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...

31 luglio 2007

Ambiente latitante

Lose weight and cut carbon
Foundation give us the V-Plan diet that is better for us, and for animals too

60 Seconds in the Life of the Galapagos Islands

Urbines at Elephant & Castle (London)
Urbines. That's what World Architecture News labels urban wind turbines; neat neologism

Futurefarmers Victory Gardens
Futurefarmers is a collaborative group of designers and artists. Their current project is Victory Gardens 2007 - a concept currently being developed with the intention of being adopted by the City of San Francisco's Recreation and Park Department. The project draws from the historical model of the 1940's American Victory Garden program to provide a basis for developing urban agriculture as a viable form of sustainable food practice in the city.

27 luglio 2007

News ambiente cercasi ancora

Girl Guides want badges for "safe sex" and "flat pack"

25 luglio 2007

Is there any environmental news?

Paint-on Solar Cells
Researchers at the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) have developed some that can be painted or printed onto a surface. Lead researcher, Somenath Mitra, said, “the process is simple. Someday homeowners will even be able to print sheets of these solar cells with inexpensive home-based inkjet printers. Consumers can then slap the finished product on a wall, roof or billboard to create their own power stations.”
http://www.physorg.com/news103997338.html

NY Post Gives Shockingly Good Green Sex
The Post gives shockingly good head-on-its-shoulders accounting of the problems and solutions concerning toxic phthalates in unregulated sex toys.

Kashmir Revolt Helps Endangered Bear Populations
SRINAGAR, India - The number of endangered Asiatic black bears in Indian Kashmir has jumped between 30 and 60 percent as a separatist revolt that killed thousands of people since 1989 has scared off poachers, wildlife officials said.

Microchips mulled for HIV carriers in Indonesia's Papua
Lawmakers in Indonesia's Papua are mulling the selective use of chip implants in HIV carriers to monitor their behaviour in a bid to keep them from infecting others, a doctor said Tuesday.

24 luglio 2007

News ambiente cercasi

YouTube questions take a different tack (K)
Lesbians asking about gay marriage. Two unrelated
parents with sons in Iraq asking about the war. And a
snowman asking about global warming? Video questions
submitted to the hip Web site YouTube shook up the
usual campaign debate Monday night.

Giant rice paddy art
the practice of growing giant rice-paddy illustrations "by growing a little purple and yellow-leafed kodaimai rice along with their local green-leafed tsugaru-roman variety." There's a fantastic gallery of these illustrations, ranging from "36 Views of Mount Fuji" to various demons, gods and traditional illustrations, as well as the Mona Lisa.

Guerilla gardening
Toronto street artist Posterchild has been installing planter boxes of Celosias in various spots around Kensington Market.

Fly larvae shelled in bling
Caddis fly larvae usually form their protective sheaths by spinning silk with sand, minerals, plant particles, and bits of bone they find in their aquatic environments. French artist Hubert Duprat collects the larvae, carefully strips their shells, and then puts them in aquaria filled with stuff like pearls, rubies, gold, and diamonds. The larvae make new coverings out of these materials.

Easy on the Eyes, Not So Easy on the Lake
Lake Erie was once considered to be a "dead lake" in the late 1960s because it was so badly polluted. It now has increasingly clear and pristine waters due in great part to the contributions of the zebra mussel, an incredibly destructive invasive species that entered the Great Lakes system almost 2 decades ago.

Solar Powered Refrigerator (in 1935!)
We keep looking for the perfect solar powered appliances, and keep finding them in Modern Mechanix. The Crosley Icyball was close; In 1935 California engineer Otto Mohr proposed combining an ammonia absorption cycle refrigeration unit (like the Icyball) with a spherical lens.

Bumblebees Get a Buzz Out of British Gardens
LONDON - Gardens provide a lifeline for Britain's dwindling bumblebee population and are a far more popular nesting location than open countryside, scientists said on Monday.

23 luglio 2007

Anche in estate si trovano notizie...

Il corso per affrontare la timidezza (Co)
Dura un giorno intero, costa 39 dollari ed è nato due anni fa all'Harper College (Usa). Un modello vincente per il quale oggi esistono delle lunghe liste di attesa.

IDEA 2007 (Co)
Assegnati i premi agli 81 vincitori dell'International Design Excellence Awards

$100 laptop' production begins (M)
Five years after the concept was first proposed, the
so-called $100 laptop is poised to go into mass
production.
Hardware suppliers have been given the green light to
ramp-up production of all of the components needed to
build millions of the low-cost machines.

