Project 10^100

9/24/2008 08:47:00 AM

If you could suggest a unique idea that would help as many people as possible, what would it be?
It's a question worth considering. Never in history have so many people had so much information, so many tools at their disposal, so many ways of making good ideas come to life. Yet at the same time so many people (in all walks of life) could use some help, in small ways and big. In the midst of this, new studies are reinforcing the timeless wisdom that beyond a basic level of material wealth, the only thing that seems to increase individual happiness is... helping other people. In other words, help helps everybody.
But what would help, and what would be most helpful? We don't believe we have the answers, but we do believe the answers are out there. Maybe in a lab, or a company, or a university -- or maybe not. Maybe the answer that helps somebody is in your head, in something you've observed, some notion that you've been fiddling with, some small connection you've noticed, some old way of doing something that you've seen with new eyes.
To mark our 10th birthday and celebrate the spirit of our users and the web, we're launching Project 10^100 (that's "ten to the hundredth") a call for ideas that could help as many people as possible, and a program to bring the best of those ideas to life. CNN will be covering this project, including profiles of ideas and the people who submit them from around the world. For a deeper look, follow along at Impact Your World.
Ideas are due by October 20, 2008. Get started submitting your own ideas, and come back on January 27th to vote on ideas from others. We hope you feel inspired enough to try. Good luck, and may the ones who help the most win.
Posted by Andy Berndt, Managing Director, Google Creative Lab

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Hello All

Well we have reached our first milestone … 12 weeks! My mom is so much better (no more morning sickness) but Dad thinks she has lost it! She is in full “nesting” mode now and bedrooms are being re-arranged and everyone is being bossed around (especially my poor Dad). But I have to say that I am impressed with my mom’s energy now … she took bedroom curtains down and put new ones up in 30 mins at 9.00pm on Fri night … I hope my Dad is reading this and realizes that my Mom is very clever! He is going to be so spoilt when she starts using all of those baking things that she bought last week with Collette! (I thought she couldn’t bake? That’s what dad says? Oh well … just shows how clever she is pretending all that time that she CAN’T bake!).

At my 12 week scan the doc checked my back neck measurement and fluid and all seems to be fine. I was really putting on a show for the doc and my mom …. He battled to get a measurement because I was somersaulting and kicking!  We are waiting for the blood tests too this Wed … but hey, I know that I am 100%!

Our next visit is 14^th Oct – My Mom’s 35^th b day. I will be 17 weeks so hopefully the mystery of “who I am” will be solved. You guys are going to be so excited when you find out my sex!

Other than that ….… I hear that we have a new puppy at home ….. he is a special toy pom / cross from the SPCA. He sounds very cute. Dad called him Jerry. Then it changed to Zak and then yesterday he changed it again to Wheelie! It sounds like my Dad loves to change things .. I hope my name sticks and I am not going to be called something new every week!

Well take care … chat soon.

