Favolaschia è un genere di fungo molto strano, infestante, originario dei tropici. Ma la globalizzazione l'ha portato anche nei nostri boschi! Questo sito non parla di funghi, ma favolaschia mi sembrava un nome significativo e evocativo di qualcosa di simile a quello che qui viene raccontato...

26 giugno 2007

Today's news (abstracts)

Ancient penguins waddled, swam in warm locales (C)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Penguins were waddling and swimming in warm locales tens of millions of years earlier than previously thought, according to scientists who described on Monday fossils of two previously unknown types found in Peru.

Cars, not war, may finally topple Afghan minarets (C)
HERAT, Afghanistan (Reuters) - They survived three decades of war but risk being toppled by road traffic -- the last five mediaeval minarets of Herat are being slowly shaken to dust.

Driver comes a cropper in police chase

The Making of an American Soldier: Why Young People Join the Military

AIDS Among U.S. Women Is on the Rise
Reported diagnoses of HIV-AIDS rose 17 percent among U.S. women from 2001 to 2005, and the virus is the leading cause of death for African American women aged 25 to 34. Here's why and what we can do about it.

ALBANIA: Tourism Brings Environmental Challenge
TIRANA, Albania, Jun 25 (IPS) - It was not so long ago that Albania, a tiny nation of 3.1 million in the western Balkans remained off route for hundreds of thousands of tourists who rushed to the Adriatic coast for their summer vacations.

25 giugno 2007

Inizia una nuova settimana...

Mushrooms become source for eco-building
TROY, N.Y. - Eben Bayer grew up on a farm in Vermont learning the intricacies of mushroom harvesting with his father. Now the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute graduate is using that experience to create an organic insulation made from mushrooms.

One Vision - Award-winning images of HIV/Aids


N.J. Dog Crowned World's Ugliest

22 giugno 2007

Le news di oggi

Solar beach tote charges your phone
The Juice Bag is a beach tote with an integrated solar panel that will charge your phone, camera, laptop and MP3 player while you manufacture vitamin D.

Surviving boredom (M)
Time to rethink those dreams of becoming an astronaut.
Space chiefs planning a trip to Mars want to lock a
group of volunteers away for 500 days to see what
prolonged boredom does to us. Suddenly, Big Brother
seems quite appealing.

The Ethics of Apologies (C)
These few simple rules will help you give apologies meaningfully and accept them gracefully

Hitachi: Move the train with your brain (C)
Forget the clicker: A new technology in Japan could let you control electronic devices without lifting a finger simply by reading brain activity


Four richer, four poorer
(C)
How many children make the perfect family? Four seems to be the new ideal for affluent parents. Our correspondent explains why, and two mothers give conflicting views on large families

21 giugno 2007

Viaggi e affaroni...

Qualche tempo fa avevo visto su MTv una puntata di un programma in cui ti portano a visitare le case dei vip, con loro che ti accompagnano...molto carino.

Beh, mi era rimasta davvero impressa la casa di Moby, e dopo qualche giorno sono andata a cercare altre news su internet...e ho scoperto che la casa era in vendita!...pensate che figata poterla comprare...peccato che non sono ricca.
Ma se qualcuno ricco fosse interessato, magari è ancora sulla piazza: qui c'è un sito che ne parla.
Posto molto isolato, veramente paradisiaco; dicono che si trova a "Kent Cliffs, New York, about an hour from NYC".

Mi ricordo che Moby raccontava che la doccia è enorme e ha una vetrata che arriva fino a terra...intanto i vicini non possono vederti, perchè i vicini non ci sono.
E poi c'erano anche delle porte nescoste nel muro, che conducevano a stanze segrete...una figata!
Su flickr c'è pure un tizio, probabilmente un amico di un amico di un amico di Moby, chenel 2005 ci è stato...

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News dal mondo


Name that feeling: You'll feel better
Putting feelings into words makes sadness and anger less intense, U.S. brain researchers said on Wednesday, in a finding that explains why talking to a therapist -- or even a sympathetic bartender -- often makes people feel better.

