Seis mundos, seis horizontes, seis superficies

microsiervos

Distant Horizons - Different Surfaces es una composición hecha por Mike Malaska en la que se ven las superficies de cinco mundos que hemos visitado, además del nuestro.

De izquierda a derecha son el asteroide Itokawa, visitado por la sonda Hayabusa, la Luna, en una imagen de la misión Apolo 17, la última en la que dos seres humanos pisaron su superficie, Venus, en una imagen de la sonda Venera 14, Marte por Spirit, Titán visto por la Huygens, y la Tierra, aunque lo que salga es el mar, ya que cubre el 71 por ciento de su superficie.

Los créditos de la imagen son:

Itokawa: ISAS / JAXA / Gordan Ugarkovic
Luna: NASA
Venus: IKI / Don Mitchell / Ted Stryk / Mike Malaska
Marte: NASA / JPL / Cornell / Mike Malaska
Titán: ESA / NASA / JPL / University of Arizona
Tierra: Mike Malaska

(Vía @Tokaidin y @LuisMendoTomas; localicé el origen vía Zemiorka).

Cuba: Corrupcion, percepcion y transparencia [Informe 2013]

Transparency International ha publicado su reporte sobre el Corruption Perceptions Index 2013 que situa a Cuba en el lugar 63 entre 177 paises evaluados que la ubica muy cercana al limite del tercio superior de los paises menos corruptos del mundo, pero el descenso del puesto 58 del 2012 ocupa titulares justicieros como aqui. lo cierto es que el indice de corrupcion se construye sobre la base de la percepcion que un numeroso grupo de personas de diferentes paises tienen sobre el asunto y por consiguiente el espectro de opiniones es tan amplio como intencionado por razones culturales, ideologicas, politicas, sociales e incluso mezquinas y conspiratorias. para este ano las fuentes del estudio resultaron las opiniones de mas de 114,000 personas en 107 paises. y sabemos que no es lo que es sino lo que se percibe.

si bien es cierto que transparencia internacional se esfuerza en que el analisis de los expertos sea balanceado por la opinion de la poblacion algo de por si tangencialmente imposile, el indice elaborado es subjetivo por la propia naturaleza de la tecnica de sondeos que aplica. y es que las tecnicas de generacion de opiniones y construccion de consensos siempre dependen de la calidad y particularidades de la informacion de los participantes. lo que es tecnicamente legal en un pais es percibido como ilicito en otro y una simple almuerzo de negocios en new york es considerado un soborno en la marina hemingway.

la propia definicion de transparencia internacional que define a la corrupcion como el abuso del poder encomendado para beneficio personal, arroja multiples lecturas, no obstante es generalmente aceptado sus efectos globalmente nocivos.

luego en un pais como es el caso cubano, donde impera un regimen que genera y reproduce la pobreza estructural en todos los estratos de su sistema piramidal de castas como mecanismo de control y coercion social por parte de una diminuta elite en la cuspide del poder, se genera un trafico de influencias y una cronica y endemica corrupcion en todos los intersticios sociales, desde el que barre las calles, hasta el general mas entorchado y el miembro del buro politico mas encumbrado.

For more information on the CPI methodology and data sources, download our CPI information package. - See more at: http://cpi.transparency.org/cpi2013/results/#sthash.GNDXiRQj.dpuf

For more information on the CPI methodology and data sources, download our CPI information package. - See more at: http://cpi.transparency.org/cpi2013/results/#sthash.GNDXiRQj.dpuf

For more information on the CPI methodology and data sources, download our CPI information package. - See more at: http://cpi.transparency.org/cpi2013/results/#sthash.GNDXiRQj.dpuf

Malcolm Gladwell talks underdogs and longshots

New world order? Nations testing US global influence

Live Google+ Hangout: The World in 2014

The Economist

Economies and Human Sustainability - Gail Tverberg

The Energy Collective

Gail Tverberg

A few years ago, I had an ah-ha moment when it comes to what we as humans would need to do

to live in a sustainable manner. It is very easy. All we have to do is leave our homes, take off all of our clothes, and learn to live on the raw food we are able to gather with our own hands. We have a built-in transportation system, so that is not a problem.

