7 Reasons to Reduce Red Meat Consumption | John Douillard's LifeSpa

http://lifespa.com/7-reasons-to-reduce-red-meat-consumption/?inf_contact_key=2a78bc75fe85a60e32a14aa6eb7d76028ca94d4b39e5cfca034dc63f34cbaf62#.UesK4cu9KK0

1. In 2012, the Harvard School of Public Health evaluated over 120,000 meat eaters. After 28 years, those who ate the most meat (2 servings a day) had a 30% increased risk of dying compared to those who did not eat red meat in this study.
2. In a 2010 study published in the Journal Circulation, 84,000 nurses were evaluated for 26 years. Those who ate 3 servings of meat per day had a 29% increased risk of chronic heart issues compared to those who ate only half a serving per day.
3. Red meat is high in an amino acid called carnitine. When the carnitine is digested by the microbes in the gut, they produce a toxic by-product called trimethylamine-N-oxide or TMAO. In a 2013 study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, 4000 otherwise healthy patients who had the highest levels of TMAO had a 50% increased risk of a cardiovascular event over the next three years.
4. In 2011, the American Institute for Cancer Research suggested that you should reduce consumption of cooked red meat to less than 18 ounces per week and avoid processed or packaged meats to reduce cancer risk.
5. In a 2012 study in the journal Stroke, 125,000 people were followed over a period of 22 years. For every one to two ounces of processed meat eaten per day, there was a 30% increased risk of a stroke.
6. In a 2011 study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Harvard researchers followed more than 200,000 men and women for 28 years. For every two ounces of processed meat eaten, there was a 32% increased risk of type II diabetes.
7. It takes 7-8 pounds of feed to produce just one pound of beef. It takes 1000 tons of water to make just one ton of grain and the vast majority of grain is produced to feed beef and pork. As our population grows, this way of eating is simply not sustainable.

Source Nutrition Action Health Letter. June 2013 Cover Story.

Home :: Northeast Regional Climate Center

http://www.nrcc.cornell.edu/#

Mid-July & Mid-Summer Summary

Mouse over map to pause

The first two weeks of July were warmer than normal at all 35 first-order climate sites. When looking at data from July 1-15, 30 sites ranked the first half of July 2013 as one of their top 20 warmest. In fact, Providence, RI, (+6.2 degrees) and Islip, NY, (+5.1 degrees) ranked the first two weeks of July 2013 as their warmest on record. When expanding to June 1 through July 15, all 35 sites were warmer than normal with 27 sites ranking the first half of Summer 2013 among their top 20 warmest.
As for precipitation during the first two weeks of July, the sites were split: 17 were wetter than normal, 17 were drier than normal, and one was normal. Binghamton, NY, had its wettest start to July on record at 236 percent of normal. Conversely, Caribou, ME, had its driest start to July at 1 percent of normal. At the midway point of summer, 33 of 35 sites were running above normal for precipitation with 29 sites ranking the 2013 period among their top 20 wettest. Wilmington, DE, (253 percent of normal) and Albany, NY, (218 percent of normal) ranked the first half of Summer 2013 as their wettest on record.

Almanac for Providence Area, RI
July 19, 2013

Daily Data	Observed	Normal	Record Highest	Record Lowest
Max Temperature	98	83	100 in 1977	68 in 2000
Min Temperature	77	65	77 in 2013	55 in 1956
Avg Temperature	87.5	73.9	87.5 in 2013	63.0 in 2000
Precipitation	0.00	0.11	2.45 in 1971	0.00 in 2013
Month-to-Date Summary	Observed	Normal	Record Highest	Record Lowest
Avg Max Temperature	88.3	82.6	88.4 in 1981	76.4 in 1914
Avg Min Temperature	72.6	63.9	72.6 in 2013	58.3 in 1962
Avg Temperature	80.5	73.2	80.4 in 2013	67.9 in 1962
Total Precipitation	0.80	1.90	6.31 in 2009	0.11 in 2002
Year-to-Date Summary	Observed	Normal	Record Highest	Record Lowest
Avg Max Temperature	58.7	57.7	61.4 in 2012	52.6 in 1916
Avg Min Temperature	41.1	39.5	43.3 in 2010	35.1 in 1907
Avg Temperature	49.9	48.6	52.0 in 2012	43.9 in 1907
Total Precipitation	25.48	25.61	39.34 in 1998	13.52 in 1957
Compare to another year2012201120102009200820072006200520042003200220012000199919981997199619951994199319921991199019891988198719861985198419831982198119801979197819771976197519741973197219711970196919681967196619651964196319621961196019591958195719561955195419531952195119501949194819471946194519441943194219411940193919381937193619351934193319321931193019291928192719261925192419231922192119201919191819171916191519141913191219111910190919081907190619051904		Period of Record: Max Temperature : 1904-11-01 to 2013-07-19 Min Temperature : 1904-11-01 to 2013-07-19 Precipitation : 1904-11-01 to 2013-07-19

