The National Braille Press had a special exclusive agreement with Scholastic Press, the publisher of Harry Potter book series (in the US), released a special braille edition of the Harry Potter and the Deathly WHallows, the last of the series. It is 1000 pages long in 10 volumes, weighing about 12 pounds, and standing more than a foot tall when stacked up. It costs $63 to publish one book with an expected higher price than the regular print edition but with NBP partnering with Yahoo! blind children and need not to spend more for a copy of the book than sighted people.
Two groups of Harry Potter fans, who aims to provide everyone (including the blind) an access to this international phenomenon, had made an initiative to raise funds for the project. The Walking Wizards had committed to raise $10,000 and Harry Potter for Grownups (a Yahoo! group) to raise $7,777. Yahoo! has spotted the kind intention of these groups and decided to help them with their goal. Yahoo! has decided to donate to the National Braille Press what each of these two initiatives raise, up to their respective goals.
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Education, In the News, Literature Education, In the News, Literature, School
The Philippine Daily Inquirer reports that the website of the Philippine Securities and Exchange Commission has been tagged by Google Search and StopBadware.org as a ‘harmful’ site. When you try to go to this government’s agency website, you will be redirected to a warning page.
The Philippine Securities and Exchange Commission is responsible for securities laws and regulating the securities industry. It is a state commission within the Philippine Department of Finance. Wikipedia
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Current Events, Google, In the News, Internet Current Events, Google, In the News, Internet
“Like most things in life, when the smoking ban comes in force in England on 1 July, it will have unintended consequences,” BBC News reported.
Although the smoking ban was intentionally good, it has its consequences that may affect mostly children. Concerns was raised up about the effects of passive smoking to children.
If you can’t smoke at the pub and you don’t want a fag standing outside, where are you going to light up? At home? The jury is still out as to whether the ban will result in children being expose to more passive smoking at home, but one study of the US suggests it could be the case.
Economists at University College London studied the direct effect on passive smoking from different kinds of bans. They concluded parents smoke more at home if they can’t in bars or restaurants. Other bans, such as those on trains, shopping areas, or workplaces, do not appear to result in children being exposed to more harmful fumes at home.
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Health, In the News, Social Issues Children's Health, In the News, Smoking, Social Issues
Scientists continue to find ways to deliver better health care to patients; one new innovation is the availability of artificial blood, so called because it is made up of plastic molecules that have an iron atom at their core, like hemoglobin, that can carry oxygen through the body. This new discovery could help to substitute for blood, which is not always readily available in cases of emergencies, especially pointed out was its huge advantage in war zones.
Besides its storage advantage; it is light to carry, does not need to be kept cool, it can be sterilized, and can be kept for longer, the new artificial blood has its advantages over human blood as pointed out in this WikiPedia article.
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Health, In the News, Medicine, Research Fitness, Health, Health Tips, In the News, Medicine, Research
The Department of Health (DOH) has ordered hospitals to reactivate “Dengue Express Lanes” due to a 6.8 percent upsurge in the number of dengue cases in the country. There have been 7,361 reported dengue cases from January 1 to June 2, 2007, compared to just 6,695 cases during the same period last year. 73 people have already died of dengue in the past five months.
To make the matter worse, Dr. Eric Tayag, the director of the DOH-National Epidemiology Center, dengue fever has become “hyper endemic” which means it’s already too late for efforts to reduce the number of cases to its previous level.
This is because all four strains of the dengue causing virus are active and are being spread by the mosquito aedes aegypti at the same time; unlike last year, when only one strain of the virus was being spread.
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Health, In the News, Medicine, Tips Children's Health, Health, Health Tips, health-articles, Health-Information, Health-Magazines, Household-Tips, In the News, Medical-Information, Medicine, Safety-Tips, Tips
The Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) announces that 413 out of 1,119 passed the Radiologic Technologist Licensure Examination given by the Board of Radiologic Technology in Manila this June 2007.
The members of the Board of Radiologic Technology are Ms. Wilhelmina M. Gana, Chairman; Dr. Orestes P. Monzon, Mr. Bayani C. San Juan, Mr. Zaldy M. Ambon and Ms. Cecilia M. Mananghaya, Members.
Eight (8) applicants were approved for registration without examination as Radiologic Technologists and Nineteen (19) as X-Ray Technicians. The results were released in one (1) working day after the last day of examinations.
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Education, Health, In the News Education, Examination-Results, Health, In the News
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