Central Bankers Gone Wild

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Yes,the world of central banking is sorting itself out and acting firmlyon lessons learned. This can only lead to a far more activist andeven successful banking regime and also an early end to the too bigto fail nonsense as a license to leverage up the financial Ponzischeme. With central banks watching each other, it will be difficultto go astray and we can expect to see a body of best practice toemerge.
Recallthat up to now, best practice has been a combination of the 1933regulatory regime for financial institutions along with Reaganshifting the tax take to the left side of the Laffer curve. Thisprovided a natural non inflationary economic growth of around 4% fortwo and one half decades. It could have been improved upon withtargeted lending guarantees and further regulatory reforms but wasplenty good enough.
Atthe present, those that could do not have the knowledge to do better. This is unfortunate but the globe is no longer utterly dependent onAmerican wisdom. Thus optimism remains the order of the day.

Globaleconomy: Central bankers gone wild

Centralbankers rarely do radical, or even surprising, things. This week ithappened twice. Hold on to your pinstripes.

ThomasMucha December14, 2012 06:19
BOSTON— Central bankers aren't exactly the most exciting people.http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/business/121213/global-economy-central-bankers-federal-reserve-ECBSure,they're smart.Yes,they understand the complex interplay of economics, finance,politics, markets and all the other factors that make the globaleconomy fly or fizzle.Butthey're often, well, predictable.Andwhen it comes to explaining the mysterious workings of the globaleconomy they're often, to be polite, incomprehensibly dull.Stilldon't believe me?Checkout this bit of poetry taken directly from the minutes of the Oct.23 FederalReserve's Open Market Committee meeting (andif it doesn't make perfect sense, no need to decipher it):

"TheManager of the System Open Market Account (SOMA) reported ondevelopments in domestic and foreign financial markets during theperiod since the FOMC met on September 12-13, 2012. The Manager alsoreported on System open market operations over the intermeetingperiod, focusing on the ongoing reinvestment into agency-guaranteedmortgage-backed securities (MBS) of principal payments received onSOMA holdings of agency debt and agency-guaranteed MBS and thepurchases of MBS authorized at the September FOMC meeting. Byunanimous vote, the Committee ratified the Desk's domestictransactions over the intermeeting period. There were no interventionoperations in foreign currencies for the System's account over theintermeeting period."

Thejargon is no different in Brussels,London, Tokyo, Beijing orother places around the world where pinstriped policymakerscongregate and pontificate.Butsometimes even central bankers can be perfectly clear.Theycan also, apparently, be surprising.Ithappened this week in both the world's largest economy (the US) andthe world's largest economic bloc (the European Union), so it's bestyou pay attention.Theimplications of these remarkable central bank moves could have veryreal implications for you, me and everyone else on planet earth.Let'sstart with the US Federal Reserve, which did something that it'snever done before: It tied its actions to actual, concrete numbers inthe economy.TheFed said it would keep stimulating the weak US economy until thenation's unemployment rate fell to 6.5 percent (it's now at 7.7percent). It will also keep interest rates historically low as longas inflation in the US remains under 2.5 percent.Thatmay not sound radical, but it is.That'sbecause it's the first time the US central bank has used suchexplicit targets.Whythe switch?TheFed hopes it will be a more transparent way to let markets know itsplans. "We think it's a better form of communication," FederalReserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said.Butmore importantly, the use of explicit "guideposts" signalsthat the Fed is far more concerned about the weak employmentsituation in America than it is with its primary worry of keepinginflation under control.Themove is part of an evolution in central bank thinking that's beenpushed, in particular, by the president of the Federal Reserve Bankof Chicago, Charles Evans.Here'show Evans described his thinking, wayback in 2011:

“Imaginethat inflation was running at 5 percent against our inflationobjective of 2 percent. Is there a doubt that any central bankerworth their salt would be reacting strongly to fight this highinflation rate? No, there isn’t any doubt. They would be acting asif their hair was on fire. We should be similarly energized aboutimproving conditions in the labor market.”

Soit's burn, baby, burn until the job market improves.Thatmeans we should expect the Fed's loose monetary policy to continue atleast into 2015 when — fingers crossed — the US jobless rate isforecast to hit that 6.5 percent target. Meanwhilein Europe, the whiff of radicalism this week mixed with the stale,corpse-like odor of economic decline triggered by the ongoing eurocrisis.Europeanfinance ministers agreed — for the first time — to place between100 and 200 banks across Europe under the supervision of the EuropeanCentral Bank.Themeasure, which still needs approval by the European Parliament, is agiant step towards the tighter economic integration necessary tobring the euro crisis under control.Moreover,the Europeans only began talking about a move back in June. Gettinganything done in Europe in six months is a major accomplishment.Here'show TheNew York Times speculated on what the development could eventuallymean:

"Suchmeasures could include a unified system, and perhaps shared euro arearesources, to ensure failing banks are closed in an orderly fashion.This could be followed, in time, by measures intended to reinforceeconomic and monetary union, including, possibly, the creation of ashared fund that could be used to shore up the economies ofvulnerable members of the euro zone."

EuropeanCentral Bank chief Mario Draghi called the unified bankingsupervision an "important step."Evengrumpy German ChancellorAngela Merkel seemed happy with the decision, calling it “a bigstep toward more trust and confidence in the euro zone.”Sothere you go, world: central bankers gone wild.Let'ssee where this party goes from here.

Space Plants

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 This is one of those very basic yet simple questions that needed tobe answered. That the answer turns out to be unconditional is abonus. We can grow plants happily in space. We all expected thatdoing so would become both necessary and doable. Now we know it isdoable.
We will soon be considering how to do the engineering as our accessto space gets serious and expansion begins in earnest. Bubbles onthe moon are particularly attractive. I wonder if it may be possibleto produce an active cellular structure of hexagonal units framingwater filled bubbles that also contain living algae to assist infiltering the incoming radiation from the sun. The plumbing would bea challenge of course but not impossible.
Such a construct would provide excellent living space inside forhumanity. It will still be much easier to operate underground with amile of rock providing protection to the dome.
Plants Grow FineWithout Gravity
New finding boosts theprospect of growing crops in space or on other planets.
James Owen
for NationalGeographic News
Published December 7,2012
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/121207-plants-grow-space-station-science/
When researchers sentplants to the International Space Station in 2010, theflora wasn't meant to be decorative. Instead, the seeds of thesesmall, white flowers—called Arabidopsis thaliana—were thesubject of an experiment to study how plant roots developed in aweightless environment.
Gravity is animportant influence on root growth, but the scientists found thattheir space plants didn't need it to flourish. The research team fromthe University of Florida in Gainesville thinks this ability isrelated to a plant's inherent ability to orient itself as it grows.Seeds germinated on the International Space Station sprouted rootsthat behaved like they would on Earth—growing away from theseed to seek nutrients and water in exactly the same pattern observedwith gravity. (Related: "Beyond Gravity.")
Since the flowers wereorbiting some 220 miles (350 kilometers) above the Earth at the time,the NASA-funded experiment suggests that plants still retain anearthy instinct when they don't have gravity as a guide.
"The role ofgravity in plant growth and development in terrestrial environmentsis well understood," said plant geneticist and studyco-author Anna-Lisa Paul, with the University of Florida inGainesville.
"What is lesswell understood is how plants respond when you remove gravity."(See a video about plant growth.)
The new study revealedthat "features of plant growth we thought were a result ofgravity acting on plant cells and organs do not actually requiregravity," she added.
Paul and hercollaborator Robert Ferl, a plant biologist at the University ofFlorida in Gainesville, monitored their plants from the Kennedy SpaceCenter in Florida using images sent from the space station every sixhours.
Root Growth
Grown on anutrient-rich gel in clear petri plates, the space flowers showedfamiliar root growth patterns such as "skewing," whereroots slant progressively as they branch out.
"When we saw thefirst pictures come back from orbit and saw that we had most of theskewing phenomenon we were quite surprised," Paul said.
Researchers havealways thought that skewing was the result of gravity's effects onhow the root tip interacts with the surfaces it encounters as itgrows, she added. But Paul and Ferl suspect that in the absence ofgravity, other cues take over that enable the plant to direct itsroots away from the seed and light-seeking shoot. Those cues couldinclude moisture, nutrients, and light avoidance.
"Bottom line isthat although plants 'know' that they are in a novel environment,they ultimately do just fine," Paul said.
The finding furtherboosts the prospect of cultivating food plants in space and,eventually, on other planets.
"There's reallyno impediment to growing plants in microgravity, such as on along-term mission to Mars, or in reduced-gravity environments such asin specialized greenhouses on Mars or the moon," Paul said.(Related: "Alien Trees Would Bloom Black on Worlds WithDouble Stars.")
The study findingsappear in the latest issue of the journal BMC Plant Biology.

