I don't know what the weather's been like where you are, but here in NYC, this winter has been a BEAST. Every time we think we're getting a respite (like today when it's sunny and in the 50's), it lasts for a couple of days and then, just when we're starting to relax, we're hit with another polar vortex and temperatures drop down thirty degrees overnight and stay that way for another week.
My favorite season is summer and I really do not handle cold weather well. So my first inclination at times like these is to hibernate and not leave the house (or my bed) again until spring. Sadly, that's not an option. But I can make soups -- warming, delicious, vegetable-filled, stick-to-your ribs soups, to be exact. Like this one that I adapted from Oh My Veggies, a fabulous vegetarian food blog that I just recently stumbled upon.
I had an enormous bunch of chard that was starting to wilt and so I wanted an easy way to use it up but I needed to be in and out of the house all day. However, I still wanted to come home to a hot meal. That, my friends, is a perfect time to dust off your slow cooker, fill it up and forget about it while you do sundry other things like go to work, defrost yourself and do laundry. Ah, laundry. Because the more clothes you have to wear, the more you have to wash (yet another reason to prefer summer).
But this soup only dirties two dishes -- your slow cooker and a skillet to saute the aromatics. And if you're lucky (and I am), both of those can go into the dishwasher. So, really, what have you got to lose? If you have the extra time, soak the lentils overnight with some kombu (or, if you're really good about planning ahead, even do it for a few days so they can sprout). If not, no worries -- they'll be just as delicious. I prefer red lentils for this soup since they melt down into the broth, making it into more of a stew. For extra protein, serve with chicken or, to make it heartier, over rice. Turn leftovers into lasagna. Bon appetit!
I'm making this my submission for Wellness Weekend, hosted and created by Ricki Heller!
If you have time, soak lentils and kombu in a clean bowl with enough cold water to cover them by several inches, for anywhere from 1 hour to 3 days. If going the sprouting route, change water 3 times/day.
Drain lentils and set aside. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-low heat. Add onion, celery, carrots, garlic and Swiss chard stems and cook, covered, 8 minutes.
Place cooked aromatics, lentils, potatoes, broth and liquid aminos into slow cooker. Stir so everything is nicely mixed up together and cook 8 hours on low.
When cooked, stir in Swiss chard leaves and raise slow cooker temperature to high. Cover and cook an additional 5-10 minutes until chard is soft and has integrated into the soup. Serve, topped with salt and pepper. Enjoy!
Nutritionists often tell us to eat as many different colors as we can. And on a good day, I can probably get three or four onto my plate -- white, green, pink and red. But there are some colors that we almost never get such as my favorite, purple.
That all changed the other night with this delectable puree. Yes, it's another celeriac (white) recipe but this time I mixed the celeriac with purple potatoes. The celeriac blended right in with the potatoes and we wound up with this exquisite meal, served alongside baked eggplant (for the vegetarian) and chicken (for the omnivore). Leftovers we reheated in a 350F oven for 20 minutes and served under buffalo steak (for the omnivore) and portobello mushrooms (for the vegetarian). A great take on a more traditional (and less colorful) meal!
A note about dairy: as many of you know, I have been avoiding dairy (to the best of my cheese-addicted abilities) for almost a year. I recently re-introduced clarified butter (ghee) into my diet and I love it. It brought an especially rich quality to the puree and mixed perfectly with the rice milk. If you're avoiding dairy of all sorts, feel free to substitute coconut oil instead.
This puree ended up a little chunky (which I love -- anything too silky smooth bores me about halfway through). If, however, you prefer a smoother puree, mash the potatoes and celeriac in the food processor instead of by hand. Bon appetit!
Put potatoes into a large pot and cover with cold water (make sure the pot is big enough to fit the celeriac too and that you put in enough water to cover both). Add kosher salt. Bring pot to a boil over high heat, covered, and cook 10 minutes. Add celeriac and boil another 10 minutes. Drain and return to pot.
Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, bring rice milk to a boil. Using a potato masher, mash potatoes and celeriac as smoothly as desired (you could also do this in a food processor). Add 1/4 cup milk and stir (and mash) vigorously until absorbed by the vegetables. Add 1/2-1 tablespoon butter and stir (and mash) until absorbed. Continue adding 1/4 cup milk and 1/2-1 tablespoon butter until puree is a cohesive texture and as rich and decadent as you desire. Sprinkle with sea salt and serve.
I'm spoiled. I live in New York City, surrounded by wonderful supermarkets (I have three to choose from everyday, not to mention the two that I choose not to frequent because there are better options) and one to two Greenmarkets within walking distance as well as countless others a short subway ride away. I can get fresh vegetables (in and out of season) and, while I try to eat seasonally to keep costs down and quality up, I don't fret about it too much if one of us has a hankering for eggplant or tomatoes in the middle of February.
As for how this affects my cooking, unless we're having company over, I try not to buy too many ingredients for any one meal (another side of keeping costs and waste down). So I take for granted that I'll have flavorful ingredients that don't need much to make them vibrant and tasty.
But this salad brought all these facts starkly into relief. A simple winter salad, it's a delightful mix of fennel, celeriac and parsley, all tied together with a simple olive oil and lemon juice dressing and sprinkled with toasted pumpkin seeds. Sounds perfect, no? Well, it was good but neither my celeriac nor my fennel was anywhere near as flavorful as it should have been. So, while it was tasty, it wasn't fantastic. As the vegetarian put it, "The flavors are all good but they're so quiet!"
So why, you might ask, am I even sharing this with you? Because it is good. And it's a winter salad (which is exceedingly rare. And, if you make it with exceptionally fresh ingredients (like from a garden if you're lucky enough to have one), it will be phenomenal.
I'm entering this in Raw Foods Thursday on Gluten-Free Cat. Join us!
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Toss pumpkin seeds with 1 tablespoon olive oil. Roast 6 minutes. Set aside and let cool.
In a large bowl, toss together celeriac, fennel, onion and parsley. Add oil, lemon juice, sea salt and pepper and mix well. Taste and adjust seasonings as needed.
Serve, sprinkling each portion with pumpkin seeds and avocado. Bon appetit!
Additions? If you want to add some protein, a can of tuna is a delicious addition. This also works nicely on a sandwich with some sliced turkey.
Drink? A glass of Riesling.


When I tell people this is one of my all time favorites, they usually giggle. And then I pull my serious face. Okay, I know, it fades after 2 seconds because I don't have a serious face. But I do mean it – Toy Story 3 is one of my utmost favorite movies EVER.
And why's that, you ask? It's the essence of missing childhood, for me.
I was a 5th grader when the first movie came out. I had a 4 years old brother and a pregnant mommy at home, which pretty much implies tons and tons of dubbed tapes shuffling. One of which was Toy Story, which my brother LOVED (I preferred watching Peter Pan or The Princess Bride, but hey, you can't always get what you want). BTW – it's the first full-length computer-animated movie ever made. Respect.
back to Toy Story 3. Andy (the toys' owner) is going to college. He needs to decide what to do with his toys before he moves out of the house. The movie begins with the toys laying in their box, trying to manipulate Andy to touch them, after he hasn't played them for a long time. To me – this scene is no less emotional than the ending score. What could be more tragic than your childhood calling you, as much as you seek for it? It is so symbolic and beautifully presented.
The movie continues with the exhausting journey the toys go through, after mistakenly being donated to Sunnyside day-care, where they are abused by snotty children (ew, children are gruesome) and lotso, the dictator-of-a-bear (which was abandoned by its first owner, thus leaving him susceptible to psycho-analysis. Unkrich & Arndt are geniuses).
The movie ends with the notion of saying goodbye to childhood. Learning that even though you're growing old, you can always come back and say hello to your toys, play with them for a while and remember you've got a friend in them and in long gone memories. I'll play this post out.


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Department of Public Health /
PL o S Neglected Tropical Diseases (Online) /
Biritwum, N.K., Frempong, K.K., S. Verver (Suzanne), Odoom, S., Alomatu, B., Asiedu, O., Kontoroupis, P., Yeboah, A., Hervie, E.T., Marfo, B., et al. D.A. Boakye, S.J. de Vlas (Sake), Gyapong, J. O. and W.A. Stolk (Wilma)
Progress towards lymphatic filariasis elimination in Ghana from 2000-2016: Analysis of microfilaria prevalence data from 430 communities
PL o S Neglected Tropical Diseases (Online) , Volume 13 - Issue 8
Background Ghana started its national programme to eliminate lymphatic filariasis (LF) in 2000, with mass drug administration (MDA) with ivermectin and albendazole as main strategy. We review the progress towards elimination that was made by 2016 for all endemic districts of Ghana and analyze microfilaria (mf) prevalence from sentinel and spot-check sites in endemic districts. Methods We reviewed district level data on the history of MDA and outcomes of transmission assessment surveys (TAS). We further collated and analyzed mf prevalence data from sentinel and spot-check sites. Results MDA was initiated in 2001–2006 in all 98 endemic districts; by the end of 2016, 81 had stopped MDA after passing TAS and after an average of 11 rounds of treatment (range 8–14 rounds). The median reported coverage for the communities was 77–80%. Mf prevalence survey data were available for 430 communities from 78/98 endemic districts. Baseline mf prevalence data were available for 53 communities, with an average mf prevalence of 8.7% (0–45.7%). Repeated measurements were available for 78 communities, showing a steep decrease in mean mf prevalence in the first few years of MDA, followed by a gradual further decline. In the 2013 and 2014 surveys, 7 and 10 communities respectively were identified with mf prevalence still above 1% (maximum 5.6%). Fifteen of the communities above threshold are all within districts where MDA was still ongoing by 2016. Conclusions The MDA programme of the Ghana Health Services has reduced mf prevalence in sentinel sites below the 1% threshold in 81/98 endemic districts in Ghana, yet 15 communities within 13 districts (MDA ongoing by 2016) had higher prevalence than this threshold during the surveys in 2013 and 2014. These districts may need to intensify interventions to achieve the WHO 2020 target.
