Yeah, sorry Chris

DEM promotes boating workshops

May 14^th session at Cross’ Mills Public Library

The Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (DEM) is teaming up with the National Association of State Boating Law Administrators (NASBLA) next week to promote boating education. 

As part of the "Spring Aboard" campaign, discounts will be offered on several safety courses for boaters who enroll or complete a class between Sunday, April 17 and Saturday, April 23.

An informed and knowledgeable boat operator is much more likely to recognize hazardous conditions on the water and avoid a mishap. 

According to the U.S. Coast Guard, only 12 percent of deaths occurred on vessels operated by those with a boating education certificate; 77 percent of boating deaths occurred on vessels where the boat operator never received boating education instruction.

Available courses include:

The week ahead for pollen sufferers...

Double the usual number of days from Pollen.com

NOTE: the National Weather Service continues its warning that conditions are right throughout our area for brushfires - low humidity, steady breezes and lots of dried vegetation on the ground. While conditions are not at the "red flag" level, they're close.

Continue to see the types of pollen out today....

Replacing butter with vegetable oils does not cut heart disease risk

Butter might not be a health food, but researchers unearthed more evidence that replacing it with vegetable oils does not decrease risk of heart disease

University of North Carolina Health Care

A research team led by scientists at the UNC School of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health has unearthed more evidence that casts doubt on the traditional "heart healthy" practice of replacing butter and other saturated fats with corn oil and other vegetable oils high in linoleic acid.

The findings, reported today in the British Medical Journal, suggest that using vegetable oils high in linoleic acid might be worse than using butter when it comes to preventing heart disease, though more research needs to be done on that front. 

This latest evidence comes from an analysis of previously unpublished data of a large controlled trial conducted in Minnesota nearly 50 years ago, as well as a broader analysis of published data from all similar trials of this dietary intervention.

The analyses show that interventions using linoleic acid-rich oils failed to reduce heart disease and overall mortality even though the intervention reduced cholesterol levels. 

Victory: Kinder Morgan Nixes New England Pipeline Plan

'This is a project that no one wanted, and this is a fitting end to the story'

By Nika Knight, staff writer for Common Dreams

Pipeline company Kinder Morgan has suspended its plans to build a fracked gas pipeline from Pennsylvania to Massachusetts, citing poor demand for its gas in a statement (pdf) released late Wednesday. 

Pipeline opponents are cheering the decision.

The pipeline would have cost over $3 billion and spanned nearly 200 miles, according to the Boston Globe.

VIDEO: Lead is not just a problem in Flint

Watch this video on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUizvEjR-0U

Editors's Note: for over a decade, I worked with concerned citizens in Kellogg, Idaho, one of dozens of communities across the US plagued with huge stockpiles of lead slag and lead dust. In Kellogg's case, lead was mined nearby and smelted in town. 

The result was an extraordinarily high concentration that caused generations of children to grow into adulthood with terrible deficits in IQ, cognitive ability, nerve function, etc. Kellogg should have been bought out and evacuated 30 years ago, but instead there have been endless delays, distractions and denials.  - Will Collette

The Tomato mystery

From Fake Science

VIDEO from Europe to America...it's not about you

To watch this amazing video on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLSIdytl2oQ

Fight hunger, save money and fight climate change

Reducing food waste could help mitigate climate change

Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research

About a tenth of overall global greenhouse-gas emissions from agriculture could be traced back to food waste by mid-century, a new study shows.

A team from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research for the first time provides comprehensive food loss projections for countries around the world while also calculating the associated emissions.

Currently, one third of global food production never finds its way onto our plates. This share will increase drastically, if emerging countries like China and India adopt Western nutrition lifestyles, the analyses shows.

Reducing food waste would offer the chance to ensure food security, which is well known. Yet at the same time it could help mitigate dangerous climate change.

Daily dose could save your life

Vitamin D improves heart function, study finds

University of Leeds

  

A daily dose of vitamin D3 improves heart function in people with chronic heart failure, a five-year University of Leeds research project has found.

