Holey armour is stronger

Scientists from the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) have devised an ultra-hard vehicle armour to protect military personnel.

Details of the steel armour, called Super Bainite, were outlined during a seminar at the University of Cambridge.

Unexpectedly, the MoD team has given the armour a protective advantage by introducing holes into it.

According to scientist Professor Peter Brown, these perforations help deflect incoming projectiles.

"I wouldn't like to have been the first person to have suggested that," said Professor Brown, from the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL) at Porton Down in Wiltshire.

He explained: "You shouldn't think of them as holes, you should think of them as edges. When a bullet hits an edge, it gets deflected, and turns from a sharp projectile into a blunt fragment - which is much easier to stop. It doubles the ballistic performance and halves the weight." ...

An industrial process called "Kolsterising" (developed by the firm Bodycote) is able to increase the surface hardness of stainless steel to twice that of Super Bainite while maintaining its ductility - the extent to which a material can be bent, or deformed, without fracturing.

"It's as hard as a ceramic and as ductile as a metal. It re-defines, really, what steel is capable of," he said. ...

via BBC NEWS | Science & Environment | Holes give edge to new MoD armour.

'Penis fire' suspect is charged

An Australian woman has appeared in court in Adelaide charged with murdering her husband by setting fire to his penis.

Rajini Narayan, 44, is alleged to have doused her husband, Satish, with a flammable liquid while he was sleeping.

When she set him alight, Mr Narayan jumped out of bed and knocked over the substance, causing the fire to spread.

Mrs Narayan told the court she had not intended to kill her husband but to punish him for his alleged infidelity.

Prosecutor Lucy Boord said Mrs Narayan had confessed to her neighbours, telling them she was a "jealous wife" and believed her husband was having an affair.

"I just wanted to burn his penis so it belongs to me and no one else, I didn't mean this to happen," Ms Boord quoted Mrs Narayan as saying.

The fire, on 8 December 2008, caused damage to the couple's house estimated at 1m Australian dollars ($715,000, £490,000).

Mrs Narayan was initially charged with arson and endangering life - including the lives of her three children who were in the house at the time.

The charge was upgraded to murder after Mr Narayan died from his injuries last week.

She has been held in police custody pending the results of a psychological assessment.

via BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | 'Penis fire' suspect is charged.

Psycho!

Popular accounts of the history of science typically suggest that no major scientific advances took place in between the ancient Greeks and the European Renaissance.

But just because Western Europe languished in the Dark Ages, does not mean there was stagnation elsewhere. Indeed, the period between the 9th and 13th Centuries marked the Golden Age of Arabic science.

Great advances were made in mathematics, astronomy, medicine, physics, chemistry and philosophy. Among the many geniuses of that period Ibn al-Haytham stands taller than all the others.

Hoax: Scientist Creates 'Pot Orange'

It was in the fall of 1984 that the John Chapman Professor of Biochemistry at Florida State University, now driving to work behind the wheel of a used Pontiac Bonneville, first set on a pet project that he hoped would “dissolve irrational legislation with a solid dose of reason.” Nanofsky knew he would never get his family’s car back, but he had plans to make sure that no one else would be pulled through the gears of what he considers a Kafka-esque drug enforcement bureaucracy.

“It’s quite simple, really,” Nanofsky explains, “I wanted to combine Citrus sinesis with Delta 9-tetrahydrocannabinol.” In layman’s terms, the respected college professor proposed to grow oranges that would contain THC, the active ingredient in marijuana. Fourteen years later, that project is complete, and Nanofsky has succeeded where his letter writing campaign of yore failed: he has the undivided attention of the nation’s top drug enforcement agencies, political figures, and media outlets.

The turning point in the Nanofsky saga came when the straight-laced professor posted a message to Internet newsgroups announcing that he was offering “cannabis-equivalent orange tree seeds” at no cost via the U.S. mail. Several weeks later, U.S. Justice Department officials showed up at the mailing address used in the Internet announcement: a tiny office on the second floor of the Dittmer Laboratory of Chemistry building on the FSU campus. There they would wait for another 40 minutes before Prof. Nanofsky finished delivering a lecture to graduate students on his recent research into the “cis-trans photoisomerization of olefins.”

