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070331 00:15 File sharing

Private File Sharing to Remain/Become legal in EU.

...criminal sanctions should only apply to those infringements deliberately carried out to obtain a commercial advantage. Piracy committed by private users for personal, non-profit purposes are therefore also excluded.

070330 23:33 Disability

I've worked in the disability field for quiet a while but i've never come across guide horses for the blind before.

Why use a mini horse as a blind guide?

There are many compelling reasons to use miniature horses as guide animals. Horses are natural guide animals and have been guiding humans for centuries. In nature, horses have been shown to possess a natural guide instinct. When another horse goes blind in a herd, a sighted horse accepts responsibility for the welfare of the blind horse and guides it with the herd. With humans, many blind people ride horses in equestrian competitions. Some blind people ride alone on trails for many miles, completely relying on the horse to guide them safely to their destination. Through history, Cavalry horses have been known to guide their injured rider to safety.

i totally love the idea. this made me chuckle: among the reasons for using mini horses as guide animals it lists...

Good Manners - Guide Horses are very clean and can be housebroken. Horses do not get fleas and only shed twice per year. Horses are not addicted to human affection and will stand quietly when on duty.

stand quietly? haha! not my horse :)
but then... she's not well trained.

030730 23:22 Information

If anyone ever argues that Wikipedia is not a reliable source for information, tell them that they are more reliable than the New York Times and point them here: NYT changes, back-dates article after Wikipedia fact-checkers find error.

070329 23:22 Drugs

In case you didn't know this yet: Alcohol and tobacco are more harmful than LSD and ecstacy.

A new study published today in the Lancet proposes that drugs should be classified by the amount of harm that they do, rather than the sharp A, B, and C divisions in the UK Misuse of Drugs Act. [...]

[They] identified three main factors that together determine the harm associated with any drug of potential abuse:

1. the physical harm to the individual user caused by the drug
2. the tendency of the drug to induce dependence
3. the effect of drug use on families, communities, and society

070329 23:20 Internet

Never send your CV from a hotmail account if you're applying for a job asking for someone with ample experience in using the internet - because if you use hotmail you're obviously not an internet expert.

070321 + 070324

Winter tries it one more time.

070321 14:25 Environment

March 22 is World Water Day. This year's theme is Coping with Water Scarcity.

This year's theme highlights the increasing significance of water scarcity worldwide and the need for increased integration and cooperation to ensure sustainable, efficient and equitable management of scarce water resources, both at international and local levels.

Equity and rights, cultural and ethical issues are essential to be addressed when dealing with limited water resources. Imbalances between availability and demand, the degradation of groundwater and surface water quality, intersectoral competition, interregional and international disputes, all center around the question of how to cope with scarce water resources.

070311 21:05 SciFi / Population

I remember reading a story as a teenager, in a SciFi anthology, about a doctor in India who is trying to figure out why more and more babies are born with "empty eyes". He discovers that they lack souls because more people are alive now than have ever been alive, which means humans have run out of souls to reincarnate.

Not to worry, though, because this researcher did the numbers and says that the living will never outnumber the dead.

To calculate how many people have ever lived, Haub followed a minimalist approach, beginning with two people in 50000 B.C.-his Adam and Eve. Then, using his historical growth rates and population benchmarks, he estimated that slightly over 106 billion people had ever been born.

070311 19:35 Environment

Best first line ever:

It is not quite the end of the world but you could probably see it from here.

You can most certainly watch it happen from there. The BBC News article this quote is taken from talks about a community on an remote Alaskan island that is being destroyed by climate change.

The article is accompanied by a heartbreaking picture of a couple of polar bears stuck on a tiny piece of ice, the rest of their melting habitat. ...which reminded me of the drowning polar bears story.

070310 23:54 TV / Society

So Battlestar Galactica is tackling social issues again. Quite realistically. Sadly.

In episode 3:16 they deal with class, the continuation of a two-tiered world, of poor and rich, of how class determines life. They even make it quite clear that the working class is not heard by the ruling class until they resort to drastic action, and they show by what disgusting means the ruling class enforces its power and will: threatening family members of incarcerated strike leaders with execution just to get back in control, to then graciously hand out little gifts, a promotion here, promises of rest days there... First the stick, then the carrot.

So yeah, they get points for daring to bring up these issues but not for choosing the outcome that in our world is the most likely. I mean, wasn't the premise of Science Fiction (apart from "it's not about the future, it's about the present") to play with alternatives, explore alternatives, explore what would happen if we had the chance to do it differently, to do it over again? Couldn't they try to make a better society? Did BSG miss an opportunity here? Are they taking the realism a bit too serious? Are they colluding with the US military in an attempt to justify the alleged necessity of their power and control? Are they forever going to use the constant emergency scenario as an excuse to not deal with these issues in a more creative way?

Politically this series kept disappointing me from the start. To be honest, i've been a Baltar supporter since the day President Roslin declared abortion illegal.

070302 00:22 Internet

Join the fight for internet freedom.

070301 23:52 Health

How about a chili pepper diet:

Food scientists in Taiwan have discovered that capsaicin, the "hot" molecule in red peppers, can reduce the growth of fat cells. [...] The findings could provide new insights into dealing with the growing problem of obesity.

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