Victory for gay rights campaign as reggae star agrees to ditch homophobic lyrics (M)
· Buju Banton signs pledge after years of pressure
· Song advocated shooting and burning homosexuals

Alarm at US right to highly personal data (M)
Religion and sex life among passenger details to be
passed on to officials

Builder: Dubai high-rise world's tallest (K)
Developers of a 1,680-foot skyscraper still under
construction in oil-rich Dubai claimed Saturday that
it has become the world's tallest building, surpassing
Taiwan's Taipei 101 which has dominated the global
skyline at 1,667 feet since 2004.

Illegal immigrants to get ID cards in Connecticut (K)
As many U.S. cities and states arrest illegal
immigrants in raids and toughen laws against them, a
Connecticut city is offering to validate them under a
controversial, first-in-the-nation ID card program.

How to write your CV (K)
BBC News explains how to get a head start in the job
hunting race and make sure your CV is up to scratch.

Philip Morris lights up in Mexico (K)
Cigarette manufacturer Philip Morris has spent more
than $1bn strengthening its presence in Mexico

20 luglio 2007

News, news , news

Happy hour food and drinks on Google Maps
MappyHour shows you a Google Map with bars that offer happy hour food and drink specials. It's easy to rate bars and add new ones to the database

Nuovi pannelli solari in plastica (C)
I ricercatori della New Jersey Institute of Technology hanno sviluppato delle celle solari che possono essere montate su pannelli di plastica. Così, ogni padrone di casa può facilmente, e con costi bassi, costruirsi la sua personale fonte di energia elettrica

La sfera di cristallo del Pentagono (C)
La Darpa sta lavorando a un software che dovrebbe consentire ai militari americani di "pensare" meglio, prima e più avanti dei nemici. Una sorta di sfera di cristallo digitale in due versioni: per le decisioni immediate e per la pianificazione della strategia.

Il computer svela il segreto della dama (C)
Grazie a un particolare programma, un team di scienziati canadesi ha risolto il gioco della Dama: si vince solo se l'avversario sbaglia. Come nel più elementare Tris, se si conoscono le mosse giuste, è impossibile perdere.

Le 10 più divertenti illusioni ottiche... (C)

California to study heat-wave deaths (K)
California public health officials said Thursday they
will conduct a statistical study of deaths from last
summer's heat wave to determine whether the number of
victims is higher than officially reported.

7 wonders photos headed to space (K)
The founder of the global poll that nominated the new
seven wonders of the world now plans to immortalize
the monuments by firing 3D photos into outer space.

Zoo faces charges for selling animals as food (K)
A mayor in eastern Germany has filed charges against
workers at his local zoo for shooting animals and
selling them as meat.

Police warn against bomb jokes on buses (K)
Filipino commuters face jail and large fines if they
crack jokes about bombs on buses after a spate of
deadly attacks, the police warned Thursday.

17 luglio 2007

Today's news

Picking Berries Protects Rain Forests Best - Study
BRASILIA - Small community projects for picking fruits and nuts are the best way to alleviate poverty and protect the Amazon and other tropical forests, but are largely ignored by governments, a study showed on Monday.

New Sealy Mattress Recreates Feeling Of Falling Asleep On Bus
Sealy, the company known for providing innovative sleep technology with its Posturepedic, TrueForm, and SpringFree mattresses, on Monday unveiled the Destination, a mattress designed to simulate the sensation of drifting off to sleep on a moving bus.

New Titanic Film Told From Iceberg's Point Of View
by James Cameron

Plant a Virtual Tree in Second Life, Get a Real One Planted for Free!

Safer cigarettes coming soon? (K)
The federal agency charged with keeping food and drugs
from harming people may soon be asked to take a
consumer product that kills more than 400,000 people a
year and make it safer.

As tasty as a truckload of rats (K)
Live rats are being trucked from central China,
suffering a plague of a reported 2 billion rodents
displaced by a flooded lake, to the south to end up in
restaurant dishes, Chinese media reported.

Don't trust your man, minister tells women (K)
Indian men cannot be trusted in their sexual behavior
and are fuelling the country's HIV epidemic, a female
government minister said Monday, slamming the
country's "hypocrisy" about sex.

Japan investigates 'nuclear leak' (K)
Japanese officials are investigating the possibility
of a second radioactive leak from a nuclear plant,
following Monday's earthquake in central Japan.

"Blame on the bottled water!" (Co)
E' una vera e propria dichiarazione di guerra all'acqua in bottiglia.
Numerose città del pianeta stanno chiedendo ai propri cittadini di
abbandonare l' uso dell' acqua minerale a favore di quella che scende dai
rubinetti. In questi giorni è New York ad essere scesa in campo, dando il
via ad una campagna per ridurre se non per eliminare l' uso delle
bottigliette di plastica. Obiettivo: aiutare l' ambiente.

