Archive - 2017

1. Grand Union Flag, 1775
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When, on 1 January 1776, Washington’s Continental Army was mustered formally on Prospect Hill (Mount Pisgah) in Somerville, Massachusetts, it was under this flag favoured by the American general during the previous year’s Siege of Boston. John Paul Jones, the first well-known American admiral raised the Grand Union Flag at sea in December 1775. The Grand Union Flag was an adaptation of the British Red Ensign, with six white stripes overlain on the red backdrop to create thirteen alternating red-and-white stripes symbolising the first states of the American union.

2. Liberty Tree flag, 1775
The lofty white pines of New England were much prized by the Royal Navy for the construction of its grandest warships. Dating from the Massachusetts Charter of 1691, prize specimens were marked with a broad arrow symbol denoting property of the Crown and shipped to England. This form of compulsory purchase led to the Pine Tree Riot of 1772, a precursor to the famous Boston Tea Party of 1774 and war with Great Britain a year later.

Flown from the masts of American warships, the Pine Tree flag was a powerful symbolic riposte to the Crown and its Royal Navy. A lone pine was shown on a white background with the inscription "An Appeal to Heaven" ("An Appeal to God" was a less common alternative). These words were taken from the British philosopher John Locke’s Second Treatise on Civil Government (1690), which refuted the notion of the Divine Right of Kings.

3. The Betsy Ross, 1776 (or not)  read more »

June 27, 2017- It was dusk when Elsie Dabrowski made her nightly trip to lock up the chicken coop and decided she would do a little bit of weeding in the garden.

The 80-year-old grandmother was at a rose bush hacking weeds with her sickle when the bobcat pounced on her, sinking its teeth into her face.

"All I could think of is 'Why is he doing this? Why is this stupid cat attacking me?"' Dabrowski said.

She turned her sickle on it as some of her five dogs scrambled over to help.
"He just kept scratching and biting, and then the dogs came and chased him off," she said.

By then, the bobcat had ripped into her in five places, causing wounds that would take 60 stitches to close.

Her adult son heard the commotion from his yard nearby.
"He heard it and he got the gun and came down," she said.
He killed the bobcat with a shotgun blast.

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Photo courtesy CBS Boston

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Deadly Heat Waves Threaten Third of the World
Currently, nearly a third of the world's population is exposed to lethal climate conditions for at least 20 days a year, according to findings published Monday in Nature Climate Change, a monthly peer-reviewed journal. As the planet's temperature rises, more of the world's population will be exposed to conditions that trigger deadly heat waves, the report said.

For a city like New York, which currently sees about two days per year that surpass the heat threshold, that could mean 50 deadly days per year by 2100.

The researchers analyzed more than 1,900 cases of fatalities associated with heat waves in 164 cities across 36 countries between 1980 and 2014 to define a global threshold for life-threatening conditions based on heat and humidity. Researchers found the overall risk for heat-related sickness or death has increased steadily since 1980.

The study notes well-documented heat waves, including a five-day stretch that claimed hundreds of lives in Chicago in 1995, the European heat wave in 2003 that saw tens of thousands of heat-related deaths and lethal temperatures in Moscow in 2010 that killed more than 10,000. Across Russia, the heat wave in 2010 claimed more than 50,000 lives. But the research team found that heatwaves are more common than most people think, and humidity levels combined with heat play a major role in heat-related heath risks.  read more »

June 21, 2017 - Bravo! Rescue mission accomplished! Elephant Mom and Aunt (no word exchanged!) spring into action to save calf from drowning in pool
After a baby elephant fell into a pool at a zoo in South Korea, two adult elephants came to save the day. Video from the incident shows the calf, Hope, drinking from the pool next to her mom before falling over the edge and into the water at the Seoul Grand Park Zoo.

Hope's aunt saw what was happening from the other side of the pool, and was seen lumbering over to help. The two adults rushed into the pool and worked together to lead Hope in the right direction, guiding the calf to a shallow end of the pool where it could climb out. Zoo officials said no elephants were injured.

Amazing! The in-time action, rescue mission is beautifully done without the convenience of language - no single word could be yelled out for help, or exchanged for rescue coordination.

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Next level: This black pick-up truck, spotted outside a Dairy Queen fast food joint in America, is not only hogging one disabled spot but two, as well as the entrance path (Imgur - Nosam88)

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Some people's selfishness, it would seem, knows no limit. And for whatever reason, many are even more brazen when they get behind the wheel.

Flabbergasted witnesses from around the world have been posting evidence of the worst parking offenders online, and some will really have you scratching your head.

One, snapped in Russia, shows a car that has parked directly in the middle of two bays - both of which were already occupied, to create a highly problematic vehicle sandwich.

Another, spotted outside an American fast food joint, is not only hogging one disabled spot but two, as well as the pedestrian entrance path.

But why? This confounding shot was wittily captioned 'my neighbor is a god at parallel parking' (Imgur - TooMuchTime87)

Sweet revenge: 'This is what you get when you take up four parking spaces in my workplace', another uploader stated (Imgur - thesongbirdy)

Tut tut: Cars in the US are not permitted to park next to fire hydrants, for this precise reason - so firefighters appear to have smashed the window and fed the hose through instead (Imgur - MoneyshotMcGee)

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Why take part in World Meat Free Day? Experts say that by 2050 the world’s population is set to increase to over nine billion people, which is 30% higher than today. If we don’t make any changes to our diet by then, the increase in meat production is forecast to reach 200 million tonnes. This is a demand that simply cannot be met.

Food’s carbon footprint is the greenhouse gas emissions produced by growing, rearing, farming, processing, transporting, storing, cooking and disposing of the food you eat. Changing the foods that you eat, such as reducing meat consumption, can have a big impact on your carbon footprint. The CO2 kilos equivalent for producing a kilo of beef is 27 miles; you need to drive 63 miles to produce the same emissions as eating one kilogram of beef.

Recipes from Around the World, Kid Friendly, Family Favorites...

One-third of world now overweight, with US leading the way
More than two billion adults and children globally are overweight or obese and suffer health problems because of their weight, a new study reports.

This equates to one-third of the world's population carrying excess weight, fueled by urbanization, poor diets and reduced physical activity.

The United States has the greatest percentage of obese children and young adultcs, at 13%, while Egypt led in terms of adult obesity, with almost 35%, among the 195 countries and territories included in the study.  read more »

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China is now home to the world’s largest floating solar power farm, a huge expanse of solar panels stretching across what was once a coal mining town in the central province of Anhui.
The farm connected to the grid last month, is thought to be the world’s largest in terms of capacity at 40 megawatts, providing enough electricity to power 15,000 homes.

It occupies more than 800,000 square meters in an area hit by flooding and subsidence due to coal mining, a problem many coal mining regions in China are plagued with. After the ground sank, residents moved away, an employee at Sungrow, the company behind the panels, told Reuters.

Proponents of water based solar panel farms say they have the advantage of being placed in areas that would not have been utilised for other purposes, as well as being less likely to overheat due to the cooling effect of the water.

The world’s largest floating solar power plant is now online in China. Built by Sungrow, a supplier of PV inverter systems, the 40MW plant is now afloat in water four to 10 meters deep, and successfully linked to Huainan, China’s grid. The placement was chosen in large part because the area was previously the location of coal mining operations; and, as a result, the water there is now mineralized and mostly useless. The lake itself was only formed after years of mining operations, the surrounding land collapsed and created a cavity that was filled with rainwater.  read more »