Category Archives: environment

Molasses Spill Kills Fish in Honolulu

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Molasses Spill Kills Fish in Honolulu.

Hawaii molasses spill is polluting the harbor. At least its not oil. It’s edible. Or is it? Why is it killing all the fish? Simple lack of oxygen? Or is that much (sugar) molasses poisonous in some way? Only to fish??

Got an update on this today, they’re sampling the water. Nothing yet on what the results were.

Later update from Smithsonian online… .

Where oil stays at the top of the water, molasses sinks and sucks up all the oxygen in the water that fish need to breathe. According to the Hawaii Department of Health there’s basically nothing they can do to clean it up from the depth. Janice Okubo, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Health, told the Los Angeles Times, “It’s sugar in the water. If you know a scientific way to remove it from water, let us know.”

So, I guess it is just killing the fish, sucking all the oxygen out of the water. Not dangerous to people, just plain old molasses. 🙂

Could Panda Poop Be the Secret to More Efficient Biofuel?

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Could Panda Poop Be the Secret to More Efficient Biofuel? | Surprising Science.

Interesting question! It sounds like it might just be feasible. I think it would be much better than using corn for all the reasons mentioned in the article (and more).

Only problem is, I had understood it was pretty hard to get those pandas to procreate. How many pandas will it take to produce the amount of poop needed to power one proper plane?

No, I’m just kidding around. Read the article, you’ll see, it really does make sense.

😉

19 Real Sinister Conspiracies That Actually Happened

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19 Real Sinister Conspiracies That Actually Happened | Cracked.com.

OK, I did get this from Cracked but I’ve seen a lot of this stuff before. I didn’t know about ALL of these, but I did already know about quite a few. The Lusitania for instance. The syphilis. Bikini Atoll. Caligula. The DEA/CIA thing. Tobacco.The  Shah of Iran. DeBeers diamonds.

All of those have come to my attention for one reason or another in the past. I wasn’t even really looking for anything specific. I’m sure if anyone wants to look up this stuff, they can find plenty of evidence. Now that we have the internet it should be much easier.

Does the name calling (tin-hat conspiracy theorist) really prevent so many people from believing in the truth of this stuff?? I think it probably does.

Comments?

NOAA Identifies Lurking Environmental Threats

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NOAA Identifies Lurking Environmental.

This is from Marine Link. I’m hoping this means more work for us out here in the Gulf of Mexico (and around the country). Salvage operations are always interesting. 🙂

Man and the Sea: A Longreads Digest

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Man and the Sea: A Longreads Digest | Mother Jones.

Here’s a nice little listing of interesting ‘sea stories’ from Mother Jones. The link is to a page with blurbs from a few (5) different articles. All previously published in places as diverse as the New York Times (A Son of the Bayou, Torn Over the Shrimping Life) to Popular Science (The Quest to Uncover the Secret Life of Sharks).

I think my favorite would have to be “A Sea Story” by William Langewiesche (The Atlantic). Its the story of the sinking of the ferry Estonia where over 850 people died in one of the deadliest maritime disasters of the century. I remember watching a movie, something in a safety class I think. This one would really be worth reading, lessons learned and all that…

Arctic Sea Ice Up 60 Percent in 2013

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Arctic Sea Ice Up 60 Percent in 2013.

Read it and do your own thinking.

I said a long time ago,  scientists can’t prove (yet) that we are in the midst of “man-made” global warming. They tricked me once when I was a kid when they were all in agreement that we would all be frozen into ice cubes by now.

At this point in time, I want proof that…

1. People are the cause of global warming.

2. There is something effective that people can do to stop it.

So far, I have not seen enough evidence of either one of those propositions to make me want to do anything about the issue. I’m still waiting…

Maybe if I wait long enough, they’ll decide we’ll be freezing again. I only wish the governments of the world would stop trying to use this issue to force us into their ridiculous ideas of how we need to live.

Yeah, riiiighht, like any of them really know anything about MY life. Or yours (assuming you’re not at least a millionaire). Or even how to really LIVE life. You don’t learn about that when your life’s ambition is to control other people!

Our Fossil-Fueled Future – Environment

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Our Fossil-Fueled Future – Environment – Utne Reader.

