Izzy's Serious Humor

History of Usury Prohibition

2012-01-24T14:26:00.001-05:00

History of Usury Prohibition: Usury - lending at interest or excessive interest - has, according to known records, been practiced in various parts of the world for at least four thousand years. During this time, there is substantial evidence of intense criticisism by various traditions, institutions and social reformers on moral, ethical, religious and legal grounds. The rationale employed by these wide-ranging critics have included arguments about work ethic, social justice, economic instability, ecological destruction and inter-generational equity. While the contemporary relevance of these largely historical debates are not analysed in detail, the authors contend that their significance is greater than ever before in the context of the modern interest-based global economy.

Usury - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

2012-01-24T14:25:00.001-05:00

Usury - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: Banking during Roman times was different from modern banking. During the Principate, most banking activities were conducted by private individuals, not by such large banking firms as exist today; almost all moneylenders in the Empire were private individuals because anybody that had any additional capital and wished to lend it out could easily do so.[5]
The rate of interest on loans varied in the range of 4–12 percent; but when the interest rate was higher, it typically was not 15–16 percent but either 24 percent or 48 percent. The apparent absence of intermediary rates suggests that the Romans may have had difficulty calculating the interest due on anything other than mathematically convenient rates. They quoted them on a monthly basis, as in the loan described here, and the most common rates were multiples of twelve. Monthly rates tended to range from simple fractions to 3–4 percent, perhaps because lenders used Roman numerals.[6]

start curing acne, high cholesterol, eczema, psoriasis, asthma, allergies, gallstones, food intolerance, shoulder pain, abdominal pain, upper back pain, arm pain, gallstones attack, liver pain, gallbladder pain, hypertension, cardiovascular diseases, heartburn, bloating, inflammatory bowel disease IBD, IBS, colitis, constipation, cancer, AIDS, MS, FMS, MSC, CFIDS/CFS, Parkinson's, Alzheimer's disease, epilepsy, seizures, osteoporosis, angina pectoris... Read and learn how to help yourself !

2012-01-24T12:54:00.001-05:00

start curing acne, high cholesterol, eczema, psoriasis, asthma, allergies, gallstones, food intolerance, shoulder pain, abdominal pain, upper back pain, arm pain, gallstones attack, liver pain, gallbladder pain, hypertension, cardiovascular diseases, heartburn, bloating, inflammatory bowel disease IBD, IBS, colitis, constipation, cancer, AIDS, MS, FMS, MSC, CFIDS/CFS, Parkinson's, Alzheimer's disease, epilepsy, seizures, osteoporosis, angina pectoris... Read and learn how to help yourself !

Castor Oil Cures

2012-01-24T12:52:00.001-05:00

Castor Oil Cures: Though we mainly know it as one of Edgar Cayce's most famous remedies, castor oil has a long history of traditional medical use dating back to ancient Egypt. Derived from the castor bean, the oil was traditionally used internally as a laxative. However, now it is primarily used externally due to its potential toxicity.
A castor oil pack is placed on the skin to increase circulation and to promote elimination and healing of the tissues and organs underneath the skin. It is used to stimulate the liver, relieve pain, increase lymphatic circulation, reduce inflammation, and improve digestion.

Castor Oil

2012-01-24T12:49:00.001-05:00

Castor Oil: "PALMA CHRISTI"
PALM OF CHRIST HEALING OIL
(CASTOR OIL)
Important to NOTE:
ONLY "COLD PRESSED" CASTOR OIL IS SUITABLE.
HOT PRESSED, COMMERCIAL CASTOR OILS ARE
ATOMICALLY RESTRUCTURED DURING PROCESS AND ARE NOT THE SAME .
THIS APPLIES TO ALL OILS, OLIVE OIL ETC.

Dr. Wahls' TEDx Talk on Overcoming MS - The Wahls Foundation

2012-01-10T13:42:00.001-05:00

Dr. Wahls' TEDx Talk on Overcoming MS - The Wahls Foundation: The T stands for technology, E for entertainment and D for design. The x means it was an independently sponsored event. What follows is the text of my talk that day. Enjoy.
I loved doing Tae Kwon Do and was once a national champion. A lot has changed since then. I became a physician, had a son, and then a daughter. I developed a chronic, progressive disease for which there is no cure.

Untitled Document

2011-12-14T15:40:00.001-05:00

Untitled Document: HerStory For Futures Unlimited is a non-profit organization founded by Milli-Ann Iuso-Cox and other educators to promote women’s history in elementary education. We work to make history more inclusive by writing and presenting curriculum that acknowledges women’s contributions to America. We are working to include herstory in history so that today’s students learn our story.

HerStory: A Timeline

2011-12-14T15:39:00.001-05:00

HerStory: A Timeline: This site is dedicated to the bestselling HarperCollins book, “Her Story: A Timeline of the Women Who Changed America” by Charlotte Waisman and Jill Tietjen. The book and its authors have received numerous accolades and positive reviews, as well as having been featured in the news on a great many occasions.

Genevieve Vaughan - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

2011-11-30T09:43:00.001-05:00

Genevieve Vaughan - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: Genevieve Vaughan (born 21 November,1939) is an American expatriate semiotician, peace activist, feminist, and philanthropist, whose ideas and work have been influential in the intellectual movements around the Gift Economy and Matriarchal Studies. Her support also contributed heavily to the development of the global women’s movement.[1]

Genevieve Vaughan, Intellectual Autobiography

2011-11-30T09:41:00.001-05:00

Genevieve Vaughan, Intellectual Autobiography: Genevieve Vaughan, Intellectual Autobiography
Genevieve Vaughan, 1998. Download a PDF
I was born in Corpus Christi, Texas in 1939 to a wealthy family. My father was a lawyer and so was my mother's father who made money in the oil and gas business. I inherited part of that money and since 1980 have tried to use it for social change towards women's values. Having spent the major part of the money in this endeavor I am now in the process of divesting from the environmental pollution business.

BBC - BBC Radio 4 Programmes - The New Global Economics

2011-11-25T08:03:00.001-05:00

BBC - BBC Radio 4 Programmes - The New Global Economics: Martin Wolf, the Financial Times chief economics commentator, examines how the world has changed since the beginning of the financial crisis four years ago

The Power of Hemp and its countless uses

2011-11-23T23:20:00.002-05:00

A short film about the miracle plant called hemp. Get to know potentially the greatest land plant that could tremendously benefit humanity and the planet and find out why the criminal federal government doesn't want you to grow it in the US.

2011-11-23T23:08:00.001-05:00

Hemporium is a South African hemp company, founded in 1996. We aim to educate people about hemp's potential through the use of innovative products while creating an awareness of all that hemp has to offer. Our long term goal is to promote the cultivation and use of industrial hemp as a sustainable crop in South Africa.

» Bankers’ austerity programs: Seizure of public property for corporations Alex Jones' Infowars: There's a war on for your mind!

2011-11-22T15:19:00.001-05:00

» Bankers’ austerity programs: Seizure of public property for corporations Alex Jones' Infowars: There's a war on for your mind!: What lies in store for Greece, Portugal, Spain, Ireland, Italy, and, in short order, the United States, is the wholesale sell-off of public property to private corporations at bargain basement prices. What the despots who gather in their secretive lairs at Davos, Cernobbio, Bilderberg, and G8/G20 are bringing about is a world where no property is owned by the state, which by default means the people. Total corporate control over every facet of life equals extreme fascism.
What is occurring in Greece is a bellwether for what will befall other nations in Europe, as well as the United States, if the bankers get their way. And in Greece, the people know how generations of investments by the taxpayers are being turned over to vampire capitalists who have the full backing of the International Monetary Fund, European Commission, and the European Central Bank.

Gasland: A Film by Josh Fox

2011-11-18T11:54:00.001-05:00

Hydraulic Fracturing FAQsHow does hydraulic fracturing work?

Hydraulic fracturing or fracking is a means of natural gas extraction employed in deep natural gas well drilling. Once a well is drilled, millions of gallons of water, sand and proprietary chemicals are injected, under high pressure, into a well. The pressure fractures the shale and props open fissures that enable natural gas to flow more freely out of the well.
What is horizontal hydraulic fracturing?
Horizontal hydrofracking is a means of tapping shale deposits containing natural gas that were previously inaccessible by conventional drilling. Vertical hydrofracking is used to extend the life of an existing well once its productivity starts to run out, sort of a last resort. Horizontal fracking differs in that it uses a mixture of 596 chemicals, many of them proprietary, and millions of gallons of water per frack. This water then becomes contaminated and must be cleaned and disposed of.

Pesticides Directly Correlated With Increased ADHD Cases in Children | Health Freedom Alliance

2011-10-26T10:43:00.001-04:00

Pesticides Directly Correlated With Increased ADHD Cases in Children | Health Freedom Alliance: A large new study linked a compound found in pesticides, solvents, and plastics to increased ADHD in children. Most pesticides, herbicides and many solvents and plasticizers use organophospates as the basis, which shut down enzymes crucial to the nervous system

Research - Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute

2011-10-25T10:45:00.001-04:00

Research - Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute: The Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute is a charitably funded genomic research centre located in Hinxton, nine miles south of Cambridge in the UK.
A leader in the Human Genome Project, we are now focused on understanding the role of genetics in health and disease.Our passion for discovery drives our quest to uncover the basis of genetic and infectious disease. We aim to provide results that can be translated into diagnostics, treatments or therapies that reduce global health burdens.

