Open (NOT Ukraine) Thread 2022-126
News & views NOT related to the Ukraine conflict ...
Posted by b on August 11, 2022 at 12:52 UTC | Permalink
next page »2-fer: abortion and FB giving up data on users
This is the data facebook gave police to prosecute a teenager for abortion
According to court records, Celeste Burgess, 17, and her mother, Jessica Burgess, bought medication called Pregnot designed to end pregnancy. Pregnot is a kit of mifepristone and misoprostol, which is often used to safely end pregnancy in the first trimester. In this case, Burgess was 28-weeks pregnant, which is later in pregnancy than mifepristone and misoprostol are recommended for use. It’s also later than Nebraska’s 20-week post-fertilization abortion ban, which makes allowances only if the pregnant person is at risk of death or "serious risk of substantial and irreversible physical impairment of a major bodily function." (Nebraska’s abortion laws have not changed since Roe v Wade was overturned)....
After taking the medication, according to court documents, Celeste gave birth to a stillborn fetus. She and her mother allegedly enlisted the help of a 22-year-old man to bury the fetus, and later discussed via Facebook DM burning it to dispose of it.
...
In a financial affidavit mother Jessica Burgess said she has a total of $400 to her name, and requested a public defender, writing that she’d lost her job “due to this situation.” (Burgess now seems to be represented by a private attorney.). Both women were arrested and held on a $10,000 bond, but jail records indicate they’ve been released.
So $400 to her name but waited 7 months to decide to abort?
And of course, FB coughs up all the communications...
Posted by: c1ue | Aug 11 2022 13:35 utc | 2
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
Climate change is an amazing topic, as the entire narrative is primarily based on IPCC reports which are biased many way.
The primary bias is that Ipcc only mission is to demonstrate a single way theory : demonstrate human beings responsibility in climate change -without investigation any other potential theory
Would any barfly disagree with the above ?
Posted by: Daniel | Aug 11 2022 13:39 utc | 4
An example of real environmentalist thought:
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
And most importantly, where is the American citizens on this?
Posted by: Jose Garcia | Aug 11 2022 13:39 utc | 3
—————
Good question. The Russian smo is slowly forcing more information to the American public. Secret biolabs, massive corruption centered on Hunter Biden etc. And spending billions to keep this covered up.
Posted by: financial matters | Aug 11 2022 13:59 utc | 6
"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
Funny news from the alternative reality behind the looking-glass - the Latvian Seimas has declared Russia(!) to be a sponsor of terrorism. (facepalm). It's funny to watch how the Americans, through their obsequious slaves, try out their own plans/intentions, while, as it were, remaining "unaffected".
Truly impenetrable idiocy has become an integral characteristic of the policies of a number of countries..
"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
@Daniel #4
IPCC does encapsulate credible research.
The real problem is that the actual research and results does not inform what goes into the Summaries.
The Summaries are clearly written by activists.
Yes, I agree that IPCC and its participants are absolutely not impartial with regards to their findings due to the financial nature of climate science, but I do not automatically agree that the climate scientists, overall are corrupt.
The economists, politicians, lawfare lawyers, consultants etc - different story.
Posted by: c1ue | Aug 11 2022 14:35 utc | 10
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
See clueless is going hard tonight never attempting to disprove global warming, always working to try & make any of the minor issues which a properly applied scientific method inevitably reveals, sufficient to raise doubt among those who have become too used to fossil fuel powered implements, to eschew their easy lives.
It's so obvious that is is pitiful really. 5 will get you 2 more that clueless is pulling down more $$'s from posting here than b. cops for all his MoA work.
Posted by: Debsisdead | Aug 11 2022 14:47 utc | 12
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
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
You got it ! Most of my countrymen are focused on themselves and pay no attention to what their politicians are doing. Watch the movie "Idiocracy". That is what America has become. We deserve a cold, hungry winter for allowing our Republic to come to this.
Posted by: ChuckInBama | Aug 11 2022 15:09 utc | 14
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
c1ue @ 2: ” So $400 to her name but waited 7 months to decide to abort?”
I am surprised that diehard capitalism fanbois can imagine medical procedures in the imperial heartlands being free.
Or perhaps you think the individual should have liquidated some of her enormous investment portfolio to cover the bill.
Can you really not imagine people putting off healthcare because they simply don’t have the money? I suppose that when people are hungry and have no bread your recommendation is for them to eat cake instead, right?
