January 21, 2016::End of the day round-up

Four big myths about “alternative” medicine

The crux of the matter is, people spend money on a non-existent product. It’s like buying a detergent that’s only crystals of salt; or buying a computer made of wood, and being told it will be functional. The King is simply Naked. What you’re buying isn’t there, which makes it -at the very least- a consumer advocacy concern. It’s conning people out of their money, and very few of them will actually get better because of the placebo effect. Most will simply lose their money and be exactly where they already were.

That adds false hope to the mix. Hope can be helpful, but also dangerous for a person’s well-being. Promising things you can’t deliver is like paying with a check that will bounce. Sure, it will make the person feel better when you give it to them, only to crush them later when they try to cash it.

Glyphosate, or Roundup, is a popular herbicide that's been used on lawns, gardens, schools, parks, farms, etc for nearly 50 years and is available at any Walmart or Home Depot as a weedkiller. But just how toxic is it?

You may be surprised to learn it has an LD50 of 5600 mg/kg, making it less toxic than table salt. Unfortunately, people sometimes listen to media scare tactics before ever taking a look at the actual toxicity, dosage, or chemistry behind these substances. Fear sells. Many "natural" chemicals are far more toxic...."natural" vs. synthetic tells us nothing in terms of toxicity.

,,,many products labeled "non-GMO" were never GMO to begin with,,,

Two days from the "5th Annual International Day of Protest Against Hereditary Religion" which is taking place on January 23, 2016. Here is part 3 of 4 from 2014 to tickle your appetite.

A Reason To Believe: A Documentary Film by Ben Fama Jr

A thought-provoking documentary film that examines the hard questions of the psychology of belief and why we believe.

Six-Legged Giant Finds Secret Hideaway, Hides For 80 Years

They call it "Ball's Pyramid." It's what's left of an old volcano that emerged from the sea about 7 million years ago. A British naval officer named Ball was the first European to see it in 1788. It sits off Australia, in the South Pacific. It is extremely narrow, 1,844 feet high, and it sits alone.

What's more, for years this place had a secret. At 225 feet above sea level, hanging on the rock surface, there is a small, spindly little bush, and under that bush, a few years ago, two climbers, working in the dark, found something totally improbable hiding in the soil below. How it got there, we still don't know.

I know I have posted Lykova's story before, damned if I can find it,,,

Hermit Meets 21st Century After Being Flown To Siberian Hospital https://t.co/ETQunUNOnW - Not a story for "weird news" an amazing woman!

Ottawa says it won’t grant imprisoned Saudi blogger Canadian citizenship

The Trudeau government says it won’t grant imprisoned Saudi blogger Raif Badawi Canadian citizenship, arguing this would not help the case of a man sentenced to 1,000 lashes and 10 years in jail for blasphemy.

Mr. Badawi’s spouse and their three children were granted sanctuary in Canada last year and now live in Sherbrooke, Que. Ensaf Haidar, speaking to The Globe and Mail last week, said Canada must do more to help her husband and said “the first thing” it could do now is give Mr. Badawi a Canadian passport.

She argued Canadian citizenship would give Ottawa more standing to push for his release.

Foreign Affairs Minister Stéphane Dion disagrees. Speaking after a cabinet retreat in southwestern New Brunswick Tuesday, he said he doesn’t believe Canadian citizenship would improve Mr. Badawi’s situation.
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Granting Ms. Haidar’s request could complicate Canada’s relations with Saudi Arabia and jeopardize a $15-billion deal to sell weaponized armoured vehicles to Riyadh over 14 years.

January 16, 2016::End of the day round-up

Reflections on the Bill Gothard Phenomenom and Scandal…

Why do I compare Gothard and Piper and their movements? The comparison has nothing to do with scandals; it has only to do with the kind of single-minded, overly simplistic, absolutist dedication of core followers. Both were perceived by many developmentally immature evangelical Christians as “the recovery” of true, authentic Christianity that, if adopted by all Christians, would solve all the major problems facing and infiltrating Christian churches from secular culture. The single enemy of both, whether followers know it or not, is the rise of anomie out of the secular and pluralistic cultural revolution of the 1960s. Both offer “the cure” for all that ails church and society. Both have strongly ideological and demogogic features. Both have the tendency to idolize power. Leaders of both failed to recognize the predictable abuses of their teachings by their absolutizing followers.

The core problem with both movements is threefold. First, they tend to take one rather idiocyncratic idea and blow it up into the interpretive key to the whole Bible and Christianity in general; Second, they tend to totalize an ideology developed out of that idea/key as something that cannot be subjected to critical scrutiny without revealing the critic’s spiritual weakness if not outright rebellion against God. A problem with both is that they did and do not regard their signature teachings as proposals for consideration but rather regard them as having the status of divine revelation itself. (How many times have I heard YRRM people call high Calvinism “a transcript of the gospel itself?”) Finally, both tend to elevate a single individual teacher as above question or criticism and both of those teachers are noted for rarely, if ever, saying “But I could be wrong.”

