Liquid with power of light

Scientists bend liquid with power of light
Chicago, Mar 27 (AFP) A group of scientists have found a way to bend and direct liquid using only the force of light, according to a study that will be published Friday.

The French and American physicists used a laser beam to produce a surprisingly long and steady jet of soapy liquid that was narrower than a human hair. When directed at a different angle, it pushed the liquid into a hump-like shape.

It is believed to be the first time a laser had been used to generate bulk flow in fluids.

The discovery could lead to advances in biomedical and biotechnological research by offering a new way to control the flow of fluids through extremely narrow channels.

The discovery was made by accident while University of Chicago professor, Wendy Zhang, was visiting colleagues at the University of Bordeaux.

Zhang, who studies fluids, was invited into a lab where scientist Jean-Pierre Delville had observed a strange and unexpected result after completing a previous experiment involving the behavior of the same fluid under a less intense laser beam.

Delville turned up the laser power just to see what it could do, much the same way a motorist might test the performance of a powerful car on a deserted road.

"He turned up the power and then saw this amazing thing," Zhang said. "Because he has a lot of experience with optics, he realised that what he saw was strange." Zhang took the concept back to Chicago and started working out the theory of what happened with a graduate student, Robert Schroll, who is lead author of the study to be published in the Physical Review Letters on March 30. (AFP)

A negative thinker see a difficulty in every opportunity, A positive thinker see an opportunity in every difficulty, Wish u an optimistic life..

First man to run around the world

Briton is first man to run around the world
London, Mar 27 (AFP) A British man was today officially certified by Guinness World Records as the first person to have run around the world.

Robert Garside, 40, said he was "so happy and relieved" after receiving his certificate in London as it had taken him nearly four years to fight claims that he had exaggerated his feat.

The self-described "Runningman" ran 56,000 kilometres across 30 countries, taking five years and eight months to complete his unprecedented journey.

Garside got more than just blisters and a certificate to show for his efforts.

"I met my wife on the run in Venezuela and she has been very supportive," he said.

In December 1996, Garside set out from Piccadilly Circus in the heart of London on his first attempt to jog around the world.

Then a 29-year-old psychology student, that attempt had to be abandoned when war broke out in Afghanistan.

It was only on his fourth try -- beginning at India Gate in New Delhi the following year -- that he succeeded, ending up back in the Indian capital in June 2003.

Since finishing in June 2003, the Briton has faced accusations that he was exaggerating his achievements and has spent the years since compiling evidence.

Marco Frigatti, Guinness's head of records, was convinced that Garside followed the rules.

His team ploughed though video footage, local news reports, credit card receipts and statements from witnesses saying Garside ran the route.

"It is genuine," Frigatti confirmed. (AFP)

A negative thinker see a difficulty in every opportunity, A positive thinker see an opportunity in every difficulty, Wish u an optimistic life..

God cannot exist

The concept of God

The concept of God
First a discussion of fundamental assumptions from which to derive an argument will be presented followed by an attempt to articulate a definition for the word God. Then the concept will be put to a critical evaluation in an attempt to confirm or refute it as representing an actual entity. I will be arguing that the concept of God has no cognitive content and that not only is the belief in a God irrational but that a God does not and indeed cannot exist. To prove that something does not exist all one has to do is prove that it cannot exist.

Assumptions

Assumption one: I proceed under the assumption that existence does indeed exist and that it possesses specific properties. Aristotle's law of identity (A is A) delineates the nature of these properties. It is an axiomatic principle from which logical laws and principles are derived. The law of identity states that something cannot be something else at the same time and in the same context. A is A and cannot be non-A at the same time and in the same context as it is A. A square circle cannot exist because it cannot be both at the same time and in the same respect. This means that there cannot exist a contradiction.

Assumption two: Consciousness is the process of perceiving reality. In an epistemological context, consciousness is axiomatic, but in a metaphysical context existence is axiomatic. In a metaphysical sense, to be conscious is necessarily to be conscious of something and this presumes that existence does exist and that it possesses specific properties. The significance of this distinction will become evident when we discuss the attributes of God.

Derivation: Since contradictions cannot exist we acknowledge logic as the final court of appeal. Logic is the art of non-contradictory identification. Logic rests on the axiomatic concept of existence existing and possessing specific properties. The law of identity's corollaries are delineated in texts on formal and informal logic. We will examine the concept of God with this assumption firmly established. We will test for internal contradictions as well as external contradictions. This means that we will apply logic to the attributes themselves as well as test for contradictions with the metaphysical primacy of existence.

