‘The Gap’ angel dies at 85

       Don Ritchie: The angel of 'The Gap'

‘The Gap’ is a notorious Sydney beauty spot made perfect for people who wanted to commit suicide.

The ‘angel’ is Australian Don Ritchie who is said to be credited with saving at least 160 people or even more as his family avers.

Ritchie, 85, was a former navy seaman who served in WW II who later built a corporate career and then moved into his Watsons Bay house overlooking ‘The Gap’ beauty spot cum suicide spot.

It is said that in his earlier years, Ritchie would physically restrain people from jumping off the cliff, like when he once tackled a man on the edge of a cliff to prevent him from killing himself, while his wife called the police. However, as he got older, he would simply offer distraught people at the edge of the Gap a cup of tea and someone to talk to.

'The Gap'

His daughter, Sue Ritchie Bereny, said her father had loved to look out from his front room at the ocean, but was also very sensitive to troubled souls.

He told his daughter an offer of help "was all that was often needed to turn people around, and he would say not to underestimate the power of a kind word and a smile," she told The Sydney Morning Herald.

Father Tony Doherty from Rose Bay Parish and a good friend of Ritchie's also told ABC News about the first time he saw Don literally talk someone off the ledge.

"I watched this figure gradually encourage [a man] to come back to the safety of the cliff," said Father Doherty. "He has this wonderful soft, appealing voice that encouraged this little fellow not to jump."

But, was Ritchie always successful in his attempt to stop suicides?

Not really, as when he related to an instance where he spoke to a quiet young man who just kept looking straight ahead.

"I was talking to him for about half an hour thinking I was making headway," said Ritchie. "I said 'why don't you come over for a cup of tea, or a beer, if you'd like one?' He said 'no' and stepped straight off the side his hat blew up and I caught it in my hand.''

Ritchie won numerous community awards and a Medal of the Order of Australia for his efforts, and was named an Australian local hero of the year in 2011.

Flesh-eating bacteria causes havoc on young woman’s life

                      Aimee Copeland

What started as a simple gash on a young woman’s left calf brought about by a zipline accident is now horribly threatening her very existence.

This is the story of Aimee Copeland, 24, of Snellville, Georgia, and a graduate psychology student at the University of West Georgia, who was kayaking with friends along the Little Tallapoosa River in Carrollton, but stopped and got lured to riding a home-made zipline.

Unfortunately, during the ride, the line snapped sending her down and in the process suffered a deep cut on her left calf.

She sought medical treatment and beside the two dozen staples she received for closing the wound, she also was given pain killers and antibiotics.

Feeling more intense pain days after, a friend took her to an emergency room, and it was only then that she learned of the shocking diagnosis given to her by the doctors that she was suffering from necrotizing fasciitis, a rare flesh-eating bacteria that can destroy skin, fat and muscle.

Physicians told the young woman the infection had already spread to her thigh and hip, and that her whole leg would have to be amputated.

Miss Copeland was flown to the Joseph M. Still Burn Center in Augusta, where doctors performed a high-hip amputation of her left leg and removed further infected tissue from her abdomen.

During the procedure, Aimee went into cardiac arrest but was resuscitated.  She, however, remains battling for her life inside the intensive care unit.

The doctors are now left with the daunting thought that because of the virulence of the bacteria, perhaps her hands and right foot might also be cut off, if only to save her life.

Smuggled capsules containing ‘baby flesh’ seized in SoKor

Please tell me this isn’t true.

But if it comes from China, would one still wonder if some unscrupulous, greedy, businessman would come up with some ghoulish, if not bizarre, product just so he could make a fast buck by selling it at a very low price and for idiotic reasons?

It is still fresh in everybody’s mind the recalled dangerous toys made in China that followed a series of health scandals worldwide involving food, drugs and other products imported from China, from poisoned cough syrup to tainted toothpaste and pet food.

What has been uncovered in South Korea (SoKor) recently could very well be the mother of all product anomalies coming from China.

