CANBERRA (Reuters) -– Staying married is better for the planet because divorce leads the newly single to live more wasteful lifestyles, an Australian lawmaker said.
Senator Steve Fielding told a Senate hearing in the Australian capital Canberra that divorce only made climate change worse.

When couples separated, they needed more rooms, more electricity and more water. This increased their carbon footprint, Australian Associated Press (AAP) quoted Fielding as telling the hearing on environmental issues.

“We understand that there is a social problem (with divorce), but now we’re seeing there is also environmental impact as well on the footprint,” AAP quoted him as saying.

Such a “resource-inefficient lifestyle” meant it would be better for the planet if couples stayed married, he said.

During the hearing, the senator read out quotes from a U.S. report that advocated his stance.

Fielding, who leads the independent Family First party, grew up in a family of 16 children and has been married for 22 years, his website says.
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He’s won $10,000, a Dell laptop powered by Intel™, and a trip to Boston to see his design built.

Meet Max!

About his invention:
The Home Dome is a makeshift dwelling in the shape of a Mongolian yurt. Made of packing peanuts stuffed into plastic grocery bags, it gives a new use to bulky and difficult-to-dispose of packing peanuts. The Home Dome includes a built-in bed that anchors the structure to the ground using the weight of the person inside. To learn more about Max’s invention, click here.

About Max:

Favorite subjects:

Overall: Science, because I love doing experiments and I know that the more science I learn, the better inventions I will be able to create.

In school: History, because I have the best history teacher imaginable, and he makes everything so interesting.

Extracurricular activities:
Physics Club, History Club, Latin Club

Reason for entering the Trash to Treasure competition:
I consider myself an inventor—I’ve been inventing since I was six years old. I also enjoy entering competitions.

Favorite invention of the last 100 years:
Computers. They make information so much more readily available.

Most important engineering feat:
Modern plumbing. I think more lives would be saved in third world countries by using funds to improve their plumbing systems.

Future job or career aspirations:
I’d like to be a biomedical engineer or a geriatric psychiatrist.
http://pbskids.org/designsquad/special/contest/winner.html
or
http://pbskids.org/designsquad/

(Submitted by a reader)

By John Augustine Emojong
Tororo

President Yoweri Museveni has said that Ugandans should not despise drunkards because they are useful in the development of the country’s economy.

“When a drunkard buys a bottle of beer, the beer is taxed and from the taxes, government earns revenue which is used to provide a number of services like paying you salaries which you use to buy those shoes and suits you are putting on,” said Mr Museveni.
Mr Museveni was on Wednesday speaking at Tororo Youth Centre when closing a three-day workshop for secondary school teachers from Bukedi Region under the theme; “Patriotism Building in Schools.”
He was responding to the issue of over-taxation of salaries which was raised by the teachers who argued that over-taxing their meager salaries was suffocating them.

The teachers in their Memo complained that over taxing their salaries was making them fail to meet their domestic, school fees and other demands.

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by Neil Walter

Isabel Allende is the famous and successful Latin-American author of over 16 books who fled to Venezuela for 13 years after receiving death threats due to a mis-guided perception by the government.
Isabel has seen some of the best and worst acts of human-kind with her own eyes. Her books have contributed greatly to Latin-American literature – she talks regularly to audiences about her experiences and perceptions of events growing up.

But what are her passions?
What drives her?

In this passionate talk – Isabel Allende discusses not just her experiences, but also her interpretations of society as a whole – including women, feminism, children – and conflict.
Watch Isabel describe her vivid experiences and interpretations of society and its attitudes.

http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/204

The arrival of women at top positions in Ghana’s government and security forces has highlighted the question of whether such milestones will translate into concrete benefits in women’s lives.
For many, the greatest boost not only for women but for all Ghanaians would come from empowering women economically.

For the first time women hold the posts of speaker, police inspector general and attorney general. Nearly two months after President John Evans Atta Mills came to power, promising a strong presence of women in government, Ghanaians IRIN spoke with are guardedly optimistic.