Vampire Pterosaurs

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 Suddenly we have plausible fossil evidence for the gargoyle cumChupacabra. My reason for not considering such an evolutionary pathother than extending the bat lineage was zero fossil evidence. Thatjust disappeared and we now have a convincing start point.
We have even retrieved reports in which this creature ha beeneyeballed. That it is part of the pterosaur lineage solves all sortsof difficulties. Even the fur evidence conforms nicely.
Of interest is the second sketch which explains wing handling.
We already knew that there is evidence of extant pterosaurs who huntat night and avoid us. The large ones are able to span the globe andhave been spotted in North America.
They also represent the best and likeliest explanation for cattlemutilation deaths.



Was there really avampire who fed on dinosaur blood?
http://io9.com/5887411/was-there-really-a-vampire-dinosaur
Prepare to beconfronted with something scarier (and cuter) than JurassicPark's raptors. In the mid to late Jurassic, the world was full offurry, flying vampire pterosaurs who fed on dino blood.
The Jeholopterus wasa small pterosaur who was found in Northeastern China. Thoughoriginally identified as an insect-eater, an odd mystery about theanimal eventually led one researcher to suggest the creature wasactually feeding on the blood of nearby sauropods. Let's take a lookat the discovery of Jeholopterus, and what spurred great debateover whether it was a blood-sucker.
The top image isartist Maija Karala's interpretation of Jeholopterus.
Soaring over China inthe Jurassic
Researchers at theChinese Academy of Sciences published the journal article Anearly complete articulated rhamphorhynchoid pterosaur withexceptionally well-preserved wing membranes and "hairs"from Inner Mongolia, Northeast China. The paper recorded thediscovery of a new pterosaur,Jeholopterus ninchengensis.
The researchers namedthe pterosaur for the area of its discovery, Ningcheng County ofInner Mongolia. The wingspan ofJeholopterus is a little lessthan three feet and the pterosaur likely weighed in around five toten pounds - a little smaller than the average Barn Owl. Severalfibers of "hair" are seen among the wings and body in thespecimen, along with imprints from a large amount of soft tissue. Theskull of the fossil is crushed, limiting interpretation of the head.
The authorsplaced Jeholopterus within the Anurognathidae group – agroup of small pterosaurs known for feeding on insects.But Jeholopterus, unlike most pterosaurs, does not have a longbeak. This absence played into speculationabout Jeholopterus' interactions with dinosaurs.
The Vampire Theory
In the 2003article The Chinese vampire and other overlooked pterosaurptreasures published in the peer-reviewed Journal ofVertebrate Paleontology, David Peters observed a couple ofunusual features in Jeholopterus separating it from theaverage Jurassic pterosaur.
Peters is not apracticing archaeologist, but an art director and natural historywriter with several peer reviewed journal articles under his belt.Peters did his work using a scanned and enlarged image ofthe Jeholopterus fossil uncovered by the researchers at theChinese Academy of Sciences. Using imaging techniques and Photoshop,Peters created tracings of theJeholopterus specimen in order toelaborate on the soft tissue features of the pterosaur and the skull,as the one in the fossil is crushed. It is important to note Petersdid not examine the fossil itself, only images of the fossil.
In this analysis,Peters reconstructed the skull, observing elongated teethakin to like pliers, a fortified palate able Jeholopterus todeliver a swift blow and powerful blow, a possible mechanism by whichthe teeth could be locked into place after a strike. Additionally,Peters observed a horse-like tail possibly used to swat away smallinsects.
The pterosaur seemedto have the ability to deliver a strong blow, plus it had fangs —and a method to lock the fangs into another animal after striking.All these features led Peters to suggest Jeholopterus latchedonto the backs of sauropods and lapped up blood from fang wounds.Peters doesn't offer any reasons for vampiric behavior — he simplyoffers it as a physiological possibility.
Backlash from thePaleontology Community
Not allpaleontologists are fans of Peters' methods. ChristopherBennett, a Professor at Fort Hays State University, assails Peters'conclusions in the article Pterosaur Science or PterosaurFantasy? Bennett points out that several fellow paleontologistsare unable to independently repeat the imaging techniques leading toevidence for vampirism.
Additionally, Bennetnotes several paleontologists are uncomfortable with Peters'separation from the fossils themselves, as Peters performs most ofhis work without observing the fossils in person. The inability forother paleontologists to reproduce Peters' findings using the sametechniques calls the vampirism into question.
Can we ProveThat Jeholopterus Slurped Vital Fluids?
Honestly, without aliving Jeholopterus to observe, we really cannot be sure ofits unique attributes. That said, I would certainly feel morecomfortable about accepting the vampireJeholopterus view if anumber of other interested parties reproduced Peters' results.
What is interesting inthis situation is the use of non-traditional imaging techniques bysomeone outside of the world of traditional paleontology to informthe world of academia, regardless of widespread acceptance. Think ofit as citizen science on an extreme level - David Peters is makingimportant contributions, even if he's succeeding only in rattling thecage of the academic mainstream.

Record Numbers of Raptors

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I read this story quite differently. The fact is that the recoveryof raptor populations over the past forty years has been remarkable. Some may want to claim this is because of the demise in use of DDT,but I am way more inclined to assign causation to the effective endof utterly irresponsible hunting by teenage farm boys. Not only dowe have less said farm boys, but they all know better.
Growing up in Mid Western Ontario back in the sixties, all game wasscant. Yet I was out every day with a rifle in hand patrolling ourfifty hectares of country side with a dog on hand to flush game. This was common and in the two decades that we covered, I saw a deeronce, grouse once and multiple foxes and no end of groundhogs andrabbits. I was looking and catching little.
All that has now changed, not least because it is no longer fiftyhectares but assembled into 500 hectares and the farm boys have beentold off on hunting raptors and most game. Thus the deer are allcrowding back as well as everything else. In the end, it will needmanagement protocols to control their populations if not so already.
Record numbers of owls at a refuge in the Fraser Delta suggestsrecord populations up country. Snowy owls are Arctic adapted tostart with and more reasonably, they are expanding their range.
In any case, Vancouver has large populations of raptors because it isthe focus of migrants from Alaska and BC. It is not unusual to seeflocks of several dozen eagles here.
Record number ofowls and other raptors needing help in Lower Mainland
10 snowy owls amongthe 485 birds treated at Delta rehabilitation centre
By Larry Pynn,Vancouver Sun December 27, 2012

http://www.vancouversun.com/technology/Record+number+owls+other+raptors+needing+help+Lower+Mainland/7750111/story.html#ixzz2GNBNzBH4

A record 485 raptors,including emaciated snowy owls from the Arctic, have been brought tothe two-hectare OWL rehabilitation centre in south Delta so far thisyear.
“We’ve neverbroken 400 before,” OWL founder Bev Day said in an interviewThursday. “It tells you how bad the birds are doing.”
Loss of habitat due todevelopment, including port expansion and the South Fraser PerimeterRoad, as well as conversion of traditional farmland to blueberryproduction have resulted in less prey to go around, Day said.
A total of 10 snowyowls — most of them starving, but also one that flew into a powerline — have been brought to the centre, not just from Delta, butfrom as far afield as Prince George, Pemberton, and Hope. Only onehas survived.
Snowy owls are sodesperate for food they have been spotted as far south as California,Day said.
The survival rate forall 485 raptors brought in this year, including eagles, hawks, owls,and falcons, is about 70 per cent.
People are phoning toreport snowy owls on their house roofs, but Day said people shouldnot be concerned unless the birds are seen on the ground and indistress. Photographers looking for the perfect shot are urged not toharass the birds by approaching too close.
Wet weather can alsomake it more difficult to for the birds to access prey, Day said,adding that raptors with weakened immune systems are also at risk ofcontracting aspergillosis, a lung disease.
She noted thatdevelopment of the South Fraser Perimeter Road includes some goodmitigation measures, but they are no substitute for the 90 hectaresof farmland removed for the $1.2-billion development. “It doesn’treplace everything, but they are working on it,” she said.
Among the mitigationmeasures are wildlife tunnels and the creation of marsh habitat.
The conversion oftraditional farmland to blueberry production also eliminates habitatin which the raptors might otherwise find prey, Day said.Agricultural pesticides — a poisoning risk — are also an issue.
Formed 37 years ago,OWL (owlcanada.ca) receives no direct government funding and isstruggling to make ends meet given the large volume of raptors. Cashdonations are appreciated, as well as contributions of wild game andfish, but not commercially processed poultry or other meats.

