Author Archives: marcia

Deadly Floods in the Himalayas

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Earth’s deadliest natural disaster so far in 2013 is the deadly flooding in India’s Himalayan Uttarakhand region, where torrential monsoon rains have killed at least 556 people, with hundreds more feared dead. At least 5,000 people are missing. According to the Indian Meteorological Department, Uttarakhand received more than three times (329%) of its normal June rainfall from June 1 – 21, and rainfall was 847% of normal during the week June 13 – 19. Satellite estimates indicate that more than 20″ (508 mm) or rain fell in a 7-day period from June 11 – 17 over some regions of Uttarakhand, which lies just to the west of Nepal in the Himalayas. According to Dr. Dave Petley’s Landslide Blog, Earth’s deadliest landslide since the August 2010 Zhouqu landslide in China hit Uttarakhand’s Hindu shrine in Kedarnath, which is just a short distance from the snout of two mountain glaciers. The shrine is an important pilgrimage destination this time of year, and was packed with visitors. Hindu devotees visit Uttarakhand in huge numbers for the char-dham yatra, or a pilgrimage to the four holy sites of Gangotri, Kedarnath, Yamnotri and Badrinath. Apparently, heavy rainfall triggered a collapse event on the mountain above Kedarnath, which turned into a debris flow downstream that struck the town. The main temple was heavily damaged, and numerous building in the town were demolished.

According to Aon Benfield’s May Catastrophe Report, Earth’s deadliest natural disasters of 2013 so far:

Winter weather, India, Banglaadesh, Nepal, 1/1 – 1/20, 329 deaths
Earthquake, China, 4/20, 196 deaths
Flooding, Southern Africa, 1/10 – 2/28, 175 deaths
Flooding, Argentina, 4/2 – 4/4, 70 deaths
Flooding, Kenya, 3/10 – 4/30, 66 deaths


Figure 1. Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) arrive to rescue stranded Sikh devotees from Hemkunt Sahib Gurudwara, a religious Sikh temple, to a safe place in Chamoli district, in northern Indian state of Uttarakhand, India, Monday, June 17, 2013. AP photo.


Figure 2. Satellite-estimated rainfall for the 7-day period June 11 – 17, 2013, from NASA’s TRMM satellite exceeded 20 inches (508 mm) over portions of India’s Uttarakhand province, leading to catastrophic floods. Image credit: NASA.

An unusually early arrival of the monsoon
The June 2013 monsoon rains in Uttarakhand were highly unusual, as the monsoon came to the region two weeks earlier than normal. The monsoon started in South India near the normal June 1 arrival date, but then advanced across India in unusually rapid fashion, arriving in Pakistan along the western border of India a full month earlier than normal. Fortunately, no more heavy rain is expected in Uttarakhand over the next few days, as the monsoon will be active only in eastern India. Heavy rains are expected again in the region beginning on June 24. Wunderblogger Lee Grenci’s post, Summer Monsoon Advances Rapidly across India: Massive Flooding Ensues, has more detail on the meteorology of this year’s monsoon. There is criticism from some that the devastating floods were not entirely a natural disaster–human-caused deforestation, dam building, and mining may have contributed. “Large-scale construction of dams and absence of environmental regulations has led to the floods,” said Sunita Narian, director general of Delhi based advocacy group Centre for Science and Environment (CSE).


Figure 3. The summer monsoon arrived in southwest India right on schedule (June 1) in South India, but it spread northward much faster than usual, reaching Pakistan a full month earlier than normal. Solid green contours indicate the progress of the 2013 summer monsoon (each contour is labeled with a date). You can compare this year’s rapid advance to a “normal” progression, which is represented by the dashed, red contours (also labeled with dates).