Hajara Usif, who sells tomatoes in the capital Accra, said she is pleased with the new government’s attention to women. “But it must reflect in my life too – and very soon.”

Usif and women like her might get a hand from Akua Sena Dansua, the new minister for women and children’s affairs and one of eight female ministers, who told IRIN a top priority will be women’s economic empowerment.

Usif, a widow and mother of four, told IRIN: “I am not asking government to take pity on me and take care of my children for me.” What she would like from the government is help for women eager to work, including credit schemes and literacy programmes.
Learning to read, she said, “is important for my work and I believe for the country’s development.”

For Baah Boateng, senior economist at the University of Ghana in Accra, any scheme that helps women would help Ghana. “Women control the Ghanaian economy. Women are absolutely vital to the success or failure of the country’s poverty reduction drive.”
He added: “Because of their contribution I will support any day any initiative that aims to improve the lot of women and give them the necessary support.”

Boateng cited statistics, confirmed by Ghana’s Finance Ministry: 70 percent of farmers and 90 percent of people working in agricultural processing and marketing are women.

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by Professor Sarojini Sahoo

“Slumdog Millionaire” scooped up eight Oscars on Sunday, the most of any movie this year, including best motion picture, best cinematography, sound mixing, film editing, original score for composer A.R. Rahman and best song, “Jai Ho” for Rahman and lyricist Gulzar.Among the “Slumdog” honors, Briton Danny Boyle was named best director for the often dark but ultimately hopeful, a Dickensian-style tale set in an Indian city. Similar to the way Charles Dickens used Victorian London, Danny Boyle wanted to portray the dark side of Indian city , where a slum dweller poor boy Jamal Malik (Patel), an 18 year-old orphan from the slums of Mumbai who competes on a TV game show : “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?” But when the show breaks for the night, police arrest him on suspicion of cheating; how could a street kid know so much? Desperate to prove his innocence, Jamal tells the story of his life in the slum where he and his brother grew up, of their adventures together on the road, of vicious encounters with local gangs, and of Latika (Pinto), the girl he loved and lost. Each chapter of his story reveals the key to the answer to one of the game show¹s questions. Each chapter of Jamal¹s increasingly layered story reveals where he learned the answers to the show¹s seemingly impossible quizzes. But one question remains a mystery: what is this young man with no apparent desire for riches really doing on the game show? When the new day dawns and Jamal returns to answer the final question, the Inspector and sixty million viewers are about to find out.

The film has raised a controversy over the country whether the western world is only interested in tales of poverty or at the most snake charmers and Kings and Queens .Some has raised the question that when India has 5600 newspapers… magazines in over twenty-one different Ianguages., with a combined readership of over 120 million ,when the country has reached the moon and back and when the third largest pool in the word of doctors, engineers and scientists are from India ,and also our country has the third largest army in the world ; how it is justified to glamourise those people who just to earn money, make movies which portray India as slum and poor Indians as Slum Dogs!! (See : http://furobike.blogspot.com/2009/02/indians-aint-slum-dogs.html)

But I differ from that blogger .My first point is ,with all the success we have achieved , is n’t it true that we couldn’t check widespread use of child labour and still the millions of abandoned street children who live on its railway platforms, or amputees and mangled polio victims who beg for small change at road junctions ? Why don’t we solemnly try to eradicate this social disease?

My second point is , it is a total misconception in our mind that only India or South Asian countries have the slums .Readers can access the description and conditions of slum in France, United Kingdom and USA from the following links :

http://www.nysun.com/comments/358

http://www.city-data.com/forum/general-u-s/107733-cities-worst-slums-36.html

http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200803/subprime

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9E06E1D71739E533A25756C2A9639C94649FD7CF

