ADIOS

I am now totally out of touch with Mike Pechar, owner of this blog.  So I have no idea about when he might resume posting, if ever he does.  My best guess from what I know is that he has gone blind.

I have tried to keep the blog going for him but it has got too much for me.  I put up six blogs of my own six days a week so my energies are already pretty stretched.

My general interest blog is A Western Heart and I think a lot of readers here might find that something of an alternative to this blog

Best wishes to all the readers here

John Ray

An incorrect sailing ship?

The appearance of a Chilean naval vessel in Sydney Harbour, which had been used as a “torture chamber” by the Pinochet regime, has sparked protests from Chilean-Australians who say it should be removed from service.

The Esmeralda, a four-masted tall ship that is nearly 400ft long, is in Sydney as part of its 61st training cruise and has been docked at Garden Island since Thursday morning.

Considered a national symbol of Chile, it is used as a sail training vessel by the country’s navy and spends about half the year sailing around the world.

But its tours have sparked controversy after a series of human rights reports revealed that the ship was used to detain victims of the Augusto Pinochet’s regime in September 1973.

A 1986 US Senate report suggesting that as many as 112 people – including 40 women – were held on the ship, with rape, electric shocks, mock executions and beatings among the crimes reportedly carried out on board.

The Chile Solidarity Committee, a Sydney-based organisation of about 50 people, intends to protest against the vessel’s appearance on Saturday.

“Regardless of what the present purpose of the ship is, crimes were committed there,” he said. “People got killed there".

SOURCE

That Pinochet was just giving Communists some of their own back is not mentioned.   Pinochet deposed a law-defying Marxist President at the express and desperate invitation of the Chilean parliament. Allende had just burnt the electoral rolls so it wasn't hard to see what was coming. That he used far-Leftist methods to suppress far-Leftist violence is reasonable if not ideal. The Leftist view that they should have a monopoly of violence and that others should follow the law is a total absurdity which shows only that their hate overcomes their reason

Asylum chief is fired in Denmark after lurid details emerge of several female workers having sex with 'children' at migrant centres



An asylum chief has been fired after lurid details emerged of several female workers having sex with children at a refugee centre.

Sisi Eibye, head of the asylum programme at Langeland Municipality in Denmark, was shown the door yesterday after it was revealed at least three officials knew for months that one employee of the Børnecenter Tullebølle children's asylum centre had engaged in sex acts with underage residents.

The acts were photographed and videoed showing her having oral sex with at least one refugee and full intercourse with one of the boys at the centre in Tranekær.

Officials believe the woman had sexual relationships with at least three boys at the centre, while two other female workers are believed to have violated boys at the centre.

The two women were sacked and police are investigating while Funen Police said it was looking into the details of the first woman, The Local reports.

Although there has been some debate over the ages of many migrants from the Middle East travelling with no papers and no way to verify their dates of birth, the Danish Immigration Service (DIS) last week announced it would shut down the children's centre amid the claims.

The initial details were leaked to Radio 24syv and yesterday police said: 'It is clear that we are taking this case very seriously.

'When one's role is to protect vulnerable children, this is a very serious allegation,' spokesman Sten Skovgaard Larsen told Radio 24syv.

Ms Eibye was not one of the three women involved in the sex acts.

Documents obtained by the radio station showed the claims were first reported to the DIS last week, but that at least three top municipal employees knew about them as early as June 10.

The troubled centre houses around 40 boys, and residents sparked a mass brawl last month in which an employee was hit with a metal pipe by a 15-year-old brawl.

In the summer, five teenagers from the centre were charged with sexual assaults at the Langelandsfestival where they allegedly groped and raped a 16-year-old girl.

A month before in July, there was another huge fight, this time involving boys from the centre and more than 100 other asylum seekers during a football match against another centre.

SOURCE  

Married teaching assistant, 37, admits performing a string of sex acts on a boy, 15, during a four-day school trip  



A married teaching assistant and mother-of-two has been warned she faces jail after admitting performing a string of sex acts on a 15-year-old boy during a school trip.

Jill Meldrum-Jones, 37, wept in the dock today as she pleaded guilty to a string of sex offences involving the teenage pupil over a four-day period last summer.

The mother, who has two children aged 12 and seven, worked at the victim's secondary school in Warwickshire, which cannot be named for legal reasons.

Today, Meldrum-Jones, of Kineton, Warwickshire, admitted five charges of sexual activity with a child between July 11 and July 14 last year at Warwick Crown Court.

One of the charges relates to the teacher performing oral sex on the boy while the court heard another two relate to her masturbating him.

She also pleaded guilty to two charges of causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity on July 12 and July 13 last year. The court heard these charges involved her allowing the boy to perform sex acts on her.

Meldrum-Jones, who had dyed her blonde hair to brunette and wore a white blouse in the dock, was told she would be sentenced on November 28.

Adjourning the case for a pre-sentence report, Judge Sylvia de Bertodana warned her a jail term was 'likely'.

She added: 'You have pleaded guilty to the majority of these matters, you will have to be dealt with by way of sentence.

