Guess the missing word!

One rat brain __________

Humorous answers welcome!

Daily Headline – 26/02/13

China’s environmental impact

A study on Chinese soil pollution by Chinas leading environmental watchdog will not be released by the ministry of environmental protection in its entirety.

The ministry of environmental protection said that is would not release all the data due to security reasons. Surely a cover for the horrific scale of environmental damage going on in China.

China’s official data already exposes huge environmental damage with the groundwater of two thirds of cities marked as severely polluted and two-fifths of rivers are tainted.

Beijing

Last month air pollution in China’s capital Beijing reached hazardous to human health levels as confirmed both by China and the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Environmental awareness is rapidly increasing in China and hopefully the latest development will add pressure on the government to do something about it.

Daily Headline – 15/02/13

Anti-climate change funded by billionaires

Once again big business and and the rich (led by the American right-wing) are trying to distort the reality of climate change.

Between 2002 and 2010 $120m has moved from conservative billionaires to over 100 anti-climate thinktanks with the aim of discrediting climate change science.

If climate change is indeed part of a natural ebb and flow then why does it need to be discredited? If it is wrong then the science will come to the fore and show that it is not happening or is not caused by human pollution.

I would suggest that by funding so much against this that it works to add to the ever mounting evidence that climate change is a reality and that human behaviour is making the situation worse.

If these billionaires can successfully discredit climate change then they will be able to effect government policy which in turn will help their respective businesses, either by increasing profits or by avoiding massive losses when people turn away from them.

This ‘donation’ is more like a financial investment in their short-sighted views.

Daily Headline – 09/02/13

UK; EU budget falls

The European Union budget is set to fall by 3% to £768bn yet the UK’s contribution is still set to increase.

UK tax payers contribution will still go up from anywhere between 1.3% to 6.3%, British Prime Minister David Cameron of the Conservative Party (Tory) said he was “proud” of the deal which was “good for the UK”.

The budget package still needs to be accepted by the European Parliament before it can come into force.

What’s been cut?

Agricultural Policy
Cohesion

What’s been increased?

Competitiveness & research
Rural development & fisheries
EU as a global player
Administration
Citizenship, freedom, security and justice

Who’s the biggest winner?

Competitiveness & research has has the biggest budget increase from €91.4bn to €125.6

Daily Headline – 30/01/13

South Korea launches into space

South Korea has successfully launched it’s Naro-1 rocket into space for the first time, on board is a Science and Technology Satellite (STSAT 2C).

Previous attempts by South Korea in 2009 and 2010 both failed.

Last month North Korea launched their Unha-3 rocket into space which was followed by further UN sanctions.

Why is it that two nations who are technically still at war face a situation of complete double standards?
North Korea launches a space rocket, gets more UN sanctions, South Korea launches a space rocket, gets a pat on the back.

Whether we agree or not with North and/or South Korean politics and general way of doing things surely they must be treated in the same way considering their joint history and the fact that both sides over-step the cease fire agreement.

Millions in melting glacier danger

By Leon J Williams

Fresh water could be in short supply or non-existent as glaciers in the Andes mountain range continue to disappear.

The BBC reports:

The glaciers, which provide fresh water for tens of millions in South America, are retreating at their fastest rate in the past 300 years.

The study included data on about half of all Andean glaciers and blamed the melting on an average temperature rise of 0.7C from 1950-1994.

Is this the result of man-made pollution or part of a natural long-term trend?

Either way one thing is for sure, the effects of this will have a massive impact on millions of people and something must be done to curtail the consequences.

Co2

Countries around the world are clearly not doing enough to reduce Carbon Dioxide emissions with the US polluting 17.67 tons per capita (one of the worlds highest) and China polluting a total of 7.7 million tons (the worlds highest).

Global Co2 emissions fell from 2008-2009 by 0.3% will this pathetic rate of improvement prove to be too little too late?

God caught red-handed!

By Leon J Williams

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth – Genesis 1:1 The Bible

Your Lord is God Who created the heavens and the earth in six days – The Heights 7:54 The Qur’an

With this drivel in mind it is clear that God has been caught red-handed in the process of making a new planet as astronomers have seen.

Space.com has announced that astronomers have caught a planet being born at a previously never before seen stage.
Planets being formed right in front of our eyes, no God, no mystery, just science.

Of course no amount of proof, evidence, fact and science will convince religious people that there is no God and everything they believe in is a load of crap but we live in hope!

Cannabis (marijuana) makes pain more tolerable

By Leon J Williams

An Oxford University study has found that THC (the psychoactive ingredient in cannabis) helps make pain more bearable.

The experts over at Oxford University tested volunteers, some with a THC tablet and others with a placebo then induced some pain (they used chilli but watching X-factor would have been perfectly sufficient).
After an MRI scan they found that the patients who took THC were less bothered by the pain.

Full story can be found here.

South Korea cancels rocket launch, lights a tower instead

By Leon J Williams

South Korea has cancelled its latest Naro-1 rocket due to technical difficulties, it would have been the third attempt at putting a Naro-1 into space after two previous failed attempts in 2009 and 2010.

North Korea thinks that because they had a successful rocket launch and the South failed that they have decided to take out their frustration on lighting a ‘Christmas tower’ by the border, scary stuff.

The real question is how comes no-one cares that the South is continually trying to launch rockets when when the North tries it’s ‘illegal’ or highly worrying? Another case of double standards?

For more info click here.