A Coffee shop where a customer pays the next customer's bill Spanish version below. It is a coffee shop in the US where it became a habit that people leave money so that the next customer can consume with peace of mind.  El Comercio, Lima, Monday January 23,  2012 - 06:20 pm Imagine that you enter a coffee shop and the waiter tells you that the coffee and sandwiches that you ordered will not be charged. You ask: is it courtesy of the house? And he answers: "no, the customer that just left invited you". This story is customary in Corner Perk, a small coffee shop in Bluffto, South Carolina, where solidarity reigns among clients. It so happens that people that come to this shop uses to leave some more money than what they consumed. The surplus money has a purpose: to pay the bill of the next customer.  “It all began two years ago when a lady paid the bill of other guest and also left extra U$ 100 saying that she wanted to pay the orders of anybody orderin

WATERMELON, POSSIBLE RESPONSIBLE OF A SALMONELLA NEWPORT CONTAMINATION IN THE UNITED KINGDOM. (from an article in Portalfruticola.com [contacto@portalfruticola.com]; Feb. 6, 2012) Versión en español, más abajo The British Health Protection Agency (HPA) is investigating a contamination with Salmonella Newport in the UK, contamination that could be linked with the consumption of watermelons.  According to what the HPA reported, the contamination was detected at the beginning of December 2011. Confirmed were 26 cases in England, 3 in Wales and one in Northern Ireland, in persons aged between 6 monhs and 85 years.  Other cases of the same variety were confirmed in Scottland (5), Ireland (4) and Germany (15). One person died, but the HPA informed that this person presented other health complications. Bob Adak, chief of HPA’s department of gastrointestinal diseases pointed out that it is important to remember that the risk of becoming ill eating watermelons is fairly low, and rec

Versión en Español, más abajo. US (CA): FARM FINDS E-COLI EVEN AFTER WASHING   (FreshPlaza.com [mail@freshplaza.com]; an.31, 2012) Photo: wikipedia.org Yesterday FreshPlaza reported that research was being carried out into new ways in which salads and packaged foods could be washed to ensure they were e-coli free. Earthbound Farm in the Salinas region provides an example of why this is of such importance. Most worrying are the lesser known strains of e-coli, collectively called the big six. Very few companies or health agencies are currently carrying out screening for these strains, but Earthbound Farms do - both before and after washing. They have found several times that some strains are surviving the wash process. Thankfully the testing they carry out means that the affected produce ends up in landfill sites before it has the opportunity to enter the food chain. The fact that such testing is rare and that there is, as yet, no guaranteed form of prevention is indicative o

Edición en español, más abajo STANFORD PROF DEFECTS TO EDUCATION DISRUPTOR SIDE, LAUNCHES GLOBAL CLASSROOM      (from an article by   Joe McKendrick  i n SmartPlanet Daily [newsletters@smartplanet.online.com]  Jan 30, 2012) Image:  http://imsuccesssecrets.com/webinars-vs-virtual-classrooms/ “Now that I have seen the true power of education, there is no turning back. It’s like a drug. I’ve just peeked through a window into an entire new world, and I am determined to help bring education to everyone out there.” - Sebastian Thrun , Stanford research professor and educational disruptor We’ve been tracking the building disruption of the higher education system, now breaking down from expensive on-campus engagements to low-cost, or even no-cost, modularized online offerings. Consider the amazing success of an   online classroom environment   now being offered and replicated by Stanford professors, as well as being adopted by MIT. More than 160,000 participants from across the world enrolle

BERLIN: 23.000 HAVE HAD ENOUGH!   (from an article by Karin Heinze in Organic-Market.Info Online Magazine [newsletter@organic-market.info]; Feb. 30, 2012) For the second time, well over 20,000 people went onto the streets in Berlin to protest against factory farms, intensive livestock farming, genetic engineering, food scandals and unfair agricultural policies across the world. Last Saturday, a broad alliance of organic, environmental and animal welfare associations and other NGOs, organic farmers and consumers demonstrated their confidence and power with their demand that Chancellor Angela Merkel and Minister of Agriculture Ilse Aigner change the system. At the opening of Green Week Aigner had already slated the concerns of the demonstrators, but in the process she did the event rather than herself a service. Organic-Market.Info was there on your behalf.   (Picture: on 21 January 2012, 23,000 people demonstrated against the current agricultural policy)   Several speakers at the fin

