These insect eye cameras are smaller than a finger nail. They have infinite focus without moving parts. Once production ramps up they will be super cheap. Combine with micro transmission chips for a super mobile camera that is so cheap it could be thrown away after single use.

Just think where you could put cameras using this, or where a government or corporation could put them... Every object in a room, car, books, eye glasses, on micro drones, balloons, even on food for sale, plants, pets, children, shoes, inventory equipment, on credit cards. To track, monitor behavior, prevent theft, control rioters... Everyone could become a super spy with this technology. Who needs a billion dollar spy satellite when you can uses a bunch of 1 cent cameras sprinkled around an area? Every action and change could be recorded.

The insect eye lens can also be used in reserve in a micro projector that can put a clear image on an uneven surface and is only 6 mm thick. Think movies and adverts from your cell phone. Or embedded in the streets like the personalized ads in the movie Minority Report.

This entry was posted on June 1, 2012 at 6:59 PM and has received 1170 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

The idea that almost overnight of all the world's stock exchanges closing for five months, long bank holidays, government restrictions on all business payments for over two months, government money printing, restrictions on gold, enormous bailouts of finance houses. It all sounds like some bad economic thriller... but could it happen in a modern, financially connected world? Perhaps it already has... read the story from the article below and see if you recognise the situation?

London, August 4
It was looking like a good year until that last week of July. The stock market crash of seven years before had almost faded from memory. Inflation was under control and interest rates had stabilized. Emerging markets were booming. Commodity prices were up, on the back of sustained global growth. Best of all, volatility was as low as most investors could remember. True, returns even on high-risk assets were being driven down so low that you needed yet more leverage to make serious money. But, thanks to unprecedented international capital mobility and a spurt of financial innovation, the world economy was swimming in credit.

It was an act of terrorism on June 28 that began the Great Drain. At first it seemed like just another assassination in just another Muslim country—and not the only one to have suffered the trauma of Western occupation in recent years. And although the terrorists scored a big hit (the vice president was not a popular figure, but a powerful one) the financial markets took it in their stride. Stocks barely moved.

It was not until the ultimatum [to the Muslim country] more than three weeks later, on the evening of July 23, that investors began to feel nervous. For its terms were truly formidable, particularly the demand that [foreign] officials be allowed into the country to investigate alleged sponsorship of the terrorists. The government immediately dismissed the ultimatum as “impossible.” With the declaration of the Russian [leader] that Moscow would not tolerate an attack, those who had been warning of an imminent [world crisis] suddenly seemed prescient. Unfortunately, their warnings had gone unheeded on Wall Street.

Within days of the ultimatum, the delicate web of international credit had been torn to shreds. Foreign investors rushed to withdraw their money from New York. Russia suspended payments to all foreign  institutions. As hedge funds rushed to cover their positions, panic selling swept the world’s financial markets. But the further asset prices fell, the worse the crisis became. Securities that had been the collateral for immense pyramids of debt were suddenly unsellable.

As prime brokers—the principal providers of credit to the markets—the big investment banks were exposed like naked swimmers when the tide suddenly goes out. The central banks lacked the means to stem the outflow; the decline in liquidity was orders of magnitude larger than their entire balance sheets. The only way to avoid a complete financial implosion was to literally close the world’s stock exchanges. The first to go were the smaller European exchanges. By July 31, however, even New York and London had shut their doors. The world’s principal stock markets would remain closed until January.

Fantasy? Not entirely. An almost identical sequence of events brought the last great age of globalization to a shuddering halt in the summer of 1914. Buoyant financial markets had initially shrugged off the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the heir to the Austrian throne, in the Bosnian capital, Sarajevo. But Austria’s tough ultimatum to Serbia sparked both a geopolitical and a financial chain reaction. As traders and investors suddenly grasped the likelihood of a full-scale European war, with Russia taking the Serbs’ side, liquidity was sucked out of the world economy. [That would lead to financial changes unprecedented in scope: temporary closure of markets, moratoria on debts, emergency money issued by governments, bailouts for the most vulnerable institutions.]

The first danger signs were rising insurance premiums in the wake of the Austrian ultimatum. Bond and stock prices began to slip as prudent investors sought to increase the liquidity of their positions. European investors were especially quick to start selling their Russian securities, followed by Americans. Exchange rates went haywire as a result of efforts by cross-border creditors to repatriate their money: sterling and the franc surged, while the ruble and dollar slumped. By July 30, panic reigned on most financial markets. The first firms to come under pressure in London were the jobbers on the Stock Exchange, who relied heavily on borrowed money to finance their holdings of equities. As sell orders flooded in, the value of stocks plunged below the value of their debts, forcing a number (notably Derenberg & Co.) into bankruptcy. Also under pressure were the commercial bill brokers in London, many of whom were owed substantial sums by continental counterparties that now were unable or unwilling to remit funds. (To put it mildly, these firms’ strategies were highly correlated.) Their difficulties in turn had an impact on the acceptance houses (the elite merchant banks), who were first in line if foreigners defaulted, since they had “accepted” the bills. If the acceptance houses went bust, the bill brokers would go down with them, and possibly also the larger joint-stock banks, which lent millions every day on call to the discount market. Their decision to call in loans notoriously deepened the crisis.

