craneeggpaper

npr:

OOOo, I see them both.

kqedscience:

3 or 4?

npr:

Answering The Question ‘What Was It A Good Year For?’

We asked for your input — and hundreds of readers responded with their suggestions of the things that had a good 2011. Then we took the results and used them to seed a Word Cloud.

 girls generation! haha

vintageanchor:

Did you see the new movie “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” starring Rooney Mara and Daniel Craig yet?  Tell us what you think of David Fincher’s movie “TGWTDT” based on the book by Stieg Larsson, and you could get one “What would Lisbeth Do?” rubber bracelet sent to you for free (pictured here). 

 

Vintage Books is giving away 50 “What would Lisbeth Do?” rubber bracelets (while supplies last) to anyone who reblogs this post (rules and regulations below).  The “What would Lisbeth Do?” were made exclusively by Larsson’s U.S. publisher and are only available here. 

 

To get a free bracelet, reblog this post, and please be sure to email us your street address to vintageanchorpublicity@randomhouse.com) or through tumblr.  We will randomly select and contact the 50 winners next week. One per person.

 

*

 

RULES AND REGULATIONS: Offer is only open to U.S. residents (excluding Puerto Rico), age 13 years or older, who have a valid tumblr.com account. Users must be tumblr.com followers of Vintage Books & Anchor Books to be eligible. Void where prohibited or restricted by law. In the case of a dispute over the identity of an entrant, the authorized account holder of the tumblr.com account used to enter will be deemed to be the entrant. Vintage Books & Anchor Books is not responsible for lost/late/misdirected entries or computer malfunctions. Entries that contain errors, are incomplete, corrupted or illegible will not be accepted. Vintage Books & Anchor Books reserves the right to disqualify entries from anyone tampering with the tumblr.com entry process. Vintage Books & Anchor Books assumes no responsibility for any error, omission, interruption, deletion, defect, delay in operation or transmission, communications line failure, theft, destruction, or unauthorized access to tumblr.com. Sponsor is not responsible for lost, late or misdirected tweets; computer malfunctions, including but not limited to any error, omission, interruption, deletion, defect, delay in operation or transmission or communications line failure; or theft, destruction or unauthorized access to entrant’s tumblr.com account. Entries that contain errors, are incomplete, corrupted or illegible will not be accepted. Sponsor reserves the right to disqualify entries from anyone tampering with the tumblr.com entry process.
ELIGIBILITY: This sweepstakes is open to legal residents of the United States (excluding Puerto Rico) over the age of 13 at time of entry. All federal, state, and local regulations apply. Void where prohibited. Employees of Random House, Inc., its parent, subsidiaries, affiliates, suppliers, and agencies, and their immediate family members and persons living in their household are not eligible to enter this sweepstakes.
WINNER SELECTION: Winners will be determined in a random drawing at the entry deadline. Sponsor will notify Winner by sending an e-mail. Winner will be required to provide his/her address for mailing of the prize.
PRIZES: Winners will receive one free rubber “What Would Lisbeth Do?” bracelet inspired by the book Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson (9780307949493).
GENERAL CONDITIONS: By participating in this sweepstakes, entrants agree to abide by these official rules. Sponsor is not responsible for injury or damage to any computer, other equipment, or person relating to or resulting from participation in the sweepstakes, or participating in the Twitter network. Entrants release Sponsor, its agencies, and assigns from any liability, damage and/or loss resulting from participating in this sweepstakes and/or the acceptance, use or misuse of the prize. Acceptance of the prize constitutes permission for Sponsor to publish, post online, or otherwise refer to the name of the winner in any and all forms and media throughout the world, and for any and all publicity or promotional purposes, without obligation or compensation, except where prohibited by law.
SPONSOR: Vintage Books and Anchor Books c/o Random House, Inc., 1745 Broadway, 12-1, New York, NY 10019.

earthandspacequest:

jtotheizzoe:

Making Sense of 7 Billion People 

Earth’s population reached 7 billion at some point over the last weekend. How do we make sense of that number in terms of our ecological impact on Earth as a species? Brandon Keim takes a look over at Wired Science:

“10,000. That’s approximately how many Homo sapiens existed 200,000 years ago, the date at which scientists mark the divergence of our species from the rest of Homo genus, of which we are the sole survivors.

From those humble origins, humans — thanks to our smarts, long-distance running skills, verbal ability and skill with plants — proliferated at an almost inconceivable rate.

According to a back-of-the-envelope calculation, there are about 1.7 million other top-level, land-dwelling, mammalian predators on Earth. Put another way: For every non-human mammal sharing our niche, there are more than 4,000 of us.

…

In short, humans are Earth’s great omnivore, and our omnivorous nature can only be understood at global scales. Scientists estimate that 83 percent of the terrestrial biosphere is under direct human influence. Crops cover some 12 percent of Earth’s land surface, and account for more than one-third of terrestrial biomass. One-third of all available fresh water is diverted to human use. 

 Altogether, roughly 20 percent of Earth’s net terrestrial primary production, the sheer volume of life produced on land on this planet every year, is harvested for human purposes — and, to return to the comparative factoids, it’s all for a species that accounts for .00018 percent of Earth’s non-marine biomass.

We are the .00018 percent, and we use 20 percent.”

 (via Wired Science)

“We are the .00018 percent, and we use 20 percent.”

This past weekend, we not only reached a global population of 7 billion (and I read in National Geographic a few months back that we will reach 9 billion around 2045… which is staggering when you compare growth rates to 200,000 years ago), but the Philadelphia area that I call home experienced “Snowtober.”

For the first time in 32 years, our area was hit by a nasty October snow storm. Until this past weekend, there were only three recorded incidences of snowfall in October since 1884. Saturday’s slurry of rain and snow caused a great deal of confusion: unusual traffic due to accidents and slow driving, trees, heavy with snow and leaves, bent across roads, and power outages, leaving hundreds in the dark.

I work at a local mall, and by Sunday, once the roads had cleared up, it seemed that everyone was in shopping mode. It was beginning to look a lot like Christmas, I suppose. What was more puzzling, however, was how little people seemed to care that it was snowing in October! I mean, OCTOBER?! A month that’s supposed to be laden with leaf piles and pumpkin patches was suddenly invaded by frosty December-like winds and snow, and people just decided to go Christmas shopping a little earlier?

Is this not a sign that our planet is in danger? That it is “off its rocker,” so to speak, and we are to blame? This past year has proven to me that sustainability is more important than ever to keep our planet in balance. However, it seems like we don’t care.

The tsunami in Japan, Hurricane Irene, and the most recent snowfall in October need to be taken as signs. We need to be taking preventative measures to protect our planet, especially now. Now that our ever-growing population has reached 7 billion. Now that we are less than 1% … less than .001%, and we are using one-fifth of our entire planet’s resources.

Some sources on sustainability practices:

- Sustainability for college campuses (via good.is)
- Benefits of recycling (via benefits-of-recycling.org)
- Sustainability at home (via envirocenter.org)
- Sustainability (via epa.gov)
- Green Living Ideas: a blog with great ideas for ways to reuse and recycle things in your daily life

Keep questioning,
Sara