Further assumption: We are examining the attributes of God under the assumption that they are intended to give us a coherent grasp of God's nature, and this is possible only if the attributes themselves are comprehensible. If they are unknowable, they are useless to us. The assertions that the theist makes with regard to their theory of God must be testable and knowable, otherwise it is useless to us and possesses no cognitive content.

Definition

Defining ones terms is a necessary preclusion to analyzing it. George Smith discusses the difficulty with defining the word God: "What, then, is meant by the word "god"? This is not a simple question. There have been many historical concepts of god, from the anthropomorphic deities of the Greeks to the omnipotent god of Christianity. Some gods are all powerful, all knowing and all good, while others are not. Some gods communicate with man, while others do not. Differences such as these make it impossible to give a detailed description of god that will encompass every religion--and secure widespread agreement on the meaning of "god" is a formidable, if not impossible, task.

Much of the confusion surrounding the idea of god stems from the fact that the word "god" is among the most abused terms in the history of man, ranking with such notorious words as "freedom," "justice" and "love". ... some people conveniently attach the word "god" to any belief with a tinge of significance, such as nature, the universe, love or an ultimate goal in ones life." [Smith;Atheism the Case Against God,31]

God may be fundamentally defined as a supernatural primary consciousness who is inherently unknowable and possesses three unlimited attributes: omnipotence, omniscience and omnibenevolence. These are the primary common denominators of most concepts of God and hence will comprise our definition of god. These attributes have been extracted from the writings of George Smith, philosopher of religion, and confirmed by introductory texts in philosophy.

The scope of this argument depends on ones acceptance of this definition. Any concept of God fundamentally defined as a supernatural being and/or as a primary consciousness is refuted by the following argument, if successful. Other concepts void of these attributes must be analyzed on their own terms.

It may be good to mention naturalistic theism since it is a trend in religious philosophy to identify God with nature. This would differ from our SUPERnatural God. These theists suggest that God is not above or beyond the natural universe but that he is omnipresent and indeed is the natural universe. George Smith has this to say of such a notion: "If one declared a belief in god, while stipulating that the term "god" was used as a synonym for the continent of North America, one's assertion would understandably be ignored or rejected as irrational. To expand this concept of god to include Europe, Asia, the planet Earth, our solar system--or the entire universe--is equally absurd." [Smith; Atheism the Case Against God,33] The theist thus obliterates the distinction between theism and atheism. The theist now makes no metaphysical assertion.

Smith makes an illustration as to show the importance of the supernatural element in the concept of God. "In another solar system, we discover an alien form of life, a form which is superior to man in all respects. These advanced creatures have an immense life span, superior strength, agility and mobility, and a superior capacity for memory and abstract thought. Does it follow, in virtue of these superior capacities, that these creatures should be designated as gods? No. Because despite the superiority of these creatures in relation to man, they are nevertheless bound by the natural laws of the universe. They are subject to the same physical and logical laws as man. If we did choose to call these beings "gods," this would mean that any creature who is superior to another creature thereby becomes a "god"--which would clearly lead to a chain of absurdities. A dog would be a god with respect to a plant. A man would be a god with respect to lower life forms. A genius would be a god in relation to a man of average intelligence, who would himself be a god when compared to a moron. ...In short, the difference between a god and natural existence must be a difference of kind, not merely of degree." [Smith; Atheism the Case Against God,37]

The supernatural being

The term supernatural has metaphysical connotations. It suggests that God is above or beyond the natural Universe. Theists rarely suggest that God exists in an actual place beyond the Universe because this is easily refuted deductively by the constituent definitions of "Universe" and "Beyond", they more often suggest that he exists without being subject to causal law and the law of identity. The term also has epistemological connotations. Epistemologically this would put God beyond human understanding. Unknowability is derived directly from the concept of the supernatural.

To exist beyond the framework of causal laws would be to exist beyond existence. This is derived directly from our first assumption. Existence by definition encompasses all that is. There is no alternative to existence ("non-existence is not a fact it is the absence of a fact." [Rand;IOE]). "To be is to be something as opposed to nothing, and to be something is to be something specific. If a God is to have any characteristics (which it must to exist), these characteristics must be specific but to assign definite attributes, to say that a being is this as opposed to that, is to limit the capacities of that being and to subject it to the uniformity imposed by those capacities. A supernatural being, if it is to differ in kind from natural existence, must exist without a limited nature-which amounts to existence without any nature at all."[Smith; Atheism the Case Against God,41] Further, deriving from our first assumption that existence possesses a specific identity which it is necessarily limited to a being who exists without a nature (identity) is to exist without existing. To exist without existing is to commit ones self to a contradiction. Therefor the concept of a supernatural being is inherently contradictory. This renders the notion invalid and void of cognitive content.