Some animals are eusocial, that is, organized in away that allows for cooperative brood care and other joint tasks. If we follow that approach, we would get our extended families to join us living in nature, au naturel. We could then co-operate on tasks such as child rearing and gathering food.

Nature’s Provision for Order

Nature is organized in a number of ways that make certain that there will be modest change over time to adapt to new conditions, but that no one species will dominate. These are a few of the basic parts of the system:

1. Animals tend to have more offspring than required to replace the parents. Through natural selection, offspring that are best adapted to changing conditions tend to survive and grow to adulthood.

2. Animals tend not to kill all prey available because if they did so, they would have no food source in the future. Species are usually fairly balanced in their abilities, so that population will fluctuate within a range, rather than result in a total die-off.

3. Nature provides a great deal of redundancy, both in number of offspring, and in back-up systems. We have two ears and two kidneys, and two of many other parts of the body. The goal isn’t maximum efficiency, but to have a good chance at survival, even in the case of injury or damage to one part.

4. Nature has built-in instincts to prevent depletion of shared resources, sometimes called Tragedy of the Commons. Among primates, one of these instincts is an instinct toward territoriality. Males of the species tend to mark off territory much larger than they would need simply for gathering food, and will fight others to death who try to enter to their territory (Dilworth 2010).

5. In primates, another instinct that prevents excessive population of any one species is a tendency toward hierarchical behavior when population becomes too crowded for resources  (Dilworth 2010). Nature’s plan is that if there is an inadequate amount of resources, there will still be some survivors. Those at the bottom of the hierarchy will lose out, but those at the top will survive.

6. Each plant or animal requires energy-related inputs (food for humans) and eliminates waste. What is waste for one species acts as an input for other species. For example, plants need carbon dioxide, even though it is a waste produce for humans.

Using Nature’s approach, there is a balance over time. One species may dominate for a time, and then another.  The world tends to cycle from state to state. There is never a complete die-off, no matter how bad things get. Because of natural selection, species evolve to fill new niches. Climate change is a concern from humans’ perspective, because we are the potential losers. But Nature is probably equipped to deal with the issue, in one way or another.

The Hunter-Gatherer Economy

www.peaceparks.org

Humans, as hunter-gatherers, were “sort of close” to following Nature’s pattern. Man’s big deviation from the pattern of other animals was learning to burn biomass over one million years ago. Burning biomass made man better able to cope with cold weather. Humans also evolved a higher level of intelligence, perhaps in part because cooked food allowed better absorption of nutrients, allowing humans to put energy previously used for creating big jaws and digestive apparatus into a bigger brain.

As humans became smarter, they found ways to circumvent survival of the fittest, both to live longer themselves, and to allow more offspring to survive to adulthood.  (Dilworth 2010)  If hunter-gatherer groups wanted to avoid over-population, they had to adopt customs that would keep population down. Such customs might include infanticide, sexual abstinence during nursing, or frequent wars with neighboring tribes.

Research on hunter-gatherer groups that have survived until modern times suggests that very often they spent only a few hours a day hunting and gathering food, allowing much time for leisure activities (Sahlins 1972). Humans were tall (men averaged 5’10″ in height), had few dental cavities, and showed other signs of excellent health (Wells 2010).

As hunter-gatherers, there was no need for money or land ownership. Sharing within the clan seems to have been typical, perhaps as a gift economy, where status is gained by how much one can give away. Thus, all had access to food. There was no storing up goods for a “rainy day.” The only “storing up” was what nature provided in terms of stored body fat that prevented starvation if food was unavailable for a short period of time.

