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Ian Cobain
Guardian 2013-01-30 17:21:00
MoD faces legal challenge to its refusal to hold public inquiry into alleged human rights violations following 2003 invasion Fresh investigations have been ordered into the deaths of several prisoners who died in suspicious circumstances while under British military custody in Iraq, the high court has been told. The disclosure comes as the Ministry of Defence faces a legal challenge to its refusal to hold a public inquiry into a series of alleged human rights violations following the 2003 invasion, including hundreds of claims of unlawful detention, torture, and murder. An inquiry team established by the MoD is now re-investigating the deaths of two men who had been detained by soldiers of the Black Watch in Basra in May 2003, the department's lawyers told the court. An initial review by the MoD's Iraq Historic Allegations Team (IHat) had concluded that although inquiries had been made following the deaths of Radhi Nama and Jabbar Kareen Ali, "both investigations had not been sufficiently thorough and were thus incomplete" and would need to be re-investigated. | |
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Eric W. Dolan
Raw Story 2013-01-30 17:18:00
Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, who describes himself as a libertarian, said Wednesday that he opposed the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) because it could unintentionally result in same-sex marriage becoming legal. "I believe in traditional marriage," he said during an interview with Bryan Fischer of the American Family Association. "I really don't understand any other kind of marriage. Between a man and a woman is what I believe in, and I just don't think it is good for us to change the definition of that." | |
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Arturo Garcia
Raw Story 2013-01-30 17:13:00
A New York City woman has threatened to sue the local police department for $250 million for allegedly handcuffing her 7-year-old son and accusing him of beating up another child over $5. The New York Post reported on Wednesday that, according to Frances Mendez, she found her son, Wilson Reyes, cuffed to a wall at 14th Precinct headquarters, after being mistakenly accused of stealing the money. | |
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Stephen C. Webster
Raw Story 2013-01-30 17:05:00
Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said Wednesday during a Senate committee hearing on gun control that he is a proud owner of an AR-15 assault rifle, and personally hesitant to restrict magazine capacity because such a decision, he said, could give rise to gun-packing mothers running out of bullets when faced by a criminal threat. "You could find yourself in this country in a lawless environment from a natural disaster or a riot," he said. "I have an AR-15 at home, and I haven't hurt anybody, and I don't intend to do it." The Republican senator added that he would carry his assault rifle around his neighborhood in the event of "a law and order breakdown," then said that magazine capacity should not be restricted because "there could be a situation where a mother runs out of bullets because of something we do here." | |
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Kay Steiger
Raw Story 2013-01-30 16:36:00
Some women in the military are still receiving inadequate care for sexual assault, a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report published Tuesday found. The report found that "not all first responders had completed the required training," even after a 2005 Department of Defense directive mandated "a comprehensive policy for the prevention of and response to sexual assault." One servicewoman even reported an inability to gain access to yeast infection treatment. Though GAO found that the military "has not established guidance for the treatment of injuries stemming from sexual assault - a crime that requires a specialized level of care." Often, officers assigned to be "victim advocates" for those who had suffered sexual assault "are not always aware of the specific health care services available to sexual assault victims." GAO investigated three military installations in the United States and seven Afganistan installations, as well as looking at eight Navy ships. The investigators talked to 92 servicewomen, 60 of whom said they believed they were receiving "generally" adequate care, but 8 reported deficiencies in female-specific health care. "At one location we visited in Afghanistan," the report said, "a female airman told us that she believed the military was trying to meet the health needs of women, but still had work to do - noting, for example, that a medication she was prescribed had given her yeast infections." | |
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Glenn Greenwald
Guardian 2013-01-29 16:22:00
The excuse used to justify Obama's failure to close GITMO is incomplete and misleading. Plus: multiple other items A few (relatively) brief items worthy of note today: (1) The New York Times' Charlie Savage reported yesterday that the State Department "reassigned Daniel Fried, the special envoy for closing the prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, and will not replace him". That move obviously confirms what has long been assumed: that the camp will remain open indefinitely and Obama's flamboyant first-day-in-office vow will go unfulfilled. Dozens of the current camp detainees have long been cleared by Pentagon reviews for release - including Adnan Farhan Abdul Latif, a 36-year-old Yemeni who died at the camp in September after almost 11 years in a cage despite never having been charged with a crime. Like so many of his fellow detainees, his efforts to secure his release were vigorously (and successfully) thwarted by the Obama administration. Perfectly symbolizing the trajectory of the Obama presidency, this close-Guantánamo envoy will now "become the department's coordinator for sanctions policy". Marcy Wheelersummarizes the shift this way: "Rather than Close Gitmo, We'll Just Intercept More Medical Goods for Iran". She notes that this reflects "how we've changed our human rights priorities". Several days ago, Savage described how the Obama DOJ is ignoring its own military prosecutors' views in order to charge GITMO detainees in its military commissions with crimes that were not even recognized as violations of the laws of war. | |
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Mary Elizabeth Williams
Salon 2013-01-30 16:17:00