How To Find Out If Your Doctor And Drugmakers Are In A Relationship : Shots - Health Blog : NPR

2011-10-25T10:36:00.001-04:00

How To Find Out If Your Doctor And Drugmakers Are In A Relationship : Shots - Health Blog : NPR: How To Find Out If Your Doctor And Drugmakers Are In A Relationshipby Scott Hensley
12:25 pm
September 9, 2011

There's a hoary bit of advice in journalism that still gets passed from old-school editors to newbies: "If your mother says she loves you, check it out."

Creating a Movement | Healthy Vending Blog

2011-10-14T16:50:00.001-04:00

Creating a Movement | Healthy Vending Blog: Creating a Movement Leads to Big Change
Seth Godin Talks “Tribes”
Tribes are what matter now.
What exactly does that mean? I don’t know about you, but when the idea of tribes comes to my mind, I envision primitive people in a hunter/gatherer society. So how is it that tribes matter now?
However, according to Seth Godin, this 50,000 year old concept is simple. It’s about “leading and connecting people and ideas.”

Women, War and Peace | PBS

2011-10-14T16:49:00.001-04:00

Women, War and Peace | PBS: VIDEOOct. 11: I Came to Testify
In the 1990s war in Bosnia, thousands of Muslim women were systematically raped as a tactic of ethnic cleansing. I Came to Testify is the story of 16 women who took the witness stand in an international court of law and changed the rules of war forever.IntroductionOct. 18: Pray the Devil Back to Hell
Pray the Devil Back to Hell is the astonishing story of the Liberian women who took on the warlords and regime of dictator Charles Taylor in the midst of a brutal civil war, and won a once unimaginable peace for their shattered country in 2003.IntroductionOct. 25: Peace Unveiled
When the U.S. troop surge was announced in late 2009, women in Afghanistan knew that the ground was being laid for peace talks with the Taliban. Peace Unveiled follows three women who immediately began to organize to make sure that women’s rights don’t get traded away in the deal.

Sheryl WuDunn: Our century's greatest injustice | Video on TED.com

2011-10-05T11:38:00.001-04:00

Sheryl WuDunn: Our century's greatest injustice | Video on TED.com: Sheryl WuDunn's book "Half the Sky" investigates the oppression of women globally. Her stories shock. Only when women in developing countries have equal access to education and economic opportunity will we be using all our human resources.

2011-10-05T11:00:00.001-04:00

Okay, Michael. I’m heeding your Critical Warning Number Six! You believe something very big will happen in America within the next 180 days and I want to protect myself and my family from it.
You told your readers to get into gold in 2002; you told them to get out of the housing market in 2006; you predicted the recession of late 2007: you told your readers to get out of stocks in the fall of 2008; and you told them to get back into stocks in March of 2009.

Yang Lan: The generation that's remaking China | Video on TED.com

2011-10-05T10:29:00.001-04:00

Yang Lan: The generation that's remaking China | Video on TED.com: Yang Lan, a journalist and entrepreneur who's been called "the Oprah of China," offers insight into the next generation of young Chinese citizens -- urban, connected (via microblogs) and alert to injustice

Future of US Dollar: How to Prepare for When Money Dies | Pakalert Press

2011-09-30T13:29:00.003-04:00

Future of US Dollar: How to Prepare for When Money Dies | Pakalert Press: The Gold Report: You’ve been talking about two ticking time bombs. One is the trillions of dollars owned outside the U.S. that investors could dump if they lose confidence. And the other is the trillions of dollars within the U.S. that were created to paper over the crisis that started in 2007. Are these really explosive circumstances that will bring catastrophic results? Or will it just result in a huge, but manageable, hangover?

How Can We Get More Women Elected

2011-09-29T11:13:00.001-04:00

How Can We Get More Women Elected: Good morning! It’s nice to be here at such a remarkable gathering.
I believe it’s essential that we must run effectively as women candidates. Though many voters have historically been reluctant to support women and other nontraditional candidates the tide is changing. Some polls indicate that voters actually trust women to be more honest and hard-working -- a trend which women candidates must capitalize on.
Let me give you an example. I worked Iowa on a campaign for the Equal Rights Amendment during the much-touted "year of the woman" -- if you remember that was back in 1992 -- where a strong woman state senator named Jean Lloyd Jones was running for the U.S. Senate. At that time, there were only two women in the Senate, so being a woman was a real plus. The problem was with her yard signs, bumper stickers and other publicity. They simply said.... "Lloyd Jones". The casual voter may not even have known she was a woman! She did not win that race.
I spent the years between college graduation and having my first child working on political campaigns. I worked on races for the presidency, senate, house, governor, legislatures and that hard fought race for a state ERA in Iowa.
During these years I saw first-hand the obstacles women and other non traditional candidates face in getting elected to public office.
To illustrate my point I’ll use myself as an example.
I always planned to run for office, in fact when asked in my interviews for college acceptance what I wanted to do with my life I responded without hesitation "run for president". I certainly believed at that point that with my middle class background and well-healed diplomas in my pocket the path to elected office would be easy.
But I haven’t run for elected office and here is why:

Getting More Women to Run for Office | Mother Jones

2011-09-29T11:09:00.001-04:00

Getting More Women to Run for Office | Mother Jones: A new paper uses a clever design to figure out if women are more willing to compete in teams than as individuals. The answer, in a laboratory test setting, is a resounding yes:
Even though men and women performed equally well on the task, 81% of men chose to compete as individuals compared with 28% of women.
When participants competed in teams, the gender competition gap shrank by 31 percentage points to 22%, with 67% of men choosing to enter the competition compared with 45% of women.

Mexico eyes up to 10 new nuclear plants by 2028 | Reuters

2011-09-29T11:02:00.001-04:00

Mexico eyes up to 10 new nuclear plants by 2028 | Reuters: (Reuters) - Mexico may build up to 10 new nuclear power stations by 2028 under one scenario being evaluated by the state electricity monopoly, the company said in a presentation on Wednesday.
Mexico's Federal Electricity Commission, or CFE, currently has four scenarios for new power generation capacity from 2019- 28 that range from a heavy reliance on coal-fired power plants to meet growing demand to a low-carbon scenario that calls for big investments in nuclear and wind power, said Eugenio Laris, who is in charge of investment projects at the company.

Triclosan, an Antibacterial Chemical, Raises Safety Issues - NYTimes.com

2011-09-29T10:36:00.001-04:00

Triclosan, an Antibacterial Chemical, Raises Safety Issues - NYTimes.com: The maker of Dial Complete hand soap says that it kills more germs than any other brand. But is it safe?
Enlarge This Image

Fred R. Conrad/The New York Times
Triclosan stands out on the label of Dial Complete. That question has federal regulators, consumer advocates and soap manufacturers locked in a battle over the active ingredient in Dial Complete and many other antibacterial soaps, a chemical known as triclosan.
The Food and Drug Administration is reviewing the safety of the chemical, which was created more than 40 years ago as a surgical scrub for hospitals. Triclosan is now in a range of consumer products, including soaps, kitchen cutting boards and even a best-selling toothpaste, Colgate Total. It is so prevalent that a survey by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found the chemical present in the urine of 75 percent of Americans over the age of 5.

#.TnCMj0-n2MA

2011-09-29T10:35:00.001-04:00

#.TnCMj0-n2MA

Radioactive tritium has leaked from three-quarters of U.S. commercial nuclear power sites, often into groundwater from corroded, buried piping, an Associated Press investigation shows.

The number and severity of the leaks has been escalating, even as federal regulators extend the licenses of more and more reactors across the nation.

Tritium, which is a radioactive form of hydrogen, has leaked from at least 48 of 65 sites, according to U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission records reviewed as part of the AP's yearlong examination of safety issues at aging nuclear power plants.

Leaks from at least 37 of those facilities contained concentrations exceeding the federal drinking water standard — sometimes at hundreds of times the limit.

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..While most leaks have been found within plant boundaries, some have migrated offsite. But none is known to have reached public water supplies.

At three sites — two in Illinois and one in Minnesota — leaks have contaminated drinking wells of nearby homes, the records show, but not at levels violating the drinking water standard.

At a fourth site, in New Jersey, tritium has leaked into an aquifer and a discharge canal feeding picturesque Barnegat Bay off the Atlantic Ocean.

Story: GAO: leaks at aging nuke sites difficult to detect
Advertise | AdChoicesAdvertise | AdChoicesAdvertise | AdChoices.Previously, the AP reported that regulators and industry have weakened safety standards for decades to keep the nation's commercial nuclear reactors operating within the rules.

While NRC officials and plant operators argue that safety margins can be eased without peril, critics say these accommodations are inching the reactors closer to an accident.

Any exposure to radioactivity, no matter how slight, boosts cancer risk, according to the National Academy of Sciences. Federal regulators set a limit for how much tritium is allowed in drinking water. So far, federal and industry officials say, the tritium leaks pose no health threat.

But it's hard to know how far some leaks have traveled into groundwater. Tritium moves through soil quickly, and when it is detected it often indicates the presence of more powerful radioactive isotopes that are often spilled at the same time.

