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...

30 novembre 2007

O gap: College women orgasm less than men
Sexual encounters may not result in toe-curling bliss for collegiate females.
In a recent survey of more than 4,000 college students across the country, a sociology professor at Stanford University found that women in college orgasm less than half as often as college males during hook-ups.

Cycling ministers to help ease Bali emissions
Indonesia plans to make ministers from around the world use bicycles to get about at the U.N. talks on climate change in Bali to help offset the event's carbon emissions, an environment ministry official said on Friday

36 Ways To Save Some Extra Cash Each Month
The holidays are approaching very quickly and with that comes a lot of stress caused by money issues for so many people...

London cell phone service finds toilets
A new service promises Londoners they'll never have to
spend much time looking for the loo.

Taser death sparks Canada debate
The use of Taser guns by the police is under fierce
debate in Canada.

Italy hit by transport shutdown
Italian transport unions are striking for eight hours
in protest at plans to cut government spending on
transport.

29 novembre 2007

US obesity rates seem to have leveled
Obesity rates in U.S. women seem to be staying level,
and the rate in men may be hitting a plateau now, too,
according to a new government report released
Wednesday.

Prostitute auctions sex for charity
A Chilean prostitute has auctioned 27 hours of sex to
raise money for the country's largest charity during
an annual fund-raising campaign.

Canada chides Japan on sex slaves
Canada's parliament has unanimously passed a motion
calling on Japan to apologise for forcing some 200,000
women to serve as wartime sex slaves.

'Chinese' tequila worries Mexico
Mexican politicians are demanding action to protect
the tequila industry from Chinese competition.

2007: piantati un miliardo di alberi nel mondo
I dati dell'ente Onu UN Environment Programme (UNEP) con sede a Nairobi annunciano che nel 2007 sono stati piantati ben 1 miliardo di nuovi alberi in tutto il mondo, e che i paesi che hanno contribuito maggiormente a creare il polmone verde sono Etiopia e Messico.

Take a walk on the quiet side
Lots of you have been asking for routes that avoid the busiest roads...

WWF define new meaning of ‘luxury’
A groundbreaking report from WWF-UK has been released today, entitled “Deeper Luxury – quality and style when the world matters”. The report analyses luxury brands’ social and environmental responsibilities, performance and opportunities. Jem Bendell and Anthony Kleanthous, the report’s authors, sent me a synopsis
http://www.ecostreet.com/blog/

27 novembre 2007

Natural disasters have quadrupled in two decades: study
More than four times the number of natural disasters are occurring now than did two decades ago, British charity Oxfam said in a study Sunday that largely blamed global warming

Science adviser urges GM rethink
The UK government's chief scientific adviser, Sir David King, is to call for a rethink on GM crops in his farewell speech before leaving his post.

Syria blocks Facebook in Internet crackdown
Syrian users of Facebook said on Friday the authorities had blocked access to the social network Web site as part of a crackdown on political activism on the Internet
http://punto-informatico.it/p.aspx?i=2124334

Nazi hunt' launched in S America
A "final effort" is under way in South America to
track down and prosecute ex-Nazi war criminals before
they die.

Mexico funds will protect butterflies
President Felipe Calderon unveiled a sweeping plan
Sunday to curb logging and protect millions of monarch
butterflies that migrate to the mountains of central
Mexico each winter, covering trees and bushes and
attracting visitors from around the world.

Smoking increases 'baldness risk'
Scientists have discovered another downside to
smoking: it may increase the risk of baldness for some
men.

26 novembre 2007

Siria, Facebook corrompe i giovani

How To Start Meaningful Conversations

Sunday School for Atheists

Disastri naturali: quadruplicati negli ultimi 20 anni
Negli anni Ottanta il mondo registrava circa 120 disastri naturali l'anno, mentre oggi il numero è salito a 500. Quadruplicano dunque i disastri naturali. Lo dice una ricerca di Oxfam, che ha racoclto i dati forniti da Onu e Croce Rossa.

Pechino: preservativi in tutte le camere d'albergo
Una nuova legge impone agli albergatori di Pechino che entro la fine del 2008 dotino tutte le loro camere di preservativi. Una mossa per combattere la diffusione dell'Aids, anche in vista delle Olimpiadi.

