History, Evolution, and the Darwin Debate
Developmental Delay May Explain Behavior of Easygoing Bonobo Apes
ScienceDaily (Jan. 29, 2010) — New research suggests that evolutionary changes in cognitive development underlie the extensive social and behavioral differences that exist between two closely related species of great apes
Lead May Be the Culprit in ADHD
ScienceDaily (Jan. 29, 2010) — ADHD, or attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, is among the costliest of behavioral disorders. Its combination of inattention, impulsivity and hyperactivity leads to accidental injuries, school failure, substance abuse, antisocial behavior and more. Yet despite nearly a century of study, the disorder’s roots remain mysterious.
Language Structure Is Partly Determined by Social Structure
ScienceDaily (Jan. 28, 2010) — Psychologists at the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Memphis have released a new study on linguistic evolution that challenges the prominent hypothesis for why languages differ throughout the world.
In Sync: Squid, Glowing Companions March in Genetic Harmony
ScienceDaily (Jan. 28, 2010) — Most humans are blissfully unaware that we owe our healthful existence to trillions of microbes that make their home in the nooks and crannies of the human body, primarily the gut.
Mouse Skin Cells Turned Directly Into Neurons, Skipping IPS Stage
ScienceDaily (Jan. 28, 2010) — Scientists at the Stanford University School of Medicine have succeeded in transforming mouse skin cells in a laboratory dish directly into functional nerve cells with the application of just three genes
Published on Friday, January 29, 2010 by Salon.com
Remember the Illegal Destruction of Iraq?
by Glenn Greenwald
British political news has been consumed for the last several weeks by a formal inquiry into the illegality and deceit behind Tony Blair’s decision to join the U.S. in invading Iraq. Today, Blair himself is publicly testifying before the investigative commission and is being grilled about numerous false claims he made in the run-up to the war, not only about Iraqi weapons programs and their ties to Al Qaeda, but also about secret commitments he made to join the U.S. at a time when he and Bush were still pretending that they were undecided and awaiting the outcome of the U.N. negotiations and the inspection process.
mxmail
A review of a movie based on Naomi Klein’s book:
http://louisproyect.wordpress.com/2010/01/29/the-shock-doctrine/
Going barefoot ends pounding on heel, Harvard study finds
http://www.boston.com/news/health/articles/2010/01/28/shoeless_running_may_spare_feet/
gnxp
Female elementary school teachers who are concerned about their own math skills could be passing that along to the little girls they teach
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100126/ap_on_sc/us_sci_fear_of_figures
gnxp
It’s hard to make choices because our brains get tired, and yet we have more and more and more choices all the time. For example, how are we supposed to choose from 120 different crayon color options?
http://www.npr.org/blogs/pictureshow/2010/01/crayons_and_choice_a_headache.html
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gnxp
Monkeys avoid long-winded chatter, preferring to keep it brief, a new study suggests
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8479170.stm
gnxp
A good life is not just a happy life but a truthful one, writes Julian Baggini. He reviews a range of new books about positive thinking
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/31a31ea6-0161-11df-8c54-00144feabdc0.html
gnxp
The new species helps to fill in the fossil record and cement the long-held view that birds did indeed evolve from dinos
http://news.discovery.com/dinosaurs/dinosaurs-birds-evolution.html
RG mail
http://www.oregonlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2010/01/voters_pass_tax_measures_by_bi.html
The Oregonian January 26, 2010
*Oregon voters pass tax increasing measures by big margin*
*Tuesday’s strong support also validated a strategy by Democratic lawmakers
to single out the rich and corporations for targeted tax increases.
By Harry Esteve
Oregon voters bucked decades of anti-tax and anti-Salem sentiment Tuesday,
raising taxes on corporations and the wealthy to prevent further erosion of
public schools and other state services.
RG mail
http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/154345/Tony-Blair-warned-by-27-lawyers-Iraq-war-was-illegal-
Daily Express January 27, 2010
Tony Blair ‘warned by 27 lawyers Iraq war was illegal’*
By David Pilditch
Tony Blair was warned two months before the invasion of Iraq that it would
be illegal to go to war without UN backing, it was revealed yesterday.
Senior Government lawyers told the Iraq inquiry that they advised the action
had “no legal basis in international law”.
