Views of Ghale Gaun

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Ghale Gaun(lumjung)

This Is For Student Of Xavier International College

                                                                           Ghale Gaun

Ghalegaun situated at the foot of Lamjung Himal in north central Nepal, is an exotic pristine village endowed with an unparallel scenic grandeur and a home to world famous Gurkha soldiers- the Gurungs. Repository of a unique ethnic culture Ghalegaun is a true microcosm of stunning natural beauty mixed with an unspoiled ethnic lifestyle. Ghanapokhara is a beautiful village heading towards development with a concept of eco-tourism. It lies at north of Lamjung district in the close proximity of Ghalegaun at the top of Dashthar Danda at an altitude of 2100 meters.

                                                                                                                                                                      . Location: 205 km northwest of Kathmandu

. Elevation: 2,016 m

. Highlights: Ghale (Gurung) lifestyle, Himalayan views

. Getting there: Four-hour walk from Khudi, which is connected by daily bus services from Kathmandu and Pokhara

. Accommodation: Home stay in Ghale Gaun lodges in Khudi

Ghalegaun and Ghanpokhara are mainly Gurung   settlements; they nestle amidst mountains, rivers, streams, waterfalls   and green forests. These places command a superb breathtaking view of   majestic western Himalayas including Machhapuchhare(6693m) Annapurna   (8091m), Annapurna II (7939m) Annapurna IV (7525m), Lamjung Himal,   Bouddha Himal(6974m), Himalchuli (6747m) and many more smaller peaks.

The approach to   Ghalegaun-Ghanpokhara is a wonderful experience in itself as it goes   crossing over the Marsyandi, Khudi and Midim rivers; passing through   rhododendrons blossoming along the way amidst the chirping of birds and   wild insects. The trekking route passes through dense jungle and   villages and impressive waterfalls. Nearby Talyngo Lake and Lami Lake   add new dimension to these attractions.

Activities around this village including bird watching at Talangyo   lake, and visitors to the Utter Kanya temple, Pempro fall, Batase cave   and the Khudi hydroelectric dam site.

 Cultural Attractions

Ghalegaun   -Ghanpokhara are model villages for experiencing the typical culture and   lifestyle of the Gurung people. Traditional customs are still followed   during births, deaths, marriages and at other important times in a   person`s life. Age-old cultural dances like the Jhyaure, Serka, Dohori,   Ghantu, Ghyabring, Krishna Charitra and Jhakri are performed on various   occasions accompanied by different musical instruments with the dancers   in traditional dress.

Visitors to   Ghalegaun-Ghanpokhara are welcomed with offering of garlands and tika   while music and dances are performed and traditional farewell songs are   sung when guests depart. Nepali New Year and Buddha Jayanti are   celebrated with traditional dance called Ghatu.

Handicrafts

The people of   Ghalegaun-Ghanpokhara keep goats and sheep and use wool from these   animals to make woolen products. They make clothes and bags from nettle   fiber (allo cloth) and scarfs, towels and shawls from the wool of angora   rabbits. Ironsmiths make different iron products. Craftsmen produce a   whole range of different products from bamboo.

Getting   There

Ghalegaun and   Ghanpkhara lie 205 kilometers northwest of Kathmandu and 125 kilometers   northeast of Pokhara. The nearest roadhead is at Khudi in Lamjung; Khudi   can be reached by daily bus services from Kathmandu and Pokhara. The   hotels in Khudi provide safe stay with hygienic food; pleasant rooms,   clean restrooms and some even have natural swimming pools nearby.   Ghalegaun is a four-hour walk from Khudi through another Gurung   settlement Bhalam Chour. The way from Bhalam Chour to Ghalegaun through   the thick forest provides opportunities to see many species of animals,   birds, insects and butterflies. Ghanpokhara is also a three- hour walk   from Khudi but it can be also be reached from Beshisahar crossing Kapur   Gaon without reaching Khudi.

