The Killing Of Baby Jane ..........

Day 1 : All human chromosomes are present , human LIFE has begun
Day 22 : heart begins to beat with the child's own blood
Week 3 : backbone , spinal column , nervous system forming liver , kidneys and intestines taking shape
Week 5 : eyes , legs , hands begin to develop
Week 8 : every organ in place , bones begin to replace cartilage , fingerprints begin to form , baby can begin to hear
Week 14: baby's heart pumps several quarts of blood through the body everyday
Week 20: baby recognizes mother's voice.... but it's the earliest stage at which partial abortions can be performed....
5th Month : mothers' feel an increase in movement , kicking and hiccups from the baby
7th-9th month : Baby can relate to the moods of Mother.Baby's heart is now pumping
300 gallons of blood per day and a week before birth Baby Jane "drops" head down into the pelvic cavity ..... but we won't get to see Baby Jane .
1 in 5 pregnancies worldwide
end in abortion . Globally 49,000,000 abortions per year , 150,000 per day....

An Art With Twigs....

When Patrick Dougherty came out with this spin on art it had families in my hometown talking about hobbies , talent , skills etc etc . His art can truly be called " twisted " - he wove saplings , twigs and branches into fanciful sculptures that seemed to sprout out of the earth. He took materials from the immediate environment wherever he was . Dougherty's works are songs to the natural world. " Saplings have an inherent property that causes them to snag and entangle easily , there's no need for extra support. Over the substructure , one could weave smaller sticks and fine branches to mask irregularities " he adds. These artworks finally subside back into the earth or they are converted to mulch thus returning them to their origins.

Will The Guinea Worm Strike Again?

It's a two and a half foot long parasite the width of angel hair pasta.HUMANS are the only known reservoirs for these disease.There's no cure , there's no vaccine.Guinea Worm larvae live in tiny crustaceans/water fleas.When people drink water contaminated by these fleas , the human digestive systems destroy the fleas but not the worm larvae.These larvae,usually females , migrate through the subcutaneous tissues , and in about a year the worm emerges headfirst usually,through a blister somewhere in the legs or arms.The host person experiences itching,fever,swelling, and burning sensations - infected persons have found relief from these pains by immersing in water ; shallow lakes , wells and open ponds.The contact with water stimulates the worm to emerge through the blisters and release thousands of larvae into the water.A single infected person could reinfect hundreds of people . Ostensibly civil wars,poverty, wrecked, neglected economies have been the Worm's best allies ........

P.S.Siemens has come up with a portable water purification system that can be used in even remote regions.Aroun one fifth of the world's population has no access to clean drinking water.In helping the UN achieve reaching out to the close to 1.2 billion without clean drinking water, a team from Siemens Water Technologies has developed what they call the Sky Hydarnt and established the SkyJuise Foundation.More Info SkyHydrant ensures clean water in remote regions.

The Spirit Of Men

The curiosity to go forth into unmapped darkness , to seek the unchartered , to explore the wildest reaches of the earth or the Milky Way or the train tunnels below Park Avenue , setting out to build a school for a tribe in a remote corner of the earth keeps reminding us of the expanse of living life , of worlds yet unconquered or tamed . In January 1915 , Sir Ernest Shackleton with 28 men on board Endurance on it's way to Antartica became hopelessly locked in ice.When the ice broke ten months later , Endurance sank leaving the crew homeless and adrift on a sea of ice . After five months drifting on ice floes the crew took to lifeboats for a dangerous journey to desolate Elephant Island.Reaching it , Shackleton went on with one lifeboat and five of his best men hundreds of kilometres across bone chilling Scotia Sea to South Georgia completing one of history's greatest open boat journeys. He and two of his fittest men then traversed the island's glacial mountains , a feat as yet unrivalled.

Fatal Light?

Nearly two thirds of Mankind from Bangkok to Reykjavik live under the luminous glow that girds cities and suburbs.With more and more countries industrialising and urbania exploding we cannot be oblivious to hazards that have encroached upon our horizons.In several cities it no longer gets dark.It's not quite possible to see the full resplendescence of the night sky as a result with as much as fifteen percent of the world's population having lost their night vision.This unnatural glow of billions of street lamps,office lights,signs,billboards,searchlights,security lights could be making us all sick:
* Common levels of fluorescent lighting in offices can elevate blood pressure.Lengthy daily exposure leads to a flagging off of sexual performance , increased stress , make us more prone to errors and a rising risk of cancer,especially breast due to a suppression of the nocturnal production of melatonin ( produced in the brain's pineal gland only when the eyes signal it is dark ), loss of night vision and sharp increases in anxiety.

* When a sports stadium lit up for night time games,frogs stopped courting.If you reduce the number of nights frogs,turtles and other life kinds breed year on year it'll lead to a severe decline in the population of the species and as a consequence with a domino effect on the eco system.Birds have used the moon and the stars for navigation during their annual migrations. But with the loss of night mayhem has broken upon the habitats , proliferation and behaviour of nocturnal creatures.

We may be waking up to huge personal costs!

A Lesson Not To Be Forgotten

by Veronica A.Shoffstall

after a while you learn the subtle difference
between holding a hand and chaining a soul and
you learn that love doesn't mean leaning
and company doesn't always mean security and
you begin to learn that kisses aren't contracts
and presents aren't promises and
you begin to accept your defeats with your head up
and your eyes ahead with the grace of a woman
not the grief of a child,
and you learn to build all your roads on today
because tomorrows ground is too uncertain for plans
and futures have a way of falling down in midflight
after a while you learn that even sunshine burns if you get too much
so you plant your own garden
and decorate your own soul
instead of waiting for someone to bring you flowers
and you learn that you really can endure
that you really are strong
and you really do have worth
and you learn and you learn with every goodbye you learn

Photo Credit : http://lakemetroparks.com/programs/fallcolors.shtml