COP17: Working Together,Saving Tomorrow Today

The 17th Conference of the Parties (COP17) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the 7th Session of the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the parties (CMP7) to the Kyoto Protocol, will be held in the sunny city of Durban, South Africa, from the 28 November to the 9 of December 2011.

Global Day of Action

The Global Day of Action (GDA) is a traditional and important event at UNFCCC COPs. The primary action is a mass march of international and national community, labour, women, youth, academic, religious and environmental organisations and activists. It demonstrates civil society's common determination to address climate change.

Volunteers Needed

C17 is calling on participating organisations to provide volunteers for the Global Day of Action. The event will require marshalls, security personnel, medical practitioners (doctors and nurses), float builders, puppeteers, artists, performers, musicians and cultural activists. Volunteers will be organised, trained and coordinated well in advance of the march.

You can register to volunteer at :

http://www.c17.org.za/global-day-of-action/volunteer.html

Extreme

The longest animal living and ever lived, is said to be the bootlace worm or ribbon worm Lineus longissimus, it reaches lengths of 60m. Its almost twice as long as a blue whale. The bootlace worm, can be found along the coast of Britain.

Creature of the month: Hawaiian honeycreeper

Hawaiian honeycreepers are small passerine birds endemic to Hawaii.

The male Hawaiian honeycreepers are more brightly coloured than the females in the Psittirostrini, but in the Hemignathini, they often look very similar. The flowers of the native ʻōhiʻa lehua (Metrosideros polymorpha) are favoured by a number of nectarivorous honeycreepers. Many species of this subfamily have been noted to have a plumage odor that has been termed the Drepanidine odor and suspected to have a role in making the bird distasteful to predators.

The wide range of bills in this group, from thick finch-like bills to slender downcurved bills for probing flowers have arisen through adaptive radiation, where an ancestral finch has evolved to fill a large number of ecological niches. Some 20 species of Hawaiian honeycreeper have become extinct in the recent past, and many more in earlier times, between the arrival of arrival of the Polynesians who introduced the firstrats, chickens, pigs, dogs, and hunted and converted habitat for agriculture.

References: http://en.wikipedia.org

Gadget of the month: Muvi Atom Sport Camcorder

Muvi Atom sport camcorder - Extreme size for extreme sports!

The Muvi Atom camera is a mere 4 cm tall and can record movies at a resolution of 640 x 480. The kick is that included with the Atom are numerous sports mounts, including straps and mounts to easily fit the device to a mountain bike’s handlebars or your helmet for instance. The Atom can also capture still photographs via its two megapixel snapper, which considering its size, is fair.

The Muvi Atom comes with a 2 GB Micro SD card included in the box, enabling users to record up to 48 minutes of footage. Alternatively, they can opt for an 8 GB Micro SD card, boosting the recording time to more than three hours. Users then simply connect the device to their PCs via USB, in order to review and save their images and video.

Available from The G.A.D.G.E.T. Shop on 012-346-2726 or 011-792-4912 for R1199.

Source: http://www.techsmart.co.za