Persistent URL dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0007115, hdl.handle.net/1765/121279
Journal PL o S Neglected Tropical Diseases (Online)
Biritwum, N.K., Frempong, K.K., Verver, S, Odoom, S., Alomatu, B., Asiedu, O., … Stolk, W.A. (2019). Progress towards lymphatic filariasis elimination in Ghana from 2000-2016: Analysis of microfilaria prevalence data from 430 communities. PL o S Neglected Tropical Diseases (Online), 13(8). doi:10.1371/journal.pntd.0007115
Free Full Text ( Final Version , 1mb )

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Our planet may have had a recent change of heart.
Earth's inner core may have temporarily stopped rotating relative to the mantle and surface, researchers report in the January 23 Nature Geoscience. Now, the direction of the inner core's rotation may be reversing — part of what could be a roughly 70-year-long cycle that may influence the length of Earth's days and its magnetic field — though some researchers are skeptical.
"We see strong evidence that the inner core has been rotating faster than the surface, [but] by around 2009 it nearly stopped," says geophysicist Xiaodong Song of Peking University in Beijing. "Now it is gradually mov[ing] in the opposite direction."
Such a profound turnaround might sound bizarre, but Earth is volatile (SN: 1/13/21). Bore through the ever-shifting crust and you'll enter the titanic mantle, where behemoth masses of rock flow viscously over spans of millions of years, sometimes upwelling to excoriate the overlying crust (SN: 1/11/17, SN: 3/2/17, SN: 2/4/21). Delve deeper and you'll reach Earth's liquid outer core. Here, circulating currents of molten metals conjure our planet's magnetic field (SN: 9/4/15). And at the heart of that melt, you'll find a revolving, solid metal ball about 70 percent as wide as the moon.
This is the inner core (SN: 1/28/19). Studies have suggested that this solid heart may rotate within the liquid outer core, compelled by the outer core's magnetic torque. Researchers have also argued the mantle's immense gravitational pull may apply an erratic brake on the inner core's rotation, causing it to oscillate.
Evidence for the inner core's fluctuating rotation first emerged in 1996. Geophysicist Paul Richards of Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory in Palisades, N.Y., and Song, then also at Lamont-Doherty, reported that over a span of three decades, seismic waves from earthquakes took different amounts of time to traverse Earth's solid heart.
The researchers inferred that the inner core rotates at a different speed than the mantle and crust, causing the time differences. The planet spins roughly 360 degrees in a day. Based on their calculations, the researchers estimated that the inner core, on average, rotates about 1 degree per year faster than the rest of Earth.
But other researchers have questioned that conclusion, some suggesting that the core spins slower than Song and Richards' estimate or doesn't spin differently at all.
In the new study, while analyzing global seismic data stretching back to the 1990s, Song and geophysicist Yi Yang — also at Peking University — made a surprising observation.
Before 2009, seismic waves generated by sequences and pairs of repeating earthquakes — known as multiplets and doublets — traveled at different rates through the inner core. This indicated the waves from recurring quakes were crossing different parts of the inner core, and that the inner core was rotating at a different pace than the rest of Earth, aligning with Song's previous research.
But around 2009, the differences in travel times vanished. That suggested the inner core had ceased rotating with respect to the mantle and crust, Yang says. After 2009, these differences returned, but the researchers inferred that the waves were crossing parts of the inner core that suggested it was now rotating in the opposite direction relative to the rest of Earth.
The researchers then pored over records of Alaskan earthquake doublets dating to 1964. While the inner core appeared to rotate steadily for most of that time, it seems to have made another reversal in rotation in the early 1970s, the researchers say.
Song and Yang infer that the inner core may oscillate with a roughly 70-year periodicity — switching directions every 35 years or so. Because the inner core is gravitationally linked to the mantle and magnetically linked to the outer core, the researchers say these oscillations could explain known 60- to 70-year variations in the length of Earth's days and the behavior of the planet's magnetic field. However, more work is needed to pin down what mechanisms might be responsible.
But not all researchers are on board. Yang and Song "identif[y] this recent 10-year period [that] has less activity than before, and I think that's probably reliable," says geophysicist John Vidale of the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, who was not involved in the research. But beyond that, Vidale says, things get contentious.
In 2022, he and a colleague reported that seismic waves from nuclear tests show the inner core may reverse its rotation every three years or so. Meanwhile, other researchers have proposed that the inner core isn't moving at all. Instead, they say, changes to the shape of the inner core's surface could explain the differences in wave travel times.
Future observations will probably help disentangle the discrepancies between these studies, Vidale says. For now, he's unruffled by the purported chthonic standstill. "In all likelihood, it's irrelevant to life on the surface, but we don't actually know what's happening," he says. "It's incumbent on us to figure it out."
from Science News https://ift.tt/B4CwG2j


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Vita 2019
Watch: 3 Tips from the Toastmasters
Public speaking club offers practical advice for giving a speech.
By Jim Senft 19 Dec 2019
Employees Company Culture
Research has shown that people fear public speaking more than they fear death. Meet a group of people working to conquer that fear.
The First Avenue Speakers is a group that recently formed at CSL Behring in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, by members of the Global Clinical Safety and Pharmacovigilance team. The group is a chartered Toastmasters International club, joining the ranks of more than 16,800 clubs in 143 countries. Toastmasters International is a nonprofit organization dedicated to teaching public speaking and leadership skills.
Velma Kay Hurst, Principal Clinical Safety Scientist at CSL Behring, explains her motivation for starting the club was to help strengthen her own communication skills and help others interested in doing the same. "I know that in order to be successful in my career and even outside of my career, it's important for me to strengthen my communication skills," she said. "Public speaking is such an important skill to have. It's very important for your growth as an individual as well as a professional."
David Paczkowski, Manager, Learning & Development at CSL Behring, agrees. "When you think about the complexity of how many things can be misunderstood or perceived incorrectly, it makes me think about how much we need to focus on improving communications as an aspect of our commitment to diversity – in this case thought diversity," he said.
Paczkowski appreciates when employees such as those who formed the Toastmasters Club take responsibility for their own development. "I think it is primary example of how serious our employees value their commitment to growing their careers as we build upon our capacity to serving our patient focus," he said. "Talent Management has spent quite a bit of time creating programs to support development. It is great to see that momentum build with proactive efforts like this one."
Hurst shared some tips for people looking to improve their public speaking skills.
Motivate yourself – whether it's meditation or a listening to a special song, pick something that can help you feel grounded and relaxed before making your speech.
Practice your speech multiple times -- including practicing in front of a mirror.
Be kind to yourself. Realize that you are likely your biggest critic and relax.
3 Tips for Advancing Your Biotech Career
CSL's Executive Vice President and Head of R&D offers advice for professional develop…
07 Oct 2019 Our View
Building a Biotech Career?
In four minutes, Strategy & Business Development executive shares four lessons he's l…
03 Dec 2019 Careers


We've massively expanded the Adminshop on skyblock. If you haven't gotten a chance to check it out yet, go do so! You can buy and sell most items ingame! It's a great way to sell your excess stuff for Skyblock MTC!
Have you wanted to play Saturday Night Spleef, but never been able to? Or do you just like spleef, and want to get more of it? If so, the March Madness Spleef Tournament is for you! For those of you unfamiliar, March Madness is a college basketball tournament famous for it's unpredictability. Every year, there are upsets all around, and Cinderella teams making underdog runs to the later round. It's a ton of fun. I encourage everyone to sign up for this tournament! March Madness is known for upsets!
Every participant will be seeded and divided into a region. There will be 4 regions, the Alexandria, Aetherion, Treetop, and AMSF regions. The winners of these 4 regions will face off in the Final Four, which will be held at Kotapuri Spleef Stadium. Each matchup in the regional rounds will be a best of 5, and during the final four will be a best of 7.
The winner for each individual matchup will get a 500 MTC bonus as well!
This is a great way to earn MTC on Main! Signups close next Monday (March 11) at 10 PM ET! I will seed and release the bracket with matchups the next day, and the tournament will start! Don't worry about missing the tournament, as there will be not set times for matchups, just get them done as soon as you can. If you're interested, post in this thread, or message me ingame or on discord!
Finally, be sure to check out Flowerpower UHC tomorrow at 8 PM ET, and Knockback on Thursday at the same time! Prizes for both are 2000 MTC and 3 keys for 1st, 1500 MTC and 2 keys for 2nd, and 1000 and one key for 3rd!
Prizes have been sent out! Go out and /vote for Minetown!
The Christmas Build Event has finally been judged! Here are the results!
Additionally, we will be running multiple events for prizes this week! We will run a UHC event at 8 PM ET on Tuesday (the 19th) and a Knockback event at the same time on Thursday (the 21st)! More info on prizes can be found on the event calendar!


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What about elephants
Thread starter MIST
Elephant that killed British tourist performed at Thai safari camp tainted by cruelty allegations
Animal welfare campaigners launch fresh bid to ban elephant rides as 'world's cruellest wildlife tourist attraction' after Gareth Crowe trampled and gored
The marauding elephant that trampled and gored a British tourist to death in Thailand after attacking its handler is forced to perform at an island safari camp that has been accused of cruelty to animals by customers.
