- How about some happy economic news for once? Too many prognostications of gloom and doom are floating around and bringing everyone down, so why not offer some positivity? In that spirit, what would you say if I told you that forests covering an area almost the size of Russia could be restored around the world? Is that something you would be interested in? I thought so. That optimistic gem comes from an international contingent of scientists, including the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), who have sketched out a world map showing 1.5 billion hectares where there are opportunities to replant degraded or cleared forests. "There's no one-size-fits-all blueprint. The restoration would need to be driven by the community needs in each area. "We know it can be done. There are people all over the world who are doing it already," said Carole Saint-Laurent, IUCN's senior forest policy advisor. That sort of optimism will be necessary to repair an ecosystem in which three quarters of the world's forests have been cleared, degraded or fragmented due to human activity and a third have disappeared altogether, according to IUCN. Trying to replant and restore the disappearing forests is tough, but given the world’s growing need for food, fuel and timber, restoring them would provide huge benefits to both the communities near the restored forests as well as the environment. Artistic credit for the drawing of the map goes to the World Resources Institute, South Dakota University and IUCN, for the Global Partnership on Forest Landscape Restoration. The timing of the project coincides with the United Nations International Year of Forests, which kicks off Jan. 1. "This study came out of a partnership with about 30 governments all over the world. We are bringing people who are working on forest restoration together, as well as increasing understanding of the contribution that forest landscape restoration can make in addressing climate change,” Saint-Laurent added. "So far this is all at a global level, but our next step is to apply this to individual countries to give a more detailed picture." The map itself shows areas that once were forests and have the potential to be re-grown. It’s important to note that not all of the areas designated as re-forestable on the map may actually be re-forestable once they are examined up close, so this is more of a rosy glasses type of situation. "These are 1.5 billion hectares where opportunities could be found," said Saint-Laurent. "More analysis needs to be carried out to find what's really possible within that, because we haven't been able to map land rights, and there might be areas that are not suitable from a social point of view. "Even if you took out a third, it's still a vast area and a vast opportunity." Areas with the greatest opportunities for forest restoration are in Africa and Asia, each offering potential for 500 million hectares. So let’s rejoice in some positive enviro-news for once, everyone! Just make sure you put down the aerosol hairspray cans and turn off your pollution producing cars first………
- The New York Jets have been the NFL’s best show this season, narrowly edging out the Vikings and Cowboys, but even in media-oppressive New York, this is a bit over the line. Head coach Rex Ryan is known for big talk, dropping F-bombs, news conference stunts and boastful proclamations, but his love of cameras doesn’t mean we need to know about every aspect of the big fella’s life. By that, I’m saying that we don’t need to know about whether his wife, Michelle, posted foot-fetish videos on the Internet. Ryan was questioned about the matter during a conference call with Chicago reporters and at his news conference later Wednesday leading up to Sunday's game with the Bears. An online gossip site posted a report containing a number of videos of a woman who looks very much like Michelle Ryan showing off her feet while a cameraman -- who sounds like Ryan -- talks to the woman. To be honest, the videos are more than a little creepy and make one feel like they’re seeing something personal that they shouldn’t be seeing. Predictably, media members asked Ryan about the videos and just as predictably, he refused to say much about them. "To be honest, and I get it, I know you need to ask and all that stuff," Ryan stated. "But it's a personal matter and I'm really not going to discuss it, OK?" When asked again, he reiterated that it was between him and his wife and he would not elaborate beyond that. The subject came up again at his news conference and Ryan said many times: "It's a personal matter." When reporters pressed the issue, Ryan refused to say one way or the other as to whether he and his wife had made the videos. His refusal to entertain any discussion on the subject didn’t stop the New York Daily News from featuring a still photograph from one of the video clips on its front page. In one of the videos, the woman is approached by someone who is not on camera and he tells her that she has "really beautiful feet." In other videos, the same woman is shown sitting on a couch, having a drink, reading a book and sitting on a porch and rubbing her feet. The Jets have made it clear that they support their coach in this situation, with general manager Mike Tannenbaum saying in a statement made later Wednesday that he supported Ryan. " [Jets owner] Woody [Johnson] and I have met with Rex," he said. "This is a personal matter, and he has our full support." I would concur wholeheartedly on it being a personal matter, unless of course those making the videos were also responsible for their release, in which case they lose all right to complain. The lesson here, as always, is that if you don’t want embarrassing (nude or otherwise) pictures or videos of yourself popping up online, then the only true solution is not to make them in the first place………
- On one side, the theater community. On the other, The Man. At the center is what could fairly be called the most troubled, snakebitten musical of the year. The battle is on over whether this embattled show can go on and on one side of the battle is a New York state assemblyman who is calling for the cancellation of future performances of "Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark" unless producers agree to bring in an independent safety expert to evaluate its aerial stunts and remove the show's final sequence. Assemblyman Rory Lancman, chairman of the Subcommittee on Workplace Safety, expressed numerous safety concerns about the show in a letter sent Wednesday afternoon to "Spider-Man" producer Michael Cohl. "The danger to actors, theater employees and audience members seems to have reached unacceptable levels," Lancman wrote. Neither representatives for the production nor Cohl were immediately available for comment. Something tells me they have bigger issues on their mind, given that a fourth actor was injured in the production on Monday. The injured actor was actually a "Spider-Man" stunt double who fell more than 20 feet off a platform, injuring several ribs. He has been in serious condition at Bellevue Hospital Center since Monday evening and it’s safe to say that another injury doesn’t help when a show is already under investigation by both the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the New York state Department of Labor. Amidst the adversity, the production cancelled its Wednesday matinee, but was scheduled to hold a Wednesday evening performance. If Lancman has his way, that show may be the last one for the foreseeable future. In his letter, he threatened to call a hearing to explore the show's safety issues. "Achieving workplace safety can't be a process of trial and error, and they've been trying and erring for several months now," Mr. Lancman said in an interview. His demands include the removal of a sequence known as "The Net," the use of an independent safety inspector, the shortening of the tether that is supposed to prevent the stunt doubles from free-falling, to increase rehearsal time for the understudies performing aerial or tethered sequences and to introduce flying seminars for performers. Sounds like an awfully long list of demands, adding to a laundry list of troubles for a production that has already become a walking disaster………
- Here’s some more bad news for you, FAT people. Not only are your morbidly obese physiques unattractive and nauseating to almost everyone, not only are you a drain on a nation’s healthcare system with elevated risks for heart disease, diabetes, hypertension, stroke, gallbladder disease and other ailments, but you are also at an increased risk of dying while driving during a severe auto accident, according to a new study conducted by researchers at the University at Buffalo. The study, which appeared online Wednesday ahead of print in the American Journal of Emergency Medicine (always a must-read for me), found that in a severe motor vehicle crash, a moderately obese driver faces a 21 percent increased risk of death, while the morbidly obese face a 56 percent increased risk of not surviving. Dietrich Jehle, MD, professor of emergency medicine at the University at Buffalo School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences and at Erie County Medical Center, led the research and he explained that while a wide range of factors come into play in determining the severity of injuries sustained in crashes, the idea that FAT people had a great risk of death had never been explored before now. "The severity and patterns of crash injuries depend on a complex interaction of biomechanical factors, including deceleration velocity at impact, seat belt and air bag use, vehicle type and weight, and type of impact," Jehle stated. "But the effect of body mass on crash outcome has not been previously evaluated in databases of adequate size or controlled for some of these confounding factors. Crash test dummies have saved lives and provided invaluable data on how human bodies react to crashes, but they are designed to represent normal-weight individuals. If they represented our overweight American society, there could be further improvements in vehicle design that could decrease mortality." Ah, “our overweight American society.” Never has a descriptive phrase been so accurate and so thoroughly depressing at the same time. To counter the higher risk of death, Jehle and his team came up with several ideas that could help save lives. "Extending the range of adjustable seats would be helpful, as well as encouraging moderately and morbidly obese individuals to buy larger vehicles with more space between the seat and the steering column. We also recommend that manufacturers design and test vehicle interiors with obese dummies, which currently are not available, in addition to testing with the 50 percentile (BMI 24.3) male dummy," he adds. "It would improve safety for the one-third of the U.S. population that is obese." Wow….just wow. Having to add FAT crash dummies to tests because America can’t push away from the buffet table…..just wow. For the record, the study used data in the national Fatality Analysis Reporting System database (FARS), which defines a fatal crash as "a vehicle traveling on a roadway customarily open to the public and must result in the death of an occupant of a vehicle or a non-motorist." Using those standards, 155,584 of the 168,049 drivers in severe motor vehicle crashes entered in the database met the criteria. From there, they were grouped based on body mass index (BMI) -- weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared -- into underweight, normal, overweight, slightly obese, moderately obese and morbidly obese categories. The end result…..more negative news for a group of people who will probably drown their sorrows in a double-fudge sundae topped with whipped cream, Reece’s Pieces, chocolate sauce, hot fudge and caramel……….
- Band feuds are awesome. Seeing people who began as best friends suddenly turn into mortal enemies over money, fame or “creative differences” always warms the heart. Likewise, finding out that people you believed were best friends but who secretly hated one another and kept up the façade merely for the pursuit of fame and fortune is great as well. One of those scenarios is clearly at play with mainstream punk rockers Paramore, who announced this past weekend that they had parted ways with brothers Josh and Zac Farro. The parting was not a cordial ones, as the remaining members of the band blasted the brothers Farro in a posting on the band’s Web site, writing, "None of us were really shocked. For the past year, it hasn't seemed as if they wanted to be around anymore ... We want Josh and Zac to do something that makes them happy, and if that isn't here with us, then we support them in finding happiness elsewhere." Josh Farro returned fire with a post on his own blog and ripped his former bandmates mercilessly. "Let me start by apologizing to you for the way everything went down on Saturday. I had a statement typed ready to post to you guys but Hayley (lead singer Hayley Williams) released one without my permission," his statement begins. "I wish it didn't have to happen that way, Zac and I wanted to be the ones you heard it from. I want to be honest with you guys about how this band formulated from day one. I did not think Hayley's version told the whole story, at least from our perspective and hopefully this will explain a bit about why we are leaving." From there, he unloads on the band, calling Paramore "a manufactured product of a major label," and accusing Williams of not only being manipulated by her management, but also of treating the group as her solo project. He also alleged that Williams is the only member of the band signed to Atlantic Records and that the rest of the band was simply "riding on the coattails of 'Hayley's dream.' " Sounds a bit like a jilted, overlooked band member with an ego that needs stroked and Farro certinaly wouldn’t be the first member of a successful band (or unsuccessful one) to feel that way. The lead singer always gets the bulk of the attention and when that lead singer is a hot chick in a band filled with dudes, she’s going to stand out. However, Farro believes that there was more to the situation than that. "Hayley's manager would tell the band to be in the lobby of the hotel at a certain time, but he and Hayley wouldn't show for hours. We found out that they had been meeting with record label executives all morning without us, which is totally weird given that this wasn't simply a solo artist, but we were a band," Farro wrote. "The band was in the dark the whole time. After many meetings between Hayley, her manager and the labels they decided to sign her to Atlantic Records. We didn't understand why Hayley was the only one signing the contract since we were told this was a 'band,' but we were too young to grasp all of this. ... Next thing we knew we were having a signing party for Hayley." He also wrote that she one tried to venture out on her own as a solo act, only to double back and ask the other members of the band to “rejoin” Paramore. So……secret meetings, hidden agendas and jealousy…..sounds like a VH1 “Behind the Music” special in the making to me. Whether Josh Farro and his brother truly did consider quitting Paramore after the band canceled a week of European shows in 2008 or not, the breaking point clearly came last week and the result was spectacular fireworks that matched anything Paramore ever produced as a band………
No comments:
Post a Comment