have infinite opportunities, but even if I look at the options that are not the best, I still have more White than Black... more perceived good than Bad... more brightness than darkness...
This vision of today, has totally confused me, yet told me everything I wanted to know about truth... everything that can be... may be what I saw was not the True TRUTH, but I am sure this is one manifestation of what the truth is and is the Best thing that I have ever known...
Thanks for reading through this, if you actually Managed to...
Yours TRULY
Venkat
And today I had the baap (hindi for the father) of all visions...
Let me describe it very very briefly:
It is just the combination of White and Black.
I call White as the Color of Everything and Black the Color of 'Nothing that I know'. I am not sure if 'Nothing that I know' is actually absence of anything or absence of something or presence of something that I am not capable of detecting...
Back to the Vision...
I think I experienced a singularity, as the physicists would call it. A single point... One Dimensional... or is it Zero Dimensional? or one with Infinite dimensions that are beyond my cognition? Whatever it is, it embodies everything that can be expected to exist... it holds all my and our universe - I dont want to talk about the Humongous and odd-sounding numbers of galaxies and stars, though being a great fan of Astronomy and Physics, I somehow feel that all the numbers and calculations are a trick; a trap to fool the observers into things more and more complicate and inherently confusing; same with the atoms, sub atomic particles, they say they have found out 200+ particles that compose atoms; I would say they would keep finding hundreds of thousands of such varieties, there is no limit because there are infinite possibilities... to make the observers confused, to make the observers not focus on what it actually is all made of - I talk of the bigger picture, the Cognitive Universe or Mental Universe or however it can be called by what I explain it as here - It is everything we know of, we might come to know, we think of, we imagine, we expect... all of that... all we can possibly perceive.
The Singularity is one such point that has all that we (CAN) perceive.
I like MIB for what they say Size doesnt matter - true! size is what we perceive in 3 Dimensions. A being can exist in many different dimensions but still possess the energy (or whatever can be perceived) for the observers who operate or can perceive different dimensions.
Again, my vision has an infinite space with a Singularity in the middle... that undeniable White Glow (the glow of everything, termed White for the lack of better word or the lack of ability to describe it). And when I look at the Singularity everything around seems to be perfectly Black... may be that was meant to describe the relative nature of the whole process of perception, because when I turn away from my White-point (I m going to call it by this stupid-sounding name, coz I consider myself the most stupid of all living organisms... infact each organism should consider the same about itself and strive to improve), the Black area suddenly turns white... again that perfect white... would be blinding if seen with eyes, but when perceived outside of the physical or metaphysical existence... when perceived with that sense which symbolizes the non-existence... when I am neither attached nor detached... when I am nowhere... when perceived from that sense, the bright light seems to be the best place to be in... there is everything you want in that light... infinite happiness and sorrow together... its the ABSOLUTE being...
Wherever I see I only find the Bright Light of EVERYTHING, yet when I look back at my white-point, everything fades to Black. Thats what prompts me to say that it is a singularity and whatever I see when looking elsewhere is the projection of the Singularity in one of its infinite ways and is actually not the complete picture.
This indicates:
1. The relative nature of the existence or perception... specially Truth and otherwise. I know now that truth is one such all-inclusive being, the 'otherwise' only exists when you find the absolute truth. Otherwise the Truth manifests itself on the 'Otherwise' and you have something that is neither true nor false...
2. The future of lives and time... or the Past Present and Future of it... because this is a stagnant and never-changing view of the existence... the absolute can never change, but its projection can...
3. This also tells me that the Future is bright... if I look the right way I have infinite opportunities, but even if I look at the options that are not the best, I still have more White than Black... more perceived good than Bad... more brightness than darkness...
This vision of today, has totally confused me, yet told me everything I wanted to know about truth... everything that can be... may be what I saw was not the True TRUTH, but I am sure this is one manifestation of what the truth is and is the Best thing that I have ever known...
Thanks for reading through this, if you actually Managed to...
Yours TRULY
Venkat
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