http://www.google.com/chrome

It might sound trivial but the ability to kill individual tabs within Chrome could spell the end of the hair-tearing frustration of a single rogue web page bringing the entire browser crashing down.

Not only that but the way the browser will run every tab in an isolated "sandbox" can help provide better protection from malicious sites.

"Each tab is attached to a separate process and can be managed separately.

"It is a bit like what Window NT offered in terms of stability. Most of the current generation of browsers would crash if there was a badly behaved tab but Chrome can quit the tab and it will still work."

General review comments

1. The font does not look very sharp and clear.

2. Chrome is much faster than IE and firefox.

3. Chrome works perfectly even with 30 tabs open.

4. It takes much less memory and processor share compared to IE and Firefox.

5. The default home page with tabbed thumbnail images of frequently visited sites are pretty cool, even though it raises some privacy concerns.

6. During installation, it automatically downloaded all bookmarks from other browsers, which raises some privacy concerns.

I will post a more detailed review of Google Chrome browser after I research little bit more.

Chrome isn't going to crash and burn. Not a hope. Google puts lots of widgety little applications out
there, like Picaso, for instance.

For those of us who enjoy avoiding microsoft, and are tired of Firefox hogging memory and crashing, Chrome looks like a pretty good choice. Sure, maybe beta is not perfectly stable yet, but still, it has a light footprint, runs pretty fast, is easy on the eye and does a few cool things. If somehow they could incorporate the advantages of Firefox with its extensions for gmail, it would be perfect. Read more on this article...

For one, it explains most of my abilities.





http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=X_2VXcQXw_0




If you don't believe this, do see the following video to be amazed.







http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=He7Ge7Sogrk Read more on this article...

I think we have missed out on some of the uses of precious metals which seem to be making a resurgence after thousands of years.

It is well known to the moderately intelligent Indian who has not fully migrated to McDonalds and Bling, that water kept silver vessels will kill bacteria. A recent application of silver has been in Air handling units where it is used to neutralise bacteria in the air stream.

It's the same case for gold. Early uses apart from the use of jewelery (which btw, was not merely for decorative purposes, but the heavy gold jewelery adorning the bare chests of men ensured absorption of gold molecules which serve a healthy purpose), also included the use of gold for false teeth on account of it's malleability, ductility and it's inertness.

Gold is now used in the manufacture of integrated circuits on account of it's ductility, non-corrosiveness and high conductivity.

Recent research has been going on in the use of gold in the manufacture of DNA sensors which would be used to detect diseases.

I dare say that the future will see more and more applications of this beautiful metal.

Excerpts from recent research:

ScienceDaily (Aug. 23, 1997) — Evanston, Ill. --- Researchers at Northwestern University have combined gold and DNA in an innovative way that should lead to new techniques for detecting many types of diseases. Screening for genetic and pathogenic diseases -- that is, those transmitted through heredity and those transmitted by microorganisms -- may be done using the new material, according to one of its inventors, Chad A. Mirkin, professor of chemistry at Northwestern.

Functionalized nanoparticles are covalently bound to internal, chemically modified bases on double-stranded DNA without the presence of destabilizing "nicks" along the DNA backbone. In addition, we report an approach for thiolating one end of the DNA/nanoparticle product and attaching it to a gold surface. The ability to attach one or both ends of the DNA/gold complex, after generation of the desired pattern, to fixed contacts or electrodes is necessary for nanodevices fabrication.

Abstract. This report presents the use of disulfide-modified single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) to form DNA self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) and mixed DNA-carbon nanotube (CNT) hybrids SAMs on gold substrates. Mixed DNA-CNT SAMs are composed of DNA,
mercaptohexanol (MCH) and DNA-CNT aggregates. Both, DNA-CNT and DNA areas of the mixed SAMs were analyzed and compared to traditional DNA SAMs. The results suggest the formation of a more compact and densely packed monolayer of DNA-CNT in comparison with DNA. The use of DNA-CNT hybrids to form SAMs on gold substrates might represent a new approach to improve the immobilization of DNA strands on gold, and might therefore help with the development of enhanced DNA sensors. Read more on this article...

NEW YORK, Aug 3 (Reuters) - The United States is in the second inning of a recession that will last for at least 18 months and help kill off hundreds of banks, influential economist and New York University Professor Nouriel Roubini told Barron's in Sunday's edition.

Taxpayers will pay a big price for helping bail out the rest of the financial services industry as well, Roubini said -- at least $1 trillion and more likely $2 trillion.

The banks will become insolvent because of mounting losses as a result of the housing bust and because they have only written down their subprime loans so far, he said. Still in front of them are their consumer-credit losses, for which they lack the reserves, Barron's reported.

He also said there are hundreds of millions of dollars outstanding in home-equity loans that could be worth zero, too.

U.S. consumers, meanwhile, are "shopped out" and saving less, while the Federal Reserve's performance in handling the crisis has been poor, Roubini said, because it failed to see that the problem extended beyond subprime mortgage debt.

Now, Roubini told Barron's, the government is overregulating, bailing out troubled participants and intervening in every market.

"The regulators should investigate themselves for bailing out Fannie Mae (FNM.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Freddie Mac (FRE.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), the creditors of Bear Stearns and the financial system with new lending facilities. They have swapped U.S. Treasury bonds for toxic securities," he told Barron's. "It is privatizing the gains and profits, and socializing the losses as usual. This is socialism for Wall Street and the rich."

He said that sometimes it is necessary to use public money to rescue institutions, but in a way that does not bail out the people who made the mistakes. "In each one of these episodes, the government bailed out the shareholders, the bondholders, and to some degree, management," Roubini told Barron's.

As for the banks that will go bankrupt, they will include community banks that finance homes, stores, downtown areas, commercial real estate and other mainstays of U.S. towns and cities, Roubini said.

"Of three dozen or so medium-sized regional banks, a good third are in distress," he told Barron's, saying half of the group could go bankrupt. Some big banks could wind up insolvent, he added, but said they might be deemed too big to fail.

Nouriel stressed that he is "quite bullish" about the state of the global economy and that he is positive about the medium and long term.

(Reporting by Robert MacMillan, editing by Martin Golan)

http://www.reuters.com/article/bondsNews/idUSN0344130720080803?sp=true Read more on this article...

That dreaded day approaches again. Rakhi. (Raakhi, Rakhee, Raki, Rakee, Raakee) It's not the old sisters that are a problem. It's the new wannabees which scare me.
They gonna grab your hand when you least expect it. I wish I can find a place to hide,
and get back home safe.
I'l be back someday.
Before I sail away. Read more on this article...

Lousy Investment #1: Bonds
Lousy Investment #2: Real Estate in the U.S.
Lousy Investment #3: U.S. Stock Markets
Lousy Investment #4: European Stock Markets
Lousy Investment #5: Most of Latin America

Best Investment #1: Gold!
Best Investment #2: Energy
Best Investment #3: Natural Resources
Best Investment #4: Economies that are driving demand for natural resources higher.

Reason: They are the economies that are also largely driving global economic growth these days. Countries like India and China. Indonesia and Malaysia. And more!

It's not too late. By the time the crisis hitting the U.S. is over, gold will be trading at more than $2,000 an ounce.

http://www.marketoracle.org/Article5709.html Read more on this article...

"The customer is then advised of what amounts to a catch-22 situation: The quality of the diamond is only guaranteed as long as it remains sealed in plastic; if the customer takes it out of the plastic to have it independently appraised, the certificate is no longer valid. "

This book was originally published by Simon&Schuster in 1982 under the title "The Rise and Fall of Diamonds.

http://www.edwardjayepstein.com/diamond/endnotes.htm Read more on this article...

Go to excel, and in any sheet right click in the little Excel icon file and choose "View code".

That should take you to the VB Editor.

Delete the text that appears (If you had nothing there)

Private Sub Workbook_Open()

End Sub

Now, copy this text:


Public PvSh As String
Public Pwd As String

Private Sub Workbook_SheetActivate(ByVal Sh As Object)
If Pwd = "" Then
If Sh.Name = "Sheet2" Then
Num = ActiveWindow.Index
Windows(Num).Visible = False
If Application.InputBox("Enter Password", "Password") <> "airplane" Then
MsgBox "Incorrect Password", vbCritical, "Error"
Application.EnableEvents = False
Sheets(PvSh).Select
Application.EnableEvents = True
Else
Pwd = "airplane"
End If
Windows(Num).Visible = True
End If
End If
End Sub


http://www.mrexcel.com/archive/VBA/1646.html Read more on this article...

SCUM = S acred C ow U ntouchable M ountains of banking manure. See the Sacred Cow SCUM list of banks forbidden from shorting, led by Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, and Lehman. Do you think their bank executives loaded up on option calls before the news, all tipped off? Sure!

Lost somewhere along the way was the legitimacy of shorting a stock when the company behind the stock was insolvent and fending off bankruptcy. The protected few sacred cows have one thing in common, being all related to the London Bullion Market Assn (LBMA).

So those very banks most closely associated with corruption of the precious metals market are the sacred cows most protected by totally obscene selective regulatory enforcement.

Without more corrupt interference in its market, the gold price would have surely vaulted past 1000 in July. So enter JP Morgan and their vile henchmen comrades.

The next ambush came late last week and this week. What was the risk posed to the US Dollar? This time the dire bank situation had turned desperate in its bloody atmosphere, laden with many ugly features and developments. First , the corrupt block of legitimate shorting of bank stocks coupled with selective enforcement of naked shorting of bank stocks coupled with improper blame of bank stock woes assigned to those nasty short speculators. So they engineered a short cover rally in the bank stocks that truly defies any claim as absurd that the US stock markets are fair, open, and driven by equilibrium, or free from scum. Read more on this article...

The 100 day moving average line is at 15,398.
(On both, the weekly and the daily, approximately).

I would wait for the Sensex to:

1. Cross that.
2. Move higher.
3. Come back to re-test the 100 day moving average line.
4. Take a good support on it for a few days or a week or two.


Alternatively,

1. I would wait for the sensex to react down from what ever top it makes now.
2. Check if the new bottom is higher than the earlier bottom at 12500.

All this, before INVESTING for the medium term. It's too early to speak of the long term yet, unless a few fundamentals start to show persistant change.

Ever since the bear run started, the Sensex has made three attempts to cross the 100 day moving average line in the daily charts, the last being at 17,600 or so, when the 100 day moving average line crossed DOWNWARDS with respect to the 200 day moving average line and from there the Sensex just kept sliding.

On the daily charts the moving average convergence-divergence is still well below the 0 neutral level. Not a bullish sign.

The price rate of change is at around the highest levels achieved earlier. Not bullish.

The Sensex was not able to cross the daily moving average line which is at 14,925 since it exhibited a high for the day of 14980. Not bullish.

Volumes are still very low compared to the volumes during the bull trend.

This does seem however, to be the bear market counter rally developing. Wave B in Elliot Wave language.

The termination of wave B leads to the unfolding of the most destructive Wave C, which may be as far way as 6 months from now. So wave B may take the Sensex anywhere from 16,200 to 18,000 or thereabouts.

If you must buy, then buy now. Not when the sensex is 17,000 to 18,000. that's the point where you lighten your current and EARLIER load!

If not, hold patience for 6 months or so, or till the signals given above are negated and confirmed before investing.

One could always play in a small way for 10% to 15% gains in the short term, with the attendant risks involved. Which implies that this play is best done in group A shares.

Look, the time to buy was when things were the most pessimistic. Since then the shares have risen considerably. for example, from it's bootom of around 1,000, SBI now trades above 1,500 which is a full 50% rise! To expect further rise from here without a change in fundamentals seems to me as a tall order.

If no further fundamental bad news emerges from the US, then I expect that the Sensex will trader sideways for 6 months, before beginning a new destructive slide.

A bear market ends in hopelesness, despair, blood, and total capitulation. That has not happened as yet.

And the most important signal of the ending of a bear market in India!

THAT OF A SCAM!!

Please keep checking the horizon for signals of a major scam.

On the other hand, the 200 day moving average has not been pierced on the downside (as mentioned by me earlier) technically indicating that we are still in a LONG term bull market, which is experiencing an intermediate term downtrend.

We would be squarely placed in a long term bear market on violation of the 200 day moving average line in the weekly charts which is at 11,899.

If the expected wave C emerges, then this possibility exists. Else, with the strengthening of the dollar and the fall in crude prices and the likely substantial fall in commodity prices over the next few months, a strong wave B may be emerging, which would culminate in a very weak wave C and the continuation of the bull run. This extended bull run did happen in the US after the severe Black Monday fall in 1987 for another period of 13 years till 2000!

The usual disclaimer applies: "If ya don't listen to me, you will lose money"

Which of course begs the question "What did I say?" Heh.

KakStearns Read more on this article...

Drummers are fitter than footballers say scientists

By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 3:03 PM on 22nd July 2008

• Comments (0)
• Add to My Stories

Drumming in a rock concert puts the performer through a workout as gruelling as a Premier League footballer endures during a match, exercise scientists revealed today.

An eight-year study involving Blondie's Clem Burke found that drumming over 90 minutes lifted his heart rate to the same level as Cristiano Ronaldo's in a league game.

The physical demands of his trade meant Burke's heart averaged between 140 and 150 beats per minute, but could go as high as 190. He burned between 400 and 600 calories per hour during the trials.

Drummers like Clem Burke in concert and footballers like Ronaldo during a match burn similar amounts of energy.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1037159/Drummers-fitter-footballers-say-scientists.html Read more on this article...

"If I had to take a guess, I would estimate that there are over one billion carats of diamonds in the hands of consumers. That is over 100 times the annual consumption gobbled up for weddings, anniversaries, birthdays and even Super Bowl rings.

Diamonds have never been considered an investment instrument after one billion dollars was lost by consumers buying diamonds as a hedge against inflation in 1980.

But, it appears some lessons aren't easily learned. For anyone who has been paying attention, you would have noticed that large, investment grade (IF, VVS1, VVS2 & D, E, F) diamonds have been sky rocketing in prices! Currently a 5ct D,IF is selling for over 3/4 of a million dollars. That's about double what it was just a few years ago. However, we don't have to look hard to see other commodities mimicking the same exponential, unrealistic growth. Oil, gold, platinum, rice, wheat, etc... everything is up! Way up!

The question is this: is this the new reality or have we fallen down the rabbit hole? The prices people are paying for some diamonds is reflecting a market mania. The current diamond climate is creating a craze very similar to the tulip mania in the early 1600s in Amsterdam. Believe it or not, back then, at the height of the mania, a tulip went for $76,000 a bulb! Six weeks after smart money got out, the price had fallen to a dollar!

Within 12 months there are going to be a lot of sad people sitting on a lot of big investment grade diamonds that will be worth a fraction of what they paid. My advice is this: for the next year, stay away from 2ct+ investment grade diamonds unless you are willing to be a statistic in the great diamond crash of 2009.

If you are going to buy a 2ct non-commercial rock that isn't investment grade, you will still have to pay at least 20% more than what its cash liquidity is worth! That said, if the world ever wakes up and realizes that nobody really needs a diamond and everyone goes to the market to sell at the same time, tulips and diamonds will have more in common than being pretty; they'll both be a cautionary tale.

by Fred Cuellar, author of the best-selling book "How to Buy a Diamond." Read more on this article...

Over centuries, across many stock markets in many great nations, 14x earnings has simply been the long-term average valuation for common stocks. Sometimes valuations are higher, sometimes lower, but they always oscillate around a secular mathematical average of 14x. While long-established historical validity is enough proof, this number is quite logical too.

The DOW traded at a stupendous 45 in the year 2000. Yesterday, it traded at 14 PE, which is the HALFWAY mark, from a secular bearish bottom at 7.

The Indian Sensex traded at 26 PE at it's peak of 21,000 or so.

It has bounced back from a PE of 16, which means that it is still above the HALF way mark.

With the fourth wave as per Elliot likely to complete in 1-1/2 years, guess the Sensex value at that point. 14, 12 or 8? Tea anyone? Read more on this article...

In case you think these outcomes are exaggerated, these are the things that happened after the French Revolution, the fall of the Roman Empire, The fall of the Spanish Empire, the Fall of Byzantium, the fall of the British Empire… etc. The fall of the US economic system, the world USD system, and the US as a superpower won't be any different. Also, a lot of these outcomes happened during and after the Great Depression of the 1930's. That all happened commensurate with the decline and fall of the British Empire and Pound that dominated world economies for 200 years, and eventually led to the USD system taking prominence after WW2 and the USD was used to stabilize the European currencies during the war.

Supposing the USD devalued by over 50 to 70% in a year's time, after endless attempts to save a collapsing world consumer credit economy, we may see:

* First of all, the savings of the US would drop drastically in value. That means everything from savings accounts to pensions would lose much purchasing power, and prices of every necessity would skyrocket.

* Second, our major trade partner's economies would have to do massive readjustments. They are not in a good position to do that. We can take the present rapidly spreading economic weakness of the EU zone as an example. Asia will not escape either. They will desperately try to keep their currencies from strengthening too much at first as the USD falls. This is why the USD seems to have 9 lives. These attempts to debase along with the USD allow the USD to stay higher than it would.

* World inflation will spiral out of control, lowering standards of living. Other major currencies such as the Euro and Yen will be heavily pressured as well. Until the world figures out how to actually delink from an imploding US economy, they will suffer along with the US's fate. So far, the delink theory has been shown to be completely wrong. Why? Because the world economy is tied at the hip to the USD (The delink theory is that other strong economies of Asia or the EU will be able to carry the world economy even if the US economy falls apart. So far, that has been completely discredited in this latest world economic slowdown).

* Big geopolitical turmoil as regimes combat out of control food and fuel prices.

* A war in the Middle East over oil. The Iran / Israel situation might also be called a proxy war/struggle over Mid East influence for China, the US, Russia, the EU, and Asia because energy is so expensive.

* A very possible period of insurrection, riots, shortages, and chaos in large US cities. I also believe that the EU and China and India are at risk for this too.

* A 10 year world economic depression, that China in particular cannot tolerate, as the world economy readjusts out of necessity into a totally new form, one that is less global and probably more warlike.

* Debt deflation where a rapidly dropping USD effectively wipes out outstanding debts, while the population struggles merely to exist.

* Vast bank failures in the US and major Western economies, and likely China as well.

* Efforts of world central banks to ‘bail out' ‘everything' resulting in their currencies falling drastically in value while inflation skyrockets, until either they learn better, or have hyperinflation and their own currency collapses after the USD falls apart. In effect they will have to either ‘let go' of the USD or suffer the same fate.

* Stock markets at 10% of where they are now in 3 or 4 years if the USD actually lets go by 50% or more in 09 (nominal stock prices might actually stay higher but the devaluation of the currencies would effectively cut the purchasing power in half anyway.)

* Prices of most essentials effectively 4 times higher, worldwide.

* Big increases in energy and food prices causes many other sectors of world economies to fall apart, as all ‘money' is used merely to survive.

* Gold at $3000to $5000 plus and oil at $300 plus putting a further huge crimp on world economic growth. Obviously if the USD did a real collapse, say to 10% of its purchasing power now over several years, gold is over $10,000 and in some areas you will buy a decent house for one ounce of gold. Oil will be traded/priced in other currencies, and probably rationed in the US at a cost of $20 or more a gallon. In this case, the present world economy that depends on cheap transportation totally devolves. Globalization becomes de-Globalization, and China either figures out how to migrate to its own domestic demand or faces a huge collapse of their export economy.

* Severe world currency restrictions and foreign exchange controls. You won't be able to move your money out of your country. Likely restrictions of withdrawals to monthly limits from bank accounts as governments attempt to deal with currency chaos.

* Rationing of necessities as the world economy enters paralysis and governments have no choice.

* One bright spot for all, the return of employment to local instead of outsourcing. Production and consumption returns to local economies, as it should have been all along. That is a long 20 year process and involves a severe deep economic depression until the world economies/economy is rebuilt from scratch compared to what it is now. Debt repudiation on a massive scale as the world emerges from the ashes (hopefully not real ashes…)

* Many new governments worldwide after revolutions during economic collapses and or wars. Democracies falter worldwide, and more authoritarian governments appear to deal with the chaos as the democracies enter paralysis.

http://marketoracle.co.uk/Article5509.html Read more on this article...

Surprise. H Pylori is a friend.

Rising asthma rates may be partly explained by bacterial imbalances in our guts.

In a study published yesterday in the Journal of Infectious Diseases, researchers showed that Heliobacter pylori, an intestinal microbe that co-evolved with humans, appears to protect children from asthma.

Asthma rates have nearly doubled in the United States since 1970, and are swelling in the developing world. Underlying the rise is a constellation of causes -- and one of these may be the loss of H. pylori, a vanishing member of the rich bacterial ecosystems in our stomachs.

Nearly universal at the advent of modern antibiotics, it's now present in just one-fifth of young Americans. The drop is a boon for people in whom the bacteria would eventually cause stomach problems, but some researchers say the bug is needed to calibrate our immune systems.

"When humans left Africa, they had H. pylori in their stomachs. It was universal. And it's now clear that H. pylori is disappearing. Ulcer diseases and stomach cancers are going away, but new diseases are appearing -- including asthma and related disorders," said study co-author Martin Blaser, a New York University microbiologist.

http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2008/07/internal-bacter.html


An Endangered Species in the Stomach

Is the decline of Helicobacter pylori, a bacterium living in the human stomach since time immemorial, good or bad for public health?

Helicobacter pylori is one of humanity's oldest and closest companions, and yet it took scientists more than a century to recognize it. As early as 1875, German anatomists found spiral bacteria colonizing the mucus layer of the human stomach, but because the organisms could not be grown in a pure culture, the results were ignored and then forgotten. It was not until 1982 that Australian doctors Barry J. Marshall and J. Robin Warren isolated the bacteria, allowing investigations of H. pylori's role in the stomach to begin in earnest. Over the next decade researchers discovered that people carrying the organisms had an increased risk of developing peptic ulcers--breaks in the lining of the stomach or duodenum--and that H. pylori could also trigger the onset of the most common form of stomach cancer [see "The Bacteria behind Ulcers," by Martin J. Blaser; Scientific American, February 1996].

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=an-endangered-species-in&ref=sciam Read more on this article...

Thus a total collapse of the US financial system, while not inevitable, is a contingency which should now be planned for.

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Global_Economy/JG16Dj03.html Read more on this article...

This is a very simple & non-geeky trick to help you read the latest issue of popular magazines like PC Magazine, MIT Technology Review, Popular Mechanics, MacWorld, Lonely Planet, Reader’s Digest, etc without paying any subscription charges.

You will also get to read adult magazines like Playboy and Penthouse. Best of all, these digital magazines are exact replicas of print and served as high-resolution images that you can also download on to the computer for offline reading.

How to Read Online Magazines for Free

Step 1: If you are on a Windows PC, go to apple.com and download the Safari browser. Mac users already have Safari on their system.

Step 2: Once you install Safari, go to Edit -> Preferences -> Advanced and check the option that says "Show Develop menu in menu bar."

Step 3: Open the "Develop" option in the browser menu bar and choose Mobile Safari 1.1.3 - iPhone as the User Agent.

Step 4: You’re all set. Open zinio.com/iphone inside Safari browser and start reading your favorite magazines for free. Use the navigation arrows at the top to turn pages.

For people in countries like India who are already subscribed to Zinio Digital Magazines, this hack is still useful because you get access to certain magazines which are otherwise not available for subscription via Zinio (e.g., Penthouse and Playboy).

Geeks may write a AutoHotKey script or create a "scrolling capture" profile in SnagIt that will auto-flip magazine pages and save all the images locally. Thanks Scott. And here’s a related trick on how to read Wall Street for free.

http://www.labnol.org/software/tutorials/read-download-zinio-online-magazines-free-on-desktop/3410/ Read more on this article...

Hopefully, Playboy will ask the winner to pose in the nude for the magazine.

Surprisingly, a couple of bloggers I know don't feature. Heck, you will all three of them in the left hand column. That's apart from two who disappeared, and one who is the real Mahua Queen and really cannot be bothered with Blogger.