Keep reading Here >> 

Ikujiro Nonaka: Winner of the 2013 Thinkers 50 Lifetime Achievement Award

Thinkers50

Amis, Groys y Stalin en “El comunista manifiesto” — Iván de la Nuez

en respuesta a un lector, ivan sostiene la hipotesis [tesis?]: "Pero lo que el libro hace es seguir muchos elementos comunistas que renacen en Occidente una vez acabada la Guerra Fría. Y que no forman parte de una conjura comunista internacional, sino de una lógica de rentabilidad (estética, iconográfica, comercial, publicitaria) capitalista. Occidente “colonizó” y absorbió parte del comunismo mientras decía que lo estaba enterrando" [negritas y subryados -lg]; que constituye una manera muy coherente de reflejar una serie de acontecimientos y tendencias que discurren en las primeras decadas de este siglo xxi. bienvenido el reto al desempolvamiento neuronal.

Iván de la Nuez

(Comparto aquí el fragmento de un capítulo -”Stalin Neocon”-, que aparece en la tercera parte -”El cuerpo”- de El comunista manifiesto).

Cuando Zhou Enlai fue preguntado por la Revolución francesa, respondió que era “demasiado pronto para opinar”. Con respecto a Stalin, la izquierda de Occidente ha dado su opinión demasiado tarde.

Si el fantasma de Marx, con el que se inicia este libro, ocupa un lugar volátil en el presente, el cuerpo de Stalin está jalonado por un lastre demoledor que le obliga a caer hasta aplastarnos, digámoslo así, por su propio peso. Marx vaga como una metáfora que flota fuera del tiempo. Stalin encarna –como el título de Heberto Padilla, el más famoso de los poetas disidentes cubanos- “el justo tiempo humano” de su cronología, marcada por las decenas de millones de sus muertos.

Incluso para sus adversarios, Marx está lleno de “peros” (su sabiduría, su estatura como ensayista, el halo romántico de alguien que nunca dirigió un Estado). Con Stalin, hay pocos “peros” que valgan. Es más, no hay una sola virtud, ni una sola maldad, que supere la expansión mortífera de su proyecto.

Marx está más allá de la muerte. Stalin es la muerte misma.

Consideremos, si no, esta confirmación: los líderes del comunismo –de Ceaucescu a Fidel Castro, de Kadar a Honecker- pueden haberse permitido el lujo de ser malos marxistas, pero ninguno ha sido un mal estalinista. Ese georgiano, cuyo mostacho es tan reconocible como el bigotito de Hitler, es el rito de paso por el que cada líder del socialismo real debe pasar alguna vez en su vida para saber, de verdad, cómo es esto de llevar las riendas el poder.

Continuar leyendo en el sitio de Iván de la Nuez >>

The World’s Most Powerful People 2013 - Forbes

• Reuters/REUTERS - Russia's President Vladimir Putin attends the Leaders Retreat during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit in Nusa Dua on the Indonesian resort island of Bali, October 7, 2013. …more 

Who’s more powerful: the omnipotent head of a corroding but still feisty superpower or the handcuffed head of the most dominant country in the world? This year, our votes for the World’s Most Powerful People — an annual look at the heads of state, financiers, philanthropists and entrepreneurs who truly rule the world — went with the former.

President Vladimir Putin has solidified his control over Russia (“dictator” is no longer an outlandish word to ponder) while U.S. President Barack Obama’s lame duck period has seemingly set in earlier than usual for a two-term president — latest example: the government shutdown mess. Anyone watching this year’s chess match over Syria has a clear idea of the shifting individual power dynamic.

[More from Forbes: The Youngest Power People]

The Most Powerul People in the World list represents the collective wisdom of top FORBES editors, who consider hundreds of nominees before ranking the planet’s top 72 power-brokers – one for every 100 million people on Earth — based on their scope of influence and their financial resources relative to their peers.

