Mercury Soapbox

Instant Cup Noodle Robot

Thu, 16 May 2013 11:20:06 -0400

Instant Cup Noodle Robot

scoutingny: CAN YOU DIG IT?? Full post coming Monday….

Thu, 16 May 2013 11:13:49 -0400

scoutingny:

CAN YOU DIG IT??

Full post coming Monday….

thepeoplesrecord: Dr. Vandana Shiva: the “GOLDEN RICE” hoax -...

Wed, 15 May 2013 11:10:37 -0400

thepeoplesrecord:

Dr. Vandana Shiva: the “GOLDEN RICE” hoax - when public relations replaces science to promote a technology for creating Vitamin A deficiency
May 15, 2013

Golden rice has been heralded as the miracle cure for malnutrition and hunger of which 800m members of the human community suffer. Herbicide resistant and toxin producing genetically engineered plants can be objectionable because of their ecological and social costs. But who could possibly object to rice engineered to produce vitamin A, a deficiency found in nearly 3 million children, largely in the Third World?

As remarked by Mary Lou Guerinot, the author of the Commentary on Vitamin A rice in Science, one can only hope that this application of plant genetic engineering to ameliorate human misery without regard to short term profit will restore this technology to political acceptability. Unfortunately, Vitamin A rice is a hoax, and will bring further dispute to plant genetic engineering where public relations exercises seem to have replaced science in promotion of untested, unproven and unnecessary technology.

The problem is that vitamin A rice will not remove vitamin A deficiency (VAD). It will seriously aggravate it. It is a technology that fails in its promise. Currently, it is not even known how much vitamin JA the genetically engineered rice will produce. The goal is 33.3% micrograms/100g of rice. Even if this goal is reached after a few years, it will be totally ineffective in removing VAD.

Since the daily average requirement of vitamin A is 750 micrograms of vitamin A and 1 serving contains 30g of rice according to dry weight basis, vitamin A rice would only provide 9.9 micrograms which is 1.32% of the required allowance. Even taking the 100g figure of daily consumption of rice used in the technology transfer paper would only provide 4.4% of the RDA.

In order to meet the full needs of 750 micrograms of vitamin A from rice, an adult would have to consume 2 kg 272g of rice per day. This implies that one family member would consume the entire family ration of 10 kg. from the PDS in 4 days to meet vitaminA needs through “Golden rice”.

This is a recipe for creating hunger and malnutrition, not solving it.

Besides creating vitamin A deficiency, vitamin A rice will also create deficiency in other micronutrients and nutrients. Raw milled rice has a low content of Fat (0.5g/100g). Since fat is necessary for vitamin A uptake, this will aggravate vitamin A deficiency. It also has only 6.8g/100g of protein, which means less carrier molecules. It has only 0.7g/100g of iron, which plays a vital role in the conversion of beta-carotene (precursor of vitamin A found in plant sources) to vitamin A. Superior Alternatives exist and are effective.

A far more efficient route to removing vitamin A deficiency is biodiversity conservation and propagation of naturally vitamin A rich plants in agriculture and diets.

The following is a list of sources rich in vitamin A which are used commonly in Indian foods. (microgram/100g)

(Amaranth leaves) Chauli saag= 266-1,166 -

(Coriander leaves) – Dhania = 1,166-1,333

(Cabbage) Bandh gobi = 217

(Curry leaves)-Curry patta = 1,333

(Drumstick leaves)-Saijan patta1 = 283

(Fenugreek leaves)-Methi-ka-saag = 450

(Radish leaves)-Mooli-ka-saag = 750

(Mint)-Pudhina = 300

(Spinach)-Palak saag = 600

(Carrot)-Gajar=217-434

(Pumpkin (yellow))-Kaddu = 100-120

(Mango (ripe))-Aam = 500

(Jackfruit)-Kathal = 54

(Orange)-Santra = 35

(Tomato (ripe))-Tamatar = 32

(Milk (cow, buffalo))-Doodh = 50-60

(Butter)-Makkhan = 720-1,200

(Egg (hen))-Anda = 300-400

(Liver (Goat, sheep))-Kalegi = 6,600 - 10,000

Cod liver oil = 10,000 - 100,000

In spite of the diversity of plants evolved and bred for their rich vitamin A content, a report of the Major Science Academies of the World - Royal Society, U.K., National Academy of Sciences of the USA, The Third World Academy of Science, Indian National Science Academy, Mexican Academy of Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Brazilian Academy of Sciences - on Transgenic Plants and World Agriculture has stated, Vitamin A deficiency causes half a million children to become partially or totally blind each year.

