‘Seeking clarity - and outrage - from a murky war, data visualization designers Pitch Interactive have used data from the Bureau for Investigative Journalism to create an astounding infographic showing every drone strike in Pakistan since 2004.

Of the estimated 3,100 people killed in those strikes, it shows, 1.5% were identified by US officials as “high-profile” targets, or suspected legitimate bad guys - that, despite the vaunted talk by the US of “precision strikes.”

The rest were children, civilians, and “other” - those identified by the Obama administration as alleged combatants simply because they are adult males, regardless of what they may or may not have done.

See each drone fall, silent, chilling, gathering massive force since 2008: Out of sight, out of mind…

In another like-minded project, if you can stand it, follow a grad student at New York University as he tweets every drone strike as it comes. Then share it all.’

‘ABSTRACT: What is consciousness? Conventional approaches see it as an emergent property of complex interactions among individual neurons; however these approaches fail to address enigmatic features of consciousness. Accordingly, some philosophers have contended that “qualia,” or an experiential medium from which consciousness is derived, exists as a fundamental component of reality. Whitehead, for example, described the universe as being composed of “occasions of experience.” To examine this possibility scientifically, the very nature of physical reality must be re-examined. We must come to terms with the physics of spacetime-as described by Einstein’s general theory of relativity, and its relation to the fundamental theory of matter-as described by quantum theory. Roger Penrose has proposed a new physics of objective reduction: “OR,” which appeals to a form of quantum gravity to provide a useful description of fundamental processes at the quantum/classical borderline.hz Within the OR scheme, we consider that consciousness occurs if an appropriately organized system is able to develop and maintain quantum coherent superposition until a specific “objective” criterion (a threshold related to quantum gravity) is reached; the coherent system then self-reduces (objective reduction: OR). We contend that this type of objective self-collapse introduces non-computability, an essential feature of consciousness which distinguishes our minds from classical computers. Each OR is taken as an instantaneous event-the climax of a self-organizing process in fundamental spacetime-and a candidate for a conscious Whitehead “occasion of experience.” How could an OR process occur in the brain, be coupled to neural activities, and account for other features of consciousness? We nominate a quantum computational OR process with the requisite characteristics to be occurring in cytoskeletal microtubules within the brain’s neurons.
In this model, quantum-superposed states develop in microtubule subunit proteins (“tubulins”) within certain brain neurons, remain coherent, and recruit more superposed tubulins until a mass-time-energy threshold (related to quantum gravity) is reached. At that point, self-collapse, or objective reduction (OR), abruptly occurs. We equate the pre-reduction, coherent superposition (“quantum computing”) phase with pre-conscious processes, and each instantaneous (and non-computable) OR, or self-collapse, with a discrete conscious event. Sequences of OR events give rise to a “stream” of consciousness. Microtubule-associated proteins can “tune” the quantum oscillations of the coherent superposed states; the OR is thus self-organized, or “orchestrated” (“Orch OR”). Each Orch OR event selects (non-computably) microtubule subunit states which regulate synaptic/neural functions using classical signaling.
The quantum gravity threshold for self-collapse is relevant to consciousness, according to our arguments, because macroscopic superposed quantum states each have their own spacetime geometries.l-2 These geometries are also superposed, and in some way “separated,” but when sufficiently separated, the superposition of spacetime geometries becomes significantly unstable and reduces to a single universe state. Quantum gravity determines the limits of the instability; we contend that the actual choice of state made by Nature is noncomputable. Thus each Orch OR event is a self-selection of spacetime geometry, coupled to the brain through microtubules and other biomolecules.
If conscious experience is intimately connected with the very physics underlying spacetime structure, then Orch OR in microtubules indeed provides us with a completely new and uniquely promising perspective on the difficult problems of consciousness.’

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‘Because we are NOT just numbers, keep following this post of the names  and ages of murdered people who fell victim during the past days of Israeli attacks on Gaza since Wednesday. The number rises to 84 and still rising :( I hope that this battle will cost us no more souls. However, nothing will depress us, no matter how much Israel escalates its inhumanity and crimes. We’ll remain ready to pay any price  for attaining of freedom and dignity. RIP!

