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Camera CATalogue: Help Cat Conservation Without Going to Africa  

A new wildlife photo website that Panthera, the global wild cat conservation organization, launched recently is called Camera CATalogue.  “We've launched this with our partners at Zooniverse as a platform that houses tens of thousands of Panthera's camera trap photos and engages with citizen scientists and wildlife lovers around the world, asking that they help identify the big cats and other fascinating animals pictured in these photos,” says Ross Pitman, Leopard Monitoring Coordinator for Panthera. “The idea is that the more we know about the number of big cats and their prey populations, where they live and roam, and how our efforts are helping to protect them using these images, the better.”

Fancying myself as a bit of a wildlife spotter, especially in Africa, where I have visited more than three dozen sanctuaries, including the iconic Kruger, Okavango, Hwange, and Serengeti national parks, I tried out Camera CATalogue. It's quite addictive, and I had to tear myself away after identifying a hundred or more animals. It's also fascinating to “observe” what animals get up to when people are not around.

Ross Pitman was kind enough to answer a few questions about Camera CATalogue and how this kind of citizen science helps conservation, even if those of us who engage with it are on the other side of the world.

DB: How does this citizen science project help protect big cats? It's presumably not only about monitoring species and numbers of cats, but also prey base and threats (vehicles and people) in their range?

Camera CATalogue has two main objectives with regards to monitoring wild cats across vast landscapes using camera traps. First, it's a platform that provides people from around the world (even those that have never visited Africa) with the opportunity to engage with wildlife and actively contribute to wildlife conservation. Second, and by no means less important, Camera CATalogue allows Panthera's scientists to monitor larger areas than ever before, but without the time-consuming challenge of identifying every species within each camera trap photo. By engaging the wider community, Camera CATalogue helps us identify animals more accurately, simply because each image is viewed by so many people.

Since we're now able to camera-trap across far larger areas and still accurately process all the data, we're able to ask many more questions and provide many more answers relating to wildlife conservation. A suite of important questions center around indices of prey abundance and prey quality. Is there enough prey around to support carnivores in the area? And if not, what are the primary causes of prey decline? These prey-focused questions might generate more questions related to human pressure, perhaps from poachers or subsistence farmers. How are the animals in the area—both carnivores and herbivores—responding to human disturbance? Are animals actively avoiding densely populated areas, and what are the conservation implications for these animals or the financial repercussions (through ecotourism) for people? We can also go further and ask far broader questions about how wildlife use their habitat at a landscape scale and how they interact with each other. These questions have significant conservation implications and importance, and need answers soon if we're to curb the precipitous declines faced by many wild cats, and wildlife more generally.

Camera CATalogue provides a means of making research more efficient, and therefore, more effective. This ultimately allows scientists to focus on more pressing conservation concerns—with the added benefit of hopefully encouraging budding citizen scientists to pursue a career in wildlife conservation.

How many photos are in the database? How many cameras are used? How are they secured?

Camera CATalogue's database currently holds around 160,000 images. This first batch of images represents a tenth of the total images we need identified in the coming weeks and months. It's easy to see why we so desperately need the help of thousands of citizen scientists across the world! In addition, we are constantly expanding our research footprint across the world, and usually take on a few new surveillance sites every year.

In terms of cameras and their setup, we typically use 80 PantheraCams (a Panthera custom-made camera trap) set up in pairs across roads or animal paths in order to photograph both flanks of an animal as it walks past our PantheraCams. Some animals, like spotted cats, have unique coat patterns, and photographing both flanks enables us to identify each individual. We then use this information to run complex analyses to robustly determine their population densities across the survey area, which gives us the data so urgently needed to inform sound, science-based management and conservation decisions.

One major challenge with using camera traps to monitor wildlife is that our PantheraCams are often stolen, either by animals (like elephants!) or by people. To reduce theft, we secure the PantheraCams to trees or metal posts (hammered deep into the ground) using cable ties or bungee cord and connect the PantheraCams to steel cables that are linked to the tree or post. Although not 100% secure, we have noticed a reduction in theft—primarily from elephants who find it annoying to walk around with a PantheraCam that's still attached to a metal post.

How many photos remain to be sorted and identified?

Camera CATalogue was launched on August 4^th, 2016, and in the first 24 hours over 8,000 citizen scientists cumulatively identified 170,000 images! Each image is shown to 10 citizen scientists to ensure identification accuracy, which means this current database is approximately 10 percentcomplete.

What have you already learned from this project?

The biggest take-home message from the launch of Camera CATalogue was in realizing how much people enjoy identifying wildlife, and are willing to spend their own time to help our conservation efforts. It's a fantastic feeling to know we have the support and assistance of so many citizen scientists around the world.

What do you still hope to find out?

The biggest what-if would be to know if this initial interest in Camera CATalogue will be sustained. There is so much data to process that we could use this level of response to constantly assist our scientists. Our PantheraCams take such amazing photos though, so we're hopeful that citizen scientists will flock to Camera Catalogue for a long time to come.

Do you have any funny/unusual photos you can share?

One of the most amazing photographs taken by the PantheraCams shows a genet (a small mongoose/weasel-like mammal) on the back of a rhino. The genet proceeded to hitch a ride on the rhino for quite some time! It's these sorts of species interactions that make camera trapping such an amazing surveillance tool.

How can this citizen science project be used to educate people and help them become better stewards of the planet, even if they live half a world away from where these photos are made?

By allowing citizen scientists the opportunity to actively participate in wildlife research, Camera CATalogue will hopefully raise people's excitement about conserving these precious species and the habitats in which they live. Even for those that have previously visited these wild places, Camera CATalogue provides a way of re-experiencing the magic of viewing animals in the wild. This constant engagement with wildlife will help to engender a sense of ownership and compassion towards animals and ultimately generate a more conservation-aware community.

 
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Right-Wing Media Org Is Crowdfunding to Distort Obama's Record on Coal  
The right-wing Media Research Center is getting into the crowdfunding business, setting up a Kickstarter page to raise $15,000 for "completing the production and marketing" of a "short documentary" about "the devastating human toll of the EPA's war on coal," to be called "Collateral Damage." Here's the pitch:

Several months ago, MRCTV sent a camera crew to the southern counties of West Virginia to document the impact of the EPA regulations on the coal industry and the local communities that have historically relied on it for survival. What the team found was devastating.

The effect of shuttered coal mines and the loss of thousands of coal jobs has trickled down into nearly every facet of these communities, crippling local businesses, destroying the housing market and forcing desperate families from their homes. Thousands are without work, while still thousands more live under the constant threat of job loss and bankruptcy. Local charities struggle to meet the needs around them, only to be quickly overwhelmed. While the media are focusing on "climate change," hardworking Americans are left to wonder how they will keep the lights on in a house they're struggling to hold on to.

