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Nearly one-fifth of the
energy produced in the U.S.
comes from nuclear power
plants, according to the
Energy Information
Administration. Whether that
number ever grows remains to
be seen. But containment of
the waste produced in
nuclear fission is one of
the biggest challenges
confronting advocates of
more nuclear energy.
Admitting Wrong
“No one should be ashamed to
admit they are wrong, which
is but saying, in other
words, that they are wiser
today than they were
yesterday.” ― Alexander Pope
A new research project at
Tufts University in
Massachusetts has seen
biologists successfully
induce flatworms of a
specific species to grow the
head and brain you'd expect
to find on another species.
Not only does the
breakthrough add to our
understanding of exactly
what governs the growth of
anatomy, but the knowledge
gained may also have
practical uses down the
line, helping us better
understand and even fix
birth defects.
I’ve been breaking the news
as gently as possible on all
the holistic doctor deaths
and I will continue to do my
best as I tell you that Mikhail
Lesin, founder of popular
alt network RT News, was
found dead in his hotel room
just a few days ago in
Washington, DC.
Thanksgiving:
Celebrating all that we
have, and the genocide it
took to get it.
Thanksgiving is one of the
most paradoxical times of
the year. We gather together
with friends and family in
celebration of all that we
are thankful for and express
our gratitude, at the same
time we are encouraged to
eat in excess. But the irony
really starts the next day
on Black Friday. On Thursday
we appreciate all the simple
things in life, such as
having a meal, a roof over
our head, and the connection
with those close to us. But
in less than 24 hours, we
literally trample over
others in a mad dash to
accumulate as many material
possessions as possible at
bargain-prices.
While companies have been
increasingly buying
renewable energy for several
years, Las Vegas is joining
an emerging trend of US
cities switching to green
energy.
Las Vegas now
plans to buy all its
electricity from renewables,
thanks to an arrangement
with NV Energy announced
Tuesday.
The city
currently supplies about
40%...
Confidence of Wisdom
“It is unwise to be too
sure of one's own wisdom. It
is healthy to be reminded
that the strongest might
weaken and the wisest might
err.” ― Mahatma Gandhi
The key is a property of
a panel's semiconductor
material called the band
gap, an electronic hurdle of
sorts. Light particles --
photons -- with enough
energy to clear the bar are
converted into electricity,
while those with lower
energy are lost mostly as
heat.
The Delaware researchers
believe their materials
would combine the energy
from two low-energy
particles to make one photon
with enough energy to clear
the hurdle.
There’s a hybrid canid
living in the eastern US,
the result of an amazing
evolution story unfolding
right in front of us. But
it’s not a new species – yet
– says biologist.
NASA scientists weigh in on
whether this year’s El Niño
will rival the monster El
Niño of 1997-98...
Lee thinks the coming
winter could be a double
whammy. He said:
Because the warming
in the central
equatorial Pacific Ocean
has been lingering from
2014 to 2015, and now
strong warming is
developing in the
eastern equatorial
Pacific, the question is
whether in 2015 we’re
going to see a combined
impact.
The City
Council approved two energy
agreements which promise a
steady revenue stream, as
well as financial savings
for the city.
In an 8-1 vote, the
council approved a payment
in lieu of taxes (PILOT)
agreement with Bluewave
Capital, LLC, to place solar
panels on upper Hilldale
Avenue. In a separate deal,
the council unanimously
voted to buy netmetering
credits at a reduced rate to
power the city's water and
wastewater treatment plants.
The rapidly decreasing
costs of battery energy
storage systems (ESS) are
driving a trend in the
energy storage industry
similar to that seen in
solar PV over the last
decade.
That is according to
Navigant Research, who says
that the energy storage
industry has been evolving
at different paces and with
a focus on different
applications and
technologies in countries
around the world.
Failure
“Failure will never
overtake me if my
determination to succeed is
strong enough.” ― Og Mandino
Though no credible or
specific threats have been
identified, the FBI and
Department of Homeland
Security have released a
bulletin to 18,000 law
enforcement agencies across
the country warning of
copycat attacks, similar to
the Paris terrorist strikes
that killed 130 people
earlier this month.
Officials from the U.S.
Food and Drug Administration
(FDA) have decided to
accelerate the license of a
flu vaccine geared for use
in seniors over the age of
65, and also one that has
been linked to at least 13
deaths last year, prompting
several countries to
temporarily suspend vaccine
lots containing the drug.
The fact that the FDA is
fast tracking this
vaccine is a mystery, as
that approval process is
typically reserved for
emergencies during vaccine
shortages.
GDS has announced that they
are now in manufacturing
phase for their 5000-Watt
back-up generator. All
components of the generator
are ESA certified. The 5 kW
system sells for $5,000 USD,
which is competitive; 50%
down, with delivery expected
mid-2016. On-site visits
welcome prior to purchase.
Mention PES as having
referred you for a little
discount.
GDS Not Taking Pre-Orders
Until Early 2016
Generosity and Pride
“Generosity is giving more
than you can, and pride is
taking less than you need.”
― Khalil Gibran
Giving is a thing of the
heart. Giving in ways that
don't lead to unintended
consequences requires the
head...
Charity works best when it
returns the weak to
strength, when it helps a
battered community get back
on its feet. A successful
charity is one that
eventually is no longer
needed.
Regulators are mandated
to screen products for
safety, but in the case
of vaccines, the
regulators are also
promoting it, while
essentially ignoring
safety issues—a clear
and dangerous conflict
of interest
Revolving doors between
regulatory agencies and
the drug industry deepen
the conflicts of
interest; and these
revolving doors exist
both at the state and
national level
Medical journals also
have problems with
conflicts of interest.
For starters, they
accept advertising
revenue from
pharmaceutical
companies—a practice
unheard of in economic
and finance journals
Okay, I know the title is a
little odd but hear me out,
because what I have to say
about dying only makes
living all the more
incredible.
We have been conditioned not
to think about death and
dying. If we do think about
it and voice our thoughts
then people, our family and
close friends especially,
might get a little worried,
fearing for our mental
health.
But what if — and this is
where we make the grim
reaper look like prince
charming — what if by
understanding death and how
it’s connected to life, we
learn how to live in peace,
joy, wonder and love? Have
you ever wondered
whether all those things
we’re seeking might be
hiding in the very place we
fear the most?
VTT contends that people
migrate to other countries
when they do not have hope
for prosperity in their own
countries -- and that
prosperity can be increased
quickly through
implementation of low-cost
decentralized technologies
like local renewable energy
from solar, wind and mobile
factories that enable
production anywhere, as well
as text-based banking and
Web-based education
platforms
Documentary exposes the
massive problem of food
waste and features a few
Americans who are
changing the game
Organic waste is the
second highest component
of landfills and the
largest source of
methane emission, which
is 23 times as potent a
greenhouse gas as CO2
Using a Bokashi bucket
for your food scraps is
a great way to easily
and odorlessly turn your
kitchen waste into
superfood for your
garden
The U.S. military intended
to "destroy every truck"
during a second wave of
attacks on ISIS-controlled
oil tankers in Syria this
weekend, Army Col. Steven
Warren, spokesman for the
U.S. coalition fighting the
insurgents said Tuesday, but
they ran out of ammunition
first.
Solar
has made tremendous progress
in becoming available and
affordable. However, it is
still on the expensive side;
and the creating of solar
panels, unfortunately, has
some polluting down-sides.
Fortunately, there are
many new methods of
harnessing the wheelwork of
nature that are in
process of emerging that
will be not only
cheaper than solar,
but some are likely to be
cheaper than conventional
energy sources from the
grid, so they will be a
no-brainer to purchase. Most
of these are also
cleaner than solar.
Millions of Americans
have made the switch from
chemical salt to sea salt in
recent years. Sea salt is
derived naturally from
seawater, rather than mines
and processed with chemicals
like common table salt,
making it a more desirable
product for health seekers.
But new research points to
serious dangers in sea salt:
microplastics.
Jealousy
“A competent and
self-confident person is
incapable of jealousy in
anything. Jealousy is
invariably a symptom of
neurotic insecurity.” ―
Robert A. Heinlein
Opponents of an ongoing
Native Hawaiian election are
asking the Supreme Court to
block votes from being
counted.
An emergency request
filed with the court on
Tuesday argues
that Hawaiian residents who
are not NativeHawaiians are
being excluded from the
vote, in violation of their
constitutional rights.
Native Hawaiians are
voting to elect delegates
for a convention to come up
with a document allowing for
self-government.
Native Hawaiians are the
last remaining indigenous
group in the U.S. that
hasn't been allowed to
establish its own
government.
In stark contrast to a new
report claiming no new
investments are needed to
curb climate change, the
Information Technology and
Innovation Foundation (ITIF)
says that any realistic
climate strategy requires
massive investments in clean
technology.
Ahead of the UN climate
summit in Paris, ITIF is
calling on UN climate
negotiators to commit
significant new resources to
research and development
initiatives that spur
innovation in clean energy.
The only realistic way to
reach zero carbon emissions
is to accelerate
breakthrough technologies
that can replace fossil
fuels, and achieving that
goal will require a global
effort to ramp up research
and development to at least
$100 billion per year, ITIF
claims.
Researchers from the
University of Maryland (UMD)
and the U.S. Army Research
Laboratory (ARL) have found
a solution to better, safer
batteries for use in
safety-critical, automotive
and grid storage
applications.
The groundbreaking
discovery is a
"Water-in-Salt" aqueous
(water-based) Lithium-ion
(Li-on) battery technology
that could provide power,
efficiency and longevity
comparable to today's
Lithium-ion batteries --
without the fire risk,
poisonous chemicals and
environmental hazards.
Engineers from the
University of Illinois have
used nanotechnology to model
a new membrane that can
filter salt from seawater at
higher volumes than ever
before. The membrane is made
from a nanometer-thin layer
of molybdenum disulfide (MoS2)
studded with tiny holes
called nanopores. By
"pulling" clean water
through itself while
filtering out salt and other
compounds, the membrane has
the potential to make
desalination plants much
more energy-efficient.
Desalination plants that
convert high volumes of
seawater into fresh water
now operate in more than 150
countries, according to the
International Desalination
Association. Most rely on a
process called reverse
osmosis, which involves
pushing water through a
membrane to filter out salt
and other impurities.
Article 5 of the North
Atlantic Treaty states that
an “armed attack” on a NATO
member “shall be considered
an attack against them all”
and that all parties to the
treaty must join in to
“restore and maintain the
security of the North
Atlantic area.” Left
unspecified is what happens
when a NATO member itself
launches an “armed attack”
on a non-member, as happened
Tuesday when Turkish F-16s
shot down a
Russian Sukhoi-24 bomber
near the Syrian border.
Oil futures inched higher
Wednesday on signs of
falling US crude production
and oil drilling activity,
as the market pared declines
toward the end of the
session.
NYMEX
January crude settled up 17
cents to $43.04/b after
having been as low as
$41.72/b at one point. ICE
January Brent settled 5
cents higher at $46.17/b.
“Apparently, they’re
scared of widows and orphans
coming into the United
States of America as part of
our tradition of
compassion.” That was
President Obama speaking in
the Philippines last week,
criticizing Republican
presidential candidates for
their concerns about the
program resettling Syrian
refugees in the United
States.
It’s hard to think of a
comment that more perfectly
captures the willful
blindness of our elites
toward the threat of
Islamist terrorism.
The world’s attention is
fixed on Paris. France is a
police state. There is
concern over ISIS
infiltrating Syrian
refugees. And of course, the
big question, how will the
world rid itself of the
Islamic State?
But before you listen to one
more politician tell you
what we need to do, you need
to know what politicians
knew about ISIS three years
ago and the actions they
still took…
Solar activity has been at
very low levels. Solar
activity is expected to be
very low with a chance for a
C-class flares on days one,
two, and three (27 Nov, 28
Nov, 29 Nov). The
geomagnetic field is
expected to be at quiet
to unsettled levels on days
one and two (27 Nov, 28 Nov)
and quiet levels on day
three (29 Nov).
