Well, we had a lovely time at our marriage retreat. I apologize that I was unable to post over the weekend, but my only internet source was via mobile phone, and, as you can see by my word "hell" which was supposed to be hello, although I could read everything, I couldn't post much over the mobile device. At any rate, thanks for your patience, here is the full good news page for Monday.
Smiles, and enjoy!
Top 5 Stories:
1. 12 Year Old Girl is Hero (CBS ST Louis)
2. Birds in Rare Wetlands Nesting, but Still at Risk (The Australian)
3. Scholarships for Working Moms Going Back to College (ARA Lifestyle)
4. Electricity Generated by Body Heat Could Power Tomorrow's Phones (Earth Times)
5. NY Philharmonic Lands in N. Korea for US Musical Diplomacy (France 24)
Honorable Mention:
Tiger Airways Offers More than 20,000 Seats at Zero Dollar Fares (Earth Times)
Unpublishable:
Yummy water: Los Angeles Wins Taste Test
BERKELEY SPRINGS, W.Va.
Feb 25, 8:43 AM EST
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/O/ODD_BEST_WATER?SITE=FLPEJ&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
This is an AP copywrighted material. The gist is that Los Angeles tied with British Columbia for top tasting water, internationally. Please visit the link above for more informtion.
1. 12 Year Old Girl is Hero
February 24, 2008 11:31 a.m. EST
http://www.whbf.com/Global/story.asp?S=7914854
EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. (AP) _ The mayor of East St. Louis today called a 12-year-old girl a true hero for saving her five younger siblings during a house fire early Saturday morning. Mayor Alvin Parks Junior says the city will be quick to honor Derrionna Adams.
The girl tossed her siblings from a second-floor window, then leapt out after them, saving herself. The fire left one of the children, a nine-year-old boy, with burns on his arms. A relative says that child also broke his ankle in the fall. The other children were not injured.
Velma Dorris is the children's mother. She and her husband, Bernard, were sleeping downstairs when the fire started. Smoke and fire kept them from reaching the children upstairs.
2. Birds in Rare Wetlands Nesting, but Still at Risk
Greg Roberts February 25, 2008
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23269455-11949,00.html
WATERBIRDS are returning in huge numbers to nest in the wetlands of western NSW and Queensland for the first time in a decade.
Royal Spoonbills and Ibis are among the bird species that are currently breeding at Narran Lakes wetlands in far western NSW. Picture: Graham CrouchHowever, experts warned that the siphoning off of floodwaters by irrigators upstream of the breeding colonies could drain the wetlands before the birds finish breeding.
Aerial surveys by University of NSW scientists of the Narran Lake Nature Reserve in recent days have revealed nesting activity by between 30,000 and 40,000 pairs of straw-necked ibis.
Smaller numbers of white ibis, glossy ibis, royal spoonbills, pink-eared ducks and several tern and cormorant species were also nesting.
"This is a big breeding event," saiduniversity biologist Richard Kingsford. "It is truly an astounding sight. The number of birds is considerable and still growing.
"For most of these birds, this is a once-in-a-lifetime experience."
New arrivals are busily constructing stick nests. Those that arrived at the lake last month are feeding chicks or sitting on eggs.
Furthur west in Queensland, on Lake Wyara in Currawinya National Park, between 10,000 and 15,000 pelicans have gathered to nest.
However, Professor Kingsford said the sites for other traditionally big waterbird nesting colonies, notably the Macquarie marshes and theGwydir wetlands in NSW, remained dry.
"Our concern is that the big floods are not getting into some of these wetlands any longer," he said.
Professor Kingfsord said that although the nesting at Narran Lake was encouraging, the waters could recede before most birds had finished nesting.
"The storages upstream, particularly those of the cotton growers in Queensland's lower Balonne River region, are only now filling," he said.
"It may well be that not enough water will get through to allow the birds to finish nesting."
The Australian reported last month that the NSW Government was reviewing irrigation licences amid evidence that cotton growers were siphoning off up to 80 per cent of the Queensland flood flows to the Murray-Darling Basin.
A 2004 audit commissioned by the Murray-Darling Basin Commission concluded that cross-border flows in the Condamine-Balonne river system were 26 per cent of what they were before the development of the Queensland irrigation operations, mainly for cotton.
Cotton Australia chief executive Adam Kay declined to comment yesterday.
Queensland Water Minister Craig Wallace said maintaining environmental flows was a priority in the state's water allocation management.
"Last year, Queensland irrigators took just 2.6 per cent of the Murray Darling's water compared with 44per cent taken by NSW and 40 per cent by Victoria," Mr Wallace said.
He said Queensland irrigators had been forced to reduce their take from floodwaters by 10 per cent this season for environmental reasons.
Narran and Wyara lakes are listed under the RAMSAR international wetlands convention.
