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This is the weblog of
Raymond Powers.
Here I will be sharing what I find of import, humor, concern, inspiration and on the transformational edge
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A Quote:
The whole of life lies in the verb *seeing*. -- Teilhard de Chardin
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Raymond lives in Ojai, where the time now is:
09:04AM
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use. Thus the license here would best be described as:
Primarily Public
Domain.
Please ask permission if there is any question in
regards to public domain usage.
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| Saturday, May 17, 2003 |  |
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 17 May 2003 @ 17:13
US Launches GM Trade War
By Steve Schifferes
BBC News Online, Washington
Washington has brought a complaint against the European Union for refusing to allow the sale of genetically modified (GM) food or crops, escalating trade tensions between the world's two biggest economic blocs.
The United States - and twelve other agricultural exporting nations - want the EU to repeal its five-year moratorium on GM foods, or face trade sanctions under World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules.
US Trade Representative Robert Zoellick said that the US had run out of patience after years of EU procrastination on the issue.
"The EU's persistent resistance to abiding by its WTO obligations has perpetuated a trade barrier unwarranted by the EC's own scientific analysis, which impedes the global use of a technology that could be of great benefit to farmers and consumers around the world," he said.
(The EU) has perpetuated a trade barrier which impedes the global use of a technology that could be of great benefit to farmers and consumers around the world Robert Zoellick US Trade Representative The EU is unlikely to lift the block on GM food imports, which is widely supported by European consumers, and is also developing tough new labelling regulations which worry US farmers.
EU trade commissioner Pascal Lamy questioned the motives behind the US case, and denied there was a "moratorium" on GM foods.
"The EU regulatory system for GM authorisation is in line with WTO rules: it is clear, transparent and non-discriminatory. There is therefore no issue that the WTO needs to examine," he said.
If this attempt succeeds, the US will force GM foods onto European markets regardless of the wishes of consumers
Linda Stupples
Friends of the Earth
And EU consumer and green lobby groups vowed to oppose the US decision.
"If this attempt succeeds, the US will force GM foods onto European markets regardless of the wishes of consumers," said Friends of the Earth Policy Director Liana Stupples.
Trade Wars
Under WTO rules, the two parties have 60 days to consult before a trade disputes panel is set up.
Ultimately, if the panel rules against the EU, it could impose trade sanctions, giving the US the right to impose retaliatory tariffs on EU goods.
Mr Zoellick told BBC News Online that the US would be seeking "several hundred million dollars" in damages, but that the importance of the case went far beyond the immediate damage to US agriculture.
Developing countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America were cutting back on research and production of GM crops, because they were afraid they could not export them to Europe, he said, hurting poor farmers worldwide.
And to support his point, scientists and farmers from developing countries joined the press conference to argue for the economic benefits of GM crops.
Mr Zoellick denied that the US decision to bring the case had anything to do with the WTO's recent approval of $4bn in EU retaliatory sanctions against the US in another case, involving tax breaks for foreign subsidies of US companies.
However, he appeared to concede that the US had delayed bringing the case in the run-up to the Iraq war, when it was trying to gain EU support for a fresh UN resolution.
World Trade Talks
The US move could also increase the difficulties of reaching a deal on agriculture in the Doha round of global trade talks.
Those talks appear stalled ahead of a summit in Cancun, Mexico, in the autumn.
The US and the EU are at loggerheads over how to reform agricultural subsidies to benefit developing countries.
Many of the countries joining in the US action are part of the Cairns group of agricultural exporting nations which has been lobbying the WTO to open agricultural markets.
A number of them are now seeking separate free trade agreements with the United States.
Countries joining US trade complaint: Argentina, Canada, Egypt
Countries joining as third parties: Australia, Chile, Colombia, El Salvador, Honduras, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru and Uruguay.
Story from BBC NEWS
Published: 2003/05/13 18:17:28 GMT More >
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 17 May 2003 @ 16:05
How You Sneeze Reveals Your Personality
How you sneeze--a delicate little achoo that barely makes a sound or an explosive blast that brings the neighbors running to see if you're okay--reveals the deepest secrets of your personality.
That's what behavior expert Patti Wood, MA, CSP claims. In a
"she-got-paid-to-do-this?" type study, Wood analyzed the different ways people sneeze and then classified the sneezes into four personality types based on the DISC Model of Behavior. Actually, she did get paid to do it--by Benadryl Allergy medicine. And this is the result of that research. You can psychoanalyze your sneezes on the Benadryl Web site.
(Once you get to the Web site, you'll find the first link to the Achoo IQ Test on the bottom left.) Or, do it the fast and easy way and identify your sneeze below and then read about the personality type that matches it.
THE SENSITIVE SNEEZER
The Sneeze: One small sneeze and it's over. You're so polite, you turn your head away.
The Personality: You are warm and friendly and like a relaxed pace. The most important thing in your life is your relationships with others. You will work to avoid conflict and get along--even if that means keeping your mouth shut or making personal sacrifices. You are loyal, calm, and
dependable. People say you are a good listener, though sometimes you feel interrupted. You are helpful, supportive, and nurturing of others.
THE BE RIGHT SNEEZER
The Sneeze: When you sneeze, you cover your mouth.
The Personality: You are careful, accurate, and a deep thinker. Before you speak, you carefully consider what you will say. You are detailed and precise and catch mistakes that others miss. You have great insights and opinions, but you don't always get a chance to express them. You like to read books that make you think. You enjoy solitude so much that you prefer working by yourself and relaxing at home. You take your time, play by the rules, and wish others would do the same.
THE GET IT DONE SNEEZER
The Sneeze: Whenever it's possible, you hold in your sneeze. When you can't hold it in, the sneeze is big and loud.
The Personality: You are fast, decisive, and to-the-point. You wish others could be the same. You are efficient and uncomplicated. You do not have to rely on others. You are a leader. You are forceful and commanding and work to get things quickly accomplished. You seek physical exertion. You do not like to be used unfairly by others.
THE ENTHUSIASTIC SNEEZER
The Sneeze: You sneeze multiple times very loudly. When you sneeze, everyone in the room knows it.
The Personality: You are a charismatic leader and influencer. You are imaginative and have great "out of the box" ideas. You are intuitive and can inspire and motivate others. You value your relationships and hold them dear. You welcome new people and new opportunities. You are optimistic and spontaneous. You are open and people know what you are
feeling. You are articulate and enjoy a good conversation whether it is on the phone, over dinner, or out socializing.
