We here at USDemocrazy are starting a new weekly ‘Caption This’ series.

This week we kickoff our series with The Man of the moment. 

From riding on horseback shirtless through the Russian tundra to boldly moving Russian troops into Crimea – the notorious Russian President Vladimir Putin is always in the news. 

The writer of the wittiest, funniest, or most creative caption for this winking Czar will be named in next week’s Caption This contest. 

Have at ‘em! 

Meditation. 

Its no longer a practice reserved for Eastern religions or herbal-medication-loving hippies. 

The practice is becoming increasingly widespread in the United States as not only an alternative medicine for people who suffer from anxiety, pain, or depression, but as a daily means of dealing with life stress. 

There is biological evidence for its effectiveness–meditation has been shown to lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol.

Us college students can reap enormous benefits from meditating: 

It can improve our grades: A study published in the journal Psychological Science concluded that meditation boosts memory and reading comprehension skills that aid in better test performance. 

It can help us lose that freshman 15: A study in the Journal of Obesity concluded that meditation can improve eating patterns and reduce abdominal fat over time. 

It can help us during cold season: A University of Wisconsin study showed that meditation can help people have shorter, fewer, and less severe upper respiratory infections. 

It can help us sleep better: An NIH study concludes that meditation’s positive effects on the mind can lead to higher quality sleep. 

So why not give meditation a try? 

Don’t know how to start? Check out this brief WellCast video!

(AFP) – 5 days ago  

Washington — US Secretary of State John Kerry has called on American ambassadors around the world to make the fight against climate change a top priority ahead of new UN talks next year.

In his first department-wide policy guidance statement since taking office a year ago, he told his 70,000 staff: "The environment has been one of the central causes of my life."

"Protecting our environment and meeting the challenge of global climate change is a critical mission for me as our country's top diplomat," Kerry said in the letter issued on Friday to all 275 US embassies and across the State Department.

"It's also a critical mission for all of you: our brave men and women on the frontlines of direct diplomacy," he added in the document seen by AFP.

He urged all "chiefs of mission to make climate change a priority for all relevant personnel and to promote concerted action at posts and in host countries to address this problem."

The clarion call comes ahead of key UN-led talks in Paris next year when the international community is due to try to set new emissions goals for greenhouses blamed for global warming.

The emission levels will be applicable to all countries, not just the developed world, and will come into effect in 2020.

The new agreement will replace the Kyoto treaty which is due to expire in 2015.

The United States, which along with China is the world's top polluter, did not ratify the Kyoto Treaty arguing that developing countries should also be obligated to cut greenhouse gases.

Kerry travelled to China last month and won agreement from Beijing that the US and China would cooperate closely ahead of the Paris talks as they aim to agree emissions targets.

In his policy guidance, Kerry set out a seven step program to enhance the focus on tackling climate change including boosting multilateral and bilateral efforts.

"We're talking about the future of our earth and of humanity. We need to elevate the environment in everything we do," he said.

It was, he said "our call to conscience as citizens of this fragile planet we inhabit."

Kerry is currently weighing a decision on whether the US should approve the building of a pipeline carrying oil from the tar sands of Alberta, in Canada, to US refineries in Nebraska and then Texas.

An environmental review found that the Keystone XL project would not add significantly to greenhouse gas emissions.

But opponents are calling on Kerry to reject the proposals by Canadian operators TransCanada, and a small but noisy protest was held late Thursday outside the State Department.

Copyright © 2014 AFP. All rights reserved. More »

MIT Technology Review’s first mention of the World Wide Web was five years after it was first invented in 1989.

The Web turned 25 this week, marking a quarter century since Tim Berners-Lee invented it while working at the European Laboratory for Particle Physics (often referred to by its French acronym, CERN). He created the Web to make it easier for scientists to share their work, a worthy goal that has had many side effects, not least our easy access to cat videos. MIT Technology Review has been chronicling the tech world since 1899, so I did a little digging to find the first mentions of the World Wide Web and Berners-Lee.

Okay… 10 points if you can name this group:

Since the beginning of March, they have killed more than 130 people, including at least 43 children. They often target schools. The United States government has declared them a terrorist organization. And, this may shape up to be their deadliest year yet. 

Want the answer?

“Boko Haram,”and this deadly and growing threat operates mainly in northern Nigeria.

The name Boko Haram translates loosely to “Western education is a sin,” and the extremist group wants to establish fundamentalist Muslim rule in Northern Nigeria.

Boko Haram’s bombings, burning, and killings led Nigerian president Goodluck Jonathan to declare a state of emergency in three Nigerian states last May.  So why does Boko Haram exist? 

Like many African countries, Nigeria’s borders do not align with ethnic groups. They were artificially created by British colonial administration in the 1800s, a fact that has repeatedly led to strife since the country’s independence in 1960.

The world’s eighth largest nation is now divided along religious and ethnic lines, with the northern half of the country occupied mainly by Muslims of the Hausa ethnic group.

Other tribes with Christian majorities reside in the south.

Politics are sharply split along this north/south divide. Current president Goodluck Jonathan comes from the heart of the southern territory. Furthermore, wealth is concentrated in the oil-rich south. 

It is against this backdrop of ethnic split and inequality that Boko Haram rose to prominence in the last five years.

Recently a government led violent, anti-Boko Haram, military crackdown involving extrajudicial killings and destruction of civilian villages has only fanned the flames (and earned rebuke from the Human Rights Watch).  

Few northern civilians support Boko Haram, but Nigerians disagree as to how the government should handle the insurgents.

Nigeria, Africa’s most populist country has enormous economic potential but the onset of Boko Haram threatens to compromise Nigeria’s position as an emerging “economic giant“.

Sadly, this is one of many religious insurgencies plaguing Africa today.

Do you know other dangerous groups around the world we all should be watching?