Posted by: William Gruff | Aug 11 2022 15:11 utc | 16
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
Final thought - I'll try planting the teeny garlic corms we get in with the dwarf kale, see if that discourages the white fly. Garlic chives might work as well.
Posted by: juliania | Aug 11 2022 15:21 utc | 18
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
Posted by: sln2002 | Aug 11 2022 15:02 utc | 13
total horseshit mr internet scientist. really every bit of it. now tell me about the ghost of kiev, cause that is on the same level of propaganda.
Posted by: pretzelattack | Aug 11 2022 15:44 utc | 20
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
Posted by: c1ue | Aug 11 2022 13:31 utc | 1
oh so the science worked then. when is that goddamned whore anthony watts going to resign from spewing propaganda, as he said he would do if the BEST study, conducted by so called skeptical scientists, revealed that the science was SURPRISE SHOCK sound.
Posted by: pretzelattack | Aug 11 2022 15:51 utc | 22
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.
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.
@Daniel | Aug 11 2022 13:39 utc | 4
The primary bias is that Ipcc only mission is to demonstrate a single way theory : demonstrate human beings responsibility in climate change -without investigation any other potential theoryIt was written explicitly in the original IPCC mission statement, so there is no point in disagreeing.
Would any barfly disagree with the above ?
Posted by: Norwegian | Aug 11 2022 16:20 utc | 26
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.
karlof1 | Aug 11 2022 16:55 utc | 27
"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".
It is also a slightly sneaky way to de-dollarize the oil transactions, and thus the dollar itself. Why buy more expensive oil in dollars and be insulted and instructed to toe the US line, when you can go your own way more profitably?
Posted by: Stonebird | Aug 11 2022 18:02 utc | 28
@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
Posted by: juliania | Aug 11 2022 15:10 utc | 15
Thanks for that (and c1ue too)
I got some RuthStout rows of potatoes on the go this season as well (1st time)
And although I will be adding more rows before winter so they can "season", I will take your advice and till those rows before planting next spring.
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
@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
@William Gruff #16
Nebraska doesn't prohibit abortions, and someone with $400 to their name gets free health care.
Furthermore, the medicine used costs under $20.
Yes, it takes time to ship in from India, but it doesn't take 3 months.
So no, I can't say that I see a lot of reason why the abortion decision was taken so late.
As I noted above, even most European countries have a 20 week limit on elective abortions.
Posted by: c1ue | Aug 11 2022 18:48 utc | 32
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
@pretzelattack #22
The science is so sound that they have changed the models hotter, then colder, then hotter again 3 times just since 1985.
The science is so sound that they still cannot get all but one (of 40) of their GCM model projections used in their scary graphs to center around actual temperatures.
Climate science is literally educated people, blindly following a handful of mostly avowed activists.
Posted by: c1ue | Aug 11 2022 18:53 utc | 34
@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
The following paragraph concludes Caitlin Johnstone's interrogation of ideas about freedom, arising from a silly Times of London piece, concocting the all-time epic clash of civilizations: Lady Gaga versus China...
As a whole we are marching in perfect accordance with the will of our masters: voting how they like, thinking how they like, speaking how they like, working how they like, shopping how they like, and living how they like. It is only the power-serving narratives put in our minds by our education systems and our media which tell us we are free. And it is only those power-serving narratives which have trained us to look down our noses at people in nations like China.
Possibly Johnstone and I are fundamentally misanthropic. I'm losing faith that ordinary folks have sufficient energy for the application of due diligence to their own hard-wired assumptions. Therefore whatever our problems be, they be irremediable. My favorite bumber sticker says Don't believe everything you think! Maybe 99.99% of US Americans wouldn't momentarily question that USA has always stood for universal freedom. They think what they think, and that's the end of it. The end of us. Oh well.
Posted by: Aleph_Null | Aug 11 2022 18:55 utc | 36
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
Seems like wishful thinking to me Gruff - just assuming humans can magic more stuff from somewhere.
Posted by: Rae | Aug 11 2022 19:27 utc | 38
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
c1ue @ 2: ” So $400 to her name but waited 7 months to decide to abort?”
Celeste may have wanted to keep her baby and hid her pregnancy until it was no longer possible to continue to do so. Or perhaps she was fearful of what would happen to her if she revealed to her mom she was pregnant. Perhaps both?
It was the mom who had only $400 in savings, not the seventeen-year old Celeste.
Posted by: suzan | Aug 11 2022 19:37 utc | 40
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
I niavely asked about the Chinese revolution to be told there were several. So here is a slight distraction: Part 1 in an attempt to learn some Chinese history...