1- Ahmad Al-Ja’bary, 52 years old.
2-Mohammed Al-hams, 28 years old.
3- Rinan Arafat, 7 years old.
4- Omar Al-Mashharawi, 11 moonths old.
5-Essam Abu-Alma’za, 20 years old.
6-Mohammed Al-qaseer, 20 years old.
7- Heba Al-Mashharawi, six-month pregnant, 19 years old.
8- Mahmoud Abu Sawawin, 65 years old.

9- Habis Hassan Mismih, 29 years old.
10- Wael Haidar Al-Ghalban, 31 years old.
11- Hehsam Mohammed Al-Ghalban, 31 years old.
12- Rani Hammad, 29 years old.
13- Khaled Abi Nasser, 27 year old.
14- Marwan Abu Al-Qumsan, 52 years old.
15- Walid Al-Abalda, 2 years old.
16- Hanin Tafesh, 10 months old.
17- Oday Jammal Nasser, 16 years old.
18- Fares Al-Basyouni, 11 years old.
19- Mohammed Sa’d Allah, 4 years old.
20- Ayman Abu Warda, 22 years old.
21- Tahrir Suliman, 20 years old.
22- Ismael Qandil, 24 years old.
23- younis Kamal Tafesh, 55 years old.
24- Mohammed Talal Suliman, 28 years old.
25- Amjad Mohammed Abu-Jalal, 32 years old.
26- Ziyad Farhan Abu-Jalal, 23 years old.
27- Ayman Mohammed Abu Jalal, 44 years old.
28- Hassan Salem Al-Heemla’, 27 years old.
29- Khaled Khalil Al-Shaer, 24 years old.
30- Ayman Rafeeq sleem, 26 years old.
31- Ahmad Abu Musamih, 32 years old.

At 8:20 am, as a result to an Israeli inhumane attack on Deel Al-Balah, central Gaza, three people were killed. The list of murdered victims goes longer»>

32- Osama Abdejjawad
33- Ashraf Darwish
34- Ali Al-Mana’ma

At 8:45 am_ 9:00 am, warplanes attacked several places including Rafah, Khan-Younis, and Tal Al-Sultan, southern Gaza, leaving three killed»

35`- Mukhlis Edwan
36- Mohammed Al-Loulhy, 24 years old.
37- Ahmad Al-Atrush

In a series of attacks on several places on central Gaza at noon, two more people fell victim:

38- Abderrahman Al-Masri

39- Awad Al-Nahhal
40- Ali Hassan Iseed, 25 years old, killed in an attack on his motorbike in Deer Al-Balah, central Gaza, at 8:10 pm, Novebmer 17.

IOF attack another motorbike in Deer Al-Balah at 8:20 pm, leaving two more killed:
41- Mohammed Sabry Al’weedat, 25 years old.
42- Osama Yousif Al-Qadi, 26 years old.

In an attack on central Gaza, to the west of Al-Masdar area, at 9:10 pm, two more people people killed:
43- Ahmad Ben Saeed, 42 years old.
44- Hani Bre’m, 31 years old.

‘With a sad twist of irony, corporate and government elite dine on safe, organic food while the masses, those very people who are supposedly represented and protected by their governments, are poisoned by hidden genetically modified organisms, pesticides and dangerous contaminants. The presidential family demands organic food in their kitchen, yet behind closed doors, shake hands with the biotech industry. China’s top brass is fed by an exclusive, gated organic garden while the rest of the population consumes GM food, steroid contaminated meat and dairy laced with melamine. Even Monsanto’s own employee’s command non-genetically modified food in their canteen. Access to clean, organic and healthy food is not a given right anymore — it has become a political battleground with the average citizen suffering the loss.

White House double-take

While First Lady Michelle Obama digs up the White House lawn to plant an organic garden, her husband promotes a GMO agenda within his administration. “You know, in my household, over the last year we have just shifted to organic,” she said in a New Yorker interview during Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign. Organic produce from the garden feeds the Obama family and visiting dignitaries alike. Seems okay so far. But then take a look at Obama’s laundry-list of presidential appointed positions with biotech ties: USDA head Roger Beachy, a former director at Monsanto, FDA food safety czar Michael Taylor, one-time vice president for public policy at Monsanto, Commissioner of the USDA Tom Vilsack who created the Governors’ Biotechnology Partnership. Under President Obama, 10 new GM crops have been approved for ‘safe consumption.’

