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In September, stockpiles of
propane and propylene
reached an all-time record
high of 97.7 million barrels
in the United States,
according to the U.S. Energy
Information Administration
(EIA), which began tracking
propane inventory levels 22
years ago.
Since the Volkswagen scandal
first broke more than a week
ago, we know a lot more
about how Dieselgate started
to unravel. What remains
mysterious, though, is why
the German carmaker thought
it would be OK to hack its
own car to rig the system
(and put consumer trust in
jeopardy); worse, how on
earth those involved in the
fraud at the company had
assumed that they could get
away with it.
The Obama administration
plans to close the last
remaining American-owned
uranium enrichment facility
in the United States, even
as it moves forward on a
controversial nuclear deal
with Iran that permits the
Islamic Republic to conduct
ongoing and significant
uranium enrichment.
The U.S. Department of
Energy (DOE) has informed
Centrus Energy it will end
the American Centrifuge
project in Piketon, Ohio, on
Sept. 30. Notices have been
issued to some 235 workers
that their jobs are in
jeopardy.
“When the Chernobyl
accident happened some of
the iodine went around the
world several times. In
fact, you, I, everyone – we
all have a piece of
Chernobyl in our body…” ~
Theoretical physicist and
author Michio Kaku
Disinformation is a
component of any propaganda.
The highly paid technocrats
and advocates of “peaceful
uses of the atom”
increasingly use
disinformation to repress
and control public protest
against nuclear pollution
and environmental injustice.
Donald Trump was succinct
last week when asked how the
United States should respond
to climate change.
"It's not a big problem
at all," the leader in
opinion polls for the
Republican presidential
nomination told a radio talk
show host. "If you look at
China, they're doing nothing
about it."
This week, Chinese
President Xi Jinping came to
Washington and agreed to
take new measures. Standing
alongside President Barack
Obama at the White House,
the Chinese leader committed
his country to a series of
ambitious policies aimed at
countering the rise in
global temperatures.
Brain scans of the
antisocial people, compared
with a control group of
individuals without any
mental disorders, showed on
average an 18-percent
reduction in the volume of
the brain’s middle frontal
gyrus, and a 9 percent
reduction in the volume of
the orbital frontal gyrus –
two sections in the brain’s
frontal lobe.
Scientists have zeroed in on
the nerves that drive fat
breakdown
While it's known that the
brain is responsible for
instructing our fat stores
to break down and release
energy as we need it,
scientists haven't yet been
able to pin down exactly how
this process plays out.
Leptin, a hormone produced
by our fat cells, travels to
the brain to regulate
appetite, metabolism and
energy, but it hasn't been
clear what communication was
coming back the other way.
New research has now
uncovered this missing link
for the first time,
revealing a set of nerves
that connect with fat tissue
to stimulate the process in
a development that could
lead to new types of
anti-obesity treatments
In November 2013, the
Loretto community sent a
letter to Pope Francis.
The letter called on the
pope to “formally and
publicly repudiate and
rescind the Dum Diversas
Bull of 1452, and other
related bulls, which grant
the Pope’s blessing ‘to
capture, vanquish, and
subdue the Saracens, pagans,
and other enemies of Christ
and put them into perpetual
slavery and to take all
their possession and their
property.’ We also call upon
the Pope to repudiate and
rescind the Inter
Caetera Bull of 1493
that granted authority to
Spain and Portugal to ‘take
all lands and possessions’
so long as no other
Christian ruler had
previously claimed them.
These bulls instilled the
Doctrine of Discovery, the
papal sanctioning of
Christian enslavement and
power over non-Christians.”
Last March, NASA released
shocking news: California
has about one year left of
stored water. To some, this
may not be surprising
considering the state has
been suffering over the last
four years from severe
drought. Couple this with a
large population and massive
agricultural industry, and
it would seem to be par for
the course in the scheme of
things. But many are
questioning whether
California’s water supply
running dry is truly a
natural and unfortunate
event or if the crisis is
intentionally engineered for
a specific purpose.
Throughout its history, the
American West has always
been known to have dry
spells and periods of
drought, which is why water
rights have been an
important factor since the
days of pioneers settling
the land. And yet,
California hasn’t seen a
drought this grave in about
500 years.
At a sacred fire in
the ancient village site in
Coonrod, Chief Caleen Sisk
raised a glass of ceremonial
water towards a soaring
Mount Shasta. The Winnemem
Wintu Tribe members gathered
for a Fire and Water
ceremony at sunrise to pray
for the return of their
revered salmon and for the
health of their sacred
spring in Mount Shasta and
surrounding waterways.
“Salmon are life. They bring
life, and they should be
back on this land again,”
said Chief Sisk, spiritual
leader of her tribe.
Many tropical Pacific island
nations are struggling to
adapt to gradual sea level
rise stemming from warming
oceans and melting ice caps.
Now they may also see much
more frequent extreme
interannual sea level
swings. The culprit is a
projected behavioral change
of the El Niño phenomenon
and its characteristic
Pacific wind response...
Despite reforms across
the country, arrests for
marijuana continued to climb
in 2014 to 700,993, the FBI
reports.
One American will be
arrested for pot every 45
seconds. Almost all
marijuana arrests (88.4%)
were for possession alone.
Pot arrests account for
almost half of all arrests
made for drugs. And drug
arrests are the number one
most popular arrest category
for police.
French President Francois
Hollande said on Sunday he
was encouraged by promises
made by leaders at the U.N.
General Assembly to reach a
climate change deal in Paris
in November, but said those
words now had to be turned
into concrete action.
Vegans may have been right
all along about avoiding
dairy products. Although
raw, natural milk has a lot
of benefits;, a Harvard
pediatrician and specialist
David Ludwig maintains that
low fat milk and dairy
products pose a treat for
your wellbeing due to the
added sweeteners they
contain.
Dr. Hedendal, another
healthy doctor who dropped
dead suddenly, had some of
his own family and loved
ones come forward on the
television news here in
Florida to say they didn’t
think there was any reason
he should have died suddenly
as he did and they wanted
answers and they too were
waiting for more test
results.
Water utility managers today
face a conundrum. The
American Water Works
Association (AWWA)
recommends a water utility
strive for non-revenue water
loss at 10-15 percent, but
managers know that many
systems lose as much as 50
percent. Discovering where
these losses occur is
difficult.
The Israeli military said
Sunday it struck two Syrian
army posts with artillery
fire after rockets from the
war-torn country landed in
Israeli-controlled
territory.
The military said the two
rockets, which landed over
the last two days, were
errant fire from the Syrian
conflict. They caused no
damage or injuries.
If you buy special shampoo
for your baby, the last
thing you’d expect it to
contain would be known or
suspected carcinogens… But
if you live in the U.S.,
this may in fact be the
case. For the past two
years, health and
environmental groups have
been urging Johnson &
Johnson to remove two
potentially cancer-causing
chemicals from its baby
shampoo.
Former NBA great Kareem
Abdul-Jabbar said the notion
that Shariah law endorses
killing homosexuals, rape
and making women subservient
to men is “crazy” and
insisted that critics of
Shariah are out to make
Muslims “the villain.”
The utility-scale solar
energy industry is feeling
its oats. The cost of
generating electricity from
solar power has plummeted in
recent years, and experts
say it will continue to
drop. Utility-scale solar is
on par with, if not cheaper
than, power produced with
fossil fuel in many markets
in the U.S., and there are
more than 27 GW of solar
projects either under
construction or in the
planning stages.
While renovating an old
plumbing warehouse on
Hamilton Avenue in Larimer
five years ago, Craig Marcus
began looking for tenants
who would enliven the
street.
Magic Talisman
“Courage and perseverance
have a magical talisman,
before which difficulties
disappear and obstacles
vanish into air.” ― John
Quincy Adams
We are a scant 40 years
away from the futuristic
world that science fiction
author Philip K. Dick
envisioned for “Minority
Report” in which the
government is all-seeing,
all-knowing and
all-powerful, and if you
dare to step out of line,
dark-clad police SWAT teams
will crack a few skulls to
bring the populace under
control.
Unfortunately, as I point
out in my book “Battlefield
America: The War on the
American People,” we
may have already arrived at
the year 2054.
The rapidly declining price
of large-scale lithium ion
batteries is likely to be
bad news for independent
power producers (IPP) and
utility companies in the
United States, according to
a new report by Moody's
Investors Service.
...Navajo Nation will become
the first place to implement
a 2 percent tax on junk food
or food items with
“minimal-to-no-nutritional
value”. The tax will expire
and be revised in 2020.
Last year, Navajo
implemented an amendment
that removed the 5 percent
tax on the sale of fresh
fruits and vegetables.
The Obama administration has
discovered a chain of emails
that Hillary Rodham Clinton
failed to turn over when she
provided what she said was
the full record of
work-related correspondence
as secretary of state,
officials said Friday,
adding to the growing
questions related to the
Democratic presidential
front-runner's unusual usage
of a private email account
and server while in
government.
Offshore
wind farms which are to be
built in waters around the
UK could pose a greater
threat to protected
populations of gannets than
previously thought, research
led by the University of
Leeds says.
It was previously
thought that gannets,
which breed in the UK
between April and
September each year,
generally flew well
below the minimum height
of 22 metres above sea
level swept by the
blades of offshore wind
turbines.
In a precedent-setting
case, a state judge ruled
this month that the mother
of a New Jersey teenager
with epilepsy, who is also
her legal medical caregiver,
cannot go to her school to
administer her daughter’s
cannabis oil.
The oil treatments, which
are legal in the state,
control the young girl’s
seizures and allow her to
function normally in school,
according to her parents.
In his speech to Congress on
Thursday, Pope Francis
issues a broad appeal to
tackle the divisive issues
of the day, including
climate and gun violence.
Chronic sitting is a
risk factor for poor
health, pain, and early
death. But HOW you sit
may have a significant
impact on the risks of
sitting
By sitting with feet
planted on the floor,
with your pelvis and
spine properly stacked
and aligned, you can
take the stress and
tension out of sitting
and make sitting into a
beneficial physical
activity
Three simple exercises
that help you engage
your core and correct
your posture are
described
President Vladimir Putin
said Russia had no plans
"right now" to put combat
troops on the ground in
Syria, but would continue
backing the Syrian
government.
The Russian leader,
speaking in an interview
broadcast Sunday on the eve
of his meeting with
President Barack Obama, also
sharply criticized U.S.
military support for Syrian
rebels, describing it as not
only illegal but
counterproductive.
The first radioactive
material from the 2011
Fukushima nuclear disaster
has now been detected in the
coastal waters of North
America, according to a
study conducted by
researchers from Woods Hole
Oceanographic Institution.
“Radioactivity can be
dangerous, and we should be
carefully monitoring the
oceans after what is
certainly the largest
accidental release of
radioactive contaminants to
the oceans in history,”
researcher Ken Buesseler
said.
Vertical gardens may look
great, but they typically
require constant
maintenance, automated or
otherwise. Urban greening
firm Treebox, however, has
unveiled a new vertical
garden than looks after
itself. The Rain Garden uses
no power and is watered
solely by rainwater.
Thanks to an increase in
solar panels and wind
turbines, as well as a
particularly sunny and windy
quarter, renewable energy
has supplied a record 25
percent of the UK’s energy
mix in Q2 2015, leapfrogging
coal for the first time to
come into second place
behind gas fired
electricity. It’s nearly a
10 percent increase on the
same period last year.
M7 event observed.
Solar
activity is likely to be
moderate with a chance for
X-class flares on days one,
two, and three (29 Sep, 30
Sep, 01 Oct). The
geomagnetic field is
expected to be at quiet
levels on day one (29 Sep)
and quiet to unsettled
levels on days two and three
(30 Sep, 01 Oct). Protons
have a chance of crossing
threshold on days one and
two (29 Sep, 30 Sep) and
have a slight chance of
crossing threshold on day
three (01 Oct).
Resveratrol is a potent
free radical quenching
antioxidant found in a
number of plants,
including grape skins,
red wine, raspberries,
mulberries, pomegranate,
and raw cacao
When taken in highly
concentrated doses,
resveratrol appears to
stabilize levels of
amyloid-beta and prevent
further buildup of the
protein in the brain,
thereby slowing the
progression of
Alzheimer’s disease
Muscadine grapes have
the highest
concentration of
resveratrol in nature
because of their extra
thick skins and numerous
seeds, in which
resveratrol is
concentrated
Climate change-induced
increases in sea level are
forcing archaeologists and
communities to get creative
and make tough calls
Roadblocks
“If you're trying to
achieve, there will be
roadblocks. I've had them;
everybody has had them. But
obstacles don't have to stop
you. If you run into a wall,
don't turn around and give
up. Figure out how to climb
it, go through it, or work
around it.” ― Michael Jordan
On Monday, Royal Dutch
Shell said it would abandon
for the foreseeable future
an intensely controversial
plan to drill for oil off
the coast of Alaska.
Shell has backed a hugely
expensive exploration effort
in the region, but has
failed to find significant
oil deposits.
Soldiers and explosives
experts began a six-day
operation Monday to check
for mines a site in Poland
where authorities suspect a
Nazi-era train, possibly
carrying guns and looted
gold, is buried.
“Sugar is poison,” says
Richard Jacoby, M.D., a
peripheral nerve surgeon
based in Scottsdale, Ariz.
“We’re eating too much, and
it’s changing the
biochemistry of our nerves.”
Mental health is no
light-hearted subject.
Severe depression, anxiety,
PTSD and suicidal tendencies
have become a worldwide
epidemic. And our nation is
not immune: Suicide is the
10th leading cause of death
in America, with one
American dying by suicide
every 13 minutes.
As estimated by the U.S.
Department of Energy's
Energy Information Agency ,
the record-breaking average
capacity factor also
improves on July's 97
percent performance and the
96.4 percent capacity
average achieved in August
2014.
And I wish I could say it is
over, but it's not.
Volcanoes are erupting,
large earthquakes have
occurred - all of which
reached the level of
significance to be accounted
reaching the threshold of my
research related to full
lunar and solar eclipse.
However, it is what's to
come which has geophysicists
concerned.
During last night’s total
eclipse of the moon, Earth’s
shadow brushed the moon’s
face. But you can see
Earth’s shadow tonight, too,
or any clear evening.
Serra’s story is the
West Coast incarnation of
some of the founding myths
of the United States. Just
as the stories of Columbus,
Pocahontas and the Puritans
are incomplete without
including the fate of
displaced and mistreated
native populations, so too
is that of the settlement of
the Pacific Coast
It is no secret that
sleep is one of the most
important parts of your
physical and mental health.
However, did you know that
how you sleep is just as
important as how much you
sleep? Your chosen sleep
position can impact your
health, help you keep your
skin looking young, and
improve your digestive
health.
In fact, sleeping on the
left side of your body can
even save your life. If you
do not currently sleep on
your left side, keep reading
to find out why you should
start right now.
Bread has significant
nutrient value and contains
vitamin B and iron. However,
if you are consuming it in
large amounts it is highly
likely that it contributes
to gain weight.
If you are wondering how
much weight you’ll lose if
you totally eliminate bread
out of your diet, keep in
mind that it depends on how
much bread you are currently
consuming.
