Michio KaKu: Fukushima - The end of Humanity 10 days ago from this writing, the sardine fishery of British Columbia, Canada was reported to have "inexplicably" collapsed. Simply no sardines were caught and the fleet went home, empty-handed. Starfish and seal populations in that region are also collapsing.
We've heard now about three complete meltdowns that are occurring at the afflicted power plant at Fukushima – but we've never heard about the fact that there are actually 6 reactors at the site! We know that this week, 2 separate typhoons (the term for hurricanes in the western Pacific) will be colliding exactly over Fukushima this week, all the better to disperse the unfathomable tonnage of hot particles into the Pacific Ocean Basin, set to do further ruin to the already-collapsing ecosystems throughout this immense area.
Were there to be a fire spread, due to the hundreds of unsecured nuclear fuel rods at the plant today, a chain reaction could occur and "The Northern Hemisphere could easily be facing an extreme fallout situation, where everybody would have to shelter indoors for several months or more," according to Christina Consolo, Founder of Nuked Radio. When interviewed by Russia Today, Consolo's assessment was that the worst case scenario could play out into the deaths of "billions of people. A true apocalypse." Read more at http://www.mydailyinformer.com/michio-kaku-fukushima-the-end-of-humanity/.
|
|
|
|
Zbigniew Brzezinski, Godfather of al Qaeda and Taliban, Dead at 89 I come not to praise Zbigniew Brzezinski, but to bury him beneath a damning fact omitted from his New York Times and Washington Post obituaries: He bears enormous responsibility for the rise of the Taliban, al Qaeda and ISIS.
In 1979, serving as national security advisor, Brzezinski convinced President Jimmy Carter to approve a plan to provide covert CIA aid to opponents of the pro-Soviet government in Afghanistan.
Carter signed the secret and deeply fateful directive on July 3 of that year. In launching the effort, "we knowingly increased the probability" of a Soviet invasion, said Brzezinski in a 1998 interview.
When that invasion occurred months later, Brzezinski told Carter, "We now have the opportunity of giving to the USSR its Vietnam War."
To accomplish that goal, the Carter and Reagan administrations, along with Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, funded, organized, transported, armed and trained Salafist extremists to fight the Red Army in a holy war on behalf of Islam. Among those who joined the cause were future al Qaeda leaders Osama bin Laden, Ayman al-Zawahiri and Khalid Sheikh Mohammad.
The enduring global impact of this 10-year program bears emphasis: The CIA and Saudi GID recruited jihadists from all around the Muslim world, creating relationships and networks that would evolve into not only into al Qaeda, but also ISIS and many other Salafist terrorist groups across several continents.
An Afghanistan Museum Depicts Civilian Casualties from the Soviet Invasion
In 1998, Brzezinski was asked if had any regrets about launching the program. He replied, "Regret what? That secret operation was an excellent idea. It had the effect of drawing the Russians into the Afghan trap and you want me to regret it?"
By some estimates, one million Afghan civilians were killed in the conflict. Read more and click the links at https://www.libertarianinstitute.org/foreign-policy/zbigniew-brzezinski-godfather-al-qaeda-taliban-dead-89/.
|
|
|
|
The US Library of Congress Just Put 25 Million Records Online, Free of Charge Knowledge is power, the old saying goes, but it isn't much use if it's hidden away – so we're excited to learn that the US Library of Congress is making 25 million of its records available for free, for anyone to access online.
The bibliographic data sets, like digital library cards, cover music, books, maps, manuscripts, and more, and their publication online marks the biggest release of digital records in the Library's history.
"The Library of Congress is our nation's monument to knowledge and we need to make sure the doors are open wide for everyone, not just physically but digitally too," says Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden.
"Unlocking the rich data in the Library's online catalogue is a great step forward. I'm excited to see how people will put this information to use."
Researchers and analysts will get most use out of the new records, but there's plenty of potential for them to be used in apps and databases as well. The Library hosted a Hack-to-Learn workshop looking at how the data could be used. Read more and click the links at http://www.sciencealert.com/the-us-library-of-congress-just-put-25-million-records-online-free-of-charge.
|
|
|
|
Home Sweet Dome Driving down I-35 in Texas, between Waco and Dallas, there's a curious site just off the interstate. It looks like a massive, comical caterpillar rising up from the arid land, complete with antennae and smiling eyes; its sides are decorated with frolicking, painted cowboy boots. The structure could easily be mistaken for an art installation or whimsical tourist trap, but the building is, in fact, a 14,000 square foot factory. The Monolithic Institute in Italy, Texas calls its caterpillar factory Bruco, and it is within his bowels that a curious choice of home design begins to come to life.