Monsoons in India: a primer
Disastrous monsoon floods are common in India and surrounding nations, and 60,000 people–an average of 500 people per year–died in India due to monsoon floods between 1900 – 2012, according to EM-DAT, the International Disaster Database. The monsoon occurs in summer, when the sun warms up land areas more strongly than ocean areas. This happens because wind and ocean turbulence mix the ocean’s absorbed heat into a “mixed layer” approximately 50 meters deep, whereas on land, the sun’s heat penetrates at a slow rate to a limited depth. Furthermore, due to its molecular properties, water has the ability to absorb more heat than the solid materials that make up land. As a result of this summertime differential heating of land and ocean, a low pressure region featuring rising air develops over land areas. Moisture-laden ocean winds blow towards the low pressure region and are drawn upwards once over land. The rising air expands and cools, condensing its moisture into some of the heaviest rains on Earth–the monsoon. Monsoons operate via the same principle as the familiar summer afternoon sea breeze, but on a grand scale. Each summer, monsoons affect every continent on Earth except Antarctica, and are responsible for life-giving rains that sustain the lives of billions of people. In India, home for over 1.1 billion people, the monsoon provides 80% of the annual rainfall. The most deadly flooding events usually come from monsoon depressions (also known as monsoon lows.) A monsoon depression is similar to (but larger than) a tropical depression. Both are spinning storms hundreds of kilometers in diameter with sustained winds of 50 – 55 kph (30 – 35 mph), nearly calm winds at their center, and generate very heavy rains. Typically, 6 – 7 monsoon depressions form each summer over the Bay of Bengal and track westwards across India.

The future of monsoons in India
A warming climate loads the dice in favor of heavier extreme precipitation events. This occurs because more water vapor can evaporate into a warmer atmosphere, increasing the chances of record heavy downpours. In a study published in Science in 2006, Goswami et al. found that the level of heavy rainfall activity in the monsoon over India had more than doubled in the 50 years since the 1950s, leading to an increased disaster potential from heavy flooding. Moderate and weak rain events decreased during those 50 years, leaving the total amount of rain deposited by the monsoon roughly constant. The authors commented, “These findings are in tune with model projections and some observations that indicate an increase in heavy rain events and a decrease in weak events under global warming scenarios.” We should expect to see an increased number of disastrous monsoon floods in coming decades if the climate continues to warm as expected. Since the population continues to increase at a rapid rate in the region, death tolls from monsoon flooding disasters are likely to climb dramatically in coming decades. However, my greater concern for India is drought. The monsoon rains often fail during El Niño years, and more than 4.2 million people died in India due to droughts between 1900 – 2012. Up until the late 1960s, it was common for the failure of the monsoon rains to kill millions of people in India. The drought of 1965 – 1967 killed at least 1.5 million people. However, since the Green Revolution of the late 1960s–a government initiative to improve food self-sufficiency using new technology and high-yield grains–failure of the monsoon rains has not led to mass starvation in India. It is uncertain whether of not the Green Revolution can keep up with India’s booming population, and the potential that climate change might bring more severe droughts. Climate models show a wide range of possibilities for the future of the Indian monsoon, and it is unclear at present what the future might hold. However, the fact that one of the worst droughts in India’s history occurred in 2009 shows that serious droughts have to be a major concern for the future. The five worst Indian monsoons along with the rainfall deficits for the nation:

1) 1877, -33%
2) 1899, -29%
3) 1918, -25%
4) 1972, -24%
5) 2009, -22%

References
Goswami, et al., 2006, ” Increasing Trend of Extreme Rain Events Over India in a Warming Environment”, Science, 1 December 2006:Vol. 314. no. 5804, pp. 1442 – 1445 DOI: 10.1126/science.1132027

Wunderground’s climate change blogger Dr. Ricky Rood wrote a nice 3-part series about the challenges India faces due to climate change after he completed a 2009 trip there.

Jeff Masters

from:    http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/show.html

Digital Immortality

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(Hmmmmmm…….)

 

