" ... The 2012 Mayan Prophecy has been readily distorted and misunderstood. The End of the Mayan Calendar on December 21, 2012 has nothing to do with the “End of the World”.Ten percent of the world's population believe that “The Mayan calendar, which some say ‘ends’ in 2012, marks the end of the world”. That is about 700 million persons. Now shall we add some metaphorical stuff?
In fact, the Mayan calendar does not end on December 21st, 2012. Rather December 21 marks the beginning of a new “Long Cycle” in the Mayan calendar system. (See Washington’s Blog, End of the World: Hear the 2012 Prophecy … Direct from the Mouths of the Mayan Priests, Global Research, December 13, 2012)
The End of the World concept is a falsehood and misinterpretation of Mayan thought. What is at stake is a renewal, the unfolding of a new era. For the Mayans, December 21, 2012 marks the beginning of a new long cycle (Ibid).
Meanwhile, “End of the World” stories and commentary are plastered on the news tabloids. While the Western media readily refutes the Mayan prophesy, the apocalypse narrative, when repeated ad nausea serves as a distraction and distortion. ( Prof Michel Chossudovsky. Global Research, December 19, 2012. HERE) ... "
" ... [T]he FOMC decided to extend its asset purchases in 2013 as Operation Twist expires. Get Ready For QE4: Fed To Buy $870B More Through 2013, Barclays Says.Go ahead bang your fists into your hands... then slap yourself in the forehead ... gobbled up T-bills at same rate as selling T-bills ... as a balance sheet monetary 'easing?'
The Fed will therefore accelerate its rate of balance sheet expansion, easing monetary conditions further. While Operation Twist had been sterilized, which means the Fed sold assets at the same rate as it was gobbling them up, the new program will consist purely of Treasury purchases. Combined with QE3, the Fed will be taking $85 billion in bonds, both Treasuries and MBS, out of the market. The FOMC also decided to begin rolling over its maturing Treasuries as of January. (Agustino Fontevecchia, Forbes Staff. 12/12/2012. HERE)... "
One of New Zealand’s most memorable personalities was Prime Minister Robert Muldoon. Muldoon dominated public life in the 1970s and early 1980s in a way that few politicians before or since have managed. When we spoke with members of the public about the exhibition early in 2007, Muldoon was the politican who seemed to have left the most vivid impression, even among those who were very young at the time.
One of the factors contributing to Muldoon’s cultural survival is probably his ubiquity in the media. Not only was he one of the first politicians to make effective use of television (you can view the National Party’s notorious 1975 ‘Dancing Cossacks’ TV ad on nzhistory.net), but his distinctive features were eminently caricaturable. Every political cartoonist had their own Muldoon, and he was also impersonated on television (most memorably by David McPhail on the satirical shows A Week of It and McPhail and Gadsby).
We’ve found this great toby jug bearing the unforgettable Muldoon countenance!
[SOURCE]
MooPig would like to host a contest... but it has no idea what it might be. It could have something to do with cartoons and graphics.
And it is harder now to achieve scientific greatness. A study of Nobel Prize winners in 2005 found that the accumulation of knowledge over time has forced great minds to toil longer before they can make breakthroughs. The age at which thinkers produce significant innovations increased about six years during the 20th century.
Don't count the individual genius out just yet, however.
A balance between individual and institutional approaches is the best idea, according to a new theory by a Duke University engineer Adrian Bejan, who thinks institutions benefit most from the co-existence of large groups that self-organize naturally and lone scientists coming up with brilliant new ideas.
"The history of scientific achievement is marked by solitary investigators, from Archimedes to Newton to Darwin," Bejan points out in the December issue of the International Journal of Design & Nature and Ecodynamics. "Solitary thinkers have flourished throughout history because it is natural — science is good for the mind of the thinker and for the well-being of society. Even though the trend is toward the creation of large research groups, the individual will always flourish."
Yet the very notion of individual genius is somewhat overrated, as even some of the geniuses will attest.
