For 60 years RainSoft has been treating, testing water around the world. During the last 16 years I have been the Dealer here in Ottawa, Ontario. We sell/service all RainSoft water systems: Water Softeners, Reverse Osmosis Systems, Whole House Carbon Filters, Chemical Free and Chemical Iron & Sulphur Removal Systems, Sediment Filters, UV Light Systems and MOST IMPORTANTLY PEACE OF MIND! I have an A+ rating with the BBB and have won the Consumers Choice Gold Awards for 5 years in a row. This is a family run business and we especially care about the water you and your family drink and live with. www.rainsoftofottawa.com
For 18 years, Stockholm Junior Water Prize has congregated the world’s most imaginative young minds for an outstanding competition in the capital of Sweden, encouraging their continued interest in water and sustainability issues.
Each year, thousands of participants in over 30 countries all around the globe join national competitions in hopes of earning the chance to represent their nation at the international final held during the World Water Week in Stockholm.
The national and international competitions are open to young people between the ages of 15 and 20 who have conducted water-related projects of proven environmental, scientific, social or technological significance. The projects range from local or regional to national or global topics.
Chinese student Ke Shuai wins high praise at World Water Week event
Stockholm, Sweden
The following youtube video, was published on Aug 24, 2015 by New China TV, It’s not the whims of a 15-year-old, Ke Shuai. Instead, it’s his UAV water quality monitoring project that has stirred a sensation at World Water Week. And it caught the attention of experts. UAV is the short form for unmanned aerial vehicle.
Stockholm Water Prize celebrates
its Silver Jubilee
To celebrate the Silver Jubilee of the Stockholm Water Prize, we’ve created a video that sums up 25 years of honouring extraordinary water achievements. Since 1991, the Stockholm Water Prize Laureates have represented a broad range of water-related activities, professions and scientific disciplines from all over the world. Watch and share the video!
Father’s Day is June 21, 2015 and I believe the following Youtube video, “Father’s Day Message to Fathers” is exceptionally inspiring.
I encourage you to forward it to that special person in your life and also to be guided by the wonderful , timeless messages if you are a father yourself.
The following article, “The Great Lakes Need Adaptation Experiments”, by Gail Krantzberg and Sommer Abdel-Fattah, appeared in watercanada’s July/August publication.
To mitigate the negative impacts of climate change on the Great Lakes basin ecosystem, it is essential to plan for and adapt current programs and policies. Adaptive strategies need to be specific enough to address the driver of degradation. In the Great Lakes, temperature increases will be particularly important in shallow areas, so adaptation strategies are needed to protect, for example, wetland habitats and biodiversity.
I found an excellent youtube video, ” Municipal Adaptation and Resiliency Service”, posted Jan. 16, 2014, that will clarify and /or add to many points in this article. (The Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative is launching a Municipal Adaptation and Resiliency Service (MARS) for its member municipalities, to help them accelerate and expand their adaptation activities, to be ready for the next storm. Visit glslcities.org/mars.cfm for more information.)
With more intense precipitation events, adaptation strategies that address non-point source pollution are prudent. Precautionary actions should include measures to reduce soil erosion, address land and water quality degradation, anticipate infrastructure to avoid flooding, and avert infrastructure failure. Measures include the creation of riparian buffer strips, the manipulation of stormwater pathways, the increase of permeable surfaces, and erosion control on steep slopes. Further, attention should be paid to infrastructural changes to ensure the integrity of harbours, marinas, and piers as well as improvement of navigational aids and hydrographic charting.
While recent efforts have focused on the capacity of practitioners to understand how the changing climate impacts water quality and quantity, there are limited examples of adaptation being implemented. Challenges that explain why implementation is limited include: 1 A lack of funding to test and implement innovative technologies; 2 A lack of institutional capacity for adaptation planning and implementation; 3 Cuts to federal science in support of technical modelling of climate projections to reduce uncertaintyin results; 4 Complexities of multi-sector coordination; 5 Fragmentation across agencies; 6 A lack of social and community involvement, with trends to an increasing lack of public concern or confidence in climate science; 7 A lack of adaptation policy and enforced policy; and 8 Few examples of adaptive studies that have demonstrated effective solutions. At present, most Great Lakes states and provinces have adopted climate action plans that provide greenhouse-gas emission inventory data and make emission reduction recommendations. While there is a general emphasis on the environmental risks and the value of reducing emissions, much less attention has been given to adaptation. Where plans do exist, most of the focus has been placed on responses to changes in water availability and demand, and how to manage increases in demand for water, much less so to water quality and ecosystem integrity.
On the positive side, the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative launched the Municipal Adaptation and Resiliency Service (MARS) in January 2014 to help municipalities accelerate and expand their adaptation activities. This initiative will provide a portal for municipal members to access climate and adaptation information and resources that will also serve as an interactive forum for information sharing. The push for adaptation interventions comes from understanding the ramifications of climate-related changes to plausible ecosystem impacts through preventative action. Adaptation efforts must include capacity building, policy innovation, natural resource management actions, and engaging the Great Lakes community in the implementation and evaluation of those efforts.
