India’s PM Claims Yoga Can Stop Global Warming…







India’s prime minister says people will have to change their lifestyles and develop a harmony with nature if the world is to avoid dangerous levels of climate change.

In a speech at UNESCO headquarters in Paris, Narendra Modi said different paths to “economic wellbeing” should be explored by world leaders.

He recommended yoga as one way of fighting climate change, as it offered people a sense of “harmony with self, society and nature” and could create a “social consciousness”.

“In India faith and nature have had a deep meaning since ancient times – for us only path is a sustainable one,” he said.



http://www.rtcc.org/2015/04/10/narendra-modi-yoga-can-help-the-fight-against-climate-change/

Kofi Annan: Eat Bugs To Stop Global Warming











Former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan wants you to eat more insects. Why? It’s better for the environment and your health, he argues.

“Keeping meat consumption to levels recommended by health authorities would lower emissions and reduce heart disease, cancer, and other diseases,” Annan told The Guardian Sunday.

“And of course there are alternative sources of protein. For example, raising insects as an animal protein source,” Annan said. “Insects have a very good conversion rate from feed to meat. They make up part of the diet of two billion people and are commonly eaten in many parts of the world.”

“Eating insects is good for the environment and balanced diets,” Annan said.

In December, U.N. delegates are expected to hash out a successor to the now-expire Kyoto Protocol at this year’s United Nations climate summit in Paris.

For years, the U.N. has advocated eating bugs as a way to offset livestock production. The international body says there are more than 1,900 types of edible bugs on the planet. The U.N. also says livestock is a major emitter of greenhouse gas emissions, mostly from methane.

“Insects are reported to emit fewer greenhouse gases and less ammonia than cattle or pigs, and they require significantly less land and water than cattle rearing,” the U.N. reported in 2013. “Compared with mammals and birds, insects may also pose less risk of transmitting zoonotic infections to humans, livestock and wildlife, although this topic requires further research.”

These “peak beefers” also note that insects “are a highly nutritious and healthy food source with high fat, protein, vitamin, fibre and mineral content.”

The Obama administration recently outlined a plan to reduce methane emissions from the livestock industry, but the administration has yet to ask Americans to incorporate bugs into their diets.

“The global livestock industry is indeed a major threat to the climate as it represents 14.5% of all human-caused greenhouse gas emissions according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations,” Annan said. “A growing population and a rapidly growing middle class are increasing pressure on the traditional protein sources, beef and poultry meat, making it more difficult to meet demand.”

“We cannot continue the way we are producing and consuming meat,” he added. “Obviously, this should not go as far as governments telling people what to eat.”



http://dailycaller.com/2015/05/04/kofi-annan-eat-bugs-to-stop-global-warming/

China is making big moves in Antarctica as it attempts to position itself for maximum influence on the world's last unclaimed piece of land, Jane Perlez reports for The New York Times.

Although Beijing did not establish its first Antarctic research base until 1985, Chinese efforts to expand its influence across the continent have intensified and are now outpacing other nations' plans.

"China’s operations on the continent — it opened its fourth research station last year, chose a site for a fifth, and is investing in a second icebreaker and new ice-capable planes and helicopters — are already the fastest-growing of the 52 signatories to the Antarctic Treaty," Perlez notes.

The US  has six research stations on the continent, while Australia has three. The Antarctic Treaty, which was signed in 1959, commits the signatories to ensuring that the continent will remain open for peaceful scientific research and that the region will not be militarized. A number of separate protocols aim to protect the Antarctic environment from overfishing and mining of what are considered to be large supplies of scarce resources in the region.

Although China has abided by the constraints of the pacts, observers of Antarctic affairs believe that Beijing is using the guise of research to gain a strategic upper hand in case region opens to commercial drilling in the future.

“This is part of a broader pattern of a mercantilist approach all around the world,” Peter Jennings, director of Australian Strategic Policy Institute, told the NYT. “A big driver of Chinese policy is to secure a long-term energy supply and food supply.”



http://www.businessinsider.com/china-is-making-moves-in-antarctica-2015-5

Simpson and Soofi were wearing body armor, and one shot the security officer in the leg. Garland police spokesman Joe Harn said Monday that a single Garland police officer subdued the two gunmen but that after his initial shots, SWAT officers nearby also fired at the two men. Harn said police don't know who fired the lethal shots.

The security officer was treated for his injury at a hospital and released.


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_PROPHET_CARTOON_CONTEST_SHOOTING?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-05-03-22-31-03

From a NYT "journalist"

Bill Clinton: Foundation didn’t do anything ‘knowingly inappropriate’




Bill Clinton says he has no regrets about taking millions in foreign cash for his foundation — even though the donations have caused a political headache for Hillary Clinton as she tries to follow him into the Oval Office.

In an exclusive interview with NBC News' Cynthia McFadden, the former president said his charity has never done anything "knowingly inappropriate."

Under pressure, the foundation recently announced it will only accept contributions from six Western governments going forward, but Clinton says that's no acknowledgment the old policy — under which Saudi Arabia gave between $10 million and $25 million, for instance — was a mistake.