~A.

U.S. Drought Monitor | U.S. Drought Portal

http://www.drought.gov/drought/content/products-current-drought-and-monitoring-drought-indicators/us-drought-monitor

U.S. Drought Monitor

The U.S. Drought Monitor is unique, blending numeric measures of drought and experts' best judgment into a single map every week. It started in 1999 as a federal, state, and academic partnership, growing out of a Western Governors' Association initiative to provide timely and understandable scientific information on water supply and drought for policymakers.
The Monitor is produced by a rotating group of authors from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the National Drought Mitigation Center. It incorporates review from a group of 250 climatologists, extension agents, and others across the nation. Each week the author revises the previous map based on rain, snow and other events, observers' reports of how drought is affecting crops, wildlife and other indicators. Authors balance conflicting data and reports to come up with a new map every Wednesday afternoon. It is released the following Thursday morning.
Visit the US Drought Monitor for the current drought conditions...

~A.

Smokin'!!! But different .....

http://www.hemp-technologies.com/page33/page33.html

HEMP TECHNOLOGIES

Industrial Hemp Facts(No THC here)

LOTUS ECO ELISE

            
Prototype Lotus Elise



ALL the parts of this prototype car (except the solar roof panels) were made using iHemp!!!

The Eco Elise , released at the British Motor Show in 2008, uses a host of sustainable materials to make up the body and trim, including hemp, "eco wool," sisal and a new high-tech, water-based paint.

WOW! Hemp is the miracle plant of our time, breathing in 4x the carbon dioxide (CO2) of trees during it's quick 12-14 week growing cycle. Trees take 20 years to mature vs 4 months for Industrial Hemp! Our forests are being cut down 3x faster than they can grow! One acre of hemp produces as much cellulose fiber pulp as 4.1 acres of trees!!! (Dewey & Merrill. Bulletin #404. U.S. Dept. of Age. 1916)

1807: Napoleon signs Treaty with Russia to cut off all legal Russian Hemp trade with Britain. but the Czar refuses to enforce the treaty and turns a blind eye to Britain's illegal Hemp trade.

June 24th, 1812 Napoleon invades Russia to try and put an end to Britain's main supply of Russian Hemp but by the end of the year the Russian winter had decimated most of Napoleon's forces. Did you know that the Royal Navy relied on Russian Hemp to stay afloat during their war with the U.S.? (the War of 1812)

View this video of Henry Ford's first Model-T was built to run on hemp gasoline and the CAR ITSELF WAS CONSTRUCTED FROM HEMP! On his large estate, Ford was photographed among his hemp fields. The car, 'grown from the soil,' had plastic panels made from a mixture of 70% cellulose fibers from hemp whose impact strength was 10 times stronger than steel at 2/3 rd's the weight for better economy (Popular Mechanics, 1941) Alcohol prohibition prevented Mr. Ford from powering his fleet with "plant-power".
Why is it still illegal to grow hemp in the United States of America when many other industrialized nations have embraced the many economic uses & benefits of industrial, non-cannabis hemp? It's only a matter of time before hemp becomes a mainstay of our economy & helps to clean up our environment.