Traditional breeding methods have been unsuccessful in producing crops containing a high vitamin A concentration and most national authorities rely on expensive and complicated supplementation programs to address the problem. Researchers have introduced three new genes into rice, two from daffodils and one from a microorganism. The transgenic rice exhibits an increased production of beta-carotene as a precursor to vitamin A and the seed in yellow in colour. Such yellow, or golden rice, may be a useful tool to help treat the problem of vitamin A deficiency in young children living in the tropics.

It appears as if the world’s top scientists suffer a more severe form of blindness than children in poor countries. The statement that “traditional breeding has been unsuccessful in producing crops high in vitamin A” is not true given the diversity of plants and crops that Third World farmers, especially women have bred and used which are rich sources of vitamin A such as coriander, amaranth, carrot, pumpkin, mango, jackfruit.

It is also untrue that vitamin A rice will lead to increased production of beta-carotene. Even if the target of 33.3 microgram of vitamin A in 100g of rice is achieved, it will be only 2.8% of beta-carotene we can obtain from amaranth leaves 2.4% of beta-carotene obtained from coriander leaves, curry leaves and drumstick leaves. Even the World Bank has admitted that rediscovering and use of local plants and conservation of vitamin A rich green leafy vegetables and fruits have dramatically reduced VAD threatened children over the past 20 years in very cheap and efficient ways. Women in Bengal use more than 200 varieties of field greens. Over a 3 million people have benefited greatly from a food based project for removing VAD by increasing vitamin A availability through home gardens. The higher the diversity crops the better the uptake of pro-vitamin A.

The reason there is vitamin A deficiency in India in spite of the rich biodiversity a base and indigenous knowledge base in India is because the Green Revolution technologies wiped out biodiversity by converting mixed cropping systems to monocultures of wheat and rice and by spreading the use of herbicides which destroy field greens.

In spite of effective and proven alternatives, a technology transfer agreement has been signed between the Swiss Government and the Government of India for the transfer of genetically engineered vitamin A rice to India.

The ICAR, ICMR, ICDS, USAIUD, UNICEF, WHO have been identified as potential partners. The breeding and transformation is to be carried out at Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, Central Rice Research Institute, Cuttack and Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana and University of Delhi, South Campus. The Indian varieties in which the vitamin A traits are expected to be engineered have been identified as IR 64, Pusa Basmati, PR 114 and ASD 16.

Dr. M.S. Swaminathan has been identified as “God father” to ensuring public acceptance of genetically engineered rice. DBT & ICAR are also potential partners for guaranteeing public acceptance and steady progress of the project.

Genetically engineered vitamin A rice will aggravate this destruction since it is part of an industrial agriculture, intensive input package. It will also lead to major water scarcity since it is a water intensive crop and displaces water prudent sources of vitamin A.

The first step in the technology transfer of vitamin A rice requires a need assessment and an assessment of technology availability. One assessment shows that vitamin A rice fails to pass the need test. The technology availability issue is related to whether the various elements and methods used for the construction of transgenic crop plants are covered by intellectual property rights. Licenses for these rights need to be obtained before a product can be commercialized. The Cornell based ISAAA (International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Application) has been identified as the partner for ensuring technology availability by ensuring technology availability by having material transfer agreements signed between the representative authority of the ICAR and the “owners” of the technology, Prof. I. Potrykus and Prof. P. Beyer.

In addition, Novartis and Kerin Breweries have patents on the genes used as constructs for the vitamin A rice. At a public hearing on Biotechnology at U.S. Congress on 29th June 2000, Astra-Zeneca stated they would be giving away royalty free licenses for the development of “Golden rice”.

At a workshop organized by the M. S. Swaminathan Research Foundation, Dr. Barry of Monsanto’s Rice Genome initiative announced that it will provide royalty-free licenses for all its technologies that can help the further development of “golden rice”.

Hence these gene giants Novartis, Astra-Zeneca and Monsanto are claiming exclusive ownership to the basic patents related to rice research. Further, neither Monsanto nor Astra - Zeneca said they will give up their patents on rice - they are merely giving royalty free licenses to public sector scientists for development of “golden rice”. This is an arrangement for a public subsidy to corporate giants for R&D since they do not have the expertise or experience with rice breeding which public institutions have.

