UPDATES ARCHIVE FOR JULY 2007
HOME PAGE	KLEINER'S KORNER FOR WEEK OF JULY 30, 2007 Dear Readers; Kleiner’s Korner wishes to apologize for the delay in getting this newsletter to you the last three weeks. The conditions that led to this have all been resolved. Thanks for your patience & understanding. You can access all Kleiner’s Korners via the internet, too: link here Steve Klein 1. MEANING OF SYMBOL [A TRIAD]... IN NYC BRICKWORK REMAINS A MYSTERY “A final thrust of the crowbar cracked the wooden crate open, and the architect, the anthropologist and the mortar expert leaned in to look at the oddity that had drawn them to an out-of-the-way warehouse on a glimmering spring morning. It was a 3-foot-by-10-foot section of timeworn brick wall, its predictable rows abruptly interrupted by three distinct, deliberate-looking triangular shapes. Though once part of a warehouse, it now raises nothing but questions. Painstakingly preserved from a 175-year-old building in lower Manhattan, the brickwork symbol is — at least to some — part of a tantalizing historical mystery…. Could the design be a cryptic marker of mystical beliefs? A tradesman's signature? A bit of architectural shorthand? Or a creative way to patch a hole?” quoting CBS News. [Ed. Note: see picture on this link.] link here More information from the Pearl Street Revival website: link here . 2. “WHAT HAPPENED BEFORE THE BIG BANG?” “’My paper introduces a new mathematical model that we can use to derive new details about the properties of a quantum state as it travels through the Big Bounce, which replaces the classical idea of a Big Bang as the beginning of our universe,’ said Martin Bojowald, assistant professor of physics at Penn State. Bojowald's research also suggests that, although it is possible to learn about many properties of the earlier universe, we always will be uncertain about some of these properties because his calculations reveal a "cosmic forgetfulness" that results from the extreme quantum forces during the Big Bounce. The idea that the universe erupted with a Big Bang explosion has been a big barrier in scientific attempts to understand the origin of our expanding universe, although the Big Bang long has been considered by physicists to be the best model,” quoting PHYSORG.com. link here . 3. “MICROCHIPS IMPLANTED IN HUMANS…” “The "chipping" of two workers with RFIDs - radio frequency identification tags as long as two grains of rice, as thick as a toothpick - was merely a way of restricting access to vaults that held sensitive data and images for police departments, a layer of security beyond key cards and clearance codes, the company said. "To protect high-end secure data, you use more sophisticated techniques," Sean Darks, chief executive of the Cincinnati-based company, said. He compared chip implants to retina scans or fingerprinting. "There's a reader outside the door; you walk up to the reader, put your arm under it, and it opens the door." Innocuous? Maybe. But the news that people had been injected with electronic identifiers to perform their jobs fired up a debate over the proliferation of ever-more-precise tracking technologies and their ability to erode privacy in the digital age,” quoting the AP. link here . 4. “A WARMING WORLD: NO TO NUKES” “It's tempting to turn to nuclear plants to combat climate change, but alternatives are safer and cheaper. Japan sees nuclear power as a solution to global warming, but it's paying a price. Last week, a magnitude 6.8 earthquake caused dozens of problems at the world's biggest nuclear plant, leading to releases of radioactive elements into the air and ocean and an indefinite shutdown. Government and company officials initially downplayed the incident and stuck to the official line that the country's nuclear plants are earthquake-proof, but they gave way in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary. Japan has a sordid history of serious nuclear accidents or spills followed by cover-ups. It isn't alone. The U.S. government allows nuclear plants to operate under a level of secrecy usually reserved for the national security apparatus,” quoting the LA Times. link here . 5. “FAT MAY BE CONTAGIOUS" If your friends and family get fat, chances are you will too, researchers report in a startling new study that suggests obesity is "socially contagious" and can spread easily from person to person. The large, federally funded study found that to be true even if your loved ones lived far away. Social ties seemed to play a surprisingly strong role, even more than genes are known to do. ‘We were stunned to find that friends who are hundreds of miles away have just as much impact on a person's weight status as friends who are right next door,’ said co-author James Fowler of the University of California, San Diego. The study found a person's chances of becoming obese went up 57 percent if a friend did, 40 percent if a sibling did and 37 percent if a spouse did. In the closest friendships, the risk almost tripled. Researchers think it's more than just people with similar eating and exercise habits hanging out together. Instead, it may be that having relatives and friends who become obese changes one's idea of what is an acceptable weight... The study was published in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine and funded by the National Institute on Aging,” quoting the AP. link here . 6. “ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE...” "All You Need Is Love" is a song written by John Lennon with contributions from Paul McCartney[1] and credited to Lennon/McCartney. It was first performed by The Beatles on Our World, the first ever live global television link. Broadcast to 26 countries and watched by 350 million people, the programme was broadcast via satellite on June 25, 1967. The BBC had commissioned The Beatles to write a song for the UK's contribution and this was the result. It is among the most famous and significant songs performed by the group," quoting You Tube. link here . 7. CHECK OUT THIS INTERACTIVE MAP ON RISING SEAS This sure is an eye-opener, which shows coastal flood zones if ocean levels rise, using the elevation provided by Google Maps. The water level is in meters: link here . 8. NEW GLOBAL WARMING STUDIES OUT “STUDY BLAMES CLIMATE CHANGE FOR RISE IN HURRICANES” “The number of Atlantic hurricanes in an average season has doubled in the last century due in part to warmer seas and changing wind patterns caused by global warming, according to a study released Sunday [July 29]... The new study, published online in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, said the increased numbers of tropical storms and hurricanes in the last 100 years is closely related to a 1.3-degree Fahrenheit rise in sea surface temperatures. The influential U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, in a report this year warning that humans contribute to global warming, said it was "more likely than not" that people also contribute to a trend of increasingly intense hurricanes. In the new study, conducted by Greg Holland of the National Center for Atmospheric Research and Peter Webster of Georgia Institute of Technology, researchers found three periods since 1900 when the average number of Atlantic tropical storms and hurricanes increased sharply, and then leveled off and remained steady. From 1900 to 1930, Atlantic hurricane seasons saw six storms on average, with four hurricanes and two tropical storms…From 1995 to 2005, the average rose to 15, with eight hurricanes and seven tropical storms, the researchers said,” quoting Reuters. link here B. “ENGLAND UNDER WATER...” “It's official: the heavier rainfall in Britain is being caused by climate change, a major new scientific study will reveal this week [July 23], as the country reels from summer downpours of unprecedented ferocity. More intense rainstorms across parts of the northern hemisphere are being generated by man-made global warming, the study has established for the first time an effect which has long been predicted but never before proved. The study's findings will be all the more dramatic for being disclosed as Britain struggles to recover from the phenomenal drenching of the past few days, during which more than a month's worth of rain fell in a few hours in some places, and floods forced thousands from their homes… The study is being published in the journal Nature on Wednesday [July 25], and its details are under embargo and cannot be reported until then. But its main findings have caused a stir, and are being freely discussed by climate scientists in the Met Office, the Hadley Centre and the Department for Environment For Environment, Food and Rural Affairs,” quoting UK’s Independent. link here . 9. “AQUAFINA WILL TELL IT LIKE IT IS: IT’S TAP WATER” “Think that water in your Aquafina bottle came from some faraway spring? Think again. PepsiCo Inc. is the latest company to offer some clarity about the source of its top-selling bottled water, announcing Friday it will change Aquafina labels to spell out that the drink comes from the same source as tap water. The group Corporate Accountability International has been pressuring bottled water sellers to curb what it calls misleading marketing practices. It says the Aquafina label's mountain logo perpetuates the misconception that the water comes from springs. Aquafina's bottles are labeled "P.W.S." The new labels will say ‘public water source,’” quoting the AP. link here . 