“I knew it was only a matter of time before someone sent me more than just a self-addressed stamped envelope,” Nanofsky quips, “but I was surprised to see Janet Reno’s special assistant at my door.” After a series of closed door discussions, Nanofsky agreed to cease distribution of the THC-orange seeds until the legal status of the possibly narcotic plant species is established.

Much to the chagrin of authorities, the effort to regulate Nanofsky’s invention may be too little too late. Several hundred packets containing 40 to 50 seeds each have already been sent to those who’ve requested them, and Nanofsky is not obliged to produce his mailing records. Under current law, no crime has been committed and it is unlikely that charges will be brought against the fruit’s inventor.

Now it is federal authorities who must confront the nation’s unwieldy body of inconsistent drug laws. According to a source at the Drug Enforcement Agency, it may be months if not years before all the issues involved are sorted out, leaving a gaping hole in U.S. drug policy in the meantime. At the heart of the confusion is the fact that THC now naturally occurs in a new species of citrus fruit.

As policy analysts and hemp advocates alike have been quick to point out, the apparent legality (for now) of Nanofsky’s “pot orange” may render debates over the legalization of marijuana moot. In fact, Florida’s top law enforcement officials admit that even if the cultivation of Nanofsky’s orange were to be outlawed, it would be exceedingly difficult to identify the presence of outlawed fruit among the state’s largest agricultural crop. ... - thecrit

Some comments:

The THC Oranges story is a well crafted hoax recently rediscovered and posted on High Times as news. From there it went to dozens of forums.
There was never a Nanofsky at florida state. This article is a hoax-type of deal. If only..
The idea of nicotine tomatoes would actually be much more viable than THC oranges, since the tomato plant and tobacco are related (both are nighshades).
Here's the link to the paper on the discovery of the THC gene (pdf), and the creation of a yeast strain that produces THC. Oranges are next!

- drugsforum

Greenhouse gases could have caused an ice age, claim scientists - Telegraph

Researchers at the University of Birmingham found that 630 million years ago the earth had a warm atmosphere full of carbon dioxide but was completely covered with ice.

The scientists studied limestone rocks and found evidence that large amounts of greenhouse gas coincided with a prolonged period of freezing temperatures.

Such glaciation could happen again if global warming is not curbed, the university's school of geography, earth and environmental sciences warned.

While pollution in the air is thought to trap the sun's heat in the atmosphere, causing the planet to heat up, this new research suggests it could also have the opposite effect reflecting rays back into space.

This effect would be magnified by other forms of pollution in the earth's atmosphere such as particles of sulphate pumped into the air through industrial pollution or volcanic activity and could create ice age conditions once more, the scientists said.

Dr Ian Fairchild, lead investigator, said: "We came up with an independent test of a theory that the earth, like a baked Alaska pudding, was once hot on the outside, surrounding a cold, icy surface.


Click for Animation"It happened naturally in the past, but the wrong use of technology could make it happen again." ...

via Greenhouse gases could have caused an ice age, claim scientists - Telegraph.

There is not a vast conspiracy of the majority of the world's scientists to manipulate and misinterpret climate data. Stop listening to industry propaganda radio stations. Humans are responsible for climate change, and for natural resource depeletion and for species reduction, but it is also true that a supernova gamma ray burst, a massive solar flare, a comet, asteroid, or a super volcano could take us out entirely and then our pollution of the planet over the last 1000 years would not matter. Oh, I left out hostile Alien Invasion. Anyway, whatever the threat, warming or cooling, we should recognize our fragile situation and work on finding a backup planet.

More realistically, we will face issues of displacement, scarcity, new resources and national sovereignty which could lead to new wars as we adjust to a new planet.

Stonehenge: 'giant concert venue', all this and more!

Stonehenge is playing out as the Swiss Army Knife of megaliths with proposed functions including: Calendar, astronomical observatory, burial ground, cremation cemetry, UFO beacon, a magical holy healing chamber, ancestor worshipiary, general religiosity location, and now ... ancient concert hall:

... The monument has baffled archaeologists who have argued for decades over the stone circle's 5,000-year history but academic Rupert Till believes he has solved the riddle by suggesting it may have been used for ancient raves.

Mr Till, an expert in acoustics and music technology at Huddersfield University, West Yorks., believes the standing stones had the ideal acoustics to amplify a "repetitive trance rhythm".

