Caroline Gluck reports on the current situation in Haiti.

A Christmas tree with tinsel lay forlornly on the ground with what looked like small presents around that had scattered onto the floor. Next to it, a table was laid out with plates, food and cutlery as though the family were ready to come back for dinner. I could see all this clearly as the front wall of the house had exploded and was pushed out onto the street exposing the family dining room.

It had been like this for the last four days, ever since Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince, was hit by a devastating earthquake, said my colleague. Whether the inhabitants of the house, surrounded by collapsed buildings and debris, would ever come back was quite another question.

A resident sits at a destroyed area in Port-au-Prince. [Photo credit: REUTERS/Jorge Silva, courtesy www.alertnet.org]

It’s estimated that two million people were affected by the massive earthquake that hit the Haitian capital last week. Thousands are thought to have been killed, many were injured and the rest of the city’s dazed residents are still reeling from the shock of it all.

Many walk the streets, some barefoot, balancing on their heads bags containing what belongings they could grab before they fled and clutching plastic containers for water. Large numbers are also wearing masks to stop inhaling the thick grey smoke that lingered long after the quake. The masks also offered some protection from the thick stench of dead bodies that lined the streets in the immediate aftermath of the quake and are still turning up wrapped in sheets or pieces of clothing.

It’s thought as many as 30,000 may have been killed in the earthquake while others are still trapped under the debris of collapsed buildings.

Some foreign search and rescue crews who had been working to recover those trapped under wrecked buildings at what was the capital’s top hotel, the Montana, told me that cries could still be heard from those buried beneath the rubble across the capital.

A general view shows the ruins of a neighbourhood after Tuesday’s earthquake in Port-au-Prince. [Photo credit: REUTERS/Kena Betancur, courtesy www.alertnet.org]

Some aid is now getting through to the city. Much of it is coming by truck from the neighbouring Dominican Republic. Some supplies have started to be flown in via the capital’s airport which was affected by the quake and has reopened for humanitarian flights after several days of closure

Oxfam is flying in emergency experts and is starting to distribute water at some of the large makeshift camps that have sprung up at parks and outdoor areas and hospitals.

The needs are enormous as most basic services just aren’t functioning. At the best of times, daily life in Haiti for the 80% or so of the population who have to live on less than two dollars a day, is a daily struggle.

The impact of the quake has made things even worse.

Haiti needs more than a quick fix of emergency aid. It will be many years before the country can really get back on its feet again and fully recover from this massive shock.

Donate now and find out more about Oxfam’s Haiti Earthquake response

This article originally appeared in the Huffington Post.

Newegg has got a couple of great deals that we thought we’d share with you guys right quick – first, they’ve got a 27-inch Asus widescreen LCD monitor, which dual HDMI, selling for $369.99. It’s a 1080p screen, it’s huge, and it’s fairly inexpensive, so we like it. Secondly, if you want a larger screen for your living room or bedroom, they’ve got the 46-inch SCEPTRE 1080p LCD HDTV for $699.99. It has 4 HDMI inputs, a built in ATSC tuner, VGA port, and even includes an HDMI cable. So there you have it, two nice displays from Newegg at a discounted cost.

As always, you can find all sorts of Newegg promo codes and deals on our forums.

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After announcing its new management team that is supposed to help save Opel, Nick Reilly also confirmed that General Motors will give the German brand 650 million Euros until the company manages to raise more funds from other sources. Opel and its British sister Vauxhall are looking to raise up to 3.3 billion Euros to finance the restructuring process, company officials announced in 2009.

"The payment accelerations serve as a temporary funding source for the (Opel) group’s operations unt… (read more)

Fernando Alonso doesn’t have any problem with Michael Schumacher’s testing a GP2 development car for three days, prior to the official start of the testing season in Formula One. The Spaniard insisted that the GP2 car is very different from the ones currently raced in F1, and disagreed that the German was given an unfair advantage over the rest of the F1 field.

