Was reading and seeing videos of US visits to the African continent to intimidate them to adhere to the sanctions imposed on Russia or else. And also read about how the US is stealing the oil from Syria. Just unbelievable. The US calls itself the policeman of the world. But the kind of policeman it has become is the one portrayed in the film The Godfather. Corrupt to the core. And most importantly, where is the American citizens on this? Too busy with pot, porn and sports? The new American pastime?

Posted by: Jose Garcia | Aug 11 2022 13:39 utc | 3

An example of real environmentalist thought:
The Secret Life of Leftovers

I have worked in restaurants, lived on sustenance homesteads, volunteered for aquaponics and permaculture farms, and harvested at food forests from Hawaii to Texas. I invariably come home with a crate of spare cuttings and leftovers that no one else wants. My pockets are often full of uneaten complimentary bread.
This is possible because I live in a country where 30 to 40 percent of food produced is never eaten, where the average family throws out $1,500 worth of food every year, and where a typical restaurant discards about a half-pound of food per meal.
…
The upsides of today’s food systems go beyond mere abundance. Advocates of localism may have a point about eating food farm-to-table. But oh, how my heart soars when I go to H-Mart in suburban Cary, North Carolina and buy a crisp Asian pear in the dead of winter! One bite and I’m back in my earliest childhood memories in the markets of Singapore. The uniquely diverse American populace yearns for an equally diverse food selection. Every time we set foot in today’s average grocery chain, we access a selection of foods our grandparents could never have dreamed of. The expectation that society would willingly trade this for more eco-conscious agricultural pipelines is, well, a pipe dream.
And in any case, the food system is not solely responsible for our society’s food-waste problem. Production, manufacturing, and distribution account for only about half of all food waste. The rest is from all of us — food tossed in the garbage bin at the consumer level. This translates to 290 pounds per person per year, a fifth of all food produced, equivalent to about one percent of America’s GDP.
…
When we look at it this way, the term “food waste” is evidence of a culture of profuse excess, where we have no other words to explain where the missing third of our food disappeared to between farm and table.

Much of the article is about literally finding and using “food waste”.
It doesn’t directly address the processing aspect, which I believe is a major part of the problem as well.
And when I say processing, I don’t mean refined sugar type processing – I mean the nice grocery store and foodie specialty processing.
Some examples: prior to the recent avian flu epidemic in the US (and COVID), there was an enormous price disparity between different parts of a chicken.
You could buy a whole chicken for $0.49 a pound even in San Francisco. Drumsticks or thighs, $0.79 to $0.99. Chicken breasts for $1.99. But wings were $3.99 and very rarely went on sale.
This is almost certainly because wings are in high demand in restaurants – there are entire chains built around serving chicken wings. This is validated because COVID effects on restaurants changed the dynamic completely, at least for a time.
Another example is beef. During COVID, a butcher told me that the $1.99/lb value pack, 4 pound+ package of ground beef that was displayed was literally ground up steaks. Customers weren’t buying the steaks so they ground them up and put them on sale for literally 1/8th the price. I personally buy value packs of untrimmed tri-tip. A trimmed single tri-tip is $16 a pound these days; the same store has had at least 4 sales this year so far where 2-packs of untrimmed tri-tip would sell for $3.88 a pound.
Yes, it is significant work to trim although the result is better than the store trimming, but tri-tip, cubed into 1 inch, is excellent for ghoulash, Chinese beef noodle soups, or even a plain stir-fry with some onion, vegetables and Worcestshire or vinegar, pepper and salt. The cubed tri-tip can be put in sandwich baggies and frozen as well.
The ongoing attempts to sell food “subscriptions” – even more highly processed packages to “just need cooking” is the logical extension of the already significant processing that goes on today.
To me, cooking is more about taking something and making it taste good – as opposed to taking the finest ingredients and turning them into some kind of artsy fartsy, solid equivalent of wine tasting. The trimmings I get from tri-tip or whole pork loins, for example, I boil down to tallow which is great both to replace vegetable oils and to lend “umami” body to non-meat based dishes.
I do recognize that not everyone has the time or interest to do these things, but it is a distraction to focus on the egregious examples of restaurant waste (foodie) and retailer waste (legal liability, sellability, operational friction) when a very significant part of the overall problem is simply the way most 1st world people consume food, even at home.

Posted by: c1ue | Aug 11 2022 13:57 utc | 5

“So $400 to her name but waited 7 months to decide to abort?.” c1ue@2
After reading that again are you not thoroughly ashamed of the way that your mind works?