Textbook stuff about Dynasties is hard to get a feel for. Really dry and official sounding.
So I had a go at The Book of Changes. Interesting but hard to understand. I get lost in the details but I think that the overall gist is about the balance of patterns in any system. The hexagram divination thing gets drawn out and probably overly formalised through time - the more specific the less practical. I take it to mean that a wise person could pick a number, assign archetypes, and come up with a predictive system. Certainly adds some nuance to lazy stereotypes that asains are good at math and mad keen gamblers.
Next I had a go at Zhuangzi. Amazing. Will read again. The humour in his dismantling of logic! And it gives a whole lot of insight in to the intellectual conflicts of the age - he spends quite a lot of time making fun of popular figures. It really reads like one of the Cynics or early Stoics. Am I crazy in seeing parallels in Greece and China with the way (especially in the beginning) there is back and forth between a kind of strict legalism (logic/confucianism) and the more anarchic alternative (stoic/taoist)?!
Posted by: Rae | Aug 11 2022 19:45 utc | 42
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
Posted by: William Gruff | Aug 11 2022 19:44 utc | 41
I'm all for sustainable alternative energy... heck if I could MacGuyver a way to crack cold fusion for the masses, I'd do it... or maybe a Thorium reactor, etc. - but those in the West have seen what happens to pioneering R&D - just ask Tesla. I'm currently building a nice backwoods solution to petrol: a gasifier (oddly enough mentioned here not too long ago) & recently acquired an old 90's truck to convert to run on woodgas. We'll see how that goes...
But to your point, us 1st worlders do need to return to basics (in many facets) & live more simply & in better harmony with nature & our brethren elsewhere
Posted by: xLemming | Aug 11 2022 19:56 utc | 44
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
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
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
It's become clear to everyone that Joe Biden has lost his marbles, it's not something even the most partisan Dem can deny after the raid on Mar A Lago.
As an American subject ( Not a Citizen, that went away when Habeas Corpus did)I've been wracking my brain trying to figure out what I can do to make things even a little better.
And there IS something I can do!
I'll be sending the "NEW FDR" a small bag of marbles with a note that says "Dear Joe, since you have clearly lost all of your marbles I'm sending you some, I hope it's enough".
Since I don't think one bag will be enough, please consider doing the same.
Posted by: Tom Stone | Aug 11 2022 20:46 utc | 48
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
are you not thoroughly ashamed of the way that your mind works?
@ bevin | Aug 11 2022 14:09 utc | 7
Forgetting about the issue and correspondent in question, for the sake of argument... your question strikes so close to one at the very heart of all my own philosophical agonies, I felt compelled to observe: To my way of thinking, a conscientious life is impossible without something for the conscience to do. It's not just certain correspondents who have lost the capacity for moral self-correction, it's seemingly the culture at large, as a whole.
Old-age usually shuts down cognitive dynamics, so that we become mentally ossified, set in our ways. But not necessarily: It's possible (even for some elders) to drop all the defensiveness, to admit that often I've been wrong, that my person is an unfinished opus, with considerable room for improvement.
Posted by: Aleph_Null | Aug 11 2022 21:05 utc | 50
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
Wildfire oracle Bill Gabbert takes the occasion of the Sam Fire in Northwestern LA County to explain the difference between a fire whirl and a fire tornado (uncool video):
Impressive fire whirl on the Sam Fire in LA County
Posted by: Aleph_Null | Aug 11 2022 21:52 utc | 52
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.
juliania #15
Thank you for the interesting results of your cultivation method. I do exactly the opposite and maintain a high amount of organic matter on the soil surface and grow extraordinary orchard and rhizome crops, strawberry and blueberry etc. I take all grass clippings and palm fronds etc from a commercial garden maintenance contractor and add biochar and a small amount of deep composted horse manure.
I rarely ever turn the soil apart from harvesting the turmeric rhizomes. Everything flourishes in my originally sand based soil which was about one inch thick soil on a white sand.
Earth worms abound throughout the top layers and do all the transfer work from eating carbon on surface section to shedding skins under. The soil temperature is moderated from the variation between night an midday and the soil moisture is well maintained. This way the mycorrhizae flourish in the soil.
The aboriginal people of this land farmed this way for some seventy thousand years and grew extensive grain and yam crops.