World refugees on rise after 5 years (K)
The numbers of people driven from their homes by
violence, natural disasters and poverty increased last
year for the first time since 2002 and is almost
certain to rise further due to deepening conflicts
across the world, the U.N. refugee chief said.

Sand more deadly than sharks at beach (K)
Waves and sharks aren't the only dangers at the beach.
More than two dozen young people have been killed over
the last decade when sand holes collapsed on them,
report father-and-son doctors who have made warning of
the risk their personal campaign.

Exhibit examines history of gay veterans (K)
The airman's dress blues are faded, the footlocker he
carried through three tours in Vietnam has gone to
rust. Yet the epitaph he chose to mark his grave is
still as fresh as today's headlines: "When I was in
the military they gave me a medal for killing two men
and a discharge for loving one."

India rattled by vibrating condom (K)
A vibrating condom has sparked a fierce debate in
India, over whether it is a sex toy - which are banned
- or a means of birth control.

Fighting Cancer with Video Games (M)
When it comes to fighting cancer, however, coercion
takes a back seat to innovation.

Solstice Revelers Heading for Stonehenge (M)
Solstice celebrations were a highlight of the
pre-Christian calendar. People in many countries still
celebrate with bonfires, maypole dances, and courtship
rituals.

Missing: Large lake in southern Chile (M)
A lake in southern Chile has mysteriously disappeared,
prompting speculation the ground has simply opened up
and swallowed it whole.

19 giugno 2007

News di oggi!

Avatars, and the carbon-based meatbags behind them (that's us)
What a beautiful series of portraits in this weekend's NYT magazine by Robbie Cooper -- people and their avatars, in virtual environments such as Second Life and Everquest.

Clerical visas scrutinized
Carlos Betancourt, a pastor at Brainerd Baptist Church who immigrated to the United States from Ecuador in 2002 under a religious worker visa, says he was guided here.

Taj Mahal - not so wonderful?
There are barely three weeks to go before voting closes in a global poll to decide on a new list of the seven wonders of the world.

ARGENTINA: Psychiatric Patients' Radio Station Up in the Air
BUENOS AIRES, Jun 18 (IPS) - La Colifata was the first radio station in the world to broadcast live from a psychiatric hospital, and has played a key role in the reinsertion of patients in the community. But now the Argentine station, which has inspired the creation of around 40 similar stations in Latin America and Europe, has run out of financing.

ENVIRONMENT-INDIA: Wealth From Waste With Bio-Digesters

UK's Tullow uncovers oil in Ghana
UK firm Tullow Oil has announced the discovery of 600 million barrels of light oil offshore from Ghana.

Who killed the electric car? (S)
Our last post shared GM's latest announcement - where they've stated that the internal combustion engine must be consigned to history. GM are promising full electification of their cars over the coming decade, but it's kind of odd that the time-frame for electification is put so far into the future.

Plastics from Sugar
New catalysts convert glucose into a valuable chemical feedstock
Researchers at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) have come up with an easy, inexpensive method to directly convert glucose into a chemical that can be used to make polyester and other plastics, industrial chemicals, and even fuels.

Rooftop statues prompt suicide reports
LONDON (Reuters) - Statues scattered across central London rooftops as part of artist Antony Gormley's latest exhibition are proving a serious headache for police...

18 giugno 2007

Today's news


Recycling Machine Miraculously Transforms Auto Parts into Fuel
A new eco-friendly auto scrap recycling machine that turns car waste into fuel.

DEATH PENALTY: China Considers Cash for Clemency
BEIJING , Jun 17 (IPS) - Under pressure to reduce its huge number of annual executions as it prepares to host the 2008 Olympic games, China has been experimenting with commuting death penalties to life sentences in exchange for compensation. But the practice is proving contentious.

COTE D'IVOIRE: Forests Sacred No More
ABIDJAN, Jun 16 (IPS) - In Côte d'Ivoire, the importance of a forest can go far beyond its environmental significance, as critical as this may be. Certain wooded areas are viewed as sacred.

Generations Later, Toxic Legacy of Agent Orange Lives on in Vietnam
DANANG, Vietnam -- More than 30 years after the Vietnam War ended, the poisonous legacy of Agent Orange has emerged anew with a scientific study that has found extraordinarily high levels of health-threatening contamination at the former U.S. air base at Danang.

