A Different Look at North Korea

Could this propaganda-styled poster of Kim be right?

Examine closely these images from North Korea as you reflect upon select quotes from Henry David Thoreau.

Fishermen prepare their nets on the North Korean side of the Yalu river across from the Chinese border town of Hekou. N.K. photographs by Ng Han Guan/AP.

Nature and human life are as various as our several constitutions. Who shall say what prospect life offers to another? Could a greater miracle take place than for us to look through each other’s eyes for an instant?...

North Korean dock workers react to a passing Chinese tour boat along the Yalu river dividing China and North Korea.

If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.

Two North Korean women wash their hair in the Yalu river on the border of northeast China's Liaoning province.

However mean your life is, meet it and live it; do not shun it and call it hard names. It is not so bad as you are. It looks poorest when you are richest. The fault-finder will find faults even in paradise. Love your life, poor as it is. You may perhaps have some pleasant, thrilling, glorious hours, even in a poorhouse. The setting sun is reflected from the windows of the almshouse as brightly as from the rich man’s abode; the snow melts before its door as early in the spring. – from Walden

Farmers till the land in the North Korean hillside across from the Chinese border town of Hekou, in northeastern China's Liaoning province.

It is well to find your employment and amusement in simple and homely things. These wear best and yield most. I think I would rather watch the motions of these cows in their pasture for a day, which I now see all headed one way and slowly advancing, watch them and project their course carefully on a chart, and report all their behavior faithfully, than wander to Europe or Asia, and watch other motions there; for it is only ourselves that we report in either case, and perchance we shall report a more restless, worthless self in the latter case than the former. – from Journal, October 5, 1856

Stunning Sunspot

Two days ago, sunspot 1130 didn't exist. Now the fast-growing sunspot group is the largest visible feature on the sun's disk with twin cores both larger than Earth. The amazing thing, however, is the invisible part. Using extreme ultraviolet filters outside the range of human vision, NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory took this picture of the sunspot's magnetic canopy on Nov. 30th.

In the image, curvaceous lines of magnetism are illuminated by hot solar plasma trapped inside the canopy. If the magnetic field becomes unstable and explodes, as sunspot magnetic fields tend to do, a cloud of plasma could come flying toward Earth. This active region merits watching for the next few days until the sun's rotation turns it away from our planet. -- SpaceWeather

Beautiful.

The Power of the Market

Marlene Dietrich's legs - Milton Friedman explains in "Fairness" (part 8, below)

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The Power of the Market - Fairness

Milton Friedman looks at fairness, income distribution and risk in a voluntary society. (Just 1 of 31 videos - Watch the entire series.)

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"The society that puts equality before freedom will end up with neither. The society that puts freedom before equality will end up with a great measure of both." -- Milton Friedman

Simon's Cat: Beyond the Fence

Simon's Cat: Beyond the Fence

Book: Simon's Cat: Beyond the Fence

September 1, 1939

Edward Hopper, Night Hawks, 1942 - via Escape Into Life: Waking from the American Dream

September 1, 1939

By W. H. Auden

I sit in one of the dives
On Fifty-second Street
Uncertain and afraid
As the clever hopes expire
Of a low dishonest decade:
Waves of anger and fear
Circulate over the bright
And darkened lands of the earth,
Obsessing our private lives;
The unmentionable odour of death
Offends the September night.

Accurate scholarship can
Unearth the whole offence
From Luther until now
That has driven a culture mad,
Find what occurred at Linz,
What huge imago made
A psychopathic god:
I and the public know
What all schoolchildren learn,
Those to whom evil is done
Do evil in return.

Exiled Thucydides knew
All that a speech can say
About Democracy,
And what dictators do,
The elderly rubbish they talk
To an apathetic grave;
Analysed all in his book,
The enlightenment driven away,
The habit-forming pain,
Mismanagement and grief:
We must suffer them all again.

Into this neutral air
Where blind skyscrapers use
Their full height to proclaim
The strength of Collective Man,
Each language pours its vain
Competitive excuse:
But who can live for long
In an euphoric dream;
Out of the mirror they stare,
Imperialism's face
And the international wrong.