Posted by: uncle tungsten | Aug 11 2022 22:39 utc | 54
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
Below is the title of a ZH posting that barflys might find interesting
Australia's Central Bank Working With BIS To Launch Digital Currency System
The take away quote
Australia's Reserve Bank is launching a pilot program over the course of the next year in collaboration with the Bank for International Settlements (the central bank of central banks) to test the “benefits” of a blockchain ledger based digital currency system. The central bank is added to a long list of participants in BIS efforts to introduce CBDCs (central bank digital currencies) with the target goal of launching them globally by 2025-2030.It's important to note that substantial economic changes would have to occur within the next few years in order to make CBDC a viable option for the general public. Though many people use electronic transactions as a matter of convenience, a large portion of the population still prefers cash. In the US, surveys within the last few years show that at least 37% of Americans still choose cash over other methods of payment like credit and debit cards. In Australia, the number stands at around 32%.
The usage of digital payment systems also does not necessarily denote a societal shift away from the idea of cash, it only shows a preference for convenience. People still like to know that cash exists as an option if they need it or want it, but central banks are working diligently to remove physical cash as a choice within the next 8 years.
Just replace Central Bank with private bank and you will get the message. I thin it doesn't matter as much as whether the underlying money has intrinsic value or not.....a concept not seen in our world for 50+ years.
Posted by: psychohistorian | Aug 11 2022 22:54 utc | 56
@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
I'm glad it helped, xLemming | Aug 11 2022 18:38 utc | 30. I should state my experience is with a very small garden in high mountain desert conditions. So, conditions may vary in other parts, though in general we have to all cope with a changeable climate. Here, low humidity and austere soil conditions are the rule though my soil has improved over the years of composting and no pesticide use. One hint to new gardeners, plant trees first, and expect some failures. Plus don't send anything to the dump; it's all compostable and the soil will thank you later.
Posted by: juliania | Aug 11 2022 22:59 utc | 58
@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
Exactly the opposite - great, uncle tungsten | Aug 11 2022 22:39 utc | 54 - gardeners are always right; it's beautiful! Here at altitude the sun cakes my top layer and overheats the organic matter so it cooks. Plus low humidity can kill things even if their roots are doing okay. I just lost a new rose I was trying - it kept sending little shoots but I hadn't given it enough shade, darn it. Try again next year. Though I'm not tossing it yet; gave it some superthrive and we'll see if fall conditions suit it better.
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
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
Pepe Escobar's in Samarkand anticipating the SCO Heads of State Summit in mid-September. His piece today is part travelog, part history, part current events. The pics he's posting at his various social media sites are great. He uses a descriptive term for the region I hadn't read in many years--Inner Asia.
In closing, Pepe returns to what's on tap:
The SCO shows how China’s approach to Central Asia is defined by two central vectors: security and the development of Xinjiang. Stronger regional states such as Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan deal with Beijing, as with Moscow, via their carefully calibrated multi-vector foreign policy.Beijing’s merit has been to expertly position itself as a provider of public goods, with the SCO functioning as a top lab in terms of multilateral cooperation. This will be bolstered even more at the Samarkand summit next month.
The destiny of what is in effect Inner Eurasia – the heartland of the Heartland – is inescapable from a subtle, very complex, multilevel competition between Russia and China.
It’s crucial to remember that in his landmark 2013 speech in Nur-Sultan, then Astana, when the New Silk Roads were formally launched, Xi Jinping stressed that China stands “ready to enhance communication and coordination with Russia and all Central Asian countries to strive to build a region of harmony.”
Following on the heels of the SCO Summit will be the UNGA Debates and the first snows of the 2022-23 Northern Hemisphere winter. They've been a long time in coming but it appears the Winds of Change will finally arrive.
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
Lex | Aug 11 2022 22:54 utc | 57
No till farming as applied across thousands of hectares of agricultural land in my state involves harvesting, then copious spraying of monsatan roundup.
Yep.
This way the soil is not “disturbed” by till machinery.
Lol.
Posted by: Melaleuca | Aug 12 2022 1:11 utc | 64
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
They've been a long time in coming but it appears the Winds of Change will finally arrive.
Posted by: karlof1 | Aug 11 2022 23:50 utc | 62
The place name Samarkand has always had such an exotic aura to it. Pepe's description doesn't disappoint.
Thank you, karlof1.
Posted by: juliania | Aug 12 2022 1:15 utc | 66
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
The Australian James O'Neill is one of the really perceptive writers on the internet.
