My.World.View

Merck Researcher Admits: Gardasil Guards Against Almost Nothing

2011-09-13T12:53:00.000-07:00

Read my post about Gardasil at my Midwifery Blog

Oklahoma boiling...

2011-09-07T11:16:00.000-07:00

Oklahoma City of all places has set an incredible amount of record high temperature in 2011 alone

Weather in OKC

Excerpts from the link "Weather in OKC" above:

Single Day Records

Record high OKC temperature Record: 113 degrees - August 11, 1936.
Top 10 highest maximum temperatures in 2011:

110 degrees on July 9. (tied for 3rd in history)
110 degrees on August 5. (tied for 3rd in history)
110 degrees on August 6. (tied for 3rd in history)
109 degrees on August 2. (tied for 9th in history)
109 degrees on August 3. (tied for 9th in history)
108 degrees on July 7.
108 degrees on August 4.
108 degrees on August 8.
108 degrees on August 24.
108 degrees on August 28.

Record warmest low OKC temperature Record: 83 degrees - July 25, 1934; August 1, 1934; August 12 & 13, 1936. 
Top 10 highest low temperatures in 2011:

81 degrees on July 10.
81 degrees on August 3.
81 degrees on August 4.
81 degrees on August 6.
80 degrees on June 27.
80 degrees on July 7.
80 degrees on July 27.
80 degrees on August 28.
80 degrees on August 30.
(11 days at 79 degrees.)

Daily record high temperatures set in 2011:

June 17 - 103
June 18 - 104
June 19 - 101
June 27 - 103
June 30 - 102
July 7 - 108
July 9 - 110
July 10 - 105
July 27 – 107
August 3 – 108
August 4 – 108
August 5 – 110
August 6 – 110
August 8 – 108
August 20 – 105
August 23 – 106
August 24 – 108
August 27 – 105
August 28 – 108
August 31 – 105

Daily record max low temperatures set in 2011:

June 17 - 79
June 18 - 79
June 27 - 80
July 27 – 80
August 3 – 81
August 6 – 81
August 24 – 78
August 28 – 80
August 30 – 80

Record average high temperature in summer (Jun-Aug) - 96.2 degrees in 1998. 
Average high temperature in summer 2011 (Jun - present) - 100.7 degrees.

Average temperature for hottest summer (Jun-Aug) - 85.9 degrees in 1934 and 1980. 
Average temperature in summer 2011 (Jun - present) - 87.4 degrees.

Average first 90 degree day - May 6 (This year was April 3).
 Average first 100 degree day - July 9 (This year was June 14).

Consecutive 90 degree days 
Record: 71 days - June 23-Sept 1, 1980
2011: 71 days so far. (Tied 1st longest in history.)

110 degree days in calendar yearRecord: 3 days in 1936.
2011: 3 days. (tied for 1st most in history.)

105 degree days in calendar yearRecord: 17 in 1980.
2011: 21 days. (1st most in history)

100 degree days in calendar year 
Record: 50 days in 1980. 
2011: 60 days. (1st most in history.)

95 degree days in calendar yearRecord: 81 days in 1980.
2011: 82 days. (1st most in history.)

So how is this affective the public...

WILDFIRES

Central Texas Wildfire Destroys Nearly 800 Homes

Meers Fire Flares Back Up

wichita mountains, meers fire torches homes, prompts road closures

crews continue watching for oklahoma city wildfire flare ups

noble wildfire burns 300 acres three firefighters injured

firefighters battle flames heat in northeast oklahoma city

fire fight continues

northeast oklahoma city fire rages for second day

Heat-Related Deaths

watonga man is 21st person to die of heat related illness this summer in oklahoma

[American Health Care System]: Third Leading Cause of Death

2011-08-29T15:41:00.000-07:00

Excerpts from the book The China Study by Dr. T. Colin Campbell and Dr. Thomas M. Campbell

Just How Unhealthy Are Americans? 

2/3 of Americans are overweight

1/3 Americans 21 years+ are obese

obese: he/she is carrying more than 1/3 of a person above and beyond a healthy weight
"similarly, frightening trends have been occurring in children as young as two years of age"

15 million Americans have diabetes

34% of diabetics are unaware of their illness

Half of Americans have a health problem that requires taking a prescription drug every week

100 million+ Americans have high cholesterol

1/3 Americans will die of heart disease

Americans male has 47% chance of getting cancer. American females have 38% chance (according to American Cancer Society)

at rates highest in the world

Cleaning Up the Mess...?

In 1997, we spent over a trillion, yes $1,000,000,000,000+, on health care

$1 out of every $7 is spent on health care

Health Care Financing Administration predicts we will spend $16,000,000,000,000 on health care by 2030

Yet we still have tens of millions of people without access to basic care (due to being uninsured)

But it doesn't add up...
#1: health care expenses
#37: health care system performances

How Are Our Hospitals Killing Us?

