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Of course, much of the plastic debris is not being caught or deposited on foreshores, and is simply sweeping out to sea to add to the well-documented problems of waste in our oceans.
The litter that does stick around will eventually be broken down into small fragments and fibres by waves and UV light. Some of this will hang in the water column; some will get into the bed of the river. And it is this micro debris that can be ingested by fish.
The Royal Holloway study examined common flounder and smelt from Erith and the Isle of Shepey.
The flounder, which are bottom-feeders, had the most fibre in their gut. Up to 75% of these flatfish had plastic in them. The smelt, which swim in the water column, were contaminated in a fifth of cases.
"And we also know from some of the other work we've done on Chinese mitten crabs at Chelsea Bridge that they have knots of plastic fibres in their stomachs," said Royal Holloway's Dr Dave Morritt.
"So that's crabs and two species of fish. And those plastics seem to be a range of things, and include nylon, acrylic, polythene and cellophane."
As well as the PLA and Thames21, the campaign is backed by Totally Thames, the Environment Agency, Thames Tideway Tunnel, the London Wildlife Trust and the RSPB.
It will be running a series of YouTube videos over the next 12 months to explain the issues to Londoners and the capital's millions of visitors.
These videos will be presented by the explorer Paul Rose, a recognisable figure from the many documentaries he has made for the BBC about the marine environment.
Paul wants everyone to "take ownership" of their waste, and not - as he says he sees often - to try to stuff rubbish into over-full bins.
"Put it in your pocket and take it home," he said.
"I spend my life diving and supporting ocean science in the world's last wild places. And everywhere I go, whether it's diving in the Northwest Passage, as I was two months ago, or the Selvagem Islands, as I was last week - we take water samples, and they've always got plastic in them. We never take a sample that hasn'...
"It's so hard to get the message across, but we have a great opportunity here to get people to understand this global problem."
The PLA says it is talking to the riverside London Boroughs about getting them to join the campaign.
"The point about bins being emptied frequently enough so that people are not sticking stuff in so that it immediately blows out - that's really important to get the boroughs on-side with," said authority chief executive Robin Mortimer.
Late-show war lacks punch TV preview: HBO movie about Letterman-Leno wars is saddled with problems.
"The Late Shift" is not awful, which must be regarded as something of a triumph for HBO.
Of course, it's not very good, either, so at best what we have is a small victory. The casting is bad, the acting mediocre, the writing fine, the story incomplete, the compelling reason to watch this thing hard to grasp.
But for a movie reputed to be the biggest disaster since the Hindenburg, this chronicle of the late-night wars between David Letterman and Jay Leno that dominated the entertainment press a few years back is almost watchable.
Based on a book by former Sun television critic Bill Carter, who now writes for the New York Times, "The Late Shift," premiering at 8 tonight on HBO, is saddled with a host of problems.
Problem one: We all know how it ends. Letterman, deprived of the "Tonight Show" job he'd always wanted, jumps ship for CBS, while Leno, the archetypal trouper, keeps on plugging away at NBC.
Problem two: The story really has no end. In fact, new chapters are being written every week. "The Late Shift" ends with Letterman as the nominal hero, defecting to CBS with an obscenely huge contract, while NBC is forced to stick with Leno. One of the last shots shows NBC honchos Warren Littlefield and John Agoglia (B...
Only thing is, events have already proven it won't. After more than a year of coming in second to Letterman, Leno overtook Dave in the ratings several months back and has stayed there ever since (which is mentioned in a postscript to the movie). NBC is raking in millions of dollars.
So who's the hero now?
The film, with a screenplay by Carter and George Armitage, tries to smooth this rather large sticking point by jettisoning the book's fascination with the behind-the-scenes manipulations in favor of a sort-of "Isn't show business wacky?" attitude toward the whole process. That decision, indicated by the recurring use t...
Problem three, and problem the worst: casting. Poor Daniel Roebuck, who plays the jut-jawed Leno, is forced to wear make-up that makes him look like one of those battery people on the Duracell commercials. He's got Leno's whining manner down, but certainly not his way with a joke. But even Sir John Gielgud would have t...
John Michael Higgins, who plays Letterman largely sans makeup, fares somewhat better, if only in comparison. But the movie grinds to a halt every time Rich Little shows up to do his Johnny Carson impression (thankfully only a few times). Little does a great Johnny, but he's not an actor.
The worst piece of casting, however, is Balaban as Littlefield, who was instrumental in convincing NBC to stick with Leno over Letterman. "Seinfeld" fans will recognize Balaban as the same actor who played the buffoonish NBC executive that bought, then didn't buy, then bought the sitcom idea Jerry and George (Seinfeld ...