"....The Americans (who refuse to stop looting Syria: bevin) show a similar degree of imperviousness to Iraqi protests about their continued presence of Iraqi soil. That invasion is know more than 20 years old. The Americans simply ignored an Iraqi demand that they should leave. It needs to be pointed out that the Australians also continue to occupy Iraqi territory and, taking their cue again from the Americans, have similarly refused to vacate Iraqi territory despite Iraqi demands that they should do so.
"One has only to contrast the United States attitude, and that of its western allies, to the Russian occupation of Ukrainian territory (which has a vastly greater legitimate basis) with the attitude of those same allies to the United States occupation of Iraq and Syria to draw the obvious conclusion. When something is done by their forces it is somehow all right. When done by one of its political opponents there can never be any justification. The hypocrisy is breathtaking..."
https://journal-neo.org/2022/08/11/hopeful-signs-of-changes-occurring-in-world-balance-of-power/
Then there is Declan Hayes- Karlofi already beat me to Pepe's latest- on Armenians and their ilk.
"....Though Perfidious Albion and her allies had promised retribution for The Great War’s slaughter of the Armenians (Assyrians and Pontic Greeks) by the Ottomans and their Kurdish sidekicks, Albion’s post-War realpolitik made such empty promises even hollower than they were when the Anglo American media first broadcast them. The irony of it, and one I pointed out at the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Holocaust in Damascus, is that the Syrians, Iraqis, Lebanese and Palestinians, who risked their own lives to save so many of those Armenians continue, for the same grubby reasons, to suffer their own Holocausts to this very day..."
https://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2022/08/11/who-speaks-today-of-the-annihilation-of-the-armenians/
Posted by: bevin | Aug 12 2022 1:34 utc | 68
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
Tears for Palestine:
https://twitter.com/rogerwaters/status/1557109596917039106
Posted by: farm ecologist | Aug 12 2022 1:35 utc | 70
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
Book of Changes anecdote:
I was at my lovers place and we threw a hexagram. It was birds in the field. Basically thieves are about. Since there were none at her place I drove to my isolated place. There a guy was attempting to steal the battery from my '67 pick up truck. I just let him leave without my battery. Never saw him again. Shortly after this my girl left me for another man. I had been a cuckold for months. Even though they had two children he left her to marry someone else. I hesitate to mention their names but can't resist. Peter Letcher married Joy Dick.
About climate change. Like most people I initially believed what they said about global warming. Every year the weather does incredible things like where I moved to in 80s. In 22 years from '69 there were 2 100 year floods and a 50 yr flood. The 50 year flood was at the high point in valley between two mountain chains where it hardly ever flooded. In the 30 years since there have only been a few flash floods in the usual suspects. And it did get hotter in the 80s and 90s. If Al Gore had come across like he did in that movie instead of the wooden guy who campaigned for the Presidency he would have won so well that even the Republicans couldn't have stolen the election. However I did actually look at that chart that was in the background. In the ice cores the temperature changes and then the CO2 changes which started me wondering. Later I read that this is true in all the ice cores with CO2 lagging as long as 800 years. Then I read the science and find out that the greenhouse effect of CO2 follows a kind of log rhythmic function. That is the CO2 has to double to get 1o Centigrade of global warming. To get another you need to double it again. It has not even doubled once. This catastrophic climate change the alarmists talk about are only predicted by using computer model feedback mechanisms with parameter values made up by the modelers. In 1982 I was told by my neighbor that one should plant ones peas by St Patricks Day - me living in the mid-atlantic. Here it is 2022 still living in the mid atlantic and still planting my peas around St. Patricks Day. I believe my grandfather did the same. Catastrophic Climate change is like what happened in the Sahara around 6 thousand years ago - there used to be lakes and running rivers. There were fisher peoples who could live there. How did all that sand get there? Or the Little Ice Age which was global. As the glaciers in Greenland recede a bit one finds Viking remains. They used to raise cattle and have gardens.
About the climate models: they can't even model evaporation except on cloud free days. And clouds... ho ho ho. "now they only block the sun. they rain and snow on everyone. So many things I would have done but clouds got in my way."
Posted by: gepay | Aug 12 2022 3:15 utc | 72
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
2) No till farming may not be the agricultural panacea we thought it was
Posted by: c1ue | Aug 11 2022 13:31 utc | 1
Interesting read. Catchy headline only. Perhaps you should read the article in full. Like all commercial factory farming methodology. There is no universal panacea. For all farming methods for long-term sustainable permaculture, usage. Should be based on the local variable to drought like climatic conditions.