The original Stonehenge probably had a "very pleasant, almost concert-like acoustic" that our ancestors slowly perfected over many generations

Because Stonehenge itself is partially collapsed, Dr Till, from York, North Yorks., used a computer model to conduct experiments in sound.

The most exciting discoveries came when he and colleague Dr Bruno Fazenda visited a full-size concrete replica of Stonehenge, with all the original stones intact, which was built as a war memorial by American road builder Sam Hill at Maryhill in Washington state.

... "By comparing results from paper calculations, computer simulations based on digital models, and results from the concrete Stonehenge copy, we were able to come up with some of these theories about the uses of Stonehenge.

"We have also been able to reproduce the sound of someone speaking or clapping in Stonehenge 5,000 years ago.

"The most interesting thing is we managed to get the whole space (at Maryhill) to resonate, almost like a wine glass will ring if you run a finger round it.

"While that was happening a simple drum beat sounded incredibly dramatic. The space had real character; it felt that we had gone somewhere special."

via Stonehenge was 'giant concert venue' - Telegraph.

It also functions as a notably effective beer bottle opener.

The Fight Over NASA’s Future

The Orion capsule used in the Constellation program looks like the capsules from the Apollo program, but it is a much bigger beast. The Apollo capsules that went to the moon carried three astronauts; Orion can hold as many as six. In this photograph, a mock-up of the Orion capsule is moved into a hangar at NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va.

NASA has named the rocket Ares I, as in the god of war — and its life has been a battle from the start.

Ares I is part of a new system of spacecraft being designed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to replace the nation’s aging space shuttles. The Ares I and its Orion capsule, along with a companion heavy-lift rocket known as the Ares V, are meant for travel to the Moon and beyond.

Technical troubles have dogged the design process for the Ares I, the first of the rockets scheduled to be built, with attendant delays and growing costs. And in an age of always-on communication, instant messages and blogs, internal debate that once might have been part of a cloistered process has spilled into public view.

Some critics say there are profound problems with the design that render the Ares I dead on arrival, while other observers argue that technical complications crop up in any spacecraft development program of this scope. ...

Orion is far heavier than the Apollo capsule and weight issues have required redesigns of both the capsule and the rocket, further complicating technical issues. Engineers have also had to come up with ways to dampen potentially dangerous vibrations along the shaft of the rocket as the solid rocket engine empties. ...

Some inside the development program have complained that it is run with a my-way-or-the-highway attitude that stifles dissent and innovation. Jeffrey Finckenor, an engineer who left NASA this year, sent a goodbye letter to colleagues that expressed his frustrations with the program. “At the highest levels of the agency, there seems to be a belief that you can mandate reality,” he wrote, “followed by a refusal to accept any information that runs counter to that mandate.” The letter was posted to the independent NASA Watch Web site.

Mr. Finckenor has refused to comment further. ...via The Long Countdown - The Fight Over NASA’s Future - NYTimes.com.

Secret army of ‘scallywags’ to sabotage German occupation - Times Online

By day they were ordinary civilians — from dentists and clergymen to gamekeepers and roadmenders – in a Britain gripped by fear of imminent invasion by Hitler’s blitzkreig troops.

The only clue to their alter egos might have been the pieces of paper in their pockets – informing any police officer suspicious of their behaviour “to ask no questions of the bearer but phone this number”.

But new details have now emerged of the highly secretive role played by a “resistance” army of fit young men and women chosen as would-be saboteurs and spies in the event of a German landing.

In the dark days of 1940, the unit grew to about 6,000 members, who knew little of each other and operated in small guerrilla groups. Recruited to disrupt a German occupation force – including roles such as blowing up tanks, lorry parks and communications – the teams prepared by carrying out covert missions, known as “scallywagging”, at night.

...Their role was to engage in irregular warfare, which meant that, as civilians, their capture by the Germans would have led to their instant execution as spies. Not everyone in the military hierarchy approved of the concept, believing that only men in uniform should be recruited to fight the enemy.

Official records of the GHQ Auxiliary Units – whose creation was authorised by the inner War Cabinet, chaired by Winston Churchill – have rarely been released by the National Archives. ...