Keep reading on Forbes >>

Sexiest Beaches in the World [Travel Documentary]

ExploreTravelWorld

Cremation by water instead of fire

TimeMagazine

On Dupont Circle: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt and the Progressives Who Shaped Our World

LibraryOfCongress

James Srodes discussed and signed his book, "On Dupont Circle: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt and the Progressives Who Shaped Our World."

Speaker Biography: James Srodes is a former Washington bureau chief for Forbes and Financial World magazines. He is the author of several books, including "Franklin: The Essential Founding Father," "Allen Dulles: Master of Spies" and, most recently, "On Dupont Circle: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt and the Progressives Who Shaped Our World."

Sharing Water Resources Between Countries

Johns Hopkins

Winston Yu, senior water resources specialist at the World Bank and adjunct professor at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, explains how sharing water resources has always been a source of contention between neighboring countries, but this mutual interest can be a catalyst for cooperation.

9 Tips for a Longer Life that You Shouldn’t Be Following

Yahoo! Canada

By Anne Roderique-Jones

Extend Your Life
"Stop drinking coffee and alcohol." "Take an aspirin daily." How many times have you heard that advice for adding years to your life? Turns out, lots of long-held wisdom just isn't true. Read on to see which suggestions you should ignore and what actually ups longevity. Photo by Getty Images.

1. Lay off the java.
You've probably read that multiple cups of coffee a day can be bad for you (jitter city), but research published in the New England Journal of Medicine may prove the opposite. Male and female participants who had two or three cups a day and didn't smoke were 10% and 13% less likely, respectively, to have died during the 14-year-long study than those who never or rarely drank coffee. Men and women who drank a single daily cup were 6% and 5% less likely, respectively, to pass away. According to the researchers, more cups mean a lower risk of stroke, diabetes and heart and respiratory disease. But watch the cream and sugar-extra fat and calories could negate any longevity benefits.

2. Get eight hours of sleep every night.
While research suggests snoozing fewer than six or more than nine hours a night raises your mortality risk, "everyone has different sleep needs," says Shelby Harris, PsyD, director of the behavioral sleep medicine program at Montefiore Medical Center in Bronx, NY. So if you wake naturally after only, say, six-and-a-half hours a night, forcing yourself to reach eight hours won't lengthen your life. To learn how much sleep you need, try awakening without an alarm for a week, if you can swing it. If you feel good and have enough energy most of the day, you've found your ideal amount of rest.

3. Lower your body mass index (BMI).
According to a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, weighing a little more can lengthen your life span. Adults with a BMI that qualified them as overweight but not obese (that's between 25 and 29.9) were 6% less likely than all others in their age groups to die. While BMI isn't always an accurate measurement of a person's health risks, registered dietitian Jen Brewer, author of Stop Dieting and Start Losing Weight, says if the extra weight comes from muscle mass, you're more likely to have lower cholesterol levels and a better ratio of HDL (good cholesterol) to LDL (bad cholesterol). It may also lower your risk for life-threatening heart disease, stroke and diabetes. And that's good for staying alive.

4. Don't worry, be happy.
Actually, being a glass-half-empty kind of person may keep you kicking longer. In a study published in Psychology and Aging, 65- to 96-year-olds who thought life would get worse outlived those who anticipated better days ahead. "Our findings revealed that being overly optimistic was associated with a greater risk of disability and death within the following decade," says lead author Frieder R. Lang, PhD, of the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg in Germany. "Pessimism about the future may encourage people to take health and safety precautions."

5. Take a daily aspirin.
Popping that pill can help you live longer by preventing heart attacks, strokes and even cancer-right? "If you're a healthy, 45-year-old female, it may not make a difference," says Nieca Goldberg, MD, medical director of the Joan H. Tisch Center for Women's Health at New York University's Langone Medical Center in New York City. In fact, taking a daily aspirin can lead to bleeding, allergies and upset stomach. Ask your doctor if you can skip the pill, suggests Dr. Goldberg.

