Plutonium Newsclip Service
World News and Articles
2013
Animal/Insects
Absurd Creature of the Week: The Human-Sized Salamander That Smells Like Pepper. MATT SIMON. 10.11.13. The giant salamander smells like pepper, it’s astonishingly quick, and it makes noises that sound a bit like a child. A really funny-looking child....“It was called by the discoverer Homo diluvii testis, because it was all flattened out and had big large eyes, and they thought it was the skeleton of a human,” said Wake. “And they said this was a remnant of a human who was caught in the flood, Noah’s flood.” Homo diluvii testis means “human witness of the deluge,” and today, the giant salamanders’ genus is Andrias, meaning “image of a man.” http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2013/10/absurd-creature-6-foot-salamander/.
Man’s Best (and Oldest) Friend. Sarah Pruitt. May 22, 2013. ... In the first study, researchers from Russia, Europe and the United States focused their work on human and dog burial sites in eastern Siberia, a region that appears to have been chock-full of prehistoric dog lovers. The earliest known domesticated dog food was found there, dating back some 33,000 years, though most dog burials in the region span a more recent period (less than 10,000 years ago). The researchers examined 17 human and dog burial sites on the southern and western shores of Lake Baikal, which contains around 20 percent of the globe’s fresh water, as well as the upper reaches of the Angara and Lena Rivers....http://www.history.com/news/mans-best-and-oldest-friend.
Migrating Spiders Sailing Through North Texas Skies. Bud Gillett. September 25, 2013. Thousands of North Texans are asking, “What are those long, silky strings floating in the air?” Turns out they’re the webs of spiders in their annual migration to better hunting grounds, and surprising a lot of people...Heavy moisture from recent milder mornings have made it easier to see webs, as they’re more reflective in the emerging sunlight. It’s just small spiders looking for new hunting grounds. The silky strings can be 20-feet long and sometimes float for miles. http://dfw.cbslocal.com/2013/09/25/spider-migration-sailing-through-north-texas-skies/.
North East gangs use killer dogs to hunt region's wildlife. Ruth Lognonne, Chronicle Live. 6 Oct 2013. Gangs of youths are breeding a new type of vicious and powerful hunting dog to fight badgers in the countryside. Bull-lurchers, a cross between the illegal pitbull terrier and a lurcher, are tearing across the North’s landscapes killing rabbits, foxes and even deer. A growing number of animal cruelty cases have been coming to court in recent months, and the RSPCA says former coal mining towns are proving a hotbed of activity. “We’ve had a lot of cases in areas like Ashington where youths have been prosecuted for hunting with dogs,” said local RSPCA inspector, Helen Bestwick. “The problem is, a lot of these types of cruelty cases go unreported. The populations of some of these towns don’t think there is anything wrong with hunting with dogs. “They stick by one another and don’t want to give anybody up. As a result they’re very hard to identify.” Even the bravest wild animal is no match for a pair of these new-breed hunting dogs which are built for both speed and ferocity, believe RSPCA experts. http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/north-east-gangs-use-killer-6145449.
Oarfish inspired ancient sea tales - expert. Rob Hayes, NBC. October 21, 2013. "People are attracted to it almost like [they're] attracted to aliens or something," said Rick Feeney, who is in charge of the fish collection at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. Feeney says the mysterious oarfish, which is usually found in deep waters of the open sea 500 to 1,000 feet down, was an inspiration for ancient sea tales when it would only occasionally break the waves. "In older times, it was probably the basis for sea serpent stories because of the way it swims at the surface. Its dorsal fin breaks the water and it's swimming in a snake-like fashion," said Feeney. http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=news/bizarre&id=9295926.
Religious edict allowing people to eat dogs and cats issued in Damascus. AFP (Associated Forgein Press). 16.10.2013. In some areas children have died from severe malnutrition, according to one NGO, and a cleric told AFP he had issued a religious ruling allowing the eating of dog and cat meat...For Muslims, Eid is a time for children to receive new clothes and play with friends after sharing a festive meal with their families..."There is no road... The road is closed... What are we going to do?... We are feeding them milk but it's expired," says the little girl, as the babies cry...For some, relief came earlier this week, when the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Syrian Red Crescent evacuated 3,500 people from Moadimayet al-Sham with the agreement of the authorities...But only children, women and old men were able to leave, with the wounded left behind and aid workers prevented from entering the area..."Many children have very low blood pressure, fatigue, dizziness, and a reduced (disease-fighting) white blood cell count. The worst affected by the food shortages are children aged under two years," he added...The hardest part is not having the right medical equipment or food to fight malnutrition, he told AFP..."We issued a religious edict allowing people to eat dog and cat meat. Not because it is religiously permitted, but because it is a reflection of the reality we are suffering," said Sheikh Saleh al-Khatib, who has been on hunger strike for nine days..."People here have nothing for their children. I am on strike because I want to help save food for others." http://en.tengrinews.kz/religion/Religious-edict-allowing-people-to-eat-dogs-and-cats-issued-in-Damascus-23353/.
Tiny Flying Machines Take A Lesson From Honeybees. Mikaeli Costello-Futurity, Queensland. September 11, 2013.To develop insect-sized robot aircraft, researchers are harnessing secrets of how honeybees fly...“These bees are living proof that it’s possible to engineer airborne vehicles that are agile, navigationally competent, weigh less than 100 milligrams, and can fly around the world using the energy given by an ounce of honey,” says Mandyam Srinivasan, professor at Queensland Brain Institute (QBI) at the University of Queensland. http://www.futurity.org/flying-lessons-may-lead-robotbee-swarm/?utm_source=Futurity+Today&utm_campaign=b8bc7a0aa6-September_11_20139_11_2013&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_e34e8ee443-b8bc7a0aa6-206308721.
Crime
11-Year-Old Brings Gun to School. The Cheat Sheet. October 24, 2013. Whatever happened to toy guns? An 11-year-old was arrested on Wednesday in Vancouver, Washington after he brought a handgun, over 400 rounds of ammunition, and several knives to school. Frontier Middle School, where the boy attends, was put in lock-down for two hours while police searched the grounds—but luckily found nobody injured. The arrest comes after a 12-year-old boy shot and killed a teacher in Nevada (and wounded two other students) on Monday, and a 14-year-old boy was charged with murdering a math teacher in Massachusetts on Wednesday. http://www.thedailybeast.com/cheats/2013/10/24/11-year-old-brings-gun-to-school.html?utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=cheatsheet_morning&cid=newsletter%3Bemail%3Bcheatsheet_morning&utm_term=Cheat%20Sheet.
Dealing With Pirates: How Julius Caesar Handled Things. Robert Schlesinger, April 13, 2009. US News and World Report. ...In 75 BC, Julius Caesar was captured by Sicilian pirates, according to Plutarch. Caesar was apparently something of a charming, bragging prisoner: He told them that the ransom they were demanding was insufficient for someone of his stature. And when he wanted to sleep, he would tell them to quiet down...From Plutarch: Caesar went off to Pergamus, where he ordered the pirates to be brought forth and crucified; the punishment he had often threatened them with whilst he was in their hands, and they little dreamt he was in earnest...http://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/robert-schlesinger/2009/04/13/dealing-with-pirates-how-julius-caesar-handled-things.
Explanations of mixed-sex partnered homicide: A review of sociological and psychological theory. Elizabeth A. Gurian. Aggression and Violent Behavior, Volume 18, Issue 5, September–October 2013, Pages 520-526. Offending by mixed-sex partnered offenders (i.e., at least one man and one woman), no less than offending solely by men, requires explanation. This article begins with an overview of homicide committed by mixed-sex partnered offenders, followed by a brief discussion of sociological theories and then focuses primarily on psychological theories (including transient criminality and stimulation-seeking behavior, hybristophilia and opponent process, folie à deux, obedience and authority) in order to address gaps in our understanding of mixed-sex partnered homicide offending. These theories may help us better comprehend the dynamics between mixed-sex partnered homicide offenders at a sociological and psychological level. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.avb.2013.07.007.
(http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S135917891300061X).
Forgotten economic actors. How pirates, mafias and other illegitimate firms shape economic systems and competition. Valérie Duplat. M@n@gement, 2012/3 (Vol. 15). 150 pages. DOI 10.3917/mana.153.0274. ...Mafia organizations have been described as the “aristocracy of organized crime” (Raufer, 2005: 19). They are closed and ritualistic organizations with vast power over the territory they control. Traditionally anchored in the history of a country or a region, nowadays they operate their diverse trafficking operations on the international scene. The best-known examples are the Camorra, the ‘Ndranghetta, the Cosa Nostra, and the Sacra Corona Unita in Italy, the US Cosa Nostra, the Turkish Maffya, the Albanian Mafia, the Chinese Triads, and the Japanese Yakuzas. These Mafia groups usually involve several families, each of which controls its own territory and manages its own business. http://www.cairn.info/revue-management-2012-3-page-274.htm.
Girls Cannot Give Consent. Simcha Fisher. August 29, 2013. In the third world, they stone a girl to death for being raped. In the United States, we just give her rapist and de facto murderer a slap on the wrist, and reassure the world that she was asking for it. http://www.patheos.com/blogs/simchafisher/2013/08/29/girls-cannot-give-consent/.
Jul 31, 1975: Jimmy Hoffa vanishes. The History Channel website. (2013)....In Chicago, Hoffa was tried for fraud in handling Teamster pension funds, convicted, and sentenced to five years in prison. That sentence was commuted by President Richard Nixon in 1971, and despite his criminal record, Hoffa remained a key Teamster figure until his disappearance. http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/jimmy-hoffa-vanishes.
Man Tried to Hire KKK Killer. Cheat Sheet: Talking Points Memo. October 25, 2013. A 29-year-old veteran in Alabama pled guilty Thursday to hiring what he believed was a Ku Klux Klan member to kill his neighbor. Allen Wayne Densen Morgan allegedly began his murder plot after suspecting that his neighnor Clifford Maurice Mosley, who had a previous record of sexual abuse, had raped his wife. "I want this man hung from a tree like he is an animal. I want his d--k cut off and I want him cut," Morgan told Cornelius Harris Jr., an undercover FBI Special Agent. Morgan was arrested on August 25 when two undercover agents, posing as the KKK members, met him at a motel to finalize the deal. He will be sentenced in February of 2014. http://www.thedailybeast.com/cheats/2013/10/25/man-tries-to-hire-kkk-to-hang-neighbor.html?utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=cheatsheet_afternoon&cid=newsletter%3Bemail%3Bcheatsheet_afternoon&utm_term=Cheat%20Sheet.
Notorious bikie gangs, the Aussie Finks and the US Mongols, join forces. TNT Magazine. 2nd Oct 2013. In retaliation to the ban on bikie gatherings and other restrictions, the Finks are joining forces with the Mongols, a gang based in the US known for drug dealing, money laundering, robbery, murder, and assault. This move means the bikie gang will become the largest, and arguably most powerful, in the country, with some 400 members, as well as giving them a presence on an international stage. "This is massive," police said. "This will elevate the Finks to the international stage and make them the most powerful gang in Australia. It will also give them international links equal to the Hells Angels." http://www.tntmagazine.com/news/world/notorious-bikie-gangs-the-aussie-finks-and-the-us-mongols-join-forces.
Oct 14, 1975: Trial begins in Amityville murders. Onlline History Channel. Oct. 14, 2013. On the evening of November 13, 1974, Ronald “Butch” DeFeo Jr. entered an Amityville bar and told people his parents had been shot inside their home. Several bar patrons accompanied DeFeo back to his family’s home, at 112 Ocean Avenue, where a man named Joe Yeswit called Suffolk Country police to report the crime. When officers arrived, they found the bodies of Ronald DeFeo Sr., age 43, his wife Louise, 42, and their children Dawn, 18, Allison, 13, Marc, 11, and John, 9. The victims had been shot dead in their beds. Ronald DeFeo Jr., 22, initially tried to say the murders were a mob hit; however, by the next day he confessed to committing the crimes himself...One aspect of the case that puzzled investigators was the fact that all six victims appeared to have died in their sleep, without struggle, and neighbors didn't hear any gunshots, despite the fact that the rifle DeFeo used didn't have a silencer...In 1977, Jay Anson published a novel titled The Amityville Horror. The book became a best-seller and inspired a 1979 movie of the same name, as well as a 2005 remake. http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/trial-begins-in-amityville-murders?et_cid=56707288&et_rid=954119701&linkid=http%3a%2f%2fwww.history.com%2fthis-day-in-history%2ftrial-begins-in-amityville-murders.
On London’s Underside, Where Slavery Survives. A. O. Scott. September 14, 2007. The story told in “Eastern Promises” is a grim and violent one, set in London’s expatriate Russian underworld. The film, directed by David Cronenberg....“Eastern Promises,” like those earlier movies, is fundamentally about the moral scandal of slavery, the traffic in human bodies and human misery that persists, in secret and in the shadows, even in the modern, cosmopolitan West. http://movies.nytimes.com/2007/09/14/movies/14east.html?_r=0.
Physiology, Biology, and Crime. Austin Cline, About.com Guide. September 6, 2013. Crime is usually treated as a social issue, but since we are biological creatures we can't ignore the influence of biology on social behaviors - including anti-social behaviors like crime. According to Adrian Raine, a criminologist at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, there are distinct biological differences between criminals and everyone else. That's a potentially dangerous thesis and one that has, in one form or another, lead to all sorts of mischief in the past. Of course, the fact that it's been abused to discriminate and persecute doesn't mean that it's untrue. It does, however, mean that anyone working on it must proceed with more caution than usual. Consider it the sociological equivalent of radioactive material: potentially useful, but also potentially deadly, "The seeds of sin are brain-based," he writes. Genetics, accidents of birth or events in early childhood have left criminals' brains and bodies with measurable flaws predisposing them to committing assault, murder and other antisocial acts." http://atheism.about.com/b/2013/09/06/physiology-biology-and-crime.htm?nl=1.
Public Enemies: Social Media Is Fueling Gang Wars in Chicago. Ben Austen. 9/17/2013. Last year, while under house arrest for aiming a gun at a police officer, Cozart uploaded some videos to YouTube that eventually landed him an estimated $6 million deal with Interscope Records. The title of one of his early hits, “3hunna,” is a nickname for the Black Disciples gang, and in the song he maligns the Tooka gang, a crew affiliated with the enemy Gangster Disciples. [sic, following a few murders] The Chicago police fielded calls from departments in four different states, where officers were struggling to understand why people in their jurisdictions were declaring themselves to be warring branches of the Disciples and fighting over some kids from Chicago’s South Side. Even a full year later, the two rappers are cited in countless videos, comments, and posts as shorthand for disrespect or a call to arms. ...But in neighborhoods where shootings are common, the use of online tools has turned hazardous, as gang violence is now openly advertised and instigated online. http://www.wired.com/underwire/2013/09/gangs-of-social-media/.
Sep 28, 1988: A cult leader kills one of his followers. Roch Theriault fatally wounds Solange Boislard in Ontario, Canada. Theriault, the leader of the most bizarre and violent cult in Canadian history, often physically abused his followers. Obsessed with anatomy and medicine, Theriault performed crude intestinal surgery on Boislard by slicing open her abdomen and ripping out a piece of intestine with his bare hands. He then ordered another follower to stitch up the wound with a needle and thread. When she died the next day in agonizing pain, he sawed off the top of her head, and then sexually assaulted her. Before burying the woman, he removed a rib, which he wore around his neck. At his trial in 1993, even more horrific tales came to light. The cult leader had burned women with a welding torch, put vice-grips on their nipples, and cut their fingers off with a wire cutter. The alcoholic and delusional Theriault apparently thought he was driving the devil out of them. Theriault also demanded sex from all of the women members in an attempt to increase the number of cult members through children. After a new member of the cult, an escapee from a mental hospital, beat a child at the compound, Theriault performed "surgery" on the child. When the child then died, Theriault castrated the man as punishment. http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/a-cult-leader-kills-one-of-his-followers?et_cid=56399462&et_rid=954119701&linkid=http%3a%2f%2fwww.history.com%2fthis-day-in-history%2fa-cult-leader-kills-one-of-his-followers.
Sexual offenses against children: Patterns and motives. Laurence Miller. Aggression and Violent Behavior, Volume 18, Issue 5, September–October 2013, Pages 506-519. Children are the quintessential innocent victims; therefore, special opprobrium is reserved for offenders who sexually abuse them. This article describes the more prominent typologies of pedophilic sex offenders and discusses the role of child pornography in child sexual abuse of actual children. It next examines the often overlooked population of women offenders who sexually abuse children. Attention then turns to the sexual abuse of children in child care settings and by members of the clergy; practical recommendations are provided for reducing the risk of this kind of institutional child sexual abuse. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.avb.2013.07.006.
