My Near-Death Experience | The Reader’s Turn
23 February, 2012 at 08:50 | Posted in Body & Mind, Spirituality | Leave a commentTags: Body & Mind, Spirituality, Near-Death Experiences
…
…
This was written in response to The Epoch Times’ series, Near-Death Experiences: 30 Years of Research.
I had a near-death experience (NDE) at the age of eight but I didn’t realize its significance until many years later. The NDE occurred while I was in a coma as a long-time sufferer of kidney disease, in the year 1984.
My physical and spiritual growth was slow until at age 29 I finally realized that what I had experienced as a young child so many years before was in fact an NDE. Since then, I have found myself on a quest for knowledge on both the physical and spiritual planes.
I have learned that human life is of immense value, in no way measurable by money. Material possessions don’t interest me. They’re fun to have, but after we die, the only things we can take with us are knowledge and memories.
Something in me has been evolving since I recognized my NDE, but I find few people willing to listen and able to understand. Some even say I’m crazy and stay away from me.
I have acquired gifts such as clairvoyance and high sensitivity. At times I can see auras. The physical body fades away, and the only thing that remains is the soul, which then reveals the traumas that people endure.
I have taken it upon myself to help others with the benefit of what I have seen, but many of them aren’t pleased when I tell them “You shouldn’t smoke, or drink, or work too hard.” Thus, even though I may see in advance what is going to happen to someone, I have to let it happen because that is what’s best for that person’s spiritual growth. We learn from our mistakes and become stronger. We encounter things on our way that we can handle and that belong to our spiritual growth.
I feel quite isolated because I get to see so much about others–things that others do not see. I tend to get carried away emotionally and end up hurting myself because I am attracted to the pain and suffering of others. My concern and worry then settles in my weak spot, the kidneys.
In my NDE, I literally went out of my body on a trip through time. I saw and encountered things from my past as well as the future. Some of the things that were in the future at the time of my NDE haven’t yet come to pass, while others happened years ago. The journey through time was so unreal that it was mind blowing. I was guided by my deceased grandfather, who told me everything about life now and what the future will bring.
I saw that society will experience an enormous downward spiral, and many will suffer. Those who don’t want to listen will be removed from the Earth. I sailed through time, saw the
Earth from above, and received knowledge that is still hard to understand.
I learned that life and death are one and the same. There is only life. People see death as something to avoid, but it’s a continuous process. When someone dies, somewhere else a baby is born and that same soul gains the opportunity to grow and become better.
Everything that happens in our bodies can be seen in nature as well. There’s a continuous supply and removal of food and waste products.
After sailing through time, the return to my diseased body and the Earth was quite painful. It left me angry, even wanting to die because the other side is so much more beautiful than here. It’s impossible to imagine if you haven’t witnessed it.
Milo Heerkens
The Netherlands
via My Near-Death Experience | The Reader’s Turn | Opinion | Epoch Times
Related Articles:
- Why Materialist Science Cannot Explain Near-Death Experiences
- Near-Death Experiences: 30 Years of Research — Part 1
…
Swedish Man Trapped in Car for Two Months
20 February, 2012 at 08:39 | Posted in Body & Mind | Leave a commentTags: Body & Mind
…
A Swedish man spent the past two months trapped inside a car trapped under snow and ice, surviving with no food, according to media reports.
The man was discovered on Friday and apparently only ate snow and ice to stay alive, reported Sweden’s The Local newspaper. His car was trapped in northern Sweden around a mile from the nearest main road.
“Absolutely incredible that he is alive, in part considering that he hasn’t had any food, but also bearing in mind that it was really cold for a while there after Christmas,” a rescue crew worker said, according to quotes appearing in the publication.
Police told the BBC that the temperatures in the area had dropped to -22 degrees Fahrenheit. Officials took the man to a nearby hospital, where staff members say he is recovering well despite not having eaten since Dec. 19.
The broadcaster said the man was barely able to speak more than a few words. He was discovered by snowmobilers who initially believed that they came upon a car wreck before digging the vehicle out to find the man.
Ebbe Nyberg, a police official, told the BBC that they found him huddling in a sleeping bag in the back seat.
“He was in a very poor state. Poor condition. He said he’d been there for a long time and had survived on a little snow,” he said.
via Swedish Man Trapped in Car for Two Months | Europe | World | Epoch Times
…
Would-be China Defector, Once Bo Xilai’s Right Hand, Oversaw Organ Harvesting
18 February, 2012 at 15:15 | Posted in China, Falun Dafa/Falun Gong, human rights, persecution, slave labor camps | Leave a commentTags: CCP, China, Falun Gong, human rights, Kilgour and Matas, labor camps, organ harvesting, persecution of dissidents
Former Chongqing vice mayor involved in ‘thousands’ of transplantation operations
The high-ranking Chinese official who sought to defect to the United States last week has a story to tell about his participation in thousands of atrocities—and may have already told it to U.S. consular officials.
Wang Lijun, formerly the director of public security and vice mayor of the southwestern China megapolis of Chongqing, fearing that Bo Xilai, Chongqing’s Communist Party chief, meant to assassinate him, fled on Feb. 6 to the U.S. Consulate in Chengdu, a four-hour drive west.
He spent over 24 hours in the consulate and, according to a Radio France International report, revealed to consular officials details about crimes committed by him and Bo. He then left Chengdu under the protection of Beijing security officials.
Prominent among Wang’s crimes was his participation in forced organ harvesting from prisoners of conscience, a practice the Chinese regime has denied. Earlier in his career, Wang gave a speech in which he discussed his involvement in organ harvesting.
Wang’s Award
In 2006, three years after becoming director of the public security bureau in Jinzhou City, Liaoning Province, Wang was given an award—but it wasn’t for fighting crime. Wang had done pioneering research on how best to transplant organs taken from prisoners—who were possibly still alive when their organs were removed—and honed his techniques over thousands of on site trials.
Wang received the award in September 2006 from the Guanghua Science and Technology Foundation, a charitable organization meant to promote science and technology to youth. According to its website it is under the direct leadership of the Communist Youth League, one of the Chinese Communist Party’s mass organizations used for recruitment.