Posted by: bevin | Aug 11 2022 14:09 utc | 7

“It is cynical to use war as a way of beefing up chances of winning an election. This is exactly what Israel’s leader Lapid did in Israel’s latest aggression on the besieged Gaza strip. Two hard facts define what this war sought to achieve. First, it wanted to tug at the unity of the Palestinian resistance. Second, and equally disparaging, the international community went into silent mode. There was not an ounce of protest from the western world which so liberally, otherwise, pontificates about international law and human rights when it suits them. The message is patently clear – Palestinians lives don’t really matter. There is consistent hypocrisy on matters of war and peace from western quarters. It is clear that Palestinians will have to fend for themselves and not rely on the major political blocs or even the so-called emerging economies to act. It will have to be the grassroots, whether in the West or in the Global South, that will have to lead and support the resistance…
https://countercurrents.org/2022/08/gaza-war-as-an-election-tactic/
David Hearst adds to the perspective as Israel, with the enthusiastic support of NATO and the US kills children to win seats in the Knesset
https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/israel-palestine-west-enabling-orgy-violence-how
And here are some of the kids our governments might as well have eaten after they butchered them.
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israel-palestine-gaza-names-faces-children-killed-bombardment

Posted by: bevin | Aug 11 2022 14:23 utc | 9

c1ue@5:
Great post and it sounds like you could put together a nice food blog!

Posted by: morongobill | Aug 11 2022 14:41 utc | 11

The primary bias [?] is that I[PCC] only mission is to demonstrate a single [?] theory [sic] : demonstrate human beings responsibility in climate change -without investigation any other [?] potential theory [sic]
Would any barfly disagree with the above ?
Posted by: Daniel | Aug 11 2022 13:39 utc | 4
I am not a “barfly,” but I detect a few implausible assumptions expressed in the proposition, IPCC’s “only mission” demonstrates:
(1) statistical bias absent references to data selection, collection methods, and sampling error
(2) no null hypothesis (std deviation over time) is testable
(3) a testable alternative hypothesis (std deviation over time) requires alternative experimental design and apparatus

Posted by: sln2002 | Aug 11 2022 15:02 utc | 13

Thanks, c1ue | Aug 11 2022 13:31 utc | 1 for the turning of the soil conclusion.
It really only makes common sense as when you think of it, not doing so keeps any organic matter out of reach of the organisms below, so that a crust can form and heat be generated within that top layer that isn’t conducive to root filament survival. That’s been my experience if I’ve left a layer of decaying leaves up top, particularly with the intensity of the sun this summer.
Much better is to leave a layer over winter, then dig it in early so worms can easily work on decaying leaves, leaving only a light mulch up top, if that. I know that goes against the ‘Ruth Stout’ method but this year I’ve only kept a thick layer over where I try to grow potatoes. Even the latter hasn’t been very successful, so next year it all gets tilled. (In my tiny space it is all necessarily done by hand, incorporating as much organic matter as possible.)

Posted by: juliania | Aug 11 2022 15:10 utc | 15

Other advice would be that in small spaces container growing is optimal for tomatoes and squash. And the latter have done better for me when seeded directly into the tubs early rather than trying to do early starts indoors. Easier that way also!
And even getting started so early with my snow peas, the heat came on before they bloomed though they grew happily all winter. I’ll try them seeding in now, see if that brings them on to bloom earlier when it’s still cold.
Still learning, after many years trying and last job working in a plant nursery. If anyone has a good solution for white fly, I’d appreciate – garlic powder tends to gum up my sprayer, but a light dish detergent solution works for tomato plants, though dont want to put that on the edible greens. It’s been good to have the latter in half milk cartons, bottom corners cut, sparingly seeded.

Posted by: juliania | Aug 11 2022 15:18 utc | 17

I am not a “barfly,”
Posted by: sln2002 | Aug 11 2022 15:02 utc | 13
Umm, did you miss the header on main page? “Where Barflies Get Together”
Anyone posting here is one; barfly that is.

