Bright flash of light marks incredible moment life begins when sperm meets egg

Stephan:  Here is one of the most extraordinary stories I have done in a long time. The current state of research, as I read it, proposes that consciousness is fundamental and causal. The view of Max Planck, the father of Quantum Mechanics.  The corollary of this premise is that consciousness has continuity; it exists prior to physical birth, and continues after physical death, with the eternal aspect of the self episodically manifesting an incarnated personality. In this report we see what appears to be the moment this process occurs and consciousness incarnates.  And it occurs with a flash of light.
Eggs flash as they meet sperm enzyme, capturing the moment that life begins Credit: Northwestern University

Eggs flash as they meet sperm enzyme, capturing the moment that life begins
Credit: Northwestern University

Human life begins in bright flash of light as a sperm meets an egg, scientists have shown for the first time, after capturing the astonishing ‘fireworks’ on film.

An explosion of tiny sparks erupts from the egg at the exact moment of conception.

Scientists had seen the phenomenon occur in other animals but it is the first time is has been also shown to happen in humans.

“To see the zinc radiate out in a burst from each human egg was breathtaking.”
Professor Teresa Woodruff, Northwestern University

Not only is it an incredible spectacle, highlighting the very moment that a new life begins, the size of the flash can be used to determine the quality of the fertilised egg.

Researchers from Northwestern University, in Chicago, noticed […]

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National sheriffs’ group, opposed to federal laws on guns and taxes, calls for defiance

Stephan:  Once a kind of medieval super-reeve (the word sheriff comes from the term "shire-reeve" = chief keeper of the shire). Today sheriff is the only elected law enforcement office in the the U.S. Based on the evidence historical and present, it is a job that attracts bullies. Not all to be sure, but enough to produce a long sequence of disruptive datapoints, the Oregon wilderness event as one recent example; together they make a trend. In my view this is a form of terrorism
Former Sheriff Richard Mack of Graham County, Arizona

Former Sheriff Richard Mack of Graham County, Arizona

Local police chiefs and sheriffs typically swear to enforce the laws of their state. But a group called the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association is intent on strictly enforcing their view of the U.S. Constitution and, according to a long new piece by the Center for Public Integrity, “its ambition is to encourage law enforcement officers to defy laws they decide themselves are illegal.” In essence, they are troubled by the overreach of the federal government in matters concerning guns, taxes and land management, and founder Richard Mack has described the federals as “the greatest threat we face today,” and his association as “the army to set our nation free.”

In an interview with Julia Harte and former Post reporter R. Jeffrey Smith, Mack said he had enlisted “several hundred” of the more than 3,000 sheriffs around the country as members of the CSPOA, and that hundreds more are sympathetic. At the association’s 2014 […]

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Here’s Why Kids Are Still Getting More Obese

Stephan:  The Obesity epidemic profits the the food industry, the pharmaceutical industry, and the illness profit industry. But it leaves a trail of tears, suffering, and death for ordinary Americans.
Credit: Shutterstock

Credit: Shutterstock

According to a 2015 New York Times analysis of government and private-sector data, the number of calories consumed annually by the average US child declined 9 percent between 2004 and 2013. And yet, researchers from Duke and Wake Forest have found that trend has not improved the child obesity situation.

Using body mass index data from the National Health Examination Survey, which tracks randomly selected households with health exams and surveys every two years, the researchers calculated moderate (class 1), mid-level (class 2) and extreme (class 3) obesity rates among kids aged 2 to 19. Here’s what they found, from a paper they published in the peer-reviewed journal Obesity.

 

The “overweight” rate—which encompasses the above “obese” categories as well as slightly overweight kids—also nudged upward from an already-high level: 28.8 percent from 1999 to 2000, compared with 33.4 percent from […]

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Inside the bizarre world of Mormon porn — which is freaking out the church and Utah lawmakers

Stephan:  The other day I did a report on Mormon porn -- who knew there was any such thing as Mormon porn? -- and that stimulated two Mormon readers -- they each identified themselves as Mormons from Salt Lake City -- to write and both send me this report.  Once again it left me with the awareness of the correlation between conservative patriarchal religiosity and tortured dysfunctional sexuality. Oh and there is an update, in the last year the lead search term in Mormon territory has been "lesbian"  not "shemale."
Credit: MormonGirlz.com

Credit: MormonGirlz.com

Utah has declared pornography to be a “public health crisis,” but it isn’t because of Mormon porn addiction it’s because of porn usage. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints doesn’t screw around when it comes to members of the church engaging in sexual activity, even if it isn’t consensual.

The advocates for restrictive access to pornography are no match for technology, where anyone with a smartphone can excuse themselves to the men’s room for a self-satisfying afternoon delight. Leaders in the LDS church are paralyzed in the face of First Amendment law and the ease of privacy. All a Mormon masturbator must shoulder is his or her own guilt, and the church plays up the shaming to the extreme.

The market is hungry for young men and women disrobing down to their holy temple garments, before pausing with trepidation as the recognition of the forbidden acts cross their faces. In the LDS Church, […]

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A majority of millennials now reject capitalism, poll shows

Stephan:  Our children are our future, whether we like it or not. They will be here when their parent's and grandparent's generations are dead and gone. That's so obvious you would think it would guide policy thinking. But no. Greed, and more greed in the short term blinds some of us to this commonsense truth. The result of that slavering greed is what created wealth inequity, and that is why a majority of the next generation thinks capitalism as practiced in the U.S. sucks. And it is not because they are socialists -- candidly both terms I think few people actually understand. This distaste on the part of Millennials has long term implications that are only now, consider the Sander's campaign, becoming evident. Here are the facts, those pesky little things that tell us the truth about ourselves.
Credit: Shutterstock

Credit: Shutterstock

In an apparent rejection of the basic principles of the U.S. economy, a new poll shows that most young people do not support capitalism.

The Harvard University survey, which polled young adults between ages 18 and 29, found that 51 percent of respondents do not support capitalism. Just 42 percent said they support it.

It isn’t clear that the young people in the poll would prefer some alternative system, though. Just 33 percent said they supported socialism. The survey had a margin of error of 2.4 percentage points.

The results of the survey are difficult to interpret, pollsters noted. Capitalism can mean different things to different people, and the newest generation of voters is frustrated with the status quo, broadly speaking.

All the same, that a majority of respondents in Harvard University’s survey of young adults said they do not support capitalism suggests that today’s youngest voters are more focused on the flaws of free markets.

“The word ‘capitalism’ doesn’t mean what it used to,” said Zach Lustbader, a senior at Harvard involved in conducting the poll, which was published Monday. For those who grew up during […]

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