10. FOLLOW-UP: INNER EARTH EXPEDITION UPDATE “With the passing of our dear friend and former expedition organizer = Steve Currey, who died of brain cancer July 26, 2006, expedition members = have regrouped and chosen a new expedition leader, Dr. Brooks Agnew. Dr. Agnew had joined our expedition shortly before Steve passed away, = and offered to take over the leadership after Steve's passing. The = expedition now has as it's leader and expedition organizer a = credentialed, world renowned scientist, Dr. Brooks Agnew. We are very = grateful that he has offered to carry on our quest. With the election of Dr. Agnew as our new expedition organizer, the = expedition to Inner Earth has been renamed the North Pole Inner Earth = Expedition. A new company has been formed to carry out this expedition. = Our company is now Advanced Planetary Explorations, LLC, under the = auspices of our Phoenix Science Foundation. The expedition is now = scheduled to leave Murmansk, Russia aboard the Russian nuclear = icebreaker, The Yamal, in the summer of 2008. =20 To do this, we must raise the funds to pay the $2 million for the cost = of this expedition. The deposit deadline to reserve the Yamal is = January 31, 2008. To raise these funds we are inviting you to purchase = our expedition introductory documentary DVD. You can learn more about our North Pole Inner Earth Expedition, by = visiting our website at = link here , quoting Our Hollow Earth. link here . 11. CAT PREDICTS NURSING HOME PATIENT DEATHS “Oscar the cat seems to have an uncanny knack for predicting when nursing home patients are going to die, by curling up next to them during their final hours. His accuracy, observed in 25 cases, has led the staff to call family members once he has chosen someone. It usually means they have less than four hours to live. ‘He doesn’t make too many mistakes. He seems to understand when patients are about to die,’ said Dr. David Dosa in an interview. He describes the phenomenon in a poignant essay in Thursday’s issue [July 26] of the New England Journal of Medicine,” quoting the AP. link here . 12. DOOM & GLOOM? THIS SHOULD NOT BE OVERLOOKED! A. “INVESTOR LOSSES IN HOUSING SLUMP” “The national housing slump could lead to billions of dollars in losses for Wall Street investors as it drags on for at least another year and mortgage defaults increase, economists said Thursday [July 26]. The outlook on eroding credit quality in the U.S. mortgage market by Moody's Economy.com anticipates that more than 1.2 million first mortgage loans will default this year and another 1.3 million will follow next year. That compares with about 900,000 defaults last year and about 800,000 in 2005, Mark Zandi, the Web site's chief economist, said in a conference call. Hedge fund investors will lose between $100 billion and $125 billion as a result, he said. "We do expect losses in the subprime market to be very severe," Zandi said,” quoting The AP. link here B. “FORECLOSURES RISE 58% IN FIRST HALF OF ‘07” “The number of U.S. homes facing foreclosure surged 58 percent in the first six months of the year, the latest sign of mounting problems in the mortgage industry, a data firm said Monday [July 30],” quoting the AP. link here . RAMTHA STUDENTS NEWS A. Founded by Jenny Bossick & Chalise Smartt: “TinySoles is a shoe store dedicated to providing the most complete selection of stylish, comfortable shoes for babies, infants and toddlers. From sandals to rain boots, we offer footwear for all seasons and carry your favorite brands such as pediped, Jack and Lily, Primigi and BabyLegs. We specialize in age appropriate footwear and offer the best collection of flexible, soft sole shoes for little feet.” CONGRATULATIONS to Jenny & Chalise! link here B. “Babes In Belts is a vehicle for women to collectively initiate creative solutions, that inspire and uplift others to go forward…[and] has moved into action through willful determination; to construct a place of safety for the future. With combined resource and vision we created a universal design for a concrete shelter using insulated concrete forms (ICFs). They are lightweight and easy to work with, which supports women in accomplishing the task,” quoting the Masters’ Connection write-up. link here C. “For 9 years the World Puja Internet Broadcasting System™ along with their hundreds of guests has informed, inspired and given blueprints for personal greatness, planetary transformation, light elevation and internal peace to multi-thousands of people in over 87 countries. Lives have changed as a result. Now all of our internationally acclaimed hosts, Maureen Moss, Dr. Meg Blackburn Losey, Grammy award winner Barry Goldstein and Esateys and Rafael Stuchiner, are joined by one of the most remarkable spiritual leaders of modern time JZ Knight (www.ramtha.com) and preeminent spiritual visionary and author Michael Tamura (www.michaeltamura.com) and have agreed to come together in person with one intention: To help each and every person present actualize standing in their greatness and blazing past the required "Light Quotient." And it shall be done... in one day... if you allow it,” quoting the World Puja Network website. link here D. Brandy Knight proudly announces the opening of his Limousine business serving Yelm, Olympia & vicinity. link here E. CSE raised a reported $122,000+ at the auction last weekend. Auctioneer Larry Schorno said he is the auctioneer at most of the large auctions in Washington State and said CSE’s was the most successful in the State he has ever seen. A big congratulations goes to Roberta Brittingham, co-chair, Laura Craig, & the staff of CSE for such a fine event! link here . LOCAL NOTES Covered last week on the Yelm Community Blog: A. Clearwood Community Board hampering cell tower information? B. NVN Teixeira’s leaves for city post C. American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life in Yelm Aug. 4-5 D. Yelm approves 6 year transportation plan with no discussion of public hearing E. “Why WASL?” F. CSE auction G. Bush grants White House absolute power of law link here . QUOTE OF THE WEEK "Fear not for the future, weep not for the past." Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822) English Romantic Poet . Kleiner’s Korner is copyrighted by Stephen R. Klein, 2007. For archived issues of Kleiner’s Korner, click on "Current Kleiner’s Korner and Archives" at link here Send comments to steve@kleinerskorner.com . KLEINER'S KORNER FOR WEEK OF JULY 23, 2007 Amidst all of the front page news last week from the 2007 Hairspray & Harry Potter movie openings, to Iraq, to President’s Bush ceding power to VP Cheney during a colonoscopy was this buried story: “FORMER LEADERS CREATE FREELANCE GLOBAL DIPLOMATIC TEAM” ”Melding serious statesmanship and a dose of audacity, the former South African president, Nelson R. Mandela, and a clutch of world-famous figures plan to announce on Wednesday [July 18] a private alliance to launch diplomatic assaults on the globe's most intractable problems. The alliance, to be unveiled during events marking Mr. Mandela's 89th birthday, is to be called the Elders. Among others, it includes the retired Anglican archbishop Desmond Tutu; former President Jimmy Carter; the former United Nations secretary general Kofi Annan; and the human-rights activist and former Irish president Mary Robinson,” quoting The New York Times. link here 1. SCIENCE: CONSCIOUSNESS MAY BE SEPARATE FROM BRAIN “If consciousness is the product of brain activity, near-death experiences should not happen. At the very least, the contrary evidence suggests that the standard understanding of consciousness is incomplete. Peter Fenwick, a senior lecturer at the Institute of Psychiatry at Kings College London, wrote in a paper, ‘The brain-identity theory says that consciousness ends with brain death. But if it can be shown that people can acquire information when they are unconscious and out of their body, it would be indisputable evidence that consciousness is separate from the brain.’... Perhaps the most surprising scientific evidence for the soul comes from quantum mechanics—specifically, from investigations of the subatomic phenomena that produce consciousness. Stuart Hameroff, an anesthesiologist who has spent many years studying brain functions, has collaborated with renowned Oxford University polymath Roger Penrose on a model that explains consciousness as the result of quantum processes occurring in tiny structures called microtubules in brain cells.’ I think consciousness under normal circumstances occurs at the level of space-time geometry in the brain, in the microtubules,’ Hameroff says. ‘But the fluctuations extend down to the Planck scale [far smaller than an atom] because the microtubules are driven bioenergetically to be in a coherent state. When the blood supply and the oxygen stops, things go bad and the coherence stops, but quantum information at the Planck scale isn’t lost. It may dissipate into the universe but remain somehow entangled in some kind of functional unit, maybe indefinitely. If the patient is revived, the information gets picked back up again.’ Although Hameroff does not talk overtly about the soul, he invokes a similar idea—consciousness that exists separate from the body. The Planck scale is the unimaginably small distance at which current theories of gravity and quantum physics break down. Events at the Planck scale, according to some theorists, may fundamentally establish the nature of reality. For Hameroff and Penrose, the idea goes even further, into the mystery of consciousness itself. ‘Penrose came up with a specific threshold that is conscious. He made the connection between the quantum possibilities in the universe and the quantum processes in the brain,’ Hameroff says,” quoting DISCOVER Magazine. Full article - click here: link here Hameroff's [What the Bleep fame] microtubule diagram- link here . 