Good Morning Everyone,
Well, for the next couple weeks you should be getting this blog a little bit earlier than it has been. Due to my husband's change in work schedule, I have more free time in the morning, versus the free time I used to have in the evening. Today's articles range from helpful cockroaches, to kayak rescue. Please enjoy the articles below. :) See you tomorrow!
Today's Top 5:
1. Farmer's Helper: the Flying Cockroach (NW Florida Daily News)
2. Kayaker Rescued from Escambia County Bay (NW Florida Daily News)
3. Drinking Tea could Help Fight Diabetes, Say Experts (The Scotsman)
4. German Pilot Hailed for Averting Crash During Storm (Earth Times)
5. Holland Art Cities Offers the Most Art per Km2 (PR Newswire)
Honorable Mention:
Police Use Books to Help Kids in Crisis (Green Bay Press Gazzette)
1. Farmer's Helper: the Flying Cockroach
BETSY BLANE, Associated Press Writer
Mar 3, 8:06 AM EST http://www.nwfdailynews.com/articles/FARM_SCENE_HELPFUL_ROACHES
LUBBOCK, Texas (AP) -- Loathed by homeowner and restaurateur, the lowly cockroach is gaining some respect in the agricultural community.
Researchers in South Texas are beginning to sing the praises of a flying cockroach from Asia that has shown a voracious appetite for pests that plague farmers. They concede, however, that most people would still be revolted at the sight of the helpful predator.
"It just brings out this visceral reaction in people," said Bob Pfannenstiel, an entomologist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture. "There's too much cultural antipathy just because of the other cockroaches."
The other cockroaches include the German variety, a common breed that doesn't fly and is often seen scattering from countertops when kitchen lights are flicked on.
The Asian cockroach, Blattella asahinai, is almost identical in appearance to the German variety and is also active at night. But instead of leftover pizza, it feasts on insects harmful to crops.
They first appeared in Florida in 1986, and the species has expanded its range ever since. They've migrated to southern Georgia, Alabama and up the East Coast.
They ventured west into Texas in 2006, and became the most common predator of bollworm eggs in the state's Rio Grande Valley region. The bollworm threatens cotton, soybean, corn and tomato crops.
Pfannenstiel has counted as many as 100 roaches per square meter in soybean fields. In one instance, he found 14 cockroaches on a single leaf. None damaged the plants.
About 86 percent of the pests' eggs - which Pfannenstiel and colleagues placed out in fields to conduct research - were gone within 24 hours.
2. Kayaker Rescued from Escambia County Bay
Robbyn Brooks
Monday March 3rd, 2008
http://www.nwfdailynews.com/article/12501
Santa Rosa County first responders rescued a 55-year-old male kayaker at 10 p.m. from Escambia Bay after he’d been on the water for about 10 hours.
Rescue workers were able to locate the boater using compliant cell phone technology, also called Phase II.
The Santa Rosa County man complained of dehydration, being cold and having leg cramps. He was taken to Sacred Heart Hospital at 10:30 p.m. The kayaker’s wife reported him missing about 7 p.m. after he didn’t return from his outing that started around noon.
At about 9:30 p.m., emergency workers were able to contact the boater on his cell phone and asked him to call 911 so they could pinpoint his location using wireless GPS technology.
Units from Avalon Fire-Rescue, Santa Rosa Emergency Management, Santa Rosa Search and Rescue, Santa Rosa and Escambia counties sheriff’s offices, the U.S. Coast Guard, Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Lifeguard Ambulance Service and a private boat all helped with the successful search and rescue.
3. Drinking Tea could Help Fight Diabetes, Say Experts
03 March 2008
By SCOTT MACNAB
http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/health/Drinking-tea-could-help-fight.3834930.jp
DRINKING tea could help combat diabetes, Scottish scientists claim. The potentially therapeutic properties in black tea have been discovered by scientists at the University of Dundee.
Green tea has long been held to possess various health benefits.
Dr Graham Rena, of the university's Neurosciences Institute, said his team's research into tea compounds is at a pre-clinical, experimental stage, but added: "There is definitely something interesting in the way these naturally occurring components of black tea may have a beneficial effect, both in terms of diabetes and our wider health."
People with diabetes should continue to take their medicines as directed by their doctor, Dr Rena said.
He added: "This is something that needs further research and people shouldn't be rushing to drink masses of black tea, thinking it will cure them of diabetes – we are still some way from this leading to new treatments or dietary advice."
Dr Rena's team is interested in identifying agents capable of substituting for insulin in Type 2 diabetes – the form of diabetes where the body stops responding to insulin properly. They have discovered that several black tea constituents, known as theaflavins and thearubigins, mimic insulin action.
"What we have found is that these constituents can mimic insulin action on proteins known as FOXOs," said Dr Rena. "FOXOs have previously been shown to underlie associations between diet and health in a wide variety of organisms including mice, worms and fruit flies. The task now is to see whether we can translate these findings into something useful for human health."