Not giving up the patents, but merely giving royalty free licenses implies that the corporations like Monsanto would ultimately like to collect royalties from farmers for rice varieties developed by public sector research systems. Monsanto has stated that it expects long term gains from these IPR arrangements, which implies markets in rice as “intellectual property” which cannot be saved or exchanged for seed. The real test for Monsanto would be its declaration of giving up any patent claims to rice now and in the future and joining the call to remove plants and biodiversity out of TRIPS. Failing such an undertaking by Monsanto the announcement that Monsanto giving royalty free licenses for development of vitamin A rice like the rice itself can only be taken as a hoax to establish monopoly over rice production, and reduce rice farmers of India into bio-serfs.

While the complicated technology transfer package of “Golden Rice” will not solve vitamin A problems in India, it is a very effective strategy for corporate take over of rice production, using the public sector as a Trojan horse.

Source

Photos Source

terrysdiary: Me as a cappuccino.

Wed, 15 May 2013 10:59:09 -0400

terrysdiary:

Me as a cappuccino.

Fountain Sprays Water to Look Like a Boat

Mon, 13 May 2013 14:38:50 -0400

Fountain Sprays Water to Look Like a Boat

FLOATING CLOUD COUCH LEVITATES WITH MAGNETIC FORCE

Mon, 13 May 2013 12:39:30 -0400

FLOATING CLOUD COUCH LEVITATES WITH MAGNETIC FORCE

the greatest thing happened… lmfao… kanye west...

Mon, 13 May 2013 12:19:00 -0400

the greatest thing happened… lmfao… kanye west ROCKED his dome against a street sign cause he was too worried about avoiding cameras. good fo yo dumb ass

matt-molloy: 186 photos of the sunset merged into one image...

Sun, 12 May 2013 15:24:28 -0400

matt-molloy:

186 photos of the sunset merged into one image using the lighten layer-blending mode in photoshop. I like the pattern in the clouds created from the interval between shots.

Light Sculpture Produces Forest of Wild Tree Shadows

Sat, 11 May 2013 13:29:25 -0400

Light Sculpture Produces Forest of Wild Tree Shadows

tbch: Alternative Limb Project

Sat, 11 May 2013 13:25:28 -0400

tbch:

Alternative Limb Project

Daniella Zalcman creates an iPhone-based double exposure series...

Thu, 09 May 2013 11:22:48 -0400

Daniella Zalcman creates an iPhone-based double exposure series merging the cities of New York and London

thepeoplesrecord: There are now more Americans in jail than...

Thu, 09 May 2013 11:11:23 -0400

thepeoplesrecord:

There are now more Americans in jail than were in Stalin’s Gulag Archipelago
May 9, 2013

There are now more Americans in jail — 6 million — than there were in Stalin’s Gulag, reports Fareed Zakaria, in a column called “Incarceration Nation.”

And it’s not just a relative population thing.

The U.S. has 760 prisoners per 100,000 citizens. How does that compare to other countries?

It’s 7-10X as high:

Japan has 63 per 100,000,

Germany has 90 per 100,000

France has 96 per 100,000

South Korea has 97 per 100,000

Britain has 153 per 100,000

And it’s a rapidly exaggerating trend: In 1980, the U.S. only had 150 prisoners per 100,000 citizens. More than half of America’s 6 million prisoners are in jail for drug convictions, with 80% of those in jail for “possession.”

Source

Infographic Source

A VISUAL MESSAGE FROM BRAZ STREET ARTIST

Wed, 08 May 2013 14:00:51 -0400

A VISUAL MESSAGE FROM BRAZ STREET ARTIST

thepeoplesrecord: thepeoplesrecord: thepeoplesrecord: Richard...

Wed, 08 May 2013 13:53:32 -0400

thepeoplesrecord:

thepeoplesrecord:

thepeoplesrecord:

Richard Berman: if you see this man in public, please spit on him. If you serve him food ever in any restaurant, please do the people of the world a favor and defecate in it.
April 29, 2013

Yesterday we reblogged something from HumaneWatch.org, which was criticizing (& representing straight-up lies) against the humane society. One reader was kind enough to inform us that HumaneWatch is one of the many misinformation projects of Richard Berman’s. All of the above organizations are various projects run by Berman and Company, paid for by the ruling class, intended to spread misinformation & lies for the benefit of the ruling class.