Good acting in "The Late Shift" is hard to find, but it is there. Kathy Bates as Helen Kushnick, the fire-breathing dragon lady who engineered her client Leno's rise to the top, stands so far above the rest of the cast it's almost embarrassing. And Treat Williams as Michael Ovitz, the shining-knight agent who rescued L...
Still, the greatest question posed by "Late Shift" is not why Letterman was passed over by the folks at NBC, or how Leno managed to turn the tables and become the more dominant late-night personality.
It's why HBO believed there was a movie to be made here.
One of the best things about Nintendo's Virtual Console services is the possibility of discovering games that you never knew existed. In 1996/1997 Shigeru Miyamoto was over a decade into his career, and had some of the biggest games ever released under his belt, but he was still far from being a household name. This ma...
Mole Mania puts you in the role of Muddy Mole (not to be confused with Montey Mole) who has to save his wife and kids from the evil farmer Jinbe. Played out over a series of puzzle boards that make up eight different worlds, Muddy Mole has to navigate both above and below the ground to make it to the exit in each world...
At first glance Mole Mania might appear to be just another Game Boy puzzle game, tasking players with clearing each room before they move on. However, after digging in a little further, it becomes abundantly clear that the dual level gameplay, mixed with the variety of creatures in each world, make every board a unique...
One of the only downsides of Mole Mania is actually one of its biggest selling points – its difficulty. Whereas some players may find that the game puts players through their paces trying to figure out the intricacies of each board, the complexity of the later level may be a bit of a turn off for someone that's just lo...
This release is a great example of the mid-to-late lifecycle Game Boy games that really helped define mobile gaming. It's puzzles are short and to the point, the overall concept it easy enough to pick up and play, but complex enough to drive you mad as you progress through the game. Plus, there's a healthy amount of le...
(WBNG) – School bus drivers in our area are taking extra precautions to make sure students are warm and safe during this week’s freezing temperatures.
The cold weather cannot only harm students and staff, but also the buses they use for transportation.
“We do see in the extremely cold temperatures, we’ve had doors that have not operated, they’ve frozen up and the air tanks don’t build pressure,” said Lisa Bennett, transportation coordinator for Union-Endicott School District.
Bus drivers say super low temperatures can effect doors, brakes and can even affect the fuel.
Local school districts say it’s vital to prepare their buses ahead of a dangerously chilly day.
“The buses are probably 10 degrees colder than they are outside. So we make an effort to start the buses earlier and make sure they’re running,” said Bennett.
The Johnson City School District keeps its buses in garages to make it easier to keep warm, while Union Endicott uses other ways to combat the cold.
“They all get plugged in at night to enable them to start in the morning, getting them heated up so that when the kids get on they are at a reasonable temperature,” said Bennett.
School officials say during the bitter cold days, they plan to pick up as many kids as possible.
“We are just gonna get them. We are going to pick them up. It doesn’t matter if it’s your bus or not. Somebody sees somebody, we are going to say ‘Get them on that bus, get them off that corner’. Especially with that wind chill we have coming tomorrow”, said Castellucci.
“Our district has a lot of walkers. We have over 700 students in this district that are not eligible for transportation. Unfortunately, we don’t have the equipment or the staff to pick up all 700 students in the bitterly cold weather, but we do try to as we see students that may be walking, if we have room on the buses...
Both districts say whether or not school is in session, they will be prepared to keep their students safe.
“It’s critical. That’s what we are all about in transportation is student safety,” said Bennett.
Transportation officials urge students to be at their bus stop on time especially in freezing cold weather.
This will keep the routes on time and prevent other children from staying outside longer than they should.
They also encourage students to make sure they are bundled up properly.
BY ROGER FALK THE title of this piece is not as casual as it sounds. I have recently returned from a month's journeying in Africa, and flew what was virtually a circuit, spending nearly a fortnight in Uganda, on by air down to Johannesburg, a week on the Rand, and then up to Nigeria and the Gold Coast; finally, home vi...
Uganda is a fabulous country. I believe that until Tagaire Kabaka' very few people in Britain had heard of it, much less knew where it is. And yet,, nearly fifty years ago, Winston Churchill saw Uganda's immense possibilities. The country is rich in the cotton and coffee that the world requires; it is luxuriant in appe...
It is fascinating to contemplate the main players in that particular drama. Sir Andrew Cohen, the Governor, is a large, dedicated man without much intimate appeal, yet with a mas- sive integrity which irradiates his conversation and presence. The Kabaka is slight, elegant, gently spoken. He possesses that same irresist...
