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Sunday, February 24, 2013
15 houseplants to improve indoor air quality
Plants help clean indoor air, which is typically far more polluted than outdoor air. Find out what common toxins these plants can filter out of the air in your home.
Thu, May 19 2011 at 10:39 AM
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In the late 1980s, NASA and the Associated Landscape Contractors of America studied houseplants as a way to purify the air in space facilities. They found several plants that filter out common volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Lucky for us the plants can also help clean indoor air on Earth, which is typically far more polluted than outdoor air. Other studies have since been published in the Journal of American Society of Horticultural Science further proving the science. Here's our handy of list of the best air-filtering plants. (Plus, at the bottom of this story, you'll find links about plants that are good for the air and also safe for your pets.)
Aloe (Aloe vera)
This easy-to-grow, sun-loving succulent helps clear formaldehyde and benzene, which can be a byproduct of chemical-based cleaners, paints and more. Aloe is a smart choice for a sunny kitchen window. Beyond its air-clearing abilities, the gel inside an aloe plant can help heal cuts and burns.
Spider plant (Chlorophytum comosum)
Even if you tend to neglect houseplants, you'll have a hard time killing this resilient plant. With lots of rich foliage and tiny white flowers, the spider plant battles benzene, formaldehyde, carbon monoxide and xylene, a solvent used in the leather, rubber and printing industries.
Gerber daisy (Gerbera jamesonii)
This bright, flowering plant is effective at removing trichloroethylene, which you may bring home with your dry cleaning. It's also good for filtering out the benzene that comes with inks. Add one to your laundry room or bedroom — presuming you can give it lots of light.
Mother-in-law's tongue (Sansevieria trifasciata 'Laurentii')
This plant is one of the best for filtering out formaldehyde, which is common in cleaning products, toilet paper, tissues and personal care products. Put one in your bathroom — it'll thrive with low light and steamy humid conditions while helping filter out air pollutants.
Golden pothos (Scindapsus aures)
Another powerful plant for tackling formaldehyde, this fast-growing vine will create a cascade of green from a hanging basket. Consider it for your garage since car exhaust is filled with formaldehyde. (Bonus: Golden pothos, also know as devil's ivy, stays green even when kept in the dark.)
Chrysanthemum (Chrysantheium morifolium)
The colorful flowers of a mum can do a lot more than brighten a home office or living room; the blooms also help filter out benzene, which is commonly found in glue, paint, plastics and detergent. This plant loves bright light, and to encourage buds to open, you'll need to find a spot near an open window with direct sunlight.
Red-edged dracaena (Dracaena marginata)
The red edges of this easy dracaena bring a pop of color, and the shrub can grow to reach your ceiling. This plant is best for removing xylene, trichloroethylene and formaldehyde, which can be introduced to indoor air through lacquers, varnishes and gasoline.
Weeping fig (Ficus benjamina)
A weeping fig (Ficus benjamina) in your living room can help filter out pollutants that typically accompany carpeting and furniture such as formaldehyde, benzene and trichloroethylene. Caring for a ficus can be tricky, but once you get the watering and light conditions right, they will last a long time.
Azalea (Rhododendron simsii)
Bring this beautiful flowering shrub into your home to combat formaldehyde from sources such as plywood or foam insulation. Because azalea does best in cool areas around 60 to 65 degrees, it's a good option for improving indoor air in your basement if you can find a bright spot.
English ivy (Hedera helix)
A study found that the plant reduces airborne fecal-matter particles. It has also been shown to filter out formaldehyde found in some household cleaning products.
Warneck dracaena (Dracaena deremensis 'Warneckii')
Combat pollutants associated with varnishes and oils with this dracaena. The Warneckii grows inside easily, even without direct sunlight. With striped leaves forming clusters atop a thin stem, this houseplant can be striking, especially if it reaches its potential height of 12 feet.
