Sunday, March 22, 2015

11. EDUCATION - 2015

1.1 Teaching Stars
2.1 College conspiracy? 




------------

1.1 Teaching Stars (1/1/2015)  


But Cha is not a singer or actor. No, he’s a unique kind of South Korean celebrity: a teaching star.
.... It’s hard to exaggerate the premium South Korea places on education. This is a society in which you have to get into the right kindergarten, so that you can get into the right elementary school, then into the right middle school and high school, and finally into the right college. Which, of course, gets you the right job and scores you the right spouse.
There’s even a phrase to describe the Korean version of a helicopter mother: “chima baram” — literally “skirt wind,” to describe the swish as a mother rushes into the classroom to demand a front-row seat for her child or to question grades.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/in-education-crazy-south-korea-top-teachers-become-multimillionaires/2014/12/29/1bf7e7ae-849b-11e4-abcf-5a3d7b3b20b8_story.html

 2.1 College conspiracy (14/2/2015)

 College conspiracy ?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EKolPL5Cdc

 3.1 he end of shop class  (9/3/2015)


10. HEALTH - 2015

1.1 Environment may trump genetics over immune system
1.2 Female genital mutation in UK
2.1 California legislation would boost smoking age from 18 to 21 (1/2)
2.2 Vaccination (2/2)
2.3 Students throw away 85% of vegetables as "healthy" school lunch programs fails
2.4 Cholesterol (12/2)
2.5 Aggressive new HIV strain detected in Cuba (15/2)
2.6 Medical devices that are difficult to clean (20/2)
2.7 Accoustical health of environment (23/2)
2.8 Mental health basic (27,28/2)
 
------------------

1.1 Environment may trump genetics over immune system (25/1/2015) 

The environment may be a much bigger driver of human health than genetics, which raises questions about the value of genomic sequencing and the push toward personalized medicine, says a team of Stanford scientists studying the immune system.

... His team recruited 78 identical and 27 fraternal twins between ages 8 and 82. They donated blood and other samples, which were tested for 204 different immune system markers, including, for example, the number and variety of certain cells each person has.
Based on the study results, nearly 60 percent of the immune markers were almost totally defined by nongenetic factors — in other words, the environment. And some of the markers became increasingly defined by nongenetic factors with age. Their study was published in the journal Cell.
http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/health/289522941.html
1.2 Female genital mutation in UK (27/1/2015)
 
An average of 15 cases were discovered each day in November, according to data published by the Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC).
Last November 466 cases of FGM were identified; while in October, the first month such figures were compiled, 455 cases were reported. The figures for December are expected this week.
Despite the apparently high number of FGM cases, no one has yet been convicted for the practice, which has been illegal in the UK since 1985.
http://www.independent.ie/world-news/europe/almost-500-cases-of-female-genital-mutilation-identified-in-just-one-month-in-english-hospitals-30935618.html
------------
Are such cases found in India too? What is the law in India?
I. Selvaraj, IITM, 72

2.1 California legislation would boost smoking age from 18 to 21 (1/2/2015)


Lawmakers in California are weighing a proposal to raise the legal smoking age from 18 to 21 over concern about tobacco use among teenagers.
State Sen. Ed Hernandez (D-West Corvina) introduced the legislation on Thursday, according to a Los Angeles Times report. Hernandez, an optometrist, has earned the support of health groups ranging from the California Medical Association to the American Cancer Society, but he likely has a fight on his hands from the tobacco industry.
Hernandez blamed “Big Tobacco” for marketing tobacco to teenagers in order to get a new generation hooked on cigarettes, and that the companies know full well that people are more likely to become addicted if they start early.
http://www.statecolumn.com/2015/02/california-legislation-would-boost-smoking-age-from-18-to-21/

2.2 Vaccination (2/2/2015)


In the churning over the refusal of some parents to immunize their children against certain diseases, a venerable Latin phrase may prove useful: Post hoc, ergo propter hoc. It means, “After this, therefore because of this.” In plainer language: Event B follows Event A, so B must be the direct result of A. It is a classic fallacy in logic.
It is also a trap into which many Americans have fallen. That is the consensus among health professionals trying to contain recent spurts of infectious diseases that they had believed were forever in the country’s rearview mirror. They worry that too many people are not getting their children vaccinated, out of a conviction that inoculations are risky. ...
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/02/us/a-discredited-vaccine-studys-continuing-impact-on-public-health.html?_r=0
-------------
Hello All,
I am new to this group, I joined in Oct last year. I have been interested in this debate over vaccination for some time. I understand that some people in USA are against it.
I am from India and am aware that we don't see faces scarred by small pox any more, and recently India appears to have eradicated polio.
The questions in my mind are:
1. Do children from places such as India have better ability to withstand the ill effects of vaccination due to their having better natural immunity (due to their living in relatively less clean environments).
2. As cleanliness improves and pathogens in the environment decrease will there be a tipping point where vaccination of children for some diseases may become undesirable (especially when people have poor natural immunity).
Regards,
Selvaraj

2.3 Students  throw away 85% of vegetables as "healthy" school lunch programs fails  (4/2/2015)

 (NaturalNews) In an effort to provide children with healthier lunches that are in line with the latest dietary guidelines, many schools are involved with programs such as the National School Lunch Program and the School Breakfast Program. Such programs stem from the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act, designed to move away from unhealthy, commonly served meals such as French-bread pizza, tater tots and chocolate milk and, instead, serve smaller portions along with more fruits and vegetables.

