One disaster after another for Indonesia. What is next?
Thursday, March 8, 2007
From sinking ferries, deadly floods, crashing planes and killer earthquakes, it's one disaster after another for Indonesia...What is happening to Indonesia?
April - July 2006
Mount Merapi volcano spews ash, lava; 15,000 villagers evacuated
May 2006
Mud volcano erupts, 15 people killed, 13,000 flee
Quake in region leaves 6,000 dead; 1.5 million homeless
June 2006
Flooding leaves 350 dead or missing; 13,000 homeless
July 2006
Tsunami kills 650 people; more than 100,000 left homeless
December 2006
Floods, landslides kill more than 100; around 350,000 homeless
Ferry sinks carrying 600 people; 350 died or remain missing
January 2007
Plane disappears, 102 people missing
February 2007
Massive floods leave 80 dead, 500,000 affected
Ferry catches fire, killing 53, dozens remain missing
March 6, 2007
Quake leaves at least 71 dead
March 7, 2007
Plane bursts into flames, killing dozens
Ok, we surrender. What's next for Indonesia?
If you notice, I just created a new post yesterday specially for the Earthquake happening on March 6,2007 which kills more than 80 people in Sumatra. Haven't settle with this disaster, here comes another in the next day March 7, 2007.
"23 DIE IN INDONESIAN PLANE"
JAKARTA (March 7, 2007): Survivors from the Indonesian jet that burst into flames and overshot the runway on Java Island yesterday said many people had been trapped in the inferno. Officials said 140 people were on board the Garuda flight from Jakarta to Yogyakarta. 23 people including two Australians, died in the crash.
"My friend and I jumped off the plane through the emergency exit. We jumped on the wing and then into paddy field. Then I saw it explode"
"I saw dozens of bodies badly burnt"
"I saw people dead in the cockpit"
"I thought it was all over for me"
I can imagine how dreadful life is during the moment for survival. Everyone will do whatever they can do to survive. This is the moment when the ugly side of human reveals... many will fight selfishly, pushing each other, stepping on each other, trying their best to flee... some will just sit there crying .. some speechless, appreciating their last breathe.. children crying, passengers start screaming, a complete chaos!
How scary! I could not stop imagining.. Sigh.. let us pray for those who are unlucky, may you rest in peace. Stop punishing Indonesia! No more disasters.. they had enough of these...
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Labels: die, disaster, headline, interesting, news, what
posted by Jason @ 1:50 PM,
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Shocking Truth: Only 10 Years LEFT to Save The World (Global Warming)
Wednesday, February 7, 2007
Let me start this big issue with this movie trailer "An Inconvenient Truth".
It is a film that will shock the viewers. Well, I'm not promoting it .. but to share the incoming danger we will be facing in years to come. I believe you must have watched "The Day After Tomorrow". If we still in the unknown state, doing nothing for the world, then there might NOT be a Tomorrow. Seriously, I'm not exaggerating.
Recently, I came across an article in News Straits Times newspaper. It said:
The world has just 10 years to reverse surging greenhouse gas emissions or risk runaway climate change that could make many parts of the planet uninhabitable.
The stark warning comes from scientists who are working on the final draft of a new report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Thousands of scientists from around the world who have been studying changes in the world's climate and predicting how they might accelerate, have came out with a report. They conclude that unless mankind rapidly stabilises greenhouse gas emissions and start reducing them, it will have little chance of keeping global warming within manageable limits.
What is Global Warming ?
What is Global Warming ?
Global Warming : Scientific Explanation
Global Warming : Cartoon Explanation
Global Warming : Cartoon Explanation
What will happen if we do nothing about it?
The results could include:
- The destruction of the Amazon rainforest and the Great Barrier Reef
- The forced migration of hundreds of millions of people from equatorial regions
- The loss of vast tracts of land under rising seas as the ice caps melt.