Monolithic Domes are constructed from concrete ring foundations, reinforced with steel, and an inflated fabric Airform which creates the shape of the home – which is coated with polyurethane foam and a special spray mix of concrete. The homes are energy efficient and highly durable, built to withstand tornadoes, hurricanes and wildfires. They're the domestic choice for hundreds of homeowners and families across the country; every year, the Institute hosts workshops for people interested in learning how to build domes – and also conducts feasibility studies to help evaluate plans for such dwellings.
Here, a few dome dwellers share snapshots of their near-indestructible dwellings – and their reasons for living without edges and angles.
 Go here http://www.freedomsphoenix.com/News/217735-2017-05-09-home-sweet-dome.htm or here http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4477516/Home-Sweet-Dome-Monolithic-houses-USA.html for a massive amount of information and multitudes of pictures.
|
|
|
|
Graphene sieve turns seawater into drinking water New research demonstrates the real-world potential of providing clean drinking water for millions of people who struggle to access adequate clean water sources.
Graphene-oxide membranes developed at the National Graphene Institute have already demonstrated the potential of filtering out small nanoparticles, organic molecules, and even large salts. Until now, however, they couldn't be used for sieving common salts used in desalination technologies, which require even smaller sieves.
Previous research at The University of Manchester found that if immersed in water, graphene-oxide membranes become slightly swollen and smaller salts flow through the membrane along with water, but larger ions or molecules are blocked. Read more at http://www.nextbigfuture.com/2017/04/graphene-sieve-turns-seawater-into.html.
|
|
|
|
'Tooth repair drug' may replace fillings The team at King's College London showed that a chemical could encourage cells in the dental pulp to heal small holes in mice teeth.
A biodegradable sponge was soaked in the drug and then put inside the cavity.
The study, published in Scientific Reports, showed it led to "complete, effective natural repair".
Teeth have limited regenerative abilities. They can produce a thin band of dentine - the layer just below the enamel - if the inner dental pulp becomes exposed, but this cannot repair a large cavity.
Normally dentists have to repair tooth decay or caries with a filling made of a metal amalgam or a composite of powdered glass and ceramic.
These can often need replacing multiple times during someone's lifetime, so the researchers tried to enhance the natural regenerative capacity of teeth to repair larger holes. Read more at http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-38524566.
|
|
|
|
Move Over Cotton,
Say Hello To Hemp With this new invention, hemp would have been able to take over most competing industries in areas such as paper, textiles, fuel, and plastics. Growing hemp in abundance was easy, and it's plant to harvest time was no more than six months. According to Popular Mechanics during that time:
...
These claims are extraordinary. Cotton is not going anywhere but what can happen is that all synthetic fibers drawn from petrochemical feed stocks can actually be eliminated or essentially minimized at least. I certainly want to see nylon remain on the market for many applications but other fibers whose characteristics can be easily be matched need to be forced into paying a recycling charge as we do aluminum cans.
The mere fact that we have a massive reservoir of plastic chips now in the ocean informs us that we must do better. Hemp provided the natural sustainable Royal Road away from petro based plastics.
Thus our worst source of pollution is really solvable while supporting excellent organic agriculture. Read more at http://globalwarming-arclein.blogspot.ca/2017/05/move-over-cotton-say-hello-to-hemp.html.
|
|
|
|
Death Spiral for Car Ownership? End of Fuel-Powered Cars by 2024? I have been a leading proponent that self-driving vehicles, especially trucks, will be here sooner than most think. My estimate for long-haul trucks taking over is 2021-2022 or so. Widespread adoption of self-driving cars will be slower.
Many of my readers think that 2021-2022 is impossible. However, some recent studies claim I am far too pessimistic in my assessment.
For example, a California think tank proposes Fuel-powered cars 'will not be manufactured after 2024'.
