Proving that there is no greater impetus for environmental protection than human need, China announced a raft of aggressive new measures to help reverse the ecological damage occurring alongside the nation's unprecedented economic growth.
New policies include an extensive water-saving plan to cut the nation’s water use per unit of gross domestic product (GDP) by 20 percent within five years, a new climate change plan aimed chiefly at mitigating future water supply shortages, and a policy to make provincial officials directly responsible for environmental harm.
Food security, global warming related water shortages and rising pollution levels were all cited as key concerns in bringing forward the new measures.
Now if we could get North Americans to similarly see the connection between environment and human health we'd really be on to something.
I am a very happy woman. There's something infinitely comforting about rolling one of these thinglets around in your mouth until it dissolves in a warm chocolatey mess. The appeal of the Hershey's Kiss definitely has to do with the shape rather than the quality of the chocolate: Hersheys is a little, um, grainy. Seeing these in our local supermarket reminded me instantly of two things.
You can't really tell but the kid is walking under some water that is highlighted by the monring sun. The slide is out of this world, and maybe one day when I get a slide scanner I will share it will you guys...Nothing like morning light.
There's lots of coverage across the web of the Honda Formula 1 team's decision to drop their traditional livery for the upcoming 2007 season. Instead, they will replace advertising and sponsor logos on the cars with a giant picture of the Earth to raise awareness for environmental issues. 
What's rather neat is that the image will be comprised of millions of tiny "pixels" that, when viewed under magnification, could contain YOUR name.
All you need to do is visit www.myearthdream.com, make a pledge towards a more environmentally friendly lifestyle, and a monetary donation of your choice. Your money will go into the myearthdream Trust from where it will be distributed between environmental charities and initiatives all over the world.
After reading more about CFL lightbulbs at 18Seconds.org, I decided to commit to changing as many of my lights as possible to the more energy efficient kind. Of course I registered my "pixel" under www.anotherchancetosee.com. I'll see how it comes out when the livery is launched on March 12th, ahead of the first Grand Prix of 2007 in Melbourne, Australia.
For more coverage on HondaF1's "Earth Car", see MSNBC.com, ITV-F1, Speed Channel amongst many.
"Formula One and the environment may not seem exactly bedfellows," team boss Nick Fry told reporters at the unveiling of the new 'Earth Car' at London's Natural History Museum. "There will always be that last few percent of cynics but we found very strong support right across the world to do something in this direction.While there's no disputing that the Formula 1 circus is hardly environmentally friendly, any program that raises environmental awareness across the world with such a huge audience has to be applauded.
"The global reach, the number of people we can talk to, is immense, so we can change minds," he said. "We are going in a more environmentally friendly direction with the systems we put on the car and Formula One is really a laboratory for road car technology."
In a week of big announcements and bold plans to tackle climate change, the city of London has thrown its hat into the ring. Today, Mayor Ken Livingstone unveiled a detailed plan to slash carbon emissions by 60% within 20 years and place the city at the forefront of the battle against climate change.
In introducing the plan, Livingstone said "All of us have a responsibility, actions taken at an individual level can have consequences that are unacceptable for society as a whole. Buying a gas-guzzling 4x4 vehicle is an 'individual choice' but it creates carbon emissions that contribute to global warming and harm everyone. It should be no more socially acceptable than to claim the right to dump rubbish in the street."
Specifics of the plan address domestic and commercial space, transportation and energy supply.
Domestic
- Up to 50% subsidies on insulation - free for homes on benefits - to target the 1.4m houses without proper insulation
- A "concierge service" costing £50 to £200 including an audit of a household and full management of the conversion to a greener lifestyle
- Green homes scheme to build on work of groups like the Energy Saving Trust
Commercial
- Promotion of projects to encourage energy efficiency and minimise waste; recognition of firms doing the most
Transport
- "Green consultants" to encourage cycling and use of public transport
- Promotion of fuel-efficient cars
Energy supply
- Encouragement of combined heat and power schemes for schools, hospitals and housing developments. London wants to generate a quarter of its electricity this way by 2025
The announcement represents a part of a larger movement among municipalities in the UK, as close to 200 local governments have now signed the Nottingham Declaration - a pledge to take action against global warming.
Two weeks ago, the Government of BC announced a bold new vision that would reduce the province's greenhouse gas emissions by 33% by 2020. Today, the BC Government released its updated Energy Plan, which will guide provincial energy policy and provide much of the details for how the that aggressive goal will be met.
Topping the list of announcements is an ambitious target to acquire 50 per cent of BC Hydro’s incremental resource needs through conservation by 2020. The government's press release also promises bold new strategies in 4 key policy areas:
More details to come as I take the next couple days to read through the Energy Plan as a whole. Eager readers can sift through the pdf file themselves at this link.1. Environmental Leadership:
- All new electricity projects developed in B.C. will have zero net greenhouse gas emissions.
- Existing thermal generation power plants will reach zero net greenhouse gas emissions by 2016.
- Zero greenhouse gas emissions from coal-fired electricity generation.
- Clean or renewable electricity generation will continue to account for at least 90 per cent of total generation, placing the province’s standard among the top jurisdictions in the world.
- Eliminate all routine flaring at oil and gas producing wells and production facilities by 2016 with an interim goal to reduce flaring by half (50 per cent) by 2011.
- The best coalbed gas practices in North America. Companies will not be allowed to surface discharge produced water, and any re-injected produced water must be injected well below any domestic water aquifer.
2. Energy Conservation and Efficiency:
- An ambitious target to acquire 50 per cent of BC Hydro’s incremental resource needs through conservation by 2020.
- New energy efficiency standards will be determined and implemented for buildings by 2010.
3. Energy Security:
- Government has committed the province will be electricity self-sufficient by 2016.
- To encourage small B.C. Clean or high efficiency cogeneration, BC Hydro is establishing a standing offer program with a set purchase price for power projects up to 10 megawatts.
- Public ownership of BC Hydro and the BC Transmission Corporation.
- BC Hydro and the Province will enter into initial discussions with First Nations, the Province of Alberta and communities to discuss Site C.
4. Investing in Innovation:
- The new $25-million Innovative Clean Energy Fund will encourage the development of clean energy and energy efficient technologies in the electricity, alternative energy, transportation and oil and gas sectors.
- The new BC Bioenergy Strategy will take advantage of B.C.’s abundant sources of renewable energy, such as beetle-killed timber, wood wastes and agricultural residues.
The governors of California, Arizona, New Mexico, Oregon and Washington have banded together in a new effort to fight global warming. Citing a lack of federal leadership as a major factor, the five states promise to create a regional target for reducing greenhouse gases within six months, a mechanism for meeting that target within 18 months, and create a five-state registry for tracking and managing greenhouse gas emissions.
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican, said a so-called cap-and-trade program, which lets companies that can't meet their emission reduction targets buy credits from those that reduce carbon dioxide, would provide "a powerful framework for developing a national cap-and-trade program. ... This agreement shows the power of states to lead our nation addressing climate change."
