Footage of Judge Rotenberg Center Torturing a Person with a Disability Aired in Court
May 6th, 2012Via: Fox News Video Reposted on YouTube:
Research Credit: ottilie
Amish Farm Kids Remarkably Immune to Allergies
May 6th, 2012Via: Reuters:
Amish children raised on rural farms in northern Indiana suffer from asthma and allergies less often even than Swiss farm kids, a group known to be relatively free from allergies, according to a new study.
“The rates are very, very low,” said Dr. Mark Holbreich, the study’s lead author. “So there’s something that we feel is even more protective in the Amish” than in European farming communities.
What it is about growing up on farms — and Amish farms in particular — that seems to prevent allergies remains unclear.
Researchers have long observed the so-called “farm effect” — the low allergy and asthma rates found among kids raised on farms — in central Europe, but less is known about the influence of growing up on North American farms.
Holbreich, an allergist in Indianapolis, has been treating Amish communities in Indiana for two decades, but he noticed that very few Amish actually had any allergies.
…
The study did not determine why the kids who grew up on farms were less likely to develop asthma and allergies, but other research has pointed to exposure to microbes and contact with cows, in particular, to partially explain the farm effect (see Reuters Health story of May 2, 2012).
Drinking raw cow’s milk also seems to be involved, Holbreich said.
The going theory is this early exposure to the diverse potential allergens and pathogens on a farm trains the immune system to recognize them, but not overreact to the harmless ones.
As for why the Amish kids have even lower allergy and asthma rates than the other farming kids, “that piece of the puzzle we really haven’t explained,” Holbreich told Reuters Health.
Stellarium
May 6th, 2012We’ve been having some extremely clear nights recently and I wondered what some of the stars were called that I was looking at. I went looking for some sort of planetarium tool and found Stellarium, which is great!
Just set your coordinates and the software will display the sky as it looks in your location. You can move forward and backward in time as well. It shows nebulae, satellites, depictions of constellations and more.
If you’re like me, you’ll want to throw money at the screen. The donate link is at the bottom.
Via: Stellarium:
Stellarium is a free open source planetarium for your computer. It shows a realistic sky in 3D, just like what you see with the naked eye, binoculars or a telescope. It is being used in planetarium projectors. Just set your coordinates and go.
Fascism Rises from the Depths of Greece’s Despair
May 6th, 2012Via: Independent:
Entering its fourth year in recession, Greece now outstrips even Spain for youth unemployment with the new statistics published yesterday showing joblessness among the under-25s at 51.2 per cent. The headline unemployment rate is 21.7 per cent while the real rate is believed to be closer to 25 per cent.
It’s in this environment that a fringe group of neo-Nazis that would previously have struggled to attract a hundred supporters to one of its rallies seems set to enter parliament according to polls.
Research Credit: Timbooch
U.S. Department of Energy Claims ‘Unprecedented’ Success in Test for New Fuel Source
May 6th, 2012Via: MSNBC:
Could the future of cleaner fossil fuel really be frozen crystals now trapped in ocean sediments and under permafrost?
Backed by an oil industry giant, the Obama administration recently tested a drilling technique in Alaska’s Arctic that it says might eventually unlock “a vast, entirely untapped resource that holds enormous potential for U.S. economic and energy security.” Some experts believe the reserves could provide domestic fuel for hundreds of years to come.
Those crystals, known as methane hydrates, contain natural gas but so far releasing that fuel has been an expensive proposition.
The drilling has its environmental critics, but there’s also a climate bonus: The technique requires injecting carbon dioxide into the ground, thereby creating a new way to remove the warming gas from the atmosphere.
“You’re storing the CO2, and also liberating the natural gas,” Christopher Smith, the Energy Department’s oil and natural gas deputy assistant secretary, told msnbc.com. “It’s kind of a two-for-one.”
The Energy Department, in a statement last week, trumpeted it as “a successful, unprecedented test” and vowed to pump at least $6 million more into future testing.
“While this is just the beginning, this research could potentially yield significant new supplies of natural gas,” Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced.
ConocoPhillips, the oil company that worked on the test at its oil facility in Alaska’s North Slope, was hopeful the technique could become economically feasible for producing natural gas, a fuel that’s much cleaner than petroleum.
“Many experts believe that methane hydrates hold significant potential to supply the world with clean fossil fuel,” spokesman Davy Kong told msnbc.com. “The completion of this successful test of technology is an important step in developing production technology to access this potential resource while sequestering carbon dioxide.”
More: DOE: U.S. and Japan Complete Successful Field Trial of Methane Hydrate Production Technologies
Research Credit: MS
Minneapolis: Cops Offer Illegal Drugs to People for “Impairment” Study
May 6th, 2012There are a couple of good lessons here. First, of course, is that the cops are filth and flagrantly carry out felonies with impunity. Second, there seems to be no shortage of zombies who are content to get wasted on whatever substances the cops are handing out. Who knows what the “study” participants were actually dosed with???
