There are some really disturbing reports coming in about poaching of rhinos. WWF and other groups estimate that killing of rhinos has risen four-fold in the recent years and poaching of rhinos is at a 15-year high.

The reasons for all the killing of rhinos are demands in Asia where they use rhino-horns in traditional medicine. There have even been reports about rhino killings in Asia with evidence of 10 animals killed in India and 7 in Nepal.

This is really sad news. I hope environment groups and the governments in the various countries are able to stop this madness and that users of traditional medicine use their brains and stop using such idiotic practices.

I have been moving around quite a bit in my life and it can be quite a bit of hassle with all the packing, washing and general stress. Next time I move I will probably use a Moving Company because it seems so much easier than doing all the moving yourself. I recently helped some friends moving into an apartment and they used a nice moving company that was very helpful.

One company that can help you with moving is Humboldt Storage and Moving. They started up their company over 100 years ago so they should have a good deal of experience with moving. They can help you with moving both within the US and internationally. They serve corporations and smaller households so there should be options for most needs.
The company has a feature called “Stress Removers” where they explain how they can help you making the moving process as easy and less stressful. Sounds like a great plan as I have been stressed out all the times I have moved around in Norway.

On their website you can fill out a form to get an estimate about how much the moving will cost you. I really like this kind of forms as they are easier than doing a phone call and they save me a lot of time.

On a remote Scottish island scientists have discovered that the local sheep is actually getting smaller. The ecosystem on this island has been under surveillance since 1985 because of its uniqueness. It is very simple, mainly consisting of sheep and the vegetation they eat.

Now scientists have discovered that the weight of the sheep has decreased 5% over the last 25 years. The scientists claim that warmer climate has made it easier for the sheep thus helping the smaller sheep surviving. Earlier only the larger sheep were able to handle the harsh climate at the island. The reason for this development is earlier springs and longer falls which make the winters shorter.

Source: Various news sites.

Several of my friends are very interested in yoga, healing, meditation and similar practices. I am too interested in these fields especially in meditation and yoga as I think it strengthens your body and mind. When I get time and money I will probably invest in a good yoga class and / or meditation class.

I recently came across singing bowls which are used when meditating and doing yoga. The singing bowls helps you when doing the exercises and has been used for a very long time in Asian countries like Tibet, China, Nepal, Japan, India and others.
A company selling Crystal Singing Bowls is Silver Sky Imports. On their website they have a wide range of singing bowls. They import the crystal singing bowls from Tibet and Nepal so it seems that bowls should be of high standard. On their website they have sound files of how each crystal singing bowl sound and pictures so you preview the items before you buy them.
The company also sells other products from Nepal and Tibet like hand crafted items, meditation mats and much more. Silver Sky Imports ship their products to the whole world and have a 100% hassle free guarantee so it seems safe to buy from them.

The crystal singing bowls sounds like a great idea if you do yoga and meditation or have friends that practice these exercises.

A new report tells us that the recent ban on plastic bags in China has actually saved a good deal of oil. The China Chain Store and Franchise Association has estimated that the ban has saved over 40 billion plastic bags and this is just in about a year. It can be calculated how much oil the 40 billion plastic bags saves and the experts claims that the ban have saved 1.6 million tonnes of oil.
The ban means that 0.025mm thick (or less) bags are not allowed to used anymore and supermarkets had to stop giving away free plastic bags.

Let us hope that other countries will follow China and start banning plastic bags too so we can save a lot of oil and in turn the environment.

If you have lots of plastic bags laying around you can always recycling them into yarn (plarn) which I wrote about earlier on this blog.

I live in a house built in 1993 and it is becoming a bit old. After many years of wear and tear it can be nice to redecorate the house to keep the value high and make the house better to live in.
One room that we are considering upgrading is our worn down bathroom. It would be nice with a completely new bathroom suit to make the room look fresh and appealing.

A website selling equipment for bathrooms is betterbathrooms.com. This company based in Wigan, UK is selling over 3,000 products in their online store so there should be a product for most shoppers.
They are selling a wide range of different products from bathroom suits, to bathroom tiles, to baths, to showers and much more. The website has a nice menu system making it very easy browsing their inventory and find the right product.
They also have sections on their website where you can find items on sale if you are on a budget.

Better Bathrooms ships to UK and has a general delivery time of 7 to 14 days. They accept payment from most credit and debit cards, and payments are processed by WorldPay.
Seems like a nice place to shop bathroom products if you are based in UK.

I have been worrying about the rising tourism in Antarctica because we have seen several examples of cruise ship accidents. Now there is some good news for the environment in Antarctica.

An US proposal has been adopted by countries with ties to Antarctica. This proposal is for limiting tourism on the continent and thus protecting the nature.

The tourism has risen dramatically the last few years with over 45,000 tourists last season compared to 6,700 in 1992-93.

It will be interesting to see if this measure is enough to protect the fragile nature in Antarctica or we need more strict rules.