Washington state mulls a long-awaited change to how it defines sexual assault Planning on raping your spouse in Washington state? The consequences are about to get a lot tougher. Maybe. On Tuesday, lawmakers in the Evergreen State began consideringHouse Bill 1108, which would remove the spousal exemption for third-degree rape and for "indecent liberties." Washington already has partner rape provisions for first- and second-degree sexual assault - rape that includes violence, overt threat of violence, or is perpetrated on someone physically or mentally incapacitated. Yet the state's current legal system means that prosecutors have to pursue "lesser misdemeanor assault charges" in cases that would otherwise qualify as third-degree if the victim and assailant weren't married. Washington law defines third-degree rape as occurring when "that person engages in sexual intercourse, not married to the perpetrator ... where the victim did not consent ... to sexual intercourse and such lack of consent was clearly expressed by the victim's words or conduct." There you go. You can say no, clearly and explicitly, but if you're married and your assailant didn't slap you around, it's not rape. | |
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Maryclaire Dale
Washington Times 2013-01-30 16:13:00
A jury on Wednesday convicted a priest and a teacher in a pivotal church-abuse case that rocked the Philadelphia archdiocese and sent a church official to prison for child endangerment. The verdict supports accounts by a 24-year-old policeman's son that he was sexually abused by the Rev. Charles Engelhardt and sixth-grade teacher Bernard Shero in about 1999. The accuser's 2009 complaint describing abuse by two priests and the teacher led to Monsignor William Lynn's landmark conviction last year for endangerment. Lynn is serving three to six years in prison for his role in transferring an admitted pedophile priest to the accuser's parish in northeast Philadelphia. | |
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Katie McDonough
Salon 2013-01-30 16:09:00
Language in the bill also appears to endorse counseling for students who are "at risk" of being LGBT If you thought that you'd heard the last of Tennessee's "Don't Say Gay" bill after state lawmakers abandoned the legislation last year, think again. It's back. And it's awful. | |
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Gideon Levy
A documentary on a Palestinian farmer's chronicle of his nonviolent resistance to the actions of the Israeli army.Haaretz 2013-01-30 16:04:00 When his fourth son, Gibreel, is born, Emad, a Palestinian villager, gets his first camera. In his village, Bil'in, a separation barrier is being built and the villagers start to resist this decision. For more than five years, Emad films the struggle, which is lead by two of his best friends, alongside filming how Gibreel grows. Very soon it affects his family and his own life. Daily arrests and night raids scare his family; his friends, brothers and him as well are either shot or arrested. One Camera after another is shot at or smashed, each camera tells a part of his story.
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Jay Janson
Information Clearing House 2013-01-30 13:34:00
Big step forward for society's ruling rich adding half of the population to its reservoir of cannon fodder as they heavily invest in WMD and their deployment surrounding Iran, China and Russia. But potential recruits should consider how difficult it will be to avoid self-incriminating themselves in obvious crimes against humanity and peace. An Nuremberg style trial is inevitable. The Secretary of Defense (read War) has, by memorandum, ended the official but unheeded ban on women in combat. It is a great step forward for society's ruling rich to have added half of the population to its reservoir of cannon fodder as they heavily invest in weapons of mass destruction, deploying them around the world, and surrounding Iran, China and Russia. Ladies, who will supposedly be rushing to join up, will have known about, or heard a lot about, the death of millions of men, women and children for the American invasions of Korea, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, Dominican Republic, Somalia, Panama, Grenada, Afghanistan, Iraq, the bombing of Lebanon, Yemen, Yugoslavia, Pakistan, Libya and military backed covert operations in virtually every country in Latin America, Asia and now Syria, Mali and other African nations, all to, as Martin Luther King Jr. cried out, "maintain unjust predatory overseas investments." [see King Condemned US Wars) | |
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Steve Fraser
Information Clearing House 2013-01-29 13:13:00
Shakespeare's Polonius offered this classic advice to his son: "neither a borrower nor a lender be." Many of our nation's Founding Fathers emphatically saw it otherwise. They often lived by the maxim: always a borrower, never a lender be. As tobacco and rice planters, slave traders, and merchants, as well as land and currency speculators, they depended upon long lines of credit to finance their livelihoods and splendid ways of life. So, too, in those days, did shopkeepers, tradesmen, artisans, and farmers, as well as casual laborers and sailors. Without debt, the seedlings of a commercial economy could never have grown to maturity. Ben Franklin, however, was wary on the subject. "Rather go to bed supperless than rise in debt" was his warning, and even now his cautionary words carry great moral weight. We worry about debt, yet we can't live without it. Debt remains, as it long has been, the Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde of capitalism. For a small minority, it's a blessing; for others a curse. For some the moral burden of carrying debt is a heavy one, and no one lets them forget it. For privileged others, debt bears no moral baggage at all, presents itself as an opportunity to prosper, and if things go wrong can be dumped without a qualm. Those who view debt with a smiley face as the royal road to wealth accumulation and tend to be forgiven if their default is large enough almost invariably come from the top rungs of the economic hierarchy. Then there are the rest of us, who get scolded for our impecunious ways, foreclosed upon and dispossessed, leaving behind scars that never fade away and wounds that disable our futures. | |
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Last week I sent out an e-mail concerning the fact that the Social Security Death Index (SSDI) shows that Adam Lanza, the alleged Sandy Hook shooter, actually died on December 13, 2012, the day before Sandy Hook occurred. I outlined, step by step, how I obtained this information, so doubters could check the facts for themselves. The SSDI record shows Adam Lanza's birth date of April 22, 1992 which has been confirmed; his birth place of Exeter, New Hampshire, has also been confirmed. The same record shows Adam Lanza's date of death as December 13, 2012. I even sent what I had found to a local news station, along with a note stating, As a mainstream media source, one would think they would be curious about how Adam Lanza could possibly be the shooter when he died the day before Sandy Hook occurred. However, the local news station, a CBS affiliate, wasn't interested. One has to question, as an alleged investigative agency, why they weren't. After all, isn't truth and accuracy in journalism important? Or is the agenda more important? | |
