In an effort to buck the expensive rates of unreliable corporate telecom companies, a community in Athens, Greece has created its own private Internet.
Built from a network of wireless rooftop antennas, the Athens Wireless Metropolitan Network (AWMN) now has more than 1,000 members. Data moves “through” the AWMN mesh up to 30 times faster than it does on the telecom-provided Internet.
According to Mother Jones, this off-the-grid community has become so popular in Athens and on nearby islands that it has developed its own Craigslist-esque classifieds service as well as blogs and an internal search engine.
"It's like a whole other web," AWMN user Joseph Bonicioli told the magazine. "It's our network, but it's also a playground."
The AWMN began in 2002 in response to the poor Internet service provided by traditional telecommunications companies in Athens. However, the past few years have illustrated another use for these citizen-run meshes: preserving the democratic values of the Internet.
As the Internet has become a ubiquitous presence in day-to-day life, governments around the world have sought to control it. In 2011 for example, when former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak found out that protesters were organizing on Facebook, he commanded the country’s Internet service providers to shut down access, denying 17 million Egyptians access to the Web for days.
Later that year in the U.S., the city of San Francisco temporarily shut downcellphone service in its transit system to stop a protest.
As Bonicioli told Mother Jones, "When you run your own network, nobody can shut it down."
These DIY meshes are also used to provide Internet in places major telecom companies can’t—or won’t—reach. For example, one was constructed last year in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Red Hook after Hurricane Sandy knocked out resident’s access to the networks of major Internet service providers.
Similarly, Guifi, the largest mesh in the world, was built to address spotty Internet service in rural Spain. It has over 21,000 members.
Meshes have taken on new relevance in the wake of former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden’s leaks about the agency’s massive Internet surveillance programs.
It is estimated (albeit roughly) that the NSA touches as much as half of the world’s Internet communications each day. The agency gains access to much of this information through partnerships with telecom companies that allow the agency to install splitters on their fibre optic Internet cables. Privately run meshes would deny the NSA—and other government intelligence agencies around the world—this access point to Internet data.
As the New America Foundation’s Sascha Meinrath told Mother Jones, "We're making infrastructure for anyone who wants to control their own network."
Fracking wreaks havoc on Ohio infrastructure due to unnatural earthquakes
Wiley Phys.org Since records began in 1776, the people of Youngstown, Ohio had never experienced an earthquake. However, from January 2011, 109 tremors were recorded and new research in Geophysical Research-Solid Earth reveals how this may be the result of shale fracking.
In December 2010, Northstar 1, a well built to pump wastewater produced by fracking in the neighboring state of Pennsylvania, came online. In the year that followed seismometers in and around Youngstown recorded 109 earthquakes; the strongest being a magnitude 3.9 earthquake on December 31, 2011.
The study authors analyzed the Youngstown earthquakes, finding that their onset, cessation, and even temporary dips in activity were all tied to the activity at the Northstar 1 well. The first earthquake recorded in the city occurred 13 days after pumping began, and the tremors ceased shortly after the Ohio Department of Natural Resources shut down the well in December 2011.
Dips in earthquake activity correlated with Memorial Day, the Fourth of July, Labor Day, and Thanksgiving, as well as other periods when the injection at the well was temporarily stopped.
An anti-fracking activist proudly displays his displeasure
"In recent years, waste fluid generated during the shale gas production - hydraulic fracturing, had been increasing steadily in United States. Earthquakes were triggered by these waste fluid injection at a deep well in Youngstown, Ohio during Jan. 2011 - Feb. 2012. We found that the onset of earthquakes and cessation were tied to the activity at the Northstar 1 deep injection well. The earthquakes were centered in subsurface faults near the injection well. These shocks were likely due to the increase in pressure from the deep waste water injection which caused the existing fault to slip," said Dr. Won-Young Kim. "Throughout 2011, the earthquakes migrated from east to west down the length of the fault away from the well—indicative of the earthquakes being caused by expanding pressure front."
The Transportation Security Administration is set to purchase 3.5 million .357 SIG caliber bullets, enough for its agents to fire 9,400 rounds a day, every day of the year.
