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Rand Clifford
Radical Press 2013-07-05 16:50:00
Actions trump lies. Evidence does not lie . . . so how has the American public been so brainwashed by lies, in light of so much evidence? Are Zionists that intelligent, or is the American public that unintelligent - and how did even that obvious question become a "third-rail issue"? Totally uncool, our tradition of being outsmarted by Zionists even to the point of "Rothschilding" our descendants' future. Is it possible for the American public to think their way out of Zionist enslavement . . . or is Gaza a preview of our future? There certainly is genius behind creation of the terms, "conspiracy theory," and, "anti-Semitism." Mere concepts, these two seem among the highest human inventions in terms of neutralizing independent thought. Both terms are amazingly popular and effective; a function, perhaps, of both being technically meaningless - a reliable Zionist mind-control touch, confusion. - "conspiracy theory" was born to describe anything that questions official, establishment positions. Problem is, in the realm of establishment positioning, by definition, everything is conspiracy, putting the term conspiracy theory in the same league as "wet water" - "anti-Semitism" refers to Semites, "A member of any of a number of peoples including Akkadians, Phoenicians, Hebrews, and Arabs" (Merriam-Webster). "Anti-Zionist" is a meaningful substitute for anti-Semitic - but watch that "third rail" 9/11 was trademark Zionist false-flag testing of what they might get away with, a pushing of boundaries that, magically, stayed in bounds. Zionists third-rail magicians still brag about 9/11. Merriam-Webster defines "third rail" as: Touching that third rail supplying power to trains means electrocution. Politically, third-rail issues are just as not-to-be-touched; same thing socially . . . regarding "politically-correct" conversation, third rail issues beg for the spouting of "conspiracy theory" or "anti-Semitism," often both. |
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Seumas Milne
The Guardian 2013-07-05 15:14:00
From Egypt to Brazil, street action is driving change, but organisation is essential if it's not to be hijacked or disarmed Two years after the Arab uprisings fuelled a wave of protests and occupations across the world, mass demonstrations have returned to their crucible in Egypt. Just as millions braved brutal repression in 2011 to topple the western-backed dictator Hosni Mubarak, millions have now taken to the streets of Egyptian cities to demand the ousting of the country's first freely elected president, Mohamed Morsi. As in 2011, the opposition is a middle-class-dominated alliance of left and right. But this time the Islamists are on the other side while supporters of the Mubarak regime are in the thick of it. The police, who beat and killed protesters two years ago, this week stood aside as demonstrators torched Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood offices. And the army, which backed the dictatorship until the last moment before forming a junta in 2011, has now thrown its weight behind the opposition. Whether its ultimatum to the president turns into a full-blown coup or a managed change of government, the army - lavishly funded and trained by the US government and in control of extensive commercial interests - is back in the saddle. And many self-proclaimed revolutionaries who previously denounced Morsi for kowtowing to the military are now cheering it on. On past experience, they'll come to regret it. | |
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Comment: On the one hand, we're a little more pessimistic: the movement(s) have already been hijacked.
However, when protests really get going, in country after country, the elites' control could very well be washed away in the blink of an eye... So there's hope yet!
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RT
2013-07-05 11:02:00
An emergency UNASUR meeting has demanded the governments of France, Portugal, Italy and Spain apologize for forcibly halting President Morales's plane in Austria due to suspicions Edward Snowden might have been aboard. The Cochabamba Declaration issued at the summit also denounced "the flagrant violation of international treaties." Tensions flared at the UNASUR summit in Bolivia, with the country's president Evo Morales saying that his "hand would not shake" if and when he "closes the US Embassy," following the forced stop of presidential plane in Austria. Spain has spoken out in response, stating that it has no reason to apologize to Bolivia. "Spain doesn't have to ask pardon in anyway because its airspace was never closed," Reuters quoted Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo as saying. Ahead of the summit, the Bolivian President has expressed appreciation for the support he has received so far from Latin American countries. "Apologies from a country that did not let us pass over its territory are not enough," Morales said before talks in the central city of Cochabamba. "Some governments apologized, saying it was an error, but this was not an error." |
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RT
2013-07-05 10:30:00
From its inception the uprising against President Morsi was aided by the US, researcher and writer Soraya Sepahpour-Ulrich told RT. She argues that whoever succeeds the ousted Egyptian leader will likely be beholden to the forces that put him in power. Morsi displacement is a military coup in the first place RT: What do you think the future holds for Mohamed Morsi now?