For example, cesium-137 turned up with tritium at the Fort Calhoun nuclear unit near Omaha, Neb., in 2007. Strontium-90 was discovered with tritium two years earlier at the Indian Point nuclear power complex, where two reactors operate 25 miles north of New York City.

Interactive: Population within 10 and 50 miles of nuclear power (on this page)
The tritium leaks also have spurred doubts among independent engineers about the reliability of emergency safety systems at the 104 nuclear reactors situated on the 65 sites.

That's partly because some of the leaky underground pipes carry water meant to cool a reactor in an emergency shutdown and to prevent a meltdown. More than a mile of piping, much of it encased in concrete, can lie beneath a reactor.

Tritium is relatively short-lived and penetrates the body weakly through the air compared to other radioactive contaminants. Each of the known releases has been less radioactive than a single X-ray.

The main health risk from tritium, though, would be in drinking water. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says tritium should measure no more than 20,000 picocuries per liter in drinking water. The agency estimates seven of 200,000 people who drink such water for decades would develop cancer.

Still, the NRC and industry consider the leaks a public relations problem, not a public health or accident threat, records and interviews show.

"The public health and safety impact of this is next to zero," said Tony Pietrangelo, chief nuclear officer of the industry's Nuclear Energy Institute. "This is a public confidence issue."

___

Advertise | AdChoicesAdvertise | AdChoicesAdvertise | AdChoices.Leaks are prolific
Like rust under a car, corrosion has propagated for decades along the hard-to-reach, wet underbellies of the reactors — generally built in a burst of construction during the 1960s and 1970s. As part of an investigation of aging problems at the country's nuclear reactors, the AP uncovered evidence that despite government and industry programs to bring the causes of such leaks under control, breaches have become more frequent and widespread.

There were 38 leaks from underground piping between 2000 and 2009, according to an industry document presented at a tritium conference. Nearly two-thirds of the leaks were reported over the latest five years.

Here are some examples:

•At the three-unit Browns Ferry complex in Alabama, a valve was mistakenly left open in a storage tank during modifications over the years. When the tank was filled in April 2010 about 1,000 gallons of tritium-laden water poured onto the ground at a concentration of 2 million picocuries per liter. In drinking water, that would be 100 times higher than the EPA health standard.
•At the LaSalle site west of Chicago, tritium-laden water was accidentally released from a storage tank in July 2010 at a concentration of 715,000 picocuries per liter — 36 times the EPA standard.
•The year before, 123,000 picocuries per liter were detected in a well near the turbine building at Peach Bottom west of Philadelphia — six times the drinking water standard.
•And in 2008, 7.5 million picocuries per liter leaked from underground piping at Quad Cities in western Illinois — 375 times the EPA limit.
Subsurface water not only rusts underground pipes, it attacks other buried components, including electrical cables that carry signals to control operations. They too have been failing at high rates.

A 2008 NRC staff memo reported industry data showing 83 failed cables between 21 and 30 years of service — but only 40 within their first 10 years of service. Underground cabling set in concrete can be extraordinarily difficult to replace.

Under NRC rules, tiny concentrations of tritium and other contaminants are routinely released in monitored increments from nuclear plants; leaks from corroded pipes are not permitted.
The leaks sometimes go undiscovered for years, the AP found. Many of the pipes or tanks have been patched, and contaminated soil and water have been removed in some places. But leaks are often discovered later from other nearby piping, tanks or vaults.
Mistakes and defective material have contributed to some leaks. However, corrosion — from decades of use and deterioration — is the main cause. And, safety engineers say, the rash of leaks suggest nuclear operators are hard put to maintain the decades-old systems.
Story: Safety rules loosened for aging nuclear reactors Over the history of the U.S. industry, more than 400 known radioactive leaks of all kinds of substances have occurred, the activist Union of Concerned Scientists reported in September.
Several notable leaks above the EPA drinking-water limit for tritium happened five or more years ago, and from underground piping: 397,000 picocuries per liter at Tennessee's Watts Bar unit in 2005 — 20 times the EPA standard; four million at the two-reactor Hatch plant in Georgia in 2003 — 200 times the limit; 750,000 at Seabrook in New Hampshire in 1999 — nearly 38 times the standard; and 4.2 million at the three-unit Palo Verde facility in Arizona, in 1993 — 210 times the drinking-water limit.
Many safety experts worry about what the leaks suggest about the condition of miles of piping beneath the reactors. "Any leak is a problem because you have the leak itself — but it also says something about the piping," said Mario V. Bonaca, a former member of the NRC's Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards. "Evidently something has to be done."
Interactive: Aging nuclear plants (on this page) Advertise | AdChoicesAdvertise | AdChoicesAdvertise | AdChoices.However, even with the best probes, it is hard to pinpoint partial cracks or damage in skinny pipes or bends. The industry tends to inspect piping when it must be dug up for some other reason. Even when leaks are detected, repairs may be postponed for up to two years with the NRC's blessing.
"You got pipes that have been buried underground for 30 or 40 years, and they've never been inspected, and the NRC is looking the other way," said engineer Paul Blanch, who has worked for the industry and later became a whistleblower. "They could have corrosion all over the place."
Nuclear engineer Bill Corcoran, an industry consultant who has taught NRC personnel how to analyze the cause of accidents, said that since much of the piping is inaccessible and carries cooling water, the worry is if the pipes leak, there could be a meltdown.
___
East Coast issues
One of the highest known tritium readings was discovered in 2002 at the Salem nuclear plant in Lower Alloways Creek Township, N.J. Tritium leaks from the spent fuel pool contaminated groundwater under the facility — located on an island in Delaware Bay — at a concentration of 15 million picocuries per liter. That's 750 times the EPA drinking water limit. According to NRC records, the tritium readings last year still exceeded EPA drinking water standards.
And tritium found separately in an onsite storm drain system measured 1 million picocuries per liter in April 2010.
Also last year, the operator, PSEG Nuclear, discovered 680 feet of corroded, buried pipe that is supposed to carry cooling water to Salem Unit 1 in an accident, according to an NRC report. Some had worn down to a quarter of its minimum required thickness, though no leaks were found. The piping was dug up and replaced.
The operator had not visually inspected the piping — the surest way to find corrosion— since the reactor went on line in 1977, according to the NRC. PSEG Nuclear was found to be in violation of NRC rules because it hadn't even tested the piping since 1988.
Last year, the Vermont Senate was so troubled by tritium leaks as high as 2.5 million picocuries per liter at the Vermont Yankee reactor in southern Vermont (125 times the EPA drinking-water standard) that it voted to block relicensing — a power that the Legislature holds in that state.
Activists placed a bogus ad on the Web to sell Vermont Yankee, calling it a "quaint Vermont fixer-upper from the last millennium" with "tasty, pre-tritiated drinking water."
The gloating didn't last. In March, the NRC granted the plant a 20-year license extension, despite the state opposition. Weeks ago, operator Entergy sued Vermont in federal court, challenging its authority to force the plant to close.
Map: Nuclear blackout (on this page) At 41-year-old Oyster Creek in southern New Jersey, the country's oldest operating reactor, the latest tritium troubles started in April 2009, a week after it was relicensed for 20 more years. That's when plant workers discovered tritium by chance in about 3,000 gallons of water that had leaked into a concrete vault housing electrical lines.
Advertise | AdChoicesAdvertise | AdChoicesAdvertise | AdChoices.Since then, workers have found leaking tritium three more times at concentrations up to 10.8 million picocuries per liter — 540 times the EPA's drinking water limit — according to the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. None has been directly measured in drinking water, but it has been found in an aquifer and in a canal discharging into nearby Barnegat Bay, a popular spot for swimming, boating and fishing.
An earlier leak came from a network of pipes where rust was first discovered in 1991. Multiple holes were found, "indicating the potential for extensive corrosion," according to an analysis released to an environmental group by the NRC. Yet only patchwork repairs were done.
Tom Fote, who has fished in the bay near Oyster Creek, is unsettled by the leaks. "This was a plant that was up for renewal. It was up to them to make sure it was safe and it was not leaking anything," he said.
Added Richard Webster, an environmental lawyer who challenged relicensing at Oyster Creek: "It's symptomatic of the plants not having a handle on aging."
___
Exelon's piping problems
To Exelon — the country's biggest nuclear operator, with 17 units — piping problems are just a fact of life. At a meeting with regulators in 2009, representatives of Exelon acknowledged that "100 percent verification of piping integrity is not practical," according to a copy of its presentation.
Of course, the company could dig up the pipes and check them out. But that would be costly.
"Excavations have significant impact on plant operations," the company said.
Exelon has had some major leaks. At the company's two-reactor Dresden site west of Chicago, tritium has leaked into the ground at up to 9 million picocuries per liter — 450 times the federal limit for drinking water.
At least four separate problems have been discovered at the 40-year-old site since 2004, when its two reactors were awarded licenses for 20 more years of operation. A leaking section of piping was fixed that year, but another leak sprang nearby within two years, a government inspection report says.
The Dresden leaks developed in systems that help cool the reactor core in an emergency. Leaks also have contaminated offsite drinking water wells, but below the EPA drinking water limit.
There's also been contamination of offsite drinking water wells near the two-unit Prairie Island plant southeast of Minneapolis, then operated by Nuclear Management Co. and now by Xcel Energy, and at Exelon's two-unit Braidwood nuclear facility, 10 miles from Dresden. The offsite tritium concentrations from both facilities also were below the EPA level.
Advertise | AdChoicesAdvertise | AdChoicesAdvertise | AdChoices.The Prairie Island leak was found in the well of a nearby home in 1989. It was traced to a canal where radioactive waste was discharged.
Braidwood has leaked more than six million gallons of tritium-laden water in repeated leaks dating back to the 1990s — but not publicly reported until 2005. The leaks were traced to pipes that carried limited, monitored discharges of tritium into the river.
"They weren't properly maintained, and some of them had corrosion," said Exelon spokeswoman Krista Lopykinski.
Map: Spent nuclear fuel (on this page) Last year, Exelon, which has acknowledged violating Illinois state groundwater standards, agreed to pay $1.2 million to settle state and county complaints over the tritium leaks at Braidwood and nearby Dresden and Byron sites. The NRC also sanctioned Exelon.
Tritium measuring 1,500 picocuries per liter turned up in an offsite drinking well at a home near Braidwood.
Though company and industry officials did not view any of the Braidwood concentrations as dangerous, unnerved residents took to bottled water and sued over feared loss of property value. A consolidated lawsuit was dismissed, but Exelon ultimately bought some homes so residents could leave.
Exelon refused to say how much it paid, but a search of county real estate records shows it bought at least nine properties in the contaminated area near Braidwood since 2006 for a total of $6.1 million.
Exelon says it has almost finished cleaning up the contamination, but the cost persists for some neighbors.
Retirees Bob and Nancy Scamen live in a two-story house within a mile of the reactors on 18 bucolic acres they bought in 1988, when Braidwood opened. He had worked there, and in other nuclear plants, as a pipefitter and welder — even sometimes fixing corroded piping. For the longest time, he felt the plants were well-managed and safe.
His feelings have changed.
An outlet from Braidwood's leaky discharge pipe 300 feet from his property poured out three million gallons of water in 1998, according to an NRC inspection report. The couple didn't realize the discharge was radioactive.
The Scamens no longer intend to pass the property on to their grandchildren for fear of hurting their health. The couple just wants out. But the only offer so far is from a buyer who left a note on the front door saying he'd pay the fire-sale price of $10,000.
Advertise | AdChoicesAdvertise | AdChoicesAdvertise | AdChoices.They say Exelon has refused to buy their home because it has found tritium directly behind, but not beneath, their property.
"They say our property is not contaminated, and if they buy property that is not contaminated, it will set a precedent, and they'll have to buy everybody's property," said Scamen.
Their neighbors, Tom and Judy Zimmer, are also hoping for an offer from Exelon for the land and home they built on it, spending $418,000 for both.
They had just moved into the house in November 2005, and were laying the tile in their new foyer when two Exelon representatives appeared at the door.
Charles Rex Arbogast / AP Tom Zimmer had just moved into his house when Exelon officials informed him of a tritium leak at the nearby Braidwood Nuclear Power Station in 2005. "They said, 'We're from Exelon, and we had a tritium spill. It's nothing to worry about,'" recalls Tom Zimmer. "I didn't know what tritium even meant."
But his wife says she understood right away that it was bad news — and they hadn't even emptied their moving boxes yet: "I thought, 'Oh, my God. We're not even in this place. What are we going to do?'"
They say they had an interested buyer who backed out when he learned of the tritium. No one has made an offer since.
___
Public relations effort
The NRC is certainly paying attention. How can it not when local residents fret over every new groundwater incident? But the agency's reports and actions suggest a preoccupation with image and perception.
An NRC task force on tritium leaks last year dismissed the danger to public health. Instead, its report called the leaks "a challenging issue from the perspective of communications around environmental protection." The task force noted ruefully that the rampant leaking had "impacted public confidence."
For sure, the industry also is trying to stop the leaks. For several years now, plant owners around the country have been drilling more monitoring wells and taking a more aggressive approach in replacing old piping when leaks are suspected or discovered.
For example, Exelon has been performing $14 million worth of work at Oyster Creek to give easier access to 2,000 feet of tritium-carrying piping, said site spokesman David Benson.
Advertise | AdChoicesAdvertise | AdChoicesAdvertise | AdChoices.But such measures have yet to stop widespread leaking.

