El opaco poder de los bancos

It’s the Interest, Stupid! Why Bankers Rule the World
By Ellen Brown
Global Research, November 08, 2012
Url of this article:http://www.globalresearch.ca/its-the-interest-stupid-why-bankers-rule-the-world/5311030

Muchas veces nos preguntamos cómo las entidades financieras rigen nuestro destino. Las respuestas de Brown, autora del artículo que he escogido, pueden dar una idea más o menos aceptable. El punto crítico del asunto son los intereses que se pagan de una u otra manera. Los bancos son negocios y no se puede esperar que funcionen sin obtener beneficios. Pero los consumidores deberían contar con garantías legales para no quedar desvalidos (o desvalijados) por procedimientos de genuina usura. Si os interesa saber algo más, consulten la URL señalada.
In the 2012 edition of Occupy Money released last week, Professor Margrit Kennedy writes that a stunning 35% to 40% of everything we buy goes to interest. This interest goes to bankers, financiers, and bondholders, who take a 35% to 40% cut of our GDP. That helps explain how wealth is systematically transferred from Main Street to Wall Street. The rich get progressively richer at the expense of the poor, not just because of “Wall Street greed” but because of the inexorable mathematics of our private banking system.

This hidden tribute to the banks will come as a surprise to most people, who think that if they pay their credit card bills on time and don’t take out loans, they aren’t paying interest. This, says Dr. Kennedy, is not true. Tradesmen, suppliers, wholesalers and retailers all along the chain of production rely on credit to pay their bills. They must pay for labor and materials before they have a product to sell and before the end buyer pays for the product 90 days later. Each supplier in the chain adds interest to its production costs, which are passed on to the ultimate consumer. Dr. Kennedy cites interest charges ranging from 12% for garbage collection, to 38% for drinking water to, 77% for rent in public housing in her native Germany.

Her figures are drawn from the research of economist Helmut Creutz, writing in German and interpreting Bundesbank publications.  They apply to the expenditures of German households for everyday goods and services in 2006; but similar figures are seen in financial sector profits in the United States, where they composed a whopping 40% of U.S. business profits in 2006.  That was five times the 7% made by the banking sector in 1980.  Bank assets, financial profits, interest, and debt have all been growing exponentially.
http://www.oftwominds.com/blogsept12/cui-bono-Fed9-12.html.

Exponential growth in financial sector profits has occurred at the expense of the non-financial sectors, where incomes have at best grown linearly.

En busca del origen de la creatividad

Brain scans of rappers shed light on creativity

Functional magnetic resonance imaging shows what happens in the brain during improvisation.

• by Daniel Cressey

15 November 2012

El presente artículo, publicado en "Nature", es simplemente fascinante. Por eso voy a comentarlo un poquito en castellano. Y luego cada uno que se busque la vida. Estudiar la creatividad parece fácil pero no lo es. Comenzando por la definición de en qué consiste. Pues bueno, aquí los investigadores tiran por la calle del medio y acuden ni más ni menos que a los rappers, de los que se dirá cualquier cosa menos que no son tope creativos. Son maestros de la improvisación. Los neurocientíficos exploraron el funcionamiento de distintas regiones del cerebro de un grupo de artistas del rap. Usaron un equipo de resonancia magnética funcional. El resultado es que durante el proceso crreativo la actividad de ciertas zona parece deprimida en favor de otras. Queda mucho por explorar pero están en buen camino. 

Open Mike Eagle

Open Mike Eagle, one of the authors of the latest study, performs on Knocksteady TV.

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Rappers making up rhymes on the fly while in a brain scanner have provided an insight into the creative process.

Freestyle rapping — in which a performer improvises a song by stringing together unrehearsed lyrics — is a highly prized skill in hip hop. But instead of watching a performance in a club, Siyuan Liu and Allen Braun, neuroscientists at the US National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders in Bethesda, Maryland, and their colleagues had 12 rappers freestyle in a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) machine.

The artists also recited a set of memorized lyrics chosen by the researchers. By comparing the brain scans from rappers taken during freestyling to those taken during the rote recitation, they were able to see which areas of the brain are used during improvisation. The study is published today in Scientific Reports¹.

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The results parallel previous imaging studies in which Braun and Charles Limb, a doctor and musician at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, looked at fMRI scans from jazz musicians². Both sets of artists showed lower activity in part of their frontal lobes called the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex during improvisation, and increased activity in another area, called the medial prefrontal cortex. The areas that were found to be ‘deactivated’ are associated with regulating other brain functions.

“We think what we see is a relaxation of ‘executive functions’ to allow more natural de-focused attention and uncensored processes to occur that might be the hallmark of creativity,” says Braun.