Pat Wagar of theMountainaire Avian Rescue Society in Courtenay said the facility hasreceived six emaciated snowy owls, of which only one survived. Amongthe other birds brought in for treatment are a long-eared owl,short-eared owl, and a brown pelican.

How to Live to a Ripe Old Age

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Thisis how it is going to be everywhere. The benefits are plainlyobvious and good health at a hundred is plausible and possible. Meatonce a week is good enough light alcohol on occasion is fine andbeneficial and working a couple hours in your garden is a really goodplan. I am not organized for that yet but it is on my list over thenext three years.
Imust say though that reaching my age, one discovers that all thoseunhappy people who drink and smoke are no longer about anyway and itbe comes really easy to develop sound habits.
Andyes, nuts are a great idea as they are just about the only thing thatone can eat without preparation or the removal of a wrapper. Theyeven have nutritional benefit.
Soinstall a sack of nuts at your work station to handle those munchies.
How to Live to aRipe Old Age
Cathy Newman
National GeographicNewsPublished December 27,2012
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/12/121227-dan-buettner-health-longevity-100-centenarians-science-blue-zones/
Cento di questigiorni. May you have a hundred birthdays, the Italians say, and someof them do.
So do other people invarious spots around the world—in Blue Zones, so namedby National Geographic Fellow Dan Buettner for the blue ink thatoutlines these special areas on maps developed over more than adecade. (National Geographic News is part of the National GeographicSociety.)
In his second editionof his book The Blue Zones, Buettner writes about a newlyidentified Blue Zone: the Greek island of Ikaria(map). National Geographic magazine Editor at Large Cathy Newmaninterviewed him about the art of living long and well. (WatchBuettner talk about how to live to a hundred.)
Q. You've writtenabout Blue Zones in Sardinia, Italy; Loma Linda, California;Nicoa, Costa Rica; and Okinawa, Japan. How did you find your way toIkaria?
A. Michel Poulain, ademographer on the project, and I are always on the lookout for newBlue Zones. This one popped up in 2008. We got a lead from a Greekfoundation looking for biological markers in aging people. The censusdata showed clusters of villages there with a striking proportion ofpeople 85 or older. (Also see blog: "Secrets of theHappiest Places on Earth.")
In the course of yourquest you've been introduced to remarkable individuals like100-year-old Marge Jetton of Loma Linda, California, who startsthe day with a mile-long [0.6-kilometer] walk, 6 to 8 miles [10 to 13kilometers] on a stationary bike, and weight lifting. Who is themost memorable Blue Zoner you've met?
Without question it'sStamatis Moraitis, who lives in Ikaria. I believe he's 102. He'sfamous for partying. He makes 400 liters [100 gallons] of wine fromhis vineyards each year, which he drinks with his friends. His houseis the social hot spot of the island. (See "Longevity GenesFound; Predict Chances of Reaching 100.")
He's also the Ikarianwho emigrated to the United States, was diagnosed with lung cancer inhis 60s, given less then a year to live, and who returned to Ikariato die. Instead, he recovered.[he has obviously been trying to drink himself to death ever since oncheap wine – arclein ]
Yes, he never wentthrough chemotherapy or treatment. He just moved back to Ikaria.
Did anyone figure outhow he survived?
Nope. He told me hereturned to the U.S. ten years after he left to see if the Americandoctors could explain it. I asked him what happened. "My doctorswere all dead," he said.
One of the commonfactors that seem to link all Blue Zone people you've spoken with isa life of hard work—and sometimes hardship. Your thoughts?
I think we live in aculture that relentlessly pursues comfort. Ease is related todisease. We shouldn't always be fleeing hardship. Hardship alsobrings people together. We should welcome it.
Sounds like anotherversion of the fable of the grasshopper and the ant?
You rarely getsatisfaction sitting in an easy chair. If you work in a garden on theother hand, and it yields beautiful tomatoes, that's a good feeling.
Can you talk aboutdiet? Not all of us have access to goat milk, for example, which yousay is typically part of an Ikarian breakfast.
There is nothingexotic about their diet, which is a version of a Mediterranean diet,which emphasizes vegetables, beans, fruit, olive oil, andmoderate amounts of alcohol. (Read more about Buettner'swork in Ikaria in National Geographic Adventure.)
All things inmoderation?
Not all things.Socializing is something we should not do in moderation. The happiestAmericans socialize six hours a day.
The people you hangout with help you hang on to life?
Yes, you have topay attention to your friends. Health habits are contagious. Hangingout with unhappy people who drink and smoke is hazardous to yourhealth.[our own society, at least here in Vancouver is noticeably changingout bad habits bit by bit. In the meantime that advice is great]
So how has what you'velearned influenced your own lifestyle?
One of the big thingsI've learned is that there's an advantage to regularlow-intensity activity. My previous life was settingrecords on my bike. [Buettner holds three world records in distancecycling.] Now I use my bike to commute. I only eat meatonce a week, and I always keep nuts in my office: Those who eat nutslive two to three more years than those who don't.
You also write abouthaving a purpose in life.
Purpose is huge. Iknow exactly what my values are and what I love to do. That's worthadditional years right there. I say no to a lot of stuff that wouldbe easy money but deviates from my meaning of life.
The Japanese you metin Okinawa have a word for that?
Yes. Ikigai: "Thereason for which I wake in the morning."
Do you have anon-longevity-enhancing guilty pleasure?
Tequila is myweakness.
And how long would youlike to live?
I'd like to live to be200.

They Know it is Christmas in China

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 The genius of Christianity was in the celebration of Christmas itselfas a showcase of Christian thinking. What it does is that everyyear, every child is drawn into a cycle of gift giving that isimpossible for families to resist. And once begun, it becomes apattern and way more importantly, that child remains sympathetic tochristian teaching.
In a vacuum of spiritual teaching, there is still Christmas.
A successful university experience does include investigating manyviewpoints, so it is little surprising to see plenty of activitythere. Whatever the case, the government is typically nervous andwalking on eggs as they should.
In the meantime, the Chinese Government need only look next door intoSouth Korea to glimpse the future. That country is well on the wayto becoming a majority christian country.
At the same time, I think the government really does not have astrategy to stop the process itself and plenty of experience in howrepression fails miserably.

Sooner or later, Chinese political life will rationalize and we allknow pretty well what it will look like even if they are waiting fora few more of the old boys to die out. At that point, freedom ofreligion is easily and safely granted. A government secure in thesupport of the people has no reason to fret over religion.