Meantime, the reactors keep getting older — 66 have been approved for 20-year extensions to their original 40-year licenses, with 16 more extensions pending.
And, as the AP has been reporting in its ongoing series, Aging Nukes, regulators and industry have worked in concert to loosen safety standards to keep the plants operating.
In an initiative started last year, NRC Chairman Gregory Jaczko asked his staff to examine regulations on buried piping to evaluate if stricter standards or more inspections were needed.

The staff report, issued in June, openly acknowledged that the NRC "has not placed an emphasis on preventing" the leaks.
The authors concluded there are no significant health threats or heightened risk of accidents.

And they predicted even more leaks in the future.
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
21.Sponsored links

Natural Cleaning for Walls | eHow.com

2011-09-25T14:54:00.001-04:00

Natural Cleaning for Walls | eHow.com: Keeping your home clean can be done with a variety of all-natural cleaners. Opting to use natural cleaners over chemicals will save you money, create a safer home life and help keep chemicals from polluting the environment. Many natural cleaners work just as well--if not better--than commercial cleaners without relying on harsh chemicals. All-natural cleaners can cleanse your walls and remove odors, stains, mold, dirt and grease.

Clean Rust Off Metal

2011-09-25T14:45:00.001-04:00

Clean Rust Off Metal: Rust is nothing but the result of the oxidization of metal in the presence of air moisture or water. Rust can give a really rugged and ugly look to the metal objects. However, it can be cleaned off by following some simple methods. Find out more about how to clean rust off metal.
Metals are no doubt, remarkable for their hardness, strength and durability. However, they are also marked by rust, which is formed as a result of the reaction of the metal with the oxygen, in the presence of moisture or water. So, rusting is quite common in metals, when they are exposed to water or moisture, which can greatly diminish their beauty. However, it is not impossible to clean rust off metals, or keep them rust free. Here are some simple tips on rust removal and how to keep metals free from rust.

Gene Expression » Bad to the bone; the genes and brains of psychopaths

2011-09-25T12:12:00.001-04:00

Gene Expression » Bad to the bone; the genes and brains of psychopaths: The manipulative con-man. The guy who lies to your face, even when he doesn’t have to. The child who tortures animals. The cold-blooded killer. Psychopaths are characterised by an absence of empathy and poor impulse control, with a total lack of conscience. About 1% of the total population can be defined as psychopaths, according to a detailed psychological profile checklist. They tend to be egocentric, callous, manipulative, deceptive, superficial, irresponsible and parasitic, even predatory. The majority of psychopaths are not violent and many do very well in jobs where their personality traits are advantageous and their social tendencies tolerated. However, some have a predisposition to calculated, “instrumental” violence; violence that is cold-blooded, planned and goal-directed. Psychopaths are vastly over-represented among criminals; it is estimated they make up about 20% of the inmates of most prisons. They commit over half of all violent crimes and are 3-4 times more likely to re-offend. They are almost entirely refractory to rehabilitation. These are not nice people.

Convergence: 11 Reasons Elenin Could Mean Trouble | Pakalert Press

2011-09-25T11:03:00.001-04:00

Convergence: 11 Reasons Elenin Could Mean Trouble | Pakalert Press: Seriously freaky time right now. If you’re following the news at all, you now know:
11 Reasons To Seriously Sit Up And Take Notice..
1. Elenin is going into a major alignment with the Sun, Earth, Moon, Uranus and Mercury. Every significant alignment has coincided with a major earthquake.

IMF: Global Economy Entering Dangerous Phase

2011-09-24T18:19:00.001-04:00

IMF: Global Economy Entering Dangerous Phase: WASHINGTON -- Top global finance officials are pledging to work decisively and in a coordinated way to deal with a European debt crisis and other dangers confronting the global economy.
The International Monetary Fund's policy-setting committee says the economy has entered a dangerous new phase. The panel says close watching of the situation and a willingness to take bold actions quickly are crucial.

Childhood being eroded by modern life, experts warn - Telegraph#.Tn40cAOOr00.facebook#.Tn40cAOOr00.facebook#.Tn40cAOOr00.facebook

2011-09-24T17:27:00.001-04:00

Childhood being eroded by modern life, experts warn - Telegraph#.Tn40cAOOr00.facebook#.Tn40cAOOr00.facebook#.Tn40cAOOr00.facebook: In a letter to The Daily Telegraph, the group of academics, teachers, authors and charity leaders says children’s wellbeing and mental health is being undermined by the pressures of modern life. They urge the Government to address a culture of “too much, too soon” in Britain.
This includes a ban on all forms of advertising aimed at the youngest children, the establishment of a play-based curriculum for infants and a public information campaign warning of the dangers of screen-based entertainment.

Is This the End of Men or The Beginning of Women? : Discovery News

2011-09-24T14:04:00.001-04:00

Is This the End of Men or The Beginning of Women? : Discovery News: THE GIST
American women are now dominating careers that once went only to men and more women are graduating from U.S. colleges.
Some experts argue that men are finished and women are taking over.
Others say that male and female roles are simply shifting.

Cosmic Log - Gamers solve molecular puzzle that baffled scientists

2011-09-20T10:51:00.001-04:00

Cosmic Log - Gamers solve molecular puzzle that baffled scientists: Video-game players have solved a molecular puzzle that stumped scientists for years, and those scientists say the accomplishment could point the way to crowdsourced cures for AIDS and other diseases.