Pope Bendedict Argues Catholic Church 'Purified' Indigenous Peoples
During his recent trip to Latin America, Pope Benedict XVI offended millions when he arrogantly suggested that Catholicism had purified indigenous populations, and called the resurgence of indigenous religions a step backward.

My 30 Days of Consumer Celibacy
For a whole month, one writer practiced a kind of abstinence so she could better understand her own complicity in our throwaway culture. It wasn't easy.

Convention protects corals; not dogfish C
News@nature.com rounds up key decisions from this week's conference on international trade in endangered species.

Baby boom for endangered tigers C
The endangered Siberian tiger has been given a boost, with the birth in captivity of 84 cubs since March this year, Chinese state media report.

Restaurant Reservations Go Online C
But upstairs, in the restaurant’s office, a different scene is playing out. In a veritable mission-control setting, a reservationist answers eight phone lines while seated in front of two computers that log reservations and hold an archive of past and future electronic bookings. Town Hall, one of the busiest restaurants in this food-crazed city, seems the very model of old-fashioned dining. Patrons who arrive to claim their reserved seats are greeted by a hostess who consults a piece of paper with the day’s reservations and leads her guests to the appointed table.

China plants trees to hold back desertification(Co)
Seven years ago, with the desert creeping south at the rate of 3 km (2 miles) a year and the dust storms getting worse, the Chinese government decided to act and the solution was typical of a country where the Great Wall stands as the ultimate grand project. It began building a "Green Great Wall", a 700 km (435 mile) barrier of trees and enclosed grassland which will stretch across Inner Mongolia, Hebei and Shanxi provinces by 2010.


How to Build a Green City
(Co)
Cars have no place in the city of the future, as this rendering of Dongtan, a planned city-with-a-megacity, shows. But waterways, pedestrian throroughfares, wind turbines, and natural beauty do. Shanghai is hoping to build the world's first truly sustainable city. For the next three years, much of the world’s attention will be directed toward China and its two biggest cities, Beijing, home to the 2008 Olympics, and Shanghai, site of a World Expo in 2010. For now though, these cities are often known for something else: pollution.

Moscow world's most costly city(Co)
Russia's capital Moscow has been named as the world's most expensive city for expatriate staff to live for the second year in a row. London climbed three places to second in Mercer Human Resource Consulting's 2007 Cost of Living study. Asian cities Seoul, Tokyo and Hong Kong completed the top five. Paraguay's capital Asuncion was the cheapest. The report measures the cost of 200 items such as housing, clothing and food in 143 cities on six continents.

Study may explain roots of empathy K
When people say "I feel your pain," they do not mean it literally, but certain people really do feel something that appears to be an extreme form of empathy, British researchers said on Sunday.

15 giugno 2007

Today's news

Bum rap for Obama
Barack Obama is the biggest rock star of the
Democratic party - and now the presidential contender
is the subject of a steamy new pop video featuring
skimpy hotpants alongside health policy as a turn-on.

Swamp soccer makes the beautiful game dirtier than it has ever been
A Scottish football enthusiast is spearheading the international expansion of swamp soccer, a grimy offshoot of the beautiful game.

Russians recall bygone era with Soviet game museum
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Forgotten and broken down Soviet-era arcade games are being restored for Moscow's newest museum, just opened by volunteers nostalgic for childhood days spent playing games like 'Tankodrom' and 'Sniper'.


Homemade firearms of Chechnya
A gallery of homemade Chechen guns seized by Russian police.

Driver Not Included in This Performance Test
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., June 14 — The team of Stanford University engineers that won $2 million in a Pentagon-sponsored robot car contest in 2005 unveiled its next-generation vehicle that will maneuver in traffic without a human driver.
2nd link

'Aftershave drink' kills Russians
Many cheap aftershaves contain high levels of ethanol
Russian men are risking death by drinking aftershave and cleaning agents, a study has suggested.