Through a compelling series of up-close footage and brutally honest interviews, "Collateral Damage" will expose in stark detail the real, human impact of President Obama's promised and delivered assault on the coal industry, and on the hardworking Americans and their families in Central Appalachia.

This is a true American story about real American people. And we need more Americans like you to help us get it out.

The solicitation doesn't explain why a wealthy organization like the MRC -- which raised more than $15 million in 2015 -- can't pony up a measly $15,000 to edit and promote footage they've already shot.

And it looks like this documentary will be on the dishonest side. In the trailer -- which frames President Obama and his EPA as the sole source of misery in coal-mining country -- there's a clip of Obama saying, "You know, the irony is that what's actually hurt coal is not any EPA rules." That clip is cut off abruptly.

Why? Because Obama's full statement under mines the entire premise of the MRC's film. Here's the full statement by Obama, with the tiny snippet the MRC used in bold:

You know, the irony is that what's actually hurt coal is not any EPA rules as much as it is any really cheap natural gas that has come from fracking, a new technology that we developed that allowed the United States to become the leading producer of natural gas in the world. And those gas-fired plants -- natural gas-fired plants are now so much more efficient that even if there were no rules whatsoever, coal would be replaced by natural gas in terms of generating electricity. Natural gas is a little cleaner than coal, and what we are saying in the same way that natural gas has replaced a lot coal-fired plants, well, let's see if we can get that same kind of progress on solar and wind and, you know, hydro and other clean energies that are sustainable over the long term.

And what we to then do is invest in those communities that used to have a lot of coal miners, which was a tough, dirty job. Let's retrain them so that they're the ones who are installing wind turbines. Let's retrain them so they are getting jobs in the solar industry. And that's the nature of American innovaton and American change. We used to have a lot of folks who worked on farms. Farms became really efficient here in the United States, and what we did then is said, let's set up public schools and let's set up community colleges and land-grant colleges and let's have them work in the factories. And then now we're having them work in the digital world.

And you know, we can't abandon those communities, and there's still some market for coal. And I'm still investing, by the way, in technologies that could potentially pull the carbon out of coal so that -- there's a lot of coal here in the United States as there is in China and India. If we could figure out a way to do that cleanly, that should be part of our smart energy mix. But we can't stand still. America never has, it never will.

So it's not the EPA who's the only villain here, or even the main one -- it's also fracking, something conservatives like the MRC have championed. And Obama has not maliciously abandoned coal miners -- he supports retraining them for new jobs. Somehow, we doubt that retraining will get mentioned in the MRC's film.

Also, apparently nobody has told the MRC that Obama is not running for re-election, so bashing him seems rather pointless.

It looks like the only "collateral damage" we'll actually be seeing from the MRC is to the truth.

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

 
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80 Years of Greenland's Vanishing Glaciers  
Re-creating photographs from the 1930s can help scientists understand Greenland's melting glaciers and predict how quickly climate change might make them disappear into the sea. This video was...

-- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com  
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Time for Plan B: Europe Must Not Be Blackmailed by Turkey  
After agreeing to help the European Union control the flow of migrants heading north, the Turkish government now feels empowered to use the deal as leverage. Europe must now find an alternative to its agreement with Ankara, lest it subject itself to blackmail.  
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r0B0t: This badass little girl's pink robot was the real winner of 'Robot Wars'  

LONDON — To win Robot Wars, you need to outlast the other robots in your heat, make it through to the final and then crush your opponent in a fierce one-on-one fight to the death.

But that's not the only way you can win.

On Sunday's episode, the pink blade-wielding robot Glitterbomb — which came complete with a feisty little girl called April — may not have won the battle, but it was definitely the people's champion.

Here's Team Glitterbomb.

And here's April, the official "boss" of the team.

"I chose the colour scheme and I also chose the design," said April in the pre-battle interview. "It's a pink robot that's all glittery with a belt around its waist, and the axe is really spiky so it can dig in robots." Read more...

More about Uk, Reaction, Twitter, Bbc, and Robot  
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Billion-tonne IceCube: Sterile neutrinos do not exist  

We're, um, Straight Outta 'fourth' 'trons... 'trinos... you know what we mean scientists

Scientists are almost certain that the sterile neutrino does not exist after failing to find any sign of the ghostly particle at the IceCube Neutrino Observatory in the South Pole.…

 
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Can our Weary World Keep Feeding Us?  
For most of us in Europe, 8th August is just another summer's day. But it also marks a more chilling moment in our calendar: the day our world starts going into debt. By the 8th we will have used up the supply of natural resources that the Earth can regenerate within one year. For the remaining 40 percent of the year, we will add to the overdraft of nature's budget.

Called 'Earth Overshoot Day', it is a stark reminder that the planet we live on has natural limits within which we must live. And perhaps no other sector is feeling these boundaries more than the agriculture sector that feeds us. As the population surges and our diets become more resource-intensive (think meat, dairy, oils), agriculture is faced with the Herculean task of meeting an ever-increasing demand for food while helping to sustain our landscapes and the very biosphere of the Earth itself.

Today, agriculture is the world's single largest driver of global environmental change, much of it negative. So the basic challenge is this: can we produce even more food by intensifying our agricultural production, yet stay within the Earth's budget? Can agriculture become a key contributor to a global transition to a sustainable world? According to a recent paper published in scientific journal Ambio, the answer is yes, if we take better care not to cross the 'planetary boundaries' that affect our food system most directly. This is what we need to do.

We need to make our soils a carbon trap. We must transform agriculture from the world's single largest source of greenhouse gases into a major sink by adapting the way we farm so we capture carbon in the soil. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, about 90 percent of agriculture's technical potential to reduce the effects of climate change lies in this very method.

We have to grow more food on less land and reduce waste. We need more forest cover for our Earth system to function sustainably rather than less. To reverse the trend of deforestation, we have to drastically reduce the conversion of forests into agricultural land by making existing farmland more productive and reduce the estimated 30% of waste in the food supply chain. Part of the answer lies in increasing the uptake of crop and livestock varieties that have a high ratio of productivity to use of inputs.

We must get more crop per drop. Around 70% of global freshwater is used for agriculture. To get back on budget, we need to improve water productivity in agriculture by 50 percent by 2030 by using water more productively. This can be done through conservation agriculture and managing water at the watershed level. Such measures can also improve resilience to climate shocks.