Animal welfare campaigners have now launched a fresh call for a ban on all tourist elephant rides, saying the practice is cruel to the animals as well as dangerous for holidaymakers.
Gareth Crowe, 36, from Scotland, was killed in front of his 16-year-old step-daughter by an elephant that threw them to the ground after its handler dismounted to take a photograph of them on the holiday island of Koh Samui.
The handler, or mahout, reportedly tried to control the animal with a speared hook and was also gored, but survived.
A video emerged last night from another recent British visitor to the island showing a mahout jabbing an elephant with a similar hook at the main trekking park.
Mr Crowe was killed on Tuesday, the day before a new report released by British campaigners named elephant riding as top of a list of the world's cruellest wildlife tourist attractions.
The London-based group World Animal Protection conducted the study into wildlife tourism with the University of Oxford's Wildlife Conservation Research Unit.
"It's clear that thousands of tourists are visiting wildlife attractions, unaware of the abuse wild animals face behind the scenes," said Kate Nustedt, director of wildlife at World Animal Protection.
"As well as the cruelty to animals, there is also the very real danger to tourists, as we saw earlier this week with the very sad death of Mr Crowe.
"We need to stop the demand for elephant rides and shows, hugs and selfies with tigers and lions by exposing the hidden suffering behind wildlife attractions.
"If you can ride it, hug it or have a selfie with a wild animal, then you can be sure it is cruel. Vote with your feet and don't go."
Eilidh Hughes, Mr Crowe's step-daughter is being treated for injuries in hospital after the accident on a trek organised by the Island Safari Camp.
The camp, one of the island's largest tourism businesses, emphasises the safety of its customers on its website.
But several customers have posted comments on travel review sites criticising the treatment of its animals and saying they had witnessed wounds inflicted from apparent abuse by their handlers, including the use of the speared hooks.
Samattapong Uttama, assistant managing director of Island Safari, told The Telegraph that the company was investigating the claims of cruelty posted online.
"The mahouts have hooks to control the elephants but they are told not to use the sharp ends," he said.
"We don't use the animals to make money but to show tourists about the cultural history of our country and how people used to live here. We do not believe there is cruelty involved in these rides."
Edwin Wiek, founder of the Wildlife Friends Foundation of Thailand, said that he believed the male elephant that killed Mr Crowe was reacting aggressively as it was in musth, the frenzied state during rutting season.
It was the sixth fatal incident in the last five months involving bull elephants in musth across Thailand, he told the DPA news agency said.
"Male elephants should not be a part of these treks at all as they are uncontrollable when they are in heat," Mr Wiek said.
Thailand has an estimated 4,000 domesticated elephants, many working in the tourism trade, beside some 2,500 wild elephants.
In August, an elephant killed his handler with three terrified Chinese tourists still on his back. The tourists survived.
The elephant riding industry is extremely lucrative in Koh Samui. Local officials and tour operators apparently sought to protect its commercial interests with varying explanations for the animal's behaviour.
There were initial local media reports that Mr Crowe had teased the animal by appearing to offer it a banana after dismounting to take a photograph. But those were quickly denied by Eilidh in a comment on a local news website.
Then island officials said they suspected that "hot weather made the elephant angry" – a confusing claim as the elephants are native Asian animals and temperatures at the time were about the average 30C.
Mr Samattapong said that the elephant had been tranquillised and brought under control and was now being treated.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/wor...fari-camp-tainted-by-cruelty-allegations.html
Instead of elephantrides we can have elephant walks.
[video=youtube;Hns7nIef1S0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hns7nIef1S0[/video]
But wild elephants should never be caught to work in the tourist trade.
FullLipsDotNose
I'm always on the move...
When I was two years old, my mother took me to a circus and I had an elephant ride. I don't remember it though. Still disgusting. I haven't been to a circus for more than a decade, thankfully.
I hate it when a circus arrives in the town and loads of people bring in their children. "Because they've never seen an elephant!!" So what? I've never seen a platypus. If I want to, I'll have to fly to Australia. I can't just snatch away an animal because someone else wants to see it. So many people want to have everything at all costs.
Hawaii Revealed as Major Market for Illicit Ivory
An investigation by conservation groups found that the Aloha State boasts the third-largest trade in elephant ivory in the U.S.
An investigation by conservation organizations has found that Hawaii is the third-largest market for illegal ivory in the U.S., behind New York and California.
Over the course of six days, investigators located more than 4,600 items for sale from 47 online retailers. The items carried a combined price tag of $1.2 million. Although some of those goods were things such as carved walrus tusks, the majority were advertised as being elephant ivory. The illegal ivory trade is responsible for the plummet in African elephant populations in recent decades. Between 2010 and 2012, poachers killed 100,000 elephants for their ivory tusks.
Sellers identified during the investigation included retail stores (online and brick-and-mortar shops), as well as art galleries, artist associations, estate liquidators, auction sites, and individuals on Craigslist. Four of the largest retailers each had more than $100,000 worth of ivory in stock. One retailer had $574,000 worth of ivory products for sale.
Most if not all of this activity was likely illegal, according to the investigation. The sale of ivory is highly regulated in the United States. Under regulations passed two years ago, only the sale of antique ivory certified as having been imported prior to 1976 is allowed. The research revealed that just one of the Hawaiian retailers offered the required documentation and suggested that these documents are all too easy to fake.
"The new results were definitely surprising but in retrospect maybe shouldn't have been," said Peter LaFontaine, campaigns manager for the International Fund for Animal Welfare, one of the four conservation groups responsible for the probe. "It makes sense that Hawaii would be a big market for these products. Millions of Asian and American tourists visit every year, and it's a prominent stop for air and sea traffic."
According to the report, dozens of flights and ships arrive in Hawaii from the Asia Pacific region every day, making it easy to smuggle ivory into the state.
In addition, LaFontaine said that "authorities have only recently begun to crack down on ivory trafficking" and the new federal protections have not necessarily created progress on the state level.
That could change. A bill to ban the trade in products from elephants and a number of other wildlife species is making its way through the Hawaiian legislature. The state Senate passed the bill last month. The state's Judiciary Committee approved it last week, and it now awaits a House vote.
Although previous bills to ban the sale of ivory in Hawaii have failed, this one appears to have greater support. "We are cautiously optimistic," said Sara Marinello, executive director for government affairs for the Wildlife Conservation Society, another of the organizations behind the investigation. "Polls show over 80 percent of Hawaii residents support a state ivory ban. However, there is a very small but vocal group of ivory sellers spreading fear and misinformation," she said. The National Rifle Association, for example, calls the legislation an attempt to take away people's antique firearms.
LaFontaine said the new report may facilitate the passing of the bill. "We have been sharing the results with lawmakers and state agencies to help them understand the scope of ivory trade in Hawaii," he said. "Fortunately, it's helped to build the case that these bills are more than just symbolic, that they will address a very real problem in the state and ultimately help to reduce the amount of ivory trafficking there."
New York and California have banned ivory sales. While it's too early to say how effective those regulations have been, Marinello said that "the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation has seen anecdotal evidence of less ivory in the marketplace." She added that some stores still appear to be selling illegal ivory, but the new ban will help in prosecutions.
LaFontaine said the bills are important because federal law has little control over ivory sales that do not cross state borders. "Ultimately, we need states to take action to close the big loophole that is intrastate trade," he said.
http://www.takepart.com/article/201...-illicit-ivory?cmpid=tpdaily-eml-2016-03-09-B
RHEA'S LIFE SO FAR IN CAPTIVITY…
For nearly all 53 years of her life, Rhea has been a circus elephant, facing horrific abuse and neglect. Possibly poached from the wild as a calf, torn away from her family and herd, she spent the early childhood years of her circus life being beaten into submission, punished regularly and deprived of food and water. She was kept tied in confined spaces, her movement restricted by heavy chains and tight ropes that dug painfully into her legs. The horror of her living and working conditions continued through her entire life, as she was forced to perform in the circus that held her captive.
Through those nearly five decades of trauma and unimaginable pain, Rhea had two sources of comfort- tied beside her in the dingy circus tent, sharing in her sorrow, were two more female circus elephants named Mia and Sita.
In the wild, elephants live in groups known as herds, and their high intelligence and sensitivity allow for the development of some of the most powerful, heart-warming familial bonds in the animal world. Trapped together in their miserable conditions, Rhea, Mia and Sita would have developed just that- a sisterhood strengthened only further by their shared experiences of pain.
In November 2015, Wildlife SOS managed to get together the paperwork required to secure Mia and Sita's freedom, but Rhea's rescue was delayed due to the last missing bit of permission. We had to take one of our most painful decisions, to leave behind their sister, to provide Mia and Sita the immediate veterinary care they needed. It broke our hearts to leave Rhea behind, but we always knew we'd come back for her, and fight with all our strength to get her freed too.
Her time in the circus has left Rhea riddled with ailments. Her feet are in atrocious conditions, with deep painful cracks running through her swollen soles. Her nails are cracked and her cuticles overgrown, testament to the neglect she has been subjected to all these years.She walks awkwardly, with a slight limp, and we are suspicious of more serious wounds or problems that can only be diagnosed once she is in our care at the Elephant Conservation and Care Centre, Mathura. Her gaunt frame is heart wrenching to behold, starved of any substantial or appropriate nutrition for her entire life. Her advanced age is also a cause for concern, and we are keen to get her to ECCC as soon as possible, to have our veterinarians, trained in specialised geriatric care for elderly elephants, to care for her.