Organized   tourist groups are welcomed into Ghalegaun and Ghanpokhara with   traditional dances. Handicraft exhibition and other entertainment   programs are also performed for visitors. Tourists can participate in   traditional musical program of Rodhi every evening. Trekking to and   staying at Ghalegaun and Ghanpokhara is an exciting and enjoyable   experience for both international and domestic visitors. Special   discount facilities are offered to groups of students, forest users,   women and community members.

Lodging   and fooding

Comfortable   rooms with clean restrooms are available at selected Gurung houses.   Although there is no electricity in the village, lamps and water heating   system facilities are available through solar power. There are a few   Pahuna Ghar (Guest House) belonging to the Aama Samuha (Mother`s   Community) that also provide accommodation. More than 100 tourists can   be accomodated both in Ghalegaon and Ghanpokhara seperately. Good   camping sites are also available at both Ghalegaun and Ghanpokhara. Organic local food like cereals,   vegetables, milk products, eggs and meat prepared in traditional way is   served to visitors. Basic menu includes plain rice, vegetable curry,   vegetable fried rice, chicken curry, dal-bhat, egg curry, dhendo soup,   chapatti, garlic soup, bread, vegetable mixed soup and momo.

                                                                                                                                 by 

                                                                                                                           khagendra acharya 

                                                                                                                                       

 

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What Teenage Love is

In life, people fall in love at many stages. It is very possible for every person no matter their age to feel or fall in love. However, there is a certain stage in life where we reach and everyone seems to want love. I'm talking about the teenage years and love. When a teenager falls in love, it is referred to as teenage love. Teens are very volatile people and this is pretty understandable. It is the first time in life to feel the urge to love the opposite sex. This is on the onset of their physical growth. Their hormones are usually referred to as running wild and this is very much the case. Teenage is a confusing place to be because you are not old enough to be called mature and you are not too young to be called a child. This is the time where most youth act out and when it comes to the matters of the heart, a lot of them fall in love. Teenage love has sometimes been referred to as not being real love. Instead, experts say that a lot of feelings that teens have for the opposite sex is mainly infatuation. This is a form of lust that passes with time.

However, love being hard to define, it is vital that all cases be looked at differently. It is during this stage that many teens make the worse mistakes of their lives but, this is usually not the case in other situations. Sexually, teens what to experience and explore first hand, the kind of emotions that are associated with love. It is therefore paramount to understand exactly what they are going through before you are quick to give them advice. The biggest issue that is always a source of debate is sex during teenage. Many want to know what it is all about. Others believe that for love to be real there must be sexual intercourse. With the modern world, more and more teens are having choices when it comes to sex. Many have not come up openly to condemn teenage sex. In the past, when young people reached teenage, this was a time for them to be married off. For this reason, teens cannot be totally condemned for wanting to exercise that which has been there since time began.
However, with civilization, more and more parents have come out strongly to condemn any love consummation for their teens.

The question whether this is real love or not, still remains as more teens get involved emotionally with other people. One thing that we can say for sure is that, if the love during teenage is not real; the person involved will have to learn through experience. Thankfully, teenage is only a phase of life and as you grow, you will discover things and become wiser in the matter of love. However, when it comes to love, no one can claim to be an expert. It comes without mention and no one has control over it. Therefore, the best thing that teens can do is to empower themselves and know how to handle themselves when it comes to matters of the heart. Otherwise, love is meant to be enjoyed to the fullest.

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NASA Finds Fresh Evidence of Water on Mars

NASA says it has found new evidence of water below the surface of Mars.

Scientists studying the composition of the ground near where a Mars exploration rover got stuck found evidence that water had seeped through the ground, dissolving and carrying away certain minerals. The water may have come from melted snow or ice.

There is lots of evidence that there was once liquid water on Mars, including dried-up lake beds and valleys. But these were formed more than a billion years ago.

The new study is the first sign of the presence of liquid water in more recent times.

"This is a process that's ongoing; it's not an ancient process," Ray Arvidson, deputy principal investigator for the Mars rovers, told AOL News.


The Mars Exploration Rover Spirit got stuck in April 2009, with its left wheels breaking through a crust and into soft sand below.