Photo: Clayton Cubitt

Xeni Jardin Who she is: Co-editor of Boing Boing; host and executive producer of Boing Boing TV Why she clicks with us: With her signature platinum cropped locks and cool, ice-blue gaze, Xeni is every inch a futuristic beauty. She's a perfect host for Boing Boing TV, the online daily video program that uber-popular "weird and wonderful things" blog Boing Boing launched last fall. Whether she's doing a serious interview or making us laugh while she gets shocked by a human electricity conductor, she's always a charge to watch. On the web: Boing Boing and Boing Boing TV Vote

Photo: Paulie and Pauline Photography

Violet Blue Who she is: Sex educator, writer and creator of Open Source Sex Why she clicks with us: She's got a column in the San Francisco Chronicle and has published several books, but Violet Blue still finds time to take her sex life online. She hosts Open Source Sex, a topical podcast where she gives kissing lessons one week and reads erotica the next. She also contributes to Fleshbot.com, the adult branch of the Gawker Media empire, and runs her own prolific blog, TinyNibbles.com. One of Violet's latest forays is a vlog on Blip.tv, where she focuses on her two favorite things: geeks and sex (and geeks having sex, more often than not). On the web: TinyNibbles.com and Blip.tv Vote

Photo: Laura Rose photography

Julie Alexandria Who she is: Host of daily "stock culture meets pop culture" vlog Wallstrip.com Why she clicks with us: Lou Dobbs and Jim Cramer? Not so easy on the eyes. We prefer Alexandria, a smart brunette who mixes serious stock tips with dirty jokes (a recent segment on steel had more than its share of "hard as" quips) and goofball posturing (such as donning Vulcan ears for a Star Trek segment). On the web: Wallstrip.com Vote

Photo: Lan Bui

Veronica Belmont Who she is: Co-host of the digital technology vlog Tekzilla; host of PlayStation's Qore Why she clicks with us: There are plenty of cute talking heads in online tech and gaming news, but Belmont stands out as a true geek with a serious knowledge of her subject matter. She got her start as a tech podcaster and vlogger on CNET, but it was her gig as video hostess of the quirky web show Mahalo Daily that established her as a web sweetheart. Catch her talking games and gadgets at Tekzilla, as well as on Qore, an interactive program that previews upcoming PS3 titles. On the web: Tekzilla and Qore Vote

Photo: © Amanda Congdon

Amanda Congdon Who she is: Sometimes Daily star and producer; former ABCnews.com vidcaster and Rocketboom host Why she clicks with us: During her two years as the host of the quirky daily web news show Rocketboom, Amanda established herself as the sexy poster girl for the budding medium. After a brief stint at ABC News, she's back to her vlogging roots with Sometimes Daily, a surreal interactive show about Amanda's life that includes dream sequences, sketch comedy, person-on-the-street interviews and live webcasts. On the web: Sometimes Daily Vote

Photo: Courtesy Brigitte Dale

Brigitte Dale Who she is: Video blogger; advice columnist and podcaster for Catty Girls Discuss; former host of PopCrunch.com and AOL Why she clicks with us: In a recent weekly webcast Brigitte said she'd never call herself a vlogger. "It sounds like a flu symptom," she explained. "I'm not using it." Okay, so we won't either -- but we still can't stop watching her clips. Brigitte made her big splash with AOL's TV Squad Daily with Brigitte, where her self-produced monologues on pop culture got the Lincoln, Nebraska native a nod as Internet Personality of the Year at the 2008 Yahoo! Video Awards. She's gone solo now, and you can catch her coyly sexy weekly wrap-ups on her own site and on Blip TV. On the web: BrigitteDale.com and Blip TV Vote

Photo: Geoffrey Ellis

Sarah Lacy Who she is: Columnist, author and co-host of Yahoo!'s Tech Ticker Why she clicks with us: Sarah cut her teeth as a Silicon Valley reporter for publications such as Business Week (where she continues to write their online tech column Valley Girl), as well as the new book Once You're Lucky, Twice You're Good (Gotham) that chronicles the rise of Web 2.0. But hiding behind all that smart writing is a curvy brunette that Silicon blog Valleywag.com declared "the hottest reporter in the tech world." Luckily, Sarah's new vlogging gig at Yahoo! Finance's Tech Ticker lets us enjoy her journalistic talents from a more visual perspective. On the web: Tech Ticker Vote

Photo: Will Friedwald

Sarah Austin Who she is: Host of Manhattan-based daily vlog Pop17 Why she clicks with us: Sarah got her start on Justin.tv, where her lifecasts (live streaming videos that users can comment on as they happen) launched her vlogging career. In March she debuted her own show, Pop17, where she flexes her journalism skills profiling rising web celebs. Considering the attention she garners from male fans, it seems as if the hottest web personality on Pop17 is Sarah herself. On the web: Pop 17 Vote

Photo: Courtesy Natali Del Conte

Natali Del Conte Who she is: Host of CNET TV's Loaded Why she clicks with us: We first met Natali on the tech news show TeXtra, but she's gained prominence with her latest gig at Loaded, where she takes technology to the streets of New York City to see it at work. Natali's great at explaining tech trends to a general audience, which is why she's a common talking head on national TV news shows (her sunshiney demeanor and girl-next-door good looks don't hurt, either). On the web: Loaded Vote

Read more on this article...

BPCL, Weekly

Big money is only made by thinking different, and before others latch on to the same idea.

No one today will be proposing this, but I am.

Look, oil, as I said, is not going to correct from $146. In fact, it's shot up to $ 150 and the expected peaking is in the $160 - $165.

Peaks remain for a very short time (as do bottoms).

If this is likely to come true, then we are very close to oil peaking. Like the Sensex at 19,000 or 20,000 just before it peaked at 21,000.

It seems that oil consumption in the US is at a five year low.

Why not take an early position?

The position has very little downward risk, but a huge upward potential, if the above scenario happens.

I'm speaking of BPCL, HPCL and the like.

BPCL 255.75

Terrific buy signals currently.

Earlier peak was 550 or so.

It's historically never been below 270!!!!!

This is a pure moolah-making contrarian play!!

Check out the weekly chart attached:

1. Moving average envelope BUY signal.
2. Bollinger band BUY signal.

Absolutely OVERSOLD.

You CANNOT lose on this deal if oil really crashes to $80 or 90 a barrel.

350 first target. In fact, maybe the point to exit and re-enter if bullishness persists.

(350 - 270) / 270 = 29.6% in say, 6 months max?

That's an annualised 90%!

BUY CALL No 2:

BSELINFRA.

37.9

10 buy signals in weekly, 12 in daily.

Likely to give a very quick 25% without effort!!

WAIT. Try to get it closer to 33. (Likely to fill the current gap between 33 and 41).

Yo. I'm not a professional. The usual disclaimers apply :) Read more on this article...

Markets have completely shocked and taken huge beating on account of disappointing IIP numbers, rising inflation, crude and no revision in Infosys' guidance in dollar terms. Huge sell off seen in technology, capital goods, power, oil, banking and metal stocks. Global cues have not played any big role in today's session. All BSE indices ended in red.

The Sensex fell 574.9 points and Nifty 147.75 points to hit intraday low of 13,351.34 and 4014.45, respectively. Sensex closed with a loss of 456.39 points or 3.28% at 13,469.85. Nifty closed at 4049.00, down by 113.2 points or 2.72%.

Nifty Futures discount ended at 20 pts; discount widened to 50 points post IIP numbers. Nifty futures added 48.5 lakh shares versus 22 lakh shares pre IIP. Nifty Mini witnessed hectic activity; 4th highest turnover seen at Rs 6656 crore after RIL, Infosys, Reliance Capital. Fresh shorts have seen in tech and capital goods stocks.

Infosys, L&T, HDFC, ICICI Bank, Satyam, Reliance Industries, ONGC and TCS were biggest draggers for indices.

Growth in Index of Industrial Production (IIP) of May has declined at 3.8% as against 10.6% in same period of last year, which is below expectations. May Manufacturing growth was also down at 3.9% from 11.3% (YoY) and Capital Goods at 2.5% versus 22.4%.

http://www.moneycontrol.com/india/news/local-markets/disappointing-iip-nos-rising-oil-thrash-mkts-it-cg-crash/17/35/346641 Read more on this article...

We had expected the four-year long bull-phase to terminate in the first quarter of 2008 in our long-term outlook at the beginning of this year.

Our outermost target for the Sensex for 2008 was at 13700. Now that this level has been conclusively breached, a review of the long-term counts is called for.

The signs of a significant bull-market top were littered all over in the last quarter of 2007 – irrational price movement, excessive speculation, unjustifiable valuations, bottom-rung stocks coming out of wilderness to enjoy their days in the sun, surfeit of exorbitantly priced IPOs and so on. The party had to come to an end and it did at the peak at 21206 on January 11.

As explained in our yearly outlook, it is possible to anticipate a correction but difficult to judge the nature of the correction. We had taken the more optimistic view at the beginning of this year and anticipated the corrective move to halt at the first long-term support at 13700.

A halt here would have implied a sideways move between 13700 and 21000 for a couple of years before the up-trend resumed to take the Sensex beyond 30K.

But the decline below 13700 brings the next long-term supports for the Sensex at 11900 (50 per cent retracement of the up-move from 2001) and then 9703 (61.8 per cent retracement) in to focus.

We stay with our long-term count that the current down-move is the fourth part of the long-term cycle that began in 1980.

The fifth leg (upward) would then take the index beyond 25000 again. Caveat - decline below 9703 would need recasting of the counts.

The more difficult question is, how long would this down-trend last? As per Elliott Wave theory, corrections can extend from anywhere between 0.33 to 1.618 times the time consumed by the previous up-move.

The previous up-move lasted four years. That gives us the range between 16 to 77 months. Since the previous long-term correction from 1994 to 2003 was a long-drawn one, applying rules of alteration, the correction this time can be a sharp and swift one that ends in one to one- and- a- half years.
Second half of 2008

Though the Sensex appears to be hurtling lower in to an abyss right now, a three wave A-B-C movement downwards is drawing close to termination. A 1:1 relation between the A wave and the C wave gives us the target at 11206. Fifty per cent retracement of the bull market from 2001 gives us the support at 11900. The decline from January can halt somewhere between these two levels.

However, it needs to be borne in mind that the down-move from 21206 could be the first leg of the long-term correction. But once this leg ends, we would have an intermediate term up-trend that would provide some respite to the battered stocks.

The preferred view is that the index would halt in the zone between 11000 and 12000 and spend the rest of 2008 in a range between 12000 and 16500. Our outer targets for the year would be 18000 and 9700. We await clues from subsequent rallies to tell us how the rest of this correction will shape-up.

— Lokeshwarri S.K.

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/iw/2008/07/06/stories/2008070650230900.htm


From a fundamental perspective, the collapse in the Sensex PE multiple, from 29 times trailing earnings in January to about 16 times now, ensures that rosy growth projections are no longer factored into Indian stock prices. Read more on this article...

U.S. financial stocks yesterday experienced their largest one day fall since the start of the current financial crisis nearly a year ago.

The benchmark S&P 500 is officially in a bear market.

Primum Non Nocere . “First, do no harm.” ( Hippocrates (ca. 460-ca.377 B.C.). Read more on this article...

Update: Consensus on growth of the Sensex basket of stocks is still 20%, whereas the growth in the 1st quarter is 5%. And this is the best quarter of the year!

Expect 10,500 as a minimum with an over shoot down to 9,000 in the next 6 to 12 months.

A PE ratio of the sensex o t 15 plus is still very expensive. Remember, the PE ratio was around 8 in March 2003, so one could expect at best a bottoming of the market at a sensex PE of say, 10 plus.

That's a long way down from here.

Indians sold out for paper:

Indians who sold their gold in 2007 to buy stocks are now paying out the wazoo for their gross misjudgment. In January of 2008, the Bombay Stock Exchange fell by more than 4,000 points. It is now a full 8,000 points short of its January 8th peak, while gold is $70 higher than it was then.

Ironically, on January 17th, the article Indians Sell Gold – and their Future was published. The following day, the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) lived up to its name and bombed from 21,000 all the way down to 17,000.

The BSE has never recovered.

It most recently has desperately tried to cling to the 14,000-level in hopes of avoiding further drops down to 9,000 and below – and failed, only to slip down to 13,000. That's the same level where it was in November of 2006, twenty months ago. At that time, gold stood at around $470. Now, gold costs nearly twice as much.

Most of the gains the Indian stockists enjoyed since then are now little more than vapors in their memory. All of the gains of gold since then are still there. Maybe diversifying into some stocks in addition to gold would have made better sense – but selling gold for regular stocks?
Ouch!

They should have known better.

What's the lesson? It pays big bucks to ignore the siren song of the paper-pushers: "Come, my poor peasant friend. Sell your clumsy gold and open a brand-new bank account with us. Then, you can buy and sell Indian stocks through our in-house brokerage service and support your country's powerful economy."

Now, the gold is gone, and so is much of the money they sunk into their paper stocks. What will Indians do? Will they return to gold?

In June, Indian gold buying dropped to a third of what Indians bought during June a year ago. They are still waiting for lower prices. Doesn't seem to be happening. Lower than now, maybe – but lower than the $650/oz. in June of 2007? Forget it!

The BSE's blue 50-day moving average has fallen way below the red 200-day MA, and its descent is accelerating. Gold, on the other hand, has never touched its own 200-DMA, and its 50-DMA rests securely above its longer term colleague and has recently turned north again.
However expensive Indians may perceive gold to be right now, it would be wise for them to put whatever disposable income, cash (and stock) assets they have back into gold. The rupee's fall makes holding cash unattractive. Equities are falling and so are Indian treasuries due to high inflation expectations.

Gold and silver will be some of the few things worth sinking money into - regardless of price - because the price of leaving their money in falling assets is obviously even higher. It only gets more and more expensive as time moves on.

Gold is rising even without India's traditional buying levels of approximately three times what they are now. The Indian gold train is moving and pulling out of the station. The more speed it gathers, the harder it will be to jump back on.

Hesitating any longer will be more expensive than gold could ever hope to be. In fact, logic would dictate that the more expensive gold gets, the more it will cost those who decide to wait before they buy it - in terms of lost profits. The same thing goes for all investors, of course, not only Indians.

Vietnamese have been the largest gold importers in Q1 of this year – and that's in absolute terms, not per capita!
---

Guess why infrastructure stocks zoomed today:

Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc. ( MER ) has raised its annual infrastructure-spending estimate for emerging markets by 80%, as developing countries try to keep pace with fast-growing economies and large cash reserves, BusinessWeek reported.

Investment in infrastructure, which the firm sees as the long-term solution to inflation, will rise from $1.25 trillion to $2.25 trillion annually over the next three years. And China, the Middle East, and Russia will account for 70% of infrastructure spending.

---

Ridham Desai, MD and Co-Head Equity, Morgan Stanley, said the markets have made lower tops and bottoms, which confirms that we are definitely in a bear market. "Price damage is the first indicator. Fundamentals have also given way. The bottom may lie around 10,500. So, the markets are likely to se more downside for the next six months."

---

Who a few years ago would have thought Fannie May and Freddie Mac would lose 70+% and 80+% of their market value?

---

Sometimes your worst fears come back to bite you in the rear. Case in point: In the New York Times, on October 14, 2001 the managing director of an oil consulting firm warned: "If Ben Leden takes over and becomes king of Saudi Arabia, he'd turn off the tap ... he wants oil to be $144 a barrel."

At the time, oil traded at $23, and $144 a barrel seemed downright impossible. Well, terror mastermind Osma Ben Leden, safe in his undisclosed rat hole, must be grinning like a Cheshire cat, because last week oil soared past $144 a barrel.

--- Read more on this article...

By Nick Allen
Last Updated: 10:15am BST 08/07/2008

Britain is on the brink of a recession and unemployment is set to rise 300,000 by the end of next year, according to the British Chambers of Commerce.

In a dire warning it said the economic outlook for the business sector was "grim and ominous" and the downturn could be "longer and nastier" than previously expected. The report followed a survey of 5,000 large and small businesses across the country and led to calls for an early cut in interest rates amid concerns that the economy is showing parallels with the start of the recession in the early 1990s.

However, the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee is likely to ignore the pleas when it meets on Thursday as it battles inflation currently running above 3 per cent.

The pessimistic forecast came as one of the City’s leading banks warned that it could take 20 years for the British housing market to recover. In a note to clients Mark Hake, an analyst at Merrill Lynch said: "[Compared] with the 1990 correction... it looks significantly worse, with house prices falling faster and further and very little recovery in real terms expected over 20 years."

He added: "House prices are expected to be below their August 2007 peak in a further 10 years' time."

The investment bank expects prices to fall 17 per cent this year. Inflation is likely to continue rising in coming months as the economy absorbs the effects of higher oil and food prices.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2008/07/08/nborrow708.xml Read more on this article...

Read more on this article...

by Eric Roseman, 4th July 2008

It seems Vietnam just borrowed a page from the U.S. financial-history books - by suspending all gold imports in June.

This marks the first time a Southeast Asian country has ever barred gold imports during skyrocketing inflation, soaring interest rates and an overvalued currency - the Vietnamese dong.

Seventy-five years ago, Franklin Delano Roosevelt [FDR] issued Executive Order number 6102 and confiscated all gold privately held in the United States on April 5, 1933. But unlike FDR's edict, the Vietnamese can still hold or own physical gold. They just can't import any more.

This shocking development was just revealed to me by my good friend in Zurich - Swiss Asset Manager, Robert Vrijhof of WHVP. It illustrates a new trend popping up in emerging market economies to stop gold hoarding.

By restricting gold purchases, the Vietnamese Communist Authorities are trying to hold down the local skyrocketing inflation. But inflation is already heading for Weimar Germany-style double-digit or possibly, triple-digit consumer prices.
Gold's Success is Fiat Money's Failure

It comes as no surprise to me that another dollar-linked or semi-pegged currency has collapsed vis-à-vis gold. Gold prices have been rising against all currencies since 2005, including the euro.

Spot gold prices have averaged US$910 an ounce in 2008 compared to US$659 just 12 months ago. From an average price of US$295 an ounce in 1998, gold prices have gained a cumulative 214%. But compared to its peak in January 1980 at US$850 an ounce, spot prices are up just 8.8%.

Asian inflation just hit a 9 ½ year high and averaged 7.5% in April. So it's no wonder dollar-pegged currencies are coming undone. Other peripheral currencies in the region that follow the Federal Reserve's monetary policy are also sinking under the pressure of inflation. This phenomenon is also happening throughout the Gulf region where dollar-pegged units are unraveling amid rising inflation.
Vietnam's Biggest Challenge: Wrestling 25% Inflation

Introduced in 1978, the Vietnamese dong is another example of fiat money gone wrong.

Inflation is now clearly out of control. Inflation soared 27% over the last 12 months through June. And inflation is still climbing as crude oil and other commodities prices continue to hit new highs.

The dong is down just 3.7% this year versus the dollar, but it still remains severely overvalued. Also, recently the dong breached its government-imposed trading band.

I visited the Vietnamese economy in early 2007. So I saw firsthand how Vietnam is overheating. It's a natural consequence of this country's strong economic growth is inflation and high interest rates.

High rates and inflation always threaten financial assets like stocks. The VIN Index, the country's largest stock exchange in Ho Chi Minh City has collapsed more than 60% since hitting an all-time high last year. Also, real estate prices are now in a downtrend following a big boom since 2005.

The Vietnamese economic miracle averaged a stunning 7.3% GDP (gross domestic product) growth rate this decade. And now Vietnam risks coming undone if the State Bank of Vietnam can't stop surging consumer prices.
The World's #1 Gold Importer

The Vietnamese government's decision to ban gold imports follows an unprecedented surge in gold ownership. The locals have lunged for gold bullion lately. In fact, they even surpassed India and China as the world's largest source of demand.

Gold production is already approaching net supply deficit. The largest gold exporters, South Africa and Australia continue to struggle to bring new supply to the market this decade.

Demand destruction is the code-word for declining consumption when commodity prices rise exponentially. So far, this has NOT happened in Vietnam. Fabrication demand has fallen sharply in India as gold prices raced through US$750 an ounce last fall. But despite a surging price since last August, the Vietnamese continue to absorb imports at a record clip - until now.

According to the World Gold Council, Vietnam's first quarter gold imports were 36.8 tons. That's up an astounding 71% from the first quarter in 2007. And gold-hungry consumers purchased 31.5 tons of that total supply or 86% as investments. In other words, they're buying gold to protect their wealth against rising inflation and a weak currency. Sound familiar?
No One in Vietnam Can Afford Gold Anymore

Since June, the Vietnamese can no longer buy gold. Officially, the government claims this new policy is to temper booming imports, which resulted in a record trade deficit for the first half of 2008. First-half imports surged 64% to US$45 billion while exports rose only 27% or US$28.6 billion.

Yet the value of gold imports prior to the June suspension was US$1.7 billion or 3.8% of total imports. That's hardly a dent compared to heavy industrial machinery and machine tool imports used for manufacturing. That suggests the government is targeting gold to stop demand.

Thus far, the Vietnamese Communist government has not confiscated gold. FDR made gold ownership illegal in the 1930s when the United States was suffering a devastating deflation. The U.S. also revalued gold to US$35 an ounce during this period.

If Vietnam continues to lose control of inflation, and possibly, the economy, gold confiscation becomes a real possibility in a country with a short history of fiat money.

All paper money, including the euro, the yen and even the resource currencies, continue to buy less gold compared to just three years ago.

I imagine gold prices will benefit enormously from the new global inflation spike the latter half of this decade. I see gold breaking through its inflation-adjusted high of US$2,200 an ounce set back in 1980 in the not-too-distant future.

http://seekingalpha.com/article/83772-vietnam-suspends-gold-imports-follows-fdr-s-great-depression-lead?source=wl_sidebar Read more on this article...

To get embed code, go here:

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

I only want to say,
If there is a way,
Take this cup away from me.
For I don't want to taste its poison.
Feel it burn me,
I have changed.
I'm not as sure, as when we started.

Then, I was inspired.
Now, I'm sad and tired.
Listen, surely I've exceeded expectations,
Tried for three years, seems like thirty.
Could you ask as much from any other man? But if I die,
See the saga through and do the things you ask of me,
Let them hate me, hit me, hurt me, nail me to their tree.

Why I should die.
Would I be more noticed than I ever was before?
Would the things I've said and done matter any more?
If I die what will be my reward?
Have to know, have to know, my Lord,

Why should I die?
Why why should I die?
Can you show me now that I would not be killed in vain?
Show me just a little of your omnipresent brain.
Show me there's a reason for you wanting me to die.
You're far to keen and where and how, but not so hot on why.

Alright, I'll die!
Just watch me die!
See, see, see how I die!
Oh, see, see how I die!

Then I was inspired.
Now, I'm sad and tired.
After all, I've tried for three years, seems like ninety.
Why then am I scared to finish what I started,
What you started - I didn't start it.

God, thy will is hard,
But you hold every card.
I will drink your cup of poison.
Nail me to your cross and break me.
Bleed me, beat me.
Kill me. Take me, now!

Before I change my mind. Read more on this article...

More than 2 billion people - including at least 500 million children - are using cell phones.

At least 87% of 11- to 16-year-olds own cell phones. In the USA, one in three teenagers uses a cell phone. RF/MW signals currently under discussion for inflicting on wireless classrooms throughout North America and the overdeveloped world will operate in the 2.4 GHz frequency range - two to three times higher than current cell phones. Plans are already underway to boost classroom radiation levels with “upgraded” technology emitting 5 GHz.

These kids may be difficult to replace, because researchers at University of Szeged in Hungary have discovered that men carrying their cell phones on standby anywhere in their clothing throughout the day produce about a third less sperm than those who do not. Of the remaining sperm, high numbers were found to be swimming erratically - significantly reducing chances of fertilization.

Put men made infertile by their cell phones together with fashionable beach going women who carry their cellphones in their bikini bottoms and... We could be looking at an inadvertent cell phone cull. Especially if women are culled by bra-makers encouraging them to carry cell phones in their convenient, already cancer-prone cleavage.

The Spanish Neuro Diagnostic Research Institute in Marbella has found that a call lasting just two minutes can alter the natural electrical activity of a child's brain for up to an hour afterwards. Spanish doctors now fear that disturbed brain activity in children will lead to impaired learning ability, as well as psychiatric and behavioural problems.

Read more:

http://www.willthomasonline.net/willthomasonline/The_Evidence_Is_In.html Read more on this article...

By Daily Mail Reporter

An astrophysicist has helped solve the mystery of one of the most complex crop circles ever found - it depicts the most important number in mathematics.

Mike Reed said the 150-metre diameter formation represents a coded version of pi.

The value of pi - 3.141592654 - can be used to calculate the area and circumference of a circle.

Enlarge

Mystery: The crop circle in a barley field near Wroughton in Wiltshire is a coded version of pi

The formation was created in a barley field near Barbury Castle, the iron age hillfort above Wroughton in Wiltshire earlier this month.

But even crop circle enthusiasts and experts were left stumped when they tried to figure out its meaning.

But then Dr Reed contacted crop circle photographer and expert Lucy Pringle - who took these stunning photographs - with an explanation.

"I noticed a photograph of the Barbury Castle pattern yesterday.

"It is apparently a coded image representing the first ten digits of pi - the ratio of the circumference of a circle to the diameter," he explained.

"The tenth digit has even been correctly rounded up. The little dot near the centre is the decimal point.

"The code is based on ten angular segments with the radial jumps being the indicator of each segment.

"Starting at the centre and counting the number of one-tenth segments in each section contained by the change in radius clearly shows the values of the first ten digits in the value of pi," he added.

Enlarge

Complex: The formation is 150 metres in diameter

Maths codes and geometric patterns have long been an important factor in crop circle formations - one of the most famous formations ever created showed the image of a highly complex set of fractals known as The Julia Set, 12 years ago.

Lucy Pringle, who also is a researcher into the effects of electromagnetic fields on living systems in crop formations and has the largest database in the world of the phenomenon, said: "I agree with Mike. This is an astounding development - it is a seminal event."

And it appears the creators of the crop formation are expert astronomers as well as mathematicians.

According to crop circle experts, the latest formation near West Kennet refers to a partial solar eclipse, which will be seen over the West on August 1 this year.

It is the second time the solar eclipse has been referred to in crop circles - one on Hackpen Hill was claimed to be related to it, experts said.

Code: Mike Reed's drawing decodes the circle as pi

See more crop circles here:

http://www.astrojourneys.com/cropcircles.html Read more on this article...

First offering at the alter;

Jennifer Batten with Jeff Beck



Yasi, 16


Chantel McGregor





Yasi with Steve Vai



Kátia Prenholato


Read more on this article...