Chinese evergreen (Aglaonema crispum 'Deborah')
This easy-to-care-for plant can help filter out a variety of air pollutants and begins to remove more toxins as time and exposure continues. Even with low light, it will produce blooms and red berries.
Bamboo palm (Chamaedorea sefritzii)
Also known as the reed palm, this small palm thrives in shady indoor spaces and often produces flowers and small berries. It tops the list of plants best for filtering out both benzene and trichloroethylene. It's also a good choice for placing around furniture that could be off-gassing formaldehyde.
Heart leaf philodendron (Philodendron oxycardium)
This climbing vine plant isn't a good option if you have kids or pets — it's toxic when eaten, but it's a workhorse for removing all kinds of VOCs. Philodendrons are particularly good at battling formaldehyde from sources like particleboard.
Peace lily (Spathiphyllum)
Shade and weekly watering are all the peace lily needs to survive and produce blooms. It topped NASA's list for removing all three of most common VOCs — formaldehyde, benzene and trichloroethylene. It can also combat toluene and xylene.
Also on MNN:
- Plants poisonous to dogs
- Houseplants that are safe for pets
- What to do if your pet ingests a poisonous plant
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7 Signs You are Living Beyond Your Means
Planning
7 Signs You are Living Beyond Your Means
Whether you consider yourself to be financially responsible, or you always seem to come up short on cash, there are a few key indicators that may indicate you are living beyond your means—and being aware of them can save you loads of money woes in times of a cash emergency.
You couldn’t live without your job’s income for at least six months.
Need some motivation to start saving? Sit down and add up how much money you make each month. Then, multiply that amount by six.
Assuming you have a stable job, that’s the minimum balance you should have stashed away in an interest bearing, FDIC insured deposit account that is earmarked solely for emergency needs, according to Henk Peters, Certified Financial Planner and president of Investus Financial Planning.
“Clients frequently underestimate life’s uncertainties and discount the need to have cash available for unexpected events like unemployment, illness, disabilities, and family emergencies,” he says.
If you have a less-than-stable career or you’re self-employed, he recommends saving as much as 12 months worth of income. If you don’t have anything near that amount saved, and worse, you’re in debt, you’re living beyond your means.
You vacation on credit.
You work hard and you’ve earned that vacation, right? Consider this financial rule of thumb when it comes to credit purchases: If it takes you longer to pay for the purchase than the actual “life span” of the item, you can’t really afford it.
Start a plan to save money for vacations well in advance of the time you’ll need to book tickets or make reservations—even if you intend to charge your trip for purchase protection reasons.
Make sure you pay the balance down before you’re charged a dime of interest and be realistic about all the “extras” that can add to the cost of a trip, like tips, parking, and baggage fees.
You only consider monthly payments when buying a car.
Aside from a home, a car is one of the most expensive items you’ll purchase in your life. While it’s understandable to focus on monthly payment amounts when determining how much car you can buy, your ability to afford a monthly auto loan payment doesn’t mean you can afford the car.
If you’re in doubt, consider the duration of the loan: If it’s longer than three years, and doesn’t result in owning the vehicle outright at the conclusion of the loan, you’re shopping out of your true budget.
The same premise holds true for auto loan refinancing: If you’re refinancing because interest rates have dropped considerably since you initiated the loan, that may be a money-smart move.
If you are refinancing only to lower your monthly payments, and refinancing means that you are extending the life of the loan, you’re not actually saving money — you’re just stretching out the payments.
You’ve arrived at the home you can afford based on a 30-year fixed mortgage.
If you’ve calculated the amount of home you can afford based only a 30-year fixed mortgage scenario, you may be taking on more than you can really afford.
Instead of strapping yourself to a 30-year fixed mortgage payment, consider how much more affordable less house with a shorter loan term is—despite the higher monthly payment.
By opting for a four percent, 15-year fixed mortgage on a $250,000 home loan over a comparable 30-year fixed loan, a homeowner could save $97,020 in interest over the life of the loan. Further, he owns the home in less than two decades.
