Wednesday, June 12, 2019

In New Round of Tests, Monsanto’s Weedkiller Still Contaminates Foods Marketed to Children | Children's Health Initiative | EWG

In New Round of Tests, Monsanto's Weedkiller Still Contaminates Foods Marketed to Children | Children's Health Initiative | EWG

In New Round of Tests, Monsanto's Weedkiller Still Contaminates Foods Marketed to Children

Latest Findings Come as Courts Levy More Than $2B in Judgments Against Bayer-Monsanto Over Cancer-Causing Glyphosate

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 12, 2019

Major food companies like General Mills continue to sell popular children's breakfast cereals and other foods contaminated with troubling levels of glyphosate, the cancer-causing ingredient in the herbicide Roundup. The weedkiller, produced by Bayer-Monsanto, was detected in all 21 oat-based cereal and snack products sampled in a new round of testing commissioned by the Environmental Working Group. All but four products contained levels of glyphosate higher than what EWG scientists consider protective for children's health with a sufficient margin of safety.

The new tests confirm and amplify EWG's findings from tests in July and October of last year, with levels of glyphosate consistently above EWG's children's health benchmark. The two highest levels of glyphosate were found in Honey Nut Cheerios Medley Crunch, with 833 parts per billion, or ppb, and Cheerios, with 729 ppb. The EWG children's health benchmark is 160 ppb.

Product Type Variety Glyphosate (ppb)
Oat breakfast cereal Honey Nut Cheerios 147
Oat breakfast cereal Cheerios Toasted Whole Grain Oat Cereal 729
Oat breakfast cereal Chocolate Peanut Butter Cheerios 400
Oat breakfast cereal Cheerios Oat Crunch Cinnamon 283
Oat breakfast cereal Honey Nut Cheerios Medley Crunch 833
Oat breakfast cereal Multi Grain Cheerios 216
Oat breakfast cereal Nature Valley Baked Oat Bites 389
Granola Nature Valley Granola Peanut Butter Creamy & Crunchy 198
Granola Nature Valley Granola Protein Oats n Dark Chocolate 261
Snack or snack bar Nature Valley Fruit & Nut Chewy Trail Mix Granola Bars, Dark Chocolate & Nut 76
Snack or snack bar Nature Valley Fruit & Nut Chewy Trail Mix Granola Bars, Dark Chocolate Cherry 275
Snack or snack bar Nature Valley Sweet & Salty Nut granola bars, Cashew 158
Snack or snack bar Nature Valley Crunchy granola bars, Oats and Honey 320
Snack or snack bar Nature Valley Crunchy granola bars, Peanut Butter 312
Snack or snack bar Nature Valley Crunchy granola bars, Maple Brown Sugar 566
Snack or snack bar Nature Valley Soft-Baked Oatmeal Squares, Blueberry 206
Snack or snack bar Nature Valley Soft-Baked Oatmeal Squares, Cinnamon Brown Sugar 124
Snack or snack bar Nature Valley Granola Cups, Almond Butter 529
Snack or snack bar Nature Valley Granola Cups, Peanut Butter Chocolate 297
Snack or snack bar Nature Valley Biscuits with Almond Butter 194
Snack or snack bar Fiber One Oatmeal Raisin soft-baked cookies 204

Source: EWG, from tests in May 2019

EWG purchased products via online retail sites. Approximately 300 grams of each product were packed in our Washington, D.C., office and shipped to Anresco Laboratories in San Francisco. Glyphosate levels were analyzed by a liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry method described here.

Since 2015, the International Agency for Research on Cancer, a part of the World Health Organization, has classified glyphosate as "probably carcinogenic to humans." In 2017, glyphosate was classified as a known carcinogen by California's Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment.

Since last August, three California juries have awarded more than $2.2 billion total in three separate verdicts against Bayer-Monsanto over claims that Roundup caused cancer and that Monsanto knew about the risks for decades and went to extraordinary lengths to cover it up.

Glyphosate is used mostly as a weedkiller on genetically modified corn and soybeans. But it is also sprayed on oats just before harvest as a drying agent, or desiccant. It kills the crop, drying it out so it can be harvested sooner, which increases the likelihood that glyphosate ends up in foods children love to eat.

EWG and 19 food companies recently delivered more than 80,000 names on a petition urging the Environmental Protection Agency to sharply limit glyphosate residues allowed on oats and prohibit its use as a preharvest drying agent.

All but one of the tested products contained glyphosate at levels higher than what EPA previously allowed on oats, in 1993. EWG's petition, currently under consideration by EPA, calls on the agency to return to its health-protective 1993 standard. But it could take years for EPA to act, and the agency has been caught colluding with Monsanto to promote the claim that the chemical is safe.

