Pratana Coffee Talk

SKYFALL: 1st TEASER POSTER UNVEILS

noreply@blogger.com (Joseph Pratana) — Mon, 21 May 2012 01:51:00 +0000

Click for 4421 x 7152 pxl

----------
http://l.yimg.com/os/423/2012/05/17/23-Skyfall-jpg_142224.jpg

ROBIN GIBB OF BEE GEES DIES AT 62 (video)

noreply@blogger.com (Joseph Pratana) — Mon, 21 May 2012 01:43:00 +0000

Robin Gibb, one-third of the Bee Gees and a singer-songwriter who helped to turn disco into a global phenomenon by providing the core of the soundtrack to Saturday Night Fever, has died from cancer.

His family announced with "great sadness" that Robin, 62, had lost his brave fight with colon cancer.

In a brief statement they said: “Sunday 20 May, 2012 at 10:46: The family of Robin Gibb, of the Bee Gees, announce with great sadness that Robin passed away today following his long battle with cancer and intestinal surgery.

"The family have asked that their privacy is respected at this very difficult time."

His sons Robin-John and Spencer, daughter Melissa and wife Dwina had been at his bedside throughout at his stay in a Chelsea hospital.

His Bee Gee brother Barry, who has been supporting him throughout, was mourning from across the Atlantic as he'd recently flown back to America.

Robin was hailed last night as "one of the most important people in the history of British music," by Paul Gambaccini, who said the brothers were second best UK songwriters ever after the Beatles.

"Everyone should be aware that the Bee Gees are second only to Lennon and McCartney as the most successful songwriting unit in British popular music.

“Their accomplishments have been monumental. Not only have they written their own number one hits, but they wrote huge hit records for Barbra Streisand, Diana Ross, Dionne Warwick, Celine Dion, Destiny’s Child, Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers, the list goes on and on."

Gambaccini later described Gibb as one of the most influential British artists EVER. “He was one of the important figures in the history of British music - and I mean of all time, I don’t mean just the last few years or the rock era, I mean of all time,” he told BBC Radio 5 Live.

“He and Barry and Maurice wrote 23 number one records (with the exception of Maurice who wrote 22). They are the only song writers to have number ones in the last five decades. They did briefly have the number one album of all time - Saturday Night Fever. Something of this magnitude is bigger than just the last few years.”

With his distinctive, quavering voice, Gibb notched up dozens of hits and sold more than 200m records as a performer and writer along with his twin brother Maurice, who died in 2003, and elder brother Barry.

The siblings, whose catalogue includes Massachusetts, I've Gotta Get a Message to You, How Deep Is Your Love and Stayin' Alive, established their pop legacy by placing their falsetto harmonies at the centre of the 70s disco boom.

Broadcaster and pal Mike Read, choking with emotion as he spoke, said the singer had an “incredible voice” and described him as a one-off talent.

“Robin had the voice, the pathos, and he was a great writer.

“In his head he could come up with some great melodies. I was delighted to work with him. He had a gift for melody and a gift for lyrics and left a phenomenal legacy, a phenomenal catalogue.”

Referring to the Bee Gees, the former BBC Radio One DJ said: “They had every accolade under the sun. They were able to write great commercial songs that touched people over a very long period of time. They had every award, every gold disc, every platinum disc, the Grammys the lot and had been doing it so long but were still so good at it.”

In April, Robin slipped into a coma after contracting pneumonia and was given just days to live.

But he shocked doctors by staging a remarkable recovery and was even communicating again with his family.

His relatives sang to him and wife Dwina said that he had cried when she played him the song Crying by Roy Orbison.

At the time Dr Andrew Thillainayagam, of Imperial College, London, said: “It is testament to Robin’s extraordinary courage, iron will and deep reserves of physical strength that he has overcome quite incredible odds."

He added: "The road ahead for Robin remains uncertain but it is a privilege to look after such an extraordinary human being."

But Robin recently lost the ability to speak and had been communicating with family and close friends by blinking due to a tracheotomy tube in his neck.

His twin brother Maurice died in 2003 after complications following an operation to correct an intestinal blockage and his younger brother Andy, who was not part of the Bee Gees but a successful singer in his own right, died in 1988 from heart failure at 30.

Robin and Barry briefly retired the group's Bee Gee name in his honour but later returned to performing.
The band sold more than 200 million records worldwide with hits such as How Deep Is Your Love, Stayin’ Alive and Night Fever.

Known for their big hair, tight white suits and high-pitched voices the band produced a string of number one singles and were indicted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
Gibb had surgery on his bowel 18 months ago for an unrelated condition but a tumour was discovered and he was diagnosed with cancer of the colon and subsequently of the liver.

And speaking exclusively to The Sun two months ago, Robin said his illness could be "payback" for his success with the band.

He said: “I sometimes wonder if the tragedies my family has suffered are a kind of karmic price for all the fame and fortune the Bee Gees have had."

A statement from Sony Music on Twitter said: “Rest in peace, Robin Gibb. Thanks for the music."

Former Westlife star Brian McFadden paid tribute on the social network saying: “Rip robin Gibb. I hope you’re at peace now.”

Former Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott wrote: “Just heard about Robin Gibb. A good friend, a brilliant musician and a man who turned all of us into wannabe Travoltas!"

Canadian rock singer Bryan Adams was also among the stars paying tribute, saying: “Robin Gibb RIP. Very sad to hear about yet another great singer dying too young.”

British singer songwriter Mick Hucknall wrote: “RIP Robin Gibb. A musical giant,” while former X Factor judge Dannii Minogue said: “We start believin’ now that we can be who we are - Grease is the word...RIP Robin Gibb.”

Glen Power, of Irish band The Script, used the band’s official Twitter page to say: “R.I.P. Robin Gibb. We met Robin+Barry in NY. Such a lovely guy. Prayers 2 his family. 2 many Legends being taken from us 2 early :( G.”

Eighties rock band Duran Duran posted on their feed: “Sorry to hear about the passing of Robin Gibb of the BeeGees. Our condolences to his friends and family.”

From poverty to world fame

THE twinkle behind the trademark round, blue-tinted spectacles has gone out for ever.

Born on the Isle of Man on December 22, 1949, 35 minutes before his twin Maurice, Robin Gibb grew up in poverty.

His family moved first to Chorlton-cum-Hardy in Manchester then emigrated to Australia in 1958. The twins, with elder brother Barry, practised their harmonies in the gents’ lavatory of the local John Lewis.

The Bee Gees’ musical careers flourished after the family returned to England in 1967.

Massachusetts was their first UK No1, selling five million copies. That year Robin and fiancée Molly Hullis survived the Hither Green rail crash, which killed 49 people. They married in 1968.

His marriage collapsed but in 1985 he wed artist Dwina Murphy, having son Robin John (RJ).

A later single, To Love Somebody, was co-written by Robin, but the lead vocals were taken by Barry. This led to tension and Robin quit the group in 1969.

The Bee Gees regrouped in 1970 and enjoyed their first US No 1, Lonely Days. The following year they had another hit with How Can You Mend a Broken Heart, later covered by soul legend Al Green.

Their manager, Robert Stigwood, brought them on board for Saturday Night Fever, a film he was producing, and the songs were written in little over a weekend. Disco was already established but the music and the film combined to give it even greater popularity.

The band's sales took a hit with the end of the disco boom and they concentrated on solo material and producing hits for other artists before staging a comeback in 1987.

Robin was made a CBE with his brothers in 2002, but Maurice died the following year.

In his final year Robin and RJ composed classical work the Titanic Requiem. It was the last in Robin’s string of remarkable musical achievements.

---------------
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/showbiz/4329053/Bee-Gees-legend-Robin-Gibb-dies-aged-62.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2012/may/21/robin-gibb-pioneer-disco-dies?newsfeed=true

GHOST RECON ALPHA (video)

noreply@blogger.com (Joseph Pratana) — Sat, 19 May 2012 05:15:00 +0000

THE BATTLE OF THE MILVIAN BRIDGE (video)

noreply@blogger.com (Joseph Pratana) — Sat, 19 May 2012 01:59:00 +0000

The Battle of the Milvian Bridge took place between the Roman Emperors Constantine I and Maxentius on 28 October 312. Constantine won the battle and started on the path that led him to end the Tetrarchy and become the sole ruler of the Roman Empire. Maxentius drowned in the Tiber during the battle.

