http://www.rense.com/general95/death.htm By Yoichi Shimatsu
Exclusive To Rense.comHong Kong-Based Environmental Consultant Former General Editor Japan Times Weekly In Tokyo 12-16-11
- An unstoppable tide of radioactive trash and chemical waste from Fukushima is pushing ever closer to North America. An estimated 20 million tons of smashed timber, capsized boats and industrial wreckage is more than halfway across the ocean, based on sightings off Midway by a Russian ship's crew. Safe disposal of the solid waste will be monumental task, but the greater threat lies in the invisible chemical stew mixed with sea water.
- This new triple disaster floating from northeast Japan is an unprecedented nuclear, biological and chemical (NBC) contamination event. Radioactive isotopes cesium and strontium are by now in the marine food chain, moving up the bio-ladder from plankton to invertebrates like squid and then into fish like salmon and halibut. Sea animals are also exposed to the millions of tons of biological waste from pig farms and untreated sludge from tsunami-engulfed coast of Japan, transporting pathogens including the avian influenza virus, which is known to infect fish and turtles. The chemical contamination, either liquid or leached out of plastic and painted metal, will likely have the most immediate effects of harming human health and exterminating marine animals.
- The toxic mess won't stop at the shoreline. Many chemical compounds are volatile and can evaporate with water to form clouds, which will eventually precipitate as rainfall across Canada and the northern United States. The long-term threat extends far inland to the Rockies and beyond, affecting agriculture, rivers, reservoirs and, eventually, aquifers and well water. end quote.
- The latest reports put the 20 million tons of smashed lumber near Midway Island at present on its way towards the beaches of North America. What that will actually mean it is hard to say. But for now, it is likely that fishermen near where that debris field is or where it has been likely need to be using Geiger counters on their fish for their safety and the safety of anyone who ingests those fish. Likewise, if and when the debris fields hit North American or South American shores people should be ready with Geiger counters to check for safety. Another problem might be that remains of people and pets might be entombed in this 20 million tons of smashed lumber and debris as well. So, it is possible that Japanese or U.S forensics might be needed to identify any human remains that wash ashore in the debris field on U.S. or Mexican or Central or South American shores.
Saturday, December 31, 2011
Fukushima Debris Soon To Hit American Shores
If you are born or made an Intuitive
If you are born or made through circumstance or illness an intuitive or precognitive psychic(someone who often knows the future before it happens), it can be a good or bad thing but usually at first it is both.
The biggest thing is to accept yourself in this state of being. Just wishing you were like other people isn't useful. Accepting that you have interesting abilities usually is the most useful and hopefully you have other members of your family that are also gifted. So, just blurting out to everyone, "I'm a precognitive psychic, or I'm an Intuitive usually isn't that useful when you are young. People are just mostly going to take it in a wrong or unuseful way. So, learning to live with your gifts (surviving your gifts) is the first thing you have to do. You have to find an equilibrium that you can find in yourselves so that it is just another sense or senses on top of the basic five that almost everyone has in the first place. That you might better understand all animals and creatures on earth better than most is just something that you will have to accept and get used to. So, in the end this is something likely that you will have to live with whether you want to or not the rest of your life. So freaking out because you are gifted in an intuitive or precognitive way isn't going to take you anywhere useful. Instead what is useful about it is you will be able to help yourself and others stay alive and not get maimed if you stay credible in all your actions. So, as long as people feel they can trust what you say, and that they can count on you to be level headed, you can begin to save lives and prevent harm in people's lives. And remember, "The life you save may be your own".
The biggest thing is to accept yourself in this state of being. Just wishing you were like other people isn't useful. Accepting that you have interesting abilities usually is the most useful and hopefully you have other members of your family that are also gifted. So, just blurting out to everyone, "I'm a precognitive psychic, or I'm an Intuitive usually isn't that useful when you are young. People are just mostly going to take it in a wrong or unuseful way. So, learning to live with your gifts (surviving your gifts) is the first thing you have to do. You have to find an equilibrium that you can find in yourselves so that it is just another sense or senses on top of the basic five that almost everyone has in the first place. That you might better understand all animals and creatures on earth better than most is just something that you will have to accept and get used to. So, in the end this is something likely that you will have to live with whether you want to or not the rest of your life. So freaking out because you are gifted in an intuitive or precognitive way isn't going to take you anywhere useful. Instead what is useful about it is you will be able to help yourself and others stay alive and not get maimed if you stay credible in all your actions. So, as long as people feel they can trust what you say, and that they can count on you to be level headed, you can begin to save lives and prevent harm in people's lives. And remember, "The life you save may be your own".
Global Climate Change and Fear and Greed
I suppose it is logical if one just looks at it in terms of supply and demand and basic survival of individuals, families, and species. But, the world actually living through it has been much rougher.
If you look at all this historically it makes the best sense. But, through the eyes of those who have lived it day to day it has been somewhat horrific. I'm trying to think of the best place to start writing about this. It is easy to explain it in terms of what is happening now and harder when I try to put it into historical perspective. So, maybe the best place to start is with the Australian Droughts of 2006 and 2007
If you look at all this historically it makes the best sense. But, through the eyes of those who have lived it day to day it has been somewhat horrific. I'm trying to think of the best place to start writing about this. It is easy to explain it in terms of what is happening now and harder when I try to put it into historical perspective. So, maybe the best place to start is with the Australian Droughts of 2006 and 2007
Drought in Australia - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drought_in_Australia
Jump to Responses during 2006 and 2007: The current drought has changed the way Australia treats its water resources. Because of the long-term ...end quote.
So, when this happened and it dropped the worldwide supply of grains from 130% of worldwide need to about 110% of worldwide need, this completely changed the dynamics of how food was distributed and priced worldwide. It created a situation where panic was created in the poorer 50% of countries around the globe. This fear spread like wildfire into the upper 50% of income countries and made them think twice about how they spent their money as well. People in the upper 10% reinvested and became less apt to give to charities and started to invest more in gold and Oil and other "Safe" havens. It created a chain reaction that led towards people being more aware of "Surviving" and keeping money socked away in safe havens. This kind of fear then led to the Subprime mortgage collapse and Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns
Bear Stearns - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Lehman Brothers - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
which eventually led to people getting underwater in their mortgages and "walking away". This in turn led to banks stopping loaning money and the collapse of "Credit Default Swaps" worldwide.
Credit default swap - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This just made the Global credit problem worse because now banks no longer trusted each other because Credit default swaps were private and were not regulated which endangered not only banks but all businesses, corporations and individuals.
This made U.S. Business who has socked away 2 trillion dollars in profits to not reinvest them because of the instability not only in the U.S. but also abroad. There was no real safe haven anywhere so Businesses large and small in the U.S. laid off 9 million or more people and held onto their money so they might survive until all this blew over (if it ever did).
This only made common people more freaked out because now people under 30 years of age even with college degrees and student loans couldn't get jobs and started defaulting on their student loans. But if all they had was food stamps while living with their parents in a basement somewhere there wasn't much they could do. So now, we have the student loan system in our country creating bankruptcies right and left in the under 30 (and over 30) crowd of graduates. Next, out of frustration all the people who couldn't find jobs with or without college degrees organized into the Occupy movements in cities worldwide (in at least 1000 cities worldwide). Where all this will take us is anyone's guess at the moment.
But there is another side to this as well. As the number of jobs decreased nepotism (giving jobs to family and friends over others) has increased exponentially worldwide. So, minority groups lost out in this divide and black unemployment has skyrocketed because of this as well. Also, since 75% of the wealth of the middle class in the U.S. was in their homes, when a whole group lost their homes to loss of jobs and adjustable rate mortgages and being underwater about 50% of the wealth of the middle class was lost nationwide and likely throughout Europe as well. This created new problems as whole tracts of houses were abandoned throughout the U.S. Homeless people or drug addicts moved in and sometimes destroyed these houses. Then banks began bulldozing houses to reduce the liability of homeless people and drug addicts burning down these houses or worse. All this in turn made banks want to loan money even less.
So now, the world, rather than being wealthy, giving and magnanimous has now become afraid, stingy, socking away money, and as a result of this many people are doing without food, clothing, shelter, sanity etc. worldwide. And lastly many many millions of people worldwide are dying of starvation, lack of shelter, lack of clothes and lack of pure and clean water. It is said that up to 10 million people this year worldwide will die from all these things. And as this becomes more widely known it is only going to make all peoples more stingy and socking their money away in more extreme ways. So, what is the solution? Spend money if you can afford it on products or services made in your own country. There is nothing that will help your local area and country more at this point than doing this. So, whenever possible, buy local and support your friends and family and locality wherever that is.
