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Cities and Wild Life, the LxCras Example

Posted by Unknown Sabtu, 15 Februari 2014 0 komentar

With the growth of cities wild life becomes endangered and many species disappear. Are there solutions?

Yes, fortunately there are solutions such as the work developed by LxCRAS

The Recovery Center of Wild Animals Lisbon (LxCRAS), is devoted to the collection, processing and release of animals belonging to the Portuguese native fauna equipment. Its main objective is the recovery of injured or debilitated wildlife with a view to their return to the natural environment - there is the aim to preserve and conserve wildlife.

Besides this activity it also promotes dissemination and public awareness, such as guided tours, activities of liberation and volunteer programs .

In operation since October 1997 , the Recovery Center of Wild Animals Lisbon was created in a forest in the middle of Lisbon, Monsanto, by the Institute for Nature Conservation of Forests. LxCRAS features:

Clinic, equipped with everything necessary to provide the common veterinary care including surgeries;
Intensive Care Unit, adjoining to the clinic, it consists of small rooms that are use for animals that, after going through the clinic, need to stay in treatment and/or under constant surveillance;
Vivarium, where they centre reproduces birds, mammals and insects for the consumption of wild life species. Here there are nurseries of small mammals (field mice), birds (quails) and insects, which are essential for the recovering animals to have a diet as natural as possible. It is also possible to evaluate the behavior of animals in capturing prey and competing with other predators.
Rehabilitation Parks, these are large cage with for nocturnal and diurnal prey birds. It is those parks where physical and instinctive reactions tests are performed to each animal. This is the crucial stage of recovery, by assessing the their flight and hunting behaviour allows to make conclusion on the feasibility of the release of each animal.
Tunnel Flight Area, built in 2007 this area is intended to recover the flight capabilities of medium and large birds.
Unrecoverable Park, in operation since October 2001, this area hosts numerous animals that due to the intervention of man find themselves unable to survive in the wild and therefore are not released back to Nature - many have irreversible physical and psychological injuries. This is an area totally dedicated to raising awareness and environmental education hence the area can be visited with guided tours.

To get a better understanding how wild-life can subsist within cities watch the video below, "Lisbon and the LxCras work", produced by AidNatur a non- governmental organization:

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Source:
http://www.cm-lisboa.pt/viver/ambiente/parque-florestal-de-monsanto/lxcras

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It's Evolution, baby!

Posted by Unknown Selasa, 11 Februari 2014 0 komentar

Two main questions: Is creation a viable model of origins in today's modern, scientific era? Why is this post with a strange title and introductory image?

Evolution vs Creationism

Some days ago there was a very interesting debate between the leading creation apologist and bestselling Christian author Ken Ham which was joined at the Creation Museum by Emmy Award-winning science educator and CEO of the Planetary Society Bill Nye to discuss Evolution vs. Creation.

For a lot of people this is an interesting topic and many do pick a side. For me it was also interesting to read a Pew Survey that has shown that one in three Americans does not believe in the theory of Darwinian evolution:

The Pew Research Religion & Public Life Project report released Monday found that 33% think “humans and other living things have existed in their present form since the beginning of time.” Sixty percent agreed with evolution. Among those who agree with human evolution, about half attribute it to “natural processes such as natural selection.” Whereas, 24% of adults say “a supreme being guided the evolution of living things.”
The survey also found disagreement across political and religious lines. Among white evangelical Protestants, 64% say that humans have existed in their present form since the beginning of time. The survey found that half of black Protestants responded the same way. Whereas 78% of white mainline Protestants say that humans and other living things have evolved over time. Seventy-six percent of the religiously unaffiliated, 68% of white non-Hispanic Catholics and 53% of Hispanic Catholics agreed with evolution. Republicans are less likely to say humans evolved compared to Democrats or independents, Less than half of conservatives or 43% agreed with evolution compared to 67% of liberals and 65% of independents.

The survey is based on telephone interviews conducted March 21-April 8, 2013, with a national sample of 1,983 adults. The margin of error for the results is plus or minus 3 percentage points.

Since during these days there is a bit of discussion on this topic, I will also share some food for thought - a simple and quick explanation on Evolution.

In nature, we normally observe the following:

Animals reproduce and have offspring, but they do not reproduce exact copies. For instance, children may look like their parents, but not exactly, there is a variation due to several genetic factors.
These differences between close generations (e.g. parents and their children) tend to be small, but also unpredictable in the near term, lets see an example: lets suppose that a random child is taller than average or has an extra finger, that child is not taller or extra-fingered because his/her parents needed to reach high things or play extra piano keys. So in a "shorter-term" there is no big evolution between parents and offspring, there is a random variation, rather than being a direct response to the environment. Those variations come from random differences in genes.
In a lot of situations animals often have more offspring than the environment can support and animals that are BEST SUITED to the environment tend to have more likelihood to survive and reproduce. For instance, if there is a drought and there is not enough water, offspring that need less water or that are slightly smaller and so can get in faster to get more water will tend to survive and reproduce. What we are seeing with this example is a process of natural selection which preserves some changes (genetic code) between generations in a non-random way.