As all concerned scrambled to sell assets and increase their liquidity, stock prices slumped, compromising brokers and others who had borrowed money against shares. Domestic customers began to fear a banking crisis. Queues formed as people sought to exchange banknotes for gold coins at the Bank of England. At the same time, the effective suspension of London’s role as the hub of international credit helped spread the crisis from Europe to the rest of the world.

Perhaps the most remarkable feature of the crisis of 1914 was the closure of the world’s major stock markets for up to five months. The Vienna market was the first to close, on July 27. By July 30 all the continental European exchanges had shut their doors. The next day, London and New York felt compelled to follow suit. Although a belated settlement day went smoothly on November 18, the London Stock Exchange did not reopen until January 4. Nothing like this had happened since its foundation in 1773. The New York market reopened for limited trading (bonds for cash only) on November 28, but unrestricted trading did not resume until April 1, 1915. Nor were stock markets the only ones to close in the crisis. Most U.S. commodity markets had to suspend trading, as did most European foreign-exchange markets. The London Royal Exchange, for example, remained closed until September 17. It seems likely that, had the markets not closed, the collapse in prices would have been as extreme as it would be in 1929, if not worse.

...

a number of countries, beginning with Russia, simply suspended the gold convertibility of their currencies. ...

In London the Bank Holiday of Monday, August 3, was extended through Thursday, August 6. Payments due on bills of exchange were postponed for a month by royal proclamation. A one-month moratorium on all other payments due (except wages, taxes, pensions, and the like) was rushed onto the statute books. (These moratoria were later extended until, respectively, October 19 and November 4.) On August 13, the chancellor of the exchequer gave the Bank of England a guarantee that if the bank discounted all approved bills accepted before August 4 “without recourse against the holders,” the Treasury would bear the cost of any loss the bank might incur. This amounted to a government rescue of the discount houses; it opened the door for a massive expansion of the monetary base, as bills poured into the bank to be discounted. On September 5, assistance was also extended to the acceptance houses. Arrangements varied from country to country, but the expedients were broadly similar and unprecedented in scope: temporary closure of markets, moratoria on debts, emergency money issued by governments, bailouts for the most vulnerable institutions.

...

The closure of the New York Stock Exchange and federal bailouts for the likes of Goldman Sachs may seem unimaginable to us now. But financial history reminds us that ten-sigma events do happen. And, when they do, liquidity can ebb much more quickly than it previously flowed.

From Niall Ferguson's article "Chill Wind from 1914"

Perhaps it is wise to have "financial crisis insurance" prepared before "a total unexpected crisis" happens again...

    "History doesn't repeat itself, but it does rhyme,said Mark Twain." - John Robert Colombo

This entry was posted on May 20, 2012 at 11:35 PM and has received 855 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

I have been doing some research into my family history and discovered how big inflation has been in my lifetime and since my grandfather was born in 1893. My grandfather Frank (and his father William) invested 100 pounds in 1917 in flight training so that he could get out of the trenches of WWI. Fortunately the war ended in November 1918 before he was deployed because the average lifetime of an active duty pilot was 3 weeks. (His experience in the trenches was so bad that he though 9 months out of them was a good deal even with the high odds on active duty flying)

Anyway I did some research and 100 pounds in 1917 is approx 5200 pounds now - quite a sum to invest...

I found the inflation rate for each year at
http://safalra.com/other/historical-uk-inflation-price-conversion/
Though looking at the table at that site they had about 50% inflation in the first three years of the war... so if the 100 pounds was savings from before the war started that would be 8000 pounds now.

Reviewing the inflation rate, prices have gone up 15 times since I was born and 96 times since Frank was born. That is times, not percent! So 1500% and 9600% official price increases. That is quiet an amazing shift in wealth from one group of people to another group... Most of which seems to have been in the last 90 years.

And these are only the official inflation rates, which have had the statistics cooked for the last 20-30 years to reduce the official rate. So really a higher loss in paper money's value.

Seems to me that there are some vested interests in having inflation (and even wars to help create it) in order to shift money from one group of people to another. Something worth considering in our current economic crises...

