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Voltaire Network 2013-09-06 17:47:00
Following the broadcasting of the images of the massacre in Ghouta, distributed by the Free Syrian Army and relayed by US and French services, Alawite families from Latakia have filed a complaint for murder. Some of these videos were filmed and posted on Youtube before the events they picture.* They show children suffocating from a chemical intoxication that can't possibly be sarin gas (the latter provokes yellow drool, not white drool). The children do not correspond to a sample of the population: they are all almost of the same age and have light hair. They are not accompanied by their grieving families. They are in fact children who were abducted by jihadists two weeks before in Alawite villages in the surroundings of Latakia, 200km away from Ghouta. Contrary to the sayings of the Free Syrian Army and the Western services, the only identified victims of the Ghouta massacre are those belonging to families that support the Syrian government. In the videos, the individuals that show outrage against the ''crimes of Bashar el-Assad'' are in reality their killers. | |
Comment: Are folks starting to see a pattern emerging here? Russian journalist exposes lies about Houla Massacre Houla massacre carried out by Syrian 'rebels', says Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung Children shot, knifed, axed to death in Free Syrian Army's Houla massacre Not only did al-Assad not kill his own people, his own people were in fact kidnapped, gassed to death while being filmed, then presented as 'evidence' that "al-Assad kills his own people". The truth is that al-Assad is defending his people from 'al Qaeda', that proxy army set up, funded and managed by the CIA, the Mossad, MI6 and DGSE. | |
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| Puppet Masters |
Arturo Garcia Hearing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad cite the bad intelligence reports that led the U.S. into Iraq to protect his own country against an attack had Jon Stewart apopleptic on Monday night.the Raw Story 2013-09-10 16:53:00
"You needlessly invade one country based on false evidence, suddenly you're bad at war" Stewart fretted. "Come on. We have had a very solid war career - between 40 to 60 percent justified. But all anybody wants to talk about is the most recent one of the wrong ones. It's like we're the Bill Buckner of superpowers now." | |
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RT 2013-09-10 16:32:00
Footage and photos of the alleged chemical attack in Syria, which the US cites as the reason for a planned military intervention, had been fabricated in advance, speakers told a UN human rights conference in Geneva. Members of the conference were presented accounts of international experts, Syrian public figures and Russian news reporters covering the Syrian conflict, which back Russia's opposition to the US plans, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement. The speakers argued that the suspected sarin gas attack near Damascus on August 21 was likely a provocation of the rebel forces and that a military action against the President Bashar Assad government will likely result in civilian casualties and a humanitarian catastrophe affecting the entire region. | |
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Dominic Kelly Opposing Views 2013-09-10 16:18:00
President Obama said this morning that he would put strikes against Syria on hold if Syrian President Bashar al-Assad agrees to turn control of his country's chemical weapons over to the international community. The possible agreement comes after Russia proposed the notion to Syria, and according to reports, Syria accepted. Secretary of State John Kerry made a seemingly rhetorical statement on Monday when he suggested that the United States would back down from military action if Syria turned its chemical weapons over, further stating that he believed there was virtually no likelihood of this ever happening. Russia took interest in that sentiment, and now a Syrian official is saying that the country has agreed to the proposal. The announcement has been taken with understandable skepticism, however, as the United States and its allies worry that this could potentially be a tactic used to stall a military strike longer than it's already being stalled. Still, President Obama said Monday that he's open to the possibility of this happening. | |
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Sayer Ji Greenmedinfo.com 2013-09-07 15:07:00
Politics is the entertainment division of the military industrial complex ~ Frank Zappa Recently, Maria Rodale, the CEO of the publishing company Rodale, Inc., wrote an open letter to President Obama regarding Syria, urging him to reconsider his position to press for a military strike against Syria. While there is nothing unusual about Maria's anti-war sentiment, with a recent Washington/ABC poll finding nearly six in 10 Americans oppose military action as a response to the Syrian government's alleged use of chemical weapons, her reference to biotech companies like Monsanto poisoning our children and environment with the president's support and encouragement, and her claim that the viral Facebook meme below contributed to her realization, caused the mainstream media to fume with reactionary waves of criticism and character assault. All of this, of course, distracts from the underlying context of the coming war in Syria, which is a war (like most wars in modern history) spurred by the geopolitical machinations of 'resource procurement,' and which like most wars, are many years in the making. All else, as Frank Zappa pointed out, has strictly entertainment value. | |
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Richard Norton-Taylor The Guardian 2013-09-10 05:37:00
Philip Hammond praises 'fabulous' arms trade fair in London Selling weapons abroad is a top priority for the government, Philip Hammond, the UK defence secretary, made clear on Tuesday, praising what he called a "fabulous show" displaying "fantastic kit". It was the opening day of London Docklands' biennial arms bazaar, the biggest so far with 40 countries, including Russia and Israel, having their own national pavilions, and as many as 1,500 companies offering their wares. Official guests at the arms show include the governments of Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya - countries that need to build up their armed forces after recent conflicts in which Britain has played its part - as well as such traditional arms trade allies as Saudi Arabia and the UAE. | |
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Daily Mail UK 2013-09-10 14:29:00