A rise in world carbon
dioxide emissions almost
stalled last year for the
first time in almost two
decades without a recession,
in a promising step towards
cleaner economic growth, a
study showed on Wednesday.
World carbon emissions
from fossil fuel use and
cement production rose 0.5
percent last year, the
report by the PBL
Netherlands Environmental
Assessment Agency and the
European Commission's Joint
Research Center said.
* TurkStream gas
pipeline, Akkuyu nuclear
plant build at risk * Gas
supplies won't be affected,
says official
Moscow may cancel a
number of "important joint
projects" with Ankara after
Turkey shot down a Russian
warplane Tuesday, Russian
prime minister Dmitry
Medvedev said Wednesday,
with market experts raising
concerns over the future of
the TurkStream gas pipeline.
The Senate voted on
Tuesday to block President
Obama’s tough new climate
change regulations, hoping
to undermine his negotiating
authority before a major
international climate summit
meeting in Paris this month.
The Senate resolution,
which passed 52 to 46, would
scuttle a rule that would
significantly cut
heat-trapping carbon
emissions from existing
coal-fired power plants.
That Environmental
Protection Agency rule,
released in August, is the
centerpiece of Mr. Obama’s
efforts to address climate
change. A second resolution,
which also passed 52 to 46,
would strike a related
E.P.A. rule intended to
freeze construction of
future coal-fired power
plants.
For years many people
have been wondering about
what seems to be an increase
in tumors, digestive
disorders, and other chronic
health problems in their
pets before they reach old
age. Does the low quality of
pet food play a role in this
epidemic?
According to a new report
from one of America’s top
health watchdog groups, that
answer could be yes.
The intensity of Earth’s
geomagnetic field has been
dropping for the past 200
years, at a rate that some
scientists suspect may cause
the field to bottom out in
2,000 years, temporarily
leaving the planet
unprotected against damaging
charged particles from the
sun. This drop in intensity
is associated with periodic
geomagnetic field reversals,
in which the Earth’s North
and South magnetic poles
flip polarity, and it could
last for several thousand
years before returning to a
stable, shielding intensity.
Tens of thousands of
people surviving on water
lilies and swamp fish after
fleeing South Sudan's war
may run out of food entirely
when the dry season starts
in January, food security
experts said in a report
seen by Reuters on Thursday.
The team predicted that,
without help, there was a
high chance of a "widespread
catastrophe" in the first
three months of next year.
Spiritual Exercise
“The fact that I can plant a
seed and it becomes a
flower, share a bit of
knowledge and it becomes
another's, smile at someone
and receive a smile in
return, are to me continual
spiritual exercises.” ― Leo
Buscaglia
Researchers say
they have found a
cheap and practical
way to treat
polluted oil sands
wastewater.
Last year around 2.3
million barrels of oil
were pulled each day
from tar sands in
Alberta, Canada, the
third largest oil
reserve in the world.
This mining process is
hugely water-intensive,
and though much of it is
recycled, it still
results in massive pools
of polluted wastewater
which are difficult to
treat and pose a threat
to the environment.
Canadian researchers
have developed a new
approach to removing the
contaminants using
sunlight and
nanoparticles, an
approach they say will
prove much more
effective and cheaper
than existing methods.
People who are thankful
for what they have are
better able to cope with
stress, are happier, and
better able to reach
their goals
People who kept a
gratitude journal
reported exercising
more, and had fewer
visits to the doctor
compared to those who
focused on sources of
aggravation
Studies have linked
gratitude to improved
sleep, reduced stress,
enhanced well-being,
improved heart health,
and reducing the
likelihood of sudden
death in patients with
heart disease
A new theory from NASA's Jet
Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)
in Pasadena, California,
suggests that dark matter
may interact with planets,
forming long filaments or
"hairs" of invisible
particles. Studying these
hairs could be
scientifically fruitful,
deepening our knowledge of
the elusive matter, and even
using them to analyze
distant planetary bodies.
It’s never been easier for
us to get where we want to
go, but our growing
transportation systems mixed
with development are taking
a serious toll on wildlife,
from tiny amphibians to
large mammals, and pushing
some who are already in
danger of disappearing even
closer to the brink.
U.S. President Barack Obama
Wednesday called on world
leaders and the private
sectors to address the issue
of climate change and
encourage more investors to
get into clean energy. ..
"No nation is immune to
the consequences of a
changing climate," said
Obama.
"The old rules that said
we can't grow our economies
and protect our environment
at the same time, those are
outdated. We can transition
to clean energy without
squeezing businesses and
consumers," said the
president.
A report researched and
released Thursday by
Environmental Entrepreneurs,
or E2, called Utah "a hive
of clean energy activity,"
ranking it No. 1 among
states that created clean
energy jobs in this year's
third quarter.
An independent review of
800 studies concluded
neonicotinoids are also
harming birds,
earthworms, snails, and
other invertebrates
USDA does not include
seed treatments or Bt
crops in pesticide usage
data, which falsely
makes it appear as
though these strategies
have led to decreased
pesticide use, when in
fact usage has risen
When Windows 1.0 arrived 30
years ago, it hardly seemed
like a juggernaut. Apple had
beaten Microsoft to the
punch with the Mac OS, and
Windows was mostly a shell
on top of MS-DOS. Here's a
record of three decades of
successes and missteps that
took us from Windows 1.0 to
Windows 10.
Research at the University
of Calgary,Faculty
of Medicine and other
prominent medical schools,
have demonstrated that
mercury vapor continuously
escapes from dental amalgams
and 80 percent of this vapor
is immediately absorbed
through the lungs and into
the bloodstream. Once in the
blood, mercury vapor enters
into the cells almost
immediately.
Mercury vapor from dental
amalgam fillings is the
primary source of mercury
contamination. 80 percent of
adults, specifically baby
boomers, currently have
amalgam fillings that will
release from 4 to 40
micrograms of mercury vapor
per day, depending on
factors such as the number
of fillings, filling size,
teeth grinding and the
presence of other metals in
the mouth.
Meet Zachary Landsberg, a
Brooklyn man who bought a
parcel of land in rural Utah
on eBay and declared it
sovereign in response to
President George W. Bush’s
administration.
Zaqistan, as he calls it,
was established by Landsberg
and his group of friends in
2005 on a two-acre parcel of
land in Box Elder County,
Utah.
Nitrates from
agricultural runoff are
plaguing waterways across
the country. They spur the
growth of algae that can be
so toxic it endangers
drinking water services.
Residents in Toledo were
unable to use their water
for over two days when this
problem played out in their
taps last year.
As water utilities
grapple with how to attack
the problem from both a
political and technological
standpoint, they can use all
the allies they can find —
including those in the
animal kingdom.
Billy Frank Jr.
(1931-2014) fought
Washington State to honor
treaties written in the
1850s giving Native
Americans the right to fish
their “usual and accustomed
grounds and stations.”
Submarine electricity
transmission systems are
increasingly being used for
both long and short hauls in
undersea, lake, and river
interconnection projects
globally, such as in the
Hudson River in New York or
for connecting offshore wind
farms across Europe.
The second-generation
2016 Chevrolet Volt has been
named 2016 Green Car of the
Year at 2015 Los Angeles
Auto Show.
One of the most important
factors in deciding the
winner is widespread
availability, Green Car
Journal editor Ron Cogan
said on Thursday as he
announced the award, an
honor widely recognized as
the auto industry's
important environmental
accolade.
The auto industry
magazine said the car won
because of its extended
range. Government
fuel-economy figures show
that the hybrid gas-electric
Volt can go 53 miles on
electric power alone and 420
miles on gas and battery
power.
The Tasmanian devil
population has plummeted to
around 10,000 from an
estimated 250,000 before
1996, when Devil Facial
Tumor Disease was first
discovered. The disease
causes large lumps to form
around the animal's mouth
and head, making it hard for
it to eat.
"Tasmanian Devils in the
wild have been absolutely
decimated by this
disease,"..
A key indicator for the
strength of El Niño has
reached a record high, the
U.S. weather agency said,
adding to signs that a
weather pattern known for
causing extreme droughts,
storms and floods could
become one of the strongest
ever.
El Niño, the "little
boy," is driven by warm
surface water in the eastern
Pacific Ocean and its
strength is measured by how
much higher temperatures are
over three-month averages.
National and local
conservation groups today
condemned a decision by the
U.S. Forest Service to
continue pressing to open
national forest roadless
areas in Colorado to coal
mining.
The U.S. Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) on
November 19 approved
genetically modified salmon
for human consumption. After
a five-year review, the FDA
said it had determined that
it was safe.
Invasive species are great
hitchhikers. They float in
the ballast of ships, lurk
in luggage, stick to
unwashed sports gear, and
cling to the soles of hiking
boots. Scientists focus on
stopping them from spreading
because, once a new species
gets rooted, it is expensive
to manage and nearly
impossible to remove.
All of the main fields in
psychology interpret
depression in different
ways, and recommend
different kinds of treatment
or therapy, based on those
interpretations. For
example, while in
psychobiology depression
might be seen as a
problem with brain’s
serotonin reuptake system,
in behaviourist terms, it
might be seen as a habitual
emotional response to
negative events, perhaps
learned from our parents. A
humanistic psychologist
might interpret it as the
result of the frustration of
basic human needs, and a
blocking of the urge for
development, or
self-actualisation. A
positive psychologist (or a
cognitive therapist) might
see it as the result of
faulty thinking styles, a
“script” of negative
thoughts manifesting
themselves as negative
emotions. A social
psychologist might see
depression in environmental
terms, as a reaction to an
unfair society, to
inequality and oppression.
An ecopsychologist would see
it as the result of lack of
contact with our natural
environment, while a
transpersonal psychologist
might see it as the result
of a false identification
with our superficial
ego-selves, and the result
of a sense of separateness
from reality.
With just 12 days until
the United Nations climate
conference in Paris, where
world leaders are expected
to agree on a universal,
legally-binding pact to
limit climate change, U.S.
scientists today said
October 2015 was the warmest
October since recordkeeping
began in 1880.
The combined average
temperature over global land
and ocean surfaces for
October 2015 was the highest
for October in the 136-year
period of record, at
0.98°Celsius
(1.76°Fahrenheit) above the
20th century average of
14.0°C (57.1°F), said
scientists with the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration, NOAA.
Even though the United
States is one of the most
technologically advanced
countries in the world, the
nation’s power grid is based
on technology and equipment
from the 1960s and 1970s.
It’s no surprise therefore,
that a 2012 study funded by
the Department of Energy at
University of California’s
Lawrence Berkley National
Laboratory found that the
reported frequency and
duration of power outages
has been increasing at the
rate of two percent every
year.
This document effectively
cancels all previous
restrictions imposed on
cooperation with Iran in
nuclear energy and gives a
go-ahead to the development
of cooperation with Iran in
the nuclear field
C8 event observed.
Solar activity is expected
to be low with a chance for
M-class flares on days one
and two (24 Nov, 25 Nov) and
expected to be low with a
slight chance for an M-class
flare on day three (26 Nov).
The geomagnetic field is
expected to be at quiet
levels on day one (24 Nov)
and quiet to active levels
on days two and three (25
Nov, 26 Nov).
Empty people. Puppet people.
Cardboard cutouts. Drones.
Organic Portals. Background
characters. Why do these
terms even exist? Because
out of necessity they had to
be invented by those who
independently noticed the
same puzzling phenomenon,
one for which there is no
official name: some people
seem to be missing something
very important inside. While
they are not necessarily any
less intelligent,
successful, or physically
healthy as anyone else, they
nevertheless show no
indication of having any
higher components to their
consciousness.
As world leaders prepare to
gather in Paris for a
landmark climate summit, a
new analysis from Stanford
University and the
University of California
lays out roadmaps for 139
countries to switch to 100
percent clean, renewable
energy generated from wind,
water and sunlight by 2050.
Last week, while we
waited for the U.S.
Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) to announce
whether or not the agency
will give Monsanto’s Roundup
a free pass by green
lighting the use of
glyphosate for another 15
years, the EPA’s counterpart
in the EU made its own big
announcement.
