Why Are We Drugging Our Soldiers?

SINCE the start of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, there has been a large and steady rise in the prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder among our troops. One recent study of 289,000 Americans who served in those countries found that the rates of the disorder jumped to 22 percent in 2008 from just 0.2 percent in 2002.

Given the duration of these wars and the length and frequency of deployments, when compared with other wars, perhaps such high rates of PTSD are not so surprising. Prolonged exposure to a perilous and uncertain combat environment might make trauma common.

But there is another factor that might be playing a role in the increasing rates of the disorder, one that has escaped attention: the military’s use of stimulant medications, like Ritalin and Adderall, in our troops.

Filmmaker seeks UFO sightings for documentary

(Tauranga, NZ) Two sightings of UFOs over Mount Maunganui earlier this year have prompted a local film maker to seek more sightings in hopes of creating a film about the believed extra-terrestrials.

The sightings posted on YouTube show white blurry objects passing by at speed but a local ufologist who didn’t want to be named, says the quality is too poor for definitive analysis – they could be seagulls.


Seen anything like this?

Film maker Baz Mantis is compiling material for a short documentary and wants to hear from anyone else who has seen UFOs in Tauranga recently.

He’s guaranteeing anonymity.

Chemical Complex Is On Fire With Nuclear Fuel Yamaguchi

At 2:20 of 4/22/2012, Iwakuni Otake Petrochemical Complex of Mitsui chemicals got lightning strike to explode.

The complex is still on fire, and 3379 units of radioactive waste (200L in each unit) and Uranium for nuclear fuel are preserved in the site.

The state of the uranium and radioactive waste is not reported yet.

Windows were broken and several people got injured.

Brain Implants Help Paralyzed Monkeys Get a Grip

Spinal cord injuries cause paralysis because they sever crucial communication links between the brain and the muscles that move limbs. A new study with monkeys demonstrates a way to re-establish those connections. By implanting electrodes in a movement control center in the brain and wiring them up to electrodes attached to muscles in the arm, researchers restored movement to monkeys with a temporarily paralyzed hand. The work is the latest promising development in the burgeoning field of neuroprosthetics.

In recent years, scientists have taken many steps toward creating prosthetics to help paralyzed people interact more with the world around them. They've developed methods to decode signals from electrodes implanted in the brain so that a paralyzed person can control a cursor on a computer screen or manipulate a robotic arm with their thoughts alone. Such brain implants are still experimental, and only a handful of people have received them. Several hundred patients have received a different kind of neural prosthetic that uses residual shoulder movement or nerve activity to stimulate arm muscles, allowing them to grasp objects with their hands.

Two Gallon a Day Coca-Cola Habit Cited In Woman's Death

WELLINGTON, New Zealand -- Experts say a New Zealand woman's 2-gallon-a-day Coca-Cola habit probably contributed to her death, a conclusion that led the soft-drink giant to note that even water can be deadly in excessive amounts.

Natasha Harris, a 30-year-old, stay-at-home mother of eight from Invercargill, died of a heart attack in February 2010. Fairfax Media reported that a pathologist, Dr. Dan Mornin, testified at an inquest Thursday that she probably suffered from hypokalemia, or low potassium, which he thinks was caused by her excessive consumption of Coke and overall poor nutrition.

Symptoms of hypokalemia can include abnormal heart rhythms, according to the U.S. National Institutes of Health.

Mornin said that toxic levels of caffeine, a stimulant found in Coke, also may have contributed to her death, according to Fairfax.

Giant Puppets Roam the Streets of Liverpool

Two puppets, a man and his niece, will roam through the streets of Liverpool, northern England, and April 20-23 looking for each other during the Sea Odyssey festival. The free event, organized by the French company Royal de Luxe is one of a series of events marking the 100th anniversary of the sinking of The Titanic. The liner, registered in Liverpool, sank on its maiden voyage to New York on April 15, 1912.

The tragic tale is about a man who went down with the Titanic. His brother, the giant deep sea diver and uncle of the little giant girl, is on a 100-year quest to find his brother on the ocean floor and lay him to rest. Instead he finds a letter to his brother from his niece, that she wrote three days before the cruise liner hit an iceberg and sank. He vows to return it to the girl and tell her what happened to her father.
The two are reunited at the end of the 23-mile route.

Vietnam seeks foreign help to beat mystery skin disease

Vietnam says it will ask for international help to find out what is causing a skin infection that has already killed 19 people.

More than 170 people in the country's central province of Quang Ngai have reported symptoms.

The disease begins with a rash on the hands and feet: it can progress to liver problems and multiple organ failure.

Vietnamese health ministry tests have failed to pinpoint the cause.

"This disease is challenging as we have not identified the root causes. If it is just an external skin disease why is it causing deaths and failures inside internal organs?" Deputy Health Minister Thanh Long said on Friday.

Rituals and prayers
The mystery illness was first reported between April and December 2011 and then subsided, but broke out again last month.

Alien Abduction in 1988: The New World Order Aliens

How did a guy from Puerto Rico who claimed he was abducted by aliens know about a New World Order in 1988? An abduction tale that included a post-Apocalyptic Earth one world government run by aliens living on an artificial island in the middle of a dark, dirty black sea.

The video posted below is a 1991 interview with a man named Amaury Rivera Toro–we’ll call him ‘Rivera’–who claimed he was abducted by aliens in Puerto Rico on May 14, 1988. Rivera was interviewed in 1991 by Jim Cunningham at the First international UFO Conference at the Riveria Hotel in Las Vegas. Along with his fantastical tale of an alien abduction including half-human demon-like beings, an ‘extraterrestrial human’ and holographic projections Rivera produced photos of a UFO and a fighter jet Rivera claimed he took immediately after his Close Encounter of the Third Kind. Along with the video we found a written account from Rivera that revealed more details.