<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
DO IT NOW WHEN IT'S FRESH IN YOUR MIND
The Saga Of Pinehill Book II
Money, Marriage And The Way
is now published and available.
Buy direct from:
http://www.publishamerica.com
(enter the name Saga of Pinehill in
the search box)
If you enjoyed the first book, you
won't be able to put
this one down until you've finished
it. Enjoy.
DO IT NOW WHEN IT'S FRESH IN YOUR MIND
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
TODAY'S TRIVIA - - -
-----------------------
Is left-handedness passed down through families?
Where is the sun when you see a rainbow?
--------------
ANSWERS TO LAST TRIVIA - - - -
--------------
Why are there so many negative terms to describe
left-handers?
You didn't know there were? Left-handers have been referred
to as everything from "sinistrals" (from the Latin,
"sinister", which actually MEANS "left" as well as
"unlucky") to "bongo" (Romany, meaning "evil" or "crooked")
to "cack-handed" (British English, meaning
"excrement-handed" from the Muslim tradition of using the
left hand to clean oneself and the right for eating). Why
are there so many not-so-nice names? For a number of
reasons. First, left-handers have always been in the
minority, so there's a rather human tendency to be
suspicious of anything or anyone that doesn't conform to
what the majority is doing. Left-handers, in fact, have been
discriminated against, banned, and even burned at the stake
as witches. As recently as a few decades ago, left-handed
children were forced by their parents and teachers to write
with their right hands, no matter how difficult or
uncomfortable that was for them. Another theory about why
left-handers were seen as "sinister" has to do with shaking
hands. The story goes that shaking hands originated as a way
of proving to the person you were meeting that you didn't
have a dagger you were going to stab them with. Most people
are right-handed, so they would stab you with their right
and prove they had no stabbing intentions by shaking with
their right. When a lefty shook with his left hand, there
was always the possibility in the mind of the other person
that he'd pull a dagger with his right.
Do animals prefer one paw over another?
Individual animals might, but generally the paw an animal
uses is determined by the placement of the object they're
reaching for. Only humans exhibit a marked preference for
one hand (the right one, of course) over the entire species.
There has long been a myth of a left-handed culture, but in
fact humans are more likely to be right-handed all over the
world.
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
I'LL SEE IT WHEN I BELIEVE IT!
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
There are a lot of ways to become a failure,
but never taking a chance is the most successful.
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
thePEBBLE CONTENTS:
1. STRANGE BITS AND PIECES!
------------------
2. COVER STORY . . .
------------------------------------
TIPS AND TIDBITS . . .
-------------------
3. MEDICAL COLUMN with Karin Henderson
The Ins And Outs of Breathing
Every breath you take is vital to your survival
(This is not just discussion of the obvious - look!)
PART 3 of 10
-------------------
4. PERCEPTIONS by Ken Darby
Global Dimming Will Kill Us All
-------------------
5. WHY DO WE SAY IT?
-------------------
6. THINK ABOUT THIS TODAY!
7. HA! HA!HA!
8. CONTACT INFO
9. THE LAST LINE - - - - -
DO IT NOW WHEN IT'S FRESH IN YOUR MIND
The Saga Of Pinehill Book II
Money, Marriage And The Way
is now published and available. Buy direct from:
http://www.publishamerica.com
(enter the name Saga of Pinehill in the search box)
If you enjoyed the first book, you won't be able to put
this one down until you're finished it. Enjoy.
DO IT NOW WHEN IT'S FRESH IN YOUR MIND
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
STRANGE BITS AND PIECES!
A 7 year old boy was the first person to survive the
Horseshoe Falls (Niagara Falls) in just a life jacket.
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
COVER STORY . . .
------------------------------------
TIPS AND TIDBITS . . .
Fighting for air: frontline of war on global warming
Progress comes at a high price for China and India, but
there are grounds for hope
Jonathan Watts in Linfen, Randeep Ramesh in New Delhi
Monday March 26, 2007
The Guardian
In the most polluted city on earth, the smog is so thick
that it seems to consume its source. Iron foundries,
smelting plants and cement factories loom out of the haze
then disappear once more as you drive along Linfen's roads.
The outlines of smoke stacks blur in the filthy mist. No
sooner are the plumes of carbon and sulphur belched out than
the chimneys are swallowed up again.
"We only see the sun for a few days each year," said Zhou
Huocun, a doctor in the outlying village of Liucunzhen. "The
colour of our village is black. It is so dirty that nobody
airs their quilts outside any more so we are getting more
parasites. I have seen a steady increase in respiratory
diseases as the air quality gets worse and worse."
Outside Dr Zhou's hospital, shoes leave marks in the black
dust. But it is a different type of carbon footprint that is
drawing international attention to this part of the world.