* Hemp sails; rope carried Columbus to the Americas in 1492. Columbus boat carried hemp seed for use in case of shipwreck to grow crops for raw materials & as a source of nutrition.
* George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and other founding fathers GREW HEMP; (Washington and Jefferson Diaries). Jefferson smuggled hemp seeds from China to France then to America. Hemp was in such demand in the colonies that taxes could be paid in hemp & fines were levied against farmers who did not grow hemp!
* Benjamin Franklin owned one of the first paper mills in America and it processed hemp. Also, the War of 1812 was fought over hemp. Napoleon wanted to cut off Moscow's export to England (Emperor Wears No Clothes, Jack Herer).
* For thousands of years, 90% of all ships' sails and rope were made from hemp. The word 'canvas' is Dutch for cannabis; (Webster's New World Dictionary).
* 80% of all textiles, fabrics, clothes, linen, drapes, bed sheets, etc. were made from hemp until the 1820s with the introduction of the cotton gin.
* Until 1883 more than 3/4 of the world's paper was made from hemp fiber.  Hemp crops produce nearly 4 times as much raw fiber than equivalent tree plantations! Hemp paper is finer, stronger & lasts longer than wood-based papers. Bank notes & archival papers are made from hemp paper.

The first Bibles, maps, charts, Betsy Ross's flag, the first drafts of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were made from hemp (U.S. Government Archives).
* The first crop grown in many states was hemp. 1850 was a peak year for Kentucky producing 40,000 tons. Hemp was the largest cash crop until the 20th Century; (State Archives).
* Oldest known records of hemp farming go back 5000 years in China. For more than 1000 years before the time of Christ until 1883 AD Cannabis Sativa was our planet's most important industry for thousands of products & enterprises producing the overall majority of the earth's fiber, fabric, lighting oil, incense, fiberglass replacement, lightweight sandwich boards, composite woods, kitty litter, potting mix, nappies, feminine care products, fuel, medicines & paper, as well as a primary source of protein for humans & animals.
* Rembrandts, Gainsboroughs, Van Goghs as well as most early canvas paintings were principally painted on hemp linen.
* In 1916, the U.S. Government predicted that by the 1940s all paper would come from hemp and that no more trees need to be cut down. Government studies report that 1 acre of hemp equals 4.1 acres of trees. Plans were in the works to implement such programs (Department of Agriculture).
* Quality paints and varnishes were made from hemp seed oil until 1937. 58,000 tons of hemp seeds were used in America for paint products in 1935; (Sherwin-Williams Paint Co. testimony before Congress against the 1937 Marijuana Tax Act).

The 1937 Marihuana Tax Act of 1937 placed a tax on the sale of Cannabis. The Act was drafted by Henry Anslinger and introduced by Rep. Robert L. Doughton (D) of North Carolina on April 14, 1937.

* Hemp called 'Billion Dollar Crop.' It was the first time a cash crop had a business potential to exceed a billion dollars (Popular Mechanics, Feb., 1938).

* Mechanical Engineering Magazine (Feb. 1938) published an article entitled 'The Most Profitable and Desirable Crop that Can be Grown.' It stated that if hemp was cultivated using 20th Century technology, it would be the single largest agricultural crop in the U.S. and the rest of the world.
* Hemp is fully international: "Canamo" in Spanish, "Chanvre" in French, "Konoplya" in Russian, "Hanf" in German, "Kender" in Hungarian, "Tai Ma" in Chinese, "Cinepa" in Romanian.
*  The Chernobyl Nuclear Plant Reactor 4 in the Ukraine caused severe radioactive contamination in April 1986. Industrial Hemp has been used to remove contaminants from the soils, called phytoremediation.

       
 Hemp cultivation and production do not harm the environment. The USDA Bulletin #404 concluded that hemp produces 4 times as much pulp with at least 4 to 7 times less pollution. (Popular Mechanics, Feb. 1938).

