What is Global Warming?

One of the most current and widely discussed factor which could lead to the ultimate end of existence of Earth and man is global warming and its devastating effects. Scientists have asked how fast the Earth is heating up, and how the warming effects on Earth may effect crops and climatic conditions. Several current trends clearly demonstrate that global warming is directly impacting on; rising sea levels, the melting of icecaps, and significant worldwide climatic changes.

Global warming is one of the most serious challenges facing us today. To protect the health and economic well-being of current and future generations, we must reduce our emissions of heat-trapping gases by using the technology, know-how, and practical solutions already at our disposal.

Global Warming effects

Green house gases stay can stay in the atmosphere for an amount of years ranging from decades to hundreds and thousands of years. No matter what we do, global warming is going to have some effect on Earth. Here are the 5 deadliest effects of global warming.

5. Spread of disease

As northern countries warm, disease carrying insects migrate north, bringing plague and disease with them. Indeed some scientists believe that in some countries thanks to global warming, malaria has not been fully eradicated.

4. Warmer waters and more hurricanes
As the temperature of oceans rises, so will the probability of more frequent and stronger hurricanes. We saw in this in 2004 and 2005.

3. Increased probability and intensity of droughts and heat waves
Although some areas of Earth will become wetter due to global warming, other areas will suffer serious droughts and heat waves. Africa will receive the worst of it, with more severe droughts also expected in Europe. Water is already a dangerously rare commodity in Africa, and according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, global warming will exacerbate the conditions and could lead to conflicts and war.

2. Economic consequences
Most of the effects of anthropogenic global warming won’t be good. And these effects spell one thing for the countries of the world: economic consequences. Hurricanes cause do billions of dollars in damage, diseases cost money to treat and control and conflicts exacerbate all of these.

1. Polar ice caps melting
The ice caps melting is a four-pronged danger.

First, it will raise sea levels. There are 5,773,000 cubic miles of water in ice caps, glaciers, and permanent snow. According to the National Snow and Ice Data Center, if all glaciers melted today the seas would rise about 230 feet. Luckily, that’s not going to happen all in one go! But sea levels will rise.

Second, melting ice caps will throw the global ecosystem out of balance. The ice caps are fresh water, and when they melt they will desalinate the ocean, or in plain English - make it less salty. The desalinization of the gulf current will “screw up” ocean currents, which regulate temperatures. The stream shutdown or irregularity would cool the area around north-east America and Western Europe. Luckily, that will slow some of the other effects of global warming in that area!

Third, temperature rises and changing landscapes in the artic circle will endanger several species of animals. Only the most adaptable will survive.

Fourth, global warming could snowball with the ice caps gone. Ice caps are white, and reflect sunlight, much of which is relected back into space, further cooling Earth. If the ice caps melt, the only reflector is the ocean. Darker colors absorb sunlight, further warming the Earth.

BRAIN DAMAGING HABITS

1. No Breakfast
People who do not take breakfast are going to have a lower blood sugar level. This leads to an insufficient supply of nutrients to the brain causing brain degeneration.

2. Overeating
It causes hardening of the brain arteries, leading to a decrease in mental power.

3. Smoking
It causes multiple brain shrinkage and may lead to Alzheimer disease.

4. High Sugar consumption
Too much sugar will interrupt the absorption of proteins and nutrients causing malnutrition and may interfere with brain development.

5. Air Pollution
The brain is the largest oxygen consumer in our body. Inhaling polluted air decreases the supply of oxygen to the brain, bringing about a decrease in brain efficiency.

6. Sleep Deprivation
Sleep allows our brain to rest. Long term deprivation from sleep will accelerate the death of brain cells.

7. Head covered while sleeping
Sleeping with the head covered increases the concentration of carbon dioxide and decrease concentration of oxygen that may lead to brain damaging effects.

8. Working your brain during illness
Working hard or studying with sickness may lead to a decrease in effectiveness of the brain as well as damage the brain.

9. Lacking in stimulating thoughts
Thinking is the best way to train our brain, lacking in brain stimulation thoughts may cause brain shrinkage.

10. Talking Rarely
Intellectual conversations will promote the efficiency of the brain

Hand Massage

Although often thought of as a technique that requires two people, massage on yourself is also beneficial and can be done at any time during the day. In fact, whenever you rub a tense spot or ease a tight muscle on your forehead, you are giving yourself a mini-massage. Use the following techniques throughout the day, and especially just before you use either the Healthy Hand Mitt or Shoulder Hug and you will feel less tired and tense at the end of it.

(please click the image to enlarge)

About the New 7 Wonders of Nature

Here's one election where everyone is in agreement on the candidate—the Republic of the Philippines.

The Manila city council passed a resolution on Thursday urging Filipinos to vote online for the Tubbataha Reef in Palawan as one of the "New Seven Wonders of Nature."