Posted by: Sakineh Bagoom | Aug 11 2022 15:35 utc | 19

the summaries are written by politicians and corporate whores. those are the fucking activists who minimize the conclusions to make them more palatable to the corporate whores in Washington

Posted by: pretzelattack | Aug 11 2022 15:49 utc | 21

William Gruff @16–
When I had my first heart attack, I told the EMTs I didn’t want to be taken to the hospital because I had no insurance and was “working” as an unpaid caregiver to my Alzheimer’s afflicted mother–How was I going to pay?!? They explained to me that I was eligible for the Oregon Health Plan (OHP), which would cover all my expenses. That was great news to me as I had no idea such a plan existed. I was then whisked away to a major hospital and had two stents implanted. Before then (2016), I hadn’t had a physical since 1993 when I was living in Hawaii and was able to obtain employer mandated insurance. Caregiving stress combined with hypertension and lack of exercise were determined to be the cause. But OHP is a big reason why I’m still ticking, although I graduated from it to my wife’s plan when I turned 65. Some states have ethics and provide, others are immoral and don’t care. I’ve lived in both types. I knew Hawaii was of the first type which is specifically why I moved back–for my health.
One way to cull the poor is to withhold live-saving assistance, be it providers, clinics or means to pay for services, or to withhold advice for known low-cost treatment of a virus like Covid. Within the Outlaw US Empire, the Nanny-State suffocates those it’s supposed to care for.

Posted by: karlof1 | Aug 11 2022 16:07 utc | 23

Yesterday, China issued its third White Paper on Taiwan and Reunification. I Linked to all three and several Global Times items and rolled them all into a short article readers can easily utilize and bookmark for future reference.

Posted by: karlof1 | Aug 11 2022 16:13 utc | 25

RT reports wishful thinking: “Russian oil output could plunge – IEA: EU import ban may result in a 20% drop in production, the International Energy Agency says.”
Note the use of the conditional “could” by the IEA, which is the EU’s energy agency. Within the short item we discover that “So far, Russia managed to successfully redirect its crude flows to Asia away from the EU, historically its biggest energy customer, with oil output steadily rising over the past several months and reaching nearly 10.8 million barrels a day in July.” With increased revenues, too. However, oil as an international commodity has long been recognized as fungible–all oil extraction goes into a global “pot” which is then shipped throughout the world, although there are specific weights/gravities for oil types. That’s the main reason why oil market experts have ridiculed the West for its idea that the price of Russia’s oil can be capped. The IEA statement reflects such wishful thinking. Currently, what was known as spare capacity no longer exists. What’s happening is the rate of depletion is now far greater than the rate of new discoveries of proven reserves, which is the technical definition of Peak Oil.
Russia’s statements say that the price of $40/bbl is what’s required for its budgetary goals to be met. All revenue beyond that generated by higher prices goes into savings or provides additional funding for National Projects, which is where the SMO is categorized. Gas revenues are a somewhat different matter but get treated the same. As for non-EU markets, the Global South can use all the energy supplies it can get to further its development. It’s ironic the former Imperialist nations’s cutting their throats will benefit those nations they bled as their Colonies. As is well known, Russia is selling its oil at steep discounts to the global market price throughout the Global South, especially Africa. And as commerce moves to payments in national currencies, that trade volume will increase and easily displace any losses from the EU market, thus sinking the wishful IEA/EU thinking.

Posted by: karlof1 | Aug 11 2022 16:55 utc | 27

@bevin #7
Tell me which part of my question I should be ashamed of.
7 months means the girl in question was showing physical signs for multiple months.
I have stated clearly before that I have no objection to the general practice of abortion, but I grow ever more extremely uncomfortable with elective abortion as the embryo grows into a fetus. 7 months is pretty damn fetus-y.
So if you think I should be ashamed because I am not pro-abortion all the time, no matter what, “my body, my choice” – Nope. Sorry.
“My Body My Choice” died the instant vaccine mandates were pushed on everyone, and it is not inaccurate to say that very late stage abortions bear very close resemblence to murder.
I don’t believe that I should make the determination of when, however, which is why that choice can and should be deferred to the ugly sausage making of state law.
Don’t like the 20 week limit for elective abortions, which is the law of the land (pre-existing Roe v. Wade overturning) in Nebraska? Which is also actually roughly around where most of the 1st world including Europe has the same limits?
Go change the law.

Posted by: c1ue | Aug 11 2022 18:34 utc | 29

@Debsisdead #12
So worshipper of failure Eugene Debs is again ad hominem attacking me for daring to question the high religion of climate change?
And recycling the same stupid play on my screen name – which I have repeatedly noted is totally off base but literally makes me grin every time I see another dumb fuck do it. It is a rhetorical trap which is continued to work for literally 30+ years. LOL.
Nor am I the least bit impressed with your not-even-original attacks – that’s the problem with you sheeple – you can’t even muster up originality when attacking people you disagree with. It is all about repeating the same lame bullshit that you circulate amongst yourselves in your Twitter and email bubbles. I don’t even get the marginal entertainment value of seeing a really incisive comeback.
Whether this is because of Excess Intellectual Song dynasty syndrome, sheer lack of ability, inability to deal with different or opposing viewpoints, insufficient grounding in either reality or actual scientific/engineering work – not for me to say.
I still await factual and/or logical responses to what I post.
The silence is deafening.

