Free Republic

A Glimpse into the Future By Norma Zager “Children today are tyrants. They contradict their parent, gobble their food, and tyrannize their teachers” Socrates(470-399 B.C.) Despite the constant egregious flow of rhetoric from our obnoxious politicians, the voice of reason occasionally emerges like a small flower through the weeds in surprising places. Last evening in my university classroom, I was taken by the fresh bloom emerging through the dense grass of our all-too-common uncivil social discourse. Although narcissistic politicians would have us all believe the American people condone their vision for future generations, I was quite hopeful to hear the...

To the surprise of the majority of Americans and the entire world, on 10/9/09 U.S. President Barak H. Obama was chosen to receive this year’s Nobel Peace Prize. It is no secret to any who follow politics or world events on the Right that the Nobel Peace Prize Foundation is an elitist, secular liberal body with a secular liberal utopian vision for the world and pushes a godless leftist agenda (Isaiah 30:1). The past recipients of this Award undoubtedy reveal this organization’s leftist leanings. All one has to do is to listen to President Obama’s acceptance speech today to understand...

These timeless words from the Bible have inspired mankind throughout the ages, reminding us of the necessity to think about the future and our role in it. As a parent, it's easy to forget the vision part as we are caught up in the "tyranny of the urgent" and the day-to-day challenges of raising children. Many overwhelmed parents institute a bunch of rules and routines to help get through each day. But don't mistake having a list of "dos" and "don'ts" for parenting - it's more like policing. Having rules without telling our children what they mean in context of...

Has anyone experienced this or heard of God giving someone much better eyesight where everything becomes much clearer temporarily? I am talking about physical eyesight. I mentioned this has happened to me many times at a ministry meeting this week and one person said it has happened to him once after a dream he believes was from God. I have experienced this after dreams, during fellowship with God, while in the Word of God, approximately 20 to 40 times in the last 25 years. Everything becomes clearer, crystal clear instantly. You can just see a lot better. My normal eyesight...

Congress is debating a bill that would open up oil and natural gas platforms just ten miles from portions of Florida's Gulf and Atlantic coasts. It's putting pressure on state lawmakers to decide how close is too close to search for new energy sources. As it stands, oil and natural gas exploration is limited to dozens of miles away from Florida's beaches and some in the state worry that allowing access just ten miles away, in Federal waters, puts Florida at risk environmentally without any of the financial windfalls.

In a world-first breakthrough, University of New South Wales (UNSW) medical researchers have used stem cells cultured on a simple contact lens to restore sight to sufferers of blinding corneal disease. Sight was significantly improved within weeks of the procedure, which is simple, inexpensive and requires a minimal hospital stay. The research team from UNSW’s School of Medical Sciences harvested stem cells from patients’ own eyes to rehabilitate the damaged cornea. The stem cells were cultured on a common therapeutic contact lens which was then placed onto the damaged cornea for 10 days, during which the cells were able to...

People with a sunny outlook absorb more visual information from the outside world, proving that a positive attitude really can improve performance. Brain scans of volunteers shown a series of images found a good mood helped them see more while those who were down in the dumps suffered from tunnel vision. It is the first direct evidence showing how our mood literally changes the way our visual system filters our experience. Volunteers were shown a series of images designed to generate a good, bad or neutral mood while undergoing scans to examine how their brain responded. Professor Adam Anderson, psychologist...

LUCKNOW, India — At least 22 elderly people in northern India have lost vision in one or both of their eyes after undergoing free cataract surgery at a state-owned clinic, a government official said Wednesday. Health Minister Anant Kumar Singh said initial reports suggested they may have gone blind from infections caused by contaminated eye drops used during surgery. The case marks the second time in three months that mass blindness has been reported after free government surgeries in the impoverished state of Uttar Pradesh. Nine people went blind after treatment in December.

