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>> NEANDERTHALS WERE 'WIRED FOR SPEECH' - Neanderthals were hard-wired for language, according to
a study released on Thursday that shows that the human's
closest extinct ancestors carried the only human gene that
has so far been linked to language.
>> CURRENT
DATES OF MODERN HUMAN EMERGENCE & CULTURE - Molecular data and fossil remains suggest that anatomically
modern humans appeared as a distinct population somewhere
between 150,000 and 200,000 years ago. But that evidence
does not speak to a key question: when did these otherwise
modern humans begin to display sophisticated cultural behaviors?
The evidence for advanced tool use and symbolic behaviors
doesn't become extensive until about 45,000 years ago.
CHOCOLATE
JESUS RESURRECTED IN NEW YORK CITY - "My Sweet Lord," an
anatomically correct milk chocolate sculpture of Jesus
Christ that infuriated Catholics before its April unveiling
was canceled, returns Oct. 27 to a Chelsea art gallery,
its creator said Tuesday. This time, artist Cosimo Cavallaro
said he expects the public exhibit to proceed without a
problem.
>> 9/11: NIST ADMITS TOTAL COLLAPSE OF
TWIN TOWERS UNEXPLAINABLE -
The National Institute for Standards and Technology has been
forced to admit that the total free-fall collapse of the
twin towers cannot be explained after an exhaustive scientific
study.
NISSAN NV200 MOBILE OFFICE -
Ready for the commute to the office? Just unbuckle your seatbelt,
turn around and -- voilà! -- you're only a few steps
away, your office attached to the rear of the van and all.
>> OFFICERS MAY LOSE COMMANDS AFTER NUCLEAR
MISSILES WERE FLOWN ON BOMBER - The Air Force
has decided to relieve at least five of its officers of command
and is considering filing criminal charges in connection
with the Aug. 29 "Bent Spear" incident in which
nuclear-armed cruise missiles were mistakenly flown from
North Dakota to Louisiana, two senior Air Force officials
said yesterday.
>> CONTROVERSIAL DNA PIONEER'S TALK HALTED - London's Science Museum canceled a Friday talk by Nobel
Prize-winning geneticist James Watson after the co-discoverer
of DNA's structure told a newspaper that Africans and Europeans
had different levels of intelligence.
>> BUSH PRESENTS DALAI LAMA WITH CONGRESSIONAL
GOLD MEDAL - President Bush, raising Beijing's ire, presented
the Dalai Lama on Wednesday with the U.S. Congress' highest
civilian honor and urged Chinese leaders to welcome the monk
to Beijing.
>> FISH
THAT LIVE IN TREES & REPRODUCE
WITHOUT MATES - It's one of the golden rules of the natural
world -- birds live in trees, fish live in water. The trouble
is, no one bothered to tell the mangrove killifish. Scientists
have discovered that it spends several months of every year
out of the water and living inside trees.
>> RABBIT GENES CREATE TREES THAT EAT
POISONS - When the scientists stick a rabbit gene into poplar
trees, the trees become dramatically better at eliminating
a dozen kinds of pollutants commonly found on poisoned properties.
The trees could prevent the need for digging up tons of soil
or pumping out millions of gallons of water for treatment
and disposal. They naturally render a list of cancer-causing
pollutants -- benzene, trichloroethylene (TCE), vinyl chloride,
chloroform -- non-toxic.
WHO
GOOGLES WHAT (BY KEYWORD & COUNTRY) -
Internet users in Egypt, India and Turkey are the world's
most frequent searchers for Web sites using the keyword "sex" on
Google search engines, according to statistics provided by
Google Inc.
>> DNA PIONEER: AFRICANS ARE LESS INTELLIGENT
THAN WESTERNERS -
One of the world's most eminent scientists was embroiled
in an extraordinary row last night after he claimed that
black people were less intelligent than white people and
the idea that "equal powers of reason" were
shared across racial groups was a delusion.
GEORGE LUCAS PLANNING 'STAR WARS' TV
SERIES - Filmmaker George Lucas said Tuesday
that he has "just
begun work" on a live-action television series rooted
in the "Star Wars" universe, which is huge news
not just for fans of the science-fiction epic but also for
networks looking for a piece of the Lucas magic that has
grossed $4.3 billion in theaters worldwide.
