Saturday, June 25, 2011

Scientists want to dig up Shakespeare to find out if he smoked weed  From Raw Story.  Excerpts:


Recently uncovered evidence suggests that William Shakespeare used marijuana, and now a team of paleontologists want to dig him up to prove it.
..
Pipes uncovered in the garden of Shakespeare's home in 2001 showed evidence of cannabis and cocaine.


"There were very low concentrations of cannabis, but the signature was there," according to Inspector Tommy van der Merwe, who tested the pipes at South Africa's Forensic Science Laboratory.


The evidence of cocaine was also very strong.


"The pipes we tested still had dirt in them which preserved the residues inside the stem and bowl," Van der Merwe said. "The readings we got were the same as if it had tested a modern-day crack pipe."
..
Sonnet 76 of Shakespeare's poems contains a reference to the "noted weed."


New York Passes Gay Marriage  Gawker.  Excerpts:


The New York State Senate just passed a bill legalizing gay marriage, 33-29. It now heads to Gov. Andrew Cuomo's desk for his promised signature. The bystanders in Albany are going nuts. Go celebrate!




4,000 Minot homes to be swamped by day's end


Officials expected more than 4,000 homes to be swamped, many up to their rooftops, by late Friday as the Souris River surged past its 1881 flood record, rising so quickly that its progress could be seen inching up the side of homes.


Just the beginning of this drama, as the water continues to rise..


What Happened to Media Coverage of Fukushima?  The Indypendent.


While the U.S. media has been occupied with Anthony Weiner, the Republican presidential candidates and Bristol Palin’s memoir, coverage of Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant disaster has practially fallen off the map. Poor mainstream media coverage of Japan’s now months-long struggle to gain control over the Fukushima disaster has deprived Americans of crucial information about the risks of nuclear power following natural disasters. After a few weeks of covering the early aftermath of Japan’s earthquake and tsunami, the U.S. media moved on, leaving behind the crisis at Fukushima which continues to unfold. U.S. politicians, like Rep. Joe Barton of Texas, have made disappointing and misleading statements about the relative safety of nuclear power and have vowed to stick by our nuclear program, while other countries, like Germany and Italy, have taken serious steps to address the obvious risks of nuclear power — risks that the Fukushima disaster made painfully evident, at least to the rest of the world.'

Type 2 diabetes in newly diagnosed 'can be reversed'  BBC via Before It's News.  Excerpts:

An extreme eight-week diet of 600 calories a day can reverse Type 2 diabetes in people newly diagnosed with the disease, says a Diabetologia study.

Newcastle University researchers found the low-calorie diet reduced fat levels in the pancreas and liver, which helped insulin production return to normal.
Seven out of 11 people studied were free of diabetes three months later, say findings published in the journal.
More research is needed to see whether the reversal is permanent, say experts.Type 2 diabetes affects 2.5m people in the UK. It develops when not enough insulin is produced in the body or the insulin that is made by the body doesn't work properly.

Friday, June 24, 2011: This Week In Crazy, Chaos, Criminality, And Cool..

What if the radiation IS the transformation?  There's nothing to back this up, but an interesting question, nonetheless..

LulzSec releases ‘classified’ data of ‘racist’ Arizona law enforcement  From Raw Story.  Aww..  Anonymous has made a friend..

World's oceans in 'shocking' decline    BBC.  Excerpts:

The oceans are in a worse state than previously suspected, according to an expert panel of scientists.

In a new report, they warn that ocean life is "at high risk of entering a phase of extinction of marine species unprecedented in human history".

They conclude that issues such as over-fishing, pollution and climate change are acting together in ways that have not previously been recognised.

The impacts, they say, are already affecting humanity.
..
"As we considered the cumulative effect of what humankind does to the oceans, the implications became far worse than we had individually realised.

"We've sat in one forum and spoken to each other about what we're seeing, and we've ended up with a picture showing that almost right across the board we're seeing changes that are happening faster than we'd thought, or in ways that we didn't expect to see for hundreds of years."
..
"The rate of change is vastly exceeding what we were expecting even a couple of years ago," said Ove Hoegh-Guldberg, a coral specialist from the University of Queensland in Australia.


Some species are already fished way beyond their limits - and may also be affected by other threats
"So if you look at almost everything, whether it's fisheries in temperate zones or coral reefs or Arctic sea ice, all of this is undergoing changes, but at a much faster rate than we had thought."


But more worrying than this, the team noted, are the ways in which different issues act synergistically to increase threats to marine life.
..
In a wider sense, ocean acidification, warming, local pollution and overfishing are acting together to increase the threat to coral reefs - so much so that three-quarters of the world's reefs are at risk of severe decline.

