Because the STATIM pods are modular, you can customize them for your particular nightmare scenario.
First things first. Before worrying about food storage or access to clean water during a major disaster, you need to make sure you get through the first wave safely. But never fear: When the next big tsunami hits, a water-ready modular bunker called the STATIM pod aims to float you above the flooding.
Invented by Miguel Serrano, President at Brahman Industries, the STATIM (Storm, Tornado And Tsunami Interconnected Modules) pods are designed to withstand the awesome power of tsunamis, while giving survivors a fighting chance in the aftermath.
Brahman Industries calls the pods “inland lifeboats.” The reason: they’re buoyant and self-righting, so when the floods come, they will bob to the surface. They’re also low-tech, easy to maintain, and easy to construct, which means there’s a possibility for wide deployment. The company’s plan is to install and anchor them in flood-prone areas so when the alarm bells ring, those most at risk can rush to the safety of the pods. Inside, up to 50 people can cling to secure seating arrangements.
It’s the end of the world, but this guy is feeling fine.
The biggest issue with rescue-shelter design is always cost. We already know how to make structures that can withstand natural disasters; it’s just incredibly expensive. The key to keeping costs down is using concrete, a cheap and well-understood building material. “We’re addressing a high-priority need with a low tech approach,” says Serrano. When STATIM reaches scale, Serrano aims to offer the 50-person pod at around $1,800 a head.
The tubular hull is made from a series of pre-cast concrete modules. The modules can be created at local factories, shipped separately, and then aligned and winched together on site to create a watertight seal. “Everyone knows how to do this,” says Serrano. According to the company, the assembly process for the pre-cast parts requires about the same amount of knowledge as installing a drain system.
An estimated 1,000 to 3,000 barrels — or 160,000 to 475,000 litres — of oil spilled from a pipeline. The damage is expected to be significant, especially with the Red Deer River currently flooding and likely to speed up the spread of oil.
This isn’t the first Albertan oil spill in recent memory, or even the second.
In late April of last year, 28,000 barrels of oil spilled on the Rainbow pipeline in northern Alberta. A welding crack was blamed for the “very significant” leak.
Critics argued that the province’s aging pipe network was cause for serious concern. Earlier that month, another leak on an aging pipeline spilled a small amount of oil into an unnamed Alberta stream.
“What has this PC government done since last year to make sure spills like this don’t happen?” Edmonton-Strathcona MLA Rachel Notley asked at the time.
“When we have old infrastructure, new operators, and industry self-monitoring, we have a recipe for environmental disasters across this province. This is not the way to establish international credibility on environmental management and sustainable development,” Notley toldQMI Agency.
And now with this latest spill, critics and environmentalists are against raising the alarm.
“What we do know is that no matter how many times oil companies tell us that practices and technology are improving, we’ll never stop having spills so long as we depend on fossil fuels and the devices — including pipelines — that move them between coasts, countries and continents,” Suzuki wrote on his website.
In response to the huge 2011 spill, Suzuki urged Albertans to demand plans to protect the province — and to demand the cessation of taxpayer-funded subsided to oil companies — of their political leaders, and to get behind a shift to a clean-energy economy.
Enter the Keystone Pipeline System, a cross-border pipeline system designed to transport up to 590,000 barrels a day of synthetic crude oil and diluted bitumen from northeastern Alberta’s Athabasca Oil Sands to multiple American destinations.
With Phase 1 already complete, US President Barack Obama has announced that the final decision on whether the pipeline is in the United States’ national interest will be made in 2013, pending environmental review.
If elected, Mitt Romney claims he’ll approve Keystone XL, the proposed expansion, on his first day in the White House.
“I will build that pipeline if I have to myself,” he said in April, claiming that Obama missed creating thousands of jobs by not immediately approving it.
Environmentalists worry that the pipeline’s extension will damage ecosystems and put others at risk, with part of it crossing an active seismic zone. There are also geopolitical arguments in defence of the pipeline: if the U.S. doesn’t get its oil from Canada, it will just get it from the south, a less environmentally-friendly decision that would likely hurt the Canadian economy.
(Refuting this, Alberta’s premier has acknowledged that the province is pursuing exports to Asia rather than solely relying on an unstable American market.)
These criticisms aside, what about leakage? What accountability is in place to ensure these “huge” Alberta spills don’t happen again, possibly on even larger scales? Is the risk of losing drinking water one worth taking?
We may not be ready to live oil-free, but something needs to change in the way we transport it.
Judge Andrew Napolitano has had the night to digest the decision that Obama sprung on the nation yesterday, The Judge thinks there is something nefarious in the granting of Executive Privilege to documents related to Eric Holder and the murder of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry.
Being a Cuban born American Naturalized Citizen it is safe to say that I cannot be accused of racism when I say that without rule of law we are condemned as a Nation to spiral into a chaotic abyss?
Just as many were labeled racist when they challenged the vetting process for Barack H Obama.
For the Cuban people to see one of it’s own so close to the second highest office in the Nation should be a great honor. However, should we not also take great pride in that position having been attained through honest means and not through the twisting of a law that has been interpreted by the highest court of the Land since 1790?
Albeit politics has been associated with the by hook or by crook mentality. This is not the way to achieve what should be a most honorable outcome. As a Cuban born person I say that to sink to this depth is an embarrassment to the hard working honest and determined people that came from the Island seeking a life of Freedom and Respect. The Rule of Law of this our Adopted country should be respected at all costs. There is no exception, there should be no compromise on that premise.
MIAMI BEACH, Fla. – In a generally well-written autobiography being released Tuesday, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., proclaims his love for his wife and family, his belief that God directs all aspects of his life and his passion for the Miami Dolphins.
But if the arguments presented in dozens of legal cases challenging Barack Obama’s eligibility are correct, “An American Son: A Memoir” also provides the information needed to determine the Florida senator is not a natural-born citizen, a constitutional requirement for the presidency.
On page 24, Rubio writes:
“I was born on May 28, 1971. My sister, Veronica, was born the following year. My mother and father were starting over again as parents in the country they now called home (the U.S.).”
The next paragraph makes clear that Rubio’s parents were both Cuban citizens, not United States citizens, when he was born:
“My parents had lived in America for nearly two decades. It was clear that Cuba had become a thoroughly totalitarian state, and would likely remain so for some time. They had endured many disappointments, and their lives would never be easy. But slowly and surely they made a better life for our family than they had had as children, or could have ever been possible for them in Cuba. Three of their children were born Americans. Mario [the Senator’s older brother, born in Cuba] had naturalized after returning from the army. And in 1975, they, too, became citizens of the United States.”
As WND reported, attorney Larry Klayman argued today before Florida Circuit Court Judge Terry Lewis in the presidential eligibility case brought by Democrat voter Michael Voeltz that Article 2, Section 1 of the Constitution requires a person eligible to be president to be born to parents who are each U.S. citizens at the time of the birth.
That definition of natural-born citizen would clearly disqualify Rubio from running either for president or vice president.
Born in the USA
Rubio’s “An American Son” appears geared to arguing his birth in Miami makes him 100-percent American, even though his parents were Cuban when he was born.
The senator’s constitutional qualification for a presidential ticket has received little attention, given the common determination by courts hearing Obama eligibility cases that “native born,” or “born in the USA,” is equivalent to “natural born.”
While he does not openly proclaim aspirations to be Gov. Mitt Romney’s running mate, Rubio writes on page 283 eloquently of his success in politics:
Why had my dreams come true? Because God had blessed me with a strong and stable family and parents who cherished my dreams more than their own, and with a wise and loving wife who supported me. And he blessed me with America, the only country in the world where dreams like mine would stand a chance of coming true.
Because of the possibility that the vice president could ascend to the presidency on the death or disability of the president, it is logical to argue that a candidate for vice president must also meet the natural-born citizen requirement of Article 2, Section 1.
As WND reported, another emerging Republican leader whose eligibility for the White House has been questioned is Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, whose parents were born in India.
Questions also have been raised about Romney’s eligibility, because his father was born in Mexico. But the late Gov. George Romney, who ran for president in 1968, was born an American citizen, because he was born to two parents who were U.S. citizens at the time.