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Whenever I speak or write about California's pension and public debt problems, I always hear from well-intentioned, conservative- and libertarian-minded people who want me to consider their solutions. Most of their ideas - caps on this kind of spending or that, changed pension formulas, public votes, etc. - are sensible enough, but they always miss the main point. That is, they misunderstand the nature of government. They think that government is an institution that does all these necessary things and can therefore be reformed. But government is a vast force-based enterprise designed to take as much money from the public and give as much of it as possible to the clients of government. It's a wealth transfer and any genuine services government provides can be done better, cheaper and more humanely in the private sector. When it comes to pensions, there's no technical problem. In about three seconds, I can craft a non-radical, extremely modest plan that ends unfunded pension liabilities. Starting tomorrow, public employees no longer receive defined-benefit plans and instead get a 401/k-style plan like typical private-sector serfs. What are they going to do, quit en masse and get private-sector jobs? I hear readers laughing now. | |
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When, in the 1950s, Nikita Khrushchev said, "We will bury you," and, "Your children will live under communism," Eisenhower's America scoffed. By 1980, however, the tide did indeed seem to be with the East. America had suffered a decade of defeats. Southeast Asia had fallen. The ayatollah had seized power in Iran. Moscow had occupied Afghanistan. Cuban troops were in Ethiopia and Angola. Grenada and Nicaragua had fallen to the Soviet bloc. Eurocommunism was all the rage on the continent. Just a decade later, the world turned upside-down. The Berlin Wall fell. Eastern Europe was suddenly free. The Soviet Union disintegrated. China abandoned Maoism for state capitalism. Now, 20 years on, the wheel has turned again - toward darkness. | |
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| Society's Child |
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James McGinnis
phillyBurbs.com 2013-01-30 17:34:00
Klondike's compound is carefully concealed behind two dozen dying Christmas trees. Tannenbaum, taken from the trash, shield the 62-year-old former mailman from prying eyes. But occasionally he invites area social workers on the "grand tour." With pride, the man who calls himself Klondike demonstrates a makeshift shower system that runs on rainwater. Hot dogs and beans, rice and trail mix fill three plastic coolers. "People see me taking this stuff from the dumpsters and they think I need help, but I don't need help," he said. Bright blue eyes flare out from a full head of long, shiny white hair. Klondike's chest puffs out like a proud lion. "I don't take anything anybody wants," he said of his compound. "I only take what other people throw out. I went 16 months and I didn't spend a nickel." On Wednesday, Klondike and dozens of other homeless men and women opened their tents to volunteers from across Bucks County. The unsheltered population and number of local encampments are growing, organizers said. | |
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Guardian
2013-01-30 17:28:00
Research finds almost 15m procedures were performed last year, with more than 21% of those taking place in the US Almost 15 million plastic surgery procedures were performed around the world in 2011,according to a study by the International Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons. The trade body took into account surgical and non-surgical procedures such as filler injections and hair removal for its study, which has just been published. The total number of procedures, 14.7 million, is up 4% from 2010. | |
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David Edwards
Raw Story 2013-01-30 17:09:00
An intoxicated woman in Milwaukee says that she fired a weapon during an argument with her niece because she had heard Wisconsin Sheriff David A. Clarke's radio ad saying that citizens should get "in the game" and arm themselves instead of calling 911. A criminal complaint obtained by the Journal Sentinel indicated that 36-year-old Makisha Cooper had told police that she was following Clarke's advice that "simply calling 911 and waiting is no longer your best option." Cooper said "that she knows her rights regarding having a firearm because she heard Sheriff Clarke on the radio stating that she could own a gun to protect herself," according to the complaint. | |
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Megan Gannon
LiveScience 2013-01-30 10:57:00
Malaysian authorities have a possible elephant murder mystery on their hands after three more pygmy elephants reportedly were found dead on the island of Borneo Wednesday (Jan. 30). The grim discovery brings the death toll to 13 this month, and according to the AP, authorities are investigating suspicions that the diminutive elephants were poisoned. Also called Bornean elephants, these creatures are the most endangered subspecies of Asian elephant. While other male Asian elephants can grow up to 9.8 feet (3 meters tall), male Bornean elephants grow to less than 8.2 feet (2.5 meters) and they have bigger ears and rounder bellies, according to the conservation organization World Wildlife Fund (WWF). | |
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Daily Mail
Two men face charges of raping and murdering a four-year-old girl in the town of Mandi Dabwali in Sirsa, India, while under the influence of drugs. The alleged crime is the latest in a series of rape cases that has seen the nation undergo debate, self-scrutiny and mass protests calling for greater punishments for rapists and more measures to increase the safety of women.2013-01-30 16:21:00
Officers say the two men, identified by the aliases 'Chhiller' and 'Vikki', were on intoxicant capsules bought from a chemist at the time of the crime. Dabwali city Station House Officer Ravi Kumar said: 'The statement they (the accused) gave us is very disturbing. 'Pawan, alias Chhiller, and Vikas, alias Vikki, are friends and were the victim's neighbours. 'They consumed some intoxicant capsules from a medical shop on January 26. They watched two minor girls play outside their house on their way back. | |
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Erisa Nakano
Authorities say three people were shot and two others were injured in a shooting Wednesday morning at a Phoenix office building. ABC15 heard reports of a shooting around 10:45 a.m. at the complex off 16th Street north of Glendale Avenue.Phoenix police Sgt. Tommy Thompson said a suspect went into the office building and shot several people. Thompson said police believe the suspect left the building. Phoenix police spokesman James Holmes told The Associated Press that police believe only one shooter is involved.ABC15.com 2013-01-30 13:01:00 Live video feed ABC15's Christopher Sign talked to a woman at the scene who said she saw two bodies at the mezzanine level of the complex. ABC15 has not yet independently confirmed this information. Multiple police vehicles and fire trucks are parked in front of the office complex.