Love the picture they start this off with. Right off the bat they make out Exxon as the cause of all the worlds suffering. Yeah, riiiighht…

OK, for the record, I do NOT think we need to stop using fossil fuels! I do NOT think we need to stop the rest of the world from developing up to first world standards. In fact, I think that will be one thing that could help solve everything.

OK, I bet some people are pretty skeptical…

First point: rising incomes = lower birth rate. Lower birth rate + rising incomes = more resources to give a shit about something other than bare survival. So, the first thing we should do if we want to ‘save the planet’ is to help everyone in the world move up the economic ladder asap.

Second point: all of this increase in productivity and rising incomes (time/effort/money spent on other things than energy) depends on CHEAP energy. At this point in time, alternative energy (sources other than fossils) are NOT cheap. They are not anywhere near as efficient and they are not practical (yet). (I DO agree with technology like solar ovens replacing wood burning stoves- that is a GREAT use of solar power in the developing world and a great example of how solar will be able to help)

Third point: they talk about how the entrenched energy companies (meaning fossil fuel companies) earn “staggering profits”, which makes them somehow evil and so they should be either nationalized (BAD idea) or have their ‘profits’ stolen “for the better good” (another really bad idea).

First of all, they don’t make anything like what I would call staggering profits. They only sound like that because of the way they are reported. Which is intentionally to make you feel like something is wrong with it. They are manipulating you to make you want to punish those ‘evil’ corporations. Please read this article to get a more balanced perspective… http://www.dailyfinance.com/2012/10/20/big-oil-isnt-as-profitable-as-everyone-thinks/

And to end my review of this article, I would like to point out my personal favorite way to ‘save the world’ with the least pain and anguish for everyone (and everyTHING) on the planet… start using BIRTH CONTROL!!!

If you really think about it, almost every problem you can come up with is minimized if you cut down the amount of people running around the planet. Global warming for instance. If you say that global warming is caused by the actions of people, then it could easily be solved by reducing the amount of people acting. Right?

YES! So, wouldn’t it be better to just use some birth control rather than kill off the people that are already here (through starvation, disease, war, pollution)???

China has done the world a great service with their one child policy (the only problem is their use of force instead of persuasion). If everyone around the world would think about this and resolve to just have one child voluntarily, it would solve a LOT of our problems. War, hunger, pollution, would all be just about eliminated, or at least minimized to the greatest possible extent.

Yes, it would take a while. But in the same time period they’re talking about 2040, we could make a huge, lasting impact, especially if people really came to value the rest of the planet instead of only humanity.

Personally, I would LOVE to see the use of non-polluting alternative energy sources grow to overtake the use of fossil fuels. I DO value this beautiful earth and all the other creatures living here with us.

I would be happy to use wind, solar, ocean current, fuel cell, or anything else that can match fossil fuels in price and efficiency. I am hoping they will come up with new technology that will allow me to make that choice sometime soon. So far, that day has not come. I’m doing what I can see as feasible in the meantime. No, I’m not going to be a martyr.

 

Are Weeds Healthier Than Farmed Veggies?

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Are Weeds Healthier Than Farmed Veggies? | Mother Jones.

My guess would be yes. 🙂

We’ve had an expert on edible plants come out to lead our Campaign for Liberty meetup group on an expedition to hunt down local ‘weeds’. I’ve managed to miss it both times so far. I’d really like to know more about this and hoping I’ll be home the next time he can come to see us. We’re trying to get more involved with natural, organic, non-GMO foods.

I can’t manage a garden very well when I’m offshore most of the time. I’m pretty sure I could manage to grow weeds. In fact, I have a yard full of them already. I just need to know if any of them are good for eating. 😉

Animal Food Checkoff Programs and the Economics of Meat Production

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Animal Food Checkoff Programs and the Economics of Meat Production – Politics – Utne Reader.

Here is an interesting article from Utne Reader on the new book by David Robinson Simon: “Meatonomics”.

This exert from the book is mainly about the food “checkoff” programs. Those are programs where the federal government takes a certain percentage of every product sold, say every pound of beef or pork, or a dozen eggs, or a gallon of milk. They then use that money to “promote” those products. In other words, to manipulate the public through advertising to buy more of those products.

