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Methane-reducing "Manhattan Project" a crucial step to survival

2011-11-02T12:38:00.000-07:00

Methane and the Fierce Urgency of Now

by Nathan Currier, Senior Climate Advisor, Public Policy Virginia; Classical Composer

With its Koch brothers funding and climate denier affiliations, the Berkeley Earth Project finally laid 'Climategate' to rest last week, affirming the climate data of NASA and others. So now we return to the more complex questions of what to do -- with denial coming from a very different direction. Shining the light of truth onto this denial is a single graph in a major new United Nations Assessment about to be released, showing that even aggressive reductions of CO2 emissions have no effect on warming until about 2040. This is largely because many primary CO2 emission sources co-emit aerosols with CO2. Aerosols on balance cool the planet, but being very short-lived we lose this cooling much more quickly than CO2's warming declines. In stark contrast, the same graph shows that methane and black carbon reductions can achieve considerable impacts on warming very soon.

"Comprehensive" plans like Waxman-Markey could bring mild near-term climate benefits, but 100% of that comes at first from non-CO2 reductions or increasing carbon sinks through risky credits. With recent drought, flood and fire bringing a foretaste of the costs of climate disruption, shall we continue aiming for such a "comprehensive" plan? Politically, the approach has already been in deep trouble. What has not been clear, however, is why it is unwise for the climate and what should be done instead.

Our biggest challenge will be drastic cuts in CO2, perhaps down to near zero by mid-century, as we'll need a planet after 2040. But central to this UN graph is that those CO2 cuts must be decoupled from methane cuts, and the methane cuts must be strongly 'front-loaded' to help preserve near-term climate. The multi-gas strategies value the non-CO2 gases against CO2 using an inappropriate 100-year time frame which undervalues methane by up to 400%, impeding rapid methane drawdown. It makes much more sense to combine methane with black carbon in a separate package for near-term protection. Indeed, we have no choice about this: this is the only emissions policy that can effectively impact the climate changes we are experiencing right now. To claim otherwise is its own form of denial.

In an appeal to developing nations, the United Nations report focuses on measures beneficial to both climate and health, and thus black carbon, causing an appalling number of deaths, is emphasized first. But methane's climate effects are far more certain than are black carbon's, and so while we should do both, we must focus more on methane at first, aiming black carbon cuts mostly towards sources that save lives (cookstoves), while scrutinizing their effectiveness and increasing them greatly if very helpful for the climate.

Skeptics will likely still claim for a while that global warming is not caused by us. They are wrong, but might soon be right: that is, if we let the arctic continue melting, and the methane stored in the Eastern Siberian shelf come out, the problem won't have much to do with us any longer, as even just a few percent of it would swamp all attempts to control warming, shifting the planet rapidly to a new state. So, while CO2 is surely the largest chunk of human-induced warming, the "fierce urgency of now" in climate is methane. We either reduce our methane emissions sharply now, giving ourselves a fighting chance to deal with the CO2 problem over the coming decades, or we seriously risk letting 'non-human' methane push Earth to a hotter state. Perhaps we can finally close the debate with deniers through methane: no one can contest how much methane is stored in the Siberian shelf, no one can contest what it will do if released. And no one should contest any longer that its state is changing: just recently the NCAR HIPPO project concluded three years of the highest-tech greenhouse gas readings yet. Its first big surprise: background levels of methane are rising over large areas of the arctic ocean.

Robert Watson, the former IPCC chairman, admirably started the Global Methane Fund (GMF) in 2009 saying we need near-term cooling and methane is the best way to start. The GMF later joined the U.S. EPA's Methane to Markets to form the Global Methane Initiative, which estimates it could cut by 2020 50% of those methane emissions costing less than $40/ton, if it can greatly leverage an initial $200-300 million. But that is less than half of what should be achievable in even less time.

'Methane Apollo' is my name for what might help us -- an Apollo-like half-decade project centered on massive methane reductions from gas and oil, coal mining, landfills, agricultural waste, and wastewater. Scientists call something that perturbs our planet's energy balance a 'radiative forcing', adding warming if positive, cooling if negative. With rapid reduction of methane emissions by a third, methane should restabilize around 1250 parts per billion over fourteen years, reducing radiative forcing by almost a third of its increase since industrialization. If some recent studies of black carbon are correct, then the methane and 20% black carbon cuts together could temporarily cut by almost half (~45%) all the radiative forcing added since industrialization. These measures should be particularly effective in the arctic, moreover, because of the roles there of ozone and black carbon. Unlike the "350" movement for CO2, the "1250" goal for methane with added black carbon cuts makes for a practical immediate goal.

The total 'cost' would be around $250 billion, but is effectively far less. Some of the methane provides a profit stream from captured emissions producing energy, attracting investment. Methane to Markets leveraged their modest $50 million expenditures by almost eight times. If G20 nations put up amounts between just $1-5 billion, averaging about $3 billion each, then this $60 billion would only need to be leveraged about four times. Let's do it, fast, and let's hope it is not already too late.

Matt Damon: Is safe water and a basic toilet too much to ask?

2011-11-02T11:42:00.000-07:00

by Matt Damon and Gary White

By the time you finish reading this paragraph, one more child will have died from something that's been preventable for over a century. Nearly 40 percent of the world's population is still unable to secure a safe glass of water or access a basic toilet. While we continue to rally around the goal of ensuring safe water and sanitation for all, the real question we are left asking ourselves: how do we truly confront this in a way that results in realizing our vision within our lifetime?

Even today, as solutions are known and available, lack of access to safe water and sanitation continues to claim more lives through disease than any war claims through guns.

This painful reality has driven philanthropic efforts to help stop the suffering. There are conferences, master plans, frameworks, legislation, new institutions, and even more resolved resolutions. Money is raised, wells are dug, ribbons are cut. But even after decades of charity, subsidies, multilateral aid, and investments on the part of governments and outside non-governmental organizations (NGOs), the system remains inefficient and largely misses the goal of providing relief for those at the base of the economic pyramid (BOP) in their daily need to secure water. The intentions are good, but the relief is not trickling down.

On average, those living in slums pay 7-15 times more per liter of water than owners of nearby five-star hotels. This is because subsidies are largely delivered through unrealistically low water tariffs -- if you are too poor to afford a water connection, you can't capture the subsidy. Similarly, if you are a poor day laborer in Port-au-Prince and you want a drink of safe water to quench your thirst, you will pay 250 times more than the cost of New York City tap water. Those who lack cash pay with their time -- hours each day spent scavenging for water from public taps that frequently run dry, rivers, or even drainage ditches. There are nearly a billion people in this trap of water insecurity and about 2.5 billion lack a sanitary toilet.

Instead of viewing this as an ocean of people with their hands out waiting for charity-driven solutions, what if we see many of them, or even most of them, as potential customers. In the past decade we have seen a paradigm shift in how we understand the BOP -- a shift that holds much promise for tackling the water and sanitation crisis. Microfinance has been a catalyst in this, democratizing access to capital. Water.org has tapped into the power of microfinance to demonstrate that its principles can spill over into meeting the water and sanitation needs of the poor.

Through WaterCredit, we have explored the application of microfinance to water and sanitation needs. With the support of the Pepsico Foundation, we have reached more than 250,000 people with loans that allow them to pay connection fees for house taps and to construct toilets. This was done at an average philanthropic cost of $24/person, which, in turn, leveraged more than three times that amount in the form of commercial capital to complete the finance package for each household. We are now taking this to scale with an $8 million grant from the Pepsico Foundation announced last Thursday and a $3.8 million grant from the MasterCard Foundation. We project that this philanthropic capital will leverage an additional $36 million in commercial capital, reaching about one million people. In the case of India, we will drive the philanthropic cost per person served down even further, to $10 by the end of the grant.

Access to capital -- philanthropic, social and commercial -- is certainly a choke point in achieving universal access to water and sanitation. But neck and neck is lack of accountability to those living in poverty on the part of their governments and water utilities. Unfortunately, about half of investments that do find their way to water and sanitation infrastructure misses the mark due to corruption, incompetence, inadequate maintenance, and subsidies captured by those who could pay for services.

The potential of microfinance to democratize access to capital is paralleled by the potential of technology and social media to democratize access to information. In the same way that social media and mobile devices allowed those driving the Arab Spring to find their voice in holding their leaders accountable for principles of democracy, we believe they can be used to allow the poor -- citizens in their own right -- to hold their leaders accountable for investments made into basic services such as water and sanitation. More people now have access to a cell phone than a toilet. What if a cell phone became a tool for the poor to better hold their elected officials accountable for fulfilling their mandate to provide sanitation?

Approaching this crisis in a way that truly yields lasting and scalable solutions requires that we tap into orthogonal forces -- trends that are swirling around us that, at first, seem unrelated to the business of addressing the water and sanitation needs of the poor. New tools have been placed in our toolbox -- often, when we in the water sector were looking the other way, drilling another well. Microfinance and social media are just two examples of these tools.

While the issues surrounding water poverty are complex, at a fundamental level they need to be addressed from the bottom up. Philanthropic capital should be used catalytically to jump-start markets for the hundreds of millions who can afford to meet their own needs if only given the right tools. It should be used to help drive transparency and accountability around public funds already targeting this crisis. It should seek to back those initiatives that can continue to democratize those forces and tools that we in the United States take for granted, whether poor or affluent, in leveling the playing field.

We call on ourselves and other NGOs, governments, utilities, philanthropists, and influencers to recommit to approaching this crisis from the perspective of the poor. This call includes directing more resources towards experimentation and discovery, and doing so in a way that taps into and channels the intrinsic power of the poor as customers and citizens. It also includes raising the stakes by putting the global water and sanitation crisis on the map in a way that it truly deserves. This is a challenge worthy of the next global movement, similar to what was needed to sound the alarm around the fight against HIV/AIDS.

This is that next movement and we are honored to have the opportunity to work with Arianna Huffington, who pledged herself and her team to give this movement an incredible kick-start with the launch of a new section of Huffington Post -- a section that will be dedicated to giving coverage to this cause, the doers, the solutions, and the discourse that is needed to change the world. In the end we know that we cannot fund-raise our way out of this crisis. Ultimately, it will be creativity, innovation, and collective action that will allow us to achieve universal access to water and sanitation, and do so in our lifetime.