"This is one small piece of the puzzle in being able to help with AIDS," Firas Khatib, a biochemist at the University of Washington, told me. Khatib is the lead author of a research paper on the project, published today by Nature Structural & Molecular Biology.

Janus – Illuminati God Of Chaos and Deception | Pakalert Press

2011-09-20T10:38:00.001-04:00

Janus – Illuminati God Of Chaos and Deception | Pakalert Press: The irony is that people not only know their rulers and society overall are two-faced, they expect it. Whether consciously or subconsciously we all know lying and deception are inherent to the matrix that’s been foisted upon us.

Alice Dreger: Is anatomy destiny? | Video on TED.com

2011-09-20T09:54:00.001-04:00

Alice Dreger: Is anatomy destiny? | Video on TED.com: Alice Dreger works with people at the edge of anatomy, such as conjoined twins and intersexed people. In her observation, it's often a fuzzy line between male and female, among other anatomical distinctions. Which brings up a huge question: Why do we let our anatomy determine our fate?

Niall Ferguson: The 6 killer apps of prosperity | Video on TED.com

2011-09-20T09:49:00.001-04:00

Niall Ferguson: The 6 killer apps of prosperity | Video on TED.com: Over the past few centuries, Western cultures have been very good at creating general prosperity for themselves. Historian Niall Ferguson asks: Why the West, and less so the rest? He suggests half a dozen big ideas from Western culture -- call them the 6 killer apps -- that promote wealth, stability and innovation. And in this new century, he says, these apps are all shareable.

How Banks Cause World Hunger [GRAPHIC]

2011-09-18T10:29:00.001-04:00

How Banks Cause World Hunger [GRAPHIC]: Banks are among some of the most hated companies in America, largely for their role in causing a global financial crisis. That reputation could only get worse thanks to one of their more controversial practices: Food Speculation.

Banks and other financial speculators are increasingly "betting on food prices in financial markets," according to this infographic from the World Development Movement. Food prices now account for 70 percent of total expenses in some of the world's poorer households, hitting a record high in February. Looking forward, the OECD estimates that over the next decade cereal prices will rise 20 percent. That's still less than meet prices, which are expected to jump by nearly a third.

Here is the infographic from the World Development Movement:

Elenin – “Unnatural” = Richard Hoagland | Pakalert Press

2011-09-17T10:55:00.001-04:00

Elenin – “Unnatural” = Richard Hoagland | Pakalert Press: FROM RICHARD C. HOAGLAND:

Important update on Elenin from Richard C. Hoagland – Elenin is a Tetrahedron!

Note: there is a disinfo campaign going on to spread the word that Elenin is disintegrating… this is not true!!!

Edward Tenner: Unintended consequences | Video on TED.com

2011-09-16T13:05:00.001-04:00

Edward Tenner: Unintended consequences | Video on TED.com: Every new invention changes the world -- in ways both intentional and unexpected. Historian Edward Tenner tells stories that illustrate the under-appreciated gap between our ability to innovate and our ability to foresee the consequences.

Juan Enriquez on genomics and our future | Video on TED.com

2011-09-16T12:34:00.001-04:00

Juan Enriquez on genomics and our future | Video on TED.com: Scientific discoveries, futurist Juan Enriquez notes, demand a shift in code, and our ability to thrive depends on our mastery of that code. Here, he applies this notion to the field of genomics.

Richard Resnick: Welcome to the genomic revolution | Video on TED.com

2011-09-16T12:23:00.001-04:00

Richard Resnick: Welcome to the genomic revolution | Video on TED.com: In this accessible talk from TEDxBoston, Richard Resnick shows how cheap and fast genome sequencing is about to turn health care (and insurance, and politics) upside down.

Sarah Kaminsky: My father the forger | Video on TED.com

2011-09-16T12:18:00.001-04:00

Sarah Kaminsky: My father the forger | Video on TED.com: Sarah Kaminsky tells the extraordinary story of her father Adolpho and his activity during World War II -- using his ingenuity and talent for forgery to save lives.

Yasheng Huang: Does democracy stifle economic growth? | Video on TED.com

2011-09-16T11:51:00.001-04:00

Yasheng Huang: Does democracy stifle economic growth? | Video on TED.com: Economist Yasheng Huang compares China to India, and asks how China's authoritarian rule contributed to its astonishing economic growth -- leading to a big question: Is democracy actually holding India back? Huang's answer may surprise you.

Kate Hartman: The art of wearable communication | Video on TED.com

2011-09-16T11:35:00.001-04:00

Kate Hartman: The art of wearable communication | Video on TED.com: Artist Kate Hartman uses wearable electronics to explore how we communicate, with ourselves and with the world. In this quirky and thought-provoking talk, she shows the "Talk to Yourself Hat", the "Inflatable Heart", the "Glacier Embracing Suit", and other unexpected devices.

Misha Glenny: Hire the hackers! | Video on TED.com

2011-09-16T11:30:00.001-04:00

Misha Glenny: Hire the hackers! | Video on TED.com: Despite multibillion-dollar investments in cybersecurity, one of its root problems has been largely ignored: who are the people who write malicious code? Underworld investigator Misha Glenny profiles several convicted coders from around the world and reaches a startling conclusion.

Bad News from NASA: Proof That Comet Elenin Is Affecting Earth – Video | Pakalert Press

2011-09-10T10:04:00.001-04:00

Bad News from NASA: Proof That Comet Elenin Is Affecting Earth – Video | Pakalert Press: Dr. Mark Sircus, Contributing Writer

This is going to be the most extraordinary communication so fasten your seatbelts; we are in for a rough ride. I have known in my heart for months that I would have to make a communication like this but had no idea it would be this soon. Back in January, while investigating the underground city that is alleged to have been built under the new Denver Airport, reported on by the former governor Jesse Ventura, I put the puzzle together and came to the conclusion that a planetary event was in store for us in 2012.

U.S. banks offered deal over lawsuits: report | Reuters

2011-09-06T08:15:00.001-04:00

U.S. banks offered deal over lawsuits: report | Reuters: (Reuters) - Big U.S. banks in talks with state prosecutors to settle claims of improper mortgage practices have been offered a deal that may limit their legal liabilities in return for a multibillion-dollar payment, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday.
The talks aim to settle allegations that banks including Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Citigroup and Ally Financial, seized the homes of delinquent borrowers and broke state laws by employing so-called "robosigners," workers who signed off on foreclosure documents en masse without reviewing the paperwork.

Fault Lines - S02E08 Arundhati Roy - Watch Free Documentary Online - Al Jazeera

2011-09-05T07:38:00.001-04:00

Fault Lines - S02E08 Arundhati Roy - Watch Free Documentary Online - Al Jazeera: Fault Lines presenter Avi Lewis sits down for a one-on-one interview with author and activist, Arundhati Roy.

Fault Lines - S02E08 Arundhati Roy - Watch Free Documentary Online - Al Jazeera

2011-09-05T07:36:00.000-04:00

Fault Lines - S02E08 Arundhati Roy - Watch Free Documentary Online - Al Jazeera: Fault Lines presenter Avi Lewis sits down for a one-on-one interview with author and activist, Arundhati Roy.

HURRICANE ERIN: The Category 3 Hurricane That Should Have Prevented 9/11 From Happening : Federal Jack

2011-08-31T10:02:00.001-04:00

HURRICANE ERIN: The Category 3 Hurricane That Should Have Prevented 9/11 From Happening : Federal Jack

Mesopotamian religion - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

2011-08-31T08:21:00.001-04:00

Mesopotamian religion - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: Mesopotamian religion refers to the religious beliefs and practices followed by the Sumerian and Akkadian (Assyrian/Babylonian) peoples living in Mesopotamia (around the area of modern Iraq) that dominated the region for a period of 4200 years from the fourth millennium BC to approximately the 3rd century AD.[1] Christianity began to take root among the Mesopotamians in the 1st Century AD, and over the next 300 years the native religion largely died out. However, it is known that the god Ashur was still worshipped in Assyria as late as the 4th Century AD and it is rumoured that Ashurism was still practiced by tiny minorities in northern Assyria (around Harran) until the 17th Century AD. Commonly thought of as a form of paganism, Mesopotamian religion was polytheistic, worshipping over two thousand different deities,[2] many of which were associated with a specific city or state within Mesopotamia such as Sumer, Akkad, Assyria, Assur, Nineveh, Ur, Uruk, Mari and Babylon. Some of the most significant of these deities were Anu, Ea, Enlil, Ishtar (Astarte), Ashur, Shamash, Tammuz, Adad/Hadad, Sin (Nanna), Dagan, Ninurta, Nisroch, Nergal, Tiamat, Bel and Marduk.

Ashkenazi Jews - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

2011-08-31T08:20:00.001-04:00

Ashkenazi Jews - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: Ashkenazi Jews, also known as Ashkenazic Jews or Ashkenazim (Hebrew: אַשְׁכֲּנָזִים‎‎, pronounced [ˌaʃkəˈnazim], singular: [ˌaʃkəˈnazi]; also יְהוּדֵי אַשְׁכֲּנָז, Y'hudey Ashkenaz, "the Jews of Ashkenaz"), are the Jews descended from the medieval Jewish communities along the Rhine in Germany from Alsace in the south to the Rhineland in the north. Ashkenaz is the medieval Hebrew name for this region and thus for Germany. Thus, Ashkenazim or Ashkenazi Jews are literally "German Jews." Later, Jews from Western and Central Europe came to be called "Ashkenaz" because the main centers of Jewish learning were located in Germany. Ashkenaz is also a Japhetic patriarch in the Table of Nations (Genesis 10).