Milk- it does a body good.

Pork, the other white meat.

What’s for dinner? Beef.

The incredible, edible egg.

I’m sure you’ve seen these ads, they’ve been around for years. According to the article, they’ve been VERY effective. For instance, the dairy producers report they’ve increased per capita milk consumption 12% to 620 pounds since their program started in 1983. More than 7 billion extra pounds of milk sold!

I don’t really have a problem with food producers trying to promote the sale of their products. If they all just got together voluntarily and threw their money in a pool to spend on advertising that they all agreed on, then fine.

Where I have an issue is that this program is mandatory. The federal government does not allow anyone to opt out and it forces ALL producers to pay for whatever it is that the government decides to say. We’re talking $557 million yearly, that’s a lot of advertising.

Why in the world do we even need the federal government to promote ANY product? Is this in ANY way consistent with the LIMITED government we are supposed to have according to our Constitution? It IS still the supreme law of the land, no matter how many ‘laws’ have been written into the books to subvert it.

Looks like nobody really cares. There’s already been a case where some beef producers disagreed with an ad campaign (Johannes v. Livestock Marketing Association) that went all the way to the Supreme Court. Basically, the court ruled that the statements (ads) were being produced by the government, NOT the beef producers and so they had no standing to object (I’m not a lawyer but that’s my take on it).

Tough titties in other words 🙁

It looks like a book worth reading if you’re at all interested in our increasingly corporate food system. The more I learn, the more I DON’T like what I’m finding out. There has to be a better way.

Is it Safer to Work Offshore in 2013?

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Is it Safer to Work Offshore in 2013?.

Well, I don’t really know. I would like to see some statistics on how it compares to back in say the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s. Personally, I think its probably a LITTLE better. The companies I’ve been working with are constantly harping on safety. They go on and on til its coming out our ears. But I still hear of people doing really stupid things. Like that fire on the platform back in November last year , due to improper welding operations (http://www.blackelkenergy.com/news/67-explosion-and-fire-on-gulf-platform-occurred-during-welding-contractors-failed-to-follow-standard-safety-practices.html) . I mean, jeeze…

What the hell is it going to take?? I get sick and tired of being treated like a moron when I go to work. The company has to tell me how to get dressed in the morning? REALLY???

I’ve only been working offshore (professionally) since 1977! Having to re-take classes like BST (Basic Safety Training) or Rigpass really gets old. I mean, who forgets how to put on a life jacket??? What’s new in shipboard fire fighting? We have the same classes of fires we’ve always had (except they now label a galley grease fire as “K” for kitchen I guess- trying to make it SEEM like there’s actually something new). We fight them the same way.

I think the way to make things safer offshore is to concentrate on creating a culture of personal responsibility!!! Get people to understand that they can do what they’re going to do but THEY are responsible for their actions. They’ll pay attention if they know THEY are going to pay the price if anything goes wrong.

The fact is that we have all sorts of programs out here that SEEM to encourage safety. Instead, they take the ability to THINK about and then CHOOSE their actions away from people. Take away options from people and you take with it their responsibility. You can only BLAME them then, since you’ve taken away any REAL choices.

It seems to me these companies love to send people to these classes so they can tell the world, “it’s not OUR fault those people got hurt. After all, we sent them to training. They should have known how to do the job properly without getting hurt.” Yeah, like a day long class is really going to teach someone ALL they need to know to work safely out here. I don’t think so!

I’m NOT saying we need to go to any more classes!!! What I AM saying is that once a person goes through those very basic classes, they have only the bare minimum of knowledge. We can and should use the time spent in our weekly drills and safety meetings to train people PAST that bare minimum!

Those of us out here with some experience need to take into consideration that SOME of the people we’re working with are almost totally ignorant! From my perspective, it seems like a lot of the incidents are happening with relatively new people. We need to concentrate our efforts on training THOSE people! We need to keep a good eye on them. We need to take the time to really MENTOR them. We need to be generous with our time and our knowledge and not keep it to ourselves in fear of losing our jobs to the newbies…

It would help a LOT if we were not constantly having the crew size cut and cut and cut some more! OK, this below is referring to shipping and not so much drilling since I don’t know too much about drilling yet (but its probably still relevant)…

A typical ship used to carry a crew of 45-50 men. Now they sail with half that (and LOTS more work to do)! Some COIs (Certificate Of Inspection) will allow only 17 man crew (or less). This is for a 1000 ft long tanker!!! ATBs (tug/barge combination) which can run up to 600-700+ feet long, can be run with less than 10!!!