According to chroniclers such as Eusebius of Caesarea and Lactantius, the battle marked the beginning of Constantine's conversion to Christianity. Lactantius recounts that Constantine and his soldiers had a vision that God promised victory if they daubed the sign of the cross on their shields. The Arch of Constantine, erected in celebration of the victory, certainly attributes Constantine's success to divine intervention; however, the monument does not display any overtly Christian symbolism.

TYPOGRAPHY (video)

noreply@blogger.com (Joseph Pratana) — Sat, 19 May 2012 01:13:00 +0000

WHITE RICE INCREASES RISK OF TYPE 2 DIABETES

noreply@blogger.com (Joseph Pratana) — Fri, 18 May 2012 01:48:00 +0000

The authors from the Harvard School of Public Health look at previous studies and evidence of the association between eating white rice and the risk of type 2 diabetes. Their study seeks to determine whether this risk is dependent on the amount of rice consumed and if the association is stronger for the Asian population, who tend to eat more white rice than the Western world.

The authors analysed the results of four studies: two in Asian countries (China and Japan) and two in Western countries (USA and Australia). All participants were diabetes free at study baseline.

White rice is the predominant type of rice eaten worldwide and has high GI values. High GI diets are associated with an increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes. The average amount of rice eaten varies widely between Western and Asian countries, with the Chinese population eating an average of four portions a day while those in the Western world eat less than five portions a week.

A significant trend was found in both Asian and Western countries with a stronger association found amongst women than men. The results also show that the more white rice eaten, the higher the risk of type 2 diabetes: the authors estimate that the risk of type 2 diabetes is increased by 10% with each increased serving of white rice (assuming 158g per serving).

White rice has a lower content of nutrients than brown rice including fibre, magnesium and vitamins, some of which are associated with a lower risk of type 2 diabetes. The authors report, therefore, that a high consumption of white rice may lead to increased risk because of the low intake of these nutrients.
In conclusion, the authors state that "higher white rice intake is associated with a significantly elevated risk of type 2 diabetes." This applies for both Asian and Western cultures, although due to findings suggesting that the more rice eaten the higher the risk, it is thought that Asian countries are at a higher risk. The authors recommend eating whole grains instead of refined carbohydrates such as white rice, which they hope will help slow down the global diabetes epidemic.

In an accompanying editorial, Dr Bruce Neal from the University of Sydney suggests that more, bigger studies are needed to substantiate the research hypothesis that white rice increases the chances of getting type 2 diabetes.

Journal References:

E. A. Hu, A. Pan, V. Malik, Q. Sun. White rice consumption and risk of type 2 diabetes: meta-analysis and systematic review. BMJ, 2012; 344 (mar15 3): e1454 DOI: 10.1136/bmj.e1454
B. Neal. White rice and risk of type 2 diabetes. BMJ, 2012; 344 (mar15 3): e2021 DOI: 10.1136/bmj.e2021

------------
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/03/120315225751.htm

REPLACING WHITE RICE WITH BROWN RICE OR OTHER WHOLE GRAINS MAY REDUCE DIABETES RISK

noreply@blogger.com (Joseph Pratana) — Fri, 18 May 2012 01:46:00 +0000

In a new study, researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) have found that eating five or more servings of white rice per week was associated with an increased risk of type 2 diabetes. In contrast, eating two or more servings of brown rice per week was associated with a lower risk of the disease.

The researchers estimated that replacing 50 grams of white rice (just one third of a typical daily serving) with the same amount of brown rice would lower risk of type 2 diabetes by 16%. The same replacement with other whole grains, such as whole wheat and barley, was associated with a 36% reduced risk.

The study is the first to specifically examine white rice and brown rice in relation to diabetes risk among Americans, said Qi Sun, who did the research while at HSPH and is now an instructor of medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. "Rice consumption in the U.S. has dramatically increased in recent decades. We believe replacing white rice and other refined grains with whole grains, including brown rice, would help lower the risk of type 2 diabetes," said Sun.

The study appears online June 14, 2010, on the website of the journal Archives of Internal Medicine. Brown rice is superior to white rice when it comes to fiber content, minerals, vitamins, and phytochemicals, and it often does not generate as large an increase in blood sugar levels after a meal. Milling and polishing brown rice removes most vitamins and minerals. In addition, milling strips away most of its fiber, which helps deter diabetes by slowing the rush of sugar (glucose) into the bloodstream.

The researchers, led by Sun, and senior author Frank Hu, professor of nutrition and epidemiology at HSPH, examined white and brown rice consumption in relation to type 2 diabetes risk in 157,463 women and 39,765 men participating in the Brigham and Women's Hospital-based Nurses' Health Study I and II and the Health Professionals Follow-up Study. The researchers analyzed responses to questionnaires about diet, lifestyle, and health conditions which participants completed every four years. They documented 5,500 cases of type 2 diabetes during 22 years of follow-up in NHS 1 participants, 2,359 cases over 14 years in NHS II participants, and 2,648 cases over 20 years in HPFS participants.

Sun and his colleagues found that the biggest consumers of white rice were less likely to have European ancestry or to smoke and more likely to have a family history of diabetes. Eating brown rice was not associated with ethnicity but with a more health-conscious diet and lifestyle. In the analysis, researchers adjusted for a variety of factors that could influence the results, including age, body mass index, smoking status, alcohol intake, family history of diabetes, and other dietary habits, and found that the trend of increased risk associated with high white rice consumption remained. Because ethnicity was associated with both white rice consumption and diabetes risk, the researchers conducted a secondary analysis of white participants only and found similar results.

Because brown rice consumption was low in the study population, the researchers could not determine whether brown rice intake at much higher levels was associated with a further reduction in diabetes risk. Substitution of other whole grains for white rice was more strongly associated with lowering diabetes risk.

This observation, said the researchers, may result from more reliable estimates based on participants' higher consumption of whole grains other than brown rice.

The current Dietary Guidelines for Americans, released by the U.S. government, identifies grains, including rice, as one of the primary sources of carbohydrates and recommends that at least half come from whole grains. Americans are eating more rice -- but it's mostly white. "From a public health point of view, whole grains, rather than refined carbohydrates, such as white rice, should be recommended as the primary source of carbohydrates for the U.S. population," said Hu, "These findings could have even greater implications for Asian and other populations in which rice is a staple food."

Other HSPH authors included Walter Willett, professor of epidemiology and nutrition, Donna Spiegelman, professor of epidemiologic methods, Rob van Dam, adjunct assistant professor of nutrition, Michelle Holmes, associate professor in the department of epidemiology, and Vasanti Malik, teaching fellow in the department of nutrition.

This study was supported by the National Institutes of Health. Sun was supported by a postdoctoral fellowship from Unilever Corporate Research.

Journal Reference:

Qi Sun; Donna Spiegelman; Rob M. van Dam; Michelle D. Holmes; Vasanti S. Malik; Walter C. Willett; Frank B. Hu.White Rice, Brown Rice, and Risk of Type 2 Diabetes in US Men and Women. Arch Intern Med, 2010; 170 (11): 961-969 [link]

------------------
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/06/100614161349.htm

DONNA SUMMER "QUEEN OF DISCO" DIES AT 63 IN FLORIDA

noreply@blogger.com (Joseph Pratana) — Fri, 18 May 2012 01:29:00 +0000

In Las Vegas concert, October 2011

Donna Summer, who earned the tag Queen of Disco for her era-defining music but who had transcended the genre over the years, has died in Naples, Fla., after a private battle with lung cancer, her family said.

Summer was 63 and had recently been in meetings at her Los Angeles home with producer Jay Landers. The pair had planned to work on an album of duets with contemporary dance acts she had influenced and, with Barry Manilow, an album of songs devoted to the Detroit music scene.

“She had the regal quality of a singer who transcends the genre they are best known for — a fancy way of saying she could really sing the phone book,” Landers, a senior vice president at Universal who has worked with Barbra Streisand, Celine Dion and Carly Simon, said in a telephone interview Thursday from Los Angeles. “We planned to invite some of the leading dance contemporary artists like Lady Gaga, Pink, Katy Perry, Madonna and others who Donna had cut a path for. I was totally floored when I read the news because she looked great and was in great spirits.”

