Check out these animals images:
2011 Lindo gatito
Image by jose_gonzalvo
Geoffrey West out West
Image by jurvetson
Visiting chez moi.
"As animals get bigger, from tiny shrew to huge blue whale, pulse rates slow down and life spans stretch out longer, conspiring so that the number of heartbeats during an average stay on Earth tends to be roughly the same, around a billion. A mouse just uses them up more quickly than an elephant."
More biological thoughts from Geoffrey West, President of the Santa Fe Institute.
He recently extended his scaling law analyses from the organism to societies, finding economy of scale analogies in the phenomena of cities. But unlike biology, the exponent is greater than one, implying accelerating growth.
“Cities are where ideas are born… and that is a far more powerful growth stimulant than economies of scale. The presence of qualified professions and entrepreneurs constitutes a reason for a place to grow. If you can create a place that is exciting intellectually, that tends to attract more people. The findings are surprising because they suggest that cities follow growth trajectories that have no biological counterpart. This year, for the first time, more people will live in cities than in rural areas, according to UN projections. At this tipping point in human history, it is worth trying to understand the mechanisms behind urbanisation and where it is headed.” (From New Scientist)
“While most of us imagine idyllic rural America as the epitome of sustainable living, conventional wisdom is exactly backward. Cities are bastions of environmentalism. People who live in densely populated places lead environmentally friendly lives. They consume fewer resources per person and take up less space. And because efficiency scales with the size of the population, big cities are always more efficient than small cities. Bottom line: The secret to creating a more environmentally sustainable society is making our big cities bigger. We need more metropolises. The researchers also found that as cities got bigger, each individual got more productive. A doubling of population led to a more than doubling of creative and economic output.” (excerpts from SEED, July 2007)
(I wanted to test the little camera on my new crackberry, so it was a spontaneous moment...)
Asia & Baby
Image by StePagna
www.casaorizzonti.ch/
Asia (Dog) 13 y.o. and Baby aka Spider Pork : )
Asia:
Asia è un maremmano, è arrivata al rifugio dopo essere stata vittima di svariati maltrattamenti in un allevamento privato.
Asia avrebbe dovuto essere soppressa poiché considerata aggressiva a causa di tutte le violenze subite.
In data 8 ottobre 2009 ci è stato comunicato il risultato delle analisi effettuate sulla ciste di Asia. Con il cuore in mano vi comunichiamo che Asia ha un angiosarcoma.
Asia è uno degli animali del rifugio che più ha sofferto a causa della cattiveria umana, e ci è difficile accettare come anche il destino possa essere così crudele.
Tutto lo staff è vicino ad Asia, e come fin'ora fatto sarà coccolata, amata e protetta.
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Asia is a Maremman Shephard, came to the shelter after being the victim of abuse in a variety of private farming.
On 8 October 2009 there was announced the results of tests carried out on the cyst Asia. With my heart in hand we inform you that Asia has an angiosarcoma.
Asia is one of the shelter animals that suffered most because of human wickedness, and it is difficult to accept the fate can be so cruel.
All the staff is close to Asia, and as done so far will be pampered, loved and protected.
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Baby-Spider Pork:
Purtroppo conoscono tutti bene la fine di questi animali (tra l'altro molto intelligenti e puliti). Baby (soprannominata Spiderpork) è stata rifiutata dalla mamma, poiché aveva troppi piccoli. Perciò stava per essere uccisa e buttata nell'immondizia. Un nostro amico che si trovava sul posto, ha deciso di dargli il latte, ma poi non poteva più occuparsene. Per questo è arrivata a Casa Orizzonti.
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Unfortunately, everyone knows the end of these animals (among other very smart and clean). Baby (nicknamed SpiderPork) was rejected by her mother, because she had too many children. So was about to be killed and thrown in the garbage. A friend of ours who was there, decided to give him milk, but then could not deal with it. For this she got at Casa Orizzonti.