Faces along the bar
Cling to their average day:
The lights must never go out,
The music must always play,
All the conventions conspire
To make this fort assume
The furniture of home;
Lest we should see where we are,
Lost in a haunted wood,
Children afraid of the night
Who have never been happy or good.

The windiest militant trash
Important Persons shout
Is not so crude as our wish:
What mad Nijinsky wrote
About Diaghilev
Is true of the normal heart;
For the error bred in the bone
Of each woman and each man
Craves what it cannot have,
Not universal love
But to be loved alone.

From the conservative dark
Into the ethical life
The dense commuters come,
Repeating their morning vow;
"I will be true to the wife,
I'll concentrate more on my work,"
And helpless governors wake
To resume their compulsory game:
Who can release them now,
Who can reach the deaf,
Who can speak for the dumb?

All I have is a voice
To undo the folded lie,
The romantic lie in the brain
Of the sensual man-in-the-street
And the lie of Authority
Whose buildings grope the sky:
There is no such thing as the State
And no one exists alone;
Hunger allows no choice
To the citizen or the police;
We must love one another or die.

Defenceless under the night
Our world in stupor lies;
Yet, dotted everywhere,
Ironic points of light
Flash out wherever the Just
Exchange their messages:
May I, composed like them
Of Eros and of dust,
Beleaguered by the same
Negation and despair,
Show an affirming flame.

Using the Bandana as a Sling

Using the Bandana as a Sling

http://www.thepathfinderschoolllc.com

http://www.selfrelianceillustrated.com

Best Thanksgiving Ever

I hope that you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving day meal but, I'm sure that yours could in no way hold a candle (literally) to my pioneer-style evening -- cooked entirely outdoors over an open fire.

The menu: smoked duck, mashed potatoes, duck gravy, homemade stuffing (mushrooms, onion, garlic, red pepper and croutons) asparagus with hollandaise sauce...

Where are those leftovers?!

leftovers – mmm, breakfast

All served outdoors on one of the only bug-free, star-filled nights Florida has witnessed in a long time. Accompanied by a bottle of Cabernet and candle light, it honestly couldn't have been any better.

Puter and Kitty Kitty were also treated -- to a chicken liver pate. They too are fat and happy today, thanks in part to your donations.

A Happy Side Note

This morning, the rain held off just long enough for me to roast some dried holly leaves and brew myself a cup of the black drink. Overall, I find it an enjoyable and invigorating tea, especially with a small teaspoon of sugar added. I’ll be harvesting more leaves for this delightful free coffee substitute soon.

In the beginning, when I first lost electricity, I thought I’d have a difficult time adjusting. However, camping, hurricanes and living aboard were all the perfect teachers. Lessons on how things really work have all come flooding back, as needed.

I now find that I’m thoroughly loving living the unplugged life and I’m beginning to wonder whether modern conveniences are worth all the effort.

Answering Reader Email

My Dear Readers,

Thank you for your email messages. It encourages me to know that I have engaged you in a way that you find personal.

If I could, I would respond to each email as I receive them, however, I am battling a pernicious and persistent error message with each attempt to send mail:

553 Sorry, that domain isn't in my list of allowed rcpthosts.

This happens whether I send mail directly from my host email provider (GoDaddy) or whether I send it through Outlook. Sigh.

Know that my silence is a result of this issue and not that I am ignoring you or your requests.

Accordingly, I will attempt to reply to some of your email through this post.

Of course, any troubleshooting solutions to my dilemma are appreciated.