When the U.S. Senate resolved in 2008 that Republican presidential nominee John McCain, R-Ariz., was a natural born citizen, it significantly specified that his parents were American citizens.
Vattel and the Law of Nations
Klayman argued in Florida court today that natural-born citizen is a term of natural law political philosophy that America’s Founders almost certainly derived from their analysis of Emerich de Vattel’s book published in 1758, “The Law of Nations: or, Principles of the Natural Law Applicable to the Conduct and Affairs of Nations and Sovereigns.”
In Chapter 19, Section 212, Vattel defined natural-born citizen:
The citizens are members of the civil society; bound to this society by certain duties, and subject to its authority, they equally participate in its advantages. The natives or natural-born citizens, are those born in the country of parents who are citizens.
He continued:
As the society cannot exist and perpetuate itself otherwise than by the children of the citizens, those children naturally follow the condition of their fathers, and succeed to all their rights. The society is supposed to desire this, in consequence of what it owes to its own preservation; and it is presumed, as matter of course, that each citizen, on entering into society, reserves to his children the right of becoming members of it.
In the next two sentences, Vattel emphasized the concept that natural-born citizens are those born in the nation to parents who are citizens of the nation:
The country of the fathers is therefore that of the children; and these become true citizens merely by their tacit consent. We shall soon see whether, on their coming to the years of discretion, they may renounce their right, and what they owe to the society in which they were born.
Vattel concluded:
I say, that, in order to be of the country, it is necessary that a person be born of a father who is a citizen; for, if he is born there of a foreigner, it will only be the place of his birth, and not his country.
Klayman has argued that the point of applying the term natural-born citizen as a requirement to be president as specified in Article 2, Section 1, was to prevent foreigners, or those whose allegiance could be attributed to the jurisdiction of foreign sovereigns, from ever being chief executive with the powers of commander-in-chief.
The concern that the commander-in-chief not have dual loyalties was demonstrated in a 1787 letter from John Jay to George Washington.
Jay, who later became president of the Continental Congress and the first Supreme Court chief justice, wrote: “Permit me to hint, whether it would be wise and seasonable to provide a strong check to the admission of Foreigners into the administration of our national Government; and to declare expressly that the Command in Chief of the American army shall not be given to nor devolve on, any but a natural born Citizen.”
Walker cites a draft of the constitution by one of its important contributors, Alexander Hamilton.
If Hamilton’s draft would have been accepted, Walker argues, the Constitution would have stated:
No person shall be eligible to the office of President of the United States unless he be now a citizen of one of the States or hereafter be born a citizen of the United States.
Walker concedes there “is no real explanation that I can find as to why the Committee of Eleven changed the phrase to its present form, but it was.”
“Making it even worse, the Constitution itself does not define the term “natural born citizen,” he notes.
He also quotes James Madison, popularly acknowledged as the “author” of the Constitution, who seemed to indicate in a paper dated May 22, 1789, that birthplace is a more important determinant of allegiance than parentage:
It is an established maxim that birth is a criterion of allegiance. Birth however derives its force sometimes from place and sometimes from parentage, but in general place is the most certain criterion; it is what applies in the United States; it will therefore be unnecessary to investigate any other.
However, when the first U.S. Congress had the opportunity to weigh in on the term natural-born citizen – in the Naturalization Act of 1790 – the lawmakers regarded it as a child born of two American parents. The act also specified that a natural-born citizen need not be born on U.S. soil.
The law stated:
The children of citizens of the United States, that may be born beyond sea, or out of the limits of the United States shall be considered as natural born citizens: Provided, that the right of citizenship shall not descend to persons whose fathers have never been resident in the United States.
The first U.S. Congress, which approved the Naturalization Act of 1790, included 20 delegates to the Constitutional Convention. Among the 20 were eight members of the Committee of Eleven that drafted the Constitution’s natural-born citizen clause.
While the act was repealed five years later, it, nevertheless, represented the will of the Congress that the U.S. not be led by someone whose loyalty could be divided because of parentage.
Rep. John Bingham of Ohio, a principal framer of the Fourteenth Amendment, affirmed in a discussion in the House on March 9, 1866, that a natural-born citizen is “born within the jurisdiction of the United States of parents not owing allegiance to any foreign sovereignty.”
Makoon, an orphaned male black bear cub that was found in Manitoba earlier this spring, has been released into the wild despite opposition from those who fear the cub will not survive.
Two bears that were cared for at the Assiniboine Park Zoo have been released in a remote wilderness area of Manitoba, the provincial government announced Tuesday.
“I feel that we’ve done an excellent job with these two cubs and that they have a suitable chance of surviving,” said James Duncan, director of conservation programs with Manitoba Conservation.
“It’s a success. These animals are now back in the wild. They have a chance at being wild animals, and I think that’s where they should be.”
Makoon was not named specifically, but the release states that one of the bears was found in the St. Malo, Man., area and is five months old. The other bear is six months old.
Nursed back to health
Makoon attracted headlines after he was rescued by Rene Dubois in a ditch near St. Malo in March. At the time, Dubois said the cub appeared malnourished and orphaned.
Makoon the bear cub takes a closer look at baby RayAnne at the Dubois home in St. Malo, Man., earlier this spring.(Rachel Walford/Canadian Press)
Dubois and his wife named the cub Makoon, which is Cree for “little bear,” and nursed him back to health with milk and formula from a baby bottle, as well as honey and fruit.
In April, Dubois said he had contacted a conservation official about taking Makoon, but was told the cub would have to be destroyed. So he said he decided to keep Makoon and find another solution.
Dubois kept Makoon for nearly two weeks until Manitoba Conservation seized the cub in early April and placed him at Winnipeg’s Assiniboine Park Zoo, where he was rehabilitated by staff.
“I don’t agree with what they did, and I’m pissed off,” Bill McDonald, the humane society’s chief executive officer, said Tuesday afternoon.
“Six months [and] 30 pounds, [it's] virtually a death sentence for him to be out in the wilderness right now,” he added.
Last week, a group of concerned Manitobans held a rally outside the zoo and delivered a petition with 10,000 signatures to the provincial legislature, expressing their opposition to the cub being sent to the wild so soon.
The group, led by Judy Stearns, had urged the province to send Makoon to a wildlife sanctuary in Ontario, or at least wait until he was older.
“I’m outraged. I’m not completely … surprised, just because the government wouldn’t listen to any of us,” Stearns said.
Bears’ location not known
Government officials would not say when or where in Manitoba the two bears were released.
“Wildlife biologists who surveyed the area before the bears were released found a wide variety of plentiful food sources including eggs, fish and berries,” the province said in a news release.
‘Bears that have reached this stage of development have a good chance of survival.’—James Duncan, Manitoba Conservation
“The area is very remote, which will reduce the chances of either bear coming into contact with humans in the future.”
The province added that both released cubs had learned to play, climb and forage for food during their time at the Assiniboine Park Zoo.
“Both bears are in excellent condition, are quite large for their age and have been socialized with each other at the zoo,” officials said in the release.
Cub ‘put in harm’s way’
But McDonald said a bear should ideally be between 15 and 18 months old at the time of its release, so that it is large enough to defend itself from predators.
Provincial government officials said both bears weighed more than 14 kilograms when they were released. McDonald said Makoon should weigh closer to 70 kilograms.
“He’s either going to starve to death, which is not going to be pretty — it’ll take him 30 to 40 days to starve to death — or he will get attacked and killed by an adult male black bear. That’s the typical thing,” he said.
McDonald said he is disappointed that the province did not listen to Manitobans who have raised concerns about Makoon’s well-being.
“That’s just not good enough to survive in the wild, and I think the province has put this bear in harm’s way,” he said.
Humane society considers legal action
McDonald accused the province of contravening its own animal care legislation by sending Makoon into the bush before he is ready.
The humane society’s lawyers are determining if they can pursue animal-cruelty charges against the province, he added.
“This is wrong, it’s a mistake,” he said. “I think that the department has failed in their duty to the citizens of Manitoba.”
Stearns said she is calling on Conservation Minister Gord Mackintosh and his department’s top officials to resign.