3. Scholarships for Working Moms Going Back to College
February 25, 2008
http://www.aralifestyle.com/article.aspx?UserFeedGuid=f310535a-5b23-47d1-8224-7559688cd218&ArticleId=1211&title=Scholarships-for-Working-Moms-Going-Back-to-Colleg
(ARA) - Ever since she was a little girl, Jeanne Sarmiento wanted to be a lawyer. As she grew older, however, her life took some unexpected turns.
After what she calls "a series of poor choices" as a young adult, this mother changed her life and became inspired by her children to go to school. Even as a single parent of an infant, Sarmiento was determined to get her degree, and she added credits slowly but surely over the years. Eventually, she graduated with an associate's degree. She is now going back to school for an additional degree and cannot wait to hear her kids yell, "You did it Mom! You did it!"
"I can't wait to hear my children screaming my name from the stands," says Sarmiento as she imagines graduating with a bachelor's degree. "They are my inspiration. They are holding my hands as I realize my dream. I will do it. I will do it."
To help other moms in the same situation as Sarmiento, eLearners.com in collaboration with online colleges, American Intercontinental University, DeVry University and Walden University, will grant at least $2 million in full-ride scholarships to working mothers across the country. This is part of the "Project Working Mom - Putting Education to Work" education awareness program.
Additionally, eLearners.com has launched a comprehensive Web site, designed to empower working women to enhance their career by going back to school. The site includes self-assessment quizzes to determine readiness for online education, an online community wherein potential students can talk with other moms in similar situations, a database with $15 billion in financial aid opportunities and numerous articles filled with advice and insight.
The funds and the Web site are designed to help moms overcome the barriers of time with access to online education opportunities; money with the provision of scholarship; and confidence through a Web site full of resources and a community.
Unlike a traditional campus education, the convenience of online education allows for school to be scheduled around the life of a busy mother. Most online courses have flexible schedules, which allow a working mother to study late at night or on weekends. The need to arrange for childcare, find parking or courses that are delivered during a certain period are eliminated with online education. According to Eduventures, 2 million students are expected to enroll in fully online degree programs this year.
Most full-time working mothers need financial aid to go to school part-time, however, financial aid eligibility and awards are modeled after a traditional campus-based student going to school full time for 10 months. According to the Institute for Higher Education Policy, in 2003-2004 only 54 percent of students attending part time and classified as "working poor" received financial aid grants.
"Our goal for Project Working Mom is to raise awareness of the fact that federal financial aid is not fulfilling its obligation to the adult working student, particularly the single working mom," says Thomas. "It's a public policy issue that must be addressed."
"Project Working Mom is the long-awaited answer for many women struggling to make ends meet without a college degree," says Terrence Thomas, CMO eLearners.com. "The scholarships, resources and community that eLearners.com has pulled together will give women the extra boost they need to finally take greater control of their life."
To apply for a Project Working Mom scholarship, join an online community or get advice and financial aid information on going back to school online, visit http://www.projectworkingmom.com/. Winners will be announced on Lifetime TV's, "The Balancing Act", the week of May 5th.
4. Electricity Generated by Body Heat Could Power Tomorrow's Phones
Posted : Mon, 25 Feb 2008 03:12:00 GMT
Hamburg, Germany - Making calls from a cell phone without a battery, using just the warmth of your hand?Perhaps that's no more than a pipe dream right now. But new circuits being developed by researchers in Germany are already making it possible to harness body heat for generating electricity.
Numerous items of medical equipment are attached to a patient's body in the intensive care ward. They monitor the heart rate, blood pressure, body temperature, pulse and breathing rate.
This tends to produce quite a jumble of cables as all these devices require their own electricity supply.
In future, medical sensors may be able to function without power from a wall socket. Instead, they will draw all the power they need from the warmth of the human body, say the German researchers. The data will be sent by a radio signal to the central monitoring station.
In collaboration with colleagues from the Fraunhofer Institute for Physical Measurement Techniques (IPM) and the Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Engineering and Applied Materials Research IFAM, research scientists at the Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits IIS in Erlangen, Germany, have developed a way of harnessing natural body heat to generate electricity.
It works on the principle of thermoelectric generators, TEG for short, made from semiconductor elements. The TEGs extract electrical energy simply from the temperature difference between a hot and a cold environment.
Normally, a difference of several tens of degrees would be required to generate enough power, but the differences between the body's surface temperature and that of its environment are only a few degrees.
"Only low voltages can be produced from differences like these," explains Peter Spies, manager of this sub-project at the IIS.
A conventional TEG delivers roughly 200 millivolts, but electronic devices require at least one or two volts.
The engineers have come up with a solution to this problem: "We combined a number of components in a completely new way to create circuits that can operate on 200 millivolts," says Spies.
"This has enabled us to build entire electronic systems that do not require an internal battery, but draw their energy from body heat alone." The scientists are making further improvements to this system: Circuits that are "excited" at 50 millivolts already exist.