From this ... to... this
In Europe, the summers could become unbearably hot, especially in southern countries such as Greece, Spain and Italy, while Britain and northern Europe would face summer droughts and wet, stormy winters.
The next 10 years are crucial! We have to achieve serious reductions in carbon emissions. After that time, the task becomes very much harder. Among the scientists' biggest fears is that rising temperatures and levels of greenhouse gases could soon overwhelm the natural systems that normally keep their levels in check.
About half the 24 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) generated by human activities each year are absorbed by forests and oceans - a process without which the world might already be several degrees warmer. 2005 is the warmest!
But as CO2 levels rise and soils dry, microbes can start breaking down accumulated organic matter, so forests become net producers of greenhouse gases. The sea's power to absorb CO2 also falls sharply as it warms.
In Europe, the summers could become unbearably hot, especially in southern countries such as Greece, Spain and Italy, while Britain and northern Europe would face summer droughts and wet, stormy winters.
Disasters : Floods and droughts around the world
The next 10 years are crucial! We have to achieve serious reductions in carbon emissions. After that time, the task becomes very much harder. Among the scientists' biggest fears is that rising temperatures and levels of greenhouse gases could soon overwhelm the natural systems that normally keep their levels in check.
About half the 24 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) generated by human activities each year are absorbed by forests and oceans - a process without which the world might already be several degrees warmer. 2005 is the warmest!
But as CO2 levels rise and soils dry, microbes can start breaking down accumulated organic matter, so forests become net producers of greenhouse gases. The sea's power to absorb CO2 also falls sharply as it warms.
The latest research suggests the threshold for such disastrous changes will come when CO2 levels reach 550 parts per million (ppm), roughly double their natural levels. This predicted to happen around 2040-50.
What is our situation right now?
Our Attitude is Exactly Like This Frog
The Current Condition & Action
At the moment, the real impact of emissions is buffered because CO2 is absorbed by natural systems. However, if we reach this threshold they could be magnified instead. Gosh...
Now, What Should We Do?
It means we must start the action needed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the next few years. Dr Malte Meinshausen, a researcher at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany has used computer modelling to workout what might happen if greenhouse gas emissions were cut immediately, in 10 years time or later. The results showed that immediate action might allow mankind to hold CO2 levels at 450ppm - below the danger level.
However, Meinshausen and his colleagues recognise that this is unrealistic because the world's governments are in such disarray over global warming. They think it is impossible to achieve that level within 10 years with such disarray. The best hope, they say, is that a global plan will emerge in the next few years.
We have to make sure carbon emissions peak no later than 2015 and then fall at three percent a year.
If we let them keep rising after that date, it becomes much harder to bring them under control!
Are you ready to change the way you live?
Each of us is the cause of global warming, but we can make choices to change that. With the things we buy, the electricity we use, cars we drive, we can bring the Co2 to ZERO. The solution are in our hands. The climate crisis can be solved.
Here is how to start:
1) Reduce carbon emissions
2) Buy energy save appliances (lightbulbs)
3) Change your themorstat (and use clock thermostats) to reduce enery for heating and cooling
4) Weatherize your house, increase insulation, get an energy audit
5) Recycle
6) If you can, buy a hybrid car
7) When you can, walk or ride a bicycle
8) Where you can, use light rail and mass transit
9) Tell your parents not to ruin the world that you will live in
10) If you are a parent, join with your children to save the world they live in
11) Switch to renewable sources of energy
12) Call your power company to see if they offer green energy, if they don't, ask them why not
13) Plant trees, lots of trees
14) Speak up in your community
15) Call radio shows and write newspapers
16) Raise fuel economy standards; require lower emissions from automobiles
17) If you believe in prayer, pray that people will find the strength to change
In the words of the old Old African Proverb,
"When you pray, move your feet"
"When you pray, move your feet"
18) Encourage everyone you know to see this movie and post
19) Learn as much as you can about the climate crisis
20) Then put your knowledge into action
My Opinion:
If you love the planet, if you love your child... then do something about it. Do not take this lightly. It is an inconvenient truth and we really got to accept it.