The only way to quickly remove this cancer-causing weedkiller from foods marketed to children is for companies like General Mills and Quaker to use oats from farmers who do not use glyphosate as a desiccant.

More than 236,000 people have signed a petition directed at these food companies, calling on them to take action to protect consumers' health.

Get Glyphosate Out of Our Food

General Mills should protect the health of their customers.

Tell General Mills to get Monsanto's weedkiller out of their products.



~A.

Chemtrails Exposed: The Deep State And The New Manhattan Project

Read on.....

https://www.wakingtimes.com/2019/01/14/chemtrails-exposed-the-deep-state-and-the-new-manhattan-project/


~A.

Lyme Disease: The CDC’s Greatest Coverup & What They Don’t Want You To Know – Collective Evolution

Lyme Disease: The CDC's Greatest Coverup & What They Don't Want You To Know – Collective Evolution

Lyme Disease: The CDC's Greatest Coverup & What They Don't Want You To Know

Lyme disease, do you have it? If you did, you probably wouldn't know – unless you're one of the chronic sufferers that have had to visit over 30 doctors to get a proper diagnosis. Lyme disease tests are highly inaccurate, often inconclusive or indicating false negatives.

Why? Because this clever bacteria has found a way to dumb down the immune system and white blood cells so that it's not detectable until treatment is initiated. To diagnose Lyme properly you must see a "Lyme Literate MD (LLMD)," however, more and more doctors are turning their backs on patients due to sheer fear of losing their practices! Insurance companies and the CDC will do whatever it takes to stop Chronic Lyme Disease from being diagnosed, treated, or widely recognized as an increasingly common issue.

Lyme is considered by the medical field to "only" transmit by way of a tick infected with bacteria. However, the CDC itself admits it is under-reported, and believes there are between 300,000 to half a million new cases each year. That makes Lyme disease almost twice as common as breast cancer and six times more common than HIV/AIDS. Where are all of these new cases coming from? (It's interesting to note that since Avril Lavigne recently went public with her Chronic Lyme Disease battle, mainstream news outlets like The Daily Mail have been mentioning Lyme can be transmitted by mosquitoes, too!)

lyme-disease-tick

When Lyme isn't detected in the early stages, it becomes Chronic Lyme, a condition which the CDC and IDSA both deny even exists. They will continue to deny it, because if there's one thing insurance companies hate, it's chronic disorders they have to spend time and money treating. Therefore, a panel with ties to insurance companies gathered to write up official Lyme guidelines that assure patients are only allowed a few weeks of antibiotic treatment and are not to be diagnosed with Chronic Lyme Disease (even if clear symptoms persist and invade the nervous system). Over half of the panelists who wrote the IDSA Lyme guidelines announcing that Chronic Lyme is not real — including the panel chairman — have obvious conflicts of interest including financial interests in drug companies, diagnostic tests, and patents, as well as consulting agreements with insurance companies. Researchers and scientists with evidence in support of Chronic Lyme were intentionally excluded from the panel. Because of these unjust Lyme guidelines, insurance companies have the "right" to deny coverage for the treatment of long-term Lyme disease. Doctors have even lost their practices for successfully diagnosing and treating Chronic Lyme, as shown in the film Under Our Skin. In the case of Dr. Joseph Jemsek of North Carolina, he not only lost his license, but also his livelihood. Dr. Jemsek can no longer practice simply because he gave antibiotics to Chronic Lyme sufferers, and was then sued by BCBS for 100 million dollars, following which he had to declare bankruptcy. You can read his closing remarks to the NC Medical Board just before they pulled his license here. You can also watch his story in the documentary at the end of this post.

Busted – Big Pharma bucks taint the IDSA

Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal investigated the IDSA panel members for possible violation of antitrust laws and conflicts of interest.

Of the 14 panel authors of the first edition guidelines: 6 of them or their universities held patents on Lyme or its co-infections, 4 received funding from Lyme or co-infection test kit manufacturers, 4 were paid by insurance companies to write Lyme policy guidelines or consult in Lyme legal cases, and 9 received money from Lyme disease vaccine manufacturers. Some of the authors were involved in more than one conflict of interest. (Source: 'Under Our Skin' [2008])

Study: Strong Evidence Of Sexual Transmission

The bacteria that causes Lyme disease is Borrelia burgdorferi, a type of corkscrew-shaped bacteria known as a spirochete. The Lyme spirochete is a cousin to Treponema pallidum, the spirochete that causes syphilis.