Spiked fences protect organic gardens from the people

The political elite in China enjoy the safest of food — organic produce, grass-fed beef from Inner Mongolia, rice free of pesticides, chemicals or genetically modified organisms. Compare this with the food supply of ordinary citizens that is laden with pesticides, industrial chemicals and GMOs. Children have become sick and died from tainted baby formula and milk products. Blindness and death have resulted from adults consuming fake liquor. Yet Chinese leaders have their own protected food sources of the highest quality. In Beijing, an organic farm is surrounded by a six-foot spiked fence while security personnel guard the entrance. The garden produces food for top-notch officials only. Beidaihe Sanitorium, a seaside haven for retired party cadres, exclusively uses a specialty rice that is organic and free of GMOs. As for the public, they can purchase the small remaining surplus of the grain at 15 times the cost of regular rice. All the while, the government continues to approve GMOs and harmful chemicals for general consumption.

GMO-free meals at Monsanto

Remember the notice at a Monsanto staff canteen stating the decision “to remove, as far as practicable, GM soya and maize from all food products served in our restaurant. We have taken the above steps to ensure that you, the customer, can feel confident in the food we serve.” According to Tony Coombes, the company’s spokesperson, “Yes, this is the case, and it is because we believe in choice.”

Evidently the average citizen is not allowed the same courtesy of choice considering GMOs have infiltrated the food supply and are not labeled in North America. Only those who can afford the price tag of organic food are able to protect themselves from harmful contaminants. As for the rest of the population, they are the ones who will suffer the devastating health consequences of a corrupt system.

Sources for this article include:

“Meet Monsanto’s Number One Lobbyist: Barack Obama” Jon Rappoport. Infowars, September 24, 2012. Retrieved on October 2, 2012 from: http://www.infowars.com

“White House Will Not say Where It Gets Its Meat (And I Don’t Blame Them)” David Kirby, Huff Post Green, April 20, 2010. Retrieved on October 2, 2012 from: http://www.huffingtonpost.com

“Does Monsanto Man Mitt Romney Secretly Eat Organic?” Tom Philpott. MotherJones, September 26, 2012. Retrieved on October 2, 2012 from: http://www.motherjones.com

“In China, what you eat tells who you are” Barbara Demick, Los Angeles Times, September 16, 2011. Retrieved on October 2, 2012 from: http://articles.latimes.com

“Amid milk scare, China’s elite eat all-organic” Associated Press, NBC News, September 24, 2008. Retrieved on October 2, 2012 from: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26874854/#.UGrObal9mlI

“GM food banned in Monsanto canteen” Michael McCarthy, The Independent, December 22, 1999. Retrieved on October 2, 2012 from: http://www.independent.co.uk’

Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/332972#ixzz27akvsPDy

‘IT IS NOT EASY to escape from one’s skin, to see the world differently from the way it is presented to us day after day. But it is useful to try. Let’s take a few examples.

The war drums are beating ever more loudly over Iran. Imagine the situation to be reversed.

Iran is carrying out a murderous and destructive low-level war against Israel with great-power participation. Its leaders announce that negotiations are going nowhere. Israel refuses to sign the Non-Proliferation Treaty and allow inspections, as Iran has done.

Israel continues to defy the overwhelming international call for a nuclear-weapons-free zone in the region. Throughout, Iran enjoys the support of its superpower patron.

Iranian leaders are therefore announcing their intention to bomb Israel, and prominent Iranian military analysts report that the attack may happen before the US elections.

Iran can use its powerful air force and new submarines sent by Germany, armed with nuclear missiles and stationed off the coast of Israel. Whatever the timetable, Iran is counting on its superpower backer to join if not lead the assault. US defense secretary Leon Panetta says that while we do not favor such an attack, as a sovereign country Iran will act in its best interests.

All unimaginable, of course, though it is actually happening, with the cast of characters reversed. True, analogies are never exact, and this one is unfair - to Iran.’

(Source: stopwar.org.uk)