2. FIRST VIRTUAL RECONSTRUCTION OF QUMRAN SITE REVEALS FORTRESS “Warriors once occupied the famous complex where the Dead Sea Scrolls were written, new research suggests. Ruins of the Qumran site — in the present-day West Bank — resemble a monastery, but scholars have argued over its uses before the religious sect who penned the scrolls moved in somewhere between 130 and 100 B.C. Using the first virtual 3-D reconstruction of the site, historians recently found evidence of a fortress that was later converted into its more peaceful, pious function,” quoting Live Science. link here . 3. POWERING A VEHICLE FROM WATER? THIS IS A MUST-SEE! “Bios Fuel is dedicated to developing, mainly water based energy technologies, to generate inexpensive, bountiful, environmentally friendly energy. Its technologies are on the cusp of marking the beginning of the end of the fossil fuel era. The Bios Fuel group of companies were founded in Auckland, New Zealand, in early 2006 to commercialise the energy technologies which have been, or are being, developed by their founder, Mr Steve Ryan. Besides Mr Ryan, the group has a board of directors, technologists and consultants who are all professionals and experts in their respective fields. The group has also established a strong infrastructure of outside professional advisers. Most of the Bios Fuel technology is centred on extracting the enormous energy contained in water. The water molecule is a perfect storage medium for hydrogen. It stores huge quantities of hydrogen in a compact dormant form. Hydrogen is not only our most abundant element, but also provides the greatest amount of energy, by weight, of any other known element. Bios Fuel has developed the technology to harness this energy on demand, without the issues of separating and storing hydrogen. The company has also developed an enriched form of water which was used in the water powered motorcyle. This technology is being developed further. “Simply Explained, Bios Fuel alters the Water Molecule to produce Fuel”. Steve Ryan, Bios Fuel founder Unlike fuel cells and other hydrogen technologies, Bios Fuel does not have the same problems of storing energy in tanks or batteries. Energy is produced directly through combustion or independent electrical power. External power is not required for the process as energy is being harnessed from the water. Producing the water is inexpensive and portable. Even seawater can be enriched. Bios Fuel’s goal is to create energy sources that provide the world with boundless low cost environmentally friendly energy,” quoting the Bios Fuel site. link here . 4. BOEING UNVEILS 787 DREAMLINER AS KLM ANNOUNCES CO2 REDUCTIONS A. BOEING INTRODUCES 787 TO THE WORLD “Today [July 8], Boeing [NYSE: BA] officially debuted the technologically advanced and environmentally progressive 787 Dreamliner in a celebration attended by employees, airline customers, supplier partners and government and community officials. The 787 Dreamliner Premiere was broadcast live in nine different languages via satellite to more than 45 countries and webcast via www.boeing.com and www.newairplane.com. Distinguished journalist and best-selling author Tom Brokaw served as the master of ceremonies for the event,” quoting Boeing. link here B. “KLM ACHIEVES CO2-NEUTRAL GROWTH” “KLM Royal Dutch Airlines and the Dutch wing of the World Wildlife Fund today signed an agreement on the far-reaching reduction and compensation of CO2 emissions by KLM. Both organizations share the opinion that CO2 emissions must be addressed rigorously because global warming poses a serious threat to people and animals,” quoting KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, which is owned by Air France. link here . 5. “EMERGENCY EDUCATION QUIZ” SEE HOW WELL YOU DO! “How much do you know about emergency preparedness? In a crisis, would you panic or prevail? The answer may surprise you. We've made up a fun quiz to test your knowledge on various disasters and emergency preparedness items. See how well you do,” quoting Emergency Essentials. link here . 6. “SURPRISE: ELDERLY DRIVE BETTER THAN TEENS” “Drivers 65 and older are just one-third as likely as drivers 18 to 25 to cause auto accidents, and not much more likely than drivers 26 to 64 to cause accidents, according to a RAND Corp. study issued this week. ‘While driving ability declines with age for most people, those seniors who continue to drive appear to be safer drivers than the general public might think,’ said David Loughran, a RAND senior economist and professor at the Pardee RAND Graduate School, in a news release. ‘By far, it is the youngest drivers who pose the greatest risk to traffic safety.’ Researchers found that in 2001, people 65 and older accounted for about 15 percent of all licensed drivers but caused only about 7 percent of all accidents in the United States. By contrast, people ages 18 to 25 accounted for just 13 percent of all licensed drivers, but caused 43 percent of all accidents,” quoting FOX News. link here . 7. LEARN ABOUT HOW TO CREATE AN ORGANIC LAWN “The Wall Street Journal takes an entertaining look at organic lawns. Watch one of the Journal editors convert her yard to organic. Learn about some of the new lawn weeding tools on the market as well as organic grass fertilizers. Also see a photo slideshow detailing how one homeowner achieved a lush green lawn with various organic techniques. Scroll to the bottom of the Wall Street Journal article to see a step-by-step guide for going pesticide free in your own yard. link here . 8. FOLLOW-UP: BEES, WHERE HAVE THEY GONE? A. MCCLATCHY NEWSPAPERS REPORT ”Agriculture Department scientists are mobilizing to fight the puzzling and potentially catastrophic collapse of the nation's honey bee colonies. Citing a "perfect storm for beekeepers," alarmed officials admitted Friday [July 13] they still don't know why bees are dying in large numbers in more than 22 states. But prodded by Congress and farmers alike, the scientists will be devoting new resources to protecting the diligent pollinators some call six-legged livestock. ‘There were enough honey bees to provide pollination for U.S. agriculture this year, but beekeepers could face a serious problem next year and beyond," Agriculture Undersecretary Gale Buchanan warned Friday. Nationwide, honey bees pollinate more than 130 crops. They are particularly dutiful in some areas, such as California's nearly $3 billion-a-year almond industry. Of the nation's 2.4 million commercial bee colonies, 1.3 million pollinate almond orchards. ‘The bee industry is facing difficulty meeting the demand for pollination in almonds because of bee production shortages in California,’ the Agricultural Research Service noted,” quoting McClatchy Newspapers. link here B. PIERCE COUNTY EXAMINER REPORTS THE LOCAL ANGLE “Olympia beekeeper Jack Roberton has been stung a lot during the past few years. While bee stings rarely make him wince anymore, the financial sting of failed honeybee colonies in the South Sound and across the nation have resulted in the pain of higher prices and lower yields, and Roberton is worried his days of peddling honey are coming to an end. After decades of successfully maintaining hundreds of hives, Roberton’s commercial honey business was threatened last spring, when he effectively lost the populations of 232 hives without warning. He was left with just eight active colonies. Roberton spent last summer rebuilding his hives from 120 starter packages of honeybees, but another disastrous winter left his hives weak, and he is wondering if his business will survive,” quoting the Business Examiner. link here . 9 “REPORT: GULF’S [OF MEXICO] ‘DEAD ZONE’ GROWING” ”Researchers predict that the recurring oxygen-depleted "dead zone" off the Louisiana coast will grow this summer to 8,543 square miles - its largest in at least 22 years. The forecast, released Monday [July 16] by the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium, is based on a federal estimate of nitrogen from the Mississippi River watershed to the Gulf of Mexico. It discounts the effect storms might have. The "dead zone" in the northern Gulf, at the end of the Mississippi River system, is one of the largest areas of oxygen-depleted coastal waters in the world. Low oxygen, or hypoxia, can be caused by pollution from farm fertilizer, soil erosion and discharge from sewage treatment plants, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The pollution is carried downstream by the Mississippi and comes from throughout the U.S., quoting the AP. link here . 10. “SHOOTING TIGERS” “There were tigers, once, that ranged wild from Siberia to India, up to 100,000 of them. But not now: the world has gone from 100,000 to 5,000. And a recent, surprising discovery suggests that time is running out for the tigers that survive. No one understands the decline of the tiger better than Belinda Wright, an Indian woman of English descent, who’s famous for shooting tigers – photographing them. Her daring encounters made her one of the great shooters, in fact, the first woman photographer at National Geographic. Correspondent Scott Pelley wanted to find out what’s driving wild tigers to extinction so 60 Minutes asked Wright to take our team into the jungle,” quoting CBS News. link here . 