Almost two years to the day that the Occupy Wall Street movement started, a report confirms that the rich are getting even richer. The top 1 per cent of earners collected 19.3 per cent of household income in 2012, their largest share in Internal Revenue Service figures going back a century. U.S. income inequality has been growing for almost three decades. But until last year, the top 1 per cent's share of pre-tax income hadn't surpassed the 18.7 per cent it reached in 1927, according to an analysis of IRS figures dating to 1913 by economist Emmanuel Saez of the University of California, Berkeley, and three colleagues. Saez wrote that 2012 incomes of the richest Americans might have surged in part because they cashed in stock holdings to avoid higher capital gains taxes that took effect in January. The nation's top 1 per cent have been the targets of resentment in recent years which was manifested in the Occupy Wall Street movement that started in September 2011. The movement started in New York's Zuccotti Park, and thousands camped out and marched for months calling for wide-reaching change in the capitalist system. The adopted chant was 'We are the 99 per cent' and the movement spread to cities throughout the U.S. | |
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David Martosko Secretary of State John Kerry added to his public embarrassments as he was accused of lying today when he claimed that he and Secretary of State Chuck Hagel had 'opposed the president's decision to go into Iraq'. The Washington Post'sFact Checker column awarded Kerry four out of four 'Pinocchios,' its sliding scale of untruthfulness.Daily Mail UK 2013-09-10 14:20:00 That ignoble result puts Kerry's comment on a credibility par with President Obama's recent claim that he articulated 'the world's red line' - not his own - when he first warned Syria's dictator of the consequences of using chemical weapons. During an interview on MSNBC on September 5, Kerry said that air strikes against the Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria would not become yet another U.S. military quagmire, citing his alleged opposition to the Iraq War. 'I think a lot of Americans, a lot of your listeners, a lot of people in the country,' Kerry said, 'are sitting there and saying, "Oh my gosh, this is going to be Iraq, this is going to be Afghanistan, here we go again."' 'I know this, I've heard it,' he continued. 'And the answer is no, profoundly no. You know, Senator Chuck Hagel, when he was senator - Senator Chuck Hagel, now secretary of defense - and when I was a senator, we opposed the president's decision to go into Iraq but we know full well how that [flawed] evidence [about weapons of mass destruction] was used to persuade all of us that authority ought to be given.' But on October 11, 2002, according to Senate records, both Kerry and Hagel cast 'yea' votes on the 'Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002.'
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Shane Goldmacher In an exclusive interview, the billionaire GOP donor offers to help the White House whip the Syria vote - if it's wanted, and needed.The National Journal 2013-09-10 08:17:00
Billionaire casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, who spent tens of millions of dollars trying to defeat President Obama last year, has a message for the White House: Call me. In an interview with National Journal, Adelson said he stands behind the White House's push for American military action against the Syrian government. Perhaps as important: Adelson said he's ready, if asked, to roll up his sleeves and help Obama - the "commander in chief," as he repeatedly called him - corral the needed votes in Congress for a strike. "He is our commander in chief, whether we like what he says politically or not," Adelson said late Monday evening. The 80-year old Republican, one of the most influential GOP moneymen in the nation, is no Obama apologist. He's still the financier who spent, along with his wife, nearly $100 million trying to defeat Democratic candidates, Obama chief among them, last year. But he is also a pro-Israel hawk who said that America's standing in the world is at stake in the showdown with Syria over chemical weapons. "I would be willing to help out the administration because I believe it's the right thing to do. He is our only - we don't have any other commander in chief," he said. The comments are Adelson's first public remarks on the Syria situation, although the Republican Jewish Coalition, an advocacy group that he chairs, did support a Syria strike last week. His offer of a helping hand comes as Russia floated a diplomatic solution in which Damascus would cede its chemical weapons to avoid a strike, something Obama called a potential "breakthrough" on Monday. | |
Comment: This is a stunningly blatant example of how a handful of billionaires completely control the US government. These billionaires want to start a war with Syria because it is GOOD FOR BUSINESS. They make big money off of every bullet and bomb sold, and they reap insane profits from the natural resources stolen from the indigenous populations in the invaded countries. The fact that thousands of innocent Syrians will be slaughtered does not matter to them in the slightest. The fact that American solders will be killed doesn't phase them either. They have no morals, ethics, or empathy... all they have is a pathological, unending desire for more power and money, and they don't care who dies, as long as they get it.. | |
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Umberto Bacchi International Business Times 2013-09-09 04:50:00
A Belgian writer held hostage for five months in Syria has said that his own rebel captors denied that President Bashar al-Assad was responsible for the Ghouta massacre. Pierre Piccinin said that he and fellow hostage Domenico Quirico, an Italian war reporter, heard their jailers talking about the chemical weapon attack and saying that Assad was not to blame. Quirico confirmed to La Stampa newspaper that they had eavesdropped such a conversation through a closed door but added that he had no evidence to substantiate what he heard. Piccinin said the captives became desperate when they heard that the US was planning to launch a punitive attack against the regime over the gas attack in the Damascus suburb. | |
Comment: See also: Assad did not order Syria chemical weapons attack, says German press Putin: Syria chemical attack is 'rebels' provocation in hope of intervention' Putin accused Kerry of lying about al-Qaida's involvement in Syria at the G-20 summit Syria: Associated Press admits White House has no evidence whatsoever .. | |
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Raymond Ibrahim Raymond Ibrahim 2013-09-04 21:39:00