For a veteran policeman, to see someone being executed and to see this person’s organs being transplanted to several other persons’ bodies, it was profoundly stirring.
— Former Bo Xilai Right-Hand Man Wang Lijun
In Wang’s acceptance speech, which is still available online (and archived here), he thanks Guanghua Foundation staff for “painstakingly traveling” to Liaoning Province to observe his work.
He notes one time when Guanghua staff had to rush back from overseas to view a trial. “They wanted to witness organ transplantation and examine it from their point of view: organ transplant benefits the public and improves Chinese law enforcement in a humane and democratic way,” Wang said.
“As we all know, the so-called ‘on the scene research’ is the result of several thousand intensive on-site transplants,” he added.
Wang accepted the award as director of the “On-the-Scene Psychological Research Center,” which according to its entry on the website of the Ministry of Commerce is an adjunct of Jinzhou City’s public security bureau. Its brief introduction says it has relationships and scholarly exchanges with universities in over 10 countries. Emails to the research center were not returned, and calls to the number listed did not go through.
In his acceptance speech, Wang said, “For a veteran policeman, to see someone being executed and to see this person’s organs being transplanted to several other persons’ bodies, it was profoundly stirring. This is a great endeavor that involved much hard work from many people. The secretary general of China Guanghua Foundation, Jinyang and his staff were right there at the transplant scene, they have experienced it all with us.”
In a speech given on the occasion of Wang’s award, Ren Jinyang, the secretary general of the Guanghua Foundation, explained that Wang was recognized for his “basic research and on-site experiments” in making transplant recipients more receptive to organs.
“They have created a brand new protective fluid,” Ren said. “After animal tests, out of body tests, and clinical operations, they have achieved an important milestone where the recipients become more receptive to a liver and kidney injected with such protective fluid.”
Execution Site
Researchers investigating China’s organ transplantation practices were troubled by the remarks and what they implied.
“The so called ‘research scene’ that Wang Lijun refers to is either an outright execution site with medical vans, or possibly a medical ward, where peoples’ organs are surgically removed,” said Ethan Gutmann, who has published extensively on organ harvesting from Chinese prisoners of conscience.
He added that the injections that the award refers to are probably “anti-coagulants and experimental medications that lower the chance of immune-system rejection as the organ is passed between one living body—heart still beating, soon to expire from the trauma—to another.” Gutmann added that this is “normal medical practice” in China, where hospitals, military hospitals, and public security bureaus intersect.
“There is zero guarantee that consent was involved,” Gutmann said. “Ample evidence has come to light that the victims could well have been Uyghur Muslims, Tibetan Buddhists, ‘Eastern Lightning’ Christians or—exponentially more likely—Falun Gong practitioners. In other words, Wang Lijun received an award for, at best, barbarism.”
It is not possible to know what proportion of victims Wang referred to in his remark about “thousands” of on-site transplants were criminal prisoners and how many were political prisoners or prisoners of conscience, such as Falun Gong practitioners. Further, in China there is a range of nonviolent crimes that can be punished with the death penalty, but the communist state does not publish statistics detailing the numbers of people executed and their crimes.
David Matas, an award-winning Canadian human rights lawyer, and David Kilgour, a former Canadian secretary of state (Asia/Pacific) and crown attorney, co-authored a report on organ harvesting from Falun Gong practitioners in China. The pair estimate that in the six-year period 2000–2005, 60,000 transplantation operations were done in China and Falun Gong practitioners were the likely source for the organs for 41,500 operations.
In other words, approximately two-thirds of the organs used in transplant operations during this time period—which in part overlaps the period of Wang’s “research”—came from prisoners of conscience, most of whom would have been Falun Gong.
CQ Global Researcher, a leading global affairs journal, quotes Kilgour and Matas and Gutmann as independently estimating over 62,000 practitioners have been killed for their organs in the period 2000–2008.
Live Harvesting
In the eyes of experts, a significant question left worryingly open in Wang’s remarks is whether the prisoners actually died before their organs were taken from their bodies. Given the reference to drug injections, it is highly possible that the hearts of the victims were still beating when their organs were removed, these experts say.
“It used to be that China would shoot for execution, then they shifted from shooting to using injections,” says Matas. “In effect they’re not killing by injection, but paralyzing by injection, and taking the organs out while the body is still alive.”
When an organ is removed from a still-live body, it is fresher and rejection rates are lower. “It’s possible to source an organ immediately after the victim is brain dead, but much more complicated,” says Matas. “The organ deterioration is more marked once they are brain dead, but if you keep the body alive through drugs you can harvest organs over a longer period of time.”
Wang’s conversations with the U.S. consular officials in Chengdu might shed light on such details as the function of the drugs he used in transplantation operations in Liaoning Province.
In any case Wang’s visit to the consulate provides the best opportunity to date of confirmation from a Chinese official of the ongoing practice of forced organ harvesting in China.
At a press conference on Monday in Washington, D.C., Falun Gong spokesperson Dr. Tsuwei Huang called on the U.S. government to release the contents of Wang Lijun’s conversations.
With research by Sophia Fang.
Related Articles:
Different Blood Pressure in Two Arms Linked to Heart Disease
18 February, 2012 at 13:57 | Posted in Body & Mind | Leave a commentTags: Body & Mind, health
Doctors generally check their patients’ blood pressure during office visits, but a new study says many are not doing it the right way—and that by doing it incorrectly, the doctors could be putting their patients’ lives at risk.
Cardiologist Oscar Garfein takes blood pressure readings from both of his patients’ arms. That technique saved the life of one of his patients.
“I found that in one arm, it was very, very low, and in the other one, it was normal,” says Garfein. “And it helped me arrive at a diagnosis of a potentially lethal condition.”
Garfein’s routine is supported by a new study showing that different readings in the right and left arms could be a sign of heart disease or blood vessel problems.
If the two readings of systolic blood pressure—the pressure of blood in arteries when the heart is contracting—differ by 15 or more, it could indicate a narrowing of arteries to the legs, decreased blood flow to the brain, heart disease, and a 70 percent increased risk of dying from either heart attack or stroke.
