Beijing choking on thick smog - third straight day

[art-in-the-making]

China's carbon dioxide emissions are nearing double the U.S., whose own are more than double the next highest country's.

My guess is that levels of other, more toxic, substances are relatively even higher in China than in other nations.

Really sad and worrisome situation.

http://ph.news.yahoo.com/beijing-choked-pollution-dangerous-levels-152536654.html

[prior-of-verity*shake-hands-with-your-devil]

I was just reading up on animals the other night on the Internet.

Never like hogs. Full of fat and waste. I taxidermied a boar once. A disgusting load of fat. Everything you touched was coated in grease like some slime that infected all it’s surroundings. They have an omnivorous diet, aggressive behaviour (around anything smaller than them), and their feeding method of rooting in the ground all combine to severely alter ecosystems. Pigs will eat small animals and destroy nests of ground nesting birds. The Invasive Species Specialist Group lists pigs on the list of the world's 100 worst invasive species. Pigs harbour a range of parasites and diseases that can be transmitted to humans. These include trichinosis, Taenia solium, cysticercosis, and brucellosis. Pigs are also known to host large concentrations of parasitic ascarid worms in their digestive tract. It’s no wonder religious groups consider pork unclean.

All of this information can be found in various sites including Wikipedia.

[pigdog47]

"of pigs, and men, and research" by a Mr. Douglas

Abstract:

A review of the role of pigs as an ideal experimental animal in human medical research is given, covering applications and analogies of sus scrofa in general medicine encompassing space medicine. It is also a report of some investigations carried out on Danish Landrace pigs that emphasize the similarities of swine and men. The musculoskeletal system, respiration, circulation, blood, lymph, digestion, metabolism, nutrition, excretion, endocrines, dermatological problems, and eyes are discussed along with other aspects to show the value of the pig when a large, human-like biomedical research animal is needed.

[prior-of-verity*shake-hands-with-your-devil]

True. Pigs should be, if necessary, used for research only. They're also good for hunting some say. Personally I couldn't be bothered dragging one through the bush. Let the rest of nature do their own thing.

Our closest relative based on DNA are the Gibbon apes. Others are...........

• Bornean orangutan, Pongo pygmaeus
• Sumatran orangutan, Pongo abelii
• Western gorilla, Gorilla gorilla
• Eastern gorilla, Gorilla beringei
• Common chimpanzee, Pan troglodytes
• Bonobo (pygmy chimpanzee), Pan paniscus

[puckstopshere]

Canada to monitor pollution blowing in from China

Canadian scientists are mounting an intercontinental effort to measure China's impact on North America's air quality, proposing to create a network of air-testing stations around the Pacific Rim, including one atop Whistler Mountain.

The deadly effects of air pollution on China's own environment are well known.

Cities are often shrouded in toxic clouds poisoning the land and water, and experts believe as many as 400,000 Chinese die prematurely every year due to the country's industrial pollution.

An unknown question, however, is what impact China's economic boom is having on North America when the country's industrial pollution drifts eastward across the Pacific Ocean, reaching the West Coast and later the even more fragile Canadian Arctic.

While recent attention has focused on China's contribution to global warming, scientists are equally concerned about the increasing amounts of trace pollutants and heavy metals that are increasingly being detected on the West Coast.

"Basically, we are lacking a lot of data on this subject," said Hayley Hung, an Environment Canada scientist who is leading the proposal to build an intercontinental testing system.

"We're talking about having stations that would be located in Canada, China, Vietnam, Japan, Russia and the United States to see the impact of pollution in Asia on North America. It's never been done before."

China's clouds of industrial pollution are becoming so large and dense that some are visible to satellites, which have tracked their paths across the Pacific. Last April, for example, a massive cloud from northern China was monitored as it moved across South Korea, the Pacific and eventually reached North America's northwest coast.

Up to now, Canadian scientists have been unable to monitor such events in real time because they lack a system that can take weekly air samples.

The proposed network, which will cost $350,000 to set up, will enable them to collect samples regularly. It will also allow them to measure both the concentrations and the actual intercontinental journey of heavy metals, such as mercury and the so-called "dirty dozen" chemical compounds spewing out of China's coal-powered smokestacks.

The proposal is expected to be approved in the next few weeks by the International Polar Year, a global effort to spur climatic and pollution research. It is expected to be operating within months.

It will also enable scientists to measure any increase in pollutants in the Arctic and identify to what degree a booming Asia is affecting that region.

"The Asian Pacific region presently represents the world's fastest growing economy," say the scientists in their proposal.

"It is, thus, important to obtain an estimate of the relative impact of chemical release from this growing giant on the sensitive ecosystem and the health of the people in the Arctic region.