We should protect our biodiversity. Agricultural expansion is undermining the Earth's biodiversity at an alarming rate. Healthy agriculture depends on this genetic diversity, so we must encourage farming systems that adopt an ecosystems approach, that reduce biodiversity loss in agricultural landscapes and value the services that the natural environment provides, such as the flood regulating effect of wetlands.

We need to use fertilizer more efficiently and recover nutrients. We are extracting too much nitrogen from the atmosphere and we are running out of the phosphorus we need to fertilize our food crops. The excess runoff pollutes our river and groundwater systems. We have to rebalance the way we use fertilizer, without increasing overall use and encourage the recycling of nutrients from human, agricultural, livestock and solid waste.

We need to reduce the energy footprint of agriculture. Groundwater irrigation supports an increasingly large proportion of food production with implications for energy use and resource depletion. We have increasing opportunities to expand the use of solar power and more efficient irrigation and food processing practices and thereby reduce emissions.

To tackle these challenges, we need to enlist the help of the world's farmers. Over 2.5 billion smallholders provide up to 80 percent of the food in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. For them to produce more over the long term, and reduce their ecological footprint, they have to be encouraged to shift their main focus beyond productivity to sustainability. To do this we will have to invest heavily in research into the crops, diets and farming practices that are healthy both for people and the planet.

We already have ways to achieve some of this painlessly - the so-called 'win-win' solutions. For example, farmers practicing conservation agriculture in Brazil (which involves minimal soil disturbance to maintain moisture, nutrients and carbon content) lost 30 percent less of their maize crop than conventional farmers when drought hit. Encouraging a shift to less resource-intensive diets - lower in refined sugars and fats - will address the twin challenge of improving global health and reducing emissions of greenhouse gases and resource footprints.


Farmer and his daughter from Gurinder Singh using a solar powered irrigation pump / Prashanth Vishwanathan (IWMI)

In India, solar powered irrigation pumps offer an attractive way to access more groundwater to produce more food. This has the advantage of reducing emissions whilst improving productivity. But there are huge concerns about the sustainability of already diminished groundwater resources. To solve this, the International Water Management Institute and partners are testing ways to incentivize farmers to put unused electricity back into the national grid. This represents a triple win for farmers, the environment and the government.

We cannot pretend this will be easy - staying within our natural resource budget will require difficult trade-offs. But it is in all of our interests, as food producers or consumers, to tread more lightly on our planet which is already buckling under the pressure of our demands. Earth Overshoot Day should serve as a wake up call. Collectively, we need to balance nature's books, and live within our planet's boundaries.

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

 
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More than 60 per cent of coral reef in Maldives hit by bleaching  
High sea temperatures have caused a mass bleaching of coral reefs in Maldives in the Indian Ocean, affecting 60 per of its reefs and more in places  
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r0B0t: On-demand drone insurance launches in the US  
Drone accidents can be even more expensive than the drones themselves. However, giving your robotic flyer full insurance coverage might be overkill when you may only fly in short bursts every now and then. What to do? Verifly has an unusual answer:...  
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r0B0t: Does the Red Flag Guy at the Trap-Shooting Competition Have the Best Olympics Job? - Slate Magazine (blog)  

Slate Magazine (blog)

Does the Red Flag Guy at the Trap-Shooting Competition Have the Best Olympics Job? Slate Magazine (blog) 1.5 out of 3 for enviability, because while he's cock of the walk today, at some point in the future the red flag guy will probably be replaced by a red flag robot. And 1 out of 1 in the category of “having a really good view.” 7.5 out of 10 for red ...

 
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Earth Overshoot Day Arrives Earlier Than Ever  

Earth Overshoot Day 2016: August 8

As of today, we humans have used as much from nature in 2016 as our planet can renew in a whole year. Nothing will seem to change for many of us between today and tomorrow, but collectively we are draining Earth's capacity to provide. Overshoot Day is a red light warning of trouble ahead — and it is flashing five days earlier than it did last year (Aug. 13); eleven days earlier than the year before (Aug.19).

Earth Overshoot Day is devised by Global Footprint Network, an international think tank that coordinates research, develops methodological standards and provides decision-makers with a menu of tools to help the human economy operate within Earth's ecological limits.

To determine the date of Earth Overshoot Day for each year, Global Footprint Network says on its website,  the think tank calculates the number of days of that year that Earth's biocapacity suffices to provide for humanity's Ecological Footprint. The remainder of the year corresponds to global overshoot.

Watch the video and study the graphics; think what we can do about this.

 

Related Post:

Earth's ‘Annual Physical' Lists Symptoms of a Hotter World (Aug. 2016) — A new State of the Climate report confirmed that 2015 surpassed 2014 as the warmest year since at least the mid-to-late 19th century, says NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI).  Read the statement, view the charts.

 
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The Positive Impact of Environmental "Gamification"  
Getting people excited about environmental issues can take a bit of strategy. Natural resource depletion, global warming, landfill waste and water contamination are topics that can be intimidating when presented to the average consumer, especially for the demographic we most hope to reach: young people and future stewards. With so much on the line for establishing sustainable infrastructures for future generations, it is important that we find ways to engage youth and make motivations for environmentalism positive and fun.

Making complex concepts like sustainability and the importance of circular waste solutions compelling to young consumers can be a real game: literally and figuratively. One of the most popular, and effective, methods for engaging consumers is gamification, the simple concept of taking elements of a game and applying them to other areas of activity, like learning about implementing green habits. "Gamifying" environmental action campaigns has proven to be a very successful way to get consumers excited about CSR and environmental issues - and we've been doing it for years at TerraCycle.

Using animation and a multiplayer format, our social networking game Trash Tycoon made a splash on Facebook in 2011, allowing players to earn points for collecting trash in a waste-filled town and recycling and upcycling the items. In real life, every TerraCycle program offers individuals, businesses and organizations the opportunity to earn TerraCycle points for the waste they collect and send in, which are redeemable for cash donations to the charity or nonprofit of their choice. The more you recycle, the more points you get, and through brand sponsored contests like the Sensible Portions® DIY Poster Contest back in May, people have the opportunity to win additional TerraCycle points for an even larger contribution.

Incentivizing recycling through a points system quantifies an individual's environmental efforts with hard numbers, recognition of effort, the thrill of competition, and the opportunity to do something big for their community. This element of gratification creates a rewards system that is sometimes missing from conventional messaging.

Big companies like PepsiCo are catching on to the effectiveness of gamification in reaching young people with an environmental platform. For years, PepsiCo's Recycle Rally has engaged K-12 students, teaching the importance of recycling by incentivizing schools to track their bottle and can recycling. With an online tracking system and regular competitions and challenges, the "game" keeps young people immersed in the program and, therefore, in recycling. Through gamification, PepsiCo has recycled over 59 million beverage cans and bottles and awarded over $1 million in prizes since 2010.