~ ~ ~

[reader emails]

First, I want to thank you for your blog. I only found it about a year ago, I wish I'd stumbled across it earlier. Your latest link to the kelp story makes me wonder if I should get my 5 y.o daughter eating it. I'm fairly sure the damage is done for me.
Thanks again. I'm not a rich guy but, I've had a couple of good weeks at work. I'm going to donate to your book fund. I just wish the donation had my name on it (Paypal rules).
If you find anything good, let us know,
[name withheld]

Dear Kelp Lover,

While the sodium alginate in kelp helps prevent the absorption of radiation, unless your daughter lives downstream from a nuclear power plant or is subject to nuclear fallout, you shouldn’t need to adjust her diet to keep her from actively absorbing radiation. On the other hand, if she enjoys kelp (and what child doesn’t!? lol), all the better to get her used to a healthful diet early in life.

Of greater concern, I should think, is her possible exposure to lead and other heavy metal poisoning. Exposure to leaded gasolines has introduced this metal into the body of everyone in North America. Children are particularly susceptible to lead’s effects. Add garlic (another herb widely regarded by children! lol) liberally to spaghetti sauces and other foods she enjoys.

Baring the above two recommendations, here’s a third I wholeheartedly suggest. This too comes from that wonderful book, The Healing Herbs, which your donations helped me to purchase from eBay. Thank you so much.:

An apple a day, flushes the heavy metals away. European studies suggest apple pectin (and garlic) helps eliminate lead, mercury, and other toxic heavy metals from the body. Now there’s something you can both sink your teeth into and enjoy. A word of caution about apples especially for children: apple seeds are poisonous. You may want to pre-slice her apple so that she doesn’t eat any seeds and wind up with an awful tummy ache. When I was a child, I loved my apple slices with a little peanut butter on top. Have fun experimenting.

~ ~ ~

I try and try to donate, but something always screws it up , Your site is great , my resources are limited but prospects looking up , starting to import ammo big time through associates…. We have to keep you going . [name withheld]

Dear Prepper,

Sorry for the frustration while trying to donate. PayPal was down that weekend, but it should work now.

I’m glad to hear that you have your priorities in order, assuming you already have food put aside.

Thank you for thinking of me, but, please continue to take care of you and yours first.

If not prosper, may we all live safely and comfortably through the difficult times ahead.

~ ~ ~

Why be a Libertarian?

To my mind it's hardly a question. Once I learned the difference between Right and Left, and Democrat and Republican, the realization that I was neither, but was libertarian, was instant. However to most, the decision remains a choice between one side or the other, attempting to fit themselves into one mold or the other. In this fantastic video, David Boaz of the Cato Institute explains Liberals, explains Conservatives, and further explains how libertarianism is the root of our country's history. Enjoy the video, and then ask yourself a question. Don't ask yourself "why be a libertarian?" Rather, ask yourself, "why be anything but?"

http://organizedexploitation.blogspot.com/2010/11/why-be-libertarian.html


Dear Libertarian,

Thank you for sharing the video and your article.

The day I stopped associating myself with the Republican party was after the last presidential election, on the day that I watched The World According to Monsanto and saw how deeply Monsanto was in the pocket of Bush senior. Disgusted, I became a political atheist.

While atheism seems to be my first refuge of choice from other’s dogma, I do feel that it is wrong to abstain from the political process entirely.

No matter what it’s called today (Libertarianism?), my view tends to be governed by one simple question: “What would the founders do?”

~ ~ ~

hi c!

been seriously thinking of living on a boat--thank you for the idea.
it's been sounding better and better.
however, i'm a landlubber, and know zilch.

i found a wood sanpan boat (no engine).
would like to purchase mostly to live on.
any suggestions or precautions?

thank you kindly for any ideas :)

keep up your wonderful blog, hope you are doing well (i someone know you are!)

best,
[name withheld]


Dear Landlubber,

Finally, a topic I have more than a little experience with. For several years, I lived two miles from shore aboard a small houseboat anchored in a quiet harbor. What a difference from living on land!

If you plan to pursue this lifestyle, you will be forever changed.