Dr. Alan MacDonald, MD who appears in the documentary 'Under Our Skin' (2008), says in the film that he found found Borrelia (Lyme) DNA in 7 out of 10 postmortem Alzheimers patients' brains. This makes perfect sense, since syphilis, its cousin, also invades the brain in tertiary or neurosyphilis. Dr. Klinghardt, MD (also quoted from 'Under Our Skin') stated that he's "never had a single patient with Alzheimer's, ALS, Parkinson's Disease or Multiple Sclerosis who tested negative for Borrelia."


Dr. Alan MacDonald, MD talks about Lyme.

Why are so many people suffering from Lyme disease and its allegedly associated chronic disorders, such as Alzheimers and ALS? A new study suggests that just like its spirochete cousin that causes syphilis, Lyme disease may be sexually transmitted! The study was presented at the annual Western Regional Meeting of the American Federation for Medical Research, and an abstract of the research was published in the January issue of the Journal of Investigative Medicine.

Medical Daily reports,

The study — presented at the annual Western Regional Meeting of the American Federation for Medical Research — a collaborative effort by an international team of scientists — tested semen samples and vaginal secretions of three groups of patients to investigate whether passing Lyme disease to a partner through unprotected sex is a possibility. The study observed control subjects without evidence of Lyme disease, random subjects who tested positive for Lyme disease, and married heterosexual couples engaging in unprotected sex who tested positive for the disease. The presence of B. burgdorferi and identical strains of the bacterium were of particular interest to the researchers in unprotected sex in spouses.

The control subjects were found to test negative for the bacterium in semen samples or vaginal secretions, as expected by the researchers. The researchers found traces of B. burgdorferi in the vaginal secretions of all women with Lyme disease. In contrast, approximately half of the men with the disease tested positive for the bacterium in semen samples. In addition, one of the heterosexual couples with Lyme disease were found to have identical strains of the bacterium in their genital secretions.

One researcher in the study notes, "There is always some risk of getting Lyme disease from a tick bite in the woods. But there may be a bigger risk of getting Lyme disease in the bedroom."

"Our findings will change the way Lyme disease is viewed by doctors and patients," said Marianne Middelveen, lead author of the study. "It explains why the disease is more common than one would think if only ticks were involved in transmission." But will this actually change the way Lyme disease is viewed? Or will the money funneled in by insurance companies and vaccine manufacturers continue to blind and corrupt the IDSA board members? When is enough, enough?

The study was a joint effort by a team of scientists which included dermatologists, molecular biologists, microbiologists, internists, and family practitioners. The most revealing aspect of the study, in my opinion, is the fact I mentioned earlier: one of the heterosexual couples with Lyme disease showed identical strains of the Lyme spirochete in their genital secretions. "The presence of the Lyme spirochete in genital secretions and identical strains in married couples strongly suggests that sexual transmission of the disease occurs," said Dr. Mayne.

Gestational Transmission From Mother To Child

From LymeDisease.org:

A North Carolina State University researcher has discovered that Bartonella (a common Lyme co-infection) can be passed to unborn babies, causing chronic infections and possibly birth defects. Dr. Ed Breitschwerdt and his research group tested blood and tissue samples taken over a period of years from a mother, father and son who had suffered chronic illnesses for over a decade. Autopsy samples from their daughter–the son's twin who died shortly after birth–contained DNA evidence of B. henselae and B. vinsonii subsp. berkhoffi infection, which was also found in the other members of the family. Breitschwerdt's research appears online in the April 14 Journal of Clinical Microbiology.

You can read a transcript of one of Breitschwerdt's interviews on Bartonella here.

Multiple Strains Of Lyme?

In 2002, W.T. Harvey, an MD from Houston, began finding large numbers of chronically ill Borrelia burgdorferi PCR- and seropositive patients in the area around his home and practice. Houston, Texas is declared a zoonotically "non-endemic" area, so he set out to understand just how this epidemic was occurring. W.T. Harvey had no competing financial interest (as the CDC and IDSA do) and received no grants when writing his study on Lyme.

"In order to understand this finding prior to sufficient data availability, we chose to examine critically the currently accepted but troublesome 'Lyme disease' concepts," Harvey's study reads. "Our method was to analyze each foundation 'Lyme disease' premise within the context of available medical and veterinary literature, then to reconstruct the disease model consistent with the preponderance of that data. We find the present conceptualization of the illness seriously truncated, with a high likelihood of two distinct but connected forms of human B. burgdorferi infection. The yet-unrecognized form appears to have a broader clinical presentation, wider geographic distribution, and vastly greater prevalence. We conclude that 'Lyme disease' currently acknowledges only its zoonosis arm and is a limited conceptualization of a far more pervasive and unrecognized infection state that must be considered a global epidemic."

Could You Have Lyme From Your Pets?