MELBOURNE, April 18, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A man's vision has been restored by a corneal patch grown from adult stem cells by a team at the University of Melbourne's Centre for Eye Research Australia (CERA) and the Bernard O'Brien Institute of Microsurgery (BOBIM). The patch, which replicates the cornea, was cultivated from a single stem cell from a donor eye and was transplanted to the surface of the man's eyes. The research team was led by Dr Mark Daniell (CERA) and Dr Erik Thompson (BOBIM). The process, known as a limbal stem cell transplant, is thought to be the first...

A team of Johns Hopkins neuroscientists has worked out how some newly discovered light sensors in the eye detect light and communicate with the brain. The report appears online this week in Nature. These light sensors are a small number of nerve cells in the retina that contain melanopsin molecules. Unlike conventional light-sensing cells in the retina—rods and cones—melanopsin-containing cells are not used for seeing images; instead, they monitor light levels to adjust the body's clock and control constriction of the pupils in the eye, among other functions.

WASHINGTON — Scientists are testing artificial retinas that they hope can restore partial sight to people who've lost their vision to the most common causes of blindness.

The man, a doctor left blind by two successive strokes, refused to take part in the experiment. He could not see anything, he said, and had no interest in navigating an obstacle course — a cluttered hallway — for the benefit of science. Why bother? When he finally tried it, though, something remarkable happened. He zigzagged down the hall, sidestepping a garbage can, a tripod, a stack of paper and several boxes as if he could see everything clearly. A researcher shadowed him in case he stumbled. “You just had to see it to believe it,” said Beatrice de Gelder,...

We've seen small scale liquid lenses progress from concepts to commerical applications, and now Joshua Silver, a retired physics professor at Oxford University, has perfected what he calls "adaptive glasses," applying similar tech in a singular and ingenious way. Aimed at helping developing nations where glasses are expensive and doctors are often in short supply, Silver's spectacles are made of tough plastic with with silicone liquid in the lenses. When purchased, each lense will have a syringe attached to it, and the wearer will be able to adjust the amount of liquid in the lenses -- which essentially changes the...

George Washington's vision is recorded at the Library of Congress "This afternoon, as I was sitting at this table engaged in preparing a dispatch, something seemed to disturb me. Looking up, I beheld standing opposite me a singularly beautiful female. So astonished was I, for I had given strict orders not to be disturbed, that it was some moments before I found language to inquire the cause of her presence. A second, a third and even a fourth time did I repeat my question, but received no answer from my mysterious visitor except a slight raising of her eyes. "By...

A Florida tourism group has dropped its long-standing opposition to offshore oil and gas drilling, saying that a cheap national fuel supply would trigger a boom for the Sunshine State's No. 1 industry. When gasoline prices skyrocketed to more than $4 per gallon this summer tourist spots such as Florida suffered, as would-be vacationers stayed home. So in response, the Florida Association of Convention and Visitors Bureaus (FACVB) has adopted a new policy that encourages a "comprehensive, long-term energy policy" that includes increased oil and natural gas production in the Gulf of Mexico along Florida's coast.

Where our line of sight hits the horizon is the distance from our boat to the horizon. A small boat first coming into view is assumed to be at that distance. In the picture above, the sailor cannot see the island's palm trees. If an object, such as a large ship or a palm tree on an island, sticks up well above the water, we can see it from a further distance. Here is how we can calculate how far we can see from a boat on the sea. First let's assume that we are sitting in the cockpit of...

ScienceDaily (Aug. 5, 2008) — A growing number of the world's children are mildly to severely nearsighted (myopic), with rates especially high among urbanized East Asians. In addition to coping with poor distance vision, children with severe myopia are more prone to visual impairment and blindness later in life. Although genetic inheritance plays a role, the rapid rise of myopia suggests that environmental factors are driving the trend. Myopia usually begins and progresses during children's school years, but research on the role of intensive reading or other "near work" has determined that this is a minor factor. A new study...

What would you do if you had the bully pulpit? What policies would you promote. What are the best ways to preserve the US and make the world a better place for our children? This is obviously a vanity, but there is a wide range of opinion represented here and clearly not enough vision is coming out of our elected government. What would you do?

MOUNTAIN HOME, Ark. — When 9-year-old Kacie Sallee saw her father's face more clearly for the first time in her life, she had a question. "She said, 'Is that what he looks like?'" said her mother, Marinda Sallee. Kacie, who is blind, returned last week from China, where she received umbilical-cord stem cell treatment in hopes of improving her eyesight. The nearly four-week trip and medical treatment was paid through $60,000 in local donations. Kacie was born with septo-optic dysplasia, an underdevelopment of the optic nerve and pituitary gland. She could see bright colors out of her right eye but...

May 1, 2007 — A new technique called Patterned Scanning Laser uses a computer instead of a human to apply laser pulses to burn away abnormal blood vessels. Instead of manually operating the laser, the pattern of one or two thousand laser pulses is automatically applied. Diabetes affects over 20 million Americans. It can cause many serious health problems, including blindness. Treatment for eye problems is possible, but can be extremely painful. Now, thanks to chemical physics, there is a new laser technology, called PASCAL, can treat patients in just five minutes, and virtually pain-free.

ScienceDaily (May 19, 2008) — An improved artificial cornea, which could restore the vision of more than 10 million people worldwide who are blind due to diseased corneas, finally is moving toward reality, scientists in California conclude in a new analysis of research on the topic. Curtis Frank, Christopher Ta, David Myung, and Jennifer Cochran point out that disease or injury to the cornea -- the clear tissue covering the front of the eye -- is the second leading cause of blindness worldwide. Although treated in developed countries with transplants from donors, cornea transplants are unavailable in many parts of...

In the current presidential race, I have been late to the station, late to the gate, in boarding the "Hope" train being "steered" by Senator Barack Obama. It is time to remedy that. It does not mean that I will be swooning over the candidate – yet. It means that I am being realistic and will jump on that historic train-cum-bandwagon and support candidate Obama if my conditions are met. After all, I have my own hopes and aspirations. I hope that Mrs. Obama will conduct a search to find something – anything – that her country of birth has...

Being able to see properly is an important part of health. Unfortunately not everyone can afford to buy themselves proper glasses. Just like used clothes or sneakers, you can donate your used glasses. LensCrafters, Pearle Vision, Sears, Target, Sunglass Hut, and BJ's Optical all donate used glasses to Give the Gift of Sight, a program that gives glasses to underprivileged people in North America and developing countries. All you have to do is drop your old glasses off at one of the locations and the program collects, cleans, repairs, and catalogs them into a computer system so they'll be properly...

COLUMBUS, Ohio - John McCain, looking through a crystal ball to 2013 and the end of a prospective first term, sees "spasmodic" but reduced violence in Iraq and Afghanistan, Osama bin Laden dead or captured and government spending curbed by his ready veto pen. The Republican presidential contender also envisions April's annual angst replaced by a simpler flat tax, illegal immigrants living humanely under a temporary worker program, and political partisanship stemmed by weekly news conferences and British-style question periods with joint meetings of Congress. In a speech being delivered Thursday, McCain concedes he cannot make the changes alone, but...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - An ambitious vision to take people to the moon and Mars may fall apart before it even gets off the ground because of uncertain planning and inadequate funding, several experts said on Thursday. A congressional report said NASA's replacement for the space shuttle, the Constellation Program, is in jeopardy, and members of Congress as well as at least one former astronaut agreed at a hearing on the issue. The U.S. Government Accountability Office said the Constellation program, scheduled to begin by 2015, is troubled by engineering, funding and mechanical issues. For instance, the program was meant to...