Since I have been back I have been constantly asked, 'What will happen in Uganda when the British leave it to its own devices?' One thing is clear : to draw Uganda into an East African Federation of. any closer character than that guaran- teed by the present East African High Commission arrange- ments would be politica...
My particular interest in Uganda led me into the field of the availability and distribution of consumer goods. The Protec- torate Government wants to ensure that the long-term pro- ductivity of cotton and coffee crops is in no way diminished; the revenues therefrom are vital to the social welfare (in the widest sense) ...
Every time my aeroplane circles those dirty white mine dumps and an ever-growing Johannesburg comes into view. I realise what a phoney sort of place it is—hollow, physically as well as spiritually. and artificial. And yet there is something very disarming about Johannesburg's energy and bustle, its assertiveness and it...
Though this time I was only inside a week in West Africa, the recurrent thought in my mind was to contrast it with East Africa. There are worlds of difference. The unique characteris- tic of West Africa is, of course, its political development, far ahead of the three East African territories. The Gold Coast and Nigeria...
The Queen is in Nigeria at the moment. It is a far cry from the ill-fated 'Treetops,' the house in the Aberdares in Kenya from which she was summoned to the throne, to the steamy West. In Lagos they were painting up the City when I was there, against her arrival and already I was beginning to hear anxious whispers abou...
I wisli I had seen more of the Gold Coast, but my three days there were busy, and the only sortie I had time to make from Accra was to a mining concession sixty miles north of the town. Accra is an unattractive place. This is odd when it is remembered that, after Malaya, the Gold Coast is the richest of all British dep...
Ghana, as an independent Gold Coast will be called, is, like Nigeria, hastening at a tremendous rate towards its political destiny. Of the millions of words that have been written on the subject of self-government in the British colonial terri- tories, I think I have been most struck by something Barbara Ward wrote in ...
That is why, as the aeroplane made for home and I sat insulated from Africa 16,000 feet above the Sahara, q went on thinking about the varying degrees of white participation in Africa I had seen : in the Union, for the better or the worse, a policy of apartheid; in the Central African Federation, a declared aim of 'rac...
The Ego Bubble - 10 things you need to know about startups, super angels, and desks.
I've been investing in start-ups since the early days of the first internet boom. I've seen or read thousands of pitches. I've had a few winners and my share of losers. I've seen trends come and go. I've been on the money giving side, the money-taking side and the entrepreneur who took no money side.
Since the topic of angel investing is hot these days, I thought I'd share a few reflections from my days as a part time angel investor. It's probably worth mentioning that I almost always co-invest with a friend and colleague who is a lot smarter about these things than I am. I hate reading term sheets. I'm all about t...
And in all candor, I'm probably not what you'd call a great investor. But I'm a decent and pretty smart guy, and I've been investing in, building sites on, and writing about the internet since the blink tag was in its heyday, so it can't hurt to check out these reflections from my own personal angel island.
I've always seen myself as being on the same side of the table as the company founders. That makes sense to me. I'm investing in the person, first and foremost. Sure, I've seen the occasional start-up Powerpoint presentation manifest itself in real life (I was lucky enough to be along for the Open Table ride, for examp...
I've seen thousands of hours spent on detailed seed round terms. I've never seen these details matter. Never. If it goes, me and the founders win. If it doesn't, the details go into the incinerator along with the stock certificates.
When I first started in the business, I'd keep my feedback close to the vest. I was worried that I might give a founder an actionable idea or two and then they'd have no reason to include me in the deal. I would have already blown my advising wad. Later, I realized this was crap. If I added value in a meeting and a fou...
The best advice I've ever given a founder during a pitch is: Don't take any outside investment from me or anybody else. Most of the start-ups that are really products being built to flip to one of the big web companies are better off bootstrapping it than taking on outside money and all the hassles and headaches that c...
On a related note, there is nothing wrong with having a successful small business on the web. You get to wear t-shirts to work, you often have a flexible schedule and you can make money while you sleep. Once you take outside money, you can't have that small business. If you do, your investors will have little choice bu...
Most investors will have a boatload of opinions, even on parts of your business that have no overlap with their areas of expertise. It's always good to listen to input. But ultimately, the investor is making a bet on you. Stick to your gut and vision. You may think every investor wants to hear that you're going to take...
Although I occasionally throw on a cape in the privacy of my own home, I'm not a Super Angel. Angel investors who have personal brands that are bigger than the brands of the companies in which they invest scare me. When I see certain names on a term sheet, it increases the likelihood that I'll skip the deal. I also wor...