More >
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| Wednesday, May 14, 2003 | |
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 14 May 2003 @ 22:59
5/14/03
SPECIAL BUDGET UPDATE:
The Governor's Revised May Budget proposes a further 25% cut in the CAC's 2003 / 2004 FY budget (for a total cut of 75% from the current year budget).
The Artists in Residence, State Local Partners, Folk Arts, and Special Initiatives programs are to be zeroed out and eliminated.
The Organizational Support (including Multicultural Arts) and Arts in Education Programs will be reduced by 75% from the current year funding.Half of the agency's staffing positions will be eliminated.
Here is the Governor's proposed May Revise funding for the CAC: (in millions.)
Organizational Support (including Multicultural programs) : $1.6
Arts in Education: $1.6
Artists in Residence: 0
State Local Partners: 0
Special Initiatives: 0
Touring & Presenting: $ .3
Folk Arts 0
Simon Wiesenthal Museum of Tolerance $1.5
Total State General Funding for Local Assistance: $5.000
Special programs which would be zero funded would include the
International Program, the Infrastructure Program, technical assistance, Arts Day, and Research.
ACTION ALERT:
1. WRITE YOUR LEGISLATOR TODAY AND EXPLAIN HOW VITAL THE ARTS ARE TO YOU AND FELLOW CALIFORNIANS!
Find your legislator by zipcode at: HERE
2. E-mail this message to your organization's supporters and ask them to write their representative today. It is critical that the state legislature know that the California Arts Council and your arts organization makes a valuable contribution to the citizens of California.
Sacramento Arts Advocate website
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. "
--Margaret Mead
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 14 May 2003 @ 18:13
TARZAN'S CHEETA'S LIFE AS A RETIRED MOVIE STAR
By John Roach
National Geographic News
May 9, 2003
Many Hollywood stars retire in the oasis of Palm Springs, California where they while away their golden years splashing paint on canvases, taking leisurely strolls, playing the piano, and flipping through the pages of magazines.
Such is the life of 71-year-old Cheeta, the chimpanzee of Tarzan fame who celebrated his birthday a month ago.
"He's the world's oldest chimp and in excellent condition," said Dan Westfall, who cares for Cheeta and several other retired showbiz primates at the Cheeta Primate Foundation in Palm Springs. Cheeta's "world's oldest" title is noted in the Guinness Book of World Records.
Chimpanzees in the wild tend to live for 40 to 45 years and to the mid 50s in captivity, according to chimpanzee researchers.
Activists for the proper care and treatment of chimpanzees and other nonhuman primates applaud Cheeta's age record, but caution against celebrating the lifestyle of chimpanzees that were stars in the entertainment industry.
"Would you go to a movie if you knew the child actors had been kidnapped and been forced through abuse by their kidnappers to perform silly, demeaning acts?" asks Roger Fouts, co-director of the Chimpanzee and Human Communication Institute at Central Washington University in Ellensburg.
Activists say that retired entertainment chimpanzees engage in human behaviors such as watching television and reading magazines because they were deprived of a natural lifestyle and were instead trained to behave like humans, often through physical abuse.
"You don't have to be a rocket scientist to know that they are pretty dysfunctional," said Gloria Grow, co-founder of the Fauna Foundation which cares for neglected and abused animals in Quebec, Canada.
For example, Grow said that several of the chimpanzees in her foundation's care, including those that were in the entertainment industry, do not know how to have intercourse or how to look after their young.
"It is common scientific knowledge that taking mothers from babies has very serious consequences for the psychological well-being of both the mother and the infant, yet this is what happens to every trained chimpanzee," said Fouts.
The Good Life?
Abe Karajerjian, a biological anthropologist who works with Westfall in the caretaking of the animals at the Cheeta Primate Foundation, says Cheeta and his companions are provided with an environment and social structure that is more suitable to their species rather than perpetuating their human-like lifestyles and behaviors.
"We just love them and love to do things for them," he said. "They made tons of people happy, they had to endure a lot to make people happy, and we want to give back to them, provide them with friends."
Westfall, a comedian and actor, adopted Cheeta about 10 years ago from his uncle Tony Gentry, an animal trainer who worked in Hollywood and discovered Cheeta while on an animal talent scouting trip to Africa in the 1930s.
The 4 foot (1.2 meter) tall, 142 pound (53 kilogram) chimpanzee starred in 12 Tarzan movies and had his last role 36 years ago in the 1967 musical film Doctor Doolittle.
Cheeta now spends his days socializing with other apes and human caregivers. At times he seems fascinated by looking at other animals on television and in the pages of magazines like National Geographic, said Karajerjian
On a few occasions the media has spotted Cheeta taking a ride in the car with Westfall, who said that Cheeta "likes to go through the drive-thru and get a hamburger and a Coke." Cheeta's staple diet consists of fresh fruit, vegetables, and monkey chow, which is a nonhuman-primate version of dog food.
In his earlier years Cheeta had a penchant for beer and cigars, reportedly drinking several cold ones a day. Westfall and Karajerjian said booze and smoke have not been a part of the old chimp's life since he came into their care ten years ago.
"Where he lives now nobody smokes and drinks," said Karajerjian. "I hate smoking and drinking and so why would I offer it to apes?"
At the sanctuary the apes are provided with a variety of activities to stimulate their intellect and curiosity. One of the activities is painting, which Karajerjian says allows chimpanzees to mimic their innate behavior of inventing and using tools.
Westfall says that Cheeta has developed a particular talent as an abstract artist and has trademarked Cheeta's creations as "Ape-stract." Cheeta uses a paintbrush and bright colors for his creations which are full of sweeps, swirls, and straight lines.
"They are very pretty, actually," said Westfall, who sells his companion's work for $125 a piece. The proceeds go to support the Cheeta Primate Foundation, which Westfall started to raise money for unwanted showbiz animals.
Entertainment Abuse
Cheeta is a rarity among chimpanzee actors in that he was used for films into his 30s. "Most of the chimpanzees used in the entertainment industry are used when they are quite young," said Rick Bogle of the Primate Freedom Project in Santa Barbara, California. The organization works for the protection of nonhuman primates.
Chimpanzees rarely act beyond the age of ten because they become less manageable and less willing to follow directions, said Bogle. When the chimpanzees are retired, many of them are sold into biomedical research.