>>>> THE GREEN-COLLAR SOLUTION - “You can’t take a building you want to weatherize,
put it on a ship to China and then have them do it and send
it back,” said Mr. Jones. “So we are going to
have to put people to work in this country -- weatherizing
millions of buildings, putting up solar panels, constructing
wind farms. Those green-collar jobs can provide a pathway
out of poverty for someone who has not gone to college.”
>> CELL PHONE RADIATION LEVELS - Comprehensive
list of cell phones and their radiation levels.
>> VIRULENT DRUG-RESISTANT BACTERIUM
RAMPANT IN HEALTH CARE FACILITIES - Nearly 19,000
people died in the United States in 2005 after being infected
with a virulent drug-resistant bacterium that has spread
rampantly through hospitals and nursing homes, according
to the most thorough study to be conducted of the disease’s
prevalence.
>>>> FRONTLINE: 'CHENEY'S LAW'
(ENTIRE PROGRAM ONLINE) - For three decades Vice President
Dick Cheney conducted a secretive, behind-closed-doors campaign
to give the president virtually unlimited wartime power.
Finally, in the aftermath of 9/11, the Justice Department
and the White House made a number of controversial legal
decisions. Orchestrated by Cheney and his lawyer David Addington,
the department interpreted executive power in an expansive
and extraordinary way, granting President George W. Bush
the power to detain, interrogate, torture, wiretap and spy
-- without congressional approval or judicial review.
>>>> STEVEN PINKER: THE MYTH OF
VIOLENCE - Steven Pinker tackles the myth that today is a
more violent era than in the past. Using historical data
and information from pre-industrialized tribes, Pinker shows
that violence has dramatically declined in our history. Pinker
believes that a more sensitive reporting system has led us
to believe violence has increased, when it has actually dropped.
Not only will it make you feel a bit better about the present
times, but it gives hope that the future might be a more
peaceful place.
>>>> GENE BREAKTHROUGH: HUMANS
MAY STAY YOUNG FOR 400 YEARS - "In principle, if you
understand the mechanisms of keeping things repaired, you
could keep things going indefinitely," says Cynthia
Kenyon, biochemist at the University of California at San
Francisco. In her lab she has increased the life span of
tiny worms called Caenorhabditis elegans up to six times
their normal lifespan by suppressing a single gene. This
regulator gene, named daf-2, in combination with other
genes, appears to control an entire cluster of genes that
direct aging not only in worms, but in similar genetic
pathways in flies, mice and, possibly humans. This is the
equivalent of people living for 400 years, and the good
news is that the worms stay young for most of their extended
lifespans.
KEN WILBER'S HOUSE FOR SALE - Ken Wilber is
selling his Boulder, CO home after living there for over
ten years (he now lives in Denver). In this house, Ken wrote
Sex, Ecology, Spirituality, A Brief History of Everything,
The Eye of Spirit, The Marriage of Sense and Soul, One Taste,
Integral Psychology, A Theory of Everything, Boomeritis,
and edited The Collected Works volumes 1-8. It was also here
that Integral Institute was born, with over 450 of the world's
most gifted individuals gathering in this remarkable space
to create an institution capable of bringing the Integral
Approach into the world.
TERROR EXERCISE IS ALL SET TO BLAST
PORTLAND - Homeland Security Secretary Michael
Chertoff will be in town to personally oversee the exercise,
with the help of Gov. Ted Kulongoski and Mayor Tom Potter.
In all, more than 15,000 people from 275 organizations
will be involved. Every emergency agency in the Portland
area, along with 14 hospitals and David Douglas High School,
will play parts in an event dubbed "Topoff 4."
>> THE PLAN FOR ETERNAL LIFE (INCLUDES
VIDEO-TAPED INTERVIEWS) - This is the opening session of
the ninth annual meeting of the World Transhumanist Association
(WTA) in Chicago. Sandberg and his fellow transhumanists
plan to bypass death by using technologies such as artificial
intelligence (AI), genetic engineering and nanotechnology
to radically accelerate human evolution, eventually merging
people with machines to make us immortal. This may not be
possible yet, the transhumanists reason, but as long as they
live long enough -- a few decades perhaps -- the technology
will surely catch up.
>> REGULAR SEX BOOSTS A MAN'S FERTILITY - Regular
sex boosts a man's fertility, say doctors. In a contradiction
of conventional wisdom on the subject, research has shown
those who do not have sex often produce sperm of lower quality
than those who do so daily.
BUSH TO MEET WITH DALAI LAMA TODAY - The White
House vigorously defended President Bush's plan to meet with
the Dalai Lama Tuesday, brushing aside China's warning that
it would damage relations between Washington and Beijing.
>> PREVENTING EXTINCTION: THE MIRACLE
OF THE FROZEN ZOO - Welcome to the Frozen Zoo, perhaps the
world's largest repository of genetic samples from endangered
species. For the past three decades, scientists have relied
on its collection to carry out a variety of critical conservation
and research efforts. And with the number of endangered species
on the rise, its leaders hope to one day stockpile samples
from virtually every type of animal on Earth.
>> CONSCIENTIOUS PEOPLE ARE LESS PRONE
TO ALZHEIMER'S - People who lead a good clean life -- those
who are conscientious, self-disciplined and scrupulous --
appear to be less likely to develop Alzheimer's disease,
U.S. researchers said on Monday.
SIMPLE BLOOD TEST COULD PREDICT ALZHEIMER'S
RISK - Researchers have developed a simple blood test that
may be able to predict whether mild lapses of memory could
be an early sign of Alzheimer's disease.
>> COMMUNITY
FORUM: NUCLEAR POWER: PRO & CON - On Saturday, you heard from John White and yours truly
concerning the pros and cons of nuclear power plants. Shortly
after our exchange, I created a forum on NHNE's Community
Website where the rest of you could join the conversation.
13 AMAZING CIRQUE DU SOLEIL PERFORMANCES -
Cirque du Soleil is, without a doubt the most amazing circus
on the planet. They find the most incredible performers on
earth and assemble them on stage for shows that literally
defy description and leave audiences gasping and begging
for more. Here are 13 great acts for you to see without having
to pay to watch them!
>> HIGH-POWERED GROUP PLANS TO PROVIDE
INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM - Paul E. Steiger, who was the top
editor of The Wall Street Journal for 16 years, and a pair
of wealthy Californians are assembling a group of investigative
journalists who will give away their work to media outlets.
The plan is to do long-term projects, uncovering misdeeds
in government, business and organizations.
>> FORT HUNT'S QUIET MEN BREAK SILENCE
ON WWII - "We got more information out of a German general
with a game of chess or Ping-Pong than they do today, with
their torture," said Henry Kolm, 90, an MIT physicist
who had been assigned to play chess in Germany with Hitler's
deputy, Rudolf Hess. Blunt criticism of modern enemy interrogations
was a common refrain at the ceremonies held beside the Potomac
River near Alexandria.
>> PERSPECTIVE: THE 'GOOD GERMANS' AMONG
US - By any legal standards except those rubber-stamped
by Alberto Gonzales, we are practicing torture, and we have
known we are doing so ever since photographic proof emerged
from Abu Ghraib more than three years ago. As Andrew Sullivan,
once a Bush cheerleader, observed last weekend in The Sunday
Times of London, America’s “enhanced interrogation” techniques
have a grotesque provenance: “Verschärfte Vernehmung,
enhanced or intensified interrogation, was the exact term
innovated by the Gestapo to describe what became known as
the ‘third degree.’ It left no marks. It included
hypothermia, stress positions and long-time sleep deprivation.”
>>>> FIVE
VIDEO-TAPED ROSWELL CONFESSIONS - Five video-taped interviews:
Jack Trowbridge recalls holding what he knew as memory
material from the crumpled saucer; Sgt. Homer Rowlett's
daughter Carlene talks about his startling deathbed confession;
Larry Rowlett recalls his dad, Sgt. Homer Rowlett, describing
government threats for talking; Savage Dodson says his
high-security status wasn't enough to get past MPs guarding
something the government says didn't exist; Pat Bush's
sister in law, Miriam, told her that she saw an alien move.