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A mother in the Normandy School District says she's being forced to sit in class every day with her 4th grader. And if she doesn't, he will not be allowed to go to school. Veronica Williams says she went to school with her son for awhile, but can't afford to do so anymore for fear of losing her job. She says when she stopped going to class her son was kicked out of school and he hasn't been back in over a week. Veronica Williams says she can't believe an administrator at Barack Obama Elementary said her 10-year-old son cannot return to school unless she or another adult sits in class with him every day. It's frustrating. It's stressful. It's ridiculous. I done it for two weeks", said Williams. | |
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Dan Tilkin
KOMO News 2013-01-30 12:36:00
After KATU's coverage of a cluster of seven teen suicides in the town of Battle Ground, the discussion about suicide has branched out to deal with the issue in communities across the area. In the town of La Grande, Ore. two children in the last three months were intent on ending their own lives. A 16-year-old girl killed herself in October and now there's a 15-year-old boy who is not expected to live after hanging himself. His family said he was the target of bullying. | |
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RT.com
2013-01-30 12:16:00
A high school near Washington DC has taken a rare step of accommodating Muslim prayer during class hours. Parkdale High School now allows a handful of its students to be excused to pray. The decision has made some Christian staffers "unhappy". Prince George County High School Principal Cheryl J. Logan said the initiative is in response to the "needs of the growing Muslim community," the Washington Post reported. To be able to leave class each day all you need is a parental permission and high grades, Logan said. Currently, about 10 Muslim students have earned the right to pray, and are reportedly allowed eight minutes each day for a joint prayer on campus. Another high school student is working hard to raise his grades to join the group, all of whom belong to Muslim Students' Association, Logan said. It is hoped that allowing prayer will motivate Muslim students to improve their overall school performance. | |
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Mark Stevenson
Mexican officials broke up a bizarre cult that allegedly ran a sex-slavery ring among its followers on the U.S. border, Mexican immigration authorities said Tuesday.Yahoo News / Associated Press 2013-01-30 12:14:00 The "Defensores de Cristo" or "Defenders of Christ" allegedly recruited women to have sex with a Spanish man who claimed he was the reincarnation of Christ, according to an official of a victims' advocacy group, who spoke on condition of anonymity because she was not authorized to speak publicly about the case. Followers were subjected to forced labor or sexual services, including prostitution, according to the National Immigration Institute that said it filed a complaint more than a year ago about the cult. Federal police, agents of Mexico's National Immigration Institute and prosecutors raided a house earlier this week near Nuevo Laredo, across the border from Laredo, Texas, and found cult members, including children, living in filthy conditions, according to the institute official. The institute in a statement said 14 foreigners were detained in the raid and have been turned over to prosecutors, pending possible charges. |
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Stephen C. Webster
Raw Story 2013-01-30 11:58:00
The credit reporting agency Equifax has created a little-known database that uses employment records, often given freely by human resources departments around the country, to track detailed information on millions of Americans' pay history, in effect leading employers to help debt collectors extract money from their workforce. An Equifax subsidiary called The Work Number, according to an investigative report at MSNBC, is often used by larger companies to automate employee work information calls, giving the firm access to human resources data. | |
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Raw Story
2013-01-30 11:56:00
Federal agents on Tuesday took aim at a new type of scam called "sextortion," arresting a Glendale, Calif., man on charges that he hacked into e-mail and Facebook accounts of young women and then posed as a woman to convince others to send him nude photos of themselves. Karen "Gary" Kazaryan was named in a 30-count indictment charging him with gaining unauthorized access to e-mail, Facebook, and Skype accounts belonging to more than 100 women from 2009 to 2011. Once he'd hacked into an account, Mr. Kazaryan would change the password and then pose as the female owner of the account, according to the indictment. He would contact the account holder's female friends and attempt to persuade or extort them into removing their clothing so he could photograph them via their webcams. The "sextortion" scam is a variation of the practice of "sexting," sending nude images of one's self over the Internet to others. | |
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David Edwards
Raw Story 2013-01-30 11:50:00
A 15-year-old girl was killed on the South Side of Chicago on Tuesday, just a week after she performed at President Barack Obama's inauguration. Hadiya Pendleton was hanging out at Vivian Gordon Harsh Park near her high school at around 2:30 p.m., "when someone jumped a fence, ran up to them, and opened fire,"according to WBBM-TV. Pendleton was taken to University of Chicago Comer Children's Hospital where she died an hour later from a gunshot wound to her back. A 16-year-old boy was also wounded in the attack. Chicago police said that many of those in the park were gang members, but Pendleton had no known gang affiliations. | |