        Consider a few more facts about hemp:
• Hemp does not require herbicides or pesticides.
• Hemp can be grown in a wide range of latitudes and altitudes.
• Hemp replenishes soil with nutrients and nitrogen, making it  an excellent rotational crop.
• Hemp controls erosion of the topsoil.
• Hemp converts CO2 to oxygen better than trees.
• Hemp produces more oil than any other crop, which can be  used for food, fuel, lubricants, soaps, etc.
• Hemp nut is a very healthy food, being the highest   protein  crop (after soybean) and high in omega oils.
• Hemp can be used for making plastics, including car parts.
• Hemp makes paper more efficiently and ecologically than  wood, requiring no chemical glues.
• Hemp can be used to make fiberboard.
• Hemp can be used to make paint.
• Hemp can produce bio-fuel and ethanol (better than corn).
• Hemp can be grown more than once per year.
• Hemp fibers can make very strong rope and textiles.

you can also read the whole chronology of Industrial Hemp at Hemphasis
Another interesting read is this article written by Earnest; David Marcus:

~A.

Apple iPhone 4S vs Samsung Galaxy S III vs Motorola DROID RAZR HD - Phone specs comparison

I still can't decide....but this is by FAR the best comparison site and I've done a lot of looking!

http://www.phonearena.com/phones/compare/Apple-iPhone-4S,Samsung-Galaxy-S-III,Motorola-DROID-RAZR-HD/phones/5257,6330,6996

The Hendershot Generator

Hendershot Generator: - Video about the history of the generator and an offer for the blueprints to (easily) build one and scale them up! for $47.00/dbl. money back if not satisfied!
https://secure.avangate.com/order/checkout.php?PRODS=4574781&QTY=1&AFFILIATE=47591

OR Watch the free video and figure it out yourself!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3LRmSovEX8 (lots of related links on here...)

The 

9 GIFs That Make Perpetual Motion Machines a Reality

9 GIFs That Make Perpetual Motion Machines a Reality:

Just imagine what it would be like if we could generate free energy. No need to worry about pollution, or fuel, or effort, or anything. It's no wonder so many people have tried their hands at building perpetual motion machines. And thanks to the magic of GIFs, none of them ever has to fail.

The sad truth is that thanks to physics—specifically pesky things like friction—none of these perpetual motion attempts will ever be more than clever visual tricks. But in at least GIF form they can go on and on and on, and generate some perpetual joy.

Climate? Climate!

4MIN News July 19, 2013: The Data vs The Story, IRIS Update, Filament Eruption - YouTube

http://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=em-uploademail&v=sTQ0du9dKt0&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DsTQ0du9dKt0%26feature%3Dem-uploademail

~A.

ctinvasiveplantlist2011-commonname.pdf

http://www.ct.gov/caes/lib/caes/invasive_aquatic_plant_program/annoucements/ctinvasiveplantlist2011-commonname.pdf


~A.

State of the Climate | National Overview - June 2013

http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/national/2013/6

And it's HOT here on the CT shore without AC.
~A.

The crux of the NSA story in one phrase: 'collect it all' | guardian.co.uk

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jul/15/crux-nsa-collect-it-all
The crux of the NSA story in one phrase: 'collect it all'

The NSA Data Center in Bluffdale, Utah, will soon host supercomputers to store gargantuan quantities of data from emails, phone calls and web searches Photograph: Rick Bowmer/AP

The Washington Post this morning has a long profile of Gen. Keith Alexander, director the NSA, and it highlights the crux - the heart and soul - of the NSA stories, the reason Edward Snowden sacrificed his liberty to come forward, and the obvious focal point for any responsible or half-way serious journalists covering this story. It helpfully includes that crux right in the headline, in a single phrase:

What does "collect it all" mean? Exactly what it says; the Post explains how Alexander took a "collect it all" surveillance approach originally directed at Iraqis in the middle of a war, and thereafter transferred it so that it is now directed at the US domestic population as well as the global one:

