Stress Levels and Reverse Recall

The United Nations warned on Wednesday of a possible crisis of confidence in, and even a “collapse” of, the U.S. dollar if its value against other currencies continued to decline.

In a mid-year review of the world economy, the UN economic division said such a development, stemming from the falling value of foreign dollar holdings, would imperil the global financial system.

Meanwhile, China's yuan has hit a record high against the US dollar after the US Treasury department said the Chinese currency was undervalued but not manipulated. The People's Bank of China (PBOC) fixed the yuan's mid-point at 6.4856 against the US dollar on Monday.

But, there are reports that China is going organic... but only running their organic farms to feed staff. The "melamine milk" and "glow-in-the-dark" pork and "exploding watermelons" are only for foreign consumption, I reckon.

Australian National University professor Peter Drysdale has prophesied that the TPP will "drive a wedge down the middle of the Pacific between the United States, its partners and China." Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan found himself facing the sharp end of that wedge at the beginning of last week at his summit meeting with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and South Korean President Lee Myung Bak. Japan is in bad shape, and the specter of five dollar gas and out of control food prices, could be too much for Mr Obama his crew to handle.

But there is good news. ScienceDaily (May 27, 2011:

Recalling painful memories while under the influence of the drug metyrapone reduces the brain's ability to re-record the negative emotions associated with them, according to University of Montreal researchers at the Centre for Studies on Human Stress of Louis-H. Lafontaine Hospital. The team's study challenges the theory that memories cannot be modified once they are stored in the brain.

"Metyrapone is a drug that significantly decreases the levels of cortisol, a stress hormone that is involved in memory recall," explained lead author Marie-France Marin. Manipulating cortisol close to the time of forming new memories can decrease the negative emotions that may be associated with them. "The results show that when we decrease stress hormone levels at the time of recall of a negative event, we can impair the memory for this negative event with a long-lasting effect," said Dr. Sonia Lupien, who directed the research

If this ever come to market, it will an instance best seller. Does the book 1984 or the movie Soylent Green ring a bell?

G-8 Leaders To Marshal Support For Arab Nations

G-8 Leaders To Marshal Support For Arab Nations

Arab uprisings are pushing aside deficits and austerity as the biggest worry of the leaders of the Group of Eight industrialized nations this year. The discussions starting Thursday in the chic Normandy resort of Deauville will see the host, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, bring together the heads of wealthy nations for what one of Sarkozy's top advisers describes as "the founding moment" of a partnership between the G-8 and the Arab countries.

President Barack Obama and the other leaders will seek to marshal their combined economic might behind the grass-roots democracy movements that have swept the Arab world — and driven away tourists and investors.

Egypt and Tunisia, where popular revolts this year overthrew authoritarian regimes, want to show G-8 leaders and international financiers that they are still sound investment destinations — which might be a tall order as the future shape and policies of their governments remains unclear.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=136643689

“Egypt and Tunisia, where popular revolts this year overthrew authoritarian regimes, want to show G-8 leaders and international financiers that they are still sound investment destinations — which might be a tall order as the future shape and policies of their governments remains unclear.”

Unclear indeed! I am leery of these “founding moments” and “new chapters”, and President O’bama’s “change”. Not all of them are beneficial to common folk. And most common folk still don't know who the rebels in Egypt and Tunisia are, much less what their policies will be.

But Egypt is wasting no time in making new friends:

Quote:

Egyptian Foreign Minister Nabil el-Araby said he has discussed the possibility of an exchange of ambassadors with his Iranian counterpart, the Egyptians state-run news website Egynews reported on Wednesday.

"We told the Iranian minister that Egypt is opening new chapters with everyone and that it doesn't want any aggressions with anyone in the world," el-Araby said, according to the site.

http://www.haaretz.com/news/internat...years-1.364015

Tunisia is yet an unknown, but the Muslim Brotherhood is there, and they are wily, smart, and in tune with the politics of the region.

The revolution, as Tunisians call it, also has created a power vacuum, and Tunisia faces enormous challenges in rebuilding its political system. The country’s caretaker government has been confronted with nearly daily protests by a variety of groups, the police force has been badly weakened by mass desertions and the firing of top officials, and provincial government offices remain dysfunctional. The judicial system is hobbled by its links to the ousted regime.

The interim government has scheduled elections for July 24, when voters will pick members of an assembly that will rewrite the constitution.

Polling suggests that Ennahda — an Islamic party whose name means the renaissance in Arabic — enjoys broader support than any of the country’s other 60-odd authorized political parties, most of whom did not exist until after the revolution.

Accused as subversives or terrorists, members of Ennahda bore the repressive brunt of Mr. Ben-Ali's reign — two decades of torture, prison or exile — suffering that has established their credibility, particularly among the more conservative residents of the country's rural areas.

Despite repeated assurances of their tolerance and moderation, the party's rise has touched off frenzied rumors of attacks on unveiled women and artists, of bars and brothels sacked by party goons, of plots to turn the country into a caliphate. Ennahda’s popularity and organizational strength are of growing concern to many activists and politicians among the coastal elite, who worry that the secular revolution of January might see the birth of a conservative Islamic government in July.

http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/tunisia/index.html

The Group of Eight industrialized nations (G-8) are wealthy, but the only they share wealth and a lust for power. You can buy loyalty for a price, and a time. But the money runs out, sooner or later, and then the time’s up. But you can't buy friendship, ever. The members of G-8, and expressly President O’bama need to remember that.

Moving and shaking

According to sott.net (Sigh of the times) there is a whole lot of moving and shaking going on...

http://www.sott.net/

According to the National Weather Service, 226 tornadoes were recorded from Wednesday morning to Thursday morning, and that's a record for a 24-hour period.

From Wednesday to Friday, 312 tornadoes may have formed.

The previous record for a single weather event was April 3-4, 1974, when 148 twisters were recorded.

Two tall and skinny waterspouts appeared off the south shore of Oahu, Hawaii yesterday, as some of the bad weather that has lately assailed the U.S. mainland has now alighted on the Pacific island.

The Star Advertiser reports that the waterspouts appeared during a hail and lightning storm that had reportedly knocked out power for at least 60,000 East Honolulu and Windward Oahu residents Monday evening. The spouts lasted for about 12 minutes. Waterspouts can become twisters if they reach land, but are usually weak.

Searsport, Maine - As many as 30 tiny earthquakes have been detected over the last few days in the area between Belfast and Bucksport, but geologists say there's no cause for alarm.

"Microquakes is what we call them," Henry Berry, a bedrock geologist with Maine Geological Survey, said in a phone interview Tuesday afternoon. "Unless you were right there, you wouldn't notice them."

But plenty of people have been noticing, Searsport Police Chief Dick LaHaye said Tuesday afternoon, just minutes after he dispatched an officer to Savory Road, where a resident had called to inform authorities about another earthquake.