D.R.I. - Suit And Tie Guy

Project Gravity by  Mustafa Lamrani

Blink! The Link between Aerobic Fitness and Cognition

Although exercise is known to enhance cognitive function and improve mental health, the neurological mechanisms of this link are unknown. Now, researchers from Japan have found evidence of the missing link between aerobic fitness and cognitive function. In a study published in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, researchers from the University of Tsukuba revealed that spontaneous eye blink rate (sEBR), which reflects activity of the dopamine system, could be used to understand the connection between cognitive function and aerobic fitness.

The dopaminergic system is known to be involved in physical activity and exercise, and previous researchers have proposed that exercise-induced changes in cognitive function might be mediated by activity in the dopaminergic system. However, a marker of activity in this system was needed to test this hypothesis, something the researchers at the University of Tsukuba aimed to address.

"The dopaminergic system is associated with both executive function and motivated behavior, including physical activity," says first author of the study Ryuta Kuwamizu. "We used sEBR as a non-invasive measure of dopaminergic system function to test whether it could be the missing link between aerobic fitness and cognitive function."

To do this, the researchers asked healthy participants to undergo a measure of sEBR, a test of cognitive function, and an aerobic fitness test. They also measured brain activity during the cognitive task using functional near-infrared spectroscopy.

"As expected, we found significant correlations between aerobic fitness, cognitive function, and sEBR," explains Professor Hideaki Soya, senior author. "When we examined these relationships further, we found that the connection between higher aerobic fitness and enhanced cognitive function was mediated in part by dopaminergic regulation."

Furthermore, activity in the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (l-DLPFC) during the cognitive task was the same or lower in participants with higher sEBR compared with lower sEBR, even though those with higher sEBR appeared to have greater executive function, and thus higher neural efficiency.

"Although previous studies have indicated that aerobic fitness and cognitive function are correlated, this is the first to provide a neuromodulatory basis for this connection in humans. Our data indicate that dopamine has an essential role in linking aerobic fitness and cognition," says first author Kuwamizu.

Given that neural efficiency in the l-DLPFC is a known characteristic of the dopaminergic system that has been observed in individuals with higher fitness and executive function, it is possible that neural efficiency in this region partially mediates the association between aerobic fitness and executive function. Furthermore, physical inactivity may be related to dopaminergic dysfunction. This information provides new directions for research regarding how fitness affects the brain, which may lead to improved exercise regimens. For instance, exercise that specifically focuses on improving dopaminergic function may particularly boost motivation, mood, and mental function.

(Image by Balkonsky/Shutterstock)

The Quantum History of Palestine

The Palestinian struggle for freedom is as old as time itself. Actually, it’s outside of time. I’ll explain.

Look at this poster from 1947.

That’s a Zionist poster.

Fine, but how can you not shed a tear at this plea from 1940?

Dang it! That’s also a Zionist poster!

Okay, but this exhibition from 1925 must be…

Oh crap. Tel Aviv. Totally Jewish. Totally Zionist.

Yeah, fine, okay, whatever. But this poster from 1919…

Damn! Zionist!

Fine! But this iconic poster, used by Free Palestiners everywhere is surely…

…the work of Zionist artist Franz Krausz, created to encourage Jewish immigration to Mandatory Palestine.

Turns out that until recently “free Palestine” was a Jewish motto.

You see, the word “Palestine” was first used as a political term by Roman Emperor Hadrian in order to punish the rebellious Jews by renaming Judea after its ancient enemies, the Philistines. Sort of like if someone renamed modern Israel “Naziporkistan.”

While the name was used by both the Roman Empire and the Arab Empire, it wasn’t used by the Islamic Ottoman Empire, which ruled the region from 1517 to 1917.

So how was this region called for half a millenia? Well, It wasn’t called anything. Instead of being a single province like in Roman and Arab times, it was split between the Beirut vilayet, the Jerusalem Mutasarrifate, and the Hejaz vilayet, which also included parts of Egypt, Arabia and Lebanon. The people who lived there had no more national identity than the people of Madison county. 

