A new species of carnivore has been discovered by scientists - and it looks like a cross between a house cat and a teddy bear.
Scientists at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC
said the olinguito was the first species of carnivore to be discovered
in the western hemisphere for 35 years, explaining that the olinguito
had been the victim of mistaken identity for over 100 years.
It is the latest scientifically documented member of the family Procyonidae, which includes raccoons, coatis and kinkajous.
The olinguito weighs 2lbs, has large eyes, woolly orange-brown fur
and lives in the cloud forests of Colombia and Ecuador. Scientists said
their discovery was "incredibly rare" for the 21st century.
You know the type. He created a Facebook account in 2009
and hasn't touched it since. No profile picture. No status update.
Occasionally, someone tags him in a photo, but does he even receive the
notification?
Try this one: She waits, quietly. She doesn't
"like" things, and she definitely doesn't comment. In fact, she
rarely does anything at all besides slink through Facebook like a jungle cat,
silently judging your waistline in your beach vacation pictures.
Everyone has his or her own social media style, but there
are definite patterns in Facebook user behavior. For businesses hoping to
utilize Facebook's advertising potential, identifying and targeting specific
types of users can help narrow more meaningful audiences.
This infographic from Optify highlights everyone's favorite
Facebook users, from the Gamer to the Stalker and everyone in between.
See any that look familiar? If you identify yourself as a
Curator or a Baby Boomer, or if you defy stereotypes and have a style all your
own, let us know in the comments below.
Money is the only phrase which attracts users from a highly
skilled business man to a common young child. Teenagers are known as the most
vital asset of a nation, but usually they spend most of their time playing
video games and surfing the internet which is destroying their capabilities.
According to the scientific approach Teens are the brightest aspect of the
world, so its time to make them realize that instead of wasting their precious
time on uneventful activates they need to concentrate on building their future.
However, they are adopting insignificant traditions due to lack of proper
guidance.
a man who lost his hearing in the second
world war. Every day he walks 10 kilometers from his village in his
homemade clothes and leather shoes to the city of Sofia, where he spends
the day begging for money.
Let’s face it, young people
are leaving the church in droves and despite our many attempts to keep them,
they continue to fall away. Growing up, my church had more than a hundred kids
and teens running through its corridors and marching to Pathfinder and Adventurer
songs, but today few of those youths remain in the church. For some time, many
concerned Christians have sought to understand the reasons why young people
leave the church. I believe that the answer is simple. They leave because they
find no relevance in Christianity and most importantly, they have not fallen in
love with God.
Christianity lacks relevance
for many young people because for many of them, being a Christian involves
nothing more than following senseless rules and participating in church
services that are disconnected from their reality. Ask any teen in church about
how they perceive Christianity and nine out of ten will most likely describe to
you three things: the church service, good behaviour, and telling others about
Jesus. While none of these things are wrong, in and of themselves they have no
relevance to our teens. Teens today are faced with multiple obstacles such as
drugs, alcohol, pregnancy, self-mutilation, rising divorce rates,
promiscuity,homosexuality and abortion
among many other things. So the question is, How does the church service
empower them to deal with this? What exactly is good behaviour? Is it what the
Pastor says? Or is it what society accepts? And why tell others about Jesus
when our post-modern culture embraces the philosophy that there is no such
thing as truth? When Christianity fails to answer these questions and fails to
provide direction and practicality to everyday life, teens begin to see it as
unessential to life. This sets the stage for disregarding God altogether and
embracing the godless culture of the day. “What’s wrong with godless?” They
might subconsciously ask, “God was never that important anyways.” A friend of
mine recently told me a story that I believe illustrates this point very well.
He had just returned from a mission trip to Malaysia. During the trip he and
several other students had preached an Evangelistic Series to the local people.
Among the sermons where many interesting topics, but for one student, as
interesting as they were, something was missing. In her attempt to express how
she felt she asked the question, “What does this have to do with the price of
rice?” This question, silly as it may be, underscores the foundational flaw in
our Christianity – irrelevance. In order to keep our teens in church we must
demonstrate to them that Christianity is applicable to everyday life and that
is has the solution to the problems of our lives.
While many teens leave church
because they think it is not important, the greatest reason for falling away is
that many have simply never fallen in love with God. In the Bible, the apostle
John writes, “We love Him because He first loved us.” Seventh-day Adventist
pioneer Ellen White repeats this truth when she wrote, “Only by love is love
awakened.” Theidea is simple, Gods love
for us awakens in us a love for Him. That love motivates us to have a
relationship with Him. However, in the church we often seem more concerned in
teaching our young people how to be good church members instead of helping them
fall in love with God. For many, upholding the standards of the church is more
important than leading young people to experience the love of God. The end
result of this model is catastrophic because it fosters a spirit of division
between the old and young generations in the church. The old generation assumes
the role of “good behaviour police” while the young are left to feel incapable
of ever living up to the standards imposed on them. One perfect example is that
of my own. At one point our church had a pastor who would never speak to the
youth. He had no relationship with them whatsoever and the only time he would
speak to them was when he was correcting them for dressing inappropriately in
church, and in my experience, having hair that was too long. This is a perfect
example of trying to force teens in church to look and act like good church
members while avoiding relationships with them that help them to experience the
transforming love of God.