Watch the video below. You see that pale blue dot. That's us! Everything that has ever happened in all of human history has happened on that pixel. All the triumph, all the tragedies, all the wars, all the major advances... it's our only hope. And that is what is at stake! Our ability to live on planet earth.. to have a future of civilization.....
OUR ABILITY TO LIVE IS WHAT IS AT STAKE !!
Labels: amazing, disaster, facts, interesting, living world, news, opinions, planet, research, science, what
posted by Jason @ 5:24 PM,
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China uses snakes to predict quakes
Saturday, December 30, 2006
Here is another amazing fact.You heard about the current earthquake disaster in Taiwan? Two people were killed and 42 injured on Tuesday when three buildings collapsed in earthquakes that shook southern Taiwan. The disaster worries neighbouring countries.
Beijing: China has come up with an earthquake prediction system which relies on the behavior of snakes, after two quakes struck off neighbouring Taiwan.
The earthquake bureau in Nanning, capital of the Guangxi, autonomous region in southern China, had developed its system using a combination of natural instinct and modern technology. Experts at the bureau monitor snakes at local snake farms via video cameras linked to a broadband Internet connection. The video feed runs 24 hours per day.
“Of all creatures on Earth, snakes are perhaps the most sensitive to earthquakes,” bureau director Jiang Weisong said. A snake could sense an earthquake from 120km away, three to five days before it happens. They respond by behaving strangely.
When an earthquake is about to occur, snakes will move out of their nests, even in the cold of winter. If the earthquake is a big one, the snakes will even smash into walls while trying to escape.
China is struck by frequent earthquakes, with most hitting remote rural areas.
I I I Labels: amazing, disaster, facts, interesting, living world, news, research, science, snake, technology
posted by Jason @ 3:13 PM,
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World Tallest Men! Who claims the tallest?
Sunday, December 17, 2006
Everywhere I go, everywhere I stand, even I sit, people will look at me at a different way. Some will laugh and whisper their friends while looking at me, some will come straight and ask "Hey, how tall are you?" 6 feet?I will then entertain them, "Ya, more than that!" I'm so used to it. Strangers will always take this matter to start a conversation with me. Come on, I am just 187cm horizontally. For Americans, that's normal, nothing special. But in Asia, that's TALLL, people say.
Now let me show you, my fellow friends, how to describe T-A-L-L!
TALLEST OF THEM ALL
According to Guinness World Records, the tallest man in medical history for whom there is irrefutable evidence is Robert Pershing Wadlow. He was born at Alton, Illinois, USA, on February 22, 1918, and when he was last measured on June 27, 1940, was found to be 2.72 m (8 ft 11.1 in) tall.
Wadlow died as a result of a septic blister on his right ankle caused by a brace, which had been poorly fitted only a week earlier. He was buried in a coffin measuring 3.28 m long, 81 cm wide and 76 cm deep.
Wadlow's greatest recorded weight was 222.71 kg on his 21st birthday. His shoe size was 37AA (47 cm, 18½ in long) and his hands measured 32.4 cm from the wrist to the tip of the middle finger. He wore a size 25 ring. His arm span was 2.88 m and his peak daily food consumption was 8000 calories.
At the age of nine, he was able to carry his father Harold F. Wadlow, later Mayor of Alton, who stood 1.8 m and weighed 77 kg, up the stairs of the family home.
TALLEST MEN TODAY
Hussein Bisad (7′9″) claims to be the world’s tallest man.
Guinness World Records announced Xi Shun the tallest living man. Xi Shun (China, b. 1951), measured 7 ft 8.95 in (2 m 36.1 cm). Beating the previous holder Radhouane Charbib (Tunisia) by just 2 mm (0.07 in), Xi Shun claims that his height was normal for his age until he was 16. As a comparison, his father stood at 5 ft 10.8 in (1.8 m) and his mother was 5 ft 2.8 in (1.6 m) tall.
