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General Objective: To develop a better understanding of the real way in which biologists conduct scientific projects by conducting an original project in the field of animal physiology, writing a high-quality scientific paper about your project, and presenting the results of your project at the Animal Physiology Symposium.
Specific Objectives:
1. Gain experience writing grant proposals.
2. Gain experience planning and conducting original research.
3. Gain experience writing a scientific paper and having it reviewed.
4. Gain experience presenting the results of scientific research.
In this laboratory, you will develop and conduct an experiment in the field of animal physiology. You and your laboratory partner will decide on a topic, discuss that topic and your methods with me, and then write a two-page proposal for your project. You will then have several weeks in which to conduct your experiment(s) after which, you will write up the results in the form of a scientific paper and present the results of your experiment at the Eleventh Annual Davidson College Animal Physiology Symposium. At the end of these instructions I have listed several project possibilities, but I encourage you to develop your own questions and experiments. I highly encourage you to be creative and ambitious.
During the middle of September (or earlier), you should discuss your project plans with me. As soon as possible, you should let me know (on a written form) what animal subject you hope to use, how many you will need, what special equipment, supplies, or space you may need, etc. so that I can be getting these things for you. Remember, when choosing animal subjects and planning your project, there are several things to keep in mind (August Krogh ideas may help):
A. working with invertebrates has several advantages. Working with vertebrate animals requires an approved Animal Use protocol from the Davidson Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee and should be discussed wth Dr. Dorcas asap to avoid delays in your research. Working with humans requires an approved protocol from the Human Subjects Board and should be discussed as early as possible with Dr. Dorcas to avoid delays in your research.
B. remember that there are constraints on equipment, etc.
C. you must be able to complete your project within 4-5 weeks.
D. remember to plan your experiment so that you have appropriate statistical power.
See Syllabus for due dates and grading.
My expectations are high. I expect all work to be well planned, carefully conducted, and carefully written. Attention to detail is paramount. I will be reviewing and evaluating your work as I do when I review proposals and papers for colleagues in my field. I will be happy to help you with writing, including providing comments on short sections of your paper (i.e., not the entire thing) before time for grading. The Davidson College Writing Center is also available for writing help. Remember, when writing in the sciences, preciseness is extremely important. Your work should have a logical sequence and should not be vague (i.e., in general, avoid terms such as "these" or "this" whenever possible).
I expect that some projects conducted during this class may be of high enough quality to warrant submission to a peer-reviewed journal for publication. To date, three projects resulting from this class have been published in quality, peer-reviewed journals. (* denote animal physiology students)
If you are interested in possibly publishing your work from this class, you should talk me about it ASAP.
I will provide details on how to write your paper and develop your presentation . Please see instructions for your proposal below. You should use a digital camera to take pictures of your experiment(s) which can later be incorporated into your presentation. If you need to borrow a camera for this purpose, please let me know.
I expect that whatever you come up with as your project, it will at least take up the bulk the equivalent of four laboratory periods. Some experiments may require you to check something daily (e.g., take a temperature measurement every day). Even though these four weeks will be on your own, I expect you to show up in lab at the beginning of each lab period to check in, discuss any problems, etc. unless otherwise notified.
Proposal Instructions:
You should view your proposal as a justification for what you plan to do, how you plan to do it, and how you plan to analyze your data (you should discuss this with me before you begin). Justification (i.e., why your project is important; how it relates to previous studies, etc.) for your project should be well supported by citing the peer-reviewed literature. To help, I have posted an example on of a grant proposal on the class web site (note - this proposal might not follow the detailed format below, but should give you a good general idea of what I expect).
Particulars (many of these will apply to your paper as well):
1. Proposal should be written using a wordprocessor and printed on a laser printer.
2. Font should be Times Roman or Times New Roman, 12 point.
3. Proposals should be double spaced.
4. Length (excluding literature cited) - no more than two pages.
5. Page numbering - top right corner, Times Roman 12 point font.
6. Subheadings should be used where appropriate.
7. A title page should be on the front of each proposal. The following should be centered.
Title (all caps); Author(s); Date
8. All units should be metric.
9. You should carefully edit all papers submitted for grammar, spelling, etc. Feel free to use spell checkers and grammar checkers if needed. Also, it's often a good idea to have a colleague review your proposal other than your collaborator.
10. Write in the first person (i.e., active voice) when appropriate. For example, We will measure the pH of the water as opposed to The pH of the water will be measured.
11. Your literature cited should match the following examples exactly:
Journal article
Arnold, S. J., and C. R. Peterson. 1989. A test for temperature effects on the ontogeny of shape in the garter snake, Thamnophis sirtalis. Physiological Zoology 62:1316-1333.
Fox, W. W., C. Gordon, and M. H. Fox. 1961. Morphological effects of low temperatures during the embryonic development of the garter snake, Thamnophis elegans. Zoologica 46:57-71
Book chapter in an edited book:
Avery, R. A. 1982. Field studies of body temperatures. Pp. 25-91 In C. Gans and F. H. Pough, (eds.). Biology of the Reptilia, Vol. 12. Academic Press, New York, NY.
Cossins, A. R., and K. Bowler. 1987. Temperature Biology of Animals. Chapman and Hall, New York, NY.Nussbaum, R. A., E. D. Brodie, Jr., and R. M. Storm. 1983. Amphibians and Reptiles of the Pacific Northwest. University of Idaho Press, Moscow, ID.Possible Animals to Use in Your Project:
Animals we have or can possibly get - or you can get:
corn snakes (we have about 4 adults)
rubber boas (we have 6)
other snake species (?)
mice (we have about 30)
frogs or toads (various species)
salamanders (e.g., newts)
fish (goldfish, mollies, bettas, etc. or fish eggs)
humans (we have quite a few of these, though they are difficult to keep in captivity for extended periods)
brine shrimp
Planaria – aquatic flatworms
pillbugs (sow bugs or rollie pollies)
hydra – small, freshwater anemones
Copepods – small aquatic crustaceans
Other ideas - visit Carolina Biologica Supply for ideas - http://www.carolina.com/category/living+organisms.do
Some Equipment We Have:
Six temperature and light controlled environmental chambers
thermocouple thermometers and thermocouples
infrared thermometer
temperature sensitive PIT tags – implantable in animals to measure internal temps
water baths
aquaria, pumps, etc.
chemicals and drugs (any you might need)
Physiology hardware (computer-based)
small cages of many types
pH meters
heat tapes and lamps
dissection equipment
small animal metabolism chambers
other - just ask.... I will see what I can do
Possible Ideas for Projects:
Effects of hydration on thermal tolerances in animals
Effects of hydration on temperature selection in animals
Evaporative water loss in terrestrial versus semi-aquatic animals
The effects of digestion on metabolic rates in snakes (other animals?)
Effects of temperature on performance on salamanders of the Davidson Area
Body temperature selection of salamanders of the Davidson Area
The effects of temperature on skeletal muscle contraction and jumping in leopard frogs
The effects of digestion on body temperature variation in corn snakes
The effect of temperature on digestive rate in corn snakes
The effect of temperature on crawling speed in animals
The effect of temperature on calling in crickets
The effect of temperature on the metabolic rates animals
The effect of temperature on heart rate in animals (possibly)
The effect of temperature on respiration rate
Daily cycles in body temperature selection
Head-body temperature differences in snakes in a laboratory thermal gradient
The effects of ecdysis on temperature selection in snakes (possibly)
The effects of acclimation on temperature selection in animals
The effects of temperature on tongue-flick rate in snakes
Determining the lower critical temperature for animals


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Oly is so beautiful and if he dreams about getting fisted, do it. Trim your nails man, buy a pair of gloves, finger his pussy gently, then point your finger straight with your thumb underneath and give him what he wants. Hot damn would love to see that.
mmmm i feel to sniff and lick a smelly armpits of skinny guy

subset: commoncrawl


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I wasn't thinking of an old steel bike just yet. My wife was questioning why we have 5 bikes for two people so I was keeping a low profile. Then a friend of mine mentioned he had one of these that I should take on as a project.
Today I pushed the frame into the shed. It needs some work but it looks a lot like the picture I posted. It was dark by the time I got all the parts together and stored but it looks like I have everything but a set of chaines. It could use better saddles, I got the origional Schwinn comfort molded saddles. There is an extra set of drop bars and levers but I think I will attempt to restore the thing. Need to pull the bottom brackets off and replace the bearings I am sure. But how does this happen and what N+ should I call it?


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Days of Destruction, Days of Revolt
I just finished Days of Destruction, Days of Revolt by Chris Hedges and Joe Sacco. It is superb, and I've spent a fair amount of time typing in passages from the book below in order to capture some of its theme.
The "me" of twenty years ago wouldn't be caught dead reading a book like this. It is, after all, an unflinching assasination of our present capitalist system. As a younger person, I was wholeheartedly (and more than a little ignorantly) devoted to a dog-eat-dog, lassiez-faire capitalist system. And, in my adult life, I have lived that way, at least inasmuch as I created, built, and sold a successful business and have, before, during, and after that time, been a very active participant in the financial markets (both by way of trading as well as writing).
Experience and observation have moderated my views, however. At the outset I will say that I still regard capitalism as the most proper, natural, and constructive economic system, but I'm a much firmer believer in a modified version - - consistently-regulated with a distribution of wealth more akin to the 1970s than the present day - - than I ever imagined I would be.
This passage from the preface of the book captures the pages that follow nicely:
The ruthless hunt for profit creates a world where everything and everyone is expendable. Nothing is sacred. It has blighted inner cities, turned the majestic Appalachian Mountains into a blasted moonscape of poisoned water, soil, and air. It has forced workers into a downward spiral of falling wages and mounting debt until laborers in agricultural fields and sweatshops work in conditions that replicate slavery. It has impoverished our working class and ravaged the middle class. And it has enriched a tiny global elite that has no loyalty to the nation-state. These corporations, if we use the language of patriotism, are traitors.