SoKor custom authorities recently revealed a disturbing find when they intercepted thousands of smuggled capsules filled with the powdered flesh of dead babies, believed to be stamina boosters and having medicinal powers. Indeed, this is very Chinese in concept.

Reportedly made in northeastern China, the contents are said to have been dried in microwave.

The intended recipients of the capsules, transported via luggage and mail, were ethnic Koreans who have moved to South Korea after living in China.

Nearly 17,500 capsules have been recovered since August 2011, the Korea Customs Services said in a statement.

According to the custom authorities the smuggling have been on the radar of customs officers since a Korean investigative report aired in August, 2011, revealed that some hospitals in China sold dead fetuses and placentas to illegal manufacturers.

SoKor has reportedly been reluctant to criticize China directly over the incident, out of fears of creating diplomatic friction with the country.

But does this mean that the world community will condone this perverse business by some wicked Chinese entrepreneurs?

Largest ‘fossil forest’ discovered in US

To better appreciate the discovery of the world’s largest fossil forest, one has to understand first how coal is formed because the remains of rainforests could likely be found only where there are coal seam deposits.

Coal is a black or brownish black combustible mineral formed about 300 million years ago when the earth was covered by swampy forests of scale tress (lycopods) giant ferns, horsetails, and club mosses. Layer upon layer of these plants died and were compressed and then covered with soil. As the layers were successively covered their access to the air was limited and this stopped the full decomposition process creating peat.

For the peat to become coal, it must be buried by sediment. Burial compacts the peat and, consequently, much water is squeezed out during the first stages of burial. Continued burial and the addition of heat and time causes the complex hydrocarbon compounds in the peat to break down and alter in a variety of ways.

The gaseous alteration products (methane is one) are typically expelled from the deposit, and the deposit becomes more and more carbon-rich as the other elements disperse. The stages of this trend proceed from plant debris through peat, lignite, sub-bituminous coal, bituminous coal, anthracite coal, to graphite (a pure carbon mineral).

          Fossilized fern

The recent discovery of the fossil forest in the underground coal mines in eastern Illinois only relates what the past was for the state. Long ago, it was the site of one of the world’s first rainforests dominated by tall, asparagus-like trees believed to extend for up to 100 miles and preserved in the ceiling of a coal mine some 250 feet below the surface.

The compacted remains of these forests are encased in shale above coal seams. After the coal is extracted the fossils can be seen in the mine ceiling.

According to scientists, the forest was preserved when an earthquake dropped the area a few feet allowing flooding from an adjacent river, which drowned the vegetation and buried it in sediment. The sudden flooding in the submerged block killed the rainforest. Mud and silt rushed into the depression, preserving the stumps and logs in a layer that eventually became shale.

Note fossilized tree trunk between shale  ceiling and coal seam

Researchers have traced a five-mile route through the forest, stopping to measure huge fossilized trees still stand rooted in their original but compacted soil, surrounded by fallen leaves.

One fallen scale tree, measuring more than 100ft long, was traced by researchers until it disappeared into an as yet unexploited coal seam.

"What's extraordinary about this discovery is that this forest has been preserved in its growth position," said one of the scientists who saw the site. "It's an upright forest with trees still standing upright."

It is said that the forest can be viewed only from below. The scientists who discovered it had to crane their necks, illuminating the ceiling with miners’ helmet lamps.

Japan turns off last active nuclear reactor

        One of Japan's nuclear power plant

What is Japan without nuclear reactors?

This question is being asked since we all know that resource-poor and energy-hungry Japan can’t seem to do without nuclear power, a technology that had provided a third of its electricity until the 3/11 disaster at Fukushima.

But, bite the bullet Japan did when it switched off the nation's last operating nuclear reactor leaving this third largest economic giant without atomic power for the first time in more than 40 years.


             Anti-nuke protest symbol

This came on the heels of a massive march by Japanese anti-nuke activists in Tokyo, waving traditional koinobori fish banners that now double as symbols of the anti-nuclear protest movement.