They were just Ottoman subjects.

So the British didn't conquer Palestine in 1917. They created it.

If you look at the UN partition map from 1947, you’ll see that Mandatory Palestine is divided between Jews and Arabs. No mention of a Palestinian people.

If you called an Arab living in mandatory Palestine, “Palestinian,” he’d be either confused or offended. For example, in the First Congress of Muslim-Christian Associations which met in Jerusalem in 1919, the following resolution was adopted: 

"We consider Palestine as part of Arab Syria, as it has never been separated from it at any time. We are connected with it by national, religious, linguistic, natural, economic and geographical bonds."

In 1937, the Arab leader Auni Bey Abdul-Hadi, told the Peel Commission: 

"There is no such country! 'Palestine' is a term the Zionists invented! There is no Palestine in the Bible. Our country was for centuries part of Syria."

In 1947, the representative of the Arab Higher Committee to the United Nations submitted the following statement to the General Assembly: 

"Palestine is part of the Province of Syria… the Arabs of Palestine were not independent in the sense of forming a separate political entity."

A few years later, Ahmad Shukeiri, first chairman of the PLO, told the Security Council: 

"It is common knowledge that Palestine is nothing but southern Syria."

Okay, so no Palestinians in British times, just Arabs who wanted to make Syria great again. 

Contrary to popular belief, it wasn’t Israel who first occupied Gaza and the West Bank. It was Egypt and Jordan. 

This means that between 1948 and 1967, Gaza and the West Bank were under Egyptian and Jordanian control. The Arabs had also “liberated” these regions from the Jewish communities who existed there for thousands of years. This was followed by 20 years of Judenfrei Arab rule.

What happened to the Palestinian dream during those years?

In 1950, Jordan upgraded its occupation to an outright annexation. Surprisingly, no one had a problem with it. In the words of American diplomat Stuart W. Rockwell:

"The union of Arab Palestine and Jordan had been brought about as a result of the will of the people."

During these 20 years, the hundreds of thousands of Arabs who fled Israel were never resettled by the countries who accepted them (unlike the nearly million Jews expelled by the same countries or the Arabs who remained in Israel). If these people were indeed Palestinians and Gaza and the West Bank were Palestine, why not resettle the Palestinians in this Palestinian territory? Why deny them and their children and their grandchildren citizenship even as their compatriots who stayed in Israel became citizens?

We’re in the ‘60s now. This is still an imperialist struggle by Arab colonizers to reconquer a small bit of land from the unruly natives… except it’s not the kind of story people like to hear so the Palestine Liberation Organization is formed in Cairo.

Its goals include “Arab Unity” and the “liberation of Palestine”. Interestingly, it makes no territorial claims over the West Bank or Gaza, making us wonder what exactly “liberation of Palestine” means?

Here’s a quote from the first speech by its first leader:

"It is either us or the Israelis. We shall destroy Israel and its inhabitants and as for the survivors – if there are any – the boats are ready to deport them."

Only after Israel gained control over Gaza and the West Bank, suddenly they became part of the future Palestinian state. It’s almost as if the borders of Palestine change all the time to correspond exactly with the borders of Israel. If Israel disappeared, Palestine would disappear. I wonder… If Israel moved to Alaska… 

But we digress!

In 1995, prominent Arab anti-Zionist activist and politician Azmi Bishra said:

“I don't think there is such a thing as a "Palestinian nation", I think it's a colonial invention, when were there Palestinians? Where is it? I think there is an Arab nation.”

In 2012 Hamas Minister of the Interior and of National Security Fathi Hammad said:

"Half of the Palestinians Are Egyptians and the Other Half Are Saudis."

Seems that in order to understand Palestinian history and geography, you have to be a time traveling 4D chess player. Nevertheless, I’ll try to summarize: the Palestinians were invented in the ‘60s because imperialism went out of fashion and indigenous struggles became fashionable… but only in the West. This required a degree of chameleonism. 

