Thursday, October 31, 2013

Den Men of Nebraska





First, a typical buffalo wallows does have a natural genesis that is easily traced and understood so the idea of millions of dwellings appears rather unlikely.  However this does report on a clear artificial establishment that appears to be a group of colonizers close to the Lake Superior copper mines.  We can add this to the established Atzlan site in the area.  Again we determined that this presence existed from other sources and are step by step fleshing out the geography from forgotten disparate sources known only to local enthusiasts if then.

What is becoming clear is that an extensive establishment existed  along the upper Mississippi Basin to support the copper mining enterprise which appears so far to be Minoan led with what is now a significant additional Egyptian presence localized in areas.  It appears that the natives responded to this by establishing their own individual polities and expanding agricultural base.

Stories of artifact loaded caves and gold leaf books become plausible as we fill in what first appeared to be a cursory penetration though lasting for generations.  It was much more than that and likely formed a substantial polity.

The time frames - other sources- are dead on as well.

The Den Men of Nebraska

Posted on October 28, 2013
From an old undated newspaper article contained in James’ scrapbooks:

Den Men of Nebraska


Americans who lived in Underground Prairie Homes

Professor Robert W. Gilder, archaeologist for the University of Nebraska, has made the curious discovery that the familiar “buffalo wallows” of the West were never made by buffaloes. They are, instead, the ruins of underground dwellings in which thousands of years ago lived a race which vanished other thousands of years ago.

The “wallows” were thought to be what their name indicates even by the Indians, thus proving that the red men themselves knew nothing of the race that made the dens.

The modern Indian were just as much surprised as the whites when they discovered what Professor Gilder was taking out of the old indentations. The archaeologist would point to one of the wallows and then tell his little audience just what he would find in it. This he was enabled to do so by reason of the curious similarity in the arrangement of and the things found in the dens. The Indians were appalled, however, by what they thought his uncanny foresight, and now they call him “Man-Who-Sees-Through-the-Ground.”

This curious people were skilled in the art of making pottery and in turning out realistic heads and figurines in clay and stone. All their underground houses and caves were built in the shape of squares. These rectangles, oddly enough, do not square like many primeval dwellings, with the points of the compass, but with the North Star, which is a few degrees off due north. The majority of the caves have their entrances at the south, and some have inclines fifty feet long leading down to the door.

This mysterious people dwelt by the millions on the prairies. Professor Gilder has uncovered near the west bank of the Missouri River, near Omaha, what appears to have been a metropolis of the race. Ethnologists who have examined the relics have found no resemblance with either the pre-Columbian Indians or with the mound builders.

There is no clue to indicate who these people were or how they were wiped out. Nor is it clear what conditions forced a whole race to live in burrows beneath the ground.

However, among the ruins, of the long-filled burrows Professor Gilder has found a little carved head of pink soapstone.

The little pink head is Egyptian in every feature. It is delicately carved and highly polished. It is Egyptian in headdress, having even the rectangular earguard worn by the Egyptians. It is more than Egyptian. It resembles the face of Rameses II himself. If the marble busts in Oriental museums to-day are images of the Egyptian king and the mummy unearthed I the sands of Egypt in 1881 and now reposing in the Boulak Museum in Cairo is really his corpse.

Another clay image has the pronouncedly sloping eyes peculiar to Chinese.

Geologists have furnished some assistance to the archaeologists in determining the probable age of the ruins. It takes years for black soil to accumulate where it is not washed in. This soil accumulates from decaying grasses. Darwin once made an experiment in the accretion of soil, and computed that but little over an inch collected in a hundred years.

How many centuries, then, may have gone while these two or three feet of black soil have gathered on the sunken roofs of the fallen cave homes!

At least a thousand years before Christ, say the geologists, our cavemen dropped into oblivion and their homes had begun to decay.

In uncovering something over thirty of these homes professor Gilda has established the general character of the caves and their contents. The floor is strewn with charred sticks, reeds, coarse grasses and charred corncobs. In the floor of every cave is found a cache where most of the domestic utensils and the other valuables are hidden. It is this cache that the archaeologist always seeks. Sometimes there are several in the same cave. The mouth of the cache is always found plugged with a layer of burnt clay. On top of this is a layer of ashes. Beneath all, the cavity widens like a jug or a bottle, often to the size of a hogshead.