Robert Fulford: InChina, yes they know it’s Christmastime
Robert Fulford Dec 22,201
http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2012/12/22/robert-fulford-in-china-yes-they-know-its-christmastime/

Christmas will be morewidely celebrated in China this year than at any time in memory.Everyone who claims any knowledge of the subject believes that thenumber of Chinese Christians has been growing steadily over the lastdecade. Communist bureaucrats harass Christians, isolate them, try tomanipulate and divide them. And yet by the standards of recentdecades, Chinese Christianity now seems remarkably resilient.
No one knows how manyChinese are Christian. The State Administration for ReligiousAffairs, which supervises all religion, says there are about 25million, apparently the government’s optimistic understatement.Christian activists, on their many blogs, claim 50 million to 100million. The Global Religious Landscape, a demographic study releasedthis week by the Pew Research Center, estimates 68 million, based on2010 data.
Whatever the realnumber, no one denies the memorable comparison made on the BBC inSeptember by Tim Gardam, a journalist and principal of St Anne’sCollege, Oxford: “There are already more Chinese at church on aSunday than in the whole of Europe.”
Since about 1980, theChinese government has directed toward Christians a relativelymoderate but still annoying and persistent form of religiousoppression. The meager results of its efforts are heartening: Havingbeen subjected to the most extreme and degrading forms of governmentharassment and directives over three generations, many Chinesenevertheless insist on making up their own minds about issues theyconsider important.
Brent Fulton, alife-long China-watcher with a PhD in political science, runsChinaSource, a Christian nonprofit based in Hong Kong. Recently heremarked that Christian parents, like many other Chinese parents,dislike the narrowly technical education many schools in the countryoffer: “You’ve got Christians now setting up schools —primary schools, kindergarten, home-schooling networks. There’s amovement of Christian families even sending high school studentsabroad for study in a Christian high school.”
These developmentshave frightened the power centre. A 9,000-word document on theprevention of campus evangelism was issued last year by the CentralCommittee of the Communist Party, but leaked only this week. Itclaims that foreign governments are using Christianity to infiltratehigher education and create “ideological and cultural erosion” inChina.
The document gives offan aroma of paranoia that makes it, despite the clotted prose,fascinating.
The Central Committeeclaims that US-led elements “market” their ideas under the guiseof donating funds for education, academic exchanges, etc.
Marxist atheismremains popular on our campuses — maybe more so than in Chinaitself
“The college yearsare a critical time in the establishment of a person’s worldview,view of life and system of values,” we are told. The goal of thealien forces “is not just to expand religious influence but more tovie with us for our young people, our next generation.”
Infiltration isgrowing more intense, the Central Committee warns: “You must notunderestimate the current harm and the long-term effect of suchphenomenon, and you must take forceful measures.” It orders localgovernments, “Public Security organs” (police) and universitiesto treat education as an ideological and cultural battlefield whereChina’s political stability must be ensured.
Among therecommendations: Universities should strictly control religiouspersonnel entering China, and they must not invite foreign professorswho might be tempted to proselytize. For some years foreign teacherswith Christian affiliations have been required to promise in writingthat they won’t talk about religion when they lecture at Chineseuniversities; that precaution has apparently proven insufficient.
So Chinese embassiesaround the world will report on possibly dangerous teachers. TheMinistry of Education will set up a data bank to circulateinformation about religious organizations infiltrating institutes ofhigher education. Instructors who insist on proselytizing will befired. If sites of religious activity are established nearuniversities, Public Security organs will abolish them.
The regulations of theState Administration for Religious Affairs forbid public praying,hymn-singing and other “religious activity” except in officiallydesignated places of worship. But many thousands of unauthorized“house churches” have sprung up, offering energetic andcharismatic worship that proves particularly attractive to the young.In recent years the house-church movement has moved beyond its ruralbeginnings and found new adherents in the cities. House churches aremostly ignored by the authorities but may be closed down if worshipspills out into the streets.
The CentralCommittee’s warning says that universities must “Make educationin Marxist atheism the foundational work in resisting infiltrationand campus evangelism.” Marxism has lost its influence in economicaffairs, but the Central Committee assumes that it still appeals tointellectuals in the universities — much as it does in theuniversities of Canada and other nations of the West.
Indeed, Chinesefunctionaries would love our college campuses. In most cases,“Marxist atheism” remains popular — Arguably more so than inChina itself.

Icelandic Recovery

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Icelandis the one nation that did most of what I deemed necessary back in2008. Foremost, it bailed out and refinanced the middle class. Ifyou fail to do that it is inevitable that the economy must shrink.
Otherwise,bank finance is a book keeping entry of no consequence. Any moneythey put out has already been spent and is in circulation. No bankeris irreplaceable either so tossing them in prison is an ideal option. There is no end of juniors eager to leap in and replace them and 'doit right'.
Inthe USA, no effort has been expended to bail the middle class and asa consequence millions remain unemployed. Now we are printing moneyto cover the natural revenue shortfall and at the same timeincreasing taxation to further hamper the middle class. This likelymeans another decade of anemic growth that actually reflectsstructural contraction.
Theonly positive note is that the US banking industry is now able toagain expand lending to the housing market and we are presentlyseeing a value driven rebound in building beginning. Hopefully thisis not choked off.
Howthe US Bankers are evading prison is astonishing.
Iceland’s HörðurTorfason – How to Beat the Banksters
Source: http://www.wakingtimes.com

By Alex Pietrowski
The tiny Nordic European island country of iceland is presentlyexperiencing one of the greatest economic comebacks of all time. After the privatization of the banking sector completed in200o, the economy was thrown into a tailspin when over a five yearperiod,  private bankers borrowed 120 billion dollars (10 timesthe size of Iceland’s economy). A huge economic bubble was created,causing house prices to double, and making a small percentage ofIceland’s population rich enough to buy up overseas investments,mansions, yachts, and private jets, while leaving an absolutelyun-payable debt for all Icelanders. Iceland was facingnational bankruptcy.
In response to thefailed banking system, in October 2008, Iceland’s revolutionagainst this financial tyranny began, rather casually in the street,in front of the Icelandic general assembly.
Inthe duration of five months, the main bank of Iceland wasnationalized, government officials were forced to resign, the oldgovernment was liquidated, and a new government was put in its place.By March 2010, Iceland’s people voted to deny payment of the 3,500million Euro debt created by the bankers, and about 200high-level executives and bankers responsible for the economic crisisin the country were either arrested or were facing criminal charges.
In February 2011, a new constitutional assembly settled in torewrite the tiny nation’s constitution, which aimed toavoid entrapment by debt-based currency foreign loans.In 2012, Iceland’s economy is expected to outgrow the Euro and theaverage for the developed world, as estimated by theParis-based Organization for Economic Cooperation andDevelopment.
Sohow does a revolution like this take root and activate acitizenry to effectively respond to grand scale economic theft bybankers and politicians?
Hörður Torfason, a lifelong activist from Iceland, is creditedwith organizing the Icelandic ‘Kitchenware Revolution’,beginning with a simple vigil in front of parliament aimed ateducating passersby and ridiculing the blatant crimes of the elitewho worked there. When the foreign financial community (theIMF and the European Union) pressured Iceland’s Parliament to passlaws dictating repayment of debts privatelyincurred by bankers, the revolution was formally ignited and nearlyturned violent when some Icelanders began throwing rocks at thecapital, attempting to pressure the government for redress.
Torfason and hissupporters knew that a non-violent approach would be more effective,and formed a “human wall” of clearly marked orange-vestedcitizens between angry rock-throwers and the police line. Torfasonbelieved that in order for a movement to be effective, one must usereason and information, as well as peaceful demonstrations, to send astrong message to politicians that the people refuse to pay thebankers’ debts.
Theend result of the peaceful resistance to economic tyranny is a modelfor all Western nations who are currently being gutted by a totallycorrupt banking system.
This story is muchdifferent than what has happened in the US since the banking crisisbegan in 2008. Large “bailouts” were granted to the bankers, andnone of the responsible parties have faced criminal prosecution. Andit appears that we are still at the mercy of the currency cartel andthe dollar faces total destruction.
InIceland, the prime minister was indicted, over 200 criminal chargeswere filed against the bankers, and all of the former CEOs of the 3biggest banks were arrested. The new government supported citizens bypassing a banking remittance that forgave debt exceeding 110% of homevalues. As a result, “banks have forgiven loans equivalentto 13 percent of gross domestic product, easing the debt burdens ofmore than a quarter of the population.” (source: Bloomberg.com)
Yes,the country continued to struggle economically after the 2008revolution. But already today Iceland is thriving, with 2.9% growthin the economy in 2011, and 2.4% estimated by the OECD for 2012and 2013.
“The lesson to belearned from Iceland’s crisis is that if other countries think it’snecessary to write down debts, they should look at how successful the110 percent agreement was here. It’s the broadest agreement that’sbeen undertaken.” – Thorolfur Matthiasson, an economics professorat the University of Iceland in Reykjavik (source: Bloomberg.com)
“This is about ourlife and the future of the children, of the generations, of the youngpeople.” – Hörður Torfason (source:http://vimeo.com/25824717)
Can America hold outfor a banking miracle like Iceland’s and somehow muster thefortitude to demand an end to economic corruption? Perhaps HörðurTorfason is available to help get American mobilized.
Resources:
Meltdown Iceland:Lessons on the World Financial Crisis from a Small Bankrupt Island byRoger Boyes
Inside Job movieby Matt Damon
Sources:
http://www.alternet.org/world/how-gay-rights-maverick-helped-topple-icelands-government
http://vimeo.com/25824717
http://crazyemailsandbackstories.wordpress.com/2012/05/12/icelands-amazing-peaceful-revolution-still-not-in-the-news-backstory/
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/08/01/1001662/-Iceland-s-On-going-Revolution
http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews/article/964401/cenk_uygur%3A_iceland_shows_bailing_out_middle_class_works%2C_not_bailing_out_banks/
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-20/icelandic-anger-brings-record-debt-relief-in-best-crisis-recovery-story.html
This article isoffered under Creative Commons license. It’s okay to republish itanywhere as long as attribution bio is included and all links remainintact.