Even those recruited for bombing missions never knew who was really behind the idea. Mr Warwicker said that they had thought they were working for the War Office, but GHQ Auxiliary Units were financed by MI6, and one element of it, the Special Duties Section, became so experienced in covert operations that after the threat of invasion receded, members of the section were snatched up by the SAS for the rest of the war.

... “They were a secret guerrilla group – the members were not to know each other. As cover for their activities they were to appear to continue their lives entirely normally,” Mr Warwicker said. The key man in each patrol group had a store of explosives and weaponry hidden away and only he knew where it was.

via Secret army of ‘scallywags’ to sabotage German occupation - Times Online.

UFO spotted in Dedworth?

STARGAZERS in Windsor were left stunned after mysterious bright lights illuminated the night sky, believing they may have seen a UFO.

Gobsmacked residents in the Dedworth area of Windsor were among the first to witness the unidentified flying object as it hovered above houses before flying off towards Slough.

Gino Gaudio, of Wolf Lane, rushed to record the strange episode on his mobile phone after he had noticed a number of bright orange orbs of light floating in the sky above his home at around 9.40pm on Monday last week.

He said: “I was looking outside and I thought to myself ‘what was that in the background?’ and saw bright orange lights.

“Three of the lights seemed to be in a kind of formation and one was in the back. I tried to be rational and thought what it could be.”

Cryptic sightings are often met with scepticism and astronomers remain uncertain as to the existence of UFOs, but the 49-year-old repair centre manager has been left convinced by his close encounter, despite the obvious proximity to Heathrow Airport.

He added: “It wasn’t an aeroplane because they have red and white lights, it was not a firework and it was too high to be a street light. It sounds crazy, but the three of them moved so fast and then just disappeared. I just wonder if anyone else saw it.”

Confirmed sightings of the festive UFO are starting to pile up as other Windsor residents have since come forward with their own tales of the unexpected.

Scott Parkinson, of Nelson Road, was setting off for a night out with friends when he caught sight of the floating phenomenon above nearby Monks Road at about 10.30pm.

The 21-year-old web designer said: “I looked up and saw about six floating things and before long there were about ten of them. The best way to describe them would be to say they looked like kid’s lanterns. ...

via Slough Observer | News | VIDEO: UFO spotted in Dedworth?.

It is amazing and somewhat funny how many people have not heard about "glow lanterns", aka "flying lanterns".

Rovin', rovin', rovin' - Mars explorers don't want to stop - World - smh.com.au

IT IS a common complaint these days: things are just not made to last any more.

But it is one gripe that does not hold water on the red planet. The warranty on NASA's two, six-wheeled Martian rovers - Spirit and Opportunity - guaranteed their survival for only 90 days on the planet's dusty surface, and promised that they would drive a mere 600 metres.

But this weekend Spirit celebrates its fifth birthday on Mars. Its identical twin, Opportunity, reaches the same milestone on January 24.

Since its landing Spirit has motored more than 7.5 kilometres, while Opportunity has clocked more than 13.6 kilometres. Together the rovers, which set down on opposite sides of Mars, have snapped about 250,000 pictures.

When Spirit opened its robotic eyes on January 4, 2004, after bouncing to a halt, it spotted a series of hills about one kilometre away. Engineers wondered whether the mechanical explorer, no bigger than a small ride-on mower, could be coaxed to reach them.

Spirit not only reached the hills, but climbed 110 metres to the summit of the highest peak, and then trundled down the other side.

The rovers have found Mars was awash with salty water 4 billion years ago but was drained bone dry by some environmental catastrophe. They have sent back movies of willy willies dancing across the Martian plains and pictures of eerie sunsets.

Yet it hasn't been one long Sunday drive. Spirit spent much of last year parked on a hill, struggling to soak up enough sunshine to survive another bitterly cold six-month winter.

"This last winter was a squeaker for Spirit," John Callas, the rover project manager, said.

Both rovers have been hampered by a build-up of red dust blanketing their solar panels. Spirit drags one wheel that failed long ago.

In June 2005 Opportunity found itself bogged for three weeks on a sand dune.

Engineers can only guess how much longer they will last. "A major rover component on either vehicle could fail at any time," Dr Callas said. ...

via World - smh.com.au.

Huge undersea 'wall' discovered

A giant rock formation resembling a city wall has been discovered under the Taiwan Strait.

The 220m stretch of basalt rock was found by biodiversity researcher Jeng Ming-hsiou.