23 novembre 2007

China Tells Officials Not to Buy 4x4 Vehicles
BEIJING - China has asked government officials to abstain from using four-wheel drive vehicles and other gas-guzzling cars to lower emissions and protect the environment, state media reported on Thursday.

WW2 Bombs May Hold Key to Contaminated Baltic Fish
Some fish in the Baltic Sea may have been contaminated by World War Two explosives containing arsenic, a German researcher whose team is investigating whether the fish are dangerous for consumption said on Thursday.

22 novembre 2007

Gotham's Christmas tree gets greener
New York's iconic Christmas tree this year will use energy-efficient lighting powered by solar panels, part of a refurbishing at Rockefeller Center to conserve energy.

OneSentence.org. True stories, told in a single sentence

Horses Pitched as Alternative Transport for France
PARIS - French towns worried about fuel prices, pollution and striking transport workers need look no further than the horse.

Pedometer users walk farther, get healthier, researchers say
People who set daily walking goals for themselves and clip on a pedometer to count the number of steps they take go farther in life than those who don't - a whole mile farther, in fact.

Babies may make social judgments
Even infants can tell the difference between naughty
and nice playmates, and know which to choose, a new
study finds.

Facebook users complain of new tracking
Some users of the online hangout Facebook are
complaining that its two-week-old marketing program is
publicizing their purchases for friends to see.

Make Thanksgiving a Feast of Health
Simple substitutions on the traditional menu offer
lower-fat dishes without compromising taste

21 novembre 2007

Play With Your Food
The Vienna Vegetable Orchestra must be the only band in the world that buys its instruments fresh and organic before each performance

20 novembre 2007

Dog owners go barking mad for fancy dress
Darth Labrador. Dogzilla. Elvis the hound dog. No outfit is too outrageous for man's best friend. The British do love a party animal -- they have gone crazy dressing up their dogs for costume parties.

Test shows Anne Frank tree strong?
The chestnut tree that Anne Frank could see as she hid from the Nazis is still strong and safe and should not be axed, conservationists opposed to plans to cut it down said Monday.
+
Chestnut from Anne Frank tree for sale on eBay
An Amsterdam resident has put for sale on eBay a chestnut that he says came from the tree that Anne Frank gazed upon while hiding from the Nazis, as activists fight to save the diseased tree from being felled

Looking for creativity - -7 Habits of Highly Innovative People
Have you ever looked at super creative or innovative people, and felt they are special beings blessed with gifts? Have you felt that you are not as fortunate?
Here are seven habits found in highly innovative and creative people summarized from Scott Berkun’s “the myths of innovation“.

Eco Shoes Dryer saves the world from chronic foot funk

War has historic links to global climate change
Climate change and conflict have gone hand-in-hand for the past 500 years, a study reveals.

Hate crimes rose 8 percent in 2006
Hate crime incidents rose nearly 8 percent last year,
the FBI reported Monday, as civil rights advocates
increasingly take to the streets to protest what they
call official indifference to intimidation and attacks
against blacks and other minorities.
http://www.advocate.com/news_detail_ektid50559.asp

Chavez, Ahmadinejad: US power on decline
Venezuela's outspoken president joined with Iran's
leader Monday in boasting that they are "united like a
single fist" in challenging American influence, saying
the fall of the dollar is a sign that "the U.S. empire
is coming down."

USDA revokes OK for Tyson chicken labels
Tyson Foods Inc. plans to revise labels that say its
fresh chicken is "raised without antibiotics" after
the U.S. Department of Agriculture said it made a
mistake in approving labels that use that term.

Seeking Garcia Marquez magic in Colombia
Another of his major novels, Love in the Time of
Cholera, has now been made into a film which has just
opened in the US. Richard McColl travelled around
Colombia in search of the places that have inspired
Garcia Marquez.

19 novembre 2007

I have 200 orgasms every day...
Sarah, 24, suffers from Permanent Sexual Arousal
Syndrome (PSAS), which increases blood flow to the sex
organs.

America ships electronic waste overseas
Most Americans think they're helping the earth when
they recycle their old computers, televisions and cell
phones. But chances are they're contributing to a
global trade in electronic trash that endangers
workers and pollutes the environment overseas.

