BusinessInsider – There’s A New App That Will Let You Have A Real Doctor’s Appointment Using Video Chat On Your Smartphone – 10 December 2013

(Lucas : The real horror of getting you in an instant medication and diagnoses..without proper physical diagnoses.. Really! Are you that stupid…)

By Jillian D’Onfro

‘A new app just launched that wants to save you from spending an hour or two in the waiting room next time you might have a sinus infection.

Read the whole story at: www.businessinsider.com / link to original article

CommonDreams – Drone Protests, Or US Will Stop Aid – 10 December 2013

Statement comes amid growing anger at drone strikes, blockade that shut down NATO supply route

– Sarah Lazare, staff writer

U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel threatened Pakistani heads of state on Monday with cutting off up to $1.6 billion in aid if the country’s mass protests against U.S. drone strikes continue, Pentagon officials said, according to The New York Times.

CommonDreams – CCFC Urges Fisher-Price To Pull The Plug On its Newborn-To-Toddler Apptivity ™Seat For iPad® Device – 10 December 2013

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 10, 2013
1:31 PM
CONTACT: Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood
Josh Golin (617-896-9369; josh@commercialfreechildhood.org)

BOSTON, MA – December 10 – December 10—Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood is calling on Fisher-Price to immediately stop selling its Newborn-to-Toddler Apptivity™ Seat for iPad® device. The Apptivity Seat is a bouncy seat for infants with a place for an iPad directly above the baby’s face, blocking his or her view of the rest of the world. Because screens can be mesmerizing and because babies are strapped down and “safely” restrained, it encourages parents to leave infants—even newborns—alone in the seat with an iPad.

John Ward – Official: Westminster NOT A Parliament Of Whores – 10 December 2013

…just answering machines.

A small screen-capture extract from the response of MPs to this morning’s Slog exclusive about vacancy fibs at the JobCentrePlus site:

Russia To Cancel Cuba’s $29 Billion Of Soviet Debt – 10 December 2013

Russia is going to write off 90 percent of Cuba’s $32 billion Soviet-era debt as part of a deal to end a 20-year dispute, according to diplomatic sources cited by Reuters.

Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev agreed to write off the island’s debt during a visit to Havana in February 2013, stressing details would be finalized by the end of the year.

In October, the two sides announced a refinancing agreement that requires Cuba to pay Moscow $3.2 billion over ten years, and Russia would forgive the remaining $29 billion, which is $20 billion in debt plus service and interest. Between $5-6 billion of Cuba’s remaining foreign debt is non-Soviet.

The deal still needs to be agreed on by Russian lawmakers, and there has been no comment from Cuban or Russian officials.

Read the whole article at: www.rt.com / link to original article

Cyprus To Get Third Tranche Of 100 Million Euro – 10 December 2013

The Eurogroup has approved a third bailout tranche for Cyprus of 100 million euro before the end of 2013.

“The Eurogroup endorsed, in principle, the disbursement of the next tranche of financial assistance to Cyprus,” the Eurogroup statement said.

“The IMF Executive Board is scheduled to decide on the disbursement of EUR 86 million on 20 December” the statement added.

Carrying out a privatization program is one of the key conditions set by the Troika of international lenders – the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

“In particular, we welcome the firm commitment of the Cypriot authorities to strengthen the privatisation plans as agreed with the Troika institutions,” the statement said.
Read the whole story at: www.rt.com/ link to original article

OpEdNews – Eric Zuesse – ALEC Claims To Control 100% Of Iowa’s & Sout Dakota’s State Legislatures – 10 December 2013

The far-right American Legislative Exchange Council claims that every member of the state legislature in two states is a member of their organization.

Recently leaked documents from the  “ALEC Board Meeting, August 6, 2013, Chicago, Illinois, ” list the number and percentage of each state’s legislature that have signed onto ALEC; and, under “# of Legislators,” and “# of ALEC Members,” Iowa has 150 in each column, and South Dakota has 105 in each column. The third column, for both states, shows the “% of ALEC Membership in Legislature” as being “100%.” At the opposite end, the lowest percentage is 1%, in New York. The second-lowest is New Jersey, 2%. The third and fourth-lowest, tied, are just 4%, shown in both Maine and Vermont. The fifth-lowest is New Hampshire, 6%.

WakingTimes – Dr. Mercola – The Forgotten Organ – Your Microbiota – 10 December 2013

Researchers are increasingly starting to recognize gut microbiota as one of your unappreciated “organs.”1 It may be even more apt to view your body as a “super organism” composed of symbiotic microorganisms, as proposed in the video above.

Either way, there’s no denying the powerful influence these microorganisms have on both your physical and mental health. This is great news, since this places you in a distinct position of power over your health and well-being. As recently reported by the Institute of Science in Society:2

“The rapidly progressing study of the human microbiota is revealing that humans are not individual self-contained beings, but instead hugely complex super-organisms that blur the distinction between where ‘we’ end and ‘they’ begin.

The human microbiota consists of an estimated 100 trillion cells, at least 10 times the number of human cells, and new research is revealing how this symbiotic relationship determines human health and disease.”

Recent research suggests that many people are deficient in gut bacteria, making it a very important consideration if you’re not feeling in optimal shape, physically or psychologically.

In the study3, 4 in question, a quarter of the participants were found to have 40 percent fewer gut bacteria than the average needed for good health. Obese participants were particularly at risk.

Read the whole story at: www.wakingtimes.com/link to original article

Lisa Gawlas – The Living Blueprints Of Light. You. – 10 December 2013

First, let me (slightly) apologize for the way I ended my last sharing, I do believe I had an e-gasm, leaving an explosion of excitement instead of tying everything up.  I hope it was as good for you as it was for me (grin.)

That e-gasmic energy (an energy orgasm) stayed with me pretty much all day, leaving me feeling like I woke up into a brand new world of energy, of excitement, of pure exhilaration.  The first thing my own team did, was point out my numeric sleep cycles from the evening before.  I got 11 hours of heavenly sleep, broken up in two packages.  I crashed and burned at 5pm and woke up, wide eyed and bushy tailed at 11pm.  6 hours of sleep, god it felt so good after 2 days of sleep deprivation, but I do not want to be awake for the day at 11pm!!  I spent two hours wide awake and at 1am, my lights went out until 6am.  One would think (at least this one called me) that the times and length have little bearing on anything… my team showed me several times how wrong I can be, especially when you take the numerology of it all… just… wow.

Aisha North – The Greatness Within – 10 December 2013

Dear friends! I have been guided to share this film with you, because it has given me a very different perspective on “the greatness within”. For this film shows the unbelievable complexity that is within just one single cell in our body, and when you think of the fact that every one of us are made up of billions of these diverse cells, all collaborating and communicating with each other, it makes you realize that this intelligence, this Creator that we are a part of, is capable of creating wonders that our human mind cannot even begin to understand.