But Duncan argued that Makoon and the other released bear cub have a better chance of surviving than bears that have lived in the wild all along.
Wild bears that are between 12 and 18 months old have a survival rate of 30 per cent, he said.
“We do not have information on survival rates from bears that go through a longer process, but we do know that bears that have reached this stage of development have a good chance of survival, comparable to that of wild bears,” he said.
Duncan added that wildlife rehabilitation is about letting animals live in the wild, not about guaranteeing their survival.
A political deal will be struck to save the Democrat Party from total collapse and protect the Republican Party from revelations of complicity in the greatest fraud ever perpetrated on the American people.
A growing number of Americans are now learning that Barack Obama, according to Article II, Section I, Clause 5 of the U. S. Constitution, is an illegal President. The law requires a candidate for the Presidency to be a “natural born citizen,” that is, a second generation American, a U.S. citizen, whose parents were also U.S. citizens at the time of the candidate’s birth.
Obama’s father was a citizen of Kenya and a British subject at the time of his birth, which made him forever ineligible for the Presidency.
Practically speaking, that issue is not a problem for Obama because the Republican Party also wants to violate the Constitution. Many Republicans are aggressively advocating Florida Senator Marco Rubio as Mitt Romney’s Vice Presidential candidate. Rubio is ineligible because, even though he was born in the United States, his parents were Cuban citizens at the time of his birth.
Since 1975, both Democrat and Republican politicians have been trying unsuccessfully to amend Article II, Section I, Clause 5 of the U. S. Constitution. The election of Obama has allowed them to do so, not legally, but by fait accompli.
According to the wishes of Democrat and Republican politicians, Anwar al-Awlaki, killed by a drone strike on September 30, 2011, was eligible to be President because he was born in New Mexico of Yemeni parents. Al-Awlaki was the “spiritual leader” of al-Qaida in the Arabian peninsula, whose sermons at the Dar al-Hijrah Islamic Center in Falls Church, Virginia were attended by two hijackers who carried out the 9/11 attacks, Nawaf al-Hamzi and Hani Hanjour. Likewise, accused Fort Hood shooter and alleged al-Awlaki disciple, Nidal Malik Hasan, is eligible to be President because he was born in Virginia of Palestinian parents.
There are also persistent questions about the authenticity of Obama’s birth certificate, Selective Service registration and his use of a Social Security number not issued to him, all serious crimes with the potential for lengthy prison sentences.
The law, however, is not a problem for Obama because any serious investigation would implicate far too many Democrat and Republican politicians. That is why the political establishment and the media are suppressing every effort to uncover the truth about Obama’s personal history because it would expose their own corruption and hypocrisy.
Muscat: Two back-to-back earthquakes were recorded closer to Oman by the Earthquake Monitoring Centre at Sultan Qaboos University in the last 24 hours but there were no reports of damage to property or loss of life.
While an earthquake measuring 4.8-magnitude was reported in the Arabian Gulf around midnight, the other was reported from southern Iran with 4.2-magnitude on Tuesday evening.
Speaking to Times of Oman, Dr Issa Al Hussain, director, Earthquake Monitoring Centre, Sultan Qaboos University (SQU), said that they record around 150 earthquakes from all over the globe every month.
“Locally we record around four to five quakes every month but most of them are weak and its epicenter is far away from Oman,- he said. But given Oman’s close vicinity to where the Arabian plates meet the Eurasian plates, how much risk does it pose to the Sultanate?
Earthquake potential
Dr Hussain said places like Khasab and Musandam in northern Oman have earthquake potential as the Arabian plates meet the Eurasian plates. “But we have to remember that Oman lies in the low risk zone so there is little chance of earthquake,- he added.
Though having a little chance, tsunami did hit the Sultanate on November 27, 1945, following an earthquake situated offshore Pakistan. “That time the epicentre of the earthquake was Makran region where we recorded 8.1-magnititude,- he said.
Another expert said that the southern part of Oman is also at risk from tsunamis generated offshore in Indonesia.
“However, the wave height there is not likely to be very high as demonstrated following the earthquake in 2004, when the tsunami reached only 3m in Oman,- another expert said.
The social media has been abuzz since last night with many concerned residents taking to Twitter and Facebook to confirm if indeed there was an earthquake that had things rattling in their wake.
However, Hussain denied reports about mild tremors that residents of Oman reportedly said they had felt. “While one of them was 542km away from Muscat, the other was 671km away from Muscat so it is not possible that it affected the Oman residents,- he added.
Through a network of 21 seismic stations at various locations across the Sultanate, the Earthquake Monitoring Centre is capable of registering and measuring shock-waves of all sizes.
(Follow timesofoman.com on Facebook and on Twitter for updates that you can share with your friends.)
Increased seismic activity was detected in Mýrdalsjökull glacier in south Iceland, under which the volcano Katla lies, last night. Twenty-six minor earthquakes were picked up by sensors, all of which had their epicenter within the Katla crater.
Mýrdalsjökull. Photo: Páll Stefánsson.
A seismic activity expert on watch at the Icelandic Meteorological Office informed ruv.is that the earthquake swarm had started at 1 am and continued through 5 am.
However, there is no reason to be concerned about an imminent volcanic eruption or glacial outburst in Katla. The earthquakes were all shallow and originated in seismic activity in the geothermal system.
Click here to read about another recent earthquake swarm in Katla.
PUEBLO CO
LAS VEGAS NV
FLAGSTAFF AZ
ELKO NV
RIVERTON WY
DENVER CO
GRAND JUNCTION CO
CHEYENNE WY
SALT LAKE CITY UT
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Fires, Smoke in Central Russia
Russia has declared a state of emergency in several eastern regions due to hundreds of wildfires. NASA’s Terra satellite captured this image of fires and smoke in north central Russia on June 15, 2012, at 05:50 UTC (1:50 a.m. EDT) The red spots are where the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument that flies aboard the Terra satellite detected heat signatures. Dry conditions, agricultural burning, lightning and human involvement have contributed to many wildfires across Siberia over the last few weeks.
ST. PAUL, Minn. – Gov. Mark Dayton has declared a state of emergency and authorized the National Guard to help Duluth cope with its flood damage.
The governor issued the executive order Wednesday afternoon, a few hours after promising Duluth Mayor Don Ness that the state would provide all possible assistance.
Dayton plans to travel to Duluth on Thursday morning to discuss further how the state can help.
Dayton also asks people who live in or were planning to travel in the Duluth area to follow the requests of local authorities to stay off of affected roads and highways so emergency crews can do their work.
In Carlton, several residents have been evacuated. Some residents in Thomson Township in Carlton County were urged to leave after the Thompson Reservoir overflowed. Residents of Duluth’s Fond du Lac neighborhood had also urged to evacuate.
Emergency services volunteers were forced to abandon their vehicle this morning after it became trapped in a flooded ditch in Koo Wee Rup. The State Emergency Service utility was door-knocking residents in the inundated town southeast of Melbourne when it ran into the deep ditch, leaving the nose of the vehicle submerged. There are reports the deluge has risen to about half a metre along Boundary Drain Road, one of the worst hit streets in the flood-ravaged town. SES spokeswoman Dimity York said volunteers were specially trained and all vehicles were fitted with funnels, nevertheless it demonstrated the perils of driving through floodwaters. “It’s further reinforcement that if specially trained personnel can get into that situation then no one should ever drive through floodwater,” Ms York said. She said emergency services would have to wait until floodwaters receded until they could retrieve the stricken vehicle. Meanwhile, Melbourne Water engineers were struggling to fix a broken levee gate which allowed flooding to billow over the town’s boundary drain, intensifying flooding in the area. SES spokesman Toby Borella said a combination of high tides and floodwaters surged through the open gate, causing the channel to overflow and spill onto William Street. Mr Borella said the pressure floodwaters were putting on the gate meant engineers were finding it difficult to close.