Wikipedia has an article on Nebraska Man (Hesperopithecus haroldcookii) that sets the record straight. In my opinion, ‘Nebraska Man’ was a mistake in that a tooth was misidentified, the thought of fraud to ‘prove evolution’ is kind of silly. After all, James was a creationist and used the Den Men of Nebraska in the 1926Lost Continent of Mu Motherland of Men, the 1931 Lost Continent of Mu. To James, it provided more evidence of early travelers/settlers from Mu in North America, because they were human.

According to James, 
there was no evolution.


Brazilian Human Prehistory Mirrors Africa?




It does not say so explicitly, but we have to presume that the charcoal carbon dated out in those high numbers to give us the quoted reading.  What it does do is powerfully confirm that south America was populated during the primary expansion of humanity perhaps over fifty thousand years ago.  North America suffers from the massive influence of the Ice Age and the Pleistocene nonconformity of 12900 BP.  Large tracts of South America survived in better shape.

Again, sea transport was available to move peoples around and the sea levels were three hundred feet lower at least causing many stepping stones to be available that are now well sunk.

A better approach to estimating human arrival times is to presume the earliest plausible time and then discover why not for which there are many diverse reason for any given site.

30,000 year old Brazilian artifacts throw wrench in theory humans first arrived in Americas 12,000 years ago
By Agence France-Presse

Wednesday, October 9, 2013 


It’s no secret humans have been having sex for millennia — but recently discovered cave art suggests they were doing it in the Americas much earlier than many archeologists believed.

A new exhibit in Brazil showcases artifacts dating as far back as 30,000 years ago — throwing a wrench in the commonly held theory humans first crossed to the Americas from Asia a mere 12,000 years ago.

The 100 items on display in Brasilia, including cave paintings and ceramic art, depict animals, ceremonies, hunting expeditions — and even scenes from the sex lives of this ancient group of early Americans.

The artifacts come from the Serra da Capivara national park in Brazil’s northeastern Piaui state, on the border of the Amazon and Atlantic Forests, which attracted the hunter-gatherer civilization that left behind this hoard of local art.

Since the 1970s, Franco-Brazilian archaeologist Niede Guidon has headed a mission to carry out large-scale excavation of Piaui’s interior.

It’s difficult to think there exists a site anywhere with a higher concentration of cave art,” the 80-year-old Guidon told AFP.

Many paths led to Americas

Other traces of the civilization include charcoal remains of structured fires, explained Guidon, who hails from Sao Paulo.

“To date, these are the oldest traces” of human existence in the Americas, she emphasized.

The widely held theory has suggested human beings only reached the Americas some 12,000 years ago from Asia, crossing the Bering Strait to reach Alaska.

Some archeologists contend flaked pebbles at the Brazilian sites are not evidence of a crude, human-made fire hearth made some 40 millennia ago, but are rather geofacts — a natural stone formation, not a man-made one.

But Guidon said she believes the Serra dwellers may have come originally from Africa, and she said the cave art provides compelling evidence of early human activity.

The paintings are estimated to date back some 29,000 years, she said, noting: “When it began in Europe and Africa, it did here too.”

Other sites, including Valsequillo in Mexico and Monte Verde in Chile, also indicate the presence of communities tens of thousands of years ago.

These sites have led archeologists to speculate that peoples traveled various routes to reach the Americas and at different stages, archeologist Gisele Daltrini Felice told AFP.

In search of tourists

UNESCO conferred World Heritage status on the Serra da Capivara in 1991, but tourists remain thin on the ground, which frustrates Guidon.

“After putting in a great amount of effort (to promote the site) we are up to 20,000 visitors a year,” the archeologist said.

But “World Heritage sites get millions, and we are prepared to receive millions,” she added.

The interior of the Piaui region is marked by widespread poverty, which has much to gain from tourism, Guidon stressed.

But resources are lacking to promote the attractions in a remote corner of the giant nation, she said. The nearest city is the modest town of Sao Raimundo Nonato, which has spent years trying to have an airport built.

The EU is promoting both the new exhibit as well as a swath of conferences on the area under the auspices of UNESCO, Brazil’s Institute of Parks and the country’s Institute of Historic and Artistic Heritage.

“The idea is to promote cultural, historic and nature-based tourism in order to aid the development of areas adjoining Brazil’s major parks — and especially the Serra da Capivara, which has the most modern infrastructure,” with 172 sites to visit, said Jerome Poussielgue, European Union cooperation and development officer for Brazil.