Called the Western Regional Climate Action Initiative, the agreement builds on earlier efforts by several states. It may also come to include additional agreements with other governments, particularly the province of British Columbia. During the February 13th speech, the BC government pledged to cut greenhouse gas emissions 33% by 2020 and forge partnerships with western states to tackle climate change. Governor Schwarzenegger is scheduled to meet BC Premier Gordon Campbell on the issue later this spring.
Aaaaaa the Polaroid Transfer. Polaroid Transfer's have been around forever. I just got a Daylab for Christmas so I have been trying it out for a while. Still don't have it down, with the color and all but hey I still love the look. Its got such an old-timy look. This shot was taken in Cuba in 2000.
There's a very curious entry on the ZZ9 news page at zz9: 18:08:2007.
18:08:2007<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />What can that mean? I'm guessing that the 18th of August 2007 will be an important date for Douglas Adams fans. Apparently we'll find out more in the next exciting issue of Mostly Harmless, the quarterly newsletter of ZZ9 Plural Z Alpha, the Official Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Appreciation Society.
“Great Things are afoot”
Slartibartfast
I really didn't want to respond to this story, but given all the Google hits I'm getting from associated searches, I opted to throw a voice of reason into the debate.
In what was clearly a pre-planned smear campaign against Al Gore - timed to launch on the heels of An Inconvenient Truth's Oscar win - the right wing think tank the Tennessee Center for Policy Research reported that Al Gore's home consumes 20 times the power as the national average - an assertion that was lasciviously lapped up by Drudge.
Whether or not the figures disclosed by the TCPR are true or not scarcely matters as they are entirely beside the point. In seeking a solution for global warming, the goal is to attain 'carbon neutrality'. For those who failed grade school math (i.e. the people at Drudge) what this means is that you take responsibility for offsetting any greenhouse gases that you produce. If you produce 1 tonne of carbon, you need to do something to ensure 1 tonne is removed from the atmosphere in some other way. Allowing offsetting in this way makes sure that everyone has the ability to reducing their carbon footprint in the most cost effective way. This is precisely what Al Gore does.
Responding to Drudge’s attack, Vice President Gore’s office told ThinkProgress:
1) Gore’s family has taken numerous steps to reduce the carbon footprint of their private residence, including signing up for 100 percent green power through Green Power Switch, installing solar panels, and using compact fluorescent bulbs and other energy saving technology.
2) Gore has had a consistent position of purchasing carbon offsets to offset the family’s carbon footprint — a concept the right-wing fails to understand. Gore’s office explains:What Mr. Gore has asked is that every family calculate their carbon footprint and try to reduce it as much as possible. Once they have done so, he then advocates that they purchase offsets, as the Gore’s do, to bring their footprint down to zero.
Similar efforts have been attempted before. For the a previous high profile smear against Gore see my post - Al Gore Cracks the Conservatives Lies - the false accusations there are bound to crop up again now.
On a more fundamental level, the issue points to a core difficulty westerners have with any good act. Somewhere in our cultural history we drew a very strange line in the sand that in essence says, "You are free from any allegations of wrong doing or immorality, unless you endorse improving a wrong, or the state of the world at large. In that case, you need to be a saint or else you're a hypocrite."
This is diseased mindset that is grows from a culture of unaccountable capitalism that knows no morality and perceives sees any good act as a threat to its survival. There are no perfect people, only best intentions and actions, and Al Gore represents both because he does walk the walk - he lives a carbon neutral life.
More to the point, in the issue of global warming, the time is long past for absurd personal attacks as most of the western world is now moving towards solving this problem. It's time for the far right of the political spectrum to start joining in those solutions.
...this time anyway.
The leaders of 90 major international corporations and organizations including Citigroup, General Electric, Rolls Royce, and Volvo have issued a joint statement that calls on the world's governments to put a price on carbon emissions, set new targets to reduce them, and enact bold policies to increase energy efficiency.
"Cost-efficient technologies exist today, and others could be developed and deployed, to improve energy efficiency and to help reduce emissions of CO2 and other greenhouse gases in major sectors of the global economy," the statement said. "Research indicates that heading off the very dangerous risks associated with doubling pre-industrial atmospheric concentrations of CO2, while an immense challenge, can be achieved at a reasonable cost.Also adding their voice of support was insurance giant Allianz SE, whose spokesperson said, "we expect it (global warming) to remain a top-tier issue for the insurance industry for many decades to come," and Alcoa, the world's largest aluminum producer insurance company.
"Of course, addressing climate change involves risks and costs. But much greater is the risk of failing to act," said Alain Belda, chairman and CEO of Alcoa, the world's leading producer of aluminum. "I am convinced that we can build a global plan of action on climate change in ways that create more economic opportunities than risks."
In denying global warming, or refusing to do anything about it, the right wing is facing a growingly formidable opposition that now includes financial leaders, the insurance sector, major metal producers, chemical manufacturers, members of the automobile industry, top economists, the combined consensus of the world's scientific community, the environmental community, and certainly not least, the will of the world's citizens.
The fact that larger action against global warming has not taken place already is a testament to one thing - the overwhelming power of the petroleum industry. They and the political leaders they fund remain the world's biggest enemy in solving this problem.
Which is going to be my new name for rants about new and "healthy" products.
Like the new Krispy Kreme whole wheat doughnut.
Okay, let me get this straight. Krispy Kreme has bemoaned the loss of profits and blamed low carbers, so now they're going to prove they care about your heart--even though they haven't figured out how to rid their doughnuts of trans fat--by giving you a doughnut they call "whole wheat" and "heart healthy."
Ok, they get brownie points for using 100% whole wheat flour and not just "wheat flour," which is the same as "white flour." But they must not realize that trimming a whopping 20 CALORIES off their regular doughnut really doesn't make a bit of difference, especially since the "healthy" doughnut will be covered with their regular glaze. And adding a miniscule bit of fiber doesn't begin to make up for all the sugar.
Healthy? Don't think so.
In December 1991, I drove from Houston, where I was living at the time, to Alabama to visit my parents for Christmas. When I arrived, I learned that my mom had just been diagnosed with a brain tumor. Thankfully, the tumor was benign and it was operable, but of course we didn't know that for a while and the surgery was horrible nonetheless. She's now 81 and all of us still live with the specter of the tumor returning.
Why do I tell that story? Because of the heartening results of a recent study out of Boston College that brain tumors can be successfully treated with KetoCal, a diet prescribed to treat epilepsy in children.
What is Ketocal? Well, as you can probably guess from the name, it is a low carb, high fat diet that induces ketosis. The brain tumor is starved of the glucose from carbs that it needs in order to grow, while the brain and body are nourished by the ketones the body produces for fuel. It offers a viable way of treating brain cancer, which is difficult to treat by conventional radiation/chemo treatment because the good brain cells are killed along with the bad.
Ketocal is a powdered diet that is 90% fat, 1.6% carbs, and 8% protein, roughly, and also is low in calories. How a diet of "real" food with a similar nutrient breakdown would work wasn't addressed that I could tell.
The findings were based on a study published this week in the online journal Nutrition & Metabolism. The authors don't extrapolate, of course, but it makes sense to me that a low carb diet that starves tumors of the glucose they need to grow holds promise for other types of cancer as well.