'Clearly there needs to be a pre-sentence report for your benefit. 'I'm going to make a condition of your bail that you co-operate with probation in the preparation of that report.

'You need to come back here for sentence on November 28. If you don't attend you are committing an offence.

'Please don't take any indication that it won't be a custodial sentence, I'm afraid that it is a likely outcome so prepare yourself for that. 'Before you go you're going to have to sign the sex offenders' register.'

Meldrum-Jones sobbed in the dock as her barrister told the court she was only allowed supervised contact with her own two children.

But Judge de Bertodano amended her bail conditions to allow her to see her children unsupervised. She added: 'It's hard to see she is any risk to her own children from what I have read about this case. 'I really can't see why she can't take her own children out for a walk on her own.'

The court heard Meldrum-Jones, who is believed to have been suspended from work earlier this year, still lived with her husband and two children. Asked by the judge if she was staying at the family home, Daniel Oscroft, defending, said: 'She is but the husband is always there.'

Meldrum-Jones also denied one charge of sexual assault against a different teenager, also aged 15, between February 1 and February 28 this year.

Prosecutor Stefan Kolodynski asked the court for two weeks to 'canvass the complainant's family' before deciding whether to ask for it to be left on file.

Meldrum-Jones was released on bail with a condition not to approach colleagues at the school or the teenage victim. She is also not allowed unsupervised access with children under the age of 16, except her own, unless approved by social workers.

The teaching assistant refused to comment as she left court and got into a waiting car outside the main entrance.

SOURCE

Irresponsible peddlers of a Green/Left scare story get their just desserts

Fronted by Maryanne Demasi, the Australian ABC "Catalyst" program aired  a scare story saying that mobile phones and Wi-Fi caused health impacts including brain tumours. That caused an immediate outcry from the scientific community who know the evidence on such a hoary old nonsense.

The Catalyst staff should have known better.  The effect of electromagnetic radiation on health has been a big boogeyman for many years but the contrary evidence is huge. Notably: From the early days of mobile phones until now there has been no upsurge in brain cancer.  Now that mobiles are very widely used, we should be swimming in brain cancer cases by now.  But we are not. High or low levels of mobile phone use and the resultant radiation makes no difference. It's all just attention-seekers big-noting themselves

Staff on the ABC’s Catalyst program staff have been told by the ABC’s director of television Richard Finlayson that they will all be made redundant.

In a meeting at Ultimo attended by TV management and human resources the presenters and producers were told the magazine style program was ending.

A last-minute bid by senior ABC staff on Wednesday to overturn the board’s decision to axe Catalyst failed, sources told Guardian Australia.

The board had been presented with reasons why the ABC should continue to cover science properly with an in-house science unit.

An internal review after Catalyst presenter Maryanne Demasi’s Wi-Fried? program was found to have breached the ABC’s impartiality guidelines recommended the program be axed and Demasi and all the other staff be made redundant.

Finlayson told staff that nine people will lose their jobs and that the changes to Catalyst were not driven by the Demasi incident alone.

“For 2017, Catalyst will move from the current half-hour, magazine-style program structure to a one-hour documentary format, focused on high-impact, single-issue programs or series,” he said.

“It will be presented by leading science experts, chosen for the various programs. This shift will align Catalyst with world’s best practice for science programming. An embedded digital capability will deliver short-form content around each program and throughout the year to increase the ABC’s digital science offering on ABC and third party social platforms.

“Finally, we must recognise that Catalyst and its team have served our audiences and the science community well for many years. However, we need to do what we believe is best for audiences, and that means adjusting our approach to best meet their needs and the realities of a changing market. We will work closely with those staff impacted by these changes to ensure they are treated respectfully throughout this transition.”

Under the baord’s plan the award-winning program will be replaced by 17 one-hour science specials, mainly from the independent production sector, commissioned by new staff the ABC is going to hire.

The ABC staff union, the Community and Public Sector Union, was holding meetings with management and staff on Thursday morning.

A letter from the ABC section secretary, Sinddy Ealy, to management fell on deaf ears.

“Catalyst fills a unique and important place in Australian science journalism and we share concerns that a longer-format replacement would mean important and exciting scientific work was ignored,” Ealy said.

“It would be a huge disservice to the Australian public if the ABC’s strategy is to intentionally dumb down specialist content in favour of ratings.

“The changing media landscape means the importance of ABC’s specialist content has never been greater. We recognise that ABC should review its programs regularly, but they also need to ensure that quality specialist content and the staff behind that content are retained.”

Senior ABC program makers warned that ditching the weekly half-hour program and disbanding the science unit would lead to a dumbing down of science programming and in effect kill off Australian science on television.

Demasi has been on leave since a review of her Wi-Fried? program – which linked Wi-Fi and mobile phones with health risks including brain cancer – was found to have breached the ABC’s impartiality guidelines.

The discredited program was the second Catalyst story by Demasi to be found in breach of the ABC’s editorial policies and to be removed from the website. In 2013 Demasi kept her job despite an editorial breach for a program about statins.