Former Cork club hurler Jimmy Aherne wept when he was told he would be blind within three years. The father-of-four -- who is a second cousin to hurling legend Christy Ring -- was diagnosed with age-related macular degeneration (AMD). The condition is cruel, as it has traditionally been untreatable. For decades, thousands of pensioners who lost their sight were simply told they had "old people's blindness" and that nothing could be done for them. But today, almost 12 months after that shocking diagnosis, the deterioration in Jimmy's eyesight has been halted and his good eye has improved to the point...

The superhero power to see through walls will soon be within the grasp of ordinary mortals, thanks to a new hand-held X-ray scanner. Inventors hope the gadget could revolutionise police work and Customs searches by allowing officers to seek out contraband, weapons, bombs or hidden people. The LEXID device sends out low-level X-rays which are collected in a lens based on the design of a lobster's eye. Rick Shie, senior vice-president of its American inventors, Physical Optics Corporation, said that lobsters' eyes, which are able to see in deep, murky water, use thousands of tiny squares to focus by reflection...

You are reading these words right now because 600 million years ago, an aquatic animal called a Hydra developed light-receptive genes—the origin of animal vision. It wasn't exactly 20-20 vision back then though. Hydras, a genus of freshwater animals that are kin to corals and jellyfish, measure only a few millimeters in diameter and have been around for hundreds of millions of years. Scientists at the University of California, Santa Barbara studied the genes associated with vision (called opsins) in these tiny creatures and found opsin proteins all over their bodies.

When a 37-year old man walked into a hospital emergency room in Glasgow, Scotland last October complaining of "wavy" vision and a non-stop headache that had lasted four weeks, doctors were at first stumped, the British journal The Lancet reported today. The unnamed patient "had no history of head injury or loss of consciousness; his past medical record was unremarkable, and he was taking no medications . . . ." Body temperature and blood pressure were both normal, and a neurological exam scanned negative. But when an eye specialist was called in, the fog began to clear, at least for...

Nearly 50 years ago, a young Greg Smith celebrated July Fourth fishing, learning to water-ski and getting sunburned on a favorite beach at the Salton Sea. Today, Smith is an Imperial County businessman working to help resuscitate the dying desert sea that few dare to enter and on bad days can drive visitors far from shore with its smell. “We've gone through the hand-wringing,” Smith said. “Now is the time to do something.” That something could cost $8.9 billion over the next 75 years. Legislation to launch a comprehensive revitalization plan – one of the most ambitious in the nation's...

POLITICAL ILLUSION: When the supportive architecture of a democratic society is misinterpreted and subsequently portrayed to be tyrannically suppressive. POLITICAL VISION: The empowerment of officers in society to protect and serve all citizens’ liberties without infringing on existing democratic architecture. ESSAY: Optical illusions are visually perceived Images that trick our senses into seeing what may or may not exist. For example, Rubin’s Vase is a popular, two dimensional illusion. Indeed, it’s a perfect specimen to illustrate the major premise of this essay. For the uninitiated, the curves of Rubin’s Vase double as a silhouette of two opposing human faces. If...

WASHINGTON, April 3, 2007 – Virtual reality made its way into the operating room last week when an Army doctor performed the military’s first three-dimensional minimally invasive surgery at Walter Reed Army Medical Center here. Armed with a state-of-the-art helmet, Col. (Dr.) Ernest Lockrow, director of the Telerobotics and Minimally Invasive Surgery Center, used the 3-D capabilities to perform a hysterectomy. Minimally invasive surgery, also known as laparoscopy, uses tiny incisions to operate and typically involves a telescopic lens that is connected to a video camera. The operation last week was the first time the military has used the...

In the script Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger recited this week during his trip to Washington, D.C., California is a nirvana where political parties have put aside their differences for the good of the people. "We reformed prescription drug costs, passed the world's most comprehensive plan to reduce greenhouse gases and began rebuilding the state's infrastructure," the Republican governor told a rapt audience of jaded political reporters at the National Press Club while he was in town for the National Governors Association Conference. "We did this working together." By following California's "post-partisan" model, Schwarzenegger said, President Bush and Congress could stop bickering...

