might be the only real hope we have in the current global crisis
brought on by the dominance of the Western mechanistic paradigm.
- Stanislav Grof
Ascension Now |
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A radical inner transformation and rise to a new level of consciousness
might be the only real hope we have in the current global crisis brought on by the dominance of the Western mechanistic paradigm. - Stanislav Grof
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Ellen Brown : The Web of Debt Blog : 11 Dec 2015 Global developments in finance and geopolitics are prompting a rethinking of the structure of banking and of the nature of money itself. Among other interesting news items:
Read the whole article here. Counter Current News 07 Dec 2015 US Army Secretary John McHugh announced this week that American women will be soon forced to register for the draft upon their 18th birthday just as men are. Army officials said that the move was in the spirit of "true and pure equality," but with the country wrapped up in dozens of unpopular wars it seems more like equal oppression than equal opportunity. Currently, US citizens are not forcefully conscripted into military service, but not long ago the draft was a very real thing, and like the flip of a switch it can be imposed at any time that the government fails to recruit enough people for their wars. A recent ruling to open more combat roles to women inadvertently opened them up for selection for the draft. McHugh said that universal draft registration will be a normal part of American culture before we know it. "If we find ourselves as a military writ large where men and women have equal opportunity, as I believe we should," he said. Not only are the wars currently taking place around the world totally inhumane and illegitimate, but the very concept of conscription is nothing more than slavery, forcing someone to do something against their will. Not only that but a mandatory draft would put people into a dangerous situation and force them to kill against their will, which is wrong for both men and women. With no end in sight for the wars across the Middle East and now Africa, it should be no surprise that bringing the draft back would definitely be on the agenda. Equality of freedom and equality of opportunity is something that people of all races, genders and ethnicities deserve, and this is a direction that humanity should move in. However, equal oppression is something entirely different, and when one social group is oppressed, we should work to free them from oppression, instead of shifting that oppression onto other social groups and calling it equality, as the US Army has done this week. Instead of celebrating the fact that the draft can be forced onto anyone, we should be working to abolish the concept of a military draft. Check out Murray Rothbard's classic essay on conscription below: University students design solar-powered desalination system that produces potable ocean water1/6/2015 Jason Kornwitz : Phys.org : 19 May 2015 Five Northeastern University student-researchers have worked to address the worldwide water crisis, designing a solar-powered desalination system that produces potable ocean water.
They created the device for their senior capstone project, which was supervised by mechanical and industrial engineering professor Mohammad Taslim. Team members comprised Eric Anderson, Jon Moll, Dave Rapp, Murphy Rutledge, and Ryan Wasserman, all E'15. In their project report, the students pointed to the urgent need to solve the global water shortage: Some 750 million people lack access to clean water, according to water.org, and approximately 840,000 people die each year from a water related disease. Indeed, the water crisis represents the greatest risk facing the world today. "We wanted to work on this project precisely because of the world's water problem," said Wasserman, who recently graduated with his Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering. "Developing nations like Haiti need a cost-effective method for obtaining usable water without power input." The team's desalination system consists of a parabolic mirror, a copper heating pipe, and two tanks—a storage tank and a condenser tanked filled with cold water. Here's how it works: A user pours a small jug of salt water into the pipe. The mirror reflects sunlight onto the pipe, causing the water to evaporate. This process creates water vapor, which in turn flows through a condenser coil located inside the condenser tank. The resulting potable water drips from the bottom of the condenser tank into the storage tank, leaving the salt behind in the pipe. In tests, the system produced one gallon of potable water per day. While comparable products on the market produce a fraction of this quantity, Wasserman plans to fine-tune the prototype before considering its marketability. The prototype's design, he noted, was shaped by his co-op experience with Instron, the maker of materials-testing equipment, and QinetiQ North America, the defense technology company. "Both these co-op jobs were influential," Wasserman said, adding that he recently landed a full-time job with QinetiQ. "I took in a lot of general knowledge that I was able to apply to the assembly of the system." Taslim underscored Wasserman's sentiments, saying that capstone represents the culmination of five years of hard work in class and on co-op. "During their senior year, students put all their engineering knowledge to work by going through the entire design process from A to Z to bring an idea to reality in a fairly short time," he said. "This is a real-life experience for them so they can join the engineering world prepared." Source I send to all visitors to this website - and all of Humanity - love and positive intent for a very happy and harmonious Christmas and a peaceful and uplifting New Year. However chaotic the world may seem at present, know that greater change is at hand:
Divine Love, Light, peace and healing to all
Messenger Spirit Lisa Campbell : The Independent : 16 Dec 2014 The founder of a quietly-growing empire of social cafes has called on a change in the law to prevent the UK's "criminal" levels of food waste - especially by supermarkets - while so many go hungry. Adam Smith, founder of The Real Junk Food Project, in Armley, Leeds, feeds his punters on goods that would otherwise have been thrown away by supermarkets, independent grocers and food banks. The 29-year-old trained chef cooks up stews, casseroles, soups and cakes with the unwanted food, charging a "pay as you feel" policy - allowing punters to pay what they feel they can, and if that is nothing, they can help with the washing up. In just 10 months he has fed 10,000 people on 20 tonnes of unwanted food, raising over £30,000.