The category Adverse Drug Effects are "the hospitalized patients who die from 'noxious, unintended and undesired effect of a drug' which occurs at normal doses... with the use of approved medicines and correct medication procedures"

In addition, "One out of 15 of all hospitalized patients have experienced a serious adverse drug reaction, 'one that requires hospitalization, prolongs hospitalization, is permanently disabling or results in death'"

This number does not include tens of thousands who suffer from incorrect administration and use of these drugs, nor does it include adverse drug events that are labeled 'possible' effects or drugs that don't accomplish their goals

Why Isn't Preventative Medicine Presented?

Arguably, the main problems: Nutritional Confusion ~~and Ulterior Motives ($$$:Insurance)~~
The Ulterior Motive spiel is a rant that I will prefer to keep you from reading as it is simply a rant... no matter how true it is

I will not get in to the effects of animal products on health in this post... I will post this when I have more time. But for now, look at the difference in the current American diet and the disease-preventing nutritional diet based on the most nutrient-dense food per calorie consumed

Let your food be your medicine and your medicine be your food. —Hippocrates

All Too Often, Fancy Outweighs Fact

Further Resources:

FAQ's by Dr. Fuhrman
The China Study
The China Study in the NYTimes
Food Matters

Why Women Live Longer ;)

2011-08-25T18:09:00.000-07:00

{Impractical} Shoes

2011-08-25T17:59:00.000-07:00

Louis Pasteur was [WRONG]

2011-07-16T18:59:00.000-07:00

Louis Pasteur's Germ Theory of Disease was wrong :(

Germ theory- outside micro-organisms are the primary causal agents for disease
Cellular theory-micro-organisms become pathogenic only after the health of the host organism deteriorates

germ theory suggests disease can 'strike' anybody anytime; cellular theory says disease is created by unhealthy conditions, germs causes diseases only where there is lack of health
germ theory says we must 'build defenses' with vaccines, antibiotics and other drugs; cellular theory tells us to create health (an environment germs cannot live)
germ theory sold for 3 reasons: easy to explain, blames diseases outside of ourselves, creates market for drugs and vaccines (multi billion $ investment)

"Virus of cancer (or any other bacteria) can be easily changed into the type of (healthy) bacteria that normally inhabits the colon, and it can also be changed into the destructive bacteria of typhoid simply by altering the media in which it is grown...In reality, it is not the bacteria themselves that produce the disease, but we believe it is the chemical constituents of these micro-organisms enacting upon the unbalanced cell metabolism of the human body that in actuality produce the disease. We also believe if the metabolism of the human body is perfectly balanced or poised, it is susceptible to no disease"-Dr. Royal Raymond Rife after inventing series of very powerful microscopes and studying germs in different conditions
"There is no particularly fixed species of different germs and they all had the capacity to change their structure with the changes in their nutrients"-Dr. Rosenow
"Simple bacteria forms like streptococci (pus germs) could be made to assume all of the characteristics of pneumoncocci (pneumonia germs_ simply by feeding them on pneumonia virus and making other minor modifications in their environment. When Dr. Rosenow reversed the procedure and fed pneumonia germs on pus, they quickly changed into streptococci. Many other experiments were carried on, and, in every instance, the germs, regardless of type, changed into other types when their food and environment were altered" -Dr. James review of Dr. Rosenow's study published in Journal of Infectious Diseases

"There are no specific diseases: there are specific disease conditions" -Florence Nightingale, British nurse

"Herein lies the key to avoiding disease. We can create in our colon, and in our entire body, an environment that nourishes beneficial bacteria and does not provide the ingredients for disease. In this environment, beneficial bacteria will flourish and disease-causing bacteria will either starve, fail to reproduce or else be transformed into beneficial bacteria that actually nourishes your body. It sounds amazing, but it's been seen under a microscope 'as clear as a cat in your lap'".

I also wrote many shocking. interesting. unbelievable. facts we aren't told about vaccinations: New Blog- Complete Post on Truth about Vaccines

[Top Dances] season 8

2011-07-14T11:11:00.000-07:00

Best Show on the Planet: So You Think You Can Dance
Best dances on season 8 (so far... part 1/3)

Most Insane Things Done to Get Outta Something

2011-05-11T09:56:00.000-07:00

Taking extreme measures to get off the hook

1. Stab Yourself

man called into work and said he was stabbed by three men and continued to explain the men's appearances
he didn't just give the excuse, he actually stabbed himself repeatedly
his wounds were potentially lethal wounds requiring stiches
local K-9 units and five other agencies were called on the case
No evidence pointed this to anyone but himself
Incident took place outside a Target, to get out of his job at movie store Blockbuster
Denver, Colorado