(http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1359178913000608.).
Was Sex With Children Ever O.K.? "Things were different then" is no excuse for inappropriate sexual contact, no matter how permissive the era. Belinda Luscombe. Sept. 19, 2013. After it was over, young Dawkins ran off to tell his friends. Many of them had had the same unfortunate experience. In his telling, it seems to have been more or less regarded as bad luck, rather like having been bowled for a duck (having scored no runs) in cricket. “I don’t think he did any of us lasting damage,” he notes...But Dawkins has not put that last hypothesis through rigorous scientific testing. The studies on any child-adult sexual contact are pretty clear, whether it is so-called consensual or not. It can be toxic for the child. There are thousands of sexual-abuse survivors who struggle with what happened to them decades after the event....In other words, just because some people have come through sexual abuse with no more injuries than an “extremely unpleasant” memory doesn’t mean that childhood sexual abuse should be taken lightly. This isn’t simply a matter of a shifting moral climate that may well shift back again. We also know the damage isn’t just to the victim. While Dawkins was still at school, the master who molested him committed suicide. http://ideas.time.com/2013/09/19/was-sex-with-children-ever-okay/?iid=obnetwork.
When Enough is Enough: Location Tracking, Mosaic Theory, and Machine Learning. Bellovin, Steven M. and Hutchins, Renee M. and Jebara, Tony and Zimmeck, Sebastian, (September 3, 2013). New York University Journal of Law & Liberty (2014).; U of Maryland Legal Studies Research Paper No. 2013-51. http://ssrn.com/abstract=2320019 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2320019. ...Mosaic theorists advocate a cumulative approach to the evaluation of data collection. Under the theory, searches are “analyzed as a collective sequence of steps rather than as individual steps.” The approach is based on the recognition that comprehensive aggregation of even seemingly innocuous data reveals greater insight than consideration of each piece of information in isolation. Over time, discrete units of surveillance data can be processed to create a mosaic of habits, relationships, and much more. Consequently, a Fourth Amendment analysis that focuses only on the government’s collection of discrete units of trivial data fails to appreciate the true harm of long-term surveillance — the composite. http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2320019.
Drugs
Boat Full of ‘Lower Grade’ Weed Crashes Into Nude Beach. Sounds like the plot for Spring Breakers 2. Jessica Roy. Oct. 07, 2013. The Inquisitr reports that the boat transporting thousands of pounds of marijuana from Mexico accidentally landed on the beach in Santa Cruz. The crew unloaded much of the cargo before disappearing from the scene. But to the local cops, who are accustomed to the high-potency pot peddled in southern California, the Mexican import was seriously lacking...“This is lower grade marijuana than we see in Santa Cruz,” a sheriff’s deputy said. http://newsfeed.time.com/2013/10/07/boat-full-of-lower-grade-weed-crashes-into-nude-beach/#ixzz2h49vq08Y.
Chinese Gangs Fuel Meth Scourge in US, Mexico. Smuggled chemicals lead to violence and physical damage. Joshua Philipp, Epoch Times. September 12, 2013. Chinese gangs are supplying Mexican drug cartels with chemicals to create meth, fueling an epidemic of drug use in the United States and drug wars in Mexico. Methamphetamine, which goes by several other names including meth, crystal, and ice, gives its users a several-minute rush if injected, and a feeling of euphoria if snorted or swallowed. It is also extremely addictive, and causes severe paranoia and violent behavior. Meth used to be easy to make. The chemicals required to create the drug were available at most local drug stores, and people running meth labs used those shops as their local suppliers. Alarmed at the growing popularity of the drug, in 2004 the United States began regulating pseudoephedrine, a key ingredient in meth often found in cough medicine. http://www.theepochtimes.com/n3/285163-chinese-gangs-fuel-meth-scourge-in-us-mexico/?photo=3.
Demon rum: Study finds alcohol may release aggression in religious individuals. David Briggs. July 26, 2013. Mixing religion and alcohol may be dangerous to other people’s health. A new study of religion, alcohol and violence revealed that religious folks who were not under the influence were the most likely to turn the other cheek...However, the researchers also found that religious individuals who were intoxicated were the most likely to display aggression, administering higher and longer levels of electric shocks to opponents in a laboratory experiment. http://blogs.thearda.com/trend/featured/demon-rum-study-finds-alcohol-may-release-aggression-in-religious-individuals/.
FBI Busts Caribbean's 'Most Powerful' Drug Trafficking Group. Marguerite Cawley. 02 October 2013. The FBI has dismantled a major drug trafficking group in Puerto Rico that allegedly moved at least nine tons of cocaine into the United States over a period of five years, highlighting the appeal of the US dependency's location as a drug transshipment point...According to US officials, Puerto Rico is an increasingly common transit point for US-bound drugs, which are often sent to small Caribbean islands before arriving in the territory. Drugs also reach Puerto Rico via go-fast boat from the Dominican Republic, which has also become an important transshipment hub for cocaine trafficked from South America by both sea and air. http://www.insightcrime.org/news-briefs/fbi-busts-puerto-ricos-most-powerful-drug-trafficking-group?.
Goal of Label Changes: Better Prescribing, Safer Use of Opioids. FDA. Sept 10, 2013. In addition to requiring new labeling on these prescription medications, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is also requiring manufacturers to study certain known serious risks when these drugs are used long-term...Currently, labeling on these ER/LA opioids indicate they are for "the relief of moderate to severe pain in patients requiring continuous, around-the-clock opioid treatment for an extended period of time." However, the updated indication for when to prescribe and take these medicines will, when finalized, emphasize that other, less potentially addictive, treatment options should be considered first. http://www.fda.gov/ForConsumers/ConsumerUpdates/ucm367660.htm?source=govdelivery&utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery.
La·e·trile Noun /ˈlāəˌtril/ /-trəl/. A compound extracted from amygdalin, formerly used controversially to treat cancer. (Google Dictionary) a substance derived from amygdalin; publicized as an antineoplastic drug although there is no supporting evidence http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=laetrile. (A substance found in the pits of many fruits such as apricots and papayas, and in other foods). It has been tried in some countries as a treatment for cancer, but it has not been shown to work in clinical studies. Laetrile is not approved for use in the United States. Also called amygdalin. http://www.cholangiocarcinoma.org/glossary-l.htm. ...(ince 2000, there have been several instances of prosecution because of Laetrile transport across state lines). Nonetheless, products advertised as Laetrile and amygdalin can still be purchased via many websites.http://www.cancer.org/treatment/treatmentsandsideeffects/complementaryandalternativemedicine/pharmacologicalandbiologicaltreatment/laetrile.
Mead: Ancient drink is a modern-day success. Blend of fermented honey, water sees a revival.
Lisa Rathke. Sep. 2, 2013. GROTON, VT. — Once called the nectar of the gods, the oldest fermented beverage is seeing a renaissance. Beekeepers and vintners are rediscovering mead, an alcoholic drink made of fermented honey and water. These days, fruits, spices and even carbonation are being added for distinct flavors that aren’t a far cry from the beverage favored by the Vikings and ancient Greeks and during the Middle ages. http://www.lansingstatejournal.com/article/20130902/LIFE05/309020039/Mead-Ancient-drink-modern-day-success?gcheck=1.
Narco-Islands: Mexico Ends One Journey, Starts Another. Victor Manuel Chavez. 02 October 2013. In Mexico, the coasts and islands are left unprotected by the authorities, opening them up to drug trafficking interests. This is why an ex-governor can buy an island; why criminals can burn an entire island even while they use another to load and unload drugs and fuel.From 2006 to 2012, the Navy conducted a total of 308,195 naval operations, in which 19,070 agents participated, patrolling 11,592 kilometers of coastline on the mainland and the country’s islands. They inspected 321,266 boats, seized 485 of them and arrested 1,511 people -- 615 of who were not carrying IDs...Although the figures appear to show success, the reality is different. The Navy admitted as much in a report it gave to the Anti-Corruption Commission recently..."The sailors steal part of the seized drugs," the report said. "They allow people involved in drug trafficking to escape or consent to illegal activities that affect the national maritime resources." ...In fact, one document from the Intelligence of the Subsecretary for Federal Public Security revealed that drug traffickers consider "maritime routes the most secure." http://www.insightcrime.org/news-analysis/narco-islands-mexico-ends-journey-and-starts-another.
Persian Gulf is Growing Drug Hub For LatAm Groups. Charles Parkinson. 17 September 2013. The Gulf States are an increasingly important operation base and drug transshipment point for Latin American groups, according to a prominent security analyst, using the region to coordinate transport to Europe and Asia while attempting to stoke local demand...This is not the first time Qatar has been mentioned as an emerging transshipment point for Latin American drugs. La Nacion newspaper reported in 2011 a link between Argentina and the emirate. According to that report, a kilo of cocaine can be sold for up to $90,000 in the region -- three times its value in the United States -- a highly lucrative trade if criminal groups are successful in increasing local demand. http://www.insightcrime.org/news-briefs/persian-gulf-is-growing-drug-hub-for-latam-groups.
The new route of the narcos: Ezeiza-Qatar. Gabriel Di Nicola. September 29th, 2011. Qatar is a small peninsula of 11,400 square kilometers, extending from Saudi Arabia on the Persian Gulf. Its history and its economic power changed when they discovered huge reserves of oil and gas. At that time, ceased to be a humble country in the Middle East. It has a population of almost 1,000,000 300,000 Qataris and foreigners who went to live there to work. In the six cases investigated by Catania and his team attempted to smuggle between half a kilo and 1.5 kg of cocaine. Since the arrests of the "mules", the judge and PSA detectives want to rebuild the steps of the suspects since they came to Argentina to try to give the organizers. "But it is difficult. Detainees talk because they have much fear and little information," said a researcher of cases. The alarm not only lit by the route chosen by the narcos, but also a mode that, while not new, is very dangerous for the "mules" liquid cocaine ingestion. http://www.lanacion.com.ar/1410135-la-nueva-ruta-de-los-narcos-ezeiza-qatar.
Earth/Space
Find Faces On Earth, In Clouds. JESSE EMSPAK. MAY 30, 2013. There's a psychological condition called pareidolia. It means seeing faces in the patterns of ordinary objects, like foods that bear the likeness of Jesus. Other famous examples are the "Face on Mars," which made many people think that an alien intelligence had built a huge structure on the red planet. Now artists have combined the human tendency to find faces with software – a kind of commentary on the ability to see patterns, which humans are very good at. Two projects, one called GoogleFaces from Germany-based Onformative and another from South Korea-based art collective Shinseungback Kimyonghun called Cloud Face use face recognition algorithms to analyze images from Google Maps and other sources to find patterns that resemble human faces. The results are not only beautiful; but thought-provoking. http://news.discovery.com/tech/apps/find-faces-earth-clouds-130530.htm.
Fungal Sex Can Generate New Drug Resistant, Virulent Strains. Science Daily. Sep. 10, 2013. Though some might disagree, most biologists think the purpose of sex is to create diversity among offspring. Such diversity underpins evolution, enabling organisms to acquire new combinations of traits to adapt to their environment...However, scientists have been perplexed to find that many fungi and microorganisms procreate with exact replicas of themselves, where the expected outcome would simply be more of the same. Now researchers have found the act of sex between such genetically identical organisms can itself be mutagenic, meaning it can create genetic changes and diversity where it did not previously exist. Studies of a fungus called Cryptococcus showed the process of sexual reproduction can result in extra bundles of genetic material or chromosomes that can be beneficial to the organism's survival. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/09/130910205435.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily%2Fhealth_medicine%2Fhiv_and_aids+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Health+%26+Medicine+News+--+HIV+and+AIDS%29.
Maps of the Moon. 1603 - 2012. International Planetary Cryptography Database (IPCD). http://planetologia.elte.hu/ipcd/ipcd.html?cim=moon.
U.N.: Humans Cause Climate Change. The Daily Beast. September 27, 2013. This is still a thing we’re debating? According to a new report from hundreds of the world’s top scientists, there is a 95 to 100 percent chance global warming is caused by humans. “Human influence has been detected in warming of the atmosphere and the ocean, in changes in the global water cycle, in reductions in snow and ice, in global mean sea level rise, and in changes in some climate extremes,” the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change wrote in the report that also called on governments to “step up” their responses....http://www.thedailybeast.com/cheats/2013/09/27/u-n-humans-cause-climate-change.html?utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=cheatsheet_morning&cid=newsletter%3Bemail%3Bcheatsheet_morning&utm_term=Cheat%20Sheet.
Why Is There So Little Innovation in Water Infrastructure? HENRY GRABAR. SEP 13, 2013. On its 2013 report card, the American Society of Civil Engineers gave U.S. water infrastructure a D. Even the nation’s best water systems are ancient -- we have over 240,000 water main breaks each year -- and unprepared for a mix of current challenges that includes climate change, tightening budgets, growing urban populations, and pharmaceutical contaminants. This spring, after record-setting rains, Detroit had no choice but to pour several hundred million gallons of raw sewage into the Great Lakes. What's the problem with American water infrastructure? In part, it's the same old story: federal infrastructure spending in the U.S. continues to fall and cash-strapped cities, choked by the sequester and the economic crisis, can't afford to fill in the gaps. http://www.theatlanticcities.com/technology/2013/09/why-there-so-little-innovation-water-infrastructure/6883/.
World Battleground, 1000 years of war in 5 minutes. Kolomaire. Oct 22, 2008. YouTube.com.
This animation shows all important battles that took place over the last ten centuries. The sizes of the explosions and labels are proportional to the number of casualties. The music is "Ride Of The Valkyries" by Richard Wagner. The data comes from the wikipedia article, List of Battles. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1hsDn2kNriI.
Education
Fresno State Loves Its Bulldogs, but So Does a Gang. Malia Wollan. November 7, 2013. Bulldogs can be seen snarling from flagpoles, from baseball caps, from T-shirts and from tattoos — one man has the dog’s face inked across his torso, its behind across his back. Young men on street corners bark at passing patrol officers. They call their children “little dogs” or “bull puppies.” Police raids find their targets asleep beneath red blankets emblazoned with the dog. The Fresno State Bulldogs college football team is exceedingly popular here in the country’s fruit and vegetable epicenter, where more than a million acres of cropland stretch to the horizon. “From Sacramento to L.A., there is nothing except agriculture and Fresno State football,” said Kenny Wiggins, a former Fresno State lineman who plays in the N.F.L. for the San Diego Chargers. “We were the only show in town; everyone, and I mean everyone, goes to the games.” The team’s logo is a cartoon bulldog, a muscled beast with sharp teeth, a spiked collar and floppy ears. But the bulldog is no longer just a college sports mascot. It has been appropriated by members of a savage street gang who call themselves the Bulldogs. The gang started in a prison and quickly earned a reputation as unusually vicious, even in the bloody world of California gangs. At their height, in 2006, the Bulldogs were responsible for 70 percent of the city’s shootings, the police said. Three of four inmates in the county jail are Bulldogs. “They grew and grew and grew until there were Bulldogs everywhere you looked,” Jerry Dyer, Fresno’s police chief, said. [sic, This behavior is typical of the ancient Roman gladiatorial games where the fighters (prisoners) were selected from a quarry (such as the college stadium arenas) of the regions. If the prisoners were able to win the praise of the population the fighter's criminal records would be cleared and given full citizen rights, thus freed from bondage for past crimes, etc. This technique is very such like the one used within the ancient Spartan (Greek) lifestyle]. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/10/sports/ncaafootball/fresno-adopts-its-college-team-but-so-does-a-gang.html?_r=1&.
Hazed and Confused: Maryland Cheer Squad on Probation. CAROLINE LINTON. SEP 12, 2013.
Towson University’s award-winning cheer leading team has been suspended for the entire football season over secretive accusations of hazing. Caroline Linton reports. “In general, we take any allegation of hazing very, very seriously and basically have a zero-tolerance policy toward hazing,” said Deb Moriarty, Towson’s vice president of student affairs. “We really want to hold our students, particularly our students who are in leadership positions around campus, to the highest standard of conduct.” The university and the cheerleaders have kept quiet so far about the allegations. Cheer leading head coach Edy Pratt refused to comment, and squad members have remained tight-lipped. According to the university, the Office of Student Conduct received an anonymous call about the alleged hazing in early August and an investigation was launched on August 7. On August 23, the team was suspended for the entire 2013–14 academic year. No one was injured in the alleged hazing, the university said. http://www.thedailybeast.com/witw/articles/2013/09/12/towson-university-s-cheerleaders-on-probation-after-hazing-allegations.html?utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=cheatsheet_afternoon&cid=newsletter%3Bemail%3Bcheatsheet_afternoon&utm_term=Cheat%20Sheet.
