Nestlines

Logitech’s LifeSize Aims for Android Video Soon

Logitech’s LifeSize division expects to bring one-way video streaming to Android devices in a few months and introduce a two-way videoconferencing system to tablets and smartphones later this year

Nestlines

Les solutions de collaboration vidéo LifeSize certifiées pour Microsoft OCS 2007 R2 | Share on LinkedIn

Les solutions de collaboration vidéo LifeSize certifiées pour Microsoft OCS 2007 R2 | Share on LinkedIn

LifeSize, division de Logitech, vient d'élargir son offre de collaboration vidéo grâce à l'interopérabilité de LifeSize Team 220 avec Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2.

Science Must end Climate Confusion

It is not more  like a gambling with the intelligence of  world citizens? why are Climate scientists not taking more responsibility about how their work is presented to the public, or it is rather because there is nothing clear to present. In this week's Green Room/ BBC news by Richard Betts, he emphasizes on the importance of  preventing climate science from being misunderstood or misused. The question is always this, Has this phenomenon been misused by capitalistic influence as a scientific  weapon in manipulating the masses ?

Individual weather events, from heatwaves to big freezes, cannot be used either to prove or disprove climate change

Recently, while  giving  a talk on climate change in a local village hall in Devon, and not surprisingly he was given a hard time.

In fact, it started two days before that. Cut off from work by the snow (which, incidentally, had been forecast with almost pinpoint accuracy), I was out with the kids and being teased by the other dads. He said

"Where's all this global warming you're always on about, ha ha!"

The usual stuff, leading to the usual somewhat nerdy discussion on the difference between weather and climate, which was then cut short when one of the children crashed their sledge and asked if we had got that on video to send to a TV show such as You've Been Framed.

Of course, we are seeing the same comments in some parts of the press and on Twitter, from those who jump on any bit of cold weather to say it proves that global warming is not happening and we're all a bunch of idiots (or worse).

No matter how many times we say that "global warming" means a rise of average temperature across the world, decade by decade, and not every year being consistently warmer than the last in every place on Earth, there are still those that get this mixed up.

Warming world

Yes, we have had the coldest December in the UK for 14 years and now we are having a big freeze in early January; but the UK covers less than half of one thousandth of the Earth's surface.

Climate data shows that human activities are warming the world Journey through climate history

Last year was actually the fifth warmest year on record as far as global temperatures were concerned.

The four warmest years were, in ascending order, 2002, 2003, 2005 and 1998. The last decade was the warmest on record, followed by the 1990s and then the 1980s, so the world is definitely warming up.

To be fair, people often make the same mistake but in the other direction, and link every heatwave, major flood, drought and famine to global warming.

Of course, we know that these things happen anyway, even without climate change - they may happen more often under a warmer climate, but it is wrong to blame climate change for every single event.

Climate scientists know this, but still there are people outside of climate science who will claim or imply such things if it helps make the news or generate support for their political or business agenda.

Mixed messages

Climate "sceptics" accuse climate scientists of exaggerating the evidence for human-caused climate change in order to secure their own funding; but actually I think that any vested interests in talking up the problem lie elsewhere.

Individual natural disasters are not evidence of climate change

The focus on climate change is now so huge that everybody seems to need to have some link to climate change if they are to attract attention and funding.

Hence the increasing tendency to link everything to climate change - whether scientifically proven or not.

The question is: do climate scientists do enough to counter this? Or are we guilty of turning a blind eye to these things because we think they are on "our side" against the climate sceptics?

It's easy to blame the media and I don't intend to make generalisations here, but I have quite literally had journalists phone me up during an unusually warm spell of weather and ask "is this a result of global warming?"

When I say "no, not really, it is just weather", they've thanked me very much and then phoned somebody else, and kept trying until they got someone to say yes it was.

Talking up of the problem then gives easy ammunition to those who wish to discredit the science.

They do not care whether the wrong information came from the scientists or from a second-hand source, they just say (quite rightly) that it's wrong and therefore why should they trust other parts of the science?

Climate scientists need to take more responsibility for the communication of their work to avoid this kind of thing.