Glyphosate is “unlikely
to cause cancer” said the
authors of the new report by
the European Union Food
Safety Authority (EFSA).
A
Russian fighter jet's been
shot down near the Syria
border, apparently after
coming under fire from the
ground. The Turkish military
said it shot down a plane
after it was repeatedly
warned about violating
Turkish airspace.
A Vatican tribunal on
Tuesday rejected a
journalist's request to
dismiss charges against him
for publishing confidential
documents as a trial opened
in the Holy See's latest
leaks scandal.
Journalists Emiliano
Fittipaldi and Gianluigi
Nuzzi are accused of having
published books about
Vatican waste, greed and
mismanagement that were
based in part on
confidential Holy See
documents.
Often our religious beliefs
are handed down to us by
family and culture, and by
the time we are old enough
to consciously choose, it’s
too late because we are
already brainwashed with
pre-ordained beliefs that
seem to be set in stone.
Ideally, the true purpose of
any religion should be to
facilitate a direct
connection with the
“Divine,” and to support
spiritual awakening.
Unfortunately, few, if any
religions, fulfill this
purpose.
True environmentalism is not
about making our rapacious
and destructive
industrialism a little more
sustainable, but
transforming humankind’s
relationship with Earth and
the life she sustains — for
us to take our true place
within, and as part of, the
living biosphere.
Once, the environmental
movement was about
protecting the natural world
from the insatiable demands
of this extractive
culture. Some of the
movement still is: around
the world grassroots
activists and their
organizations are fighting
desperately to save this or
that creature they love,
this or that plant or fungi,
this or that wild place.
The FitzPatrick Nuclear
Power Plant this month
announced it will close
after its sole reactor runs
out of fuel next year and
the plant's supporters are
blaming a system that
ignores its value as a clean
energy resource.
When countries gather in
Paris next month to hammer
out a new climate agreement,
all eyes will be on the
world’s major emitters.
While the United States, the
world’s second-largest
greenhouse gas contributor,
has received criticism in
the past for lackluster
action, recent evidence
shows that the country is
ramping up its
ambition—progress that will
likely last well beyond
Paris.
Global investment in
activities to reduce
planet-warming emissions and
vulnerability to climate
change grew 18 percent to
$391 billion in 2014, as
private backing for
renewable energy
technologies surged,
researchers said.
More money than ever
before was channelled into
action to curb climate
change and its impacts,
after funding levelled off
in 2012 and declined in
2013, according to an annual
report from the Climate
Policy Initiative (CPI), an
advisory group.
The 2015 Paris Climate
Conference (COP 21) that is
scheduled to take place in
Paris on November 30, 2015,
will be unlike other UN
climate summits or climate
conferences in the past. COP
21 has a grandiose
objective: in their own
words “to achieve a
legally binding and
universal agreement on
climate… for the first time
in over 20 years of UN
negotiations.”
Large corporations
pushing to meet
sustainability goals are
turning to long-term power
purchase agreements with
utility-scale renewable
power developers in record
numbers.
According to the Rocky
Mountain Institute, U.S.
employers this year have
signed power purchase
agreements for a total of 2
GW of offsite renewable
capacity.
Cuban officials blamed the
United States late Tuesday
for instigating a surge in
the number of Cuban migrants
attempting to reach the U.S.
through Central America amid
ongoing efforts to normalize
relations between the former
Cold War foes.
Alonza Gonzalez was pulled
over by a police officer in
Rosenberg, Texas, in August
for a seemingly minor
traffic violation — but the
interaction ended with the
man in handcuffs.
Newsmax Finance Insider and
Reagan White House budget
chief David Stockman warns
that there will be a
stock-market crash just
before next year’s
presidential election.
He said the markets are
in for a "rough patch of
time" because the Federal
Reserve has reached a
"ridiculous point" keeping
interest rates this low for
this long...
The United States is
already at war with
the Islamic State,
Defense Secretary
Ashton Carter said
in extensive
interview airing
Thursday, amid calls
for a stronger
response against the
threat from the
Obama
administration.
Europe's energy boss said on
Wednesday EU member states
lacked sufficient
alternatives to Russian
supplies and called for "an
urgent political push" for
strategic power and gas
links to share resources.
The Paris attacks will focus
the world's attention on how
to defeat the Islamic State
group, President Barack
Obama's former special envoy
to the global coalition to
counter IS said Wednesday.
But retired Gen. John Allen
said the U.S. doesn't need
to deploy a significant
number of ground troops to
do it.
Many ask why there are not
more whistleblowers coming
forward to sound the alarm
on the climate engineering
occurring around the globe.
Many use the “lack of
whistleblowers” excuse to
remain in denial about the
all too obvious climate
engineering atrocities in
our skies. Those who use
this excuse to avoid facing
reality clearly have no clue
whatsoever about what the
criminal cabal (masquerading
as our government) does to
anyone that dares to try and
expose the truth. Decorated
veteran CIA officer, Kevin
Shipp, has shown exceptional
courage by openly and
actively speaking out about
the epidemic tyranny in the
halls of our government.
A new Gallup survey
discovered that the true
global unemployment rate is
32 percent.
“There is
a problem with how the world
defines and measures what a
good job is. Unemployment —
the most quoted jobs metric
in the world — is
misleading, as it grossly
underestimates the global
jobs problem,”..
Water levels in the Great
Lakes should remain mostly
above average over the next
six months as a powerful El
Nino gives the region a
break after two bitterly
cold winters, but it's
unclear whether there will
be longer-term effects,
federal scientists said
Thursday.
New-home building declined
more than projected in
October, led by a slump in
apartment construction and
showing fitful progress in
residential real estate.
Glenn Beck explained to
his audience Wednesday
evening a little-known
“prophecy” called “The
Fourth Turning,” which
author William Strauss
describes in a book by the
same title.
Strauss, now-deceased,
suggests a distinct pattern
in human history. According
to him, each cycle lasts
approximately the length of
the human life, or 80 years,
and, within each cycle,
there are four seasons, or
“turnings.”
Kathleen Springer, a
geologist with the USGS and
former Senior Curator at the
San Bernardino County
Museum, was the principal
investigator and lead
scientist for this study
showing that desert wetlands
are extremely sensitive to
climate change.
“This is a story of
water,” said Springer.
“Water was plentiful in the
desert at times in the past,
but when climate warmed,
springs and wetlands dried
up, and the plants and
animals living in the harsh
desert environment were out
of luck.”
The world is undergoing
energetic realignment, which
will always undermine the
security of those who try to
control our world.
Ultimately control and
terrorism break down,
because the driving force of
the universe is toward ever
higher vibrations of harmony
and love. Therefore the best
response to such calamity is
to unravel our own internal
reactions, recognise the
bigger picture of light
emerging through the
darkness, then harness and
radiate vibrations of
increasingly aligned flow
out into the world.
A newly released video shows
members of the American rock
band Eagles of Death Metal
playing at Paris' Bataclan
theater as the first shots
rang out during Friday
night's terrorist attack.
The band is playing as
stage lights strobe over the
band when the first shots
are heard. Though some fans
later said they initially
thought the blasts were part
of the performance, the
band's drummer can be seen
ducking immediately and a
guitarist rushes off the
stage.
A new study by scientists
in the UK and France has
found that Antarctic ice
sheet collapse will have
serious consequences for sea
level rise over the next two
hundred years, though not as
much as some have suggested.
This study, published
this week in the journal Nature,
uses an ice-sheet model to
predict the consequences of
unstable retreat of the ice,
which recent studies suggest
has begun in West
Antarctica.
A new study has, for the
first time, estimated the
total volume of groundwater
present on the Earth. The
results show that we're
using up the water supply
quicker than it can be
naturally replaced, while
future research will seek to
determine exactly how long
it will be until modern
groundwater runs dry.
Groundwater is an
extremely precious resource,
being a key source of
sustenance for humanity and
the ecosystems we inhabit.
It resides beneath the
Earth's surface, ranges from
millions of years to just
months old, and exists in
huge quantities – quite
literally millions of cubic
kilometers. While
calculations back in the
1970s roughly estimated the
global volume of
groundwater, this new study
represents the first
detailed calculation of the
exact quantity, and it could
have big implications.
The Islamic State group
(ISIS) is aggressively
pursuing development of
chemical weapons, setting up
a branch dedicated to
research and experiments
with the help of scientists
from Iraq, Syria and
elsewhere in the region,
according to Iraqi and U.S.
intelligence officials.
Considering that up until
about 85 years ago, cannabis
oil was used around the
world to treat a variety of
diseases, including cancer,
it is not surprising that
the phasing out of cannabis
to treat illness coincided
with the rise of
pharmaceutical companies.
Polar bear populations
are likely to fall by more
than 30 percent by around
mid-century as global
warming thaws Arctic sea
ice, experts said on
Thursday in the most
detailed review of the
predators to date.
The report, by the IUCN
(International Union for
Conservation of Nature),
estimated there are between
22,000 and 31,000 polar
bears in the Arctic and said
they will be increasingly
vulnerable as their habitat
shrinks.
Russian President Vladimir
Putin made claims Monday
that the Islamic State group
has received financial
support from more than 40
countries, including some in
attendance at the G-20
summit in Turkey. Putin told
reporters that he
shared evidence with other
G-20 member states at the
meeting,..
Practical quantum computers
are still years away, but
lately the pace of research
seems to have picked up.
After building the
basic blocks of a
quantum computer in silicon
and storing quantum
information for
up to 30 seconds,
scientists at the University
of New South Wales (UNSW)
have now violated a
principle of classical
physics to demo for the
first time a pair of
entangled, high-fidelity
quantum bits (qubits) in
silicon. The advance could
help unleash the power of a
new kind of computation that
would affect everything from
data cryptography to drug
design, overnight deliveries
and subatomic particle
experiments.
Solar activity has been at
very low levels. Solar
activity is expected to be
very low with a chance for a
C-class flares on days one,
two, and three (20 Nov, 21
Nov, 22 Nov). The
geomagnetic field is
expected to be at quiet
to active levels on day one
(20 Nov) and quiet to
unsettled levels on days two
and three (21 Nov, 22 Nov).
A new blood test shows
promise for the detection,
classification of location
of cancer in the body.
In an effort to find an
accurate and easy method of
detecting and locating
cancers, negating the need
for invasive cell tissue
sampling, researchers from
Umeå University in Sweden
have developed a new blood
test that looks at blood
platelets in just a single
drop of blood to identify
cancer. Results of the
method are very promising,
with a 96 percent
identification accuracy.
Chronic sitting actively
promotes dozens of
chronic diseases,
including obesity and
type 2 diabetes, even if
you’re very fit and
exercise regularly
Sitting is an
independent risk factor
for an early death, with
a mortality rate similar
to smoking
Standing for at least
six hours a day may
reduce your risk of
obesity by 32 to 35
percent depending on
your gender. Men can
reduce their risk of
obesity by as much as 59
percent by standing 12
hours a day
Escalating terror attacks by
the Islamic State, including
last week's mass slaughter
in Paris, are eroding the
world economy — and
something must be done
quickly to stop the
financial downturn, Steve
Forbes, chairman of Forbes
Media...
Deep in our primal being,
testing water quality has
been central to the human
experience — and human
survival. Scan for
predators, look for dead
animals beside the watering
hole, sniff the air, taste
the water, see how other
members of the clan fared
after drinking there. When
we shared the watering hole
with mastodons and
saber-toothed cats,
understanding water quality
was an immediate need
(though it was addressed on
a pretty broad-brush basis).
Hug your bananas close:
we’re in very real danger of
losing them.
If you can get past the
slightly off-putting
texture, bananas are pretty
much the perfect fruit.
Sweet, large, packed with
nutrients and wrapped in a
thick skin that keeps dirt
and pesticides out, it’s
like they were engineered
specifically for humans to
carry around in their bags
as snacks. And that’s
because the most popular
banana in the world was. The
Cavendish accounts for 99
percent of the $13 billion
worth of bananas exported
annually around the world,
but every single one of them
is a sterile mutant, and
that’s a huge problem.