Ranch managers Don and
Martha Grimm barely escaped
with only the clothes they
were wearing as a
destructive, fast-moving
fire roared toward their
Northern California home.
The couple, both in their
70's, held hands as they
returned to their
neighborhood to find only
rubble where their home once
stood. Martha Grimm broke
down in tears.
Hackers who stole
security clearance data on
millions of Defense
Department and other U.S.
government employees got
away with about 5.6 million
fingerprint records, some
4.5 million more than
initially reported, the
government said on
Wednesday.
The additional
stolen fingerprint records
were identified as part of
an ongoing analysis of the
data breach by the Office of
Personnel Management and the
Department of Defense,
In an
open letter posted Sept.
21, Jon Ritzheimer said that
he “has everything to lose”
and plans to travel from
Arizona to Michigan with an
armed militia of a “growing
number of patriots” to
arrest Stabenow because she
voted for the nuclear deal
with Iran. Once the group
has arrested Stabenow, the
letter states, the militia
will then move on and arrest
other lawmakers across the
country, including “the
president who brokered this
deal.”
U.S. Senate Democrats
revealed an ambitious
climate and energy bill on
Tuesday that would
accelerate efforts to
replace fossil fuels with
renewable energy and cut
greenhouse gas emissions to
levels below the targets
pursued by the Obama
administration.
Weather “forecasters” are
now trumpeting the arrival
of a “Godzilla” El
Niño event, but somehow they
seem to already know that
there will be no relief for
the epic California drought.
How can such a prediction be
made so early on? Because of
ongoing climate engineering.
Apple is reportedly
"accelerating" an initiative
known internally as Project
Titan to build an electric
car for the mass market.
To this end, Apple is
tripling the size of its
electric vehicle workforce
by hiring about 400 new
employees to join the 200
already working on Project
Titan.
A federal court has approved
a settlement in which the
Environmental Protection
Agency will update its
national regulations for
stormwater runoff, one of
the nation’s largest sources
of water pollution, by
November 2016. The EPA
agreed to the deadline after
the Natural Resources
Defense Council and the
Environmental Defense Center
filed a lawsuit last year to
force the agency to act,
more than a decade after a
federal court had first
ordered EPA to do so.
First you need to know this.
An equinox occurs when
the sun crosses the
celestial equator. No
matter where you are on
Earth, the celestial equator
intersects your horizon at
due east and due west. See
the diagram below to try to
visualize that.
REC Silicon may soon be
counted among the casualties
in the battle between the
United States and China over
solar panels...
China imposed import
duties of 57 percent on
imports of polysilicon from
the United States in
retaliation for anti-dumping
duties imposed by the U.S.
on Chinese module and cell
imports.
In July, REC Silicon
reduced production at the
facility in Washington State
significantly and is now
threatening to shut down the
manufacturing facility
entirely.
Look for the Harvest Moon to
shine on the night of
September 27-28, 2015. And
it’s not just any Harvest
Moon. It’s also a supermoon
that’s staging a Blood Moon
eclipse.
The Post said it obtained an
excerpt of the book,
“Unlikeable: The Problem
with Hillary,” which is set
to publish next Monday and
indicates the former
secretary of state believed
Obama aides were behind
leaks that led to multiple
investigations of her. But
her husband, former
President Bill Clinton,
reportedly didn’t want her
to meet with Obama.
The FBI has recovered
personal and work-related
e-mails from the private
computer server used by
Hillary Clinton during her
time as secretary of state,
according to a person
familiar with the
investigation.
After a prolonged period
of volatility, the global
market for solar
photovoltaic (PV) panels is
beginning to stabilize,
according to a new study by
IHS...But the good times
will not last forever. More
specifically, global solar
markets are likely to swing
back into a state of extreme
volatility in 2017,
following the reduction of
the federal investment tax
credit (ITC) in the United
States.
In April 2013, gunmen
opened fire on a California
power substation near San
Jose. A total of 17
transformers were damaged at
a facility that provides
power to most of the Silicon
Valley.
While local law
enforcement called it an act
of vandalism, the former
chairman of the Federal
Energy Regulatory Commission
declared it, “the most
significant incident of
domestic terrorism involving
the grid that has ever
occurred.”
As a federal
employee at Arlington
National Cemetery, Bobby
Bennett Harris was
authorized two fuel cards to
maintain vehicles assigned
to the nation’s most famous
burial site.
But he got
caught using those cards to
fill up his personal SUV.
What tripped him up?
One of the cards
that paid for gasoline was
assigned to an all-electric
vehicle. Oops.
From time to time, we all
have experiences when
restlessness and discontent
fade away, and we’re filled
with a sense of ease,
well-being and harmony. We
become free of pressure to
keep busy and the need for
stimulation, and rest at
ease within ourselves and
within the present moment.
West Greenland’s fjords
are much deeper than early
models showed, and hidden
there, warm ocean water is
undercutting the island’s
glacier faces, raising sea
levels faster than
previously estimated,
glaciologists have found.
A research team led by
University of California,
Irvine glaciologist Eric
Rignot battled rough waters
and an onslaught of icebergs
for three summers to map the
remote channels for the
first time.
George W. Bush’s FDA
banned the import of the
finest French artisanal
cheeses, which are usually
made from raw milk that has
been cultured with special
bacteria, and then aged,
which makes it even safer.
This ban just happened to
coincide with the French
government refusing to join
us in the invasion of Iraq
and instead criticizing us.
Now it appears that
Barack Obama’s FDA is going
after our best domestic
artisanal cheeses, also
often made from raw milk.
Companies including Goldman
Sachs, Walmart and Starbucks
joined an alliance on
Wednesday that aims to get
100 percent of electricity
from renewable sources to
combat climate change.
Thousands of bees swarmed
through a suburban Phoenix
neighborhood, stinging six
people, including four who
had to be hospitalized,
before firefighters drove
them off with foam and fire
hoses.
The black hole at the Milky
Way’s heart recently blasted
out 10 times its normal rate
of X-ray flares. Is it due
to the close passage of a
mysterious, dusty object?
There is a total eclipse of
the moon on the night of
September 27-28, 2015. It
happens to be the closest
supermoon of 2015. It’s the
Northern Hemisphere’s
Harvest Moon, or full moon
nearest the September
equinox. It’s the Southern
Hemisphere’s first full moon
of spring. This September
full moon is also called a
Blood Moon, because it
presents the fourth and
final eclipse of a lunar
tetrad: four straight
total eclipses of the moon,
spaced at six lunar months
(full moons) apart. Phew!
As much as 47 percent of the
edible U.S. seafood supply
is lost each year, mainly
from consumer waste, new
research from the Johns
Hopkins Center for a Livable
Future (CLF) suggests
Getting a flat tire might
never be an entirely
hassle-free experience, but
before too long it may no
longer be necessary to patch
or replace punctured tires.
Instead, thanks to research
currently being conducted in
Europe, damaged tires could
just be left a few hours to
heal on their own.
The North Dakota Industrial
Commission unanimously
approved Thursday an
industry-backed proposal to
delay further cuts to
associated gas flaring into
late next year while easing
more long-range flaring
reduction targets.
A man suffering complete
paralysis in both legs has
regained the ability to walk
again using electrical
signals generated by his own
brain. Unlike similar
efforts that have seen
paralyzed subjects walk
again by using their own
brainwaves to manually
control robotic limbs, the
researchers say this is the
first time a person with
complete paralysis in both
legs due to spinal cord
injury was able to walk
again under their own power
and demonstrates the
potential for noninvasive
therapies to restore control
over paralyzed limbs.
Do you remember Pig-Pen, the
Peanuts comic character
who's always surrounded by a
cloud of his own filth?
Well, it turns out that
we're actually all a little
like him. Scientists have
discovered that not only
does everyone emit an
invisible "microbial cloud,"
but that individuals can be
recognized by the bacteria
that make up their
particular cloud.
While rain forests have
long scored attention for
their role in trapping
carbon, discussions
concerning the Arctic have
centered on whether or not,
or how much, we are going to
allow companies to drill for
oil far up north.
Now, scientists are
suggesting the Arctic should
have renewed focus for
another reason: Climate
change, accelerated by the
melting of permafrost and
resulting greenhouse gas
emissions, could cost the
global economy, in the long
run, as much as $43
trillion.
The world was first
introduced to what is now
known as plastic in 1907,
and has used it ever since.
Today, plastic is discarded
throughout our oceans,
catastrophically changed
our world. The ocean is
becoming a “plastic soup”
due to the astonishing level
of plastic debris and
toxicity it causes.
The electric utility
industry is pushing back on
a proposal by the Federal
Energy Regulatory Commission
(FERC) that would establish
reliability standards for
managing the industry's
supply chain.
Next week, the State of
Alaska will begin mailing
checks for $2,072 to each of
the state's more than
644,000 residents. It will
be the largest payout for
state residents from oil and
mineral royalties in the
state's history, surpassing
the previous record of
$2,069 paid out by the fund
in 2008.
Greenpeace International and
the Global Wind Energy
Council have released a new
report. It shows the way
towards an energy sector
powered by 100 % renewable
energy, which is at the same
time said to be the only
chance to meet the agreed
target of keeping global
mean temperature rise below
2°C.
Solar activity has been at
very low levels. Solar
activity is expected to be
low with a chance for
M-class flares on days one,
two, and three (25 Sep, 26
Sep, 27 Sep). The
geomagnetic field is
expected to be at quiet to
active levels on days one
and two (25 Sep, 26 Sep) and
quiet to unsettled levels on
day three (27 Sep).
New research has found
rising sea levels and
stronger storms associated
with climate change will
produce longer-lasting, more
intense periods of flooding.
Many studies predict
that future sea-level rise
along the U.S. Atlantic and
Gulf coasts will increase
flooding. Others suggest
that the human-caused
warming driving this rise
will also boost the
intensity and frequency of
big coastal storms.
Tragedy
is no stranger to the hajj,
which draws massive crowds
in 100-degree heat. In 1990,
more than 1,400 Muslim
pilgrims en route to Mecca
suffocated or were trampled
to death in a stampede into
an
air-conditioned pedestrian
tunnel.
Researchers at the Stanford
University have developed a
new coating that allows
sunlight to hit solar cells
while shunting away the heat
they generated to improve
their work efficiency.
Studying the skin biopsies
of patients with three
different forms of ASD,
scientists from the
University of California,
Irvine (UCI) have discovered
this convergence of defects
in the calcium signaling
channel in the endoplasmic
reticulum (ER). The ER
belongs to a group of
specialized membrane
structures within cells
called organelles.
EDF, the state-controlled
electric utility company
based in Paris, France, is
pinning its hopes for growth
on renewable energy
investments, including
investments in markets
outside of Europe.
A tropical storm could
have carried the corn
disease tar spot into the
heart of the U.S. farm belt
for the first time, as winds
and rain blew in from Latin
America, researchers told
Reuters.
The U.S. Department of
Agriculture has confirmed
cases of tar spot in four
locations in Indiana and
three in Illinois. The
fungal disease has been a
problem for years in Mexico
and in Central and South
America, with farmers
fighting infections that can
lower yields.
As energy industry and
government officials alike
wrestle with the best way to
limit the release of methane
into the atmosphere, a new
study reveals that US cities
with programs calling for
the replacement of aging
natural gas pipeline have
90% fewer leaks per mile
than cities without such
programs.
The laser weapon system
under development will be
used for destroying aerial
drones and combating small
attack vessels during a
so-called "swarm" attack.
High-energy lasers are part
of a new class of military
instruments known generally
as "directed energy
weapons."
Evidence suggests there
are three causes
promoting Alzheimer’s
symptoms: type 3
diabetes, gut
dysfunction, and a
slow-acting human form
of Mad Cow disease
Researchers have
presented the first
theoretical evidence for
human-to-human
transmission of
misfolded proteins
associated with
Alzheimer’s pathology,
via injection with
prion-contaminated
growth hormone
Research has also shown
amyloid-beta proteins
injected into animals
act as self-propagating
“seeds,” inciting a
chain reaction of
protein misfolding that
results in Alzheimer’s
pathology
Ahh, Common Core math. Now
implemented in 46 states,
the controversial standards
have had parents crossing
their eyes in confusion and
frustration since the day it
was introduced.
Many of us were raised by
our parents to respect those
who fought to ensure our
freedom and taught that we
should vote because the vote
is the basis of our freedom.
It is what separates us from
tyrannies and dictatorships,
the right to choose who or
which political party
represents you. It
supposedly keeps the
politicians on their toes
and is a means of keeping
checks and balances
After emerging from talks
late Monday in Morocco,
Bernardino Leon told
reporters that "we finished
our work. ... Now it is up
to the parties, up to the
participants in this
dialogue to react to this
text."
The participants are
expected to resume talks
after this week's Muslim
feast of Eid al-Adha to
discuss who could be
prime minister for a
unity government, and
decide whether to sign
on to the accord.
"We will be closing Cholla
Unit 2 as scheduled in April
2016 . In advance of closing
the unit, we are going to
stop production at the unit
on Oct. 1," Gotfried said.
A new study has now
determined that major
changes have taken place
during the last two
centuries.
By comparing the
migration of plant
communities on the
Chimborazo volcano in
Ecuador with historical data
from 1802, Aarhus University
researchers found an average
upslope shift of more than
500 metres. The entire
vegetation boundary has
moved upwards from 4,600
metres to almost 5,200
metres. The main explanation
for this dramatic shift is
climate change over the last
210 years.
A looming federal budget
confrontation and Republican
hostility to UN
global-warming talks
threaten a U.S. down payment
into a key climate-aid fund,
money considered vital to a
climate deal in Paris this
December.
President Barack Obama
had requested $500 million
in the 2016 budget for the
first tranche of its $3
billion pledge into a
UN-administered Green
Climate Fund (GCF) that
would help poorer countries
make a transition to clean
energy technologies and
adapt to climate change.
There are two reasons why we
have more than 12 hours of
daylight on the day of
equinox. First, the sun is a
disk, not a point of light.
Second, the Earth’s
atmosphere refracts (bends)
sunlight. These factors add
up to provide an additional
8 or so minutes of daylight
on the day of the equinox at
mid-temperate latitudes.
Signaling yet another
victory for the clean food
movement, the largest spice
company in the world has
announced it will be almost
entirely organic and non-GMO
by the year 2016.
Because of the organic
and non-GMO food boom, other
companies such as Simply
Organic have been able to
grow thanks to the support
of customers looking for
cleaner options.
We all wander through life
searching for a higher
purpose. We live with the
same questions. Who are we?
Why are we here? What are we
meant to be doing? Am I
living my best life?
Investigators are looking
into a case of what appears
to be intentional poisoning
or possibly even attempted
homicide that affected
nearly three dozen holistic
doctors attending a recent
conference in Hamburg,
Germany. Reports indicate
that the 29 healers fell ill
after being exposed to a
dangerous and illegal
amphetamine drug known as
2C-E, or “Aquarust.”
Marine Species Have Been Cut
in Half in Just 40 Years...
“The ocean works hard in the
background to keep us alive,
generating half of the
world’s oxygen and absorbing
almost a third of the carbon
dioxide produced from
burning fossil fuels. It
also feeds billions of
people around the globe,
some of whom rely solely on
the oceans to survive. These
devastating figures reveal
how quickly human beings are
changing the wildlife in our
oceans and are a stark
warning of the problems we
might face as a result,”
said Professor Ken Norris,
Director of Science at ZSL.