Days of Destruction take the rather novel approach of combining superb journalism (Chris Hedges) with world-class graphic art (Joe Sacco). It is part graphic novel and part diatribe. And, I need to tell you right now, this is not a feel-good book, and the balance of words and art work well. The Walt Whitman piece, I Sit and Look Out, is offered within these pages to embellish the picture further:
I sit and look out upon all the sorrows of the world, and upon all oppression and shame;
I hear secret convulsive sobs from young men, at anguish with themselves,
remorseful after deeds done;
I see, in low life, the mother misused by her children, dying, neglected, gaunt, desperate;
I see the wife misused by her husband--I see the treacherous seducer of young women;
I mark the ranklings of jealousy and unrequited love, attempted to be hid--
I see these sights on the earth; I see the workings of battle, pestilence, tyranny--
I see martyrs and prisoners; I observe a famine at sea--
I observe the sailors casting lots who shall be kill'd, to preserve the lives of the rest;
I observe the slights and degradations cast by arrogant persons upon laborers, the poor, and upon negroes, and the like;
All these--All the meanness and agony without end, I sitting, look out upon,
See, hear, and am silent.
And if you need any more convincing as to the non-fuzzy-feelings you will have while reading it, here is another poem offered - a brief haiku in the chapter about Camden, New Jersey:
The sack of kittens
Sinking in the icy creek
Increases the cold
There are several broad regions of the United States covered in the book, including the Indian reservations of South Dakota; the mean streets of Camden; the wretched lives of the produce-pickers in Southern Florida; and the "moonscape" of West Virginia's coal country. It is this last area that includes a talk with Larry Gibson, an activist in West Virginia who grew up there, had to leave for a while due to family poverty, and has returned to try to fight for the region's sake. He says the following, which is perhaps my favorite section of the entire book:
"Living here as a boy, I wasn't any different than anybody else. First time I knew I was poor was when I went to Cleveland and went to school They taught me I was poor. I traded all this for a strip of green I saw when I walking the street. And I was poor? How ya gonna get a piece of green grass between the sidewalk and the street, and they gonna tell me I'm poor. I thought I was the luckiest kid in the world, with nature. I could walk through the forest. I could hear the animals. I could hear the woods talk to me. Everywhere I looked there was life. I could pick my own apples or cucumbers. I could eat the berries and pawpaws. I love pawpaws. And they gooseberries. Now there is no life there. Only dust. I had a pigeon and when I'd come out of the house, no matter where I went, he flew over my head or sat on my shoulder. I had a hawk I named Fred, I had a bobcat and a three-legged fox that got caught in a trap. I wouldn't trade that childhood for all the fancy fire trucks and toys the other kids had.
I have a tremendous amount of respect for that point of view. There was a time in my life I craved a lot of stuff. There was a time I thought rich people were rich because they were sharper and harder-working than the rest of us.
I've certainly learned otherwise. I've learned that "stuff" is boring and unfulfilling. And I've learned that some rich people - - and I've known a lot, including a couple of billionaires - - can at times be some of the biggest dumb-fucks you'd ever encounter. One in particular thought he was some kind of genius, when in fact he was simply born into a rich family and was too blinkered to recognize that his accidental circumstance had no bearing on his (dim) wit.
The chapter goes on with another activist.........
Gunnoe is a thin woman with curly black hair. She is part Cherokee. Her vocal opposition to the coal companies, like Larry Gibson's, has engendered the fury of many of her neighbors, who fear the loss of the coal industry will mean and end to any viable employment. One of her dogs was shot dead and left in the parking lot where her children catch the school bus. Another dog was shot and killed while tied up in the back of her house. The gas tank to her truck was filled with sand, requiring $1,200 in repairs. Her children have been taunted at school as "tree huggers." She has erected a six-foot protective fence around her house that she calls "my cage." But she says that even for the miners who blast away the mountains, the destruction can be overwhelming.
I figure even if there's no such thing as hell, the universe would have conjured one up for whatever low-lifes would stoop to killing a dog (it should be mentioned that Mr. Gibson's dog was also killed, and his current dog was hanged, but he was able to save him in time). Humans I can do without. Dogs, on the other hand, have no business being harmed. Particularly by "people."
Gibson again:
"It's a sacrifice zone. It's so the rest of the country can have electric toothbrushes and leave the lights on all night in parking lots for used cars and banks lit up all night long and shit like that. We have been a national sacrifice zone. Hell, that phrase was created thirty-five, forty years ago. Now it's terminal. There is no way to stop it. I haven't had any hope for a long time. But the only reason I keep going is, why the hell not? I'm going to die. Shit, might as well hold my head up. I don't want Bill Raney, the president of the Coal Association, to be able to tell his lies without somebody saying, "Bill, that's shit, that's not true." These corporations are going to strip the whole country. If you have this reality, then you become a guerilla. You blow up the damn thing. I can't go to there, because they will put me in penitentiary, and I don't want to go there. I know they would catch me eventually.
Hedges' training in divinity (his father was a minister, and he himself got his Masters degree from Harvard) is present, although not heavy-handed, throughout the book. But his firm Chrstian beliefs certainly don't lead you to a polite, hands-in-lap, gentle list of suggestions in the final chapter. The man is Pissed. Off. And he uses the (presently inert) Occupy movement as the shining example of what should be happening in America:
There comes a moment in all popular uprisings when the dead ideas and decayed systems, which only days before seemed unassailable, are exposed and discredited by a population that once stood fearful and supine. This spark occurred on September 17., 2011, in New York City when a few hundred activists, who were easily rebuffed by police in their quixotic attempt to physically occupy Wall Street, regrouped in Zuccotti Park, four blocks away. They were disorganized at first, unsure of what to do, not even convinced they had achieved anything worthwhile, but they had unwittingly triggered a global movement of resistance that would reverberate across the country and the capitals of Europe. The uneasy status quo, effectively imposed for decades by the elites, was shattered. Another narrative of power took shape. The revolution began.
Hedges goes on:
The American dream, we now know, is a lie. We will all be sacrificed. The virus of corporate abuse – the perverted belief that only corporate profit matters – has spread to outsource our jobs, cut the budgets of our schools, close our libraries, and plague our communities with foreclosures and unemployment. This virus has brought with it a security and surveillance state that seeks to keep us all on a reservation. No one is immune. The suffering of the other, of the Native American, the African American in the inner city, the unemployed coal miner, or the Hispanic produce picker is universal. They went first. We are next. The indifference we showed to the plight of the underclass, in Biblical terms our neighbor, haunts us. We failed them, and in doing so we failed ourselves. We were accomplices in our own demise. Revolt is all we have left. It is the only hope.
Hedges doesn't agitate for a particular candidate; he doesn't suggest a new set of regulations; he doesn't ask that Blankfein be brought to trial. He wants a revolution, not unlike that would swept away the Communists from Eastern Europe. He states:
The preconditions for successful revolution are:
+ discontent that affects nearly all social classes;
+ widespread feelings of entrapment and despair;
+ unfulfilled expectations;
+ a unified solidarity in opposition to a tiny power elite;
+ a refusal by scholars and thinkers to continue to defend the actions of the ruling class;
+ an inability of government to respond to the basic needs of citizens;
+ a steady loss of will within the power elite itself together with defections from the inner circle – a crippling isolation that leaves the power elite without any allies or outside support;
+ a financial crisis
Well, I guess some of those elements are in place already, right? But he's just getting started:
Welcome to the revolution. The elites have exposed their hand. They have shown they have nothing to offer. They can destroy but they cannot build. They can repress but they cannot lead. They can steal but they cannot share. They can talk but they cannot speak. They are as dead and useless to us as the water-soaked books, tents, sleeping bags, suitecases, food boxes, and clothes that were dumped into garbage trucks after the New York City police raid that November night. They have no ideas, no plans, and no vision for the future.
Get back into your cages, they are telling us. Return to watching the lies, absurdities, trivia, celebrity gossip, and political theater we feed you in twenty-four-hour cycles on television. Invest your emotional energy in the vast system of popular entertainment. Run up your credit card debt. Pay your loans. Be thankful for the scraps we toss. Chant back to us our platitudes about democracy, greatness, and freedom. Vote in our rigged corporation elections. Send your young men and women to fight and die in useless, unwinnable wars that provide huge profits for corporations. Stand by mutely as our legislators plunge us into a society without basic social services while Wall Street speculators loot and pillage.
Our dear friend, Lloyd Blankfein - - the man doing God's work, remember? - - is often cited in Days of Destruction. He is held up as just about the closest thing to the anti-Christ as can be imagined, almost directly responsible for the murder of millions.
The rogues' gallery of Wall Street crooks – such as Lloyd Blankfein at Goldman Sachs; Howard Milstein at New York Private Bank & Trust; the media tycoon Rupert Murdoch; David and Charles, the Koch brothers; and Jamie Dimon at JPMorgan Chase & Co. – no doubt think the Occupy movement has passed. They think it is back to the business of harvesting what is left of America to swell their personal and corporate fortunes. But they have no concept of what is happening around them. They are as mystified and clueless about these uprisings as the courtiers at Versailles or the Forbidden City, or the inner sanctums of the communist elites in Eastern Europe, who never understood until the very last days that their world was collapsing.
The political philosopher Sheldon Wolin uses the term inverted totalitarianism in his book Democracy Incorporated to describe our political system. In inverted totalitarianism, the sophisticated technologies of corporate control, intimidation, and mass manipulation, which far surpass those employed by previous totalitarian states, are effectively masked by the glitter, noise, and abundance of a consumer society. Political participation and civil liberties are gradually surrendered. Corporations, hiding behind this smokescreen, devour us from the inside out. They have no allegiance to the country.
The novel 1984 is also an important touchstone in Days of Destruction, and Orwell is quoted frequently as a fount of truth.
We, like those who opposed the long night of communism, no longer have any mechanisms within the formal structures of power that will protect or advance our rights. We, too, have undergone a coup d'etat carried out not by the large stone-faced leaders of a monolithic Communist Party, but by our largely anonymous corporate overlords. George Orwell wrote that all tyrannies rule through fraud and force, but that once the fraud is exposed they must rely exclusively on force. We have now entered that era of naked force. There are no excuses left.