“You want to search for the risk factors that are associated with this,” says Garfein, “such as high blood pressure or cigarette smoking or high cholesterol, and treat them very aggressively.”
Many cardiologists routinely check blood pressure in both arms, but the practice is much less common on a routine doctor’s visit.
This study, published in The Lancet, confirms a double reading could flag an underlying vascular problem in someone who otherwise seems to be healthy.
The study shows it doesn’t matter what the systolic number was, it’s the difference between the two readings that matters.
“All it takes is about a minute and you can find something that really, most of the time, points to the fact that this patient has established vascular disease,” says Garfein.
Related Articles:
- Midlife Blood Pressure Spike Elevates Heart Attack Risk
- Blood Pressure Medicine and Antibiotics: A Dangerous Mix
…
Chinese Writer Liao Zusheng Has Disappeared
17 February, 2012 at 07:16 | Posted in China, human rights, persecution | Leave a commentTags: CCP, China, human rights, persecution of dissidents
Liao Zusheng, a dissident freelance columnist from China’s southern Fujian Province, has gone missing early this year. Liao has frequently been harassed by authorities for exposing China’s social problems. His writing was also the cause for his son being murdered in 2006, he said.
Liao last talked to a friend on Jan. 17. No one has heard from him since. On Jan. 16 he posted his last article on his blog.
Human right activist Fan Yanqiong, a 2011 Hellman-Hammet Award winner, told the Epoch Times she admires Liao for his persistent, poignant writing to fight the evil people. She said she had a couple of email contacts with Liao. When she learned that he had financial difficulties, Fan donated 1,000 yuan from her Hellman-Hammet prize to him. She said something must have happened to Liao because he has not posted anything on his blog for a long time.
On July 16, 2006, Liao’s 15-year-old son Liao Mengjun died at his school in the Nanhai District of Guangdong of unnatural causes that were never openly investigated by authorities.
Liao concluded that his son was murdered and thrown off the school building to make it appear like a suicide.
Liao learned that three teachers and a security guard had chased his son to the third floor of the school building. Witnesses outside the school saw his son fall to the ground. They suspected that the boy was already dead before being thrown off the building, because he did not utter a sound when hitting the ground.
The family, their lawyer, and reporters were not permitted to examine the crime scene. School authorities quickly cleaned up any evidence. The autopsy report, crime scene pictures, and case documents were classified as state secret. Local police called the boy a thief, and without an investigation, they concluded that it was a suicide. The school was also declared innocent in the boy’s death.
But even after his son’s tragic death, Liao continued his writing on social and economic issues. Armed police once surrounded his home. Domestic security officers frequently harassed him. Internet and TV connections to his home were cut off for 300 consecutive days.
“No matter where I am, no matter how I make a living, writing is my life,” Liao said in one of his blogs. “I will post my essays to let everyone know that I am safe. Even when I have to wander about, I won’t stop writing. If you don’t see any of my writings for a couple of weeks, it means something has happened to me,” he said.
In December Liao wrote three articles in support of the Wukan protests. At the end of December he said his landline phone had stopped working.
“Beginning next month [January 2012], my wife and I will be drifting. I don’t know where our next stop is and where our last stop will be. I don’t know which article will be my last words. If anything should happen to us, the Political and Legal Commission and the Public Security Bureau of Taining County, Fujian Province, are definitely responsible.”
On Jan. 16 Liao posted his last blog article. On Jan. 17 he talked to a friend. No one has heard from him since.
Read the Original Chinese article.
via Chinese Writer Liao Zusheng Has Disappeared | Democracy & Human Rights | China | Epoch Times
Related Articles:
- Why China Leads the World in Mental Illness
- Communist China’s Twisted Values May Contaminate the Whole World, Says Exiled Writer
…
….
Say Good-Bye to Insomnia
16 February, 2012 at 22:09 | Posted in Body & Mind, Chinese culture | 1 CommentTags: Body & Mind, Chinese culture, health
By Jingduan Yang, M.D.
Insomnia affects millions of individuals, their families, and communities. Sufferers have trouble falling asleep or staying asleep, or they wake up too early and are unable to get back to sleep. People who suffer from insomnia usually wake up feeling tired.
Insomnia happens occasionally to people who are experiencing very stressful life events, consuming too many caffeinated beverages or alcohol, or suffering from pain or other physical discomfort. Once the contributing factors are dealt with, these people will no longer suffer from insomnia.
…
Modern Treatment
Chronic insomnia affects the quality of life, mood, memory, and cognitive functions, and it impairs work performance.
Doctors may prescribe sleeping pills like Benzodiazepine receptor agonists that affect brain neurotransmitters. In addition to the possibility of developing physical and psychological dependence, long-term use of these medications often produces side effects such as residual daytime sedation, cognitive impairment, inhibited motor skills, and rebound insomnia.
Natural Supplements
Melatonin is a hormone produced in the pineal gland, normally starting in the mid or late evening and diminishing in the early morning. It helps regulate sleep-and-wake cycles.
People take melatonin for conquering jet leg and insomnia. People should use only man-made melatonin with the guidance of their doctors rather then purchasing it on their own.
Melatonin may help immune functions as well. However, melatonin has side effects such as daytime grogginess, lowered body temperature, and vivid dreams.
Valerian root is an herb that has been used for centuries for relieving anxiety and initiating sleep. People with insomnia should take it right before bedtime. Valerian root needs to be used for a period of two to four weeks if the insomnia is chronic.
Possible side effects of valerian root include mild headaches or indigestion, abnormal heartbeat, and even insomnia in some people. Unfortunately, valerian root smells like sweaty socks.
Traditional Chinese Medicine
According to the theories of ancient Chinese medicine, insomnia is the result of imbalanced chi, involving multiple organ and meridian systems. The organ and meridian systems commonly involved in chronic insomnia are the heart, liver, kidney, and spleen.
Patients with chronic insomnia might have different types of chi imbalance or problems with a variety of organ systems and meridians.
That said, patients with chronic insomnia might have different types of chi imbalance or problems with a variety of organ systems and meridians. Therefore, they will suffer from different clinical symptoms and need to be treated appropriately.