It turns out that older men chasing younger women contributes to human longevity and the survival of the species, according to new findings by researchers at Stanford and the University of California-Santa Barbara.

Evolutionary theory says that individuals should die of old age when their reproductive lives are complete, generally by age 55 in humans, according to demographer Cedric Puleston, a doctoral candidate in biological sciences at Stanford. But the fatherhood of a small number of older men is enough to postpone the date with death because natural selection fights life-shortening mutations until the species is finished reproducing.

"Rod Stewart and David Letterman having babies in their 50s and 60s provide no benefit for their personal survival, but the pattern [of reproducing at a later age] has an effect on the population as a whole," Puleston said. "It's advantageous to the species if these people stick around. By increasing the survival of men you have a spillover effect on women because men pass their genes to children of both sexes."

"Why Men Matter: Mating Patterns Drive Evolution of Human Lifespan," was published Aug. 29 in the online journal Public Library of Science ONE. Shripad Tuljapurkar, the Morrison Professor of Population Studies at Stanford; Puleston; and Michael Gurven, an assistant professor of anthropology at UCSB, co-authored the study in an effort to understand why humans don't die when female reproduction ends.

Human ability to scale the so-called "wall of death"—surviving beyond the reproductive years—has been a center of scientific controversy for more than 50 years, Puleston said. "The central question is: Why should a species that stops reproducing by some age stick around afterward?" he said. "Evolutionary theory predicts that, over time, harmful mutations that decrease survival will arise in the population and will remain invisible to natural selection after reproduction ends." However, in hunter-gatherer societies, which likely represent early human demographic conditions and mating patterns, one-third of people live beyond 55 years, past the reproductive lifespan for women. Furthermore, life expectancy in today's industrialized countries is 75 to 85 years, with mortality increasing gradually, not abruptly, following female menopause.
Grandmother hypothesis

In 1966, William Hamilton, a British evolutionary biologist, worked out the mathematics describing the "wall of death." Since then, the most popular explanation for why humans don't die by age 55 has been termed the "grandmother hypothesis," which suggests that women enhance the survival of their children and grandchildren by living long enough to care for them and "increasing the success of their genes," Puleston said. However, Hamilton's work has been difficult to express as a mathematical and genetic argument explaining why people live into old age.

Unlike previous research on human reproduction, this study—for the first time—includes data on males, a tweak that allowed the researchers to begin answering the "wall of death" question by matching it to human mortality patterns. According to Puleston, earlier studies looked only at women, because scientists can reproduce good datasets for humans entirely based on information related to female fertility and survival rates.

"People don't like to do two-sex models because [it's difficult] to look at how [men and women] pair up," he said. "But men's fertility is contingent on women's fertility—you have to figure out how they match up. We care about reproduction because that is a currency by which force of selection is counted. If we have not accounted for the entire pattern of reproduction, we may be missing something that's important to evolution."
Men and longevity

In the paper, the researchers analyzed "a general two-sex model to show that selection favors survival for as long as men reproduce." The scientists presented a "range of data showing that males much older than 50 years have substantial realized fertility through matings with younger females, a pattern that was likely typical among early humans." As a result, Puleston said, older male fertility helps to select against damaging cell mutations in humans who have passed the age of female menopause, consequently eliminating the "wall of death."

"Our analysis shows that old-age male fertility allows evolution to breach Hamilton's wall of death and predicts a gradual rise in mortality after the age of female menopause without relying on 'grandmother' effects or economic optimality," the researchers say in the paper.

The scientists compiled longevity and fertility data from two hunter-gatherer groups, the Dobe !Kung of the Kalahari and the Ache of Paraguay, one of the most isolated populations in the world. They also looked at the forager-farmer Yanomamo of Brazil and Venezuela, and the Tsimane, an indigenous group in Bolivia. "They're living a lifestyle that our ancestors lived and their fertility patterns are probably most consistent with our ancestors," Puleston said about the four groups. The study also looked at several farming villages in Gambia and, for comparison, a group of modern Canadians.

In the less developed, traditional societies, males were as much as 5-to-15 years older than their female partners. In the United States and Europe, the age spread was about two years. "It's a universal pattern that in typical marriages men are older than women," Puleston said. "The age gaps vary by culture, but in every group we looked at men start [being sexually reproductive] later. At the end of reproduction, male fertility rates taper off gradually, as opposed to the fairly sharp decline in female fertility by menopause."

Despite small differences based on marriage traditions, all women and most men in the six groups stopped having children by their 50s, the researchers found. But some men, particularly high-status males, continued to reproduce into their 70s. The paper noted that the age gap is most pronounced in societies that favor polygyny, where a man takes several wives, and in gerontocracies, where older men monopolize access to reproductive women. The authors also cite genetic and anthropological evidence that early humans were probably polygynous as well.

Older male fertility also exists in societies supporting serial monogamy, because men are more likely to remarry than women. "For these reasons, we argue that realized male fertility was substantial at ages well past female menopause for much of human history and the result is reflected in the mortality patterns of modern populations," the authors say. "We conclude that deleterious mutations acting after the age of female menopause are selected against … solely as a result of the matings between older males and younger females."

According to Puleston, the "grandmother hypothesis" may be true, but the real pattern of male fertility extends beyond this explanation. "The key question is: Does the population have a greater growth rate if men are reproducing at a later age? The answer is 'yes.' The age of last reproduction gets pushed into the 60s and 70s if you add men to the analysis. Hamilton's approach was right, but in a species where males and females have different reproductive patterns, you need a two-sex model. You can't correctly estimate the force of selection if you leave men out of the picture. As a man myself, it's gratifying to know that men do matter."

Grants from the U.S. National Institute on Aging supported this study.

http://news-service.stanford.edu Read more on this article...

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Go to source web page>> Read more on this article...

The notional value of all outstanding derivatives now totals approximately $1.144 QUADRILLION.

This appears to be Bank of International Settlement Spin to announce the largest gain in derivatives outstanding since they started to report. As of the last report it appeared that both listed and OTC derivatives was under $600 trillion. Now listed credit derivatives alone stood at $548 Trillion. The OTC derivatives are shown as $596 billion notional value, as of December 2007. One can only imagine what number they are at now.

"Well we hit a QUADRILLION. We have more than $1000 trillion dollars in all derivatives outstanding. That is simply NUTS because notional value becomes real value when either counterparty to the OTC derivative goes bankrupt. $548 trillion plus $596 trillion means $1.144 quadrillion.
...

This means that no OTC derivative house can be allowed to go broke. This means that whatever funds are required to rescue failing international investment banks, banks and financial entities will be provided.

...

Nothing can stop the juggernaut of price inflation heading towards every nation like a runaway freight train down a mountain."

http://jsmineset.com/ Read more on this article...

Fried brains.


Issued as a SERIOUS health warning to the average Indian, especially children, young girls (who have mobiles STUCK to their ears all the while).


While you read the article snippet below, do glance at this extensive PDF researched by Dr. Khurana.

http://tinyurl.com/63ojks


A note to the powers to be:

1. Ban all cell phone towers within a vicinity of 1 km from schools.
2. Ban all cell phone towers within a vicinity of 1 km from ALL educational institutions.

You DID ban liquor and cigarette shops, did'nt you?? And honking near hospitals?

Educate housing societies on the dangers of cell phone masts on their buildings.

Some of the political types can this further from here. I'm a re-search type, heh.


A study commissioned by the Union health minister will look at the effect radio frequency radiation (RFR) has on neurological disorders like cognitive impairment, depression and sleep-related disorders. Scientists will look at whether excessive mobile phone use changes the white matter of the brain and causes physiological abnormalities.

They will also study RFR's effect on reproductive health like menstrual cycle, hormonal changes in women, its effect on male reproductive functions and whether it causes abnormalities in the male reproductive tract.

According to ICMR deputy director general and lead investigator R S Sharma, the study will also see whether excessive mobile use can cause cancer or increase the spread of cancerous cells in those already affected.

Dr J Behari from JNU's School of Environmental Sciences recently conducted a pilot study on 20 rats, who were subjected to two hours of RFR for 35 days in a sample chamber. "We found significant double strand DNA break in sperm cells that could mutate and cause cancer, significant lowering of sperm count and reduction in testis size. The human study would be path breaking," Dr Behari told TOI.

Can mobiles make you infertile?

NEW DELHI: In a recent pilot study done at Jawaharlal Nehru University, rats subjected to radiation from mobile phones were found to have damaged DNA and low sperm count, leading to infertility and reduction in testis size. The Union health ministry now wants to find out whether excessive cellphone use could be having the same adverse effects on your health.

The ministry has commissioned India's first largescale study on the effects of radio frequency radiation (RFR) from mobile phones on humans. Initiated by Union health minister A Ramadoss and to be spearheaded by the Indian Council of Medical Research, which has just completed finalizing the protocol, the five-year study will be conducted by JNU's School of Environmental Sciences and three departments of AIIMS — obstetrics and gynaecology, neurology and biochemistry.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Can_mobiles_make_you_infertile/articleshow/3118392.cms Read more on this article...

It ROCKKKSSSS!! Its, FAAAAAAAAAAAAAST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Download:

http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/all-beta.html Read more on this article...

Madonna has shown no sign of slowing down - despite turning 50 later this year.

The popstar accused society of being "ageist and sexist" in an interview with Hello magazine, insisting she has never been one to conform and will continue to juggle motherhood with her career.

Madonna said: "Not only does society suffer from racism and sexism, it also suffers from ageism.

"Once you reach a certain age you're not allowed to be adventurous, you're not allowed to be sexual."

"I mean, is there a rule? Are you supposed to just die? I've never been a conformist."

The Material Girl also admitted to being a control freak prone to explosive tantrums but claimed her temper has improved over recent years as she has given way to her emotional side, revealing she often likes a good cry.

"What artist isn't a control freak?

"I used to go to the recording studio and explode. I don't explode in that way now but I have a dynamic personality.

"I'm a big cry baby - I actually cry all the time." Read more on this article...

I mean, here we have weapons being used for peaceful purposes. These are Chinese soldiers and one must admire their resourcefulness and readiness to take such a risk as firing missiles at the landslide to create a pathway for the water, so that it flows at just the right rate.

The Chinese General who was in charge needs to honoured in the lines Patton!

This culminates a news item that I've been following very closely.

"Torrents of muddy water gushed out of the lake throughout the day, sweeping through towns and villages in Sichuan province that were flattened by last month's devastating earthquake, which left over 86,000 people dead or missing."

"After a nervous few hours, the water in the lake fell below the top-alert level without causing any major flooding problems downstream. "

"Those efforts included firing small missiles and using dynamite to clear boulders from the planned spillways -- dramatic measures implemented in recent days that finally cleared the channels enough for Tuesday's massive draining."

"Throughout Tuesday, water flowed steadily out of the lake 50 times faster than it was coming in, Xinhua said -- a rate roughly the equivalent of two Olympic-sized swimming pools being drained every second. " Read more on this article...

Medical Zionism: The Scourge of Nations

Published by cyrano2 at 7:44 pm under "For Profit" Health Care, Big Pharma, Corporatism, Healthcare Piracy

By Ivor Hughes

6/9/08

A radical monopoly feeds upon itself. Iatrogenic Medicine reinforces a morbid society in which the social control of the population by the medical system turns into a principle economic activity; it serves to legitimise social arrangements into which many people do not fit.

Ivan Illich
‘Medical Nemesis’.
Pantheon 1976

Some years ago whilst queuing for the mandated medical inspection at a home for homeless men I had cause to reflect upon the nature of a system of control, to which the poor and downtrodden of every nation are subject. To be poor means to be stripped of any vestige of human dignity and used as a pawn in whatever game the dispensers of charity are playing. Some do it in the name of God and some in the name of Beelzebub or Mammon and Government. I wonder how many of those people reflect, that without those unfortunates, from off whose back they eat their daily bread… that without the poor they must also join the breadline queue.

I have used the term Zionism because Western Orthodox Medicine closely mirrors the political system of Zionist control of the media and the ruthless control of whole nations. Like the political Zionists, the Mandarins of Medicine mercilessly flog, smear, denigrate then strip the dissenters of their livelihood and with alarming regularity engage in book burning. They control the medical press and ensure conformity.

Weighed, measured and with trousers around my ankles, I stood before her as she bent forward and gingerly lifted my penis with a spatula and examined it for lesions, ulcers, scabs and discharge. And with the same spatula stirred my pubic hair for signs of pediculosis, satisfied, she straightened up and attached me to the manometer and pumped the cuff on my upper arm full of air… Hmm, she said, “your blood pressure is considerably over what we allow, you will need to be put on medication … oh, and you can pull up your trousers now”.

What sort of medication do you have in mind, I asked sarcastically… “Oh your blood pressure is too high, we will soon have that under control”… to which… I used the term ‘blood pressure’ as an expletive… Why are you so angry she asked…? I told her why I was so angry… shortly afterwards I was called to the Superintendents office and told to leave.

As I trudged those cold early morning city streets I had much cause for thought… the medical rituals such as the taking of blood pressure or checking sugar levels and the figures obtained are not a constant forever etched on the sky. Blood pressure rises and falls throughout a 24 hour period and for a myriad different causes… the approach of a loved one, or anger… perhaps I should have just rode the system and tossed the legal killer pills into a fire… at least I would have had a warm bed and a breakfast .. Being smart… is what we working class call it… but for the life of me I could not embrace that line of thinking… Throughout that long night I was the attention of passing patrol cars… the first time the police stopped, it was a bully boy grilling with the demand for papers… Thereafter the police just slowed to a crawl and followed me up the street… in the military, and when subduing the irate peasantry… we used that type of tactic, we called it ‘putting the frighteners on’.

-:-$£S-:-

Modern orthodox medicine is a mirror image of the political system from which it feeds Capitalist or Socialist e.g. the USA and Britain. Both systems tap the same political artery… it is the people who are subjects of either system who must pay, either directly or indirectly to support the medical system. It does not escape ones attention that the servants of Asklepios in both economic medical systems, agree in principle as to the rules of the game. They live very well from the proceeds once the student loan is paid off. But it is our backs that these people sup from.

Neither system appears to have much of a problem leveraging money from the people via insurance companies or the taxman on the basis of an annual cost of living rise, whilst in the meantime the junior staff from janitor to intern have to strike either for better pay or for a reduction in the relentless hours that are forced upon them by the glass bead abacus that lies at the apex of these little pyramids of power, who also have links to larger pyramids.. Even to the kings chambers… where the abacus beads are of semi precious stones which in their clacking spit out numbers… numbers that rule us all… and in the process the orthodox medical consumers are economically recycled via the assembly line medicine.

===========================================================================

Cyrano’s Journal Online and its semi-autonomous subsections (Thomas Paine’s Corner, The Greanville Journal, CJO Avenger, and VoxPop) would be delighted to periodically email you links to the most recent material and timeless classics available on our diverse and comprehensive site. If you would like to subscribe, type “CJO subscription” in the subject line and send your email to JMiller@bestcyrano.org

===========================================================================

A system of medicine that has abandoned its ethics .. Its very core, any compassion has long since evaporated… so often the difference between life and death is an economic medical decision… the grotesque organ transplantation technology has grown into a fully fledged black market for human organs, and I cannot help wondering how many lives are terminated ahead of time so that steaming fresh organs can be harvested either for the trade or as medical trophies in glass jars to be paraded before new intakes of medical students. Just pieces of meat that once were human.

The suicide pills euphemistically called anti-depressants… the cancer causing birth control pills, the mountains of female cancerous breasts… the mountains of discarded wombs… which have long since outstripped the obligatory appendectomies in numbers of excisions performed… I wonder how do the medical authorities recycle these pieces of meat?

The scourge of meta amphetamine (‘P’), the crack, the cocaine the heroin and all the other drugs of addiction are all medical constructs from this grotesque system, which probes the very fabric of life. We are daily fed a diet of the dubious success stories but nothing is said about the line of hearses at the back door of the hospitals in the small hours of the morning.

Carefully spaced press releases that appear to give a glimmer of hope for the terminally afflicted, are a regular feature in both America and Britain. Daily we are fed juicy tidbits.

The fight against cancer is yielding results; we are now able to offer a 5 year survival rate, a spokesperson said. Heart and Lung transplant patient passed away, a hospital spokesperson said ‘it was a natural death’.

Young mum from Camberwell gives birth to 5 kids. A hospital spokesperson said that Daisy was sleeping off the effects of the drugs she was given.

Deadly super bug ravaging our hospitals. A Home Office spokesperson said, but added that the public have no cause for alarm. We have the situation under control, the spokesperson said. The whole seeming normal impression is just a mask that hides another kind of agenda.

The current western orthodox medical system is an assembly line where standard patients are given standard and economically directed treatments which in themselves are a great hazard for the many who have had to cope with the side effects.

Reality is… that the Cancer Quacks sometimes called Oncologists have the right to take your child off you… they take you to court and have the court make your child a ward of court .. The Justice system turns the child over to the medical monsters who cut and burn and smash beyond repair the child’s immune system with the toxic chemicals and then send them home to die… To assault a child’s already compromised immune system with the lethal treatment is a callous insanity, the authorities try hard to suppress such reports, but are always quick to report the survivors as some kind of success story… many of the monsters who perform these medieval torture routines have stated categorically that they themselves would be unwilling to undergo the treatment.. Perhaps they know something that the rest of us are not privy to.

How many people who have tried to pursue a medical malpractice matter, have found that their medical documents have mysteriously disappeared or that there was a fire which destroyed them… or even hopefully pursued the matter via Government appointed watchdogs like the Ombudsman system… to find out too late that these organizations are the interior decorators for this murderous cabal and whose major funding comes from some very doubtful quarters. Conflicts of Interest -R- Us.

At regular intervals another scientifically created disease is released in the slums and ghettos of the world… via dripping needles and poison pills as they experiment on a destitute and hapless peoples… more money to fight this disease, and more money to fight that disease. Cancer societies and the ever burgeoning affliction societies… people really should examine where much of the funding is coming from… it does not all come from the relatives of an afflicted person… the bulk of such funds received go to support the societies and the Pharmageddon propaganda. Not to compensating the victims.

Any shortfall in funds after the public begging day ritual has been performed, is provided by a benevolent pharmaceutical company… not with altruistic motives… after all, the malady funded, was probably caused by the drugs prescribed or at the very least, by a nice little line of experimental drugs of very doubtful provenance .. The well documented rigged clinical trials and withheld information and horrific side effects and long drawn out legal battles, or out of court settlements only serves to highlight this Criminal activity. In terms of our usury economics system this kind of behavior makes perfect business sense, a captive medical market is very good for the shareholders who have no conscience above their bank balance.

If you happen to be one of the milch humans that frequent the Temples (Pharmacies) of Pharmageddon then I feel truly distraught for your predicament as captives of this monstrous system… because I know that they rule you by fear and dissonance… some of the elderly are on 10 different medications in a 12 hour period. What an imposition on a frail body.

The public are expected to believe that the Pharmacist sits down with the drugs and balance half lives and interactions and dose. Only research and hospital pharmacists do that for experimental purposes in the inner sanctum… those who front the Temple Gate, usually follows the Doctors Rx unless it is so obviously skewed they do not question. They always have the Doctors standard dosage in stock because they are drug pushers of Pharmageddon, they have a one size fits all system to which the medical establishment is subservient.

We all know who the pharmaceutical companies are, and also their links to the earth poisons and atmosphere poisons… even into the king’s chamber. I think Karen Silkwood died in vain in spite of the screaming questions that emanated from her death. The people chose employment over lethal contamination… this is understandable for they are probably in debt to the system, with no way out except in. This is not a choice… it is a heads I win and tails you lose situation… coercion that purposely uses cognitive dissonance as a tool. A mind rape! These are also the tools of Political Zionism.

The medical establishment, the pharmacists, doctors, specialists, surgeons and psychiatrists along with medical academia are subservient to the Pharmaceutical Junta. The Merc Manual. Text books on pharmacognosy are crammed full of the weird shaped chemical heads. Strange tails, and misshapen arms of molecules unknown in nature… a gigantic experiment upon the peoples… welcome to the world of ‘Synthesis’ … medical science still has to borrow from nature for the template and in the taking have learnt nothing since Paracelsus and Culpeper.

The death toll of this control system may never be accurately known, however an excellent coverage of the available documents with a good analysis was published…

DEATH BY MEDICINE
October 2003
Gary Null PhD, Carolyn Dean MD ND,
Martin Feldman MD, Debora Rasio MD,
Dorothy Smith PhD.

If you Google Death by Medicine that will pull up the study for you. Their dedicated work in this area is valuable evidence that all is not as it appears. And the figures revealed are sure to be just the tip of that proverbial iceberg. Because it takes a brave person to jeopardize a career that was so hard won… “Sir I did not mean to kill them … it was human error”. The system is always on the prowl for sacrificial lambs… someone that the mob can stone to relieve the angst… whilst at the same time the system appears white and clean in their feigned moral outrage at this rank betrayal of a sacred trust… this is coercion… by its methods it seeks to conceal the facts by a defacto blackmail. Blackmail is a criminal offence.

Then we have this pernicious practice of vaccination whereby filth is pumped into a baby’s body based on Pasteur’s Germ Theory… A theory which has long since been discredited. The statistics that they publish as their proof of efficacy are nothing more than massaged frauds that may be added to the rest of the fraudulent clinical trials which are being uncovered almost daily and certainly by the week.

The methods of analyzing the data obtained are woefully inadequate, the confidence that is placed in mathematical formulae that at the best can only handle a mere handful of variables against the complexity of each individual human frame is sadly misplaced .. Once again we are being ruled by numbers that have not the slightest relevance, except as tools for the propaganda with which they dazzle blinded eyes. The calls for justice by the parents of vaccine damaged children are ignored as they routinely follow the prevailing dogma and invariably produce the ultimate whitewash by the use of the sacred mantra… ‘There is no scientific evidence’… Do these people really believe that they sit on the right hand of God?

The evidence is in the afflicted… the unheard millions who they ignore as though they did not exist, and daily they consign hundreds of thousands of children to a life of ill health by the use of this sacrificial ritual… I have never understood how one unvaccinated child could jeopardize the lives of hundreds of vaccinated children… because if this particular piece of junk dissonance is correct then the whole explanation for this nasty practice is collapsed and exposed for what it is.

“As far as the laws of mathematics refer to reality, they are not certain, and as far as they are certain, they do not refer to reality”.

–Albert Einstein

I thoroughly sympathize with those parents who grapple with the cognitive dissonance and fear for their Childs life… of what might happen if they don’t… I have looked at innumerable photographs of children screaming blue murder at this overwhelming assault on an unformed immune system… and to this unmistakable display of outraged betrayal; I bow my head to the wisdom of a child. The medical on costs for the vaccinated must be substantial because it is the medically compromised children that are shoveled into the synthetics system broiler house… rear them like young chicks surround them with the system… saddle them with health problems or saddle them with debt at the start of their productive lives in order to support a student loan .. People are badly abused even as they support the system that is sucking off them.

There are many who toil as part of this system… some of whom have blown a whistle and were quickly ruined and disposed of… they are the example dead bodies thrown onto the floors of academia and medicine .. The horses head of the Mafia and the mark of Zionism.

The survivors of this system need a strong instinct of self preservation to override the initial moral outrage felt, because a large mortgage and perhaps a family are powerful incentives, but some of them planned a withdrawal route out of the system into a more public spirited endeavor with larger horizons. Welcome to the ranks of Health Freedom.

I would also say that there are many orthodox physicians who obey authority and not their patients needs, as they feed the numbers into the system, they are the ones that succumbed to the intense indoctrination process that is given the name of higher education… whereas the reality is… that the cramming of the brain and the nervous exhaustion leaves no room for penetrating questions, just obedience in the breathless scramble to catch the hare. Such crude techniques of indoctrination have been practiced for centuries by every society in the west. That is not education; it is mental rape for the purpose of conformity to a brand of dogma. The cry of Scientific and Academic freedom never speaks of the responsibility such freedom entails… and hardly ever is that responsibility acknowledged… and it is far from freedom for the exploited as they are coerced by laws that were enacted for precisely that exploitive purpose.

The square peg of youthful idealism… find a cure for cancer… save an African village… or take the handle off a water pump and bring to the end a scourge of cholera .. Well let me tell you, the system soon knocks that type of nonsense out of those youthful heads, because from day one, a relentless stump grinder is set in motion, whilst the lecturers hammer home steel wedges of dogma… if Daddy is not rich, first comes the borrowing to find the impost. Oh and one must eat and care for oneself… and of course pay for all of those extra books required, that one was not informed about.

So one hides off to hamburger flipping/serving job or washing dishes… Work is the answer to the economic squeeze… whilst others relax, you work in time that should have been devoted to study whilst you still had a freshness… back to the campus at 10.30 or even later and wearily drag out ones assignment work and finally the grateful blessed sleep taken in the small hours .. And it all happens again and again and again.

This is usually the students first brush with economic matters of such gravity as wondering where was the next meal coming from… I warrant that necessity will always override a stated curriculum… The economics of being a doctor 101. For many of these medical students, economics 101 is a plague for them throughout the degree course which they are following, this is hardly conducive to becoming a top flight candidate for the ladder complete with a centuries worth of old boy networks .. because if one does not have a foot on that ladder, then one must be an exceptional person to escape from the mediocrity to which one has been assigned .. When the candidates are streamed.