Friends of the Earth: Obama Speech a Kick in the Gut to Environmentalists
http://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2010/01/28-9
Howard Zinn: On Human Nature and Aggression
http://www.commondreams.org/video/2010/01/27-2
Howard Zinn (1922-2010): A Tribute to the Legendary Historian with Noam Chomsky, Alice Walker, Naomi Klein and Anthony Arnove
http://www.commondreams.org/video/2010/01/28
Catcher in the Rye Author J.D. Salinger Dies
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2010/01/28-5
RG mail
FSK’s Guide to Reality (January 24 2010)
President James Garfield, who was murdered in 1881, is hardly ever
mentioned in State brainwashing centers (schools).
Here’s some interesting quotes.
“He who controls the money supply of a nation controls the nation”.
“Whoever controls the volume of money in any country is absolute
master of all industry and commerce”.
Allegedly, the latter was said during his inauguration speech.
This quote is also interesting.
“The chief duty of the National Government in connection with the
currency of the country is to coin money and declare its value.
Grave doubts have been entertained whether Congress is authorized
by the Constitution to make any form of paper money legal tender.
The present issue of United States notes has been sustained by the
necessities of war; but such paper should depend for its value and
currency upon its convenience in use and its prompt redemption in
coin at the will of the holder, and not upon its compulsory
circulation. These notes are not money, but promises to pay money.
If the holders demand it, the promise should be kept.”
It seems that James Garfield knew that the financial industry was
one big scam. Even in 1881 before the creation of the Federal
Reserve, a regulated financial industry was forced to operate under
corrupt fractional reserve principles.
That quote makes it sound like James Garfield was planning to issue
more Greenbacks, like President Lincoln did to finance the Civil
War. The banksters are VERY hostile to credit-based fiat money
directly spent into circulation by the government. Such money does
not come with debt-strings attached, and helps people escape the
chains of debt slavery. In the present, deficit spending is
financed by Treasury Bonds, which are owned by the banksters. The
only reason the Federal government doesn’t directly spend money
into circulation is that contradicts the interests of the banksters.
Even though the banking cartel has a lot of power, they sometimes
make a mistake and let someone with a clue become President. James
Garfield is an example of such an error. Such mistakes are easily
corrected via an assassination. That both eliminates a threat and
sends a message to all other politicians, making sure they don’t
behave too honestly.
There’s another interesting thing about these “Presidents were
assassinated!” conspiracy theories. Lincoln, Garfield, and Kennedy
were all hostile to the interests of the banksters, and all three
were assassinated. For each of them, the official State explanation
was “It was a lone crazy person responsible for the assassination!”
rather than “Insiders killed him to protect their interests!” In
the “conspiracy talk” surrounding Kennedy’s assassination, people
usually debate the mechanics of how Kennedy was killed, rather than
“Why was Kennedy killed?”
Some people say that the Secret Service that protects the President
is REALLY GOOD. The President could not be assassinated unless his
security team allowed it. Allegedly, President Kennedy could not
have been killed unless it were an inside job.
I wouldn’t be surprised if some Secret Service agents were also on
the payroll of the banksters. The Secret Service doesn’t just
protect the President. The Secret Service also spies on the
President all the time. The Secret Service helps make sure that the
President isn’t exposed to any “dangerous” ideas.
If you’re one of the insiders working for the banking cartel, it
isn’t too hard to hire someone to conduct an assassination, and
then deny any connection to the banksters.
Given James Garfield’s opposition to the banksters, it’s not a
surprise that he is not discussed at all in school.
http://fskrealityguide.blogspot.com/2010/01/did-banksters-kill-james-garfield.html
I am putting this useful comment sequence on a separate post.
Comment sequence on More on Debunking 9/11 Debunking
Jim Buck said,
January 28, 2010 at 11:46 am ·The “official story” is always bogus, not just on 11th September (2001), but on anything. Events like 11/9 are such a shock to the system that the usual “reality managment” is suspended, temporarily.
————————
James said,January 28, 2010 at 1:31 pm ·
True, but I sense something more sinister here. Griffin may be wrong in some of the details (and I think the idea that it was an inside job based on the available evidence is a bit absurd), but it is obvious that the government wasn’t interested in giving anything more than superficial explanations.