This entry was posted on May 20, 2012 at 8:51 PM and has received 777 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

Things are changing faster these days and are predicated to change much (a 1000 times) more rapidly than in the past. By it's nature this change will lead to the collapse of most current systems because they don't change fast at all, being subject to vested interests in the status quo. We have already seen this with the collapse of famous companies and governments and whole industries changed by new technology and methods. This article from FuturEdition tells more. And gives some background to some of the economic and political changes that I have written about.
love
Michael

The Nature of Big Change

We are living in unprecedented times . . . but, of course, everyone has said that at any given period in the past. Nevertheless, technically it’s true. Every year is a fresh, new one that might seem familiar, but essentially, is not. Unless all change could be eliminated, we’re necessarily producing new realities every moment that have never existed before.

Parallels with historical times, at best, therefore, reflect only a very rough congruity with an earlier time that certainly did not have the technology, communications, ideas and values of the present. So, sure, these are unprecedented times.

But in important ways, this time it is really unprecedented. There is always change, but the rate of change that we are experiencing these days has never been seen before . . . and it is accelerating exponentially. That means that if present trends continue, every week or month or year going forward will produce significantly more change than in the previous one. Humans have never experienced this rate of change before.

Let me give you an example. Futurist Ray Kurzweil, in his important book, The Singularity is Near, cataloged the rate of technological change in many different dimensions. His bottom-line assessment was that our present century will see 1000 times the technological change as the last century – during which the automobile, airplane, Internet and nuclear wars emerged. Transportation rates went from that limited by the gallop of a horse to chemically propelled space craft that traverse more than 15,000 miles in an hour. And, of course, we visited the moon.

Now, think about what 1000 times that change would be. What kind of a world might show up in 100 years if we lived through a thousand times the change of the 20th century? Well, you can’t reasonably do it. No one can. The implications are so great that you are immediately driven into science fiction land where all of the current “experts” just dismiss you with a wave of a hand.

Try it. With two compounded orders of magnitude change over the period of a century, you could literally find yourself in a place where humans didn’t eat food or drink water (which would eliminate agriculture). They might be able to read minds telepathically and be able to visually read the energetic fields of anyone they looked at – immediately knowing about the past experiences, present feelings, and honesty of statements. Just that, of course, would eliminate all politicians and advertising!

But maybe, as some sources seriously suggest, you could manifest physical things at will – just by focusing your mind. Think of what that would do to the notion of economics as we know it. In this handful of future human characteristics you’d also be able to transport yourself wherever you wanted by thinking yourself there. In that world, no one would know what airplanes were.

You might think that what I’ve just described is farfetched, and if so, then you just made my point. Even though there are credible analysts and observers who seriously propose that the above changes will happen in far less than a century, change of this sort is more than we can reasonably understand and visualize. Just to parse it down to the next decade – 70-80 times the change of the last century – boggles the mind!

Well, it’s my business to think about these things and even I have a hard time visualizing how this all might turn out, just because it is so severe and disruptive, but I can tell you a bit about what a revolution of this magnitude means.

First of all, it means that we are in a transition to a new world – a new paradigm. All of this change has direction and it is leading us to a new world that operates in very different ways.

Secondly, in this kind of shift, things change fundamentally. We’re not talking about adjustments around the edge. The only way to support and sustain this rate of change is if there are extraordinary breakthroughs across almost every sector of human activity.

Already, for example, there are serious efforts afoot to make it possible to control many processes with only your thoughts and the ability to make physical things invisible has made great strides. In a very short time it will be possible to capture, store and search on everything you say in any public (or even private) environment and extract it at will. As this book suggests, unlimited energy and the control of gravity are all in the works.

Thirdly, the tempo accelerates -- things change more quickly. The rate of change is increasing so bigger things are coming faster. And as they converge, these extraordinary events and driving forces interact and cause chain reactions, generating unanticipated consequences. There’s a pretty good chance that the inventors of Facebook and Twitter didn’t think they were going to be part of bringing down governments . . . and it’s certainly clear that most governments didn’t anticipate that this new technology might threaten their ability to govern.

Fourthly, much of the change will therefore be strange and unfamiliar. When very rapid, profound, interconnected forces are all in play at the same time, the unanticipated consequences are likely to move quite quickly into threatening the historical and conventional understanding of how things work. Our situation is exacerbated by the fact that significant cosmic changes are influencing the behavior of the sun and therefore major systems (like the climate) on our planet. These are contextual reorganizations that are so large and unprecedented that the underlying systems – agriculture, economic, government, etc. – will not be able to respond effectively.