Susan is a 40-year-old woman who had trouble falling asleep and often woke up around 2 a.m. It was difficult for her to get back to sleep. However, she also suffered from occasional migraine headaches, pain all over her body, heartburn, and PMS. She complained about her irritable mood and had a chronically bitter taste in her mouth.
According to Chinese medicine, Susan suffered from stagnated liver chi and accumulated heat that affected her heart and liver. After roughly 30 sessions of acupuncture and customized herbal remedies during a three-month period, Susan was finally able to sleep through the night without sleeping pills.
Read more: Say Good-Bye to Insomnia | Traditional Chinese Medicine | Health | Epoch Times
…
Judge Quentin L. Kopp Concerned Over Chinese Regime Interference in US
15 February, 2012 at 07:36 | Posted in China, Chinese culture, human rights, persecution, Shen Yun | Leave a commentTags: CCP, China, Chinese culture, human rights, persecution of dissidents, Shen Yun
A former politician and judge from San Francisco wrote to the State Department expressing his concern about Chinese influence in the United States.
Quentin Lewis Kopp, a retired Superior Court judge and former California state senator and San Francisco supervisor, on Feb. 1 sent the letter in response to attempts by San Francisco Chinese Consul general Gao Zhansheng to block support for a New York-based performing arts company that tours the US.
Gao Zhansheng had written to a member of the City Council in Seattle in January, asking the council member not to attend the Feb. 7 Shen Yun Performing Arts performance in that city.
“It astonishes me as an American citizen that a foreign government’s representative at the Chinese Consulate in San Francisco can seek to intimidate and prevent support of a cultural institution in our country and a theatrical production of considerable merit,” Kopp wrote in his letter.
Shen Yun is the premier Chinese classical dance company in the world. Its performances include historical vignettes and group performances, which also include artistic depictions of the CCP’s ongoing persecution of the Chinese spiritual discipline Falun Gong. The performance is often presented locally by Falun Dafa associations of various cities.
“The performance tells the truth about what happens in China—that you can’t follow your own spiritual path,” said Zhiping Kolouch, president of the Falun Dafa association in Seattle, in a previous interview with The Epoch Times. “Right at this moment you have millions of people in China who stand to lose everything they have because of their beliefs.”
Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials abroad have a long history of attempting to denigrate Shen Yun performances and trying to stop politicians from attending them. In early 2011, Auckland, New Zealand City Council member Dr. Cathy Casey was “outraged” by a similar letter from a Chinese overseas mission.
“I’m really upset that the consulate should think it can influence elected members in a host country, where they’re our guest,” she said.
The letter sent by Gao evoked notions of “friendship” and “bilateral cooperation” between Seattle and its Chinese sister city, Chongqing. These friendly relations might have been jeopardized if the council member attended the Shen Yun performance, the letter indicated.
Kopp attached Gao’s letter in his note to Secretary of State Clinton, and asked to be informed of whether the Department is aware of similar activities by Chinese consular officials in the U.S.
“I also write to recommend that you act to prevent further attempted intimidation of this group by advising the Foreign Minister of the People’s Republic of China it will not be tolerated and is not acceptable behavior in the United States of America,” Kopp wrote.
Related Articles:
- San Francisco: Protest Against Chinese Consul’s Interference in US Affairs
- Shen Yun’s Display of Traditional Chinese Culture Scares Chinese Regime
…
Chinese Microbloggers Balk at Real-Name Registration Ultimatum
14 February, 2012 at 09:09 | Posted in China, human rights, IT and Media, persecution | Leave a commentTags: CCP, censorship, China, human rights, IT and Media, persecution of dissidents
The Chinese regime is determined to neuter Chinese microblogging with a March real-name registration ultimatum and stepped-up control over the Twitter-like services, known as Weibos.
The Chinese regime is determined to neuter Chinese microblogging with a March real-name registration ultimatum and stepped-up control over the Twitter-like services, known as Weibos.
With a major regime change this year, Beijing is taking pains to seal any holes in the regime’s “stability” war against the Chinese people. Microblogging, which promotes free speech, is one of the holes they worry about alot.
Beijing authorities said on Feb. 7 that users of microblog services who fail to register with their real names by March 16 will be banned from posting on those websites. Weibo accounts hosted by the four major Internet companies, Sina, Sohu, NetEase and Tencent will be subject to the new rule.
Communist Party branches will also be established at major microblog service providers to supervise and police them. But some analysts predict that the communist authorities won’t be able to achieve their security ends.
Power of Weibos
Microblogs have given Chinese people an outlet to quickly communicate information and ideas in an environment where news is shaped and censored by the regime. Since the Arab Spring freedom movement, where microblogs played a decisive factor, the Chinese regime has been paranoid about the power of Weibos.
“The reason why microblogs pose a threat [to the Chinese regime] is because this kind of social media has broken the model where the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) controls society through its tight organizations,” Wen Zhao, an overseas political commentator, told The Epoch Times.
Wen said microblogs are effective because it’s an advanced technology, and the CCP’s adopting the old ways of strengthening its party organization will have very limited effect.
The people in the CCP’s ideology propaganda department are very scared, Wen said. Once they lose control during the course of political reform, they will likely be eliminated. Many of these people have been in charge of suppression and persecution and carry a lot of baggage, he said.
Hu Jun, the director of Human Rights Campaign in China, told New Tang Dynasty TV that the real-name registration will have very little effect in terms of social stability, because the CCP’s system is already at its dead end.
“With the rapid development of the Internet, increasingly more people dare to speak out. In the past, it was rare to see people protest in the streets. Now, every day, we can see them protest for their rights,” he said.
Unhappy Users
According to a report by Taiwan’s United Daily News on Feb. 6, the four major Internet companies have received notification from the Central Propaganda Department that Party officials will be stationed in their companies to directly take charge of policy guidance, decision making, and carrying out orders issued by the Central Propaganda Department, the State Council, and the Internet Information Office.
Sina already has many unhappy users since Beijing announced on Dec. 16, 2011 that new users are required to use real names for Weibo registration. Many Sina users have been complaining about their accounts or Internet service being suspended or shut down since Sina implemented the policy.
A netizen from Zhejiang Province told Sound of Hope Radio that he and his friend had repeatedly reregistered their microblog accounts but the accounts were repeatedly shut down.
