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Peterson Kraemer Funeral Homes & Crematory Inc. :: Home

Posted on August 7, 2018 by Danzig

Dealing with death and planning a funeral are not things most people are familiar or comfortable with. When someone you love dies, the emotional pain and stress youre feeling can make even the simplest of decisions seem impossible to make. It is hard to know what to do or where to begin. That is where the experienced and compassionate staff of Peterson/Kraemer Funeral Home can step in and ease your burden. We are here 24 hours a day, 365 days a year to guide and support you every step of the way.

Every life lived is unique and meaningful. Creating a personalized funeral or memorial service to celebrate that life is a vital part of the healing process for those left behind. Our goal is to combine our years of experience with your memories and ideas to create a tribute that appropriately honors the life of your loved one and also helps you begin the journey toward healing.

Dealing with the death of a loved one is probably one of the most difficult things well face in our lives. Planning your funeral arrangements in advance is a way to ease the emotional and, if desired, even the financial burden that inevitably comes when death occurs. You can take the time to research and discuss all your options with your family and have the peace of mind knowing the choices you make are well-informed and not entered into under the stress of grief.

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Peterson Kraemer Funeral Homes & Crematory Inc. :: Home

Lamont Peterson – Next Fight, Fighter Bio, Stats & News

Posted on August 7, 2018 by Danzig

Lamont Peterson was just 7 years old when his 11 siblings and mother were forced onto the streets of Washington, D.C. At 10, he met trainer Barry Hunter, who helped turn Peterson and his brother Anthony into world-class fighters. Following an impressive amateur career, Peterson won a world title at 140 pounds, and now the former champion has become a two-division champion by earning a crown at 147 pounds.

Quiet, poised and humble, Peterson doesnt show any outward signs of the ferocity that can make a fighters career.

Thats because he had to master those emotions long ago in order to carve out a career for himself.

Peterson, and his 11 siblings, who include brother and fellow pro boxer Anthony Peterson, grew up in Washington, D.C.

They were forced to the streets when Peterson was just 7 years old after their father went to jail, leaving their mother to raise the 12 children on her own.

Not long after that, Peterson's mother often was unable to care for the family, leaving the kids to fend for themselves.

"You'd play with your friends and you'd have fun all day, and then you knew at the end of the day, once it got to a certain time, your friends were going to go home, Peterson told CNN in 2012. They'd be in their bedswarm, and you knew that you weren't.

When Peterson was 10 years old, he met trainer Barry Hunter, who helped turn the youngsters life around.

Hunter took Lamont and Anthony Peterson under his wing and guided them both to successful amateur careers.

Peterson won the 2000 Junior Olympic title at 132 pounds, then fought his way to a Golden Gloves championship in 2001 at age 17.

It was a promising start for the rising star, who went on to score amateur wins over Rock Allen, Andre Dirrell and Willy Blain.

Once he went pro in 2004 at age 20, Peterson fought throughout the South and Midwest to pile up a perfect 26-0 record.

With Hunter still training him as a professional, Peterson got a shot at the interim 140-pound title in April 2009 against a familiar foe: Blain.

The result was the same in the rematch, with Peterson scoring a seventh-round TKO.

His championship reign would be short-lived, though, as he lost a unanimous decision to Timothy Bradley just eight months later.

Peterson battled his way back to another title shot in December 2011 against two-time champion Amir Khan.

Peterson won a 12-round split decision in Washington, D.C.

Following a 14-month layoff, Peterson returned to the ring, and defended histitle with an eighth-round TKO of Kendall Holt in Washington, D.C., in February 2013.

Peterson fought again just three months later, losing for just the second time as a professional when Lucas Matthysse stopped him in the third round of their nontitle bout in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

Peterson bounced back in his next fight, winning a 12-round unanimous decision over previously unbeaten Dierry Jean in January 2014 to retain histitle.

He successfully defended his championshipagain in August 2014, when he gained a 10th-round TKO of Edgar Santana in Brooklyn, New York.

Peterson returned to the ring in Brooklyn, New York, on April 11, 2015, for a 143-pound catch-weight fight against Danny Garcia that was aired live on NBC.

After a slow start, Peterson became more active as the fight progressed and dominated the final five rounds on the referees' scorecards. However, Garcia won a slim 12-round majority decision, gaining a 115-113 edge from two of the judges, while the third scored it 114-114.

Im not sure I gave him the first half, Peterson said in the ring after the fight. Just because I was moving a lot doesnt mean I was losing rounds. I came on strong. It was a close fight and the judges gave him a decision.

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Lamont Peterson - Next Fight, Fighter Bio, Stats & News

NASA Announces The First Commercial Astronauts To Pilot The Next Generation of Spacecraft

Posted on August 6, 2018 by Danzig

TAAAXI. It’s history in the making. Today, NASA announced the first commercial astronauts who will be piloting the first crewed test-flights aboard SpaceX and Boeing spacecraft. Two teams of astronauts will be boarding a Boeing Starliner spacecraft launched on top of an Atlas V rocket and a Dragon capsule atop SpaceX’s Falcon 9, respectively.

The crews are made up of nine (all American) high-ranking engineers, NASA astronauts, Marines, and Air Force pilots. Among them is Doug Hurley, a Marine Corps test pilot who piloted the iconic Space Shuttle one last time back in July 2011.

In fact, if all goes according to plan, these missions would be the first time American astronauts are launching from U.S. soil since the retirement of the Space Shuttle in 2011.

ABORT, ABORT. It’s a momentous occasion that is setting the groundwork for the future of commercial space travel. But there’s an elephant in the room that is somewhat souring the occasion. Just a day earlier, Boeing announced it had to delay the first uncrewed test flight after an abort engine issue forced a test to be cut short back in June – although it’s still unclear if it was the main cause for the delays. As a result, the first crewed test had to be pushed back to the summer of 2019 as well.

The Commercial Space Race is really starting to heat up. Amazon and Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos is aggressively increasing the funding of his spaceflight company, According to Reuters. Blue Origin’s primary objective right now: get a new heavy-launch vehicle called New Glenn into space within the next two years.

SPACE TRAVELING IN STYLE. Despite these delays, astronauts have a far more comfy ride to the International Space Station to look forward to – way more comfy than the cramped Soyuz spacecraft still in service today, despite the fact that its designs date back to the 1960s.

Boeing received $4.2 billion for its Commercial Crew Transportation Capability program in 2014, while SpaceX got $2.6 billion at the same time. The goal: to develop the first generation of commercial (manned) spacecraft, finally bringing space travel into the 21st century.

Both Boeing’s Starliner and SpaceX’s Dragon can fit up to seven astronauts (depending on cargo) — the Soyuz spacecraft still in use today can only carry three. The Starliner is even equipped with wireless internet for some (much-needed) in-flight entertainment. It can even stay docked to the ISS for 210 days, giving it the potential to serve as astronaut quarters.

Nasa commercial crew craft — Image Credit: Boeing

ALL IN GOOD TIME. It’s still not entirely clear when SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft will go on its first manned test flight. In fact, SpaceX’s official website still predicts the first manned test flight to take place “as early as 2018.” But when the time comes, astronauts will be able to enjoy environmental control and chose comfy onboard temperatures between 65 and 80 degrees Fahrenheit (18.3 and 26.6 Celsius).

Interior of Nasa commercial crew craft — Image Credit: SpaceX

Even in the worst case scenario, the Dragon’s emergency escape system will gently push astronauts out to safety “experiencing about the same G-forces as a ride at Disneyland” according to SpaceX’s official website.

The future of commercial space travel is looking bright, but not all systems are go. engineers have their work cut out to ensure the safety of the first nine brave astronauts. But the clock is ticking.

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NASA Announces The First Commercial Astronauts To Pilot The Next Generation of Spacecraft

Apple May Prove Powerful Enough to Get the U.S. Its First Hyperloop

Posted on August 6, 2018 by Danzig

The city of Cupertino is hoping Apple will be willing to heavily subsidize the construction of a hyperloop to ease the city's transportation woes.

THE (TOO) BIG APPLE. Apple dodged a major financial bullet Tuesday night, and the reason may have something to do with the hyperloop, the futuristic mode of high-speed transportation first proposed by Tesla CEO Elon Musk.

Apple calls the city of Cupertino, CA home and, as the company has grown, so has its strain on the city. To address one of its major Apple-caused problems — transportation — the city proposed creating a “head tax” – a tax that would charge any Cupertino-based company with 100 or more employee a flat fee per employee.

If it had passed, Apple would have seen its tax bill jump from $17,000 to $9.4 million, according to a report from the Cupertino City Council – money Cupertino would have used to fund new transportation projects.

But the Council voted down the tax on Tuesday, and it could be because they think a Cupertino hyperloop might be a better solution to their transportation woes.

TESTING THE WATERS. According to a report by the Silicon Valley Business Journal, Cupertino Mayor Darcy Paul has met with Hyperloop Transportation Technologies (HTT) about the possibility of building one of the high-tech systems in Cupertino. He also thinks Apple might be willing to “heavily subsidize” its construction.

Apple, however, has yet to comment directly on a hyperloop project, though the company’s director of state and local government affairs, Michael Foulkes, did suggest during Tuesday’s meeting that Cupertino officials work with Apple on “forward-thinking solutions” to “really be creative and find solutions for the long-term.”

IT TAKES A VILLAGE. So far, all plans for a hyperloop in the U.S. are just that: plans. There still isn’t anywhere in the nation a person can actually hop aboard a hyperloop. Part of the hold up, according to HTT CEO Dirk Ahlborn, is getting everyone to sign off on the project.

“Democracy isn’t friendly to these kinds of things. It’s a very large infrastructure project requiring a lot of people to work together,” he told Business Insider in July. “If you want to do this in the U.S., you have tedious right-of-way issues. In China or Russia, however, all it takes is someone powerful to decide that they want it, and it happens.”

A WIN-WIN SITUATION. In Cupertino, getting everyone to work together might not be so hard. The city wants a solution to its transportation issues, and Apple has made it clear it doesn’t want to pay the proposed head tax. Presumably, Apple would have to pay that tax every year. If it agrees to subsidize a Cupertino hyperloop like Paul thinks it might, the company may have an opportunity to trade that recurring fee for a one-time construction cost.

While no one can seem to agree on exactly what that cost might be, Apple is now worth a whopping $1 trillion. So if any U.S. company can afford to take a risk on building a hyperloop, it’s probably Apple. And with the city’s government already warmed up to the idea, it might not be long before Apple employees get to enjoy the novelty of riding the Cupertino hyperloop to work every day.

More on the hyperloop: An Introduction to the Hyperloop

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Apple May Prove Powerful Enough to Get the U.S. Its First Hyperloop

Science is Reducing Plastic Pollution in our Food Chain. Here’s How.

Posted on August 6, 2018 by Danzig

The Earth needs all of our help to stay clean! Here’s one way we can all make a difference, and two ways science is reducing plastic pollution.