Suzy Cohen of suzycohen.com is a registered pharmacist and best-selling author. When she graduated from pharmacy school in 1989, she believed that medication was the answer to helping patients get healthy. When that didn't always work, she began to do some serious research. In one article addressing the truth about Lyme, she writes:

"Most Lyme sufferers have pet cats and dogs, they are not aware that their pets gave it to them. But it happens like this, your pets go out into the yard to do their duty, and ticks jump on them, especially in May and June, their breeding season but any time of the year is possible. Your pet totes these ticks into your house and then you cuddle with your pet. The ticks get on you, and numb your skin. They are teeny tiny, about the size of a poppy seed and you'll never know you got bit. They like every part of your body, but especially warmer areas, like armpits for example. You may never know. Sometimes the Lyme can happen from a cat scratch or bite. When I ask pet owners about their pets, they go into a bit of denial, because of the great love they have for pets. But you have to realize pets, for as delightful as they are, are tick taxis. If you have Lyme, and get bit again by your pet, you are potentially introducing new coinfections or re-innoculating yourself with more Lyme organisms. It explains why some people just can't get well, or get setbacks even under treatment."

Borrelia spirochetes have been found in the urine of infected dogs, among several other animals. Studies on mice have found that the spirochetes in urine remained viable for 18-24 hours and concluded that "[u]rine may provide a method for contact non-tick transmission of B. burgdorferi in natural rodent populations particularly during periods of nesting and/or breeding." Evidence for direct contact transmission has been demonstrated in mice. These findings suggest that further research is needed to evaluate alternate methods of Lyme transmission, such as by the urine of infected animals to humans. 

Conclusion & How To Learn More:

"Lyme is one of the many microbes that has entered our system. And I feel as a physician that things are getting to a degree that's serious. We're watching other mammals die out and just think, 'well, I'm glad it's not me.' However, as our environment becomes increasingly polluted, so do our bodies. And then we grow bugs [parasites, pathogens] in us that are not compatible with human life anymore." 

– Dr. Klinghardt, MD, 'Under Our Skin' (2008).

7461400_f520

As Dr. Klinghardt said, this is getting serious. Or as Dr. Harvey put it, this is an epidemic. These patients, along with solid science, are being purposefully ignored because IDSA panelists have been bribed and bought. 

Could you have Lyme? I suspect I might after a series of flea bites in 2011, and I'm almost positive my mother has had it for a very long time. Her doctors are finally thinking the same. This is no shock to me; as Dr. Klinghardt stated above, Lyme is one of the many microbes that has entered our system. We are all exposed to pathogens and parasites on a daily basis, and are never taught anything about how to cleanse or maintain a largely uninhabitable inner environment (hint: a strong immune system)! In fact, I'm on my third parasite cleanse and still passing worms. What else are we housing that we don't know about? Why is all of this information ignored?

Lyme presents itself in symptoms often misdiagnosed as Crohn's Disease, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, ALS, MS, Alzheimer's, Colitis, Encephalitis, Fibromyalgia, Fifth's Disease, Arthritis, Cystitis, IBS, Lupus, Prostatitis, Psychiatric Disorders (bipolar, depression), Sjogren's Syndrome, sleep disorders, thyroid disease, and more.

This is a long list, and the number of people who go misdiagnosed or undiagnosed altogether is staggering. As I said, Lyme and hundreds of other pathogens and parasites have taken up residence in our bodies. We have improved our outer practices of hygiene, yet have increased our sources of autointoxication: GMO foods, processed food-like products, overeating, fluoride in water, and chemicals in everything from household cleaners to plastics – just to name a few.

Please watch "Under Our Skin" to learn more about Chronic Lyme disease and how the medical industry continues to ignore this epidemic. The full documentary is available here with a short preview below.

Help Support Collective Evolution

The demand for Collective Evolution's content is bigger than ever, except ad agencies and social media keep cutting our revenues. This is making it hard for us to continue.

In order to stay truly independent, we need your help. We are not going to put up paywalls on this website, as we want to get our info out far and wide. For as little as $3 a month, you can help keep CE alive!

SUPPORT CE HERE!

cards



~A.

Wednesday, June 05, 2019

US Government Accidentally Releases Electromagnetic Mind Control Documents In FOIA Request – Collective Evolution

US Government Accidentally Releases Electromagnetic Mind Control Documents In FOIA Request – Collective Evolution

US Government Accidentally Releases Electromagnetic Mind Control Documents In FOIA Request

When researcher Curtis Waltman of the website Muckrock received files resulting from his Freedom of Information Act request on Antifa and white supremacist groups from the Washington State Fusion Center, he got a little more than he had bargained for: an unrelated zip file entitled "EM effects on human body."