Most importantly, Rhea needs the companionship of other elephants, particularly her 'sisters' to help her begin on the long road to recovering from the acute mental stress she has been under all these years, undoubtedly increased over the months she must have been alone feeling abandoned by her 'family'. She needs to experience the love and care of her herd again, along with the devoted attention of the Wildlife SOS staff, all geared up to save her.
True to the promise we made this amazing elephant nearly five months ago, we're back in Tamil Nadu to rescue Rhea and reunite her with her companions, and she's now just one long road trip away from being reunited with the sisters she probably thought she would never see her again. Help us bring her home, and provide her with the new life she so desperately needs and deserves.
http://wildlifesos.org/blog/rhealifesofar/
[video=youtube;nJXCQEJ0zug]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJXCQEJ0zug[/video]
Rest in peace to all the dead elephants
It´s never easy to lose a friend
It is very hard for Jokia to believe that her best friend, Mae Perm, is gone from her life. After Mae Perm passed away we brought Jokia to walk out from the enclosure because we don't want her to be too stressed inside her shelter . The first steps beyond her door, she rushed to find her friend , and called every minute, searching her trunk to call Mae Perm. She expected as every time prior that when she spoke her low rumble to call Mae Perm, that she will come to hug and comfort her, as every time before ! But now there is only emptiness and no familiar word. I can feel her emptiness. I can see her tears run down with fear and confusion . My heart is so hurt and devastated with deep pain for my girl lost and for the beautiful one left behind, darkness surround. While Mae Perm was here she was the light behind Jokia's eyes, and the will to live. Since Mae Perm passed away, Jokia spends her time looking for the place, the smells, the memories where they walked together all around where they both used to stay together. She sniffs everywhere, and when she finds where Mae Perm has peed, she stops for a long time to observe and then she displays her sorrow and clearly mourns. I Hope time can help to heal her. Currently she spends her days with Navaan and his family but she is uneasy..Yai Bua and the other elder nannies didn't work out..Please pray for Jokia to find a new precious caring friend, someone who can be her eyes and the light for her. If you don't believe about animals having a strong bond and animals having such deep feeling watch this video..
[video=youtube;JF5suzNiZR4]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JF5suzNiZR4[/video]
U.S. Bans Ivory Sales. Will China Be Next?
Advocates hope that America's near total outlawing of elephant ivory sales will spur other major markets to do the same.
Your move, China. That's the message sent by the Obama administration on Thursday in announcing a near total ban on commercial sales of African elephant ivory, set to take effect in July.
The U.S. is the world's second-largest market for trafficked ivory, with most sales occurring in New York, California, and Hawaii, according to one recent report.
Now conservationists hope the world's biggest consumer of illegal ivory will respond in kind.
Last September, President Xi Jinping of China jointly promised with President Obama to end domestic ivory sales, aiming to curtail a slaughter that is wiping out, by some estimates, almost 100 wild elephants a day.
But the Chinese government has yet to follow through, said Leigh Henry, a policy adviser with the World Wildlife Fund.
"When, in 2013, the United States crushed six tons of seized ivory in Denver, afterwards China crushed 6.1 tons of ivory. So there is definitely this kind of tit for tat that we've seen in the past," said Henry.
With the U.S. ban formalized, "what I hope China will do is give a greater level of detail and a timeline for their ban," she said, noting that the U.S. agencies worked hard to be sure the rule would be finalized in time for an annual high-level diplomatic meeting between American and Chinese officials in Beijing next week. According to the State Department, the meeting's agenda will include energy, environmental, and economic issues.
The Obama administration intends for the near ban to have a chilling effect on global demand for elephant ivory. "One way we will evaluate the effectiveness of this rule is by evaluating how much ivory continues to make its way into the U.S. market," said Craig Hoover, who directs U.S. compliance with international conservation and wildlife trade agreements at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. "We'll also measure our success in terms of what other countries do to further regulate their own domestic markets."
The U.S. has joined with governments of African elephant range countries to press for a worldwide closure of domestic ivory markets, said Iris Ho, the wildlife program manager at Humane Society International, and that effort's potential is likely to be tested at the upcoming meeting of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, scheduled to take place in Johannesburg in September.
There are a few exemptions in the ivory ban—such as allowing interstate sales of antiquities over 100 years old, as well as some musical instruments and other items containing less than 200 grams of ivory. (The Fish and Wildlife Service has posted guidelines online.) States still have jurisdiction over sales that don't cross state lines.
The ban should add clout to the U.S. position at CITES while also diminishing the allure of ivory at home, Ho said.
"It's sending out the message that ivory is a taboo product," she said. "Ivory represents elephant slaughter. The rule will help to stop perpetuating the notion that ivory is collectible."
http://www.takepart.com/article/201...-china-be-next?cmpid=tpanimals-eml-2016-06-11
Here is a video with rescued elephant Raju
Another elephant should have been rescued at the same time but there have been problems even if it was illegal for the owners to keep the elephant.
Finally it happened, Mohan is rescued.
I was hoping it would happen one day.
Beggar-elephant rescued after years of efforts
Animal activists call him the "unluckiest elephant" they had known so far and it took over 50 police officers, several foresters and a 20-hour-long operation following years of legal battle to finally rescue Mohan from slavery.
Now free from its influential and politically-backed captors in Pratapgarh district of Uttar Pradesh, after the district court intervened, Mohan -- a 55-year-old male elephant -- is now in Uttar Pradesh forest department's custody.
Mohan along with Raju, another elephant which had been rescued by the animal welfare organisation 'Wildlife SOS' two years back from Allahabad, was caught as a calf and sold at Sonepur Cattle Fair, Bihar.
"Both Raju and Mohan were used as begging elephants. They were placed outside a temple or roadside, and people would throw money for receiving blessings from the elephant, through a gentle tap by its trunk on the customer's head," Suvidha Bhatnagar from Wildlife SOS told IANS on Sunday.
"We wanted to rescue them both together, but the legal battle in case of Mohan took too long," she added.
The medical report of the elephant says that he is very thin and 'emaciated' due to severe starvation.
"There were multiple wounds on his body and ears, due to beating and poking by sharp objects. The feet injuries would lead to permanent joint disorders if not properly treated immediately. The elephant's dung had a lot of round worms and indicated severe worm infestation," the report said.
The rescue operation, assisted by Wildlife SOS, also faced resistance from the supporters of the captors and they damaged one vehicle.
The mahout of Mohan has been arrested, while two other captors are on run, official told IANS.
"Mohan was transferred to custody of forest department in Pratapgarh where he will be provided medical care for the time being," said Y.P. Shukla, Prataphgarh District Forest Officer.
On July 12, the District Court in Pratapgarh ordered police to file an FIR against the three captors holding the elephant in illegal custody and seize the animal within three days. However, Mohan could be rescued only nine days later due to local political pressure.
"The elephant was in such a location where vehicles cannot reach. The nearest road was about five km away," Adarsh Singh, District Magistrate of Pratapgarh told IANS. He, however, denied any political pressure against the rescue.
Wildlife SOS and the forest department of Uttar Pradesh had earlier made several attempts to secure Mohan's rescue. However, the attempts failed as the legal proceedings were postponed and delayed repeatedly.
"Hope this breakthrough in attaining Mohan's long overdue freedom would initiate zero tolerance for illegal ownership of elephants in country, where they are we pray to them in the form of Ganesha but also torture them. I hope that this rescue would give hope for elephants across the country which are held illegally," Kartick Satyanarayan, co-founder of Wildlife SOS, told IANS.
http://www.business-standard.com/ar...ued-after-years-of-efforts-116072400675_1.htm
I´m happy that she´s free now, it has been too many years she was forced to have tourists on her back.
[video=youtube;Ruq5NWgh3H8]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ruq5NWgh3H8[/video]
She enjoys her new life.
I can imagine that life on a trekking camp was filled with noise and she was never left alone.
Now she can enjoy the silence (as silent nature can be)and to be on her own if she wants it.
[video=youtube;qhqRkJZws2g]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhqRkJZws2g[/video]
Baby Zuki and his mother are rescued
[video=youtube;_jbEfJuB7YQ]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_jbEfJuB7YQ[/video]
She talks about training for the baby, it´s a training to break his spirit
In the link you can see how the training works
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QzU8Jx4q4Q0&feature=share
I dont know how long the poor baby had been in training and if it was during that time he something happened to his mouth
update video
[video=youtube;HNc_P570b9g]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNc_P570b9g&t=0s[/video]
Let´s hope he will continue to heal
Understanding The Elephant Orphans' Project
NAIROBI NURSERY UNIT: The Infant Nursery Stage
Trousers and Natumi Rescued orphaned infant elephants arrive at the Trust's Nairobi Nursery severely traumatised by the events that have caused the separation from their mother and family by more often than not extreme circumstances. Aside from the trauma and shock from such events the infant inevitably enters a period of deep grieving for its lost loved ones, which can last for months. During this critical period survival hangs in the balance and not all calves can be persuaded to make the effort to try to live. The Nairobi Nursery offers a secure base and a loving environment to nurture these orphans at a time of greatest need.
Over the years and through trial and error Daphne Sheldrick has developed the milk formula needed for successfully rearing a new-born elephant through its first very fragile few months. This special formula must also be combined with the correct intensive and hands-on husbandry, which involves a human 'family' (the Keepers) who replace the lost elephant family and stay with the orphans in the Nairobi Nursery 24 hours a day, sleeping with the infants during the night on a rotational basis. The Keepers work on rotation to avoid a calf becoming too attached to any one person and pining when that person has to take time off. To a baby elephant, who is emotionally very fragile, it is the family aspect that is all important. The Trust's Keepers handle their 'adopted' infant with gentle patience, exuding love and feeding the baby on demand, little and often, which is vital to the survival of the calf. Elephants are tactile and highly social animals, so the human "family" is always encouraged to be in physical contact with the babies as much as possible, talking to them and demonstrating genuine heartfelt affection, as would their elephant family.
