Occupy Monsanto has this up on the ongoing efforts to get GMO food labeled. A shareholder has proposed labeling, but the board has rejected that. (no surprise there)
They are having an event this week to bring attention to the FDA ignoring the public’s wishes for labeling.
Jeff Nguyen has a blog up featuring Eddie Vedder’s song “No More”.
God bless Phil Donahue— still fighting the good fight. I grew up watching Donahue and he opened my world. He talked about subjects that were taboo. He asked intelligent questions. I loved the “live” aspect of his shows where callers could call in to add to the story.
It was a sad day when his show was no more. And even sadder that he was fired from MSNBC for speaking out against the Iraq war.
This week’s photos of beautiful Canada…watch out for the moose!
Creation Assistance has this post up on an invention to turn salty sea water into drinking water. Absolute genius. I wonder if this can be applied to our dirty drinking water through public utilities? Could it take out the prescription drugs, petroleum products, fertilizers, herbicides, etc.?
Here’s the article in translation:
A Frank Liefooghe Project ConceptMr. Frank Liefooghe :
DSC_5245
OF SEA WATER BECOMES DRINKING !
January 4, 2014 by reglang22From http://izitech.ma :
eliodomestico1
OF SEA WATER BECOMES DRINKING WITH THIS INVENTION OPEN SOURCE THAT WILL SAVE MILLIONS OF LIVES .
Lack of access to clean water is one of the leading causes of mortality in poor countries .
In recent years , several efforts have been made to make seawater drinkable . This required power plants that consume a lot of energy and was inaccessible to poor countries.
Italian designer Gabriele Diamanti , had the idea to rally two natural elements in the service of the environment.
He created the ” Eliodomestico ” an eco- distiller that turns salt water into drinking water using solar energy.
This project is aimed at developing countries and allow these people access to clean drinking water at lower costs, with the added technical “Open Source” .
How does the ” Eliodomestico “?eliodomestico
Eliodomestico each device can produce five liters of drinking water per day. More than enough for a family of 4 people .
The concept is simple, just put the sea water (salt water) in the morning in a special boiler.
This boiler is waterproof and thanks to the sun ( heat ) water evaporates throughout the day.
The steam passes through a connecting pipe and condenses in the cover pan.
The user can retrieve the fresh drinking water contained in the tank after sunset.
A more satisfactory idea for transporting drinking water, just wear the pelvis on the head ( a common practice).
Click the link to see more!
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I would caution, however, that since this is made of clay, that water not be allowed to stand in it. Clay is notorious for having lead in it.
I hope you’re sitting down, because this is going to blow you away.
An interactive graphic from Der Spiegel explains that this tool is a part of NSA’s ANT division that the agency developed so it can see and hear what is happening in a room “without having to actually install radio-signal-emitting bugging devices in them.”
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…and you thought that mercury poisoned folk like myself were crazy for saying that EMF’s bothered us greatly. When I was sicker, I could not talk on a cell phone for an hour, or I would become ill with a migraine. EMF’s from the classroom smartboard/computer/wand make me ill.
And as far as the radiated beams causing cancer…well, that is a stone in the gravel pit. The NSA is running amok with nobody reining them in or following anything that looks like our Constitution…
Oh, and in case you missed it–they’re also intercepting laptops bought online and installing spyware on them. Yep.
….because we got to get the boogeyman.
We got to get the boogeyman.
I wonder about this and those birds falling out of the sky. More here.
The women of Idle No More tried to hold a Native American dance in the Mall of America, which promptly had them arrested. I kid you not.
123 years after Wounded Knee, and they’re still objecting to the Native Americans dancing.
What is the harm in that? I thought it was quite moving.
They won’t even give her the respect of telling her a valid reason why they can’t be there….because they don’t have one…
Here is a good video of Michael Twitty and his efforts to have African cooks recognized for their contributions to culinary endeavors.
I just want to add that women in general have added so much to our culinary endeavors, but that has been under recognized, if at all. Men put on white hats and call themselves “chefs”. Women cook. Get it?
Okay, people, stop your whining about how c-c-c-c-cold it is and the snow…
So…I thought I’d list the benefits of Winter:
–The snow is ESSENTIAL for us not to have a drought. A biology teacher once said that we needed at least two feet of snow each winter to avoid having a drought. With the climate change weird weather, I would up that to three feet of snow. Right now, we’ve almost gotten that, so we’re looking pretty good for next summer.