SEX WORKERS PLAN BROTHEL IN 2010 OLYMPICS
CITY - Davis and other local sex workers have banded together
to establish Canada's first cooperative brothel in an attempt
to offer women a safe place to work. The group, formed by
a sex workers' alliance based here, called the British Columbia
Coalition of Experiential Women, will incorporate next month
and is already setting the groundwork to open the co-op brothel.
ORBITING SOLAR PANELS' DAY MAY BE NEAR - A
new federal study released Wednesday concluded that continued
increases in oil prices may finally make the generation of
solar power in orbit economically competitive.
>> REVEALED: THE MAN BEHIND COURT ATTACK
ON GORE FILM - The school governor who challenged the screening
of Al Gore's climate change documentary in secondary schools
was funded by a Scottish quarrying magnate who established
a controversial lobbying group to attack environmentalists'
claims about global warming.
>> HIGHLY RECOMMENDED BOOK: 'THANK GOD
FOR EVOLUTION!' - This book thoroughly rewires
the frustrating, noisy debate between fundamentalist Christians
and fundamentalist scientists. It offers thrilling new
insights into who we are, what we are doing here, where we're
going, and what the big picture is that we're operating in
-- not some distant big picture, but the wildly co-creative
big picture in which we're living and breathing right now,
right here in our personal and collective lives. Evolution's
lessons are waiting to be discovered everywhere within and
around us.
>> DOCUMENTARY: 'WHAT A WAY TO GO' -
It was the best movie on the big picture (peak oil, climate
change, rate of extinctions, and population overshoot) a
person can make. Bennett narrates the entire 2 hours, and
except for rare moments of levity and some giggles, there
was not a peep out of the 300+ people for the whole time.
>> NAOMI
KLEIN DISCUSSES HER NEW BOOK WITH BILL MAHER & JAN
FREL -
Author Naomi Klein sits down with Bill Maher to discuss
her new book, The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster
Capitalism. The Shock Doctrine shares a sentiment
that, while corporations are engineered to profit
off of situations, planned or otherwise, the United
States under President Bush has corporations opportunistically
poised to collect taxpayer-funded payouts from disasters
such as 9/11, Katrina and the Iraq occupation.
READER
FEEDBACK: NUKEFREE.ORG - After sending
out the post on NukeFree.Org, I received a letter from
John White, a long-time NHNE reader, who wished to
offer a supportive view of nuclear power. What follows
is my response to John's letter and then his short
essay in support of nuclear power.
>> HELP
STOP NUCLEAR POWER INDUSTRY: NUKEFREE.ORG -
The Senate version of the Energy Bill now pending in
Congress could authorize virtually unlimited loan guarantees
for backers of new nuclear reactors -- effectively,
a blank check, at taxpayer expense. Besides the fact
that reactors are vulnerable to terrorist attacks,
human error in operation, and earthquakes, there is
also no solution to the problem of safely storing or
transporting nuclear waste. Why would we want more
nuclear power facilities built if the safety of those
already in operation is in question?
>> U.S.
ARMY LOWERS ITS RECRUITING STANDARDS -
The U.S. Army met its recruiting goals for the last
year but enlisted thousands of new soldiers with criminal
records and fewer who have earned high school diplomas,
according to figures released Wednesday. The spike
of new enlistees given "character" waivers
for fiscal 2007 continues a steady upward trend in
the number of recruits with past arrests and convictions
allowed into the Army since the start of the war in
Iraq.
KNIGHTS
TEMPLAR WIN HERESY REPRIEVE AFTER 700 YEARS -
The Knights Templar, the medieval Christian military
order accused of heresy and sexual misconduct, will
soon be partly rehabilitated when the Vatican publishes
trial documents it had closely guarded for 700 years.
SRI
CHINMOY DIES OF HEART ATTACK IN NYC -
The peripatetic disciple of peace suffered a fatal
heart attack Thursday at his home in Queens, ending
his odyssey from an ashram in south India to a world
headquarters in New York City, according to a release
from his group. Chinmoy was 76.