However USAToday has an article about Leonid Stadnyk (8′4″) and far more likely to hold the title. But why Guinness still claims Xi Shun? The Height Site says he has yet to be confirmed by Guinness.
I've checked out Wikipedia, then, I found out that Leonid Stadnyk refused to be measured by Guinness World Records although claiming to be the tallest man in the world. That's why..
So, Who is the tallest then? Me is definitely out of the question.
Now let me show you, my fellow friends, how to describe T-A-L-L!
TALLEST OF THEM ALL
According to Guinness World Records, the tallest man in medical history for whom there is irrefutable evidence is Robert Pershing Wadlow. He was born at Alton, Illinois, USA, on February 22, 1918, and when he was last measured on June 27, 1940, was found to be 2.72 m (8 ft 11.1 in) tall.Wadlow died as a result of a septic blister on his right ankle caused by a brace, which had been poorly fitted only a week earlier. He was buried in a coffin measuring 3.28 m long, 81 cm wide and 76 cm deep.
Wadlow's greatest recorded weight was 222.71 kg on his 21st birthday. His shoe size was 37AA (47 cm, 18½ in long) and his hands measured 32.4 cm from the wrist to the tip of the middle finger. He wore a size 25 ring. His arm span was 2.88 m and his peak daily food consumption was 8000 calories.
At the age of nine, he was able to carry his father Harold F. Wadlow, later Mayor of Alton, who stood 1.8 m and weighed 77 kg, up the stairs of the family home.
TALLEST MEN TODAY
Hussein Bisad (7′9″) claims to be the world’s tallest man.
Guinness World Records announced Xi Shun the tallest living man. Xi Shun (China, b. 1951), measured 7 ft 8.95 in (2 m 36.1 cm). Beating the previous holder Radhouane Charbib (Tunisia) by just 2 mm (0.07 in), Xi Shun claims that his height was normal for his age until he was 16. As a comparison, his father stood at 5 ft 10.8 in (1.8 m) and his mother was 5 ft 2.8 in (1.6 m) tall.However USAToday has an article about Leonid Stadnyk (8′4″) and far more likely to hold the title. But why Guinness still claims Xi Shun? The Height Site says he has yet to be confirmed by Guinness.
I've checked out Wikipedia, then, I found out that Leonid Stadnyk refused to be measured by Guinness World Records although claiming to be the tallest man in the world. That's why..
Guinness commented:
Leonid Stadnik refuses to be measured by us. We have been told that it is because he doesn't want to court publicity — yet he continues to claim to be the tallest. Unfortunately we can only conclude due to previous experience, that he refuses to be measured officially by us because he is not the height he claims to be.
So, Who is the tallest then? Me is definitely out of the question.
I I I Labels: guinness, guinness book of record, interesting, Leonid Stadnyk, most, opinions, question, Robert Pershing, tall, who, Xi Shun
posted by Jason @ 5:09 PM,
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Is Time Travel POSSIBLE?
Saturday, December 16, 2006
Ever wonder of travelling through time? Could it be possible in reality?
I believe you definitely had watched "Back to the Future Film".Even if it is possible, I would always wonder, this issue will definitely concern human right, perhaps the same issue concerning human clone. Ok, let’s say you failed in your exam, you go back to the past and re-sit for that paper. Ha, definitely you had memorized all the perfect answers. Eventually, you pass with flying colors. That’s dirty.
For me, there are pros and cons. One of the pro is that, if u murdered someone, you can undo it. Isn’t it great? Haha.. just my silly theory of it.
Now let me show you the real answer for it (picked from “The Life Explorer Magazine”)
Possible or Not?
This is the question everyone would love to answer. Time travel has been a favorite theme of science fiction novels. And some of it is actual fact. For example, it has been proven possible to travel forwards in time. Einstein’s theory of relativity predicts that an observer moving relative to Earth can leap into Earth’s future, and the effect has been confirmed using atomic clocks.