Gary White and Matt Damon are the co-founders of Water.org

Climate change escalating wild weather patterns

2011-11-02T11:34:00.000-07:00

BY SETH BORENSTEIN , HuffingtonPost.com

WASHINGTON -- For a world already weary of weather catastrophes, the latest warning from top climate scientists paints a grim future: More floods, more heat waves, more droughts and greater costs to deal with them.

A draft summary of an international scientific report obtained by The Associated Press says the extremes caused by global warming could eventually grow so severe that some locations become "increasingly marginal as places to live."

The report from the Nobel Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change marks a change in climate science, from focusing on subtle shifts in average temperatures to concentrating on the harder-to-analyze freak events that grab headlines, hurt economies and kill people.

"The extremes are a really noticeable aspect of climate change," said Jerry Meehl, senior scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research. "I think people realize that the extremes are where we are going to see a lot of the impacts of climate change."

The final version of the report from a panel of leading climate scientists will be issued in a few weeks, after a meeting in Uganda. The draft says there is at least a 2-in-3 probability that climate extremes have already worsened because of man-made greenhouse gases.

The most recent bizarre weather extreme, the pre-Halloween snowstorm that crippled parts of the Northeast last weekend, cannot be blamed on climate change and probably isn't the type of storm that will increase with global warming, according to four meteorologists and climate scientists.

Experts on extreme storms have focused more closely on the increasing number of super-heavy rainstorms, not snow, NASA climate scientist Gavin Schmidt said.

By the end of the century, the intense, single-day rainstorms that typically happen once every 20 years will probably happen about twice a decade, the report said.

The opposite type of disaster – a drought such as the stubbornly long dry spell gripping Texas and parts of the Southwest – could also happen more often as the world warms, said Schmidt and Meehl, who reviewed part of the climate panel report.

Studies have not yet specifically tied global warming to the continuing drought, but it is consistent with computer models that indicate current climate trends will worsen existing droughts, Meehl said. Scientifically connecting a weather disaster with global warming is a complicated and time-consuming task that can take more than a year and involve lots of computer calculations.

Researchers have also predicted more intense monsoons with climate change. Warmer air can hold more water and impart more energy to weather systems, changing the dynamics of storms and where and how they hit.

Thailand is now coping with massive flooding from monsoonal rains – an event that illustrates how climate is also connected with other manmade issues such as population growth, urban development and river management, Schmidt said.

In fact, the report says, "for some climate extremes in many regions, the main driver for future increases in losses will be socioeconomic" rather than a result of greenhouse gases.

The panel was formed by the United Nations and World Meteorological Organization. In the past, it has discussed extreme events in snippets in its report. But this time, the scientists are putting them all together.

The report, which needs approval by diplomats at the mid-November meeting, tries to measure the confidence scientists have in their assessment of climate extremes both future and past.

Chris Field, one of the leaders of the climate change panel, said he and other authors declined to comment because the report is still subject to change.

The summary chapter did not detail which regions of the world might suffer extremes so severe as to leave them only marginally habitable.

The report does say scientists are "virtually certain" – 99 percent – that the world will have more extreme spells of heat and fewer of cold. Heat waves could peak as much as 5 degrees hotter by mid-century and even 9 degrees hotter by the end of the century.

From June to August this year in the United States, blistering heat set 2,703 daily high temperature records, compared with only 300 cold records during that period. That made it the hottest summer in the U.S. since the Dust Bowl of 1936, according to Weather Underground Meteorology Director Jeff Masters, who was not involved in the study.

And there's an 80 percent chance that the killer Russian heat wave of 2010 would not have happened without the added push of global warming, according to a study published last week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Scientists expect future hurricanes and other tropical cyclones to have stronger winds, but they won't increase in number and may actually decrease.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology meteorology professor Kerry Emanuel, who studies climate's effects on hurricanes, disagrees and believes more of these intense storms will occur.

And global warming isn't the sole villain in future climate disasters, the climate report says. An even bigger problem will be the number of people – especially the poor – who live in harm's way.

The 18-page summary report isn't completely grim. It says some "low-regrets measures" can help reduce disaster risks and costs, including better preparedness, sustainable land and water management, better public health monitoring and building improvements.

University of Victoria climate scientist Andrew Weaver, who was not among the authors, said the report was written to be "so bland" that it may not matter to world leaders.

But Masters said the basic findings seem to be proven true by actual events.

"In the U.S., this has been the weirdest weather year we've had for my 30 years, hands down."

Autumn of Inspiration in 71 countries, 719 cities

2011-10-12T20:23:00.000-07:00

United for Global Change movement launches October 15th, 2011

The American Autumn of Inspiration is spurring a global protest movement unseen since the 1960s. People everywhere are rising up to let the powers that be know that enough is enough, and the average Joe has been squeezed for too long.

Statement for Canada and Canadians in United for Change Movement

People are rising up all over this beautiful spinning planet to claim their rights and demand a true democracy. Now it is time for all of us to join in a global non-violent protest.

United in one voice, we will let politicians, and the financial elites they serve, know it is up to us, the people, to decide our future. We are not goods in the hands of politicians and bankers who do not represent us.

Time and water are running out, the Earth is heating up, and it is time for a global green revolution, a grassroots movement, a coalition of wonderfully diverse forces with common goals. We want a more humane, egalitarian, equitable, just and sustainable society.

In Canada we will march for legalized marijuana, assistance for the poor, more education and health funding, for equality among sexes and ethnicities, to protect the rights of workers and to preserve our ecological heritage through a diverse, permaculture economy.

On October 15th, we will meet on the streets to initiate the global change we want. We will peacefully demonstrate, talk and organize until we make it happen.

It’s time for us to unite. It’s time for them to listen.

People of the world, rise up on October 15th!

Egyptian-brokered Israel-Hamas deal may be a light at the end of a tunnel

2011-10-11T20:06:00.000-07:00

Israel to trade 1,027 prisoners for release of Gilad Schalit

One has to be heartened that any deal has been done involving Israel and Hamas, bitter enemies with no love lost between them. Props to Egypt for keeping the pedal to the metal on this agreement.

The key development is Hamas willing to do the deal without Marwan Barghouti as part of the exchange. It's a dose of realpolitik for Hamas, who needed to play a trump card equal or greater than Fatah's UN statehood bid.

It shows an elevation of understanding from the Palestinian side. They have accepted that Israel will trade more than 1,000 prisoners for Gilad Schalit, however, if they want M. Barghouti as their leader, they now know he only comes back as part of an enduring peace deal.

Arab Spring of Hope, American Autumn of Inspiration

2011-10-04T16:39:00.000-07:00

They say the darkest hour is right before the dawn
They say the darkest hour is right before the dawn
But you wouldn’t know it by me
Every day’s been darkness since you been gone

- Dylan

Occupy Wall Street is off to a solid start and gains momentum tomorrow, October 5th, with major NYC unions joining the protest.

In Ontario, the Occupy Toronto Market Exchange begins next Saturday, October 15th. It will be revealing to see whether anything sustainable can be set up near Bay Street, as the political and economic climate is a lot different in Canada than it is in the USA. Still, with the majority Harper government pursuing antiquated, vindictive, inefficient and overly expensive anti-pot laws, things are about to start heating up.

Google to finance residential solar electricity construction

2011-09-28T13:01:00.000-07:00

NEW YORK -- Google wants to buy solar panels for your house.

The search giant announced Tuesday that it will provide $75 million to build 3,000 residential solar electricity systems across the country. Google will own the panels, and get paid over time by customers who purchase the electricity the panels produce.

Google is creating a fund with a San Francisco company called Clean Power Finance that local solar installers will be able to tap so they can offer financing plans to prospective buyers. The plans allow homeowners to install a $30,000 solar electricity system on their house for little or no money up front. Instead, customers pay a monthly fee that is the same or less than what they would otherwise be paying their local utility for power.

Google will earn what it calls an attractive return on its investment in two ways. It gets the monthly fee from homeowners, and, as the owner of the systems, Google will get the benefit of federal and state renewable energy subsidies.

The systems will not carry the Google brand, however. Instead, local installers will offer the financing deal under their own brands.

Solar power has gotten dramatically cheaper, but the up-front cost for a homeowner remains formidable. A typical home system costs $25,000 to $30,000. Federal and state governments offer subsidies to help defray the cost somewhat, but it is still far too much money for many homeowners to shell out.

Solar financing plans are offered by a handful of large solar companies such as SunRun, SolarCity and Sungevity, and they are growing in popularity. Google established a $280 million fund with SolarCity in June to help SolarCity expand its offerings.

But Google's new fund will flow instead to small, local installers who would otherwise not be able to offer these financing plans. Google says there are 1,400 solar installers in all 50 states.

"Cash sales (of solar panels) have been good, but once you add financing, sales can go through the roof," said Rick Needham, Director of Green Business Operations at Google, in an interview. "It's an opportunity to significantly expand the market."

This is the second such fund established by Clean Power Finance. The company declines to name the investor in the original fund, but says the amount of the fund is larger than Google's. Google hopes its investment will show a way for other investors to team up with installers to finance many more home solar systems and make a profit in the process.

This is the latest a string of investments Google has made in renewable energy, now totaling $850 million. Google has invested in wind farms in North Dakota, California and Oregon, solar projects in California and Germany, and a project off the East coast meant to help make offshore wind farms possible.

Google has said it is disappointed that it can't buy renewable electricity for its power-hungry data centers so it is investing to help renewable power expand in scale.

One of Google's ten philosophical pillars is: "You can make money without doing evil," and reducing the environmental impact of its business has long been a focus of co-founder and CEO Larry Page. The company says that since 2007, it has completely offset its emissions of greenhouse gases by paying for projects that remove greenhouse gases from the atmosphere.

Source: HuffingtonPost.com Green

Bacca Blues (original poem from Canada)

2011-09-13T15:55:00.000-07:00

Bacca Blues

by Yuya Joe College

September has begun
There's a piper to pay
Change must be coming
Passing the flame

Love up your children
Give thanks to your teacher
Nobody knows what I've
Been thru but U

And U R just reading this now
Jesh and Selassie I light up the sky
Deep mystery and sparkling awe
Why R we here and where R we going?