And the foundation behind research into the park is backing development projects — including a ceramics factory that reproduces images of the cave art, a program aimed at giving local women work experience.

“We would like to help in the development of a region where women suffer hugely from violence,” says Guidon.

Sierra da Capivara National Park
Many of the numerous rock shelters in the Serra da Capivara National Park are decorated with cave paintings, some more than 25,000 years old. They are an outstanding testimony to one of the oldest human communities of South America.

Outstanding Universal Value
Brief synthesis
Established in 1979, the Serra da Capivara National Park stretched across the municipalities of São Raimundo Nonato, São João do Piauí, and Canto do Buriti in the south-eastern section of Piauí state in Brazil’s Northeast Region. In 1994, the municipality of Brejo do Piauí and, in 1995 the municipality of João Costa were dismembered   of São João do Piauí. The municipality of Coronel José Dias was dismembered of São Raimundo Nonato in 1992. These three municipalities, plus São Raimundo Nonato, are partially located in the area of the Serra da Capivara National Park.

The Park covers nearly 129, 140 hectares and has a circumference of 214 kilometres. It is situated in the morphoclimatic zone of the Brazilian Caatinga, distinguished by the multiplicity of plant formations typical of the semi-arid regions of Northeast Brazil. The region’s plant species are primarily characterized by the loss of most of their leaves during the dry season, extending from May to December, serving to lend the landscape its silver hue. The region borders two major geological formations – the Maranhão-Piauí sediment basin and the peripheral depression of the São Francisco River – and is endowed with a diversity of relief vegetation and landscapes of breathtaking beauty and dotted with exceptional vistas of the surrounding valleys, mountains, and plains.

The area houses one of the most important archaeological sites in the Americas containing evidence and artefacts that have forced a sweeping re-evaluation of the fundamental traditional theories underpinning the origins of human settlement in the Americas.

Over 300 archaeological sites have been found within the park, the majority consisting of rock and wall paintings dating from 50,000-30,000 years Before Present. Many of the numerous rock shelters in the Serra da Capivara National Park are decorated with rock paintings, some more than 25,000 years old. The analyses and dating of the evidence and artefacts found in the Serra da Capivara National Park serve to confirm the millennial presence of human beings on the American continent and the importance of the heritage. The ensemble of archaeological sites contains dating evidence that has thoroughly revolutionized classical theories regarding the entry route into the Americas by human populations along the Bering Strait. According to studies, the area encompassing the Serra da Capivara National Park was occupied by hunters and gatherers, followed by ceramic-farming societies. Discoveries at the Boqueirão da Pedra Furada archaeological site suggest that human beings may have settled the region as far back as 50,000 years ago, while the oldest remaining archaeological site with surviving rock  art dates back 10,530 years Before Present. In the light of these new findings, the region represents one of the most significant archaeological sites in the world and the property is an outstanding testimony to one of the oldest human communities of South America

Criterion (iii): The Serra da Capivara National Park bears exceptional testimony to one of the oldest populations to inhabit South America. It constitutes and preserves the largest ensemble of archaeological sites, and the the oldest examples of rock art in the Americas. Moreover, the iconography of the paintings allows us to identify information about  the region’s early peoples.

Integrity
The inscribed property contains a multiplicity of attributes that warrant its Outstanding Universal Value. It is endowed with a network of sites converging to forge a rich collection of pre-historic elements enabling extensive research into the region’s environment, wildlife, plant life, and earliest inhabitants.

Formal establishment of the Park has served to ensure preservation of the archaeological sites, which stand as a testament to ancient human settlement in South America. Safely contained within the Park’s clear delimitations and 10-kilometer buffer zone, the area’s sites have remained effectively protected and intact, both in terms of their physical integrity preservation and historical and cultural value.

Authenticity
The Serra da Capivara National Park contains evidence of the settlement by cultural groups in the area for thousands of years. These groups successfully developed practices and pattern tailored to the environment, in addition to rich and complex cultural expressions, as reflected in the surviving art work. The surviving rock art provides tangible proof of cultural wealth of these pre-colonial peoples in Brazil. The authenticity of the diverse archaeological remains is unquestionable and conditions have been largely preserved with the conservation measures that have been implemented to date.

