Ryanair says to charge toilet fee - or maybe not

LONDON (Reuters) - Ryanair's chief executive said Europe's largest budget carrier might start charging passengers for using the toilet while flying, but his spokesman cautioned Michael O'Leary often just made things up at will.

"One thing we have looked at in the past and are looking at again is the possibility of maybe putting a coin slot on the toilet door so that people might actually have to spend a pound to spend a penny in future," O'Leary told BBC television.

He said this would not inconvenience passengers travelling without cash. "I don't think there is anybody in history that has got on board a Ryanair aircraft with less than a pound."

A spokesman said the airline had considered the fee as a possible source of extra revenue since passengers had the option of not using the toilet on board, but added that "maybe O'Leary was just taking the p*ss this morning."

The Girl Who Silenced The World For 6 Minutes

Forwarded by DrLohCL

Climate disaster is occuring faster than expected

Polar bears can't catch seals in open water. They are only able to do so on the sea ice.
On the ice, the bears catch their prey when they surface to breathe.
Seals swim to the surface to breathe every five to fifteen minute but because they visit as many as fifteen breathing holes, a polar bear's wait for its prey can be long.

Polar bears locate breathing holes with their powerful sense of smell. When a bear finds an aglu, it waits patiently for the seal to surface — which can take hours or days.

Polar bears depend on the presence of ice for access to seals. In summer, when the floes retreat north, polar bears will travel hundreds of miles to maintain contact with their prey.

Between summer and winter the amount of ice-covered water can change rapidly. Polar bears learn to follow the ice to stay with their food source.

Those polar bears that are stranded on land in summer must stay there until the ice forms again in fall. On land, the bears face lean times, for they seldom catch seals without a platform of ice.

The picture above is a polar bear being killed as it went rampaging into a nearby town looking for food.

With the thinning ice caps, more polar bears are dying day by day...


The SUN, 26th February 2009

ALLIGATORS bask off England. Brazil is a desert. Saigon, New Orleans, Venice and Mumbai have disappeared — along with 90 per cent of the human race.

This is what scientists believe could happen 41 years from now if the world warms by just 4°C.

Here we graphically illustrate how Earth could become a whole new world.

Rivers would disappear, as would entire species such as lions and tigers. Most marine life would be extinct.

These are among the dire predictions made by experts in the latest New Scientist magazine, on sale this week.

They have begun to consider what the world could look like if we are unable to do our bit to stem climate change — and say only one in ten humans would survive to see it.

Many scientists believe this could happen by 2100, but others fear it is just two generations away, and could arrive as soon as 2050.

Peter Cox of the University of Exeter, who studies climate systems, says: “Climatologists tend to fall into two camps. There are the cautious ones who say we need to cut emissions and won’t even think about high global temperatures — and there are the ones who tell us to run for the hills because we’re all doomed. I prefer a middle ground. We have to accept that changes are inevitable and start to adapt now.”

If the planet warms by an average of 4°C — as it might this century — it will change beyond all recognition.

All of the world’s major deserts are predicted to expand, with Africa’s Sahara reaching right into central Europe, while we would see Europe’s rivers drying up, from the Danube to the Rhine.

Two massive belts of desert-dry land would girdle the earth’s central zones.


The only places with guaranteed water will be in the high latitudes.

Former NASA scientist James Lovelock, one of the UK’s most highly regarded environmentalists, says: “Everything in that region will be growing like mad. It’s where all the life will be.

“The rest of the world will be largely desert with a few oases.

“Humans are in a pretty difficult position and I don’t think they are clever enough to handle what’s ahead.

“I think they’ll survive as a species but the cull during this century is going to be huge.

“The number remaining at the end of the century will probably be a billion or less. And you can forget lions and tigers — if it moves we’ll have eaten it. People will be desperate.”
Relocate

The world’s population would relocate to the coolest regions — including Britain, Scandinavia, Russia, Canada, Greenland, New Zealand and North Australia. However, with less land the world will be crowded and food scarce.

Human survivors’ diet will be mostly vegetarian — as the seas become acidic with higher amounts of dissolved carbon dioxide killing off most marine life.

This is not the first time the world has faced a catastrophe on this scale.

Similar temperature rises occurred 55million years ago, when vast quantities of methane bubbled explosively from the deep ocean, filling the atmosphere with carbon and wiping out sea life.

The planet’s temperature rocketed almost 6°C, sea levels rose 330ft higher than today’s and desert stretched from southern Africa into Europe.

Sadly we have no survival lessons to learn from it — mankind didn’t develop on the planet until quarter of a million years ago.

Nobel prize-winning scientist Paul Crutzen says: “I would like to be optimistic that we will survive but I’ve got no good reason to be.

“In order to be safe we would have to reduce our carbon emissions by 70 per cent by 2015. At the moment we are putting them up by three per cent... ”

Coming soon: Ecology disaster

Arctic ice cap keeps melting under the effects of global warming.
August 2008 saw second largest summer shrinkage since satellite observations began 30 years ago.
Artic sea ice shrank to the smallest area on record recently, US scientist have cofirmed.
The Artic sea ice which spread across he north pole could disappear during the summer in 1-2 decade (as early as 2013), US scientist warned.


It is silly to say global warming is not taking place on a massive scale.
The world already is experiencing major changes.
Global warming no longer can be stopped.
What has to be done now is to deal with a planet with ultra high speed winds, sudden deserts and large scale extreme weather events.

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How I envy those working in this world class hospital.

I was told that only the best could work there.....

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I will want to be admitted there if I fall ill.

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Best coffee on high street? Not Starbucks

Times online

Starbucks is peddling the worst coffee at the highest prices according to a survey of the big three coffee houses on Britain's high streets.

A report published today calculates that choosing the world’s largest coffee chain instead of an independent shop for your cappuccino three mornings a week will cost you £126 a year.

The Which? Magazine survey did not stop at lamenting the cost of a Starbucks, it also placed the global brand at the bottom of its taste test. It concluded that when it came to too much water in an Americano and a surfeit of froth on a cappuccino, “Starbucks was the worst offender”.

Despite this, Starbucks is still by far the biggest coffee chain on the planet with more than 15,000 stores in 44 countries.


The report also examined the calorie content of coffees. The full range of drinks ran from 17 calories in a black Americano to a white chocolate mocha with whip and whole milk from Starbuck that came in at 628 calories – more than a quarter of recommended daily calorie intake.

The sandwiches available in the coffee shops also came under scrutiny, with several found to contain more calories, fat and salt than a McDonald’s Big Mac.

Four sandwiches at Starbucks and four at Costa exceeded the 495 calories in a Big Mac. Fat content in four Costa sandwiches, five from Starbucks and one from Caffe Nero was higher than the burger and 32 sandwiches from the three shops had more salt than a Big Mac.

COFFEE PRICES

Starbucks

Medium cappuccino £2.29; single espresso £1.40





Come on guys...

It's ok to fork out 2 pounds if what you getting is a decent cup of coffee.
But that's not the case here.
You are just buying the 'brand' with its associated psychological '?feel good' effect.


Make your own coffee.


I have been making my own cup of coffee each morning from bean to cup.
And the coffee that i am getting is far superior from theirs.

(And this done with only a bialetti stovetop coffee maker. My 2nd hand gaggia espresso machine is on the way!).

And it gives you far superior 'feel good effect'- becoz it taste better and saves you money!