Posted by: c1ue | Aug 11 2022 18:42 utc | 31

Some good advice from Juliania. Tomatoes and snow peas (any bean pod type thing really) are a great start for a small garden, they grow easily and produce quickly. If you think you can’t grow anything, try tomatoes!
How many of those arguing about climate stuff actually disagree on any of the following?
1. Humans have a negative impact on the environment.
2. Humans are bad at predicting the weather.
3. Think tanks are biased by definition.
4. Renewables are currently useful as supplementary supply only.
All the details are noise to keep the overton window away from:
5. Humans need to use less energy.

Posted by: Rae | Aug 11 2022 18:48 utc | 33

@Rae #33
You forgot #6
6. Only the deplorables and the un-merited (i.e. the poor) will suffer from energy consumption reduction. The important, merit people can still fly around in private jets.

Posted by: c1ue | Aug 11 2022 18:54 utc | 35

Rae @33
Nah, humans need to use more energy. Lots and lots more energy. We just have to stop getting that energy from dino fossils and supernova ash, and to get industrial quantities of juice elsewhere requires some thinking outside the box… indeed, thinking outside the planet’s atmosphere altogether.
Don’t worry if you cannot wrap your head around that. The Chinese will be taking care of it.

Posted by: William Gruff | Aug 11 2022 19:22 utc | 37

Posted by: Stonebird | Aug 11 2022 18:02 utc | 28
Great point! How many times have we seen that with businesses sourcing their own raw materials to negate/offset the often exorbitant franchise costs…
Posted by: karlof1 | Aug 11 2022 16:55 utc | 27
Good one too! Imperialist chickens coming home to roost at the hands of previously subjugated colonies – good for them! And threats of sanctions for not toeing the line will only drive them further away – and rightly so!
“I love the smell of [supply options] in the morning, smells like Victory!”

Posted by: xLemming | Aug 11 2022 19:32 utc | 39

Rae @38
Nope, we’re talking here about getting the energy from the same place as most of the energy we’re using is coming from now, just a little closer to the source.
As I said, you needn’t worry about the details as the Chinese will be taking care of those.
And yes, as a particular wise guy who could see a bit further than most once said, “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic”.
You can call it magic. Chinese kids will just call it awesome.

Posted by: William Gruff | Aug 11 2022 19:44 utc | 41

Posted by: Jose Garcia | Aug 11 2022 13:39 utc | 3
We’re here, and some of us are even perfectly aware of what’s going on, but any control we have over the gangsters running the show is purely illusory.

Posted by: Planner | Aug 11 2022 19:56 utc | 43

Rae | Aug 11 2022 19:45 utc | 42
The book of changes is very practical and was said to have been used by the Chinese Government until quite recently.
The “method” is that you create a hexagram by either throwing small sticks (or three pieces of money) six times. Each time you think through your question again and again. The clearer the better. Because, if you have a clear question you also have a large part of the answer hidden within it. Thinking eliminates the unnecessary bits. The Book of changes then acts as a foil and gives you (normally) several possibilies. Rather like a friend or a barfly would. (It can scold too).
Sometimes the answer is more accurate than mere chance would suggest, which is where it gets it’s reputation from.
It is therefore a mental aid to take decisions or see what the world holds
for you personally. The viewpoint becomes one “from outside” yourself.
The basic concept is that everything changes, probably into it’s opposite, so change MUST be taken into account in lifes little contretemps.
Nothing lasts forever.

Posted by: Stonebird | Aug 11 2022 20:14 utc | 45

So much meaningless mulching of climate opinions in here. It’s hard for me to understand why popular opinion about Geoscience matters to anyone, on a couple of levels:
(1) Popular opinion only matters to the degree there’s some vestigial footpath, somewhere, of a route for democratic influence to follow — whereas the situation in USA is so completely divorced from any possibility of democratic suasion. Were we to elect a Congress chock-full of climate activists, our Supreme Court would instantly trash any measure they disapprove of, on the thinnest conceivable pretext of constitutional balderdash. Stick a fork in this polity; it’s done.
(2) Popular action only matters to the degree it makes any difference in the face of countless geophysical catastrophes staring humanity in the face, with the imminent collapse of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet only for starters. That old fire-next-time threat (from a sadistic God) materializes today in France, for instance, where they’ve experienced a severe shortage, historically, of American Indians to take good care of the forest.
Each Summer and early Fall, the entire northern planet veers further into hemispheric heatwave territory. Despite disastrous flash floods, our more absorbent atmosphere consistently scrubs away more moisture, producing hemispheric drought. Anyone who doubts that planet Earth will have the last word on who eats and who doesn’t should get an update on the north of Italy: the permanently dessicated, poor Po Valley.

Posted by: Aleph_Null | Aug 11 2022 20:31 utc | 47

X_lemming @ #44.
(woodgas generators for automobiles)
That will work. Circa 1940, WWII era, they were common in Oz, I’m told.
Wikipedia has an entry with pics and photos.

Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Aug 11 2022 20:55 utc | 49

xLemming @44: “…us 1st worlders do need to return to basics…”
I’ve been on the lookout for a suitable cave to downsize to and found a couple passable prospects, but the cave bear pelt loincloth is going to be difficult to arrange. I suppose I could just use a deer hide but that doesn’t strike me as being quite authentic enough for real “back to basics” living.
I have wondered, though, if there are enough caves for all of the “Golden Billion” to get back to their roots in. Perhaps you would want to go further back to even more basic living and set up residence in trees? Might want to wait a bit until we get genetic engineering advanced to the point where we can equip ourselves with prehensile tails. That would make “tree life” feel even more natural! Anyway, I am sure we can come up with a billion trees for the “Golden Billion” to laze their days away in.

Posted by: William Gruff | Aug 11 2022 21:21 utc | 51

Stonebird @45–
I had an outstanding Prof of Humanities at NAU named Bensusan who passed away unexpectedly 18 months after I left which was a great loss. He invented a method of learning called the Hexadigm, some of which is based on the Book of Changes. Deep in my archives are the materials from the classes I took that someday at VK I’ll get around to writing about.
///////
Rae who’s confused about Chinese History and its revolutions. For our times, the several mid-19th Century, the 1911 Revolution, and the Cultural Revolution are the most important for they clearly affect today’s situation; so, I suggest you concentrate on them. The KMT-CPC Civil War I don’t classify as a Revolution. It’s agreed by most that John King Fairbank is the best modern non-Chinese scholar of China, and his list of works is beyond impressive making it hard to know which one to choose. I highly suggest clicking the following link, joining The Archive, and checking out The Great Chinese revolution, 1800-1985, and reading beginning with the Preface. Immediately you’ll note Fairbank isn’t your usual PhD. Given the time period covered, the book is short. Or you could go to alibris, search using the author or title and buy a copy for under $1.50 plus shipping and start reading it in @10 days. Prior to the Contents, you’ll see a page listing some of his other works four of which are volumes 10-13 of The Cambridge History of China.
A lot of crap’s been published about China, so who you read is extremely important. I also suggest reading the White Papers and articles I compiled and linked to @25 above.

Posted by: karlof1 | Aug 11 2022 22:22 utc | 53

I have no real interest in finding out more but from what little is said here so far the following has to be said.
7 months? Months? Was the baby killing her right there and then? Otherwise is there anywhere at all on the planet where that isn’t extremely illegal?
If 7 months is true then why are you people not focusing on that?
Not many people (let alone surgeons) would be willing to kill, dismember (if not caesarean), and then remove a 7 month old fetus unless there was an extraordinary danger to the mother’s life.
7 months means the procedure is extremely invasive and dangerous and traumatic in itself. A procedure which is already very ugly after a three or four weeks.
If there were no highly unusual circumstances any trial should involve quite a lot more people than the mother.
Either 7 months is a mistake or people need to take a very long and very hard look at themselves.