Only two House Republicans
voted against the bill to
strengthen the vetting
process for Syrian refuges
whom President Barack Obama
wants to bring into the
country. The “no” votes
came, at least in part,
because the bill failed to
create safe zones within
Syria.
The UK announced Wednesday
plans to close all
coal-fired power stations by
2025 and restrict their use
by 2023, according to the
Department of Energy and
Climate Change.
The nation's largest
health insurer warned
Thursday that it may pull
out of the Obamacare
exchanges after 2016 –
forcing more than a half
million people to find
other coverage – after low
enrollment and high usage
cost the company millions of
dollars.
The possible move by
UnitedHealth
Group raises new questions
about the viability of
President Obama's signature
health law...
The site of a 1950s-era coal
plant has been resurrected
using new technology thanks
to Duke Energy, LG Chem and
Greensmith.
The group recently began
operations of a 2 MW
battery-based energy storage
system -- designed to
increase reliability and
stability on the electric
power grid -- at Duke
Energy's retired W.C.
Beckjord coal-fired power
plant in New Richmond, Ohio.
Coal shipment volumes
originated on US railroads
were slightly up from the
previous week but still
subdued, Association of
American Railroads data
showed Wednesday.
For
the week ended November 14,
the AAR reported a total of
95,293 coal carloads
traveled US railways, a
slight 0.3% increase in
volumes from the week
before.
The White House issued a
veto threat on Tuesday for a
resolution from the
Republican-led U.S. Senate
that would nullify new
regulations to cut carbon
emissions from power plants,
the central piece of
President Barack Obama's
climate plan.
The Senate sponsors of
the motion have said the
Environmental Protection
Agency regulation, which is
also being challenged in
U.S. federal court by 26
states and more than a dozen
industry groups, would hurt
jobs in coal-dependent
regions.
Weeks before the attacks
that killed 129 people in
Paris, U.S. warplanes
resumed sorties above Syria
and Iraq, targeting anew oil
fields and other parts of a
vast petroleum
infrastructure that
fuels—and funds—Islamic
State, one of the richest
terrorist armies the world
has known.
These
airstrikes were launched not
because U.S. officials were
prescient. They came after
the Obama administration
found and quietly fixed a
colossal miscalculation.
U.S. intelligence had
grossly overestimated the
damage they’d inflicted
during airstrikes on the
militants’ oil production
apparatus last year, while
underestimating Islamic
State’s oil revenue by $400
million.
During April’s refueling at
Pilgrim Nuclear Power
Station , 10 contracted
workers entered the main
condenser of the reactor to
deal with a faulty gasket
without wearing the proper
protective gear.
French hackers from the
activist group Anonymous
have declared "war" on
Islamic State after the
Paris attacks.
In a video posted on
YouTube, a representative
wearing a hood and the
group's distinctive Guy
Fawkes mask said the
violence that left 129
people dead "can't go
unpunished".
It's big. It's cold. And
it's melting into the
world's ocean.
It's Zachariae Isstrom,
the latest in a string of
Greenland glaciers to
undergo rapid change in our
warming world. A new
NASA-funded study published
today in the journal Science
finds that Zachariae Isstrom
broke loose from a
glaciologically stable
position in 2012 and entered
a phase of accelerated
retreat. The consequences
will be felt for decades to
come.
Just ahead of the COP21 UN
Climate Negotiations in
Paris, the U.S. Department
of Energy has released a new
report detailing the state
of several energy
technologies in the United
States providing solutions
to climate change.
Scientists have long known
that birds are feeling the
heat due to climate change.
However, a new study of a
dozen affected species in
the Western Cape suggests
their decline is more
complex than previously
thought -- and in some cases
more serious.
Greenhouse gas levels in
the atmosphere reached a
record high in 2014 and the
relentless fuelling of
climate change is
endangering the planet for
future generations, the
World Meteorological
Organization said on Monday.
"Every year we say that
time is running out. We have
to act NOW to slash
greenhouse gas emissions if
we are to have a chance to
keep the increase in
temperatures to manageable
levels," WMO
Secretary-General Michel
Jarraud said in a statement.
I'm talking about all of the
M&A activity of late in the
electric and water utility
industry, of which there has
been a bunch. According to
E&Y's latest report, the
third quarter saw a record
$57 billion in such deals in
just North and South
America. That figure is
almost 10 times the value of
M&A activity recorded in the
second quarter.
Finland has become the first
country in the world to give
a construction license for a
permanent underground
nuclear waste repository,
the center-right government
said on Thursday.
As energy production moves
towards solar and
wind-powered alternatives,
battery systems to store
intermittently-produced
electricity have never been
more important.
Unfortunately, many of the
materials needed to make
high-performance batteries
for this purpose are rapidly
diminishing and becoming
increasingly expensive as a
result. Now researchers from
Empa and ETH Zurich have
created a new type of
storage battery that is made
from a range of cheap and
abundant materials and shows
promise for high-efficiency
performance.
France launched “massive”
air strikes on the Islamic
State group’s de-facto
capital in Syria Sunday
night, destroying a jihadi
training camp and a
munitions dump in the city
of Raqqa, where Iraqi
intelligence officials say
the attacks on Paris were
planned.
Twelve aircraft including
10 fighter jets dropped a
total of 20 bombs in the
biggest air strikes since
France extended its bombing
campaign against the
extremist group to Syria...
The G20 countries spend
almost four times as much to
prop up fossil fuel
production as they do to
subsidize renewable energy,
calling into question their
commitment to halting
climate change, a think tank
said on Thursday
The G20 spent an average
$78 billion on national
subsidies delivered through
direct spending and tax
breaks in 2013 and 2014,
according to a report from
the Overseas Development
Institute (ODI) on Thursday.
In early August, EPA
workers were examining and
remediating the abandoned
Gold King Mine when a
backhoe moved loose soil and
stones that made up a flimsy
dam holding back three
million gallons of mining
wastewater, as reported by
ICTMN on August 11.
Responding to rumors and a
“demand” from Louisiana Gov.
Bobby Jindal, the State
Department claimed only 14
refugees from Syria have
been accepted into Louisiana
in 2015.
In fact, the majority of the
50 U.S. states have
processed fewer than 10
Syrians, according to the
State Department. More than
half of those have processed
zero.
Gov. David Ige is asking the
U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency to
postpone or waive new
regulations that restrict
the amount of mercury and
other toxic pollutants that
Hawaii's power plants can
release into the air,
arguing that the rules will
distract from Hawaii's push
to convert to clean energy.
Each year, since 2007,
The Center for Biological
Diversity has given a Rubber
Dodo Award1
to the person, company, or
organization that has "done
the most to destroy wild
places, species, and
biological diversity."
This year's award, issued
on November 5, 2015, went to
Monsanto for its reckless
peddling of glyphosate
around the world
The shift to an efficient
and low-carbon energy system
could generate between $275
billion and $420 billion in
new annual value for the
global electricity utilities
industry by 2030.
Native American tribes on
Wednesday called for the
U.S. government to halt
plans to strip grizzly bears
in and around Yellowstone of
Endangered Species Act
protection because it would
open the way for trophy
hunting in Idaho and two
other states bordering the
national park.
As access to clean water
continues to be an issue
throughout the developing
world, there's an increased
demand for easier ways to
turn contaminated and salty
water into something you can
drink. Researchers at MIT
may have found a solution
using a method they are
calling shock
electrodialysis. It uses
electric shock waves to
separate contaminated or
salty water into two
separate streams, with a
natural barrier between each
one.
Flood control and land
development were the
objectives more than four
decades ago when a 10.5-mile
stretch of the Tijuana River
was transformed into a broad
concrete channel. Now two
San Diego professors have a
different dream: using the
channel to produce solar
energy and to treat runoff
and wastewater.
The Islamic State has warned
that countries participating
in airstrikes against Syria
will face the same
consequences as France —
specifically threatening
Washington, D.C.
With its promise of cheap,
limitless energy, fusion
power is the holy grail of
energy production.
Unfortunately, in order to
make fusion reactors
practical, it's necessary to
recreate conditions and
processes similar to those
found in the interior of the
Sun. For engineers and
scientists using lasers to
achieve this goal, one of
the stumbling blocks is how
to rapidly heat a target to
incredibly high
temperatures.
Russian President
Vladimir Putin is proposing
restructuring the $3 billion
debt owed by Ukraine to his
country.
The surprise announcement
by Putin at the summit of
G-20 leaders in Turkey on
Monday could be a
significant step toward
promoting stability in
Ukraine as fighting between
government forces and
Russia-backed separatists in
eastern Ukraine dies down.
Solar activity is expected
to be very low with a chance
for a C-class flares on days
one, two, and three (17 Nov,
18 Nov, 19 Nov). The
geomagnetic field is
expected to be at quiet to
unsettled levels on day one
(17 Nov) and quiet to active
levels on days two and three
(18 Nov, 19 Nov).
“So many people celebrate
Thanksgiving every year, but
I think most people have no
idea what the story is
behind it,” said Kalani
Queypo, a Blackfeet and
Native Hawaiian actor who
plays Squanto in the film.
“Even people who are
indigenous, we’re not taught
that.”
Instead, Americans learn
a dumbed-down version of the
story, which often portrays
Natives as one-dimensional
people: savage, uncivilized
and simple; or worse, a
force to conquer. For
example, most people
recognize Squanto’s name,
Queypo said, but they don’t
know the details of his
life.
70 percent of the soil
microbes are fungi, so
they’re a really
critical consideration
when you’re trying to
improve soil health
Mycorrhizal fungi have
microscopic filaments
that are integrated into
the plant and branch out
into the soil, giving
the plant access to a
larger volume of soil
and hence more nutrients
The best management
practices for
mycorrhizal fungi are
cover crops,
above-ground diversity,
and no-till. Minimize
soil disturbance, as
this breaks up the
fungal filaments
When the U.S. Nuclear
Regulatory Commission
approved a series of "stand
down" orders lessening
emergency planning and
response requirements for
the defunct San Onofre power
plant this past summer, many
saw it as the expected end
of the nuclear era there.
But now a number of
experts and consumer groups
are questioning whether it
was appropriate or safe to
grant Southern California
Edison exemptions from
emergency-planning rules and
reporting requirements that
used to govern the plant on
San Diego County's north
coast.
An international movement
working to preserve our dark
night skies has released an
interactive map of sites
that everyone can visit. The
International Dark-Sky
Association's accredited
"Dark Sky Places" provide
visitors with the sparkling
views of the night sky that
our recent ancestors enjoyed
as a matter of course. The
parks are about more than
just providing a place for
astronomers and the public
to look at the stars.
They're also there to raise
awareness of the problems
that light pollution poses
for the environment and even
to human health.
A U.S. government weather
forecaster on Thursday said
that the El Nino weather
phenomenon under way would
likely peak during the
Northern Hemisphere winter
of 2015/2016 and taper off
to neutral in late spring or
early summer 2016.
The US State Department has
approved the sale of $1.29
billion (£848.6m) worth of
bombs to Saudi Arabia, as
its military carries out air
strikes in neighbouring
Yemen.
President Obama pledged
to bolster military support
for Saudi Arabia after
tensions were strained
following a US-brokered
nuclear deal with Iran.
A Detroit fast food
worker was confronted by a
reporter earlier this week
and asked why she deserved
to earn $15 an hour when he
claimed many paramedics do
not.
“Some people say that
paramedics make $15 an hour.
They save lives. So why
should fast food workers get
that?” WJBK-TV reporter Roop
Raj asked.
The four huge power plants
that stand smoking in
Colstrip, Montana , don't
just employ hundreds of
workers. They pay property
taxes that allow the city of
some 2,000 people to afford
services other remote, rural
communities lack, such as a
parks and recreation
department.
The first
aptly-titled SolaRoad made
its debut last November in
the Netherlands, not far
from Amsterdam. The road
itself is a unique foray in
pollution-free solar energy.