“A new era in Japan with no nuclear power has begun,” said Gyoshu Otsu, a 56-year-old monk who joined a protest against nuclear power in front of the industry ministry in Tokyo which supervises the nation’s power utilities.

Protest organizer Masao Kimura said: “It’s a symbolic day today. Now we can prove that we will be able to live without nuclear power.”

As the reactor shuts down, Japan’s entire stable of 54 reactors will be offline.But, is this move for good?

Most likely, it isn’t and will not be or it will have a dire effect on Japan’s economy that will reverberate all over the world, especially within members of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), an international economic organization founded to stimulate economic progress and world trade.

Japan can't simply afford to be without nuclear power reactors for long to sustain their standing as a nation.
Some of the plants now off line will eventually go back in service, but only after passing new safety tests and gaining the approval of local residents.

Most importantly, the reactors must now pass International Atomic Energy Agency-approved stress tests.

‘Supermoon’ to light sky over the weekend

As I write I can only wish it won’t rain so it won’t spoil anything about the grand show that is the ‘Supermoon’ occurring over the weekend.

Supermoon is what they call the biggest and brightest full moon as it appears from our perspective as earthlings.
It is said that at 11:34 p.m., the moon will be about 221,802 miles from Earth. That's about 15,300 miles closer than average.

That proximity will make the moon appear about 14 percent bigger than it would if the moon were at its farthest distance, said Geoff Chester of the U.S. Naval Observatory. The moon's distance from Earth varies because it follows an elliptical orbit rather than a circular one.

According to Chester, like any full moon, the supermoon will look bigger when it's on or near the horizon rather than higher in the sky, thanks to an optical illusion.

In fact, to view this weekend's supermoon to best effect, look for it just after it rises or before it sets, when it is close to the horizon.

He went on to say that the supermoon will bring unusually high tides because of its closeness and its alignment with the sun and Earth, but the effect will be modest.

But, that is how far as its occurrence goes. Anything else about a "must-have-been-a-full-moon" effect in crime or crazy behavior is just a folklore.

The last supermoon, on March 19, 2011, was about 240 miles closer than this year's will be. Next year's will be a bit farther away than this year's.

Freedom Tower now tallest building in the US

They finally found a name for it.

They called it Freedom Tower, and what a fitting name for a skyscraper that is the One World Trade Center, standing as a symbol of resilience and strength of a nation targeted by terrorist.

The One World Trade Center built in Lower Manhattan, NY, replaces the World Trade Center twin towers destroyed by terrorists in 2001.

It has risen from the hallowed Ground Zero, not only as a reminder of what happened on 9/11, but a defiant symbol of power against those wanting to undermine the resolve of a nation that stands for freedom and democracy.

The timing of its completion can only be described by some as ‘poetic justice.’ Who would ever imagine that it will fall closely to the first anniversary of Osama Bin Laden's death?

The Freedom Tower, which started construction in April 2006, has 104 floors and with a 408-ft (124-m) cable-stayed spire added on top of the roof, the total structure now reaches the symbolic height of  1,776ft (541m), thus, surpassing the Willis Tower (formerly known as the Sears Tower) in Chicago, and making it the tallest building in the US.

In the shadow of the new tower is the 9/11 memorial, made up of two reflecting pools in the footprints of where the twin towers used to stand.

Nutella spread had health concerns

“Breakfast never tasted this good!”

That is what Ferrero USA, Inc. says in the ads about its product – the Nutella chocolate-hazelnut breakfast spread.

There are important questions, however, to be answered, like: Is this popular spread, that lists sugar, palm oil, hazelnuts, cocoa and skim milk as its main ingredients, healthy? Is their product advertisement telling the truth?

Apparently, a young California mother believes otherwise; deceiving, she says, as she legally questioned the wholesomeness of Nutella.

Athena Hohenberg, the mother of a preschooler in San Diego, California, led in filing a class-action lawsuit against the manufacturer of Nutella, alleging that Ferrero has pitched Nutella as something "healthier than it actually is."