SOURCE

Substitute teacher, 28, at private prep school 'plied student, 16, with alcohol and had sex with him after exchanging lewd messages over Snapchat'



A substitute teacher and administrator at a private Florida school was arrested on Friday after her co-workers told authorities that she had sex with one of her students.

Alicia Bromfield has been charged with unlawful sex with a minor and contributing to the delinquency of a minor after an official at The Crenshaw School in Gotha notified welfare workers at the Department of Children and Families about the alleged relationship, who in turn contacted the Orlando police.

WFTV reports that the 28-year-old allegedly picked up the student, 16, from his home in Kissimmee and then drove him to her Orlando apartment where she drank vodka with him before the two had sex.

Prior to that Bromfield, who divorced her husband of just over two years in June, had allegedly exchanged lewd photos with the boy on Snapchat.

The incident between Bromfield and the student occurred last month, and soon after she told some of her fellow workers what happened between the two.

Those individuals then told the attorney for the school, who contact the DCF hotline.

'There was alcohol involved. She provided the alcohol, he consumed it. Both parties were probably under the influence,' said Orlando police Sergeant Tami Edwards.

Bromfield, who is related to the student account manager at The Crenshaw School, began working at the prep school in August.

She was a substitute teacher for a brief while, and twice had the young boy she is accused of sleeping with in her class.

Bromfield then moved into a more administrative role at the school and began working in the front office.

The school has yet to comment on Bromfield's arrest.

After her arrest on Friday, Bromfield was released from the Orange County Jail when she posted $5,100 bail.

SOURCE  

Mother, 59, paralysed by back pain is cured by 20mile hikes wearing just a swimsuit



A mother who was inspired by a near-death experience to get 'body confident' and go on 20-mile hikes in just a bikini and boots is facing a backlash from other women.

Ann Wheeler, from Clayton-le-Woods, Lancashire, suffers from Cauda Equina syndrome - a rare spinal condition that can cause paralysis. The 59-year-old claims that the post-op experience motivated her to take up walking and wild swimming as natural pain management as she believes it is as strong as traditional painkillers.

However, since taking up hiking, Ann has encountered criticism online with some wives ordering their husbands to steer clear of her. 'I took a week off work and was due to hike with some male walkers from Essex but they said they couldn't because their wives had got wind of it.

The exercise has also helped Ann lose weight and she has gone from a size 16 to a slinky size 12.

Source

Sir David Attenborough: ‘Shoot’ Donald Trump and Leave Politics to the Experts

Why not shoot David Attenborough?  If he thinks murder is an appropriate solution to political disagreements he should perhaps be careful that someone does not apply that principle to him.  Looking at his comments below, it's hard to decide whether Sir David is a Fascist or a Communist

Sir David Attenborough, the veteran broadcaster and climate change alarmist, has attacked the involvement of voters in politics beyond elections, suggesting the only way to stop Donald Trump is to “shoot him” and that complex political questions like Brexit should be blocked by “wiser” politicians.

Condemning Mr. Trump’s climate-scepticism, Sir David asked: “Do we [foreigners] have any control or influence over the American election? Of course we don’t. We could shoot him… it’s not a bad idea.”

Whilst the Radio Times journalist conducting the interview suggested it was a joke met with “giggles”, such violent rhetoric from this liberal establishment figure and cultural icon may bbe seen as hypocritical.

Furthermore, Sir David went on to explain that he was deadly serious about his desire to block popular, elected individuals and decisions via undemocratic means.

“There’s confusion, isn’t there, between populism and parliamentary democracy,” he told the Radio Times, one of Britain’s widest-read and oldest magazines. “I mean, that’s why we’re in the mess we are with Brexit, is it not?”

“Do we really want to live by this kind of referendum?” he asked of the European Union (EU) plebiscite.

“What we mean by parliamentary democracy is surely that we find someone we respect who we think is probably wiser than we are, who is prepared to take the responsibility of pondering difficult things and then trust him – or her – to vote on our behalf,” Sir David continued.

He said he was concerned by Michael Gove’s EU referendum claims that the British people have had enough of experts. “That’s why politicians getting up and saying, ‘We’ve had enough of experts’ is so catastrophic,” he added.

Donald Trump may not be the only person Sir David believes would be better off dead. As a patron of the Population Matters, the veteran climate change alarmist is a subscriber to an organisation which in 2011 stated their goal of reducing the global population to a “sustainable” 5.1 billion. The present population is presently an estimated 7.4 billion.

Speaking in support of the aims of the group in 2012, the television personality said: “I can’t think of a single problem that wouldn’t be easier to solve if there were less people”.

SOURCE

Feminist witches are casting hexes on Donald Trump



American witches have come a long way since Salem and the trials of 1692, when the accusation of witchcraft got a lady hanged. Today, witching is in and sorceresses in the US and beyond are practicing magical activism to thwart The Donald’s bid for presidency.

Vermont’s Feminists Against Trump, a group of college professors in the state, is holding a pre-Halloween “witch-in” today in Burlington. They have issued a call to all crones and their black pussycats to join in the mass hexing to “cast magical spells of love and feminism to destroy the Great Orange One and the racism, xenophobia and sexism he feeds on.”