Mice, roaches close home of $25,000 dessert
A Manhattan restaurant that unveiled a record-breaking
$25,000 dessert last week has been forced to shut its
doors temporarily due to an infestation of mice and
cockroaches.

'Cannabis' may halt breast cancer
A compound found in cannabis may stop breast cancer
spreading throughout the body, US scientists believe.

Games Backers Play Up Green
Concerns are mounting that the Beijing 2008 Olympics could face a rash of bad publicity. If so, how can corporate sponsors avoid getting hit?

Rappers join models in insisting on euros as greenbacks fall further out of fashion
Pay attention as you watch the catchy new music video from the mega-star rapster Jay-Z, "Blue Magic", and see if you can't spot the product placement. It is not a fancy car that he is endorsing – although both his rides, a Rolls- Royce and soft-top Bentley, are plenty spiffy – but rather a currency – and it is not the dollar.

16 novembre 2007

History of photoshopping from 1860 to present day
Dartmouth's Hany Farid ("working with federal law enforcement agencies on digital forensics, to the digital reconstruction of Ancient Egyptian tombs") has a great pictorial history of photo-tampering, beginning with this shot of Lincoln's head superimposed on Calhoun's body, going all the way up to the insertion of British Culture Secretary James Purnell into a group photo (he missed the shooting because he was late) in a newspaper in September, 2007.

Sect holes up in cave to await end of world
MOSCOW (Reuters) - At least 30 members of a Russian doomsday cult have barricaded themselves in a remote cave to await the end of the world and are threatening to commit suicide if police intervene, officials and media said Thursday.

Publisher challenges genitals picture ban
TOKYO (Reuters) - A publisher has taken to Japan's top court his eight-year fight over the banning of imported images of male genitals in a book of pictures by the late American photographer Robert Mapplethorpe.

'Virtual theft' leads to arrest
A Dutch teenager has been arrested for allegedly stealing virtual furniture from "rooms" in Habbo Hotel, a 3D social networking website

English: 9 Words That Don't Mean What You Think

How to be a heavenly houseguest -- and keep your sanity
Shuffling through airport security in your socks or sitting in traffic may seem like a breeze compared with the stresses of settling in under the same roof with family.

DHS to Further Restrict Travel for HIV-Positive Foreign Nationals
The Department of Homeland Security announced proposed regulations Thursday purporting to offer a "streamlined," "categorical" waiver for HIV-positive visitors from other countries. However, by using this "streamlined" application process, applicants would have to also waive the possibility of any change in immigration status while in the United States

14 novembre 2007

Le azioni militari a Guantanamo svelate in rete
E' comparso oggi in rete su Wikileaks.org un manuale dettagliato delle procedure delle operazioni condotte dalle forze militari Usa nel carcere di Guantanamo. Il documento, classificato come "For Official Use Only" conta 238 pagine ed è datato marzo 2003.

One Laptop Per Child: iniziata ieri la vendita
One Laptop Per Child sale starts
Posted by Cory Doctorow, November 13, 2007 10:19 PM | permalink
The One Laptop Per Child project's "Give One Get One" sale started yesterday. For a limited time, anyone can buy one of the rugged, open little laptops for your own use, provided that you also pay for a second machine that will be donated to a kid in the developing world.

Ritrovate in Kenia le ossa di una grane scimmia pre-umana
Probabilemnte si tratta di una nuova specie, risalente a circa 10 milioni di anni fa, che potrebbe essere antenata di gorilla, scimpanzè e umani.
Experts find jawbone of pre-human great ape in Kenya
NAIROBI (Reuters) - Researchers have discovered a 10-million-year-old jaw bone in Kenya they believe belonged to a new species of great ape that could be the last common ancestor of gorillas, chimpanzees and humans.
The Kenyan and Japanese team found the fragment in 2005 along with 11 teeth in volcanic mud flow deposits in Kenya's northern Nakali region.
http://www.enn.com/sci-tech/article/24433
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7092424.stm