Nutella's US website (www.nutellausa.com) recommends the chocolatey dark spread, with 200 calories per serving, as a way "to turn a balanced breakfast into a tasty one" when combined with whole grain bread or a bagel.

However, on verifying further the product’s nutritional information, Hohenberg, a rental property manager, was "shocked to learn that Nutella was in fact, not 'healthy, nutritious' food, but instead was the next best thing to a candy bar she'd been feeding her four-year-old daughter, and that Nutella contains dangerous level of saturated fat.

Being a class-action lawsuit and not denying that Ferrero erred in their product’s alleged health benefits, the company has reportedly set aside $3.05 million for resolving/settling the issue with some consumers, including Hohenberg.

Of the award sum, $2.5 million will be divided among claimants. It comes to a payment of about $4 a jar for up to five jars.

Sold in more than 100 countries, Nutella was invented in 1944 by Pietro Ferrero in a pastry shop in Alba, northern Italy. He died in 1949, but the company, which also makes Ferrero Rocher chocolates and Tic Tac candies, stayed in family hands.

China shuns diplomatic solution on shoal dispute

Enclosed the red line are the disputed areas in the South China Sea

How else would one interpret the latest Chinese declaration over the highly disputed Scarborough Shoal or Panatag Shoal or what Beijing calls Huangyan Island, when this economic giant and military bully ignores the sovereign rights of a small, struggling, nation and claims the whole South China Sea (West Philippine Sea) and what is underneath it as its territory by virtue of historical grounds and that it won’t never go to court to settle the matter?

A declaration of hostilities, sort of, isn't it?

Is this the way to settle territorial disputes in the 21^st century by intimidation, provocation and military muscle flexing instead of using diplomatic approach as the appropriate and rational way of settling issues that has to do with sovereign rights?

The court referred to here is the International Tribunal on the Law of the Seas (ITLOS) in Hamburg, Germany, where the country feels would be the real arbiter for such a contentious issue.
The Philippines insists that the shoal belongs to the country simply because of its extreme proximity to Zambales, which is 220 km only, compared to 840 km from the nearest coast of China in Hainan province.

Yet, China wants that the Philippines should “fully respect China’s sovereignty” and with a threatening tone even said that the Philippine government must “commit to the consensus we reached on settling the incident through friendly diplomatic consultations, and not to complicate or aggravate this incident so that peace and stability in that area can be reached.”

Is this saying that China is giving the Philippines an ultimatum?

If China has historical proof to show that the contested shoal is part of their territory, then why can’t they agree to show it to the whole world or bring it to the ITLOS? Why swiftly reject the proposal of the Philippine government that the dispute be resolved by the UN-backed ITLOS?

On the other hand, what the Philippines will bring to the ITLOS, with or without Chinese representatives, are old maps of the ‘Archipelago Filipino’ dating back to Spanish colonial times showing that “Bajo Scarburo,” the shoal now called Panatag by the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), is a constituent part of Sambalez (now Zambales province).

Senator Edgardo J. Angara, who has a collection of ancient maps of the country said that the maps would easily disprove the territorial claim of China to the shoal and its surrounding waters, which in the first place do not show any historical or legal grounds under the United Nations Convention on the Laws of the Sea (Unclos).

“It’s clear that Scarborough Shoal is part of our cartography during the Spanish colonial times,” he said. “We have maps (reproduced) from the original, which was made in 1734. During that time, Scarborough is already part of the Philippines.”

An 1875 map was the “product of the most comprehensive mapping and charting work in the Philippines lasting more than 20 years (1849-1870).”

Angara said the original maps were deposited at Spain’s Museo Naval de Madrid.

The question now is: If this testament to our ownership of the shoal is not honored by China, what will stop them from disembarking on our territory and stripping us of our dignity?

Let us be pragmatic about it. We need help. We can’t stand on our own. We need the support of the world community before this part of the world becomes a flashpoint.