Artificial Jellyfish Created by Scientists

The following is an article taken from Red Ice Creations, which is itself from a BBCNews article.  We’re posting the RIC one because it gives a better, quicker description of what’s happened.  No ownership is claimed over any of this article or material.

 

Scientists in the US have created a free swimming artificial jellyfish.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The team members built the replica using silicone as a base on which to grow heart muscle cells that were harvested from rats.

They used an electric current to shock the Medusoid into swimming with synchronised contractions that mimic those of real jellyfish.

The advance, by researchers at Caltech and Harvard University, is reported in the journal Nature Biotechnology.

The finding serves as a proof of concept for reverse engineering a variety of muscular organs and simple life forms.

Because jellyfish use a muscle to pump their way through the water, the way they function – on a very basic level – is similar to that of a human heart.

“I started looking at marine organisms that pump to survive,” said Kevin Kit Parker, a professor of bioengineering and applied physics at Harvard.

“Then I saw a jellyfish at the New England Aquarium, and I immediately noted both similarities and differences between how the jellyfish pumps and the human heart.

“The similarities help reveal what you need to do to design a bio-inspired pump.”

Mechanical movement

The work also points to a broader definition of “synthetic life” in an emerging field of science that has until now focused on replicating life’s building blocks, say the researchers.

Prof Parker said he wanted to challenge the traditional view of synthetic biology which is “focused on genetic manipulations of cells”. Instead of building just a cell, he sought to “build a beast”.

The two groups at Caltech and Harvard worked for years to understand the key factors that contribute to jellyfish propulsion, including the arrangement of their muscles, how their bodies contract and recoil, and how fluid dynamics helps or hinders their movements.

Once these functions were well understood, the researchers began to reverse engineer them.

They used silicone to fashion a jellyfish-shaped body with eight arm-like appendages.

Next, they printed a pattern made of protein onto the “body” that resembled the muscle architecture of the real animal.

They grew the heart muscle cells on top, with the protein pattern serving as a road map for the growth and organisation of the rat tissue. This allowed them to turn the cells into a coherent swimming muscle.

When the researchers set the Medusoid free in a container of electrically conducting fluid, they shocked the Medusoid into swimming with synchronised contractions. The muscle cells even started to contract a bit on their own before the electrical current was applied.
[…]
Read the full article at: bbc.co.uk

 

The reason we’ve posted this is, mostly, out of interest.  It’s fascinating that scientists are able to create an artificial jellyfish.  But it’s also very, very scary.  It’s scary that they would try to play god, and if they were able to succeed with this, what else are they going to try next?

Rhettman Mullis – “Bigfoot Research” (Coast to Coast AM)

Coast to Coast AM

In the first half, Bigfoot researcher Rhettman Mullis shared his latest findings on the mysterious creature. He was excited to report on a recent meeting with Dr. Ed Fusch, an anthropologist who has studied the Bigfoot stories of the Colville Tribal area in northeast Washington. During their meeting Mullis said he learned more about a hybrid named Patrick—the supposed offspring of an Indian mother and Bigfoot father born near the turn of the 20th century. Patrick’s body structure and appearance were markedly different from that of other Indians, Mullis explained, noting that he had extremely long arms with large hands and fingers, a sloping forehead and dominant brow, a very large lower jaw, and a wide mouth filled with straight protruding teeth. Mullis expressed his desire to run DNA tests on Patrick’s two surviving daughters, both of whom are said to possess similar features.

Mullis spoke about visiting a site on the Colville Indian Reservation known for Bigfoot traffic and marked by a 9-ft statue of the creature. Nearby Mullis said he and his wife found copious amounts of course brown hair caught on a wire fence. The hair sample is scheduled to be sent and tested by geneticist and former Coast guest Dr. Bryan Sykes, he noted. Mullis also mentioned his 1997 sighting, when he personally witnessed a Bigfoot washing herself in a quarry pond in the Maysville area of Western Washington. After studying Bigfoot and having had his own personal encounters, Mullis believes “these are not just regular apes.” DNA testing will reveal what these creatures actually are and finally give them a rightful place in biology textbooks, he said.