ENVIRONMENT-UAE: Coming Up - World's First 'Zero-Carbon' City
DUBAI, Jun 15 (IPS) - A city free of cars, pedestrian-friendly, powered by renewable energy and surrounded by wind and photovoltaic farms -- all in the middle of a petroleum-rich desert. This five billion US dollar plan, which might do credit to a sci-fi film set, is envisaged for Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). When complete,in 2009, it will be the nearest thing yet to a zero-carbon, zero-waste city.

14 giugno 2007

Today's news (abstracts)


Stressed execs get to smash hotel rooms
MADRID (Reuters) - A Spanish hotel chain is running a competition for stressed executives to let off steam in a fashion usually reserved for rock stars -- by smashing hotel rooms.

Australia scientists invent virtual fence for cows
SYDNEY (Reuters Life!) - Australian scientists have invented a virtual fence for cattle, doing away with the need to erect real barriers or keep gates closed to secure livestock.

Elderly care home for dogs to open in Japan
TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's first elderly care home for dogs is set to open this week, tapping into a growing market as the problem of ageing spreads from humans to the pet population.

Bostonians walk to work, Portlanders cycle, but most drive
NEW YORK (Reuters Life!) - Boston has the highest percentage of commuters who walk to work, Portland can boast the most cycling commuters, but the vast majority of Americans still drive to work, according to a U.S. Census Bureau study.

70 Million Years Ago, Birdlike Giant in China
(C)
Scientists have uncovered a huge surprise in the Inner Mongolia region of northern China: the fossil skeleton of an unusually robust birdlike dinosaur that lived 70 million years ago.

Plants can tell who's who(C)
Telling apart relatives from strangers is crucial in many animal species, helping them to share precious resources or avoid inbreeding. Now it seems that plants can perform the same trick.


Pac-Man skull

Website helps you get your gra filendparents FBIs
GetGrandpasFBIFile.Com will automatically generate the letters you need to send in to get a (deceased) relative's FBI files. The site was created by a couple of Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) advocates as a way of spreading the FOIA meme.

Headphones to Shut Out the World

New York Politician Not Happy with Staten Island Landfill-Themed Ice Cream
NEW YORK -- One New York City politician apparently does not have a sweet tooth for a locally made vanilla ice cream with brownie chunks and cherries. That is because the ice cream in question, marketed under the name "Staten Island Landfill," is "insulting and derogatory," Staten Island borough president James Molinaro wrote in a letter on his Web site, in which he calls for a boycott of the treat.

RIGHTS-AUSTRALIA: Too Little, Too Late for Lost Generation Aborigines
MELBOURNE, Jun 13 (IPS) - A decade after the release of the landmark 'Bringing Them Home Report' on the forced removal of indigenous children from their families -- known as the Stolen Generations -- the situation for indigenous Australians remains desperate.

TreeHugger Picks: Biodegradable from Beach to Green
An items' "biodegradability" goes a long way to making it more TreeHugger-friendly, and while we've seen lots of things like bioplastics and disposable cutlery that really make sense to be easily (and harmlessly) degradable, we've seen some kinda wacky, less intuitive, but still (mostly) practical examples, too

13 giugno 2007

Today's news




China city turns to air raid shelters to beat heat
BEIJING (Reuters) - A southwestern Chinese city renowned as a "furnace" during the summer has opened up its warren of old air raid shelters to help people beat the heat, state media said on Tuesday.
link

Ancient weapon discovered in whale
A 115-130-year-old "bomb lance" fragment was found in a 50-ton whale killed in Alaska last month.
link

Former student busted for hanging out at college
University of Cincinnati attorneys claim that former student Virgil Tuttle, 48, is "stalking" the institution. He's been arrested 22 times in the last five years for trespassing on the campus.
link

Most popular pet names overlap with most popular kids' names
Freakonomics rounds up several recent surveys of popular pet names in the US and the UK. The UK list overlaps heavily with the most popular boys' names.
link

Milk meet coffe: wonderful photos!

