November 4, 2015

The Sideways Elevators of the Future Will be Shown Off for the First Time

(Bloomberg) For more than 150 years, elevators have gone in two directions: up and down. In the future, you might ride them sideways.

ThyssenKrupp AG this week will show the public for the first time a 10 meter (32 feet) functioning model that uses giant magnets to move cars in multiple directions. The technology, called magnetic levitation, is borrowed from high-speed trains and doesn’t rely on cables. The German industrial company says the system allows for multiple cars in one shaft and can increase transport capacity as much as 50 percent.

“The concept is convincing,” Ingo Martin Schachel, an analyst at Commerzbank AG, said by phone from Frankfurt. “If the technology can be brought onto the market at competitive prices, it may offer great opportunities.”



With more of the world’s population moving to cities and buildings rising higher, ThyssenKrupp is betting on elevators, a business that brings in almost half of the company’s profit. By 2050, about 66 percent of the world’s population will live in urban areas, compared with 54 percent currently, according to estimates from the United Nations. ...............(more)

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-11-04/elevators-go-sideways-in-thyssenkrupp-s-vision-of-the-future

November 4, 2015

Why the United States Leaves Deadly Chemicals on the Market

(In These Times) Scientists are trained to express themselves rationally. They avoid personal attacks when they disagree. But some scientific arguments become so polarized that tempers fray. There may even be shouting.

Such is the current state of affairs between two camps of scientists: health effects researchers and regulatory toxicologists. Both groups study the effects of chemical exposures in humans. Both groups have publicly used terms like “irrelevant,” “arbitrary,” “unfounded” and “contrary to all accumulated physiological understanding” to describe the other’s work. Privately, the language becomes even harsher, with phrases such as “a pseudoscience,” “a religion” and “rigged.”

The rift centers around the best way to measure the health effects of chemical exposures. The regulatory toxicologists typically rely on computer simulations called “physiologically based pharmacokinetic” (PBPK) modeling. The health effects researchers—endocrinologists, developmental biologists and epidemiologists, among others—draw their conclusions from direct observations of how chemicals actually affect living things.

The debate may sound arcane, but the outcome could directly affect your health. It will shape how government agencies regulate chemicals for decades to come: how toxic waste sites are cleaned up, how pesticides are regulated, how workers are protected from toxic exposure and what chemicals are permitted in household items. Those decisions will profoundly affect public health: the rates at which we suffer cancer, diabetes, obesity, infertility, and neurological problems like attention disorders and lowered IQ. ..................(more)

http://inthesetimes.com/article/18504/epa_government_scientists_and_chemical_industry_links_influence_regulations

November 4, 2015

The 'Land of the Free' really is in North America.......

.....just not in the country that claims the mantle





America may call itself the "Land of the Free," but it's hardly the freest nation in the world, according to a new report from the Legatum Institute, a London-based think tank.

The group's annual prosperity index, which ranks the prosperity of 142 countries, has ranked Canada the best country in the world for "personal freedom."

According to the study, Canada is the most tolerant of people from other countries, with 92 percent of Canadians thinking the country is a good place for immigrants. In addition, about 94 percent of Canadians believe that they have the freedom to choose the course of their own lives, the study says.

Did we mention they might legalize pot soon?

America, on the other hand, ranks 15th for freedom, just behind Costa Rica and the Netherlands. .................(more)

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/canada-is-the-freest-nation-in-the-world-legatum-study-says/ar-BBmN10d

November 4, 2015

Shimon Peres doubts Israel can win Permanent war or Survive Annexation of West Bank

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – –

Former Israeli president Shimon Peres, 92, gave an interview with the Associated Press Monday in which he spoke bluntly about the mistakes of prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu, without naming him.

Of the Greater Israel project of the country’s right wing, which aims at annexing the Palestinian West Bank while keeping the people there stateless, he said,

“Better to have a Jewish state on part of the land than have the whole land without the Jewish state,” he said. “Israel should implement the two-state solution for her own sake because if we should lose our majority, and today we are almost equal, we cannot remain a Jewish state or a democratic state . . . That’s the main issue, and to my regret they (the government) do the opposite.”