A bionic eye implant that could help restore the sight of millions of blind people could be available to patients within two years. US researchers have been given the go-ahead to implant the prototype device in 50 to 75 patients. The Argus II system uses a spectacle-mounted camera to feed visual information to electrodes in the eye. Patients who tested less-advanced versions of the retinal implant were able to see light, shapes and movement. "What we are trying to do is take real-time images from a camera and convert them into tiny electrical pulses that would jump-start the otherwise...

I'll be the first conservative to admit it's a depressing time to be one. November hurt. To add insult to injury, San Fran Nan's coronation this month made me a bit woozy. Even so, listening to the liberal Iraq non-strategies, I'd be more depressed if I were a Democrat. As President Bush necessarily stuck by an unpopular war in Iraq, Democrats were quick to condemn him. The afternoon before his prime-time Jan. 10 address to the nation announcing a troop surge, an ultimatum to Iraq, and a warning to Iran and Syria, Massachusetts Sen. Ted Kennedy brought up that "v"...

Is it a miracle that a legally blind man now has perfect vision? CNN's Jason Carroll reports. (December 21) VIDEO LINK

“After every Diwali, a large number people are blinded while bursting fire crackers. There are others who suffer from blindness due to chemical burns. But there is a ray of hope for such patients,” said Dr Radhika Tandon, Additional Professor, Ophthalmology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) at the national symposium on stem cells being held at Panjab University. “Standard corneal transplant does not work in cases where blindness is due to chemical burning. But stem cell transplant can prove to be effective,” she said, adding that stem cell transplants do not ensure a perfect vision, but the patient...

Scientists say they've restored the vision of blind mice by introducing light-sensitive cells into the rodents' retinas.       These "photoreceptor precursor cells" are not undifferentiated stem cells but come from a later stage of cell development when stem cells have already "committed" to being a particular cell type -- in this case the rod-and-cone photoreceptors the eye uses to sense light.The study invigorates the search for cell transplants that might someday restore the vision of millions of people who suffer from a loss of these photoreceptors.  "We think this is a major breakthrough because it shows what can be achieved," said...

Experiments involving real and simulated robots suggest that the relationship between physical movement and sensory input could be crucial to developing more intelligent machines. Tests involving two real and one simulated robot show that feedback between sensory input and body movement is crucial to navigating the surrounding world. Understanding this relationship better could help scientists build more life-like machines, say the researchers involved. Scientists studying artificial intelligence have traditionally separated physical behaviour and sensory input. "But the brain's inputs are not independent," says Olaf Sporns, a neuroscientist at Indiana University, US. "For example, motor behaviour has a role to play...

A silicon chip that faithfully mimics the neural circuitry of a real retina could lead to better bionic eyes for those with vision loss, researchers claim. About 700,000 people in the developed world are diagnosed with age-related macular degeneration each year, and 1.5 million people worldwide suffer from a disease called retinitis pigmentosa. In both of these diseases, retinal cells, which convert light into nerve impulses at the back of the eye, gradually die. Most artificial retinas connect an external camera to an implant behind the eye via a computer (see 'Bionic' eye may help reverse blindness). The new silicon...

Mubarak son offers 'Arab vision' Mr Mubarak serves as a senior member of the ruling party President Hosni Mubarak's son has said Egypt must offer a new political vision for the Middle East - one not imposed from outside, but based on Arab values. Gamal Mubarak, a senior figure in the governing National Democratic Party, urged the rejection of "foreign ambitions" trying to shape the region. The remarks were seen as a reference to efforts by Egypt's US ally to introduce Western-style democracy in the region. Mr Mubarak was speaking at the start of NDP's annual conference in Cairo. "We...