Cars powered by fossil fuels will no longer be made after 2024 as self-driving electrical vehicles become vastly cheaper to use, according to a report by a Californian think tank.
The death of the internal combustion engine will be accelerated by a new model of car use in which fleets of self-driving vehicles are available for all to use, making car ownership uneconomic, the study said.
The report by Tony Seba, an economist at Stanford University, finds that forecasts of a slow move from fuel-powered vehicles to electric vehicles envisage drivers continuing to own cars. He argues that the introduction of driverless technology will be driven by companies such as Uber and DiDi, which will invest massively in creating a fleet of vehicles that are so cheap and convenient to use that car ownership will become a thing of the past.
Seba said the world is on the cusp of one of the fastest, deepest, most consequential disruptions of transportation in history. "By 2030, within 10 years of regulatory approval of autonomous vehicles, 95 percent of US passenger miles traveled will be served by on-demand autonomous electric vehicles owned by fleets, not individuals, in a new business model we call 'transportas-a-service.'"
The report, co-authored by James Arbib, estimates that the costs at the moment of disruption when transport as a service is available will be:
Driving a paid-off fuel car: 34 cents per mile
Buying a new fuel car: 65 cents per mile
Buying a new electric vehicle: 62 cents per mile
Using transport as a service: 16 cents per mile
Death Spiral for Cars
Renew Economy says Death spiral for cars. By 2030, you probably won't own one. The source of this article is also Tony Seba.
By 2030, you probably won't own a car, but you may get a free trip with your morning coffee. Transport-As-A-Service will use only electric vehicles and will upend two trillion-dollar industries. It's the death spiral for cars. Read more at https://mishtalk.com/2017/05/17/death-spiral-for-car-ownership-end-of-fuel-powered-cars-by-2024/.
|
|
|
|
Latvian daredevil in 'drone-diving' world first A Latvian tech company is claiming a world first after successfully test-flying a super-powered drone which lifted a daredevil skydiver aloft, from where he parachuted safely back down to earth.
Manufacturer Aerones performed the feat this week in a secret "drone-diving" operation in a wild, isolated central region of the Baltic state to which AFP had exclusive access.
The powerful drone measuring 3.2 square metres sports 16 rotors. Weighing 70 kilogrammes (154 pounds), it can lift up to 200 kilos.
The same drone was used in January to debut "drone-boarding" by towing snowboarders at high speed across a frozen Latvian lake.
But this week's operation was even more perilous with the drone collecting a man from the top of a tower and then lifting him some 330 metres (360 yards) into the air.
After testing the drone by lifting and dropping a dead weight of 90 kilogrammes, it was the turn of daredevil skydiver Ingus Augstkalns to literally take the plunge as what is believed to be the world's first "drone-diver".
"It was so much fun -? like being in a playground in childhood," Augstkalns told AFP.
"Of course there were still risks in doing it the first time.
"Being lifted the first five meters was probably the most nervous moment, but the drone lifted me... and two seconds later I was under the (parachute) canopy."
- 'No helicopter' -
Aerones CEO Janis Putrams, who was in charge of the drone controls, told AFP "You no longer need a helicopter" to skydive.
"Today we did the first drone jump, a completely new way of base jumping. It makes it possible to base jump from any place -- in cities, in desert, in mountains," he added.
But as well as the extreme sports potential of drone-diving, the company hopes to exploit the drone's abilities to perform rescue operations, for instance of people trapped on the roof of a burning building or other difficult-to-reach locations. Read more at http://www.france24.com/en/20170512-latvian-daredevil-drone-diving-world-first.
|
|
|
|
Why Tesla's Solar Roof Is Just Another Giant Taxpayer Gift To Elon Musk There are two things in which Elon Musk is an undisputed champion: creating hype and buzz for massively cash-flow burning products and companies, and abusing every possible loophole in the US tax code to get explicit and implicit subsidies from the government. He demonstrated the latter on Wednesday, when Tesla began taking orders for its solar roof tiles, a cornerstone strategy of Elon Musk's strategy to sell a "green", fossil-fuel-free lifestyle under the brand name of its luxury electric vehicles.
First the bad news: Tesla said the product, which generates solar energy without the need for traditional rooftop panels - assuming one lives in a traditionally sunny climate - will be substantially pricier than a conventional roof but don't worry, it will "look better" and ultimately pay for itself through reduced electricity costs... it just may take 20 or more years for the payback period to occur (more on the math below).