Check out the REAL results of the investigation into the Exxon Valdez incident. You’ll find that it was actually caused by the fact that the entire crew was exhausted and had NOTHING to do with the Captain at all. He could have been totally sober or drunk as a skunk and it wouldn’t have made a damn bit of difference.

They passed the 12 hour rule after the Valdez spill to remedy that. There are work hour restrictions in US law and in the STCW. So it applies to pretty much ALL shipping worldwide. That does include all the larger oilfield support vessels. I don’t know how the drilling industry has escaped notice on this but I don’t know of anything similar that they have to abide by (I might just be uninformed on this point- any drillers to comment?).

Ask any sailor around the world how well they follow that rule. I can almost guarantee you they’re being ‘forced’ by their company policies to break it constantly. Of course, company will never admit it, will blame it on the crew if it ever comes up, and will deny they ever had any idea it was happening 🙁

Being tired is one of the leading causes of accidents. I would think that would be one very easy solution to vastly improve safety. But of course, it would cost some extra money to hire a few extra hands. Is that gonna happen any time soon???

Safety first??? I don’t think so 🙁

U.S. EPA Fines Shell for Arctic Air Pollution Violations

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U.S. EPA Fines Shell for Arctic Air Pollution Violations | gCaptain

OK, they got fined $1 million, I don’t think that’s really all that big a deal to them. I am SO glad I didn’t stick with that job!

That was going to be my perfect job. I left Oceaneering after they brought my ship to the Gulf of Mexico. What a HUGE culture shock! I’ve done everything I could do to get the hell back overseas ever since (STILL trying). When I got the offer from Frontier Drilling to go as 2nd mate on the Frontier Discoverer (now Noble Discoverer), I was on that like white on rice 🙂

It was out of the GOM, the pay and benefits were better, the schedule was better and best of all, it was drilling but NOT going to be stuck sitting in one spot for months on end not doing anything. This one was supposed to work in Alaska in the summers and Australia in the winters. I figured, great, I would still get to do some actual navigation. Finally get to go somewhere interesting again!

So, I flew over to meet the ship in Singapore. Whoa, what a surprise I got. I had the idea the ship was ”new”. The ship itself was built in 1966 (but NOT well taken care of- parts of it below decks looked like Swiss cheese- NOT good!). They stuck a new drill rig on it midships. They stuck a new house on it aft. It still had the original engine (that wouldn’t start) and bridge. Not much in the way of modern electronics, no DP systems- it was “turret moored”. They only had a captain, chief mate and 2 second mates for bridge team. I guess we were going to stand watch like a regular ship (12-4, 4-8, 8-12) instead of the usual 12 hour watch like the oilfield. I never did find out since I quit before we left Singapore. They did have a bunch of good ABs at least.

I really wanted to keep that job. It offered everything I wanted. Actual sailing around to interesting places around the world, good crew (international), good schedule, good pay, good insurance, decent quarters.

I hated to leave! But things were getting pretty scary to me. More and more every day. For instance, I would make my way up forward to the bridge for my watch and someone would casually mention to me that the “swimming pool” was full again. WHAT???? Swimming pool??

Yes, some ships do actually have swimming pools but this one was NOT supposed to. So, what were they talking about. Turns out, the swimming pool was a void space, starboard side midships. It went all the way down from the main deck to the bilge. Every other day it would fill up to the top. Then it would drain down. What was going on? No one knew. No one really seemed to care…

I was there only about 3 weeks. We would have fire drills every couple of days. Mostly because we could not conduct a ‘proper’ fire drill to satisfy the authorities. We would start the fire pump, but where was the water??? We could never get any water to the forward part of the ship. Why not??? Yeah, pretty important question…

Turns out that about 50 feet of the fire line had been cut out previously. No one had put a blank on the line. No one had ‘remembered’ about it. So, when we started the fire pump, the water from the fire line would fill up the swimming pool instead of going down the fire line to the forward part of the ship. WOW!

