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Gulf oil spill - has to be one of the worst...




Gulf oil spill disaster  -  has to be one of the worst...



The Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico continues to wreak havoc on the environment in the United States and the Caribbean. The April 20th blowout and explosion off the coast of Louisiana is expected to eclipse the Exxon Valdez spill as the worst oil disaster in US history.



Despite clean-up crews working 24/7 since the fatal explosion took place, it is expected that Gulf fishing and tourism industries will never recover, and habitats for hundreds of birds have been destroyed forever.


How much permanent damage has been done in the gulf? The financial cost could be beyond the clean-up of the oil spill and damage by BP  -  people of the area could be the real losers for many years!

http://travel.msn.co.nz/glance/1053922/gulf-oil-spill-disaster  Photos here:

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Absinthe  -  "The Green Fairy"  -  named for its emerald colour and its ability to make your head swirl.



Does this alcoholic beverage deserve its reputation? Personally I have never tried it; in my younger days I was not into liqueurs, preferring to drink brown and golden brown ales and lagers in my journeys and  youthful  socialising. But, however, there were plenty around who did, and enjoyed it, it has been widely claimed. And Absinthe does have its very old reputation; does it indeed warrant this? Does it deserve its reputation to make your head swirl after drinking its emerald green contents? Has any alcoholic beverage attracted as much conjecture as Absinthe?


New Zealand is, according to a recent claim, one of the few countries in the world where Absinthe is sold across the counter without any regulation or other restraint. Bartenders here are using it in cocktails and it is also available to take home from most liquor stores as well.


This is apparently remarkable because some brands contain quantities of thujone, a derivative of the leaves and flowers of the wormwood plant from the Mediterranean with a reputation  as a 'psychotic convulsant'  (described in a number of books and stories over the years) dating back to an earlier time when science and medicines were a great deal different than their modern varieties.

Well do the old reputations stack up today! Will it make you blind and mad, as I have read? There is no evidence to support any assertation or claim that modern Absinthe  resembles the rudimentary drink from the past. Recent studies have found small ineffectual doses of thujone may accumulate in the body  and produce, over time, minor toxicity.  While this might explain Absinthe's alleged reputation for producing  a heady buzz, any light- headedness  is more likely to be a reaction to over-indulgence of a highly alcoholic beverage that contains a myriad of unfamiliar herbs and flavourings. What a let down! So it was just a case of going on an Absinthe bender? The modern variety perhaps, but like many of the old alcoholic drinks with reputations emanating from  the dark and distant past -  the Scotch and Irish whiskies for instance -  the old Absinthe may well have lived up to its history.

While the modern form of Absinthe has been variously attributed to apothecaries in Switzerland and France,   tonics in the manner of Absinthe have existed for thousands of years. Pythagoras and Hippocrates   reportedly recommended wormword elixirs for a variety of ailments and were  included in medicine chests of doctors in many places for centuries. Even that ubiquitous  Vicks VapoRub that many of us have in our own medicine cupboards today, is claimed to contain small quantities of thujone.   

Thujone can be reportedly found in other modern alcoholic drinks today, such as Vermouth, Chartreuse and Benedictine. In fact Vermouth, made from using flower heads from Wormword, takes its name from the German' wermuth'  . Wormwood is also popular  as flavouring for branvin, an alcoholic drink made from potatoes in Sweden. 

This is not the end of the wormwood or Absinthe story, just a pause here. I hope you enjoyed the information in my story; I enjoyed researching and  writing it. Absinthe, the emerald 'green fairy'  may swirl a few more Kiwi  heads yet.       

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Socialism? No, blame the Republicans, says correspondent to  Augusta Chronicle...





I just finished reading Andy Windham's letter "Socialism slowly trapping our country" (May 11), and Mr. Windham is pointing the finger, concerning the $12.4 trillion debt, in the wrong direction.