Bigfootology

FAIR USE NOTICE: These Videos may contain copyrighted (©) material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. Such material is made available to advance understanding of ecological, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. It is believed that this constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior general interest in receiving similar information for research and educational purposes.

Bob Frissell – “Transitioning into the 4th Dimension” (Red Ice Radio)

Bob Frissell is a teacher of thirty years, whose books are regarded as underground spiritual classics. He is a qualified and authorized facilitator of Flower of Life Research. Bob teaches the MerKaBa Meditation, sacred geometry, and Breath of Life Rebirthing along with other heart opening techniques. He was trained by Leonard Orr, the rebirthing pioneer, and by Drunvalo Melchizedek, the originator of the MerKaBa and Unity Breath meditations. In the first hour, we begin talking about 2012 and the window of 7-10 years of drastic changes he sees. Bob talks about how we are moving from the 3rd dimension into the 4th. We discuss dimensional overlaps similar to musical overtones. Bob mentions the type of consciousness we’ve been immersed in for the last 13,000 years and discusses the rise of a new type of consciousness. Then, we discuss the transition into the 4th dimension and how to harmonize and align with the changes. He explains how we’ve been living on an old world copy of Earth in the 3rd dimension.

Red Ice Creations

 

Various Guests – “2012 Olympics Special” (Red Ice Radio)

Don’t miss this two part special program on the 2012 Olympics, featuring interviews with William Henry, Stewart Swerdlow, Bob Schlenker, Chad Stuemke and excerpts from interviews with initiators of this material: Rik Clay, Ian Crane and David Icke. In this two and a half hour audio montage we’ll cover symbolism, synchronicities and oddities to possible false flag terrorism and militarization of the 2012 Olympic Games in London. Many are anticipating a false flag event to take place. Some claim it’s an opportunity to witness a “cosmic communication” on a grand scale, specifically during the opening ceremony. Others claim that the Olympics will play host to a staged alien invasion or possibly open the doors to disclosure. Meanwhile, some believe this is a major occult ritual designed to divert both energy and attention. Let the games begin!

Red Ice Creations

 

Regulations Best Address Cannabis Concerns

The following is an article from The Daily Caller, by Paul Armentano, the Deputy Director of NORML (National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws).  We believe it greatly sums up why Cannabis should be legalized, and we hope you agree.  No ownership is claimed over any of this material; it is being posted purely for educational purposes.

 

The views on marijuana legalization expressed in The Daily Caller last week by The Heritage Foundation’s Charles Stimson (“Why we shouldn’t legalize marijuana,” July 19, 2012) are woefully out of step with contemporary science and public opinion.

Never in modern history has there existed greater public support for ending the nation’s nearly century-long experiment with marijuana prohibition and replacing it with a system of legalization and regulation. A nationwide poll by Rasmussen Reports in May reported that 56 percent of Americans support “legalizing marijuana and regulating it like alcohol or cigarettes” versus only 34 percent who oppose the idea. Every age group polled, including those age 65 and older, favored the plant’s legalization over its continued criminalization. Separate nationwide polls by Gallup and Angus Reid report similar voter sentiment.

Americans have grown weary of the federal government’s war on cannabis. Their exasperation is justified. Since 1970, over 21 million U.S. citizens have been cited or arrested for violating marijuana laws. Yet despite this vigorous and fiscally taxing criminal enforcement, over 100 million Americans, including the president, acknowledge having consumed cannabis. One in ten admit that they use it regularly. Marijuana prohibition hasn’t dissuaded the general public from consuming cannabis or reduced its availability, especially among young people. But it has damaged the lives and careers of millions of people who were arrested and sanctioned for choosing to ingest a substance that is safer than alcohol or tobacco.

How much safer? A 2009 review published in the British Columbia Mental Health and Addictions Journal estimated that health-related costs per user are eight times higher for drinkers of alcoholic beverages than they are for those who use cannabis. For users of tobacco products, these costs are more than 40 times higher. Concluded the review, “In terms of [health-related] costs per user: tobacco-related health costs are over $800 per user, alcohol-related health costs are much lower at $165 per user and cannabis-related health costs are the lowest at $20 per user.” More recently, a February 2011 World Health Organization report concluded that alcohol consumption is responsible for a staggering four percent of all deaths worldwide, more than AIDS, tuberculosis or violence. No comparable statistics exist for cannabis, whose active compounds are relatively nontoxic to healthy cells and organs and are incapable of causing death by overdose.