A third or more of all the
honey consumed in the U.S.
is likely to have been
smuggled in from China and
may be tainted with illegal
antibiotics and heavy
metals. A Food
Safety News
investigation has documented
that millions of pounds of
honey banned as unsafe in
dozens of countries are
being imported and sold here
in record quantities.
Scientists have evidence
that Popeye was right:
Spinach makes you stronger.
But it’s the high nitrate
content in the leafy greens
— not the iron — that
creates the effect.
The Buteyko Breathing
Method is a powerful
counterintuitive
approach for reversing
many health problems
associated with improper
breathing, such as
asthma, hypertension,
anxiety, and sleep apnea
Hyperventilation or
overbreathing is defined
as “breathing in excess
of metabolic
requirements of the body
at that time”
The repercussions of
chronic overbreathing
include cardiovascular,
neurological,
respiratory, muscular,
gastrointestinal, and
psychological effects
After EPA staff and
contractors spilled 3
million gallons of toxic
mining wastewater into a
river system in Colorado
last month, the agency is
facing intense criticism on
Capitol Hill.
Congressional Republicans
are getting in line to
chastise the EPA by means of
a series of public meetings.
The U.S. Navy has agreed
to limit its use of sonar
and explosives training that
harms whales, dolphins and
other marine mammals off
Hawaii and California in a
settlement with
environmental groups.
Signed by a federal judge
in Honolulu, the combined
settlement of two cases
orders limits or bans on
mid-frequency active sonar
and explosives in areas of
vital habitat around the
Hawaiian Islands and
Southern California, said
Earthjustice attorney David
Henkin.
Under the arrangement, the
Southern California agency
would be able to use 150,000
acre-feet of surplus water
this year if needed, while
allowing Nevada to buy it
back in future years, the
Southern Nevada Water
Authority said in a
statement on its website.
September equinox is
Wednesday, September 23 at
8:21 UTC. Autumn (or spring)
is coming!
Goodness
“Goodness is about character
- integrity, honesty,
kindness, generosity, moral
courage, and the like. More
than anything else, it is
about how we treat other
people.” ― Dennis Prager
For those who are highly
particular verging on
suspicious about which
charitable organizations you
choose to give your money
to, you could be onto
something. 5 years after the
devastating earthquake in
Haiti and it appears that
very little has been
accomplished with the
massive amount of donated
money the American Red Cross
collected during the
disaster.
There’s a heightening level
of awareness within the
human race with regards to
nature and all that it
contained within it.
Everything from the
discoveries of the rudiments
of language in monkeys,
metacognition in dolphins,
self-awareness of elephants,
the ability for animals to
tell “right” from “wrong”,
to the creation and
extension of bills of rights
for animals and plants by
countries such as
Switzerland and Ecuador as
well as the acknowledgment
of dolphins as being
non-human persons.
...a severe drought in
recent years, combined with
the tapping of the lake's
water at what many consider
to be an unsustainable
level, has reduced its
levels to only about 42
percent of its capacity,
according to the U.S. space
agency NASA.
A little over 30 years ago,
a teenager named Jadav
“Molai” Payeng began burying
seeds along a barren sandbar
near his birthplace in
northern India’s Assam
region to grow a refuge for
wildlife. Not long after, he
decided to dedicate his life
to this endeavor, so he
moved to the site where he
could work full-time
creating a lush new forest
ecosystem. Incredibly, the
spot today hosts a sprawling
1,360 acre of jungle that
Payeng planted
single-handedly.
Luck
“I've found that luck is
quite predictable. If you
want more luck, take more
chances. Be more active.
Show up more often.” ― Brian
Tracy
When two of the most
modernized and economically
powerful countries in the
world decide to ban a type
of food crop that has made
its way into roughly 70-80%
or more of the U.S. food
supply, you’d think it would
be considered newsworthy.
But the United States
media has missed the boat
yet again on major
happenings relating to GMO
crops overseas.
Getting close to nature
might improve the quality of
your sleep, new research
suggests. Seniors and men
sleep more soundly if they
have access to natural
surroundings, such as
beaches or parks, according
to a study published in the
September issue of the
journal Preventive
Medicine.
"It's
hard to overestimate the
importance of high-quality
sleep," study author Diana
Grigsby-Toussaint, a
professor of kinesiology and
community health at the
University of Illinois.
Nine out of 10 new diesel
cars are failing to meet
European Union air pollution
limits, according to a
report published Monday by
the nonprofit sustainable
transport group Transport &
Environment.
Wastewater spills at
energy operations in the
U.S. are on the rise,
possibly reaching more than
180 million gallons over
five years.
Such wastewater spills
are an “overlooked side
effect” of the drilling
boom, according to the
Associated Press, which
crunched the numbers in a
recent analysis of spills
between 2009 and 2014.
California environment
officials have issued a
notice of intent to put
a Prop 65 cancer warning
on Roundup
In 2013, in the midst of
mounting questions about
glyphosate’s safety, the
Environmental Protection
Agency doubled allowable
limits of glyphosate in
flax, soybean, and
canola from 20 to 40 ppm
Researchers found
Roundup causes necrosis
and apoptosis in human
cells starting at 50
ppm, which the
researchers noted is
“far below agricultural
dilutions”
C8 event observed.
Solar Activity Forecast:
Solar activity is expected
to be low with a chance for
M-class flares on days one,
two, and three (22 Sep, 23
Sep, 24 Sep). The
geomagnetic field is
expected to be at quiet to
unsettled levels on days one
and three (22 Sep, 24 Sep)
and quiet to active levels
on day two (23 Sep). Protons
greater than 10 Mev have a
slight chance of crossing
threshold on day one (22
Sep).
The second grader,
whose parents are from the
Seneca and Pauite tribes,
decided he wanted a
hairstyle "popular to Native
peoples" according to his
father, but the school,
Arrowhead Elementary called
the student's mother to tell
her it was against the dress
code.
Size of your success
“The size of your success
is measured by the strength
of your desire; the size of
your dream; and how you
handle disappointment along
the way.” ― Robert Kiyosaki
“The United States has
experienced a significant
move away from rule of law
and toward a highly
regulated, politicized and
heavily policed state,”
Lawson says in the Dallas
Morning News. “During the
past decade, non-tariff
trade barriers, restrictions
on foreign investment and
business regulations of
various kinds have grown
extensively.”
f we were to consider the
towering crises faced by the
21st century and trace them
to their roots, we would
find that each of them leads
back to the same cultural
force: the one that tells us
who we are. Culturally
speaking, ‘living in the
head’ is the elephant in the
room: it dominates all we
do, and no one seems willing
to start a conversation
about it. New Self, New
World initiates that
conversation.
On a dog walk this summer, I
strolled through a local
Catholic university, and
there it was: a sign with a
Dalai Lama quote that said
"Be Kind Whenever Possible.
It is always possible."
RAW milk was legal until
1986 & today the ban is
based on mainly one study.
The CDC states, “While it is
possible to get foodborne
illnesses from many
different foods, raw milk is
one of the riskiest of all.”
But is it so?
The supermoon eclipse is set
to occur on Sept. 27th
offering skywatchers in
North and South America,
western Asia, Europe, Africa
and the Eastern Pacific
Ocean region with the
chances to witness the rare
celestial treat.
The relationships among
living things, as they
diverged from one another
from the beginning of life
on Earth more than 3.5
billion years ago, are shown
for the first time in a
comprehensive Tree of Life.
Tens of thousands of
smaller trees of life have
been published over the
years for select branches of
the tree, some containing
more than 100,000 species,
but this is the first time
those results have been
combined into a single tree
that attempts to encompass
all forms of life.
It’s official: Most of
the U.S. is facing drought
conditions.
“The U.S. Drought
Monitor, which runs its
analyses every Tuesday and
releases the data every
Thursday, says that 52.00%
of the United States —
including Alaska, Hawaii,
and Puerto Rico — is
suffering from a lack of
precipitation and is now
abnormally dry or stuck in a
drought,”...
When you are ready and
willing to wake up, you must
stop shifting responsibility
and you must take complete
ownership of the dream
called your life. Every
time you blame someone or
something you give your
power away and you stay
asleep.
On Wednesday, the Obama
Administration said it would
provide $102 million in
funding to support clean
energy innovation.
The funds will flow through
the U.S. Department of
Energy (DOE), which will use
the bulk of the money to
support development of solar
power technologies.
Air contaminated with
pollutants such as ozone and
tiny particles could cause
the premature death of about
6.6 million people a year by
2050 if nothing is done to
improve air quality,
scientists warned on
Wednesday.
In a study published in
the journal Nature, they
found that outdoor air
pollution already kills
about 3.3 million people a
year worldwide. The majority
of those deaths are in Asia
where residential energy
emissions, such as those
from heating and cooking,
have a major impact.
For the second straight
week, average long-term U.S.
mortgage rates inched up
this week as financial
markets awaited the Federal
Reserve's crucial decision
on interest rates.
China appears to be
building a third airstrip in
disputed waters in the South
China Sea, according to new
satellite images analyzed by
the Washington-based Center
for Strategic and
International Studies
(CSIS).
The images, taken
September 8, come after
China pledged to bring land
reclamation in those waters
to a halt, and will make for
uncomfortable discussions
when Chinese President Xi
Jinping visits Washington
next week.
When the International
Energy Agency reported in
March that global carbon
emissions had stayed flat in
2014, even as the world
economy grew, the news was
hailed as a turning point in
the struggle to curb climate
change.
But more recent data
about Chinese coal
consumption, seen by
Reuters, raise doubts about
whether that historic
decoupling of economic
growth and carbon emissions
from energy use actually
occurred.
"Published media reports
suggest that the CIA's
estimate of ISIL's manpower
has remained constant,
despite U.S.
airstrikes-which suggests
that either they were wrong
to begin with, or that ISIL
is replacing its losses in
real time. Neither is good,"
said committee chairman Sen.
John McCain, R-Ariz.
Brain scans of a
world-record holding
athlete, who started
exercise in her late 70s
and continued into her
90s, reveals clues about
the effects of late-life
exercise
The white matter of her
brain, which connects
neurons and transmits
messages in the brain,
had fewer abnormalities
than that of her
less-active peers
Her brain’s memory
center, or hippocampus,
was also larger and she
outperformed typical
adults aged 90 to 95
years on tests of speed
and memory
Earth's record-breaking
heat is sounding an awful
lot like a broken record.
The National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration
announced Thursday that
August, this past summer and
the first eight months of
2015 all smashed global
records for heat.
The National Institutes
of Health (NIH) has spent
nearly $1.5 million studying
how infants think about
food.
The project, "Infants'
and Children's Reasoning
About Foods," is being
conducted by the University
of Chicago and so far has
determined that young
children would rather not
eat food that someone has
licked or sneezed on.
The Fermi 2 nuclear power
plant will remain shut down
for an unspecified time
after a cooling system on
the plant's turbine and
related equipment failed
Sunday...DTE won't disclose
when the plant will go back
online because the utility
said it is trying to avoid
potential spikes in the cost
of power if it has to make
purchases on the wholesale
energy market while its
plant is down, Cerullo said.
General Motors admitted
it failed to disclose to the
public a deadly problem with
small-car ignition switches
as part of a $900 million
deal reached with federal
authorities to avoid
criminal charges,
authorities announced
Thursday.
The automaker will retain
an independent monitor to
review and assess its
policies to ensure
compliance with the
agreement with the
government, according to
court papers released by
U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara
in Manhattan.
Over the past 25 years
the rate of global
deforestation has slowed by
more than 50 percent, even
though the world’s forests
continue to shrink as
populations increase and
forested land is developed,
the UN’s Food and
Agriculture Organization,
FAO, reports.
Some 129 million hectares
of forest – an area almost
equivalent in size to South
Africa – have been lost
since 1990, according to
FAO’s most comprehensive
forest review to date, “The
Global Forest Resources
Assessment 2015.”
A French startup working
with a top government lab
says it has developed
in-vitro human sperm,
claiming a breakthrough in
infertility treatment sought
for more than a decade.
Rising temperatures at
the top of the world may be
bad news for Arctic denizens
like polar bears, but good
news for the local
mosquitoes, pesky
bloodsuckers that prosper
with warmer weather.
Researchers said on
Tuesday that increasing
temperatures were enabling
Arctic mosquitoes to grow
more quickly and emerge
sooner from their pupal
stage, greatly expanding
their numbers and menacing
the caribou whose blood they
eat.
With a strong commitment to
renewables and the
announcement of additional
funding U.S. Vice President
Joe Biden wowed the audience
at Solar Power International
Wednesday morning.
China burned more coal
between 2000 and 2013 than
the country said it did,
according to China's
National Bureau of
Statistics, which has
revised previously reported
data on coal consumption and
production between 2000 and
2013.
The revisions, which appear
in the 2015 version of
China's Statistical Abstract
(CSA), indicate that total
coal consumption during the
13 year period was 14%
higher than previously
reported...
The amount of fish in the
oceans has halved since
1970, in a plunge to the
"brink of collapse" caused
by over-fishing and other
threats, the WWF
conservation group said on
Wednesday.
Populations of some
commercial fish stocks, such
as a group including tuna,
mackerel and bonito, had
fallen by almost 75 percent,
according to a study by the
WWF and the Zoological
Society of London (ZSL).
The long-term contracts
auction - covering the
period between June 2018 and
June 2019 - took place under
new federal rules designed
to help avoid a repeat of
the spike in prices and
plant failures seen as a
result of the 2014 polar
vortex, which strained
natural gas supplies.
While acknowledging certain
vaccines and admitting his
own family receives them,
the presidential contender,
who was attacked early on in
the debate by billionaire
Donald Trump, went on to
uphold the right of parents
to mete out vaccines as they
see fit
Politicians must act to
cap global warming when they
meet at a United Nations
summit at the end of the
year as the financial and
humanitarian consequences of
natural catastrophes become
ever clearer, reinsurers
meeting at an industry
conference said.
The $600 billion
reinsurance industry helps
insurance companies pay
damage claims from
hurricanes, floods or
earthquakes and can help
people and companies get
back on their feet after a
disaster.
M1 event observed.
Solar activity is expected
to be low with a chance for
M-class flares on days one,
two, and three (18 Sep, 19
Sep, 20 Sep). The
geomagnetic field is
expected to be at quiet to
unsettled levels on day one
(18 Sep) and quiet to active
levels on days two and three
(19 Sep, 20 Sep).
There is a scurrilous
fabrication being
disseminated by the Catholic
Church regarding Junípero
Serra, the missionary whom
Pope Francis intends to
canonize on September 23,
2015.
U.S. consumer spending
grew at a fairly healthy
pace over the past two
months, pointing to
underlying strength in
domestic demand that could
strengthen the case for the
Federal Reserve to hike
interest rates on Thursday.
While other data
on Tuesday showed continued
weakness in manufacturing,
economists said that was
unlikely to have much impact
on the U.S. central bank's
decision whether to raise
rates for the first time in
nearly a decade.
