Saturday, May 31, 2008
Building Green: A Complete How-To ... - Google Book Search
Building Green: A Complete How-To ... - Google Book Search: "Building Green: A Complete How-To Guide to Alternative Building Methods ... By Clarke Snell, Tim Callahan"
Greenroof.co.uk - NatureMat™
Greenroof.co.uk - NatureMat™: "Developed exclusively by BHC, Nature Mat® consists of a geotextile base layer (which can be synthetic or biodegradable), a specially formulated substrate layer and a plant layer of selected species including Sedums. Once prepared, the system is grown on in the field to create a vegetation 'blanket' or 'mat' that has a minimum of 90% mature plant cover. This product can then be cut to size, rolled, placed on pallets and transported to site."
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Sunday, May 18, 2008
Ruined rice fields spell more despair for Myanmar - INQUIRER.net, Philippine News for Filipinos
Ruined rice fields spell more despair for Myanmar - INQUIRER.net, Philippine News for Filipinos:
Agence France-Presse
First Posted 15:22:00 05/18/2008
KYUAKTAN, Myanmar--Manian should be planting his next rice crop now, but more than two weeks after Myanmar's devastating cyclone he is still too busy trying to get basic food and shelter for his family.
His dilemma is a common one across a vast swathe of the agricultural south that was hit in the disaster, which destroyed rice paddies, drowned buffaloes used for ploughing and ruined stocks of grain and seed."
Agence France-Presse
First Posted 15:22:00 05/18/2008
KYUAKTAN, Myanmar--Manian should be planting his next rice crop now, but more than two weeks after Myanmar's devastating cyclone he is still too busy trying to get basic food and shelter for his family.
His dilemma is a common one across a vast swathe of the agricultural south that was hit in the disaster, which destroyed rice paddies, drowned buffaloes used for ploughing and ruined stocks of grain and seed."
Saturday, May 17, 2008
Crude Oil Price Forecast
Crude Oil Price Forecast: "That the Chinese used oil from natural seeps as fuel to boil salt brine into salt. Initially bamboo was pounded vertically into oil containing seeps and removed by suction. With time this led to drilling for oil, as they needed to penetrate deeper and deeper into oil containing underground seeps. In 347 AD oil wells were drilled in China up to 800 feet deep using bits attached to bamboo poles. Connecting lengths of bamboo to carry oil to their salt brine work sites; they were the first to invent an elementary oil pipeline."
Thursday, May 08, 2008
Tuesday, May 06, 2008
BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Green movement forgets its politics
BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Green movement forgets its politics: "Organisations campaigning on climate change need to learn the lessons of the anti-slavery and anti-apartheid movements, says Ann Pettifor. By focusing on individuals rather than governments, initiatives such as the recent Energy Saving Day are bound to fail in their bid to reduce emissions, she argues."
Bloomberg.com: Worldwide
Bloomberg.com: Worldwide: "May 6 (Bloomberg) -- UBS AG, battered by $17.3 billion of first-quarter losses at its investment-banking unit, plans to cut 5,500 jobs and said clients withdrew a net $12.2 billion from its asset- and wealth-management divisions."
Wired News - AP News
Wired News - AP News: "SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Yahoo shares fell 14 percent Monday as hopes for the once-dominant Internet icon dimmed following Microsoft's withdrawal of a $47.5 billion takeover bid.
The sell-off wiped out nearly half the gain in Yahoo Inc.'s stock price since Microsoft Corp. made its initial offer on Jan. 31 in an effort to challenge online advertising and search leader Google Inc. The downturn left Yahoo's market value about $13 billion below Microsoft's last offer.
Last-ditch talks between Yahoo and Microsoft were fruitless, leading Microsoft to walk away from a deal Saturday."
The sell-off wiped out nearly half the gain in Yahoo Inc.'s stock price since Microsoft Corp. made its initial offer on Jan. 31 in an effort to challenge online advertising and search leader Google Inc. The downturn left Yahoo's market value about $13 billion below Microsoft's last offer.
Last-ditch talks between Yahoo and Microsoft were fruitless, leading Microsoft to walk away from a deal Saturday."
Monday, May 05, 2008
UBS - Board of Directors
UBS - Board of Directors: "Peter Kurer was elected to the Board of Directors at the AGM in April 2008 and thereafter appointed as Chairman. Peter Kurer became a member of the Group Executive Board in 2002. He has been the Group General Counsel since 2001, when he joined UBS. He is a member of the Corporate Responsibility Committee. Between 1991 and 2001 he was a partner at the Homburger law firm in Zurich. Between 1980 and 1990 he was with Baker & McKenzie in Zurich, first as associate, later as partner, having been a law clerk at the District Court of Zurich. Mr. Kurer graduated as a doctor iuris from the University of Zurich and was admitted as attorney-at-law in Zurich. He holds an LL.M. from the University of Chicago and was born on 28 June 1949. He is a Swiss citizen."