He adds that this suggestion is “a little bit controversial in the literature”, because some studies have found activation of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in creative behaviour. He suggests that the discrepancy might have to do with the tasks chosen to represent creativity. In studies that found activation, the activities — such as those that require recall — may actually be less creative.

“We try to stick with more natural creative processing, and when we do that we see this decrease in the dorsal lateral regions,” says Braun.

Pump down the volume

Rex Jung, a clinical neuropsychologist at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, has also studied the link between brain structures and creativity, finding an inverse relationship between the volume of some frontal lobe structures and creativity³. “Some of our results imply this downregulation of the frontal lobes in service of creative cognition. [The latest paper] really appears to pull it all together,” he says. “I’m excited about the findings.”

Jung says that this downregulation is likely to apply in other, non-musical areas of creativity — including science.

The findings also suggest an explanation for why new music might seem to the artist to be created of its own accord. With less involvement by the lateral prefrontal regions of the brain, the performance could seem to its creator to have “occurred outside of conscious awareness”, the authors write.

Michael Eagle, a study co-author who raps under the name Open Mike Eagle, agrees: “That’s kind of the nature of that type of improvisation. Even as people who do it, we’re not 100% sure of where we’re getting improvisation from.”

Liu says that the researchers are now working on problems they were unable to explore with freestylers — such as what happens after the initial burst of creative inspiration.

"We think that the creative process may be divided into two phases," he says. "The first is the spontaneous improvisatory phase. In this phase you can generate novel ideas. We think there is a second phase, some kind of creative processing [in] revision."

The researchers would also like to look at how creativity differs between experts and amateurs of a similar artistic ilk to freestylers: poets and storytellers.

Nature

 

doi:10.1038/nature.2012.11835

Una mutación genética vinculada al Alzheimer

Alzheimer’s Tied to Mutation Harming Immune Response

By GINA KOLATA

Published: November 14, 2012

No se pierdan el presente artículo de Kolata. Da cuenta de que se ha identificado una mutación, en el gen TREM2, que al parecer aumenta entre 3 y 5 veces el riesgo de desarrollar Alzheimer en la vejez. La enfermedad o síndrome de Alzheimer es una dolencia neurodegenerativa en la que el cerebro se "disuelve" en placas amiloides, perdiendo poco a poco toda  funcionalidad. Si visitais la sección de ciencia del NYT encontrareis más información. Baste aquí subrayar que todos los paso en investigación básica, que mayormente se realiza en animales, resultan muy útiles.

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Alzheimer’s researchers and drug companies have for years concentrated on one hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease: the production of toxic shards of a protein that accumulate in plaques on the brain.

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Amyloid plaques build up in the brains of people with Alzheimer's disease.

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But now, in a surprising coincidence, two groups of researchers working from entirely different starting points have converged on a mutated gene involved in another aspect of Alzheimer’s disease: the immune system’s role in protecting against the disease. The mutation is suspected of interfering with the brain’s ability to prevent the buildup of plaque.

The discovery, researchers say, provides clues to how and why the disease progresses. The gene, known as TREM2, is only the second found to increase Alzheimer’s risk substantially in older people.

“It points very specifically to a potential metabolic pathway that you could intervene in to change the course of Alzheimer’s disease,” said William Thies, chief medical and scientific officer of the Alzheimer’s Association.

Much work remains to be done before scientists understand precisely how the newly discovered gene mutation leads to Alzheimer’s, but already there are some indications from studies in mice. 

When the gene is not mutated, white blood cells in the brain spring into action, gobbling up and eliminating the plaque-forming toxic protein, beta amyloid. As a result, Alzheimer’s can be staved off or averted.

But when the gene is mutated, the brain’s white blood cells are hobbled, making them less effective in their attack on beta amyloid.

People with the mutated gene have a threefold to fivefold increase in the likelihood of developing Alzheimer’s disease in old age.

Con faldas y a lo loco en la CIA

Message from General David H. Petraeus (US Army Retired)

Statement to Employees from General David H. Petraeus (US Army Retired)
November 9, 2012 (Texto tomado del sitio oficial de la CIA)

Yesterday afternoon, I went to the White House and asked the President to be allowed, for personal reasons, to resign from my position as D/CIA. After being married for over 37 years, I showed extremely poor judgment by engaging in an extramarital affair. Such behavior is unacceptable, both as a husband and as the leader of an organization such as ours. This afternoon, the President graciously accepted my resignation.
As I depart Langley, I want you to know that it has been the greatest of privileges to have served with you, the officers of our Nation’s Silent Service, a work force that is truly exceptional in every regard. Indeed, you did extraordinary work on a host of critical missions during my time as director, and I am deeply grateful to you for that.
Teddy Roosevelt once observed that life’s greatest gift is the opportunity to work hard at work worth doing. I will always treasure my opportunity to have done that with you and I will always regret the circumstances that brought that work with you to an end.
Thank you for your extraordinary service to our country, and best wishes for continued success in the important endeavors that lie ahead for our country and our Agency.
With admiration and appreciation,
David H. Petraeus

