New Post (84) : Honour the victims of conflict
Conflicts have (maimed &) killed countless people.
The memory of the dead can be honoured (only with) :
Peace Peace Peace Peace Peace Peace Peace Peace Peace
Peace Peace Peace Peace Peace Peace Peace Peace Peace
Peace Peace Peace Peace Peace Peace Peace Peace Peace
Peace Peace Peace Peace Peace Peace Peace Peace Peace
Peace Peace Peace Peace Peace Peace Peace Peace Peace
Peace Peace Peace Peace Peace Peace Peace Peace Peace
Peace Peace Peace Peace Peace Peace Peace Peace Peace
Peace Peace Peace Peace Peace Peace Peace Peace Peace
Peace Peace Peace Peace Peace Peace Peace Peace Peace
Peace Peace Peace Peace Peace Peace Peace Peace Peace
Peace Peace Peace Peace Peace Peace Peace Peace Peace
Peace Peace Peace Peace Peace Peace Peace Peace Peace
Peace Peace Peace Peace Peace Peace Peace Peace Peace
Peace Peace Peace Peace Peace Peace Peace Peace Peace
Peace Peace Peace Peace Peace Peace Peace Peace Peace
A lasting peace !
Charlie Brown
Sunday, December 19, 2010
The Unstable Quadrilateral---Israel, Iran, USA, China.
New Post (83) : The Unstable Quadrilateral---Israel, Iran, USA, China.
1. The Israelis feel threatened enough to attack Iran.
An attack on Iran would be devastating to China’s economy and even its very political stability.
Such a strike, among many disastrous outcomes, would most certainly cause the price of oil to spike to cataclysmic highs. Launching the world economy into a period of turbulence not experienced since the autumn of 2008, or even possibly since the oil shock of 1973.
Israel has tried to impress upon the Chinese the seriousness of their intentions to never allow an Iranian nuclear bomb, and the possible consequences for China in the event of an attack.
The international consequences of military action, while inflaming the wider region, …would also disrupt oil supplies on which much of China’s manufacturing and international trade depend.
The Chinese must not under-estimate Israeli psychology and the historical forces that make many Israelis think an attack on Iran is justified, …without regard for global consequences.
In spite of China’s increasing economic and diplomatic clout, the US remains the world’s only superpower.
China has minimal force projection capabilities, no meaningful military presence in the Middle East, and no likely military role in the event of war after an Israeli attack, other than making lucrative arms sales
If the US-led diplomatic efforts to force Iran to renounce nuclear weapons development fail and Israel attacks, China risks being seen as a less than responsible stakeholder in the international system, whether or not you believe Israel is justified in such an attack.
China could play a very positive role in pushing Iran towards a “good” outcome, but it appears it refuses to do so, for commercial reasons …as well as very narrow and likely miscalculated “strategic” gains at America’s expense.
***I believe…
China must "NOT" be pushed.
Iran "MUST" be spoken to.
2. The nightmare scenario:
Any abrupt move on Iran by Israel(///USA) will push N.Korea(///China) to make an equally abrupt move on S.Korea.
Before we blink---the "quadrilateral" will have turned into a "hexagon" !
Charlie Brown
1. The Israelis feel threatened enough to attack Iran.
An attack on Iran would be devastating to China’s economy and even its very political stability.
Such a strike, among many disastrous outcomes, would most certainly cause the price of oil to spike to cataclysmic highs. Launching the world economy into a period of turbulence not experienced since the autumn of 2008, or even possibly since the oil shock of 1973.
Israel has tried to impress upon the Chinese the seriousness of their intentions to never allow an Iranian nuclear bomb, and the possible consequences for China in the event of an attack.
The international consequences of military action, while inflaming the wider region, …would also disrupt oil supplies on which much of China’s manufacturing and international trade depend.
The Chinese must not under-estimate Israeli psychology and the historical forces that make many Israelis think an attack on Iran is justified, …without regard for global consequences.
In spite of China’s increasing economic and diplomatic clout, the US remains the world’s only superpower.