While the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) says, "National polls... show nearly 80% of Americans support better nutrition standards for all food sold in schools," it would appear that the poll didn't include what the students themselves thought.(1)

After all, not many students are on board with the changes. Just because schools are serving healthier options doesn't mean that such foods are consumed, something that is drawing concern for many health-focused officials.

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/048490_school_lunch_food_waste_Michelle_Obama.html#ixzz3QkTgXZUo

2.4 Cholesterol (12/2/2015)

 (NaturalNews) In an effort to provide children with healthier lunches that are in line with the latest dietary guidelines, many schools are involved with programs such as the National School Lunch Program and the School Breakfast Program. Such programs stem from the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act, designed to move away from unhealthy, commonly served meals such as French-bread pizza, tater tots and chocolate milk and, instead, serve smaller portions along with more fruits and vegetables.

While the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) says, "National polls... show nearly 80% of Americans support better nutrition standards for all food sold in schools," it would appear that the poll didn't include what the students themselves thought.(1)

After all, not many students are on board with the changes. Just because schools are serving healthier options doesn't mean that such foods are consumed, something that is drawing concern for many health-focused officials.

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/048490_school_lunch_food_waste_Michelle_Obama.html#ixzz3QkTgXZUo

2.5 Aggressive new HIV strain detected in Cuba (15/2/2015)

 A new HIV strain in some patients in Cuba appears to be much more aggressive and can develop into AIDS within three years of infection. Researchers said the progression happens so fast that treatment with antiretroviral drugs may come too late.
Read more: http://www.upi.com/Health_News/2015/02/14/Aggressive-new-HIV-strain-detected-in-Cuba/2421423945549/#ixzz3RlvsO3IC

2.6 Medical devices that are difficult to clean (20/2/2015)

 commonly used medical scope linked to a deadly bacterial outbreak at UCLA may be so flawed it cannot be properly cleaned, federal officials conceded Thursday. But they stopped short of recalling the device or outlining any new sterilization procedures.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has known about the potential problems for more than two years, and took action only after The Times reported this week that two patients died in a new superbug outbreak at UCLA's Ronald Reagan Medical Center. At least five other patients have tested positive for the drug-resistant bacteria, and 179 others may have been exposed.
Critics immediately complained about the FDA's failure to act.
"FDA didn't do its job," said Diana Zuckerman, president of the nonprofit National Center for Health Research.
Zuckerman questioned why the agency approved the device if it can't be effectively cleaned. She and other experts urged the FDA to issue clearer guidance to hospitals and other medical providers. ...
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-fda-medical-devices-20150220-story.html
---------
A similar problem exists with domestic water purifiers. We found that a water purifier we had was collecting dirt in the 'tap' portion and was impossible to clean! The gentlemen who sold us the purifier were also not too keen on providing regular replacement for the filter elements (every six months as required), even though the replacement service would have fetched them Rs 600!
Fearing that a bout of illness we had was due to the water purifier we are now drinking tap water directly. Fortunately in Kerala (in most places) the tap water appears to be clean and tasty. A few years back we also shifted our water connection from an old line to a new one.
Selvaraj
2.7 Accoustical health of the environment (23/2/2015)


MARTIN: And it's not just that you won't be able to hear the birds singing. Fristrup says birds aren't able to hear one another or themselves. They might fly off course. And animals that are used to listening for their prey aren't able to catch their dinner. But he's quick to say this isn't just another depressing environment story.
FRISTRUP: The wonderful thing is that it's susceptible to immediate improvement.
MARTIN: After all, sound can be turned off.
http://www.npr.org/2015/02/22/388187257/parks-service-surveys-the-environments-accoustical-health
2.8 Mental health basic (27, 28/2/2015)

 The economic costs from the psychological affliction of depression have gotten significantly larger in recent years—and people suffering from that condition were hit particularly hard by the 2008 financial crisis, a new study has found.
Annual costs related to major depressive disorder rose to $210.5 billion in 2010, according to the study published Wednesday in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry. That represents a 21 percent increase over the $173.3 billion in overall annual economic fallout linked to sufferers of the disorder as of 2005, the report noted.
... The report, which drew on data from insurance claims in the OptumHealth Reporting and Insights database, leads off with the observation that in the U.S., depression "is the leading cause of disability for people aged 15-44, resulting in almost 400 million disability days per year, substantially more than more other physical and mental conditions."
http://www.cnbc.com/id/102454896
Mental health is a state of well-being in which the individual realizes his or her own abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to his or her community.”1 It is estimated that only about 17% of U.S adults are considered to be in a state of optimal mental health.2 There is emerging evidence that positive mental health is associated with improved health outcomes.
... Evidence has shown that mental disorders, especially depressive disorders, are strongly related to the occurrence, successful treatment, and course of many chronic diseases including diabetes, cancer, cardiovascular disease, asthma, and obesity5 and many risk behaviors for chronic disease; such as, physical inactivity, smoking, excessive drinking, and insufficient sleep.
http://www.cdc.gov/mentalhealth/basics.htm
--------
Since 99% of adult humans maintain bad posture I am not too surprised. The tragedy is that ignorant adults will damage the physical and mental health of children.
Selvaraj