El asunto Petraeus tiene miga y enjundia. A un super ex oficial, director de la famosa (la tristemente Agency a la que tantos goles le han colado) CIA (tremenda porquería) lo pillan por unos e-mails indiscretos, que, como no podía ser de otra manera, intercepta el FBI. Tachan, primer gran mal rollito: los federales y su envidia verdosa de la Agencia de Langley. Al parecer hay dos féminas que compiten por los favores del super soldado. Una de ellas archivera mayor y empingorotada biógrafa del supersoldado (Paula Broadwell, presunta amante). La otra, no se sabe, no figura. Buen comienzo del culebrón.
Resulta que a un tipo tan duro, que según se dice salvó la papeleta a su país en Irak (hay que ver de qué puñetera manera) y metió mano en Afganistán (donde el número de difuntos es ya muy elevado), ese paradigma de patriota aguerrido, sucumbió en cambio a los bajos ardores de la carne. Y eso después de haber jurado su cargo sobre la Biblia que sostenía su rolliza esposa. Manda eggs, vamos.
Lo peor del  asunto es que algo tan privado y como que de cintura para abajo, cobre tamaña categoría política. ¿Lo han chantajeado?. Tal vez.
El episodio es digno de la serie de comics con el "American Dad" que es un espía destacado en Langley y su muy disfuncional family. Pues eso: vengan muchas guerras de rapiña, niños muertos, mujeres sometidas a los talibanes (que se reproducen como hongos los muy asesinos) y lo que importa es el honor dudoso de un soldado. Mucha hipocresía y cara dura.
Más inteligencia y menos mojigatería en la CIA.

El misterioso reino de Morfeo en Nature

Insight: Sleep

Vol. 437, No. 7063 pp1207-1396

In this supplement

• Introduction
• Articles

  Aquí he escogido algunos de los fascinantes artículos dedicados al sueño que publica el vol 437 de Nature. Noten las veces que los investigadores reconocen lo poco que se sabe, o todo lo que queda por averiguar, en torno a una función vital como es el sueño. La vida es, biológicamente sueño.
  
  

Sleep is of the brain, by the brain and for the brain

J. Allan Hobson¹

Topof page

Abstract

Sleep is a widespread biological phenomenon, and its scientific study is proceeding at multiple levels at the same time. Marked progress is being made in answering three fundamental questions: what is sleep, what are its mechanisms and what are its functions? The most salient answers to these questions have resulted from applying new techniques from basic and applied neuroscience research. The study of sleep is also shedding light on our understanding of consciousness, which undergoes alteration in parallel with sleep-induced changes in the brain.

What are the memory sources of dreaming?

Tore A. Nielsen^1,2 & Philippe Stenstrom^1,3

Topof page

Abstract

Investigators since Freud have appreciated that memories of the people, places, activities and emotions of daily life are reflected in dreams but are typically so fragmented that their predictability is nil. The mechanisms that translate such memories into dream images remain largely unknown. New research targeting relationships between dreaming, memory and the hippocampus is producing a new theory to explain how, why and when we dream of waking life events.

Neuroscience: A memory boost while you sleep

Robert Stickgold¹

Topof page

Abstract

It is generally agreed that sleep aids memory consolidation, but the reasons for this are a mystery. Part of the answer may lie in the patterns of synchronous brain activity unique to the state of slumber.

Only ten years ago, discussions about the purpose of sleep offered great hypotheses, but these were based on flimsy evidence. So scant were the data that some researchers argued that sleep might have no use at all.

Review Article Hypothalamic regulation of sleep and circadian rhythms

Clifford B. Saper¹, Thomas E. Scammell¹ & Jun Lu¹

Topof page

Abstract

A series of findings over the past decade has begun to identify the brain circuitry and neurotransmitters that regulate our daily cycles of sleep and wakefulness. The latter depends on a network of cell groups that activate the thalamus and the cerebral cortex. A key switch in the hypothalamus shuts off this arousal system during sleep. Other hypothalamic neurons stabilize the switch, and their absence results in inappropriate switching of behavioural states, such as occurs in narcolepsy. These findings explain how various drugs affect sleep and wakefulness, and provide the basis for a wide range of environmental influences to shape wake–sleep cycles into the optimal pattern for survival.

Review Article Clues to the functions of mammalian sleep

Jerome M. Siegel¹

Topof page

Abstract

The functions of mammalian sleep remain unclear. Most theories suggest a role for non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep in energy conservation and in nervous system recuperation. Theories of REM sleep have suggested a role for this state in periodic brain activation during sleep, in localized recuperative processes and in emotional regulation. Across mammals, the amount and nature of sleep are correlated with age, body size and ecological variables, such as whether the animals live in a terrestrial or an aquatic environment, their diet and the safety of their sleeping site. Sleep may be an efficient time for the completion of a number of functions, but variations in sleep expression indicate that these functions may differ across species.