China has minimal force projection capabilities, no meaningful military presence in the Middle East, and no likely military role in the event of war after an Israeli attack, other than making lucrative arms sales
If the US-led diplomatic efforts to force Iran to renounce nuclear weapons development fail and Israel attacks, China risks being seen as a less than responsible stakeholder in the international system, whether or not you believe Israel is justified in such an attack.
China could play a very positive role in pushing Iran towards a “good” outcome, but it appears it refuses to do so, for commercial reasons …as well as very narrow and likely miscalculated “strategic” gains at America’s expense.
***I believe…
China must "NOT" be pushed.
Iran "MUST" be spoken to.
2. The nightmare scenario:
Any abrupt move on Iran by Israel(///USA) will push N.Korea(///China) to make an equally abrupt move on S.Korea.
Before we blink---the "quadrilateral" will have turned into a "hexagon" !
Charlie Brown
Saturday, December 18, 2010
Bring back my family physician
New Post (82) : Bring back my family physician
We have been aping the West for some time and …seeing the specialist right away for all ills.
We need to go back to the family physician.
The focus must revert to dispensing comprehensive primary and polyclinic-style preventive and curative wellness services in residential clusters.
The clinic must provide “full” diagnostic tests and have all the basic essentials--- physician, paediatrician, obstetrician / gynaecologist, dermatologist and dentist.
Have clinics that would serve as referrers and be linked to the nearby hospital/s.
By all means…to expand coverage, look at FRANCHISING (or other models) …subsequently.
Bring healthcare back within easy reach, “to the doorstep”.
Get rid of all those “Beauty-SALON” “boutique “ format clinics.
The classical hospital-linked format is time tested. It works best.
Recommended that we ***Stop seeing the “specialist”… for any and every illness.
Charlie Brown
We have been aping the West for some time and …seeing the specialist right away for all ills.
We need to go back to the family physician.
The focus must revert to dispensing comprehensive primary and polyclinic-style preventive and curative wellness services in residential clusters.
The clinic must provide “full” diagnostic tests and have all the basic essentials--- physician, paediatrician, obstetrician / gynaecologist, dermatologist and dentist.
Have clinics that would serve as referrers and be linked to the nearby hospital/s.
By all means…to expand coverage, look at FRANCHISING (or other models) …subsequently.
Bring healthcare back within easy reach, “to the doorstep”.
Get rid of all those “Beauty-SALON” “boutique “ format clinics.
The classical hospital-linked format is time tested. It works best.
Recommended that we ***Stop seeing the “specialist”… for any and every illness.
Charlie Brown
Friday, December 17, 2010
Lets think together
New Post (81) : Lets think together
"The world is faced with a complex multitude of challenges.
In your opinion what are the key ---“concerns, issues and problems”.
What's your view on what “vital, essential and desirable” responses are required to resolve them".
Write to charliebrownru@yahoo.com
Please be brief !
I'd be happy to share your views with my audience on this BLOG.
Charlie Brown
"The world is faced with a complex multitude of challenges.
In your opinion what are the key ---“concerns, issues and problems”.
What's your view on what “vital, essential and desirable” responses are required to resolve them".
Write to charliebrownru@yahoo.com
Please be brief !
I'd be happy to share your views with my audience on this BLOG.
Charlie Brown
Is Consciousness essentially a phenomenon of quantum mechanics !
New Post (80) : Is Consciousness essentially a phenomenon of quantum mechanics !
In recent years, a growing body of evidence shows that …
…photons play an important role in the basic functioning of cells. Most of this evidence comes from turning the lights off and counting the number of photons that cells produce. It turns out, much to many people's surprise, that many cells, perhaps even most, emit light as they work.
In fact, it looks very much as if many cells use light to communicate. There's certainly evidence that bacteria, plants and even kidney cells communicate in this way. Various groups have even shown that rats brains are literally alight thanks to the photons produced by neurons as they work.
And that raises an interesting question: what role does light play in the work of neurons? The fact that neurons emit light does not mean that they can receive it or process it.
But interesting evidence is beginning to emerge that light may well play an important role in neuronal function. For example, earlier this year, one group showed that spinal neurons in rats can actually conduct light.