UBS shareholders vote Peter Kurer as Ospel successor - swissinfo
UBS shareholders vote Peter Kurer as Ospel successor - swissinfo: "UBS shareholders have backed legal expert Peter Kurer to steer the troubled Swiss banking giant out of its present crisis by electing him the new chairman.
Kurer will replace Marcel Ospel, who took his leave at the bank's annual general meeting on Wednesday. UBS has lost more than SFr37 billion ($37 billion) in the subprime mortgage crash.
Shareholders also voted in favour of a proposal to raise SFr15 billion of capital via a rights issue.
Kurer was elected to the bank's board of directors on Wednesday and will be confirmed as chairman in the new future"
Kurer will replace Marcel Ospel, who took his leave at the bank's annual general meeting on Wednesday. UBS has lost more than SFr37 billion ($37 billion) in the subprime mortgage crash.
Shareholders also voted in favour of a proposal to raise SFr15 billion of capital via a rights issue.
Kurer was elected to the bank's board of directors on Wednesday and will be confirmed as chairman in the new future"
UBS boss quits amid $19bn write-down | Business | guardian.co.uk
UBS boss quits amid $19bn write-down | Business | guardian.co.uk: "UBS, already one of the biggest victims of the US sub-prime crisis, has been forced to write off another $19bn (£9.6bn) from the value of its mortgage assets, forcing its under-fire chairman to step down.
The Swiss bank said today it was seeking fresh capital through a rights issue, after admitting that its losses from so-called 'toxic debts' -- securities underpinned by US home loans whose value has plunged in recent months - had doubled. Chairman Marcel Ospel, who had previously fought off calls for his resignation, will step down at its AGM later this month.
The latest write-down was caused by another drop in the value of the company's holdings in securities backed by US mortgages, and doubles its overall sub-prime losses. It pushed the company into a loss of SFr12bn (£6bn) for the first quarter of 2008."
The Swiss bank said today it was seeking fresh capital through a rights issue, after admitting that its losses from so-called 'toxic debts' -- securities underpinned by US home loans whose value has plunged in recent months - had doubled. Chairman Marcel Ospel, who had previously fought off calls for his resignation, will step down at its AGM later this month.
The latest write-down was caused by another drop in the value of the company's holdings in securities backed by US mortgages, and doubles its overall sub-prime losses. It pushed the company into a loss of SFr12bn (£6bn) for the first quarter of 2008."
Feed Article | Business |
Feed Article | Business |: "By Andrew Hay and Natsuko Waki
MADRID, May 5 (Reuters) - ADB President Haruhiko Kuroda called on Monday for determined action to secure food supplies for Asia's poorest people as a battle brewed among the Bank's backers over how to fund a growing crop of projects.
'The global fight against poverty will be won or lost in our region,' Kuroda said in a keynote speech to delegates at the Asian Development Bank's Annual meeting.
'Soaring food prices are hitting the poor very hard. This price surge has a stark human dimension and has greatly affected over a billion people in Asia and the Pacific alone,' he said.
Asia is home to two thirds of the world's poor and risks rising social tension as a doubling of wheat and rice prices in the last year has slammed people who spend more than half their income on food.
Citing grain stocks at their lowest levels in decades, turmoil in global financial markets and an uncertain outlook for the world economy, Kuroda made a plea for 'money and ideas' to boost development and rescue millions of people from poverty.
'The absence of such measures could seriously undermine the global fight against poverty and erode the gains of the past decades,' Kuroda said.
But the call for action is accompanied by a need to rapidly accelerate the ADB's investment programme, particularly its core portfolio of infrastructure project lending, funded by loans linked to market interest rates."
MADRID, May 5 (Reuters) - ADB President Haruhiko Kuroda called on Monday for determined action to secure food supplies for Asia's poorest people as a battle brewed among the Bank's backers over how to fund a growing crop of projects.
'The global fight against poverty will be won or lost in our region,' Kuroda said in a keynote speech to delegates at the Asian Development Bank's Annual meeting.
'Soaring food prices are hitting the poor very hard. This price surge has a stark human dimension and has greatly affected over a billion people in Asia and the Pacific alone,' he said.
Asia is home to two thirds of the world's poor and risks rising social tension as a doubling of wheat and rice prices in the last year has slammed people who spend more than half their income on food.