Soraya Sepahpour-Ulrich: I don't think Mohamed Morsi has any place to go to really. There might be a lot of jubilation that the military has removed him from office. President Morsi did make himself very unpopular not only inside Egypt but with his neighbors, the surrounding countries. But that being said, the implications are huge as he was democratically elected. And for the army to step in and remove him from office is a military coup and it is very hard for me to believe that the military would have taken this step without the blessing of the United States. I know that the Americans said, President Obama said, that they would review aid to Egypt. But [US Secretary of Defense] Chuck Hagel had been on the phone with Egypt for two or three days. Egypt basically owes its military, owes its existence to the United States of America. This is not a step they would take without their blessings. Mohamed Morsi may be out now, but his followers will not be and we'll only see an escalation of clashes, which is very unfortunate for the Egyptian people. |
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John Pilger
Global Research 2013-07-04 10:10:00
Denying the Bolivian president air space was a metaphor for the gangsterism that now rules the world Imagine the aircraft of the President of France being forced down in Latin America on "suspicion" that it was carrying a political refugee to safety - and not just any refugee but someone who has provided the people of the world with proof of criminal activity on an epic scale. Imagine the response from Paris, let alone the "international community", as the governments of the West call themselves. To a chorus of baying indignation from Whitehall to Washington, Brussels to Madrid, heroic special forces would be dispatched to rescue their leader and, as sport, smash up the source of such flagrant international gangsterism. Editorials would cheer them on, perhaps reminding readers that this kind of piracy was exhibited by the German Reich in the 1930s. The forcing down of Bolivian President Evo Morales's plane - denied air space by France, Spain and Portugal, followed by his 14-hour confinement while Austrian officials demanded to "inspect" his aircraft for the "fugitive" Edward Snowden - was an act of air piracy and state terrorism. It was a metaphor for the gangsterism that now rules the world and the cowardice and hypocrisy of bystanders who dare not speak its name. In Moscow for a summit of gas-producing nations, Morales had been asked about Snowden who remains trapped in Moscow airport. "If there were a request [for political asylum]," he said, "of course, we would be willing to debate and consider the idea." That was clearly enough provocation for the Godfather. "We have been in touch with a range of countries that had a chance of having Snowden land or travel through their country," said a US state department official. |
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Elspeth Reeve
Atlantic Wire 2013-07-02 08:45:00
The United States military will likely show its benevolence toward the Guantanamo Bay detainees it's holding in perpetuity and will only force-feed the hunger strikers at night out of respect for Ramadan. Currently 106 of the 166 detainees are on hunger strike, and 44 of them are twice daily strapped into a chair while a tube is threaded through their noses into their stomachs to prevent them from escaping detention through suicide. In a motion filed Sunday night, four men asked federal court to stop the force feeding, the Miami Herald's Carol Rosenberg explains, and judges gave the government till Wednesday at noon to respond. Ramadan starts July 8, and if the court can't decide by then, the men ask the judges "at a minimum, to enjoin any force-feeding between sunup and sundown during the month of Ramadan." That was the plan all along, a Guantanamo spokesman told Reuters' Jane Sutton, who says the military said two weeks ago it planned to only do nighttime force feedings, as it has during past Ramadans. However, the Miami Herald reports that in previous years, there were only a few detainees being force fed at a time, and that Guantanamo spokesmen would not say whether the base was capable of following that procedure with so many detainees. |
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Sidhartha Banerjee
Yahoo! Canada News 2013-07-04 00:00:00
Former Montreal mayor Michael Applebaum has permission to go on holiday outside the country, despite facing a number of criminal charges. A member of his legal team said Applebaum got his passport back from authorities last week as he prepared for a 10-day trip, which was planned well before his arrest. The prosecution and defence agree Applebaum does not represent a flight risk. Defence lawyer Conrad Lord said he doesn't know where Applebaum is going next week, but that it's not a business trip. The veteran lawyer said a media report that Applebaum was "fleeing" to the Bahamas was false. "He's not going to flee the country, he's not going to hide somewhere, he's not going to go live in a third country," Lord told reporters Thursday. "Basically he's asking for what any defendant would ask under circumstances where trips were planned in advance." Crown prosecutor Marie-Helene Giroux said it had been previously agreed that Appelbaum would be allowed to travel for a specific trip. She was asked if she had any concerns about Applebaum leaving the country. "Not at all," Giroux said. It's common for the criminally accused to hand over a passport to limit travel, but it's not uncommon for the Crown to allow for specific travel. Applebaum was given back his passport to travel over a 10-day period. His lawyer noted that his only address is in Quebec. Applebaum faces 14 charges including fraud, conspiracy, breach of trust, and corruption in municipal affairs. He stepped down as interim mayor one day after his arrest by Quebec's anti-corruption unit. |