The presence of liquid water on Mars could be useful for any potential colonists. Pete Worden, NASA Ames Research Center director, recently introduced a project to embark on a one-way mission from Earth to Mars by 2030 and permanently settle the red planet. The project is called the Hundred Year Starship initiative.

"The human space program is now really aimed at settling other worlds," Worden said. "Twenty years ago you had to whisper that in dark bars and get fired."

Earth's neighbor is the fourth planet in the solar system from the sun and has long been thought the most likely candidate to support life. A NASA probe previously discovered a large amount of ice at the south pole of Mars.

Still, the new discovery is far from conclusive evidence that Mars could support life. The changes in the soil point toward tiny droplets of water, rather than rivers or oceans.

"Liquid water and life kind of go together," Arvidson said. But "it's got to be a very tough life" to survive in such a small amount of water.
 

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Peer Pressure and Teen Sex

Many teens, especially boys, feel pressure to have sex before they are ready. According to recent research, some 63 percent of teens believe that waiting to have sex is a good idea, but few people actually do

Many teens, especially boys, feel pressure to have sex before they are ready. According to research released this week, some 63 percent of teens believe that waiting to have sex is a good idea, but few people actually do.

One in three boys ages 15-17 say they feel pressure to have sex, often from male friends. Teen girls feel less pressure--only 23 percent said they felt such coercion. Researchers questioned 1,854 subjects between the ages of 13 and 24 in a national survey.

The study, released by the Kaiser Family Foundation, also found that teens feel strong pressure to drink and try drugs. The study findings show a need for sex education at a young age, say the study authors.

A separate study released this week, sponsored by the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, finds that one in five teens reported having sex before they were 15. One in seven sexually active 14-year-olds also said they have been pregnant.

Still, other research is not as pessimistic about teen sexuality. Studies have found that teens were less sexually active during the 1990s compared with decades before. The overall rate of sexual activity declined by 5.7 percent, and the number of pregnancies, abortions and sexually transmitted diseases also fell in the last decade. 

 

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An Inconvenient Truth: Global Warming

An Inconvenient Truth: Global Warming

Global Warming or Climate Change, measurable increases in the average temperature of Earth’s atmosphere, oceans, and landmasses. Scientists believe Earth is currently facing a period of rapid warming brought on by rising levels of heat-trapping gases, known as greenhouse gases, in the atmosphere.
Greenhouse gases retain the radiant energy (heat) provided to Earth by the Sun in a process known as the greenhouse effect. Greenhouse gases occur naturally, and without them the planet would be too cold to sustain life as we know it. Since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution in the mid-1700s, however, human activities have added more and more of these gases into the atmosphere. For example, levels of carbon dioxide, a powerful greenhouse gas, have risen by 35 percent since 1750, largely from the burning of fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and natural gas. With more greenhouse gases in the mix, the atmosphere acts like a thickening blanket and traps more heat.

Earth has warmed and cooled many times since its formation about 4.6 billion years ago. Global climate changes were due to many factors, including massive volcanic eruptions, which increased carbon dioxide in the atmosphere; changes in the intensity of energy emitted by the Sun; and variations in Earth’s position relative to the Sun, both in its orbit and in the inclination of its spin axis.
Variations in Earth’s position, known as Milankovitch cycles, combine to produce cyclical changes in the global climate. These cycles are believed to be responsible for the repeated advance and retreat of glaciers and ice sheets during the Pleistocene Epoch (1.8 million to 11,500 years before present), when Earth went through fairly regular cycles of colder “glacial” periods (also known as ice ages) and warmer “interglacial” periods. Glacial periods occurred at roughly 100,000-year intervals.

An interglacial period began about 10,000 years ago, when the last ice age came to an end. Prior to that ice age, an interglacial period occurred about 125,000 years ago. During interglacial periods, greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and methane naturally increase in the atmosphere from increased plant and animal life. But since 1750 greenhouse gases have increased dramatically to levels not seen in hundreds of thousands of years, due to the rapid growth of the human population combined with developments in technology and agriculture. Human activities now are a powerful factor influencing Earth’s dynamic climate.