2. Fake a Heart Attack

man could not pay his bill at a restaurant ($23), so he faked a heart attack at the restaurant table
did this twice in one day
first being dropped off by a cab, couldn't pay the bill, faked heart attack and driver drove off
man was surprised his scheme worked and tried it again after ordering a steak dinner in mall restaurant
ambulance was called, hospital soon realized he was faking
police charged him with fraud; if convicted: nine months in jail and fine of $10,000
Wisconsin

3. Set Car on Fire

woman pulled over for drunk driving
reverses into cop car
flees seen and pulls car into ditch
removes license plate and lights car on fire
but woman doesn't think out entire plan, she remains at scene standing next to her car on fire still drinking

4. Car Chase to Avoid Church

7-year old boy desperately wanted to skip church
He excused himself and stole his dad's car
Went on wild police chase before running into someone's house
No one was charged
Salt Lake City, Utah

5. Report Fake Kidnapping to get out of Showing Parents Report Card

young boy schemed up a story to tell his parents to avoid showing them his grades
he reported he was kidnapped at gunpoint and taken into car
But because of his sharp skills, he was able to escape but his book bag had to remain in the car
Parents were suspicious of his lack of details and soon the boy confessed
Alabama

6. Choose Jail rather than Face Crappy Life

man completely unhappy with life: paying child support to his child who refused to talk to him, no marriage, no happiness
decided to rob a bank complete with going unmasked, writing threatening note with fingerprints on it, turned to face the camera and shrugged
man went home to wait on cops to take him in
man was hoping jail sentence would give him a few years to sort his life out and knew bills wouldn't be sent there
unfortunately, his sentence was 25 years in a state prison
his child support: less than $700; his job: personal director: $60,000/year

7. Fake Own Death

man paranoid police were closing in on him after lifelong drug trading faked his death just days before his wedding
man was on vacation with fiance when he went "missing" ocean off Florida coast and police reported he drowned
man faked double life for 20 years: had ex-wife, fiance, and 4-year old daughter at the time
man was later pulled over and forced to confess as his new name has no registry
police didn't charge man with anything
he was pulled over for not having light on license plate
there was never any warrant, and police were never searching for him
he assumed he was being watched by police and he was going to be in for, but they had no idea...

Worst Beverages in America

2011-05-05T10:07:00.000-07:00

REPOSTED from article

OUTRAGEOUS

Worst Water: Snapple Agave Melon Antioxidant Water

(1 bottle, 20 fl oz)

150 calories
0 g fat
33 g sugars

Sugar Equivalent: 2 Good Humor Chocolate Éclair Bars

Worst Bottled Tea: SoBe Green Tea

(1 bottle, 20 fl oz)240 calories
0 g fat
61 g sugars

Sugar Equivalent: 4 slices Sara Lee Cherry Pie

Worst Energy Drink: Rockstar Energy Drink

(1 can, 16 fl oz)280 calories
0 g fat
62 g sugars

Sugar Equivalent: 6 Krispy Kreme Original Glazed Doughnuts

Worst Bottled Coffee: Starbucks Vanilla Frappuccino

(1 bottle, 13.7 fl oz)

290 calories
4.5 g fat (2.5 g saturated)
45 g sugars

Sugar Equivalent: 32 Nilla Wafers

Worst Soda: Sunkist (1 bottle, 20 fl oz)

320 calories
0 g fat
84 g sugars

Sugar Equivalent: 6 Breyers Oreo Ice Cream Sandwiches

Worst Beer: Sierra Nevada Bigfoot

(1 bottle, 12 fl oz)

330 calories
0 g fat
32.1 g carbohydrates
9.6% alcohol

Carbohydrate Equivalent: 12-pack of Michelob Ultra

Worst Kid Drink: Tropicana Tropical Fruit Fury Twister

(1 bottle, 20 fl oz)

340 calories
0 g fat
60 g sugars

Sugar Equivalent: Two 7-ounce canisters Reddi-wip

Worst Functional Beverage: Arizona Rx Energy
(1 can, 23 fl oz)
345 calories
0 g fat
83 g sugars Sugar Equivalent: 6 Cinnamon Roll Pop-Tarts

Worst Juice Imposter: Arizona Kiwi Strawberry
(1 ca, 23 fl oz) 345 calories
0 g fat
81 g sugars Sugar Equivalent: 7 bowls of Froot Loops

Worst Espresso Drink: Starbucks Peppermint White Chocolate Mocha
with Whipped Cream (venti, 20 fl oz)
660 calories
22 g fat (15 g saturated)
95 g sugars Sugar Equivalent: 8½ scoops Edy’s Slow Churned Rich and Creamy Coffee Ice Cream

