Best Evidence for UFOs?

By George Michael

The study of UFOs has long been consigned on the fringes of the research community. Although the SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) project is regarded as a serious scientific effort, Ufology suffers from a sizable credibility gap despite the fact that nearly eighty percent of those Americans surveyed - according to a CNN poll conducted in 1997 - believed that the government was hiding knowledge of the existence of alien life forms. The failure of Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs) to be taken seriously in academia can be ascribed in large part to a dearth of physical evidence and the questionable reliability of UFO claimants. In "UFOs: Generals, Pilots, and Government Officials Go on the Record" Leslie Kean, an investigative journalist, attempts to break with this pattern by relying on accounts from numerous credible eyewitnesses to UFO encounters and authoritative sources. 

As Kean recounts, the contemporary UFO era commenced in the late 1940s after a sudden influx of sightings were observed in the United States and around the world. Concomitant with the start of the cold war, military officials began investigating UFOs, as they suspected that they might be Soviet in origin. In 1947, Lieutenant General Nathan Twining, commander of the Air Force Material Command, sent a secret memo concerning “Flying Discs” to the Pentagon and recommended that a detailed study into the topic was warranted. The next year, the “Sign” project was established within the Air Material Command with operations located at Wright Field (now Wright-Patterson Air Force Base). Sign was later renamed “Grudge” and in 1951 “Project Bluebook” became a repository for UFO cases and a place for people to call and file reports of sightings.

Other agencies took an interest in UFOs as well. In 1953, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) convened a scientific advisory panel chaired by H.P. Robertson, a physicist and weapon systems specialist from the California Institute of Technology. The panel proposed the creation of a broad educational program that would integrate the efforts of all concerned agencies. The CIA encouraged all agencies within the intelligence community to work with the media and infiltrate civilian research groups for the purpose of debunking UFOs. By doing so, public interest in the topic would diminish.

Some researchers, however, took issue with the government’s agenda to discredit UFO claims. For example, J. Allen Hynek, an astronomer who worked for a number of years as a consultant to Project Blue Book, released a book in 1972 titled "The UFO Experience: A Scientific Inquiry" in which he acknowledged that the Air Force followed the CIA’s lead in debunking UFO claims. But UFO sightings continued, and in 1966 the University of Colorado agreed to host a government-funded study of UFOs led by Edward U. Condon, a prominent physicist and head of the National Bureau of Standards. The Condon Report concluded that “Nothing has come from the study of UFOs in the past twenty years that has added to scientific knowledge.” Project Bluebook was officially terminated in early 1970, thus ending all official government investigations into the topic of UFOs. Thereafter the UFO question shifted to the margins. 

Although Project Bluebook was officially terminated, Kean believes that the U.S. military continues to investigate UFOs. She claims to have acquired a British government document from a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request that comes close to verifying the existence of a secret group in the U.S. intelligence community that still investigates UFOs. Despite the U.S. government’s dismissal of the validity of UFO sightings, according to Kean, documents released under FOIA show that officials in multiple branches of government asserted that the UFOs might be extraterrestrial in origin. 

Compellingly, a significant proportion of UFO sightings have been reported by military pilots and their crews. Kean cites the notable example of Parviz Jafari, a major in the Iranian Air Force, who in 1976 approached a luminous UFO that was observed over Tehran. Jafari claimed that he attempted to fire a Sidewinder missile at the UFO, but his equipment shut down and returned to normal only after his jet moved away from the object. Apparently, the U.S. government took an interest in the case, as a once-classified memo from the Defense Intelligence Agency on the incident was sent to the National Security Agency (NSA), the White House, and the CIA. Another purported military encounter with a UFO occurred on April 11, 1980, when Lieutenant Oscar Santa Maria Huertas of the Peruvian Air Force was ordered to intercept what was initially believed to be an aerial spying balloon. He fired a 64-round burst of 30 mm shells that would normally obliterate a target, but the barrage had no effect. The bullets seemed to be absorbed by the object, which ascended very rapidly away from the air base. When Huertas got close to his target, he realized that it was not a balloon after all, but appeared to be an object with a shiny dome on top. As he explained, the object lacked the typical features of an aircraft, as it had no wings, propulsion jets, exhausts, or windows.  

Perhaps the most notable reported military case involving a UFO occurred on December 26, 1980, at the Rendlesham Forest, near Ipswich in England. A three-man patrol from the U.S. Air Force’s 81st Security Police Squadron reported seeing a triangular-shaped metallic craft moving through the trees, which eventually landed in a small clearing. According to his account of the incident, upon approaching the craft, Sergeant James Penniston observed strange markings that he likened to Egyptian hieroglyphs. He even touched the craft and took photographs of it. After about 45 minutes he said the craft lifted off and maneuvered through the trees at a remarkable speed. Alas, the Air Force later told Penniston that his photos were overexposed and did not come out. However, depression marks where the object had landed were observed and a Geiger counter indicated significantly high radiation readings. Two nights later, the deputy base commander Lieutenant Colonel Charles I. Halt observed the craft as well and became one of the highest-ranking military officers ever to go on the record about a UFO sighting.

After many years of study, the U.S. military concluded that UFOs posed no threat to national security. Only a small fraction of UFOs have demonstrated even a remote semblance of hostility. And those rare occasions occurred only after severe provocation, such as an attack by military aircraft. According to several accounts, UFOs were able to evade attacks at the very last moment just when pilots locked onto their targets. Inasmuch as these last-minute evasions were so perfectly-timed, the pilots concluded that they could not be coincidental.  

Numerous civilian accounts of UFO sightings that have surfaced are documented by Kean as well. For instance, the Hudson Valley wave, which began in upstate New York and parts of Connecticut in 1982, involved repeated sightings of large silent objects hovering at low altitudes with extremely bright spotlights. Even more significant was the case of the “Phoenix Lights,” which included a number of spectacular sightings that were reported in Arizona on March 13, 1997. Scores of witnesses claimed to have seen a massive aircraft measuring the size of “multiple football fields.” As is often the case, the government did not appear interested in the episode and no official investigation was launched despite the public outcry from the scores of eyewitnesses. A few months after the sightings, Governor Fife Symington announced at a press conference that he would reveal the source of the Phoenix Lights, whereupon his chief of staff, Jay Helier, was escorted to the podium in handcuffs and wearing an alien mask over his head. In a remarkable essay provided to Kean, Symington revealed that he too had seen the UFO, but explained that his levity at the press conference was as an effort to allay the consternation of his constituents.