Her family, which includes husband Bruce Sudano, their daughters Brooklyn and Amanda, and her daughter Mimi from a previous marriage, said they “are at peace celebrating her extraordinary life and her continued legacy.”

“Words truly can’t express how much we appreciate your prayers and love for our family at this sensitive time,” the family statement read.

Though Summer came to prominence just as disco was emerging from New York nightclubs in the mid-‘70s, and came to define the glittery era with a string of No. 1 hits including MacArthur Park, Hot Stuff and Bad Girls, she was first inspired by Janis Joplin. Her debut album in 1974, Lady of the Night, revealed her considerable rock roots. Though released only in Europe, the album paired her with a producer/songwriter with whom she’d make musical history, Giorgio Moroder.

A year later, the two released the climactic and controversial disco classic, Love to Love You Baby. Summer, then a stage actress in Germany, intended the song only to serve as a demo for another artist to record. But the tune, which lasted longer than 12 minutes and featured a lengthy passage of simulated orgasms, became Summer’s first American hit when Casablanca Records founder Neil Bogart commissioned the track. He used it to help build his label on Summer’s soon-to-be inescapable sound.

Summer, however, came to regret the sexy song when she became a born-again Christian in 1980 and edged away from disco as the genre imploded.

“I don’t sing it anymore,” Summer told The Miami Herald in a 1996 interview. At the time, she was living in Nashville where she had composed Starting Over Again, a breakup ballad that became a country hit for Dolly Parton.

“I basically perform everything except Love to Love You. I’ve gone through dark periods and felt like I was in a cave. God has always been my center in getting me out of the cave. But I walked away when I did Love,” Summer said.

The singer continued to perform her subsequent single, I Feel Love, however, and that synapse-shattering 1977 hit stands as one of the most influential songs of the decade. I Feel Love burst open the doors to electronic music.

“One day in Berlin ... [Brian] Eno came running in and said, ‘I have heard the sound of the future.’ ... He puts on I Feel Love, by Donna Summer. He said, ‘This is it, look no further. This single is going to change the sound of club music for the next 15 years.’ Which was more or less right,” David Bowie told rock journalist Kurt Loder for the liner notes of his Sound + Vision compilation.

Summer also set a Billboard chart record, which likely will never be matched, when she sent three double-disc albums to No. 1: Live & More in 1978, Bad Girls and On the Radio: Donna Summer’s Greatest Hits in 1979. Her single Last Dance, from the 1978 disco knockoff movie Thank God It’s Friday, won that year’s Oscar for Best Song.

One of that era’s most amusing stories centers on a duet Summer sang with Streisand in 1979, No More Tears (Enough Is Enough). Streisand was reluctant to sing the disco hit but her son Jason, then 13, insisted that his mother sing it with his then-favorite artist. While singing in facing stools in a California studio, Summer didn’t breathe correctly and, while trying to hold a note to match Streisand’s, she momentarily blacked out and hit the floor. Streisand, the consummate perfectionist, kept singing the note straight through to completion.

“Hearing of Donna Summer’s passing is a cultural jolt on so many levels,” said Broadway producer Richard Jay-Alexander, who currently directs Streisand’s concerts. “When she first burst onto the music scene and became the Goddess of Disco, I knew she started in theater. She lost the role she wanted, in Hair, to Melba Moore, but played the part when a European tour went out. She settled in Germany, got fluent, did shows like The Me Nobody Knows, Godspell and Showboat. She got discovered and the rest, as they say, is history. There are so many songs she recorded that will never be forgotten, including a classic No. 1 with Barbra Streisand. Also, being a gay man, she is part of the soundtrack of our lives and all the memories that go with a very special time in history, both musically and politically.”

Unlike many stars of the disco who faded as trends turned the word “disco” into a pejorative, Summer grew beyond the steady kick drum thump-thump on albums like 1980’s trailblazing The Wanderer, whose rock-dance sound would prove an influence on Michael Jackson’s Thriller two years later. She had one of her biggest hits, and a memorable MTV video, with She Works Hard For The Money in 1983, a tune that became an anthem of sorts for equality.

Yet soon after, Summer faced controversy when she was accused of making anti-gay comments at the onset of the AIDS epidemic. Summer denied making the comments, but was the target of a short-lived boycott.

Born LaDonna Adrian Gaines, and raised in Boston on gospel music, Summer said the heady days of No. 1 albums and the constant pressure to follow one classic with another in the 1970s became too much.

“People don’t understand unless they experience it. Even euphoria has its limits,” she told The Herald at a time when she was finding new fame as a painter while living in Nashville.

“I’ve sold close to $1 million worth in my short career,” she said in 1996. “I’ve sold more than Van Gogh and I sing better than they paint,” she laughed.

Through the changes, and the genre-hopping that included two Grammy awards in 1984 and 1985 in the inspirational field, Summer still dominated Billboard’s dance charts. Her string of 19 chart-toppers between 1975 and 2008, the last one from her final studio album, Crayons, puts her second only to Madonna. She performed to a new generation on American Idol in 2008 and was still capable of selling out venues like Hard Rock Live in Hollywood as recently as 2010.

“She was wonderful in our venue,” said Bernie Dillon, Hard Rock’s senior vice president of entertainment. “She hadn’t been out in a few years, but came out in 2009 and we brought her back a year later, and she really rocked our house here. Over 5,000 people came and she’s still the Queen of Disco in all our hearts. She was really an icon back then and had an amazing impact on the music scene. As Elvis and the Beatles were to rock ‘n’ roll, you have to put her in the other categories. She’s up there.”

BY HOWARD COHEN

HCOHEN@MIAMIHERALD.COM

-----------
Suggested by Freddy Liwang, Florida
http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/05/17/v-fullstory/2803921/tmz-donna-summer-queen-of-disco.html
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/music_blog/2012/05/donna-summer-the-queen-of-disco-dies-at-age-63.html

BOOK ART (video)

noreply@blogger.com (Joseph Pratana) — Thu, 17 May 2012 04:49:00 +0000

WILL YOU HELP ME TIE THE STRING OF MY STRAW SANDAL?

noreply@blogger.com (Joseph Pratana) — Thu, 17 May 2012 04:39:00 +0000

Ryokan devoted his life to the study of Zen. One day he heard that his nephew, despite the admonitions of relatives, was spending his money on a courtesan. Inasmuch as the nephew had taken Ryokan's place in managing the family estate and the property was in danger of being dissipated, the relatives asked Ryoken to do something about it.

Ryokan had to travel a long way to visit his nephew, whom he had not seen for many years. The nephew seemed pleased to meet his uncle again and invited him to remain overnight.

All night Ryokan sat in meditation. As he was departing in the morning he said to the young man: "I must be getting old, my hand shakes so. Will you help me tie the string of my straw sandal?"

The nephew helped him willingly. "Thank you," finished Ryokan, "you see, a man becomes older and feebler day by day. Take good care of yourself." Then Ryokan left, never mentioning a word about the courtesan or the complaints of the relatives. But, from that morning on, the dissipations of the nephew ended.

----------
http://www.101zenstories.com/index.php?story=74
http://www.japonic.com/shoes/images/waraji5.jpg

EATING FAST INCREASES DIABETES RISK

noreply@blogger.com (Joseph Pratana) — Thu, 17 May 2012 04:32:00 +0000

People who wolf down their food are two and a half times more likely to suffer from type 2 diabetes than those who take their time according to new research presented at the joint International Congress of Endocrinology and European Congress of Endocrinology in Florence, Italy.

While numerous studies have linked eating quickly to overeating and obesity, this is the first time eating speed has been identified as an independent risk factor for type 2 diabetes.

A Lithuanian research team led by Dr Lina Radzeviciene compared 234 newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes patients to 468 people who were free from the disease. Cases and controls (ratio 1:2) were matched by gender and age (±5 years). The participants filled out an in-depth questionnaire designed to collect information on possible diabetes risk factors in which they rated their eating speed compared to others (slower, the same, faster). Body measurements (height, weight, waist and hip circumference) were also taken according to World Health Organisation recommendations.

After adjusting for other risk factors (a family history of diabetes, education, morning exercise, body mass index, waist circumference, cigarette smoking and plasma triglyceride levels) the researchers found a more than two-fold increase in the risk of type 2 diabetes associated with faster eating habits (odds ratio (OR) = 2.52, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.56-4.06). Additional findings showed the cases had a higher body mass index and significantly lower education level compared to the controls.

