Sunday, September 22, 2013

David Attenborough on why sending flour to Africa is balmy


Sending bags of flour to Africa in the hope of preventing famines is barmy, Sir David Attenborough has said. Crises over the lack of food in the Third World were about too many people and too little land. Speaking in advance of David Attenborough’s Rise of Animals, he made a strong case for population control. 
 
“We are heading for disaster unless we do something. If we don’t do something, the natural world will do something.”

http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2013/sep/18/david-attenborough-famine-population

Friday, September 20, 2013

Paws4Prayer4Princess

Photo by Marge

My friend Jane's dog, Princess, is sick with cancer. I was trying to find a prayer for her and came across this website http://paws4prayer.blogspot.co.uk/p/prayers-for-sick-animals.html

"When our beloved animal companion is sick, it's vital to remember the promise of God in Psalm 91: 14-16: Since he clings to me I rescue him, I raise him high, since he acknowledges my name. He calls to me and I answer him: in distress I am at his side, I rescue him and  bring him honor.  Of course, our animals are helpless to raise this cry of and by themselves -- hence, it is our call to be intercessors, on their behalf, in their hour of need. 


To “intercede” is to go or come between two parties, to plead before one of them on behalf of the other. It has been shown that the faithful in heaven, on earth, and in purgatory are one mystical body, with Christ for their head. All that is of interest to one part is of interest to the rest, and each helps the rest: we on earth by honoring and invoking the saints and praying for the souls in purgatory, and the saints in heaven by interceding for us. The Catholic doctrine of intercession and invocation is set forth by the Council of Trent, which  teaches that the saints who reign together with Christ offer up their own prayers to God for men. It is good and useful to invoke them, and to have recourse to their prayers, aid, and help for obtaining benefits from God, through His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, Who alone is our Redeemer and Savior.
And the smoke of the incense of the prayers of the saints ascended up before God from the hand of the angel. (Revelation 8:4) In addition to the efficacious intercession and prayer of St. Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of animals, there are other saints whose concern for sick or  injured animals is well known, and who provide us with a powerful resource for the intercessory healing of our animal companions."


St. Francis, Pray for Us!

Sunday, September 1, 2013

Fukushima radiation levels 18 times higher than previously thought

Tepco employee. Photo: Noboru Hashimoto/EPA

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/09/01/uk-japan-fukushima-idUKBRE9800HH20130901

Radiation levels 18 times higher than previously reported have been found near a water storage tank at the Fukushima nuclear plant, causing fresh concern about the safety of the wrecked facility.
The plant's operator, Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco), said radiation near the bottom of the tank measured 1,800 millisieverts an hour – high enough to kill an exposed person in four hours. Tepco said water levels inside the tank had not changed, indicating there had not been a leak. But the company said it had yet to discover the cause of the radiation spike.

The plant was struck by a powerful tsunami on 11 March 2011. The tsunami smashed into the plant after Japan's north-east coast was rocked by a magnitude 9.0 earthquake. The waves killed almost 19,000 people, while the resulting triple meltdown at Fukushima Daiichi forced 160,000 people to abandon their homes.

The chairman of the country's Nuclear Regulation Authority, Shunichi Tanaka, said: "We cannot fully stop contaminated water leaks right away. That's the reality. The water is still leaking in to the sea, and we should better assess its environmental impact."