Kean characterizes the U.S. government as a “pariah” on the international scene concerning official UFO investigations for its lack of transparency. In contrast, several European and South American governments have taken the issue seriously and established agencies to investigate to study of UFOs. In particular, Kean commends the French government for its open-mindedness on UFOs as evidenced by its creation of GEIPAN, a unit in the French space agency (CNES) that investigates unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP). In 1999, a private French group - COMETA (the committee for In-Depth Studies) - released a 90-page document that concluded that the best explanation for the small number of seemingly inexplicable UFO cases was the extraterrestrial hypothesis. Inasmuch as the report was undertaken by numerous retired generals, scientists, and space experts who spent three years analyzing military and pilot encounters with UFOs, it had considerable credibility. One of the report’s authors, Jean-Jacques Velasco, who from 1983 to 2004 led GEIPAN, concluded that the existence of UFOs was without question.

After a wave of UFO sightings were recording in Belgium in 1989-1990, the Belgian government took an interest in the topic as well. Approximately, 2,000 cases were reported of which 650 were investigated and 500 remain unexplained. Some observers described the aircraft as triangular, while other described them as massive inverted aircraft carriers. Several witnesses observed the craft making tilting maneuvers, which revealed a dome at the top. Belgian Major General Wilfried De Brouwer maintained that the maneuvers of the UFOs were beyond the capacity of even experimental aircraft and no “black program” could have been responsible for the sightings. Moreover, American authorities assured the Belgian Air Force that there were no U.S. aerial test flights that could have occasioned the sightings.  

Despite numerous recorded incidents, Kean points out that many people dismiss the subject of UFO as something that is unserious and not worthy of study. Ostensibly, the U.S. government appears to be aloof on UFOs despite the documentary evidence. Still, some officials have taken the topic seriously. For example, shortly after assuming office, President Jimmy Carter (who had his own UFO sighting in 1969), instructed his science advisor, Frank Press, to write a memo to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), recommending that the agency set up a panel of inquiry on UFOs. However, after a number of letters, memos, and inquiries made their way through the various levels of the hierarchy of the NASA bureaucracy, the agency turned down the president’s request in December 1977. For his part, Senator Barry Goldwater (Rep-AZ), a former pilot and retired major general in the Air Force Reserve, was convinced that a secret UFO program did exist. He once called the commander of the Strategic Air Command, Curtis LeMay, and asked permission to access the room at Wright-Patterson where information on UFOs resided, at which point LeMay alleged got angry and cussed him out, exclaiming “Don’t ever ask me that question again.” More recently, John Podesta, who served as President Bill Clinton’s White House chief of staff, wrote a foreword to Kean’s book and supported her efforts to bring more information on the topic of UFOs. 

Why, Kean asks, is there such a strong taboo against taking the UFO subject seriously when there is so much evidence for it? Rather than an intentional conspiracy, Kean speculates that the U.S. government might be as baffled as everyone else on the UFO question. In an interesting essay included in the book titled “Militant Agnosticism and the UFO Taboo,” two political scientists, Alexander Wendt and Raymond Duvall, advance a theory as to why the U.S. government has supposedly been less than forthcoming on the UFO question. As they point out, skeptics cite a number of seemingly intractable obstacles to interstellar travel to argue against the extraterrestrial hypothesis. Nevertheless, Wendt and Duvall argue that the origins of the UFO taboo are political, not scientific. As they see it, the prospect of UFOs presents three major challenges to the sovereignty and credibility of the state. First, if UFOs are accepted as truly unidentified, then that proposition would acknowledge a potential threat, which could undercut the legitimacy of the state insofar as protection against potential threats is the most elemental function of the government. Second, a confirmation of the presence of UFOs would create tremendous pressure for a world government that today’s territorial states would be reluctant to form. Third, and most important, the extraterrestrial possibility would call into question the anthropocentric model of modern sovereignty, which as they explain, forms the basis of the authority of states to command the loyalty of their subjects. The arrival of extraterrestrial aliens, they assert, would be something analogous to the Christian “Second Coming.” In such a scenario they ask, to whom would people give their loyalty? Could states survive if such a question became salient?  

In sum, Wendt and Duvall argue that the presence of UFOs creates a deep, unconscious insecurity in which certain possibilities are unthinkable because of their political implications. As a consequence, the taboo emerges not so much from a vast conscious conspiracy seeking to suppress “the truth” about UFOs. Rather countless undirected practices that help us “know” that UFOs are not extraterrestrial in origin and can therefore be disregarded are carried out by the government, but not in the style of a covert conspiracy. 

The consensus among the researchers cited in the book is that 95 percent of UFO sighting can be explained by earthly sources. However, the other 5 percent cannot be attributed to secret military exercises or natural phenomena. The witnesses maintain that the UFOs appear to make exceptional performance maneuvers that are beyond the capabilities of know aircrafts. Moreover, they insist that they are guided by some intelligence.

Kean endorses Wendt’s and Duvall’s call for a “militant agnosticism” in pursuit of UFO investigations. By agnostic, they mean not rushing to ascribe UFOs to extraterrestrial sources. If, however, the eyewitness accounts presented in Kean’s book are to be believed, then one would be hard pressed to conclude otherwise. Other explanations proffered in the past would be at least, or even more mind-boggling, such as time travelers, Nazi flying saucers from underground bases in Antarctica, or visitors from other dimensions. What is most compelling about Kean’s study is the number of seemingly credible and authoritative first person sources who go on the record for her with their positions on UFOs. None of them claimed to have experienced any repercussions from the government or men-in-black visitations.  

Alas, despite the impressive case she makes, smoking gun evidence remains elusive. Moreover, there appears to be little to no corroborative evidence outside of UFO studies that would support the extraterrestrial hypothesis. As Kean concedes, there have been no deathbed confessions or willed documents from any government scientists or officials that have revealed the truth about special access programs on UFOs. Moreover, she points out that we have not seen any fantastic reverse-engineered military technology that might have been retrieved from captured UFOs, despite rumors to the contrary. Numerous memoirs of past presidents and other prominent leaders often reveal embarrassing details of their lives, but so far, none have provided any insight about their secret relationships with extraterrestrial representatives.