Google’s Ray Kurzweil: ‘Mind upload’ digital immortality by 2045

By JohnThomas Didymus

Jun 20, 2013
Google’s new director of engineering and futurist Ray Kurzweil, said at the recent Global Future 2045 International Congress held in New York June 14-15, that by 2045 humans would have achieved digital immortality by uploading their minds to computers.
According to Kurzweil, by 2045, we will have reached what futurists and transhumanists term technological singularity, first used by the American mathematician John von Neumann in 1950s. It refers to the point in the history of technological advancement where machine intelligence surpasses human intelligence. Many transhumanists and futurists use the term digital immortality in connection with the concept of technological singularity. Humans, according to the idea of digital immortality, will be able to upload their minds to computers and thus will overcome the need for a biological body for survival. Futurists who subscribe to the idea of digital immortality argue that advances in neural engineering and modeling of brain function will make it possible to reproduce human minds in a digital medium in the future. Other futurists think of digital immortality in terms of the technological ability to replace parts of the human central nervous system, including the brain, with artificial parts. The thinking also covers the implementation of brain-computer interfaces (BCIs). According to transhumanist thinkers, when technology has developed to the point in which our “frail biological parts” can be replaced by more durable or replaceable artificial devices, humans will be able to achieve immortality. Futurists and transhumanists widely consider the cochlea implant, an electronic device attached to the brain’s cochlear nerve, which stimulates it electronically to restore hearing, as the first true brain-computer/brain-machine interface. Kurzweil said that “based on conservative estimates of the amount of computation you need to functionally simulate a human brain, we’ll be able to expand the scope of our intelligence a billion-fold.” He based his argument on Moore’s Law which says that on the average, computing power, or more precisely, the number of transistors on integrated circuits, doubles approximately every two years. He also cited the rate of advance in several technologies such as genetic sequencing and 3D printing and used a graph to show the exponential rate of growth in diverse fields of technology. Kurzweil argued: “We’re going to become increasingly non-biological to the point where the non-biological part dominates and the biological part is not important any more. In fact the non-biological part – the machine part – will be so powerful it can completely model and understand the biological part. So even if that biological part went away it wouldn’t make any difference. We’ll also have non-biological bodies – we can create bodies with nano technology, we can create virtual bodies and virtual reality in which the virtual reality will be as realistic as the actual reality. The virtual bodies will be as detailed and convincing as real bodies. We do need a body, our intelligence is directed towards a body but it doesn’t have to be this frail, biological body that is subject to all kinds of failure modes. But I think we’ll have a choice of bodies, we’ll certainly be routinely changing our parent body through virtual reality and today you can have a different body in something like Second Life, but it’s just a picture on the screen. “Research has shown that people actually begin to subjectively identify with their avatar. But in the future it’s not going to be a little picture in a virtual environment you’re looking at. It will feel like this is your body and you’re in that environment and your body is the virtual body and it can be as realistic as real reality. So we’ll be routinely able to change our bodies very quickly as well as our environments. If we had radical life extension only we would get profoundly bored and we would run out of things to do and new ideas. “In addition to radical life extension we’re going to have radical life expansion. We’re going to have million of virtual environments to explore that we’re going to literally expand our brains – right now we only have 300 million patterns organised in a grand hierarchy that we create ourselves. “But we could make that 300 billion or 300 trillion. The last time we expanded it with the frontal cortex we created language and art and science. Just think of the qualitative leaps we can’t even imagine today when we expand our near cortex again.” Another speaker at the conference was Martine Rothblatt, CEO of United Therapeutics Corp., who discussed the concept of “mindclones” which are digital versions of human individuals that live forever. According to Robhblatt, a “mindclone” can be created from a “mindfile,” an online repository of an individual’s personality many believe is already taking shape in the form of social media such as Facebook. “Mindfiles,” according to Rothblatt, will run on a kind of consciousness software called “mindware.” Rothblatt declared that the “first company that develops mindware will have a thousand Googles.” However, some mind theorists consider Rothblatt’s ideas naive on the grounds that it assumes human sentience and consciousness can be reproduced digitally. Rothblatt insists on a reductionist view of “life” which defines it simply as a self-replicating code that resists the tendency to disorder as conditioned by the universal law of entropy. Although, only few argue that the human mind must have a biology matrix to function, many mind theorists have challenged thinkers such as Rothblatt to suggest in principle how sentience may be implemented using a digital code. How do you digitally define the sentient experience of an orgasm, or other less dramatic aspects of human sentient experience mind philosophers term qualia? How do you hope to digitally implement sentient consciousness without any theoretical understanding of its nature? Rothblatt’s critics argue that independent of a theoretical understanding of mind sentience, the best that her proposed “mindlcone” technology can achieve is a sophisticated robotic simulation of the individual. Undaunted by these challenges, however, Rothblatt insists that digital mindlcones could represent the immortality of individual selves and allow human individuals to exist outside their biological matrix. Digital Journal reported a robotic creation of Rothblatt’s organization, Bina48, allegedly capable of independent thought and emotion. The humanoid robot was based on a “mindfile” which is a repository of data about the personality traits of a chosen person whose digital clone the robot represents. The robot, capable of learning, is allowed to advance on its own accord, using an artificial intelligence program. Bina48 was created by uploading a compilation of memories, beliefs and feelings of a real-life person who was interviewed for about 20 hours. The conversation covered many topics in the person’s life from her childhood to adulthood. The information was then transcribed and uploaded to an artificial intelligence database. According to Digital Journal, Bina48 was created to model Rothblatt’s belief that “immortality is accomplished by creating consciousness in self-replicating machine,” and that in the future “we will be able to transfer the details of our minds — our memories, our beliefs, our thoughts and feelings into another biological or nanotechnological body, like a computer, or a robot.”

Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/352787#ixzz2WsAMN7Az

Tips to ID a Sociopath fr/Mike Adams

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How to spot a sociopath – 10 red flags that could save you from being swept under the influence of a charismatic nut job

by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
Editor of NaturalNews.com

(NaturalNews) One of the more offensive duties of being an investigative journalist is taking out the trash — exposing liars, fraudsters, con artists and scammers for the people they truly are. Each time we investigate a sociopath, we find that they always have a little cult group following of spellbound worshippers who consider that particular sociopath to be a “guru” or “prophet.”

Sociopaths are masters at influence and deception. Very little of what they say actually checks out in terms of facts or reality, but they’re extremely skillful at making the things they say sound believable, even if they’re just making them up out of thin air. Here, I’m going to present quotes and videos of some legendary sociopaths who convinced everyday people to participate in mass suicides. And then I’m going to demonstrate how and why similar sociopaths are operating right now… today.

Why cover this subject? I’ve seen a lot of people get hoodwinked, scammed or even harmed by sociopaths, and it bewilders me that people are so easily sucked into their destructive influence. I want to share with Natural News readers the warning signs of sociopaths so that you can spot them, avoid them, and save yourself the trouble of being unduly influenced by them.

Much of this information is derived from the fascinating book, The Sociopath Next Door, which says that 4% of the population are sociopaths. The book is a fascinating read.

10 signs for spotting a sociopath

#1) Sociopaths are charming. Sociopaths have high charisma and tend to attract a following just because people want to be around them. They have a “glow” about them that attracts people who typically seek guidance or direction. They often appear to be sexy or have a strong sexual attraction. Not all sexy people are sociopaths, obviously, but watch out for over-the-top sexual appetites and weird fetishes.

#2) Sociopaths are more spontaneous and intense than other people. They tend to do bizarre, sometimes erratic things that most regular people wouldn’t do. They are unbound by normal social contracts. Their behavior often seems irrational or extremely risky.

#3) Sociopaths are incapable of feeling shame, guilt or remorse. Their brains simply lack the circuitry to process such emotions. This allows them to betray people, threaten people or harm people without giving it a second thought. They pursue any action that serves their own self interest even if it seriously harms others. This is why you will find many very “successful” sociopaths in high levels of government, in any nation.

#4) Sociopaths invent outrageous lies about their experiences. They wildly exaggerate things to the point of absurdity, but when they describe it to you in a storytelling format, for some reason it sounds believable at the time.

#5) Sociopaths seek to dominate others and “win” at all costs. They hate to lose any argument or fight and will viciously defend their web of lies, even to the point of logical absurdity.

#6) Sociopaths tend to be highly intelligent, but they use their brainpower to deceive others rather than empower them. Their high IQs often makes them dangerous. This is why many of the best-known serial killers who successfully evaded law enforcement were sociopaths.

#7) Sociopaths are incapable of love and are entirely self-serving. They may feign love or compassion in order to get what they want, but they don’t actually FEEL love in the way that you or I do.

#8) Sociopaths speak poetically. They are master wordsmiths, able to deliver a running “stream of consciousness” monologue that is both intriguing and hypnotic. They are expert storytellers and even poets. As a great example of this in action, watch this interview of Charles Manson on YouTube.

#9) Sociopaths never apologize. They are never wrong. They never feel guilt. They can never apologize. Even if shown proof that they were wrong, they will refuse to apologize and instead go on the attack.

#10) Sociopaths are delusional and literally believe that what they say becomes truth merely because they say it! Charles Manson, the sociopathic murderer, is famous for saying, “I’ve never killed anyone! I don’t need to kill anyone! I THINK it! I have it HERE! (Pointing to his temple.) I don’t need to live in this physical realm…”

Watch Charles Manson saying this at the 3:05 mark of this YouTube video.

