Ways to Save Mother Earth

The Battle Cry of a Concern Environmentalist "Reduce, Reuse and Recycle."

Volunteerism is one way of showing our love and care to our environment.

Saving an endangered animal is great deed indeed.

Tree planting is one of the most potent way of protecting our planet.

The nature will always find ways to fight back to protect herself from destructive human activities, let us not wait for that to come...

It is now the high time to do our own share in protecting Earth and her wonderful creatures.

Our planet is indeed gasping for breath right now, our harmful pollutions is indeed choking her slowly and continues to stripped her with her ozone layer. I think it is about time to give our timely response to this alarming state of the only planet we live in, by doing our own share of protecting her with doing simple things that will surely stir big difference. For if not, we might be harming ourselves in the years ahead as well, for nature has its own destructive way of getting back at us humans, the signs of earth's displeasure with inappropriate and harmful activities of humans are now seen and felt all across the globe like the global warming, climate change, acid rain, drought, flash floods and other forms of natural catastrophes. Here are some practical and small ways that could help our planet get a sigh of relief. Collective small efforts by those who are genuinely concerned with earth's welfare will inevitably help her by great leap and bounds.
1. Don’t allow your children to free those colorful balloons in mid air. Teach your children not to release these balloons. For balloons that escaped the grasps of your children that will get into oceans and seas will be mistaken as yummy jellyfish by sea turtles. Sea turtles takes a lot of years to mature and unfortunately some of them got killed by eating balloon or plastic bags. Sea turtles are part of the delicate cycle and if their population is affected other species of marine creatures are also under threat.
2. Reduce, Reuse and Recycle. Make it a habit to reduce the things we need or we consume. Purchase only things that we only need and eat only what you can. Let us do our share not to be part of the problem or should I say part of the garbage problem. Reuse all the things that can still be repaired/fixed or those things that are still okay.
Recycle things to conserve our resources, collect old newspapers, books, magazines, used papers, bottles (plastic and glass), and any other things that you could sell in junkyards. There is money in garbage and at the same time we’re doing our part in recycling process.
3. Be kind to trees. As much as possible use forests products and timber very well with optimum efficiency. You may use the back of coupons, use pencils until it become as small as possible, and don’t play with matches. Try to get involved in tree planting in your local conservation program. This could be fun as trees can give us added oxygen, shades for people and a refuge to different insects and birds.
4. Broken scientific apparatus like thermometer, barometers, manometers, sphygmanometers, and float valves and other things that have mercury on it should be disposed properly. Avoid throwing this in rivers for mercury is toxic and poisonous.

5. Minimize the use refrigerators, foam blowers, solvents, aerosol spray propellants, fire extinguishers, and chemical reagents for these contains chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) that are responsible to the climate change and depletion of our precious ozone layer. Do not burn plastic please this habit is also harmful to our ozone layer.
6. Do not buy exotic and endangered animals. These animals are intended to be in the wild not as mere decorations to your home or as pets or playthings.
7. Educate our children, friends and even our local community about the harmful effects of dynamite fishing, illegal logging, animal poaching, over reliance to wood products and other environmental issues.
8. Do not even bother to try eating exotic and endangered animals for they are not intended to be part of human’s diet. Let the other predatory animal do the stalking and eating hehehe you’re not fit to be a lion. One of the most badly hit by these human's hunger for delicious foods are the sharks (shark fin soup), sturgeon (sturgeon roes - caviar- are valued for their great taste and one of the most prized eats in the world), snakes, sea turtles and many other animals.
9. Do not patronize things (coats, purse, belt, etc.) that are made up of an endangered animal or animal part (like skin, fur, bones, tusks, antlers, etc.).
10. Be responsible with your garbage, dispose them properly. Also try to use segregation scheme with your trashes, separate those decomposable from those that are not. You may utilize a compost pit to house all of your organic trashes and eventually use this as your fertilizer for your backyard garden or to your plants.
11. Do the traditional way of helping to conserve our environment by virtue of avoiding smoke-belching, saving electrical energy by employing tips (like regular cleaning of our bulb and fluorescent light in our home, use only appliances when needed, avoiding dripping of water from our faucets, and reporting any case of broken water pipelines to local government).
12. Support any environmental conservation in your community, you may give some donations if this will not bother you to support their cause. You may also join them in their information dissemination drive and campaign as well. You may also do things that can benefit our environment. If you're living in nearby beaches try putting old tires in the sea, this will serve as sanctuary for fishes to lay their eggs and for a place to hide from predators. You may have some vegetation (vegetables, trees or ornamental plants) in your own backyard, for extra oxygen in your area.
13. Support and visit eco tours near you, these may promote awareness about the importance of ecology to your children, relative and friends.
14. When visiting any tourism site/protected parks please be responsible with your trashes as much as possible adhere to the rules and regulations of the park even if no one is looking at you.
15. Learn how to appreciate nature and her gifts to mankind and support any environmental campaigns that will help nurture and protect the only planet we live in.
This is my fifth entry to the hubchallenge...