Worst Lemonade: Auntie Anne’s Wild Cherry Lemonade Mixer
(32 fl oz) 470 calories
0 g fat
110 g sugars Sugar Equivalent: 11 bowls of Cookie Crisp cereal

Worst Hot Chocolate: Starbucks White Hot Chocolate with Whipped Cream
(venti, 20 fl oz) 520 calories
16 g fat (11 g saturated)
75 g sugars Sugar Equivalent: 9 Strawberry Rice Krispie Treats

Worst Frozen Mocha: Così Double Oh! Arctic Mocha
(gigante, 23 fl oz) 662 calories
26 g fat (15 g saturated)
88 g sugars Sugar Equivalent: 19 Oreo Cookies

Worst Frozen Coffee: Dairy Queen Caramel MooLatte
(24 fl oz) 870 calories
24 g fat (19 g saturated, 1 g trans)
112 g sugars Sugar Equivalent: 12 Dunkin’ Donuts Bavarian Kreme Doughnuts

Worst Margarita: Traditional Red Lobster Lobsterita
(24 fl oz) 890 calories
0 g fat
183 g carbohydrates Carbohydrate Equivalent: 7 Almond Joy candy bars

Worst Float: Baskin-Robbins Ice Cream Soda (vanilla ice cream and cola)
(large, 28.6 fl oz) 960 calories
40 g fat (25 g saturated, 1.5 g trans)
136 g sugars Sugar Equivalent: 9.7 Fudgsicle fudge bars

Worst Frozen Fruit Drink: Krispy Kreme Lemon Sherbet Chiller
(20 fl oz) 980 calories
40 g fat (36 g saturated)
115 g sugars Sugar Equivalent: 16 medium-size chocolate eclairs

Worst Drive-thru Shake: McDonald’s Triple Thick Chocolate Shake
(large, 32 fl oz) 1,160 calories
27 g fat (16 g saturated, 2 g trans)
168 g sugars Sugar Equivalent: 13 McDonald’s Baked Hot Apple Pies

Worst Smoothie: Smoothie King Peanut Power Plus Grape

(large, 40 fl oz) 1,498 calories
44 g fat (8 g saturated)
214 g sugars Sugar Equivalent: 20 Reese's Peanut Butter Cups

Worst Beverage in America: Cold Stone PB&C
(Gotta Have It size, 24 fl oz) 2,010 calories
131 g fat (68 g saturated)
153 g sugars Sugar Equivalent: 30 Chewy Chips Ahoy Cookies

Most Insane Things Done While Sleepwalking

2011-05-02T17:34:00.000-07:00

Re-posted Article

1. Climb a 13-story Crane

15-year old girl climbed 130 foot tall crane
London, England

2. Assault police officer, pee on road, get DUI

nurse took Ambien to sleep, woke up, drank 1/2 bottle of wine
wrecked car at intersection and peed on road
assaulted the police who arrived at crime
Denver, Colorado

British man boarded a plane
drank 2 glasses of wine and took Ambien before falling to sleep
woke up and tore his shirt like The Hulk
stored around plane threatening to kill himself and passengers
served 5 days time
Charlotte, North Carolina flight to London, England

3. Gorging

woman mysteriously gains 60 pounds and seeks medical attention
diagnosed with "sleep eating" - more common in women

4. Jump out Window

17 year old threw himself out fourth story window
broken arm and broken leg - still peacefully sleeping when found
Germany

Comedian Mike Birbiglia threw himself out of closet window at hotel after dreaming of missile attack
Mike woke up and was aware what was happening
Ran to nearest hospital to receive 30 stitches

5. Record Album

Dion McGregor was recorded by roommate
Released the album in the 60s

Royal Wedding: All-About-Hats

2011-04-30T12:09:00.000-07:00

Internet and Television programs are overtaken by Royal Wedding News.Period.

Most interesting coverage [to me] is the crazy hat pictures.
Enjoy.

who in whoville

Mother of the Bride

And let's not ignore the normal coverage:

Massive crowd wanting in on the action

Elton John at the ceremony

8 tiered fruit wedding cake

second 'wedding dress' to celebrate after ceremony

480+ Inmates Escape Afghan prisons

2011-04-25T08:07:00.000-07:00

Over 480 Afghan inmates escape a prison via a tunnel dug by Taliban insurgents. The 1,000-foot tunnel was being dug for months. The hole in the prison cell allowed each prisoner to escape one man at a time. The hole had been made by a car jack.

The prison was Sarposa prison in Kandahar, "the birthplace of the Taliban". The officials did not find out about the escape until a half hour after all prisoners had already escaped.