Protection and management requirements
The Serra da Capivara National Park is managed jointly by the Brazilian Institute for the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (Instituto Brasileiro do Meio Ambiente e dos Recursos Naturais Renováveis – IBAMA), replaced by the Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation – ICMBio, established through Law 11516 of August 28, 2007, to manage federal conservation units (unidade de conservação – UC) throughout Brazil, and the American Man Museum Foundation (Fundação Museu do Homem Americano – FUMDHAM), a NGO engaged in scientific research. The National Institute of Historical and Artistic Heritage (Instituto do Patrimônio Histórico e Artístico Nacional – IPHAN) contributes toward monitoring, oversight, and conservation of the archaeological heritage site, in strict cooperation with FUMDHAM. The Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation (Instituto Chico Mendes de Conservação da Biodiversidade – ICMBio) and FUMDHAM are tasked with primary responsibility for management and administration, surveillance, and oversight of the Park and the corresponding Buffer Zone, maintenance and infrastructure, as well as environmental education initiatives and integration with the surrounding area.

The Serra da Capivara National Park is protected through Decree-Law 25 of 1937. It was officially designated a federal heritage site through Directive 54 of March 16, 1993 and entered in the Archaeological, Ethnographic, and Landscape Heritage Book (Livro de Tombo Arqueológico, Etnográfico e Paisagístico) under registration number 108, page 70, on September 28, 1993. Through Decree 83548 of June 5, 1979, the National Park was established to protect and preserve the cultural and ecological heritage contained in the area. In addition, the related archaeological sites are protected under Federal Law 3924 of 1961.

The ongoing flow of financial resources and international cooperation is essential to give continuity to the measures provided for under the Management Plan prepared by FUMDHAM in 1991. The key goal of the plan is to reclaim the balance between protection of the existing cultural heritage and the ecological components of the Park, an effort that requires permanent monitoring and surveillance, in addition to measures to conserve the archaeological remains and to provide physical infrastructure for visitor access. The primary challenge at present consists of ensuring progressive and systematic registration (photogrammetry / metrology) of the sites containing cave art, so as to enable future research, as well as the execution of ongoing conservation measures, all of which is contingent on uninterrupted national and international support.

The Serra da Capivara National Park and the area’s conservation have emerged as essential to the region’s future by virtue of the growth and expansion of archaeological ecotourism, a key driver of economic development in the area. Tourism to the region has increased steadily since implementation of the first infrastructure projects, including the Museum of the American Man.

To ensure continuity of these efforts, consolidation of a sustainable management system for the Serra da Capivara National Park is required, with a view to fostering the strategic coordination of the various initiatives launched by FUMDHAM and the participating government agencies, including IPHAN and ICMBio. Moreover, promoting greater accessibility and incentives to tourism, among other measures, is seen as a potentially effective strategy to generate the additional means needed to maintain and conserve the area into the future.

Long Description
Many of the numerous rock shelters in the Serra da Capivara National Park are decorated with cave paintings, some more than 25,000 years old. They are an outstanding testimony to one of the oldest human communities of South America.

The park is situated near the town of São Raimondo Nonato, 220 km south of Floriano and 5,230 km from Teresina. The main body of the park is the Serra do Congo massif and the central Chapada da Capivara in the State of Piauì.

Over 300 archaeological sites have been found within the park, the majority consisting of rock and wall paintings dating from 50,000-30,000 years ago. Certain geological formations and palaeofauna that included giant sloths, horses, camelids and early llamas indicate that the Ice Age environment was quite different from the existing semi-arid conditions.

The site must have been inhabited by the early men who populated the American continents. Fragments of broken wall found in the Pedra Furada shelter appear to be the oldest traces of rock art in South America; they have been dated to 26,000-22,000 BC. In spite of the value of the rich archaeological elements discovered thus far, this site is especially remarkable because of the rock-art paintings that decorate the shelters.

The shelters in Serra da Capivara National Park bear exceptional testimony to the oldest human communities that have populated South America and preserve the oldest examples of rock art on the continent. Moreover, the deciphering of the iconography of these rock-art paintings, which is being carried out gradually, reveals major aspects of the religious beliefs and practices of this people.

Physiographically, the area is connected with the Piaui and Bom Jesus do Gurgeia regions of the north-eastern basin. For 180 km, cliffs up to 270 m high form a border between two contrasting geological zones: a plain to the south-east and mountain massifs to the north-east. Erosion has hollowed out canyons and valleys within the mountain terrain. The landscape is characterized by mountains, valleys and open plains. The area is an important watershed, including the river valley system of Riacho Toca da Onca, Riacho Baixo da Lima, Riacho Bom Jesus and the Gruta do Pinga. Typical of the semi-arid region of the north-east of Brazil, the vegetation is in a transition zone between the central and the Atlantic provinces.