We had socialistic programs -- such as Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and the Tennessee Valley Authority -- many years before 1980, when we owed $1 trillion. In 1980, Ronald Reagan promised to balance the budget in three years. The first thing when he came into office was to cut taxes on the rich (trickle-down economics), and eight years later when he left office the debt was $4 trillion. In came George H.W. Bush ("Read my lips; no new taxes"), and when he left four years later, we owed $5 trillion.



Bill Clinton came in, and when he left eight years later we still owed $5 trillion, with a treasury full of money with a plan to pay off the debt in eight years.



In came the cowboy George W. Bush, who wanted to be -- had to be -- a wartime president. Only thing wrong: the war he started was on borrowed money, mainly from the Far East. The national debt soared from $5 trillion to $12 trillion, and he left an economy that drove the debt even higher during his administration.



I hate to tell Mr. Windham, but it looks like socialism is not the root of the problem on our national debt, but the Republicans in office. The country could not have stood eight more years of Republicans John McCain and Sarah Palin in the White House if history is an indicator.



By the way, I noticed that Mr. Windham didn't mention Social Security and Medicare as a socialistic problem in his letter

Acknowledgements:  Jim McGaughey, Augusta Chronicle

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From the Green Planet comes the "Singapore in sand grab"...



Cambodia is devastating its coastal areas by dredging vast quantities of sand to export to tiny Singapore for reclamation, a watchdog group has reported recently.



Cambodia has become a prime source of sand used to enlarge Singapore's territory now that several other nations - including Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam - have banned sand exports.



Singapore has reportedly increased its surface area by 20% in recent decades through reclamation. London-based environmental watchdog Global Witness has also noticed that the wealthy island state claims to be a leader on environmental issues. Yeah right. Some people will believe anything!

Acknowlegements :http://worldofcae.blogspot.com/

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Elvis Presley reportedly died of chronic constipation at home in Graceland in 1977...

I like human interest stories. This is an unusual revelation after forty years of the real cause of Elvis Presley's death in 1977. The King of Rock and Roll reportedly died of chronic constipation on his toilet at home in Graceland. It has been claimed for decades that heart failure was the cause of his death. That is true of course, because death comes when the heart stops beating.

Most of us who can remember the iconic Elvis singing and entertaining, can remember just how obese and ill-looking he became in the latter days. A far cry from the fit and healthy man of his younger years.

New revelations claim he refused the surgery which would have relieved him of his chronic constipation. Health professionals obviously didn't realise just how ill Elvis was. His constipation was so bad that a stool had been in his colon  for four to five months due to the lack of bowel mobility. Surely this would have led to an infection in his bowels?

He would reportedly get embarrassed when having an accident on stage, and  have to go off  and change his clothes. It was caused by the method he was being treated for his constipation. Elvis reportedly suffered from an hereditary condition called  "bowel paralysis" - a colostomy was vital because his colon was 4-5 inches in diameter instead of 2-3 inches -  double the normal size.

Elvis was found dead sitting on his toilet. What a hell of a way for the King of Rock and Roll, and arguably one of the three greatest entertainers in history, to meet his demise. I was of that generation who regarded Elvis with awe and lamented his passing.

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The burka is "un-Australian" claims Aussie senator...



An Australian senator reportedly called the burka "un-Australian" and claims it should be banned - causing intense anger among the country's Muslim community.



Senator Bernardi from Soth Australia claims the full veil is repressive domination of women by men, and established different sets and expectations within Australian society.



His comments were posted on his blog, after an armed robbery by a man in a burka and sunglasses.



Opposition Liberal leader, Tony Abbot, who stopped short of supporting such a ban, said most Australians find the garment confronting.



Prime Minister Rudd accused the Liberals of a cynical political stunt. Australian Muslims have condemned talk of such a ban.

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Switched on Gardener gone to pot - police now need to put forward a strong case...





"Switched on Gardener" gone to pot - police now need to put forward a strong case...