----


We know that food affects the body -- but could it just as powerfully impact the mind?
While the role of diet and nutrition in our physical health is undeniable, the influence of dietary factors on mental health has been less considered. That may be starting to change.
For the first time, a report by a task force advising on new dietary guidelines, commissioned by the departments of Health and Human Services and Agriculture, included a point considering the possible role of diet in mental health outcomes. The USDA and HHS report notes, for example, that the American Psychiatric Association classifies omega-3 fatty acids (which are most commonly found in oily fish) as a complementary treatment for depression. However, the advisory panel concluded, for now, that the research was too limited to make policy suggestions.
Some psychiatrists, too, have recently launched a rallying cry for a more integrative approach to mental health care -- one that takes diet and other lifestyle factors into account in diagnosing, treating and preventing mental illness. In a paper recently published in The Lancet Psychiatry, an international group of scientists (all members of the International Society for Nutritional Psychiatry Research) argue that diet is "as important to psychiatry as it is to cardiology, endocrinology and gastroenterology."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/24/diet-mental-health_n_6566376.html?ir=India
3.1 Cholesterol (12/3/2015)





9. ENVIRONMENT - 2015

1.1 Bisphenol A in the news again. 
1.2 GM Food and Free Trade Agreements. 
1.3 Wanton use of phosphorus and nitrogen fertilizers could destroy Earth.
1.4 Environment Largely Unmentioned in State of the Union.
2.1 Why Obama should stop pushing nuclear energy on India
2.2 Our only world
2.3 These are the Most Toxic Places on Earth




----------------
 1.1 Bisphenol A in the news again (14/1/2015)


Bisphenol A — the banned-from-baby-bottles chemical found in food-can linings, some plastic containers, paper receipts and in the bodies of 95 per cent of adults and kids in North America — is in the news again. This time, just as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration declared that BPA levels in food were safe, an important new study says the chemical can boost blood pressure. That doesn't mean you should panic.
A growing stack of human studies highlights associations between BPA exposure and risk for fertility problems, diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, liver and kidney problems, obesity and inflammation. These studies can't conclude that BPA causes these problems. But one new study from Seoul National University College of Medicine in South Korea draws a more direct connection. When volunteers drank two servings of soy milk from cans lined with a BPA-containing epoxy, their blood pressure increased an average of five points. BP didn't go up when volunteers drank soy milk from glass bottles.
At the heart of the BPA controversy: A roiling scientific debate over whether our exposure levels are safe, or too high. We'll know more when a major, government-funded study ends in a few years. For now, these steps can help you sidestep BPA:
Eat fresh. Packaged food is the biggest source of BPA exposure for most people. ...
http://www.thespec.com/living-story/5255296-bpa-and-your-health-should-you-worry-/
Many of us have read the studies about bisphenol-A, and know the chemical is best avoided when it comes to drinking containers, baby bottles, canned foods and thermal paper.
The chemical, also known as BPA, has been linked to everything from obesity and diabetes to attention-deficit disorder and asthma. When a slew of new products branded "BPA-free" hit the market amid public outcry a few years back, many thought the problem solved.
But a damning new study from scientists at the University of Calgary has found that the supposed remedy -- a chemical similar to BPA called bisphenol-S -- may be just as bad for your health. The researchers, including corresponding author Dr. Deborah M. Kurrasch, end the paper urging for "a societal push to remove all bisphenols from our consumer goods." ....
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/01/13/bpa-free-bps_n_6465214.html?utm_hp_ref=green&ir=India



 1.1 GM Food and Free Trade Agreements (14/1/2015)


 Germany’s Environment Ministry is hoping for a complete ban on green genetic engineering,  but a Green party assessment warns that upcoming free trade agreements like TTIP and CETA could still bring genetically modified plants to the European market.
http://www.euractiv.com/sections/agriculture-food/german-environment-ministry-seeks-unconditional-gmo-ban-311238

 1.1 Wanton use of phosphorus and nitrogen fertilizer could destroy Earth
   (18/1/2015)

 The director of the Center for Limnology at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, Professor Stephen Carpenter has decried the wanton use of artificial fertilizers like phosphorus and nitrogen as going beyond the “planetary boundaries” set to make our Earth inhabitable.

... The Earth was a much better place to live during the Holocene period, because civilization improved the lot of man and the period was conducive to refined development in social, political and religious aspects. “Everything important to civilisation,” Carpenter contends, took place prior to 1914. “The development of agriculture, the rise and fall of the Roman Empire and the Industrial Revolution” were some of the best thing that happened to our world – until about 100 years ago when the activities of man began to destroy the earth.

... “We’ve (people) changed nitrogen and phosphorus cycles vastly more than any other element. (The increase) is on the order of 200 to 300 percent. In contrast, carbon has only been increased 10 to 20 percent and look at all the uproar that has caused in the climate.”