[video=youtube;f62hH_lxSnU]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f62hH_lxSnU[/video]
Gradually the calf will settle into a 3-hourly feeding routine throughout the day and night, with the Keepers always present to represent the orphan's lost family. The orphan must be watched at all times and their Keepers must protect them with blankets when cold, rainwear when wet and sunscreen and an umbrella when exposed to sun during the first 2 months of life. Infant elephants are also difficult feeders and the Keepers need endless patience to encourage the calf to take sufficient milk to sustain their life and help them to thrive. To achieve this, the tip of the calf's trunk must feel comfortable before the calf will suckle; this is done by resting its trunk against a hung blanket, which feels a little like its mother, only then will the calf slowly relax. Gradually the calf will then transfer its trunk to the neck, face or armpit of the Keeper. The first molars erupt between 1 and 4 months, this teething can trigger fever and diarrhoea which can be life threatening, plunging the calf into rapid physical decline through dehydration, yet the Keepers are always at hand to provide the best care possible and all the medical attention they need.
Like human children, baby elephants need toys and stimulation. Highly intelligent, with a giant memory, they duplicate human children in many ways, so during infancy distractions of all sorts must be built into the daily routine. The Keepers take the orphans on walks in varied surroundings with unlimited access to Nature's toys such as sticks and stones, plus artificial playthings such as rubber tubes and balls. Cause for celebration is when a baby elephant plays for the first time, because only then can one be sure of a reasonable chance of success as an elephant will only thrive if they are happy.
Elephants like all wild animals have instinctive natural needs. Wild babies need freedom and exposure to a natural environment in order for instinct to become honed and equip them with the strength they need to reintegrate into the wild. As in human children, discipline establishes the boundaries of acceptable behaviour around humans, but this must be meted out gently and with sensitivity, and only after the calf has settled down and understands tone of voice and the accusing wagging of a finger. However, it is essential to make a big show of forgiveness later on, so that the calf understands that it was unpopular not because it is not loved, but rather for a wrongdoing. With elephants, one reaps what one sows, and how the animal will react in the company of humans when grown is dependent upon how it has been handled and treated by humans when young.
The third and fourth milk dependent years are weaning years, when both the quantity and frequency of milk feeds is gradually reduced as the calf ingests larger quantities of vegetation. Elephants need a varied diet comprised of several different plants as well as the bark of trees which contain the minerals and trace elements needed to build and strengthen such huge bones. This plant selection is instinctive within the genetic memory given at birth and not something that has to be taught by a human.
TSAVO & UMANI SPRINGS REHABILITATION UNITS: The Reintroduction Process
When the Nursery orphans are thriving after their time in Nairobi and are psychologically and physically stable for relocation, they are transferred to either the Voi or Ithumba Stockades in Tsavo East National Park or the Umani Springs Stockades in the Kibwezi Forest. Tsavo encompasses an area of 8,000 square miles (over 12,000 square kms) containing Kenya's largest single population of elephants, which currently stands at approximately 12,000. It is in this magnificent environment where most of our hand-reared orphans will ultimately live, for this is the only Park in Kenya that offers them the space they need for a quality of life that elephants so desperately need.
[video=youtube;njAjcJWe91Y]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njAjcJWe91Y[/video]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njAjcJWe91Y
The Voi Unit: This Unit is the original rehabilitation unit, first built by David Sheldrick during his time as warden of Tsavo East National Park back in 1948 when he was based at Voi in southern Tsavo East.
The Ithumba Unit: This Unit, built in 2004, is the second rehabilitation unit to be built in Tsavo East and is situated at Ithumba in the Northern sector of the Park, where the DSWT manages two self-catering camps, Ithumba Camp and Ithumba Hill.
The Umani Springs Unit: This Unit was built in 2014 and is located in the Kibwezi Forest, one of the DSWT's Saving Habitats projects where the Trust holds a concession to manage and protect this incredibly unique ground water forest. Here too, the Trust owns and manages a self-catering lodge called 'Umani Springs'. The newest of the Trust's rehabilitation units, this Unit is more suitable for some of the Trust's orphans who have been compromised physically due to injuries or ailments making them ill-equipped for the harsher environment of Tsavo East.
The orphans are translocated along with their Keepers, who rotate between the Nursery and the other rehabilitation units, so that the elephants know their Keepers and the men know the elephants. On arrival they are welcomed warmly and instantly accepted into the still-dependent group of larger orphans who have preceded them through the Nursery. During this key stage they will begin the gradual process of reintegration back into the wild elephant community, with days spent walking with the Keepers far and wide in the bush, encountering the scent of wild herds. After their days in the bush, they then re-join their Keepers to return to communal Night Stockades where they can be protected against attack by predators whilst still vulnerable.
[video=youtube;MuRWZoWThQk]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MuRWZoWThQk&index=1&list=LLJEEz71WNYTdV6HIR27W-jg[/video]
he length of time it will take for an orphaned elephant to become a "wild" elephant, comfortable amongst a wild herd is influenced by various factors, including the age that the elephant was orphaned, its unique personality and the friends that they have made. But gradually the orphans will begin to fraternize more with other elephants, eventually finding elephant company more stimulating than that of humans.
Whilst on their daily sojourns in the bush the orphaned elephants are welcomed into wild herds, allowed to play with wild age mates and tolerated as long as they behave normally and well. It is common for ex-orphans now living wild to return and take one of the Stockade based "Juniors" off for a trial Night-Out in the wild, and also not uncommon for the aspiring graduate to feel daunted and insecure without human protection during the hours of darkness. If so, he or she is escorted back to the Stockades during the night (usually by a couple of the ex-orphaned bulls) and handed back to the Keepers again to return to the security of the Stockades.
Each orphan decides when to make the transition into the wild herds. That choice rests with each and every individual but the bulls are more independent than the females, who tend to remain together as a "family", before deciding to go wild as a group. No orphan is ever simply "tipped out", each one is gradually introduced through access and exposure. Once "wild" many orphans still keep in touch with the Unit, returning from time to time to visit and also when in need of help, confident that their human family will be there for them when they do.
[video=youtube;hTZvD643xzc]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTZvD643xzc[/video]
[video=youtube;jnq0fcuKJD0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnq0fcuKJD0[/video]
Freedom From Circus Shows
When Faa Sai was found she was about 4 years old. She was a young elephant who was so stressed, she began to starve herself. According to her previous owner, she was developing cataracts in both eyes and she was refusing to eat. In this time, she was put in shackles and chained because she had become very aggressive towards her mahouts, attempting to attack them. Her two front ankles were chained so close together that she had difficulty moving.
ENP rescued her while she was still in a mentally traumatized state. Upon arrival to the sanctuary, we tried to introduce her to the herd with caution, though we know that no one will understand the elephant as much as they do. The Nannies were so excited to meet her and the herd adopted her right away. She was given a new start to life at our park which means she would never be beaten again; she gets so much love from the herd.
Today Faa Sai has become a gentle and supportive elephant as she is the best Nanny, who expresses love and care toward the herd. Every time we receive the new rescue elephant to the park , she will be the first one who walks to welcome and comfort them. Thanks for all of you to support us and to let us continue to work to rescue elephants and bring them a happy life with us at Elephant Nature Park.
http://www.saveelephant.org/news/freedom-from-circus-shows/
Saving India´s Elephants Meet the Founders of Wildlife SOS
Please join Kartick Satyanarayan and Geeta Seshamani, the founders of Wildlife SOS, for a free lecture on their work to save India's elephants. The 1-hour presentation will highlight many of their elephant rescue stories, including those of Raju and Mohan. You won't want to miss this rare opportunity to meet Kartick and Geet in person in Southern California!
There will be a live Q&A session after the presentation as well as vegan snacks. Crafts from India will be available for sale.
The event is in the Community Meeting Room at the Library. Parking is free with validation ($3/hour without).
I would like to know how they started the charity.. but for me this event is to far away
Join us in celebrating a new life
Imagine the surprise for our Ithumba Keepers when yesterday, at the break of dawn, a new baby born to now wild living orphan Galana was revealed! There they both were, waiting outside the stockades, the baby born just hours before under the cover of darkness.
She was escorted by five wild bulls and our dependent orphans Laragai and Narok were able to be the first nannies to the tiny baby once they left the confines of the night stockades.
Then the ex-orphans arrived and pandemonium broke out! They were so excited and overcome with joy of a new baby in the fold, trumpeting and charging around celebrating. Throughout the day Galana was surrounded by ex-orphans and wild elephants alike who have taken on the role of nanny to newborn Gawa.
Gawa means to share in Swahili, an apt name given how our ex-orphans always share the joy of their new born babies with us, their human family, and today was no different.
These moments are testament to the success of our Orphans' Project and we hope all of you who help make this lifesaving work possible, will join us in sharing Galana's joy.
If you do not know Galana's own story, you can read it here: https://www.sheldrickwildlifetrust.org/…/orphan_profile.asp…
Mohan has come home to the sanctuary, now it´s time to heal
[video=youtube;-dqJxCrYYeU]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dqJxCrYYeU[/video]
The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust
17 tim ·
They say water is life and no where is this more true than Tsavo National Park. Tsavo is currently experiencing a drought, after the April/May rains in the region failed to materialise.