Citing grain stocks at their lowest levels in decades, turmoil in global financial markets and an uncertain outlook for the world economy, Kuroda made a plea for 'money and ideas' to boost development and rescue millions of people from poverty.
'The absence of such measures could seriously undermine the global fight against poverty and erode the gains of the past decades,' Kuroda said.
But the call for action is accompanied by a need to rapidly accelerate the ADB's investment programme, particularly its core portfolio of infrastructure project lending, funded by loans linked to market interest rates."
AFP: ADB chief warns a billion Asians at risk from soaring food prices
AFP: ADB chief warns a billion Asians at risk from soaring food prices: "MADRID (AFP) — The head of the Asian Development Bank called on Monday for an 'immediate response' to soaring food prices which he said threatened more than a billion Asians with a risk of malnutrition.
ADB President Haruhiko Kuroda also warned that the food problem could cut into decades of economic gains in the Asia-Pacific region.
And he announced a special fund to combat climate change and its effects, which he termed a 'fundamental threat' to the region.
'These are troubling times for the world economy. On the heels of turmoil in the financial markets and economic slowdown in the US and elsewhere, soaring food prices are hitting the poor very hard,' he said in an inaugural speech to the ADB's board of governors meeting in Madrid."
ADB President Haruhiko Kuroda also warned that the food problem could cut into decades of economic gains in the Asia-Pacific region.
And he announced a special fund to combat climate change and its effects, which he termed a 'fundamental threat' to the region.
'These are troubling times for the world economy. On the heels of turmoil in the financial markets and economic slowdown in the US and elsewhere, soaring food prices are hitting the poor very hard,' he said in an inaugural speech to the ADB's board of governors meeting in Madrid."
BBC NEWS | Europe | LSD inventor Albert Hofmann dies
BBC NEWS | Europe | LSD inventor Albert Hofmann dies: "Albert Hofmann, the Swiss chemist who discovered the hallucinogenic drug LSD, has died of a heart attack at his home in Basel at the age of 102.
Mr Hofmann first produced LSD in 1938 while researching the medicinal uses of a crop fungus.
He accidentally ingested some of the drug and said later: 'Everything I saw was distorted as in a warped mirror.'
He argued for decades that LSD could help treat mental illness, but in the 1960s it became a popular street drug.
'Turn on, tune in, drop out'"
Mr Hofmann first produced LSD in 1938 while researching the medicinal uses of a crop fungus.
He accidentally ingested some of the drug and said later: 'Everything I saw was distorted as in a warped mirror.'
He argued for decades that LSD could help treat mental illness, but in the 1960s it became a popular street drug.
'Turn on, tune in, drop out'"
BBC NEWS | UK | UK Politics | Brown's biofuels caution welcomed
BBC NEWS | UK | UK Politics | Brown's biofuels caution welcomed: "Gordon Brown has pledged to examine the impact of biofuels on world food prices, at a meeting with aid agencies, scientists, supermarkets and farmers.
The prime minister said Britain had to be 'selective' in supporting biofuels and change its approach if necessary.
Oxfam's Phil Bloomer welcomed the news, saying biofuels pushed up food prices and led to 'land grabs' from the poor."
The prime minister said Britain had to be 'selective' in supporting biofuels and change its approach if necessary.
Oxfam's Phil Bloomer welcomed the news, saying biofuels pushed up food prices and led to 'land grabs' from the poor."
BBC NEWS | Business | World Bank tackles food emergency
BBC NEWS | Business | World Bank tackles food emergency: "The World Bank has announced emergency measures to tackle rising food prices around the world.
World Bank head Robert Zoellick warned that 100 million people in poor countries could be pushed deeper into poverty by spiralling prices.
The crisis has sparked recent food riots in several countries including Haiti and Egypt."
World Bank head Robert Zoellick warned that 100 million people in poor countries could be pushed deeper into poverty by spiralling prices.
The crisis has sparked recent food riots in several countries including Haiti and Egypt."
BBC NEWS | Africa | UN food body 'should be scrapped'
BBC NEWS | Africa | UN food body 'should be scrapped': "An African leader has dismissed the UN's food agency as a 'waste of money' and called for it to be scrapped.
President Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal spoke out days after the UN announced an emergency plan to bring soaring world food prices under control.
Mr Wade said the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) was itself largely to blame for the price rises."
President Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal spoke out days after the UN announced an emergency plan to bring soaring world food prices under control.
Mr Wade said the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) was itself largely to blame for the price rises."
Sunday, May 04, 2008
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