... The researchers stated that the use of artificial phosphorus and nitrogen to boost agriculture in the US is unnecessary because the land is already blessed with rich nutrients beneficial for bumper harvests; he added that the excessive use of these elements in a land already rich with them has an impact on the Earth and pushing the inhabitability of the earth beyond “planetary boundaries.”
Since phosphorus and nitrogen do not have even distribution in the soil, it is richer in the United States than in places like Africa, hence the problem Africans face with growing food without artificial fertilizers. “We’ve got certain parts of the world that are overpolluted with nitrogen and phosphorus, and others where people don’t even have enough to grow the food they need,” he says.
http://thewestsidestory.net/2015/01/17/27316/wanton-use-phosphorus-nitrogen-fertilizers-destroy-earth/
------------
Truely surprising. Doesn't USA have the technology to measure the Nitrogen and Phosphorus content in the soil? If this is the condition in USA, what will be the condition in the rest of the world.
The attitude towards fertilizer application in our own area of Kanyakumari District may be summarized by the advise I once got 'thuki podunga sir, urea thuki podunga' (Dump as much Urea - nitrogen - as possible).
There was a time when rubber cultivators in Kanyakumari Dist. were dumping as much as 2 Kg of fertilizer / tree / year, when the required amount was about 1 Kg - simply due to confusion in the recommendation from the Rubber Board. The recommendation from the Rubber Board to apply about 1Kg in two installments / year was interpreted as 1Kg in each installment.
Nowadays the Rubber Board strongly recommends discriminatory fertilizer application to be done after testing the soil. After we started testing our soil before applying fertilizer, our fertilizer application / tree has come down to 0.6 Kg / tree / year. Unfortunately most farmers are still to make use of this facility provided by the Rubber Board, so much so that the soil testing labs run by the Rubber Board in Kanyakumari District have been closed down and one has to go to Nedumankadu near Trivandrum (Kerala) to have samples tested.
Recently we had some doubt regarding the quality of Rock Phosphorous fertilizer that we were using. When we approached the government testing facility in Nagercoil to test the fertilizer for us, they refused to test it, stating that they would have to obtain the fertilizer themselves from the shop that sold the fertilizer to us. When we explained that we only wanted to know the composition of the fertilizer, we were not making any complaints, and we were prepared to pay for the tests, they refused to entertain our request.
We need soil (and fertilizer) testing facilities to dot every region of our country, to test for not only the main nutrients, Nitrogen, Phosphorous and Potassium, but also micronutrients.
I. Selvaraj, IITM, 72

 1.1 Environment Largely Unmentioned in State of the Union  (22/1/2015)


If you were hoping to hear something from President Barack Obama about clean water, endangered species, air quality in our poorest communities, or habitat protection, you went away disappointed Tuesday night: the environment was essentially a no-show in the 2015 State of the Union Speech.
That's not to say that no environmental issues at all were mentioned in Tuesday's address: the President did devote a few moments of his speech to mentioning climate change. But even adding that mention together with an oblique reference to the controversial Keystone oil pipeline, approved by the House of Representatives on January 9, and a quick speculative mention of alternative fuels, President Obama devoted less than five percent of his 2015 State of The Union to the environment.
http://www.kcet.org/news/redefine/rewild/commentary/environment-largely-unmentioned-in-state-of-the-union.html
-----------
Let's say we had a human habitat on the Moon or Mars, there is no way we could ignore our environment. We would have to keep close track of all our resources and the manner in which waste was generated and recycled, if we were to survive.
It is only on Planet Earth that in the past we were able to abuse our environment as a source of infinite resources and a place to dump our infinite waste. This is no longer possible.
If we are to survive as a species there is an urgent necessity to rejig our Religious, Scientific, Engineering, Educational and Political conversation around our environment. By thinking clearly and thinking together we have a better chance of solving our problems, most of which will hinge around our environment.
Over the next fifty to hundred years we will  also be operating in a crisis mode, with our burgeoning population and diminishing resources and issues such as Global Warming. We need a tacit understanding to keep our differences - religious, related to national boundaries, social, ethnic, etc. - at bay, so that we can give our undivided attention to important issues.
I. Selvaraj, IITM, 72

 2.1 Why Obama should stop pushing nuclear energy on India  (3/2/2015)


The White House is claiming victory for a breakthrough in the impasse with India over nuclear energy. Indian laws have held suppliers, designers and builders of nuclear plants liable in case of an accident and this made U.S. companies fearful of doing business there. During his recent trip, President Obama persuaded India’s government to create an insurance pool to compensate victims of a potential disaster and to cap the liabilities of companies supplying the technology.
This is hardly a victory for the United States or for India. It no longer makes sense for any country to install a technology that can create a catastrophe such as Chernobyl or Fukushima — especially when far better alternatives are available. Technologies such as solar and wind are advancing so rapidly that by the time the first new nuclear reactors are installed in India, they will be less costly than nuclear energy. Most importantly, the alternative technologies are cleaner and safer.
Take solar energy, which has become a political hot potato in the United States because of Obama’s support of solar companies that failed. Critics are arguing that solar is inefficient, too expensive to install, and unreliable, and will fail without government subsidies. They argue that after decades of development, solar power hardly supplies 1 percent of the world’s energy needs and that we need to double our bets on fossil fuels and nuclear. But they are simply wrong.
Solar power has been doubling every two years for the past 30 years — as costs have been dropping. At this rate, solar is only six doublings — or less than 14 years — away from meeting practically all of today’s energy needs. Even with this, we will be using only one part in 10,000 of the sunlight that falls on the Earth. ...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/innovations/wp/2015/02/02/why-obama-should-stop-pushing-nuclear-energy-on-india/
-------------
Asking India to set up an insurance pool and India accepting the same is absurd.
Are we expecting a nuclear meltdown every other day? If there is radiation fallout from Kudankulam, it will affect not only Indians but also Sri Lankans. A favourable wind could easily carry radiation to Colombo. Worse situations will exist in Europe, where radiation will easily cross national boundaries.
If nuclear power is to be promoted, we must recognize that we all inhabit an increasingly shrinking planet where what one nation does affects other nations. Hence:
1. A common worldwide insurance cover (with unlimited liability) must be provided to all power plants registered with the IAEA.
2. IAEA must beef up its technical capabilities so that the kind of mistakes that occurred in Fukushima do not occur. They must live up to their initial boast that a nuclear disaster can take place only once in a million years!
I. Selvaraj, IITM, 72