"Absolutely not," Clinton told NBC News during his current tour of Africa to visit a wide variety of the foundation's projects.

"It's an acknowledgement that we're going to come as close as we can during her presidential campaign to following the rules we followed when she became secretary of state."

The 42nd president says he is "proud" of his foundation's work.


http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/bill-clinton-defends-his-foundations-foreign-money-n352981

[...]

While conservatives in Indiana and Arkansas were explaining last month why their new religious objections laws weren’t invitations to discriminate against gays, the leaders of Wisconsin’s capital city were busy protecting the rights of another group: atheists.

In what is believed to be the first statute of its kind in the United States, Madison banned discrimination against the non-religious on April 1, giving them the same protections afforded to people based on their race, sexual orientation and religion, among other reasons.

It’s hardly surprising that such a statute would originate in Madison, an island of liberalism in a conservative-leaning state and the home of the Freedom from Religion Foundation. But the ordinance’s author, Anita Weier, said it didn’t arise from an actual complaint about alleged discrimination based on a lack of religious faith.

“It just seems to me that religion has spread into government more than I feel comfortable with,” said Weier, who left the council after the statute passed. “It just occurred to me that religion was protected, so non-religion should be, too.”


http://bigstory.ap.org/article/87acbdbc0f7843fb96d941f8d90e932c/madison-bans-discrimination-against-atheists-non-religious



*************

[...]

At what point does an ordinance become so broad that it effectively renders itself useless? Also, does this indicate that a lack of belief is considered to be a system of belief?

http://townhall.com/tipsheet/christinerousselle/2015/05/03/wisconsin-capital-bans-discrimination-against-atheists-n1993827

Word of the day:

Taqiya


In Shi'a Islam, taqiya (تقیة taqiyyah/taqīyah) is a form of religious lie,[1] or a legal dispensation whereby a believing individual can deny his faith or commit otherwise illegal or blasphemous acts, specially while they are in fear or at risk of significant persecution.[2] A similar concept in Sunni Islam is known as idtirar (إضطرار) "coercion". A related concept is known as kitman "concealment; dissimulation by omission". Also related is the concept of ḥiyal, legalistic deception practiced not necessarily in a religious context but to gain political or legalistic advantage.

This practice was emphasized in Shi'a Islam whereby adherents may conceal their religion when they are under threat, persecution, or compulsion.[3] Taqiyya was developed to protect Shi'ites who were usually in minority and under pressure, and Shi'a Muslims as the persecuted minority have taken recourse to dissimulation from the time of the mihna (persecution) under Al-Ma'mun in the 9th century, while the politically dominant Sunnites rarely found it necessary to resort to dissimulation.[4]

In Sunni jurisprudence, denying faith under duress or other permissible reasons as per Islamic law is viewed "only at most permitted and not under all circumstances obligatory".[5] However, there are many examples of practicing taqiyya among Sunnis where it was necessary.[4]

In the Shi'a view, taqiyya is lawful in situations where there is overwhelming danger of loss of life or property and where no danger to religion would occur thereby.[1] Taqiyya has also been legitimised, particularly among Twelver Shia, in order to maintain Muslim unity and fraternity.[6][7]


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taqiya

 

Word of the day:

Kitman


In Islamic jurisprudence kitmān (كتمان "secrecy, concealment") is a subfield of Ḥiyal (the science of deception or legal trickery), consisting of the art of making ambiguous statements, paying lip-service to authority while reserving personal opposition, in a kind of political camouflage or reservatio mentalis. The use of such practices to conceal one's religious affiliation when facing persecution or oppression is known as taqiyya.

Some early Muslim jurists such as Muadh bin Jabal were opposed to the concept altogether as they felt it implied “lying” (kidhb) and “hypocrisy” (nifaq). In the Ibadi denomination of Islam, the concept is considered an important one as the denomination's minority status and secretive nature drove many adherents to conceal their creed in order to survive.[1]

Czesław Miłosz in the The Captive Mind uses the concept (spelled Ketman) as a metaphor for understanding how intellectuals behaved under the totalitarian regimes in the postwar communist Eastern Bloc. Miłosz makes parallels between kitman and the act of public hypocrisy (that is, publicly professing orthodoxy, while privately believing heterodoxy with the hope of one day being in a position of authority to spread one's hidden ideas) in the name of individual conscience.[2] Milosz likened this mentality to a kind of acting, similar to the dissimulations of heretics in Persian Islam, who take great pleasure in pretending to be what they are not in order to avoid censure or punishment, and about whom Arthur Gobineau wrote:

"Ketman fills the man who practices it with pride. Thanks to it, a believer raises himself to a permanent state of superiority over the man he deceives, be he a minister of state or a powerful king; to him who uses Ketman, the other is a miserable blind man whom one shuts off from the true path whose existence he does not suspect [while] ... your eyes are filled with light, you walk in brightness before your enemies. It is an unintelligent being that you make sport of; it is a dangerous beast that you disarm. What a wealth of pleasures!"[3]

Nearly every clash of ideas, doctrines, and ideologies are accompanied by some form of kitman. Consider the Nicodemite who were concealed Christians under the Roman Empire or the Marranos in fifteenth-century Spain.[4]


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kitman


 

Not a fan of being a serf in a 100 m² kingdom either.