How to dispel illusion and get to the truth

Sociopaths are masters at weaving elaborate fictional explanations to justify their actions. When caught red-handed, they respond with anger and threats, then weave new fabrications to explain away whatever they were caught doing.

A sociopath caught red-handed with a suitcase full of cash he just stole, for example, might declare he had actually rescued the money from being stolen by someone else, and that he was attempting to find its rightful owner. He’s the hero, see? And yet, in reality, he will simply pocket the money and keep it. If you question him about the money, he will attack you for questioning his honesty.

Sociopaths are masters are presenting themselves as heroes with high morals and philosophy, yet underneath it they are the true criminal minds in society who steal, undermine, deceive, and often incite emotional chaos among entire communities. They are masters at turning one group of people against another group while proclaiming themselves to be the one true savior. Wherever they go, they create strife, argument and hatred, yet they utterly fail to see their own role in creating it. They are delusional at so many levels that their brains defy logical reasoning.

You cannot reason with a sociopath. Attempting to do so only wastes your time and annoys the sociopath.

GMO Labeling, Farm Bill, Monsanto

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GMO

How the Farm Bill could undermine the future of GMO labeling by individual states

Friday, June 21, 2013 by: Jonathan Benson, staff writer

(NaturalNews) The Republicrats in the U.S. Congress have once again betrayed their constituents by voting down an amendment to the upcoming Farm Bill that would have openly recognized the right of individual states to choose whether or not to label genetically-modified organisms (GMOs). And even though the federal government does not actually have the power to regulate the labeling decisions of individual states, the failure of Senate Amendment 965 to garner enough support could end up undermining future GMO labeling initiatives.

As reported by Katherine Paul over at OrganicConsumers.org, the Senate on May 23 voted down S.AMDT.965, also known as the Sanders Amendment, in a vote of 27-71, effectively killing what would have been recognition at the federal level that individual states already have the right to mandate the proper labeling of foods, beverages, and other edible products that contain GMOs. Each individual state already has the right under the U.S. Constitution to label GMOs if they so choose, regardless of the amendment’s passage, but S.AMDT.965 would have expressly acknowledged this to avoid confusion.

But with typical food industry pandering, a majority of state Senators rejected the amendment, which leaves the future of GMO food labeling hanging in the balance. States still have the right to pass GMO labeling laws in accordance with the Constitution, of course. But the rejection of S.AMDT.965 creates the illusion that this is somehow not the case, as language in the amendment presupposes that states need some kind of magical “permit” from the federal government in order to pass GMO labeling legislation, a permit that will now not be granted.

Federal government has no legal authority to block states from passing GMO labeling legislation

No such permit exists, however. In fact, the federal government has absolutely no jurisdiction over individual states as it pertains to GMO labeling, as the 10th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution expressly reserves all powers not explicitly granted to the federal government to the individual states and the people. In other words, the federal government itself does not have the necessary “permit” to offer any input into the matter whatsoever – the individual states are free to decide for themselves how to handle the GMO labeling issue without federal government interference.

“The 10th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution firmly establishes states’ rights and many states represented by members of the House Agriculture Committee use their state sovereignty to enact laws that protect their citizens from invasive pests, livestock diseases, maintain quality standards for dairy products, ensure food safety and unadulterated seed products,” said Representative Jeff Denham (R-Ca.) recently in regards to the so-called “King Amendment,” an ominous Farm Bill rider that specifically seeks to strip individual states of their ability to regulate food and other consumer goods.

“The biotech industry knows that it’s only a matter of time before Washington State, Vermont, Maine, Connecticut and other states pass GMO labeling laws,” adds Ronnie Cummins, National Director for the Organic Consumers Association (OCA). “Rather than fight this battle in every state, Monsanto is trying to manipulate Congress to pass a Farm Bill that will wipe out citizens’ rights to state laws intended to protect their health and safety.”