Here's hoping..  New bill ending federal ban on marijuana to be introduced in Congress

7.2 Earthquake, Aleutian Islands, Alaska

The In Betweens  Aquarius Papers.  Excerpts:

It seems we are in one of those time spaces I have termed "the in-betweens." This is the moment between breaths, between steps, between thoughts, and between life chapters.



If you are impatiently waiting for an answer, a response, a clear vision, a sense of definite movement into something you haven't glimpsed, understood, or captured, you're in "the in-betweens." The trick is not to get hooked into counterproductive emotional and mental states while we're waiting for the unknown to manifest.


Whether a minute, a day, a month, a year, or a decade, we find ourselves in the in-between place throughout our lives. It's actually a great time to meditate, contemplate, and understand our larger life mythos, if we don't allow fear, impatience, or frustration to jam our mental and emotional gears.

Many feel like elements of the old have ended, but the new isn't yet manifest. In manifesting a new way to do or be, Spirit works out in specific ways. When we "send out the call," or do an intention to manifest a higher way to be, Spirit always answers, though sometime it is in strange and mysterious ways.

Japan Update June 24, 2011

Suicides upping casualties from Tohoku catastrophe  Japan Times, via Rense.  Excerpts:

The link between depression and suicide is well documented, particularly in Japan, where depression has been shown to be a major suicide trigger.

Concerns about the possibility of survivors turning to such extreme measures is based partly on Japan's overall suicide rate, which according to the World Health Organization is the highest among developed nations. Suicides in May for the whole nation were 20 percent higher than a year before, according to National Police Agency figures, and experts believe the total for 2011 could surpass 30,000 for the 14th straight year.
..
"Survivors, especially those in shelters and temporary accommodations, are at risk of becoming exhausted and depressed, and over time this could lead to clinical depression brought about by the perceived hopelessness of their situation," said Cho, author of the book "Hito wa Naze Jisatsusuru no ka" ("Why Do People Commit Suicide?"). "This would further increase the risk of suicide."

This is especially true of residents in Fukushima Prefecture who have been severely affected by the radiation scare, he added. "Many farmers have lost everything and while the radiation issue remains unresolved they can't predict what the future holds."

Radioactive Dust From Japan Hit North America Days After Disaster ... But Governments "Lied" About Meltdowns and Radiation

Thrust Faulting Of North America And Pacific Plates Rock Japan With 6.7 Earthquake  From Before It's News.  Excerpts:

A magnitude 6.7earthquake rocked Japan today, the 75th aftershock of at least magnitude 6.0 from the devastating magnitude 9.0 quake on March 11, according to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). The earthquake data is preliminary and subject to revision.

Japan has been rocked by hundreds of aftershocks since the deadly Tohoku earthquake, the biggest in Japan's recorded history. The aftershocks have been so plentiful that the world's premier earthquake-measurement service has since modified its alert system to filter out the smaller aftershocks. The largest aftershock was a magnitude 7.9 quake that struck less than an hour after the main shock. A magnitude 7.7 also struck that day. A magnitude 7.1 aftershock struck on April 7.
..
Since the main quake off Japan's northeastern coast, hundreds aftershocks have shaken the island of Honshu, Japan's largest and home to 100 million people. Today's aftershock was caused by thrust faulting near the Japan Trench, the boundary between the Pacific and North America tectonic plates (the huge, moving slabs of the Earth's crust). Thrust faulting happens when one tectonic plate dives under another. In this case, the Pacific plate is diving under the North America plate.

Before the magnitude 9.0 earthquake, only nine magnitude 7.0 or greater earthquakes had ruptured in this subduction zone since 1973.

Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant building land on the roof of Unit 2 is a small unmanned helicopter Asahi, via Google Translate via Godlike Productions.  Awkward excerpts:

US-made helicopter was flying unmanned for collecting samples for analysis of radioactive material in the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant (reconnaissance) has become impossible to steer, and land on the roof of the Unit 2 reactor building, and announced.  Smoke is not recognized, the impact on the building is unknown.  Consider using a collection of such cranes.

Unmanned helicopter is 50 cm in diameter, weighs 8 kg.  Off from the power plant south of the observatory at 6:00 am May 24 at 2:34.  Hover by remote control and was planning to collect air and dust near the Unit 2.  It has become impossible to pilot crash-landed at about 7:00 am.

Sampling and unmanned helicopters were used to shoot in the building exploded.

Still no good news..

Glen Campbell diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease

Really sad, terrible news for Glen Campbell and his family..  They're all in for a rough time.  Unless you know how rough, you don't know.  Alzheimer's is the cruelest cut.  As for Glen and his family, I'd offer the phrase a close friend likes to say when confronted by any overwhelming situation:  "Pray for Grace."  It won't be enough, but sometimes it will.

"Wichita Lineman."