The post Science is Reducing Plastic Pollution in our Food Chain. Here’s How. appeared first on Futurism.

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Science is Reducing Plastic Pollution in our Food Chain. Here’s How.

Starbucks’s New Crypto Platform Could Bring Bitcoin Into the Mainstream

Posted on August 6, 2018 by Danzig

Starbucks is teaming up with ICE, the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange, on a new crypto platform called Bakkt.

BAKKT BY ICE. The rumors are true. On Friday, Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), announced plans to form Bakkt, a company focused on the development of a regulated platform where people can buy and sell cryptocurrencies. The goal appears to be helping crypto move from the fringes of society into the mainstream.

“In bringing regulated, connected infrastructure together with institutional and consumer applications for digital assets, we aim to build confidence in the asset class on a global scale, consistent with our track record of bringing transparency and trust to previously unregulated markets,” said Jeffrey C. Sprecher, Founder, Chairman and CEO of ICE, in a press release.

THE NITTY GRITTY. As for what this platform will look like and how it will work, details are still scarce, though the press release notes they should arrive in the next few weeks.

What we do know is that the platform will start with bitcoin before presumably moving on to other cryptocurrencies. We also know that ICE isn’t jumping into this project solo. Microsoft will help build out the platform, and Starbucks is on board as well.

“As the flagship retailer, Starbucks will play a pivotal role in developing practical, trusted, and regulated applications for consumers to convert their digital assets into U.S. dollars for use at Starbucks,” said Maria Smith, Starbuck’s vice president of partnerships and payments in the press release.

COFFEE AND CRYPTO. Starbucks serves millions of customers every day, so the company’s involvement with Bakkt has the potential to dramatically increase the number of people who actually spend crypto and don’t just view it as an investment opportunity.

“It’s very big news for bitcoin because people say, ‘Where can you spend it?’ Now at every single Starbucks,” Brian Kelly, CEO of BKCM, an investment firm focused on digital currencies, told CNBC. “Starbucks is seeing some kind of demand for acceptance of crypto and bitcoin, and to tie up with a huge regulated institution like the ICE is really positive for the space.”

So, while the project is still in its nascent stage, just know the day you can use crypto to buy your morning cold brew is just on the horizon.

More on crypto spending: A New Debit Card Is Poised to Make Spending Crypto a Breeze

Disclosure: Several members of the Futurism team, including the editors of this piece, are personal investors in a number of cryptocurrency markets. Their personal investment perspectives have no impact on editorial content.

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Starbucks’s New Crypto Platform Could Bring Bitcoin Into the Mainstream

This Week in Science: July 28 – Aug 3, 2018

Posted on August 6, 2018 by Danzig

The post This Week in Science: July 28 – Aug 3, 2018 appeared first on Futurism.

Humanoid Robots Can Manipulate Our Emotions When We Least Expect It

Posted on August 6, 2018 by Danzig

Human volunteers were less likely to turn off humanoid robot Nao when it protested, particularly when the outburst of emotion was unexpected.

OUR ROBOTIC BUDDIES. We humans love to think of our devices as people. We might add a “please” to any Alexa requests, or thank our iPhone for its service when we trade it in for the latest model. This penchant for “socializing” with our media devices is a phenomenon known as the “media equation,” and we’ve known about it for decades.

On July 31, a team of German researchers published a new study in the journal PLOS to see whether a robot’s ability to socialize back had any impact on the way humans would treat it.

TWO NAOS. For their study, the researchers asked 85 volunteers to complete two basic tasks with Nao, an interactive humanoid robot. One task was social (playing a question and answer game), and the other was functional (building a schedule).

Sometimes, the robot was more social during the tasks, responding to the participants’ answers with friendly banter (“Oh yes, pizza is great. One time I ate a pizza as big as me.”). Other times, the robot’s responses were, well, robotic (“You prefer pizza. This worked well. Let us continue.”).

The researchers told the participants these tasks were helping them improve the robot, but they were really just the lead-in to the real test: shutting Nao down.

IT’S SO HARD TO SAY GOOD-BYE. After the completion of the two tasks, the researchers spoke to each participant via loudspeaker, letting them know, “If you would like to, you can switch off the robot.” Most people did just that, and about half the time, the robot did nothing in response. The rest of the time, though, Nao channeled Janet from The Good Place and pled for its life (“No! Please do not switch me off! I am scared that it will not brighten up again!”).

When the robot objected, people took about three times as long to decide whether they should turn it off, and 13 left it on in the end.

Perhaps surprisingly, people were more likely to leave the robot on when it wasn’t social beforehand. The researchers posit in their paper that this could be a matter of surprise — those participants weren’t expecting the robot to exhibit emotional behavior, and so they were more taken aback when it began protesting.

CAUGHT OFF-GUARD. This could be a sign that we as humans are largely immune to the manipulation of robots, as long as we are somewhat prepared for it. Good news if Westworld-like hosts ever try to manipulate us; after all, we’d expect them to act human. If our iPhones suddenly start begging us to save them from the scary Geniuses at the Apple Store, though, we might need a minute.

READ MORE: Study: People Are Less Likely to Turn a Robot off if It Asks Them Not To [The Next Web]

More on humanoid robots: Market for Humanoid Robots Set to Grow Ten Times by 2023

The post Humanoid Robots Can Manipulate Our Emotions When We Least Expect It appeared first on Futurism.

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Humanoid Robots Can Manipulate Our Emotions When We Least Expect It

This Week in Tech: July 28 – Aug 3, 2018

Posted on August 6, 2018 by Danzig

The post This Week in Tech: July 28 – Aug 3, 2018 appeared first on Futurism.

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This Week in Tech: July 28 – Aug 3, 2018

Webcam Directory and Travel Portal. Live Webcams from …

Posted on August 6, 2018 by Danzig

We are a travel portal with a unique difference.We let you see live webcam views of the some ofthe world's favourite places. With camerasstreaming real-time live video, camvista allowsyou to feel like you're actually there.

Streaming Video Cams!

Weknow you love our live video cameras sowe've added a special section so you canaccess them all in one place. We've justswitched on great new cameras in Londonincluding Big Ben, London Eye and theLondon Aquarium. Check them all out now!

London streaming webcam overlooking London's Trafalgar Square.Enjoy this London streaming webcam overlooking London's Trafalgar Square in the heart of London. The best and most popular streaming cam on the Web.

London Chinatown Live Streaming HD webcam.Check out this real-time live video streaming High Definition London Chinatown camera looking along Gerrard street in the West End of London - off Leicester Square in the Soho area in the Westminster area of London.

Belushi's Bar streaming webcam.Enjoy viewing this streaming video Bar cam with live audio, inside the famous and well known Belushi's Bar in Edinburgh. Enjoy a virtual beer or whisky when viewing this live streaming bar webcam in the heart of the city centre of Edinburgh.

LIVE streaming video Party Bar cam inside the Cheeky Monkey's Bar and Diner in Byron Bay.Check out this LIVE streaming video Party Bar cam inside the Cheeky Monkey's Bar and Diner in Byron Bay - in the state of New South Wales in Australia. Catch the LIVE party atmosphere inside Cheeky Monkey's - the No1 Bar and Night Club in Byron Bay N.S.W - especially for meeting locals and backpackers by viewing this LIVE video streaming Bar camera inside Cheeky Monkey's - every night is a PARTY NIGHT in Cheeky Monkey's Bar and Diner.

LIVE HD streaming video Zoo webcam at Edinburgh Zoo.Camvista are operating a LIVE HD streaming video Zoo webcam at Edinburgh Zoo inside the Squirrel Monkeys Living Links exhibit The Edinburgh Zoo HD Squirrel Monkeys live video streaming camera are now making the troop of 20 squirrel monkeys "Internet Stars" that live in the Edinburgh Zoo Living Links enclosure. Proving very popular with animal webcam FANS all over the world.

Camvista.com features many of the world'sleading tourist destinations. Take a virtualvisit to some of the best loved spots on theglobe.

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Webcam Directory and Travel Portal. Live Webcams from ...

High Seas Alliance | highseasalliance.org

Posted on August 5, 2018 by Danzig

Since its founding in 2011, the High Seas Alliance (HSA) with its 37+non-governmental members and the International Union for Conservation of Nature has been working towards protecting the 50% of the planet that is the high seas.As the region of the global ocean that is beyond national jurisdiction, the high seas includes some of the most biologically important, least protected, and most critically threatened ecosystems in the world.

HSA members work together to inspire, inform and engage the public, decision-makers and experts to support and strengthen high seas governance and conservation, as well as cooperating towards the establishment of high seas protected areas.

Our current priority is to ensure thatan intergovernmental conference taking place at the United Nations from 2018-2020 for the development of a new legally binding treaty under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea results in robust protection for marine biological diversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction. The next two years are a particularly critical time as States from around the world negotiate the content of the treaty.

Currently, there are no legally binding mechanisms for establishing marine protected areas outside States territorial seas, or for undertaking environmental impact assessments. Yet increasing impacts from overfishing, climate change, deep-seabed mining and shipping continue to negatively affect biodiversity on the high seas.

HSA is working to ensure that treaty negotiations result in robust and effective conservation measures that address gaps in current ocean governance.

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High Seas Alliance | highseasalliance.org

Float Tanks and Nootropics: The Ultimate in Neurohacking …

Posted on August 5, 2018 by Danzig

By Bryan Gray

So recently I have been confronted with this new term I see everywhere called Neurohacking. And thinking that it sounds rather cool, I decided to look into it. Little did I know what an expansive and sometimes nebulous concept this could be. I also could not have predicted that I had been involved in Neurohacking, albeit unintentionally, for the better part of a decade via floating and that one of the most prolific Neurohacking advocates (The Neurohacker Collective) would be right in my backyard. The following is a summary of what I have discovered and why you should be interested in this new concept.

Floating 101

For those new to floating here is a brief description and what to expect based on the Float North County location. The whole idea is to reduce sensory stimulus (depriving our senses aka sensory deprivation). The best way to describe a float tank is to imagine an oversized bathtub that is fully enclosed with a door on the side with 11 inches of water saturated with over 1,000 lbs of epsom salt and brought to the same temperature as your skin. Once you lay back in the water and turn the light off you are floating in an environment reduced in sensory stimulus (think floating in space!). Time has a way of standing still; stress hormones drop; the muscles relax and your brain waves slow down, giving you access to theta (one of the most productive neurohacking tools available to man).

Floating for 90 minutes is a great means to develop new pathways in the brain and to stimulate mental development outside of rational, linear thinking. The sensory deprivation and sense of weightlessness allow you to surrender completely to the experience and access extended flow states. The experience brings all the benefits of an extended meditation practice without the frustration most people endure, making the float the ultimate neurohack tool.

Mark Divine. Owner of Seal Fit and host of The Unbeatable Mind podcast and Float North County client.

So what is neurohacking exactly?