Best get ready for the winter
Stay warm and healthy
Cut down on tobacco
Or leave it behnid

Green Party of Canada / NDP merger in the works?

2011-08-31T07:06:00.000-07:00

Though it may take a year or two for the national parties to merge, it seems that if the New Democratic Party and the Green Party were to merge at the provincial level, that could be arranged in a matter of months.

PEI, would you like to found and revitalize a new Canada, again?

Quebec, would you care to inspire and foster a revolution?

Green Democratic Party of Canada movement website

Suburban Visions: Arcade Fire's " The Suburbs" versus Rush's Subdivisions

2011-08-31T06:57:00.000-07:00

In an extraordinary alienation-off, here we pit Arcade Fire's 21st Century tune The Suburbs against Rush's 20th Century song Subdivisions. Vote for your fave by leaving a Comment below!

The Suburbs

by Arcade Fire

In the suburbs I
I learned to drive
And you told me we'd never survive
Grab your mother's keys we're leavin'

You always seemed so sure
That one day we'd be fighting
A suburban war
your part of town against mine
I saw you standing on the opposite shore

But by the time the first bombs fell
We were already bored
We were already, already bored

Sometimes I can't believe it
I'm movin' past the feeling
Sometimes I can't believe it
I'm movin' past the feeling again

Kids wanna be so hard
But in my dreams we're still screamin' and runnin' through the yard
And all of the walls that they built in the seventies finally fall
And all of the houses they built in the seventies finally fall
Meant nothin' at all
Meant nothin' at all
It meant nothin

Sometimes I can't believe it
I'm movin' past the feeling
Sometimes I can't believe it
I'm movin' past the feeling and into the night

So can you understand?
Why I want a daughter while I'm still young
I wanna hold her hand
And show her some beauty
Before this damage is done

But if it's too much to ask, it's too much to ask
Then send me a son

Under the overpass
In the parking lot we're still waiting
It's already passed
So move your feet from hot pavement and into the grass
Cause it's already passed
It's already, already passed!

Sometimes I can't believe it
I'm movin' past the feeling
Sometimes I can't believe it
I'm movin' past the feeling again

I'm movin' past the feeling
I'm movin' past the feeling

In my dreams we're still screamin'
We're still screamin'
We're still screamin'

Subdivisions

by Rush

Sprawling on the fringes of the city
In geometric order
An insulated border
In between the bright lights
And the far unlit unknown

Growing up it all seems so one-sided
Opinions all provided
The future pre-decided
Detached and subdivided
In the mass production zone
Nowhere is the dreamer or the misfit so alone

Subdivisions --
In the high school halls
In the shopping malls
Conform or be cast out
Subdivisions --
In the basement bars
In the backs of cars
Be cool or be cast out
Any escape might help to smooth
The unattractive truth
But the suburbs have no charms to soothe
The restless dreams of youth

Drawn like moths we drift into the city
The timeless old attraction
Cruising for the action
Lit up like a firefly
Just to feel the living night

Some will sell their dreams for small desires
Or lose the race to rats
Get caught in ticking traps
And start to dream of somewhere
To relax their restless flight

Somewhere out of a memory of lighted streets on quiet nights...

Subdivisions --
In the high school halls
In the shopping malls
Conform or be cast out
Subdivisions --
In the basement bars
In the backs of cars
Be cool or be cast out
Any escape might help to smooth
The unattractive truth
But the suburbs have no charms to soothe
The restless dreams of youth

White Riot, by UK's The Clash

2011-08-08T10:24:00.000-07:00

Joe Strummer lives on in social justice movement

White Riot by Joe Strummer and Mick Jones

White riot - I wanna riot
White riot - a riot of my own
White riot - I wanna riot
White riot - a riot of my own

Black people gotta lot a problems
But they don't mind throwing a brick
White people go to school
Where they teach you how to be thick

An' everybody's doing
Just what they're told to
An' nobody wants
To go to jail!

White riot - I wanna riot
White riot - a riot of my own
White riot - I wanna riot
White riot - a riot of my own

All the power's in the hands
Of people rich enough to buy it
While we walk the street
Too chicken to even try it

Everybody's doing
Just what they're told to
Nobody wants
To go to jail!

White riot - I wanna riot
White riot - a riot of my own
White riot - I wanna riot
White riot - a riot of my own

Are you taking over
or are you taking orders?
Are you going backwards
Or are you going forwards?

Fukushima disaster a "hot particles" nightmare

2011-06-23T12:19:00.000-07:00

Radiation releases many times greater than reported

Here are some excerpts I've just read about Fukushima's nuclear meltdown / melt-through disaster:

The exposed reactors and fuel cores are continuing to release microns of caesium, strontium, and plutonium isotopes. These are referred to as "hot particles".

"We are discovering hot particles everywhere in Japan, even in Tokyo," he said. "Scientists are finding these everywhere. Over the last 90 days these hot particles have continued to fall and are being deposited in high concentrations. A lot of people are picking these up in car engine air filters."

Radioactive air filters from cars in Fukushima prefecture and Tokyo are now common, and Gundersen says his sources are finding radioactive air filters in the greater Seattle area of the US as well.

The hot particles on them can eventually lead to cancer.

"These get stuck in your lungs or GI tract, and they are a constant irritant," Arnold Gundersen, a former nuclear industry senior vice president, explained, "One cigarette doesn't get you, but over time they do. These [hot particles] can cause cancer, but you can't measure them with a Geiger counter. Clearly people in Fukushima prefecture have breathed in a large amount of these particles. Clearly the upper West Coast of the US has people being affected. That area got hit pretty heavy in April."

"Largest industrial catastrophe in history" claims nuclear scientist

"Fukushima is the biggest industrial catastrophe in the history of mankind," Arnold Gundersen told Al Jazeera.

Japan's 9.0 earthquake on March 11 caused a massive tsunami that crippled the cooling systems at the Tokyo Electric Power Company's (TEPCO) nuclear plant in Fukushima, Japan. It also led to hydrogen explosions and reactor meltdowns that forced evacuations of those living within a 20km radius of the plant.

Gundersen, a licensed reactor operator with 39 years of nuclear power engineering experience, managing and coordinating projects at 70 nuclear power plants around the US, says the Fukushima nuclear plant likely has more exposed reactor cores than commonly believed.

"Fukushima has three nuclear reactors exposed and four fuel cores exposed," he said, "You probably have the equivalent of 20 nuclear reactor cores because of the fuel cores, and they are all in desperate need of being cooled, and there is no means to cool them effectively."

TEPCO has been spraying water on several of the reactors and fuel cores, but this has led to even greater problems, such as radiation being emitted into the air in steam and evaporated sea water - as well as generating hundreds of thousands of tons of highly radioactive sea water that has to be disposed of.

"The problem is how to keep it cool," says Gundersen. "They are pouring in water and the question is what are they going to do with the waste that comes out of that system, because it is going to contain plutonium and uranium. Where do you put the water?"

Even though the plant is now shut down, fission products such as uranium continue to generate heat, and therefore require cooling.

"The fuels are now a molten blob at the bottom of the reactor," Gundersen added. "TEPCO announced they had a melt through. A melt down is when the fuel collapses to the bottom of the reactor, and a melt through means it has melted through some layers. That blob is incredibly radioactive, and now you have water on top of it. The water picks up enormous amounts of radiation, so you add more water and you are generating hundreds of thousands of tons of highly radioactive water."

Independent scientists have been monitoring the locations of radioactive "hot spots" around Japan, and their findings are disconcerting.

"We have 20 nuclear cores exposed, the fuel pools have several cores each, that is 20 times the potential to be released than Chernobyl," said Gundersen. "The data I'm seeing shows that we are finding hot spots further away than we had from Chernobyl, and the amount of radiation in many of them was the amount that caused areas to be declared no-man's-land for Chernobyl. We are seeing square kilometres being found 60 to 70 kilometres away from the reactor. You can't clean all this up. We still have radioactive wild boar in Germany, 30 years after Chernobyl."

Radiation may be affecting newborns in USA Northwest

Japan's Nuclear Emergency Response Headquarters finally admitted earlier this month that reactors 1, 2, and 3 at the Fukushima plant experienced full meltdowns.

TEPCO announced that the accident probably released more radioactive material into the environment than Chernobyl, making it the worst nuclear accident on record.

Meanwhile, a nuclear waste advisor to the Japanese government reported that about 966 square kilometres near the power station - an area roughly 17 times the size of Manhattan - is now likely uninhabitable.

In the US, physician Janette Sherman MD and epidemiologist Joseph Mangano published an essay shedding light on a 35 per cent spike in infant mortality in northwest cities that occurred after the Fukushima meltdown, and may well be the result of fallout from the stricken nuclear plant.

The eight cities included in the report are San Jose, Berkeley, San Francisco, Sacramento, Santa Cruz, Portland, Seattle, and Boise, and the time frame of the report included the ten weeks immediately following the disaster.

"There is and should be concern about younger people being exposed, and the Japanese government will be giving out radiation monitors to children," Dr MV Ramana, a physicist with the Programme on Science and Global Security at Princeton University who specialises in issues of nuclear safety, told Al Jazeera.

Dr Ramana explained that he believes the primary radiation threat continues to be mostly for residents living within 50km of the plant, but added: "There are going to be areas outside of the Japanese government's 20km mandatory evacuation zone where radiation is higher. So that could mean evacuation zones in those areas as well."

Bin Laden's ideology died before he did

2011-05-01T20:34:00.000-07:00

Arab Awakening based on universal human value

Though Bin Laden's death marks the end of an era, the fact that it occurred on May 1st, 2011, means that the context is wholly unlike that of even one year ago. The man on the street in the Arab world is no longer afraid of anachronistic despots, and the world at large is no longer afraid of the Arab street. People everywhere feel a kinship with the North African and Middle East uprisings, and the global village has shrunk considerably. As the yearning for freedom stretches eastward, Syria is now in the grips of it, while Iran, Pakistan and China watch nervously.