That is, Peres thinks that the Likud Party and its partners are living in a fool’s paradise if they believe they can annex the whole of Palestinian territory without getting the Palestinians as Israeli citizens eventually. And then, Peres says, no more Israel as a Jewish state.

Netanyahu is willing to live by the sword more or less permanently in order to accomplish his annexation of the Palestinian West Bank. Peres thinks this approach foolish and dangerous. ...............(more)

http://www.juancole.com/2015/11/permanent-survive-annexation.html

November 4, 2015

Looks like Courser and Gamrat will have plenty of free time to boink. ...

Adios teabagger rubbish! !!!

November 3, 2015

72 degrees in southeast Michigan in November.........

Let's enjoy this global warming thing until it ends us!

November 3, 2015

Hopefully after today, we'll never hear these names again..........

LANSING — Two disgraced former state representatives are fighting to get their seats back in special primary elections Tuesday, and a third state House primary will help choose a successor to former state Rep. Brandon Dillon of Grand Rapids, who resigned to become chairman of the Michigan Democratic Party.

The winners of the primaries will compete in special general elections on March 8.

Todd Courser of Lapeer and Cindy Gamrat of Plainwell, two freshman Republican tea party lawmakers who espouse traditional family values, admitted to having an extramarital affair and misusing state House resources to try to cover it up. Each is married with children. ...................(more)

http://www.freep.com/story/news/politics/2015/11/03/courser-gamrat-house-michigan/75084202/

November 3, 2015

Young Americans are becoming less religious — and anti-science, anti-gay rhetoric may be a factor

Americans are becoming less religious, judging by such markers as church attendance, prayer and belief in God, and the trend is more pronounced among young adults, according to a poll released on Tuesday.

The share of U.S. adults who say they believe in God, while still high compared with other advanced industrial countries, slipped to 89 percent in 2014 from 92 percent in 2007, according to the Pew Research Center’s Religious Landscape Study.

The proportion of Americans who say they are “absolutely certain” God exists fell even more, to 63 percent in 2014 from 71 percent in 2007.

The percentage of Americans who pray every day, attend religious services regularly and consider religion important in their lives are down by small, but statistically significant measures, the survey found.

The trend is most pronounced among young adults, with only half of those born from 1990 to 1996 absolutely certain of their belief in God, compared to 71 percent of the “silent generation,” or those born from 1928 to 1945. ...............(more)

http://www.rawstory.com/2015/11/young-americans-are-becoming-less-religious-and-anti-science-anti-gay-rhetoric-may-be-a-factor-pew/

November 3, 2015

Mississippi moron allegedly throws bomb in Walmart because they stopped selling Confederate flags

A Mississippi man was arrested on Sunday morning for allegedly throwing a bomb inside a Walmart just days after threatening the retail giant and other businesses for refusing to sell Confederate battle flags.

According to the Tupelo Daily Journal, 61-year-old Marshall W. Leonard will be charged with placing an explosive device after allegedly throwing it inside a local Walmart.

“There was an employee on break, and the suspect told him, ‘You better run,’ Police Chief Bart Aguirre said. “The employee did run and was away from harm when the package went off. It wasn’t a large explosion. It didn’t cause a lot of damage to the store.”

Leonard named Walmart and the Daily Journal as targets in an Oct. 28 post on the newspaper’s Facebook page.

“Journal corporate, you are on final warning,” he wrote Oct. 28. “You are part of the problem. As a result of this, y’all are going down, along with Walmart, WTVA, Reeds department store, and all the rest of the anti-American crooks. I’m not kidding. No messing around anymore!” .....................(more)

http://www.rawstory.com/2015/11/confederate-flag-lover-throws-bomb-inside-walmart-after-online-threat-no-messing-around-anymore/

November 3, 2015

Keiser Report: Violent Market Surrogates

Published on Nov 3, 2015

Check Keiser Report website for more: http://www.maxkeiser.com/

In this episode of the Keiser Report, Max Keiser and Stacy Herbert discuss Violent Market Surrogates as the doors of misperception in a brave new world in which central bankers are fighting the wrong war. In the second half, Max interviews Brett Scott, author of The Heretic's Guide to Global Finance: Hacking the Future of Money, about financial surveillance states and cashless societies.