“The accounts were shut off very fast, within two to three hours,” he said. “Several people have experienced this, even though the content posted was not especially sensitive. It was just personal things, but it was still shut off.”
Many high-profile microbloggers have left Sina Weibo because of censorship. Among them are Zhang Ming, a professor at the School of International Studies at Renmin University, Yu Jianrong, a professor from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, and He Weifang, a professor of Law at Peking University.
After the March 16 deadline was announced, many Chinese netizens said they are worried that their right to privacy and freedom of speech will be curtailed. Some also said they will stop using Weibo.
Last year, communist state-run Xinhua reported that at one time in 2011, Sina Weibo had as many as 20 million new user registrations per month. However, new registrations have dropped to only about 3 million since Sina started enforcing the real-name registration policy on Jan. 1.
Privacy Violations
South Korea, the first country to implement real-name registration on the Internet, recently announced it plans to end it.
Professor Yu Zhishu of Seoul University published a report in April 2010 that says the number of web users and postings have decreased by two thirds during the four years the policy has been in place.
In January 2010, several non-governmental organizations and human rights groups in South Korea have raised concerns that real-name registration violates freedom of expression and Internet users’ privacy rights.
Major South Korean websites have also become hacking targets since the system was implemented. Last July hackers stole 35 million Internet users’ national identification numbers. In late November, a game company in South Korea was hacked, and 13.2 million users’ information was leaked. South Korean authorities therefore decided to abandon real-name registration.
Southern Metropolis Weekly, a liberal magazine in Guangzhou, said on Jan. 9, South Korea has provided a strong reference for other countries, which are considering implementing the system.
via Chinese Microbloggers Balk at Real-Name Registration Ultimatum | Society | China | Epoch Times
…
A Spider Web’s Strength Lies in More Than Its Silk
12 February, 2012 at 07:58 | Posted in Nature, Science | Leave a commentTags: Nature, Science
…
While researchers have long known of the incredible strength of spider silk, the robust nature of the tiny filaments cannot alone explain how webs survive multiple tears and winds that exceed hurricane strength.
Now, a study that combines experimental observations of spider webs with complex computer simulations shows that web durability depends not only on silk strength but also on how the overall web design compensates for damage and the response of individual strands to continuously varying stresses.
Reporting in the cover story of the Feb. 2 issue of Nature, researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the Politecnico di Torino in Italy show how spider web design localizes strain and damage, preserving the web as a whole.
“Multiple research groups have investigated the complex, hierarchical structure of spider silk and its amazing strength, extensibility and toughness,” says Markus Buehler, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering at MIT.
“But, while we understand the peculiar behavior of dragline silk from the ‘nanoscale up’—initially stiff, then softening, then stiffening again—we have little insight into how the molecular structure of silk uniquely improves the performance of a web.”
The spider webs found in gardens and garages are made from multiple silk types, but viscid silk and dragline silk are most critical to the integrity of the web.
Viscid silk is stretchy, wet and sticky, and it is the silk that winds out in increasing spirals from the web center. Its primary function is to capture prey. Dragline silk is stiff and dry, and it serves as the threads that radiate out from a web’s center, providing structural support. Dragline silk is crucial to the mechanical behavior of the web.
Some of Buehler’s earlier work showed that dragline silk is composed of a suite of proteins with a unique molecular structure that lends both strength and flexibility. “While the strength and toughness of silk has been touted before—it is stronger than steel and tougher than Kevlar by weight—the advantages of silk within a web, beyond such measures, has been unknown,” Buehler adds.
The common spiders represented in the recent study, including orb weavers (Nephila clavipes), garden spiders (Araneus diadematus) and others, craft familiar, spiraling web patterns atop a scaffolding of radiating filaments. Building each web takes energy the spider cannot afford to expend often, so durability is key to the arachnid’s survival.
Through a series of computer models matched to laboratory experiments with spider webs, the researchers were able to tease apart what factors play what role in helping a web endure natural threats that are either localized, such as a twig falling on a filament, or distributed, such as high winds.
“For our models, we used a molecular dynamics framework in which we scaled up the molecular behavior of silk threads to the macroscopic world. This allowed us to investigate different load cases on the web, but more importantly, it also allowed us to trace and visualize how the web fractured under extreme loading conditions,” says Anna Tarakanova, who developed the computer models along with Steven Cranford, both graduate students in Buehler’s laboratory.
“Through computer modeling of the web,” Cranford adds, “we were able to efficiently create ‘synthetic’ webs, constructed out of virtual silks that resembled more typical engineering materials such as those that are linear elastic, like many ceramics, and elastic-plastic materials, which behave like many metals.
“With the models, we could make comparisons between the modeled web’s performance and the performance seen in the webs made from natural silk. In addition, we could analyze the web in terms of energy, and details of the local stress and strain,” which are traits that experiments were able to reveal.
The study showed that, as one might expect, when any part of a web is perturbed, the whole web reacts. Such sensitivity is what alerts a spider to the struggling of a trapped insect. However, the radial and spiral filaments each play different roles in attenuating motion, and when stresses are particularly harsh, they are sacrificed so that the entire web may survive.
“The concept of selective, localized failure for spider webs is interesting since it is a distinct departure from the structural principles that seem to be in play for many biological materials and components,” adds Dennis Carter, the National Science Foundation program director for biomechanics and mechanobiology who helped support the study.
“For example, the distributed material components in bone spread stress broadly, adding strength. There is no ‘wasted’ material, minimizing the weight of the structure. While all of the bone is being used to resist force, bone everywhere along the structure tends to be damaged prior to failure.”
In contrast, a spider’s web is organized to sacrifice local areas so that failure will not prevent the remaining web from functioning, even if in a diminished capacity, says Carter. “This is a clever strategy when the alternative is having to make an entire, new web,” he adds. “As Buehler suggests, engineers can learn from nature and adapt the design strategies that are most appropriate for specific applications.”
Specifically, when a radial filament in a web is snagged, the web deforms more than when a relatively compliant spiral filament is caught. However, when either type fails—under great stress—it is the only filament to fail.
