The Mother Earth Affect



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Mood-boosting Bacteria Found in Dirt

Perhaps this is why gardeners to me have always seemed a notably serene group of people. It certainly has a strong and positive effect on Ronlyn, and several of my friends. I always thought it was just attuning oneself with nature and her processes that did it, and I am sure this is one powerful aspect. But this report suggests another I have never seen advanced before. Two of my friends, Peter Tompkins and Christopher Bird, who wrote Secret Life of Plants, and Secrets of the Soil together, considered micro-organisms a critical secret of life processes. This seems to be another aspect of this secret world that is just unfolding.

LYLAH M. ALPHONSE, Senior Editor - Shine

Even if you don't love gardening, digging in the dirt may be good for your health -- and it has nothing to do with a love of nature or the wonder of watching things grow. The secret may be in the dirt itself: A bacteria called Mycobacterium vaccae that acts like an antidepressant once it gets into your system.

That's right. A living organism that acts like a mood-booster on the human brain, increasing serotonin and norepinephrine levels and making people feel happier. It was accidentally discovered about 10 years ago, when Dr. Mary O'Brien, an oncologist at the Royal Marsden Hospital in London, tried an experimental treatment for lung cancer. She inoculated patients with killed M. vaccae, expecting the bacteria -- which is related to ones that cause tuberculosis and leprosy -- to boost their immune system. It did that, The Economist reported in 2007, but it also ...

Read More - http://shine.yahoo.com/healthy-living/mood-boosting-bacteria-found-dirt-213800904.html

This is a amazing ...Though i sense at the rate things are changing - telepathy will be the new wave

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Science Decodes 'Internal Voices'


This is another development in neuroscience that has both a side of light, and a side of deep darkness. The choice will be ours.

JASON PALMER, Science and Technology Reporter - BBC News (U.K.)

Researchers have demonstrated a striking method to reconstruct words, based on the brain waves of patients thinking of those words.

The technique reported in PLoS Biology relies on gathering electrical signals directly from patients' brains.

Based on signals from listening patients, a computer model was used to reconstruct the sounds of words that patients were thinking of.

The method may in future help comatose and locked-in patients communicate.

Several approaches have in recent years suggested that scientists are closing in on methods to tap into our very thoughts; the current study achieved its result by implanting electrodes directly into a part of participants' brains.

In a 2011 study, participants with electrodes in direct brain contact were able to move a cursor on a screen by simply thinking of vowel sounds.

A technique called functional magnetic resonance imaging to track blood flow in the brain ...

Read More -http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-16811042

Obama arriving at Andrews Air Force Base last week after a five-state trip. Obama and his advisers "are obviously part of the 1 percent," argues Fukuyama.

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'Where Is the Uprising from the Left?'


This is an exceptionally sound interview pointing out why we must re-examine our economic model that makes profit the first and most important priority. I urge you to read it carefully.


HANS HOYNG and GREGOR PETER SCHMITZ, Interviewers - Der Spiegel (Germany)


Political scientist Francis Fukuyama was once the darling of American neo-conservatives. In a SPIEGEL interview, the author of "The End of History" explains why he now believes that the excesses of capitalism are a threat to democracy and asks why there is no "Tea Party on the left."

SPIEGEL: Professor Fukuyama, you are best known for your essay "The End of History," in which you declared that, after the demise of the Soviet Union, liberal democracy had emerged as the triumphant global model. Now, your latest research claims that the flaws of capitalism and globalization could endanger this democratic model. How do you explain this shift?

Fukuyama: Capitalism is the wrong word to use here, because there is not a viable alternative to capitalism. What we are really talking about is just economic growth and the development of modern economic societies. A combination of factors is beginning to ...

Read More - http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,812208,00.html

And we wonder why we might not be quite ready to be fully welcomed into the cosmic community ...