Just as the U.S. is getting ready to sell the diet drug Xenical (orlistat) over the counter, Australia is pulling the plug on allowing manufacturer Roche to advertise the prescription-only drug to consumers.
Seems the company was targeting teens by advertising on the popular "Australian Idol" show and, according to the The National Drugs and Poisons Schedule Committee (the Aussie version of the FDA), was thereby encouraging people to take the drug who really don't need it.
Since it works so well anyway. I'm anxious to see what the TV ads for Alli, the new OTC form of Xenical, will look like. If the flash movie that opens their website is any indication, they're going to try and sell us with reverse psychology.
Instead of telling us what Alli will do for us, the movie that opens as you click on the Alli website asks if you're up for the challenge, if you're willing to change, if you're ready to make the commitment to alli--because you can't just try it, you have to commit to it.
In other words, they don't promise Alli is going to do anything for you (or at least anything that doesn't involve the words "oily discharge" -- eeeeuuuuwww), but they imply that if you haven't lost weight before, it is just because you haven't been willing to work hard, make a commitment, and do what it takes. I'm surprised the word "willpower" didn't show up in there somewhere.
Arggghhh. I'm gonna be complaining about this a lot. I apologize in advance.
MSNBC.com has an article on a new initiative from the Center for Biological Diversity. In a similar way to some other organizations they are offering free ringtones of the calls of endangered animals around the world, in an effort to highlight the plight of these creatures.
Their site features the calls of Blue-throated Macaw, Beluga Whale, Boreal Owl, Mountain Yellow-legged Frog, Yosemite Toad, California Spotted Owl, and many more endangered species besides.
Amid the cacophony of cell phone ringtones these days, add these: the clickety-click-click of a rare Central American poison arrow dart frog, the howl of a Mexican gray wolf and the bellows of an Arctic beluga whale.
An environmental group is hoping that the more people hear these sounds from threatened animals, the more they’ll wonder where they came from — and question the fate of the animals and birds that make them.
In my travels across the internets I occassionally run across applications that prove extrememly useful. I'm not talking about themes to make things look nice or just little tweaks to expand the functionality of another program. Nope these stand on their own as fine little apps that you should seriously consider downloading and utilizing. Best of all, they are FREE!The first program is called
An Inconvenient Truth took home the Oscar for Best Documentary at last night's 79th Annual Academy Awards. The award was received by director Davis Geenheim and producers Lawrence Bender, Laurie David and Scott Burns - but the winners immediately handed the gold statuette to Al Gore, whose vision and drive has propelled the film and the issue of global warming into the forefront of public consciousness.
Onstage, Guggenheim handed the Oscar to Gore, who said, "People all over the world - we need to solve the climate crisis. It’s not a political issue. It’s a moral issue. We have everything that we need to get started with the possible exception of the will to act. That’s a renewable resource. Let’s renew it."
In total, the film received two Academy Awards with Melissa Ethridge receiving the Best Original Song award for "I Need To Wake Up," the movie's theme song.
Sorry 4 the lack of color in these new Poloaroids. I didn't flatbed scan them....I took Digital pictures of them, hoping to save some time. I think for the long run, at least to have a record of my own, I will need to scan them in. This Polaroid is all about the Tv and how this little box has pretty much changed our lives, I think more than any other invention. I can't think of anything else that has had such a great impact on our culture than the Tv............can U?
"We are at the precipice of the end of the world!" says Chera Van Burg of Species Alliance.CBS5.com of San Francisco has a detailed article and video report on the current theory that a new mass extinction is beginning. The report uses the Baiji Dolphin as a prime example. It also says that the Congo gorilla population has declined 90 percent since 2002, because of land clearance for Coltan mining, a mineral used in the manufacture of cell-phones.
There is widespread belief among scientists that current species of life are becoming extinct at a rate more than 1,000 times higher than normal.Full story and video report at CBS5.com.
[...]
"According to a consensus of the world's biologists, a mass extinction is unfolding or about to unfold on planet Earth," said David Ulansey of Massextinction.net.
[...]
Biologists believe the six major causes of the present mass extinction are habitat destruction, invasive species, pollution, human overpopulation, human overconsumption, and climate change.
2007 Polaroids are here. I'm really excited about getting these polaroids on the blog. I hope all of you will enjoy them. I will try to post on a more regular basis. Keep honest with your comments.......Hope all is well
I'm back from the land of the ridiculous work conference, thankfully. At times I thought I might not live to tell the tale. You know how when you've had too much of something you once thought was a good thing, you begin to despise it? The very thought of it makes you retch. Yours might be peach schnapps or tomato soup. Mine is the work conference.When, as a young girl, I thought about my future
Audio
Keith Hudson – Nuh skin up – Pressure Sounds
Keith Hudson – Rasta country version – Pressure Sounds
Paul St.Hilaire – Humble – False Tunes
Noel Ellis – Rocking universally – Light in the Attic
Willie Williams – Master plan – Heartbeat
Freddie McGregor – How could you leave – Soul Jazz
DJ Pinch & P Dutty – War Dub – Tectonic
DJ Maxximus – Fly home rmx – Hey Rec
Bonde do Role - Solta O Frango - Domino
vocal baobab - Eleggua - Arc Music
Super Rail Band - Foliba - ACE
Pulo Samosir - Marsittogol - Dug Music
Modeste Hughes Ranriamahitasoa - Celestina - Dancing Turtle Records
The Loves - Je T'aime Baby - Fortuna Pop
The Early Years - The Great Awakening
Harrisons - Monday's Arms - Melodic
Kristen Hersh - In Shock - Throwing Muses
Justin Rutledge - Robin's Tune - Six Shooter Records
Kris Drever - Steel and Stone - Reveal Records
OctoberMan - X-Pat - White Whale
Chris Watson / BJ Nilsen - Storm -
Reminder! The Fifth Douglas Adams Memorial Lecture takes place on March 15th 2007.
The presentation will be made by Dr Richard Leakey and is entitled "Wildlife management in East Africa – Is there a future?".
The lecture takes place at 7.30pm on Thursday 15 March 2007 at the Royal Geographic Society, 1 Kensington Gore, London SW7. Tickets will be £12, with a pay bar before and after the Lecture, and they are available now from www.savetherhino.org or Zoe at Save the Rhino, Email: zoe_AT_savetherhino.org.
Save the Rhino International and the Environmental Investigation Agency are co-hosting the Fifth Douglas Adams Memorial Lecture, a talk by Dr Richard Leakey, on Thursday 15 March at the Royal Geographic Society in London SW7. In this talk, Dr Leakey will draw on his own experiences in Kenya, as founder and Director of the Kenya Wildlife Service and as the Head of Kenya's Civil Service to reflect on the successes, current problems and future challenges.
Richard Erskine Leakey was born on 19 December 1944, the second of Louis and Mary Leakey's three sons. Quickly following in his parents’ footsteps, his first career was in the field of paleoanthropology, with many important finds including (with Alan Walker in 1984), "Turkana Boy," a Homo erectus roughly 1.6 million years old, one of the most complete skeletons ever found. In 1968, aged just 24, Richard Leakey was appointed Director of the National Museums of Kenya.
