From Jenna Orkin
Headlines
Dutch government collapsed over war in Afghanistan
Ron Paul wins presidential straw poll at CPAC - CNN.com
Oil
Saudi Oil Exports to US Lowest in 21 Years
Bumpy plateau heading off a cliff.
Oil prices up 12 percent in 2 weeks
Oil May Breach 200-Week Average, Test Highs: Technical Analysis
British firms could be hit in revenge for Falklands oil drilling
Total Workers Start Shutdown at French Oil Refineries
Mobility in the World of $200 Oil
Barclays and Bank of America see looming oil crunch
Wanna Supply Energy For Those Electric Cars? We've Got A Huge Bolivia Problem
US
80% Of Today's Delinquent Homeowners Will Lose Their Houses -- 6 Million In All
Spending America Into Ruin here
Buffett's `Dangerous Business' Ensnares Insurers as Muni Bankruptcies Loom
Beleaguered US to blow up some chemical weapons
US Star Wars Laser Plane Shoots Down Ballistic Missile for First Time
REVEALED: If Cheney Had Gotten His Way, We Would Have Gone To War With Russia
Host of Joe Stack's Manifesto Site Deletes Claim That FBI Asked For Its Removal
US schools 'spied on students'
12-Year-Old Arrested for Doodling
52% Say Obama Doesn't Deserve Reelection
Unloading 50 Million Swine Flu Vaccines
World
Forget Empty Housing Developments, Check Out The Massively Empty Cities Of China
Why This Building Proves That The Next Financial Crisis Will Be In Shanghai in 2013
Citi: China Sold Their Treasuries Because They Want To Buy Tons Of Gold
Venezuela to fine big water consumers to save power
Britain 'knew Mossad was using fake passports for Dubai hit' (from Rice Farmer)
Britain's deficit third worst in the world, table
Science
De Boer's Resignation Is Catastrophic'
Assisted suicide rules 'to be relaxed'
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11 comments:
Mike:
Check out this story from "Business Insider":
ttp://www.businessinsider.com/greek-prime-minister-heads-to-russia-seeking-help-on-the-economy-2010-2
I do not consider it too far-fetched. Russia showed interest in helping out Iceland in her debt crisis. Greece is a majority Orthodox Christian country. So is Russia. Russia and Greece are historic friends. Russia is also making nice with Turkey. This could shape up into something really powerful and new. If it puts a stick into NATO's spokes, who knows?!
Peter J. of Minneapolis
THE one book that blows the doors completely off the virus of Abrahamic Monotheism is by John Lash and is titled "Not in His Image: Gnostic Vision, Sacred Ecology, and the Future of Belief."
This book is extremely relevant to current events and terrorism in the name of monotheistic religions.
RanD: You've hinted in the past about your lifestyle, 20yrs of permaculture etc. and you come across pretty squared away in self reliance/practical terms. I wonder if you'd share a little about your site, practical things that work, and some things you've learned didn't work so well. e.g. Are you totally self sufficient in food and water, do you preserve food for winter etc? keep animals? How does your garden grow? I think it would provide some inspiration for many, but I'd understand if you prefer not to ;)
It might be useful if others would like to share too :)
We'll be planting our forest garden within a couple of weeks, I'll post a link to a permaculture forum with some plans & pics when it's planted, it might help anyone planning a similar project ;)
Peter -- You're a smart guy and a real good map maker. The other key is goegraphic proximity to Russia.
I think the EU is toast.
MCR.
Attn. gamedog, re RanD's 'lifestyle':
During 14+ yrs in Western Colorado we became 70-80% self-sufficient growing our fruit and vegetable needs. Much experimenting taught us the optimal varieties to grow in our setting, then save & plant only our own seeds produced therefrom. We also prestarted (indoors) varieties which we learned would benefit from such treatment.
Gardening is a never ending learning experience, and must be continuously customized to fit one's both specific & ever-changing environmental/climatological conditions. Suzanne Ashworth's "Seed to Seed", seedsofchange.com, and abundantlifeseeds.com are invaluable quick-access resources for beginners and masters alike. As for the Current State of Permaculture Officinalis, we're not up to date; but recommend sites mentioned by others here at FTW. Other than that, we hold fast & loose to everything practicable for us according to basic Bill Mollison.
As for season to season storage/preservation, we found Colorado's high alt. (app 6000 ft above sea level) & dry climate (20-50% humidity during the growing & harvesting seasons) to be great for drying most vegetables and virtually all fruits. Drying (& pickling) rather that refrigeration/freezing of food stuffs, including animal meats, is a typically good way to go when in a high, dry setting. However, routinely dried foodstuff meals/dishes requires adjustments in tastes/expectations if one isn't born into & raised to enjoy that sort of fare lovingly prepared. And lower altitude high humidity environments can be poor for out-in-the-open-air natural food drying.