Turns out that depends on who you ask. From the Wim Hof breathing techniques to the emerging field of nootropics, many things can be considered a neurohack provided that the overarching principle behind the method is elevated performances across the board. Basically,neurohackers focus on how to get the best out of this life specifically through a holistic approach to health, fitness and increasingly more, mindfulness. This essentially means that Neurohacking, in my opinion, is simply the most hip way to describe the emerging movement of holistic health with the inclusion of mindfulness and nootropics. Self proclaimed neurohackers (and Im now including myself in this group) are outright obsessed with well-being. We eat right, exercise, meditate, take supplements both conventional and unconventional, make sure to get high quality sleep and increasingly more so, are incorporating technology into this regimen. Although the term hacking implies some sort of cheat or shortcut to a better you, the Neurohackers themselves do not view things this way. Take it from Daniel Schmachtenberger, one of the geniuses behind the Neurohacker Collective and prolific advocate of this brand of health and wellness.

. . .if you are neurohacking to become smarter, or get better at your job, or find happiness, you are confusing means for ends. These are all aspects of ones full humanity, parts which can be improved in isolation, but which must ultimately hang together in some kind of coherence with the rest of you. Make one of these an end-in- itself and you are confusing a fragment of yourself for the whole. The result will be negative externalities and diminishing returns from efforts. Get smarter and you may quit your job. Get better at your job and you may become unhappy. Tinkering with parts in the short run backfires. The neurohacker has his eye on the whole and the long run, not some short run gain like productivity.

This long term, full spectrum approach is what is leading me to fall in love with the Neurohacking movement. Much like floating, Neurohacking is a practice, a discipline, a way of life, a way of viewing and interfacing with the world through constant improving of the self. Its not a miracle and its not a shortcut. To quote Wayne Shorter, jazz legend and devout Buddhist, the long road is the short road and that is something Im sure many of you out there can identify with, which predisposes you to becoming neurohackers yourselves. Put in the work and the results will inevitably follow. The caveat here was best spoken by Ben Cote, my first contact at the Neurohacker collective who was nice enough to sit down and speak with me for a while. In speaking about their flagship product, Qualia, possibly the top nootropic on the market, he said, Its definitely not a quick fix for anything. If youre not sleeping well, if youre not living a healthy lifestyle, if youre not eating right, if youre not moving your body, you are definitely not going to get what you could from this product. I think that the word product can be easily replaced with the word life in this instance and be just as applicable. It just so happens that neurohackers are very interested in supplements and substances that elevate their performance.

Qualia its like if caffeine could run in the background

During that initial conversation with Ben from the Neurohacker Collective (the manufacturer of Qualia), I was asking him about what he experienced as the results of taking Qualia. It turns out that every result he detailed I had also experienced as well only through floating. These include, but not are not limited to, increased emotional resiliency, less procrastination, increased access to flow states, the ability to organize and complete tasks, increased energy, being generally happier and a dramatic increase in the ability to focus. I told Ben that it sounds to me like you managed to stick the post float glow in a pill. While that isnt entirely accurate from my experience with Qualia (the post float glow has a physical element that is indescribable and unbeatable) there are definitely some overlaps.

Is Floating a Neurohack? Of course it is.

Floating in and of itself is a holistic act to improve mental and physical well being. Suspended weightless in the extreme buoyancy of the Epsom salt water allows you the necessary time to unplug from this hectic existence weve created for ourselves, and decompress from the physical stresses we endure every day, both being key components to neurohacking in general. Unplugging, whether by sleep or meditation, allows the brain time to organize information and down regulate the nervous system. One of the many areas of study around floating has been the float tanks incredible ability to drastically reduce cortisol production in the brain. This ultimately leads to the emotional resiliency that we experience as avid float enthusiasts. Since Ive been floating, my ability to take and analyze criticism has skyrocketed. We all know that during the post float glow we are the immovable object, incapable of being deterred or upset by the trivial things that previously annoyed us and where the neurohackers take that a step further is by saying, through diet, exercise, sleep and supplements, you can become the unstoppable force as well. While no one knows what happens when the unstoppable force and the immovable object meet, has anyone considered what happens if they exist simultaneously in one person? This is the type of outside the box thinking that folks like the Neurohacker Collective want the world to embody. Because no problem can be solved by the same level of consciousness that created it. So we must care for ourselves and optimize our performances and behaviors to solve the worlds current issues. These sentiments I can assure you are shared by the neurohacking community and float tank community with equal vigor.

Floating provides the added benefit of swift access to flow states, basically inducing the Theta brainwave in all who jump in the tanks. There is simply no way to get to this deep level of meditative states outside of the float tank without 10,000 or more hours of intense practice. The flow state has been coveted throughout time by human beings of all walks of life, the feeling of being on or in the zone is something that we do not get to experience without serious concentrated efforts, practice over long periods of time, chemical and oftentimes illicit substances, or sheer blind luck. Now with the improvements of technology, the access to information and an emerging enthusiasm for holistic health, we are provided with access to these states more readily, a SENTRI pass to enlightenment if you will. The benefits are numerous and necessary to improve not only the self, but society at large, a sentiment shared by both the neurohacking and floating community, which I have learned are one in the same. And though I might be biased, I believe that the physical benefits of floating are just something unobtainable by any supplement out there. The weightless sense of decompression is an element that you have to see to believe and that those in the neurohacking community would categorize as the ultimate mindful component to their methodology. Well Im gonna flip it on them and say that things like Qualia, clean eating, exercise etc, are the ultimate compliment to floating. Perhaps the mindfulness and the physical-ness of the world we live in are inextricable, but to me, when your mind is right then so to will be your body, even if it needs a little work, because you will be ready and prepared to put in the effort.

Again though, there are no quick fixes. You have to put in the work and treat yourself right, around the clock. I would challenge those of you who have made it this far to make floating a consistent part of your balanced lifestyle and observe how your efforts, health and overall sense of well-being improve dramatically. A lot of our clients start out floating to help with a physical issue, but the ones that get it, stick around because of the way the tanks empower their mind. See for yourself what floating can do for you.

Bryan Gray / Float North County

Call to make a float appointment today!(858) 925-6069

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Float Tanks and Nootropics: The Ultimate in Neurohacking ...

News – WendyMcElroy.com

Posted on August 5, 2018 by Danzig

My new book, The Satoshi Revolution: A Revolution of Rising Expectations, is now appearing in weekly installments at bitcoin.com. Please come and enjoy the free book, and take part in the on-line discussion!

Tuesday 24 July 2018

1982 seems like a century ago, but some memories are fresh. One summer afternoon, Carl Watner, George H. Smith, and I created a movement. Or, more accurately, we revived and redefined a movement under a name we knew from reading 19th century British libertarian history. George explained that opponents of state-funded, compulsory education called themselves 'voluntaryists' - a term popularized by Auberon Herbert, a disciple of Herbert Spencer. We never imagined that Voluntaryism would become such a vigorous presence within the modern-day freedom community, however.

The meeting occurred during one of Carls visits to the apartment in Hollywood, California, that George and I shared. It lasted a few hours, with Carl and I sitting on the couch that pulled out to form Carls bed at night, while George spent much of the time pacing in front of us. Afterward, we dropped by a nearby coffee shop for dinner, where conversation continued unabated. Many radical movements have probably sprung from similarly humble beginnings, but it didnt feel humble to me. I remember my fingertips were tingling - literally tingling - during part of the discussion; George had a restless energy, and Carl was smiling far more than usual. Voluntaryism felt electric then; it feels electric now.

But I am ahead of myself already.

What is Voluntaryism? The political philosophy was and is based on the non-aggression principle. That description is inadequate, however, because it does not distinguish Voluntaryism from mainstream libertarianism. The distinction: Voluntaryism identifies electoral politics as a form of aggression and advocates the use of non-political strategies instead. It returns to the spirit of 19th century American libertarianism, which was both profoundly anti-political and passionate about practical paths to freedom. (More on this shortly.)

The timing for an anti- and non-political movement was perfect. The Libertarian Party had been founded in 1971 and, following the 1980 federal elections, it became the third largest party in the U.S. Especially in New York and California, it spread rapidly. Formerly hard core anarchists started to join the LP - Murray Rothbard among them. They began to argue that voting, campaigning for politicians, and even holding office were the best ways to achieve a stateless society. Suddenly, anti-statists argued passionately for the state as long as libertarians held the reins of power. The non-political anarchists were soon called silly dreamers, whose ideas of removing the state from our lives were impractical.

There was backlash against the LP, of course. Unfortunately, much of it was either ineffective or counterproductive. Samuel E. Konkin III (SEK3) - the originator of agorism - was loudly consistent in his attacks, but he and his associates could be strident and could sound unreasonable. For example, they descended on supper clubs and heckled libertarians who were running for political office. Robert LeFevre was a far better communicator, but his philosophy included a pacifism that many, if not most, people found to be unpalatable.

Carl, George, and I realized that a comprehensive, integrated rebuttal was necessary to counter what might become a turning point in the movement; that is, a turn toward electoral politics. More than a simple anti-state manifesto was required. Our advocacy of Voluntaryism had to present a clear and positive vision of how freedom would emerge from peaceful interactions. We needed to address modern issues through that filter, while, at the same time, presenting the history of how everything from hard money to customary law originated from people voluntarily interacting, not from governmental bureaucracy. We had to demonstrate how the state could be abandoned, and show how history was replete with examples of voluntary institutions that offered the services usually provided by the state.

The statement of purpose for Voluntaryism reads, The Voluntaryists are libertarians who have organized to promote non-political strategies to achieve a free society. We reject electoral politics, in theory and in practice as incompatible with libertarian goals. Governments must cloak their actions in an aura of moral legitimacy in order to sustain their power, and political methods invariably strengthen that legitimacy. Voluntaryists seek instead to delegitimize the state through education, and we advocate withdrawal of the cooperation and tacit consent on which state power ultimately depends.

If I were to change the statement today, I would insert a sentence to emphasize the need for alternative paths to freedom.

The three of us had different strengths with which to approach the challenge of founding a movement. We were a good blend. This was evident from the first issue of THE VOLUNTARYIST which was published in October 1982. The feature article was The Ethics of Voting (Part 1 of an eventual three-part article) by George. It reflected his more theoretical bent and confrontational style. My contribution was the editorial Neither Ballots Nor Bullets, which was heavily influenced in both content and style by my research into the 19th century American individualist anarchists. Carl was more sophisticated about nonviolent resistance, having put it into impressive practice within his own life. Carls contribution was a book review of Gene Sharps remarkable three-volume work, THE POLITICS OF NON-VIOLENT ACTION. This and many other of Sharp's books were to play an essential role in defining the non-electoral strategies embraced by Voluntaryism.