Diabetes mellitus is a very common disorder caused by high levels of sugar in the bloodstream. It affects 6.4% (285 million) of the worldwide population and is associated with an increased risk of heart attacks, stroke and damage to the eyes, feet and kidneys. In type 2 diabetes, which accounts for 90% of all cases, insulin -- a hormone that allows cells to take sugar from the bloodstream and store it as energy -- does not work properly.

Researcher Dr Lina Radzeviciene from Lithuanian University of Health Sciences said: "The prevalence of type 2 diabetes is increasing globally and becoming a world pandemic. It appears to involve interaction between susceptible genetic backgrounds and environmental factors. It's important to identify modifiable risk factors that may help people reduce their chances of developing the disease."

Dr Radzeviciene's team previously found that coffee consumption (four or more cups a day) significantly decreased risk of type 2 diabetes. They also found that smoking and egg consumption (more than five eggs a week) increased the risk. They now hope to perform a larger study looking at how particular types of food, calorie intake, physical exercise, and psychological and emotional wellbeing affect diabetes risk factors.

--------------
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/05/120507210038.htm
http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/assets/2008/06/20/200862031.jpg

CARLOS THE JACKAL (video)

noreply@blogger.com (Joseph Pratana) — Thu, 17 May 2012 04:07:00 +0000

Ilich Ramírez Sánchez (born October 12, 1949), also known as Carlos the Jackal, is a Venezuelan currently serving a life sentence in France for shooting to death two French secret agents and a Lebanese informer in 1975. While in prison he was further convicted of attacks in France that killed 11 and injured 150 people and sentenced to an additional life term.

A committed Marxist-Leninist ideologue, Ramírez Sánchez is widely regarded as one of the most famous political terrorists of his era. When he joined the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) in 1970, recruiting officer Bassam Abu Sharif gave him the code name "Carlos" due to his South American roots. After several bungled bombings, Ramírez Sánchez achieved notoriety for a 1975 raid on the OPEC headquarters in Vienna, which killed three people. This was followed by a string of attacks against Western targets. For many years he was among the most wanted international fugitives. Carlos was dubbed "The Jackal" by The Guardian after one of its correspondents reportedly spotted Frederick Forsyth's 1971 novel The Day of the Jackal near some of the fugitive's belongings.

Arrested in Sudan in 1994 and flown to France, Ramírez Sánchez is now serving a life sentence in the Clairvaux Prison for the murder of two French agents of the DST (counter-intelligence) and an informant for the French government.

For his part, Ramírez Sánchez denied the 1975 killings, saying they were orchestrated by Mossad, the Israeli secret service, and condemning Israel as a terrorist nation. During his trial in France in 1997, he said, "When one wages war for 30 years, there is a lot of blood spilled—mine and others. But we never killed anyone for money, but for a cause—the liberation of Palestine."

Early life
Ramírez Sánchez — son of José Altagarcia Ramírez-Navas, a Marxist lawyer, and Elba Maria Sánchez — was born in the state of Táchira, Venezuela. Despite his mother's pleas to give their firstborn child a Christian first name, José called him Ilich, after V.I. Lenin. Two younger siblings were named "Lenin" (born 1951) and "Vladimir" (born 1958). Ilich attended a school in Caracas and joined the youth movement of the national communist party in 1959. After attending the Third Tricontinental Conference in January 1966 with his father, Ilich reportedly spent the summer at Camp Matanzas, a guerrilla warfare school run by the Cuban DGI near Havana. Later that year, his parents divorced.

His mother took the children to London, where she studied at Stafford House College in Kensington and the London School of Economics.[citation needed] In 1968, José tried to enroll Ilich and his brother at the Sorbonne in Paris, but eventually opted for the Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow. According to the BBC, it was "a notorious hotbed for recruiting foreign communists to the Soviet Union" (see active measures). He was expelled from the university in 1970.

From Moscow Ramírez Sánchez travelled to Beirut, Lebanon, where he volunteered for the PFLP in July 1970. He was sent to a training camp for foreign volunteers of the PFLP on the outskirts of Amman, Jordan. On graduating, he studied at a finishing school, code-named H4 and staffed by Iraqi military, near the Syria-Iraq border.

PFLP

On completing guerrilla training, Carlos (as he was now calling himself) played an active role for the PFLP in the north of Jordan during the Black September conflict of 1970, gaining a reputation as a fighter. After the organisation was pushed out of Jordan, he returned to Beirut. He was sent to be trained by Wadie Haddad. He eventually left the Middle East to attend courses at the Polytechnic of Central London (now known as the University of Westminster), and apparently continued to work for the PFLP.

In 1973, Carlos was associated with the PFLP, which had conducted a failed assassination attempt on Joseph Sieff, a Jewish businessman and vice president of the British Zionist Federation. The attack was announced as retaliation for Mossad's assassination in Paris of Mohamed Boudia, a PFLP leader.

Carlos admits responsibility for a failed bomb attack on the Bank Hapoalim in London and car bomb attacks on three French newspapers accused of pro-Israeli leanings. He claimed to be the grenade thrower at a Parisian restaurant in an attack that killed two and injured 30. He later participated in two failed rocket propelled grenade attacks on El Al airplanes at Orly Airport near Paris, on January 13 and 17, 1975.

On June 27, 1975, Carlos's PFLP contact, Lebanon-born Michel Moukharbal, who later turned out to be an agent for the Mossad, was captured and interrogated by the French domestic intelligence agency, the DST. When three unarmed agents of the DST tried to interview Carlos at a house in Paris in the middle of a party, he shot the three agents, killing two, and also shot and killed Moukharbal. Carlos fled the scene, and managed to escape via Brussels to Beirut.

OPEC raid and expulsion from PFLP
From Beirut, Carlos participated in the planning for the attack on the headquarters of OPEC in Vienna. On December 21, 1975, he led the six-person team (which included Gabriele Kröcher-Tiedemann) that attacked the meeting of OPEC leaders; they took more than 60 hostages and killed three: an Austrian policeman, an Iraqi OPEC employee and a member of the Libyan delegation. Carlos demanded that the Austrian authorities read a communiqué about the Palestinian cause on Austrian radio and television networks every two hours. To avoid the threatened execution of a hostage every 15 minutes, the Austrian government agreed and the communiqué was broadcast as requested.

On December 22, the government provided the PFLP and 42 hostages an airplane and flew them to Algiers, as demanded for the hostages' release. Ex-Royal Navy pilot Neville Atkinson, at that time the personal pilot for Libya's leader Muammar al-Gaddafi, flew Carlos and a number of others, including Hans-Joachim Klein, a supporter of the imprisoned Baader-Meinhof group and a member of the Revolutionary Cells, and Gabriele Kröcher-Tiedemann, from Algiers. Atkinson flew the DC-9 to Tripoli, where more hostages were freed, before he returned to Algiers. The last hostages were freed there and some of the terrorists were granted asylum.

In the years following the OPEC raid, Bassam Abu Sharif, another PLFP agent, and Klein claimed that Carlos had received a large sum of money for the safe release of the Arab hostages and had kept it for his personal use. Claims are that the amount was between US$20 million and US$50 million. The source of the money is also uncertain but, according to Klein, it was from "an Arab president". Carlos later told his lawyers that the money was paid by the Saudis on behalf of the Iranians and was "diverted en route and lost by the Revolution."

Carlos left Algeria for Libya and then Aden, where he attended a meeting of senior PFLP officials to justify his failure to execute two senior OPEC hostages – the finance minister of Iran, Jamshid Amuzgar, and the oil minister of Saudi Arabia, Ahmed Zaki Yamani. His trainer and PFLP-EO leader Wadie Haddad expelled Carlos for not shooting hostages when PFLP demands were not met, thus failing his mission.

After 1975
In September 1976, Carlos was arrested, detained in Yugoslavia, and flown to Baghdad. He chose to settle in Aden, where he tried to found his own Organization of Armed Struggle, composed of Syrian, Lebanese, and German rebels. He also connected with the Stasi, East Germany's secret police. They provided him with an office and safe houses in East Berlin, a support staff of 75, and a serviced car, and allowed him to carry a pistol while in public.