"Waterspouts make it rain worms, eels and jellyfish" (Co)
A woman was crossing a road in Jennings, Louisiana, last week when something
very strange fell from the sky. Eleanor Beal was on her way to work when
large clumps of tangled worms dropped down from above. In fact, many reports
of strange showers of creatures could be explained by waterspouts or
tornados. In the recent shower of worms in Louisiana, a waterspout was
sighted around the same time over a river less than 8 kilometres (5 miles)
away. It is possible that the vortex sucked up the worms into a storm cloud
and later dumped them on land.

"Wish for rain to wash away Homer" (Co)
Pagans have pledged to perform "rain magic" to wash away a cartoon character
painted next to their famous fertility symbol - the Cerne Abbas giant. A
doughnut-brandishing Homer Simpson was painted next to the giant on the hill
above Cerne Abbas, Dorset, to promote the new Simpsons film. Many believe
the ancient chalk outline of the naked, sexually aroused giant to be a
symbol of ancient spirituality. The painted Simpsons character has been
painted with water-based biodegradable paint which will wash away as soon as
it rains.

"Elephants "Learn" to Avoid Land Mines in War-Torn Angola" (Co)
Elephants moving into war-ravaged southern Angola from neighboring countries
appear to have developed the ability to avoid the land mines that litter the
region, scientists report. The elephants are returning in growing numbers to
southeast Angola, where thousands of the animals were massacred during the
country's protracted civil war, said Chase, who heads the nonprofit
conservation group Elephants Without Borders.

16 luglio 2007

News di oggi!

Pygmies at the zoo
A group of Pygmy musicians were temporarily lodged in a Republlic of Congo zoo while visiting Brazzaville for a music festival. Visitors to the zoo snapped photos as the 22 pygmies collected wood from the zoo forest and cooked their meals.

Blogging from the prison
Nel carcere Lo Russo e Cotugno di Torino vige il divieto di usare Internet,
come negli altri istituti penitenziari italiani, ma da un paio di anni tre
ragazzi - Hermes Delgrosso, Matteo De Simone e Simone Natale - hanno trovato
il modo di superare l'impedimento aprendo un nuovo canale di comunicazione
tra 'dentro e fuori'. E il nome a quel punto è venuto da sé, www.
dentroefuori. org. Un'iniziativa analoga
esiste solo negli Usa.
www.dentroefuori.org

Emissions don't make Europe happy
Europe's carbon emissions have risen markedly over the last 40 years, but
the extra fuel use has brought little increase in happiness, a report says.
Written by the New Economics Foundation (Nef), it says that reducing social
inequality and energy consumption are key drivers of improved wellbeing.
Iceland has the highest ratio of wellbeing to emissions, with the UK 21st
out of 30 countries assessed.

China warns of more flood misery
Hundreds of thousands of villagers in east China's Huai river basin, already
suffering the region's worst flooding in 50 years, have been told to brace
for more heavy rains this week, state media reported on Monday. Torrential
summer rains across the country have fed floods and landslides that had
killed 403 people, left 105 missing and forced the evacuation of 3.17
million by Friday, the China Daily said.

My So-Called Second Life
For the past few days I've been logging on to a virtual world called
Meteora, which was launched earlier this year by the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in Second Life, the richly-limned online
community of some six million participants that my 24-year-old colleague
calls "SimCity on crack."
In Meteora, you (or rather, your "avatar") can visit and learn about
environments that few of us will ever experience-like the upper layers of
the stratosphere, where the National Weather Service collects meteorological
data; or the depths of the ocean floor where NOAA's submarines study aquatic
life.

13 luglio 2007

News di oggi

US: a willy censored in a children illustrated book (Co)
Negli Stati Uniti, la Boyd Mills Press si è rifiutata di pubblicare un libro per bambini dell’illustratrice tedesca Rotraut Susanne Berner. Il motivo scatenante è un pisello, quello che si presuppone penda tra le gambe dei maschietti di tutto il mondo e di tutte le età; in particolare, il pisello di una statuina ritratta in una vignetta ambientata in un museo. La casa editrice si è giustificata sostenendo che negli Usa esistono lobby fondamentaliste in grado di impedire la vendita del libro e la sua diffusione nelle biblioteche. È il caso di dirlo: stica!

My So-Called Second Life (Co)
For the past few days I’ve been logging on to a virtual world called Meteora, which was launched earlier this year by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Adminis tration (NOAA) in Second Life, the richly-limned online community of some six million participants that my 24-year-old colleague calls “SimCity on crack.” In Meteora, you (or rather, your “avatar”) can visit and learn about environments that few of us will ever experience—like the upper layers of the stratosphere, where the National Weather Service collects meteorological data; or the depths of the ocean floor where NOAA’s submarines study aquatic life.