Today, Majid Rahnama at Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman in Iran and a group of pals, suggest how this might work. And they even go on to make a startling prediction about the role that photons might play in the way the brain works.
To begin with, Rahnama and co point out that neurons contain many light sensitive molecules, such as porphyrin rings, flavinic, pyridinic rings, lipid chromophores and aromatic amino acids. In particular, mitochondria, the machines inside cells which produce energy, contain several prominent chromophores.
The presence of light sensitive molecules makes it hard to imagine how they might not be not influenced by biophotons.
But photons would also be absorbed by other stuff in the cell, liquids, membranes etc, and this ought to make cells opaque. So Rhanama and co hypothesise that microtubules can act as wave guides, channeling light from one part of a cell to another.
Microtubules are the internal scaffolding inside cells, providing structural support but also creating highways along which molecular machines transport freight around the cell. They're extraordinary things. Could it be that they also work like optical fibres?
Maybe. They go on to suggest that the light channelled by microtubules can help to co-ordinate activities in different parts of the brain. It's certainly true that electrical activity in the brain is synchronised over distances that cannot be easily explained. Electrical signals travel too slowly to do this job, so something else must be at work.
And of course Rhanama and co are not the first to suggest that microtubules play a central role in the functioning of the brain. 15 years ago, Roger Penrose suggested that consciousness is essentially a phenomenon of quantum mechanics and that microtubules were the medium in which quantum mechanics takes place.
It's a big jump to assume that photons do this job. But science is built on leaps of imagination like this. What Rhanama and co need now is somebody to test this idea for them, which is not going to be easy. There's no harm in speculation but evidence is king.
What's for sure is that biophotonics is one of the fastest moving and exciting fields in science today. And in this kind of rapidly moving environment, thinking like this can sometimes trigger a revolution.
Charlie Brown
In recent years, a growing body of evidence shows that …
…photons play an important role in the basic functioning of cells. Most of this evidence comes from turning the lights off and counting the number of photons that cells produce. It turns out, much to many people's surprise, that many cells, perhaps even most, emit light as they work.
In fact, it looks very much as if many cells use light to communicate. There's certainly evidence that bacteria, plants and even kidney cells communicate in this way. Various groups have even shown that rats brains are literally alight thanks to the photons produced by neurons as they work.
And that raises an interesting question: what role does light play in the work of neurons? The fact that neurons emit light does not mean that they can receive it or process it.
But interesting evidence is beginning to emerge that light may well play an important role in neuronal function. For example, earlier this year, one group showed that spinal neurons in rats can actually conduct light.
Today, Majid Rahnama at Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman in Iran and a group of pals, suggest how this might work. And they even go on to make a startling prediction about the role that photons might play in the way the brain works.
To begin with, Rahnama and co point out that neurons contain many light sensitive molecules, such as porphyrin rings, flavinic, pyridinic rings, lipid chromophores and aromatic amino acids. In particular, mitochondria, the machines inside cells which produce energy, contain several prominent chromophores.
The presence of light sensitive molecules makes it hard to imagine how they might not be not influenced by biophotons.
But photons would also be absorbed by other stuff in the cell, liquids, membranes etc, and this ought to make cells opaque. So Rhanama and co hypothesise that microtubules can act as wave guides, channeling light from one part of a cell to another.
Microtubules are the internal scaffolding inside cells, providing structural support but also creating highways along which molecular machines transport freight around the cell. They're extraordinary things. Could it be that they also work like optical fibres?
Maybe. They go on to suggest that the light channelled by microtubules can help to co-ordinate activities in different parts of the brain. It's certainly true that electrical activity in the brain is synchronised over distances that cannot be easily explained. Electrical signals travel too slowly to do this job, so something else must be at work.
And of course Rhanama and co are not the first to suggest that microtubules play a central role in the functioning of the brain. 15 years ago, Roger Penrose suggested that consciousness is essentially a phenomenon of quantum mechanics and that microtubules were the medium in which quantum mechanics takes place.