11. USE SUGARLESS PRODUCTS CONTAINING NUTRASWEET? THINK AGAIN! While covered here several times over the last 6 years, a reader sent in this study on aspartame (APM), a widely used artificial sweetener that goes by the commercial names of NutraSweet, Equal, & Canderel. This is a sobering report first published in 2006: "The Cesare Maltoni Cancer Research Center of the European Ramazzini Foundation has conducted a long-term bioassay on aspartame (APM), a widely used artificial sweetener... The results of this mega-experiment indicate that APM is a multipotential carcinogenic agent, even at a daily dose of 20 mg/kg body weight, much less than the current acceptable daily intake. On the basis of these results, a reevaluation of the present guidelines on the use and consumption of APM is urgent and cannot be delayed," quoting the National Center for Biotechnology Information & the U.S. National Library of Medicine. link here . 12. LOOK FOR BUSH’S ‘WAG THE DOG’ SCENARIO ON IRAN WITHIN 18 MONTHS? “Unless Congress immediately impeaches Bush and Cheney, a year from now the US could be a dictatorial police state at war with Iran. Bush has put in place all the necessary measures for dictatorship in the form of "executive orders" that are triggered whenever Bush declares a national emergency. Recent statements by Homeland Security Chief Michael Chertoff, former Republican senator Rick Santorum and others suggest that Americans might expect a series of staged, or false flag, "terrorist" events in the near future. Many attentive people believe that the reason the Bush administration will not bow to expert advice and public opinion and begin withdrawing US troops from Iraq is that the administration intends to rescue its unpopular position with false flag operations that can be used to expand the war to Iran. Too much is going wrong for the Bush administration: the failure of its Middle East wars, Republican senators jumping ship, Turkish troops massed on northern Iraq's border poised for an invasion to deal with Kurds, and a majority of Americans favoring the impeachment of Cheney and a near-majority favoring Bush's impeachment. The Bush administration desperately needs dramatic events to scare the American people and the Congress back in line with the militarist-police state that Bush and Cheney have fostered,” quoting Paul Craig Roberts, Assistant Secretary of the Treasury in the Republican Reagan administration. link here . RAMTHA SCHOOL NEWS A. RSE student accomplishments are published this week in local newspapers: link here B. The Ramtha School’s new Media Page now active and available on their website for the public listing student accomplishments in the World. link here or simply: www.ramtha.com/press C. Information on CSE’s Fourth Annual Auction & Garden Party Saturday, July 28th is here: link here And: Masters’ Connection interview with 4 students from CSE can be found here: link here D. Yelm Co-op now carries raw milk and cheeses: link here E. This month’s Bleeping Herald now out packed with information: link here . LOCAL NOTES On the Yelm Community Blog last week: A. NVN Community Yearbook & business reference now out B. Follow-up: What is happening to the bees? C. Wal-Mart opens Yelm store forever changing landscape D. Yelm 6-year public transportation hearing next week E. Rep. Campbell on the WASL & other topics F. Annie’s Bistro sold & closes G. Rainier Food Bank accepts your garden donations link here . QUOTE OF THE WEEK “The vision that you glorify in your mind, the ideal that you enthrone in your heart – this you will build your life by, and this you will become.” James Lane Allen (1849-1925) American novelist & short story writer who often wrote about his native Kentucky . Kleiner’s Korner is copyrighted by Stephen R. Klein, 2007. For archived issues of Kleiner’s Korner, click on "Current Kleiner’s Korner and Archives" at link here Send comments to steve@kleinerskorner.com . KLEINER'S KORNER FOR WEEK OF JULY 16, 2007 More evidence the Bush Administration is using politics to interfere with science: “The first U.S. surgeon general appointed by President George W. Bush accused the administration on Tuesday [July 10] of political interference and muzzling him on key issues like embryonic stem cell research. "Anything that doesn't fit into the political appointees' ideological, theological or political agenda is ignored, marginalized or simply buried," Dr. Richard Carmona, who served as the nation's top doctor from 2002 until 2006, told a House of Representatives committee,” quoting Reuters. link here 1. “ORGANIC FRUIT AND VEGETABLES REALLY ARE BETTER FOR YOUR HEART” “A ten-year study comparing organic tomatoes with standard produce found that they had almost double the quantity of antioxidants called flavonoids which help to prevent high blood pressure and thus reduce the likelihood of heart disease and strokes. Alyson Mitchell, a food chemist, who led the research at the University of California, believes that flavonoids can also help to stave off some forms of cancer and dementia. She found that levels of quercetin and kaempferol, both flavonoids, were on average 79 and 97 per cent higher, respectively, in organic tomatoes. Her findings are due to be published in full in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry…. The team believes that the different levels of flavonoids in tomatoes are due to the absence of fertilisers in organic farming,” quoting UK’s Times. . link here . 2. EVEN SUNTAN CREAMS DO NOT WORK AGAINST SUN'S HARMFUL RADIATION A. “…The incidence of the most deadly form of skin cancer, melanoma, is increasing faster than that of any other cancer, doubling every one or two decades in countries such as the US, UK and Australia. There's no doubt that more people exposing more skin to the sun more often is the underlying reason behind the huge rise since the 1950s. Yet when epidemiologists began to look at the effects of sunscreens in the 1990s, they found no evidence that these creams and lotions were reducing the impact of our love of sunshine by protecting us from melanoma. How is this possible? While sunburn is mostly caused by the part of the ultraviolet spectrum known as UVB, there's growing evidence linking melanomas to UVA. Older sunscreens allowed people to stay out in the sun longer without burning but provided little protection against UVA, so they increased people's exposure to these wavelengths,” quoting The New Scientist. link here B. “EU BLOCKS MISLEADING ‘SUNBLOCK’ LABELS” “There is no such thing as 100 percent protection from the sun, the European Union's consumer chief warned holidaymakers on Monday and she banned the words "sunblock" and "100 percent sun protection" on sun cream. Such labeling is misleading and contributes to thousands of deaths each year, Consumer Protection Commissioner Meglena Kuneva said,” quoting Reuters. link here . 3. DARK CHOCOLATE AIDS HEALTH "A spoonful of dark chocolate may help blood pressure go down, according to a study published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The new research found that daily dark-chocolate consumption was associated with a drop in blood pressure. But before chocolate lovers rejoice, a caveat: The study authors recommend limiting daily dark-chocolate consumption to a small size. Think one Hershey's Kiss, not one entire candy bar," quoting Newsweek. link here . 4. “MERLOT MOUTHWASH WINE CAN FIGHT GERMS” “Drinking wine can maintain heart health, prevent cancer and even settle a mean case of diarrhea. Research now shows it’s also good for your teeth and throat. According to a new study, a cocktail of compounds found in both red and white wine fights germs that can cause dental plaque as well as sore throats. ‘Exposure to wine had a persistent antibacterial effect,’ the authors wrote in their study, detailed in an upcoming issue of the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. Prior to their research, the authors said the effects of wine against germs found in the mouth hadn’t been studied. Red wines have stronger bacteria-fighting effects than white wine, although not by much. Curiously, the acidity and alcohol isn’t responsible for wine’s germ-fighting properties—instead, it’s a collection of organic (carbon-containing) compounds found in the drink,” quoting Live Science. link here . 5. “ANCIENT GREENLAND WAS ACTUALLY GREEN” “The oldest ever recovered DNA samples have been collected from under more than a mile of Greenland ice, and their analysis suggests the island was much warmer during the last Ice Age than previously thought. The DNA is proof that sometime between 450,000 and 800,000 years ago, much of Greenland was especially green and covered in a boreal forest that was home to alder, spruce and pine trees, as well as insects such as butterflies and beetles… “We have shown for the first time that southern Greenland...was once very different to the Greenland we see today,” said study leader Eske Willerslev of the University of Copenhagen… ‘To get this site ice free you would’ve had to remove the ice cover from about the southern third of Greenland’” study team member Martin Sharp, a glaciologist at the University of Alberta, Canada, told LiveScience. The findings, detailed in the July 6 issue of the journal Science, demonstrate how far the young field of ancient DNA research has come: scientists can now recreate an environment’s climate and ecology using only recovered DNA, without the need for fossils that might be absent or hard to reach,” quoting Live Science. link here . 