The unique nature of the spider-silk proteins enhances that effect. When a filament is pulled, the silk’s unique molecular structure—a combination of amorphous proteins and ordered, nanoscale crystals—unfurls as stress increases, leading to a stretching effect that has four distinct phases: an initial, linear tugging; a drawn-out stretching as the proteins unfold; a stiffening phase that absorbs the greatest amount of force; and then a final, stick-slip phase before the silk breaks.
According to the researchers’ findings, the failure of silk threads occurs at points where the filament is disturbed by that external force, but after failure, the web returns to stability—even in simulations using broad forces, like hurricane-force winds.
“Engineered structures are typically designed to withstand large loads with limited damage, but extreme loads are more difficult to account for,” says Cranford.
“The spider has uniquely solved this problem by allowing a sacrificial member to fail under high load. One of the first questions a structural engineer must ask is ‘What is the design load?’ For a spider web, however, it doesn’t matter if the load is just strong enough to cause failure, or one hundred times higher—the net effect is the same. Allowing a sacrificial member to fail removes the unpredictability of ‘extreme’ loads from the design equation.”
via A Spider Web’s Strength Lies in More Than Its Silk | Inspiring Discoveries | Science | Epoch Times
Related Articles:
…
China’s Booming Paper Industry Bad for the Environment
11 February, 2012 at 10:28 | Posted in China, Environmental issues, sustainable development | Leave a commentTags: China, environmental issues, sustainable development
China ranks number one in the world in both production and consumption of paper and cardboard. Obsolete technology in paper production facilities and accelerated cultivation of wood pulp forests are causing large-scale environmental degradation.
According to a report released by China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), 40 percent of fiber material required for China’s paper industry comes from imports. In 2010 alone, China imported over 11 million tons of wood pulp and over 24 million tons of scrap paper. In 2011, the import of wood pulp grew by 27 percent to over 14 million tons, and the import value grew by 35 percent to nearly US$12 billion.
According to another government report, paper production and consumption in China increased from 2000 to 2010 by 204 percent and 156.6 percent, respectively.
The NDRC report further pointed out that 35 percent of production facilities in China’s paper industry are using obsolete technology, which violate China’s “Discharge Standards of Water-Based Pollutants for the Pulp and Paper Industries” regulations. For 2010 production figures, this translates into 32.44 million tons of outdated capacity. The report said that only 10 million tons of the outdated capacity will be replaced in the 2011-2015 period, which means more than 20 million tons of outdated capacity will continue to operate and pollute China’s rivers even after 2015.
Each ton of wood pulp processing requires more than 300 tons of water. Waste-water discharge from paper manufacturers contains high concentrations of organic chemicals and poisonous materials, which pollute the environment and endanger aquatic life.
According to a report by the School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University six years ago, out of 50,000 km (31,000 miles) of major waterways in China, more than 75 percent can no longer habitat fish. The most polluted rivers are the Da Liao, Hai Luan, Huai, and many parts of the Yellow River, which have turned carcinogenic.
China has 2 million new cases of cancer each year, with 1.4 million people dying from cancer each year. One of out five deaths is due to cancer, according to official mainland media reports. In many cities, cancer has surpassed cardiovascular disease and become the number one cause of death.
An expert from China’s Paper Manufacturing Association said that many regions in China are accelerating cultivation of new wood-pulp forests.
Professor Jiang Gaoming of the Chinese Institute of Botany said wood-pulp forests will lead to the disappearance of native forests. Jiang explained that wood-pulp trees, such as eucalyptus, are poor at storing water. Growing such trees requires lots of water and causes rapid decrease in underground water reserves. At the same time, these man-made forests quickly deplete soil nutrients and degrade soil quality. For this reason, eucalyptus trees are often called “water suckers” and “nutrient suckers,” Professor Jiang said. In addition, eucalyptus generates chemical substances, which restrict the growth of other plants, greatly reducing biodiversity and causing forests to turn into what he calls “green deserts.”
Read the original Chinese article.
via China’s Booming Paper Industry Bad for the Environment | Society | China | Epoch Times
Related Articles:
…
A 30 second taste of Shen Yun 2012
10 February, 2012 at 09:49 | Posted in Chinese culture, Shen Yun | Leave a commentTags: Chinese culture, chinese dance, Shen Yun
…
About the Company
Based in New York, Shen Yun Performing Arts was established in 2006 with the mission of reviving 5,000 years of divinely inspired Chinese culture.
After more than 60 years of Communist rule in China, and especially after the Cultural Revolution, Chinese traditional culture has been all but completely demolished. However, the deeper spiritual core of the ancient culture, with its values of benevolence, honor, propriety, wisdom, and sincerity, as well as a reverence for the gods and the heavens, cannot be destroyed.
In order to restore and revive Chinese traditional culture, a group of overseas Chinese artists established Shen Yun in New York in 2006. About 90 artists embarked on Shen Yun’s tour in 2007 in the first year, including a dance troupe, an orchestra, solo singers and musicians, emcees, and production staff. By 2009, Shen Yun had already grown to three performance troupes and orchestras of comparable size. Today, Shen Yun counts many winners of international dance and vocal competitions among its artists, and the orchestras include many musicians from world-renowned symphonies and conservatories.
Shen Yun Performing Arts’ rapid growth has enabled it to reach all corners of the globe. The group will only continue to expand, and in the not-too-distant future, Shen Yun will have many companies touring around the world simultaneously.
On our website, we invite you to:
- Find out which of the world’s top venues will be featuring Shen Yun performances this season
- Learn about Shen Yun and 5,000 years of Chinese culture
- Meet the artists
…
Museo de Arte de Ponce: A Jewel of the Caribbean
10 February, 2012 at 07:45 | Posted in Culture, picture of the day | Leave a commentTags: art, Culture, picture of the day
…
Puerto Rico’s little known art museum has a surprisingly important art collection
Though Puerto Rico is known as “the jewel of the Caribbean” for its good food, warm weather, and sandy beaches; it is not often thought of as a destination for European fine art.
However, in the heart of its second largest city, the Museo de Arte de Ponce is home to a very important collection.
Despite the building’s relatively small size, the collection is comprised of over 4,500 works of art.