Within the file were three diagrams that present information on Electromagnetic weapons targeting the human body and brain. The first diagram, more specifically entitled Psycho-Electronic Weapon Effects seems to detail the potential use of such weapons, focusing on both mind control and physical discomfort.

This next diagram indicates different processes by which electromagnetic mind control could be employed through mobile phone networks or more locally from the ground or from the air by targeting specific individuals  with psychotronic weapons. Different frequencies are described to be able to impact different areas of the brain.

This third schema speaks more about the mapping of human brain wave frequencies, and mentions that each human body has a unique bio-electomagnetic field, which, presumably, would give users of advanced technologies the ability to locate any individual in the world based on this signature, allowing them to directly target those individuals with psychotronic weapons.

These diagrams appear to be presentation documents coming from different sources, potentially being used as data points in discussions on how to research and develop psychotronic weapons. These documents do not reveal, in the way of Wikileaks, what shadow government agencies like the NSA have done or are capable of.

Curiously, some of these images appear in an article in Nexus magazine describing a 1992 lawsuit brought by  John St. Clair Akewi against the NSA. Akewi claimed that the NSA had the "ability to assassinate US citizens covertly or run covert psychological control operations to cause subjects to be diagnosed with ill mental health," and was documenting their alleged methods.

Down the Rabbit Hole

For those able to follow it from there, the trail to this article leads down a rabbit hole of information and resources that describe various aspects of the mind control efforts on 'targeted individuals' by Deep State agencies. While the secret capabilities of such agencies has been among the most closely guarded information around, the likes of Edward Snowdon have helped us awaken to their existence.

What can we make of this particular 'drop' of information pertaining to mind control capabilities, though? As Waltman notes,

It's entirely unclear how this ended up in this release. It could have been meant for another release, it could have been gathered for an upcoming WSFC report, or it could even be from the personal files of an intelligence officer that somehow got mixed up in the release. A call to the WSFC went unreturned as of press time, so until we hear back, their presence remains a mystery.

The only possibility that Waltman doesn't cover, is that this file was released to him intentionally, by an operator who wanted to proliferate this information to new sets of eyes, and be part of the the disclosure of hidden information the public needs to know about. Unlikely? Perhaps, but far stranger things have happened.

Help Support Collective Evolution

The demand for Collective Evolution's content is bigger than ever, except ad agencies and social media keep cutting our revenues. This is making it hard for us to continue.

In order to stay truly independent, we need your help. We are not going to put up paywalls on this website, as we want to get our info out far and wide. For as little as $3 a month, you can help keep CE alive!

SUPPORT CE HERE!

cards



~A.

  Arrim ONE | World's First Professional AR Measuring Device

https://www.arrim.net/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=paidsocial&utm_campaign=base


~A.

Monday, June 03, 2019

Part 107 Waivers

Part 107 Waivers

Part 107 Waivers

A waiver is an official document issued by the FAA which approves certain operations of aircraft outside the limitations of a regulation.

You may request to fly specific drone operations not allowed under part 107 by requesting an operational waiver. These waivers allow drone pilots to deviate from certain rules under part 107 by demonstrating they can still fly safely using alternative methods.

Drone Operations that Require Waivers

You do NOT need a waiver to fly a drone following part 107 rules. You DO need a waiver when you want to operate a drone contrary to the rules in part 107 under the waivable operations listed below:

You want to… Part 107 regulation you need a waiver from…
Fly a UAS from a moving aircraft or a vehicle in populated areas § 107.25 – Operation from a Moving Vehicle or Aircraft
Fly a UAS at night § 107.29 – Daylight Operations
Fly a UAS beyond your ability to clearly determine its orientation with unaided vision § 107.31 – Visual Line of Sight Aircraft Operation
User a visual observer without following all visual observer requirements § 107.33 – Visual Observer
Fly multiple UAS with only 1 remote pilot § 107.35 – Operation of Multiple Small UAS
Fly a UAS without having to give way to other aircraft § 107.37(a) – Yielding Right of Way
Fly a UAS over a person/people § 107.39 – Operation Over People

Fly a UAS:

  • Over 100 miles per hour groundspeed
  • Over 400 feet above ground level (AGL)
  • With less than 3 statute miles of visibility
  • Within 500 feet vertically or 2000 feet horizontally from clouds
§ 107.51 – Operating limitations for Small Unmanned Aircraft

In Section 107.39, Operations Over Human Beings, what does "over people" mean?

The term "over" refers to the flight of the small unmanned aircraft directly over any part of a person. For example, a small UAS that hovers directly over a person's head, shoulders, or extended arms or legs would be an operation over people. Similarly, if a person is lying down, for example at a beach, an operation over that person's torso or toes would also constitute an operation over people. An operation during which a small UAS flies over any part of any person, regardless of the dwell time, if any, over the person, would be an operation over people.