"At the time, more than 100 teams of US analysts were scouring Iraq for snippets of electronic data that might lead to the bomb-makers and their hidden factories. But the NSA director, Gen. Keith B. Alexander, wanted more than mere snippets. He wanted everything: Every Iraqi text message, phone call and e-mail that could be vacuumed up by the agency's powerful computers.
"'Rather than look for a single needle in the haystack, his approach was, 'Let's collect the whole haystack,' said one former senior US intelligence official who tracked the plan's implementation. 'Collect it all, tag it, store it. . . . And whatever it is you want, you go searching for it. . . . .
"It also encapsulated Alexander's controversial approach to safeguarding Americans from what he sees as a host of imminent threats, from terrorism to devastating cyberattacks.
"In his eight years at the helm of the country's electronic surveillance agency, Alexander, 61, has quietly presided over a revolution in the government's ability to scoop up information in the name of national security. And, as he did in Iraq, Alexander has pushed hard for everything he can get: tools, resources and the legal authority to collect and store vast quantities of raw information on American and foreign communications."

Aside from how obviously menacing and even creepy it is to have a state collect all forms of human communication - to have the explicit policy that literally no electronic communication can ever be free of US collection and monitoring - there's no legal authority for the NSA to do this. Therefore:

[E]ven his defenders say Alexander's aggressiveness has sometimes taken him to the outer edge of his legal authority."

"The outer edge of his legal authority": that's official-Washington-speak for "breaking the law", at least when it comes to talking about powerful DC officials (in Washington, only the powerless are said to have broken the law, which is why so many media figures so freely call Edward Snowden a criminal for having told his fellow citizens about all this, but would never dare use the same language for James Clapper for having lied to Congress about all of this, which is a felony). That the NSA's "collect it all" approach to surveillance has no legal authority is clear:

"One Democrat who confronted Alexander at a congressional hearing last month accused the NSA of crossing a line by collecting the cellphone records of millions of Americans.
'What authorization gave you the grounds for acquiring my cellphone data?' demanded Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), waving his mobile phone at the four-star general."

I know this is not as exciting to some media figures as Snowden's asylum drama or his speculated personality traits. But that the NSA is collecting all forms of electronic communications between Americans as well as people around the world - and, as I've said many times, thereby attempting by definition to destroy any remnants of privacy both in the US and globally - is as serious of a story as it gets, particularly given that it's all being done in secret. Here's another former NSA whistleblower, from the Post article, explaining why that is:

"'He is absolutely obsessed and completely driven to take it all, whenever possible," said Thomas Drake, a former NSA official and whistleblower. The continuation of Alexander's policies, Drake said, would result in the 'complete evisceration of our civil liberties.'"

Numerous NSA documents we've already published demonstrate that the NSA's goal is to collect, monitor and store every telephone and internet communication that takes place inside the US and on the earth. It already collects billions of calls and emails every single day. Still another former NSA whistleblower, the mathematician William Binney, has said that the NSA has "assembled on the order of 20 trillion transactions about US citizens with other US citizens" and that "estimate only was involving phone calls and emails."
The NSA is constantly seeking to expand its capabilities without limits. They're currently storing so much, and preparing to store so much more, that they have to build a massive, sprawling new facility in Utah just to hold all the communications from inside the US and around the world that they are collecting - communications they then have the physical ability to invade any time they want ("Collect it all, tag it, store it. . . . And whatever it is you want, you go searching for it").
That is the definition of a ubiquitous surveillance state - and it's been built in the dark, without the knowledge of the American people or people around the world, even though it's aimed at them. How anyone could think this should have all remained concealed - that it would have been better had it just been left to fester and grow in the dark - is truly mystifying.
Perhaps the coining of a punchy phrase by the Washington Post to describe all of this - "collect it all" - will help those DC media figures who keep lamenting their own refusal to cover the substance of the NSA stories begin to figure out why they should cover the substance and how they can. The rest of the world is having no trouble focusing on the substance of these revelations - rather than the trivial dramas surrounding the person who enabled us to know of all this - and discussing why those revelations are so disturbing. Perhaps US media figures can now follow that example.

~A.

Earthquake map USGS

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/map/


~A.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/07/09/the-u-s-gives-egypt-1-5-billion-a-year-in-aid-heres-what-it-does/

The U.S. gives Egypt $1.5 billion a year in aid. Here's what it does.