Japan Update June 22, 2011

Tokyo area parents' radiation worries grow with discovery of local 'hotspots'  The Mainichi Daily News via Rense.  Excerpts:

More than three months after the Great East Japan Earthquake and the meltdowns at the Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant, Tokyo region residents are becoming increasingly worried over radiation exposure as a number of radioactive "hotspots" have been discovered in and around the capital.

Local governments are calling for calm, as annual doses of radiation at the hotspots -- sites where radiation levels are significantly higher than their surroundings -- would not exceed 20 millisieverts as they do in parts of Fukushima Prefecture. Residents are nevertheless calling on their local governments to take some kind of action.
..
However, even as radiation hotspot worries mount, there continues to be only one site in all of Chiba Prefecture where radiation levels are being formally monitored, drawing criticism. Local radiation tests performed at primary schools and other public spaces at the end of May revealed a 0.54 microsievert per hour radioactive hotspot at a Kashiwa park. The prefectural monitoring post some 50 kilometers south southeast of the park, meanwhile, has recorded radiation doses of only 0.08 microsieverts per hour -- a discrepancy which has stoked the fears of parents.

Meanwhile, a radiation monitoring committee formed by six cities in the northwest of Chiba Prefecture -- including Kashiwa -- also discovered a 0.65 microsievert per hour radioactive hotspot in a park in the city of Nagareyama.

Stonewalling, denial, and falsehoods.  Standard Operating Procedure, right?

And Now, To Greece..

Greece: Prime Minister George Papandreou survives by just 12 votes

GREECE'S prime minister survived a key confidence vote, keeping alive a government bid to avert a debt default that could spark a financial maelstrom around the world.

MPs voted 155 to 143 along party lines last night to back George Papandreou, who now faces a critical vote next week on a massive austerity package that Greece's international creditors have said must pass by the end of June.

He is seeking 28 billion euro (s24.8bn) in budget cuts and new taxes and 50 billion euro (s44.3bn) worth of privatisation of public assets. Unless the new measures pass, Greece will not receive the next batch of bailout funds worth 12 billion euro (s10.6bn), and will face a disastrous default in July, when it runs out of money.

A default by Greece could drag down Greek and European banks and renew fears over the finances of other eurozone countries such as Portugal, Ireland and Spain.
And:
As deputies voted, several thousand protesters gathered outside parliament chanting "Thieves! thieves!", shining green laser lights at the parliament building and into the eyes of riot police. Continuing strikes by electricity company workers objecting to privatisation caused a second day of rolling power cuts.

This anger doesn't seem to be factored as a tangible power.  But it is, and it's just begun to fester.

A Solar Flare Of Note, And Possible Trouble Ahead.

Simmering Sun: Summer Solstice Starts with Solar Storm  Space via Etemenanki.  Excerpts:

The sun unleashed a powerful solar flare and eruption Tuesday (June 21) just in time for the summer solstice: the first day of the summer in Earth's Northern Hemisphere.
..
Spaceweather.com officials said a moderate C7-class solar flare kicked off the solar storm and triggered a massive eruption of plasma, known as a coronal mass ejection. [Amazing Sun Photos From Space]

"Magnetic fields above sunspot complex 1236 erupted during the early hours of June 21st, hurling a coronal mass ejection (CME) almost directly toward Earth," Spaceweather.com stated in an alert.  "The incoming CME does not appear to be particularly potent; nevertheless, the cloud could trigger polar geomagnetic storms when it reaches Earth on or about June 23rd."

Also from Space..  Sun's Fading Spots Signal Big Drop in Solar Activity 

Some unusual solar readings, including fading sunspots and weakening magnetic activity near the poles, could be indications that our sun is preparing to be less active in the coming years.

The results of three separate studies seem to show that even as the current sunspot cycle swells toward the solar maximum, the sun could be heading into a more-dormant period, with activity during the next 11-year sunspot cycle greatly reduced or even eliminated.
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"The solar cycle may be going into a hiatus," Frank Hill, associate director of the National Solar Observatory's Solar Synoptic Network, said in a news briefing today (June 14).

The studies looked at a missing jet stream in the solar interior, fading sunspots on the sun's visible surface, and changes in the corona and near the poles. [Photos: Sunspots on Earth's Star]

"This is highly unusual and unexpected," Hill said. "But the fact that three completely different views of the sun point in the same direction is a powerful indicator that the sunspot cycle may be going into hibernation."

If Greece Defaults, What Happens to Portugal and Ireland—and Spain?

From Gonzalo Lira.  Yet another Catastrophe befalling mankind in the beginning days of its expansion.  Excerpts:

So if Greece goes down the tubes, Ireland and Portugal would almost immediately need a bailout: They would not be able to borrow on the open markets the money they need in order to continue funding their governments.

That is, if Greece defaults, the Irish and the Portuguese would suddenly find themselves without the money to fund elementary schools, ambulances, sewer systems, power grids, etc.

So! What is the European leadership doing?