Furthermore, although Wendt and Duvall dismiss the notion of a “vast conscious conspiracy” on the part of the U.S. government that prevents information on UFOs from reaching the public, it is hard to see how otherwise an issue of such earth-shaking significance could be withheld. Instead, the world’s leaders seem to go about their day-to-day business and decision-making without considering the influence of extraterrestrial visitors, who if they were so magnanimous, might at least give us some advice on how to find alternatives to fossil fuels, considering their ability to master interstellar travel. As others have noted, contact with extraterrestrials would be a transformative event, yet if it has already occurred, the world’s leaders seem startling aloof and amazingly tight-lipped - a remarkable adherence to security protocol in an age of exposé journalism. At least from surface appearances, public officials do not seem to take into account the presence of aliens, with few exceptions. For instance, far from shunning the prospect of extraterrestrial life, in August 1996, President Bill Clinton enthusiastically announced that NASA scientists had found evidence for life on Mars in the form of microscopic features inside a meteorite recovered from Antarctica in 1984, though subsequent analysis chipped away at that conclusion.

As well, even the detailed accounts provided by reliable sources lack credibility. In his April, 2011 column in Scientific American, for example, Michael Shermer deconstructs the above-mentioned UFO wave over Belgium in 1989–1990. Here is Belgian Major General Wilfried De Brouwer’s recounting of the first night of sightings: “Hundreds of people saw a majestic triangular craft with a span of approximately a hundred and twenty feet and powerful beaming spotlights, moving very slowly without making any significant noise but, in several cases, accelerating to very high speeds.” As Shermer notes: “But even seemingly unexplainable sightings such as De Brouwer’s can have simple explanations. It could simply have been an early experimental model of a stealth bomber (U.S., Soviet, or otherwise) that secret-keeping military agencies were understandably loath to reveal.” Shermer then compares De Brouwer’s narrative to Kean’s summary of the same incident: “Common sense tells us that if a government had developed huge craft that can hover motionless only a few hundred feet up, and then speed off in the blink of an eye - all without making a sound - such technology would have revolutionized both air travel and modern warfare, and probably physics as well.” Shermer notes how a “120-foot craft” becomes “huge,” how “moving very slowly” changes to “can hover motionless,” how “without making any significant noise” shifts to “without making a sound,” and how “accelerating to very high speeds” transforms into “speed off in the blink of an eye.” He notes that “This language transmutation - probably unintentional - is common in UFO narratives, making it harder for scientists to provide natural explanations.” Despite this significant shortcomings, Kean’s book is a welcome addition to the topic of UFOs, which heretofore, suffered from a lack of reliability and academic rigor. Kean advises that UFO cases should be investigated utilizing scientific techniques that evaluate physical evidence rather than relying exclusively on subjective eyewitness accounts. To that end, she calls for the creation of a small agency within the U.S. government to handle appropriate UFO investigations and coordinate with other countries and the scientific community. With the ubiquity of digital cameras and cell phones, there are now more opportunities for witnesses to capture UFOs in pictures which could be exciting, for as it still stands, the burden of proof is still on the UFO claimants.

Article source SKEPTIC

Image source abducted by aliens

Breaking the Hypnotic Spell

We begin life with the world presenting itself to us as it is. Someone - our parents, teachers, analysts - hypnotizes us to “see” the world and construe it in the “right” way. These others label the world, attach names and give voices to the beings and events in it, so that thereafter, we cannot read the world in any other language or hear it saying other things to us. The task is to break the hypnotic spell, so that we become un-deaf, un-blind and multilingual, thereby letting the world speak to us in new voices and write all its possible meanings in the new book of our existence. Be careful in your choice of hypnotists. - Sidney Jourard

Five Reasons to Balance Body pH

Eating a balanced pH diet has a plethora of great effects on the human body - more than just the five mentioned here. But there are five reasons to eat a balanced pH diet that outshine all the rest, including increases in energy, immune system effectiveness, and overall health and longevity.

Higher Energy Levels

Your body is like a machine, and that machine can function in one of two ways: either it can struggle to operate at peak capacity because of poor maintenance and a lack of fluids, or it can fire on all cylinders, full of potential energy and productivity. The body needs a balanced diet to perform all of its functions properly. When you eat a balanced pH diet, combined with low amounts of unhealthy foods, your body has the perfect alkaline composition to perform all of its functions and has to dedicate less energy to compensating for low alkaline levels. This allows it to dedicate more energy to daily tasks, like exercise and the day’s work.

Improved Immune System

When your body stops dedicating energy to rectifying alkaline levels that should be achieved through diet, it can focus more on boosting white blood cell count and more effectively combating everything from the common cold to more nefarious viruses like the flu. Additionally, it will ensure that if you do get sick, the experience will be far more brief and less miserable.

Lower Risk of Chronic Disease

By properly nourishing your body with a healthy alkaline level as well as a balanced pH diet and healthy foods, the risk of chronic diseases declines. This is because your body is able to fend off such things as diabetes, the causes of cancer, and heart disease instead of manufacturing basic bodily fluids and acids.

Weight Control

Because a balanced pH diet is inherently a healthy diet, adhering to the rules of a healthy alkaline level helps a person maintain a healthy weight. When the body is given all the nutrients it needs from diet, rather than having to compensate for a lack of them, it is able to more fully focus on metabolizing food, burning calories, and maintaining a healthy weight. In addition, a healthy body is able to metabolize foods as energy much easier, rather than storing them as fat. This keeps fat amounts low, body weight healthy, and energy high.

Reduced Risk of Cysts

Study after study has shown that highly-acidic diets result in increased calcification of bodily tissues, thus resulting in unhealthy and potentially-fatal cysts and growths throughout the body. A diet with balanced alkaline levels keeps the risk of these occurrences low by slowing the calcification process and helping the body to excrete and eliminate tissues which may already have been calcified.

Conclusion

A balanced pH diets inherently keeps alkaline levels in balance. And that means a number of healthy effects on the body. Most importantly, the reduced risk of terminal diseases like diabetes and heart disease, combined with a lower risk in tissue growth and cysts, means that a balanced pH diet contributes to increased longevity and a greater enjoyment of life in general.

Article courtesy of Acid Alkaline Website

Consciousness

Consciousness is not some side-effect, or epiphenomenon, of the objective world. It is an integral, irreducible part of reality. Consciousness is the subjective aspect of all things - the ever-present “mind” of the universe.

