P4CM News & Notes | p4cm.com Candling Eggs and Advanced Techniques for Artificial Incubation & Hatching - Backyard Poultry Reading Time: 19 minutes By Rob Banks, England – Candling eggs is an age-old technique that has modern applications in incubating and hatching poultry. After studying the incubation of many species and breeds it became clear to me that almost all eggs follow a similar process during incubation and hatching. Once we understand the hatching process, we can then use applied artificial techniques and candling eggs to improve our hatch rate and save viable eggs of valuable breeds from the common problem of “dead in shell.” This article is applicable to many breeds and species, and details the key stages of incubation and hatching. The work to obtain viable eggs starts with sound husbandry and care of the breeding stock and the old saying of “you only get out what you put in” holds true in all aspects of a breeding program. Are Ducks the New Chickens? Find out what it takes to get going with ducks whether you just want to raise waterfowl or you want to add them to a flock of chickens. Hatching
Occupy London A town's water is contaminated with 'forever chemicals' – how did it get this bad? | America's water crisis On a bitterly cold afternoon earlier this year, the Haw River was running high – its water a bright ochre thanks to heavy rainfall and snow melt. Most of the water flowed south, where it would eventually connect with Jordan Lake and the rest of the Cape Fear River basin, home to the cities of Greensboro, Durham, Fayetteville and Wilmington and a major source of drinking water for the eastern half of the state. But some of it took a sharp turn, pumped up to the local water treatment plant where it was cleaned and filtered before continuing its journey, piped down the road and into a church in downtown Pittsboro where Jim Vaughn had just finished helping hand out free lunches. Vaughn, a retired electrical equipment salesman and longtime Pittsboro resident, had found a problem with the water coming out of the church’s tap – contamination with a group of chemicals that are linked to health concerns. The EPA is under pressure to lower its limits on PFAS. Pittsboro stands at a crossroads.
No Impact Man Dear friends, I don't say this often but I am scared. Not scared to the point of paralysis. Not scared enough to run away. Not scared enough to stop trying to help. Not scared enough to think we're doomed. I was lucky when Hurricane Sandy hit. That night, the lights flickered a couple of times. But when I woke up, lower Manhattan was flooded and without power. We in the Tri-State Area didn't get Katrina. Yes, there are some good parts. But there is a lot of suffering. I hung up the phone with a friend just a few minutes ago. In a coffee shop this afternoon, everyone at every table was talking about climate change. Katrina, Irene, Sandy, droughts all summer, busted corn crops, water shortages in the southwest: it's hard to believe we aren't seeing what the climate scientists predicted. It feels ironic and sad. Fracking--the drilling for natural gas by injecting poisonous chemicals into the same rock formations that our drinking comes from. Especially when the sun shines everywhere.
California households owe $1bn in water bills as affordability crisis worsens | California Sign up for the Guardian Today US newsletter The magnitude of America’s water affordability crisis has been laid bare by shocking new data from California where debt owed on water bills has hit $1bn and one in every eight households is currently in arrears. A survey by the state water board found at least 1.6m households are behind on water bill payments. The average debt is $500, but 155,000 or so households are in real trouble, owing more than $1,000 each and accounting for half the total debt. California is America’s most populous state and even before the pandemic, a third of residents, about 13 million people, lived in poverty. Water debt – like other poverty indicators – is not evenly distributed. Households in predominantly Black and Latino neighborhoods are more likely to be in arrears, and have disproportionately larger debts. Low-income households hit hard by the pandemic are probably prioritizing food, medication, and other basic necessities over paying their water bill.
Spirit of Community Your Favorite Housewares Are Spewing Poison Dust Inside Your Home People buy the nicest homes they can afford. They spend years—sometimes decades—pouring money into nest-feathering by stocking up on creature comforts. It’s no wonder we spend 90 percent of our lives indoors. Like George Carlin said, it’s where all our stuff is. Furniture. Nobody ever said plastics and industrial chemicals were good for healthy living. Once in dust form, “they can enter your body,” said Ami Zota, assistant professor at the Milken Institute School of Public Heath at George Washington University and a co-author of the study. Children and pregnant women are often the most sensitive. Chemicals sound opaque and terrifying on a good day. TCEP, also known as Tris(2-chloroethyl)phosphate, a flame-retardant common to furniture, including kids' mattresses. The team reviewed relatively new research, published since 2000, to ensure they were identifying chemicals in current use. While high tech solutions would be valuable, "green chemistry" has made only limited inroads.