Oil reaches the beaches of Ibiza following cargo ship sinking (Co)
Oil is coming out from the Don Pedro, a boat that crashed last Tuesday a few nautical miles off the coasts of Ibiza. The situation seems to be under control, but the memory goes to the Prestige disaster of some years ago, off the coasts of Galicia.
http://www.typicallyspanish.com/news/publish/article_11459.shtml

Seeing Yellow: call your printer's manufacturer and ask why they spy on you
When you print on a color laser printer, it's likely that you are also printing a pattern of invisible yellow dots. These marks exist to allow the printer companies and governments to track and identify you -- presumably as a way to combat money counterfeiting

Cardboard Chinese food
If you're in Beijing and eat steamed buns that taste like cardboard, they just may be cardboard

Building made from water walls
MIT researchers are designing a "Digital Water Pavillion" for next year's Expo Zaragoza in Spain. The walls of the structure are sheets of water sprayed from suspended pipes

Sidewalk stencil choose-your-own-adventure
Some stencil artists created a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure game using spraypainted sidewalk stencils: players start from one of two jumping off points and walk aroudn the neighborhood, making choices and following directions. It's a love story, and if players do it right, then end up meeting

Great bathroom singer? TV wants you (K)
NEW DELHI (Reuters) - An Indian television channel is looking out for good singers in the one place that has escaped the prying eyes of reality TV -- the bathroom.

Some immigrants denied marriage licenses (K)
A federal law that requires people to supply their
Social Security number when applying for a marriage
license has forced thousands of couples around the
country, particularly illegal immigrants, to put their
wedding plans on hold.

Some Americans have no time for vacation (K)
Many Americans seem to eschew traditional vacations -
a trend that has some experts worried that workers are
not getting away from their jobs to relax and
recharge, both physically and mentally.

Mexico genocide trial suspended (K)
Human rights groups say as many as 300 student
activists were killed when troops opened fire on them
in Mexico City's Tlatelolco Plaza on 2 October, just
days before the city hosted the Olympic Games.

No Sex Please, We're Organizing
A nation of pack rats tries to get it together.

Sesso: i teenager stanno mettendo la testa a posto (C)
Secondo l'ultimo report del governo americano le prime esperienze sessuali da parte dei giovanissimi si stanno leggermente spostando in avanti e soprattutto gli adolescenti stanno iniziando a utilizzare il preservativo.

Package Pilgrims Destroying the Himalayas
SRINAGAR, India -- Hundreds of thousands of Hindu pilgrims flocking to holy sites in the Himalayas are fouling fragile mountain ecosystems with rubbish, human waste, air pollution and the deforestation that comes with development.

ENVIRONMENT SOUTH-EAST ASIA: Big Bucks Behind Forest Blaze, Haze
The annual phenomenon that is oddly called the ‘haze’ is back and beginning to blanket parts of Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei in thick, acrid smoke from the forest fires in Indonesia, mainly from the Kalimantan and Sumatra islands.

12 luglio 2007

Oggi nelle news

The contraception reception (K)
BEIJING (Reuters) - Condoms of all shapes and sizes were on display at a Beijing fashion show on Wednesday featuring dresses, hats and even lollipops made of the said item.

EPA Investigating Whether Radioactive Waste Was Buried at Pollution-Plagued Camp Lejeune

Fox and CBS Refuse To Air Condom Ads
It is inexcusable that television networks, one of the best public sites for widespread education about safer sex, is acting coy at the cost of young women's fullest lives.

While Europeans Vacation, Americans Toil
Shorter vacations, longer work weeks and skimpy sick leave for Americans add up -- not to greater upward mobility, but to a burned-out workforce earning less than preceding generations

A Picture is Worth... Gasoline Consumption Per Day


Windup LED Camping Light

One minute of winding gives 30 minutes of light. A full wind gives four hours of 5 LED bright light or 48 hours of nightlight feature with only 2 Amber LED's.

In Poland, a Jewish Revival Thrives — Minus Jews

11 luglio 2007

Le news del giorno

Drinkers in Korea Dial for Designated Drivers

Tiny people art project

Famous cartoonists draw with their eyes closed

Acoustic amplifier turns headphones into speakers

Extreme green musicians: The Top 10

Scientists: Use Golf Courses as Wildlife Sanctuaries

Burkina Faso Women Spin Trash Into Exports

10 luglio 2007

news, news, news

Un sito per imparare a riciclare:
www.recyclethis.co.uk

No butts on the beach
The Surfers Against Sewage “No Butts on the Beach” campaign is into its 5th year, and in that time they’ve given away 8,000 pocket ashtrays to responsible smokers.

Too Much Self-Esteem Can Be Bad for Your Child
American schools stress self-esteem as the stepping stone to academic achievement. But students from Asian cultures, which place little stock in self-esteem, seem to do better than their American counterparts in school.

La Grande Mela verde
New York lancia una campagna di sensibilizzazione per l'uso dell'acqua del rubinetto.