After all, one can visibly see satellite images of the ever-increasing patch of zero life/oxygen zone of death. The great Mississippi Delta dead water zone. Due to excessive factory farm waste. chemical pesticide, fertilizer, and other illegally dumped toxic waste. Poured into the open sewer. Called the Mississippi River.
Noted 2nd paragraph light bulb moment! "This is a controversial finding—but it doesn’t mean no-till is a lost cause, the authors are keen to emphasize: it’s still crucial for combating soil erosion and run-off; it retains more water which in turns saves resources; and it nurtures soil microorganisms that support plant growth."
Further down "It certainly doesn’t mean that no-till should be abandoned—far from it. This method is still important for its many other benefits, such as water retention, soil stability, and also reducing the need for fuel-guzzling tilling machines. "
What is the current very expensive price-gouged carbon-rich oil slime-based toxic diesel fuel again?
Reading is a luxury. Or so it would seem.
Posted by: Bad Deal Motors On | Aug 12 2022 4:37 utc | 74
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
The Yijing is a composite work, like the Bible but probably older, which is like a fathomless ocean. It is based on old noetic sciences which do not presuppose a difference between inner and outer realities, aka subjective and objective. I have been working with it for almost 50 years and am barely a beginner. It is the root text of the Chinese civilisation though few Chinese today are tuned into such esoterica even though it pervades their perception and character.
One of the best texts in English is one of the earliest namely the Wilhelm version which was deeply informed by the influence of a pre-communist era daoist master.
It is also fun. Being holographic you could literally pick a hexagram at random and the text will act as a mirror reflecting back wisdom appropriate to your situation or query. If you take the time to become familiar with the 64 hexagrams then when you throw the coins, cards or yarrow stalks you will feel more connected with auspicious coincidence viz the particular result. That said, the language is a little difficult sometimes so it is best to develop a personal relationship with the core alphabet which is the eight primary trigrams which describe the core energies or patterns in the perceived world of experience.
I = root text or Classic. Jing = changes or process or progressions. It could be translated as primordial process theory.
It's also a lot of fun. When Biden was inaugurated I got - from another translation - Usurper! For this year on Lunar New Year's Day (After an 8:30 AM earthquake!) 'dragons circling above the abyss' indicating a portentous, epoch-changing time which can go both ways. Which seems to be quite accurate...
@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
@gepay | Aug 12 2022 3:15 utc | 72
Catastrophic Climate change is like what happened in the Sahara around 6 thousand years ago - there used to be lakes and running rivers. There were fisher peoples who could live there. How did all that sand get there?All true, except the wet Sahara was probably around 11-12 thousand years ago, at the end of the Younger Dryas (YD is prominent in climate discussions). The last ice age (the Pleistocene) was ending around 13 thousand years ago when something happened literally overnight, killed the North American megafauna and caused global temperatures to drop 15C, lasting for a thousand years before the temperatures rose to modern levels.
The Sphinx at Giza in Egypt is located in a carved out rectangular limestone bedrock depression, the so called "Sphinx enclosure". What should be straight walls show clear signs of very significant water erosion over a long time. This could not have happened in historic times since the Sphinx has been buried in Sand for thousands of years and it hasn't rained significantly in that area the last 10 thousand years. The implication is that the Sphinx was built when Sahara was wet and is at least 11-12 thousand years old.
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. The proof of this can be seen in the hundreds of thousands of Carolina Bays found all along the US east coast. They are elliptical depressions on sandy soil and have sizes of several kilometers and smaller. The comet hit the ice sheet which was shattered in huge ice blocks thrown in all directions in ballistic orbits and crashing down all over the US, killing the megafauna in an instant and causing conical cavities where the ground conditions were right (sandy soil). The cavities relaxed over time resulting in mathematical ellipses (cone sections are ellipses) whith uniform orientation and eccentricity. You can use that information to infer the comet impact happened over present day Saginaw Bay, Michigan.
Obviously, some of the ice blocks landed in the Atlantic ocean, causing huge tsunamis over Europe and the Mediteranean, otherwise known as "The Great Flood" that wiped out everything. The global civilization that existed took a great hit and needed 6-7 thousand years to recover, as it did in Iraq/Mesopotamia 6 thousand years after the YD. So the climate catastrophe was caused by a natural event (a comet strike). It took a thousand years for temperatures to recover, because ice crystals thrown into in orbit needed time to dissipate and fall as heavy rain.