Warren Brookbanks, Auck Uni, says cannabis case involving 250 people will be complex but police have taken time to gather enough evidence



A law expert says the criminal case against a nationwide garden store chain facing more than 700 drugs charges will be complex when it gets to court.



Police raided 16 branches of the "Switched on Gardener", charging 250 people with a raft of drugs charges. Directors and managers of the companies have been arrested and will be facing charges including cultivating cannabis and participating in an organised criminal group. It is alleged that cannabis growing equipment was sold at the stores to commercial growers. The arrests follow a two year investigation.



Deputy Commissioner Rob Pope says the bust will break the cornerstone of the illicit cannabis cultivation industry.



"Cannabis is the most abused controlled drug in New Zealand. The harm that this drug causes New Zealand communities can be conservatively estimated at $430 million a year. It hurts every community in every part of the country.?



Mr Pope says undercover officers purchased equipment, were given advice on how to grow cannabis and even purchased cannabis clones and other drugs over the counter. Police also seized methamphetamine, LSD, ecstasy and firearms.



Prof Warren Brookbanks from Auckland University says even though the case will be complex, it is not unknown territory for police.



"I imagine there will be a lot of criminal litigation arising out of this as the individuals defend the charges. They will be charged with a wide range of different offences under the Drugs Act."



Mr Brookbanks believes police have taken their time to gain sufficient evidence.



The Police Minister is praising good old fashion detective work for the exposure of the ring. Judith Collins says it has been a long hard slog for those involved.



"I'm very pleased with the fact that police have been able to bring the matter to such a successful conclusion in terms of the investigation, which involved a lot of undercover work."



Ms Collins says the number of arrests and charges shows how deeply these activities have affected communities.

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Are social network sites as safe as they claim. How private is our privacy?








Fifty-seven per cent of us think social network sites are private. Almost half of all New Zealanders now use online social networks - but most of us are hugely concerned about the information children are sharing on the internet.



A Privacy Commission survey issued today reveals nearly 45 per cent of Kiwis have online profiles - most on Facebook - which is up from 32 per cent last June and 14 per cent in August 2007.



But the rush to social networking coincides with greater concerns over online privacy, especially for children.



Privacy Commissioner Marie Shroff told the Herald a surprising number of people - 57 per cent - believed social networking sites were mostly private spaces.



She said there was an illusion of privacy on sites such as Facebook, Twitter or Flickr, but personal details or pictures could be easily accessed by anyone.



A high percentage of social network users were children, and Ms Shroff encouraged vigilance in protecting them on the internet.



"The internet offers a huge amount in terms of entertainment, education and ability to communicate with others, but there are risks too," she said.







"When children are online they can and do give away a lot of information about themselves, without necessarily being aware of the consequences."



Ms Shroff cited cases of identity theft of children as young as 10 which resulted in online abuse on Facebook.



"[Children] can risk themselves and their families by revealing personal and intimate information, which enables harms such as identity crime, stalking, text bullying and invasion of privacy in various ways."



Last Thursday, 19-year-old Cody Rae Allen of Gisborne pleaded guilty to forgery and criminal harassment after setting up a Facebook page to harass a teenage girl who spurned him.



In a survey by the internet safety organisation Netsafe, 25 per cent of secondary school students said they had been aggressively sexually solicited online.



Children sharing personal details online was the greatest concern among people surveyed by the Privacy Commissioner's office - 88 per cent said they worried about the information their children revealed online.



Seventy-nine per cent were concerned about the security of personal information held by overseas businesses.



Netsafe operations manager Lee Chisholm said any personal information put online should be considered public and permanently accessible.

Ackowledgements: MSN -  NZ Herald

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Aussies slam a 25% increase on cigarettes a day after NZ ...


Yesterday (on another site) I mentioned New Zealand had immediately imposed a 10% tax increase on cigarettes, with two further increases at Christmas over the next two years. Australia has imposed a 25% increase on cigarettes. A pack of 30's will increase byA$2.16 to A$15.00(NZ$19.00).