This is not to say that marijuana is innocuous or without risk. It isn’t. But such concerns are hardly an argument in favor of the plant’s continued illegality. After all, there are numerous adverse health consequences associated with alcohol, tobacco and prescription pharmaceuticals — all of which are far more dangerous and costlier to society than cannabis — and it’s precisely because of these consequences that these products are legally regulated and their use is restricted to particular consumers and specific settings. A pragmatic regulatory framework that allows for the limited legal use of marijuana by adults would best reduce any risks associated with its use or abuse.

Likewise, regulation would positively address those risk factors largely associated with the substance’s criminal prohibition. For example, the marijuana sold on the street today is often of unknown purity and quality. Further, the product’s marketers are typically criminal entrepreneurs who may also introduce consumers to other, more potent illicit substances. Finally, the black market-inflated price of cannabis exposes its producers and consumers to potential crime and theft from other criminal entities looking to exploit the drug’s prohibition-inflated economic value. Each of these potential risks would be mitigated, if not eliminated, under a system of legalization and regulation.

Finally, a regulated system of cannabis legalization, complete with rules regarding who can legally provide and consume marijuana and at what age these activities are allowed, will make it easier, not harder, for parents, educators and members of the law enforcement community to rationally and persuasively discuss this subject with young people. Parents who may have tried cannabis during their youth (or who continue to use it occasionally) will no longer perceive societal pressures to lie to their children about their own behaviors. Rather, just as many parents and educators presently speak to young people objectively about the use of alcohol — instructing them that booze may be appropriate for adults in moderation, but that it remains inappropriate for young people — legalization will unburden adults and allow them to similarly speak rationally to adolescents about cannabis.

Need further proof that regulation works? Just look at our contemporary experience with tobacco — a legally marketed but deadly recreational drug. Teen use of cigarettes has recently fallen to its lowest levels in decades. Conversely, young people’s self-reported use of cannabis is rising and has now surpassed the number of teens consuming tobacco. Why the disparate trends? Simple. In short, it’s legalization, regulation and public education — coupled with the enforcement of age restrictions — that most effectively keeps mind-altering substances out of the hands of children.

Despite more than 70 years of federal prohibition and regardless of the fear-mongering of pundits like Charles Stimson, marijuana is here to stay. Let’s acknowledge this reality, cease ceding control of the marijuana market to untaxed criminal enterprises and put forward common-sense regulations governing cannabis’ use and production.

Paul Armentano is the deputy director for NORML, the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, and is the co-author of the book, “Marijuana Is Safer: So Why Are We Driving People to Drink?” (Chelsea Green, 2009)

James Holmes: A False-Flag Attack?

Let it be clear that, whether or not a False-flag attack, what happened in Aurora, Colorado, is a tragedy.  With this post, we are not meaning to insult anyone or downplay what happened; we are simply going to show a few things that don’t seem to add up...

 
1)How does an unemployed student afford $20,000 in guns; over 6,000 rounds of ammo; full body armor; and explosive materials purchased over the course of 3 months to perpetrate a mass shooting?

2)The following picture shows two alleged photos of James Holmes; please note that they look nothing alike.  Seriously.  It’s as if they were two different people.

Please note that the ears, eyebrows, eye shape, nose, mouth, and adam’s apple are significantly different in each photo…

3)James Holes informed authorities when arrested that his apartment had traps set up.  Why would a psychopath bent on a killing spree say this?

A full article on this subject is posted at NaturalNews; due to the sensitivity of this issue, we will not post this here.

Like we stated before, this is a very sensitive issue, and due to its recent occurrence, we’ll leave this post as it is.  The victims are in our prayers, and we hope that they, along with their families, get justice, whether or not what happened was a False-flag…

The Minhocão

Since the late 1800s, reports have surfaced from South America of a creature known as the minhocão.  The following article is taken from The Strangerest; no ownership is claimed over this article, it is being posted purely for educational purposes.