Source

Global cooling coming

From his study of climate cycles, prominent Russian climatologist Habibullo Abdussamatov can see signs that we are already on a cooling trajectory.  His latest paper below

The New Little Ice Age Has Started

H.I. Abdussamatov

Abstract

Since 1990, the Sun has been in the declining phase of the quasi-bicentennial variation in total solar irradiance (TSI). The decrease in the portion of TSI absorbed by the Earth since 1990 has remained uncompensated by the Earth's long-wave radiation into space at the previous high level because of the thermal inertia of the world's oceans. As a result, the Earth has, and will continue to have, a negative average annual energy balance and a long-term adverse thermal condition. The quasi-centennial epoch of the new Little Ice Age has started at the end 2015 after the maximum phase of solar cycle 24. The start of a solar grand minimum is anticipated in solar cycle 27 ± 1 in 2043 ± 11 and the beginning of phase of deep cooling in the new Little Ice Age in 2060 ± 11. The gradual weakening of the Gulf Stream leads to stronger cooling in the zone of its action in western Europe and the eastern parts of the United States and Canada. Quasi-bicentennial cyclic variations of TSI together with successive very important influences of the causal feedback effects are the main fundamental causes of corresponding alternations in climate variation from warming to the Little Ice Age.

SOURCE

Leftist logic

Facts and reason are so regularly subversive to Green/Left  claims that it is always amusing to read the commentaries they put up.  How do they get around  the pesky facts? Mainly by telling just half the truth.  There is a good example below.  The article was headed: "A New American Low: One Rule For The Whites, Another For Its First Peoples".  It's a desperate attempt to connect two totally unconnected things.  The article below is from "New Matilda" but there have been similar articles in "The Guardian" and some other Leftist organs.

The first thing covered below is the dispersal of protesters occupying private land in order to block construction of the Dakota access pipeline.  The pipeline is an important piece of infrastructure that will enable domestically produced crude oil from North Dakota to reach major refining markets in a more direct, cost-effective, safer and environmentally responsible manner. The pipeline will also reduce the current use of rail and truck transportation.  There is of course no mention of the environmental and safety benefits of the pipeline below.

The key claim, however, is that the removal of the "Sioux" protesters shows bias against these wonderful native people who mainly live on the taxpayer these days.  Whites would have been treated better, is the claim.  Again something is not mentioned -- something that completely blows apart the accusation of bias:  Most of the protesters were white, not Sioux!  And exactly the same methods were used to disperse both groups.  Both Sioux and whites were treated equally!  What a laugh!  Leftists quite cheerfully lie in their teeth.

The second event covered below is the exoneration of the Bundy brothers.  Sit-ins and protests are fine if you are black, Leftist or some other favoured group but sit-ins and protests by white ranchers protesting government oppression get absolutely NO sympathy below.  That good ol' double standard again. Apparently, the wrongness of what the Bundys did arises solely from their whiteness!  Just the usual Leftist obsession with race


Forget the US presidential race. Over the weekend, two things happened in the USA that define the nation better than a sexual assaulting Republican candidate and a deeply corrupt Democrat ever could.

The story goes like this: Protestors from the Sioux Nation, along with a growing band of supporters, have been facing off with state police against the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline in Standing Rock, North Dakota.

The pipeline is to carry oil, and traditional owners say it threatens lives and livelihoods, because of its proximity to the Missouri River, the life blood of a huge section of north and central America and the major river system that feeds into the Mississippi.

Over the weekend, about 250 protestors were outnumbered by more than 300 police, armed to teeth and driving armoured cars, Humvees and helicopters.

The police moved in – dozens of protestors were arrested, and some of them shot with rubber bullets, including this guy, who copped one in the face.

The situation is so grave, that Amnesty International has committed to sending impartial observers.

At the same time, a Portland (Oregon) jury came in with a verdict on the armed occupation of the Malheur Wildlife Reserve, which took place in January this year.

On January 2, dozens of heavily armed (predominantly white) ‘ranchers’ overran the government compound, and seized it in a coup that eventually led to one man being shot by police, and dozens arrested.

On Friday, seven of the white nationalist extremists, led by Ammon and Ryan Bundy, were acquitted of all charges of impeding federal officers in their duties. The jury was all white.

This despite an armed stand-off that lasted weeks, and included a call out from the terrorists for people to send “snacks”.

It’s not clear what, if any, effect the two incidents will have on the US presidential election. But more than likely, it’ll be none. Business as usual.

SOURCE

Do cranberries prevent burny pees?

There has been popular support for cranberries helping with urinary tract infections for a very long time.  But the research findings have been uneven. There has therefore been a wish for studies which would settle the question for once and for all. The abstract of the latest study is below.

It is undoubtedly a well-conducted study and a contemporaneous review has used it as something of a final nail in the coffin of clinical use of cranberry juice.

I wish to prise that nail out of the coffin, in part because I have personally found cranberry juice to be very efficacious. It doesn't happen often but, if I get a twinge of UTI, I rapidly belt a couple of mouthfuls of supermarket cranberry juice into me and the problem disappears.