He said they didn’t know why the gate had failed. At comes as at least 30 homes have been evacuated in Koo Wee Rup as parts of Gippsland succumbed to flooding overnight. State Emergency Service spokesman Lachlan Quick said emergency services began door-knocking early this morning after torrential rain threatened properties. He said further evacuations could be expected throughout the day, with the downpour not expected to ease until later tonight. “With any luck we can see it (the water level) drop today, (but) we never expect it to ease that quickly. We have to be prepared for the worst,” Mr Quick said. Despite concerns, he said only a handful of properties had so far been inundated. Police warned a number of arterial roads in the area bounded by Longwarry Rd, Bridge Rd, the Westernport Highway, South Gippsland Highway and Koo Wee Rup Rd were affected by flooding. So far, the South Gippsland Highway north of Lang Lang, near the intersection of McDonalds Track has been closed. The Bass Highway at Wonthaggi is closed. Inverloch-Kongwak Road at Kongwak as well as Outtrim-Inverloch Rd at Outtrim are closed.
A small equipment fire that lasted for about 17 minutes today caused the Nine Mile Point Nuclear Station to reduce its plant power to 62 percent and declare an “unusual event.” The fire was discovered at 2:51 p.m. on one of the plant’s three feedwater pumps, said Jill Lyon, speaking for Constellation Energy Nuclear Group. The plant’s onsite trained personnel extinguished the fire by 3:08 p.m., she said. The “unusual event” was declared at 3:05 p.m. when it was apparent the fire would last more than 15 minutes. The fire was extinguished at 3:08 p.m. and the “unusual event” was declared over at 4 p.m., Lyon said. No personnel were injured and no workers were evacuated, Lyon said. The plant will continue operating at 62 percent while inspectors investigate the cause of the fire, she said. At the lower power level, one pump can maintain reactor water level, she said. An “unusual event” is the lowest level of four emergency classification levels for a nuclear plant. Because of the federal regulations, any event out of the ordinary is reported to federal, state and local authorities. By definition, the event poses no risk to the public or to plant employees, she said. The top three classifications are: “general emergency,” “site area emergency” and “alert,” she said.
disclaimer: image is for illustration purposes only
U.S. researchers say microscopic mechanical devices that withstand intense radiation and heat can be used in robots dealing with damaged nuclear power plants.
Such devices can withstand high amounts of radiation that can quickly fry silicon-based electronic circuits, University of Utah engineers reported Tuesday.
Such electronic circuits were in robots sent to help contain the meltdowns at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant after Japan’s catastrophic 2011 earthquake and tsunami, they said.
“Robots were sent to control the troubled reactors, and they ceased to operate after a few hours because their electronics failed,” Utah researcher Massood Tabib-Azar said.
Tabib-Azar and his colleagues have been working on mechanical substitutes for such electronics and showed their devices, known as micro-electro-mechanical systems, kept working despite intense ionizing radiation and heat by dipping them for two hours into the core of the University of Utah’s research reactor.
“We have developed a unique technology that keeps on working in the presence of ionizing radiation to provide computation power for critical defense infrastructures,” Tabib-Azar said. “Our devices also can be used in deep space applications in the presence of cosmic ionizing radiation, and can help robotics to control troubled nuclear reactors without degradation.”
MessageToEagle.com – As our Sun goes through its 11-year cycle that is due to peak in 2013 or 2014, scientists worry about dangerous solar flares that could practically wipe out a lot of our electronic civilization.
There has also been concern in what way our Suns’ abnormal behavior can effect human health.
Some scientists say there is actually a correlation between the rise and fall of solar activity and the human consciousness
Professor Raymond Wheeler of the University of Kansas has come to the same conclusions that Russian scientist Alexander Chizhevsky discovered in 1915, namely that solar storms directly cause conflict, wars and even death among humans on Earth.
In the 1930′s Wheeler began a lifetime study that analyzed world climate and cultural activities back to the dawn of recorded civilization. He presented his research in his book, Climate: The Key To Understanding Business Cycles.
There is no doubt according to Wheeler that weather does affect us.
Wheeler’s studies show studies that there exists a most important 100-year-cycle of climatic changes that influences human affairs in a profound manner.
The cycle occurs in four distinct phases, which are descriptive of worldwide conditions rather than specific areas.
The four phases are disturbed by secondary leads and delays — as much as 10 years — in isolated and widely separated areas.Prof. Wheeler stated: “The climatic curve is intended to represent — as far as one curve can — the weather trend in the world as a whole at any one time.
The curve has no absolute significance. The meaning of the curve at any one time is relative to the pattern of the 100-year old cycle as a whole.”The 100-year weather cycle and its phases are not of precisely equal duration. The cycle can contract to 70 years or expand to 120.
The cycle is divided into a warm and a cold phase, each of which has a wet and dry period.
Because people are affected by weather, the cycles of weather produce similar patterns of behavior and events in history during the same phases of the century-long weather cycle. The phases are: (1) Cold-Dry, (2) Warm-Wet, (3) Warm-Dry, and (4) Cold-Wet.
We are now in a cold-dry phase, which will prevail until about 2000 A.D.
Our Sun affects our mental and physical health. The Sun’s activity as it interacts with the Earths magnetic field, effects extensive changes in human beings perspectives, moods, emotions and behavioral patterns.
Solar flares affect human health, scientists say. Image credit: SDO
During solar minimums and maximums the geomagnetic fields begin to intensify. The magnetic fields interact with human electrochemically within the brain. It affects psychological mechanisms creating anomalous hormonal swings and significantly mutated brain-wave activity.
Wheeler expanded on Chishevsky’s work by studying violence during 1913; measuring the time between battles and severity. These findings were compared with the suns 11 year sunspot cycle.
The results showed that as the sun cycle peaked, there was a rise in human unrest, uprisings, rebellions, revolutions, and wars between nations. As the magnetic fields intensified, the reaction within the human brain was a mixture of deadly emotional tantrums and unadulterated killing sprees.
As Wheeler further compared his findings with human history, he found a startling pattern that could be traced back 2,500 years.
In solar cycle 22, at the sun’s maximum we experienced Iraq invading Kuwait and the US entering the first battle against Saddam Hussein.
Just eleven years later, as the sun became active again, 9/11 and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq ensued.
In the latter half of 2010, the sun reached another peak that affected the Earth’s magnetic field; we witnessed dissent in Tunisia, Egypt and Yemen.
Those global uprisings spread to Syria, Libya, Iran and China as riots continued across the European landscape.
This civil unrest has now reached its influence across the modernized world and even into Middle Eastern countries, Africa and Asia.
It is projected, based on Wheeler’s research, as the sun’s activity increases, so will the violence on Earth.
We are now entering the 24th solar cycle.
A surge in solar activity by 50 times more than previously recorded is anticipated. NASA and other space agencies have been warning of this fact.
Through 2011 and onto 2012, the X-flares are expected to endure toward their maximum. As this incredible activity is being witnessed, we are assured that more wars, toppling countries and populations will be displaced.
In 2012 we are seeing these events coming to pass; with only more intensification to come.
In what way will Earth be affected during this solar peak?
Wheeler’s predecessor was a man named Dr. Robert Becker. Becker was an author, expert in biological electricity and a Professor with State University.
In 1963, Becker, along with his colleague, Dr. Freedman, discovered that there was a marked correlation between solar activity and psychotic outbreaks of mass insanity on Earth.
Becker and Freedman made their most dire predictions of incredible violence to culminate in the years 2012 and 2013.
So far, history has proven them correct.
There obviously appears to be connection between solar activity and psychotic outbreaks of mass insanity on Earth. The world is not ending, but there might be some rough times ahead according to these scientists.
MessageToEagle.com – The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has captured a new view of the dwarf galaxy UGC 5497, which looks a bit like salt sprinkled on black velvet in the image.
The object is a compact blue dwarf galaxy that is infused with newly formed clusters of stars.
The bright, blue stars that arise in these clusters help to give the galaxy an overall bluish appearance that lasts for several million years until these fast-burning stars explode as supernovae.
UGC 5497 is considered part of the M 81 group of galaxies, which is located about 12 million light-years away in the constellation Ursa Major (The Great Bear).
UGC 5497 turned up in a ground-based telescope survey back in 2008 looking for new dwarf galaxy candidates associated with Messier 81.
According to the leading cosmological theory of galaxy formation, called Lambda Cold Dark Matter, there should be far more satellite dwarf galaxies associated with big galaxies like the Milky Way and Messier 81 than are currently known.