DARPA Foam Blocks Internal Bleeding

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 This one is too easy by half. The fluids are shot into the injuryand contained while it encapsulates the wound itself, haltingbleeding. It is a three hour bridge that is enough to save most.
It certainly surpasses the old pressure bandage.
This will quickly find its way into motor vehicle accidents and therelated paramedic training. In practice, paramedic training isadvancing and improving apace. It is the first stage in recovery andwe are slowly solving the worst cases. It is becoming more and morepossible to survive the event. It will always be touch and go, butthis means that bleeding out after the paramedics arrive is less of arisk.

DARPA FOAM COULDINCREASE SURVIVAL RATE FOR VICTIMS OF INTERNAL HEMORRHAGING

December 10, 2012
Technology developedunder DARPA’s Wound Stasis System program resulted in 72 percentsurvival rate at three hours post-injury in testing
http://www.darpa.mil/NewsEvents/Releases/2012/12/10.aspx

The Department ofDefense’s medical system aspires to a standard known as the “GoldenHour” that dictates that troops wounded on the battlefield aremoved to advanced-level treatment facilities within the first 60minutes of being wounded. In advance of transport, initialbattlefield medical care administered by first responders is oftencritical to injured service members’ survival. In the case ofinternal abdominal injuries and resulting internal hemorrhaging,however, there is currently little that can be done to stanchbleeding before the patients reach necessary treatment facilities;internal wounds cannot be compressed the same way external woundscan, and tourniquets or hemostatic dressings are unsuitable becauseof the need to visualize the injury. The resulting blood loss oftenleads to death from what would otherwise be potentially survivablewounds.
DARPA launched itsWound Stasis System program in 2010 in the hopes of finding atechnological solution that could mitigate damage from internalhemorrhaging. The program sought to identify a biological mechanismthat could discriminate between wounded and healthy tissue, and bindto the wounded tissue. As the program evolved, an even bettersolution emerged: Wound Stasis performer Arsenal Medical, Inc.developed a foam-based product that can control hemorrhaging in apatient’s intact abdominal cavity for at least one hour, based onswine injury model data. The foam is designed to be administered onthe battlefield by a combat medic, and is easily removable by doctorsduring surgical intervention at an appropriate facility, asdemonstrated in testing.


Wound Stasisperformers presented pre-clinical data on the foam treatment at the2012 Annual Meeting of the American Association for the Surgery ofTrauma in Kauai, Hawaii. These data demonstrated the ability ofthe foam to treat severe hemorrhage for up to three hours in a modelof lethal liver injury. During testing, minimally invasiveapplication of the product reduced blood loss six-fold and increasedthe rate of survival at three hours post-injury to 72 percent fromthe eight percent observed in controls.
“Potentially, WoundStasis provides an important addition to our ability to save life andlimb. Getting after these heretofore difficult-to-stabilize, if notuntreatable wounds, expands our options and effectively extends the‘Golden Hour,’” said Maj. Gen. Bill Hix, Director of ConceptDevelopment for the Army Capability Integration Center at Trainingand Doctrine Command. “A capability like this is important in anyoperation, but would prove vital during operations in austere areaswhere military resources and infrastructure are at a premium,” hesaid.
“Wound Stasis hasbeen an exciting program because we were able to move unexpectedlyfrom fundamental research to a pre-clinical proof-of-concept based onthe strength of our findings,” said Brian Holloway, DARPAprogram manager. “According to the U.S. Army Institute of SurgicalResearch, internal hemorrhage is the leading cause of potentiallysurvivable deaths on the battlefield, so the Wound Stasis effortshould ultimately translate into an increased rate of survival amongwarfighters. If testing bears out, the foam technology could affectup to 50 percent of potentially survivable battlefield wounds. Welook forward to working with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration onfuture regulatory submission of this device, and with our partners,the Army Institute of Surgical Research and Special OperationsCommand, on getting this technology to where it’s desperatelyneeded on the front lines.”
The foam is actually apolyurethane polymer that forms inside a patient’s body uponinjection of two liquid phases, a polyol phase and an isocyanatephase, into the abdominal cavity. As the liquids mix, tworeactions are triggered. First, the mixed liquid expands toapproximately 30 times its original volume while conforming to thesurfaces of injured tissue. Second, the liquid transforms intosolid foam capable of providing resistance to intra-abdominal bloodloss. The foam can expand through pooled and clotted blood anddespite the significant hydrostatic force of an active hemorrhage.
In tests, removal ofthe foam took less than one minute following incision by a surgeon.The foam was removed by hand in a single block, with onlyminimal amounts remaining in the abdominal cavity, and with nosignificant adherence of tissue to the foam. Features appearingin relief on the extracted foam showed conformal contact withabdominal tissues and partial encapsulation of the small and largebowels, spleen, and liver. Blood absorption was limited to near thesurface of the foam; the inside of the foam block remained almostuniformly free of blood.
DARPA recently awardeda $15.5 million Phase II contract to Arsenal Medical to continuedevelopment of the treatment system and support regulatorysubmission. DARPA anticipates continuing the Wound Stasis programthrough at least FDA approval of a prototype device.

Cancer Communication Breakthgrough

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This is unexpected. Everyone thought that an errant cell took of andspread by multiplying. How about simply converting neighbors as wellif not mostly. The way cancer does spread is quick and this trickmakes that process possible as well as its rapid spread in the body.
The hard question is to actually stop the process itself to alsostall the growth and spreading behavior in its tracks. Not assatisfactory as an outright cure but it would still work very well insaving lives.
In the meantime we have a major new research avenue.

Canadian scientists discover howcancer cells communicate with healthy cells in major breakthrough
Sheryl Ubelacker,Canadian Press | Dec 21, 2012

http://life.nationalpost.com/2012/12/21/canadian-scientists-discover-how-cancer-cells-communicate-with-healthy-cells-in-major-breakthrough/
TORONTO — Canadianscientists have made a major discovery about how cancer spreads:tumour cells appear to co-opt normal cells around them, in effect“talking” them into helping the cancer set up shop in other partsof the body.
The process, calledmetastasis, is what often makes malignancies so challenging to treat— and typically more deadly.
“People often thinkof cancer as this separate tissue, sort of like a foreign invader, athing that’s sitting inside that’s separate from their normalbody,” said principal investigator Jeff Wrana, a molecularbiologist at the Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute in Toronto.
“But, in fact, thecancers are intimately communicating in a dialogue with the normalcells around them,” he said. “So basically, the normal cells arepassing signals to the tumour cells and the tumour cells are passingsignals to the normal cells.”
Working with humanbreast cancer cells in the lab, Wrana and colleagues found thattumour cells get sets of instructions in the form of protein“messages” passed between healthy and cancerous cells.
It’s been known fora while that communication existed between these cell types, but itwas thought it was akin to “words” or incomplete “sentences.”
‘We discovered thatthe normal cells were basically sending an entire paragraph ofinstructions to the tumour cells’
“But what wediscovered was that the normal cells were basically sending an entireparagraph of instructions to the tumour cells,” said Wrana.
“And theseinstructions were actually telling the tumour cells how to use itsown machinery to invade and metastasize, to spread throughout thebody.”
The protein that doesthe talking is part of tiny fragments of cells called exosomes. Incancer, the tumour cell releases exosomes to influence neighbouringcells — and those nearby normal cells secrete exosomes that helptumour cells to spread.
‘The tumourcells are kind of tweaking the normal cells and making themmisbehave’
“The tumour cellsare kind of tweaking the normal cells and making them misbehave,”explained Wrana. “Then these normal cells start producing thingsthat actually help the tumour cell.”
The researchers, whowere at first surprised and skeptical of their finding, also lookedfor the phenomenon in lab mice bred as a model for human breastcancer.
They found thecommunication between normal and tumour cells also occurred in theanimals. And Wrana said the same process would go on in people.