The GP2 car is very different from F1; not at all a good point of reference. But for him it would have been good in order to regain h… (read more)

Google caused quite an uproar last week when it announced that it intended to stop censoring search results on its localized version in China. Its decision is commendable, yet, even as it takes up this fight, Google censors its results in a number of countries, including some European ones, to abide to the local laws. One country which h… (read more)

One of the resources that we were informed about on January 8 when the bloggers visited Ancestry.com was the 1950 census substitute. Ancestry.com announced this last week that the resource was now posted.

This “substitute” for the yet-to-be-released 1950 census is made up of about 2500 city directories. My first foray into the collection was made right after the Ancestry.com announcement. After a half hour or so, I was so frustrated that I moved on to more important things to be done that day. This morning, I went back and spent as hour or so searching, as well as browsing through the collection, with much more success.

My frustration came about because I was searching for specific individuals that I thought might be found within the collection. I kept getting false hits during my searches because the given name and surname of the person I was looking for were often “close” to each other on the page, but were not on the same line, leaving me grinding my teeth.

This morning I tried searching by surname within specific areas with a lot more luck. I also found that browsing page by page through directories for specific towns was successful.

I did a search on the surname “Meitzler” in New York State in the 1950 Census Substitute. I got three hits. The following image is of the results page.

By clicking on the Meitzler entry for 1946 Irondequoit, New York, I got a page that included my Uncle Frank Meitzler, his wife Ora, and their adult children Elmore, Doris, and Irene. Following is a screen shot of a page from Polk’s Irondequoit Directory for 1946.

Search for your ancestors in the 1950 Census Substitute at Ancestry.com.

FTC Statement: GenealogyBlog has affiliate agreements with Ancestry.com, although I have yet to ever get a check from Ancestry, as I don’t take the time to encode my blog in such a way that I will receive any credit if someone subscribes. Ancestry.com paid for my lunch and dinner, as well as my transportation by van from SLC to Provo, and return on Blogger’s Day, January 8, 2010. They also paid for my dinner at the annual Ancestry.com dinner January 9, 2010. I am an avid Ancestry.com supporter, not because it profits me personally, but because I believe genealogists are well-served by the company. I haven’t always felt that way, but that’s another story…

Lexus has presented the lightweight concept version of it’s IS F sport sedan at the Tokyo Auto Salon (this is a tuning-dedicated saloon), the IS F Circuit Club Sport (CCS).

The standard (if we can call it so) IS F is a soldier developed by the company to fight in the German Powerwars. It faces enemies like the BMW M3 or the Mercedes C 63 AMG and, although it’s an awesome car, we think it doesn’t quite match the German rivals’ dynamic level.

It seems that Lexus has finally realized that an… (read more)

Daimler Trucks North America announced last week it has received a $40 million funding from the US Department of Energy (DoE), through the 21st Century Truck Technology Partnership, to be used for commercial vehicle and diesel engine development. This is the largest of the nine project awards totaling $115 million given by the DoE to US-based OEMs for research.

This grant from the U.S. Department of Energy is essential for us, and will enable our truck and drive technologies to make great pro… (read more)

The collapse of the global warming doctrine as a supposed truth is continuing.  Of course the proposition that we have entered a cooling cycle is just as tenuous.  The gross climate does swing back and forth over a decent range each year with the shifting of the seasons.  Some years a range of forcing agents takes it a little higher and some years they do not.

Since the heat input is pretty uniform and possibly subject to precise measure in time, it is better to understand what causes cooling and what the agents are.  Thinking of climate change in terms of various cooling agents is certain to be more productive.

For example, we have a peak in cosmic ray input to the atmosphere these past few months.  This permitted the prediction of a record cold winter, at least in terms of the past thirty years.  This prediction can now be deemed successful.  Other factors were not particularly in play, so we had an excellent test.

The sea ice comment here is not so correct.  The sea ice is continuing to lose mass as of last summer.  There is a difference between area and mass.  However this winter is cold and this process of mass decline may be halted this year.  As I have posted, this sea ice effect appears to be caused by a change in the geometry of the circum polar current and it is likely a driver of climate rather than a victim of climate change.

And yes, the doctrine of man caused climate change was a bad idea as I pointed out in my first post back in 2007, not least because it was unnecessary in terms of the agendas that need to be pursued, but because the likelihood of it been run over with a truck by Mother Nature approached certainty.  I just did not think she would be so quick of the mark.