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Dene Moore
Yahoo! Canada News 2013-07-04 00:00:00
Vancouver - Just what triggered a five-month investigation involving the country's national terrorism unit into two recent Muslim converts now accused of a Canada Day terror plot in British Columbia? And what role did police operatives play as the bombing plan unfolded that gave RCMP so much confidence the public was never in danger? As controversy mounts in the United States about the tactics employed in the American war on terror, those are some of the questions being asked after RCMP arrested John Nuttall and Amanda Korody this week for allegedly planning a bomb attack at the B.C. legislature during July 1 celebrations. "For me, that's one of the most interesting questions that's going to come out of this: How were they first alerted to these two and then what role did (police) play in encouraging or providing material?" Scott Watson, a University of Victoria expert in international security issues, said Thursday. Micheal Vonn, of the B.C. Civil Liberties Association, said there are similarities between this investigation and some American counter-terrorism investigations. "The real signal is the absolute confidence of the police that the devices would not work. This is certainly a suggestion that either they had control of the devices - perhaps they provided them, perhaps they knew the specifications of them were faulty," she said. "Whatever that confidence is based on ... these are signals that the investigation may have had this component of facilitation and those are inherently controversial in terms of police tactics." | |
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Comment: Two Canadians inspired by al Qaeda ideology? Are they serious?
Pressure cooker bombs like those allegedly used at the Boston Bombings? Timed to happen on the Canadians' equivalent to Patriots' Day? Foiled thanks to an intel operation that had been monitoring the suspects for months? If, like us, you're already smelling bullshit, that's because it is... Strategy of Tension - Boston Marathon bombing |
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Greg Mitchell
The Nation 2013-07-03 14:11:00
On this date in 1945, the great atomic scientist Leo Szilard finished a letter that would become the strongest (virtually the only) real attempt at halting President Truman's march to using the atomic bomb - which was two weeks from its first test at Trinity - against Japanese cities. Each summer I count down the days to Hiroshima and Nagasaki, marking events from 1945 that spurred the decision to drop the two bombs, raising plenty of my own questions along the way. Last year, I wrote nearly daily articles for The Nation. Of course, I won't do that again, but I thought I'd launch it here with the Szilard letter. Over the next five weeks or so you can check my Pressing Issues blog. I've written hundreds of articles and three books on the subject, Hiroshima in America (with Robert Jay Lifton), and more recently Atomic Cover-Up (on decades-long suppression of film shot in the atomic cities by the US military) and Hollywood Bomb (how an MGM 1947 drama was censored by the military and Truman himself). |
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RT
2013-07-04 17:36:00
A Guantanamo detainee who spent 11 years in the facility has alleged that the US military are sexually assaulting inmates under the guise of maintaining security, it was revealed in media. 45-year old Younous Chekkouri was cleared for release to another country in 2010 but so-far this hasn't happened. He wrote to his lawyer, Cori Crider, who is also the strategic director for London based legal action charity Reprieve, that Guantanamo guards are punishing him and other hunger strikers with extremely invasive body searches every time they come in and out of their cell, in the letter obtained by Al Jazeera. "The searches, as they like to call them, are spreading fear and shame. Eight guards with the watch commander surround me in one room, while two of them put their hands all over me. The sexual assault hasn't just happened to me. Why are they doing this? That's what I'd like to know." The US military strongly denies these allegations, although it is fighting similar charges from other detainees. |
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| Society's Child |
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Breitbart News
2013-07-05 01:44:00
On Friday, radio host Rob Schilling revealed the audio of a stunning 911 call placed by one "Ann, Downey," apparently a passenger in the car driven by 20-year-old Elizabeth Daly as Virginia law enforcement from the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) surrounded the car. Daly was arrested on April 11, 2013, after she was surrounded by ABC agents who suspected that she had bought alcohol illegally due to her age. In fact, she had bought bottled water and cookie dough. While the officers surrounded the car, the passengers called 911. The audio of the call is shocking. The women on the call begin crying "oh my God" and "what should we do," asking for help from the 911 dispatcher. Daly later said that she feared the ABC officers wanted to break the windows of the car, and Daly left the scene of the incident at the behest of the 911 operator. She stopped once the 911 operator told her to do so after ascertaining the identity of the people surrounding the car. The 911 operator speaks with one of the agents on the phone, and the agent says that everyone showed their badges, and that the driver "pulled up and tried to run over people." All charges against Daly have been voluntarily withdrawn. No apology has been issued to Daly or her passenger.