Either you join the revolt or you stand on the wrong side of history. You either obstruct through civil disobedience, the only way left to us, the plundering by the criminal class on Wall Street, and accelerated destruction of the ecosystem that sustains the human species, or become the passive enabler of a monstrous evil. You either taste, feel, and smell the intoxication of freedom and revolt, or sink into the miasma of despair and apathy. You are either a rebel or a slave.
The way you react to this book depends a great deal on who you are and what your experiences in life have been so far, particularly with respect to your own financial and personal security. I found the book partly inspiring, partly infuriating, but very readable. One of the few things the United States still has going for it - - for now, at least - - is freedom of expression, and I'm glad a book like this is available to all who care to be more aware than their fellow countrymen, and I'm grateful to live in a place where I can be permitted to offer my favorite passages from the book and encourage you to read the whole thing yourself.
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...he uses the (presently inert) Occupy movement as the shining example of what should be happening in America...
"they have no concept of what is happening around them."
Great review. But your parenthetical in the first quote is akin to Hedges' observation in the second. Occupy is not "presently inert". No more so than when Washington retired the Continental Army to Valley Forge, one of the greatest "victories" of the revolutionary war.
It always boggles my mind when people want to consign the Occupy movement to the dustbin. That dismissal assumes that the most aware of the citizens in September 2011 failed to learn anything, it assumes that the movement shouted out its angst and left the field satisfied, it assumes that the direct actions and civil disobedience were the be-all-end-all of the movement, bereft of any underlying structure and coherence. That would be great if the elites believed that. That would be a gift if they believed that the whole point of the movement was merely to change the language and conversation. But the barrage of legislation (cf. N.D.A.A.), executive orders and Fed/World Bank/IMF actions speak to the contrary. The fraud is exposed. Get ready for the only tool left in their kit.
I gave up on Hedges for being his own worst enema (sic). Hedges was a seminary grad, but rejected God and religion. Fine, no problem...
Except that now he wastes his life being terminally pissed at the Universe for actually behaving randomly and living up to his expectations. Notwithstanding, Hedges unbelieveably insists that he also still gets to judge everthing anthropomorphically, as if the world was a man on trial, and he finds everything guilty, as charged, for the crime of being unfair. Hedges is a deeply conflicted strange old man shaking his fist at the darkness as his candle dims.
And no surprise, Hedges is also a MSM member and purveyor of the NWO who fancies himself as one of the elite. Ergo, whosoever does not share his angry, invisible vision to fix the world must be an idiot.
Dark; very dark. Where there is lack of faith the natural flow of things is away from the light. This situation will work itself out, but folks are going to have to be diligent. My generation got carried away by free-love and pot. "Reap what ye sow" brothers & sisters. So now, we gotta make the effort to fix it. C'mon man; we're not that weak. We will fix it, like generations before us have. Whiners will stand up if they're lead properly. And that's where we are lacking right now - weak leaders; but that will change, too. Work, pray; pray, work!
Cronyism is the biggest source of our ills. we know who these people are. this is not the first time in history they have done this to a country. their best tool is guilt, enforced through political correctness, and their mothers taught them the value of using this emotion to manipulate others. you know who they are. Chris Hedges listed some of them together in one area, and they belong to the same group. he ignored this obvious connection due to his own biases and fear.
I see many comments about how it is government that is the problem, not corporations. You are wrong. It is both. The corporations and the government are doing a corrupt dance together. The corporations pay off the government to get special favors. But when there is a new industry, like computers once were, that are not paying off the government, the government comes after them in order to get them paying, hence the antitrust suit against Microsoft. Once they are happily paying, the dance goes on.
This is what happens over time with representative democracy and corporations. Right now, the only thing to do is to wait until it collapses by revolution or by disaster. Then we will hopefully do better with the next system. I prefer more participatory democracy to a system. More of everyone having a say instead of a few elite.
Perhaps we should try free markets, liberty, and respect for private property BEFORE we condemn capitalism as an economic theory. Our government has never allowed the practice of capitalism, as the State has always controlled markets, regulated away enemies and promoted political contributors, and taxed whomever it could to pay off political allies. Don't even START on how awful our "capitalist" or "free market" system is UNTIL we have a chance to try it out for once. This stuff sickens me, buying into the Statist line that capitalism and free markets have failed. Bullshit. What has failed in Statism, plain and simple, and only jackasses and sheep buy the Party freaking line to the contrary. Go lick Obama's boots some more then get back to me.
What you are missing is that representative democracy leads to statism.
corporations are people.
my friend
do you really think there will be a revolt in a country where 60 percent of the people are obese.
first, revolting is too much effort. throwing rocks, burning things, killing people and storming big government buildings. it requires a bit of physical exercise.
second, being obese means you are not hungry. there will only be a revolt when people are hungry. they are not hungry! they should be.
so, you can wait for the revolt until americans are lean and mean. that will take a long time.
First it takes getting mad.
What Hedges will never get is that it is not just corporations.
It's the governments. And not just this or that level of government, this or that individual or this or that party.
The problem is the INSTITUTION OF GOVERNMENT itself.
Hedges' answer is more government, mob rule and socialism when the OPPOSITE is needed.
And there's no room in Hedges' society for individual liberty. It's all about GROUPS. The man worships large crowds of demonstrators, mobs. In a Hedgian world, would I still be free to exploit others, to make money selling something, to invest, to move my money on a moment's notice? Doubtful...
Reinstating the 13th amendment (no attorneys in govt) and reenacting Glass Steagall along with apply the RICO act would get the thieves and scoundrels a bit farther away from the head of the table. Dismantling the stranglehold the 1% have on public TV would be another remedy. Gee, sounds like how it was a few decades ago to me.
The masses were being entertained with access to vast sums of easy credit and purchasing power, circuses and the red carpet, jobs were plentiful, everyone had a new car and a new home. Now...stunningly, we all see it was a psyops, all a big mindphuck (which Hitler incorporated into Nazi Germany to sway the people's support of this plan).
If it were not for the internet, we'd be screwed. But I do feel we have a chance to turn this around. Ridicule is propaganda. These maestroes are weak links in the chain and need to be removed. Think ahead and what is in store for Americans. There will be no where to run and no one will come to your aid.
Hey, it's not about you, it's about the future generation you selfish fool.
Reinstating the 13th amendment (no attorneys in govt) and reenacting Glass Steagall along with apply the RICO act would get the thieves and scoundrels a bit farther away from the head of the table. Dismantling the stranglehold the 1% have on public TV would be another remedy.
And how do you propose to do that? By voting? By calling up your representative? The rest of your post evidences some understanding. The first part, meh, pie in the sky. It ain't gonna happen. That ship has sailed.
but I'm a much firmer believer in a modified version [of capitalism] - consistently-regulated
You have so many insights, Tim, but still fail to realize that you just proposed continued out-sourcing of regulation to a small special group of people.
That's never going to effing work, we need simple laws overseen by everyone!!
Belief in regulation is exactly the fallacy that lead us into the current disaster.
I've recently read or listened to a few pieces from Chris Hedges on Jesse' website, and was saddened that Chris seems to be stuck in the same circular logic.
In the end it's the never ending struggle between realists who strive for consistent rules, and utopists who target consistent outcomes and are ready to bulldoze any rule for that.
What a country - we can land a one-ton device on Mars - hundreds of millions of miles from earth - and have it land within a minute or so of its expected landing.
We can win 50+ medals in one Olympic games. We have a citizen with more gold medals and total medals than the majority of countries on earth.
But, we get fucked every single day by the elite 550 elected scum and all the people who put them into the seats of power in which they sit.
We're better than this. We have to get the fuckers out and move on.
I'm sorry to say I skimmed the comments to get to a point, which is predicated on a portion of these comments.
1) I believe we do not need to have a 'REVOLUTION' as in King/Colonist to overthrow our government, banking system, current way of being daily raped by our government and corporate America - our government's corporate sponsor.
2) As in the 1700s, the colonist couldn't win an all-out war, but they won a 'guerilla' war. Today, we will never have tanks and surface-to-air weapons, etc. But, we do have information. We can find 10,000 people ruining our country and over 100,000,000 people doing the right thing every day. Well, if 100 people surrounded and took out each member of the federal government (leave my old friend Ron Paul alone!) and each member of corrupt local governments, it wouldn't be too hard to do.
3) Local imprisonment, assassination, etc. would be very effective. Most of the elite destroying the country would run. However, we really need to focus on the government, as corporations as necessary. While there are thousands of evil things done, we are the #1 country on earth from what we have developed.
4) Further, there are other governments that we support who make congress "Occupied Territoy." We have sold out to the Israeli and Chinese governments. Every government office is presently being watched by these nations, and presumably others.
5) Take them all out and either bury them or hold them until a new government can be formed. Then, try them all for high crimes, treason, etc. With the exception of maybe 2 or 3 Supreme Court Judges, I don't know anyone in the Federal Government worth keeping and who has not digraced our homeland.
6) Look at what anonymous has done, despite being 'hacked' by the FBI. If the entire Internet, twitter, etc. lit up with 12/31/12 choice of time and date to sack the existing government structure - nothing could stop us. We'd be talking about 300,000,000 to 10,000.
7) Like the majority of the 'Arab Spring', we'd have an army unwilling to attack its own. Most in the military would do all they could to uphold our constituion, if they were only permitted to by the superiors.
IF THEY AREN'T OUT VOLUNTARILY BY 12-30-12, WE TAKE THEM BY 12-31-12. How beautiful would it be to wake up and find not one of our +/-550 members of our 3 branches of government still in power.
Finally, we hold emergency elections after disbanding all Federal agencies (other than the military), allowing the states to re-emerge and exert the governing powers to which they were entrusted in the Consitutition, and ban anyone who has held any federal elected offfices from running for office, ban any and all contributions to those running for office, and only allow those running to have free air-time and radio time, but otherwise - no corporate money and no donations over $50.