The cafe has had such resonance in a world with such high food wastage and high hunger levels it has inspired 47 other "pay as you feel" cafes to spring in the past few months in Manchester, Bristol, Saltaire - with the concept even exported as far away as Los Angeles and Brazil, Warsaw and Zurich. But Mr Smith says The Real Junk Food Project - which is in the process of being registered as an official charity - is about more than simply feeding those who might otherwise go hungry. "It is bringing people from different demographics together that doesn't involve money. People are opening Junk Food Projects because they have had enough of what is going on in society and care about what is happening to other human beings," he said. "It is a revolution." Mr Smith wants the law to be changed to prevent supermarkets throwing so much food away for fear of prosecution - and he wants more pressure on supermarkets to be compelled to work with organisations like his. Currently, a retailer will be prosecuted if it sells food after the use-by date, but not before the "best-before" date. Despite this, supermarkets from across the sector regularly throw food out before its "best-before" date and, in Mr Smith's experience, are scornful about working with enterprises like his, which would happily take it. "Supermarkets are a pain in the arse," Mr Smith said. "They do not want anything to do with us. Many look down on us, I've had one manager of one well-known supermarket even spit in my face. We are breaking the law in their eyes. But we want to fight the law and take the fight to the general public." Mr Smith said the cafe regularly sources its food from some rather unorthordox sources. "We regularly take food from supermarket bins if we have to," he said. "We watch them throw it away, then we go and take it back out again 10 minutes later. Over 90% of the goods are perfectly fine." He said he recently took several jars of caviar which did not go off until December 2015 from one supermarket bin and he has also served punters salmon, scallops and even steak in his cafe from donations. However, the tide is starting to turn, and Mr Smith revealed he is currently in talks with a national supermarket to provide food to his cafe. Nandos restaurant chain has also been "fantastic" and has agreed to help Real Junk Food Projects around the country. "We now get all our chicken from them," Smith said, which equates to around 100-150 kilos of frozen chicken a week. "They have a 'no chuckin' our chicken' motto" he said, adding: "They give it to us because legally we will take responsibility for it." When asked if he was concerned about being prosecuted under the law himself, Mr Smith said: "Environmental Health came to inspect us and gave us three out of five stars. Everyone is completely aware of what we are doing. We want the law changed on best before dates to get better regulation - we have fed 10,000 with this food and not one has got ill." Mr Smith agrees more needs to be done to teach people the basics of cooking in schools. "We cook the basics in the cafe because many people don't know how to do the basic things with food," he said. "I know people who think they don't know how to make a fruit salad and they are 40-years-old. They didn't get it was just chopping up fruit and putting it into a bowl. We have realized there is a serious lack of basic education in the UK in terms of food awareness, what to make and where it comes from. "We cook basic sides, sauces, stews, casseroles, cakes, to get people eating this sort of food again and it is so easy to make." A new "pay as you feel" cafe which opened in Saltaire, West Yorkshire, at the weekend, The Saltaire Canteen, hopes to address this issue by providing cookery workshops for single men. It too hopes to strengthen the community with the free cafe. Andy McNab, local outreach coordinator for St Peter's Church in Shipley, who is running the cafe, said: "We want to debunk some of the stereotypes about the people who use food banks. The reality is anybody can end up using one. It doesn't take anything to get into a place where someone ends up losing their job and their social networks weren't as strong as they thought they were to fall into food crisis. It can happen very suddenly." You can read the article in its entirety at : http://www.sott.net/article/290256-UK-Real-Junk-Food-Project-has-fed-10000-people-using-20-tonnes-of-unwanted-food-in-a-country-crippled-by-austerity-measures Published on 12 May 2014 CLIMATE CHANGE IS VERY REAL - BUT THE OFFICIALS HAVE JEOPARDIZED OUR ABILITY TO PREPARE FOR THE FUTURE Global warming models/predictions have been an abject failure for 20 years, and yet the IPCC claims ever-higher certainty? How does this happen and what comes next? All papers and charts are publicly available information, or you send us an email and we will forward the source/citation for any information. Most of the citations can already be found at the Links button at our website, under the Counterstrike Links. Our Websites: http://www.suspicious0bservers.org http://www.ObservatoryProject.com Tiny single-cell organisms discovered living underground could help dispose off hazardous nuclear waste, scientists say.