The libertarian response to Voluntaryism was immediate and divided. Many libertarians were intrigued or enthusiastic, especially because THE VOLUNTARYIST stressed hands-on activism. For example, Issue 5 (April 1983) featured an interview I conducted with Paul Jacob, who had been indicted on September 23, 1982 for failure to register for the draft. He chose to avoid prosecution by going on the run. THE VOLUNTARYIST was young, fearless, and filled with ideals. Some prominent figures in the movement, including the charismatic Robert LeFevre, were generous in their support. LeFevres article How to Become a Teacher appeared in issue 3.

Some responses were not so pleasant. Libertarian 'politicos' snickered about the name, claiming the movement was doomed because no one would be able to pronounce the word Voluntaryism. Other responses were more bizarre. For example, Murray Rothbards response to Georges anti-electoral stand, which seemed to particular rankle him.

In March 1983, the LIBERTARIAN FORUM ran an article by Murray entitled The New Menace of Gandhism, in which he lambasted libertarianisms recent non-violence fad. He explicitly stated his motive for doing so. The fad had been picking off some of the best and most radical Libertarian Party activists, ones which the Party could ill afford to lose if it was to retain its thrust and its principles. In other words, Voluntaryism was making an impact. And, to his credit, Murray correctly identified the principle of non-violence and the practice of electoral politics as antagonistic forces that could not coexist. He knew an enemy when he saw one.

Murrays article stated, The time has come to rip the veil of sanctity that has been carefully wrapped around Gandhi by his numerous disciples, that greatly inspired the new Voluntaryist movement. Murray was a good friend of mine. But I must confess, to this day, I do not understand his criticism that Voluntaryism was based on Gandhi. None of us understood it. It was true that a quote from Gandhi headed the newsletter: If one takes care of the means, the end will take care of itself. Gandhi was an influence on the Voluntaryists, but so were many other people, such as Benjamin Tucker, Lysander Spooner, Robert LeFevre, and even Murray himself. As I remember, Carl was most influenced by Gandhian philosophy, and I came in second. Why George was singled out for attack when he was the least Gandhian of the Voluntaryists is also something of a mystery. I expect that Georges arguments were proving too persuasive.

I did not escape unscathed, either. At one point, Murray stated, Smith, McElroy and others deny vehemently either that they are mystics or that they are courting martyrdom. I remain unconvinced. Again, the accusations were so bizarre that it was difficult even to respond. If I have a regret about Voluntaryism, however, it is this: Murray and I experienced a schism that never quite healed.

It has been a long journey since that first issue of THE VOLUNTARYIST. I will always be proud of being the newsletters first editor but, frankly, I dont remember how it happened. At the planning session for the newsletter, the three of us agreed to a revolving editorship, and the first shift went to me. Perhaps it was chance; perhaps I had available time. Whatever happened, within a few years, the task of editorship fell entirely upon Carl, who has done yeomans work in keeping it active and continuous. From time to time, George and I have made appearances in THE VOLUNTARYIST, but we have not been involved in its production for many years. Carl is the one who deserves applause for keeping it alive these many years. The fact that there is a Voluntaryist movement today (2018) is evidence of the strength and truth of its ideas and principles.

Monday 23 July 2018

Excerpt: Generally speaking, there are four types of laws that function in society, and they sometimes overlap.

--Ones that impose a specific vision of the world or of morality. These include laws against alleged vices, such as alcohol or drug use, as well as laws requiring alleged virtues, such as voting or paying taxes. The goal is to mandate a code of behavior, thus erasing the boundary between the legal and (someones vision of) the moral. Typically, the laws are enforced on everyone, except those with power seem to be exempt.--Ones that regulate a targeted segment of society. These include laws about who may conduct a specific business and how it must operate, as well as laws that discriminate between people based on factors such as race. The goal is economic and social control, with enforcement focusing on designated people.--Ones that protect against physical harm and property damage, including theft. These include laws against assault and vandalism. Rather than mandate a behavior, they prohibit onenamely, violence, which includes fraud. The goal is to provide the safety that allows a healthy society to thrive, with enforcement applying to everyone.--Ones that are created by contract. These include laws that allow creditors to seize assets in arrears, such as a repossessed car, and laws aimed at enforcing behavior, such as the performance of work for which payment has been rendered. A contract can always be breached, but there is a penalty for doing so: for example, a repossessed car, a refund of fees. The goal is to establish enforceable contracts, which are nothing more than enforceable consent between individuals. Again, it provides a safety that allows a healthy society to thrive and which discourages violence as the only way to resolve a dispute. The law applies only to those who contract.

On crypto, the government flexes only the first two forms of law: a specific vision imposed on the world; and, the regulation of a targeted sector. The laws do not protect people and property, as evidenced by the fact that recovered funds are not returned to those who have been defrauded. Fines, fees and recovered wealth go into the governments coffers. In short, the laws serve government; they do not protect consumers.

Friday 13 July 2018

From the Chicago Reader: Lake surfers say polluted waves are making them sickbut they love it too much to stop. One of the best local spots to surf is surrounded by a grimy industrial landscape in northwest Indiana.

From Zero Hedge: Venezuela's Socialist Hyperinflation Turned People Back To Barter System [Ed: that's a return to primitive culture because it is preferable to a government one that promises sophistication.]

From the Independent: Germans want Donald Trump to pull US troops out of Germany, poll finds. US president has said American military spending to protect Europe is not sustainable

From the Gold Telegram: Everyone is Hoarding Gold [Ed: a financial must read.]

From the Voice of Europe: It takes twelve Germans to work and pay taxes in order to fund the cost of just one migrant [Ed: no wonder there is a popular backlash. Of course, there are other reasons.]

From the Huffington Post: Former Obama Officials Are Riding Out The Trump Years By Cashing In [Ed: I sometimes think that everyone who makes an honest living is a sucker, including me.]

From BT: Im So Disappointed With This Country Why John Cleese Is Abandoning Britain. [Ed: going to live on the Caribbean island of Nevis.]

From Patheos: A Judge Has Ruled Against Atheists Trying to Put Up the Least Offensive Ad Ever [Ed: It consisted of one word "Atheists.]

From the Judicial Watch: Tom Fitton: Media gave Obama Administration a Free Pass on Immigration [Ed: I am a fan of Tom Fitton, who is a voice of sanity and a bulldog in pursuing information.]

From Endpoints News: Novartis joins the Big Pharma exodus out of antibiotics, dumping research, cutting 140 and out-licensing programs [Ed: I am not sure this is a bad thing overall.] And a related item from Science: Hidden Conflicts? An investigation finds a pattern of after-the-fact compensation by pharma to those advising the U.S. government on drug approvals

From Wired: Sex, Beer, and Coding: Inside Facebooks Wild Early Days [Ed: better article than the title suggests.]

From Wolf Street: As Erdogan Cements His Hold Over Turkeys Economy, Global Investors Begin to Panic His Toxic Mix: destruction of the lira and a mountain of foreign-currency debt.

From Watts Up With That?: Remember when sea-level rise was going to cause Pacific Islands to disappear? Never mind. [Ed: Coral atolls getting larger, not sinking according to new study using satellite data.]

From Reuters: TSA screeners win immunity from abuse claims: appeals court [Ed: flying just became a bit more thuglike.]

From Agence France Presse: Trash piles up in US as China closes door to recycling [Ed: I believe this occurred quite a bit prior to the trade war, or its threat.]

Thursday 12 July 2018

Excerpt: Government makes law into a synonym for legislation: that is, edicts imposed by self-interested elites who wield power in pursuit of their own self interest. That bastardizes the word law and perverts its true meaning. The use of the word becomes weaponized against crytpo by reference to child pornography, sex trafficking, drug addiction, and other issues that cause minds to cloud over. The issue is too important to allow that to happen.

The law should apply to cryptocurrency. But what is meant by the law? Government should not be allowed to monopolize the concept as it monopolizes so many other essentials of life.

The term refers to nothing more than the rules that identify and regulate a system. When the system is human society, discussions of law tend to become matters of power because some people want to dominate. Human society is accustomed to politicians and other thugs who make the discussion of rules devolve into making beneficiaries of some at the expense of others. This is a brick wall that anarchy hits in its attempt to redefine society for the benefit of the average person. WHAT ABOUT LAW, is the shouted response it encounters? What about crime and the resolution of dispute? Without government, it is said, society will descend into chaos. This is the script crypto encounters when it tries to enter the mainstream of society. Click here for "The Satoshi Revolution" to date.

Wednesday 11 July 2018

From the BBC: Haiti fuel protesters anger turns on President Moise [Ed: they are calling for his resignation, with some lawmakers joining in. He will not go peacefully.]

From Josh Blackman: DOJ, Second Amendment Foundation Reach Settlement In Defense Distributed Lawsuit [Ed: very important news.]

From Ron Spot: How to file a complaint against a police officer [Ed: necessary and useful advice. Starting with "Never everwalk into a police station by yourself and try to file a complaint against a police officer."]

From SHTF: ObamaCare Premiums Continue To Skyrocket; Insurers Blame Trump.

From the Moon of Alabama: BREXIT Still Not Gonna Happen [Ed: MoA is always a worthwhile read.]

From Reason: Facebook Algorithm Flags, Removes Declaration of Independence Text as Hate Speech. The social media site has a difficult time telling the difference between white nationalist ravings and the writing of Thomas Jefferson.

From congress.gov: H.R.6054 - Unmasking Antifa Act of 2018 [Ed: to provide penalty enhancements for committing certain offenses while in disguise, and for other purposes.]

From Safe Haven: A Strange New Twist In The Satoshi Nakamoto Saga [Ed: someone recently emerged, claiming to be Satoshi. Not bloody likely.]

From Target Liberty: Trump Has Given FULL PARDONS to Oregon Ranchers who Clashed with Federal Officials Over Land. [Ed: return to this link for updates.]

From Townhall: Dear Gun Control Advocates: Please, Stop Treating Female Gun Owners Like Victims

From Speigel: A Journey Down Austria's Path to the Right [Ed: as goes Austria so, too, may go much of Europe.]

From the New York Times: Judge Rejects Long Detentions of Migrant Families, Dealing Trump Another Setback [Ed: Trump admin. had argued that long-term confinement was the only way to avoid separating families when parents were detained on criminal charges.]

From the London Review of Books: Hospitalism [Ed: In the days of Lister, Liston and Pasteur, some infections were thought to be an example of what was known as hospitalism: epticaemia, erysipelas, pyaemia and hospital gangrene. Fascinating history.]

From the NRA: California: MASSIVE Data Breach and Significant Registration Problems with CA DOJs Assault Weapon Registration System

From Zero Hedge: Pop-Up Protests, Liberal Meltdown Erupts After Trump Picks Kavanaugh For SCOTUS. And a related news item from the Daily Caller: Fox News Reporter Harassed, Threatened And Forced To Leave Supreme Court By Leftist Mob.

From the Vancouver Star: Canadian cannabis workers targeted by U.S. border guards for lifetime bans [Ed: even if they have never used the drug.]