It's a wonderful dream. We're going down the shitter now as it is. Yes, there are 1,000 problems with this dream, but they could all be handled, and we (the people) would have a say in that plan and our future. No, we've got DICK!
Is it possible? And no, I'm not threatening anyone, I'm just theorizing. Are there better ways to disempower those running the joint? Also, we gotta get rid of the MSM. I don't want messages force fed my way that are written by politicians. They get their licenses renewed when they hire 100% new broadcasters and reporters and fire anyone who has written a political or business piece for a major journal in the year leading up to 12/31/2012.
I dunno, but it sure is a nice dream. No taxes until mission complete. No Fed - ever again.
Oh, and one last thing, we get to go mid-evil on some people's asses - like Bernake / Greenspan / etc.
"The virus of corporate abuse – the perverted belief that only corporate profit matters – has spread to outsource our jobs,..."
The virus of corporate abuse ? I am far more worried about the virus of Big Government abuse, Neomarxism. Big Government greedy for taxation to feed the gov monster and big labor with fat pensions that have chased business off-shore.
WE DO NOT LIVE IN A CAPITALIST SYSTEM. For those who think we do, keep drinking the Kool-aid.
Agreed and we do not need another collective "ism" to replace it. Chris Hedges is still learning.
"a unified solidarity in opposition to a tiny power elite"
Well, yep, this is the problem, isn't it? I can think of few, if any, developed countries that are as politically polarized as the USA.
Worth a watch:
...but I'm a much firmer believer in a modified version - - consistently-regulated with a distribution of wealth more akin to the 1970s than the present day - - than I ever imagined I would be.
Well, someone's looking forward to four more years.
What happens if you've managed to amass a tidy sum for yourself mostly through hard work and good choices...not from drowning kittens in sacks and poisoning the environment?
Answer that and I'll tell you how big of a number you'll have on the left side of your distribution formula.
Without getting too chicken-and-eggy here you may have noticed that since the (apparently) glory days of the 1970's, the rise of the rapacious, all-powerful, soul-destroying mega-corporation has pretty tightly tracked the expansion of the size and scope of government into every last facet of your life. Go ask a small business owner what his biggest obstacle is today.
If the government were small and weak and mega-corporations were running around raping the world blind that would be one thing. But that's not the case because the two work hand-in-glove. Crony-capitalism if you will.
Before anyone gets too fired up by any proposed, new wealth spreading system, they might want to consider how they may have helped drop the ball regarding our
government restraining system.
" However, those people are not where you can confront them in the street. "
We know (or can find out) where they all live. We CERTAINLY know where most of the culprits work !!!
They have no idea we are "on" to them........the crooks still call themselves "public servants" like WE still think that. LOL
....like shooting fish in a barrel.
Wake the Fuck up America.
This shit will be going down before November, get geared up.
The Depression of Apathy
Sounds like an oxymoron, and I suppose it is. But for one to undergo the experiance of an apathetic exsistence, one must first experience depression. We have not only the economic version present, but the emotional as well. Little wonder that 70% of the population is doped up on something to help them cope!
The populace must first overcome this apathetic, moribund, inactive, drug/entertainment induced stupor that currently enslaves the majority. No chance of this happening anytime soon. I greatly admire Chris Hedges and understand his prophetic message, but for the time being, he is but one voice crying out in the wilderness of this aimless society.
"It is, after all, an unflinching assasination of our present capitalist system. As a younger person, I was wholeheartedly (and more than a little ignorantly) devoted to a dog-eat-dog, laissiez-faire capitalist system."
I dunno. Before we beat up on the laissez faire capitalist system it would be nice if we tried it first instead of just giving it lip service as an ideal. it occurrs to me that the closest we ever came to laissez faire was probably when de Tocqueville was out and about in the US. Our history has been a tug of war between Hamiltonians, Whigs and Republicans, socialists and Keynesian/monetarists (or do I repeat myself?) on the one hand peddling "internal improvements" and Jeffersonians/antifederalists/classical liberals, etc. and, most recently, Austrian Schoolers, on the other. It is mercantilism for at least the last 150 years. You can't blame laissez faire capitalism when the "internal improvements" crowd is choosing winners and losers and imposing an elite. That's a genre of mercantilism. Ain't no level playing field that I can see.
The strip mines are pure capitalism. And you missed the point that there's more to life than ... capital. Then again, you missed the point.
Strip mines are merely a method of mining coal. They have their place and there are places where it is simply not economic to mine the coal underground or it's inefficient. What makes you think that strip mines "are pure capitalism". Like they don't have them in socialist (marxist?) countries. Like they don't have to compete in world markets? Like statist strip mines are better than "capitalist" strip mines (in pseudo-capitalist countries like the US)? FWIW, not all strip mines are on private property. Some are on subsidized public lands and so are hardly pure capitalism. Even on private land you may find that the government has irrationally managed to discover that somehow the surface estate is separable from the mineral estate (split estate) and that the problems of such mining (as well as those of underground mining) may be visited upon those living on the surface. That's another government screwup. I'm supposed to have missed the point? I agree, there is more to life than capital. There is also capitalism in life. There is also waste and inefficiency when you don't allocate resources efficiently and that's very socialist or hadn't you noticed? You need to make sure you apply proper economics to create wealth and efficiently allocate resources. If you don't then it is at the whim of your flawed philosopher kings. Good luck with that. Socialism doesn't share prosperity, it shares misery.
REVOLUTION is a very exciting topic and when pissed off people talk it, they seldom think of the realistic version of a 21 Century Revolution in the United States of America.
I suppose that definitions of Anarchy, Revolution, Rebellion, Civil Unrest, Martial Law, Riots and all that stuff needs to be reasoned thru and analyzed from previous events in this Country and well as other Countries similar to ourselves. Remember the Russian Revolution killed off more humans, horses and livestock than all of WW1. a bunch of children, women, sons and daughters
A call to arms is impractical. Stand and fight is not exactly where we are. Yes, there is a wealthy elite that has savaged America and continues to do so. If we as a Nation are to survive, things must change. However, those people are not where you can confront them in the street. You can confront the Army and Police they own, but not them. The only solution I see is to gain standing with the media via monetary pressure and presence at the locations they inhabit, as well as continued pressure on the political system ( not much success there lately eh ).
There is no question that people are searching for a solution to the criminal treatment of the workers, citizens, and especially the young of this Nation. I hope we can arrive at a process to make things right. The stakes are such that "talk is cheap" is indeed true. But if peace is kept and solutions can be found, "cheap talk" has huge value. But, actions must accompany the rhetoric------ and there in lies the problem, lies and more lies.
The sheep are eaqsily controlled by TV. They traded liberty for a clicker. I bet you watch a lot of TV and in doing - you support The Matrix. F Off.
The Criminal Elite can easily be placed under citizen arrest. Every single one of them. The party begins Dec 21st, 2012. Bring handcuffs and Mace
Begs the question... why wait until 12-21-2012, Mayan thing?
A lot could happen between now and then. Syria and Iran come to mind.
Didn't some guy recently try to make a citizen's arrest of the Fed?
What I am amazed at is that there haven't been numerous incidents of people taking up arms against the causes of the worst of the problems. I see the overall angst, the face eating, near random attacks. And I think that many people "get it!" and almost everyone knows they are being screwed in an unfair way.
I would say 10 to 15% took the red pill. Where is Morpheus?
"when in fact he was simply born into a rich family and was too blinkered to recognize that his accidental circumstance had no bearing on his (dim) wit...."
and this is precisely one of the grand lessons of life and of the bible....no man is anywhere but where god wants him...no one...not a single exception....jehovah raises up and razes down....
it is the folly of man to worship his wisdom....the first shall be last and the last first....however, the stupid fuck will see himself as superior to others and therefore wish to control life and others....but the apostle, speaking the word's of the father, told us to consider others higher than ourselves.
if god has blessed you, bless the unfortunate. failure to do so will lead to damnation (loss).
Its actually pretty easy to crash the system. Remove all deposits frm JPM and put them in your local co-op bank. Simple. Without JPM it all unravels.
wow-that easy?
The Constitution of the US was good and it takes a lot of destruction to weaken it. Wouldn't want to be on the wrong side of things once it is restored.
"The Constitution of the US was good and it takes a lot of destruction to weaken it. Wouldn't want to be on the wrong side of things once it is restored."
The Constitution was the first nail in the coffin of freedom. It was the desire for a more centralized and powerful Federal Government that the Constitution was ratified above and on the grave of the Articles of Confederation. And not long after the ratification of the Constitution came in 1787...in fact proposed in 1790 and ratified in 1791... came the First Bank of the United States...the forerunner of the Federal Reserve and evil brainchild of Alexander Hamilton.
Where ever you have centralized federal government, you will inevitably have a centralized banking system.
And these two things are the linchpins of tyranny.
This would have been very hard to do....if not impossible under the Articles of Confederation.
I call Bullshit on your bullshit. Google Andrew Jackson. For many prosperous decades the USA operated w/o a central bank.
As far as centralized authority goes, getting back to the rule of law under the Constitution would be a major improvment in getting away from centralized power.
"I call Bullshit on your bullshit. Google Andrew Jackson. For many prosperous decades the USA operated w/o a central bank."
Get off the hash pipe and learn to read. What does Andrew Jackson and the fact we prospered without a central bank have to do with anything I said? OF COURSE WE PROSPERED WITHOUT A CENTRAL BANK...THAT WAS MY POINT IN POINTING OUT THE FIRST NATIONAL BANK YOU IDIOT ! Centralized (read FEDERAL banking) will always come with Centralized (FEDERAL GOVERNMENT). Of course we know the first bank was killed by Jefferson and the Second Federal Bank was killed by Jackson....all the while having the Constitution.