Russian President Vladimir Putin has a strange way of speaking straightforwardly, without all the artificial and "morally superior" airs one expects from Western politicians. Putin to Obama: What will you do if it turns out that the armed rebels are the ones who used weapons of mass destruction? Earlier, for example, he wondered why Western leaders were supporting cannibals in Syria: You will not deny that one does not really need to support the people who not only kill their enemies, but open up their bodies, eat their intestines in front of the public and cameras. Are these the people you want to support? Is it them who you want to supply with weapons? Then this probably has little relation to humanitarian values that have been preached in Europe for hundreds of years.Putin was referring to the notorious video of a jihadi leader biting into the organs of a Syrian soldier while screaming Islamic slogans. Now, the straightforward Russian has asked another equally important and straightforward question - the sort of question so full of common sense that most Western politicians never expect to hear a fellow politician asking (and, as usual, one the Western media have failed to report on, though Arabic media is abuzz with it). | |
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| Society's Child |
David Edwards Fox News anchor Neil Cavuto on Monday devoted an entire segment to the possibility that a United States attack on Syria could be a sign of the End Times, a period in which Christians believe that Jesus Christ will return to face the emergence of the Antichrist.The Raw Story 2013-09-10 17:08:00
"This Syria stuff is way old," Cavuto explained. "I mean Old Testament old. That's how old I'm talking about. Don't laugh. Some biblical scholars say it's all there in black and white." The Fox News host invited author Joel Rosenberg to weigh in on the link between the Syrian conflict and the Bible passages, which he said were "uncanny" and "kind of scary." | |
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Associated Press 2013-09-10 17:03:00
A Florida man who killed a vagrant with an ax and ate his brain and eyes has been committed to a maximum-security psychiatric hospital in Connecticut after being found not guilty by reason of insanity. Tyree Lincoln Smith, 36, of Lynn Haven, Fla., was ordered committed Monday by a three-judge panel in Bridgeport Superior Court. The panel in July found him not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect. Smith apologized for killing Angel Gonzalez, whose mutilated body was found in a vacant apartment in Bridgeport in January 2012, a month after he was hacked to death. "I'm really sorry for what I did, that I couldn't be myself," Smith told the judges. "It really had nothing to do with the other person." The apology surprised relatives of Gonzalez who were in the courtroom, the Connecticut Post reported. | |
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Arturo Garcia The Raw Story 2013-09-10 16:59:00
A trio of Arizona "exorcists" has ventured to England to fight what it describes as the endorsement of satanic elements in J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter book series. "Harry is using this magic for good," 18-year-old Brynne Larson explains in video posted by the Daily Mail on Monday. "So here we have the dangerous idea that you can use this magic for good or bad. When in reality, all magic is bad 'cause you're getting your power from Satan." | |
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Evan Bleier Opposing Views 2013-09-10 16:46:00
An Iowa pastor has been arrested on 60 counts of suspicion of sexual exploitation by a counselor or therapist after several of his alleged victims came forward and revealed that he had sex with them when they were teenagers. Brent Girouex claimed he had sex with the teenage boys because he was trying to help them gain "sexual purity" in the eyes of God, and that it was his duty "to help [them] with homosexual urges by praying while he had sexual contact with [them]." | |
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PressTV 2013-09-10 16:41:00
New research shows informal gold mining in Peru's Amazon region has poisoned mainly the indigenous people who get most of their protein from fish. The Carnegie Institution for Science published Monday a study showing that Peru's indigenous people living in the Madre de Dios region have the highest traces of mercury contamination among any other group. About 76.5 percent of the people living in the region, both rural and urban areas, were found to have mercury levels more than five times the maximum acceptable levels and 2.3 times greater than those in non-indigenous communities, the report showed. Moreover, the indigenous children had three times more mercury in their bodies than children from non-native communities. | |
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RT 2013-09-10 16:24:00
The use of Taser guns by British police has more than doubled since 2009, sparking concerns among rights groups and the wider public about the device's potentially lethal outcome and its frequently improper use by under-trained police personnel. According to numbers by the Office for National Statistic released on Tuesday, officers fired the weapon 3,500 in 2009, against more than 7,000 times in subsequent years. Some critics see the device as a coercion tool abused by the police force, especially when used as a stun gun and thrust into a person's body with the intention of inflicting pain - the so-called 'drive-stun' tactic. | |
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Breaking News, Ireland 2013-09-10 16:22:00
Motorists with a fear of Friday the 13th are being advised it is one of the safest days of the year to drive. A new survey by Chill insurance, shows that claims from motor accidents are no more common on Friday the 13th, than on any other day of the week, or any other Friday in the year. New research shows a 14% decrease in road accidents where Fridays fell on the 13th of the month. According to Chill this suggests that fears about bad luck may actually have a positive impact on driving behaviour, making our roads safer. The insurer released the results to ally the fears of those suffering from paraskevidekatriaphobia (a morbid, irrational fear of Friday the 13th) ahead of next Friday. | |
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Evan Bleier Opposing Views 2013-09-09 16:12:00
An 8-year-old Yemeni girl who was forced to marry a man more than five times her age died from internal injuries sustained on her wedding night. The girl, identified only as Rawan, died after suffering a tear to her genitals and severe bleeding. The girl's groom is believed to be over 40 years old. Yemeni and Kuwaiti activists are asking police to arrest the groom and the girl's family to help send the message that the practice of marrying young girls to older men has to end. | |
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James Daniel the daily mail 2013-09-08 00:00:00 Toni Christina Jenkins, who is 19, was in the middle of her shift at the seafood restaurant in Franklin and serving a couple of customers who racked up a $45 bill during their afternoon meal. When the time came to pay the check, Miss Jenkins, who is training to be a nurse, says she found the racist insult written on the couple's receipt.