English version below  6º CONGRESO ORGÁNICO EUROPEO – ‘CAMBIO INTELIGENTE – HACIA UNA POLÍTICA AGRAGRIA COMUNITARIA (PAC)’  (Affiliates IFOAM Insider | N° 2 - February 2012; affiliates_all_contacts-bounces@list.ifoam.org ; Feb. 11, 2012) El 6º Congreso Orgánico Europeo tendrá lugar en Copenague, Dinamarca, Abril 17-18, 2012, en un punto crucial para el debate de la Política Agrícola Comunitaria (PAC). El Congreso ‘CAMBIO INTELIGENTE – HACIA UNA POLÍTICA AGRAGRIA COMUNITARIA (PAC)’ enfocará el cambio de política necesario para conseguir un futuro PAC más verde, más inteligente, más justo, mejorar la disponibilidad de alimentos sustentables para los consumidores, y asegurar la credibilidad de la certificación de sistemas agrícolas sustentables. Será una oportunidad de intercambio y discusión para la comunidad orgánica y congregará conferencistas de alto nivel de la Comisión Europea, el Parlamento Europeo, el movimiento orgánico Europeo, las o

English version below LOS COMERCIANTES SE ASOMBRAN POR LA CONFUSIÓN ENTRE ORGÁNICO Y NATURAL . (de un artículo por Jim Offner in The Packer - The Organic Insider [editor@thepacker-mail.com]; Ene. 30, 2012 ) Los comercializadores de productos orgánicos se asombran cuando oyen los términos “natural” y “orgánico” usados indistintamente. Esto no está bien, dicen. “Uno de los mitos que frecuentemente llama mi atención – y que requiere un poco más de re-educación – es la noción de que ‘todo el mundo conoce la diferencia entre “orgánico” y “natural”, dice Simcha Weinstein, director de mercadeo de Albert’s Organic de Bridgeport, Nueva Jersey (EEUU). Weinstein ilustra este punto citando los resultados de una encuesta hecha por el Shelton Group, una agencia publicitaria de Knoxville, Tennesee, (EEUU). “Cuando se le pregunta a los encuestados cuál es la mejor declaración que debe buscar en un rótulo, el 31% eligió ‘100% natural’, el 25% eligió ‘todos ingredientes naturales’, y 7% eligió

English version below PROFESOR DE LA UNIVERSIDAD DE  STANFORD DESCREÍDO DE LA EDUCACIÓN CONVENCIONAL LANZA UN AULA GLOBAL (de un artículo por   Joe McKendrick  e n SmartPlanet Daily [newsletters@smartplanet.online.com] Ene 30, 2012) Imagen: http://imsuccesssecrets.com/webinars-vs-virtual-classrooms/ “Ahora que he visto el verdadero poder de la educación, no hay regreso para mí. Es como una droga: acabo de espiar por una ventana a un mundo completamente diferente, y estoy decidido a ayudar a que la educación llegue a todo el mundo”.  - Sebastian Thrun , profesor de investigación de la Universidad de Stanford (EEUU) y rebelde de la educación. Hemos estado siguiendo los inconvenientes del sistema de la educación superior, tratando de bajar los costosos campus universitarios ofreciendo un sistema de módulos online de bajo o ningún costo. Considérese el asombroso éxito de un entorno de clase online (   online classroom environment ) ofrecido ahora y replicado por profesores de Stanfo

English version below COSTA RICA. EL DESARROLLO TURÍSTICO AMENAZA LA FAUNA ACUÁTICA (de un artículo ENVIADO POR: ECOTICIAS.COM / RED / AGENCIAS, 09/02/2012) La falta de un plan regulador que limite el desarrollo inmobiliario en playa Hermosa podría amenazar la población de especies acuáticas del humedal laguna Pochotal Bajo el deslumbrante cielo puntarenense vuelan apacibles sobre los espejos de agua del Humedal Laguna Pochotal, docenas de aves acuáticas, las cuales durante décadas, han utilizado esta área para su alimentación, refugio y reproducción; sin embargo, la falta de un plan regulador para la zona, pondría en riesgo el hábitat de estas especies. El pasado 25 de octubre, Elena Vargas Fonseca, estudiante de la Escuela de Ciencias Biológicas, presentó su proyecto de graduación para optar por el grado de licenciatura en Biología con énfasis en Manejo de recursos Naturales, titulado: Caracterización de la avifauna y su relación con las variables físicas del humedal laguna