"With limited information on emission and usage of these chemicals in the Asian Pacific region, it has been very difficult, if not impossible, to determine the relative contribution and impact of pollutant release from this region versus those originated from the Eurasian and North American continents in general to the vulnerable Arctic."

What also makes the project notable is that the Chinese government is supporting it. The Harbin Institute of Technology, a leading university in China's industrial northeast, will pay half the costs and share research.

"Remember, China is a major agricultural country," said Hung. "They want to have accurate data about their pollution sources, too. It's important for them to know the extent of their pollution problem."

Another benefit of the multinational air-sampling system is that it will help establish an independent database on pollution sources, said Kevin Telmer, a geochemist at the University of Victoria involved in UN efforts to reduce mercury emissions in developing nations.

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=ac8dcbce-3be3-4ef6-88e5-0f00384d9aeb

[prior-of-verity*shake-hands-with-your-devil]

Actually it's not coming from China. Probably a Sun Media rumour. It's actually all the smoke being created by the DEA in the US and the RCMP in Canada being brought together by a downdraft cold front with an upward intense spiral. As a matter of fact there is an international reporter who was there.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tw40FE4Wpc

[puckstopshere]

I bet that made you cry.  So much waste!

Couldn't tell if the soldiers were wearing gas masks - or just getting a free high.

Reminds me of one of our foster kids.  She was 16 and had a boyfriend that was too old for her.

One day, when my wife was gathering up laundry, this funny looking block (it looked like it was a compressed powder) fell out of her coat.  I looked at the item and thought that it was probably a drug of some kind.  So, I burned it in the fireplace.  We had a lot of happy birds and squirrels that day.  I was later told by my neighbour (an undercover cop) that is was probably hashish.  I described the size of the block and he guessed it was worth between $3-5000 dollars.  Her boyfriend was ticked, to say the least. 

My neighbour spent too much time undercover.  He was a bit of a whack job.  One day, he got mad at his girlfriend.  He picked her up and tossed her out a window.  It was on the second floor.  Luckily, she landed on the carport roof and was able to jump off.  Only one problem.  She was naked.  She went and pounded on the door and screamed at the BF.  This attracted all the neighbours, including lots of kids.  It was hilarious. 

Another day, two teens were burning rubber in front of his house.  He put up with it for about 10 minutes.  Next thing we knew, he was outside, pointing his gun at the kids and asking them to "please" stop making so much noise.  Theys stopped.

He also got ticked at a bird that started chirping loudly at about 4:00 a.m. - after he had been without sleep for three days.  He was unable to scare it away, so he shot it.  Shortly after that, he moved.  Wonder why?  Work related stress?

[nuvistors]

I was just reading up on animals the other night on the Internet.

Never like hogs. Full of fat and waste. I taxidermied a boar once. A disgusting load of fat. Everything you touched was coated in grease like some slime that infected all it’s surroundings. They have an omnivorous diet, aggressive behaviour (around anything smaller than them), and their feeding method of rooting in the ground all combine to severely alter ecosystems. Pigs will eat small animals and destroy nests of ground nesting birds. The Invasive Species Specialist Group lists pigs on the list of the world's 100 worst invasive species. Pigs harbour a range of parasites and diseases that can be transmitted to humans. These include trichinosis, Taenia solium, cysticercosis, and brucellosis. Pigs are also known to host large concentrations of parasitic ascarid worms in their digestive tract. It’s no wonder religious groups consider pork unclean.

All of this information can be found in various sites including Wikipedia.

They forgot to mention  that the   Mohamed  had a phodia  about pigs.

[prior-of-verity*shake-hands-with-your-devil]

I bet that made you cry. So much waste!

Well not the Foo-Foo but it did break me up a bit about the Mary Jane.

I burned it in the fireplace.

OH no! You angeled a block of boom! Shame on you! That was a lot of work by some poor family in Afghan.

My neighbour spent too much time undercover.

First name wasn’t Steve was it? Sounds like a narc I knew who got too wrapped up in the product. That happens more than you may know. To survive, you got to live with the natives and be one. (not the First Nations kind, just a general term)

Ah but those days are in my past. I turned over a new leaf.

Nu ....It has nothing to do with Mohammad (god be with him). The dislike for pork and pigs goes back to the days of Abraham. Jews also forbid pork. Both those religions and others consider it an unclean animal. Seventh Day Adventists do not have anything to do with pigs and some Orthodox Christians also do not. A lot of people dislike pigs and I’m one of them.

[art-in-the-making]

The proposed network, which will cost $350,000 to set up, will enable them to collect samples regularly. It will also allow them to measure both the concentrations and the actual intercontinental journey of heavy metals, such as mercury and the so-called "dirty dozen" chemical compounds spewing out of China's coal-powered smokestacks.

Wow, $350,000 the lowest price I've heard for just about anything lately...