6. “BUENOS AIRES GETS FIRST SNOW SINCE 1918” “Thousands of Argentines cheered and threw snowballs in the streets of Buenos Aires on Monday [July 9] as the capital's first major snowfall since 1918 spread a thin white mantle across the region. Wet snow fell for hours in the Argentine capital, accumulating in a mushy but thin white layer late Monday, after freezing air from Antarctica collided with a moisture-laden low pressure system that blanketed higher elevations in western and central Argentina with snow... Argentina's National Weather Service said it was the first major snow in Buenos Aires since June 22, 1918, though sleet or freezing rain have been periodically reported in decades since,” quoting the AP. link here . 7. MAN DISCOVERS HOW TO MAKE SALT WATER BURN “A man searching for a cure for cancer discovered a way to make salt water - the world's most abundant resource - burn. This is a powerful burn that could easily power a combustion engine,” quoting You Tube. link here . 8. ECO-FRIENDLY BUILDINGS MAKING NEWS A. "MUSHROOMS BECOME SOURCE FOR ECO-BUILDING" ”Eben Bayer grew up on a farm in Vermont learning the intricacies of mushroom harvesting with his father. Now the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute graduate is using that experience to create an organic insulation made from mushrooms. More at home on a pizza, mushrooms certainly aren't a typical building material, but Bayer thought they just might work when given the assignment two years to create a sustainable insulation. Combining his agricultural knowledge with colleague Gavin McIntyre's interest in sustainable technology, the two created their patented "Greensulate" formula, an organic, fire-retardant board made of water, flour, oyster mushroom spores and perlite, a mineral blend found in potting soil. They're hoping the invention will soon be part of the growing market for eco-friendly products,” quoting the AP. link here B. HEARST BUILDING IN NYC MAKES HEALDINES "In the concrete jungle of Manhattan stands a paragon of green: the new Hearst Tower, rising from the original Hearst building’s historic facade. Ninety percent of its steel is recycled. It uses 26 percent less energy and 10 percent less water than a conventional office building. Sensors detect when a room is empty and automatically turn off the lights and computers... Hearst Tower is at the vanguard of a movement to cause as little ecological impact as possible in new construction. In September, it became the first “green” office building in New York certified by the U.S. Green Building Council, a nonprofit organization that administers the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program. Hearst Tower was given gold status, the second-highest award available," quoting MSNBC. link here . 9. “AUSTRALIA TO BUILD CROSS-CONTINENT CLIAMTE CORRIDOR” “Australia will create a wildlife corridor spanning the continent to allow animals and plants to flee the effects of global warming, scientists said on Monday [July 9]. The 2,800-kilometer (1,740 mile) climate "spine", approved by state and national governments, will link the country's entire east coast, from the snow-capped Australian Alps in the south to the tropical north - the distance from London to Romania. ‘A lot of that forest and vegetation spine is already there. But there are still blockages,’ David Lindenmayer, a professor of conservation biology, told Reuters of the plan,” quoting Reuters. link here . 10. "WEB BOT TECHNOLOGY" "In June 2001 I began to correspond with a reader of my website who said he was willing to share access to a promising new web technology, on the condition that I protect his identity. The person related that he had been a very senior programmer with a software company in the Pacific Northwest (you can guess which company, right?) and besides being a SQL ace, he was also heavily into linguistics and a language called Prolog, which is more like an artificial intelligence language than anything else... The web bot technology apparently taps in to an area of preconscious awareness. It's here that you run into the ramifications of Dean Radin's work at the Boundary Institute and the work of the Princeton Global Consciousness Project - both of which Art has talked about on his show. The Global Consciousness Project registered what appears to have been a disturbance in "the force" or the regularly orderly operation of life associated with 9/11: link here Supposed "random" numbers generated all over the world appeared to become less random immediately prior to 9/11. The second point is contained in Dean Radin's paper at link here ("Time-reversed human experience: Experimental evidence and implications"). The mind-bending evidence in Radin's work is that in a laboratory, people begin to react to an event as early as 6-seconds before it takes place. In other words, if you are about to show someone a horribly grotesque picture of something, they will already be physically reacting to it before the picture actually becomes visible. Up to 6-seconds, or so, and in a lab! In quantum terms, Radin's work demonstrates that people are physically able to perceive 6-seconds into the future," quoting Urban Survival Weekly Report. link here . 11. ASTRONOMY NEWS A. “WINDOW OF POSSIBILITY” “LAST YEAR, A HANDFUL OF ASTRONOMERS met in London to vote on the top ten images taken by the Hubble Telescope in its sixteen years in operation. They chose some beauties: the Cat’s Eye Nebula, the Sombrero Galaxy, the Hourglass Nebula. But conspicuously missing from their list was the Hubble Ultra Deep Field image. It is, I believe, the most incredible photograph ever taken. In 2003, Hubble astronomers chose a random wedge of sky just below the constellation Orion and, during four hundred orbits of the Earth, over the course of several months, took a photograph with a million-second-long exposure. It was something like peering through an eight-foot soda straw with one big, superhuman eye at the same wedge of space for eleven straight nights. What they found there was breathtaking: a shard of the early universe that contains a bewildering array of galaxies and pre-galactic lumps. Scrolling through it is eerily similar to peering at a drop of pond water through a microscope: one expects the galaxies to start squirming like paramecia. It bewilders and disorients; the dark patches swarm with questions. If you peered into just one of its black corners, took an Ultra Deep Field of the Ultra Deep Field, would you see as much all over again? What the Ultra Deep Field image ultimately offers is a singular glimpse at ourselves. Like Copernicus’s On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres, it resets our understanding of who and what we are,” quoting Anthony Doerr in Orion Magazine. link here B. “ASTRONOMERS FIND FARTHEST KNOWN GALAXIES” “Astronomers have found evidence for the most distant galaxies ever detected. The galaxies are seen as they existed just 500 million years after the birth of the universe. Their light, traversing the cosmos for more than 13 billion years, was seen only because it was distorted in a natural "gravitational lens" created by the gravity-bending mass of a nearer cluster of galaxies,” quoting Space.com. link here . 12. FOLLOW-UP: WHY CHILEAN LAKE DISAPPEARED “Scientists said that a lake in southern Chile that mysteriously disappeared last month developed a crack which allowed the water to drain away. A buildup of water opened a crack in an ice wall along one side of the lake. Water flowed through the crack into a nearby fjord and from there into the sea, leaving behind a dry lake-bed littered with icebergs, scientists told Chilean state television Tuesday [July 3]. link here . RAMTHA STUDENT NEWS A. A Discipline Weekend for current students will be held this weekend: link here B. The July, 2007 RSE Newsletter is now out and packed with wondferul information: link here C. From the newsletter, is the link to the full-page ad running this week in area newspapers highlighting RSE student economic contributions to the area in the 1st half of this year. WOW! link here D. Current student events including World Tour locations are now accessible at one website. THANK YOU RSE WEBTEAM! link here E. Greg Simmons JULY Physics of Change newsletter is now available: link here . LOCAL NOTES Covered last week on Yelm’s first community blog: A. Bald Hill Fire District goes independent B. Guest Entry: Jean Handley on Yelm sign ordinance C. Costco offers emergency kits D. Record breaking high temperature for July 11 E. Annual Seattle to Portland Bicycle run closes Yelm-Tenino Trail F. New Graham Reporter for Eatonville Dispatch announced G. Summer burn ban goes into effect until October H. 2007 Sustainable Living & Renewable Energy Fair link here . QUOTE OF THE WEEK “Man is so made that whenever anything fires his soul, impossibilities vanish.” Jean de la Fontaine (1621-1695) French Poet. Kleiner’s Korner is copyrighted by Stephen R. Klein, 2007. For archived issues of Kleiner’s Korner, click on "Current Kleiner’s Korner and Archives" at link here Send comments to steve@kleinerskorner.com . Kleiner's Korner for Week of July 9, 2007 Whatever you do, make certain you go to Michael Moore’s new movie SiCKO as soon as possible. This is a sobering, easy to understand, and eye-opening documentary about this nation’s (USA) health care industry. However, more importantly, this is about how the multi-national insurance companies