So, OK, that problem solved. Only took 3 weeks I was there and who knows how long before that they had been without any fire fighting capability. Again, no one seemed to care.

They did finally manage to get the main engine started too. I’m not sure why they bothered. The company man assured me they would TOW the ship to Alaska if they couldn’t get it started. They were bound and determined to get it there on schedule!

I almost fell out of my (top) bunk when they finally lit it off! It sounded like a bomb went off the first time it rolled over. Of course, the engine being so old, they don’t service that type anymore, or make parts, so the engineers were having a hell of a time. A great bunch of guys. They all walked off the ship a week before I left. The chief mate left a couple of days before I had enough. The QMEDs left when I did. All that were left was the Captain, the other 2nd mate (who was used to getting shot at while working in Africa) and the (foreign) ABs who were staying til the end since they wouldn’t be allowed to stay once the ship got to the states.

I felt bad leaving like that before my scheduled hitch was over. That was one of only a couple of times in all these years I’ve quit like that. It just wasn’t worth either my license or my life for that job no matter how badly I wanted it. Every time I see this ship in the news I’m reminded of that time in Singapore and glad I made the decision I did. I feel sorry for the people who had to deal with all that crap in Alaska. 🙁

Here’s a link to the ships details so you can see what I’m talking about 🙂http://www.marinetraffic.com/ais/shipdetails.aspx?MMSI=636014934

Zombie Pigeons Are Invading Moscow

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Zombie Pigeons Are Invading Moscow | Smart News.

Braaaainsssss… 😉 LOL! I LOVE zombie movies, books, etc! I just had to check out this post I got from the Smithsonian. I don’t want to ruin your anticipation so, read the link…

I didn’t get to see the birds before they died, but I wonder if they have the same thing going around S. Louisiana? I had to stop by Houma (LA) on my way home from work last hitch to renew my HUET (Helicopter Underwater Egress Training) cert. I was outside the hotel having a smoke (HATE these new non-smoking places!), in the early morning and noticed a few dead birds on the ground. OK, 1 dead bird is one thing, 2 is curious, 6-7 of them is something of concern! They all looked the same to me. I’m not any kind of bird expert but I think they may have been some kind of swift or martin (purple martin?) . Nope, too bad, I didn’t take any pictures 🙁

I asked the lady at the desk if she knew about them and she said, yeah, they’ve been dropping like flies just around her hotel and a couple of blocks nearby for the last couple of weeks. She said they had called the authorities and no one cared enough to come out and investigate 🙁 We were all left wondering what was happening to those birds???

Here Comes the Story of No Hurricanes

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Here Comes the Story of No Hurricanes | Mother Jones.

Here we go again with the global warming… Am I the only one who remembers back in the 70s when we were all supposed to be frozen into ice cubes by now. According to the almost unanimous scientific consensus, we should start shopping for parkas and load up on the firewood! Next it was global warming and now it’s ‘climate change’. Can’t these guys make up their minds?

I actually met one of these so-called experts a couple of years ago. I got off my tuna boat in Kiribati. They were having a meeting where I was staying. Here’s a link to an article written at the time- (http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2010/nov/09/kiribati-climate-change-conference-intro). The reporter even asked me what I thought about it for a man in the street’s opinion piece.

I asked a delegate why should I (or anyone else) believe him when the scientists were more in agreement about global freezing back in the 70s than they are about global warming now. I think I pissed him off. I mean,  disrespecting his so superior scientific knowledge and all that. REALLY??!! He had NO idea what I was talking about! OK, he was a few years younger than me so he probably doesn’t remember all the hysteria personally like I do, but he’s supposed to be an expert. Can’t we expect the experts to know more than just the ordinary guy in the street???

Back 'yard' of the best hotel on Tarawa 2010

Back ‘yard’ of the best hotel on Tarawa 2010

One Weird Trick to Fix Farms Forever

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One Weird Trick to Fix Farms Forever | Mother Jones.

One weird trick? Seems like this ‘trick’ has been around forever, it’s just our modern factory farming techniques that tend to overlook it.

