The Human Imprint

Broadband is back!

Finally after weeks the broadband is back .... so back to blogging!

Still no broadband

We are still waiting for broadband service to resume! I will be back to blogging soon I hope.

No broadband for ten days

Something has gone wrong with our broadband. Our provider is working with us but it isn't working if you know what I mean ,,, therefore the scarcity of blog posts. They will resume!

Over 100 die in El Salvador mud slides and floods

BBC News reports on the terrible impact of Hurricane Ida on El Salvador. The video shows so graphically the impact of the storm.

Improvements in rice harvest in Kenya

Check out the video  at the FAO Media Centre.

Water wars in Boliva

Check out this Scientific American video.

Leicester Square KFC faces 13 food hygiene charges

Catersearch reports that Leicester Square KFC faces 13 food hygiene charges. The company is being prosecuted after environmental health inspectors reported finding cockroaches, mice and flies at one of its busiest UK restaurants. The article states that
 
"Officials from Westminster Council said that a cockroach scurried across a counter when they visited the fast food outlet in Leicester Square, central London. They claimed a mouse was seen running across the floor and flies buzzed around their heads at the Coventry Street premises.

In a separate case, a restaurateur in central London has been fined £28,000 for a series of food hygiene breaches including countless sightings of rats, mice and cockroaches. The owner of the Jin Korean Restaurant in Soho pleaded guilty to eight counts of health and safety breaches after inspectors from Westminster Council took him to court. Inspectors found a cockroach crawling inside a saucepan in the restaurant kitchen as well as a decaying mouse which was found in a lift shaft.
 
The court was told that raw chicken was stored next to salad and defrosting fish in open buckets on the floor. Kitchen staff did not wash their hands before or after cooking and were unable to explain how to clean the premises. Restaurant owner Myoung Kim and manager Uoong Shin both pleaded guilty were fined £28,000 and £8,000 respectively." 
 
 

Salmonella outbreak causing concern

The Telegraph reports that a warning over Salmonella contamination has been issued as two people die in nine outbreaks across the country. The Health Protection Agency has launched a full investigation. The article reports that: "Around 130 people have fallen ill with the same strain of Salmonella linked to poultry and eggs since August across England and Wales. Five outbreaks have been linked to oriental restaurants, three to other restaurants and one was in a care home. Two people with the infection died in the care home, which has not been named by officials, but post mortem results have proved inconclusive about the cause of death. Three other people have been treated in hospital, a report from the Health Protection Agency said. The strain involved in the outbreaks, known as Salmonella Enteritidis PT14b NxCpl, is showing some resistance to an antibiotic."

I will keep the blog up to date with developments in the investigation.

Post-harvest losses aggravate hunger

The FAO issued a recent report that proposes that significant amounts of the food produced in developing countries is lost after harvest thereby aggravating hunger. It this is addressed by the right amount of investment and training food losses which are estimated to be between q5 and 50 percent could be drastically reduced. The problems they identified included: harvesting at an incorrect stage of produce maturity, excessive exposure to rain, drought or extremes of temperature, contamination by micro-organisms and physical damage that reduces the value of the product. Crops also lose value because of spillage, damage from inappropriate tools, chemical contamination or rough handling (including heat build-up) during harvesting, loading, packing or transportation

Follow the link to read this article.

European water mission lifts off

BBC News reports that a European satellite is to provide a new insight into how water is cycled around the Earth. "The Smos spacecraft will make the first global maps of the amount of moisture held in soils and of the quantity of salts dissolved in the oceans. The data will have wide uses but should improve weather forecasts and warnings of extreme events, such as floods". Follow the link to read the full article.