Posted by: Sunny Runny Burger | Aug 11 2022 22:42 utc | 55

@c1ue was on a beautiful tear up thread. I don’t agree with it all but all worthy discussions, especially food waste. I lived in urban S. Korea and one of my favorite things was that you segregated your food waste. Didn’t matter what kind of food, meat and grease were fine. That went into 55gal drums next to the dumpster, which the pig farmers came and swapped out. So you could go to a restaurant, sit down to a delicious pork dinner knowing that the pig was probably fed with garbage. Brilliant, efficient, elegant.
I think the no-till is a more complicated thing. First, I’ve never heard an advocate for it point to carbon sequestration as the primary benefit. Second, I’ve never been able to envision it as a method of large and very large scale agriculture. It is, however, the best way for home gardeners and probably market farm scale. It also solves a lot of structural soil issues (which isn’t normally going to be an issue with prime agricultural land). Third, I think the study might be missing something. Just because there isn’t as much CO2 in the soil as expected doesn’t mean there isn’t all the carbon and oxygen. Soil biota breaks down molecular chains for useful applications. The whole point of no-till is maximizing biological activity.
I’ve read that lithium leach fields are really no different than evaporating salt, and lithium isn’t terribly dangerous so I’m not 100% sold on that post. But it’s foolish to think that battery cares don’t have an environmental cost, likely significant.

Posted by: Lex | Aug 11 2022 22:54 utc | 57

@uncletungsten, yes. I have very sandy soil in my garden area and switched to full no-till, chop and drop. Each fall I top dress, sometimes right over the mulch layer, sometimes I pull it back. Cover crop, which just gets chopped and dropped on top the mulch. I rarely pull weeds, chop and drop. Gave up rows and just plant in spaces. I use greens as a semi-cover crop. Chop and drop what I don’t eat or is in the way.
I’ve hardened successfully for a pretty long time and have worked commercial horticulture. I tried this 3 years ago because of leaching and poor water retention in the sandy soil. I’ve never had better, healthier, more productive vegetable gardens. Rarely see pest pressure either because there’s so much other activity that the pests have predators.
We’re all just eating the sun. Burning it in our cars too.

Posted by: Lex | Aug 11 2022 23:05 utc | 59

I think some maintenance is required for optimal results. I even ran an irrigation line within each row, in case of long spells of no rain
Posted by: xLemming | Aug 11 2022 18:38 utc | 30
I’ve done that as well, xLemming – have a rainbarrel under the canale (downspout) that is hooked up to a lengthy soaker hose so any rain goes through the garden from that underground into the soil. The rainbarrel is up on cement blocks. I don’t have a drip set up yet, was reluctant to do that with rather delicate home plumbing, but it’s a good project to save water however that’s practical for you. Good project for when we’re not saving the world.

Posted by: juliania | Aug 11 2022 23:27 utc | 61

Well, well, well; we still wait for evidence that the United States assassinated Ayman al-Zawahiri. There’s a 99% chance the story was completely fabricated for political purposes, just like in the cases of the “assassination” of Osama bin Laden (who died a remarkable 5 times over the course of 20 years) and the attacks of September 11, 2001 (which were a combined intelligence operation run by the Central Intelligence Agency, رئاسة الاستخبارات العامة, and המוסד למודיעין ולתפקידים מיוחדים).

Posted by: Ed | Aug 12 2022 0:13 utc | 63

And most importantly, where is the American citizens on this? Too busy with pot, porn and sports? The new American pastime?
Posted by: Jose Garcia | Aug 11 2022 13:39 utc | 3
I am a senior citizen. Even with pot and porn I spend a few hours of my day commenting on the State Department YT page. I am all over their FB, Twitter pages, their phone lines, their e-mail.
Perhaps your generation did January 6th … the little mall walk. My generation did Chicago, Kent State, surrounded the Capitol for days, scare the Pentagon with rumors of levitating it. Threatened to put acid in their water supply. We fought them in the streets, on the air, in the cinema. That’s where US citizens are at. What of you? Not a citizen? Just live here?

Posted by: Bones | Aug 12 2022 1:13 utc | 65

I’m glad your method works for you. It used to work for me also but it’s much hotter here now than it used to be – don’t get springtime temps at all so fall is my spring, can last till Thanksgiving storms come through.
Posted by: juliania | Aug 11 2022 23:15 utc | 60
Same conditions here. Right down to the hotter temps, no springtime at all, and waiting for winter rain which may be elusive. Regardless of what it said, it is hotter here in the Northern Sierra than it was 30 years ago.

Posted by: Mohandas Templeton | Aug 12 2022 1:33 utc | 67

So you thought the government of occupied Palestine couldn’t possibly sink any lower? Think again. And our governments who are so upset about the situation in Ukraine strangely don’t seem to give a rat’s ass about Palestinian civilians having their lives snuffed out. Not everybody has the right of self-defense, it appears.
https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/israel-palestine-west-enabling-orgy-violence-how
Israel clearly fired first not because a Palestinian militant group had reacted. But because it did not react. That is something of a first in this conflict…
There can be no clearer demonstration of the hollowness of western values than in their persistent, cynical and criminally responsible failure to bring Israel to book for its actions…
By giving Lapid the greenest of green lights to kill Palestinians at will, western leaders are sending an even more dangerous message to the next generation of Israeli leaders who are openly talking of killing Arabs come what may. They openly threaten Palestinians with another Nakba.
The “IRHA definition” posits that criticism of “Israel” equates to antisemitism, but somehow those who advocate this idiotic premise seem blind to how the deliberate conflation of Judaism with the supremacist ideology of zionism (e.g., “the state of the jewish people and them alone”) itself is what drives antisemitism. Or maybe they are just playing a horribly cynical game that is bound to end in disaster for all parties.

Posted by: farm ecologist | Aug 12 2022 1:34 utc | 69

Posted by: c1ue | Aug 11 2022 13:35 utc | 2
“So $400 to her name but waited 7 months to decide to abort?”
Being English I sometimes struggle with the the American language. May I ask you to explain precisely what you are saying?
Posted by: horseguards | Aug 11 2022 20:22 utc | 46
While I cannot vouch for the intending meaning, my impression is that c1ue is utterly amazed that a two-person family with the liquid assets of $400 does not include a smart, well organized person. Something more expected in a family with assets, say, $400,000.
But I could be wrong, perhaps the surprise was that a family with $400 liquid assets lacks foresight and organization to manage thinks faster, something less surprising for a family with 40, or 4 dollars.
Going further into possible meanings, a family with assets neatly divisible by 100 is expected to be smart and organized, unlike slovenly folks who have some crazy amount, say $382.57, and a larger part of it in a jar full of small change.

Posted by: Piotr Berman | Aug 12 2022 2:27 utc | 71

Re several comments on the 17 year-old aborting her child at 7 months:
—Even rural hospitals have neo-natal units; most babies born at 7 months gestation live long after birth.
—Pregnancy ends naturally, with a human being. Why wnd it prematurely? Don’t want the baby? Give it up for adoption. The child will thank you later.

Posted by: Ciaran | Aug 12 2022 3:33 utc | 73

I go to Xinhuanet everyday, scan the headlines and open what interests me. I have been watching their reporting of Covid numbers all along and, given the numbers I just read, China may now be impacted by a strain they cannot quarantine their populations against effectively.
It is sad to see because it means that the biolabs and military use biologist advocates are being successful in creating bio warfare that has transmission capabilities which overcome current isolation and quarantine capabilities.
China has the right to be pissed about empire aggression and this may spur on their efforts to bring the bully down before it causes more harm to our world.
I have not read if the infections in China are causing deaths or more mild flu symptoms…any reports from inside China?…thanks

Posted by: psychohistorian | Aug 12 2022 5:45 utc | 75

@Juliana w/various gardening posts;
Just a word to you Juliania, I followed your guidance for potato planting that you provided last winter/early spring.
I had tried to grow them a number of years prior and ended up with not much, just many spuds about the size of the tip of my thumb.
And my thumb is not that big. Now this year I have 100 plants up with dark green leaves reaching a height of 30″. They have
just flowered, something that has not happened in years past. I work hard on my mind every day not to dig any up yet as I will be
thoroughly disappointed if they are not much larger than before. They’re growing at almost 70 degrees north so I call it my ‘hopeful
potato patch’. I’ll let you know about my harvest in a few weeks. They are of the Mandel variety, great with butter and cod! Thank you.

Posted by: waynorinorway | Aug 12 2022 6:25 utc | 77

Masanobu Fukuoka who wrote Natural Farming went to the Sahara and planted trees using his method and soon it rained. Sepp Holzer, a permaculture pioneer has done similar things. He grows lemons high up in the Swiss Alps.
The world is filled with natural marvels…

Posted by: Scorpion | Aug 12 2022 6:52 utc | 79

@Melaleuca | Aug 12 2022 6:54 utc | 80
Maybe the Chinese could send a delegation to Pearl Harbor? That shouldn’t cause any issues?

Posted by: Norwegian | Aug 12 2022 8:36 utc | 81

@unimperator | Aug 12 2022 10:03 utc | 82
Submerging rather than emerging IMHO.