From here, Ramírez Sánchez is believed to have planned his attacks on several European targets, including that on the Radio Free Europe offices in Munich in February 1981. In August 1983, he attacked the Maison de France in West Berlin, killing one man and injuring twenty-two. On December 31, 1983, bombs were exploded on two French TGV trains, killing four passengers and injuring dozens more. Within days of the bombings, Ramírez Sánchez sent letters to three separate news agencies claiming responsibility for the bombings as revenge for a French air strike against a PFLP training camp in Lebanon the previous month.

Historians' examination of Stasi files, recently accessible after the German reunification, demonstrate a link between Ramírez Sánchez and the KGB, via the East German secret police. When Leonid Brezhnev visited West Germany in 1981, Ramírez Sánchez did not undertake any attacks, as the KGB had requested. Western intelligence had expected activity during this period. At one point, the Romanian Securitate hired Carlos to assassinate Romanian dissidents living in France.

With conditional support from the Iraqi regime and after the death of Haddad, Ramírez Sánchez offered the services of his group to the PFLP and other groups. His group's first attack may have been a failed rocket attack on the Superphénix French nuclear power station on January 18, 1982.

In February 1982, two of the group—Swiss terrorist Bruno Breguet and Ramírez Sánchez's wife Magdalena Kopp—were arrested in Paris, in a car containing explosives. After their arrest, the group detonated a number of bombs in retaliation against French targets while Ramírez Sánchez unsuccessfully lobbied the French for their release.

These attacks led to international pressure on East European states that harbored Ramírez Sánchez. For over two years, he lived in Hungary, in Budapest's second district known as the quarter of nobles. His main cut-out for some of his financial resources, such as Gaddafi or Dr. George Habash, was the friend of his sister, "Dietmar C", a known German terrorist and the leader of the Panther Brigade of the PFLP. Hungary expelled Ramírez Sánchez in late 1985, and he was refused sanctuary in Iraq, Libya and Cuba before he found limited support in Syria. He settled in Damascus with Kopp and their daughter, Elba Rosa.

The Syrian government forced Ramírez Sánchez to remain inactive, and he was subsequently seen as a neutralized threat. In 1990, the Iraqi government approached him for work, and, in September 1991, he was expelled from Syria. After a short stay in Jordan, he was accorded protection in Sudan where he lived in Khartoum.

Western accounts long claimed Ramírez Sánchez as a KGB agent. Some attacks may have been attributed to him for lack of anyone else to claim credit. His own boasts about probably nonexistent missions have further confused the issue.

Arrest and imprisonment
The French and US intelligence agencies offered a number of deals to the Sudanese authorities. In 1994, Carlos was scheduled to undergo a minor testicular operation in a hospital in Sudan. Two days after the operation, Sudanese officials told him that he needed to be moved to a villa for protection from an assassination attempt and would be given personal bodyguards. One night later, the bodyguards went into his room while he slept, tranquilized and tied him, and took him from the villa.

On August 14, 1994, Sudan transferred him to French agents of the DST, who flew him to Paris for trial. He was charged with the 1975 murders of the two Paris policemen and of Moukharbal and was sent to La Santé Prison to await trial.[citation needed] In 1996, a majority of the European Commission of Human Rights rejected his application related to the process of his capture.

The trial began on December 12, 1997 and ended on December 23, when he was found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment. He was later moved from La Santé to the Clairvaux Prison.

In 2001, after converting to Islam, Ramírez Sánchez married his lawyer, Isabelle Coutant-Peyre, in a Muslim ceremony, although he was still married to his second wife.

In June 2003, Carlos published a collection of writings from his jail cell. The book, whose title translates to Revolutionary Islam, seeks to explain and defend violence in terms of class conflict. In the book, he voices support for Osama bin Laden and his attacks on the United States.

In 2005, the European Court of Human Rights heard a complaint from Ramírez Sánchez that his long years of solitary confinement constitute "inhuman and degrading treatment". Although the court rejected this claim, it was on appeal as of early 2006.

In a 2009 speech, Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez praised Ramírez Sánchez, saying he had been unfairly convicted and was not a terrorist but a "revolutionary fighter".

Carlos (left) with his French lawyer, Isabelle-Peyre in Paris courtroom.

New trial
In May 2007, anti-terrorism judge Jean-Louis Bruguière ordered a new trial for Ramírez Sánchez on charges relating to "killings and destruction of property using explosive substances" in France in 1982 and 1983. The bombings killed eleven and injured more than 100 people. Ramírez Sánchez denied any connection to the events in his 2011 trial, staging a nine-day hunger strike to protest his imprisonment conditions. The trial, which had been expected to last six weeks, began on November 7, 2011, in Paris. Three other members of Ramírez Sánchez's organization will be tried in absentia at the same time: Johannes Weinrich, Christina Frohlich, and Ali Kamal Issawi. Germany has refused to extradite Weinrich and Frohlich, and Issawi, a Palestinian, "is reportedly on the run." Ramírez Sánchez continues to deny any involvement in the attacks. On December 15, 2011, Ramírez Sánchez, Weinrich and Issawi were convicted and sentenced to life in prison; Frohlich was acquitted.

------------
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlos_the_Jackal
http://www.wnd.com/images/headshots/carlos_jackal1.jpg
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-aJMHgJKsnRQ/TemD-B08otI/AAAAAAAADnA/xk4Xp4-ro50/s400/FrederickForsyth_TheDayOfTheJackal.jpg
http://www.news.com.au/world/carlos-the-jackal-i-killed-2000-people-and-only-200-were-a-mistake/story-e6frfkyi-1226187589684
http://s2.reutersmedia.net/resources/r/?m=02&d=20070504&t=2&i=745884&w=460&fh=&fw=&ll=&pl=&r=745884

GANGSTER SQUAD (video)

noreply@blogger.com (Joseph Pratana) — Thu, 17 May 2012 02:18:00 +0000

THE MYSTERY OF THE "RED SNAKE" WALL

noreply@blogger.com (Joseph Pratana) — Wed, 16 May 2012 23:00:00 +0000

New discoveries unearthed at an ancient frontier wall in Iran provide compelling evidence that the Persians matched the Romans for military might and engineering prowess.

The 'Great Wall of Gorgan'in north-eastern Iran, a barrier of awesome scale and sophistication, including over 30 military forts, an aqueduct, and water channels along its route, is being explored by an international team of archaeologists from Iran and the Universities of Edinburgh and Durham. This vast Wall-also known as the 'Red Snake'-is more than 1000 years older than the Great Wall of China, and longer than Hadrian's Wall and the Antonine Wall put together.

Until recently, nobody knew who had built the Wall. Theories ranged from Alexander the Great, in the 4th century BC, to the Persian king Khusrau I in the 6th century AD. Most scholars favoured a 2nd or 1st century BC construction. Scientific dating has now shown that the Wall was built in the 5th, or possibly, 6th century AD, by the Sasanian Persians. This Persian dynasty has created one of the most powerful empires in the ancient world, centred on Iran, and stretching from modern Iraq to southern Russia, Central Asia and Pakistan.

Modern survey techniques and satellite images have revealed that the forts were densely occupied with military style barrack blocks. Numerous finds discovered during the latest excavations indicate that the frontier bustled with life. Researchers estimate that some 30,000 soldiers could have been stationed at this Wall alone. It is thought that the 'Red Snake'was a defence system against the White Huns, who lived in Central Asia.

Eberhard Sauer, of the University of Edinburgh's School of History, Classics and Archaeology, said: “Our project challenges the traditional Euro-centric world view. At the time, when the Western Roman Empire was collapsing and even the Eastern Roman Empire was under great external pressure, the Sasanian Persian Empire mustered the manpower to build and garrison a monument of greater scale than anything comparable in the west. The Persians seem to match, or more than match, their late Roman rivals in army strength, organisational skills, engineering and water management.”

The research is published in the new edition of Current World Archaeology and the periodical Iran, Journal of the British Institute of Persian Studies 45.

--------
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/02/080218155534.htm
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_I5SrBhrAQeo/S_3RXDwO8EI/AAAAAAAAAFM/2hplMAQ4VaY/s1600/Gorgan+Wall-05.jpg

KILLER JOE (video)

noreply@blogger.com (Joseph Pratana) — Wed, 16 May 2012 02:14:00 +0000

WALK AND SMILE

noreply@blogger.com (Joseph Pratana) — Wed, 16 May 2012 02:12:00 +0000

I enjoy taking a walk. It is a great way to exercise, a wonderful way to see things at a slower pace, and an opportunity to meet people. Often, during a walk, meeting people is nothing more than a smile and a quick "Hi", but the reactions are as wide, and some as barren, as the Arctic.