Tp 10 most famous books

10. Middlemarch George Eliot

Middlemarch is considered by many scholars to be one of the most important novels of the Victorian era. It was written by George Eliot (pen name of Mary Anne Evans) and was first published in 1871 to 1872. It is set in the 1830s in Middlemarch, a fictional provincial town in England, based on Coventry.
9. The Stories of Anton Chekhov Anton Chekhov

Anton Chekhov was a Russian short story writer and playwright. He was born in Taganrog, southern Russia, on 29 January 1860. His originality consists in an early use of the stream-of-consciousness technique, later employed by Virginia Woolf and other modernists, combined with a disavowal of the moral finality of traditional story structure.
8. In Search of Lost Time Marcel Proust

I appreciate the great artistic merit in Proust’s writing, but I have to be honest and say that I have never managed to get more than half way through the first book of this multiple-book novel. I found it extremely slow paced and boring. This is Proust’s most prominent work, it is popularly known for its extended length and the notion of involuntary memory, the most famous example being the “episode of the madeleine” in which he describes in great (boring) detail, eating a madeleine dipped in tea.
7. The Great Gatsby F. Scott Fitzgerald

I agree with the inclusion of this book – it is one of my favorites and one of the best examples of Fitzgerald’s writing. The Great Gatsby is a tale from the Jazz age of Gatsby – a wealthy man whose life is surrounded by mystery. A brilliant read.
6. Hamlet William Shakespeare

It is no surprise that Mr Shakespeare is on the list. I am not sure that I would have picked Hamlet as his best book, but who am I to debate 125 brilliant authors? Hamlet is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, probably written between 1599 and 1601. The play, set in Denmark, recounts how Prince Hamlet exacts revenge on his uncle for murdering Hamlet’s father, the King, gaining the throne through this treachery, and subsequently marrying his mother.

5. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Mark Twain

It is good to see such a great book for the younger generation on the list. Huckleberry Finn is commonly accounted as one of the first Great American Novels. It is also one of the first major American novels ever written using Local Color Regionalism, or vernacular, told in the first person by the eponymous Huckleberry “Huck” Finn, best friend of Tom Sawyer (hero of three other Mark Twain books).

4. Lolita Vladimir Nabokov

Lolita was first written in English and published in 1955 in Paris. The novel is both internationally famous for its innovative style and infamous for its controversial subject: the book’s narrator and protagonist Humbert Humbert becoming sexually obsessed with a twelve-year-old girl named Dolores Haze.

3. War and Peace Leo Tolstoy

War and Peace was first published from 1865 to 1869 in Russkii Vestnik, which tells the story of Russian society during the Napoleonic Era. It is usually described as one of Tolstoy’s two major masterpieces (the other being Anna Karenina) as well as one of the world’s greatest novels.