I don’t really know enough about farming to say with a definite yes or no to any of this stuff. I have been learning more about it lately and I’m coming to find out that contrary to what our government schools are telling us, that no, factory farming is NOT necessary to feed all the people on this planet now.

I always thought that because of the humongous amount of people running around and needing to be fed, that factory farming was the ONLY solution. Now, I’ve been learning, it isn’t. In fact, it is causing a lot of harm. Not only to the animals, but to the water, to the soil, to the plants, to the people involved in the farming, AND to all the rest of us.

Check out the article, read it all the way through and even the comments at the end. If you want some more info, check out this book I read called “Genetic Roulette” on GMOs (they even made a movie out of it). We’re working on showing that one at our local (Campaign for Liberty) meetup groups movie night sometime soon. Or another movie called “Farmaggedon”. There are lots more but those are a couple of good ones that’ll open your eyes and get you started asking questions. I’ve been a fast food junkie my whole life and they did open my eyes to a lot of things. Even tho I’m still eating all the crap food, at least I’m learning 😉

Don’t Lather, Don’t Rinse, Don’t Repeat

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Don’t Lather, Don’t Rinse, Don’t Repeat | Mother Jones.

Another instance of the law of unintended consequences… here we go with the use of (usually) expensive face cleansers causing environmental damage due to the inclusion of ‘microbeads’ in the formulas. What’s the matter with just using plain old soap and water to wash with? I almost never use anything else and most people say my skin is still in pretty good shape. Even after a lifetime of working on the water. Most of it outside in the sunshine (and I DO get sunburned easily). I have to admit, I do use some lotions sometimes. Usually just the ones I’ll pick up from the hotel rooms when I go to work, they smell real nice 🙂

BEIL FYI: Mysterious Dolphin Deaths on the Rise

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BEIL FYI: Mysterious Dolphin Deaths on the Rise : Bryan Ellis Investing Letter.

Could it be measles??? It sure seems like its taking them a long time to figure that out if it was something that simple. I just hate to see this happening to those beautiful playful dolphins 🙁 I hope they can figure out what’s killing them soon and find some way to help them survive whatever it is.

Underwater Volcano Dubbed World’s Largest

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Underwater Volcano Dubbed World’s Largest.

More discoveries under the ocean! We really need to learn more about the earth, we keep finding all kinds of stuff we never knew about. This volcano, the Tamu Massif, is 120,000 square miles! Its worth reading the article 😉

Climate Activists, Eco-Terrorism, and the Green Scare

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Climate Activists, Eco-Terrorism, and the Green Scare – Politics – Utne Reader.

Another great article from Utne Reader. I really love that magazine, even tho I usually don’t agree with how they state the problem or the solutions they come up with. They are usually VERY statist and I am the opposite. Sometimes they are communitarian (people choosing to live together in a voluntary manner and helping each other by CHOICE), which I DO agree with and support. There is a world of difference between voluntary cooperation and all other systems which are based on force. I will not support any of those in any way (which includes “our” system here in the USA now, since it has utterly violated the original constitution set up and intended to PROTECT our rights, and instead it now constantly violates them).

As for the article, it reports on the usual cooperation between big government and big business to keep the people in their places. Lots of spying on anyone engaged in community organizing or otherwise politically active by both private companies and government to benefit the corporations . Of course, this damages the ability to get anything useful done. They talk a lot about fracking specifically but also mention the Keystone pipeline and animal rights, factory farming,etc. I really can’t say I’ve made up my mind which side of the fracking issue I’ll take.

I DO like the fact that it is helping us get off the Arabic tit and become energy independent again. I like that very much! I would LOVE to be able to say to the entire Middle East to go jump in a lake! They’ve had us over the barrel (of oil) for so long and we’ve been sucking up to them for years because of it. We spend BILLIONS of dollars “protecting” their countries so we can get access to that oil. I say let them keep their oil! We should’ve spent all those billions developing alternative energy all those years and we’d be a HELL of a lot better off by now.

