Saturday, July 17, 2010

This week's compendium

Here’s this week’s compendium. This week…

1. treehugger.com quoted an Australian report concluding increased energy efficiency could deliver 65% of worldwide carbon cuts by 2020, i.e. almost twice renewable energy, nuclear power and clean coal combined [1]. So surely this is the way to go, world.

2. in a US court, 91 Israeli civilian victims of the 1996 Second Lebanon War, filed a US$91.2B lawsuit against al-Jazeera claiming it intentionally reported realtime coverage of rocket strike locations in Israel, so Hezbollah could more accurately aim its rockets [2]. The Israelis must have good evidence. Time will tell.

3. the Age reported that Melbourne researchers who’ve developed a revolutionary treatment for Alzheimer’s, are having trouble raising A$1.5M of the A$3M needed for a clinical trial [3]. The Victorian Government wastes A$50M+ on the Grand Prix. Each year.

4. Grammar Girl's topic was When to use Female Nouns [4]. I like her summary: 'What matters is getting across the massages you want to send, and trying to block those you don't'.

5. an HonestReporting item revealed a Lancet multi-article series on Palestinian health that’s scandalously and unequivocally biased [5]. It’s okay if the Lancet wants to be a political journal. But it shouldn’t masquerade as a medical journal.

6. the Archives of Internal Medicine published a 6-year prospective study finding a correlation between low vitamin D levels and the onset and progression of cognitive decline [6]. A chicken-and-egg scenario. But there’s no downside to ensuring one’s vitamin D level’s normal.

7. treehugger.com reported on a London urban orchard [7]. It’s terrific, but not as salubrious as the Artist as Family’s Food Forest in Sydney.

8. speaking of which, AaF’s Food Forest Plant-in Day last Saturday got some great media [8]. Well done, AaF.

Finally, I wish you, dear Farmdoc’s Blog readers, a wonderful week.

2 comments:

Meg said...

Thanks for the support, FD!

We three wish you a great week, too.

xx

Chris Burrows said...

The enormous cost that Alzheimers is going to cause as Baby Boomers age around the world, you would think each and every study with any promise would be highlighted and fast forwarded.
The usual reason things aren't developed is that there is not enough money to be made from them for the drug companies, but you would think Governments could fund it to svae future costs