"The militants began digging the tunnel about five months ago from a house within shooting distance of the prison guard towers. It was not immediately clear whether they lived in the house while they dug. They meticulously plotted the tunnel's course around police checkpoints and major roads, the insurgent group said in a statement.

The diggers finally broke through to the prison cells around 11 p.m. Sunday night, and a handful of inmates who knew of the plan unlocked cells and ushered hundreds of inmates to freedom without a shot being fired. "

Future of (Glass)

2011-04-25T07:49:00.000-07:00

Our Near Future

Some of this technology is already implemented, but at a very high price.
The customized shopping experience, portable phone display and auto-tinted windows are my favorite!

75-year-old cut off internet to Armenia

2011-04-24T09:19:00.000-07:00

Woman from Georgia was innocently digging for scrap copper to sell near the capital Tbilisi. Her spade pierced through the fiber-optic internet cable causing internet service to Armenia. A total of about 3.2 million people were without internet for five hours.

The woman faces up to three years in prison if convicted of damaging property. She was temporarily released "on account of her old age."

"The damage was detected by a system monitoring the fibre-optic link from western Europe and a security team was immediately dispatched to the spot, where the woman was arrested. The interior ministry said she had no accomplices."

YouTube selects

2011-04-21T19:31:00.000-07:00

"Rango" Behind the Scenes
Actors play out scenes but only record voices

FAVORITE advert at the moment :)
check out 0:47-0:48 :D :D :D

Reeps One - insane beatboxer - England

(In) Season

2011-04-21T19:01:00.000-07:00

Although beautiful.... Who Has an Event for This?

Hmm...

Maybe We Should go to the Experts First... Global Warming

2011-02-28T16:44:00.000-08:00

Graph to left shows the natural and anthropogenic (human) contributions of greenhouse gases. Keep in mind the error bars and experts do not yet know the exact emission.

-Also note how interestingly, aerosols do negative damage, so cleaning up the air actually will contribute to global warming...

cite

So where did this sudden interest and research come from?

Just got back from my OSLEP class at Oklahoma University... on the class 'PaleoPerspective on Climate Change'

Oklahoma Scholar-Leadership Enrichment Program

I loved it so much!

I learned more than I could ever write on a blog! But I feel I must share some :)

To be honest, My previous views:

anthropogentic forcing of greenhouse gases was completely made up
geologists and paleontologists just haven't studied Earth's fluctuating climate history enough to see that this cycle is normal!

Current views:

non-bias research proves me completely wrong :)
global warming is taking place
Temperatures have always fluctuated dramatically throughout Earth's history
rise is CO2 emission is dramatic as well as direct increase in temperature
Earth will be fine with global warming

some animals will adapt
some animals will migrate
some animals will die
that's life

However, how uncomfortable will humans be with global warming
Rate at which global warming is occuring is quite scary if you allow yourself to research it and not shut down in disbelief because of what some people have said on it
I'm not an expert or even have a valid logical opinion unless I've thoroughly researched the topic and submitted my views to professionals.

What the Experts Say
I've learned that the majority, and I'm saying conservatively at least 95% of the experts in paleontology, geology, etc [not meteorologists... I realized how ignorant (meaning this as pleasantly as possible) they are about climate change believe it or not] are not the ones who mark this proposal as invalid.
It is actually the general public who is influenced by the media (particularly business, economical, and political views).
May I remind you, these are not the people who have even opened their minds to doing research on this matter or have any scientific background at all.

Albedo Effect
The main way of explaining global warming to me was the albedo effect, also known as reflection coefficient

This is the amount of electromagnetic radiation that reflects away, compared to the amount that gets absorbed; The lower the albedo, the more radiation from the Sun that gets absorbed by the planet, and temperatures will rise. If the albedo is higher, and the Earth is more reflective, more of the radiation is returned to space, and the planet cools.cite

Earth is Always Changing
It is true that the Earth's climate has always and will always change.
However, the recent rise in temperature has direct correlation with the rise in CO2 in the Earth's atmosphere. I am also saying that the rise in greenhouse gas should not be blamed solely human actions. For instance, methane and water vapor are a greenhouse gas with water vapor being the most abundant and methane being very 'concentrated' and very effective in small amounts.

Gas	Formula	Contribution (%)
Water Vapor	H₂O	36 – 72 %
Carbon Dioxide	CO₂	9 – 26 %
Methane	CH₄	4 – 9 %
Ozone	O₃	3 – 7 % cite

For example, cows belches (not farts actually) produce a good chunk of the methane in the atmosphere.

The 30 million bison roaming the Great Plains are estimated to have released 46 Tg CO2e enteric methane emissions annually (3), compared to the 140 Tg CO2e methane released in 2008 by U.S. beef and dairy cattle (about 85% of which are grazing at any particular point in time, the rest are in feedlots) (5). cite
Another interesting part is the population of cows increased as the American Bison became instinct, largely by human efforts.

