Night walk

Although this is a US thing I think it is a good thing and worth supporting.
Maybe we'll have one here someday.

"Out of the Darkness Overnight"
A 20-mile walk through the night to end the silence surrounding suicide

Every 18 minutes in the U.S., someone dies by suicide. This July men and women will come to Chicago from all over the country to do something bold in the face of this fact. They will walk together 20 miles through the night, from dusk until dawn.

It's called the Out of the Darkness Overnight and it's designed to help shed light on the issue of suicide. We're bringing together friends, family members and loved ones whose lives have been touched by suicide or depression, giving them a voice to issues that have previously been kept in silence.

Each walker commits to raising $1000 for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP). Net proceeds will help fund research and education on depression and suicide.

This person has committed to raising $2000 USD.

My Supporter ID: 58145716 if you want to make donations
Click on the link above


2005 Out of the Darkness Overnight raises over $1.3 million

Rebranding

Read this...

"Marketing bollocks gets everywhere.
now the american armed forces have been caught up in it as they rebrand the war on terror."

Thanks to Pat for this

McDonalds Partners In Illegal Rainforest Devastation

Thanks to WarrenEllis for this

New Greenpeace research shows that McDonald’s are partners in forest crime that is creating a trail of destruction right into the heart of the Amazon rainforest.

In the last three years 70,000 km2 of Amazon rainforest has been destroyed - that’s an area of forest the size of six football pitches every minute. Much of this destruction has been driven by the soya industry.

Now watch this...
(They had too much fun making this fucked-up flash-animation info piece.)

Triffids alive and on the move

"The humble sea lily, which normally remains rooted to the ocean bed by a stem, has been caught creeping away from predators in deep sea video footage. The footage (600KB, requires Quicktime) It shows, for the first time, a sea lily crawling slowly across the ocean floor on its fingers, dragging its broken stem behind it".
-New Scientist

Watch the footage, it's really quite creepy. This is a plant after all!
What an amazing world we live in.

Rasta Rats

Marijuana might cause new cell growth in the Brain

A synthetic chemical similar to the active ingredient in marijuana makes new cells grow in rat brains. What is more, in rats this cell growth appears to be linked with reducing anxiety and depression. The results suggest that marijuana, or its derivatives, could actually be good for the brain.
When the rats who had received the cannabinoid were placed under stress, they showed fewer signs of anxiety and depression than rats who had not had the treatment.
Zhang says more research is needed before it is clear whether cannabinoids could some day be used to treat depression in humans.
-New Scientist