Related: 8 Environmental Beauty Hazards To Avoid

6. Drink 8 glasses of water a day.
Once believed to be the amount everyone needs for proper hydration, a longevity essential, a 2002 study from Dartmouth Medical School in Hanover, NH, debunked the 8X8 rule. As Dr. Goldberg explains, "there's no magic number of glasses," emphasizing it's more about getting fluids, not necessarily from straight-up H20. Herbal tea and juices are hydration helpers (though soda isn't), but fruits and vegetables (like celery and leafy greens) are an even healthier way to get your liquids.

7. Milk does the body good.
You're taught that drinking it by the glassful keeps bones healthy and prevents fatal injuries. Yet a 12-year-long Harvard study found that women who drink milk three times a day break more bones than women who drink less than one glass of milk per week. While lowfat dairy may agree with you, calcium is what's key for strong bones. You can get it from leafy greens, beans, vitamin D (sunshine!) and even lifting weights.

8. Cut out booze.
A daily glass of wine not only can help your heart but also add years to your life. University of Texas at Austin researchers found that moderate drinking, such as a small glass of wine (about four ounces) a day, reduces mortality among older and middle-aged adults. Dr. Goldberg says it's because heart disease is the leading killer of women, and wine is chockfull of antioxidants, which prevent serious sickness. So fill 'er up-without overflowing that glass.

9. Take a multivitamin.
Even though half of all adults pop one, the 2011 Iowa Women's Health Study found that women taking multivitamins don't live longer than those who get their nutrients from food alone. Only calcium supplements are linked to a lower death risk, with 37% of users dying compared to 43% of nonusers in the study. Researchers' conclusion: Get the vitamins and minerals from fruit and vegetables, not capsules. 

The Mysterious Difference Between Those Who Make It Rich And Those Who Don't

Business Insider

tripwow.tripadvisor.com

James Altucher 

Rob told me JB was dead. JB was my best friend growing up. We sat next to each other on the bus. After school we’d play ping pong or pinball or monopoly or ride bikes.

Every single day we did this for eight years. Then we drifted apart.

Rob said, The last time I spoke to him he sounded like a ghost.

It was like there was nothing there, Rob said.

I hadn’t seen JB in 20 years.

He dropped out of college, Rob said, and never really had a job. His parents gave him money to live. He didn’t want to do anything.

He changed his phone number every few weeks, Rob said. So he was hard to keep in touch with.

I didn’t understand. Why did he change his number every few weeks?

He’d meet a girl, and then a few weeks later he’d get tired of her but not want to deal with it. He’d change his number so the girl couldn’t reach him, Rob said. And he moved a lot.

He had no Facebook page, no internet presence, it was hard to track him down, Rob said.

And it’s true. I had never found him on the Internet.

JB hurt his leg a few years ago, Rob said, and had no insurance because he never had a job. So got addicted to painkillers.

He was into the drug scene, Rob said.

So no job, drifting phone numbers, a hazy identity, drug, nerve damage, pain killers.

One day he never woke up, Rob said.

He was 39.

I don’t feel sad about this. People die. I haven’t seen him since we were 18 and on graduation day.

But I wonder about one thing Rob said.

“He was like a ghost the last time I spoke with him.”

We know when the body and mind are giving up. We know when spirit is exhausted. When the emotions don’t care.

He never had anything he wanted to do, Rob said.

Is that all it is? Do we just need something to do? Something that we want to scratch just a tiny bit so we continue one more day?

We don’t have to save the world. Or invent warm ice. Or time travel. Or even have a passion or a purpose.

When I was dead broke and crying I wanted to die just so my kids could have my life insurance policy. What got me to get up and go again?

And then later, when it happened again. And then again.

Why didn’t JB do that?

I call it “the push”.

You’re riding the bicycle up the hill all the time in life. Everything in life wants you to decay. To be subjugated. To be violated. To be tired. To become a ghost.