Dithering! They are not approving a Greek bailout—and they are not giving a clear signal that Greece will be booted out of the eurozone, but Ireland and Portugal will be protected. In other words, the European finance ministers who are supposed to “stabilize the markets” are creating the conditions of uncertainty in the markets—

—which only hurts Ireland and Portugal.

Now, why is defending (financially speaking) Ireland and Portugla essential?

In a word, Spain.
And:
It’s as simple as that. Spain is too big—roughly half the size of Germany. If Spain goes, it will drag down all of the European continent with it—that is, bank failures (on both sides of the pond), a crash of the eurozone as a currency, massive unemployment, a European economy that would grind to a halt—

—basically, the worst parts of the Great Depression.

It doesn't look like Greece as-it-is-now will remain much longer.  The inevitability of financial "obligations" versus the needs of the populace will continue to escalate towards violence towards whatever outcome eventually occurs.  It's like watching an Impact in slooow motion.  Greece is Happening, and the implications of Greece Happening have already begun, too.

And now they're protesting in Spain, while the crisis continues to deepen.

Japan Update June 20, 2011

And now, we are done.

Japan pumps water into reactor to contain radioactivity  Monsters and Critics, via Rense.  Excerpts:

The radiation levels at reactor 4 have been preventing workers from entering the structure to conduct repairs.



TEPCO also began late Sunday to release air containing radioactive substances from the building of reactor 2 by opening its doors.

An estimated 1.6 billion becquerels of radioactive materials were released, compared with 500 million becquerels when the double doors of the building of reactor 1 were opened in May, the Jiji Press agency reported, citing TEPCO.

The operator denied that the releases would have an impact on the environment.

Contaminated Water Processing at #Fukushima: The Water Was Simply Too "Hot"  From Ex-SKF, via Rense.  Excerpts:

If Kurion's vessel absorbed enough radioactive materials in 5 hours and it should have taken 30 days, as I wrote in my previous post, the water was 144 times as radioactive as the system had anticipated.

If the water actually turns out to be 144 times as radioactive, the Fukushima accident would need a new INES category and should not be placed in the same category (Level 7) as the Chernobyl accident which released only 5.6 million terabecquerels of radioactive materials. Maybe it should be simply called "Level Fukushima".

Fukushima - The Greatest Nuclear, Environmental Disaster In History  Global Research via Rense.  Excerpts:

By way of comparison, the Chernobyl nuclear disaster that occurred in 1986 in the Ukraine, Russia- heretofore the worst nuclear disaster on record- burned for 10 days and cumulatively killed an estimated 1 million people worldwide. The Fukushima, Japan nuclear disaster has 5 nuclear reactors burning, 2 in partial meltdown and 3 in full meltdown- and they've ALL been uncontrollably burning since March 11th. Its been over 3 months and this nuclear disaster remains completely out of control. In fact, some industry estimates cite the possibility that these meltdowns will be contained (optimistically) in 1-3 years, at the very earliest.

The amount and intensity of the radioactive fallout from this particular nuclear disaster will assuredly kill hundreds of millions of people worldwide over time. Japan itself is, of course, the epicenter of this radioactive contamination that has spread out from these reactors.

However, the Korean peninsula, China and nations immediately surrounding the Japanese archipelago will also bear the brunt of a significant amount of radioactive fallout from this disaster. Immediately downwind of this radioactive release, though, is the United States of America and the entire northern hemisphere, comprising the majority of the world's industrialized nations on Earth. Significant amounts of plutonium, strontium, cesium, uranium and a whole plethora of other highly radioactive particles have already fallen on the continental land mass of the USA and have already entered the food chains and water tables of the nation.
 
In a nutshell, Fukushima represents a literal catastrophe for the human species, plain and simple, there's no other way to put it..

It certainly feels as if we will all find out just how gigantic and tragic the folly of "Safe Nuclear Power" really is, really soon..

If You Said "Greece," Congratulations! You Win The Global Economic Dead Pool!

Greek PM warns against 'catastrophic' default  Video and article from Al Jazeera.

Al Jazeera's Tim Friend, reporting from the capital, Athens, said: "The anger is deep and (protesters) resent having to pay the price for the mistakes of others as they see it, the mistakes of banks and financiers."

"The problem for the politicians here is they're being dictated to by the International Monetary Fund and events now taking place elsewhere in Europe with the euro zone finance ministers," our correspondent said.


"They are the ones now calling the shots. The Greeks really are having to simply comply and do what they say."

Crisis point for Greece as it gets loan to stave off default  What will the people do when the banks and government openly defy their wishes?  Well, they're Greek, so the logical answer "Take to the streets!."  Will this event devolve into riots, fighting, insurrection, or worse?  At the moment, Greece's situation looks inevitable, and looks like a Worst Case Scenario no matter the direction.

Everything's getting hotter; everywhere.  Greece is just the opening song of the opening act.