Signs are beginning to appear that the long rains are coming, with baobab trees sprouting green leaves. In the meantime, the DSWT's water bowsers are hard at work, providing essential water not only for the orphans, but also ex-orphans and increasing numbers of wild elephants. With all manner of other species also benefiting.
We have also been busy refurbishing water boreholes we have drilled throughout the region, ensuring they are operating as efficiently as possible. As well as adding new ones, which all help mitigate human-wildlife conflict, as elephants and other wild animals are not forced to enter community lands in search of water.
http://wildlifesos.org/blog/injured-wild-elephant-sidda-treated-by-expert-veterinarians-in-india/
I´ve posted about baby Zuki before , a baby who was traumatized after he endured the crush also called phajaan.
This is phajaan https://www.facebook.com/pg/circa/videos/?ref=page_internal
He´s better now but it seems he has still a long way to go before a full recovery
[video=youtube;LpX3T-cg0pU]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LpX3T-cg0pU[/video]
There can be babyelephants who suffers the crush just now, we need to stop this tell people the truth behind elephant riding
China announces ban on ivory trade by end of 2017
China has announced a ban on all ivory trade and processing activities by the end of 2017.
Conservation groups hailed the decision as "historic" and a "game-changer" for the future of elephants.
The move follows a resolution at the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites) in South Africa in October.
China has the biggest ivory market in the world - some estimates suggest 70% of the world's trade ends up there.
Ivory can reach $1,100 (£850) per kilogram in China.
China's State Council announced the details of the ban on Friday.
The commercial processing and sale of ivory will stop by 31 March, and all registered traders will then be phased out, bringing a full halt to the market by the end of the year.
Conservation group WWF welcomed the latest news, calling it a "historic announcement... signalling an end to the world's primary legal ivory market and a major boost to international efforts to tackle the elephant poaching crisis in Africa".
Elly Pepper, deputy director of wildlife trade for the Natural Resources Defense Council, praised China for its "great leadership" on the issue.
"Setting such an aggressive timeline to close - once and for all - the largest domestic ivory market in the world is globally significant.
"It's a game changer and could be the pivotal turning point that brings elephants back from the brink of extinction," she said.
While the international market in ivory has been closed since 1989, legal domestic markets have continued in many countries around the world.
A surge in the killing of elephants over the past seven years has seen populations across Africa shrink by a third, according to the recently published Great Elephant Census.
China had backed the Cites resolution in October, surprising participants with the strength of its support for a ban.
Some delegates said Beijing had wanted an even stronger resolution.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-38470861
barbee0715
Wow-just heard breaking news that Barnum Bailey Ringling Brothers is completely shutting down. They started 146 years ago. Total end of an era. I guess 10 years from now, kids won't even know what a circus is.
Although I'm more than happy about the animals, it's sad that so many people will lose their jobs and for many of them, the circus is a family tradition. Don't know why they can't continue, just without the animals. But in the statement, Ringling Brothers said that ticket sales were down and kids don't have the interest (or attention span) in today's tech world to enjoy the circus.
I thought this was a heart warming story from India, where rescued elephants are being cared for. Knitting 'PJs for elephants' must be a 'mammoth task'
Elephants in India are sporting colourful woollen jumpers after villagers knitted the super-size garments to protect the animals from near-freezing temperatures.
Women in a village near the Wildlife SOS Elephant Conservation and Care Centre in the northern city of Mathura reportedly began producing the colourful, pyjama-like garments after staff at the centre warned temperatures were approaching sub-zero at night.
The conservation centre takes in rescued elephants who have previously suffered chronic neglect and beatings from cruel handlers.
Photographs show female elephants wearing the carefully embroidered outfits, which cover their legs, back and neck, as centre staff and villagers stand among them.
Kartick Satyanarayan, founder of the centre, said it was important to protect the formerly abused elephants from the cold.
"It is important to keep our elephants protected from the bitter cold during this extreme winter, as they are weak and vulnerable having suffered so much abuse making them susceptible to ailments such as pneumonia," she told the Times fo India.
"The cold also aggravates their arthritis which is a common issue that our rescued elephants have to deal with."
The centre currently houses 20 elephants that have been rescued from illegal captivity, trafficking mafia, exploited for street begging and circuses where they were abused and subjected to extreme cruelty.
Staff have plans to rescue a further 50 elephants in 2017, with hopes to secure more land to expand the sanctuary.
http://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world...atures/ar-AAm1wKm?li=BBoPOOl&ocid=mailsignout
http://[URL=https://imageshack.com/i/plac2NPjj] [/URL]


June 2017 - ABEX Affiliated Brokers Exchange Inc.
Changes to Fishing Vessel Safety Regulations will come into force beginning July 13, 2017—one year after they were initially announced. Transport Canada has said these regulations will help reduce fatalities, injuries, and loss or damage to vessels in the commercial fishing industry.
These changes amend the previous Small Fishing Vessel Inspection Regulations, which have not been updated in 40 years or kept up with industry best practices and new technologies.
In general, the Fishing Vessel Safety Regulations apply to small fishing vessels that are less than 24.4 metres in length and 150 gross tonnage. Transport Canada's one-year transition of the regulations will come to a close July 13, 2017, and fishing vessel owners will need to comply with the new requirements.
Safety equipment. As per the new regulation, small fishing vessels must have firefighting equipment (portable fire extinguishers) on board. Personal life-saving appliances are also required for all small fishing vessels, and items like life rafts, immersion suits and lifebuoys must be readily available.
While written safety procedures do not need Transport Canada approval, marine safety inspectors may ask to see copies of the written safety procedures on board the vessel.
Safety drills. Drills on safety procedures must be held to ensure that the crew is proficient in carrying them out. A record must be kept of every drill.
Vessel stability. New and small fishing vessels that have a hull length between 9 and 24.4 metres are required to have a formal stability assessment. In addition, new and small fishing vessels that have a hull length of less than 6 metres must be compliant with the standards for buoyancy, flotation and stability set out in Section 4 of the Construction Standards for Small Vessels. New and small fishing vessels with a hull length between 6 and 9 metres are required to be compliant with recommended practices and standards specific to their vessel type and their intended operations.
As previously mentioned, the government hopes the new regulations will make commercial fishing safer. According to Transport Canada, commercial fishing is one of the most dangerous occupations in Canada. New safety requirements may help reduce the two primary causes of fatalities on commercial fishing vessels—stability-related accidents (58 per cent of fatalities) and falling overboard (27 per cent of fatalities).
Many commercial fishermen and women support the new legislation, but have requested more clarity on required standard operating procedures and more time to acquire expensive safety equipment. To read the legislation in full, click here.
Recently, Canada has experienced some of the worst flooding in decades, and torrential rain has led to mandatory evacuations and a state of emergency in parts of the country. Flash floods are extremely common and can occur within minutes of excessive rainfall, a dam or levee failure, or a sudden release of water held by an ice jam.
Notify your insurer. Take pictures of contents and damage for your insurer. The more pictures, the better.
Check for structural damage before entering the building. Do not enter if there is any chance it may collapse. Assume that all water-damaged structures are unstable until proven otherwise.
Disinfect your property with ordinary household cleaners, but follow the manufacturer's directions to ensure you are disinfecting properly. Let cleaned surfaces dry completely.
Make the most out of an unfortunate situation by using your flood damage as an opportunity to repair your property with flood-resistant products.


At Green Stroke we are proud to be one of the few who design gardens with you and plants in mind. If you like to garden, if you adore perennials, ornamental grasses and flowering bulbs and if you live in Greater Toronto Area, give us a call or email us. We can change the moods, set the tones and relax the tensions by appropriate plant arrangements. If butterflies are your pals and pesticides are not, we are a dark horse of a new environmentally sensitive landscape designer's breed. We will bring back native plants to you and re-establish the equilibrium between you and nature.
For many days I've built the enchanted places.
For every child there is a smile.


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Share solar through community solar
By M. J.April 23, 2022No Comments
Home » Share solar through community solar
Many families in the United States are unable to obtain solar because they rent their houses, live in multi-tenant buildings, or are unable to support a solar panel. For such homeowners, community solar is an excellent choice. It can provide homeowners, renters, and even companies fair access to solar energy. Furthermore, regardless of whether they own a home or a company, it offers them economic and environmental benefits.
Community solar can provide access to those with low or moderate incomes while also strengthening and resiliency of the electric system.
What is community solar?
When a local facility is shared by a municipal community, customers who receive credit on their electricity bills for their part of the power produced are referred to as community solar. It enables homeowners, renters, businesses, and others to earn a credit on their utility bills for the power generated by their portion of the solar farm, so balancing their electricity costs.
Community solar installations typically have fewer than five megawatts (MW) of electricity capacity and cover a range of acres. Community solar farms are often built on leased land, and you can restore well-designed systems to their previous condition.
What are the advantages of community solar?
There is no need to exert effort during the installation process
According to NREL estimates, 49 percent of the roof orientation in America is not appropriate for solar. Furthermore, there are several other concerns to consider, such as shading or structural failure. Furthermore, with community solar, you save the hassle of locating contractors and organizing the installation and permitting processes.
There is no up-front expense
You don't have to buy the panels yourself because community solar agreements can provide you with a subscription. What you need to do is simpler. You should only subscribe to the power they generate at a lower rate than your utility supplier.
You can save money on your electricity expenses
Subscribers to community solar receive a direct reduction on their power costs, often ranging from 5 to 15 percent. The primary reason for this discount is the drop-in prices. However, state and federal subsidies, as well as price agreements between the solar provider and your utility, are crucial considerations.