It's a big jump to assume that photons do this job. But science is built on leaps of imagination like this. What Rhanama and co need now is somebody to test this idea for them, which is not going to be easy. There's no harm in speculation but evidence is king.
What's for sure is that biophotonics is one of the fastest moving and exciting fields in science today. And in this kind of rapidly moving environment, thinking like this can sometimes trigger a revolution.
Charlie Brown
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Right---a "thief should sit in jail."
New Post (79) : Right---a "thief should sit in jail."
Russia's prime minister says the crimes of former oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky's have been proven, and a "thief should sit in jail."
Khodorkovsky is serving an eight-year sentence after being convicted of tax fraud and is awaiting the verdict in a second trial that could keep him in prison for many more years.
Mr.Putin said Khodorkovsky's present punishment is more "liberal" than the 150-year prison sentence handed down in the U.S. to disgraced financier Bernard Madoff.
Observation:
Fact is---The Russian governments handling of Khodokovsky has “overwhelming” support among common Russians……….a point that some in media “overlook”.
The moot point is this…
How in the first place did Khodorkvsky come to own a giant oil company- “Yukos” ?
-Who funded him ?
-Was the valuation at the time of purchase of the assets, right ?
This is why common Russians enmasse’ have NO sympathy for Khodorkovsky.
Question/s:
-“Some sections” of the media is losing credibility by unashamedly and blatantly siding with Khodorkovsky.
-Will more governments around the world have the courage to do what Russia (and the USA) has done with the likes of Khodorkovsky in Russia (and Madoff in the USA.).
Mr.Putin is right……spot on………a "thief should sit in jail." The Russian common folks are totally and spontaneously with Mr.Putin on this. Further, it is no ones business outside of Russia to meddle in this "internal" matter.
Charlie Brown
Russia's prime minister says the crimes of former oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky's have been proven, and a "thief should sit in jail."
Khodorkovsky is serving an eight-year sentence after being convicted of tax fraud and is awaiting the verdict in a second trial that could keep him in prison for many more years.
Mr.Putin said Khodorkovsky's present punishment is more "liberal" than the 150-year prison sentence handed down in the U.S. to disgraced financier Bernard Madoff.
Observation:
Fact is---The Russian governments handling of Khodokovsky has “overwhelming” support among common Russians……….a point that some in media “overlook”.
The moot point is this…
How in the first place did Khodorkvsky come to own a giant oil company- “Yukos” ?
-Who funded him ?
-Was the valuation at the time of purchase of the assets, right ?
This is why common Russians enmasse’ have NO sympathy for Khodorkovsky.
Question/s:
-“Some sections” of the media is losing credibility by unashamedly and blatantly siding with Khodorkovsky.
-Will more governments around the world have the courage to do what Russia (and the USA) has done with the likes of Khodorkovsky in Russia (and Madoff in the USA.).
Mr.Putin is right……spot on………a "thief should sit in jail." The Russian common folks are totally and spontaneously with Mr.Putin on this. Further, it is no ones business outside of Russia to meddle in this "internal" matter.
Charlie Brown
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
A key to alleviating poverty
New Post (78) : A key to alleviating poverty
Book : "Creating a World Without Poverty"
-Social Business and the Future of Capitalism
by Muhammad Yunus
These are some of the major concepts the author proposes:
-The key to alleviating poverty lies in SOCIAL BUSINESSES.
-These businesses are NOT governmental institutions, charities or multilateral organizations.
-Their underlying business motive is NOT to make money but rather to provide a social benefit.
Most certainly “a book to reflect on”.
***Heck, think so far out of the box that you can't even see the piece of paper the box was drawn on.
Charlie Brown
Book : "Creating a World Without Poverty"
-Social Business and the Future of Capitalism
by Muhammad Yunus
These are some of the major concepts the author proposes:
-The key to alleviating poverty lies in SOCIAL BUSINESSES.
-These businesses are NOT governmental institutions, charities or multilateral organizations.
-Their underlying business motive is NOT to make money but rather to provide a social benefit.
Most certainly “a book to reflect on”.
***Heck, think so far out of the box that you can't even see the piece of paper the box was drawn on.
Charlie Brown
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