Handout/Mount SinaiHospital/Canadian PressJeff Wrana, a molecular biologist at theSamuel Lunenfeld Research Institute in Toronto, says members of hisresearch team were at first surprised and skeptical of their finding,but also looked for the phenomenon in lab mice bred as a model forhuman breast cancer. They found the communication between normal andtumour cells also occurred in the animals. And Wrana said the sameprocess would go on in people.
“And it’s thatspreading metastases, for instance to the lung, that is the cause ofdeath for a vast number of cancer patients.”
Metastases thatoriginate from a primary cancer site in other organs — forinstance, a prostate tumour that transfers its cells into bone—likely are activated in a similar way, said Wrana, whose lab willnext look for this cell-to-cell dialogue in invasive bladder cancer.
He said the discoveryof the exosomes’ role is important because it gives researchers anew treatment target: “If we can interfere with that, then we canblock the ability of the cancer cells to spread out of the primarysite.”
The research team islooking to develop drugs known as biologics that would block thissignal pathway between cells.
“Instead of onlytargeting the primary tumour, we can now pinpoint the cells in thetumour’s environment that are responding to the tumour and targetthose too,” said Valbona Luga, a co-author of the study publishedThursday in the journal Cell.
“We hope to use ournew knowledge of the tumour’s immediate surroundings to interceptits signals to cancer cells, and by doing so, drastically impedetumour spreading,” she said.

Bigfoot is Real

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This is a decade old article andit is timely, as it displays the show evolution of scientific acceptance.  Today we are in possession of detailed DNAinformation that makes this creature not only real but also part human in termsof its ancestry.
A key point is that science isslowly beginning to pay attention.
My own experience began in themid nineties when I decide to simply go through the available data to see wereit led.  It led to a fresh understandingof a proper theoretical foundation for scientific method as well as a powerfulcase for the reality of Big Foot.  What in fact came out is that with enough data, a surprisingly clear picture will emerge from which testable inferences and questions may be drawn to be confirmed by later sightings.
I then applied the method to what is turning out to be a host of curious data points on other creatures begging for something other that lazy dismissal.  It turns out that Nessie is odd and unique until you discover hundreds of conforming lakes throughout the Northern and Southern Hemispheres all happily general their own local version of the tale.  Again all the data is local and the observers are alone unique while the necessary conditions are common but often outside human interaction.
In the meantime far too manyscientists are asked for opinions that they have no right to provide.  Unfortunately too many do opine instead ofstating that the data is insufficient and they personally do not care whichwould be an exact truth.
The Bigfoot phenomenon has now entereda state in which contact has become both plausible and possible.  It will be possible to speak to them.  We need some young researchers to pull a JaneGoodall project.  Several excellenttargets now exist.
We even have all the necessaryhardware to assist.


Bigfoot Is Real
Stefan Lovgren
National Geographic News
October 23, 2003
http://frontiersofzoology.blogspot.ca/2012/12/forensic-expert-says-bigfoot-is-real.html

It's been the subject of campfire stories for decades. Acamera-elusive, grooming-challenged, bipedal ape-man that roams the mountainregions of North America. Some call itSasquatch. Others know it as Bigfoot.Thousands of people claim to have seen thehairy hominoid, but the evidence of its existence is fuzzy. There are few clearphotographs of the oversized beast. No bones have ever been found. Countlesspranksters have admitted to faking footprints. 
Yet a small but vociferous number of scientists remain undeterred. Riskingridicule from other academics, they propose that there's enough forensicevidence to warrant something that has never been done: a comprehensive,scientific study to determine if the legendary primate actually exists.
"Given the scientific evidence that I have examined, I'm convinced there'sa creature out there that is yet to be identified," said Jeff Meldrum, aprofessor of anatomy and anthropology at IdahoState Universityin Pocatello.

Thousands of Sightings
Sasquatch stories go back centuries. Tales of mythical giant apes lurk in theoral traditions of most Native American tribes, as well as in Europe and Asia. The Himalaya hasits Abominable Snowman, or the Yeti. In Australia,Bigfoot is known as the Yowie Man.Bigfoot advocates hypothesize that theprimate is the offspring of an ape from Asia that wandered to North America during the Ice Age. They believe there are at least 2,000ape men walking upright in North America'swoods today.An adult male is said to be at least 8 feet (2.4 meters) tall,weigh 800 pounds (360 kilograms), and have feet twice the size of a human's.The creatures are described as shy and nocturnal, and their diets consistmostly of berries and fruits.Matt Moneymaker had been searching for Bigfoot foryears. In the woods of eastern Ohio,he claims he finally came eye to eye with the elusive primate."It was 2o'clock in the morning and the moon was a quarter full," recalledMoneymaker. "Suddenly, there he was, an eight-foot-tall creature, standing15 feet away, growling at me. He wanted to let me know I was in the wrongplace."Moneymaker, who lives in DanaPoint in southern California, is a lawyer who runs his ownmarketing agency. In his spare time, he leads the Bigfoot Field ResearchersOrganization, a network of more than 3,000 people who claim to have seen theSasquatch.Unfortunately, no one has been able to snap a clear picture of thebeast.

Perhaps the most compelling photographic evidence of Bigfoot is a controversialshort film shot by Roger Patterson in 1967, which appears to document a femaleBigfoot striding along a riverbank in northern California.

"It certainly wasn't human"
Now, Bigfoot advocates are increasingly turning to forensic evidence to provethe existence of the giant creature.
Investigator Jimmy Chilcutt of the Conroe Police Department in Texas, whospecializes in finger- and footprints, has analyzed the more than 150 casts ofBigfoot prints that Meldrum, the Idaho State professor, keeps in alaboratory.Chilcutt says one footprint found in 1987 in Walla Walla inWashington State has convinced him that Bigfoot is real."The ridge flowpattern and the texture was completely different from anything I've everseen," he said. "It certainly wasn't human, and of no known primatethat I've examined. The print ridges flowed lengthwise along the foot, unlikehuman prints, which flow across. The texture of the ridges was about twice thethickness of a human, which indicated that this animal has a real thickskin."Meldrum, meanwhile, says a 400-pound (180-kilogram) block of plasterknown as the Skookum Cast provides further evidence of Bigfoot's existence. Thecast was made in September 2000 from an impression of a large animal that hadapparently lain down on its side to retrieve some fruit next to a mud hole inthe Gifford PinchotNational Forest in Washington State.Meldrum says the cast contains recognizable impressions of a forearm, a thigh,buttocks, an Achilles tendon and heel. "It's 40 to 50 percent bigger thana normal human," he said. "The anatomy doesn't jive with any knownanimal."A few academics believe Meldrum could be right.Renowned chimpanzeeresearcher Jane Goodall last year surprised an interviewer from National PublicRadio when she said she was sure that large, undiscovered primates, such as theYeti or Sasquatch, exist.

The Skeptics
But the vast majority of scientists still believe Bigfoot is little more thansupermarket tabloid fodder. They wonder why no Bigfoot has ever been captured,dead or alive."The bottom line is, they don't have a body," saidMichael Dennett, who writes for Skeptical Inquirer magazine and whohas followed the Bigfoot debate for 20 years.Bigfoot buffs note that it's rareto find a carcass of a grizzly bear in the wild. While that's true, grizzlieshave not escaped photographic documentation.Hair samples that have beenrecovered from alleged Bigfoot encounters have turned out to come from elk,bears or cows.Many of the sightings and footprints, meanwhile, have proved tobe hoaxes.After Bigfoot tracker Ray Wallace died in a California nursing homelast year, his children finally announced that their prank-loving dad hadcreated the modern myth of Bigfoot when he used a pair of carved wooden feet tocreate a track of giant footprints in a northern California logging camp in1958.Dennett says he's not surprised by the flood of Bigfootsightings."It's the same kind of eyewitness reports we see for the Loch Ness Sea Monster, UFOs,ghosts, you name it," he said. "The monster thing is a universalproduct of the human mind. We hear such stories from around the world."