Peace 2 All,

Yuya Joe

Wael Ghonim Egypt revolution leader

Gigi Ibrahim Egyptian journalist

Young Arab leaders of Middle East and North African revolutions

Stand By Me - Street singers globally, mixed together

2011-04-15T06:09:00.000-07:00

Here's an innovative video featuring street singers from all over performing Stand By Me, expertly mixed together for your enjoyment and deep satisfaction:

Gaza Marathon an opportunity to illustrate peace in Palestine

2011-04-09T20:21:00.000-07:00

Let us pray that the people of Gaza, Palestine are able and willing to come out in the tens if not hundreds of thousands to cheer on the runners in the first marathon to be run over the full 42 kilometre length of the Gaza Strip, Inshallah.

I believe that if the weather is nice it will be a beautiful site for people to see the men, women and children of Palestine encouraging the runners on.

May 5th to feature first ever full-length marathon in Palestine

According to the Edmonton Journal:

The race, organized by United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), will take place on May 5 with the aim of raising funding for the UN refugee agency's Summer Games programme which is held every year in the Hamas-run territory.

The route runs from the northern town of Beit Hanun and heads south along the coastal road until it ends in Rafah, a sprawling city on Gaza's southern border with Egypt, said Gemma Connell, an UNRWA employee who is organizing the event.

"Anyone that's ever worked in Gaza has thought about doing a marathon here because it is exactly 42.2 kilometres (26 miles) long," she told AFP.

Although only a handful of people are expected to run the full 26-mile route, more than a 1,000 local children and young people will take part at various stages along the way, running in a relay format, she said.

Palestinians waste weaponry and momentum with new barrage

2011-04-09T08:14:00.000-07:00

Gaza militants launched over 100 missiles; Debka.com

It is really time for Palestinian Youth to take to the streets and reclaim their country from the self-destructive warlords currently in charge. While the whole world watches and huge swaths of the free, democratic areas are yearning for more democratic revolutions to support (admit it, Tunisia felt good and Egypt was a temporary nirvana), for some reason Palestinians want to go against the trend and incite violence and war.

I've written it before and I'll say it again: If a million Palestinian women, children and men walk into Jerusalem without a weapon among them, they will have their country within months, and a nation with such strong foundations will prosper and be long-lived.

Debka reports 110 rockets and mortar rounds were launched from Gaza on Friday and Saturday, while Jpost claims 70 were counted. Hamas missile attacks rarely achieve anything significant militarily (10 Israelis were injured the past two days, plus the usual property damage) and they damage the cause politically. It's time to make the IRA move and bury these obsolete, nation-destroying weapons, and fully embrace an open, transparent and fully democratic election process.

Towards a peaceful, loving and prosperous Palestine!

Inshallah

Debka.com story on Gaza missile attack on Israel

Jerusalem Post article on missile attack from Gaza

Aljazeera English-language news

Nuclear Power - Moratorium is fine; REAL answer is phasing out old plants

2011-03-26T10:55:00.000-07:00

As my fellow greenies fight hard for moratoriums, I would ask the medical community to step forward and explain to politicians and the public the essence of the true solution, and that is rapidly phasing out the oldest, most dangerous atomic energy plants.

In the eastern GTA region of Ontario we have the Pickering plant, which was built in the 1960s using 50s technology, and we have Darlington, constructed in the 70s utilizing 60s technology. At the moment we are holding hearings on expanding Darlington, so tactically it is correct to fight for a moratorium at these hearings. If the government can place a moratorium on offshore wind due to primarily emotional concerns, then a clear mandate to postpone new nuclear plants should be within reach for the Liberals. It can be superbly argued on economic merits alone, as green energy creates far more jobs and export opportunities, and installs a more sustainable, equitable society.

Pickering was designed for 30 years of operation and I believe it's now been running for over 40 years, In the USA the situation is equally dire, as many plants are running at 110% of capacity, long after their shelf-life has expired.

In Ontario and significant areas of US northeast, we are faced with the opportunity to phase out BOTH coal and nuclear power, and by doing so assume a co-leadership position in the global green energy industry. States such as Ohio, New York, Pennsylvania and Michigan could form a BIG FIVE Great Lakes Green Energy Initiative with Ontario, and co-ordinate a complete transformation of the area's grid, taking it off of coal and nuclear and onto wind, solar, biogas, geothermal and other renewable clean energy sources. Natural gas can be a valuable transitional fuel as we evolve an Infinite Energy-based Electro-Hydrogen Economy.

Having Lake Ontario and Lake Erie governments declare clear timetables for closing down coal-fired and uranium-fueled electricity plants would create thousands of new companies and lead to hundreds of thousands of new jobs over the next 5 to 7 years, injecting life and stability into many hard-hit, financially depressed communities.

Telephone and email your local, regional and national representatives to let them know you support phasing out toxic plants in favor of green energy industries development.

Supermoons link Japan earthquake with Indonesia and Haiti

2011-03-12T20:45:00.000-08:00

2011 Japanese earthquake / tsunami and Supermoon connection

On February 18, 2011, there was a SuperMoon. On March 19/20, 2011, an extreme SuperMoon will occur. A major earthquake (8.9) and tsunami occurred on the Japanese coast of on March 11, 2011.

2010 Haiti earthquake and proximity to Supermoons

On December 31, 2009 there was a SuperMoon and one month later, on January 30, 2010 there was an extreme SuperMoon. Right in the middle of these two Supermoons, there was a major earthquake, a 7.0 event in Haiti on January 12th, that the country is still recovering from.

Supermoon near 2004 Indonesian earthquake and tsunami

The 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake was an undersea megathrust earthquake that occurred at 00:58:53 UTC on Sunday, December 26, 2004, with an epicentre off the west coast of Sumatra, Indonesia. The quake itself is known by the scientific community as the Sumatra-Andaman earthquake. The resulting tsunami is given various names, including the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, Asian Tsunami, Indonesian Tsunami, and Boxing Day Tsunami.

AccuWeather Facebook fanpage member Daniel Vogler adds, "The last extreme super moon occurred on January 10th, 2005, right around the time of the 9.0 Indonesia earthquake. That extreme super moon was a new moon. So be forewarned. Something BIG could happen on or around this date. (+/- 3 Days is my guess)"

Understanding Supermoons and Extreme Supermoons

Super Moon - A new or full moon at 90% or greater of its closest perigee to Earth has been named a "SuperMoon" by astrologer Richard Nolle.

Extreme Super Moon - Occurs when a Super Moon when passing closest to Earth. Specifically, an extreme "SuperMoon" is when the moon is full or new as well as at its 100% greater mean perigee (closest) distance to earth. By this definition, last month's full moon, this month's and next month's will all be extreme "SuperMoons".

History of Supermoons and global flooding, earthquakes, tsunamis

Accuweather.com blogger Mark Paquette article on Supermoons

New solar atlas of Los Angeles a valuable energy planning resource

2011-03-12T19:56:00.000-08:00

Photovoltaic solar power potential of Southern California

UCLA's Luskin Center has released a crucial new study focusing on the plentiful photovoltaic solar energy resouces available in the Los Angeles, California region. The atlas (linked below) is designed to help cities and electricity utilities understand their own solar rooftop potential so that they may be better stewards of these resources. Each map presents the geographical distribution of solar potential across neighborhoods and parcels. The maps are accompanied by a description of how the solar potential varies across single- and multi-family residences, commercial and industrial parcels, and non-profit and government parcels since the economic benefits and policy incentives may vary accordingly. Because cost-effectiveness increases with the size of a solar installation, the atlas also presents, for each jurisdiction, the number of potential solar projects by size as well as the total rooftop potential.

Los Angeles County has over 19,000 megawatts of rooftop solar PV potential, while the City of Los Angeles has over 5,500 megawatts.* These maps, which are based on aerial photography of the solarusable rooftop space,** should be viewed as providing long-run estimates of rooftop potential.

Solar Energy Capacity Statistics of the City of Los Angeles

Area 484.3 square miles
Population 4,003,500 (2009 estimate)
Total Potential Sites 464,325
Commercial & Industrial 8.2%
Multi-family 20.9%
Single Family 70.1%
Government or Non-profit 0.8%

Median Rooftop Availability 14.5%
Median Potential of Parcels 3.6 Kilowatts
Median Solar Density Index 8.2%
Total Rooftop Solar Potential 5,536 Megawatts

View online pdf of City of Los Angeles Solar Atlas

Online Guide to Green Energy Investing: Stocks, Mutual Funds, ETFs

2011-03-12T11:17:00.000-08:00

Please bookmark this page in your Favorites, for easy access to ethical green mutual funds, clean energy technology, sustainable investing and alternative energy exchange traded funds.

Renewable Power Stocks, Clean Energy technology websites and blogs

Top Green Energy Company Stocks List

Best Ethical and Green Mutual Funds ETFs

Geothermal Power company stocks symbols

Wind Energy Stocks to Watch

Solar Energy and Renewable Power companies links

PV Intell - Photovoltaic publicly-traded pv solar stocks

21st Century Architecture - Sustainable Green Buildings

Wind Intell wind power investing blog

Rare Earth Strategic Metals investing website

Water Intell - Water purification, tidal energy, wave power technology

A Green Realtor Sustainable Development resources blog

Next stage for China: Secular Humanism

2011-03-05T20:16:00.000-08:00

Chinese leadership put the lie to communism a long time ago, yet the word remains in the name of the nation's largest political party. China is neither communist nor capitalist, it is China-ist, which can be roughly translated as "socialist."

I would venture to claim that China is already moving into secular humanism, and their foresight shown by the rapid expansion of green energy technologies will benefit both their image and economy. Previously I have xpounded on a plan for peaceful democratic evolution in China, and I continue to believe the leaders and people will both benefit more from channelling the democratic energy, rather than fighting it.

It is time for China to officially move beyond the outdated tenets of communism, and join the progressive forces on the planet, the secular humanists.

China needs to let Bob Dylan sing

2011-03-03T13:58:00.000-08:00

Bob Dylan with the recently deceased Suze Rotolo

Dylan tour dates in Shanghai and Beijing under review

Last year Bob Dylan cancelled his entire Asian tour after the Chinese Government denied his application to perform in the country. Ya gotta admire Zimmy's fortitude, as he is right back at it and trying to play in China next month, April 2011.