Celle solari piccole e sottili come francobolli
Una nuova tecnologia innovativa è stata sviluppata dalla Nanosolar Inc. Saranno prossimamente lanciate sul mercato nano-celle con peculiarità simili ai pannelli solari ma sottili come fogli di carta, di piccole dimensioni, prodotte in maniera rapida e d economica attraverso una specie di stampante. La tecnologia di base è la stessa conosciuta per lo sfruttamento dell’energia solare. Le applicazioni però potranno essere molteplici.
Nanosolar: Power to the people
this innovative technology by Nanosolar Inc. The almighty dollar will launch these thin-film solar cells into worldwide applications thanks to the fact that it's actually cheaper than burning coal. The underlying technology for these solar cells is nothing new, having been around for decades, but Nanosolar has created the actual technology to manufacture and mass produce the solar sheets. The solar cells are produced by a solar printing press of sorts rolling out these aptly named PowerSheets rapidly and cheaply.

Scheletro di dinosauro gigante ritrovato...in un museo
Uno scheletro praticamente completo di un esemplare di barosauro (24 metri di lunghezza) risalente a 150 milioni di anni fa, è rimasto a impolverarsi per anni in fondo al magazzino del Royal Ontario Museum in Canada. Un curatore ne ha “scoperto” l’esistenza rimettendo insieme le ossa che erano state catalogate come appartenenti a diversi dinosauri.
Giant Dinosaur Skeleton Found in Museum Drawers
A curator has rediscovered a nearly complete giant Barosaurus skeleton hidden for years in museum drawers.
The skeleton was pieced together from an array of giant bones now known to belong to an 80-foot-long (24 meters) dinosaur whose footsteps shook the Earth some 150 million years ago.
The Barosaurus skeleton discovery was made this year, not during a field dig but in the halls of the Royal Ontario Museum in Canada as Associate Curator of vertebrate paleontology David Evans dug through collections of isolated bones once assumed to belong to as many different dinosaurs.

Leggi attentamente le indicazioni, o muori
Più di un terzo degli Americani non è in grado di interpretare correttamente i foglietti esplicativi/bugiardini dei medicinali. Questo tipo di ignoranza costa agli Usa ogni anno 238 miliardi di dollari in spese mediche.
Medical Literacy: Read this or Die
What you don't know might kill you—and cost the nation a bundle.
More than one-third of American adults have only basic or below-basic literacy in health matters, which costs the United States upwards of $238 billion in healthcare expenditures, according to a government- and industry-funded study.

La Corea del sud promuove una campagna pro-toilet
La Corea del sud sta affrontando una campagna promozionale per convincere la sua popolazione a utilizzare i gabinetti. Nel mondo ancora molti paesi non hanno condizioni sanitarie adeguate. Dal 21 al 25 novembre a Seul si terrà la prossima World Toilet Association General Assembly a cui parteciperanno 67 paesi.
SOUTH KOREA: 'Toilet Training' for Adults Underway
South Korea has taken the initiative to reorient people to the true essence of a toilet -- beyond the physical act of relieving oneself -- and that is for it to be a place of rest and relaxation, which proponents say can result in a happy and healthy disposition.
But, for these goals to be achieved, a massive awareness and educational campaign needs to be done

I supercomputer del mondo. La new entry indiana
Un supercomputer progettato in India è entrato a far parte della top ten dei computer più veloci al mondo. In testa rimane Blue Gene/L dell’IBM, recentemente potenziato. IMB ha prodotto 232 su 500 dei computer appartenenti alla lista completa, aggiornata ogni 2 anni.
A computer system designed in India has made it into a top ten of the world's fastest supercomputers.
Computer giant IBM continues to dominate the list - which is compiled twice a year - with a total of 232 out of the top 500 supercomputers.
Its Blue Gene/L supercomputer - used to ensure the US nuclear weapons stockpile remains safe and reliable - comes out at number one.
The Indian system - known as EKA - made it into fourth place.

13 novembre 2007

Peter Gabriel lancia lo YouTube dei diritti umani
La pop star dietro un progetto di condivisione video che punta a tenere alta l'attenzione sulle violazioni dei diritti umani. Tutto in creative commons...

I LOVE this gadget!
Perhaps 'cause I love tea, expecially in a cold and windy winter day...