Cal Thomas: Global warming is a falling doctrine

By: CAL THOMAS 

Examiner Columnist

January 14, 2010

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/columns/OpEd-Contributor/Global-warming-is-a-falling-doctrine-8759793-81328022.html

Article Tags: Christopher Booker, Headline Story, Pachauri Conflict of Interest, Richard North

When Douglas Alexander travelled to New Delhi last September to announce Britain was presenting £10 million to the Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), standing alongside him was an imposing, bearded figure.

Dr Rajendra Pachauri is not only TERI’s director-general but also chairman of the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

Best known for the moment when he stood with Al Gore to collect the Nobel Peace Prize, Dr Pachauri was the mastermind of the IPCC’s latest monumental report on the dangers of global warming in 2007, giving him huge prestige and influence as the world’s “top climate official”.

Since being elected to the IPCC chairmanship five years earlier, he has been appointed to more than 20 positions, including directorships and advisory roles to major banks and investment firms.

Dr Pachauri insists that the millions of dollars he receives for these posts are all paid to his Delhi-based institute and not to him personally. But during the same period he has also presided over a massive expansion of TERI’s empire.

Source: telegraph.co.uk

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PeopleTowels is a new concept in green living on the go. I’m not sure how much a concept like this might catch on, but it’s intriguing in any case. PeopleTowels are 100% organic cotton, reusable personal hand towels that make going green as easy as drying your hands. These are personal use towels meant to be carried with you on-the-go which will eliminate the need for paper towels or electric hand air dryers when you’re out and about.

Of course there are benefits. To make all the many rolls of paper towels humans use and discard each year, this country (among others) uses plenty of trees and energy – according to some estimates one ton of paper towels uses up a full 17 trees and pollutes 20,000 gallons of water. If all of us in the U.S. replaced just one roll of virgin fiber paper towels with one roll of 100% recycled paper towels we could save 544,000 trees a year according to NRDC. However, even with recycled paper towels we’re using energy, water and other resources, so the clear winner in the how to dry your hands debate is cloth hand towels. Even after you factor in washing hand towels you’re still ahead of the game when it comes to green living. Especially since you can use cloth towels to death (for cleaning after they suck as hand towels).

About PeopleTowels:

• Small enough to carry anywhere
• Made with custom-made organic and fabric that is absorbent enough to dry your hands, yet dries quickly.
• Hangtags allow you to easily clip or loop your PeopleTowel to your backpack, belt buckle or purse.
• Designed to last for years.
• Machine washable.
• 100% Certified Fair Trade product.
• Designs are silk screened with eco-friendly dyes.
• Minimal amount of product packaging used; all made from 100% post consumer waste.
• The company is a member of 1% for the Planet.
• Manufactured according to the Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS).
• By simply switching to PeopleTowels, the average American can probably avoid using an average of 3,000 paper towels every year.

Any issues that popped out to me?

The company notes that PeopleTowels are a zero waste product which to me seems a little bit like a false claim. They may not overly contribute to harmful practices like deforestation and the growing problems of paper waste, excessive water consumption and pollution but I didn’t find anything at the site about a clean energy manufacturing process or buying back the carbon used for shipping. They note that their supply chain is chosen specifically for high, verifiable sustainability standards but unless the company has a totally paper-free office, runs their tech gear on green energy and so on they’re not technically “zero-waste”.  Zero-waste is very hard to achieve.

I haven’t tried these, but in my mind I can’t see how these would dry quickly enough to make them perfectly manageable. I’m all for cloth towels. I haven’t bought or used any paper towels in my own home in literally years – and to be honest don’t always dry my hands when I’m out and about because of the paper towel issue (flutter your hands a bit in the air and they dry).You can get an little eco-carry sack from the company to go with your towel though.

That said:

I still like the idea of PeopleTowels because one, it’s a small easy step that many people could take and while small it’s one of those great steps that add up. Two, it’s an affordable green option. I was impressed with PeopleTowel pricing; you cannot beat adorable ORGANIC towels priced just $21 for three ($35 for five). The price is totally affordable especially when you factor in how much paper towels cost individuals and the planet.