have duped the American public into the theft of their hard-earned dollars they put aside for their own health care, saying this is the best in the world, when figures show the health of the American public is no longer anywhere near the top. link here 1. “EUROPEANS CONSISTENTLY REGARD THE US AS THE BIGGEST THREAT TO WORLD STABILITY” “Europeans consistently regard the US as the biggest threat to world stability, a new poll reveals on Monday [July 2]. A survey carried out in June by Harris Research for the Financial Times shows that 32 per cent of respondents in five European countries regard the US as a bigger threat than any other state. In the US itself, North Korea and Iran are seen as the biggest risks. However, the youngest US respondents share the Europeans' view that theirs is the biggest threat, with 35 per cent of American 16- to 24-year-olds identifying it as the chief danger to stability... The latest poll comes in the wake of the "surge" that has increased US forces in Iraq to about 160,000 troops, but which has not been accompanied by political breakthroughs or a dramatic reduction of violence. During President George W. Bush's second term the administration has also embarked on a more consensual international approach to issues such as Iran's nuclear programme and North Korea's nuclear bomb. But the poll shows that the European public still considers Mr Bush a risk,” quoting the Financial Times. link here . 2. “RESEARCHERS SUGGEST QUANTUM DOTS AS MEDIA FOR TELEPORTATION” “Acording to recent research, tiny clusters of atoms known as quantum dots may be excellent media for quantum teleportation, a physics phenomenon in which information -- in the form of a quantum state, a very specific mathematical "signature" of an atom -- can be transmitted almost instantaneously to a distant location without having to physically travel through space. Teleportation is one facet of quantum information science, a developing field that could have a major impact on computing and communications,” quoting Nanotechnology. link here . 3. “RESEARCHERS MAY REMAKE NEANDERTHAL DNA” "Researchers studying Neanderthal DNA say it should be possible to construct a complete genome of the ancient hominid despite the degradation of the DNA over time. There is also hope for reconstructing the genome of the mammoth and cave bear, according to a research team led by Svante Paabo of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany. Their findings are published in this week's online edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Debate has raged for years about whether there is any relationship between Neanderthals and modern humans. Some researchers believe that Neanderthals were simply replaced by early modern humans, while others argue the two groups may have interbred. Sequencing the genome of Neanderthals, who lived in Europe until about 30,000 years ago, could shed some light on that question,” quoting the AP. link here . 4. “ISRAELI SCIENTISTS UNVEIL MINI-ROBOT THAT CAN TRAVEL THROUGH BLOODSTREAM” “Scientists at the Technion University, teamed with a researcher from the College of Judea and Samaria, have developed a miniature robot that can move within the bloodstream... ’For the first time a miniature robot has been planned and constructed, that has the unique ability to crawl within the human body's veins and arteries,’ said Dr. Nir Shvalb of the College of Judea and Samaria on Monday [June 25]. ‘The robot will be able to crawl against the bloodstream with a force typical of blood vessels within the body without any problem, which has not been possible before,’” quoitng Israel’s Haaretz. link here . 5. ROSWELL CRASH WITNESS AFFIDAVIT UNSEALED “Lt. Walter Haut was the public-relations officer at the base in 1947 and was the man who issued the original and subsequent press releases after the crash on the orders of the base commander, Col. William Blanchard. Haut died in December 2005, but left a sworn affidavit to be opened only after his death. Last week, the text was released. It asserts that the weather-balloon claim was a cover story and that the real object had been recovered by the military and stored in a hangar. He described seeing not just the craft, but alien bodies. He wasn't the first Roswell witness to talk about alien bodies. Local undertaker Glenn Dennis had long claimed that he was contacted by authorities at Roswell shortly after the crash and asked to provide a number of child-sized coffins. When he arrived at the base, he was apparently told by a nurse (who later disappeared) that a UFO had crashed and that small humanoid extraterrestrials had been recovered. But Haut is the only one of the original participants to claim to have seen alien bodies... Haut's affidavit talks about a high-level meeting he attended with base commander Col. William Blanchard and the Commander of the Eighth Army Air Force, Gen. Roger Ramey,” quoting Fox News. link here . 6. SIX YEAR OLD CHILD PRODIGY BEFORE YOUR EYES You must see this child’s piano performance on Jay Leno [Ed. Note: Worth the wait to download!]: link here “Ethan Bortnick was born December 24, 2000. He started reading at the age of two and speaks Russian and English. At age four he began studying with Mila Vaserstein. Ethan plays Jazz, Classics, Children’s Music, Folk Songs and Much more. He is an incredible artist, composer, performer, and a sweet little boy. Ethan memorized almost 200 songs and plays both by ear and by reading the music. Ethan has "perfect" pitch, where he can repeat any note or sets of notes that are played on the piano by ear. He regularly performs at various events and continues to inspire kids and adults everywhere,” quoting Mr. Bortnick’s website. link here . 7. “SCARCE WATER AND POPULATION BOOM LEADS CALIFORNIA TO 'PERFECT DROUGHT'" “A typical summer's day in Los Angeles: temperatures nudge the nineties, the sun blazes high in the sky, palm trees sway in the ocean breeze, and sprinklers spray a fine mist of water into the scorching air. But if the predictions of climatologists, environmentalists, city planners and the head of the water board are correct, the sprinklers and many other of the comforts that have made southern California habitable may have to be turned off. Experts across the city concur that the conditions are ripe in southern California for the "perfect drought". Los Angeles has recorded just 8.15cm (3.21 in) of rain in the year ending June 30, making it the driest year on record since 1877. According to the National Drought Mitigation Centre, southern California faces "extreme drought" this year, with no rain forecast before September. One climatologist referred to the temperatures in Los Angeles as "Death Valley numbers". The Sierra Nevada mountains, which typically provide Los Angeles with 50% of its water, have provided just 20% of their normal volume this year, and the snowpack is at its lowest for 20 years. Pumping from an aquifer in the San Fernando Valley was stopped this month because it was contaminated with chromium 6,” quoting UK’s Guardian. [Ed. Note: HMMM! We have to go overseas to get news about our homeland?!] link here . 8. “NOW FOR MY NEXT TRICK, WATER FROM AIR" "Leaves and spiders' webs beaded with dew have inspired a low-tech solution for collecting fresh water. WatAir, an inverted pyramid made from elastic canvas, recycled polycarbonate, metal or glass, can reap dozens of litres of water a day from the air. The inexpensive solution could help bring clean drinking water to people in remote or polluted areas, its developers say. 'The design has minimal special demands. It is low-tech and low-cost, and in fact can be even produced with local means,' says Joseph Cory, a PhD candidate at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology and an architect at Haifa's Geotectura Studio. Cory and colleague Eyal Malka of Malka Architects recently won first place for the invention in a competition sponsored by WaterAid, an international nonprofit organisation dedicated to providing safe domestic water to poor nations, and Arup, a UK-based firm specialising in sustainable designs," quoting ABC news from Australia. link here . 9. FEDERAL FARM BILL INCLUSION PROPOSED TO EXPAND LOCAL/ORGANIC FOOD PRODUCTION "My name is Brian Murray and my father, J.C. Murray, and my aunt, Linda Murray [who live in the Yelm area]... I’ve been working on the Federal Farm Bill with my colleague Jim Braun, a farmer from Iowa turned lobbyist. Along with a coalition of food and agricultural organizations, we’ve established 5 points to expand local/organic food production that we are advocating for inclusion in The 2007 Farm Bill: 1. 50 acres/5 year freedom for farmers to experiment with growing and marketing local food 2. Incentives to help farmers transition from conventional to local and organic food production 3. Funding to help build infrastructures necessary for processing, storing, and distributing locally grown food 4. Full funding for the Farmers Market Nutritional Program (FMNP) 5. Funding for research and education (for organic and local food systems) Personally for me, these policy points offer U.S. Citizens a way to take back some control over our food, environment, and lifestyles. It’s a bridge issue, instead of a wedge issue, because it offers better security through a more transparent localized food system, and less dependence on oil due to shorter shipping distances. Even though this is federal, and deals with a body often thought to be beyond rectification, it has huge implications for local autonomy throughout the U.S. My hope is that you will support it and pass it on to all that you know, and encourage them to organize and take action on it. Please feel free to contact me with any questions. I’ve included my information below. I can provide more resources upon request. Brian Murray Volunteer Outreach Coordinator, Genewise Graphic Design & Marketing, Goodness Greeness 773-640-1944 b_murray@sbcglobal.net brian.murray@goodnessgreeness.com link here This dovetails nicely with the work of Washington State’s Susie Kyle Winlock Meadows Farm: link here And Farm Bank Project: link here . 