Finding previously overlooked objects such as this one has helped cut into the expected tally — but only by a small amount.
Astrophysicists therefore remain puzzled over the so-called “missing satellite” problem.
Dwarf galaxy UGC 5497. Credit: ESA/NASA
The field of view in this image, which is a combination of visible and infrared exposures from Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys, is approximately 3.4 by 3.4 arcminutes.
Jefferson County Public Health has confirmed that a squirrel from the Idledale area has tested positive for bubonic plague. Plague is a highly infectious bacterial disease carried by various types of wild rodents and is transmitted primarily by flea bites. Squirrels, rodents, prairie dogs and other mammals, such as rabbits and cats are susceptible to plague because they carry fleas. “The risk of residents contracting plague is extremely low,” said Jefferson County Public Health Director Dr. Mark Johnson. “We want people to be aware that summer marks the beginning of the plague season, and just a few simple precautions will further reduce that risk. The best way to prevent plague is to control the presence of rodents and fleas in and around the home. In addition, people should avoid contact with any species of wild rodents, especially sick or dead rodents. If a dead rodent is found, do not handle the animal directly, use gloves and place it in a plastic bag. Dogs and cats should be confined so they cannot prey on infected rodents and then bring the disease home with them. Pet owners who live close to rodent populations should use flea-control products recommended by their veterinarian. Controlling fleas on pets will prevent the transfer of fleas to humans. If these precautions are taken, the probability of contracting plague is extremely low. Anyone experiencing these symptoms should consult a physician immediately: sudden onset of high fever; muscle pain; malaise, or a general feeling of being ill; nausea; and vomiting. Jefferson County Public Health will continue its plague surveillance of rodent populations in the county.
Biohazard name:
Bubonic Plague
Biohazard level:
4/4 Hazardous
Biohazard desc.:
Viruses and bacteria that cause severe to fatal disease in humans, and for which vaccines or other treatments are not available, such as Bolivian and Argentine hemorrhagic fevers, H5N1(bird flu), Dengue hemorrhagic fever, Marburg virus, Ebola virus, hantaviruses, Lassa fever, Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever, and other hemorrhagic or unidentified diseases. When dealing with biological hazards at this level the use of a Hazmat suit and a self-contained oxygen supply is mandatory. The entrance and exit of a Level Four biolab will contain multiple showers, a vacuum room, an ultraviolet light room, autonomous detection system, and other safety precautions designed to destroy all traces of the biohazard. Multiple airlocks are employed and are electronically secured to prevent both doors opening at the same time. All air and water service going to and coming from a Biosafety Level 4 (P4) lab will undergo similar decontamination procedures to eliminate the possibility of an accidental release.
http://sheilaaliens.net/?p=869 // 2ND UPDATE – Meteor starts C.O. Wildfire?: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxPr7vKcaNM // “Wednesday the crews of two commercial aircraft flying over Liberal, Kan., reported what appeared to be a meteorite at 1:47 p.m. Central Daylight Time, or 12:47 p.m. Mountain time. He said the Colorado sighting occurred at about the same time.”
“The American Meteor Society has received 18 reports so far of a bright daylight fireball over Colorado & New Mexico. Eight of the eighteen reports are from Colorado Springs. This event occurred sometime from 12:35 to 12:40pm MDT Wednesday afternoon June 20th. Reports of many different colors have been received, with white and orange being most mentioned. The average brightness reported by witnesses varied quite a bit, ranging from brighter than the full moon to brighter than the sun.”
And this is just a personal report I received from a close friend, take it or leave it:
A friend of their’s was curious if a meteor shower was happening, because on the night of the 19th they saw three fireballs in a row.
Meteor showers and strange haze/dust? If I didn’t know any better, I’d be screaming about Nibiru/Wormwood
It was a 90-degree afternoon, and the Garfield Park pool was packed. David Yates, 13, had just zipped down a slide and splashed into the water when he noticed a bad taste in his mouth – like bleach. At the same time – across a pool that features shallow wading areas, two large water slides and a children’s playhouse – others were making the same discovery. Mayhem ensued. Jamie Rahmany, in the baby pool with her son, noticed kids coughing around her. Patricia Tanner, a mother of three sitting just out of the pool, saw children vomiting. And Shari Patton, a mother with two children at the pool, smelled a sharp odor that was likened to ammonia, or chlorine. Patton yanked her kids out of the water and rushed them to a shower room for a rinse. Around her, swimmers were leaving the pool and grabbing shirts, towels, whatever they could to cover their faces and shield them from the smell. Pool staff quickly began giving the children water, with kids drinking from the same cups. The source of the chaos was what officials described as a toxically out-of-balance mixture of pool chemicals that were pumped into the water around 2 p.m. Thursday. The solution sickened scores and sent more than 80 people – most of them children – to four local hospitals. Most were treated and released within a couple of hours. Some were being kept Thursday evening for observation, but there was no indication that anyone had been seriously harmed. The emergency was serious enough that first responders initially referred to the scene as one of “mass casualties.” They set up a triage area. In addition to several ambulances, two IndyGo buses were brought in to take the victims to the hospitals. For a time, the city’s emergency room capacity was strained by the numbers. Mayor Greg Ballard stopped what he was doing to visit the scene on the city’s Southside.
Exactly how the noxious mixture came about wasn’t clear, according to Lt. Derrick Sayles of the Indianapolis Fire Department, because the pool’s operator was among those being treated. Sayles said the source seemed to be the improper use of a pool cleaning chemical called ACID Magic. Sayles said the machine that pumps chemicals into the pool had been shut down and restarted. As it was restarted, the combination of ACID Magic, sodium and water flowing into the pool was wrong. Dr. James Mowry, director of the Indiana Poison Control Center at IU Health Methodist Hospital, which handled 45 of the Garfield pool patients, described the resulting mixture as a chlorine gas. In this case, the mixture was just strong enough to irritate eyes and lungs and induce vomiting. But in super-high concentrations — as with chemical weapons used during World War I — the gas can be lethal. How the misapplication of chemicals occurred will be investigated, Sayles said. The mayor said other city pools will be checked to ensure they aren’t susceptible to similar problems. The Indianapolis Star requested health inspection and maintenance reports on the Garfield Park pool from county and city officials Thursday but was told those records were not immediately unavailable. Garfield Park’s pool was closed for the rest of the day. It’s not known when it will reopen. Jen Pittman, the city’s marketing director, said the city will not provide refunds to pool visitors but will provide them with a complimentary pass for another day, once it does reopen.
David Yates, the 13-year-old who tasted the chemical after surfacing from his splash off the water slide, turned down care from emergency officials, even at the urging of his baby sitter. He left the Garfield Park pool with a reddened face, puffy eyes and irritation in his chest. When his mother, Heather Lightle, arrived home a couple of hours later, she found David with his eyes matted shut and a green substance oozing from the corners. She took him to the emergency room immediately. He was treated and released a few hours later. Lightle was angry that emergency responders at the scene didn’t force him to go to the emergency room. And she was angered by what happened with the chemicals at the pool.
A dozen fire fighting and hazardous materials teams were called to a Haifa plant Thursday morning to contain a chemical leak that could spill into the Haifa Bay. The leak was reported at the Carmel Olephin plant, which produces chemicals for use in plastic products, including polypropylene and polyethylene. According to Ynet, the chemicals in question were undergoing a reaction in their storage tank, which the teams were attempting to contain first by cooling and and then by diluting the material. Israel Radio reported that the leak started around 7 a.m. Haifa Bay is home to some of Israel’s largest chemical plants and is often cited as one of the country’s most polluted areas. Two weeks ago, a leak of acrylamide at Ben-Gurion International Airport, also used to make plastics, was discovered. One man was lightly injured in that incident.
[In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit, for research and/or educational purposes. This constitutes 'FAIR USE' of any such copyrighted material.]
