Poaching, global warming and habitat and prey loss are pushing snow leopards closer to extinction every day. In fact, only an estimated 3,500 to 7,000 snow leopards now remain in the wild.
When you adopt a snow leopard or other animal, your tax-deductible contribution will help support our work to save these great cats and other imperiled wildlife.
Fun Photos & Wildlife Facts Wildlife adoptions are a great way to learn (or educate kids of all ages) about some of the planet's most amazing and imperiled animals. Now each adoption comes with an informative fact sheet, a beautiful 5"x7" color photo and an all-new personalized Certificate of Adoption suitable for framing.
You can even opt to receive our educational Kids Wildlife Activities Book with your wildlife adoption and help pass on wildlife conservation values to the next generation!
Bigger and Better Plush Wildlife Toys Now we're offering even bigger and cuddlier plush toys with our wildlife adoptions. These new toys are an adorable reminder of the important contribution that your wildlife adoption makes in our work to protect snow leopards, wolves, polar bears and other wildlife.
Want to help, but don't want the plush toy? No problem… just opt out of the plush toy and even more of your contribution will be devoted to our wildlife-saving work!
Defenders of Wildlife is a national, nonprofit membership organization dedicated to the protection of all native wild animals and plants in their natural communities.
Defenders of Wildlife can be contacted at: 1130 17th Street, NW Washington, DC 20036
Across the world, illegal timber operations are decimating vital habitat for orangutans and other wildlife. In fact, a recent U.N. report predicts that orangutans could be extinct within the next 20 years -- the victims of habitat destruction due mainly to illegal timber harvests and land conversion.
That's the bad news. The good news is that we have an opportunity in today to help save orangutans and other wildlife threatened by illegal logging.
As Director of Defenders of Wildlife's international conservation programs, I know the devastating impacts that illegal logging has on habitat for our endangered orangutans.
These primates -- one of our closest genetic relatives in the animal kingdom -- are rapidly being driven to extinction. Illegal logging has recently taken place in 37 of Indonesia's 41 national parks, some of the last strongholds of the endangered orangutan.
The insatiable demand for cheap wood products and luxury hardwoods in the United States, Europe and Japan is driving illegal logging operations worldwide. Yet America has no law against importing illegally harvested wood into the U.S.
The Wyden-Alexander Amendment would give enforcement agencies a powerful tool in the fight against illegal timber traffickers by making it a crime to knowingly import, sell, buy or transport illegally-sourced wood and wood products.
But your Senators may never have a chance to vote on this important amendment unless you take action right away.
This amendment is our best chance this year to fight illegal timber trafficking and save the orangutans that are threatened by it, but we don't have much time. The Senate is expected to decide on whether to allow debate on the Wyden-Alexander Amendment by the end of the week.
Defenders of Wildlife is a national, nonprofit membership organization dedicated to the protection of all native wild animals and plants in their natural communities.
Defenders of Wildlife can be contacted at: 1130 17th Street, NW Washington, DC 20036
6:00AM Pickup from home to Penang AirPort. 7:40AM Boarding 8:10AM On board 8:30AM Have my breakfast,Nasi Lemak with apple juice 300 feet above sea level and enjoy nice bird eye view from side window. 9:00AM arrive LCCT 9:30AM wait for luggage then take Skybus straight to KL sentral 10:30AM reach KL Sentral. 12:30PM have lunch in KL Sentral food court
We had a chance to try Picasa Web Albums and our first impression is that it is very inspired by Flickr but not anywhere near. Here's a first hand comparison of Picasa Web Albums with Flickr based on several parameters like prices, storage, ease of use, features, etc.
Storage Limit and Price for Pro Accounts Flickr Pro charges $24.95/yr for uploading UNLIMITED of photos (10MB per photo) while Google charges $20/yr for uploading 10GB of photos per year. Therefore, Flickr provides more storage space than Google at the price.
Storage Limit for Pro Accounts For free accounts, Picasa users are limited to 1GB of free storage while Flickr lets free users upload upto 100 MB (5MB per photo) per month. So the storage limit is roughly the same for both services. Also, there is no bandwidth limit in either of the servies.
Photo Uploading Both services provide a web browser interface for uploading pictures. When it comes to software, Flickr has a very basic Flickr Uploader software while Google has integrated the photo uploader right in the Picasa software itself. However, Flickr provides other photo uploading options like Mobile Phones and email.
Tags and Descriptions Unlike Flickr, Picasa Web has no support for tags. You can attach labels to individual images or an entire photo album in Picasa Photo software but that doesn't reflect in the web albums when you upload a photo. Both services allow you to add captions to pictures but Flickr automatically parses text and converts URLs into clickable hyperlinks.
Photo Notes Flickr allows users to visually mark certain areas of the picture by drawing a marquee and attach a description and even a link to that area. For instance, in a group photo, you can mark your face and link it to your website. Picasa Web Albums have no such feature.
Photo Comments Both services allow users to post comments on other pictures. In Flickr, you can also subscribe to your recent comments feed.