The advantage of energy independence
By producing their own electricity, shared solar may give everyone the same benefits as rooftop solar. Both assist the United States in relying less on global energy markets, safeguarding us from volatile energy costs and supply interruptions.
Environmental advantages and pollution reduction
Solar energy helps to alleviate the environmental and human health risks posed by fossil fuels. Solar panels are ecologically sound and more sustainable since they emit no hazardous gases into the environment. Furthermore, because there are no moving elements in the system, there is no noise pollution.
CO2 emissions from fossil fuels are causing our world to warm at an alarming rate. However, the role of people in causing climate change cannot be overstated. As a result, community solar can also help with the climate change issue.
Community solar helps the local economy
The production of fossil fuels is extensively automated and requires less and less human involvement every day. Solar, on the other hand, needs the use of actual, living humans for design and installation. As a result, it can create more job possibilities. Solar, for example, employs more people than oil, coal, and natural gas combined, and the solar business created more than 100,000 jobs in the United States in 2016.
Community solar is free for anybody to participate, and you do not have to buy a solar panel on your own. While it can still be a good investment, like rooftop solar panels, you will not have to worry about cleaning, maintaining, or recycling solar panels because it is all handled by paid solar crews.
What are other soalr options available? : https://engineerinc.io/to-better-plan-review-your-solar-options/
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Always Open For You Prize Draw Terms & Conditions
If you're responsible for purchasing food and beverages for your company, you could be one of three lucky winners to WIN £5,000 cash for the business*
*Abridged Terms and Conditions: Prize draw promotion for a chance to win one of three x £5,000 cash prizes to spend for your business. Last date for entry 30/11/2020. Open to all businesses who purchase food and beverages for their businesses. UK, 18+ only. Employee, employer consent, internet access & registration required, Max one entry/person and max one win/business. No purchase necessary. See below for further details, exclusions and full Terms and Conditions.
These Terms and Conditions (the Terms and Conditions) prevail in the event of any conflict or inconsistency with any other communications, including advertising or promotional materials. Entry/claim instructions are deemed to form part of the Terms and Conditions and by participating all entrants will be deemed to have accepted and be bound by the Terms and Conditions. Please retain a copy for your information.
The Promoter takes data protection seriously. By entering in this promotion, you confirm that you have read the Privacy Policy, understand the platform rules and agree to these Terms and Conditions of the promotion. By submitting any information required as part of their participation into the promotion, participants agree to their information being held and processed in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018.
This Promotion is only open to employees responsible for purchasing food and beverages for their company. Entrants must be residents of the United Kingdom (England, Scotland, Wales & Northern Ireland) and aged 18 or over, excluding employees and their immediate families of Nestlé UK Ltd, its agents, affiliates or anyone else professionally associated with the administration of the promotion.
Internet access and registration required.
Participants must obtain their employers permission to take part. Any personal/business tax liability arising from taking part in this promotion will be the responsibility of the participant/business.
Entry is only valid via the promotional website.
Maximum one (1) entry per person and maximum one (1) win per business.
No entries from other trade groups, agents, third parties, organized groups, syndicates or aliases will be accepted.
Failure to comply with any part of these clauses will disqualify the respective entry from the promotion.
This prize draw promotion is open for entries between 00.01 on 04/08/2020 and midnight on 30/11/2020.
There is one prize draw for three prizes of £5000 to spend for the business, from all valid entries received throughout the promotion.
All valid entries received during the promotional period as detailed above will be entered into the prize draw. Entries made after the final closing time and date will not be accepted.
To enter for a chance to win one of the 3 prizes of £5,000 to spend for the business:
i. Visit the following website https://www.nestleprofessional.co.uk/alwaysopenforyou-prizedraw.
ii. Enter full name, email address, business details and county.
iii. Confirm that you are responsible for purchasing food and beverages for the company and both your employer and you have consent to participate in the Prize Draw.
Entrants will receive an on-screen message confirming their entry.
All genuine valid entries will be entered into the prize draw. Anyone, who in the Promoter's absolute discretion, is acting in a manner that undermines the operation and integrity of the promotion or in any way that gives an unfair advantage, will be disqualified and any persons seeking to use such information gained will be disqualified. All entries will be strictly monitored by the Promoter and winners will be subject to a verification process.
Incomplete or illegible entries, entries by macros or other automated means (including systems which can be programmed to enter), and entries which do not satisfy the requirements of these Terms and Conditions in full will be disqualified and will not be counted. If it becomes apparent that an entrant is using a computer(s) to circumvent this condition by, for example, the use of 'script', 'brute force', masking their identity by manipulating IP addresses, using identities other than their own or any other automated means in order to increase that entrant's entries into the promotion in a way that is not consistent with the spirit of the promotion, that entrant's entries will be disqualified and any prize award will be void.
The Prizes:
There are three prizes available to be won in total. Each prize consists of £5,000 to spend for the business.
The prize will be issued as a cheque or via BACs payment paid to the company or the representative of the company.
Please allow up to 28 days for delivery of the prize from the date of winner acceptance and any necessary verification process.
Winner Notification and Prize fulfilment:
There will be one draw only which will take place on 3rd December 2020.
The three (3) Winners will be selected at random via an independently audited and verified prize draw selection process from all valid entries received during the promotional period.
The winners only will be notified via email within 28 days of the draw taking place, giving instructions for the next steps of the claim process. The Promoter will request potential winners to provide the Promoter in a secure link information including: their name, telephone number, proof of age, plus business information, details of the intended benefits to the business from the £5,000 prize and a name/ company to whom the cheque should be made out or include details of the bank account for a BACS transfer. Once verified and validated they will receive a confirmation email informing them that their £5,000.00 will be with them within 28 working days of the date of verification via Cheque or BACS transfer. It is the responsibility of entrants to check junk/spam folders to ensure they are in receipt of any communications. Inaccurate information may result in the prize being forfeited. Winners should retain their notification email message until their win has been verified and the prize delivered.
The Promoter will make reasonable efforts to contact the winners, however, if a winner cannot be contacted after fourteen (14) days of original notification, or if a selected winner is ineligible, or otherwise in breach of these Terms and Conditions, or unable to take up their prize for any other reason, they shall be disqualified and will lose their entitlement to the prize. In such circumstances, the Promoter reserves the right to select a reserve entrant selected next in line at the time of the initial prize allocation.
On completion of the validation process, the prize of a Cheque will be sent by Royal Mail 2nd Class Delivery Signed for post, within 28 days of confirmation of the winner's address. BACS transfer will occur within 14 days.
Neither the Promoter nor its agents accept any responsibility for failed delivery due to provision of incorrect contact details by the winners. It is the responsibility of winners to provide their correct, up to date details at the time of acceptance in order for the prize to be processed. Failure to provide a valid postal address may result in the prize being forfeited and the prize entitlement withdraw, any prize that is returned undelivered will be assumed unwanted and shall be forfeited.
All participants will be required to provide information including full name, business email address and business name, address and phone number that are valid and accessible throughout the promotion. In the event that the specified information is not provided or incorrect, the entry will be considered incomplete and therefore invalid.
The Prizes are not transferable, non-negotiable, non-refundable or exchangeable. The Promoter reserves the right to substitute the prize for an item of equal or greater value due to circumstances outside of the Promoter's control.
In the event of an email address becoming inaccessible during the promotion, the Promoter is not able to retrieve and amend any existing entries to a new email address.
If, for any reason, any aspect of this promotion is not capable of running as planned, including by reason of infection by computer virus, network failure, bugs, tampering, unauthorised intervention, fraud, technical failures or any other cause beyond the control of the Promoter which corrupts or affects the administration, security, fairness, integrity or proper conduct of this promotion, the Promoter may in its sole discretion modify or suspend the promotion or invalidate any affected entries. If an act, omission, event or circumstance occurs which is beyond the reasonable control of the Promoter and which prevents the Promoter from complying with these terms and conditions the Promoter will not be liable for any failure to perform or delay in performing its obligation but will always endeavour to minimise the effect to participants in order to avoid undue disappointment.
The Promoter and any associated agencies and companies will not be liable for any loss (including indirect, special or consequential loss or loss of profits), expense or damage which is suffered or sustained (whether or not arising from any person's negligence) in connection with this Promotion or accepting or using a Prize, except for any liability which cannot be excluded by law. Nothing will exclude our liability for death or personal injury as a result of our negligence.
Limitations of liability: Neither the Promoter, its agents or anyone professionally connected to the promotion, assume any responsibility or liability for:
Any incorrect or inaccurate entry of information, or for any faulty or failed electronic data transmissions;
Any communications line failure, regardless of cause, with regards to any equipment, systems, networks, lines, satellites, servers, computers or providers utilised in any aspect of this promotion;
Inaccessibility or unavailability of the internet or the website or any combination thereof;
If an act, omission, event or circumstance occurs which is beyond the reasonable control of the Promoter and which prevents the Promoter from complying with these Terms and Conditions the Promoter will not be liable for any failure to perform or delay in performing its obligations.
Winners List: Subject to the Promoter's Privacy Policy, the business names and counties of all verified winners will be available upon request by sending an email to learn.more@uk.nestle.com with the subject line 'WINNERS LIST NESTLÉ ALWAYS OPEN PROMOTION' for a period of three (3) months following the end of the promotion. In addition, by taking part in the promotion, winners agree that the Promoter may contact them to ask whether they want to participate in publicity relating to the promotion for which consent will be required. If any winner objects to their information even being published, then they can contact the Promoter by emailing UKI.Dataprotection@uk.nestle.com.
If any provisions of these Terms & Conditions are judged to be invalid, illegal or otherwise unenforceable, then its shall be severed and deleted from these Terms and Conditions and the remaining clauses shall survive and remain in full force and effect.