4. German Pilot Hailed for Averting Crash During Storm
Posted : Mon, 03 Mar 2008 12:32:02 GMT http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/189563,german-pilot-hailed-for-averting-crash-during-storm.html
Hamburg - A German pilot was praised Monday for averting a disaster when trying to land his plane during a powerful storm. The Lufthansa Airbus A320 with 137 persons on board was buffeted by hurricane-force winds when approaching Hamburg airport on a flight from Munich on Saturday.
The first attempt to land had to be aborted shortly before touchdown after the winds pushed the plane off course and one of its wingtips brushed the ground, sending up a plume of spray.
Fighting to regain control, the 39-year-old pilot was forced to climb and circle the airport for 15 minutes before landing successfully on another runway.
"He did a terrific job in carrying out what he had practised hundreds of time before in a simulator," Lufthansa spokesman Thomas Jachnow said.
None of the passengers was injured in the incident, but some required psychological counselling after the plane touched down, he said.
An amateur video broadcast on the n-tv news channel showed the plane veering from side to side as it attempted to land.
A Lufthansa spokesman said strong gusts of wind pushed the plane in a diagonal position to runway. After the pilot was able to steady the aircraft another gust caused the tip of the plane's left-wing to touch the ground. It was then the captain decided to abort the landing.
The incident took place during a storm dubbed Emma that claimed the lives of at least 14 people in Germany and other European countries.
The pilot and his female co-pilot, aged 24, were back on duty Monday, flying other Lufthansa routes in Europe.
5. Holland Art Cities Offers the Most Art per Km
22008-03-03 [09:40] http://media.netpr.pl/notatka_94765.html;jsessionid=9C74F70E43E9686A3110DC58AE0640EE
- Cultural Event in 2009-2010
In 2009 and 2010, the four largest cities in Holland will be taking part in a large-scale art and cultural event called Holland Art Cities (HAC). The top ten museums in Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague and Utrecht will create an unprecedented art spectacle. The Amsterdam museums the Hermitage and Stedelijk Museum will also be celebrating their opening.
Some of the most beautiful museums in the world are located within only an hour travelling time in Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague and Utrecht. During HAC the cultural organisations and top museums will offer a cultural calendar of the highest quality for two entire years. This makes it the highest concentration of art and cultural activities per square kilometre in the world.
The ten participating museums guarantee a first-rate programme. In Amsterdam this involves the Van Gogh Museum, Hermitage, Rijksmuseum and Stedelijk Museum. In The Hague the Municipal Museum of The Hague and the Mauritshuis, in Utrecht the Museum Catharijneconvent and Centraal Museum. Rotterdam's contribution will be the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen and the Kunsthal.
The works of art on display in the various museums during HAC are categorised into three themes: International Influences, Young Artists, Contemporary Art and Design and Dutch Masters. The first theme will be launched in 2009. The international orientation of the Dutch can clearly be seen in the country's art, culture and science and served as the source of inspiration for the large number of exhibitions.
The Holland Art Cities event is being coordinated by the International Events Holland Foundation and brings together ten world-class museums, the four largest cities in the Netherlands and their marketing organisations, two ministries and the Netherlands Board of Tourism & Conventions in a collaborative effort, the goal of which is to attract at least 200,000 additional visitors to the participating museums.
Latest news can be found at http://www.hollandartcities.com.
Note to the Editor:
For information
Saskia Deerenberg
Netherlands Board of Tourism & Conventions
T +31-70-37-05-207 F +31-70-32-01-654 E
sdeerenberg@holland.com
http://www.holland.com
Netherlands Board of Tourism & Conventions
Honorable Mention:
Police use books to help kids in crisis
By Corinthia McCoy
cmccoy@greenbaypressgazette.com
Posted March 3, 2008
http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080303/GPG0101/803030547/1207/GPGnews
Books will be the new tool some area police departments use to communicate with children in crisis situations.
Paul Gilbertson, executive director of the program With Wings and a Halo, which distributes the books, presented the proposal at a Wisconsin Chiefs of Police Association conference in Ashwaubenon last month.
Chiefs from Ashwaubenon Public Safety, the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay Public Safety, the Green Bay, Hobart/Lawrence, De Pere and the Oconto Falls police departments attended the conference and chose to further the Waunakee-based organization's mission "to put a smile on the face of a child in the time of need."
"Our goal is to touch as many children as we can who are in a crisis situation," Gilbertson said.
Reading allows children to escape from their current situation, Gilbertson said. He and his wife, Chris, president of the organization, attended a national author and publisher convention in New York City last year and visited the site of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. That's where the couple thought about the children affected by the attack and envisioned an organization to help children deal with traumatic situations.
Police chiefs will distribute what organizers call B.A.C.K. — Be A Cheerful Kid.
Packets to officers who will place them in the trunk of their squad cars to keep handy when situations with children involved arise.
The packets will be filled with 10-12 children's books.
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