inkbluesky

island in the sky illusion

The original is 1024×768, but it stretches out to 1280 without too much distortion.

A New Way to Ask, 'How Green Is My Conscience?' 

Looking for an easier way to make her life greener, she tried a "carbon calculator" at the Web site of the Conservation Fund (conservationfund.org). She learned that the events of her everyday life, like driving the car, heating her home or taking plane trips, produced about 14 tons a year of carbon emissions, or "carbon footprint." The Conservation Fund, a nonprofit group in Arlington, Va., offered to neutralize that amount for $57, by planting 11 trees in the lower Mississippi Valley — enough to remove 14 tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. She happily complied.

"It felt pretty good," she said. "I could pat myself on the back and not lay out a whole lot of cash."

Call them green upgrades: easy ways for consumers to help the environment without changing their behavior. Such upgrades have been proliferating: Skiers, for example, can spend an extra $2 at some resorts to offset the pollution produced in a drive to the mountains; the money goes to environmental organizations. On Web sites like TerraPass.com or CoolDriver.org, drivers can total a car's pollution for a year and direct a corresponding sum to clean-energy projects.

While not a complete answer to our environmental problems a partial solution is better then nothing. One of the things I would like to see is national effort toward creating wildlife corridors, sort of natural passage ways between wild areas so that wildlife can migrate, thus limiting interbreding and increasing the general population. Planting lots of trees is part of helping with carbon offset, but still doesn't address disappearing ecosystems.

Viagra Improves High Altitude Exercise Performance Up To 45% For Some 

Ten cyclists who took sildenafil at altitude collectively lowered the time it took to cover six kilometers by 15% compared to placebo trials at altitude. The cyclists also significantly improved stroke volume (the volume of blood moved out of one ventricle of the heart per beat) and cardiac output (stroke volume times heart rate) compared to the placebo trial. Sildenafil also minimized the decline of arterial oxygen saturation of the arteries when the cyclists were at simulated altitude of 12,700 feet. 

Which reminds me of the time….well never mind.

Warnings on WMD 'Fabricator' Were Ignored, Ex-CIA Aide Says 

Moratorium (w/ Poll) a long look at the current state of censorship, not a pretty picture for a country whose very first amendment in the Bill of Rights is an admonishment of censorship. 

Sexual harassment of men revealed  

A hidden world of sexual harassment, with female managers exploiting their power over men in the office, has been unveiled by a new government survey.

Despite the common stereotype of the male executive putting pressure on his secretary, two in five victims of sexual harassment are men, the study found.

A quarter of the men questioned in the Department of Trade and Industry survey reported being pestered by a client whom they also felt obliged to please.

According to the Equal Opportunities Commission, 8 per cent of calls to its sexual harassment helpline are from men, even though research shows male victims are less likely than women to complain. It insists that male complaints should be taken just as seriously. 'It affects both women and men, causing stress, health problems and financial penalties when they leave their jobs to avoid it,' said Jenny Watson, chair of the EOC.

This story is from England, but I wonder if there isn't some of this going on in the U.S. I remember reading a study a few years ago in which it said that most harassment in the work place was a general kind of harassment by men directed at other men. Rather then complain most men that were victims of male on male harassment just generally found another job.