 2.2 Our only world (13/2/2015)

 The 10 essays in "Our Only World" convey outrage over environmental and community ruin while also expressing hope that the very species that inflicted such harm is capable of doing better. Stern but compassionate, author Wendell Berry raises broader issues that environmentalists rarely focus on.

.... Berry expands on that theme in "On Being Asked for 'A Narrative for the Future'" which considers the harms from global warming. He writes that "Millions of environmentalists and wilderness preservers are dependably worried about climate change. But they are not conversant with nature's laws, they know and care nothing about land use." He adds, "We must understand that fossil fuel energy must be replaced, not just by 'clean' energy, but also by less energy. ... If we had a limitless supply of free, nonpolluting energy, we would use the world up even faster than we are using it up now."

Berry challenges the assumption that higher education always makes sense, arguing that for the culture and people of rural communities to prosper "we must reconsider the purpose, the worth, and the cost of education — especially of higher education, which too often leads away from home, and too often graduates its customers into unemployment or debt or both."

... Berry persuasively argues that a healthy environment ultimately requires healthy communities filled with spiritually healthy people. Whether the issue is global warming, good jobs for young people, or good marriages, Berry writes that "If we want to save the land, we must save the people who belong to the land. If we want to save the people, we must save the land the people belong to."
In one sense Berry is the voice of a rural agrarian tradition that stretches from rural Kentucky back to the origins of human civilization. But his insights are universal because "Our Only World" is filled with beautiful, compassionate writing and careful, profound thinking.
http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory/world-reflects-people-environment-28915679
http://www.amazon.in/Our-Only-World-Eleven-Essays/dp/1619024888
 2.3 These are the Most Toxic Places on Earth (17/2/2015)


Over the last 100 years or so, humanity has made astounding technological advances at an overwhelming pace. These advances in science and technology may have made our lives easier and more exciting, but the trail of waste we have left (and still continue to leave) behind is simply horrendous. Pollutants of all kinds – chemical, nuclear, basic garbage, electronic waste – have seriously ruined our environment. Many locations have been so drastically impacted that living in them is a near impossibility. Chernobyl, Ukraine is a great example, the town witnessed the worst nuclear power plant accident in human history and since then has been an uninhabitable ghost town.
Although this list doesn’t feature any locations in the United States, they do exist. There are a number of sites that have been declared extremely toxic such as Love Canal, New York, Tar Creek, Oklahoma, and Gowanus Canal, New York. A recent case for alarm is a practice called Hydraulic Fracturing, or Fracking, which is a perfect example of modern day methods that have been linked to pollution of water and air. Mountaintop Removal is another controversial practice that is known to tarnish local water and wildlife.
Hazaribagh is an area of Dhaka city, the capital of Bangladesh, and is principally known for its tannery industry and large leather processing zone. Currently, 270 registered tanneries operate here employing between 8,000-12,000 people.
In 2013, the Zurich-based Green Cross Switzerland and the New York-based Blacksmith Institute published a report on the most polluted places in the world. The report “The Top Ten Toxic Threats, Clean Up, Progress and Ongoing Challenges,” puts Hazaribagh at number five. Each day in Hazaribaugh, more than 5,000 gallons of hexavalent chromium is dumped into the Buriganga river. A known carcinogen, when inhaled at high levels hexavalent chromium can also burn a hole through the septum, the nasal wall that seperates the nostrils. Direct contact with the toxic chemical can damage the eyes and cause sores to erupt in skin.
But the district is not solely industrial. Most of the 185,000 residents of this area work in the factories and tanneries. They are very poor, and are forced to live in the highly contaminated surroundings. Local children and teenagers work in the factories in direct contravention of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which prohibits hazardous work for youth under the age of 18.
The residents of Hazaribagh and the adjacent areas rely on the extremely contaminated Buriganga river as their primary water source. The surrounding ecosystem is relentlessly spoiled. Fish and other organisms are barely present, the water infected with poisonous chemicals and waste. The drains, canals and the river Buriganga all lost the ability to host aquatic species long ago. Yet the people of Hazaribaugh must continue to use the fetid water, breathe the densely polluted air and endure the horrible stench. FSRN’s Tithe Farhana visited Hazaribagh and brought back these photos.
http://fsrn.org/2014/09/slideshow-hazardous-hazaribagh-one-of-the-worlds-most-polluted-places/
 3.1 The end of shop class  (1/1/2015)