The ice of the polar regions furnishes clues to the makeup of Earth’s ancient atmosphere. Ice cores that scientists have bored from the ice sheets of Greenland and Antarctica provide natural records of both temperature and atmospheric greenhouse gases going back hundreds of thousands of years. Layers in these ice cores created by seasonal snowfall patterns allow scientists to determine the age of the ice in each core. By measuring tiny air bubbles trapped in the ice and properties of the ice itself, scientists can estimate the temperature and amount of greenhouse gases in Earth’s past atmosphere at the time each layer formed. Based on this data, scientists know that greenhouse gases have now risen to levels higher than at any time in the last 650,000 years.

Greenhouse gases are rising, and temperatures are following. Before the late 1800s, the average surface temperature of Earth was almost 15°C (59°F). Over the past 100 years, the average surface temperature has risen by about 0.7 Celsius degrees (1.3 Fahrenheit degrees), with most of the increase occurring since the 1970s. Scientists have linked even this amount of warming to numerous changes taking place around the world, including melting mountain glaciers and polar ice, rising sea level, more intense and longer droughts, more intense storms, more frequent heat waves, and changes in the life cycles of many plants and animals. Warming has been most dramatic in the Arctic, where temperatures have risen almost twice as much as the global average.

Scientists project global warming to continue at a rate that is unprecedented in hundreds of thousands or even millions of years of Earth’s history. They predict considerably more warming in the 21st century, depending on the level of future greenhouse gas emissions. For a scenario (possible situation) assuming higher emissions—in which emissions continue to increase significantly during the century—scientists project further warming of 2.4 to 6.4 Celsius degrees (4.3 to 11.5 Fahrenheit degrees) by the year 2100. For a scenario assuming lower emissions—in which emissions grow slowly, peak around the year 2050, and then fall—scientists project further warming of 1.1 to 2.9 Celsius degrees (1.9 to 5.2 Fahrenheit degrees) by the year 2100.
Melting polar ice and glaciers, as well as warming of the oceans, expands ocean volume and raises sea level, which will eventually flood some coastal regions and even entire islands. Patterns of rainfall are expected to change, with higher latitudes (closer to the poles) projected to receive more rainfall, and subtropical areas (such as the Mediterranean and southern Africa) projected to receive considerably less. Changes in temperature and precipitation patterns may damage food crops, disrupting food production in some parts of the world. Plant and animal species will shift their ranges toward the poles or to higher elevations seeking cooler temperatures, and species that cannot do so may become extinct. Increasing levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere also leads to increased ocean acidity, damaging ocean ecosystems.

Human beings face global warming with a huge population at risk. The potential consequences are so great that many of the world’s leading scientists—and increasingly, politicians, business leaders, and other citizens—are calling for international cooperation and immediate action to counteract the problem.

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Technology

In the field of communications, Italian electrical engineer Guglielmo Marconi sent his first radio signal across the Atlantic Ocean in 1901. American inventor Lee De Forest invented the triode, or vacuum tube, in 1906. The triode eventually became a key component in nearly all early radio, radar, television, and computer systems. In 1920 Scottish engineer John Logie Baird developed the Baird Televisor, a primitive television that provided the first transmission of a recognizable moving image. In the 1920s and 1930s American electronic engineer Vladimir Kosma Zworykin significantly improved the television’s picture and reception. In 1935 British physicist Sir Robert Watson-Watt used reflected radio waves to locate aircraft in flight. Radar signals have since been reflected from the Moon, planets, and stars to learn their distance from Earth and to track their movements (see Radar Astronomy).
In 1947 American physicists John Bardeen, Walter Brattain, and William Shockley invented the transistor, an electronic device used to control or amplify an electrical current. Transistors are much smaller, far less expensive, require less power to operate, and are considerably more reliable than triodes. Since their first commercial use in hearing aids in 1952, transistors have replaced triodes in virtually all applications.

