Archive For February 2010
Zen May Thicken Brain, Thwart Pain
on 28/02/2010 (2 weeks ago) by NW0.eu in Philosophy and Spirituality, Comments (0)
From Bloomberg.com:
Meditation appears to build up cortex, MRI scans find
If you’re trying to reduce your sensitivity to pain, Zen meditation may help by actually thickening your brain, new research suggests.The authors of a new study, published in a special issue of the journal Emotion, reached their conclusions after comparing brain thickness in 17 Zen meditators and a control group of 18 people who didn’t meditate and hadn’t practiced yoga or suffered from chronic pain, brain disease or mental illness.
The researchers applied heat to the participants’ calves and used MRI scans to study how their brains reacted to the pain.
“Through training, Zen meditators appear to thicken certain areas of their cortex, and this appears to underlie their lower sensitivity to pain,” study author Joshua A. Grant, a doctoral student in the…
Health Care Overhaul Summit Cements Differences
on by NW0.eu in Politics, Comments (0)
From NPR:
President Obama’s made-for-TV health summit probably didn’t change many minds. And it certainly didn’t produce any bipartisan breakthroughs on Thursday. But it did clarify some of the biggest differences between Republicans and Democrats.
The 18 Republicans who attended the all-day meeting at Blair House, just across from the White House, were polite, but firm. The bills passed by the Democratic House and Senate last year are simply too big for them, and for the American people, to swallow.
“We’ve come to the conclusion we don’t do comprehensive well,” said Sen. Lamar Alexander, a Republican from Tennessee. “Our country is too big, too complicated, too decentralized for Washington; a few of us here, just to write a few rules about remaking 17 percent of the economy all at once.”
But Democrats were just…
America’s Public Debt: The Least of Our Worries
on by NW0.eu in Finance and Corruption, Comments (0)
From Truthout:
Various political demagogues and Wall Street interests have mounted a campaign to convince Americans that despite persistent massive unemployment for the foreseeable future, more than 15 million people underwater on their home mortgages, and two unnecessary wars, what we really should be worried about is America’s national debt.
It doesn’t help that most of the media pretends not to understand the basic economics, accounting, or arithmetic of the issue. Let’s start with the economics: the Obama administration forecasts unemployment of 10.0, 9.2, and 8.2 percent, respectively, for 2010-2012. The rate does not fall to the 5.2 percent rate it considers full employment until 2018.
The difference between 10 percent unemployment and 5.2 percent is more than 7 million people without jobs. And that doesn’t count the increase in millions of people…
California Joblessness Reaches 70-Year High
on by NW0.eu in Finance and Corruption, Comments (0)
In California some will work for food
LOS ANGELES — Californias unemployment rate in August hit its highest point in nearly 70 years, starkly underscoring how the nations incipient economic recovery continues to elude millions of Americans looking for work.
While job losses continue to fall, the states new unemployment rate — 12.2 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics — is far above the national average of 9.7 percent and places California, the nations most-populous state, fourth behind Michigan, Nevada and Rhode Island. Statistics kept by the state show Californias unemployment rate was 14.7 percent in 1940, said Kevin Callori, a spokesman for the California Employment Development Department.While California has convulsed under the same blows as the rest of the country over the last two years, its exposure to both the foreclosure crisis and the slowdown in construction — an industry that has fueled growth in much of the state over the last decade — has been outsized.
Total building levels in California have fallen to $23 billion this year from $63 billion in 2005; home building this year is less than a quarter of what it was in 2005, according to the Center for Continuing Study of the California Economy. Roughly 500,000 of the states job losses have been in construction, finance, real estate and industries related to construction.
Fish Literally Rain Down On Australian Outback…Not Once, But Twice!
on by NW0.eu in World News, Comments (0)
ntnews – While the Top End and Central Australia have been battered by torrential rains, a Territory town has had fish falling from the sky.The freak phenomena happened not once, but twice, on Thursday and Friday afternoon about 6pm at Lajamanu, about …
Perverse Irony: “Tolerance” Museum To Be Built Atop Muslim Cemetary
on by NW0.eu in World News, Comments (0)
From Political Theatrics:
A group of Palestinians descended from 15 of Jerusalem’s oldest Arab families lodged a protest with the UN today in a fresh effort to prevent the construction of a “Museum of Tolerance” on the site of an ancient Muslim cemetery.