He said it was likely to have been formed by a volcanic eruption up to 1,800 years ago.

via BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | Huge undersea 'wall' discovered.

European Neanderthals had ginger hair and freckles - Telegraph

In a major breakthrough, Spanish scientists have discovered the blood group and two other genes of the early humans who lived 43,000 ago.

After analysing the fossil bones found in a cave in north-west Spain, the experts concluded they had human blood group "O" and were genetically more likely to be fair skinned, perhaps even with freckles, have red or ginger hair and could talk.

The investigating team from Spain's government scientific institute, CSIC, used the very latest forensic techniques to remove the bones for analysis to prevent them getting contaminated with modern DNA.

Carles Lalueza, an evolutionary biologist with the investigation, said: "What we were trying to do was to create the most realistic image of the Neanderthals with details that are not visible in the fossils, but which form part of their identity."

The report, published in BMC Evolutionary Biology, concludes that: "These results suggest the genetic change responsible for the O blood group in humans predates the human and Neanderthal divergence" but came "after humans separated from their common ancestor ... chimpanzees."

The Spanish scientists also describe how they also discovered two other genes.

One gene known as MC1R suggests the Neanderthals had fair skin and even freckles like redheads.

Another, a variety of FOXP2, is related to speaking and the capacity to create a language and therefore suggests they could communicate orally.

Neanderthals are believed to have numbered about 15,000 and lived in Europe and Asia for about 200,000 years until they became extinct about 30,000 years ago.

via European Neanderthals had ginger hair and freckles - Telegraph.

Nano Diamonds clues to beasts' demise

The controversial idea that space impacts may have wiped out woolly mammoths and early human settlers in North America has received new impetus.

Nano-diamonds and other exotic impact materials have been unearthed in thin sediments, Science magazine reports.

The age of these materials coincides with the start of a millennium-long climate cooling event known as the Younger Dryas - some 13,000 years ago.

Many large animals vanish from the archaeological record at this time.

It is also the period in Earth history that sees the demise of Clovis culture - the prehistoric civilisation that many regard as the first human occupation of North America.

Taken together, it all makes for a compelling story, claims the team behind the latest research.

Question of origin

The group used transmission electron microscopy (TEM) to identify tiny impact diamonds found at a range of sites - four of them Clovis archaeological digs - across North America. Diamonds form through intense pressure and heat.

"We've discovered nano-diamonds that are not normally produced through average processes on the surface of the Earth," said James Kennett, a geologist at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and author on the Science paper.

"They indicate there was an extra-terrestrial event on Earth 12,900 years ago," he told BBC News.

Scientists last year reported the discovery of five types of nano-diamonds along with impact material such as iridium and magnetic microspherules in the Younger Dryas impact layer, a thin blanket of sediment 12,900 years old.

The new analysis with TEM, they said, confirmed an abundance of diamonds in carbon spherules - melt material that forms in a fraction of a second - and the identification of lonsdalite, or hexagonal diamonds, associated with meteorite explosions.

The sheer number of diamonds - up to a million times that found in neighbouring sediment - and their presence inside spherules, refutes the speculation that the material is the normal rain of meteorite debris, says Allen West, a retired geophysicist in Arizona and a co-author.

"There is no other way that hexagonal diamonds could have ended up in a carbon spherule in this number," said Dr West....

The absence of some traditional impact material and visible craters in North America led researchers to speculate that a meteoroid or comet disintegrated before exploding in a cluster of airbursts. ...

BBC NEWS | Science & Environment | Diamond clues to beasts' demise.

Dan Akroyd's Crystal Head Vodka

Deidre Woollard at the luxist writes:

I saw the video of Dan Aykyroyd talking about Crystal Head vodka a week or so ago but I wasn't sure it was a real thing but turns out it is Aykroyd's newest venture in the world of liquor. Aykroyd's wines are currently the top selling celebrity brand in Canada and he recently announced they would be available in the U.S.

The selling point for Crystal Head vodka is is that it is quadrupled distilled and filtered three times through charcoal followed by triple filtration over Herkimer crystals. It also comes in that nifty skull bottle designed by John Alexander and manufactured by master artisans in Milano's Bruni Glass Company. The Infinium Spirits division of Wilson Daniels is marketing Crystal Head Vodka in the U.S. and it will be available initially in California, Texas, Nevada, Louisiana and Florida. It retails for $49.95.