8. WORLD AFFAIRS - 2015

1.1 11-year old who skipped pop for a year for $500.
1.2 Germany's autobahns hit the limit.
1.3 World leaders to attend massive 'unity rally' in France.
1.4 Google's Project Ara  
1.5 The biggest, baddest threats we face over next 10 years.
!.6  Doomsday Clock Moved To 3 Minutes To Midnight.
2.1 Stock Buybacks are killing the American Economy
2.2 Falun Gong
2.3 Israel Urges Mass Jewish Immigration After Denmark Attacks

----------------
  1.1  11-year old who skipped pop for a year for $500  (3/1/2015)


LIVINGSTON, Mont. (AP) — If you think you can't stick to a New Year's resolution, maybe this 11-year-old's story will inspire you.
At Christmastime last year, Jonathan Sarisky's parents, mother Renee Shifley and stepfather Rick Shifley, of Livingston, and father Jason Sarisky, of Washington state, offered then-10-year-old Jonathan and his older brother, Andrew, a choice. They could have $100 now, or, if they chose to accept it, a payout of $500 later, with just one condition — avoiding all sugary beverages for an entire year.
...The contract is a real live contract, complete with legal-sounding language. For example, it states, "For the purposes of this contract, the term 'drink' means to take a liquid into the mouth by means of a cup, bottle, straw or any other such device normally used for drinking. Consuming cereal, soup, and other such liquid foods is considered 'eating,' not drinking.'"
And "Attempts to circumvent the spirit of this agreement are fraudulent and strictly prohibited."
The contract concludes, "This is a zero-tolerance agreement. Therefore, under no circumstances will Child receive a 'second chance.' Child takes full responsibility for honoring and upholding this contract."
... Jon said that the big prize for giving up pop was worth it.
"If it was just $100, I don't think I would have done it," he said. "The price was right."
http://www.chron.com/news/article/11-year-old-who-skipped-pop-for-a-year-for-500-5989068.php


 1.2  Germany's autobahns hit the limit (6/1/2015)

 Germany's vast freeway network was once a symbol of the nation's much-praised transport system. But now, the grim state of the 12 800km of autobahns is more of a sign of the nation's crumbling infrastructure and the threat it poses to growth in Europe's biggest economy. ...
http://www.iol.co.za/motoring/industry-news/germany-s-autobahns-hit-the-limit-1.1801282#.VKuRGcmzmT8



 1.3  World leader's to attend massive 'unity rally' in France  (11/1/2015)


(CNN)Dignitaries and world leaders are expected to join hundreds of thousands of people in France on Sunday in what government officials are calling a "unity rally" in defiance of a terrorism spree that claimed 17 lives.
French officials announced "exceptional measures" to protect not only the throngs expected to gather near the Place de la Republique in central Paris, but also a veritable who's who of foreign leaders that will test security forces of a nation rocked by days of terrorist violence.
http://www.euronews.com/2015/01/11/arson-attack-on-german-paper-that-printed-charlie-hebdo-cartoons/
Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high
Where knowledge is free
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments
By narrow domestic walls
Where words come out from the depth of truth
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way
Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit
Where the mind is led forward by thee
Into ever-widening thought and action
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let *the world* awake.

- See more at: http://allpoetry.com/Where-The-Mind-Is-Without-Fear#sthash.clbUOxoa.dpuf
-------------
Forget ordinary folks, our thought leaders are still to embrace this vision of Tagore's. Collectively we seem to be wasting our time and resources on many brands of useless activities.
I took the liberty of changing 'my country' to 'the world'.
I. Selvaraj, IITM, 72


 1.4  Google's Project Ara  (15/1/2015)


The Ara looks to do away with the upgrade cycle completely, with owners able to add brand new modules to the original endoskeleton as they come onto the market.
Part of the philosophy behind the approach is to reduce electronic waste. However, questions remain as to whether Google will need to release upgrades of the endoskeleton itself, resulting in the modules having to be upgraded too.
Yet perhaps the biggest quirk in the Ara's unique approach is that Google is outsourcing the manufacture of the phone's key hardware parts to anyone willing and able to make them
http://www.stuff.co.nz/technology/gadgets/65087675/googles-project-ara-customisable-smartphone-is-on-its-way


 1.5  The biggest, baddest threats we face over next 10 years  (16/1/2015)


TOP 10 GLOBAL RISKS IN TERMS OF LIKELIHOOD
1. Interstate conflict
2. Extreme weather events
3. Failure of national governance
4. State collapse or crisis
5. Unemployment or underemployment
6. Natural catastrophes
7. Failure of climate-change adaptation
8. Water crises
9. Data fraud or theft
10. Cyber attacks
TOP 10 GLOBAL RISKS IN TERMS OF IMPACT
1. Water crises
2. Spread of infectious diseases
3. Weapons of mass destruction
4. Interstate conflict
5. Failure of climate-change adaptation
6. Energy price shock
7. Critical information infrastructure breakdown
8. Fiscal crises
9. Unemployment or underemployment
10. Biodiversity loss and ecosystem collapse
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2015/01/15/global-risks-report-2015-world-economic-forum/21794757/


 1.6  Doomsday Clock Moved To 3 Minutes To Midnight (26/1/2015)


The world is closer to doomsday, according to the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, which moved its Doomsday Clock up to three minutes to midnight. This is the “latest” it has been since 1984, during the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States. The Bulletin’s Science and Security Board considers global issues to decide whether to move the minute hand on the clock, with a great emphasis on the status of nuclear weapons and global reaction to climate problems, according to CNN.

... The clock is designed as a visual metaphor to warn the public of how close the world is to a potential catastrophe. Every year, the magazine’s board analyzes threats to humanity to decide what time to set the clock. The board said they felt a sense of urgency this year due to the world’s ongoing addiction to fossil fuels, little effort to get rid of nuclear weapons, and little in the way of laws to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, according to Scientific American.

The Doomsday Clock was created in 1947. The closest it has been to midnight was in 1953, when the clock was set to 11:58 pm.
Read more at: http://www.immortal.org/4848/doomsday-clock-moved-3-minutes-midnight/
Dooms day clock ticking a bit faster:
http://www.bendbulletin.com/nation/2818298-151/scientists-doomsday-clock-ticking-a-bit-faster


2.1  Stock Buybacks are killing the American Economy (9/2/2015)


Where did all this money go?
The answer is as simple as it is surprising: Much of it went to stock buybacks—more than $6.9 trillion of them since 2004, according to data compiled by Mustafa Erdem Sakinç of The Academic-Industry Research Network. Over the past decade, the companies that make up the S&P 500 have spent an astounding 54 percent of profits on stock buybacks. Last year alone, U.S. corporations spent about $700 billion, or roughly 4 percent of GDP, to prop up their share prices by repurchasing their own stock.
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/02/kill-stock-buyback-to-save-the-american-economy/385259/
2.2  Falun Gong  (13/2/2015)


Falun Gong was first taught publicly in Northeast China in 1992 by Li Hongzhi. It emerged toward the end of China's "qigong boom"—a period which saw the proliferation of similar practices of meditation, slow-moving exercises and regulated breathing. It differs from other qigong schools in its absence of fees or formal membership, lack of daily rituals of worship, its greater emphasis on morality, and the theological nature of its teachings. Western academics have described Falun Gong as a qigong discipline, a "spiritual movement", a "cultivation system" in the tradition of Chinese antiquity, or as a form of Chinese religion.
Although the practice initially enjoyed considerable support from Chinese officialdom, by the mid- to late-1990s, the Communist Party and public security organizations increasingly viewed Falun Gong as a potential threat due to its size, independence from the state, and spiritual teachings. By 1999, some estimates placed the number of Falun Gong practitioners in the tens of millions.[1] Tensions culminated in April 1999, when over 10,000 Falun Gong practitioners gathered peacefully near the central government compound in Beijing to request legal recognition and freedom from state interference. This demonstration is widely seen as catalyzing the suppression that followed.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falun_Gong
Late on a Friday afternoon the White House responded to a petition submitted to their “We the People” site about 3 years ago that called for investigating and publicly condemning organ harvesting from Falun Gong believers in China.
The White House should be praised for publicly condemning the organ harvesting from executed prisoners.
But it remained silent about the request made in the original petition.
The White House doesn’t mention organ harvesting from Falun Gong practitioners and doesn’t mention investigating this atrocity.
http://www.theepochtimes.com/n3/1232519-white-house-responds-to-petition-on-organ-harvesting-in-china/
---------
The Chinese Communist Party fearing Falun Gong practitioners appears irrational. It would be comparable to the Government of India prosecuting Yoga practitioners (or, am I missing something, is there some serious problems with Falun Gong practitioners??).
Part of the problem could be with the very nature of modern science. Communism is actually a child of the modern scientific movement, which holds such things as religion in contempt. Communism was  widely supported by intellectuals in the beginning of the twentieth century.
Hence the weakness of modern Darwinian science gets carried over to communism. Modern science we must remember does not properly recognize the deep connect between mind and body. Hence so far as modern science is concerned Yoga, Falun Gong etc. are fringe activities, not activities which need the full investigative might of modern science.
The Darwinian science is also behind the massive damage we are doing to our environment. So far as Darwinian science is concerned Nature is not live and  beautiful, it is just inanimate matter undergoing natural selection and random mutation.
Selvaraj
2.3  Israel Urges Mass Jewish Immigration After Denmark Attacks (16/2/2015)


(Bloomberg) -- Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged Jews in Europe to move to Israel after a synagogue guard in Copenhagen was among two people shot dead in attacks that stunned the Danish capital.
Assaults on Jews in Europe are expected to continue, Netanyahu said at the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem on Sunday, according to a statement from his office.
“Jews deserve protection in every country but we say to Jews, to our brothers and sisters: Israel is your home,” he said. “We are preparing and calling for the absorption of mass immigration from Europe,” he said.
Netanyahu asked the cabinet to allocate 180 million shekels ($46 million) for a plan to absorb new immigrants from France and Belgium, where safety concerns rose after Islamist militants attacked Jewish targets, and from war-ravaged Ukraine.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-02-15/israel-urges-mass-jewish-immigration-after-denmark-s-shooting
------------------
After reading all the depressing news one can only wonder what all the thought leaders are doing. Are they all asleep? What are all the religious leaders doing? What is the UN doing? What precisely is being taught in our schools and colleges?
To begin with we need to understand that in terms of obtaining an advantage over other nations, other religious groups and other ethnic groups we have reached a stalemate. Either we are going to prosper together or we are going to be doomed together.
National leaders need to change their conversation from how great they are and how great their individual countries are to seeking the common good of everyone on this planet.
Selvaraj
3.1  The Ever See  (1/3/2015)