Image: YouTube
According to a solicitation issued by the agency on August 16, the TSA is looking to buy “3,454,000 rounds of .347 SIG Caliber Training Ammunition”.
Although TSA agents in airports are currently unarmed, last month the TSA announced its plan to hire the use of a firing range within a 20 mile radius of LaGuardia Airport in order to train TSA workers.
The federal agency’s huge bullet buy could signal an expansion of its controversial Visible Intermodal Prevention and Response (VIPR) program, where teams of armed TSA officers patrol railroad stations, bus stations, ferries, car tunnels, ports, subways, truck weigh stations, rest areas, and special events.
VIPR teams currently conduct around 8,000 operations a year. As well as providing security at transport hubs, VIPR teams are now being used to keep tabs on fans at sporting events.
As Government Security News notes, the amount of ammunition being purchased, “means the TSA could fire off more than 9,400 rounds per day, every day of the year, to consume that entire quantity annually.”
Significant bullet purchases by the TSA are likely to fuel concerns that the federal government is arming itself to the teeth in preparation for some form of domestic unrest or other catastrophe, following the Department of Homeland Security’s commitment to purchase more than 1.6 billion rounds of ammunition over the course of the last 18 months.
As we reported last week, Congressman Jeff Duncan’s attempt to get answers on why the IRS is also training its agents with semi-automatic AR-15′s designed for “standoff capability” has been ignored by the federal agency.
Paul Joseph Watson is the editor and writer for Infowars.com and Prison Planet.com. He is the author of Order Out Of Chaos. Watson is also a host for Infowars Nightly News.
Moritz Erhardt, 21, who was in the process of completing the intense pre-graduate program at Bank of America's Merrill Lynch offices in London, was found unconscious in the shower of his student accommodations in East London's Claredale House.
He had suffered an apparent seizure and was pronounced dead at the scene.
Bank of America spokesman John McIvor confirmed Erhardt's death, and mourned the loss of a "popular" and "highly diligent intern" who had "a promising future."
Many of Erhardt's fellow interns took to wallstreetoasis.com to reflect on the passing of "one of the best interns at BAML."
One person who claimed to know Erhardt said he was seen pulling "three all-nighters" in a row prior to his death.
Erhardt, who studied at WHU-Otto Beisheim School of Management, had previously interned at Morgan Stanley, Corporate Global Investment Banking and Deutsche Bank.
Until three months ago, Erhardt was an exchange student at University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business.
A spokesperson for the school who spoke with Bloomberg Businessweekremembered him being "an incredibly open, bright, and helpful young man."
It was a final chance to say goodbye for grieving mother Kate Ogg after doctors gave up hope of saving her premature baby. She tearfully told her lifeless son - born at 27 weeks weighing 2lb - how much she loved him and cuddled him tightly, not wanting to let him go. Although little Jamie's twin sister Emily had been delivered successfully, doctors had given Mrs Ogg the news all mothers dread - that after 20 minutes of battling to get her son to breathe, they had declared him dead.
Having given up on a miracle, Mrs Ogg unwrapped the baby from his blanket and held him against her skin. And then an extraordinary thing happened. After two hours of being hugged, touched and spoken to by his mother, the little boy began showing signs of life.
At first, it was just a gasp for air that was dismissed by doctors as a reflex action. But then the startled mother fed him a little breast milk on her finger and he started breathing normally.
'I thought, "Oh my God, what's going on",' said Mrs Ogg. 'A short time later he opened his eyes. It was a miracle. Then he held out his hand and grabbed my finger. 'He opened his eyes and moved his head from side to side. The doctor kept shaking his head saying, "I don't believe it, I don't believe it".'
The Australian mother spoke publicly for the first time yesterday to highlight the importance of skin-on-skin care for sick babies, which is being used at an increasing number of British hospitals.
In most cases, babies are rushed off to intensive care if there is a serious problem during the birth. But the 'kangaroo care' technique, named after the way kangaroos hold their young in a pouch next to their bodies, allows the mother to act as a human incubator to keep babies warm, stimulated and fed. Pre-term and low birth-weight babies treated with the skin-to-skin method have also been shown to have lower infection rates, less severe illness, improved sleep patterns and are at reduced risk of hypothermia.