Gentry, Cheeta's previous owner, feared a research laboratory was Cheeta's destination so he had asked in his will that Cheeta be put to rest. Westfall talked his uncle out of having Cheeta put to rest by promising to take good care of the chimp.
Ex-entertainment chimpanzees are unfit for zoos, said Fouts, because they do not behave like regular chimpanzees. "And often times they are not socialized to other chimpanzees so they would be difficult to integrate into a social population," he said.
Westfall said primate researcher Jane Goodall inspired him to start the foundation for unwanted showbiz primates. The other chimpanzees, orangutans, and monkeys in his care have starred in television commercials, nightclubs, and theaters, but none reached the star status of Cheeta.
"There are also some from labs that we'd love to get sometime to save their lives and give them a good, healthy home to live in," he said.
All of the animals in Westfall's care interact on a daily basis and with each other and their human caregivers. Westfall's house is not open to the public, but tour buses and children often stop in front where there is a statue of Cheeta.
Living Longer
Terry Wolf, wildlife director at Lion Country Safari in Loxahatchee, Florida, which cares for about 35 chimpanzees, said that captive chimpanzees that were picked up from the entertainment industry and research facilities are living longer because humans are taking better care of them.
"The quality of health care and diet in the past was traditionally not all that great," he said. Now humans have a better understanding of chimpanzee dietary, physical, and social needs, including the need for interaction to prevent the onset of deadly bouts of depression.
Little Mama, a chimpanzee who starred in a traveling ice skating show before coming to Lion Country Safari in 1967, is thought to be 65 years old and like Cheeta is in good health. She is social and gets along well with her mates, who she lives with on a series of islands in the drive-through zoo, said Wolf.
"Old age is something to be celebrated," said Virginia Landau, director of the Jane Goodall Institute's ChimpanZoo in Tucson, Arizona, which coordinates the study of chimpanzees in zoos and other captive settings.
Donations or a request for a piece of Cheeta's Ape-stract art can be sent to Westfall:
Dan Westfall
Cheeta Primate Foundation
PO Box 8162
Palm Springs, CA 92263 More >
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 14 May 2003 @ 17:55
NASA Science
May 12, 2003
Later this week, millions of sky watchers can step outside and see the first lunar eclipse of 2003. This story, which tells when and where to watch, begins with a bit of science fiction to present the eclipse from an unusual point of view.
The astronomy in this story is real. The rest is science fiction--at least for now.
One day lunar colonists will stride outdoors to enjoy such eclipses. They happen about twice a year whenever Earth passes directly between the sun and moon. Our planet's shadow darkens the moon, while sunlight filtering through the edge of our atmosphere turns it red.
Here on Earth we call them lunar eclipses--and one is about to happen. On May 15th and 16th the moon will glide through Earth's shadow for the first time this year.
The eclipse begins at 10:00 p.m. EDT (7:00 p.m. PDT) on Thursday evening, May 15th, or 0200 Universal Time (UT) on Friday morning, May 16th.
At first the moon will seem pale and bright, as usual. During the hour that follows, however, it will plunge into the darkest part of our planet's shadow--a region astronomers call "the umbra." Jack was inside the umbra when he saw the sunset-red ring around Earth. On May 15th the moon will be inside the umbra for about 52 minutes, from 11:14 p.m. to 12:06 a.m. EDT (8:14 to 9:06 p.m. PDT) or 0314 to 0406 UT on May 16th.
How dark and red the moon appears during that interval depends on what's floating in Earth's atmosphere. Dust storms and volcanic eruptions can fill the air with particles that redden sunsets and eclipsed moons alike. Sometimes the moon is so dark it's nearly invisible. Other times it's a lovely shade of bright copper.
Sky watchers in North America and South America are favored. Except for Alaska and some remote areas in Canada, the eclipse will be visible from all parts of those two continents. In Europe and Africa, the early stages of the eclipse will be visible for just a while before dawn on May 16th.
The eclipse will not be visible from Australia or most of Asia. Or from the Moon, but that's only because there's no one there to see it ... not yet.
Visit NASA Eclipse page
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| Tuesday, May 13, 2003 | |
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13 May 2003 @ 17:42
The Bush Administration has asked the IRS to require low-income working people who claim the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) to provide the most exhaustive proof of eligibility ever demanded of any class of taxpayers. Even though the EITC has long had bipartisan support as one of the most effective anti-poverty programs ever - three-quarters of the people who claim it have incomes of $20,000 a year or less - this proposal could undo much of the progress made in helping families escape poverty.
The process for filing for the EITC is very complex. The instruction booklet alone is 54 pages! It is widely acknowledged that many errors made in the filing process are not fraudulent, but are simple mistakes. The IRS says that in 1998, EITC filers who were not entitled to the credit received between $8.5 and $10 billion. In contrast, a Harvard economist's study showed that corporations avoided $54 billion in taxes in 1999 by hiding profits in tax shelters.
As military spending increases and politicians argue for expensive tax cuts that benefit the wealthy, the needs of poor people are being ignored. Funding for programs that assist those who Jesus called "the least of these" is being cut. With this EITC proposal, the President is not just ignoring poor people - he is targeting them. Your elected leaders in Washington can stop this, but they need to hear from you.
Sojourners urges you to Send a message to key leaders of the Senate Finance Committee, urging them to hold hearings and stop the IRS from implementing this proposal.
Send this alert to your friends, and learn how you can do more to put America's poor back on the national agenda.
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13 May 2003 @ 17:24
MICKEY MOORE: DISNEY TO FINANCE NEW BUSH-BASHING DOCUMENTARY
The Drudge Report
Sunday, May 11, 2003
DISNEY's modern-day magic kingdom has room for all: Now joining Mickey and Minnie and Pooh bear and Goofy -- is Hollywood badboy Michael Moore, the DRUDGE REPORT explains.
The WALT DISNEY CO. is set to spend millions financing a new explosive Bush-bashing documentary from Michael Moore [BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE] -- a documentary which claims bin Laden was greatly enriched by the Bush family!
DISNEY, via subsidiary MIRAMAX, has agreed to cover the production costs, said to be in the millions, of Moore's planned FAHRENHEIT 911.
"The primary thrust of the new film is what has happened to the country since Sept. 11, and how the Bush administration used this tragic event to push its agenda," Moore explains.