Posted by: Norwegian | Aug 12 2022 10:06 utc | 83

Posted by: Melaleuca | Aug 12 2022 1:11 utc | 64
That’s like industrial “organic” agriculture that still uses most of the ag chems and at most replaces herbicides with migrant laborers and propane weed burner.
To all on no-till soil drying. No till or minima till requires a thick mulch layer. A large proportion of soil biota activity occurs at the very top strata of soil and will die without moisture. No till never leaves exposed soil. That said, gardening is not an ideological activity. Never listen to anyone who claims to have the only way. All methods have to be considered in local context. And there is nothing scientifically wrong with using “chemical” inputs, if used sparingly, they do not kill soil biota. The key there is to use true mineral inputs when possible. So soft rock phosphate directly rather than a 0-20-0 liquid for example.

Posted by: Lex | Aug 12 2022 11:54 utc | 85

The Younger Dryas event 13 to 12 thousand years ago was almost certainly caused by a comet or asteroid strike at the 3000m thick Laurentide Ice Sheet covering present day Canada and places like Michigan USA.
Posted by: Norwegian | Aug 12 2022 6:40 utc | 78

I find the attribution of these events to a physical pole shift more satisfying, being that it would account for why the Laurentide Ice Sheet formed prior to the Younger Dryas event and yet hasn’t reformed over the millennia since. (I don’t have a link to an online discussion of this subject at hand, but I’ll look for one if any barflies express interest.)

Posted by: David Levin | Aug 12 2022 14:54 utc | 87

@ David Levin | Aug 12 2022 14:54 utc | 86

I find the attribution of these events to a physical pole shift more satisfying, being that it would account for why the Laurentide Ice Sheet formed prior to the Younger Dryas event and yet hasn’t reformed over the millennia since. (I don’t have a link to an online discussion of this subject at hand, but I’ll look for one if any barflies express interest.)

You need to come up with a plausible mechanism for any hypothesis. I presented both the mechanism and the verifiable evidence to support it.
As for ice ages forming, look up Milankovitch cycles. They are orbital cycles caused by gravitational interaction between the Sun and the planets. Also, check out precession, the Earths axis wobbles with a period of 26000 years, causing different insolation near the poles.

Posted by: Norwegian | Aug 12 2022 15:39 utc | 89

@William Gruff #37
Beamed power from orbit is indistinguishable from a weapon.
It will never happen prior to a unified world government.

Posted by: c1ue | Aug 12 2022 16:02 utc | 91

@horseguards #46
You asked:

Being English I sometimes struggle with the the American language. May I ask you to explain precisely what you are saying?

It isn’t a language issue, it is a chain of reasoning.
If the family does not have the will or the economic capability to support a baby – and this was the basis for the choice to abort – why did it take so long to arrive at the decision? Specifically, 2 months past the legal limit?
The abortion was conducted using off-brand pills imported from outside the US, as that medication is by prescription only, at the 28 week point – which is 7 months pregnant.

Posted by: c1ue | Aug 12 2022 16:08 utc | 93

@Lex #57
Lithium in its “normal” form is not dangerous; it is also not usable for batteries.
“Lithium” batteries as referred to in normal use – i.e. in cell phones and laptops etc – are actually lithium-ion. It is a form of lithium which is reactive.
You can make lithium batteries with the “normal” form, but they’re not rechargeable. The lithium administered to some people for mental health purposes is also the “normal” type.
So you are incorrect in equating a lithium(ion) leaching field with a salt concentration field.

Posted by: c1ue | Aug 12 2022 16:15 utc | 95

@Piotr Berman #71
Your argument is nonsensical.
A family that is already barely able to support themselves – it isn’t rocket science to decide whether or not they are willing or able to make the sacrifices to have a baby.
You are attempting to conflate education or world experience with capability to decide when the only real issue is the decision itself. There are plenty of people who decide to keep a baby regardless; there are plenty of people who decide not to even when they can.
The specific rationale doesn’t matter.

Posted by: c1ue | Aug 12 2022 16:18 utc | 97

William Gruff | Aug 11 2022 19:22 utc | 37
…to get industrial quantities of juice elsewhere requires some thinking outside the box… indeed, thinking outside the planet’s atmosphere altogether.
Don’t worry if you cannot wrap your head around that. The Chinese will be taking care of it
Well, the Chinese may well be taking care of it, but we know that interests have been investigating scalar-torsion technology for going on 100 years.
In fact, some believe that it’s already developed, been weaponized, and was put on display in Manhattan on 9/11.
Wrap your head around that!

Posted by: john | Aug 12 2022 17:09 utc | 99