US Gulf Coast gasoline
blenders and refiners'
production of finished
gasoline increased 190,000
b/d or 9.2% week on week to
2.249 million b/d in the
week that ended September
11, posting a five-year high
for the second week of
September as refineries
continue to run at high
rates.
Gulf Coast
refiners bumped up
production to utilize 92.3%
of their refineries'
operable capacity,
recovering from a spate of
production issues in the
previous week, when capacity
utilization was 87.6%.
A consensus of analysts
surveyed by Platts Wednesday
expects the US Energy
Information Administration
on Thursday will estimate a
natural gas storage
injection of 70-74 Bcf for
the reporting week that
ended September 11.
Fracking by the U.S. oil
and gas industry has
increased the burden on the
nation's water resources,
but still accounts for less
than 1 percent of America's
total industrial water use,
according to a paper by
researchers at Duke
University published on
Tuesday.
The controversial
extraction method consumed
roughly 48 billion gallons
of water per year from 2012
to 2014, according to the
study published in the
journal Environmental
Science & Technology
Letters, roughly the same
amount that flows over
Niagara Falls in 18 hours.
What is Possible
“What we can or cannot do,
what we consider possible or
impossible, is rarely a
function of our true
capability. It is more
likely a function of our
beliefs about who we are.” ―
Tony Robbins
Deciding we want to commit
to the spiritual path is
easy, but it can be harder
to live up to our
commitment. At the first
sign of trouble, we could
easily depart the path in
favor of a lifestyle that
doesn’t challenge us as
much, but if we do, we’ll
miss out on all of the
incredible things the path
has for us
Astronauts have been
drinking distilled urine
since 2009, and they
currently recapture 93
percent of wastewater, but
the system they’re using now
is heavy, slow and has been
prone to breaking down. It
spins the urine at high
speed to separate out the
water vapor, then treats
it chemically. The system
can recycle 6,000 liters a
year, but that's not enough
to sustain a crew of
multiple astronauts over a
long period.
In fact, the average
American consumes three
pounds of the sweet white
poison per week! And it’s
easy to understand why. As
we’ve written about before,
sugar is addictive, with
some brain scans suggesting
that it’s just as addictive
as drugs like cocaine...
We've all heard about how
sugar causes obesity,
diabetes, and a bunch of
other chronic diseases...
honey a powerful tool for
fighting skin infections,
healing wounds, and
otherwise supporting your
immune system. (And its why
honey is able to last for so
long in your cupboard
without going bad.)
***
“By failing to prepare, you
are preparing to fail.” ―
Benjamin Franklin
The California State
Assembly has passed
legislation that would
significantly increase the
use of renewable energy and
dramatically increase the
energy efficiency of
buildings in California.
The snowpack in
California's Sierra Nevada
mountains probably shrank to
the lowest in 500 years this
year and climate change may
cause further declines,
worsening water shortages in
the drought-stricken state,
a U.S. study said on Monday.
The snowpack in the
mountain range this spring
was just 5 percent of the
average in the second half
of the 20th century and
scientists said the findings
indicated "the 2015 low is
unprecedented in the context
of the past 500 years."
The United States could
already be at war with China
and not be aware of it: The
People’s Liberation Army has
a detailed plan for an
attack on America that uses
currency and computers,
rather than bullets and
bombs.
It’s an updated version
of the “asymmetric warfare”
strategy employed by
military leaders from George
Washington to Ho Chi Minh.
But now, technology allows
nations across the globe to
take the battlefield
anywhere in the world.
The blue light emitted by
the screens on cell phones,
tablets, TVs, and computers
could be making it hard for
us to sleep, and perhaps
worse yet, may be damaging
our retinas. Manufacturers
are trying to look at this
as more of an opportunity
than a problem.
At a time of record low
renewable energy power
purchase agreements in the
United States –- as projects
compete for buyers before
federal subsidies expire --
corporate buyers could bring
real benefits to other
energy customers. Working
with their utilities,
corporations could help to
lock in low electricity
costs that everyone can
enjoy later.
The
dollar held close to a
three-week low against a
basket of major currencies
on Monday in advance of this
week's Federal Reserve
meeting, as investors bet
interest rates would be kept
at their record lows until
at least December.
The
greenback has retreated from
12-year highs set in March,
as rate hike expectations
have been pushed back on
uneven domestic data and
turbulent market conditions
due to worries about China,
the world's No. 2 economy.
Uncertainty is swirling.
China, the largest foreign
holder of U.S. treasury
bonds, has begun selling
U.S. debt to prop up its
currency and financial
markets. If this liquidation
accelerates, U.S. interest
rates could rise with
potentially drastic economic
consequence
The government wasted no
time after the election in
killing the country’s
onshore wind power sector
and is now taking its
wrecking ball to the solar
industry, despite the energy
and climate change
secretary, Amber Rudd’s call
only months ago for a “solar
revolution”
Newspapers constantly
announce that the nation's
power grid is vulnerable to
cyber attack. Delivery and
control of this essential
service depends on
technology. Healthcare
companies that hold some of
our most closely guarded
private information are at
risk. Hackers want that
information.
September 14, 2015 (ENS)
– One person is dead and up
to 1,000 homes and buildings
have burned down in a
fast-moving northern
California wildfire that
exploded through dry brush
and trees, fire officials
said.
Started Saturday, the
Valley Fire had set 50,000
acres ablaze as of Sunday
night, forcing thousands of
people in Lake and Napa
counties to flee their
homes. The cause of the fire
is under investigation.
Germany is a preferred
destination for many people
fleeing Syria's civil war
and other troubled nations
in the migration crisis that
has bitterly divided Europe.
They have braved dangerous
sea crossings in flimsy
boats — another 34 drowned
Sunday off Greece — and made
long treks across
unwelcoming countries in
hopes of a better life.
Are you being fooled by
deceptive marketing
techniques when it comes to
the products you buy at the
grocery store? Even hardened
food experts are being
tricked by one of the newest
trends in food labeling.
Although the world's
permafrost is one of the
most important pieces in
Earth's climate-system
puzzle, to date it has been
missing in most climate
models. The reason: data on
temperature and the active
layer thickness were neither
comprehensive nor were they
available in a standard
format suitable for
modelling. With the new
Global Terrestrial Network
for Permafrost (GTN-P),
scientists from 25 countries
have now filled this gap in
the data.
Several hundred inmates
escaped after Taliban
militants attacked a prison
overnight, Afghan officials
said.
The siege began when a
suicide bomber detonated a
device near the gate of the
main prison in Ghazni at
around 2 a.m. local time,
Deputy Provincial Gov.
Mohammad Ali Ahmadi told NBC
News.
"Very well-armed and
well-organized" militants
followed closely behind, he
said.
***
“Ever since I was a child I
have had this instinctive
urge for expansion and
growth. To me, the function
and duty of a quality human
being is the sincere and
honest development of one's
potential.” ― Bruce Lee
***
“Far away there in the
sunshine are my highest
aspirations. I may not reach
them, but I can look up and
see their beauty, believe in
them, and try to follow
where they lead.” ― Louisa
May Alcott
As fighting rages on in
Yemen, troops from the
United Arab Emirates that
are part of a Saudi-led
coalition battling Shiite
rebels are pushing toward
the country's rebel-held
capital, Sanaa, after
securing a strategic
provincial city, the
commander of an Emirati
contingent said Monday.
Previous estimates from
Western analysts indicated
that Iran’s uranium reserves
were low and that the raw
material required for its
nuclear program would soon
have to be imported.
The IRS has issued a ruling
that could broaden the
already-growing community
solar market, making it
available to more people
without space for
photovoltaic panels on their
rooftops.
The Clean Power Plan is a
blow to the struggling coal
industry, but not the fatal
one...
It's worth remembering that
while Obama and the U.S.
Environmental Protection
Agency had some choice in
how to regulate carbon
dioxide, they had no choice
in whether to regulate it.
Supreme Court decisions
since 2007 have affirmed
that carbon is a pollutant
the EPA is legally required
to control.
Thousands of Lebanese
demonstrators braved a
sandstorm and oppressive
humidity to take to Beirut
streets on Wednesday and
rally against government
dysfunction, as politicians
met for the first round of
talks aimed at averting a
political crisis that
stemmed from a trash crisis
that has engulfed the
country's capital.
In support of food
freedom, two members of
the US Congress recently
sat down for an
“illegal” meal of hemp
scones, non
USDA-inspected steak,
non-inspected eggs,
kombucha, and raw milk
A number of bills have
been introduced, aimed
at improving consumer
choice by loosening
regulations on small
farms that sell foods
such as raw milk, beef,
kombucha, and hemp
The Interstate Milk
Freedom Act of 2014
would allow raw milk to
be sold nationwide,
across state lines. The
Industrial Hemp Farming
Act of 2015 would amend
the Controlled
Substances Act to
exclude hemp
A London-based scientist has
created a line of men's
undergarments that protects
against electromagnetic
radiation from personal
gadgets that can have
adverse effects on male
fertility.
Today, CEO of MHG, Paul A.
Pereira announced the
company is sponsoring an
expedition to raise
awareness regarding plastic
pollution on a global scale.
On September 2nd,
the “From Florence to
Singapore” expedition began
in Florence, and they will
travel through thirty
countries and complete the
trek in Singapore,
mid-December of 2015.
In the day-to-day happenings
of world politics, the
United States and Russia are
presented on the global
stage as arch-enemies. Up in
space, however, it’s a
completely different story.
Enter the International
Space Station (ISS), which
for years has housed
astronauts from both
countries along with
life-support systems unique
to each country’s needs. The
two sides have long remained
separate from one another
until recently.
It’s not the first time
within the last year that
scientists have managed to
“reanimate” an ancient virus
frozen for thousands of
years in permafrost, but
they more recently reported
a “fourth type of giant
virus.”
The fact is, if you don't
take action or if you
stockpile the wrong foods,
you could be setting your
family up to be hungry in a
time of crisis. It sounds
harsh, but the truth is too
many people with good
intentions are making
critical mistakes with their
food stockpiles.
New research on the use of
psychedelic drugs as
treatment for a range of
mental disorders appears to
be throwing open doors of
perception long closed
within the medical
community, says a new
analysis in the Canadian
Medical Association Journal.
For several decades, the
North American medical
establishment has classified
psychedelic drugs—including
lysergic acid diethylamide,
or LSD, psilocybin and
methylenedioxymethamphetamine,
or MDMA — as drugs of abuse
with little to no medical
purpose or means of safe
use.
Millennium Stimulation
Services has developed a
process that allows
hydraulic fracturing to both
reduce greenhouse gases and
provide a completely
waterless solution. Using
natural gas as a fracturing
fluid provides an
environmentally friendly
solution, as well as an
economically sound
alternative for producers.
Solar activity is expected
to be very low with a chance
for a C-class flares on days
one, two, and three (15 Sep,
16 Sep, 17 Sep). The
geomagnetic field is
expected to be at unsettled
to minor storm levels on day
one (15 Sep), unsettled to
active levels on day two (16
Sep) and quiet levels on day
three (17 Sep).
Legislation that would allow
doctors to prescribe
life-ending medication to
terminally ill patients
cleared a major hurdle
Wednesday when the state
Assembly passed the measure
on a 42 to 33 vote after an
emotionally wrenching debate
that left many legislators
in tears.
Russian forces have begun
participating in military
operations in Syria
in support of government
troops, three Lebanese
sources familiar with the
political and military
situation there said on
Wednesday.
There’s good news and bad
news for Paleo dieters.
The good news: you should
feel free to eat oats. The
bad news: now we have even
more evidence that the Paleo
diet’s premise is unfounded.
Despite a series of setbacks
over the past decade,
nuclear power will continue
to grow globally over the
coming decades, according to
new projections form the
International Atomic Energy
Agency (IAEA).
The surge in deployment of
solar panels is accelerating
the pace of growth in the
global power electronics
market, a critical segment
of the solar industry supply
chain.
Although the average price
for conventional solar
inverters declined by 16%
last year, the power
electronics industry
reported significant revenue
growth during the same
period. Indeed, the segments
of the power electronics
market catering to the solar
industry grew by nearly one
third year over year to
about half a billion dollars
in 2014.
SunEdison, the world's
largest renewable energy
development company based in
St. Louis, Missouri, is
buying a 33% stake in a
portfolio of solar projects
owned by Dominion Resources,
a public utility holding
company based in Richmond,
Virginia, for roughly $300
million.
A sizable number of Mormons
in Utah are prepping for the
end times, which they
believe may begin this
month, The Salt Lake Tribune
reports.
Several
makers of survival food and
gear report a huge spike in
sales over the past few
months. The reason is a mix
of world events and prophecy
from the Bible and a Mormon
author who had a near death
experience in 2004.
***
“Success is not the key to
happiness. Happiness is the
key to success. If you love
what you are doing, you will
be successful.” ― Albert
Schweitzer
The company that managed
Hillary Rodham Clinton’s
private e-mail server said
it has “no knowledge of the
server being wiped,” the
strongest indication to date
that tens of thousands of
e-mails that Clinton has
said were deleted could be
recovered.
For a growing number of
people focusing on matters
of consciousness, sacred
knowledge and personal
freedom, the reclamation of
the word sovereign has
become profoundly
consequential. Within this
paradigm, to recognize
oneself as a sovereign being
is to acknowledge one’s own
total spiritual autonomy and
unconditional entitlement to
self-determination. It is a
primary avowal of oneself as
a free and natural human
being – not a serf, a
subject, a corporate entity,
or even a citizen. No
persons or man-made laws
have any jurisdiction
whatsoever over a sovereign
being. This is all very
alarming for any empire that
secretly prefers its
populace to feel toothless.
Two
topless women were arrested
in France over the weekend
after they jumped on stage
at a conference as preachers
discussed the role of Muslim
women...
Inna
Shevchenko, a spokeswoman
for the protest group, told
the Telegraph that the
demonstration occurred while
the fundamentalist preachers
were discussing “whether
wives should be beaten or
not.” One of the protesters
had the words, “I am my own
prophet” written across her
chest. The other’s chest
read, “No one subjugates
me.”
We live during a time of
awakening consciousness, a
time in which we are
exploring ways to bring the
Sacred Feminine to a more
central focus in our lives,
in order to stop the wars,
bring compassion to all, and
nurture our Earth Mother who
gives us everything we need.
In a time of great change
such as we live in today, it
is critical, perhaps even a
life-or-death matter, to
explore the idea of women
connecting with their
deepest inner knowing and
powerful creative energy to
find their passion and
transform the world
Uranium levels are around
180 times the safe limit in
aquifers serving nearly 2
million people in the
Midwest and California,
according to new research.
Monycka Snowbird is one
among a growing number of
Native people and
organizations in the United
States both on and off
tribal land committed to
leading clean, sustainable,
and culturally competent
lives.
The oil and gas industry is
undergoing a series of
dramatic shifts with one
common outcome: extracting
hydrocarbons is harder than
ever before. Production from
the world’s largest
conventional fields is in
decline while national oil
companies continue to
control the majority of the
world’s oil reserves.
Devout Christians and
Muslims believe that Jesus
is coming. Devout Christians
and Muslims believe that
time is short and that we
need to living differently
in light of the coming of
the messiah and his kingdom.
