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Archive - 2011
World Water Crisis: >1 out of 6 people lack safe drinking water, 2/3 of world population to suffer fr water shortages by 2025
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According to the UN, unsanitary water kills more people worldwide than war. As the precious water supply dwindles, it may prove to be more than just a crisis for developing countries.
Everyone is aware of the dangers of peak oil, but peak water is just as, if not more, devastating. The planet's fresh water supply is a precious resource and the rate at which the industrialised world consumes it is always increasing. As such, there is a fear, as with oil, that eventually extraction rates hit a peak and it's only downhill from thereon-in. Staff at the Pacific Institute however have made a disturbing discovery - that the US hit 'peak water' in 1970... and nobody noticed.
The Facts About The Global Drinking Water Crisis
• 1.1 billion people in the world do not have access to safe drinking water, roughly one-sixth of the world's population.
Consumption
• The average American uses 100 to 175 gallons of water per day.
• The average African Family uses 5 gallons per day.
• It takes 5 liters of water to make 1 liter of bottled water.
• Almost 70 percent of the available fresh water gets used for irrigation in agriculture.
• More than half of the water used for irrigation leaks, evaporates or runs off.
• It takes 2,900 gallons of water to produce one quarter pound hamburger (just the meat)
Our Planet read more »
Makers of golf history: Ms. Yani Tseng is the youngest to win 4 major championships at 22; Mr. Tiger Woods, at 24
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Once she made the turn with a 10-stroke lead Sunday, the best female player in the world set her sights on making a little more history. "I was like, what's a new goal for me?" Tseng said. "And that's why I told myself I wanted to set a record, to make 20 under."
Tiger Woods won his fourth when he was 24. And Tseng's idol, Annika Sorenstam, was 24 when she won the first of her 10 majors - the 1995 U.S. Women's Open. "It's very special," Tseng said. "Now I'm thinking about a grand slam."
It's one step at a time for the top-ranked Tseng, who won her second LPGA Championship and has won three of the tour's last six majors. The only major she's missing is the U.S. Women's Open title, which she'll have an opportunity to complete her career slam in two weeks at The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs, Colo. read more »
"Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a harder battle." - Plato
Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a harder battle.
Presumed Innocent. Friend, wife, ex-wife and 60% of French people believe Strauss-Kahn's innocent when he's accused of 7 charges
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The prize-winning, blue-eyed television interviewer first met Strauss-Kahn in 1989 at the apex of her career as a political talk-show host on French channel TFI. For years her celebrity largely eclipsed his. She became his third wife in 1996. He is her second husband.
People who know them say they are an affectionate couple who have an easy relationship and like to vacation together with friends in their holiday home in the Moroccan town of Marrakesh.
Sinclair sacrificed her career to his, giving up her popular prime-time Sunday show -- which featured guests from President Bill Clinton to Madonna and every major French political leader -- when her husband was appointed finance minister in 1997. Many on the center-left saw her as an ideal "first lady" if, as expected, Strauss-Kahn sought the Socialist nomination for the 2012 presidential election. read more »
"We're what we eat"- 1 burger 20 yrs ago: 333 calories; today: 590 calories. Av. weight(M) in 1960-62: 166.3 lb; 1990-02: 191 lb
Obesity rates rise at least 90% in 17 states since ’95, study says. One-third of children are overweight or obese.
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Nine of the 10 states with the highest obesity rates are in the South, led by Mississippi at 34.4 percent, followed by Alabama and West Virginia, according to the report by the Trust for America’s Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Those states also lead the nation in diabetes and high blood pressure, the report found. Michigan was listed as 10th at 30.5 percent. Massachusetts ranked fourth best at 22.3 percent.
Medicare and Medicaid, the public health plans, each spend more than 20 percent of their budget to treat illnesses related to obesity and smoking, which are avoidable medical risks.
The survey’s authors dubbed a swath of 644 counties in 15 mostly southern states the “diabetes belt,’’ as reported in the Journal of Preventive Diseases. Colorado, the slimmest state with a 19.8 percent obesity rate, had the second-smallest rise since 1995, though its rate is still higher than Mississippi’s was at that time, according to the study. read more »
"War does not determine who is right - only who is left." - The Honourable Bertrand Russell
"War does not determine who is right - only who is left." - The Honourable Bertrand Russell
ebook Quotable Wit and Wisdom - Collection 1 available via Amazon Kindle eBooks and Apple iBookstore
To Nature: Lunar eclipse today, June 15, 2011 11:20am PDT, visible in skies of S America, Africa, Asia, Australia & Europe
A simulation of what today's lunar eclipse should look. Credit: Google
Lunar eclipse: Google, YouTube broadcast the astronomical event live.
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June 15, 2011: The lunar event will last about 100 minutes YouTube will be broadcasting on the Web a red-glowing lunar eclipse today at 11:20 a.m. PDT that otherwise will only be visible in the skies of South America, Africa, Asia, Australia and Europe. Sorry, North America.
The lunar event will last about 100 minutes and be live-streamed in video to Google's official YouTube channel.
"We're always fascinated by the unique wonders of space and the world -- what can we say, it's the geek in us," wrote Noel Gorelick, Google's chief extraterrestrial observer, in a company blog post.
"Naturally, when we learned that part of the world will be treated to a rare 100-minute-long total lunar eclipse starting at 11:20 am PDT today, we were both excited and disappointed that this rare occasion wouldn't be visible from our Mountain View campus like last year's eclipse."
Suspecting they weren't alone in wanting to see the eclipse, a team of Googlers contacted the folks at Web-broadcasting Slooh SpaceCamera to get a real-time video feed of the eclipse onto YouTube.
Slooh is hosting a mission interface Web app, built using Google's App Engine technology, that will also broadcast the video feed and will be "equipped with audio narrations from real-life astronomers so you can hear a firsthand, expert account of the event," Gorelick said. read more »
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