Enclav I?

Kim Dotcom has succeeded in getting more of his seized funds released by the courts in New Zealand. In addition to millions for legal expenses, the entrepreneur will receive $128K per month including $60K to pay mansion rent, $25,600 to cover staff and security, plus $11,300 for grocery and other expenses.

How much does it cost to enjoy a reasonable standard of living in the modern world? A couple of thousand dollars a month? Three thousand? Four?

For Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom, none of these amounts scratch the surface, a problematic situation considering all of his assets were previously seized by the U.S. and New Zealand governments.

In February a “broke” and “destitute” Dotcom appeared before Justice Patricia Courtney, asking for living expenses and a massive cash injection to pay historical and current legal fees. Dotcom was previously granted around US$15,000 per month to live on but high costs had left him “penniless”.

Following the hearing Justice Courtney’s ruling is largely good news for Dotcom, with the Judge taking into consideration claims by authorities that the entrepreneur has funds in a trust that could help pay his expenses.

“The trust’s major asset is its shareholding in Mega Ltd, said to be worth more than $30m (US$22.6m). In evidence Mr Dotcom said that there were difficulties in selling Mega shares because they were blocked from being sold until the planned listing of Mega, which is now scheduled for late May 2015 (though it is possible that this date will be pushed back). There was no evidence to the contrary,” the Judge’s ruling reads.

“I have concluded that Mr Dotcom does not have the ability to meet his legal and reasonable living expenses from trust assets because, on the evidence, those assets are not sufficiently liquid.”

Noting that he still owes former lawyers around US$1.5m, the Judge said that Dotcom’s estimate for financing his legal battle against extradition is between US$1.5m and US$3m. This amount will be released from currently restrained government bonds.

Next up was the Dotcom family’s accommodation costs. Rent on the now-famous mansion amounts to US$754,000 per annum under a lease Dotcom signed in February 2013 and which expires in the same month 2016. The Judge decided that terminating that lease would result in additional costs.

“If [Dotcom] were to terminate the lease in order to find a more modest home, he would immediately be exposed to a significant contractual liability for the existing rental in addition to the costs of any new accommodation,” the Judge writes.

“Little would be saved by requiring Mr Dotcom to move into more modest
accommodation pending the expiry of the lease; it is more likely that the total amount required to house Mr Dotcom and his children and meet his lease commitment would actually prove greater than simply remaining where he is.

“I therefore accept that, in the particular circumstances of this case, a figure of $80,000 (US$60,300) per month is reasonable for accommodation.”

The Judge also considered Dotcom’s claims for items like security, staff wages and other general expenses.

Dotcom currently has eight staff but the Judge felt that five would be sufficient to assist with cleaning, cooking, shopping, managing the grounds and caring for Dotcom’s children.

“I allow $25,000 ($18,850) per month for staff,” the Judge said.

Turning to Dotcom’s request for $20,000 (US$15,000) for groceries, fuel and maintenance etc, the Judge said this was a little high considering Dotcom’s estranged wife Mona could be expected to chip in.

“On the basis that the children’s mother can be expected to contribute to
some of these costs I consider that the figure of $20,000 (US$15,000) is a little high and would reduce that to $15,000 (US$11,300) per month,” the Judge added.

In addition to the legal fees mentioned earlier, in total Dotcom was awarded $170,000 (US$128,000) per month to cover living expenses.

“Mr Dotcom may have access to that figure each month pending the expiry of the lease on the property,” the Judge said. “At that point I would expect that the position will be reviewed.”


https://torrentfreak.com/kim-dotcom-awarded-millions-plus-128k-per-month-expenses-150502s/

{tinfoil hat ON}

What if this crazy statement by this AG was meant to ultimately fail in purpose, ending up with a relaxed verdict? Chaos would ensure, then chaos would be pushed in every state. The centralization of power at any cost lovers will cry for ultimate surrender of state rights and push harder for the police, each and every one of them to be federalized... For the children, of course. Did she pretty much say "I hear you loud and clear! No justice no peace"?

{tinfoil hat mode OFF}

I wonder if consciousness is locked by the limit of the speed of light... Could the speed of thought be its limitation instead? In one way it would be millions of times slower than the speed of light. On the other end you could project your consciousness anywhere in the universe at any time, if you can "visualize" it, meaning knowing "where" you want to be, the next "moment".

I believe consciousness needs a shape for it to communicate with other shaped consciousness simply because my mind cannot compute how consciousness can be without an anchor made with stuff like atoms. But this is my own limitation with my shaped consciousness... A consciousness without a shape can be facing me right now but I won't have the natural tools to recognize it as such...

What are we talking about again?

Oh yeah... Warp drive...