Saturday, 21 February 2015

The European Union Times

Colonize planets to save the human race – Stephen Hawking

Posted: 20 Feb 2015 02:43 PM PST

World famous physicist Stephen Hawking says humankind should colonize other planets to ensure the future of the species. He claimed armed aggression could end civilization and that space travel would provide somewhere to go.
While taking an American visitor on tour of London’s Science Museum, the physicist said colonizing other planets could be “life insurance” for whatever embattled remnants of the human race still existed following a nuclear apocalypse.
“Sending humans to the moon changed the future of the human race in ways that we don’t yet understand,” he said.
“It hasn’t solved any of our immediate problems on planet Earth, but it has given us new perspectives on them and caused us to look both outward and inward.”
“I believe that the long term future of the human race must be space and that it represents an important life insurance for our future survival, as it could prevent the disappearance of humanity by colonizing other planets,” he added.
His remarks came while he escorted Adaeze Uyanwah, from Palmdale, California, around the museum, a prize she won after producing a blog and video describing her “perfect day” in the capital.
Hawking also said, were it possible, he would eradicate aggression from the list of human shortcomings, saying it had the capacity to end humanity.
“The human failing I would most like to correct is aggression. It may have had survival advantage in caveman days, to get more food, territory or a partner with whom to reproduce, but now it threatens to destroy us all.”
“A major nuclear war would be the end of civilization, and maybe the end of the human race.”
When asked which human facets he valued the most, he said “empathy.”
“The quality I would most like to magnify is empathy. It brings us together in a peaceful, loving state,” Hawking said.
Uyanwah, who is a teacher and a creative writer, beat tens of thousands of contestants to win the prize.
She said the opportunity to meet the professor was “incredible.”
“It’s incredible to think that decades from now, when my grandchildren are learning Stephen Hawking’s theories in science class, I’ll be able to tell them I had a personal meeting with him and heard his views first hand. It’s something I’ll never forget.”
Hawking has previously issued other bleak warnings about the future of the human race. In December last year, he said artificial intelligence had the capacity to spell the end of civilization.
Source

Cold weather leaves several dead in US

Posted: 20 Feb 2015 02:38 PM PST

A partially frozen American Falls in sub-freezing temperatures is seen from Niagara Falls.

At least 18 people have died in the US state of Tennessee as cold-weather records continued to fall across the eastern half of the country, according to officials.
The fatalities were caused by hypothermia-related conditions, car accidents or from an inability to reach medical care due to icy roads.
Cold-weather records have fallen across the eastern US as the polar vortex continues to bring high-pressured arctic air down over the country.
The deaths come as Tennessee remains in a state of emergency due to the bitter cold temperatures.
“Our city just shuts down,” said Dana Marie, a waitress in Nashville, Tennessee. “You know, people in the North want to make fun. And I get it. It’s just that we’re not used to it.”
In New York City’s Central Park, temperature went below minus 16 degrees Celsius, while much of Niagara Falls was frozen over.
The cold snap followed snow and ice storms earlier in the week.
Weather forecasters have warned of more sleet and freezing rain in the coming days.
“There were widespread subzero overnight lows Thursday night extending from Illinois to western Virginia, and numerous record lows were set,” the National Weather Service said in a statement Friday.
Residents in the eastern US are bracing for more power outages, road hazards and water main breaks.
Source