SpanishTreasure Gold

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 This story continues to show us the real need for an internationaltreaty that allows treasure hunting to be made viable. The outcomehere is a tragedy for the investors and worse for Spain since everyfurther recovery is simply going to be grabbed and tossed directlyinto a smelter.
A correct solution is to outright recognize discoverer's right andthen apply a transfer price for recovered material. I may needarbitration to settle it but that is common anyway. The point isthat any transfer price must recognize fair market value andlegitimate costs including a reasonable allowance for archeologicaloversight not to be abused either.
The right to pay can even be transferred on as institutions aroundthe world can then directly participate.
It is easy to establish a melt price for a gold coin that is easilyhonored. It is also quite worthless if it cannot be transferred inits present condition.
That is the easy problem. Way more important we want archeologicalartifacts to also be identified as to provenance and the way to dothis is to establish a fair market for provenance and again torecognize discovery as ownership. Do that and the discoverers willmore anal than any archeologist. That way the institutionsautomatically have first dibs and a healthy market establishes valueand this then leads to artifacts already out there resurfacing.
As I learned a long time ago in the mining exploration business, onlythe owner will show up on a property choked with thorny vegetation ina howling wind storm raining horizontally to help you channel samplea hungry looking rock face. If governments and archeologist can everlearn to trust the people we will be buried in fresh data, artifactsand detailed information matching the best work of indifferentstudents any day.


Spain shows off$500M shipwreck treasure

A worker of theministry holds up for photographers a silver coin from the shipwreckof a 1804 galleon, on its first display to the media at a ministrybuilding, in Madrid, Friday, Nov. 30, 2012 [Credit: AP/Daniel Ochoade Olza]


A block of encrustedsilver coins from the shipwreck of a 1804 galleon, on its firstdisplay to the media at a ministry building, in Madrid, Friday, Nov.30, 2012. Spanish cultural officials have allowed the first peep at16 tons (14.5 metric tons) of the shipwreck, 'Nuestra Senora de lasMercedes' a treasure worth an estimated $500 million that a U.S.salvage company gave up after a five-year international ownershipdispute [Credit: AP/Daniel Ochoa de Olza]


http://archaeologynewsnetwork.blogspot.ca/2012/12/spain-shows-off-500m-shipwreck-treasure.html
Spanish culturalofficials allowed a first peek Friday at some of the 16 tons ofshipwreck treasure worth an estimated $500 million that a U.S.salvage company gave up this year after a five-year ownershipdispute.
Only a tiny portion ofthe haul from the Nuestra Senora de las Mercedes, a galleon that ankoff Portugal's Atlantic coast near the straits of Gibraltar in 1804,was shown to the media: 12 individual silver coins, a block ofencrusted silver coins stuck together after centuries underwater, twogold tobacco boxes and a bronze pulley.

Authoritieswho have been inventorying the treasure since it was flown fromFlorida to Spain in February said it will be transferred later thisyear from Madrid to the National Museum of Underwater Archaeology inthe Mediterranean city of Cartagena. Displays are expected to startnext year, with some items put on rotating temporary displays atmuseums across the country.

Thoughprevious estimates have put the value of the treasure at $500million, Spanish officials said they weren't trying to determine anamount because the haul is part of the nation's cultural heritage andcan never be sold under Spanish law.

"It'sinvaluable," said Elisa de Cabo, the Culture Ministry's deputydirector of national heritage. "How would you put a price on theMona Lisa?"
Spain tookpossession of the treasure after courts rejected arguments thatFlorida-based Odyssey Marine Exploration was entitled to all or mostof the treasure. De Cabo said Spanish authorities are still trying toconvince a judge in Tampa that the American company should also beforced to pay Spain's legal costs.

Officials said Fridaythat the weight of the treasure was not the 17 tons reported duringthe legal fight because that included a ton of sea water used to helppreserve many of the silver coins in storage containers.
The inventorycounted 574,553 silver coins and 212 gold coins.

Odyssey hadargued that the wreck was never positively identified as theMercedes. And if it was that vessel, the company contended, then theship was on a commercial trade trip — not a sovereign mission —at the time it sank, meaning Spain would have no firm claim to thecargo. International treaties generally hold that warships sunk inbattle are protected from treasure seekers.

Odyssey lostevery round in federal courts as the Spanish government painted thecompany as modern-day pirates. The company has said in earningsstatements that it has spent $2.6 million salvaging, transporting,storing and conserving the treasure.

The metalswere mined and the coins minted in the Andes, from places that arenow in Bolivia, Chile and Peru.

Spain overcamea last-minute effort by the Peruvian government to block the transferof the treasure back to Spain. Peru did not gain its independenceuntil 1824, but the country's lawyers argued it was more than asimple colony at the time because it was the local seat of theSpanish crown when the ship sank.

Spain's QueenSofia promised in a visit to Bolivia several months ago that some ofthe treasure would be lent to the country for display in museums.
Author: AlanClendenning | Source: Associated Press [December 01, 2012]

Shell Housing?

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 I am not sure just what they are thinking here but then what of it.What we really need is internal thin wall insulation along with baseboard heating or its equivalent. I would also think out heatexchangers able to vacate an empty room and drop the temperature tofive degrees.
Other wise the precocious human monkey will fill up every spaceavailable to it with its acquisitions. Which of course why this lineof research is a waste.
No one wishes to step out into the barn.
RYERSON UNIVERSITYRESEARCH EXPLORES FEASIBILITY OF “HOUSE WITHIN A HOUSE” DESIGN
New findings suggestthat changes to home construction design could result in 80% energysavings
December 03, 2012
http://www.ryerson.ca/news/media/General_Public/20121203_rn_richman.html

Ryerson professorRussell Richman (left) with his research partners Ekaterina Tzekovaand Kim Pressnail, in front of the Toronto home that will beretrofitted with their nested thermal envelope design this winter.
As temperatures fallthis winter, heating costs will inevitably rise. In response,Canadians will pull out their slippers, light the hearth andvigilantly monitor their thermostats, but what more can be done?According to collaborative research led by Ryerson University, asimple change in the way we live in our homes, and the introductionof a heat pump, could save up to 80% on energy consumption.
Russell Richman, aprofessor in the Department of Architectural Science atRyerson University, is the co-principal investigator of an on-goingresearch project that explores the practicality of Nested ThermalEnvelope Design, a home construction design that employs zonalheating.  Space heating is the largest single contributor toresidential energy use in Canada at 60% of the total. Minimizingenvelope heat losses is one approach to reducing this percentage.Thanks to a construction research grant including $200,000 and$100,000 cash contributions from the Ontario Power Authority'sTechnology and Development Fund and the University of Toronto, thenested thermal envelope design will soon be implemented in a home indowntown Toronto.
“In the winter, youcould get savings by living in a smaller space, period,” saysRichman. “But you can’t just heat one room, because there is noinsulation between one room and the outside or other rooms. To do itreally well, you need to insulate the room and then insulate thewhole house. As we explain it, zonal heating is just a house within ahouse, or a box within a box.”
The nested thermalenvelope design has two key components.  First, the home must bedivided into two different zones; the perimeter and the core. Thecore is the home’s main living area, for example, the kitchen, theliving room and bedrooms. The perimeter is those less often usedrooms, such as a formal dining room, sunrooms and secondarybathrooms. Secondly, the home must have a small heating unit thatcycles heat from the perimeter into the core during the winterseason. The heat pump funnels heat lost to the perimeter back intothe core of the home, before it escapes the perimeter and is lost tothe exterior of the home. 
To take full advantageof the design, the home’s core must be set at a reasonabletemperature, for example 21 degrees, while the perimeter stays at 5degrees. It is important to note that living in the core of the homeis only necessary during the colder months, when the desire to savemoney on heating costs is at its height and when the disparitybetween indoor and outdoor temperatures is greatest.
This nested thermalenvelope design was originally conceived by Richman and hiscolleague, University of Toronto professor Kim Pressnail, following adiscussion between the pair on the heat loss they were experiencingin their own homes. After considering the practicality of simplyliving in fewer rooms, the researchers experimented with the practiceof living in a smaller space while also recycling heat from withintheir homes. Along with Ph.D. candidate Ekaterina Tzekova, also fromthe University of Toronto, the team has been evaluating variations onnested thermal envelope designs since 2007.
After drafting theoriginal design, the research team tested it using a building energysimulation program, called EnergyPlus.  Calculations revealed upto 80% in energy savings.
This winter, theresearchers are moving into the next stage of the project. The nestedthermal envelope design will be implemented into a home in downtownToronto.  The team will elect test subjects to live in the home,beginning with a student and, later on, the home will become aresidence for visiting professors. The research team will trackbehaviour patterns and get feedback from the occupants themselves.
“The question is, isit worth the additional effort of installing a heat pump? The pumpneeds to be servicing a lot of energy in order to validate thisdesign,” says Richman.  “There are so many researchquestions to be answered with the house. It’s always exciting totake theoretical research and turn it into practice.”
Richman and hiscolleagues hope to collect data from the home and its inhabitantsover the next five years, after which time they will continue theirresearch with a custom built home.
The group’spreliminary findings were published in the November 2012 issueofEnergy and Buildings.
Ryerson University isCanada's leader in innovative, career-oriented education and auniversity clearly on the move. With a mission to serve societalneed, and a long-standing commitment to engaging its community,Ryerson offers more than 100 undergraduate and graduate programs.Distinctly urban, culturally diverse and inclusive, the university ishome to more than 28,000 students, including 2,300 master's and PhDstudents, nearly 2,700 faculty and staff, and 140,000 alumniworldwide. Research at Ryerson is on a trajectory of success andgrowth: externally funded research has doubled in the past fiveyears. The G. Raymond Chang School of Continuing Education isCanada's leading provider of university-based adult education. Formore information, visitwww.ryerson.ca.