2. Madame Bovary Gustave Flaubert

Madame Bovary was attacked for obscenity by public prosecutors when it was first serialised in La Revue de Paris between 1 October 1856 and 15 December 1856, resulting in a trial in January 1857 that made it notorious. The novel focuses on a doctor’s wife, Emma Bovary, who has adulterous affairs and lives beyond her means in order to escape the banalities and emptiness of provincial life. Though the basic plot is rather simple, even archetypal, the novel’s true art lies in its details and hidden patterns.
1. Anna Karenina Leo Tolstoy

Anna Karenina is widely regarded as a pinnacle in realist fiction, Tolstoy considered this book his first true novel. Although most Russian critics panned the novel on its publication as a “trifling romance of high life,” Fyodor Dostoevsky declared it to be “flawless as a work of art.” Tolstoy’s style in Anna Karenina is considered by many critics to be transitional, forming a bridge between the realist and modernist novel.

Top 10 most famous ships

10.  The Santa Maria

Though less than 70 feet long and by all accounts a slow and hideous vessel, few can deny the fame the tiny Spanish boat  achieved when she brought Christopher Columbus to the new world. While Columbus has acquired a bad rap of late for his brutality as governor of Hispaniola and other little foibles he was famous for, no one can deny his extraordinary seamanship or his courage in making the crossing not just once, but four times during his lifetime. Unfortunately, the sturdy little Santa Maria would not be making a repeat journey, as she ran aground on Christmas day, 1492, and was salvaged for her wood (which, interesting enough, went into the construction of another ship originally called La Navidad—Christmas—because the wreck occurred on Christmas Day). While the original is long gone, no fewer than four replicas of the ship have been built since, all of them capable of putting to sea. Unfortunately, none of them are exact duplicates as no records of the ship’s original construction exist, resulting in a number of different configurations.

9. C.S.S. Hunley

This early excuse for a submarine proved to be far more dangerous to her own crews than she was to the Union Navy, but she was to start a revolution in naval engineering that remains with us to this day. Built by the Confederates in 1863 specifically to sink Union ships then barricading Southern ports, she sank twice while being tested, killing 13 of her crew (including her designer, H.L. Hunley) in the process. Finally ready for her first combat test, on the evening of February 17, 1864, the Hunley, which never seemed to run out of men eager to serve on her despite the generally suicidal nature of doing so, snuck up on the Union sloop Housatonic and buried a spar torpedo in her side. Remarkably, the torpedo detonated as planned and the Housatonic sank, giving her the dubious distinction of being the first ship in history to be sunk by a submarine. Tragically, the little boat didn’t make it back to dock but sank for the third and last time that evening for unknown reasons, taking her entire eight-man crew down once again. After sitting on the bottom of Charleston Harbor for the next 136 years, she was finally located and raised in August of 2000 to great fanfare. The remarkably well preserved hulk now sits in a specially designed tank awaiting conservation.

8.  U.S.S. Monitor and C.S.S. Virginia (aka Merrimack)

While the hours-long battle fought between these two behemoths off Hampton Roads, Virginia in March of 1862 was relatively unspectacular and ended in a draw, it may have been one of the most important battles in naval history in that it was the first time two ships made predominantly of iron rather than wood ever engaged in battle. The Union-built Monitor—derisively called a “cheesbox on a raft” (which proved to be a fairly accurate description)—also had the distinction of being the first ship to possess a rotating gun turret, changing the course of naval warship design for the next century. The interesting thing about the Confederate ironclad was that it was built upon the refloated hull of the Union frigate Merrimack (hence the confusion regarding her name), which had been scuttled when Norfolk fell into the hands of the South in April of 1861. Refloated and fitted with massive iron plates, she not only proved to be impenetrable to cannon fire, but a dangerous weapon the South used to sink a pair of traditional wooden Union warships a day earlier. Neither ship fought again or survived the year, however; the Virginia would be blown up to prevent her from being captured in May of 1862 when Union troops retook Norfolk and the Monitor would be lost in heavy seas off Cape Hatteras on New Year’s eve of that year, taking 16 of her crew down with her.  (Note: The wreck of the Monitor was located off Cape Hatteras, Virginia in 1973 and was designated a national landmark. Since then, many artifacts from the ship, including her turret, cannon, propeller, anchor, engine and some personal effects of the crew—along with the remains of two of her crew—have been recovered and are now on display—minus the bodies—at the Mariners’ Museum of Newport News, Virginia.)