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The Guardian Thai Airways staff cover up plane's logo after accident. Official says move was to protect airline's image after 14 people were hurt when plane skidded off the runway at Bangkok2013-09-09 15:56:00
After the accident, workers on a crane blacked out the Thai Airways logo on the tail and body of the aircraft, as part of an effort to protect its image, an official said. It was the second mishap in less than two weeks for Thailand's national carrier. | |
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Claire Carter The Telegraph, UK 2013-09-10 15:56:00
The bright red letter box frontage appeared about a metre above water level on a parapet of the bridge, which crosses the river. Villagers of Sonning-on-Thames, including Uri Geller, have been left puzzled as to how people could post letters or collect them from the box which is impossible to reach on foot and liable to flooding. Mr Geller, who has lived in the Berkshire village for three decades, said: "I have never seen anything like this anywhere in the world, it's a new one on me." But Mr Geller said the village had been known to have its unusual stories. He added: "There are many sightings of a child ghost that walks on the bridge. | |
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Peter Walker Former US basketball star and frequent North Korean visitor shares name of leader's baby Ju-aeThe Guardian 2013-09-09 15:50:00
When it comes to announcing a baby's name to the world, some will have a quiet word with friends and family while others might send a discreet email. But the Kim dynasty in North Korea has never been one for the orthodox. On Sunday, the name of Kim Jong-un's baby became known almost by accident, courtesy of a certain former US basketball star who keeps popping up in Pyongyang. Dennis Rodman has already described Kim as an "awesome guy". On Sunday, he told the Guardian the leader was also a "good dad" to his baby daughter, whom he named as Ju-ae. | |
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Andy Powell A 14-year-old girl shopping for shoes Saturday instead found a slithery surprise in a box.The Gadsden Times 2013-09-09 15:37:00 She might have wanted snakeskin shoes, but she surely didn't want the live snake she found when she opened a box at a store in East Gadsden. According to the report filed with the Gadsden Police Department, the 14-year-old and her mother were shopping when the girl opened a shoe box and a live snake fell out on her leg. The report said the juvenile ran away from the snake. A store employee called police, and an officer responded and killed the snake, disposing of it outdoors. The report said the snake appeared to be 6 to 7 inches long. The teenager told the responding officer the snake only scared her and she was not injured. The mother requested a police report about the incident. The report did not say if they purchased any shoes. |
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Sanjeev Miglani and Anurag Kotoky Four men were convicted on Tuesday of the "cold-blooded" murder of a woman who was raped and tortured on a bus in New Delhi, a crime that shook India and forced the country to confront sexual violence in a society undergoing wrenching change.Source 2013-09-10 14:55:00 The four - a bus cleaner, gym instructor, fruit seller and an unemployed man - face hanging, the maximum penalty for murder. The trial judge will hear prosecution and defense arguments on sentencing on Wednesday, when he could deliver his ruling. The minimum sentence the men could get is life imprisonment, two defense lawyers said. "She has got justice today. We are very happy," said the father of the 23-year-old trainee physiotherapist who was attacked on December 16. "We are very confident that all of them will be hanged." |
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Xinhua Train service in Norway was disrupted by a failure in the railway communication system on Tuesday morning, the Norwegian railway authority said on its Twitter account.2013-09-10 14:46:00 Also known as NSB, the Norwegian State Railways said that a software error of the GSM-R system used for communication between trains and control centers, brought down the railway network in many parts of the country, including the speed train running in and out of the Oslo airport. According to NSB, reports of the problem came in at about 9 a.m. local time (0700 GMT). All affected trains have either stopped immediately or ran to the nearest stations for further notice, said NSB spokesman Arvid Baardstu. |
Comment: Read the following forum thread to learn more about other recent cases of railway disruptions. |
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| Secret History |
Lee Rannals RedOrbit 2013-09-10 14:05:00
The latest finding about the ancient Maya shows that you wouldn't have wanted to be on the bad side of the ancient culture. Scientists from the Department of Anthropology of the Americas at the University of Bonn discovered a mass grave in an artificial cave in the historical Maya city of Uxul containing 24 individuals who were decapitated and dismembered. The bones discovered are about 1,400 years old, and the scientists assume that the victims were either prisoners of war or nobles from Uxul itself. The team has been excavating in the historical Maya city of Uxul in Campeche, Mexico for the past five years in hopes of researching the origins and the collapse of regional states in the Maya lowlands. Their findings indicate that the artificial cave was not always a mass grave site, but was also used as a water reservoir. "Aside from the large number of interred individuals, it already became apparent during the excavation that the skeletons were no longer in their original anatomical articulation", says archaeologist Nicolaus Seefeld. | |
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| Science & Technology |
Lauran Neergaard The Edmonton Journal 2013-09-10 16:00:00
Washington - New research suggests it might be possible to spot early signs of multiple sclerosis in patients' spinal fluid, findings that offer a new clue about how this mysterious disease forms. The study released Tuesday was small and must be verified by additional research. But if it pans out, the finding suggests scientists should take a closer look at a different part of the brain than is usually linked to MS. "It really tells us that MS may be affecting more parts of the brain much earlier than we anticipated," said Timothy Coetzee, chief research officer at the National MS Society. Coetzee wasn't involved with the new study. Multiple sclerosis is a neurological disease that causes varying symptoms - numbness and tingling in one person, impaired walking and vision loss in another - that often wax and wane. There are treatments but no cure. Doctors don't know what causes MS, just that it occurs when the protective insulation, called myelin, that coats nerve fibers is gradually destroyed, leaving behind tough scar tissue. That short-circuits messages from the brain and spinal cord to the rest of the body. But because brain scans can have trouble spotting early damage, it's hard to tell whether someone experiencing initial symptoms really is developing MS and thus should start treatment. | |