FAHRENHEIT 911 will be released during the upcoming presidential election cycle. [More Moore in '04.]
The director claims he will document on film how the "senior Bush kept his ties with the bin Laden family up until two months after Sept. 11."
Moore will also scrutinize, in graphic detail, why America is so disliked abroad.
With DISNEY financing now secure, Moore, who once railed against corporate media interests, may appear at this week's Cannes film festival in France. More >
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 13 May 2003 @ 17:17
FCC to propose easing US television caps
By Demetri Sevastopulo in Washington
Published: May 11 2003
Michael Powell, chairman of the US Federal Communications Commission, is expected to propose an increase in the US television cap to 45 per cent when he presents a draft of new media ownership rules to his fellow commissioners on Monday.
The proposal will be welcomed by News Corp and Viacom, which stand to benefit.
The existing cap prevents one company from reaching more than 35 per cent of the US national television audience. Increasing the cap would allow large television networks to buy more local stations. It would also eliminate the need for CBS (Viacom) and Fox (News Corp), who are currently in breach of the cap, to divest stations.
On June 2, the FCC's five commissioners will vote on Mr Powell's proposals to ease decades-old rules that the Republican chairman says have become obsolete with the emergence of cable and satellite television and the internet.
While Mr Powell is understood to have the support of his two fellow Republican commissioners, it has not come without a cost.
The chairman, who argues that free-to-air television is under threat from cable and satellite networks, favoured a larger increase or elimination of the cap. But he was forced to compromise at 45 per cent with fellow Republican Kevin Martin.
Another regulation that will see significant changes is the newspaper-broadcast rule, which prevents one company from owning newspapers and television stations in the same market.
The Senate commerce committee, which monitors the FCC, will hold a hearing on Monday about media ownership at which some senators are likely to call on the FCC to put its rules out for public comment. Meanwhile, the White House has privately urged Mr Powell not to delay the proceedings.
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| Thursday, May 8, 2003 | |
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 8 May 2003 @ 23:30
Portable Toilets With Web Access
Thursday, May 8, 2003 Posted: 9:11 AM EDT (1311 GMT)
SEATTLE, Washington (AP) -- Now on the way: "Surfing on the loo" with Internet access at portable toilets.
The iLoo being developed by the MSN division of Microsoft Corp. in Britain is a standard portable toilet -- a loo to the British -- with a wireless keyboard and extending, height-adjustable plasma screen in front of the seat.
There would also be a "Hotmail station" with waterproof keyboard and plasma screen on the outside for those waiting in line.
MSN officials say they're negotiating for the manufacture of toilet paper imprinted with Web addresses that users may not have tried.
"The Internet's so much a part of everyday life now that surfing on the loo was the next natural step," MSN marketing manager Tracy Blacher said. "People used to reach for a book or mag[azine] when they were on the loo, but now they'll be logging on."
The device is expected to be in use at festivals this summer in Britain, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported Tuesday.
There's no word on if, or when, the iLoo will make its way across the pond.
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 8 May 2003 @ 23:24
Ten Lessons Of The Iraq War
By David Krieger
5-7-03
There are always lessons to be learned after a war. Often governments and pundits focus only on lessons having to do with military strategies and tactics, such as troop deployments, engagement in battles, bombing targets and the effectiveness of different weapons systems. There are, of course, far bigger lessons to be learned, and here are some of the principal ones from the Iraq War.
1. In the eyes of the Bush administration, the relevance of
international organizations such as the United Nations depends primarily upon their willingness to rubberstamp US policy, legal or illegal, moral or immoral.
2. The Bush Doctrine of Preemptive War may be employed against threats that have no basis in fact.
3. The American people appear to take little notice of the bait and switch tactic of initiating a war to prevent use of weapons of mass destruction and then celebrating regime change when no such weapons are found.
4. A country that spends $400 billion a year on its military, providing them with the latest in high-tech weaponry, can achieve clear military victory over a country that spends 1/400th of that amount and possesses virtually no high-tech weaponry.
5. Embedding journalists with troops leads to reporters providing only perspectives sanctioned by the military in their reports to the public. It is analogous to the imprinting of ducklings.
6. The American people can be easily manipulated, with the help of both embedded and non-embedded media, to support an illegal war.
7. An imperial presidency does not require Congress to exercise its Constitutional authority to declare war; it requires only a compliant Congress to provide increasingly large sums of money for foreign wars.
8. It is far easier to destroy a dictatorial regime by military might than it is to rebuild a country as a functioning democracy.
9. If other countries wish to avoid the fate of Saddam Hussein and Iraq, they better develop strong arsenals of weapons of mass destruction for protection against potential US aggression.
10. In all wars it is the innocent who suffer most. Thus, Saddam Hussein remains unaccounted for and George Bush stages a jet flight to the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, while Ali Ismaeel Abbas lies in a hospital bed without his parents and brother, who were killed in a US
attack, and without his arms.
The most important lessons of the Iraq War may be as yet unrevealed, but there is a sense that American unilateralism is likely to continue to alienate important allies, while the triumphalism of the Bush administration is likely to taunt terrorists, making them more numerous and tenacious in their commitment to violent retaliation.
David Krieger is president of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation
"If you rejoice in victory, then you delight in killing;
If you delight in killing, you cannot fulfill yourself."
--- Lao Tzu
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."
--- US Constitution, First Amendment
"Peace is the only battle worth waging."
--- Albert Camus
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 8 May 2003 @ 23:12
Well, I'll have to admit that I am one of those who failed to retain what was presented to me about national and world geography. When there is an international story I usually need to look up on a map to get a visual of what is being talked about. Slowly I am getting the global picture.
Survey Reveals Geographic Illiteracy
Bijal P. Trivedi
National Geographic Today
November 20, 2002
See Survey Results and Test Yourself
In a nation called the world's superpower, only 17 percent of young adults in the United States could find Afghanistan on a map, according to a new worldwide survey released today.
The young U.S. citizens received poor marks generally in geography. But then, as results showed, their counterparts in other countries were hardly star students.
The National Geographic–Roper 2002 Global Geographic Literacy Survey polled more than 3,000 18- to 24-year-olds in Canada, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Sweden and the United States.
Sweden scored highest; Mexico, lowest. The U.S. was next to last.