Spies believes that in future, when further improvements have been made to the switching systems, a temperature difference of only 0.5 degrees will be sufficient to generate electricity.
The scientists have set their eyes on a wide range of possible applications: "Electricity can be generated from heat anyplace where a temperature difference occurs," claims Spies.
"That could be on the body, on radiators to metre the heating costs, when monitoring the cooling chain during the transport of refrigerated goods, or in air conditioning systems."
5. NY Philharmonic Lands in N. Korea for US Musical Diplomacy
http://www.france24.com/en/20080225-ny-philharmonic-lands-nkorea-us-musical-diplomacy
The New York Philharmonic landed Monday in North Korea for a landmark concert of musical diplomacy aimed at breaking down barriers between the hardline communist nation and the United States.
Television pictures showed members of the famed orchestra and accompanying reporters disembarking from the chartered Asiana Airlines plane following the short flight from Beijing.
It is the first ever visit by US musicians to North Korea, one of the most impoverished nations in the world and labelled by US President George W. Bush as part of an "axis of evil" for its nuclear weapons drive.
On Tuesday evening, the orchestra will play in the capital Pyongyang, in an event that will be televised here and internationally and will start with the national anthems of North Korea and the United States.
There has been media speculation that Kim Jong-Il, the country's enigmatic and reclusive leader, may make a rare public appearance at the concert at the East Pyongyang Grand Theatre.
The orchestra's 48-hour visit comes amid frustration over the stand-off in efforts to end North Korea's nuclear weapons programme, and the regime remains listed by Washington as a state sponsor of terrorism.
"This journey is a manifestation of the power of music to unite people," New York Philharmonic executive director Zarin Mehta said ahead of the trip.
"It is our sincere hope that these concerts will aid in the beginning of a new era between the peoples of our nations."
Before boarding the flight from Beijing, viola player Ken Mirkin also talked about the potential healing power of the concert.
"I think it could go a long way to helping mutual understanding between the two countries... I think there is no better way to do it than through music," Mirkin said.
The concert will feature George Gershwin's "An American in Paris," Antonin Dvorak's ninth symphony "From the New World," and Richard Wagner's "Prelude to Act III of Lohengrin."
The visit has been compared to US orchestral visits to the Soviet Union in the 1950s and "ping pong" diplomacy with China in the 1970s.
However, this trip has come under heavy fire in the United States, with the conservative tabloid New York Post calling it a "disgrace" that had handed Kim "a propaganda coup."
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice -- in South Korea on Monday for the inauguration of Lee Myung-Bak as its new president -- welcomed the concert but cautioned against expectations it would lead to dramatic change.
"From my point of view, it's a good thing that the Philharmonic is going, but the North Korean regime is still the North Korean regime," she said Friday ahead of her Asia tour, which also include stops in Beijing and Tokyo.
"So I don't think we should get carried away with what listening to Dvorak is going to do in North Korea."
The orchestra has been briefed by US nuclear talks envoy Christopher Hill, who said last week: "You know, sometimes the North Koreans don't like our words (but) maybe they'll like our music. So we'll see."
Tensions spiked sharply after North Korea staged its first nuclear test in October 2006, but Pyongyang later returned to six-party disarmament talks that group the two Koreas, the United States, China, Russia and Japan.
The countries agreed last February to a landmark aid-for-disarmament deal aimed at ending the North's nuclear programmes.
But the agreement has been held up since Pyongyang missed a 2007 year-end deadline to disable its nuclear facilities and declare all atomic programmes.
North Korea has no diplomatic ties with the United States, which fought on Seoul's side in the 1950-53 Korean War, and around 28,000 US troops are still stationed in the South.
The Philharmonic, founded in 1842, is the oldest symphony orchestra in the United States. It has performed in 58 countries, including a Cold War visit to the former Soviet Union in 1959.
Honorable Mention:
Tiger Airways Offers More than 20,000 Seats at Zero Dollar Fares
Posted : Mon, 25 Feb 2008 04:58:02 GMT
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/187898,tiger-airways-offers-more-than-20000-seats-at-zero-dollar.html
Singapore - Low-cost carrier Tiger Airways offered 20,000 seats at zero dollar fares for immediate booking Monday for travel between Singapore and Thailand and the city-state and Malaysia in celebration of the Leap Year. The free seats are for one-way travel and exclude taxes and fees, said the Singapore Airlines-backed Tiger.
The zero fare bookings through March 2 for flights between April 1 and May 31 apply to Singapore to Bangkok, Padang, Phuket and Singapore to Malaysia's capital of Kuala Lumpur.
Fares from 19.99 Singapore dollars (14 US dollars) apply to flights from Singapore to Chennai, Ho Chi Minh City, Shenzhen and Xiamen.
"Tiger Airways passengers have enjoyed great low fares for 365 days of each of the past three years," said chief commercial and marketing officer Rosalynn Tay. "With the leap year in 2008, passengers can enjoy" deals for 366 days.
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