4/1/2006
Advertisement: Cable Bay Cottages
:.
Looking for accommodation in Northland, New Zealand? Check out Cable Bay Cottages: Features: * Secluded, beach front bach and cottages * Self contained * Smoke free * Perfect for holidays * Broadband Wi-Fi access
posted by Kevin at 7:27 PM
3/30/2006
Asian Development Bank: Prepare for Dollar Collapse
:.
Asian countries need to prepare for a possible sharp fall in the dollar and should allow their currencies to appreciate collectively if that happens, a senior Asian Development Bank official said Tuesday. "Any shock hitting the U.S. economy or the global market may change investors' perceptions, given the existing global current account imbalance," Masahiro Kawai, the bank's head of regional economic integration, said at a news conference. "Our suggestion to Asian countries is, don't take this continuous financing of the U.S. current account deficit as given. If something happens, then East Asian economies have to be prepared."
posted by Kevin at 10:36 PM
U.S. to Test 700-Tonne Explosive
:.
HA. And how would the U.S. military deliver a weapon of that size to the target? * You'll be scratching your chin for a long time trying to answer that question. * .mil probably has a new .7 kiloton tactical nuclear weapon, and they want to see if the thing is suitable for whatever nonsense they're planning in Iran. But I suppose that lighting off nukes for testing purposes makes for bad PR. So, just light off 700 tons of TNT instead: The US military plans to detonate a 700 tonne explosive charge in a test called "Divine Strake" that will send a mushroom cloud over Las Vegas, a senior defense official said.
"I don't want to sound glib here but it is the first time in Nevada that you'll see a mushroom cloud over Las Vegas since we stopped testing nuclear weapons," said James Tegnelia, head of the Defense Threat Reduction Agency.
Tegnelia said the test was part of a US effort to develop weapons capable of destroying deeply buried bunkers housing nuclear, chemical or biological weapons.
"We have several very large penetrators we're developing," he told defense reporters.
"We also have -- are you ready for this - a 700-tonne explosively formed charge that we're going to be putting in a tunnel in Nevada," he said.
"And that represents to us the largest single explosive that we could imagine doing conventionally to solve that problem," he said.
The aim is to measure the effect of the blast on hard granite structures, he said.
posted by Kevin at 10:16 PM
Gold Hits 25-Year High
:.
My hat is off to those of you who were buying during the last draw down. Well done: Records tumbled in precious metals markets on Thursday as gold raced to a new 25-year peak, platinum hit a record high and silver spiked to its highest in more than 22 years.
posted by Kevin at 2:10 PM
3/29/2006
Whores of War: U.S. Firm Offers 'Private Armies'
:.
A leading U.S. security firm has offered to provide forces for any counter-insurgency mission around the world.
J. Cofer Black, vice chairman of Blackwater USA told the Special Operations Forces Exhibition (Sofex-2006), that his company could supply private soldiers to any country. Black, a former U.S. State Department counter-terrorism coordinator, said Blackwater has been marketing the concept of private armies for low-intensity conflicts.
posted by Kevin at 1:17 PM
New Anti-Terror Training Manual: ''Property Rights Activists'' Are Terrorists
:.
Terrorists also use SCUBA gear, maps, cameras, and... and...
posted by Kevin at 2:54 AM
NZ: Our Future Garden
This is from an email I sent to a friend back in the U.S. The picture pretty much sums it up: I've included an action shot of me trying to clear about a half acre of thick, matted kikuyu. We're going to put down black poly tarps over this mess, once I get it knocked down. Then, one section at a time, we'll pull the tarp back and create chook runs. The goal is to make a massive compost heap out of it.
posted by Kevin at 2:25 AM
3/27/2006
Professor Charged with Swindling Students
:.
Ahh, my alma mater. Nothing but the best at that place: A business professor at the University of Southern California was arrested on Friday by the FBI on charges of swindling students and others in a real estate fraud, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.
Barry Landreth, who had taught real estate finance and development at the university, stole at least $1.5 million in the first 10 months of 2005, telling students and other investors he would buy land in Chicago and Las Vegas and then sell it for large profits, an FBI affidavit said.
Instead, he transferred all the money into his personal account without buying the land, the FBI said.
Landreth was arrested at his home, where he kept a stable of show horses.
The university said in a statement Landreth had worked part-time at the school. Most recently, he taught a course in the Marshall School of Business and was currently on administrative leave.
posted by Kevin at 12:12 PM
Spring Break at Wal-Mart
:.
Strangely interesting story: Skyler Bartels kept looking over his shoulder. It's a habit he picked up living at the Windsor Heights Wal-Mart for three days.
Really living there. Eating, sleeping, checking out the DVDs, never leaving. The plan was to spend his entire spring break there. Under the radar.
Some kids go to Cancun. Skyler Bartels, a Drake University sophomore from Harvard, Neb., went to the garden and patio department.
posted by Kevin at 12:07 PM
3/26/2006
Stop Animal ID
:.
Attention Organic And Local Food Consumers, Livestock And Horse Owners:
The USDA plans to make every owner of even one horse, cow, pig, goat, sheep, chicken, or pigeon register in a government database and subject their property and animals to constant federal and state government surveillance, and the animal owner will have to PAY for the privilege of owning animals!
To learn more about the ramifications of this Government decree and how it will affect everyone, not just farmers and animal owners, navigate our site and visit our forum.Research Credit: TR
posted by Kevin at 12:20 AM
|
:. 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.
Friendly
Fascism: The New Face of Power in America by Bertram Myron Gross
This is a relatively
short but extremely cogent and well-argued treatise on the rise
of a form of fascistic thought and social politics in late 20th
century America. Author Bertram Gross' thesis is quite straightforward;
the power elite that comprises the corporate, governmental and
military superstructure of the country is increasingly inclined
to employ every element in their formidable arsenal of 'friendly
persuasion' to win the hearts and minds of ordinary Americans
through what Gross refers to as friendly fascism.
The
Good Life
by Scott and Helen Nearing 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.
Silent
Theft: The Private Plunder of Our Common Wealth by David Bollierd
In Silent Theft, David Bollier
argues that a great untold story of our time is the staggering
privatization and abuse of our common wealth. Corporations are
engaged in a relentless plunder of dozens of resources that we
collectively own—publicly funded medical breakthroughs,
software innovation, the airwaves, the public domain of creative
works, and even the DNA of plants, animals and humans. Too often,
however, our government turns a blind eye—or sometimes helps
give away our assets. Amazingly,
the silent theft of our shared wealth has gone largely unnoticed
because we have lost our ability to see the commons.
The
Self-Sufficient Life and How to Live It: The Complete Back-To-Basics
Guide by John Seymour The
Self Sufficient Life and How to Live It is the only book that
teaches all the skills needed to live independently in harmony
with the land harnessing natural forms of energy, raising crops
and keeping livestock, preserving foodstuffs, making beer and
wine, basketry, carpentry, weaving, and much more.
When
Corporations Rule the World by David C. Korten
When Corporations
Rule the World explains how economic globalization has concentrated
the power to govern in global corporations and financial markets
and detached them from accountability to the human interest. It
documents the devastating human and environmental consequences
of the successful efforts of these corporations to reconstruct
values and institutions everywhere on the planet to serve their
own narrow ends.
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.
|