Current Events – Page 39

Animals, Art, Breakthrough Thinking, Current Events, Food, Health & Fitness, Historical Perspectives, Hot Issues, Human Behavior, Latest News

Woman Will Eat Dog Food on YouTube Every Day Until Animal Rights Law Passes

February 6, 2011

FOR NITRO!

Miami Beach resident Nikki Moustaki plans to eat dog food at least once a day every day until an Ohio animal cruelty law known as Nitro’s Law is passed. The law was spurred after 12 starving and 7 dead dogs were discovered in High Caliber K-9, a boarding kennel in Youngstown, OH.

The law is named after Nitro, a pet Rottwieler who died at the facility while his family had to attend to a sick relative out of state, and would increase animal cruelty to a fifth degree felony in Ohio punishable by up to a year in jail. Ohio is only one of nine states that doesn’t count the first count of animal cruelty as a felony. The law was passed in the state’s House of Representatives, but died in the Senate…

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Business, Corporate Manipulation, Culture, Current Events, Entertainment, facebook, Historical Perspectives

Facebook Has Already Trademarked ‘Face’ In Europe – Is ‘Book’ Next?

February 6, 2011

I was aware that Facebook is close to trademarking the term ‘face’, at least in relation to online social networking and related activities, in the United States. But as far as I know, nobody has yet pointed out that Facebook has already pulled that stunt in the EU, i.e. the union of 27 European member states (which include the UK, Germany, France and Spain).

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Big Problems, Current Events, Global Warming, Globalism, Historical Perspectives, Hot Issues, Latest News

Second Severe Amazon Drought This Decade Spells Disaster for Rainforests

February 6, 2011

Drought is a problem in the Amazon Rainforests.

The Amazon suffered a record-making drought in 2005, which was thought to be the worst in the 108 years since tracking rains and droughts began. However, researchers are now saying that the drought the region struggled through in 2010 was likely even worse. The impact of two major droughts within a decade could mean that the rainforest so important to carbon capture could be hitting an irreversible downward spiral.

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Breakthrough Thinking, Crazy Stuff, Culture, Current Events, Globalism, government, Health & Fitness, Historical Perspectives, Human Behavior, Latest News

Indian Government’s Controversial Skin Whitening Competition

February 4, 2011

Sammy Sosa has found the benefits of skin whitening.

A scheme – perhaps the first of its kind in India – that sees the government’s science department team up with a US multinational to promote innovation has run into controversy.

In December 2010 the Department of Science and Technology (DST) launched a monthly competition in association with Cincinnati-based Proctor & Gamble (P&G) to solicit innovative ideas from Indian researchers. Winners were promised a cash award of $1000 and possible commercialization of their ideas by P&G, which has a beauty business worth over US$10 billion in global sales…

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Analysis, Business, Corporate Manipulation, Crazy Stuff, Culture, Current Events, Food, Health & Fitness, Historical Perspectives, Hot Issues, Latest News

Did the “Organic Elite” Sell Out to Monsanto?

February 4, 2011

In corporate America, avoiding litigation with Monsanto is infinitely more important than consumer safety.

By now, most of us have read the miscellaneous (numerous) statements from companies like Whole Foods, Organic Valley, Stonyfield, and the Non-GMO Project in defense of their participation in the so-called “coexistence” talks with the USDA and proponents of GE alfalfa.

These companies have claimed that they had no choice but to get in there and fight for safeguards against contamination and restitution for farmers whose fields are contaminated. Neither of which ended up happening.

They’ve said that they had a choice between staying to fight for protections, and walking away and letting Monsanto have their way. Monsanto, as we’ve seen time and time again, has had their way anyway…

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Art, Breakthrough Thinking, Current Events, Historical Perspectives, Latest News, New Discoveries, People Making a Difference

A Statistician Solves a Scratch Lottery Code

February 4, 2011

A Lucky Scratch Card?

A Canadian geological statistician came to the realization that the numbers on some scratch lottery cards could not be random. “It wasn’t that hard,” Mohan Srivastava says. “I do the same kind of math all day long.”

“… I start looking at the tic-tac-toe game, and I begin to wonder how they make these things,” Srivastava says. “The tickets are clearly mass-produced, which means there must be some computer program that lays down the numbers. Of course, it would be really nice if the computer could just spit out random digits. But that’s not possible, since the lottery corporation needs to control the number of winning tickets. The game can’t be truly random. Instead, it has to generate the illusion of randomness while actually being carefully determined.”