Another judge criticizes Jehovah’s Witnesses’ court tactics

Jenkins didn’t elaborate on the collaboration, but her remarks were not the first time a judge has taken issue with the Watchtower’s tactics in court. In two cases in California, judges issued default judgments to plaintiffs because the Watchtower refused to produce documents and witnesses.
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A Reveal investigation last February found that since 1989, the Watchtower had directed Jehovah’s Witnesses elders to hide child sexual abuse from secular authorities. The Watchtower’s pattern of secrecy subsequently was highlighted during an inquiry by an Australian government commission, which found that the Witnesses had failed to report more than 1,000 suspected child sexual abusers in that country.

New Virginia bill would let clerks deny marriage licenses to gay couples

Republican Sen. Charles Carrico of Galax, whose southwestern district borders Kentucky, said many of his constituents were concerned about what happened to Kim Davis, the Rowan County clerk, and asked him to help Virginia officials who are put in the same position.

“I’m just trying to clarify what the options are if they have a right-of-conscience issue,” said Carrico, who said he opposes gay marriage.

Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe has already vowed to veto the bill if it passes the GOP-controlled General Assembly.
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Carrico’s bill specifies that clerks and deputy clerks wouldn’t have to issue licenses if they object on “personal, ethical, moral or religious grounds.” It would establish a process to ensure that people whose licenses are denied would be able to get one from the Department of Motor Vehicles, Carrico said.
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The Virginia Court Clerks’ Association hasn’t taken a position on whether clerks should be able to refuse licenses, but doesn’t believe the DMV should have the power to hand out licenses, said Chaz Evans-Haywood, Rockingham County Clerk and the group’s president. If the bill moves forward, the group will push to ensure it specifies that if one clerk declines, another clerk in the county or a deputy clerk would have to issue the license, he said.

“We want to make sure that everyone who comes to the door is taken care of equally,” he said.

Seven days from the "5th Annual International Day of Protest Against Hereditary Religion" which is taking place on January 23, 2016. Here is part 2 of 4 from 2014 to tickle your appetite.

One Of The Largest Coal Companies In The United States Just Filed For Bankruptcy

“U.S. coal consumption is declining dramatically as coal-fired power plants are shutting down. Coal is being displaced by renewables and natural gas, and the Asian markets that all coal companies were looking to as their saviors are moving in the opposite direction,” Ross Macfarlane, senior advisor with Climate Solutions, told ThinkProgress. “[Arch’s bankruptcy filing] wasn’t unexpected, but it’s still very significant in that it shows that the second-largest coal company in the United States is unable to pay its debts and provide any return at all to its shareholders.”

As a company, Arch has seen a fairly rapid decline in the value of its shares following a flurry of domestic acquisitions in 2011. Those acquisitions, which totaled in the millions, were based on the presumption that the coal industry would see rapid overseas growth in the coming years. That overseas growth never materialized, with coal consumption several key nations like China peaking, or appearing to peak, in the past few years. In early 2011, stock in Arch Coal peaked at $260 a share — on Monday, shares in Arch Coal were worth less than a dollar. During that time, Arch Coal executives doubled their pay, despite falling share prices.
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“After carefully evaluating our options, we determined that implementing these agreements through a court-supervised process represents the best way to solidify our financial position and strengthen our balance sheet,” Arch’s chairman and CEO John W. Eaves said in the press statement announcing the Chapter 11 filing. “We are confident that this comprehensive financial restructuring will further enhance Arch’s position as a large-scale, low-cost operator.”

WATCH: Stephen Colbert’s fascinating interview with pyramid-discovering ‘space archaeologist’ Sarah Parcak

Parcak, an associate professor of Anthropology and director of the Laboratory for Global Observation at the University of Alabama, recently was awarded the 2016 $1 million TED Prize for her talk on how she uses satellite imagery to discover below-surface ruins.

Havoc and Chaos: January 9, 2016::End of the day round-up (pg 2)

Ruqia Hassan: Isis executes first female citizen journalist in Raqqa, confirmed by 'Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently'

Isis has executed what is believed to be the first female citizen journalist for reporting inside its territory, Syrian media has reported.

The execution of Ruqia Hassan marks the fifth journalist who reported on Isis to be killed since October, according to Syrian journalism organisation Syria Direct.

Ms Hassan, who also went by the pseudonym Nisan Ibrahim on social media, was a independent reporter. Her death was confirmed by Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently (RBSS), a group exposing human rights abuses from within Syria.

Abu Mohammed, founder of RBSS, tweeted on Saturday that Ms Hassan’s last words were: “I’m in Raqqa and I received death threats, and when Isis [arrests] me and kills me it’s ok because they will cut my head and I have dignity its better than I live in humiliation with Isis [sic]”

Fourteen days from the "5th Annual International Day of Protest Against Hereditary Religion" which is taking place on January 23, 2016. Here is part 1 of 4 from 2014 to tickle your appetite.

Muslims in America - 24 Famous celebrities who are Muslim - Pictures - CBS News 

From the "pen" of Yvette D'Entremont, aka the "SciBabe"

Why Your Detox Is Bullsh*t

These juice cleanses generally claim to give you more energy, make your skin glow, and help you lose weight by ridding your system of heavy metals, pesticides, and other nefarious yet unnamed toxins … how exactly does apple juice or kale accomplish this, even if it is "cold pressured" or organic? Why couldn't you do this in (much cheaper and more nutritious) salad form? Could any of these websites point me to the mechanism of action or do they just do this via waving their magic wand of organic-iness?

Let me point out: In order to be detoxed, you first have to be, well, "toxed." And you're probably not. If you actually had a build-up of heavy metals or pesticides in your body, you'd be crazy sick. There are specific symptoms to having both of these "toxins" inside of you. In fact, different metals and pesticides have specific symptoms, like muscle spasms and breathing difficulties. Bottom line? Breakouts and feeling a little rundown aren't symptoms of any of them, and you need REAL MEDICINE — dimercaprol chelation and atropine, respectively — for treatment. Not juice.

And why else shouldn't you do a juice cleanse? Suja's three-day program drains you of $162, and that's pretty standard. For that much, I expect perkier boobs, fuller hair, and Republicans and Democrats to act like grown-ups. Instead, you're just getting juice. The only real thing these programs cleanse is the money right out of your wallet.
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More ridiculously, colon hydrotherapy — aka a colon cleanse or a colonic — is a service offered at some spas, during which some 60 liters of water are piped into your bowels and the "toxins" are "plumbed" straight out of you. That sounds nice and cleansing, doesn't it?

Nope. Removing toxins? You're just forcibly giving yourself diarrhea. There's no toxin or waste build-up the water is removing. This is just fecal matter that would have been expelled naturally (in time) by your body anyway, but with added potential complications — like intestinal parasites, bowel perforation, and heart failure. In fact, this article from The Journal of Family Practice reported the following adverse effects due to colon cleansing:

Case reports also have noted back and pelvic abscesses after colonic hydrotherapy, fatal aeroportia (gas accumulation in the mesenteric veins) with air emboli, rectal perforations, perineal gangrene, acute water intoxication, coffee enema-associated colitis and septicemia, and deaths due to amebiasis.

The discovery of a 300-year-old ship at a construction site has archaeologists ecstatic

“It’s very rare. This almost never happens,” said Dan Baicy, the hard-hatted field director for Thunderbird Archeology, the firm watching for historic evidence during construction. “In 15 years that I’ve done this work, I’ve never run into this kind of preservation in an urban environment where there’s so much disturbance.”

On Monday, naval archaeologists joined the crew at the site to help dismantle the vessel, timber by timber, looking for artifacts and markings that could identify it and show where it sailed and what it carried. The public is invited to view the findings Tuesday from 10 a.m. until noon, after which the wood will be removed from the site.
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The find has archaeologists surprised and ecstatic. Unlike the warehouse, which was noted in old city records, there was no known documentation of the buried ship’s existence.

Call for police probe of anti-gay hate speech in Malawi

Anti-gay politicians and preachers in Malawi have responded harshly to the government’s decision on Dec. 19 to continue the country’s moratorium on arrests for violations of its law against same-sex intercourse.

In return, the Malawi Law Society has asked police and the Malawi Human Rights Commission to investigate recent anti-gay statements as hate speech, a criminal offense.

Enforcement of the law has been suspended since November 2012 while courts decide whether the law is unconstitutional and politicians decide whether it should be repealed. The law calls for sentences of 14 years for violations by men and five years for women.

Louisville woman accused of assaulting, robbing disabled man after he jokes that he doesn't believe in God

A woman was arrested at the Hall of Justice in downtown Louisville Tuesday afternoon, months after police say she assaulted and robbed a man after he joked that he did not believe in God.

According to an arrest warrant, the incident took place on Oct. 20.

Police say that 49-year-old Laura Reid was visiting a disabled man in his home. At one point, police say, Reid asked the victim if he believed in God, and he jokingly replied that he did not.

According to an arrest warrant, Reid became angry with his response, so she picked up his metal cane and began beating him on the head and body, hitting him so hard that the cane broke.

Warning from the Birding Community to the Terrorists in Oregon: We're Watching You

Just a friendly warning from the birding and wildlife photography community to the Oregon terrorists. We are watching your every move, and we have been watching you for a long time. And yes absolutely you are domestic terrorists of the worst kind, and the truth about your decades of constant poaching of protected wildlife around Malheur and other wildlife refuges, national parks, national forests and BLM lands has been well-documented. For years those of us who are wildlife photographers, birdwatchers and carers of wildlife, have been documenting the activities of you poachers and criminals around many of our nation's wildlife refuges. With our powerful cameras, and ability to move unseen in the wilderness, we have found and documented your illegal hunts, your illegal traps and all sorts of illicit activities, and are constantly feeding that information to law enforcement, and we have finally got many of you poachers on the run and into jails. And I for one am a westerner sick to death of you welfare queens and cheats living off of BLM land, illegally gutting our wilderness and our wildlife,,,

5th Annual International Day of Protest Against Hereditary Religion - taking place on January 23rd of 2016

 

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