So, now our oil people have come up with directional drilling and fracking to get more of our own oil out of the ground. I’m happy about that. Lets concentrate on making fracking safer, if the environmentalists concerns about groundwater pollution are valid, we need to fix that problem somehow before we continue fracking near any problem areas. Let’s not throw the baby out with the bathwater, lets FIX the specific problems with fracking and use it for our benefit. Since we have NOT developed our alternative energy supplies to where they’re anywhere near competitive yet, it gives us some control over our foreign policy again, IF our politicians will just THINK about things and do whats right for the country for once instead of being their own usual greedy pandering selves.

I would LOVE to see solar, wind, geothermal, ocean current, fuel cell technology become as efficient and affordable as fossil fuels. Is any of that going to happen in my lifetime??? In the meantime, we CAN get affordable, politically cheap oil- (meaning NOT located in some foreign country where they all hate us). I say go for it.

As to the environmentalists and other critics of fracking, I want to know just what exactly are THEIR solutions to the issue of our need for energy? I’ve already heard about their ideas that we all go back to living off the land. Yeah, well, I agree with that but don’t think that’s at all possible unless and until we’re ready to eliminate at least a few billion of us humans off the face of the earth. Birth control would be my preferred method, space colonization would work for me just fine, our so-called leaders would prefer we kill each other off in expensive wars, and mother earth will probably do it with some sort of plague sooner or later.

OK, so what OTHER solutions are there???

Google Offers First Street View from Inside a Ship | gCaptain

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Google Offers First Street View from Inside a Ship | gCaptain

This is pretty cool! If you’ve never been on a ship before, or if they’ve never let you look around the bridge, engine room, or other areas usually restricted to the crew, this post from www.gcaptain.com will give you a virtual tour. It was taken on board the research vessel Falkor (owned by the Schmidt Ocean Institute). SOI was founded by the same guy (Dr Eric Schmidt) who founded Google- cool!!

Enjoy the tours and let me know what you think 🙂

Bringing Life Back to Soil

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Bringing Life Back to Soil.

Another interesting article from Utne Reader this morning. Since we’ve started our “Liberty Garden” (at my local Campaign for Liberty meetup group), I’ve been paying a lot more attention to this kind of thing.

I’ve been trying to get things to grow around my house ever since I got my own place. When I had other people living there, I thought maybe I could grow an actual garden. Yeah, riiiiight…. I left it all nice and healthy, when I came home after 2-3 months at sea everything was either eaten up or covered with weeds 🙁 Since then, I’ve given up on a formal ‘garden’ and have been just trying to find things that will grow by themselves. Things I can leave alone and don’t have to worry about tending to.

So far, I’ve tried grapes, almonds, pineapples, oranges, limes, lemons, pomegranates, apples, pears. So far, the only thing I have had produce anything is the lime tree. It just loads up with little green limes that turn orange later on. I almost had a pineapple a couple years back but then it froze 🙁 I guess its not cold enough for the almonds, will have to switch back to peaches tho I really don’t like peaches nearly as much as almonds. Everything else is too young to know if they will eventually produce or not.

Oh yeah, the roses are hanging in there. I have canna lilies that do real well. I also have mimosas that just won’t stop ( I whack them down every time I come home and they’re back again when I get off). The clematis is so pretty but grows like a WEED and covers everything! Anybody know how the hell to get it to STOP??!!? Its growing all in my grass and mowing it doesn’t really help much. I pull it all off the other plants when I get home, but it just comes back even worse! I think its this one- Sweet Autumn Clematis (Clematis terniflora).

Clematis terniflora

Chinese zoo angers visitors by passing off Tibetan mastiff dog as lion – CNN.com

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Chinese zoo angers visitors by passing off Tibetan mastiff dog as lion – CNN.com.

Ohhh, this is a funny story. I especially liked the one who says they should just put the keeper in the cage labeled ‘gorilla’. LOL! 🙂

Weekly Photo Challenge: Sea

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Riviera Maya near Cozumel April 2013

Riviera Maya near Cozumel April 2013

I was in Mexico for a conference (moving overseas by International Living). It was great but not nearly enough time to enjoy these beautiful beaches;-)

Weekly Photo Challenge: Sea

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stormclouds and rainbows from the 8506

stormclouds and rainbows from the 8506

Jeezum Crow That’s a Weird Lookin’ Lobstah | gCaptain

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Jeezum Crow That’s a Weird Lookin’ Lobstah | gCaptain

Yeah, this IS pretty damn weird! I’ve never seen anything like this in nature. It makes me think somebody’s playing tricks. Anybody ever seen anything like this in nature?