Doctor 'prescribed an exorcism'
A family planning doctor prescribed an exorcism to a woman during a routine appointment, a medical tribunal heard

Four-story public bathroom
A four-story, 30,000-foot public bathroom recently opened in Chonggqing, China.

Origins of common symbols

Neatorama posted the origins of several common symbols, reprinted from a book titled Uncle John's Supremely Satisfying Bathroom Reader.

Play peak oil before you live it
Collaborative intelligence wiz Jane McGonigal designs alternate reality games to solve the world's biggest problems. Enviros love her -- but so does the military.

Bicycling Gains Popularity Even in the Bike-Crazy Netherlands
AMSTERDAM, Netherlands -- The distance the average Dutch person bicycles every day has increased by nearly 10 percent in the past five years, the country's Central Bureau for Statistics said Monday -- remarkable in a nation already renowned for its love of two-wheeled transport.

Eco-Tip: Make Your Lithium Batteries Last
From your laptop to your mobile phone to your trusty iPod, there's no doubt most of us rely on lithium-ion batteries each and every day. We think they are great, powering some of our favorite rechargeable gizmos and are well on their way to powering a new generation of electric vehicles. But even in all their rechargeable glory, lithium-ions do eventually lose their power. Here are 4 tips from Spicy Gadget Roll to help make sure your Crackberries and MacBooks stay powered without having to burn through batteries.

Solving South Australia's Water Shortage with Plastic Bladders?
As far as unconventional ideas to resolve droughts go, this one by Queensland physicist Ian Edmonds is a winner. What he suggests doing is float large volumes of fresh water in plastic "bladders" down the East Australian current from the north of Australia (where water is plentiful) to the south...

India to Privatize Reforestation Efforts… For the Sake of More TP
In an effort to meet the costly goal of covering one third of the country with trees by 2012, India’s financially-strapped environment ministry is seeking to lease degraded forests to private firms, especially those from the pulp and paper industries, who will be allowed to farm the trees for paper pulp.

09 luglio 2007

Today's news


Bellissimo questo sito:
http://www.worth1000.com
In particolare in questi giorni è attivo il concorso: Advanced Photoshop Contests, per le foto più bizzarre modificate attraverso Photoshop.

Boyfriend pillow for Japan singles (vecchissima!!) (Co)
Japan's single women are being offered the ultimate sleeping partner - a
comfort to cuddle up to, but one which does not snore or make demands.The
Boyfriend's Arm Pillow, shaped like a man's torso with one sturdy arm, has
been on sale since December and has so far been snapped up by 1,000
singles.

Live Earth gigs send eco-warning but was the eventi really sustainable? (Co)
The Live Earth concerts have drawn to a close, with the curtain going down
in New Jersey in the US, after a finale performance from The Police. Rock
stars around the world performed to hundreds of thousands of music fans to
highlight climate change.
Concerts were also held in Washington, Rio de Janeiro, Johannesburg,
London, Hamburg, Tokyo, Shanghai and Sydney. The event was organised by
former US Vice-President Al Gore, as part of his campaign to try to "heal
the planet". Mr Gore addressed the crowd at the end of the New Jersey
event, urging the audience to act to save the planet: "Thank you for coming
to Live Earth. Put all this energy in your heart and help us solve the
climate crisis." On saturday, Sir Bob Geldof has launched a bitter attack
on this summer’s ‘Live Earth’ gigs, calling them “just an enormous pop
concert”. The head of Live Aid has criticised the multi-national concerts
organised by climate campaigner Al Gore for failing to secure any tangible
solution to the issue.
Vedi anche:
http://www.entertainmentwise.com/news?id=31610


Champion wife carriers
(Co)
Estonians took gold and silver at the world wife-carrying championships in
Finland on Saturday, defying rain and exhaustion to stumble along a path
with women clinging upside-down to their backs. They were among 44 couples
from 12 countries competing in the annual event in Sonkajarvi, central
Finland. The race, held for the 12th time, is intended to evoke the spirit
of a legendary Finnish brigand, Rosvo-Ronkainen, who made those who wanted
to join his gang run through a forest carrying heavy sacks on their backs.
In the modern version, couples race along a 250-metre track, tackling a
pool and several hurdles, with the men carrying the women on their backs.

Latin mass a looming headache for Catholic parishes (K)
Pope Benedict's decision to promote the old Latin mass
is a dream come true for delighted Roman Catholic
traditionalists and a looming headache for the harried
priests now expected to celebrate it.

Great Wall, Petra among new 7 wonders (K)
Monuments in three Latin American countries were named
among the new seven wonders of the world Saturday.
Brazil's Statue of Christ Redeemer, Peru's Machu
Picchu, and Mexico's Chichen Itza pyramid were chosen
along with the Great Wall of China, Jordan's Petra,
the Colosseum in Rome and India's Taj Mahal.