I realized when I went back and reread what I had written that I hadn't put down some of the latest examples of Global Climate Change and Earth Changes:
2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami - Wikipedia, the free ...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Tōhoku_earthquake_and_tsunami
The 2011 earthquake off the Pacific coast of Tohoku (Japanese: 東北地方太平洋沖地震 (Tōhoku chihō Taiheiyō oki jishin)), also known as the 2011 Tohoku ...News for 2011 philippine floods
USA TODAY
- Philippine floods death toll is nearly 1500
CBS News - 4 days agoFlash flood victims cross a river after receiving relief goods in Iligan city, southern Philippines on Christmas day Sunday Dec. 25, 2011. ...774 related articles - Philippine Floods Put Popular Leader to Test
New York Times - 175 related articlesend quotes.All these problems just this year prevented the manufacture of cars and electronics and other things worldwide. The Thai Floods have continued from about June or July into December 2011. The problems of radiation about 20,000 people dying and the loss of 24 hour a day Electricity for large companies has greatly affected the quantity and quality of cars coming out of Japan and the quality and quantity of electronics coming from all parts of Asia and around the world. Because of our mutually interdependent business community worldwide now, these three events were like throwing a monkey wrench into the worldwide gears of business everywhere. This also increased the cost of doing business which has to be passed on to the consumer at a time when the worldwide consumer can least afford it.
So, as you can see from all the gathered facts about Global Warming, Fear and Greed worldwide that maybe the only way out of this is to spend a little of what you have socked away for what you really need. Don't spend it all, keep a lot for the rainy days to come, but spend enough, (like many of you did this Christmas) to bring, life, food and hope to your economies around the world, so people feel there is hope so one day even the poorest can have a job and money to spend for food and clothes and shelter for their families too.
Here is another good source for more information on the Financial Collapse:
Late-2000s financial crisis
Also, at the above site at wikipedia of Late-2000s financial crisis I found the following on the number of companies that collapsed. Though some car makers are shown as collapsing that is misleading because they were temporarily taken over by the U.S. Government and now are mostly thriving except for Saab at present.
Siberian Permafrost Time Bomb?
I was watching NBC Nightly News tonight on TV and it had a segment about the quickly melting permafrost. It showed a Russian who was researching how methane and other greenhouse gases are being released very quickly into the atmosphere. I had done some other research in the past and it seems to me that I read and commented upon how methane goes to the very top of the atmosphere. When I researched it once again on Wikipedia I found under the heading "Lighter than air" the fact that Methane is one of the gases used to lift balloons alongside of hot air, Ammonia, hydrogen and helium.
Here is a quote from "lighter than air" regarding Methane, "
It seems to me if I remember correctly that Methane is a problem at the top of our atmosphere because it prevents the formation of Ozone by creating water vapor instead. Ozone is one of primary things that humans and all animals need on earth to protect them from harmful rays from the sun giving them skin cancer and blindness (for animals and people not wearing good sunglasses). So, for example, the ozone hole above Australia was probably partly caused by the methane from herds of animals producing methane from their feces all around the world. Methane also occurs as plant and animal life decays after death which is what is the problem in the Tundra of Siberia, Canada and Alaska.
The NBC report was about a Russian Geophysicist studying this area. Some of the people there lit on fire spouts of methane and it produced flames taller than a man on camera as it oozed from the ice and ground. This methane when it is released from the ground and ice goes up into the upper atmosphere and prevents the formation of ozone by creating water vapor instead.
So the Russian Geophysicist came up with the idea of recreating the tundra to how it was during the last ice age with mastodons and furry horses, furry camels and furry bison by using a large 4 wheel drive to knock down small trees which encourage grasses to grow like the mastodons would have done naturally. All the herbivores eat the grasses and trample down the snow and change the climate in this particular area back to where it was in the ice age. The experiment was successful for the land that the geophysicist experimented with. So now, the world needs to support doing this in much larger areas to prevent basically the end of life on earth as we now know it which is what will happen if the permafrost keeps melting at the rate it is now. If nothing is done the planet may not be able to support life as we know it within 100 years. So, it looks like there will be a lot of knocking down small trees and breeding herbivores like furry horses, camels and bison to take the area back to ice age status so melting Siberian Permafrost and methane doesn't end life as we know it on earth within 100 years.
Here is a quote from "lighter than air" regarding Methane, "
Methane
Methane (the chief component of natural gas) is sometimes used as a lift gas when hydrogen and helium are not available. It has the advantage of not leaking through balloon walls as rapidly as the small-moleculed hydrogen and helium. (Many lighter-than-air balloons are made of aluminized plastic that limits such leakage; hydrogen and helium leak rapidly through latex balloons.)It seems to me if I remember correctly that Methane is a problem at the top of our atmosphere because it prevents the formation of Ozone by creating water vapor instead. Ozone is one of primary things that humans and all animals need on earth to protect them from harmful rays from the sun giving them skin cancer and blindness (for animals and people not wearing good sunglasses). So, for example, the ozone hole above Australia was probably partly caused by the methane from herds of animals producing methane from their feces all around the world. Methane also occurs as plant and animal life decays after death which is what is the problem in the Tundra of Siberia, Canada and Alaska.
The NBC report was about a Russian Geophysicist studying this area. Some of the people there lit on fire spouts of methane and it produced flames taller than a man on camera as it oozed from the ice and ground. This methane when it is released from the ground and ice goes up into the upper atmosphere and prevents the formation of ozone by creating water vapor instead.
So the Russian Geophysicist came up with the idea of recreating the tundra to how it was during the last ice age with mastodons and furry horses, furry camels and furry bison by using a large 4 wheel drive to knock down small trees which encourage grasses to grow like the mastodons would have done naturally. All the herbivores eat the grasses and trample down the snow and change the climate in this particular area back to where it was in the ice age. The experiment was successful for the land that the geophysicist experimented with. So now, the world needs to support doing this in much larger areas to prevent basically the end of life on earth as we now know it which is what will happen if the permafrost keeps melting at the rate it is now. If nothing is done the planet may not be able to support life as we know it within 100 years. So, it looks like there will be a lot of knocking down small trees and breeding herbivores like furry horses, camels and bison to take the area back to ice age status so melting Siberian Permafrost and methane doesn't end life as we know it on earth within 100 years.
Carbon Nation
2011 Documentary worth seeing. I'm streaming this from Netflix on to my flatscreen in my living room as I write this. Humans are presently using 16 terrawatts worldwide which runs everything from cars to toasters worldwide. 1 terrawatt is 1 trillion watts. 100 watts powers a 100 watt lightbulb. an average American household consumes 28 kilowatts. a Gigawatt is a billion watts of power which is equal to what Seattle or San Francisco consume each as cities. 1000 Gigawatts is a Terrawatt. And as soon as possible the world needs all 16 Terrawatts that it presently consumes to come from clean sources that don't send up Hydrocarbons into the air to produce them. The world presently powers 2 Terrawatts by clean methods (wind and solar and other methods) of the 16 Terrawatts consumed worldwide at present.
86,000 Terrawatts hit the earth as solar power every day. 32 Terrawatts are pumping from Geothermal power. 870 Terrawatts of wind power are blowing around the world. At present the world only 16 Terrawatts to power everything for right now. end quotes from "Carbon Nation" documentary.
I quoted only a few facts from this documentary. The other one I would like to quote is that the Pentagon considers Global Climate Change and Global Warming a very serious national security threat because millions of people are going to be forced to migrate from where they now live because of rising sea levels and droughts and flooding and this likely will create food wars, unrest, and water shortages and other problems difficult for any nations to manage worldwide.
86,000 Terrawatts hit the earth as solar power every day. 32 Terrawatts are pumping from Geothermal power. 870 Terrawatts of wind power are blowing around the world. At present the world only 16 Terrawatts to power everything for right now. end quotes from "Carbon Nation" documentary.
I quoted only a few facts from this documentary. The other one I would like to quote is that the Pentagon considers Global Climate Change and Global Warming a very serious national security threat because millions of people are going to be forced to migrate from where they now live because of rising sea levels and droughts and flooding and this likely will create food wars, unrest, and water shortages and other problems difficult for any nations to manage worldwide.
Friday, December 30, 2011
Orca attacks shark in surf zone as beachgoers watch in awe in New Zealand
Orca attacks shark in surf zone as beachgoers watch in awe
Orca attacks shark in surf zone as beachgoers watch in awe
By: Pete Thomas, GrindTV.com
Orcas, more than sharks, are atop the marine food chain, and that became strikingly apparent this week at Blue Cliffs Beach off New Zealand, where at least one orca mounted a prolonged assaulted on sharks in the surf zone, as witnesses watched in amazement (see video).[Related: record gray whale sightings off the coast of Southern California.]
The video clip shows what appears to be a male orca, or killer whale, fiercely harassing a shark near the small breakers, and a large shark beaching itself, perhaps in an attempt to escape the orca, only to be harassed by a barking dog.
[Big-wave surfer tests life saving wetsuit in massive surf.]
The entire episode lasted about two hours and Clinton Duffy, of the New Zealand Conservation Marine Institute, explained that there probably were several orcas taking part. He added that the killer whales sometimes enter the surf zone to herd fish farther offshore. The sharks, clearly, were in the wrong place at the wrong time.