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The Burning Platform
Our interventionist foreign policy is the gift that keeps on giving.
Is there any Middle Eastern country that we haven't fucked up yet? Oh
yeah - Iran. Give Obama and McCain time. That will be the clusterfuck
that destroys the world.2013-07-02 15:49:00
15 Photos From the Tahrir Square Protests You'll Never See In Legacy Media. #Egypt #Morsi #Obamahttp://directorblue.blogspot.com/2013/07/15-photos-from-tahrir-square-protests.html Curiously, a massive wave of anti-Obama sentiment in Egypt has been utterly ignored by vintage media, even though the protests may be the largest in all of human history.
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Sky News
2013-07-05 10:20:00
A teenager who brutally murdered a pensioner told police maybe he was a psychopath, but people have done worse things. He was being cross-examined on Friday at the South Australian Supreme Court trial of his friend, who has denied murdering 63-year-old Pirjo Kemppainen. The witness is serving a non-parole period of 15 years after previously pleading guilty to the murder, which occurred when both boys were aged 14. The crown has alleged that despite the accused youth being across the road when his friend murdered Ms Kemppainen, he too was guilty as he was a part of their joint plan to kill her. |
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Daily Mail
2013-07-04 10:00:00
A California college student is furious after her supervisor told her she had to remove a cross necklace she was wearing while working at an orientation for incoming freshmen on campus. The boss - a university employee - told Audrey Jarvis that 'it might make incoming students to Sonoma State University feel unwelcome' or make them not want to join the group - which plans student events and activities on campus. The supervisor then told Miss Jarvis, a devout Catholic, that she could keep the necklace on, but she had to hide it under her shirt. 'My initial reaction was one of complete shock,' Miss Jarvis told Fox News. '"I was offended because I believe as a Christian woman it is my prerogative to display my faith any way I like so long as it is not harming anyone else. |
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Houston Chronicle
2013-07-02 09:54:00
A woman who had her newborn taken away because she failed a hospital drug test after she ate a poppy seed bagel has settled a lawsuit over the case. Lawrence County's child welfare agency and Jameson Hospital have paid $143,500 to settle the suit filed on behalf of Elizabeth Mort by the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania, which announced the settlement Tuesday. Mort sued in October 2010, alleging that a poppy seed bagel she ate shortly before arriving at the hospital spurred a positive test for opiates in April 2010 that prompted the seizure of her 3-day-old daughter, Isabella Rodriguez. Mort said she was home with her baby when a county child welfare caseworker arrived with an emergency protective custody order and took Isabella. |
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Erik Ortiz
NY Daily News 2013-07-02 09:48:00
JoAnn Nichols vanished in December 1985 after she failed to show up to her beauty salon appointment. A contractor looking through the home in the Town of Poughkeepsie found a false wall where her remains had been sealed in a plastic container. A sinister secret stashed inside the walls of a New York home has been exposed almost 30 years later. Human remains were found sealed in a container and hidden behind a false basement wall in the home where James Nichols and his wife, JoAnn, had once lived in the Town of Poughkeepsie. The remains are those of 55-year-old JoAnn Nichols, who was reported missing Dec. 21, 1985, the Dutchess County Medical Examiner confirmed Monday. A contractor cleaning out the home, which has been vacant since December, made the chilling discovery. JoAnn Nichols died from blunt force trauma to the head in what appears to be a homicide, Dutchess County Medical Examiner Dr. Kari Reiber told WABC-TV. Dental records were used to identify the decomposed body - a complete skeleton. Town police said the new forensic evidence is prompting them to continue the investigation. |
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NY Daily News
2013-07-02 09:22:00
