March is Endometriosis Awareness Month!

The Great Endo Balloon Race for Awareness.

In March we will do something called The Great Endo Balloon Race, Where I thought we could all buy a Helium balloon of some kind and attach a label to it saying; Hi my name is... I suffer with a medical condition called Endometriosis I have had symptoms since... but was diagnosed in... I have had... Ops. March is Endo awareness month and by finding this balloon I have made someone else aware of this horrible disease. You could also write a little bit about what Endo actually is. 

I have made this FB page for Endo Warriors and the person who finds the balloon to go on to and tell us where it was found and see how far the balloon's travel, Just remember to add this information to your balloon. It’s Just a fun, cheap idea. Anyone around the world can do it. You can get your friends & family involved they can write one saying my Mum, Daughter, Auntie & Sister Ect.

Please take pictures of your balloons and add them to the group.

You can release the Balloons on your own or get together in groups and you can also release on whatever day and time is best for you in March

You can release the Balloons on your own or get together in groups and you can also release on whatever day and time is best for you in March.

Endometriosis is a painful and chronic condition that affects approximately 176 million women and girls worldwide. It affects around 2 million women in the UK alone. Most of them are diagnosed between the ages of 23 and 40. The Disease causes internal bleeding which leads to chronic pelvic pain, infertility, adhesions, inflammation and disruption of the digestive and urinary systems, amongst others. Currently there is no cure for Endometriosis and the only truly effective treatment is surgery, which unfortunately only causes temporary relief.

Thank you for taking part.

Emma Elise Shead, Hailey Rebecca Hook, Charlotte Marie Biswell and Sue Milligan

www.facebook.com/TheGreatEndoBalloonRace2013.

Important Information:

Kat Hopwood-Lewis: I like the idea in principle, just try to come up with a way where everything is biodegradable! I work for Defra and see a lot of farmers who have injured sheep and cattle because of the metal parts of Chinese lanterns sent out from weddings and newyear. Livestock can be hurt or choke on plastic and foil to. Some  good tips are below:

• Use balloons made of natural rubber latex rather than mylar balloons.
• Always hand tie balloons rather than using plastic valves.
• Use string and labels which degrade at least as fast as the balloons.
• Clear balloons degrade fastest (Burchette 1989) and are less tempting to animals.
• Only release individual balloons rather than clusters.

Everything you need to know is probably in this leaflet http://www.mcsuk.org/downloads/pollution/dont%20let%20go.pdf

A Few of My Favorite Christmas Desktop Wallpaper

Just wanted to share a few of my favorite desktop wallpaper!

Sandy Hook shooting: Girl, 6, was sole survivor of her grade one class

A little girl survived the mass shooting by playing dead among the bodies of 15 of her classmates.

A brave six-year-old became the sole survivor of her first grade class at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. because she played dead as shooter Adam Lanza went on his rampage.

According to a pastor close to her family, the unnamed girl lay among the bodies of her 15 classmates until she thought it was safe to leave.

Pastor Jim Solomon told ABC News: "She ran out of the school building covered from head to toe with blood and the first thing she said to her mom was, 'Mommy, I'm OK but all my friends are dead."

"Somehow in that moment, by God's grace, [she] was able to act as she was already deceased."

"The mom told me, and I thought this was very insightful, that she was suffering from what she felt was survivor's guilt because so many of her friends no longer have their children but [her mom] has hers," the pastor said.


The Daily Mail said the girl was the first student to run out of the Sandy Hook Elementary School following the mass shooting, which left 20 children and 6 adults dead.



Solomon went on to say to ABC News: "What did she see in there? Well, she saw someone who she felt was angry and somebody who she felt was mad."

He continued, "How at 6 and a half years old can you be that smart, that brave? I think it's impossible outside of divine intervention. She has wisdom beyond her years."

Solomon said the girl's family was suffering survivor's guilt because many of their friends were not as lucky and had lost children in the tragedy.

No child or person should ever have to experience so gruesome and unfortunately many in this case were not as lucky as this brave girl. Our thoughts and hearts go out to the victim's families as they grieve through this dark time.

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/americas/united-states/121216/sandy-hook-shooting-girl-6-was-sole-survivor-her

The Geminid Meteor shower ~ Winter's Fireworks!

Geminid Meteor shower will be visible December 14~15th 2012!

The radiant of the Geminid meteor shower above the northern horizon as seen from Adelaide on the morning of December 14 at 3:00 pm ACDST, similar views will be seen from other sites at equivalent local times. The radiant is marked with a cross (click to embiggen).

The Geminid Meteor shower will be at its peak from the point of view of Australian's on the mornings of Friday 14 December (the actual peak is 13 December 23h30m UT ) and Saturday 15 December but significant numbers should be also be seen on the morning of the 13th.

The best time to observe is between 1 and 4 am (daylight saving time, 12-3 am non-daylight saving time), with the highest rates between 2-3 am daylight saving time.

The Moon will be out of the picture, being just off New (New Moon is on the 13th) so this is an excellent year to observe. In Australia we should see roughly a meteor every 2 minutes between 2-3 am daylight saving time under dark sky conditions. The more light pollution (the closer you are to the city) , the fewer meteors you see, but it is still worth while to look even if you are near the city or in the suburbs.

To observer the radiant, look to the north or north-east (depending on the time, the later you look the closer to north you should look). The radiant, where the meteors appear to come from, is just below Castor, the lower of the two bright, close stars that form the "twins" of Gemini.

When looking, be sure to let your eyes adjust for at least 5 minutes so your eyes can be properly adapted to the dark. Don't look directly at the radiant site, because the meteors will often start their "burn" some distance from it, but around a handspan up or to the side. Be patient, although you should see an average of a meteor every two minutes, a whole stretch of time can go by without a meteor, then a whole bunch turn up one after the other. 

Make yourself comfortable, choose an observing site that has little to obstruct the northern horizon, have a comfortable chair to sit in (abanana lounger is best), or blankets and pillows. A hot Thermos of something to drink and plenty of mosquito protection will complete your observing preparations.

As well as meteors, keep an eye out for satellites (see Heavens Above for predictions from your site). The sky will also be particularly beautiful, with the constellations of Orion and Taurus gracing the north-western sky, Jupiter setting in the west and Saturn and Venus rising in the east.

You can check meteor rate predictions for you local site with the NASA meteor flux estimator (scroll down to 4 Geminids in the SHOWER box, make sure you have your location and date correct as well). You can follow world wide Geminid counts at the IMO live Geminid site.

Cloud cover predictions can be found at SkippySky.

http://astroblogger.blogspot.com/2012/12/geminid-meteor-shower-14-15-december.html