Because of that, human systems will have a hard time adapting to the change. Research has shown that civil and social systems (legal, education, government, families, et. al.) reconfigure themselves thousands of times slower than the rate of technological change that we are experiencing.

Therefore, it is inevitable that the old systems will collapse. They will not have the capability to change fast enough, and in some cases (like the global financial system), have structurally run out of the ability to sustain the status quo.

So, lastly, a new paradigm will emerge from all of this upheaval that only seems chaotic because we’re in the middle of it. Something new will arise to fill the vacuum left by the implosion of the legacy systems. If history gives us any indicator of what the new world will be, it is certain that it will be radically different from the world in which we all now find familiar.

In physical terms, there is no more fundamental and basic influence on the way we live and behave than the availability and form of energy that we use. Every aspect of our lives, food, clothing, shelter and transportation . . . and therefore every derivative activity (work, government, recreation, etc.) changes when the affordable source of energy changes. The modern world has been directly enabled by the discovery, development and availability of petroleum, for example. When that era ends, many other ways of doing things will also necessarily end.

Thomas Kuhn famously stated that new paradigms in science emerge only when the leadership of the old generation dies, leaving space for the emergence of the new ideas. What he was saying is that the incumbent system fights new ideas – regardless of whether it is science, education or spirituality. In all cases, the current generation has vested interests (reputations, income streams, influence) in the present way things operate. These individuals and organizations have devoted a great deal of time and wealth to building and shaping the present paradigm and would lose a great deal if their ideas, processes, investments and infrastructure were suddenly deemed obsolete. Like white corpuscles rushing to attack invading germs that are advancing through a break in the integrity of the skin, those with reputations and resources immediately respond to threatening new ideas that could potentially upset what they have worked so hard to put in place.

But Kuhn was describing the dynamics of evolutionary change – change from within. What we’re experiencing is revolutionary change that is driven as much by uncontrollable externalities as from internal system dynamics. If rapid climate change sweeps away the assumptions of the past, everyone will have to rethink how things are done. If we begin running out of oil, everyone will be in the business of finding new energy sources. And similarly, if the financial system collapses of its own weight, space will quickly be made for new ideas . . . and these are just conventional scenarios. If alien life comes by to introduce itself or solar cosmic rays turn on strings of dormant human DNA, suddenly providing us with radical new capabilities – well, all bets are off and new ideas will really prevail!

That’s what I think is happening. We are full into the most significant global revolution in the history of our species. We are about to watch our world turn sideways as the result of the collision of both conventional and unconventional forces and one big story in that shift will be energy. That’s why this book is important.

In many cases, the new ideas that rise to fill the void produced by large-scale change had their origins long before the environment finally presented the opening that allowed their proliferation. (Interesting new ideas about alternative financial systems and economies, for example, are now anticipating the collapse of the present financial system). More than likely the system fought those insurgent concepts when they first showed up, finding them threatening. Nevertheless, over the years some small groups continued to develop and refine the ideas, trying to ready them for a market opening. The coming months and years are going to present that opportunity.

As mentioned earlier, the nature of this revolution is that there will be widespread, fundamental breakthroughs. They are already happening in every area of science, technology and society. Ultimately, for the system to operate with some stability, the big changes will migrate throughout the organism so that there is an internal consistency within the interface, communication and operation of the subsystems of the larger network. Finding that equilibrium is the process that we will be experiencing during the near future. As breakthroughs happen in certain spaces, they will force other areas to operate differently. If they are unable to efficiently adapt, those threatened institutions or ideas or processes will fail . . . and new ideas, institutions and processes will show up that fulfill the required function (e.g. economy, government), but in a way that is necessarily compatible with the big, forcing change that precipitated the whole thing.

----
The change that is headed this way is so profound that I think we all need as much information as possible about the coming months and years. We’ve recommended so many different books and DVDs in the past that I thought were particularly helpful in painting a picture of the big change that appears on our horizon – and concrete suggestions about how to prepare for the coming shift – that we’ve put them all together in a new Transition Store where you can browse all of the titles. We’ll mention other books and videos as we hear of them here in FUTUREdition and we’ll also put them in the new store. You can visit it by clicking here or on the banner.

This entry was posted on May 20, 2012 at 8:18 PM and has received 476 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

I know it can get depressing reading these reports and I think it makes sense to take some action now to protect ourselves. I am writing about this info so that you are not hurt so much in the coming year.

Once this crisis starts really moving it will be much harder to take action due to the speed of the changes and/or new overnight government regulations. There is also a lot of denial and emotional inertia to overcome and taking even small actions such as keeping a few months expenses in cash, having some extra food and water supplies and buying your first gold coin are small steps that help over come that and also provide practical "financial crash insurance". You don't have to move all your assets to get some insurance. Chris's advice below is to wait for the dip to buy gold but you need to know that he already holds 70% of his total assets in gold and silver so he is already protected from currency crashes where as you probably are not at all ...