It is true that we functioned for many years without a central bank but it is also true that the statists in government have reinstated central banksterism three times and that the nation has existed under central banksterism longer than not. The kleptocratic mercantilist elitist state requires the ability to inflate, manipulate, propagandize, coerce and enslave. It needs fiat money to finance regime wars, to buy political power and to refinance failed TBTFs. It needs these to strip wealth from the middle class. It needs to control "investment" to herd sheeple into the proper financial killing fields. It needs the politicians to control the military and police and to make bad law for the purpose of limiting the peoples' options and independence and to rendering them vulnerable. Break the cycle by recognizing that you are being used and taking the steps that are necessary to preserve your wealth, independence and liberty. Do not permit the PTB to define money and value. YOU decide what is worthwhile. Free (black?) markets will decide if you are right.
P.S. - Remember, you can only have two functioning political parties and Ron Paul can't be the POTUS candidate of one of them. Sheeple!
Not just good, it was genius! It is torn to shreds now, but restore it we must.
I disagree. The Constitution was a bait and switch. The ConCon was only supposed to amend the ArtofCon not come up with a replacement. Everything was done behind closed doors and Joe SixPac wasn't invited. The purpose was to create a greatly empowered central government - they only haggled over who was empowered. A benevolent and loving God doesn't inspire usurpers. Among the first things they did was protective tariffs, central banksterism and putting Washington and Hamilton at the head of an army to surpress tax protesters. The Bill of Rights was an afterthought. I think it still is.
I have a copy thats well over 100 years old. Not for sale at any price
Was it Friday or last night there was a post about not fighting back? Kind of a "the best revenge is living well somewhere else." I couldn't find it.
That article, while probably having some merit, depressed me. This article, while bleak, gives me a little more hope (except for the dog and cat stuff). People will eventually say, "Enough!" to this inhumanity.


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Wine tastings
Published: Wednesday, July 17, 2013 at 5:30 a.m.
Last Modified: Tuesday, July 16, 2013 at 2:54 p.m.
5-7:30 pm Thursday: Peter's Wine Shop, 1665 Dunlawton Ave., Port Orange. Wine tasting featuring five wines for hot nights including rose, Chalone chardonnay, pinot noir, Nero A'avola, cabernet and a craft beer. Ray Hugo, wine consultant, will be pouring. Cost is $10 with a $5 in-store credit on any wine purchase that evening. For information call 386-689-1946; email@example.com.
5:30-7:30 p.m. Thursday: The Vin'Yard, 1395 W. Granada Blvd., Ormond Beach. Wander the stations at your own pace at July's wine tasting, open-house style. Taste pinot blanc from California and one from Alsace, light red blends from Washington State and Bordeaux, crisp cold whites from Italy and a sparkling rose. Bring your glass from home (plastic cups provided). Also included are cheeses and a kitchen creation from Chef Patrick. Cost is $10, with $5 back on your purchase of $10 or more that evening. For more information, call 386-672-5223.
5-7 p.m. Saturday: Alfredo's Ristorante, 4647 S. Clyde Morris, Port Orange. Sample wines from France, Italy and California. Admission is free. 386-322-6090.
6-9 p.m. Saturday: Toscana Oceanside, 142 E. Granada Blvd., Ormond Beach. Sample wines from several wine experts in the downstairs shop at Italian Night, followed by a wine dinner in the restaurant. Enjoy live music as well. Admission is $75 per person for wine tasting and six-course dinner. Reservations are required. For information call 386-615-0350.
6-8 p.m. July 24:ABC Fine Wine & Spirits, 2360 U.S. 44, New Smyrna Beach. Celebrate summer at the New Smyrna Beach wine tasting featuring more than 50 wines, spirits, cordials and gourmet hors d'oeuvres. Cost is $10 and includes a coupon to use before you leave and a souvenir glass to take home. 386-426-5033.
Send your news of food and drink events to Food Editor, The Daytona Beach News-Journal, P.O. Box 2831, Daytona Beach, FL 32120-2831, or send email to firstname.lastname@example.com. Fax is 386-258-8623. Deadline is noon Friday.
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May 4, 2016
Police in Rockford have made an arrest in a shooting last night that left a 24-year-old man dead.
Authorities say 29-year-old Thomas Ronnell Green of Rockford is charged with first-degree murder and is being held on a $500,000 bond Thursday.
Deputy Chief Dominic Iasparro says a man named Desmond Gray was killed Wednesday night during an argument in a parking lot. But Iasparro says police aren't sure what led up to the confrontation.
Copyright © 2000 The Associated Press
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Your Opinion: Reaction to 'blatant segregation'
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Dear Editor:
I have seriously deliberated over this letter. I am addressing Steve Brown (not to be confused with the Steven Brown who did the well-researched piece on the validity of President Obama's citizenship) and Mark Bruenger. I know and expect to have my intelligence questioned, my character impeached and my loyalty doubted. So be it.
Essentially both gentlemen present opposing faces of the same coin. It is somewhat disconcerting to come up against the blatant segregation of a group on the basis of color in the City of Jefferson in this time and place.
Mr. Bruenger's denial of President Obama's citizenship is myth that resembles the John Birch Society's warnings about fluoride in the water in the '50s and '60s, the denial that we actually landed men on the moon in the late '60s and more recently that Americans destroyed the twin towers. They all depend upon the concept of vast conspiracies of enormous power that can create alternate realities without leaving a trace of their passage. This whole issue is a case of the blogosphere rampant and so-called "news organizations" with an agenda.
The core presentations of both gentlemen is that color has created an "other" that either cannot be expected to be actually capable of being president or must be solely responsible within the community for fixing its crime problem. I quote Mr. Brown, "The black community should be concerned … You need to step up and fix it yourselves." He subsequently offers his assistance. My question is whether he is interested in reaching out to assist the African-American community. I can put him in touch with individuals who can guide him according to his interests. They call that calling one's bluff. How pleasant it would be to read an offer to become involved in the "other" community. If Mr. Brown is serious, there are multiple opportunities to help.
If I do not, I will be disappointed but sadly not surprised. Getting past the things that divide us, especially such flimsy things as the color of one's skin, is essential to our continued success as the "melting pot" of the world. That appellation has been earned for two centuries and I would hate to see a struggle that has made great strides in our most difficult attempt be defeated by those who cannot accept who we are.
Mr. Bruenger will just call me a godless, liberal, socialist, communist for 400 words.
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$2,000 Grand Prize GUARANTEED!
Texas Hold'em Poker Tournament
Saturday, March 16, 1pm
Laguna Environmental Center
Go all in for the Laguna! Support the Laguna Foundation's first annual Poker Tournament Fundraiser. Entry fee includes $10K in chips to start plus sandwich bar and soft drinks. $10K more if add-on taken. Guaranteed $2,000 first place prize, additional prizes dependent on prize pool (estimate $1,000 for second place and $500 for third place). Event is structured to finish by about 8pm. Beer and wine will be available for purchase.
And the winners are...
Co-winners Robert Harkavy and Steve Francis made a deal to split the 1st and 2nd place prize money after 6 hours of play in the first annual Go ALL IN for the Laguna Poker Tournament fundraiser held on 3/16/2013 at the Laguna Environmental Center. Many thanks to all who played!
Check back in 2014 for the date of our second annual poker tournament!
We thank you in advance for your support. The Laguna Foundation works to preserve, restore, and enhance the Laguna de Santa Rosa (a Wetland of International Importance), and to inspire public appreciation and understanding of this amazing natural area.
Questions? Call David Bannister at (707) 527-9277 x103.


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How to use Lightroom: 8 mistakes every photographer makes (and how to fix them)
Discover how to use Lightroom more efficiently. Here are 8 classic mistakes photographers make while editing photos in Lightroom and solutions.
Adobe Lightroom is an incredibly powerful image organisation and editing software package. With just a few clicks of your mouse it enables you to tag images and add key words so you can find them quickly and easily in the future.
It also has tools to help you correct exposure and white balance problems and adjust contrast.
Of course the downside to having such a powerful tool at your disposal is that it's possible to make some pretty significant mistakes, especially when you're first learning how to use it.
To help out we've drawn up a list of the most common mistakes that photographers make when using Lightroom and have some advice about how to get things right from the outset.
SEE MORE: Master Adobe Lightroom in 12 minutes or less
Worst Lightroom mistakes: 1. Not using keywords
Keywords are an incredibly useful feature that allow you to find images quickly.
However, applying them takes a bit of discipline and forward planning.
For example, you need to give some thought to how far you breakdown keywords.
This will probably depend upon how many shots you are likely to produce of a particular subject.
SEE MORE: Lightroom vs Photoshop – why Lightroom has all the tools you need
Someone who only occasionally shoots flowers, for instance, is likely to find giving any flower pictures a keyword of 'flowers' sufficient, but a professional plant and flower photographer may require more detail with keywords for specific plants.
If you find that your collection of images with one keyword grows, you can always add another sub-keyword at a later date to help break it down at a later date, but it's better to get things straight from the outset if you can.
Keywording an extensive back-catalogue of image is a pretty daunting task, so we recommend starting with new images and applying keywords as you import each new batch.
Once you've built up a collection of keywords you can start assigning them to older images.
Worst Lightroom mistakes: 1. Not using keywords
Worst Lightroom mistakes: 2. Moving image files outside of Lightroom
Worst Lightroom mistakes: 3. Clipped highlights
Worst Lightroom mistakes: 4. No blacks or whites
Worst Lightroom mistakes: 5. Over-adjusted Curves
Worst Lightroom mistakes: 6. Over saturating colours
Worst Lightroom mistakes: 7. Over-use of selective colour
Worst Lightroom mistakes: 8. Over-sharpening
Adobe Lightroom basics: 6 things you need to know getting started
Professional photo editing tricks: how to get perfect skies in ALL your raw images
Best photo editing tips for beginners: 18 quick fixes to common image problems
Adobe Lightroom presets: how to make your photos stand out and save time


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"Zwarte Piet is nothing more than a repulsive parody of a slave, fine-tuned to indoctrinate schoolchildren into the finer points of racism," it wrote in its first posting in a series. "The sooner we get rid of Zwarte Piet, the sooner we won't look like idiots to the rest of the world."