Three I love, love, love the designs. Right now they’ve got three lovely design options (3 packs); but you can also get a five pack. I think I like the Uno, Dos, Trees set best (see above) but all the other towels are super cute as well. They have designs that will suit both girly girls and full blown guys and everyone in between; plus offer the option to create your own mix-and-match set (see gallery below for all design options).

PS Now is a great time to try PeopleTowels because they’ve got a great Valentine’s Day deal happening – three Love towels for just $18. Visit PeopleTowels to learn more.

[images via PeopleTowels]

Post from: Blisstree

PeopleTowels Instead of Paper

Game & Watch is the name of a series of (now) simple LCD handheld games Nintendo produced between 1980 and 1991. The small devices still enjoy cult status among hardcore retro gamers (just look at these prices on Ebay), which means it’s not that big a surprise that toymaker Takara decided to come up with three new keyholders that are designed exactly like Game & Watch units.

Specifically, the keyholders resemble the Octopus, Parachute, and Chef Game & Watches (all of these games were first released in 1981). What sounds good so far has a downside: You won’t be able to play the games, but at least you’ll see sprites moving in pre-determined patterns on the screen (the keyholders are solar-powered).

So if you’re a hardcore Game & Watch collector (and we know you are out there), you should look out for the Takara keyholders sometime in March. They will be sold only in Japan (for $12 each), which is why I suggest to contact import/export specialists such as Japan Trend Shop, Geek Stuff 4 U or Rinkya.

Here’s a short video:

Via Gigazine [JP]

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Here are some stories from the past week:

Conan O’Brien, do you want to be a CrunchGear intern for a little while?
PDA Cufflinks make you a Smartphone dressed man
Text-to-donate total exceeds $10m – I think we’re onto something
Two-minute diversion: jump Mario right out of the cartridge
HTC sends out chocolate Hero replicas, LG realizes they missed an opportunity
New Japanese toy: Endless chocolate bar breaker

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Suzuki Motor Corporation finally decided to cut its ties with General Motors in the hybrid sector and fuel-cell technologies and concentrate its efforts on the Volkswagen alliance formed late last year. All projects started with General Motors would end in February, Suzuki announced last week according to a report by Reuters, with new ideas to continue with Volkswagen’s support in every single area.

"Suzuki is in a comprehensive alliance with Volkswagen. In every field including hybrid, … (read more)

Flavio Briatore might have won his appeal over the FIA ban earlier this month, but the Italian manager still has some unfinished business with the international ruling body. According to the Daily Telegraph, the 59-year old Italian vowed to get back at the FIA for loss of income, as a result of several drivers leaving his company and changing manager following the crash-gate.

Needless to say, once Briatore was found guilty of race fixing in Formula One, the majority of the drivers who used to… (read more)

Article Tags: BBC, Climate Fools Day, Lawrence Solomon, Met Office, Sammy Wilson

The British Broadcasting Corporation has put its weather forecasting contract out to tender – the first time since its radio broadcasts began in 1923 – after taking heat from the public for a string of embarrassingly inaccurate long-range weather forecasts. The UK Met Office, the government-owned meteorological department that has had the BBC contract for almost 90 years, is a partner with the Climatic Research Unit at East Anglia University of Climategate fame. CRU and the UK Met Office jointly provide the climate change data that the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change relies on.

The BBC’s decision comes amid one of the fiercest winters in decades that has left the country unprepared for the snow-related chaos it has seen. In August, the Met Office had forecast a mild winter. Last summer, the BBC had again been embarrassed: Thanks to the forecasts it had received from the UK Met, the BBC had warned its audience of an “odds-on barbecue summer” that instead was cool and rainy. In both cases, the BBC has faced outrage from a public that had been misled by the information the BBBC had provided it.

Many blame the UK Met Office’s abysmal forecasts record on a climate change bias. The BBC’s own climate correspondent, Paul Hudson, who for a decade had been a UK Met forecaster, believes the UK Met’s problem could stem from flawed computer models at its Hadley Centre, which provides data to the IPCC.

Click source to read FULL report from Lawrence Solomon

Also Listen to the Sammy Wilson YouTube below and hear what he says about the Met Office

Source: network.nationalpost.com

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