Mrs Ogg and her husband David told how doctors gave up on saving their son after a three-hour labour in a Sydney hospital in March. The doctor asked me had we chosen a name for our son,' said Mrs Ogg. 'I said, "Jamie", and he turned around with my son already wrapped up and said, "We've lost Jamie, he didn't make it, sorry".
'It was the worse feeling I've ever felt. I unwrapped Jamie from his blanket. He was very limp. 'I took my gown off and arranged him on my chest with his head over my arm and just held him. He wasn't moving at all and we just started talking to him. 'We told him what his name was and that he had a sister. We told him the things we wanted to do with him throughout his life.'
Jamie occasionally gasped for air, which doctors said was a reflex action. But then I felt him move as if he were startled, then he started gasping more and more regularly. 'I gave Jamie some breast milk on my finger, he took it and started regular breathing.'
Mrs Ogg held her son, now five months old and fully recovered, as she spoke on the Australian TV show Today Tonight. Her husband added: 'Luckily I've got a very strong, very smart wife. 'She instinctively did what she did. If she hadn't done that, Jamie probably wouldn't be here.'
SASKATOON, Saskatchewan, Oct. 14 - Advocates for medical marijuana can take heart over the findings of two Canadian research teams.
A synthetic cannabinoid -- similar to the compounds found in marijuana, but substantially stronger -- causes the growth of new neurons and reduces anxiety and depression, investigators at the University of Saskatchewan here reported.
And researchers at the University of Calgary said they've found evidence that the brain contains so-called CB2 cannabinoid receptors, previously seen in immune tissue but thought not to exist in brain tissue. The discovery, they added, could lead to new drugs to treat nausea associated with cancer or AIDS.
Most so-called drugs of abuse -- such as alcohol or cocaine -- inhibit the growth of new neurons, according to Xia Zhang, M.D., Ph.D., of the University of Saskatchewan.
"Only marijuana promotes neurogenesis," Dr. Zhang said.
The finding -- reported in the current issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation -- does not involve smoked or ingested marijuana, but rather a synthetic compound dubbed HU-210, which Dr. Zhang said is 100 times as powerful as tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the compound responsible for the highs experienced by recreational users.
marijuana - beneficial effects on brain
Dr. Zhang and colleagues showed that administration of HU-210 in high but not low doses, not acutely but over a period of several weeks, promotes new neurons in the hippocampus of rats by causing neuronal progenitor cells to proliferate.
The new neurons were associated with a reduction in behaviour typical of anxiety and depression, such as unwillingness to eat in a novel situation.
When neuronal progenitor cells in the hippocampus were destroyed by x-rays, however, the HU-210 had no effect, Dr. Zhang said.
The finding is "exciting" because it offers the possibility of new ways to treat anxiety and depression, said Lisa Kalynchuk, Ph.D., also of the University of Saskatchewan. Dr. Kalynchuk, like Dr. Zhang a member of the university's neural systems and plasticity research group, was not part of the research team.
"It certainly shows that drugs that act on these cannabinoid receptors -- and that would include marijuana -- can have beneficial effects on brain and behaviour," she said.
At the University of Calgary, Keith Sharkey, Ph.D., and colleagues have for the first time showed that the cannabinoid receptor CB2 can be found in the brain stem of rats. What's more, they reported in the Oct. 14 issue of Science, manipulating the two cannabinoid receptors -- CB1 and CB2 -- blocked emesis in ferrets.
If it can be translated to humans, the finding has direct implications for several aspects of clinical care, Dr. Sharkey said, including:
Nausea and vomiting associated with diseases such as HIV/AIDS
Common physiological reactions, such as morning sickness
Better pain management
Marijuana eases suffering of HIV/AIDS symptoms, chronic pains and other ailments
"We would be thinking of the implications of our finding (as) being able to develop novel anti-emetic therapeutics that would target this system and block emesis without having very many side effects," he said.