Sometimes it is good to
take stock, sit back and
take a look at the wider
picture in relation to the
electric car market. Each
day seems to bring yet
another raft of criticism,
concerns and cheap shots at
an industry which has come
on in leaps and bounds over
the last decade. While where
we are today is certainly
some way from the finish
line there is no doubt that
amazing progress has been
made with the likes of Tesla
pushing the industry to new
highs.
So, why are people so
negative about electric cars
and unable or unwilling to
appreciate the technology
which it has created?
At the upcoming U.N.
climate conference, most of
the world’s major nations
will pledge to make
significant reductions in
greenhouse gas emissions.
But serious doubts remain as
to whether these promised
cuts will be nearly enough
to avoid the most severe
impacts of climate change.
Dozens of wind turbines,
their blades swooping
rhythmically through the
air, punctuate thousands of
acres of rolling ranchland
north of Williams. For three
years, the spinning blades
at Perrin Ranch Wind Energy
Center have caught northern
Arizona's wind, turning it
into power that gets shot
across massive power lines
onto the region's electric
grid.
So, I hope this inspires you
to reach out to those you
love even more — whoever or
whatever they may be — and
share your love, today. May
we not forget our love and
may we band together more
and more in support,
especially in the face of a
world going mad. And may it
one day, finally, rub off on
those who have never tasted
true love.
A tragic mass-poisoning
of nearly 30 naturopaths and
holistic doctors has just
occurred with no clear
explanation of how this
unfortunate situation came
about.
German authorities are
diligently trying to figure
out how 29 people were
poisoned with toxic doses of
amphetamines which left some
on the verge of death. Below
you can see rescue crews
hurrying to save their
lives.
According to USNews, the
29 natural doctors were
simultaneously poisoned at a
homeopathic conference this
past Saturday in Handeloh,
Germany. At approximately
2:25 p.m., an emergency was
called in from the
convention center requesting
assistance. An hour and a
half later 150 first
responders faced an
incredibly horrifying scene.
Just ahead of the 14th
anniversary of al Qaeda’s
9/11 attacks on the U.S.,
the leader of the terrorist
group took aim in an angry
speech at a mortal enemy —
but not American “crusaders”
this time. Rather, the
object of his tirade was the
leader of ISIS in a
declaration of war that will
“irreconcilably” divide the
two terror groups in a way
the U.S. may be able to
exploit, experts say.
American car racing legend
Dan Gurney's patented
Moment-Cancelling
Four-Stroke (MC4S) engine
features two
counter-rotating crankshafts
and an innovative intake
system. With it, Gurney is
looking to conquer the Holy
Grail of internal combustion
engines: reliability,
efficiency and low
emissions, all in a single
design targeted at
motorcycles, but which could
also be used in cars, planes
and boats.
China is dumping some of its
Treasury holdings in a
desperate bid to raise cash
to support its ailing
markets, a move that “raises
serious questions” about the
country’s ability to finance
the U.S. federal deficit,
CNN reports.
If the
Asian country stops
supporting U.S. debt, the
cost of everything that
depends on Treasury rates
such as home mortgages could
rise. Such pressures may
deter the Federal Reserve
from raising interest rates
when its policymakers meet
next week.
For 25 years, methodical
research by scientists has
investigated the effects of
the Exxon Valdez oil spill
in 1989 on Alaskan
communities and ecosystems.
A new study released today
into the effects of the 1989
Exxon Valdez oil spill in
Alaska shows that embryonic
salmon and herring exposed
to very low levels of crude
oil can develop hidden heart
defects that compromise
their later survival,
indicating that the spill
may have had much greater
impacts on spawning fish
than previously recognized.
The largest U.S. electric
company and the Obama
administration said Thursday
they are settling a
15-year-old legal case over
claims that Duke Energy
violated federal clean air
laws by modifying coal-fired
power generators without
required air pollution
control equipment.
The proposed settlement
with the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency and the
Justice Department requires
Duke Energy to pay a civil
penalty of $975,000, shut
down one coal-burning unit
and spend $4.4 million on
environmental mitigation
projects.
If
governments won’t solve the
climate, hunger, health, and
democracy crises, then the
people will… Regenerative
agriculture provides answers
to the soil crisis, the food
crisis, the health crisis,
the climate crisis and the
crisis of democracy. -
Scientists have learned
how to produce liquid fuel
by creating artificial
plants that make gasoline
and natural gas using only
sunlight – a process called
synthetic photosynthesis.
These fuels can be used
to run cars or heat
buildings without emitting
any greenhouse gases.
Beck compared the situation
to desperately warning a
World War II-era crowd that
Jews are being rounded up
and put in death camps, but
reporters only care about
whether Wendell Willkie gets
elected.
In recent years, sales of
Monsanto’s genetically
modified seeds have steadily
risen, but executives at the
St. Louis-based bio- and
agri-giant were becoming
increasingly concerned about
attacks on the safety claims
of their GMO products.
Is this the first
time you were invited
outside of Brazil?
No, I have been invited
previously to England and
Norway. But according to our
spiritual lifestyle, we have
to go through steps, led by
our shamans; so I had to
wait before traveling.
The total amount of solar
photovoltaic (PV) capacity
installed in the United
States now exceeds 20
gigawatts (GW), according to
the most recent U.S. Solar
Market Insight Report from
GTM Research and the Solar
Energy Industries
Association (SEIA).
hat if the world, as we
know it, is a
by-product of our
conditioning? A
conditioning which posits
the framework of a limiting
worldview upon the psyche –
almost as though we were to
wear a helmet with blinders
connected to it; like, that
which a racehorse would wear
to keep out the
distractions.
What if it is possible to
regain this lost knowledge?
What if it is possible to
remember what we once
knew, not from a book or a
group of scholars but from
the energetic field of the
earth – from your own
energetic field in which all
wisdom from all times is
contained?
Sea level rise poses one
of the biggest threats to
human systems in a globally
warming world, potentially
causing trillions of
dollars' worth of damages to
flooded cities around the
world. As surface
temperatures rise, ice
sheets are melting at record
rates and sea levels are
rising.
But there may be some
good news amid the worry.
Sea levels may not rise as
high as assumed.
In a recent directive,
India's Ministry of Power is
requiring coal-fired power
plants to bundle their
electricity with power
generated at solar farms.
The idea is to make solar
power more competitive with
coal power -- and it will
help achieve Prime Minister
Narendra Modi's ambitious
new solar deployment goals.
San Diego Gas & Electric
Co. has invented a device
that makes installing
rooftop solar-power
generation systems quicker
and cheaper for many of its
residential customers,
especially those with older
electrical systems.
The subsidiary of San
Diego-based Sempra Energy
began making the device,
which is called a renewable
meter adapter, available
July 30 and had installed
more than 200 as of the last
week of August.
Some scientists say
they’ve discovered a new
member of the human family
tree, revealed by a huge
trove of bones in a barely
accessible, pitch-dark
chamber of a cave in South
Africa. Other researchers
though counter that the
fossils come from an already
known species.
The creature shows a
surprising mix of human-like
and more primitive
characteristics – some
experts called it “bizarre”
and “weird.”
China's solar sector is ripe
for a major shakeout, or at
least that seems to be the
prevailing wisdom among
industry analysts. And for
good reason.
In August, China's
government suggested in a
statement that one or two of
the country's major solar
panel makers might be
shuttered over the next
year.
Russian troops have arrived
in Syria in recent days to
aid Bashar Assad's
beleaguered government in
the battle against Islamic
State militants, Israel's
defense minister said
Thursday. The development
could help the Syrian
president reverse his recent
battlefield losses in the
country's bitter civil war,
now in its fifth year.
Fort Nelson First Nation
in northern British Columbia
has won a key ruling that
stops Nexen Inc. from
pumping millions of gallons
of water from a local lake
for fracking purposes.
The ruling could pave the
way for similar cases,
according to Fort Nelson.
“By canceling the
license, the EAB has set a
precedent for future
provincially supported
fracking and LNG exports,”
Fort Nelson said in a
statement.
India has just suffered
back-to-back drought years
for only the fourth time in
over a century, summer crops
are wilting and reservoir
water levels are at their
lowest in at least a decade
for the time of year.
Study finds barrage of small
asteroids shattered moon’s
upper crust.
Scientists believe that
about 4 billion years ago,
during a period called the
Late Heavy Bombardment, the
moon took a severe beating,
as an army of asteroids
pelted its surface, carving
out craters and opening deep
fissures in its crust. Such
sustained impacts increased
the moon’s porosity, opening
up a network of large seams
beneath the lunar surface.
NASA announced exciting
news Thursday that it found
an Earth-like planet
orbiting a sun-like star in
a “habitable zone,” which
has researchers calling it
the “closest yet” to being
Earth’s twin.
Kepler-452b, discovered
by NASA’s Kepler exoplanet
explorer, is located about
1,400 light-years away
though, so “pack your bags
because it’s a long trip,”
John Jenkins, Kepler data
analysis lead at NASA’s Ames
Research Center, joked
during a news conference of
the planet that he called
Earth’s “older, bigger
cousin.”
Researchers
from the Arctic Research
Programme, managed at
British Antarctic Survey,
have shown for the first
time that phytoplankton
(plant life) in remote ocean
regions can contribute to
rare airborne particles that
trigger ice formation in
clouds.
Results published today
in the journal Nature
show that the organic waste
from life in the oceans,
which is ejected into the
atmosphere along with sea
spray from breaking waves,
stimulates cloud droplets to
freeze into ice particles.
This affects how clouds
behave and influence global
climate, which is important
for improved projections of
future climate change.
Mankind’s first close-up
look at Pluto did not
disappoint Wednesday: The
pictures showed ice
mountains on Pluto about as
high as the Rockies and
chasms on its big moon
Charon that appear six times
deeper than the Grand
Canyon.
Especially astonishing to
scientists was the total
absence of impact craters in
a zoom-in shot of one
otherwise rugged slice of
Pluto...
Solar activity is expected
to be very low with a slight
chance for a C-class flare
on days one, two, and three
(10 Sep, 11 Sep, 12 Sep).
The geomagnetic field is
expected to be at quiet to
major storm levels on day
one (10 Sep), quiet to minor
storm levels on day two (11
Sep) and unsettled to minor
storm levels on day three
(12 Sep).
As rapid
cost reductions for
renewable energy
technologies drive an energy
transition across the globe,
one fundamental question
remains regarding a future
powered by renewables: What
about when the sun doesn't
shine and the wind doesn't
blow?
A new report published today
shows Scottish emissions of
most air pollutants have
continued to fall, with
significant reductions in
emissions of all air
pollutants since 1990.
***
“Time is passing. Yet, for
the United States of
America, there will be no
forgetting September the
11th. We will remember every
rescuer who died in honor.
We will remember every
family that lives in grief.
We will remember the fire
and ash, the last phone
calls, the funerals of the
children.” ― George W. Bush
The vast Southern Ocean
around Antarctica has
started to soak up more
greenhouse gases from the
atmosphere in recent years,
helping limit climate
change, after signs its
uptake had stalled, a study
said on Thursday.
***
“Success is not the key to
happiness. Happiness is the
key to success. If you love
what you are doing, you will
be successful.” ― Albert
Schweitzer
It was weird. Not
scary—I was cool dying, if
that’s what was gonna
happen. I was just sad that
I couldn’t get my mom and my
little brother on the phone
to tell them that I loved
them first.
The U.S. Department of the
Navy just sealed the deal on
the largest purchase of
renewable energy ever made
by a federal entity.
In August, the U.S.
Secretary of the Navy, Ray
Mabus, commemorated an
agreement with Sempra U.S.
Gas & Power to construct the
Mesquite Solar 3 project
about 60 miles west of
Phoenix, Arizona.
Believe it or not, the all
too familiar feeling of
sweaty palms, racing heart
and clenched stomach can
actually be good for you.
Each of us has been there,
that downward spiral of
stress. Juggling the demands
of career, family and a
fast-paced lifestyle, it’s
no wonder tension levels are
reaching epic proportions as
we go about our day. To make
matters worse, the media
promotes the idea that
stress is downright deadly.
Just this fact alone is
enough to send us into a
tailspin of anxiety and
worry. But one renegade
psychologist is putting our
assumptions about stress to
the test — with surprising
results.
As the most vulnerable of
mammals when born, human
babies come into the world
reliant on the loving care
of parents/guardians and
support from their
environment. With no means
or ability to survive alone,
children are dependent upon
family, surroundings,
culture and society. They
(that is to say, we) begin
the process of learning
immediately – completely
absorbing our surroundings –
seeing and sensing energy on
all levels. Brain
development is an ongoing
process which is crucial and
happening rapidly after
birth.
This vulnerability reflects
the fact that humans come
into the world knowing how
to love, by completely
trusting that they will be
cared for. Although sadly
not always the case, in
general, babies are welcomed
tenderly into the world and
they bring an abundance of
joy and love to the lives
they touch. Our natural
human instinct is to smile
at a baby and be gentle with
them.
SolarCity, a rooftop-solar
company based in Sunnyvale,
California, has agreed to
sell power from a 12
megawatt (MW) solar
photovoltaic (PV)
installation on the Hawaiian
island of Kauai at night.
“Television is by nature the
dominator drug par
excellence. Control of
content, uniformity of
content, repeatability of
content make it inevitably a
tool of coercion,
brainwashing, and
manipulation.” Terence
McKenna
A U.S. appeals court ruled
on Thursday that federal
regulators erred in allowing
an insecticide developed by
Dow AgroSciences onto the
market, canceling its
approval and giving
environmentalists a major
victory.
The U.S. government's
proposal for biofuels use
will hit consumers at the
pump, according a study
prepared for an oil group,
just months after regulators
refuted similar claims and
as pressure mounts ahead of
a deadline to finalize the
plan.
The targeted volumes of
ethanol use for 2015 and
2016 are impossible to
achieve and will cause
"severe economic harm," said
National Economic Research
Associates (NERA) in a study
commissioned by the American
Petroleum Institute on the
potential costs of the
Environmental Protection
Agency proposal due to be
finalized by November 30.
In the late 19th
century, the legendary
inventor Nikola Tesla
proposed the creation of an
international system for
transmitting electricity
wirelessly.
Wireless power refers to the
transmission of electricity
without the use of solid
wires. The appeal of a
wirelessly-powered world is
obvious. The primary problem
with wireless power has not
changed since Tesla dreamed
up the idea more than a
century ago. It is an
inefficient way of
transmitting electric power,
especially over long
distances.
Global nuclear power
generation capacity could
increase by more than 45
percent in the next 20 years
but the pace of growth will
still fall short of what is
needed to curb climate
change, an industry
organization report showed
on Thursday.
The World Nuclear
Association Nuclear Fuel
report forecasts global
nuclear capacity will grow
to 552 gigawatts equivalent
(GWe) by 2035 from 379 GWe
currently, as many countries
build new plants as a
lower-carbon option and for
energy security.
The devaluation is a move to
reinvigorate exports. An
overvalued yuan makes China
products more expensive
abroad, thereby deterring
orders, a major factor
behind flagging exports. In
July, overseas shipments
fell more than 8.3 percent
YoY.