In the late nineteenth century, many sightings surfaced from South America of a creature called the minhocão. This creature was reputed to be similar to a huge earthworm. An article by Auguste de Saint-Hilaire in the American Journal of Science was the first published reference to this shadowy creature of southern Brazil. Its name, he said was derived from the Portugese minhoca (earthworm). Sainte-Hilaire recorded several instances, usually at fords of rivers, where livestock were captured by one of these creatures and dragged under the water. Instances he recounted took place at the Rio dos Piloes, Lake Padre Aranda, and Lake Feia, all in the province of Goyaz.

A possible parallel with the Brazilian beast was described in 1866 by Paulino Montenegro. He described a creature in the folklore of Nicaragua called sierpe. This animal was described as “like a large snake,” and lived in ponds called chaquites.

Legends of the Minhocão were nearly forgotten until 1877, when another article was written on the creature, this time for the German publication Zoologische Garten by zoologist Fritz Müller. He provided further data on the monster, including accounts of trenches dug by the subterranean creature which were so large as to divert rivers, and which destroyed entire orchards. This article also included, unlike Saint-Hilaire’s, an actual sighting of the monster. The sighting took place sometime in the 1840s near the Rio dos Papagaios in Paranà State.

A black woman going to draw water from a pool near a house one morning … saw a short distance off an animal which she described as being as large as a house moving off along the ground. … In the same district a young man saw a huge pine suddenly overturned … he found the surrounding earth in movement, and an enormous worm-like black animal in the middle of it, about twenty-five metres long, and with two horns on its head.

He also mentioned a sighting which took place in 1849. Lebino José dos Santos heard tales of a Minhocão which had been found dead near Arapehy, Uruguay. The creature was found lodged between two rocks. It was reputed to have skin “as thick as the bark of a pine-tree” and was armored with “scales like those of an armadillo.” One was also seen near Lages, Brazil in approximately 1870.

Francisco de Amaral Varella … saw lying on the bank of the Rio das Caveiras a strange animal of gigantic size, nearly one metre in thickness, not very long, and with a snout like a pig, but whether it had legs or not he could not tell. … whilst calling his neighbours to his assistance, it vanished, not without leaving palpable marks behind it in the shape of a trench …

Two possible theories were proposed for the identity of the Minhocão. One, which is generally the most popular, holds that the creature was none other than a surviving glyptodont (a prehistoric South American animal which resembled an armadillo). Another held that it was a large species of lepidosiren (serpentine South American lungfish).

Karl Shuker debunks the glyptodont theory in his discussion of the creature by pointing out that glyptodonts were not burrowing animals (in addition to their lack of adaptations for burrowing, such as massive claws, their well-developed defenses were evidence that they lived much of their life above ground and near predators) and that they were presumably not nearly as aquatic in nature as the Minhocão is supposed to be. In addition, he points out that, contrary to what may be thought, the armored carapace of the glyptodonts was not terribly similar to that of an armadillo.

He goes on to debunk the lepidosiren theory and to endorse an identification of the creature as a species of caecilian. Caecilians are wormlike amphibians native to Mexico and South America, among other places. They physically resemble earthworms, and unlike most amphibians, live their lives nearly entirely below ground. Two sensory organs on the animals’ head which, at times, resemble horns. Caecilia can also grow quite large (one Colombian species grows to nearly 5 feet).

The giant caecilian theory is certainly an enticing one and one which could yet prove to be true, although doubtless the creature would prove to be much larger than any known caecilian. In my view, though, Shuker’s dismissal of the lepidosiren theory does not sit well. This possible identity should not be ruled out entirely. Given the evidence, we may conclude that the glyptodont theory, although appealling, does not account for the sightings.

But the case may never be proven, as the Minhocão has not been sighted since the 1870 sighting recounted above. It may be that the creatures have become extinct since the “heyday” of reports, unless one considers certain reports, usually passed off as being of a Sucuriju gigante or giant anaconda, of horned water serpents.