Let me point out some of the difficulties first.: Water. It had to be caught, using an elaborate water catchment system or hauled from land in 5-gallon containers. Laundry. Handwash or tote it back and forth from a Laundromat on land. Food. Don’t keep anything perishable unless you have an icebox (ice needs to be brought from land) or a small fridge that can be powered by a battery bank connected to a solar panel or two. Power. If you have a generator, you’ll need to bring the diesel from land. Forget gasoline, it’s too dangerous. Entertainment. Books. That movie you’re watching? The batteries will die or the fuel will run out right at the best part, guaranteed. Cooking. Coleman makes a fine double burner propane stove and an adapter is available to connect it to a larger propane tank (a setup I’m using now.) This only works well on fair weather days. Never cook this way below deck! Showering. Get used to Navy showers (turn off the water while soaping up) and cold water, or scalding water from a sun shower. Throw modesty out the window along with makeup and hair styling products. Actually, braids work well. Learn how to repair everything onboard by yourself. Be prepared to handle true emergencies such as taking on water, serious personal accidents or health issues. Make sure you have a ready way to get to shore such as a good powered dinghy or a rowboat. Be prepared to travel to and from shore in all weather conditions. Get used to being wet.

Now that I’ve thoroughly scared you off, I’d like to say a few positive things about living on a boat. You will personally grow in amazing ways. You will learn to become self-sufficient. You will get into shape. You will become an inventor (often out of necessity.) You will meet people of the same ilk. You may develop life-long friends. You will surely meet true neighbors.

Suggestions? Have someone who knows boats inspect the hull and teach you about through hulls and how to handle waste management. The rest, you’ll have plenty of time to learn as you go. I did. And I wouldn’t exchange that experience for any other that I can think of.

By the way, I was thirty-eight when I first began to learn about boats. Don’t consider yourself too old or too inexperienced. The sea is an exacting yet often patient instructor.

Fair winds and following seas.

~ ~ ~

A Sad Side Note

Many of you may have been wondering why I haven’t posted more about sailing Ella. Her story to date, I’m afraid to say, is not a happy one.

Just after towing her to her new home port, my personal income fell dramatically. Contrary to popular belief, I was not out sailing her on vacation last June; instead I was busy selling unneeded personal items just to keep the bills paid. I personally don’t believe in begging support from people I despise (govt.) so, without family I’ve had a tough time.

Additionally, my small town bank was recently closed by the FDIC and assumed by another bank, minus some of my bank’s assets. One of the assets not assumed by the new bank was the foreclosed marina where Ella sits on land, awaiting repairs that I cannot afford at this time. Because I also cannot afford my electric bill, I’ve found it impossible to pay the boat yard bill for Ella. She is now in the hands of the FDIC and likely to be auctioned off soon unless my fortune changes.

Though the wind appears to have been taken from my sails, I remain grateful to have a roof over my head and plenty to eat – basic comforts I wish for you all.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Always My Best,

covertress

Dr. Fred Alan Wolf: Poppin the Quiff

Fred Alan Wolf, Ph.D on Poppin the Quiff 1 of 2

Fred Alan Wolf, Ph.D on Poppin the Quiff 2 of 2

Fred Alan Wolf (born December 3, 1934) is a theoretical physicist and writer on the subjects of quantum physics, consciousness, and their relationship. His theories about the interrelation of consciousness and quantum physics have been described in a Newsweek editorial as "on the fringes of mainstream science."

Website: http://www.fredalanwolf.com/

Blog: http://fredalanwolf.blogspot.com/

Movie: What the bleep do we know? Down the rabbit hole

~ ~ ~

Difficult Questions in Troubling Times

By Dr. Fred Alan Wolf

Many of you in sending me your questions by email seem to keep coming back to the same questions about God, the Mind of God, the Unified Field, and the quantum field. Some of you would hope that I could give a consistent answer or better metaphor to describe such terms as these. I wish I could. I also wish that I could be consistent in my answers to you, however I am not able to do so simply because my views of what these metaphors or answers to these questions may be keeps changing as I learn more and more and think more and more about the meanings of my answers.

I am not alone in the predicament. Even the Buddha and Robert Oppenheimer the physicist-leader of the Manhattan atom bomb project faced this same problem.