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Jet Propulsion Laboratory 2013-09-10 17:22:00
For 30 years, a large near-Earth asteroid wandered its lone, intrepid path, passing before the scrutinizing eyes of scientists armed with telescopes while keeping something to itself. The object, known as Don Quixote, whose journey stretches to the orbit of Jupiter, now appears to be a comet. The discovery resulted from an ongoing project coordinated by researchers at Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, Ariz., using NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. Through a lot of focused attention and a little luck, they found evidence of comet activity, which had evaded detection for three decades. The results show that Don Quixote is not, in fact, a dead comet, as previously believed, but it has a faint coma and tail. In fact, this object, the third-biggest near-Earth asteroid known, skirts Earth with an erratic, extended orbit and is "sopping wet," said David Trilling of Northern Arizona University, with large deposits of carbon dioxide and presumably water ice. Don Quixote is about 11 miles (18 kilometers) long. | |
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Ian O'Neill Discovery News 2013-09-10 16:05:00
Unexplained satellite movements in orbit, secretive payloads, testing of potential anti-satellite technologies and no official explanation - this sounds like the plot of the next James Bond adventure. But this is no 007 movie, this is the storyline of several Chinese satellites that are raising eyebrows in the West. As reported by veteran space correspondent Leonard David at SPACE.com, no one really knows what China is up to and this has led to speculation in space analyst circles. The speculation is focused on the satellites Shiyan-7, Chuangxin-3 and Shijian-15, all of which were launched on the same Long March 4C (CZ-4C) rocket on July 20 (pictured top). The official word was that the trio carried science payloads. Nothing too strange with that. But then Shiyan-7 (also known as SY-7, or Experiment 7) recently carried out a series of maneuvers with Chuangxin-3 (CX-3) only for it to make a sudden course change to rendezvous with an older satellite, Shijian 7 (SJ-7, Practice 7), which was launched in 2005. | |
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The Siberian Times Siberian scientists discover a previous collision for the space rock, or near miss with the Sun.2013-09-10 15:07:00
An operation to lift the main body of the Chelyabinsk meteorite began today in Lake Chebarkul. A specialist engineering company is clearing four metres 100 cubic metres of sludge to reach the extraterrestrial rock which four four metres beneath the floor of the lake. According to Chelyabinsk region search and rescue service, the approximate size of the meteorite is from 0.3 to 1 metre, and the weight is up to 600 kg. Meanwhile scientists from the Institute of Geology and Mineralogy (IGM) in Novosibirsk have already reached an intriguing conclusion about the meteorite which produced a dramatic light show and it crashed to earth shattering windows in and around Chelyabinsk on 15 February this year. While all of the fragments are composed of the same minerals, the structure and texture of some fragments show that the meteorite underwent an intensive melting process before it was subjected to extremely high temperatures on entering the Earth's atmosphere, say the specialists. | |
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EurekaAlert For 30 years, a large near-Earth asteroid wandered its lone, intrepid path, passing before the scrutinizing eyes of scientists while keeping something to itself: (3552) Don Quixote, whose journey stretches to the orbit of Jupiter, now appears to be a comet.2013-09-10 14:16:00 The discovery resulted from an ongoing project coordinated by researchers at Northern Arizona University using the Spitzer Space Telescope. Through a lot of focused attention and a little bit of luck, they found evidence of cometary activity that had evaded detection for three decades. "Don Quixote's orbit resembles that of a comet, so people assumed it was a comet that had gotten rid of all its ice deposits thousands of years ago," said Michael Mommert, a Ph.D. student of team member Prof. Alan Harris at the German Aerospace Center (DLR) in Berlin at the time this work was carried out. Near-Earth asteroids that are former comets make up roughly 5 percent of the whole near-Earth asteroid population, as found by Mommert and colleagues in a related study. These objects are mostly "dead comets" - comets that had shed the carbon dioxide and water that give them their spectacular comae and tails long time ago. What Mommert, now a post-doctoral researcher at NAU, and an international team of researchers discovered, though, was that Don Quixote was not actually a dead comet. In fact, the third-biggest near-Earth asteroid out there, skirting Earth with an erratic, extended orbit, is "sopping wet," said NAU associate professor David Trilling, with large deposits of carbon dioxide and presumably water ice. |
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Ellie Zolfagharifard Daily Mail UK 2013-09-10 14:43:00
British scientists believe they have found evidence alien life after sending a balloon to the edge of space. The team of scientists sent a balloon 27km into the stratosphere and captured small biological organisms they say can only have come from space. The group, headed up by astrobiologist Professor Chandra Wickramasinghe, claims the 'seeds of life' have been transported between planets by passing meteors. Professor Wickramasinghe, 74, and his team from the University of Sheffield sent a specially designed balloon into the atmosphere above Chester during the annual Perseid meteor shower. The balloon was carrying sterile microscope slides which were only exposed to the atmosphere at heights of 27km. When the balloon fell back down to Earth the scientists discovered microscopic aquatic algae on the microscope slides - which they say can only be alien life forms. | |