- David Darling in "Soul Search"

Discovering Life

I am one of the searchers. There are, I believe, millions of us. We are not unhappy, but neither are we really content. We continue to explore life, hoping to uncover its ultimate secret. We continue to explore ourselves, hoping to understand. We like to walk along the beach, we are drawn by the ocean, taken by its power, its unceasing motion, its mystery and unspeakable beauty. We like forests and mountains„ deserts and hidden rivers, and the lonely cities as well. Our sadness is as much a part of our lives as is our laughter. To share our sadness with one we love is perhaps as great a joy as we can know - unless it be to share our laughter.

We searchers are ambitious only for life itself, for everything beautiful it can provide. Most of all we love and want to be loved. We want to live in a relationship that will not impede our wandering, nor prevent our search, nor lock us in prison walls; that will take us for what little we have to give. We do not want to prove ourselves to another or compete for love.

For wanderers, dreamers, and lovers, for lonely men and women who dare to ask of life everything good and beautiful. It is for those who are too gentle to live among wolves. - James Kavanaugh in "There Are Men Too Gentle to Live Among Wolves"

Image by Rodney Smith

Quote of the Day

Let us be grateful to the people 

who make us happy. 

They are the charming gardeners 

who make our souls blossom. 

Marcel Proust

Image source unknown but greatly appreciated

Clear Your Mind!

By Steve Hagen

Meditation begins now, right here. It can't begin someplace else or at some other time. To paraphrase the great Zen master Dogen, "If you want to practice awareness, then practice awareness without delay." If you wish to know a mind that is tranquil and clear, sane and peaceful, you must take it up now. If you wish to free yourself from the frantic television mind that runs our lives, begin with the intention to be present now.

Nobody can bring awareness to your life but you.

Meditation is not a self-help program - a way to better ourselves so we can get what we want. Nor is it a way to relax before jumping back into busyness. It's not something to do once in awhile, either, whenever you happen to feel like it.

Instead, meditation is a practice that saturates your life and in time can be brought into every activity. It is the transformation of mind from bondage to freedom.

In practicing meditation, we go nowhere other than right here where we now stand, where we now sit, where we now live and breathe. In meditation we return to where we already are - this shifting, changing ever-present now.

If you wish to take up meditation, it must be now or never.

 

The Adrenal Burnout Syndrome

By Dr. Larry Wilson

Thousands of people suffer from constant fatigue, unrelieved by rest and sleep. This is the main symptom of adrenal burnout syndrome. Other symptoms may include a craving for sweets, low blood pressure and blood sugar, irritability and depression. Low energy impairs every system of the body. Secondary symptoms range from impaired digestion to infections. Toxic emotions accumulate with adrenal burnout. The world looks bad, people are evil, and a hopeless attitude is not uncommon.

The condition is also called adrenal hypofunction, adrenal exhaustion or adrenal insufficiency. Unlike fatigue, one’s energy does not return after a good nights rest. Burnout is a more serious derangement of the body’s energy system.

The adrenals are the major glands the body uses to respond to stress. Its hormones raise the blood sugar and blood pressure, and promote energy production. Adrenalin (or epinephrine) is used for emergencies. The longer-acting anti-stress adrenal hormones are cortisone and cortisol. Aldosterone, another adrenal hormone, retains sodium and increases the blood pressure. Related closely to the sympathetic nervous system, the fight-or-flight response it is called. When the adrenals become depleted, the body is unable to handle stress.

Most physicians do not diagnose adrenal burnout syndrome. Rarely, if enough ests are run, it may be called Addison’s disease, which doctors consider incurable. Recovery from adrenal burnout, however, is definitely possible. The condition affects both men and women, and even children as well. Some children are born this way and never experience plenty of energy.

Burnout may develop slowly or be caused by a single trauma. John F. Kennedy experienced burnout during World War II. A Japanese destroyer rammed his patrol boat late one night, killing most of the crew. He never recovered from the shock. For the rest of his life, he needed replacement adrenal hormones. If he had found the right practitioner, perhaps they would not have been needed.

Causes of Adrenal Burnout

Excessive stress, an important cause of burnout, can be from many sources. Chemical toxicity and nutritional depletion are among the physical causes. Mental, emotional or spiritual stress may be a major factor. Financial, family or other stress may also contribute to burnout.

Any excessive stress can deplete the adrenals, especially when weakened by poor nutrition. Working too much or emotional stress are two common causes. Excessive stimulation, especially for children, is another cause. Fast-paced, high-stress, fear-based lifestyles are a sure prescription for adrenal burnout.

Other stressors in cities are noise and electromagnetic pollution. Cell phones, microwave towers and appliances like televisions, microwave ovens and computers give off strong electrical fields.

Nutritional deficiencies are a common cause. When under stress, the need for nutrients is much greater. Carbohydrates, when excessive in the diet, stress the adrenals. Diets low in protein may also create deficiencies. Inadequate or poor quality water affects oxygenation of the tissues.

Most diets are low in nutrients required by the adrenals. These include B-complex vitamins, vitamins A, C and E, manganese, zinc, chromium, selenium and other and other trace elements. The reasons for this begin with how food is grown. Most food is grown on depleted soils. Processing and refining further deplete nutrients. Habits like eating in the car or while on the run further diminish the value derived from food. Also, allergic reactions to foods such as wheat and dairy products can damage the intestines and reduce the absorption of nutrients. Toxic metals and chemicals often play a large role in adrenal burnout. Everyone is exposed to thousands of chemicals in the air, the water and the food. Other sources are dental materials and skin contact with chemicals. Over-the-counter and prescribed medications add to the body’s toxic load.

Toxins may also be generated within the body due to impaired digestion. When food is not properly digested, it either ferments or rots in the intestines, producing many harmful substances that are absorbed into the body. Chronic infections, of dental and other origin, also contribute to the toxic load. In most people, the organs of elimination do not function at an optimal level. As a result, toxic substances slowly build up in the body, leading to adrenal burnout and many other health conditions.

Stimulants damage the adrenal glands. They whip the adrenals. Caffeine, sugar and alcohol are among the most common stimulants. Less obvious stimulants include anger, rage, arguing, hatred, loud music, the news and movies full of suspense. Vigorous exercise, sexual preoccupations and other thrills may also act as stimulants.

Stimulant use, however, can also be a result of adrenal burnout. Stimulants are attractive to one in burnout to provide temporary energy. This is an appeal of the drug culture, both legal and recreational.

