Saturday, April 5, 2008
Friday, April 4, 2008
Thursday, April 3, 2008
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
In the News
Via Reuters:
Shards of broken glass outside the basement window of 31 Vine Street hint at the destruction inside the three-story home.
Thieves smashed the window to break in and then gutted the property for its copper pipes — a crime that has spread across the United States as the economy slows and foreclosed homes stand empty and vulnerable.
“They cut it here and then pulled it right out of the wall,” real estate broker Marc Charney said, pointing to broken plaster near a wrecked baseboard heating system in the 2,774-sq-ft home in Brockton, Massachusetts, a working-class city of 94,304 people.
Similar stories are unfolding nationwide as a glut of home foreclosures coincides with record highs in the price of copper and other metals.
Via Global Research:
The US Congress, the US media, the American people, and the United Nations, are looking the other way as Cheney prepares his attack on Iran.
If only America had an independent media and an opposition party. If there were a shred of integrity left in American political life, perhaps a third act of naked aggression – a third war crime under the Nuremberg standard – by the Bush Regime could be prevented.
On March 30, the Russian News & Information Agency, Novosti, cited "a high-ranking security source: "The latest military intelligence data point to heightened US military preparations for both an air and ground operation against Iran."
According to Novosti, Russian Colonel General Leonid Ivashov said "that the Pentagon is planning to deliver a massive air strike on Iran’s military infrastructure in the near future."
The chief of Russia’s general staff, Yuri Baluyevsky, said last November that Russia was beefing up its military in response to US aggression, but that the Russian military is not "obliged to defend the world from the evil Americans."
On March 29, OpEdNews cited a report by the Saudi Arabian newspaper Okaz, which was picked up by the German news service, DPA. The Saudi newspaper reported on March 22, the day following Cheney’s visit with the kingdom’s rulers, that the Saudi Shura Council is preparing "national plans to deal with any sudden nuclear and radioactive hazards that may affect the kingdom following experts’ warnings of possible attacks on Iran’s Bushehr nuclear reactors."
And Admiral William "there will be no attack on Iran on my watch" Fallon has been removed as US chief of Central Command, thus clearing the way for Cheney’s planned attack on Iran.
The Iranians don’t seem to believe it, despite the dispatch of US nuclear submarines and another aircraft carrier attack group to the Persian Gulf. To counter any Iranian missiles launched in response to an attack, the US is deploying anti-missile defenses to protect US bases and Saudi oil fields.
Two massive failures by the American media, the Democratic Party, and the American people have paved the way for Cheney’s long-planned attack on Iran. One failure is the lack of skepticism about the US government’s explanation of 9/11. The other failure is the Democrats’ refusal to begin impeachment proceedings against President Bush for lying to the Congress, the American people, and the world and launching an invasion of Iraq based on deception and fabricated evidence.
Via Global Research:
A deadly fungus, known as Ug99, which kills wheat, has likely spread to Pakistan from Africa according to reports in the British New Scientist magazine. If true, that threatens the vital Asian Bread Basket including the Punjab region. The spread of the deadly virus, stem rust, against which an effective fungicide does not exist, comes as world grain stocks reach the lowest in four decades and government subsidized bio-ethanol production, especially in the USA, Brazil and EU are taking land out of food production at alarming rates. The deadly fungus is being used by Monsanto and the US Government to spread patented GMO seeds.
Via Skidmore College:
Former Attorney General John Ashcroft will lecture on “Leadership in Challenging Times” when he visits Skidmore College Wednesday, April 2.
my india volunteer
here is my sponsor page. the upper left corner "learn about cross-cultural solutions" has a link to the main site.
cheers
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Big oil
Congress, critical of tax breaks, lays into oil execs
Lawmakers criticize industry for taking tax breaks amid record high prices while under investing in renewable resources.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Lawmakers grilled executives from the world's five largest publicly traded oil companies Tuesday, criticizing them for taking tax subsidies and not investing in renewable resources amid record prices for oil and gasoline.
"Americans are hoping that the top executives from the five largest oil companies will tell us that these soaring gas prices are just part of some elaborate hoax," said Ed Markey, D-Mass, chairman of the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming. "Unfortunately, it's not a joke."
Markey slammed executives from Exxon Mobil (XOM, Fortune 500), Royal Dutch Shell (RDSA), BP (BP), Chevron (CVX, Fortune 500), and ConocoPhillips (COP, Fortune 500) for their opposition to eliminating about $18 billion in tax breaks over a ten year period amid record profits for the industry.
"Last year these companies alone made over $123 billion in profit," said Markey. "What is the oil industry doing with all this profit? Unfortunately, it goes as much to financial engineering as to renewable engineering."
Several lawmakers, mostly democrats, want to take the tax break away from oil companies and use the money to subsidize renewable energy projects.
"This is where we should be putting scarce resources, not into areas that probably don't need our help," said Oregon democrat Earl Blumenauer.
Shell Oil Company president John Hofmeister, said that the energy supply outlook was "sobering" and that the U.S. needed to tackle the energy quandary with programs akin to the Manhattan Project, or Apollo moon launch.
The oil industry, along with the Bush administration, argue that it's unfair to target the oil industry when these tax breaks are available to all manufacturers. They also say the breaks are essential to encourage domestic oil production and reducing the country's dependence on foreign oil.
"I do not believe that funding renewable energy by taxing current forms of energy serves American customers very well," said John Shadegg R-Arizona.
Stephen Simon, Senior Vice President, Exxon Mobil Corp. reiterated that point. "Imposing punitive taxes on American companies will discourage the investments needed to safeguard our energy security. The pursuit of alternative fuels must not detract from investments in oil and gas," he said.
Markey hammered Exxon's Simon over the company's investment in renewable energy. "Why is Exxon Mobil resisting the renewable energy revolution?" asked Markey.
Simon said Exxon has given $100 million to Stanford to study renewables. "$100 million?" said Markey. "But you made $40 billion last year."
When pressed, Simon said Exxon believes the current generation of renewable energy options will not be able to significantly meet demand.
Referring to reports showing that low income people are paying 10 percent or more of their income on gas Markey said, "So your message to them is you can't do anything for them," he said.
Exxon has long said it is in the business of oil, and that it prefers to leave renewable energy up to the renewable energy companies. Although the company has received some praise - even from its critics - for its investments in cutting-edge battery technology.
The House has tried to repeal the tax break several times, only to have it shot down in the Senate and face a veto threat from President Bush.
With oil trading at over $100 a barrel and Americans forking out over $3 a gallon for gas, the oil industry has come under fire for its record profits over the last few years. Exxon Mobil made $40 billion in 2007 alone, and the other big companies have all posted record profits in the billions.
Critics say the oil companies deliberately keep supplies of gasoline tight, and there have been calls to break up the big firms and enact a windfall profits tax.
The industry has argued they need to be big to compete with large state-owned oil companies from places like Russia and China. They also say that while the raw numbers are high, their profit margin - at around 9 percent - is roughly in line with other industries. 
Monday, March 31, 2008
Lotus & Conscious Alliance
US ranks 53rd in Press Feedom
Freelance journalist and blogger Josh Wolf was imprisoned when he refused to hand over his video archives. Sudanese cameraman Sami al-Haj, who works for the pan-Arab broadcaster Al-Jazeera, has been held without trial since June 2002 at the US military base at Guantanamo, and Associated Press photographer Bilal Hussein has been held by US authorities in Iraq since April this year (2006)."
nice guy
"South Korean leader Lee Myung-Bak says he would donate his salary to help the underprivileged.
Lee Myung-Bak made the pledge during an unscheduled meeting with reporters Sunday in the press room of his presidential office, the state news agency reported.
The president said he would donate his salary during his entire five-year term.
Lee is a former CEO of an engineering and construction company with a vast personal fortune. As mayor of Seoul from 2002 to 2004, Lee donated his salary to the children of street cleaners and firefighters.
"I promised to spend my whole salary earned as a public official on public welfare," Lee told reporters. "My plan to donate the presidential salary to the underprivileged is an extension of that promise."
The news agency did not say how much the president earns in a year.
During the election campaign, Lee, 66, vowed to donate his entire personal fortune of more than 30 billion won ($30.2 million) to the poor. He said at the time he would keep only a retirement house in Seoul."