The biggest policy debate roiling Washington right now is whether to continue America's annual $1.5 billion aid package to Egypt. After all, Egypt just had a coup in which the military ousted the country's elected president, Mohammed Morsi. Doesn't that warrant a response?
The Obama administration says it prefers to keep aid flowing to Egypt for now — for stability's sake. "It would not be in the best interests of the United States to immediately change our assistance program to Egypt," said White House spokesman Jay Carney.
Yet some key members of Congress are calling for a cutoff. "We need to suspend aid to the new government until it does in fact schedule elections and put in place a process that comes up with a new constitution," said Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.).
So here's a quick primer on the situation — what we actually give Egypt, why we send so much aid, and under what circumstances we might cut it off.
What do we actually give to Egypt? Between 1948 and 2011, the United States has given Egypt about $71.6 billion in bilateral military and economic aid. That's more than we've given to any other country over that time frame save for Israel.
A recent report (pdf) from the Congressional Research Service lays out the details. The biggest chunk is military aid, averaging about $1.3 billion per year since 1987, with much of that military equipment. For instance, Egypt plans to acquire 1,200 M1A1 Abrams Battle tanks from the United States. The components are jointly manufactured in both countries and shipped to Egypt for final assembly. This year, the United States is also shipping 20 F-16 fighter jets overseas. Plus there's money for border security along the Sinai Peninsula.
Egypt also gets a few special financing provisions, says CRS, including the ability to deposit its funds at an interest-bearing account at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. The nation also gets to engage in cash-flow financing to pay for military equipment, a special provision not available to most recipients, and one that allows Egypt to negotiate bigger arms purchases.
On top of that, Egypt received about $250 million last year in economic aid, money that goes toward health, education, as well as democracy programs. (In past years, the United States also funded big USAID infrastructure projects in sanitation, communications, and so forth. But that was scaled back in the 1990s.)
Can you put those numbers in context? In fiscal year 2011, the United States handed out about $49 billion in military and economic aid all told. Egypt got about $1.5 billion — the fourth-largest recipient after Israel ($3 billion), Iraq ($2.1 billion), and Pakistan ($1.7 billion).
On Egypt's end, the assistance plays an out-sized role in the budget. No one knows the exact numbers, but by one one count, "U.S. military aid covers as much as 80% of the Defense Ministry's weapons procurement costs." (In 2011, a Cornell economist estimated that U.S. aid made up one-third of Egypt's broader military budget.)
Why do we give Egypt so much aid? Since the late 1970s, U.S. policymakers have justified the aid as a way to stabilize the region and promote its interests. Here's CRS laying out the official line: "Interests include maintaining U.S. naval access to the Suez Canal, maintaining the 1979 Israel-Egypt peace treaty, and promoting democracy and economic growth within Egypt, the region's largest Arab country."
More recently, the Obama administration has insisted that aid to Egypt is crucial to avoiding broader problems. "A hold up of aid might contribute to the chaos that may ensue because of their collapsing economy, said Secretary of State John Kerry in January. "Their biggest problem is a collapsing economy."
(If it seems odd that military aid would be so crucial to Egypt's economy, consider this: The Egyptian military is utterly gigantic, one of the largest in the world, "controlling between 10 and 30 percent of the economy and employing hundreds of thousands of Egyptians.")
Is Egypt's economy really in such bad shape? Yes. For more on that, read this interview with Caroline Freund, who notes that Egypt's economy isn't growing nearly fast enough to provide jobs for everyone. That's certainly not the whole reason for Egypt's crisis. But without big structural reforms, it's hard to see turmoil in the country from subsiding.
Have lawmakers ever wavered on giving aid before? Yes. In 2012, after Egypt elected Mohammed Morsi, who hailed from the Muslim Brotherhood, some lawmakers started to worry that Egypt would no longer see eye-to-eye with the United States, especially on topics like Israel. The relationship "has never been under more scrutiny," said Rep. Kay Granger (R-Tex.), a key lawmaker in charge of foreign aid funds.
In the end, Congress put a few conditions on further aid. The 2012 appropriations bill, for instance, included language specifying that Egypt wouldn't receive any aid until the Secretary of State certified that the country was living up to its end of its 1979 treaty with Israel.
Isn't the United States supposed to cut off all military aid after a coup? In theory, yes. The Foreign Assistance Act, first passed back in 1961, says so quite clearly: "None of the funds appropriated or otherwise made available pursuant to this Act shall be obligated or expended to finance directly any assistance to the government of any country whose duly elected head of government is deposed by military coup or decree."
But the U.S. government has long been flexible on this provision. As my colleague Max Fisher detailed at length, "while the U.S. often does follow this law, it tends to ignore or bypass it when it sees key national security interests at stake – which may well apply in Egypt."
For instance, the Obama administration was slow in cutting aid to Honduras in 2009 after a coup there. And George W. Bush got a waiver to reinstate aid to Pakistan in 2001, even though then-leader Pervez Musharraf had pretty clearly come to power in a military coup.
So what's the debate now? On the one hand, there are experts and politicians who don't think the United States should be in the business of backing a military coup. "Morsi was a terrible president," said Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) "Their economy is— is in terrible shape, thanks to their policies, but the fact is the United States should not be supporting this coup and it's a tough call."
On the other, there are those worried that severing military aid to Egypt will create instability. "Cut off all aid immediately and you will take an economy that is already floundering and probably drive it into chaos, and that is not in anyone's national security interests," said Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.)
At this point, the White House is still declining to call what happened in Egypt a "coup." "I'll be blunt — this is an incredibly complex and difficult situation," said Carney. Many political scientists have said what happened in Egypt is clearly a coup, but the White House is trying to avoid cutting off aid.
What would happen if we did cut off military aid? Probably not much at first. Military aid to Egypt for 2013 was already disbursed back in May, and there likely wouldn't be another round of funding until next spring. But cutting off aid would certainly reshape the U.S.-Egypt relationship — and mark a big break from the past 65 years.
Related: Confused about Egypt? An expert walks you through it. (Also interesting....)