You’ve paid an overdraft fee in the last 12 months.
If money is so tight that you have to rely on overdraft protection in order to float your lifestyle, you’re living beyond what you can afford. Period.
You’ve exceeded your credit limit.
Exceeding your credit limit doesn’t just cost you in over-limit fees.
Because your credit score is based largely on your debt-to-utilization ratio, which is the difference of the amount of available credit you have to what you’ve used, your credit score is lowered when your credit balances are high and it signals to lenders that you’re in over your head.
If you are approved for new lines of credit—including a home mortgage—your future interest rates will be sky high.
You’re in debt but you pay someone to do a job you could do yourself.
Are you too busy to clean your house, walk your dog, mow your lawn, or manicure your nails?
While some expenses, like childcare and vehicle maintenance are unavoidable, a person who is in debt can’t afford frivolous luxuries that (while unpleasant) could technically be handled “in house.”
Instead of paying someone else for skills you possess, do the task yourself and put the savings toward paying down debt, building your emergency savings accounts and funding your retirement.
Stephanie Taylor Christensen is a former financial services marketer based in Columbus, OH. The founder of Wellness On Less, she also writes on small business, consumer interest, wellness, career and personal finance topics.
Spring Gardening on the Cheap
How To
Spring Gardening on the Cheap
If your thumb is even slightly green, a home garden can go a long way to cutting your grocery bills.
The National Gardening Association estimates you’ll get a half-pound of vegetables for each square foot in your garden, or roughly $600 in produce over the course of a season for the average 600-square-foot plot. Growing it all could take as little as $70, they estimate.
For a $50 annual investment in plants, Frugal Foodie’s terrace container garden provides a good amount of edibles from March until October, including spinach, peppers and tomatoes for salads, blueberries and snap peas for snacking and herbs for pesto, chimichurri, and fresh flavor in pretty much every other recipe.
What’s your best tip for gardening on the cheap? Here’s what home gardeners, chefs and other experts offered up:
Experiment with herbs.
If you grow nothing else, try a few pots of herbs like basil, dill, oregano, and parsley. They’re cheap, easy to grow, and produce plentiful yields. Plus, they work for a lot of recipes, say chefs Mark Gaier and Clark Frasier, co-owners of Arrows and MC Perkins Cove in Maine and Summer Winter in Burlington, Mass. “Thyme is a must for seasoning soups and meats,” they say. “Dill for salmon and pickling, and basil for Asian stir-fries and noodle soups.”
Caffeinate.
Not you, the plants. Home gardener Lisa Suhay heads to Starbucks for free nitrogen-rich grounds in lieu of expensive fertilizer. (Many other coffee shops will also offer gratis grounds if you ask.) “Just sprinkle on soil and let it percolate in,” she says.
Skip pesticides.
Not only is it better for your health, but it’s also better for your wallet. “A small amount of dish soap in a spray bottle of water works on smaller bugs, while cheap beer in a small dish attracts and drowns slugs,” says Kate Forgach of FreeShipping.org.
Use a rain barrel.
Keeping a big container outdoors to collect rain for watering your garden can help reduce your summer water bill. To avoid mosquitoes, top the container with a screen.
Freecycle.
Left unchecked, mint, strawberries, and other garden edibles can take over a yard. Kathie Lapcevik of “Two Frog Home” suggests checking — and posting on — message boards like Craigslist and Freecycle. “Most likely someone has some [plants] they’re willing to thin, as long as you’re willing to do the work,” she says. Such boards are also a great place to look for cheap or free gardening tools, and manure or compost.
Play to location.
You’ll have less success, if any, buying plants that prefer higher or lower temps, or more or less sun, than your yard is able to offer. “I live in Austin, Texas and the temperatures can go above 100 degrees for months straight and the soil here is only several inches deep with few nutrients,” James Krewson, founder of FindersCheapers.com. That means his winter garden of greens do really well, while cherry tomatoes, okra, and herbs are good summer picks.
Consider yield.