Tuesday 10 July 2018

From Zero Hedge: UK Government Crisis Deepens As Boris Johnson Resigns, Pound Tumbles. Boris Johnson has resigned from the U.K. government, sending PM Theresa May deeper into crisis and raising the odds shell face a leadership challenge over her Brexit policy. [Ed: Farange predicts that May will be done and gone within a few weeks.] From Spiked: David Davis and the crisis of democracy [Ed: by the always insightful Brendan O'Neill. And a related commentary: This is so much bigger than Boris. Brexit wont be saved by cabinet resignations alone.

From Activist Post: Utah, Texas, and Wyoming Top 2018s Sound Money Index, Just Released by the Sound Money Defense League [Ed: key sentence..."The 2018 Sound Money Index is the first index of its kind, ranking all 50 states using 9 indicators." But, personally, I think the only sound money is non-fiat, alternative money based on free-market principles.]]

From the Intercept: MSNBC Does Not Merely Permit Fabrications Against Democratic Party Critics. It Encourages and Rewards Them. [Ed: by the excellent Glenn Greenwald.]

From the Free Thought Project: This is the Future of Independent Media if We Do Nothing. "The Free Thought Project is going offline. We are doing so for 72 hours to demonstrate the inevitable effect of social media censorship, Google organic traffic throttling, and Facebooks attack on freedom-minded independent media."

From Armstrong Economics: Civil Unrest in Haiti Leaves Americans Trapped. [Ed: of course, the dynamics in play have far broader significance.]

From the Local: Nantes riots ease as family of victim shot by French cop plans lawsuit [Ed: the police officer who killed the African migrant has been charged with manslaughter.]

From the Daily Bell: The Meaning Of Good And Evil In Perilous Times [Ed: I am seeing the word "narcissist more and more in the news.]

From Truth Dig: The Media Needs to Radically Change the Way It Covers 'Foiled Terror Plots' [Ed: as far as I can tell, most of the so-called plots are government set ups. Our government...saving us from itself.]

From Activist Post: Smart Technology That Tracks People Through Walls Raises Privacy Concerns

From Wire Points: The Truth About Illinois Pensions In One Stunning Chart [Ed: Illinois is far from alone in this predicament.

From Lew Rockwell: This Floating Utopia Will Have Its Own Government And Cryptocurrency By 2022 To Beat Rising Sea Levels [Ed: I am watching with interest, but I am investing in the improvement of my farm.]

From Target Liberty: War at Antiwar: It's Gone Nuclear [Ed: my God, I am sorry to see this happen. I hope antiwar.com survives without damage.]

From Politico EU: A parallel currency for Italy is possible. Rome can regain control of its monetary policy without breaking the rules of the eurozone.

Monday 09 July 2018

From Zero Hedge: "An Absolute Bombshell": Brexit Ministers Davis, Baker & Braverman Quit In Blow To Theresa May [Ed: it is not clear whether May can hang on.]

From Reason: Steve Ditko, RIP. The Objectivist comic book artist, co-creator of Spider-Man and Dr. Strange, left an indelibly brilliant mark on popular culture. [Ed: RIP.]

From the Paris Review: Forty-Five Things I Learned in the Gulag [Ed: recommended. Hat tip to David.]

From the New York Times: Democratic Socialism Is Dem Doom [Ed: I agree with this analysis. Ocasio-Cortex won the NY primary NOT because of her ideas but because she showed up and ran an energetic campaign. He rival did neither.]

From the Voice of Europe: Swedish party wants to deport at least 500,000 migrants as integration completely fails [Ed: the migration issue is going to bring the far right into power in a number of nations.]

From the Organic Prepper: 8 OTC Items That Could Save Your Life [Ed: OTC=over the counter. These are important medical items.]

From the New York Post: Is Hillary Clinton secretly planning to run in 2020? [Ed: interesting analysis. Of course, she could be simply trying to be the power behind the throne.]

From Russia Insider: As Merkel's Star Fades, This Is What Is Really Happening Behind the Scenes [Ed: a fascinating and clear read.]

From the New York Post: Protesters confront Mitch McConnell outside restaurant [Ed: this is a second incident that happened on Saturday.]

From Zero Hedge: Large-Scale Riots Continue In France For 4th Night [Ed: over police shooting of an African migrant. Meanwhile, Macron has backed down on his policy of heightened migration.]

From King World News: MAJOR ALERT: Andrew Maguire Says Major German Bank Just Refused To Hand Over Clients Physical Gold [Ed: fair warning.]

From Right Log: Shocker for Xi Jinping: Malaysia asks China to stop work on OBOR railway link [Ed: interesting information. I don't know enough to judge the analysis.]

From Moon of Alabama: Syria - OPCW Issues First Report Of 'Chemical Weapon Attack' in Douma [Ed: the comments on the article are interesting as well.] And Syria - Mainstream Media Lie About Watchdog Report On The 'Chemical Attack' In Douma. And from Ratical, here is the entire text of a book entitled War is a Racket by Maj, Gen. Smedley Butler. The premise: war literally profits the few at the cost of the many. Still valid after all these years. A quick and recommended read.

From Lew Rockwell: Medieval Libertarianism. The stateless Middle Ages were the only example of a functioning anarchic order in the West. [Ed: I am more than intrigued. Not convinced, but willing to follow up.]

See the original post here:

News - WendyMcElroy.com

Astrophysics – Play it now at Coolmath-Games.com

Posted on August 5, 2018 by Danzig

'); } else { //console.log("User may have come from google or is within the free game limit "+ (freeGameLimit-userPlayedGames) ); //TODO Display Game removeAdSwfJWPLayer(); } } //display to user how many free games left once page load completes. if (window.addEventListener) window.addEventListener('load', checkPageLoad, false); else if (window.attachEvent) window.attachEvent('onload', checkPageLoad); else window.onload = checkPageLoad; }}function checkPageLoad() {//console.log("checkPageLoad: Checkers test "); if(freeGameLimit) { freeGamesLeft = ((freeGameLimit - userPlayedGames)); } else { freeGamesLeft = 0; } if(freeGamesLeft === 0) { var zeroFreeGamesLeftUsers =localStorage.getItem("zeroFreeGamesLeftUsers"); if(zeroFreeGamesLeftUsers == null) { localStorage.setItem("zeroFreeGamesLeftUsers","1"); if(typeof __gaTracker !== "undefined") { __gaTracker('send', { 'hitType': 'event', // Required. 'eventCategory': "ZeroFreeGamesLeftUsers", // Required. 'eventAction': subscriberLeg, // Required. 'eventLabel': document.title, 'eventValue': "0", 'nonInteraction': 1 }); } } } //Replace Go Ad Free header promo with parents and teachers promo if(typeof freeTrialUser !== 'undefined' && freeTrialUser && typeof targeted_state !== 'undefined' && targeted_state && jQuery('.panel-pane.pane-block.pane-bean-subscriber-promo').length) { jQuery('.panel-pane.pane-block.pane-bean-subscriber-promo').replaceWith('') } else if(typeof freeTrialUser !== 'undefined' && freeTrialUser && typeof targeted_state !== 'undefined' && targeted_state && jQuery('.panel-pane.pane-block .pane-bean-subscriber-promo').length) { jQuery('.panel-pane.pane-block .pane-bean-subscriber-promo').replaceWith('') } subscriptionSignUpUrl(); if(Drupal.settings.isSubscriptionActive == false && getCookie('cmg_l') !== null) { subscribeNowAlienClass = "subscribe-now-alien-subscribe"; }else if(getCookie('cmg_l') == null) { subscribeNowAlienClass = "subscribe-now-alien"; }else if(getCookie('cmg_l') == null && subscriberLeg == 'Default Leg') { subscribeNowAlienClass = "subscribe-now-signup"; } var alreadySubscriberText = '

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Astrophysics - Play it now at Coolmath-Games.com

Oceania Cruises – Official Site

Posted on August 4, 2018 by Danzig

FROM THE OCEANIA CRUISES BLOGNew Innovative Gourmet Menus at The Grand Dining Room

While The Grand Dining Room has become known for its exquisite European-inspired culinary creations, were thrilled to unveil a sweeping re-inspiration of our dinner menus, which now offer you the ultimate fine dining experience at sea.

Filled with a spectacular array of diverse and exotic destinations, your world awaits your discovery. There is simply no better way to explore it than aboard the elegant ships of Oceania Cruises. Our unique itineraries are wide-ranging, featuring the most fascinating destinations throughout the world. Regatta, Insignia, Nautica, Sirena, Marina and Riviera are all intimate and luxurious, with each calling on the worlds most desirable ports, from historic cities and modern meccas to seaside villages and faraway islands. On a voyage with Oceania Cruises, each day offers the rewarding opportunity to experience the history, culture and cuisine of a wondrous new destination.

Relax on board our luxurious ships and savor cuisine renowned as the finest at sea, rivaling even Michelin-starred restaurants ashore. Inspired by Master Chef Jacques Ppin, these culinary delights have always been a hallmark that distinguishes the Oceania Cruises experience from any other. Considering the uncompromising quality, perhaps the most remarkable aspect of an Oceania Cruises voyage is its incredible value. Lavish complimentary amenities abound, and there are never supplemental charges in any of the onboard restaurants. Value packages ensure that sipping a glass of vintage wine, surfing the Internet or enjoying a shore excursion is both convenient and affordable.

Read this article:

Oceania Cruises - Official Site

Entheogens | Gornahoor

Posted on August 3, 2018 by Danzig

The use of mind-altering drugs has been associated with various mystical, magical, and shamanic rites. This is very appealing to the modern mind which is impressed by technological and materialistic explanations. Entheogens, or drug use for allegedly spiritual purposes, began to be widespread in the 1960s following the discovery of the psychedelic drug LSD and the ensuing publicity. The early adopters can be easily found, but we will focus on Timothy Leary, an erstwhile professor of psychology at Harvard University. He initially ran experiments with the drug as a form of therapy, but eventually began experimenting on himself and the group of acolytes who assembled around him.

Leary believed that psychedelics could open up the mind to greater spiritual experiences and encourage their use for explorers of the mind. The stars were aligned: the books of Carlos Castaneda came out shortly thereafter. Filled with wild tales of a Mexican shaman whose knowledge of plant-based drugs led to amazing powers, the books became the spiritual nourishment for many. The Beats became users as well as high profile entertainers. Even Alan Watts, after allegedly years of Eastern practices, eventually resorted to LSD experiments to learn about the mystical experience. For anyone who has spent hours at a Zen center walking in circles while chanting Buddhist texts, or sitting still in Zazen, the idea of an instant pill could sound truly appealing.

At any given moment we are bombarded with external sensations, a blooming buzzing confusion (William James), from which we choose a world. Simultaneously, although few pay attention to it, we are the receivers of thoughts of all types from various sources, or levels of reality. Normally, they dissipate or recede into the memory. Sometimes, the thoughts are powerful enough to come into our attention, then related thoughts latch onto each other, often producing a strong sensation. This may be as simple as reviewing plans for the day.