Linfen is the frontline of the battle against global
warming. For the past five years, the city of 3.5 million
people has been the most polluted place on the planet,
bottom of the World Bank's air quality rankings, and a
symbol of the worst side-effects of China's breakneck
economic growth.
Enveloped by a spectral haze, the city lies at the heart of
a 12-mile industrial belt, fed by the 50m tonnes of coal
mined each year in the nearby hills of Shanxi province. The
New York-based Blacksmith Institute puts it alongside
Chernobyl on a list of the planet's 10 most contaminated
places.
What Linfen symbolises is the cost of development in China
and the other most populous country: India. Both economies
are growing explosively, leading to a rapid expansion of
their middle classes. This in turn has seen a growing
appetite for power - one sated by the building of dirty,
inefficient coal-fired plants that are slowly cooking the
world's atmosphere.
The effects have been dramatic. By 2009 China is predicted
to overtake the United States as the world's biggest emitter
of greenhouse gases. India has recently become the fourth
biggest polluter, but its steeply rising emissions will see
it in third place within a few years.
China's three decades of industrial blitzkrieg has extracted
a heavy price. Seventy percent of its rivers are
contaminated. In the southern Himalayas, ancient glaciers
are melting. Further north, encroaching deserts threaten the
livelihoods of 400 million people.
India, which is only half as rich as China, has also
suffered. The frequency of catastrophic weather events such
as flash flooding, say Indian meteorologists, is increasing.
Clouds of brown soot cover the skies above the Indian Ocean
for months each year. Agricultural scientists in the
subcontinent note rising temperatures caused wheat yields to
drop by a 10th last year.
The new consumption culture has brought western-style
affluence that largely rural India can barely cope with. Car
sales are growing at 20% a year, but there are not enough
roads for anyone to drive on. India - unlike China, Europe
and America - does not set any fuel economy standards.
The result is that in the backstreets of a city such as
Kanpur on the banks of the Ganges sit lines of cars, their
engines idling in the sun. Kanpur, with 3 million people, is
the world's seventh most polluted place, according to the
World Bank study. A thick brown haze of exhaust fumes is
visible at street level.
Last year the Guardian found hundreds of people queuing
outside the government hospital, their mouths covered with
dirty rags. "About 40% of the patients coming with
respiratory diseases are affected by the atmospheric
pollution," said Dr R P Singh, who describes the air as a
"killer".
The environmental problems in India and China, which between
them have 2.4 billion people, have become an excuse for
inaction elsewhere. Many Britons argue that whatever
positive steps they take will be insignificant compared with
the negative impact of economic growth in Asia. As Tony
Blair puts it: "Close down all of Britain's emissions and in
less than two years just the growth in China's emissions
would wipe out the difference."
British officials on a visit to Delhi this year told the
Guardian that they were sceptical that India and China would
sacrifice growth for green measures. "They are talking about
climate change but doing very little in reality," said a
source.
Read the rest of the story here -
http://environment.guardian.co.uk/waste/story/0,,2042999,00.html#article_continue
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
The power of silence, plus action, will astound you.
---- Ken Darby
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
MEDICAL COLUMN - - - - with Karin Henderson
The Ins And Outs of Breathing
Every breath you take is vital to your survival
(This is not just discussion of the obvious - look!)
PART 3 of 10
The function of the entire breathing apparatus is to provide
ENERGY to each and EVERY cell of your body with and to REMOVE
all waste material i.e. carbon dioxide (CO2) gases. In between
these two entry and exit points, many things happen, depending
on your level of fitness.
When your breathing is adequate, as in "normal: or in "health",
all the related parts of your respiratory system carry the
"breath" of oxygen/air (O2) to the lungs where it is exchanged
(traded) for carbon dioxide (CO2). Oxygen is then whisked away
via your bloodstream to cells in your body to help in the
production of energy. Carbon dioxide is collected from the cells
via the blood stream and transported back to the lungs.
Eventually it has to be eliminated from your body because it is
a waste product.
As long as each part of the system is healthy, certain
activities happen until the air or breath reaches the end of the
line at your lung's alveoli. Your bloodstream plays an
irreplaceable role in this exchange of energy and waste gas.
Each activity is dependent on the previous one. Ultimately the
survival and growth of every single cell in your body is
dependant on every breath you take.
Let's follow that breath of air. "Inspiration" is defined as
drawing air into the lungs. You take a breath and it enters your
nose (not your mouth). This incoming air is warmed, moistened,
and filtered.
-------------------------------------------
Karin Henderson is a registered nurse and is thePEBBLE's
columnist for our MEDICAL COLUMN.