This is not the first time orcas have been documented attacking sharks. Perhaps the most notable event was in 1997 west of San Francisco, Calif., when an orca killed a 12-foot great white shark in what appeared to have been a one-sided battle. And yes, footage of that encounter went viral. end quote.
My wife who grew up sailing weekends on her Dad's Concordia during the 1960s and 1970s said that she thought the Orcas were probably killing the sharks because there weren't enough fish and seals to go around. So, it might have been, "Oh. You are eating my fish and and seals so I will either eat you or kill you."
Best Values in Private Colleges and Universities
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesmarshallcrotty/2011/10/26/princeton-yale-caltech-rice-named-best-values-in-private-university-education/
"Best Values" In Private University Education
Princeton University
An expanded ranking with a total of 200 private institutions appears on Kiplinger’s Web site (you can also find the full list below). The site also includes slide shows of the top ten schools among both private universities and liberal arts colleges; a tool that lets readers sort colleges according to the criteria that most interest them; plus answers to the most frequently asked questions about the annual rankings.
Each year, Kiplinger’s assesses quality according to measurable standards, including the percentage of students who are admitted out of those who applied, the test scores of incoming freshmen, the ratio of students to faculty members, and the four- and five-year graduation rates.
This year, Kiplinger adjusted its criteria to better reflect the issues affecting families. Now, the rankings give more weight to the four-year graduation rate—a measure of the college’s ability to deliver academic support and of the overall cost to families–and to colleges that keep student debt down. While the criteria have shifted, the focus on value remains the same. Many of the schools on the top 200 list have appeared in Kiplinger’s rankings in previous years, demonstrating that these schools consistently deliver good value.
On the face of it, private colleges are far too pricey for most families, charging an average total amount of about $37,000 a year, according to the College Board. Several of the private schools on this year’s list charge a sticker price of $50,000 or more, and a few charge a sticker price approaching $60,000. But the net price—the amount families actually pay—runs far less, making even the most elite schools affordable for students who qualify for financial aid. For example, at Princeton, the average financial aid reduces the total amount from $50,269 a year to a much more affordable $15,550. Pomona’s total cost runs $54,010, but financial aid brings the annual total to $19,336.
At first glance, the “Best Value” schools seem to correlate with the “Best” schools in lists from U.S. News and other standard college ranking lists. The outliers among private universities in the Kiplinger’s rankings that don’t normally rank this high in traditional measures of academic excellence are Rice (ranked 4th), the University of Richmond (12th), and Emory University (13th). Washington University in St. Louis (ranked 15th), which was skewered in the Washington Monthly ranking of universities that contribute to “the public good” seems to be giving out a lot more financial aid than the Washington Monthly editors lead us to believe.
Selected from a pool of more than 600 private institutions, the schools on Kiplinger’s two lists (see below) were ranked according to academic quality and affordability, with quality accounting for the majority of the total. Criteria included admission and retention rates, student-faculty ratio and graduation rates, as well as data on cost and financial aid. end quote.
Though this is from a couple of months ago I found this information very helpful. It shows how a really good education can still be had at a private university if one can get Federal and State financial aid.
Amazon.com and Apple Stores
You might ask what amazon.com and Apple Stores have in common but if you look more closely you are looking at two of the most successful businesses on Earth. You likely are looking at the future of how we buy almost everything worldwide as well. Apple Stores are now at $4000 per square foot of store space. Tiffany's in New York used to be the most successsul store model with around $2700 per square foot of store space. amazon.com is quickly eclipsing stores like (Borders) gone, (Barnes and Noble) it's hard to say about Barnes and Noble because they have learned form Borders demise. However, what is really strange is that they have not gained market share from the demise of Borders at all. This doesn't bode well for them. Just like when Circuit City collapsed Best Buy was projected to benefit from their demise. That hasn't happened either. So, what we are seeing is two models, one for online new purchases and one for in store purchases. The ultimate store model existing now is Apple Stores. And for me at present, the ultimate online model is amazon.com
So, if you are interested in started any business that sells anything you might want to study how both Apple Store and how amazon do things before you start your business. If you try and start a business using a 1980s business model you likely won't succeed in today's market. So, unless you are going to run your business as a hobby or a church bizarre to give you something to do, likely you will want to study what amazon and Apple Stores do and how that relates to whatever you want to sell either online on in stores or both.
So, if you are interested in started any business that sells anything you might want to study how both Apple Store and how amazon do things before you start your business. If you try and start a business using a 1980s business model you likely won't succeed in today's market. So, unless you are going to run your business as a hobby or a church bizarre to give you something to do, likely you will want to study what amazon and Apple Stores do and how that relates to whatever you want to sell either online on in stores or both.
Exponential World Communication speeds Exponential Change
The primary change that I notice (although the changes are myriad) is the weakening of the Nation state worldwide. And one of the symbolic changes is a point that Ron Paul made in one of his speeches. He said that we shouldn't be executing terrorists without a trial that are Americans like the one we executed by drone in Yemen. I think his point is a valid one and that if circumstances were different than they presently are it should not have been done. And I think one can see that world changes are completely out of the control of any or all nation states at present here on earth. That a progressive moderate Democratic Black President would execute an American by a drone in a foreign country that we are not technically at war with would have been insane in any other era but this one presently. One would have expected this kind of action from only the most hawklike conservative Republican President in the past.
To me, it only demonstrates how the nation state itself is quickly moving towards becoming something like Queen Elizabeth II is and the royal family is in England. In other words to the English it feels good to still have the tradition of having a Queen or a King. But a nation state is sort of like this in reality now. It no longer has the actual meaning that it once did in reality. It is sort of like having a football team that represents your city. It is the pride of your city but in actuality what it is really but a social mechanism sort of like jousting was in England in medieval times?
So, what are we moving towards? I think to understand what we are moving towards lets look at what has been happening the last 30 years or so on the planet. By looking at where we have been we can better see what is coming. How has communication changed in the last 30 years worldwide. If you look, for example, at the fall of the Soviet Union, it was accomplished by the young educated and technically savvy of the Soviet Union and Eastern Block Countries. They used Fax machines, large cellphones and other devices that older more entrenched Soviet Communists did not understand. So, basically, the Soviet Union and the Whole group of countries east of the Iron Curtain collapsed out of communism in the late 1980s and 1990s much like the Arab Spring movement has collapsed old regimes out of touch with the changes in the world through cellphones, smart phones, Facebook, Twitter, etc. And the changes will continue unabated likely for years and years to come because young people realize that alone they should be afraid. But together they will succeed eventually just like in Russia and the Eastern Block nations. And likely these changes will spread further and further through all nations that don't have enough food to eat, clothes on their backs or places to live or enough legal rights not to be raped by their governments in a variety of ways. So, as all these ideas are translated into all languages worldwide through things like Google Translate, you will see amazing changes reverberate around the world more and more with no areas of the world left in the dark ages anymore.
So, will the nation state remain a viable entity worldwide? I think the answer to that is both "Yes" and "No". It will remain a viable entity where people value it and disappear where it no longer has value to those people. Likely, organizations of leaders of Nation States like the United Nations, NATO, The African Union, and other like minded organizations and others that will spring up will have more and more power and that will have to be dealt with and balanced as well. So, as nation states weaken other forces of all kinds both good and bad will try to take over the vaccuum caused by the demise of many nation states. So, the problems the world will deal with now are actually in some ways scarier than living within nation states were. So, the new problems are multi-national corporations not resident in any one country, State Capitalism which causes everything to exist for the nation at the expense of the real needs of the people of that nation, and various organizations that appear to have power but that do not allow people to vote for what they want. In other words, the more entities of power that the people of that area have no social control over the more those people's rights will be disenfranchised and the more raped in every way those people will feel in the end. So, as the nation states weaken worldwide trying to protect the people from other non-votable entities becomes the next problem to solve.
Later still: My wife who has 3 degrees including an MBA says that I didn't set this up well enough on a critical thinking level. She said she understood where I was going but that trying to compare America as a nation state to the present English Parliamentary democracy with a monarchy wasn't working for her. I'm not sure where I want to go with this from here? She also thought that the U.S. executing an American who was a terrorist was very problematic for All Americans, especially those traveling overseas. Though I agree with all her points, I also succeed the best in creating Zen like Simplistic solutions to problems. I succeed as a synthesist of multiple ideas and points of view. However, if I try to approach it in her structured "Critical Thinking" kinds of ways it doesn't really work for me. My motto has always been "KISS" or (Keep it Simple Stupid) which is based upon the concepts of "If it ain't broke don't fix it) and usually the simplest solution in any emergency is the best. Because you are more likely to survive a simple solution than a complicated one when your life is at stake. The probability of your survival decreases with the complexity of any situation.