Interestingly, people say that water vapor is the most abundant and is in far greater excess than our CO2 contributions so we're not actually making a big difference. But water vapor increases at temperature increases.

The Clausius-Clapeyron relation establishes that air can hold more water vapor per unit volume when it warms. This and other basic principles indicate that warming associated with increased concentrations of the other greenhouse gases also will increase the concentration of water vapor. Because water vapor is a greenhouse gas this results in further warming, a "positive feedback" that amplifies the original warming. This positive feedback does not result in runaway global warming because it is offset by other processes that induce negative feedbacks, which stabilize average global temperatures. cite

There's not just one area to blame
cite

The IPCC
The IPCC, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is a very conservative organization despite what some say. Below is the desciption on their website.

It was established by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) to provide the world with a clear scientific view on the current state of knowledge in climate change and its potential environmental and socio-economic impacts.
Thousands of scientists from all over the world contribute to the work of the IPCC on a voluntary basis.
Review is an essential part of the IPCC process, to ensure an objective and complete assessment of current information. IPCC aims to reflect a range of views and expertise.

The IPCC is an intergovernmental body. It is open to all member countries of the United Nations (UN) and WMO. Currently 194 countries are members of the IPCC.
Governments participate in the review process and the plenary Sessions, where main decisions about the IPCC work programme are taken and reports are accepted, adopted and approved. The IPCC Bureau Members, including the Chair, are also elected during the plenary Sessions.

The work of the organization is therefore policy-relevant and yet policy-neutral, never policy-prescriptive.
All IPCC reports must be endorsed by the Panel during a Working Group or a Plenary Session. There are three levels of endorsement:

"Approval" means that the material has been subjected to line by line discussion and agreement. It is the procedure used for the Summary for Policymakers of the Reports.
"Adoption" is a process of endorsement section by section. It is used for the Synthesis Report and overview chapters of Methodology Reports.
"Acceptance" signifies that the material has not been subject to line by line nor section by section discussion and agreement, but nevertheless presents a comprehensive, objective and balanced view of the subject matter.

The preparation of Assessment reports, Special reports and Methodology reports follows the same procedures. Simplified procedures apply to Technical papers.

This doesn't even begin to explain the work that goes into publishing reports from the IPCC. Literally, the comittee goes through each submitted research paper LINE BY LINE and the reports are discussed WORD BY WORD.
Members have to agree and take a VERY conservative stance, for instance, their 'likehood of occurrence' range is:

Likelihood Terminology	Likelihood of the occurrence/ outcome
Virtually certain	> 99% probability
Extremely likely	> 95% probability
Very likely	> 90% probability
Likely	> 66% probability
More likely than not	> 50% probability
About as likely as not	33 to 66% probability
Unlikely	< 33% probability
Very unlikely	< 10% probability
Extremely unlikely	< 5% probability
Exceptionally unlikely	< 1% probability

Basically, if the IPCC reports state something, it has virtually been agreed upon by the leading experts and most sound research in the relevant fields.

Below are some of the IPCC reports:
In the 2007 IPCC report (most recent), the following statements were made:

IPCC on Current Warming Trends

The average surface temperature of the Earth is likely to increase by 2 to 11.5°F (1.1-6.4°C) by the end of the 21st century, relative to 1980-1990, with a best estimate of 3.2 to 7.2°F (1.8-4.0°C) (see Figure 1). The average rate of warming over each inhabited continent is very likely to be at least twice as large as that experienced during the 20th century.
Warming will not be evenly distributed around the globe (see Figure 2):

Land areas will warm more than oceans in part due to water's ability to store heat.
High latitudes will warm more than low latitudes in part due to positive feedback effects from melting ice (as discussed above).
Most of North America; all of Africa, Europe, northern and central Asia; and most of Central and South America are likely to warm more than the global average. Projections suggest that the warming will be close to the global average in south Asia, Australia and New Zealand, and southern South America.

The warming will differ by season, with winters warming more than summers in most areas.
For additional explanatory information about some of the projected spatial and seasonal differences in warming, see the NOAA Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL) fact sheet "Patterns of Global Warming" (PDF, 1 pp., 15 KB, About PDF)
Eleven of the twelve years in the period (1995–2006) rank among the top 12 warmest years in the instrumental record (since 1850, towards the end of the Little Ice Age).

IPCC on Hurricanes

There has been an increase in hurricane intensity in the North Atlantic since the 1970s, and that increase correlates with increases in sea surface temperature.
The observed increase in hurricane intensity is larger than climate models predict for the sea surface temperature changes we have experienced.