Even if scientists themselves are not blaming everything on climate change, it still reflects badly on us if others do this.

We cannot simply say it is everyone else's fault; we need to be very clear about what can be used as evidence for or against climate change.

Long-term, large-scale trends and the overall statistics of extreme weather events can and should be part of this evidence base. Individual weather events, from heatwaves to big freezes, cannot be used either to prove or disprove climate change.

If we do not help the media, NGOs and the public to understand this, we have done nothing to stop them getting it wrong.

If our science is misunderstood and misused, and then turned against us, it really will be a case of We've Been Framed.

Dr Richard Betts is head of climate impacts at the Met Office Hadley Centre

The Green Room is a series of opinion articles on environmental topics running weekly on the BBC News website

Twitter buys location tracker start-up Mixer Labs

The micro-blogging website Twitter is buying the location tracking start-up Mixer Labs for an undisclosed sum.

Mixer Labs, founded by two former Google employees, makes an application for Twitter called GeoAPI.
Twitter chief executive Evan Williams said the deal would allow Twitter users to show people where they are when they post updates to the site.
The application will also allow users to search where an event is happening, the firm said.
On the company's blog, a statement said: "We want to know what's happening, and more precisely, where is it happening.
"As a dramatic example, twittering 'Earthquake!' alone is not as informative as 'Earthquake!' coupled with your current location".
Twitter is a social networking site in which users write messages of no more than 140 characters.
An estimated 58 million people use Twitter around the world.

Is December 21st 2012 The End of Time?

"We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light". Plato
The upcoming disaster movie, directed by The Day After Tomorrow's Roland Emmerich, but also an enormous, complicated network of apocalypse theories, encompassing hundreds of books, documentaries, films and websites, that lead to one conclusion: The world will end on Dec. 21, 2012. Has been a great question of debate and fears but there is a one light we need to get into. Let’s first see what the child is afraid of;
The Maya is a Mesoamerican civilization, noted for the only known fully developed written language of the pre-Columbian Americas, as well as its art, architecture, and mathematical and astronomical systems. Initially established during the Preclassic period (c. 2000 BC to 250 AD), many Maya cities reached their highest state development during the Classic period (c. 250 AD to 900 AD), and continued throughout the Postclassic period until the arrival of the Spanish. At its peak, it was one of the most densely populated and culturally dynamic societies in the world. ^[1]
The Maya civilization shares many features with other Mesoamerican civilizations due to the high degree of interaction and cultural diffusion that characterized the region. Advances such as writing, epigraphy, and the calendar which stands out as the point of debate did not originate with the Maya; however, their civilization fully developed them
In it's the last calculated date of one of this interlocking calendars, the Long Count, which begins on Aug. 11, 3113 BC and ends 13 baktun later, on Dec. 21, 2012. (A baktun, one of many Mayan units of time measurement, is slightly longer than 394 years.) a mathematical end 2012 which has hitherto been consider by many the end of time
There are competing, but densely interwoven, theories from 2012-ologists about how the Earth will meet its fate - flood, earthquake, rain of fire - and even whether it will mean planetary death or just a brief snooze from which humankind will wake up, refreshed and enlightened, to the dawning of Aquarius.
One popular theory centres on a heretofore invisible planet called X, or Nibiru, whose orbit will swing it near Earth, causing catastrophic disruptions to our atmosphere.
Others mention a possible reversal of the magnetic poles (a rare occurrence, but within the realm of possibility). Still others talk about how there will be a "galactic alignment" of the Earth, sun and planets on Dec. 21, 2012.
Why do many believe in the Maya, there are certain credential that support their point of view for instance, uniquely, there is some evidence to suggest the Maya appear to be the only pre-telescopic civilization to demonstrate knowledge of the Orion Nebula as being fuzzy, i.e. not a stellar pin-point. The information which supports this theory comes from a folk tale that deals with the Orion constellation's area of the sky. Their traditional hearths include in their middle a smudge of glowing fire that corresponds with the Orion Nebula. This is a significant clue to support the idea that the Maya detected a diffuse area of the sky contrary to the pin points of stars before the telescope was invented.^[23] Many preclassic sites are oriented with the Pleiades and Eta Draconis, as seen in La Blanca, Ujuxte, Monte Alto, and Takalik Abaj.
The Maya were very interested in zenial passages, the time when the sun passes directly overhead. The latitude of most of their cities being below the Tropic of Cancer, these zenial passages would occur twice a year equidistant from the solstice. To represent this position of the sun overhead, the Maya had a god named Diving God.^{[citation needed]}
The Dresden Codex contains the highest concentration of astronomical phenomena observations and calculations of any of the surviving texts (it appears that the data in this codex is primarily or exclusively of an astronomical nature). Examination and analysis of this codex reveals that Venus was the most important astronomical object to the Maya, even more important to them than the sun.
Is this  Maya prophesy is a stand-alone no recently  there has been a supporting factor from a man called Nostradamus, Michel de Nostredame (14 December or 21 December 1503^[1] – 2 July 1566), usually Latinised to Nostradamus, was a French apothecary and reputed seer.
Century II, Quatrain 62
"Mabus then will soon die, there will come Of people and beasts a horrible rout:
Then suddenly one will see vengeance,
Hundred, hand, thirst, hunger when the comet will run."
Nostradamus prophesized the name of the antichrist is "Mabus." This can relate to why people think Obama is the antichrist. If you write obama+bush, you get obamabush. Another interesting theory while reading this remember the Maya. There is a man called Raymond Edwin "Ray" Mabus, Jr. (born October 11, 1948) is an American business and political leader. Based in Mississippi, he works on international business matters, is involved in political campaigns.
In May 2007, he endorsed U.S. Sen. Barack Obama, D-IL, for president, and is served as a senior adviser to the campaign. The name Mabus comes in This theory is pretty scary for this sort of thing.
. Remember the Maya's, had an extremely complicated method of keeping track of time, based on three separate calendars. The most important, most encompassing of these calendars holds the `Long Count': the period from the beginning until the end of time. And on December 21st 2012, the Long Count expires. It will be point zero. Time will be up for the Universe. It will be, literally, the end of days. It would also be the end of Barack Obama's four year term if elected. So who is the anti Christ and when is the end???
Are you a Christian? Do you believe in what the Bible tells you? Before we go ahead lets see what the Maya’s worshipped and believed in and note this, if you believe in a prophet it means you believe in his god. Prophesies comes from a God if you do not believe in that God you can’t accept the prophesy