While the author, who uses the pen name Johnny Quid, uses the satirical blog also to skewer Black Pete opponents, he has deeply antagonized the blog's mostly conservative-leaning reader base.
Despite the growing anti-Pete movement, the tradition finds a strong bedrock of support in mainstream Dutch society, meaning it's unlikely to disappear any time soon.
In 2008, a Museum in Eindhoven called off an anti-Pete exhibition after protests. The foreign artists received death threats. And when Victoria's Secret model Doutzen Kroes said on national television in 2009 that Zwarte Piet is the one thing that has ever made her feel ashamed of being Dutch, the studio audience laughed at her.
Jan Pronk, a leftist politician who once served as the U.N. envoy to Sudan, dismissed her viewpoint on the show. "These are very old traditions," he said, "I don't think it's so bad."
A Facebook page with the slogan "Zwarte Piet is Racism" has become a major platform for debate this year, though moderators have begun removing hate speech and personal threats.
One organization reinforcing the Zwarte Piet image is educational broadcaster NTR, which also airs "Sesame Street" in the Netherlands. It has developed a popular fake news program for kids, devoted to the doings of the wise white Sinterklaas and his many bumbling Petes, all with the traditional blackface look.
The program starts in early November and airs nightly until kids open their presents on Dec. 5. (Although the Dutch Sinterklaas is the source of the American Santa Claus, Christmas is a separate holiday in the Netherlands, where the present-opening tradition happens three weeks earlier.) The show draws more than a million viewers in a country of 16 million, and its spokeswoman, Helen Albada, said she was unaware of any complaints about its depiction of Zwarte Piet.
Several years ago, the broadcaster experimented with a story line in which the Petes were turned different colors after sailing through a magical rainbow. That drew thousands of complaints, in part because the backlash against immigration was cresting at the time: Fans said changing Pete was sacrificing Dutch cultural heritage to the forces of multiculturalism.
"We didn't intend that either," Albada said. "Kids don't see Pete as black, it's the adults that give it a racial meaning."
In a recent editorial, one columnist for the NRC Handelsblad newspaper questioned whether the country really is as tolerant as it likes to style itself. He deplored the fact that even as the U.S. has re-elected a black president, not a single member of the Netherlands' new Cabinet is of non-Dutch ancestry.
"That's because we, unlike other countries, have become completely colorblind," Bas Heijne wrote ironically. "We don't need a black minister, let alone a black prime minister: We have Zwarte Piet."
(Photo: AP)


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Macomb Township man accused of pointing a gun at another man over dispute in parking lot
CLINTON TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WXYZ) - A 56-year old Macomb Township man was arraigned Tuesday on a felonious assault charge after he allegedly pointed a handgun at another man in a bank parking lot.
Pietro Di Benedetto appeared by video for his arraignment in 41-B District Court in Clinton Township.
The criminal complaint says Di Benedetto, who has a concealed weapons permit, pointed a loaded hand gun at a 70-year-old Clinton Township man after they argued after a parking dispute at Huntington Bank on Hall Road, east of Romeo Plank.
Di Benedetto has no prior criminal record. He was released on $10,000 personal bond.
Judge Daniel J. Goulette ordered Di Benedetto to have no contact with the other man or his family members.
If convicted of the charge, Di Benedetto could face a maximum of four years in prison and/or a $2,000 fine.
He is due back in court for a preliminary hearing on June 25.


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Vancouver, BC, Canada -- Simba Energy Inc. (TSX.V: SMB), the oil and gas exploration company with a focus towards the African countries of Liberia, Mali, and Ghana, announces the following update on its activities:
Mr. Robert Dinning, President and CEO, is pleased to report that Simba Energy Inc. has successfully hosted a delegation from the National Oil Company of Liberia (NOCAL) at its Head Office in Vancouver, Canada. The purpose of the visit was to review Simba`s application to convert its hydrocarbon reconnaissance permit to a Production Sharing Agreement (PSA).
Robert Dinning remarks, "The Company was able to demonstrate the merits of Simba`s PSA application to the satisfaction of these officials and is excited to be moving forward with the company's targeted goals." The application is now before the NOCAL technical committee for review.
"Robert Dinning", President & CEO
For further information contact Simba Energy Inc.
Robert Dinning, Chief Executive Office
604 641 4450
Conduit PR (London)
Jonathan Charles
+44 (0)20 7429 6611
+44 (0)7791 892509
For more information please visit: www.simbaenergy.ca
About Simba Energy Inc.
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When Dave Kitzerow goes to the Feith Family Ozaukee YMCA in Saukville to lift weights, he often has a half dozen Port Washington High School seniors working out with him. "It's a group of five to seven young men who want to learn how to lift properly — spotting and safety is important — and the right nutrition," said Kitzerow, a guidance counselor and track coach at Port High who is known for his healthy lifestyle. Kitzerow used to be a power-lifting coach and judge and is a certified youth strength and conditioning instructor. With his counseling background, he adds some life lessons to the lifting sessions. It started when his son Nathan, 18, and Nathan's buddy, John "Boomer" Scheel, both Port High football players, asked Kitzerow if they could work out with him. Soon more guys showed up. Some want to get stronger for track and baseball. "Never let the bar get cold" is Kitzerow's mantra, the guys said. "It's much harder (lifting weights with his father) and I think we're getting more gains than when we were lifting by ourselves," said Nathan, who used to work out with his father when he was in middle school. "He's teaching us to be well-rounded men," added Tanner Mersereau, a football player. "He encourages us to eat healthier and make better choices. We talk about a lot of things. We're like a big family." At age 51, Kitzerow said, he's happy that he can keep up with the young men who are in their prime. "I told them when we started three months ago, 'You're going to pass me up.' It's amazing what the young body can do," he said. "I'm a firm believer of leading by example, so I lift with them. I can't do everything that they can, but even at my age, it's amazing that I can still stay with them. I can't surpass them, but I can stay with them." Kitzerow lifts weights with the students every day after school. They concentrate on upper-body strength on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and lower-body strength on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The sessions include cardio work — running on treadmills or using elliptical machines after upper-body workouts and cycling to loosen leg muscles before lower-body workouts.
When the weather is nice, Kitzerow's cardio workout is biking to and from the Y. Kitzerow played football in high school and at Concordia College Wisconsin in Mequon. He was a varsity football coach at Cedarburg High School and served as an assistant football coach at Port High. Students in the Ozaukee County jail were his pupils for three years while he was getting his master's degree in guidance counseling. He then found his niche counseling students.
Kitzerow began his fitness routine in the mid-1980s after an injury prevented him from playing football and he turned to coaching. "I was a child of the '70s. In those days, athletics wasn't as risky as it is now," Kitzerow said. "Now, you have to develop muscle around the bone to be safe. I got into the mentality you have to lift to prepare and protect yourself." Kitzerow injured his shoulder and back. He's had four surgeries — three on his shoulder and one on his back. "I try to stay away from pain. I don't want these guys to get hurt like I did," he said. "It's important to give your body rest. "When you're working out, you're breaking down muscle. When you're resting and getting nutrition you build muscle. I don't mean sleeping until noon." Kitzerow doesn't want the young men to lift to their maximum, saying it doesn't prove anything unless they plan to compete in power lifting. "Even then, they should lift to their maximum only three times a year," he said. "I see too many kids come into the weight room and talk about how much they lifted." He prefers more repetitions with lighter weights. Kitzerow's entire family is health and fitness conscious. His wife Jeannine, an Ozaukee County public health nurse and Weight Watchers leader, is a triathlete and prepares nutritious meals. Their three daughters — Jessica, 22, and 19-year-old twins Nicole and Megan — are also triathletes and attend college. Nathan is a sprinter in track and wants to join the track team at University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh. Kitzerow said 90% of being fit is proper nutrition and hydration. "My wife teaches about nutrition and that rubs off on us," he said. "It's not a diet. It's a way of life. Your body needs fuel — good fuel — green vegetables, high-quality protein. You learn about healthy carbs and not healthy carbs." Even the holidays didn't wreak havoc with his weight. "I'm the type of person who can have a taste of something and I'm content. I don't have to have a whole piece," he said. Kitzerow eats four to five times a day. He takes vitamin supplements that include calcium, fish oil and flax seed oil. He doesn't eat candy bars or drink sodas, but he likes protein bars and drinks. Kitzerow starts every morning with the same breakfast — an oatmeal egg pancake that he fries in olive oil and eats with half a grapefruit and a protein drink. He may put honey or jam on the pancake, but not syrup. At 9:30 a.m., he has a protein shake and apple or other fruit. Lunch is usually leftovers and could include chicken, fish, salad and vegetables. He eats a protein bar before going to the Y at 3:30 p.m. The evening meal is often chicken or fish and vegetables, and Kitzerow has a late snack that could be a chicken breast or fruit. "I try to get a lot of color. Yellow, red and orange peppers are good, and lots of leafy green vegetables," Kitzerow said. The frequent meals, he said, keeps the metabolism burning calories for energy. "It's like stoking an engine. It isn't rocket science, but it does require discipline," he said. "Once you get used to it, you feel better." If he skips a meal, Kitzerow said, he gets over-hungry and eats too much at the next meal. When choosing protein drinks and bars, Kitzerow tells people to check the protein, fat and sugar contents. "The fat and sugar makes it taste good, but you're defeating the purpose," he said. Kitzerow said he likes seeing new people at the YMCA fulfilling their New Year's resolutions to get fit. "But it's amazing how many give up by about March," he said. "You have to continue year-round."Following is Dave Kitzerow's recipe for oatmeal egg pancake. Oatmeal Egg Pancake1/2 cup old-fashioned oatsSplash of water1 egg1/2 cup egg whitesDash of cinnamonOlive oil Microwave oats with water for one minute. Stir in egg, egg whites and cinnamon. Fry pancake in olive oil until lightly browned on one side, flip and continue to fry until done. Serve with jelly or honey if desired.