This report makes clear that many banks will collapse and countries too. Hyper inflation will destroy bank account and asset values. Starting with Greek default and Spain, but then continuing to France, UK and finally USA. Just look at the photo of the Greek ministry of finance below with files stored in shopping carts and plastic trash bags to see where Greece is today. Or read how $900M left Greek banks this Monday - what I would call a bank run.

This time I am expecting a coordinated central bank action that will involve most or all of the major central banks of the OECD: Japan, UK, US, and Europe.

One day, we will wake up to find some global message about the need for a coordinated response to a major crisis, and each of the central banks will be issuing some massive new amount of thin-air money. Of course the programs will be called something fancy that will require shortening to an acronym and will involve buying some form of debt (sovereign debt, but maybe also bank debt), and we’ll track this via central-bank balance-sheet expansion.

...

Given this environment of massive, rapidly-accelerating, and obfuscated risks, the prudent among us are undoubtedly wondering, How the heck is this going to play out? And how do I prepare for it?

I lay out my forecast for how low asset prices will sink before the central banks once again attempt to ride to the rescue with gargantuan liquidity measures.

But this next time won't work as it did in 2008, in my estimation. I see central banks being near the end of their ability to influence developments at this point. More liquidity will affect different asset classes differently, and for the first time raise real (and valid) concerns about the widescale debasement we are witnessing across the world's major fiat currencies.

Putting your capital into those resources best positioned to appreciate most as the result of money printing and hold or increase their purchasing power in such an environment should be a top priority for every concerned investor. [that is gold and productive land]

From ChrisMartenson.com

PS I have found Chris Martenson reports to be useful and practical and he doesn't get over hyped up about the coming changes. This email is a paid report so please don't pass it on.

This entry was posted on May 16, 2012 at 1:22 PM and has received 895 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

Interesting article on consuming less by a friend of mine who is also from UK and in the tech field.


One alternative to the nations bowing down to the banks is Iceland. Who didn't pay the banks bad debts, send some bankers to jail and now 4 years later are recovering in real sense.

Iceland's President Explains Why The World Needs To Rethink Its AddictionTo Finance: 

>http://www.businessinsider.com/olafur-ragnur-grimsson-iceland-2012-4

Synopsis:When the private banks make money they pay the owners and executives large bonuses. When they lose money they got the government/taxpayers to bail them out - and then pay themselves large bonuses.

Consuming less makes sense to me - I sold or gave away of house full of stuff, sold my car and sold my house. Consuming less now. Though I still have a weakness for books - but now buy them on kindle so as not to carry around or borrow them at book swaps. And all my music is digital. Photos too. Back up is extra important now - I back up to USB harddrive, SD drive, to cloud backup, Evernote and planning to back up to DVD just in case we get a mega solar flare that zaps computers, the internet and harddrives...

This entry was posted on May 16, 2012 at 12:55 AM and has received 984 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

May be naked protesters would stop the TSA madness! Seriously this article also points out that the "War on Terror" has saved several orders of magnitude less lives than died in car accidents in the same time period. What is the really reason for all the law changes in the last 10 years in the US?

Airport security is difficult enough. Depending on the country, that might mean shoes off, belts off, metallic items out of pockets, computer laptop(s) out of bags, iPads out of bag (sometimes - they can't quite figure out if it qualifies as a computer yet), jackets off, sometimes sweaters off, going through the scanner or getting a patdown (using the back of the hands only of course), boarding pass in hand, passport in hand, stand on one leg and bark like a dog... well, you get the idea.

Recently, one fellow traveling through Portland, Oregon in the US Pacific Northwest had had enough.

When taken away for "extra security measures", he stripped down to his birthday suit and made a political statement that, while ignored by much of the mainstream media it seems, is highly worth giving some serious thought to.

In today's feature, Dale Sinner, in his International Man debut, does just that.

Naked man at the airport

Probably the last thing anyone expects to see at the airport is a fat, naked middle-aged man. But that's just what passengers saw a couple of weeks ago at the airport in Portland, Oregon as they waited to go through security screening for the hour-and-a-half flight to San Jose, California.

Transportation Security Administration agents called John Brennan, 50, aside for "extra security measures." That was the last straw. He complied by stripping naked.

He reportedly asked, "Do I have anything illegal? Am I good to go through now?"

He wasn't good to go through, though.

Authorities arrested him for indecent exposure, restricted, then later restored his right to fly in and out of the state, and offered to drop the indecent exposure charge in exchange for an undisclosed amount of time in community service.