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In 1978, Soviet geologists prospecting in the wilds of Siberia discovered a family of six, lost in the taiga Siberian summers do not last long. The snows linger into May, and the cold weather returns again during September, freezing the taiga into a still life awesome in its desolation: endless miles of straggly pine and birch forests scattered with sleeping bears and hungry wolves; steep-sided mountains; white-water rivers that pour in torrents through the valleys; a hundred thousand icy bogs. This forest is the last and greatest of Earth's wildernesses. It stretches from the furthest tip of Russia's arctic regions as far south as Mongolia, and east from the Urals to the Pacific: five million square miles of nothingness, with a population, outside a handful of towns, that amounts to only a few thousand people. When the warm days do arrive, though, the taiga blooms, and for a few short months it can seem almost welcoming. It is then that man can see most clearly into this hidden world - not on land, for the taiga can swallow whole armies of explorers, but from the air. Siberia is the source of most of Russia's oil and mineral resources, and, over the years, even its most distant parts have been overflown by oil prospectors and surveyors on their way to backwoods camps where the work of extracting wealth is carried on. | |
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Carson Clark
WHNT 2013-01-30 10:36:00
Boaz Police say Matthew Anderson Todd, 24, stole an Ambulance Friday, tried to steal two horses and also stole two cars. Police say it all began when Todd was arrested for DUI after a car crash. He was taken to Marshall Medical Center South for treatment. Police say while at the hospital, he walked out, got into a running ambulance and drove away. They say he later got the ambulance stuck on Barnard Street, but that was just the beginning. | |
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| Secret History |
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Brasscheck TV
Full spectrum dominance: The Nazi-American race to control space 2013-01-30 07:11:00 Operation Paperclip was the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) program used to recruit the scientists of Nazi Germany for employment by the United States in the aftermath of World War II (1939/45). It was executed by the Joint Intelligence Objectives Agency (JIOA), and in the context of the burgeoning SovietAmerican Cold War (1945/91) one purpose of Operation Paperclip was to deny German scientific knowledge and expertise to the USSR. Although the JIOAs recruitment of German scientists began after the European Allied victory (8 May 1945), US President Harry Truman did not formally order the execution of Operation Paperclip until August 1945. Truman's order expressly excluded anyone found to have been a member of the Nazi Party, and more than a nominal participant in its activities, or an active supporter of Nazi militarism. Said restriction would have rendered ineligible most of the scientists the JIOA had identified for recruitment, among them rocket scientists Wernher von Braun and Arthur Rudolph, and the physician Hubertus Strughold, each earlier classified as a menace to the security of the Allied Forces. To circumvent President Trumans anti-Nazi order, and the Allied Potsdam and Yalta agreements, the JIOA worked independently to create false employment and political biographies for the scientists. The JIOA also expunged from the public record the scientists' Nazi Party memberships and régime affiliations. Once bleached of their Nazism, the US Government granted the scientists security clearance to work in the United States. Paperclip, the projects operational name, derived from the paperclips used to attach the scientists new political personæ to their US Government Scientist JIOA personnel files. |
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| Science & Technology |
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Stephen C. Webster
Raw Story 2013-01-30 17:15:00
A newly discovered exploit in a technology standard known as "universal plug and play" (UPnP) is big enough that hackers on the Internet could remotely access and control "millions" of compatible devices like cameras, printers and routers, security researchers said Tuesday. Researchers working for the security firm Rapid7 said they found bugs in the UPnPstandard that exposes personal devices to being remotely accessed and controlled. That means an enterprising hacker could, say, exploit the bug to print unwanted messages on a personal printer, or turn on a webcam unbeknownst to the owner. A hole this large has likely already been exploited on a selective, individual basis, researchers warned, noting that something like 40 to 50 million network devices make use of UPnP. | |
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Gregor Macdonald
PeakProsperity 2013-01-29 08:36:00
The quest for cheap energy and cheap labor is a conquering human urge, one that has played out with notable ferocity starting with the Industrial Revolution. The introduction of coal into British manufacturing and the more recent outsourcing of Western manufacturing to Asia have marked key thresholds in this ongoing progression. But despite the harvesting of additional productivity gains from the more recent revolution in information technology, the suite of macro data suggests that the rate of advancement in physical production has slowed, notably, in the past thirty years. Seen in this light, the greatest gains to global industrial production were probably enjoyed from the late 18th century (when coal extraction and use began in earnest) into the mid-20th century (when oil reached broad distribution). In contrast, computers, the Internet, and the leveraging of developing world labor might eventually be seen as the finishing touches on this great industrial wave. | |
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Oliver Stallwood
The Guardian 2013-01-25 08:07:00
Activists in Berlin are teaming up to trash surveillance cameras. Points are given, with bonus scores for the most innovative modes of destruction Link to video: Activists destroy CCTV cameras in Germany As a youth in a ski mask marches down a Berlin U-Bahn train, dressed head-to-toe in black, commuters may feel their only protection is the ceiling-mounted CCTV camera nearby. But he is not interested in stealing wallets or iPhones - he is after the camera itself. This is Camover, a new game being played across Berlin, which sees participants trashing cameras in protest against the rise in close-circuit television across Germany. The game is real-life Grand Theft Auto for those tired of being watched by the authorities in Berlin; points are awarded for the number of cameras destroyed and bonus scores are given for particularly imaginative modes of destruction. Axes, ropes and pitchforks are all encouraged. The rules of Camover are simple: mobilise a crew and think of a name that starts with "command", "brigade" or "cell", followed by the moniker of a historical figure (Van der Lubbe, a Dutch bricklayer convicted of setting fire to the Reichstag in 1933, is one name being used). Then destroy as many CCTV cameras as you can. Concealing your identity, while not essential, is recommended. Finally, video your trail of destruction and post it on the game's website - although even keeping track of the homepage can be a challenge in itself, as it is continually being shut down. | |
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Nick Hopkins
The Guardian 2013-01-25 08:01:00
Missile manufacturer, police forces and golf video company among more than 130 groups licensed to use technology Defence firms, police forces and fire services are among more than 130 organisations that have permission to fly small drones in UK airspace, the Guardian can reveal. The Civil Aviation Authority list of companies and groups that have sought approval for the use of the unmanned aerial vehicles, UAVs, has not been published before - and it reflects the way the technology is now being used. The BBC, the National Grid and several universities are now certified to use them - as is Video Golf Marketing, which provides fly-over videos of golf courses. Including multiple or expired licences, the CAA has granted approval to fly small UAVs more than 160 times. "People are going to see more and more of these small vehicles operating around the country," said John Moreland, general secretary of the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Systems Association (UAVS), a trade body with more than 100 members. "There are any number of uses for them, and the technology is getting easier to use and cheaper all the time. These vehicles can operate anywhere in the UK, within reason." | |
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| Earth Changes |
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Guardian
2013-01-30 17:25:00
Tornadoes were reported in Mississippi, Georgia, Indiana and Tennessee, an unusual development in January Tornadoes ripped through four states on Tuesday night and Wednesday, killing at least two people, as an Arctic cold front clashed with warm air to produce severe weather over a wide swath of the nation. Tornadoes were reported in Mississippi, Georgia, Indiana and Tennessee, an unusual development in January when the focus is more likely to be on snow and ice. The National Weather Service said twisters touched down in Sardis, Mississippi, and heavily damaged homes in Solsberry, Indiana, wiping out power in the surrounding areas. Three twisters were confirmed in Tennessee and a possible tornado hit southeastern Arkansas. In Georgia, a man was killed when a tornado hit his mobile home late Wednesday morning, said Bartow County administrator Pete Olson. In north Nashville, a man died when a tree fell on his garage apartment, according to Jeremy Heidt, spokesman for the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency. | |
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US Geological Survey
2013-01-30 15:55:00
Event Time: 2013-01-30 20:15:43 UTC 2013-01-30 17:15:43 UTC-03:00 at epicenter Location: 28.181°S 70.800°W depth=45.7km (28.4mi) Nearby Cities: 43km (27mi) N of Vallenar, Chile 101km (63mi) SSW of Copiapo, Chile 196km (122mi) NNE of La Serena, Chile 203km (126mi) NNE of Coquimbo, Chile 585km (364mi) N of Santiago, Chile | |
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US Geological Survey
2013-01-30 15:54:00
Event Time 2013-01-30 03:14:28 UTC 2013-01-29 18:14:28 UTC-09:00 at epicenter Location: 43.566°N 127.598°W depth=10.2km (6.4mi) Nearby Cities: 263km (163mi) WNW of Bandon, Oregon 274km (170mi) W of Coos Bay, Oregon 347km (216mi) W of Roseburg, Oregon 364km (226mi) WSW of Corvallis, Oregon 395km (245mi) WSW of Salem, Oregon | |
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Yahoo News / Associated Press
Powerful winds, rain and hail battered parts of the South on Wednesday, killing at least one person as the large storm system damaged homes, overturned cars on an interstate and knocked out electricity to thousands.At least one tornado was confirmed and several more suspected, and conditions remained ripe for more. Since Tuesday, the system had caused damage across a swath from Missouri to Georgia.2013-01-30 12:17:00 In recent days, people in the South and Midwest had enjoyed unseasonably balmy temperatures in the 60s and 70s. A system pulling warm weather from the Gulf of Mexico was colliding with a cold front moving in from the west, creating volatility. Police said high winds toppled a tree onto a shed in Nashville, Tenn., where a man had taken shelter, killing him. As the storm crept eastward, officials reported a possible tornado in Adairsville, Ga., about 60 miles northwest of Atlanta. At least 10 cars were overturned on Interstate 75, and emergency crews were trying to get to people reported trapped in homes and buildings, said Bartow County Fire Chief Crag Millsap. Across the region, downed power lines, trees and tree limbs were making it difficult to reach people who needed help. |
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The Extinction Protocol
An eruption of Mount Fuji could force some 567,000 people to evacuate their homes, according to a new estimate. The projection is part of an evacuation plan crafted by the Shizuoka Prefectural Government that also says more than 130,000 people, comprising some 50,000 households, would have to relocate if lava were to reach residential districts in the city of Fuji, which lies just south of the 3,776-meter mountain. Depending on the number and locations of vents, evacuation from wider areas could be needed. The plan is based on a hazard map prepared by the central government based on Fuji's last eruption, in 1707. Under the evacuation plan, 10 zones have been designated at the foot of the mountain based on the expected direction of lava flows. The plan specifies evacuation zones in four grades.2013-01-30 10:17:00
The Yamanashi Prefectural Government is preparing a similar evacuation plan. Plans will be finalized at a consultation forum involving Shizuoka, Yamanashi and Kanagawa prefectures and the central government. Joint evacuation drills in the three prefectures will also be conducted. - Japan Times | |
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The Extinction Protocol
The hot crater lake on White Island has now completely dried up as explosive rocks, mud and gas continue to be thrown into the air from the active volcano. White Island has been spewing a steady stream of gas since activity heated up in December. It's the most active the volcano has been since 2000. GNS Science vulcanologist Brad Scott said a "small tuff cone" was forming on the bottom of the crater lake, and the active vent was producing "vigorous bursts" of mud, rock, steam and gas up to 100 meters into the air. "GNS Science's past monitoring of the island shows that new eruptive episodes often develop out of this type of activity," Scott said.2013-01-30 10:14:00
"Small muddy lakes sometimes form in craters. As the unrest develops, geysering and explosions occur through these lakes, becoming more vigorous with time." He said the activity did not necessarily mean an explosion or full-scale eruption would happen, although one could at any time. Even though there was an elevated risk to tourists on the island, conditions weren't so dangerous that people could not travel there. Tourism has, in fact, been booming at White Island as the volcano heats up, with visitors eager to see some explosive action. Frontier Helicopters is one of three helicopter tour operators which fly around the island. | |
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Andrea Thompson
Unusually frigid and snowy conditions blanketed much of the island of Great Britain in snow earlier this month. The winter wonderland was spotted from above by NASA's Terra satellite on Jan. 26. The snow started falling mid-month when a storm system blowing in from over the North Atlantic combined with unusually chilly conditions ushered in by a pattern called the Scandinavian Block, according to Accuweather.com. This high-pressure pattern sits in place over Scandinavia and funnels cold air toward the United Kingdom from over the Baltic and western Russia, according to the U.K. Met Office.Yahoo News / Our Amazing Planet 2013-01-30 10:02:00
As of the afternoon of Jan. 21, Redesdale Camp, Scotland, was the nation's leader in snowfall, with 11 inches (29 centimeters), Accuweather reported. Earlier Accuweather reports said 8 inches (20 cm) had fallen in Sennybridge, Wales, and 6 inches (15 cm) in Dunkeswell, in the southwest of England. The snows closed many schools and forced flight cancellations and delays at London's Heathrow Airport. | |
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Xinhua
2013-01-29 06:46:00
The State Council, or China's cabinet, on Tuesday urged more targeted measures to stabilize food prices as the Spring Festival holiday, a peak time for food consumption, draws near. In a statement posted on the government's official website, the State Council said agriculture authorities should play a guiding role in introducing cold-resistance and pest prevention measures to boost vegetable production across the country. Municipal governments in major northern cities should draw up contingency plans and release government reserves of vegetables and meat in a timely fashion, the statement said. | |
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| Fire in the Sky |
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lunarmeteoritehunters.
Eyewitness reports2013-01-26 06:23:00 20 January 2013 - Ellen Musahino, Tokyo, Japan 3:40 a.m. 20 January 2013 - A Shorb Nasu, Tochigi, Japan 2:42 JST
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| Health & Wellness |
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Dr. Ellie Phillips
GreenMedInfo.com 2013-01-30 12:10:00
Earlier this month a study called the "Xylitol for Adult Caries Trial" was published in theJournal of the American Dental Association. Several of my dental friends contacted me, concerned to find out what was going on. If you look closely at the study, the results are not surprising, but the amazing thing was how quickly it reached the front page of the New York Times Health Section. I guess the conclusion of the study may seem shocking at first glance, because researchers found xylitol did not significantly reduce cavities in adults who are at high risk for decay. The researchers confirmed xylitol has been shown to be successful in reducing cavities for over 50 years in Europe, Asia and even in the US. These studies, however, have mainly focused on children and adolescents, so this new study took a look at adults in the US with a high rate of cavities. The hypothesis was that 5 grams of xylitol could stop new cavities in selected clinic patients. After two and a half years, the conclusion was that xylitol had only reduced decay by 10%, which was not significant. The results did not surprise me, nor a well-respected lecturer, Dr Graeme Milicich from New Zealand. His comment was, "Water can put out a fire, but a cup of water is not going to deal with a house fire. The people selected in this study were high-risk patients, so throwing a cup of water at the problem, without any other intervention, is obviously not going to deal with it". The patients in this study had serious decay problems and many had half their teeth missing. They experienced about 4 new cavities a year, yet it does not appear anyone addressed their lifestyle or other risk factors. Xylitol's main benefit is its alkalizing ability. You can do a pH test in your own mouth and show that 100 percent xylitol quickly alkalizes your mouth to protect your teeth from acidity and sugars. This is why we recommend eating xylitol mints or gum after eating, after drinking and after snacking. If you eat xylitol and then sip diet soda or a 20 oz energy drink, the xylitol will have no chance to protect you. Most Americans snack frequently, particularly when it comes to sipping drinks. | |
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Alliance for Natural Health
2013-01-29 12:04:00