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State of Qatar
Area: 11,437 sq. km. (4,427 sq. mi.); about the size of Connecticut and Rhode Island combined.
Cities: Capital--Doha 431,525 (2005 est.). Other cities--Umm Said, Al-Khor, Dukhan, Ruwais.
Terrain: Mostly desert, flat, barren.
Climate: Hot and dry, some humidity in summer.
Nationality: Noun and adjective--Qatari(s).
Population (2005 est.): 863,051.
Population growth (2005 est.): 2.61%.
Ethnic groups: Arab 40%, Pakistani 18%, Indian 18%, Iranian 10%, other 14%.
Religion: Islam (state religion, claimed by virtually all of the indigenous population).
Languages: Arabic (official); English (widely spoken).
Education: Compulsory--ages 6-16. Attendance--98%. Literacy (2004 est.)--89% total population, 89.1% male, 88.6% female.
Health (2005 est.): Infant mortality rate--18.6 deaths/1,000 live births. Life expectancy--73.7 years.
Work force (1997): 280,122. Industry, services, and commerce--70%; government--20%; agriculture--10%.
Type: Constitutional Emirate.
Independence: September 3, 1971.
Constitution: Approved by popular vote 2003; came into force June 2005.
Branches: Executive--Council of Ministers. Legislative--Advisory Council (currently appointed pending elections in 2006 or 2007; has assumed only limited responsibility to date). Judicial--independent.
Subdivisions: Fully centralized government; nine municipalities.
Political parties: None.
Suffrage: Universal over age 18, since 1999.
GDP (2004): $28.45 billion.
Real growth rate (2004) 20.5%.
Per capita income (2004): $32,966.
Natural resources: Petroleum, natural gas, fish.
Agriculture: Accounts for less than 2% of GDP. Products--fruits and vegetables (most food is imported).
Industry: Types--oil production and refining (31% of GDP), natural gas development, mining, manufacturing, construction, and power.
Trade (2004): Exports--$18.45 billion, principally oil 47% and gas 36%. Partners (2004)--Japan 42.1%, South Korea 15.8%, Singapore 9.1%, India 5.4%, and U.A.E. 2.9% (U.S. 1.2%). Imports--$6 billion, principally consumer goods, machinery, food. Partners (2004)--France 26.7%, U.S. 9.6%, Saudi Arabia 9.5%, Germany 5.2%, and Japan 5.2%.
Natives of the Arabian Peninsula, most Qataris are descended from a number of migratory tribes that came to Qatar in the 18th century to escape the harsh conditions of the neighboring areas of Nejd and Al-Hasa. Some are descended from Omani tribes. Qatar has 863,051 people, the majority of whom live in Doha, the capital. Foreigners with temporary residence status make up about four-fifths of the population. Foreign workers comprise 52% of the total population and make up 88% of the total labor force. Most of them are South Asians, Egyptians, Palestinians, Jordanians, and Iranians. About 6,000 U.S. citizens resided there as of 2001.
For centuries, the main sources of wealth were pearling, fishing, and trade. At one time, Qataris owned nearly one-third of the Persian Gulf fishing fleet. With the Great Depression and the introduction of Japan's cultured-pearl industry, pearling in Qatar declined drastically.
The Qataris are mainly Sunni "Wahhabi" Muslims. Islam is the official religion, and Islamic jurisprudence is the basis of Qatar's legal system. Arabic is the official language, and English is the lingua franca. Education is compulsory and free for all Arab residents 6-16 years old. Qatar has an increasingly high literacy rate.
Qatar has been inhabited for millennia. In the 19th century, the Bahraini Al Khalifa family dominated until 1868 when, at the request of Qatari nobles, the British negotiated the termination of the Bahraini claim, except for the payment of tribute. The tribute ended with the occupation of Qatar by the Ottoman Turks in 1872.
When the Turks left, at the beginning of World War I, the British recognized Sheikh Abdullah bin Jassim Al Thani as Ruler. The Al Thani family had lived in Qatar for 200 years. The 1916 treaty between the United Kingdom and Sheikh Abdullah was similar to those entered into by the British with other Gulf principalities. Under it, the Ruler agreed not to dispose of any of his territory except to the U.K. and not to enter into relationships with any other foreign government without British consent. In return, the British promised to protect Qatar from all aggression by sea and to lend their good offices in case of a land attack. A 1934 treaty granted more extensive British protection.
In 1935, a 75-year oil concession was granted to Qatar Petroleum Company, a subsidiary of the Iraq Petroleum Company, which was owned by Anglo-Dutch, French, and U.S. interests. High-quality oil was discovered in 1940 at Dukhan, on the western side of the Qatari Peninsula. Exploitation was delayed by World War II, and oil exports did not begin until 1949.
During the 1950s and 1960s gradually increasing oil reserves brought prosperity, rapid immigration, substantial social progress, and the beginnings of Qatar's modern history. When the U.K. announced a policy in 1968 (reaffirmed in March 1971) of ending the treaty relationships with the Gulf sheikdoms, Qatar joined the other eight states then under British protection (the seven trucial sheikdoms--the present United Arab Emirates--and Bahrain) in a plan to form a union of Arab emirates. By mid-1971, however, the nine still had not agreed on terms of union, and the termination date (end of 1971) of the British treaty relationship was approaching. Accordingly, Qatar sought independence as a separate entity and became the fully independent State of Qatar on September 3, 1971.
In February 1972, the Deputy Ruler and Prime Minister, Sheikh Khalifa bin Hamad, deposed his cousin, Emir Ahmad, and assumed power. This move was supported by the key members of Al Thani and took place without violence or signs of political unrest.
On June 27, 1995, the Deputy Ruler, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa, deposed his father Emir Khalifa in a bloodless coup. Emir Hamad and his father reconciled in 1996. Since then, the Emir has announced his intention for Qatar to move toward democracy and has permitted a free and open press and municipal elections as a precursor to parliamentary elections expected by early 2007. Qatari citizens approved a new constitution via public referendum in April 2003, which came into force in June 2005.
The ruling Al Thani family continued to hold power following the declaration of independence in 1971. The head of state is the Emir, and the right to rule Qatar is passed on within the Al Thani family. Politically, Qatar is evolving from a traditional society to one based on more formal and democratic institutions to meet the requirements of social and economic progress. The country's constitution formalizes the hereditary rule of the Al Thani family, but it also establishes a two-thirds elected legislative body and makes ministers accountable to the legislature. National elections are not expected until 2007 or 2007, and in current practice, the Emir's role is influenced by continuing traditions of consultation, rule by consensus, and the citizen's right to appeal personally to the Emir. The Emir, while directly accountable to no one, cannot violate the Shari'a (Islamic law) and, in practice, must consider the opinions of leading notables and the religious establishment. Their position is institutionalized in the Advisory Council, an appointed body that assists the Emir in formulating policy. Elections in 1999 in which men and women participated resulted in the formation of a municipal council. One woman candidate was elected to the municipal council in 2003.
The influx of expatriate Arabs has introduced ideas that call into question the tenets of Qatar's traditional society, but there has been no serious challenge to Al Thani rule. As the most visible sign of the move toward openness, the Al Jazeera satellite television station based in Qatar is considered the most free and unfettered broadcast source in the Arab world. In practice, however, Al Jazeera rarely criticizes the ruling Al Thani family.
Principal Government Officials
Emir, Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces, and Minister of Defense--HH Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani
Deputy Ruler, Crown Prince, deputy Chief of the Armed Forces--HH Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani
Prime Minister--HH Sheikh Abdullah bin Khalifa Al Thani
Minister of Foreign Affairs and Deputy Prime Minister--HE Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabir Al Thani
Ambassador to the U.S.--HE Nasir Bin Hamad Mubarak Al-Khalifa
Qatar maintains an embassy in the United States at 4200 Wisconsin Ave. NW, Suite 200, Washington, DC 20016 (tel. 202-274-1600) and a consulate in Houston at 4265 San Felipe Street, Suite 1100, Houston, Texas 77207 (tel. 713-968-9840). Qatar's Permanent Mission to the United Nations is at 747 Third Ave., 22nd floor, New York, NY 10017 (tel. 212-486-9335).
Qatar's defense expenditures ($723 million) accounted for approximately 10% of GNP in 2001. Qatar maintains a modest military force of about 6,797 men, including an army, navy, air force, and public security. Qatar also has signed defense pacts with the U.S., U.K., and France. Qatar plays an active role in the collective defense efforts of the Gulf Cooperation Council (the regional organization of the Arab states in the Gulf; the other five members are Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, the U.A.E., and Oman). Qatari forces played an important role in the first Gulf War, and Qatar has supported U.S. military operations critical to the success of Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom. Qatar hosts CENTCOM Forward Headquarters.
Oil formed the cornerstone of Qatar's economy well into the 1990s and still accounts for about 60% of total government revenue. In 1973, oil production and revenues increased sizably, moving Qatar out of the ranks of the world's poorest countries and providing it with one of the highest per capita incomes. The trend has continued, thanks in part to burgeoning gas exports.
Qatar's economy was in a downturn from in the mid-1990s. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries' quotas on crude oil production, the lower price for oil, and the generally unpromising outlook on international markets reduced oil earnings. In turn, the Qatari Government's spending plans had to be cut to match lower income. The resulting recessionary local business climate caused many firms to lay off expatriate staff. With the economy recovering in the late 1990s, expatriate populations have grown again.
Oil production is currently around 800,000 barrels per day (bpd), and is expected to reach 1,000,000 bpd by 2008. At the current production pace, oil reserves are expected to last more than 40 years. Moreover, large natural gas reserves have been located off Qatar's northeast coast. Qatar's proven reserves of gas are the third-largest in the world, exceeding 900 trillion cubic feet. Qatar has the largest single non-associated gas field in the world, the North Field. Qatar sits on 14% of the world's total proven gas reserves. Qatar currently exports 14 million metric tons per annum (mmta) of natural gas, and it expects to reach 77 mmta of liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports by 2010, thus becoming the largest natural gas exporter in the world. In five years, Qatar could very likely supply one-third of the world's LNG needs.
