Confronting the Void We Avoid

Comedians play a unique and vital role in society. Like the tribal tricksters and court jesters of yore, they serve to expose what is normally hidden, dropping truth in the guise of humor. 

The latest example of this subversive talent comes from Louis CK, whose recent rant about smartphones has gone viral. Chatting with Conan O’Brien, Louis describes smartphones as “toxic,” explaining, “You need to build an ability to just be yourself and not be doing something. That’s what the phones are taking away.” With that point made, Louis swan dives into the deep end.

“Underneath everything in your life is that thing, that empty… forever empty… Do you know what I’m talking about?” Although Louis merely gestures with a clenched fist against his gut, Conan immediately answers yes, he does know what Louis is talking about. And judging from the nervous laughter of the audience, so do they, even if they’re not used to talking about it.

Meanwhile, people who are used to talking about it—mainly psychologists and nerdy Buddhists like myself—are filled with a perverse delight.

Astronomers Reveal Spectacular Milky Way Supernova May be Visible from Earth in 50 Years

Get ready, stargazers; you may be in for a treat. Astronomers have discovered that it's very possible that sometime during the next 50 years, a supernova occurring in our home galaxy will be visible from Earth. 

In fact, they've found that the odds are nearly 100 percent that such a supernova would be visible to telescopes in the form of infrared radiation.

A massive star usually "goes supernova" at the moment when it's used up all its nuclear fuel and its core collapses, just before it explodes violently and throws off most of its mass into space. Yet actually catching this moment is difficult. It occurs relatively quickly, which means that capturing the beginning of a star's demise is near impossible. Yet in this case, it may very well be possible for astronomers to capture this moment.

Norwegian village uses giant mirrors to capture the sun

Sun-starved residents of a remote Norwegian village unveiled an ingenious mirror system Wednesday to bring natural light to their mountain valley home and liberate them from darkness that envelops them six months a year.

Hundreds of villagers sporting sunglasses stared at three giant mirrors which were perched on a 400-metre (1,310-foot) mountain peak, eagerly waiting for sunlight to be deflected onto their little square.

It took a while, but the mirrors eventually delivered as the sun poked out from behind the clouds to deliver the first—far from dazzling—rays of early winter sunlight.
The mountains surrounding Rjukan village have deprived its 3,500 inhabitants of direct sunlight for six months every year, until local artist Martin Andersen revived a century old idea to reflect it with mirrors.

‘X’ gender: Germans no longer have to classify their kids as male or female

Germany has become the first European country to allow parents of babies born with no clearly-defined gender characteristics to leave the ‘male/female’ field on birth certificates blank, creating a ‘third sex’ category in the public register.

The law, passed in August, comes into force on November 1. It was prompted by results of a 2012 study by the German Ethics Council, which found the rights of intersex people weren’t protected well enough.

The legislation is meant to prevent parents from making hasty decisions on controversial genital surgeries for their not-entirely-male-or-female newborns, done to make one of the two gender characteristics prevail.

Israeli planes strike Syrian military base - US official confirms

Israeli warplanes struck a Syrian air defense base near the port city of Latakia on Thursday, an Obama administration official confirmed to CNN.

The US official said that the Israelis believed the base near Snobar Jableh, south of Latakia, had sensitive and sophisticated missile equipment that may have been transferred to the Lebanese Shiite militant group Hezbollah.

The strikes targeted and destroyed an SA-8 surface-to-air missile shipment, Israeli media reported.

Forbes ranks Putin world’s most powerful person, downs Obama

Russian President Vladimir Putin has been ranked the most powerful person in the world by Forbes. 

He topped the list of the 72 world figures that “matter the most,” while US President Barack Obama was rated second.

Putin’s Syria “chess match” that prevented the US strike, and his having the last word in the diplomatic row over the fugitive NSA whistleblower, Edward Snowden, didn’t go unnoticed with the editorial rating of the influential American business magazine, and were noted among the reasons for his top place.

You Are Yin and Yang and Always Have Been

Yin and Yang are used to describe how seemingly opposite or contrary forces are interconnected and interdependent in the natural world; and, how they give rise to each other as they interrelate to one another. 

They complement each other in many ways, but many existing dualities on our planet are becoming weaker and polarity consciousness is slowly leaving the Earth to a great extent. When we fully appreciate unity consciousness within a unified reality, we realize that these two interconnected forces are actually one.

34 Scientific Studies Showing Adverse Health Effects From Wi-Fi

Here is an excellent collection of scientific papers finding adverse biological effects or damage to health from Wi-Fi signals, Wi-Fi-enabled devices or Wi-Fi frequencies (2.4 or 5 GHz), complied by campaign group WiFi In Schools.

The papers listed are only those where exposures were 16V/m or below.  Someone using a Wi-Fi-enabled tablet computer can be exposed to electromagnetic fields up to 16V/m.  Papers are in alphabetical order.  A file of first pages, for printing, can be found here.