Science competitions are a form of gamification that incentivizes knowledge of environmental issues and the application of the tools available to solve them with resources that allow students to make a difference in the future. The Siemens Competition in Math, Science, & Technology presents an opportunity to students to conceive engineering or technical solutions for different problems affecting the world, including environmental problems; winners are awarded scholarship money for the college or university of their choice. Focusing specifically on current and future water challenges, the Stockholm Junior Water Prize (SJWP) is a science research project competition in which students aged 15-20 compete on the state and national level for $10,000 and an all-expenses paid trip to represent the U.S. on the international level.

A personal stake in the world's sustainability challenges is the bridge that needs to be built for children and young adults to cross into the future as environmental stewards. Not only does game-based engagement create that connection, it allows environmental concepts to be learned, developed and used; like riding a bike, they'll never forget. Gamification is proven to work, so why not play?

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

 
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Green and sweet: How plant sugars influence malaria transmission  
Female mosquitoes are well known blood-feeders, but they also consume sugar sources such as nectar, fruits and tree sap. A study suggests that the plant-based part of their diet affects malaria transmission by influencing the host-pathogen interaction between Anopheles mosquitoes and Plasmodium parasites.  
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Sunrise 8 Aug 2016  

Sculptor Lil posted a photo:

 
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Sentry Birds  

Sculptor Lil posted a photo:

 
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Paul Dirac Scientist of the Day Paul Adrien Maurice Dirac, an...  

https://cosmolearning.org/images/feynman-with-paul-a-m-dirac-951/




https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Dirac#/media/File:Dirac%27s_commemorative_marker.jpg

Paul Dirac Scientist of the Day

Paul Adrien Maurice Dirac, an English mathematician and physicist, was born Aug. 8, 1902.

read more…

 
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California's First in the Nation Climate Plan  
Even though the Supreme Court has frozen implementation of EPA's Clean Power Plan Rule while it decides on its constitutionality, last week California announced its plan to meet EPA's carbon reduction requirements. California knows it needs to reduce carbon even if the rule is deemed illegal. The California Air Resources Board, the powerful government agency that regulates the state's air quality, will simply extend the state's cap and trade carbon reduction policy over the number of years needed to meet the federal requirements. According to a Climate Wire piece by Anne C. Mulkern on August 3rd:

California's landmark cap-and-trade program for carbon emissions and proposed amendments to extend that system will be used to comply with U.S. EPA's Clean Power Plan, the state said yesterday...Under ARB's draft blueprint, power plants and other energy generating units (EGUs) that participate in cap and trade in addition to that state requirement would have a federally enforceable mandate to comply because of CPP. California under CPP must meet an emissions target of a 13.2 percent rate reduction from 2020's level by 2030. It looks likely to hit that number. The only state with an economywide carbon cap, California aims to cut its greenhouse gas pollution to 1990 levels by 2020. It's writing regulations to reach 40 percent below that by 2030.

This forward-looking approach makes sense because even if the court throws out the Clean Power Plan, the Supreme Court has already ruled that greenhouse gases are dangerous air pollutants regulated by the Clean Air Act. That means that if the current rule is overturned, a new rule will still need to be developed by the Environmental Protection Agency. This means that states, companies and individuals will still need to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. I believe that states that get ahead of the game will have an easier time complying than those states that decide to stall.

The same can be said for institutions such as universities, hospitals, and corporations. My view is that they should follow California's lead and get ready for a more efficient and renewable resource based economy. This is a low risk, high-payoff strategy for saving money by lowering the long-term cost of energy. There are a number of technologies that must still be developed to complete this transition, but we have all the technology we need to get started. Modern appliances such as refrigerators and air conditioners are far more energy efficient than older appliances. LED light bulbs are already here and provide great illumination at a very low cost. Rooftop solar is currently available for single-family homes, and companies are willing to pay the cost of capital in exchange for a percentage of energy bill reduction. Solar water heating is here for everyone who wants to install it. Insulated walls and windows have been around for a while. While all of these technologies cost capital, the costs of capital can all be paid off from savings in energy bills. So the obstacles to a more efficient energy system are largely institutional, ingrained habit and uncreative finance.

The bigger lifts will be lower priced and smaller solar cells and cheaper but more convenient battery technologies. Solar and wind are intermittent, and so storage is critical. The other technology needed for a renewable energy economy is distributed or decentralized generation of energy. This requires smart grids. One goal of smart grids is to enable users to both consume and generate electricity; a second goal is to use modern computer technology to increase energy use when there is excess capacity and reduce energy consumption when supplies are strained. Smart grids have begun in the form of microgrids: small scale, computer controlled energy systems that provide backup for grid failure, but generate energy for local consumers and the broader electrical grid. Microgrids are being designed throughout New York State and institutions such as New York University already operate one. The way we get to the smart grid is by developing hundreds of microgrids and then tying them together.

The original electrical grid was not some giant federal infrastructure project. It was built incrementally in response to market demand for energy. Almost from the very start electricity has been a regulated utility, since it made little sense to invest in redundant generation and distribution systems. But the natural monopoly in electricity required government oversight. Rural electrification required government intervention because there was an insufficient ratepayer base in the countryside to amortize the cost of capital to build an energy system. Without energy, rural areas would have been abandoned and American political and social values did not favor depopulating the countryside for the sake of energy.

In other words, we know how to build an energy system and those same lessons can be used to modernize the grid. What is missing is the political will to get moving. California Governor Jerry Brown has shown us over and over again that he leads a government that is willing to look beyond the current crisis and envision the future. California is not alone; many other states, including New York are setting ambitious carbon reduction goals, even if they are not explicitly designed to comply with EPA's clean power rules.

The picture is not all pretty. It's true that America is responding to cheap gas by once again buying SUVs. But at the same time more and more young people are moving back to cities and small towns and don't even own cars. They rent and share cars when they need them. The era of the auto as ego extension is showing its first cracks in half a century. Last week I spent hours driving a rental car through Los Angeles gridlock. If this is someone's idea of a good time I'd like to meet them. California does not plan to do without energy. Every part of the modern economy requires energy and California projects that their demand for energy will continue to grow. The question is where does the energy come from? The answer is no new centralized power plants, reduced use of nuclear power, increased use of renewables and increases in energy efficiency.