The economy was boosted in 1991 by completion of the $1.5-billion Phase I of North Field gas development. In 1996, the Qatar gas project began exporting liquefied natural gas to Japan. Further phases of North Field gas development costing billions of dollars are in various stages of planning and development, and agreements have been concluded with the U.A.E. to export gas via pipelines and to Spain, Turkey, Italy, the U.S., France, South Korea, India, China, Taiwan, and the U.K. via ship.
Qatar's heavy industrial projects, all based in Umm Said, include a refinery with a 140,000 bpd capacity, a fertilizer plant for urea and ammonia, a steel plant, and a petrochemical plant. All these industries use gas for fuel. Most are joint ventures between U.S., European, and Japanese firms and the state-owned Qatar Petroleum (QP). The U.S. is the major equipment supplier for Qatar's oil and gas industry, and U.S. companies are playing a major role in North Field gas development and related energy and water infrastructure development.
The country's economic growth potential is stunning. Qatar's GDP, currently around $30 billion, has grown at an average of 19% over the past five years. GDP grew by 20.5% in 2004. Qatar's per capita GDP is more than $30,000, soon to be the highest in the world. Even more important is the Qatari Government's strategy to utilize its wealth to generate more wealth by diversifying the economic base of the country beyond hydrocarbons.
Qatar pursues a vigorous program of "Qatarization," under which all joint venture industries and government departments strive to move Qatari nationals into positions of greater authority. Growing numbers of foreign-educated Qataris, including many educated in the U.S., are returning home to assume key positions formerly occupied by expatriates. In order to control the influx of expatriate workers, Qatar has tightened the administration of its foreign manpower programs over the past several years. Security is the principal basis for Qatar's strict entry and immigration rules and regulations.
Qatar achieved full independence in an atmosphere of cooperation with the U.K. and friendship with neighboring states. Most Arab states, the U.K., and the U.S. were among the first countries to recognize Qatar, and the state promptly gained admittance to the United Nations and the Arab League. Qatar established diplomatic relations with the U.S.S.R. and China in 1988. It was an early member of OPEC and a founding member of the GCC.
In September 1992, tensions arose with Saudi Arabia when a Qatari border post was allegedly attacked by Saudi forces, resulting in two deaths. Relations have since improved, and a joint commission has been set up to demarcate the border as agreed between the two governments.
Qatar and Bahrain disputed ownership of the Hawar Islands. The International Court of Justice in The Hague issued a ruling in June 2001, which both sides accepted. In the agreement Bahrain kept the main Hawar Island but dropped claims to parts of mainland Qatar, while Qatar retained significant maritime areas and their resources.
Bilateral relations are strong and expanding. The U.S. embassy was opened in March 1973. The first resident U.S. ambassador arrived in July 1974. Ties between the U.S. and Qatar are excellent and marked by frequent senior-level consultations in Doha and Washington. Emir Hamad visited Washington in 2004, and President Bush visited Qatar in 2003. Qatar and the United States coordinate closely on regional diplomatic initiative, cooperate to increase security in the Gulf, and enjoy extensive economic links, especially in the hydrocarbons sector. Qatar sees the development of a world-class educational system as key to its continued success. As a result, hundreds of Qataris study in the United States. Cornell University has established a degree granting branch medical school campus in Doha, and other universities including Texas A&M, Carnegie Mellon University and the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Design also have branch campuses in Qatar's newly inaugurated "Education City" complex.
Principal U.S. Officials
Ambassador--Chase Untermeyer
Deputy Chief of Mission--Scott McGehee
Political/Economic Counselor--Rob Pyott
Political Officer--Farah Chery-Medor
Economic/Commercial Officer--Guy Strandemo
Consular Officer--Larry Mitchell
Public Affairs Officer--Mirembe Natongo
The U.S. Embassy in Qatar is located in Doha at 22 February Road, Al Luqta District, Doha, Qatar Mailing address: P.O. Box 23, Doha. Tel.: 974-488-4161; fax 4884150. The embassy is open Sunday through Thursday (Qatar's workweek), closed for U.S. and Qatari holidays.


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Definition of barbicel in English:
Entry from US English dictionary
Any of the minute hooked filaments that interlock the barbules of a bird's feathers.
Example sentences
- Barbs can be separated from each other and smoothed back into place because barbules and barbicels act somewhat like a zipper.
- It is important for the feathers to be relatively broad, with a web of good firm texture, a strong shaft, the barbs, barbules, and barbicels closely and tightly knitted together.
- Often part of a bird's incessant cleaning routine is the straightening of wing primaries, which seems to help reattatch the barbicels so the wings remain fully functional.
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There is a phantom in the machinery of the universe, and it evades even the best "ghost hunting" physicists.
Known for nearly 80 years, and for lack of a better terminology simply called "dark matter," it still eludes detection to this day. Even our biggest particle accelerator, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), apparently hasn't been able to manufacture it.
Researchers at this week's meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) reported that their Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) on the International Space Station may yield new clues as to what dark matter is. This $1.5 billion "bug trap" experiment collects all kinds of exotic high-energy particles from deep space. Any unusual peaks in the count of particles monitored by the AMS might be the result of dark matter behavior. The AMS team are expected to release their results next month.
PHOTOS: Hubble's Latest Mind Blowing Cosmic Pictures
What's frustrating is, that whatever it is, dark matter is a lynchpin in modern astrophysics. It is the ghostly link between the infinitely small and infinitely large: particle physics and cosmology.
But unlike ghosts, dark matter is unequivocally real — like the character Griffin in The Invisible Man written in the 1897 by H.G. Wells. People see Griffin's actions as he actually moves things around but never the body (at least until his death).
Dark matter's gravitational pull is the glue of the universe, holding together galaxies and clusters of galaxies. Dark matter warps space like a funhouse mirror, stretching images of far-flung galaxies. Dark matter is also imprinted on the acoustic waves frozen in our snapshot of the 13.7 billion year-old universe, cosmic microwave background radiation.
Therefore, dark matter is not an illusion based on some lack of understanding of gravity, as some have suggested. "If solving dark matter calls for a modified theory of gravity I'll eat my PowerPoint slides — and my laptop computer!" said astrophysicist Mike Turner, of the University of Chicago.
NEWS: Vast Web of Dark Matter Mapped
In fact, "dark" is a misnomer says Harvard University theoretical physicist Lisa Randall because it does not interact with radiation. A dark object still absorbs or reflects a little light. A black cat eating licorice in a coal bin is dark matter.
So, let's call the glue of the universe invisible matter, with a tip of the hat to 19th century poet Hughes Mearns:
Invisible matter particles were presumably cooked up when the newborn universe was a "quark soup," 1/100,000th of a second after the Big Bang. The seething hot universe was essentially a nuclear reactor for making particles more massive than quarks.
One idea is that invisible matter was born out of a phase transition — like water vapor turning into droplets. It may have decoupled from normal matter to make such hypothetical particles as axions or WIMPs (Weakly Interacting Massive Particles). Normal matter and invisible matter may have transferred properties between each other in the primeval cauldron. Both forms of matter store the same amount of energy in the same volume, so they must have a kinship.
Today there is an ongoing do-loop between theories and experiments for invisible matter. One theory is that invisible matter particles occasionally collide with each other to make specific flavors of cosmic rays, anti-protons or gamma rays. And, all of this must be sorted out from the cacophony of high-energy radiation saturating the universe.
ANALYSIS: Dark Matter Mystery Unraveled by Dwarf Galaxies?
Rather than waiting for Mother Nature, physicists are eagerly trying to home cook their own invisible matter in the LHC. This allows for the invisible matter egg-hunt to be done under controlled conditions.
But, like our Invisible Man, invisible matter particles can only be inferred from the behavior of observable particles created deep in the bowels of the LHC's building-sized detector arrays.
Head-on collisions of clusters of protons accelerated to near the speed of light yield cascades of subatomic particles meticulously recorded by concentric rings of detectors. The subatomic shrapnel from the collision is inventoried by massive data processing. A deficit in the tally could mean that an invisible matter particle was created and promptly zipped through all the layered detectors without a trace.
But is evidence of absence really absence of something tangible? The same effect could be caused by an escaping neutrino (which in fact may account for some fraction of invisible matter) or simply bad data. Or maybe there is an unintended observer bias when looking at the data.
What's more, only a fraction of the collision data deemed "most interesting" can be stored and the rest is thrown away. "I stay awake every night worrying we might be throwing out the baby with the bathwater," said U.C. Santa Barbra physicist Claudio Campagnari.
And, can some conclusions be gleaned about invisible matter from a null result?
ANALYSIS: Dark Matter Found Lurking at Edges of Galaxies
The conventional wisdom is that a heavy "mother particle" breaks down into a cascade of smaller particles that include invisible matter. But this may require a big boost in power for the LHC, which, after all, is trying in inch a littler closer to the mind bogging energies that existed around the time of the Big Bang. By 2020 the LHC may be doubled in energy, and a brawny Super-LHC could come online after 2030. Fabricating invisible matter may have to wait until then, or it may never be achievable — at least to satisfy hard core skeptics.
Astrophysicists hold out the hope that invisible matter may coagulate inside stars, or supermassive black holes. Perhaps invisible matter collapsed into a dense disk in the heart of our Milky Way and aligned to the galactic plane. Such hypothetical objects would provide a "rich signal" for invisible matter, Randall pointed out.
So the ghost hunt goes on, and predictions among astrophysicists for nailing invisible matter range from having a solution within a few years to "someday."
Most humbling of all is that invisible matter is not even strange because the atoms stars, planets and people are made of account for only 0.5 percent of the energy-mass budget of the universe. Therefore we are the oddballs if you take a holistic view of the cosmos.
In a sense we are the shadow universe. We're like the tiny LED light bulbs strung out on a Christmas tree, and we are left wondering what the tree is made of. "You have to ask the question of why everything we see should be normal matter," said Randall.
Image credit: NASA, CERN, J. Read & O. Agertz