Kirpans, Law, and Religious Symbols in Schools. Satvinder Singh Juss. August 9, 2012. J. of Church and State (Autumn 2013) 55 (4): 758-795. doi: 10.1093/jcs/css058. The kirpan is not a humble object. It has been described as “a small, curved ornamental steel dagger” or “a sword” that is “commonly 7.5 centimetres long” and “is carried in a sheath and strapped to the body, usually under clothing.” The issue is of importance as one of individual religious expression. But it is also important because it calls into question the commitment to multiculturalism, pluralism, tolerance, and broad-mindedness that is the hallmark of the Western liberal democratic state. The wearing of the kirpan raises these issues far more acutely than the more familiar examples of religiously ordained dress codes,8 which do not raise concerns of personal safety9 in the way that the Sikh kirpan ostensibly does.
Hazed and Confused: Maryland Cheer Squad on Probation. CAROLINE LINTON. SEP 12, 2013.
Towson University’s award-winning cheer leading team has been suspended for the entire football season over secretive accusations of hazing. Caroline Linton reports. “In general, we take any allegation of hazing very, very seriously and basically have a zero-tolerance policy toward hazing,” said Deb Moriarty, Towson’s vice president of student affairs. “We really want to hold our students, particularly our students who are in leadership positions around campus, to the highest standard of conduct.” The university and the cheerleaders have kept quiet so far about the allegations. Cheer leading head coach Edy Pratt refused to comment, and squad members have remained tight-lipped. According to the university, the Office of Student Conduct received an anonymous call about the alleged hazing in early August and an investigation was launched on August 7. On August 23, the team was suspended for the entire 2013–14 academic year. No one was injured in the alleged hazing, the university said. http://www.thedailybeast.com/witw/articles/2013/09/12/towson-university-s-cheerleaders-on-probation-after-hazing-allegations.html?utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=cheatsheet_afternoon&cid=newsletter%3Bemail%3Bcheatsheet_afternoon&utm_term=Cheat%20Sheet.
Kirpans, Law, and Religious Symbols in Schools. Satvinder Singh Juss. August 9, 2012. J. of Church and State (Autumn 2013) 55 (4): 758-795. doi: 10.1093/jcs/css058. The kirpan is not a humble object. It has been described as “a small, curved ornamental steel dagger” or “a sword” that is “commonly 7.5 centimetres long” and “is carried in a sheath and strapped to the body, usually under clothing.” The issue is of importance as one of individual religious expression. But it is also important because it calls into question the commitment to multiculturalism, pluralism, tolerance, and broad-mindedness that is the hallmark of the Western liberal democratic state. The wearing of the kirpan raises these issues far more acutely than the more familiar examples of religiously ordained dress codes,8 which do not raise concerns of personal safety9 in the way that the Sikh kirpan ostensibly does.
Neanderthal Art and Play vs. Modern Human Art and Play. Austin Cline. About.com Guide. August 23, 2013. A critical aspect to this is where, exactly, in the hominid line this difference started to really take shape. Which of our ancestor species began to create and use symbols extensively and which didn't? It looks like the Neanderthals created some objects with symbolic value, but very few, which would mean that they were the last of our ancestor species to exist before a major jump into modernity occurred. But why? http://atheism.about.com/b/2013/08/23/neanderthal-art-and-play-vs-modern-human-art-and-play.htm?nl=1.
North Carolina school board bans 'Invisible Man'. A North Carolina school board banned Ralph Ellison's 1952 novel from its reading list Monday. CAROLINE LEE. Sept. 19, 2013. A North Carolina school board banned Ralph Ellison's 1952 novel "Invisible Man" from its reading list Monday, citing a lack of "literary value. “This novel is not so innocent; instead, this book is filthier, too much for teenagers,” Parson wrote in a 12-page statement to the board"...Ellison's book won the National Book Award for Fiction in 1953, and in 2010, Time magazine named the book one of the top 100 English-language novels of all time. http://www.upi.com/Odd_News/Blog/2013/09/19/North-Carolina-school-board-bans-Invisible-Man/3511379596327/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=cheatsheet_afternoon&cid=newsletter%3Bemail%3Bcheatsheet_afternoon&utm_term=Cheat%20Sheet.
Parent Files Complaint Against Hartford Schools Over Slavery Re-Enactment On Field Trip. VANESSA DE LA TORRE. September 19, 2013. HARTFORD — A Farmington parent has filed a human rights complaint against the Hartford school system following a magnet school field trip last fall in which students participated in a slavery re-enactment that included the use of racial slurs. Sandra Baker said Thursday that her daughter, who is African American, and fellow classmates at Hartford Magnet Trinity College Academy were essentially "terrorized" during the nighttime Underground Railroad exercise that was part of a field trip to Nature's Classroom in Charlton, Mass. Parents were not informed that students would be part of a slavery re-enactment, said Baker, a social worker. Baker learned of the exercise from her child, who was 12 and in seventh grade. http://www.courant.com/community/hartford/hc-hartford-parent-complaint-0920-20130919,0,20523.story.
Students' Chant About Sex With Minors Causes Controversy. CHARESSE JAMES. Sep 5, 2013. “These are Saint Mary’s University frosh-week leaders cheering about sexual assault. They shout out, in part, ‘Y is for your sister, U is for underage, and N is for no consent.’” (Via CBC). ...According to the orientation leaders and other students, this chant has been a frosh-week tradition for years, but Yahoo! News begs the question: “What sort of bond is Saint Mary’s University trying to form with a chant that promotes non-consensual sex with underage girls? Is it a bond that will later be featured on an episode of To Catch a Predator?”...And Salon’s Mary Elizabeth Williams writes a chant like this is part of a wider, demoralizing and growing problem: “It’s the unthinking acceptance, the reinforcement of the notion that women exist to be used sexually. … It’s about making that the norm, so much the norm that you wind up with girls cheering along for it.”...But Saint Mary’s student union president Jared Perry has vowed that while it might have been acceptable in the past, it will not continue in the future. http://www.newsy.com/videos/students-chant-about-sex-with-minors-causes-controversy/#ooid=pqM2k4ZTowEwxGGx7k7U55RWsGPhXK9X.
University Ends Relationship with Social Work Group over Abortion Position. John Kelly, October 23, 2013. A group of social work graduate students at Catholic University of America plan to challenge their dean’s decision to end relations with the National Association of Social Workers because of the organization’s position that social workers should support access to abortions for clients...“The other students and I are still coalescing around strategy and action, but we won’t go quietly into the night here,” said NCSSS Action organizer Andy Bowen, in an e-mail to The Chronicle of Social Change. Will Rainford, who in April of 2013 was named dean of the National Catholic School of Social Service (NCSSS), informed students in a recent letter that he will “no longer allow NCSSS to officially partner or collaborate with NASW.” https://chronicleofsocialchange.org/news/university-ends-relationship-with-social-work-group-over-abortion-position/4216.
University of Oklahoma professor resigns amid sex abuse charges
A University of Oklahoma professor, Dwain Pellebon, accused of sex crimes involving teenage girls has resigned from the university, school officials say. By Andrew Knittle • Published: December 22, 2011
University of Oklahoma professor resigns amid sex abuse charges
A University of Oklahoma professor, Dwain Pellebon, accused of sex crimes involving teenage girls has resigned from the university, school officials say. By Andrew Knittle • Published: December 22, 2011
http://www.newsok.com/article/3633979
University of Oklahoma suspends professor amid sexual abuse charges. CNN Wire Staff. Wed December 14, 2011. The 54-year-old associate professor, Dwain Pellebon, teaches social work. Norman police arrested him Friday on two complaints of rape in the first degree and one complaint of lewd acts with a child under age 16, CNN affiliate KFOR reported. http://www.cnn.com/2011/12/14/justice/oklahoma-professor-arrested.
University of Oklahoma suspends professor amid sexual abuse charges. CNN Wire Staff. Wed December 14, 2011. The 54-year-old associate professor, Dwain Pellebon, teaches social work. Norman police arrested him Friday on two complaints of rape in the first degree and one complaint of lewd acts with a child under age 16, CNN affiliate KFOR reported. http://www.cnn.com/2011/12/14/justice/oklahoma-professor-arrested.
Will the Real Digital Girl Please Stand Up? Examining the Gap Between Policy Dialogue and Girls’ Accounts of Their Digital Existence. Bailey, Jane and Steeves, Valerie. August 28, 2013. Many have suggested that online media would enhance girls' agency, empowering them to redefine the meaning of "girl" through their online performances. This paper examines social science findings with respect to girls' online experiences, with particular attention to the empowering benefits that girls report. It then examines two constraints on that performativity: commercialism and surveillance on websites targeting youth, and criminal policy dialogue relating to online issues (with a focus on Canada). With respect to commercialism, the authors argue that a sexualized surveillant gaze works to limit the empowering potential of online performance for girls who have incorporated online media into their social worlds. The authors further suggest that criminal policy dialogue has largely failed to disrupt that constraining gaze, in some cases ignoring it and in others uncritically incorporating its themes into the dialogue itself. As a result, policy responses tend to reinforce paradigms of surveillance and control over individual behaviour and responsibility (including of girls themselves), while leaving intact the business logics the promote media stereotypes and the commodification of girls' sexuality. http://ssrn.com/abstract=2316907.
Entertainment
10 Of The World’s Most Bizarre Parades. All That is Interesting. November 2, 2013. The Mermaid Parade of Coney Island, NY takes the carefree spirit of Mardi Gras and combines it with celebrating the beginning of summer. This show is most notable for the thousands of ladies adorning mermaid costumes, often keeping with the Mardi Gras tradition of traversing the parade route topless, or with little more than pasties adorning their upper half....http://all-that-is-interesting.com/bizarre-parades#X2QyyLqWswdgVLzu.99.
Absolute Poker lays off US pros after indictments. By OSKAR GARCIA, Associated Press, May 9
LAS VEGAS (AP)—The parent company of online poker websites Absolute Poker and Ultimate Bet said Monday it laid off 11 sponsored poker professionals in the United States as two of its executives face charges of tricking banks into processing illegal gambling payments. Full Tilt and PokerStars have announced agreements with the Department of Justice to return money to players, and PokerStars says its process has begun. But Absolute has said that while paying players is its top priority, it’s reviewing the legal actions with its lawyers before moving ahead to make payments. http://sports.yahoo.com/top/news?slug=ap-pokerprosecution-absolute , http://ctcfoundations.blogspot.com/2011/05/ap-mobile-players-group-mum-on-online.html.
Do you ‘Cee’ what I see?: An Ahistorical Collision Between Hip-Hop,Manhood, Silence, and Sexuality. CLEO MANAGO.| SEPTEMBER 20, 2013. By now you may have heard about the recent scandal surrounding Mister Cee, a well-known hip-hop DJ in New York City. Mister Cee was “caught” on tape soliciting a cross-dressing male posing as a prostitute. Upon Mister Cee’s recognition that the conversation was made public, he quickly resigned from his prized DJ post. Soon after, he rescinded his resignation, and tearfully confessed his essentially homosexual desires. http://theurbantwist.com/2013/09/20/do-you-cee-what-i-see-an-ahistorical-collision-between-hip-hopmanhood-silence-and-sexuality/.
Do you ‘Cee’ what I see?: An Ahistorical Collision Between Hip-Hop,Manhood, Silence, and Sexuality. CLEO MANAGO.| SEPTEMBER 20, 2013. By now you may have heard about the recent scandal surrounding Mister Cee, a well-known hip-hop DJ in New York City. Mister Cee was “caught” on tape soliciting a cross-dressing male posing as a prostitute. Upon Mister Cee’s recognition that the conversation was made public, he quickly resigned from his prized DJ post. Soon after, he rescinded his resignation, and tearfully confessed his essentially homosexual desires. http://theurbantwist.com/2013/09/20/do-you-cee-what-i-see-an-ahistorical-collision-between-hip-hopmanhood-silence-and-sexuality/.
Fish Sauce: An Ancient Roman Condiment Rises Again. Deena Prichep, NPR. October 26, 2013. Fish sauce — that funky, flavor-enhancing fermented condiment — is part of what gives Southeast Asian cooking its distinctive taste. But it turns out, this cornerstone of Eastern cooking actually has a long history on another continent: Europe. And it goes all the way back to the Roman Empire. Like Asian fish sauces, the Roman version was made by layering fish and salt until it ferments. There are versions made with whole fish, and some with just the blood and guts. Some food historians argue that "garum" referred to one version, and "liquamen" another, while others maintain different terms were popular in different times and places. The current convention is to use garumas a common term for all ancient fish sauces. http://minnesota.publicradio.org/features/npr.php?id=240237774.
Gambling problem exposed as access grows. Medicine & Health/Psychology & Psychiatry
May 19, 2011. A new paper by University of Calgary psychologist Dr. David Hodgins says the proliferation of gambling opportunities around the world, particularly online, is increasing the visibility of gambling disorders and giving access to people who previously had no exposure to gambling opportunities. Research suggests that a number of centres in the brain are implicit in gambling disorders, including learning and reward centres.Genetic factors also play a part, with evidence from twin studies suggesting some level of shared risk http://pda.physorg.com/news/2011-05-gambling-problem-exposed-access.html.
Gov. Brown signs bills aimed at paparazzi, family leave and quakes. Patrick McGreevy and Melanie Mason. September 24, 2013. The governor's signature on the privacy measure will make it a misdemeanor to attempt to photograph or videotape a child in a harassing manner if the image is being taken because the child's parent is a celebrity or public official. http://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-brown-bills-paparazzi-20130925,0,7649417.story.
HOW VENTRILOQUISTS TRICK US. Steve Hartsoe-Duke. August 30, 2013. “Our study is related to ventriloquism, in which the visual image of a puppet’s mouth ‘captures’ the sound of the puppeteer’s voice,” Groh says. “It is thought that one reason this illusion occurs is because vision normally teaches the brain how to tell where sounds are coming from. “We investigated how the brain knows which visual stimulus should capture the location of a sound, such as why it is the puppet’s mouth and not some other visual stimulus.” http://www.futurity.org/vision-tests-show-ventriloquists-trick-us/?utm_source=Futurity+Today&utm_campaign=b3810cd4cd-August_30_20138_30_2013&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_e34e8ee443-b3810cd4cd-206308721.
International Talk Like a Pirate Day. Pioneer Library System. 05 September 2013. Ahoy! September 19th is International Talk Like a Pirate Day! This special day began with two guys playing basketball while speaking like pirates. Then they created Talk Like a Pirate Day and participated with a few of their friends. It was a fairly low-key holiday, but became popular after being featured by a newspaper columnist who loved their idea. The rest is history. In the spirit of this day, we can all learn how to speak like pirates by using the Mango database. We all need a bit of silliness in our lives so join us in this fun holiday. To get started, watch the brief tutorial below on how to get started with Mango, (http://youtu.be/nHMhg7AmbTc). http://www.pioneer.lib.ok.us/blblog/5220-international-talk-like-a-pirate-day.
‘MasterChef’ Finalist Reportedly Killed Himself. Cheat Sheet. October 12, 2013. MasterChef finalist Josh Marks was found dead in his Chicago home Friday night after apparently shooting himself in the head. According to an acquaintance and two relatives who were on the scene, the 26-year-old chef and reality TV competitor was schizophrenic and bipolar. Marks was arrested back in July for assaulting a police officer at the University of Chicago and, at the time, police said he claimed to have been possessed and turned into God by Gordon Ramsay, the host of the Fox cooking show. http://www.thedailybeast.com/cheats/2013/10/12/masterchef-finalist-reportedly-killed-himself.html?utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=cheatsheet_afternoon&cid=newsletter%3Bemail%3Bcheatsheet_afternoon&utm_term=Cheat%20Sheet.
Mead: Ancient drink is a modern-day success. Blend of fermented honey, water sees a revival.
Lisa Rathke. Sep. 2, 2013. GROTON, VT. — Once called the nectar of the gods, the oldest fermented beverage is seeing a renaissance. Beekeepers and vintners are rediscovering mead, an alcoholic drink made of fermented honey and water. These days, fruits, spices and even carbonation are being added for distinct flavors that aren’t a far cry from the beverage favored by the Vikings and ancient Greeks and during the Middle Ages. http://www.lansingstatejournal.com/article/20130902/LIFE05/309020039/Mead-Ancient-drink-modern-day-success?gcheck=1.