Gail Krantzberg is the director of the Centre for Engineering and Public Policy at McMaster University.
Sommer Abdel-Fattah is an NSERC post-doctoral government fellow and lecturer in the bachelor of engineering and technology program at McMaster University.
The following article, “The Climate Crisis is a Water Crisis” by Gary Wockner and Youtube video, “WKA Peoples Climate March Video 8 19 14″ was posted to Ecowatch.com on Sept. 15, 2014
We’ve seen near-record wildfires, rain, drought, flooding and snowpack in the last 5 years in the watersheds along the Front Range of Colorado. In the same 12 months that record rain has occurred in one part of the Southwest U.S.’ Colorado River basin, record heat and drought has occurred in another.
Climate change is real, is happening now, and the climate crisis is a water crisis.
On Sept. 20 as a part of the People’s Climate March in New York City, I and other colleagues from the international Waterkeeper Alliance we be holding a teach-in, The Climate Crisis is a Water Crisis. We will come from all over the U.S. to tell a story about the link between climate and water, and we will offer our observations and recommendations on the next steps forward.
Here in the Southwest U.S, we must do everything we can to stop from making climate change worse. Unfortunately in Colorado and across the region, our public policies are going the wrong direction—we are drilling, fracking and mining fossil fuels faster than ever before, and we are burning them at record rates. Colorado’s frack-happy politicians and policies only seem to be rivaled by Utah’s deep dive (“carbon bomb”) into oil shale and tar sands mining. We must stop and head the other direction.
We also need to be better prepared to mitigate and adapt to climate change. We will likely see more extreme weather variability, we may see more extreme droughts in the Southwest U.S., and California’s extreme heat and drought going on right now may become a “new normal.”…
Taken from Gary’s post, “Waterkeepers March!” on Ecowatch, Sept. 21, 2014
“It was euphoric!
Never in my life have I been in such a mass of humanity as I was today in New York City in the largest climate march in world history. Joining me were 100 members of Waterkeeper Alliance as we marched along with more than 300,000 people through the streets of Manhattan. The march was three times bigger than anyone expected. The day was simply amazing…”
I Want This Guy On My Side For My Next Water Balloon Side. I’d Definitely Win The Fight. Every once in a great while an invention comes around that changes the way we live and engulfs our life. Things like the automobile, the television, the internet, the smart phone. They are things we can simply no longer live without. That’s basically the case with this new invention that will change the course of history forever. I remember a day when I would wait patiently by the hose to fill up a bucket of water balloons. This usually took me around 15 minutes for a small bucket. As soon as I would demolish my friends, I would be back at the hose for another 15 minutes completely vulnerable to the attacks that were heading my way. This is simply inefficient warfare and we have been fighting our front yard battles this way for far too long. Well the future is here my friends and your enemies won’t stand a chance.
A father of 8 created this product after a few summers of filling up thousands and thousands of water balloons. He started a Kickstarter campaign that has far exceeded the goal of $10,000! Right now the pledges have accumulated to over $658,000!…
Take a look at how simple it is to fill a huge bucket with water balloons in just a few minutes in the following Youtube video, “Win the water balloon arms race!” ~ published on Jul 24, 2014
Fill and tie hundreds of water balloons in minutes with our attachment that comes ready-to-go, no preparation necessary!
Water balloons how it works ~ Water balloons 1 You simply attach the end of the Bunch O Balloons to your hose. Turn it on and give the hose a little shake. The balloons are pre-tied and simply fall off the hose and are ready for battle. Water balloons 2 With this new product you can fill over 100 balloons in under a minute. Your enemies won’t have a chance. Water balloons 3 This is one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen and on top of tons of fun the balloons are biodegradable. Water balloons 4 I can only imagine how many more water balloon fights we will be having.. I mean how many more water balloon fights the kids will be having. This makes it easy and fun. Here are some step by step instructions. Why wasn’t this invented years ago?
While enemy combatants are slowly building their stockpile one weapon at a time, you can quickly gain superiority in your next water balloon war with this dad’s genius invention.It’s called ‘Bunch O Balloons’ and with it, you can fill 100 water bombs in less than a minute!
Your enemies will have no chance and there will be a water bath of destruction when you unleash your fury and hundreds of water balloons. Prepare for neighborhood domination with this awesome product.
Great weekend (for water sports) coming up in our area – choose your weapons folks and have a great weekend!
I’m certain the you will be as delighted as I was to watch this mesmerizing and captivating video. I know I’ve never seen this level of excellence in videography – kudos to those who created this on behalf of Croatia’s Tourism Board.
This Youtube video, “Ana Rucner – Ode to Joy” was uploaded on Nov 23, 2011 as the official video of the Croatian National Tourist Board “Ode to Joy” – Croatia – the new tourism star of the European Union.
The video, featuring the most famous of Ludwig van Beethovan’s music – Ninth Symphony , was recorded in Ston, in Dubrovnik-Neretva County.