Cargo Ships on Beaches…Really? | gCaptain

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Cargo Ships on Beaches…Really? | gCaptain

I always thought it would be so cool to drive one of these big ships up on the beach! I mean really, the whole point of shipping is NOT to run your ship aground.

I do understand that there are some horrendous working conditions there for these people. I also understand that the people who take these jobs are desperate for ANY kind of job to support themselves and their families. I know when you’re desperate, you might not want to be too picky about what you will and won’t put up with. Maybe people might want to figure out what is the reason why they are so desperate in the first place- someone mentioned that there were too many people (comments below article). Yeah, that is the bottom line really. These ship breaking jobs are actually good paying jobs for over there. Yes, I’m sure it could be made safer and would save some lives, but look at what we have done here as far as safety goes- we are regulated to death! I would love to see the comparison statistics on safety between those ship breakers and the ones here (IF we have any left). I don’t think it would really make ALL that much difference. I notice the people working all over Asia on bamboo scaffolding, no shoes, no safety belts, no hard hats, no nothing except the knowledge that if they get hurt, no one is going to help them. They seem to do just as good as we do on their accident rates. All without putting everybody in the “safety” straightjackets like they did here. We can’t do anything anymore without filling out reams of paperwork and dressing up like we’re going to outerspace or something 🙁

Armed Lifeboat: Government’s Response to Natural Disaster – Politics – Utne Reader

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Armed Lifeboat: Government’s Response to Natural Disaster – Politics – Utne Reader.

This is an interesting article about opposing reactions to disasters. They are mostly talking about global warming but I think they can mean any kind of disaster. The opposite sides seem to be top down – government- or bottom up- community. Of course, being Utne Reader, they want government to be involved in BOTH. I think things should be done if at all possible (and most everything IS) through bottom up approach. I think most people here (USA) have come to depend on the government approach and many are already very dependent on all sorts of government aid. How will we be able to stop the militarization/dystopian governmental approach they refer to in the article if we do not get some independence back again? I think we are finally starting to wake up to the reality of what “our” government is doing (mostly behind our backs) and some are even starting to fight back and demand whats right. I only hope we’re not too late.

Watch This Sinkhole Swallow a Chunk of Louisiana Bayou Whole | Smart News

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Watch This Sinkhole Swallow a Chunk of Louisiana Bayou Whole | Smart News.

This article has a pretty cool video in it where you can watch the trees going down the sinkhole. I’ve tried it a few times and it will never play all the way through. I don’t know if its something with my computer or the video itself. Even with that, the first part is worth watching.

 

The Science Behind Honey’s Eternal Shelf Life | Surprising Science

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The Science Behind Honey’s Eternal Shelf Life | Surprising Science.

I knew honey lasted a long time, I have some around the house that’s probably a couple of years old 😉 I didn’t know they found it in tombs in Egypt, thousands of years old and still edible. WOW! That’s some shelf life.

I knew honey was good for helping heal wounds. I didn’t know it made hydrogen peroxide!?! Amazing stuff. We need to make sure the bees can keep making it. Bees are enormously important to the entire ecologic system. The loss of the bee colonies is going to be a huge problem if it’s not already. Colony Collapse Disorder is becoming more and more common. Very scary 🙁 Other than making honey, they pollinate most of our food crops.What are we going to do? Pollinate everything ourselves???

Fish on Drugs – Environment – Utne Reader

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Fish on Drugs – Environment – Utne Reader.

Fish on drugs? WOW! The law of unintended consequences at work again. As they said in the article, there is not enough evidence yet to blame this ALL on our drug use, but my money’s on that idea. We keep on doing things where we THINK we know what we’re doing and how it’ll all work out to our benefit, but time is showing us that we do NOT know what we’re doing, we’re just flailing around trying to figure things out and testing things in the REAL world that we should be testing much more in the ‘lab’ first. GMO food is just one more example of this and the more I learn about it, the more I don’t like it!