Solar Flare

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SOLSTICE SOLAR FLARE: This morning, June 21st at 03:16 UT, the sun itself marked the solstice with an M2-class solar flare from sunspot AR1777. NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory photographed the extreme ultraviolet flash and a plume of material flying out of the blast site:

As sunspots go, AR1777 is neither large nor apparently menacing, yet it has been crackling with flares for days. Before it rotated over the sun’s eastern limb on June 20th, it unleashed a series of farside flares and CMEs. Today’s explosion was not Earth directed, but future explosions could be as the sun’s rotation continues to turn AR1777 toward our planet. NOAA forecasters estimate a 30% chance of M-flares and a 5% chance of X-flares during the next 24 hours.

fr/spaceweather.com

Northern Italy Earthquake

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Moderate but dangerous earthquake in Northern Italy (close to Massa)

Last update: June 21, 2013 at 3:49 pm by By

Earthquake-report.com is calling this earthquake, although moderate in Magnitude, dangerous !

Screen Shot 2013-06-21 at 12.44.28

315 km NW of Roma, Italy / pop: 2,563,241 / local time: 12:33:58.0 2013-06-21
99 km NW of Florence, Italy / pop: 371,517 / local time: 12:33:58.0 2013-06-21
14 km N of Massa, Italy / pop: 66,769 / local time: 12:33:58.0 2013-06-21

Most important Earthquake Data:

Magnitude : 5.3

Local Time (conversion only below land) : 2013-06-21 12:33:59

GMT/UTC Time : 2013-06-21 10:33:59

Depth (Hypocenter)  : 10 km

Update 15:47 UTC : Until now we can say that the damage, on the exception of a few collapsed constructions, is minor (minor = cracks in walls, collapsed or damaged chimneys, broken rooftiles, fallen objects etc). We have knowledge of only one person with minor injuries (he was hit by a falling gutter).

Update 14:33 UTC : As you can see in our list below, the area gets an overwhelming number of aftershocks at this moment, unusually much for the Magnitude of the mainshock. Most are very weak but some are reaching the M4+ strength.

Update 14:21 UTC : There are now tents for the affected people. Civil protection warns to return to the homes, more quakes are expected

Update 14:08 UTC : The Civil Protection of the province of Massa Carrara has released the first information on the damage caused by the earthquake :
– collapses in Lungiana, Fivizzano and Casola .
– Also damage to a house after the collapse of a roof
– A person injured in the locality Posterla
– A  landslide occurred in the village of Equi Terme (municipality Fivizzano).
– Panic in  Carrara where many people have fled their homes and ran to the streets (hopefully after the shaking ended)

Update 13:59 UTC : In a message, Protezione Civile (Civil Defense Italia) reports : At the moment only some structural damage is reported. The assessment of the PC teams is continuing.

Update 13:42 UTC : La Spezia : The 12:34 shaking did not cause major damage in the city and province. The only episode for which an intervention of the fire department was requested by Call & Call (Pianazze), where some acoustic ceiling panels fell to the ground.

Update 13:14 UTC : The shaking map below shows a maximum MMI of VI (strong shaking)  in the epicenter area.

Screen Shot 2013-06-21 at 15.13.44

Image courtesy INGV, Italy

Update 12:52 UTC : The mayor of Lunigiana said that many buildings in his town were damaged. Some walls collapsed. Also a church suffered damage by the quake. But nobody was injured there.

Update 12:17 UTC : Seismogram of the earthquake (red amplitude) at Matera, Italy.

Omage of the Matera, Geofon, Italy seismograph

Omage of the Matera, Geofon, Italy seismograph

 

from:    http://earthquake-report.com/2013/06/21/moderate-earthquake-northern-italy-on-june-21-2013/

Maui, Hawaii earthquake 6/21

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Moderate earthquake below the South-Western part of Maui, Hawaii (June 21, 2013)

Last update: June 21, 2013 at 10:38 am by By

Update 10:38 UTC : Most earthquakes on the Hawaii archipelago are occurring below the big island because of active volcanism.

Update 10:36 UTC : A little sorry for our earlier mistake where we wrote Mauna Kea instead of Haleakala.

Update 10:32 UTC : The expected maximum shaking (USGS theoretical mapping) is MMI IV or light shaking in the foothills of the Haleakala volacano

Screen Shot 2013-06-21 at 12.30.49

Update 10:21 UTC : The depth pf 10.8 km means that this earthquake was probably triggered by the weight of the Haleakala volcano.

Initially this earthquake was reported to the north of Oahu and Mauii but was adapted a little earlier to the foothills of the Haleakala  dormant volcano.