Made with tempered glass, Tesla assures that "Solar Roof tiles are more than three times stronger than standard roofing tiles" and is why the company offers the "best warranty in the industry - the lifetime of your house, or infinity, whichever comes first." There is just one problem: most Americans live in their house less than a decade before they end up selling it and moving to a different roof, which means that the vast majority of Americans who end up buying the new Tesla product offering will have moved out of their home long before the investment pays back for itself.
The solar roof tiles were unveiled in October as Musk sought to convince shareholders of the benefits of combining his electric vehicle maker with SolarCity, the solar installer run by his cousins. Tesla acquired SolarCity in November, and has been working to remake a money-losing company that was selling traditional solar systems into a premium energy brand. To date, other companies have had little market success with attempts to incorporate solar technology directly into roof tiles. It remains unclear whether the products will appeal to consumers as much as Tesla's electric vehicles do.
Being a Tesla product, esthetics are perhaps the most important variable, and as shown in the images below, the roofs are certainly pretty and comes in four different formats:
Textured:
Smooth:
Tuscan:
and Slate, although only the first two are currently available.
 Read more at http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-05-11/why-teslas-solar-roof-just-another-giant-taxpayer-gift-elon-musk.
|
|
|
|
Trump Approves Plan To Directly Arm Kurds; Turkish Lira Tumbles WHITE HOUSE APPROVES SUPPLYING WEAPONS TO YPG FIGHTERS IN SYRIA - U.S. OFFICIAL TELL REUTERS
WEAPONS TO HELP YPG FIGHTERS IN RAQQA OFFENSIVE, NO TIMELINE DISCLOSED FOR START OF SUPPLYING ARMS
* * *
Turkey's 'sultan for life' Erdogan will not be happy. NBC News is reporting that two US defense officials have confirmed President Trump has approved a plan to arm the Syrian Kurdish militia - an important U.S. ally in Syria in the fight against ISIS.
As AP confirms, US officials say Trump administration approves providing heavier weapons to Syria's Kurds, despite "sharp objections" from Turkey. As a reminder, YPG forces have ties to the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which is considered a terrorist group by both the U.S. and Turkey, and yet which due to its location and ideological alignment, has long been an ally of the US. Two weeks ago, the US even went so far as to deploy troops along the Syria-US border after a Turkish airstrike killed several Kurdish fighters. Read more and watch the video at http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-05-09/turkish-lira-tumbles-after-trump-approves-plan-directly-arm-kurds.
|
|
|
|
Scientists successfully 3D print human cartilage with a breakthrough stem cell printer Recently, Swedish scientists successfully developed cartilage tissue by printing stem cells through a 3D bioprinter. As part of the study, a team of researchers at the Sahlgrenska Academy and the Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden harvested cartilage cells from knee surgery patients. The experts then coaxed the cells into becoming pluripotent stem cells. These stem cells were touted for their potential in developing into different types of cells. The researcher expanded and encapsulated the stem cells in a nanofibrillated cellulose. The research team then used a 3D bioprinter to print the stem cells into a structure.
The team took three years to identify the right method in surviving the stem cells during printing. According to the experts, using large amounts of live stem cells can make the process possible. "In nature, the differentiation of stem cells into cartilage is a simple process, but it's much more complicated to accomplish in a test tube. We're the first to succeed with it, and we did so without any animal testing whatsoever. We investigated various methods and combined different growth factors. Each individual stem cell is encased in nanocellulose, which allows it to survive the process of being printed into a 3D structure. We also harvested mediums from other cells that contain the signals that stem cells use to communicate with each other so called conditioned medium. In layman's terms, our theory is that we managed to trick the cells into thinking that they aren't alone. Therefore the cells multiplied before we differentiated them," said lead researcher Professor Stina Simonsson in ScienceDaily.com.