Robert Allan Zimmerman (Dylan's birth name) is the greatest songwriter of the 20th Century, and of the modern era. China is a major world power, and this crucial artist's tour will be another indication of whether China as an emerging dominant nation is truly ready for the big leagues. Fifty years after the writing of Blowin' in the Wind, it's high time for Dylan to be allowed to sing in front of his Chinese fans.

7-point plan for peaceful democratic evolution in China

Canada suspends diplomatic relations with Libya, closes Tripoli embassy

2011-02-26T08:48:00.000-08:00

PM Harper expected to announce Canadian sanctions on Libya

Six embassy officials plus eighteen other Canadians were among the forty-six people spirited out of Libya overnight, as Ottawa is suspends diplomatic presence in a country now mostly controlled by the democracy protesters, yet whose government clings to power utilizing foreign mercenaries.

The two dozen Canadians were part of a group of British and Australian nationals flown to Malta aboard a C17 overnight Friday.

A song for Revolution 2.0: Ready to Start, by Arcade Fire

2011-02-26T08:22:00.000-08:00

Ready To Start

Lyrics by Win Butler

If the businessmen drink my blood
Like the kids in art school said they would
Then I guess I'll just begin again
You say we can still be friends

If I was scared... I would
And if I was bored... you know I would
And if I was yours... but I'm not

All the kids have always known
That the emperor wears no clothes
But they bow to down to him anyway
It's better than being alone

If I was scared... I would
And if I was bored... you know I would
And if I was yours... but I'm not

Now you're knocking at my door
Saying please come out with us tonight
But I would rather be alone
Than pretend I feel alright

If the businessmen drink my blood
Like the kids in art school said they would
Then I guess I'll just begin again
You say we can still be friends

If I was scared... I would
And if I was pure... you know I would
And if I was yours... but I'm not

Now I'm ready to start

If I was scared... I would
And if I was pure... you know I would
And if I was yours... but I'm not

Now I'm ready to start

Now I'm ready to start
I would rather be wrong
Than live in the shadows of your song
My mind is open wide
And now I'm ready to start

Now I'm ready to start
My mind is open wide
And now I'm ready to start
And I'm sure you opened the door
To step out into the dark

Now I'm ready

Revolution, lyrics by John Lennon

2011-02-18T14:48:00.000-08:00

Beatles lyrics, Lennon-McCartney songs, john lennon lyrics

Revolution

You say you want a revolution
Well, you know
We all want to change the world
You tell me that it's evolution
Well, you know
We all want to change the world
But when you talk about destruction
Don't you know that you can count me out?

Don't you know it's gonna be
Alright?
Alright?
Alright?

You say you've got a real solution
Well, you know
We'd all love to see the plan
You ask me for a contribution
Well, you know
We are doing what we can
But if you want money for people with minds that hate
All I can tell is, brother, you'll have to wait

Don't you know it's gonna be
Alright?
Alright?
Alright?

You say you'll change the constitution
Well, you know
We all want to change your head
You tell me it's the institution
Well, you know
You'd better free your mind instead
But if you go carrying pictures of Chairman Mao
You ain't gonna make it with anyone anyhow

Don't you know it's gonna be
Alright?
Alright?
Alright?
Alright?
Alright?
Alright?

Credited to Lennon-McCartney, Revolution was written and sung by John Lennon.

Middle East News and Global Intelligence Websites

2011-01-30T18:38:00.000-08:00

Here are some useful websites for following events in the Mideast:

Al-Ahram Weekly Cairo Egypt newspaper

Al Jazeera English-language website

ArabNews.com Middle Eastern and Global News Reports

BBC News International

BusinessMonitor.com Middle East Business Intelligence

CBC World News from Canada

CIA World Factbook Middle East

Debka.com Israli intelligence website

Gulf-Times.com Persian Gulf, Middle East and World News

Haaretz.com News from Israel

Jerusalem Post Israel and Middle East News

MEED.com Middle Eastern Business Intelligence

Stratfor.com Global Intelligence website

Webcams and live video feeds from Egypt, Israel, Tunisia, Lebanon, Middle East

Wikipedia.org Middle East Forum

New Era in Mideast means renewed hope for Palestinians

2011-01-29T12:29:00.000-08:00

One can only imagine that the hearts and minds of the Palestinian people have been revitalized in recent days as the status quo in the Middle East experiences such upheaval.

The power of nonviolent protest must be increasingly evident to the leaders and common folk of Palestine. Ideally this opportunity will lead to a new Israel-Palestine peace plan.

Rare Earth Elements (REE), Green Energy stocks investing

2011-01-11T19:12:00.000-08:00

Here are a few recent blogposts relating to alternative energy investing:

Publicly-listed Rare Earth Elements (REE) Stocks to Watch

Wind Energy Stocks for 2011

Geothermal Energy investing tips

Photovoltaic Solar Power stocks

Green Mutual funds investing

Best Green stocks blog

Green Energy Stocks search engine; Find cleantech companies

2011-01-11T19:06:00.000-08:00

Try this custom search engine for alternative energy companies, renewable power stocks, clean technology investments, ethical investing and sustainable green mutual funds.

Search Green Stocks Investing Network

Custom Search

3-Step Process to Palestinian - Israeli Peace

2011-01-07T14:24:00.000-08:00

Step 1

One million Palestinian women, children and men walk into Jerusalem with not a weapon among them, and stay in the City for two days, offering peace and a ten year truce to the Israeli people. November 24th would be a date to consider.

Israeli and Palestinian religous and civic leaders meet to agree on and verify a renewable ten year truce, setting the table for border discussions.

Circa 2011

Step 2

Israeli and Palestine leaders finalize border and sign a permanent peace, security and development agreement. Nation of Palestine is launched August 24th with either the "Arafat" as the national currency, or at minimum having Yasser Arafat on some significant bills and coinage.

Development of solar city Khanara (Khan Arafat) begins in southern Gaza, between Rafah and Younis.

Circa 2013

Step 3

Israeli and Palestinian people vote in separate referendums to forge an economic and politic union, with the Federation of Israel and Palestine being created seven months after the second referendum. The new nation becomes a regional and global engine of economic growth, particularly benefiting Africa and the Middle East.

Circa June 2018

Eco-friendly architecture a blend of form and function

2011-01-05T07:41:00.000-08:00

Vodafone building in Porto, Portugal

Perhaps a key to human surthrival, the development of beautiful, sustainable buildings is as important to progress in the 21st Century as anything else, with the possible exception being the equally crucial conversion of vehicular traffic to pure fuels.

In my new blog 21st Century Architecture, my goal is to present the most forward-looking new architecture, based on functionality / sustainability and aesthetics / visual appeal. If anybody knows of any gorgeous buildings, or self-sustaining (eg self-powered, heated, cooled) structures, or even better some combo of form and function, please post pics and links in the Comments section below.

Peace 2 All,

Yuya Joe

Oceanografica in Valencia, Spain

Beijing National Aquatics Centre, China

Green Energy investing links:

Wind Energy Stocks to Watch

Geothermal Power Investments Companies

Green Mutual Funds Ethical Investing

MORE Dead birds falling from USA sky

2011-01-04T14:27:00.000-08:00

After 1,000s of birds fell from the Arkansas sky on New Year's Eve, now it has been reported that 300 miles away in Louisiana there has been another mass bird death. Hopefully this will put an end to the imbeciles claiming it was fireworks that killed these avian creatures!

The Huffington Post is reporting in their Green section that an estimated 500 dead birds have fallen from the sky along a stretch of highway in Point Coupee Parish, Louisiana.

Huffington Post story on dead birds in Louisiana

Wikileaks founded by Chinese dissidents; China blocks access

2010-12-22T19:04:00.000-08:00

My belief is that when the corporate and banking shit starts to leak out in 2011, all this government crap will seem like child's play. Still, as I've recently had feelings where I wished wikileaks would release info about the Chinese government or oppression in the Middle East, I was fascinated to learn that it was created to do exactly that!

Here are some explanations of the origin of Wikileaks:

A) From Wikipedia:

The organisation describes its founders as a mix of Chinese dissidents, journalists, mathematicians, and start-up company technologists from the United States, Taiwan, Europe, Australia, and South Africa.

B) From Wikileaks:

Wikileaks was founded by Chinese dissidents, journalists, mathematicians and startup company technologists, from the US, Taiwan, Europe, Australia and South Africa.

Our public Advisory Board, which is still in formation, includes courageous journalists, representatives from refugee communities, ethics and anti-corruption campaigners, including a former national head of Transparency International, human rights campaigners, lawyers and cryptographers.

C) From US Intelligence (source: wikileaks report on US Army Counterilligence plan to destroy wikileaks):

Wikileaks.org was founded by Chinese dissidents, journalists, mathematicians, and technologists from the United States, China, Taiwan, Europe, Australia, and South Africa. Its Web site became operational in early 2007. The advisory board for Wikileaks.org includes journalists, cryptographers, a ―former US intelligence analyst,‖ and expatriates from Chinese, Russian, and Tibetan refugee communities. The ACIC does not have any information to associate or link the ―former US intelligence analyst‖ on the Wikileaks.org advisory board with the leakage of sensitive or classified DoD documents posted to the Web site.

Again according to this US Army intelligence report, not all countries are as open to wikileaks info as Canada and the United States.

The governments of China, Israel, North Korea, Russia, Thailand, Zimbabwe, and several other countries have blocked access to Wikileaks.org-type Web sites, claimed they have the right to investigate and prosecute Wikileaks.org and associated whistleblowers, or insisted they remove false, sensitive, or classified government information, propaganda, or malicious content from the Internet. The governments of China, Israel, and Russia claim the right to remove objectionable content from, block access to, and investigate crimes related to the posting of documents or comments to Web sites such as Wikileaks.org. The governments of these countries most likely have the technical skills to take such action should they choose to do so.

VERY interesting is the stated purpose of the website:

A) From Wikileaks:

Wikileaks is developing an uncensorable Wikipedia for untraceable mass document leaking and analysis. Our primary interest is in exposing oppressive regimes in Asia, the former Soviet bloc, Sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East, but we also expect to be of assistance to people of all regions who wish to reveal unethical behavior in their governments and corporations. We aim for maximum political impact. Our interface is identical to Wikipedia and usable by all types of people. We have received over 1.2 million documents so far from dissident communities and anonymous sources.

B) From the US Counterintelligence report on wikileaks:

The stated intent of the Wikileaks.org Web site is to expose unethical practices, illegal behavior, and wrongdoing within corrupt corporations and oppressive regimes in Asia, the former Soviet bloc, Sub-Saharan Africa, and the Middle East. To do so, the developers of the Wikileaks.org Web site want to provide a secure forum to where leakers, contributors, or whistleblowers from any country can anonymously post or send documentation and other information that exposes corruption or wrongdoing by governments or corporations. The developers believe that the disclosure of sensitive or classified information involving a foreign government or corporation will eventually result in the increased accountability of a democratic, oppressive, or corrupt the government to its citizens.

With the recent focus on the USA, has wikileaks strayed from its stated purpose? Or is it merely a pipe for information, with little control over what goes into the pipe?

The US Army had plans to hurt wikileaks by prosecuting the leakers, and though the strategy on paper seems to make some sense, this is a tap that may be extremely difficult to turn off (I like the emergence of wikileaks to the publishing of the complete Dead Sea Scrolls on the Internet in 1998, each a watershed event):

Web sites such as Wikileaks.org have trust as their most important center of gravity by protecting the anonymity and identity of the insider, leaker, or whistleblower. Successful identification, prosecution, termination of employment, and exposure of persons leaking the information by the governments and businesses affected by information posted to Wikileaks.org would damage and potentially destroy this center of gravity and deter others from taking similar actions.

Let's give wikileaks the last word. In response to the question, "Is wikileaks concerned about legal consequences?", here is the reply on the wikileaks website:

Our roots are in dissident communities and our focus is on non-Western authoritarian regimes. Consequently we believe a politically motivated legal attack on us would be seen as a grave error in Western administrations. However, we are prepared, structurally and technically, to deal with all legal attacks. We design the software, and promote its human rights agenda, but the servers are run by anonymous volunteers. Because we have no commercial interest in the software, there is no need to restrict its distribution. In the very unlikely event that we were to face coercion to make the software censorship friendly, there are many others who will continue the work in other jurisdictions.

Peace 2 All

Futuristic architecture takes feminine forms

2010-12-15T08:45:00.000-08:00

The best new buildings all seem to have a flow and a curvaceousness that points to the future of green architecture: feminine, sustainable buildings. As opposed to the penile skyscrapers that are emblematic of the 20th Century's emphasis on masculine architecture, 21st Century architectural design will prominently feature feminine architecture, that is, buildings designed to blend aesthetically and sustainably into their local environments.

Check out my new blog 21st Century Architecture to see the future of building design on Gaia!

Happy HolyDays and Peace 2 All!

Yuya Joe College

More Green links:

Soy beverage company offers $5,000 prize for best sustainable living plan

Best Green Mutual Funds

Wind Power Stocks to Watch

Geothermal Energy Investing Blog

Tidal Energy Wavepower Stocks

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange granted bail!!!

2010-12-14T10:09:00.000-08:00

Great news out of the United Kingdom! With over half of the British population believing the Swedish sex charges are an excuse to keep Wiki-leaks found Julian Assange in jail, it is a relief and a joy to many freedom activists to see Julian released today.

Now, if we could only get Wikileaks to secure and release some private Al Qaeda communications, or perhaps some Iran / Afghanistan cables...

Green Energy Stocks Research and Investing Blogs

2010-12-12T10:38:00.000-08:00

Solar Forest Parking Lot

Here are a range of websites and blogs focusing on clean energy technology, with an emphasis on sites that cover publicly-listed alternative energy stocks.

Top Windpower stocks to WATCH

Green Mutual fund Ethical Investing Blog

Water Intell Energy From Water website

Green Energy Stocks Company Websites Links

PVintell.com Solar Photovoltaic Energy Companies Stocks

WindIntell.com Major Publicly-listed Wind Energy Stocks

SolarIntell.com Solar Energy Stocks, Renewable Power Funds

Geothermal Power Stocks Investing Info

Intelligent Solar Architecture crucial for human progress

2010-12-12T07:54:00.000-08:00

If humans and other large mammals are to survive the 21st Century and thrive in the 22nd Century, and I believe we can, then building-integrated photovoltaics, geothermal heating / cooling and other elements of sustainable architecture will become core to the effort. In my new job with a Toronto-area architectural rendering company, I experience the pleasure of looking at architect websites on a regular basis, and green building design is increasingly a part of their business.

In my new blog 21st Century Architecture, I look at how transforming building design from a masculine, penis-like template to a more environmentally-integrated, feminine archetype, is the key to both aesthetic and functional progress.

Green Architecture a Key to Human Survival

2010-12-07T07:22:00.000-08:00

The 21st Century will feature a more feminine style of architecture, with gentle curves and flowing walls to integrate more naturally into surrounding environments, and technolgies such as building-integrated photovoltaics and geothermal energy will become commonplace. We have gotten ourselves into this predicament by driving in wasteful, polluting machines and living in under-insulated, poison-heated / cooled homes.

As John Lennon would say, it's Clean Up Time...

Peace 2 All,

Yuya Joe College

Sustainable Architecture and Green Buildings links:

Living Machine wastewater reduction system

Finland offers Smart Green Buildings solutions

Carrier Corp supports sustainable architecture initiatives

A Green Realtor sustainable eco-friendly buildings blog

Toronto-area architectural rendering

Evolution of the Solar-Intelligence Blog

2010-12-01T19:07:00.000-08:00

As a result of strings of musical artist names in my online book La Heavana Musica, this blog was banned from Google for a couple of years. During that period I cleaned up a lot of redundant text and unrelated ads, and that may have improved my quality ratings in the googlebot index. In any case, even when the blog was not being included in search results, I made a point of continuing to publish here, often some of my most creative and forward-thinking stuff.

It's great to be back though, and please Mr. google, keep me in the game and I promise to get better!

Peace 2 All,

Yuya Joe College

Clean Energy and Other Cool Blogs

2010-06-30T19:14:00.000-07:00

Here are some of the blogs I've been working on:

Green Energy Stocks Investments

Photovoltaic Solar Energy Companies

Original Joe College Punk Politics Blog

Publicly-listed Wind Power Shares

Geothermal Power Companies Website Links

Will BP OIl Spill be global catalyst for NEW DAY?

2010-06-13T13:57:00.000-07:00

I will admit that I am fatigued, sickened and depressed by the gulf blowout and can only search in this darkness for silver threads.

It's time to get off oil off coal and off uranium; the USA and Canada can each do this by 2020, so let's DO IT!!!!!!!

Earth Hour is the Real Deal; Just Do It!

2010-03-26T21:59:00.000-07:00

How about We Greens start a half hour earlier and end a half hour later, go for two hours and maybe next year we'll go for four!!! I still have fond memories of the Northeast Blackout...it was only a couple of days where I live, but people connected in ways they hadn't before. I love technology but understand it as a tool, like money, and also sharp and double-edged in that way.

We can have an infinite energy based electro-hydrogen economy, or we can pursue unsustainable paths and pay the price. Earth Hour is a way to illustrate that we CAN control technology, and that it doesn't always have to be the other way around.

Official Earth Hour website with country list and related events

26th to 31st Egyptian Dynasties; preliminary dating research

2010-02-11T20:56:00.000-08:00

Alrighty kids, here's my first draft at dating the Dynasties of Egypt numbered 26th through 31:

Twenty-sixth Dynasty of Egypt

circa 670 bc to circa 530 bc

Twenty-seventh Dynasty of Egypt

Beginning of Achaemenid or Persian era

circa 570 bc (Cyrus I) to 320 bc (Darius III)

27th representing 570 to circa 360 bc

Twenty-eighth Dynasty of Egypt

One ruler, Amyrteus, who ruled for about 6 years circa 404 to 398 bc

Twenty-ninth Dynasty of Egypt

Four Kings with short reigns circa 398 bc to 380 bc

Thirtieth Dynasty of Egypt

380to 343 bc, contemporaneous with 27th

Thirty-First Dynasty of Egypt

The 2nd half of Persian rule

Artaxerses III (reigned 358 bc to 338 bc) to Darius III circa 320 BC

Full era: circa 570 bc (Cyrus I) to 330 bc (Darius III)

Next: the Age of Alexander

18th Dynasty Egypt; Estimated Birth Dates of Major Figures

2010-02-07T08:10:00.000-08:00

(Photo: Amenhotep III / Solomon and Queen Tiye / Naamah)

In my post showing potential eras for the Egyptian 12th to 25th Dynasties, i attempted a second draft of the estimated birth years of key Eighteenth Dynasty leaders, but this has to be revised again now that Yuya and Tuya (Joseph and Asenath) have been identified as Ashurnasirpal and Ashratu / Asherah.

So here's my third draft of estimated birth dates for Eighteenth Dynasty luminaries:

Ahmose - 1030 BC

Amenhotep I - 1010 BC

Thutmose I - 995 BC

Thutmose II - 980 BC

Thutmose III - 955 BC

Thutmose IV - 935 BC

Amenhotep II - 909 BC

Yuya - 907 BC

Tuya - 902 BC

Aye - 888 BC

Tiye - 886 BC

Amenhotep III - 885 BC

Kiya - 870 BC

Amenhotep IV - 869 BC

Smenkhare - 851 BC

Tutankhamun - 848 BC

This list will definitely be both expanded and revised as new information comes to light.

More Ancient Studies Research links:

Historical Identity of Joseph of the Bible

Egyptian Identities of Old Testament Patriarchs

Eastern Identities of OT Bible Characters

Queens of the Ninth Century BC

New Chronology of Egyptian Dynasties 1 through 5

2010-01-14T17:52:00.000-08:00

With massive amounts of evidence pegging the 18th Dynasty to the 9th Century BC, our first attempt at a revised chronology for the ancient Dynasties of Egypt focused on the historical dates of the 12th Dynasty of Egypt to the 25th Dynasty of Egypt. This research puts the drought and famine after the 1159 BC climate catastrophe towards the end of the 14th Dynasty, and was the major factor that led to the disunity and the establishment of the concurrent 15th and 16th Dynasties.

Next we worked backward from there, pegging the famines after the 1628 BC climate cataclysm to the breakdown of the 6th Dynasty and the end of the Old Kingdom. According to this preliminary research, the historical dates of the 6th to 11th Dynasties of Egypt would then be from about 1740 BC to around 1386 BC.

Now we will try to ascertain the dates encompassing the era from the First Dynasty of Egypt to the Fifth Egyptian Dynasty, and this is the most difficult as these are the dynasties responsible for building the major pyramids, and most observers believe the pyramids are much older than this. As Mesopotamian society is said to have broken down circa 2200 BC, a time of global famine, we must search the first few dynasties to find a period of severe drought and famine, and tie that to around 2150 BC or thereabouts.

As little evidence remains of the first two dynasties, and human sacrifice and cannibalism appears to have ended then, the 3rd Dynasty of Egypt may have been the one who rebuilt the nation and the empire after the collapse of the earlier societies. Here is a very rough first draft:

Pre-Mesopotamian influence:

1st Dynasty - Circa 2550 BC to 2300 BC

2nd Dynasty - Circa 2300 BC to 2100 BC

Post-Mesopotamian influence:

3rd Dynasty - Circa 2100 BC to 2020 BC

4th Dynasty - Circa 2020 BC to 1900 BC

5th Dynasty - Circa 1900 BC to 1740 BC

I realize that much work needs to be done to refine these dates and eras, but I am quite comfortable doing this in the months ahead. One thing to be determined is the dates of the pre-dynastic ruling elites in Egypt, and these may actually be in the 2600-2400 BC era, pushing the 1st dynasty forward in history, closer to the cataclysmic events of the 2nd Dynasty.

Another project remaining is defining the dates of the 26th to 31st Egyptian Dynasties, but that's low-hanging fruit as those regimes are well documented and corroborated.

For those new to exploring relative dates of the revised chronology of Egyptian dynasties, pioneering work was done by people like David Rohl and Ahmed Osman, and carried forth by modern researchers such as Charles Pope of www.DomainOfMan.com . The main factor that contributed to the false chronologies and the impression that Egyptian history took place earlier than it actually did was chronology stacking. Most early attempts at dating dynasties stacked the length of each dynasty end-to-end, unaware that many of these dynasties were concurrent, with one ruling Upper Egypt including Thebes (the original Jerusalem - "To Teach Peace") and the other ruling Lower Egypt including the Nile Delta. The early teens dynasties and the early twenties dynasties were overlapping or concurrent, and when you take this into account, you have to remove about 500 to 600 years from the conventional chronology.

Peace 2 All,

Yuya Joe

Egyptian Dynasty Dating; 6th to 11th Dynasties

2010-01-13T20:10:00.000-08:00

As noted in our previously posted Chronology of 12th Egyptian Dynasty to 25th Dynasty in Egypt, we have pegged the severe famine during the 14th Dynasty to the decades following the 1159 BC climate catastrophe. The next major job is deciphering which Dynasty was ruling during the disasters following the 1628 BC events; one scenario that seems plausible at this point is that 1628 BC marked the end of the 6th Dynasty and also signifies the close of the Old Kingdom.

After the 6th Dynasty, Egypt was divided into regional kingdoms, with rulers in Memphis, Thebes and by the 9th Dynasty, Heracleopolis, and was not fully re-united until the 11th Dynasty. According to ancient-Egypt.org, the breakdown of the Old Kingdom wasn't political but rather it was "more likely that climatic changes, resulting in a decrease of the Nile's inundation, impacted the Ancient Egyptian society. As the central government was unable to cope with the results of this change, it was up to provincial governors and other local rulers to come up with a solution to best irrigate their own territory. This, along with different geographical circumstances, caused some provinces and territories to be more successful in controlling the floods than others."

I am going to need a lot more data points to pull this together, but for now, as a first draft, here are my estimated historical dates for the 6th to 11th Egyptian Dynasties:

Sixth Dynasty - 1740 BC to 1620 BC

Seventh Dynasty - 1620 BC to 1590 BC

Eighth Dynasty - 1615 BC to 1580 BC

Ninth Dynasty - 1580 BC to 1495 BC

Tenth Dynasty - 1495 BC to 1420 BC

Eleventh Dynasty - 1420 BC to 1365 BC

Notes:

Comparison of 1628 BC calamities with 1159 BC disasters

Effects of Transit of Venus on Earth weather patterns

270 BC to 230 BC; Carthage Oligarchy to Canpus Decree

2010-01-11T20:16:00.000-08:00

Around 270 BC, Carthage, already in control of Sardinia, southern Spain and Numidia, is ruled by an oligarchy of merchants under two Suffetes or chief magistrates. While Carthage's military commanders are strong, the state relies on mercenaries (including Spanish ones) for its soldiers.

About 268 BC, the Roman denarius coin is minted for the first time.

Research on Successor of Alexander the Great, Ptolemy Soter.

Research on Alexander the Great Successor's Antipater and Cassander

Ashoka the Great, was an Indian emperor of the Maurya Dynasty who ruled almost all of theIndian subcontinent from 269 BC to 232 BC. One of India's greatest emperors, Ashoka reigned over most of present-day India. Eventually espousing a form of societal cooperation and non-violence, Ashoka was a pioneering leader and revered in his time and beyond. An emblem excavated from his empire is today the national Emblem of India. In the History of Buddhism Ashoka is considered just after Gautama Buddha.

Circa 265 BC in China, the Confucian philosopher Xunzi visits the State of Qin. He writes of his and others' admiration for the government officials of Qin, whom he says are serious and sincere, free from the tendency to form cliques. The Qin officials are disciplined by ameritocracy of rather harsh methods imposed by the Legalist philosophy.

Around 250 BC, Ptolemy II encourages the Jewish residents of Alexandria to have their Bible translated into Greek. Because around seventy translators are used to achieve this, the translation is known as the Septuagint.

In Ptolemy III Euergetes' ninth regnal year (239 BC), a great assembly of priests at Canopus passed an honorific decree (the "Decree of Canopus") that, inter alia, conferred various new titles on the king and his consort, Berenice. Two examples of this decree are known, inscribed in Egyptian (in both hieroglyphic and Demotic (Egyptian)) and in classical Greek, and they were second only to the more famous Rosetta Stone in providing the key to deciphering the ancient Egyptian language.

During 230 BC, The Temple of Horus in Edfu (known then as Apollonopolis Magna), Egypt, is begun by King Ptolemy III, and in China, the state of Han is conquered by the state of Qin.

12th to 25th Egyptian Dynasties; Developing Chronology

2010-01-10T09:04:00.000-08:00

On January 6th I posted a first draft of an attempt to peg the 15th to 18th Egyptian dynasties into the era from around 1145 BC to about 850 BC. Here we will try to expand it forward and backwards, using 701 BC as the date for Twenty-Fifth Dynasty Pharaoh Shebitku's rescue of Jerusalem, and an estimate of 670 BC for Pharaoh Tarhaqa's (the last fully Black African Pharaoh) retreat southward into Nubia.

A rough estimate of the eras for each Dynasty, and probable birth dates for major figures in the 18th Dynasty ruling elite:

12th Dynasty - 1395 BC to 1235 BC

13th Dynasty - 1235 BC to 1175 BC

14th Dynasty - 1190 BC to 1130 BC

15th and 16th (concurrent) Dynasty - c1145 BC to 1065 BC

17th Dynasty - c 1075 BC to c 1020 BC

18th Dynasty - c 1020 BC to 830 BC

Second draft of estimated birth dates for Eighteenth Dynasty luminaries:

Ahmose - 1045 BC

Amenhotep I - 1025 BC

Thutmose I - 1015 BC

Thutmose II - 1000 BC

Thutmose III - 985 BC

Thutmose IV - 968 BC

Amenhotep II - 952 BC

Yuya - 930 BC

Tuya - 923 BC

Amenhotep III - 918 BC

Kiya - 905 BC

Tiye - 901 BC

Aye - 899 BC

Amenhotep IV - 897 BC

Tutankhamun - 870 BC

REVISED estimates Feb 2010:

Ahmose - 1030 BC

Amenhotep I - 1010 BC

Thutmose I - 995 BC

Thutmose II - 980 BC

Thutmose III - 955 BC

Thutmose IV - 935 BC

Amenhotep II - 909 BC

Yuya - 907 BC

Tuya - 902 BC

Aye - 888 BC

Tiye - 886 BC

Amenhotep III - 885 BC

Kiya - 870 BC

Amenhotep IV - 869 BC

Smenkhare - 851 BC

Tutankhamun - 848 BC

Next section dates updated Feb 2010.

19th Dynasty - 830 BC to 790 BC

20th Dynasty - 820 BC to 765 BC

21st Dynasty - 760 BC to 710 BC

22nd Dynasty - 760 BC to 705 BC

23rd Dynasty - 755 BC to 710 BC

24th Dynasty - 730 BC to 720 BC

25th Dynasty - 735 BC to 655 BC

Peace 2 All

310 BC to 270 BC; Crucial Points in Human History

2010-01-09T18:58:00.000-08:00

In this organic review of the past 3,000 years of global history, posts are intended to evolve and to evoke commentary from you the reader. If you know of important events from this era, or have insight into the events posted, please contribute via the Comments section below.

Circa 300 BC in China, the state of Qin attacks eight cities of the state of Chu. Chu then sends an envoy to ask the King of Huai to go to Qin to negotiate peace. Qu Yuan risks his life to go up to the court to persuade the King of Huai not to go to the negotiation.King Wuling of Zhao abdicates the throne of Zhao to his son. Six years later, he State of Qin, lead by commander Bai Qi, wins a decisive victory over the States of Wei andHan in the Battle of Yique. As part of the terms of defeat, Han and Wei are forced to concede land to Qin.

Around the same time in India, Bindusara succeeds his father Chandragupta Maurya as emperor of the Mauryan Empire, ascending to the Pataliputra throne,.while Chandragupta Maurya goes to Sravana Belagola near Mysore to live in the way of Jains.

About 295 BC, Athens falls to Demetrius Poliorcetes after a bitter siege, and its tyrant Lachares is killed. A year or so later, Alexander V of Macedon is ousted by his brother, Antipater II. Therefore Alexander V turns to Demetrius Poliorcetes for help in recovering his throne. However, Demetrius Poliorcetes establishes himself on the throne of Macedonia and then murders Alexander V. Antipater II loses the throne of Macedonia but is able to survive.