The Maya God K, the god of lightning
The Maya practiced human sacrifice. In some Maya rituals people were killed by having their arms and legs held while a priest cut the person's chest open and tore out his heart as an offering. This is depicted on ancient objects such as pictorial texts, known as codices. It is believed that children were often offered as sacrificial victims because they were believed to be pure.^{[citation needed]}
Maya gods were not separate entities like Greek gods. The gods had affinities and aspects that caused them to merge with one another in ways that seem unbounded. There is a massive array of supernatural characters in the Maya religious tradition, only some of which recur with regularity. Good and evil traits are not permanent characteristics of Maya gods, nor is only "good" admirable Take note of this What is inappropriate during one season might come to pass in another since much of the Maya religious tradition is based on cycles and not permanence.
So are we choosing a prophesy from priest and prophets that who’s worship centered around child sacrifice and praise good as well as evil as a way of living to their devotees?  If the prophesy of the Maya’s for 2012 holds then what about that of Christ which you’ve believed.
The answer is simple Stop wondering in the darkness like a lost kid, the more you do the more the’ll keep scaring you with gothic sounds and coded shadows, put on the lights like a man enlightened or who’s seeking enlightenment and  reality then you’ll fine peace. Pick up the eternal guide your Bible, open to;
Matthew 24:36  (King James Version) Jesus said
24:36 But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.
If even the angels do not know the judgment day then what human intelligence or civilization can. Fear not and don’t let them fool you.