To me, it only demonstrates how the nation state itself is quickly moving towards becoming something like Queen Elizabeth II is and the royal family is in England. In other words to the English it feels good to still have the tradition of having a Queen or a King. But a nation state is sort of like this in reality now. It no longer has the actual meaning that it once did in reality. It is sort of like having a football team that represents your city. It is the pride of your city but in actuality what it is really but a social mechanism sort of like jousting was in England in medieval times?
So, what are we moving towards? I think to understand what we are moving towards lets look at what has been happening the last 30 years or so on the planet. By looking at where we have been we can better see what is coming. How has communication changed in the last 30 years worldwide. If you look, for example, at the fall of the Soviet Union, it was accomplished by the young educated and technically savvy of the Soviet Union and Eastern Block Countries. They used Fax machines, large cellphones and other devices that older more entrenched Soviet Communists did not understand. So, basically, the Soviet Union and the Whole group of countries east of the Iron Curtain collapsed out of communism in the late 1980s and 1990s much like the Arab Spring movement has collapsed old regimes out of touch with the changes in the world through cellphones, smart phones, Facebook, Twitter, etc. And the changes will continue unabated likely for years and years to come because young people realize that alone they should be afraid. But together they will succeed eventually just like in Russia and the Eastern Block nations. And likely these changes will spread further and further through all nations that don't have enough food to eat, clothes on their backs or places to live or enough legal rights not to be raped by their governments in a variety of ways. So, as all these ideas are translated into all languages worldwide through things like Google Translate, you will see amazing changes reverberate around the world more and more with no areas of the world left in the dark ages anymore.
So, will the nation state remain a viable entity worldwide? I think the answer to that is both "Yes" and "No". It will remain a viable entity where people value it and disappear where it no longer has value to those people. Likely, organizations of leaders of Nation States like the United Nations, NATO, The African Union, and other like minded organizations and others that will spring up will have more and more power and that will have to be dealt with and balanced as well. So, as nation states weaken other forces of all kinds both good and bad will try to take over the vaccuum caused by the demise of many nation states. So, the problems the world will deal with now are actually in some ways scarier than living within nation states were. So, the new problems are multi-national corporations not resident in any one country, State Capitalism which causes everything to exist for the nation at the expense of the real needs of the people of that nation, and various organizations that appear to have power but that do not allow people to vote for what they want. In other words, the more entities of power that the people of that area have no social control over the more those people's rights will be disenfranchised and the more raped in every way those people will feel in the end. So, as the nation states weaken worldwide trying to protect the people from other non-votable entities becomes the next problem to solve.
Later still: My wife who has 3 degrees including an MBA says that I didn't set this up well enough on a critical thinking level. She said she understood where I was going but that trying to compare America as a nation state to the present English Parliamentary democracy with a monarchy wasn't working for her. I'm not sure where I want to go with this from here? She also thought that the U.S. executing an American who was a terrorist was very problematic for All Americans, especially those traveling overseas. Though I agree with all her points, I also succeed the best in creating Zen like Simplistic solutions to problems. I succeed as a synthesist of multiple ideas and points of view. However, if I try to approach it in her structured "Critical Thinking" kinds of ways it doesn't really work for me. My motto has always been "KISS" or (Keep it Simple Stupid) which is based upon the concepts of "If it ain't broke don't fix it) and usually the simplest solution in any emergency is the best. Because you are more likely to survive a simple solution than a complicated one when your life is at stake. The probability of your survival decreases with the complexity of any situation.
No Public School Buses in California starting Monday
In case you are the parent of a public grade school, public junior High School or public High School student or a student of any of these who hasn't heard yet, there likely will not be a public School Bus that will pick up public school children in California starting this Monday or after as public school resumes. The reason for this is that all state money for public school buses has been withdrawn in order to try and balance state budgets. So, if your city or county doesn't have funds for school buses separate from state funds the public school buses in your area will not be running. So, this will either mean walking, riding a bicycle or home schooling or independent study for many children statewide. Because many children can't be left home alone because of their ages, this is an important consideration for working parents to think about at this time so it doesn't ruin the next week or more for them trying to figure how to cope with this huge change regarding public school buses in California.
Los Angeles schools to sue California over bus cut
Calif. school districts decry end to busing fundsBusinessWeek - Dec 16, 2011 Representatives of the California School Boards Association and Association of ... "We'll run the buses every day. We don't have a choice," Johnson said. ... The Wheels on California School Buses No Longer Go Round and Round ForbesAbandon Scale — and the Traditional District Model Dropout Nation School Districts Decry End To Busing Funds KCRA Sacramento all 43 news articles » |  |
Calif. school districts decry end to busing funds
Boston.com - Dec 15, 2011
Representatives of the California School Boards Association and Association of ... "We'll run the buses every day. We don't have a choice," Johnson said. ...
Local: LAUSD Sues State Over Transportation Cuts Bell Gardens SunLos Angeles schools to sue California over bus cut
Thursday, December 29, 2011
Buy American
One of the ways to more quickly rebuild the economy is to buy American goods and services whenever possible. Though your personal economics might make it necessary to buy the least expensive item which might not be from the U.S. by buying American whenever you can you support our economy and support its growing and recovering as quickly as possible from the last 5 years or so. Though many or most of the big box stores might all be gone in the next 5 to 10 years or so, by Buying American Goods and services you will help assure that we will still have an American economy here 10 years from now.
79 Sears and Kmart Stores Close Across the U.S.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/florida-hit-hardest-sears-store-220653249.html
Florida hit hardest by Sears store closings
Florida to lose 11 Sears or Kmart stores; Ohio, Michigan and Georgia will lose 6
RELATED QUOTES
| Symbol | Price | Change |
|---|---|---|
| SHLD | 32.90 | -0.43 |
 | ||
HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. (AP) -- Florida will be hit the hardest by the closing of Sears and Kmart stores, losing 11, according to a preliminary list of 79 planned closures released Thursday.
Ohio, Michigan and Georgia are not far behind with six store closures planned in their states. Tennessee, North Carolina and Minnesota are set to lose four stores each.
A spokeswoman for Sears Holding Corp. said each store employs between 40 and 80 people.
None of the closures announced so far are in Sears' home state of Illinois.
The 125-year-old retailer said on Tuesday it would close up to 120 stores to raise cash.
The projected closings represent only about 3 percent of Sears Holdings' U.S. stores. Sears and Kmart merged in 2005. The company now has about 3,560 stores in the U.S. That's up from 3,500 immediately after the merger.
Here is the list of closures announced so far http://www.searsmedia.com/tools/122711_close.pdf :
— Alabama (3): Sears in Mobile; Kmart in Auburn and Gadsden.
— California (3): Sears in El Monte and San Diego (2).
— Colorado (3): Sears in Longmont; Kmart in Broomfield and Glenwood Springs.
— Florida (11): Sears in Crystal River, Deland, Port St. Lucie, Stuart, West Palm Beach; Kmart in Callaway, Fernandina Beach, New Smyrna Beach, Orange City, Pompano Beach and St. Augustine.
— Georgia (6): Sears in Macon; Kmart in Atlanta, Buford, Columbus, Douglasville and Jonesboro.
— Idaho (1): Sears in Lewiston.
— Indiana (3): Sears in Anderson; Kmart in Indianapolis and St. John.
— Iowa (2): Kmart in Cedar Rapids and Davenport.
— Kansas (1): Sears in Lawrence.
— Kentucky (3): Sears in Middleboro; Kmart in Hazard and Winchester.
— Maryland (1): Sears in Ellicott City.
— Michigan (6): Sears in Adrian, Brighton, Chesterfield Township, Harper Woods, Monroe and Washington Township.
— Minnesota (4): Kmart in Duluth, New Hope, White Bear Lake and Willmar.
— Mississippi (3): Sears in Columbus, Jackson and McComb.
— Missouri (2): Sears in Lee's Summit and St. Louis.
— New Hampshire (2): Sears in Keene and Nashua.
— North Carolina (4): Sears in High Point, Morehead City, Rocky Mount and Statesville.
— Ohio (6): Kmart in Chagrin Falls, Columbus, Medina, Springfield and Toledo (2).
— Oregon (1): Sears in Roseburg.
— Pennsylvania (2): Sears in Pottstown and Upper Darby.
— South Carolina (1): Sears in Sumter.
— Tennessee (4): Sears in Antioch, Cleveland, Oak Ridge; Kmart in Hendersonville.
— Virginia (3): Sears in Norfolk; Kmart in Midlothian and Richmond.
— Washington (2): Sears in Walla Walla; Kmart in Lacey.
— Wisconsin (2): Sears in West Baraboo; Kmart in Rice Lake. end quote.
It's hard to imagine that 79 Sears or Kmart Stores are closing all at once in the U.S. For example, I cannot remember a time without Sears stores and I was born in 1948. And when I was little Sears Catalogs came in the mail sort of like the size of the largest telephone books regularly. Times have changed now that Companies like Amazon.com , Ebay and many others are now and almost anything can be bought online. If you add to that the fact that from companies like amazon.com if you purchase over a certain amount from then in any year all your shipping is free and this often beats the price you can get the same thing for in any physical store you can go to. As more and more people realize this how can retail stores compete with that? And if you add to that often you aren't paying sales tax with online sales either why would people buy items where they have to pay sales tax as well?