PM Kevin Rudd said many Australians had stockpiled cigarettes in anticipation of a price increase.



As I also mentioned yesterday tobacco companies will have to use plain packaging, after July1 2012.



Kevin Rudd also claimed the changes would cut (rather speculatively in my opinion) consumption by 6% and smoker numbers by 2.3%.



The extra A$5 billion over 4 years will be spent on public health and hospital reform.



While health groups support the changes, tobacco companies are preparing to challenge the changes.



A week after Anzac Day, it is great to see the two Anzac nations so firmly united in their determination to reduce smoking in Australia and New Zeaand and improve the health of their people.



Whether they will be successful is in the lap of the gods, but Kiwis and Aussies are pretty resourceful people and many would try and find ways around the price increases; by growing their own or obtaining cheaper supplies from overseas.

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Australians have paid tribute to the three Royal New Zealand Air Force personnel, killed when their Iroquois helicopter crashed north of Wellington...


The three pilots were remembered as part of Anzac Day commemorations in Hobart, Tasmania, yesterday.



Australian Peacekeeper and Peacemaker Veterans' Association of Tasmania, Phil Pyke, said many Australians had served alongside Flight Lieutenant Hayden Peter Madsen, who was one of those killed yesterday.



Mr Pyke said Mr Madsen served in the Solomon Islands as operations officer for the for the aviation group as part of the Joint Task Force.



"We remember their families and Squadron members at this difficult time," Mr Pyke said.



Australia Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said he was deeply saddened by the deaths, the Australian newspaper reported.



"I extend, on behalf of the Australian government and people, our condolences to the families of the victims, to the service men and women of the New Zealand Defence Forces, and to the government and people of New Zealand."







Mr Rudd said the date of the accident compounded the helicopter tragedy.



"This tragedy is an especially poignant reminder of the risks that our men and women in uniform continually face on behalf of our two nations and for our freedoms," he said.



Flight Lieutenant Madsen, 33, Flying Officer Daniel Stephen Gregory. 28 and Corporal Benjamin Andrew Carson, 25, were all killed when the Iroquois crashed into the side of a mountain while on their way to take part in Anzac commemorations in Wellington.



Their bodies were found by an Air Force crewman who ran 2km through steep and rugged uphill terrain to get to the mangled helicopter wreck.



The man was on board one of three Iroquois helicopters flying in formation from Ohakea air base to Anzac Day services in Wellington, when another of the aircraft crashed in heavy cloud, killing the three men shortly before 6am yesterday.



Another crewman survived and was last night in a stable condition in Wellington Hospital.



Several investigations have started into the tragedy, which came on the day New Zealand remembered those who gave their lives for their country.

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Take action - wake up or become human clones New Zealand!







Okay, perhaps the headline is a tad sensationalist but after yesterday’s announcement that the Environmental Risk Management Authority (ERMA) has approved genetically modified goats, sheep and cows at AgResearch’s Ruakura research facility I wouldn’t be surprised if human cloning was on the cards soon.







I’m also not surprised that this consent was given considering ERMA’s rubber stamp approval of past applications. In the nearly 15 years since ERMA was formed it has yet to decline a single GE application. Talk about a lap dog for GE interests.







And yes, I can hear people say ‘but this application is different’ and ‘it will save people’s lives’. But human cloning is different, I guess.







I say ‘bollocks’. Yes, I know they say these GE applications will not be used for commercial interests in terms of developing milk. But, my sense is, that is exactly where this will lead. Along with the recent pro-GE grass articles these applications are for the commercial interests of big agri-business.







You may think, how cynical, but this is a subject close to my heart. Two of my siblings have muscular dystrophy. Several years ago there was a proposal to genetically engineer sheep to increase muscle mass up to four times. It was argued this process could be used to help people with muscular dystrophy. My siblings and I talked about this and we agreed that it seemed to be more about dollars in terms of ‘more muscle on sheep more dollars made in selling the meat’ than a genuine proposal to end muscular dystrophy. And where did that experiment end up? Nowhere and no cure in sight.