In Section 107.39, Operations Over Human Beings, what does "directly participating mean"?

The term "directly participating" refers to specific personnel that the remote pilot in command has deemed to be involved with the flight operation of the small unmanned aircraft. These include the remote pilot in command, the person manipulating the controls of the small UAS (if other than the remote pilot in command), and the visual observer. These personnel also include any person who is necessary for the safety of the small UAS flight operation. For example, if a small UAS operation employs a person whose duties are to maintain a perimeter to ensure that other people do not enter the area of operation, that person would be considered a direct participant in the flight operation of the small UAS.

How to Apply for a Waiver

Step 1: Determine what you need.

Decide what kind of waiver you need. Request a waiver for only what you need to fly your mission.

These documents and webinars can help you learn more about the waiver process and how to fill out the application:

Step 2: Log into FAA's DroneZone.

Create an account, or log into your existing account. Select "Fly a sUAS under Part 107." (Note: You do not need to register a drone to request a waiver. When prompted to input make/model information for your drone, simply keep selecting "next" to bypass the payment forms.)

Submit your application, including all supporting documents and attachments, through your FAA DroneZone account. Select the "Operational Waiver" option.

Step 3: The Decision.

We will do our best to review and approve or disapprove waiver requests within 90 days of submission. Processing times will vary based on the complexity of your request and the completeness of your initial application.

If we need additional information to complete our review, we will contact the Responsible Person listed on your waiver application. Requests for information will be sent to you via DroneZone. If we need to send you a request for information, you will receive a DroneZone status change email and will need to log into your account to view and respond to the request. Requests will include questions to answer, instructions for responding, and a time limit for responses. If you do not respond to a request for information within the time limit, your application will be canceled and you will have to resubmit it.

We publish all operational drone waivers on our website.

Read the Paperwork Reduction Act and Privacy Statements (PDF) to learn more.

Visit the Emergency Operations page to learn more about expedited approvals for first responders and other organizations responding to natural disasters or other emergency situations.



~A.

Drone Insurance for the marine industry

https://www.gowrie.com/pdfs/GowrieSafetyReport-DronesSailingOrganizations.pdf

Saturday, May 18, 2019

You'll kick your procrastination habit once you accept a simple, reassuring truth, according to a psychology professor - Business Insider

You'll kick your procrastination habit once you accept a simple, reassuring truth, according to a psychology professor - Business Insider

You'll kick your procrastination habit once you accept a simple, reassuring truth, according to a psychology professor

If you think procrastination means you are lazy, unmotivated, or lack self-discipline, you're wrong. Putting off tasks has nothing to do with laziness and everything to do with your emotional state. Understanding this simple fact can help you procrastinate less.

Do you procrastinate? Of course you do. You're human, so you put off unwanted or challenging tasks at least some of the time. And when you do, what happens next? You scold yourself. You ask yourself, "What's wrong with me? I knew what I needed to do to meet that deadline. Why have I screwed up yet again?"

You may think the reason you procrastinate is that you have a flawed character or that you're lazy or perhaps self-destructive. But, as The New York Times revealed in a fascinating new article, the real reason is none of those. It's because the task you're putting off makes you unhappy. And you're trying to manage your own mood by avoiding something you know will bring you down. Which is a very reasonable thing to do.

As Tim Pychyl, psychology professor and a member of the Procrastination Research Group at Carleton University in Ottawa, puts it, "Procrastination is an emotion regulation problem, not a time management problem."

If you think about it, you'll likely realize from your own experience that procrastination comes from avoiding negative emotions, not laziness. I recently spent hours digging several large, spiky blackberry plants out of my front yard while procrastinating over making a phone call to schedule a mammogram appointment. The phone call, and even the exam itself, were much easier to complete than hoisting up spadefuls of earth, tugging on the sprawling roots with all my might, and getting pricked by thorns that went right through my leather gloves. It was my fear of cancer and my dislike of hospitals and X-ray machines that held me back from making the appointment, and clearly not laziness.

I'm betting that you're the same, and the tasks that you put off aren't necessarily effortful. They may be boring or distasteful, or you may resent having to do them. They may come with a risk of bad feelings, for example if you have to fire an employee or make a sales pitch knowing you're likely to be turned down. Or they may be frightening, especially if the task at hand is challenging or something you've never done before and aren't sure you can do well.

And even though self-discipline might help you get over your procrastination, the fact that you've procrastinated doesn't mean you're undisciplined. It means you're overwhelmed by negative emotions and you're coping with them the only way you know how--by pushing away the job that's making you unhappy.

How to finally stop procrastinating (some of the time)

Now that you know that procrastination is about emotions rather than character flaws, how can you stop doing it?