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The University of Queensland New research has identified the key to becoming male is an enzyme that "unravels" DNA to trigger male development of the embryo, a discovery that may give greater insight into intersex disorders.2013-09-05 13:50:00 University of Queensland and Japanese scientists observed that mice lacking the Jmjd1a enzyme developed as females despite having a Y chromosome. The study is published today in the leading international scientific journal Science. Professor Peter Koopman, from UQ's Institute for Molecular Bioscience, said the discovery provided new information on the earliest steps the body takes in becoming male or female. "Most mammals, including humans and mice, are programmed to develop as females unless a specific Y-chromosome gene called Sry is present to trigger male development during embryonic life," Professor Koopman said. |
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Elizabeth Howell Universe Today 2013-09-10 13:41:00
Sometimes, putting things into categories difficult. Witness how many members of the general public are still unhappy that Pluto was reclassified as a dwarf planet, a decision made by the International Astronomical Union more than seven years ago. And now we have 3200 Phaethon, an asteroid that is actually behaving like a comet. Scientists found dust that is streaming from this space rock as it gets close to the sun - similarly to how ices melt and form a tail as comets zoom by our closest stellar neighbor. Phaethon's orbit puts it in the same originating region as other asteroids (between Mars and Jupiter), but its dust stream is much closer to actions performed by a comet - an object that typically comes from an icy region way beyond Neptune. So far, therefore, the research team is calling Phaethon a "rock comet." And after first proposing a theory a few years ago, they now have observations as to what may be going on. | |
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Erika Check Hayden Bats and dolphins may have developed echolocation via similar mutations.Nature News 2013-09-05 09:47:00
A new analysis suggests that many genes evolved in parallel in bats and dolphins as each developed the remarkable ability to echolocate. Different organisms often independently evolve similar observable traits such as anatomical or functional features, but the genetic changes underpinning such 'convergent evolution' are usually different. The new study, published today in Nature1, hints that evolution may be finding the same genetic solutions to a problem more often than previously thought. "These results imply that convergent molecular evolution is much more widespread than previously recognized," says molecular phylogeneticist Frédéric Delsuc at the The National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) at the University of Montpellier in France, who was not involved in the study. What is more, he adds, the genes involved are not just the few, obvious ones known to be directly involved in a trait but a broader array of genes that are involved in the same regulatory networks. Biologists have long debated how different animal species independently developed echolocation, the sonar-like mechanism in which animals listen to their own clicks and calls echoing back from obstacles or prey. In the study released today, biologists led by Stephen Rossiter and Joe Parker at Queen Mary University of London, drew upon the largest dataset ever to look for convergent evolution in 2,326 genes shared by 22 mammals, including six bats and the bottlenose dolphin. | |
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| Earth Changes |
Marc Lallanilla LiveScience 2013-09-10 13:29:00
Veterinarians, health officials and dog owners are alarmed by the mysterious recent deaths of four dogs in Ohio. Some experts suspect that the dogs may have died a few days after exposure to a virus that's normally found in pigs. Three dogs in the Cincinnati area and a fourth dog near Akron died in August after exhibiting symptoms that included vomiting, bloody diarrhea, weight loss and lethargy, according to the Columbus Dispatch. "We feel obligated to make sure pet owners are aware this is happening," Erica Hawkins, communications director for the Ohio Department of Agriculture, told the Dispatch. "Supportive therapies can be helpful if started early enough." The three dogs from Cincinnati died last month after staying in the same kennel. The Akron dog that died was one of several in the Akron-Canton area that showed the same symptoms. A stool sample from the Akron dog tested positive for canine circovirus, a recently isolated virus. | |
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Pete Spotts Tropical storm Gabrielle was the seventh Atlantic tropical cyclone this season, but no hurricanes have yet formed, which is unusual. Another 10 hurricane-free days would set a record.The Christian Science Monitor 2013-09-06 15:08:00 The weather system that had become tropical storm Gabrielle overnight Wednesday has abruptly lost strength and was demoted to tropical-depression status with sustained winds of only 35 miles per hour at 11 a.m. Thursday. Forecasters at the National Hurricane Center in Miami have lifted tropical-storm watches and warnings they had issued for Puerto Rico. The government of the Dominican Republic has done likewise for areas along its coast that would have been affected. Forecasters note that Gabrielle encountered one of the banes of tropical cyclones: wind shear, a sudden change in wind speed or direction with altitude. The mountains of Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic also disrupted the storm, preventing it from becoming more organized. |
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Tengrinews.kz 2013-09-10 14:24:00
Mortality of 3 thousand saiga antelopes has been registered in Akmola and Karaganda oblasts in central Kazakhstan, Tengrinews.kz reports citing the press-service of the Ministry of Environment Protection of Kazakhstan. About 1.5 thousand carcases of betpakdalinski saiga antelopes were found at southern, western and northern shores of Tengiz Lake. This type of saiga antelopes also inhabits lowlands and steppes. All the involved national and local authorities were informed about the animals' die-off. The Ministry's subordinate Committee of Forestry and Hunting in cooperation with the Research Institute for Biological Safety Problems and Veterinary Service of Karaganda Oblast are investigating the die-off site. Measures to find out the scale and causes of the mortality are being taken. | |
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Carrie Arnold The waters off British Columbia, Canada, are littered with dead starfish, and researchers have no idea what's causing the deaths.National Geographic 2013-09-09 13:50:00