The primary Consciousness

The theist asserts that God is Metaphysically primary or axiomatic. God is said to be omnipresent and that his existence is his essence and vise versa. God's essence and existence are said to be indistinguishable because they are one in the same. "essence" refers to what a thing is; "existence" refers to that a thing is. The essence--existence dichotomy applies to every being except God because he is not made of component parts. The bible says that "I AM WHO I AM" is the only adequate answer to "what is God?". If we cannot distinguish the essence of God and his existence then we cannot distinguish him at all since man comprehends in terms of essence and existence. If we cannot apply these categories to God then we cannot comprehend him. As you will recall we derived incomprenceability from the supernatural element as well. The concept of a supernatural being and a primary consciousness both go to my thesis that the concept of God has no cognitive content. With every attribute that the theist proposes they fling themselves farther into agnosticism which is a branch of atheism.

If one is conscious, one exists. If one exists then one is subject to the law of identity. If ones consciousness is subject to the law of identity then it cannot be primary or axiomatical because it presumes that it exists and has an identity. The concept of a primary consciousness is inherently contradictory hence it cannot exist.

The inherantly Unknowable Being

God is said to be unknowable or incomprehensible. This is stated explicitly in many source as well as derived from other fundamental attributes of God. If God is Different in kind from natural existence then he is unknowable and if God is unknowable then the theist's claim to have knowledge of God is an impossibility. If God does not exist then we could have no knowledge of him and if God does exist, we again could have no knowledge of him. This unfalsifiable element makes the attribute useless and again adds no cognitive content to the concept of God.

The Omni Attributes

To exist is to be. To be is to be something. To be something is to be something specific, possessing specific properties. The omni attribute is defined as totally unlimited. This analysed with the primacy of existence demonstrates that an omniattribute cannot exist. An entity must be limited to it's identity. While the concept of a metaphysical infinite is a potentiality, epistemologically it remains an impossibility. The theist suggests that God exists without a particular nature which means that he has no nature at all, which means that he is different in kind from the natural universe which makes him incomprehensible or that it simply cannot exist. these are the only two options that can be derived from this attribute and both lead to zero cognitive content.

Omnipotence

There can be no obstacle to an omnipotent being, no difficulties that God must overcome. The necessity of employing means to accomplish an end is the consequence of limited power (or an identity, as we have seen). Therefore God cannot be said to employ means in any sense. God cannot be said to act in any manner because an action is required by a being that employs means to an end. Nor can God be said to have a purpose because purpose presumes an unattained end.

Omniscience

God is said to know the past, present and the futer infallibly and absolutely. If God or any other being knows the futer then that would mean that the futer is predetermined. without volition the concept of salvation is a farce. People would have no choice as to what they believe. The theist trys to side step this dilemma by stating that God does not impose his foreknowledge on the course of events but this does not change the fact that if one knows what will happen then it must happen. If God knows without fallibility the futer he cannot be omnipotent. If he can change the course of events he cannot have infallible knowledge of the futer, hence he cannot be omniscient.

Omnibenevlence

Obviously there is what we would call evil in the world such as murder or rape for example. If the theist claims that our concept of good and evil is invalid and Gods is the only appropriate one that is unknowable then the theists claim that God is good is equally invalid.

To be benevolent there must be a choice between good and evil. If God chooses to do evil over good and he has total power he would be immoral. If God does not know there is evil but cannot prevent it he cannot be omnipotent. If God knows there is evil and can prevent it but chooses not to he cannot be omnibenevolent.

Final Note On Omni Attributes

If God knows there is evil and can stop it but chooses not to be cannot be omnibenevolent. If God knows there is evil and cannot stop it then he cannot be omnipotent. If God does not know there is evil then he cannot be omniscient.

Summery

No attribute of God can hold up to a critical evaluation. Every attribute of the concept of God has been found to be either internally inconsistent or in contradiction to the fundamental primacy of existence. The concept here discussed adds no cognitive content to the word God. We have demonstrated that God cannot exist hence does not exist.
A negative thinker see a difficulty in every opportunity, A positive thinker see an opportunity in every difficulty, Wish u an optimistic life..

Alcohol, Tobacco Worse Than Drugs

Study: Alcohol, Tobacco Worse Than Drugs

By MARIA CHENG
The Associated Press
Friday, March 23, 2007; 3:41 AM

LONDON -- New "landmark" research finds that alcohol and tobacco are more dangerous than some illegal drugs like marijuana or Ecstasy and should be classified as such in legal systems, according to a new British study.

In research published Friday in The Lancet magazine, Professor David Nutt of Britain's Bristol University and colleagues proposed a new framework for the classification of harmful substances, based on the actual risks posed to society. Their ranking listed alcohol and tobacco among the top 10 most dangerous substances.