During the 1950s and early 1960s minicomputers were developed using transistors rather than triodes. Earlier computers, such as the electronic numerical integrator and computer (ENIAC), first introduced in 1946 by American physicist John W. Mauchly and American electrical engineer John Presper Eckert, Jr., used as many as 18,000 triodes and filled a large room. But the transistor initiated a trend toward microminiaturization, in which individual electronic circuits can be reduced to microscopic size. This drastically reduced the computer’s size, cost, and power requirements and eventually enabled the development of electronic circuits with processing speeds measured in billionths of a second .

Further miniaturization led in 1971 to the first microprocessor—a computer on a chip. When combined with other specialized chips, the microprocessor becomes the central arithmetic and logic unit of a computer smaller in size than a portable typewriter. With their small size and a price less than that of a used car, today’s personal computers are many times more powerful than the physically huge, multimillion-dollar computers of the 1950s. Once used only by large businesses, computers are now used by professionals, small retailers, and students to perform a wide variety of everyday tasks, such as keeping data on clients, tracking budgets, and writing school reports. People also use computers to interface with worldwide communications networks, such as the Internet and the World Wide Web, to send and receive e-mail, to shop, or to find information on just about any subject.

During the early 1950s public interest in space exploration developed. The focal event that opened the space age was the International Geophysical Year from July 1957 to December 1958, during which hundreds of scientists around the world coordinated their efforts to measure the Earth’s near-space environment. As part of this study, both the United States and the Soviet Union announced that they would launch artificial satellites into orbit for nonmilitary space activities.

When the Soviet Union launched the first Sputnik satellite in 1957, the feat spurred the United States to intensify its own space exploration efforts. In 1958 the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) was founded for the purpose of developing human spaceflight. Throughout the 1960s NASA experienced its greatest growth. Among its achievements, NASA designed, manufactured, tested, and eventually used the Saturn rocket and the Apollo spacecraft for the first manned landing on the Moon in 1969 (see Apollo Program). In the 1960s and 1970s, NASA also developed the first robotic space probes to explore the planets Mercury, Venus, and Mars (see Mariner). The success of the Mariner probes paved the way for the unmanned exploration of the outer planets in Earth’s solar system.
In the 1970s through 1990s, NASA focused its space exploration efforts on a reusable space shuttle, which was first deployed in 1981. In 1998 the space shuttle, along with its Russian counterpart known as Soyuz, became the workhorses that enabled the construction of the International Space Station.

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Energy from Heat

Energy means power—the power to do work. And thermal, or heat, energy can do a lot of work. When heat is applied to water, for instance, it makes the water boil. Boiling water then changes to vapor, or steam, which can apply great force as it escapes a container. Large quantities of steam powered the earliest train engines.
The most important source of thermal energy for our Earth is the Sun’s rays. This “solar energy” is used to heat houses, water, and, in some countries, ovens used for cooking. Solar power can even be converted to electricity and stored for later use.
To human beings the second most important source of thermal energy is the store of natural fuels on and in the Earth. When these fuels—mainly coal, oil, gas, and wood—are burned, they produce heat. This heat can be used for warmth, made to power a machine directly, or converted into electricity. For example, a car engine burns gasoline (an oil product) for direct thermal power. In some areas coal is burned to produce the electricity that powers people’s homes.
In a very few parts of the world, an interesting third form of heat energy comes from “living” heat inside the Earth itself. This “geothermal energy” comes from such sources as natural hot springs and the heat of active volcanoes (“geo-” means “earth”). Naturally escaping steam and hot water are used to heat and power homes and businesses in Reykjavik, Iceland. And though volcanoes are mostly too hot to tap directly, worldwide experiments continue as other major fuel supplies dwindle.