Unhealthy responses to stress are another cause of adrenal burnout. These include habits of worrying, or becoming angry or afraid. Don’t worry, be happy is a great prescription for adrenal burnout. This applies particularly to high-strung, nervous individuals and those with very active minds, as they are especially prone to adrenal burnout.

Many children today are born with weak adrenals due to their parents’ nutritional deficiencies. By age three or four, these children are in burnout. They are often sick, depressed and have difficulty in school.

Symptoms of Adrenal Burnout

Low blood sugar and allergies result from low levels of cortisol. Joint and muscle pain are other common symptoms. Multiple chemical sensitivities is an extreme allergic condition associated with adrenal burnout. Low blood pressure and low body temperature may also result. Later blood pressure rises as toxic substances build up in the arteries and kidneys.

Elevated copper and low zinc related to adrenal burnout impair the immune system. Chronic infections may develop. The stage is also set for the development of degenerative conditions. Cancer, heart disease, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases are end-stage results of toxic accumulation and energy depletion. Often secondary to adrenal exhaustion are glandular imbalances, hyperthyroidism and more often hypothyroidism. The adrenal glands produce estrogen and progesterone. They are the main source of these hormones after menopause. Premenstrual syndrome and hot flashes often have to do with weakened adrenal glands.

Depression and apathy are common in adrenal burnout. One may lose interest in friends, family and work. Unsure if there is energy to get through the day, anxiety may occur. Irritability is common as one is less able to handle even minor stress. Unfortunately, many with adrenal burnout function on anger and resentment. These act as adrenal stimulants, providing a negative energy with which to function. Most of the world, in fact, functions on the negative energy of anger.

Compulsiveness and OCD - Obsessive Compulsion Disorder - is associated with adrenal burnout. One may become addicted or very attracted to excessive exercise, sex, loud music or other forms of excitement. The unconscious goal is always the same, to stimulate the adrenals into activity.

When the adrenals are weak, copper builds up in the body. Elevated copper enhances emotions. Panic attacks, bipolar disorder, mood swings and schizophrenia are related to copper imbalance. As one’s energy level declines, other toxic metals build up as well. Mercury, cadmium, lead, arsenic, beryllium and others contribute to hundreds of physical and emotional symptoms.

Recovery

Recovery from burnout is certainly possible. It takes several years and usually requires a change in diet, improving one’s lifestyle, nutritional supplements, detoxification procedures and attention to one’s emotional and spiritual health. Addressing all these aspects is the way to assure success.

Diet

Diet is an important factor for everyone. Eat protein with every meal. Eggs, natural meats and poultry are the best sources of protein. Toasted almond butter, goat cheese and nuts are other good sources. Avoid vegetarian diets. At lunch and supper, have three cooked vegetables. Rotate your proteins and your vegetables so you don’t eat the same thing every day.

You may have complex carbohydrates, but not wheat and spelt. Some people are also sensitive to gluten found in rye, barley and oats. Excellent starches are root vegetables (turnips, parsnips, rutabaga, carrots, onion and celery root), blue corn, brown rice, quinoa and others. Organic blue corn chips are fine.

I recommend everyone avoid wheat, spelt, sugar and cow’s milk dairy products except butter. If other food allergies are present, avoid these foods for a while. Avoid Isolated soy protein as it is of poor quality and contains many anti-nutrients. Reduce all sweets, eat very little fruit and avoid all junk food. Avoid all vegetable oils except for olive oil. Avoid all juices. They are too yin, most are too sugary and they can concentrate food toxins, upset blood sugar and weaken the adrenals. Use sea salt rather than table salt. Eat regular meals of excellent quality. Make the switch to organic food, whenever possible.

Excellent are green foods like kelp, barley grass powder and various colored vegetables. Cooking with coconut oil is excellent and helps as well with weight loss, Candida albicans infection and energy. Drink high quality water, not from the tap. Distilled or spring waters are best. So-called drinking water or reverse osmosis are often not good as the filters used to make them may be dirty. Good quality water is an excellent investment in yourself.

Avoid all extreme diets. Your body needs a variety of nutrients. Restriction is not a good idea. In my experience, strict vegetarians will never recover from burnout. Follow good eating habits with regular, sit-down, relaxed meals.

Nutrients and Lifestyle for Recovery

Food supplements are necessary. Kelp granules and nutritional yeast are excellent supplements for most people. They are rich sources of nutrients and kelp assists detoxification. Other nutrients that are very important for adrenal activity are vitamins A, B, C, E, pantothenic acid (Vit. B5) and adrenal glandular substance (extracts) . Calcium and magnesium are often needed. A digestive aid is always needed. I prefer pancreatin and ox bile. Zinc is frequently needed. Other nutrients may be needed depending on one’s level of toxic metals and other symptoms or deficiencies. I use hair mineral testing along with symptoms to assess these needs.

Rest and sleep are extremely important. Plan on nine hours of sleep for at least a few years. At times, more may be needed. Sleep is not a waste of time. There is no substitute for adequate rest. Also rest after meals at mid-morning and mid-afternoon.

Gentle walking is beneficial. Vigorous exertion depletes the adrenals. Deep breathing and stretching, yoga or Tai chi do not deplete the body. Exercise to relax rather than to build muscles.

Cleaning up your environment assists health recovery. Replace toxic chemical products used around the house. Non-toxic alternatives are available for cleaning and as solvents. Pesticides and herbicides are often extremely toxic. Chemical hair dyes, shampoos and toxic skin care products need to be replaced.

Ventilate your house and purify the air if needed. Often very toxic is new construction. At work and at home avoid toxic exposure. Turn off televisions and computers when they are not in use. Sleep away from these appliances. Use cell phones only when absolutely needed.

Spend some time in the sun each day. Contrary to some propaganda, half an hour of sunshine daily will not hurt you. It is a nutrient and assists health in many ways. Sit in front of a window if it is too cold to go outside.

Detoxification

Sauna therapy in particular will greatly enhance and speed up recovery. The best type is an infrared electric light sauna. One can put together a light sauna for under $300.00. Click to read about these and how to build or purchase a kit. If you are in adrenal burnout, use the sauna daily for no more than 30 minutes. Once or twice a week is excellent for prevention.

Other detoxification procedures are also very good. Coffee enemas are excellent to assist detoxification through the liver. Brush your skin whenever you bathe with a skin brush or loofah. Colonic irrigation and herbs for the liver and kidneys can help improve elimination.

Chiropractic, massage and reflexology can help reduce stress. Many natural therapies help realign and re-balance the body. Making these part of your lifestyle will enhance recovery.