First of all, don't expect to stop procrastinating altogether. We're all human, and all of us are susceptible to putting off negative tasks sometimes. Don't think you can be the one exception to this rule.

Next, when you do find yourself procrastinating, don't get angry at yourself, don't engage in negative self-talk, and don't obsess over all the bad that will happen because you didn't get your task completed in time. Since the reason you're procrastinating is that you're overwhelmed with negative feelings, it should be obvious that making yourself feel even worse will only add to the problem. Instead, can you cut yourself some slack and forgive yourself for your procrastination? If you can, that alone will help. One study showed that students who forgave themselves for procrastinating once were able to procrastinate less the next time around.

Next, try to figure out why you're procrastinating. Not by asking yourself, "What's wrong with me?" but by being genuinely curious. The fact that you're putting something off means that doing it would make you unhappy. Why is that?

Once you've answered that question, you may be able to find ways to make the job at hand less upsetting. If it's tedious, perhaps you can make it more fun by listening to music or asking a friend to keep you company. If you're feeling resentful because you think you shouldn't have to do whatever it is, maybe you can find out about passing the task to someone else, or at least vent about your resentment to a friend. If the task is daunting and you're afraid you won't do it well--always a cause of procrastination for me--you can try a technique Pychyl recommends called "next action." Instead of doing the task right now, just do the next thing you would do if you were doing it, even though you're not. For example, if you're stuck at the beginning of a writing project, just quickly write down a couple of sentences or a few points for a bare-bones outline. You can come back to it later when it'll be easier because you've made a start. Or, having made a start, you just may want to keep going.

And don't forget to reward yourself. It's counterintuitive, but procrastination creates its own reward by sparing you the negative feelings that go with an unpleasant task. So counter that effect by giving yourself a little treat of some kind as compensation for, say, an hour of work. And don't forget to take frequent short breaks, which, research shows, allow you to use your brain most efficiently. Do all that and you may find procrastination isn't as big a problem as it used to be.



~A.

Friday, May 10, 2019

Climate change: 100 CEOs killing the planet - Big Think

Climate change: 100 CEOs killing the planet - Big Think

Are these 100 people killing the planet?

Controversial map names CEOs of 100 companies producing 71 percent of the world's greenhouse gas emissions.

Houston, we have a problem...

North American companies (and their CEOs) most responsible for the emission of CO2 and other greenhouse gases. Note the concentration of culprits in Houston. Image source: Jordan Engel, reused via Decolonial Media License 0.1

Do you carry your shopping home in a reusable bag? Close the tap while you brush your teeth? Well done! But saving the planet will require a more systemic approach.

A new UN-sponsored report (1,500 pages in full — consider the environment before printing!) details how the accelerating decline of biodiversity is threatening humanity's very survival.

It's not the first report of its kind, and despite their increasingly alarmist tones, unlikely to be the last.

What to do?

Between the relative futility of individual do-goodery and the seemingly unstoppable forces degrading earth's ecosystems lies a whole world of despair, paralysis, and tuned-out apathy.

But if those forces seem unstoppable, it's perhaps because they appear to be nameless and faceless. As this map points out, they aren't. The harm that's being done to the planet can be pinpointed, to a very specific list of companies. And those companies have CEOs that can be named and shamed.

The west vs. the rest

The bigger the country, the bigger its share of CO2 emissions since the start of the Industrial Revolution. Image source: Jordan Engel, reused via Decolonial Media License 0.1

This map shows the 100 companies responsible for the biggest share of the world's greenhouse gas emissions, and their CEOs. Countries are inflated to represent their share of CO2 emissions since the beginning of industrialisation.

If we want to make a serious dent in the amount of CO2 and other greenhouse gases we're emitting, this map suggests, it's these companies — and more specifically, these CEOs — we need to hold to account. Naming and shaming them is a first step.

The basis for this map is the Carbon Majors report from 2017 by CDP (formerly the Carbon Disclosure Project), listing the top 100 fossil fuel producers in the world, responsible for 71 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions since 1988.

In fact, more than 50 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions since 1988 can be traced to just the top 25 entities on that list.

Those are, in descending order: China (state coal production), Aramco, Gazprom, National Iranian Oil, ExxonMobil, Coal India, Pemex, Russia (state coal production), Shell, China National Petroleum, BP, Chevron, PDVSA, Abu Dhabi National Oil, Poland Coal, Peabody Energy, Sonatrach, Kuwait Petroleum, Total, BHP Billiton, ConocoPhilips, Petrobras, Lukoil, RioTinto, Nigerian National Petroleum.