The U.S. Air Force is
giving an ultimatum to
owners of a remote Nevada
property now surrounded by a
vast bombing range including
the super-secret Area 51:
Take a $5.2 million "last
best offer" by Thursday for
their property, or the
government will seize it.
After six weeks of a steady
upward march, Baker Hughes'
US rig counts were
substantially down Friday
even as oil prices recovered
from six-year lows.
The US oil rig count lost 13
rigs to 662 on Friday,
although that is still 5%
higher than the recent low
of 628 rigs in late June.
The total rig count also
fell by 13 to 864, which was
not far off the recent low
of 857 rigs in mid-July.
Global finance chiefs sought
to contain tensions over
currency movements with
China suggesting its August
devaluation won’t be
repeated any time soon and
Japan labeling the Chinese
unhelpful.
Coastal decision-makers must
move away from considering
physical and economic forces
in isolation to fully
recognise and explain
changes to coastlines,
according to new research
from Cardiff University.
The coastlines where we
live, work and play have
long been altered by people,
but now researchers have
investigated why developed
coastlines change over time
in ways that are
fundamentally different from
their undeveloped, natural
counterparts.
The federal wildlife service
on Thursday stood by its
decision to authorize recent
killings of two highly
endangered North Carolina
red wolves on private
property, despite plans by
conservationists to sue.
The concept of deliberately
controlled opposition eludes
public awareness to an
amazing degree. It’s similar
to the brazen reality of
false flag operations, the
epitome of carefully planned
societal manipulation by
unseen forces who have no
regard for the human
condition other than to
control it – those who are
more than willing to attack
their own to provoke a
desired response
Courage
“I learned that courage was
not the absence of fear, but
the triumph over it. The
brave man is not he who does
not feel afraid, but he who
conquers that fear.” ―
Nelson Mandela
Stonehenge might be the most
well-known of ancient
standing stone monuments,
but researchers announced
Monday that they discovered
what they believe to have
been a larger “super-henge.”
Scientists have known for
some time that plants can
conduct electricity. In
fact, researchers at the
Massachusetts Institute of
Technology found that plants
can pack up to 200
millivolts of electrical
power. A millivolt is
one-thousandth of a volt.
The public comment period
for the highly controversial
U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency’s (EPA)
fracking study ends today.
Food & Water Watch,
Environmental Action, Breast
Cancer Action and other
advocacy groups delivered
nearly 100,000 comments from
Americans asking the U.S.
EPA to redo their study with
a higher level of scrutiny
and oversight.
On Saturday, Naraha became
the first town to allow
evacuated residents to
return after an earthquake
and tsunami damaged the
nearby Fukushima Daiichi
nuclear power plant more
than four years ago.
Scientists have
discovered why TNT is so
toxic to plants and intend
to use this knowledge to
tackle the problem of
cleaning up the many sites
worldwide contaminated by
the commonly used explosive.
Researchers on Thursday
said they have pinpointed an
enzyme in plants that reacts
with TNT, which is present
in the soil at contaminated
sites, and damages plant
cells. TNT pollution can
devastate vegetation and
leave land desolate.
The Emirates Nuclear Energy
Corp. (ENEC) said it began
regulated construction
activity related to the
reactor, containment
building and supporting
structures for Unit 4, the
fourth identical reactor
simultaneously under
construction on one site.
Geoengineering is among the
most destructive activities
ever unleashed by the human
race against the natural
world. Though the list of
horrific consequences
directly related to climate
engineering is long and
growing rapidly, the total
disruption of the
hydrological cycle is one of
the most visible effects. As
reservoirs empty out and
drought sets in, in many
regions around the globe,
record forest fires are
close behind.
German day-ahead power
contracts posted day-on-day
falls during Thursday
morning trading as renewable
infeed is forecast to pick
up Friday, and then wind
generation is forecast to
surge over the weekend,
pushing down Saturday and
Sunday prices too.
Conventional generation is
set to remain unchanged,
with an anticipated
reduction in demand adding a
further bearish tone to
Friday power contracts.
The average household bill
for electricity in Germany
in 2015 has fallen for the
first time since 2000,
German utility lobby group
BDEW said Thursday.
According to BDEW's annual
survey, the average
household with an annual
consumption of 3,500 kWh now
pays Eur83.76 ($93.15) per
month for electricity, down
1.4% from the Eur84.99 per
month in 2014, but more than
double the Eur41 per month
power bill back in 2000.
Alan Greenspan, former
chairman of the Federal
Reserve, said he’s “baffled”
by the idea that an interest
rate hike of 25 basis points
would hamper global business
activity.
He said
fiscal policy, or the
government's tax and
spending programs, is more
important than the central
bank's actions to control
the money supply, in a CNBC
interview on Friday.
A Cal State Sacramento
University professor who
allegedly told his United
States History class he did
not like the term ‘genocide’
in relation to Native
Americans in history, told a
Native American student who
disagreed with him that she
was disenrolled and expelled
from his course.
Sometimes it pays to have
big, bad neighbors. Weighing
in at about 3 grams,
black-chinned hummingbirds (Archilochus
alexandri) can do
little but stand by and
watch Mexican jays 40 times
their weight chow down on
their eggs. So in the
mountains of southeastern
Arizona, the hummers have
learned to build their nests
near goshawk and Cooper’s
hawk nests (Accipiter
gentilis and Accipiter
cooperii). Almost five
times bigger than the jays (Amphelocoma
wollweberi), the hawks
enjoy these birds for lunch.
Renewable energy comes in
many forms: wind, water,
wave, geothermal, etc. But
how about tree energy? A new
study from MIT reveals trees
have chemical energy
potentially producing
electricity.
The approval by the SCPSC
should not come as a huge a
surprise if history is any
indicator. Since 2009, the
SCPSC has approved at least
eight rate increases to
SCE&G customers, totaling
bill increases of 27.7
percent.
US coal exports totaled
roughly 4.6 million mt in
July, the lowest monthly
total going back to at least
2011, according to US Census
Bureau released Thursday.
July's US coal exports
were down 11.6% from the
prior month and down 28.8%
compared with the year-ago
period...
A majority of U.S. nuclear
power plants are operating
at the highest performance
levels in the latest
mid-cycle assessments from
the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission (NRC).
Out of 99 operating
commercial reactors in the
first half of 2015, 75 fully
met all safety and security
performance objectives...
Their workplaces became
war zones, and gun battles
once punctuated union
protests. In past decades,
organizers have been beaten,
stabbed and shot while
seeking better pay and safer
conditions deep underground.
But more recently the
United Mine Workers in
Kentucky have been in
retreat, dwindling like the
black seams of coal in the
Appalachian mountains.
And now the last union
mine in Kentucky has been
shut down.
The enforcement action will
move the plant into the
repetitive degraded
cornerstone column, or
Column 4, of the NRC’s
Action Matrix. The plant
transitioned into the
degraded cornerstone column,
or Column 3, in late 2013 as
a result of unplanned
shutdowns and unplanned
shutdowns with complications
the same year.
Pope Francis' apology for
the Roman Catholic Church's
crimes against indigenous
peoples has not softened
opposition among some
California Native Americans
to his decision to canonize
18th-century Franciscan
missionary Junipero Serra.
Solar activity is expected
to be very low with a slight
chance for a C-class flare
on days one, two, and three
(08 Sep, 09 Sep, 10 Sep).
The geomagnetic field is
expected to be at quiet to
major storm levels on day
one (08 Sep), quiet to
active levels on day two (09
Sep) and quiet to unsettled
levels on day three (10
Sep).
A new study done by the
research and policy arm of
Environment Connecticut says
the state ranked 10th in the
nation for total solar power
capacity per person
installed in 2014.
Ten of the world’s largest
fossil fuel producers
support an international
deal at this year’s UN
climate conference, COP21,
in Paris that will limit
climate warming to 2 degrees
Celsius, according to the
nonprofit Carbon Disclosure
Project, CDP.
After ten years of devoting
myself to teachings, school,
workshops and journeys, I
felt an urge to find my own
spiritual or healing
experiences not dependent on
someone else. There was
something empowering about
this. I went (among other
things) to sit on a
mountain. I meditated with
the intention to create my
own spiritual experience.
After initially
working with members of the
local Lummi and Nooksack
nations, Bornemann came up
with the idea of using the
name of Billy Frank Jr., the
Nisqually elder who fought
his entire life for Native
fishing rights and the
ecological protection of
waterways in Western
Washington.
CG/LA Infrastructure has
released its annual
‘Strategic 100 North
America’ report, a ranking
of the highest-value public
projects set to move forward
in the next 18 months, and
only nine of the 100 are
from the water/wastewater
sector. What gives?
Rowan County, Kentucky Clerk
Kim Davis has been jailed
without bail since Thursday
for refusing to allow her
office to issue marriage
licenses to same-sex
couples.
Her
attorney, Matthew Staver,
says that even some people
accused of murder are
allowed to be free on bail
while their trial is
pending.
University of California,
Berkeley, seismologists have
produced for the first time
a sharp, three-dimensional
scan of Earth's interior
that conclusively connects
plumes of hot rock rising
through the mantle with
surface hotspots around the
world. A computed to
mography, or CT scan, of
Earth's interior, the
picture emerged from a
supercomputer simulation at
the Department of Energy's
National Energy Research
Scientific Computing Center
(NERSC) at the Lawrence
Berkeley National
Laboratory.
A brisk 25-minute walk every
day can slash your risk of
dying from a heart attack by
half, and add seven years to
your life, say researchers
at Germany's Saarland
University.
Even
those who don't start
exercising until their 70th
birthday can still reap
benefits, including lowering
their odds of developing
atrial fibrillation.
Arby’s said it has
apologized to
Florida's Pembroke
Pines Police
Department after an employee
at one of the fast-food
chain's locations allegedly
refused to serve one of the
department's police
officers...
When the officer drove to
the pickup window, the
store manager, Angel
Mirabel, told the officer
that the clerk "doesn't want
to serve you because you are
a police officer." Mirabel
had to order Davenport to
process the officer's credit
card.
In the US and Canada,
99.6 percent of lice
tested had developed
gene mutations making
them resistant to common
over-the-counter lice
shampoos
Lice from 25 of 30
states sampled were also
found to carry resistant
genes
In California, Florida,
Maine, and Minnesota,
every insect sampled was
resistant to the toxic
pesticide permethrin, a
common active ingredient
in lice shampoos
The brain-eating amoeba
that fatally afflicted
several Louisiana residents
in recent years has struck
again, this time in
California.
“A 21-year-old woman died
recently after contracting a
rare infection caused by a
brain-eating amoeba that
thrives in warm bodies of
water,” Accuweather
reported.
Officials have unveiled
plans for a grassy bridge
over a Southern California
highway that would provide a
safe and natural passage for
mountain lions and other
animals migrating between
wilderness areas.
The vegetation-lined
bridge over the 101 Freeway
in Agoura Hills, just west
of Los Angeles, would cost
$30 million to build and
construction could not begin
for years, said California
Department of Transportation
(CalTRANS) spokeswoman
Lauren Wonder.
Gross domestic product
(GDP) fell by an annualised
rate of 0.5% between April
and June.
That follows a
contraction of 0.8% in the
first quarter, meaning the
economy has seen two
consecutive quarters of
negative growth, the usual
definition of recession.
El Niño is expected to bring
heavy rains to
drought-stricken California.
That prospect raises the
question: what would it take
for the drought to be over?
High levels of
radioactive contaminants
have been found in coal ash
in major coal-producing
regions of the United
States, raising concern
about the dangers of this
unregulated waste,
researchers said Wednesday.
"Levels of radioactivity
in the ash were up to five
times higher than in normal
soil, and up to 10 times
higher than in the parent
coal itself...
The food, chemical, and
biotechnology industries
have all built up
intricate and powerful
systems designed to
manipulate public and
scientific opinion using
false front
organizations and
industry shills posing
as independent experts
Coca-Cola Company funds
the Global Energy
Balance Network, a front
group aimed at confusing
you about soda science
and diverting attention
away from evidence
showing soda is a major
contributor to obesity
and diabetes
By placing the sole
focus on exercise and
making you think you can
exercise your way out of
a high-sugar diet,
Coca-Cola is harming
consumers
Waterways in China
contain an appallingly high
level of cyanide after an
August 12 explosion at a
chemical plant that killed
at least 123 people.
“The blasts produced
shock waves felt for miles.
Streets were carpeted with
glass from shattered
windows. Many of the injured
were hit by flying glass and
other debris as thousands of
apartment windows blew in,”
TheNew York
Times reported,
referring to the scene as a
“wasteland.”
Dementia and other
neurological brain diseases
are striking people younger
and younger, according to a
new study conducted by
researchers from Bournemouth
University in England and
published in the journal
Surgical Neurology
International. These
diseases have reached levels
that are “almost epidemic,”
the researchers said, and
they reached them so quickly
that environmental factors
must be largely
to blame.
When a series of water
crises in 2014 disrupted
conventional utility
services in the coastal
Argentine city of Caleta
Olivia, the city needed a
way to ensure an
uninterrupted water supply.
The federal government
looked to RWL Water for the
expertise to create a
reverse osmosis desalination
facility to deliver fresh
drinking water to the
public.
The latest addition to
President Obama's plan to
combat climate change, the
$1 billion in distributed
clean energy loan guarantees
is meant to help finance
projects that make use of
innovative and renewable or
efficient energy that can
avoid, reduce or sequester
anthropogenic greenhouse gas
emissions. They will be
available following a 45-day
period of Congressional
notification, DOE said.
Adding another $1 billion
of AFE and REEE
solicitations to the $4
billion previously
authorized is just the
latest example of President
Obama making clean energy
and energy efficiency one of
his highest priorities.
‘You need chaos in your
soul to give birth to a
dancing start.’ ~ Friedrich
Nietzsche
Many of us seem to be
zooming in our evolutionary
trajectory, and yet we are
still experiencing emotional
issues and feelings of fear,
inadequacy and gut-level
confusion. In this process
of awakening, we arrive at
certain points where it
seems we are perched on a
razor’s edge of ‘knowing’
and ‘not knowing’. This
knowing and not knowing
simultaneously, and the
space between the two, is
the thing that is keeping us
confused and unbalanced.
Earth is home to just over 3
trillion trees - the
redwoods of California, the
olive trees of Tunisia, the
cherry trees of Japan, the
eucalyptus of Australia and
so many more - but they are
being lost at an alarming
rate because of human
activities.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel is set to
call for the largest
property tax increase in
modern Chicago history to
raise enough money to make a
major pension payment for
police and firefighters next
year, the mayor's City
Council floor leader and a
City Hall source told the
Chicago Tribune late
Wednesday.
The use of energy storage
systems is surging in the
U.S. as power companies show
increasing interest in the
technology designed to
backstop wind and solar
farms and smooth out
electricity flowing to the
grid.
Companies deployed 40.7
MW of storage capacity in
the second quarter, the most
in more than two-and-a-half
years and a ninefold
increase over the same
period a year earlier,
according to a study
released on Sept. 2 by
Boston-based GTM Research
and the Energy Storage
Association.
Responding to an Aug. 13
notice of appeal from
several states, including
coal-reliant West Virginia
and Kentucky, the U.S.