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The Greenhouse Effect

THE ‘‘GREENHOUSE EFFECT’’ REFERS TO THE PROCESS by which infrared radiation-absorbing gases in Earth’s atmosphere trap heat and thus influence climate. This article gives an overview of the anthropogenic loading of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere and associated effects on recent and future climate change, summarizes feedback effects, and describes potential and current impacts of climate change on biodiversity.
Earth’s climate, from daily weather events to glacial and interglacial cycles, is driven by the amount of radiation received from the sun and how that radiation is distributed throughout the global Earth–atmosphere system. The atmospheric greenhouse effect acts as an important factor in establishing a temperature that is hospitable for life. The basic mechanism is simple and was first detailed by the Swedish physicist Svante August Arrhenius in 1896. Light from the sun largely penetrates the atmosphere and is absorbed at the planetary surface. There, it is converted from energy in the form of light to energy in the form of heat (longwave infrared radiation). As the surface temperature rises because of this heat, Earth radiates more and more heat back out to space, thereby maintaining an energy balance. Several gases in the atmosphere, referred to as ‘‘greenhouse gases,’’ absorb some of the heat emitted from Earth’s surface and reradiate it back toward the surface, causing the temperature to rise. Without this naturally occurring greenhouse effect, Earth’s average surface temperature would be _19_C, about 33_C colder than it is today. The term ‘‘greenhouse effect,’’ though popular, is a misnomer because the warming effect of glass greenhouses is due primarily to suppression of convection, not trapping of infrared radiation.
The most important naturally occurring greenhouse gases are water vapor, carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), and ozone (O3). Although water vapor plays the biggest role in generating the natural greenhouse effect, anthropogenic emission of the other gases, along with artificially produced chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), are most important in generating an enhanced greenhouse effect. Detailed instrument data show that concentrations of these gases have been increasing since preindustrial times (_1750) (Table I), particularly in recent decades, largely due to human industrial, agricultural, and urbanization activities. As the concentrations of greenhouse gases increase in the atmosphere, they continue to trap and reradiate more and more heat, resulting in rising surface temperature and other climatic changes. Increases in CO2 account for about 65% of the current direct positive radiative forcing due to anthropogenic loading of greenhouse gases (Fig. 1). The atmospheric CO2 concentration has increased 30% since preindustrial times, as a result of increasing emissions from fossil fuel combustion, land conversion, and cement production, and is continuing to increase by 0.4% per year (Fig. 2). If future emissions of CO2 are maintained at 1994 levels, its atmospheric concentration will be close to double the preindustrial level by the end of the twenty-first century. In the absence of strong emissions controls, given increasing global energy and resource consumption, CO2 concentrations may double by 2040 and will continue to increase dramatically Concentrations of other greenhouse gases, particularly methane and nitrous oxide, are also expected to rise, resulting in an earlier doubling of the equivalent CO2 concentration. Greenhouse gases tend to remain in the atmosphere for many years (see Table I) and consequently are well mixed. They continue to affect the climate long after initial emissions and later stabilization of atmospheric concentrations.
Aerosols can alter the climate by changing atmospheric albedo. These fine particles absorb and reflect solar radiation and alter cloud properties. Sulfate aerosols from fossil fuel emissions and smelting tend to have a negative effect on radiative forcing and thus cool the climate. Current estimates of direct radiative forcing are _0.5 W m_2 due to aerosols compared to 2.45 W m_2 due to greenhouse gases. Unlike greenhouse gases, aerosols are very short-lived in the atmosphere and therefore are not well mixed and respond rapidly to changes in emissions.

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Ways To Save Energy

Ways To Save Energy
With climbing fuel costs, massive unemployment, and pollution problems faced by many large cities, most Americans have more than one reason to save electricity. Contrary to most beliefs, homeowners don’t need to invest in expensive solar energy systems or residential wind turbines to save significantly on electricity costs. Most people can reduce their electricity bill dramatically by implementing these simple energy conservation techniques.