xxx

Scientists prepare for uber experiment

By Cole Moreton
London - Yes, but what is it? That has been many people's reaction to the furore over the Large Hadron Collider, due to be switched on on Wednesday.
The biggest, most expensive experiment in history is attracting both scientific hyperbole and hysteria. Some say it will reveal the universe's secrets and lead to the elusive Theory of Everything.
A few fear that unleashing unimaginable power beneath the Swiss countryside will result in the end of the world. But how? And what do all these words mean?
Large
It is an understatement. A giant circular tunnel, with several loops, stretches for 27km under a stretch of land between France and Switzerland.
Hadron
The name for one of the types of particle that make up an atom. These tiny bits of energy will be propelled by giant magnets around the tunnel circuit at almost the speed of light.
Collide
Is what they will do when they meet other hadrons being beamed in the opposite direction, at the same great speed. The resulting explosion will create 100 000 times more heat than the sun, apparently.
Thankfully, it will happen only for a moment, in an area a billion times smaller than a speck of dust.
Cern
Pronounced "sern". The French acronym for the European Organisation for Nuclear Research, which built the £5-billion (about R70-billion) collider. The money came from 20 countries, including Britain, which has played a leading role.
The Big Bang
Is what they are trying to re-create. Or rather what happened a trillionth of a second after the universe was created by an explosion nearly 14-billion years ago. It is believed that for that tiny moment, everything was molten plasma. This cooled to create everything we see around us.
The hope is that by remaking the moment, in miniature, scientists will be able to see things that are invisible now.
The God Particle
Big name, very small thing; and the first great discovery they hope to make. It is believed we have detected only a quarter of the particles in everything. We don't, for example, know why things have mass. (To get a feeling for what that is, hit yourself on the head with an inflatable hammer, then a real one. The one that hurts has more mass.)
In 1964, Professor Peter Higgs of Edinburgh University predicted an unseen particle that provided mass (its official name is a Higgs boson).
The hope is that it will be detected for the first time. Other possible revelations include so-called dark matter, which in theory "stretches through space like an invisible skeleton".
The Theory of Everything
The Holy Grail of science. A unifying theory providing one explanation for the forces at work in the natural world, from the nucleus of an atom to the movements of the planets.
Sounds like alchemy to non-scientists, but some very respectable minds believe it is possible, and that the collider may show the way.
The End of the World
Some scientists, on the other hand, went to the European Court for Human Rights to try to stop the collider being turned on. They fear it may create a black hole - which would certainly violate our rights by sucking the planet into … well we don't really know.
Professor Sir Chris Llewellyn Smith of Cern says: "The chance that we produce a black hole is minuscule." It is not all that reassuring, but he adds: "Even if we do, it can't swallow up the Earth." It would be too small. Till then we're not all doomed. - The Independent on Sunday

• This article was originally published on page 4 of The Star on September 08, 2008

It is said that the average person utilizes the oxygen from 16 trees to survive his/her life-span. Every human being is invited to take this opportunity to offer  trees back to mother nature, by participating in the worlds’ largest tree planting effort. Globally the intention is to plant and nurture 100 million trees. This action is to be performed between 15th July to 16th October 2008. Will you do your bit?

WHY PLANT TREES ?

- To reduce global warming

- To have a clean & green environment

- To protect the environment

- To protect biodiversity

- To promote global cooling

- To reduce pollution

WHERE TO PLANT

Schools, wasteland, farm boundaries, along the river banks, hills, roadsides, sides of railway track, playground boundaries, home gardens, public places, thermal stations, coal mines, military areas, universities & educational institutions, fertilizer manufacturing company premises, pesticide manufacturing premises, government office premises, municipal areas, government lands, industrial areas, places where there are high levels of pollution, etc.

Note: when planting, always seek the permission, and support of local government, schools, business, and the respective landowners, at the place you wish to plant.

Hi All

Well my mom was missing me … so she had her 11 week scan yesterday. I am 3.54cm big and I have real hands and feet now … cool! If you look at the scan … I am facing forward with my big head on the left and my round tummy. The little white thing at the top is my hand … yes … I can wave! I was moving around a lot and I heard my mom say “Oh .. it’s so cute”! When my dad saw me he said I look like an “Indian myna” … I assume that is also cute??

On 16 Sept the doctor will check that all is fine with a measurement on my neck (for downs) and from there on … things should get exciting. At 16 weeks my mom and dad will finally see who I am. My mom went on the Internet and looked at the Chinese lunar calendar !! She believes I am a Girl! Oh well .. my sister Maxi will be over the moon! I suppose you will have to wait until then!

My mom is still feeling a bit sick … but slowly coming right. Her stomach is getting fat and she is dreading seeing Dominique on Saturday cause she knows she will be called “Biggie Tegie”!

Take care .. chat soon. xx

Baby Abbott No 2

The Happy Parents: Cameron Abbott & Tegan Mare