Its walls are hung with Lord Leighton’s iconic painting of “Flaming June,” Edward Burne-Jones’ “The Sleep of King Arthur in Avalon,” and his fully worked out studies of the “Briar Rose” series, William Bouguereau’s “Le Collier de Perles,” and “Loin du Pays.”
…
…
Continuing around the museum you’ll find major works by William Holman Hunt, John Evert Millais, Frederick Sandys, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Gustave Doré, James Tissot, Jean-Leon Gerome, Jusepe de Ribera, and Konstantin Makovsky.
Other artists included in this museum are Sir Anthony Van Dyck, Sir Peter Paul Rubens, Jean-Baptistes’ “Carpeaux”, Elisabeth Louise Vigee-Le Brun, as well as many other fantastic works by lesser known artists.
With a collection this important, it is surprising more tourists have not heard of this museum and more visitors do not take advantage of this treasure trove of art.
The museum’s founder, Luis A. Ferré, first traveled to Europe in 1950 where he fell in love with European paintings and sculpture. By 1956, he had started his own collection.
He wanted to allow all the people of Puerto Rico to have access to high quality works that the majority of residents would never get to enjoy otherwise.
He started collecting with this greater vision in mind and his dreams were realized beyond his expectations.
The museum has loaned many of its works to important museums around the globe and it has become part of the island’s heritage.
Although the museum’s collection spans from the early Renaissance to the present, Ferré fell in love with what was considered in the 1950s through the 1980s as “unfashionable” art; that being the classical art of the 19th century.
Leading artists from the era include artists such as Frederick Lord Leighton, William Bouguereau, and many of the other names listed above.
At the time, the greatest works of the period could be purchased for only a few thousand dollars or less. During the 1980s this period of painting started to attract more attention from collectors and today many of these artists are considered masters alongside artists from earlier centuries such as Rembrandt, who was at one time also a forgotten painter.
…
…
Ferré, although his choices were unfashionable at the time, trusted his instincts and had the foresight to put together a world class museum of forgotten painters who have now been brought back into the public light.
As the reputations and love of these artists are expanding every year, their re-appreciation still being only recent history, there is no doubt that the museum’s fame and reputation will grow as more and more people become aware of its importance, not only to Puerto Rico, but the world.
You can find more information on the Museo de Arte de Ponce on the museum’s official page.
Kara Lysandra Ross is the director of operations for the Art Renewal Center and an expert in 19th century European painting.
…
Falun Gong Detainee on Brink of Death, Amnesty International Says
9 February, 2012 at 12:06 | Posted in China, Falun Dafa/Falun Gong, human rights, persecution | Leave a commentTags: CCP, China, Falun Gong, human rights, persecution of dissidents
A Falun Gong adherent imprisoned in China’s freezing north is feared by family to be close to death, having endured torture and hunger strikes since he was jailed in March 2011, according to a human rights group.
Amnesty International released an Urgent Action on Zhou’s case on Feb. 8, calling on the Chinese authorities to urgently grant Zhou Xiangyang medical parole.
Zhou has been in the Gangbei Prison in Tianjin, near Beijing, since March 5 last year. He previously spent six years in the same prison, from May 2003 to May 2009, when he was released on medical parole. Then, he was imprisoned again for speaking to the public about Falun Gong, according to Amnesty International.
Family members were called by prison officials to visit Zhou in jail recently, and upon seeing him they concluded that he was close to death, according to Amnesty. He asked for about US$30 with which to purchase clothes–family members surmised that this was so he could be properly dressed when he passed away, Amnesty said.
“During the visit, he told his family that the suffering inside the prison was beyond people’s understanding and that he could no longer take the torment,” Amnesty wrote in the release.
“If the prison continues to refuse to release Zhou Xiangyang on medical parole, he is at risk of death,” the Urgent Action said.
Urgent Actions encourage people around the world to send letters to the authorities calling for humane treatment of detained persons. “Although Chinese authorities have become much more resistant to international pressure in recent years, we still see some differences in the way they behave when a particular case is widely known,” said Corinna-Barbara Francis, Amnesty International’s China Researcher, in a telephone interview.
Medical parole has been abused by prison wardens in China, who have discharged detainees that were abused in custody and on the verge of death. Since the individuals die outside of prison, the authorities absolve themselves of responsibility for the deaths. The Falun Dafa Information Center describes that as a “common tactic” in its 2009 Annual Report. Dozens of deaths under such circumstances have been reported annually for the last several years.
Amnesty’s Francis said that: “There appears to be a pattern at least to some extent that the authorities release people for fear of them dying in custody.” She added that: “That certainly would make it all the more urgent to respond to particular cases and highlight the fact that these people were not well in detention.”
Li Shanshan is currently serving two years in a labor camp for her beliefs, and trying to secure her husband Zhou's release.
The news of Zhou’s condition is the latest in a saga of persecution that has targeted Zhou Xiangyang and his wife, Li Shanshan, spanning nearly a decade. Li is herself currently serving two years of “re-education through labor” after agitating for Zhou’s release by asking villagers from his hometown to sign a petition on his behalf. She had written a letter that was circulated with the help of Zhou’s family among townsfolk. The letter moved many to tears and at least 2,300 to sign their names in support, according to Falun Gong websites.
Chinese security forces struck back by sentencing Li to forced labor and rounding up Zhou Xiangyang’s brother and sister-in-law and three others, according to Amnesty. It is not known whether Zhou’s family members are still in detention or have already been released.
Falun Gong is an indigenous Chinese spiritual discipline that includes five meditative exercises and teachings based on the principles of truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance. It quickly became popular after its introduction to the Chinese public in 1992, and by 1999 its practitioners numbered over 70 million. This was seen as a threat by former Chinese Communist Party leader Jiang Zemin, who embarked on a nationwide political struggle aimed to purge the nation of all believers. Over 3,500 deaths due to torture or ill-treatment have been confirmed; the actual death toll is unknown.
Related Articles: A Chinese Village Stands Up for Falun Gong
…
All About Olives, a Natural Panacea
9 February, 2012 at 07:18 | Posted in Body & Mind, Food | Leave a commentTags: Body & Mind, Food, health
Up the olive content of your diet
If you’re looking for ways to eat more healthily, there can be few easier, or more delicious ways, than upping the olive content of your diet.
