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The Name Of Twitter Bird Is

By RD Bentley on March 10, 2013 in

What is the official name of the Twitter bird? Do you know? Not many of us do. (Psss. Hint.) This guy is a very popular bird was named after a popular NBA star. This bird is all over the media and he doesn’t seem to be going anywhere anytime soon.

Guessed it yet? The official name has been revealed. Click here to find out…

Now the plot thickens and not with chickens. The old bird (mentioned above) has deceased or has been euthanized. Well, actually he has been replaced. So, the question above was a trick question. Sorry. The next paragraph and link explains everything.

From the official Twitter Blog:

“From now on, this bird will be the universally recognizable symbol of Twitter. (Twitter is the bird, the bird is Twitter.) There’s no longer a need for text, bubbled typefaces, or a lowercase ‘t’ to represent Twitter.”

“Our new bird grows out of love for ornithology, design within creative constraints, and simple geometry. This bird is crafted purely from three sets of overlapping circles — similar to how your networks, interests and ideas connect and intersect with peers and friends. Whether soaring high above the earth to take in a broad view, or flocking with other birds to achieve a common purpose, a bird in flight is the ultimate representation of freedom, hope and limitless possibility.”

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Is English A Scandinavian Language?

By RD Bentley on March 7, 2013 in ,

The English language has traditionally been classified by scholars as part of the West Germanic language family. Which include: German, English, Dutch, Afrikaans, the Frisian languages, and Yiddish. Jan Terje Faarlund, professor of linguistics at the University of Oslo, says he and colleague Joseph Emmonds, professor from Palacký University in the Czech Republic, can prove another theory. They think that English is a Scandinavian language. This challenges the establishment altogether.

This newfound information comes as a shocker to the linguistic community which has always believed that English comes from a West Germanic branch of the language family tree.

“Modern English is a direct descendant of the language of Scandinavians who settled in the British Isles in the course of many centuries, before the French-speaking Normans conquered the country in 1066,” says Faarlund.

The Northern Germanic language group consists of Norwegian, Danish, Swedish, Icelandic and Faroese.

The two professors assert that Modern English shares grammatical structure and much of the same vocabulary with Scandinavian languages. And they think that they can demonstrate their argument.

Jan Terje Faarlund is the author of Grammatical Relations in Change (Studies in Language Companion Series).

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A Closer Look At The Vikings

By RD Bentley on March 6, 2013 in ,

Who were the Vikings? What do we really know about the Vikings? Here’s a closer look at the elusive Vikings. At the bottom of the page is one of the best documentaries about Viking history. A lot of what you hear and see about the Vikings is nothing but hyped up drama.

If you’re looking for an interesting book about the topic, I recommend VIKINGS, by MAGNUS MAGNUSSON. It’s a bit of a long read but is truly rich in Viking history. This book has some very nice photos of trinkets and artifacts discovered in history. The author puts together a nice presentation and he does a very thorough job of it. There may be a newer version of this book.

The Oseberg ship is always a highlight in Scandinavian history. It “is a well-preserved Viking ship discovered in a large burial mound at the Oseberg farm near Tønsberg in Vestfold county, Norway.”

The Viking Ship Museum is in Oslo.

Traces of Viking origin can be found in Gotland, Sweden’s largest island and the largest island in the Baltic Sea.

The Norse funeral was not anything that we’re accustomed to in today’s world. Tradition in this age called for ship burials. The dead were buried in a ship, along with sacrifices, and sometimes live human beings were also killed. Human sacrifice was a part of the rituals.

While it is often acknowledged that the Vikings settled in England, Ireland, Denmark, Norway, Iceland, and other various islands, what it is overlooked is their important role in Russia. Staraya Ladoga is located in the Volkhovsky District of Leningrad Oblast, Russia. In the 8th and 9th centuries, it was dominated by Scandinavians.

Staraya Ladoga is sometimes called the first capital of Russia. In western Russia, it is located around 90 miles east of Saint Petersburg and this is where the Viking expansion begins.

Actually the name Rus (or Rhos) refers to the Swedes, and dates back to year 839 AD in a Royal Frankish chronicle Annales Bertiniani.

The name we know as Russia comes from Ρως, an early Greek name for the people of Rus. “The earliest written mention of the word ‘Rus’ or ‘Russian’ appears in the Primary Chronicle under the year 912.”