7. U.S.S. Constitution

Known as “Old Ironsides” due to her sturdy construction, the oldest still intact ship in America serves as a museum in Boston, Massachusetts. Still afloat after 213 years, she had an usually long service life, having remained in commission on and off between 1797 all the way to the Civil War, after which she was made a training ship and continued sailing periodically right up to her final decommissioning in 1881. During that time she fought in two conflicts: the First Barbary War—when she battled real pirates—and the War of 1812, during which she distinguished herself by defeating the British frigates HMS Guerriere and HMS Java. It was those engagements that gave her something of a reputation as a ship that could take on the British in a head-to-head fight, which was no small feat when one considers that the Royal Navy was the largest and most powerful in the world at the time. Her fame saved her from the wrecking yard and in 1907 she began serving as a museum ship. Old Ironsides has been restored, refurbished and otherwise rebuilt so many times, it is said her keel is the only part of the original ship that remains, the rest having being replaced numerous times over the decades. She can still get underway, however, which she proves once a year when she is towed into to Boston Harbor for her “turnaround cruise” designed to ensure she weathers evenly on both sides. She is also a still officially commissioned warship, with a sixty-man crew who are all active duty members of the United States Navy.

6. Battleship U.S.S. Missouri

Though not a participant in any major ship-to-ship sea battles, the “Mighty ‘Mo”, as she became known to her crew, had the distinction of being the vessel upon which the surrender documents that ended World War Two were signed in Tokyo Bay on September 2, 1945. But World War Two wasn’t the only action the massive 45,000 ton battleship was to sea in her lifetime; decommissioned after the war, she was reactivated and sent to fight during the Korean War, and again in 1984, when she became part of Ronald Reagan’s 600-ship fleet plan. She even saw service in the First Persian Gulf War in 1991, when she lobbed cruise missiles and 16-inch rounds from her massive guns against Iraqi targets in Kuwait. Today she sits tied up serenely at Pearl Harbor, where she serves as a museum and war memorial. Interestingly, she is moored just a few hundred yards from the wreck of the Battleship Arizona (see no. 3), making it possible to see from her decks both the place the war started and the place that it ended at the same time.

5. HMS Victory

No single ship serves as a better symbol for the power that was the Royal Navy during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century than does Lord Nelson’s venerable and, indeed, almost legendary, flagship. One of the largest wooden warships ever built, the ship not only saw considerable action in the last decades of the eighteenth century fighting both the French and Spanish fleets, but she became the stuff of legends at the pivotal battle of Trafalgar in 1805, where Nelson was to be mortally wounded but not before besting the combined French and Spanish fleet and effectively saving England from a sea-borne invasion. Originally slated to be broken up shortly after the Napoleonic Wars ended, she was saved, the story goes, by the wife of the First Sea Lord, who, upon learning that the vessel that had served so long and gallantly was to be delegated to the wrecker’s yard, broke into tears and demanded that he rescind the order. Being no fool—and perhaps in a well-advised effort at maintaining marital bliss—the man did exactly that and the ship served for the next century as a pier-side training school. Heavily restored in 1922 by the British government, she now serves as a museum in Portsmouth, England, making her one of the oldest ships still afloat in the world.