Boeing unveils assembled 787 Dreamliner (K & Co)
Boeing Co. raised the curtain on its first fully
assembled 787 on Sunday to an audience of thousands
who packed into its widebody assembly plant for the
plane's extravagantly orchestrated premiere.
+
First ecological airplane takes off
Meno alluminio, più plastica. Anzi fibra di carbonio. Scende in pista il
787 Dreamliner, il primo nuovo aereo della Boeing degli ultimi 13 anni a
impatto ambientale ridotto. Oggi a Seattle l'ultimo modello del colosso di
Chicago sarà presentato rappresentando anche l'ultima sfida dell'industria
aeronautica applicata al trasporto civile, basata sull'uso dei composti
sintetici (a partire dalla fusoliera) invece del metallo. A caratterizzare
il Dreamliner, alla cui costruzione partecipa la Alenia di Finmeccanica
nella misura del 26%, c'è l'uso dei composti plastici invece del più
pesante alluminio che rendono il mezzo leggero, con un risparmio del 20%
sui consumi di carburante. Il 50% della struttura di base, comprensiva di
fusoliera e ali, è fatta in fibra di carbonio. Accorgimenti, spiega la
Boeing, grazie ai quali "sono stati eliminati 1.500 pannelli di alluminio e
40-50mila bulloni"
http://www.repubblica.it/index.html

Men 'no less chatty than women' (K)
The common notion that women are the more talkative
sex has been dispelled by scientists in the US.

06 luglio 2007

News di oggi

Cat Survives 3 Weeks Crossing Ocean

Beijing to ban a million cars in clean air test (K)
Beijing is planning to ban a million cars from the
city's streets for two weeks next month as a test-run
to ensure clean air at next year's Olympics, officials
said here Wednesday.

Study: Women don't talk more than guys (K)
Turns out, when you actually count the words, there
isn't much difference between the sexes when it comes
to talking.

Organic food 'better' for heart (K)
Organic fruit and vegetables may be better for you
than conventionally grown crops, US research suggests.

Australia condom maker seeks "sexecutive" testers (Co)
CANBERRA (Reuters) - Condom makers say it's the world's best job, a
"sexecutive position". An Australian company is seeking real life testers
for its condom products. "Got what it takes to be an official condom
tester?" asks an advertisement launched by Durex Australia next to a photo
of a busty young woman in a revealing nurse's outfit. "With this job on
your CV, it really will be a chance to brag to your mates about the special
skills you possess, not to mention that your new role will work wonders
with the opposite sex," Durex Marketing Manager Sam White told local media.

PETA rallies against bullfighting during San Fermin celebrations (Co)
El colectivo PETA (Personas por la Ética en el Trato a los Animales) ha
celebrado en Iruñea/Pamplona el tradicional "Encierro Humano", que en su
sexta edición ha vuelto a denunciar la celebración de las corridas y el
encierro durante las fiestas de Sanfermin.

05 luglio 2007

Notizie prese in giro


Italy: sex twice a day to cure anxiety
l disturbo: ansia. La cura del medico: sesso, ma con moderazione. "Farlo
due volte alla settimana, non di più". Questa la prescrizione che un
dottore in servizio al pronto soccorso dell'ospedale genovese Villa Scassi
ha fatto ad una giovane donna affetta da "stato ansioso". La visita è stata
effettuata lunedì scorso, nel pomeriggio. La notizia è stata riportata
questa mattina dal quotidiano di Genova "Corriere Mercantile".

Brazil gets cut-price Aids drug
Brazil has accepted an offer from a manufacturer of an important anti-Aids
drug to cut its price by around 30%. The deal with Abbott over its drug
Kaletra was hailed by Brazil's health minister as an example to other
companies around the world. In May, it broke the patent on another Aids
drug and now imports a cheaper generic version from India. Drug companies
are increasingly sensitive about the willingness of developing nations to
break patents.

Australian aborigines dream of "grog"-free days
Aborigine Daryl Allen, 60, sits cross-legged in the dirt dreaming of the
good times when his outback people lived hunting kangaroo and working as
cattlemen, instead of drinking themselves to death. "They were happy days
-- no drinking," said Allen as he awaits the return of the camp's drunks
who will binge drink late into the night and most likely fight .A recent
report found a "river of grog" or alcohol was destroying aboriginal
communities in the outback Northern Territory and fuelling violence against
women and children.

Celebrities Who Have Gone Green
Dozens of artists will perform in concerts in eight cities around the world on July 7 in a bid to spur governments, corporations and the public to take action on global warming.
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What's Happening Where for Live Earth
Starting off in Sydney and travelling west around the world, Live Earth's global concerts are expected attract more than a million people to see over 100 musicians on July 7 as part of a global campaign to raise awareness of climate change.

