Wednesday, April 11, 2012
Steve Quayle : Apocalypse Now
The word apocalypse in Latin means to reveal. The apocalypse is not the end of the world, but more like the end of the world as we know it now. People need to stop worrying about giant balls of fire coming down to destroy the Earth or giant floods drowning us all. If anything Revelation depicts many events of the author's time or ancestor's past trying to serve as an example for the future. WW I and II, Vietnam, Korea, 2 Gulf Wars, Afganistan, civil wars= Red horse The economic depression=black horse Swine flu= Pale horse There's only one horse left now...???
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Tuesday, April 10, 2012
100 Things You Should Know About People
100 Things You Should Know About People
#1 — You Have “Inattention Blindness”
#2 — You READ FASTER With a Longer Line Length But PREFER Shorter
#3 — You Can Only Remember 3 to 4 Things At a Time (The Magic Number 3 or 4)
#4 – You Imagine Things From Above And Tilted (The “Canonical Perspective”)
#5 – You Make Most of Your Decisions Unconsciously
#6 – You Reconstruct Your Memories
#7 – You Actually Can’t Multi-Task
#8 – Dopamine Makes You Addicted to Seeking Information
#9 – Blue and Red Together Is Hard on Your Eyes (Chromostereopsis)
#10 - You Want More Choices and Information Than You Can Actually Process
#11 — Why You Can’t Resist Paying Attention to Food, Sex, or Danger
#12 — When It Comes To Technology You Definitely Act Your Age
#13 — Want to Change a Habit? Use Fun, Surprise, and a Crowd
#14 — Reading Text Online Is Not Fun
#15 — If You Use Social Media Without Laughter You Aren’t Being Social
#16 — The Ability to Delay Gratification or Not Starts Young
#17 — Your Unconscious Knows 1st
#18 — What People Look At On A Picture Or Screen Depends On What You Say To Them
#19 — It’s a Myth That All Capital Letters Are Inherently Harder to Read
#20 — Your Attention Is Riveted By Pictures of People
#21 — You Overestimate Your Reactions to Future Events
#22 — Peripheral Vision: Keeping You Alive or Channel Surfing?
#23 — You Are Hard-Wired For Imitation And Empathy
#24 — You Are Most Affected By Brands And Logos When You Are Sad Or Scared
#25 — Trust Your Gut Or Be Logical? It Depends On Your Mood
#26 — Culture Shapes Our Brains
#28 — Things That Are Close Together Seem to Belong Together
#29 — Brand Names Talk To Our “Old” Brains
#30 — Our “Strong Tie” Group Size Is 150 People
#31 — The Desire For Control And Choice Is Built In
#32 — Synchronous Activity Bonds The Group
#33 — Bite-Sized Chunks Of Info Are Best
#34 — Too Much Stress Results In Poor Performance
#36 — People Are Inherently Lazy
#37 — People Assume It’s You, Not The Situation
#38 — Even The Illusion of Progress Is Motivating
#39 — Your Mind Wanders 30% of the Time
#40 — You’re Easily Influenced, But I’m Not
#41 — Your Most Vivid Memories Are Wrong
#42 — We’ll Spend More Money If You Don’t Mention Money
#43 — People Expect Online Interactions To Follow Social Rules
#44 — When Uncertain, People Look To Others To Decide What To Do
#45 — You Choose And Vote For The First One On The List
#46 — The More Uncertain You Are, The More You Dig In And Defend Your Ideas
#47 — People Value A Product More Highly If It Is Physically In Front Of Them
#48 — What You See Is Not What Your Brain Gets
#49 — The Brain Looks For Simple Patterns
#50 — 9 % of Men And .5% Of Women Are Color Blind
#51 — You React To Colors Based On Your Culture
#52 — People Create Mental Models
#53 — People See Cues About How To Use An Object
#54 — The Average Reading Level In The USA Is Grade 8
#55 — During Sleep You Consolidate Learnings and Memories
#56 — People Process Information Best In Story Form
#57 — There are 4 Types of Creativity
#58 — People See What They Expect To See
#60 — Cognitive Loads Are the Most Expensive
#61 — People Learn Best By Example
#62 — People Love To Categorize
#63 — Group Decision-Making Is Faulty
#64 — Groups Are Swayed By A Dominant Personality
#65 — Seven Emotions Are Universal
#66 — Emotions Are Tied To Muscle Movement
#67 — Anecdotes Persuade More than Data
#68 — Smells Evoke Emotions and Memories
#69 — Your Brain Craves Surprises
#70 — People Are Happier Busy And With A Challenge
#71 — People Like Pastoral Scenes
#72 — Trust Is The Best Predictor Of Happiness
#73 — First Screening About Trusting A Web Site Is Based On The Look And Feel
#74 — Listening To Music Releases Dopamine In The Brain
#75 — The More Difficult Something Is To Attain, The More People Like It
#76 — Anticipation Trumps The Actual Experience
#77 — Not All Mistakes Are Bad
#78 — People Use A Schema To Encode And Remember
#79 — People of Different Ages Have Different Error Strategies
#81 — People Are Motivated By Progress And Mastery
#82 — Intrinsic Rewards Trump Extrinsic Rewards
#83 — People Will Use Shortcuts Only If They Are Easy
#84 — Average Time To Form A Habit Is 66 Days
#85 — More People = Less Desire To Compete
#86 — How Much People Lie Depends On The Medium
#87 — Speaker and Listener Brains Sync
#88 — Your Brain Has A Special Response To People You Know
#89 — You Can Tell If A Smile Is Real Or Fake More Accurately With Video
#90 — Recognition Is Easier Than Recall
#91 — Size Matters When It Comes To Fonts
#92 — There Is A Brain Area Dedicated To Perceiving Faces
#94 — Repetition Changes Your Brain
#95 — People Decide Who And What Is Alive By The Eyes
#96 — Past Experience And Expectations Determine Where People Look
#97 — People Filter Information
#99 — Well-Practiced Skills Don’t Require Conscious Attention
#100 — Sustained Attention Lasts 10 Minutes
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Monday, April 9, 2012
The NSA's General Didn't Lie To Congress About Spying On Americans — They Hire It Out To The Israelis
Two companies that bugged the U.S. telecommunications network for the National Security Agency (NSA) have extensive links to Israel's intelligence service, as reported by James Bamford at Wired.
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NSA's chief General Keith Alexander was called before Congress last week to testify about the $2 billion Utah Spy Center the NSA is currently building, and he said that the NSA does not have the ability to spy on the confidential personal communications of Americans.
It seems that he wasn't lying since the NSA hired secretive contractors with extensive ties to Israel to provide hardware and software for 10 to 20 wiretapping rooms in key telecommunication points throughout the country, according to Wired.
Thus the NSA has gained access to most of the domestic traffic flowing through the U.S. without actually doing it themselves.
From Wired:
"According to a former Verizon employee briefed on the program, Verint, owned by Comverse Technology, taps the communication lines at Verizon...
At AT&T the wiretapping rooms are powered by software and hardware from Narus, now owned by Boeing, a discovery made by AT&T whistleblower Mark Klein in 2004."
Both Verint and Narus were founded in Israel in the 1990s. Both provide monitoring and intercept capabilities to service providers and government organizations, promoting claims that their equipment can access and retain large amounts of information on a vast number of targets.
One of the founders of Verint, Jacob "Kobi" Alexander, is a former Israeli intelligence officer.
In 2007 a former commander of the highly secret Unit 8200 (i.e. Israel’s NSA) told Forbes that the technology of Comverse (i.e. the company that owns Verint) is based on Unit 8200 technology, Wired reported.
A co-founder and former chairmen of Narus, Ori Cohen, told Fortune in 2001 that his partners have done technology work for Israeli intelligence.
Another former chief of Unit 8200 acknowledged to the Israeli paper Ha’artez last year that high-tech firms around the world employ both Unit 8200 equipment and its veteran personnel.
From Wired:
“Cautious estimates indicate that in the past few years... Unit 8200 veterans have set up some 30 to 40 high-tech companies, including 5 to 10 that were floated on Wall Street.” Referred to only as “Brigadier General B,” he added, “This correlation between serving in the intelligence Unit 8200 and starting successful high-tech companies is not coincidental: Many of the technologies in use around the world and developed in Israel were originally military technologies and were developed and improved by Unit veterans.”
The NSA, whose official mission is to spy on foreign communications, began eavesdropping on the international communications of Americans after President Bush secretly authorized the practice in 2002 — without the court-approved warrants ordinarily required for domestic spying — to search for evidence of terrorist activity.
The highly secret U.S. eavesdropping net, code-named Stellar Wind, has not stopped expanding since President Bush gave the initial executive order.
Wired has reported on the numerous new NSA facilities:
- The $358 million CAPT Joseph J. Rochefort Building at NSA Hawaii was dedicated in January.
- The 604,000-square-foot John Whitelaw Building at NSA Georgia was dedicated in March.
- The NSA’s giant satellite listening post in Yorkshire, England — which has 33 giant dome-covered eavesdropping dishes — is expanding to accommodate a generator plant to provide power for new supercomputers (at $68 million) and a growing number of employees (many of whom are also employed by Lockhead Martin and Northrop Grumman).
- In May Fort Meade will undertake a $2 billion, 1.8-million-square-foot expansion of NSA headquarters that will include a cybercommand complex and a new supercomputer.
- Next year the NSA will open its 1-million-square-foot, $2 billion Utah Data Center that will be a code-breaking hub as well as a "cloud" that stores the trillions of millions of intercepted phone calls, e-mails and data trails so they can be analyzed from long distances over highly encrypted fiber-optic links.
In response to the reports, the NSA told Wired that the agency is "proud of the work we do to protect the nation, and allegations implying that there is inappropriate monitoring of American communications are a disservice to the American public and to the NSA civilian and military personnel who are dedicated to serving their country.”
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Sunday, April 8, 2012
A View From Space, April 7, 2012
TOPICS: The year 2012 - the year of Goddess worship - its history, and the implications for us all.
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Saturday, April 7, 2012
Research shows male testosterone levels are plummeting across the board
Testosterone Levels Fall Worldwide
Men’s testosterone levels across all age groups have been plummeting over the last couple of decades, probably due to environmental factors. As Reuters reported in 2006:
A new study has found a “substantial” drop in U.S. men’s testosterone levels since the 1980s, but the reasons for the decline remain unclear. This trend also does not appear to be related to age.
The average levels of the male hormone dropped by 1 percent a year, Dr. Thomas Travison and colleagues from the New England Research Institutes in Watertown, Massachusetts, found. This means that, for example, a 65-year-old man in 2002 would have testosterone levels 15 percent lower than those of a 65-year-old in 1987. This also means that a greater proportion of men in 2002 would have had below-normal testosterone levels than in 1987.
“The entire population is shifting somewhat downward we think,” Travison told Reuters Health. “We’re counting on other studies to confirm this.”
Travison and his team analyzed data from the Massachusetts Male Aging Study, a long-term investigation of aging in about 1,700 Boston-area men. Data from the men were collected for three time intervals: 1987-1989, 1995-1997, and 2002-2004.
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The researchers observed a speedier decline in average testosterone levels than would have been expected with aging alone.
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It’s likely that some sort of environmental exposure is responsible for the testosterone decline, Travison said, although he said attempting to explain what this might be based on the current findings would be “pure conjecture.”
Men’s Health wrote in 2007:
In the summer of 2006, Travison attended an Endocrine Society meeting where another researcher, Antti Perheentupa M.D., Ph.D., from the University of Turku, in Finland, presented evidence of a similar decline. The Finnish results suggested the change was happening among younger men, too. A man born in 1970 had about 20 percent less testosterone at age 35 than a man of his father’s generation at the same age. “When I saw another group reproducing our results,” says Travison, “that was convincing to me that we were seeing a true biological change over time, as opposed to just some measurement error.”
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Mitch Harman M.D., Ph.D., an endocrinologist at the University of Arizona college of medicine and the director of the Kronos Longevity Research Institute, sees the shadow of Silent Spring. Back in 1962, when Rachel Carson published her environmental classic, estrogen-like substances in the insecticide DDT were making eggshells so thin that they were crushed by nesting parents; populations of eagles and other large birds plummeted. And today? Dr. Harman says, “I’m concerned that we’re just pouring chemicals out into our environment that are endocrine-suppressing, estrogen-like compounds,” possibly causing similar disruptions in human reproduction. The authors of a recent article in the Medical Journal of Australia likewise suggest that from early fetal life onward, male hormonal and reproductive functions are under “xenobiotic attack,” meaning chemicals not naturally found in the body appear to be disrupting normal biological development.
For instance, 90 percent of American men have evidence of chlorpyrifos in their urine. This shouldn’t be surprising, since up to 19 million pounds of the stuff was distributed across the United States in 1999 alone, much of it in household products like tick-and-flea powder for pets, lawn treatments, and common insecticides. Though residential use is now restricted, chlorpyrifos is still common in agriculture, as well as in some professional applications; for most people, diet is now the main source of exposure. In a recent Harvard study, men with the highest chlorpyrifos exposure typically had 20 percent less testosterone than those with the lowest exposure.
Carbaryl is another possible culprit. Detectable levels turn up in 75 percent of American men, and having it in your urine appears to be associated with reduced sperm count and liveliness, or motility, as well as increased DNA damage. And yet we still apply carbaryl to lawns and gardens at a rate of up to 4 million pounds a year, mostly by way of an insecticide known as Sevin. There should be a bumper sticker: Honey, the lawn shrunk my testicles.
Phthalates are also everywhere, almost certainly including your own body. Manufacturers use them in colognes and cosmetics and as softeners in plastics. Baby bottles now come “phthalate-free,” but hospital intravenous bags generally don’t. And yet some phthalates seem to have all of carbaryl’s unpleasant associations with reproductive health. And not just in men: Last year Greenpeace issued a warning against the danger of phthalates in your girlfriend’s sex toys. Then the Danish Environmental Protection Agency came riding to the rescue, declaring such toys safe—as long as she keeps it to an hour or less a day.
Scientists can’t say that any of the suspect chemicals actually cause the reproductive effects that are occurring. They can only point out troubling associations. But these associations seem to be proliferating. About 50 new chemicals come onto the market weekly, says Dr. Harman, and while testing for carcinogenicity is required, “there’s no systematized testing for subtle endocrine effects.”
We’re not likely to have good answers anytime soon. The reproductive problems of human males will remain understudied, says Dr. Harman, in part because federal research dollars are being diverted to issues like biological warfare and terrorism. “We might just wind up disappearing from the planet quietly,” he says, “because we were too busy fighting wars to figure out that our reproductive systems were going south.”
Moreover, as noted by the The Internet Journal of Urology in 2004:
There have been a number of studies over the past 15-20 years … which suggest that sperm counts in man are on the decline. Since these changes are recent and appear to have occurred internationally, it has been presumed that they reflect adverse effects of environmental or lifestyle factors on the male rather than, for example, genetic changes in susceptibility. If the decrease in sperm counts were to continue at the rate that it is then in a few years we will witness widespread male infertility.
Studies published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, the journal Diabetes Care, the journal Heart and other major medical journals show that low testosterone levels not only lead to obesity, loss of muscle, weak bones and depression, but also increase the odds of heart disease, diabetes, Alzheimers and other major health problems.
In addition, low testosterone levels are correlated with decreased confidence, drive, ability to concentrate, and cognitive abilities.
The bottom line: Most men – and especially those over 30, fathers, or men who have been exposed to toxic chemicals or potent medications – need to maintain their testosterone levels to keep their health, power and confidence.
How to Boost Your Testosterone Level
There are numerous ways to boost your testosterone (we’ll call it “T”) level. Choose what works for you, depending on your health, finances, time and temperament.
Sprint
The International Journal of Sports Medicine found that, in young men, a six-second bout of sprinting increased serum total testosterone levels. Levels remained elevated during recovery.
Lift
Numerous studies have shown that resistance training is a powerful stimulant for testosterone production. So – if you are physically able – be sure to lift heavy things every now and again.
The rest intervals between sets can also stimulate different hormonal responses. A study published in the Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research found that resting 90 seconds between squat and bench press sets boosted post-workout T-levels the most.
Snooze
The Journal of the American Medical Association reports that lack of sleep dramatically lowers testosterone in healthy young men. Peak testosterone levels coincide with rapid-eye movement (REM) sleep onset. Getting 7-8 hours sleep a night – to make sure you get your REM sleep – will boost your T levels.
Chill Out
As shown by studies published in the the Journal of Hormones and Behavior, the European Journal of Applied Physiology and elsewhere, prolonged stress produces cortisol, which reduces T levels.
So take breaks and play sports, go for a walk, meditate, do yoga or do whatever else de-stresses you.
Get Excited
Newsweek reported in 2009:
Monkeys that see sexually active females register as much as a 400 percent jump in testosterone (nature’s own performance-enhancing drug) promoting lean muscle and quick recovery times, according to the Yerkes Center for Primate Research at Emory University. In humans, German researchershave found that just having an erection is enough to spur testosterone levels. it makes no difference whether a man is watching sex on a screen or having it in real life, his testosterone levels will go up. Just having an erection, in fact, is enough to spur production.
Such findings, along with work that shows family life to be a drain on testosterone levels, prompted Rutgers University sex researcher Helen Fisher to advise this month that males in the “captivity situation”-her term for married with kids-”go on the Internet and look at porn” as a kind of hormone-replacement therapy. “[Porn] drives up dopamine levels, which drives up your testosterone,” she tells NEWSWEEK, while kissing your wife or hugging your kids drives it down.
Indeed, marriage and fatherhood have both been shown to decrease testosterone levels.
(This post concentrates on science, not objectification of women, relationships, ethics, or addictions … all important things to reflect on. I am an ethical, happily-married man with kids, and I value all of those things tremendously. But I also know that if I didn’t have a strong sex drive, my T levels would be lower.)
Keep Your Vitamin D Levels Up
Vitamin D positively correlates with testosterone levels in men, according to the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and researchers at the Medical University of Graz in Austria.
So make sure you get enough vitamin D.
Magnesium
The Journal of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Analysis reports that magnesium levels correlate with T.
Calcium
Biological Trace Element Research notes that calcium levels correlate with T, at least in people who exercise a lot.
Zinc
The Journal Nutrition reports that a zinc deficiency predicts lowered testosterone in men.
But don’t take extra … supplementary doses of the mineral don’t boost T levels beyond normal in men with adequate dietary intake.
Eat Monounsaturated and Saturated Fat
We’ve previously documented that fats have gotten a bad rap, and that they are essential for our health. See this, this and this.
The Journal Lipids reports that olive oil – a monosaturated fat – converts cholesterol more easily into testosterone. So use raw olive oil on salads and in other dishes. (Coconut oil – a saturated fat – does the same thing, but to a lesser extent.)
While cholesterol has gotten the worst rap:
Cholesterol is actually a vital precursor to vitamin D, and to basic hormones such as testosterone, estrogen, and adrenaline. If we don’t have enough cholesterol in our body, we will be sickly, impotent and depressed.
The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism reports that a low-fat, high-fiber diet reduced T levels in middle-aged men. The Journal of Applied Physiology reports:
Preexercise T was significantly positively correlated with percent energy fat, SFA [saturated fatty acids] and MUFA [monounsaturated fatty acids] ….
(Click image above for larger picture.)
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These data are consistent with the findings of several other investigations that have reported a decrease in T in individuals consuming a diet containing ∼20% fat compared with a diet containing ∼40% fat ….
The results from several investigations strongly suggest that dietary fat has a significant impact on T concentrations; however, the influence of different types of lipids on T is not as clear. In the present investigation, dietary fat, SFA, and MUFA were the best predictors of resting T concentrations. Interestingly, Tegelman et al. observed a significant positive correlation (r = 0.76) between percent energy fat and T in young athletic men, which is very similar to the correlation (r = 0.72) obtained in this study. Also, Adlercreutz et al. reported significant positive correlations between T and dietary fat, SFA, MUFA, and cholesterol in postmenopausal women. The same nutrients were positively correlated with T in the present investigation except for cholesterol, which showed a correlation of r = 0.53 (P = 0.07) with T. In contrast to the results obtained in this study, Key et al. reported a significant positive correlation (r = 0.37) between PUFA and T in male vegetarians and omnivores. Our results showed a nonsignificant correlation between PUFA and T and a significant negative correlation between the PUFA/SFA ratio and T. Thus dietary lipids appear to have a significant influence on resting T concentrations; however, the effect of different types of lipids on T regulation and metabolism is complicated and most likely influenced by a complex interaction of several nutritional and metabolic factors. This complexity is illustrated by the findings of Sebokova et al., who reported that alteration in the testicular plasma membrane and changes in the responsiveness of Leydig cells and subsequent T synthesis occur as a result of ingestion of different compositions of lipids.
Avoid Foods that Spike Blood Sugar Levels
Researchers found that 75 grams of pure glucose – and the resultant spike in blood sugar – was enough to drop T levels by as much as 25% in a random grouping of healthy, prediabetic, and diabetic men.
The glycemic index measures how much of a food converts into blood glucose. Because refined carbs have a higher glycemic index than even candy, you should watch the refined carbs.
Get Enough Antioxidants
Oxidative stress may decrease T. So get enough antioxidants, which protect against oxidative stress.
Herbs
Numerous herbs and other substances have been shown to boost T (at least in rats):
- Ginseng has been shown to boost testosterone levels and ramp up sex drive in rats.
- Ashwagandha – an ancient Indian Ayurvedic herb. See this and this (but don’t take too much – high doses backfire and actually reduce T levels)
- Freshly-squeezed onion juice (but it’s possible that only girls from Transylvania will want to kiss you after drinking onion juice).
- A cocktail containing high doses of selenium and the amino acid N-acetyl-cysteine
- D-aspartic acid- a derivative of an amino acid found in the body
- Nettles (by freeing up T in the body from being bound into other compounds)
- Saw palmetto extract (works the same as nettles)
- The amino acid derived supplement L-carnitineL-tartrate (by freeing up testosterone receptors)
Note: I’m not a medical professional, and this should not be taken as medical – or marital – advice.
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