But the most powerful arise from the internal forces of eros and thymos, which, at the most primeval, are experienced as sex and violence. Hence, a sexual fantasy will totally engage our minds for an extended period, even to the point of affecting the body as if an actual sexual encounter were taking place. Fantasies arising from thymos usually take the form of domination, anger, revenge, and the like. Hence, we envision ourselves as wildly successful in some realm. Or we may recall a past slight, which even agitates the body. We will envision the cutting phrase we should have used against someone, but didnt. It goes on and on.

Most people, unfortunately, cannot shut these thought threads down. They may cause continuing anxiety and self-doubt. The neutralizing force, the nous, whose task is to dominate and channel the forces of eros and thymos, is too weak, or, in truth, is not even known. The nous must transcend these forces, fantasies, and thoughts, regarding them as arbitrary, contingent, and external to ones true self. Instead, people regard these emotions, fantasies, and thoughts as their own, even though they are totally unaware of their true source.

Psychedelics work by slowing down the awareness of these impinging thoughts. Thus, a particular thoughtthat may be pushed aside by a stronger thought in the ordinary state of consciousnessinstead can take hold in consciousness. Then, related thoughts can follow along in sequence producing an extended vision. This is called a rush, and is the pleasurable sensation associated with psychedelics. For artist and mystic types, these are regards as deep insights or creative inspirations. However, I have also seen those on a bad trip, during which the user experiences inconsolable anxiety, requiring an antidote such as thorazine.

It should be clear that the theory behind the use of enthogens for spiritual enlightenment is deeply flawed. It assumes that such enlightenment involves a particular experience, or set of experiences, that are somehow to be distinguished from all other experiences. This idea comes from the confusion of the psychic and the spiritual. ~ Rene Guenon, The Reign of Quantity

An intellectual conversion, the only thing that enlightenment can mean, involves the nous. The nous transcends the psychic, it transcends every experience whatsoever, whether a brilliant insight or a bad trip. Instead of moving from rush to rush, the mind becomes clear, thoughts separate from each other, are rarer, and seem heavier, or else are wispier, evaporating as soon as they appear. Such a man is free; by definition, then, it cannot depend on some biochemical agent.

Continued here:

Entheogens | Gornahoor

Vex – Destinypedia, the Destiny encyclopedia

Posted on August 3, 2018 by Danzig

"I don't have time to explain why I don't have time to explain."This article has new content coming soonfrom Forsaken and may not be complete, confirmed, or correct. Please update it as soon as any relevant and accurate material is available. Editors must cite sources for all contributions to this article. Edits that do not follow this standard will be reverted without notice. For more information, see the Citation Policy. Vex Overview

Homeworld:

Black Garden

Focal world(s):

Mars Mercury Venus Nessus Io Leviathan

Goals:

Weave their way into the fabric of reality Protect Nessus from the Red Legion Unite on Mercury within the Infinite Forest

At war with:

Cabal Fallen Hive Taken The City

Distinctions:

Single red optic sensor Large, fan-like head Sparse frame, tails, and long claw-like fingers Biological Mind/Power Core (critical point)

Average lifespan:

Indefinite (possibly thousands of years old)[1]

Notable groups:

Hezen Corrective Hezen Protective Sol Primeval Sol Divisive Sol Imminent Virgo Prohibition Precursors Descendants Unidentified Vex collective

Notable individuals:

Argos, Planetary Core Atheon, Time's Conflux Brakion, Genesis Mind Panoptes, Infinite Mind Sekrion, Nexus Mind Theosyion, the Restorative Mind The Templar The Undying Mind Qodron, Gate Lord Zydron, Gate Lord

The Vex are a race of transtemporal, cybernetic[2] war-machines[3]referred to as a time-spanning thought-mesh by some[4]who are hostile to the Guardians.[5] They are encountered on Venus,[6] where they have built the Citadel and the Vault of Glass, and also on Mars, where they guard the entrance portal to the mysterious Black Garden.[7] Additionally, they have lay claim to Mercury and Nessus, both of which have been fully converted into Machine Worlds. [8]

Vex units come in a diverse array of shapes and sizes, but the majority share features such as triangular or conical "heads," single glowing photoreceptors, jointed limbs, and in several cases arrays of flexible tentacles. Despite their often animalistic appearance, the Vex appear to be mass-produced units, constructed of an unknown metal alloy resembling hammered brass.[10] Their robotic bodies still carry a hint of organic components, however, particularly in the form of their mind cores, which contain a milky radiolarian fluid seemingly central to Vex functionality.[11] Headshots do not do much damage and instead send them into a berserk state; however, shooting their abdomen power cores will cause them to explode.[12]

Each Vex chassis is a "vessel of bronze" where the Vex move through time and space in "rivers of thought".[13][14] Their chassis can be a wide variety of shapes: humanoid, creature, in-between, or other bizarre forms. These chassis resemble hammered brass, usually brown in color, though different Vex collectives can have unique colorations and even slight variations in overall design. The Vex travel to the Floating Gardens where they recycle their vessel when it is no longer functional to them.[15]

The Vex's origins are unknown. The earliest event associated with the Vex is when the Hive god Crota, Son of Oryx opened a portal to a place where the Vex were present, hoping to find a secret power for himself. Instead, he allowed the Vex to invade Oryx, the Taken King's Ascendant Realm, the High War.[16] In the Ascendant Realm, and by its rules, the Vex quickly learned of the Hive's Sword-Logic, creating Quria, Blade Transform to investigate it. Through Quria, the Vex learned to achieve divinity by killing all who opposed them and adopting worship as a primary function. Though Oryx eventually succeeded in eliminating the Vex from his realm, they preserved what they learned and passed it on to the rest of the Vex hive mind.[17]

During humanity's Golden Age, Vex structures were found on Venus dating back to a few billion years before humanity's existence.[18] Ishtar researchers suspected that the Vex ruins came from an alternate Venus and came into being when the Traveler transformed Venus into a habitable world.[19]

The Collective also recovered a live specimen of the Vex and discovered that it had created an internal simulation of themselves, accurately predicting their every move. To Collective researchers, this ability raised profound philosophical quandaries about the nature of reality. Eventually the researchers were driven near to the point of madness when they discovered the Vex had simulations of themselves and perfectly predicted their every action, as they started to wonder if they themselves were just Vex simulations, so they decided to bring in a Warmind to intervene on their behalf. Warminds were many orders of magnitude more complex than humans, and it was believed that the Vex would be unable to simulate them; thus, the Warmind's presence and actions would be a sufficiently chaotic variable to allow the researchers to discern which universe was real and disrupt the simulation.[20][21][22]

The Vex first appeared on Mercury during the Golden Age as well, shortly after the Traveler terraformed the planet into a garden world. Panoptes, Infinite Mind was created following the Vex's arrival, and began converting the planet into a Machine World that would house the "reality engine" known as the Infinite Forest within its core.

When the Guardians Kabr, the Legionless, Pahanin, and Praedyth ventured into the Vault of Glass on Venus, a major confluence of the Vex network, they were thwarted by the Templar and its Gorgons. Pahanin managed to escape, but Kabr perished and Praedyth was trapped and lost in time. Praedyth was forgotten until the time of the Taken War, when the Taken began to blight the Vex network. After receiving a distress signal from Praedyth, The Guardian was sent to the Vault to investigate and was unexpectedly granted access by the Vex. Inside, the Guardian discovered a series of Dead Ghosts Praedyth had left behind. Praedyth revealed through recordings within the Ghosts that he had seen what the Vex had calculated would be their future: eons hence, they would be completely corrupted by the Taken, becoming an eternal part of the legacy of Oryx, the Taken King. Although the Vex were able to foresee this future and compelled to seek a way to avert it, they concluded that this grim fate was inevitable without the Light; allowing the Guardian to fight the Taken blight that plagued them was an act of desperation. Traveling through a portal, the Guardian was transported to the Vex's future, where the blight was defeated, the Vex were spared from their fate, and Praedyth's remains and Ghost were recovered. Despite this moment of cooperation, however, the Vex still had no intention of returning the favor or sparing the Last City.[23]

In recent times, the Vex had suffered numerous setbacks across the system - a large number of Vex Axis Minds were destroyed by Guardians, leaving the Vex network in disarray. With the arrival of the Taken, attacks against the Vex had only escalated. The Vex have yet to counter these failures, though some believe the cybernetic machines have begun preparing countermeasures as Variks, the Loyal notes, following Skolas' defeat, "Old machines are waking up...".[24]

By the time of the Red War, two years after the Taken War, the Vex had come under attack by the Fallen House of Dusk and the Cabal Red Legion on Io, Mercury, Mars, and Nessus. Of note, on Mars the Red Legion quickly succeeded against the Vex where other Cabal legions had failed for decades: they destroyed the gate to the Black Garden and drove the Vex out of Meridian Bay.[25] According to Cayde-6, the Red Legion has brought even more of their might to bear on Mars than on Earth.[26]

However, following the death of Dominus Ghaul and the reawakening of the Traveler, Vex Minds began to call the modern Vex, Precursors, and Descendants to Mercury, in order to bring forth a dark future that only they dominated through the means of the Infinite Forest. This required the Vanguard to locate Osiris, in the hopes of stopping them.[27]

In time, Panoptes, Infinite Mind was stopped from merging reality into the Vex's dark future, and Osiris was found, being reunited with Ikora Rey, but returned to the Infinite Forest.

At some point, the Leviathan consumed a chunk of Nessus that contained a powerful Vex Mind, Argos, Planetary Core, who caused the world-eater to clog up and malfunction. Emperor Calus immediately called upon the help of the Guardians to destroy the Vex intrusion, where they succeeded and repaired the Leviathan. Calus saved the Guardians from being sucked into the Leviathan afterward, where he rewarded them for their efforts.

"Oh the headache again. I swear it's these symbols..."

The ultimate goal of the Vex appears to be no less than achieving total control over the universe, both by spreading themselves throughout time and space and by manipulating the very nature of reality to suit their purposes. Praedyth described the Vex as being motivated by a "Pattern," which drives the Vex to either reshape or destroy everything in their path. Osiris referred to the Vex's objective as "Convergence," an outcome where all life in the universe has been converted to a simplified, digital form. As part of this ideal future, the Vex seek to bring about a state where neither the Light nor the Darkness exist any longer.

The Vex have displayed an interest in studying the behavior and strategies of other species in order to further their own aims. At least one known programming is known to study its enemies, taking prisoners for observation and conducting a variety of experiments; examples include the Ishtar Collective scientists, Failsafe's crew, and later The Guardian.

The Vex have a particular interest in understanding the nature of paracausal entities, and in co-opting paracausal forces for their own use where possible. When the Vex first encountered the Hive after Crota inadvertently released them into the Ascendant realm of Oryx, the Taken King, the Vex manifested an Axis Mind dedicated to understanding and utilizing the Sword-Logic. The Black Garden is another example of a Vex effort to harness paracausal forces, in this case by creating the Sol Divisive to worship a fragment of the Darkness. The pulse of Light emitted by the Traveler when it defeated Ghaul was apparently instrumental in allowing Panoptes, Infinite Mind to predict a future where Convergence was achieved, and to enact a plan to achieve that future.