Vikings Who Were The Vikings? — Part 1
Vikings The Trading Empire — Part 2
Vikings End of the Viking Age — Part 3

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The Big Secret About Pearl Harbor

By RD Bentley on March 3, 2013 in

What transpired months and weeks before the morning of December 7, 1941 is vague to the minds of many Americans. Was there a big secret about Pearl Harbor that was kept hidden from the people? This is no doubt “a date which will live in infamy” in more ways than one. The ultimate question to be debated is at hand: Did President Franklin D. Roosevelt have any foreknowledge of the attack on Pearl Harbor? Was the surprise attack really a surprise?

Robert Stinnett, a writer, journalist and former American sailor believes that the U.S. government had advance knowledge of the attack on Pearl Harbor. Stinnett is the author of Day Of Deceit: The Truth About FDR and Pearl Harbor, where he attempts to prove that Pearl Harbor was no accident.

A biography note claims that Robert Stinnett “participated in World War II as a Naval photographer in the Pacific theater, serving in the same aerial photo group as George H. W. Bush.”

As the Pearl Harbor advance-knowledge conspiracy theory unravels, we run into a Japanese spy in Hawaii named Tadashi Morimura, whose real name was Takeo Yoshikawa. Takeo Yoshikawa was the spy responsible for sending the Japanese government several months worth of indispensable information. History seems to have forgotten this man who contributed a great deal for Japan.

But wait, there’s even more evidence FDR knew about Pearl in advance. Don C. Smith had connections with the Red Cross and his daughter would tell his story posthumously. Daughter Helen E. Hamman wrote a letter to President Clinton on Sep. 5, 1995. In this letter she reveals that her father had a secret meeting with President Roosevelt, and he “informed him of a pending attack on Pearl Harbor.” This was before the attack occurred mind you.

In yet another remarkable work, Reassessing the Presidency : The Rise of the Executive State and the Decline of Freedom, author John Denson describes how Stinnett shows that the cover-up continued even after the war. Denson’s book is rather lengthy but very much worth the effort.

One more Pearl Harbor must read is acknowledged — The Pearl Harbor Myth: Rethinking the Unthinkable (Potomac’s Military Controversies), which is authored by George Victor.

Was there advance warning? You decide for yourself.

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Skin Cream For Dry Feet

By RD Bentley on February 18, 2013 in

Wintertime can be really hard on humans that suffer from dry skin. Nu Skin has a great product for those with dry feet. Peeling, cracking, dryness can be a problem. Nu Skin’s Foot Cream Sole Solution heals dry cracked feet is a product designed for this.

Dry, cracked feet causes itching and can be irritable to sufferers. If you wear sandals in the summertime you will notice the dry, scaly patches. Smooth feet are the preferred choice.

It is recommended to use this product twice a day if you want soft skin and you wish to eliminate dry heels.

Physicians and nail specialists approve of Nu Skin and often tell their patients about the skin creams that are marketed. Is this cream better than prescription creams?

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Titan: John D. Rockefeller

By RD Bentley on September 20, 2012 in

To truly understand American history in the 20th century, one must acknowledge the family dynasties that were formed, the financial powerhouses of the day. The Standard Oil company made a tremendous impact on society and it seems that few Americans are aware of this today. In the historic masterpiece, Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr., Ron Chernow gives us a clear, unbiased view of the Rockefeller patriarch and the legend that he left behind. The Rockefeller name is very prominent in American culture.

Chernow places the life experiences of a very important businessman, John Davison Rockefeller, into the pages of modern history. Rockefeller proves to be one of the most prominent figures of our age, yet today’s generation knows so little about him.

Titan is packed full of interesting facts that any serious-minded historian would find necessary to know. From the first barrels of oil produced, to the amount of automobiles that were first manufactured, to the effects on the economy, Chernow shines the light on all. Rockefeller’s allies and enemies are critical to the narrative.

And the book does tell a story about a young boy struggling in the 1800′s, finding his way in life, and dealing with the complicated ways of his colorful father. John D. Rockefeller comes from an humble background and he grows into one of the most controversial figures in American history. Rockefeller was the founder of Standard Oil, one of the world’s first and largest multinational corporations.