In Persia, when an invasion of nomads threatens the eastern possessions of his realm (i.e. between the Caspian Sea and the Aral Sea and the Indian Ocean), Seleucus hands over the government of these lands west of the Euphrates to his son Antiochus. Antiochus is appointed co-regent and commander-in-chief of these territories.

Further west on the southern shores of the Mediterranean, in 290 BC Berenice, wife of Ptolemy, is proclaimed queen of Egypt. Ptolemy has the city of Berenicebuilt on the Red Sea in her honour. It becomes a great emporium for Egyptian trade with the East.

In 288 in Greece, the Macedonian King, Demetrius Poliorcetes, faces a combined attack from Lysimachus andPhyrrhus, king of Epirus, after Seleucus, Ptolemy and Lysimachus form a coalition to block plans by Demetrius to invade Asia Minor. Ptolemy's fleet appears off Greece, inciting the cities to revolt. Athens revolts and Demetrius besieges the city. Pyrrhus takes Thessaly and the western half of Macedonia and, with the assistance of Ptolemy's fleet, relieves Athens from Demetrius' siege. After the Egyptian fleet participates decisively in the liberation of Athens from Macedonian occupation, Ptolemy obtains the protectorate over the League of Islanders, which includes most of the Greek islands in the Aegean Sea. Egypt's maritime supremacy in theMediterranean in the ensuing decades is based on this alliance.

Also about this time, the Sri Maha Bodhi Sacred Fig tree is planted at Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka.

On June 26 in 285 BC, Egypt's Ptolemy I Soter abdicates. He is succeeded by his youngest son by his wife Berenice, Ptolemy II Philadelphus, who has been co-regent for three years. After this, Ptolemy I's eldest (legitimate) son, Ptolemy Keraunos, whose mother, Eurydice, the daughter of Antipater, had been repudiated by the new King Ptolemy II, flees Egypt to the court of Lysimachus, the king of Thrace, Macedon and Asia Minor.

Circa 283 BC, The canal from the Nile River to the Red Sea, initially started but not completed by the Egyptian pharaoh Necho II and repaired by the Persian king Darius I, is again repaired and made operational by Ptolemy II. Ptolemy II enlarges the library at Alexandria and appoints the grammarian Zenodotus to collect and edit all the Greek poets. Arsinoe, daughter of Lysimachus, king of Thrace, marries Ptolemy II of Egypt as part of the alliance between Thrace and Egypt against Seleucus.

The Battle of Corupedium in Lydia is the last battle of the Diadochi, the rival successors toAlexander the Great. It is fought between the armies of Lysimachus, King of Thrace andMacedonia, and Seleucus, ruler of Eastern Anatolia, Syria, Phoenicia, Judea, Babylonia andIran. Seleucus kills Lysimachus during the battle.

Following the Battle of Corupedium, Lysimachus' widow, Arsinoe, flees to Cassandrea, a city in northern Greece, where she marries her half-brother Ptolemy Keraunos. This proves to be a serious misjudgement, as Ptolemy Keraunus promptly kills two of her sons, though the third is able to escape. Arsinoe flees again, this time to Alexandria in Egypt.

Around 281 BC, Seleucus is succeeded as ruler of the Seleucid empire by Antiochus. He is immediately beset by revolts in Syria (probably instigated by Ptolemy II of Egypt) and by independence movements in northern Anatolia.

280 BC saw the passing of Herophilus, Alexandrian physician who has been an early performer of public dissections on human cadavers; often called the father of anatomy.

The aggression of Ptolemy II of Egypt continues to cause friction with Antiochus, who losesMiletus, in south-western Asia Minor, to Ptolemy. Antigonus concludes a peace with Antiochus who surrenders his claim to Macedonia. Thereafter Antigonus II's foreign policy is marked by friendship with the Seleucids.

In China the region of Chu's heartland in the modern Hubei province is overrun by the powerful state of Qin from the west under Bai Qi's leadership. The Chu government moves to the east in various temporary capitals until settling in Shouchun in 241 BC.Around 278 BC marked the death of Qu Yuan, Chinese poet from southern Chu who lived during the Warring States Period. His works are mostly found in an anthology of poetry known as Chu Ci.

By 276 BC the Egyptian King Ptolemy II's first wife, Arsinoe I (daughter of the late King Lysimachus ofThrace) is accused, probably at instigation of Ptolemy II's sister (who also has the nameArsinoe), of plotting his murder and is exiled by the King. Arsinoe then marries her own brother, a customary practice in Egypt, but scandalous to the Greeks. The suffix "Philadelphoi" ("Brother-Loving") consequently is added to the names of King Ptolemy II and Queen Arsinoe II. The former queen, Arsinoe I, is banished to Coptos, a city of Upper Egyptnear the Wadi Hammamat, while her rival adopts her children.

Within a couple of years, Magas of Cyrene marries Apama, the daughter of Antiochus and uses his marital alliance to foment a pact to invade Egypt. He opens hostilities against his half brother Ptolemy II, by declaring his province of Cyrenaica to be independent and then attacks Egypt from the west as Antiochus I takes the Egyptian controlled areas in coastal Syria and southern Anatolia, after which he attacks Palestine. Magas has to stop his advance against Ptolemy II due to an internal revolt by the LibyanMarmaridae nomads.

Impressed by Rome's defeat of Pyrrhus, Ptolemy II sends a friendly embassy. The visit is reciprocated. The Seleucid king Antiochus I Soter is defeated by Egypt's Ptolemy II during the First Syrian War. Ptolemy II annexes Miletus, Phoenicia and western Cilicia from Antiochus. As a result, Ptolemy II extends Egyptian rule as far as Caria and into most of Cilicia.

Egypt's victories solidify the kingdom's position as the undisputed naval power of the easternMediterranean; the Ptolemaic sphere of power now extends over the Cyclades to Samothrace, and the harbours and coastal towns of Cilicia Trachea, Pamphylia, Lycia and Caria.

In India, The Mauryan emperor, Bindusara, sends the Mauryan army to conquer the southern kingdoms, and Kadamba is conquered.

By 270 BC the Mediterranean port City-State of Carthage, already in control of Sardinia, southern Spain and Numidia, is ruled by an oligarchy of merchants under two Suffetes or chief magistrates. While Carthage's military commanders are strong, the state relies on mercenaries (including Spanish ones) for its soldiers.

350 BC to 310 BC; Organic Chronology of Interesting Events

2010-01-07T20:17:00.000-08:00

In this open source review of world history, we are concentrating on the Middle Eastern and Mediterranean royal families that feature so prominently in the Old Testament. Each post is a rough sketch, intended to be fleshed out by comments from you the reader, and expansions of posts by myself. I will also respond to intriguing, intelligent comments, but not always immediately.

Circa 350 BC, Alexander I becomes king of Epirus after his brother-in-law Philip II of Macedon dethrones Alexander's cousin Arymbas, while over in Greece Aristotle argues for a spherical Earth using lunar eclipses and other observations. Also he discusses logical reasoning in Organon.

Around 330 BC according to wikipedia.org:

January 20—Alexander the Great defeats the Persians, led by satrap Ariobarzanes, at thePersian Gates. In this battle, Ariobarzan, supported by only 700 Persian Immortals, holds the vast Macedonian army of 17,000 men at bay for 30 days. At the end, his troops are surrounded by Alexander's army, because of a Persian shepherd, who leads it around the Persian defenses. However, instead of surrendering, Ariobarzan and his 700 Immortals fight to the last man. Some historians consider him to be the Leonidas of Persia.
January 30—After gaining the Pass of the Persian Gates, Alexander enters Persepolis. There he ceremonially burns down the palace of Xerxes I, as a symbol that the Panhellenic war of revenge is at an end.
Before continuing his pursuit of Darius III, who has retreated into Bactria, Alexander assembles all the Persian treasure and entrusts it to Harpalus, who is to hold it at Ecbatana as chief treasurer. Parmenion is also left behind in Media to manage communications between Alexander and the rest of his rapidly growing lands.

By 320 BC:

Alexander the Great's various generals control different parts of Alexander's empire. Ptolemy controls Egypt, Seleucus controls Babylon and Syria, Antipaterand his son Cassander control Macedon and Greece, Antigonus controls Phrygia and other parts of Asia Minor, Lysimachus controls Thrace and Pergamum and Eumenes controls theCappadocia and Pontus areas.
Judea and Syria are annexed by Ptolemy and he gives Judea a large measure of self-government.
Eudemus makes himself master of the territories of the Indian king Porus, and treacherously puts that monarch to death.

Here is a more recent explanation of Dhul-Qarmayn, Alexander the Great in Muslim tradition.

Persian Empire era 2009 research study by Charles Pope

New Chronology Ancient Egypt; 15th to 18th Dynasties

2010-01-06T20:13:00.000-08:00

Proposing that the famine occurring during the concurrent 13th and 14th Dynasties was caused by the drought and darkness in the decade and a half after the climatic catastrophe in 1159 BC, whether triggered by a meteor or an Icelandic volcano or a combination of as yet unidentified factors, we are pegging the start of the 15th Dynasty to about 1145 BC, which fits well with many known events of the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt that occurred between about 1030 BC and 860 BC. As you can see by the dates on the above wikipedia link, most Egyptologists still date the 18th Dynasty several centuries earlier.

Here is a very rough preliminary sketch of the newly revised chronology of the 15th to 18th Dynasties, which we will expand in future days, weeks and months.

15th and 16th (concurrent) Dynasty - c1145 BC to 1065 BC

17th Dynasty - c 1080 BC to c 1030 BC

18th Dynasty - c 1030 BC to 845 BC

First draft of estimated birth dates of Eighteenth Dynasty luminaries:

Ahmose - 1055 BC

Amenhotep I - 1035 BC

Thutmose I - 1025 BC

Thutmose II - 1010 BC

Thutmose III - 995 BC

Amenhotep II - 965 BC

Yuya - 950 BC

Tuya - 943 BC

Amenhotep III - 928 BC

Amenhotep IV - 917 BC

Tutankhamun - 888 BC

Peace 2 All!