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Victory in Sight for Revolution Over Female Genital Mutilation


The awful practice of female genital mutilation is finally being changed at the level where it matters: cultural. This is wonderful news, particularly in this period when there is a war on women going on in much of the world, including the U.S.

NINA LAKHANI - The Independent (UK)

Amid the horrors surrounding female genital mutilation (FGM) there is a quiet revolution, which experts hope could lead to the eradication of the practice.

Thousands of rural communities across Africa, which have practiced FGM for centuries, are starting to abandon the tradition in response to grass-roots education programmes. Analysts are even daring to talk of eradication within two generations – something that was unimaginable even five years ago.

Another 2,000 communities in countries including Sudan, Somalia and Egypt rejected the practice in 2011.

FGM is a harmful social convention in which part, or all, of a girl's external genitals are removed. Each year around three million girls – 8,000 a day – face FGM. An estimated 130 million girls and women are living with painful complications.

FGM occurs within 28 African countries, but also the Middle East, in Yemen, Oman and UAE, and parts of Asia ...

Read More - http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/politics/victory-in-sight-for-revolution-over-female-genital-mutilation-6579560.html

To continue operating these kinds of exhibitions is just plain morally wrong.

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SeaWorld Sued Over 'Enslaved' Killer Whales

This has the potential to fundamentally alter our relationship with high order mammals. It is going to be very interesting to see where this goes. At one time I ran a marine survey and recovery project, which kept me at sea for much of two years. During that time we were adopted by a pod of dolphins in the Caribbean. The experience left me with the clear sense these were sentient beings.

BBC News (U.K.)

Five killer whales have been named as plaintiffs in a lawsuit which argues they deserve the same constitutional protection from slavery as humans.

A US judge is considering a complaint by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals' (Peta) against SeaWorld.

It is reportedly the first time a US court has heard legal arguments over whether animals should enjoy the same constitutional protections as humans.

SeaWorld's legal team said the case was a waste of time and resources.

The marine park's lawyer, Theodore Shaw, told the court in San Diego: "Neither orcas nor any other animal were included in the 'We the people'... when the Constitution was adopted."

He said that if the case were successful, it could have implications not just on how other marine parks or zoos operate, but even on the police use of sniffer dogs to detect bombs and drugs.
'Historic ...

Read More - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-16920866

For those who are not familiar with this next story...


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kz9bukWbCCU


This technology seems to be progressing quite well ...

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Rossi’s Ex-Partners to Release an Improved Version of LENR for Testing

Rossi's e-Cat is not the only LENR technology out there. His ex-partners have their own version, and there are others. I continue to think this may be the game changer. I track this from many sources, but I am particularly interested in the fact that OilPrice pays so much attention to this technology. If I were in the oil business I certainly would be keeping close tabs.

BRIAN WESTENHAUS - OilPrice

The Praxen Defkalion Green Technologies Global Ltd. (PDGT) firm that was and then wasn’t a partner with Andrea Rossi in marketing the E-Cat LENR reactor has announced the permitting of third party evaluations of their product named 'Hyperion”. PDGT had for a time an opportunity to learn what Rossi has accomplished and since is proposing they have a different take on LENR and are now ready to cooperate with recognized and reputable scientific and business organizations to test and evaluate the Hyperion reactor.

Back at the end of November PDGT offered news that a series of third party tests on Hyperion products were scheduled to be performed within the first months of 2012. That test proceeding is being handled privately and was to take place after a certification of some kind.

The new announcement is a major confidence builder as the firm is offering qualified engineers ...

Read More - http://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/Rossis-Ex-Partners-to-Release-an-Improved-Version-of-LENR-for-Testing.html

It's kind of like wood putty ...



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UGA Discovery Uses ‘Fracture Putty’ to Repair Broken Bone in Days

This is very good news. If you have ever broken a major bone, or been close to someone who has, you can immediately appreciate the implications.

FAITH PEPPERS - University of Georgia

ATHENS, Georgia -- Broken bones in humans and animals are painful and often take months to heal. Studies conducted in part by University of Georgia Regenerative Bioscience Center researchers show promise to significantly shorten the healing time and revolutionize the course of fracture treatment.

"Complex fractures are a major cause of amputation of limbs for U.S. military men and women," said Steve Stice, a Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar, animal and dairy scientist in the UGA College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences and director of the UGA Regenerative Bioscience Center.

"For many young soldiers, their mental health becomes a real issue when they are confined to a bed for three to six months after an injury," he said. "This discovery may allow them to be up and moving as fast as days afterward."

Stice is working with Dr. John Peroni to develop a fast bone healing process. ...

Read More - http://news.uga.edu/releases/article/uga-discovery-uses-fracture-putty-to-repair-broken-bone-in-days/

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Congress Demands Drones Over America

I waited a couple of days to let this sort out, to see if a clarification might be forthcoming modifying it. No such luck. By anyone of a dozen measures, we are becoming a police state. It is astonishing to watch how quickly and easily it is falling into place. And it is going to involve a level of surveillance I don't think people really understand yet, because it is so pervasive and personal. You are going to be appearing dozens if not hundreds of times each day in government and corporate databases.

HARLEY GEIGER - Aviation Pros/Center for Democracy & Technology

Congress is demanding drones in the air over the United States - without considering the civil liberties issues. Within the span of three days last week, the House and then the Senate passed a law - H.R. 658 - requiring the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to speed up, within 90 days, its current licensing process for government use of drones domestically and to open the national airspace to drone aircraft for commercial and private use by October 2015. While the law requires the FAA to develop guidance on drone safety, the law says absolutely nothing about the privacy or transparency implications of filling the sky with flying robots.

As CDT and others have pointed out, drones are powerful surveillance devices capable of being outfitted with facial recognition cameras, license plate scanners, thermal imaging cameras, open WiFi sniffers, and other sensors. Drones' unique ability to hover hundreds or thousands of ...

Read More -http://www.aviationpros.com/news/10627258/congress-demands-drones-over-america

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note - here's an interesting s follow-up to the above story:
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Voters Are Gung-Ho for Use of Drones But Not Over the United States

It will be interesting to see whether what the American population thinks and wants makes any difference to the Congress and the DHS. I wouldn't bet the rent it will have any impact whatever. I chose this poll because Rasmussen is known to be a Republican leaning polling entity.

Click through to see the actual poll and its wording.

Rasmussen Reports

Voters strongly approve of President Obama's decision to use unmanned drones to go after terrorists, but they're much less excited about the use of such aircraft for surveillance on the home front.

The president recently acknowledged that the United States has a secret drone program for killing al-Qaeda and Taliban terrorists, and the latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that just nine percent (9%) of Likely U.S. Voters oppose such a program. Seventy-six percent (76%) approve of the use of the unmanned aircraft to kill terrorists. Fifteen percent (15%) are not sure. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

The program has already caused increased diplomatic tensions with Pakistan over the unintended deaths of civilians from the drone strikes. Still, a plurality (49%) of voters thinks using the drones to kill terrorists is more important than avoiding diplomatic problems with countries like Pakistan. Thirty-three percent ...

Read More - http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/current_events/afghanistan/voters_are_gung_ho_for_use_of_drones_but_not_over_the_united_states

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Group Forces Congressional Hearing On Big Sis’ Twitter, Drudge Spying

The reach of DHS, even now is Orwellian -- and I will probably be put on some list for saying this. As a culture we are going to have to decide whether we will surrender to constant surveillance, or whether we are going to assert our personal liberties in a politically effective manner.

The only counterweight to this toxic trend is massive voter turnout on behalf of programs and politicians that support social wellness. The key is to focus on social wellness, based on data not ideology of theology.