DemocracyNow.org – Sharif Abdel Kouddous reports from Egypt on the country’s growing political crisis. Former president Hosni Mubarak is on life support, both candidates claim to have won last weekend’s election and the ruling military council has seized greater power. Official presidential election results are not expected to be announced until Thursday. Tens of thousands of Egyptians protested Tuesday night in Cairo’s Tahrir Square in a rally called by the Muslim Brotherhood, expressing outrage over the army’s decree late Sunday that it would seize all legislative powers. “Right now, the country has no constitution, no parliament, and an incoming president that will have scant power,” Kouddous says. “The military council is really controlling the key branches of state … [It's] perhaps a fitting end to this nonsensical transition that we have seen over the last 16 months.”
Greece’s new prime minister has vowed to pull the country back from the brink of bankruptcy. New Democracy party leader Antonis Samaras was sworn-in after striking a deal to form a new coalition government. It draws a line under a protracted political crisis that cast doubt over Greece’s future in the Eurozone. Al Jazeera’s Tim Friend joins us from the Greek capital.
It’s not only the ultra-wealthy who are able to avoid taxes. A recent IRS report indicated that more than 35,000 Americans making over $200 000 a year paid no federal income taxes in 2009. Reuters columnist David Cay Johnston explains how. (June 19, 2012)
A group of Roman Catholic nuns are taking an unusual bus ride across America.
They are protesting against government budget cuts, which they say are harming low income families.
A recent Vatican report criticised some nuns for focusing too much on economic injustice
Even though the nuns were stung by the criticism from Rome, they decided to stay the course and say the firestorm has given them a platform.
In their latest trip, the nuns are in Janesville, Wisconsin, to deliver an alternative budget to Republican House member Paul Ryan, in which they propose a plan that favours a safety net for the worst off instead of tax cuts for the rich.
There is every sign they’ll continue to take their gospel on the road, with or without the Vatican’s blessing.
Al Jazeera’s Kristen Saloomey reports from Janesville, Wisconsin.
Since the 1900′s the vast majority of the American population has dreamed about saying “NO” to the Unconstitutional, corrupt, Rothschild/Rockefeller banking criminals, but no one has dared to do so. Why? If just half of our Nation, and the “1%”, who pay the majority of the taxes, just said NO MORE! Our Gov’t would literally change over night. Why is it so hard, for some people to understand, that by simply NOT giving your money, to large Corporations, who then send jobs, Intellectual Property, etc. offshore and promote anti-Constitutional rights… You will accomplish more, than if you used violence. In other words… RESEARCH WHERE YOU ARE SENDING EVERY SINGLE PENNY!!! Is that so hard? The truth of the matter is… No one, except the Icelanders, have to been the only culture on the planet to carry out this successfully. Not only have they been successful, at overthrowing the corrupt Gov’t, they’ve drafted a Constitution, that will stop this from happening ever again. That’s not the best part… The best part, is that they have arrested ALL Rothschild/Rockefeller banking puppets, responsible for the Country’s economic Chaos and meltdown.
Last week 9 people were arrested in London and Reykjavik for their possible responsibility for Iceland’s financial collapse in 2008, a deep crisis which developed into an unprecedented public reaction that is changing the country’s direction.
It has been a revolution without weapons in Iceland, the country that hosts the world’s oldest democracy (since 930), and whose citizens have managed to effect change by going on demonstrations and banging pots and pans. Why have the rest of the Western countries not even heard about it?
Pressure from Icelandic citizens’ has managed not only to bring down a government, but also begin the drafting of a new constitution (in process) and is seeking to put in jail those bankers responsible for the financial crisis in the country. As the saying goes, if you ask for things politely it is much easier to get them.
This quiet revolutionary process has its origins in 2008 when the Icelandic government decided to nationalize the three largest banks, Landsbanki, Kaupthing and Glitnir, whose clients were mainly British, and North and South American.
After the State took over, the official currency (krona) plummeted and the stock market suspended its activity after a 76% collapse. Iceland was becoming bankrupt and to save the situation, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) injected U.S. $ 2,100 million and the Nordic countries helped with another 2,500 million.
Great little victories of ordinary people
While banks and local and foreign authorities were desperately seeking economic solutions, the Icelandic people took to the streets and their persistent daily demonstrations outside parliament in Reykjavik prompted the resignation of the conservative Prime Minister Geir H. Haarde and his entire government.
Citizens demanded, in addition, to convene early elections, and they succeeded. In April a coalition government was elected, formed by the Social Democratic Alliance and the Left Green Movement, headed by a new Prime Minister, Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir.
Throughout 2009 the Icelandic economy continued to be in a precarious situation (at the end of the year the GDP had dropped by 7%) but, despite this, the Parliament proposed to repay the debt to Britain and the Netherlands with a payment of 3,500 million Euros, a sum to be paid every month by Icelandic families for 15 years at 5.5% interest.
The move sparked anger again in the Icelanders, who returned to the streets demanding that, at least, that decision was put to a referendum. Another big small victory for the street protests: in March 2010 that vote was held and an overwhelming 93% of the population refused to repay the debt, at least with those conditions.
This forced the creditors to rethink the deal and improve it, offering 3% interest and payment over 37 years. Not even that was enough. The current president, on seeing that Parliament approved the agreement by a narrow margin, decided last month not to approve it and to call on the Icelandic people to vote in a referendum so that they would have the last word.
The bankers are fleeing in fear
Returning to the tense situation in 2010, while the Icelanders were refusing to pay a debt incurred by financial sharks without consultation, the coalition government had launched an investigation to determine legal responsibilities for the fatal economic crisis and had already arrested several bankers and top executives closely linked to high risk operations.
Interpol, meanwhile, had issued an international arrest warrant against Sigurdur Einarsson, former president of one of the banks. This situation led scared bankers and executives to leave the country en masse.
In this context of crisis, an assembly was elected to draft a new constitution that would reflect the lessons learned and replace the current one, inspired by the Danish constitution.
To do this, instead of calling experts and politicians, Iceland decided to appeal directly to the people, after all they have sovereign power over the law. More than 500 Icelanders presented themselves as candidates to participate in this exercise in direct democracy and write a new constitution. 25 of them, without party affiliations, including lawyers, students, journalists, farmers and trade union representatives were elected.
Among other developments, this constitution will call for the protection, like no other, of freedom of information and expression in the so-called Icelandic Modern Media Initiative, in a bill that aims to make the country a safe haven for investigative journalism and freedom of information, where sources, journalists and Internet providers that host news reporting are protected.
The people, for once, will decide the future of the country while bankers and politicians witness the transformation of a nation from the sidelines.
http://www.euronews.com/ The weak US recovery and growing financial problems in Europe mean the Federal Reserve has extended its monetary stimulus.
At their monthly meeting the US central bank policymakers said they will renew effort to bring down borrowing costs by selling short-term government bonds to buy those maturing at a later date.
Central banks worldwide are seeking ways to stimulate their weak economies.
With its benchmark interest rate already cut to between zero and a quarter of a percent, the Fed has little room for manoeuvre in the face of yet another slowdown.
Analyst Jim Bianco listed the problems facing the US: “There is a protracted slowdown in the economy and it’s unmistakable right now, especially with the downward revisions that we saw in the previous numbers, and that they are all going to have to go back and rework their assumptions about a potential slowdown in the economy coming, for the third summer in a row now, as we’ve seen before.”
In its statement after the meeting the Fed said the US economy is “expanding moderately,” but conceded employment growth has slowed and would come down “only slowly.”
In May only 69,000 new jobs were created and the unemployment rate rose to 8.2 percent
The bank expressed worries about weaker consumer spending saying it “appears to be rising at a somewhat slower pace than earlier in the year,” but said inflation “has declined” mainly because of lower oil prices and its longer-term inflation expectations remain stable.
UN observers say they’re committed to completing their mission in Syria, seen as key to ending violence, despite the earlier decision to halt it because of security risks. Observers claim they’ve been given safety guarantees by the Syrian government, but not from the opposition. There’s been a spate of fighting in the country, with a major media war also gathering pace. RT’s Marina Portnaya has the latest.
Two more Palestinians have been killed in Israeli airstrikes
on the Gaza Strip.
That takes the death toll to nine since the fighting along the Israeli-Gaza border began on Monday.
The UN refugee agency says that a record 800,000 people were forced to flee across borders last year.
Many of them were displaced by conflicts in their home countries.