The rogue's gallery of Europe

Even oil companies are now turning to invest in sustainable energy — but is it just window dressing? Image source: Jordan Engel, reused via Decolonial Media License 0.1

If fossil-fuel extraction over the next quarter century continues at the same rate as the previous 25 years, the Carbon Majors report claims we're on course for a 4°C rise in average temperatures by the end of this century — accelerating the loss of biodiversity and the rise of food insecurity, to name but two consequences.

Granted, even oil companies are aware that the wind is blowing from a different direction now and have initiated programmes to produce energy in a more sustainable way. But in many cases, the discrepancy between the size of those programmes and the attention they are given in corporate PR makes them little more than window dressing.

Jakarta beats Beijing as emissions capital

Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia, is the wider region's capital of greenhouse gas-emitting companies. Image source: Jordan Engel, reused via Decolonial Media License 0.1

This overview refocuses the attention on the main issue — the emission of CO2 and other greenhouse gases. And by naming each company's CEO, the issue is personalized.

That personalization should come with a few caveats.

First, these corporations thrive only because consumers buy their product — although it must be said that demand for energy is fairly inelastic: most people can't do without fuel to get from A to B, or to heat their homes.

Second, in all fairness: the true captains of industry are not the CEOs, but the majority shareholders. It's those shareholders' priorities — profit only or planet also — that drive corporate decision-making.

Those shareholders include large institutional investors, but also national governments. Up to 20 percent of investment in hydrocarbon extraction is done by public funding — i.e. us.

Clean Africa, dirty Middle East

Africa counts relatively little CO2 culprits, while the tally is much higher in the Middle East (as could have been expected). Image source: Jordan Engel, reused via Decolonial Media License 0.1

On the other hand, we're running into the same problem mentioned above again. Big institutions, even if they include you and me, are nameless/faceless. These CEOs are picked to run and represent their companies. Perhaps they should get used to a new job: being the lightning rod for our growing concern about global warming.

The Decolonial Atlas, which published this map, quotes U.S. folk artist and labor organizer Utah Phillips: "The earth is not dying, it is being killed, and those who are killing it have names and addresses."

On that list is your name and address, and mine; because we could all do a lot more. But not nearly as much as these 100 people. Let this map be an invitation to acquaint ourselves with their intentions, good or otherwise.



~A.

These secret Netflix codes unlock hidden show and movie categories

These secret Netflix codes unlock hidden show and movie categories

These secret Netflix codes unlock hidden show and movie categories

The recommended content on your Netflix account comes from a complicated algorithm analyzing your viewing history.

And unless you are sharing your profile with your roommates, most of the content is pretty suited to your personal taste.

But sometimes after endlessly scrolling through Netflix, you find yourself no closer to making a selection from the recommended content.

This is where a collection of "secret codes" will be a godsend.

By making a small tweak to the Netflix URL, you will be able to unlock hyper-specific genres such as religious documentaries or cerebral French-language dramas from the 1960s.

To manually explore categories usually hidden by the streaming service, you will need to enter the following URL: http://www.netflix.com/browse/genre/INSERTNUMBER

Then, simply replace the "INSERTNUMBER" component of the URL with one of the codes needed to access the alternative genres.

ACTION & ADVENTURE

1365 = Action & Adventure

77232 = Asian Action Movies

46576 = Classic Action & Adventure

43040 = Action Comedies

43048 = Action Thrillers

8985 = Martial Arts Movies

2125 = Military Action & Adventure

7442 = Adventures

10118 = Comic Book and Superhero Movies

7700 = Westerns

10702 = Spy Action & Adventure

9584 = Crime Action & Adventure

11828 = Foreign Action & Adventure

COMEDY

6548 = Comedies

869 = Dark Comedies

4426 = Foreign Comedies

1402 = Late Night Comedies

26 = Mockumentaries

2700 = Political Comedies

9702 = Screwball Comedies

5286 = Sports Comedies

11559 = Stand-up Comedy

3519 = Teen Comedies

4922 = Satires

5475 = Romantic Comedies

10256 = Slapstick Comedies

CULT

7627 = Cult Movies

8195 = B-Horror Movies

1252 = Campy Movies

10944 = Cult Horror Movies

4734 = Cult Sci-Fi & Fantasy

9434 = Cult Comedies

4195 = Independent Comedies

DOCUMENTARY

6839 = Documentaries

3652 = Biographical Documentaries

9875 = Crime Documentaries

5161 = Foreign Documentaries

5349 = Historical Documentaries

4006 = Military Documentaries

180 = Sports Documentaries

90361 = Music & Concert Documentaries

1159 = Travel & Adventure Documentaries

7018 = Political Documentaries

10005 = Religious Documentaries

2595 = Science & Nature Documentaries

3675 = Social & Cultural Documentaries

This trick works for all regions of Netflix.



~A.