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Nutt and colleagues used three factors to determine the harm associated with any drug: the physical harm to the user, the drug's potential for addiction, and the impact on society of drug use. The researchers asked two groups of experts _ psychiatrists specializing in addiction and legal or police officials with scientific or medical expertise _ to assign scores to 20 different drugs, including heroin, cocaine, Ecstasy, amphetamines, and LSD.

Nutt and his colleagues then calculated the drugs' overall rankings. In the end, the experts agreed with each other _ but not with the existing British classification of dangerous substances.

Heroin and cocaine were ranked most dangerous, followed by barbiturates and street methadone. Alcohol was the fifth-most harmful drug and tobacco the ninth most harmful. Cannabis came in 11th, and near the bottom of the list was Ecstasy.

According to existing British and U.S. drug policy, alcohol and tobacco are legal, while cannabis and Ecstasy are both illegal. Previous reports, including a study from a parliamentary committee last year, have questioned the scientific rationale for Britain's drug classification system.

"The current drug system is ill thought-out and arbitrary," said Nutt, referring to the United Kingdom's practice of assigning drugs to three distinct divisions, ostensibly based on the drugs' potential for harm. "The exclusion of alcohol and tobacco from the Misuse of Drugs Act is, from a scientific perspective, arbitrary," write Nutt and his colleagues in The Lancet.

Tobacco causes 40 percent of all hospital illnesses, while alcohol is blamed for more than half of all visits to hospital emergency rooms. The substances also harm society in other ways, damaging families and occupying police services.

Nutt hopes that the research will provoke debate within the UK and beyond about how drugs _ including socially acceptable drugs such as alcohol _ should be regulated. While different countries use different markers to classify dangerous drugs, none use a system like the one proposed by Nutt's study, which he hopes could serve as a framework for international authorities.

"This is a landmark paper," said Dr. Leslie Iversen, professor of pharmacology at Oxford University. Iversen was not connected to the research. "It is the first real step towards an evidence-based classification of drugs." He added that based on the paper's results, alcohol and tobacco could not reasonably be excluded.

"The rankings also suggest the need for better regulation of the more harmful drugs that are currently legal, i.e. tobacco and alcohol," wrote Wayne Hall, of the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia, in an accompanying Lancet commentary. Hall was not involved with Nutt's paper.

While experts agreed that criminalizing alcohol and tobacco would be challenging, they said that governments should review the penalties imposed for drug abuse and try to make them more reflective of the actual risks and damages involved.

Nutt called for more education so that people were aware of the risks of various drugs. "All drugs are dangerous," he said. "Even the ones people know and love and use every day."

A negative thinker see a difficulty in every opportunity, A positive thinker see an opportunity in every difficulty, Wish u an optimistic life..

NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE.. .

NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE.. .

My name is Nick Vujicic and I give God the Glory for how He has used my testimony to touch thousands of hearts around the world! I was born without limbs and doctors have no medical explanation for this birth "defect". As you can imagine, I was faced with many challenges and obstacles.
"Consider it pure joy, my Brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds."
....To count our hurt, pain and struggle as nothing but pure joy? As my parents were Christians, and my Dad even a Pastor of our church, they knew that verse very well. However, on the morning of the 4th of December 1982 in Melbourne (Australia), the last two words on the minds of my parents was "Praise God!". Their firstborn son had been born without limbs! There were no warnings or time to prepare themselves for it. The doctors we shocked and had no answers at all! There is still no medical reason why this had happened and Nick now has a Brother and Sister who were born just like any other baby.
The whole church mourned over my birth and my parents were absolutely devastated. Everyone asked, "if God is a God of Love, then why would God let something this bad happen to not just anyone, but dedicated Christians?" My Dad thought I wouldn't survive for very long, but tests proved that I was a healthy baby boy just with a few limbs missing.

Understandably, my parents had strong concern and evident fears of what kind of life I'd be able to lead. God provided them strength, wisdom and courage through those early years and soon after that I was old enough to go to school.

The law in Australia didn't allow me to be integrated into a main-stream school because of my physical disability. God did miracles and gave my Mom the strength to fight for the law to be changed. I was one of the first disabled students to be integrated into a main-stream school.

I liked going to school, and just try to live life like everyone else, but it was in my early years of school where I encountered uncomfortable times of feeling rejected, weird and bullied because of my physical difference. It was very hard for me to get used to, but with the support of my parents, I started to develop attitudes and values which helped me overcome these challenging times. I knew that I was different but on the inside I was just like everyone else. There were many times when I felt so low that I wouldn't go to school just so I didn't have to face all the negative attention. I was encouraged by my parents to ignore them and to try start making friends by just talking with some kids. Soon the students realized that I was just like them, and starting there God kept on blessing me with new friends.