As any student knows it does not pay to ask smart questions… like those questions that point out that there is a brick missing from this carefully constructed academic wall of knowledge… it is instant suicide to question a lecturer whose name is widely known… beware of the Academic Expert.

The students are under potential lockdown conditions at the hatcheries… which are swiftly imposed in the event of any protest, which gives lie to what is that these imposters claim, and their methods of enforcement by the use of thuggish mercenaries with short fuses is the evidence… and neither have we forgotten the massacre at Kent State which was flashed around the world, just another rusty nail in the coffin of freedom and justice.

The graduate Medical Cowards that call themselves Doctors have abandoned any pretence of the Hippocratic Oath… one of the provisions is the pledge to ‘First Do No Harm’.

It has surely not escaped the attention of these brilliant minds that their Materia Medica is totally flawed, extremely dangerous and compromised with lies and whitewash… the medical journals are the coffee shops and smart eating places of academic snobbery, which is usually of the ‘We know best genre’ as the moral morons discuss in arcane language the merits of this or that killer pill and whether the risks outweigh the benefits.. How dare they decide for those whose risk or benefit it is.

They know what they are doing, that is why they have come up with the concept of
’Informed Consent’… this throws the onus of medical harm onto the long suffering patients and thus escape the consequences of their wrong doing. It should not be necessary for me to point out that these Doctors spent many years learning the chemical and medical language and yet expect a patient to be an instant expert, as in ‘informed consent’… What despicable people they are… there is no hypocrite like the Hippocratic hypocrite.

Neither system will give a nod or a wink to dissenters and the underlings always look discretely away as the Junta stones another dissenter… ruining the victims reputation which effectively leaves them without a livelihood in their chosen field .. This nasty and vicious behavior should be denounced for what it is… Academic Zionism at work, and it is occurring with increasing regularity whilst the monsters continue to tighten the grip around our collective throats. Zionism in whatever form it appears is a medieval negation of justice and the right… we do not have to sacrifice more children or shed anymore blood and tears… all we need to do is to stop giving them our patronage… there are far superior systems of health care available and at a fraction of the cost.

The Queen of England makes use of Homeopathy. She has no use for the medical smear and propaganda… she gets the best medical advice that money and privilege can buy.

---

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http://fontstruct.fontshop.com/gallery/1/editors_choice/highest_rated/6/ Read more on this article...

On the one hand, Reuters says that the danger has INCREASED due to the fast draining of the lake.

On the other hand AFP reports that the fast draining of the lake has allowed the water levels to fall and has eased the risk.

I think this is a catch 22 situation!


MIANYANG, China (Reuters) - Muddy lake water from a dangerously unstable "quake lake" rushed into the devastated Chinese town of Beichuan on Tuesday, covering about a third of the ruins, after soldiers used explosives to widen a sluice.

Brown water, clumps of trees and occasional vehicles were moving quickly into low-lying areas of the town, washing away remains of corpses, family mementoes and valuables left under the rubble.

The water level at the Tangjiashan quake lake, formed by China's most devastating earthquake in decades, dropped by nearly eight meters (26 ft) in three hours on Tuesday, Xinhua news agency said.

Helicopters were evacuating remaining soldiers and experts from the top of the dam, which was no longer safe with cracks appearing as the flow of water accelerated by more than tenfold, Xinhua said, adding some mountains near the lake had started crumbling.


http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSPEK30372720080610

----------

MIANYANG, China (AFP) — Water is finally gushing out of a dangerous quake lake, China said on Tuesday, after firing missiles and using dynamite and bulldozers to clear more diversion channels.

Shortly before noon, water was draining out nearly 60 times faster than it was flowing in, after boulders were destroyed and other huge debris removed, the state Xinhua news agency said.

China's military had resorted to the dramatic measure of firing 10 small missiles to blast away huge boulders that were blocking the path of one of the channels.

The falling water levels have eased the immediate dangers posed by the Tangjiashan lake, created when landslides blocked a river in southwest China's mountainous Sichuan province during the devastating May 12 earthquake.

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5juH8uynH8Cwzw1QnsxrnYblgek7w Read more on this article...

Google is inviting users to test thirteen new Gmail features by adding a new Labs option next to the Web-clips option in the Gmail Settings page.

Reportedly, Gmail Product Manager, Keith Coleman, said the idea was to make Gmail more flexible, get users' feedback, and include popular features in it. Coleman said they would open-up integration of third-party codes with Gmail and enhance its interface for better performance. Currently, only Google engineers can code features to be listed under Labs.

Here's a snapshot of some of the new features:

Specific Gmail messages can be bookmarked with a quick-link tool

Mail can be labeled with custom stars using the Superstars feature

Email accounts can lockout after fifteen minutes using "email addict" tool

Messages can be viewed within a fixed-width font

User signatures can be automatically placed before quoted text in email replies using signature tweaks

Buddies' status can be hidden in your list using muzzle tool

Navigation can be done with mouse movements using mouse gestures

Keyboard shortcuts can be customized Read more on this article...

The most healthful meal is the one you cook at home. But for those of us skilled at the art of takeout, the idea of cooking in our kitchens is daunting. Who has time after a busy day to shop, chop, prepare and cook?

The Times’s food writer Mark Bittman always makes cooking look easy as author of the weekly Minimalist column and his new blog Bitten. He’s also the author of several cookbooks, including “How to Cook Everything: Simple Recipes for Great Food.'’ I recently spoke with Mark about the how-to’s of home cooking, his favorite ingredients and a lot about beans.

Why do you think so many people find it tough to cook regularly at home?

I think there are a couple of lost generations. In the years after the war it became less and less popular to cook and more and more common to do things conveniently. Especially people born after 1960 or after, when reentering the workforce and using canned and frozen microwave stuff — they just didn’t see their mothers cooking.

For those of us who want to cook more, what’s your advice for getting started?

I would say start with a decent cookbook. Pick something you really like, and make the effort to be successful; you want positive reinforcement. Read the recipe carefully, set aside the time and make sure you’ve got the ingredients and the equipment and really walk yourself through it. What takes you two hours the first time may only take 15 minutes the third time.

What supplies should I always have in my kitchen? Are there any special pots or pans I need?

In “How To Cook Everything,” there are lists of what you need for your pantry and a list of the equipment. You can start with three or four pans, a couple different utensils. And you can start with 10 or 15 ingredients. The list includes pasta and rice, canned beans and tomatoes, spices, olive oil, eggs and butter, long-keeping vegetables like onions, potatoes and garlic and canned stock. You have to start with the right ingredients, and you have to invest a little money and a fair amount of time.

But that is usually the problem for most people. They say they don’t have time to cook. I know I often don’t.

Well, whatever it takes to get food on the table, you have to do something. I’m not saying calling the Chinese takeout guy is harder than cooking. But all things considered, it’s not that much different. Yesterday morning I woke up and cooked beans while getting ready to come to work. I got home really late, like at 7:45 p.m. I reheated the beans, washed some lettuce and broiled a piece of fish. I had stuff on the table in 15 minutes. People say, “I have no time.” It’s like exercise: you have to want to do it.

For me the worst part of cooking is shopping for groceries and figuring what ingredients I need for a meal.

These days I cook a lot of things that are already in the house. I eat a lot of eggs, vegetables, beans and pasta. A lot of people think cooking is complicated. But this is the thing. Once you learn what you’re doing you realize it’s not. As I said, I woke up yesterday and made beans. Even if you take a can of beans and throw it in a pot with cherry tomatoes (you don’t even have to cut them up), some garlic and olive oil — there’s nothing wrong with that. Broil a piece of fish, wash some lettuce, and you have a fine meal. If your kids don’t like fish, then use shrimp or a piece of meat. I’ve gotten so used to cooking simply I almost never do anything else. Even when people come over for dinner — they get the same things I cook for myself. If I made what I just described to you and you were coming over for dinner, you’d probably think, “He cooked. How nice.'’ People worry about this too much.

How many different types of meals should we know how to make? Is variety important?

Whatever makes you happy. If you know how to broil a piece of fish or meat, if you know how to make a stir-fry and a couple pasta dishes and maybe a rice dish, and if you know how to deal with beans and make a salad, at that point you are well on your way.

When you are cooking, do you ask yourself whether it’s healthy, or do you just want it to taste good?

I always thought if you were aware of what you were putting in your mouth you’re not going to eat badly. Nobody can cook what they cook in fast-food joints and restaurants, in general, because you just don’t have the same ingredients. But if you looked at what it means to put a half a cup of butter in a dish, you would just look and say, “I’m going to use less.'’ When you cook yourself, you just don’t put the same kind of crappy things in there that people put in food that is prepared for you.

Do you have a favorite ingredient?

I go through an awful lot of olive oil, a stunning amount. I’m eating a lot of legumes.

You’ve talked a lot about beans. How do you cook them? Don’t you have to soak them?

You don’t have to soak them, but it makes it faster if you do. If you soak small dried beans overnight, I wager you could get them most of the way cooked by the time you and your daughter got out of the house in the morning. There’s a lot of stuff you can start and stop in the morning, especially beans and grains.

I have to confess, I’m not much of a bean eater. Maybe I need to start. Why are you such a fan?

It’s the flavor, the satisfaction, the non-meatness, the high-fiberness. When you get into cooking you start to see the subtle differences among things. At first I didn’t know anything about fish, then I learned 50 species, and then it mattered if it was bay scallops or sea scallops or pink scallops. That’s where I’m at these days with vegetables and legumes. I didn’t pay much attention to cooking them for most of my adult life, and now I’m starting to understand the subtle differences.

Okay, so what beans should we all be trying?

Chickpeas are the best. Now I’m into these huge beans called gigantes. You eat three of them and it’s like you had a small potato. But you can take a pound of chickpeas, cook them on a Saturday and stick them in the refrigerator tossed with olive oil, and you can eat them all week long.

Do you have a particular food indulgence?

I have a lot of friends in the food business, so I get my share of treats. At home it’s almost like I’m happy with pretty much everything I cook. It’s not that it’s so great. It’s the knowledge that I put something together, it’s simple and I put something on the table and there we are, sitting and eating it. It’s something I’ve loved doing for a long time, and I’m still into it. Read more on this article...

Zimbabweans pushed up stocks by more than 300,000 percent in 2007, handily beating inflation of 24,000 percent. The point is that it didn't pay to keep cash in the bank or anywhere else for that matter. The stock market at least offered the opportunity to invest in businesses with tangible assets that appreciate with inflation.

Perhaps what will be different this time is that while most people will want the convenience that paper money and electronic payments provide, fewer of them will trust money as a store of value. What that means for individual commodities is anybody's guess. But, unless 1) we are miraculously delivered into a time of plenty by huge, unexpected discoveries of the basic building blocks of civilization or 2) people suddenly en masse embrace an abstemious lifestyle (or are forced to embrace it by a depression), it seems possible that one time-honored role of money, that is, as a store of value, will disappear for an extended period as the world comes to grips with resource limits that are only now beginning to convulse our societies.

http://www.energybulletin.net/45240.html Read more on this article...

ARROYO GRANDE, Calif. (MarketWatch) -- You think I'm drinking that famous Beltway Kool-Aid, maybe because I'm predicting another meltdown coming in 2011? Well, you're being served from the same punch bowl, my friends.
Wall Street, Washington and the Fed are all praying the credit crisis is under control. Unfortunately, all their happy-talking is just a lot of hype, to hide their next bubble.
World markets are headed into another meltdown by the end of the first term of the next president ... and you won't even hear it coming under all the happy-talk.

Cycles happen. Bubbles blow, pop, meltdowns happen. Significantly, they're getting bigger and more frequent. Think 1987, 2000, 2007 -- the next in 2011. All the happy-talk from Washington and Wall Street gurus can't start the bull before it's time. Nor will a lot of non-happy-talker warnings make a bubble burst early.

For example, two years ago I analyzed the 2000-2002 bear phase of "The Cycle." We reported on 16 reasons why all the happy-talk failed to restart the bull market during that 30-month recession, while investors slowly lost $8 trillion.
Now you'll see how all the warnings of a housing bubble and a coming meltdown also had no effect on the 2004-2007 bull phase of "The Cycle."

Why? Because bull/bear, bubble/bust, expansion/recession cycles have a natural pattern that ebbs and flows on their own time, making fools of all gurus predictions. And all the happy-talk and not-so-happy-talk in the world has no effect: Happy-talk won't restart a bull. Nor can not-so-happy-talk warnings puncture a bubble. Cycles have lives of their own, they mature and die unpredictable, age and pop when they feel like it.
Another will happen, soon. A busted bubble and a new meltdown coming by the end of the next presidential term. Why then? Because the last few occurred with increasing frequency, separated by thirteen years then seven, and the next will come within four years. These trends are obvious from studying the works of masters like former Commerce Department chief economist Ed Dewey's classics, including his Cycles, the Mysterious Forces that Trigger Events.
Here's my list of warnings from 20 not-so-happy-talkers. Notice how they were as unable to pop the 2004-2007 bubble before its time, as the happy-talkers were unable to restart a bull during the 2000-2002 recession:

1. 2000: Fed governor warns Greenspan. Former Federal Reserve governor Ed Gramlich served 1997-2005. He was warning Alan Greenspan as early as 2000 about the coming subprime crisis. See his book "Subprime Mortgages: America's Latest Boom & Bust."

2. 2004: Nixon's secretary of commerce. In "Running on Empty," Peter Peterson says: "This administration and the Republican Congress have presided over the biggest, most reckless deterioration of America's finances in history" creating a "bankrupt nation."

3. June 2005: The Economist. Cover story two years before collapse: "The worldwide rise in house prices is the biggest bubble in history. ... Rising property prices helped to prop up the world economy after the stock market bubble burst in 2000." Values increased 75% worldwide in five short years. "Never before have real house prices risen so fast, for so long, in so many countries ... This is the biggest bubble in history."

4. January 2006: Fortune. Interview with Richard Rainwater. "This is the first scenario I've seen where I question the survivability of mankind." He's 112th on the Forbes 400, worth $2.3 billion: "Most people invest and then sit around worrying what the next blowup will be. I do the opposite. I wait for the blowup, then invest." He waited with a half-billion-dollar war chest.

5. February 2006: Faber's Market Newsletter. "Correction Time is Here!" was Faber's headline: "If we combine the overbought condition of the stock market, investors' sentiment high optimism, equity mutual funds' low cash positions, and also heavy foreign buying, we have all the ingredients for a stock market correction in the US getting underway very shortly."

6. March 2006: Forbes. Economist Gary Shilling wrote: "The current housing weakness will develop into a full-scale rout ... It's clearly a bubble and is nationwide ... The house-price collapse will induce a painful recession that will send U.S. stocks into a tailspin ... China will suffer a hard landing ... and weakness in the U.S. and China will spread worldwide."

7. March 2006: "Sell Now." Former Goldman Sachs investment banker John Talbott's book: "Sell Now! The End of the Housing Bubble." His statistics covered America's top 130 metropolitan areas. The top 40 were facing an average 47.2% decline.

8. March 2006: Pimco Investment Outlook. In the quarterly newsletter, "The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight," Pimco's boss Bill Gross took a big swipe at a presidential economic report: "It's not so much that the report was a compilation of untruths or even half-truths. It's just that it failed to tell the truth," and hid the fact that Washington's "borrowed from the future to pay for today's party."

9. March 2006: Buffett in Fortune. Remember Warren Buffett's famous farmer story: "Our country has been behaving like an extraordinarily rich family that possesses an immense farm. In order to consume 4% more than they produce -- that's the trade deficit -- we have, day by day, been both selling pieces of the farm and increasing the mortgage on what we still own."

10. May 2006: Harper's magazine. Michael Hudson wrote an article, "Guide to the Coming Real Estate Collapse," analyzing 20 trends: "Taken together, these factors will further shrink the 'real' economy, drive down those already declining real wages, and push our debt-ridden economy into Japan-style stagflation or worse."

11. August 2006: Wall Street Journal. Countrywide's CEO Angelo Mozilo: "I've never seen a 'soft-landing' in 53 years, so we have a ways to go before this levels out. I have to prepare the company for the worst that can happen." He did little. A year later, he was in full denial mode.

12. November 2006: Fortune. Cover story asks: "Can the Economy Survive the Housing Bust?" They said "the correlation between current builder confidence and future stock market returns over the past 10 years is downright unnerving." The NAHB confidence index is a leading indicator because the stock market inevitably follows in lockstep a year later. The index had "plummeted 54%."

13. November 2006: The Economist. In a cover story: "The Dark Side of Debt," Timothy Geithner, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, said in a Hong Kong speech: "The same factors that have reduced the probability of future systemic events, however, may amplify the damage caused by, and complicate the management of, very severe financial shocks. The changes that have reduced the vulnerability of the system to smaller shocks may increase the severity of the larger ones." Geithner later negotiated the Bear Sterns collapse.

14. January 2007: Los Angeles Times. Schwab "averaged 242,300 trades a day the first nine months of 2006. That was up 29% from the same period a year earlier, and a click above its 242,000 peak in 2000"and the last collapse.

15. April 2007. GMO Quarterly Newsletter. GMO manages $145 billion. CEO Jeremy Grantham wrote: "The First Truly Global Bubble: From Indian antiquities to modern Chinese art; from land in Panama to Mayfair; from forestry, infrastructure, and the junkiest bonds to mundane blue chips; it's bubble time. ... Everyone, everywhere is reinforcing one another. ... The bursting of the bubble will be across all countries and all assets ... no similar global event has occurred before."

16. June 2007: Shilling's Insight Newsletter. "Just as the U.S. housing bubble is bursting, speculation elsewhere will come to a violent end if history is any guide. ... Richard Bookstaber, who designed various derivative-laden strategies over the years, now fears that financial derivatives and hedge funds, focal points of today's huge leverage, will trigger a financial meltdown."

17. June 2007: Pop! Then it happened! And Dan Gross had a well-timed book: "Pop! Why Bubbles are Great for the Economy." He says bubbles work miracles, so just let them pop, Pop, POP!

18. July 2007: Fortune. As the contagion spread, Treasury Secretary and former Goldman Sachs CEO Henry Paulson tells Fortune "this is far and away the strongest global economy I've seen in my business lifetime." He's repeated the same remark often since. Earlier, he and Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said the subprime crisis was "contained." Clueless, Bernanke assembled hedge fund managers, asking them to explain the global derivatives market.

19. August 2007. Wall Street Journal. Former SEC Chairman Arthur Levitt wrote on the Journal's Op-Ed page: "In terms of market meltdowns and the degree of pain inflicted on the financial system, the subprime mortgage crisis has the potential to rival just about anything in recent financial history, from the savings and loan crisis of the late 1980s to the post-Enron turndown in the beginning of this decade."

20. August 2007: 60 Minutes. While Paulson and Bernanke were claiming the subprime crisis was "contained," the chief architect of the subprime-housing meltdown, Alan Greenspan, was on tour, making millions, hustling his new book, "The Age of Turbulence." On 60 Minutes he made a totally incredulous denial that he "really didn't get it until very late." He "didn't get it?" Yes, and to this day Greenspan rigidly maintains his blind faith in the free-market myth. His latest argument: Bubbles are a function of innovation, like the dot-coms and subprime derivatives. Regulators should trust the free markets, never micromanage innovation.

But what blinded Greenspan? His ideology? A brain quirk? Genetics? The president's reelection? It doesn't matter why: Whatever it was, it's bad news for America. Why? Because if the leader of America's monetary system for 18 years "doesn't get" that he was also the chief architect of the biggest economic blunder in American history since the 1929 Crash, can we ever trust any future leaders?

Scary, isn't it! How can we have faith in the next guy? Are our leaders the problem? Or is the system broken? Is capitalism itself at risk when the best and brightest are "blinded," unable to see disasters until it's too late?

But that is our "system," and in this system our leaders inevitably morph into bulls, ideologically blinded by their power. And like real bulls, all they see is red. So eventually ... they must run onto a sword, and self-destruct! End of Story

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/megabubble-pop-2011-here-20/story.aspx?guid=%7B537F9AC4%2DDAE4%2D48BF%2D9ED1%2DA54AE6B6C0B9%7D&dist=MostReadHome Read more on this article...

Bryan Bonner's mock video used DIY digital effects and a store-bought costume to show how easy it would be for Stan Romanek to fake his evidence of alien life. The fake, pictured at left, was released the day before a news conference when an actual still from Romanek's footage was released (right), though bloggers have picked up the Bonner footage as the "real" thing. (Stills via the Rocky Mountain Paranormal Research Society and the Rocky Mountain News)

If real life were anything like a sci-fi movie, Stan Romanek might just hold the future of mankind in his hands. Judging from his own (now very public) accounts, Romanek has had a staggering amount of contact with extraterrestrials. He has photographed a so-called flying orb emblazoned with what appears to be a face. He has met aliens in person, and drawn sketches of their vast eyes and swollen craniums. And late last week, Romanek stirred up a Web frenzy by showing a room full of reporters in Denver a brief clip of what he says is an alien peering into his window.

Clearly, this is no coincidence.

Many of the legions of UFO believers and spotters—whether driven by publicity, paranoia or hope—have taken a single suspicious photo. Some have reported an abduction or two. But for one man to have such a voluminous (and diverse) history of close encounters with nonhuman intelligence, you'd think Romanek had been chosen as Earth's unlikely ambassador to the stars. That, or he's coming out with a movie.

In what amounts to a bizarre new kind of viral marketing, the footage screened on Friday—to be included in an upcoming documentary about Romanek's experiences—is also part of a ballot initiative to create a commission that would formalize contact with aliens. The man heading that effort, 54-year-old Jeff Peckman, has a curious political track record running parallel to his extraterrestrial PR. In 2003, he campaigned for an initiative to reduce Denver's collective stress levels, using such measures as group meditation and the playing of sitar music in public buildings. But Peckman's efforts to promote Romanek's footage have been considerably more successful, garnering national headlines and an appearance on Larry King Live. And the hyperbole is frustrating the already combative cult of UFO followers, skeptics and believers alike.

"We saw this guy trying to pass off things that looked paranormal as something related to aliens," says Bryan Bonner, head of the Rocky Mountain Paranormal Research Society, which has been recreating Romanek's photos and videos for several years—to disprove him. That's because the same type of evidence once used by paranormal scientists to indicate the presence of ghosts is now being doctored by amateurs as proof of alien life.

Neither Romanek nor Peckman responded to requests for comment for this article, but their new footage—for now reduced to a single night-vision still image they've made public—and the ensuing fakes, headlines and hysteria have shed light on what researchers monitoring the field say is an increasing trend of hoax hype in a digital age.

The Watchdogs of Photoshopped Fame
Bonner and his team of investigators, who specialize in reports of haunted houses, actually saw the video months ago, when he says it was making the rounds in the UFO community as Peckman was garnering interest for a 4000-signature ballot initiative to start an Extraterrestrial Affairs Commission in Denver. "It sparked our interest, but he seemed like another nut off the street," Bonner remembered. "Then he says he has evidence."

Bonner assumed that the Romanek footage was that so-called evidence, and with Peckman's press conference preview on Thursday confirming this, Bonner's team put together a mock video of its own that night. To counter claims that it would have taken thousands of dollars for Romanek to create a convincing, blinking prosthetic creature, the investigators from Rocky Mountain Paranormal rented a dummy alien from a costume shop, then spliced together quick-and-dirty special effects to make its giant eyes appear to blink.

In a strange twist, Bonner's mock video has been embedded on various blogs and linked on forums, mistaken for the actual Romanek footage. But that's an increasingly common mistake when so much can be made to look real with even an amateur's desktop software. "The problem with any data—I don't care if it's a video, a photo, electromagnetic readings—it can be faked," Bonner says. "And because of the digital age, it can be faked easily."

One film, released in 1995 to some notoriety in the geekosphere, purported to show a military autopsy performed on an alien. More than a decade later, the filmmaker changed his story, claiming that the video recreated footage he had seen, which had degraded before he was able to gather the necessary funds to buy it. And a few months ago, an anonymous source released footage of another alien autopsy, although the corpse in question is a rubbery, toylike thing, roughly the size of a baby chimpanzee. No explanation has been provided for where the video came from, why the alien is so small, or why there's such an obvious edit before the creature's entrails are removed (they also change color). "Any evidence is only as good as the reputation of the group that gave it to you," says Bonner.

By that measure, Stan Romanek is a problematic source. The evidence he has presented since his first reported contact in late 2000 is full of red flags. One photo posted on Romanek's Web site shows what he interprets to be a UFO covered in bubblelike pods. The next UFO he encountered had a classic flying-saucer profile. Another one appears as a sphere with barely visible facial features. According to Bonner, Romanek has also tried to talk with aliens using the classic paranormal "Frank's Box" gadget, which is generally a modified car radio that picks up random snippets of speech from AM stations—often for attempted communication with the dead. Even less consistent are Romanek's personal encounters, which include mysterious wounds that glowed under a black light, a chair that spun on its own, and an ominous black silhouette moving through his home.

At Friday's news conference, according to a video on the Denver Post's Web site, Peckman deflected those inconsistencies by citing public sentiment—a majority of Americans do believe extraterrestrials exist—and saying the new footage would help push awareness for his alien oversight board in the local November election. "There's already quite a bit of information out there—there's momentum, there's support, and I believe it will pass," Peckman said. "I don't think it would pass today, because there's been too much denial of information, too much misinformation."