"The survey demonstrates the geographic illiteracy of the United States," said Robert Pastor, professor of International Relations at American University, in Washington, D.C. "The results are particularly appalling in light of September 11, which traumatized America and revealed that our destiny is connected to the rest of the world."
About 11 percent of young citizens of the U.S. couldn't even locate the U.S. on a map. The Pacific Ocean's location was a mystery to 29 percent; Japan, to 58 percent; France, to 65 percent; and the United Kingdom, to 69 percent.
Are Young U.S. Citizens Americentric?
Despite the threat of war in Iraq and the daily reports of suicide bombers in Israel, less than 15 percent of the young U.S. citizens could locate either country.
More young U.S. citizens in the study knew that the island featured in last season's TV show "Survivor" is in the South Pacific than could find Israel.
Particularly humiliating was that all countries were better able to identify the U.S. population than many young U.S. citizens. Within the U.S., almost one-third said that population was between one billion and two billion; the answer is 289 million.
"It gives the sense that there is this Americentric thing going on—that we are big and powerful and have all these people in our country," said John Fahey, President and CEO of the National Geographic Society.
On the other hand, Pastor suggests that the results could mean that most young Americans just have no idea of the total world population (about six billion).
Poor Geographic Literacy Worldwide
Young adults worldwide are not markedly more literate about geography than the Americans.
On average, fewer than 25 percent of young people worldwide could locate Israel on the map. Only about 20 percent could identify hotspots like Afghanistan, Iran and Iraq.
Of all the young adults in the survey, only about one-third in Germany, Sweden and Japan, could name four countries that officially acknowledge having nuclear weapons. In the rest of the countries that number dropped to less than a quarter. In France 24 percent did not know that that their own country was a nuclear nation.
The survey results are not all bleak, says Roger Downs, head of the geography department at Pennsylvania State University, in State College, and a National Geographic geographer-in-residence in 1995-1996.
Geography Not Valued in Schools
Since the last Geographic-sponsored survey in 1988, said Downs, the percentage of young U.S. citizens who reported taking a geography course in school rose from 30 to 55 percent. And students who had studied geography did better on the current survey.
U.S. schools generally have slighted geography. "If geography is not in the curriculum," Downs said, "it's not tested—and that says to the students that it is not valued."
The schools are not solely to blame, either. "Wouldn't it be nice if parents also read atlases to their children?" Downs says.
Questions covering current events or practical activities yielded more promising results.
Most young U.S. citizens knew that Africa was most affected by the AIDS epidemic, and about half knew that El Niño caused erratic weather.
"When geography and life intersect, people pay attention," said Nick Boyon, senior vice president for international research at RoperASW, in Manhattan.
Boosting Geography
Geographic knowledge increases through travel and language proficiency, among other factors.
In the highest-scoring countries—Sweden, Germany and Italy—at least 70 percent of the young adults had traveled internationally in the last three years, and the majority spoke more than one language (in Sweden, 92 and 89 percent, respectively).
In the U.S. and Mexico only about 20 percent had traveled abroad during the same period and the majority spoke only one language.
To fight geographic ignorance, and apathy, among young people in the U.S. and around the world, the National Geographic Society will convene an international coalition of leaders in American business, education and media.
Next year the panel will recommend initiatives to policymakers in those areas—and to parents and children.
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 8 May 2003 @ 22:57
Chart of Comparative Nutritional Values of Leafy Vegetables and Weeds
Most of our common weeds contain more nutrients than our garden crops.This chart shows the comparison levels of nutrients. Details of each weed follows. Those that have links will take you to a more in depth look at each one.
http://www.living-foods.com/articles/whywildfood.html
http://visitors.gardeningclub.com/mag_articles/article_8.asp
http://www.olivenaturals.com/foods.htm
http://www.rawfoodliving.com/foraging.html
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,B>"Let your food be your medicine and your medicine be your food" Hippocrates More >
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8 May 2003 @ 22:43
By Paul Blakemore
The Telegraph - UK (10-22-2)
In 1846, researchers noticed that Uranus was wobbling in a way that confounded Newton's Law of Motion. This meant they had two options: rewrite the most time-honoured of the laws of physics, or "invent" a new planet to account for the extra gravitational pull. Compared to Newton's reputation, an eighth planet seemed much less massive and Neptune was discovered.
Today scientists working in the University of Louisiana have discovered a statistical anomaly of similar proportions. Professors John Matese [see below], Patrick Whitman and Daniel Whitmire have studied the orbits of comets for 20 years, and their recent findings have led to startling theories.
Intrigued by the work of two palaeontologists working for the University of Chicago, Prof Whitmire, along with Nasa colleague Dr Al Jackson, had earlier attempted to explain the amazing discovery that six apocalyptic events, including the extinction of the dinosaurs, have all occurred, like clockwork, every 26 to 30 million years. To try to explain this mass extinction cycle, they looked to the possibility that comet showers were to blame.
The latest effort of Matese, Whitman and Whitmire studies 82 comets from the huge cloud of comets, called the Oort cloud, that exists around our solar system. They took the aphelia of these comets, the points on their orbit that are farthest from our Sun, and plotted them on a globe. Expecting to find an even distribution, they instead found that a particular band of sky, about one sixth the total, contained more than one quarter of all the comets, and that about 25 per cent of the comets coming from this cloud have anomalous paths.
So what was affecting the orbits? They went on to theorise that the best explanation is the existence of a previously unknown body - that our solar system is made up of the Sun and a shadowy partner, either a brown dwarf or a massive planet, in a wide binary system. In effect, the solar system had two stars, the Sun and a dark companion, spinning around each other.
Now I know what you're thinking Surely I'd have noticed a second Sun in the sky? But, as Prof Whitmire explained, the process of assumption based on statistical anomalies has always been a cornerstone of scientific discovery. According to their current theory, he says, "the companion is a brown dwarf star or massive planet of mass between two and six times the mass of Jupiter". A brown dwarf is a star too small to sustain the nuclear fusion that powers our Sun, and so is relatively cool (surface temperature of less than 1500C) and so also very dim, being barely hot enough to give off light.
But it gets worse. Under their original theory, called the Nemesis theory, this small dark star, which lurks at around 90,000 times farther away than the Earth is from the Sun, may be on an orbit that, once every 30 million years, ploughs it into the densely packed inner cloud. Here its immense gravitational pull would drag out several of the Oort comets and give them the "kick" needed to send them towards the Sun on orbits perilously close to the Earth. This explains, in the professor's view, the ominous mass extinction cycle, due to regular periods of increased cometary activity every 30 million years.