The older the passer-by, the more likely the response, but rarely a smile. Many have pain and suffering written cruelly across their face, where the years have etched it in deep, few remembering how to use the muscles required to turn up the corners of their mouths.

Men and attractive young ladies are the least to respond. Most never even wanting eyes to meet, scared and resentful of this unsolicited approach. Children have no time to respond, and didn't their mother always tell them not to talk to strangers?

Hey, I am not one of the ones that they were warned about, but they don't know that. Then there are those that can't keep their eyes off their shoes. I am not sure whether they are afraid they are going to trip over that crack in the sidewalk or if they are waiting for their laces to untie, all by themselves. Others have that straight ahead out-of-focus look, staring at some far off point on the horizon, not wanting to exert the effort of looking to the side.

But for the few that do respond, their eyes light up, a broad smile breaks across their face and they respond with a warm "Hi". Normally, these are the ones who have a lighter step, a lilt to their walk. They are the ones who enjoy observing their surroundings, drinking in all that nature has provided them. They have life and don't mind sharing it. I don't think this is something that is graced upon people at birth, but rather they discover it at some point along life's path.

Next time some stranger walks by you and says "Hi", respond to them.
You never know, it might be me.

Copyright © 2000 Brian McKay (Manitoba, Canada)
----------------
http://www.motivateus.com/stories/walk.htm

THE SECRETS OF AN ANCIENT TEL AVIV FORTRESS

noreply@blogger.com (Joseph Pratana) — Wed, 16 May 2012 02:01:00 +0000

New archeological research from the Tel Qudadi archaeological dig near Tel Aviv suggests an ancient link between the Israeli city and the Greek island of Lesbos -- a find producing new insights into alliances and trade routes in the ancient world.

Tel Qudadi, an ancient fortress located in the heart of Tel Aviv at the mouth of the Yarkon River, was first excavated more than 70 years ago -- but the final results of neither the excavations nor the finds were ever published. Now, research on Tel Qudadi by archaeologists at Tel Aviv University has unpeeled a new layer of history, indicating that there is much more to learn from the site, including evidence that links ancient Israel to the Greek island of Lesbos.

"The secrets of this ancient fortress are only beginning to be revealed," Dr. Alexander Fantalkin and Dr. Oren Tal of Tel Aviv University's Department of Archaeology say. Their new research was recently published in the Palestine Exploration Quarterly and BABESH: Annual Papers on Mediterranean Archaeology.

Well developed laws at sea

It was previously believed that the fortress was established during the 10th century B.C.E. at the behest of King Solomon, in order to protect the approach from the sea and prevent possible hostile raids against inland settlements located along the Yarkon River. The establishment of the fortress at Tel Qudadi was taken then as evidence of the existence of a developed maritime policy in the days of the United Monarchy in ancient Israel.

In another reconstruction, it was suggested that the fortress was erected sometime in the 9th century B.C.E. and could be attributed to the Kingdom of Israel. Now a careful re-assessment of the finds conducted by Tel Aviv University researchers indicates that the fortress cannot be dated earlier than the late 8th -- early 7th centuries B.C.E., much later than previously suggested.

What this means is that the fortress, although maintained by a local population, was an integral part of a network that served the interests of the Assyrian empire in the region. The Assyrians, once rulers of a mighty empire centred in Mesopotamia (modern day Iraq), ruled Israel in the late 8th and most of the 7th centuries B.C.E.

From Lesbos to Tel Aviv

One of the key finds, say researchers, is an amphora (a large jar used to transport oil or wine) which hails from the Greek island of Lesbos. The existence of the artifact, together with a re-assessment of the local ceramic assemblage of Tel Qudadi, has helped researchers to re-calculate the timeline of the site's operation. Amazingly, it seems to be the earliest example of the Lesbian amphorae discovered so far in the Mediterranean, including the island of Lesbos itself.

While a single find cannot prove the existence of trade between ancient Israel and Lesbos, the finding has much to say about the beginnings of the island's amphora production and has implications for understanding trade routes between different parts of the Mediterranean.

What remains a mystery, say the researchers, is how the Lesbian amphora arrived at Tel Qudadi in the first place. It's probable that it was brought as part of an occasional trade route around the Mediterranean -- possibly by a Phoenician ship.

An important sea-route for commerce and trade

Now that the site can be dated from the late 8th -- early 7th centuries B.C.E., the fortress at Tel Qudadi may be considered an important intermediate station on the maritime route between Egypt and Phoenicia, serving the Assyrian interests in the Levantine coast rather than a part of the Israelite Kingdom.

The Assyrian interest in the coastal area is known to have stemmed from their desire to be involved in the international trade between Phoenicia, Philistia and Egypt. The fortress should be seen then as part of a network of fortresses and trading posts along the coast. It demonstrates that the Assyrian officials invested a great deal of effort in the routing of commerce and its concomitant taxes.

-------------
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/12/101228094109.htm
http://esciencenews.com/files/images/201012284187380.jpg

PROLONGED TV VIEWING LINKED TO INCREASED RISK OF TYPE TWO DIABETES, CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE

noreply@blogger.com (Joseph Pratana) — Wed, 16 May 2012 01:53:00 +0000

Watching television is the most common daily activity apart from work and sleep in many parts of the world, but it is time for people to change their viewing habits. According to a new study from Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) researchers, prolonged TV viewing was associated with increased risk of type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and premature death.

The study appears in the June 15, 2011, edition of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

"The message is simple. Cutting back on TV watching can significantly reduce risk of type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and premature mortality," said senior author Frank Hu, professor of nutrition and epidemiology at HSPH. "We should not only promote increasing physical activity levels but also reduce sedentary behaviors, especially prolonged TV watching," said Hu.

Many people around the world divide their days largely between working, sleeping, and watching television, according to the researchers. Europeans spend an average of 40 percent of their daily free time in front of the television set; Australians, 50 percent. This corresponds to three to four hours of daily viewing -- still less than a reported average of five hours in the U.S. The negative health effects of TV viewing have been documented in prior studies, including associations with reduced physical activity levels and unhealthy diets.

Hu and first author Anders Grøntved, a doctoral student and visiting researcher in the HSPH Department of Nutrition, conducted a meta-analysis, a systematic assessment of all published studies from 1970 to 2011 that linked TV viewing with increased risk of type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and premature death. Eight large prospective cohort studies from the United States, Europe, and Australia met the researchers' criteria and were included in the meta-analysis.

The results showed that more than two hours of TV viewing per day increased risk of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease, and more than three hours of daily viewing increased risk of premature death. For each additional two hours of TV viewing per day, the risk of type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and premature mortality increased by 20, 15, and 13 percent respectively. Based on disease incidence in the United States, Hu and Grøntved estimated that among 100,000 individuals per year, each 2-hour increment in TV viewing per day was associated with 176 new cases of type 2 diabetes, 38 new cases of fatal cardiovascular disease, and 104 new cases of all-cause mortality.

Hu and Grøntved found that the effect of prolonged television viewing on type 2 diabetes, which usually occurs in adults, was to some extent explained by the unfavorable influence of TV viewing on obesity. Obesity is related to unhealthy eating habits and low activity levels, major risk factors for both type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

Limitations to the meta-analysis included the relatively small number of studies and that the assessment of TV viewing was self-reported by participants. In addition, the majority of the studies did not assess the role of diet and physical activity in explaining the adverse effects of TV watching on chronic disease risk.

"Sedentary lifestyle, especially prolonged TV watching, is clearly an important and modifiable risk factor for type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease," said Grøntved. "Future research should also look into the effects of extensive use of new media devices on energy balance and chronic disease risk."
Support for the study was provided by the Danish Heart Foundation, Sygekassernes Helsefond (the Danish Health Fund), the Oticon Foundation, the Augustinus Foundation, and the National Institutes of Health.

-------------
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/06/110614161856.htm
http://slices-of-life.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/cable-tv.jpg

AMAZON KILLED THE BOOK REVIEWER STAR

noreply@blogger.com (Joseph Pratana) — Wed, 16 May 2012 01:45:00 +0000

Authors no longer have to impress stodgy English majors to get their book a quality review: new research from the Harvard Business Review shows that the aggregate rating of Amazon reviewers are every bit as good as professional book critics.