The brutal attack left the 43-year-old with half of his skull permanently caved in. The money is among the largest damage awards ever given to one person in California. A 43-year-old house painter so badly brain damaged that he can't speak has been awarded $58 million by a jury after a beating at a bar left him with half his skull permanently bashed in. Antonio Lopez Chaj (chy) appeared at a news conference Monday with lawyers who announced the award handed down against a security company Friday in Torrance Superior Court. It was among the largest damage awards ever given to one person in California, the lawyers said. They said they expect an appeal and there could be settlement negotiations before Chaj receives anything. Chaj had to be supported by relatives at the news conference. When he took off a baseball cap hiding his injuries, gasps could be heard from people present.
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Jason Linkins
In the 24 hours since the tragic death of journalist and author Michael
Hastings was first reported on Tuesday, those who knew him, worked with
him, and covered his work have offered numerous remembrances of the man
best known for his Polk Award-winning Rolling Stone piece, "The Runaway General."Huffington Post 2013-06-20 07:03:00
That article, which presented a dim view of the U.S. strategy in the Afghanistan war and exposed a military command structure working to actively undermine its civilian leadership, also contained several accounts of less-than-professional behavior and comments by Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the International Security Assistance Force commander, the disclosure of which led to McChrystal tendering his resignation in June 2010. |
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Chelsea Schilling
Americans take to streets, Internet to demand feds stop spying on citizensWND 2013-07-05 03:44:00  The "Restore the Fourth" national protest was named after the Fourth Amendment, which was intended to protect Americans against "unreasonable searches and seizures."
The NSA's PRISM online surveillance program was exposed by Edward Snowden only weeks ago. Americans soon learned that at least nine Internet companies reportedly submitted to government surveillance of their servers: Google, Microsoft, Yahoo!, Facebook, PalTalk, YouTube, Skype, AOL and Apple. "Restore the Fourth," initially organized on Reddit, describes itself as "a non-partisan, unaffiliated group of concerned citizens who seek to strengthen the Fourth Amendment with respect to digital surveillance by the U.S. government." |
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Samantha Tata and Oleevia Woo
NBC Los Angeles 2013-07-04 23:45:00
Dozens of Fourth of July celebrants were injured Thursday night in a "fireworks mishap" at a Simi Valley, Calif., park, authorities said. The injury count changed multiple times over the course of a quickly developing breaking news story. As of 11:30 p.m., 28 people were reported injured, Ventura County Fire Department spokesman Mike Lindberry told reporters at the scene. Of those 28 victims, 20 were transported to the hospital -- 16 suffered minor injuries, four suffered moderate to severe injuries, Lindberry said. Eight people were treated and released on scene. Initial injury counts reported 20 people were hurt then that figure was revised to 14 before Lindberry detailed those hurt in the explosion. Between 8,000 and 10,000 people were expected to attend the Independence Day celebration Thursday night. Witnesses said the professional fireworks show lasted just a few minutes before the huge explosion went off. "We saw about three minutes of the show. There was some that went up in the area and everything just kind of scattered outwards and then everybody just started running," a witness told NBC4. "Everything exploded and parts came flying everywhere," another witness told NBC4. "People were running everywhere. So, it was pretty scary." |
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| Secret History |
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Nina Siegal
New York Times 2013-07-05 16:08:00
Amsterdam - On Jan. 1, 1738, the Leusden, a Dutch West India Company slave ship carrying nearly 700 African men, women and children through what is now Suriname, became caught in a terrible storm. Fearing that the captives would scramble for the vessel's few lifeboats, the captain ordered the crew to shut the hold and lock the Africans below deck. Six hundred and sixty-four people suffocated or drowned while the boat sank in the Maroni River, and the crew escaped: the greatest tragedy of its kind in the Atlantic slave trade, according to the historian Leo Balai. The death toll was almost five times that of the next-largest tragedy: the 1781 massacre of 132 slaves on the Zong, a British-owned ship that was transporting slaves from Africa to Jamaica. They were thrown overboard for insurance money. "The story of the Leusden was never told in Holland," Mr. Balai said. "It was the largest murder