So why is my experience different from what we read in the report below?  Several reasons.  For a start, I am not a sick and elderly woman living in a Connecticut nursing home.  More importantly, however, I take the juice as a cure, not as a preventive.  Its effects could wear off if you take it all the time.  Cranberries may not be able to prevent UTI but they could cure it.

I am also concerned that most of the studies administer the stuff in capsule form rather than as a drink. As a much-published academic researcher myself, I know exactly why they do that.  It enables standardization and replicability.  But what if the scientific precautions damage the effect?  What if capsules are not a good way of delivering the power of the cranberry?  To put it in academic terms, what if the finding is an artifact of the experimental method? What if capsules have processed all the goodness out of the cranberries? Health researchers are loud and frequent in condemning processed food generally, so how come cranberry capsules get a pass?

So it is my conclusion that most of the studies, including the one below, have been incautious despite themselves and have not examined the question adequately.  Drink up your cranberry juice!


Effect of Cranberry Capsules on Bacteriuria Plus Pyuria Among Older Women in Nursing Homes: A Randomized Clinical Trial

Manisha Juthani-Mehta et al.

Abstract

Importance:  Bacteriuria plus pyuria is highly prevalent among older women living in nursing homes. Cranberry capsules are an understudied, nonantimicrobial prevention strategy used in this population.

Objective:  To test the effect of 2 oral cranberry capsules once a day on presence of bacteriuria plus pyuria among women residing in nursing homes.

Design, Setting, and Participants:  Double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled efficacy trial with stratification by nursing home and involving 185 English-speaking women aged 65 years or older, with or without bacteriuria plus pyuria at baseline, residing in 21 nursing homes located within 50 miles (80 km) of New Haven, Connecticut (August 24, 2012-October 26, 2015).

Interventions:  Two oral cranberry capsules, each capsule containing 36 mg of the active ingredient proanthocyanidin (ie, 72 mg total, equivalent to 20 ounces of cranberry juice) vs placebo administered once a day in 92 treatment and 93 control group participants.

Main Outcomes and Measures:  Presence of bacteriuria (ie, at least 105 colony-forming units [CFUs] per milliliter of 1 or 2 microorganisms in urine culture) plus pyuria (ie, any number of white blood cells on urinalysis) assessed every 2 months over the 1-year study surveillance; any positive finding was considered to meet the primary outcome. Secondary outcomes were symptomatic urinary tract infection (UTI), all-cause death, all-cause hospitalization, all multidrug antibiotic–resistant organisms, antibiotics administered for suspected UTI, and total antimicrobial administration.

Results  Of the 185 randomized study participants (mean age, 86.4 years [SD, 8.2], 90.3% white, 31.4% with bacteriuria plus pyuria at baseline), 147 completed the study. Overall adherence was 80.1%. Unadjusted results showed the presence of bacteriuria plus pyuria in 25.5% (95% CI, 18.6%-33.9%) of the treatment group and in 29.5% (95% CI, 22.2%-37.9%) of the control group. The adjusted generalized estimating equations model that accounted for missing data and covariates showed no significant difference in the presence of bacteriuria plus pyuria between the treatment group vs the control group (29.1% vs 29.0%; OR, 1.01; 95% CI, 0.61-1.66; P = .98). There were no significant differences in number of symptomatic UTIs (10 episodes in the treatment group vs 12 in the control group), rates of death (17 vs 16 deaths; 20.4 vs 19.1 deaths/100 person-years; rate ratio [RR], 1.07; 95% CI, 0.54-2.12), hospitalization (33 vs 50 admissions; 39.7 vs 59.6 hospitalizations/100 person-years; RR, 0.67; 95% CI, 0.32-1.40), bacteriuria associated with multidrug-resistant gram-negative bacilli (9 vs 24 episodes; 10.8 vs 28.6 episodes/100 person-years; RR, 0.38; 95% CI, 0.10-1.46), antibiotics administered for suspected UTIs (692 vs 909 antibiotic days; 8.3 vs 10.8 antibiotic days/person-year; RR, 0.77; 95% CI, 0.44-1.33), or total antimicrobial utilization (1415 vs 1883 antimicrobial days; 17.0 vs 22.4 antimicrobial days/person-year; RR, 0.76; 95% CI, 0.46-1.25).

Conclusions and Relevance:  Among older women residing in nursing homes, administration of cranberry capsules vs placebo resulted in no significant difference in presence of bacteriuria plus pyuria over 1 year.

JAMA. Published online October 27, 2016. doi:10.1001/jama.2016.16141

Why does our planet experience an ice age every 100,000 years?

More Warmist rubbish -- confusing cause and effect again. Of course there was more CO2 dissolved in the oceans during cooler periods.  That is what cooler water does.  It dissolves more CO2.  Your Coca Cola would not fizz otherwise. So they really have no causal explanation at all for the matter they discuss

I add the journal abstract following the popular summary below.  The opening comments of the abstract indicate that the period of cyclicity was cooler  as a whole.  I quote: "The ~100 k.y. cyclicity of the late Pleistocene ice ages started during the mid-Pleistocene transition (MPT), as ice sheets became larger and persisted for longer"

Only a carefully dated tabulation of temperature and CO2 levels showing which changes came first could establish the theory they offer. They offer nothing of that sort.  They report on CO2 proxies only


Experts from Cardiff University have offered up an explanation as to why our planet began to move in and out of ice ages every 100,000 years.