Egypt raids offices of U.S. backed Democracy activist Non-profits
Egypt Raids Offices of Nonprofits, 3 Backed by U.S.
By raiding offices of Democracy activists the military government is demonstrating that it is actually against democracy and instead only interested in maintaining the status quo "whatever that is". However, there is also the intervention of other countries in the affairs of Egypt to contend with. But, in the end democracy and whatever actually keeps Egyptians alive and healthy is what Egyptians and the world want to see out the other end of all this. Hopefully, what is best will occur so it doesn't just wind up looking like Syria does now with a never ending civil war going on.
Shortage of Organic Milk in Southeast U.S.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/30/business/rising-production-costs-cause-organic-milk-shortage.html?_r=1&hp
By WILLIAM NEUMAN
Published: December 29, 2011
There is a shortage of organic milk across the country, and it has become so bad in areas like the Southeast that Publix stores from Florida to Tennessee have put up signs in dairy cases anticipating the shopper’s frustrated refrain: “Where’s my organic milk?”
Related
Times Topic: Milk
Evan Sung for The New York Times
Even though organic milk costs more than conventional milk, its sales are growing.
Readers’ Comments
Share your thoughts.
The main reason for the shortage is that the cost of organic grain and hay to feed cows has gone up sharply while the price that farmers receive for their milk has not. That means that farmers feed their cows less, resulting in lower milk production. At the same time, fewer farmers have been converting from conventional dairying to organic.
Through it all, the demand for organic milk has been growing.
“It’s a double whammy to have higher sales than you expect and less milk,” said George L. Siemon, chief executive of Cropp, the farmers co-op that produces Organic Valley milk and much of the milk sold as supermarket store brands. “We’re sweating bullets over it.”
The shortages have been most noticeable on the East Coast but most areas of the country have had short supplies at some point in recent months. Target says that it has had difficulty keeping organic milk on shelves nationwide. Wegmans, a chain with 79 stores from Massachusetts to Virginia, said it has had shortages of milk from Horizon, a major national brand. end quote.
Organic Milk is very important to those who can afford it. If you can afford to pay for organic milk it can help kids from contracting asthma and various allergies and will keep kids healthier in general. In fact, I can basically guarantee that buying organic milk for your kids is going to lessen your medical bills for most children and allow them to grow up healthier. It might also be said that the money you save on medical bills will likely offset what you pay for your kids to drink organic milk. For most kids this last statement is absolutely true.
Ben Breedlove's last video
Ben Breedlove's last Video Blog: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jeD8v8l56xg
This young man's experiences in some ways mirror my own when I was young, even though my near death experiences mostly were at age 2 from Whooping cough and from ages 10 through 15 from Blunt Trauma Childhood epilepsy. So, I understood his experience with God and angels during his near death experiences at age 4 and this year before he died on Christmas day 2011. I think it is important to honor people who are brave enough to share their experiences with heaven before they permanently pass out of this world. It gives others who haven't had this kind of experience hope.
This young man's experiences in some ways mirror my own when I was young, even though my near death experiences mostly were at age 2 from Whooping cough and from ages 10 through 15 from Blunt Trauma Childhood epilepsy. So, I understood his experience with God and angels during his near death experiences at age 4 and this year before he died on Christmas day 2011. I think it is important to honor people who are brave enough to share their experiences with heaven before they permanently pass out of this world. It gives others who haven't had this kind of experience hope.
I don't want to Blog on Facebook
The first reason I don't want to blog on Facebook is that anything you (or your children) put on Facebook, Facebook reserves the right to own (into eternity). So, it is very probably that the stupidest thing that you ever wrote at Facebook.com (and then deleted) will show up some day to haunt you, your children, your grandchildren or your great grandchildren.(Because Facebook doesn't recognize your right to delete anything). The second reason I don't want to blog on Facebook is that I like relative anonymity that I can get here at my present blog site. By being only intutivefred888 unless I write that I live on the California coast which I often do I have pretty much anonymity to say whatever I wish(within reason) without worrying about causing any kind of harm to myself or my family in the short or long term. And since anyone can see that my motives are to mentor humanity into a better life in any way that I can as an elder (63 year old) of the human race, most people see that my motives here at this site are pure.
So, even though I might be able to reach more people that I know if I put this on Facebook, then I would have to deal with all the flack of relatives and friends who don't share my views on a variety of issues. So, instead anyone around the world (blogger.com is Google after all) when I go to my stats page I notice that even though my primary audience is in the U.S. , Alaska and Hawaii that I also have an audience throughout Europe, Canada, Russia, India and even places like Brazil. So, wherever there are a lot of people who can read English I have an audience.
So, even though I might be able to reach more people that I know if I put this on Facebook, then I would have to deal with all the flack of relatives and friends who don't share my views on a variety of issues. So, instead anyone around the world (blogger.com is Google after all) when I go to my stats page I notice that even though my primary audience is in the U.S. , Alaska and Hawaii that I also have an audience throughout Europe, Canada, Russia, India and even places like Brazil. So, wherever there are a lot of people who can read English I have an audience.
Apple Stores at $4000 per square foot
Apple Takes a Bite Out of Retail as Stores Turn 10
Today, with its 300 stores across the country, and more than $9 billion in retail sales last year, Apple is arguably the most successful retailer on the planet based on sales per square foot.
According to a recent MacWorld article: Jeweler Tiffany & Company's $2,700 per square foot used to be considered the gold standard, but Apple has surpassed Tiffany, generating more than $4,000 in sales per square foot. By comparison, Best Buy's sales per square foot is about $1,000, and Walmart's is about $400. end quote.
Best Buy, for example was thought to get market share from the collapse of Circuit City but that didn't happen. Also, Barnes and Noble was supposed to get market share from the collapse of Borders but that hasn't happened either. It is possible that the Apple Store model is a model of the future that every company that stays in business with store fronts must look at if they want to stay in business ongoing.
Another somewhat related blog article that I wrote is: Is Amazon.com taking over the retail world?
Today, with its 300 stores across the country, and more than $9 billion in retail sales last year, Apple is arguably the most successful retailer on the planet based on sales per square foot.
According to a recent MacWorld article: Jeweler Tiffany & Company's $2,700 per square foot used to be considered the gold standard, but Apple has surpassed Tiffany, generating more than $4,000 in sales per square foot. By comparison, Best Buy's sales per square foot is about $1,000, and Walmart's is about $400. end quote.
Best Buy, for example was thought to get market share from the collapse of Circuit City but that didn't happen. Also, Barnes and Noble was supposed to get market share from the collapse of Borders but that hasn't happened either. It is possible that the Apple Store model is a model of the future that every company that stays in business with store fronts must look at if they want to stay in business ongoing.
Another somewhat related blog article that I wrote is: Is Amazon.com taking over the retail world?
U.S. under Economic Attack
begin quote from above news article:
But make no mistake, the U.S. is "under attack" from China, according to John Brown, VP at Fusion Analytics. The attack is not coming in the form of bombs and bullets — or even poison toothpaste — but via the financial markets.
"Let's not get distracted here, we should simply focus on the accounting chicanery and falsified filings with which Chinese companies are daily relieving US investors of their capital," Brown writes at his blog The Reformed Broker. "Working with American law firms and shameless stock promoters, these companies have found a financial engineering solution that lets them steal on our shores."
Specifically, Brown cites the trend of Chinese companies going public via so-called reverse mergers, whereby a publicly traded American-based shell company, often designed for this very purpose, issues a larger number of shares to purchase a Chinese company. The Chinese company then becomes the majority shareholder and essentially assumes the public listing of its American parent.
"It's a backdoor IPO," Brown says. "Let's be realistic about what this is all about: This is about gaining a foothold on U.S. exchanges, doing a secondary, raising a boatload of money, insiders sell, and then all of a sudden 'oops' we may have misstated earnings." end quote.
So, what is being said here is that the U.S. is now a victim of multiple "Enron" and "MF Global" misstatements about actual net worth of companies. In this way U.S. investors and bilked out of their money in some ways Bernie Madoff style. And because we are a fairly "Open" society we are vulnerable to such takeovers for now. So, until some new kind of legislation is developed and passed and enforced this kind of stealing of U.S. investors finances will continue unabated.
The following quote is an example of such companies:
The past two months have brought a spate of de-listings and trading halts for these companies -- at least 24 according to the SEC. Forbes' Walter Pavlo recently detailed a smattering of them:
But make no mistake, the U.S. is "under attack" from China, according to John Brown, VP at Fusion Analytics. The attack is not coming in the form of bombs and bullets — or even poison toothpaste — but via the financial markets.
"Let's not get distracted here, we should simply focus on the accounting chicanery and falsified filings with which Chinese companies are daily relieving US investors of their capital," Brown writes at his blog The Reformed Broker. "Working with American law firms and shameless stock promoters, these companies have found a financial engineering solution that lets them steal on our shores."
