dimecres, 13 d’abril del 2016

El calentamiento global y tus emisiones de CO2 salvan a los pinos del hemisferio norte


"El calentamiento global -temperaturas crecientes, mayor lluvia, y una atmósfera más rica en CO2- ha creado un “efecto de fertilización” que ha acelerado el crecimiento de los árboles, especialmente en las altas latitudes que cubren buena parte de Canadá, Rusia y Europa."
Y lo mejor de todo es que el artífice del milagro eres tú. Sí, tú directamente; no seas modesto. Al usar un coche; al poner calefacción en invierno y aire acondicionado en verano; al viajar en avión por trabajo y vacaciones; al comer carne cuando te apetece; al tener hospitales y campeonato de fútbol; en fin, al vivir de una forma francamente distanciada del paleolítico, has enriquecido el aire -con CO2- para mayor felicidad de los árboles y de la naturaleza en general. PLAZAMOYUA
Artículo completo, aquí




La izquierda descubre ahora el 'sujeto revolucionario' en los usuarios de redes sociales


Para Marx, el 'sujeto revolucionario' que encarnaba el cambio histórico y que estaba llamado a acabar con el capitalismo era la clase obrera. Pera Lenin, también lo era pero incluyó a los campesinos en las primeras fases de la Revolución Rusa. Mao, que no tenía proletariado, identificó a los campesinos como el 'sujeto revolucionario' en China en 1949, pero como no eran de fiar en 1963 lanzó la Gran Revolución Cultural Proletaria que fue un auténtico genocidio. Marcuse y los revolucionarios de Mayo del 68 encontraron en los estudiantes el nuevo 'sujeto revolucionario' capaz de liderar la auténtica revolución, traicionada por el revisionismo soviético. Hundido el comunismo con el Muro de Berlín, la izquierda pergeñó un constructo verde-feminista-gay como definitivo 'sujeto revolucionario' para el fin de siglo y el nuevo milenio. Sin embargo, todos esos 'sujetos revolucionarios' dejaron pronto de serlo, si es que alguna vez lo fueron. Huérfana de nuevo de 'sujeto revolucionario',  la izquierda ha creído verlo ahora en los usuarios de las redes sociales. O almenos así lo ha visto el ensayista Paul Mason, trotskista en su juventud, profesor de música primero y periodista después, en su obra 'Postcapitalismo. Hacia un nuevo futuro' [Paidós, 2016].

Leed aquí una interesante y completa reseña del libro por Manuel Arias Maldonado




El islamismo se extiende por Bosnia

SPIEGEL.- Radical Islamists have found a new refuge in Bosnia. They recruit fighters, promote jihad and preach a fundamentalist interpretation of Islam -- just across the border from the European Union.
(...)
Ibro Cufurovic, born in 1995, is one of 200 to 300 Islamist radicals who have left Bosnia-Herzegovina to join IS or al-Qaida in Syria or Iraq. Two of the most wanted terrorists in the world are among them: Bajro Ikanovic, for many years the commander of the largest IS training camp in northern Syria; and Nusret Imamovic, a leading member of the Nusra Front in Syria, a group tied to al-Qaida. Bosnia, says the American Balkan expert and former NSA employee John Schindler, "is considered something of a 'safehouse' for radicals," and now harbors a stable terrorist infrastructure. It is one that is not strictly hierarchical and is thus considered "off-message" within IS, but it nonetheless represents an existential threat to the fragmented republic.

Map: Islamist extremism on the EU border

According to findings by the Bosnian Ministry of Security, not only were munitions from Bosnia used in the January 2015 attack on the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, but some of the weapons used in the November 13 Islamic State attack on Paris were also from former Yugoslav production.

It increasingly looks as though a new sanctuary for IS fighters, planners and recruiters has been established right in the middle of Europe. In some remote villages, the black flag of IS is flown and, as a share of the population, more fighters from Bosnia-Herzegovina have joined IS than from any other country in Europe, except for Belgium. Around 30 Bosnians have lost their lives in the Middle Eastern battlefields, with some 50 having returned home.
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Los billetes de 500 tienen los días contados

En lo últimos meses, ha crecido el apoyo político a la eliminación de los billetes de 500 euros en el seno de la zona euro, pero, hasta ahora, dicha iniciativa chocaba con las reticencias de Alemania. Sin embargo, el banco central germano, el Bundesbank, acaba de abrir la puerta a esta posibilidad, según las fuentes consultadas por The Wall Street Journal. Pese a ello, Alemania rechazaría su retirada automática, apostando así por una eliminación más gradual
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Europa, ahora dividida por el derecho de cifrado

While Europe has taken a great interest in the “crypto war” between the U.S. government and Apple as well as other Silicon Valley behemoths, it has yet to wake up to the gathering storm of encryption policy within its own borders. Various EU governments have proposed unilateral measures on how to deal with encryption, and the split between advocates of encryption and staunch opponents is growing.

Hungary’s ruling party Fidesz has suggested legislation that would make encryption software illegal. In France, a draft bill threatens to fine tech companies unwilling or unable to decrypt user data. Similar measures are being discussed in the U.K. as part of the draft Investigatory Powers Bill.

Meanwhile, in the Netherlands the government has argued that it is not “desirable to take legal measures against the development, availability and use of encryption.” The Germans also support “more and better encryption.” In its Digital Agenda, the German government even resolved to become the “world leader in encryption.”
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Los gérmenes nos hicieron monógamos

Why did humans become monogamous, apparently rejecting the promiscuity that is natural to most animals?

Was it morality? Religion? Maybe love?

The answer is germs, researchers said Tuesday, arguing that the havoc caused by sexually transmitted diseases (STIs) convinced our ancestors it would be better to mate for life.

A research duo from Canada and Germany observed that STIs flourished among large groups of people living in the villages, towns and cities that arose after prehistoric hunter-gatherers settled down to farm.

Left unchecked, spreading diseases can affect individual fertility and a group’s overall reproduction rate.

Falling population numbers would force a rethink of sexual behavior — which in turn gives rise to social mores.
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¿Filtró la CIA los papeles de Panamá?


Bradley Birkenfeld is the most significant financial whistleblower of all time, so you might think he'd be cheering on the disclosures in the new Panama Papers leaks. But today, Birkenfeld is raising questions about the source of the information that is shaking political regimes around the world.

Birkenfeld, an American citizen, was a banker working at UBS in Switzerland when he approached the U.S. government with information on massive amounts of tax evasion by Americans with secret accounts in Switzerland. By the end of his whistleblowing career, Birkenfeld had served more than two years in a U.S. federal prison, been awarded $104 million by the IRS for his information and shattered the foundations of more than a century of Swiss banking secrecy.

Bradley Birkenfeld, a former UBS banker, speaks during an interview at Schuylkill County Federal Correctional Institution in Minersville, Pa., on Tuesday, April 27, 2009. In an exclusive interview Tuesday from Munich, Birkenfeld said he doesn't think the source of the 11 million documents stolen from a Panamanian law firm should automatically be considered a whistleblower like himself. Instead, he said, the hacking of the Panama City-based firm, called Mossack Fonseca, could have been done by a U.S. intelligence agency. "The CIA I'm sure is behind this, in my opinion," Birkenfeld said.
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Grabaciones de 1920 de Louis Armstrong con el sonido más limpio que hayas oído nunca

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