You’ll get a bigger crop from some plants than from others. Dimitri Gatanas of “Urban Garden NYC” suggests cherry tomatoes and jalapenos as top producers, as well as mint, thyme, and basil. Gaier and Frasier like “cut and come again” plants that offer multiple harvests per planting, like mizuna, a spicy green.
Add a few perennials.
By definition, they’ll come back every year, negating your need to buy new seeds or plants. Frugal Foodie’s collard greens and mint both made it through the winter, which means she can invest less in her garden this spring.
Contain watering.
“Water individual plants rather than the ground,” says home gardener, Myles Alexander. He reuses milk cartons, soda and water bottles, and other plastic containers. Bury an inch or two deep next to each plant. Fill with water for more direct delivery to the plants’ roots.
Start with seed.
It may be a little late for this year’s garden, but buying seeds instead of young plants is cheaper. “You pay roughly $1.50 for a packet of tomato seeds, 35 cents for each starter pot and anywhere from $5 up for starting [soil],” says Todd Heft of “Big Blog of Gardening.” He continues, “You can also figure in about
$2 worth of plant food during the indoor growing.” That beats $4 or more for a single plant at farmer’s markets and garden stores.
Share.
Split seed packets with another gardener. The same goes for plant flats bought at the garden center — some centers will offer a bulk discount, or cheaper prices for buying a large flat or two.
Frugal Foodie is a journalist based in New York City who spends her days writing about personal finance and obsessing about what she’ll have for dinner. Chat with her on Twitter through @MintFoodie.
Saturday, February 23, 2013
The killing of a young boy
The killing of a young boy
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New photographs of LTTE chief Velupillai Prabakaran’s son just before he was shot dead, obtained by Channel 4 TV, leave more questions for Sri Lanka to answer about war crimes
It is a war that has produced some truly terrible images, but this one is particularly disturbing. A young boy sits looking distressed, like a child who has been lost in a supermarket. He has been given a biscuit or some kind of snack. In the second photograph, he is looking anxiously up, as though hoping to see someone he recognises.
The boy is Balachandran Prabakaran, the 12-year-old son of Tamil Tiger leader Velupillai Prabakaran.
These photographs, which we are releasing today, form part of the new evidence in the forthcoming feature documentary “No Fire Zone: The Killing Fields of Sri Lanka,” the culmination of three years of research which will be shown for the first time next month in Geneva, to coincide with the U.N. Human Rights Council meeting. The new evidence in the film is certain to increase pressure on the Indian government not only to support a resolution on Sri Lanka and accountability, but also to ensure that it is robustly worded, and that it outlines an effective plan for international action to end impunity in Sri Lanka.
The new photographs tell a chilling story. This child is not been lost of course: he has been captured and is being held in a sandbag bunker, apparently guarded by a Sri Lankan Army soldier. In less than two hours he will be taken, executed in cold blood — and then photographed again.
Forensic pathologist’s opinion
In these photographs, which digital image analysis indicates were taken with the same camera, we can see he has been shot five times in the chest. Separate video footage, also apparently filmed as a war trophy by government soldiers, shows that alongside him lie the bodies of five men. They appear to have been Tamil Tiger fighters, probably his bodyguards. They have been stripped, bound, blindfolded and then shot in the head.
The new photographs are particularly important evidentially, because they prove that Balachandran was not killed in crossfire, or in a battle. His death was deliberate and calculated. The pictures fill in chilling details on the circumstances of his murder — and leave the Sri Lankan government with yet more questions to answer about just how systematic the executions at the end of the war appear to have been. Last year, we first revealed video footage and stills which showed Balachandran’s body shortly after his execution. These were analysed for us by a respected forensic pathologist, Professor Derrick Pounder, to assess the cause of death.
The professor identified what he thinks is the first of the shots to be fired at the boy: “There is a speckling (on the skin) from propellant tattooing, indicating that the distance of the muzzle of the weapon to this boy’s chest was two to three feet or less. He could have reached out with his hand and touched the gun that killed him.”