Specifically, Brown cites the trend of Chinese companies going public via so-called reverse mergers, whereby a publicly traded American-based shell company, often designed for this very purpose, issues a larger number of shares to purchase a Chinese company. The Chinese company then becomes the majority shareholder and essentially assumes the public listing of its American parent.
"It's a backdoor IPO," Brown says. "Let's be realistic about what this is all about: This is about gaining a foothold on U.S. exchanges, doing a secondary, raising a boatload of money, insiders sell, and then all of a sudden 'oops' we may have misstated earnings." end quote.
So, what is being said here is that the U.S. is now a victim of multiple "Enron" and "MF Global" misstatements about actual net worth of companies. In this way U.S. investors and bilked out of their money in some ways Bernie Madoff style. And because we are a fairly "Open" society we are vulnerable to such takeovers for now. So, until some new kind of legislation is developed and passed and enforced this kind of stealing of U.S. investors finances will continue unabated.
The following quote is an example of such companies:
The past two months have brought a spate of de-listings and trading halts for these companies -- at least 24 according to the SEC. Forbes' Walter Pavlo recently detailed a smattering of them:
- China Electric Motor — Shareholders lawsuit filed claiming underwriters violated federal securities laws by issuing materially false and misleading information.
- China Natural Gas — Class action lawsuit alleges directors and officers issued materially false and misleading statements. CFO of company resigned in late 2010.
- Duoyuan Printing — SEC investigating company for fraud, NYSE delisted April 4, 2011
- China MediaExpress Holdings, Inc. — Deloitte quit as auditor because "no longer able to rely on the representations of management". CFO resigned. Stock trading halted March 11
- China Agritech — Shareholder lawsuit pending. Dismissed its auditor Ernst & Young.
- China Sky One Medical — Under investigation by SEC.
- Orient Paper, Inc. — Reauditing previous financials due to license issues with previous auditor (Davis Accounting Group)
Bugs may now be resistant to genetically modified corn
begin quote from above article:
One of the nation's most widely planted crops — a genetically engineered corn plant that makes its own insecticide — may be losing its effectiveness because a major pest appears to be developing resistance more quickly than scientists expected.
The U.S. food supply is not in any immediate danger because the problem remains isolated. But scientists fear potentially risky farming practices could be blunting the hybrid's sophisticated weaponry.
When it was introduced in 2003, so-called Bt corn seemed like the answer to farmers' dreams: It would allow growers to bring in bountiful harvests using fewer chemicals because the corn naturally produces a toxin that poisons western corn rootworms. The hybrid was such a swift success that it and similar varieties now account for 65 percent of all U.S. corn acres — grain that ends up in thousands of everyday foods such as cereal, sweeteners and cooking oil.
But over the last few summers, rootworms have feasted on the roots of Bt corn in parts of four Midwestern states, suggesting that some of the insects are becoming resistant to the crop's pest-fighting powers. end quote:
2nd quote same source:
Seed maker Monsanto Co. created the Bt strain by splicing a gene from a common soil organism called Bacillus thuringiensis into the plant. The natural insecticide it makes is considered harmless to people and livestock.
Scientists always expected rootworms to develop some resistance to the toxin produced by that gene. But the worrisome signs of possible resistance have emerged sooner than many expected. end quote.
There are several problems here for those of you unaware of them. First, the whole point of Monsanto genetically modifying corn by introducing insecticide into the germ of the genetics of the corn seed means that you and I are eating insecticide that "CANNOT" be washed off but has to be ingested. Though Bugs and organisms can adapt very quickly to such modifications, we as humans adapt very slowly. As more and more people die from genetic manipulations worldwide, whole groups of people with as yet undiagnosed allergies to new genetically manipulated grains will be permanently eliminated from human genetic stocks. And, since Monsanto's main purpose is to make farmers buy new corn seed from them every year instead of gathering their own seed stocks from their own growing corn as has ALWAYS been done before since farmers first started farming thousands of years ago, I never have thought genetically modified seeds whether they be corn, soybeans, wheat, rice or whatever was a good idea unless you are interested in eventually extincting the human race or so genetically debilitating it that it might just die out from the lack of genetic diversity. At this point I am not totally convinced that you can even call genetically modified grains as food. Because their food value and usefulness to a human or animal body is questionable.
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
Bombings in Syria and Iraq raise spectre of Sunni-Shia war
Gwynne Dyer: Bombings in Syria and Iraq raise spectre of Sunni-Shia war
As the bombings and conflicts in Syria and Iraq appear to increase it becomes problematic for the whole Muslim world because of Sunni (and al Qaeda) versus Shia. Iran is mostly Shia as well as Iraq. And now since Saddam Hussein is gone there is Shia rule for the first time in a very long time in Iraq. But in Syria it is majority Sunni but is ruled by Shia Alamites. So you have the majority of Iraqis now ruled by the majority but in Syria it is the opposite. Since Iran helps Shias in both Syria and Iraq they are greatly influencing what is happening on both those countries much to the anger and rage of Sunnis everywhere. However, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Egypt are Sunni mostly. So, this problem of a Sunni Shia war is a real one. The rest of the world is holding its breath because with such a war going on there is a good likelihood of a whole lot less oil flowing out of the middle east while a war like this went on there. Though it is true that no one can know for sure how this is all going to go, the whole world is holding its breath.
Monday, December 26, 2011
Extreme Spiritual Adaptation
This is sort of a part 2 to Spiritual Adaptation above.
And then there is what I call "Survival spiritual Adaptation". This is my story.
After being raised in what I now would call a cult but then considered my religion I was excommunicated from this religion at age 21 because I dared to ask questions. In any religion there are certain questions that cannot be asked without excommunication from that religion. However, I didn't realize at age 21 yet that there aren't ANY religions that are not hypocritical in philosophy and practice on earth. There might be people's individual and personal religions that they make in personal covenants with God but as far as organized religions go at some level or another they are all hypocritical sooner or later. The reason for this is that all religions have to scare you into financially supporting their "Priest or minister class" and the building and maintenance of their churches and church grounds etc. This inevitably creates hypocrisy. So, religions per say don't have to create hypocrisy but whenever you bring money into that religion it becomes hypocritical. So, because of this all religions that use money are by this very reasoning "hypocritical". So then, I think it useful to say there are no monied religions that aren't lies on multiple levels.
So, to have a genuine and sincere covenant with God it must only be between you and God directly. Anything else at some point becomes hypocritical and eventually a blasphemy of your relationship with God. This is what I think most people in religions don't realize. And this is where all the abuses both internally and externally of people's lives in relation to their religions come into being.
So, even though religions do a whole lot of good in socially motivating people to be much more compassionate and less violent as people, it also causes serious breaks of people with their direct relationships with God whenever money (through priest and ministers) comes between the person and their relationship with God and life.
This is one of the reasons why I advocate a personal relationship with God first, and then if you still want to have the social aspect of a church experience that it becomes a secondary experience. In this way with your eyes wide open you see religion and church for what it is and don't confuse it with your personal experience with God.
This extreme personal spiritual adaptation is necessary for clarity in your life. Without this distinction you become like a child for life within your church and never become a self actuating and self disciplined adult in your life. For some people remaining an eternal child not responsible for their own actions might be desirable. However, for me, I prefer to think for myself and to communicate with God directly all the time 24 hours a day.
And then there is what I call "Survival spiritual Adaptation". This is my story.
After being raised in what I now would call a cult but then considered my religion I was excommunicated from this religion at age 21 because I dared to ask questions. In any religion there are certain questions that cannot be asked without excommunication from that religion. However, I didn't realize at age 21 yet that there aren't ANY religions that are not hypocritical in philosophy and practice on earth. There might be people's individual and personal religions that they make in personal covenants with God but as far as organized religions go at some level or another they are all hypocritical sooner or later. The reason for this is that all religions have to scare you into financially supporting their "Priest or minister class" and the building and maintenance of their churches and church grounds etc. This inevitably creates hypocrisy. So, religions per say don't have to create hypocrisy but whenever you bring money into that religion it becomes hypocritical. So, because of this all religions that use money are by this very reasoning "hypocritical". So then, I think it useful to say there are no monied religions that aren't lies on multiple levels.
So, to have a genuine and sincere covenant with God it must only be between you and God directly. Anything else at some point becomes hypocritical and eventually a blasphemy of your relationship with God. This is what I think most people in religions don't realize. And this is where all the abuses both internally and externally of people's lives in relation to their religions come into being.
So, even though religions do a whole lot of good in socially motivating people to be much more compassionate and less violent as people, it also causes serious breaks of people with their direct relationships with God whenever money (through priest and ministers) comes between the person and their relationship with God and life.
This is one of the reasons why I advocate a personal relationship with God first, and then if you still want to have the social aspect of a church experience that it becomes a secondary experience. In this way with your eyes wide open you see religion and church for what it is and don't confuse it with your personal experience with God.