7. SPACE - 2015

1.1 SpaceX fails to land 
1.2 Huge asteroid hurtling past Earth has its own moon
2.1 Inflatable space habitat
2.2 'Mars One' selects 100 candidates to compete for one-way trip on reality  TV
2.3 Black hole 12 billion times bigger than the sun

--------

1.1  Space X fails to land (12/1/2015)

 Musk has said and wrote repeatedly making rockets fully reusable will reduce the cost of getting to orbit to 1 percent of what it is today. Finally facilitating Musk’s dream of landing humans on Mars to eventually create flourishing colonies on the Martian planet, making humanity a “multi-planet species.”
http://www.sciencerecorder.com/news/spacex-fails-to-land-why-did-it-happen/

1.2  Huge asteroid hurtling past Earth has its own moon  (27/1/2012)

 Should we not be doing something with these asteroids? Perhaps attach tracking devices on them, or video cameras? Find out its composition? Perhaps attach an efficient mass ejector to it (or solar sails), which will perhaps in a hundred year's time put this asteroid in orbit around the Moon?
http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2015/0126/Huge-asteroid-hurtling-past-Earth-has-its-own-moon-video

 2. 1  Inflatable space habitat (9/2/20115)


Bigelow Aerospace (BA), founded by space baron Robert Bigelow in 1999, will get $17.8m to put together the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module - a blowup space habitat.
The prototype bubble home will be the company's third orbiting craft, but the first to be used with a crewed spacecraft. If the trial goes well, NASA may use the technology for deep-space missions in the future, such as a launch to Mars.
"This partnership agreement for the use of expandable habitats represents a step forward in cutting-edge technology that can allow humans to thrive in space safely and affordably, and heralds important progress in US commercial space innovation," NASA deputy administrator Lori Garver said in a canned statement.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/01/14/nasa_contract_bigelow_bubble/
----
In early 2011, NASA put forward a conceptual proposal for a long-duration crewed space transport vehicle which includes an artificial gravity space habitat intended to promote crew-health for a crew of up to six persons on missions of up to two years duration. Called the Multi-Mission Space Exploration Vehicle (MMSEV), the partial-g torus-ring centrifuge would utilize both standard metal-frame and inflatable spacecraft structures and would provide 0.11 to 0.69g.[6][12]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inflatable_space_habitat
----------
Bigelow began to publicly refer to the initial configuration—two Sundancer modules and one BA-330 module— of the first Bigelow station as "Space Complex Alpha" in October 2010.[4] If the entire station is leased out, it could mean up to 25 launches per year for crew and cargo.[18] In early 2013, Bigelow Aerospace started referring to Alpha as consisting of two BA-330 modules instead of two Sundancer and one BA-330.[6]
In October 2010, Bigelow announced that it has agreements with six sovereign nations to utilize the on-orbit facilities of the commercial space station: United Kingdom, Netherlands, Australia, Singapore, Japan and Sweden.[19] A seventh country signed on in February 2011: the United Arab Emirate of Dubai.[20]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bigelow_Commercial_Space_Station

 2. 2  'Mars One' selects 100 candidates to compete fro one-way trip on reality TV (17/2/2015)


Mars One, an ambitious mission to send colonists to the red planet by 2025, has narrowed down its list of contenders to just 100 applicants.
That's down from an original pool of more than 200,000, according to CNN. When the Dutch-based venture opened its doors to applicants in 2013, eager would-be astronauts from around the world flooded organizers with tens of thousands of video applications.
Now, after several rounds of elimination, that pool has been whittled down to just 50 men and 50 women who will compete in a reality TV series for the chance to take a one-way trip to Mars, NBC News reported. The winners will be tasked with setting up a permanent colony on the red planet.
---------
My interest will be in following not how they fare on the red planet, rather how they prepare for the adventure on our own. This will have huge scientific merit ... not the fancy rocketry and transport to Mars part ....  the day to day survival part.
Regards,
Selvaraj

 2. 3  Black hole 12 billion times bigger than the sun (26/2/2015)


(CNN)Researchers in China have spotted a supermassive black hole, 12 billion times the size of the sun and around 900 million years old.
The black hole is larger than any of its age previously seen, the journal "Nature" reports.
A black hole is a dense region of space that has collapsed in on itself in a way that means nothing can escape it, not even light.
....  Writing in "Nature," astronomer Bram Venemans explains: "Theoretically, it is not implausible to find a black hole of more than 10 billion solar masses within 1 billion years after the Big Bang. But it is still surprising to uncover such a massive black hole in the early Universe."
http://www.cnn.com/2015/02/26/intl_world/space-black-hole/

 3. 1  The Most Important Video You'll Ever See  (1/3/2015)