%Public Health England published a report proving #e-cigarettes 95 percent less hazardous than regular, "normal" #cigarettes; recommends them as quitting aid.% - http://clapway.com/2015/08/22/e-cigarettes-95-percent-less-harmful-than-smoking-110/

Public Health England, an agency of the British Department of Health, published a report which describes e-cigarettes as 95 percent less hazardous than the regular, “normal” cigarettes and recommends them as a quitting aid.

“Best estimates show e-cigarettes are 95% less harmful to your health than normal cigarettes and when supported by a smoking cessation service, help most smokers to quit tobacco altogether,” Public Health England Chief Executive, Duncan Selbie, says while one of the study’s authors, Peter Hajek, professor at the Queen Mary University adds:

“My reading of the evidence is that smokers who switch to vaping remove almost all the risks smoking poses to their health.”

E-CIGARETTES DO NOT LEAD THE MASSES TO SMOKING

Anti-smoking activists and public health officials do not believe in vaping as a method for smokers to quit their unhealthy habit and believe that e-cigarettes are making smoking seem glamorous luring non-smokers into nicotine addiction.

The report though says that almost all of the 2,600,000 adults who use e-cigarettes in Great Britain used to be smokers and that most of them are using their devices in order to quit. In addition, less than 1% of adults and less than 1% of teenagers have become regular e-cig users without ever being smokers in the past.

In other words, as in the United States, smoking rates in the U.K. have decreased as vaping rates have risen and “there is no evidence so far that e-cigarettes are acting as a route into smoking for children or non-smokers.”

PHE’s report calculates that 44.8 percent of the population in Great Britain have not realized that e-cigarettes are less harmful than smoking. This number is quite small compared to the 65 percent of Americans who, according to a Reuters poll, believe that e-smoking is either worse than regular smoking or don’t know.

Related Post: Are E-Cigarettes Bad for Your Health?

Misleading pronouncements by anti-smoking organizations and public health agencies about vaping have made the masses believe that e-cigarettes may be, in fact, more dangerous than smoking. For example, CDC Director Tom Frieden says that “When it comes to tobacco products we really have to assume they’re dangerous until they’re proven safe, rather than the other way around.” However, e-cigarettes do not contain any tobacco at all.

E-CIGARETTES ARE NOT RISK FREE

This kind of misinformation may lead smokers to serious behaviors, making them believe that e-cigs are, at least, as harmful as normal cigarettes. This could keep million of smokers from quitting.

Kevin Fenton, PHE’s director of health and wellbeing, says:

“E-cigarettes are not completely risk-free, but when compared to smoking, evidence shows they carry just a fraction of the harm. The problem is people increasingly think they are at least as harmful, and this may be keeping millions of smokers from quitting,”

Ann McNeill, professor of psychiatry, psychology, and neuroscience at King’s College London, who co-authored the study adds that in her view smokers should try vaping and vapers should stop smoking entirely, in order to prove that e-cigarettes could change everything in public health.

Report: E-cigarettes are 95 percent Less Harmful Than Smoking

%Imagine searching the the #bluedepths of the ocean for some #biological novelty from a time before time and meeting the #flyingspaghettimonster.% - http://clapway.com/2015/08/16/flying-spaghetti-monster-099/

Imagine boating along in the ocean, searching through the blue depths for some biological novelty from a time before time and running into a brain-shaped creature, with what appear to be tentacles, arm-like appendages, just floating along, aimlessly, eternally. You’d probably feel like you were in the beginning of a horror flick and begin Getting the Hell Out. That’s exactly what happened to BP crews as they were doing some research off the coast of Angola when they discovered a flying spaghetti monster lurking in the water along side them. Well, almost.

REAL-LIFE FLYING SPAGHETTI MONSTER

BP company divers were working off the Angola coast collecting video footage of the deep sea. They were around 4,000 feet below the surface with a remotely operated underwater vehicle when they came across this scary looking creature. Not knowing what it was, they BP divers dubbed it a “Flying Spaghetti Monster” due to its long tentacle-looking appendages. Terrified and not knowing what this creature was, the divers videotaped it, hoping to later identify what this creature might actually be.

WHAT IS A FLYING SPAGHETTI MONSTER?

While you might picture a plate of spaghetti with wings, flying around all willy-nilly, that’s not quite what this thing turned out to be. According to researchers at the National Oceanography Centre in Southampton, England, this “flying spaghetti monster” is what is known as a siphonophore, specifically a Bathyphysa conifer. This particular type of B. conifer belongs to the suborder Cystonectae, the World Register of Marine Species tells us.
Siphonophores are a class of marine animals that belongs to the phylum Cnidaria, and you might recognize some of the other animals in this classification, such as corals and jellyfish. According to the Christian Science Monitor, this spaghetti-like creature is made up of various multicellular organisms known as zooids. In an interview with Live Science, doctoral student of ecology and evolutionary biology at Brown University, Catriona Munro, tells us that it is rare to see these creatures in their natural habitat.

Earth: The Final Frontier

Scientists have discovered several new species of animals in the last few years, many of which were new forms of marine life, just like the “flying spaghetti monster.” According to the Smithsonian Magazine, more than 100 were just discovered in the Philippines. Dive researchers discovered 40 new types of Nudibranch, and the skeleton of a new kind of heart urchin. It is likely that we will continue to discover various new species of diverse life here on Earth, and it’s exciting to imagine what else could be out there!

BEFORE HAILING CAPTAINS NEMO & AHAB, THINK OVER THE WEEK:

Evidence of the “Flying Spaghetti Monster”

Archaeology Meets History: The Grateful Dead Of Jamestown - http://clapway.com/2015/08/02/archaeology-meets-history-the-grateful-dead-in-jamestown-111/

Several hundred years ago, a chaplain, a soldier, a nobleman and an explorer were brought together to establish the original British settlement in America. They faced hardship in disease, diet scarcity, native animosity, violence and intra-community struggles. And they may have been forgotten forever if not for a recent dig, which identified their bodies 400 years after their death.

ARCHAEOLOGY AND HISTORY

These four historical icons’ confirmation were announced on Tuesday, at Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History. The team of researchers responsible for the find was led by anthropologist Douglas Owsley, and together they confirmed the identity of these deceased settlers. Uncovered in the chancel of Jamestown’s historic 1608 church, the place Pocahontas married John Rolfe, are the remains of Reverend Robert Hunt, Captain Gabriel Archer, sir Ferdinando Wainman, and Captain William West.

“We have discovered four of the first leaders of the whole English enterprise in America,” said James Horn, the president of the Jamestown Rediscovery archaeology project.

THE PRIVILEGED DIE, TOO

In the year 2010, when archaeologists first discovered the 1608 church, they knew immediately that these deceased were once men of stature, i.e. rich and entitled, since burial under a chancel

is traditionally reserved for the most important members of an Anglican church.

The graves’ excavation started in 2013.

MULTIFARIOUS EMPIRICAL METHODS USED FOR STUDY

Despite the fact that only 30% of the skeletons remained intact enough for study, the scientists involved in the study were able to identify the ruined bodies with the help of reliably disparate evidence, including the relatively ritualistic way in which they were buried, chemical analyses of bones and surrounding material, genealogical research and 3D imaging technology.

E.g., with a little study of the teeth, forensic experts were able to deduce each of the mens’ age of death. This was then cross-referenced with old baptismal records and attendance at universities.

These deceased teeth also shed light on how long each of the men had lived in the settlement. Why does this matter? It turns out those whom had left the Old World for the New tended to develop serious decay and abscesses in their teeth. Owsley thinks the change in diet was responsible for this. While these men were in England, the men ate mostly barley and wheat, but, in America, they’d switched to corn, whose sticky carbohydrates are more inimical to dental health.

When the data from these remains is conjoined into an image, we construct a story of life, death and religious beliefs during a critical twist in history during a time of mass settlement. This shows us a time when humble beginnings faced annihilation by famine and disease every single day.

 

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FORTUNATELY, YOU DON’T HAVE TO STRUGGLE TO HYDRATE

Archaeology Meets History: The Grateful Dead Of Jamestown

Leaked Pictures Show Queen of England Performing Nazi Salute - http://clapway.com/2015/07/18/leaked-pictures-show-queen-of-england-performing-nazi-salute867/

It does not happen every day to look at the news and see pictures of the Queen of England, who likes to wear fancy coloured hats and speak incredibly posh English, performing Nazi salutes in black and white videos.

Queen of england performs nazi salutes

One of Britain’s leading Tabloids “The Sun” published leaked images of the future queen raising her arm in the style of the German Nazis. The black and white footage shows the future Queen of England, aged six or seven, together with her sister Margaret, joining the Queen Mother and Prince Edward.

The same Prince Edward who appears in the footage, later became King Edward VIII and faced more than one change for being a Nazi sympathiser. Edward and his wife, the American Wallis Simpson, were spotted in October 1937 meeting Adolf Hitler, just two weeks before the start of the Second World War.

A matter of “historical significance”?

The editor of the tabloid which published the pictures,“The Sun,” Stig Abell, defended the publication’s decision to release the footage, shot either in 1933 or 1934, emphasising that the queen performing a nazi salute is a matter of “historical significance”.

Speaking to the BBC he said: “I think the justification is relatively evident – it’s a matter of national historical significance to explore what was going on in the thirties ahead of the second world war.”

The paper used the pun “Their Royal Heilness” as their cover title this morning.

”Misleading and disonest”

Buckingham Palace, despite not responding frequently to these type of news, said that it was “disappointing” that the film, which was shot eighty years ago, had been “exploited” in such ways. +

Through an official statement, the Palace dismissed the footage as a mere “family game” stressing the fact that by the time it was shot, nobody had any idea of how Nazi power would evolve through time.

According to an official source from Buckingham Palace: “Most people will see these pictures in their proper context and time. This is a family playing and momentarily referencing a gesture many would have seen from contemporary news reels. No one at that time had any sense how it would evolve. To imply anything else is misleading and dishonest.”

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Leaked Pictures Show Queen of England Performing Nazi Salute

After reading this, you"ll think "what"s a little mj?" - http://clapway.com/2015/06/28/poppy-plants-close-to-be-home-brewed-drawing-thin-line-between-science-and-crime-223/

For centuries, poppy plants were grown in some remote fields well hidden in Afghanistan’s topography, thanks to a group of scientists, this may soon change.

The last gene in the quest to lab-engineer opiates such as morphine was finally identified. Some fear that the scientific breakthrough could perhaps be a double-edged sword, helping drug traffickers produce “Brown Sugar” in their backyards.

THE THIN LINE BETWEEN SCIENCE AND CRIME

About a month ago, researchers and policymakers started fussing about a frightening scenario for drug enforcement: the possibility of aficionados “home brewing” narcotics such as the highly addictive opiates. Well, we now know that this could happen sooner than predicted.

Researchers in the UK and Australia announced that they have discovered one of the most sought-after genes in poppies that could help scientists engineering morphine-making yeast to manufacture painkillers and other poppy-derived compounds.

THE LAST ELEMENT OF THE GENE SEQUENCE

Scientists have finally determined the last ‘ingredient’ playing a major role in the synthesis of the morphine class of alkaloids, which include the “most effective painkillers known to man,” according to lead researcher Professor Ian Graham.

The gene, called STORR, was the ultimate element of the sequence, which may now be used by researchers to coax opiate production from microbes such as yeast. STORR’s discovery was recently detailed in a new paper published in the journal ‘Science’.

MIXED REACTIONS

People have grown poppy plants to produce pain relief drugs for thousands of years, generating global prescription sales of around 12 billion US dollars annually.

While the scientific (and pharmaceutical) community is thrilled about the new discovery, law enforcement authorities foretell the risk of people starting to illegally produce opiate on their own.

The potential exploitation of this technology could result in drug dealers developing narcotics as easily as brewers now craft their own cider.

What if a small garden of poppy plants in someone’s backyard starts feeding the growing appetite for heroin across the globe?

OPIUM PRODUCTION AND TRAFFICKING

According to the latest annual World Drug Report published by the United Office on Drugs and Crime (UNOCD) on Friday, illegal opium production occupies more land worldwide than ever before. Overall, global opium poppy cultivation in 2014 reached the highest level since the late 1930s. This is largely because of a surge in cultivation in Afghanistan, the dominant opium producer.

Although the destination of the additional quantities of drugs such as heroin is unclear, there are signs of change in the supply chain, underlining the fact that “the reach of organized criminal networks continues to be global and that organized criminal groups are becoming increasingly sophisticated and versatile.”

CONSUMPTION OF POPPY-DERIVED DRUGS

While data indicate that the use of heroin and opium has remained stable at the global level, the abuse of pharmaceutical opioids has continued to rise.

Some 32.4 million people – or 0.7 per cent of the world’s adult population – are users of poppy-derived drugs, with women being reportedly more likely to misuse pharmaceutical prescriptions.

POSSIBLE FUTURE SCENARIOS

The UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged the international community to focuses on alternative development; a long-term strategy aimed at coming up with substitute sources of income for farmers dependent on illicit drug cultivation.

As science is one step closer to producing poppy plants in labs, there are a number of scenarios that could unravel. Number one: the technology will remain within the scientific community, generating potential life-saving drugs. Number two: governments across the globe will consequently be encouraged to come up with alternative employment opportunities for all the farmers involved in opium production. Number three: drug dealers, even the “small fishes” in this big pound, will start growing their own poppy plants resulting in increased narcotics supply and easier access to the international illegal drug market.

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Poppy Plants Close to Be "Home Brewed", Drawing Thin Line Between Science and Crime

"I learnt to enjoy going at my own pace, moving in silence and having the confidence to make choices alone." - http://clapway.com/2015/05/31/solo-trip-to-the-lake-district/

I’m not one that travels alone often but with a lot of spare time and an itching to go and do something new, I decided to take a day trip to the Lake District by myself. I have travelled alone before but usually I end up meeting a friend when I reach my destination so I’m not used to being completely independent. But in this trip, I learnt to enjoy going at my own pace, moving in silence and having the confidence to make choices alone.

The Lake District (also known as The Lakes or Lakeland) is a mountainous National Park in North East England. I travelled by foot in the towns of Windermere and Bowness. The lady at the information centre was very helpful and pointed out to me the different viewpoints in the Lake District and I spent my day going between these. Being alone meant having to navigate completely by myself. Thankfully iPhones were invented so this allowed me to figure out where I was going without getting too lost. The towns in the Lake District are very classical English countryside towns: no busy high streets and tall buildings but lots of nature, small shops and narrow winding roads.

There was a lot of hiking up hills, but it was definitely worth it when you were treated to some spectacular sights. I had to be very careful when I was hiking up because as I was alone, if I tripped and fell, there would be no one to help me. But I took my time, calculated my steps and took it at a leisurely pace. And as mentioned, there were some terrific views of the beauty that is the English countryside so the hiking was definitely worth it. Another positive of travelling alone meant taking as long as I needed to take photos of the scenery without having to wait for any impatient friends.

If I had more time, I could have taken a boat ride, or hired a bike and seen some other towns. But even if it were only for one day, I would definitely visit a day out in the Lake District if you end up in the North of England.

 

Solo Trip to The Lake District