Purveyor
Purveyor's JournalJust 8 Weeks Of Meditation Can Cause Enduring Changes In The Brain
Neuroscientists have discovered that an 8-week meditation training program can leave a lasting impression on the human brain.
Researchers from the Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston University, and several other research centers found that the meditation training produced enduring changes in how the brain processed emotional information. The results of their study were published this month in Frontiers in Human Neuroscience.
“The two different types of meditation training our study participants completed yielded some differences in the response of the amygdala — a part of the brain known for decades to be important for emotion — to images with emotional content,” Gaelle Desbordes, a corresponding author of the report, explained. “This is the first time that meditation training has been shown to affect emotional processing in the brain outside of a meditative state.”
In the study, healthy adults with no experience meditating were enrolled in either mindful attention training, cognitively-based compassion training or a health discussion group. Mindful attention meditation cultivates awareness of one’s breathing and one’s own state of mind, while compassion meditation focuses on cultivating higher levels of empathy. The health discussion group was used as a control. The training occurred for 2 hours each week, or 16 hours total.
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http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/11/12/just-8-weeks-of-meditation-can-cause-enduring-changes-in-the-brain/
Is it time for new Congressional leadership within the Democratic Party 2012?
Simple question...check in.
Satellite Imagery Shows Nkorea Missile Activity
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Satellite imagery indicates North Korea has been testing rocket engines, a sign it continues to develop its long-range ballistic missiles, a U.S. academic institute said Monday.
The analysis provided to The Associated Press is based on satellite images taken as recently as late September of the Sohae site on the secretive country's northwest coast. In April, the North launched a rocket from there in a failed attempt to propel a satellite into space in defiance of a U.N. ban.
The analysis on the website of the U.S.-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, which is called "38 North," said it remains unclear whether the North is preparing another rocket launch but predicted it may embark on new rocket and nuclear tests in the first half of 2013.
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http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_US_NKOREA_MISSILES?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2012-11-12-18-02-24
Ohioans’ food stamp aid to be reduced; Benefit to fall $50 a month starting in January
BY KATE GIAMMARISE
BLADE STAFF WRITER
Ohio families receiving food stamps could get an unwelcome surprise come January: $50 less every month in assistance.
For the 869,000 households enrolled in the program for the poorest Ohioans, that could amount to about $520 million annually out of the grocery budgets.
Because of the way the federal government calculates utility expenses for people receiving the benefit, a mild winter nationwide last year, and a lower price for natural gas, many families could experience a significant cut in aid, those familiar with the program say.
Recipients should get a letter from the state Department of Job and Family Services this month explaining the change, said Ben Johnson, a spokesman for the agency.
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http://www.toledoblade.com/State/2012/11/12/Ohioans-food-stamp-aid-to-be-cut.html
Abbas Tells Obama He'll Seek Palestinian UN Upgrade, Defying U.S.
RAMALLAH, West Bank/WASHINGTON | Sun Nov 11, 2012 8:43pm EST
(Reuters) - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas told President Barack Obama on Sunday he was intent on pressing ahead with a Palestinian bid for United Nations recognition as a non-member state, despite the U.S. leader's objections.
Abbas explained his decision to Obama in a phone conversation, according to Abbas aide Nabil Abu Rdaineh. Continued defiance of Washington on such a sensitive issue casts further doubt on the chances for any renewed U.S.-led Israeli-Palestinian peace drive following Obama's re-election on Tuesday.
The Western-backed Palestinian Authority on Wednesday circulated a draft resolution to U.N. member states that calls for upgrading its U.N. status to that of observer state, despite objections by the United States and Israel.
"President Abbas cited the reasons and motives for the Palestinian decision to seek non-member statehood as continued Israeli settlement activity and the continued attacks on Palestinians and their property," Abu Rdaineh said.
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http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/11/12/us-palestinians-israel-usa-idUSBRE8AA0I720121112
PMO: Netanyahu Wants To Prepare International Public Opinion For Gaza Operation
Likud ministers have been competing since Sunday morning over who will threaten Hamas with harsher words, but it does not seem as though Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is jumping at the chance to launch an operation in Gaza. A source in the Prime Minister's Office said Sunday in a press briefing that Netanyahu is conducting hasbara - efforts to explain and justify Israel's policies to the rest of the world – in order to "prepare international public opinion for an Israeli operation in Gaza."
Netanyahu has been sustaining harsh public criticism due to the continued rocket fire into southern Israel, but he understands that Israel does not have international legitimacy to launch an operation in Gaza at the moment. The stalled peace talks, the international criticism of settlement construction, the tension in Israel-Egypt ties, and the situation on the Syria border put Israel in a sensitive situation, and any operation in Gaza could bring about dangerous diplomatic consequences.