http://www.tampabay.com/multimedia/archive/00034/FLO_phil081708a_34281c.jpeg

http://cache.daylife.com/imageserve/05SY8xx4zl5vR/610x.jpg

http://www.ratsound.com/tours/peppers/images/by_the_way/l_IMG_4078.jpg

There is again a misconception about the slums , which I think media is responsible to create such fallacies. I have seen refrigerators,televison sets,modern domestic accessories ,two wheelers and even if four wheelers are also the common assets of the houses of Dharavi slums of Mumbai and Makarapura of Vadodara . The average city based Indian slum dwellers family can earn approximately 15,000 INR , which I think is sufficient for a standard living in India . What they lack are the education, cleanliness, pure water facility and good roads .We have to accept the challenges It is more required to make them educate rather than to provide any financial help .The government officials are more responsible in creating such slum areas .If city maintenance department of the municipal corporations have a strong will, we can make them proper habitation before they start to create any new slum area.

In last few years, the Indian films like “Lagan” and “Tare Zameen Pe” were also listed in the failure group for Oscar. so, it is also an unavoidable question that what made Oscar to see more in Danny Boyle rather than these movie makers?

Professor Sarojini Sahoo is an author and a feminist and can be reached at sarojinisahoo2003@yahoo.co.in. Her blog and website are http://sarojinisahoo.blogspot.com/ and
http://sarojinisahoo.com/
http://anaindia.blogspot.com/

By Ingrid B. Mork

I have three “beefs” right now..

One: I read recently of Clinton`s anger with Israel over their hinderance of the delivery of reconstruction materials for Gaza. Where were the woman`s expressions of anger over the Israeli slaughter of civilians, men, women and children in Gaza??

Two: What right do the Israelis have to any say in the reconstruction of Gaza? What right do they have to anything at all to do with Gaza? What, or who, gives them the right? First it was “divide and rule,” now it is “destroy and rebuild.” What next, I wonder.

Three: I`m sick to death of the finger pointing, the constant demonizing of Hamas by so-called “civilized” dignitaries, who do not have the right to point a finger at anyone. If they took the time, and had the guts, to speak to Hamas, they might learn a thing or two, providing they opened their minds and left their own sense of self importance at home for once. Do they never stop to wonder why Hamas is so revered by their people. If I can see it, why can`t they. Their oppressors build walls to contain them, so they break down the wall. Their oppressors make it impossible for them to break down the walls, so they dig tunnels. They should be lauded instead of being demonised.

So many people everywhere are suffering. No one talks about problems anymore, everyone just reaches for guns and weapons. State terrorists labelling those who resist them as terrorists. Is it just in the years since Bush took office that the world has gone crazy or has it allways been that way? My own theory is: it began with the advent of Zionism.

Ingrid B. Mork
Norway.

Ingrid B. Mork can be reached at ingridbm.mrk279@gmail.com

A film from Tunisia

See the pictures of the nautch girls of 1850s onwards.

By John Noble Wilford

Footprints uncovered in Kenya show that as early as 1.5 million years ago an ancestral species, almost certainly Homo erectus, had already evolved the feet and walking gait of modern humans.

An international team of scientists, in a report on Friday in the journal Science, said the well-defined prints in an eroding bluff east of Lake Turkana “provided the oldest evidence of an essentially modern humanlike foot anatomy.” They said the find also added to evidence that painted a picture of Homo erectus as the prehumans who took long evolutionary strides — figuratively and, now it seems, also literally.

Where the individuals who made the tracks were going, or why, is beyond knowing by the cleverest scientist. The variability of the separation between some steps, researchers said, suggests that they were picking their way over an uneven surface, muddy enough to leave a mark — an unintended message from an extinct species for the contemplation of its descendants.

Until now, no footprint trails had ever been associated with early members of our long-legged genus Homo. Preserved ancient footprints of any kind are rare. The only earlier prints of a protohuman species were found in 1978 at Laetoli, in Tanzania. Dated at 3.7 million years ago, they were made by Australopithecus afarensis, the diminutive species to which the famous Lucy skeleton belonged. The prints showed that the species already walked upright, but its short legs and long arms and its feet were in many ways apelike.

Studying the more than a dozen prints, scientists determined that the individuals had heels, insteps and toes almost identical to those in humans, and that they walked with a long stride similar to human locomotion.

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