Global warming is a fantasy in the environment

Some say global warming is a fantasy in the environment. Some say it was destiny. Scientists are still pros and cons about it. To be sure, that natural phenomena can be felt in the following 10 events. And that certainly is not a mere imagination, because we've been there.

* Forest fires massive
Not only in Indonesia, a number of forests in the United States also burned ludes. In recent decades, forest fires over many areas meluluhlantakan within a longer, too. Scientists attribute this rampant fires with increasingly hot temperatures and snow melting faster. Spring came early so that the snow melts early, too. Forest areas drier than usual and more easily burned.

* Easily damaged archaeological sites
As a result of a hostile nature, a number of temples, historic sites, temples and other artifacts more easily damaged than some time ago. floods, extreme temperatures and causing tidal it all. Historic Sites 600 years old in Thailand, Sukhotai, already damaged by floods recently.

* The height of the mountain reduced
Without realizing it many people, the Alps have high shrinkage. This caused the melting of ice on top. For hundreds of years, the weight of the ice has pushed the earth's surface due to the pressure. As the ice melts, the weight is lifted and slowly lifted back to surface.

* The satellite moves faster
Carbon dioxide emissions more quickly make the planet warm, even into space impact. Terluat the air in the atmosphere is very thin, but with the increased carbon dioxide Jumah, the molecules in the upper atmosphere together more slowly and tend to radiate energy, and cools the surrounding air. The more carbon dioxide up there, then the atmosphere creates more encouragement, and the satellites move faster.

* Only the Strongest of Abiding
As a result of the growing season uncertain, the only living beings is the strong can survive. For example, early flowering plants this year, the migration of animals occur more quickly. They are moving slowly will lose food, they sementar more agile, able to survive. The same is true for all living things including humans.

* Massive Melting
Not only the temperature that triggers melting planet gununges, but also all the layers of soil that had been frozen. This melting ground trigger wrinkle causing irregular holes and damage to structures such as railways, highways, and houses. The impact of this instability on the high plains like the mountains could even cause the collapse of rock.

* Peculiarity in the Polar Region
The loss of 125 lakes in the Arctic a few decades ago led to the idea that global warming is happening more "excited" at the poles. Research around airyang source shows the possibility of missing the melting of the frozen world basis.

* Flowering plants in the Arctic
When melting Arctic trigger problems at the plant in danhewan lower plateau, also created the same situation with saatmatahari buried in the Arctic biota. Plants there is always trapped in the ice is no longer and began to grow. Scientists found an increase in photosynthetic formation of soil compared to soil surrounding the ancient era.

* Habitat Living Move to a Higher Plain
Since the early decades of the 1900s, humans had to climb in order to find lebihtinggi squirrel, beaver or forest rats. Scientists found that these animals have moved to higher ground due to global warming. The displacement of these habitats threatens the habitat of polar bears as well, because the ice where they live are also melting.

* Increased Allergy Cases
Often experience sneezing attacks and itchy in the spring matasaat, then Blame global warming. Several decades of allergy and asthma cases among the American people experienced an increase. Hidupdan pattern of pollution is considered the trigger. Scientists study showed that high levels of carbon dioxide and temperature trigger latter. These conditions also make the plants bloom earlier and produce more pollen.

(see More from www.livescience.com)

Professional web designers

I'm working on my very own links page, but until it is done, here are two great sites to check out:

Matt Deasy and Peter MacDonald have launched a new link site, a basic directory for web designers and topics related to web design. The site is called Bulletproof Links and it has got a good start with lots of useful links already. Visitors can add links by filling in a simple form. Simple, but very useful.

Andrew "dez" Fernandez has a great categorized web design link archive, which I have found useful many times. In fact, I like the site so much that I wrote to dez and asked him to add a link to my templates page – which he has agreed to do. That made me like the page even more! This is a must-have bookmark for anyone interested in web design. If you have comments about an this post please share with us, who is the best professional design now

Free open source or Professional Design ?

First off, the XHTML/CSS templates that I have released through OSWD.org and on my templates page are not really supposed to look great. They are supposed to work as a solid ground for people who want to get a high-quality website online in a fast and simple way – in the spirit of OSWD.org, the site that got me started with open source template design. But the templates are also made as a tool for other designers who want to start with a working layout and add a great visual appearance along with their content. There is no need to waste time on building core layouts when the web is full of great open source layouts that works great…

The templates are built in a "one-size-fits-all" kind of fashion, which makes them suitable for many different kinds of websites. They are easy to customize, and very simple in code and layout structure. The more generic, the more useful they are so simplicity is an actual feature. The basic layout and details like valid code, accessibility features, low file size, and a simple navigation system are more important than beautiful images and flashy effects. I could of course do very specific and detailed templates, but that would mean that only a few people would find them useful. And usability is what the templates are all about.

