JERUSALEM — British singer-songwriter Elvis Costello is canceling two summer concerts in Israel because of its treatment of the Palestinians, disappointing fans in a country enjoying an upswing in visits by renowned artists.

In an announcement on his Web site explaining his decision, Costello spoke of "intimidation, humiliation or much worse" inflicted by Israel on the Palestinians and said sometimes "merely having your name added to a concert schedule may be interpreted as a political act."

Costello told The Jerusalem Post earlier this month he was against boycotts, saying it would be like avoiding the U.S. or England because he disagreed with the policies of their governments.

But in Thursday's edition of the paper, he explained his change of heart.

"The issues just became too complex and I woke up one day and realized I couldn't go on with the shows," Costello was quoted as saying.

The film director who created an idyllic unspoiled world in the movie Avatar will meet with deep-ocean experts Tuesday in Washington to pitch ideas about how to stop the ugly oil spill now spreading in the Gulf of Mexico.

James Cameron is expected to attend the meeting with fellow Canadian Phil Nuytten, an underwater innovator and the head of North Vancouver-based Nuytco Research.

It's not known what the two swashbuckling Canadians – who first met when Mr. Nuytten's company, Nuytco Research, built the submersibles used in Mr. Cameron's 1989 underwater thriller The Abyss – will bring to the discussion.

But as the environmental disaster in the Gulf continues to unfold, it seems the idea behind the session is to put every possible solution – including use of manned submersibles – on the table.

Heard this story in the news a few days ago - and rather quite upsetting ~ uggh...Another example of careless negligence on our beautiful and precious ecosystem - The Great Barrier Reef is in danger!!

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by Talek Harris Talek Harris – Tue Apr 13, 4:41 am ET

SYDNEY (AFP) – A Chinese ship that spent nine days stranded on the Great Barrier Reef gouged a three-kilometre (two-mile) scar in the coral that could take decades to recover, a top expert said on Tuesday.

David Wachenfeld, chief scientist at the body overseeing the heritage-listed marine park, said the Shen Neng 1 coal carrier had been grinding against and crushing the reef after it veered off course and smashed into it on April 3.

Officials have expressed anger over the incident and accused the crew of the ship, which was refloated late on Monday and towed away, of taking an illegal route.

April 07, 2010 — The second EU Roma Summit is taking place in Cordoba, Spain, on 8 April 2010. Amnesty International is calling on the EU to develop a comprehensive strategy to ensure equality and non-discrimination for the Roma.

This video highlights the cyclical difficulties that Roma people face that denies them equal opportunity, equal treatment and the full enjoyment of all their human rights.

~ While the actual day was celebrated this past Thursday (Apr. 8) - to me, I feel that it is a most vital and important issue to be recognized in today's times - The continued worldwide persecution and discrimination against the Roma (Gypsy) people ~ a people who have endured centuries of injustices and abuse by the local governments ~ a people with no country ~ who yearn for acceptance and respect as individuals, as human beings ~

Tonight a global message that the world cares about our precious planet and climate change will be sent through Earth Hour ~ Earth Hour begins by turning off your lights for one hour at 8:30pm in your area ~ Blessings! ~

WASHINGTON (AFP) – A scan of brain activity can effectively read a person's mind, researchers said Thursday. British scientists from University College London found they could differentiate brain activity linked to different memories and thereby identify thought patterns by using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). The evidence suggests researchers can tell which memory of a past event a person is recalling from the pattern of their brain activity alone. "We've been able to look at brain activity for a specific episodic memory -- to look at actual memory traces," said senior author of the study, Eleanor Maguire. "We found that our memories are definitely represented in the hippocampus.

By Les Blumenthal, McClatchy Newspapers Les Blumenthal, Mcclatchy Newspapers – Sun Mar 7, 12:01 pm ET

WASHINGTON — Lower levels of oxygen in the Earth's oceans, particularly off the United States' Pacific Northwest coast, could be another sign of fundamental changes linked to global climate change, scientists say.

They warn that the oceans' complex undersea ecosystems and fragile food chains could be disrupted.

In some spots off Washington state and Oregon , the almost complete absence of oxygen has left piles of Dungeness crab carcasses littering the ocean floor, killed off 25-year-old sea stars, crippled colonies of sea anemones and produced mats of potentially noxious bacteria that thrive in such conditions.

Areas of hypoxia, or low oxygen, have long existed in the deep ocean. These areas — in the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian oceans — appear to be spreading, however, covering more square miles, creeping toward the surface and in some places, such as the Pacific Northwest , encroaching on the continental shelf within sight of the coastline.