——————————–
Jim Buck said,
January 28, 2010 at 2:17 pm ·
Governments everywhere are so accustomed to lying to the people (often in the people’s interest) that they find the habit hard to break–even when it would be the most efficent and simple course to take. I find it touching that Griffin imagines there is a master narrative somewhere (The Truth) which would out, if only it could. My friend died from an asbestos related disease, a few months before 11/9. His employer had always assured him that he was being asked to work only with a “safe” form of asbestos. So I’m not at all shocked about the callous attitude of the authorities towards the rescue workers in Manhattan. I’m ralso ather less than impressed by the “cell phone evidence” Griffin presents. This was published a few weeks after the event: http://connectedplanetonline.com/wireless/ar/wireless_final_contact/
——————
James said,
January 28, 2010 at 2:36 pm ·
“Governments everywhere are so accustomed to lying to the people (often in the people’s interest) that they find the habit hard to break–even when it would be the most efficent and simple course to take.”Obviously, but the issue gets a bit more complex with the US given its preposterous and illogical relationship with Israel and the amount of neo-conservatives in our government. As I’ve said before, the idea that this was planned by people in our government strikes me as ridiculous (I don’t find the theory of telephone fabrications convincing either). My own feeling is that many of the intelligence and investigative agencies knew full well that 9/11 was going to happen and deliberately chose not to prevent it (rather obvious even without Griffin’s work).
——————————–
Jim Buck said,January 28, 2010 at 5:59 pm ·
I’m willing to countenance the thought that (in some quarters) there was an anticipation of a successful attack, by Al Qaeda on US territory, serving to legitimise plans that the Bush government had already in place. I’m disturbed though, James, that you inferr that Israeli interests might have also been a factor. This is the problem with conspiracy theories; they inevitably degenerate into a framing of the usual historical scapegoats. Incidently, the records shows that when an attack on Iran was first mooted, the action was strongly opposed by Israel. It’s true that the Israelis were pressing instead for a campaign against Iran; and Menachem Begin’s government did eventually throw it’s weight behind the Coalition; but, given Israel’s dependency on the US, that was inevitable; and the ensuing (entirely predictable) quagmire has greatly reduced the prospect of an American-backed attack on the Mullahs; and is thus a severe reverse to teh state of Israel.
Fundamentalists and the Atheists Who Love Them
by Ross Douthat – The New York Times
from dawkins site
http://douthat.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/01/27/fundamentalists-and-the-atheists-who-love-them/
As a general rule, I try to avoid writing about both Pat Robertson and Richard Dawkins. (The attention only encourages them). But Dawkins’ “defense” of Robertson, against the “milquetoast” Christians who rushed to disavow the televangelist’s suggestion that the Haitian earthquake victims were being singled out for divine punishment, offers an interesting illustration of militant atheism’s symbiotic relationship with religious fundamentalism.
by Scientific Indians
from dawkins site
http://www.scientificindians.com/health/you-a-your-family
Complexity Explained: 13. Evolution of Biological Complexity
by Vinod K. Wadhawan – Nirmukta
from dawkins site
http://nirmukta.com/2010/01/25/complexity-explained-13-evolution-of-biological-complexity/
…a Supreme Court known for its slavish devotion to the economic interests of the Robber Barons, and for its philosophical commitment to the uglier tenets of social Darwinism…
Texas to teach intelligent design
Texas sometimes reminds me that in some places in our country, we never graduated from the ‘50s. The Cold War is still here; the nuclear family still makes sense; theocracy, propaganda and political discrimination are still the norm.
The Texas School Board is dominated by five extreme right-wing nuts who think “transitional fossils” are different from fossils, Newt Gingrich is a more important American figure than Susan B. Anthony, and — my personal favorite — McCarthyism is justifiable. The Texas School Board is on the verge of approving a school curriculum, up for vote in March, which would paint the United States as founded on Christian values as opposed to Lockean liberalism; it will pretend intelligent design is a theory equivalent to evolution.
This is a dangerous joke and an assault on everything that has made this country great.
America was built on industry, political and religious freedom, scientific progress — and above all else — ethnic and political diversity.
The problem here is that teaching Darwin’s theory is just as bad.
Last Neanderthals in Europe Died out 37,000 Years Ago
ScienceDaily (Jan. 27, 2010) — The paper, by Professor João Zilhão and colleagues, builds on his earlier research which proposed that, south of the Cantabro-Pyrenean mountain chain, Neanderthals survived for several millennia after being replaced or assimilated by anatomically modern humans everywhere else in Europe.
Monarch Butterflies Reveal a Novel Way in Which Animals Sense Earth’s Magnetic Field
ScienceDaily (Jan. 27, 2010) — Building on prior investigation into the biological mechanisms through which monarch butterflies are able to migrate up to 2,000 miles from eastern North America to a particular forest in Mexico each year, neurobiologists at the University of Massachusetts Medical School (UMMS) have linked two related photoreceptor proteins found in butterflies to animal navigation using the Earth’s magnetic field.
Hungry Immune Guardians Are Snappier: Nutrition Has a Direct Influence on the Immune System
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