| ST. JOHN: Fasting friend inspires action
I'm not talking about a not-eating-meat-on-Friday fast, or an I'm-gonna-give-up-red-wine-for-40-days-but-still-drink-white-wine fast. No, he's doing an honest-to-goodness, Mahatma Gandhi-type fast- nothing but water. Fasting is a method of religious observance, penitence and purification which is practiced in several religious faiths. I am of the Protestant persuasion, so I will focus mostly on Protestant fasting. Fasting was an option for the early Christians, and later became a requirement. In the early church the typical fast lasted 40 hours. It was later changed to 40 days. The 40-day fast in the early Christian church allowed one meal per day. My friend is not allowing himself even one meal. He is on a nothing-but-water fast for the entire 40 days. As I write he is in the 20th day of the fast and seems to be doing well.
Dow and International Aid Announce Partnership To Address Global Safe ...
The Dow Chemical Company and humanitarian healthcare agency International Aid today announced a partnership that will help provide safer and cleaner water around the world. Dow will supply all of the plastic resin required to manufacture 300,000 HydrAid BioSand Water Filters, a lightweight water purification device currently being distributed by International Aid and its partners worldwide. The simplicity, affordability and effectiveness of the HydrAid water filter hold the promise to make a dramatic impact on the global water crisis, said International Aid President and CEO Myles D. Fish. We are delighted that Dow is joining with International Aid and our growing number of distribution partners to help bring the HydrAid filter to the many thousands of communities suffering from lack of clean water worldwide.
Erosion-control holdouts being sought for project
In the Lake Tahoe Basin, the letters "BMP" can bring about various reactions.
Short for "best management practices," BMPs are methods prescribed by the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency to help developed properties function more like natural, undisturbed forest and meadowland. The TRPA believes that water conveyed to a lake by an undisturbed watershed usually is quite pure, because the watershed's soils and plants act as a natural water-purification system.
BMPs prescribed for residential properties usually fall into the following categories: vegetating and mulching bare, disturbed soils; infiltrating stormwater runoff from impervious surfaces; paving dirt driveways and roads; and stabilizing or retaining steep slopes and loose soils.
But for some of the 38,000 property owners in the basin who have not retrofitted their land for BMPs, the requirements can be harsh and expensive.
International Federation releases emergency funds for Madagascar
Malagasy Red Cross also requested the support of the French Red Cross regional intervention platform (PIROI). Twelve tonnes of material were sent from the main centre on La Reunion Island, including tarpaulins, tool kits, generators, water purification tablets and other emergency items .
Aussie military planes provide flood aid
AUSTRALIAN defence force planes have joined a critical aid mission for thousands of flood victims in Papua New Guinea, as looting broke out in hard-hit Oro province. Last week's floods left thousands homeless, and officials fear the death toll of about 160 could rise dramatically unless food and clean water supplies quickly reach survivors. There are security fears in Oro province, north of the capital Port Moresby, after looters made off with a rice shipment and local MPs were accused of commandeering relief supplies for their own villages. Australia today sent in two C-130 Hercules transport aircraft and two smaller Caribous to start distributing AusAID supplies, including water purification tablets, emergency shelters, blankets and generators.
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