Brennan said no and is going to court.

The TSA responded by announcing an investigation into his "disruption" of the security check line. Brennan says he is being harassed.

A lot of Internet buzz has been focused on seeing a "disgusting, fat middle-aged man naked in the airport." But is that really the issue?

Brennan says it's not - 4th Amendment rights against unreasonable search and seizure are. I'd agree.

I was once called out for TSA "special screening" before boarding a similar flight. It was both infuriating and dumb as hell.

Some years back I was going through security at SEATAC airport for a flight from Seattle to Sacramento and I got called out for special screening for wearing a Japanese "jimbei" - a kind of casual, light summer jacket.

I've seen Americans in jackets like that, especially in Seattle. I didn't think it was any big deal.

It wasn't any big deal to the woman doing the X-raying. She could see there was nothing in my pockets and told me I didn't have to take the "jimbei" off - just go on through.

That set the TSA jackboot on full alert.

He screamed at me.

He ordered me to take it off, ordered me not to move, then stood himself directly in front of me - his nose perhaps two inches in front of mine.

He stared into my eyes with the fury and intense scrutiny you might expect if someone had concealed weapons or knives. I never imagined my slightly funny jacket would set off such alarm.

He turned to look at my US drivers license, carefully examined both sides and commented that I had a funny name. "Yep," I said.

He found nothing to justify detaining me further. He then simply said, firmly, "You have a nice trip," and that was the end of it.

I felt abused.

I was in a hurry and the episode could have easily made me miss my flight, so I cooperated in the abuse. Most Americans do.

But as time goes by, more and more people like naked Mr. Brennan are getting fed up and venting. It's easy to understand the anger.

Some have stripped naked as if to say, "Is this what you want?"

Others have gotten furious, shouted, and ultimately gotten arrested for speaking out a little too loudly. A little more than a week ago, a mother and her 4-year old daughter were detained in a ridiculous spectacle of an out-of-control government.

What is going on?

People my age remember being taught to hate the Soviet Union by showing how Americans were free to travel without being stopped at "internal checkpoints" while those sad Russians -- under the boot of communist dictatorship -- were scrutinized at every turn.

Our Saturday afternoons were spent watching World War II movies about Nazi Germany where people lived in fear of the words, "Papers please!"

How lucky we were to be American. How times have changed.

One wonders how big the threat of terrorism really is to justify all this heavy-handed domestic security.

Maybe a look at the numbers will show how real the risks are.

According to the Global Terrorism Database, 30 Americans died in terror incidents within US borders during the period between 2002 and 2011.

OK, that's not many. What about abroad?

Since 2005, 158 Americans have been killed in terror attacks abroad -- roughly 16 per year. Those were mostly in war zones like Iraq and Afghanistan.

That makes an American's chances of being killed in a terror attack worldwide about one in twenty million, on average, in any given year.

The risk is far less domestically.

Chances are you are far more likely to die in a car accident, die in a bathtub drowning, or even get struck by lightning than being killed in a terrorist attack.

Authorities will say that shows how effective anti-terrorism efforts have been. But does that justify the estimated $1 trillion spent on anti-terrorism in the US since 9/11 (which doesn't count spending in Iraq and Afghanistan)?

One analyst calculated that all the foiled terror plots in the US over the past ten years would have resulted in a maximum 2,300 potential deaths or about 230 per year. If true, that means the US government has spent $400,000,000 for every potential person saved.

Raise your hand if you believe any government would spend that much to "keep you safe."

Consider these other recent efforts to keep you safe:

• The Department of Homeland Security just ordered 450 million rounds of special "hollow point" .40 caliber ammunition
• Protestors can now be held indefinitely without trial and without legal representation
• Unpaid taxes can prevent the issuance of a passport
• The TSA can now make random car stops
• Anyone taken to jail can now be strip-searched, even for unpaid traffic tickets

Sound like a bit of overkill to keep citizens safe against a 1 in 20,000,000 risk? Kind of leaves me wondering what the government has in mind.

It also leaves me wondering if we might not see a lot more reports of naked air passengers, 4-year olds under arrest and other authoritarian-inspired mayhem in coming days.

Papers, please.

Post your comments here.

Dale Gordon Sinner is a teacher and writer living in Chiba Prefecture, Japan.