We we're also proficient in West CO as hunters/fishers & gatherers: primarily deer, squirrels, trout, mushrooms, berries, naturalized wild apricots. We enjoy hunter/gatherer foods both fresh and/or dried just as we do home farm & garden produce.
More on this in a future post.
I loved reading about John Lash, Kozan, and I look forward to hearing from both RanD and gamedog regarding self sufficiency / edible forest plans.
Thank EVERYONE here for being here. I don't post much but checking in with you guys daily helps keeps me sane. I think.
While I'm here I would like to ask if anyone is noticing the extreme emotional volatility among those we probably don't speak to much beyond superficially...but if you mention anything (like, are you noticing just how F$%^D everything seems to be lately?) you receive a huge, hateful explosion?
Feels like it's gonna blow soon. In so many ways. And, I'm suspecting that we are not going to be nice to each other when it does blow. What are everyone's plans for THAT?
Cheers for sharing RanD, sounds like you're one of the fastest campers :) we're a few seasons behind you!
You make a good point about seed saving, something we've only played at so far with less than a dozen varieties saved from last year, a great UK resource for heirloom seeds is http://www.realseeds.co.uk/ who give seed saving instructions with each pack of seeds, they also do a cheap seed saving book. I'm researching edible perennials for the low maintenance food forest, much less work than annuals, just mulching and harvesting :) a great resource for this is Ken Ferns "plants for a future" site http://www.pfaf.org/index.php he also has a book of the same title which I found invaluable for planning my project.
Preserving is not popular in the UK, there's no supplier for pressure canners over here, we're looking to import one from the states. We're also looking for a dehydrator, tho I might actually make one this year, plus we'll be experimenting with drying in the wood stove (if I can keep it cool enough). We have done a fair bit of pickling too, this year we want try to make our own vinegar, I found a cheap supply of demijohns at a charity shop! We (the wife lol) makes so much Jam we manage to sell the surplus.
We're also keen foragers, a great cheap book for the UK is "Food for Free by Richard Mabey". We have ferrets for rabbiting, tho I have sourced some rabbit traps too last year, which I hope will be more time efficient than ferreting. We do get the odd Monkjack Deer roaming though our land, but not often enough to justify buying a hunting rifle! I plan to get another 12 bore for game birds/rabbits once the house renovation is a little more complete, we have two English Springer Spaniels (hence the screen-name) who can help on the hunt, it must be over 10 years since I owned a gun!
This link has a picture of my forest garden plan, just waiting for the plants to arrive, I'll update with more pics once it's planted in a couple of weeks.
Cheers,
Dear Sue in the Valley,
"[E]xtreme emotional volatility" is an issue of paramount significance, one we approach as a product of human kinds' general state of ignorance concerning the nature of reality. We see emotional volatility being intimately correlated with the fear that routinely arises as a consequence of personal ignorance about reality and our species' overall part therein.
Thus, as we see it this manifold issue of general ignorance, fear, and emotional volativity is exactly what we need to begin gaining fully conscious comfortable understanding of if we are to free ourselves from the human tomfoolery, injustice, strife, violence, militancy, and self-&-environmentally destructive practices which are endemic to what we see having long been and still being our species' generationally protracted developmental process.
As we see it, 'these issues' also speak to the ultimate reason for FTW having come into existence in the first place, and explains why all of us are here at various states of awareness working to understand and in the process helping relieve ourselves of our various personally perceived dire situations.
From this perspective, every single one of us ultimately performs a distinct personal role toward collaboratively bringing us all into fully actualizing our species' raison d'etre -- which is to enjoy life at its optimal potential.
Sincerely, RanD.
Having your shit together is only part of the answer. A really vital part of a competent response to what may be heading towards you is making sure your neighbours are on the same page.
One of the happiest experiences I have ever had was when I broached the subject with several neighbours and aquaintances and discovered we were all reading the same book. Not on the same page, but over the last two years we have caught up. Renewable fuel, horse powered agriculture, food growing, preserving, fibre processing, butchery, security, health, education are all covered to a level I am comfortable with. The reduction in effort and costs required to get to where we need to be has been huge, as each of us has areas we are specialists in.
We have even considered offering a seat or two in our lifeboat to underprepared wealthy fools in order to fund the icing on the cake, but frankly the risks appear to outweigh the rewards.( and the price we were looking at charging was well into 7 figures!)
Those stricking out on their own should remember that it is really hard to stay awake 24 hrs a day for more than 2 days at a time and that most tasks are easier if you are working as part of a team.
Preparation may get you thru the storm, but it will take community to thrive afterwards.
Gamedog, I could not get the link to work. And....Carolyn Baker had an excellent post on the topic of extreme emotions yesterday: http://carolynbaker.net/site/content/view/1521/1/
Try this Sue :)
http://www.permacultureforum.org.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=624
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