Screen Shot 2013-06-21 at 12.18.10

4km (2mi) WSW of Waikapu, Hawaii
7km (4mi) SW of Wailuku, Hawaii
9km (6mi) SW of Kahului, Hawaii
10km (6mi) NW of Kihei, Hawaii
145km (90mi) ESE of Honolulu, Hawaii

Most important Earthquake Data:

Magnitude : 4

Local Time (conversion only below land) : Unknown

GMT/UTC Time : 2013-06-21 10:04:11

Depth (Hypocenter)  : 25.9 km

from:    http://earthquake-report.com/2013/06/21/moderate-earthquake-oahu-region-hawaii-on-june-21-2013/

Iran Earthquake – 6/21

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Moderate earthquake in northern Iran (100 km from Tehran) generates minor damage (June 21, 2013)

Last update: June 21, 2013 at 9:28 am by By

The local Iranian press reports that ONLY … minor damage was inflected during this earthquake. As examples they are stating cracks in houses, fallen objects etc.  The damage was generated in the Firoozkooh area.
This earthquake shows one more time that even, what we consider as weak, earthquakes can generate damage in Iran. ISC reports Mn3.9 at a depth of 8 km. This earthquake occurred relatively close to Teheran (100 km). Teheran is one of the world capitals who have a very high risk of a major deadly earthquake

Screen Shot 2013-06-21 at 11.20.49

20 Km of Firoozkooh, Tehran
41 Km of Alasht, Mazandaran
43 Km of Kilan, Tehran
104 Km of Tehran, Tehran

Most important Earthquake Data:

Magnitude : 4.1

Local Time (conversion only below land) : 2013-06-21 10:27:43

GMT/UTC Time : 2013-06-21 05:57:43

from:    http://earthquake-report.com/2013/06/21/minor-earthquake-northern-iran-on-june-21-2013/

Lower Health Insurance Fees

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U.S. doctors are dumping all health insurance and charging patients LESS

Thursday, June 20, 2013 by: Lance Devon

(NaturalNews) In some places across the US, high-cost health insurance coverage is being discarded altogether. The looming Affordable Care Act health insurance mandate seems to be inspiring constructive disobedience. Yes, doctors are now “outsmarting” this government mandated health care system and moving towards a cash only system. This is leading to more affordable, expansive care for many – as the red tape is eliminated. Quality, affordable health care will return to America, not through blind compliance to mandates, but from those who completely defy the health insurance system altogether. As doctors move toward a much simpler system, they can charge less and also spend more time caring about their patients instead of dealing with unneeded paperwork.

Kansas physician cuts through the red tape

This is exactly what’s happening in Wichita, Kansas. The red tape is being cut down. This Kansas family physician, Doug Nunamaker, says he is now offering higher quality health care at a fraction of the cost after abandoning the entire money-bloated insurance system. He now effectively cuts overhead costs and charges his patients a small monthly fee, reducing medical service costs across the board.

Tired of all the red tape and insurance paperwork over the last five years, 32-year old Nunamaker decided to simplify his practice. Noticing how wasteful the system really was, Nunamaker realized that he paid an entire staff to manage health insurance red tape. By ditching this system, Nunamaker has been able to lower costs to patients and spend more time actually caring for them.
Most of Nunamaker’s clients are self employed, small business owners. These patients are now testifying that a small monthly fee to Nunamaker’s office is much more affordable than modern day health insurance plans (which are set to be mandated on Americans in 2014).

A more efficient route based on personal choice

Nunamaker also recommends to his patients that they opt to carry a high deductible health insurance plan to cover extreme emergencies that may require hospitalization. This option, coupled with Nunamer’s monthly fee, continues to be much more affordable than buying into current health insurance packages.

With much simpler options on the table, Nunamaker presents a more efficient way for Americans to be covered in case of an emergency and also providing inexpensive access to a wide variety of care.

In this way, healthy people aren’t forced to pay for another person’s poor lifestyle choices (like under Obamacare).

Nunamaker’s way also prevents a select few from feeling “entitled” to free healthcare. Everyone who chooses to participate pays a reasonable fair share based on age. Under Obamacare, nearly everyone, whether they choose or not, pays for everyone’s universal medical expenses, necessary and unnecessary.

Nunamaker working with colleagues to provide expansive network of affordable care

Under the Nunamaker’s basic membership plan, patients pay a flat monthly fee based on age that allows them to access unlimited “direct primary care” from medical providers that work at his practice.