The Gadget-Built Currency of Conspiracy
In the sprawling community of hardcore extraterrestrial believers, footage like Romanek's is not only rare, but widely derided. Clark McClelland, a former Spacecraft Control Operator at NASA who claims to have seen extraterrestrials firsthand, called the Denver footage "a pathetic disclosure."

The central currency of this subculture is evidence of "orbs," unexplained glowing balls that appear only in photographs. James Randi, a professional magician and legendary skeptic, whose foundation is still offering $1 million for verifiable proof of the paranormal, receives a handful of orb photographs each week. "Most of the photos aren't fakes," he says. "These are just people who don't know how to operate a camera." The orbs themselves are not only easily explained, but even more easily replicated. "The majority are dust motes that are brightly lit. With an infrared camera they show up particularly well," Randi says. Even with a standard camera, spotters can create their own suspicious balls of light with a particulate that's close to the lens and properly illuminated by the flash.

Lens flare can also be easily misinterpreted for the presence of an orb, particularly when the apparent object winds up with something that could be described as a face. Laying aside the ridiculous engineering implications of a head-shaped spacecraft, there's nothing new—or mysterious—about seeing faces where they shouldn't be. "It's a condition we all have, called pareidolia," says Bonner. "It served an evolutionary purpose. When we were out in the bushes, trying to fend for ourselves, it meant we didn't get eaten by the big fuzzy thing trying to kill us before we killed it. We still have those instincts, but we don't know how to interpret it. So we look at clouds, or orbs, and we still see faces."

When they aren't deliberate hoaxes, the oddly shaped spacecraft that populate so many UFO shots are often just misinterpretations of digital artifacts. Tweaking an image in a program like Photoshop can only exacerbate things, as an object is either intentionally or accidentally crafted into a more intricate vessel—deeper shadows, a more metallic sheen, even a more distinct face. All of which can be—and has been—debunked or recreated by photographers and video experts.

But in both Bonner and Randi's experience, explanations and counter-evidence tend to fall on deaf ears. "They need what we call a ‘woo-woo solution,'" Randi says. "They resist all attempts to rationalize. They see the thing demonstrated for them, replicated for them, and they'll just shake their heads and smile—and walk away."

http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/air_space/4266921.html

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Women who use mobile phones when pregnant are more likely to give birth to children with behavioral problems, according to a study of more than 13,000 children.

Pregnant women using the handsets just two or three times a day was enough to raise the risk of their babies developing hyperactivity and difficulties with conduct, emotions and relationships by the time they reached school age.

The likelihood is even greater if the children themselves used the phones before the age of 7.

Specifically, mothers who used mobile phones were 54 percent more likely to have children with behavioral problems. When the children also later used the phones themselves, they were:

* 80 percent more likely to suffer from difficulties with behavior
* 25 percent more at risk from emotional problems
* 34 percent more likely to suffer from difficulties relating to their peers
* 35 percent more likely to be hyperactive
* 49 percent more prone to problems with conduct

The results of the study took the top scientists who conducted it by surprise. The research will carry particular weight because one of its authors, UCLA's Professor Leeka Kheifets, had previously been skeptical that mobile phones could pose a risk to health.

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2008/06/03/cell-phone-use-during-pregnancy-can-seriously-damage-your-baby.aspx?source=nl

Sources:

* The Independent May 18, 2008

* Epidemiology July 2008 Read more on this article...

http://www.myvideo.de/watch/4200263/VAN_CANTO_Battery_Video

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First he says that the Govt. will not disclose. Now he says he will not disclose. Then he says he will not allow the public to see. Then he says that the person who took the video will not be revealed. Then he says that the person who authenticated the video will not be available. Then he links the release of a documentary to a Govt. election. Talk about transparency.

Looks like another money-making racket to me.

Read.....!

"Jeff Peckman says the alien is "innocent, benevolent, youthful, more smooth-skinned than the kind of wrinkly 'E.T.' extraterrestrial in the movie.""

"One will be the footage of the extraterrestrial over the course of a minute, a couple different shots of a moving extraterrestrial within a 12- to 15-foot range."

Interviews with witnesses who have experience with suspected alien space craft and beings, and those with top security clearances, also will be screened Friday, he said.

A film expert who analyzed the authenticity of the video could not attend the Denver news conference, said Peckman, but he'll present his conclusions by videotape.

Peckman said the alien visited a private home in Nebraska a few years back. The figure stands about 4 feet tall, he estimates.

The documentary currently in production will profile the experiences of the man who filmed the creature. The subject of the film grew up in Colorado, lived elsewhere for a time but has since moved back to the state. Peckman declined to release his identity.

Peckman believes the video will provoke an important dialogue about alien life.

"I think it will engage people in a thoughtful way to decide if it's proof enough or if they need further documentation and more evidence."

The release date for the documentary is still under negotiation, he said, but he hopes it comes out before the November election.

"It would be a useful source of education for the voters."

Peckman got involved in the project after a chance meeting with someone who organizes lectures on the subject.

"I attended the lecture and was delighted to see how much is known about these extraterrestrial visitations," he said.

He heard a presentation by a former NASA scientist, who used declassified documents and said that the U.S. government would not release what it knows about alien life during his lifetime.

"That was unacceptable to me," Peckman said. "By the time I got home, I had already decided to sponsor a ballot initiative for the purpose of disclosing this information at a local level."

In 2003, Peckman proposed a "Safety Through Peace" ballot initiative, which would have required Denver to implement stress-reduction techniques.

Peckman said he has been in back-to-back media interviews, some from overseas, since word of Friday's screening was released.

http://origin.denverpost.com/ci_9416751

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Watch for a disclosure in the near future. That's going to bring about a tumult in the
psychology of man. Religious books may have to re-written!

Seems as if we are being "prepared" with a disclosure that we are not alone in the universe.

http://www.extracampaign.org/

Vatican: It's OK to believe in aliens
Vatican Astronomer's interview "The Extraterrestrial is My Brother"
The Associated Press - 5.13.08 "... why do we not talk about an 'extraterrestrial brother'? It would still be part of creation."
In the interview by the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano, ...

Check out this trailer! It's beautiful!

http://www.thewakeupcallanybodylistening.com/Pages/thetrailer.html

The original Roswell autopsy video. 17 minutes. Always worth a look.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5830866813023883728

A video with an alien. Probably the most important video, if not a hoax. 38 levels above top secret.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2563099463833987009&q=&hl=en

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2563099463833987009&q=&hl=en

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2563099463833987009&q=&hl=en

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2563099463833987009&q=&hl=en

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2563099463833987009&q=&hl=en

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2563099463833987009&q=&hl=en

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2563099463833987009&q=&hl=en

This exploding interest can be credited in large part to thousands of UFO sightings, and years of research and education by dedicated
champions, throughout the world.

These champions include: scientists,
"abductees", government officials, NASA astronauts and personnel, authors, and advocates of government disclosure about evidence of extraterrestrial beings and their vehicles.

A vast amount of credible evidence in the public domain backs up the claim that Extraterrestrial beings have visited Earth. Below are just some of the many web sites that collectively offer a wide range of this evidence.

The EXTRA Campaign makes no claims regarding the accuracy of information on these web sites. However, it is precisely this kind of information that inspired the idea to develop a ballot initiative to create an Extraterrestrial Affairs Commission in Denver, Colorado as a model for the world.

http://www.disclosureproject.org/ - Hundreds of very credible witnesses recently admitting their involvement and experiences with UFOs.

http://www.stanromanek.com - Stan Romanek, a Colorado resident, has had encounters with craft and extraterrestrail beings since the year 2000. He's been an unwitting participant thrust into this bizarre and twisted series of events involving government agents, extraterrestrial beings, unexplainable craft, balls of light, threats, floating objects, bizarre communications, advanced scientific equations, implants and much more. If it weren’t for video and audio recordings, photos, physical evidence, police reports and hundreds of witnesses confirming these accounts, he and others would question his sanity.

http://www.cohenufo.org/Military%20Nuclear%20Specialists%20Testify%20To%20UFO%20Reality.htm - Quotes by military officers about extraterrestrial UFO's disrupting nuclear missile systems and disabling a nuclear tipped missile while in flight.

http://www.nicap.org/babylon/missiles_incidents.htm - UFO sightings at ICBM sites and nuclear Weapons Storage Areas, By Robert L. Hastings

http://www.stargate-chronicles.com/those_who_know.html - web site of a former NASA engineer with inside knowledge of UFO's observed during NASA activities.

http://www.presidentialufo.com/ - History of U.S. Presidents and their familiarity or involvement with UFO's and Extraterrestrials

http://www.mufon.com/ UFO Reporting Center, by State or date
(Mutual UFO Network) is the largest UFO investigation/ reporting agency in the world and was created in 1959. It’s consulting board consists of over 300 professionals, primarily medical doctor and scientists, and has representatives on most developed countries. They have received over 10,000 written reports of UFO sightings in the U.S. in the past 2½ years. They have been receiving over 500 UFO sighting reports per month since the Stevensville, TX sighting January 2008.

http://www.nuforc.org/ UFO Reporting Center, by State or date

http://www.theblackvault.com/modules.php?name=core&showPage=true&pageID=25
Hundreds government documents acknowledging and addressing UFOs

http://www.majesticdocuments.com/documents/pre1948.php - Excellent collection of government documents referencing UFO's and Extraterrestrials. At this URL page, select "Franklin D. Roosevelt on Non-Terrestrial Science and Technology, 22 February 1944", a letter where he mentioned "...coming to grips with the reality that our planet is not the only one harboring intelligent life in the universe."

http://www.ufoevidence.org/ - In-depth, quality and scientific research on the UFO phenomenon
http://www.ufoevidence.org/topics/PublicOpinionPolls.htm - Public opinion polls on UFO's and Extraterrestrial beings.

http://www.ufodigest.com/balducci.html - "Vatican Official Declares Extraterrestrial Contact is Real" (article)

http://www.exopolitics.com - EXOPOLITICS: Politics, Government, and Law in the Uniververse

http://www.exopolitics.org/Exo-Comment-38.htm - Policital implications of the extra-terrestrial presence
Former Canadian Defense Minister Speaks Out on Extraterrestrial Visitors & Government Secrecy

http://www.thewakeupcallanybodylistening.com/Pages/thetrailer.html - Excellent documentary on crop circles with an amazing shot of how one is created, and it's clearly not with earthly technology. Even the trailer is impressive.

Books:
UFOs and the National Security State, by Richard Dolan

The Day After Roswell, by Col. Philip Corso

UFO Politics at the White House: Citizens Rally 'round Jimmy Carter's Promise, by Larry W. Bryant

Read more on this article...

A video that purportedly shows a living, breathing space alien will be shown to the news media Friday in Denver.

Jeff Peckman, who is pushing a ballot initiative to create an Extraterrestrial Affairs Commission in Denver to prepare the city for close encounters of the alien kind, said the video is authentic and convinced him that aliens exist.

"As impressive as it is, it's still one tiny portion in the context of a vast amount of peripheral evidence," he said Wednesday. "It's really the final visual confirmation of what you already know to be true having seen all the other evidence."

When Peckman went before city officials this month to discuss his proposed ET initiative, he promised to show the video.

Peckman said the general public will have to wait to see it because it's being included in a documentary by Stan Romanek.

"No one will be allowed to film the segment with the extraterrestrial because there is an agreement in place limiting that kind of exposure during negotiations for the documentary," he said.

But people won't have to wait too long to see it for themselves.

"There is an open, public meeting in about a month in Colorado Springs," Peckman said. "We'll hope to do one in Denver at some point, and then in a few months, there will be the documentary that anybody can have, and it'll have the footage."

An instructor at the Colorado Film School in Denver scrutinized the video "very carefully" and determined it was authentic, Peckman said.

Peckman, 54, said the video was among the reasons he was "compelled" to launch the proposed ballot initiative, which has generated news as far as South Africa.

"It shows an extraterrestrial's head popping up outside of a window at night, looking in the window, that's visible through an infrared camera," he said. The alien is about 4 feet tall and can be seen blinking, Peckman said earlier this month.

In a statement, Peckman said "other related credible evidence" proving aliens exist will be shown at Friday's news conference, too.

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/may/28/purported-ufo-video-be-shown-friday/ Read more on this article...

Considering that Sodium Benzoate is the MOST COMMON preservative in virtually ALL processed foods from jams to biscuits to bread to whatever you find in the supermarket which is in a packed or bottled state, this must be an astonishing eye-opener as to a prime cause of so many diseases which we cannot put a finger on.

Sodium benzoate is a PRESERVATIVE. A known fact as enumerated by Ayurveda, is that the body produces a substance called "ama" (pronounced "aamaa"), which is one of the waste products produced after digestion. "Ama" is the sticky substance that's on your tongue in the morning!

So, Sodium Benzoate, when ingressed into the body, ends up PRESERVING "ama"!!

Looks like the medical profession is so far gone from the principles set down by Hippocrates, that the true nature of disease has been relegated to "alternative medicine" whereas the fact is that "allopathy" is really the alternative medicine to be imbibed in case of acuteness of in case of trauma, as a TEMPORARY measure.

"Soft drink giant Coca-Cola is phasing out a controversial additive that has been linked to hyperactivity and causing damage to DNA.

The chemical Sodium Benzoate, also known as E211, is used to stop fizzy drinks going mouldy.

But recent research has shown that the chemical can deactivate parts of DNA, the genetic code in the cells of living creatures.

Coca-Cola said it was withdrawing the additive from Diet Coke in response to consumer demand for more natural products."

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1021809/Coca-cola-phase-controversial-chemical-linked-hyperactivity-gene-damage.html


Sodium benzoate (E211), also called benzoate of soda, has chemical formula NaC₆H₅CO₂. It is the sodium salt of benzoic acid and exists in this form when dissolved in water. It can be produced by reacting sodium hydroxide with benzoic acid.

In combination with ascorbic acid (vitamin C, E300), sodium benzoate and potassium benzoate may form benzene^[6], a known carcinogen. Heat, light and shelf life can affect the rate at which benzene is formed.

Professor Peter Piper of the University of Sheffield claims that sodium benzoate by itself can damage and inactivate vital parts of DNA in a cell's mitochondria. "The mitochondria consumes the oxygen to give you energy and if you damage it - as happens in a number of diseased states - then the cell starts to malfunction very seriously. And there is a whole array of diseases that are now being tied to damage to this DNA - Parkinson's and quite a lot of neuro-degenerative diseases, but above all the whole process of aging. Read more on this article...

• Killfile. If people send me too much junk mail (jokes, chain mail, etc.), they get added to my killfile. It’s a simple filter that looks at the “from” field and deletes the message if it’s one of the addresses I’ve added to the filter. Every now and then I’ll decide to add someone to my killfile, and I’ll just open up the filter and add their address.
• Booleans. The filter works much like Gmail’s search function, in that you can add search terms such as AND or OR or NOT. So I can look for addresses that are from a number of people (using OR), or emails that must include all of the words on a list (using AND). Use search operator symbols to make it even easier: “|” for OR, space for AND, “-” for NOT, and parentheses to group different terms in your search string.
• Other search terms. Beyond the common terms above, your filters can use other terms such as “from:”, “to:”, “has:”, “is:”, “filename:”, and “label:”, among others. Using these terms, you can make your filters even more powerful.
• Send reminders to someone. One of the things I wish Google would add to Gmail is the ability to send a delayed email. This would allow me to send reminders to someone at regular times. Instead, I sign up for a reminder email service to send reminders (meant for other people) to my gmail address, and then set up filters to forward the reminders to various people depending on the subject or content of the email. It’s not perfect, but it allows me to send reminders to different people on a regular basis.
• Calendar and log. I set up Google Calendar to send me reminders of events. You can set up a label (”events”) so that your calendar reminders go straight to the label, star the message, and skip the inbox. Now not only are your events in one place, instead of scattered through your inbox, you can unstar the message when you complete the task or event, and now you also have a log of all the things you’ve done.
• To-dos. This is a commonly used function, but you can email yourself tasks that you need to do, and then set up a filter that has your email address in both the “to” and “from” boxes, that applies the label “to-do” to the message. This will allow you to view all your to-dos in one filter. Or, if you’re a GTD fan, you could set up to-dos for each context (@work, @home, @errands, @phone, etc.), by creating different labels for each, and then setting up filters for different email addresses. Email yourself at yourname+work (you don’t need the @gmail.com part), and set up the filter to label that address “@work”, and so on for each context.
• Follow up. Even if you’re not a GTD fan, having a follow-up label is a must. Simply set up a filter with an email address such as “youname+follow” and put it in the “has the words” filter field, and have this filter label it “@follow” and skip the inbox. Now when you send out an email that needs to be followed up on, put yourname+follow in the “bcc” field, and it’ll go into your “@follow” label. Be sure to check this label once a day so you can follow up on your emails.
• Send spam to trash. Instead of having Gmail-filtered spam go into your Spam folder (and have the annoying count of unread spam by the folder’s name), set up a filter with “is:spam” in the “has the words” field (just click “OK” on Gmail’s warning dialog box when you click next step) and “Delete it” as the action. Now all spam messages will go in your trash.
• Archived bookmarks. If you use del.icio.us and other bookmarking services, you can archive them all in a Gmail label (”bookmarks”). Get the feed urls for each of your bookmarking services, enter them in a forwarding service such as rssfwd.com, and then set up a filter to label them all “bookmarks”. Now all your bookmarks are in one place, with Gmail’s great search.
• Attachments. If you’re like me, you like to go through your old emails and delete a bunch of them at a time. I do common searches during the cleanup process, such as “has:attachment”, so that I can look through all my bigger emails and delete them. Make this process quicker by making a label and filter for this search, and for any of your common searches, for that matter.
• Media. If you get a lot of media sent to you, such as music files, videos and photos, set up filters (”filename:wmv | filename:mov” for videos, “filename:mp3? for music, filename:jpg | filename:gif” for photos, or “filename:pdf | filename:doc” for documents). Now you can quickly find any media.
• Backups. Create a second Gmail account for storage, and create a filter to automatically forward any emails with attachments (”has:attachments”) to this second address. Now you can delete your old emails without guilt or worry.
• Newsgroups or feeds. You can set up filters for your newsgroups, so they don’t clog up your inbox. Or forward your favorite feeds to your Gmail, and automatically label and archive them for later reading. Now you can not only access them from anywhere, but you can search them too.
• Bloggers. If you run a blog, you can have all your blog’s comments and pingbacks automatically archived and labeled (”blog”), so your inbox doesn’t get filled up fast. Also have your blog stat reports mailed to you and shunted to this label, so you can get a quick look at your blog’s success at a glance.
• Delete old sent emails. There’s no reason, in most cases, to keep your really old sent emails. Delete them. Create a filter with “before:2006/06/01 label:sent” with “Delete it” as the action (you’ll need to click “OK” to Gmail’s warning dialog). Every month or so, update the date of this filter.
• No delete. Some emails you don’t want to delete - those precious ones from your kids, for example, or maybe ones from your boss. Set up a label (”nodelete”) and a filter that puts the nodelete label on emails from (or to) the addresses you want. Now, some of the above filters, add the string “-nodelete” so that it doesn’t show these emails. Now you can delete your old sent emails, or your attachment emails, for example, without worry that your kids’ or boss’ emails will be trashed along with the rest of the riffraff.
• Flickr. Forward your Flickr account’s feed to your Gmail, with a filter to automatically label it, and now your photos are searchable through Gmail. You can also set up filters to send notices that certain tags in your Flickr account has new photos to certain relatives.
• Notes. Email yourself notes on web research, on meetings, on books you’re reading, on classes you’re taking. Set up a filter to archive and label them (if you send notes to yourname+notes, for example). Now they’re searchable and archived and accessible from anywhere.
• Twitter. Use your mobile phone to send text messages or IM messages to Twitter, with a keyword at the beginning of each Twitter message (NOTE, TODO, BLOG, FOLLOW, etc.). Forward your Twitter account’s feed to your Gmail, and set up filters for each type of keyword (”note twitter” will be labeled “note” for example). Now you can use your mobile device to send notes, to-dos, follow-up reminders and more to your Gmail through Twitter.
• Wildcard. Use the wildcard character (*) for companies that use multiple types of address from the same domain. One great use I’ve seen is to use the wildcard character for vendors such as Amazon or eBay to make it easier to track online purchases. Create a label (”online shopping”) and a filter with such email addresses as “*@amazon.com|*@ebay.com|*@paypal.com|*@barnesandnoble.com”.

Read more on this article...

Search Mail in Gmail

To find messages in Gmail:

* Type search terms in the Search Mail field.
o You can go to Search Mail quickly by pressing /.

Use the following operators:

* subject: - Search the Subject line.
Example: "subject:bahamas" finds all messages with "bahamas" in the Subject.
* from: - Search for sender name and email address. Partial addresses are okay.
Example: "from:heinz" finds all messages from "heinz@about.com", but also all messages from "your.heinz@tqn.com".
* to: - Search the To line for names and addresses.
Example: "to:quertyuiop@gmail.com" finds all messages sent directly (not via Cc: or Bcc:) to quertyuiop@gmail.com.
* cc: - Search recipients in the Cc field.
Example: "cc:quertyuiop@gmail.com" finds all messages that were sent to quertyuiop@gmail.com as a carbon copy.
* bcc: - Search for addresses and names in the Bcc field. Note this only works with emails you sent to Bcc recipients from Gmail.
Example: "bcc:heinz" finds all messages that you sent with, for example, "hein@example.com" in the Bcc field.
* label: - Search for messages assigned a label. (Replace whitespace characters in label names with hyphens.)
Example: "label:toodoo-doll" finds all messages labeled "toodoo doll".
* is:starred - Search for messages that are starred.
* is:unread - Search for new and unread messages.
* is:read - Search for messages that have already been opened.
* has:attachment - Search for messages that have files attached to them.
* filename: - Search within file names of attachments. You can also search for file name extensions to restrict your search to certain file types.
Example: "filename:.doc" finds all messages with word processing attachments.
* lang: - Search for messages in a particular language. (Specify the language in English; "Chinese" works, but "中文", "Putonghua" or "Mandarin" do not, for example.)
Example: "lang:French" returns all emails that contain at least un peu de Français.
* in: - Search in a standard "folder". You can search in Drafts, Inbox, Chats, Sent, Spam, Trash and All (for everything, including Spam and Trash).
Example: "in:drafts" finds all messages in your Drafts folder.
* after: - Search for messages sent after a date. The date must given in YYYY/MM/DD format.
Example: "after:2005/05/05" finds all messages sent or received after (and not including) May 5, 2005.
* before: - Search for messages sent before a date.
Example: "before:2005/05/05" finds all messages sent or received on May 4, 2005 and earlier.

Operators and search terms can be combined with the following modifiers:

* By default, terms are combined with (an invisible) "AND".
Example: "shepherd macaroni" finds all messages that contain both "shepherd" and "macaroni".
* "" - Search for a phrase. Case is disregarded.
Examples: "shepherd's macaroni" finds all messages containing the phrase "shepherd's macaroni"; 'subject:"shepherd's macaroni' finds all messages that have "shepherd's macaroni" in the Subject field.
* OR - Search for messages containing at least one of two terms or expressions.
Examples: "shepherd or macaroni" finds messages that contain either "shepherd" or "macaroni" or both; "from:heinz or label:toodoo-doll" finds messages that either come from a sender that contains "email.guide" or appear under the label "toodoo doll".
* - - Search for messages that do not contain a term or expression.
Examples: "-macaroni" finds all messages that do not contain the word "macaroni"; "shepherd -macaroni" finds all messages that contain the word "shepherd" but not "macaroni"; 'subject:"shepherd's macaroni" -from:heinz' finds all messages with "shepherd's macaroni" in the subject that were not sent from an email address or name containing "heinz".
* () - Group search terms or expressions.
Examples: "subject:(shepherd macaroni)" finds messages that have both "shepherd" and "macaroni" somewhere in the Subject line (but not necessarily as a phrase); "from:heinz (subject:(shepherd OR macaroni) OR label:toodoo-doll)" finds all messages from a sender who has "email.guide" in their name that either have "shepherd" or "macaroni" (or both) in the Subject line or appear under the label "toodoo doll". Read more on this article...

A compilation of the best UFO pictures ever taken. Some may be hoaxes.

http://www.ufocasebook.com/bestufopictures.html

http://www.ufocasebook.com/bestufopictures2.html

http://www.ufocasebook.com/bestufopictures3.html

http://www.ufocasebook.com/bestufopictures4.html Read more on this article...

By Enrico Grani (with Paul Doyon)

“All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.” -- Arthur Schopenhauer

My name is Enrico Grani and I presently live in Australia. I used cell phones for ten-plus years extensively on-and-off, and because of this I developed a brain tumor!

In 2007, about one week before my birthday, I was diagnosed with a 3 cm by 4 cm brain tumor. I had a stroke (my first one) the previous year in late November 2006. An MRI examination revealed a brain tumor in the area of my brain next to my ear where I always used my cell phone -- in the exact position where the cell phone’s antenna was located.

My goal here is to try to make you and your loved ones aware of the extreme dangers posed by these microwave-emitting devices. Please read about my experience carefully and thoroughly, and please do not make the same mistakes that I have made.

Rationalizations Won’t Save You

My father told me constantly that cell phones were very dangerous and that I would get a brain tumor. We actually had many big arguments because of my cell phone use. I would say “Yeah, Yeah, Papa, what do you know about cell phones anyway?” It went in one ear and out the other.