Officials Declare ‘Eating Healthy’ A Mental Disorder

Posted: 20 Feb 2015 02:29 PM PST

In an attempt to curb the mass rush for food change and reform, psychiatry has green lighted a public relations push to spread awareness about their new buzzword “orthorexia nervosa,” defined as “a pathological obsession for biologically pure and healthy nutrition.” In other words, experts are saying that our demand for nutrient-dense, healthful food is a mental disorder that must be treated.
CNN, Fast Company, Popular Science, and other top outlets have all began to trumpet the talking points on cue relatively recently:
“Orthorexia nervosa is a label designated to those who are concerned about eating healthy. Characterized by disordered eating fueled by a desire for “clean” or “healthy” foods, those diagnosed with the condition are overly pre-occupied with the nutritional makeup of what they eat”.
In short, if you turn your back on low quality, corporate food containing known cancer causing toxic additives and a rich history of dishonesty rooted in a continuous “profits over people” modus operandi, then you may suffer from a mental illness. The cherry on top is that if you have the pseudo-science labeled disorder of orthorexia nervosa, you will be prescribed known toxic, pharmaceutical drugs from some of the same conglomerate corporations that you are trying to avoid by eating healthy in the first place.
Orthorexia has not yet found its way into the latest edition of the psychiatric bible, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), yet is commonly being lumped in with other eating disorders. Stepping back and looking at the ones pushing this label on us shows highly questionable motives.
Psychiatry as a whole is deeply in bed with a pharmaceutical industry that makes the drugs to “treat” every one of these “disorders.” It is often these companies that are wielding influence behind the scenes to invent more mental health categories with their toxic products as the answer. This latest media push to popularize orthorexia as a mental disorder with a goal to marginalize or derail the food revolution appears to have been dead on arrival.
The psychiatric community has even deemed creativity to be a mental illness.
As the people continue to walk away from the broken medical and agricultural/food systems like any abusive relationship, the food makers are willing to do anything to maintain their waning control. Organic and non-GMO food markets have exploded in the last 5 years, so much so that any corporation wishing to not follow the trend risks financial hardship or ruin. In addition, pharmaceutical companies are feeling the strain as less people want their toxic medications and crippling side effects.
Perhaps some people to take it too far to the point of self-harm, but the problem we face with a toxic food system is a much larger threat. In closing, let’s be aware of some of the overall BS fed to us by the pharmaceutical bankrolled industry of psychiatry. When healthy eating and creativity are mental issues, something is amiss.
Source

NSA, GCHQ steal cell phone codes

Posted: 20 Feb 2015 02:18 PM PST

SIM cards produced by Gemalto.

A new report has revealed that the US National Security Agency (NSA) and Britain’s Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) have been cooperating to steal codes that allow both states to seamlessly eavesdrop on mobile phones worldwide.
Citing the documents given to journalists by ex-NSA contractor Edward Snowden, The Intercept website said on Thursday that the intelligence agencies have cooperated on hacking the networks of the Netherlands-based Gemalto company to “secretly monitor a large portion of the world’s cellular communications, including both voice and data.”
The Dutch company, which is the largest manufacturer of SIM cards in the world, makes “subscriber identity modules” for companies such as AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon and Sprint, the report added.
“With these stolen encryption keys, intelligence agencies can monitor mobile communications without seeking or receiving approval from telecom companies and foreign governments. Possessing the keys also sidesteps the need to get a warrant or a wiretap, while leaving no trace on the wireless provider’s network that the communications were intercepted,” it added.
The report, however, did not give any more details on the eavesdropping program.
Spying software
The report came days after a Moscow-based security software maker revealed that the NSA has found a way to hide spying software deep within hard drives produced by the world’s top-notch manufactures, including Western Digital, Seagate, Toshiba and others.
According to Kaspersky, some 30 countries where computers are infected with one or more of the spying programs have been identified.
In addition to Iran, Russia and China, the agency is targeting Pakistan, Afghanistan, Mali, Syria, Yemen and Algeria, it added.
The targets include government and military institutions, telecommunication companies, banks, energy companies, nuclear researchers, media, and Islamic activists, Kaspersky said.
Meanwhile, a former NSA employee confirmed to Reuters the validity of Kaspersky’s analysis, saying the agency’s staff still value such espionage programs as highly as Stuxnet, an NSA cyberweapon.
The NSA had also come up with the technique of hiding spyware in hard drives, according to another ex-NSA employee.
In June 2013, Snowden leaked classified intelligence documents showing the extent of the agency’s spying activities.
According to the documents, the agency had been collecting the phone records of millions of Americans and foreign nationals as well as political leaders around the world.
Source

Russia ratifies $100bn BRICS New Development Bank

Posted: 20 Feb 2015 01:57 PM PST

The Russian State Duma has ratified the $100 billion BRICS bank that’ll serve as a pool of money for infrastructure projects in Russia, Brazil, India, China and South Africa, and challenge the dominance of the Western-led World Bank and the IMF.
The New Development Bank is expected to start fully functioning by the end of 2015, according to the Russian Finance Ministry.
Russia has agreed to provide $2 billion dollars from the federal budget for the bank over the next seven years.
It will have three-tiers of corporate governance, with a Board of Governors, Board of Directors and a President.
The bank’s board of directors will hold its first meeting in Ufa in Russia in April. Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov is likely to become the bank’s first Chairman of the Board of Governors, according to Deputy Finance Minister Sergei Storchak talking on the Russia 24 TV channel.
The decision to establish the BRICS bank, along with a $100 billion reserve currency pool, was made in July 2014. Each of the five member countries is expected to allocate an equal share of the $50 billion startup capital that will be expanded to $100 billion.
The bank will be headquartered in Shanghai, India will serve as the first five-year rotating president, and the first Chairman of the Board of Directors will come from Brazil.