To roll back down the hill just when you thought you were close to the top.

It’s fucking tiring to live.

What can give us THE PUSH?

I don’t know.

For me, today, it’s just this post. Some days, it’s to see my 11 year old smile. Sometimes, I just want to take a walk. Or help Claudia. Or do something fun and creative.

What’s your PUSH today?

A little bit, every day, compounds.

A little push today turns into a big life tomorrow.

My one requirement: I have to give something. I have to enjoy it.

Else, it’s too draining. It’s a shit stain. I slip back on the hill.

A deep breath. You can do it, I tell myself. One more turn of the pedals. THE PUSH! Get over the hill!

I want to live.

Read more: http://www.jamesaltucher.com/2013/04/how-to-be-rich-the-push/#ixzz2RnGGphWZ

Soul and Soil: How Whole Foods Feeds the Virtuous Cycle

ForaTv

Gwyneth Paltrow named World's Most Beautiful Woman by People

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

TODAY Entertainment

By Gael Fashingbauer Cooper

She has an Oscar, a rocker husband, two children, and now the title of World’s Most Beautiful Woman. Gwyneth Paltrow, 40, graces the cover of People magazine’s Most Beautiful People issue.

“I can’t believe it,” Paltrow said of the magazine’s honor. “I kept thinking, ‘This can’t be true.’ I’ve never been more surprised or flattered.”

Adele, Beyonce, Jennifer Lawrence, and Kristen Stewart are among the many other stars who made People’s "Most Beautiful" list.

Paltrow works out two hours every day, and says her regular workouts can be “a nightmare,” but that she pushes herself to do them by viewing staying in shape as part of her job. “Let’s face it, it’s much easier to just chill out and watch TV,” she said.

Although her new cookbook, “It’s All Good,” stresses a strict diet, Paltrow admits that after a careful day of watching what she eats, she lets herself eat whatever she wants for dinner.  “Because I want to enjoy my life and I love pasta,” she told the magazine.

People

Gwyneth Paltrow is People magazine's "World's Most Beautiful Woman."

She also talked to the magazine about her marriage to Coldplay rocker Chris Martin. “I never make him feel hemmed in or like he’s in trouble,” she said. “And on a personal level, as friends, we really get along.”

She also addressed some untrue Internet claims, saying she doesn’t ban her children from eating carbs or eat naked in front of a mirror. “It’s all so silly,” she said of the rumors.

She spoke honestly about a miscarriage she had, saying “To this day, I feel like I’m missing that kid,” and allowed that she still thinks about possibly adding another child to her family.

The actress will reprise her role as Tony Stark’s assistant and love interest, Pepper Potts, in “Iron Man 3” which opens May 3. But Paltrow told People that because of her children, she has cut back to making only one movie per year, and she looks for something that won’t take her away from her family.

Asked what her biggest “aha moment” was, Paltrow said it was when she met her daughter, Apple. “I looked into her eyes and I was like, ‘What was I doing until this moment?’” she said.

Slideshow: Gwyneth Paltrow >>

Welcome to the Global Jihad

breitbart

www.crethiplethi.com

By Frank Gaffney 

Authorities in Massachusetts have identified suspects in the Boston Marathon bombing on Monday as Dzhokhar and (the now-deceased) Tamerlan Tsarnaev, two brothers of Chechen descent originally from Kyrgyzstan. Many Americans haven’t heard of the place; most couldn’t find it on a map. Nearly all would be unable to say why people from there would want to kill people from here.

Welcome to the phenomenon of global jihad. It is time to dispense with the illusion that we are safe from foreign threats because we have put, as President Obama repeatedly insisted during the last campaign, “al Qaeda on the path to defeat,” thanks to the death of Osama bin Laden and the drone-delivered thinning of the ranks of his lieutenants.