As for the legend of the crystal skulls, I tend to side with the comprehensive article in Archaeology Magazine that came out earlier this year when the crystal skull craze began over the latest Indiana Jones movie.

From the Crystal Head Vodka site:

Thousands of years ago, thirteen crystal heads were scattered across the earth – and they are greater and more powerful than anything we have the ability to manufacture today. Their workmanship is perfect: they contain no tool marks and have been cut against the natural axis of the crystal, defying the laws of physics. Some say they are artifacts from the lost civilization of Atlantis, some say they date back to the Mayans, still others say they were created by a higher intelligence.

Brought together, the Crystal Heads are said to contain vast knowledge and enlightenment capable of unlocking our most enigmatic ancient mysteries. Alone, each is believed to house radiant psychic energy, which has magical powers and healing properties.

Crystal Head Vodka.

New reptile species found in Tanzania

Seventeen previously unknown species of reptiles and amphibians have been found in the threatened rainforests of eastern Tanzania, Italian and Tanzanian scientists reported on Monday.The haul of new species, which include chameleons, tree frogs and snakes, highlights the rich biodiversity of the East African country's South Nguru Mountains region, they wrote in the journal Acta Herpetologica.

via NewsDaily: New reptiles found in Tanzania's shrinking forests.

It's always a new kind of snake or a new kind of frog. I'd like to see something new like a living archosaurs.

Cancer cells immortality trick

Cancer cells cheat death by reversing a process which causes normal cells to commit suicide at the end of their natural life, scientists have shown.

They showed cancer cells were able to recover even after exposure to a chemical cocktail which triggers suicide in normal cells. ... Programmed cell suicide - or apoptosis - plays a key role in keeping the body healthy, by ridding it of damaged or defective cells.

The researchers treated human cervical, skin, liver and breast cancer cells each with three different chemicals - jasplakinolide, staurosporine and ethanol - which triggers apoptosis in normal cells.

They wanted to see if cancer cells could survive once they have passed the point of no return for normal cell death.

The researchers found the cancer cells recovered once the chemical cocktail had been removed - even after the cells had passed normal critical checkpoints.

...cancer cells regained their shape, function and continued to divide.

They only lost the ability to recover once the nucleus at the very heart of the cell containing key genetic material had started to disintegrate - an event right at the end of the normal cell suicide process.

Researcher Professor Ming-Chiu Fung said the study suggested that cancer cells could use this ability to survive assault by chemotherapy drugs.

He said the discovery could potentially help the development of new, more effective anti-cancer drugs.

via BBC NEWS | Health | Cancer cells 'cheat suicide call'.

Cancer cells may hold the key to human immortality. We might get there gradually. Imagine getting a transplant heart made of specially engineered cells that would never age, for example. Once we crack immortality, we will have to stop reproducing so much, or get some new planets, of course.

Burglar scared off by Thor

... Six-foot tall Torvald Alexander, 38, was wearing a red cape and the thunder god's silver-winged helmet when he spotted the raider in his front room rifling through a desk.

Mr Alexander, who runs building firm Alexander & Summers in Edinburgh, Scotland, said the burglar threw himself out of a first floor window of his £350,000 home in the Inverleith area of the city after being caught red handed.

Mr Alexander said: "As soon as he saw me his eyes went wide with terror.

"He looked like he had had a few drinks and decided to do a late night break in, but he hadn't counted on the God of Thunder living here."

He added: "I had just got back from a fancy dress New Year's party and because I have a Norwegian name I decided to go as Thor.

"It took ages making the cape, helmet and breast plate, and I must admit it was a bit chilly walking home, but when I saw that guy I just went mad and charged at him, my cape flying behind me.

"I think if I had had Thor's hammer with me I might have scared him to death."

via Burglar scared off by man dressed as Thor after New Year party - Telegraph.

Alternative Cancer Treatment: Maple Syrup and Baking Powder

S hayes writes on healthmad.com:

... I cannot guarantee that the information it is accurate - or if the remedy works, however, if I, or anyone I knew was suffering, I would want to know of every potential avenue of assistance.