Below shows different expected rise of CO2 with the orange line showing the rate if CO2 emission stopped now: cite

The projected temperature change cite

What about Nature??
Natural processes have also contributed right? Yes... but interestingly, nature usually has a negative effect on temperature. The graph below demonstrates this very well:

As you can see, greenhouse gas is rising as temperature is rising, at about the same time as volcanic activity, for example is helping us in terms of abrupt climate change although this is still happening very quickly!

cite

This graph shows that yes, CO2 was being emitted in the very distant past, but the anthropogenic forced increase is literally off the charts

This is just the beginning of all there is to say, but I wanted to share my contributions... I made a wikipedia page with 2 other group members, please read :) Effects of Climate Change on Terrestrial Animals
Remember, people can change my page at any time, so I hope what you read is my work :)

And kids will roam... Baby locked in bank vault

2011-02-26T09:17:00.000-08:00

I just read this story and it freaked me out... I couldn't imagine feeling this helpless.

A 14-month old baby girl was locked in a bank vault in a branch of Wells Fargo.
An empoyee's grandchild was mistakenly locked in the vault after the mother of the child allowed the baby to roam around the bank.

The family realized the child was locked into the bank vault after an unsuccessful search for the girl throughout the bank. The family rushed to the camera television to confirm.

First responders had to pump in fresh air into the vents of the vault for the small child. Her cries were heard outside the doors.

Three hours later, the child was rescued.

Beautiful Science Visualizations

2011-02-21T08:09:00.000-08:00

HIV Virus
Beautiful image, but horrible reality

AraNet
Genome-wide Gene Function Association Network for small flowering plant Arabidopsis thaliana
-artists mapped the links between functioning genes in technicolor

T4 Bacteriophage
Bacteriophages are viruses that inject their genomic information into bacteria. This particular image is of the enterobacteria phage T4.
I was surprised how much this looked like the illustrations in textbooks

Tomato Seed Hairs
Tiny hairs on tomato seeds called trichomes secrete goo that hydrate seed and help seed plants and not blow away

'I Will Earn It Back'... Risky Investments

2011-02-16T10:27:00.000-08:00

Lottery Ticket

Current odds of winning grand prize on US lottery ticket is ~ 1/ 195,000,000
Practical tip: Saving $25/ week for 40 years will save ~ $250,000
Saving $50/ week for 40 years will save ~$1,000,000

Collectibles

It's not about how much it's worth but rather if someone will buy it... Is there a market for it?
"Collect for the Love, Not for the Money. Get that car outta the garage and drive it!"

Precious Metals

In 2010, gold reached the same price it held in 1980
'You pay money to hold the asset and it's not going to give you an income'

Cash Value Life Insurance

Term insurance vs Cash Value Life Insurance
Term insure = pay a premium, and upon the death of the insured person, you collect money
Cash Value Life Insurance = money paid for premiums is placed into an account that is supposed to earn income

but 'These policies can cost up to eight times more than term policies that offer the same coverage. Sometimes projections of potential earnings are inflated. Also, companies generally charge fees to administer the accounts. All in all, a term insurance policy may be a safer bet.'

Timeshares

Relaxing on the beach and you hear the lingering salesman saying 'you can have all this, whenever you want at an unbelievably low cost... just come with me to a meeting, we'll even pay you $100 to attend, and how about a free boat ride too?'
If you really are committed to return often, okay... if the rates are comparable to booking on your own
Don't plan on selling the trips for a profit

Art

Must secure, insure, and store it
No guarantee people with money will love it too
'Luc Renneboog, a Dutch professor of corporate finance, analyzed recorded art trades from 1951 to 2007. He found that art appreciated about 4 percent each year -- far less than other types of investments'

Bank Accounts

"'The general answer in the academic world is that the riskiest investment of all is the bank account,' Grable says. He points out that the interest will never outstrip increases in the cost of living. 'Rising prices keep people from accumulating wealth. Your biggest fear as an investor should be keeping up with the cost of living. Banks are not your friend.'"

Investment Pitched as 'Sure Thing'

Make sure the company/fund has had a 'bad year'
'Pitches for these types of investment opportunities often appear when the stock market is faltering; salesmen look for investors who are wary of losses in the stock market, and they show numbers to build confidence.'
'If you start feeling scared or greedy, step back and wait to commit your cash.'

Quotes and Info from: 10 Risky Investments

[Foreseeable Future] transparent TV, incredibly modern subway, robot farming, crazy flip phone

2011-02-14T10:53:00.000-08:00

"Designed to work in the year 2020 AD, this tractor will work on an Earth in turmoil, one with 'searing daytime temperatures' and harsh climate conditions for all. Hydrogen fuel based engines and embedded Nano systems rule the day, and a need arises for the common farmer to reprise his and her role."