I rationalized that I needed this cell phone for my business. What I didn’t understand was the terrible price I would pay. I thought that if I exercised and ate healthy food, that I would be able to reverse the negative effects -- if there were any at all! After all, we were ALL told that cell phones posed no risk to our health. Remember?

I was very wrong. Cell phones are much more dangerous than anyone can possibly imagine. By just owning one of these devices, you are paying the cell-phone industry -- you are giving them the power to destroy your life -- and to make an increasing number of people sick. To think that I have paid the cell-phone industry thousands of dollars over the years to get a brain tumor (which has completely destroyed my life) sickens me.

I would gladly trade in all my money (which isn’t much now) and every single material possession I have for the chance to have my brain function restored. I was foolish!

Please don’t make the same mistake. Your brain is much more precious than the device called a cell phone. If you don’t believe this after reading this completely then there is no hope for you, and you will find out the hard way just like I have.

There’s No Customer Service When You’re Dying

Remember one thing, when you get a brain tumor from cell-phone use and you nearly die as a result, ring up the cell-phone shop and you will see how quickly they hang up on you.

All the smiles you remember in the shop -- going through all the models with the sales people -- are gone, and now you are totally alone in a world of pain, torment, and humiliation.

“Brain Tumor Day”

After I had my first stroke, my left arm became paralyzed and I now have severe cognitive difficulties, and problems with fine-motor movement in my hand. The brain tumor was situated in the right parietal lobe -- exactly in the position where I used the cell phone.

I was diagnosed one week before my 40th birthday with a meningioma brain tumor. I was so shocked my legs went weak. This was a birthday present that I will never forget -- ever! My birthday will always be remembered as "Brain Tumor Day." I can no longer work as I am disabled, but this does not mean that I cannot make you aware, so that you or your loved ones never endure my fate.

All I can do now with my life is to try and increase awareness of this serious problem.

Nothing Left to Do But Spread the Word

Thanks to the help of some good friends, scientists, epidemiologists, and a few doctors, I have been able to learn so much about the severe dangers posed by cell phones, cell-phone base stations, and the increasing levels of ambient electromagnetic radiation (EMR) permeating our living environments.

If we don’t do something about this now, I believe firmly, as do many renowned scientists, that this is posing a severe threat to all life on this planet.

There is growing evidence that the drastic disappearance of frogs, insects, and birds -- and now food production -- is connected to the growing microwave radiation permeating our environment. What I am trying to say here is that we are seriously looking at extinction as a species if something isn’t done soon -- if people continue to remain complacent and in denial about this problem because of another related problem -- the selfishness, greed, and stupidity infecting our way of life.

If we remain ignorant and uneducated about the seriousness of this situation, then many people, children, animals, and all life forms will gradually become sick and die. It has already started to happen!

Who Do You Trust?

I now sincerely wish that I had seriously listened to my father -- but I was really stupid. Now that I know what I know, I know that I have made a big mistake in trusting the cell-phone industry and my government to protect me against this danger.

After all, everyone was using them and they seemed OK. If I had had a better understanding of two things -- (1) the effects of electromagnetic radiation, and (2) the blatant irresponsibility of a government bought and paid for by an industry blinded by senseless greed -- I would never have encountered this sad fate.

Being disabled is very hard for me to deal with, as it complicates every aspect of what is left of my life. However, knowing now that my disability could have been prevented, knowing now that numerous scientific studies years ago had already shown cell-phone radiation causes DNA damage and brain tumor development, knowing now that these scientific studies were completely ignored because of industry greed many years ago prior to my tumor, and knowing now that it could have been prevented, is even harder for me to deal with emotionally.

Now I want to tell you all that I firmly believe that cell-phone use was the cause of my brain tumor. And I pray you don't think that you are the lucky, untouchable one!

I pray that you don't think you are immune to this either! Electromagnetic Radiation (EMR) does not discriminate. If you use a cell phone, the chances of you also getting a brain tumor, not to mention all kinds of other serious health problems, are extremely high.

My goal here is not to scare you, but rather to give you the cold hard facts -- facts that you may not know about and facts that you need to be aware of.

Brain Tumors are On the Rise

In the past few years there has been a drastic increase in the number of people getting brain tumors (not to mention other cancers and disease states like Autism, ADHD, CFIDS and so on). Brain tumors are now the number-one cause of death in children in Australia and the United States (and I imagine many other countries also).

It is now being predicted by epidemiologists that within the next ten years we will see at least a 1,000 percent increase in this disease state. A major brain-tumor epidemic is just around the corner. It saddens my heart to watch all the children with their cell phones glued to their ears; they have no idea what they are in for in years to come. This should not be happening, but it is and it is a serious crime against humanity being committed by humanity itself. I seriously believe this now!

My life has been completely destroyed. I have seizures nearly all the time now and it is extremely painful to experience these; it feels as if I am being electrocuted over and over again, with the flesh peeling off my bones. It took me over two months to learn how to walk again. However, I am a fighter and I always will be!

Systemic Genocide Against Humanity

I have always tried to take good care of my health and I was always very conscious of the importance of my body and mental strength, as I am quite a fitness buff. I just wasn’t aware how seriously dangerous cell phones actually were. I really just wanted to quickly recover after having the tumor removed from my brain and I was exercising, lifting weights, and leg pressing twice my body weight, as soon as I could walk again. I just wanted my health back, and to be able to work again and regain the lifestyle I once had!

However, having said that, I am still suffering drastically because of this. What the phone companies did to me with their lies and their greed is a crime that should never have been allowed to happen.

What will happen to an increasing number of people can only be considered as "Systematic Genocide Against Humanity.”

I know it and many other people know it too. Unfortunately, not enough people want to believe it -- until of course something like this happens to them. It is as if they are drug-addict zombies in a trance -- addicted to their cell phones. The only difference here being is that the cell phone is the new "Electromagnetic Drug." This is what the cell-phone industry wants and has seemingly planned and now totally achieved.

The First Hit is Free

Why would a cell-phone company make you sign a contract and then give you "free” minutes? Sounds to me like what a "drug pusher" would do.

As the saying goes "nothing is for nothing." Free minutes “equals” more time on the cell phone, “equals” addiction, “equals” a brain tumor, cancer, disability, allergies, feeling unwell, plus once you are addicted your "free minutes" are quickly all used up and then you will pay even more to your cell-phone company.

The cell-phone companies are killing us and no one seems to have a clue about what is really going on -- or they are so addicted to their cell phones that most don’t seem to care.

No one can deny that cell phones caused my brain tumor, except perhaps the unethical liars bought and paid for by the cell-phone industry. No matter how much proof you submit, they will deny it to no end, backed by their highly paid unethical lawyers, who have no soul! It’s totally disgusting. These people have sold their souls for money and gold, at the expense of the health of people worldwide!

It is time for me to go public with this and I suggest that if you (or someone that you know) are in the same or a similar situation that you go public as well. I am not scared of the cell-phone industry because I have a soul filled with love for humanity. They have no soul at all, or they would not be doing this to us!

Placing cell-phone towers next to people’s homes and nearby children's schools, and selling cell phones to young children when it is a known fact that a child's skull is thinner than an adult's, and a child's brain is not fully developed and is damaged greatly by cell phone use, is completely unethical and irresponsible.

The cell-phone industry, while completely aware of these facts, still -- blinded by greed, it seems -- engage in this ironically legal "Crime Against Humanity." I really don’t care if they try to kill me, harass me, or whatever else they may try to do to me. Sure, they have so much money, and I have none. So what? At least I am a human being with dignity and a conscience -- and that is much more than I can say about them.

I was in a coma for three days, I had three strokes, and I had a good portion of by brain cut out of my head. What more needs to be said? How could I possibly be scared of them?

My life is garbage and I know many other people that have been seriously affected from all walks of life. Once a person has cheated death as many times as I have, then one no longer holds any fear of anyone or anything. I just want to get this story out to the public and hopefully from reading about my experience some people’s lives can be spared from fates similar to mine. My only goal in life right now is to save life through educating people about my experience.

Mass Media Avoids the Truth Like the Plague

I have approached many TV stations here in Australia and none of them have wanted to touch my story. It seems to me that they are also bought and paid for by the cell-phone industry. This is not hard to believe either.

How many people must die before this situation with the electromagnetic radiation (EMR) is taken seriously in my country and given the worldwide coverage that it deserves? I suppose many people are fearful of losing their jobs by speaking out. All I can say to these people is that when they are in a wheel chair and can no longer work it’s "You had the chance to speak out but chose to remain silent."

Should it be Considered Premeditated Murder?

It really makes me extremely angry because it is the children, with their lives still ahead of them, who are going to suffer the most because of this. The children's brains and immune systems are still in a process of development. The cell-phone industry, fully ignoring this fact, manipulates children into purchasing a cell phone by using Mickey Mouse designs on the phones to get the child's attention.

All I can say is that this is "premeditated murder." What else can it be called when they are fully aware from all the data, facts, and studies (except the ones they have manipulated) by an army of ethical scientists and researchers out there saying that these things are dangerous!

You May be Affected But Attribute it to Other Things

This microwave radiation is destroying people’s lives and most people do not even realize this because it seems that they are attributing their symptoms to other things.

It is difficult for people to realize that something they can't sense with their senses -- see, touch, taste, smell, or hear -- is harmful, and most don’t even imagine that this is indeed the cause of their symptoms.

Not even the doctors are aware of the problem it seems, and if they are, most are keeping their mouths shut (for fear of losing their jobs). The cell phone companies are making staggering amounts of money, the pharmaceutical companies are making money, and doctors and hospitals are making money. And as long as they are all making money, it seems as if everyone is happy -- until of course they also get sick!

I spent approximately $4,000 AUS dollars on my cell-phone bills in 1996. I still can’t believe that I gave those Criminals all that money and I don’t expect that they will ever pay me back any of it either.

In the initial stages of having a cell phone I started to notice a burning sensation above the ear (where the tumor was diagnosed), but at the time I didn’t give it much thought, like many of you out there I presume.

However, come to think of it, there were a few times when I had to end the phone call because the pain was unbearable and I would have to call the person back later after the pain had subsided. I would also get these chronic headaches and pain in my eyes, but then again, I just attributed this to the pressures of the work. I even started to lose my memory and get lost while driving, which is strange since before that I always had a decent sense of direction.

All these symptoms started with the business and the cell phone usage. I finally left that business after 17 months on the job.

I went to see about five doctors over a period of years because of the headaches. Not one of them told me to stop using my cell phone. They all just diagnosed me with having tension headaches and prescribed Panadol or Aspirin or some other drug, which I usually did not take since I never trusted pharmaceuticals. Had just one of these doctors ordered a MRI brain scan, or a CT brain scan, I probably would not be so disabled today. If my brain tumor had been diagnosed earlier, I most likely would be working now and enjoying life.

Conventional Medicine is Still Clueless About the Dangers of EMR

The brain rehabilitation team was utterly astounded with my progress after my brain tumor was removed. However, they seemed to be completely clueless about the dangers of EMR and often would take their cell phone calls directly in the immediate vicinity of my head. They really should be aware that one should not put one of these microwave-emitting devices next to one’s head and especially not close to the head of someone who has just had a brain tumor removed.

However, like most people out there they are completely and utterly clueless regarding the dangers posed by this EMR weapon. It’s a complete irony and utter contradiction, but the people in the medical profession -- the people who are supposed to be helping us -- do not have any clue about the harmful effects of EMR on living organisms.

Hopefully, in the future -- if we have one -- this will change! At this point, people really have to do the research on EMR themselves. I have personally had to do my own research regarding EMR and my condition. Doctors are just too happy to prescribe drugs without really thinking too deeply about the underlying causes.

Now, my only mission in life is to make people aware of the dangers posed by this wireless technology. What else can I do? I just hope people are smart enough to listen. My only desire is for people to have life -- not death!

To my father: I am sorry Papa that I failed you by not listening to you. Papa you were right just as usual, and I paid the price for not listening to your words of wisdom as usual. The only thing is, this time I cannot correct my mistake. I am disabled for life. Sorry Papa, please forgive me for my stupidity.

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2008/05/20/what-s-more-important-your-cell-phone-or-your-brain.aspx?source=nl
Read more on this article...

I mean, here I am, rocking in Mumbai, India, and get the opportunity to listen and record Joe Bonamassa LIVE!! And it turns out to be a HIT with Joe's fans!!

Surely, that's something which gives me a WOODSTOCK HIGH!!!

Now, if Woodstock India was to really happen....!


http://www.jbonamassa.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=4886 Read more on this article...

The McMinnville Photos

In 1950, a farmer and his wife photographed what remains to this day one of the clearest photographs of an alleged UFO ever taken. UFO investigators have repeatedly authenticated the photos but skeptics think they are nothing more than a hoax – a model hung from the telephone wires above.




The Florida mystery

On the gulf coast of Florida, in the town of Gulf Breeze, a UFO phenomenon was born. It was 1987 and some incredibly clear photos of what appear to be alien spacecrafts began to emerge. For almost 10 years, the strange sightings of lights in the sky and crafts continued.



The Belgium Triangle

In the late 1980s, the UFO phenomenon found its way to Belgium, where hundreds of people reported seeing a strange formation of lights in the sky. A very interesting picture emerged from the sightings.

Read more on this article...

At a handful of sites across the country, after a four-decade hiatus, psychedelic research is undergoing a quiet renaissance, thanks to scientists like Charles Grob who are revisiting the powerful mind-altering drugs of the 1960s in hopes of making them part of our therapeutic arsenal. Hallucinogens such as psilocybin, MDMA (better known as Ecstasy), and the most controversial of them all, LSD, are being tested as treatments for maladies that modern medicine has done little to assuage, such as post-traumatic stress disorder, drug dependency, obsessive-compulsive disorder, cluster headaches, and the emotional suffering of people with a terminal illness.

While Grob’s study is not complete—he has tested 11 out of a projected 12 volunteers—patients seemed to have positive experiences. “No one had a bad trip, and most derived some benefit,” he says. “It lowered their anxiety, improved their mood and disposition, and imbued them with a greater acceptance of their situation and capacity to live in the moment and appreciate each day.”

Other early test results are equally encouraging. University of Arizona scientists recently fed psilocybin to nine volunteers whose obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) was so disabling that many could not hold down a job or leave the house; they would observe elaborate cleaning rituals or shower for hours until they felt comfortable. Conventional treatments such as psychotherapy and medication had failed. In each of the nine patients in the study, psilocybin drastically diminished or melted away their compulsions for up to 24 hours, and several remained symptom-free for days.

In another ongoing study, psychiatrist Michael Mithoefer of Charleston, South Carolina, is testing MDMA (3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine) on people suffering from severe post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), including rape victims and Iraq War veterans who have not gotten any relief from conventional treatments such as antidepressants and therapy.

PTSD is normally triggered by a terrifying incident—combat, childhood sexual abuse, physical abuse, a serious accident, rape, or a natural disaster—in which people feel their lives are in danger but are powerless to defend themselves. Sometimes PTSD can be triggered by growing up in a harrowing environment where a child is at the mercy of a cruel parent or parental figure. To survive such horrific circumstances, sufferers often numb themselves to their pain. The cornerstone of PTSD treatment involves reliving the trauma in a way that enables patients to process their fears in a rational way. But by definition, revisiting the experience can be frightening, and people often become locked in the grip of intense anxiety.

The drug MDMA, a chemical cousin of mescaline and methamphetamine, can kindle intense euphoria or sublime seren­ity, creating a calming therapeutic environment in which to revisit trauma. Eighteen out of a projected 21 patients in Mithoefer’s study have already been treated, and in many cases just two sessions dramatically diminished symptoms, which is remarkable because PTSD in this group of subjects has been resistant to other types of treatment.

What are the drugs doing to create such powerful effects? At the chemical level, psilocybin, LSD, and DMT—which are classified as tryptamines—are structurally similar to serotonin, a powerful chemical messenger that expedites the transmission of nerve signals in the brain. Tryptamines work by mimicking the action of serotonin, which is responsible for controlling an array of functions, including mood, sexual desires, sleep cycles, memory, and appetite. MDMA is a phenethylamine; it taps into the neuronal reservoirs of the key brain chemicals serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine (adrenaline), boosting their levels in the brain. Mescaline, although it is classified as a phenethylamine, works more like LSD or DMT.

Will these studies finally open the door to acceptance? David Nichols says psychedelics researchers keep a low profile “because everyone lives in fear that some administrator will kill their project.” Roland Griffiths of Johns Hopkins, for example, who has been doing pharmacological research for more than three decades, never had a project scrutinized as thoroughly by his institution’s review board and the FDA as his 2006 psilocybin study was. Throughout the study he worried that negative publicity might halt the research.

Read more: Read more on this article...

Every once in a while comes a great singer with a debut song. Britney and Alicia to name two. Lisa Lavie has ni her debut album, at least two great songs. Watch this girl. She's gonna go places. So much better than Mariah Carey, and so much more genuine. Which in the end is what counts. No?

From the guy who brought you Joe Bonamassa.


Lisa Lavie - "Everything Or Nothing"


http://youtube.com/watch?v=K4LnV0gC_X0


Lisa Lavie - "Save Your Breath"



http://youtube.com/watch?v=L-KKdtyn4PE&feature=user Read more on this article...

Richie Havens - Strawberry Fields Forever.

Let me take you down, 'cause I'm going to ... Strawberry Fields.
Nothing is real ... and nothing to get hung about!
Strawberry Fields forever.



The Who - See Me Feel Me



Jefferson Airplane - Somebody to love



Janis Joplin - Try



Ten Years After - I'm Going Home




****************** Read more on this article...

And played it for Decca Records in 1962 and got REJECTED.

So why was this song bled to death by a group of young teens? Was it to impress the bubblegum crowd? Was it because they hated their mothers?

The worst parts:

"Cha Cha Boom!!"

"So, Besame Mucho....."!!" "So", muthafukers?? "So"??

No one knows that this was how the Portuguese were made to leave Goa. "Besame Mucho" (as performed by the Beatles) was played loudly on the streets of Panaji. You had the Portuguese running helter skelter and diving into the waters.


A few hundreds of these tortured souls were washed ashore on Juhu beach.

To name some:

1. Menon (expired, God bless his soul)
2. Xavier (expired, God bless his soul)
3. Costi
4. Albert
5. Joe
6. Saby (likely to expire, Jesus bless his soul)

A local resident, Pithaly, (hope his soul will be blessed when he finally does expire), greeted these strangers with coconut water and Channa-Sing. (That's peanuts and chickpeas).

The rest is history.

Sitting on the Yellow Pole, with great love and affection, Besame Mucho was resurrected from it's ignominious rendition into the original Portuguese, and of course, an ALTERNATIVE translation into English, a version which I hum every morning.

So, here it is:

The WAY "Besame Mucho" should be sung. Presented by the GREAT Andrea Bocelli. God bless you, man, for bringing to life what is arguably the FINEST love song ever! Muchas Gracias!!



Bésame, bésame mucho
Como si fuera esta noche
La última vez

Bésame, bésame mucho
Que tengo miedo a perderte
Perderte después

Bésame, bésame mucho
Como si fuera esta noche
La última vez

Bésame, bésame mucho
Que tengo miedo a perderte
Perderte después

Quiero tenerte muy cerca
Mirarme en tus ojos
Verte junto a mi
Piensa que tal ves mañana
Yo ya estaré lejos
Muy lejos de ti

Bésame, bésame mucho
Como si fuera esta noche
La última vez

Bésame, bésame mucho
Que tengo miedo a perderte
Perderte después

Bésame, bésame mucho
Que tengo miedo a perderte
Perderte después

Que tengo miedo a perderte
Perderte después

**************************************

And as performed by Tino Rossi, 1945:





Besame, besa me mucho
Each time I cling to your kiss I hear music divine
Besame, besa me mucho
Love me forever and say that you'll always be mine

This joy is something new
My arms enfolding you
Never knew, this thrill before
Whoever thought, I'd be holding you close to me
Whispering it was you, I adore

Besa me, besa me mucho
Love me forever and say that you'll always be mine
Who ever thought I'd be holding you, close to me
Whispering it was you I adore

Dearest one
If you should leave me
Then each little dream will take wing
And my life will be through

Besa me, besa me mucho
Love me forever and say that you'll always be mine
Love me forever and say that you'll always be mine
Love me forever and say that you'll always be mine Read more on this article...

"My name is Richard C. Cook, and I was the NASA analyst who testified before the Presidential Commission on the dangers of the solid rocket booster O-ring seals after the Challenger disaster of January 28, 1986."

http://www.richardccook.com/articles.php


The Battle for America Has Begun

"The U.S. financial system began to deflate in the summer of 2007 but has so far avoided a wholesale crash due to the easy credit policies of the Federal Reserve in allowing financial institutions to roll over their debts. This is all likely to terminate after the 2008 election, when the Federal Reserve stops bailing out the system and real depression sets in. Simply put, the U.S. population no longer has anything close to sufficient income to support its accustomed way of life, especially with the ongoing collapse of the standard of living due to oil and food price increases.

So the war-mongers may be thinking they must now act before it's too late—before a worldwide convulsion throws them from their seats of power. The time for the financiers to set off the next major conflagration may have arrived. Naïve American politicians are there, as always, ready to help, perhaps sensing but not really acknowledging that they have been led into a trap."

It was really the European elite, both deeply materialistic and coldly inhumane, that was responsible for both of the 20 th century's world wars, for funding the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia , and for bringing about today's economic crisis that threatens to reduce to abject poverty or even starve perhaps half of the world's population. Now a third world war threatens, and while it appears on the surface that the immediate cause may be U.S. ambitions in the Middle East , this is a mask for the underlying machinations of the European controllers who are pulling the strings.

These people couldn't care less if the U.S. is bankrupted or destroyed in a larger Asian conflict while engaged in doing their dirty work. In fact that appears to be the plan. A nation like the U.S. that owes as much money as it does today to foreigners, including China and Japan who purchase close to half our national debt, is no longer master of its own destiny.

The war scenario is unfolding now and will likely accelerate as we approach the November presidential election. The actions underway appear to be designed to present any new president with a fait accompli, where corrective action is no longer possible. It would be the last and worst of the catastrophes visited on our nation by the revolutionary cabal of George W. Bush, Richard Cheney, Condoleezza Rice, and the neocon shock troopers who took over when the Supreme Court awarded Bush the presidency after the 2000 Florida election debacle."

Copyright 2008 Richard C. Cook

Read more here.

http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article4710.html Read more on this article...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Gwk4vkyapc&feature=related


DETROIT, Michigan (AFP) — High tech met high art when a robot conducted the Detroit Symphony Orchestra.

It was the first time an orchestra was handed over to a robot and the diminutive, spaceman-like machine got rave reviews.

Both the audience and performers burst into applause after Honda's ASIMO (Advanced Step in Innovative Mobility) robot led the symphony in a performance of "The Impossible Dream" ahead of a sold-out concert featuring cellist Yo-Yo Ma.

"It's exciting to see. The technology is mind boggling," said bass trombone player Randall Hawes, who has played with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra for 22 years.

"I was struck by how fluid the walk was when it came out and how still it was."

But Hawes doesn't think the diminutive white robot will replace human conductors any time soon.

"We react to it. It doesn't react to us," he said. "That's the only thing that's missing. We knew when it was going to stop so we stopped."

The symphony extended the invitation to ASIMO earlier this year after Honda donated one million dollars to establish The Power of Dreams Music Education Fund, which will support music education to underserved children around Detroit.

Honda has 25 ASIMO-type robots serving as ambassadors around the world and hopes to one day use the robots to help people confined to wheelchairs.

Commercialization of an ASIMO-like machine "is closer than you think," said Honda spokesman Jeffrey Smith.

"It's an incredibly sophisticated and complex machine." Read more on this article...

Arguably the most authentic UFO sighting. Makes good reading!

"They had both walked quite a distance now, and were in the centre of the forest. As they moved closer they noticed a small, shiny object sitting within a clearing. It had a bank of blue lights on it and it was just sitting there, it was completely stationary. "It was unbelievable...we got pretty close to the object, we knew it had the feet on he ground from there", says Burroughs. Jim Penniston managed to get really close to the landed object, "I got to within 10 feet of the craft and the clearing where it sat. I estimated it to be about three meters tall and about three meters wide at the base." Penniston moved closer, he was right next to the object now, he was able to see exactly what it looked like." The air was filled with electricity - like static. You could feel it on your skin as you approached the object. There was also a sense of slowness, like time itself was an effort", said Penniston. It soon became difficult to walk and move, rather like they were wading through treacle. Everything seemed to be slowing down. "It was like a weird feeling, like everything seemed slower than you were actually doing and stuff", said Burroughs.

Jim Penniston was standing right next to the landed object, "no landing gear was apparent, but it seemed like it was on fixed legs. I walked around the craft, and finally, I walked right up to the craft. I noticed the fabric of the shell was like a smooth, opaque, black glass. The bluish lights went from black to grey to blue. I was pretty much confused at that point. I kept trying to put this in some kind of frame of reference, trying to find some logical explanation as to what this was and what was going on. It was dead silent. No animals were even making noise anymore. The nearer we got to that thing the more uneasy I felt...it was as if I was moving in slow motion."