Nearly one year later, the
SolaRoad’s designers say the
high-tech bike path is
performing better than they
expected.
In the first six months
since it was installed, the
SolaRoad has generated over
3,000 kilowatt-hours — or
roughly the equivalent
required for a single-person
household for one calendar
year.
Scientists from the
Department of Zoology found
that mated pairs of great
tits chose to prioritise
their relationships over
sustenance in a novel
experiment that prevented
couples from foraging in the
same location.
"Germany's rapid renewable
energy expansion and
ambitious targets have
demonstrated to the world
that a 30 percent share of
renewable power is possible
A community in Louisiana
that lost a young boy to a
so-called “brain-eating
amoeba” two years ago is
still working to secure its
water supply from the deadly
pest...
Naegleria fowleri
can be found in lakes,
ponds, rivers, untreated
swimming pools, untreated
well water and municipal
water, and in thermally
polluted water, such as
power plant runoff. It
appears to be a summertime
phenomenon, since the amoeba
thrives in warm water.
The agency’s own
guidelines also state that
scientists “should refrain
from making statements that
could be construed as being
judgments … on USDA or any
other federal government
policy, either intentionally
or inadvertently.” That
open-ended language—is there
any important agricultural
research question that
doesn’t touch on
policy?—seems to invite
politically motivated
interference with science.
Government support helped
China's electric car
production in October jump
eightfold year on year to
50,700 vehicles, the
Ministry of Industry and
Information Technology said
on Tuesday.
Output of pure electric
and plug-in hybrid passenger
vehicles in October 2015 was
850 percent and 200 percent
higher, respectively, than
in October 2014, said the
ministry.
China is set to become the
global leader in renewable
technology, aiding the rise
of a moderately prosperous
society following the
significant reforms
implemented in the five-year
plans.
The
closures of three coal-fired
power plants will
significantly shrink the
Northwest's carbon footprint
by 2035, according to a
regional forecast.
Carbon emissions from the
Northwest's electric use
will drop from about 55
million metric tons annually
to 34 million metric tons as
utilities close down coal
plants in Centralia,
Washington; Boardman,
Oregon; and Valmy, Nevada,
over the next two decades.
The New Mexico Supreme Court
will consider a petition
that seeks to disqualify
members of one of the
state's most powerful
regulatory panels from
deciding the future of a
coal-fired power plant...
The group also accused some
of the commissioners of
being too cozy with Public
Service Co. of New Mexico ,
the utility that operates
the power plant.
I am writing to inform you
of a terrible attack I
suffered in one of your
stores this week. The
assault against me was so
violent and oppressive that
I had to immediately retreat
to my healing space, where I
lay whimpering on the floor
for three and a half days,..
The Solar Electric Power
Association (SEPA) and
Association for Demand
Response and Smart Grid
(ADS) are joining forces,
becoming one organization
under the SEPA banner.
Most Niño indices increased
during the month, although
the far eastern Niño-1+2
index decreased,
accentuating the maximum in
anomalous SST farther west
The FBI has expanded its
probe into the private email
arrangement of former
Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton to determine if
there's any evidence she
violated a federal false
statements law,...
"This sounds to me like it's
more than a preliminary
inquiry; it sounds like a
full-blown investigation,"
said Tom Fuentes, former
assistant director of the
FBI. "When you have this
amount of resources going
into it …. I think it's at
the investigative level."
The Department of
Education is spending
upwards of $2.5 million to
bring a mindfulness
intervention to
kindergarteners in Chicago,
where kids can go to “calm
spots” in the corner to
watch nature videos.
The National Institutes
of Health has spent over
$100 million studying the
New Age meditation
technique, but it is not the
only federal agency pouring
federal funding into
mindfulness. The Education
Department has introduced a
“Calm Classroom” program
into 3,000 schools through
its Investing in Innovation
fund, costing taxpayers
$2,513,093.
The Internet of Things (IoT)
- where everyday devices
possess connectivity and
feed into the wider digital
landscape - is seen as
crucial to the growth of
renewable energy. The IoT
will produce vast amounts of
data and this new
information will tell us
more about human behaviour
and provide us with systems
and models to better predict
and control energy usage.
Better data has the
potential to produce
renewable energy more
effectively and influence
the way it is bought and
sold. The internet could
really disrupt the
traditional energy sector
and renewables could be the
main beneficiaries.
The hacker
collective Anonymous has
uncovered interesting
findings on ISIS terrorist
hackers with the
“CyberCaliphate.” Anonymous
was able to trace the
location of CyberCaliphate,
and has new information on
how the group operates.
Anonymous was able to
trace the operations of
CyberCaliphate to a single
IP address in Kuwait.
Help Someone
“We can't help everyone,
but everyone can help
someone.” ― Ronald Reagan
Diets high in meat may lead
to an increased risk of
developing renal cell
carcinoma (RCC) through
intake of carcinogenic
compounds created by certain
cooking techniques, such as
barbecuing and pan-frying.
As part of a new study from
The University of Texas MD
Anderson Cancer Center,
published online this week
in the journal CANCER,
researchers also discovered
that individuals with
specific genetic mutations
are more susceptible to the
harmful compounds created
when cooking at high
temperatures.
Moon anomalies are nothing
new – there are many people,
including mainstream Western
scientists, who have pointed
out numerous highly strange
and irregular things about
the Moon. A few years ago
David Icke brought the book
Who Built The Moon? by Chris
Knight and Alan Butler to
public attention,
which concluded that the
Moon is an unnatural object
that has been placed there
for some reason – possibly
as a broadcasting station.
Icke further linked the Moon
to Saturn, and theorized
that the “Matrix” in which
we live is actually a
program originally broadcast
by Saturn and amplified by
the Moon. He called it the
Saturn-Moon-Matrix.
This week, the U.S. Food and
Drug Administration proposed
new dietary guidelines that,
for the first time,
recommend placing a cap on
average Americans’
consumption of added sugar.
Tribes and individuals
have until March 11, 2016 to
let the U.S. Department of
the Interior know they may
want to participate (though
not be committed to
anything) in the next phase
of the Land Buy-Back Program
for Tribal Nations.
This year, Malawi
experienced exceptionally
heavy rains that led to
serious flooding in 15
districts. Villages, homes,
crops and property were
destroyed and lives and
livestock lost in this
landlocked country in
southeast Africa.
To help communities be
prepared if another
devastating deluge strikes,
the Machinga and Chikwawa
Districts in southern Malawi
have a new program.
There’s no shortage of
advice out there claiming to
make you better, but
mindfulness meditation is
the rare, research-proven
technique that boosts your
performance by physically
altering your brain.
“The commander-in-chief of
the armed forces has said
that he will accept the
position made by the Myanmar
people and will also work
with a new government,”
Minister of Information Ye
Htut said in an interview.
In a separate written
statement, the army offered
its congratulations to the
NLD “because it is leading
in the election results” and
said it was prepared for
“national reconciliation
talks” next week.
Nobile
“There is nothing noble in
being superior to your
fellow man; true nobility is
being superior to your
former self.” ― Ernest
Hemingway
New research is adding a
zesty touch to the search
for affordable clean-water
technology: orange peels.
“Oranges can help reduce
the amount of mercury that
contaminates oceans
worldwide, a new study
revealed. Researchers from
Flinders University have
developed a new, cheaper,
non-toxic material out of
industrial waste and orange
peels that may change the
way we deal with this
widespread pollutant,”
Nature World News recently
reported.
The outright price for US
Gulf Coast low sulfur vacuum
gasoil reached a six-year
low Thursday on weaker
front-month WTI futures,
which fell on bearish
government data...
NYMEX December crude settled
$1.18 lower Thursday at
$41.75/b.
In the short-term, the
decision to shut down the
Pilgrim Nuclear Power Plant
in Massachusetts may hurt
the state's efforts to keep
carbon emissions down. On
the other hand, the
expansion of existing
natural-gas plants and other
proposed projects should
quickly replace any lost
generation capacity.
What could make solar PV,
the growth of which is
already soaring in the U.S.
residential home market,
even more popular? The value
it adds to the home itself.
Two more derailments of
oil-bearing trains last
weekend, these two in
Wisconsin, have prompted the
Quinault Nation to issue yet
another warning about the
dangers inherent in such
transport.
“The frequency of these
train crashes combined with
the danger they pose to
people and to the
environment that sustains us
should alarm everyone,
everywhere, to the point
that they take a stand
against increased oil train
traffic,” said Quinault
Nation President Fawn Sharp
in a statement on Tuesday
November 10.
Gradual melting of winter
snow helps feed water to
farms, cities and ecosystems
across much of the world,
but this resource may soon
be critically imperiled.
In a new study, scientists
have identified
snow-dependent drainage
basins across the northern
hemisphere currently serving
2 billion people that run
the risk of declining
supplies in the coming
century. The basins take in
large parts of the American
West, southern Europe, the
Mideast and central Asia.
They range from productive
U.S. farm land to war-torn
regions already in the grip
of long-term water
shortages.
USGS scientists have
conducted the first-ever
field measurements of
anammox activity in
groundwater, demonstrating
that nitrogen removal from
groundwater can occur
through the action of
naturally occurring
bacteria. This research was
conducted in collaboration
with partners from the
Virginia Institute of Marine
Science and the University
of Connecticut.
Anammox, shorthand for
anaerobic ammonium
oxidation, is a process
carried out by naturally
occurring bacteria that can
simultaneously remove
ammonium and reduce nitrogen
oxides (such as nitrate and
nitrite), combining the two
to produce harmless nitrogen
gas.
Renewable energy
accounted for almost half of
all new power plants in
2014, representing a “clear
sign that an energy
transition is underway”,
according to the
International Energy Agency
(IEA).
Green energy is now the
second-largest generator of
electricity in the world,
after coal, and is set to
overtake the dirtiest fossil
fuel in the early 2030s,
said the IEA’s World Energy
Outlook 2015 report ,
published on Tuesday.
Solar activity has been at
very low levels...Solar
activity is expected to be
very low with a chance for a
C-class flares on days one,
two, and three (13 Nov, 14
Nov, 15 Nov). The
geomagnetic field is
expected to be at
unsettled to active levels
on days one and two (13 Nov,
14 Nov) and quiet to active
levels on day three (15
Nov).
Gas flows through one of the
two lines that make up the
Nord Stream pipeline network
from Russia to Germany
resumed Thursday after work
to remove a piece of
munitions discovered near
the line offshore Sweden was
completed, Nord Stream said
The Kremlin says secret
plans for a Russian
long-range nuclear torpedo -
called "Status-6" - should
not have appeared on Russian
TV news...
The "oceanic multi-purpose
Status-6 system" is designed
to "destroy important
economic installations of
the enemy in coastal areas
and cause guaranteed
devastating damage to the
country's territory by
creating wide areas of
radioactive contamination,
rendering them unusable for
military, economic or other
activity for a long time",
the document says.
Striking Greeks took to the
streets on Thursday to
protest austerity measures,
setting Alexis Tsipras'
government its biggest
domestic challenge since he
was re-elected in September
promising to cushion the
impact of economic hardship.
Success
“Success consists of going
from failure to failure
without loss of enthusiasm.”
― Winston Churchill
The nuclear energy and
weaponry industries are
signs the
military-industrial complex
is running at white hot. The
inherent dangers of the
nuclear experiment are the
same ones that President
Dwight D. Eisenhower warned
us all about in his famous
exit speech on 17 January,
1961 when he said: “We must
guard against the
acquisition of unwarranted
influence, either sought or
unsought, by the military
industrial complex. The
potential for the disastrous
rise of misplaced powers
exists, and will persist. We
must never let the weight of
this combination endanger
our liberties or democratic
processes. We should take
nothing for granted.”
When a disorder shows
exponential rate increases
and becomes
the fastest-growing
developmental disability,
according to the CDC, it’s
something worth looking
into. It’s happening with
Autism. It’s now affecting
as many as 1 in 68 children
in America and in the 10
year span from 2000-2010
there was a 119.4% increase
in autism in the U.S. Autism
has become such a
“mainstream” disorder that
it’s now being portrayed on
Sesame Street. The iconic
children’s show, which has
been on the air for 46
years, welcomes a new
autistic character, Julia.