Some Tmack vids
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=UL3FVO1F
Terence McKenna - Seeking The Stone part1.avi (240.83 MB)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=LN2VPDHK
Terence McKenna - Seeking The Stone part2.avi (111.68 MB)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=2HCYVXJO
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=GZPOD1N0
The World And Its Double part2.avi (92.76 MB)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=3SA9FKKU
Alien Dreamtime.avi (193.06 MB)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=ECE9S1TH
Timewave Zero.avi (79.09 MB)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=4TY51LUA
Experiment At Petlauma.avi (78.25 MB)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=28FOOWKG
Mobile phones more dangerous than smoking or absbestos?
The study, by Dr Vini Khurana, is the most devastating indictment yet published of the health risks.
It draws on growing evidence – exclusively reported in the IoS in October – that using handsets for 10 years or more can double the risk of brain cancer. Cancers take at least a decade to develop, invalidating official safety assurances based on earlier studies which included few, if any, people who had used the phones for that long....
Is anyone else feeling crazy anxious about something? I can't shake it...feelings like this used to happen every three weeks or so, now its every three days or more.
It's not so much about the literal things like this either, its what signs they point to...We might look to the Nordic Banks for nationlization plans, the Pentagon is having to do an inventory on our nukes, there's a rice crisis in Asia, seed bank, GMO's...
I am finding myself a little bit entangled in my own prophecy scenario right now (for any who have read 2012)
Please check out my Terence Mckenna/Rena Jones if you have time because it presents what i am saying in a much more coherent way that i am incapable of right now..http://www.sendspace.com/file/9fbirp
Gandhi's 7 deadly sins
modified from Catholicism's meanie rigid list....
"wealth without work,
pleasure without conscious,
science without humanity,
knowledge without character,
politics without principle,
commerce without morality,
worship without sacrifice."
--M.K.G
Sunday, March 30, 2008
When most people witness a dance club at full throttle they see a seething mass of people, dazzling lights and feel the pound of the music. When Stef and Alijd do the same they see energy expenditure and ways to save it. When the duo met - the former the founder of Enviu, a Dutch not-for-profit organisation that aims to give access to market for eco design products, the latter head of research and development at Dutch architects Doll - they were looking for a practical means of bringing sustainability issues to young people.
One challenge, they saw, was to made clubbing eco-friendly - a challenge because, as puts it, "it is the one place above all where you'd be forced to make sustainability sexy. Clubs are about fun, flirtation, 'cool' and, with what is still a strong treehugger image, it's hard to think about sustainability in the same terms. And yet dance clubs have enormous environmental impact."
Indeed, research conducted by Enviu calculated that an average- size club, open three nights a week, consumes 150 times the energy a four-person family does in a year. So they set about developing designs that would change that. "There's a need in clubbing for a new layer of experience and sustainability could be that," suggests . "Clubbing is very consumerist. It's perhaps the ultimate consumerist activity. So I think the time is right for it to make changes."
The partnership is well placed. Rotterdam, where the two companies are based, already has a very pro-green clubbing scene. One of the city's more popular art space/clubs is Worm, which operates what its founder Mike describes as a 90 per cent recycled "plug and play" construction system that allows the venue to be erected in disused buildings: the walls are made from estate agents' boards, the toilets from oil drums, the seating in its cinema space is made from reclaimed car seats.
But Enviu/Doll plan to take eco-clubbing to a new level. The collaboration has resulted in a number of systems, currently in development, that could minimise the footprint of clubbing. Some of the technology is already available but has yet to be applied to clubs. For example, the principles of acoustic design are based around the same as those applied to Roman amphitheatres, where the sound is encouraged to bounce off surfaces, thus allowing music to be played at a considerably reduced volume (and requiring a lower amplification wattage). Less ancient, but no less innovative, the lighting uses the same LED technology found in car tail-lights. Enviu/Doll have also developed their own systems. They have proposed, for instance, a "Relax Roof ", utilising the roof space of clubs to provide an area to smoke in (well, this is Holland) and which also incorporates small tubes in which to collect rain water, which is then heated by sunlight to provide warm water to the wash basins within the club below.
"But it's not just about architecture and design," suggests . "The key is to utilise the interaction of clubbers with the environment. I love dancing and know that in the clubbing community you're forced to try to connect sustainability to self-interest and playfulness, somehow. I think the best way to do that is to make them part of the solution."