Rockefeller founded Standard Oil as an Ohio partnership with his brother William, along with Henry Flagler, Jabez Bostwick, chemist Samuel Andrews, and a silent partner, Stephen V. Harkness. As kerosene and gasoline grew in importance, Rockefeller’s wealth soared, and he became the world’s richest man and the first American worth more than a billion dollars. Adjusting for inflation, he is often regarded as the richest person in history.

Rockefeller (Senior) literally builds an empire using nothing but strength, iron will, perseverance, and sharp wits. He does however, make shady deals with the railroads and uses other questionable business practices, which later gets him into trouble.

One of the most effective attacks on Rockefeller and his firm was the 1904 publication of The History of the Standard Oil Company, written by Ida Tarbell, a leading muckraker. The overwhelming, negative publicity created by Tarbell deeply disturbed Rockefeller for the rest of his life. She depicted Rockefeller as a money-grabbing, monopolizing scoundrel and he despised her for this.

John D. Rockefeller, Jr. (Junior), the only son in the brood, left a legacy himself, with the construction of the famous Rockefeller Center, which included the largest private building project ever undertaken in modern times. It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1987. The Rockefeller Center is a complex of 19 commercial buildings covering 22 acres between 48th and 51st streets in New York City. It is located in the center of Midtown Manhattan, spanning the area between Fifth and Sixth Avenue.

Titan is a very long read, containing at least 679 pages. This extensive biography is an historical treasure. It was written in a very elegant and open style, and it actually makes history pleasant. Chernow is a brilliant writer and his research on the subject is impeccable.

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Principles of Secondary Education

By RD Bentley on August 28, 2012 in

In the book written by Alex I. Inglis, Principles of secondary education, we get a rough idea of what education is really about. Was the compulsory education system designed to educate children, or was it merely a tool of the elite to control the masses? Here are six ideas from the book:

1. The adjustive function. Schools are to establish fixed habits of reaction to authority. This, of course preludes critical judgement completely. It also pretty much destroys the idea that useful or interesting material should be taught, because you can’t test for reflexive obedience until you know whether you can make kids learn, and do, foolish and boring things.

2. The integrating function. This might well be called “the conformity function,”  because its intention is to make children alike as possible. People who conform are predictable, and this is of great use to those who wish to harness and manipulate a large labor force.

3. The diagnostical directive function. School is meant to determine each student’s proper role. This is done by logging evidence mathematically and anecdotally on cumulative records. As in “your permanent record.”

4. The differentiating function. Once their role has been “diagnosed,” children are sorted out by role and trained only so far as their destination in the social machine merits — and not one step further.

5. The selective function. This refers not to a human choice at all but to Darwin’s theory of natural selection as applied to what he called “the favored races.” In short, the idea is to help things along by consciously attempting to improve the breeding stock. Schools are meant to tag the unfit — with poor grades, remedial placement, and other punishments — clearly enough that there peers will accept them as inferior and effictively bar them from the reproductive sweepstakes.

6. The propaedeutic function. The social system implied by these rules will require an elite group of caretakers. To that end, a small fraction of the kids will quietly be taught how to manage this continuing project, how to watch over and control a population deliberately dumbed down and declawed in order that government might proceed unchallenged and corporations might never want for obedient labor.

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I'll Pass On The Cantaloupe

By RD Bentley on August 21, 2012 in

I think I’ll pass on the cantaloupe, due to the Salmonella Typhimurium infections. A total of 141 persons infected with the outbreak strain of Salmonella Typhimurium have been reported from 20 states. My heart goes out to the victims and their families.

  • Case Count: 141
  • States: 20
  • Deaths: 2
  • Hospitalizations: 31

    • From The CDC report:

    The number of ill persons identified in each state is as follows: Alabama (7), Arkansas (3), California (2), Georgia (1), Illinois (17), Indiana (13), Iowa (7), Kentucky (50), Michigan (6), Minnesota (3), Missouri (9), Mississippi (2), New Jersey (1), North Carolina (3), Ohio (3), Pennsylvania (2), South Carolina (3), Tennessee (6), Texas (1), and Wisconsin (2).

    31 ill persons have been hospitalized. Two deaths have been reported in Kentucky.

    Collaborative investigation efforts of state, local, and federal public health and regulatory agencies indicate that cantaloupe grown in southwestern Indiana is a likely source of this outbreak.