When talking to a Muslim audience, they’re part of the great Arab nation fighting to reclaim lost Islamic territory. When speaking to a Western audience, they’re an oppressed indigenous minority that existed since dinosaur times.

In short, Palestine is a masterpiece of doublethink!

URI KURLIANCHIK

The Al Jazeera channel saves Israel from the lie that it is responsible for the attack on the hospital.

Attached here is a recording of Aljazeera's live broadcast today against the background of Gaza.

Pay attention to the broadcast time on the right. 18:59 - In the background we can see a failed launch that crashes inside the Gaza strip - exactly at the time when the red alert warning was activated across Israel.

The line of reports running at the bottom of the page talks about the elimination of Iman Nofal so that the broadcast is certainly from today.

Do you remember that I wrote to you that the incident was first reported around 19:10 (I will immediately provide proof)?

That is, a reasonable period of time of about ten minutes from the moment of the impact to the Gaza news channels.

Here is live proof courtesy of Aljazeera - a launch from Gaza is responsible for the impact inside the Gaza Strip

Thanks to the “Hot News” Telegram channel for the video!

WHY SUCH A SURGE OF WORLDWIDE ANTI-SEMITISM

by ALAN DERSHOWITZ

Why are so many of the grandchildren of Nazis and Nazi collaborators who brought us the Holocaust once again declaring war on the Jews?

Why have we seen such an increase in anti-Semitism and irrationally virulent anti-Zionism in Western Europe?

To answer these questions, a myth must first be exposed. That myth is the one perpetrated by the French, the Dutch, the Norwegians, the Swiss, the Belgians, the Austrians, and many other western Europeans: namely that the Holocaust was solely the work of German Nazis aided perhaps by some Polish, Ukrainian, Latvian, Lithuanian, and Estonian collaborators.

False.

The Holocaust was perpetrated by Europeans: by Nazi sympathizers and collaborators among the French, Dutch, Norwegians, Swiss, Belgians, Austrians and other Europeans, both Western and Eastern.

If the French government had not deported to the death camps more Jews than their German occupiers asked for; if so many Dutch and Belgian citizens and government officials had not cooperated in the roundup of Jews; if so many Norwegians had not supported Quisling; if Swiss government officials and bankers had not exploited Jews; if Austria had not been more Nazi than the Nazis, the Holocaust would not have had so many Jewish victims.

In light of the widespread European complicity in the destruction of European Jewry, the pervasive anti-Semitism and irrationally hateful anti-Zionism that has recently surfaced throughout Western Europe toward Israel should surprise no one.

"Oh no," we hear from European apologists. "This is different. We don't hate the Jews. We only hate their nation-state. Moreover, the Nazis were right-wing. We are left-wing, so we can't be anti-Semites."

Nonsense.

The hard left has a history of anti-Semitism as deep and enduring as the hard right. The line from Voltaire to Karl Marx, to Levrenti Beria, to Robert Faurisson, to today's hard-left Israel bashers is as straight as the line from Wilhelm Mars to the persecutors of Alfred Dreyfus to Hitler.

The Jews of Europe have always been crushed between the Black and the Red - victims of extremism whether it be the ultra-nationalism of Khmelnitsky to the ultra-anti-Semitism of Stalin.

"But some of the most strident anti-Zionists are Jews, such as Norman Finkelstein and even Israelis such as Gilad Atzmon. Surely they can't be anti-Semites?"

Why not? Gertrude Stein and Alice Toklas collaborated with the Gestapo. Atzmon, a hard leftist, describes himself as a proud self-hating Jew and admits that his ideas derive from a notorious anti-Semite.

He denies that the Holocaust is historically proved but he believes that Jews may well have killed Christian children to use their blood to bake Passover matzah. And he thinks it's "rational" to burn down synagogues.