Or the Little Ice Age which was global. As the glaciers in Greenland recede a bit one finds Viking remains. They used to raise cattle and have gardens.The viking remains are not found under glaciers. The Little Ice Age was the period from ~1650 to ~1720 when the temperatures in Europe and elsewhere where lower and you had e.g. ice fares on the River Thames for months. This was the time of the Maunder Minimum, i.e. the grand solar minimum, when there were almost no sunspots seen for 70 years (solar activity is measured by counting sunspots). Another natural climate event.
The Vikings came to Greenland much earlier, in the 800's. The "Medieval Warm Period" at that time caused by increased solar activity made it possible for the vikings to grow crops, it was much warmer then than it is now. The conditions worsened as the climate grew colder and the last documented Norse population disappeared in the early 1300's (last documented wedding in a church there). Obviously, Greenland was the base for Leiv Eiriksson's visit to America in the year 1000, he was son of Eirik Raude (Eric the Red). The worsening of the climate was again due to a Grand Solar Minimum, the one that preceded the Maunder Minimim 3-400 years later. Another natural climate event.
About the climate models: they can't even model evaporation except on cloud free days. And clouds... ho ho ho. "now they only block the sun. they rain and snow on everyone. So many things I would have done but clouds got in my way."And they are weather models, not climate models.
Posted by: Norwegian | Aug 12 2022 6:40 utc | 78
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...
Back in the USA, Pelosi still trying to find a reason for why she went to Taiwan.
That the Chinese are still agitated, and have used the provocation for their own purposes …… seems to have the US rattled.
U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the purpose of her visit to Taiwan was to say that ‘we have this strong relationship built on the status quo,’ adding that the U.S. would not ‘allow China to isolate Taiwan’
https://twitter.com/Reuters/status/1557468076102270976
“Taiwan is China “.
And
“We will not let China isolate Taiwan.”
Love to see China play the same game with Hawaii.
“Hawaii is USA”
“But we will sell it weapons, send our government reps anytime we damn well like, and we’ll lambast USA for its Hawaii policies if they don’t suit us.”
We’ll send our navy to provoke whenever we want”.
Yeah. USA would absolutely understand and tolerate this. Lol.
Posted by: Melaleuca | Aug 12 2022 6:54 utc | 80
@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
UK turning officially into a developing country. Remember to vote for Liz!
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/08/09/britain-is-becoming-an-emerging-market-country-analyst-says.html
Posted by: unimperator | Aug 12 2022 10:03 utc | 82
@unimperator | Aug 12 2022 10:03 utc | 82
Submerging rather than emerging IMHO.
Posted by: Norwegian | Aug 12 2022 10:06 utc | 83
While everyone is focusing on China's military actions in response to Pelosi visiting Taiwan...
Xi makes Saudi Arabia his first overseas visit in 3 years:
Are we to expect a new Petroyuan announcement as a result of it?
Why would China want to buy Saudi oil in US dollars, when MBS openly gives Uncle Joe smirks and a fist pumps anyway?
Or perhaps he's looking for a partner to speed up the already in progress offloading all those US bonds owned by China?
Posted by: Et Tu | Aug 12 2022 11:18 utc | 84
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
Posted by: unimperator | Aug 12 2022 10:03 utc | 82
It's that time of the month. again.
Gordon Brown, 2015: Leaving the European Union would make Britain the North Korea of Europe
Posted by: sln2002 | Aug 12 2022 14:37 utc | 86
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
@ waynorinorway | Aug 12 2022 6:25 utc | 77
good luck with the potatoes!! i guess we are spoiled here around the 49th parallel (latitude)...
Posted by: james | Aug 12 2022 15:20 utc | 88
@ 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
@suzan #40
You said
Celeste may have wanted to keep her baby and hid her pregnancy until it was no longer possible to continue to do so.
What you are saying in your scenario is that the mother forced the minor to abort - that the girl wanted to keep the baby but the mother did not.
Is this not literally the opposite of "my body, my choice"?
You said
Or perhaps she was fearful of what would happen to her if she revealed to her mom she was pregnant.
If the girl wanted to keep the baby - obviously keeping pregnancy secret through to birth is literally impossible. Even stupid people should understand that. So fail.
If the girl wanted to hide her underage sex and its unfortunate consequences - that argues for pregnancy well before 28 weeks. So another fail.
It was the mom who had only $400 in savings, not the seventeen-year old Celeste.
And this changes what?
Is it possible that multiple months of stupidity resulted in this situation? Very possible.