 

Very little information is known about the creature known as the Minhocão; what is it, you ask?  That’s up for you to decide…

Obama Protest In Oakland

The following article is from the Huffington Post; no ownership is claimed over any of this material, it is being posted purely for educational purposes.

OAKLAND — Locally-owned businesses along Oakland’s Telegraph Avenue flew green flags outside their storefronts Monday afternoon in solidarity with several hundred protesters outside nearby City Hall speaking out against President Barack Obama’s recent crackdown on medical marijuana.

“We are here today to send a message so loud that not even the president will be able to ignore it,” Steve D’Angelo, director of Oakland’s Harborside Health Care, which calls itself the “nation’s largest dispensary,” told the crowd as it erupted into cheers.

(SCROLL DOWN FOR PHOTOS)

Obama will swoop through the Bay Area for three fundraisers Monday evening, including a reception at Oakland’s Fox Theatre. And the local cannabis community is determined to make its presence known.

Since the Department of Justice began targeting medical marijuana businesses last fall, the East Bay city has been one of the hardest hit. In April, federal agents raided the iconic Oaksterdam University, forcing its owner, Richard Lee, to separate himself from the company he founded.

This month, U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag, the face of the Bay Area’s anti-marijuana movement, threatened to seize Harborside and its sister dispensary in San Jose.

“You can close down Oaksterdam, you can close down Harborside, and lots of things will happen,” said retired Orange County Superior Court Judge James P. Gray at the rally. “None of them will be good. People will still be getting marijuana, but it will be in illegal manners.

“Harborside has met the regulations,” Gray, the Libertarian Party candidate for vice president, continued. “They are law-abiding people.”

California became the first state to legalize marijuana for medicinal purposes when voters passed Proposition 215 in 1996. The industry has since flourished into a major moneymaker for the state, generating more than $100 million in tax revenue each year.

That began to change in October, after federal authorities announced they would target medical marijuana operations throughout California, claiming the businesses have ballooned into “numerous drug trafficking enterprises” and citing their proximity to parks and schools. In the past 10 months, hundreds of dispensaries have been forced to close, and thousands of jobs have been lost.

The Obama administration’s actions contradict the president’s messages on the campaign trail, where he assured voters he would not use federal resources to go after medical marijuana in states that had legalized it.

Parents at Monday’s demonstration said that they weren’t concerned with dispensaries’ locations near parks and schools, and that they wished federal officials would focus their attention elsewhere.

“As a mother, I demand our Justice Department focus on child predators, gun violence, and human traffickers,” Dale Sky Jones, executive chancellor of Oaksterdam University, said in a statement. “The action by the U.S. attorneys is tragic for the victims and families of violent crime that do not have the full attention of law enforcement; tragic for schools and emergency services that depend on millions in tax dollars from medical cannabis.”

Oakland has been plagued by unprecedented gun violence in recent weeks.

Other protesters were quick to point to the medical benefits of cannabis.

Evelyn Hoch has been caring for her best friend, a victim of stomach cancer, for 23 years. For two decades, her pain medication “turned her into a zombie,” Hoch explained. Then she tried medical marijuana, and was able to cut down on other narcotics by 50 percent.

“She’s not a well person,” Hoch said. “But she’s so much better. She has a little bit of a life again.”

Hoch’s friend isn’t alone — Monday’s demonstration was joined by many activists suffering from terminal illnesses who claim medical marijuana is their best antidote.

“Don’t take away our medicine,” Oakland resident Randy Von Gogh, whose girlfriend uses cannabis to alleviate pain from a paralysis that left her wheelchair-bound, said. “Obama’s gotta go back to what he’s said before. This is all just politics.”

To see more images from the protest, follow the link at the top of the page to go to the Huffington Post article.

 

 

Stand together in spirit with Oakland!

Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness

“If the words “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” don’t include the right to experiment with your own consciousness, then the Declaration of Independence isn’t worth the hemp it was written on.”

– Terence McKenna

 

Terence McKenna is a great inspiration to the author of this blog; if you’d like to learn more about his ideas, please check out this book!

Linkin Park – “Lost In The Echo” (KillSonik Remix)

KillSonik