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10/4/2003



World Oil and Gas 'Running Out' :.

The barriers to viable energy alternatives are political in nature, not technical. How often do I say this? Once per week?

This is just more fodder for the ordo ab chao magicians:

The world's oil reserves are up to 80 percent less than predicted, a team from Sweden's University of Uppsala says. Production levels will peak in about 10 years' time, they say.

"Non-fossil fuels must come in much stronger than it had been hoped," Professor Kjell Alekett told CNN.

Oil production levels will hit their maximum soon after 2010 with gas supplies peaking not long afterwards, the Swedish geologists say.


Related Stat: Eight Minutes in Iraq :.

In eight minutes, the U.S. Government spends more money on running an illegal and unnecessary war than it took for a group of researchers to develop photovoltaic technology that is over 100% more efficient than previous designs.

Related: Eating Fossil Fuels :.

How many burritos per gallon? HAHAHA! Oblivion! It's lovely this time of year!

In the United States, 400 gallons of oil equivalents are expended annually to feed each American (as of data provided in 1994).7 Agricultural energy consumption is broken down as follows:

� 31% for the manufacture of inorganic fertilizer (excluding feedstock)

� 19% for the operation of field machinery

� 16% for transportation

� 13% for irrigation

� 08% for raising livestock (not including livestock feed)

� 05% for crop drying

� 05% for pesticide production

� 08% miscellaneous8

2. To give the reader an idea of the energy intensiveness of modern agriculture, production of one kilogram of nitrogen for fertilizer requires the energy equivalent of from 1.4 to 1.8 liters of diesel fuel. This is not considering the natural gas feedstock.9 According to The Fertilizer Institute (http://www.tfi.org), in the year from June 30 2001 until June 30 2002 the United States used 12,009,300 short tons of nitrogen fertilizer.10 Using the low figure of 1.4 liters diesel equivalent per kilogram of nitrogen, this equates to the energy content of 15.3 billion liters of diesel fuel, or 96.2 million barrels.

3. Between 1945 and 1994, energy input to agriculture increased 4-fold while crop yields only increased 3-fold.11 Since then, energy input has continued to increase without a corresponding increase in crop yield. We have reached the point of marginal returns. Yet, due to soil degradation, increased demands of pest management and increasing energy costs for irrigation (all of which is examined below), modern agriculture must continue increasing its energy expenditures simply to maintain current crop yields.

4. The U.S. food system consumes ten times more energy than it produces in food energy. This disparity is made possible by nonrenewable fossil fuel stocks.

5. Unfortunately, if you remove fossil fuels from the equation, the daily diet will require 111 hours of endosomatic labor per capita; that is, the current U.S. daily diet would require nearly three weeks of labor per capita to produce.





Israel: Today's Bombing a Justification for October Blitz?

Weeks ago, readers were sending me Jane's and then LaRouche stories about a planned Israeli blitz into Gaza. For some boneheaded reason, I didn't post these stories (or did I?). Anyway, interesting timing of the blast today.... very interesting considering these stories.

From Jane's:

Foreign Report can reveal that the Israeli government is planning an onslaught on the Gaza Strip. This is because, our informant said, its former policy of containing Palestinian violence, including the murder of the Hamas leadership, has failed.

The idea is to launch an intervention in October, once a series of Jewish holidays have finished.

Since the beginning of the intifada, one of the cornerstones of Israeli military policy has been to kill the leaders of Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Fatah-Tanzim. The Israelis believe that these groups are behind Palestinian suicide attacks. In almost three years, more than 100 leading Palestinian militants have been killed by the Israelis.

The Israelis have a reply to the critics of their policy. They claim that the killings have prevented an even greater bloodbath. The Palestinians, on the other hand, claim that the 'assassinations' have only embittered young Palestinians and led to more suicide bombs.

"Hamas is getting professional and financial support from Hizbullah," said our Israeli source. "Hamas is hectically working on increasing the range of its self-made rockets to reach the southern cities of Israel. Their idea is to build the equivalent of south Lebanon in Gaza, and that Israel will never accept."

Israel is planning a huge call-up of at least 50,000 soldiers to cope with the conquering of the Gaza strip. Special Israeli troops will move from house to house to find and kill militants.

The Israelis are well aware of the difficulties of such an operation. Gaza is the most densely populated place on earth. The Israelis assume they will face serious resistance and many casualties. But it seems that the prime minister, Ariel Sharon, is determined to crush Hamas in Gaza.





WMD: 'You Have Got to Be Kidding' :.

I have no comment on the Kay report. It's not worth the keystrokes. Take your pick of the shrill howls of "bullshit" going out from every corner of the planet. My guess is that They will "uncover" a few canisters of VX and show the rabbit trick* on CNNFOXMSNBC as the election roles around. You'll come to see that Bush saved us all. No more of the vegetable juicer antics at CIAHQ:

Two DIA agents currently serving in Iraq, who also voiced bitterness about other aspects of US Iraq policy, spoke on condition of anonymity to Asia Times Online. The first, a 30-year veteran of the agency, complained that "the fixation on weapons is alienating intelligence staff", calling it an "obsession".

* The VX rabbit trick: one drop of VX nerve agent is placed on the skin of a rabbit. You don't want to know what happens next.





Idiot Box Spews
Troglodytes Slurp Gleefully
The End Approaches
:.

I am considering Haiku titles for all articles:

The more commercial television news you watch, the more wrong you are likely to be about key elements of the Iraq War and its aftermath, according to a major new study released in Washington on Thursday.

And the more you watch the Rupert Murdoch-owned Fox News channel, in particular, the more likely it is that your perceptions about the war are wrong, adds the report by the University of Maryland's Program on International Policy Attitudes (PIPA).

Based on several nationwide surveys it conducted with California-based Knowledge Networks since June, as well as the results of other polls, PIPA found that 48 percent of the public believe US troops found evidence of close pre-war links between Iraq and the al-Qaeda terrorist group; 22 percent thought troops found weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in Iraq; and 25 percent believed that world public opinion favored Washington's going to war with Iraq. All three are misperceptions.





Factory Closures Devastate U.S. Towns :.

When Jerry Wilmouth moved to Galesburg, Illinois, five years ago, everyone told him to get a job at Maytag Corp.'s refrigerator plant. Maytag paid the best, they said, and the 50-year-old factory was the lifeblood of the city.

Now, Wilmouth and 379 others are spending their first week of life after Maytag -- the first of 1,600 workers to be laid off between now and the end of 2004, when the plant closes for good and Maytag moves the work to Mexico.

The 46-year-old father of three said he has little hope of finding work in Galesburg to match the $15 an hour he made on the assembly line, and now his 17-year-old daughter is thinking about joining the army to pay for college.

"Every decent-paying job in the area is going, going or already gone and I'm faced with taking a job for $6, $7, $8 an hour," said Wilmouth.





Arnold Unplugged :.

The day Schwarzenegger announced his run for governor, I told my brother, "He's going to win. You can stop paying attention now. In fact, you'll be voting for him whether you show up to vote, or not." Obviously, as someone who doesn't dabble in the world of the weird, he hadn't heard anything about electronic vote fraud. While I suppose it's possible that Schwarzenegger will not be the next governor of the State of California, I'm sticking with my initial assessment....

It's not what Arnold Schwarzenegger did to the girls a decade back that should raise an eyebrow. According to a series of memoranda our office obtained today, it's his dalliance with the boys in a hotel room just two years ago that's the real scandal.

The wannabe governor has yet to deny that on May 17, 2001, at the Peninsula Hotel in Los Angeles, he had consensual political intercourse with Enron chieftain Kenneth Lay. Also frolicking with Arnold and Ken was convicted stock swindler Mike Milken.

Now, thirty-four pages of internal Enron memoranda have just come through this reporter's fax machine tell all about the tryst between Maria's husband and the corporate con men. It turns out that Schwarzenegger knowingly joined the hush-hush encounter as part of a campaign to sabotage a Davis-Bustamante plan to make Enron and other power pirates then ravaging California pay back the $9 billion in illicit profits they carried off.


Related: Did Shriver Call Buffett, "The Smartest Man in the World"???

I had CNN turned on yesterday (don't ask me why). I wasn't watching it, but I was listening to it as background noise. Did I hear Maria Shriver call Warren Buffett the smartest man in the world? If anyone has a transcript of that thing, let me know. I was so shocked that I just assumed I was hearing things.

Related: Big Plans for Schwarzenegger :.





18,000 CIA Mind Control Documents Released :.

Mind control is one of those subjects... I'm not talking about the type of perception management and propaganda techniques utilized by the media.

Programmed assassins, sexual compromise operatives, information couriers... To the uninitiated, the entire topic sounds ridiculous, until you spend some time with the subject.

What follows is typical of the antics in the 1950s. The 1960s saw the perfection of pharmacological methods. In the 1970s, electronic and microwave methods were perfected. I haven't been able to glean much about the subject that I can corroborate in terms of developments in the past twenty or so years:

A declassified CIA document dated 7 Jan 1953 describes the experimental creation of multiple personality in two 19-year old girls. "These subjects have clearly demonstrated that they can pass from a fully awake state to a deep H [hypnotic] controlled state by telephone, by receiving written matter, or by the use of code, signal, or words, and that control of those hypnotized can be passed from one individual to another without great difficulty. It has also been shown by experimentation with these girls that they can act as unwilling couriers for information purposes." (CIA Mori ID 190684, 1/7/53)

Another declassified document dated 10 Feb 1954 describes an experiment of relevance to the creation of unsuspecting assassins: "Miss [whited out] was instructed (having previously expressed a fear of firearms) that she would use every method at her disposal to awaken Miss [whited out] (now in a deep hypnotic sleep). Failing this, she would pick up a pistol nearby and fire it at Miss [whited out]. She was instructed that her rage would be so great that she would not hesitate to "kill" [whited out] for failing to awaken. Miss [whited out] carried out these suggestions to the letter including firing the (unloaded) gun at [whited out] and then proceeded to fall into a deep sleep. After proper suggestions were made, both were awakened. Miss [whited out] expressed absolute denial that the foregoing sequence had happened." (CIA Mori ID 190691, 2/10/54)

Research Credit: NF





Another Solar Power Breakthrough :.

A major European chip maker said this week it had discovered new ways to produce solar cells which will generate electricity twenty times cheaper than today's solar panels.

The new solar cells would even be able to compete with electricity generated by burning fossil fuels such as oil and gas, which costs about $0.40 per watt, said Salvo Coffa, who heads ST's research group that is developing the technology.

"This would revolutionize the field of solar energy generation," he said.


Related: STMicroelectronics Announces Advanced R&D Program Targeting Low Cost Solar Cells :.

Research Credit: TR





Warren Buffett Weirdness :.

Of all places, Mr. Buffett just happened to be at the U.S. Strategic Command headquarters located at Offutt Air Force Base in Omaha, Nebraska. Offutt AFB is, coincidentally, where President G.W. Bush flew to on Air Force One later on in the day for "safety". What was Buffett doing there? Mr. Buffett was "hosting a charity event" super early in the morning which included a small group of business leaders in which one of them became a very lucky person. This person who became very lucky was Ann Tatlock, the CEO of Fiduciary Trust Co. International. Now what made Mrs. Tatlock such a lucky person for being at this event that morning? Mrs. Tatlock works in the World Trade Center and not only that, but her offices were right where Flight 175 crashed into the WTC 2...

Research Credit: NF


10/2/2003



My Mom Died This Morning

My mom's long struggle with cancer came to an end this morning. There's no need to be sad, or to send condolences. Your kind thoughts are enough. I'll be ok. I just wanted to let you guys know that I'll update again when I feel like it. That could mean later tonight, or never. I just don't know right now.

She got to the point where she didn't want to try the alternative therapies anymore. Obviously, you can't force someone. Her decline was swift and painless.

I tried to give her the choice to turn things around, even up until the very end. I learned about cesium chloride, how to administer it properly, and left a dose of it in liquid form with her yesterday. I told her that if she wanted to try, she could drink it, and I'd bring more. I also told her that I would understand if she was ready to transition to the next phase of existence, and that I loved her. She didn't drink it. She left it sitting there.

I would encourage people to use alternative cancer therapies, but what I have learned from this experience is that the person with the cancer MUST want to live. My mom has been ready to go for a long time, and this morning, she went.

I will miss her, but I know that she will be with me always.