Mali is one example. More than 320,000 people have been forced from their homes since January because of fighting between government forces and Tuareg rebels.
Many are seeking refuge in neighbouring countries – which are struggling to cope with the influx.
The situation is particularly precarious as the Sahel region is going through a major drought.
Al Jazeera’s Laura Kyle reports from Burkina Faso’s Mintao camp and May Welsh reports from Mali’s Timbuktu.
DemocracyNow.org – WikiLeaks’ founder Julian Assange has taken refuge in Ecuador’s embassy in London and asked for asylum. Assange made the move Tuesday in a last-ditch bid to avoid extradition to Sweden over sex crime accusations. Earlier today, police in London announced Assange is now subject to arrest because his decision to spend the night at the Ecuadorean embassy violated the conditions of his bail. Assange is seeking asylum because he fears extradition to Sweden may lead to his transfer to the United States where he could potentially face charges relating to Wikileaks. “In my view, it is a situation of political persecution of Julian Assange for his political activities,” says Michael Ratner, a member of Assange’s legal team. “It fits in the asylum application procedure under the Declaration of Human Rights.” In an apparent reference to the United States, an Ecuadorean official said Assange fears being extradited “to a country where espionage and treason are punished with the death penalty.”
Julian Assange is facing arrest – British police say the Wikileaks editor has violated his bail terms by seeking sanctuary at the Ecuadorean embassy in London.
Assange has asked for political asylum in the Latin American country to avoid extradition to Sweden. For more, RT talks to Loz Kaye, the leader of the Pirate Party in the UK.
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They say an apple a day keeps the doctor away, but the nutritious, fiber-rich fruit has again earned the number one spot in the Environmental Working Group’s annual “Dirty Dozen,” a report that lists the fruits and vegetables most often carrying pesticide residues. On the other end of the spectrum, onions have again topped the group’s “Clean 15″ report.
Celery, sweet bell peppers, peaches, strawberries follow in the “Dirty Dozen” report, while sweet corn, pineapples and avocados are the next highest ranked among the “Clean 15.”
Both rankings appear in EWG’s 8th annual “Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides in Produce” released today.
The ranking system is based on the group’s analysis of more than than 60,700 samples taken from 2000 to 2010 by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The consumer guide, however, does not include the pesticide contamination levels, nearly all of which were found to be below federal tolerance thresholds.
Most toxicology experts, nutritionists, and federal health officials agree that the benefits of eating fruits and vegetables outweigh the risks of low level pesticide exposure.
Apples, peaches, nectarine and grapes are on “The Dirty Dozen” list of produce with high levels of pesticide residue, while cabbage, corn and sweet potatoes make the “Clean Fifteen” list with low levels, according to the eighth annual Shoppers Guide To Pesticides In Produce, published today by the Environmental Working Group (EWG).
“Our shopper’s guide to pesticides in produce gives consumers easy, affordable ways to eat a diet rich in fruits and vegetables while avoiding most of the bug killers, fungicides and other chemicals in produce and other foods,” EWG president Ken Cook said in a statement.
To compile the guide, EWG researchers looked at ten years of data from annual U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) pesticide residue tests conducted between 2000 and 2010. The produce samples were washed or peeled prior to testing so the rankings would reflect the level of chemicals present food when is it eaten.
In 2010, 68 percent food samples studied had detectable amounts of pesticide residue. Other findings include:
Driving to Indianapolis for a public hearing about raw milk in the heat of the season is probably the last thing Hoosiers want to do this summer.
Instead the Indiana State Board of Animal Health (BOAH) is conducting a three month long “virtual public hearing” on the sale of raw milk. The virtual public hearing got under way June 1 and will not be over until the first of September.
The Indiana General Assembly gave health board’s 11 members, including six veterinarians, the job of studying raw milk over the summer. BOAH has a December 1 deadline for submitting its report in order for it to be in time for the 2013 session of the General Assembly.
“As we began planning our strategy for writing this report, we wanted to find a way for every Hoosier to participate,” said Terry Philibeck, BOAH’s dairy division manager. “Because attending public hearings can be a challenge to busy schedules and people geographically scattered across the state, we decided to host a ‘virtual’ public hearing to gather input.”
Indiana’s current law prohibits the sale of raw milk for human consumption. Before it opted to make raw milk the subject of an interim study, the Indiana Senate passed a bill to allow on farm sales by licensed producers with no more than 20 cows.
Public health officials have long opposed the commercial sale of raw milk in favor of pasteurized milk for its safety. However, raw milk has developed a cult-following in recent years that many small dairies would like to satisfy because retail prices of raw milk are much higher than those of pasteurized milk.
A bill that would put some teeth into federal organic food law was introduced Tuesday by a bipartisan pair of representatives from opposite sides of the country.
Congresswoman Lois Capps (D-CA) and Congressman Richard Hanna (R-NY), introduced the legislative to ensure that products carrying the USDA’s organic seal comply with the 1990 Organic Foods Production Act.
Their newly proposed Organic Standards Protection Act contains the following provisions:
- Grants USDA the authority to stop the sale of products fraudulently labeled and sold as certified organic while protecting the rights of producers and handlers during the appeals process.
- Streamlines recordkeeping requirements by mandating that all organic producers and certifiers to maintain and provide records to the USDA to improve its investigative process and enforcement efforts.
- Grants USDA the power to impose civil penalties up to $10,000 for those who violate the USDA revocation of an organic certification.
The California Certified Organic Farmers, the Organic Trade Association, and the National Organic Coalition support the legislation.
The Senate was hard at work Tuesday considering dozens of farm bill amendments in an hours-long “vote-o-rama” that included repealing a 2008 farm bill provision to create a catfish inspection program at the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) spoke on the floor in support of the amendment, which was introduced by Sen. John McCain (R-AZ). Kerry said the program was wasteful and should never have been included in the last farm bill.
“This would be entirely duplicative, a waste of time, hurt consumers, and hurt processors,” he said, adding that there would be no food safety benefit from the program.
Sen. Mark Pryor, a Democrat from Arkansas, a catfish-producing state, offered “the other side of the story.”
“It’s important that we inspect these fish as they come in because they aren’t grown in the same sanitary conditions as we have in the United States,” said Pryor. “They use different herbicides and pesticides and they have different pollutants. In fact we’ve seen documented cases where they’ve been raised in sewage water, water contaminated with sewage.”
According to the GAO, the USDA’s inspection program would have focused on Salmonella, not chemical or drug residues.
Sugary drinks were again the target of anti-obesity efforts this week as the American Medical Association threw its support behind a tax on these beverages.
At the AMA annual meeting Wednesday, members of the organization – the largest physician group in the country – voted to adopt a policy that promotes taxation of sugar-sweetened beverages.
A growing body of research has linked added sugars to higher body weight and to health conditions associated with being overweight, such as Type II diabetes. Sugar sweetened beverages account for approximately half of Americans’ added sugar intake, according to AMA.
A New York City-based company is recalling dried bream fish imported from Russia because the fish was processed in a way that puts it at risk for Clostridium botulinum contamination.
Euphoria Fancy Foods Inc. of Brooklyn issued a voluntary recall of the dried bream after a routine inspection by state officials revealed that the fish had not been properly eviscerated. Evisceration, or complete removal of the gut, is required under New York State Agriculture and Markets regulations because Clostridium botulinum spores are most likely to be concentrated in the fish’s intestine.
Botulism – the illness caused by Clostridium botulinum bacteria – can lead to paralysis and in some cases death.
The first lawsuit has been filed against the North Carolina tempeh producer and the online spore culture retailer responsible for a Salmonella outbreak that sickened at least 89 people in North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and New York earlier this year.
The lawsuit was filed jointly by Asheville, NC law firm Roberts & Stevens and food safety law firm Marler Clark, which underwrites Food Safety News. The firms represent a Florida woman who was hospitalized after eating contaminated Smiling Hara tempeh on March 19 during a vacation to Asheville.
Nobody ever said moving “Plum Island” to Kansas was going to be easy or cheap.
But until that move can occur, Homeland Security won’t have its state-of-the-art facility for combating biological threats to the United States.