However, before we head for the bomb shelters, we should take heed of the professor's words: "As a practical matter our models will never be generally accepted (and shouldn't be) until the actual object is found." However stressing that they are "sufficiently plausibleto give incentives for others to look".
Today, their current paper has moved away from the Nemesis theory and proposed, on the basis of comet orbits, a less massive planet about three times the mass of Jupiter. None the less, with an explanation for the mass extinction cycle yet to be found, he has admitted that they may not be mutually exclusive; and that there could be two dark stars, one a failed partner to our own, and another one that is acting almost as an alarm clock for doomsday. Even so, he says: "I'm still hopeful that ultimately these might turn out to be the same object.".
"An original idea in science is often a gut instinct, but this should not influence the development of the idea," says the professor. "I always try to be my own worst critic". The scientific world remains intrigued but sceptical. However, the recent bombardment of Jupiter is a reminder that if the team is right, there may not be many around to hear them say: "I told you so."
Full Story Here More >
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| Wednesday, May 7, 2003 | |
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 7 May 2003 @ 12:53
White Noise Delays Auditory Organization in the Brain
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
April 18, 2003
Exposure to continuous white noise sabotages the development of the auditory region of the brain, which may ultimately impair hearing and language acquisition, according to researchers from the University of California, San Francisco.
According to the scientists, the young rats used in their study were exposed to constant white noise that is relevant to the increasing, random noise encountered by humans in today's environment. They theorize that their findings could aid in explaining the increase in language-impairment developmental disorders over the last few decades.
The researchers, which included Howard Hughes Medical Institute medical student fellow Edward Chang and otolaryngology professor Michael Merzenich at the University of California at San Francisco, published their findings in the April 18, 2003, issue of the journal Science.
“While the rat is not a perfect model of human auditory development, it does allow us to investigate the fundamental role of early sensory experience in mammalian auditory development,” said Chang. “For example, we do know that exposing infant rats to specific sound stimuli can induce long-standing representational changes in the brain. Other researchers have shown that there are striking parallels in humans and other animals.”
Although past experiments have demonstrated the important effects that visual experience can have on brain development in animals and humans, Chang said very few comparable experiments have been reported that explore the effects of patterned early auditory experience on cortical development.
“Auditory experience is clearly an important factor in humans for learning language,” he said. “We learn to speak and read through our sensitivities to speech sounds that are heard during early life.”
Thus, Chang and Merzenich designed experiments in which they reared rat pups in an environment of moderate continuous background noise, which, while not injurious to their peripheral hearing, was loud enough to mask normal environmental sounds. They then used electrophysiological methods to gauge the organization of the auditory cortex in those animals, as well as in control animals raised in a normal auditory environment.
The mapping technique consisted of recording the responses of auditory cortex neurons to a variety of sounds presented to anesthetized animals.
“We knew from previous work that the rat auditory cortex normally undergoes a very dramatic, specific, and progressive development,” said Chang. “During the first month of life, it becomes much more specific and well tuned to different frequencies and temporal patterns of sound. The brains of animals reared in noise, however, did not achieve the basic benchmarks of auditory development until they were three or four times older than normal animals,” he said.
Additional tests on the maturing noise-reared rats showed that their auditory regions continued to be plastic — they continued to reorganize their neural circuitry in response to exposure to sound stimuli alone, long after the brains of normal rats had ceased rewiring. This suggested that a “critical period” for exposure-based plasticity in the brain had been extended.
They performed supplementary long-term experiments that showed that although auditory development was delayed in the noise-exposed rats, it did mature to normal adult levels once the animals were removed from the noisy environment. And furthermore, they observed those plasticity effects consolidated during the extended critical period persisted into the future, suggesting that this exposure were indeed “critical.” Chang summarized, “it's like the brain is waiting for some clearly patterned sounds in order to continue its development. And when it finally gets them, it is heavily influenced them, even when the animal is physically older.”
Chang said that the findings “suggest that there are two sides to the coin. “On the negative side, these findings suggest that noise can have devastating effects on the rate of development of the brain. They emphasize the importance that children, especially those at risk, be exposed to salient features in speech sounds in order for their auditory development to be normal. On the positive side, our findings may mean that the time frame may be longer in which treatment of such children will allow them to catch up.” According to Chang, the need for exposure to structured sounds underscores the importance of special therapy for children with disorders that might affect auditory processing.
“There are many linkages between neurons in the auditory system from the cochlea to the cortex where information has to be passed along,” he said. “And in addition to environmental noise, a number of acquired or inherited disorders could potentially degrade the signal at any of these points, masking the sensory input. From these findings, we theorize that disorders, for example, such as focal epilepsies or defects in myelination, might affect the fidelity of this signal, disrupting normal development of the auditory cortex. A combination of external and internal elements would be highly detrimental.”
Chang's future studies will address whether humans with developmental disorders have higher levels of noise in their auditory systems. Such studies, he said, could lead to diagnostic and predictive tests.
“If we knew that a child had a susceptibility to noise, we could intervene to enrich the child's acoustic experience to foster more normal auditory and language development,” said Chang.
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 7 May 2003 @ 12:36
Letecia Layson sent me this current example of instutionalized racism and how media attempts to support the notion that white/light skin is good, black/dark skin is bad. Subtle and painful.
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Indian Women Criticize 'Fair and Lovely' Ideal
By Nicole Leistikow - WeNews correspondent
NEW DELHI, India (WOMENSENEWS)--Two attractive young women are sitting in a bedroom having an intimate conversation. The lighter-skinned woman has a boyfriend and, consequently, is happy. The darker-skinned woman, lacking a boyfriend, is not. Her friend's advice? Use a bar of soap to wash away the
dark skin that's keeping men from flocking.
Hindustan Lever Limited, one of India's largest manufacturing and marketing conglomerates, discontinued two of its television advertisements for Fair and Lovely Fairness Cold Cream this month, after a year-long campaign led by the All India Democratic Women's Association. Increasing public criticism may be initiating a change in cultural attitudes towards skin whitening in India, a country where the fairness industry accounts for 60
percent of skincare sales, bringing in $140 million a year. The company is the Indian subsidiary of Unilever PLC, based in London.