Tasteless Or Not? Restaurant Puts Communion Wafer On Burger. Mark Memmott, The Two-Way : NPR. October 04, 2013. , Kuma's Corner, a Chicago restaurant that's built a reputation with foodies for its venturesome dishes, "has cooked up a controversial burger of the month for October, garnishing it with an unconsecrated communion wafer and a red wine reduction sauce,"The Associated Press says. The burger is supposed to be in honor of a Swedish heavy metal band called Ghost. According to the AP, "members of the band dress in religious robes and wear skeleton face makeup."..The Tribune notes that "customers are free to ask for no wafer — or multiple wafers — with their meal." It costs $17. You can get fries, chips or a side salad with it, the Tribune adds. The 10-ounce patty, according to Kuma's, is also topped with "ghost chile aioli, slow braised goat shoulder [and] aged white cheddar cheese.". Total Votes: 5,178 : No, it's not offensive. 73.97% (3,830 votes) : Yes, it's offensive. 26.03% (1,348 votes).http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/10/04/229191976/tasteless-or-not-restaurant-puts-communion-wafer-on-burger?ft=1&f=1016.
WHY IS ONLINE ‘GAMING’ FUN, BUT ‘GAMBLING’ IS SHADY? CORNELL UNIVERSITY, NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY. Syl Kacapyr-Cornell.October 21, 2013. “Changing an industry label from gambling to gaming affects what consumers, especially nonusers, think of betting online,” write Kathy LaTour, associate professor of services marketing at the School of Hotel Administration at Cornell University, and Ashlee Humphreys of Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, in a study published online in the Journal of Consumer Research. http://www.futurity.org/gaming-fun-gambling-seedy/?utm_source=Futurity+Today&utm_campaign=bff9aecd55-October_21_201310_21_2013&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_e34e8ee443-bff9aecd55-206308721.
Popular Movies Revive Ancient Sport. Catherine Van. Nov 20, 2013. RENO, NV -- "The Hunger Games," "Brave" and "Lord of the Rings" are just some of the movies renewing interest in an ancient sport. One local business can help you channel your inner archer. It's a business that's been growing since it opened a year ago. Wasting Arrows is seeing an increase in customers thanks to pop culture. For those who want to check it out, you can quickly discover that shooting arrows isn't just for the movies. "That feeling you get you know it's a great shot and you know it just went in the center of the target," Lystra Pitts, owner of Wasting Arrows, said. Archery has been around for centuries but has enjoyed a renaissance due to the release of popular movies. http://www.kolotv.com/home/headlines/Popular-Movies-Renew-Hype-in-Ancient-Sport-232619631.html?ref=631.
Gangs
6 arrested in crackdown on Calif. gangs. The Associated Press. 11/20/2013. VENTURA, Calif.—Authorities have arrested six people in the latest crackdown on Ventura County street gangs believed to be working with the Mexican Mafia prison gang to control local drug trafficking. KAPB note: This excerpt from the news release is a perfect example of how an Alquadan is formed within the prison system. "Authorities say the Ventura County gangs sold drugs obtained from the Mexican Mafia and collected so called "taxes" on behalf of the prison gang." http://www.mercurynews.com/california/ci_24564480/6-arrested-crackdown-calif-gangs.
Admitted Blood, SBI expert provide perspective on gangs. Brandon Taylor. 10/23/2013. Last night we talked with an admitted gang member. And today we heard from an expert about what you can look out for. "Man I was a Blood," said admitted gang member Kolton Thompson. "I am not going to say was, I mean, I am a Blood."Wednesday a gang expert from the State Bureau of Investigations told the North Carolina Emergency Management Association meeting in Wilmington what they should be looking for. He says logos for sports teams like the Chicago Bulls and Kansas City Chiefs are sometimes worn by known gang members. The team names and logos take on special meaning, like KC for "Killing Crips" and Bulls standing for "Bloods Usually Live Longer." http://www.wwaytv3.com/2013/10/23/admitted-blood-sbi-expert-provide-perspective-gangs.
Brothers 4 Life gang's coded call to attack. Ben McClellan. November 12, 2013. BROTHERS 4 Life gang members referred to their firearms as "shoes" and "screwdrivers" before allegedly shooting at three rival gang members in Bankstown last week, police will allege...The group, from the Blacktown chapter of the gang, were already facing numerous charges, including attempted murder and firing a sawn-off shotgun, in relation to the shooting outside the Chokolatta Cafe after midnight on Thursday. http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/brothers-4-life-gangs-coded-call-to-attack/story-fnii5s3y-1226757693447.
Chicago's Gangs Aren't the Problem. Mikki Kendall. October 8, 2013. Experts on Chicago (who often are neither from Chicago or remotely educated about Chicago politics or Chicago history), often disparage the people in the community. And no, I'm not making excuses for gang violence. But when we talk about violence in the communities where gangs are most common, we have to talk about the economics of crime. We have to talk about the impact of poverty, of police brutality, of school closures, of services being cut over and over again to these neighborhoods. http://www.theroot.com/buzz/chicagos-gangs-arent-problem.
Dangerous new breed of biker gang seeks Internet glory, taunting police. Tom Winter, Lisa Riordan Seville and Andrew Blankstein, NBC News. Oct. 2, 2013. A new and dangerous breed of motorcycle gang is popping up around the country, say authorities, as packs of young bikers on high-speed “crotch rockets” barrel down crowded highways performing stunts, weaving through traffic and taunting police, all for a few minutes of Internet glory...These “crotch rocket” gangs film their exploits, which can include altercations with motorists and the law, and then post videos on YouTube. Police in New York City have arrested several men after video surfaced on the Web of a Sunday incident in which bikers surrounded and beat an SUV driver in Manhattan. The bikers had been taking part in an underground event called Hollywood Stuntz, in which bikers assembled en masse on city streets to perform wheelies and other stunts...And police say they have trouble stopping the bikers, because their machines are so fast and maneuverable that it’s unsafe to chase them through traffic...Sgt. Brian Brophy of the New York State Police said that officers will stop pursuits of fast bikes when it’s judged too dangerous. “As a trooper you end up terminating these pursuits a lot yourself, for the safety of the public, yourself and the biker,” he said. http://investigations.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/10/03/20790189-dangerous-new-breed-of-biker-gang-seeks-internet-glory-taunting-police?lite.
‘Gangs’ Seize and Tax Coptic Christian Property in Egypt. Raymond Ibrahim, CBN. October 21, 2013. The plight of Egypt’s Christian Copts, especially in Upper Egypt, continues unabated. According to a new Arabic report, during the last few days in Asyut, “criminal groups and gangs managed to acquire guns and weapons and, as usual, have attacked and abused the Christians to control their sources of income, including to finance their [the “gangsters”] activities. They forced Copts to pay large amounts of money as tax [jizya] in order not to steal and/or plunder their lands. http://blogs.cbn.com/ibrahim/archive/2013/10/21/gangs-seize-and-tax-coptic-christian-property-in-egypt.aspx.
‘Gangs’ Seize and Tax Coptic Christian Property in Egypt. Raymond Ibrahim, CBN. October 21, 2013. The plight of Egypt’s Christian Copts, especially in Upper Egypt, continues unabated. According to a new Arabic report, during the last few days in Asyut, “criminal groups and gangs managed to acquire guns and weapons and, as usual, have attacked and abused the Christians to control their sources of income, including to finance their [the “gangsters”] activities. They forced Copts to pay large amounts of money as tax [jizya] in order not to steal and/or plunder their lands. http://blogs.cbn.com/ibrahim/archive/2013/10/21/gangs-seize-and-tax-coptic-christian-property-in-egypt.aspx.
Missouri Is Now "Open Territory" For Motorcycle Gangs. JACOB MCCLELAND. 9/16/2013. Outlaw motorcycle gangs now consider Missouri as “open territory.” Missouri has traditionally been the territory of the Galloping Goose motorcycle club and their brother group, El Forastero. They confronted any other gang who entered their territory, according to the Southeast Missouri Drug Task Force’s Mike Alford. But their grip on the territory is no longer as strong as it once was, and groups like the Outlaws motorcycle gang, the Bandidos and the Vagos have started chapters in Missouri. http://krcu.org/post/missouri-now-open-territory-motorcycle-gangs.
Most Commonly Sought After Retail Items by ORC Gangs. Caroline Bleakley. Nov 01, 2013. This is a list of the most commonly sought after retail items by ORC (organized retail crime) gangs: Grocery: Cigarettes Energy drinks High-end Liquor Infant formula Over-the-counter medicine: Allergy medicine Diabetic testing strips Pain relievers Weight loss pills Home: High-end vacuums high-end appliances, mixers Laundry detergent Children's electronic toys Health and beauty: Teeth whitening strips Pregnancy tests Razors Clothing: Denim pants Designer clothing/handbags Electronics: GPS devices Laptops/tablets Cameras/recorders Cell phones. http://www.8newsnow.com/story/23852804/most-commonly-sought-after-retail-items-by-orc-gangs.
Notorious bikie gangs, the Aussie Finks and the US Mongols, join forces. TNT Magazine. 2nd Oct 2013. In retaliation to the ban on bikie gatherings and other restrictions, the Finks are joining forces with the Mongols, a gang based in the US known for drug dealing, money laundering, robbery, murder, and assault. This move means the bikie gang will become the largest, and arguably most powerful, in the country, with some 400 members, as well as giving them a presence on an international stage. "This is massive," police said. "This will elevate the Finks to the international stage and make them the most powerful gang in Australia. It will also give them international links equal to the Hells Angels." http://www.tntmagazine.com/news/world/notorious-bikie-gangs-the-aussie-finks-and-the-us-mongols-join-forces.
Public Enemies: Social Media Is Fueling Gang Wars in Chicago. Ben Austen. 9/17/2013. Last year, while under house arrest for aiming a gun at a police officer, Cozart uploaded some videos to YouTube that eventually landed him an estimated $6 million deal with Interscope Records. The title of one of his early hits, “3hunna,” is a nickname for the Black Disciples gang, and in the song he maligns the Tooka gang, a crew affiliated with the enemy Gangster Disciples. [sic, following a few murders] The Chicago police fielded calls from departments in four different states, where officers were struggling to understand why people in their jurisdictions were declaring themselves to be warring branches of the Disciples and fighting over some kids from Chicago’s South Side. Even a full year later, the two rappers are cited in countless videos, comments, and posts as shorthand for disrespect or a call to arms. ...But in neighborhoods where shootings are common, the use of online tools has turned hazardous, as gang violence is now openly advertised and instigated online. http://www.wired.com/underwire/2013/09/gangs-of-social-media/.
Violent gangs recruit kids from age 6 in Guatemala. (AFP [sic: Associated Foreign Press]). Oct 2, 2013. Guatemala's gangs are using children as young as six to transport drugs and weapons among other crimes, a senior official said in an interview published Wednesday...Government data shows that gangs also sometimes tap children as young as 11 -- and routinely recruit teenagers -- to commit murder, Deputy Minister Interior Minister Arkel Benitez told the Siglo21 newspaper. Young people who commit a crime in these circumstances cannot be called assassins because "they do not offer the service to kill but are forced to do so," Benitez said....Gangs like Mara Salvatrucha and Barrio 18, Guatemala's most violent crime groups, force minors to kill as initiation rituals to prove their loyalty, according to the Interior Ministry...In Guatemala, there are between 8,000 and 10,000 gang members, according to the United Nations. http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gff0XzKecOb7ua_7Nobqh39toYUA?docId=fd49b5be-3a48-4591-bbaa-b6910a9376b6.
History
Anahita: Ancient Persian Goddess and Zoroastrian Yazata. Avalonia, YouTube. May 2013. Anahita: Ancient Persian Goddess and Zoroastrian Yazata. The Indo-Iranian Anahita is an ancient Persian Goddess, who became a Zoroastrian Yazata (or Angel) and is still part of contemporary Zoroastrianism. Described as a beautiful maiden, who is strong, tall and pure, she is depicted as wearing a mantle embroidered with gold and as holding the baresma (sacred plant) in her hand. She is the Goddess of all the waters upon the earth, her full title being Aredvi Sura Anahita which means moist, mighty and immaculate (pure), and she travels on her chariot pulled by four horses: Wind, Rain, Cloud and Sleet. Closely associated with the King's investiture she is a Goddess of Sovereignty, thought by some to be the Persian Aphrodite, who also has some remarkable similarities to numerous other ancient goddesses, including Ishtar, Venus, Nana and Isis. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsaN5q323u8.
Ancient curse in 'Breath of Heaven' exhibit: 'give him deafness of ears'. David Stabler. November 15, 2013.Don't mess with the Babylonians. A stone showing a seated goddess, used to mark a building's boundary in Iraq 2,000 years ago, contains a lively curse that's enough to make anyone pause. The stone is one of 64 pieces in the extraordinary "Breath of Heaven, Breath of Earth" exhibit at the Hallie Ford Museum in Salem. The partially preserved curse says: "[Whosoever] buries [this kudurru] in the dust or incorporates [it] in a wall or places it where it cannot be seen…or who erases the inscribed names or ignores the word of the king, Marduk-apla-iddina, or changes his wording…May the gods Sin, Adad and Gula, the gods protecting the house of [the descendant of] Adad-nasir rip out his foundation, collect and destroy his seed and obliterate his name! An, Enlil. Ea and Belet-ili, the great gods of Heaven and earth…will give him deafness of ears and paralyze his limbs as their gift." Nice Gift. http://www.oregonlive.com/art/index.ssf/2013/11/breath_of_heaven_curse_is_give.html.
Ancient notoriety and wealth of awards. WARREN BARTON. 02/09/2013. Because in this case the Bastard - The King's Bastard, to be exact - is a wine to which I have taken a liking, rather than some poor plonker for whom I have a great deal less regard. The answer was to design a label that looked like no other and reflected the history of the Marris family, descended from the de Mariscos, who at one time held important roles within the English Court...For instance, in the 1100s, William de Marisco, said to be one of King Henry I's 35 illegitimate children, was appointed Chief Governor of Ireland, but he was sent packing after being caught with his fingers in the church's coffers...His son, William, gained even more notoriety for the family when he was implicated in the murder of Henry Clement, court messenger for Henry III...Then, three years later, when a man claiming to be an agent of William de Marisco attempted to kill the king, William fled to the island of Lundy, in the Bristol Channel, and turned to piracy in the Irish Sea. http://www.stuff.co.nz/southland-times/life-style/8942917/Ancient-notoriety-and-wealth-of-awards.
Ancient Roman coins depict sundry sexual acts, but what were they for? ROBERT T. GONZALEZ. 2013. The Romans loved sex. The wrote graphic poetry about it, and scrawled x-rated graffiti on their city walls. They even emblazoned currency with depictions of sexual acts. But what purpose did this coinage serve? Fair warning: numismatic pornography . http://io9.com/ancient-roman-coins-depict-sundry-sexual-acts-but-what-1277370698.
Aug 25, 325: Council of Nicaea Concludes. History.com This Day in History — 8/25/325. Meeting at Nicaea in present-day Turkey, the council established the equality of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit in the Holy Trinity and asserted that only the Son became incarnate as Jesus Christ. [sic. as man god worshipers, Constantine demanded that God could only be present in heaven through the means of a crucifixion and resurrection] The Arian leaders were subsequently banished from their churches for heresy. The Emperor Constantine presided over the opening of the council and contributed to the discussion. http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/council-of-nicaea-concludes?et_cid=55770596&et_rid=954119701&linkid=http%3a%2f%2fwww.history.com%2fthis-day-in-history%2fcouncil-of-nicaea-concludes.
Christopher Columbus Day. The Oatmeal, Comic Poster. Oct. 2013. Sources: All of the information in this essay came from A People's History of the United States, Howard Zinn. Lies My Teacher Told Me, James W. Loewen. Both of which uses primary sources such as eyewitness accounts, journal entries, and letters from Christopher Columbus himself. http://theoatmeal.com/comics/columbus_day.
Classical Hebrew in the Golden Dawn Tradition. Ola Wikander, Lund University. 2013. The article discusses the use of Classical Hebrew in the texts and practices of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, investigating (amongst other things) the attitudes towards the language found in the writings of the Order, the pronunciations and transcriptions used for Hebrew words, and the role played by this “Kabbalistic language” in the ideology of the order. A comparison is made with other attested instances of use of “sacred languages”, and it is noted that the Golden Dawn use of Hebrew differs from these in that there does not seem to have been a continuous deeper knowledge of the language within the Order – Hebrew was a symbol system rather than a language in any real sense. http://www.lunduniversity.lu.se/o.o.i.s?id=12683&postid=4065217.