STEVE WATSON - InfoWars.com

A privacy advocacy group has swayed Congress to hold a hearing next week into the Department of Homeland Security’s practice of monitoring social networks such as Twitter and Facebook, as well as media reports and organizations, including The Drudge Report.

The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) recently obtained close to 300 pages of documents, as a result of a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit, detailing the federal agency’s 'intelligence gathering” practices on the web.

Among the documents were guidelines from DHS instructing outside contractors to monitor the web for media reports and comments that 'reflect adversely” on the agency or the federal government.

As Reuters reported last month, in early 2010 contractors were asked to spend 24 hours monitoring news media coverage on popular websites, including Facebook, Twitter, Hulu, WikiLeaks, as well as news sites including the Huffington Post and The Drudge Report.

The contractors were required...

Read More - http://www.infowars.com/group-forces-congressional-hearing-on-big-sis-twitter-drudge-spying/

From giovonni ...

i decided to post this next video as a balancing eye opener (in correlation) in accompanying this most recent news story:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tsiv9_zxRuI

" Description: I decided to interview my raw milk provider, Mark Lopez of Wholesome Dairy Farms to get some answers on raw milk production, benefits and practices.
Feel free to visit www.WholesomeDairyFarms.com for more images and videos on milk production."
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Unfortunately...
"By crossing state lines, the milk became part of interstate commerce and thus subject to the FDA's ban."

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Feds shut down Amish farm for selling fresh milk

The FDA won its two-year fight to shut down an Amish farmer who was selling fresh raw milk to eager consumers in the Washington, D.C., region after a judge this month banned Daniel Allgyer from selling his milk across state lines and he told his customers he would shut down his farm altogether.

The decision has enraged Mr. Allgyer’s supporters, some of whom have been buying from him for six years and say the government is interfering with their parental rights to feed their children...

read more http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/feb/13/feds-shut-down-amish-farm-selling-fresh-milk/

Misery in Athens ...

'New Poor' Grows From Greek Middle Class


This tragic story illustrates a powerful trend: the destruction of the middle class. The Greek story I think particularly important, and I am struck by its comparison with the story of Iceland, where the citizens said, No, we are not going to bail out the banks; we are not going to destroy our middle class. And despite pressure from governments and banks around the world they held true to this through two referendums. Today, just a few years later, Iceland is beginning to prosper again. In contrast Greece has been bullied into drinking the bitter medicine, and may take a generation or more to recover.

JOHANNES KORGE and FERRY BATZOGLOU - Der Spiegel (Germany)

If this crisis has reached Piraeus, then it's done a good job of hiding itself. Even on this cold February night, the luxury cars are lined up outside the chic, waterfront fish restaurants in this port suburb of Athens. But Leonidas Koutikas knows where to look. Not even 50 meters off the main promenade, around two corners, misery is everywhere. Koutikas finds a family of five living behind a tangled tent that has been attached to the wall of an apartment building.

Koutikas and his colleagues from the aid organization Klimaka are expected. They hand out their care packages here every night. "Each day the list of those in need gets longer," Koutikas says. He speaks from experience. Until recently, the 48-year-old was sleeping on the streets himself.

Athens has always had a problem with homelessness, like any other major city. But the financial and debt crises have ...

Read More with photos here - http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/0,1518,814571,00.html

In the United States ...

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How Much Do We Spend on the Nonworking Poor?

Another one of the delusions of the Theocratic Right dissolves like a fog. The next time a conservative talks about supporting all the "lazy poor" you might cite this.

KEVIN DRUM - Mother Jones

The Republican primary field has recently decided to revive the Welfare Queen trope, perhaps in hopes that a bit of that old Reagan magic will rub off on them. The argument, as usual, is that there's a vast stream of federal money going to people who are sitting on their asses eating Cheetos instead of going out and earning a living instead. These people are being bred into dependence on Uncle Sam's tit and having their work ethics destroyed.

So the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities decided to add up the numbers and figure out how much money the federal government spends on the nonworking poor. The answer: about 10 percent of all federal welfare spending. How did they come up with that? CBPP's methodology uses census data to figure out exactly where program dollars are going, but you can get pretty much the same answer using a ...

Read More - http://motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2012/02/how-much-do-we-spend-nonworking-poor

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Also ~ from last year but posted and noted today from Mr Schwartz :)

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Reading Arabic 'Different' for the Brain, New Study Suggests



When I read this I was reminded of a mass experiment on remote viewing I did in Japan. In preparation for it, I worked with a number of neurosciences and learned that the Japanese process language in a different part of the brain than Western cultures. When I asked why, I was told that it was thought to have developed because of culture and language. Japanese uniquely is a language in which the level of status and intimacy can be altered in mid-sentence as one looks at the other person judging their reaction. That requires a level of analytical self-awareness not experienced by speakers of Western languages.

Science Daily

Arabic readers recognize words in a different way from readers of other languages, a new study suggests.

This doctoral research at the University of Leicester is analyzing the reading differences of individuals as well as across languages -- and has shown dissimilarities in how Arabic readers recognize words.

Conducted by Abubaker Almabruk from the School of Psychology, the study has shown there are clear differences in how the right and left sides of the brain recognize Arabic words.

Almabruk's study is one of the first to examine the cognitive and physiological processes underlying word recognition and reading in Arabic, providing important insight into the effects of direction of reading, the form of the script and the construction of the language.

His research reveals the intricacies of an everyday behaviour that most people find relatively easy and will help explain why some people find it difficult to read and provide insights into how these difficulties might be remedied.

Almabruk commented: "Differences in left and right brain function influence the recognition of words each side of where a reader is looking on a page but only when these words are outside of central vision -- this reveals both left/right brain specialization for reading and evidence that the two halves of the brain collaborate when making sense of words in central vision. Native Arabic readers recognize Arabic words most efficiently when they fixate these words at their very centre."

"This shows that where we look in a word is very important for reading and the findings for Arabic are different from findings for English and other western languages, which are read most efficiently by looking at a location between the beginning and middle of the word."

On the possible causes for the reading differences, he said that "this might have happened because Arabic is read from right to left and words are formed from cursive text (i.e., the letters in Arabic naturally join together, even in printed formats, much like hand-written text in English)."

Dr Kevin Paterson from the School of Psychology added: "Arabic is one of the oldest and most beautiful languages, and the second-most widely used language in the world, yet how it is read and understood has received surprisingly little attention. The experimental approach that Abubaker has taken in his research promises to reveal a huge amount about how this language and other languages are read and understood."

This research is being presented at the Festival of Postgraduate Research on Thursday, June 16. The annual one-day exhibition of postgraduate research offers organizations and the public the opportunity to meet the next generation of innovators and cutting-edge researchers. More than 50 University of Leicester students will explain the real world implications of their research in an engaging and accessible way.


Source : http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/05/110518080109.htm

Here's a very special treat...

Some ketch-up with futurist Stephan A. Schwartz

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Non-Local Consciousness Stephan Schwartz CoastoCoast

2/13/2012


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lhquxyWY4c&feature=uploademail

Futurist and researcher in non-local consciousness, Stephan Schwartz, http://www.stephanaschwartz.com/
discussed remote viewing, meditation, dreams and how changes in the Earth's geomagnetic field influence our consciousness and creativity. He credited non-local consciousness as the part of the mind that experiences intuition, facilitates remote viewing and may even be what survives after death. Marveling at the advancements of science in understanding this non-local consciousness over the last 40 years, Schwartz mused that "we are approaching a view of the world that shamanism arrived at through meticulous observation, where the observer was the instrument."