Mental, Emotional and Spiritual Health.

Often it is necessary to grow out of burnout. A key to recovery from burnout is improving values and attitudes. They play an important part in every single case. Negative thinking is a bad habit that eventually tears down the body. Worry, fear and anger place added stress on the glands. Many techniques there are to help shift one’s thinking. Inspirational books and tapes, seminars and therapies there are many. There is no single answer right for everyone.

Searching for love outside of yourself depletes the body’s energy. Find the love inside yourself first, and you will find the right activities and companions. Burnout may result if you are awakening spiritually. Your present work and lifestyle may simply be inappropriate. Consider different employment or work arrangements if you suspect your stress comes from your work.

Relationships can cause a lot of stress. When one partner goes into burnout, the other often does not understand. Many couples become energetically incompatible. This has nothing to do with love or caring. It is important to listen to the wisdom of the body, and not be blinded by fixed ideas.

Many methods can help one relax and tune in to the wisdom of the self. In addition to traditional therapy, meditation and visualization exercises may be most helpful. Slowing down is often necessary if you live a busy life. It can take great courage to realize that by doing less you can accomplish more. By staying home more, you can relate better with others. By resting more, you can be more creative and productive. Change often requires overcoming guilt, shame and feelings of laziness.

The Blessing of Burnout

Adrenal burnout is always a wake up call. Some area of life is out of alignment. For a deeper exploration of self, it is often the starting point. Rather than just existing as a programmed zombie, adrenal burnout may be the beginning of real living.

*This information is for educational purposes only and is not meant to diagnose or cure a disease.
 



Article source here

About the author:

Dr. Larry Wilson is a Fellow of the International College of Bionutrition and Board of Examiners and has authored many papers and books on health and nutrition. Visit his impressive web site at http://www.drlwilson.com/

Strawberry Cupcake Recipe

Here is a really nice recipe to try. Take advantage of the fact that fresh strawberries are in season.

Ingredients for the cakes:

• 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup cake flour, (not self-rising)
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon pink Himalayan salt
• 8 ounces (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• 2 1/4 cups sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 1 large egg white
• 1 cup whole milk
• 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 2 cups finely chopped strawberries 
• 12 small strawberries for garnish

Ingredients for the strawberry-butter cream:

• 5 large egg whites
• 210 g butter, softened
• 190 g sugar
• 100 g coarsely chopped fresh strawberries

To make the cakes:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line one standard 12-cup cupcake pan with paper liners. Set aside.

Into a medium bowl, sift flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, for 3 to 4 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl if needed. 

Beat in the egg and then the vanilla extract. With the mixer on a low speed, add the flour mixture in three parts, alternating with the milk and beginning and ending with the flour. Beat until combined after each addition. Fold in strawberries.

Divide the batter evenly among the prepared cups so that each is about two-thirds full. Bake, rotating the pans halfway through, until the cupcakes are golden brown and a cake tester inserted in the centers comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Transfer pans to a wire rack to cool for 5 minutes. Remove cupcakes from pan and cool completely on wire racks.

To make strawberry-butter cream:

Pour egg whites and sugar into a clean and heat resistant bowl. Place the bowl in a water bath. The water should be boiling. Whisk the sugar and eggs constantly so they don't curdle. Try to maintain the temperature at about 140-150 degrees F. Your work is finished when all the sugar has melted.

Remove from heat, whip until white, fluffy and cool. This step can take up to 10 minutes. Start adding the butter, very slowly. Don't worry if the mixture looks curdled. This can be easily fixed. If the butter cream is too cold, just put the bowl into a water bath again for a minute or so and whip again. If it's too warm, just put it in the refrigerator for a few minutes and whip again when the temperature is right. Add strawberries to the butter cream and whip until smooth.

Use icing tube to decorate the cupcakes with strawberry cream. Garnish with sliced strawberries. Enjoy in good company!

Recipe source here

The Dreams of Yesterday

The dreams of yesterday are the realizations of today. We live in an age of mechanical, electrical, chemical, and psychical wonder. On every hand the human mind is reaching out to solve the problems of nature. In those solutions are hidden the mysteries and revelations of all things. While the dreamer may dream, it is the practical man of affairs, with a touch of the imaginative in his nature, who materializes and commercializes new forces and new conceptions. Step by step these men lead in the vanguard of progress. What is their conception of the needs of the world? Toward what is their imagination reaching? What in their viewpoint, is the world waiting for? What are the immediate needs of the world in practical, scientific conception and invention?

Quoted from a New York Times article from November 22, 1908!

Money Doesn't Grow on Trees

By Micah J. Glasser

The other day I was walking around in one of the beautiful hardwood forest of northern Ohio and it occurred to me that the trees were a perfect example of molecular manufacturing at its finest. Of course it is often pointed out that biological organisms are essentially molecularly constructed beings but the point really hit home for me while thinking about the trees. I think this is because of the large mass and simple efficiency of trees. The molecular mechanisms for constructing a tree are powered directly by sunlight (no need for exotic fuels like us humans), and the building blocks for constructing the trees come straight out of the atmosphere via carbon dioxide.

So this got me thinking: all that carbon dioxide we keep dumping into the atmosphere via combustion could be a global fortune rather than a disaster. Just imagine molecular manufacturing on a global scale that produced almost every economic good out of carbon directly from the atmosphere while using sunlight as the power.

Form this perspective economic efficiency and reducing carbon from the atmosphere would be the same project. It takes energy to separate carbon from oxygen. At this time we are accustomed to combing oxygen and carbon to get energy. But this is an archaic way of getting energy seeing as how it is throwing our ecosystem out of whack and seeing as how the earth already receives more energy from the sun than we could possibly put to use. We must imitate the trees. We must use the sun's energy to separate the carbon from the atmosphere and use that carbon for all of our production needs.

Just a thought...

The Joy of Sprouting

 Why sprouting grains and nuts is good for you.

The research shows that sprouts contain probably the largest amount of nutrients per unit of any food known.

Enzymes that initiate and control most chemical reactions in our body are activated in the sprouting process. This helps convert proteins into amino acids, starch into glucose and increases the value of vitamins. For example, vitamin B increases by 1,000 per cent and Vitamin C by 600 per cent in sprouted wheat. 

A study of Chinese pharmacopoeia revealed that the Chinese could lose weight, cure rheumatism, lower fever and tone the body through the regular consumption of sprouts. 