Richard Berman is a Washington, D.C.-based hired propagandist who uses front groups to defend his corporate clients against the public interest. Using his lobbying and consulting firm, Berman and Company, as a revenue vehicle for his activities, Berman runs at least 23 industry-funded projects, such as the Center for Union Facts, and holds 24 “positions” within these various entities.

Make a mental note of the above organizations and keep in mind these brands. Never reblog (like I did) Berman and Company’s propaganda.

It was suggested to me that Charity Navigator is an honest & useful tool for actually evaluating how charities are spending their money. Here’s their information on The Humane Society of the United States. They have a 4 star rating.

The information in that post against the humane society was wrong, but it got 800+ notes (and we contributed to that count in a big way). Please reblog this & do some more reading/post your own posts about the propaganda campaigns Richard Berman is running to combat the misinformation.

I’m sorry we posted the original post, but let’s not allow this opportunity to expose this terrible organization go to waste.

http://bermanexposed.org/

—

The original post spreading misinformation is still about 100 notes ahead of this one. I think we can change that this morning.

Thanks for the help ya’ll, we did it.

More people (ideally) now know to spit on this man than know the fake facts from that scummy Tumblr post!

Obama May Back F.B.I. to Wiretap Web Users

Wed, 08 May 2013 13:50:03 -0400

Obama May Back F.B.I. to Wiretap Web Users:

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration, resolving years of internal debate, is on the verge of backing a Federal Bureau of Investigation plan for a sweeping overhaul of surveillance laws that would make it easier to wiretap people who communicate using the Internet rather than by traditional phone services, according to officials familiar with the deliberations.

The F.B.I. director, Robert S. Mueller III, has argued that the bureau’s ability to carry out court-approved eavesdropping on suspects is “going dark” as communications technology evolves, and since 2010 has pushed for a legal mandate requiring companies like Facebook and Google to build into their instant-messaging and other such systems a capacity to comply with wiretap orders.

thepeoplesrecord: The troubling viral trend of the “hilarious”...

Wed, 08 May 2013 13:49:07 -0400

thepeoplesrecord:

The troubling viral trend of the “hilarious” Black poor person
May 7, 2013

Charles Ramsey, the man who helped rescue three Cleveland women presumed dead after going missing a decade ago, has become an instant Internet meme. It’s hardly surprising—the interviews he gave yesterday provide plenty of fodder for a viral video, including memorable soundbites (“I was eatin’ my McDonald’s”) and lots of enthusiastic gestures. But as Miles Klee and Connor Simpson have noted, Ramsey’s heroism is quickly being overshadowed by the public’s desire to laugh at and autotune his story, and that’s a shame. Ramsey has become the latest in a fairly recent trend of “hilarious” black neighbors, unwitting Internet celebrities whose appeal seems rooted in a “colorful” style that is always immediately recognizable as poor or working-class.

Before Ramsey, there was Antoine Dodson, who saved his younger sister from an intruder, only to wind up famous for his flamboyant recounting of the story to a reporter. Since Dodson’s rise to fame, there have been others: Sweet Brown, a woman who barely escaped her apartment complex during a fire last year, and Michelle Clarke, who couldn’t fathom the hailstorm that rained down in her hometown of Houston, and in turn became “the next Sweet Brown.”

Granted, the buzzworthy tactic of reporters interviewing the most loquacious witnesses to a crime or other event is nothing new, and YouTube has countless examples of people of all ethnicities saying ridiculous things. One woman, for instance, saw fit to casually mention her breasts while discussing a local accident, while another man described a car crash with theatrical flair. Earlier this year, a “hatchet-wielding hitchhiker” named Kai matched Dodson’s fame with his astonishing account of rescuing a woman from a racist attacker. But none of those people have been subjected to quite the same level of derisive memeification as Brown, Clark, and now, perhaps, Ramsey—the inescapable echoes of “Hide yo’ kids, hide yo’ wife!” and “Kabooyaw,” the tens of millions of YouTube hits and cameos in other viral videos, even commercials.

It’s difficult to watch these videos and not sense that their popularity has something to do with a persistent, if unconscious, desire to see black people perform. Even before the genuinely heroic Ramsey came along, some viewers had expressed concern that the laughter directed at people like Sweet Brown plays into the most basic stereotyping of blacks as simple-minded ramblers living in the “ghetto,” socially out of step with the rest of educated America. Black or white, seeing Clark and Dodson merely as funny instances of random poor people talking nonsense is disrespectful at best. And shushing away the question of race seems like wishful thinking.

Ramsey is particularly striking in this regard, since, for a moment at least, he put the issue of race front and center himself. Describing the rescue of Amanda Berry and her fellow captives, he says, “I knew something was wrong when a little pretty white girl ran into a black man’s arms. Something is wrong here. Dead giveaway!”

The candid statement seems to catch the reporter off guard; he ends the interview shortly afterward. And it’s notable that among the many memorable things Ramsey said on camera, this one has gotten less meme-attention than most. Those who are simply having fun with the footage of Ramsey might pause for a second to actually listen to the man. He clearly knows a thing or two about the way racism prevents us from seeing each other as people.

Source

Now that you know this is a thing, please stop sharing these memes. Poor Black people speaking candidly about various serious incidents isn’t a hilarious joke.

thepeoplesrecord: anarcho-queer: Syria Cuts Off Internet As...

Wed, 08 May 2013 03:02:12 -0400

thepeoplesrecord:

anarcho-queer:

Syria Cuts Off Internet As Civil War Continues

Internet connections between Syria and the outside world were cut off on Tuesday, according to data from Google Inc and other global Internet companies.

Google’s Transparency Report pages showed traffic to Google services pages from the country, embroiled in a civil war that has lasted more than two years, suddenly stopping shortly before 3 p.m. EDT (1900 GMT). Google traffic reports continued to show no activity there about four hours after the drop-off.

“We’ve seen this twice before,” said Christine Chen, Google’s senior manager for free expression. “This happened in Syria last November and in Egypt during the Arab Spring.”

It is virtually impossible to definitely determine the cause of such disruptions unless a party claims responsibility, experts said. In the past, Syria’s government and the rebels fighting to topple it have traded blame.

Google’s data showed traffic disruptions limited to Syria and spanning the entire country. Shutting an entire nation from the Internet is possible because IP addresses, individual connections established by each device, are geographically specific and the government has control over the country’s Internet service providers.

From Anonymous: #OpSyria DialUp Access: User: telecomix | Password: telecomix +46850009990 +492317299993 +4953160941030

OR: +33172890150 | login: toto | password: toto

thepeoplesrecord: Russian protesters resist Putin’s repression...

Mon, 06 May 2013 12:07:03 -0400

thepeoplesrecord:

Russian protesters resist Putin’s repression on anniversary of brutal government terror
April 6, 2013

The Russian opposition is back at its main protesting spot in Moscow’s Bolotnaya (Swamp) Square, where an anti-Putin rally on May 6 last year resulted in massive protests against Putin’s violent political repression and in extreme police brutality as a result.

Thousands of opposition protesters are taking part in Monday’s sanctioned event called ‘For Freedom!’ Some 5,000 “law enforcers” have been deployed in the capital’s downtown to harass, terrorize, detain and abuse protesters for the second year in a row.

The main demand of the participants of the event organized by Russian opposition activists is the release of all political prisoners in the country. Those also include activists arrested as part of the ‘Bolotnaya case’ following last year’s rally on the square.

A day before Vladimir Putin’s inauguration as ‘president’, thousands took to streets to protest against election fraud, and to demand political reforms and a fresh vote. The sanctioned rally turned violent as police brutalized protesters at Putin’s command. Over 600 protesters were detained and over a dozen faced criminal charges ranging from inciting mass unrest to using violence against police. So far, two of the Bolotnaya Square protesters were sentenced to jail terms. The opposition maintains though that clashes were provoked by police.

On Sunday – as Orthodox believers celebrated Easter – the opposition held another sanctioned protest rally in the Russian capital. The event called ‘Freedom March’ was organized by the so-called Opposition Expert Council. Despite the initially-announced 10,000 participants, the gathering was joined by only around 400-500 participants and around a hundred journalists.

Source

Beauty of the Universe II - Colors

Mon, 06 May 2013 11:43:30 -0400

Beauty of the Universe II - Colors

what is dead may never die, lol

Mon, 06 May 2013 11:40:27 -0400

what is dead may never die, lol