In 1989 Richard left his post to become Director of the Kenya Wildlife Service. In this capacity, he spearheaded efforts to end rampant elephant poaching, but he made political enemies in the process. Nonetheless, the elephant population has since stabilised and continues to grow. In 1993 Leakey survived a serious plane crash and the following year he resigned as director of the Kenya Wildlife Service, though he continues to be active in political and environmental arenas.
As the former Director of Kenya's National Museums and former director of the Kenya Wildlife Service, he has used his leadership skills and considerable influence to raise money for the preservation of Kenyan culture and wildlife. Never one to back down on a challenge, in 1995 Richard Leakey took a stand against corruption in Kenya’s government by forming Safina, an opposition party. Despite being subjected to beatings, death threats, and constant government surveillance, Leakey has continued his crusade for political justice. Although no longer active in fieldwork, Dr Leakey, as one of the foremost authorities on wildlife and nature conservation, continues to educate others about the dangers of environmental degradation through his many lectures and books.
The lecture is in aid of Save the Rhino International and the Environmental Investigation Agency, two charities supported by Douglas Adams. Douglas developed his deep-seated interest in wildlife conservation during a 1985 visit to Madagascar, which eventually resulted in a book (Last Chance to See) about the plight of species facing extinction. Douglas Adams died unexpectedly in 2001 at the age of 49. These Memorial Lectures continue to explore the themes in which Douglas was so interested.
Dr Leakey’s books include: Wildlife Wars: My Battle to Save Kenya's Elephants(paperback, August 2002, PanMacmillan, RRP £7.99); The Sixth Extinction: Biodiversity and Its Survival
with Roger Lewin (paperback, November 1996, Phoenix Press, RRP £7.99); and Origins Reconsidered: In Search of What Makes Us Human
also with Roger Lewin (paperback, October 1993, Abacus, RRP £10.99).
Douglas Adams created all the various and contradictory manifestations of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy: radio, novels, TV, film, computer games, stage adaptations, comic book and bath towel. For more information about Douglas Adams and his creations, please visit www.douglasadams.com
The Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) is an international campaigning organisation committed to investigating and exposing environmental crime. Since 1984, EIA has used pioneering investigative techniques all over the world to expose the impact of environmental crime and to seek lasting solutions. More info at www.eia-international.org
Save the Rhino International works to conserve genetically viable populations of critically endangered rhinoceros species in the wild. We do this by providing financial and in-kind support for rhino- and community-based conservation projects in Africa and Asia. More info at www.savetherhino.org
Tickets are on sale now. Simply download the form and send it in with your cheque, alternatively phone the office on 0207 357 7474 and pay over the phone.
NBCSanDiego.com has news that vets have been busy working on two Northern White Rhinos at San Diego Zoo. The article says they were harvesting "ovaries", but I imagine what they were really doing was harvesting EGGS. That would make more sense to me. This is a very sensible move, and comes on the back of Lulu's successful IVF pregnancy in Budapest. Lulu has been treated again, and we should find out soon if she's pregnant once more.
A team of veterinarians performed laproscopic surgery on two female white rhinoceros at the San Diego Zoo's Wild Animal Park Thursday.
[...]
The aim of the surgeries was to harvest ovaries (sic) from two Northern white rhinos. There are fewer than 20 Northern white rhinoceros remaining in the world, and 15,000 Southern white rhinoceros.
There's a couple of pages in the Encyclopedia Britannica for Douglas Adams, one of them being tagged as Year In Review 2001 - the year he died.
Links: Douglas Adams, Adams, Douglas Noel
I've been seeing them lately--these ads for the new Quaker Oats Life Chocolate Oat Crunch Cereal. The release of this new cereal is the part of the onslaught of adult-marketed chocolate breakfast cereals with the goal of "delivering nutrition."
Quaker developed their chocolate cereal in response to consumer feedback asking for "a healthy cereal that satisfied their cravings and delivered nutrition," according to a MediaPost marketing report.
Next up, the new Special K Chocolatey Delight (that's the name of it, really!), which the company says fits in with their two-week weight-loss challenge touted on their other Special K brands.
So, what's in Chocolately Delight--which Kellogg, by the way, is hyping as a "late-night snack" as well as a breakfast food?
Well, let's see--3/4 cup has 120 calories, 2 grams of fat, 24 grams of carbs, less than 1 gram of fiber, and 2 grams of protein. Contents: Rice, whole grain wheat, sugar, chocolatey chunks (sugar, partially hydrogenated palm kernel oil, cocoa processed with alkali, cocoa, soy lecithin, artificial flavor, milk), high fructose corn syrup, salt, malt extract, and a bunch of vitamins.
Yikes.
What about Chocolate Life? The company touts it as "made with whole grain Quaker oats, good source of fiber, helps reduce cholesterol as part of a heart-healthy diet, and low in fat." They forgot to add "brimming with sugar."
A one-cup serving has 190 calories, 2.5 grams fat, 40 grams of carbs, 3 grams fiber, and 5 grams of protein.
What's in it? Whole grain oat flour, sugar, whole wheat flour, corn, flour, rice flour, whole grain rolled oats, whole grain rolled wheat, semisweet chocolate chips (with sugar), crisp rice (with sugar), salt, calcium carbonate, honey, coconut oil, glycerin, corn syrup solids, and miscellaneous vitamins.
Wow. Glad we have these new healthy chocolate breakfast foods to eat!
Is it just me, or does it really irritate you that a few reports on the health benefits of chocolate and now we have an onslaught of "chocolatey health foods" with even more sugar?
As I sit here thinking I'm kinda edgy, I realize I've just finished my second bottle of Celsius today and it got me to thinking about caffeine.
First off, Celsius is a new bottled "super-water," sold not as a food but as an "energy supplement." On the front of the very cool bottle it says "Celsius: Enjoy the Great Taste of Burning Calories!" It also has a big "No High Fructose Corn Syrup" label on it and you gotta love that.
Ever one to sacrifice myself for blogdom, I bought a case of the stuff to try it out. There's ginger ale, lemon-lime, orange, wild berry, and cola flavors. I had ginger ale and lemon-lime this morning, 16 oz bottle of each. I absolutely adore the taste of ginger, so the fact that both of these flavors are very ginger-heavy is a good thing with me and I love 'em.
Celsius is basically carbonated water sweetened with Splenda and jazzed up with vitamins and a "thermogenic blend" of caffeine, ginger root, green tea extract, guarana extract and taurine...They don't say how much is in their "proprietary blend" (which reads: trade secret), but, boy do I feel GOOD.
Anyhow, I started thinking about caffeine. Coca Cola recently announced that they will begin listing caffeine content labels on all their products, including their much-debated Enviga line. And now Pepsi has announced its own Enviga-like product, Pepsi Max, also laced with caffeine, along with ginseng.
It's all a part of the new buzz, functional foods.