This mysterious phenomena, dubbed the ‘100,000 year problem’, has been occurring for the past million years or so and leads to vast ice sheets covering North America, Europe and Asia. Up until now, scientists have been unable to explain why this happens.

Our planet’s ice ages used to occur at intervals of every 40,000 years, which made sense to scientists as the Earth’s seasons vary in a predictable way, with colder summers occurring at these intervals.

However there was a point, about a million years ago, called the ‘Mid-Pleistocene Transition’, in which the ice age intervals changed from every 40,000 years to every 100,000 years.

New research published today in the journal Geology has suggested the oceans may be responsible for this change, specifically in the way that they suck carbon dioxide (CO2) out of the atmosphere.

By studying the chemical make-up of tiny fossils on the ocean floor, the team discovered that there was more CO2 stored in the deep ocean during the ice age periods at regular intervals every 100,000 years.

This suggests that extra carbon dioxide was being pulled from the atmosphere and into the oceans at this time, subsequently lowering the temperature on Earth and enabling vast ice sheets to engulf the Northern Hemisphere.

Lead author of the research Professor Carrie Lear, from the School of Earth and Ocean Sciences, said: “We can think of the oceans as inhaling and exhaling carbon dioxide, so when the ice sheets are larger, the oceans have inhaled carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, making the planet colder. When the ice sheets are small, the oceans have exhaled carbon dioxide, so there is more in the atmosphere which makes the planet warmer.

“By looking at the fossils of tiny creatures on the ocean floor, we showed that when ice sheets were advancing and retreating every 100,000 years the oceans were inhaling more carbon dioxide in the cold periods, suggesting that there was less left in the atmosphere.”

Marine algae play a key role in removing CO2 from the atmosphere as it is an essential ingredient of photosynthesis.

CO2 is put back into the atmosphere when deep ocean water rises to the surface through a process called upwelling, but when a vast amount of sea ice is present this prevents the CO2 from being exhaled, which could make the ice sheets bigger and prolong the ice age.

“If we think of the oceans inhaling and exhaling carbon dioxide, the presence of vast amounts of ice is like a giant gobstopper. It’s like a lid on the surface of the ocean,” Prof Lear continued.

The Earth’s climate is currently in a warm spell between glacial periods. The last ice age ended about 11,000 years ago. Since then, temperatures and sea levels have risen, and ice caps have retreated back to the poles. In addition to these natural cycles, manmade carbon emissions are also having an effect by warming the climate.

SOURCE

Breathing more deeply: Deep ocean carbon storage during the mid-Pleistocene climate transition

Lear, Caroline et al.

Abstract

The ~100 k.y. cyclicity of the late Pleistocene ice ages started during the mid-Pleistocene transition (MPT), as ice sheets became larger and persisted for longer. The climate system feedbacks responsible for introducing this nonlinear ice sheet response to orbital variations in insolation remain uncertain. Here we present benthic foraminiferal stable isotope (d18O, d13C) and trace metal records (Cd/Ca, B/Ca, U/Ca) from Deep Sea Drilling Project Site 607 in the North Atlantic. During the onset of the MPT, glacial-interglacial changes in d13C values are associated with changes in nutrient content and carbonate saturation state, consistent with a change in water mass at our site from a nutrient-poor northern source during inter- glacial intervals to a nutrient-rich, corrosive southern source during glacial intervals. The respired carbon content of glacial Atlantic deep water increased across the MPT. Increased dominance of corrosive bottom waters during glacial intervals would have raised mean ocean alkalinity and lowered atmospheric pCO2. The amplitude of glacial-interglacial changes in d13C increased across the MPT, but this was not mirrored by changes in nutrient content. We interpret this in terms of air-sea CO2 exchange effects, which changed the d13C signature of dissolved inorganic carbon in the deep water mass source regions. Increased sea ice cover or ocean strati cation during glacial times may have reduced CO2 outgassing in the Southern Ocean, providing an additional mechanism for reducing glacial atmospheric pCO2. Conversely, following the establishment of the ~100 k.y. glacial cycles, d13C of interglacial northern-sourced waters increased, perhaps re ecting reduced invasion of CO2 into the North Atlantic following the MPT.

SOURCE

Do religious people understand the world LESS? Study claims belief in God makes you struggle with reality

Annika M. Svedholm-Häkkinen is a prolific publisher on religious matters but this piece suggests to me that she knows very little of Christianity:  A rather large lacuna, one would think. Her findings below sound methodologically acceptable but her interpretation of them is naive.  

She falls victim to the logical fallacy that correlation is causation.  She thinks that the unscientific thinking of Christians lies behind their poor knowledge of science.  It probably does, but not in the way she thinks.  Her clear opinion is that her findings show Christians as a bit dumb and intellectually deficient -- with those limitations also explaining their religiousness.  So once again we have Leftist academics trying to show that religion is stupid (Islam excepted, of course).