Sprouts were introduced to the West by Captain Cook. Despite many strenuous voyages spanning a decade, his crew was remarkably fit. Their secret - sprouted beans. 

It is best to eat sprouts fresh. However, the nourishment which develops as the sprouts grow is very stable and sprouts can be frozen or dried for future use. 

Sprouts can be mixed with other foods and dressings such as lemon juice and rock salt. This live food rejuvenates body cells and tissues and provides energy. It also retards the aging process. Sprouted potato and tomato seeds, however, should be avoided as they are poisonous. Alfalfa and moong-bean sprouts are, on the other hand, excellent soft food: they contain every known vitamin necessary for the human body in perfect balance. And yes, they don't taste bad either.



Article source here

Healing Properties of Malachite

Malachite Crystal

Malachite is a hydrous copper carbonate that is responsible for the greenish hue of a tarnished copper and bronze. It is often results from weathering copper ores and is often found with azurite and calcite. It has a vibrant color that can vary from bright to dark green.

Malachite crystallizes in form of monoclinic crystal system and most often forms botryoidal, fibrous, or stalagmitic masses. Individual crystals are rather rare but do occur as slender to acicular prisms.

The name malachite most probably originates from the Greek  word malachos which means soft, but it was also called molochitis lithos - mallow-green stone because it resembles the leaves of the mallow plant.

Large quantities of malachite are mined in Israel, Russia, Congo, Namibia, Zambia, and in Mexico. In the United States it mostly occurs in the South West, especially in Arizona.

Malachite was known in Egypt as early as ca 4000 BC. Ancient Greeks made malachite amulets for the protection of their children. During the Middle Ages malachite was believed to protect from black magic and sorcery.The stone was also used to protect travelers from accidents and other evils of a journey. It was often placed in the bedroom to protect the sleeping person from nightmares. For centuries malachite was used by artists as a mineral pigment in green paints, but was later replaced with synthetic pigments.

Malachite is considered to be a very powerful healing crystal that has the potential to amplify the energy. It can help clear and remove past traumas and deep seated negative emotions, but some caution is advised. The healing process might be too overwhelming as the stone is able to amplify both, the positive and the negative energies. The stone should be cleansed before each application. The best way to cleanse malachite crystals is to place them in the sun or on a quartz crystal cluster.

Malachite is regarded as a stone of transformation that helps facilitate change. It helps to clear and activate the chakras and re-arrange the energy pattern in the body. It is particularly useful in balancing the heart chakra and opens this energy center to unconditional love. It helps to clarify thoughts and break old patterns of behavior. It encourages decision making process, determination and acceptance of change. It teaches one to assume responsibility for his own thoughts, feelings, and actions. It clarifies the thinking process, strengthens intuition and enables deep insight.

Malachite can be used to alleviate many physical conditions, especially those associated with heart and blood circulation. It is believed to enhance the immune system and activate liver, pancreas and spleen. It can help detoxify the body at the cellular level and remove chemical pollutants and radiation from the system.

The stone can be placed on the body during a crystal therapy session. It can also be worn as a jewelry. However, malachite encased in metal is believed to lose its healing power.

Malachite is a beautiful mineral and, like many other crystals, it can bring a beautiful energy to any space. Its green color is calming to the mind and induces relaxation.

By Dominique Allmon

*This article was written for informative purpose only and is not meant to diagnose, treat or cure a disease.

Healing Properties of Mlachite by Dominique Allmon is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Magical World of Ray Caesar

Sweet Victory by Ray Caesar

"I’m not sure you can look at Ray Caesar’s work and remain undisturbed. I’m not sure he’d want you to. There can be a paradigm shift when art holds our attention for longer than a second, when we are so seduced by its contradictions that our minds truly begin to work at untangling them. Because, you see, when we engage with grotesque art, we’re not entering into the realm of logical analysis but into a liminal space where you meet doppelgangers, monsters, and children-creatures - all crying out for us to be more redemptive humans." - Nancy Hightower

Ray Caesar was born in 1958 in London. During his early childhood his family moved to Toronto, Canada, where he currently resides.

He attended Ontario College of Art and worked in the art and photography department of the Hospital For Sick Children in Toronto, documenting disturbing cases of child abuse, surgical reconstruction, psychology, and animal research.

Ray's magically haunting images were inspired not only by his experiences at the Children Hospital, but also by the surrealist art of Frida Kahlo and Salvador Dali.

Consort by Ray Caesar, 2006

The artist about himself:

Much to my parent's surprise, I was born a dog. This unfortunate turn of events was soon accepted within my family and was never again mentioned in the presence of polite company. I was a rambunctious youth as was natural to my breed but showed a fine interest in the arts as I drew pictures incessantly on anything including the walls and floors of every room of our tiny house. After some trouble with intolerant neighbors, my family was convinced to move to Canada and it was not long before the burgeoning town of Toronto became our new home.

Unfortunately the drawing continued to become somewhat atypical and aberrant and it was impressed upon me that such images might not be suitable for public viewing. In the summer of 69, there was a valiant attempt to stop me from doodling infamous contemptible fascist dictators upside down on my stomach with a ballpoint pen. I was consoled however by the encouragement to continue penciling in faces of flamboyant cowboys such as Gene Autry, Roy Rogers, The Lone Ranger and Tonto on my toenails but was expressly forbidden to talk to them at night.

French Kiss by Ray Caesar, 2009

It can be said that there are defining moments in a dogs life that can only be described as pivotal. Mine came when I received a gift of a flesh toned 12 inch plastic movable human doll attired in cheaply made military fatigues called "GI Joseph". I however named him "Stanley Mulver" and immediately resigned his commission from the light infantry. My Mother helped in this by sewing small business suits and leisure wear out of leftover Christmas fabric embroidered with holly and snowmen, tinfoil shoes and one tasteful Safari suit made of tight fitting powder blue rayon that proudly shone cobalt in the summer sunlight. It wasn't long before I had begun making enlarged wigs out of gray plasticine. These wigs soon became huge pompadours for Stanley and looked even more grand when I meticulously embedded small hairs from my daily body and face shavings. This hirsute practice along with walking upright allowed me to fit in with other children even though my father considered it a waste of time. In short, Stanley had become a visage of the Man I could never be, of that elusive self one sometimes glimpses down the tunnel of infinite reflected mirrors. Although ridiculed by my peers, I proudly wore Stanley around my neck at all times as if to say "See! This is the man I will be, a good man, a kind man".