Performed by: Ana Rucner, Croatian cellist star
Ston is home to the second largest stone wall in the world and the video comes following Ana filming a music video on the Great Wall of China, which provided the inspiration for joining the two sites. The hope is that the music video will like Ana’s previous videos, bring tourists from all over the world closer to Croatia, showcasing elements of Ston’s culture and heritage , gastronomic offer, vineyards and salt works.
Ana plays modern interpretations of Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, with musician Neven Kocković accompanying and shellfish harvesters from Ston also featured.
Have a wonderful weekend everyone and share this video with family and friends – a great way to keep in touch.
Time for another fun Friday. Enjoy and share. Have a great weekend.
Cats do what they want to do and sleep where they want to sleep regardless of who the bed belongs to.
Watch what these dogs when they discover the cat has stolen their bed.
The following youtube video “Cats Stealing Dog Beds” was published on 19 Oct 2013by ailaikvis.
Cats love cozying up in small spaces. Cats can also be furry little jerks. So, it’s safe to assume that when a cat decides to sleep in the (much larger) bed of a dog sibling, it’s done purely to screw with the dog.
Sadly, dogs are too polite for confrontation and resort to halfhearted pleas with their feline occupier. On the other hand, it appears as if the cats couldn’t care less.
Arthur’s story is highlighted from the beginning, in the upcoming documentary, INSPIRED: The Movie.http://www.inspiredthemovie.com (Thanks to filmmaker Steve Yu for putting this inspirational video together!) Published on Apr 30, 2012.
10 million views of the Youtube video (below) so far!
Arthur Boorman was a disabled veteran of the Gulf War for 15 years, and was told by his doctors that he would never be able to walk on his own, ever again.
He stumbled upon an article about Diamond Dallas Page doing Yoga and decided to give it a try – he couldn’t do traditional, higher impact exercise, so he tried DDP YOGA and sent an email to Dallas telling him his story.
Dallas was so moved by his story, he began emailing and speaking on the phone with Arthur throughout his journey – he encouraged Arthur to keep going and to believe that anything was possible. Even though doctors told him walking would never happen, Arthur was persistent. He fell many times, but kept going.
Arthur was getting stronger rapidly, and he was losing weight at an incredible rate! Because of DDP’s specialized workout, he gained tremendous balance and flexibility – which gave him hope that maybe someday, he’d be able to walk again.
His story is proof, that we cannot place limits on what we are capable of doing, because we often do not know our own potential. Neither Arthur, nor Dallas knew what he would go on to accomplish, but this video speaks for itself. In less than a year, Arthur completely transformed his life. If only he had known what he was capable of, 15 years earlier.
Do not waste any time thinking you are stuck – you can take control over your life, and change it faster than you might think.
Hopefully this story can inspire you to follow your dreams – whatever they may be. Anything is Possible! If this story can inspire someone you know, please share it with them!
Hold on to your your favorite squeeze and/or whatever furniture you can grab and you might also want to take your heart medicine if necessary – you’re not going to believe this!
O.k. so my collage above is not what you’d expect for this post’s topic, but I didn’t want to give away the secret too soon!)
“You won’t get much closer to Skylining than this!… We left winter behind and headed to the sun to try and turn our latest dream into reality…
All of the Skyliners team was excited to put their skills to the test on such an amazing line…
Thanks to the talent of the pilots, we came really close…
We’ll be going back again very soon to make it happen – watch this space!”
Youtube video, “The Balloon Highline” published on Feb 6, 2014
Published on Feb 7, 2014 Globus Kon Tiki s’ajunta amb Skyliners per assolir un nou repte: passar per una cinta (Slack Line), d’un globus a un altre des de una alçada de 600 metres. L’event va tenir lloc a la comarca de la Noguera a Catalunya el 31 de gener de 2014.Translation: Globus Kon Tiki meets Skyliners to achieve a new challenge: to spend a tape (Slack Line), a balloon one other from from a height of 600 meters. The event took place in the region of Catalonia in Walnut January 31, 2014
O.K. Now breathe………….
Ah-h-h – this is more my style – magnificent and breathtaking panoramic videography, colourful balloons, and gentle calming music – Enjoy! ~ Youtube video, “Hot air ballooning in Cappadocia, Turkey”, published on 5 Nov 2013 by GaborVids ~
For 18 years, Stockholm Junior Water Prize has congregated the world’s most imaginative young minds for an outstanding competition in the capital of Sweden, encouraging their continued interest in water and sustainability issues.
Stockholm, Sweden 
To mitigate the negative impacts of climate change on the Great 
With more intense precipitation events, adaptation strategies that address non-point source pollution are prudent. Precautionary actions should include measures to reduce soil erosion, address land and water quality degradation, anticipate infrastructure to avoid flooding, and avert infrastructure failure. 
Gary Wockner, PhD, is Waterkeeper for the 
Performed by: Ana Rucner, Croatian cellist star
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