Christopher Columbus Day. The Oatmeal, Comic Poster. Oct. 2013. Sources: All of the information in this essay came from A People's History of the United States, Howard Zinn. Lies My Teacher Told Me, James W. Loewen. Both of which uses primary sources such as eyewitness accounts, journal entries, and letters from Christopher Columbus himself. http://theoatmeal.com/comics/columbus_day.
Classical Hebrew in the Golden Dawn Tradition. Ola Wikander, Lund University. 2013. The article discusses the use of Classical Hebrew in the texts and practices of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, investigating (amongst other things) the attitudes towards the language found in the writings of the Order, the pronunciations and transcriptions used for Hebrew words, and the role played by this “Kabbalistic language” in the ideology of the order. A comparison is made with other attested instances of use of “sacred languages”, and it is noted that the Golden Dawn use of Hebrew differs from these in that there does not seem to have been a continuous deeper knowledge of the language within the Order – Hebrew was a symbol system rather than a language in any real sense. http://www.lunduniversity.lu.se/o.o.i.s?id=12683&postid=4065217.
Dec 9, 1987: Intifada begins on Gaza Strip. In the Israeli-occupied Gaza Strip, the first riots of the Palestinian intifada, or "shaking off" in Arabic, begin one day after an Israeli truck crashed into a station wagon carrying Palestinian workers in the Jabalya refugee district of Gaza, killing four and wounding 10. Gaza Palestinians saw the incident as a deliberate act of retaliation against the killing of a Jew in Gaza several days before, and on December 9 they took to the streets in protest, burning tires and throwing rocks and Molotov cocktails at Israeli police and troops. At Jabalya, an Israeli army patrol car fired on Palestinian attackers, killing a 17-year-old and wounding 16 others. The next day, crack Israeli paratroopers were sent into Gaza to quell the violence, and riots spread to the Israeli-occupied West Bank. December 9 marked the formal beginning of the intifada, but demonstrations, small-scale riots, and violence directed against Israelis had been steadily escalating for months. The year 1987 marked the 20-year anniversary of the Israeli conquest of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, the formerly Egyptian- and Jordanian-controlled lands that the Palestinians called home. http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/intifada-begins-on-gaza-strip?et_cid=57735113&et_rid=954119701&linkid=http%3a%2f%2fwww.history.com%2fthis-day-in-history%2fintifada-begins-on-gaza-strip.
Enslaved Connecticut man honored, buried 215 years too late. Ed Stannard, New Haven Register. 09/12/13. The man called Fortune, who worked as a slave for a Waterbury doctor and then, after his death, was misused as a medical model, was given his ultimate freedom Thursday, his life celebrated by state and church and his bodily remains put to rest. Dr. Preserved Porter owned Fortune and his wife, Dinah, and four children. Fortune was a strong man who probably lived in continual pain while working on the Porters’ 75-acre farm, according to examination by archaeologists and high-tech digital CT scanners. After Fortune’s death, Porter dissected and boiled his body to recover the skeleton, which he used to teach anatomy to medical students. Porter’s descendants sent the bones to Germany in the 1930s to be articulated, or reattached, and his remains were acquired by the Mattatuck Museum in the 1940s, which put them on display. The name “Larry” was scrawled on his skull. In the 1970s, respect prevailed and the skeleton was removed from display and put in storage. http://www.nhregister.com/lifestyle/20130912/enslaved-connecticut-man-honored-buried-215-years-too-late?utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=cheatsheet_afternoon&cid=newsletter%3Bemail%3Bcheatsheet_afternoon&utm_term=Cheat%20Sheet.
Nov 21, 1970: U.S. force raids Son Tay prison camp. A combined U.S. Air Force and Army team of 40 Americans--led by Army Colonel "Bull" Simons--conducts a raid on the Son Tay prison camp, 23 miles west of Hanoi, in an attempt to free between 70 and 100 Americans suspected of being held there. The raid was accomplished in a superb manner and all Americans returned safely, but it was learned later that the prisoners had been moved elsewhere in July. Despite that disappointment, the raid was a tactical success and sent a message to the North Vietnamese that the United States was capable of inserting a combat force undetected only miles from their capital. Stunned by the raid, high Hanoi officials ordered all U.S. POWs moved to several central prison complexes. This was actually a welcome change--the move afforded the prisoners more contact with each other and boosted their morale. http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/us-force-raids-son-tay-prison-camp?et_cid=57376822&et_rid=954119701&linkid=http%3a%2f%2fwww.history.com%2fthis-day-in-history%2fus-force-raids-son-tay-prison-camp.
The graffiti of Pompeii was downright raunchy, and absolutely hilarious. ROBERT T. GONZALEZ. 2013. Before being entombed with ash by Mount Vesuvius, Pompeii was a thriving city. There was government, there was infrastructure — and yes, there was graffiti.Very vulgar, very explicit graffitti. Over at Pompeiana, classics scholars Eric Poehler, Kevin Cole and Steven Ellis..."From the Bar/Brothel of Innulus and Papilio: "Weep, you girls. My penis has given you up. Now it penetrates men's behinds. Goodbye, wondrous femininity!" From the basilica: "O walls, you have held up so much tedious graffiti that I am amazed that you have not already collapsed in ruin"". http://io9.com/5929627/the-graffiti-of-pompeii-was-downright-raunchy-and-absolutely-hilarious.
The Voynich Manuscript, The World’s Most Mysterious Book. All That is Interesting. SEPTEMBER 14, 2013. Not a single word of the infamous Voynich manuscript has been understood in modern history. Named after the man to whom it was sold in 1912, Wilfrid Voynich, the fifteenth century text contains enigmatic undertones of alchemy and an unidentified language intertwined with whimsical, primitive scientific illustrations. For decades, historians, linguists, and code breakers alike have diligently worked on deciphering the symbols contained within the Voynich manuscript’s age-old pages. Still proving incomprehensible, the manuscript remains one of the world’s top unsolved mysteries. http://all-that-is-interesting.com/voynich-manuscript#FMfw4Y8HVT8zWQ3P.99. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4FpVf9MkcQ.
Toxic Gas First Used in Syria 1,700 Years Ago. ROSSELLA LORENZI. SEP 4, 2013. According to University of Leicester archaeologist Simon James, who published his findings back in 2009, poison gas was used in Syria more than 1,700 years ago when a Roman fort at Dura-Europos became the site of a violent siege by the powerful Sasanian Persian empire...At the time, the researchers believed the trapped Roman soldiers had died after the tunnel collapsed. But according to James, residue of pitch (a resinous substance) and yellow sulfur crystals found in a jar lying near the bodies indicated a much more gruesome reality. Indeed, the Sasanians placed fire pits strategically throughout the tunnel, and when the Romans broke through, they gassed them by adding sulfur crystals and bitumen to the fire. http://news.discovery.com/history/archaeology/toxic-gas-brought-death-in-syria-more-than-1700-years-ago-130904.htm#mkcpgn=emnws1.
Oct 15, 1880: Chiricahua Apache leader Victorio is killed south of El Paso, Texas. On This Day, Online History Channel. 2013. The warrior Victorio, one of the greatest Apache military strategists of all time, dies this day, in 1880, in the Tres Castillos Mountains south of El Paso, Texas...Born in New Mexico around 1809, Victorio grew up during a period of intense hostility between the native Apache Indians of the southwest and encroaching Mexican and American settlers. Determined to resist the loss of his homeland, Victorio began leading his small band of warriors on a long series of devastating raids against Mexican and American settlers and their communities in the 1850s....In 1880, a combined force of U.S. and Mexican troops finally succeeded in tracking down the wily Apache and his warriors, surrounding them in the Tres Castillos Mountains of Mexico, just south of El Paso, Texas. Having sent the American troops away, the Mexican soldiers proceeded to kill all but 17 of the trapped Apaches, though the exact manner of Victorio's death remains unclear. Some claimed an Indian scout employed by the Mexican army killed the famous warrior. But according to the Apache, Victorio took his own life rather than surrender to the hated Mexicans. Regardless of how it happened, Victorio's death made him a martyr to the Apache people and strengthened the resolve of other warriors to continue the fight. The last of the great Apache warriors, Geronimo, would not surrender until 1886. http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/chiricahua-apache-leader-victorio-is-killed-south-of-el-paso-texas?et_cid=56722394&et_rid=954119701&linkid=http%3a%2f%2fwww.history.com%2fthis-day-in-history%2fchiricahua-apache-leader-victorio-is-killed-south-of-el-paso-texas.
Peruvian mass grave unearthed where 60 people were sacrificed 1,100 years ago. Daily Mail Reporter. December 18, 2011. A tomb containing the 'perfectly intact' remains of 60 people - who were slaughtered in sacrificial offerings more than 1,100 years ago - has been discovered in Peru. Archaeologists found the mass grave, in an eight metre deep and 150 metre wide pit, in Lambayeque on the country's northern coast. They also unearthed the remains of dogs and horses at the site, which is next to a key Sican ceremonial centre, in the historical Pomac Woods, 500 miles north of Lima...They were, more likely than not, offered in sacrifice to the gods of the Sican culture. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2075698/Peruvian-mass-grave-unearthed-60-people-sacrificed-1-100-years-ago.html#ixzz2nMCVo2kS.
Phoenix Ancient Art Presents Sacred Scents And Flames From The Ancient World. PR Newswire, Sacramento Bee, Calif. Dec. 12, 2013. Phoenix Ancient Art, one of the world's leading dealers in rare and exquisite antiquities from Western civilizations, today announced that its latest exhibition, "Sacred Scents and Flames from the Ancient World" will be on display at its New York gallery from December 12th, 2013 – February 12th, 2014.... Ali Aboutaam, president of Phoenix Ancient Art. "From the very beginning various religions worshipped the eternal, divine flame, and even the most powerful kings had to pay a tribute to a flame. Incense which is closely linked to fire and flame quickly became the important element in the liturgical ceremonies in various religions. An Islamic bronze censer shaped as a feline, which is dated to the 11th century A.D., is a masterpiece of the bronze cast technique; its surface is an openwork in the shape of floral motifs, which allowed the perfumed smoke to escape and spread." The exhibition choice is about 80 items that show different shapes and materials such as gold, silver, bronze, terracotta and glass. They reveal the history of lamps and censers that covers the time span from the second half of the 3rd millennium B.C. till the 14th century A.D. and represent different ways of how the lamps were used in ancient cultures such as Mesopotamian, Phoenician, Greek, Etruscan, Roman, Judaic, Byzantine, Islamic, and Chinese.
(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20131212/NY32663-a ). (Photo:http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20131212/NY32663-b ).
http://www.sacbee.com/2013/12/12/5995444/phoenix-ancient-art-presents-sacred.html.
Medical
2 Phoenix-area hospital cases may be tied to flesh-eating drug. Domenico Nicosia, The Arizona Republic-. Sep 26, 2013. Banner Health toxicologists in Phoenix are investigating the first possible cases in the U.S. of a dangerous synthetic drug that eats away the flesh of those who inject it. Two people hospitalized in the past week in the Phoenix area exhibited symptoms consistent with krokodil use, although that has yet to be confirmed, officials say. “If this is real ... I hope that it just dies very quickly,” said Dr. Frank LoVecchio, co-director of the Banner Good Samaritan Poison and Drug Information Center. Krokodil eats at flesh and produces green-tinted crusty sores that resemble the skin of a crocodile, hence the drug’s name, LoVecchio said. In some cases, the deterioration of skin and muscle tissue is so severe that bone is exposed. Krokodil produces a similar high as heroin at one-tenth of the price and is extremely addictive, LoVecchio said. The “moonshine” drug is made with ingredients obtained at pharmacies and hardware stores. Part of the cooking process involves harmful chemicals, including phosphorous, paint thinner, gasoline and hydrochloric acid. http://www.azcentral.com/community/phoenix/articles/20130926phoenix-hospital-cases-may-tied-flesh-eating-drug-brk.html.
A general strain theory of intimate partner homicide. Li Eriksson, Paul Mazerolle. Aggression and Violent Behavior, Volume 18, Issue 5, September–October 2013, Pages 462-470. Men and women who kill an intimate partner experience qualitatively different situations and emotions in the months and weeks preceding the homicide event. Theoretical explanations of intimate partner homicide are either gender-specific or gender-neutral, and, as such, fail to take these gender differences into account. This article extends current theory by presenting a general strain theory of intimate partner homicide. General strain theory suggests that men and women who kill an intimate partner experience different types of strain and emotions, and that homicide occurs in response to these experiences. This application not only affords gender-sensitivity, but also incorporates negative emotions (often neglected by other theory-building), explains coping mechanisms, and combines proximal and distal etiological factors. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.avb.2013.07.002.
(http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1359178913000554.)
Ancient DNA reveals multiple stages of settlement in Europe. Science Codex. October 10, 2013. New ancient-DNA research led by the National Geographic Society's Genographic Project, the Australian Centre for Ancient DNA (ACAD) and researchers from the University of Mainz in Germany and the State Heritage Museum in Halle (Germany) showed a pattern of genetic replacement taking place across several millennia in a region of central Europe. The genetic data reveal the complex dynamics that went into producing the present-day genetic patterns in Europe and show that the region that is now Germany saw at least four stages of significant migration and settlement, highlighted by marked shifts in the genetic composition of the populations in the region...One of the great debates in archaeological research for the past century has been the degree to which cultures or people move. When you see a pronounced cultural shift in the archaeological record, for instance, is it because of a new people appearing on the scene, or is it simply the diffusion of a new culture? This new Genographic study shows definitively that, for Germany over a four-millennia-long time span from 5500 B.C. to 1500 B.C., it was people who were on the move, carrying their genes with them. (http://www.sciencemag.org/lookup/doi/10.1126/science.1241844) http://www.sciencecodex.com/ancient_dna_reveals_multiple_stages_of_settlement_in_europe-120882.
Buying Kidneys! SimchaTV. November 4, 2013. On Monday night, November 4, 2013, a film I co-produced on kidney trafficking had its world premiere on HBO. It’s called “Tales From the Organ Trade”, and was directed by my associate Ric Esther Bienstock, an Emmy winning filmmaker. The film is a finely crafted, well-balanced investigation into every aspect of kidney trafficking. It’s the first time that someone has infiltrated every aspect of an illegal kidney sale; from buyer to nephrologist to seller to middleman to surgeon. Ric has explored the “moral ambiguity” of the issue and, as a result of its nuanced objectivity, the film is putting the entire matter on the global health agenda. http://www.simchajtv.com/buying-kidneys/.
Compounding Medicine & The Bigger Picture. Medchrome. August 22, 2013
Compound drugs are no longer being used just for patients with unusual conditions or premature infants. They’re now being seen as a lucrative and viable alternative than the long list of prescriptions. When patients have access to such drugs, their personalized medical needs are fulfilled...However, some individuals such as retirees, veterans and U.S. military family members may have a hard time accessing compounded medicine. Thousands are feared to be left out of personalized medical access now that Tricare, a government healthcare program, has cut back funding on compounded drugs. http://medchrome.com/extras/facts/compounding-medicine-bigger-picture/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+medchrome+%28medchrome.com%29.
Drug-resistant 'superbugs' deemed urgent threats: U.S. report. Julie Steenhuysen. September 16, 2013. CHICAGO (Reuters) - Antibiotic-resistant gonorrhea, a diarrhea-causing superbug and a class of fast-growing killer bacteria dubbed a "nightmare" were classified as urgent public-health threats in the United States on Monday. According to a new report by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), at least 2 million people in the United States develop serious bacterial infections that are resistant to one or more types of antibiotics each year, and at least 23,000 die from the infections. "For organism after organism, we're seeing this steady increase in resistance rates," Dr Thomas Frieden, director of the CDC, said in a telephone interview. "We don't have new drugs about to come out of the pipeline. If and when we get new drugs, unless we do a better job of protecting them, we'll lose those, also." Over prescribing of antibiotics is a chief cause of antibiotic resistance, affording pathogens the opportunity to outwit the drugs used to treat them. Only a handful of new antibiotics have been developed and brought to market in the past few decades, and only a few companies are working on drugs to replace them. http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/news/fullstory_140727.html.