4. Battleship U.S.S. Maine

Some ships become famous not for what they did, but for what they represented. In this case, the battleship Maine (a tiny thing compared to the later behemoths that were to carry the title of battleship) became a rallying point for a nation intent on war. Anchored in the shallow waters of Havana harbor late on the evening of February 15, 1898, the ship was torn in two by a mysterious explosion and sank in a matter of minutes, killing all but 89 of her 355-man crew. Though the cause of the explosion was never determined (some historians and naval engineers believe it may have been an accidental detonation of her magazines by a coal bin fire), it was immediately suspected to have been an intentional act of sabotage—probably by a pre-placed mine—sending the country into a war frenzy that would, in the next few months, propel the United States into a short and spectacularly successful war with Spain. While Spanish complicity in the incident has never been proven (and would have been counter-productive to the Spanish in any case), the battle cry “Remember the Maine” would remain a popular and long-remembered one for many decades afterwards. As for the ship itself, in 1911 what was left of her was raised from the mud of Havana Harbor where she had become a hazard to navigation, towed out to the open sea, and scuttled with full military honors—a fitting end to a ship that did so little but caused so much trouble.

3. German Battleship Bismarck

Perhaps no ship struck as much fear into the heart of the British Navy in the spring of 1941 than the massive German dreadnought Bismarck which, at 823 feet and with a top speed of 30 knots, was the largest and fastest warship then afloat. Breaking out of her Baltic haven in late May, 1941 intend on decimating the ragged and besieged British merchant fleet keeping the British Isles afloat, the ship became the subject of the largest naval hunt in Royal Navy history and one that was to cost the British dearly. Engaged by the British battle cruiser HMS Hood and new battleship HMS Prince of Wales off Iceland in the early morning hours of May 24, after a brief but vicious battle the Hood exploded and sank, taking down all but three of her 1,418-man crew, and left the Prince of Wales damaged and limping for home. Damaged herself a day later by British aerial torpedoes, the wounded battleship made a run for the French coast for repairs, only to be chased down by a pair of British battleships, the Rodney and King George V, whose combined firepower finally managed to send Hitler’s proud but battered warship to the bottom—along with all but 200 of her 2,200-man crew—after a two-hour barrage. There the infamous warship remained undisturbed until it was located by Robert Ballard (the same man who had found the Titanic three years earlier) in 1989 and carefully examined. Even then the venerable ship had a story to tell, for it appeared that despite the heavy damage it endured during its final battle, it was still largely intact, suggesting that she had been scuttled rather than sunk by the British after all, giving her, even in death, the last laugh.

2. Battleship U.S.S. Arizona

Few ships illicit the sort of emotion among American veterans as does the name Arizona. A World War One era battle wagon with an undistinguished career, her active life in World War Two lasted a mere fifteen minutes before she was sunk by a well-aimed Japanese bomb that ignited her forward magazine and tore her in two during the surprise Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor December 7, 1941. The “unlucky shot”—a one-in-million hole in one—killed 1,177 men out of her crew of 1,400—including her captain and an admiral—and left her a blazing wreck that was to burn for days.* Too badly damaged to be salvageable (she was one of only three ships sunk during the attack that was never repaired) the ship remains there to this day as a war memorial, where she is visited by literally millions of people every year. Considering how famous the ship is today, it is interesting that few Americans knew about the Arizona’s fiery fate until years later due to wartime censorship, and that she lay largely forgotten in the shallow waters of Battleship Row for decades after the attack. It wasn’t until the 1960s that she became a symbol of American resolve and sacrifice and acquired the mystique—along with a simple but powerful memorial that straddles her remains—that she enjoys today.

1. British Luxury Liner RMS Titanic

Easily the most famous ship in history, this luxury liner was designed to showcase mankind’s technological brilliance but instead only illustrated his hubris. The largest and fastest passenger ship of its time, the British White Star liner left England on April 10, 1912 on its maiden voyage to New York, only to strike an iceberg five days later and sink. While most would imagine two hours would be plenty of time to evacuate the nearly 2,300 souls onboard, the ship had only half the lifeboats needed, dooming some 1,500 passengers and crew to a watery grave in the middle of the icy North Atlantic. The sinking sent shockwaves through the maritime community, resulting in wholesale changes in regulations mandating the number of life boats every vessel was required to carry and making other much needed safety improvements. Eventually the ship’s name became synonymous with avarice, indifference, and class privilege (most of the lost having been passengers from steerage) and holds a mystique that, if anything, has only grown over time. The ship was rediscovered three miles below the surface of the North Atlantic in 1985, and has since then become the inspiration for a multitude of documentaries as well as the backdrop to the most successful movie of 1999. It could truly be said that with the Titanic, humanity learned a hard lesson that continues to pay dividends to this da