The goal of the energy transition is to create a renewable energy system that is as effective and reliable as the current fossil fuel-based system. Microgrids provide backup capacity and vastly increase the reliability of power systems for consumers. A second goal of the energy transition is to switch off of fossil fuels and rely on solar, wind and geothermal sources of energy. This transition will take decades and we will need to find some way to allow the fossil fuel industry to recover the capital they invested in fossil fuel extraction and distribution once those sources are no longer needed. One possible solution is to use investment in renewable energy to provide tax benefits when they retire fossil fuel infrastructure. We need to help energy companies find their way to renewables, and the best way is through their wallets.

In this summer of political weirdness it is fitting that the guy once called Governor Moonbeam, California's Jerry Brown, is showing us the way to overcome inertia and implement a sound energy future. California has long represented America's future. From the gridlocked freeways of Los Angeles, to the zero waste policy of San Francisco, all our contradictions and aspirations are on display and compete for our attention. California's population is now over 39 million people and it is home to over 12% of America's population. It is encouraging that they are moving aggressively to reduce greenhouse gases. It increases the probability that the rest of the country will eventually follow their lead.

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

 
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Meatless Monday: Olympic Cool  
Record summer heat temperatures around the globe. Factor in Olympic fever, and it seems like there's no way to cool down. But there is. Naturally. To beat the heat, Ayurvedic medicine, that ancient Indian body-balancing system, advocates eating foods that are alkaline. They reduce inflammation in the body and act as your personal air conditioning unit. So what foods are alkaline? Most fruits and vegetables. A bonus -- much summer produce can take the heat as it grows, yet cool you down as you eat it. You don't have to remember (or pronounce) ayurveda, or even alkaline, just think mild, sweet-tart and bitter.

Mild-- Enjoy summer produce mild in flavor but high in water content, like zucchini and summer squash and celery. Melons like watermelon, cantaloupe and their kin, the cucumber, are also alkaline. This led my husband to make a cucumber martini. Nice try, but an icy martini or a cold beer isn't cooling. Or alkaline. Like meat, dairy, coffee and processed white sugar and flour, alcohol is acidic and inflammatory. Keep the cucumber, lose the booze, and keep hydrated. Drink water -- lots.

Sweet and tart -- Summer fruit like grapes, with their sweet flesh and tart skins, and local goodies including mangoes, antioxidant-rich berries and all manner of citrus have that juicy, sweet-tart zing going. Lemons and limes have that acidic sizzle on the tongue, yet create a more alkaline balance in your body. Think of lemonade on a brutally hot day. Summer fruits are fun and refreshing to eat even as they cleanse and cool the body.

Bitter-- The astringency in bitter greens -- that puckery sensation in the mouth -- acts as a natural cooling agent. Brassicas like broccoli and cauliflower and greens including dandelion and collards are also natural detoxers, decluttering your liver, lightening you up and cooling you down. While there's still the southern propensity to cook collards with a hunk of pig and simmer them till they're gray, in honor of our Olympic hosts, enjoy collards the Brazilian way, shredded and tossed with lemon. Known as couve a miniera, it's served throughout Brazil, with a variation or two, but always simple and vibrant.

We've yet to find the food -- or drug -- that guarantees Olympic victory, but we can connect you to the produce that'll help you beat the heat. How cool is that?

Couve a Miniera

Natural coolants collards and lemons come together in this vibrant salad/accompaniment you'll find throughout Brazil. I have a real fondness for this dish which is as simple to make as it is dazzling to eat. While many Brazilian recipes call for giving the greens a quick saute, these are shredded, raw and "cooked" only with the the acid from the lemon juice. Enjoy as a salad, sprinkle some into a tofu scramble, pair with beans, whole grains or grilled vegetables or as a filling for tortillas.

2 bunches collards greens
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice (about 2 juicy lemons)
sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Wash the collards well. Blot dry. Slice out the thick central stems and discard (or reserve them to make broth later). Stack the collard leaves and roll them up widthwise, forming a tight collard cigar. Using your sharpest knife, slice across as thinly as possible, forming skinny ribbons -- collard tinsel -- or to use the correct culinary term, chiffonade. Alternately, using the shredding disc, shred the collards in a food processor. You'll have about 4 cups of greens. Congratulations, you've just done the toughest bit of the recipe.

Scoop the collards into a large bowl. Add the minced garlic, lemon juice and olive oil. Toss to combine. Season with sea salt and pepper.

Enjoy. Couve a miniera keeps tightly covered and refrigerated for a day or two.

Makes 4 to 6 servings.

More at soulfulvegan.com.

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

 
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Colourful landscapes ❤️  

|| Rehnumah Insan || posted a photo:

London <3

 
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One of the top international initiative to combat #illegalwildlifetrade is Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). 
http://ifttt.com/missing_link?1470655980 

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Breaking The Line by Patrick Ems  

Breaking The Line by Patrick Ems

Patrick Ems: Photos

 
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pink by Detlef Knapp  

pink by Detlef Knapp

Detlef Knapp: Photos

 
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London by Sunset  

Waterford_Man posted a photo:

Tonight's offerings are late, mainly as I shot close to 100 here tonight.

Thanks for all the views, Please check out my other photos and albums.

 
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r0B0t: Outsourced to robots - Bangkok Post  

Bangkok Post

Outsourced to robots Bangkok Post "As our manufacturing processes and the products we produce become more technologically advanced, automation is playing an increasingly important role in our operations," a Foxconn spokesman told Asia Focus by email. The workers who stayed are those ...

 
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EMBANKMENT PLACE  

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© All rights reserved .
© Todos derechos reservados.
© Alle Rechte vorbehalten

London - England

 
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…  

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Violence, vandals and vomit: London's naughtiest tech Tube stations revealed  

Here's what really goes down at Old Street after dark

New figures from Transport for London reveal just how much naughtiness goes on at the Tube stations nearest to London's technology firms.…

 
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Should people over 40 work a three-day week?  
While some work is good for your brain, doing more than 60 hours a week into your 40s is worse than doing nothing, according to a recent survey

Working full-time after the age of 40 is not good for the brain. Doing more than three days a week once you reach this age can damage your ability to think. A paper from the Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research says that, while working up to 30 hours a week is good for the brains of the over-40s, do any more than that and it goes downhill. If you were to work 60 hours a week, your cognitive ability would be worse than that of someone who didn't work at all. Still, on the plus side, you would have more money than them.

The researchers used data from more than 3,000 men and 3,500 women who completed the national Household Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (Hilda) survey. The survey tested the ability to read words aloud, recite lists of numbers and match letters and numbers in a speed trial. Testing reading is a measure of the “knowing” part of ability, says lead author Prof Colin McKenzie, while the other two tests capture fluid intelligence the “thinking” part of ability that includes memory, abstract reasoning and executive reasoning.