Majority of cannabis 'home grown'
The majority of cannabis now used in Wales is actually
grown here, according to an investigation by BBC
Wales' Week In Week Out programme.
link

Purdue Creates Scientifically Based Animation Of 9/11 Attack
Science Daily — Although most Americans believe they know what brought down the World Trade Center twin towers on Sept. 11, 2001, civil engineers are still seeking answers to questions that could save lives in the future.
link

NASA Scientist Finds A New Way To The Center Of The Earth
link

Penguin Sweaters
Cozy tops give small birds a chance
link
(You could remember also the shoes
and the hitech link

12 giugno 2007

Viaggi - British Columbia


La British Columbia si trova in Canada, appena più a nord dello Stato americano di Washington (Seattle, per intenderci). Ad attirare la mia attenzione qui è stato un film: Lucky 7. La trama forse è un po' scontata, ma l'ambientazione è veramente favolosa!
Vancouver è la capitale, ma se dovessi scegliere punterei alle Highlands (come quelle scozzesi!), che è proprio dove hanno girato il film.
Esattamente, grazie al fantastico IMDb: "Orcas Island, one of the San Juan Islands off the coast of Washington State". Wonderful!
L'albergo è la Sooke Harbor House(http://www.sookeharbourhouse.com), sulla Vancouver Island, molto raccomandato da chi lo conosce (consiglio di guardare la room gallery). (Alcuni hanno segnalato anche il Rosario, ma è molto più di lusso, anche se non male!)

NB Un classico pre spostarsi da un'isola all'altra sono i traghetti: vedi sito.

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Today's news

First zero-emission home unveiled
The UK has unveiled its first zero emission home that will set the environmental standard for all new homes in the future.

Origin of Deja Vu Pinpointed
The brain cranks out memories near its center, in a
looped wishbone of tissue called the hippocampus. But
a new study suggests only a small chunk of it, called
the dentate gyrus, is responsible for "episodic"
memories-information that allows us to tell similar
places and situations apart.

Contaminated Zone Near Chernobyl Nuclear Plant Becomes Wildlife Haven, Intriguing Biologists PARISHEV, Ukraine -- Two decades after an explosion and fire at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant sent clouds of radioactive particles drifting over the fields near her home, Maria Urupa says the wilderness is encroaching.

Say No to Immigrants
Throughout American history, immigrants of all races have raised the hackles of nativists. Why stop now? A political animation. (About USA immigration bill)

India's IT marriage boom
Generally, Indian men are on the lookout for attractive, educated young women - but for the most part, Indian women are still keen to find a partner who's financially secure. That's why Mrs. Khatoon insisted that her daughter sign up on bharatmatrimony.com, a wedding website that caters to more than 10 million subscribers around India.

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11 giugno 2007

What the World Eats


Time magazine ha pubblicato settimana scorsa un interessante articolo su "Come mangia il mondo" ("How the World Eats"): pare che la globalizzazione stia causando una progressiva perdita delle tradizioni culinarie locali. Le immagini spiegano più delle parole...questa fotogallery, è davvero carina.

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Today's news (abstracts)

Californians may be forced to neuter pets
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - California may become the only U.S. state to require the sterilization of pets under a bill passed by the state Assembly, pitting dog and cat lovers against animal rights activists.

China newspaper editors sacked over Tiananmen ad
BEIJING (Reuters) - A newspaper in southwest China has sacked three of its editors over an advertisement saluting mothers of protesters killed in the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown, a source with knowledge of the gaffe said on Thursday.
Public discussion of the massacre is still taboo in China and the government has rejected calls to overturn the verdict that the student-led protests were subversive.

Olympic firms 'abusing workers'
Some official merchandise for the 2008 Olympics in China has been made using child labour, forced overtime and low wages to boost profits, a report says.

Taskforce to cut 'cyber warming'
IT equipment is thought to be as harmful as the airline industry
Reducing carbon dioxide emissions from the production, operation and disposal of computers is to be the aim of a new government taskforce.

Google to harness satellite power for an Amazon tribe
When the Brazilian government failed to defend his tribe against loggers and miners, the leader found a high-tech ally

American buys slices of South America
LOS ESTEROS DEL IBERA, Argentina - The American multimillionaire who founded the North Face and Esprit clothing lines says he is trying to save the planet by buying bits of it. First Douglas Tompkins purchased a huge swath of southern Chile, and now he's hoping to save the northeast wetlands of neighboring Argentina.

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