Doctor Creates Feces Pills To Treat Illness. American Voices, Oct 7, 2013. ISSUE 49•41. A Canadian doctor has treated 27 patients suffering from Clostridium difficileinfections by giving them each between 24 and 30 handmade pills containing stool from one of their healthy relatives, curing each patient of their illness. What do you think? http://www.theonion.com/articles/doctor-creates-feces-pills-to-treat-illness,34110/.
Female-to-Male Transmasculine Adult Health: A Mixed-Methods Community-Based Needs Assessment. Reisner SL, Gamarel KE, Dunham E, Hopwood R, Hwahng S. J Am Psychiatr Nurses Assoc. 2013 Aug 20. This mixed-methods study sought to formatively investigate the health and perceived health needs of female-to-male transmasculine adults....Four clusters of health indicators emerged: (a) depression; (b) syndemic (all indicators); (c) alcohol use, overweight status; and (d) smoking, physical inactivity, overweight status. Transphobic discrimination in health care and avoiding care were each associated with membership in the syndemic class. Qualitative themes included personal health care needs, community needs, and resilience and protective factors. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23963876?dopt=Abstract.
Fungal Sex Can Generate New Drug Resistant, Virulent Strains. Science Daily. Sep. 10, 2013. Though some might disagree, most biologists think the purpose of sex is to create diversity among offspring. Such diversity underpins evolution, enabling organisms to acquire new combinations of traits to adapt to their environment...However, scientists have been perplexed to find that many fungi and microorganisms procreate with exact replicas of themselves, where the expected outcome would simply be more of the same. Now researchers have found the act of sex between such genetically identical organisms can itself be mutagenic, meaning it can create genetic changes and diversity where it did not previously exist. Studies of a fungus called Cryptococcus showed the process of sexual reproduction can result in extra bundles of genetic material or chromosomes that can be beneficial to the organism's survival. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/09/130910205435.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily%2Fhealth_medicine%2Fhiv_and_aids+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Health+%26+Medicine+News+--+HIV+and+AIDS%29.
LAW EXPERT: ‘CORPORATE CONSCIENCE’ COULD BE TROUBLE. Kelly Wiese Niemeyer-Washington U. October 8, 2013. "It's just a short step from deciding for-profit, secular employers can deny employees insurance for contraception to allowing them to get rid of employees for simply using contraception," says Elizabeth Sepper... Endowing businesses with human religious and moral beliefs to excuse them from complying with the law is a bad idea, warns a legal scholar...The controversy and legal battles surrounding the contraception mandate in the Affordable Care Act have led to the new—and worrisome—legal concept of “corporate conscience,” according to Elizabeth Sepper, an associate professor of law at Washington University School of Law in St. Louis. http://www.futurity.org/letting-corporations-people-trouble-says-law-prof/.
Mistake Prompts State to Test Dozens for HIV, Hepatitis. Sabina Kuriakose. | Friday, Aug 23, 2013. The NBC Connecticut Troubleshooters have learned that at least 74 people were put at risk of potentially contracting HIV and Hepatitis B and C through a standard medical procedure performed by a UConn Health Center nurse. It happened at MacDougall-Walker state prison in May. http://www.nbcconnecticut.com/investigations/LWRD--220762771.html#comments.
Nov 2, 1989: A nurse's aide gets life imprisonment. History Channel. A Texas native, Graham moved to Michigan in 1986 and found employment at Alpine Manor. Catherine Wood, Graham's supervisor, had recently divorced and soon became her lover. Before long, Graham enlisted Wood's aid in a brutal scheme: the duo decided to kill people whose initials would spell out the word "murder" when the spree was over. The first victim, however, fought back harder than expected so the pair abandoned the "initials game" and instead began focusing on the weakest women in the nursing home. According to Wood, Graham suffocated her victims with a washcloth while Wood stood guard as a lookout. http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/a-nurses-aide-gets-life-imprisonment?et_cid=57121601&et_rid=954119701&linkid=http%3a%2f%2fwww.history.com%2fthis-day-in-history%2fa-nurses-aide-gets-life-imprisonment.
Obesity In America. All That is Interesting. OCTOBER 5, 2013. Obesity is most certainly a public health epidemic in the United States. However, what many wish to blame on flawed individual decision making has some twisted roots in poverty, race and some pretty predatory food giants whose cheap, additive-laden foods contain addictive properties. http://all-that-is-interesting.com/obesity-america#ehvXtYtpEXA8ggWx.99.
One Woman’s Magnificent Metamorphosis. All That is Interesting. November 16, 2013. Some of the most miraculous things in life happen after we think of it as “over”. In this wonderful video, watch as one woman ages, dies and transforms into something much larger than her physical body. http://all-that-is-interesting.com/woman-metamorphosis?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+AllThatsInteresting+%28All+That+Is+Interesting%29.
The Extraordinary Science of Addictive Junk Food. MICHAEL MOSS. February 20, 2013. “If anyone in the food industry ever doubted there was a slippery slope out there,” Mudd said, “I imagine they are beginning to experience a distinct sliding sensation right about now.” Mudd then presented the plan he and others had devised to address the obesity problem. Merely getting the executives to acknowledge some culpability was an important first step, he knew, so his plan would start off with a small but crucial move: the industry should use the expertise of scientists — its own and others — to gain a deeper understanding of what was driving Americans to overeat. Once this was achieved, the effort could unfold on several fronts. To be sure, there would be no getting around the role that packaged foods and drinks play in overconsumption. They would have to pull back on their use of salt, sugar and fat, perhaps by imposing industrywide limits. But it wasn’t just a matter of these three ingredients; the schemes they used to advertise and market their products were critical, too. Mudd proposed creating a “code to guide the nutritional aspects of food marketing, especially to children.” http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/24/magazine/the-extraordinary-science-of-junk-food.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0.
Response to the AIDS Pandemic — A Global Health Model. Peter Piot, M.D., Ph.D., and Thomas C. Quinn, M.D. N Engl J Med 2013; 368:2210-2218, June 6, 2013. DOI: 10.1056/NEJMra1201533. ... Within the first year of its description, the disease was also identified in patients with hemophilia, users of injection drugs, blood-transfusion recipients, and infants born to affected mothers. Soon thereafter, a heterosexual epidemic of AIDS was reported in Central Africa, preferentially affecting women. Little did we know at the time that this small number of cases would eventually mushroom into tens of millions of cases, becoming one of the greatest pandemics of modern times. http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMra1201533.
Mistake Prompts State to Test Dozens for HIV, Hepatitis. Sabina Kuriakose. | Friday, Aug 23, 2013. The NBC Connecticut Troubleshooters have learned that at least 74 people were put at risk of potentially contracting HIV and Hepatitis B and C through a standard medical procedure performed by a UConn Health Center nurse. It happened at MacDougall-Walker state prison in May. http://www.nbcconnecticut.com/investigations/LWRD--220762771.html#comments.
Predicting Danger to Others. The Politics of Mental Illness: Myth and Power in the Work of Thomas S. Szasz. Jan Pols. 2005. In psychiatry danger means that a psychiatric disorder can cause risks and complications and that people can get into trouble because of their impulsive decisions or actions. Such a danger can be, for instance, that someone resigns from his job without due consideration and without having arranged alternative income. So it does not have to be a danger in the legal sense of the word. The concept of danger in psychiatry is more vague and less narrowly demarcated. Judges approach it differently. They want to know exactly which danger is posed, how serious it is, how likely, how imminent, how acute the hazard is, and how likely it is to recur. http://www.janpols.net/Chapter-7/3.2.1.html.
Some Women Undergo Unnecessary Double Mastectomies. Lauren Cahoon Roberts. September 16, 2013. "If Angelina Jolie did it, shouldn't I do the same?" This is a question breast-cancer doctors and surgeons are increasingly encountering in their practice, in the wake of Jolie's revelation earlier this year that she chose to have both her breasts removed due to her high risk of developing breast cancer. Now, a new study shows that even before Jolie's surgery, many women under age 40 who were diagnosed with breast cancer in one breast were having their other breast removed as well, despite the fact that removing the healthy breast does not improve survival rates for most women. http://www.livescience.com/39680-women-unnecessary-double-mastectomies.html?cmpid=545471.
Stray prenatal gene network suspected in schizophrenia. NIH (National Institute of Health). August 1, 2013. Earlier studies had linked spontaneous mutations to non-familial schizophrenia and traced them broadly to genes involved in brain development, but little was known about convergent effects on pathways. King and colleagues set out to explore causes of schizophrenia by integrating genomic data with newly available online transcriptome resources that show where in the brain and when in development genes turn on. They compared spontaneous mutations in 105 people with schizophrenia with those in 84 unaffected siblings, in families without previous histories of the illness. http://www.nih.gov/news/health/aug2013/nimh-01.htm.
Three-fourth of children with TB in city are girls. Priyanka Vora, Hindustan Times Mumbai, September 16, 2013. Out of every four city children diagnosed with TB in the past five years, three were girls, data from the Revised National Tuberculosis Control Program (RNTCP) showed. The trend, however, reverses later, with two out of every three adults diagnosed with tuberculosis (TB) being men. “Over the past three years, we have treated ten girls, and just one boy, with large cavities in their lungs owing to TB. This kind of damage to lungs is commonly seen in adults. It is evident that girls are for some reason more susceptible to TB,” said Dr Bela Verma, associate professor, GT Hospital, Dhobi Talao. http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/mumbai/Three-fourth-of-children-with-TB-in-city-are-girls/Article1-1122639.aspx.
Typhoid's Lethal Secret Revealed. Science Daily. July 10, 2013.Typhoid fever is one of the oldest documented diseases known to have afflicted humankind but what makes it so lethal has remained a mystery for centuries. In a study appearing online July 10 in the journal Nature, Yale researchers offer an explanation of how the devastating disease marked by delirium and stupor still kills 200,000 people every year -- and also suggests the basis of a future vaccine. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/07/130710141843.htm.
What Made Typhoid Mary's Infectious Microbes Tick? Science Daily. Aug. 14, 2013. Salmonella's ability to position itself inside infected people's cells for the long haul can turn them into chronic, asymptomatic carriers who, unknown to themselves or others, spread the infectious organism far and wide...The findings, published Aug. 14 in Cell Host & Microbe, could lead to new and better treatments for typhoid fever. Worldwide, there are 16 million to 20 million cases each year, resulting in about 200,000 deaths, although the disease is no longer common in developed countries. Scientists further estimate that there are close to 100 million cases of salmonella-induced gastrointestinal infections each year, the majority from food poisoning, resulting in more than 150,000 deaths. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/08/130814124333.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily%2Fhealth_medicine%2Fimmune_system+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Health+%26+Medicine+News+--+Immune+System%29.
Political
A New Monument Recognizes Military Women’s Service and Sacrifices. Mariette Kalinowski. NOV 11, 2013. The Army’s first statue of a female soldier was unveiled last week, just in time for Veterans Day. It’s a powerful symbol and a call to recognize the service of women in the military.Last week, just in time for Veterans Day, the Army unveiled the Lt. FAWMA statue at Fort Lee, Virginia. It’s the first statue commissioned and placed on a military base time that features a woman soldier. The ten-foot monument, whose name comes from an acronym for the Friends of the Army Women’s Museum, commemorates all the women who have taken the oath and served in the US Army. The public honor that the statue represents is overdue, for too long women have been soldiering alongside men, taking the same risks but receiving little of the recognition for their sacrifices and contributions in the military. http://www.thedailybeast.com/the-hero-project/articles/2013/11/11/a-new-monument-recognizes-military-women-s-service-and-sacrifices.html?utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=cheatsheet_morning&cid=newsletter%3Bemail%3Bcheatsheet_morning&utm_term=Cheat%20Sheet.
Architects Are Part of the Prison Industrial Complex, Too. MIKE RIGGS. AUG 28, 2013. When it comes to criticism of the prison industrial complex, most of the attention goes to a handful of actors: Prison guard unions, private prison companies, and the legislators who determine which group gets to run which prisons. But before a prison can be run, it has to be built; and before it can be built, it has to be designed. That's where architects come in...Architects are the invisible actors in America's carceral play. They design not just how prisons look, but how they work and how the people confined inside them live. Prison design, reports San Francisco Weekly's Rachel Swan, is a "booming field in architecture right now": http://www.theatlanticcities.com/design/2013/08/architects-are-part-prison-industrial-complex-too/6693/.
Controversial Gay-Parenting Study Is Severely Flawed, Journal’s Audit Finds. Tom Bartlett. July 26, 2012. Since it was published last month, the study, titled “How Different Are the Adult Children of Parents Who Have Same-Sex Relationships?,” has been the subject of numerous news articles and blog posts. It has been used by opponents of same-sex marriage to make their case, and it’s been blasted by gay-rights activists as flawed and biased. http://www.unl.edu/rhames/Controversial%20Gay-Parenting%20Study%20Is%20Severely%20Flawed,%20Journal's%20Audit%20Finds%20-%20Percolator%20-%20The%20Chronicle%20of%20Higher%20Education.pdf.
Gov. Brown signs bills aimed at paparazzi, family leave and quakes. Patrick McGreevy and Melanie Mason. September 24, 2013. The governor's signature on the privacy measure will make it a misdemeanor to attempt to photograph or videotape a child in a harassing manner if the image is being taken because the child's parent is a celebrity or public official. http://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-brown-bills-paparazzi-20130925,0,7649417.story.
How Catholics and the Religiously Unaffiliated Will Shape the 2012 Election and Beyond. Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI). 10/22/2912. The American religious landscape is marked by significant diversity and fluidity. While Catholics and white mainline Protestants remain two of the largest religious groups in the United States, they have each experienced significant declines in membership. http://publicreligion.org/research/2012/10/american-values-survey-2012/#.UiY5ttK2t9F.
Meet al Qaeda’s New General Manager: Nasser al-Wuhayshi. Eli Lake. Aug 9, 2013.
He was once Osama bin Laden’s personal secretary, a bodyguard in Tora Bora, and even a Yemeni Steve McQueen. But with his promotion last week, he’s now a big U.S. target. http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/08/09/meet-al-qaeda-s-new-general-manager-nasser-al-wuhayshi.html?utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=cheatsheet_morning&cid=newsletter%3Bemail%3Bcheatsheet_morning&utm_term=Cheat%20Sheet.
Paralyzed by Polarization. John Avlon. Oct 12, 2013. After 12 days of stalemate, conversations – if not negotiations – have started. But House Republicans remain deadlocked with the White House, its leadership constrained by their own far-Right-wing caucus, announcing to members in a closed-door session this morning that any deal would have to come from the Senate, where Mitch McConnell, the GOP minority leader, declared: “I’m willing to work with the government we have, not the one I wish we had.” This is a significant concession to reality...The battle lines have been hardened over the past half-decade, as poisonous polarisation turned the idea of political opponents into personal enemies. Ideological divisions inside the Republican Party resulted in a hunt for heretics, with Tea Party senators like Ted Cruz and Mike Lee raising activist cash with infomercials to unseat fellow Republican incumbents, accusing them of being insufficiently conservative and therefore collaborators with President Barack Obama...Fear over these proposed primary challenges led to a collapse of common sense as Republicans backed into a suicidal government shutdown strategy in an attempt to get President Obama to defund or delay his signature health care reform law. This was always going to be a non-starter because Democrats control the Senate as well as the White House. But Cruz & Co raised millions around this base-pleasing fantasy, without a real strategy for success. http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/10/12/republicans-with-a-death-wish-are-holding-u-s-to-ransom.html?utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=cheatsheet_morning&cid=newsletter%3Bemail%3Bcheatsheet_morning&utm_term=Cheat%20Sheet.
Punishment by Design: The Power of Architecture Over the Human Mind. Rachel Swan. Aug 21 2013. ...Psychologists who study its effects say that sitting alone for prolonged periods can lead to insomnia, memory loss, and hallucinations....http://www.sfweekly.com/2013-08-21/news/security-housing-unit-prison-solitary-confinement-pelican-bay-hunger-strike/full/.
Tea Party Support Dwindles to Near-Record Low. Republicans ambivalent about movement, while most Democrats oppose it. Lydia Saad. Gallop Pole, September 26, 2013. Fully half of Americans, 51%, currently say they are neither a supporter nor an opponent of the Tea Party, or they have no opinion about it...In addition to their overall advantage in numbers, opponents of the Tea Party also lead supporters in intensity. The majority of Tea Party opponents call themselves strong opponents, while supporters are evenly divided as strong and not strong supporters. The net result is that 17% of Americans consider themselves strong opponents of the Tea Party, contrasted with 11% who are strong supporters, similar to the balance seen in 2011. http://www.gallup.com/poll/164648/tea-party-support-dwindles-near-record-low.aspx?utm_source=alert&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=syndication&utm_content=morelink&utm_term=All%20Gallup%20Headlines.