Ah well, Viva La Revolución. The 1% are definitely quivering in their boots now.
Via: HongPong YouTube Channel:
Video documentation by local activists and independent media shows that police officers and county deputies from across Minnesota have been picking up young people near Peavey Plaza for a training program to recognize drug-impaired drivers. Multiple participants say officers gave them illicit drugs and provided other incentives to take the drugs. The Occupy movement, present at Peavey Plaza since April 7th, appears to be targeted as impaired people are dropped off at the Plaza, and others say they’ve been rewarded for offering to snitch on the movement.
Local independent media activists and members of Communities United Against Police Brutality began investigating police conduct around the Plaza after witnessing police dropping off impaired people at the plaza and hearing rumors that they were offering people drugs. We videotaped police conduct and interviewed participants, learning some very disturbing information about the DRE program.
Officers stated on record the DRE program, run by the Minnesota State Patrol, has no Institutional Review Board or independent oversight. They agreed no ambulances or EMTs were on site at the Richfield MnDOT facility near the airport where most subjects were taken. Multiple times, participants left Peavey Plaza sober, returned intoxicated, and said they’d been given free drugs by law enforcement. We documented on more than one occasion, someone being told they were sober by one officer, and then picked up by a different officer, and returning intoxicated.
Given the dangers of impaired driving, there is value in training law enforcement officers to distinguish between the effects of various drugs and several common medical conditions. However, we have captured video footage of instances in which DRE trainees recruited subjects who are not already impaired, and those participants say they were given drugs by the officers.
More: Minnesota Police Giving Peavey Plaza Occupy-ers Drugs as Part of Impairment Study
Research Credit: RP, almaverdad2
Beijing Is Planning to Avoid U.S. Financial Sanctions on Iran by Paying for Oil with Gold
May 6th, 2012Via: Forbes:
So how can Beijing keep both Iran’s ayatollahs and President Obama happy at the same time? Simple, the Chinese can avoid the U.S. sanctions through barter. China has already been trading its produce for Iran’s petroleum, but there is only so much gai lan and bok choy the Iranians can eat. That’s why Iran is also accepting, among other goods, Chinese washing machines, refrigerators, toys, clothes, cosmetics, and toiletries.
The barter trade works, but Iran needs cash too. As it is being cut off from the global financial system, the next best thing is gold. So we should not be surprised that in late February the Iranian central bank said it would accept that metal as payment for oil. Last year, China imported $21.7 billion in Iranian oil and exported $14.8 billion in goods and services. As the NDAA goes into effect, look for Beijing to ship gold to Iran to make up the difference.
FBI: We Need Wiretap-Ready Web Sites – Now
May 5th, 2012Via: Cnet:
CNET learns the FBI is quietly pushing its plan to force surveillance backdoors on social networks, VoIP, and Web e-mail providers, and that the bureau is asking Internet companies not to oppose a law making those backdoors mandatory.
The FBI is asking Internet companies not to oppose a controversial proposal that would require firms, including Microsoft, Facebook, Yahoo, and Google, to build in backdoors for government surveillance.
In meetings with industry representatives, the White House, and U.S. senators, senior FBI officials argue the dramatic shift in communication from the telephone system to the Internet has made it far more difficult for agents to wiretap Americans suspected of illegal activities, CNET has learned.
The FBI general counsel’s office has drafted a proposed law that the bureau claims is the best solution: requiring that social-networking Web sites and providers of VoIP, instant messaging, and Web e-mail alter their code to ensure their products are wiretap-friendly.
“If you create a service, product, or app that allows a user to communicate, you get the privilege of adding that extra coding,” an industry representative who has reviewed the FBI’s draft legislation told CNET. The requirements apply only if a threshold of a certain number of users is exceeded, according to a second industry representative briefed on it.
The FBI’s proposal would amend a 1994 law, called the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act, or CALEA, that currently applies only to telecommunications providers, not Web companies. The Federal Communications Commission extended CALEA in 2004 to apply to broadband networks.
NATO Summit in Chicago: Airport-Style Security Screenings for Trains
May 4th, 2012Via: CBS:
Some stations on the Metra Electric Line and South Shore Line could be shut down during the upcoming NATO summit, and passengers at other stations could face airport-style security screenings, due to the Secret Service security plan that could be released as soon as Friday afternoon.
CBS 2 Chief Correspondent Jay Levine has exclusive details on those security measures, which the Secret Service is expected to officially unveil on Friday, or at the very latest, on Monday. Federal officials have promised the announcement will include a “comprehensive list of street closures and parking restrictions surrounding the NATO summit.”
Restricted U.S. Army Internment and Resettlement Operations Manual
May 4th, 2012Via: Public Intelligence:
The goal of military police conducting detainee operations is to provide stability within the population, its institutions, and its infrastructure. In this rapidly changing and dynamic strategic environment, U.S. forces will compete with local populations for the same space, routes, and resources. The modular force’s ability to positively influence and shape the opinions, attitudes, and behaviors of select populations is critical to tactical, operational, and strategic success.