One day a wanderer came into the village where the Buddha taught. His name was Vacchagotta. He asked the Enlightened One whether or not there was a soul (Atman). The following was their somewhat brief and one-sided conversation:

VACCHAGOTTA: Venerable Gotama, is there a Soul?
BUDDHA: (Silence.)
VACCHAGOTTA: Then Venerable One, is there no Soul?
BUDDHA: (Silence.)
VACCHAGOTTA: (Gets up and goes away.)

Later Ananda, a disciple of the Buddha, appeared and asked the Enlightened One to comment on his previous silence. The Buddha said,

Ananda, when asked by Vacchagotta the Wanderer, “Is there a Soul?”, if I had answered: “There is a soul”, then that would be siding with those recluses and brahmanas who hold to the eternalist theory. And when asked by the wanderer: “Is there no soul?” If I had answered: “There is no soul”, then that would be siding with those recluses and brahmanas who hold to the annihilationist theory.

Again, Ananda, when asked by Vacchagotta: “Is there a soul?”, if I had answered: “There is”, would that be in accordance with my knowledge that all dhammas [ways of inquiry, paths to enlightenment] are without soul? And when asked by the Wanderer, “Is there no soul?”, if I had answered, “There is no soul”, then that would have been a greater confusion to the already confused Vacchagotta [who earlier had inquired into what happens after death and was confused by the Buddha’s answer]. For he would have thought: “Formerly indeed I had a soul, but now I haven’t got one.”

We can compare this legend with one well known from quantum physics. One day a student wandered into the chambers of Robert Oppenheimer, the physicist who in the 1940s headed the scientific team that constructed the atomic bomb. As the story goes the student asked Oppenheimer about the existence and movement of the tiny subatomic electron within the confines of the atom, to which Oppenheimer answered,

If we ask, for instance, whether the position of the electron remains the same, we must say “no.” If we ask whether the electron’s position changes with time, we must say “no.” If we ask whether it is in motion, we must say “no.” If we ask whether it is standing still, we must say “no.”

Oppenheimer’s quote and the Buddha’s response to Ananda regarding the soul point to the same thing. For in both Buddhist logic and quantum physics, it is necessary not to hold any fixed opinion but to see things as they are without mental projections—especially when such answers require you to have such mental projections in order to answer them.

I am sure that if I had chosen to simply remain silent to your many questions about God, the Mind of God, and the unified field most of you would have been upset at my silence just as Vacchagotta was. Since I chose to answer these questions as Robert Oppenheimer did, I would be faced with telling you different and seemingly contradictory answers from time to time as I apparently did thus as the Buddha predicted leading to confusion that the Buddha avoided by keeping silent, but I not being as wise as the Venerable One fell into the trap.

So now once and for all I ask your forgiveness if I have led you astray or caused you confusion. Frankly I felt frustrated when I saw that you kept asking me the same questions over and over again. There simply is no consistent answer to such questions regarding God as What is . . .? Enjoy life. It is a mystery.

Edible and Medicinal Plants: Online Books

In this painting of the Golden Age of Greek Mythology, men, women, and children lounge play nearly naked with animals, including a peaceful lion and a dog, and are fed on the acorns of a great oak tree. The painting is a fresco (painted into wet plaster) on the walls of the Palazzo Pitti in Florence, Italy. Fresco by Pietro da Cortona, c. 1637.

"Happy age to which the ancients gave the name of golden. . .
None found it needful, in order to obtain sustenance, to resort
to other labor than to stretch out his hand and take it from
the sturdy live-oak, which liberally invited him." -- Don Quixote

~ ~ ~

Useful Wild Plants Of The United States And Canada

by Charles Francis Saunders (1920)

Illustrated By Photographs, And By Numerous Line Drawings by Lucy Hamilton Aring

Although little known these days, Saunders (1859-1941) cast a large shadow in the first several decades of the 20th Century, writing many widely read books on western wildflowers, the Anasazi, edible plants, and the Indian, Spanish and Anglo folklore and culture of California, the Sierras and the Southwest. He was also a major and influential contributor to Sunset Magazine in its salad years. Although couched in a genteel "Revisionist Manifest Destiny" tone with echoes of "White-Man's Burden", his folksy non-threatening style helped humanize the diminished remnants of the First Americans to the growing middle class of white Americans, and were firmly founded in a voracious curiosity about the usability of fast-vanishing traditions. Without using the ersatz Injun fables of E.T. Seton or the austere fake-machismo of Zane Grey, Saunders introduced much of the American public of his era to a person-sized understanding of the remnant "Old West".