The project, run by the Simon Wiesenthal Centre in Los Angeles, has been dogged by controversy since its launch in 2004. Islamic groups and individual Palestinians complained that the site, in west Jerusalem, was the ancient cemetery of Ma’man Allah, also known as Mamilla, which housed thousands of graves dating back hundreds of years and where even today there are still many gravestones and tombs.
The Simon Wiesenthal Centre argued the site was adjacent to the cemetery and that construction would be on what is today a municipal car park.
After…
The Drought That Changed World History
on by NW0.eu in Historical Myths and Conspiracies, Comments (0)
The period of 2200 BC to 1800 BC was quite eventful, the significance of which has not yet been fully recognized by us. A lot of events were taking place across civilizations, events that would shape the destiny of mankind for millennia to come, especially so on the religious front.
Jewish tribes, led by Abraham, were continuously displaced from their homeland, which then led them to go on a prolonged and arduous search for the promised land, a land supposedly promised by God. Even though Bible says that God commanded Abraham to move out to promised land, there must be some other non-mythological reason on why those tribes got displaced in the first place. Abraham is normally dated to 2200 to 1800 BC by historians.
We by now know very well that…
British MoD Vows To Destroy / Refuse Disclosure Of All Future UFO Reports
on by NW0.eu in UFOs, Comments (0)
ukpress – The Ministry of Defence will destroy all future UFO reports it receives so it does not have to make them public, a previously secret memo reveals.Britain’s official UFO investigation unit and hotline were closed down at the start of December….
U.S. Returns 1,000 Historical Artifacts Stolen From Iraq
on by NW0.eu in World News, Comments (0)
From Middle East Online:
US officials have returned more than 1,000 archaeological and historical items stolen from Iraq after the 2003 US-led invasion, Iraq’s ambassador here said Thursday.
Six pieces ranging from an ancient Sumerian stone tablet to an AK-47 rifle bearing Saddam’s image were handed over to Iraq at an embassy ceremony on Thursday.
“As Iraqis, we remain steadfast in our effort to return each and every one of these cultural treasures to their rightful home,” Ambassador Samir Sumaida’ie said at the ceremony.
Baghdad’s envoy said that the Iraqi National Museum lost some 15,000 items due to looting after the collapse of law and order due to the US-led invasion. Half of the items have since been found and returned “due to the diligence of our allies,” Sumaida’ie said.
Items returned included an Iraqi…
Video: Child Apparition – RMS Queen Mary – Long Beach, CA
on by NW0.eu in Paranormal, Comments (0)
Click for videoDescription w/ video: In the winter of 2008 the American Paranormal Research Association APRA conducted an Investigation of the RMS Queen Mary’s First Class Pool.The footage you are about to see was collected during a EMF sweep of the ch…
Photos: UFO Lights Morphing / Readers Respond to Grapevine Canyon, CA Sighting
on by NW0.eu in UFOs, Comments (0)
MUFON witness report (unedited): 2-26-10 – Florida – i was driving to work at 5 am, when i saw 4 lights in an arrow form…2 lights on one side, 2 lights on the other. i kept driving and when i looked up again the lights were moving. interweaving as if…
University ‘tried to mislead MPs on climate change e-mails’
on by NW0.eu in Science and Technology, Comments (0)
The university at the centre of the climate change row over stolen e-mails has been accused of making a misleading statement to Parliament.
Obama gives Patriot Act another year with no privacy protections
on by NW0.eu in Police State, Comments (0)
If the Patriot Act hadn’t been approved for another year, Sunday would have looked much different.
China insider sees revolution brewing
on by NW0.eu in World News, Comments (0)
China’s top expert on social unrest has warned that hardline security policies are taking the country to the brink of ”revolutionary turmoil”.
Tsunami warning canceled in Hawaii
on by NW0.eu in World News, Comments (0)
Authorities on Saturday canceled a tsunami warning in Hawaii after a powerful earthquake in Chile triggered waves of nearly one meter in the Pacific island US state.