Researchers say chemical
tracers would be
particularly useful in
instances where water
contamination shows up near
a fracking site. In such
cases, energy industry
proponents often argued that
metals and chemicals in the
water supply did not
originate at the fracking
site; rather, they were
already there.
Overall, the world's energy
trilemma is improving,
according to the fifth
edition of the World Energy
Council's (WEC) annual
ranking of energy and
climate policies. That's the
good news.
The bad news is, an
astonishing number of
countries are still
struggling to develop a
balanced approach to energy
policy. In fact, only two
countries out of 130
register the highest AAA
balance score...
Agriculture Secretary Tom
Vilsack recently announced
USDA will invest about $8M
in the Ogallala Aquifer
Initiative in Fiscal Year
2016 to help farmers and
ranchers conserve billions
of gallons of water annually
while strengthening
agricultural operations. The
eight-state Ogallala Aquifer
has suffered in recent years
from increased periods of
drought and declining water
resources.
When Walmart hits the
headlines, it’s often not
for the most positive
reasons. From allegations of
predatory pricing and poor
working conditions to low
wages, the company has been
involved in so much
controversy that when it
pledged in 2005 that its
business would one day be
supplied by 100 percent
renewable energy, there was
healthy skepticism that the
company was engaged in
greenwashing.
Geoscientists have for the
first time revealed the
magma plumbing beneath Mount
St. Helens, the most active
volcano in the Pacific
Northwest. The emerging
picture includes a giant
magma chamber, between 5 and
12 kilometers below the
surface, and a second, even
larger one, between 12 and
40 kilometers below the
surface. The two chambers
appear to be connected in a
way that could help explain
the sequence of events in
the 1980 eruption that blew
the lid off Mount St.
Helens.
Suspicions are mounting
on Capitol Hill that
President Obama could try to
use executive action to
close the Guantanamo Bay
detention center, even after
Congress this week approved
legislation that would keep
the facility open.
The defense policy bill
approved Tuesday would bar
the transfer of Guantanamo
inmates to the United
States. Obama, despite
opposing that provision,
plans to sign the bill.
In recent years,
wildfires have burned trees
and homes to the ground
across many states in the
western U.S., but the ground
itself has not gotten away
unscathed.
Wildfires, which are on
the rise throughout the west
as a result of prolonged
drought and climate change,
can alter soil properties
and make it more vulnerable
to erosion. A new study
shows that the increase in
wildfires may double soil
erosion in some western U.S.
states by 2050, and all that
dirt ends up in streams,
clogging creeks and
degrading water quality.
“Yale University researchers
said the contamination of
drinking water wells near
Marcellus Shale fracking
sites they studied probably
came from chemical spills
along the surface, rather
than from any failures of
the underground well
casings,” the Wheeling
News Register reported.
Not every utility that
cleans wastewater views
itself as a wastewater
treatment plant.
“Some utilities have
started making the shift
from saying ‘we make clean
water’ to saying ‘we recover
resources from water,’” said
Matt Williams, an anaerobic
digestion/biosolids expert
from WesTech. “They are
seeing themselves as water
resource recovery
facilities.”
Soil acidification from
acid rain that is harmful to
plant and aquatic life has
now begun to reverse in
forests of the northeastern
United States and eastern
Canada, according to an
American-Canadian
collaboration of five
institutions led by the U.S.
Geological Survey.
The new research shows
that these changes are
strongly linked to acid rain
decreases, although some
results differ from expected
responses.
The nation’s electrical
grid is the foundation of
modern America. Without a
steady flow of electricity,
life in the United States
would literally come to a
standstill. Emergency
services and law enforcement
agencies would lose
communications with much of
the civilian
population. Medical services
would be sporadic, and the
supply of pharmaceuticals
would diminish quickly. Food
items would rapidly
disappear from grocery store
shelves, and perishable
items would rot.
The grid is a prime
target for terrorists on a
mission to send American
society into total chaos. If
it’s taken out, most
American families would find
it impossible to provide for
their most basic needs.
The U.S. Court of Appeals
for the 5th Circuit upheld a
challenge to the deferred
deportation program brought
by Texas and 25 other states
with Republican governors,
who argued that Obama lacked
the authority to protect
about one-third of the
nation's undocumented
immigrants by executive
fiat.
A top federal bee
scientist from South Dakota
says he’s being punished for
publicizing work on
pesticides and pollinators.
Jonathan Lundgren’s
research found bees and
monarch butterflies can be
harmed by a widely used
class of insecticides. In a
whistleblower case filed
Wednesday, the United States
Department of Agriculture
entomologist alleges he
faced retaliation because of
his research.
The party of opposition
leader Aung
San Suu Kyi was
headed for a landslide
victory Monday that could
give it the presidency and
loosen the military's grip
on power in Burma.
New research from the
Lawrence Livermore National
Laboratory has found that
hydrogen can greatly improve
both the capacity and
conductivity of lithium-ion
batteries. The research
could also pave the way for
better storage mediums for
several energy options,
including hydrogen itself.
The new developments
center around treating the
graphene nanofoam anodes of
lithium-ion batteries with
hydrogen.
Oil prices have crashed
since reaching a peak of
$107 a barrel last year and
are likely to stay low as
long as the U.S. has an oil
glut, says Force Majeure, a
blogger at Seeking Alpha.
“While crude remains
within spitting distance of
multi-month highs, the
headwinds against higher
prices appear to be
increasing," the unnamed
author writes. “I firmly
believe that production will
eventually drop sufficiently
to rebalance the market, but
I see crude oil susceptible
to trade under $45/barrel
before that happens.”
On Saturday, the
Flandreau Santee Sioux
Tribal Council voted to
temporarily suspend their
marijuana operation. By that
evening, their first
marijuana crop was in
flames.
The rise in global
temperatures from
pre-industrial levels will
this year exceed 1 degree
Celsius for the first time,
Britain's Met Office said on
Monday.
That would put global
warming more than half way
towards the 2 degree limit
by 2100 that negotiators
from more than 190 countries
hope to set at a United
Nations climate summit
starting in Paris at the end
of November.
The American Society for
Nutrition (ASN) is
considered a premier
academic institution in
the field of nutrition,
publishing three
academic journals,
including the American
Journal of Clinical
Nutrition
However, the ASN has
deep financial ties to
the processed food
industry. Sponsors
include Coca-Cola,
Kellogg’s, Monsanto, and
the Sugar Association,
just to mention a few
The ASN has published a
report in support of
processed foods, and has
taken a firm stand
against the FDA’s
proposal to list “added
sugar” on the Nutrition
Facts label of processed
foods
Your memory holds a
record of your entire
life and shapes your
identity, but the
ability to form memories
does not occur until the
age of about five. Prior
to that, lack of
self-recognition
prevents
autobiographical memory
formation
The same brain areas are
activated during memory
recall and active
imagination. Researchers
believe the reason for
this is that you use
memories to piece
together an imagined
picture of the future
Without memory, you also
lose your ability to
project or imagine
yourself in a future
scenario
Ocean acidification may
well be helping invasive
species of algae, jellyfish,
crabs and shellfish to move
to new areas of the planet
with damaging consequences,
according to the findings of
a new report.
Slimy, jelly-like
creatures are far more
tolerant of rising carbon
dioxide levels than those
with hard parts like corals,
since exposed shells and
skeletons simply dissolve
away as CO2 levels rise.
The agency reportedly uses
some of the bigger flaws to
first develop cyber-weapons.
Claims by the National
Security Agency that it
discloses the vast majority
of previously unknown
security vulnerabilities it
discovers has been met with
skepticism, because the
agency won't say if it uses
them first.
The only thing that would
stop the Fed from raising
now is a return to the
August turmoil in
international financial
conditions, particularly due
to developments in emerging
economies and patchy market
liquidity. ..
Other Fed officials need to
add their voices to Yellen’s
in re-affirming that what
matters for the U.S. economy
and markets (and, therefore,
for the global system as a
whole) isn't when the Fed
hikes first but where it
will stop the cycle and how
it will get there.
A 13-year-old Native
American student was pulled
from the lunch line at her
school in Wisconsin and sent
to the guidance counselor
over a traditional Menominee
medicine pouch, family says.
On October 21, Rosella
“Rose” Kaquatosh was wearing
the pouch outside of her
clothing when a kitchen
employee at Gresham School
in Gresham, Wisconsin,
allegedly demanded Kaquatosh
take it off.
It’s becoming tiresome
hearing government ministers
justify their cuts to
renewable energy subsidies
on the basis that industries
must “stand on their own two
feet”...
a) we didn’t have the tricky
little problem of climate
change to contend with, and
b) other energy industries
weren’t also subsidised.
Renewable energy supply
in eight major economies
will collectively more than
double by 2030 due to new
national climate and energy
plans, according to a study
by the think tank World
Resources Institute (WRI).
Total clean energy supply
from eight of the world's 10
largest greenhouse gas
emitters - Brazil, China,
the European Union, India,
Indonesia, Japan, Mexico and
the United States -will jump
to 20,000 terawatt hours
(TWh) from around 9,000 TWh
in 2009.
M3 event observed.
Solar activity is expected
to be low with a chance for
M-class flares on days one,
two, and three (10 Nov, 11
Nov, 12 Nov). The
geomagnetic field is
expected to be at quiet to
minor storm levels on day
one (10 Nov), quiet to
active levels on day two (11
Nov) and quiet to unsettled
levels on day three (12
Nov).
"Beyond 2016, the fall in
non-OPEC supply is likely to
accelerate, as the
cancellation and
postponement of projects
will start feeding into
future supplies, and the
impact of previous record
investments on oil output
starts to fade," Abdulaziz
told the 6th Asian
Ministerial Energy
Roundtable in Doha.
The universe and life draw
people and situations into
our lives at times to deal
with the personal
unconscious – the darkness
we need to make conscious in
ourselves before we can
attain any higher spiritual
states. Relationships are
very powerful and
challenging in that regard
as we engage in the dance of
shadow projection,
triggering unconscious
traits in each other.
More than half of the
world's endangered saiga
antelopes died suddenly on
the Central Asian steppes
last spring...
Work
in the weeks immediately
following the deaths and
over the summer led
scientists to believe that
the saiga succumbed to a
bacterial infection of the
blood. Some kind of pathogen
multiplied so rapidly in
their bodies that toxins
overwhelmed them. Testing
continued through the early
fall and now researchers
have announced that the
infectious agents are two
bacteria, Pasteurella
multocida and
Clostridium perfringens.
The announcement is a blow
to privacy advocates who had
petitioned the agency for
stronger Internet privacy
rules. But it's a win for
many Silicon Valley
companies whose business
models rely on monetizing
Internet users’ personal
data.
The Greater Danger
“The greater danger for most
of us lies not in setting
our aim too high and falling
short; but in setting our
aim too low, and achieving
our mark.” ― Michelangelo
The Law of Attraction says
that you synchronistically
attract from the outside
what you resonate with on
the inside, or that you can
bring into your life what
you momentarily strongly
focus upon. So by having an
optimistic attitude and
focusing on success one
attracts these, while having
a cynical depressed attitude
attracts negative
experiences.
At the same time, however,
experience shows that
negative possibilities
manifest when we least
expect them, and that
anticipating them is what
actually keeps them from
happening. So how can
focusing on negative
possibilities attract them
in one case, and prevent
them in another?
The premature closing of
nuclear plants such as
Pilgrim harms our nation’s
economy, energy security and
the environment. Why is this
happening? It is not because
of safety, but rather a
blatant skewing of energy
markets, that until just a
few years ago depended on
the reliability of base
loaded nuclear power plants.
Today there is the short
sighted view that mandated
solar and wind and the
current windfall from
fracked natural gas will
work. Facts and history
speak otherwise.