Balls of Farming Fury

"Innovative door-lit graphics, iconography to indicate status and time, and the tree referenced hand rails for passengers of all heights intimate a more user-friendly train.

The interior has a warm, almost organic feel. Materials like cork, rich woods and adaptive lighting make the Inspiro one of the most comfortable and eco-friendly trains to ride. Good news is Siemens just received an order for one in Poland. Not sure when construction starts but I’m already anxious to ride it."
Poland of all places is the first to order this?!
If BMW designed Rails

"Michael explains, 'As the first of its kind, the Loewe Invisio introduces technical innovation, combining conventional LCD and the latest TOLED display technology. This allows to create non-transparent / solid moving pictures with rich color reproduction and full contrast range from solid black to pristine white.'”

Transparent TV

"106,000 aluminum cans are discarded every 30 seconds in the United States. Efforts to recycle the mounting heaps have met with mild success so Haoshi Studio in cooperation with PLA Studio have created a new kind of can called TIN CAN. It’s made of PLA yet it’s fully insulated and can be heated up to 110ºF. It even squishes like an aluminum can except it’s 100% organic and biodegradable."

New Kind of Aluminum Can

One wants green tea, other wants rasberry tea... only make one pot :)
Tea for Two

22″ screen, keyboard, touchpad, speakers and a digital tablet
Tablet displays your writing or drawing so there's no need to have to look up at the screen
All-in-one computer

Flexible shave, no charging necessary

Shave with Flick of Finger

Bath/Shower Combo, great for small bathrooms

"Underwater jets, massagers and programmable sequences ensure the most relaxing bathing experience"

Futuristic Tub

When you receive a call, dog-ear flips up

Sleep cover to protect phone

New Flip Phone

I WANT TO LIVE HERE!

It's like camping in complete luxury

I would love living 'in nature' like this :)

Vaccination Against Cocaine

2011-02-14T09:47:00.000-08:00

A new vaccine that is known have antibodies catch the molecules of cocaine before they reach the brain. It is shown that it does not catch all the cocaine, but it catches enough to reduce the devastating affects.
It is currently being tested on rats and monkeys before a decision is made to test on humans.

“When someone takes cocaine — whether snorted, smoked or injected — you don’t have much time,”

says study coauthor Ronald Crystal, a pulmonary physician at Weill Cornell Medical College in

New York City. “It takes about six second to pass from the lungs to the blood to the brain... We

need avid antibodies, at high levels.”

Mice were given three injections over six weeks. The control group received a placebo while the experimental group received 'cocainelike substance with noninfectious portions of an adenovirus that stimulate an immune response but don’t cause disease'. Four weeks after the 6 week injection period, all mice were given injection of cocaine.

However, the behavioral effects were even better. The cocaine-injected control rats (who received placebo) were running around (with the usual effects of cocaine) three times more than the experimental group.

The experimental group behaved similar to mice given no cocaine at all.

The drug has the potential to be tested in humans in 1-2 years. "Any prospective anticocaine vaccine needs a lot of testing, in part because it isn’t clear whether just taking more of the drug might overwhelm a vaccine’s effect, says Frank Orson, a physician and immunologist at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. Also, the researchers in the new study used an additive called complete Freund’s adjuvant to boost the immune reponse in the mice. The adjuvant cannot be used in people because of side effects, he says."

Taken to court... for mailing a puppy

2011-02-13T09:41:00.000-08:00

A 39 year old woman, Stacey Champion, is currently under investigation for attempting to mail a puppy from Minneapolis to Atlanta. The woman walked in the post office, paid for parcel shipping and continued about her day. Before leaving the post office, the Stacey told the desk clerk the package was a 'toy robot' because the desk clerk was throwing the box around.

Post office workers were forced to open package when box began 'moving on it's own'. Post office workers were stunned to fine 4 month old puppy in package. Box had tiny air holes and contained no food inside. The package would have been 'shipped via air in an unheated, unpressurized compartment' and would have taken 3 days to arrive. Workers say the small pup would have suffocated to death.
Stacey Champion stated she sent the package to her son for his birthday.

Mrs. Champion said on the stand, "They don't have no display of what should be shipped and what should not be shipped" in her defense. Stacey Champion faces two criminal counts for cruelty to an animal. But Stacey didn't stop there. She asked the courts for the puppy to be returned to her. The request was denied, and Stacey now has 5 days to appeal before the puppy is put up for adoption.

Out with old, in with new :)

2011-02-13T08:53:00.000-08:00

Boo wordpress, yay Blogspot

Posted most old blogs from previous wordpress blog on here
Enjoy new posts :)

Dresses: Beautiful. Elegant. Edible

2011-02-13T08:47:00.000-08:00

Chocolate

Chris March

Ami Goodheart

Spaghetti and Meatball

Meat Skirt