According to District 2 Councilor Numero Lim, author of the resolution, it is time for Filipinos all over the world to use their Internet skills to vote at www.new7wonders.com for the benefit of the country.

"We Filipinos love to vote, that's why in beauty pageants like Miss Universe we usually win the Miss Photogenic award. So why not make our votes count in something [that] can help to promote the Philippines?" he said.

The Tubbataha Reef in the Sulu Sea is a "unique example of an atoll reef with a very high density of marine species," according to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco), which placed the protected sanctuary in its World Heritage list.

As of 9:00 a.m. on Monday, May 5 ,2008, Tubbataha ranked 8th on the list of 77 nominees and the Chocolate hills ranked 9th.
Ha Long Bay, Cox's Bazar, Beach and Ganges, River in India were the top three vote-getters as of Monday, May 5, 2008, followed by Amazon River, River/Forest, Mount Everest, Mountain and the Mount Fuji, Mountain in Japan, Cocos Island, Island in COSTA RICA - North America.

The contest was organized by the non-profit Seven Wonders Foundation that was established in 2001 and which conducted the “New Seven Wonders of the World” search that ended in 2007.

“Making the final cut is not only prestigious but (also) a tremendous boost for the country in terms of tourism gains, and winning has remarkable educational value for highlighting the beauty of nature and the diversity of our natural environment,” said the resolution.

Voting for the “New Seven Wonders of Nature” will be open until Dec. 31. Afterward, a panel of experts will trim the 77 nominees to 21 and the last round of voting will be held until the end of 2009.

The top seven vote-getters will be declared the “New Seven Wonders of Nature” in 2010.

National launching of GMA Jobs Center set on Labor Day

Labor and Employment Secretary Marianito D. Roque said that the Philippines takes a vital step in ensuring local and employment opportunities for its people well into the future through the national launching of the web-based GMA (Greater Modular Access) Jobs Center during the nationwide celebration of Labor Day today (May 1, 2008).

Roque said that ultimately, "we will deploy and establish a total of 100 GMA Job Centers or kiosks in key areas nationwide like malls, department stores, city halls, and other public places in our major cities and key locations characterized by heavy human traffic, in order to increase the access to job vacancies and relevant jobs information."

The Labor Chief emphasized that the GMA Jobs Center is the country's first unified and synchronized, state-of-the-art system, incorporating the DOLE's time-tested Phil-Jobnet job search facility, with a better capacity to reach out to a much greater client base with free, relevant jobs and skills information.

Roque said that a total of 10 GMA Job Center kiosks will be deployed for the first time at the Labor Day Jobs and Livelihood Fair. The fair will offer more than 30,000 local and overseas job opportunities to job seekers.

"The operationalization of the GMA Jobs Center will be made simultaneously with a nationwide jobs and livelihood fair, also on Labor Day, which will make available many thousands of opportunities of all types to job seekers in 16 regions nationwide under the aegis of the DOLE regional offices," Roque said.

He added that on Labor Day, the national launching of the GMA Jobs Center kiosks will also be hosted in selected Robinsons Malls as follows: Starmills (San Fernando, Pampanga); Galeria (Ortigas) and Forum (Pioneer, Mandaluyong); Lipa City, Batangas, and Dasmarinas, Cavite; Iloilo City and Bacolod City, following the soft launching of the first kiosk earlier at the Robinson's Mall in Malate, Manila.

"Indeed, our goal is to deploy the GMA Jobs Center kiosks in all the 16 regions of the country, and in the process, bring closer the needed, vital jobs and skills information for free to both job seekers and employers."

Roque said that to achieve this purpose, the GMA Jobs Center is housed in a modern and convenient, touch screen and web-enabled, ATM-like machine capable of displaying information on employment opportunities and services for both would-be local and overseas Filipino workers (OFWs).

Nationwide, Roque said that the system will be under the supervision of the DOLE's Bureau of Local Employment (BLE) complemented by the DOLE regional offices, adding that the kiosks had been successfully developed using the best of Filipino ingenuity and technology.

"In many ways, the GMA Jobs Center, through its online and user-friendly features in convenient locations accessible to people, will perform its function of bringing free information on both local and overseas job opportunities, and the relevant services, nearer to the Filipino people," Roque said.

He said that the kiosk will provide a job seeker with free job search, job skills matching services, skills registration, and other pertinent services. Simultaneously, the system will also make available to employers online registration, job postings for free, search for job applicants, and list of applicants with contact information.

The kiosks' unified, synchronized, and user-friendly jobs information are displayed clearly on a screen pressure sensitive to the touch of a finger or a stylus. Information also include the hottest jobs; the important BLE career guidance; list of workers certified by the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority and TESDA trainings; POEA list of licensed recruitment agencies; the services of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) for OFW members and dependents; the Philippines' centers of excellence and development; among others.

Source: Information and Publication Service, DOLE