Jim Kelmun - a 75 year old former truck driver, has been preparing remedies to assist cancer sufferers since 1954. He has treated 200 terminal cancer sufferers, and claims that 185 of them lived for at least a further 15 years.

Oddly, Jim has been threatened with jail by authorities unless he stops administering his remedy - as he has no medical degree!!!

The Remedy - Maple Syrup and Baking Powder (Bicarbonate of soda)

* Mix 1 part baking soda to 3 parts maple syrup

* Heat rigorously in a pan for 5 minutes

* Take two teaspoons of the mixture per day for the first week and then one teaspoon per day for weeks two and three - the remedy should not be continued after three weeks

Try to get aluminium free baking powder (from organic / health food shops) and pure 100% Grade B maple syrup.

Dr Mark Sircus has examined the results and comments as follows:-

"cancer cells gobble up sugar so when you encourage the intake of sugar it's like sending in a Trojan horse. The sugar is not going to encourage the growth of the cancer colonies because the baking soda is going to kill the cells before they have a chance to grow"

"The treatment is a combination of pure, 100% maple syrup [bulk Grade B from the health food store] and baking soda and was first reported on the Cancer Tutor site. When mixed and heated together, the maple syrup and baking soda bind together. The maple syrup targets cancer cells (which consume 15 times more glucose than normal cells) and the baking soda, which is dragged into the cancer cell by the maple syrup, being very alkaline forces a rapid shift in pH killing the cell."

An almost identical remedy has been suggested by Italian Dr Simoncini - who claims to treat cancer as if it were a fungus.

via Alternative Cancer Treatment.

News from The Associated Press

Two sushi bar owners paid more than $100,000 for a Japanese bluefin tuna at a Tokyo fish auction Monday, several times the average price and the highest in nearly a decade, market officials said.

The 282-pound (128-kilogram) premium tuna caught off the northern coast of Oma fetched 9.63 million yen ($104,700), the highest since 2001, when another Japanese bluefin tuna brought an all-time record of 20 million yen, market official Takashi Yoshida said.

Yoshida said the extravagant purchase - about $370 per pound ($817 per kilogram) - went to a Hong Kong sushi bar owner and his Japanese competitor who reached a peaceful settlement to share the big fish. The Hong Kong buyer also paid the highest price at last year's new year event at Tokyo's Tsukiji market, the world's largest fish seller, which holds near-daily auctions.

A slightly bigger imported bluefin caught off the eastern United States sold for 1.42 million yen ($15,400) in Monday's auction.

"It was the best tuna of the day, but the price shot up because of the shortage of domestic bluefin," Yoshida said, citing rough weather at the end of December. Buyers vied for only three Oma bluefin tuna Monday, compared to 41 last year.

... Due to growing concerns over the impact of commercial fishing on the bluefin variety's survival, members of international tuna conservation organizations, including Japan, have agreed to cut their bluefin catch quota for 2009 by 20 percent to 22,000 tons.

via News from The Associated Press.

Too many humans.

News from The Associated Press

Two sushi bar owners paid more than $100,000 for a Japanese bluefin tuna at a Tokyo fish auction Monday, several times the average price and the highest in nearly a decade, market officials said.

The 282-pound (128-kilogram) premium tuna caught off the northern coast of Oma fetched 9.63 million yen ($104,700), the highest since 2001, when another Japanese bluefin tuna brought an all-time record of 20 million yen, market official Takashi Yoshida said.

Yoshida said the extravagant purchase - about $370 per pound ($817 per kilogram) - went to a Hong Kong sushi bar owner and his Japanese competitor who reached a peaceful settlement to share the big fish. The Hong Kong buyer also paid the highest price at last year's new year event at Tokyo's Tsukiji market, the world's largest fish seller, which holds near-daily auctions.

A slightly bigger imported bluefin caught off the eastern United States sold for 1.42 million yen ($15,400) in Monday's auction.

"It was the best tuna of the day, but the price shot up because of the shortage of domestic bluefin," Yoshida said, citing rough weather at the end of December. Buyers vied for only three Oma bluefin tuna Monday, compared to 41 last year.

... Due to growing concerns over the impact of commercial fishing on the bluefin variety's survival, members of international tuna conservation organizations, including Japan, have agreed to cut their bluefin catch quota for 2009 by 20 percent to 22,000 tons.

via News from The Associated Press.