Health Benefits of Olives
It’s been shown that people with high olive oil content in their diets have much lower rates of chronic diseases – both heart diseases and cancers. One study done in Greece, Spain, and Italy found that the women participants who had switched to margarine from olive oil were much more likely to develop breast cancer. The body oxidises all day (oxidation is a process you can see with your own eyes when you cut an apple and the edges start going brown) and this process contributes significantly to ageing. Olives can help prevent this process within our bodies.
Two Tablespoons a Day
Latest research proves that not only does an olive-rich diet help with the heart and with various cancers; there is also a multiplicity of benefits to eating this healthy fruit and its oil. It helps with blood pressure and blood clotting conditions. It also helps with inflammation, which is a very hot topic of interest in the medical field. Following another study, the EUROLIVE study, which involved five different European countries, it was found that two tablespoons a day of extra virgin olive oil can show significant health benefits in a really short time (three weeks). Many scientists and nutritionists now recommend that people consume two tablespoons a day. But there is no need to drink this like a medicine when it can be added to foods and drizzled to give more flavour.
Like a Virgin?
Extra virgin olive oil is the nearest in benefits to the olive itself and has by far the most nutritional content. Some extra virgin olive oils (EVOOs) are often termed “cold pressed”, which implies that no heat has been applied to extract the oil, but confusingly not all EVOOs that are not using heat extraction use this terminology. Because EVOOs are so much more expensive then other grades, there is a huge temptation for inferior oils to be miss-sold as extra virgin. Last month, the Olive Oil Times reported that two men in Andalusia were convicted of large-scale, systematic olive oil fraud. They were bottling mixtures of sunflower oil with other oils and green colouring, and labelling it as extra virgin olive oil. So it is worth seeking out a reputable brand, even if it does cost more. It’s also worth noting that extra virgin olive oil doesn’t have a huge shelf life. It should be stored in a cool, dark place and it can begin to lose its high nutritional qualities after a couple of months.
The Ones to Try
Because of their bitter edge, olives are an acquired taste, but once that taste has been acquired, they’re bizarrely addictive. Whole olives, besides containing oils, have much goodness in their flesh, including fibre. Types include green (part-ripened), coloured (completely ripe) or black (over-ripe and even oxidised). Olives also come stuffed with anchovy, garlic, and almonds or marinated in herbs, chilli, coriander, and lemon. Here are a few brands that are well worth trying.
Read more: All About Olives, a Natural Panacea | Food | Life | Epoch Times
…
After Chinese River Poisoned, Doctors Forbidden From Diagnosing
8 February, 2012 at 10:13 | Posted in Body & Mind, China, Environmental issues | Leave a commentTags: Body & Mind, CCP, censorship, China, environmental issues
A river in China is poisoned with the toxic chemical cadmium, but a local hospital put up a notice forbidding doctors from diagnosing patients with cadmium poisoning.
The news that the Longjiang river in the city of Hechi, Guangxi Province was contaminated with cadmium run-off from local factories was reported by state media three days after the pollution was detected; currently, chemicals to neutralize the adverse effects of the pollution are in short supply.
On Jan. 29 a netizen posted online an “internal notice” from Liuzhou City People’s Hospital, which is nearby the spill. It demands that physicians and nurses do some Internet learning about the treatment and control of cadmium poisoning because “the superiors might send people to make inspections.” At the same time it states that: “Physicians are not allowed to make writing diagnosis of cadmium poisoning,” according to Xinhua, a state news agency.
Two days later the hospital responded that the image posted online was false, but that, all the same, the hospital is not qualified to diagnose cadmium poisoning. According to relevant regulations, they said, a written diagnosis of cadmium poisoning is the responsibility of the Liuzhou Center for Disease Control & Prevention.
Zhong Xi, a doctor from a large and reputable hospital, published a commentary in The Beijing News criticizing the response from the local Liuzhou hospital.“Coming from a high-level pedagogical hospital, being able to diagnose cadmium poisoning and different types of cadmium poisoning—how could a doctor not know that?” he wrote. “To put it bluntly, even intern doctors know this. But why is hospital management emphasizing that they don’t know? Is this administrative interference? Do they just want to make it all go away for the government?”
Poisoning with cadmium, a substance used in the production of paint, solder, solar cells, and batteries, can cause kidney and liver damage and weaken bones. The current contamination can be traced to discharges from a mining company in Guangxi.
According to a program aired on China Central Television, the state broadcaster, on Jan. 30, a nearby city found dead fish on Jan. 15, though Liuzhou, the main site of pollution, was not notified for several days.
Experts say the solution is to pour into the river chemicals meant to neutralize cadmium pollutants. On the evening of Jan. 29, Vice Mayor of Hechi City, Lee Wen Kang said that within several days the supply of such chemicals will run short.
via After Chinese River Poisoned, Doctors Forbidden From Diagnosing | Society | China | Epoch Times
Related Articles: Canadian PM to Meet with Subject of Leaked US Cable
…
Welcome!
Life is important and our choices are important.
On this website I will in different ways express what I think gives meaning to life and also what might be a challenge.
It may include the need for sustainable development for our planet, or various questions about our health and mental well-being.
To be truthful, to be good, to have patience and compassion, are spiritual qualities that are a part of my cultivation of self through Falun Gong /Falun Dafa, the way of insights. To refine and improve myself to a better, more compassionate human being gives my life great meaning.
I also bring up more difficult issues , like the persecution of Falun Gong and others in China and explain more about the mentality of the Chinese regime. We can never forget about the Human Rights!
What's important is also everything that makes life beautiful; as good thoughts, beautiful music, healthy food, beautiful art and beautiful scenery. And loving relationships.
I hope you will find something that might interest you in this blog and perhaps brighten up your day or give you a new understanding.
TRANSLATE THE BLOG
Photo of the Month
SHEN YUN PERFORMING ARTS
-
Recent Comments
-
-
Flickr Photos
More Photos My Ipod
Blog at WordPress.com. | Theme: Pool by Borja Fernandez.
Entries and comments feeds.