Italy: Get Paid to Spawn :.

The tax and spend pyramid scam in Italy is crumbling. They are considering paying people to breed in order to create more tax payers:

In Italy, a country with the lowest birth rate and fastest ageing population in Europe, the foundations of the ample state pension scheme have already begun to crumble.

This week the Italian Government announced in its annual budget a cash bonus for the birth of a second child - can this deliver?





Are You Ready For A Militarized Police Force? :.

The Bush administration is calling for the repeal of the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878, a law passed after the Civil War to prohibit the deployment of federal military forces onto American streets to control civil action - otherwise known as martial law.


10/1/2003



Clark Starts to Break Down in Public :.

Do you think someone is standing nearby with a "kill switch" in case he starts to spin out too much? In any event, they'll have the Super Craptastical Inkjet Fabricator and a time machine. HAHAHA! All you can do is laugh at this point:

"I still believe in e=mc�, but I can't believe that in all of human history, we'll never ever be able to go beyond the speed of light to reach where we want to go," said Clark. "I happen to believe that mankind can do it.

"I've argued with physicists about it, I've argued with best friends about it. I just have to believe it. It's my only faith-based initiative." Clark's comment prompted laughter and applause from the gathering.


Research Credit: TR





Terrorist Bioweapons that Attack Crops :.

There's one problem with trying to frighten people with this one: Monsanto has already done that with their terminator technology. That frightened the living crap out of me! But why isn't Bush dropping bombs on Monsanto's headquarters?





Job Losses at Great Depression Levels :.

In the past 22 months just over one million Americans have lost their job. Added to the 1.78 million lost jobs during the seven-month recession, the period represents the largest sustained loss of jobs since the Great Depression.





Pentagon Investigates Movement of Funds :.

$20 million might sound like a large sum of money to many people, but that is chicken feed compared to the Pentagon's $2.3 trillion boondoggle:

The Pentagon's internal auditor is investigating allegations that Defense Department officials tried to hide $20 million from Congress by temporarily putting the funds in the budget of the Special Operations Command, Defense officials said yesterday.





Now Here's a Shocker! :.

A company that was created to help clients take advantage of business opportunities in Iraq is made up of businessmen associated with President Bush, his family and his administration.





Is Your Job Moving to India? :.

This is a chilling article. Safe jobs in the U.S.? HA! Swindling, slaves and cops:

Software giant Oracle said it's moving 2,000 developer jobs from the United States to India, doubling the number of developers it has on payroll there. Then Hewlett-Packard announced plans to close a customer-service operation in Florida and send the operation's 1,200 jobs overseas, again to India.

Though negligible when compared to the sheer numbers of job losses in manufacturing, the shifts by two technology companies are alarming for what they likely foretell: no less than the relocation of millions of high-end technology and service jobs from this country to less expensive foreign venues. In the process, there will be a redefining of what constitutes �safe� employment in America.





President Bush's "Bring Them On" Picture Album :.

What a waste.


9/30/2003



The Ubiquitous Electromagnetic Smog :.

Radio signals for the next generation of mobile phone services can cause headaches and nausea, according to a study conducted by three Dutch ministries.





Blair: 'ID Cards Can Protect Civil Liberties' :.

If you believe that one, I've got a bridge to sell you:

A national identity card scheme may be the best way to protect civil liberties, Prime Minister Tony Blair declared.

During his keynote address to Labour's annual conference in Bournemouth, Mr Blair appeared to give his strongest backing yet to the concept of ID cards.


Please remember, the British Government = the Irish Republican Army. Some of my unrepentant Fenian bastard buddies might take offence to that statement, but don't take it personally, lads, the Italians and Israelis also know a thing or two about government sponsored terrorism:

Ireland:

Stakeknife: British Operative was Ranking Member of the Irish Republican Army
:.

For military intelligence, the prize of having the IRA's chief mole hunter in their pay for most of the Troubles is a remarkable coup. In the second world war, the equivalent would have been British intelligence running the head of the Reich security service, Reinhard Heydrich.

More: Stakeknife and the Force Research Unit :.

THE British army's most deadly double agent, who operated at the very heart of the IRA, has been identified as Alfredo 'Freddy' Scappaticci, known to spy-masters by the codename 'Stakeknife'.