The park largely consists of dense thorny scrubland vegetation, known as caatinga, with a predominance of semi-arid vegetation dominated by succulents, drought-resistant deciduous thorny trees and shrubs, and other xerophytic vegetation. Relict isolated patches of forest cover survive in a few deep, narrow canyons. This vegetation, which includes palaeo-endemic relict genera and families representative of rainforest which were found in the area during the humid Ice Age of over 11,000 BP, is restricted to the canyons that retain moisture during the dry season. Serra de Capivara is recognized as one of the few protected areas within the caatingasbiogeographic province which includes a vegetation type endemic to north-east Brazil. It contains unique species of animal and plant unknown elsewhere. Characteristic fauna is scarce in caatinga thorn scrubland, although recorded in the park are notable species including ocelot, bush dog, rocky cavy, red-legged seriema and a species of Tropidurus lizard.

Source: UNESCO/CLT/WHC


Maggot Farming






This is very good news. I came to the same conclusion some seven years ago as an obvious feedstock for chickens.  This now establish the practical parameters missing in my past musings and a major conclusion follows.

All animal and human organic waste can be processed this way including all slaughter house wastage to produce maggot crops.  These maggot crops can be cleansed in their final stage with a soy meal based feed to stabilize quality.  All in this then produces a huge feedstock that can then be converted by this method or alternative nutrient saving methods into feed suitable for fish and chickens and plausibly all farm animals.  This includes pig and chicken manure and cattle manure also.  Our biggest problem could become a viable revenue source. And a viable fertilizer source from the droppings.

It is also plausible that this can be engineered to be farm friendly as well allowing to ship a finished maggot product to a feed finisher.

From what they are describing here, they are well along in organizing hardware.

Insect-based fish feed

October 16, 201
Randy Shore


Long a vocal critic of B.C.’s conventional fish-farming industry, environmentalist David Suzuki has helped create a new product being tested as feed for farmed salmon.

Suzuki and Brad Marchant, CEO of the Vancouver-based start-up company Enterra, coined the idea of using maggots fed on food waste to create a sustainable source of protein while fly fishing in Yukon.

“For years we’ve been fighting salmon aquaculture, not because we are against aquaculture, but we felt that [conventional] aquaculture was the wrong way to do it,” Suzuki told The Vancouver Sun. “First of all, the salmon are grown in open nets, so you are using the ocean as a sewer. Closed containment is the way it has to go.”

Suzuki said he would oppose using the feed in open-net salmon aquaculture.

“I would not like that at all,” said Suzuki. “I think it should be used, with vision, in hard containers, but I think that [technology] is coming.”

“I wouldn’t be happy, but I guess it’s better than fish meal,” he said.

Recent advances in closed containment fish farming have begun to address some of the effects of salmon farms on wild salmon, predators and the marine environment, but feed remains problematic.

Critics, including Suzuki, complain that the feed used to grow farmed salmon simply converts one kind of fish — often anchovy from Peru — into another at a huge cost to the health of wild fisheries.

“I asked David what else we could feed fish and he said, ‘They eat insects,’” Marchant said. Suzuki’s fly-fisherman’s insight tickled Marchant’s inner venture capitalist.

“So we went looking for an insect system that could convert food waste into food that we could give to fish and chickens,” Marchant said.

As co-founder, Suzuki acts as science adviser to Enterra, but donated his shares in the company to the David Suzuki Foundation.

While B.C.’s aquaculture industry has made progress in reducing the amount of fish meal and fish oil in feed, an insect-based system that diverts waste food from landfill would be a great leap forward, said Jay Ritchlin of the David Suzuki Foundation.

“This is brilliant,” said marine biologist Alexandra Morton, a staunch opponent of conventional open-net fish farming. “It is such a relief when I see something like this that makes sense.”

“What makes no sense is to harvest large amounts of fish from the ocean and drag them the length of the planet to end up with less fish,” said Morton.

Enterra takes fruit and vegetable waste from grocers and food processors — including Overwaitea Food Group and Sun Processing — combines it with a small amount of fish trim and waste bread and feeds it to the larvae of the Black Soldier Fly, a common insect indigenous to North America.

“It only takes three hours for them to eat the food, so it never sits around or rots,” Marchant said. The larvae are fed every few hours and grow to the size of a small fingertip.