Continue reading...  
cogdis  

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Fumarole  

Full Text:

Filtered sunlight gives off a blue aura inside a fumarole -- an ice tube formed around a volcanic steam vent -- atop Mount Erebus in Antarctica, the Earth's southernmost active volcano. The National Science Foundation runs the U.S. Antarctic Program (USAP). In addition to maintaining three U.S. research stations on the continent, USAP supports research projects in an array of scientific disciplines including, for example, aeronomy and astrophysics, biology and medicine, geology and geophysics, glaciology, and ocean and climate systems. Outreach such as the Antarctic Artists and Writers program and education programs are also supported. For more information about USAP, visit the program's website here.

Image credit: National Science Foundation U.S. Antarctic Program; photo by Aaron Spitzer, Raytheon Polar Services Company (1990)

 
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Study maps hidden water pollution in US coastal areas  

Full Text:

Researchers have uncovered previously hidden sources of ocean pollution along more than 20 percent of America's coastlines. The study offers the first-ever map of underground drainage systems that connect fresh groundwater and seawater, and also pinpoints sites where drinking water is most vulnerable to saltwater intrusion now and in the future. While scientists have long known that fresh water and seawater mix unseen below ground, until now they hadn't been able to pinpoint exactly where it was happening, or how much, except in limited locations.

Image credit: Image courtesy of The Ohio State University

 
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Mayfair Barbers  

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We've Already Used Up Earth's Resources For 2016 -- And It's Only August  
We've failed again.
It's less than eight months into 2016 and the ominous day is already nearly upon us: Earth Overshoot Day, previously known as ...

Read more: Environment, Natural Resources, Ecological Debt Day, Earth Overshoot Day, Green News

 
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City of Blinding Lights  

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"Yeah, the city of blinding lights
The more you know, the less you feel
Some pray for what others steal
Blessing's not just for the ones who kneel, luckily"
-U2

Having to go through old photos... this one from February in NYC

 
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He's in Charge of More Than a Million Jobs. Can He Handle It?  
Suresh Prabhu built a good-guy reputation in a corrupt country. Here's how he oversees the eighth-largest employer on the planet.  
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China's moon rover dies of extreme old age, after two-and-a-half years  

Yutu aka Jade Rabbit ground to a halt years ago, but is now pining for the craters

China never fails in its high-profile scientific endeavours, so news that its Yutu lunar rover has stopped functioning is being spun as a triumph for its space program.…

 
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Tech Companies Embrace Election Season  

More than ever before, U.S. elections are a business opportunity. Social media companies are capitalizing on attention spent on the candidates.

 
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How The VCR Began America's Love Of On-Demand Content  

As the last VCR factory in Japan closes down production, we take a look at the rise and fall of the videocassette recorder and the culture it created.

 
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r0B0t: Xbox One S review a beautiful upgrade, but only for 4K fanatics - The Guardian  

Inquirer

Xbox One S review a beautiful upgrade, but only for 4K fanatics The Guardian Microsoft's first major upgrade to console offers a sleek new chassis and 4K Ultra HD features but do you need them? Xbox One S is 40% smaller than its predecessor and has a striking new 'robot white' colour scheme. Photograph: Microsoft. Keith Stuart. Just Cause 3 revisited: has performance got better or worse?Eurogamer.net Xbox One S 500GB & 1TB bundles coming to the UK in OctoberDevelop Best UK Xbox One deals: Grab an Xbox One S with this week's best dealsAlphr Inquirer -Business Wire (press release) -Polygon -Daily Star all 102 news articles »

 
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River Thames - Sunset  

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3 shot panorama looking upstream from Tower Bridge

 
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Social Science Sunset  

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Looks like it belongs on corporate literature.

 
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Many Commonly Used Drugs Are Useless  
Some medications are life saving. I am so thankful for the trusty med that tames my atrial fibrillation.

Many meds are helpful -- demonstrating superiority to placebo in ways that are clearly clinically significant and life enhancing.

But many (perhaps most) drugs are probably no more than very expensive placebos. Patients get prescriptions from doctors when their symptoms are most severe and improve with time and positive expectation, not because the med is really effective.

Doctors and patients need independent, objective information on drug efficacy and risks.

The multibillion dollar pharma marketing machine can turn even the most useless and harmful drugs into financial blockbusters. Doctors and patients need independent, objective information on drug efficacy and risks.

This is the first of a series of blogs aimed at setting the record straight. Dick Bijl is President of the International Society Of Drug Bulletins (ISDB), a wonderful organization representing 53 national drug bulletins, each charged with presenting the best available data on the pluses and minuses of different medications. Drug bulletins are a source of truth to help patients and doctors see through the fudged misinformation generated by ubiquitous Pharma propaganda.

Dick writes: "Let's use the treatment of lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) as a typical example of why and how medication use has become so excessive."

Elderly men often experience problems urinating -- weak or intermittent urinary stream, straining, hesitancy, terminal dribbling, incomplete emptying, urgency, frequency, incontinence, nocturia and/or post-micturition dribbling. These symptoms, so common in aging, provide a lucrative target market for pharma.

In the past, benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) was regarded as the most important cause of urinary symptoms. Nowadays, evidence confirming a link between LUTS and prostatic enlargement is regarded as weak. This hasn't prevented approval of many drugs for the treatment of BPH by the Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) and the European Medicines Agency (EMA).

The bar for approval is set very low. Drug companies have only to show that their medication has a statistically significant advantage when compared to placebo. The FDA and EMA don't require that the med achieve what is ever so much more important- clinically relevant improvement as evidenced by patients actually also feeling and doing better when taking the drug. Small statistical blips are all it takes to get a drug approved.

There is a huge difference between statistical significance and clinical relevance. For example, the International Prostatic Symptoms Score is often used to quantify the treatment effects of urinary drugs. The IPSS scale goes from 0-35 with higher scores indicating more severe symptoms. A difference of ≥3 points = some effect; ≥5 points = moderate effect; ≥8 pt. = clear effect). In practice, it turns out that patients can't detect improvements if they are less than three points.

The results of clinical trials have shown that most drugs used to treat BPH are statistically more efficacious than placebo, but have no real clinical relevance. Because their improvement was less than three points, patients will not detect any difference between these drugs and placebo.

The same lack of clinical relevance holds for drug combinations. A combination of an alpha blocker and a 5-alpha reductase inhibitor or an alpha blocker and an antimuscarinic drug often results in statistically significant decreases in symptoms compared to placebo or to the individual drugs given alone. But here also, the differences were of such small magnitude that patients will not detect them.

Only in a small minority of clinical trials was the decrease in symptom score more than 3 points.
The lack of efficacy of BPS meds supports a policy of watchful waiting instead of starting drug therapy. The natural course of LUTS is quite favorable and in the majority of patients the severity of the symptoms will not increase.

Most (or all) of the relief patients feel taking the med is probably due to natural improvement or placebo effect, not to the med itself -- but they don't know this and will often misattribute benefit to the drug.

And almost all the drug studies have been performed in secondary and tertiary care. The results of these studies can't simply be generalized to primary care because it is not plausible that these patients have the same characteristics and therefore the same prognosis.

It's not rational to prescribe drugs that do not improve functioning more than placebo. Use of medication for LUTS should be discouraged since it is no better than placebo, but adds the risk of side effects. Counseling and re-assurance should be considered first.

Informed patients will be much less willing to take a drug that carries the risk of side effects, while offering at best only a very slight improvement in symptoms.

Whenever it is decided to start drug therapy, the best choice are alpha blockers. Side effects should be taken into account: fatigue, decreased vision, severe postoperative ophthalmological side effects or complications, orthostatic hypotension leading to headache and dizziness.
5-alpha reductase inhibitors should not be regarded as an alternative because of their small efficacy and side effects like gynecomastia, erection and ejaculation disorders, decreased libido, impotence, and breast cancer.

The antimuscarinics do not have a positive balance of efficacy and they have anticholinergic side effects (e.g., dry mouth, abdominal pain and constipation). Phosphodiesterase inhibitors have been introduced in recent years but studied insufficiently in comparative studied to give them a place. Combination-therapy should not be given because it does not have an added value related to clinical relevance but does add side effects.

We conclude that the natural course of LUTS in men is generally favorable; the pathophysiology of LUTS is not clear; the relation between prostatic volume and urinary complaints is weak; the mechanisms of action of meds is uncertain; and positive effects are small in placebo-controlled studies.

Therefore, primarily counseling and non-drug treatment are indicated and drug-treatment should be discouraged. In case a drug is needed only an alpha blocker is indicated, but this often just a very expensive placebo-therapy."

Thanks Dick for this illuminating analysis. Before considering any med useful, we should subtract placebo effect from reported efficacy- and also consider the considerable risk of med side effects and Pharma's ridiculously high prices.

In a rational world, people would be taking many fewer drugs, for much clearer indications, with benefits always balanced by consideration of risks, and with prices reflecting real value.

Medication use is now much more governed by pharma's commercial interest than by what is best for the patient.

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

 
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r0B0t: Best Jobs at the Olympics: Guy with Red Flag at Trap-Shooting Competition  

Nominee: Bearded, seated, red-flag-holding man.

Where to find him: Women's trap shooting final.

Job requirements: Wave a red flag whenever a trap shooter fails to hit the clay target. Sit without fidgeting for long periods of time. Look good in a hat.

Why this might be the best job at the Olympics: You have a very important role. You are the official arbiter of success or failure in trap shooting. There would be no trap-shooting events without you, the guy with the red flag. When a shooter misses the clay target, it's up to you to raise your red flag in a confident yet nonjudgmental manner. Your flag may not be bright red, but it's red enough.

As the guy with the red flag, you will get a lot of screen time. Your friends and family will have ample opportunity to see you on NBC's online trap-shooting livestream. “Look,” they will exclaim, “there he is, my good friend and/or relative, the guy with the red flag who's indicating that the woman with the gun just missed!”

Unlike other Olympic functionaries, the red flag guy is occasionally allowed to show some flair. Here, for example, he gives a slight nod of his head as he lowers his red flag. That's so red flag guy.

If you are lucky enough to be the red flag guy, you get to sit very close to the action, in your own chair, and don't have to worry about whether or not the person sitting next to you smells bad, because there is no one sitting next to you. Look at you, red flag guy, sitting there in the back-right of this clip, your red flag between your legs. You are the boss of trap shooting, in your own chill way.

Also, you get to wear a hat.

Why this might not be the best job at the Olympics: The job is sort of a downer, given that red flag guy springs into action to call out an athlete's failures. It's also fairly repetitive—flag up, flag down; flag up, flag down. Also, you have a lot of responsibility. You can't ever lose focus, or get up to get a Coke, lest you fail to raise your red flag at the appropriate moment. You also have to remember to bring the red flag every morning, and it seems like it would be easy to leave it at home if you are in a rush.

How this could be a better job at the Olympics: The red flag guy should have two flags: the standard red flag to indicate a missed shot, and one that says “good job” that he can wave to indicate a hit. Also, instead of a folding chair, the red flag guy should sit in a recliner.

Verdict: I'll give the job of “red flag guy” 3 out of 3 points for exposure, because it's hard to be more visible than the red flag guy at a trap-shooting competition. 2 out of 3 for enjoyment, because every day is a good day when your job entails sitting in a chair, wearing a cool hat, and waving a colorful flag. 1.5 out of 3 for enviability, because while he's cock of the walk today, at some point in the future the red flag guy will probably be replaced by a red flag robot. And 1 out of 1 in the category of “having a really good view.” 7.5 out of 10 for red flag guy. This is currently the best job at the Olympics.

Read more of Slate's Olympics coverage.

 
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Gathering of Birds and Photographers  

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Semipalmated sandpipers

 
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A young doe in meadows as the sun rose through early morning mist.

 
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The Chimera Quandary: Is It Ethical To Create Hybrid Embryos?  

The National Institutes of Health proposed lifting its moratorium on funding for research on part-animal, part-human embryos — which raises a huge dilemma, says bioethicist Insoo Hyun.

 
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Florida Company Gets Approval to Put Robotic Lander on Moon  
If accomplished, that feat would win the company, Moon Express, the Google Lunar X Prize competition and an accompanying $20 million reward.  
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Third Man Records Sends a Vinyl Record Into Space  
The spinning gold-plated copy of Carl Sagan's “A Glorious Dawn” reached 94,000 feet above earth on a high-altitude balloon.  
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Kew Bridge sunset  

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Bankers  

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After work near the Shard, Southwark , London, UK

 
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Eiger by Roland LCL  

Eiger by Roland LCL

Roland LCL: Photos

 
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Evening Fog by Thomas Clausen  

Evening Fog by Thomas Clausen

Thomas Clausen: Photos

 
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Charlotta the swimmer by Jan Ljunggren  

Charlotta the swimmer by Jan Ljunggren

Faking a hero picture of senior swimmer in the sunset in the archipelago in sweden

Jan Ljunggren: Photos

 
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Scarlet Macaws  

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one of the pairs of Scarlet macaws that were brought into the hotel, the Occidental Grand Xcaret, every morning. They sat on these perches quite happily, they had some seed /food in the hollowed section of the perch on which they were sat, and at lunchtime they would go back in. Mexico, 2016.