I can see the benefit of incubators. I've even considered starting them over the years. But I generally see a greater benefit in a founder who doesn't want to be part of someone else's club. Again, there are lots of exceptions. I'm just giving you my immediate reaction to the issue. You have a vision. I have some dough...
All talk of collusion, etc, aside - the best lead generators for any investor are the entrepreneurs in whom he has invested in the past. Put that in your term sheet and smoke it, brother.
I don't care which side of the table you sit on. It's hard to find a mensch in this business. That might be more true now than ever. The last time this industry suffered from growing pains, it looked the final scenes of Scarface. But in our case, these corrections don't just include one dude in a bad white suit. We all...
Behind 44 points from Alan Griffin and R.J. Davis, Stepinac beat reigning city champ Cardinal Hayes 78-74 to earn a key league win.
WHITE PLAINS - For a team with an eye cocked on Fordham, Stepinac entered Friday night knowing it still had something to prove. Cardinal Hayes entered not only as the reigning city champ, but a league rival the Crusaders hadn't beat in almost seven years.
"Once we get to Fordham, it's going to be great and we think we might see them or Molloy," sophomore R.J. Davis said. "After this win, it proves we can be a top team in the Catholic league."
Stepinac's championship hopes earned a boost in a gritty 78-74 home win over the Cardinals. Senior Alan Griffin had 23 points, eight rebounds and four blocks and Davis added 21 points, most of it on 17-of-19 shooting at the foul line.
"I definitely felt motivated," said Griffin, who sat out with a knee injury when the Crusaders lost at Hayes Dec. 22. "I knew I could be a game changer. I couldn’t wait to play these guys since last year. It was good to get them back."
Stepinac (12-3) moved into second place — a game behind rival Iona Prep — in the CHSAA Archdiocesan with the victory. The Crusaders earned at 41-9 advantage in free throw attempts and hit 33, including 18 of 19 in the first half.
They fouled out Hayes' star guards Joe Toussaint and Tyrese Williams in the fourth quarter and saddled their counterpart, Jontai Williams, with four fouls in the first half alone.
"I say they have the best guard combo in the league," Stepinac coach Pat Massaroni said. "There’s no doubt about it. Are there better individual talents on different teams? Maybe, but they’re really tough to guard. To get them in foul trouble was big."
Still, the Crusaders found themselves trailing by six at one point in the second half. After Tyrese Williams fouled out with over six minutes remaining, they slowly gained control. Stepinac finally went ahead for good on a basket by Xavier Wilson with 4:39 to go. Griffin and Adrian Griffin Jr. each made clutch shots do...
Junior Ed Sanchez also provided 12 key points off the bench, including three late free throws.
"I was just trying to come in and get the tough plays," Sanchez said. "The scoring came because we were moving the ball and I was open and knocked down shots. I was trying to come in and contribute."
LONG POND -- Jeff Gordon has ruled out surgery on his aching back and hopes the daily treatments he receives at the track will ease the pain he's felt for more than a year.
The four-time Sprint Cup series champion said he might opt instead for a repeat of a procedure he had last month, which typically calls for an injection of lidocaine or anti-inflammatory medication. He said that might take place in four to six weeks.
"Surgery really hasn't been an option," Gordon said after a steady downpour Friday washed out qualifying for this weekend's NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Pocono Raceway.
He added surgery was "too invasive, and I don't think it's necessary."
It's been a tough week for Gordon and his achy back. He wrecked during qualifying last week at Dover, and pulled out of Tony Stewart's charity race in Ohio earlier this week to give his body a rest. Stewart's race ended up being postponed because of rain.
Gordon got an unexpected break with Friday's rainout at Pocono, meaning the lineup for Sunday's 500-mile race will be determined by driver points. Gordon will start second next to points leader Stewart, whose second-place finish at Dover allowed him to leapfrog Gordon into the top spot.
"Right now, I'm feeling pretty good," Gordon said. "For us, it worked out well -- we got an extra day of rest, got a great starting position."
For now, Gordon is focusing on physical training and stretching. He started a new hour-long routine at the track this year that includes an ultrasound and a massage at the start of his day, and an ice pack on the back at day's end.
"It doesn't happen overnight or just flip a switch," Gordon said. "Just gradually getting used to the stuff going on in the car and getting stronger and getting better."
nine × = 27 Required Please enter the correct value.
My friends were going camping recently and their bags looked like something from a space shuttle, with cords sticking out of nearly every pocket.
"What on earth have you got in there?" I asked.

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