This extreme personal spiritual adaptation is necessary for clarity in your life. Without this distinction you become like a child for life within your church and never become a self actuating and self disciplined adult in your life. For some people remaining an eternal child not responsible for their own actions might be desirable. However, for me, I prefer to think for myself and to communicate with God directly all the time 24 hours a day.
China tests 310 mph train
I traveled on the French TGV high speed train at speeds between 100 and 200 mph between Paris and Nice and the Cote D'Azure (French Riviera) with my family in October 2010. So, imagining traveling at 310 mph takes it up another notch. Even traveling to Nice it felt to me sort of like taking off in a passenger jet and just staying on the runway at full takeoff speed and staying there for several hours. The hardest thing to get used to is that you have to look very far away out of the window so you don't get vertigo from the speeds. You have to look about a block away or more so it doesn't feel weird when you look out the window at those speeds because anything closer than one to three blocks away is only a blur while traveling at those speeds. The TGV sounds a lot like the whine of a Prius in electric mode only much louder. But what is interesting is that there are no railroad wheel or track sounds because there aren't any wheels since you are mag-levitated by electricity above the tracks so you don't actually touch the tracks with mag-lev at least vertically.
China tests 500 km/h super high-speed train
begin quote from above:
China tests 500 km/h super high-speed train
begin quote from above:
BEIJING (Reuters) - China launched a super-rapid test train over the weekend which is capable of travelling 500 kilometers per hour, state media said on Monday, as the country moves ahead with its railway ambitions despite serious problems on its high-speed network.
The train, made by a subsidiary of CSR Corp Ltd, China's largest train maker, is designed to resemble an ancient Chinese sword, the official Xinhua news agency reported.
It "will provide useful reference for current high-speed railway operations," it quoted train expert Shen Zhiyun as saying.
But future Chinese trains will not necessarily run at such high speeds, CSR chairman Zhao Xiaogang told the Beijing Morning News.
"We aims to ensure the safety of trains operation," he said.
China's railway industry has had a tough year, highlighted by a collision between two high-speed trains in July which killed at least 40 people. Construction of new high-speed trains in China has since been a near halt.
In February, the railways minister, Liu Zhijun, a key figure behind the boom in the sector, was dismissed over corruption charges that have not yet been tried in court.
(Reporting by Sabrina Mao and Ben Blanchard; Editing by Yoko Nishikawa)
The train, made by a subsidiary of CSR Corp Ltd, China's largest train maker, is designed to resemble an ancient Chinese sword, the official Xinhua news agency reported.
It "will provide useful reference for current high-speed railway operations," it quoted train expert Shen Zhiyun as saying.
But future Chinese trains will not necessarily run at such high speeds, CSR chairman Zhao Xiaogang told the Beijing Morning News.
"We aims to ensure the safety of trains operation," he said.
China's railway industry has had a tough year, highlighted by a collision between two high-speed trains in July which killed at least 40 people. Construction of new high-speed trains in China has since been a near halt.
In February, the railways minister, Liu Zhijun, a key figure behind the boom in the sector, was dismissed over corruption charges that have not yet been tried in court.
(Reporting by Sabrina Mao and Ben Blanchard; Editing by Yoko Nishikawa)
Flying Wild Alaska
I was watching a TV episode of "Flying Wild Alaska" and the pilot of what looked to be a Cessna 172 was talking about taking off in a 30 mph cross wind. There are many pilots in the lower 48 states that wouldn't normally consider doing this because of the danger of crashing on takeoff. But, I suppose it is sort of realizing how much flying in a small plane is in some ways sort of like sailing a boat on the ocean. As soon as the pilot lifted off the ground he "Crabbed" into the wind immediately. by facing into the wind it then becomes your headwind and gives you lift in an even way (hopefully) across both your wings so if it isn't gusting (variable) too much you then have an even increased lift over both your wings. This will stabilize the plane even at very slow speeds over the ground because the wind is adding 30 mph of air to your lift over and under your wings. So, even though you are "Crabbed into the wind in this way you still will tend to follow the runway until you get high enough to make sure your takeoff has been successful enough to continue flying to wherever you want to go.
The first time I had to take off in a 20 mph cross wind I was about 20 years old in 1968. And though at age 8 I had been allowed to pilot (after takeoff) a Piper tri-pacer over Santa Fe, New Mexico for about an hour, and then to fly from Palm Springs to Los Angeles in a 1949 Stinson at age 12 while crabbing into the wind to prevent being blown into San Gorgonio Mountain to the North of us at over 11,000 feet, and even though I had flown a glider after the tow plane had released us when I was 18, I hadn't taken off a plane before. And that the instructor who was a fighter pilot out of War II had nerves of steel from all that didn't really help me in the way that I wanted during that flight.
So, as a 20 year old in 1968 I didn't know about taking off crabbing into the wind like in the Flying Wild Alaska episode, so I tried to take off in a 20 mph cross wind like everything was normal. So, what happened to me was after I almost buried one wing into the runway a couple of times because of the uneven cross wind wing effects on takeoff, the instructor corrected us to flying into the crosswind after we left the ground and gave the control back to me which looked a lot like the Flying Wild Alaska episode on TV. So, at this point I was a little unnerved from almost burying the wing and the pilot almost having let me to that to the point where I sort of wondered, "Who is this guy I'm flying with anyway?" I realized soon that he was another adrenaline junky who loved danger. And even though in those days at age 20 I was sort of there too, maybe the instructor was more there than I was "at least in regard to flying" and was going to try to scare me. He didn't fully succeed until he started to demonstrate stalling which is to fly up at such an angle of attack with the wings that you literally fall out of the sky from no lift under the wings. Then you fall backwards and down and hopefully the nose falls so you can get forward momentum and lift under the wings once again. A "normal Stall" is falling about 1000 feet before recovering. If you continue without recovering beyond 1000 feet it can be very difficult or jarring in many ways to recover from a stall beyond falling 2000 feet for example. And it greatly depends upon the airplane and how much weight you are carrying whether the wings will stay on or not if you fall more than 3000 feet in a stall. However, this is a completely different story if you are in a wing reinforced stunt plane that is designed to do this for shows.
Note: Crabbing into the wind means that instead of heading in the direction that you want to go with the plane, you are instead directly or somewhat directly heading the plane into the wind which causes the plane to go in the direction you actually want to go but looks funny because you are then sort of flying sideways. This prevents you from being blown off course at altitude by the winds and during takeoff or landing can be very scary as you leave the ground or land because the lift is different on each of your wings at takeoff or landing points because of the cross wind (wind going sideways across the airport).
2nd note: The problem with the instructor doing stalls to impress me with what I had to learn before I could be a pilot was that I was then ready to throw up from falling out of the sky in stalls several times and being pretty scared at that point. So, I told him that I didn't want to throw up in the plane so we landed so I could throw up on the runway. This didn't take away my love for flying but it did give me new respect for all pilots which was likely what the ex-world war II fighter ace wanted to do in the first place.
The first time I had to take off in a 20 mph cross wind I was about 20 years old in 1968. And though at age 8 I had been allowed to pilot (after takeoff) a Piper tri-pacer over Santa Fe, New Mexico for about an hour, and then to fly from Palm Springs to Los Angeles in a 1949 Stinson at age 12 while crabbing into the wind to prevent being blown into San Gorgonio Mountain to the North of us at over 11,000 feet, and even though I had flown a glider after the tow plane had released us when I was 18, I hadn't taken off a plane before. And that the instructor who was a fighter pilot out of War II had nerves of steel from all that didn't really help me in the way that I wanted during that flight.
So, as a 20 year old in 1968 I didn't know about taking off crabbing into the wind like in the Flying Wild Alaska episode, so I tried to take off in a 20 mph cross wind like everything was normal. So, what happened to me was after I almost buried one wing into the runway a couple of times because of the uneven cross wind wing effects on takeoff, the instructor corrected us to flying into the crosswind after we left the ground and gave the control back to me which looked a lot like the Flying Wild Alaska episode on TV. So, at this point I was a little unnerved from almost burying the wing and the pilot almost having let me to that to the point where I sort of wondered, "Who is this guy I'm flying with anyway?" I realized soon that he was another adrenaline junky who loved danger. And even though in those days at age 20 I was sort of there too, maybe the instructor was more there than I was "at least in regard to flying" and was going to try to scare me. He didn't fully succeed until he started to demonstrate stalling which is to fly up at such an angle of attack with the wings that you literally fall out of the sky from no lift under the wings. Then you fall backwards and down and hopefully the nose falls so you can get forward momentum and lift under the wings once again. A "normal Stall" is falling about 1000 feet before recovering. If you continue without recovering beyond 1000 feet it can be very difficult or jarring in many ways to recover from a stall beyond falling 2000 feet for example. And it greatly depends upon the airplane and how much weight you are carrying whether the wings will stay on or not if you fall more than 3000 feet in a stall. However, this is a completely different story if you are in a wing reinforced stunt plane that is designed to do this for shows.