The Secret Web: Where Drugs, Porn and Murder Live Online. Lev Grossman; Jay Newton-Small. Nov. 11, 2013. Ten years ago the government built a totally private, anonymous network. Now it's a haven for criminals. The FBI believes [sic Ross] Ulbricht [sic aka. Josh Terrey] is a criminal known online as the Dread Pirate Roberts, a reference to the book and movie The Princess Bride. The Dread Pirate Roberts was the owner and administrator of Silk Road, a wildly successful online bazaar where people bought and sold illegal goods — primarily drugs but also fake IDs, fireworks and hacking software. They could do this without getting caught because Silk Road was located in a little-known region of the Internet called the Deep Web. The Deep Web is a specific branch of the Internet that's distinguished by that increasingly rare commodity: complete anonymity. As such, it is a vital tool for intelligence agents, law enforcement, political dissidents and anybody who needs or wants to conduct their online affairs in private — which is, increasingly, everybody. But some prosecutors and government agencies think that Silk Road was just the thin edge of the wedge and that the Deep Web is a potential nightmare, an electronic haven for thieves, child pornographers, human traffickers, forgers, assassins and peddlers of state secrets and loose nukes. http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2156271,00.html?xid=newsletter-asia-weekly.
U.S. spy network’s successes, failures and objectives detailed in ‘black budget’ summary. Barton Gellman and Greg Miller. August 29, 2013. U.S. spy agencies have built an intelligence-gathering colossus since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, but remain unable to provide critical information to the president on a range of national security threats, according to the government’s top-secret budget. http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/black-budget-summary-details-us-spy-networks-successes-failures-and-objectives/2013/08/29/7e57bb78-10ab-11e3-8cdd-bcdc09410972_print.html.
When Enough is Enough: Location Tracking, Mosaic Theory, and Machine Learning. Bellovin, Steven M. and Hutchins, Renee M. and Jebara, Tony and Zimmeck, Sebastian, (September 3, 2013). New York University Journal of Law & Liberty (2014).; U of Maryland Legal Studies Research Paper No. 2013-51. http://ssrn.com/abstract=2320019 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2320019. ...Mosaic theorists advocate a cumulative approach to the evaluation of data collection. Under the theory, searches are “analyzed as a collective sequence of steps rather than as individual steps.” The approach is based on the recognition that comprehensive aggregation of even seemingly innocuous data reveals greater insight than consideration of each piece of information in isolation. Over time, discrete units of surveillance data can be processed to create a mosaic of habits, relationships, and much more. Consequently, a Fourth Amendment analysis that focuses only on the government’s collection of discrete units of trivial data fails to appreciate the true harm of long-term surveillance — the composite. http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2320019.
Religion
72 Names of God. Kabbalistic Uses of Names Derived From The Torah. Catherine Beyer. The Kabbalah Centre offers a variety and products based on what it calls the 72 Names of God. Jewish scholars and occultists who employ the 72 names generally disagree with that description. Instead, each of the 72 Kabbalistic names provides the name of an angel, and some occultists also associate a demon with each name. The combination of these 72 names creates the 216-letter name of God, in reference to Exodus 23:20-21.... This name is commonly referred to as the Shemhamphorasch or Shem ha-Mephorash, just as the 4-letter name of God is commonly called theTetragrammaton. http://altreligion.about.com/od/beliefsandcreeds/a/72names.htm?nl=1.
Ancient Jewish ritual performed ahead of Yom Kippur in Israel. NBCNEWSBLOG. September, 2013. In the ancient custom of Kaparot, still performed by some Jews today, a white chicken is held over a person's head as prayers are recited that symbolically transfer the person's sins accumulated through the year into the bird. The chicken is butchered in a kosher manner and either donated to charity or eaten. It's performed ahead of Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement and the holiest of Jewish holidays, which begins at sundown on Sept. 13. http://photoblog.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/09/10/20421583-ancient-jewish-ritual-performed-ahead-of-yom-kippur-in-israel?lite.
Ancient Pagan Ritual Still Being Practiced Today. Helen Anne Travis. 11/07/2013. That's what Charles Fréger set out to explore in his photo series Wilder Mann, a study of the costumes used in pagan rituals still practiced today in Europe. Charles traveled to 18 countries, convincing community leaders to pose for him in costumes that range from animals we recognize to creatures that can only be compared to monsters. 8 photos. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/global-yodel/ancient-pagan-ritual-stil_b_4234689.html.
Animal Sacrifice Powered Ancient Jerusalem's Economy. Tia Ghose. September 04, 2013. Animal bones found in a dump dating to the end of the second Temple period suggest that animal sacrifice powered Jerusalem's economy...The finding, published in the September issue of the Journal of Archaeological Science, confirms visions of the temple depicted in historical Jewish texts and suggests the economic heart of the city was its slaughtering operation. http://www.livescience.com/39307-jerusalem-animal-sacrifice-found.html.
Archaeological evidence suggests King Solomon's mines existed. UOI.com. Sept. 4, 2013. Excavation revealed a massive smelting camp containing the remnants of hundreds of furnaces and layers of copper slag, the waste created during the smelting process. http://www.upi.com/Science_News/2013/09/04/Archaeological-evidence-suggests-King-Solomons-mines-existed/UPI-61821378339190/#ixzz2eWWKvIYQ.
Atheist PAC Launches To Promote Equality For Nonbelievers. Amanda Terkel. 09/18/2013. The PAC will back humanist, atheist and agnostic candidates at all levels of government. Freethought's coordinator, Bishop McNeill, told The Huffington Post that it would also be open to supporting candidates who identify with a religion if they are committed to protecting the separation of church and state and defending the civil liberties of secular Americans. Nonbelievers have expressed concerns about religious lawmakers who are hostile to legislation based on scientific research because it conflicts with their faith. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/18/atheist-pac_n_3943223.html?utm_hp_ref=politics.
Biblical Scoop: Sacrificial Child. Simcha TV. December 16, 2013- Biblical Forensics: Real Faces of the Bible. Archaeologists made a shocking discovery while excavating an ancient village in Israel – the skeletal remains of a tiny infant stored inside a clay jar. Six millennia ago, someone carefully buried this child under the foundations of a house – but why? Did a grieving mother decide to keep close at hand a child lost too soon? Or was this innocent sacrificed to appease the gods? Was the Biblical Abraham stopped as he was sacrificing Isaac precisely so as to avoid this kind of ritual? In this episode of Lost Faces of the Bible our team of archaeologists, scholars and forensic anthropologists explore humanity’s long history of sacrifice. All the while they gather information to help our forensic artists reveal the face of this unfortunate child. By the end, for the first time, we come face to face with a sacrificed infant from Biblical times. http://www.simchajtv.com/biblical-scoop-sacrificial-child-2/,
Bolz-Weber’s liberal, foulmouthed articulation of Christianity speaks to fed-up believers. Michelle Boorstein, November 3, 2013. ...In her body and her theology, Bolz-Weber represents a new, muscular form of liberal Christianity, one that merges the passion and life-changing fervor of evangelicalism with the commitment to inclusiveness and social justice of mainline Protestantism. She’s a tatted-up, foul-mouthed champion to people sick of being belittled as not Christian enough for the right or too Jesus-y for the left. http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/bolz-webers-liberal-foulmouthed-articulation-of-christianity-speaks-to-fed-up-believers/2013/11/03/7139dc24-3cd3-11e3-a94f-b58017bfee6c_story.html?hpid=z1.
ChristianSwingers.com Is Something That Exists. Ashley Burns. 09.05.13. When you’ve been in this blogging game as long as I have, you learn to take everything with a pillar of salt, so when I see a website called ChristianSwingers.com, my natural reaction is to be a little hesitant. After all, the acts of husband and wife swapping don’t seem to be the most Christian thing in the world – at least not with my limited knowledge of the Bible – but, then again, some people simply have other interpretations than their peers. According to the site’s in-depth privacy statement, ChristianSwingers.com is the perfect place for a religious couple to sign up and look around if they’re in the market for another couple to share their love-making with, while also being as insanely discreet as possible. http://www.uproxx.com/webculture/2013/09/christianswingers-com-something-exists/#ixzz2jObSjKZM.
Classical Hebrew in the Golden Dawn Tradition. Ola Wikander, Lund University. 2013. The article discusses the use of Classical Hebrew in the texts and practices of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, investigating (amongst other things) the attitudes towards the language found in the writings of the Order, the pronunciations and transcriptions used for Hebrew words, and the role played by this “Kabbalistic language” in the ideology of the order. A comparison is made with other attested instances of use of “sacred languages”, and it is noted that the Golden Dawn use of Hebrew differs from these in that there does not seem to have been a continuous deeper knowledge of the language within the Order – Hebrew was a symbol system rather than a language in any real sense. http://www.lunduniversity.lu.se/o.o.i.s?id=12683&postid=4065217.
‘Dark Ecstasies’: Sex, Mysticism and Psychology in Early Twentieth-Century England. Joy Dixon. 27 OCT 2013. DOI: 10.1111/1468-0424.12031. John Wiley & Sons Ltd. Link to PDF.
Demon rum: Study finds alcohol may release aggression in religious individuals. David Briggs. July 26, 2013. Mixing religion and alcohol may be dangerous to other people’s health. A new study of religion, alcohol and violence revealed that religious folks who were not under the influence were the most likely to turn the other cheek...However, the researchers also found that religious individuals who were intoxicated were the most likely to display aggression, administering higher and longer levels of electric shocks to opponents in a laboratory experiment. http://blogs.thearda.com/trend/featured/demon-rum-study-finds-alcohol-may-release-aggression-in-religious-individuals/.
Donations by Strangers to Lutheran Churches during the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries. Jürgen Beyer. Journal of Social History (Fall 2013) 47 (1): 196-221. doi: 10.1093/jsh/sht051. Abstract: While the majority of donations to Lutheran churches during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries was made by locals, foreigners not living in the parish contributed gifts, too. There were, firstly, donations made accidentally to the parish in question such as funeral monuments in the case of sudden death. Secondly, a large group of donations reflected attendance of a particular church, be that through economic connections, through former ties or family ties to the parish, or through prayers granted in the case of votive churches. A third group is characterized by attempts to stress the status of individuals or institutions, underlining, for instance, chartered rights of foreigners, territorial dependency of a village or the role of a church patron. Royal gifts, burial monuments in churches of central importance and war trophies should also be placed in this group. A fourth group might be termed charity for parishes in need. These groups partly overlapped. The donations discussed also contain examples of unintended and unacceptable gifts, while anonymous giving obviously does not betray much of its background. Since scholars have preferred to study parishes in local or regional perspectives, donations by foreigners have mostly been overlooked. When studying all Lutheran countries, however, it becomes evident that donations by foreigners occurred regularly and that parishes interacted lively with the wider world. They were not the self-contained units as they have often been portrayed. http://jsh.oxfordjournals.org/content/47/1/196.abstract.html?etoc.
Exorcism of Emily Rose (Anneliese Michel): Medical explanation. Medchrome. October 12, 2013. Before reading this article , you should know what actually was the story of Anneliese Michel, a german girl who was exposed to ugly exorcism that led to her dead. The priest and parents were punished by the jury with imprisonment but the audio tapes and photos of exorcism even confused the court. The possible demonic possession can’t still be ruled out. Many movies were later released based on her story ” Exorcism of Emily Rose” ” Exorcism of Isabella” etc. Many questions are still floating around the internet. Did she have a Schiziphrenia , Dissociative identity Disorder ie was she mentally ill? Did the blind superstition led to her death? Was she actually possessed? Could she have improved if she had got medical care? Was exorcism a injustice to her? Is her death a murder, an abuse? http://medchrome.com/supernatural/exorcism-emily-rose-anneliese-michel-medical-explanation/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+medchrome+%28medchrome.com%29.
Fact, Fallacy or Hoax? Religious Experience in Modern Religions. Catherine Beyer. Online About.com. 2013. When a person claims such an experience, there are three common reactions of those who hear of it. The first is to believe. This most often happens with members of the same faith, although sometimes convincing description of the experience attracts converts...The second is to accept the person is being honest, but that they are wrong on the nature of the experience. Drugs and illness are commonly suggested mundane causes for the supposed religion experience...The third reaction is to accuse the supposed visionary of outright dishonesty. The person is accused of inventing the tale, usually to gain attention, standing within a religious community, or sources of income. http://altreligion.about.com/od/controversymisconception/a/Fact-Fallacy-Or-Hoax.htm?nl=1.
Francis Alive and Aloft: Franciscan Apocalypticism in the Colonial Andes. Jaime Lara. The Americas, Volume 70, Number 2, October 2013. pp. 139-163. 10.1353/tam.2013.0096. The seventeenth century opened with a bang, literally. In the year 1600, on the first Friday in the season of Lent, sometime between noon and 3:00 PM (that is, at the hour of the accustomed Lenten penitential processions), the Peruvian volcano of Huaynaputina began a protracted series of explosions and eruptions....Throughout the ordeal, during the long pitch-black days that spread in a belt across South America, the terror was heightened by red-hot pyroclastic bombs, the size of a human head, which were ejected with such force that they rained fire from heaven for miles around. At any moment, out of the darkness, a molten projectile might fall on some unfortunate soul. If residents did not die struck down or burned, they might well be among the many who suffocated... When the sun finally reappeared on April 2, the suffocating ash and lahars had buried alive the inhabitants of seven Indian towns in the immediate vicinity of the volcano. In Arequipa, there was neither food nor potable water, and the priests resorted to employing an exorcism to conjure the clouds for rain. When the rains did come, they brought mudslides and more deaths. In August of that year there was another eruption, and finally in November, the event that had all the elements of the Apocalypse ended, not to be repeated...http://muse.jhu.edu/login?auth=0&type=summary&url=/journals/the_americas/v070/70.2.lara.html.
Holy Freeloading! 10 Ways Religious Groups Suck on the Public Purse. Religion is big business, especially with the help of your tax dollars. Valerie Tarico, AlterNet. September 18, 2013. ...Religion is big business. There are lots of options ( over 30,000 variants of Christianity alone), and if the scale is right it can pay really, really well. Creflo Dollar, founder of World Changers Church, has an estimated net worth of $27 million. Benny Hinn comes in at $42 million. Squeaky clean tent revival pioneer Billy Graham bankrolled around $25 million. Even Eddie Long who has been plagued by accusations of sex with underage male members of his congregation can count his bankbook in the millions. You say you don’t have star power? No worries. Millions of ordinary ministers, priests, missionaries, religious hospital administrators and other church employees earn solid middle- or upper-middle-class incomes in the God business. The pay is good, and for most positions it doesn’t matter what race you are or what grade you happened to get in chemistry...Missionary work may include disaster relief or education with recruiting in the mix. An earthquake survivor might receive a solar-powered Bible to go with his rice and beans and sutures. A Hindu child might get free schooling, pencils and paper included, along with the message that the gods his parents worship are actually demons. http://www.alternet.org/belief/holy-freeloading-10-ways-religious-groups-suck-public-purse.
How Catholics and the Religiously Unaffiliated Will Shape the 2012 Election and Beyond. Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI). 10/22/2912. The American religious landscape is marked by significant diversity and fluidity. While Catholics and white mainline Protestants remain two of the largest religious groups in the United States, they have each experienced significant declines in membership. http://publicreligion.org/research/2012/10/american-values-survey-2012/#.UiY5ttK2t9F.
How Prevalent is Satanic Ritual Abuse? Catherine Beyer. About.com, 2013. Question: How Prevalent is Satanic Ritual Abuse? Answer: Satanic Ritual Abuse, or SRA, is essentially a myth. While self-styled Satanists occasionally commit brutal crimes, these are the result of disturbed individuals whose beliefs often have little in common with mainline Satanists. http://altreligion.about.com/od/satanism/f/SRA.htm?nl=1.
Interactive Diversity: A Proposed Model of Christian Origins. Larry Hurtado. J Theol Studies (2013) 64 (2):445-462.doi: 10.1093/jts/flt063. Although the ‘trajectories’ model of early Christian developments introduced by James Robinson and Helmut Koester has been influential in some circles, and particularly emphasizes diversity in early Christianity, the image of a trajectory may oversimplify matters and may in some cases impose an artificial connection of texts and phenomena. The undeniable diversity of early Christianity also involved a rich and varied interaction and a complexity that is not adequately captured in a ‘trajectory’ approach. A model of ‘interactive diversity’ more adequately reflects the complex nature of early Christianity. http://jts.oxfordjournals.org/content/64/2/445.abstract.html?etoc.