Environmental Protection
Agency Aug. 31 told a
federal court that its Clean
Power Plan can't be appealed
because it is not final
until it is published in the
Federal Register.
The EPA’s accidental mining
wastewater spill has thrust
the federal government into
a tense relationship with
the Navajo Nation. “Navajo
officials have chastised the
EPA since the spill and
tribal leaders say the
aftermath of the release
left their people on the
brink of economic disaster
since use of the San Juan
for agricultural purposes
was banned,” The Denver Post
reported.
New data shows that the
pollutant made famous by
environmentalist Erin
Brockovich appears to be
tainting water in a
California district and
posing a potential threat to
customer safety.
A recent study indicates
water in the Rio Linda
Elverta Community Water
District is contaminated by
the carcinogen chromium-6.
“Officials at the Rio Linda
Elverta Community Water
District know it’s there and
know that the levels exceed
the new state standards,”
Fox 40 extrapolated from the
research.
The former Hillary
Clinton staffer who oversaw
her private email server
plans to invoke his Fifth
Amendment right not to
answer incriminating
questions before the House
Benghazi Committee,
according to a letter his
lawyer sent the panel.
The panel on Aug. 11
subpoenaed Bryan Pagliano,
the go-to technology fixer
for Clinton’s home-made
server, to testify privately
next Thursday about what he
knew of the former secretary
of state and 2016 Democratic
front-runner's email
arrangement. The panel also
asked for all his documents
about the email arrangement.
Get ready, folks. There
are going to be a lot of
stories like this over the
next few months.
Lila Perry is a teenage
boy at Hillsboro High School
in Missouri. Apparently, he
was a gay male until about
ninth grade, at which point
he decided he was actually a
straight female. This is the
sort of “revelation” that,
in saner times, would land
the confused young man in
rigorous psychological and
spiritual counseling. But
these are not sane times, so
instead it landed him in the
girls’ locker room.
In the face of a
four-year-long drought, some
farmers in California are
turning to unconventional
sources for the water they
need to irrigate their
crops: oil-drilling
companies. The Los
Angeles Times reports
that Chevron, one of the
largest oil companies in the
world, recycles 21 million
gallons of treated fracking
fluid—water containing a
cocktail of chemicals—and
sells it to farmers to use
on their crops. This program
has been around for about
two decades, and is heralded
by some California lawmakers
as a “water conservation”
model to be replicated in
other states facing water
shortages.
British scholars have
suggested that fragments of
the world's oldest known
Koran, which were discovered
last month, may predate the
accepted founding date of
Islam by the Muslim prophet
Muhammad...
"This gives more ground to
what have been peripheral
views of the Koran's
genesis, like that Muhammad
and his early followers used
a text that was already in
existence and shaped it to
fit their own political and
theological agenda, rather
than Muhammad receiving a
revelation from heaven,"
Keith Small of Oxford's
Bodleian Library told the
Times.
An international study has
found that life expectancy
worldwide has jumped by more
than 6 years since 1990. The
comprehensive survey of data
from 188 countries found
that while people are living
longer, even in some of the
poorest countries, how
healthy our extended lives
will be remains a challenge.
Good Judgment
“Good judgment comes from
experience, and a lot of
that comes from bad
judgment.” ― Will Rogers
A Florida gun manufacturer
has unveiled a new AR-15
assault rifle, complete with
a Bible verse that is laser
etched into its design — a
weapon that ”would never be
able to be used by Muslim
terrorists,” according to a
company
spokesperson....features
Psalm 144:1 etched into its
design.
Published in the journal
Psychological Science,
the study found we produce
chemical compounds,
or”chemosignals,” in our
sweat when we experience
happiness, which others can
detect when they smell us.
These chemosignals trigger a
“contagion of the emotional
state,” according to senior
study author Gün Semin, of
Utrecht University in the
Netherlands. “This suggests
that somebody who is happy
will infuse others in their
vicinity with happiness. In
a way, happiness sweat is
somewhat like smiling – it
is infectious.”
Hillary Clinton schemed,
lied repeatedly, and
jeopardized national
security in favor of her own
selfish interests while
secretary of state.
Of course, that’s not the
gist you will get from the
various media outlets
sifting through the 7,000
emails the State Department
released last night. The
Clinton defenders will focus
on some light-hearted
moments, like an inquiry
about gefilte fish, or
the hurtful accusation that
madame secretary sometimes
watched Fox News while in
flight.
Hungary stunned migrants and
European partners Tuesday by
blocking asylum-seekers from
its westbound trains, a move
that raised new challenges
for the EU's passport-free
travel zone and could drive
many into the reckless hands
of cross-border smugglers.
Blue-green algae is
churning up fear that human
and animal life might be at
risk this summer after the
death of a dog was
attributed to toxins in lake
water.
In July, “a veterinarian
notified health officials of
the sudden death of the dog
earlier this week, and
blue-green algae toxins were
initially suspected to be
the cause. MCPAWS Regional
Animal Shelter in McCall,
ID, warned the public on
Facebook that the dog might
have died from an algae
bloom on popular Payette
Lake,” the Idaho
Statesmen reported
China's slowdown, volatile
financial markets and
tumbling raw-materials
prices have raised the risks
to economic growth around
the world, the International
Monetary Fund reported.
In an assessment of threats
published as top finance
ministers and central
bankers meet this week in
Turkey, the IMF warned that
the problems could lead to
"a much weaker outlook" for
global growth.
India's monsoon rains are
likely to be below the prior
forecast of 88 percent of
the long-term average, the
weather office chief said,
which could make it the
driest year since 2009 and
worsen rural distress by
cutting farm output.
The July-September rains
irrigate nearly half of
India's farmlands, bringing
relief to millions of poor
farmers who till small plots
of land to sustain their
families.
The IRS has ruled that an
owner of photovoltaic panels
in an offsite,
community-shared solar array
is eligible to take
advantage of one of the
primary incentives offered
to homeowners adopting solar
-- the 30 percent federal
residential income tax
credit available under
Section 25D of the Internal
Revenue Code, also known in
the industry as the
"residential ITC."
Kim Davis, the defiant
Kentucky county clerk, was
found in contempt of court
and taken into federal
custody — and she will be
spending the night in jail.
The two journalists —
British correspondent Jake
Hanrahan and British
cameraman Philip Pendlebury
— and their Turkey-based
assistant were detained late
Thursday in Diyarbakir, the
main city in Turkey's mostly
Kurdish southeast, where
renewed fighting has killed
scores of people. A court
ordered the three formally
arrested late on Monday on
charges of aiding a terror
organization [ED:
They are now released.]
Leader
“Let me define a leader. He
must have vision and passion
and not be afraid of any
problem. Instead, he should
know how to defeat it. Most
importantly, he must work
with integrity.” ― A. P. J.
Abdul Kalam
Years of data on storms and
sea surface temps show a
correlation between a warm
North Atlantic Ocean – more
destructive hurricanes – and
a fire-prone Amazon...
According to these
researchers – from the
University of California,
Irvine and NASA – in years
of high numbers of
hurricanes and high fire
risk, warm waters in the
North Atlantic help
hurricanes develop and
gather strength and speed on
their way to North American
shores. They also tend to
pull a large belt of
tropical rainfall – known as
the Intertropical
Convergence Zone – to the
north, the researchers said,
drawing moisture away from
the southern Amazon.
In 2020, the total worldwide
solar PV installed capacity
will be more than 480 GW,
according Hexa Research
The huge increase will be
driven by factors like the
higher global emphasis on
clean energy production,
governmental support and
beneficial policies for the
development of solar PV.
Using a mass spectrometry
screening procedure, a team
of researchers assembled
from Arizona State, the
University of Colorado at
Boulder, and the University
of Toronto discovered the
connection and published
their findings in
Environmental Science &
Technology Letters.
The study found a median
methadone concentration of
23 mg/L and determined the
drug was responsible for 1
to 10 percent of NDMA
formation potential (FP) in
most raw surface waters in
which it was detected, and
up to 62 percent of NDMA FP
in wastewater.
The recent opening of the
Mexican upstream energy
industry, combined with
access to abundant U.S.
natural gas feedstock from
Texas, is driving
significant energy
infrastructure investment on
both sides of the border,
according to research from
IHS.
Following the release of
roughly 7,000 new emails,
“Morning Joe” co-host Joe
Scarborough expressed
concern over Hillary
Clinton’s response to a
staffer who told her he
couldn’t send her classified
information. Clinton has
maintained that she never
sent or received classified
information from her private
email account.
In a February 2010 email,
Clinton wrote to her aide,
Jacob Sullivan, “It’s a
public statement! Just email
it.”
Indigenous protesters in
Peru seized oil wells in an
Amazonian oil block on
Tuesday and said they also
planned to halt output in a
neighboring concession to
press the government to
address pollution and
compensation demands.
My level of distrust,
disgust and loathing of Big
Food has reached a new high.
The reason?
While doing some research
for a completely unrelated
article, I discovered the
little known fact that food
manufacturers are not
required to specify on a
food label whether the
“sugar” or “sucrose” in
their products is derived
from cane sugar or beet
sugar.
Why is this a big deal?
There’s nothing wrong with
beet sugar, right?
In light of the historic
outbreak of the Ebola virus
in West Africa that began in
March 2014, which has killed
more than 11,000 people
since, new research
conducted by a group of
microbial risk-assessment
and virology researchers
suggests that the procedures
for disposal of
Ebola-contaminated liquid
waste might underestimate
the virus' ability to
survive in wastewater.
President Barack Obama
said on Tuesday the United
States needs to quickly
acquire at least one new
heavy icebreaker for the
U.S. Arctic, where melting
sea ice has spurred more
traffic and the United
States has fallen far behind
Russian resources.
The move, part of a push
to convince Americans to
support Obama's plans to
curb climate change, has
long been urged by Arctic
advocates as climate change
opens up the region to more
shipping, mining and oil
drilling.
While the Arctic is a
fitting backdrop for the
president's call to action,
it is also a place where the
conflicting threads of his
environmental policy
collide, and where the
bracing public debate over
how to address the warming
of the planet is
particularly animated.
"It's inconsistent on the
one hand for President Obama
to lead the world toward
comprehensive action on
climate change, while on the
other allowing companies to
pursue difficult, expensive
oil in dangerous and remote
places," said Michael
LeVine, Pacific senior
counsel for Oceana, an
environmental group.
“I've always found that
anything worth achieving
will always have obstacles
in the way and you've got to
have that drive and
determination to overcome
those obstacles on route to
whatever it is that you want
to accomplish.” ― Chuck
Norris
The current medical system
requires most doctors to
sell their souls. Doctors
are called to the lineage of
healing that is as old as
our species, much as priests
are called to the
priesthood. They endure a
decade’s worth of traumatic
medical education that
leaves them with PTSD. Then
they enter a system that
asks them to violate their
ethics. It goes against
their very ethics to be
expected to see 40 patients
per day. It goes against
their ethics to have to
spend so much time filling
out paperwork or entering
data into a computer that
they don’t have any time
left to listen to the
patient. It goes against
their ethics to betray the
sacredness of the
doctor-patient relationship
It's the first time all
three Cherokee tribes have
gathered at Red Clay in
generations. The last
meeting there was to make
important decisions for the
Cherokee people as the tribe
was facing forced removal to
Indian Territory in 1838.
This tri-council meeting was
an unprecedented event, and
I was honored to participate
as we again came together as
one people, from one fire.
C1 event observed.
Solar activity is expected
to be very low with a slight
chance for a C-class flare
on days one, two, and three
(04 Sep, 05 Sep, 06 Sep).
The geomagnetic field is
expected to be at quiet to
unsettled levels on days
one, two, and three (04 Sep,
05 Sep, 06 Sep).
After decades of toxic
fluoride being added to
public water supplies
without the public’s
consent, we now have
significant validation that
this practice needs to be
stopped.
The Cochrane
Collaboration (an
international not-for-profit
organisation preparing,
maintaining and promoting
systematic reviews of the
effects of health care) has
released a comprehensive
review of the science of
fluoridation, with points
that are nearly impossible
to dispute. In short,
fluoride doesn’t work
to prevent cavities and
has been proven to cause
harm — in the form of
dental fluorosis.
Fluorosis – mottled
discolorations on teeth – is
not purely aesthetic. It’s a
visible sign that you’ve
been exposed to this known
developmental neurotoxin at
excessive levels.
Arguing in the Supreme
Court Tuesday over whether a
solar power constitutional
amendment is valid,
supporters of Floridians for
Solar Choice and opponents
backed by utility companies
didn't pull punches.
"What has really chilled
the regulatory environment
currently is a solar energy
device that a person would
have, they're not allowed to
sell that to someone else
without falling into the
regulatory scheme of the
Public Service Commission,"
said Bob Nabors, lawyer for
Floridians for Solar Choice
If you don’t get enough
sleep, you’re more likely to
get sick. Four times more
likely, to be exact.
Researchers found that
people who slept six hours a
night or less were four
times more likely to catch a
cold when exposed to the
virus than those who slept
seven hours a night or
longer
Now, a team of researchers
from the MIT Joint Program
on the Science and Policy of
Global Change has published
a study in Climatic
Change that provides
scenarios that climate
scientists can use to
estimate such benefits. The
study projects greenhouse
gas emissions levels and
changes in precipitation,
ocean acidity, sea level
rise and other climate
impacts throughout the 21st
century resulting from
different global greenhouse
gas (GHG) mitigation
scenarios. The scenarios
include a business-as-usual
future and one aimed at
achieving significant GHG
emission reductions limiting
global warming since
pre-industrial times to 2 C.
Research groups convened by
the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency have
already begun using the MIT
projections to evaluate the
benefits of a 2 C emissions
reduction scenario for
agriculture, water, health,
and other global concerns.
Our world is in a disease
crisis precisely because we
have failed to heed the
shaman’s message, spoken
through many great courage
voices—the voices urging us
into healing crises to
prevent unrelenting illness.
Because we have collectively
denied our
transformations—which
necessarily entails
embracing the dark—we have
created a strange, ironic,
and paradoxical disease
state on the planet. But not
a surprising one.
"Everyone knows Americans
consume resources at a rate
that is not sustainable,"
Jeffrey says. "I always
thought I was making my
contribution by recycling
and driving an economical
vehicle. At the same time I
was living in an enormous
house that, in a third world
country, could house 10
families. Before we
insulated the attic we were
using close to a thousand
gallons of oil each year.
This is not a sustainable
number for two families, as
we had a rental apartment in
the home."
The spill by
Tracerco, a subsidiary of
British chemical company
Johnson Matthey that was
contracted by the
university, is believed to
have occurred last fall but
Tracerco did not notify the
school about it until Aug.
25, the university said.
Tracerco spilled
a small quantity of
cesium-137, a radioactive
isotope often used in
research, in a restricted
building on a campus that
houses research equipment,
according to Steadman Upham,
the university’s president.
The current El Nino
weather pattern may be on
track to become one of the
strongest in more than half
a century, experts at the
World Meteorological
Organization said Tuesday.
The El Nino event
involves a shift in winds in
the Pacific Ocean along the
equator every few years,
warming the water more than
usual and triggering a
change in global weather
patterns.