–The freezing weather kills a lot of bugs.
–Playing in the snow is fun. The beauty is phenomenal.
–After a winter is through, we can appreciate Spring and warmer weather. Would we appreciate it as much if we didn’t have the colder weather?
–Winter isn’t for sissies. Like the butterfly struggling out of its cocoon, the struggle makes one stronger.
–The winter allows the plants to “sleep” and rest. The snow protects the roots from the severe cold. I dislike the “bad” part of this post, because it is always from a human’s perspective, instead of all of nature. The broken branches or dead trees serve as homes to creatures, or as a base for other living plants that use the decaying matter as food.
Here’s a neat video with an amazing dead tree hosting several plants:
And here is a video on life beginning again after a devastating wildfire.
Related to the trees, I found this video on saving acorn seeds for planting:
(As a side note~ I just have to say that I’m digging the hairy arms. I don’t know how it all got started, but men shaving their arms and chests bare is a turn off. )
Also related to winter, I came across this ecotraction substitute to winter salting on roads. Great idea. I heard that they were using beet juice now in salt mixtures for the roads, and at first I thought that was better than the destructive effects of salt, but then I thought…they’re using food when people are hungry…yeah, can’t support that. Beets are especially good for their detoxing effects.
New York Observer has a link to this, among other stories:
Vanishing New York. All the businesses that closed under Michael Bloomberg.
If you look only at this list and add up all the years in business represented, we lost approximately 6,926 years of New York City history in only a dozen years. And we know the real number is much higher than that.
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Pretty sad, eh? A hardware store in business for 100 years! A bakery in business for 89 years! A restaurant in business for 48 years! A records store in business for 60 years! A hotel in business for 127 years! A book store 86 years!
…and Shea Stadium destroyed.
That is a lot of history. Think of all the people that passed through the doors…in their youth, in their adulthood, with their children, grandchildren…seeing familiar faces and catching up with each other’s lives.
Our culture is being destroyed before our eyes–everything that makes us connect with one another. One of the things I loved about Fort Wayne is that somehow it’s managed to hold onto some of that culture–it’s known as the city of restaurants and churches….for good reason. They still have many independent restaurants…not McRestaurants. The downtown is walkable–pleasant—with many independent stores.
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Other stories the Observer posted: Starchitects and the luxury apartment boom in NY, related to the previous story–
Don’t get me wrong, I love architecture. I love the work of Frank Lloyd Wright. But if it comes a the expense of neighborhoods, then, no, I can’t go along with that.
People deserve to have decent housing at rents they can afford. Small business should be afforded the same. Something needs to be done so that if a luxury building is built, those around it are not made to suffer by enormous rent increases.
Raginghorseblog has a good riddance message to “if-you’re-poor-blame-God” Mayor Bloomberg.
Mercedes Schneider has a post up here on New Years and here on AFT Myths–really good blog on the myths and debunking them with pointed questions.
As I thought about the profiteers circling around public education, the postal service popped into my head. They actually made a profit last year, but you wouldn’t know it by theBush Administration’s demanding they pay into retirement funds for people not even born yet…
…it suddenly occurred to me that not only are the profiteers going after public education and other social programs, the postal service is also a target for a couple of reasons: a) strong union–gotta break those unions; and b) public service efficiently run but could be run more *cough* efficiently. Or, in other words ::damn, look at the golden opportunity to make some bucks while delivering crappy service…:: and, finally, c) postal workers make pretty good money….so they gotta get rid of them!
See…they can’t portray the postal carriers like teachers and say that they are not doing their job because, well, the mail gets delivered in a reasonable time with good rates through wind and rain and dark of night. They had to come up with some other way to bankrupt them and make it look like it was their fault, see? Hence, we have the nonsense of paying for people that aren’t even born….making it look like they can’t make a profit or be self-sufficient…then the neocons/neolibs cry foul and trot out the overused sob story that the postal service is costing taxpayers money! Not exactly. They are funded by Congress for $100 million to deliver service to the blind and Americans overseas. Otherwise, they are funded by stamps and other services the public pays for.
Even more astounding is that the postal service made a profit in this economy. Now that’s impressive!
Eagle 
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