From http://www.internationalman.com/global-perspectives/what-a-naked-computer-technician-says-about-airport-security

This entry was posted on May 10, 2012 at 11:23 PM and has received 541 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

The mind-body is a very powerful healing system, even more powerful according to current research than many drugs. And it is an effect that has been increasing in the last 20 years. More details on this in this article with exerts below

In a study last year, Harvard Medical School researcher Ted Kaptchuk devised a clever strategy for testing his volunteers' response to varying levels of therapeutic ritual. The study focused on irritable bowel syndrome, a painful disorder that costs more than $40 billion a year worldwide to treat. First the volunteers were placed randomly in one of three groups. One group was simply put on a waiting list; researchers know that some patients get better just because they sign up for a trial. Another group received placebo treatment from a clinician who declined to engage in small talk. Volunteers in the third group got the same sham treatment from a clinician who asked them questions about symptoms, outlined the causes of IBS, and displayed optimism about their condition.


Not surprisingly, the health of those in the third group improved most. In fact, just by participating in the trial, volunteers in this high-interaction group got as much relief as did people taking the two leading prescription drugs for IBS. And the benefits of their bogus treatment persisted for weeks afterward, contrary to the belief—widespread in the pharmaceutical industry—that the placebo response is short-lived.

It's not only trials of new drugs that are crossing the futility boundary. Some products that have been on the market for decades, like Prozac, are faltering in more recent follow-up tests. In many cases, these are the compounds that, in the late '90s, made Big Pharma more profitable than Big Oil. But if these same drugs were vetted now, the FDA might not approve some of them. Two comprehensive analyses of antidepressant trials have uncovered a dramatic increase in placebo response since the 1980s. One estimated that the so-called effect size (a measure of statistical significance) in placebo groups had nearly doubled over that time.

It's not that the old meds are getting weaker, drug developers say. It's as if the placebo effect is somehow getting stronger.

Benedetti has helped design a protocol for minimizing volunteers' expectations that he calls "open/hidden." In standard trials, the act of taking a pill or receiving an injection activates the placebo response. In open/hidden trials, drugs and placebos are given to some test subjects in the usual way and to others at random intervals through an IV line controlled by a concealed computer. Drugs that work only when the patient knows they're being administered are placebos themselves.

Ironically, Big Pharma's attempt to dominate the central nervous system has ended up revealing how powerful the brain really is. The placebo response doesn't care if the catalyst for healing is a triumph of pharmacology, a compassionate therapist, or a syringe of salt water. All it requires is a reasonable expectation of getting better. That's potent medicine.

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This entry was posted on May 10, 2012 at 10:19 PM and has received 1108 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

Here is an article explaining the process of how the Euro may collapse as Germany refuses to spend any more bailing out Spain. If the Euro does fall apart British and American banks will probably collapse due to their large exposure to Euro debt. And there is a large chance of sovereign default not just in Spain, Greece, Ireland but also in France, UK and USA. That will mean a combination of high inflation, spending cuts (health care, pensions etc) , confiscation of private pensions, extended bank closures

No one knows the timing of this - it is rather like being on the deck of the Titantic just after it hit the iceberg. For the first hour or so to the passengers all seemed fine. It was only the boat's builder who recognized that the ship was fatally hit and would sink. At first very few people wanted to take the inconvenience of getting in a lifeboat. But if you recall the movie at the end the ship started to shift suddenly and then there were not enough life boats for everyone and there was a panic.

The same thing happened in the Argentinean financial collapse in 2001 - at first very few people took action to get some money out of Argentinean banks or move it abroad. By the time it was clear to most people that there was a problem it was too late to save their bank account and pensions.... and you were not allowed to withdraw cash or move it abroad. I have talked with several Argentineans and read blogs and books about this and the few people there who were both aware and took action did much better than those who did not. And I don't just mean financially better, I mean emotionally better too because there were a lot of mental health problems, alcohol/drug abuse and suicides there in 2002 in the masses of people who felt betrayed and helpless.

I recommend taking some small steps for a "financial insurance plan" that I described in my previous blog post now while all appears relatively fine. If I am wrong and the boat stay afloat no harm done. It it does sink it will be sudden and messy and you will be very glad that you took action.

If Spain's Problems Are Solved... Why Are They Putting Together "Plan B"? 

The following is an excerpt from my latest client letter explaining why Spain is such a big deal and why when it defaults it's game over for the EU.

1. Going forward  the Easy Money props are going to be removed from beneath the market.
2. Sovereign defaults are coming. Whether it's through hyperinflation, reneging on promised future social welfare / pension/ healthcare spending, or outright messy defaults (or various combinations of these) we will see most of the Western world defaulting on its debts in the coming years.

How soon all of this unfolds remains to be seen. The Multi-­Trillion Dollar Question is whether the markets realize that Central Banks are virtually powerless sooner rather than later.

By the look of things, it's coming relatively soon. Spain, which is now at the forefront of the Great Western Debt Default Collapse, has opted to seek funding from the mega-bailout fund, the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) rather than going directly to the ECB or the IMF.

The reasons for this are clear: the IMF doesn't have the funds (nor will it as the US won't fund a European bailout during a Presidential election year). And the ECB is now backed into a political corner with Germany.

However, as Spain has discovered, even ESM funding doesn't come without strings attached:

Germany Rejects Spain Banks Tapping Bailout Fund, Meister Says

Spain's rating downgrade at Standard & Poor's doesn't alter Germany's stance that banks can't have direct access to Europe's financial backstops, a senior lawmaker from Chancellor Angela Merkel's party said.

"The German position is absolutely strict," Michael Meister, the deputy caucus chairman of Merkel's Christian Democrats, said in a phone interview in Berlin. "And since such aid programs require unanimity, there's not going to be any change. All sorts of people can try to set things in motion, but Germany won't vote for it."

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-27/germany-rejects-spain-banks-tapping-bailout-fund-meister-says.html

The ESM funding idea is really just Spain playing for time (the ESM doesn't actually have the funds to bail Spain out). But the fact that Germany is now making the ESM a political issue indicates the degree to which political relationships are breaking down in the EU. And once the political relationships break down... so will the Euro.

Indeed, Germany has no choice. If it decides to prop up Spain it will receive a ratings downgrade (something which France is about to experience anyway). Europe with a downgraded Germany is not a pretty sight.

Moreover, Germany's decision to prop up the Euro is finally beginning to arouse furor from the German population. In particular, the below story which reveals that Germany has in fact put German taxpayers on the hook for over €2 trillion in back-door EU rescue measures could be the proverbial tipping point that sends German voters over the edge.

German tempers boil over back-door euro rescues

Professor Hans-Werner Sinn, head of Germany's IFO Institute, said German taxpayers are facing a dangerous rise in credit risk from a plethora of bail-out schemes. "The euro-system is near explosion," he told Austria's Economics Academy on Thursday.

Dr Sinn said Germany is on the hook for much of the €2.1 trillion (£1.72 trillion) in rescue measures for EMU debtors- often by the backdoor- that will saddle Germans with ruinous losses one day.

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This entry was posted on May 10, 2012 at 4:03 PM and has received 782 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

I am enjoying Cusco Peru a lot! I hired a personal Spanish teacher (who is called Luz) who is helping me improve my pronunciation and grammar - only S/ 15 (Approx $6) per hour :-) I am fluent enough for every day conversation and reading magazines and books (slowly!) and am now practicing my writing too. ¡He mastrando una classe de Kundalini Yoga todas las Lunes a la Healing House con 12 studentes - está muy linda!

I have had a several "colds" recently that didn't feel like a traditional cold - blocked sinuses, dizzy feeling around my head and shoulders, apathy, strange sleep and eating patterns. All cured when I got some energy healing. Have you been feeling strange recently? Tired, dizzy, headaches, "colds" that seem different from traditional sickness, feeling disoriented, apathy, loss of focus? You might have been self treating these symptoms with increases in addictive behaviors such as junk food, sugar, extra TV, coffee, chocolate, alcohol, drugs...

It might be that you are feeling the effects of the rapid changes in the Earth's magnetic field happening this year. It is not just the mass animal and bird deaths (many animals use the magnetic field for direction finding) but also humans are affected. This effect seems to have increased in the last few months and will probably increase during the year as the magnetic field changes more, with (according to the International Space Agency) solar activity sometimes deleting the Earth's magnetic field completely.

"A number of important findings already have emerged. For example, changes in the earth’s magnetic field are associated with changes in brain and nervous system activity; performance of athletic, memory and other tasks; sensitivity in a wide range of extrasensory perception experiments; synthesis of nutrients in plants and algae; the number of reported traffic violations and accidents; mortality from heart attacks and strokes; and incidence of depression and suicide. It’s interesting to note that changes in geomagnetic conditions affect the rhythms of the heart more strongly than all the physiological functions studied so far"

From http://www.glcoherence.org/monitoring-system/about-system.html

What to do? This article suggests tuning into the changes so that we can adapt ourselves to the new magnetic fields more easily. How to become more aware?

• yoga
• meditation
• bodywork and energy healing
• clearing old patterns and beliefs that keep you stuck, even clearing clutter!
• sound therapy (eg singing bowls, Om chanting)
• listen to your soul instead of tuning it out with addications
• accept weird variations in food requirements, sleep and daily patterns that may occur as you adjust
• live in the "now" and be flexible (great advice for all 2012 changes occurring!)

Good luck adapting and let me know what your experiences are?

This entry was posted on May 8, 2012 at 11:24 PM and has received 1194 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.