 
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Crocodylus acutus

A hatchling explores a mangrove estuary on a remote key in south Florida.

 
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r0B0t: Xbox One S review a beautiful upgrade, but only for 4K fanatics - The Guardian  

Inquirer

Xbox One S review a beautiful upgrade, but only for 4K fanatics The Guardian Microsoft's first major upgrade to console offers a sleek new chassis and 4K Ultra HD features but do you need them? Xbox One S is 40% smaller than its predecessor and has a striking new 'robot white' colour scheme. Photograph: Microsoft. Keith Stuart. Xbox One S Tip: Add a Kinect to Your ConsoleThurrott.com (blog) Microsoft, Sony, and other companies still use illegal warranty-void-if-removed stickersExtremeTech Just Cause 3 revisited: has performance got better or worse?Eurogamer.net Develop -Alphr -Business Wire (press release) -Polygon all 102 news articles »

 
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r0B0t: Ben Heck's Hackbotz, part 1  
With the return of BattleBots and Robot Wars, The Ben Heck Show team produce a real-life Nintendo Mario Kart battle arena with robot kits. In this first of a three-part series, the robots are assembled -- and weaponized -- without instructions....  
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r0B0t: Sunday's Best Deals: 4K TV With Roku, Produce Storage, Shark Steam Mop  

Your new TV, produce you won't have to throw away, and the steam mop your arsenal is missing are just a few of today's best deals.

Bookmark Kinja Deals and follow us on Twitter to never miss a deal. Commerce Content is independent of Editorial and Advertising, and if you buy something through our posts, we may get a small share of the sale. Click here to learn more.

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No need to worry about the quality of the built-in apps on your 4K TV when Roku is built right in. This 2016 model hit a new price low today by $40.

https://www.amazon.com/TCL-55UP130-55…

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We're all probably a bit ashamed of the amount of produce we allow to spoil in the fridge, but these Rubbermaid FreshWorks containers use a few neat tricks to extend your food's lifespan, and avoid unnecessary waste.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01…

First, each FreshWorks product includes a “crisp tray” which elevates the food off the bottom of the container, giving moisture a place to drip, and air enough room to flow. Second and most importantly, the lids feature special filters that regulate the flow of oxygen and CO2 into and out of the containers. All told, Rubbermaid claims keeps food fresh up to 80% longer than store packaging.

It may sounds too good to be true, but customer reviews are fantastic, and Amazon's taking offering a 2-piece set for $17 today, matching an all-time low. If they save just a few batches of arugula or scoops of blueberries that you would have otherwise thrown out, they'll have already paid for themselves.

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Even if you've integrated your robot vacuum and Dyson into your regular routine and take your shoes off at the front door, you still need to mop on occasion. This Shark Blast & Scrub Pocket Mop fires concentrated hot water at tough stains, so you'll need less elbow grease to get rid of them. It's also only $60 today.

http://gear.kinja.com/the-dyson-abso…

http://gizmodo.com/dyson-s-first-…

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By now, you should know that Anker PowerLine Lightning cables are incredibly popular, but did you know there's another tier of cables above them? Anker's PowerLine+ line increases the bend lifespan from 5,000 to 6,000 and adds a nylon braided exterior. Want to see one for yourself? The 3' model is available in red for $13 today, or about two bucks less than usual.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0177MEIHE/…

http://co-op.kinja.com/your-favorite-…

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Hoover's Sweethome-recommended Air Cordless 2-in-1 vacuum acts as both an upright and a hand vacuum, all in a single, sleek, battery-powered package. $105 is within $5 of the best price Amazon's ever listed, so grab one before they're all vacuumed up.

https://www.amazon.com/Hoover-Cordles…

Just need a hand vacuum? This Bissell is also on sale today.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01E0472TI/…

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If you've ever thought about pulling out your blender to make a smoothie, sauce, or dip, and then held off because you didn't want to clean 3,000 different parts, this deal is for you. The 4.3 star-rated Cuisinart Smart Stick Hand Blender is down to $27 today on Amazon.

The big advantage here is that unlike a traditional blender, you can dip the Smart Stick into whatever container you were already using to hold your ingredients; be it a single-serve cup or a huge mixing bowl. That saves you time, and means fewer dishes to clean up once you're done. Reviewers also say it chops through everything from fruit to ice cubes with no trouble, so it really can be a full blender replacement for most use cases.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ARQVM5O/…

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We've already started to see some bundle deals on the new and improved Xbox One S, but this is by far the best one yet.

http://gizmodo.com/xbox-one-s-rev…

http://gizmodo.com/xbox-one-s-rev…

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Whether you need a restock or want to try something new, you can save 15% on a ton of men's products today (with code LUXBEAUTY), including two of your favorite shaving creams.

Note: This only works on your first “luxe men's beauty purchase” on Amazon.

http://gear.kinja.com/five-best-shav…

https://www.amazon.com/Proraso-Shavin…

https://www.amazon.com/Art-Shaving-Cr…

https://www.amazon.com/Billy-Jealousy…

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If your phone supports Qi wireless charging, $8 is a great price for a charging pad. I recommend stocking up, and scattering these all around your home and office. Just use promo code FJ8ABTSW at checkout to get the discount.

https://www.amazon.com/Seneo-Wireless…

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Amazon's free Prime Pantry shipping promotion seems to be a permanent fixture at this point, but each month brings a new slate of eligible items, and August's have just been revealed.

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http://gear.kinja.com/get-the-most-f…

As always, just add five of the items on this page to your Prime Pantry box, enter code PANTRYAUG at checkout, and the $6 shipping charge will be waived. Plus, if you happen to have a free Pantry shipping credit from accepting no rush shipping on a previous Amazon order, it should stack, granting you an additional $6 discount.

There are literally hundreds of products available for the promotion, so you should have no trouble finding five that you need. As for the rest of your box, check out this page for every Pantry item that includes an additional coupon.

Tech

• Bose - SoundTrue Around-Ear Headphones II (iOS) | $100 | Best Buy
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Gaming

• Redragon M650 2.4GHz Wireless Gaming Mouse | $8 | Amazon

Media

• Preorder Transformers: The Movie (Limited Edition 30th Anniversary Steelbook) | $20 | Amazon
• Jurassic Park [SteelBook] | $8 | Best Buy
• Fargo: Season One w/ Beanie | $15 | Best Buy
• Preorder Pokémon Z-Crystal 9 Pack | $20 | Amazon

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