In a memo to India's National Human Rights Commission,Brinda Karat, general secretary of the women's association, calls one of the ads "discriminatory on the basis of the color of skin," and "an affront to a woman's dignity," because it shows fairer women having greater job success based on their sexuality.
Fair and Lovely, one of Hindustan Lever's "power brands," is marketed in over 38 countries. Its frequently-aired ads typically show a depressed woman with few prospects gaining a brighter future by attaining a boyfriend or job after becoming markedly fairer (emphasized by several silhouettes of her face lined up dark to light). On its Web site the company calls its product, "the miracle worker," which is "proven to deliver one to three shades of change."
The ad targeted by the women's association shows a woman, whose father had lamented not having a son to support the family, landing a well-paying job as an airline attendant after using the product.
Hindustan Lever failed to respond to All India Democratic Women's Association's complaints, first sent in March and April 2002. The women's association then appealed to the Human Rights Commission, which passed its complaints on to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. The government recently issued notices of the complaints to the company. Karat credits this intervention, rather than any "sudden awakening to the feelings that women have when they see those ads," with triggering the company's about-face. "We're not for heavy-duty censorship," she said, but "when the companies don't respond we have no alternative."
Fairness as an Asset
If there is evidence that public opinion has changed, it is not to be found in the Indian matrimonial ads, with their "grooms" and "brides wanted" sections that families use to arrange suitable alliances. These ads, hundreds of which appear in India's daily newspapers, reflect the country's remarkable diversity in their attempts to solicit individuals with the appropriate religion, caste, regional ancestry, professional and educational qualifications, and frequently, skin color.
Even in the growing numbers of ads that announce "caste no bar," the adjective "fair" still regularly precedes professional qualifications. A typical example shows that having a medical or graduate business degree is only part of the package: "Wanted really b'ful fair medico for h'some smart Doctor."
"Fair skin is considered an asset in India," said Rachna Gupta, a 38-year-old part-time interior designer. That's why, once a month, she goes to a busy south Delhi salon to have Jolen Creme Bleach ("lightens excess dark hair" the box says) slathered over her face as a fairness treatment.
"It's not good for the skin," Gupta said, "but I still get it done because I am on the darker side and it makes me feel nice. Aesthetically, it looks nice."
However, the number of Indians who share Gupta's opinion that lighter skin is more beautiful may be shrinking. Sumit Isralni, a 22-year-old hair designer in his father's salon, thinks things have changed in the last two years, at least in India's most cosmopolitan cities, Delhi, Mumbai and
Bangalore. Women now "prefer their own complexion, their natural way," he said.
Isralni says he prefers a more "Indian beauty" himself. "I won't find my wife to be fair, I won't judge her on that," he said.
Sunita Gupta, a beautician in the salon where Rachna Gupta gets her treatments, is more critical. "It's just foolishness!" she exclaimed. The premise of the ads that women could not become airline attendants if they are dark-skinned was wrong, she said. "Nowadays people like black beauty."
She goes on to cite dusky Indian female film actors Kajol Devgan and Rani Mukherjee as examples of her conviction, "If you are dark, then dark is the best."
Health Concerns Over Lightening Grows
The awareness that whitening products can damage the skin is growing. To respond to health concerns, "Fair and Lovely" has come out with an "ayurvedic" formula, a term referring to a well-known system of Indian herbal medicine. And at an upscale salon in Delhi, at a chain also owned by Hindustan Lever, Puja Sharma stresses to potential customers that her
lightening facials are all-natural, using milk and fresh fruits like tomato and papaya. However, at four to six times the price of Rachna Gupta's monthly bleaching, this option finds fewer takers.
Even Gupta, a steadfast bleacher for over 15 years, admits the danger. "Two years back it was quite popular," she said. "But now I think they're focusing on less bleaching. It could harm the skin if it's strong."
So she checks the concentration of ammonia and continues her routine. "You have a small tingling kind of a feeling," she said. "It doesn't hurt too much."
Battling for Public Opinion
Betting that the fairness craze in India will continue, American and European companies are fighting for their market share. Popular western brands Avon, L'Oreal, Lancome, Yves Saint-Laurent, Clinique, Elizabeth Arden, Estee Lauder, and Revlon, offer whitening products. In addition, cheap knockoffs like "Cure and Lovely" are making the rounds.
Meanwhile, the Delhi-based Center for Advocacy and Research, which monitors media and conducts surveys on public opinion, has accused the industry in general of "unfair trade practices" and "using a social stigma to sell their products."
On March 11, Hindustan Lever, shortly after pulling its ads off the air, launched its "Fair and Lovely Foundation," vowing to "encourage economic empowerment of women across India" by providing resources in education and business. Sangeeta Pendurkar, the company's skincare marketing manager, announced that the company believed millions of women "who, though immensely talented and capable, need a guiding hand to help them take the leap forward." Presumably into a fairer future.
Nicole Leistikow is a freelance writer and news editor for Inthefray, currently based in New Delhi.
For more information:
Hindustan Lever Limited--Fair and Lovely-the miracle worker
All India Democratic Women's Association
Hindustan Lever Limited--Fair and Lovely Foundation More >
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 7 May 2003 @ 11:52
World Music Artists Shut Out of U.S. Borders
Yvonne Wong, WireTap
March 31, 2003
An American teen warns about the dangers of cultural isolation and ignorance as the Bush Administration's increasingly strict visa laws keep international artists and musicians out of the U.S.
Americans are often horrified when they discover that in countries like China and Cuba, books, music and movies from other countries are often banned. We pride ourselves on our freedoms -- particularly our freedoms of speech, expression, and access to information. At a time when the president uses black and white terms like “good” and “evil” to justify war, it is especially important that American youth be exposed to perspectives from outside of the U.S. in order to piece together their own views of the world. Being exposed to teachers, musicians, artists, and writers from different countries is one way to accomplish this. But thanks to the Bush Administration's recent tightening of U.S. borders, there may be fewer and fewer opportunities for these cross-cultural exchanges in the future.
Jazz pianist Chucho Valdes, the first modern Cuban artist to sign a U.S. recording contract, has been nominated for a Grammy, performed numerous tours in the United States, and was named by Time magazine as "perhaps one of the greatest pianists in the world."
Despite his distinguished reputation, however, the U.S. government sees him as a potential terrorist.