The Chechen jihadists in Boston may or may not have been associated with, or even inspired by, bin Laden’s terror network. But in the days and weeks to come we are likely to discover that they identify with its goals: 1) imposing the supremacist Islamic doctrine of shariah – a totalitarian, brutally repressive and anti-Constitutional ideology – on the entire world, Muslim and non-Muslim alike. And 2) recreating a caliphate (or a similar theo-political entity) to rule according to that doctrine.

The same is true of other violent jihadists of the Sunni and Shia stripes, including, respectively, the Wahhabis of Saudi Arabia and the regime in Iran. Ditto the so-called non-violent Muslim Brotherhood. In fact, that organization – which is the mother-ship for virtually all modern Sunni jihadists – favors an approach better described as pre-violent: The Brotherhood is perfectly prepared to use violence when it will be effective. Until then, they will adopt other measures (which they call “civilization jihad”) to create conditions that would be conducive to the realization of the goals they share with all other Islamists.

My preliminary read on the Brothers Tsarnaev is that they, too, were committed to the triumph of shariah. And whether they were associated with one or the other of these groups, factions, or sects, or if they were self-taught and operating alone, it seems likely that they embraced that doctrine’s requirement to wage jihad against infidels – something they evidently did with pressure-cooker improvised explosive devices near the Finish Line on Monday.

Literally by the minute, we are learning more about their backgrounds and behavior. With luck, we will also know shortly whether they were aided by accomplices or organizational infrastructure that may still pose a threat.

What we know already, however, is that there are perhaps hundreds of thousands, maybe millions, of others like them around the world. Folks who believe that their god commands them to engage personally in holy war against the infidels and non-shariah-adherent Muslims (whom they call apostates). 

What is particularly worrying is that this is not a new revelation. We have been on notice of this fact since well before 9/11. And yet we have at times ignored it – or, in some cases, denied it assiduously. And that is not simply true of average Americans. It has been the widespread practice within administrations of both parties, beginning in earnest under George W. Bush and metastasizing greatly in the Obama presidency. (For a detailed treatment of how this has happened and why, see www.MuslimBrotherhoodinAmerica.com and The Muslim Brother in the Obama Administration www.horowitzfreedomcenter.org.)

We have thus systematically violated one of the cardinal principles of warfare dating back at least to the ancient Chinese strategist Sun Tsu, who warned that you cannot defeat an enemy you do not know. Worse, we have allowed an enemy we could and should have known long ago to dictate to us what we are allowed to understand, think, and do about them. 

For example, the Obama administration has purged the files and training materials of federal law enforcement, intelligence, homeland security, and defense agencies of information that might “offend” Islamists. That would include knowing such truths as that it is the orthodoxy of Islam (although a practice not embraced by all Muslims) to engage in jihad to advance the supremacy of shariah. 

Even more alarming, the U.S. government now operates under guidelines for training in “countering violent extremism” (the euphemism it adopted in lieu of the Bush administration’s preferred euphemism for jihad, “terrorism”) that make matters infinitely more dangerous: those using federal funds for such training must now first consult with “community partners” about the trainers and their materials. Those partners appear to be Muslim Brotherhood operatives and front groups.

Whether we choose to acknowledge it or not, we are a nation at war. And not simply in Afghanistan, but worldwide. Not with every Muslim, but with every Muslim that believes shariah must reign supreme and will do whatever is necessary to bring that about. 

Those enemies fully understand and embrace this war. They regard our efforts to pretend otherwise or to accommodate, placate, or appease them as submission. According to their doctrine of shariah, the appropriate response to the infidel submitting is, in the words of the Koran, to make them “feel subdued.” And that is a formula for more violent jihadism, not less.

At a moment when our elected representatives are contemplating immigration “reform” that would likely have the result of enabling, among others, still more global jihadists into our country, we need to grasp the lessons of the latest Boston massacre. We must be clear about the enemy, vigilant against his jihadist techniques – both the violent and pre-violent ones – and adopt the war footing required to prevail over this threat here at home and elsewhere, before more of us suffer the perils of global holy war.