Professional site design

Site design, on the other hand, needs to be very specific. Most commercial websites are created for a purpose. The more specific a site is, the better it fits its purpose. When I create a site design, I spend a lot of energy on details that many people will not notice – but that adds to the experience or functionality. While generic templates are never really unique, a commercial design must be something of its own, while people at the same time should be able to identify or relate to the company, the product, the event or whatever the website is promoting. The design must match (and enhance) the company profile and give a lasting impression of the general image. And it needs to be appealing to the target audience, which is normally defined by various demographic categories such as age, nationality, gender and income just to give a few examples. It must be fresh and striking so that it creates a curiosity and an interest for the company or product. If the site fails at any of these points, chances are that it may fail its purpose as well.

Details like valid code and accessibility features are often (sadly) low priorities to the clients, while graphics and cool effects is among the most important parts of the whole site. In order to provide a high-quality website, I need to keep a balance between the purpose and the functionality of the site. After all, web standards and accessibility are still important things even if many clients don't care about it. While I would rather build an accessible website with less features than a website with amazing features that doesn't work for everyone, it is not really my call. Sometimes I must accept that the site I build will not validate, which I would never do for the templates.

CMS – the Content Management System

Content management systems have become more and more popular over the years, and today almost anyone can have their own CMS to power their site. The open source systems are incredibly popular, and blogs become more and more common. The demand for new CMS designs and blog themes is big, and many people use open source web designs on their sites and blogs. In fact, many of the most popular CMS and blog themes were originally posted as free OSWD templates! The templates that I release are easy to convert to blog themes or CMS "skins". My templates have been converted to public themes for WordPress, Etomite CMS, LifeWithChrist, MovableType, Textpattern and sNews just to mention some of the most popular site engines. Some of the templates have also been used for commercial sites and custom CMS solutions, but in those cases they have often been strongly modified.

Whenever I build a commercial site, I often use one of these CMS or blog systems. sNews is my favorite for smaller sites because of its simplicity, while I prefer WordPress for larger websites because I know the system very well – but also for the many great plugins. But the custom-designed themes that I build as a part of a site design could never be released as a public theme. Not only because of the obvious design ownership and purpose reasons but also because the custom designs would not work for other kinds of sites – they are too specific.

Examples of designs

Here are a few examples of design work that I have made for various projects. None of these have been (or will be) available as an open source template, but if any of this gives you an idea for a template, please let me know and I may build it if I like the idea. Please note that some of these images are a lot smaller than the original designs and that there are no full-size screens available.

Conclusion

Open source templates and professional site designs are simply not the same thing. The difference is not only that templates are "ugly" in comparisation with site designs. The two things look different, work different, are made in different ways (where site design take a lot more time to do than templates) and they are made for totally different reasons. Templates are made for functionality, made with no other purpose than to help others. Site designs are made for a defined (and most often commercial) purpose. Designed sites look cooler, have more interesting features and their own "image", while templates are generic and neutral – with space for other people to add whatever "image" they want to.

And that leads to the explaination why I promote my templates rather than my professional services. It is simply because I do webdesign for the fun of it. I really like it, and it is one of my biggest interests. I've even worked professionally with web design (beside music production) for two years now, and I have learned a lot from it. But professional design is so much more than just the design, and all the related work take a lot of focus away from the creativity. There are more conditions (less freedom) and harder deadlines (less time for experiments), and huge expectations in the pro world. And at the end, in the best case scenario, the client is happy with the result. But template design is total freedom! No time limits, no demands, no expectations and most important: Thousands of people use each template – no matter how simple it is! It is encouraging, uplifting and truly inspiring. Template design doesn't give any money (other than your PayPal donations which I appreciate a LOT!), but gives me a lot of happiness…

I hope that this answers the question. Feedback and crazy ideas are welcome, as always.

Islamic fundamentalism with leadership election

David Charter in Brussels

The UK Independence Party is set to head in a fresh direction, fighting radical Islam, with the election today of a replacement for Nigel Farage as its national leader.

The two favourites to take over from Mr Farage are committed to adding the battle against Islamic fundamentalism to the party’s main goal of withdrawing Britain from the European Union.

Mr Farage resisted strong grassroots pressure during his three-year leadership to broaden UKIP’s focus to include actively campaigning against Islamism and immigration. But both Lord Pearson of Rannoch and the London MEP Gerard Batten - the two front-runners in a field of five candidates - say that they are determined to target Islamic fundamentalism.

The other three candidates are Mike Nattrass and Nikki Sinclaire, both MEPs, and Alan Wood, a councillor from Wiltshire and a senior party insider.

The result of the ballot of UKIP’s 16,500 members will to be announced today. Lord Pearson, 67, an Eton-educated self-made millionaire, was endorsed by Mr Farage as his only “serious” successor this month. Mr Batten called the endorsement an “insult” to the other challengers.