In May 2002, President George W. Bush signed the Enhanced Border Security and Visa Reform Act, which requires longer and more stringent security checks for people applying for visas from a "watch-list" of seven countries that the government has proclaimed "state sponsors of terrorism." Cuba, of course, is on the list, along with Sudan, Syria, Iran, Iraq, Libya, and North Korea.
The new visa rules are designed to keep terrorists out of the U.S., but are having the adverse of keeping out international performance artists as well. Although the policies are not aimed specifically at artists, venues and their clients have had to postpone or cancel concerts, festivals, and even entire tours, robbing American audiences of a chance to understand and appreciate different cultures.
In November, the Afro-Cuban All Stars, one of Cuba's most prominent musical acts, planned to perform in Berkeley as part of its U.S. tour. The new visa policy prevented the group from entering the country, and forced them to cancel their entire 20-date tour.
Similarly, Valdes could not attend the Latin Grammy Awards in September because of the new visa regulations. And Syria's Whirling Dervishes had to miss a scheduled performance at the L.A. World Festival of Sacred Music in September because the members of the group did not receive a response to their visa applications in time for the performance.
Since many foreign artists are having difficulty acquiring visas on time, if at all, clubs and concert halls may hesitate to even schedule foreign artists for fear it will be a waste of time and money.
And if visa laws continue to create frustrating delays and denials for international musicians entering the country, record companies might start releasing fewer albums from those musicians because they will not be able to promote the artists' music via live performances.
This compounding crisis could have a long-term impact on the music world and the marketplace of cultural exchange. American youth must realize that the government's increasingly rigid immigration laws could have a more direct effect on their lives than they may have originally assumed.
Even without the new laws, the process of visa approvals and background checks is far from simple. First, the Immigration and Naturalization Service has to declare that a performer is highly distinguished or culturally unique -- in other words, that they're not taking work away from Americans who could perform just as well -- according to the U.S. Visas Today website. Meanwhile, the process of defining someone as "culturally unique" remains, of course, subjective. An INS security check follows, with a recommendation to the American embassy as to whether or not to approve the artist. If approved, separate security checks ensue. Law enforcement agencies in Washington D.C. must look at the application and give a second approval, which may take a long time depending on whether or not the applicant requires a security review.
Although the government has good intentions in trying to protect the country from possible terrorists by ushering in stricter visa policies, the government should expedite the time it takes to consider the visa application of an artist who has a record of successful, law-abiding touring in the United States. This way, artists who have proven they are no danger to the country can enter without prolonged security checks, and the American public can enjoy the entertainment artists like Valdes have to bring.
Depriving U.S. citizens of the opportunity to witness different artistic traditions leads to a dangerous lack of awareness of these cultures. Future generations of Americans will be ignorant of the cultures that lie outside of their borders, an ignorance that is particularly problematic in light of the world's current political climate. Ignorance often leads to fear, ethnocentricism, and intolerance, which in turn can lead to violence.
Yvonne Wong is a 17-year-old features editor and reporter for Lowell High School's newspaper, The Lowell, in San Francisco. She enjoys denouncing misogynists, discussing comprehensive sex knowledge, making daisy chains, and baking banana-cream pies.
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| Saturday, May 3, 2003 | |
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3 May 2003 @ 10:03
The ACLU reports that the Bush Adminstration is pushing for a change in a federal rule at the Department of Housing and Urband Development (HUD) as part of it's faith-based initiative.
This rule change would allow taxpayer dollars to be used to fund construction of churches and other religious buildings such as schools.
Where would the money come from? Well, under the Bush plan it is earmarked from the same fund that pays for housing for single parents, the homeless and AIDS patients.
Incredible but true.
"This is probably the most clearly unconstitutional aspect of the White House's faith-based initiative that we've seen up to this point," said Christopher E. Anders, an ACLU Legislative Counsel.
For more information, ACLU website
More >
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| Thursday, May 1, 2003 | |
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1 May 2003 @ 08:35
Thanks to eternal1 for alerting me to the fact that there are a lot of writings attributed to George Carlin that are NOT his. On his website he speakes to this issue.
Originally I posted the jokes below as his creation, however they are not. Enjoy them nonethelesss. Somebody's imaginative wit was at work here.
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The English language can be so easily misunderstood and
then there are those who intentionally mess it up:
Mixed Idioms
If lawyers are disbarred and clergymen defrocked, doesn't it follow that electricians can be delighted, musicians denoted, cowboys deranged, models deposed, tree surgeons debarked, and dry cleaners depressed?
If you take an Oriental person and spin him around several times, does he become disoriented?
If people from Poland are called "Poles," why aren't people from Holland called "Holes"?
Why do we say something is "out of whack"? What's a whack?
Do infants enjoy infancy as much as adults enjoy adultery?
If a pig loses its voice, is it disgruntled?
Why do women wear evening gowns to nightclubs?
Shouldn't they be wearing nightgowns?
If love is blind, why is lingerie so popular?
Why is the man who invests all your money called a broker?
Why is a person who plays the piano called a pianist, but a person who drives a race car is not called a racist?
Why are a wise man and a wise guy opposites?
Why do overlook and oversee mean opposite things?
If horrific means to make horrible, does terrific mean to make terrible?
Why isn't 11 pronounced onety one?
"I am" is reportedly the shortest sentence in the English language. Could it be that "I do" is the longest sentence?
Do Roman paramedics refer to IV's as "4's"?
Why is it that if someone tells you there are one billion stars in the universe you will believe them. But if they tell you a wall has wet paint, you have to touch it to be sure?
Do Lipton Tea employees take coffee breaks?
What hair color do they put on the drivers licenses of bald men?
I was thinking about how people seem to read the Bible a whole lot more as they get older, then it dawned on me - they're cramming for their final exam.
I thought about how mothers feed their babies with tiny little spoons and forks so I wondered, what do Chinese mothers use? Toothpicks?
No one ever says "It's only a game," when their team is winning.
If a person with multiple personalities threatens suicide, is that considered a hostage situation?
If olive oil comes from olives, where does baby oil come from? More >
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Sounding Circle implies the cycles, spirals and symbols of our thought, our culture, our lineage and our imagination.
A place to share ideas, create community, and give voice to our muse.
"Giving more than we take, taking just what we need."
"The universe is music connecting 10th dimensional hyperspace".
Prof. Michio Kaku, Phd. |
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"It's not what you think, it's what you think about."
- lyric from You Can't Turn Back (But You Can Turn Back On) |
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Sounding Circle