We appreciate her input very much. Thanks Karin.
You can send Karin questions at
mailto:kflh@shaw.ca
Health Information Newsletter.
http://www.prescotts-inc.com
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
PERCEPTIONS . . . by Ken Darby
-----------------------DISCLAIMER
Some around me think I am an opinionated old goat.
Whether that be true or not I will sometimes, in this column,
talk about things people don't like to talk about - or don't want
out in the open. Take it all with a grain of salt.
Do your own thinking, and don't accept the things I say as
gospel. They are only mental meanderings from a simple soul.
-----------------------END DISCLAIMER
Global Dimming Will Kill Us All
Our cover story today is almost unbelievable. I cannot
imagine trying to live and work in an environment like that.
I know there are jobs where you have to wear gas masks. I
know police have to wear flak jackets. I know there are
times in some jobs where it is either dangerous or you are
breathing in dangerous air. Mining is one of those jobs.
Work in a grain elevator is one of those jobs. Yet doing
those jobs is a matter of choice. There are other things to
do.
However, living in Linfen the people don’t have a choice,
other than to move. If you are going to live in Linfen you
are going to breath polluted air to a point where many, if
not most, people wear masks.
That is the price the world pays for China’s industrial
expansion. That statement, by the way, is not a statement of
blame. There are plenty of places in North America, Europe,
the British Isles and Australia where the situation is just
as bad.
What the world does not understand is that this is a deadly
practice. Oh, I don’t mean only for those who are breathing
the air. I mean for the whole world.
As these countries put pollutants into the air, our own
country too, they send up particles. Those particles attract
water vapor. Water vapor condenses around the particle and
hence you have cloud when you have many millions of these
particles.
That doesn’t sound too bad until you realize that falsely
manufacturing clouds all around the world is causing a
condition called global dimming. In the last 30 years the
amount of sunlight that has reached the earth has been
reduced by anywhere from 10% to 30%. That number is growing
every year.
That means that soon our crops won’t grow. Insufficient
sunlight will cause our crops to offer reduced production
even unto the point of not growing at all. Global dimming is
a phenomenon causing man all kinds of problems already. It
is only now we are finding out why.
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
WHY DO WE SAY IT?
Half-Seas Over: Why do we say an intoxicated person is
"half-seas over"?
It's a nautical phrase and originated with the thought that
a ship that is halfway across the sea will keep on going
rather than turn back. But the application of the expression
to an intoxicated person was strengthened by a pun - for the
English imported from Holland a strong beer which the Dutch
called op-zee-zober, meaning "oversea beer".
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
DO IT NOW WHEN IT'S FRESH IN YOUR MIND
The Saga Of Pinehill Book II
Money, Marriage And The Way
is now published and available. Buy direct from:
http://www.publishamerica.com
(enter the name Saga of Pinehill in the search box)
If you enjoyed the first book, you won't be able to put
this one down until you've finished it. Enjoy.
DO IT NOW WHEN IT'S FRESH IN YOUR MIND
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
THINK ABOUT THIS TODAY!
No one can be good for long if goodness is not in
demand.
Bertolt Brecht (1898-1956)
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
HA! HA! HA!
A petty thief, a teacher and a lawyer die and go to heaven.
When they get there they are stopped by St. Peter, who then
says, "Sorry, heaven's crowding up, so you need to answer a
question correctly, or else you can't get in."
He looks at the teacher, and asks her: "What was the name of
the famous ocean-liner that sank after hitting an iceberg?"
"Oh, that's easy," the teacher replied, "the Titanic." So
St. Peter let her into heaven.
Next he turned to the petty thief. "How many people died on
that ship?" St. Peter asked. "Oooh, that's tough, but I saw
the movie, and it was 1, 500." St. Peter stepped away and
the thief walked into heaven.
Finally, St. Peter turned to the lawyer. He simply said to
him: "Name them."
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
CONTACT INFORMATION:
Complete Contact info on web site
http://www.the-pebble.com
To submit articles to thePEBBLE send a blank email to -
mailto:article.submission@emailsystemscentral.com
To subscribe to thePEBBLE just send any email to
mailto:pebble@rr-email.com
PEBBLE RELATED SITES OF INTEREST AND VALUE:
http://www.the-pebble.com
http://www.spiritual-underground.com
http://www.thenewsshop.com
http://www.thenewsshop.com/oursalespeople.html
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
THE LAST LINE - - - - -
To be good is noble; but to show others how to be good
is nobler and no trouble.
Mark Twain
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
REMEMBER! - IF YOU SEE IT IN thePEBBLE - IT IS SO!
To continue when you are tired of it, builds
strength and character.
---- Ken Darby