Ashkenazi Jewish intelligence - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

2011-08-31T08:18:00.001-04:00

Ashkenazi Jewish intelligence - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: The intelligence of Ashkenazi Jews has been the subject of study and speculation within the fields of psychometry and evolutionary biology. Psychometric studies have reported a higher than average intelligence quotient among Ashkenazi Jews than among the general population. There has been a broad range of speculation about the possible causes of these findings, as well as a measure of controversy, as the studies touch upon several sensitive subjects such as the possible relationship between race and intelligence, as well as issues of racialism, philo-semitism and anti-semitism.[1]
One highly publicised proposal by Gregory Cochran, Jason Hardy and Henry Harpending, suggests that the Ashkenazi had jobs in which increased IQ strongly favoured economic success, in contrast with other populations, who were mostly peasant farmers.[2]

University of the People – The world’s first tuition-free online university

2011-08-30T16:51:00.002-04:00

University of the People – The world’s first tuition-free online university

Open Courses, Nearly Free - NYTimes.com

2011-08-30T16:48:00.001-04:00

Open Courses, Nearly Free - NYTimes.com: After the earthquake in Haiti destroyed much of the country’s higher-education infrastructure, the University of the People decided to set up three computer centers there, inviting English-speaking students from nearby tent cities to come and work for four hours a day.

NRC: Operating Nuclear Power Reactors (by Location or Name)

2011-08-30T08:02:00.001-04:00

NRC: Operating Nuclear Power Reactors (by Location or Name): A power reactor is a facility that makes electricity by the continuous splitting of uranium atoms (i.e., a nuclear reaction). This facility is often referred to as a nuclear power plant. To find information about a particular operating nuclear power reactor that NRC regulates, select that reactor from the map below, or from the Alphabetical List of Operating Nuclear Power Reactors by Name.

Over 200 African Leaders: NATO's Libyan War Part Of Plan To Recolonize Continent

2011-08-30T07:50:00.001-04:00

Over 200 African Leaders: NATO's Libyan War Part Of Plan To Recolonize Continent: A group of African intellectuals has written an open letter criticising the NATO-led military attacks on Libya, saying Africa ran the risk of being re-colonised.

"Nato has violated international law... they had a regime change agenda," said one of the signatories, University of Johannesburg head of politics, Chris Landsberg.

"The re-colonisation of Africa is becoming a real threat," he told reporters in Johannesburg.

The letter was signed by more than 200 prominent Africans, including ANC national executive member Jesse Duarte, political analyst Willie Esterhuyse of the University of Stellenbosch, former intelligence minister Ronnie Kasrils, lawyer Christine Qunta, former deputy foreign affairs minister Aziz Pahad, former minister in the presidency Essop Pahad, Sam Moyo of the African Institute for Agrarian Studies, former president Thabo Mbeki's spokesperson Mukoni Ratshitanga, and poet Wally Serote.

Clif Sanderson | Deep Field Relaxation

2011-08-27T08:37:00.001-04:00

Clif Sanderson | Deep Field Relaxation: Clif Sanderson is a founder of Deep Field Relaxation and an internationally acclaimed teacher of well-being and spirituality.
He promoted the art of allowing, deep relaxation and application of intention as powerful healing forces in more than twenty countries – in such places as the United Nations and St. John’s Cathedral (New York), St. James Church in Piccadilly (London), The Essalen Institute (California), Heidelberg University (Germany) and The Russian Institute of Technology (Moscow). For three years he was a presenter at ‘Psi-tage’, the largest European congress on parapsychology (Basel, Switzerland). He shared the platform with Nobel Committee member, Dr. Bjorn Nordstrum at the ‘International Congress on Independent Research into Cancer’ (Sydney, Australia). He has been a regular contributor to the ‘Townsend Letter for Doctors’ journal (USA).

:: Corporation : Clinical Diagnosis (PCLR) ::

2011-08-27T08:29:00.001-04:00

Independent, UK. It Is Impossible to Forget the Children of Chernobyl | Deep Field Relaxation

2011-08-27T08:22:00.001-04:00

Independent, UK. It Is Impossible to Forget the Children of Chernobyl | Deep Field Relaxation: SUSAN DE MUTH  Wednesday, 31 March 1993
'EVERYBODY seemed to be waiting for a miracle - for someone, somewhere to help them. But it didn't happen. I decided then that we had to help ourselves.'
Three years after the Chernobyl nuclear accident on 26 April 1986, Galina Sanderson, a programme maker for state television in Belarus, was filming children with leukaemia in hospital at Minsk, about 200 miles from the power station. 'One little girl died just three days afterwards; between 10 and 12 die every week. It was really hard for me as a mother. My own six-year-old, Dimitri, was sick - he had never been well since the accident, though he was perfectly healthy before.
'Although our doctors were doing their best, they didn't know what was going on, far less how to cope. Mothers in the hospital were desperate.'

» The Food Revolution Papers - What Is Ractopamine? - Blogger News Network

2011-08-26T22:18:00.001-04:00

» The Food Revolution Papers - What Is Ractopamine? - Blogger News Network: The Food Revolution Papers - What Is Ractopamine?Posted on August 25th, 2011 by Simon Barrett in healthRead 260 times.The team of Mannie Barling, Ashley F. Brooks and Simon Barrett got together once again to discuss the political aspects of the food on your dinner plate.
The press is talking about the National and International economic crisis that we find ourselves in, and yes it is a serious problem. But it is not the only serious problem that we face. There is a growing issue with food, nutrition and health.

Dominion Virginia Power has lifted an alert at its North Anna Power Station, less than twenty four hours after a powerful earthquake disrupted power. - wtvr

2011-08-25T16:56:00.001-04:00

Dominion Virginia Power has lifted an alert at its North Anna Power Station, less than twenty four hours after a powerful earthquake disrupted power. - wtvr: MINERAL, Va (WTVR)- Dominion Virginia Power has lifted an alert at its North Anna Power Station, less than twenty four hours after a powerful earthquake disrupted power.

On Wednesday, the plant started a reactor cooling pump for each of its two units.

Inspectors with Dominion and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission say they found no major damage, or evidence that radioactive materials were leaked from the plant.

Ingrid Naiman - Index to Posts on Radiation

2011-08-25T16:34:00.001-04:00

Ingrid Naiman - Index to Posts on Radiation: Please Note: There are other health categories, including Ayurveda, Cancer, Mold, and Parasites as well as Food, Herbs, Microscopy and broad subjects that cover harmony and balance or cell phones.

Originally Posted to Subscribers

Radioactivity
Next Heaven 8 August 2011
Fukushima Nuclear Disaster: Try Not to Panic19 March 2011
Half Life of Radioactive Iodine 18 March 2011
Radioprotective Herbs 17 March 2011
Lessons from Chernobyl17 March 2011
Radioactivity: The Safe Level is Zero16 March 2011
Iodine? Not Yet! Cesium-13715 March 2011
Radioactivity 101 13 March 2011
Nuclear Power 13 March 2011
Radioactivity: The Fukushima Nuclear Hazards12 March 2011

First Recordings Of The Cosmic Symphony : 13.7: Cosmos And Culture : NPR

2011-08-25T16:23:00.001-04:00

First Recordings Of The Cosmic Symphony : 13.7: Cosmos And Culture : NPR: Today's guest post comes from Paul Green, an astrophyscist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, MA. Dr. Green studies quasars, stars and helps to manage the science operations of NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory. In his other life he is also the bassist for The Wicked Pickers, a jazz/folk band in the Boston area.

The sky is alive with the sound of music. The Sun rings like a bell. RR Lyrae stars throb like a disco. Eclipsing binary stars revolve in rhythmic pulsations. Supermassive black holes in the cores of galaxies thrum in crescendos of rumbling bass. If we could hear all this music, it might have driven us mad with its bewildering complexity. But empty space transmits no sound, so all we heard was silence. Until now.

Landon Jones: The New Madrid Earthquake: 200 Years Later

2011-08-23T22:10:00.001-04:00

Landon Jones: The New Madrid Earthquake: 200 Years Later: If you think this week's East Coast tremblor was disconcerting, consider that this is the 200th anniversary of the Mother of All American Earthquakes.
About 2 a.m. in the early morning of December 16, 1811, the young painter John James Audubon was riding across the Big Barrens, a large grassland in western Kentucky, when his horse suddenly froze and splayed out its legs as if walking on a smooth sheet of ice. "At that instant all the shrubs and trees began to move from their very roots," Audubon recalled. "The ground rose and fell in successive furrows, like the ruffled waters of a lake."