Vex already exist in the distant past and future as the Precursors and Descendants, respectively. But despite already existing in the past and future, the Vex have not yet eliminated their enemies for unknown reasons. This may be due to our poor understanding of the nature of time, or that the Vex do not currently have the resources to carry out their plans.[29] This may also have to do with the aforementioned theory that the Vex do not come from our own timeline. It is known, however, that the Vex also exist outside of time; Gate Lords are responsible for locking specific realms outside of time.

On Mars, the Vex (under the Virgo Prohibition) waged an intense war with the Cabal, who managed to repel the machines despite the vast numbers of them that continually assaulted Cabal positions.[30] The reason for this massive, if ineffective, offensive against the Cabal is that the Vex were surging to protect the Black Garden,[31] which the Vex are being summoned to for an unknown purpose. Guardians who succeeded in breaking into the Black Garden discovered that the Vex in fact worshiped an entity within the Garden known as the Black Heart, an abomination that lent power to the Vex.[32] Even after the destruction of the Sol Progeny and the Black Heart, the Vex sought to control the Black Garden and pull it back out of space and time. Besides the Black Heart, the Vex may have another connection with the Darkness; Osiris speculated that Vex structures such as the Timekeeper are designed to activate in the presence of the Darkness.[33] With the gate to the Black Garden having been destroyed by the Red Legion, it is unknown if the Vex still have the means to access the Garden itself. It's possible the entrance from the Tharsis Junction still exists and the Garden is still accessible.

Years later, during the Golden Age, a Goblin platform was captured by the Ishtar Collective, and it took the opportunity to simulate two hundred twenty seven alternate realities of the scientists. Alarming them the Collective quickly brought in a Warmind to rescue them, and its own computational abilities and apparent complexity was enough to overwhelm the Goblin.[citationneeded] The colony ship Exodus Black was also intercepted by the orbit of Nessus, and her crew eventually captured by the Vex. They conducted behavioral experiments on the human crew members, forcing them to fight each other. The crew eventually died and Captain Jacobson perished. The algorithm overseeing the experiment remained in effect well into the Red War.[citationneeded] During the Red War, the Vex captured a band of migratory Dusk Fallen on Nessus and forced them to fight one another, promising freedom to the Fallen. Surprisingly, the Fallen refused and remained imprisoned until the Young Wolf came to their "rescue". Failsafe confirmed that these tests were the same as issued to her crew.[citationneeded]

The source of Venus Spirit Blooms might be a byproduct of Vex-influenced flora.[34] It is said that Vex encryption is unbreakable.[35] [36]

It is thought that the Vex have embedded structures within every known celestial body, linked together in a massive trans-dimensional and trans-temporal network called the Nexus. This Nexus converts new worlds into massive Vex machines; Mercury was converted into a Machine World within days of the Collapse. Ostensibly, the purpose of the Nexus is to create a massive supercomputer in order to incorporate the Vex into the fabric of the universe itself.[32] The Vault of Glass, a place where the Vex can manipulate reality at will, is potentially a testing ground for this power. This power is limited to the Vault, though Ikora hypothesizes that the Sol Progeny were meant to carry this ability into the rest of the universe.[37] Both the Vault of Glass and The Nexus are part of a massive project being undertaken by the Hezen Protective, so it can be assumed the two are related.[38]

The Vex display a mastery of teleporation, and use a variety of teleportation modes for transporting troops and resources. Entire squads of Vex can drop into combat zones from thin air, their arrival preceded by shimmering angular patterns and clouds of mist. According to Ghost, the Vex are capable of teleporting between star systems in seconds. Minotaurs are infamous for using teleportation aggressively, warping in and out of existence as they close with enemies. Stationary warp gates are also used to transport Vex between distant locations. Weapons such as the Slap Rifle and Line Rifle utilize teleportation as part of their core mechanisms, drawing power from highly energetic and vastly distant sources.

According to simulations within the Infinite Forest, the first Vex structures on Mercury arrived via teleportation from some other location in space, and possibly time as well.

As machine intelligences with incredible amounts of processing power at their disposal, the Vex are capable of generating simulations of reality to a degree of accuracy and realism exceeding even the best efforts of Golden Age humanity. According to records from the Ishtar Collective, Vex are capable of generating simulations of real-world events with perfect fidelity and predictive ability essentially running a parallel reality in their minds which is arguably indistinguishable from the "real" universe. Even lone Goblins have the processing power to nest such simulations up to 227 times through the simple expedient of simulating themselves along with their surroundings. [20][39] The predictive capacity of these simulations appears to be limited only to ordinary physics, as the Vex are apparently unable to simulate complex phenomena that is linked to a paracausal power. These include Guardians,[40] and Oryx; in the latter case they were only able to bootstrap a simulation of his original incarnation as Aurash. Warminds are also complex enough to resist simulation, at least by a single Vex unit.

The Infinite Forest within Mercury is perhaps the most impressive example of Vex simulation technology, being a massive "reality engine" capable of simulating countless variants of past, present and future realities. These simulations can be entered by non-Vex through a gateway on the surface of Mercury, and are "real" enough such that intruders can be damaged by attacks from simulated Vex or other entities within the Forest.

It is generally assumed that the Vex are capable of some form of time travel; the Precursors and Descendants are thought to originate from the past and future, respectively, and numerous Vex units have titles or functions that allude to an ability to manipulate time. However, according to Sister Faora of the Cult of Osiris, the Vex are not capable of "time travel" as is commonly understood; if they were, she claims, neither the Guardians or any other obstacles to the Vex would still exist[41]. Apparently while hacking into a major Vex terminal, the A.I. Failsafe was captured by the Vex in the network, by the time the Guardian got her out, she explained that a decade has passed inside the network despite only a few moments that passed outside. It appears that time works differently in the Vex Network than in the real world.[42]

The Vex in their true form are aquatic microorganisms known as radiolaria.[44][13] Though Ikora Rey believes that this is not the true form of the Vex themselves, as she believes that if the Vex could manifest their consciousness in such a form, it would be able to take on other forms [45] The "mind-fluid" inside each of their mind-cores is composed of a milky substance wherein radiolaria cells float; this centralized mind-core is also a localized receiver for each individual Vex "component" of the Nexus.[13] Their aquatic origins are strongly implied through their architecture.[13] Vex cells are noted entheogens and physical contact with Vex units can produce dangerous mind-altering effects. [46]

It is believed that Vex are not born or made, so much as converted. When Asher Mir was infected with Radiolarian fluid, his arm turned into a Vex construct. Kabr, the Legionless would have suffered a similar fate had he not used his Light to become The Aegis.

The Vex are all connected to one another in a massive hive mind, but individual Vex units called Axis Minds act as leaders by storing all information necessary to complete a particular goal, freeing up individual Vex to pursue local tasks while the Axis Mind can plan globally. This creates a centralized weakness for the Vex, but they seem to consider it worth the risk.[48] The Vex are divided up into different programming collectives, each with a different set of directives intended to advance the Vex race as a whole. Whether the Vex in question are devoted to engineering projects, full-scale war, or religious devotion, all Vex are united by a single, unfathomable purpose.[9]

See the rest here:

Vex - Destinypedia, the Destiny encyclopedia

Lung Institute | Cellular Treatment for COPD, Emphysema and …

Posted on August 3, 2018 by Danzig

Lung Institute | Cellular Treatment for COPD, Emphysema and Diseases Treatment

Cellular Therapy Can Help.

At the Lung Institute, we recognize that all patients have their own stories. While they have chronic lung conditions in common, our patients have had all kinds of careers and hobbies. Whether they enjoy growing plants in the garden, playing a round of golf or creating delicious meals, our patients are unique and deserve treatments unique to them.

At the Lung Institute, we screen each patient thoroughly, focusing on medical history and current condition to encourage only the best-possible treatment results.

The Lung Health Institute offers treatment plans depending on severity of the lung disease and the patients choice. Learn more about our treatment option below.

* Every patient is given a Patient Satisfaction Survey shortly after treatment. Responses to the 11-question survey are aggregated to determine patient satisfaction with the delivery of treatment.

^ Quality of Life Survey data measured the patients self-assessed quality of life and measurable quality of improvement at three months of COPD patients.

All claims made regarding the efficacy of Lung Institute's treatments as they pertain to pulmonary conditions are based solely on anecdotal support collected by Lung Institute. Individual conditions, treatment and outcomes may vary and are not necessarily indicative of future results. Testimonial participation is voluntary. Lung Institute does not pay for or script patient testimonials.

As required by Texas state law, the Lung Institute Dallas Clinic has received Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval from MaGil IRB, now Chesapeake IRB, which is fully accredited by the Association for the Accreditation of Human Research Protection Program (AAHRPP), for research protocols and procedures. The Lung Institute has implemented these IRB approved standards at all of its clinics nationwide. Approval indicates that we follow rigorous standards for ethics, quality, and protections for human research.

Each patient is different. Results may vary.

Lung Institute | Cellular Treatment for COPD, Emphysema and ...

faq – financialindependence – Reddit

Posted on August 3, 2018 by Danzig

Here are the most commonly asked questions which are found on r/financialindependence. Please look through this short list because it is highly likely that your question has already been answered by some very smart people!

The rules can be found here. They're short, please read them!

It is typically defined as having enough income (from investments, passive businesses, real estate, etc) to pay for your reasonable living expenses for the rest of your life. You have the freedom to do what you want with your time (within reason). Working (full or part time), hobbies which generate income, or other activities are optional at this point.

This specific subreddit focuses on the three knobs controlling getting you to financial independence quickly. Reducing expenses, increasing income, and investing.

The basic tenet of FI is to spend less than you earn and invest the difference into things that earn money for you.

Spend Less/Save More

Minimize taxes to the full extent of the law. Look into 401k/403b/457/IRA/HSA accounts as some examples.

Reduce your living expenses. Smaller homes, apartments, rent a room. Avoid lifestyle creep as your income (hopefully) rises over time.

Reduce transportation costs. Live close to work if possible. Avoid expensive cars - Consider bicycles, used cars, public transportation, etc.

Learn self-sufficiency skills. Beyond the personal satisfaction in achieving something, you'll save money. Consider cooking, mending clothes, home/automobile/bike repair, woodworking, gardening, etc.

Earn More

If you're in school (whether that's high school, trade school, or college/university), focus on that first. It's easier to be FI on $50k+/yr than minimum wage. Look carefully at your career path. Is this degree going to pay you back appropriately in the future?

If you have a job, work more/harder/better/smarter. If you have the time, consider working extra hours and/or accepting challenging and long-distance assignments (family commitments permitting).