Potential use of bioprinted cartilage
Surgeons who examined the artificial cartilage confirmed that the bioprinted tissue contained properties that were similar to real human cartilage. According to the surgeons, the bioprinted cartilage contained Type-II collagen and perfectly-formed cells. The cellular structure of the bioprinted tissue also appeared to be similar to human cartilage samples, the surgeons noted. Read more at http://www.naturalnews.com/2017-05-09-scientists-successfully-3d-print-human-cartilage-with-a-breakthrough-stem-cell-printer.html.
|
|
|
|
Vaccinated vs. Unvaccinated:
Guess who is Sicker? It's never been done before. The first-of-its-kind study of vaccinated vs. unvaccinated. American homeschooled children shows who is really ailing…and parents should be worried.Something is wrong with America's children. They are sick – allergic, asthmatic, anxious, autoimmune, autistic, hyperactive, distracted and learning disabled. Thirty-two million American children – a full 43% of them – suffer from at least one of 20 chronic illnesses not including obesity. Across the board, once rare pediatric disorders from autism and ADD to Type 1 diabetes and Tourette's syndrome are soaring, though few studies pool the data. Compared to their parents, children today are four times more likely to have a chronic illness. And while their grandparents might never have swallowed a pill as children, the current generation of kids is a pharmaceutical sales rep's dream come true: More than one million American children under five years old takes a psychiatric drug. More than 8.3 million kids under 17 have consumed psychiatric drugs, and in any given month one in four is taking at least one prescription drug for something.
Fast food, bad genes, too much TV, video games, pesticides, plastics – name the environmental factor and it has been implicated in the surge of sickness, although none adequately explains the scale or scope of the epidemic. There is one exposure, however, that has evaded the search, despite that children have received it by direct injection in steadily accumulating doses far beyond anything past generations ever saw: 50 doses of 14 vaccines by age six, 69 doses of 16 pharmaceutical vaccines containing powerfully immune-altering ingredients by age 18.
We're assured vaccines are "safe and effective" even though public health officials acknowledge they sometimes have serious side-effects including death and despite the troubling fact that no long-term study of their effects on overall health has ever been conducted. Remarkably, not a single published study has ever compared vaccinated kids to unvaccinated kids to see who is healthier years after the shots. Until now.
A pilot study of 666 homeschooled six to 12-year-olds from four American states published on April 27th in the Journal of Translational Sciences, compared 261 unvaccinated children with 405 partially or fully vaccinated children, and assessed their overall health based on their mothers' reports of vaccinations and physician-diagnosed illnesses. What it found about increases in immune-mediated diseases like allergies and neurodevelopmental diseases including autism, should make all parents think twice before they ever vaccinate again:
*Vaccinated children were more than three times as likely to be diagnosed on the Autism Spectrum (OR 4.3)
*Vaccinated children were 30-fold more likely to be diagnosed with allergic rhinitis (hay fever) than non-vaccinated children
* Vaccinated children were 22-fold more likely to require an allergy medication than unvaccinated children
*Vaccinated children had more than quadruple the risk of being diagnosed with a learning disability than unvaccinated children (OR 5.2)
Vaccine ingredients are known to cause brain damage. Robert Kennedy Jr. has been highlighting the dangers of mercury as thimerosal used as a preservative in vaccines and its relationship to autism.Read more at http://info.cmsri.org/the-driven-researcher-blog/vaccinated-vs.-unvaccinated-guess-who-is-sicker.
|
|
|
|
Hair Is An Extension Of The Nervous System
Why Indians Keep Their Hair Long Our culture leads people to believe that hair style is a matter of personal preference, that hair style is a matter of fashion and/or convenience, and that how people wear their hair is simply a cosmetic issue. Back in the Viet Nam war however, an entirely different picture emerged, one that has been carefully covered up and hidden from public view.
In the early nineties, Sally [name changed to protect privacy] was married to a licensed psychologist who worked at a VA Medical hospital. He worked with combat veterans with PTSD, post traumatic stress disorder. Most of them had served in Viet Nam.
Sally said, "I remember clearly an evening when my husband came back to our apartment on Doctor's Circle carrying a thick official looking folder in his hands. Inside were hundreds of pages of certain studies commissioned by the government. He was in shock from the contents. What he read in those documents completely changed his life. From that moment on my conservative middle of the road husband grew his hair and beard and never cut them again. What is more, the VA Medical center let him do it, and other very conservative men in the staff followed his example. As I read the documents, I learned why. http://www.rense.com/general95/hair.htm.
|
|
|
|
|
Show Posts