In viaggio col Teddy Bear
Dopo il nano di Amelie, portato in giro per il mondo, è la volta dell'orsetto. Il Times Online ha indetto un concorso invitando i lettori a mandare le foto dei loro orsetti di pezza (ma anche di altri animali da compagnia di peluche) scattate in ogni angolo del mondo. Il globetrotter per eccellenza riceverà in premio un orsetto di pelouche, appunto..(ci sono già gallery e intervista dell'orsetto Syd, che ha dato l'idea...)

Intelligenza di... sciame
Gli studiosi stanno scoprendo le regole che permettono a migliaia di animali di formare un cervello collettivo, capace di prendere decisioni e di muoversi come un unico organismo (pesci, formiche ecc)

12 novembre 2007

Natalie Jeremijenko's talk at Stifo@Sandberg conference
about some wicked engineering projects

Flipping Kenya's Coastal Flotsam
What ever happened to that flip flop you lost while walking on a beach pounded by heavy waves? It might have ended up on the coast of Kenya, harming sea life and sullying pristine beaches. Fortunately, members of a handful of Kenyan coastal communities are rescuing the rubbery trash and transforming it into colorful, crafty items.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=YYh268HRgXM

08 novembre 2007

Sexy walks 'keep men off scent'
A sexy swing of the hips may attract admiring glances, but it is not a covert sign a woman is ready to breed, according to researchers.

Florida sheriff spreads BS about fake drug made from human waste
The Smoking Gun reports that the sheriff's intelligence bureau in in Collier County, Florida issued a warning to be on the lookout for a dangerous recreational drug called "jenkem," made from fermented human waste

HOWTO Win at Monopoly
Tim Darling's "Surefire Strategy" for winning at Monopoly sounds plausible -- a great way to suck all the fun out of the game, leaving behind nothing but the relentless pursuit of victory.

World Scotch Pie Championship (C)
Bakers and butchers all over Scotland gathered together yesterday for this
year's World Scotch Pie Championships, taking place at Lauder College,
Dunfermline.
http://www.reuters.com/news/pictures/slideshow?collectionId=1264

Study: 1 out of 4 homeless are veterans
Veterans make up one in four homeless people in the
United States, though they are only 11 percent of the
general adult population, according to a report to be
released Thursday.

The Green Dream Home
The Wired LivingHome shows connectivity and
sustainability can live together -- but it takes green
to be green under this roof.

student gets detention for hugging
Two hugs equals two days of detention for 13-year-old
Megan Coulter. The eighth-grader was punished for
violating a school policy banning public displays of
affection when she hugged two friends Friday.

Argentine indigenous in protest
Indigenous people from northern Argentina have lodged
a legal complaint against the government after more
than 20 of them died of hunger.

07 novembre 2007

UK chooses 'most ludicrous laws'
A little-known law which prohibits people dying while in the Houses of Parliament has been voted the UK's most ludicrous piece of legislation.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7081038.stm

FBI Hoped to Follow Falafel Trail to Iranian Terrorists Here
Like Hansel and Gretel hoping to follow their bread crumbs out of the forest, the FBI sifted through customer data collected by San Francisco-area grocery stores in 2005 and 2006, hoping that sales records of Middle Eastern food would lead to Iranian terrorists.
http://cqpolitics.com/
wmspage.cfm?parm1=5&docID=hsnews-000002620892
or
http://www.boingboing.net/2007/11/06/
fbi-hunted-terrorist.html

Beautiful animation backgrounds
This blog is devoted solely to splendid animation backgrounds going back to the early black-and-white cartoons of Disney's Ub Iwerks. What a treasure trove!
http://www.boingboing.net/2007/11/06/beautiful-animation.html
http://animationbackgrounds.blogspot.com/

06 novembre 2007

5 of the best green and ethical social networking sites
Here are EcoStreet favourite green and ethical social networking sites

Ugly Mickey Mouse contest blog
http://mickeyfeio.wordpress.com/

By Saving Gorillas, Can Congolese Save Themselves?
WASHINGTON - If the people of Congo save the mountain gorilla, might the gorilla return the favor?

Top 25 Craziest Deaths

16 Headstones That Make You Go Hmmmm...

Weird and wondrful foreign phrases...