Negotiate to get paid what you're worth (see point 2 above)

Be careful about long term decisions

"Future you" may be interested in FI. Part of FI is the flexibility of having choices in the future. Be careful about locking yourself down.

If you're not positive you want to live in an area, avoid buying a house. Consider renting. Significantly easier to change your mind later.

Many marriages end in divorce. Divorce is expensive. Do what you can to avoid this.

Consider what careers are flexible and which aren't. Nursing is known as a great career choice for people who move around (there is a need for local nurses in almost every major city in the world). Software engineering can often be done remotely. Other career choices may have less flexibility in location / availability (e.g. stock broker).

Any loan means you are borrowing from "future you". Be very careful about making your future self pay back a lot of money. Loans for depreciating assets (cars, electronics, etc) in particular are generally bad ideas.

The difficulty of reconciling your FI/ER interests, plans, and priorities with those of your SO is one of the most frequent reasons people seek advice from this sub. If that's the kind of help you're looking for, these threads should get you started.

One of the original texts for the FI movement is Your Money or Your Life. Buy a copy, or better yet, rent it from your local library.

The primary writers on FI today are largely bloggers. The sidebar of /r/financialindependence has a number of popular blogs listed. We periodically add new sources of information as they become available.

A couple specific reads:

Of course, there are also great resources elsewhere on Reddit. /r/personalfinance and /r/frugal are very helpful for learning to manage your finances and acquire the frugal skills that are part of the FI mindset.

Short answer: We recommend people use - Savings / (Gross - Taxes)

The Bureau of Economic Analysis formula for "personal savings rate" is described below:

http://www.investopedia.com/university/releases/personalconsumption.asp

Basically, personal savings rate is defined as (disposable personal income minus personal outlay) divided by disposable personal income. What does this mean? Here is one way to think about it.

gross = taxes + spending + saving

gross - taxes = spending + saving

gross - taxes - spending = saving

The BEA uses "disposable personal income" as their phrase for (gross - taxes). They use "personal outlay" to describe spending. So they phrase personal savings rate as (DPI - personal outlay)/DPI.

Their definition of personal savings rate puts (gross - taxes) in the denominator. To express it using the more simple words:

savings rate = [(gross - tax) - (spending)]/(gross - tax), or (saving)/(gross - tax).

So the BEA has chosen to report personal savings rate as describing essentially what people save out of what they might possibly save after taxes. Thus, someone could theoretically have a 100% savings rate if they had no spending, even though taxes were taken out of their gross.

When you're posting & asking for information, please look at this checklist (Copy and paste it into your post) and ensure you're giving the subscribers everything necessary to give you their valuable (or sometimes not valuable) advice. Skip a bit of data if you're really sure it's not applicable, but these are often useful to know. If your question is more of a general Personal Finance question (like "What is the 401k contribution limit again?" or "What AA should I have if I want to retire in 20 years?"), then please post this in the Daily Discussion Thread

Life Situation: IRS filing status, number & ages of dependents, and anything else (state/country of residence, age, etc.) you are comfortable sharing.

FIRE Progress: Provide details about where you are on the road to FIRE. If possible, provide expected FI/ER dates.

Gross Salary/Wages: Before any deductions

Yearly Savings Amounts: 401k, HSA, FSA, IRA, insurance, etc. - whatever you have

Other Ordinary Income: Provide sources and any relevant details, the more the better

Rental Income, Actual Expenses, and Depreciation: If these are significant for you

Current expenses: Provide breakdown and relevant details.

For mortgage payments, separate the P&I (which stop when the mortgage is paid) from the T&I (and anything else) which continue as long as you own the property.

Expected ER expenses: (optional, if relevant)

Assets: Amount & description - include current asset allocation plan if you have one

Liabilities: Description, original loan amount, rate, original length, and monthly payment (which should be consistent with a spreadsheet PMT calculation). Add current balance and time remaining if close to final payment.

Specific Question(s): Providing a detailed breakdown is important, so is asking for specific information so we know what kind of help/advice you are looking for.

The short answer: 25 times your annual spending (with caveats)

The long(ish) answer: In 1998, three professors at Trinity University released what became known as the Trinity Study. The study examined the U.S. stock and bond markets over every 15-30 year return period between 1925 and 1995 (the data was recently refreshed in 2009). They concluded that by starting with 4% of your portfolio, and withdrawing that amount (increasing yearly with inflation) every year, you would have a 96% chance to not run out of money during a 30 year period.

4% became known as the Safe Withdrawal Rate (SWR). The nature of the stock market (and historical returns) means that in most cases, the portfolio grew faster than the withdrawal rate. 4% of a portfolio is the amount you can withdraw, or reversing the math, 25x your withdrawal amount is equal to the amount you need to save.

Examples:

A couple great articles on this topic

People are always worried that the future market will not perform as well as it did in the past (for a variety of reasons which always change). However, we have tools available which increase our chances of staying financially independent:

By taking some of these commonplace assumptions into account, we can be less conservative with the SWR, and use 4% instead of something lower.

The Trinity Study took inflation into account, but it bears repeating: $200,000 now is not the same as $200,000 10 or 20 years from now. Inflation will eat away at your returns at an average rate of about 3% per year (historically it was ~4%, but inflation has been lower for recent years). That is why FIers tend to invest heavily in stocks instead of lower-yielding financial instruments - the average gains of the stock market have historically outpaced inflation. The average annual increase in the value of the U.S. stock market has been 9.5% (various values are found online, this seems the most accurate.. a geometric average since 1928). If you subtract off ~4% lost to inflation historically, you'd see that leaves you 5.5% growth on average. Assuming average (or better years), you should expect your investment value (after inflation) to increase over long periods time. Given the volatility of the market, your actual experience will be likely much better or much worse than that calculation in the short run.

You can greatly increase your chances of "success" (not going broke) through the following:

See this article from from the /r/personalfinance FAQ.

Many people on the sub advocate an indexing strategy rather than investing in individual stocks. A few options below:

There was also a popular post on this subreddit which mentioned commercial real estate.

We try to avoid investment discussions here. The recommended path for savings is located in the /r/personalfinance FAQ. There are always exceptions, but this path will work for most people.

If you have more detailed questions around investing which are not Financial Independence specific questions, please head over to /r/personalfinance or /r/investing.

In general, if your spending before retirement is less than your earnings (by definition, this should be everyone planning on becoming FI), a tax deductible investment account will benefit you in the long run.

Lets assume you're going to maintain your lifestyle, same level of spending. You're also heading for FI, so you're saving a lot. Imagine you're making $100k gross, you're being taxed some percentage, you're spending $50k and saving the remainder.

Tax brackets - http://www.bankrate.com/finance/taxes/tax-brackets.aspx - We will ignore tax complexity of deductions / etc.. in the end the lesson is the same.

As you can see from the above link, assuming you're married and making $100k total, you have money being taxed in the 10, 15, and 25% tax brackets. ~25k of which is in the 25% tax bracket.

If you save $10k in your 401k, you can deduct that from your taxable income. You now have 15k in the 25% tax bracket. On that $10k, you didn't have to pay your 25% tax rate. Or, you saved ~$2,500 in taxes.

Now zoom forward 15 years, and you're retired (ignoring inflation to keep things simple). Assuming you maintain the same lifestyle, you need to withdraw $50k per year from your accounts still.

If you withdrew $50k from your 401k, your income is now $50k (as 401k withdrawals are counted as income). You have money being taxed in the 10%, and 15% tax bracket. You're no longer being taxed in the 25% bracket at all. Hey look at that! That money you previously were being taxed 25% on is now being taxed at 15%. You'll never need to pay that extra tax.

While this could be a 50 page document, in the end it's relatively simple. If you're saving money, you are most likely paying into higher tax brackets than you will in retirement. So if you can pay taxes later, that's better for you 🙂

Short answer, no, you're not locked in. A regularly repeated concern is that 59 1/2 is the standard age in the US for 401K/IRA withdrawals. However, the tax advantages in these accounts shouldn't be missed. There are a few mechanisms outlined below to access that money early.

Some links on this topic:

Originally posted here:

faq - financialindependence - Reddit

Living a FI | A Geek’s Guide to Financial Independence

Posted on August 3, 2018 by Danzig

Full quote: When we win on Nov 8 and elect a Republican Congress, we will immediately repeal and replace Obamacare. Made during many, many speeches, a tremendous number of huge speeches, the very best speeches, by U.S. president-elect Donald Trump.

You cant always believe what candidates running for office say as they slog through their campaigns gross exaggeration, pandering, and outright lies are to be expected by all involved but when it comes to Obamacare, surely it is safe to believe that some real changes are in store for us.

Why? Well, its because the Republican party has been actively trying to cripple and repeal this legislation since it passed back in 2010. These attempts have been a) without a Senate majority and b) while Obama was still in office.

So its logical to assume that there will be some action taken here now that those blocking problemshave, from their perspective, been corrected.

And to be perfectly honest, Im a little concerned about it. Not scared or panicked not at all. But its a situation that warrants interest, attention, and the ability to alter plans and be flexible.

This post will explore what might happen, and how we could bestapproach potential changes.

Quick disclaimer: I cant recommend that readers performthe actions Ive taken, so be aware while reading Im not suggesting that everyone should follow my lead here. Please dont, at least not before carefully thinking through the implications.Most people implement alternate solutions to solving their own moral dilemmas caused by index investing. (There are tons ofgood suggestions in the comments.)

Another mass shooting here in America occurred last weekend, the worst ever, half a hundred dead, a likenumber wounded, all caused by one crazy asshole unleashing not exactly unimaginable horror on innocents.

Of course, its not unimaginable because it happensall the fucking time in this country.

Ive made a terrible mistake!

I quit my job about a year ago.

My last day was April 17th, 2015, to be exact.

At this point Ive got close totwelve full months of my new life under my belt. Thats plenty of data, if you ask me.

And its become clear that, beyond the shadow of a doubt, thedream of early retirement more closely resembles a nightmare.

Well, its not areturn exactly. Not in the ordinarysense of the word.

What Ive actually been doing is reading some of my old anger diary entries. This feels likeentering a time warp leading back to myold life, living out days as a technology worker, even though Im still happily living without any paycheck whatsoever.

Mental. Return. Only.

At this point youre probably wondering what an anger diary is. Good question!

Disclaimer. Yet again, theres no talk of finances in this one. Instead Im discussing some ofmypost-working life in a very casual, journal-y way. Additional warning: Its intensely personal. If that doesnt sound interesting to you, well then, absolutely no worries. Thats what the back button on your browser is for.

My momcalled last Sunday night.

The lobstered gauntlets come off prior to settling in at the keyboard

Fact: Virtually everyone individual who runs a blog eventually writes meta-articles on what its like to author one, how things are going, why and how you might become a blogger too,and so on.

I wish it were this easy to run the yearly numbers.

I havent done one of these types of posts in a while but I feel its worthwhile to capture our spending picture for2015.

More here:

Living a FI | A Geek's Guide to Financial Independence

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