Picture Slideshows Flickr creates photo slideshows using Flash while Picasa Web Slideshows are done in HTML and Javascript. Flickr Flash has more effect like zoomable thumbnails, dynamic hide-show features but Picasa Slideshows are more usable and easy to integrate in external websites.
Mark a Photo as favorite Both services allow users to add any public picture to their favorite folder.
RSS Feeds Both Picasa Web Albums and Flickr provide RSS feed for all photos from a user or selected album (or photoset). However, in Flickr you can subscribe to photos based on Tags.
Downloading Photos locally Flickr allows download of individual photos while Picasa goes a step further and lets you download all pictures in a web album. However, Flickr provides various size options when you download a picture. We miss this in Picasa.
Support for Developers Flickr exposes a nice API that has been used to develop some amazing web-apps like the Flickr Graph. Google Web Albums provides no API.
Support for Blogging Flickr lets you directly publish a photo to a blog. You can do this from Picasa locally but not from the Web Album interface.
Where Google Picasa Web Album Wins: Picasa provides an extremely easy program to upload photos online. You can visually select files and folders in Picasa, save them to the tray and upload all of them in one go. Picasa Slideshows are much easy to customize as they are done in HTML code.
Where Flickr Wins Flicks is a more mature and robust application than Picasa Web Albums. Flickr supports tags and photo clusters which make the task of finding relevant photos so easy. Unlike Picasa, Flickr provides communities and photo pools where anyone can join and share related pictures. Flickr has an active support community and your Flickr related queries are answered almost instantly. Also, Flickr has an API for programmers.
Conclusion : Take the Flickr route. I would probably use Picasa Web Albums for storing picture backups but Flickr remains my favorite service until Google introduces tags, communities and more photo uploading options.
PC World has compiled a list of 14 great programs you didn’t even know you needed, all designed to work around Windows’ limitations or enhance your productivity. Most of them are free or really cheap — just the way we like our software around here. Here’s the scoop on one of them:
Spybot Search & Destroy
Please try to stifle your yawns. I'm sure you have heard of Spybot Search & Destroy, and I'm sure you're saying that you already have a perfectly decent program to track down spyware. That's fine. But you need to check out Spybot for two reasons. The first is that no single antispyware program is enough; I use four, myself, because I haven't yet found one that can catch all the insidious, constantly morphing, beastly programs determined to pester me until I pay for a video of Britney Spears getting out of a car.
Even if you're already using Spybot, you may need it in a way you're not aware of, because the program's creators hide one of its best features. They even try to scare you away from this feature with warnings of computer disasters, lost data, locusts, and earthquakes.
This secret feature is the ability to edit which programs and services launch when you boot your PC. Other programs give you the same ability, but what sets Spybot above the others is that it provides an explanation and recommendation as to whether most of the programs really need to be there sucking up memory. Without that information, most of us are left staring at program names written in computer gobbledygook and wondering if we should chance a plague of locusts. Be brave: Damn the locusts and take command of your startup.
Lots of good stuff here, including a utility that lets you reassign keyboard keys and another that greatly improves Windows’ file-copying capabilities. Give ‘em a look.
NOBEL PUTS FOCUS ON GLOBAL WARMING Congratulations to Al Gore and the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change for receiving the Nobel Peace prize. As Al Gore commented, "This is a chance to elevate global consciousness about the challenges that we face now." Thanks to the Norwegian Nobel Committee for recognizing the importance of protecting the world's climate, and encouraging immediate action.
TOYOTA'S GREEN BUBBLE BURSTING? Toyota, one of the greenest car companies in the world, is making an about-face and attempting to derail a bill that would raise the fuel economy standard to 35 mpg by 2020. Please let Toyota know that we desperately need higher fuel economy standards to stop global warming.
CHINA TO BAN INEFFICIENT LIGHT BULBS The environmental funding agency Global Environment Facility has started a world campaign to ban all inefficient lightbulbs, and China is the first developing country to agree to join the program. Considering China produces 70 percent of the planet's lightbulbs, the agreement could bring considerable benefit, mitigating 500 million tons of carbon dioxide annually.
STOPPING GLOBAL WARMING ON CAMPUS This semester Stanford students will be part of the largest energy conservation program of its kind. In cooperation with the Sierra Club and Resource Solutions Group, the university will distribute 7,000 compact fluorescent lamps to student residents and staff.
Also in California, Pitzer College has designed and built phase one of its new residence halls to the highest rating (Gold) ever awarded by the US Green Building Council for residence hall construction. Upon completion of its three-phase construction project in progress, Pitzer will likely become the first college in the nation to have all Gold LEED certified residence halls.
SPREAD THE WORD ON MTVU Want to represent StopGlobalWarming.org on mtvU? mtvU, MTV's college network, is teaming up with Microsoft Windows Live Messenger for a new series that will showcase college student activists and the organizations they are passionate about. If you or a friend are involved in building the Stop Global Warming Virtual March and would like to share your platform with the world, please visit casting.mtvu.com for more information.
Today, the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Al Gore and the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change for their work to raise awareness about the threat of global warming.
With his passion and hard work, Al Gore has demonstrated that committed citizens can make a difference. He has inspired millions to stand together against one of the biggest challenges of our time.