Just an add-on for anyone who is interested in learning more tectonic plates and the Ring of Fire.

Plates & Boundaries

The earth's continents are constantly moving due to the motions of the tectonic plates. Closely examine the map, which shows the 15 major tectonic plates. (see thumbnail)

As you can see, some of the plates contain continents and others are mostly under the ocean. The type of crust that underlies the continents is called continental crust, while the type found under the oceans is called oceanic crust. Continental crust is thicker — about 20 to 40 miles (35 to 70 km) thick — and usually older than oceanic crust, which is only 4 to 6 miles (7 to 10 km) thick. All the plates have names, usually referring to landmasses, oceans, or regions of the globe where they are located.

The border between two tectonic plates is called a boundary. All the tectonic plates are constantly moving — very slowly — around the planet, but in many different directions. Some are moving toward each other, some are moving apart, and some are sliding past each other. Because of these differences, tectonic plate boundaries are grouped into three main types.

Chile Earthquake May Have Shortened Days on Earth

SPACE.com Space.com Staff

space.com – Tue Mar 2, 10:00 am ET

The massive 8.8 earthquake that struck Chile may have changed the entire Earth's rotation and shortened the length of days on our planet, a NASA scientist said Monday.

The quake, the seventh strongest earthquake in recorded history, hit Chile Saturday and should have shortened the length of an Earth day by 1.26 milliseconds, according to research scientist Richard Gross at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.

"Perhaps more impressive is how much the quake shifted Earth's axis," NASA officials said in a Monday update.

The computer model used by Gross and his colleagues to determine the effects of the Chile earthquake effect also found that it should have moved Earth's figure axis by about 3 inches (8 cm or 27 milliarcseconds).

The Earth's figure axis is not the same as its north-south axis, which it spins around once every day at a speed of about 1,000 mph (1,604 kph).

The figure axis is the axis around which the Earth's mass is balanced. It is offset from the Earth's north-south axis by about 33 feet (10 meters).

Hello all at DE. Finally, I installed a new chat feature after spending hours trying to fix the old one. This new one is pretty cool and is very similar to the chat feature on Facebook. To access it simply click on "chat" in the menu, then look down towards the bottom right of your web browser and you'll see it initiated as part of the viewing pane.

As as you login it's a good idea to right away click on the CHAT feature so that when a fellow Divine Earther is online, you can connect!

Let me know what you think!
~ DivineEarth

Following up on Alegria's eye-opening blog - here's something i just discovered checkin' out da same link to da page - About our current administration enforcing a civilian army force - using Boy Scouts (ohh no!!) - and training them to become mercenary-like dudes with a mission ~ How dreadful to think of 15-18 yr. old dudes...in a club known for setting up campfires, cooking marshmallows on a stick, sailing on canoes and instilling a sense of integrity and cherished values - now trained with shooting military weapons?? - Possibly with the same "shoot to kill" mentality??? ~ WHAT!!!!!!

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Boy Scouts Train to Become Homeland Gestapo ~

By Kurt Nimmo

On October 14th 2009, Lord Christopher Monckton, a noted climate change expert, gave a presentation at Bethel College in St. Paul, MN in which he issued a dire warning regarding the United Nations Climate Change Treaty which is scheduled to be signed in Copenhagen in December 2009.

Update:
"UN climate negotiator knocks full treaty hopes"
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/0c6555b8-bcde-11de-a7ec-00144feab49a.html?ncli...

Here's a message from Greenpeace to share! ~ Blessings ~

 Hi Friends! On September 23, with hardhats and harness’s on, Greenpeace activists climbed to the top of a bridge to hang a warning sign to the world. With police in view it was unpredictable how long we would be there, but if you visit the Greenpeace web site, you can see the amazing photos from the action along with this video.

I came to in Pittsburgh with several other Greenpeace activists to send a clear message to world leaders at the G20 climate talks. We came to send a strong message that their meeting can't ignore.

An excerpt from Peaceoneday.org:   "In 1999, preoccupied with questions about the fundamental nature of humanity and the most pressing issues of our time, filmmaker and humanitarian Jeremy Gilley launched Peace One Day and set out to find a starting point for peace. He had a mission: to document his efforts to establish the first ever annual day of global ceasefire and non-violence with a fixed calendar date.

Remarkably, in 2001, he achieved his primary objective when the 192 member states of the United Nations unanimously adopted 21 September as an annual day of global ceasefire and non-violence on the UN International Day of Peace. We call that day Peace Day.

The UN International Day of Peace on 21 September every year is not only about creating peace between nations, it’s about non-violence in our homes, communities and schools. Therefore Peace Day is relevant to every human being on the planet."