At the end of August, marine biologist and scuba enthusiast Jonathan Martin was out on his usual Saturday dive with some friends when he noticed something unusual. "We just started noticing dead starfish that looked like they had their arms chopped off," Martin said. They were sunflower starfish (Pycnopodia helianthoides), a major marine predator in the area that feeds mostly on sea urchins and snails. Like most starfish, the sunflower starfish can regenerate lost limbs - it can have up to 20 - and can grow to be up to three feet (a meter) across. (Related pictures: "5 Animals That Regrow Body Parts.") Since Martin was diving in an area frequented by crabbers, at first he thought the sunflower starfish had gotten caught in some of the crab traps and had lost limbs escaping. But Martin kept seeing large numbers of dead starfish as he and his friends swam to a marine park where such crab fishing is illegal. Martin knew then it wasn't the traps that were causing the starfish deaths. After returning from the dive, he visited friends at a local dive shop who were active in marine conservation. Without any definitive answer, he shared photos on Flickr and videos on YouTube - taken at Lion's Bay and Whytecliff Park in Vancouver - to try to get ideas from others about what was going on. "It really struck a chord in other divers who were seeing it on Facebook and social media, both locally and as far away as California, who had been seeing similar things," Martin said. | |
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Benjamin Radford LIveScience 2013-09-10 13:35:00
Officials with the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish are puzzling over the mysterious deaths of more than 100 elk, apparently all within a 24-hour period, in rural New Mexico. The elk were found Aug. 27 on a 75,000-acre ranch north of the city of Las Vegas. Livestock deaths, by themselves, are not unusual - there are many things that can fell large animals, including predators, poachers, a natural or man-made toxin, disease, drought, heat, starvation, and even lightning. But so far wildlife officials have seemingly ruled out most of these possibilities: The elk weren't shot (nor taken from the area), so it was not poachers. Tests have come back negative for anthrax, a bacteria that exists naturally in the region and can kill large animals. There seems to be no evidence of any heavy pesticide use in the area that might have played a role in the die-off. Though lightning strikes are not uncommon in the Southwest and in New Mexico specifically, killing over 100 animals at one time would be an incredibly rare event. It might be an as-yet unidentified disease, though killing so many at once - and so quickly - would be very unusual. Another possibility is some sort of contamination of the well or water tanks, but so far no toxins have been identified. | |
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Alice Philipson A freak bolt of lightning has been photographed as it struck a 14th-century lighthouse, smashing three of the dome's glass panels. The Telegraph, UK 2013-09-10 13:03:00
The fork of light lit up the night sky as it hit the spire of St Nicholas Chapel in Ilfracombe, Devon. The dome of the grade I-listed building suffered three shattered glass panels and its electrics were frazzled by the surging charge on Friday night. However, the damage was only minor and the chapel's navigation light was quickly replaced and switched back on. The extraordinary scene was captured by local resident Jason Twist, who said: "The storm was very impressive, so I grabbed my camera and started snapping. | |
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| Fire in the Sky |
Vincent Perlerin American Meteor Society 2013-09-10 06:12:00
Over 80 (so far) witnesses reported a large fireball over Alabama last night (9/9) around 8:35 PM local CDT (1:30 on 10/9 UT). The fireball was seen from primarily Alabama and Ohio, but witnesses from Michigan, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Virginia and Kentucky also reported seeing the fireball. We are currently investigating dozen of reports about this event. We will update this page later today with more information. Here is the current heat map for the event
that shows where the witnesses reported from. Click the image below to review the event map and witness reports for this fireball. Someone catched the fireball on video at the Mumford & Sons concert at Oak Mountain Amphitheater in Birmingham, AL.
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Comment: Remember this from 5 days ago? Green fireball seen over eastern U.S. coast And this from 1 week ago? Small asteroid explodes over Georgia-Tennessee border: Fireball was 20 times brighter than Moon And this from 4 months ago?
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| Health & Wellness |
PressTV 2013-09-10 16:30:00
UK doctors have come under fire after new figures showed more patients died from overdosing on prescription drugs than heroin and cocaine abuse in 2012. The recent report from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) says the deaths from abuse of strong painkillers and tranquillizers had an increasing rate compared to the falling mortality numbers of people dying from abuse of opiate-based drugs. According to ONS, 807 people died from fatal overdose of prescription drugs last year, a rise of 16 per cent in five years, compared with 718 who fell victim to heroin and cocaine abuse. Experts say British doctors have failed to warn patients of the addictive effects of some painkillers and tranquilizers. They also warned GPs to avoid giving out repeat prescriptions before a patient has finished all drugs from his last visit. | |
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David Edwards The Raw Story 2013-09-09 13:05:00
The Department of Agriculture (USDA) is planning to roll out a meat inspection program nationwide that will allow pork plants to use their own inspectors, but it has a history of producing contaminated meat at American and foreign plants. The Washington Postreported on Monday that documents and interviews showed that a plan to allow hog plants to replace federal USDA inspectors with their own private employees had produced "serious lapses that included failing to remove fecal matter from meat" in three of the five plants that had participated in a pilot program for more than a decade. And plants using the same procedure in Australia and Canada also ran into problems. In one case, a Canadian company had to recall 8.8 million pounds of beef products for E. coli contamination. | |
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Axel F. Sigurdsson, MD Primal Docs 2013-09-09 12:49:00