~A.

UFO Sightings Hotspot: ufo and alien disclosure

Fun, informative videos....a regular "How To".....
http://ufosightingshotspot.blogspot.com/search/label/ufo%20and%20alien%20disclosure


~A.

Crack Your Egg - Session 1

Introduction: Living In The Egg
"Crack Your Egg... What kind of a name is that?! It makes me think about omelets..."
Well, not for long anymore it won't!
This is in fact a response to the title of my materials that I've heard quite a few times. But there's a good reason why I chose it. And besides, that's probably what they said to Christopher Columbus too, and he managed to make his point with his egg, right?
Anyway, let me tell you why I chose this terminology:
Throughout recorded history humanity has been periodically uplifted by the contributions of gifted individuals, whose teachings, philosophies and ways of life have gradually raised the level of human awareness.
There are various examples of how single individuals can produce far-reaching changes in the consciousness of humanity, and the way "we, the people" lead life here on Earth.
It seems sometimes as if these people have lived ahead of their time...
However, upon further reflection it becomes apparent that they lived precisely when they should have. Or otherwise they could never have provided the direction and contribution necessary for humanity's upward evolution and progress.
Many of such human signposts never received the recognition for their great contributions until long after their passing, if ever at all.
But without exception, each one of these people was (and is) endowed with extraordinary perceptive, intuitive, and creative abilities, which could afford them and others fresh insights into the way in which the world and life in general functioned.
So who am I talking about?
You may be inclined to think that I'm referring to the likes of Copernicus, Galileo Galilei, Mozart, Einstein, or alleged 'religious figures'...
Or wait... You didn't think I was talking about myself, did you? Goodness no... That's not really my style...
I'm really talking about people like you.
That's right.
Whether you know it or not, just like everyone else, you're gifted with a power to create, shape, and mold your life in ways you probably can't even begin to imagine... despite any setbacks you may have experienced so far.
It's just that you're probably not aware of that naturally-gifted ability, because you're living in an egg.