case in the history of the slave trade, but no one ever talked about it." It's now the subject of an exhibition at the Scheepvaart Museum, the maritime history museum here. The interactive show, created by a theater set designer, strives to give visitors the experience of being inside the ship. The exhibition begins below deck, later taking museumgoers above to meet the captain and others who benefited from the slave trade. While in the dark hold, visitors hear fearful voices asking where they are headed and why they are being held captive. Paper tags hang from the ceiling, scribbled with the names, ages and dates of capture of the Africans on board - information from the West India Company archives. In the final room those name tags appear as gravestones, with pictures of real people in place of the data, to convey the true human toll. |
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Tia Ghose
LiveScience 2013-07-05 08:02:00
Agriculture may have arisen simultaneously in many places throughout the Fertile Crescent, new research suggests. Ancient mortars and grinding tools unearthed in a large mound in the Zagros Mountains of Iran reveal that people were grinding wheat and barley about 11,000 years ago. The findings, detailed Thursday (July 4) in the journal Science, are part of a growing body of evidence suggesting that agriculture arose at multiple places throughout the Fertile Crescent, the region of the Middle East believed to be the cradle of civilization. "The thing that's most astounding is that it extends the Fertile Crescent much farther east for the early agricultural sites, which are dated to 11,500 to 11,000 years ago," said George Willcox, an archaeologist at the CNRS (National Center for Scientific Research) in France, who was not involved in the study. |
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Owen Jarus
LiveScience 2013-07-05 11:26:00
Archaeologists have discovered two ancient Egyptian skeletons, dating back more than 3,300 years, which were each buried with a toe ring made of copper alloy, the first time such rings have been found in ancient Egypt. The toe rings were likely worn while the individuals were still alive, and the discovery leaves open the question of whether they were worn for fashion or magical reasons. Supporting the magical interpretation, one of the rings was found on the right toe of a male, age 35-40, whose foot had suffered a fracture along with a broken femur above it. [See Images of Skeletons & Toe Rings] |
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sciencedaily.com
For decades archaeologists have been searching for the origins of
agriculture. Their findings indicated that early plant domestication
took place in the western and northern Fertile Crescent. In the July 5
edition of the journal Science, researchers from the University
of Tübingen, the Tübingen Senckenberg Center for Human Evolution and
Paleoenvironment, and the Iranian Center for Archaeological Research
demonstrate that the foothills of the Zagros Mountains of Iran in the
eastern Fertile Crescent also served as a key center for early
domestication.2013-07-05 12:31:00
Archaeologists Nicholas Conard and Mohsen Zeidi from Tübingen led excavations at the aceramic tell site of Chogha Golan in 2009 and 2010. They documented an 8 meter thick sequence of exclusively aceramic Neolithic deposits dating from 11,700 to 9,800 years ago. These excavations produced a wealth of architectural remains, stone tools, depictions of humans and animals, bone tools, animal bones, and -- perhaps most importantly -- the richest deposits of charred plant remains ever recovered from the Pre-Pottery Neolithic of the Near East. |
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Marie McKeown
Hub Pages 2013-07-05 01:03:00
The blood in Irish veins is Celtic, right? Well, not exactly. Although the history many Irish people were taught at school is the history of the Irish as a Celtic race, the truth is much more complicated, and much more interesting than that ... Research done into the DNA of Irish males has shown that the old Anthropological attempts to define 'Irish' have been misguided. As late as the 1950s researchers were busy collecting data among Irish people such as hair colour and height, in order to categorise them as a 'race' and define them as different to the British. In fact British and Irish people are closely related in their ancestry. Research into Irish DNA and ancestry has revealed close links with Scotland stretching back to before the Ulster Planation of the early 1600s. But the closest relatives to the Irish in DNA terms are actually from somewhere else entirely! |
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| Science & Technology |