Top 10 most dangerous dogs in the world

1 ) Pit Bulls, Origin: United States
The American Pit Bull Terrier is the product of interbreeding between terriers and a breed of bulldogs to produce a dog that combined the gameness of the terrier with the strength and athleticism of the bulldog. They will lock their jaws onto the prey until it’s dead. Pit bulls have a reputation of mauling people to death and they are highly sought for dog fighting.

2 ) Rottweiler, Origin: Germany
Rottweiler is self-confident and responds quietly and with a wait-and-see attitude to influences in its environment. The breed was bred especially for that purpose. They often don’t like strangers and other dogs — they are guards at heart, and the dog owner should always remember that.

3 ) German Shepherds, Origin: Germany
German Shepherd Dogs have a reputation among some individuals for biting and have been banned in some jurisdictions as a result. They are in need of constant and serious physical activity though, and they seem to give preference to long walks and active games. German shepherds are known to be fearless and confident dogs.

4 ) Huskies, Origin: Alaska
Huskies are known for commonly having different colored eyes, known as heterochromia. Huskies have thick fur to protect them from the harsh, cold weather, but it protects them also against heat. In summer they also need to attention and you can take them for little trainingtours. Not considered a good guard dog because of its personality characteristics and gentle temperament.

5 ) Alaskan Malamutes, Origin: Nordic
A few Malamutes are still in use as sled dogs for personal travel, hauling freight, or helping move heavy objects, some are used for the recreational pursuit of sledding also known as mushing, also skijoring, bikejoring, and canicross. If they are bored, they can become destructive.

6 ) Doberman Pinschers, Origin: Germany
Doberman Pinschers are the target of a mistaken stereotype of ferocity and aggression. As a personal protection dog, the Doberman was originally bred for these traits. he typical pet Doberman attacks only if it believes that it, its property, or its family are in danger.

7) Chow Chow, Origin: China
The Chow is extremely loyal to its own family and will bond tightly to its master. Chows are not a particularly active breed. Apartment life can suit them, if they are given enough opportunity for regularly-scheduled physical activity each day. The Chow Chow may appear to be independent and aloof for much of the day, keeping a comfortable distance from others while staying within earshot, or preferring to watch for strangers alone by the entrance.

8 ) Presa Canario, Origin: Canary Islands
Presas are of strong character and are dominant animals requiring early socialization and obedience training. In some situations, the Presa can be aggressive toward other dogs and suspicious of strangers. Once the dog has been properly socialized and trained, this becomes the exception rather than the rule. Many Presas share their homes with children, other dogs, cats, horses and other farm animals.

9 ) Boxer, Origin: Germany
The character of the Boxer is of the greatest importance and demands the most solicitous attention. He is renowned from olden times for his great love and faithfulness to his master and household. He is harmless in the family, but distrustful of strangers, bright and friendly of temperament at play, but brave and determined when aroused. His intelligence and willing tractability, his modesty and cleanliness make him a highly desirable family dog and cheerful companion.

10 ) Dalmatian, Origin: Yugoslavia
The Dalmatian is incredibly loyal and active. Usually good with other pets, notably horses, dalmatians make an excellent addition to a family that already has animals of any kind. Dalmatians are a rather active breed, and strongly dislike lazing around with nothing to do, however they will be thrilled to go for walks, or runs, and play with an active owner. Dalmatians are known for their loyal nature and thrive on human companionship. Dalmatians are occasionally known to have a stubborn streak, but are revered for their excellent memories. Dalmatians need to be handled and socialized from a young age to prevent timidity, which if not addressed properly may result in aggression out of fear.