If you feel like sending a copy of this collection to the local schools in your area, you can search for them here and either print out this article to post or email the link.

Study Finds Restaurant Ice Dirtier Than Toilet Water

Most fast food restaurants don’t even offer real food, it’s usually riddled with a number of industrial toxic chemicals and harmful GMOs.

Please excuse us as we go toss our iced coffee; a new investigation from The Daily Mail has found that ice from McDonald's, Burger King, KFC, Starbucks, and more fast-food chains, tested in the U.K., was all more bacteria-ridden than toilet water.

The Mail reports that scientific tests found that all of the samples contained more bacteria than toilet water at the same place, but none of them presented an "immediate health danger."

EU Set to Monitor “Intolerant” Citizens

A frightening proposal currently being considered by the European Parliament would direct governments to monitor citizens deemed “intolerant” and could even lead to a ban on all criticism of Islam and feminism.

The European Framework National Statute for the Promotion of Tolerance (PDF), which was drafted by the European Council on Tolerance and Reconciliation (ECTR), an NGO based in Paris, was presented to the European Parliament’s Civil Liberties committee last month and is thought to be on the verge of implementation.

According to the Gatestone Institute, the Statute represents an “unparalleled threat to free speech” and would have the impact of “effectively shutting down the right to free speech in Europe” by banning “all critical scrutiny of Islam and Islamic Sharia law, a key objective of Muslim activist groups for more than two decades.”

½ UK children in poverty live in cold, damp homes

More than half of British children in poverty are living in cold, damp homes, a new survey has found.

The study of 2,000 10-17-year-olds by the Children’s Society charity revealed that 76 percent of British children are "often worried" about how much money the family had.

More than 53 percent said their home was too cold last winter and 24 percent said it was "much colder" than they would have liked.

One in four (about 26 percent) also said their home suffered from damp or mould.

Benghazi Report: Attack Was Well Planned

Morgan Jones is a former British soldier who was a security officer in Benghazi.  

He witnessed the attack on the barely protected U.S. outpost on September 11, 2012 and has provided 60 Minutes with details about what happened that night.

The 60 Minutes report is devastating.  It is more clear than ever that the Obama administration ignored several warnings about the inevitability of an attack:

Fear and stress define life under drones

Last week, Amnesty International released a report on U.S. drone strikes in Pakistan, concluding that as many as 900 civilians might have been killed and 600 seriously injured in the attacks since 2004, when the controversial program began.

The United States launched between 330 to 374 drone strikes in Pakistan between 2004 and September 2013, according to the report. And those strikes have created a culture of fear on the ground.

"I wasn't scared of drones before," Nabeela, an 8-year-old whose grandmother, Mamana Bibi, was killed by a 2012 drone strike, says in the report. "But now when they fly overhead I wonder, 'Will I be next?'"

Islamic sharia law officially fully implemented in first US city.

In a surprise weekend vote, the city council of Dearborn, Michigan voted 4-3 to became the first US city to officially implement all aspects of Sharia Law.  

The tough new law, slated to go into affect January 1st, addresses secular law including crime, politics and economics as well as personal matters such as sexual intercourse, fasting, prayer, diet and hygiene.

The new law could see citizens stoned for adultery or having a limb amputated for theft. Lesser offenses, such as drinking alcohol or abortion, could result in flogging and/or caning. In addition, the law imposes harsh laws with regards to women and allows for child marriage.

Some in town seem to welcome the new legislation while others have denounced the move as “abhorrent”, a threat to freedom and incompatible with the Constitution.

Is Fukushima tainting one of Alaska's most valuable resources?

This week, contaminated water leaking from Japan’s still-crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant made headlines. 

One of the containment tanks sprang a leak and was spilling tons of hazardous waste water onto the surrounding area, about a football field’s length from the Pacific Ocean.

Now, Japanese officials said, the situation is too big. They need international assistance.

There is speculation the tanks have been leaking, little by little, continuously since the earthquake and subsequent tsunami more than two years ago. It’s never been 100 percent confirmed; many said evidence is as yet inconclusive.

Take A Moment To Uplift Your Spirit: A Message Of Love & Hope

Panache Desai is a spiritual guru for so many, having spent the last decade of his life spreading his messages of love and enlightenment throughout the world.

Like many spiritualists, Panache felt at a young age that he was “different,” possessing a unique kindness and love rarely experienced from someone so young. He knew early in his life that he was here for a special purpose.

Cellphone users are ‘Guinea Pigs’ developing brain Cancer?

Two recent studies provide fuel for both camps: They both find the association between brain cancer and cell phone use is dubious. Does this mean they found no associations? Hardly.

The debate about whether cell phones cause brain tumors continues as two new studies appear to illustrate that brain cancers do not rise as a result to increased cell phone use – at least until the data is looked at more closely.