But an equally possible interpretation of the findings is that faith leads to reduced interest in science. Annika M. Svedholm-Häkkinen is apparently unaware that Christ said, "My kingdom is not of this world" and that Christians follow on from that by slighting physical world matters in favour of an interest in what they see as metaphysical matters.

I am an extreme atheist.  I agree with Carnap that all metaphysical statements are meaningless.  But that is just my opinion. Most of the world does find some metaphysical statements persuasive.  So we will have situations where a Christian spends his time on his knees in prayer rather than hunched over a laboratory bench. The Bible will be of interest where a  Bunsen burner is not. And both will learn different things from those different experiences

So I would argue that the results tell us only that Christians and unbelievers have different interests.  They do not tell us anything about mental inadequacies in religious believers.

I am just speaking basic science is saying that we would need some sort of before and after experiment to isolate the causal direction. A survey cannot do that

I have added the journal abstract after the summary below


A new study has suggested that religious people are more likely to have a poor understanding of the world.

It claims that those with a belief in God are more likely to think that inanimate objects, such as metal and oil can think and feel.

Researchers say that the findings suggest people's lack of understanding about the physical world means they apply their own rules, 'resulting in belief in demons, gods, and other supernatural phenomena'.

The study comes from the University of Helsinki, where researchers went as far as comparing religious people with those with autism, after finding they struggle to understand the realities of the world.

People with strong religious beliefs tended to have a worse understanding of physical phenomenon, such as volcanoes and wind, and were more likely to believe that inanimate objects can think and feel.

For example, religious people tended to agree with statements such as 'stones sense the cold.'

Marjaana Lindeman and Annika Svedholm-Häkkinen, who led the study, told The Independent: 'The more the participants believed in religious or other paranormal phenomena, the lower their intuitive physics skills, mechanical and mental rotation abilities, school grades in mathematics and physics, and knowledge about physical and biological phenomena were.'

The study involved 258 Finnish participants, who were asked how much they agreed with the statement 'there exists an all-powerful, all-knowing, loving God' and if they believed in paranormal phenomena such as ghosts and psychic visions.

They were also tested on a range of other topics, including intuitive physics skills and understanding of basic biology.

The results showed that religious people tend to base their actions on instinct, rather than analytical thinking.

A study in 2013 by researchers at the University of Rochester suggested that religious people tend to have a lower IQ.

It suggested that those with high IQs had greater self-control and were able to do more for themselves - so did not need the benefits that religion provides.

But other studies have also found the religious people tend to be happier than those who do not believe in God.

SOURCE

Does Poor Understanding of Physical World Predict Religious and Paranormal Beliefs?

Marjaana Lindeman and Annika M. Svedholm-Häkkinen

Summary

Although supernatural beliefs often paint a peculiar picture about the physical world, the possibility that the beliefs might be based on inadequate understanding of the non-social world has not received research attention. In this study (N = 258), we therefore examined how physical-world skills and knowledge predict religious and paranormal beliefs. The results showed that supernatural beliefs correlated with all variables that were included, namely, with low systemizing, poor intuitive physics skills, poor mechanical ability, poor mental rotation, low school grades in mathematics and physics, poor common knowledge about physical and biological phenomena, intuitive and analytical thinking styles, and in particular, with assigning mentality to non-mental phenomena. Regression analyses indicated that the strongest predictors of the beliefs were overall physical capability (a factor representing most physical skills, interests, and knowledge) and intuitive thinking style.

issue TOC Volume 30, Issue 5, September/October 2016, Pages 736–742

A Perth chef has created a 28kg sculpture of an exotic dragon made entirely from margarine



Angela Stanfield, who works as an apprentice chef at Crown Perth, created the 28kg sculpture for an international culinary competition in Germany, reported WA Today. The sculpture is of a dragon with large feathery wings and a curled tail, crouching next to another sculpture of a gnarled tree with golden eggs sitting at its base.

The 20-year-old took part in the World IKA Culinary Olympics along with seven other chefs as part of the WA Youth Culinary team. Despite it being only her second attempt at the art of margarine sculpting, Ms Stanfield won a bronze medal for her creation.

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Drunk leftist launches peanut butter assault on what she thought was a Trump rally



Unfortunately for Wisconsin liberal Christina Ferguson, she was so drunk that what she attacked was actually a local environmentalist event. The hilariously inept episode of liberal rage started at 9:30 p.m., when Ferguson barged into a meeting of the Tomorrow River Conservation Club, a local environmentalist group.

Witness tell police Ferguson began screaming about how much she hated Donald Trump. According to the Portage County Sheriff Department’s report, she was holding a “family-size jar of low-sodium, creamy natural Jif.”

She was asked to leave the meeting, but attendees decided to check the parking lot to “make sure she wasn’t doing anything to their vehicles after leaving,” the Independent reports. They found Ferguson smearing peanut butter on cars, still convinced she was seeing Trump supporters.

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Married female teacher, 33, at elite Sydney Grammar 'had sex four times with 17-year-old male student at the school and twice at her home'

An elite private school female teacher, 33, allegedly had sex with a 17-year-old boy six times.