And if that's not enough caffeine for you, sip this through your straw: a recent study has shown that senior adults can benefit from taking in more caffeine. In older adults (over 65), properties in caffeine appear to offer protection against heart disease. The theory is, according to the SUNY researchers, that the older patients' blood pressure is enhanced by the caffeine--the "proactive effect" was only found in patients who didn't have severe high blood pressure.
Interestingly, the protective effect of caffeine was not experienced by people below age 65.
I'm really jiggling my foot now and typing really fast. Wonder if I should save the rest of my Celsius till I turn 65?
David Suzuki is spearheading an ongoing "If You Were Prime Minister" tour that calls on citizens to get involved in the political debate and pledge to "Vote for the Environment" during the next election. This 50-city tour is the biggest of his career, and is aimed at galvanizing public action in the face of rapidly increasing concern for the natural world.
Suzuki promises to take the best environmental solutions to Ottawa, but he's also asking people to send their thoughts directly to Parliament by filling out the "Vote for the Environment" petition. Follow the link to email your thoughts, ideas and concerns directly to the leaders of the Conservatives, Liberals, NDP and Bloc with one click.
The campaign also features a YouTube group where people can submit their own video clip to the campaign. Below is Rick Mercer's.
Having failed in their religious zeal to exorcise global warming from the political and public landscape, the right wing press is now engaging in the ultimate hypocrisy - accusing an environmental community grounded in solid science of being a new religion.
In Canada, this deft and concerted move of spin began in February 12th's cover story from The National Post - Is Environmentalism the New Religion? That the Post is a newspaper whose spin and political bent flows through the lens and judgement of the Christian religion is an irony that is entirely lost on the both the authors and editor of the article. However, their message has had legs, with the following recent print columns following suit:
Eco-pilgrims gather to 'heed the Goracle' - "They came in their hundreds to hear him speak, and even those left standing outside the crowded hall would not be deterred from lingering in the proximity of the Baptist prophet from Tennessee."Margaret Wente - "Mr. Gore no longer needs the media to spread the word. His documentary has persuaded millions that global warming is the greatest moral challenge in the world today. And now, thousands of disciples, trained at his climate boot camp and armed with their own Power Point presentations, are fanning out to spread the word."
The Washington Times - "Global warming has become the catechism of a new-age religion, with Mr. Gore as its topmost prelate, entitled to cassock, miter, incense and hot holy water. Anyone who dissents risks a session on the rack, as we have lately seen in calls for punishing 'deniers'."
Deniers of global warming are likely screaming in glee at the quotes above, as a sense of vindication and affirmation sweep over their science battered souls. But nothing in the quotes or articles above speaks to the facts of the issue, and like anyone losing an argument all of them resort to attacking the messenger once they find that the message itself is unassailable.
And through this subtle yet deliberate smear, a pattern and disturbing stripe is revealed in our main stream media. That it is the morally justifiable province of the press to mislead the public for its own ends - ends that go past the denial of environmental concern to include defending the corporate bottom line over the health of citizens, withholding fundamental rights from consenting adults, and endorsing the murder of citizens in foreign countries in the name of fear, oil and profit.
If Al Gore does represent a new religion, then it is one founded on rationality over hysteria, on hope for humanity, on care for the planet, and concern for those who will come after us. That is a moral compass worth following and one that can create a better world for us all.
More to the point Gore's message - unlike the religious zeal of the National Post - is grounded in fact. That single point gives him credibility that the Post can't hope for, and it is the most tangible reason why millions are willing to listen to his message.
The International Herald Tribune reports that Lulu's baby is doing well, and currently weighs in at 176 pounds. After a first attempt failure, Lulu successfully carried an IVF baby to term, and it was born in January.
The unnamed female, who weight 58 kilograms (128 pounds) when she was born Jan. 24, drinks about two liters (.45 gallons) of milk a day, and "seems to love to play tag with the caretakers," the zoo said.
[...]
Lulu underwent insemination again on Tuesday — only a month after giving birth — as fertility levels are highest in female rhinos right after they have delivered calves, the zoo said.
Veterinarians for Lulu's second insemination used the sperm of Simba, a male rhino from the zoo in Colchester, Britain. Results on whether Lulu was pregnant would be known within 80 days.
Maxton Walker's "Pick of the Day" in the Guardian is the two-part BBC Radio 4 series exploring the role of captive breeding programmes for endangered animals around the world - "Single White Rhino Would Like To Meet".
The first programme aired today (Friday 23 February 2007) at 11am and I assume part two will appear next week. Both shows should be available as internet streaming audio, live and On-Demand for at least 7 days following the broadcasts.
Part 1 should be available for streaming, but I am getting a "Sorry we can't bring you the programme you requested". Please leave a comment if you manage to listen to the show.
Rosamund Kidman-Cox explores the role of captive breeding programmes for endangered species operated by zoos worldwide and asks how they aid conservation in the wild. For all creatures, the management of the gene pool is a crucial part of any breeding programme and finding suitable mates is a complicated business.Thanks to Dave H for the tip
Rosamund visits Whipsnade Wild Animal Park to see how their herd of southern white rhinos has been growing over recent decades and what problems they have encountered. She also joins a female red panda at Bristol Zoo as she is introduced to her new mate.
A coalition of celebrities and environmental groups is launching a campaign to transform Ontario's boreal forest into a model of sustainable forestry and a global warming solutions. David Suzuki, Robert Bateman, Farley Mowat, Yann Martel, Margaret Atwood and Sarah Harmer have joined with Greenpeace, Forest Ethics, Sierra Legal and NRDC to push Premier Dalton McGuinty into:
1. Creating certainty for industry and benefits for local communities by planning for conservation and development in the boreal forest, and deferring forestry and mining development until that plan is complete;
2. Protecting a significant amount of caribou habitat within boreal forest areas that were allocated to mills that have closed;
3. Committing to keep the billions of tonnes of carbon in the intact boreal forest;
4. Supporting the certification of Ontario's forest practices by the Forest Stewardship Council and instituting a policy to ensure the Ontario government purchase only certified wood products and paper; and
5. Helping to market Ontario's forest products in global markets as sustainably harvested.
The campaign was launched with a formal letter to the Premier and an op-ed co-authored by Bateman, Suzuki and Mowat, which ran in Thursday's Globe & Mail. The campaign is being pitched as a win-win-win solution that provides critical habitat to endangered species like the woodland caribou, makes Ontario a leader in sustainable forestry, and provides a global warming solution. The boreal is one of the largest untouched tracts of forest remaining on the globe, and its unique nature allows it to store 50% more carbon then the best managed industrial forests.
A complete list of the celebrities and environmental groups involved can be seen at the campaign's website - savetheboreal.ca
I read an interesting article in Forbes recently, talking to author Barry Glassner, whose recent book, The Gospel of Food: Everything You Think You Know About Food Is Wrong, is next up on my To-Read pile. Basically, Glassner thinks we've all gone overboard in thinking about food, and assigning it a greater role in our overall health and welfare than it deserves. In the process, he says, we've lost the "pleasure factor" in eating, replacing it with guilt or duty.
More on that when I actually read the book!
What the Forbes article talks about is what they call Five Big Food Myths. And what are they?
1) "Fresh is Best." We tend to think canned or frozen food is inferior to fresh food, and that supermarket fresh food is inferior to farmer's market fresh food. Actually, Glassner points out, flash-frozen produce retains more nutrients than "fresh" produce that is trucked or shipped from parts unknown, unloaded, stocked and then sold. By the time it reaches your plate, many of its healthy properties have been lost or weakened.
2) "Vitamin-Enhanced Foods Are Better." It's the big thing now, the so-called "functional foods." We think that "blurring the line between food and vitamins or medications" means we're eating healthier. Just watch to see how many foods are released in coming months with Omega-3s. But Glassner says the vitamins are altered in the process of adding them to foods in which they don't normally occur--like Omega-3 Pasta--and we don't really know if they're effective, or even harmful.
3) "A Meal is Worthy for What It Lacks." By focusing on what our meal doesn't contain--such as fat, salt, or carbs--we lose sight of the pleasure a great meal can bring us, Glassner says.
4) "Natural Means Less Processed." There's no rules concerning the word "natural," Glassner says (unlike "organic," which does have some legal restrictions)-- "The only thing the terrm natural seems to consistently mean is a higher price," says Forbes.
5) "Some Foods Are Inherently Bad for You." Categorizing a food as "inherently bad" is unnecessary, Glassner says. Too much of anything--sugar, fat, whatever--is bad.But the food itself isn't. "Food like potato chips, which most of us enjoy, can still have a place in our diet," Glassner says.
Yeah, but what if you can't eat just one?
Yep, today is National Cherry Pie Day and oh how I wish the fresh cherries were in the stores! But not yet. I never ate fresh cherries as a kid--in fact, I only discovered them a few years ago. Cherries, to me, came in cans or, more often, as maraschino cherries in bottles.
But cherry pie is an easy, quick and healthy dessert to make--make a crust with your almond or nut flours and check out a low-carb cherry pie filling like Steel's (5 net carbs per serving) or no-sugar-added pie filling like Lucky Leaf. Top with a little whipped cream. Yum.
Does it seem like the "forbidden" element of eating food you shouldn't makes it all that more attractive? And why do we give food choice the power to elicit guilt or shame?
There's an interesting new poll from Canada that shows Canadians are just as food-possessed as Americans. The poll was conducted by the President's Choice Healthy Insider's Report. It was a big enough poll (more than 1,100 adults) to have some statistical accuracy.
Some of the results...have you done any of these things?
* Six of 10 respondents say they have eaten over the sink or directly from the fridge in the past month. [Yep. Yesterday.]
* Half of adults have eaten out of boredom. [Yawn. Give me a snack.]
* One-third of adults have eaten on the run in the past month. [I ate at my desk while I worked today and don't actually even remember eating.]
* One-fourth ate a bag of chips or popcorn for dinner in the past month. [Not guilty on this one.]
* One in seven have picked food off someone else's plate in a restaurant because they didn't want to order it themselves. [Not in the last month, but, yep, I've done it.]
Interestingly--not surprisingly--there also were gender differences in the answers. Fifty-six percent of women (vs. 41 percent of men) feel guilty after eating something "bad." And 30 percent of women (as opposed to 25 percent of men) think about every single bite that goes into their mouths.
Only 30 percent? Now, that's surprising!
Has anyone tried the new Splenda Flavor Blends for Coffee? They come in three flavors--French Vanilla, Hazelnut and Mocha. As a big fan of the DaVinci syrups--I can't drink coffee without a splash of hazelnut or Kahlua--I like the idea of these. Plus, they come in small packets that are easily portable. The website also has some recipes to use them in, although most would need a few tweaks to make them more carb-conscious.
Now, I know there are many folks who don't go in for the artificial sweeteners, but I'm with my pal Jimmy Mooreon this one (Jimmy recently gave up his boycott of diet sodas)--it just helps keep me honest. Certainly the merits/demerits of Aspartame are much-debated, and there are already people questioning the long-term safety of Splenda. Are they dangerous? I maintain that they're no worse than sugar, sugar and more sugar.
Owing to some unexpected turbulence in the employment sector, communication channels have been suddenly and inconveniently disrupted. Normal service will resume shortly. In the meantime, please avail yourself of the in-flight visual elevator muzak: sit back, relax, and enjoy the break.
As I flittered around the streets today dressed as....what? Here I am--you tell me! Oh, and Happy Mardi Gras! Yes, I know, everywhere else, it's just Tuesday : )
NOW Toronto Magazine is running a feature article on Mountain Gorilla eco-tourism in Rwanda. The article discusses how the tourism efforts and gorillas have been affected by habitat loss, poaching, disease, the 1994 genocide, and the impact of award winning motion picture "Hotel Rwanda
The tourism office here is full of wazungu, the East African term for white people. The group of six surrounding the front desk are from Canada, equipped with Lonely Planet guides and seeking gorilla permits.
Charles Tabone, a 21-year-old Queen's University student from Toronto, tells me his mother was nervous when he told her he was going to Rwanda. He admits that his idea of the country was influenced by the media.
"My whole image came from Hotel Rwanda, which was filmed in South Africa!"
That's true for a lot of people, but the Office Rwandaise du Tourisme et des Parcs Nationaux (ORTPN) in Kigali screens another movie: 1988's Gorillas In The Mist. The endangered mountain gorillas in the Parc National des Volcans are bringing tourists from around the world back to a new Rwanda. Even Sigourney Weaver, who played gorilla conservationist Dian Fossey in the movie, returned in 2005 to visit.
A team-member at National Geographic magazine wrote to tell me about their Ivory Wars article in the March 2007 edition. It is about the elephants of Zakouma National Park in Chad, and the extreme poaching problems that they face. The story is also covered in some depth on the National Geographic magazine website, with Feature 1 - Ivory Wars and Feature 2 - Eye To Eye by J. Michael Fay plus photographs by Michael Nichols.
The dead elephant, a huge bull, lay on his side, right leg curled as if in wrenching pain. Dirt covered the exposed eye—magic done by poachers to hide the carcass from vultures. The smell of musth and urine, of fresh death, hung over the mound of the corpse. It was a sight I had seen hundreds of times in central Africa. As I passed my hand over his body from trunk to tail, tears poured down my cheeks. I lifted the bull's ear. Lines of bright red blood bubbled and streamed from his lips, pooling in the dust. His skin was checkered with wrinkles. The base of his trunk was as thick as a man's torso. Deep fissures ran like rivers through the soles of his feet; in those lines, I could trace every step he had taken during his 30 years of life.They also have an information page on their Google Earth feature, with the Zakouma—Ivory Wars KLM file ready to download into Google Earth.
Rich new layers let you zoom in on the park's animal inhabitants, read author Mike Fay's journal entries, see camera-trap photos, and more.Much like Jane Goodall's Chimpanzee Blog, the Ivory Wars Google Earth layer has (amongst other things) blog entries and lots of stunning photography. Combined with their previous Google Earth content such as the African Megaflyover, National Geographic truly are at the forefront of making the best use of this emerging "geo-browser".
Thanks to Keene Haywood for alerting me to the story, Mike Fay and Michael Nichols, and all the rest of the National Geographic team who worked on this story. I'm pleased to help spread the word about your good work.
P.S. As I've mentioned in a previous blog post, you can take Google Earth way beyond the basic mouse and keyboard control with 3D-Connexion's fabulous "Space Navigator". I highly recommended this intuitive, addictive and very attractively priced device. It makes exploring special layers like Ivory Wars even easier.
Fundraising for HFD is going well. As of tonight I'm more than 1/3 of the way to my goal of $4500! Woohoo!
Less than $3000 left to reach my goal... I'm working on Drink for Discovery II this week and I should have news of a date soon. This year I'm working on getting breweries from around the US to be represented.
Any breweries you want to see represented? Leave a comment and I'll see what I can do!
I'm "gone to da Mardi Gras." Which means hanging out in the neutral ground (known as medians in the rest of the world), waiting for masked parade riders to throw me shiny fake bling bling.
Back on Wednesday!
Interesting article about Bernie Krause in the New York Times. He has been on a "40-year quest to record the Earth’s rapidly disappearing 'biophony' — a term he coined to describe that portion of the soundscape contributed by nonhuman creatures."
If you saw Bernie Krause, a sotto voce man with heavy, nearsighted eyes, seated amid the baffling array of high-tech sound-engineering gear in his Glen Ellen, Calif., studio, you might never guess that he was once flung down a Rwandan mountainside by a mountain gorilla. Or that he forced himself to sit coolly still in the stultifying blackness of an Amazon jungle night while a prowling jaguar mouthed a microphone he had set up only 30 feet down the trail.Much of Bernie's work is available on CD. Amazon.com has many samples to enjoy.
**UPDATE**
Thanks to the Jesse Evans at www.wildsanctuary.com for popping up in the comments to tell us about their site and work with Bernie Krause. They have an extensive store of CDs, books and more, and also have streaming radio and a podcast too.
For the past few months I've been on a mission:
- Eat healthier
- Work out
- Lose weight
A few years ago I lost more than 10 lbs on Body for Life. As Steph would say, I was an animal at that time. Working out 6 days a week, eating 6 meals a day and being completely obsessive about sticking to the plan. I can't do that today. With my work schedule and travel, trying to follow a plan like Body for Life just wasn't going to work for me. So I had to find another way.
I decided it was time to find a personal trainer to help get me on the right path. I got in touch with Jerry Collett, we met during HFD last year and I always liked the way he pushed me during our group hikes to work a little bit harder. In December we started meeting twice a week and I joined a gym so I could work in 3 - 4 more workouts every week. I also joined MyFoodDiary.com to keep track of my how many calories I ate in a day vs. how many calories I expended to help me get a better grasp on how my eating choices affect my weight.
Its been almost 3 months now since I started and it hasn't been easy. I've been trying to eat more often with smaller portions. When I work from home, this is pretty easy, on the road its not. Making good food choices when I am traveling with work is very difficult, especially when I am running to a meeting or to catch a flight. So I have learned to carry food in my backpack when traveling. Usually I have a couple of Clif bars or Lara bars stuffed into my bag for mid-day snacks or, in the worst case, a replacement for a meal. I always avoid the "food" they offer on flights since it is often extremely high in fat and carbs. Airport food isn't much better, though some airports are better than others.
So where do I stand now? As I mentioned, when I started down this pathway I was 210 lbs. At 5'7", that puts my body mass index (BMI) at 32.9, in the obese range. Egads! Now I'm down to 192 lbs with a BMI of 30.1. I was wearing jeans with a 40" waist and they were getting uncomfortable. Now I'm down to a 36" waist — something I haven't worn since early 2002! — with a lot of room, the 34" waist jeans are not too far away. I'm also in a push-up competition with my friend Sandy and some of the HFD team. A few weeks ago I could barely knock out 10 push-ups with bad form. Now I'm up to 30 push-ups and working toward my goal of 100 push-ups in a single set. I'm lifting more weight than I ever have before, hiking faster and longer and generally feeling in much better shape than ever!
I still have a long way to go to my goal of 175 lbs, but I am continuing to lose weight, gain muscle mass and head toward my target.
This morning was our second group hike of the season at Kennesaw Mountain , one of the best places to train on hills near Atlanta. This is also one of the coldest days this winter, the thermometer in my car was hovering around 24 degrees F with strong winds, making the wind chill feel like 10 - 15 degrees F! I thought I was prepared with my layers of clothes, gloves, hat and wicking long underwear, but it was absolutely bone chilling out there until we started up the mountain.
I was asked to be toward the front of the pack to make sure people knew how far to go on the hike before turning around. We decided to head across to Little Kennesaw Mountain, about 3.5 miles round trip. Once we got on the trail I warmed up quickly, even becoming warm enough to unzip my jacket and take off my gloves at one point. Today was my quickest ascent of Kennesaw ever! I was ecstatic a few weeks ago to get up the mile trail from the visitor's center to the top of the mountain in 24 minutes, last year I was hiking it in 30+ minutes. This morning I got to the top in 21 minutes! I was quite surprised since I had Lucy slow me down to make a deposit on the side of the trail!
Once I got to the top and started downhill again I was getting cold quickly. By the time the group reached the top of Little Kennesaw, I was quite cold again. It was then that we began to notice water vapor from our breath or sweat coming through my hat was forming ice! The mouthpiece on my hydration bladder also had ice forming on it. Clearly its time to get back on the trail and head home. What does frostbite feel like, anyway? ;-)
I'm not sure what possessed me to go hike in the cold twice this weekend — I did Kennesaw in the cold yesterday, too — but it was fun to get out to Kennesaw when there were so few other people on the trail. I'm sure we'll be back to Kennesaw again many times over the next few months, but I sure hope the weather turns warmer sometime soon!
The New Year is here and that means another season of Hike for Discovery! Last year, Steph and I spent more than three months training for a hike into the Grand Canyon with the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (LLS) in memory of Steph’s father, Mitchell Levine. Through lots of hard work, and miles upon miles on the trails of Georgia, we surpassed our goal to raise $8,000 for LLS. Last year, we raised over $9,500 from friends, family and strangers to help fight blood cancers!
In June, I’ll be hiking with the Hike for Discovery (HFD) team in Yosemite National Park. This year, I’m serving as a mentor with HFD helping the team to train for hikes in Yosemite and the Grand Canyon — while raising money for LLS to fund research and patient services.
Did you know?
- In 2006, an estimated 785,829 Americans were living with blood cancers.
- Leukemia causes more deaths than any other cancer among children and young adults under the age of 20.
- Every five minutes, someone is diagnosed with a blood cancer.
- Every 10 minutes, someone dies from a blood cancer.
- The Society awards about $58 million annually in research grants to find a cure for, or control of, blood cancers.
- LLS has invested $483 million since 1954 into research that has significantly improved survival rates for thousands
This year, I’m hiking for our team’s Honored Hero, Elijah Cox. Elijah is 8 years old and was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia in 2004. Like most children, Elijah enjoys riding bikes, playing basketball, matchbox cars, video games, swimming and music. Every dollar I raise helps LLS find treatments and cures for blood cancers like leukemia, lymphoma, myeloma and Hodgkin’s disease. Donations also go to support families, like Elijah’s, through information hotlines, support groups and the Trish Greene Back to School Program for Children with Cancer. This program helps increase communication among health care professionals, parents, patients and school personnel to assure youngsters a smooth transition from active treatment back to school.The Society’s work is far from over! While I’m training, you can help me reach my goal of raising $4,500 by donating to my Hike for Discovery. Your 100% tax-deductible contribution will bring those cures a step closer and help LLS continue to provide patient services to Elijah and his family. Many companies match employees’ charitable donations, if yours does, please apply for the matching donation to help me reach my goal even quicker!
I sincerely appreciate your support of my Hike for Discovery and The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.
Audio
Detroit Grand Pubahs - Skydive from Venus - Det.ele.Funk
Cluster 71 - Water
Villalobos - Fizheuer Zieheuer - Playhouse
Massive Sounds - Free south Africa - Nugroove
Tony Allen - Rhythm - Honest Jons - HJ
Jean-Claude Eloy - A L'Approche de feu mdeitant - HMC
Shackleton - Hamas rule - skulldisco - skull
Shackleton - Massacre - Scuba
Abacus - Evolution - Prescription
Syncom Data - Horse - S.D. Records
Anthony Red Rose - Tempo - Soul Jazz
Andy Stot - Handle with Care - Modern Love
Basic Channel - see Mi Version - BMX
New Order - Turn the heater on - Strange Fruit
T++ - Storm - Erosion
The Fall - das boat
Mono Lake - Alaska (Substance Remix) - Imbalance
Paul St. Hilaire - Humble - False tuned
Musique Ghaya / - Naa Bug - Ocora
Robert Henke - Layering Buddha - Imbalance
Kangding Ray - nn/peaks - rasta-notion
Shackleton - In the Next world - Clandestine Cultivations
Radio India - The Eternal Dream of Sound - Sublime Frequencies
Musique Traditionalle de L'Inde - Mya Ki Malhar - Longue Duree
Jah Carlos - Prepare Jah Man - Wackies
Gregory Issacs _ dealing (dub) - Basic Replay
Mundo - Stand Still Rasta - Dub Assembly
Jamie Sott/Merbow - Mersdub- Caminante recordings - Cami
Tony Allen - Moyege (Mark's Mix) - Honest Jons
Sleeparchive - Diagnosis - Sleeparchive
Jeff Mills - Self portrait - Axis
Signal Laboratories - Hypnotica Scale - Sadwell District
Synocom Data - Beyond the Stars - SD Records
3 Chairs - No drum machine pt.2 - 3 chairs
Toney Allen - Awa Na Re - Honest Jons -
Spectral Network - Defragment - Octal
Lloyd Ryan - Night run - Vinyl/Revival
Loetah and Skream - 289 - Tectonic
Omen - Rebellion - Tectonic
Random Trio EP - Cyrus - Troy - Tectonic
Moving Ninja - Shell Code - Techonic
Strings with Evan Parker - The Ghost Stories
Autechre - Sublimit - Warp
Rafael Toral - Space - Staubgold
Great news for residents of the Chicago area. The Shedd Aquarium's Komodo Dragon exhibit has been extended through the summer of 2008. WQAD.com has the news, plus here's the link to the Shedd Aquarium website.
The exhibit features Faust the Komodo dragon and dozens of other reptiles including a snakelike glass lizard to tiny geckos.
The aquarium drew two-point-one (M) million people last year.
The Shedd Aquarium's president Ted Beattie says the exhibit featuring Faust has been one of the most popular with visitors.
In other Komodo Dragon news, viewers of Children's BBC Newsround have named two of the baby Komodo Dragons at Chester Zoo which were born through parthenogenesis.
A second baby Komodo dragon has been named by Newsround Online users - and you chose to call it Indie.
Thousands of people took part in the online vote to pick names for the rare baby, which was born at Chester Zoo.
The first dragon was called Irwin, which was suggested by six kids. The winner picked at random was 11-year-old Matthew from Nottinghamshire.
A good article at China's Standard newspaper website last week. Three wildlife experts tell Steven Ribet of their experiences on the trail of two of China's most endangered animals, the Baiji Dolphin and finless porpoise. It includes a graphic description of the capture of QiQi, the only Baiji in captivity who died in 2002.
"The last confirmed sighting of a baiji in the wild was in May 2002. But we know there was at least one left alive after that because he died with us in captivity at our dolphinarium here in Wuhan," says Professor Wang.
"His name was Qiqi and we found him in 1980 when he was only two years old, 200 kilometers up the Yangtze from here in Chenglingji. He was stranded on the bank of the river. A fisherman had mistaken him for a fish and tried to catch him with a big hook, so there were two gaping holes in his neck. He was very close to death. None of us thought he was going to make it.
February's edition of the Dian Fossey field news is now available at Watching Bishushwe: From One Group to Another. It includes a couple of great photographs. I love the contemplative picture of Shinda.
Bishushwe, a 21-year-old adult female mountain gorilla, recently left Pablo’s group, one of the mountain gorilla groups we monitor from the Karisoke Research Center. After almost two months of traveling with other groups and silverbacks she finally joined her current group, led by silverback Shinda, where it looks like she may stay.
After Another Chance To See was made a "Blog of Note" by Blogger, I was very kindly offered a membership to the Encyclopedia Britannica website. As part of the membership I can offer links to individual pages for everyone to enjoy. Once a week I'll put up a new link to an appropriate EB page. I'll also Label each EB post so that we can build a library of pages to refer to.
This week it is our old friend, the flightless giant parrots of New Zealand - The Kakapo.
Includes links to: parrot, rhizome, lek, and Stewart Island.
Have you heard about Celsius? It's a new food supplement in the guise of a soft drink. It seems fairly ominous to me, being as I'm reading Michael Pollan's excellent book The Omnivore's Dilemma and am in the chapter about how many foods have been "invented" to accommodate the country's overproduction of corn.
Anywho, Celsius is a Splenda-sweetened soft drink that comes in a number of flavors and--here's the kicker--claims to be thermogenic. It supposedly burns calories while you drink your sugar-free cola or ginger ale or orangeade.
How can they claim this, you might ask, given the wrist-slapping Coke just took over their similar Enviga claims?
It's all in the way the laws of food versus "food supplements" is set up. Food supplements are not under the jurisdiction of the Food & Drug Administration and therefore are not regulated in what claims they are allowed to make--or at least that's my understanding of it. (If that's not right, let me know!)
So, what's in Celsius?
The usual suspects. Green tea extract, guarana seed and caffeine, among other "thermogenic" ingredients.
On the other hand, at least their website (see link above) rails against the evils of High Fructose Corn Syrup. I may try one and see if it gives me heart palpitations. Is it a magic fat-burning potion? No. Is it a reasonable alternative to regular old diet soda? Why not? At least it isn't loaded with sugar or HFCS or aspartame.