Marion Kleinfeld got up one Sunday morning, picked up the newspaper, settled down to read it, and couldn't see the words. Kleinfeld, 79, of Delray Beach, Fla., already blind in her right eye, lost sight in her other eye because of a condition called wet age-related macular degeneration, AMD, the leading cause of blindness in people over 55. Leaking blood vessels in the back of the eye cause a large black spot in the center of vision. "I could not see at all. It was very frightening," she said. After years of having to tell patients losing their eyesight to...

SOMETHING HAPPENS to a political party when it is not just out of power but has had to play on the home field of its opponents for a generation: It loses faith in itself and becomes scared. Like the 98-pound weakling who lives in fear of the school bully, it will say anything to avoid being stuffed into a gym locker: I don't really believe in anything! I don't stand for anything! Please just leave me alone! That this has become true in the Democratic Party is clear in listening to the worried words of pundits and political professionals who...

I'm short-sighted, or far-sighted. I can never remember which one. Whatever causes you to see someone from 6 feet away as an amorphous ectoplasmic blob -- that's what I have. But what a great day and age in which to have such an affliction! I have several different sizes and styles of eyeglasses (in several different states of disrepair). I can go to any one of a dozen local one-hour optometrists and get a prescription for contact lenses (soft or hard? colored or transparent? extended wear or throw away?). I can even choose any one of 31 flavors of laser...

VIRGINIA BEACH-Religious broadcaster Pat Robertson is warning that, according to God, storms and possibly a tidal wave will pound America's coastline this year.

A vision system that helps soldiers plan a route through the chaos of the battlefield will undergo tests on both sides of the Atlantic. The system, called Primordial Soldier, will provide soldiers with a real-time picture of where troops are in relation to each other and a digital rendering of the route they should follow. It is about to undergo trials with US special forces and has been bought by the UK arm of MBDA Missiles. MBDA plans to carry out conceptual research on the system to learn how using such technology affects a soldier's decision-making capability in the field....

WASHINGTON, March 24, 2006 – A document released today outlines the Defense Department's strategy for combating weapons of mass destruction and will serve as the foundation for assigning specific responsibilities throughout DoD toward that goal, a senior military official said. The "National Military Strategy for Combating Weapons of Mass Destruction" deals with "the greatest risk" confronting the United States and other free societies, Army Brig. Gen. Robert Caslen Jr., the Joint Staff's deputy director for the war on terror, said. "And that's weapons of mass destruction in the hands of terrorists," he said. Caslen said there's no doubt that...

Orlando Surgeon Restores Wounded Iraqi Girl's Sight   POSTED: 9:59 am EST February 19, 2006  ORLANDO, Fla. -- Peering through a high-powered microscope into the blinded eyes of the little Iraqi girl, Dr. Saad Shaikh was astounded at the damage. The retinas -- the film that lines the back of the eyes -- looked like old, peeling wallpaper. Each was riddled with dozens of gray metal fragments that had shot into 3-year-old Alaa Abd's eyes when an American tank shell hit her home in May in western Iraq's Al Anbar province. Alaa, who was at a tea party with...

GARMISCH, Germany, Feb. 15, 2006 – The key to spreading and sustaining democracy is for leaders to remain visionary and optimistic, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told more than 200 students from 49 countries here Feb. 10. Rice addressed the students, faculty and staff of the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies in a late-afternoon teleconference from the State Department in Washington, D.C. The students were participants in the center's 12-week Program in Advanced Security Studies and its five-week Program in Terrorism and Security Studies. "It really was an extraordinary event for our participants to not only interact...

Eating carrots, which are rich in the nutrient beta carotene, as well as foods containing the antioxidant vitamins C and E and zinc, results in a significantly reduced risk of age-related macular degeneration in elderly people, a new Dutch study has found. Currently, age-related macular degeneration affects 11.5 percent of white people over the age of 80. The number of people severely disabled by late-stage AMD in the United States is expected to increase by more than 50 percent, to 3 million, in the next 20 years. Previous studies evaluating antioxidants had shown conflicting results, with one major study showing...