Professional book critics, on the other hand, suffer from nepotism: critics give more favorable reviews to their colleagues, authors who agree with their ideological slant, and if the book has been given an award by other critics. The result, implies this new research, is that Amazon has democratized the book reviewing process, with consumer reviewers less beholden to special interests and more representative of the book-reading masses. Perhaps most importantly, it rebuts critics who have claimed that Amazon is nothing more than a cauldron of corrupt and uneducated opinions.

Despite the strict editorial firewall between writers and commercial interests, “reviewers may not always have the incentive to provide objective reviews,” explain Professors Dobrescu, Luca and Motta in a new study of the professional book review industry. Newspapers and magazines are 25% more likely to offer a review of an author who has written for their publication before; unsurprisingly, the reviews are slightly more positive. Moreover, professional reviews suffer from self-congratulatory institutional nepotism: novice authors get slammed more often than established ones, especially if they haven’t won any awards.

The new research provides ample firepower against academic critics of consumer reviews, who say that Amazon is a circus of corrupt and uneducated reviewers.

“The democratization of reviewing is synonymous with the decay of reviewing,” lamented Professor of English Morris Dickstein, “The professional reviewer, who has a literary identity, who had to meet some editor’s exacting standard, has effectively been replaced by the Amazon reviewer, the paying customer, at times ingenious, assiduous, and highly motivated, more often banal, obtuse, and blankly opinionated.”

Others have implied that Amazon contains far worse than uncritical literary buffoons; Cornell professor Trevor Pinch, discovered systemic corruption within the ranks of top 1,000 Amazon reviewers, many of whom are given perks for good reviews or abstaining from bad ones.

But, if Amazon really is a literary cesspool, why did Dobrescu and his colleagues find that consumer reviews were nearly identical, on average, to professional critics, (under conditions when professionals would not be biased)? The likely explanation is what social scientists call the “wisdom of crowds.” A randomly selected consumer reviewer is no match for a professional reviewer, but the average opinion of all laymen is less biased than an expert.

This fact was famously discovered by Sir Francis Galton, who found that crowds of people were astonishingly good at guessing the weight of a cow, despite individual guesses being all over the map. Stupid answers are tossed around the actual right answer in equal proportion, marking the truth like treasure on a map surrounded by circular dots (for a fun video explanation of the wisdom of the crowds, check out the PBS video below featuring Neil deGrasse Tyson).

Moreover, psychologists have long known that experts are not the bastions of objective intellectual rigor that they are often made out to be. Berkeley Political Psychologist, Philip Tetlock, famously found that experts are no better at forecasting the future or interpreting evidence than the average layman; and, sometimes, they perform worse than randomly guessing. In Louis Menand’s words, experts “are poorer forecasters than dart-throwing monkeys.” Experts, Tetlock found, are biased by their own pre-conceived worldviews, and simply use more sophisticated analysis to unwittingly justify what they already believe.

In other words, both professionals and amateurs are susceptible to bias. But, on Amazon, the masses moderate the corruption, partisanship, and stupidity peppered throughout the crowd. In contrast, we rarely read more than one professional book review, leaving our purchasing decisions up the view of one mind.

At the very least, even if Amazon is biased, consumers will have far more in common with one another than a professional critic. So, as you’re deciding what new political tell-all will accompany you on your next plane flight, feel confident that the unpolished democratic masses have your best interests in mind.

By GREGORY FERENSTEIN
-----------
http://techcrunch.com/2012/05/15/amazon-killed-the-book-reviewer-star/
http://img.ibtimes.com/www/data/images/full/2011/03/04/71058-7-amazon-com-king-of-online-retailer.jpg

THE VOICE OF TRUE HAPPINESS

noreply@blogger.com (Joseph Pratana) — Wed, 16 May 2012 01:39:00 +0000

After Bankei had passed away, a blind man who lived near the master's temple told a friend: "Since I am blind, I cannot watch a person's face, so I must judge his character by the sound of his voice. Ordinarily when I hear someone congratulate another upon his happiness or success, I also hear a secret tone of envy. When condolence is expressed for the misfortune of another, I hear pleasure and satisfaction, as if the one condoling was really glad there was something left to gain in his own world.

"In all my experience, however, Bankei's voice was always sincere. Whenever he expressed happiness, I heard nothing but happiness, and whenever he expressed sorrow, sorrow was all I heard."

GESTURES HAVE A BIG ROLE IN LANGUAGE

noreply@blogger.com (Joseph Pratana) — Sat, 12 May 2012 00:30:00 +0000

People of all ages and cultures gesture while speaking, some much more noticeably than others. But is gesturing uniquely tied to speech, or is it, rather, processed by the brain like any other manual action?

A U.S.-Netherlands research collaboration delving into this tie discovered that actual actions on objects, such as physically stirring a spoon in a cup, have less of an impact on the brain's understanding of speech than simply gesturing as if stirring a spoon in a cup. This is surprising because there is less visual information contained in gestures than in actual actions on objects. In short: Less may actually be more when it comes to gestures and actions in terms of understanding language.

Spencer Kelly, associate professor of Psychology, director of the Neuroscience program, and co-director of the Center for Language and Brain at Colgate University, and colleagues from the National Institutes of Health and Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics will present their research at the Acoustics 2012 meeting in Hong Kong, May 13-18, a joint meeting of the Acoustical Society of America (ASA), Acoustical Society of China, Western Pacific Acoustics Conference, and the Hong Kong Institute of Acoustics.

Among their key findings is that gestures -- more than actions -- appear to make people pay attention to the acoustics of speech. When we see a gesture, our auditory system expects to also hear speech. But this is not what the researchers found in the case of manual actions on objects.

Just think of all the actions you've seen today that occurred in the absence of speech. "This special relationship is interesting because many scientists have argued that spoken language evolved from a gestural communication system -- using the entire body -- in our evolutionary past," points out Kelly. "Our results provide a glimpse into this past relationship by showing that gestures still have a tight and perhaps special coupling with speech in present-day communication. In this way, gestures are not merely add-ons to language -- they may actually be a fundamental part of it."

A better understanding of the role hand gestures play in how people understand language could lead to new audio and visual instruction techniques to help people overcome major challenges with language delays and disorders or learning a second language.

What's next for the researchers? "We're interested in how other types of visual inputs, such as eye gaze, mouth movements, and facial expressions, combine with hand gestures to impact speech processing. This will allow us to develop even more natural and effective ways to help people understand and learn language," says Kelly.
---------
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/05/120508152000.htm

TV WHICH HAVE UNLIMITED CHANNELS

noreply@blogger.com (Joseph Pratana) — Sat, 12 May 2012 00:21:00 +0000

We get a gift of a brand new Magical TV which has unlimited access to all the beautiful channels. When we tune in to any one of the millions of stations, we become embraced with wonderful joy filled feelings. We are given a remote control and can instantly connect to all the marvelous programs at will.

We are really enjoying switching channels and experiencing lots of happy days. Time progresses and the remote control is not working as well. We can no longer get our favorite channels and the ones we can get we really do not care for. A little later even the programs we tolerate start to get distorted. The signals become weak and there is a lot of interference. The TV has trouble getting enough electric power as the tube is getting worn out working so hard to connect to even the mediocre stations. The magic has now gone out of the TV set and the tube fades away. The power source can no longer travel inside the set as the receiver has extinguished itself.

When we are born, we receive a brain that is clear and sharp and can tune into all the joy in the universe. It also has the ability to tune into messages of joy from all it sees, hears, feels, touches and smells. As we grow and mature, control of our awareness mechanism starts to disappear and the joy of life slowly fades away. We search desperately for the way we can turn on our joy but the more effort we put into seeking the joy the more miserable we become.

We question ourselves, doubt ourselves and yes, even start to hate ourselves. We might try to blame others for our lost joy but deep inside we know we cannot tune into a really happy life. We find many substitutes for joy like: new clothes, new cars, making tons of money, smoking, drinking alcohol, drugs that don't switch on our real joy. We have learned to tolerate a lifestyle that we are not so happy with. But what can we do? It is all most of us have.