Review Article Insights from studying human sleep disorders

Mark W. Mahowald¹ & Carlos H. Schenck¹

Topof page

Abstract

Problems with sleep are one of the commonest reasons for seeking medical attention. Knowledge gained from basic research into sleep in animals has led to marked advances in the understanding of human sleep, with important diagnostic and therapeutic implications. At the same time, research guided by human sleep disorders is leading to important basic sleep concepts. For example, sleep may not be a global, but rather a local, brain phenomenon. Furthermore, contrary to common assumptions, wakefulness, rapid eye movement (REM) and non-REM sleep are not mutually exclusive states. This striking realization explains a fascinating range of clinical phenomena.

La última muerte de Fidel Castro

Vaya manía tiene cierto personal agorero de enterrarlo antes de hora. Y Fidel, ese gallego tan bronco como listo, resucita. La verdad es que no me puedo desprender de su sombra histórica. Forma parte de mi infancia. Es el personaje cuya voz un poco rota acompañaba nuestra juventud. Ahora es un anciano de 86 años. Es decir está muy avanzado en la cuenta atrás que nos persigue a todos. Para sus rabiosos enemigos la mala salud de hierro de Fidel es como un grano en el ano. La historia que a él tanto le importa lo juzgará. Mientras tanto yo prefiero perdonarle todos los experimentos que hizo con mi generación. Los terribles desencuentros, las rupturas familiares, las persecuciones variopintas. Y decirle:Comandante pa´lante y pa´lante mientras el body aguante.

Las guerras (perdidas) de Obama

Obama’s War Record

by Jack A. Smith

El presidente Barack Obama no ha podido escapar a guerras heredadas pero en las que ha involucrado su administración. El número de bajas en Afganistan supera los 2000 efectivos, según fuentes serias. Las guerras y sus consecuencias no parecen interesar mucho en un año de elecciones. Lean y juzguen. Si les interesa, pueden consultar la URL correspondiente.

Url of this article:
http://www.globalresearch.ca/obamas-war-record/5308209

When Sen. Barack Obama ran for the presidency in 2008 many wishful-thinking Democratic voters viewed him as a peace candidate because he opposed the Iraq war (but voted yes on the war budgets while in the Senate). Some others assumed his foreign/military policy would be along the lines of Presidents George H. W. Bush (whom Obama admires) or Bill Clinton. Some who identified as progressives actually thought his foreign/military policy might tilt to the left.
Instead, center rightist that he is, Obama’s foreign/military policy amounted to a virtual continuation of George W. Bush’s Global War on Terrorism under a different name. He extended Bush’s wars to Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, Libya and elsewhere while greatly expanding the war in Afghanistan, hiking the military budget, encouraging the growth of militarism in U.S. society by repeatedly heaping excessive praise on the armed forces, and tightening the military encirclement of China.
Summing up some of his military accomplishments a few months ago, Obama declared: “We’ve succeeded in defending our nation, taking the fight to our enemies, reducing the number of Americans in harm’s way, and we’ve restored America’s global leadership. That makes us safer and it makes us stronger. And that’s an achievement that every American — especially those Americans who are proud to wear the uniform of the United States Armed Forces — should take great pride in.”
Obama actually has little to show for his war policy after nearly four years. Most importantly, Afghanistan — the war he supported with enthusiasm — is predictably blowing up in his face. A symbol of the Bush-Obama 11-year Afghan folly is the recent 2,000th death of an American soldier, not at the hands of the Taliban but a U.S.-trained Afghan police officer, our supposed ally. The truth is that public opinion in Afghanistan has always overwhelmingly opposed the invasion, and rightly so.
Obama hopes to avoid the embarrassment of a takeover by the Taliban or another violent Afghan civil war (as happened in the 1990s) after the bulk of U.S. troops pull out at the end of 2014. He’s made a deal with the Kabul government that allows Washington to keep thousands of American troops — Army, CIA agents with their drones, elite Special Operations forces and pilots — until 2024. There are two reasons for this. One is to keep a U.S.-controlled government in Kabul as long as possible. The other is to station American combatants near Afghanistan’s borders with Iran to the west and China to the east for another 10 years, a verdict hardly appreciated in Tehran and Beijing.
The Middle East is in turmoil. Israel’s still threatening to attack Iran, an act that would transform turmoil into catastrophe. The Syrian regime refuses to fall, much to Washington’s chagrin. Egypt’s new government has just declared partial independence from Washington’s longstanding domination