The promotion and these Terms & Conditions are governed by English law and their interpretation and application shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales.
Data Protection: The Promoter will only use the personal details supplied for the administration of the promotion and the auditing of the entries where necessary and for no other purpose, unless we have your consent and you have opted-in to receive future marketing communications or prize PR. As part of this promotion, if you are not opted-in into our general marketing email, you will still receive emails for this promotion only to let you know if you have won and to arrange delivery of their prize. The business names and counties of verified winners will be made available as set out above, and winners can object to this by emailing UKI.Dataprotection@uk.nestle.com. Otherwise, your personal details will at all times be kept confidential, and in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018. Click here for the Promoter's Privacy Policy https://www.nestle.co.uk/en-gb/privacypolicy. You can request access to your personal data, or have any inaccuracies rectified, or request deletion of data by sending an email to: UKI.Dataprotection@uk.nestle.com. For the purpose of this promotion, requests to delete personal data can only be actioned after the promotion has concluded. By participating in the promotion, you agree to the use of your personal data as described here. You can withdraw your consent at any time.
Promoter: Nestlé UK Ltd, 1 City Place, Gatwick, RH6 0PA.


Crafted with love, each Eau de Toilette is a liquid memory of life's most cherished experiences. Beautifully packaged in a gift box, elegant square glass atomizer. The "Earth" fragrance is a clean & fresh blend of sandalwood, fir needle, bergamot & bay. 50 ml.


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Surprising Facts you Need to Know About WordPress
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Over the last 19 years, WordPress has been on an intriguing and meteoric digital journey – growing from its humble beginnings as a blogging platform into a powerful content management system that powers the majority of websites around the world.
Its original goal was to improve the blogging experience for writers. Yet its expanding library of plugins and themes have catapulted it to become the heavyweight champion of content management systems.
Today, everyone (or at least 95% of people) will have heard of WordPress and know a couple of facts about it.
But there are fun and surprising facts tied to WordPress that we want to share with you because… well, it's Friday!
Here are some intriguing facts to digest.
WordPress's 'W' logo was designed in 2005 – before that it had no logo.
The person who coined the word "WordPress" was in Christine Tremoule.
Despite being young, WordPress is older than Facebook and Twitter.
WordPress.com is actually a different platform to WordPress.org.
WordPress is one of the most requested job skills around the world.
The CMS is available in more than 72 languages.
WordPress has a CMS market share of 60.8%.
Of the Fortune 500 companies, 11 of them use WordPress to power their websites.
The platform holds community-based events called WordCamp.
WordPress actually has its own mascot, a yellow cub-like animal called Wapuu.
WordPress has its own dance, called the wiggle… and it's as bad as you imagine.
The annual salary of a WordPress developer is $64,308.
The most popular WordPress theme in the world is Divi.
The worst security breach for the content management system affected 18 million users.
52% of security vulnerabilities reported to WordPress were related to plugins.
Plenty of celebrities have websites that are powered by WordPress, including Usain Bolt, Serena Williams,
Martha Stewart, Jay Z, Katy Perry, Ariana Grande, and the Rolling Stones.
Plenty of well-known brands also power their websites with WordPress, such as BBC America, Sony, PlayStation, Forbes, GM, Coca Cola, Wall Street Journal, the NFL, Disney, Samsung, eBay, and IBM.
The most profitable company that uses WordPress is Automattic, with yearly revenues of $1.2 billion – Automattic is the company behind WordPress.
Its library of plugins features more than 55,000.
There you have it. We hope you've enjoyed this dish of well-served WordPress facts!
James Whitehead
James Whitehead is not only an ecommerce analyst and a writer mixed into one, but a fervent fan of ecommerce software. Holding a pen in one hand and notepad in the other, this old-fashioned writer covers fresh business developments, particularly inside the digital software space. He holds a special place in his heart for Contentful.
If you got value from this article, you may enjoy these other articles, as well. We're always adding value!
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One of the obligatory days observed by the Order of DeMolay is Educational Day, it's the duty of a Chapter to arrange a program emphasizing the value of education, and the fact that we see the public schools as a particular bulwark of our liberty and considered the foundation of our democracy. Thus in line with this , Dionisio Gutierrez Sr. Chapter- Order of DeMolay together with KutangBato Lodge No. 110 F & A.M, Cotabato DeMolay Alumni Chapter No. 22, , Bethel No. 21-Jobs Daughter International, Sisters by Heart and (Airborne) SFR, SOCOM, PA jointly participated with the Department of Education (DepEd)- "BALIK ESKWELA 2018" program at Don Eduardo Sero Elementary School along KagPenhoySero St, Rosary Heights 5 last May 27, 2018 for the 1st Leg and for the 2nd Leg at Notre Dame Village National High School at ND Village, Rosary Heights 8 last May 29, 2018. This activity brings people together to prepare public facilities for the opening of classes and continues to strengthen the spirit of volunteerism among the community and stakeholders. Focused mainly on preparing the physical facilities of the school for the opening of classes, including minor repairing of school buildings, repainting, cleaning up, refurbishing of furniture and fixtures, and similar activities. At the onset, it aims to drum up awareness and support of school stakeholders that they are part and parcel of the school and are equally responsible with school officials to ensure that the learners are ensured safe and healthy surroundings conducive to teaching and learning.
They were able to donate the following to : 10 pcs plywood, 10 gallons of latex paint, 2 gallons of enamel paint, 5 paint brush, 5 paint rollers & tray, 5 bottles paint thinner, 5 cans of tinting color paint, 2 rolls of cyclone wire, 2 pairs door hinges, 1 set of door lock, 12 kilos of assorted nails, and assorted lumbers of 40 pcs 2x2x8, 15 pcs 1x2x8, 5 pcs 2x3x12, 2 pcs 3x3x12. The men of 5th Special Forces Battalion provided the carpentry works on their selected dilapidated classroom for repair while the DeMolays provided man power in moving the chairs, cabinets, tables and cleaning them in preparation for the start of classes this coming month of June. They also collected the garbage and trash scattered around the school premises. It is the hope of the DeMolays that our Strong support in this activity is essential to achieve higher learning outcomes, ensure that the school is not just facilities-ready but also safe to all students and a continuing reminder to everyone that the whole community has an essential role to play in the development of learners.
BRIGADA ESKWELA 2018 Leg 1 held at Don Eduardo Sero Elementary School last May 23-27, 2018. A joint project of Kutang Bato Lodge No.110 F.& A.M., Cotabato DeMolay Alumni Chapter No.22, Dionisio Gutierrez Sr. Chapter, International Order of DeMolay, Bethel No. 21 Jobs Daughter International, 5th Special Forces Battalion (Airborne) SFR, SOCOM, PA and Sisters by Heart.
last May 29, 2018. A joint project of Dionisio Gutierrez Sr. Chapter, International Order of DeMolay, Bethel 21 Jobs Daughter International, Kutang Bato Lodge No.110 F.& A.M. and Cotabato DeMolay Alumni Chapter No. 22.


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Sunshine Coast Teen lands to hero's welcome with world record in the bag
Sunshine Coast Teen lands to hero's welcome with world record in the bag
Welcome home Lachie!
Sunshine Coast teenager Lachlan Smart created history this morning when he touched down at Maroochydore Airport, becoming the youngest person to ever complete a solo circumnavigation of the world in a single engine aircraft.
Smart departed the same airport on the Sunshine Coast on July 4 this year and stopped in 24 locations and 15 countries along the seven-week odyssey that will see him achieve a Guinness World Record.
The previous benchmark was set by American Matt Guthmiller who completed his circumnavigation when he was 19 years, 7 months and 15 days. Smart is 18 years, 7 months and 21 days today.
Smart's last leg – from Bundaberg to the airport where he has done much of his flight training since the dream of taking on the record breaking flight began two and a half years ago – was punctuated by a crowd of hundreds that included family, friends, official partners, government officials and the adoring public who have supported his journey.
"What a welcome," Smart said on touching down.
"The support I have received from family, friends, the local Sunshine Coast council and community and people around the world that I have never even met has been incredible from the first moment we spoke about this journey.
"To actually be here, having flown around the world, for over 24,000 nautical miles (45,000km) is just a great relief.
"I can't wait to spend some time with my family and sleep in my own bed."
While setting the Guinness World Record was key to Smart's journey, there has always been an ulterior, more honourable reason for taking on the gargantuan task of flying around the world alone.
"I have always, for as long as I can remember, wanted to inspire others, particularly young people, to chase their dreams," Smart said.
"Until a few years ago I wasn't sure how, or what, I was going to do to make that happen and then the idea of this flight came along and my team and I have dedicated almost every waking moment to it for those two and a half years.
"Age is just a number, and really, if we want to achieve something, in most situations it shouldn't be a barrier to success.
"This trip wasn't just the flight itself, it was creating a dream, building a team, raising funds and spreading the message of youth achievement to people all around the world. It has been an amazing journey and something I am very proud of."
As part of the homecoming celebrations the teenager was presented the Keys to the City by Sunshine Coast Mayor Mark Jamieson and a handwritten letter from Bert Hinkler, passed on by a relative of the aviation legend
Ryan Campbell, the Australian who set the same world record and was the first teenager to achieve the massive feat when he completed Teen World Flight in 2013, was also on hand to congratulate Smart. Campbell had been a massive support network for Smart over the two months of the record bid.
Smart plans to debrief his flight and get some well-earned rest before announcing the next stage of his plans to inspire and help young people achieve more than they thought possible.