As we can see, it is clear
that without the two foundational principles of relevance and love, young
people are set up to fail in the Christian life. As Christians, leading the
youth into a love experience with God and demonstrating to them the relevance
of Christianity in our world must be our top priorities. I would love to see a
new generation of young people who are passionate about Jesus and about
reaching the world for Him, How about you? Let’s ask God to give us the grace
and wisdom to do everything we can to make sure we are leading them in the
right way.
In Africa malaria is the biggest killer
of children under five years old, who account for with nearly 90
percent of all malaria deaths. It is estimated that a child dies every
45 seconds from the disease. Young children are much more vulnerable
to all forms of malaria. In infants this is because their immune
systems are not yet fully developed, while in under fives they have not
yet developed effective resistance to the disease. Malaria can have a devastating effect
on children’s education. Repeated infections cause children to miss
large periods of school and anaemia, a side-effect of frequent malaria
attacks, interferes with children’s ability to concentrate and learn
and causes chronic fatigue. Repeated illnesses from malaria can also
exacerbate any malnutrition, which can both decrease the effectiveness
of anti-malaria drugs and increase children’s susceptibility to the
other main killer diseases: diarrhoea and pneumonia. The impact of malaria on children
remains a serious obstacle to the achievement of many of the Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs), including Goal 2 (universal primary education)
and Goal 4 (the reduction of infant mortality). Click here to
see the Comic Relief celebrity appeal team talking about how mosquito
nets have helped protect primary school children from malaria through
the Comic Relief funded Malaria Consoritum project in Uganda and
describing how malaria affects children.
Pregnant women are far more vulnerable
to malaria than other adults: they are four times more likely to
contract and twice as likely to die from malaria than other adults. This
is due to the typical immunosuppression associated with pregnancy and
increased levels of the hormones cortisol and oestrogen.
In Africa malaria in pregnancy is responsible for 400,000 cases of
severe maternal anaemia and 200,000 newborn deaths each year. Placental
infection, premature birth and low birth weight (a significant factor in
infant mortality) are also caused by maternal malaria. In addition,
severe maternal anemia increases the risk of perinatal complications.
Malaria, therefore, is seriously hindering the achievement of MDG Goal 5
(improve maternal health).
Malaria and Poverty The cost of malaria to Africa is estimated at $12.5 billion per year, which represents 1.3 percent of affected countries economic growth (GDP). In some countries, malaria accounts for up to 40 percent of total health expenditure and 20-50 percent
of hospital admissions. Productivity is reduced and staff turnover
increased by illness-related absenteeism and children’s education is
severely disrupted. Rural and poor populations carry the
overwhelming burden of malaria because access to effective treatment is
extremely limited. In rural areas, infection rates are highest during
the rainy season - a time of intense agricultural activity. Research
indicates families affected by malaria harvest 60 percent less crops
than other families.
Links to Other Diseases Malaria-endemic countries are also
plagued by diseases such as tuberculosis, polio, cholera and HIV/AIDS.
These diseases have a cumulative effect, with one reducing a person’s
ability to cope with another. HIV/AIDS sufferers are at a higher risk of
malaria morbidity and malaria reduces the survival rate from AIDS.
Vertical, un-integrated, disease-specific intervention programmes have
exacerbated the problem as they do not allow for the overarching aim of
achieving universal coverage of malaria control interventions. Drug Resistance
In 2008, the first cases of resistance
to artemisinin-based drugs were confirmed in Southeast Asia along the
Thai-Cambodia border. Currently, the most effective malaria drugs are
derived from artemisinin and used in combination with other drugs. The
use of two different drugs together aims to ensure parasites resistant
to one drug are killed by the other before resistance is transmitted.
The spread of artemisinin resistance from Asia to Africa would be a
devastating to malaria control and elimination. For more information on Malaria Consortium’s role in helping to contain the spread of artemisinin resistance, please visit Drug Resistance section.
Funding for
malaria control has increased dramatically in recent years, from $592
million in 2006 to over $1 billion in 2008, and $1.7 billion in 2009.
The Roll Back Malaria Partnership estimates $5.2-$6 billion a year will
be required to acheive Global Malaria Action Plan targets for 2015. The
current global recession is likely to decrease aid spending making
funding for malaria uncertain.
History shows malaria control efforts must be sustained in order to be
effective. In Sri Lanka malaria was nearly eliminated by 1963, but
eradication efforts were not sustained and the disease returned. By 1990
there were 250,000 cases. Fortunately, control measures were stepped up
again and in 2008 there were only 673 reported. It is therefore crucial
that financial contributions continue to grow to sustain malaria
control programmes.