Jim Penniston had his notebook and camera with him, so he began to take notes about the object which was sitting in front of him. Penniston read an extract from his notepad on the Sci-Fi Channel's documentary about Rendlesham, "... triangular in shape. The top portion is producing mainly white light, which encompasses most of the upper section of the craft. A small amount of white light peers out the bottom. At the left side centre is a bluish light, and on the other side, red. The lights seem to be moulded as part of the exterior of the structure, smooth, slowly fading into the rest of the outside of the structure, gradually moulding into the fabric of the craft'. "As I was taking notes, I also memorized what was in front of me for what seemed like hours, but was in fact only minutes. Finally, I unleashed my camera-case cover and brought the camera up to focus. I began snapping photo after photo. [Soon] I had already taken all 36 pictures on my roll of film. On the smooth exterior shell there was writing of some kind, but I couldn't quite distinguish it, so I moved up to it. It was three-inch lettering, rather symbols that stretched for the length of two feet, maybe a little more."

Jim Penniston then proceeded to touch the landed object, he was only able to for a short time. "I touched the symbols, and I could feel the shapes as if they were inscribed or etched or engraved, like a diamond cut on glass." Soon after he touched the symbols, the white light on the object instantly grew brighter. Jim Penniston and John Burroughs jumped backwards in defence, they threw themselves onto the floor for cover. "At that point, I backed away from the craft, because the light was starting to get brighter. Still, there was no sound." Said Penniston. "We all hit the ground...", said Burroughs rather literally. The white light flooding out from the top of the unknown object was almost blinding. "The craft moved up off the ground, about three feet, still with absolutely no sound. It started to move slowly, weaving back through the trees at a very slow pace, maybe a half a foot per second. It took about a couple of minutes for it to manoeuvre itself back to a distance of about 100 to 150 feet, then it rose up just over the trees, about 200 feet high. There was a momentary pause and then literally with the blink of an eye it was gone. All with no sound. That still boggles my mind", stated Penniston."

http://www.rendlesham-incident.co.uk/25-26-december.php Read more on this article...

May 13, 2008 -- Banking analyst Meredith Whitney blasted Citigroup's turnaround plan yesterday, saying the financial giant is so deep in a black hole that even renown physicist Stephen Hawking could not help the ailing company.

"We wish [Citi's] management team all the best in their ambitious endeavors, but we fear [it] is past the point of fixing," quipped the Oppenheimer analyst known for her forecast that the company would slash its dividend.

The biting remarks, in the form of a research note to clients, came on the heels of Citi's long-awaited turnaround plan, unveiled by the bank's executive team on Friday.

In a nearly four-hour presentation with investors and analysts, CEO Vikram Pandit said the bank aims to get rid of $400 billion in noncore assets but otherwise rejected calls to boost the stock by spinning off units.

Instead, Pandit outlined plans to further integrate the conglomerate by doing away with overlapping technology systems, among other changes.

Whitney gave Pandit's presentation two thumbs down, saying it was "glaringly light on actual mechanics," and "almost identical to one given by former CEO Chuck Prince about a year and a half ago."

Prince, who was dethroned for his role in Citi's mortgage-related losses, stepped down days after Whitney issued her infamous prediction about Citi's dividend and placed an "underperform" rating on Citi's already battered stock.

Whitney agreed Citi's "antiquated and disparate" technology systems need work, but expressed skepticism about Pandit's plans to pull it off in tough financial times.

Similar efforts at JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo were "extremely disruptive and expensive," she said.

Whitney also predicted, in an interview with Bloomberg yesterday, that Citi will be forced to sell major businesses by the end of this year or early next year, and specifically pointed to Banamex, a Mexican bank Citi bought in 2001.

She also recommended investors sell their shares, which closed up a penny at $23.64 in New York Stock Exchange trading.

"The credit outlooks and the loss assumptions for banks across the board are way too low," Whitney said. "The outlook for earnings across the board is going to be much worse than people expect."

http://www.nypost.com/seven/05132008/business/citi_is_beyond_repair_110684.htm Read more on this article...

They'll call it Stormy Monday



By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, International Business Editor
Last Updated: 12:59am BST 13/05/2008

As a "non-believer" in the instant rebound story, I am not easily shocked by gloomy reports. But the latest note by Standard & Poor's -

The Bust After The Boom - gave me a fright.

The sick list is varied, though most for now are victims of the housing crash: Linens 'n Things, ($650m), Kimball Hill ($703m), Home Interiors ($310m), French Lick Resorts ($142m), Recycled Paper Greetings ($187m), and Tropicana Entertainment ($2.49bn).

As the Fed's latest loan survey makes clear, lenders have dropped the guillotine. With the usual delay, the poison is spreading from banks to the real world.

Diane Vazza, S&P's credit chief, says defaults are rising at almost twice the rate of past downturns. "Companies are heading into this recession with a much more toxic mix. Their margin for error is razor-thin," she said.

Two-thirds have a "speculative" rating, compared to 50pc before the dotcom bust, and 40pc in the early 1990s. The culprit is debt. "They ramped it up in the last 18 months of the credit boom. A lot of deals were funded that should not have been funded," she said.

Some 174 US companies are trading at "distress levels". Spreads on their bonds have rocketed above 1,000 basis points. This does not cover the carnage among smaller firms outside the rating universe.

The California city of Vallejo (117,000 inhabitants) has just made history by opting for Chapter 9 bankruptcy, the result of tax erosion from a 26pc fall in local house prices. Half Moon Bay may be next.

"This is the tip of the iceberg: everybody is going to line up for Chapter 9 in California," said John Moorlach, Orange County board chief.

US consumers are juggling plastic to put off their day of reckoning. The Fed survey said credit card debt had jumped 6.7pc in the first quarter to $957bn, or $6,000 per working American, despite usury rates near 20pc.

"My guess is that many Americans continue to run up massive credit card debt because they have little intention of paying it off," said Peter Schiff at Euro Pacific Capital. Quite.

Thankfully, the Fed's monetary blitz has averted a depression. Emergency lending under the "unusual and exigent circumstances" clause of the Fed Act - the nuclear Article 13 (3), unused since the 1930s - has put a floor under the banking system.

There will be no "reset Armaggedon" as rates vault on honey-trap mortgages. Drastic Fed cuts - to 2pc from 5.25pc in September - have conjured away that disaster, at least.

One dreads to think what would have happened if Fed liquidationists (Plosser, Hoenig, Fisher) had prevailed, as they did in 1930 - and still do in Euroland, where Germany's Axel Weber holds sway, and nobody of sense dares lead a mutiny.

Despite the rescue, US house prices are likely to fall 25pc from peak to trough (Lehman Brothers, Goldman Sachs). We are barely half done, yet 10m-12m households are in negative equity already.

The bears at Société Générale are going into Siberian hibernation, issuing an "Ice Age" alert. They have slashed exposure to global equities to a minimum 30pc for the first time ever.

Their weighting of super-safe "AAA" government bonds has been raised to a maximum 50pc. This is a bet on gruelling "Japanese" deflation. The bank expects equities to fall by 50pc to 75pc.

"Nowhere and nothing will be immune. We are on the cusp of an equity meltdown that will slash and shred portfolios," said Albert Edward, SG's global strategist.

"We see a global recession unfolding. Liquidity will drain away and crush the twin emerging market and commodity bubbles. The recent hope that 'the worst might be over' is truly staggering. Profits are disintegrating," he said.

Today's "bear rally" may live on into June. Don't count on it. Global bourses are no longer rising hand-in-hand with oil in exuberant celebration of liquidity relief (US, UK, and Canadian rate cuts).

Crude ceased to be a friend of equities when it reached around $110 a barrel. At last week's close of $126, it became an outright threat. The Bush rescue package - $800 in rebate cheques per household - has been rendered null and void by the latest spike. The average US home is now spending over 8pc of income on energy or fuel.

OPEC is playing with fire by refusing to pump more oil to offset rebel attacks in Nigeria. The cartel's output drop of 350,000 barrels a day in April is a hostile act at this point.

But there again, why should Middle Eastern states help America as long as the White House keeps filling the US petroleum reserve to prepare for war with Iran? Bush is playing with fire, too.

The oil spike will burn itself out. China has hit the buffers. With inflation at 8.5pc, it risks political turmoil. Moreover, it has repeated Japan's mistakes in the 1980s, building too many factories shipping too many goods at slender margins into a crumbling export market.

Lehman Brothers' Sun Mingchun says China will tip over in the second half of this year. "With so much latent overcapacity, an export-led slowdown could trigger a chain reaction which, in the worst case, could threaten the stability of [its] financial and economic system," he said.

Britain, Europe, Japan, and China will go down before America comes back up. This is turning into a synchronised bust, after all. The Global Slump of 2008-09 is under way.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2008/05/12/ccambrose112.xml Read more on this article...

Read more on this article...

4th March 2008 update on woodstock 2008: (through DNA India)

The much-hyped Indian Woodstock Festival seems to have run into problems with a clash between the organisers

The Eastwind Music Festival that Delhi witnessed last month drew the best of musical talent and was described as the Indian version of the classic Woodstock Festival. A few months earlier, though, a bigger announcement was made — there was to be an Indian adaptation of the Woodstock backed by Artie Kornfeld, the original Woodstock organiser. Whatever happened to that project?

Another story doing the rounds suggests a grand Woodstock Festival is happening in Goa with a line-up similar to Artie’s festival, which was being planned in Bangalore in partnership with the Art of Living. Some probing about the status of the Bangalore festival brought into light a dispute between the organisers. After Jackie Shroff, who was part of the deal initially backed out, two other members also seem to have left the project.

“Art of Living has also backed out because Artie doesn’t want to do it for a social cause. It seems like a money-making racket. So we pulled out. We got an email from Artie, who soon after his return to the US from India, showed disinterest in doing it the ‘social cause’ way. He said he was living off his girlfriend’s money and wanted to make some money out of the concert. This beat the whole purpose.

We immediately gave up the idea,” says Suryaveer Singh, who had 19% stake in the company Full Circle formed to back the project. The other stake holder and organiser Lalit Bhatnagar, however, rubbishes the rumours saying things are going in the right direction. According to him, the project is still on and Art of Living is very much a part of it. “Sri Sri Ravishankar is in the US and might be even meeting Artie for further discussions. People have quit the project due to personal reasons,” he confirms.

As far as the Goa Woodstock goes, it’s all a hoax according to Lalit. There are also groups on Facebook and other sites about the impending concert in Goa, which Lalit says is untrue and that the Bangalore festival is slotted for end of this year. Incidentally, Shillong is also being considered as the venue. The rift has left the people who quit the project with a feeling of betrayal. “We were the ones who put Lalit and Artie in touch with Art of Living,” rues Suryaveer. The festival plans to get some original acts from the original Woodstock including Santana and other acts such as Red Hot Chili Peppers. Read more on this article...

WoodStock India, Goa!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Santana(Confirmed)
Ravi Shankar (Performed at Woodstock 69)
Red Hot Chilli Peppers
Starship (members of the band Performed at Woodstock 69 as Jefferson Airplane)
Fleetwood Mac
Queen (don't know what line-up)
Iron Butterfly (Performed at Woodstock 69)
Paul McCartney (Beatles)
Jethro Tull (Refused to play at 69)
The Rolling Stones
Aerosmith
Black Eyed Peas
Norah Jones
Fat Boy Slim
The Prodigy
More To be Listed.......
(These are tentaive International Music artists rumoured to be a art of it apart from DJ's, Local Artists, etc

---------------


The news has been doing rounds for quite a sometime now in various communities and forums. It is speculated that the 6th edition of the Legendary Music Festival can very well take place in Goa, India on 08.08.08. Though nothing is for sure but a possibility cannot be ignored too.
Whats more? The rumour is that artists like Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Paul McCartney (Beatles), The Rolling Stones, Aerosmith, Norah Jones, Iron Butterfly, Queen, Santana, Ravi Shankar, Fat Boy Slim have confirmed their presence.
Though there is no official announcement yet but the fans are already dreaming it in Goa.
Related Links:
Jackie to hold Woodstock in India
For the first time in India, the legendary rock concert will be recreated in Goa with international bands in attendance. Thirty-nine years after rock music writer and producer Artie Kornfeld held his legendary Woodstock Music & Art Fair in Bethel , New York, Jackie Shroff is planning a similar concert in Goa next year…read full article.
Father of Woodstock Hums Iindia Tune (Video Link)
Artie Kornfeld (Arthur Lawrence Kornfeld) goes down memory lane as he gets nostalgic about organising the legendary Woodstock festival.
This is his first time in India. Artie, the official organiser of the landmark 1969 Woodstock Festival, has arrived in India to strike a deal with the movie star Jackie Shroff.
LATEST UPDATE:
Jackie pulls the plug on Woodstock
Actor decides to pull out of the Indian Woodstock project and plans a rock show of his own. However as it turns out that Jackie has pulled out of the venture for now. “I’m planning it for next year or so and it will definitely be for a social cause,” he adds. Read more on this article...

Commodity Online
ROME: US president’s controversial remarks on Indian middle class’s food habit seems to have boomeranged on him as the latest FAO data shows consumption by Americans has grown at a much faster rate than Indians.

According to the `global food market report` of the Food and Agricultural Organization, the growth in the cereal consumption in the US was the highest in the world in 2007-08.

The food grain consumption in the US is estimated to have increased to 310.4 million tons in 2007-08 from 277.6 million tons in the previous year, showing 11.81 percent jump.

In contrast, the consumption in India is estimated to have grown by mere 2.17 percent to 197.3 million tons from 193.1 million tons. In China the growth was 1.8 percent to 389.1 million tons from the previous 382.2 million tons. Read more on this article...

Wheel and deal your way to a fortune even faster using debit cards instead of cash! All it takes is a card swipe for money to change hands. Now you can collect rent, buy properties and pay fines - with the touch of a button! Read more on this article...

Read more on this article...

Who are you?

Read more on this article...

Casio FC 200V

Looks like a 4 line dot matrix. the TI BA II Pro II is a single line calci.

Programming function removed. (Casio Fc 200 had it, but read.. it says they have made some special programs:

"The FC-200V does not have the programming function which the previous one has, however this function is thought to be used for the Bond Calculation, Depreciation and Break-Even Point Calculation which are all built-in the FC-200V. "

Financial Calculations
Simple Interest
Compound InterestsTVMn
P/Y, C/Y
Cash Flow (Investment Appraisal)
Amortization
Conversion
Day calculations
Cost, Shell, Margin
Bond calculation
• Purchase price
• Yield to maturity
Depreciation
• Straight - Line Method
• Fixed percent Method
• Sum-of-the-Year's Digits
• Declining Balance
Break-Even Point Calculation
• Break-Even point sales quantity
• Break-Even point sales amount
• Sales amount for expected interest
• Sales amount for expected interest rate
• Margin of Safty
• Degree of Operating Leverage
• Degree of Combined Leverage
• Degree of Financial Leverage

http://www.casio-europe.com/euro/sc/financial/fc200v/specifications/

--

TI BA II Professional

http://education.ti.com/educationportal/sites/US/productDetail/us_baii_plus_pro.html?bid=5

• Solves time-value-of-money calculations such as annuities, mortgages, leases, savings, and more.
• Generates amortization schedules
• Performs cash-flow analysis for up to 32 uneven cash flows with up to 4-digit frequencies; computes NPV and IRR
• Net Future Value (NFV)
• Modified Internal Rate of Return (MIRR)
• Modified Duration
• Payback and Discounted Payback
• Choose from 2 day-count methods (actual/actual or 30/360) to calculate bond price or yield to maturity or to call
• 4 methods for calculating depreciation, book value, and remaining depreciable amount: SL, SYD, DB, DB with SL cross-over
• Depreciation Schedules
• Bond prices and yield to call or maturity
• Also computes: break-even calculations, interest conversions, delta %, profit and loss, cost, selling price, margin and markup.
• Prompted display guides you through financial calculations showing current variable and label
• BGN/END payment setting
• Partial years
• 10 user memories
• 10-digit display
• List-based one- and two-variable statistics with four regression options: linear, logarithmic, exponential and power
• Math functions include trigonometric calculations, natural logarithms, and powers
• Black protective pouch with quick reference card included
• One lithium 2032 battery included
• APD™ (Automatic Power Down) conserves power
• One-year limited warranty

----


BAII PLUS ™ PROFESSIONAL
Guide Books
The following guidebooks are available for this product:

• BA II PLUS(tm) PROFESSIONAL guidebook


http://education.ti.com/educationportal/downloadcenter/SoftwareDetail.do?website=US&appId=6115&tabId=2

----

BAII PLUS ™ PROFESSIONAL

Key Fonts
The following key fonts are available for this product:

• BA II PLUS™ & BA II PLUS™ PROFESSIONAL Key Fonts

http://education.ti.com/educationportal/sites/US/productDetail/us_baii_plus_pro.html?bid=9

----

TI BA II Professional Tutorials

http://movies.atomiclearning.com/k12/ti_ba2 Read more on this article...

No tough choice. By reducing the interest rates, he's bringing about starvation to the world.

Hang in there. Don't get muddled up in finance.

The sheer sense of the perception of the smell of pure evil pervades around me now.

The door has been opened ever more slightly. Let us push harder against it, if not to close it, then at least to ensure that the youngest feel less pain.

That does not require a Gandhi cap. Or saffron robes either. Nor education.

Won't get fooled again.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=b3mi-bKtDGA



Buffett says the same thing - in a more technical language.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a9qMR2tesBU8&refer=home

--
Bernanke may be doing the right thing for all you know - despite the unpopularity. Hiking interest rates could reduce money supply and fall in domestic consumption. Reducing it as he has done with a hope that domestic consumption will pick up could cause inflation reducing domestic consumption - tough choice indeed. Read more on this article...

It's so easy to see gold support at $700-$725. (God help if that breaks!)

It's at $850 or so currently.

Seems that the downside target will reach End July- August which is India's lean period.

With gold ETFs available in India (demat gold), that's an easy ride on one commodity which is long term bullish.

Ride from $725 to $1,600. Not a bad 100% profit in say, two year's time.

http://futuresource.quote.com/charts/charts.jsp Read more on this article...

Investment newsletters are now featuring headlines like "How You Can Profit from the Global Food Crisis." The recommended investments include agribusiness stocks and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that speculate in agricultural commodities. These investments will no doubt do very well in the global food crisis; but before you put your money down, you may want to explore whether you will be helping to alleviate the problem or contributing to it. Do you really want to "invest" in starvation? In an April 23 article in the German news source Spiegel Online called "Deadly Greed: The Role of Speculators in the Global Food Crisis," Balzli and Horning note, "Many investors . . . are simply oblivious to the fact that by investing in the global casino, they could be gambling away the daily food supply of the world's poorest people."

The main reason for rising prices, of course, is the surge in demand from China and India.
Hundreds of millions of people are joining the middle class each year, and that means they
want to eat more and better food. A secondary reason has been the growing demand for
ethanol as a fuel additive. That's soaking up some of the corn supply.2

That's the rationale published in the Journal of Wall Street, the financial community that brought you the housing bubble, the derivatives bubble, and now the commodities bubble, producing the subprime crisis, the credit crisis, and the oil crisis. The main reason for the food crisis, says this author, is that the Chinese and Indian middle classes are eating better. Really? Rice has been the staple food of half the world for centuries, and it is hardly rich man's fare. Moreover, according to an April 2008 analysis from the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization, food consumption of grains has gone up by only one percent since 2006.3 That hardly explains the fact that the price of rice has spiked by 75 percent in just two months. The price of Thai 100 per cent B grade white rice, considered the world's benchmark, has tripled since early 2007; and it jumped 10 percent in just one week. The fact that corn is being diverted to fuel, while no doubt a contributing factor, is also insufficient to explain these sudden jumps in price. World population growth rates have dropped dramatically since the 1980s, and grain availability has continued to outpace population. Biofuels have drained off some of this grain, but biofuels did not suddenly happen, and neither did the rise of the Asian middle class. If those were the chief factors, the rise in food prices would have been gradual and predictable to match.


Read the whole thing here:

http://www.webofdebt.com/articles/global-food-crisis.php Read more on this article...

One of the issue as I understand, having read it in detail elsewhere, is that there is no way that the eyeball can be kept totally still with current technology, amongst other things. Better to stick to specs or contacts.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0%2C2933%2C352587%2C00.html Read more on this article...

Carly Smithson might be the first "American Idol" contestant to be voted off the show for blasphemy.

Online chat boards devoted to "American Idol" have been abuzz since Ms. Smithson performed the title song from "Jesus Christ Superstar" -- the 1970 rock opera, which many Christians consider offensive -- on Tuesday's episode. Ms. Smithson received the fewest votes of the six remaining contestants following her Tuesday performance. Her elimination was announced on Wednesday night's episode. The week's performances were drawn from the works of Andrew Lloyd Webber, who wrote "Jesus Christ Superstar" with Tim Rice.

Since its debut, and particularly following the release of the 1973 film version, "Jesus Christ Superstar" has been railed against by some Christians for its portrayal of Jesus as confused and at times unwilling to accept his role, and because it hints that he had a sexual relationship with Mary Magdalene.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHcFBjj5FNE&feature=related Read more on this article...

Brain expert warns of huge rise in tumours and calls on industry to take immediate steps to reduce radiation

By Geoffrey Lean
Sunday, 30 March 2008

Mobile phones could kill far more people than smoking or asbestos, a study by an award-winning cancer expert has concluded. He says people should avoid using them wherever possible and that governments and the mobile phone industry must take "immediate steps" to reduce exposure to their radiation.

The study, by Dr Vini Khurana, is the most devastating indictment yet published of the health risks.

It draws on growing evidence – exclusively reported in the IoS in October – that using handsets for 10 years or more can double the risk of brain cancer. Cancers take at least a decade to develop, invalidating official safety assurances based on earlier studies which included few, if any, people who had used the phones for that long.

Earlier this year, the French government warned against the use of mobile phones, especially by children. Germany also advises its people to minimise handset use, and the European Environment Agency has called for exposures to be reduced.

Professor Khurana – a top neurosurgeon who has received 14 awards over the past 16 years, has published more than three dozen scientific papers – reviewed more than 100 studies on the effects of mobile phones. He has put the results on a brain surgery website, and a paper based on the research is currently being peer-reviewed for publication in a scientific journal.

He admits that mobiles can save lives in emergencies, but concludes that "there is a significant and increasing body of evidence for a link between mobile phone usage and certain brain tumours". He believes this will be "definitively proven" in the next decade.

Noting that malignant brain tumours represent "a life-ending diagnosis", he adds: "We are currently experiencing a reactively unchecked and dangerous situation." He fears that "unless the industry and governments take immediate and decisive steps", the incidence of malignant brain tumours and associated death rate will be observed to rise globally within a decade from now, by which time it may be far too late to intervene medically.

"It is anticipated that this danger has far broader public health ramifications than asbestos and smoking," says Professor Khurana, who told the IoS his assessment is partly based on the fact that three billion people now use the phones worldwide, three times as many as smoke. Smoking kills some five million worldwide each year, and exposure to asbestos is responsible for as many deaths in Britain as road accidents.

Late last week, the Mobile Operators Association dismissed Khurana's study as "a selective discussion of scientific literature by one individual". It believes he "does not present a balanced analysis" of the published science, and "reaches opposite conclusions to the WHO and more than 30 other independent expert scientific reviews". Read more on this article...

In Haiti, where three-quarters of the population earns less than $2 a day and one in five children is chronically malnourished, the one business booming amid all the gloom is the selling of patties made of mud, oil and sugar, typically only consumed by the most destitute.

"It's salty and it has butter and you don't know you're eating dirt," said Olwich Louis Jeune, 24, who has taken to eating them more often in recent months. "It makes your stomach quiet down." Read more on this article...

"Rice is a staple food," Chardonnay is not." Read more on this article...

To make ink from tea, all you need is:

* a strong cup of black tea
* unsoaped steel wool
* vinegar
* a small saucepan (or beaker)
* 3% hydrogen peroxide (from chemist or drugstore)


To make ink from tea:

1. Make a third of a cup of strong black tea with a tea bag, or use the strained dregs from a teapot. The tea contains tannic acid.
2. Dissolve some unsoaped steel wool by warming it in a quarter of a cup of vinegar in a small saucepan. The solution will be greenish-blue due to indigo. (If you don't know about ions yet, don't worry.)
3. Add the iron solution to the tea. Black iron (III) tannate will be formed. Be careful, this is indelible and will stain clothes.

Try writing with the ink. You may need to thicken it by adding a thickening agent such as gum arabic or kudzu. Read more on this article...

Read more on this article...

boomp3.com Read more on this article...

Excellent rendition, smooth timing!

Read more on this article...

My third custom video, merging an existing Korean (?) ballet by a disabled couple with "C'est La Vie" by Emerson Lake and Palmer.


Read more on this article...

>XAU, weekly chart



>XAU, daily chart Read more on this article...

Gold for April delivery fell $59, or 5.9 percent, to $945.30 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. That's the biggest percentage drop for a most-active contract since June 2006. Gold reached a record $1,033.90 on March 17.

In 1980, the price tumbled $50 a day from Jan. 22 to Jan. 24. On Jan. 21 that year, the metal climbed to $873, a record that lasted for almost 28 years.

If you haven’t bought gold or silver already you are completely insane. Read more on this article...

14th March 2008

It's known to technicians everywhere as a death cross, and it is happening on the Shanghai Composite Index. That's the index that has jumped by over 450% during the last two years--a sure sign of a speculative bubble.