Oops! Those Bones We Ate? Dinosuars, Not Dragons!
Villagers in central China dug up a ton of dinosaur bones and boiled them in soup or ground them into powder for traditional medicine, believing they were from flying dragons and had healing powers

Teddy bears turned inside-out: photo book by Kent Rogowski
"Bears" photographs by Kent Rogowski. Furry, huggable teddybears, gutted and inverted!!!

Steorn's "free energy machine" to be unveiled today
Orbo, a "free energy" machine, is being unveiled today at the Kinetica Museum in London. Steorn, the company that developed it, says it creates energy by exploiting the power of magnetism.

Wedding Trashers: Why Brides Are Destroying Their Dresses
In a kind of rebellion against America's wedding mania, an increasing number of brides are trashing their dresses and having photographers capture these moments of rage.

Adopt the Sky Before it's Too Late
In an effort to raise public awareness and put pressure on the federal government, Earthjustice, a non-profit public interest law firm, has just launched a new virtual campaign called "Adopt the Sky."

L'uso dell'acqua nei primati (C)
Un esperimento tedesco ha dimostrato come gli orangotanghi riescano a
utilizzare l'acqua in modo creativo, risolvendo anche i problemi.

La tecnologia senza energia (C)
Il museo delle macchine non funzionanti presenta il modello della
tecnologia che non consuma.
Altre fonti:
www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=40774;
www.steorn.com/orbo/

Consigli di socialità (C)
Lifehack propone dei suggerimenti per iniziare una conversazione.

04 luglio 2007

Today's news

Does Higher IQ Make You Smarter?
This Fourth of July, as you gather with family to celebrate U.S. independence, let your older brother light the grill. If you're the youngest, you just might be so dumb that you set yourself on fire.

Mexico To Plant Millions Of Trees: The Pro Árbol (Pro Tree) Campaign
Mexico's President, Felipe Calderon, declared that his country would plant 250 million trees and the Mexican government launched the Pro Árbol (Pro Tree) Campaign

Patio Heaters Warming Up Smokers, Climate
The long awaited UK anti-smoking laws have taken effect, and it's now illegal to smoke in any public enclosed space, including bars. The law is intended to keep the air clear for those that don't want to breathe second hand smoke, but may actually contribute to pollution outside.

There's a Lot You Don't Know About What's in Your Food
Nearly three quarters of all processed foods contain genetically engineered ingredients, but you'd never know it by reading package labels. Author Andrew Kimbrell discusses the risks of genetic engineering and how to avoid it.

Stasi smell museum
The Stasi -- East German secret police -- kept an enormous museum of "smell samples" of German citizens, kept in case they ever needed to give hunting dogs the scent of a fugitive criminal.

Gadget-loving Nepali "living goddess" fired for traveling to US
Shocking news out of Nepal today - Sajani Shakya, the Kumari of Bhaktapur, has actually been fired for visiting the United States

Le scimmie ritrovate
Il Vietnam è il teatro di un importante ritrovamento: un gruppo di scimmie in via di estinzione è stato avvistato. Si tratta del gruppo più popoloso mai osservato prima (Con foto)

L'esperienza del cibo trasformata in musica
Uno studio della Seoul National University cerca di trasformare le patatine in musica, con un esperimento

Mexican 'world's richest person' (K)
Mexico's telecoms tycoon Carlos Slim has overtaken
Bill Gates to become the world's richest person,
according to a respected Mexican financial website.

Girl could give birth to sibling (K)
A Canadian mother has frozen her eggs for use by her
seven-year-old daughter, who is likely to become
infertile.

03 luglio 2007

E anche oggi, selezione di news

Balance your books for the planet
Now there is a way for you to balance out the damage caused to forests by the books that you read. Eco-Libris has partnered with Sustainable Harvest International, Ripple Africa and The Alliance for International Reforestation, to plant trees to replace those cut down to print the books that you read.

Teapot 'is the healthiest option' (K)
The traditional way of making tea in a pot is
healthier than dunking a bag in a cup, according to
scientists.

25% of virgins 'ignore safe sex' (K)
More than a quarter of people in the UK do not use
contraception when they lose their virginity, a survey
has claimed.

Beating congestion with mobiles (K)
Working out how people use a city's roads and planning
for it, can be difficult, but research into mobile
phone use may hold the key to preventing traffic jams
in the future.

Travelers face tighter security, possible waits (K)
Travelers setting off for the Fourth of July holiday
can expect tighter security at U.S. airports in
response to an attack Saturday on the Glasgow airport
in Scotland.