Going back in time is not as easy. Relativity does not rule out the possibility of travelling back in time, but all the scenarios so far require very exclusive circumstances. One way to go back in time is to use a wormhole in space. Theorists speculate that such a tunnel – or star gate – lining two points in space-time, really might exist. If this is true, then one could be adapted to form a time machine. You could go through it and exit not only somewhere else, but “somewhen” else too. And that could be the future or the past.
Issues arise if it is possible
If this were possible, then all sorts of problems and paradoxes could arise, namely, is it possible to alter the past or affect the future? It certainly seems too irrational for some physicists. Stephen Hawking suggested a “chronology protection conjecture”, surmising that something would intervene to prevent physical objects or influences looping back in time. For example, quantum vacuum energy might surge without limit near the entrance to the wormhole, blocking it.
Hawking also noted that it is hard to get funding for time travel research. So it is likely that this issue will have to wait a long while to be proved or disproved.
Related:
Astronomers Find Most Ancient Planet
I I I Labels: interesting, opinions, physics, possible, question, space, technology, time travel
posted by Jason @ 4:17 PM,
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Masturbating May Protect Against Prostate Cancer
Friday, December 15, 2006
Here is another amazing science fact I've gained from 'The Life Explorer' Magazine.
It will make you go blind. It will make your palms grow hairy. Such myths about masturbation are largely a thing of the past. But the latest research has even better news for young men: frequent self-pleasuring could protect against the most common kind of cancer.
A team in Australia led by Graham Giles of The Cancer COuncil Victoria in Melbourne asked 1079 men with prostate cancer to fill in a questionnaire detailing their sexual habits, and compared their responses with those of 1259 healthy men of the same age. The team concludes that the more men ejaculate between the ages of 20 and 50, the less likely they are to develop prostate cancer.
The protective effect is greatest meanwhile men are in their twenties: those who had ejaculated more than five times per week in their twenties, for instance, were one-third less likely to develop aggressive prostate cancer later in life (BJU International, vol 92, p211).
The results contradict those of previous studies, which have suggested that having had many sexual partners, or a high frequency of sexual activity, increases the risk of prostate cancer by up to 40 percent. The key difference is that the earlier studies defined sexual activity as sexual intercourse, whereas the latest study focused on the number of ejaculations, whether or not intercourse was involved.
The team speculates that infections caused by intercourse may increase the risk of prostate cancer. "Had we been able to remove ejaculations associated with sexual intercourse, there should have been an even stronger protective effect of other ejaculations," they suggest. "Men have many ways of using their prostatw which do not involve women or other men," the researcher adds.
Macho Exaggeration
The researcher accepts the possibility that the men who completed the questionnaires could have lied about their habits. But he doubts this skewed the results, since questions about masturbation are unlikely to evoke the same macho exaggeration as questions about, say, number of sexual partners.
How Masturbating prevent prostate cancer?
But why should ejaculating more often cut the risk of prostate cancer? The team speculates that ejaculation prevents carcinogen building up in the gland. The prostate, together with the seminal vesicles, secretes the bulk of the fluid in semen, which is rich in substances such as potassium, zinc, fructose and citric acid.
Generating the fluid involves concentrating these components from the bloodstream up to 600-fold-and this could be where the trouble starts. Studies in dogs show that carcinogens such as 3-methylcholanthrene, found in cigarette smoke, are also concentrated in prostate fluid.
"It's a prostatic stagnation hypothesis," says Giles (the researcher). "The more you flush the ducts out, the less there is to hang around and damage the cells that line them."
Stages of Prostate Cancer
It will make you go blind. It will make your palms grow hairy. Such myths about masturbation are largely a thing of the past. But the latest research has even better news for young men: frequent self-pleasuring could protect against the most common kind of cancer.