A death cross is formed when the 50-day moving average of a stock falls below (crosses) the 200-day moving average. It indicates that there are currently more people selling than buying the stock. It is as bearish as it gets.

And it's not the first time the exchange has seen the "death cross," either.

As you can see, the death cross came twice on the index over the last five years, first in 2003 and later in 2004. Each time, of course, the index dropped dramatically, culminating in a 50% decline over all.

And while a third death cross hasn't actually completed yet, the Shanghai Composite continues to drop even as a Bernanke-inspired rally pushes the Dow higher. The index actually lost nearly 3% on the same day the Dow rallied 440 points.

http://seekingalpha.com/article/68518-why-it-s-not-too-late-to-short-china?source=side_bar_short_ideas Read more on this article...

I'll be damned. The Dow is up 105 currently and shows no sign of stopping. Commodities have been hammered, and oil has shown it's biggest drop in years! That's how fast things change. Gold, too, shows topping up signs now.

Look for $600 gold. Look for 85 in dollar index. Also look for 13,500 is Dow Jones Industrial Average in the next several months. It is called bear market short covering rallies.

That's how fast a view can change. I think it changed tonight. Read more on this article...

There’s no point in burying your head in the sand like an ostrich and waiting for a miraculous rebound. An active interest in the state of affairs is a must. The first thing you should do is take a long, hard look at your portfolio.

"Does it have more of established companies with proven track records, or does it consist more of stocks like Nagarjuna Fertilizers & Chemicals and Reliance Natural Resources (RNRL), which you bought because they were ‘momentum plays?’

Having done that, get rid of the momentum stocks. After all, with the momentum gone, it’s time for these stocks to go as well. The rule is simple: ‘Never hold on to something that you wouldn’t buy now’ . Never ‘hope’ or ‘pray’ . It is either a ‘buy’ or a ‘sell’.

So, it doesn’t matter at what price you bought such stocks — just dump them and collect whatever cash you can. If you have blue-chips in your portfolio like Reliance Communications, Bharti Airtel, Hindustan Unilever or ICICI Bank, to name but a few, you can actually choose not to sell them. In the long run of say, 3-5 years, there is a good chance that you will still earn a return higher than what a bank deposit can give you in the same time period."

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Investors_Guide/Cash_is_King_Tips_for_small_retail_investors_/articleshow/2872872.cms Read more on this article...

"We are now at the level where the president has to get involved. We are now at the point where we have to worry about the barter system. We have to start being concerned about whether trades clear in the system.

It's a crime that all of this could have been avoided. But it wasn't.

And now they have to accept that some very big banks are going to go bankrupt. If they don't get ahead of it, the banks that go under will be the biggest ones in the country.

That needs to be prevented.

I don't think they understand that.

I don't think they have the courage, the knowledge, or the conviction to do what they have to do." Read more on this article...

At first glance, you say "She cannot be a Wall street analyst!". She is, and a good one at that.

This is what she has to say today (17th March 2008):

"The problems at Bear Stearns may be unique, but U.S. financial stocks nonetheless have further downside of as much as 50%, according to Oppenheimer & Co. analyst Meredith Whitney."

“On the basis of book value, most banks do not appear expensive as they trade near price to book multiples of the 1990-1991 credit cycle,” she said in a note. “However on the basis of tangible book value, banks look expensive and are trading well above tangible book value.”

"Merrill Lynch, UBS and Citigroup will be the worst hit. Lehman brothers shares are already down 30 per cent in pre-opening trading."

Ms Whitney, Forbes’s second-highest-ranked stock picker for 2007, set off the biggest stock market decline in the US since August with a note on Citigroup.

The analyst who downgraded Citigroup, which led to a broad stock market sell-off in November, said she had received several death threats, the Times of London reported Saturday.

"Clients are not pleased with my call and I have had several death threats," she added. "But it was the most straightforward call I've made in my career and I am surprised my peer analysts have been resistant. It's so straightforward, it's indisputable." Read more on this article...

Around 2001, two environmental groups called Toxics link and Vatavaran based in Delhi, did a study on the contents of these chemical colours and published its results in a fact sheet on Holi. This research revealed that Holi colours come in three forms; pastes, dry colours and water colours.[1]

The pastes contain very toxic chemicals that can have severe health effects as follows:

Black contains lead oxide and can cause renal failure.
Green contains copper sulphate and can cause eye allergy, puffiness and temporary blindness.
Silver contains aluminium bromide which is carcinogenic.
Blue contains prussian blue which can lead to contact dermatitis.
Red contains mercury sulphate which is highly toxic and can cause skin cancer.[2]

The dry colours, commonly known as gulals, have two components – a colourant that is toxic and a base which could be either asbestos or silica, both of which cause health problems. Heavy metals contained in the colourants can cause asthma, skin diseases and temporary blindness.[3]

Wet colours, mostly use gentian violet as a colour concentrate which can cause skin discolouration and dermatitis.

These days, Holi colours are sold loosely, on the roads, by small traders who often do not know the source. Sometimes, the colours come in boxes that specifically mention For industrial use only.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holi


Safe Holi colours:

Make your own colours!

The good news, however, is that it is possible to make simple natural colors in one’s own kitchen.

These simple recipes for making natural colours were also freely distributed as part of the Safe Festivals campaign, and children were taught how to make colours through lecture demonstrations in schools.

Here are a few things one can do at home:

* Mix haldi powder with besan for a lovely yellow.
* Slice a beetroot and soak in water for a deep pink.
* Boil Marigold or Tesu flowers in water for yellow colour. The other easy way to get a yellow liquid colour is to soak peels of pomegranate (Anar) overnight.
* For an orange red paste, henna leaves (mehndi) can be dried, powdered and mixed with water.

http://www.kalpavriksh.org/f1/f1.4/GAholi1 Read more on this article...

[Elaine: I amended this chart to show important banking moments. This is amazing. It shows clearly that our banking system is insolvent. This graph should be posted on all front pages, it is more important than peccadillos of our ruling elites running after expensive whores. This is them running after Miz Risky, the biggest Whore of them all.]

UBS puts the banks total losses from the subprime fiasco at $600 billion. If that's true, (and we expect it is) then the Fed is out of luck because, at some point, Bernanke will have to throw in the towel and let some of the bigger banks fail. And when that happens, the stock market will start lurching downward in 400 and 500 point increments. But what else can be done? Solvency can only be feigned for so long. Eventually, losses have to be accounted for and businesses have to fail. It's that simple.

Roubini has been right from the very beginning, and he is right again now.

http://elainemeinelsupkis.typepad.com/ezmoneymatters/2008/03/roubinis-nightm.html

http://benbittrolff.blogspot.com/2008/03/really-scary-fed-charts-march.html Read more on this article...

This is possible only for certain stereo tracks. When the vocals are exactly the same on both stereo channels, you can remove them by “subtracting” one channel from the other. This works for many studio recordings, where the vocal track is mixed exactly in the center.

To do this in Audacity:

1. Import your stereo file into Audacity.
2. Open the track menu (click the arrow next to the track title), and choose “Split Stereo Track.”
3. Select the lower track (the right channel) by clicking it in the area around the mute/solo buttons.
4. Choose “Invert” from the Effects menu.
5. Using the track menus, change each track to “Mono.”

Press the Play button to hear the results. If you are lucky, the voice will be gone but most of the other instruments will be unaffected, just like a karaoke track. You can use the Export commands in the File menu to save the results.

If the vocals are not exactly the same on both stereo channels, there are some other techniques or optional plugins you can try. Please see our Vocal_Removal Wiki page for more details. Read more on this article...

"In our view, derivatives are financial weapons of mass destruction, carrying dangers that, while now latent, are potentially lethal."

That warning was in Buffett's 2002 letter to Berkshire shareholders. That was 2002.

Wall Street didn't listen to Buffett. Derivatives grew into a massive bubble, from about $100 trillion to $516 trillion by 2007.

Data on the five-fold growth of derivatives to $516 trillion in five years comes from the most recent survey by the Bank of International Settlements, the world's clearinghouse for central banks in Basel, Switzerland.

The BIS is like the cashier's window at a racetrack or casino, where you'd place a bet or cash in chips, except on a massive scale: BIS is where the U.S. settles trade imbalances with Saudi Arabia for all that oil we guzzle and gives China IOUs for the tainted drugs and lead-based toys we buy.

To grasp how significant this five-fold bubble increase is, let's put that $516 trillion in the context of some other domestic and international monetary data:

U.S. annual gross domestic product is about $15 trillion
U.S. money supply is also about $15 trillion
Current proposed U.S. federal budget is $3 trillion
U.S. government's maximum legal debt is $9 trillion
U.S. mutual fund companies manage about $12 trillion
World's GDPs for all nations is approximately $50 trillion
Unfunded Social Security and Medicare benefits $50 trillion to $65 trillion
Total value of the world's real estate is estimated at about $75 trillion
Total value of world's stock and bond markets is more than $100 trillion
BIS valuation of world's derivatives back in 2002 was about $100 trillion
BIS 2007 valuation of the world's derivatives is now a whopping $516 trillion

"There's nothing intrinsically scary about derivatives, except when the bad 2% blow up." Unfortunately, that "bad 2%" did blow up a few months afterwards, even as Bernanke and Paulson were assuring America that the subprime mess was "contained."

Bottom line: Little things leverage a heck of a big wallop. It only takes a little spark from a "bad 2% deal" to ignite this $516 trillion weapon of mass destruction. Think of this entire unregulated derivatives market like an unsecured, unpredictable nuclear bomb in a Pakistan stockpile. It's only a matter of time.

The fact is, derivatives have become the world's biggest "black market," exceeding the illicit traffic in stuff like arms, drugs, alcohol, gambling, cigarettes, stolen art and pirated movies. Why? Because like all black markets, derivatives are a perfect way of getting rich while avoiding taxes and government regulations. And in today's slowdown, plus a volatile global market, Wall Street knows derivatives remain a lucrative business.

And it takes place outside normal business channels, out there in the "free market." That's the wonderful world of derivatives, and it's creating a massive bubble that could soon implode.

By Paul B. Farrell, MarketWatch
Last update: 7:31 p.m. EDT March 10, 2008

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/derivatives-new-ticking-time-bomb/
story.aspx?guid=%7bB9E54A5D-4796-4D0D-AC9E-D9124B59D436%7d&print=true&dist=printTop
Read more on this article...

(For other news from the Reuters Global Mining Summit, click on http://www.reuters.com/summit/GlobalMiningandSteel08?pid=500)

LONDON, March 11 (Reuters) - Soaring gold prices are likely to breach $1,500 an ounce in 2008, the chief executive of Canada's Yamana Gold Inc said on Tuesday.

"There is a good chance we will see it before the end of this year," Peter Marrone told the Reuters Global Mining Summit in London.

Gold was quoted at $977.50/978.40 at 1245 GMT.

It hit a record high of $991.90 on March 6, a rise of 19 percent since the end of 2007, driven by inflation fears, a weak dollar, record high oil, expectations of further rate cuts in the United States and tight supplies.

Marrone said the current environment formed "a perfect storm" for higher gold prices, which would need to rise to more than $2,000 in adjusted dollars to match the previous nominal peak of $850 set in 1980. (For summit blog: http://summitnotebook.reuters.com/) (For more on the Reuters Global Mining Summit see [ID:nN10455170] (Reporting by Ben Hirschler; editing by Rory Channing).

http://africa.reuters.com/metals/news/usnL11325529.html

Read more on this article...

11th March 2008 Update: Infrastructure shares look good. Market in a bounce. Recoup losses.


10th March 2008

There is no doubt left in my mind that a bear market is underway. Other than short covering in the Sensex, a 50 basis point interest drop in the USA (which itself would have very little positive effect on the market) and considering that we are still highly coupled to the world financial situation (if not its economical situation), I think we are now headed to the Mid August '08 lows when the Sensex was 14,000.

To this effect, I sold off a few minor midcap holdings today at approx. average 20% loss as energy release.

The reason for this minor sell-off if I may call it that, is the fact of what I now term as the :Inverted Sparrow Head", a technical term that I have invented(!). Wild as it may sound, but I have seen at the beginnning of the bull run, a bollinger band formation which I call "Compression" shaped by a narrow bollinger, which becomes pincered and shaped like a walnut- breaker) leading to a huge initial expansion of the share price (in the shape of a "Sparrow Head"), and then the formation of a "Beak", which leads to some consolidation, and once agin into a larger expansion.

The slope of the beak has many times indicated the bullishness of the next move. for example, in the case of a pharma co., the slope of the beak was upwards, which lead to a huge upmove subsequently.

Currently, many shares have now an "Inverted Sparrow Head" exactly inverse of that formed during the bull run. The 'Beaks of many shares is now not horizontal, but pointing downwards. This implies that after trading for a short time within the narrow bollinger, a large break-out has to occur downwards, and keeping in line with the overall market heading towards 14,000.

The double (long term and short term) bollinger buy signals (first on the daily charts, and then on the weekly charts) would be the first indication that one could risk a purchase. A single bollinger band on the daily charts as has occured today in SBI), may lead to a price closer to the upper bollinger, but no more, unless further confirmation of the long term bollinger is also available. The prime principal of "Safety of Capital" (and not mazimising of profits) applies to the bear phase, so it is prudent to only make purchases on double bollinger band buy signals on the Weekly charts and not on the daily charts and hope that they are not false signals. Such signals still seem to have some time to be generated.

It pays to be very stock specific this time, and also to purchase for the longer term, leaving the shorter term buys in Sensex scrips and not in mid caps. That does not mean, however, that we should totally lose track of the mid caps sectors, andhence miss out the quick 25% rise from bottoms.

The one sector, which is not exotic (like solar cells) and which is bound to do well in the future is Infrastructure. To maximise profits one needs to look at the fundamentally good and emerging midcaps in this sector.

Two such midcaps, I feel, are GMR Infra and J P Associates. I'm sure there are more. So, a strategy would be to inddenitfy fundamentally good emerging mid cap scrips, which have a running business, and whose projects are soon to go on-stream (as is the case of GMR Infra with their Air port projects, and take a purchase decision on double weekly bollinger and buy signals with about 25% of the total investment you intend to do in a particular scrip so that a false signal is downplayed.

Short term plays may be done on commodity scrips like ONGC and yes, SBI.

HNI individuals should book some of their long term profits now, and channel the money into gold ETFs.

Kakstearns Read more on this article...

^XAU


"When investors are focused on meeting a threshold like $1,000 an ounce for gold, a sell-off of
upto 15 percent is likely once the goal is achieved."

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/yourmoney/chi-ym-marksjarvis-0309mar09,0,432614.column

(But with a 2 year target of $ 2,000 an ounce). Wave 1 likely to complete at around $ 1,400 to 1,500 an ounce).
Read more on this article...

You can see clearly that we are on the brink of breaking the trendline that has effectively held the bottom for five years for the second and final time. Once broken, the DJIA won't just retest the January low, it should, in all likelihood, drop to the 50% retracement or lower.

But that's not all. The rally out of the January low overlapped the November low twice. That eliminated the first decline in November as a wave 1. Instead it is an A. It follows that the decline that we are starting is (iii) of C, which may extend considerably further than the 50% retracement. That raises some interesting possibilities. And we are just at the brink of discovering them.

http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article3901.html

Read more on this article...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7073131.stm Read more on this article...

It's interesting to read history. Here is what three of India's top technical analysts had to say in January 2008 (!!)

If what they claim to be true technical analysis, then history has proved it so terribly wrong, should the entire method needs to be thrown into the sea?

Not really. The fact is that it is very difficult to have a foresight on turning points in markets as well as in history, by mere procedural analysis. The emtire process is a combination of fundamentals, technicals and human behavior all rolled into one, finally creating ONE insight.

What did I say in October?

"The sensex has peaked and will crash in January 2008."

And this is what I'm saying now.

"The sensex will bottom out in September 2008, albeit with some bear rallys in between".

Read...!!

"How will 2008 be? To know what the charts indicate, The Smart Investor gets three technical analysts to predict what's in store for the current year. Neowave analyst Milind Karandikar, stock market consultant and analyst Devangshu Datta and Orpheus Capitals CEO Mukul Pal predict the market in 2008. Read on to know more. . . "


1. Milind Karandikar

January 07, 2008

This puts the Sensex target at around 27,000 mark. The breakout could be as big as 2.618 times the largest leg, leading to a mind boggling figure of 39,000. Even if we keep aside this over-optimistic view, the target of 27,000 could be achieved and that too most probably in the first half of 2008. ......

2. Devangshu Datta

January 07, 2008

Summing up, the first eight months of 2008 should be positive, and there's no technical signals suggesting that the market is due for a major correction. Intermediate corrections should find support and peter out around 5,600 levels. Breadth looks good and relatively smaller stocks could outperform. ......

3. Mukul Pal

January 07, 2008

After Sensex 20,000, the market expectations are for 30,000, but I don't see the Sensex extending beyond 24,000 this year with the benchmark making a decade high this year.
This year, the BSE Capital Goods index should move its last leg up to complete the cycle trend the sector started in 2002. The index should complete the last leg up from current 20,000 levels to 25,000. ......

To read the complete article, visit:

http://ia.rediff.com/money/2008/jan/07bspec.htm

End of Post Read more on this article...

Guys, here's my take on the markets. The article below does resonate much of my thinking, and also gives reasonable levels. A word first, on this bullish-bearish thingy though.

Yes, we have broken the DAILY chart 200 DMA, not the WEEKLY chart, (in fact, we have just broken the 50 DMA on the Weekly charts, but this could recover very fast after a steep decline, like it happened in June '06 and never again till now), and may continue to ride below that zone say for a month or so.

The article states that this is an Elliot wave 4 correction. Now, Elliot wave counts are very complex and many times the count has been proven wrong, but seeing the structure of the sensex, it seems more like a rounded top rather than a vertical blow-out aswould be expected in an Elliot wave 5. So at the moment, I would accept this as a wave 4 correction. In which case, the good news for LONG term holders is that on completion of wave 4 the final bullish wave 5 will start. (That may take some time though!)

Next, on the DAILY and the WEEKLY charts the market is terribly oversold. I have never seen the WEEKLY Stochastics in such oversold regions (approaching 0) in the last four years. Earlier, a WEEKLY buy signal, (and there have been very few such opportunities ie., once a year, giving a lot of credo (is this a word?) to the fact that a buying opportunity really takes place once or twice a year. (As shown on the chart, May '05, July '06, April '07 and now, when the signal appears, the buying opportunity for '08.) which implies a wait of another 6 to 8 weeks on the WEEKLY Sensex or Nifty, confirmed with early buy signals in the daily charts sometime before that. Sentiment at that stage would still be very BEARISH and would turn BULLISH only after the cream 25% to 30% of the rise has taken place.

From this virtual ground zero levels, there has to be a technical bounce-back! Exactly how high would it go, is a matter of conjecture, but could be as high as 18,000. Again, reaching that level may take some time (and 'm speaking in terms of months).

Before it gets there, there is some bad technical news. The next support after 4900 (which has been broken), is 4300 on the Nifty. That means one has to be ready to sit through another fall of 600 points on the Nifty and hope that holds. That's the point when we will see the real blood bath. This is merely bruising, since long term investors are still in considerable profit.

Having said that, the potential to correctly guage the entry point if you exit now has a very low probability, since the level of FEAR will be so great at that point, that only extremely fool-hardy and contrarian persons (like me!) will even think of entering.

So, the long term strategy is to HANG IN THERE and this may mean for over a year. After all, as a long term player, your interest is to catch the greatest rise, which will take place in the 5th minor wave of the 5th major, (provided it is not truncated by some DISCONTINUITY which is the prime cause of not being able to predict anything in the markets), and the indices at that time would be of the "shock-and-awe" type.

As the article mentions, and rightly so, only a break of Nifty 4000 (gulp!) would declare this as a LONG TERM BEAR MARKET.

As I had mentioned earlier, (and this seems to be coming true now), is that every developing nation has to go through a depression (read a bear market), before a secular BULL can start.

One would need to sit out the hell that is going to happen to the world markets in September '08.

Do read the blog post below this, where Roubini has listed out the 12 stages of economic hell. (Quite akin to the 12 days of Christmas!)

Next post: Another very interesting person to follow. Ms. Meredith Whitney.


Quote, courtesy DNAINDIA: Both the Sensex and Nifty appear to be tracing out an Elliot Wave-4 correction CHENNAI: Technically, indices have fallen enough to cleanse the excesses created during the earlier rally. The key ones such as the Sensex and the Nifty have corrected from deep overbought levels in the monthly time frame and have nearly reached the oversold zone. Benchmark indices have also reached extreme oversold region in the daily and weekly time frames. Hence, technically, the correction that was required has been accomplished with the fall on Monday. Markets have hit crucial support levels in both the indices and have staged an intra-day bounce off those levels. It would be crucial for the indices to hold above the intra-day lows recorded on Monday for a sustainable recovery to materialise in the short-term. A breach of these lows could lead to the test of the next major support levels in these indices. In the Sensex for instance, a drop below Monday’s low of 16951 could lead to the test of 16390-16500 range. In the Nifty, the support levels are at 4900-4950, followed by 4240-4300. Though these support levels may appear scary from current levels, the long-term uptrend will not be affected even if these levels were to be tested. Both the Sensex and Nifty appear to be tracing out a Wave-4 correction (in Elliott Wave parlance) to the earlier rally and the next segment of uptrend would take these indices to new heights. As there is a case for a lot of churning and base-building to happen before the next leg of uptrend begins, we may not see new highs in the index in a hurry. The long-term uptrend would be under threat if the Sensex closes below 15000 and the Nifty below 4000. From a short-term perspective, the scenario is ripe for a sharp technical rally and those who are holding short positions may tighten stop loss or take partial profits. Traders may also wait for short-term “buy” signals and take long positions for a quick 12-15 per cent bounce in the index. The key here would be risk control and entry at the opportune levels. http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?newsid=1146698

End of Post Read more on this article...

Consider this: Step one has yet to finish.

"Step one is the worst housing recession in US history. House prices will, he says, fall by 20 to 30 per cent from their peak, which would wipe out between $4,000bn and $6,000bn in household wealth. Ten million households will end up with negative equity and so with a huge incentive to put the house keys in the post and depart for greener fields. Many more home-builders will be bankrupted.

Step two would be further losses, beyond the $250bn-$300bn now estimated, for subprime mortgages. About 60 per cent of all mortgage origination between 2005 and 2007 had “reckless or toxic features”, argues Prof Roubini. Goldman Sachs estimates mortgage losses at $400bn. But if home prices fell by more than 20 per cent, losses would be bigger. That would further impair the banks’ ability to offer credit.

Step three would be big losses on unsecured consumer debt: credit cards, auto loans, student loans and so forth. The “credit crunch” would then spread from mortgages to a wide range of consumer credit.

Step four would be the downgrading of the monoline insurers, which do not deserve the AAA rating on which their business depends. A further $150bn writedown of asset-backed securities would then ensue.

Step five would be the meltdown of the commercial property market, while step six would be bankruptcy of a large regional or national bank.

Step seven would be big losses on reckless leveraged buy-outs. Hundreds of billions of dollars of such loans are now stuck on the balance sheets of financial institutions.

Step eight would be a wave of corporate defaults. On average, US companies are in decent shape, but a “fat tail” of companies has low profitability and heavy debt. Such defaults would spread losses in “credit default swaps”, which insure such debt. The losses could be $250bn. Some insurers might go bankrupt.

Step nine would be a meltdown in the “shadow financial system”. Dealing with the distress of hedge funds, special investment vehicles and so forth will be made more difficult by the fact that they have no direct access to lending from central banks.

Step 10 would be a further collapse in stock prices. Failures of hedge funds, margin calls and shorting could lead to cascading falls in prices.

Step 11 would be a drying-up of liquidity in a range of financial markets, including interbank and money markets. Behind this would be a jump in concerns about solvency.

Step 12 would be “a vicious circle of losses, capital reduction, credit contraction, forced liquidation and fire sales of assets at below fundamental prices”.

In all, argues Prof Roubini: “Total losses in the financial system will add up to more than $1,000bn and the economic recession will become deeper more protracted and severe.” This, he suggests, is the “nightmare scenario” keeping Ben Bernanke and colleagues at the US Federal Reserve awake. It explains why, having failed to appreciate the dangers for so long, the Fed has lowered rates by 200 basis points this year. This is insurance against a financial meltdown."

From:
http://www.rgemonitor.com/blog/roubini/5/5/

End of Post Read more on this article...

My second custom animated video.
Hope you hate it.
What's more to be said?

Beef was not an important part of the American diet before the Civil War. Cattle were not indigenous to the Americas, so you could not find cattle in the New World until the Spanish introduced them into in Mexico in 1540. In the 18th century, the Spanish and French colonist began to raise cattle. As the railroads developed, they used trains to transport to herds from San Antonio to New Orleans. However, this industry collapsed because of the cold winter, and 90 percent of the herds were wiped out.

Eventually, technology, animal husbandry, and barbed wire changed the industry. In 1871, a Detroit meat packer named G. H. Hanharmand brought refrigeration railway cars west, transforming the industry. Slaughterhouses had been set up in the Midwest for shipment of meat back to the east where the appetite for beef was beginning to develop. After the Second World War, beef became a symbol of American prosperity. Americans were eating 62 pounds by 1952, 99 pounds by 1960, and an all time high of 114 pounds in 1970. Nowadays, that rate is increasing everyday.

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