The farthest distance in the world Is not the distance between life and death But you don't know I love you when I stand in front of you
The farthest distance in the world Is not you don't know I love you when I stand in front of you But I cannot say I love you when I love you so madly
The farthest distance in the world Is not I cannot say I love you when I love you so madly But I can only bury it in my heart despite the unbearable yearning
The farthest distance in the world Is not I can only bury it in my heart despite the unbearable yearning But we cannot be together when we love each other
The farthest distance in the world Is not we cannot be together when we love each other But we pretend caring nothing even we know love is unconquerable
The farthest distance in the world Is not the distance between two trees But the branches cannot depend on each other in wind even they grow from the same root
The farthest distance in the world Is not the braches cannot depend on each other But two stars cannot meet even they watch each other
The farthest distance in the world Is not the track between two stars But nowhere to search in a tick after two tracks join
The farthest distance in the world Is not nowhere to search in a tick But doomed not to be together before they meet
The farthest distance in the world Is the distance between fish and bird One is in the sky, and one in the sea
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Wolf Awareness Week!
As summer fades to fall, young wolves born earlier in the spring will head out with their packs on their first hunts. Already nearly full grown, these adolescents are ready to learn the ins and outs of being a wolf.
Want to learn more about the way these creatures live? October 14th - 20th is National Wolf Awareness Week and you can help Defenders celebrate.
Download the new Wolf Awareness Week poster (PDF), print it out and put it in a prominent place. Passersby are bound to ask you about it. When they do, be prepared -- head on over to our wolf fact sheets ( gray wolf, red wolf, lobo) to read up on these charismatic canines, watch a video, see photos and hear wolf sounds. You can even check out our website to see if there's a Wolf Awareness Week event near you.
Last month, Rep. George Miller introduced the Protect America's Wildlife (PAW) Act, vital legislation that would close a loophole in the federal law that prohibits aerial hunting of wolves and other wildlife. Now this important bill needs your support to win passage.
Some of Defenders' staunchest supporters came to Washington, DC, to help celebrate our 60th Anniversary and talk directly to their elected officials about important wildlife issues. Among them was Erica von Studnitz from Rosemont, PA. "I was interested to help out in a more direct way with issues that pertain to wildlife conservation and to participate in a visible way, both with the organization and my political representatives," said Erica. "As vocal citizens, we can speak for wildlife -- the silent constituents."
Sad Milestone Last month, wildlife officials reported that the 15th Florida panther was killed this year on the state's roads. The death of the two-year-old male pushes the death toll even further past last year's record 11 panthers killed by vehicles. Defenders continues to work with state and federal officials to protect these wild cats -- and with fewer than 100 Florida panthers left, these felines need all the friends they can get. >> Read More
Bittersweet in the Bitterroot A grizzly bear was mistakenly killed in Idaho's Bitterroot ecosystem last month. But the sad news had a silver lining: it shows that grizzlies -- which haven't been seen in the area for more than 60 years -- are beginning to reclaim habitat where they were once common. Our own Northern Rockies Representative, Minette Glazer, points out, "It's a shame that we had to find out that this bear was living in the area because it was mistakenly killed there, but what it means for the species overall is hugely significant." >> Read More
Manatee-rific! After hearing from thousands of Defenders supporters and receiving a personal letter from Governor Charlie Crist, Florida officials have postponed a controversial decision on whether to "downlist" the manatee on the state's list of imperiled species -- a plan that would have seriously undermined protections for the beloved sea cow. >> Read More
Transform this Halloween! Haven't found that perfect costume for All Hallow's Eve? Fear not! Head on over to YouWild.org, upload a photo of yourself or a friend and soon you will see a frightful transformation take place -- full moon not required. >> Morph Yourself Today!
In 1998 eleven gray wolves were reintroduced to the wilds of the southwest for the first time since they were eliminated from the region in the mid-20th century. But long before their paws even touched the ground, they had already won over the attention and dedication of Jean Ossorio, who remains one of their most steadfast advocates to this day.
Spectacled Eider With large white eye patches bordered in black, the spectacled eider lives up to its name. These unique-looking divers -- already suffering the effects of lead poisoning -- are feeling the effects of a warming climate. Can this bird survive global warming?
A Bat-Tastic Idea! Bats aren't scary -- just misunderstood. In fact, these tiny flying mammals can be beneficial. In the U.S., the little brown bat eats mosquitoes and can consume up to 1,000 small insects each hour!
National Wildlife Refuge Week October 7th - 13th Various Locations Learn More
Wolf Awareness Week October 14th - 20th Various Locations Learn More
Estate and Gift Planning Telephone Seminar November 15th 12:00 pm 2:00 pm To learn more or sign up, click here. Whether you are an activist looking for ways to make your voice heard or a biologist seeking a conference where you can share your latest paper, Defenders has an event for you.
Defenders of Wildlife is a national, nonprofit membership organization dedicated to the protection of all native wild animals and plants in their natural communities.
Defenders of Wildlife can be contacted at: 1130 17th Street, NW Washington, DC 20036