Frank J. Gaffney, Jr. formerly acted as an Assistant Secretary of Defense under President Reagan. He is President of the Center for Security Policy (www.SecureFreedom.org) and host of the nationally syndicated program, Secure Freedom Radio. 

Norberto Hernandez asistira por la disidencia cubana al Foro de la Libertad de Oslo

ultimahora.es

ningun disidente u opositor de la isla asistira o marti noticias que pone una foto de disenadores graficos afganos sin molestarse en publicar una de norberto, no esta enterado. ocasion perdida para los sin voces.

------------------------- 

martinoticias

Un centenar de los disidentes más influyentes del mundo, junto a filántropos, políticos y periodistas estarán reunidos para explorar la mejor manera de desafiar el autoritarismo y promover sociedades libres y abiertas, en el Foro de la Libertad de Oslo.

En esta ocasión el reportero independiente Normando Hernández, exprisionero de la conocida Primavera Negra de Cuba, asistirá en calidad de invitado y participará en el grupo de trabajo Disidencia asimétrica, con un informe sobre la violación de los derechos humanos en las cárceles cubanas.

El tema central del forum, a celebrarse en Noruega del 13 al 15 de mayo,  es El desafío del poder, que revela los aportes que se pueden hacer cuando los individuos deciden enfrentarse al poder arbitrario.

En esta ocasión la conferencia contará con un orador excepcional, el disidente chino Chen Guangcheng, el Premio Nobel, el peruano Mario Vargas Llosa, el canciller noruego Espen Barth Eide, la abogada malasia Ambiga Sreenevasan, el caricaturista sirio Ali Ferzat, el tibetano Lobsang Sangay y el primer ministro serbio, propulsor de la noviolencia, el estratega Srdja Popovic. En la lista de este año se incluyen el gerente de fondos de cobertura anti-corrupción, activista Bill Browder y el ex funcionario del Departamento de Estado de EE.UU. Alec Ross, entre otros.

"Las más grandes cumbres de derechos humanos en el mundo están organizadas por los regímenes dictatoriales y suelen tener lugar en las Naciones Unidas. El Forum de Oslo es el antídoto para esto: un espacio vital para los verdaderos defensores de los derechos humanos, para compartir sus historias, intercambiar ideas y conocer a aquellos que pueden apoyar su labor ", dijo el presidente de HRF, Thor Halvorssen.

El evento se centrará en una serie de temas como el arte de la disidencia, el activismo asimétrico, las nuevas herramientas para defensores de los derechos, el poder de los medios de comunicación, las mujeres bajo la ley islámica, y la amenaza del capitalismo autoritario. Las áreas de enfoque incluyen: Angola, Bangladesh, Belarús, Camerún, la República Centroafricana, Cuba, Egipto, Irán, Corea del Norte, Palestina, Pakistán, Rusia, Singapur y Zimbabwe.

Este año, el evento celebrará también la ruptura de talleres para los participantes sobre las mejores prácticas para la seguridad de la información, la promoción de video, periodismo ciudadano y las comunicaciones confidenciales. La conferencia culminará en la noche del 15 de mayo con la presentación del segundo Premio Václav Havel para la disidencia creativa. Los Laureados ‘Havel’ serán anunciados el 1 de mayo. El 2012 fueron galardonados como premios Havel, Aung San Suu Kyi, Manal al-Sharif, y Ai Weiwei. 

Looking back at the declared most intelligent person in the world

improbable

Several years ago, on the Ig Nobel Tour of the UK, several persons competed in a series of one-on-one debates to determine which would be declared the most intelligent person in the world. This video commemorates that:

The event occurred at Imperial College London. The persons: Fiona Barclay, Bernie Morley, Tony Whitehead, and Philip Campbell (the editor of Nature magazine)