RF3 Air Tube Headset | Cellphone-Health.com

2011-08-23T11:29:00.001-04:00

RF3 Air Tube Headset | Cellphone-Health.com: Keep AWAY harmful cell phone radiation from your head! The Next Generation RF3 ENVi. 2010 Consumer Electronics Show Award Winner, the RF3 ENVi corded hands free headset uses AirCom™ Technology to keep potentially harmful radiation AWAY from your head, and a state-of-the-art SPL enhanced sound chamber and wiring to deliver the clearest sound ever. And the unmatched ergonomic positioning of the RF3 ENVi Sound Chamber provides better communication and hassle-free use. The RF3 ENVi’s sophisticated design and effective protection are unsurpassed!

Cell Phone Radiation Protection Shield - BIOPRO/GIA Cell Guard Tested

2011-08-23T11:27:00.001-04:00

Cell Phone Radiation Protection Shield - BIOPRO/GIA Cell Guard Tested: Home Products How it Works Research Books Videos Blog Contact Patented Cell Phone Radiation Shield Technology was Put to the Test To See If It Can Neutralize the Harmful Effects of Electromagnetic Radiation from Cell Phones–
This simple biological experiment was conducted to verify the effectiveness of the cell phone radiation shield technology called MRET (Molecular Resonance Effect Technology). Samples of plant seeds, beans, and yeast microorganisms were placed in close proximity to cellular phones operating in stand by mode.

Newsletter : John Perkins Official Web Site

2011-08-23T10:59:00.001-04:00

Newsletter : John Perkins Official Web Site: Calling All Robin Hoods and Maid Marions: Gather Your Merry Men and Women

John Perkins: Economic Chaos, Loans, Greece and Corporatocracy

2011-08-23T10:53:00.001-04:00

John Perkins: Economic Chaos, Loans, Greece and Corporatocracy: As I write this, I am watching the economic chaos in Greece. I'm sure we're all sharing the feelings of fear of economic collapse that is rampant among the other European countries -- and in fact, around the world.
These events are classic cases of what I detail in my books -- Confesssions of An Economic Hit Man and Hoodwinked.

Jeffrey Sachs: CEO Follies

2011-08-23T10:00:00.001-04:00

Jeffrey Sachs: CEO Follies: There may be no group of people in the world more out of touch with U.S. ground reality than super-rich CEOs of major U.S. companies railing against Warren Buffett's suggestion that the rich should pay higher taxes. The Wall Street Journal today brings a somewhat surprising case in point ("My Response to Buffett and Obama," by Harvey Golub, August 22, 2011). Former American Express CEO Harvey Golub, generally respected among his peers, lets loose an ill-informed screed that shows the cocoon in which many of these CEOs live their lives.

Sea Level Rise Map for New Orleans and Gulf Coast

2011-08-23T09:31:00.001-04:00

Sea Level Rise Map for New Orleans and Gulf Coast: The map below shows areas of the Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama coastlines that would be flooded at various stages of sea level rise. You can select a value of sea level rise using the dropdown box in the upper left corner of the map. The navigation buttons can be used to zoom in/out and pan across the map.

The map clearly shows that a sea level rise of only a few meters would inundate thousands of acres of highly developed land, beach communities and habitat along the Gulf Coast. If you zoom in on New Orleans, Morgan City, Lake Charles, Port Arthur, Mobile, Galveston, Freeport or other areas you can see communities, railroads, ports, factories, refineries and other types of land use that will be under water. The United States Gulf coast will be one of the hardest areas hit if sea level rise associated with global warming continues.

Fed's $1.2 Trillion In Financial Sector Loans 'A Classic Case Of Moral Hazard'

2011-08-23T07:49:00.001-04:00

Fed's $1.2 Trillion In Financial Sector Loans 'A Classic Case Of Moral Hazard': During the 2008 financial crisis, when the nation's banking system seemed on the verge of collapse, President George W. Bush authorized a $700 billion bailout of the financial industry. The U.S. Treasury implemented that program, known as TARP, in an effort to stave off economic catastrophe.
At the same time, and in the years that followed, the Federal Reserve was undertaking its own rescue operation, in the form of private, previously undisclosed loans to banks and other institutions -- lending as much as $1.2 trillion, nearly twice the amount of the Treasury bailout, according to a data analysis performed by Bloomberg News and published on Monday.

Prosperity Without Growth by Tim Jackson | Book review | Books | The Guardian

2011-08-23T07:38:00.001-04:00

Prosperity Without Growth by Tim Jackson | Book review | Books | The Guardian: Prosperity is understood as a successful, flourishing or thriving condition: simply, a state in which things are going well for us. Every day the system in which we live tries to persuade us – via TV news, politicians' speeches, corporate pronouncements, inducements to consume and so on – that our prosperity is intimately linked to whether or not gross national product is growing and whether stock markets are riding high. These are the two main measuring sticks for the version of capitalism on which most countries base their economies today.

As the dream of economic growth dies, a new plan awaits testing | George Monbiot | Comment is free | The Guardian

2011-08-23T07:07:00.002-04:00

Twenty-five years ago as a student of history, I had noted the economic booms and protracted busts which occurred with regularity--just as is highlighted in the recent book, "This Time is Different: Eight Centuries of Financial Folly." In noting that when economie's busted individuals and families were devastated, I asked, how me might create an economy which serves us instead of us genuflecting to it? I came to see that basically our economy and world has been constructed by psychopaths which I recently learned makeup about 4% of our population. This is and has been a public health crises--but one that has yet been recognized. It is impossible to tell just looking at people who these predators are, but the fruits of their labors are everywhere apparent. We must in truth acknowledge their impact on our collective history and recreate a world from consciousness rather than one which was built without a conscience. The time to do so is now--we can, we must create a more respectful, equitable, and harmonious world.(ci)

As the dream of economic growth dies, a new plan awaits testing | George Monbiot | Comment is free | The Guardian: How much of this is real? How much of the economic growth of the past 60 years? Of the wealth and comfort, the salaries and pensions that older people accept as normal, even necessary? How much of it is an illusion, created by levels of borrowing – financial and ecological – that cannot be sustained? Go to Ireland and you'll see that even bricks and mortar are a mirage: the marvels of the new economy, built on debt, stand empty and worthless.

Seeking Protection for Coral Sea "Hotspot" : Discovery News#mkcpgn=rssnws1

2011-08-22T21:16:00.001-04:00

Seeking Protection for Coral Sea "Hotspot" : Discovery News#mkcpgn=rssnws1: The Coral Sea is perhaps best known and celebrated for the area that occupies much of its western edge: the Great Barrier Reef, which fringes the northeastern Australian coast. The world's largest coral reef, it was designated as a World Heritage Site in 1981 in recognition of its extensive biological diversity and richness; six years earlier, the Australian government established the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, which regulates some activities (such as fishing) in some areas and bans them altogether in others.

The Only Thing You Need To Know About GoldMoney vs. BullionVault | Don't Tread On Me

2011-08-21T14:45:00.001-04:00

The Only Thing You Need To Know About GoldMoney vs. BullionVault | Don't Tread On Me

5 Reasons Why American Riots Will Be The Worst In The World

2011-08-21T14:39:00.001-04:00

5 Reasons Why American Riots Will Be The Worst In The World: I wrote an article called 5 Places NOT To Be When The Dollar Collapses. In it I wrote that societies that benefited the most from the dollar would be the worst places to be when it fell apart. While the dollar has not even collapsed yet, the strain in these areas is becoming more apparent. England is number 3 on the list has had 4 days of violent riots as people start to lose it. Israel is number 1 on that list has had massive protests. There is revolution in the air all over the world except in the US.
America is still in deep denial which is still the first stage of the Awakening. This denial will be wiped away when the dollar collapses. For now the economy is still functioning with food and fuel available. Americans still have the illusion of wealth and normalcy. They still are stuck in the false left right paradigm and think some other sock puppet will turn things around.

The Coming Depression: An Empire in Decline. The Debt Crisis is Just a "Prelude to War

2011-08-21T14:33:00.001-04:00

The Coming Depression: An Empire in Decline. The Debt Crisis is Just a "Prelude to War: "How can an empire in decline impose its views? The U.S. not only shows obvious signs of economic collapse, but also of genuine regression: the American dream no longer exists. The U.S. establishment, Democratic or Republican, is not prepared to cash in its last major comparative advantage - military supremacy."……

Carl Philipp Gottfried von Clausewitz (1780-1831), the German military strategist once said that 'War is the continuation of politics by other means.' Given the political dead-end the West seems to be on, his maxim may once again prove all too true. Western governments appear powerless to confront the current crisis and the looming threat of a depression, with all of the serious consequences that implies. The colossal debt of nations and bleak prospects for growth are creating a panic situation on financial markets around the world. A crash is not a figment of the imagination…..

TED Blog | Playlist: TEDActive’s Finest

2011-08-21T08:30:00.001-04:00

TED Blog | Playlist: TEDActive’s Finest: (TED is on its annual two-week vacation. During the break, we’re posting playlists from the TEDTalks archive. We’ll be back with new talks on August 29th.)
Today’s playlist are some of our favorite TEDTalks to come out from TEDActive in sunny Palm Springs, California.
Sebastian Wernicke shares a hilarious statistical analysis of TEDTalks to come up with a metric for creating “the optimum TEDTalk”.

Astroblog

2011-08-20T13:57:00.001-04:00

Astroblog: Pluto in Capricorn is showing us where power has become overwhelmingly leveraged towards the few, at the expense of the rest. Pluto engenders the seeds of revolution, and the fall from power of those in high places, if need be. It’s about the redistribution of power. In Pluto weather the dark underbelly is revealed... And when in Capricorn it lays bare the underlying problems and weaknesses in the existing structures, governments and seats of power. And when planets come to stress this position...as they have been this year, those structures are challenged for stability, strength and soundness.