For example, pediatric services are accessible for only $10 a month. Adults up to age 44 only pay $50 a month. Anyone over 44 pays only $100 a month. This cash only method, which also encompasses credit and debit transactions, is bypassing hours of wasted time, bloated prices, and red tape. It effectively goes around the new “Affordable Care Act” and actually offers affordable care. For example, a basic cholesterol test only costs his patients $3, compared to a typical $90 charge brought on by an insurance company.

Nunamaker is also working with professionals outside his office to create a network of coverage that includes services he cannot provide. He and a colleague have already got the price of an MRI down to $400, compared to what they were charging through insurance companies – around $2,000.

Obamacare requires all Americans to pay for the stupid decisions of others, like “walking into a lamppost”

As this Wichita family physician cuts through red tape, the Affordable Care Act is poised to add more new red tape to health care, which includes 122,000 new health codes. These codes include absurdities like “injuries sustained from a turtle,” or “injuries sustained from walking into a lamppost.”

As Americans are forced to pay for absurd medical decisions and even ones that go against their personal beliefs, many doctors across the US will have the option to defy Obamacare, giving Americans individual liberty to choose the medical services and health care they deem appropriate for themselves.

As more red tape befalls America, the best doctors will lead with integrity and show some guts, adopting a more responsible form of health care. The US can move back toward a much simpler, less expensive form of healthcare. A government mandated system that caters to pharmaceutical companies is destroying true healthcare.

from:    http://www.naturalnews.com/040873_doctors_health_insurance_patient_fees.html

Tooth Deacy, Meth, & Diet Soda

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Tooth Decay From Diet Soda Compared To That Caused By Meth, Crack

redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports – Your Universe Online

Diet soda might be as bad for you as methamphetamines or crack cocaine – at least when it comes to the health of your teeth, according to new research published recently in the journal General Dentistry.

As reported by the Daily Mail, the study was conducted by Dr. Mohamed Bassiouny, a professor of restorative dentistry at the Temple University School of Dentistry in Philadelphia. The research focuses on a woman in her 30s who reportedly consumed at least two liters of soda each day for a period of nearly five years.

“According to Bassiouny, she had the same amount of dental damage as a 29-year-old meth user and a 51-year-old crack addict,” the UK newspaper reported. “The meth user, however, also consumed two or three cans of regular soda a day because the drugs made his mouth dry, and the crack addict has been a regular crack user for 18 years, nearly four times as long as the soda drinker had been consuming excessive amounts of soda.”

Furthermore, the diet soda drinker confessed that she had not seen the dentist in two decades.

Even so, Dr. Bassiouny told Dennis Thompson of HealthDay News that it was “startling to see the intensity and extent of damage” when looking at the mouth of the soda drinker side-by-side with those of the meth user and the crack addict.

All three substances are highly acidic and capable of producing similar dental problems, the professor said, and unless a regular drinker practices good dental hygiene, the citric and phosphoric acid in soda could cause “erosion and significant oral damage,” according to Thompson.

In comparison, the two illegal drugs reduce the amount of saliva in a person’s mouth, reducing the body’s ability to wash away acids in the mouth, said Douglas Cobb of the Guardian Express. The extra acid damages teeth and can lead to other systematic health issues that affect a person’s dental hygiene, he added.

The woman said that she had switched to diet soda over weight concerns, and believed that sugary soft drinks was more closely linked to tooth decay. Her teeth were described by Thompson as “soft and discolored.” She, along with both of the illicit drug users, needed to have all of her teeth removed, according to Dr. Bassiouny.

The American Beverage Association objected to the study’s findings.

In a statement reprinted by HealthDay News, the organization said, “The woman referenced in this article did not receive dental health services for more than 20 years – two-thirds of her life. To single out diet soda consumption as the unique factor in her tooth decay and erosion – and to compare it to that from illicit drug use – is irresponsible.”

“The body of available science does not support that beverages are a unique factor in causing tooth decay or erosion,” they added. “However, we do know that brushing and flossing our teeth, along with making regular visits to the dentist, play a very important role in preventing them.”

 

Source: redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports – Your Universe Online
from:    http://www.redorbit.com/news/oddities/1112857290/tooth-decay-from-diet-soda-case-study-052713/