Finkelstein believes in an international Jewish conspiracy that includes Steven Spielberg, Leon Uris, Eli Wiesel, and Andrew Lloyd Webber!

"But Israel is doing bad things to the Palestinians," the European apologists insist, "and we are sensitive to the plight of the underdog."

No, you're not! Where are your demonstrations on behalf of the oppressed Tibetans, Georgians, Syrians, Armenians, Kurds, or even Ukrainians? Where are your BDS movements against the Chinese, the Russians, the Cubans, the Turks, or the Assad regime?

Only the Palestinians, only Israel? Why? Not because the Palestinians are more oppressed than these and other groups.

Only because their alleged oppressors are Jews and the nation-state of the Jews. Would there be demonstrations and BDS campaigns on behalf of the Palestinians if they were oppressed by Jordan or Egypt?

Oh, wait! The Palestinians were oppressed by Egypt and Jordan... Gaza was an open-air prison between 1948 and 1967, when Egypt was the occupying power. And remember Black September, when Jordan killed more Palestinians than Israel did in a century? I don't remember any demonstration or BDS campaigns -- because there weren't any.

When Arabs occupy or kill Arabs, Europeans go ho-hum. But when Israel opens a soda factory in Maale Adumim, which even the Palestinian leadership acknowledges will remain part of Israel in any peace deal, Oxfam parts ways with Scarlett Johansson for advertising a soda company that employs hundreds of Palestinians

Keep in mind that Oxfam has provided "aid and material support" to two anti-Israel terrorist groups, according to the Tel Aviv-based Israeli Law Group.

The hypocrisy of so many hard-left western Europeans would be staggering if it were not so predictable based on the sordid history of Western Europe's treatment of the Jews.

Even England, which was on the right side of the war against Nazism, has a long history of anti-Semitism, beginning with the expulsion of the Jews in 1290 to the notorious White Paper of 1939, which prevented the Jews of Europe from seeking asylum from the Nazis in British-mandated Palestine... And Ireland, which vacillated in the war against Hitler, boasts some of the most virulent anti-Israel rhetoric.

The simple reality is that one cannot understand the current western European left-wing war against the nation-state of the Jewish people without first acknowledging the long-term European war against the Jewish people themselves.

Theodore Herzl understood the pervasiveness and irrationality of European anti-Semitism, which led him to the conclusion that the only solution to Europe's Jewish problem was for European Jews to leave that bastion of Jew hatred and return to their original homeland, which is now the State of Israel.

None of this is to deny Israel's imperfections or the criticism it justly deserves for some of its policies. But these imperfections and deserved criticism cannot even begin to explain, much less justify, the disproportionate hatred directed against the only nation-state of the Jewish people and the disproportionate silence regarding the far greater imperfections and deserved criticism of other nations and groups including the Palestinians.

Nor is this to deny that many western European individuals and some western European countries have refused to succumb to the hatred against the Jews or their state. The Czech Republic comes to mind. But far too many western Europeans are as irrational in their hatred toward Israel as their for-bearers were in their hatred toward their Jewish neighbors.

As author Amos Oz once aptly observed: the walls of his grandparents' Europe were covered with graffiti saying, "Jews, go to Palestine." Now they say, "Jews, get out of Palestine," by which is meant Israel.

Who do these western European bigots think they're fooling? Only fools who want to be fooled in the interest of denying that they are manifesting new variations on their grandparents' old biases.

Any objective person with an open mind, open eyes, and an open heart must see the double standard being applied to the nation-state of the Jewish people. Many doing so are the grandchildren of those who lethally applied a double standard to the Jews of Europe in the 1930s and 1940s.

For shame!

IV - Tungsten , Environment created in Cinema 4D and rendered with octane render, Inspired by HK project (by Koola) and 52hz (by cornelius dämmrich). 

Yom Hazikaron begins tonight, where we honour Israel’s 24,000 fallen soldiers and victims of terror. 

May their memories be a blessing.

NSW Jewish Board of Deputies

04_2018_11000010