The most likely scenario is that the girl wanted to keep the baby, but then changed her mind. But then again, how does this matter?
The entire point of the law against elective abortion after 20 weeks is a recognition that the developing embryo is now a person with rights of their own, and that people who want to abort should be considering and making their decisions before that point.
You can disagree with the specific cutoff point - that is completely understandable to me.
However, do you disagree with the base premise: that there is a point where a fetus is a person and has rights?
This is not a trivial concern. If a pregnant women is killed by accident or deliberate action, the person doing it is prosecuted for 2 murders, not one. There are thus clear examples of law which give the embryo and/or fetus rights.
Posted by: c1ue | Aug 12 2022 16:01 utc | 90
@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
@xLemming #44
Wood-gas vehicles would never pass modern emissions limits on particulates.
Maybe there are exceptions for these on the books, but I wouldn't assume it.
Posted by: c1ue | Aug 12 2022 16:04 utc | 92
@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
@c1ue | Aug 12 2022 16:02 utc | 91
Beamed power from orbit is indistinguishable from a weapon.What can be sold as beneficial and be indistinguishable from a weapon at the same time is tempting in some circles. Beamed power from orbit as a weapon will be attempted for sure, if it has not already been attempted.
It will never happen prior to a unified world government.
Posted by: Norwegian | Aug 12 2022 16:12 utc | 94
@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
Good on you, waynorinorway | Aug 12 2022 6:25 utc | 77!! The proof is in the pudding for sure, and my following my own advice this year did for me as your previous years had done! I have been unable to produce the leafy plants you describe, and that's essential. I am so happy you seem to have had better results!
I should have been more careful to explain the particularity of conditions here - at about 6,000ft altitude but southwestern US location my seasons have been disrupted due to local conditions. It's not a bad place to live but difficult to garden. I do not have much soil to work with that deep rooting plants can enjoy. Go down too far and it is all sand, gravel and rocks - that's why containers are more successful for me but I haven't had success with potatoes that way. Squash yes, potatoes no.
This year we had no spring at all - just early onset of intense sun. But coming into August, here it is. Rains and cool nights, hence my change of strategy. As others are doing, I am going to continue my practice of cutting, drying and planting organic potato sprouts, just did a few this morning. I figure to keep the garden going as long as it isn't frozen, mulch heavily late fall. And just see what happens next year. At the very least I will be protecting that fragile layer of wormy topsoil, and incorporating the cover when the ground thaws.
Good luck with your harvest!!
Posted by: juliania | Aug 12 2022 16:16 utc | 96
@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
@Bad Deal Motors On #74
I actually don't disagree with most of your post - but your base premise is flat out wrong.
The incorrect premise was that no-till would improve carbon sequestration vs. normal farming. It had nothing to do with outputs, erosion etc.
So you accuse me of what you yourself failed to comprehend.
It is your own (lack of) reading that is the problem.
Posted by: c1ue | Aug 12 2022 16:22 utc | 98
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
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 | 88
From what I've read, the Laurentide Ice Sheet reached as far south as 37 degrees N latitude. (For clarity, I'm going to use the term "Laurentide land mass" to denote the land on which that ice sheet sat.) For the southern edge of the Laurentide land mass to have supported an ice cap, it would have had to be considerably further north than it is today. If the threshold for the ice cap were, say, 65 degrees N latitude, that would mean that the southern edge of the Laurentide land mass would have been at least 28 degrees north of its present latitude.
However, the effects mentioned in the blockquote seem to account for less than 5 degrees of shift in the planet's axis. Therefore, it's not clear how those effects could suffice to explain how the Laurentide land mass could have shifted enough to support an ice sheet.
Posted by: David Levin | Aug 12 2022 17:13 utc | 100
The comments to this entry are closed.
Climate change fun:
1) Prominent "ocean acidification" researcher - paper retracted on mutual agreement between Science magazine and researcher's own university
Science.org Editorial Retraction
"no longer have confidence in the validity of the data" = faked.
2) No till farming may not be the agricultural panacea we thought it was
Short summary: not tilling causes carbon sequestration in deeper levels of the soil to fall off dramatically. No access to air means less biological activity means less carbon stored, in turn meaning the initial studies of no toll farming carbon sequestration vs. normal farming, which only studied the top layer of soil, was inaccurately understanding the relative overall effects between the 2 practices. Oops.
3) Tweet concerning lithium leaching fields
Yes, but batteries will save us all...
Posted by: c1ue | Aug 11 2022 13:31 utc | 1