As a result, over time, the proportion of traits, what we would now refer to as the frequency of genes in a population, will change, in keeping with natural selection. This is evolution.

I find hard to understand the creationism side and I can not agree with the belief that “humans and other living things have existed in their present form since the beginning of time”, but maybe that is because I did not have a religious background... although I was born in a very religious country.

So with an open-mind I am still waiting to hear a credible creationism view. Do you know one?

If you are interested to hear/see the debate between Ken Ham and Bill Nye please see the video below (2 hours 45 minutes):

It's Evolution, baby!

You might be wondering why this post is call "It's evolution, baby"... Well, that sentence is taken from a Pearl Jam song "Do the Evolution". I was fortunate enough to see them live quite recently at BigDayOut 2014 in Sydney... and I was double-lucky since they played this song. See their video below:

When speaking about "Do the Evolution", vocalist Eddie Vedder stated:

"That song is all about someone who's drunk with technology, who thinks they're the controlling living being on this planet. It's another one I'm not singing as myself."

Pearl Jam has stated that the novel Ishmael influenced the writing of Yield (album where this song is taken), and according to the novel's writer, Daniel Quinn, this song comes the closest to expressing the ideas of the book. Vedder stated:

"This Daniel Quinn book, Ishmael...I've never recommended a book before, but I would actually, in an interview, recommend it to everyone....But this book, it's kind of the book of my ... My whole year has been kind of with these thoughts in mind. And on an evolutionary level, that man has been on this planet for 3 million years, so that you have this number line that goes like this [hands wide apart]. And that we're about to celebrate the year 2000, which is this [holds hands less than one inch apart]. So here's this number line; here's what we know and celebrate. This book is a conversation with a man and an ape. And the ape really has it all together. He kinda knows the differences between him and the man, and points out how slight they are, and it creates an easy analogy for what man has done, thinking that they were the end-all. That man is the end-all thing on this earth. That the earth was around even so much longer before the 3 million years. Fifty million years of sharks and all these living things. Then man comes out of the muck, and 3 million years later he's standing, and now he's controlling everything and killing it. Just in the last hundred! Which is just a speck on this line. So what are we doin' here? This is just a good reminder...And I'm anxious to see what happens. You know, I've got a good seat for whatever happens next. It'll be interesting."

Essentially, this song is about the human evolution when thousands of years ago when humans became more than 'just an animal' and did not need to live by the fundamental rules of ecology. Some scholars defend that the human race is jealous, greedy, and war-prone by nature. Some defend that living outside of our ecosystem's rules has being destroying the planet, expanded our population to breaking point and may very well prove to be our extinction... not so good news for evolution-defenders!

If you are interested in reading a bit more about "our" story and "our" evolution I suggest that you read a previous post, click on the link below:

Climate change? Wars? Our nature. Our story. (more food for thought)

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Sources:

USAToday: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2013/12/30/pew-research-human-evolution-survey/4258083/
Reddit: http://www.reddit.com/
Image: http://andmag.se/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/evolution.jpeg
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page
Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/

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Survival: Making Fire

Posted by Unknown Kamis, 30 Januari 2014 0 komentar

When it comes to starting fires in the wild, there are always different ways to make fire, today we will explore the best five ways to make fire without matches or lighters.

For all of the methods below, you will need a tinder nest to nurture the sparks and/or embers you create into a flame. In order to create friction and maintain a flame, you will need to use extremely dry wood.

1. Using Batteries and Steel Wool

Make a tinder nest out of any dry plant material that easily catches fire. You can use dry grass, leaves, small sticks, and bark. This nest will be used to create a flame out of the spark you create with the battery and steel wool.
Find a battery and locate the battery terminals. The terminals are the two circular receiving prongs located on the top of the battery. Any battery voltage will work, but 9-volt batteries will ignite the quickest.
Take your steel wool and rub it on the battery terminals. The finer the steel wool, the better for this process.
Continue to create friction by rubbing the steel wool on the batteries. This process works by creating a current through the tiny steel wires that then heat up and ignite. Another way to do this is to take a 9-volt battery and a metal paperclip and rub the paperclip on both battery terminals at the same time to create sparks. This is similar to how the wires in light bulbs and toasters ovens operate.
Blow gently on the steel wool as it starts to glow. This helps nurture the flame and encourages it to spread.
Once the steel wool is glowing brightly, transfer the steel wool to your tinder nest quickly, continuing to blow lightly on the nest until the tinder ignites, creating a flame.
Add increasingly larger pieces of dry wood to build your fire once the tinder nest has ignited into a flame and enjoy your fire.