7 Ways to Stay warm

I feel like the Cowardly Lion from The Wizard of Oz.  The difference is the mantra.  His was affirming his belief in spooks, mine is fighting my dread of winter: “I do believe winter can be fun. I do believe winter can be fun.  I do, I do, I do!”  Because truth be told, I don’t think it’s a whole lot of fun.  This is because I’d prefer being in a tank dress over a down coat any day of the week.  But, my current reality is that I live where it’s cold half of the year.  And I am a fun girl.  So I’ve got to find a way to make it work.
I was told by a friend it’s all about the clothes.  To enjoy being outside, you need to be wearing the right gear in order to be warm and still able to move (were you ever or do you have the overstuffed snowsuit kid?)  There’s a method to layering clothes for warmth.  Following these tips from Back to Basics: A Complete Guide to Traditional Skills by Abigail R. Gehring (Skyhorse Publishing, Inc., 2008) should keep you and your kids both warm and comfortable.

1. Before thinking about the clothes, realize that food supplies heat to the body; the clothes provide protection so that it isn’t wasted.  Make sure you eat a good meal before spending an extended amount of time outdoors in winter.

2. Several light, comfortably fitted layers are preferable to a single heavy layer.  Generally an outer, mid, and under layer suffice.

3. Underlayer. Two-ply long johns and undershirts, (cotton on the inside for comfort, wool on the outside for warmth, are warmer than thermal-knit underwear.  Two pairs of socks–a thin pair of cotton socks beneath a heavier wool pair–are warmer and more comfortable than a single thick pair.

4. Midlayer. For warmth and ventilation, wear a tightly woven wool shirt that opens tdown the front and a quilted jacket  over it that also opens in the front.  Pants should be of tightly woven wool, cuffless, with plenty of room in the seat and legs, and flaps over the pockets to help keep snow out.  For added ventilation use suspenders rather than a belt.  A woolen stocking hat or mask-like hat will greatly reduce loss of heat from the head.

5. Outer layer. The main job of the outermost layer is to protect against wind, rain and snow.  A parka that covers the hips and has a hood with a full-length zipper is best.  If you’re planning on going above the timberline or along windswept ridges, you’ll need a windproof face mask.  Down pants, mittens and booties are fine around camp, but are too warm for the trail.  Two-piece mittens–a wool liner and a nylon outer shell with a leather palm–are better than gloves.

*6.  A good pair of boots are essential.  Double boots–a felt inner liner and high-top outer boot–are warm and comfortable, but very expensive.  A rugged mountaineering boot has many of the benefits of the double boot at a lower cost.  Foam-insulated rubber boots will keep your feet warm, but will also make them perspire.

7. While down provides maximum warmth at minimum weight; wool has the important advantage of retaining its warmth even when wet.

osted by Terri Hall-Jackson Dec 2, 2009 3:02 pm
care2.com

Earth could plunge into sudden ice age

Experts: ‘Big Freeze’ about 12,800 years ago happened within months

20th century Fox The film "The Day After Tomorrow" was all good fiction when it came out in 2004, but now scientists are finding eerie truths to the possibilities of sudden temperature
By Charles Q. Choi
Special to LiveScience
In the film, "The Day After Tomorrow," the world gets gripped in ice within the span of just a few weeks. Now research now suggests an eerily similar event might indeed have occurred in the past.

So much for the "global warming" controversy. Are we getting warmer or colder?

Looking ahead to the future, there is no reason why such a freeze shouldn't happen again — and in ironic fashion it could be precipitated if ongoing changes in climate force the Greenland ice sheet to suddenly melt, scientists say.
Starting roughly 12,800 years ago, the Northern Hemisphere was gripped by a chill that lasted some 1,300 years. Known by scientists as the Younger Dryas and nicknamed the"Big Freeze," geological evidence suggests it was brought on when a vast pulse of fresh water — a greater volume than all of North America's Great Lakes combined — poured into the Atlantic and Arctic Oceans.
This abrupt influx, caused when the glacial Lake Agassiz in North America burst its banks, diluted the circulation of warmer water in the North Atlantic, bringing this "conveyer belt" to a halt. Without this warming influence, evidence shows that temperatures across the Northern Hemisphere plummeted.