LESSONS LEARNED FROM CHURCH SPIES. TERRY MATTINGLY. September 6, 2013. Actually, consultants who do church "spy" work know that outsiders rarely receive warm, friendly welcomes when they visit most American congregations, said Lawless, who does most of his work on these issues through the Society for Church Consulting in Louisville, Ky. But everything starts with whether church people are friendly and welcoming...Other consistent problems include church websites that are boring, broken or full of out-of-date information, as well as church facilities that include few if any signs to help visitors find their way around. http://www.crescent-news.com/opinion/2013/09/06/terry-mattingly-column-lessons-learned-from-church-spies.
On Getting away with It: Jesus and the Temptation in the Desert. Jaco J. Hamman. Pastoral Psychology. October 2013, Volume 62, Issue 5, pp 671-686. The experience of getting away with something is a well-known personal dynamic, yet it is relatively unexplored by psychodynamic theorists, even though such experiences impact both persons and society in significant ways. In reading the Gospels, one is left with the perception that Jesus got away with desire—that is, he withstood Satan’s temptations. The essay explores “getting away with it” in light of Jesus’ temptation in the desert. Ways this experience might have formed the person and ministry of Jesus are suggested. http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11089-013-0511-2.
PRINCE CHARLES PROCLAIMED "SAVIOR OF THE WORLD" AND A STATUE IS PLANNED FOR HIM! Part 2 In Antichrist Series. The Cutting Edge. Retrieved November, 2013... NEWS BRIEF: "Winged Prince is 'Savior of the World' ", Fox News Life, March 7, 2002. "LONDON — The Prince of Wales is to be immortalized in bronze as a muscular, winged god dressed in nothing more than a loincloth. He will be the first living member of the Royal Family to have a life-size statue dedicated in his honor. Although the Prince is destined to become Defender of the Faith when he becomes King of England, the inscription on the statue in Brazil will honor him as 'Savior of the World'." A quick check to Cohen's book, Antichrist And A Cup of Tea, reveals that Prince Charles is a descendant of Count Dracula [Page 77], while the listing of the website, above, also lists Prince Charles as being descended from the Romanian family of which the father of the original Dracula was a part. It is a most powerful satanic location, deeply rooted in the occult for hundreds of years. http://www.cuttingedge.org/News/n1678.cfm.
Religious Canadians bend morals for the almighty buck: study. Misty Harris, PostMedia News. October 23, 2013. Do unto others — so long as you recognize them from church. Incongruous as it sounds, a new Canadian study discovers that the more importance people place on religion, the more likely they are to lie for financial gain. The lead researcher hypothesizes that this “really strange effect” is the result of the faithful feeling less kinship with the secular, and ultimately less concern about screwing them over for a few bucks. The study — to appear in the December issue of the journal Economics Letters — draws on 400 people randomly separated into pairs. The “sender” in each coupling was given two payments: either $5 and $7 (“small return” group) or $5 and $15 (“large return” group).Senders were told to send a message to their partner — a “receiver” in another room — informing them about which of the two amounts was higher, and the receiver would then choose which one to take (generally, the larger one). http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/national/Religious+Canadians+bend+morals+almighty+buck/9073083/story.html.
Religious edict allowing people to eat dogs and cats issued in Damascus. AFP (Associated Forgein Press). 16.10.2013. In some areas children have died from severe malnutrition, according to one NGO, and a cleric told AFP he had issued a religious ruling allowing the eating of dog and cat meat...For Muslims, Eid is a time for children to receive new clothes and play with friends after sharing a festive meal with their families..."There is no road... The road is closed... What are we going to do?... We are feeding them milk but it's expired," says the little girl, as the babies cry...For some, relief came earlier this week, when the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Syrian Red Crescent evacuated 3,500 people from Moadimayet al-Sham with the agreement of the authorities...But only children, women and old men were able to leave, with the wounded left behind and aid workers prevented from entering the area..."Many children have very low blood pressure, fatigue, dizziness, and a reduced (disease-fighting) white blood cell count. The worst affected by the food shortages are children aged under two years," he added...The hardest part is not having the right medical equipment or food to fight malnutrition, he told AFP..."We issued a religious edict allowing people to eat dog and cat meat. Not because it is religiously permitted, but because it is a reflection of the reality we are suffering," said Sheikh Saleh al-Khatib, who has been on hunger strike for nine days..."People here have nothing for their children. I am on strike because I want to help save food for others." http://en.tengrinews.kz/religion/Religious-edict-allowing-people-to-eat-dogs-and-cats-issued-in-Damascus-23353/.
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Religion vs. reason: The extinction of honest leaders. Dave Gresham. Sept. 27, 2013. The practitioners of priest-craft teach us to get on our knees to talk to God. But consider how our physical parents love to talk with us face to face and all they want in return is our friendship. How much better would our spiritual parents treat us? Religions claim that God told Abraham to kill his son. We put people in jail or asylums if they follow voices like that. A real God would be too good to ask such a thing. A real God would be too almighty to need to. The Bible makes God say, “Kill all the Midianites, except keep the virgin girls for yourselves.” Little girls owned as sex slaves? By the murderers of their families? This is the word of a God? http://blogs.roanoke.com/dancasey/2013/09/religion-vs-reason-the-extinction-of-honest-leaders/.
Sep 25, 1894: Grover Cleveland pardons bigamists, adulterers, polygamists and unlawful cohabitants. History Channel website. [Internet], 2013. On this day in 1894, President Grover Cleveland issues a presidential proclamation pardoning Mormons who had previously engaged in polygamous marriages or habitation arrangements considered unlawful by the U.S. government. At the time, and to this day, plural marriages between one man and multiple women; one woman and multiple men; or multiple men and women are illegal in the United States. In October 1890, under increasing social and political pressure, the president of the Church of Latter Day Saints (LDS) had issued his own manifesto claiming that Mormons would no longer sanction the practice of polygamous marriage. In 1893, then-President Benjamin Harrison pardoned those Mormons who had been in polygamous marriages on the condition that they and their fellow church members stick to monogamy from then on. http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/grover-cleveland-pardons-bigamists-adulterers-polygamists-and-unlawful-cohabitants.
Sep 28, 1988: A cult leader kills one of his followers. Roch Theriault fatally wounds Solange Boislard in Ontario, Canada. Theriault, the leader of the most bizarre and violent cult in Canadian history, often physically abused his followers. Obsessed with anatomy and medicine, Theriault performed crude intestinal surgery on Boislard by slicing open her abdomen and ripping out a piece of intestine with his bare hands. He then ordered another follower to stitch up the wound with a needle and thread. When she died the next day in agonizing pain, he sawed off the top of her head, and then sexually assaulted her. Before burying the woman, he removed a rib, which he wore around his neck. At his trial in 1993, even more horrific tales came to light. The cult leader had burned women with a welding torch, put vice-grips on their nipples, and cut their fingers off with a wire cutter. The alcoholic and delusional Theriault apparently thought he was driving the devil out of them. Theriault also demanded sex from all of the women members in an attempt to increase the number of cult members through children. After a new member of the cult, an escapee from a mental hospital, beat a child at the compound, Theriault performed "surgery" on the child. When the child then died, Theriault castrated the man as punishment. http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/a-cult-leader-kills-one-of-his-followers?et_cid=56399462&et_rid=954119701&linkid=http%3a%2f%2fwww.history.com%2fthis-day-in-history%2fa-cult-leader-kills-one-of-his-followers.
Texas megachurch linked to 21 measles cases. Jamie Stengle. August 27, 2013. ...The outbreak started when a person who contracted the measles overseas visited Eagle Mountain International Church in Newark, located about 20 miles north of Fort Worth, Texas...At least 21 cases of the measles have been linked to a North Texas megachurch where an official says they have been trying to contain the outbreak by hosting vaccination clinics. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-08-texas-megachurch-linked-measles-cases.html#nwlt.
Short Words on Earth: Theological Geography in Rufinus’s Commentary on the Apostles’ Creed. Catherine M. Chin. Journal of Early Christian Studies, Volume 21, Number 3, Fall 2013. pp. 391-412. 10.1353/earl.2013.0036. This article examines Rufinus of Aquileia’s approach to local textual variations in the baptismal creed, as presented in his Commentary on the Apostles’ Creed, which analyzes the creed very differently than other late-ancient Latin treatments of the creed. I argue that Rufinus sees local variations in the text of the creed as aspects of the divine mind that manifest differently in different places, following an Origenist framework in which geography is part of divine pedagogy for humans. Thus the creed, its reciters, and its local setting interact much like agents within a local ecosystem, which provides a specific environment to which its inhabitants must adapt, but which is also changed by its inhabitants as they live in it. http://muse.jhu.edu/login?auth=0&type=summary&url=/journals/journal_of_early_christian_studies/v021/21.3.chin.html.
St Mary’s Hosts its First Speed Faith-ing Event. St. Mary's College, United Kingdom. 27th November 2013. As part of the week, the University College’s Chaplaincy Centre organised an evening of ‘speed faith-ing’. Adapting the basic ideas of speed dating for religion, participants had five minutes to explain their view on a topic to each person they met before moving on. A range of people drawn from a variety of religious traditions and non-religious backgrounds took part, making for some fascinating discussions and a real growth in the understanding of one another. Speakers from the Three Faiths Forum (3FF), an organisation that builds relationships between different faith groups, also visited St Mary’s during the week. 3FF representatives talked to students about how they could go involved in local inter faith dialogue, leadership training and education opportunities throughout the year. http://www.smuc.ac.uk/news/news/general/2013/11/st-marys-hosts-its-first-speed-faith-ing-event/.
Tasteless Or Not? Restaurant Puts Communion Wafer On Burger. Mark Memmott, The Two-Way : NPR. October 04, 2013. , Kuma's Corner, a Chicago restaurant that's built a reputation with foodies for its venturesome dishes, "has cooked up a controversial burger of the month for October, garnishing it with an unconsecrated communion wafer and a red wine reduction sauce,"The Associated Press says. The burger is supposed to be in honor of a Swedish heavy metal band called Ghost. According to the AP, "members of the band dress in religious robes and wear skeleton face makeup."..The Tribune notes that "customers are free to ask for no wafer — or multiple wafers — with their meal." It costs $17. You can get fries, chips or a side salad with it, the Tribune adds. The 10-ounce patty, according to Kuma's, is also topped with "ghost chile aioli, slow braised goat shoulder [and] aged white cheddar cheese.". Total Votes: 5,178 : No, it's not offensive. 73.97% (3,830 votes) : Yes, it's offensive. 26.03% (1,348 votes).http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/10/04/229191976/tasteless-or-not-restaurant-puts-communion-wafer-on-burger?ft=1&f=1016.
The Christ Child on Fire: Southwell's Mighty Babe. Kenney, T. M. (2013). English Literary Renaissance, 43: 415–445. doi: 10.1111/1475-6757.12013. The image of the Proleptic Passion – the Christ Child bearing the wounds of the crucifixion—figures in Robert Southwell's representation of time and immediacy, that is, his temporal rhetoric. This image was ceasing to be conventional in his lifetime because of Reformation attitudes toward the Eucharist and toward the mimetic possibilities of poetry itself; thus, Southwell's use of it harkens back to medieval traditions. In the “Burning Babe” and “New Heaven, New Warre,” the governing images collapse temporal sequences in Christ's life, merging his birth and death and making his sacrifice present to the meditating poet, imitating divine eternity, with the Child as nexus of eternity and time. Southwell's understanding of the unitive power of both the Incarnation and sacrifice informs the first poem more than does the emblem tradition. Medieval lyrics, patriotic writings on the Incarnation that link the Eucharist and the Nativity and depict the newborn Christ as a warrior, and Flemish depictions of the Nativity no doubt familiar to Southwell lie behind both poems. In the multivalent image of the mighty Babe, Southwell is able to portray the Christ Child as both suffering redeemer and powerful judge at the end of time. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1475-6757.12013/abstract;jsessionid=153A977545522BFA37B868A9E32B4A69.d01t04?deniedAccessCustomisedMessage=&userIsAuthenticated=false.
The Merovingian Heresy Exposed: Winged Prince is Proclaimed “Savior of the World”. Blogspot. Helena Lehman. FEBRUARY 24, 2007. On February 23, 2007, I was interviewed for a third time on the Big Finale Show with host Bruce Collins, which was broadcast via the Internet. This was the second of two interviews concerning my book “The Language of God in Prophecy”. This Blog post contains my book research related to the interviews as well as links to both interviews concerning my book on prophecy. http://pillarofenoch.blogspot.com/2007/02/merovingian-heresy-exposed-winged_24.html.
The modesty purity movement and our sacrificial virgins. David Hayward. August 23, 2013. The modesty and purity movement is both fascinating and frightening. When people start talking about purity, someone must die. The cry for cleansing conjures up suggestions of genocide. It reminds me of Rwanda. http://www.patheos.com/blogs/nakedpastor/2013/08/the-modesty-purity-movement-and-our-sacrificial-virgins/?utm_source=SilverpopMailing&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Pan%20Patheos%208.24.13%20(1)&utm_content=&spMailingID=42387592&spUserID=NDEwMTQ2ODQwMDgS1&spJobID=200202029&spReportId=MjAwMjAyMDI5S0.
The ONE Bias That Cripples Every Christian Apologetic Argument. Bob Seidensticker. August 19, 2013. Every apologetic argument? Well, perhaps that’s an exaggeration. But if not universal, it’s nearly so. The bias is this: Christians want to interpret or spin the facts to support their preconception. Instead of following the facts where they lead, Christians would prefer to select and interpret them to show how they can still justify their worldview. They don’t want to follow the evidence where it leads; they want to stay put and shore up their position with sand bags. http://www.patheos.com/blogs/crossexamined/2013/08/the-one-bias-that-cripples-every-christian-apologetic-argument/?utm_source=SilverpopMailing&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Atheist%208.22.13%20(1)&utm_content=&spMailingID=42370085&spUserID=NDEwMTQ2ODQwMDgS1&spJobID=199921488&spReportId=MTk5OTIxNDg4S0.
The rise of religion might be all about sex. Tracy Clark-Flory. Nov 7, 2013
A study suggests religion might have arisen to protect certain reproductive strategies, like long-term partnership. Casual sex, homosexuality, birth control, abortion — this isn’t just a list of topics to avoid bringing up over Thanksgiving dinner. A new study suggests that a person’s views on these subjects predict their religious beliefs. Jason Weeden and Robert Kurzban from the University of Pennsylvania found that conservative views on sex and reproductive rights are associated with greater religiosity. http://www.salon.com/2013/11/07/the_rise_of_religion_might_be_all_about_sex/.
Vatican Medals Misspell ‘Jesus’. Daily Beast: Cheat Sheet. October 11, 2013. The money manufacturer often makes special medals for the Vatican to commemorate a new pontiff, but there was a little problem with the new ones made to celebrate Pope Francis' papacy: the name of Jesus was spelled “Lesus.” Kind of an important one to get right. The Vatican has had to pull over 6,000 of the gold, silver, and bronze collectibles, but not before four made their way into the hands of buyers, who may benefit from the error. Experts are predicting the value of the medals will soar. http://www.thedailybeast.com/cheats/2013/10/11/vatican-medals-misspell-jesus.html?utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=cheatsheet_afternoon&cid=newsletter%3Bemail%3Bcheatsheet_afternoon&utm_term=Cheat%20Sheet.
Video series sponsored by Jesuits promotes homosexuality. HILARY WHITE. Sep 03, 2013. A series of videos sponsored by the Jesuit Roman Catholic religious order, titled “Who are we to judge,” in reference to a comment made earlier this year by Pope Francis about homosexual priests, has come under fire for promoting the idea that there is no conflict between being a faithful Catholic and being an active homosexual. http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/series-of-videos-sponsored-by-jesuits-promotes-homosexuality/.
Deism. Catherine Beyer. About.com, 2013. Deism is not a specific religion but rather a particular perspective on the nature of God. Deists believe that a creator god does exist, but that after the motions of the universe were set in place he retreated, having no further interaction with the created universe or the beings within it. As such, there are a variety of common religious beliefs that deists do not accept. No Need for Worship: Because the deist god is entirely removed from involvement, he has neither need nor want of worship. Indeed, deists commonly hold that God does not even care if humanity believes in him. http://altreligion.about.com/od/alternativereligionsaz/p/Deism.htm.
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