• Heating and cooling are by far the highest users of electricity in the average household. This should be your first line of defense when tackling high energy bills. Installing a programmable thermostat to control the temperature of your home can be a great low cost method to reduce your energy consumption dramatically.A programmable thermostat will allow you to automatically raise your home’s temperature in the summer by a few extra degrees while everyone is scheduled to be away. By the same token, you can use a programmable thermostat to lower the temperature a few extra degrees while everyone is away in the winter. The great thing about a programmable thermostat is you can set it to bring your home back to the normal temperature just before everyone is scheduled to be back home.
• The washer and dryer are two other large energy consumers in the average American home. Remember to wash and dry full loads to minimize the use of these appliances. You should also consider swapping to the latest low energy models if your current set is more than a decade old. The latest models have all sorts of new features that not only reduce electricity consumption, but also reduce the water consumption as well.
• The kitchen is another room that uses a lot of electricity. Purchase a small toaster oven and use it as much as possible. Cooking meals in a toaster oven uses significantly less electricity than a full size oven.Let your dishes air dry in the dish washer instead of using the dry cycle, and always run this appliance with full loads only.
• Compact fluorescent lights are another low cost method of saving significant amounts of electricity. Most CFL bulbs are reasonably priced, have a long life span, and give an equivalent amount of life as a traditional incandescent bulb. Yet they use only a fraction of the electricity as a standard bulb. For less than the cost of a dinner for two, most people can outfit their entire home with these low energy light bulbs and save a bundle.

You should implement all of these low cost techniques before considering more expensive strategies that involve turbines and solar panels. Most people will find they can reach their energy goals without the need of these more expensive and complex alternatives. Lower your electricity costs with these easy to implement low cost techniques.

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Genetics

At the beginning of the 20th century, the life sciences entered a period of rapid progress. Mendel’s work in genetics was rediscovered in 1900, and by 1910 biologists had become convinced that genes are located in chromosomes, the threadlike structures that contain proteins and deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). During the 1940s American biochemists discovered that DNA taken from one kind of bacterium could influence the characteristics of another. From these experiments, it became clear that DNA is the chemical that makes up genes and thus the key to heredity.
After American biochemist James Watson and British biophysicist Francis Crick established the structure of DNA in 1953, geneticists became able to understand heredity in chemical terms. Since then, progress in this field has been astounding. Scientists have identified the complete genome, or genetic catalog, of the human body (see Human Genome Project). In many cases, scientists now know how individual genes become activated and what effects they have in the human body. Genes can now be transferred from one species to another, side-stepping the normal processes of heredity and creating hybrid organisms that are unknown in the natural world.

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Why Do Teenagers Drink Alcohol?

Why do teenagers drink alcohol? And what do they find so good about it?

 

Teenagers, like adults, drink alcohol for many different reasons, although some of them are different for teens. Your question is on teens and so I'll restrict my answer to that population.
Teens are more likely to start experimenting with drinking if they have parents who drink, if they have friends who are also drinking, and if their parents don't give them clear messages about not drinking outside the house (if they are allowed to drink some wine with dinner, for instance).
Also, alcohol is a powerful drug and changes how you feel. Some of the initial sensations at lower blood alcohol levels are pleasant and it is this sensation that many teens, as well as adults, seek.
Alcohol is a central nervous system depressant. So if you're tense or uptight, drinking some alcohol will, at least initially, reduce some of that tension and help you "chill out."
There are many other reasons why teens drink but to answer in depth would take an entire book. If you're concerned about some of your friends' drinking, consider talking with an adult in whom you can confide.
Also, if you yourself are a teen, consider attending Ala-teen. It is a 12-step group for teenagers who are concerned about other's drinking. They have a lot of literature and discussions about the dynamics of drinking and what you can do to help yourself as well as the drinker.
Whatever you do, don't drink anything and drive. The risk of being in a fatal crash is much higher at much lower blood alcohol concentrations (BACs) for drivers under 21 years of age. Here's a graph that shows the risk by age and BACs).


If you're a parent reading this, there's new data (May, 2010) on parental attitudes and teen drinking at  Rather than paraphrase their conclusions I've cut and pasted them here:
Significant relationships were found between young people's drinking behaviors and perceptions of risk and protective factors in the family environment. Parental monitoring was strongly associated with family closeness and appeared to form one part of a parenting style of more general communication and regulation of children's behavior.
Findings support the need for alcohol misuse prevention interventions which address risk and protective factors within the family setting. Timing of such prevention work should be related both to the development of family relationships and the age at which young people begin drinking alcohol.

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