What ‘Egg’?
In short and condensed terms (you’ll get more details as we go through our sessions together), here’s the thing:
What most of us have done is create a ‘virtual’ eggshell around ourselves that blinds us from the truth that there’s much more to life than what we tend to make of it.
This eggshell is basically an energetic cocoon in the form of a low-vibrational web of suppressed thoughts, feelings, and limiting belief systems... and their associated big-time ‘negative’ emotional charge. The latter is actually what’s holding the whole structure together like superglue or a heavy construction cement layer.
Together, these factors make up an ‘energetic’ eggshell that’s like a ‘force field’ that completely colors and filters your worldview, locks up your naturally expan- sive potential, and blocks the flow of universal life energies in and out of your system.
It filters your perception of ‘who you are’, ‘where you are’, and ‘the world and life in general’... often even to the extent that most of us get so mesmerized by our experience inside that ‘egg’... that we simply can’t conceive of any other reality anymore.
It was German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer who said:
“Every man takes the limits of his own field of vision for the limits of the world.”
And he was right on the mark. But here’s the implication:
Once you expand that field of vision and fling open the doors of the mental, emotional, and spiritual prison that may have confined you for all your life, you’ll see your life (and the lives of those around you) transform in ways you can’t even begin to imagine!
That mental, emotional, and spiritual prison is what I call the ‘egg’.
So following up on Schopenhauer’s insight, the limits of your ‘field of vision’ are really set out by your egg. Thus, as long as you don’t take your blinders off by cracking it, you’re squeezing all your amazing potential into the limited confines of that little egg, and you’re closing yourself off from the natural flow of the universal life force that drives you forward in life.
Put differently: you’re keeping yourself small.
This not only builds up ongoing tension and frustration, but also keeps you from living the life you really want. And as if that’s not enough ‘trouble’ to deal with already... it may eventually result in all kinds of ‘problems’ that can manifest themselves as financial challenges, physical and mental health issues, emotional discomfort, and so on...... 

CRACK YOUR EGG: SESSION 1 | 1 

http://cye-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/studyguides/CYE-Session-1.pdf

~A.

10 Things to Give Up in Exchange for Happiness

Unfortunately we complicate our lives to the point of being unable to recognize happiness when it appears before our eyes.

So how to clear the slate? Here are 10 things you'll need to give up in exchange for your happiness.

1.  Give up caring what other people think of you. I know it seems counter intuitive as we humans are primal pack animals that don't want to be cast from the village, but spending time worrying what others think, is a waste of energy. You'll never please everyone and it's none of your business what others think of you.

2. Give up trying to please everyone.  Unless you're living life to the beat of your own drum, your tribe won't be able to find you. Be the best version of you you can be, and you'll naturally attract in the people that are supposed to surround you.

3. Give up participating in gossip. 100 percent of the time, those sharing gossipwith you will gossip about you. Believing gossip is like gambling everything on a horse sight unseen. It's naive.

4. Quit worrying. Where thoughts go, energy flows. Worry is investing time and energy in something you don't want to have happen. Learn to let go and trust.

5. Let go of insecurity. When we take ourselves too seriously, we think everyone else does too. There is one version of you on the planet. Be it, own it and quit worrying about it. No one really cares or watches you that closely.

6. Stop taking everything personally. Truth is, most people are too consumed with their own life to really consider what you're doing. As my first boss said so well: "The world doesn't revolve around you. Most people's reactions have nothing to do with you, so let it go."

7. Give up the past. We've all been hurt, we all had parents that made mistakes and we've all been through hell. You didn't listen to your parents when you were younger, so why are you still listening to their voices in your head now? Every experience in life has taught you something or made you stronger.

8. Give up spending money on what you don't need in effort to buy happiness.Living simply allows the space for life to flow. We complicate our lives by spending too much money and filling our home with "things." Less is truly more.

9. Give up anger. Anger burns a hole in the hand of the person still holding on to it. Move it out once and for all.

10. Give up control. Control is an illusion.  We live in an out of control world.  Learn to embrace the new and welcome change; otherwise you'll grow old through your own rigidity. Learn to let go.

http://www.elephantjournal.com/2013/06/10-things-to-give-up-in-exchange-for-happiness/

~A.