Although bacteria with waste-eating properties have been discovered in relatively pristine soils before, this is the first time that microbes that can survive in the very harsh conditions expected in radioactive waste disposal sites have been found. The disposal of nuclear waste is very challenging, with very large volumes destined for burial deep underground. The largest volume of radioactive waste, termed 'intermediate level', will be encased in concrete prior to disposal into underground vaults, researchers said. When ground waters eventually reach these waste materials, they will react with the cement and become highly alkaline. This change drives a series of chemical reactions, triggering the breakdown of the various 'cellulose' based materials that are present in these complex wastes. One such product linked to these activities, isosaccharinic acid (ISA), causes much concern as it can react with a wide range of radionuclides - unstable and toxic elements that are formed during the production of nuclear power and make up the radioactive component of nuclear waste. If the ISA binds to radionuclides, such as uranium, then the radionuclides will become far more soluble and more likely to flow out of the underground vaults to surface environments, where they could enter drinking water or the food chain. However, the researchers' new findings indicate that micro-organisms may prevent this becoming a problem. Working on soil samples from a highly alkaline industrial site in the Peak District in the UK, which is not radioactive but does suffer from severe contamination with highly alkaline lime kiln wastes, they discovered specialist "extremophile" bacteria that thrive under the alkaline conditions expected in cement-based radioactive waste. The organisms are not only superbly adapted to live in the highly alkaline lime wastes, but they can use the ISA as a source of food and energy under conditions that mimic those expected in and around intermediate level radioactive waste disposal sites. "Nuclear waste will remain buried deep underground for many thousands of years so there is plenty of time for the bacteria to become adapted," said Professor Jonathan Lloyd, from the University of Manchester's School of Earth, Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences, said. The findings are published in the ISME journal. Source: Press Trust of India http://www.sott.net/article/285569-Scientists-discover-nuclear-waste-eating-bacteria The story and legend from the Native Americans People about the Tribe of people from many walks of life, that will rise to save the Earth. A radical inner transformation
and rise to a new level of consciousness might be the only real hope we have in the current global crisis brought on by the dominance of the Western mechanistic paradigm. - Stanislav Grof Tafline Laylin : Green Prophet : Thu, 06 Mar 2014 More than 40 million people worldwide have been displaced from their homes and left to find shelter in strange lands. Maybe they find a tarp, or a tent, but their quality of life almost always remains dismal. To close this gap in need, Jordanian-Canadian architect and designer Abeer Seikaly designed a new kind of shelter. One that allows refugees to rebuild their lives with dignity. Seikaly, now living in Amman, Jordan is well poised to design a dwelling for refugees given that her ancestors in Jordan probably toggled between nomadic and sheltered life in the desert for centuries. "The movement of people across the earth led to the discovery of new territories as well as the creation of new communities among strangers forming towns, cities, and nations," writes Seikaly in her design brief. "Navigating this duality between exploration and settlement, movement and stillness is a fundamental essence of what it means to be human." The outer solar-powered skin absorbs solar energy that is then converted into usable electricity, while the inner skin provides pockets for storage - particularly at the lower half of the shelters. And a water storage tank on the top of the tent allows people to take quick showers. Water rises to the storage tank via a thermosiphoning system and a drainage system ensures that the tent is not flooded. George Dvorsky ; io9 ; 13 May 2014 Over a third of the global population is now overweight, and the percentages are increasing. Some neuroscientists have suggested that the rise of so-called "hyperpalatable foods" may partially explain the unprecedented rates of obesity. Our food environment has changed dramatically over the years, most notably through the introduction of so-called "hyperpalatable" foods. These foods are deliberately engineered in such a way that they surpass the reward properties of traditional foods, such as vegetables, fruits, and nuts. Food chemists achieve this by suffusing products with increased levels of fat, sugar, flavors, and food additives. Conditioned hypereating David A. Kessler, author of The End of Overeating: Taking Control of the Insatiable American Appetite and former head of the FDA, claims that the food industry has combined and created foods in a way that taps into our brain circuitry, thus stimulating our desire for more. On their own, these ingredients aren't particularly potent, but when combined in specific ways, they tap into the brain's reward system, creating a feedback loop that stimulates our desire to eat and leaves us wanting more - even when we're full. Eventually, the experience of eating impossibly delicious foods results in what Kessler describes as "conditioned hypereating." When we consume enjoyable sugary and fatty foods, it stimulates endorphins in our brains - chemicals that signal a pleasurable experience. In turn, and in Pavlovian fashion, these chemicals stimulate us to eat more of that type of food, while also calming us down and making us feel good.
Read more at : http://www.sott.net/article/279101-How-hyperpalatable-non-foods-could-turn-you-into-a-food-addict-and-make-you-obese Published on 12 May 2014 CLIMATE CHANGE IS VERY REAL - BUT THE OFFICIALS HAVE JEOPARDIZED OUR ABILITY TO PREPARE FOR THE FUTURE Global warming models/predictions have been an abject failure for 20 years, and yet the IPCC claims ever-higher certainty? How does this happen and what comes next? All papers and charts are publicly available information, or you send us an email and we will forward the source/citation for any information. Most of the citations can already be found at the Links button at our website, under the Counterstrike Links. Our Websites: http://www.suspicious0bservers.org ; http://www.ObservatoryProject.com Category Science & Technology ; Licence Creative Commons Attribution licence (reuse allowed) |
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