The pair allegedly had sex four times at the school, Sydney Grammar in Darlinghurst, and at her home twice during their relationship between January and March this year, The Daily Telegraph reported.

In September, the student revealed the relationship to a school counsellor.

A police source also said the teacher - who is pregnant - had sought medical care after the relationship, according to the Telegraph.

The original non-publication order protecting the school's identity was dropped on Tuesday, while one remains in place for the identity of the teacher and the student involved, the Downing Centre Local Court heard.

The court heard the pair sometimes were alone together when working on extracurricular activities.

Magistrate Jacqueline Milledge said publishing the name of the school was of interest to those attending the school and may encourage any other victims to come forward.

The teacher did not appear and did not enter a plea to the six counts of sexual intercourse with a person under care between 17 and 18 years, and one of indecent assault.

Sydney Grammar released a statement on Tuesday confirming New South Wales Police had charged a staff member 'with serious misconduct of a sexual nature'.

The teacher has been suspended and ordered to have no contact with students until the outcome of legal proceedings.

Last week she appeared in the Newtown Local Court - supported by her husband - and granted bail when her mother posted a $30,000 surety.

Sydney Grammar charges fees of $32,644 per year per student.

SOURCE

Black dancing talent on display



The burns were allegedly minor

British mother, 40, who sent explicit pictures and sexts to a boy, 15, and then dismissed it as 'banter' is jailed for two years  



A mother who exchanged explicit pictures with a 15-year-old boy because she was 'flattered' by the attention has been jailed for two years.

Claire Dinsdale, 40, from Willington, County Durham, sent 'sexually charged' messages to the teenager, which she dismissed as 'banter' when questioned by police.

Despite being handed a court order last year that prohibited her from contacting him, she continued to exchange messages with the boy until April this year.

Dinsdale pleaded guilty to charges of abducting a child, inciting a child to engage in sexual activity and making an indecent photograph of a child at Teesside Crown Court.

The prosecution said they were unable to prove any sexual activity took place between them, with the victim refusing to provide a statement.  

Dinsdale and the boy met a few years ago and began to keep in contact on Facebook.

After concern from the boy's father, Dinsdale was handed a 'harbouring notice' last year prohibiting her from contacting the boy. Despite this, the pair continued to exchange 'sexually charged' messages. The court heard they also exchanged explicit pictures.

Police also found the boy at her property on three occasions while trying to locate him.

The inappropriate relationship carried on until April this year when Dinsdale was remanded in custody for being in breach of her bail conditions, which stated she was to stay away from her victim.

Jo Kidd, prosecuting, said: 'The messages indicated [the boy] repeatedly asking for sexual activity. 'Her responses indicate that it would be the order of the day. He messaged her saying "I want a sh*g when I come round" to which she replied "yes". '

Judge Phillips remarked that there was 'no discouragement whatsoever' from the defendant.

In a victim impact statement from the boy's father, he said that he believes his son's behaviour has significantly deteriorated as a result of his contact with Dinsdale.

Dan Cordey, defending, told the court that after the breakdown of an eight year 'controlling and abusive' relationship, Dinsdale had found herself to have low self-esteem and no self confidence.

He said: 'I hope to point out that this is a naive woman who after a very difficult time in her life, was flattered by the attention of this young man.

'She fully recognises now that she should have not been flattered by that. She realises it was entirely inappropriate.'

He stressed that no sexual activity ever took place.

He also told the court that Dinsdale has found being remanded in custody for the last six months incredibly difficult as other inmates treat her 'like a sex offender' and want nothing to do with her.

He added: 'This was not a very young boy. He was relatively mature for his years. 'One just has to look at some of his language in the messages to get an indication of his level of maturity.'

Two charges of causing a child to watch a sexual act and meeting a child following sexual grooming were dropped by the prosecution.

Judge Phillips told Dinsdale: 'It is not realistic to say that sexual activity was not something you thought about.

'The most concerning feature of this case is the boy's age. You had more than two months of sexual communication despite knowing his age. 'You have taken advantage of his vulnerability and done so in a persistent manner.

'The totality of the affect is that it has had a very negative effect on him and his family.'

SOURCE  

Senior British policewoman 'had a drunken row with a colleague over whose breasts were most attractive'



Assistant Chief Constable Rebekah Sutcliffe, 47, faces claims that she exposed her bosom during a late-night row and could be sacked if found guilty of gross misconduct.

ACC Sutcliffe argued with her junior colleague Superintendent Sarah Jackson at the Hilton hotel bar. It is claimed ACC Sutcliffe told her colleague she was ‘pandering to men’ by having cosmetic surgery, and tried to prove her own breasts were better by exposing them.

They were reported to bosses by a witness, and initially both were told they faced investigation over alleged inappropriate behaviour.

Social media photos show ACC Sutcliffe ‘opened the gala event’ at one night of the conference, standing near Supt Jackson at a party where wine flowed freely.

Supt Jackson has been told she is in the clear. If the case against ACC Sutcliffe were proven, she would be hit with sanctions ranging from ‘management advice’ to dismissal.

Source