10. “ARE CHILDREN MORE VULNERABLE TO PESTICIDES? The EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) recently issued its final draft of revised cancer assessment guidelines. This draft updates guidelines developed in 1986 [Note the date here! – it is now 2007. Have you been told about this? Apparently, it is still a “draft” version!], based on new scientific understanding of how cancer is caused and the effects of cancer-causing substances on different groups, such as children. When finalized, the new guidelines will apply to pesticides and other chemicals that may be released into the environment. Government analysis on which the new standards are based shows the following: • Children accumulate half of their lifetime cancer risk by age two. • On average, children up to age two are 10 times more vulnerable to cancer-causing chemicals than adults. • Some cancer-causing substances are up to 65 times more potent for infants than adults. • Children from age 2 to 15 are 3 times more vulnerable to carcinogens than adults. • Children are exposed to more cancer-causing substances because pound for pound, they eat more food and breathe more air than adults do. • Children's bodies can't process or get rid of toxins as easily as adults. • Children's organ's continue to grow for years after birth and are easily damaged by chemicals in their food and in their environment. • Early exposures give cancers time to develop. Cancers are not caused by one event or one chemical; they grow over time. Over the years, new exposures may trigger cancers in cells damaged during childhood. Source: CHEC (Children's Health Environmental Coalition) Environmental Protection Agency (EPA),” quoting Earthbound Farm. link here . 11. “DARFUR CONFLICT HERALDS ERA OF WARS TRIGGERED BY CLIMATE CHANGE...” "The conflict in Darfur has been driven by climate change and environmental degradation, which threaten to trigger a succession of new wars across Africa unless more is done to contain the damage, according to a UN report published yesterday [June 22]. ‘Darfur ... holds grim lessons for other countries at risk,’ an 18-month study of Sudan by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) concludes. With rainfall down by up to 30% over 40 years and the Sahara advancing by well over a mile every year, tensions between farmers and herders over disappearing pasture and evaporating water holes threaten to reignite the half-century war between north and south Sudan, held at bay by a precarious 2005 peace accord," quoting UK's Guardian. link here . 12. TWO VIEWS OF GLOBAL WARMING A. THE BUSH ADMIMISTRATION “THE SECRET CAMPAIGN OF PRESIDENT BUSH’S ADMINISTRATION TO DENY GLOBAL WARMING Rolling Stone Magazine reports, “Earlier this year, the world's top climate scientists released a definitive report on global warming. It is now "unequivocal," they concluded, that the planet is heating up. Humans are directly responsible for the planetary heat wave, and only by taking immediate action can the world avert a climate catastrophe. Megadroughts, raging wildfires, decimated forests, dengue fever, legions of Katrinas - unless humans act now to curb our climate-warming pollution, warned the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, "we are in deep trouble." You would think, in the wake of such stark and conclusive findings, that the White House would at least offer some small gesture to signal its concern about the impending crisis. It's not every day, after all, that the leading scientists from 120 nations come together and agree that the entire planet is about to go to hell. But the Bush administration has never felt bound by the reality-based nature of science - especially when it comes from international experts. So after the report became public in February, Vice President Dick Cheney took to the airwaves to offer his own, competing assessment of global warming.” [Ed. Note: This Administration’s policies are an embarrassment to us all; whether the Iraq War, the massive debt created, the health acre industry to the environmental destruction. No wonder the USA is so hated in the World.] link here B. AL GORE “MOVING BEYOND KYOTO” In the July 1 New York Times, Al Gore writes, “WE — the human species — have arrived at a moment of ecision. It is unprecedented and even laughable for us to imagine that we could actually make a conscious choice as a species, but that is nevertheless the challenge that is before us. Our home — Earth — is in danger. What is at risk of being destroyed is not the planet itself, but the conditions that have made it hospitable for human beings... As a direct result, many scientists are now warning that we are moving closer to several “tipping points” that could — within 10 years — make it impossible for us to avoid irretrievable damage to the planet’s habitability for human civilization.” link here . RAMTHA STUDENT NEWS 1. Two new Yelm Summer events for current RSE students & a unique “Catch-up” for those students wishing to return to their School: link here 2. Michael Knight’s & John Savage’s new video “Contact Has Begun” is now taking advanced orders: link here Read Director Knight’s story in his own words: link here And, information about last weekend’s SCIENCE, SPIRIT AND WORLD TRANSFORMATION @ Trout Lake, WA link here 3. From the Children’s School of Excellence (CSE): Share CSE’s web site with your friends and emails lists at link here You can forward the auction event info with this link: link here To purchase tickets for the auction event, call the CSE office at (360) 446-1100. New to the CSE community? Check out the CSE school brochure with this link: link here See the new CSE spotlight page link here And CSE’s Summer highlights link here And, this fabulous interview of CSE Teacher Diane D'Acuti on the Masters' Connection: link here 4. Miceal Ledwith’s latest column is now out: link here 5. From the Assay, Dr. O'Shea discussed the New West Diet: link here And, his essay on enzymes: link here . LOCAL NOTES Covered last week on the Yelm Community Blog: A. New Yelm-based SuperConsciousness Magazine introduced B. Annas Bay music festival in Union C. Happy 4th of July D. Yelm City Council - Wake Up! E. Federal farm Bill expansion propsed for organic food F. Launch of new area business G. Tumwater at forefront again this week -- orders electric cars for meter readers link here . QUOTE OF THE WEEK “Treat people as if they were what they ought to be and you will help them become what they are capable of becoming.” Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749 – 1832) German poet, novelist and playwright . Kleiner’s Korner is copyrighted by Stephen R. Klein, 2007. For archived issues of Kleiner’s Korner, click on "Current Kleiner’s Korner and Archives" at link here Send comments to steve@kleinerskorner.com . KLEINER'S KORNER FOR WEEK OF JULY 2, 2007 HAPPY 4th in the USA! “In the United States, Independence Day (commonly known as "the Fourth of July", "July Fourth" or "America Day") is a federal holiday celebrating the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, declaring independence from Great Britain. Independence Day is commonly associated with fireworks, parades, barbecues, beer, picnics, baseball games, and various other public and private events celebrating the history, government, and traditions of the United States. Fireworks have been associated with the Fourth of July since 1777,” quoting Wikipedia. link here 1. “BOOSTING BRAIN POWER MAY BE STEPS AWAY” THROUGH WALKING “Professor Arthur Kramer of the University of Illinois in Urbana is part of a revolution, CBS News contributing correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta reports. He's challenging a long-held belief in the world of neuroscience that the brain is hardwired, fixed, immutable. Kramer says changing the size and the function of your brain is as easy as taking a few steps. ’We found in our study that walking will increase the volume of the brain, increase the efficiency of the brain and increase improvements in the number of cognitive functions such as memory and attention,’ Kramer says,” quoting CBS News. link here . 2. “BRAIN SCANS REVEAL WHY MEDITATION WORKS” “If you name your emotions, you can tame them, according to new research that suggests why meditation works. Brain scans show that putting negative emotions into words calms the brain's emotion center. That could explain meditation’s purported emotional benefits, because people who meditate often label their negative emotions in an effort to “let them go.” Psychologists have long believed that people who talk about their feelings have more control over them, but they don't know why it works... Meditation and other “mindfulness” techniques are designed to help people pay more attention to their present emotions, thoughts and sensations without reacting strongly to them. Meditators often acknowledge and name their negative emotions in order to “let them go.” When the team compared brain scans from subjects who had more mindful dispositions to those from subjects who were less mindful, they found a stark difference—the mindful subjects experienced greater activation in the right ventrolateral prefrontral cortex and a greater calming effect in the amygdala after labeling their emotions,” quoting Live Science. link here . 