Greenpeace is not against GE for medical reasons. We believe that it should be kept in the lab and not out in our paddocks.







Plus, the Royal Commission (held in 2001 to determine whether GE should be allowed in NZ) recommended to use synthetic rather than human genes, and not use animals that could find their way into the food chain. Due to this and many other environmental and economic reasons this application should have been declined.







This government would support it friends in big business making money from cloning; even human cloning.



Acknowledgements:  Greenpeace New Zealand


Human cloning

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DO NOT GIVE SIDETICK A TICK.                                 .







Do not give Sidetick a tick, They ripped me off! They don't deserve to be on the internet - a big thumbs down!





First published at Qondio:











I'm really not a negative type, that why I'm always looking at new sites, especially blog and social network sites. I've had a few disabled for a variety of reasons, not usually my fault, in my opinion anyway.

If I allegedly break the TOS of a site, like Adsense for instance, I would appreciate being told the reason - Adsense never has told me. I can only presume I must have unknowingly and inadvertently clicked one of my own adds; if I did I am very remorseful about that. But Google Adsense the power and the glory on the internet didn't want to know. They made THEIR decision. But thats not what I'm actually writing about today, here at KR!



As I said earlier I'm always looking around at new sites. I've joined a couple of social network sites. Most are there for your enjoyment and social interaction - Netlog is a good example of that. Good site to communicate from.



But one day in the latter part of last year i was invited to a new site by one of my good blogging friends. So I signed up and began to navigate my way around the place. They said that this site is a paying site, and you got paid more if you intracted more. And so it appeared for many months. We got credited with Sidetick dollars for getting friends and interacting with them, setting up and participating in polls, writing on my blog, commenting on other blogs, downloading music,videos and games. I even took part in the NFL weekly game selections (despite knowing little about the American game) - football pools. I was earning a potential 3500-5000 Sidetick dollars, or SD's per week .By February of this year I had earned potentially 89,000 SD. 200,000 SD =US$100.00 at payout.



During February Sidetick made a bombshell announcement, which I didn't pickup until Feb 27, my birthday. Only citizens of the US and some obviously friendly countries, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia and Israel could continue to be allowed to earn money there. The rest of we members were foreigners and couldn't earn anymore. We had all participated and helped Sidetick to grow as a social site for all these months. Now we were being denied the opportunity to continue earning, and as a consequence to be able to have the opportunity to cash out what we may have already earned - in my case about US$45.00.



As a New Zealander and a friend and ally of the United States I was deeply angered and offended to be considered a mere foreigner, on a par with North Korea. I was irate, and sent messages to the Admin and wrote a couple of posts on my blog there. I received a reply which stated they were looking for ways for "foreign" members to continue earning money there.Yeah right! I didn't receive any opportunities to make more than pennies there. So I went on the attack outside of Sidetick! Now I'm not normally a vindictive person, but this kiwi doesn't appreciate being treated in such an unforgetable and off-hand manner - being ripped off!



Sidetick had actually committed offences against a New Zealand citizen and under NZ law would be guilty of false pretences and fraud. They continued to advertise their site without any mention of "two grades" of membership - Americans and buddies, and "foreigners" like me and those from North Korea, Zimbabwe, Iran and Fiji etc. But because they are registered in Atlanta, Georgia, there isn't anything I could do unless I went to Atlanta and took a case against them.



I wasn't surprised that after posting a few articles on various blogsites on the internet my account was disabled. Bully for Sidetick, the rip-off merchants of the internet! Many of my blogging friends are angered by Sidetick's actions, and one has said she will investigate ways within the US system to bring Sidetick to justice. Good for her!


Acknowledgements: Peter Petterson

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