Plans for the lab have been in the works since shortly after 9/11. The groundwork has been laid by government documents, including Presidential Directive 9: Defense of United States Agriculture and Food (January 2004); National Security Strategy for Countering Biological Threats (November 2009); and the Congressional Report, “The Clock is Ticking.”
All point to the need for speed in “developing the capability to produce vaccines and therapeutics rapidly and inexpensively.”
Now the project has reached a critical point as a second National Research Council report to Congress says Department of Homeland Security plans for the “National Bio- and Agro-Defense Facility” (NBAF) proposed for Manhattan, KS are much improved since 2010, but not yet up to snuff.
From a bird flu vaccination in Egypt to advances in probiotics for poultry by scientists in Spain and Finland, it’s a good news week for chicken researchers around the world.
In Egypt, where bird flu has been a problem lately, the National Research Center in Cairo announced it has come up with a vaccine that is effective for chickens and can be updated to meet genetic medications.
The HSN1 bird flu virus first hit Egypt in 2006, causing the country to lose 60 million chickens since then. Imported vaccines came at a high cost. The new Egyptian vaccine will sell in lots of 100 for about $60.
Meanwhile researchers in Spain and Finland aiming to cut down on transmission of foodborne diseases from poultry have found that probiotic products used by humans can reduce the growth of Campylobacter in the digestive tracts of chickens.
Probiotics are live microorganisms thought to be beneficial to the host organism. They are often contained in fermented foods, like yogurt, soy, or dietary supplements.
The USDA is reminding overseas travelers that they should be careful when bringing products back into the United States. Many invasive species have hitched a ride on agricultural products. Then they can wreak havoc on native plants. You must declare all agricultural items to Customs and Border Protection Officers at customs.
This is a general list of the items that are you are allowed to bring into the country, but should still be declared:
Condiments
Oil
Vinegar
Mustard
Catsup
Pickles
Syrup
Honey (without honey combs)
Jelly
Jam
Bakery items
Candy
Chocolate
Hard cured cheeses without meat
Canned goods
Vacuum packed jars (other than those with meat, poultry products, and certain dairy products)
Fish or fish products
Powdered drinks sealed in original containers
Dry mixes that are commercially labeled, such as baking mixes, potato flakes, cocoa mixes, drink mixes, and infant formula.
Depending on the country of origin, you may be able to bring back:
A team of researchers at Tufts University has developed a powerful and efficient way to weaken toxins and clear them from the body.
Toxins produced by dangerous bacteria such as Clostridium botulinum or certain strains of E. coli can cause serious damage or even death if allowed to take their course. Current strategies for combating these toxins involve the use of multiple antibodies derived from immune animals. Such therapies can pose health risks such as serum sickness and unknown viruses, and are expensive to produce. Other toxin-neutralizing approaches stop immediate illness but generally do not clear the toxin from the body.
Now scientists at Tufts’ Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine have developed a strategy in which a single, cloned antibody is directed to multiple places on the targeted toxin, resulting in a stronger attack on the toxin along with the ability to flush it from the system.
“So we’re getting the benefit of both neutralization and clearance but we’re doing it with much more simple and defined reagents,” explained lead researcher Charles Shoemaker, a professor of Biomedical Sciences in the Tufts Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine, in an interview with Food Safety News.
The study – published in PLoS ONE online journal earlier this year – focused on targeting botulinum neurotoxins, which cause paralysis, usually starting in the eyes and face and progressing down through the body. The toxin comes from Clostridium botulinum bacteria, which can be transmitted via food or open wounds, and is considered to be one of the most dangerous potential agents of bioterrorism.
The strategy developed by the team was able to prevent symptoms of botulism in infected mice, as well as tag the toxins for removal from the mice’s bodies.
Advocacy groups are ramping up their push to reduce antibiotics in meat production with a new consumer campaign and another lawsuit against the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Consumer Reports released a new poll Wednesday that found that 86 percent of consumers think meat raised without antibiotics should be available in their local grocery store. More than 60 percent of those polled said they would be willing to pay at least five cents more and 37 percent said they would be willing to pay a dollar or more extra per pound for antibiotic-free meat. The 1,000 person poll has a margin of error is plus or minus 3 percent.
The group released their findings along with a report on the “overuse” of antibiotics in animal agriculture and announced a new “Meat Without Drugs” campaign to pressure retailers into selling antibiotic-free meats.
The Natural Resources Defense Council also sued FDA again this week — the group has been part of multiple lawsuits and has two recent court victories — seeking access to agency risk assessments documents that looked at the human health risk posed by antibiotics in animal feed. NRDC said it is suing FDA after it “failed to respond in a timely fashion to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).”
Public health advocates have been frustrated by what they believe is too slow a response to an urgent public health threat. Around 80 percent of all antibiotics sold in the United States each year are given to food animals to boost growth as well as treat and prevent disease and scientists have long known that all antibiotic use, whether in medicine or agriculture, fuels antibiotic resistance, which can make diseases harder to treat.
When Arizona’s Yavapai County Board of Supervisors were first asked to consider approving the 2009 FDA Food Code on June 4, two of the three board members spoke strongly against it. They characterized the code, which introduced five new regulations for the food industry, as an example of overreaching government control.
One rule in particular — a provision requiring that children’s menu hamburgers be cooked well-done — received targeted criticism. Board member Carol Springer said that the government shouldn’t decide what a parent orders for a child.
County health officials said they could not say for certain, as the majority of foodborne illnesses go unreported.
But they did know of one county resident with a compelling food poisoning story: 13-year-old Jacob Goswick, a Prescott, AZ resident who fell seriously ill with E. coli O157:H7 in the 2006 bagged spinach outbreak at the age of 8.
Along with his mother, Juliana, Jacob spoke before the board at its June 19 meeting to share his experience of being hospitalized at Phoenix Children’s Hospital for two months, a time that included one month on dialysis due to complete kidney failure, he said.
About 1 in 4 of the nearly one million physicians in the U.S. still belong to the American Medical Association, but at its 161st House of Delegates meeting in Chicago, the AMA found a way to remain relevant.
It weighed into the policy debate over genetically modified foods, and made both sides mad. AMA called for mandatory pre-market safety testing for all GMO foods. However, it also supported continued use of genetically engineered ingredients in food and beverage products with no need for labeling GMO products.
Consumer Union’s Michael Hansen commended AMA for coming out for mandatory pre-market safety assessments, but remained disappointed about the group’s stance on labeling. Meanwhile, the Grocery Manufacturers Association immediately put out a statement commending AMA for its continued use of genetically engineered ingredients.
“Today’s action is in line with the position of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and numerous regulatory and scientific bodies that agree that foods and beverages that contain GE ingredients are safe and materially no different than those foods that do not contain GE ingredients,” said the GMA statement.
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On Thursday, Plains Midstream Canada was notified of 
Bear cub released into wild1:57
Makoon the bear cub takes a closer look at baby RayAnne at the Dubois home in St. Malo, Man., earlier this spring. (Rachel Walford/Canadian Press)
MessageToEagle.com – As our Sun goes through its 11-year cycle that is due to peak in 2013 or 2014, scientists worry about dangerous solar flares that could practically 
Solar flares affect human health, scientists say. Image credit: SDO
MessageToEagle.com – The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has captured a new view of the dwarf galaxy UGC 5497, which looks a bit like salt sprinkled on black velvet in the image.
June 18th, 2012 | 
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To compile the guide, EWG researchers looked at ten years of data from annual U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) pesticide residue tests conducted between 2000 and 2010. The produce samples were washed or peeled prior to testing so the rankings would reflect the level of chemicals present food when is it eaten.
The USDA is reminding overseas travelers that they should be careful when bringing products back into the United States. Many invasive species have hitched a ride on agricultural products. Then they can wreak havoc on native plants. You must declare all agricultural items to Customs and Border Protection Officers at customs.
Public health advocates have been frustrated by what they believe is too slow a response to an urgent public health threat. Around 80 percent of all antibiotics sold in the United States each year are given to food animals to boost growth as well as treat and prevent disease and scientists have long known that all antibiotic use, whether in medicine or agriculture, fuels antibiotic resistance, which can make diseases harder to treat.