>> EX-COMMANDER
SAYS IRAQ EFFORT IS 'A NIGHTMARE' -
A former US military chief in Iraq has condemned
the current strategy in the conflict, which he warned
was "a nightmare with no end in sight".
Retired Lt Gen Ricardo Sanchez also labelled US political
leaders as "incompetent" and "corrupted".
He said they would have faced courts martial for
dereliction of duty had they been in the military.
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Complete
List of:
Current Articles
>> Featured
Articles <<
>>>> "Must
Read" Articles <<<
.............
FEATURED
VIDEOS
Five Video-Taped Roswell Confessions
Five
video-taped Roswell interviews: Jack Trowbridge recalls
holding what he knew as memory material from the crumpled
saucer; Sgt. Homer Rowlett's daughter Carlene talks
about his startling deathbed confession; Larry Rowlett
recalls his dad, Sgt. Homer Rowlett, describing government
threats for talking; Savage Dodson says his high-security
status wasn't enough to get past MPs guarding something
the government says didn't exist; Pat Bush's sister
in law, Miriam, told her that she saw an alien move.
.............
Living Forever
Aubrey de Grey, Anders Sandberg,
and Nick Bostrom discuss plans to bypass death by using technologies
such as AI, genetic engineering and nanotechnology to radically
accelerate human evolution, eventually merging people with
machines to make us immortal.
.............
Steven Pinker: The Myth of
Violence
Steven Pinker tackles the
myth that today is a more violent era than in the past. Using
historical data and information from pre-industrialized tribes,
Pinker shows that violence has dramatically declined in our
history. Pinker believes that a more sensitive reporting
system has led us to believe violence has increased, when
it has actually dropped. Not only will it make you feel a
bit better about the present times, but it gives hope that
the future might be a more peaceful place.
.............
Searching For Life In Our
Solar System
Planetary
scientist Carolyn Porco says, "I'm going to take you on a journey." Showing
breathtaking images from the Cassini voyage to Saturn, she
focuses on Saturn's intriguing largest moon, Titan,with deserts,
mudflats and puzzling lakes, and on frozen Enceladus, which
seems to shoot jets of ice.
.............
Snowball, The Dancing Cockatoo
Snowball
is an Elanora Cockatoo that dances to the Back Street
Boys. Unbelievable. For more information, go
here. Thanks to Maria Grace for finding and sharing this
gem.
.............
FEATURED LINKS
Cell
Phone Radiation Levels
It's important to note that in publishing this
list are we in no way implying that cell phone use is or
isn't harmful to your health. While research abounds and
some tests have shown that cell phone radiofrequency (RF)
could accelerate cancer in laboratory animals, the studies
have not been replicated. Cell phones can affect internal
pacemakers, but there is not conclusive or demonstrated evidence
that they cause adverse health affects in humans. Conversely,
there is not conclusive or demonstrated evidence that they
don't cause adverse health affects in humans. So, in short,
the jury is still out, research is ongoing, and we will continue
to monitor its results.
.............
NHNE
NEWS BRIEF FACTOIDS
Major Religions of the World
Ranked by Number of Adherents
1. Christianity: 2.1 billion
2. Islam: 1.5 billion
3. Secular/Nonreligious/Agnostic/Atheist: 1.1 billion
4. Hinduism: 900 million
5. Chinese traditional religion: 394 million
6. Buddhism: 376 million
7. Primal-indigenous: 300 million
8. African Traditional & Diasporic: 100 million
9. Sikhism: 23 million
10. Juche: 19 million
11. Spiritism: 15 million
12. Judaism: 14 million
13. Baha'i: 7 million
14. Jainism: 4.2 million
15. Shinto: 4 million
16. Cao Dai: 4 million
17. Zoroastrianism: 2.6 million
18. Tenrikyo: 2 million
19. Neo-Paganism: 1 million
20. Unitarian-Universalism: 800 thousand
21. Rastafarianism: 600 thousand
22. Scientology: 500 thousand
Source: Adherents.com
.............
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