Saturday, December 14, 2013

Fractal Software : FractalFoundation.org

http://fractalfoundation.org/resources/fractal-software/

Fractal Software

We believe that the best way to learn about fractals is to explore them yourself! Please download the fractal software below and begin to explore the infinite realm of fractals.

XaoS for Windows | XaoS for Mac OS X | Instructions for XaoS | XaoS Open Source Project
This is the dazzling Real-Time Zoomer featured in our presentations. Explore the Mandelbrot set and 23 other fractals. Used by children everywhere, it's even simple enough for adults. Free!

Mandelbulber | Mandelbulb3D
If you're ready to explore 3D fractals like the Mandelbulb and Mandelbox, here are two great free programs that will open up infinite worlds. The first one may be a little more powerful and possibly a bit faster, but the second one is a little easier to use. I love them both! And they're both Free!

Ultra Fractal
When you are ready for more power, Ultra Fractal is an awesome, professional package that supports animation, arbitrarily deep fractals, and extremely high resolution.

XenoDream
This is a complex and powerful 3D modeling program that makes fractals really well. A professional program, it supports animation as well as high resolution rendering.

Electric Sheep
This is an incredible evolving collaborative fractal screen saver project. Download the screensaver (for Mac, PC or linux) and let your computer help create some of the most beautiful fractal animations anywhere. Interact with it by voting on your favorite sheep, and help contribute to the fractal evolution! Free!

Videator
This incredible realtime video manipulation software allows the user to do all sorts of fun and beautiful live video effects, and best of all it is integrated with XaoS, the fractal zoomer, so you can blend yourself and your friends into the infinite fractal landscapes…

Fractal Grower
An interactive Java applet by UNM professor Joel Castellanos, that allows you to virtually grow 'plants' and other similar fractal shapes, by repeating a simple geometric operation. Lots of fun. Free!

Google Earth
The magnificent free program that allows you to explore anywhere on Earth. Zoom in to discover natural fractals such as mountains, rivers and coastlines. (Coming soon: custom KMZ layers showing a special collection of natural fractals on the Earth.) Free!

~A.

Wednesday, December 11, 2013

Baking With Splenda Releases Cancer-Causing Chemicals | EcoWatch

http://ecowatch.com/2013/12/11/baking-splenda-cancer-chemical/

Baking With Splenda Releases Cancer-Causing Chemicals

The synthetic sweetener sucralose, which is sold under the brand name Splenda, releases cancer-causing dioxins in food when baked or heated, says a in-depth study review recently published in the journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health.

Cooking with sucralose at high temperatures was reported to generate chloropropanols, a potentially toxic class of chemicals that may be linked to a higher risk of cancer, the review says.

Photo credit: Shutterstock

The study also disputes earlier studies cited by Splenda manufacturer McNeil Nutritionals that sucralose passes through the digestive tract unchanged. The study suggests instead that some of the ingested sweetener is metabolized. The health effects, if any, of the metabolization is unknown, the study says.

In rats, sucralose alters the microbial composition in the digestive tract, with a high reduction in beneficial bacteria necessary for digestion.

"Taken together, these findings indicate that sucralose is not a biologically inert compound," the study says.

Earlier this year, the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) downgraded sucralose in its Chemical Cuisine guide to food additives. CSPI had long rated sucralose as safe, but demoted it to the "caution" category pending a review of an unpublished study by an independent Italian laboratory that found that the sweetener caused leukemia in mice. The only previous long-term feeding studies in animals were conducted by the McNeil Nutritionals.

Sucralose was approved in the U.S. in 1998. The sweetener is a synthetic chemical made by chemically reacting sugar (sucrose) with chlorine, according to CSPI.

CSPI warns that artificial sweeteners are being used more frequently without disclosure on front labels and urges consumers to read ingredient lists carefully.

Visit EcoWatch's FOOD page for more related news on this topic.

~A.

Yippee!!!: GMO 'Suicide Seeds' On Edge of Approval in Brazil

http://www.greenmedinfo.com/blog/breaking-news-gmo-suicide-seeds-edge-approval-brazil

BREAKING NEWS: GMO 'Suicide Seeds' On Edge of Approval in Brazil

News Release
10 December 2013
ETC Group

After promising on World Food Day (October 16) to block legislation that would legalize the planting of Terminator seeds in Brazil, the country's Judicial Commission is set to approve suicide seeds as a Christmas gift to Monsanto, DuPont and Syngenta.

Intense internal and external pressure in mid-October forced the Brazilian Congress to pull back from adopting pro-Terminator legislation, and the Judicial Commission's Chair pledged never to allow legislation while at his post. Now, the same chair will entertain a motion Wednesday to accept Terminator seeds, making Brazil the first country in the world to defy a 13-year-old UN moratorium on the use of the technology. "If the Commission passes the bill this week," says Centro Ecológico's Maria José Guazzelli, "the Congress could make it law after it reconvenes in February. While most of Brazil is celebrating a Christmas birth, the seed multinationals will be celebrating the death of the 10,000-year right of farmers to save seeds."

If the bill is passed this week (the Judicial Commission meets Wednesday and Thursday), ETC Group expects the Brazilian government to take a series of incremental steps that will orchestrate the collapse of the 193-country consensus moratorium when the UN Convention on Biological Diversity meets for its biennial conference in Korea in October 2014:

First, the government will announce that adoption by the Judicial Commission does not necessarily mean adoption by the Congress. Next, the government will announce that it will limit, through regulation, the application of Terminator technologies to special circumstances and repeat its long-standing support of the UN moratorium. Later, the government will agree that Terminator seeds can be used on GM trees to prevent widespread contamination in the Amazon. This will be described as an environmentally beneficial initiative, disguising the intent to allow the Amazon's biodiversity to be replaced with GM tree plantations.

Monsanto, DuPont and Syngenta – all of whom have pledged to never sell Terminator seeds to farmers – will express their sympathy for the government's difficult situation regarding the spread of GM tree pollen and agree to act responsibly. Although the 3 companies that control 54% of global commercial seed sales all have a stable of Terminator patents, they will move cautiously to multiply Terminator seeds and prepare them for market over the next 2-3 years.

Continue to Page 2

~A.