Returns of the Day by Ray Caesar, 2009

I have worked in many fields over the years, attended obedience classes and art colleges, jobs designing horrible buildings in architectural studios, medical art facilities, digital service bureaus, suspicious casino computer game companies, eventually working at computer modeling, digital animation and visual effects for television and film. Some award nominations have been attained and I have been driven in long black liquor filled limousines and walked on hind legs down red carpets in Pasadena while wearing strange smelling rented tuxedos.

Things change and summer years come to an end. My change occurred one night when my Mother visited me, which was slightly unusual because she had passed away some months before, a victim to the cigarette habit she could never quite lick. Facing a wall and slowly turning I saw the right side of her face ablaze in light, her hand trying to cover the light as if she were apologetic for having it seep through. Words were said about following rabbits down holes and I was shown galleries of work which were to be my own. My Mother was not the first visitation I have had and it seems she will not be the last.

I live in a brick house with my wonderful wife Jane and a coyote called Bonnie. I like eating avocados and I don't really mind being a dog.

Ray Caesar

To visit Ray Caesar's official website please click here

Also of interest - The Fantastic in the Fine Arts: Ray Caesar's Haunted Beauty

Happy Future Day!

Reinventing the Future by David Brin

Most of our holidays look backward, honoring past victories, dead presidents or long-standing traditions. How about a day that looks forward, toward thinking creatively about building a better tomorrow? The brand new Future Day will now be celebrated annually on March 1. 

How would you (productively) observe such a day, particularly to inspire the next generation?

Google’s new TED-style project aims for technological ‘moonshots’ to develop innovative, far-reaching solutions to the problems of tomorrow, covering topics ranging from transportation to agriculture, genetics to computing.  Google notes: “Moonshots live in the gray area between audacious projects and pure science fiction; they are 10x improvement, not 10%,” because we can’t afford to think incrementally for the future is a steamroller bearing down upon us. In "The World in 2050", Lawrence C. Smith takes at big picture look at the megatrends and forces shaping the civilization’s next forty years. We will need to anticipate the accelerating effects of globalization, climate change, population growth, and increased demands on natural resources, particularly water (which the author calls Blue Oil), which are likely to exacerbate inequalities across the globe.

Looking even further ahead, Deep Future: The Next 100,000 Years of Life on Earth, by Curt Stager, explores the potential long range impact of climate change on our planet. Stager notes, “We face a simple choice in the coming century or so; either we’ll switch to nonfossil fuels as soon as possible, or we’ll burn through our remaining reserves and then be forced to switch later on…We are faced today with the responsibility of determining the climatic future that our descendants will live in.”

The future of space exploration is increasingly international - yet the U.S. has backed out of five joint projects with the European Space Agency. The 2013 NASA budget slashes planetary science by 20%, with Mars exploration taking a severe hit. Fortunately, the James Webb Space Telescope avoided the merciless axe. NASA may abandon the joint NASA-ESA ExoMars missions scheduled for 2016 and 2018, as well as a joint venture to explore the moons of Jupiter. Europe is now courting Russia for the ExoMars mission. We need to show some consistency and commitment to our partners overseas and how about some commitment to our heirs and descendants? The War on Science has gone too far - if we are to remain a forward looking civilization.

Universities are critical in preparing students for a rapidly changing world, yet undergraduate education has changed little over the last century - large lecture halls, blue books and expensive textbooks still prevail. Lawrence Summers notes that factual mastery, passive learning and individual effort should be of less consequence than analytical, cooperative, cross-disciplinary thinking. In the real world, fields such as science, business and government rely on an ability to collaborate and work together, yet at schools this broaches on ‘cheating.’ A recent study showed that replacing the lecture part of introductory physics with an interactive peer-based seminars increased comprehension by 20%. Moreover, this fits already-embedded American ways of education. In addition, America will need to produce one million additional graduates in math, science and engineering to remain competitive globally, according to a recent report by the President’s Council of Advisers on Science and Technology.

For too long we have been tolerant of planned obsolescence - for manufacturers know they can sell us a new and improved model in a year or two. A lovely nugget from Christian Cantrell’s hard SF novel, Containment: He describes the “Nobel Prize winning concept of ‘End of Life Plans’ or ELPs” -  instructions included with every single manufactured item, specifying what to do when the item is discarded. With parts no longer tossed in landfills, manufacturers were forced to develop products using recycled/converted components. Anticipating that components would be reused, manufacturers had an incentive to use longer-lasting materials that could be upgraded for next-generation models. Make it so!

More generally, how about an overhaul of our entire trash collection system? One concept straight out of Sci Fi: Pneumatic tubes to whisk away trash. Such a system is already in place in several European cities, as well as Roosevelt Island in New York City, processing nearly 6 tons a day. The upfront costs to develop infrastructure would be substantial, yet there are long term savings in personnel, vehicle and fuel costs, as well as CO2 emissions. It currently takes 6000 heavy garbage trucks rumbling down already over-crowded streets to remove trash from New York City alone (The very model of inefficiency - these trucks get all of 3 miles per gallon!) Such pneumatic systems may be the future of municipal waste collection.

And the future of energy? The United States’ first new nuclear power plant in a generation won approval Thursday as federal regulators voted to grant a license for two new reactors in Georgia. Part of the promised “nuclear renaissance” to restart the road to energy independence… though with beefed up standards in the wake of the tsunami-caused problems in Japan. Finally, after 60 years, nukes will be required to have ample cooling liquid available on a purely gravity-supply basis. I mean geez, what’s so hard about that!

What do you get when you cross an accelerator with a nuclear reactor? The Accelerator-Driven Subcritical Reactor (ADSR) would use thorium instead of uranium. It doesn’t generate long-lived nuclear wastes and can even consume toxic wastes from traditional nuclear reactors.

The possibilities are endless!

About the author:

David Brin, a scientist and best-selling author whose future-oriented novels include Earth, The Postman, and Hugo Award winners Startide Rising and The Uplift War, is a 2010 Fellow of the IEET. Brin is known as a leading commentator on modern technological, social, and political trends. His nonfiction book The Transparent Society won the Freedom of Speech Award from the American Library Association. Brin’s most recent novel, Kiln People, explores a fictional near future when people use cheap copies of themselves to be in two places at once. The Life Eaters - a graphic novel - explores a chilling alternative outcome of World War II. His latest book Existence will be published in June. 

Article source here