The U.S. government has
failed to adequately
safeguard crews involved in
the decades-long cleanup of
the Hanford Nuclear
Reservation in Washington
state, leaving workers
sickened by exposure to
toxic vapors, the state said
in a lawsuit filed on
Wednesday.
In the USA, they have been
referred to as “unalienable
rights” ever since the 1776
Declaration of Independence.
Some call them natural
rights to distinguish
them from state-granted
rights (which are not really
rights but rather
privileges). Others simply
call them human rights.
Though a majority in the
Senate may vote against the
Iran nuclear agreement, the
deal is now expected to
survive. On Wednesday,
President Barack Obama
gained enough support in the
Senate to sustain a
presidential veto.
But that’s not the same
as getting a majority in
Congress to sign on to
support the deal. In fact,
unless the situation changes
dramatically, a majority in
Congress will vote against
diplomacy.
It may not instantly whisk
you to far-flung reaches of
the universe like the
gravitational wormholes of
Stargate, Star Trek
and Interstellar,
but researchers at
Universitat Autònoma de
Barcelona (UAB) claim to
have created the first
experimental wormhole that
links two regions of space
magnetically.
Roughly 150 of 7,000
soon-to-be-released pages of
former Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton’s emails
contain information that is
currently classified, State
Department spokesman Mark
Toner said Monday.
“We have upgraded a number
of these,” Toner told
reporters during the
department’s daily briefing
.
“We look at these emails
and we upgrade them as
necessary as we see fit,” he
added. “We stand by our
position that the
information we upgraded was
not marked classified at the
time it was sent.”
"This is the first study to
examine the effect of air
pollution on STEMI
occurrence at a national
level using a prospective
observational registry of
unselected patients. We
found that particulate and
NO2 air pollution, at levels
below European limits, are
associated with an increased
risk of STEMI. The
detrimental impact of NO2
exceeds that of fine
particles and raises new
public health concerns."
The police who once
carried the weapons
were reportedly
interested in buying
them, but Honolulu
officials had them
destroyed.
(Ammoland.com)
Second Amendment
advocates are firing away at
a decision by Honolulu
officials to destroy
$575,000 worth of perfectly
good handguns in a move one
critic called the “height of
anti-gun stupidity.”
As a raindrop falls through
the atmosphere, it can
attract tens to hundreds of
tiny aerosol particles to
its surface before hitting
the ground. The process by
which droplets and aerosols
attract is coagulation, a
natural phenomenon that can
act to clear the air of
pollutants like soot,
sulfates, and organic
particles.
“Everyone is
exhausted because we’re
having to work so hard just
to breathe. Many of us,
including me, have been
evacuated at one point or
another. It’s been
catastrophic up here.”
U.S. stocks have endured a
lot of turmoil but recent
shocks have made apparent
important facts about China
and the shifting global
economy long ignored by many
analysts and investors.
Those bode well for America
and the bull market should
soon resume.
Faulty
accounting standards make
dicey assessing the true
profitability of most
publicly traded Chinese
companies. Bond ratings in
the Middle Kingdom, often a
good first indicator of
business health, are
outright frauds — 97 percent
of Chinese companies score
AA or AAA, as compared to
1.4 percent for U.S.
businesses.
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission (NRC) has
rejected the recommendation
of the high-level task force
it convened after the March
2011 Fukushima disaster to
require nuclear plant owners
to develop and maintain
plans for coping with a
core-melt accident.
The decision raises concerns
that the NRC is ignoring the
lessons it should have
learned from the Fukushima
accident and that nuclear
plants will be allowed to
continue to maintain plans
voluntarily and deny the
agency the authority to
review those plans or issue
citations if they are
deficient.
They
began showing up in the
spring -- e-mails, calls and
unannounced visits to Dakota
County office buildings from
solar garden developers
wanting to talk about
regulations.
These gardens don't have
plants. Instead, they
feature solar panels that
can gather energy for use
throughout a community,
lowering the energy bills of
those who might not be able
to put the panels on their
own homes and businesses.
From top to bottom, the
mighty Colorado River is a
1,400-mile journey with
244,000 square miles of
river basin that slakes
thirst and grows crops for
millions of residents in
seven states—including 28
Indian tribes along the way.
As one of the most
heavily managed rivers in
the United States, it is a
bellweather for water supply
in the Southwest, and it’s
in serious trouble.
A former U.S. Secret Service
agent who was part of a team
investigating illegal
activity on the online drug
market Silk Road has pleaded
guilty to money laundering
and obstruction of justice,
prosecutors announced
Monday.
Opponents of the Iran
nuclear deal from both
parties have argued against
the process used to approve
the agreement. Iran’s
history of failing to uphold
existing treaties and
agreements has been put in
the spotlight, as has the
direct threat to the state
of Israel. However, many
military experts warn that a
nuclear Iran is a direct
threat to the United States,
and it could happen in a
“flash.”
Friendship
“Friendship... is not
something you learn in
school. But if you haven't
learned the meaning of
friendship, you really
haven't learned anything.” ―
Muhammad Ali
A breakthrough cancer
treatment appears to be the
reason why a handful of
holistic doctors were
recently found “suicided” is
now gaining worldwide
attention as a potential
universal cure for cancer.
And new microscopic footage
released by First Immune
shows this amazing remedy in
action — the human protein
GcMAF is visually seen
activating the body’s own
macrophages, which are then
able to attack and destroy
breast cancer cells in
vitro.
The self-styled Army of the
Paraguayan People on Monday
claimed responsibility for
an attack on an electric
pylon that left some 750,000
people without power.
Hawaiian Gov. David Ige said
this week he opposes plans
to use liquefied natural gas
as a “transitional fuel” for
the island state as it moves
to 100 percent renewable
electricity. Ige
said investment in
infrastructure for LNG — or
any fossil fuel — was
misplaced, and he expressed
doubt that there would be
any monetary benefits to LNG
proposals.
The beachfront had been
closed due to an infection
risk after 500,000 gallons
of waste water spewed from
manhole covers on Monday
during heavy rain, officials
said.
The waste poured into
storm drains leading to the
ocean and sullied a stretch
of beach dotted with large
hotels and restaurants.
A new generation of super
cells promises to reshape
the future of energy...
“I view the whole battery
enterprise as very socially
conscious,” says Sadoway,
who has started his own
battery company with the
hope of changing the world’s
energy future. “It would
represent a major step in
bringing electricity to
those who don’t have
reliable access to
electricity now. And for
those of us that do have
reliable access, it would
democratize the generation
of electricity.”
Danny Chasteen and his
girlfriend, Susan Rick,
thought they had gotten
their big break last month
when Chasteen won $250,000
from the Illinois Lottery.
Instead, they got an IOU.
The Chicago Tribune
reported that disbursements
of Illinois Lottery winnings
of more than $25,000 have
been halted because the
state doesn't have a budget.
I make me happy
“I, not events, have the
power to make me happy or
unhappy today. I can choose
which it shall be. Yesterday
is dead, tomorrow hasn't
arrived yet. I have just one
day, today, and I'm going to
be happy in it.” ― Groucho
Marx
Energy policy has been of
far greater concern to
President Obama than to his
recent predecessors in the
White House, reflecting the
emergence of climate change
as a central issue today.
Yet his administration
has pursued an
"all-of-the-above" energy
strategy that advances all
energy resources, from oil
and gas to nuclear power and
renewables, without
consistently indicating a
priority among them.
Schumer is proposing not
just extending the ITC (for
an as-yet unspecified
period), but also changing
the credit's eligibility
rules so that businesses and
developers that invest in
solar systems can claim the
tax credit when project
construction begins, rather
than only when the panels
start generating power. This
would be similar to how the
production tax credit for
wind energy worked, before
it expired in 2013.
Engel quoted one U.S.
officials as saying the
terror group's international
branches are "growing like
crazy," spreading North and
West Africa, Arabia,
Afghanistan and into the Far
East.
"ISIS has
expanded far more quickly
and extensively than Al
Qaeda ever did," Engel said.
Special Operations is in
the middle of a major policy
review to find a new global
strategy to deal with ISIS,
Engel reported.
The Defense Ministry is
seeking a fourth-straight
annual budget hike to help
fortify Japan’s far-flung
island chain in the East
China Sea, close to ocean
territory claimed by
Beijing.
In a document submitted
to the government Monday,
the ministry asked for a 2.2
percent increase in spending
to ¥5.09 trillion for the
year starting in April. If
approved, it will be the
biggest defense budget in 14
years.
District Attorney Steve Howe
cited a "mountain of
evidence" against Frazier
Glenn Miller, who was
charged in the April 2014
shootings at two Jewish
sites in Kansas. Miller
pleaded not guilty, citing a
duty to stop what he
believed was genocide
against the white race.
Traditionally, LED (light
emitting diode) lighting has
not lived up to the hype
when it comes to energy
savings, but a new
development coming out of
Florida State University
(FSU) could change that.
Under a law signed in March
individual countries can
seek exclusion from any
approval request for GM
cultivation across the EU.
While the European
Commission is responsible
for approvals, requests to
be excluded also have to be
submitted to the company
making the application.
Early adopters of rooftop
solar and electric cars are
finding a new obsession in
energy storage as the first
generation of
consumer-friendly batteries
capable of supporting
household circuits comes to
market.
“Within seconds
of coming into contact with
the atmosphere, it goes from
a liquid to a solid,” said
lead study author Scott
Zavada of the University of
Michigan.
IFL Science said
that the new material could
be used for the
International Space Station,
other space vehicles,
submarines, tankers, air
craft, fuel tanks or even
people attempting to live on
the surfaces of Mars or the
moon.
***
“Never tell people how to
do things. Tell them what to
do and they will surprise
you with their ingenuity.” ―
George S. Patton
Why is this important?
Because the Earth has been
hit by the surge of cosmic
rays from a quasar (or
supernova) at least 5 times
in our historical past, and
once in recent history
during the year 774/775 AD
(or CE). This event resulted
in a stream of charged
particles made up of cosmic
rays and gamma radiation
causing a "global" damage to
Earth's atmosphere.
Earth is made up of a solid
inner core, surrounded by a
liquid outer core, in turn
covered by a thicker or more
viscous mantle, and
ultimately by the solid
crust beneath our feet. The
magnetic field is generated
by the motions of the liquid
iron alloy in the outer core
beneath Earth's crust. These
motions occur because the
core is losing heat to the
overlying solid mantle that
extends up to the crust on
which we live.
President Barack Obama will
change the name of North
America’s tallest mountain
peak from Mount McKinley to
Denali, the White House said
Sunday, bestowing the
traditional Alaska Native
name on the eve of a
historic presidential visit
to Alaska.
The boards of directors of
both Southern Company and
AGL Resources have approved
a definitive merger
agreement to create one of
the leading electric and gas
utility company in the
United States.
The merger will create
the second largest utility
company in the U.S. by
customer base with 11
regulated electric and
natural gas distribution
companies providing service
to approximately nine
million customers with a
projected regulated rate
base of approximately $50
billion...
A new international study is
the first to use a
high-resolution, large-scale
computer model to estimate
how much ice the West
Antarctic Ice Sheet could
lose over the next couple of
centuries, and how much that
could add to sea-level rise.
The results paint a clearer
picture of West Antarctica’s
future than was previously
possible.
This is the first recorded
occurrence of three Category
4 hurricanes in the central
and eastern Pacific basins
at the same time. In
addition, it’s also the
first time with three major
hurricanes (Category 3 or
stronger) in those basins
simultaneously, according to
hurricane specialist Eric
Blake of the National
Hurricane Center.
C2 event observed.
Solar activity is expected
to be very low with a slight
chance for a C-class flare
on days one, two, and three
(01 Sep, 02 Sep, 03 Sep).
The geomagnetic field is
expected to be at quiet to
minor storm levels on day
one (01 Sep), unsettled to
minor storm levels on day
two (02 Sep) and quiet to
active levels on day three
(03 Sep).
The Shigir Idol, which was
discovered in 1890 in a
Russian peat bog, was
originally dated in 1997 to
be 9,500 years old.
According to the Siberian
Times though, scientists
more recently, taking a
sample from the center of
the engraved sculpture,
dated it to be 11,000 years
old.
Founded as a representative
republican democracy,
America became the first
country in the modern world
to be ruled by the principle
of the consent of the
governed. Today, some 240
years after the beginning of
our War of Independence,
that notion seems like
little more than a quaint
anachronism.
Polls consistently record
that most Americans do not
favor President Obama’s
executive amnesty for
illegal aliens, and yet he
issued it anyway.
Polls consistently record
that most Americans oppose
Obamacare, and yet the
Affordable Care Act was
foisted upon the public and
remains the law of the land.
There are plenty of other
similar examples. The
political elite are so
dismissive of the majority
of Americans that most
people do not believe
“consent of the governed”
really applies any
more.
A woman who was stranded
in the rugged Sierra Nevada
for nine days while
suffering from some broken
bones survived by using a
water filter to drink from a
creek, authorities said.
Miyuki Harwood, 62, was
found Saturday morning in a
remote area of the Sierra
National Forest after she
used a whistle to get the
attention of a search and
rescue team who were looking
for her, Fresno County
Sheriff Margaret Mims said
at a news conference.
An international group of
researchers have found that
food craving activates
different brain networks
between obese and normal
weight patients. This
indicates that the tendency
to want food may be
'hard-wired' into the brain
of overweight patients,
becoming a functional brain
biomarker.
Obesity is one of the
most difficult problems
facing modern society.
Treating obesity is a health
priority, but most efforts
(aside from bariatric
surgery) have met with
little success. In part,
this is because the
mechanisms associated with
the desire to eat are poorly
understood...
When you fill a sink, the
water rises at the same rate
to the same height in every
corner. That's not the way
it works with our rising
seas.
According to the 23-year
record of satellite data
from NASA and its partners,
the sea level is rising a
few millimeters a year -- a
fraction of an inch. If you
live on the U.S. East Coast,
though, your sea level is
rising two or three times
faster than average. If you
live in Scandinavia, it's
falling. Residents of
China's Yellow River delta
are swamped by sea level
rise of more than nine
inches (25 centimeters) a
year.
As a young naturalist
growing up in the Deep
South, I feared kudzu. I’d
walk an extra mile to avoid
patches of it and the
writhing knots of snakes
that everyone said were
breeding within. Though
fascinated by the
grape-scented flowers and
the purple honey produced by
visiting bees, I trembled at
the monstrous green forms
climbing telephone poles and
trees on the edges of our
roads and towns.
Three Mile Island was unable
to land a contract to sell
its electricity on the grid
for 2018-2019, leaving
questions about the plant's
future in a competitive
energy market.
Stocks moved lower in early
trading Monday, as oil
prices fell and investors
reacted to signs that the
Federal Reserve was still on
pace to raise rates this
month. It sets up another
volatile week on Wall
Street, which has been
battered this month.
Central bankers from
around the world are telling
their American counterparts
that they are ready for a
U.S. interest rate hike and
would prefer that the
Federal Reserve make the
move without further ado.
In private and
in public at last week's
global central banking
conference in Jackson Hole,
the message from visiting
policymakers was that the
Fed has telegraphed an
initial monetary tightening
and, following a year-long
rise in the dollar,
financial markets globally
are as ready as they can be.