California is one of
three states in the US
that will not allow
anything but a medical
exemption from
vaccination, for which
99.99 percent of
children do not qualify
under federal guidelines
Forcing children who do
not have all of the
state-mandated vaccines
to home school is a
violation of civil
rights
California also passed a
bill to prevent adult
daycare workers from
being employed in
California unless they
have received all
state-mandated vaccines
A study has found that
topical applications of
moisturizers such as
Dermabase, Dermovan, Eucerin
Original Moisturizing Cream,
or Vanicream could increase
skin cancer risk.
Irradiated mice who
were treated with the
moisturizers exhibited a
significant increase in
their rate of tumor
formation and increase
in tumor size per mouse.
Treatment of the mice
with Dermabase,
Dermovan, Eucerin, or
Vanicream for 17 weeks
increased the total
number of histologically
characterized tumors by
69 percent.
By licking a wound it heals
faster -- this is not simply
popular belief, but
scientifically proven. Our
saliva consists of water and
mucus, among other things,
and the mucus plays an
important role. It
stimulates white blood cells
to build a good defense
against invaders, according
to a group of researchers at
Lund University in Sweden
together with colleagues
from Copenhagen and Odense
in Denmark.
Crude oil production from US
shale plays is forecast to
drop in December by 118,000
b/d to 4.94 million b/d, the
biggest monthly fall since
May, the US Energy
Information Administration
said Monday.
In 1986, Congress
created a federal
vaccine injury
compensation program
(VICP) to restrict civil
lawsuits against vaccine
manufacturers and
negligent doctors when
government mandated
vaccines injure or kill
Two out of three vaccine
injury claims are denied
In 2011, the U.S.
Supreme Court completely
shielded the
pharmaceutical industry
from all civil liability
for injuries and deaths
caused by FDA licensed
vaccines, and the VICP
has been systematically
gutted
The state of Vermont and its
largest power company are
asking the federal Nuclear
Regulatory Commission for a
comprehensive review of
Entergy Corp.'s plans for
use of the Vermont Yankee
decommissioning fund.
Wait until it is just right
“Don't wait until everything
is just right. It will never
be perfect. There will
always be challenges,
obstacles and less than
perfect conditions. So
what... Get started now.
With each step you take, you
will grow stronger and
stronger, more and more
skilled, more and more
self-confident and more and
more successful.” ― Mark
Victor Hansen
Thirty two groups of
scientists in 20 countries
analyzed 28 weather
disasters in 2014 – and
found half of them linked to
human-caused climate change.
Until a few years ago, it
was a truism in science that
it was difficult, if not
impossible, to link specific
weather events to
human-caused global warming.
Recently that has changed.
It might seem like
environmental groups would
be the most enthusiastic
supporters that the solar
energy industry could have.
But if you think
environmentalists are taking
a full-speed-ahead approach
to expansion of the
industry, think again.
Although they're by no means
opposing efforts to generate
more solar energy, they're
urging caution as companies
plan for growth in Southern
Nevada and elsewhere in the
West.
There are thousands of
natural compounds that have
been studied with
demonstrable anti-cancer
activity (check out over 600
on GreenMedInfo’s cancer
research database), but only
a small subset of these have
been proven to target and
kill the cancer stem cells
which lie at the root
of cancer malignancy.
Turmeric, for instance, we
have featured a number of
times for its “smart kill”
property of targeting just
the heart of cancerous
tumors.
The mortality rate for white
men and women ages 45-54
with less than a college
education increased markedly
between 1999 and 2013, most
likely because of problems
with legal and illegal
drugs, alcohol and suicide,
the researchers concluded.
Before then, death rates for
that group dropped steadily,
and at a faster pace.
Alzheimer’s and Lyme
disease are caused by
disruptions in the food
chain. In our efforts to
create a cheaper food
system, we’ve cut too
many corners, and made
too many dangerous
shortcuts
Alzheimer’s may be
driven by two
diet-related problems:
excessive sugar
consumption, and the
creation of
brain-wasting proteins
in our meat supply, as a
result of turning
herbivores into
carnivores
Rodents are the primary
tick-bearing host
spreading Lyme disease;
urban sprawl and hunting
has eliminated many of
the rodent’s natural
predators, allowing the
disease to spread faster
and wider
The Antarctic ice sheet
is thickening enough to
currently outweigh the
losses of ice occurring due
to global warming, a new
NASA study has revealed.
The study reveals that
the increase in Antarctic
snow accrual that began
10,000 years ago is
“currently adding enough ice
to the continent to outweigh
the increased losses from
its thinning glaciers.”
Mexican copper miner,
smelter, and refiner ASARCO
must pay more than $163
million to settle U.S.
government charges that the
company broken the law by
releasing hazardous air
pollutants, including lead
and arsenic, from its
primary copper smelter in
Hayden, Arizona.
When we’ve got a hundred
things on our plate, it’s
super hard sometimes to know
how and when to take a
break. And even when on
vacation or in the times we
have to relax, it can be
difficult to let go and free
ourselves from tension. Our
minds may continue without
us, coming up with the next
thing to put on our lists —
jutting out to the future to
keep up with all the many
things we want or have to
do.
Donald Trump is no stranger
to controversy, including
the vaccine debate. In a
series of tweets and
interviews over the past few
years, the presidential
candidate has stated that he
strongly believes that there
is a link between
“monstrous” vaccines and
autism. He has suggested
that delivering vaccines in
smaller doses over time
could reduce autism rates
among U.S. children. Despite
being cast to the lunatic
fringe by the mainstream
media for his remarks, CDC
scientist Dr. William
Thompson has confirmed
Trump’s suspicions — namely,
that the link between
vaccines and autism is real.
A civilian watchdog group
sued a California coastal
agency on Tuesday, seeking
to overturn its decision to
allow 1,800 tons (1,632
tonnes) of radioactive waste
from a closed nuclear power
plant to be buried in
containers not far from a
beach.
In recent years, satellite
photos of Greenland's ice
sheet have shown what
appears to be a darkening of
the ice's surface. A number
of scientists have suggested
that this could be due to
settled soot particles from
fossil fuel production
and/or forest fires, and
that their presence could
result in accelerated
melting of the ice. Now,
however, researchers from
Dartmouth College believe
that the ice may still still
be relatively clean, and
that its darkness in the
photos could just be due to
faulty sensors on the
satellites.
"If I knew the answers to
what's going on in this
man's heart and head I could
probably deal with it a
little better, but I don't,"
North, founder of the
Freedom Alliance, said
Tuesday on "Newsmax Prime"
with J.D. Hayworth.
"I do know the consequences
of his failure to stand up
in moral outrage about what
ISIS has done, the calamity
that's been for the
Christian communities and
the Yazidis and others, the
disaster. An entire
generation of people are
being murdered off."
Consumers aren’t embracing
electric cars and trucks,
partly due to the dearth of
charging stations required
to keep them moving. Even
the conservation-minded are
hesitant to go electric in
some states because, studies
show, if fossil fuels
generate the electricity,
the car is no greener than
one powered with an
efficient gasoline.
Hedge fund manager Stanley
Druckenmiller warns that the
Federal Reserve has inflated
an economic bubble that is
poised to burst.
The
chief executive of Duquesne
Capital said "the central
bank has created a bubble of
short-term investing through
its near-zero interest rates
and quantitative easing," ..
Duke Energy said Wednesday
it will scale back its plans
to convert its coal-fired
Asheville power plant to
natural gas and scrap a
hotly-contested 45 mile
transmission line.
Over the next three years,
Southern California Edison,
the state's second-largest
investor-owned utility,
plans to spend $12 billion
to modernize the electric
grid, the chief executive of
the utility's parent company
said Tuesday.
Scientists report the
loss of phytoplankton –
at the base of the ocean
food web – from this
year’s strong El Niño.
It’s all part of a
fascinating cycle of
boom or bust for marine
animals.
Since this past
northern spring, when El
Niño conditions in the
equatorial Pacific began
strengthening,
scientists have been
saying that this year’s
El Niño will be a big
one. The magnitude of
the 2015 El Niño is
similar to events in
1997–98 and 1982–83...
The overall size of a state,
as well as the available
fuels, types of businesses,
climate, and population
density, play a role in
determining the level of
both total and per capita
emissions. Additionally,
each state's energy system
reflects circumstances
specific to that state.
Not a danger to humans …
just a cool example of
nature’s power. The Crack,
as locals call it, is now
hundreds of yards (meters)
long and still growing.
Medicine is undergoing an
existential crisis today.
Its core value proposition –
to help and not hurt – is
failing to manifest.
Patients are suffering.
Doctors are suffering. The
only exuberant party on the
battlefield against disease
is the pharmaceutical
industry, an industry whose
annual casualties far exceed
the death total from our two
decade long involvement in
the Vietnam war.
Healthy people are dying
because of complications
related to the flu all
across the United States.
Children and adults suddenly
die after receiving this
year’s flu vaccination.
A study suggests that, by
the late 21st century,
temperatures in the Persian
Gulf might routinely edge
above a tipping point for
human survival. Wealthy
areas might be able to
adapt, poorer areas less
able, the authors say.
The slogan "Death to
America" is not aimed at the
American people, but rather
American policies, Iran's
supreme leader said in
comments reported on his
official website Tuesday.
The Los Angeles Police
Department has a Tesla now.
It also has a new BMW i3.
While those two electric
cars are enough to make most
people green with envy, it's
just the beginning for the
City of Angels. This
September, Mayor Eric
Garcetti announced that 160
electric vehicles (EVs) and
128 plug-in hybrids would be
leased to the city's fleet
as part of a larger effort
to become "the most
sustainable city in
America."
Using a type of magnetic
insulator material that
normally doesn’t conduct
electricity, scientists
working at Stanford
University and the
Department of Energy’s SLAC
National Accelerator
Laboratory have shown that
electric currents can still
be made to flow along the
borders of the grains within
the material. This latest
research not only validates
a long-held belief that
magnetic insulators could be
used to conduct electricity,
but offers a more
tantalizing possibility of
creating highly-efficient
magnetic memory devices.
The ultra high
resolution video was
created from data
harvested by the
Solar Dynamics
Observatory (Credit:
NASA)
NASA has released a
half hour video of our
Sun in breathtaking 4K
detail. The video was
created from images and
data captured by the
agency's Solar Dynamics
Observatory (SDO) as it
continues its mission to
observe solar activity
and unlock the mysteries
surrounding the interior
mechanics of our parent
star.
The shine is coming off
once bright prospects for
natural gas as the future
fossil fuel of choice in
Asia as power companies in
India and Southeast Asia tap
abundant and cheap domestic
coal resources to generate
electricity.
Asian loyalty to coal is
shrinking the space
available for natural gas
just as supplies are ramping
up after massive investments
in U.S. and Australian
output. Demand growth for
natural gas is also slowing
in top energy consumer
China, further dampening the
fuel's prospects.
The grid
in Orange County's future
will rely on electricity
storage -- batteries -- to
supply power when demand is
highest.
Battery prices are
dropping, production of
battery packs is ramping up
and utilities have installed
small banks of them around
Southern California, with
more contracted for the
coming years.
Landfill fires are pretty
common. But this one is
different: It's only about a
thousand feet away from
nearly 9,000 tons of nuclear
waste — and there's no
barrier in between.
The proportion of
Americans who say they are
"absolutely certain" God
exists has dropped sharply
from 71 percent to less than
two thirds, the Pew Research
Center said Tuesday.
The share of US adults
who say they believe in God
declined from 92 to 89
percent over the same
period, from 2007 to 2014,
but is still remarkably high
compared to other developed
countries.
Over the past 35 years,
Native American advocacy has
resulted in the eradication
of 2/3 of Native-themed
mascots from schools across
America. Not one
professional sports team has
selected a race-based logo
or name since 1963.
As the controversy
surrounding the National
Football League’s Washington
Redsk*ns has reached
national levels, so too has
the scrutiny of Native
mascots at the local level.
stubborn forest fire in
the Brazilian Amazon is
threatening to consume the
forest home of one of the
last remaining uncontacted
tribes on Earth – the
awá-Awá.