In the first of the two – from the University of Oxford's International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) – followed 791,710 middle aged-women for seven years – after they reported their cell phone use in 1999, 2005 and 2009.

The research discovered 51,680 invasive cancers and 1,261 central nervous system cancers during the period.

Does Humanity Even Want Freedom?

The most precious gift given to humanity besides its very existence and innate connectivity to universal Source is the gift of free will. We can choose. 

We ultimately have the power to make decisions for ourselves. Unfortunately this concept is buried under the rubble of ignorance and social engineering and of course becomes a very complex matter as life’s input and experiences complicate our entire decision-making process.

And freedom and free will? They’re generally relegated to philosophical treatises and ideological tugs of war in the political arena. Nicely sectored off to where they can’t touch our consciousness and every day living.

Many argue that in today’s circumstance we are not free to make our own decisions, that in effect we often don’t even have free will as evidenced by history. This strikes at the root of the problem. Disempowerment via thinking we need permission versus knowledge of our inborn nature of pure freedom. It may appear that it’s been deprived at times. Free will seems to be often negated or seriously limited under certain circumstances, either by choice, coercion or collusion.

NSA spied on phones of 35 world leaders

The National Security Agency eavesdropped on hundreds of phone numbers belonging to dozens of world leaders, newly leaked documents supplied by former intelligence contractor Edward Snowden reveal.

Britain’s Guardian newspaper wrote Thursday that a classified memo provided to them by Snowden suggests that the NSA encouraged officials within the United States government and intelligence community to share among their colleagues contact information pertaining to international heads of state.

According to the Guardian, the memo made reference to an unnamed US official who had reportedly supplied the NSA with over 200 numbers, including 35 belonging to world leaders.

Who will protect you from the police?

The rise of militarized home invasions 

Increasingly, police departments around the country are becoming more militarized than at any time since the development of the modern American law enforcement apparatus, and it's having a disturbing result: the number of Americans being killed in their own homes, without ever having committed a crime, is rising.

The disturbing trend was laid bare once again in a column by Rutherford Institute founder John W. Whitehead, who writes on such topics frequently. In the column, Whitehead provides a number of examples of recent incidents where groups of heavily armed combat cops had burst into the wrong places and killed homeowners:

Balloon Rides to Near-Space for $75,000 a Seat

You don't have to climb aboard a rocket ship to be a space tourist anymore.

World View Enterprises of Tucson, AZ, plans to offer suborbital spaceflight in a capsule lifted by balloon to 18.6 miles (30 km), which then glides back to Earth.

For $75,000, a company called World View Enterprises will loft you 19 miles (30 kilometers) up into Earth's atmosphere using a high-altitude balloon. While the gentle ride won't earn passengers their astronaut wings — outer space is generally considered to begin at an altitude of 62 miles (100 km) — it will afford spectacular views of the blackness of space and the curvature of our planet, World View officials say.

High Levels of Glyphosate in Argentina Soybeans

Testbiotech publishes findings from investigations in Argentina

Testbiotech will publish its findings from a pilot project initiated to analyse herbicide residues in soybean crops grown in Argentina. The samples were taken shortly before the harvest was due, and analysed by a laboratory at the University of Buenos Aires.

The results showed surprisingly high levels of residue in plants that had been sprayed with glyphosate. Almost 100mg/kg were found in one of the samples. In seven of eleven samples, the level of residue was above the international maximum residue level of 20 mg/ kg allowed for food and feed products.

Dutch artist's vacuum cleaner could clear China smog

Daan Roosegaarde came up with idea during visit to Beijing and has won agreement to test system in one of city's public parks

There are many theories on how China could best tackle its air pollution problem: it could shutter its factories, upgrade its emissions standards or, according to one Dutch artist, it could simply suck up the haze using a giant electromagnetic vacuum cleaner.

Money Grows on Trees: Scientists Discover Gold Particles in Australian Gum Trees

Ever hear of trees made of gold? Scientists have discovered that gum trees from the Western Australian goldfields draw up tiny particles of gold through their roots and that these particles end up in the trees' leaves and branches.

The particles themselves aren't anything huge, so it's unlikely that a tree-inspired gold rush will occur. In fact, the particles are just the size of one-fifth the diameter of a human hair--so small that they're invisible to the human eye. However, the fact that the trees are drawing up this gold reveals the unique way they're adapting to this environment and could be used to assess the quality of the soil below.

Amnesty International & Human Rights Watch speak out on dronestrikes

US drone strikes could be classed as war crimes, killing more civilians than terrorists.

Joint report with Human Rights Watch judges US attacks in Yemen and Pakistan to have broken international human rights law

US officials responsible for the secret CIA drone campaign against suspected terrorists in Pakistan may have committed war crimes and should stand trial, a report by a leading human rights group warns. Amnesty International has highlighted the case of a grandmother who was killed while she was picking vegetables and other incidents which could have broken international laws designed to protect civilians.