    As a result of the initial investigations by the state health departments in Indiana and Kentucky, a farm in southwestern Indiana has contacted its distributors, which reach outside Indiana into other states, and is withdrawing its cantaloupe from the market place. The farm has agreed to cease distributing cantaloupes for the rest of the growing season.

    Consumers who recently purchased cantaloupes grown in southwestern Indiana are advised not to eat them and discard any remaining cantaloupe.

    The warning has been criticized.

    This comes after an outbreak in 2011. This certainly is bad for the cantaloupe business.

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    The Fluoride Deception Exposed

    By RD Bentley on August 15, 2012 in ,

    Christopher Bryson, an investigative reporter and producer of BBC, wrote a book after ten years worth of valuable research. In Bryson’s work, The Fluoride Deception, he manifests how individuals and institutions have played a role in shaping public opinion, and how public policy has developed in the process.

    We have been coerced since childhood to believe that toothpaste with fluoride is beneficial to our teeth. We have been convinced that fluoride in our water is not harmful and will prevent tooth decay. What we haven’t been told is the truth… that the fluoride is dumbing us down, in fact, a Harvard study has found that fluoride lowers the IQ in children.

    Fluoride toxicity is real and the Fluoride Deception is real. “Between 1990 and 1994, over 628 people, mostly children, were treated after ingesting too much fluoride from their toothpaste. Gastrointestinal symptoms appear to be the most common problem reported.”

    A study published in Environmental Health Perspectives stated the following results:

    The standardized weighted mean difference in IQ score between exposed and reference populations was -0.45 (95% CI -0.56 to -0.35) using a random-effects model. Thus, children in high fluoride areas had significantly lower IQ scores than those who lived in low fluoride areas. Subgroup and sensitivity analyses also indicated inverse associations, although the substantial heterogeneity did not appear to decrease.

    Another study in a journal concluded that “fluoride treatment is associated with testicular disorders.” Studies have suggested that exposure to fluoride could alter the reproductive hormones in human beings.

    In the early 1950′s, Dr. George Waldbott became “one of the first to warn of the potential health effects of mass fluoridation.” Even though Waldbott was criticised for his opposition to fluoride, “he was considered one of the key figures in the antifluoridation movement for over two decades.”

    You also are presented with the The Deepwater Documents, where a couple of journalists suggest the lawsuits that the US encountered were because of fluoride damage, and not over radiation. During the Manhattan Project, it was discovered that it was necessary to use uranium hexafluoride, which indeed is a component that includes fluoride.

    In October of 1948, a tragedy struck in Donora, Pennsylvania, which killed twenty people. In the incident known as the Donora Death Fog, Philip Sadtler uncovered the truth that fluoride was to blame for the horror.

    The 1948 Donora smog was a “historic air inversion resulting in a wall of smog that killed 20 people and sickened 7,000 more in Donora, Pennsylvania, a mill town on the Monongahela River, 24 miles (39 km) southeast of Pittsburgh.”

    Fluorine is also used in pharmaceuticals.

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    World's Oldest Bank Needs Financial Aid

    By RD Bentley on August 13, 2012 in

    Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena is the world’s oldest bank and it needs financial aid from the state. The bank is the third largest bank in Italy. It was founded in 1472 and has been open for business since then. Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena will be the first in Italy to receive aid, according to IBTimesUK.

    The connoisseur of fine arts will be interested in the Monte dei Paschi di Siena website, as Sienese art from the fourteenth to the nineteenth centuries in the Monte dei Paschi di Siena collection can be viewed. The bank hosts an art collection and a large number of priceless historical documents spanning the centuries of its existence, which is normally not open to the public.

    The most recent acquisition cost the bank nearly one million Euro, and the artist is Segna di Bonaventura.

    “The Monte di Pietà, or Monte Pio, was established on 27 February 1472 by resolution by the General Council of the Republic, for the purpose of granting loans to “poor or miserable or needy persons” at a minimal interest rate. By origin it is a fully secular institution, authorized from the beginning to charge an interest rate of 7.5%, thus not aspiring to any kind of speculation, but also avoiding having to make the interest-free loans recommended by the Franciscan Friars Minor, who supported the Monte dei Pietà. “Monte” (“heap”) in this case indicates a collection of money, offered or deposited and then distributed for purposes of welfare or charity.”

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