1a. Using a AA battery and a gum wrap

You need tinder and wood ready, a AA battery and a gum wrapper (the metallic kind).
Cut or tear the gum wrapper into a thin strip
Fold the strip in half, then at the fold carefully cut it at an angle to form a point but still leaving you with an intact strip.
Now put the ends of the strip on each terminal of the battery, the shiny side facing the battery. At the part where the strip was narrowed down it will catch on fire.

2. Using Flint and Steel

Again, build a tinder nest using dry plant material.
Take your flint rock (a rock that emits sparks) and hold it between your thumb and forefinger. Allow about two or three inches of flint to extend past your grasp.
Grab a piece of char cloth between your thumb and the flint. Char cloths are small squares of cloth that have been turned into easily combustible charcoal pieces. If you do not have any char cloth on hand, you can also use lightweight tree fungus.
Take the back of a steel striker or the back of a knife blade (depending on which you have handy) and quickly scrape the steel against the flint. Continue to strike until sparks begin to form.
Catch the sparks with your char cloth and continue the process until the cloth glows like an ember. Char cloths are specially designed to hold a glow without catching fire.
Transfer the glowing char cloth to your tinder nest and gently blow on it to induce a flame.
Begin to add increasingly larger pieces of wood to grow your flame into a fire.

3. Using a Magnifying Glass

Notice whether or not there is enough sunlight to create a fire using this method. You generally need the sun to be unobstructed by clouds in order to utilize it with your magnifying glass. If you do not have a magnifying glass, eye glass lenses and binocular lenses work as well. Adding water to the lens allows you to create a more intense, focused beam of light.
Build a tinder nest out of dry material and set it on the ground.
Tilt the lens toward the sun until the lens creates a small circle of focused light on the tinder nest. You'll probably have to test out holding the lens at different angles to create the most focused beam of light possible.
Hold the lens in place until the tinder begins to smoke and flame. Blow lightly on the tinder nest to nurture the flame.
Begin to add increasingly larger pieces of dry wood to your tinder nest to create the fire size you desire.

Note: This will also work with: water bottles and condoms!

3a. Using Coke Can and Chocolate Bar

I saw this method in a documentary a while back ago and thought it was pretty impressive. You need is a soda can, a bar of chocolate, and a sunny day.
Polish the bottom of the soda can with the chocolate. Open up your bar of chocolate and start rubbing it on the bottom of the soda can. The chocolate acts as a polish and will make the bottom of the can shine like a mirror. If you do not have chocolate with you, toothpaste also works.
After polishing the bottom of your can, what you have is essentially a parabolic mirror. Sunlight will reflect off the bottom of the can, forming a single focal point. It’s kind of like how a mirror telescope works.
Point the bottom of the can towards the sun. You’ll have created a highly focused ray of light aimed directly at your tinder. Place the tinder about an inch from the reflecting light’s focal point. After awhile you should have a flame.

Note: While I can not think of any time that I was in the middle of nowhere with a can of Coke and a chocolate bar, this method actually works!

4. Fashioning a Hand Drill

Build a tinder nest out of any dry plant material. Again, be sure that the material can catch fire easily.
Find a piece of wood to use as the base of your hand drill, otherwise known as a fire board. You will drill on this wood piece to create friction.
Use a knife or any sharp object to cut a small, V-shaped notch in the center of your fire board. Make sure that your notch is just big enough to hold your spindle stick.
Place small pieces of bark underneath the notch. The bark will be used to catch an ember from the friction between the spindle and fire board.
Take your spindle stick, which should be a thin stick about two feet long and half an inch in diameter, and place it in the V-shaped notch in the center of your fire board.
Hold the spindle stick between your two flat palms and begin to roll the spindle back and forth. Be sure to push the spindle stick firmly down into the fire board.
Continue to roll the spindle quickly between your hands, pushing one hand forward and then the other, until an ember is formed on the fire board.
Transfer the glowing embers to a small piece of bark. You should have already placed a few small pieces of bark next to the notch for this purpose.
Place the bark containing the ember onto your tinder nest. Continue to blow gently on the tinder nest to fully transfer the ember and create a flame.
Begin to add increasingly larger pieces of wood to maintain a larger fire. Be advised that this method takes a while to create a fire, and requires physical as well as mental determination.

5. Making a Bow Drill

Again, make a tinder nest. Use any dry plant material you can gather.
Find an object to use as a socket such as a stone or a heavy piece of wood. The socket will be used to put pressure on the spindle.
Find a long, flexible piece of wood about the length of your arm. It is best if this piece of wood has a slight curve in it. This will serve as the handle of your bow.
Make the string of the bow using any strong, abrasive material that can withstand a lot of friction. You might want to use a shoelace, a thin rope or string, or a strip of rawhide.
Tie the string as tight as possible to each end of the bow handle. If there are not already natural notches in the bow wood to anchor the string, whittle small, straight notches into the wood in order to act as a groove for the string.
Find a piece of wood to use as the base of your hand drill, otherwise known as a fire board, and cut a small V-shaped notch into the center using a knife or other sharp object.
Place your tinder nest underneath the V-shaped notch. You want to have the tinder right next to base of the spindle so that you can easily create flames.
Loop the bow string around your spindle stick one time. Make sure you do so in the middle of the bow string to create enough space to roll the string back and forth.
Place one end of the spindle in the V-shaped notch in your fire board and then stack the socket on the top end of the spindle. Hold the socket with your non-dominant hand.
Begin sawing the bow quickly back and forth, holding the curved, wooden part of the bow in your dominant hand. This will cause the spindle to spin (hence the name "spindle") and create heat at the base of the fire board.
Continue to saw back and forth until you create an ember where the spindle meets the fire board. Make sure your tinder nest is close by.
Gather the ember you created onto a piece of scrap wood and drop it into your tinder nest. You may just be able to slide the ember off of the fire board into your tinder nest.
Blow on your tinder nest as you gradually add increasingly larger pieces of dry wood to create a fire.

Bonus: Cotton Ball Fire Starter

One of the best hacks there is to make fire, since it is water proof, always lights incredibly easily, is an infallible additive for a tinder bundle (especially a damp one) and easily takes a spark directly from a ferro striker or metal match. Not only that, it can be used as an occlusive wound dressing, smokeless fuel for a hobo stove, to ease chapped lips and dozens of other things as well.
To make your fire starters, you just need two ingredients – vaseline (petroleum jelly) and cotton balls. Any brand of petroleum jelly will work, just make sure it’s 100% pure petroleum jelly. For the cotton balls, check the package to be sure they are 100% cotton. Artificial fibres will not take a spark.
Rubbing the Vaseline into a cotton ball is messy work. The fibers of the cotton ball pull apart some, and the Vaseline gets everywhere. A cleanest, easiest method is to put a scoop of Vaseline into a snack-sized ziplock bag, toss some cotton balls in, zip it up, then knead the Vaseline into the cotton balls.
You want to get as much Vaseline in the cotton ball as you can without completely saturating the cotton ball. It’s very important to have some dry fibers available to take the flame, especially if you use a firesteel or magnesium rod.
Finally you just need a spark either from rocks or better yet from a flint.

Note: This method requires saving the vaseline cotton balls either in a ziplock bag or in a small pills dispenser. Then you can carry it with you in your survival gear. When using Vaseline Cotton always be careful, as the melting gel can drop flame onto unintended surfaces.

Final Thoughts

These are some of the methods to making fire without matches or lighters, there are many others. You should try to practice a couple a see which suits you best. Finally, please make sure that 1) you only have fire in designated areas and 2) there is no temporary fire ban in the region.

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Urban Agriculture - Part IV (update)

Posted by Unknown Jumat, 03 Januari 2014 0 komentar

Today we will have a look into our little balcony in Sydney CBD to see the progress of our veggies and plants.

What we decided to harvest today:

One capsicum;
A lot of chillies
A bit of mint

Not bad for a small balcony, not bad!

The mint is growing very well, it gets some light but it loves a bit of shade as well and it does not require a lot of water. From tea, drink additive, to fragrance you can use for your house, this is a perfect plant to have.

We decided to plant more coriander seeds since we realise that we are addicted to it and we use it in a lot of our dishes. The chives themselves look fine, we mainly use for soups an Asian dishes.

We've been eating a lot of lettuce as you can see in the picture below. "Perpetual" lettuce is great since you can keep on taking just a couple of leaves at a time, so it will last longer!

We also have some oregano and some other small lettuces in another pot, but this was starting to be used by pigeons as a nest so we had to put some wooden skewers to keep them away.

This was a small update. "O Mundo de Mikey" is trying to show and educate you that growing your own edibles is possible, even in constrained places as a small balcony in the middle of a big city. Yes it is possible, give it a try!

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Urban Agriculture - Litte Fingers carrots

Posted by Unknown Jumat, 06 Desember 2013 0 komentar

Update on our Sydney urban garden

Today we harvested some of our little fingers carrots, not all matured at the same speed so in a couple of weeks we will check this pot again. Here is part of our harvest: