Friday, September 26, 2008

Baby bear gets booties

A baby bear whose paws were scorched in a forest fire has been saved thanks to some unusual footwear. Li’l Smokey, a baby black bear cub, was rescued by fire fighters while fleeing a Shasta-Trinity National Forest wildfire, in northern California, in July. Suffering second and third degree burns on his paws after stepping on to the scorching ground, Li’l Smokey was taken to the nearby Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care Center for rehabilitation.
Weighing just 8.5lbs, the six-month-old cub, who was named by the fire fighter who rescued him, was given little chance of survival. However thanks to the care and attention of the workers at the center – and some unusual bandages and bear booties – Li’l Smokey is on the road to recovery.Now walking on bare paws, Smokey has been moved to a bigger cage with one screened side that means he will be subjected to the natural weather outside.
SlideShow.

Young Kids To The Rescue

Quick thinking pupils guided an air ambulance to a stricken climber in the Peak District by forming a 'human arrow'.
The helicopter was struggling to find the man until youngsters from the Grosvenor School in Edwalton pointed the way.
They lined up in an arrow shape pointing to the spot where the man had fallen.
The year-six youngsters, aged ten and 11, were on the second day of a school trip to the Roaches
The climber fell about three metres and injured an ankle when his rope pulled him into the rock face.
A paramedic arrived but was unable to move the man and called Staffordshire air ambulance.
Teacher Chris Adcock said: "We could hear the air ambulance on its way but then it could not locate the site of the accident around the other side of the rocks.
"We said we needed to direct them to where he was, so I instructed the pupils to form an arrow pointing in the man's direction and almost immediately the ambulance landed.
"I was most impressed by the children's immediate responses, for ten-year-olds there was not any fussing at all. We talk to them about what to do in an emergency and they put this into practice.
Ian Clayton, operations manager of the air ambulance said: "When the crew arrived there was quite an expanse of rocks so the helicopter was going backwards and forwards trying to identify the patient. What they then saw was a human arrow which was extremely helpful and helped them to identify the patient. One problem we have in a helicopter is that people will just stand and wave at you. Being able to point with the children was invaluable."

The best gift in the world is still... the box.

Greg's Star Wars Trade Federation MTT "Troop Carrier" arrived.
We took it out of the box and he is playing with it.

Plastic Bottle Greenhouse

"This year, Americans will drink more than 30 billion single-serving bottles of water. To raise awareness of the alarming problem of plastic waste, Jasmine Zimmerman created the Bottle House - an open-roofed greenhouse made from hundreds of recycled plastic bottles.
It’s an excellent example of recycle a harmful and overlooked material into one that will grow vegetation, and Jasmine plans to exhibit the greenhouse in empty lots, rooftops, parks, and vacant buildings to help spread the word."

Thursday, September 25, 2008

Air Traffic Worldwide simulation over 24 hours

Airbag for the elderly unveiled

Japan’s ageing crisis has left the country with a unique catalogue of problems, among them a spiraling pensions shortfall and a surprising rise in crimes committed by the elderly. Nasty falls, however, may be things of the past — thanks to the invention of the human airbag.

Simply strap the 2½lb (1.1kg) pouch around the waist and the wearer is armed with the cutting edge of protection. Sensors detect movement and have been programmed to know when things have gone wrong — a slip on something wet, a stumble on an uneven paving stone or a fall down stairs.
Within a tenth of a second, the airbags inflate to the size of three footballs as they are blasted into action with 15 liters of compressed gas, offering a soft slab of padding on the most vulnerable parts of the body in a fall: the back of the head and the bottom. The price tag on the device — about £700 — offers a hint at just how big the "silver yen" has become as a business proposition. The people most likely to pay for them are not the pensioners, but their guilt-ridden children, whose work commitments prevent them from checking up on their parents more regularly.
.
Other gadgets for the elderly
Liquid level indicator Device fitted to cups or jugs that beeps when liquid is an inch from the top of the container
Bed occupancy sensor sends a warning to a monitoring center if a bed is left unoccupied for a certain period, indicating a possible fall
Dolls that weigh as much as a baby and tell owners they love them, and welcome them back to the house — very popular with elderly women
Brain training game Nintendo gadget successful with elderly Japanese who use the mathematical and spelling puzzles to keep them mentally agile
Light-up slippers Footwear with miniature pressure-activated lights designed to prevent night-time falls

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

What happens when you use the sat-nav in Russia


Smart dog escape

Baxter opens his cage then opens the other two cages and took their treats.

Love story: Knut mourns his keeper

An autopsy Tuesday showed that the zookeeper who gained fame for raising the celebrity polar bear cub Knut died of a heart attack.

'Milk Bottle Banksy' comes out of the shadows

The artist who decorates empties before returning them to their doorstep reveals herself
For months now, they have provided a daily doorstep puzzle for mystified homeowners.When they go to pick up their milk, they find extra bottles. The bottles are empty. But etched on them are pictures of animals, often cows or mice, carefully carved into the glass in astonishing detail.
The free artwork has been puzzling and delighting residents in Stourbridge, West Midlands, and surrounding villages since the bottles started appearing in the spring. But the identity of the artist behind them - nicknamed the 'bottle Banksy' after the secretive graffiti artist whose work appears overnight on buildings across the country - remained a mystery. Now, however, the identity of the person behind the milk bottle creations has been revealed as Charlotte Hughes-Martin. The 30-year-old artist said she had been motivated by a desire to show how 'domestic, everyday objects can be things of beauty too.'
Charlotte's website