A team in Australia led by Graham Giles of The Cancer COuncil Victoria in Melbourne asked 1079 men with prostate cancer to fill in a questionnaire detailing their sexual habits, and compared their responses with those of 1259 healthy men of the same age. The team concludes that the more men ejaculate between the ages of 20 and 50, the less likely they are to develop prostate cancer.
The protective effect is greatest meanwhile men are in their twenties: those who had ejaculated more than five times per week in their twenties, for instance, were one-third less likely to develop aggressive prostate cancer later in life (BJU International, vol 92, p211).
The results contradict those of previous studies, which have suggested that having had many sexual partners, or a high frequency of sexual activity, increases the risk of prostate cancer by up to 40 percent. The key difference is that the earlier studies defined sexual activity as sexual intercourse, whereas the latest study focused on the number of ejaculations, whether or not intercourse was involved.
The team speculates that infections caused by intercourse may increase the risk of prostate cancer. "Had we been able to remove ejaculations associated with sexual intercourse, there should have been an even stronger protective effect of other ejaculations," they suggest. "Men have many ways of using their prostatw which do not involve women or other men," the researcher adds.
Macho Exaggeration
The researcher accepts the possibility that the men who completed the questionnaires could have lied about their habits. But he doubts this skewed the results, since questions about masturbation are unlikely to evoke the same macho exaggeration as questions about, say, number of sexual partners.
How Masturbating prevent prostate cancer?
But why should ejaculating more often cut the risk of prostate cancer? The team speculates that ejaculation prevents carcinogen building up in the gland. The prostate, together with the seminal vesicles, secretes the bulk of the fluid in semen, which is rich in substances such as potassium, zinc, fructose and citric acid.
Generating the fluid involves concentrating these components from the bloodstream up to 600-fold-and this could be where the trouble starts. Studies in dogs show that carcinogens such as 3-methylcholanthrene, found in cigarette smoke, are also concentrated in prostate fluid.
"It's a prostatic stagnation hypothesis," says Giles (the researcher). "The more you flush the ducts out, the less there is to hang around and damage the cells that line them."
Stages of Prostate Cancer
Illustration copyright 2003 Nucleus Communications, Inc.
Stage 1: The tumour can't be felt by DRE
Stage 2: Tumour involves one lobe, then both lobes.
Stage 3 and 4: Tumous has spread to surrounding tissue.
Sexual Repertoire
His findings suggest an intriguing parallel between prostate cancer and breast cancer, as recent studies indicate that lactating reduces a woman's risk of breast cancer, perhaps because this also flushes out carcinogens. Alternatively, ejaculation might induce prostate cells to mature fully, making them less susceptible to carcinogens.
If the finding is confirmed, future health advice from doctors may no longer be restricted to diet and exercise. "Masturbation is part of people's sexual repertoire," says Anthony Smith, deputy director of Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society at La Trobe University in Melbourne.
"If these findings hold up, then it's perfectly reasonable that men should be encouraged to masturbate"
I I I Labels: cancer, health, interesting, research, sex
posted by Jason @ 9:57 PM,
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WHY RED EYE in photos?
Thursday, December 14, 2006
Have you wonder why there is Red Eye in photos taken at night?
This is a knowledge I've learned and would like to share to you.
Bright light comes into the eye, the eye tends to change its sizes of the opening, get shrink and become smaller. Light go to the back of the eye and then bounces back forward. So what happen is when there is a camera flash, when it is too fast or too bright, the people doesn’t have time to shrink the eyes, the light bounce to the back of the eye which is red. Its redness is because of the blood vessel. So, when you actually looking into the red eyes in the camera, you’re actually looking at the back of someone’s eye. Thus, you might notice that there are some digital cameras, which tend to reduce the red eye, they will have an initial flash to make the eye opening gets smaller and then another one, and then you won’t get as much the redness back.
Is this post helpful? Feel free to comments. I I I Labels: facts, interesting, living world, night, question, red eye, science, why
posted by Jason @ 1:57 PM,
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