The professor said the angle of the shots suggested that after that bullet was fired, the boy fell backwards and was then shot four more times. Unlike the men around him, there was no indication that the boy had been blindfolded or bound, so it was possible that the boy may have been made to watch the execution of his guards before the gun was turned on him.
The new photographs released today give us a chilling insight into what happened before that. They appear to demonstrate that the situation was calm and orderly. Balachandran was given a snack and some water. There was time to take photographs while he was held in the bunker and again afterwards. The forensic analysis report on the photographs concludes that there is “no evidence to indicate fabrication, manipulation or the use of effects to create the images” and concludes that the photographs “appear to be an accurate representation of the events depicted.”
From the separate video sequence recorded later (which has also been authenticated by both digital video analysis), it is clear that there were several military personnel in the area.
Where the trail leads to
It is difficult to imagine the mindset of an army in which a child can be executed in cold blood with apparent impunity. It also raises extremely difficult questions for the Sri Lankan military. With every month that passes, the evidence of systematic execution of prisoners grows. The pattern of apparent sexual violence against female fighters is disturbing in the extreme.
As the respected international human rights lawyer, Professor William A. Schabas, says in our film: “If you look at what looks like the mass execution of naked prisoners, these all add up to possibly the claim that this was in fact systematic — and that could point to the highest levels in the military authority of Sri Lanka as being responsible for war crimes of summary execution, killing and torture.”
India’s role
And in Sri Lanka, of course, the highest levels of the military are virtually the same as the highest levels of the government. President Mahinda Rajapaksa and his brother, the Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa, have some very difficult questions to answer.
They may well continue to simply deny the evidence and cite the undoubted crimes of the Tamil Tigers. But as a defence, it is becoming increasingly threadbare. The crimes of one side do not justify the crimes of another. A government which claims to adhere to international humanitarian law cannot hide behind the brutal suicide bombings or the brutalised child soldiers of the Tigers. But for India there is a dilemma too. Because it matters not just what the answers to these questions are. It also matters who asks these questions. India is central to this.
It has been said before, but it is true, and worth repeating. Without justice there can be no peace and reconciliation, and without truth there can be no justice.
This is not an academic exercise in historical accountability. The men responsible for these crimes are still in charge. They are continuing to brutally repress Tamils in the north and persecute anyone who criticises the government including, as we have seen with the impeachment of the Chief Justice, their own judiciary.
If there is no attempt to address these issues and to bring justice to those who suffered, the fear is that in the short term, political repression in Sri Lanka will increase and that in the long term, history is destined to repeat itself with yet more bloodshed and regional instability.
It seems to most human rights defenders around the world, including those in India, that the only way ahead in this situation is for the creation of a credible, independent, international inquiry into these events, as called for by the U.N.’s Panel of Experts. That inquiry should examine all the crimes committed by both sides.
If India was to declare its support for such an inquiry, many hope it could mark the start of the long, delayed movement towards peace, reconciliation and political justice in Sri Lanka.
(Callum Macrae is director, “No Fire Zone: The Killing Fields of Sri Lanka.” nofirezone.org. Follow him on Twitter @nofirezonemovie)
This article has been corrected for a typographical error
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Set for take-off: Britain's deadly superdrone that picks its own targets but experts warn plane could mark the start of 'robot wars'
- Revolutionary superdrone could spearhead fight against terrorism in Africa
- Experts warned it raised nightmare of out-of-control robots waging war on humans
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It is named after the Celtic god of thunder, can fly faster than the speed of sound and evades enemy radar with its single-wing stealth design.
This is Taranis, Britain’s latest pilotless combat aircraft, which is even capable of selecting its own targets.
The revolutionary superdrone is due to make its maiden flight in the next few weeks and could spearhead the fight against terrorism in Africa.
