The Sole Superpower in Decline

With the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the United States stood tall — militarily invincible, economically unrivalled, diplomatically uncontestable, and the dominating force on information channels worldwide. The next century was to be the true “American century,” with the rest of the world molding itself in the image of the sole superpower.

But it does not seem to go this way and more and more China, India, Russia, Iran, Venezuela and others are raising to be more than just spectators.
This article shows how it is happening...

Full article from Commondreams.org, here.

Funny Stuff

Click on image for full size.

Insuline and Fructose

Interesting interview of Robert Lustig about how insulin works and why fructose is actually bad for you in large quantities (which could explain why Americans are fatter now than before 1980 when the food industry did not use fructose in such large quantities).

Here are the main facts from the interview:

• The more insulin you have in your blood, the more you will move sugar into fat
• If you manage to keep a low insulin level, the sugar will be used (aka give you more energy) by your cells, not stored. Exercise is the best way to keep your insulin level low.
• Fructose can be taken only by your liver and is turned into fat
• The food industry puts a lot of fructose in food in order to make it taste better
• Table sugar (sucrose) is 50% fructose, 50% glucose
• Pure fruit juice is actually bad for your liver since it has a lot of fructose in it.
  
• Glycaemic index is not important. What matters is glycaemic load.
  

You can read the whole piece here.

Update: a study confirms that fructose is more likely to be turned into fat than glucose, here.
Update2: The New York Times also seems to agree, here.

Understand Iraq

Scott Ritter (former weapons inspector in Iraq) wrote a very good piece (here) explaining the differences between the difference groups in Iraq and why more US soldiers will never manage to change the situation there at the moment.
One to read!

AC vs DC

A grandiose plan to link Europe's electricity grids may recast wind power from its current role as a walk-on extra to being the star of the show.
The whole article from The Economist is here.

It is interesting to see how using energy is a more efficient and environmentally-friendly way leads to some changes we would never have considered before.

QOTD

"It's the good girls who keep diaries; the bad girls never have the time."

Tallulah Bankhead

Corollary:
"I am so busy I don't have time to fart"