DeSwiss
DeSwiss's JournalIceland president: Let banks go bankrupt
AlJazeeraEnglish · Published on Jan 25, 2013
Iceland President Olafur Ragnar Grimsson tells Al Jazeera's Stephen Cole that Europe should let banks that are ran "irresponsibly" go bankrupt.
Speaking at the annual World Economic Forum in Davos, Grimsson also held his country as a model of economic recovery after its near-collapse four years ago.
"We didn't follow the traditional prevailing orthodoxies. And the end result four years later is that Iceland is enjoying progress and recovery."
- He makes an excellent point. One that Mother Nature endorses, as she breaks down and recycles dead wood all the time.....
Noisy Rooster Reported to Police in Iceland Town
25.01.2013 | 13:39
Source: Wikipedia
A rooster, which was placed in a duplex in an unnamed community on Reykjanes peninsula, in the jurisdiction of the Suðurnes police department, was recently reported to the police for having kept residents awake at night.
The report stated that the rooster crowed at all hours of the day and seemed to become louder in the night, keeping people up or startling those who had managed to fall asleep, visir.is reports.
The police had a talk with the rooster’s owner, who promised, to the neighbors’ great relief, to send it to the country.
ESA
LINK
- I love how the town wished to remain anonymous in this story. Who can blame them? Still, beats assault rifle murder stories by a country mile.....
Why? Because chicks. Duh.
The Water Bearer
[center][font size=5]The Water Bearer[/font]
Temple Illuminatus January 16, 2013
[font size=2]A water bearer in China had two large pots, each hung on the ends of a pole which he carried across his neck. One of the pots had a crack in it, while the other pot was perfect and always delivered a full portion of water. At the end of the long walk from the stream to the House, the cracked pot arrived only half full. For a full two years this went on daily, with the bearer delivering only one and a half pots full of water to his house. Of course, the perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments, perfect for which it was made. But the poor cracked pot was ashamed of it’s own imperfection. And miserable that it was able to accomplish only half of what it had been made to do.
After two years of what it perceived to be a bitter failure, it spoke to the water bearer one day by the stream. “I am ashamed of myself, and I want to apologize to you. I have been able to deliver only half my load because this crack in my side causes water to leak out all the way back to your house. Because of my flaws, you have to do all of this work, and you don’t get full value from your efforts,” the pot said.
The bearer said to the pot, “Did you notice that there were flowers only on your side of the path, but not on the other pot’s side? That’s because I have always known about your flaw. So I planted flower seeds on your side of the path, and every day while we walk back, you’ve watered them. For two years I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate the table. Without you being just the way you are, there would not be this beauty to grace the house?
Moral: Each of us has our own unique flaws. We’re all cracked pots. But it’s the cracks and flaws we each have that make our lives together so very interesting and rewarding. You’ve just got to take each person for what they are, and look for the good in them.
Blessed are the flexible, for they shall not be bent out of shape.
Remember to appreciate all the different people in your life.[/center]
Rep. Ed Markey Questions DOE’s Radioactive Recycling Proposal
Contact: Eben Burnham-Snyder, Rep. Ed Markey, 202-225-2836
Radioactive Scrap Metal Could be Turned into Consumer Products
WASHINGTON (January 11, 2013) – A Department of Energy proposal to allow up to 14,000 metric tons of its radioactive scrap metal to be recycled into consumer products was called into question today by Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) due to concerns over public health. In a letter sent to DOE head Steven Chu, Rep. Markey expressed “grave concerns” over the potential of these metals becoming jewelry, cutlery, or other consumer products that could exceed healthy doses of radiation without any knowledge by the consumer. DOE made the proposal to rescind its earlier moratorium on radioactive scrap metal recycling in December, 2012.
The proposal follows an incident from 2012 involving Bed, Bath & Beyond stores in America recalling tissue holders made in India that were contaminated with the radio-isotope cobalt-60. Those products were shipped to 200 stores in 20 states. In response to that incident, a Nuclear Regulatory Commission spokesperson advised members of the public to return the products even though the amount of contamination was not considered to be a health risk.
“The public concerns associated with such a proposal cannot be understated,” writes Rep. Markey to Secretary Chu. “If these metals are being released to companies who will subsequently manufacture new consumer products from them, DOE simply has no way to ensure that different samples are not aggregated into more highly radioactive products.”
MORE
The full letter can be found HERE.
fairewindsenergy·Published on Jan 15, 2013
http://www.fairewinds.org/
http://www.fairewinds.org/content/repairs-four-nuclear-reactors-are-so-expens...
http://www.fairewinds.org/donations
Fairewinds examines continuing problems at four US nuclear reactors, each of which have been shutdown for more than two years. Upstream dam failures continue to plague Ft. Calhoun, steam generator tube failures at San Onofre jeopardized Los Angeles. Crystal River's containment repairs burden Floridians with excessive costs. Finally, Arnie examines a new proposal by the Department of Energy to melt radioactive scrap metal and reuse it in consumer goods like knives and forks.
New technology to protect US electric grid
AlJazeeraEnglish · Published on Jan 7, 2013
When superstorm Sandy hit the US last October, parts of New York city were without power for weeks.
But new technology is allowing electricity companies to protect their networks better.
Al Jazeera's Tom Ackerman reports from Tennessee.
- The emphasis on ''non-profit utility'' here cannot go unstated - again. New York (like most huge cities by contrast) has a for-profit electric utility. It makes a difference in more than just the price paid for the electricity when the focus is not always on shareholder dividends.....
MAN
Steve Cutts · Published on Dec 21, 2012
Animation created in Flash and After Effects looking at mans relationship with the natural world.
Music: In the Hall of the Mountain King by Edvard Grieg.
facebook.com/SteveCuttsArt
twitter.com/#!/Steve_Cutts
www.stevecutts.com
- Ah. So it does have a happy ending......
Abstract: Propranolol Reduces Implicit Negative Racial Bias
Springer
Psychopharmacology
August 2012, Volume 222, Issue 3, pp 419-424,
Open Access
Sylvia Terbeck,
Guy Kahane,
Sarah McTavish,
Julian Savulescu,
Philip J. Cowen,
Miles Hewstone
Download PDF (164 KB) View Article
[font size=4]Abstract[/font]
Background
Implicit negative attitudes towards other races are important in certain kinds of prejudicial social behaviour. Emotional mechanisms are thought to be involved in mediating implicit “outgroup” bias but there is little evidence concerning the underlying neurobiology. The aim of the present study was to examine the role of noradrenergic mechanisms in the generation of implicit racial attitudes.
Methods
Healthy volunteers (n = 36) of white ethnic origin, received a single oral dose of the ?-adrenoceptor antagonist, propranolol (40 mg), in a randomised, double-blind, parallel group, placebo-controlled, design. Participants completed an explicit measure of prejudice and the racial implicit association test (IAT), 1–2 h after propranolol administration.
Results
Relative to placebo, propranolol significantly lowered heart rate and abolished implicit racial bias, without affecting the measure of explicit racial prejudice. Propranolol did not affect subjective mood.
Conclusions
Our results indicate that ?-adrenoceptors play a role in the expression of implicit racial attitudes suggesting that noradrenaline-related emotional mechanisms may mediate negative racial bias. Our findings may also have practical importance given that propranolol is a widely used drug. However, further studies will be needed to examine whether a similar effect can be demonstrated in the course of clinical treatment.
http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs00213-012-2657-5
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propranolol#Off-label_and_investigational_use
- Conservatives filing a lawsuit demanding that this drug be declared illegal on the grounds of it's restriction of their interstate commerce rights in 5, 4, 3, 2......
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