Why is one of mercury's most dangerous applications - human vaccines - exempted from the ban? An update to our recent report. A week of complex discussions in Geneva ended with governments from around the world agreeing to a global, legally binding treaty to limit mercury use. The Minamata Convention on Mercury, named after the Japanese city where thousands of residents fell ill with mercury poisoning in the 1950s, bans the production, export, and import by 2020 of a wide range of products and processes where mercury is used or released. Products include implantable medical devices, switches and relays, certain fluorescent lamps, soaps and cosmetics, and some medical devices such as thermometers and blood pressure devices. Mercury-added dental amalgams are also to be phased out. What's exempted? Products used for military and civil protection; those with no mercury-free alternative; those used in religious or traditional practices; and vaccines in which the organomercury compound thimerosal, about which we have written about extensively, is used as a preservative. Countries will be invited to ratify the treaty, which took four years to negotiate, at a meeting in Japan in October, but it is not expected to come into force for another three to five years. A 2009 study published in the journal Toxicological & Environmental Chemistry found thatthimerosal induces neural damage similar to that seen in autism patients - even in low levels. According to the study, "Thimerosal was found to be significantly more toxic than the other metal compounds examined." | |
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Kim Schuette
French chefs have a term fonds de cuisine, which translates to "the foundation and working capital of the kitchen."The Healthy Home Economist 2013-10-08 11:59:00
Bone and meat stock provide just that, the foundation of both the kitchen and ultimately one's physical health. One of the most common questions that those individuals embarking upon the GAPS Diet have is "Do I make broth or stock?" What is the difference between the two? The two words are often used interchangeably by the most educated of chefs. However, for purposes of the GAPS Diet, a temporary diet to heal/seal the gut wall and resolve autoimmune issues, Natasha Campbell‐McBride MD uses the terms "meat stock" and "bone stock." In this article, I will use "stock" when referencing meat stock and "broth" for bone stock. Start with Meat Stock When Healing The Gut Stock is used in the beginning stages of the GAPS Diet, especially during the Introduction Diet where the primary focus is in healing the gut. Broth is ideal for consuming once gut healing has taken place. The significant difference is that the stock (meat stock) is not cooked as long as broth (bone stock). Stock is especially rich in gelatin and free amino acids, like proline and glycine. These amino acids along with the gelatinous protein from the meat and connective tissue are particularly beneficial in healing and strengthening connective tissue. These nutrients are pulled out of the meat and connective tissue during the first several hours of cooking meaty fish, poultry, beef and lamb. The larger the bones, the longer the cooking time. In Gut and Psychology Syndrome, Dr. Campbell‐McBride explains how to prepare stock (meat stock) to be used during the early stages of the GAPS Diet. Her recipe can also be found at the end of this article. | |
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Jon Rappoport
LewRockwell.com 2013-01-29 00:00:00
To understand even a little bit about real psychiatry, versus the false picture, you have to know that someone running around the streets naked and screaming has nothing to do with a mental disorder. If you can't grasp that, you'll always have a lingering sense that psychiatry is on the right track. It isn't, and never was. Not from its earliest days, and not now, when it has the full backing and force of the federal government behind it. Psychiatry is the kind of all-out fraud few people grasp. In a moment of weakness and exhaustion, Allen Frances, the most famous and honored psychiatrist in America at the time (2000), understood part of it. He told Gary Greenberg of Wired Magazine, "There is no definition of a mental disorder. It's bullshit. I mean, you just can't define it." BANG. That's on the order of the designer of the Hindenburg, looking at the burned rubble on the ground, remarking, "Well, I knew there would be a problem." After a suitable pause, Dr. Frances remarked to Greenberg, "These concepts [of distinct mental disorders] are virtually impossible to define precisely with bright lines at the borders." | |
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| Science of the Spirit |
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Raw Story
2013-01-30 12:02:00
A smoker's craving to light up can be tamed by carefully targeted magnetic fields applied to the brain, a senior researcher from a Japanese-Canadian team said Wednesday. Scientists managed to zoom in on the exact spots that drive the need for nicotine, noting that a mental connection made when a smoker is able to have a cigarette markedly increases the desire to spark up. They found that by interrupting this connection, the addict was better able to control his or her cravings. "Cabin attendants who smoke say they feel stronger cravings for cigarettes as they approach landing times, no matter whether their flights are long-distance or not," Takuya Hayashi told AFP from Kobe in western Japan. | |
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Tia Ghose
LiveScience 2013-01-29 18:01:00
Even babies as young as a year-and-a-half can guess what other people are thinking, new research suggests. The results, published today (Jan. 29) in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society: B,come from a study of children spanning the globe, from rural China to the more remote islands of Fiji. Previously, scientists thought this ability to understand other people's perspectives emerged much later in children. The findings may shed light on the social abilities that differentiate us from our closest living relatives, chimpanzees, said study author H. Clark Barrett, an anthropologist at the University of California, Los Angeles. The study used a form of the false-belief test, one of the few cognitive tasks that young children, but not primates, can do. Humans are "very good at inferring other people's mental states: their emotions, their desires and, in this case, their knowledge," Barrett said. "So it could play an important role in cultural transmission and social learning." | |
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| High Strangeness |
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| Don't Panic! Lighten Up! |
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