After two weeks the larvae are cleaned, cooked, dried and ground into meal. The end products include meal that is about 60 per cent protein and oils, both suitable for fish or poultry feed. The larvae castings are being tested as fertilizer at Davonda Nurseries in Langley and organic vegetable producer Amara Farm in Courtenay.

“We take traceable, pre-consumer food waste and turn it into a substitute for fish meal, poultry meal or soy meal — all resource intensive products,” said Marchant. About 30 per cent of the world’s food is sent to landfill, taking its nutrients with it, he said.

Every 100 tonnes of food waste yields five tonnes of meal and oil and seven tonnes of fertilizer. About 80 tonnes of water is removed through evaporation, a process fuelled in part by heat generated by the larvae themselves.

Feed products are entering the second phase of testing on salmon by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans in West Vancouver, while the company waits for approvals from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.

The company is about to begin construction on a commercial-scale plant in Langley scheduled to open next year.


Snoring Device




This is mostly an ad for the device but it also appears comfortable and may actually work well.  It does have to be comfortable.  Other devices always appeared more trouble than solution.

Snoring is actually not a small problem because it does disturb one’s sleep and also disturbs the sleep of partners severely.  This is not a good health plan as has been shown in the list below.  Yet it also begs for a simple solution that ends the problem and this so far looks good.

Hopefully, all’s well that ends well.

A New Solution That Stops Snoring and Lets You Sleep


If you’re like most Americans you probably don’t get eight hours sleep each night.

But, if you also constantly feel exhausted, experience headaches for no obvious reason or have high blood pressure, you could have a more serious problem.

That’s because these can all be the result of snoring—which is, in turn, the most common symptom of a potentially serious health problem—obstructive sleep apnea (OSA).

While most people think of snoring as a minor annoyance, research shows it can be hazardous to your health.  That’s because for over 18 million Americans it’s related to obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). People who suffer from OSA repeatedly and unknowingly stop breathing during the night due to a complete or partial obstruction of their airway.  It occurs when the jaw, throat, and tongue muscles relax, blocking the airway used to breathe.  The resulting lack of oxygen can last for a minute or longer, and occur hundreds of times each night.  


Thankfully, most people wake when a complete or partial obstruction occurs, but it can leave you feeling completely exhausted.  OSA has also been linked to a host of health problems including:

Acid reflux
Frequent nighttime urination
Memory loss
Stroke
Depression
Diabetes
Heart attack
People over 35 are at higher risk.

OSA can be expensive to diagnosis and treat, and is not always covered by insurance.  A sleep clinic will require an overnight visit (up to $5,000).  Doctors then analyze the data and prescribe one of several treatments.  These may require you to wear uncomfortable CPAP devices that force air through your nose and mouth while you sleep to keep your airways open, and may even include painful surgery.

Fortunately, there is now a comfortable, far less costly and invasive treatment option available.  A recent case study published by Eastern Virginia Medical School's Division of Sleep Medicine in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine concludes that wearing a simple chinstrap while you sleep can be an effective treatment for OSA.

The chin strap, which is now available from a company called MySnoringSolution, works by supporting the lower jaw and tongue, preventing obstruction of the airway.  It’s made from a high-tech, lightweight, and super-comfortable material.  Thousands of people have used the MySnoringSolution chinstrap to help relieve their snoring symptoms, and they report better sleeping, and better health overall because of it.


An effective snoring solution for just $119


The “My Snoring Solution” Chinstrap is available exclusively from the company’s website which is currently offering a limited time “2 for 1” offer.  The product also comes with a 100 percent satisfaction guarantee.


If you want to stop snoring once and for all, without expensive CPAP devices or other intrusive devices, this may be the solution you’ve been waiting for.  The free additional strap is great for travel or as a gift for a fellow sufferer.

Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Brain Trust

Brain Trust

This does not fit well on this blogging engine but it will otherwise be quite readable and provides worthwhile information.

science
Share this infographic on your site!

The U.S. spends more money than any other country in the world on scientific research and development. But do those billions of dollars translate into breakthroughs, and what does the future hold?

Who Spends What?