THC is known to be effective in the treatment of nausea and vomiting, and acts on neurons in the brainstem, Dr. Sharkey said. The researchers hypothesized that endocannabinoids -- endogenous compounds that resemble the active ingredient in marijuana -- might act at the CB2 receptor in the brainstem to reduce emesis.
Using morphine to stimulate vomiting in ferrets -- since rats do not vomit -- Dr. Sharkey and colleagues showed that endocannabinoids that preferentially target the CB2 receptor blocked vomiting better than compounds that prefer the CB1 receptor.
Dr. Sharkey said the well-known use of marijuana to treat nausea and vomiting probably relies at least partly on this newly discovered mechanism, although others may be involved.
In the long run, he said, the hazards associated with marijuana make it unattractive as a therapy. "This is a way to use the body's own systems that can perhaps enhance the benefits and reduce the costs a bit," he said.
The finding "gives us important and unexpected insights," said Raphael Mechoulam, Ph.D., of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, who was the first to isolate THC and later discovered the first endocannabinoid.
It "has changed the way we think about the flow of information within the brain, and how the brain communicates with other parts of the body," Dr. Mechoulam said in a statement.
If hundreds of tons of radioactive waste were being pumped into our oceans daily — so much so that it began to affect our food sources and increase our rates of mortality — then they would tell us, right? Apparently not. Who “they” is I cannot say, but they obviously have a reason for not telling the people that the food that they are eating could kill them.
Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant was hit by the earthquake and tsunami of March 2011. Since then, it is estimated that 330 tons of radiation-contaminated water has been leaking into the Pacific Ocean daily. That’s correct, over 300 tons of radiation-contaminated water has been seeping into our oceans every single day for over 2 years. That’s over 250,000 tons of contaminated water that has now entered the Pacific Ocean. The water itself was used to cool the nuclear plant.
I’m no expert on radioactivity, but from what I do know, it spreads quickly and easily. Putting such a large amount of radioactive water into our oceans will surely contaminate the rest of the ocean. I am not one to freak out or look for cause to panic, but it seems that the time to panic may be upon us.
You see, it would be one thing if I were telling you that 330 tons of radiation-contaminated water a day was once upon a time being dumped into the Pacific Ocean. What I am telling you is that this is ongoing — that it is happening right now. And that no one has a solution to stop it. Harvey Wasserman, a journalist and advocate for renewable energy, told RT:
“The Japanese authorities have been covering up the true depth of the disaster because they don’t want to embarrass themselves and the global nuclear industry and they are trying to open up another nuclear plant in Japan. When the Japanese people now find out that the accident is worse than we thought and they have been leaking many tons of radioactive water into the Pacific Ocean for almost two and a half years, this is a catastrophe.
Tokyo Electric has no idea how to control this accident. This is absolutely terrifying after two and a half years. To find out that these reactors have been out of control, now that they can’t control this they don’t know what’s going on. This is not a primitive backward country; this is Japan with advanced technology.
It has very serious implications for nuclear power all over the world…they don’t know what to do. This has never happened before. You have three explosions; you have four nuclear reactors that are severely compromised. No one ever planned for this. This is an apocalyptic event. This is something that could contaminate the entire Pacific Ocean. It is extremely serious.
The reality is that Tokyo Electric does not know what is happening and does not know how to control what is going on. Our entire planet is at risk here. This is two and a half years after these explosions and they are still in the dark. It’s terrifying.”
This should scare you. It sure as hell scares the sh*t out of me. But let me give you some numbers on how exactly it is already affecting the American population. Radiation levels have begun to increase in our food and water supply. Babies are being born with thyroid issues that are directly linked to radiation. The U.S. and Canada are now raising the legally acceptable levels of certain toxic substances that are being imported from Japan.
According to World Truth TV, samples of milk taken across the United States are showing radiation levels 2000 percent higher than EPA maximums.
Natural News explain that, “Cows consume grass and are exposed to the same elements as food crops and water supplies. In other words, when cows’ milk starts testing positive for high levels of radioactive elements, this is indicative of radioactive contamination of the entire food supply.” The FDA has responded by raising the “acceptable levels” of radioactive material in foods.
Here is a list of foods that it is now recommended that you stay clear of:
“1.) SEAFOOD: Question the origin of ALL seafood. Fish and crustaceans from the Pacific Ocean should all be considered to be poisoned with radiation.
2.) WATER: The rainfall and snowfall are all radiated. Do not drink any water that has not been filtered. The tap water that flows from your faucet has NOT been treated to rid it of radioactive particles. A recent report from the NY Times stated, “A rooftop water monitoring program managed by UC Berkeley’s Department of Nuclear Engineering detected substantial spikes in rain-borne iodine-131 during torrential downpours …
3.) DAIRY PRODUCTS: Milk and milk products from the West Coast states currently have the highest levels of radiation in North America.
4.) PRODUCE: Leafy Vegetables, Wines, Tomatoes, Strawberries….all produced from California or any other West Coast State are also likely to be tainted.
5.) MEAT: If an animal eats any leafy vegetable all along the West Coast, that animal has consumed radiation, and is poisoned. This is any animal from cows, pigs, goats, sheep to wild deer and other game.”
Infant mortality has increased by over 35% following the nuclear disaster at Fukushima — according to a court statement by Dr. Sherman with independent scientist Lauren Moret, MA, PhD. A recent study published in The International Journal of Medicine claims that about 20,000 deaths in the United States can be directly linked to the radiation pouring out for the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant.
This past Wednesday, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe ordered increased efforts to stop the leak. Tepco (Tokyo Electric Power) has admitted that they do not have a handle on things and are in need of dire help. “Rather than relying on (plant operator) Tokyo Electric, the government will take measures. This is an urgent matter that needs to be addressed.”
That’s correct. This is an urgent matter. This was an urgent matter two and a half years ago when the leaking first started. Now…now it’s too late. The world and the entire human race will be greatly affected — and no one is saying anything! This is being kept hush-hush by all parties. Tepco kept things quiet for over two years. Our government hasn’t addressed the topic whatsoever.
But who can blame it? What’s the point of sparking a huge unrest in our country and the rest of the world if there is nothing that can be done about it? How can the government allow the world to boycott Californian produce when our economy is in such a bad state? Obviously, money and keeping face are more important than the lives and wellbeing of millions.
“They can’t face the reality of this situation. When have very serious quantities of radiation going into the Pacific Ocean. There is no medical or epidemiological or scientific basis for estimating how much damage this will cost. We are on entirely new ground here and this cannot go by without a serious impact on the entire human race. This is a terrible tragedy,” says Harvey Wasserman.”
“The problem is that the company does not want to admit how serious this is and the government of Japan doesn’t want to admit how serious this is. And even if the government of Japan steps in, they don’t know what to do. This particular administration in Japan wants to open the other nuclear plants. 50 nuclear plants have been shut in Japan since the accident and they want to reopen them.
This is very political, because if they admit to how bad the things are in Fukushima the public is not going to stand for them re opening other nuclear plants, including some that are owned by Tokyo Electric Power. How do you have a huge utility company on one hand saying that we can’t control all these 300 tons of radioactive liquid going into the Pacific Ocean every day, and on the other hand we want you to let us open these other nuclear reactors? This is a catastrophe for them and that’s why they have been lying about it because they want to open other nuclear plants but they don’t want the public to know how serious the damage is in Fukushima… it will never be cleaned up.
We have materials there that are radioactive, that are harmful, and that are dangerous for hundreds of thousands of years. They can talk about cleaning it up in 40 years but it will never be cleaned up. You will never be able to go back on that site. The radioactivity will be in the waters forever… There are serious health impacts. People will be harmed.
We are seeing 40% rate of thyroid damage among children in the area and this is a huge impact and it will go up, not down. More and more radiation is escaping from the water and tritium into the atmosphere. And radiation to the thyroid is very serious, especially among small children and we are already seeing a 40% rate. People will be suffering for hundreds of years. I interviewed people in central Pennsylvania a year after the accident and discovered tremendous health impacts among the people there. We know that Chernobyl did tremendous damage to people in Belarus and Ukraine and now we are going to see it again in Fukushima.”
Joe Kloc