Likud ministers, who were trying to present an intransigent front ahead of the primaries, harshly threatened Hamas. Ministers Moshe Ya'alon, Yisrael Katz, Yuli Edelstein and others called to renew targeted assassinations on Hamas leaders.
At the cabinet meeting on Sunday morning, Netanyahu said: "The world needs to understand that Israel will not sit with arms crossed when faced by attempts to hurt us," Netanyahu told ministers at the weekly cabinet meeting, after more than 40 rockets struck Israel over the course of Sunday morning. "We are prepared to intensify our response."
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http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/pmo-netanyahu-wants-to-prepare-international-public-opinion-for-gaza-operation.premium-1.476835#
Middle Eastern Snakes Exceed Ladders For The US
President Obama is lucky in his opponents, particularly when it comes to explaining why America's influence is waning in the Middle East. The issue was hardly mentioned in the election, aside from a botched attempt by Mitt Romney to blame the administration for the death of Chris Stevens, the US ambassador to Libya, and for the burning of the US consulate in Benghazi.
Romney soon steered away from his initial posture of attacking Obama for "apologising for America" and failing to assert US power. He recognised that the one thing the US electorate does not want is another war in the Middle East. By beating the patriotic drum too hard, Romney risked voters remembering that it was the Republicans who, not so long ago, led them into failed wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. On a more prosaic level, Romney may have sensed he would be vulnerable on topics he knew nothing about.
This near immunity from effective criticism during the campaign does not mean that Obama is not facing dangers across the region with which he has previously failed to grapple successfully.
Afghanistan is a good example. The "surge", which preoccupied the White House when Obama first took office in 2009, led to an extra 33,000 soldiers being sent to Afghanistan, where they wholly failed to eliminate the Taliban. The remaining 112,000 Nato troops will be withdrawn by the end of 2014, bringing to an end one of the more disastrously unproductive wars in American history. The US and its allies are supposedly training up Afghan security forces to take their place, but so many American and British soldiers have been killed by Afghan soldiers and police that the transition is turning into a debacle.
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http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/middle-eastern-snakes-exceed-ladders-for-the-us-8303848.html
J.C. Penney Loss Wider Than Estimated as Turnaround Falters
J.C. Penney Co. (JCP) reported a third- quarter loss that was larger than analysts estimated as Chief Executive Officer Ron Johnson struggles to overhaul the fourth- largest U.S. department-store company. The shares fell.
The net loss of $123 million, or 56 cents a share, in the three months ended Oct. 27 compares with a loss of $143 million, or 67 cents, a year earlier, the Plano, Texas-based company said today in a statement. Excluding restructuring and management- transition costs, the loss was 93 cents a share. The average of analysts’ estimates compiled by Bloomberg was for a 7-cent loss.
Johnson, the former Apple Inc. (AAPL) retail chief who joined as CEO last year, has lost customers as he transforms most J.C. Penney stores into collections of branded shops and implements an everyday low pricing strategy. Johnson said today that the old-style J.C. Penney, which still encompasses most stores, struggled in the third quarter and faces “significant challenges,” calling it “a tale of two companies.”
“The results that J.C. Penney reported today are undeniably weak,” Brian Nagel, an analyst at Oppenheimer & Co., said today in a note. “JCP will require a lot of patience on the part of investors. This chain continues to head towards turnaround.”
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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-11-09/j-c-penney-loss-is-wider-than-estimated-as-turnaround-falters.html
0P COMMENT: OK, so JCP (which they now refer to themselves) put the Sunday inserts back in the paper but my God...they are horrible. Plain and boring. "JCP" most likely won't be around much longer.
Pentagon Says Iranian Warplanes Fired On U.S. Drone Over Gulf
WASHINGTON | Thu Nov 8, 2012 7:49pm GMT
(Reuters) - Iranian warplanes fired multiple rounds at an unmanned unarmed U.S. surveillance aircraft in international airspace over the gulf last week, but the craft was undamaged and returned safely to its base, Pentagon spokesman George Little said on Thursday.
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http://uk.reuters.com/article/2012/11/08/uk-usa-iran-drone-idUKBRE8A71BL20121108
Netanyahu Phones Obama, Congratulates Him On Election Win
By TOVAH LAZAROFFLAST UPDATED: 11/08/2012 21:01
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu telephoned US President Barack Obama Thursday afternoon to personally congratulate him on his re-election to a second four-year term.
It was “a vote of confidence in your leadership,” Netanyahu said.
He looked forward, Netanyahu said, to continuing to work with the Obama to address the great challenges facing both the US and Israel as well as to advance peace and security in our region.
It was the latest in a series of conciliatory gestures to Obama, that Netanyahu has made since elections results were announced Wednesday.
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http://www.jpost.com/DiplomacyAndPolitics/Article.aspx?id=291088
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