There were times when I felt depressed and angry because I couldn't change the way I was, or blame anyone for that matter. I went to Sunday School and learnt that God loves us all and that He cares for you. I understood that love to a point as a child, but I didn't understand that if God loved me why did He make me like this? Is it because I did something wrong? I thought I must have because out of all the kids at school, I'm the only weird one. I felt like I was a burden to those around me and the sooner I go, the better it'd be for everyone. I wanted to end my pain and end my life at a young age, but I am thankful once again, for my parents and family who were always there to comfort me and give me strength.

Due to my emotional struggles I had experienced with bullying, self esteem and loneliness, God has implanted a passion of sharing my story and experiences to help others cope with whatever challenge they have in their life and let God turn it into a blessing. To encourage and inspire others to live to their fullest potential and not let anything get in the way of accomplishing their hopes and dreams.

One of the first lessons that I have learnt was not to take things for granted.



"And we know that in all things God works for the best for those who love Him."
That verse spoke to my heart and convicted me to the point where that I know that there is no such thing as luck, chance or coincidence that these "bad" things happen in our life.
I had complete peace knowing that God won't let anything happen to us in our life unless He has a good purpose for it all. I completely gave my life to Christ at the age of fifteen after reading John 9. Jesus said that the reason the man was born blind was "so that the works of God may be revealed through Him." I truly believed that God would heal me so I could be a great testimony of His Awesome Power. Later on I was given the wisdom to understand that if we pray for something, if it's God's will, it'll happen in His time. If it's not God's will for it to happen, then I know that He has something better.
I now see that Glory revealed as He is using me just the way I am and in ways others can't be used.

I am now twenty-one years old and have completed a Bachelor of Commerce majoring in Financial Planning and Accounting. I am also a motivational speaker and love to go out and share my story and testimony wherever opportunities become available. I have developed talks to relate to and encourage students through topics that challenge today's teenagers. I am also a speaker in the corporate sector.

I have a passion for reaching out to youth and keep myself available for whatever God wants me to do, and wherever He leads, I follow.

I have many dreams and goals that I have set to achieve in my life. I want to become the best witness I can be of God's Love and Hope, to become an international inspirational speaker and be used as a vessel in both Christian and non-Christian venues. I want to become financially independent by the age of 25, through real estate investments, to modify a car for me to drive and to be interviewed and share my story on the "Oprah Winfrey Show"! Writing several best-selling books has been one of my dreams and I hope to finish writing my first by the end of the year. It will be called "No Arms, No Legs, No Worries!"

I believe that if you have the desire and passion to do something, and if it's God's will, you will achieve it in good time. As humans, we continually put limits on ourselves for no reason at all! What's worse is putting limits on God who can do all things. We put God in a "box". The awesome thing about the Power of God, is that if we want to do something for God, instead of focusing on our capability, concentrate on our availability for we know that it is God through us and we can't do anything without Him. Once we make ourselves available for God's work, guess whose capabilities we rely on? God's! ? No - Its the strenghth of ur ......

A negative thinker see a difficulty in every opportunity, A positive thinker see an opportunity in every difficulty, Wish u an optimistic life..

Google Earth

Google Earth

* Avian Flu

Google Earth combines satellite imagery, aerial photography and map data to make a 3D interactive template of the world. People can then add and share information about any subject in the world that has a geographical element.

To access the files, first download Google Earth and install it on your computer. Then click on the links below to access Nature's avian flu mashup and other files, including our Science on the Solstice special.

In October 2006 Nature's avian flu mashup won the Association of Online Publishers (AOP) Use of a New Digital Platform Award 2006. See below for more details. Image: Google Earth
Top of page
Avian Flu
googleearth

Nature has used Google Earth to track the spread of the H5N1 avian flu virus around the globe. To access Nature's avian flu file (or 'mashup'), download Google Earth, install it on your computer, and then click here to access the file or paste this URL into your web browser: www.nature.com/nature/googleearth/avianflu1.kml.

A second file shows the density of poultry domestication around the world. Click here to download the poultry map. Once you have downloaded both files you can view both of them at once by modifying the 'layers' menu in the left-hand navigation window. See the Google Earth help section or this blog entry for more details on how to do this. Source: FAO Gridded Livestock of the World datasets
podcast

Click here to listen to Senior News Reporter Declan Butler talking about Google Earth and GIS mapping in 17 February 2006 Nature Podcast. Hear more about Internet 'mashups' in the 05 January edition of the Nature Podcast.