Indeed, the cleverest ideas re-channel the latent energy expended as a product of clubbing's main activity: dancing. Certainly, rainwater is not the only source of water. As point out, one thing clubbers do a lot of is sweat. Loaded with warm perspiration, the air rises, where it is sucked out of the space, passed through a cooling chamber where it condenses and can then be used to flush the lavatories.
Most inventive of all is the development of a dance floor that converts the movement of clubbers on it into electricity. The first prototype floor, which will be completed next month and made available this summer, uses a simple electro-mechanical system where dancers squeeze a surface membrane in the floor which works a flywheel to generate voltage, which is then fed back into the system to light the dance floor up. Enviu/Doll are working on boosting the floor so that surplus electricity can then contribute to powering the sound system, lighting or air conditioning. The harder the clubbers are dancing, the higher the rate at which the air con will operate. The floor, which will initially launch as a modular system to encourage club promoters to invest in it (they will be able to transport it between venues), moves very slightly during the process, "but it feels pretty good", says . "We've tested our models in the office."
Other systems have been examined - ones that require dancers to step on buttons or that use vibration, for instance (so that sound waves also contribute to the electricity generation). A later version of dance floor under consideration may use the new technology of piezoelectricity - a system that uses crystals which, when placed under pressure, give off a small voltage. For the moment this technology is prohibitively expensive and loses efficiency unless you can predict where those dancing feet will fall (Nike has developed a running shoe that works using the same principle because the heel strike with every step is consistent), though the commercial potential of Enviu/Doll's idea - which could equally be used for the floors of gyms, airports or anywhere where there is a high footfall - is considerable.
The Sustainable Dance Club, as Enviu/Doll are calling the project, has even tested a permeable substance that could be used to separate the men's and women's toilets. If someone has taken your fancy, you can post them a note in a bottle through the spongy 'Flirt Wall'. "A bottle becomes a trophy - the more bottles you have at the end of the evening, the better you've done," says , your score being totted up at the in-club recycling point. "Admittedly, that's one of the crazier ideas. But the point is that clubbing has to remain a fun experience. You can't start telling people it's wrong, that they're using so much electricity or water enjoying themselves."
is convinced that once the notion of green clubbing catches on demand for it will spread quickly. Inspiring interest in the short term, however, has been a slow process. Late last year, Enviu/Doll hosted Critical Mass, their first Sustainable Dance Club evening, in Rotterdam, to present their plans and trial a few of the ideas - including the LED lights, rainwater-flushing toilets and even a system that purified urine into drinking water. The beer must have sold well that night, but the presentation received a warm reaction from 1,400 clubbers. A second event using their modular system will happen this summer, with it likely to be spotted on the European festival circuit.
More problematic has been persuading club promoters to take up the Sustainable Dance Club's ideas. Large clubs may be owned by breweries with their own agenda - selling bio-beer typically not being among them - or corporate organisations slow to change. Even though a fully sustainable club would offer savings of up to 60 per cent of normal running costs, "most small club promoters have a short-term vision of managing finances," says . "Clubs often have a short lifespan, so the willingness to invest in environmental design is not high. They also need to get used to the idea that clubbing and sustainability can go together and that's it's not a gimmick."
Perhaps it is the gimmick that will finally see the launch of the first club in which all of Enviu's and Doll's ideas are put in place. and point out the marketing potential in being the world's first fully sustainable club.
And indeed, the local government of the city of Rotterdam, which recently joined the Clinton Climate Initiative and is pioneering in its attitude to green issues, has expressed serious interest in financing the first such club, to open next year. Word is travelling fast: the sustainable dance club team is also meeting with club promoters from Milan, New York and Melbourne. Don-gen and see the sustainable club format as being standard within a decade as the club generation becomes the leading edge of the push for environmental action in all areas
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Music posting blog
The Importance of Being Idle
Cos the land, it dont pay me
I begged my landlord for some more time
He said son, the bills waiting
My best friend called me the other night
He said man, are you crazy?
My girlfriend told me to get a life
She said boy are you lazy
But I dont mind
As long as theres a bed beneath the stars that shine
I'll be fine
If you give me a minute
A man's got a limit
I can't get a life if my heart's not in it
Oasis