No time to react
Previous evidence from Greenland ice samples had suggested this abrupt shift in climate happened over the span of a decade or so. Now researchers say it surprisingly may have taken place over the course of a few months, or a year or two at most.
"That the climate system can turn on and off that quickly is extremely important," said earth system scientist Henry Mullins at Syracuse University, who did not take part in this research. "Once the tipping point is reached, there would be essentially no opportunity for humans to react."
For two years, isotope biogeochemist William Patterson at the University of Saskatchewan in Canada and his colleagues investigated a mud core — a tube of mud — taken from the ancient lake Lough Monreach in Ireland. Because this sediment was deposited slowly over time, each layer from this core effectively represents a snapshot of history, with slices just a half-millimeter thick presenting one to three months.
"Basically, I drive around in western Ireland looking for the right conditions — bedrock, vegetation and lake — to obtain the most complete record of climate," Patterson explained.

The details By looking at isotopes of carbon in each slice, the researchers could deduce how productive the lake was. When plants grow in lakes, they prefer carbon-12 to make up their organic tissue — that is, carbon atoms that have 12 protons and neutrons in total in their nucleus. This leaves the lake water with relatively more carbon-13. At the same time, oxygen isotopes give a picture of temperature — when animals or plants produce calcium carbonate, the ratio of oxygen-16 and oxygen-18 isotopes within are related to temperature.
At the start of the Younger Dryas, Patterson and his colleagues discovered temperatures and lake productivity dropped over the course of just a few years.
"It would be like taking Ireland today and moving it up to above the Arctic Circle, creating icy conditions in a very short period of time," Patterson said.
Their findings also suggest that it may have taken 100 to 200 years before the lake and climate recovered, rather than the decade or so that Greenland ice cores had indicated.
"This makes sense because it would take time for the ocean and atmospheric circulation to turn on again," Patterson said.
The discrepancies between the evidence from the mud core and the ice cores might be due to disturbances in how material flowed within the ice. "Sometimes there's melting, and you have percolation of material between layers, which can blur the records," Patterson explained. "We found a core that had not been disturbed even on a millimeter by millimeter basis, so the sediment had been layered in order since it was deposited."

Chilly future
Looking ahead to the future, Patterson said there was no reason why a big freeze shouldn't happen again.
"If the Greenland ice sheet melted suddenly it would be catastrophic," he said.
This kind of scenario would not discount evidence pointing toward global warming — after all, it leans on the Greenland ice sheet melting.

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"We could say that global warming could lead to a dramatic cooling," Patterson told LiveScience. "This should serve as a further warning rather than a pass."
"People assume that we're political, that we're either pro-global-warming or anti-global-warming, when it's really neither," Patterson added. "Our goal is just to understand climate."
Patterson and his colleagues detailed their findings at the European Science Foundation BOREAS conference on humans in the Arctic, in Rovaniemi, Finland.
swings

LiveScience

• The Real Science and History of Vampires • Google Phone Could Mean Free Mobile Phone Service • Four New Species of King Crabs Discovered • Big Freeze: Earth Could Plunge into Sudden Ice Age • How Raptors Use Their Deadly Talons

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© 2009 LiveScience.com. All rights reserved.

10 Ways to Go Green and Save Green

How can we live lightly on the Earth and save money at the same time? Staff members at the Worldwatch Institute, a global environmental organization, share ideas on how to GO GREEN and SAVE GREEN at home and at work.

Climate change is in the news. It seems like everyone's "going green." We're glad you want to take action, too. Luckily, many of the steps we can take to stop climate change can make our lives better. Our grandchildren-and their children-will thank us for living more sustainably. Let's start now.

We've partnered with the Million Car Carbon Campaign to help you find ways to save energy and reduce your carbon footprint. This campaign is uniting conscious consumers around the world to prevent the emissions-equivalent of 1 million cars from entering the atmosphere each year.

Keep reading for 10 simple things you can do today to help reduce your environmental impact, save money, and live a happier, healthier life.

 

1. Save energy to save money.

State of the World 2009:
Into a Warming World

• Set your thermostat a few degrees lower in the winter and a few degrees higher in the summer to save on heating and cooling costs.
• Install compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) when your older incandescent bulbs burn out.
• Unplug appliances when you're not using them. Or, use a "smart" power strip that senses when appliances are off and cuts "phantom" or "vampire" energy use.
• Wash clothes in cold water whenever possible. As much as 85 percent of the energy used to machine-wash clothes goes to heating the water.
• Use a drying rack or clothesline to save the energy otherwise used during machine drying.

 

2. Save water to save money.
• Take shorter showers to reduce water use. This will lower your water and heating bills too.
• Install a low-flow showerhead. They don't cost much, and the water and energy savings can quickly pay back your investment.
• Make sure you have a faucet aerator on each faucet. These inexpensive appliances conserve heat and water, while keeping water pressure high.
• Plant drought-tolerant native plants in your garden. Many plants need minimal watering. Find out which occur naturally in your area.

 

3. Less gas = more money (and better health!). 

World Watch Magazine

• Walk or bike to work. This saves on gas and parking costs while improving your cardiovascular health and reducing your risk of obesity.
• Consider telecommuting if you live far from your work. Or move closer. Even if this means paying more rent, it could save you money in the long term.
• Lobby your local government to increase spending on sidewalks and bike lanes. With little cost, these improvements can pay huge dividends in bettering your health and reducing traffic.

 

4. Eat smart.
• If you eat meat, add one meatless meal a week. Meat costs a lot at the store-and it's even more expensive when you consider the related environmental and health costs.
• Buy locally raised, humane, and organic meat, eggs, and dairy whenever you can. Purchasing from local farmers keeps money in the local economy.
• Watch videos about why local food and sustainable seafood are so great.
• Whatever your diet, eat low on the food chain [pdf]. This is especially true for seafood.

 

5. Skip the bottled water.
• Use a water filter to purify tap water instead of buying bottled water. Not only is bottled water expensive, but it generates large amounts of container waste.
• Bring a reusable water bottle, preferably aluminum rather than plastic, with you when traveling or at work.
• Check out this short article for the latest on bottled water trends.

 

6. Think before you buy. 

Low Carbon Energy Report

• Go online to find new or gently used secondhand products. Whether you've just moved or are looking to redecorate, consider a service like craigslist or FreeSharing to track down furniture, appliances, and other items cheaply or for free.
• Check out garage sales, thrift stores, and consignment shops for clothing and other everyday items.
• When making purchases, make sure you know what's "Good Stuff" and what isn't.
• Watch a video about what happens when you buy things. Your purchases have a real impact, for better or worse.

 

7. Borrow instead of buying.
• Borrow from libraries instead of buying personal books and movies. This saves money, not to mention the ink and paper that goes into printing new books.
• Share power tools and other appliances. Get to know your neighbors while cutting down on the number of things cluttering your closet or garage.

 

8. Buy smart. 

Climate Change Reference
Guide

• Buy in bulk. Purchasing food from bulk bins can save money and packaging.
• Wear clothes that don't need to be dry-cleaned. This saves money and cuts down on toxic chemical use.
• Invest in high-quality, long-lasting products. You might pay more now, but you'll be happy when you don't have to replace items as frequently (and this means less waste!).

 

9. Keep electronics out of the trash.
• Keep your cell phones, computers, and other electronics as long as possible.
• Donate or recycle them responsibly when the time comes. E-waste contains mercury and other toxics and is a growing environmental problem.
• Recycle your cell phone.
• Ask your local government to set up an electronics recycling and hazardous waste collection event.

 

10. Make your own cleaning supplies. 

Join the Million Car Carbon Campaign by purchasing your Earth-Aid kit today.

• The big secret: you can make very effective, non-toxic cleaning products whenever you need them. All you need are a few simple ingredients like baking soda, vinegar, lemon, and soap.
• Making your own cleaning products saves money, time, and packaging-not to mention your indoor air quality.

 

11. Bonus Item!
• Stay informed about going green. Sign up for our weekly newsletter or subscribe to World Watch, our award-winning magazine.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sustainable_living

Thanks to members of SustainUS, the U.S. youth network for sustainable development, for contributing their ideas on how to go green and save green at home and at work.