If you think flat Earthism is gone, you're wrong. Some people still believe the earth is flat. The Flat Earth Society even has it own website. The society's roots may be traced back to the 1800′s. However, the members don't use scientific evidence to support their view. According to an interview with the society's president in The Guardian three years ago, they believe the earth is flat because it appears flat. The sun and moon are spherical, but much smaller than mainstream science says, and they rotate around a plane of the Earth because they appear to do so. Most public health authorities still recommend that total fat consumption does not exceed 30 percent of total calories and that saturated fats be no greater than 10 percent. The British, National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE) stated in a document in 2010 that in order to better prevent coronary heart disease (CHD) at a population level, the reduction of dietary saturated fat is crucial. They estimated that halving the average intake of saturated fat (from 14 to 7 percent) might prevent 30.000 deaths annually in the UK. The public health recommendations are very surprising, considering the large amount of data indicating that reducing total fat consumption or the amount of saturated fats in our diet will not reduce mortality or affect the risk of dying from CHD. | |
Comment: The Corruption of Science has been pervasive and extensive, and it has lead to quite a disastrous state of affairs. For more information see:
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Anne Angelone, L.Ac. Primal Docs 2013-09-09 09:12:00
Do you really need to filter your tap water, or is that just a marketing gimmick to sell water filters? Modern water treatment systems protect us from serious waterborne diseases such as Cryptosporidium and Giardia, parasites that cause illness. But while disinfecting municipal water supplies keeps us safe from parasites, we're instead faced with the added toxic burden of the chemicals used for treatment, as well as the hundreds of pollutants that make their way into our water supplies. Different chemicals are used to treat water, most notably chlorine and chloramine. Chlorine is used in most water supplies and has a long track record whereas chloramine, which has not been studied as extensively as chlorine, is in about one quarter of households. Chloramine is a combination of chlorine and ammonia and is used because, unlike chlorine, it stays in the water longer and cannot be removed through boiling, distilling, or letting water sit uncovered. Although both kill waterborne pathogens, they are somewhat toxic in themselves. Chloramine is corrosive to pipes and increases exposure to lead in drinking water in older homes. Chloramine-treated water also should not be used in fish tanks, hydroponics, home brewing, or for dialysis. | |
Comment: Not to mention fluoride:
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| Science of the Spirit |
Carl Zimmer The body's defense cells engage the brain in an intricate dialogue that may help raise IQ.Discover 2013-02-12 13:11:00
After spending a few days in bed with the flu, you may have felt a bit stupid. It is a common sensation, that your sickness is slowing down your brain. At first blush, though, it doesn't make much sense. For one thing, flu viruses infect the lining of the airways, not the neurons in our brains. For another, the brain is walled off from the rest of the body by a series of microscopic defenses collectively known as the blood-brain barrier. It blocks most viruses and bacteria while allowing essential molecules like glucose to slip through. What ails the body, in other words, shouldn't interfere with our thinking. But over the past decade, Jonathan Kipnis, a neuroimmunologist in the University of Virginia School of Medicine's department of neuroscience, has discovered a possible link, a modern twist on the age-old notion of the body-mind connection. His research suggests that the immune system engages the brain in an intricate dialogue that can influence our thought processes, coaxing our brains to work at their best. Kipnis got the idea of an immunity-intelligence link while earning his Ph.D. at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel. His adviser, Michal Schwartz, was performing experiments to understand how the brain repairs itself after an injury. She found that the brain depends on a type of immune cell known as the T cell, which normally kills infected cells or leads other immune cells in a campaign against foreign invaders. Her research suggested that T cells can also send signals that activate the brain's resident immune cells, microglia and blood-borne macrophages, telling them to protect the injured neurons from toxins released by the injury. | |
Comment: An amazing therapeutic tool that Big Pharma will most likely exploit with drugs that have more side effects than potential benefit. For a more natural way to balance up your immune system and your brain potential, visit our forum discussion "Life Without Bread" and our Éiriú Eolas relaxation program. | |
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| High Strangeness |
The Borneo Post 2013-09-10 13:58:00
Kuching: A 55-year-old man from Kampung Bayur perished in an accident after he fell into a ravine when going down a hill on a motorcycle from a resort at Borneo Heights here Sunday. The victim, identified as Duren Ango, was with another friend who was riding a separate motorcycle. They were on their way back home around 6pm when the incident occurred. Prior to the tragedy, it was said that the victim had tried to dodge a 'white figure' when he lost control of his machine and crashed through the road barrier before plunging into the 30-meter deep ravine. The hilly terrain gave difficulties to the rescue teams from the Fire and Rescue Department, Civil Defence Department and police. The operation to retrieve the body from the scene only ended around 2am. The body was taken by the police to the Sarawak General Hospital for a post-mortem. | |
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Thomas Moir The low-frequency troublesome noise that troubles a small percentage of North Shore residents in Auckland, New Zealand. Aired on 5/9/2013youtube.com 2013-09-05 13:36:00
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| Don't Panic! Lighten Up! |
Big Pond News 2013-09-09 18:00:00
Who says superheroes aren't real? When a West Virginia, US, home caught fire, trapping a kitten inside, it was Batman and Captain America who came to the rescue. John Buckland, dressed as Batman, and Troy Marcum, dressed as Captain America, saw smoke at a house nearby when they were entertaining children as part of their business. They ran to the house along with another bystander, kicked in the door and broke out a window so some smoke could escape. Buckland, a former firefighter, says he crawled into the front room and felt something furry. He grabbed the animal, ran outside and gave it mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. No one was hurt in the fire, including the rescuers - though Buckland says the cat hissed and swatted at him when it regained consciousness. |
