(Yes I did type that carefully).
She’s called Japanese knotweed and there’s one of her across the whole of Europe.
It all comes from one unsolicited sample sent to Kew gardens in 1850. A powerful example of unintended consequences.
I’ve just been pointed in the direction of CiviCRM: “an open source and freely downloadable constituent relationship management solution. CiviCRM is web-based, open source, internationalized, and designed specifically to meet the needs of advocacy, non-profit and non-governmental groups. Integration with both Drupal and Joomla! content management systems gives you the tools to connect, communicate and activate your supporters and constituents.”
Anyone have any experiences to share, comments? TIA
Some of the rightwing press was “sticking it to the greenies” with undisguised glee over the weekend, with claims that the new energy-saving lightbulbs were going to murder innocent families in their beds.
Well here’s the facts from Royal Society of Chemistry – in short that there is a tiny fraction of the mercury found in thermometers, that it is in ALL flourescent bulbs, including the strip type, which have been around for a very long time, overall, that this is a storm in a teacup.
Current methods of correct disposal no doubt are inadequate – but that’s true of many others things, including batteries. Everything we use has an environmental cost – that’s simply a fact.
A selection of recently reported research shows that a lot of skills we homocentrically used to think of as special to us can be found in the animal kingdom, and sometimes at higher levels than our own.
1. Dogs have been able to identify different classes of photos – whether they are pictures of “dogs” or “landscapes” – classification by category. (And I can’t wait to see what the Japanese are going to do with the dog-adapted touch-screen computer, given the enthusiasm a few years ago for a canine translator).
2. Monkeys are about as good at mental arithmetic as college students.
If we could start thinking of ourselves as just another animal species it might be a very good antidote to hubris.
By a woman who lived to tell the tale.
I sat under a low tree in a foetal position and communicated passive, loving vibes.
There’s also an interesting list of deadly animals at the end in order of number of deaths each year. No 1 of course is the mosquito, but interesting that sharks come in only at No 9, not what you’d think from the media. (Crocodiles are No 5.)
Of course the No 1 really should be Homo sapiens sapiens…
A vaccine trial in Mozambique has reduced cases of the disease by 65% – in infants.
It was only a small trial, but it involved real conditions on the ground – i.e. really difficult conditions, and the vaccine could easily be given with other childhood vaccines already given with excellent coverage in Africa and Asia.
So it seems, it works and it is practical, and it could save an awful lot of lives (and morbidity). (Hopefully eventually also in pregnant women – who suffer greatly from the disease.)
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