just want to fly

http://tingilinde.typepad.com/starstuff/strange_and_unusual/index.html

317 gallons of radioactive waste

TOKYO, July 17 — Japanese authorities today suspended the operation of a nuclear power plant damaged by a deadly earthquake near the nation’s northwest coast that has raised new concerns about the safety of Japan’s accident-plagued nuclear power industry.

Tokyo Electric, the company that operates the nuclear plant, was examining whether the earthquake had knocked the lids off drums of radioactive waste at the site, a spokesman for the company said.

The earthquake, which struck on Monday morning near the city of Kashiwazaki, caused a small fire at the nuclear plant, the world’s largest by amount of electricity produced, which later leaked about 317 gallons of water containing low levels of radioactive materials into the Sea of Japan.


http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/17/world/asia/17cnd-quake.html?hp

deep sea advent

HOBART, Australia (AP) -- A squid as long as a bus and weighing 550 pounds washed up on an Australian beach, officials said Wednesday.

The giant squid was found by a beachcomber on the Australian island state of Tasmania.

"It is a whopper," said Genefor Walker-Smith, a zoologist who studies invertebrates at the Tasmanian Museum.

Giant squid live in waters off southern Australia and New Zealand -- where a half-ton colossus, believed to be the world's largest, was caught in February. They attract the sperm whales that feed on them.

The dead squid, measuring 3 feet across at its widest point and 26 feet from the tip of its body to the end of its tentacles, was found early Wednesday by a beachcomber at Ocean Beach on the island state of Tasmania's west coast, the museum said.

The squid was expected to be taken to the museum, where DNA and other scientific tests would be carried out before it is preserved and possibly put on public display.

For anyone thinking of a calamari feast, Walker-Smith said giant squid contain high ammounts of ammonia for bouyancy.

New Zealand fishermen netted a 1,100-pound, 33-foot-long squid in the Southern Ocean in February. It is widely believed to be the largest specimen of the rare and mysterious deep-water species Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni, or colossal squid, ever caught.

Experts believe the creatures, which have long been one of the most mysterious denizens of the deep ocean, may grow even bigger -- up to 46-feet long.

13th ammendment

Slowly I opened my eyes and tossed my arm against my phone to hit snooze on my phone for the fifth time this morning. It was already 20 minutes later than I normally wake so I lifted myself halfway up and decided to get my ass in gear.
Just a few minutes earlier I was residing in a home as the nanny of a Chinese family consisting of a husband, wife, 101 children and another nanny. It was a warehouse set up with bunks lining the rooms and warm tones through out. The floor was cold when I walked on it.We were 2 blocks away from the market and an industrial parkway. I took care of these children as if they were my own. We did not have issues feeding or taking care of each other because we were a unit and community. After being there after a few weeks I came to find out each child was raised then sold to the highest bidder. I lived in a breeding ground full of moral issue. I fought with that as I was waking up.
Which brings me to the topic of human trafficking and a couple facts I would like to share...

United States State Department data "estimated 600,000 to 820,000 men, women, and children [are] trafficked across international borders each year, approximately 80 percent are women and girls and up to 50 percent are minors. The data also illustrate that the majority of transnational victims are trafficked into commercial sexual exploitation."[7] Due to the illegal nature of trafficking and differences in methodology, the exact extent is unknown
In Asia, Japan is the major destination country for trafficked women, especially from the Philippines and Thailand. The US State Department has rated Japan as either a ‘Tier 2’ or a ‘Tier 2 Watchlist’ country every year since 2001 in its annual Trafficking in Persons reports. Both these ratings implied that Japan was (to a greater or lesser extent) not fully compliant with minimum standards for the elimination of human trafficking trade.

delivery

Recombinant Bovine Growth Hormones are shot into conventional dairy cows, sometimes as often as every couple weeks, to increase milk supply. This causes them to fill up more and more quickly. Any mother who has ever nursed can empathize with the discomfort this must cause the dairy cows. This discomfort can clearly lead to mastitis and puss from the mastitis getting into the milk. Mastitis normally is treated with antibiotics. These hormones can also cause reproductive problems including giving birth to deformed calves, digestive problems, and persistent sores on the cows.
After filling the tanks for a few years, these cows will die early because the rBGH shortens their uncomfortable life by as much as thirteen years! Then, many are turned into hamburger so we continue to ingest this hormone in another way.

Banned in Europe and Canada, the U.S. has decided to continue this harmful and painful (to the cows) practice. Known as BGH, rBGH, BST, and rBST, this a Genetically Engineered hormone that has been used since 1994. There have been no long term studies of the effects of this in our bodies or in our children; like HFCS, we are walking experiments. We do know that is is unsafe and uncomfortable for the dairy cows. Dairy farmers who don't use this hormone are disadvantaged so this affects organic farming practices. We also know that the milk has very high levels of a natural growth factor (IGF-1) which is quite similar to the natural growth factor in us humans. It is an insulin-like growth factor and the IGF0-1 of rBGH treated cows is more bioactive than natural (and this is increased with pasteurization) so the effects on our biology is unclear but there is sound reason to believe that it does something to our bodies, especially to growing children. When we drink milk contaminated with rBGH, it is absorbed into our bloodstream where it can effect other hormones. Excess amounts have been suspected in cancers of the breast, colon, and prostate.

Milk from cows with rBGH is not the same as organic milk. Samuel Epstein includes these differences:

chemically and nutritionally different
rBGH milk increases risk of cancer
rBGH makes cows sick
rBGH is a GE hormone
pus and bacteria can be found in the milk from mastitis in the conventional cows
antibiotics from treating the mastitis can be found in the conventional milk, many of which are illegal
increased concentration of thyroid hormone enzyme thyorixin-5-monodeiodinase (long chain) and decrease of short chain fatty acids in conventionally treated rBGH dairy
conventional rBGH dairy products have less protein and more saturated fat
dairy cows treated with rBGH have milk with high levels of IGF-1
Organic dairy cows are not treated with BGH. Organic dairy farmers get twice the money for their milk as the conventional dairy farmer. The organic dairy cow must be fed grain or hay that has not been treated with herbicides, pesticides or chemical fertilizer or be pasture raised on land that is free of chemicals, fertilizers, herbicides, or pesticides. The cows are not given hormones or antibiotics and must be treated humanely.

Imported European dairy, including the much beloved imported cheeses, do not contain rBGH.

alleged atheist

I remember this conversation I once had with him around Thanksgiving. I asked him what he loved the most about his day, with a glazed over look and a sudden softness he went on to tell me about the streetlights. He was not quite as agile as he once was and lived in a home that contained only a suitcase full of his belongings. The only variance was the streetlights, they framed the workers hulling snow, they highlighted the courtyard that sat next to the parking lot, they gave subtle nuances to the surroundings that normally felt void. They reminded him of change when he needed it the most.