Lord Pearson invited the anti-Islam Dutch politician Geert Wilders to the House of Lords in February only for Jacqui Smith, then the Home Secretary, to issue a banning order so that Mr Wilders was turned away at Heathrow. The Dutchman travelled to Britain in October after overturning the ban.

Lord Pearson’s own outspoken views about Islam were recorded in Washington DC last month. Asked how much time Britain had before losing control of its cultural identity he said: “What is going to decide the answer to that is the birthrate. The fact that Muslims are breeding ten times faster than us. I do not know at what point they reach such a number that we are no longer able to resist the rest of their demands . . . but if we do not do something now within the next year or two we have in effect lost.”

He later insisted that his remark was directed at Islamists. “One is talking about the violent end of the spectrum,” he said.

Mr Batten, 55, has also invited Mr Wilders to speaking engagements and has called the Dutch politician “a brave man trying to defend western civilisation”. This year, writing in the magazine Freedom Today, Mr Batten addressed the notion of the confrontation of Islamism and the West. “It is a clash between civilisation and barbarism. It is a clash between everything that has made the modern world what it is and an ideology that wants to enslave us to a belief system that belongs in seventh-century Arabia and which was primitive and backward even then.”

Ms Sinclaire, 41, a newly elected MEP, has campaigned strongly and is regarded as having an outside chance of taking the leadership. Her main aim is to professionalise UKIP and organise a Shadow Cabinet to extend its appeal.

Mr Nattrass, 63, an MEP for the West Midlands since 2004, believes that UKIP’s main focus should be on winning votes in the next general election but has largely been absent during the campaign due to an illness in the family. Mr Wood is well known within UKIP as its nominating officer.

A UKIP source said that if Lord Pearson or Mr Batten were elected “You are going to see quite a lot stronger position from us. Nigel has always been afraid of the Islam thing backfiring. But the BNP are taking ownership of issues that have not been addressed by Labour, the Conservatives or the Lib Dems and they need addressing.”

Rainforest destruction accounts for 17% of global greenhouse gas emissions

Environmentalists across the world are to be enlisted as armchair detectives to monitor satellite images of rainforests and report any illegal logging.

The images will be frequently updated and anyone with internet access will be able to make instant comparisons with historical images and spot destruction of rainforest almost as soon as it happens.

Every four seconds an area of rainforest the size of a football pitch is cut or burnt down for timber and paper or to clear land for cattle and plantations.

Rainforest destruction accounts for 17 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions, more than is produced by all the world’s cars, ships and aircraft. Tropical forests cover 15 per cent of the world’s land surface and have a double cooling effect, soaking up carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and maintaining high levels of evaporation from the canopy.

(Rickey Rogers/Reuters)

Rainforest destruction accounts for 17% of global greenhouse gas emissions

The armchair detectives will be able to report their findings to an international agency being created to monitor whether countries are meeting their commitments to reduce deforestation. Any state found to have broken its pledge will lose its share of a new global fund established by rich countries to pay nations for leaving their trees standing.

The fund, called Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (Redd) and worth up to $30 billion (£18 billion) a year, is due to be approved at the UN climate change summit in Copenhagen next month.

Google is helping to create the new online detective tool, which is likely to be launched next year. Philipp Schindler, from Google UK, said: “Our engineers are exploring how we might contribute to this effort by developing a global forest platform that would enable anyone in the world, including tropical nations, to monitor deforestation and draw attention to it.”

Mr Schindler was speaking yesterday at a seminar on deforestation hosted at St James’s Palace by Prince Charles and attended by leaders and ministers from several of the largest rainforest countries.

President Jagdeo of Guyana told the seminar that the cheapest way for industrialised countries to reduce carbon emissions was to pay poor countries, such as Guyana, not to fell their trees.

Contributors to the Redd fund will pay about £4 for each tonne of CO2 saved by reducing the rate of deforestation. Fitting carbon capture and storage systems to coal-fired power stations costs more than £50 for each tonne saved.

Norway announced last week that it would demonstrate how Redd could work by paying Guyana up to £150 million over five years to preserve its trees.

Guyana’s forests have been far less logged than in many tropical nations, and under the terms of the new deal with Norway, Guyana could actually be paid for increasing deforestation. The memorandum states that Norway will compensate Guyana if it does not cut down more than 0.45 per cent of its forests per year, but Guyana is currently felling trees at a far slower rate. The countries contributing to Redd are concerned that their money could disappear into the pockets of corrupt officials in poorly governed countries. There are also fears that payments will result in logging companies switching to unprotected areas, resulting in no net reduction in deforestation.

Per Frederik Pharo, of the Norwegian Government’s forest protection fund, said payments would only be made when countries could prove that they had reduced their annual rate of deforestation by an agreed amount. He said the targets would be raised every five years.

Brazil has halved its rate of deforestation in the past year but Tasso Azevedo, of Brazil’s Forest Service, warned that it could increase again unless the country received substantial sums of Redd “People have to have some income and we need a lot of cash for the community to maintain the forest,”he said.