He stressed meditation as a key tool in learning to access non-local consciousness. Schwartz explained that this is because the practice teaches one to focus their intention. If you have the ability to focus intention, he said, "you can learn very quickly to open to this part of yourself." Additionally, Schwartz said that there is growing evidence that meditation has a physical effect on the brain. He cited a study which showed that, by meditating for as little as 11 total hours, the practice will result in parts of the brain actually getting larger. For more of Schwartz's insights into meditation, including some remommended techniques, see his paper http://www.explorejournal.com/article/S1550-8307%2811%2900236-9/abstract
on the subject.

According to Schwartz, the Earth's geomagnetic field is another element which plays a role in non-local consciousness. He explained that, during periods of weak solar activity when the field is calm, it becomes easier to access this aspect of the mind. In turn, he said, there is an observable increase in creative output from people which is demonstrated by surges in patents, books, and records. Should that calm extend over a lengthier period of time, Schwartz surmised, enormous change can occur. "When you see it played out across millions and millions of people, each of whom is slightly altered as a result of this, you can see how it has an effect at the social level," he said, suggesting that the Renaissance and the Enlightenment may have been fueled by this phenomenon.

During the evening, Schwartz also performed a remote viewing experiment with George and the listeners. The object was not the point of the experiment here is the object, look at what you drew, draw with your eyes open too! https://twitter.com/#!/coasttocoastam/status/169414044883750913/photo/1/large...

here's a recent paper article ...

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The Perfect Storm, The Rise of Localism, and its Effects on National Wellness
STEPHAN A. SCHWARTZ, Columnist - Explore

By any one of several dozen measures - here are three:
•Healthcare-37th in the world

•Maternal Mortality-31st in the world

•Prison Population-1st in the world

-the United States is a society of ailing communities. Our national wellness is poor, and this condition exists
and is growing just as the country and the world are entering into a perfect storm of transition.
Here are just a few of the trends I see:
•Climate change, sea level rise, and associated extreme weather events

•The green transition out of the Age of Petroleum into an environment of nonpolluting energy

•The Decline of the American economic empire

•A destabilizing disparity in wealth and a increasingly alienated 99%.

•A population declining in education and even literacy

•A crumbling Illness Profit System

•The breakdown of American Justice

•A growing and regionally based schism fracturing the culture ...

Read More - http://www.explorejournal.com/article/S1550-8307%2811%2900303-X/fulltext

This is so unbelievable... i am utterly appalled reading about this...

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Virginia Poised To Enact ‘State-Sponsored Rape’ Law Forcing Women To Be Vaginally Probed Before Abortions

There is something sick about the Theocratic Right's views of sexuality. This bill, which was introduced by a conservative Republic woman legislator, let it be noted, is so vile I hardly know what to say. The probe that would be employed is a shaft rather like a dildo about 12-inches long. Bear in mind, also, that this is a completely medically useless procedure, and that this was explained to the legislators. This is entirely an act designed to punish and humiliate women in Virginia who dare to exercise their right of choice. Look at the quoted statements of some of the male legislators.

I do offer this: In Virginia, before a man can get a Viagra prescription a parallel law should be passed requiring him to undergo a manual proctology exam.

IAN MILLHISER - Think Progress

Earlier this month, a bill requiring women to receive an ultrasound before they can receive an abortion passed the Virginia senate, and it recently cleared a state house committee with an overwhelming majority. As Dahlia Lithwick explains, the effect of this bill would be to force most women to undergo a stunningly invasive procedure for no medical reason whatsoever. 'Because the great majority of abortions occur during the first 12 weeks, that means most women will be forced to have a transvaginal procedure, in which a probe is inserted into the vagina, and then moved around until an ultrasound image is produced.”

In case Lithwick’s description doesn’t completely drive home what this means, here is a depiction of the procedure that women would be forced to endure under the Virginia bill:

Simply put, it is difficult to distinguish a law requiring women to be vaginally penetrated by a ...


read more - http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2012/02/17/427778/virginia-poised-to-enact-state-sponsored-rape-law-forcing-women-to-be-vaginally-probed-before-abortions/