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Becky Oskin
OurAmazingPlanet 2013-07-05 14:00:00
Scientists are a step closer to solving part of a 165-million-year-old giant jigsaw puzzle: the breakup of the supercontinent Gondwana. Finding the past position of Earth's continents is a finicky task. But pinning down their wanderings plays a key role in everything from understanding ancient climate to how Earth's mountains and oceans evolved. Through "plate reconstruction" models, geoscientists illustrate how Earth's continents crunch together and split apart. Before it cracked into several landmasses, Gondwana included what are today Africa, South America, Australia, India and Antarctica. The big continents - Africa and South America - split off about 180 million to 170 million years ago. In recent years, researchers have debated what happened next, as the remaining continents rocketed apart. For example, different Gondwana reconstruction models had a 250-mile (400 kilometers) disagreement in the fit between Australia and Antarctica, an error that has a cascading effect in plate reconstructions, said Lloyd White, a geologist at Royal Holloway University in Surrey, England. "If Australia's in the wrong position by that amount, then when we try to build these models of what the Earth used to look like, it can have a flow-on effect around the globe," White told LiveScience's OurAmazingPlanet. | |
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Scott Sutherland
Yahoo! Canada News - Geekquinox 2013-07-04 00:00:00
Crime scene investigation got a boost into the 21st century this past week, as a team of researchers at the University of Leicester, in the UK, announced the development of a new technique for gathering fingerprints that can even find hidden prints. Due to TV and movies, the techniques used up until now are pretty familiar to everyone - an investigator brushes a special powder onto the surfaces at a crime scene, and the powder sticks to the sweat and oils left behind when anyone at the scene touched something. The contrast between the colour of the powder and whatever the fingerprint is on lets the investigators see the print and get a record of it. Since the chance of two people having the same fingerprints is extremely slim (something like 1 in 64 billion), it gives them a good chance to identify who was there and narrow down who the criminal was. Criminals know about this though, and they've exploited one of the weaknesses of the technique, by literally wiping away the evidence. Even the most thorough criminal can miss something, though, and it's these missed or 'hidden' fingerprints that investigators have to rely upon. Quite often, though, the quality of the print isn't good enough for it to be used in court. However, now steps in the research team from the University of Leicester, with a new, and incredibly accurate way of lifting and reading these prints. This new method uses the fact that the residue of sweat and oils our skin leaves behind is insulating - that is, it doesn't conduct electricity. If the surface underneath the print is conductive, like a metal knife or bullet casing, a special coloured 'electro-active' film is applied that transfers the colour only to the conductive surface, and even the thinnest amount of residue will prevent the colour from being transferred. This reveals the fingerprint in negative, with extremely fine detail. |
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| Earth Changes |
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Sott.net
2013-07-05 11:57:00
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The Guardian
2013-07-05 13:46:00
Algae overwhelms a popular beach in Qingdao, east China. Officials use bulldozers to remove it. The algae boom may have been caused by pollution from industry. The region has had algae booms six years in a row, but this year's is twice as big as the previous largest in 2008. The algae is not dangerous to humans but can suffocate marine life by sucking oxygen from the water |
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Sara Malm
Tornado ripped off the dome on Connecticut sports arenaThe Daily Mail 2013-07-05 13:16:00 Dome caught on film flying over highway and landing on traffic Minutes earlier 29 children had been forced to flee Sports World Dome The terrifying power of a tornado has been caught on film as it blew off the dome of a sports arena in Connecticut. The giant dome was sent flying through the air over a highway where a driver caught it on his mobile phone. The driver can be hear shouting in panic as the dome spreads out over the cars and narrowly escaped as it lands on oncoming traffic.