3. FABULOUS GRAPHICS ON THE HUMAN BRAIN “It weighs just about 3 pounds and is incredibly dense and delicate. No wonder people for much of history have been in the dark about gray matter. But scientific advances have begun to unravel some of the brain's mysteries, and government researchers say more has been discovered about the human mind in the past 10-year period than in all the time before it. The result is a better understanding of, and improved treatments for, the more than 600 known neurological diseases,” quoting CBS News. link here . 4. “COLLECT WILD CROP SEEDS TO PROTECT THEM FROM CLIMATE CHANGE, CGIAR” ”Climate change is threatening the survival of crops such as the potato and the peanut, say researchers, and there is an urgent need to collect and store seeds from their wild relatives for future food security. But a study conducted by the Consultative Group on International Agriculture Research (CGIAR) and presented this week [May 23] at the Convention on Biological Diversity in Rome, Italy, found that many as 61 percent of the 51 wild peanut species analysed and 12 percent of the 108 wild potato species analysed could become extinct as the result of climate change in the next 50 years,” quoting Food Navigator. [Ed. Note: My Teacher Ramtha recommended storing seeds of all types some 20+ years ago.] link here . 5. “GLIMPSE OF TIME BEFORE BIG BANG POSSIBLE” “It may be possible to glimpse before the supposed beginning of time into the universe prior to the Big Bang, researchers now say. Unfortunately, any such picture will always be fuzzy at best due to a kind of "cosmic forgetfulness." The Big Bang is often thought as the start of everything, including time, making any questions about what happened during it or beforehand nonsensical. Recently scientists have instead suggested the Big Bang might have just been the explosive beginning of the current era of the universe, hinting at a mysterious past. To see how far into history one might gaze, theoretical physicist Martin Bojowald at Pennsylvania State University ran calculations based on loop quantum gravity, one of a number of competing theories seeking to explain how the underlying structure of the universe works,” quoting Live Science. link here . 6. “TEXAS OIL TYCOON PLANS LARGEST WIND FARM” “Billionaire T. Boone Pickens is planning to cash in on the wind energy boom by building the world's largest wind farm in West Texas. The oil tycoon wants to install large wind turbines in parts of four Panhandle counties in a project that would produce up to 4,000 megawatts of electricity. If Pickens' company, Mesa Power LP, does build the wind farm it would be the largest in the world, American Wind Energy Association spokeswoman Susan Williams Sloan said. It would generate more than five times the 735 megawatts produced at the present largest wind farm near Abilene,” quoting the AP. link here . 7. “BANNING BOTTLED WATER” “When San Francisco recently banned the use of plastic grocery bags as part of its campaign to fight global warming, the city drew international attention. Now, plastic water bottles are in the cross hairs. This week, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom signed an executive order banning the use of city funds to purchase single-serving plastic water bottles. The order also prohibits the sale of such water containers on city-owned property. The move is part of a campaign by the city to boost the environmental awareness of its already-green citizens by getting them to use tap water instead of bottled water—and cut down on the acres of plastic generated in the process,” quoting Newsweek. link here . 8. "HYDROGEN REFUELING WITH ‘ORDINARY’ CARS AT HOME" “A British company has unveiled a way of generating hydrogen gas at home, for use in powering conventional petrol cars. ITM Power plc has converted a Ford Focus to burn hydrogen as well as petrol (actually not hugely difficult as a hydrocarbon such as petrol is not that different to hydrogen as far as the engine is concerned). The test car drove over 40 kilometres on carbon-free hydrogen, before reverting to petrol - far enough for many commuting journeys. The source of the hydrogen is an at-home electrolyser that converts water to hydrogen, either via off-peak electricity at night, or from wind or solar power. ITM says the electrolyser will go into production in 2008 in a factory in Sheffield,” quoting Reuters. link here . 9. “HOW SAFE IS WHAT’S IN THIS CAN OF TUNA?” “In extreme amounts, more than 10 micrograms per gram as measured in hair (which scientists use to gauge the body’s mercury levels), mercury can cause mental retardation, cerebral palsy, deafness and blindness. In the lower-level amounts typically found in Americans — fewer than 2 micrograms per gram in hair — risks to a newborn include a drop of a few IQ points, slow brain development and learning disabilities. Researchers at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimate that more than 300,000 babies born each year in this country are at risk of having brain damage due to mercury exposure in utero,” quoting SELF. link here . 10. “MYSTERIOUS CLOUDS CREEPING OUT OF THE ARCTIC” “A new NASA satellite has recorded the first detailed images from space of a mysterious type of cloud called “night-shining” or “noctilucent." The clouds are on the move, brightening and creeping out of polar regions, and researchers don't know why. "It is clear that these clouds are changing, a sign that a part of our atmosphere is changing and we do not understand how, why or what it means," said atmospheric scientists James Russell III of Hampton University in Hampton, Virginia,” quoting Live Science. link here . 11. “GLACIAL LAKE IN CHILE DISAPPEARS” “A glacial lake in Chile's southern Andes has disappeared, and scientists want to know why. The disappearance of the five-acre lake in Bernardo O'Higgins National Park was discovered in late May by park rangers. Where the lake had been in March, they found a dry crater 100 feet deep, as well as several large pieces of ice that used to float atop the water. ’The lake had simply disappeared,’ said Juan Jose Romero, regional head of Chile's national forest service, or Conaf. ‘No one knows what happened,’” quoting CBS News. link here . 12. PROMINENT U. S. LAWYER SPEAKS UP ABOUT PRISON SYSTEM [Ed. Note: Roy Black is one of America's most well-known and respected defense lawyers and is based in Miami. He analyzed the O. J. Simpson case for the media and developed a national reputation as a level-headed and sound attorney. On a visit to South Florida last month, this writer picked up the Miami Herald, which had a special insert interviewing prominent Florida lawyers. His story was though provoking.] Quoting Mr. Black in Florida Super Lawyers, 2007 - South Florida, "'Besides, we already have too many people behind bars. Of all the people in the world in prison today, 25 percent are in the U. S. We're creating more and more laws, destroying more lives, costing us enormous amounts of money, for no reason." And, Black insists, it's getting worst. 'Prosecutors now make most of the sentencing decisions by deciding what kinds of charges to bring. 'There's less discretionary sentencing, so defendants are more likely to negotiate with the prosecutor, who holds out the only chance of mitigation and leniency. So we have a system of sentencing by prosecutor rather than a system of trial by jury. Nobody knows or cares until they or someone they know is caught up in the system. Then they ask me, ‘What are my rights?' And I say, "Half of them have disappeared in the last 20 years.'" [Ed. Note: A brilliant assessment to ponder. HMMM!] link here . RAMTHA STUDENT NEWS A. SUPERCONSCIOUSNESS MAGAZINE RSE student Jair Robles, is proud to announce the launch of the new international publication, SuperConsciousness Magazine, exploring human potential. SuperConsciousness successfully captures the excitement of these evolving times through knowledge, information, and a continued focus on what is possible. An introductory interview with Jair about SuperConsciousness Magazine, can be found at the Masters Connection website. link here To take advantage of the subscription promotion, click here: link here B. CSE SPOTLIGHT PAGE The Children’s School of Excellence has updated their Spotlight page. link here click under “CSE Spotlight” for news and highlights including fabulous pictures of CSE events. C. THE PROPHETS CONFERENCE PALM SPRINGS The Orbs Conference will be October 26-28, 2007 & will include Dr. Miceal Ledwith. For biographical information please go to: link here Full conference information go to: link here . LOCAL NOTES The Yelm Community blogger was away last week. A. The Olympian: Ramtha’s School of Enlightenment contributed to city’s profile link here . QUOTE OF THE WEEK “Whether you believe you can do a thing or not, you are right.” Henry Ford (1863-1947) American Industrialist & noted car manufacturer . Kleiner’s Korner is copyrighted by Stephen R. Klein, 2007. For archived issues of Kleiner’s Korner, click on "Current Kleiner’s Korner and Archives" at link here Send comments to steve@kleinerskorner.com .