In order to enjoy the fruits of our labor, we first need to get our mind in order. We have learned to endure and forgotten how to enjoy. If we realize there is a way to recharge our control of awareness and it will put us in tune with harmony, love, contentment and a true joy of life, we get a second chance.

The receiver in our brains needs to switch on to the correct voltage and allow the currents of intelligent energy to flow through our whole system. As we re-energize, we begin to feel real power surges and can tattle any distortion that comes our way. Nothing stops us from receiving a beautiful clear picture of health, wealth and happiness. We are programmed that Life is Beautiful and we do not need to switch channels any more.

By detaching from the physical world we see around us and attaching to a power source of intelligence that has created and evolved all Life and Matter, we find the real way of living as human beings. We now can enjoy all the physical world has to offer and also become a creative link in the chain of evolution.

We take pleasure in helping our fellow man and woman to make their life a happy one. We realize that the pure potential of infinite wisdom is a channel that is linked to our minds and we have access when we clear the way to receive it.

We never get sick, never worry and are always contented.

Does it sound like Magic?

Well IT------ I.S.

I.S.---Infinite Silence

In Infinite Silence we connect with GOD. It is there we recharge our batteries on a daily basis. When we feel the Divine Bliss this magic energy gives us, we want to soak up every ounce.

We find after a while we can connect to this channel day and night. In a crowded room or all alone, we can turn on the power at will. Our Freewill is tuned to God because it gives us Joy, not because we are instructed to by Religion.

We now know what willpower means. God is directing us, not human Rules & Regulations. We now can throw away the remote control. We will never feel remote, alone or far away from God for we are automatically connected 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year.

Eventually we will throw away our body and live in eternal divine bliss. But not just yet. We have a whole lot of programs to really ENJOY!

Copyright © 2000 Michael Levy
--------------
http://www.motivateus.com/stories/channels.htm
http://ec1.ostkcdn.com/img/mxc/100628_plasma_tv_stand.jpg

THE EXPENDABLES 2 (video)

noreply@blogger.com (Joseph Pratana) — Fri, 11 May 2012 22:56:00 +0000

DARK SHADOWS (2 videos)

noreply@blogger.com (Joseph Pratana) — Fri, 11 May 2012 08:53:00 +0000

MURAL FOUND ON WALLS: MAYA CALENDAR REACHING BEYOND 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Joseph Pratana) — Fri, 11 May 2012 08:46:00 +0000

A vast city built by the ancient Maya and discovered nearly a century ago is finally starting to yield its secrets.

Excavating for the first time in the sprawling complex of Xultún in Guatemala's Petén region, archaeologists have uncovered a structure that contains what appears to be a work space for the town's scribe, its walls adorned with unique paintings -- one depicting a lineup of men in black uniforms -- and hundreds of scrawled numbers. Many are calculations relating to the Maya calendar.

One wall of the structure, thought to be a house, is covered with tiny, millimeter-thick, red and black glyphs unlike any seen before at other Maya sites. Some appear to represent the various calendrical cycles charted by the Maya -- the 260-day ceremonial calendar, the 365-day solar calendar, the 584-day cycle of the planet Venus and the 780-day cycle of Mars, reports archaeologist William Saturno of Boston University, who led the exploration and excavation.

"For the first time we get to see what may be actual records kept by a scribe, whose job was to be official record keeper of a Maya community," Saturno said. "It's like an episode of TV's 'Big Bang Theory,' a geek math problem and they're painting it on the wall. They seem to be using it like a blackboard."

The discovery is reported in the June issue of National Geographic magazine and in the May 11 issue of the journal Science.

The project scientists say that despite popular belief, there is no sign that the Maya calendar -- or the world -- was to end in the year 2012, just one of its calendar cycles. "It's like the odometer of a car, with the Maya calendar rolling over from the 120,000s to 130,000," said Anthony Aveni, professor of astronomy and anthropology at Colgate University, a coauthor of the Science paper. "The car gets a step closer to the junkyard as the numbers turn over; the Maya just start over."

The mural represents the first Maya art to be found on the walls of a house. "There are tiny glyphs all over the wall, bars and dots representing columns of numbers. It's the kind of thing that only appears in one place -- the Dresden Codex, which the Maya wrote many centuries later. We've never seen anything like it," said David Stuart, Schele Professor of Mesoamerican Art and Writing at the University of Texas-Austin, who deciphered the glyphs.

The vegetation-covered structure was first spotted in 2010 by Saturno's student Max Chamberlain, who was following looters' trenches to explore the site of Xultún, hidden in the remote rain forest of the Petén. Then, supported by a series of grants from the National Geographic Society, Saturno and his team launched an organized exploration and excavation of the house, working urgently to beat the region's rainy seasons, which threatened to erase what time had so far preserved.

Xultún, a 12-square-mile site where tens of thousands once lived, was first discovered about 100 years ago by a Guatemalan worker and roughly mapped in the 1920s by Sylvanus Morley, who named the site "Xultún" -- "end stone." Scientists from Harvard University mapped more of the site in the 1970s. The house discovered by Saturno's team was numbered 54 of 56 structures counted and mapped at that time. Thousands at Xultún remain uncounted.

The team's excavations reveal that monumental construction at Xultún began in the first centuries B.C. The site thrived until the end of the Classic Maya period; the site's last carved monument dates to around 890 A.D. Xultún stood only about five miles from San Bartolo, where in 2001 Saturno found rare, extensive murals painted on the walls of a ritual structure by the ancient Maya.

"It's weird that the Xultún finds exist at all," Saturno said. "Such writings and artwork on walls don't preserve well in the Maya lowlands, especially in a house buried only a meter below the surface."

The Writing on the Walls

The house contains three intact walls, each telling its own story to researchers -- and posing its own mysteries:

The north wall
The north wall lies straight ahead as one enters the room. An off-center niche in the wall features a painting of a seated king, wearing blue feathers. A long rod made of bone mounted on the wall allowed a curtain to be pulled across the king's portrait, hiding it and revealing a well-preserved painting of a man whose image is wrapped around the wall; he is depicted in vibrant orange and holds a pen. Maya glyphs near his face call him "Younger Brother Obsidian," a curious title seldom seen in Maya text. Based on other Maya sites, Saturno theorizes he could be the son or younger brother of the king and possibly the artist-scribe who lived in the house. "The portrait of the king implies a relationship between whoever lived in this space and the royal family," Saturno said.

Four long numbers on the wall representing one-third of a million to 2.5 million days likely bring together all of the astronomical cycles -- such as those of Mars, Venus and the lunar eclipses -- the Maya thought important, dates that stretch some 7,000 years into the future. This is the first place Maya archaeologists have found that seems to tabulate all of these cycles in this way. Another number scratched into the plaster surface likely records the date -- 813 A.D., a time when the Maya world had begun to collapse.

The west wall
Three male figures loom on this wall, all of them seated and painted in black, wearing only white loincloths, medallions around their necks and identical single-feathered, miter-style head dresses. "We haven't seen uniform head dresses like that anywhere before," Saturno said. "It's clearly a costume of some kind." One of the figures is particularly burly, "like a sumo wrestler," and he is labeled "Older Brother Obsidian." Another is labeled as a youth.

The east wall
Although badly eroded, another black-painted human figure and remnants of others can be seen. But the wall is dominated by numerical figures, including columns of numbers representing counting and calendrical calculations. Some of the numbers track the phases of the moon; others try to reconcile lunar periods with the solar calendar. "Skywatching like this was a tool for predicting eclipses," Saturno said. One well-preserved section contains numerical notes painted in red that appear to be corrections to more formal calculations appearing alongside them.

"The most exciting point is that we now see that the Maya were making such computations hundreds of years -- and in places other than books -- before they recorded them in the Codices," Aveni said.
The scientists say the symbols reflect a certain world view. "The ancient Maya predicted the world would continue, that 7,000 years from now, things would be exactly like this," Saturno said. "We keep looking for endings. The Maya were looking for a guarantee that nothing would change. It's an entirely different mindset."

Note: William Saturno and his work at Xultún will be featured in the June issue of National Geographic magazine, which will be on digital newsstands Tuesday, May 15, and on print newsstands Tuesday, May 29. A video on the project is available at: http://bit.ly/K4wDHz. The mural was photographed as a high-resolution panoramic gigapan, creating a zoomable view for users to explore the painting details online:http://on.natgeo.com/KQHQWq.
---------
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/05/120510141953.htm