'Holy s***, that's nuts!,' a male voice can be heard shouting, before adding further expletives in shock. As the dome lands on the other side of the road he can be heard breathing a sigh of relief. |
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Larry O'Hanlon
discovery.com 2013-07-03 11:16:00
Honey bees have genes specific to combating toxins that are altered with insecticides. Steve Ausmus, USDA Once upon a time all honey bees had to worry about were silly old bears. Now there may be some hard evidence that a new kind of insecticides called neonicotinoids could be weakening and killing bees. And since bees are critical to the production of more than a quarter of our food, new evidence of a danger is The study, led by Reinhard Stöger of Nottingham University, demonstrated that just 2 parts per billion of the neonicotinoid called imidacloprid had an effect on the workings of some honey bee genes. Genes involved in combating toxins and other functions were affected so that cells basically had to work a lot harder. These kinds of changes are known to shorten the lifespan of fruit flies (the most studied insect in the work) and to reduce the numbers reaching adulthood. |
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| Fire in the Sky |
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Sott.net
Is it just a coincidence that fireballs were filmed over Cairo and Sao Paulo/Rio de Janeiro as mass demonstrations peaked in Egypt on July 2nd, and Brazil on June 18th, 2013?2013-07-05 14:55:00 Check it out at 11 seconds... sure looks like a meteor/fireball to us.
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| Health & Wellness |
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Charlotte Ling
Exercise, even in small doses, changes the expression of our innate DNA.
New research from Lund University in Sweden has described for the first
time what happens on an epigenetic level in fat cells when we undertake
physical activity.Lund University 2013-07-03 16:46:00 "Our study shows the positive effects of exercise, because the epigenetic pattern of genes that affect fat storage in the body changes", says Charlotte Ling, Associate Professor at Lund University Diabetes Centre. The cells of the body contain DNA, which contains genes. We inherit our genes and they cannot be changed. The genes, however, have 'methyl groups' attached which affect what is known as 'gene expression' - whether the genes are activated or deactivated. The methyl groups can be influenced in various ways, through exercise, diet and lifestyle, in a process known as 'DNA methylation'. This is epigenetics, a relatively new research field that in recent years has attracted more and more attention. |
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Sayer Ji
GreenMedInfo 2013-07-05 09:30:00
As the autism epidemic continues to accelerate, one of the least well known contributing factors goes mostly unnoticed: wheat consumption. A new study published in the open access journal PLoS is reinvigorating the debate over what are the primary causes of the accelerating autism epidemic. Whereas too many within the conventional medical establishment, failing to identify a singular cause, apathetically label the condition "idiopathic," i.e. cause unknown, or worse, "caused by unknown defective genes," there is a growing awareness that a multitude of environmental factors including vaccines, chemical exposures, C-sections, antibiotics, genetically modified food, and food intolerances are essential in both understanding and treating this disturbing affliction. The point therefore is not to prove one thing the cause (e.g. "autism genes"), and another not the cause (e.g. vaccines), as if it were strictly some kind of academic sport or past time, rather, to acknowledge possible contributing factors, and eliminate them whenever possible as a precaution. The new study titled, "Markers of Celiac Disease and Gluten Sensitivity in Children with Autism," explored the possible association between gluten sensitivity and autism, which previous research has confirmed only inconsistently.[i] |
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| Science of the Spirit |
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No new articles. |
| High Strangeness |
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Dana Matthews
WhoForted? 2013-07-05 13:31:00
An eerie photograph of a baby-stalking ghost is sending chills down Redditors' spines, and even the most seasoned armchair detectives are having a hard time explaining the image. The strange image, which was posted early yesterday evening by a user with the screen name "RickieOnRadio", was posted to Reddit with title, "My auntie has just taken a picture of her son after his bath. They were the only two people in the house at the time." Rickie added that "a strange figure with a weird shaped hand has appeared in the background" baffling his family and scaring his Aunt. The photograph doesn't appear very weird on first glance, showing what appears to be the oddly proportioned arms of a person standing in the background of the photo. Honestly, it just looks like there's a person reaching for the child in a poorly-timed photograph.. nothing very spooky. However, there isn't enough space in the room for anyone to be standing there in the first place. According to Ricky, there was absolutely no one else in the room when the photo was snapped, and he ruled out reflections as well, telling readers that there's no mirror in the room. |
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| Don't Panic! Lighten Up! |
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