American Materialism: The Elephant in the Middle of the Room | Reality Sandwich

2011-08-20T09:40:00.001-04:00

American Materialism: The Elephant in the Middle of the Room | Reality Sandwich: Money as Taboo

Pluto is the planet of taboos. How appropriate it is that the god of Hell is the governor of these festering energies, always in the atmosphere but rarely discussed honestly and directly. The danger attached to these ideas causes baroque mythologies to build up around them, a system of apologias which would provide a fascinating self-study if we had the courage to look into them. In our own natal chart, Pluto's placement points to issues we may be semi-aware of but rarely look into, because we simply don't know what to do with them.

Pick Your Poison: Drought or Flood?

2011-08-20T08:32:00.000-04:00

August 19, 2011 -- We can all get a little wacky when we’re under pressure. Apparently, weather is similarly vulnerable. In recent months, persistent ridges of high pressure have been driving storms away from the south central United States, leaving that region parched while drenching others with unusually heavy rain. The effects of this weather dichotomy are clearly visible in satellite imagery released this week at the NASA Earth Observatory.

The wacky mix of wet and dry weather left its mark in some unusual plant growth during the month of July (above). Here’s what the colors mean:

The Darkest World: Scientists Discover 'Darth Vader' Planet : 13.7: Cosmos And Culture : NPR

2011-08-18T12:45:00.001-04:00

The Darkest World: Scientists Discover 'Darth Vader' Planet : 13.7: Cosmos And Culture : NPR: The polarities of darkness and light have been central to human cultural imaginings since our origins.
In the 5th century B.C. there was Zoroastrian religion, based on the eternal battle between darkness (evil) and light (spiritual purity). In the modern world we have the mythic conflict between Luke Skywalker in his white tunic and his black-shrouded, fallen father, Darth Vader. Given our penchant for pulling the world apart into this kind of dichotomy, it is, perhaps, no wonder that the recent discovery of the darkest of dark planets has made news.

Labyrinth of the Psychopath 1 - When the Demon Knocks at Your Door - YouTube

2011-08-17T22:21:00.001-04:00

Labyrinth of the Psychopath 1 - When the Demon Knocks at Your Door - YouTube: "Labyrinth of the Psychopath 1 - When the Demon Knocks at Your Door"

The Global Banking System: Descensus in Cuniculi Cavum (Part 1, "Less Than Humble Beginnings"), page 1

2011-08-17T17:40:00.001-04:00

The Global Banking System: Descensus in Cuniculi Cavum (Part 1, "Less Than Humble Beginnings"), page 1: "'So you think that money is the root of all evil.
Have you ever asked what is the root of all money?' - Ayn Rand

Hammurabi (1792-1750 BC) was considered the greatest king of Babylonia , he reigned as the sixth King during the first Babylonian dynasty, and created an empire north from the Persian Gulf through the Tigris and Euphrates river valleys and west to the shores of the Mediterranean Sea. Although he was a great military leader and administrator of his realm, Hammurabi is mostly remembered for his structure of the law governing Babylon, called the Code of Hammurabi (the earliest known formal law structure). Banks were held to the standards of the Code of Hammurabi. They were very different than they are today, as deposits were not of money, but of livestock, grain or other crops and later, Gold and Silver."

20 Habits That Make You Fat | Fitbie

2011-08-16T10:28:00.001-04:00

20 Habits That Make You Fat | Fitbie: "Decades ago, around the time of Steven Tyler's last haircut, a completely wrong-headed idea started being passed around America's dinner tables: Eating fat makes you fat.

Wrong. Eating fat won’t make you fat, any more than eating money will make you rich. Calories make you fat, and most “low-fat” or “fat-free” foods actually have just as many calories as their full-fat versions, because of added sugar and chemicals. And there’s no debate on this one: Since we made “cut down on fat” our favorite food craze roughly 30 years ago, the U.S. obesity rate has doubled. Among children, it has tripled. That’s a failed food policy if ever there was one."

The Australian reports on new Cochrane evidence indicating that music interventions may benefit cancer patients | The Cochrane Collaboration

2011-08-16T06:02:00.001-04:00

The Australian reports on new Cochrane evidence indicating that music interventions may benefit cancer patients | The Cochrane Collaboration: "The Australian reports on new Cochrane evidence indicating that music interventions may benefit cancer patients"

Town Without A Toothache Hereford Texas, in Man Versus Toothache - Cure Tooth Decay

2011-08-16T05:44:00.001-04:00

Town Without A Toothache Hereford Texas, in Man Versus Toothache - Cure Tooth Decay: "Town Without A Toothache, Hereford, Texas, in Man Versus Toothache
As long as I practiced dentistry, I kept telling my patients that to have sound teeth they must eat foods that contain tooth-building elements. I told them that milk contained calcium (lime) in the form easiest assimilated for building both bones and teeth.
Here are some inciteful quotes from dentist George Heard:"

6.7 Million Wisdom Teeth Removed Unnecessarily Each Year - Cure Tooth Decay

2011-08-16T05:33:00.002-04:00

6.7 Million Wisdom Teeth Removed Unnecessarily Each Year - Cure Tooth Decay: "A report by dentist Jay Friedman in the American Journal of Public Health reveals that 67 percent or more of preventative wisdom teeth removals are unnecessary. The article explains that most of the pain and illness surrounding wisdom teeth is not caused by the teeth themselves as one would expect, but rather the symptoms come from the surgery that removes the wisdom teeth. Of the approximately 10,000,000 wisdom teeth removed each year in the United States, less than 20 percent of extractions have proven medical indications which reference the requirement for extraction. (F1). In general, the preventative extraction of wisdom teeth has become a public health disaster and is a clear case of medically caused injury. Driven by lies, the wisdom tooth extraction industry has turned our mouths into a financial goldmine. It makes billions of dollars per year from performing these largely unnecessary surgeries."

Ezra Klein - Ken Rogoff: 'It really boils down to arrogance and ignorance'

2011-08-14T06:33:00.001-04:00

Ezra Klein - Ken Rogoff: 'It really boils down to arrogance and ignorance': "In their book “This Time is Different,” Carmen Reinhart and Kenneth Rogoff construct the richest and most detailed history of financial crises that anyone has developed. Their data set covers 66 countries, five continents and eight centuries, and gives them an unparalleled ability to see patterns and predictors amongst different types of crashes. And see them they do. I spoke to Rogoff about the causes, trajectories and solutions to financial crises earlier today. A lightly edited transcript of our conversation follows."

It's the Economy, Dummkopf! | Business | Vanity Fair

2011-08-13T07:56:00.001-04:00

It's the Economy, Dummkopf! | Business | Vanity Fair: "With Greece and Ireland in economic shreds, while Portugal, Spain, and perhaps even Italy head south, only one nation can save Europe from financial Armageddon: a highly reluctant Germany. The ironies—like the fact that bankers from Düsseldorf were the ultimate patsies in Wall Street’s con game—pile up quickly as Michael Lewis investigates German attitudes toward money, excrement, and the country’s Nazi past, all of which help explain its peculiar new status."

The Beginning Of The Endgame

2011-08-13T07:53:00.001-04:00

The Beginning Of The Endgame: "The Big Bang Moment
Bang, Indeed!
“It’s the Economy, Dummkopf!”
The Long and Winding Road to Crisis
Are We Already in Recession?
So What Can We Do?
Home and then Ireland, London, and Geneva
I came away from Maine, and meeting with some of the most astute economists in the world, with a series of impressions that will be the core of this week’s letter."

One Thing Became Clear This Week: The Fix Is In

2011-08-13T07:47:00.001-04:00

One Thing Became Clear This Week: The Fix Is In: "This week’s wild actions on Wall Street should serve as a stark reminder that few investors have any clue as to what is really going on beneath the surface of America’s troubled economy. But this week did bring startling clarity on at least one front. In its August policy statement the Federal Reserve took the highly unusual step of putting a specific time frame for the continuation of its near zero interest rate policy"

Currency Effect on Trade Review | Khan Academy

2011-08-12T21:43:00.001-04:00

Currency Effect on Trade Review | Khan Academy: "Currency Effect on Trade Review"

Salman Khan: Let's use video to reinvent education | Video on TED.com

2011-08-12T21:34:00.001-04:00

Salman Khan: Let's use video to reinvent education | Video on TED.com: "In 2004, Salman Khan, a hedge fund analyst, began posting math tutorials on YouTube. Six years later, he has posted more than 2.000 tutorials, which are viewed nearly 100,000 times around the world… Full bio and more links"

TED Blog | What TEDTalk would you play to open the school year? We counted your (almost 1,000) responses …

2011-08-12T21:23:00.001-04:00

TED Blog | What TEDTalk would you play to open the school year? We counted your (almost 1,000) responses …: "Over the weekend, we asked the TED community on Facebook this question:
“If you wanted to show a TEDTalk to open the school year, which one would you choose?” It’s inspired by a question tweeted from the #jed21 conference. On Facebook, almost 1,000 responses flowed in. The job of tallying the results — given in freeform comments — fell to our writer/editor Ben Lillie, as shown:"