As the British government's most powerful weapon in its 30-year 'dirty war' against the IRA and Sinn Fein, Scappaticci is suspected of being allowed by the army's Force Research Unit (FRU) to take part in up to 40 murders.


Italy:

Terrorists 'Helped by CIA' to Stop Rise of Left in Italy
:.

US intelligence services instigated and abetted rightwing terrorism in Italy during the 1970s, a former Italian secret service general has claimed.

Israel:

Do-It-Yourself Al Qaeda Cell
:.

Palestinian security forces have arrested a group of Palestinians for collaborating with Israel and posing as operatives of Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda terrorist network, a senior official said yesterday.

The arrests come two days after Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon charged al-Qaeda militants were operating in Gaza and in Lebanon.


United States:

The U.S. is, by far, the largest perpetrator of terrorism on the planet. See americanstateterrorism.com for a summary of what went on while you were sleeping:

Iraq 2003, Palestine 1948-Present, Iraq 1991-2003, Afghanistan 2001-Present, Colombia 1960s-Present, Yugoslavia 1992-Present, Congo/Zaire 1961-Present, Cuba 1959-Present, Guatemala 1953 Present, El Salvador 1980-Present, East Timor 1975-1999, Haiti 1987-1994, Somalia 1993, Afghanistan 1979-1992, Nicaragua 1981-1990, Panama 1989, Libya 1981-1989, Iran 1988, Grenada 1979-1984, Greece 1964-1974, Chile 1964-1973, Costa Rica Mid-1950s, 1970-71, Dominican Republic 1963-1966, Vietnam 1945-1974, Cambodia 1955-1973, Laos 1957-1973, Thailand 1965-1973, Italy 1947-1970s, Indonesia, 1965, Brazil 1961-1964, British Guiana/Guyana 1953-1964, Iraq 1963, Soviet Union 1940s-1960s, Western Europe 1950s-1960s, Haiti 1959, Indonesia 1957-1958, Iran 1953, Albania 1949-1953, Korea 1945-1953, Philippines 1945-1953, Greece 1947-1949, Marshall Islands 1946-1958, Italy 1947-1948, France 1947, China 1945-1951, Hiroshima & Nagasaki August 1945, Dresden, Germany February 1945.

So, Brits, what do you think? One ID card to keep you free? Or, one ID card to rule you all...





Super Craptastical Inkjet Fabricator :.

Sheer insanity. Who needs this nonsense!? So, let me get this straight: The PHBs are going to be able to print out Palm Pilots, vibrators and proximity munition fuses with the push of a button? Oh that's just excellent.

If the engineers that think up this garbage are so brilliant, why can't they devise a way to provide clean air, water and food to societies that are awash in meaningless pap and toxic waste?

Soon fully assembled electric and electronic gadgets could be constructed in one go without having to add the components at great cost afterwards.

The technology "prints" layer upon layer of conducting and semi-conducting polymers at the same time building up the gadget.

Therefore, the housing of the device can be filled with circuitry during the printing process -- in fact the object itself becomes the circuit and vice versa.


More: New Machine 'Could Lead to 21st Century Industrial Revolution' :.

There's going to be a revolution, alright... Question: If these machines eliminate the need for employees, uh, who is going to buy this crap? Hmmm. Maybe I can use this technology to print out five acres of arable soil, a yurt and a few chickens, goats and guineas! Oh, nevermind. The whole show is going fuckobazoo right before our eyes:

US scientists are developing a "Santa Claus" machine that can make fully assembled and functioning electronic toys, mobile phones and other gadgets.

They believe the technology could lead to a new industrial revolution bringing the end of traditional production lines.

A "gadget printer" uses ink-jet cartridges that deposit 3D layers of "smart polymer" droplets according to a pre-programmed design.


Research Credit: TR





Can Computers Help Reverse Falling Employment? :.

The current economic paradigm is flawed. The thing is broken by design. If your work involves sitting on your ass, get ready to become unemployed. What? Don't you support free trade? Where companies are free to rape and pillage on a global scale and with a pathological focus of winning the race to the bottom!? Oh relax, eat your donut and make some faces at your PHB after it tells you to reprioritize your action items. And when that imbecile calls you into its office to lay you off, you can rest assured that it will be hittin' the bricks not long after you do:

Information technologies are implicated in a worldwide and world-historic crisis: falling employment. As the wealth of nations increases, those who have lost jobs or had to accept menial ones over the past three years are left with only a wealth of culprits to blame: financial scandals, wars, tax cuts, stagnation, etc. But there is little doubt that a large contributor to rising unemployment is rising productivity, which in turn can be laid to advances in computerization and communications. I can no longer avert my eyes from the consequences of the field I have chosen, and no one else who programs, administers, or promotes the use of computers can morally avert their eyes either.

The gigantic combine of capitalism has always obsessively pursued efficiency, and computers make the pursuit almost child play. Capitalism has succeeded in sowing a cornucopia of innovation up and down society. But capitalism is atrocious at distributing the fruits of innovation. Each labor-saving device means the idling of thousands of people, wasting their years of experience, rigorous training, and practical insights.





Patriot Act Being Used to Investigate Homeless Hacker :.

The Patriot Act continues to creep.....unchecked. Now it's being used for computer hacking?! Throw the First Amendment out the window so that Ashcroft and his marry band of maniacs can investigate a homeless kid, who carries everything he owns in a backpack? Man, Let the Mighty Eagle Soar:

Citing a provision of the Patriot Act, the FBI is sending letters to journalists telling them to secretly prepare to turn over their notes, e-mails and sources to the bureau. Should we throw out the First Amendment to nail a hacker, writes SecurityFocus columnist Mark Rasch.


9/28/2003



Diebold Internal Memos Admit Voting Machine Flaws :.

In a preemptive strike to discourage further negative publicity, Diebold Election Systems has demanded that voting activist site BlackBoxVoting.org remove internal memos which admit that Diebold's high tech voting machines are easily susceptible to vote fraud.

Dated Oct. 2001, the memo by Diebold's principal engineer Ken Clark concedes that it is quite simple to do an "end run" around the Diebold GEMS voting software, used in both touch screen and optical scan voting machines, and that this "back door" has already been used in elections. Diebold states that the memos are authentic, but claims copyright protection.





The Diabolical Genius of Joe Frank :.

Every once in a while, I like to have a good laugh about something that isn't directly related to The End. Joe Frank is great.





Breaking: Possible Virus Attack Taking Down Cingular Wireless Network :.

Will update:

"It looks like the Cingular GSM network is having serious trouble. My phone stopped working today completely, though my wife's was still able to make outgoing calls. Talking to tech support, they claimed some kind of massive failure across the country starting around 4PM yesterday and possibly a virus attack. Howard Forums is all abuzz, but there really doesn't seem to be any hard info. Glad I haven't totally given up the land line yet... redundancy is good."

Italy Power Outage :.

"The Third World was just around the corner." --- Billy Bragg

The whole of mainland Italy has been blacked out by a power cut.

Only the island of Sardinia was unaffected.

France's national grid has confirmed that two high tension powerlines supplying electricity to Italy were cut, causing the massive power outage.




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:. Reading

Fatal Harvest: The Tragedy of Industrial Agriculture by Andrew Kimbrell Readers will come to see that industrial food production is indeed a "fatal harvest" - fatal to consumers, as pesticide residues and new disease vectors such as E. coli and "mad cow disease" find their way into our food supply; fatal to our landscapes, as chemical runoff from factory farms poison our rivers and groundwater; fatal to genetic diversity, as farmers rely increasingly on high-yield monocultures and genetically engineered crops; and fatal to our farm communities, which are wiped out by huge corporate farms.

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Helen and Scott Nearing are the great-grandparents of the back-to-the-land movement, having abandoned the city in 1932 for a rural life based on self-reliance, good health, and a minimum of cash...Fascinating, timely, and wholly useful, a mix of the Nearings' challenging philosophy and expert counsel on practical skills.

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The New Organic Grower: A Master's Manual of Tools and Techniques for the Home and Market Gardener This expansion of a now-classic guide originally published in 1989 is intended for the serious gardener or small-scale market farmer. It describes practical and sustainable ways of growing superb organic vegetables, with detailed coverage of scale and capital, marketing, livestock, the winter garden, soil fertility, weeds, and many other topics.