Find out more about avian flu in Nature's Avian Flu web focus, and in news@nature.com's Bird Flu in focus.

Google Earth introduced in September 2006 new functionality that allows one to map events against time. Clearly this is the ideal way to view the spread of avian flu worldwide, so all future versions of the flu maps will use this. To view the new maps you will need the latest beta 4 time-enabled version of Google Earth. After you have installed this, the new link for the time-enabled maps is here.

Click here for more links, sources, acknowledgments and further information on how to use the latest beta 4 version of Google Earth, which incorporates time-series functionality.

You must have installed the beta 4 version of Google Earth for the preceding time-series functionality link to work. There is more on the time-series functionality update in creator Declan Butler's blog and this blog.

The Nature articles listed below discuss further how Google Earth and other programs like it can be used for a variety of purposes, from learning and geospatial planning to disaster management and species conservation. You can also find out more about Google Earth, mashups and Nature's avian flu mashup in creator Declan Butler's blog, and see comments from the blogosphere in this entry.

In October 2006 Nature's avian flu mashup won the Association of Online Publishers (AOP) Use of a New Digital Platform Award 2006. The award was thus described:

"Nature.com has adapted Google Earth technology to produce an invaluble information resource with detailed findings about the spread of the avian flu virus. The project has been an online publishing success for Nature.com, a scientific breakthrough for animal and human healthcare experts, and as critical hit among blogers, programmers, podcasters and other watchers of new and innovative publishing platforms.

Judges' comments: "This entry perfectly demonstrates he intersection of content and technology. A really simple yet incredibly clever idea that seems to have struch a chord with everybody and delivered fantastic value for its users. Neat, simple, and blindingly valuable."

Shane Bond

Shane Bond reaches low and takes a stunning return catch to remove Cameron White, New Zealand v Australia, Chappell-Hadlee Trophy, 1st match, Wellington, February 16, 2007

Monster Glowing Squid

The first ever video footage of wild Dana octopus squid has revealed that the giant animals possess an unusual weapon: glowing arms used to blind and stun their prey. The footage was captured by a Japanese research team using cameras linked to baited lures (shown here).

Rare "Prehistoric" Shark Photographed Alive

With a mouthful of three-pointed teeth, the frilled shark may be a fearsome hunter, but it's considered harmless to humans. Those needle-like choppers are better suited to fleshier forms found in the deep sea, such as squid and other sharks.

Half-human and half-animal

'Half-animal' woman may be long-missing daughter, parents say
Created on : 01/18/2007 19:55 (PRI)
Phnom Penh (Cambodia), Jan 18 A woman who disappeared in the jungles of northeastern Cambodia as a child has apparently been found after living in the wild for 19 years, police and a man claiming to be her father said today.

The woman - believed to be Rochom P'ngieng, who would now be 27 years old - cannot speak any intelligible language, so details of her saga have been difficult to confirm.

"When I saw her, she was naked and walking in a bending- forward position like a monkey ... She was bare-bones skinny," said Sal Lou, who says he is her father.

"She was shaking and picking up grains of rice from the ground to eat. Her eyes were red like tigers' eyes," Sal Lou, 45, told The Associated Press by telephone from Oyadao district in Rattanakiri province, where the woman was found last Saturday.

Rochom P'ngieng, then 8 years old, disappeared in 1988 when she was herding buffalo in a remote jungle area, said Chea Bunthoeun, a deputy provincial police chief. The province is about 325 kilometres northeast of Cambodia's capital.

Mao San, police chief of Oyadao district, described the woman as "half-human and half-animal." Sal Lou, a village policeman who is a member of the Pnong ethnic minority, said he recognised his daughter by a scar on her right arm, a result of a cut from a knife she played with when she was young.

The woman was discovered this month after a villager noticed that food disappeared from a lunch box he left at a site near his farm, Chea Bunthoeun said.

"He decided to stake out the area and then spotted a naked human being, who looked like a jungle person, sneaking in to steal his rice," he said. The villager gathered some friends and they managed to catch the woman on January 13.

Fine for consuming liquor

Women to fine men for consuming liquor
Rajgarh (MP), In a unique effort to prevent their men from consuming liquor, women of Lalpuria, a remote village in Khilchipur tehsil of the district, have decided to collect fine of Rs 100 from those drinking alcohol, official sources said today.

The women, who have formed three Self-Help Groups under the Udaan project, have decided to impose the fine of Rs 100 on every man consuming liquor, they said.

The money will be deposited in the Self-Help Group accounts, sources said.

One of the first persons to be accosted by the women was Narsingh, who was fined Rs 50, they said adding after he promised to shun liquor, the women threatened to collect full amount of the fine, if he indulges in the habit again.

Selling new born

9 January 13:53 hrs IST
Mother arrested for selling new born
Ranchi: A woman in Jharkhand has been arrested for selling her day-old son for Rs.10,000.

Police said Chameli Devi of Iccak block in Hazaribagh district gave birth to a baby boy on Sunday. The next day she allegedly sold the baby to a man called Herralal who stayed near her home for Rs.10,000.

Herralal has also been arrested after a neighbour complained to the police.

Reports reaching here said the Chameli Devi already has four children and was driven to selling her fifth born by sheer poverty. Herralal and his wife do not have a child.

Drug education

China targets school students to combat drug addiction
CHINA-DRUGS (INTERNATIONAL)
Created on : 01/08/2007 16:52 (PRI)
Beijing, Jan 8 Though drug addiction in China has soared by 54 per cent in the last seven years, the country has achieved some success in spreading drug awareness among primary and middle school students, an official said today.

Drug education in primary and middle schools nationwide has made students more capable of identifying and refusing narcotics, secretary-general of China Anti-narcotics Foundation Chen Xufu said.

A recent questionnaire-based survey conducted in several major cities, including Beijing and Shanghai, showed 99 per cent of the 3,000 interviewed students in primary and middle schools were aware of the dangers of drug addiction.

A massive 87 per cent said if somebody offered them drugs such as ecstasy, they would refuse and report the incident to teachers or police.

Drug education is seen as a key component in the fight against drugs as there are more than 200 million primary and middle school students, Chen said.

These schools have made drug awareness part of the regular school curriculum.

According to official statistics, 7,58,100 of the 1,050,000 registered drug addicts in the country are under 35 years of age. The proportion is down from 77 per cent in 2001.

University graduates now seek jobs at temples

University graduates in China now seek jobs at temples
CHINA-GRADUATES (INTERNATIONAL)
Created on : 01/08/2007 18:23 (PRI)
Beijing, Jan 8 (PTI) With jobs hard to get in the highly competitive Chinese market, graduates are now stalking the corridors of holy temples.

Famen Temple, one of the four most famous Buddhist Temples in ancient China, has employed four graduate students and five with bachelors degrees.

They were selected at a job market at Northwest Agriculture & Forestry University on Sunday in Xi'an, capital of Shaanxi province in northwest China.

It also hired 18 graduates from two other universities.

It is the first time the temple has gone to a job market to employ university graduates, said Xiankong, an eminent monk from the temple.

"Our exchanges with the outside world are increasing each year, so we need professional talents in fields such as publicity, reception and management", Xiankong was quoted as saying by Xinhua news agency.

The temple planned to employ two doctors, three masters, 14 bachelors and two technical school graduates who have majored in foreign languages, art, economic management, gardening, information management and Chinese literature.

Nearly 60 students applied for the positions.

The recruitment was a success even if no doctors were hired, the monk said.

The employees need to sign a one-year contract and live in the temple. Unlike the Buddhist monks there, they are free to do what they want in the evening.

The salary for a graduate with a bachelor's degree is 700 to 1,200 yuan (90 to 155 USD) per month, which is the going rate in the province.

Climate change

Climate change

Throughout the 20thcentury, the global average temperature rose by about 0.5oC, and most of the high temperature records were concentrated in the 1990s. There is strong evidence that human-induced greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions contribute towards this “global warming”, which encompasses a change in most climate variables, including their variability patterns.

While solar radiation and rainfall are major climatic resources, climate is also the single main factor behind the variability of agricultural production in developing and developed countries alike.

Global warming may thus have profound effects on agriculture1and food security. Crop agriculture, forestry and livestock are directly involved as sources or sinks of GHG, but they are also among the most vulnerable victims of the foreseen changes.

Although there is no consensus on what will happen to agricultural environments and production, and at what pace, the following consequences are generally accepted by the scientific community:

* climate has considerable inertia, and cannot be reversed over a short period of time;
* future scenarios are uncertain and significant reduction of the uncertainties will require a decade or more;
* water vapour concentrations will increase in the lower atmosphere, and global mean precipitation could increase by 1.5 to 2.5 % per 1 °C of global warming;
* sea level rise may reach about 50 cm by 2100.

The response to the changes by organisms is relatively easy to assess at the eco-physiological level. It includes, for instance, shorter crop cycles, CO2fertilisation, modifications of coastal/deltaic agriculture, modified crop/animal and pest/disease relations…

Major methodological difficulties are associated with the extrapolation of impacts to the global scale. The literature stresses the possibility of a modification of the current crop geopolitical balance, human population movements and increased global insecurity.

Scientists say 2007 may be warmest yet
By RAPHAEL G. SATTER, Associated Press Writer Thu Jan
LONDON - Deepening drought in Australia. Stronger typhoons in Asia. Floods in Latin America. British climate scientists predict that a resurgent El Nino climate trend combined with higher levels of greenhouse gases could touch off a fresh round of ecological disasters — and make 2007 the world's hottest year on record.

"Even a moderate (El Nino) warming event is enough to push the global temperatures over the top," said Phil Jones, director of the Climatic Research unit at the University of East Anglia.

The warmest year on record is 1998, when the average global temperature was 1.2 degrees Fahrenheit higher than the long-term average of 57 degrees. Though such a change appears small, incremental differences can, for example, add to the ferocity of storms by evaporating more steam off the ocean.

There is a 60 percent chance that the average global temperature for 2007 will match or break the record, Britain's Meteorological Office said Thursday. The consequences of the high temperatures could be felt worldwide.

El Nino, which is now under way in the Pacific Ocean and is expected to last until May, occurs irregularly. But when it does, winters in Southeast Asia tend to become milder, summers in Australia get drier, and Pacific storms can be more intense. The U.N.'s Food Aid Organization has warned that rising temperatures could wreak agricultural havoc.

In Australia, which is struggling through its worst drought on record, the impact on farmers could be devastating. The country has already registered its smallest wheat harvest in a decade, food prices are rising, and severe water restrictions have put thousands of farmers at risk of bankruptcy.

In other cases, El Nino's effects are more ambiguous. Rains linked to the phenomenon led to bumper crops in Argentina in 1998, but floods elsewhere in Latin America devastated subsistence farmers.

El Nino also can do some good. It tends to take the punch out of the Atlantic hurricane season by generating crosswinds that can rip the storms apart — good news for Florida's orange growers, for example.

"The short-term effects of global warming on crop production are very uneven," said Daniel Hillel, a researcher at Columbia University's Center for Climate Systems Research. "I warn against making definitive predictions regarding any one season's weather."

What is clear is that the cumulative effect of El Nino and global warming are taking the Earth's temperatures to record heights.

"El Nino is an independent variable," Jones said. "But the underlying trends in the warming of the Earth is almost certainly a result of the release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere."

Another more immediate effect of the rising temperatures may be political.

Australian Prime Minister John Howard is already under fire for refusing to link his country's drought to global warming. In Britain, Friends of the Earth campaign director Mike Childs said the weather service's 2007 prediction "underlined the gap between the government's rhetoric and action."

Other environmental groups said the new report added weight to the movement to control greenhouse gases.

It came a day after the weather service reported that 2006 had been Britain's warmest year since 1659, and three months after Sir Nicholas Stern, a senior government economist, estimated that the effects of climate change could eventually cost nations 5 percent to 20 percent of global gross domestic product each year.

Figures for 2006 are not yet complete, but the weather service said temperatures were high enough to rank among the top 10 hottest years on record.

"The evidence that we're doing something very dangerous with the climate is now amassing," said Campaign against Climate Change coordinator Philip Thornhill.

"We need to put the energy and priority (into climate change) that is being put into a war effort," he said. "It's a political struggle to get action done — and these reports help."

Last Croc Hunter show

Last Croc Hunter show won't have death
Sat Jan 6, 11:15 AM ET
BRISBANE, Australia - "Crocodile Hunter" Steve Irwin's final program is complete, but the show about the sea's deadliest creatures will not include footage from the day he was killed by a stingray, his manager said Saturday.

Irwin died Sept. 4, minutes after a poisonous barb from a stingray's tail pierced his chest while he was snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef in northern Australia shooting footage for two projects, including one titled "Ocean's Deadliest."

Irwin's final moments were caught on video tape, and were used in a police investigation and coroner's examination of the death.

The original tape was returned to Irwin's widow, Terri, and all copies were destroyed, Queensland state Coroner Michael Barnes said earlier this week.

Terri Irwin and close family friend and Irwin's manager John Stainton, one of few to have seen the footage, have both said it will never be shown publicly.

Stainton on Saturday said "Ocean's Deadliest" had been completed in line with Irwin's contract with the Discovery Channel, and would be shown for the first time in the U.S. on Jan. 21.

The show includes footage taken in the week and days before Irwin's death.

"Anything to do with the day that he died, that film is not available," Stainton said.

Finishing the program together was especially difficult because of Irwin's death, Stainton said.

"The documentary was commissioned, we finished it and it's going to air," Stainton said. "It's been a long and arduous saga ... an emotionally charged time to do an edit on a documentary that did have a deadline, and we did have to honor the deadline," he said.

A Frog That Fits on Your Fingertip