New Drug Deletes Bad Memories
Do you have a really bad memory, or past heartache, that you would prefer to forget?
Researchers at Harvard and McGill University (in Montreal) are working on an amnesia drug that blocks or deletes bad memories. The technique seems to allow psychiatrists to disrupt the biochemical pathways that allow a memory to be recalled.

Generosity among rats
Rats do unto others as they have been done to.

ALBANIA: Saving Beaches for Others, and Itself
TIRANA, Jul 3 (IPS) - Albania has launched a new programme to save its beaches for tourists – and from tourists.

Texas Begins Desalinating Sea Water
On a one-acre site alongside a string of shrimp boats docked on the Brownsville ship channel stands a $2.2 million assembly of pipes, sheds, and humming machinery -- Texas' entree into global efforts to make sea water suitable to drink.

Another outdoor warning note

L'idrogeno nelle macchinine (C)
Ancora troppo costoso per essere utilizzato com e combustibile per le auto, l'idrogeno sta trovando applicazioni più ludiche

Argentavis magnificent: l'uccello gigante del passato (C)
Studiato il volatile vissuto in Argentina sei milioni di anni fa. L'apertura alare di 7 metri creava non pochi problemi al decollo degli esemplari adulti, ma una volta in volo, grazie alla portata delle ali, poteva facilmente sfruttare le termiche senza fatica.

I videogiocatori spendono il 30 per cento in meno del loro tempo a leggere e le videogiocatrici a fare i lavori di casa. Ma le abitudini degli appassionati dei videogame però non sembrano scalfire le relazioni familiari. University of Michigan (C)

02 luglio 2007

News dal mondo


Top 10 Useless Limbs (and Other Vestigial Organs) (vecchia?)

Uganda Bans Plastic Bags, Promotes Banana Leaves
KAMPALA - A ban on plastic bags in Uganda took effect on Sunday to cut down the stinking piles of rubbish that litter its dusty capital and other urban areas, breeding germs and poisoning water supplies.

One way to help species facing habitat loss: 'escape routes'
Preserving wilderness areas and establishing 'biological corridors' between them will help wildlife move to safety as climate changes occur.

Babies not as innocent as they pretend (M)
Whether lying about raiding the biscuit tin or denying
they broke a toy, all children try to mislead their
parents at some time. Yet it now appears that babies
learn to deceive from a far younger age than anyone
previously suspected.

Camel Jockey-Innocent Victims (M)
Camel Racing involves the jockeys aging from 4 to 10
years old children who are ruthlessly tied to the
Camels to run in deserts on certain tracks; where
these children are usually crushed under the feet of
contesting Camels.


Food allergy molecule discovered
(M)
A molecule which may protect against food allergy has
been identified.

U.S. Courts Consider Political Asylum for Lesbians
Confronted with barriers to legal U.S. immigration, a small number of foreign lesbians are seeking safety through political asylum. A recent court opinion expanded the definition of persecution in the case of a Ugandan lesbian.

Women's Writing Often Gets Lost in Translation
June was the month to encourage interest in books that have undergone translations. But a look at advocacy efforts shows foreign female authors trailing the lists of who's considered a must for English translation.

Italian beach 'women only' (K)
ITALY has opened its first women-only beach, away from
the prying eyes and wandering hands of the country's
notoriously lascivious men.

Key to a good marriage? Share housework.
(K)
The percentage of Americans who consider children
"very important" to a successful marriage has dropped
sharply since 1990, and more now cite the sharing of
household chores as pivotal, according to a sweeping
new survey.

Pill to make dieters 'feel full' (K)
Italian scientists have developed a pill that expands
in the stomach to make dieters feel full.

Patient bleeds dark green blood (K)
A team of Canadian surgeons got a shock when the
patient they were operating on began shedding dark
greenish-black blood, the Lancet reports.

China's humanitarian efforts in Africa
The Christian Science Monitor has a long article on Chinese humanitarian efforts in Africa, including joining the UN Blue Helmets, creating debt relief and financial aid, and other efforts.

La reputazione dei piranha (C)
Secondo gli scienziati inglesi, i piranha non sarebbero così temibili.
Sono da sempre stati definiti come cacciatori carnivori molto
aggressivi, ma in realtà vivono sulla difensiva.

Smaltimento all'inglese (C)
Nel Regno Unito, è entrata in vigore la normativa che regola lo
smaltimento dei rifiuti elettronici.

Imparare dai propri errori (C)
Uno studio rivela perché ogni sbaglio è importante al fine
dell'apprendimento. L'errore viene recepito in modo più forte rispetto
al successo e impedisce di ricadere facilmente in situazioni dannose.

Dallo stato al virus (C)
Il virus Melaka, recentemente scoperto in Oceania da alcuni
ricercatori, ha dato origine a una serie di polemiche. Lo stato malese
della Melaka si è ritenuto offeso.