Here’s a look at where the R&D spending in the world happens, by region:
Americas 36.0%
Asia 36.7%
Europe 24.1%
Rest of world 3.2%
The U.S. by far outspends every other country in the world on scientific research and development at more than $400 billion. But what about when that spending is compared to our total gross domestic product?
Country Total R&D spending (U.S. dollars)
United States $436 billion
China $198.9 billion
Japan $157.6 billion
Germany $90.6 billion
South Korea $56.4 billion
France $51.1 billion
United Kingdom $42.4 billion
India $41.3 billion
Brazil $30 billion
Canada $28.6 billion
Russia $26.9 billion
Italy $24.4 billion
Taiwan $22.3 billion
Australia $21.8 billion
Spain $20.4 billion
Sweden $14.4 billion
Netherlands $13.7 billion
Switzerland $10.4 billion
Israel $10.3 billion
Austria $9.9 billion
Turkey $9.7 billion
Singapore $8.8 billion
Belgium $8.6 billion
Finland $7.7 billion
Mexico $6.8 billion
Denmark $6.6 billion
Poland $5.7 billion
South Africa $5.5 billion
Norway $5.1 billion
Czech Republic $4.3 billion
Argentina $4.2 billion
Portugal $4.1 billion
Malaysia $3.3 billion
Ireland $3.2 billion
Hungary $2.4 billion
Indonesia $2.4 billion
Romania $1.8 billion
Saudi Arabia $1.8 billion
New Zealand $1.6 billion
Greece $1.6 billion
Country R&D spending as a percentage of GDP
Israel 4.20%
Finland 3.80%
Sweden 3.62%
Japan 3.48%
South Korea 3.45%
Denmark 3.08%
Switzerland 3.00%
Germany 2.87%
United States 2.85%
Austria 2.75%
Singapore 2.65%
Taiwan 2.38%
Australia 2.28%
France 2.24%
Belgium 2.03%
Canada 2.00%
Netherlands 1.90%
Norway 1.85%
United Kingdom 1.84%
Ireland 1.75%
Portugal 1.67%
China 1.60%
Czech Republic 1.55%
Spain 1.42%
Italy 1.32%
Brazil 1.25%
New Zealand 1.22%
Hungary 1.20%
Russia 1.08%
South Africa 0.95%
Turkey 0.90%
India 0.85%
Poland 0.72%
Malaysia 0.70%
Romania 0.66%
Argentina 0.61%
Greece 0.50%
Mexico 0.39%
Saudi Arabia 0.25%
Indonesia 0.20%

Where the Money Goes

Here’s a look at the areas where most of the research is focused, by country:
U.S.
National defense
Health
Space/flight research
China
Nanotechnology
Clean energy
Stem cell research
New labs and institutes
Japan
Energy conservation/new energy sources
Housing
Robot technology
Life sciences
Germany
Environment
Health
Physics
Aerospace/ transportation.
South Korea
Nanotechnology
Space
Bioscience/biomedicine
France
Renewable energy
Cancer
Communication technology
Space
United Kingdom
Engineering
Physical sciences
Medicine
Biotechnology
India
Agriculture
Biotechnology
Nanotechnology
Climate change
Canada
Aerospace
Information/communication technologies
Oil/gas extraction
Pharmaceutical/medicine manufacturing
Russia
Life sciences
Biopharmaceuticals
Nanotechnology

The Biggest Brains?

Which countries are poised for the biggest and best breakthroughs over the next decade?
Scientific and engineering researchers per capita
  • Finland
  • Sweden
  • Japan
  • Singapore
  • Denmark
  • Norway
  • United States
  • Australia
  • Canada
  • New Zealand
Patents per capita
  • United States
  • Japan
  • Switzerland
  • Finland
  • Israel
  • Sweden
  • Germany
  • Canada
  • Denmark
  • Hong Kong
Countries that will have the greatest scientific impact in 2020, according to Nature magazine readers
China 59%
United States 36%
India 29%
Germany 23%
Japan 22%
United Kingdom 19%
Brazil 16%
Australia 13%
Canada 11%
France 8%

Cause for Concern?

Budget cuts in the U.S. have led many scientists and researchers to sour on the U.S.
Nearly 1 in 5
American scientists considering pursuing their research overseas
67%
Scientists and researchers who say they’re getting less grant money than in 2010
More than 1 in 2
Researchers with colleagues who’ve lost a job or expect to soon

Bright Outlook?

While budget cuts may be hindering some research in the U.S. now, scientists around the world still consider the U.S. an attractive location to conduct their work.
To which countries would you consider relocating?
United States 56%
United Kingdom 55%
Canada 51%
Australia 46%
Germany 45%
France 37%
Japan 17%
Brazil 12%
India 9%
China 8%
Sources: