How time flies!
Category Archives: Miscellaneous
Nepalese Hand-made Articles Export.
Some time ago my friend Gerry opened his store Woven Stories, which has been going strong. I put him into contact with another one of my friends from Nepal, Kiran Acharya, and they started working together to their mutual satisfaction. Gerry is now importing Kiran’s goods on a regular basis and has found him to be a dependable and trustworthy business partner.
If anyone reading this would like to import handmade Nepalese goods from Kiran or recommend him to a friend or a business you know, please do not hesitate. Kiran’s home was destroyed in the last earthquake and can use all the business that we might be able to send his way. This is YOUR opportunity to make a difference!
Here are just some of the products he exports:
And here are some more:
Who Got There First!!!? Fess Up!
From FB:
I Ain’t No Fool! – LOL
From FB:
More Evidence: Marijuana Causes Cancer Cells To Commit Suicide
From http://anonhq.com/more-evidence-marijuana-causes-cancer-cells-to-commit-suicide/
Christina Sanchez, a molecular biologist from Compultense University in Madrid, first reported in 1998 that TetraHydroCannabinol (THC), the primary psychoactive component of cannabis, induces tumor cell suicide while leaving healthy non-tumor cells alone. She discovered that when exposed to THC, tumor cells not only ceased to multiply and proliferate but also destroyed themselves, both in lab tests and animal trials.
A Harvard study from 2007, which remains the most comprehensive ever released on THC’s potential to combat tumors, also found that in just three weeks, doses of THC were able to cut lung cancer tumor growth in half in mice subjects and were able to reduce cancer lesions by even more.
Chemical components of Cannabis, called cannabinoids, activate specific receptors found throughout the body to produce pharmacologic effects, particularly in the central nervous system and the immune system. Commercially available cannabinoids, dronabinol and nabilone, are FDA approved drugs for the treatment of cancer-related side effects.
When inhaled or consumed, cannabis cannabinoids are incorporated into the body’s natural endocannabinoid system that regulates a lot of biological functions such as appetite, food intake, motor behavior, and reproduction among others. Because of this, tumor cells are thrust into a state of apoptosis, meaning they self-destruct.
To read more click the link at the top!
More info: http://www.trueactivist.com/marijuana-kills-cancer-cells-admits-us-national-cancer-institute/
Thanking Dogs Festival in Nepal.
From http://anonhq.com/there-is-an-anual-festival-in-nepal-that-thanks-dogs-for-being-our-friends/
* Note from Ralphie: Why don’t we start this everywhere??? *
There Is An Anual Festival In Nepal That Thanks Dogs For Being Our Friends
There is an entire day during a festival in Nepal that is entirely dedicated to dogs. It’s called the Kukur Tihar or Kukur Puja where Hindu citizens celebrate man’s loyal best friend. On this day, the dogs are spoiled with love and attention to thank them for their loyalty and friendship.
This is the type of festival that people would like go to, can someone please send China the memo?
We also recently reported on a different kind of dog festival in China called Yulin festival, where more than 10,000 dogs are tortured and cooked before being served to festival goers. However, a 65-year-old retired teacher paid more than a $1000 to save 100 dogs that she now house at her animal shelter.
It is called Kukur Tihar or Kukur Puja (worship of the dogs).
People offer garlands, tika, and delicious food to dogs, and acknowledge the cherished relationship between humans and dogs.
What If The Shoe Were On The Other Foot? – LOL
Stop Internet Censorship, Vote Now!
Putting a secret deal like the Trans-Pacific Partnership on a Fast Track is absurdly undemocratic. There’s no public oversight, and to us, that’s just not okay. The Internet Vote on Thursday is the opposite of that — it’s a day to remind lawmakers that transparency and openness are how politics are supposed to work.
This is the same tactic that we’ve used as the backbone of our campaigns to stop SOPA, defeat CISPA, and win net neutrality. So, we know it works.
We also know that to make it powerful enough, we need people like you with websites, blogs, and tumblrs to be the frontrunners, leaders, and heroes on this. It’s the key ingredient to raising the bar and making sure the Internet shows up in numbers that Washington can’t ignore.
A Different History?
History as we know it has done a great disservice to its true heroes. Is it merely a record of a series of victories of one people over another, where the winners are called heroes? Then it is a misrepresentation of the facts! For this is but the outcome of a series of conflicts between the aggressors in one group against the aggressors of another, where usually the majority of the population of both groups would much rather be left alone to live their lives in peace.
What if we were to ignore the aggressors and write a history of the meek? The aggressors will in the end always lose, because of the immutable truth that an act of kindness always outweighs one of cruelty, which is somehow encoded into the human genome and will ever cause love to prevail over hate. Any tyranny, however long, will inevitably crumble because of our simple humanity.
Every other eon a shining beacon pops up and all are drawn to it. And however much the aggressors seek to either pervert it or use it for their own ends, the core of the message is never lost, that kindness is stronger than might. We need no books or laws to know this in our bones. Forget about kings and knights and men bearing arms, the true heroes of history are those who seek nothing but the welfare of others, for whom lying, cheating or the taking of a life is anathema. We salute you all, whatever your nationality, gender or the colour of your skin.
New Alzheimer’s treatment fully restores memory function!
From sciencealert.com:
Australian researchers have come up with a non-invasive ultrasound technology that clears the brain of neurotoxic amyloid plaques – structures that are responsible for memory loss and a decline in cognitive function in Alzheimer’s patients.
If a person has Alzheimer’s disease, it’s usually the result of a build-up of two types of lesions – amyloid plaques, and neurofibrillary tangles. Amyloid plaques sit between the neurons and end up as dense clusters of beta-amyloid molecules, a sticky type of protein that clumps together and forms plaques.
Neurofibrillary tangles are found inside the neurons of the brain, and they’re caused by defective tau proteins that clump up into a thick, insoluble mass. This causes tiny filaments called microtubules to get all twisted, which disrupts the transportation of essential materials such as nutrients and organelles along them, just like when you twist up the vacuum cleaner tube.
As we don’t have any kind of vaccine or preventative measure for Alzheimer’s – a disease that affects 343,000 people in Australia, and 50 million worldwide – it’s been a race to figure out how best to treat it, starting with how to clear the build-up of defective beta-amyloid and tau proteins from a patient’s brain. Now a team from the Queensland Brain Institute (QBI) at the University of Queensland have come up with a pretty promising solution for removing the former.
Publishing in Science Translational Medicine, the team describes the technique as using a particular type of ultrasound called a focused therapeutic ultrasound, which non-invasively beams sound waves into the brain tissue. By oscillating super-fast, these sound waves are able to gently open up the blood-brain barrier, which is a layer that protects the brain against bacteria, and stimulate the brain’s microglial cells to activate. Microglila cells are basically waste-removal cells, so they’re able to clear out the toxic beta-amyloid clumps that are responsible for the worst symptoms of Alzheimer’s.
Study: Here’s How Cannabis Helps Your Body Fight Off Cancer!
From http://reset.me/
A study in the journal Biochemical Pharmacology, published July 2014, elaborates upon a unique mechanism of cannabinoids’ anti-cancer activity. It is notable for demonstrating how cannabinoids work synergistically with the body’s immune system to stop cancer, unlike traditional treatments which destroy the immune system in the process of stopping cancer.
Researchers tested the effects of CBD, THC, and an endocannabinoid analogue called methanandamide on two lung cancer cell lines, A549 and H460, along with cells from a lung cancer patient. It found these compounds increased expression of intercellular adhesion molecule 1 (ICAM-1) on the cancer cells, which made them more susceptible to white blood cells called lymphokine-activated killer cells (LAK). However, normal cells were not affected this way, showing yet again that cannabinoids can selectively target abnormal cells while leaving healthy tissue alone.
LAK cells are a very powerful part of the body’s natural anti-cancer defense system. In fact, direct administration of LAK cells has been tested for cancer treatment, along with interleukin-2, a cellular signaling protein that activates LAK cells. This has shown promise, but like most pharmaceutical interventions there are unpleasant side effects. Using cannabinoids is a safer and potentially more effective way to take advantage of the body’s natural LAK cells.
Stop Big Pharma! – Petition
https://secure.avaaz.org/en/save_cheap_medicines_loc_/?crPMlcb
500,000
366,563
366,563 have signed. Let’s get to 500,000
President Obama’s visit to India in days could spell life or death for millions of poor people in Asia, Africa and Latin America, but if we move fast we can ensure they can still get the medicines they need.
India produces cheap HIV, malaria and cancer drugs, but Big Pharma wants to stop this, to sell their own products at higher prices. Their fierce lobby has got the US to push their line hard, even threatening trade sanctions if India doesn’t change its patent laws which put people before profits. Now pressure is rising as talks begin on a new investment treaty.
Before Obama flies, let’s build a million-strong call to protect India’s proud role as the pharmacy to the world’s poor, make it a mega media story while he is there and then deliver it with our own common sense trade plan developed by experts that protects access to medicine. Add your name now. To sign click the link at the top!!!P
Something to Think About…
From http://anonhq.com/:
Less Than 2% Terrorist Acts Have Been Committed By Muslims In Europe & US
Are all terrorists Muslims? Or all Muslims are terrorists? Well, open your eyes, read, and think again. Not all Muslims are terrorists. Yes, agree but the number is not even close to what many think. The fact is in the last five years, less than 2% of all terrorist attacks in the European Union were “religiously motivated”.
A ThinkProgress analysis puts forth these surprising but real figures for the West and conservatives to ponder:
- In 2013, there were 152 terrorist attacks in EU countries. Two of them were religiously motivated.
- In 2012, there were 219 terrorist attacks in EU countries. Six of them were religiously motivated.
- In 2011, none of the 174 terrorist attacks in EU countries were affiliated or inspired by terrorist organizations.
- In 2010, there were 249 terrorist attacks in EU countries. Three of them were considered by Europol to be Islamist.
- In 2009, of 294 terrorist attacks in EU countries, only one was related to Islamist militancy.
The Charlie Hebdo massacre incited shock, disgust and horror across the world. However, in the global outburst of solidarity and denunciation of cruelty, a fact was lost that so few of the terrorist attacks carried out in European Union countries were actually related to Islamist militancy. A majority of terrorist acts in EU, in reality, were carried out by separatist organizations.
To read more click the link at the top!
Advice on Stress Management.
2014 in review
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2014 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
The concert hall at the Sydney Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 45,000 times in 2014. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 17 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.
FREE MAURITANIA’S ANTI-SLAVERY ACTIVISTS! – Petition
From walkfree.org:
Biram Dah Abeid is a leading anti-slavery activist in Mauritania, the country with the highest prevalence of slavery in the world1. The organisation he founded, the Initiative for the Resurgence of the Abolitionist Movement2 has fought for the freedom of countless men, women and children.
Mauritania fully outlawed slavery in 2007 but has systematically failed to end it in practice. It has fallen to activists like Biram to fight for people’s’ freedom and they face regular harassment and harsh treatment in their campaigning.
As you read this Biram and his fellow activists are sitting in a prison cell for their work to end slavery in Mauritania — and we need your help to secure justice. A huge wave of international pressure now could force the Mauritanian government to prioritize ending slavery and stop the harassment of anti-slavery activists.
Please call on the Mauritanian government to free Biram Dah Abeid and his fellow anti-slavery activists.
To sign the petition, please <click here!>
Safety Hazard! – LOL
‘Witch bottle’ found in Newark.
From nottinghampost.com:
‘Witch bottle’ found on building site for National Civil War Centre in Newark
ARCHAEOLOGISTS have found a bottle used hundreds of years ago to ward off witches and evil spirits.
The “witch bottle” was found during a dig to pave the way for the £5.4m restoration of the Old Magnus Building by Newark and Sherwood District Council.
The grade two listed structure on Appletongate will house the UK’s first National Civil War Centre when it opens in spring next year, backed by £3.5m from the Heritage Lottery Fund.
The 15-centimetre green glass bottle probably dates from the 1700s. Similar bottles were once filled with fingernails, hair and even urine, all contents linking a building with its owner, to ward off witches’ spells.
Will Munford, of Pre-construct Archaeological Services, said: “We often forget that people were very superstitious – it was part of their everyday lives. They thought that secreting such personal objects would offer protection from malign forces.”
Bryony Robins, Old Magnus Building project manager with Newark and Sherwood District Council, said: “We hope to display the bottle when the National Civil War Centre opens next year.”
The Captive
Beautifully written, kudos!
As gift of darkness, I’ll give you light. The words jumble all into me. And crowd the spaces and fill the holes. There is nothing left here but the beautiful poetry of silence and pages, rustling pages lit by candles, me cornered and reading and wishing the world away. I hold the books dear because they connect me to the rest. Source of my thoughts, experiences and words. Entire landscapes, lifetimes boiled down. To pages. To pages I read. In the dark. Where they cannot find me.
It’s easier to hide here. Easier to stay here. From the buses and the trains and the sun and the world. And the hard cold ingredients of reality. Jobs and salaries and bank accounts. In this darkness is solace. In this darkness my light.
On Tuesday in Brooklyn I sat in the chair and listened. And Dayo told me, gave me the punch…
View original post 569 more words
Doctors Without Borders is asking our support!
From Doctors Without Borders/ Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF):
Doctors Without Borders is asking our supporters to leave messages of encouragement for our staff working in Ebola projects in West Africa. Most are national staff who come from the countries and communities where the disease is taking an enormous toll, and they are experiencing the devastating effects of Ebola at home, as well as at work. Let them and all of our staff know you support their efforts and please SHARE this post. Photo by Caroline Van Nespen/MSF
From Kim and Ralphie:22
Faerie’s Eye View – Wow!
Mysterious Peacock Flight! – Wow
From autohystoria
From the US Patent Office!
THIS is How You Treat Trees!
Update: Ralphie Got Married!
To the most beautiful, scrumptious, sexy lady on the face of the Earth!!!!! (and the entire known universe, I might add…)
The wedding was officiated by Rabbi Goodman in Saint Louis on the 18th of September 2014.
How Big is Space?
From The Resonance Project:
It’s a challenge to even perceive how big “big” really is. Hopefully this meme helps you to realize how large our local environment is. The galaxy may seem huge, but its only a speck in Laniakea, our local supercluster of galaxies…
Protect the Internet!
Go to www.battleforthenet.com:
How to participate
On September 10th, sites across the web will display an alert with a symbolic “loading” symbol (the proverbial “spinning wheel of death”) and promote a call to action for users to push comments to the FCC, Congress, and the White House. Note: none of these tools actually slow your site down; they tell your visitors about the issue and ask them to contact lawmakers.
- Do you have a website or blog? Get the code, and run it all day on September 10th.
- Know anyone with a popular iPhone or Android app? Ask them to send a push notification.
- Is social media your biggest audience? Change your avatar to a spinning wheel of death. Orshare these images on Facebook.
Be creative! Grab peoples’ attention with a loading symbol, and link to tools for emailing and calling lawmakers (e.g. battleforthenet.com). Whatever you decide, tell us you’re participating, announce it publicly, and commit to getting *one* person or company with a *bigger* reach than you to join in as well. Got a question? Contact us.
The Universe a Hologram?
From I fucking love science:
This week in science!
Organ: http://bit.ly/1rHPVs6
Hologram: http://bit.ly/1rApF2P
Proteins: http://bit.ly/1ngKIQU
Exoplanet: http://bit.ly/1qSISqm
Sliding stones: http://bit.ly/1tR0uYv
Quantum photograph: http://bit.ly/Y3ZrsH
Water vapour: http://bit.ly/Z3I77e
Eskimos: http://bit.ly/1qSIV5g
You Selfish Pigs! – LOL
Don’t be Just a Tourist: Think!
From theflamingvegan.com:
Living in Nepal, every day I see Western tourists enjoying the marvels this ancient city has to offer: the ornate temples, the colorful cultural traditions, the food-stealing monkeys and most of all, its rich biodiversity. In South Nepal, there are several opportunities to go on jungle safaris. The popular way to do this is by riding elephants. It sounds quite exotic, doesn’t it?
Here’s what the tourists don’t know: The only time these elephants are allowed to walk is when they’re working. The rest of the time, they stand in one place with their legs chained, unable to move. This torment can last up to several days. It not only takes place at public tourist attractions, but also at privately owned resorts. Not only is this practice cruel, but it also creates health issues, as their foot pads get bruised and their nails cracked. Due to poor animal husbandry practices, eventually their feet can become infected and result in diseases like osteomyelitis, which is not only painful, but fatal if not properly cared for.
In many countries like Thailand, Nepal, India and Cambodia, working captive elephants are used in tourism, logging, entertainment and religious ceremonies. These majestic creatures suffer in so many different ways throughout their lives, starting with inhumane training methods to break their spirits when they are young, so that they can become easier to train. When the elephants are not helpful or compliant, they’re punished with verbal and physical abuse.
These are some things you should know about elephant rides or so-called jungle safaris:
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Many of the elephants are blind and wounded.
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Many suffer from tuberculosis, and even though treatment is given to them (generally), they rarely get a single day of sick leave to rest.
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They are overworked. In Chitwan, Nepal, the elephants are forced to go on approximately six rides a day, including during hot midday hours, taking up to five or six people on their back every day of the week. The howdah, or seat, is a heavy structure of metal or wood that injures an elephant’s back. As large as elephants are, their spines are not strong enough to bear the weight of humans.
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They are dehydrated and undernourished. Most of the elephants drink dirty water and lack access to fresh fodder.
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Elephants are chained excessively when off work (at night or during the day) and often cannot move at all. This means they have to stand in their own excrement and urine, which causes infectious diseases like Osteomyelitis.
So think before you act like a mere tourist and don’t fall for these traps. Insist that they be treated kindly when you see some. To read more click this link!