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Breakthrough Thinking, Current Events, Green Friendly, Historical Perspectives, Latest News, Latest Trend, New Discoveries, New Viewpoints, Science & Technology News

In the Future, Your Car May Be Made of Mushrooms

February 3, 2011

Video Games have long been using mushrooms as a source for power, energy and advancement.

In the future, mushrooms may be as common in cars as they are on pizza.

Believe it or not, scientists who are trying to find more sustainable ways to build car parts believe the answers may be found in things such as mushroom roots.

The newest episode of the PBS series “Nova,” which aired on Wednesday 2/2, focuses on the new discoveries that scientists such as Deborah Mielewski, the technical leader of plastics research at Ford Motor Co., are working on to reduce the carbon tire track that autos leave on the environment…

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Analysis, Crazy Stuff, Culture, Current Events, Health & Fitness, Historical Perspectives, Human Behavior, Latest News, Latest Trend, New Discoveries, New Viewpoints

25% of British Children Don’t Play Outside

February 3, 2011

British children enjoying the great indoors.

What happens when you survey 1,000 British parents and 500 children on their leisure activities? You might find out that a quarter of the kids don’t play outside. Or that 12% of adults admit to having ‘no interest’ in the outdoors and 5% thought that trees which don’t lose their leaves during winter are called Carnivores. But wait, it doesn’t stop there. 6% of British adults thought strawberries grew on trees, so it should come as no surprise that 25% of British kids did not know what a mouse looked like.

Yet, oddly, the same surveyed parents do recognise the benefits of outdoor play. The report revealed that 71% of parents think their children are happier when they play outdoors and 92% believe outdoor play is good for their children’s health. So why are they spending twice as much time glued to a computer or TV screen, than being outdoors?

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Breakthrough Thinking, Crazy Stuff, Current Events, Human Behavior

Water Propelled Jet-Pack Coming in March!

February 3, 2011

Zoom, zoom, zoom. Take a jet-pack to the moon!

So, like most men, you’re going through your midlife crisis, and you’re looking at a sports-bike, a mistress or maybe an Ariel Atom. The problem with all that is that if you’re like me, a middle aged man with less and less hair and more and more belly, you’d look ridiculous on a motorbike. There’s no point in getting a mistress because you’re already having trouble keeping up with your wife, and you have no clue as to what an Ariel Atom is.

(video after jump…)

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Breakthrough Thinking, Crazy Stuff, Culture, Current Events, government, Health & Fitness, Historical Perspectives, Hot Issues, Human Behavior

Guns, Guns For Everyone: Bill Would Require All Citizens to Buy a Gun

February 3, 2011

Guns are good, unless you don’t have one, right?

Five South Dakota lawmakers have introduced legislation that would require any adult 21 or older to buy a firearm “sufficient to provide for their ordinary self-defence.”

The bill, which would take effect Jan. 1, 2012, would give people six months to acquire a firearm after turning 21. The provision does not apply to people who are barred from owning a firearm. Nor does the measure specify what type of firearm. Instead, residents would pick one “suitable to their temperament, physical capacity, and preference.”

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Breakthrough Thinking, Crazy Stuff, Current Events, Historical Perspectives, Human Behavior, Humor, People Making a Difference

Woman Grows Out Her Fingernails for 22 Years in the Hopes of Meeting Oprah

February 2, 2011

Atlanta mother and grandmother, Jazz Ison Sinkfield, has been growing out her fingernails for the last 22 years in the hopes of meeting Oprah and “a lot of more celebrities.”

So far her quest has only landed her on the local news, but her nails, the longest of which is 24 inches, are actually pretty impressive. Their length keeps her from doing everyday tasks like tying her shoes and putting on jewelry, and she pays $250 a month at the nail salon to maintain them, but Jazz is committed nonetheless.

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Breakthrough Thinking, Crazy Stuff, Culture, Current Events, Historical Perspectives, Hot Issues, Latest News, People Making a Difference

WikiLeaks Nominated for Nobel Peace Prize

February 2, 2011

Another boost for the controversial WikiLeaks

A member of the Parliament of Norway says he has nominatedWikiLeaks for the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize.

Snorre Valen, a member of the Socialist Left party, announced his decision to nominate the whistle-blowing organization on his blog.

“WikiLeaks have contributed to the struggle for [human rights, democracy and freedom of speech] globally, by exposing (among many other things) corruption, war crimes and torture — some times even conducted by allies of Norway,” he wrote…

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