Argentine Mom Rescues 900 Sex Slaves

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This one woman shows us the way forward. Sex slavery existseverywhere and is a profoundly criminal activity in its operation andorganization. It is one thing for the willing to participate and forthem legalization is necessary to avoid direct exploitation. That isstill insufficient to satisfy supply so long as it is criminalized.
Yet long before the laws are ever rationalized, here is the way. Onewomen has gone out and rescued nine hundred with no help. Nowsuppose this activity became church sponsored and suppose brothelswere confronted with a group of women demanding access and the timeto interview the victims. A dozen women on your doorstep soonchanges the political dynamic with the authorities. If one woman canaccomplish this much, how much can be accomplished by a volunteerfemale swat team.
The publicity alone will end most of the worst abuse quickly.
Argentine momrescues hundreds of sex slaves during long, failed hunt for kidnappeddaughter
By Emily Schmall,
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/argentine-mom-rescues-hundreds-sex-slaves-during-long-165510490.html

LA PLATA, Argentina -Susana Trimarco was a housewife who fussed over her family and paidscant attention to the news until her daughter left for a doctor'sappointment and never came back.After getting littlehelp from police, Trimarco launched her own investigation into a tipthat the 23-year-old was abducted and forced into sex slavery. Soon,Trimarco was visiting brothels seeking clues about her daughter andthe search took an additional goal: rescuing sex slaves and helpingthem start new lives.
What began as aone-woman campaign a decade ago developed into a movement andTrimarco today is a hero to hundreds of women she's rescued fromArgentine prostitution rings. She's been honoured with the "Womenof Courage" award by the U.S. State Department and was nominatedfor the Nobel Peace Prize on Nov. 28. Sunday night, PresidentCristina Fernandez gave her a human rights award before hundreds ofthousands of people in the Plaza de Mayo.
But years of exploringthe decadent criminal underground haven't led Trimarco to herdaughter, Maria de los Angeles "Marita" Veron, who was 23in 2002 when she disappeared from their hometown in provincialTucuman, leaving behind her own 3-year-old daughter Micaela.
"I live forthis," the 58-year-old Trimarco told The Associated Press of herongoing quest. "I have no other life, and the truth is, it is avery sad, very grim life that I wouldn't wish on anyone."
Her painful journeyhas now reached a milestone.
Publicity overTrimarco's efforts prompted Argentine authorities to make ahigh-profile example of her daughter's case by putting 13 people ontrial for allegedly kidnapping Veron and holding her as a sex slavein a family-run operation of illegal brothels. Prostitution is notillegal in Argentina, but the exploitation of women for sex is.
A verdict is expectedTuesday after a nearly yearlong trial.
The seven men and sixwomen have pleaded innocent and their lawyers have said there's nophysical proof supporting the charges against them. The allegedringleaders denied knowing Veron and said that women who work intheir brothels do so willingly. Prosecutors have asked for up to 25years imprisonment for those convicted.
Trimarco was theprimary witness during the trial, testifying for six straight daysabout her search for her daughter.
The road to trial wasa long one.
Frustrated by seemingindifference to her daughter's disappearance, Trimarco began her ownprobe and found a taxi driver who told of delivering Veron to abrothel where she was beaten and forced into prostitution. The driveris among the defendants.
With her husband andgranddaughter in tow, Trimarco disguised herself as a recruiter ofprostitutes and entered brothel after brothel searching for clues.She soon found herself immersed in the dangerous and grim world oforganized crime, gathering evidence against police, politicians andgangsters.
"For the firsttime, I really understood what was happening to my daughter,"she said. "I was with my husband and with Micaela, asleep in thebackseat of the car because she was still very small and I had no oneto leave her with."
The very first womanTrimarco rescued taught her to be strong, she said.
"It stuck with meforever: She told me not to let them see me cry, because theseshameless people who had my daughter would laugh at me, and at mypain," Trimarco said. "Since then I don't cry anymore. I'vemade myself strong, and when I feel that a tear might drop, Iremember these words and I keep my composure."
Micaela, now 13, hasbeen by her grandmother's side throughout, contributing to publicitycampaigns against human trafficking and keeping her mother's memoryalive.
More than 150witnesses testified in the trial, including a dozen former sex slaveswho described brutal conditions in the brothels.
Veron may have beenkidnapped twice, with the complicity of the very authorities whoshould have protected her, according to Julio Fernandez, who now runsa Tucuman police department devoted to investigating humantrafficking. He testified that witnesses reported seeing Veron at abus station three days after she initially disappeared, and that apolice officer from La Rioja, Domingo Pascual Andrada, delivered herto a brothel there. Andrada, now among the defendants, denied knowingany of the other defendants, let alone Veron.
Other Tucuman policetestified that when they sought permission in 2002 to search La Riojabrothels, a judge made them wait for hours, enabling Veron's captorsto move her. That version was supported by a woman who had been aprostitute at the brothel: She testified that Veron was moved justbefore police arrived. The judge, Daniel Moreno, is not on trial. Hedenied delaying the raid or having anything to do with thedefendants.
Some of the formerprostitutes said they had seen Veron drugged and haggard. Onetestified Veron felt trapped and missed her daughter. Another saidshe spotted Veron with dyed-blonde hair and an infant boy she wasforced to conceive in a rape by a ringleader. A third thought Veronhad been sold to a brothel in Spain — a lead reported to Interpol.
Trimarco's campaign tofind her daughter led the State Department to provide seed money fora foundation in Veron's name. To date, it has rescued more than 900women and girls from sex trafficking. The foundation also provideshousing, medical and psychological aid, and it helps victims sueformer captors.
Argentina outlawedhuman trafficking in 2008, thanks in large part to the foundation'swork. A new force dedicated to combating human trafficking hasliberated nearly 3,000 more victims in two years, said SecurityMinister Nilda Garre, who wrote a newspaper commentary saying thetrial's verdict should set an example.
Whatever the verdict,Trimarco's lawyer, Carlos Garmendia, says the case has already made adifference.
"Humantrafficking was an invisible problem until the Marita (Veron) case,"Garmendia said. "The case has put it on the national agenda."
But Trimarco wantsmore. "I had hoped they would break down and say what they'ddone with Marita," she said.
"I feel here inmy breast that she is alive and I'm not going to stop until I findher," Trimarco said. "If she's no longer in this world, Iwant her body."