Revolutionary: Taranis, Britain's latest pilotless combat aircraft, will make is maiden flight in the next few weeks
Military chiefs believe Taranis’s ground-breaking technology will allow a powerful new generation of drones equipped with deadly payloads to fly from British bases to attack targets worldwide.
But the new developments in pilotless aircraft are controversial as they allow the possibility of autonomous computers targeting and killing enemy combatants outside human control.
Experts even warned last night that the new technology raised the nightmare spectre of out-of-control robots waging war on humans – and called for a global ban on autonomous technology.
Britain’s armed drones are currently piloted remotely by aircrews on the ground. But Taranis will follow a set flightpath using on-board computers to perform manoeuvres, avoid threats and identify targets. Only when it needs to attack a target will it seek authorisation from a human controller.
Professor Noel Sharkey, a robotics engineer specialising in autonomous military systems at Sheffield University, said last night: ‘This is a very dangerous move. Once it has been developed, who knows what new governments who inherit the technology will do with it.’
Last week, Prime Minister David Cameron warned that the fight against terrorism in North Africa could last decades, meaning futuristic drones could dominate counter-terrorism strategy in the region.
Military technology: A US Air Force MQ-9 Reaper drone takes off from Kandahar Air Base, Afghanistan. A proliferation in mainly US military technology has sparked a drone arms race
The controversy surrounding their use was highlighted last week when the United Nations launched an investigation into the deaths caused by conventional drone attacks.
British Forces currently operate armed drones only in Afghanistan, where they target Taliban insurgents. However, a proliferation in mainly US military technology has sparked a drone arms race. To compete, the UK Government has committed itself to a new generation of pilotless aircraft which can fly distances of more than 2,000 miles.
A defence source said that Taranis’s long-anticipated maiden test flight has been delayed by technological setbacks as well as UK aviation safety laws which restrict the flight of drones in this country.
But the source added that the aircraft, which weighs eight tons and is about the size of an RAF Hawk jet, will make its first flight in Australia in the next few weeks, where its progress will be closely monitored by Ministry of Defence chiefs.
Prof Sharkey said: ‘Taranis is a concept prototype – so it is really the beta version of an intercontinental attack plane. With the proliferation of pilotless combat aircraft that is certainly going to happen, it wasn’t going to be long before the person was taken out of the loop.
Competition: A US K-MAX pilotless freight helicopter in Helmand province in Afghanistan. To compete, the UK Government has committed itself to a new generation of pilotless aircraft
‘It would be very difficult for a human to keep control of teams of these moving at such speed. It could put ours at a disadvantage to others that did not have a human supervisor. This is why we need a global ban on autonomous drones before proliferation begins in earnest.’
But the MoD says the programme is designed so that a human will make the final decision on the firing of weapons and that as a ‘demonstrator’ it was far too early to say what role Taranis would have in future combat missions.
The superdrone, manufactured by BAE, is the product of a 2006 MoD decision to develop and fly an uncrewed aircraft that goes one better than current US systems by using a customised Rolls-Royce jet engine rather than a propeller.
When its sleek design was first unveiled in 2010 at an airfield in Warton, Lancashire, it was accompanied by boasts from its designers that Taranis could strike at the heart of Britain’s enemies without risking British lives.
BAE chiefs said Taranis would be an ‘autonomous stealthy Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle [UCAV] ultimately capable of precisely striking targets at long range, even in another continent’.
An MoD spokesman said: ‘Taranis is a trailblazing project that reflects the very best of our nation’s advanced design and technology skills and is a leading programme on the global stage.
‘Unmanned Air Vehicles play an important role in operations, helping reduce the risks faced by military personnel on the front line.
‘Forthcoming Taranis trials will provide further information about the potential capabilities of Unmanned Combat Air Systems.’
A spokesman for BAE said: ‘Taranis is a joint BAE-MoD programme and we are not at liberty to confirm any details of the forthcoming flight, including the location, timing or who may be present.
=================================================================Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2268909/Taranis-Britains-deadly-superdrone-picks-targets.html#ixzz2LiI1sv5E
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