Dr Klaus Witte, from the School of Medicine and Consultant Cardiologist at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, led the study, known as VINDICATE.

He said: "This is a significant breakthrough for patients. It is the first evidence that vitamin D3 can improve heart function of people with heart muscle weakness -- known as heart failure. These findings could make a significant difference to the care of heart failure patients."

These Billboards Have Eyes

Computerized placards are literally watching you — and they may even follow you home.

By Jim Hightower

 

OK people, we need to discuss billboards. Yes, we really must.

At best, these giant corporate placards are problematic — they loom garishly over us, clutter our landscapes, and intrude into our communities with no respect for local aesthetics or preferences. 

Now, however, billboards are getting a high-tech reboot, allowing advertisers to invade not only our places, but also our privacy.

Having to see billboards everywhere is bad enough. Far worse, though, is that the modernized, digitalized, computerized structures can see you — and track you.

The question we should be asking

What Defines a Good School?

By Diane Ravitch

David Gamberg is the superintendent of two small adjoining school districts on the North Fork of Long Island: Southold and Greenport. The citizens of these communities love their schools and support them.

Gamberg is a thoughtful and reflective educator. He cares deeply about the arts. His schools have gardens that the students plant and tend. The athletics teams are strong, and the robotics team at Southold High School just won a national competition.

He believes in a whole-child approach to education. He is one of the brave Long Island superintendents who have stood up to the state and protesting against the overuse and misuse of test scores. 

Science gone bad

From Fake Science

Congratulations to the Tomaquag Museum...and to Oyster Works

TOMAQUAG MUSEUM EARNS NATION'S TOP AWARD  APRIL 19, 2016 The Institute of Museum and Library Service today announced Tomaquag Museum of Exeter, Rhode Island as one of 10 recipients of the 2016 National Medal for Museum and Library Service, the nation's highest honor given to museums and libraries for service to the community.  For 22 years, the award has celebrated institutions that respond to societal needs in innovative ways, making a difference for individuals, families, and their communities.  The 9 other award winners are: Brooklyn Public Library;  Chicago History Museum;  Columbia Museum of Art, SC Lynn Meadows Discovery Center for Children, MS;  Madison Public Library, WI; Mid-America Science Museum, AR;  North Carolina State University Libraries; Otis Library, CT;  Santa Ana Public Library, CA.     Founded in 1958, Tomaquag Museum is Rhode Island's only Native American museum serving as a bridge to promote better understanding between the Native community's needs, history, culture and impact on today's society.  Tomaquag helps in the healing process of indigenous people by allowing them to tell their stories from their own perspective and experience. For the past two years Oyster Works has been working with Tomaquag Museum's executive director, Loren Spears, and the museum's staff and board to design a new home for the museum.  "We are thrilled that the Tomaquag Museum has won this prestigious award and honored that we can play a part in Tomaquag's future."    Megan Moynihan Oyster Works  | 401 213 6722 | info@oysterworks.net | www.oysterworks.net

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Another success story as Mica returns to the sea

Mystic Aquarium does Earth Day release at Blue Shutters Beach of rescued and healed harp seal 

MICA. Photos courtesy of the Mystic Aquarium's animal rescue program

Following nearly seven months of specialized care from Mystic Aquarium’s Animal Rescue Team, Mica, a male harp seal approximately 1-2 years old, was released this morning at Blue Shutters Beach in Charlestown, RI. 

Rescued from Bristol, ME, on September 28, 2015 by the Marine Mammals of Maine, Mica weighed 53 lbs. when he arrived at Mystic Aquarium’s Animal Rescue Clinic.

Having been found mildly dehydrated and with pneumonia, he received specialize care and rehabilitation.

Weighing in at more than 65 lbs., Mica’s return to the ocean on Earth Day was celebrated with the support of hundreds of community members and warm springtime weather.

Earth Day celebrations continued at Mystic Aquarium’s Party for the Planet as part of a global celebration that had a local twist.

The Aquarium hosted activities raising awareness about conservation, sustainable living, and ways to make our planet a better place to live.