Note: Crabbing into the wind means that instead of heading in the direction that you want to go with the plane, you are instead directly or somewhat directly heading the plane into the wind which causes the plane to go in the direction you actually want to go but looks funny because you are then sort of flying sideways. This prevents you from being blown off course at altitude by the winds and during takeoff or landing can be very scary as you leave the ground or land because the lift is different on each of your wings at takeoff or landing points because of the cross wind (wind going sideways across the airport).
2nd note: The problem with the instructor doing stalls to impress me with what I had to learn before I could be a pilot was that I was then ready to throw up from falling out of the sky in stalls several times and being pretty scared at that point. So, I told him that I didn't want to throw up in the plane so we landed so I could throw up on the runway. This didn't take away my love for flying but it did give me new respect for all pilots which was likely what the ex-world war II fighter ace wanted to do in the first place.
Sunday, December 25, 2011
Spiritual Adaptation
Depending upon what our experience is growing up we all deal with spiritual Adaptation to try to get along with our parents and siblings as young children. Then as teenagers and young adults often what we believe can go through many different permutations. For example, many of my beliefs at 18 were completely the opposite by the time I was 21 or 22. But oddly enough, my more traditional side was back more in control regarding my beliefs by the time I was 25 to 30 years of age. So, in some ways I had done a completely 360 degrees in some of my beliefs during this time. However, when I was 18 it was 1966 and when I was 30 it was 1978 which was a time of extreme change socially, spiritually, and in regard to religion both in the U.S. and throughout the western world of Secular Christianity which is how I would refer to both the U.S. and European cultures in that era.
Every generation has to deal with its own form of spiritual adaptation because it goes to the core of what we actually believe is really going on way beyond any religion, politics or even science. For some people Science or atheism or even nature is their spiritual core and religion. So there are as many core beliefs as there are people in reality. And most people sort of pretend to be like everyone else sort of because it is safer. So, what I'm saying is that if someone's beliefs are too different than the norm in whatever country they live in, then likely they don't feel safe enough to tell anyone but people they trust with their lives (and sometimes not even then) about their core beliefs about themselves, everyone else and the whole universe. And then there are people who avoid dealing with what they believe all their lives for one reason or another and just pretend life is sort of like watching TV. To each his own I always say.
So, it is important not to assume everyone believes like you do even if they attend your church and you have known them since you were born. People go to church often more for a social life than for any other reason. If you think they believe everything that the minister actually says you might be mistaken. When I grew up in my church I like you believed everyone believed like me. However, I was wrong. I later learned that about 75% of the people came to church to meet people and associate with others and because their parents were in the religion and I have since found out that this is true about most religions. That is why in some ways it can be downright dangerous to trust the people in your own church too much. People join all sorts of different groups for many different reasons that you might not be able to ferret out. In some ways you likely will hear a lot more truth from people at a bar than at your church social because there is about 75% less social pressure to think in a regimental way in a bar than in a church. I'm not advocating going to a bar and I don't even drink usually because my family on my Dad's side are allergic to alcohol. But I'm just trying to make a point that trusting people in your own church too much might be the same mistake as if you went to a bar and trusted someone after drinking too much. In the bar they are drunk on alcohol but in the church many are drunk on religion. In neither situation are you dealing with fully rational people at least on the surface. Think about what I'm trying to say to you to help you stay aware and safe in your lives.
Every generation has to deal with its own form of spiritual adaptation because it goes to the core of what we actually believe is really going on way beyond any religion, politics or even science. For some people Science or atheism or even nature is their spiritual core and religion. So there are as many core beliefs as there are people in reality. And most people sort of pretend to be like everyone else sort of because it is safer. So, what I'm saying is that if someone's beliefs are too different than the norm in whatever country they live in, then likely they don't feel safe enough to tell anyone but people they trust with their lives (and sometimes not even then) about their core beliefs about themselves, everyone else and the whole universe. And then there are people who avoid dealing with what they believe all their lives for one reason or another and just pretend life is sort of like watching TV. To each his own I always say.
So, it is important not to assume everyone believes like you do even if they attend your church and you have known them since you were born. People go to church often more for a social life than for any other reason. If you think they believe everything that the minister actually says you might be mistaken. When I grew up in my church I like you believed everyone believed like me. However, I was wrong. I later learned that about 75% of the people came to church to meet people and associate with others and because their parents were in the religion and I have since found out that this is true about most religions. That is why in some ways it can be downright dangerous to trust the people in your own church too much. People join all sorts of different groups for many different reasons that you might not be able to ferret out. In some ways you likely will hear a lot more truth from people at a bar than at your church social because there is about 75% less social pressure to think in a regimental way in a bar than in a church. I'm not advocating going to a bar and I don't even drink usually because my family on my Dad's side are allergic to alcohol. But I'm just trying to make a point that trusting people in your own church too much might be the same mistake as if you went to a bar and trusted someone after drinking too much. In the bar they are drunk on alcohol but in the church many are drunk on religion. In neither situation are you dealing with fully rational people at least on the surface. Think about what I'm trying to say to you to help you stay aware and safe in your lives.
Science Says not about the strongest or weakest
Charles Darwin postulated during the 1800s that it was all primarily about "Survival of the fittest" regarding all creatures on earth including humans. However, even though this is a part of it as science has looked more deeply into this question it is actually more about what creatures (including humans) are the best at adaptation and the capacity to cope with change of all kinds.
For example, many times during the life of almost any human at certain points life becomes unbearable for one reason or another. And in extreme cases people sometimes consider taking their own lives in one way or another because they might not see any way forward for themselves at that point. However, if one is patient and/or intelligent or even angry enough in a non-violent way, often one can move or change their circumstances or adapt to any situation they might encounter either accidentally or on purpose. And often through a combination of change by accident or on purpose the end result can be pleasing in the moment or even useful long term for the ongoing survival of oneself, and one's family and friends.
For example, many times during the life of almost any human at certain points life becomes unbearable for one reason or another. And in extreme cases people sometimes consider taking their own lives in one way or another because they might not see any way forward for themselves at that point. However, if one is patient and/or intelligent or even angry enough in a non-violent way, often one can move or change their circumstances or adapt to any situation they might encounter either accidentally or on purpose. And often through a combination of change by accident or on purpose the end result can be pleasing in the moment or even useful long term for the ongoing survival of oneself, and one's family and friends.
101 Gadgets that Changed our World
I was watching something I DVRed called the title of this blog at the History Channel that also can be reached at history.com
Here are the top 5 gadgets that changed our world. I also think it is worthwhile to watch the program online if you can to see the rest of the gadgets as well.
5 Personal Computer
4 hypodermic syringe
3 television
2 radio
1 smart phone
If you will notice the smart phone contains aspects of three of the others (personal computer, television, and radio).
The following is probably the most mind boggling fact that my son who has a technical background building computers and having a Bachelor of Science in Nursing picked up at the end of the program:
All money made on movies (including in the theaters) and video games of all sorts is only 1/2 of what has already been made selling Applications (APPS) to smartphone users. This is amazing but true!
this pie chart is from wikipedia under the heading "Smartphone"
begin quote from:
I was unable (within 10 minutes of research online) to figure out how many cellphones are in the U.S. so I could tell you how many half of those would be. However, I believe before Christmas I heard that 150 million people in at the very least Europe, Canada and the U.S. had smart phones. However, that is just something that stuck in my head and I have no present source that I can give you to corroborate this information.
Here are the top 5 gadgets that changed our world. I also think it is worthwhile to watch the program online if you can to see the rest of the gadgets as well.
5 Personal Computer
4 hypodermic syringe
3 television
2 radio
1 smart phone
If you will notice the smart phone contains aspects of three of the others (personal computer, television, and radio).
The following is probably the most mind boggling fact that my son who has a technical background building computers and having a Bachelor of Science in Nursing picked up at the end of the program:
All money made on movies (including in the theaters) and video games of all sorts is only 1/2 of what has already been made selling Applications (APPS) to smartphone users. This is amazing but true!
this pie chart is from wikipedia under the heading "Smartphone"
begin quote from:
1 in 2 Americans Will Have a Smartphone by Christmas 2011
If you’re not ready to bid farewell to the feature phone just yet, you might want to start preparing your goodbyes. Nielsen today estimates that by the end of 2011, smartphones will overtake feature phones in the U.S.. One in two Americans will have a smartphone by Christmas of that year, Nielsen forecasts, compared to just one in 10 in the summer of 2008. I blame the iPhone, but there are plenty of culprits to point out — superphones packed with with more features than you can fit in a stocking over the fireplace.I was unable (within 10 minutes of research online) to figure out how many cellphones are in the U.S. so I could tell you how many half of those would be. However, I believe before Christmas I heard that 150 million people in at the very least Europe, Canada and the U.S. had smart phones. However, that is just something that stuck in my head and I have no present source that I can give you to corroborate this information.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)