Despite the efforts of
200 volunteers from the
Brazilian Institute of
Environment and Renewable
Natural Resources, IBAMA,
the flames have devastated
at least 35 percent of the
1,594 square mile area in
Brazil’s northeastern state
of Maranhao.
A cyclone with
hurricane-force winds made
landfall on Yemen's Arabian
Sea coast on Tuesday,
flooding the country's
fifth-largest city Mukalla
and sending thousands of
people fleeing for shelter.
Officials and
meteorologists say the storm
is the most intense in
decades in the arid country,
whose storm response is
hampered by poverty and a
raging civil war.
...The study shows that
increasing numbers of
fishers are being exposed
to, and dying from, greater
varieties of rat poisons, or
rodenticides, found at
illegal marijuana farms. It
also affirms reports and
data from across the state
that rodenticides continue
to poison and kill numerous
California wildlife
species.
M3 event observed.
Solar activity is likely to
be moderate with a slight
chance for an X-class flare
on days one, two, and three
(05 Nov, 06 Nov, 07 Nov).
The geomagnetic field is
expected to be at quiet to
minor storm levels on day
one (05 Nov), quiet to
active levels on day two (06
Nov) and quiet to unsettled
levels on day three (07
Nov). Protons have a slight
chance of crossing threshold
on day one (05 Nov) and have
a slight chance of crossing
threshold on days two and
three (06 Nov, 07 Nov).
How big does the climate
engineering
elephant-in-the-room need to
be before it can no longer
be hidden in plain site? How
much more historical proof
do we need of ongoing
climate engineering before
the denial of the masses
crumbles? When will
populations around the globe
bring to justice all those
responsible for the ongoing
and rapidly worsening
worldwide weather warfare
assault?
The caller, identified as
Weston in Philadelphia,
suggested that the
Republican National
Committee control the
networks broadcasting the
GOP debates in a similar
manner as Augusta controls
the Masters Tournament.
As a result of increasing
atmospheric carbon dioxide
concentrations, the
chemistry of the Southern
Ocean is expected to change
so fast over the next few
decades that tiny creatures
at the base of the food web
may soon struggle to form
their shells. New research
by scientists from UH Mānoa
and the University of
Alaska, Fairbanks (UAF)
finds that, for some
organisms, the onset of such
critical conditions will be
so abrupt, and the duration
of events so long, that
adaption may become
impossible.
The presidents of China and
Taiwan will meet this
weekend for the first time
since civil war divided
their lands 66 years ago,
their governments said
Wednesday, a highly symbolic
move that reflects quickly
improving relations between
the formerly bitter Cold War
foes.
Sleep apnea typically
refers to impaired
breathing from an
obstructed airway during
sleep, which can promote
a number of health
problems, including
diabetes, gout, and
heart disease
Sleep apnea promotes
heart disease in women
to a greater degree than
in men. Even among women
who didn’t develop heart
failure, sleep apnea was
associated with heart
damage that led to worse
health outcomes
Two treatment
alternatives that offer
a great deal of hope are
oral myofascial therapy
and learning how to
breathe properly while
you’re awake
Their diet consists of
eating organic, fresh,
locally-grown produce, and
of course, they do not
follow the established
vaccination routines. To the
dismay of the mainstream
media and the medical
establishment, this has
resulted in a healthier
people, who are void of all
of our chronic diseases.
Heart disease, cancer, and
diabetes are virtually
non-existent in Amish
villages.
TransCanada Corporation
requested Monday that the
U.S. State Department “pause
in its review” of the
Presidential Permit
application for the Keystone
XL pipeline.”
In a letter to U.S.
Secretary of State John
Kerry dated November 2,
Kristine Delkus, executive
vice president, stakeholder
relations and general
counsel, says that
TransCanada wants the pause
is to allow time for the
Nebraska Public Service
Commission to complete its
route approval process.
True Happiness
“True happiness is to enjoy
the present, without anxious
dependence upon the future,
not to amuse ourselves with
either hopes or fears but to
rest satisfied with what we
have, which is sufficient,
for he that is so wants
nothing. The greatest
blessings of mankind are
within us and within our
reach. A wise man is content
with his lot, whatever it
may be, without wishing for
what he has not.” ― Lucius
Annaeus Seneca
The ruling Justice and
Development Party, or AKP,
secured a stunning victory
in Sunday's snap
parliamentary election,
sweeping back into
single-party rule only five
months after losing it.
The payment indicates
Ukraine's state gas company
Naftogaz will receive around
21 million cu m/day of gas
from Gazprom up until
Tuesday, or about a fifth of
the volume the company was
buying at the start of last
week.
Nearly one-third of the 2010
U.S. coal fleet has retired
or is proposed to retire and
as much as a half could be
replaced within the next
decade -- a reduction in
coal use that is driving
down carbon emissions in the
electric sector and
economy-wide to levels not
seen in more than two
decades. This year, carbon
pollution from the electric
sector is projected to fall
below 2 billion tons -- with
2015 marking the lowest
electric sector carbon
emissions since 1995.
Thursday's report added:
"Patients burned in their
beds, medical staff were
decapitated and lost limbs,
and others were shot by the
circling AC-130 gunship
while fleeing the burning
building."
It also detailed
operations in the hospital
in the days leading up to
the bombing, and said staff
had noticed that more
Taliban fighters were
arriving for treatment.
The US nuclear industry must
mobilize political support
on Capitol Hill for
commercial consolidated
interim storage facilities
(CISFs) as developers look
to demonstrate the stand
alone value of their
facilities alongside the
much-delayed Yucca Mountain
project, leading industry
figures said.
The Department of Education
is very good at
demonstrating why it
shouldn’t exist. It put on
its most convincing display
this week when it ruled —
you know, like a court,
except it’s not a court —
that Illinois’ largest
school district violated the
“civil rights” of a
gender-confused boy by not
letting him use the girl’s
locker room. The school
district now has 30 days to
force underage females to
change in front of the
“transgender” student, or it
will lose funding. Clearly,
this is the role our
Founders envisioned for the
federal government.
American taxpayers are on
the hook for a $43 million
gas station constructed in
Afghanistan -- a price tag
that’s about $42.5 million
higher than it should’ve
been, and the Department of
Defense can’t explain why,
according to a new
government report.
On Oct. 2, 2015, the ozone
hole expanded to its peak of
28.2 million square
kilometers (10.9 million
square miles), an area
larger than the continent of
North America. Throughout
October, the hole remained
large and set many area
daily records. Unusually
cold temperature and weak
dynamics in the Antarctic
stratosphere this year
resulted in this larger
ozone hole. ..
China could face another
bout of severe air pollution
this winter with unfavorable
weather expected to
aggravate the problem, the
environment ministry said on
Thursday.
Smog has emerged as a
major problem for the
government, which has relied
on coal and highly polluting
heavy industries to fuel its
economic growth, especially
in northern regions.
Federal agents
destroyed a Wisconsin-based
tribe’s industrial hemp crop
that was being grown as a
research project, and the
tribe’s chairman says he’s
perplexed as to why federal
agents unilaterally ended a
project the tribe believe
was legal under the 2014
Farm Bill.
When the harvest
started a few weeks ago, the
tribe invited Bureau of
Indian Affairs agents to the
reservation to observe the
harvest.
GDS has announced that they
are now in manufacturing
phase for their 5000-Watt
back-up generator. All
components of the generator
are ESA certified. The 5 kW
system sells for $5,000 USD,
which is competitive; 50%
down, with delivery expected
mid-2016. On-site visits
welcome prior to purchase.
Earth has just had the
hottest January-September on
record, the United Nations
World Meteorological
Organization (WMO) said
today, adding that the
average air and sea
temperatures in September
logged the greatest rise
above monthly average in the
136-year historical record.
Ahmed Abdel Aziz was sent
back to his native
Mauritania after 13 years in
custody at Guantanamo. He is
the 14th prisoner released
this year amid a continuing
standoff between President
Barack Obama and Congress
over Obama's attempt to
close the detention center.
Though I remain skeptical
about how "easy" this is,
and how "practical" it is,
and how ready it is to roll
out; I do think there is
something to this that is
worth pursuing, after you
wade through the hype in the
presentations. Gratitude is
in order for the Keshe
Foundation in openly sharing
these plans.
While
the claims of media bias in
the post-debate commentaries
border on outright anger and
agitation, claims of liberal
bias in journalism are
nothing new.
Salazar said the U.S. is
seeing a "virtual
revolution" in the
development and deployment
of renewable-energy
technology, with massive,
utility-scale wind and solar
projects being built across
the country. But utilities,
communities and federal and
state entities nationwide
need to work together to
find common ground to fully
and effectively modernize
the electric grid.
The number of young winter
run Chinook salmon in the
Sacramento River is
considerably lower so far
this year than in 2014,
federal authorities said,
prompting concerns that the
drought is making it harder
for the endangered species
to recover.
I've been following news
about a company called
Steorn for many years now.
They claim to have developed
a technology that generates
more energy than it
consumes. Every time they've
had a public demonstration,
it doesn't work. I'm not
surprised.
A report released this week
by three environmental
groups says usage of
electric vehicles is
growing, but not at a fast
enough pace to meet goals
set forth in a 2013
memorandum of understanding
signed by officials in eight
states, including
Connecticut.
M1 event observed.
Solar activity is likely to
be moderate with a slight
chance for an X-class flare
on days one, two, and three
(01 Nov, 02 Nov, 03 Nov).
The geomagnetic field is
expected to be at quiet to
unsettled levels on day one
(01 Nov), unsettled to
severe storm levels on day
two (02 Nov) and active to
major storm levels on day
three (03 Nov).
Research links
fluoridated water
consumption to endocrine
dysfunction,
hypothyroidism, ADHD,
and reduced IQ
Many water authorities
do not use
pharmaceutical grade
fluoride; they use
hydrofluosilicic acid —
a toxic waste product of
the fertilizer industry
that is frequently
contaminated with heavy
metals and other toxins
97 percent of Western
European countries do
not fluoridate, and data
shows non-fluoridating
countries have seen the
exact same reduction in
dental cavities as
fluoridated areas
Smile
“I love those who can smile
in trouble, who can gather
strength from distress, and
grow brave by reflection.
'Tis the business of little
minds to shrink, but they
whose heart is firm, and
whose conscience approves
their conduct, will pursue
their principles unto
death.” ― Leonardo da Vinci
The finding is contrary to
the widely held view that a
greater amount of surface
melting will result in
faster-moving ice sheets, as
the movement of both ocean-
and land-terminating ice
sheets is caused in part by
surface meltwater, which
makes its way to the bedrock
through openings in the ice
and acts as a lubricant. The
amount of meltwater draining
from the ice sheet in four
out of the five years
between 2007 and 2012 has
been the most substantial of
the last 50 years.
The U.N.'s weather and
climate agency said on
Thursday there was no cause
for alarm about a
record-size hole this month
in the ozone layer, that
shields life on earth from
the sun, as it should shrink
again.
The ozone hole that
appears over Antarctica
fluctuates in size, normally
reaching its widest in the
polar spring as extreme cold
temperatures in the
stratosphere and the return
of sunlight unleash chlorine
radicals that destroy ozone.
A rapid warming of the
Gulf of Maine off the
eastern United States has
made the water too hot for
cod, pushing stocks toward
collapse despite deep
reductions in the number of
fish caught, a U.S. study
showed on Thursday.
The Gulf of Maine had
warmed faster than 99
percent of the rest of the
world's oceans in the past
decade, influenced by shifts
in the Atlantic Gulf Stream,
changes in the Pacific Ocean
and a wider trend of climate
change, it said.
Health and Freedom are
not just words. Health
evokes feelings of
wellbeing, vitality,
expansion, youthfulness.
Freedom is opportunity,
peace, liberty, power,
movement, abandon, choice.
Together they are greater
than the sum of
their parts. Health Freedom
is the ability to express
without limits, to access
the foods of our choice,
choose what we allow into
our bodies and our minds, to
grow our own food, to speak
our truth, to raise children
without government
interference, to love, to
choose healing instead of
treatment. Health Freedom is
the absence of fear and
contraction.