This story has been submitted to Digg, Reddit, and Mixx over the past few months. As far as I can tell, it went popular on Reddit and Mixx two months ago.
It stands at only 13 feet tall; and, although what you see above ground may not be very old, it’s roots have been growing for the past 9,550 years.
“The researchers found the shrubby mountain survivor at an altitude of 2,985 feet (910 meters) in Dalarna Province.”
I’m not sure what’s more impressive: how old the tree is or how the researchers found it.
Original Description
The world’s oldest known living tree, a conifer that first took root at the end of the last Ice Age. 10,000 years ago!!!
Submitted to Propeller by phipphin and to Digg by pizzler 6/28/2008
At this point in history, it’s time to get creative. The standard practices for cleaning up pollution are logistical nightmares. To move forward, we have to think outside of the box.
Here are the ideas to tease you into reading this short, excellent story:
Chlorine Cuisine
Fly Ash Bricks
Purging Pesticides
Flushing Iron
Plutonium Pyramids
Sound interesting? It is.
Original Description:
Sometimes, two kinds of messes can cancel each other out.
The hotlink for the post on BusinessWeek says “Web Design that Doesn’t Suck”. That really tells us exactly what this article is about. We have started to hit a lull in the website design field where nothing new is truly “new”.
This featured profile of Stamen is interesting because Digg was one of the more recent clients through Digg Labs that is taking the growing segment of Data Visualization and making the web “more beautiful.” It truly takes a look at the future of the web.
Original Description:
Founded in 2001, the San Francisco company has designed creative interactive sites including Digg Arc, Crimespotting, and Cabspotting
While I think the teaser headline was better (Go Ahead, Put Baby in a Corner) the general point is made. “Timeouts” were a hot recommended punishment in the 80s and 90s as an effective alternative to striking children, but they have become more of a punchline lately.
One of the problems is their waning effectiveness. It isn’t that the punishment isn’t being used. In fact, it’s being overused, and improperly at that. If you are a parent who uses timeouts for kid control, this article is a great one to check out.
Excessive timeouts do more harm than good, making a child irritable and more volatile in his reactions, and more inclined to escape and avoid the adults who punish him. Just as important, parents who punish excessively tend to escalate punishment, increasing the side effects and losing track of the original intent of giving a timeout, which is to improve a child’s behavior. The opposite happens, in fact.
Original Description:
This one is for all the frustrated parents out there, a gentle reminder that we all need from time to time.
This isn’t on the front page??!! I laughed my ass off at this one. Probably, due to my working in Tech Support.
The sales guy calls tech support with a very common issue. He thinks he knows what’s wrong, but explains a completely different issue. Just watch the video.
CO2 in its overabundance in our atmosphere has become a huge problem as one of the primary causes for many environmental concerns. There are, however, positive uses for CO2 that are starting to be noticed by many industries (with the help of Greenpeace) and aggressively adopted by many large companies.
Coca Cola, who has more refrigerating units than any other company (because of the vending machines they own, of course) has decided to not only start producing machines that use CO2 as its coolant, but also to replace the older, less eco-friendly versions. If other vendors and industries start to adopt such practices, we may be able to make a dent in the global eco-crisis.
Original Description:
We’re used to thinking of CO2 as the problem. And that, largely is absolutely true. But the good news behind the truth of CO2’s overabundance in our atmosphere, is that any industrial use for the gas is carbon-neutral, since it’s being pulled out CO2 positive industries, like oil refineries and power plants.
This was submitted as Offbeat, but fits better with World News. World news seems to be having some difficulty front paging lately. I recall when I first signed up for Digg, there was a much healthier amount. Of course, it wasn’t near the number of offbeat and tech stories. If you look at world news now, You’ll find mostly stories regarding copyrights, oil, and the Mid-East.
Upon his death, Mr Lucom surprised every one - including those close to him - by leaving a good portion of his fortune to a foundation he had set up in secret. Now a complex legal battle fueled by greed stands between millions and the poor children of Panama.
Original Description:
One of the largest, if not the largest, charitable donations in Panama ’s history has set off a vicious legal battle that is playing out in at least four countries.
The difficulty in knowing just how much oil is available in the world is one of the main reasons there is such a descrepancy between how much oil should cost per barrel according to the “experts” in the field. A recent survey reported that the range in proposed prices per barrel range from $35 up to $90.
As the Saudis increase production as a sign that the prices are currently too high, other experts are pointing towards a likely “super spike” in prices that will drive costs up to $150-$200 per barrel in the coming months. The uncertainty is what is fueling this. How much oil is there?
Nobody knows. Nobody knows a way to know. In the meantime, we are still heading towards $5.00 or more per gallon.
Original Description:
What is the “right” price for a barrel of oil? Japan’s oil minister said, based on fundamentals, the price of crude should be $60 a barrel, not the $130 to $140 we see today. During congressional testimony, five oil-industry CEOs each gave estimates of where oil “ought” to be, with results ranging from $35 to $65 a barrel to $90. What is going on?
“Facebook is a place for people to put their real lives online, providing factual information about themselves and having trusted interactions with their friends. Meanwhile, rival MySpace is more of a place for people to live out their fantasy lives online, borrowing celebrity photos for their profile pictures, adding far-fetched biographical info”
This VentureBeat post speaks of the cultural differences in the main social networking sites on the web including hi5, and MySpace but with special focus on comparing MySpace and Facebook. Facebook has really boomed int he past while and has finally surpassed MySpace in terms of traffic.
Facebook’s global user numbers have boomed from around 40 million monthly unique visitors in April, 2007 to 115 million unique monthly users this past April, with 62 million new users coming from outside the US.
This interesting and authoritative article died at 198 diggs. Perhaps Digg didn’t want the spotlight taking off them in the social media spectrum!?
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