Wild Plants With Edible Tubers, Bulbs Or Roots (T.O.C., Intro, Chapters 1 and 2) Acrobat File (.pdf), 45 pages, 16 illustrations, 448K

Wild Seeds of Food Value (Chapter 3) Acrobat File (.pdf), 27 pages, 7 illustrations, 296K

The Acorn and Some Other Wild Nuts (Chapter 4) Acrobat File (.pdf), 18 pages, 3 illustrations, 376K

Little Regarded Wild Fruits and Berries (Chapter 5) Acrobat File (.pdf), 35 pages, 14 illustrations, 820K

Wild Plants with Edible Stems and Leaves (Chapter 6) Acrobat File (.pdf), 28 pages, 17 illustrations, 540K

Beverage Plants (Chapter 7) Acrobat File (.pdf), 27 pages, 8 illustrations, 488K

Vegetable Substitutes for Soap (Chapter 8) Acrobat File (.pdf), 18 pages, 7 illustrations, 368K

Some Medicinal Wildings (Chapter 9) Acrobat File (.pdf), 27 pages, 11 illustrations, 700K

Miscellaneous Uses of Wild Plants (Chapter 10) Acrobat File (.pdf), 29 pages, 9 illustrations, 800K

Certain Poisonous Plants (Chapter 11) Acrobat File (.pdf), 22 pages, 9 illustrations, 532K

"… before the Cretan king, Dictaean Jove, held sway and an impious age of men began to feast on slaughtered oxen, this life was led on earth by golden Saturn, when none had ever heard the trumpet blown or heard the sword-blade clanking on the anvil." (Virgil, Georgics). [Artist unknown]

Sturtevant's Edible Plants of the World
Edited by U. P. Hendrick with updated botanical names by Michael Moore

To the Board of Control of the New York Agricultural Experiment
Station:

GENTLEMEN.—It gives me peculiar pleasure to transmit to you for
publication a manuscript prepared from notes by Dr. E. Lewis
Sturtevant, the distinguished first Director of this Station, the
publication to be known as " Sturtevant's Notes on Edible Plants."
Dr. Sturtevant was one of that group of men who early espoused the
cause of agricultural science in the United States, a field in which he
became distinguished, his studies in economic botany being one of his
notable achievements. When he retired in 1887 as Director of this
Station, he left behind him a voluminous manuscript consisting of a
compilation of existing knowledge on the edible food plants of the
world, a piece of work involving a laborious and extended research in
botanical literature. For twenty years this manuscript remained
untouched, when Dr. U. P. Hedrick undertook its editing, a difficult and
arduous task, well performed, in order that so valuable a collection of
knowledge might become available to botanists and to students of food
economics.

It is especially appropriate that such a volume should be issued at this
time. Food problems are becoming more and more acute as the demand
for food increasingly overshadows the supply. Primitive peoples
depended upon food resources which are now neglected. Other sources
of possible human nutrition have doubtless remained untouched, and
the time may come when a comprehensive utilization of food plants will
be essential to human sustenance. It is believed, therefore, that the
information so ably brought together by Dr. Sturtevant cannot fail to
become increasingly useful.

Very respectfully,

W. H. JORDAN
Director, NEW YORK AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION GENEVA, N. Y.
June 1, 1919

The Golden Age, 1605, Joachim Wtewael (Dutch, 1566–1638), Oil on copper.

American Medicinal Leaves and Herbs, Henkel, A., USDA Bulletin #219, 1911, 1st ed.. Illustrated guide for wild crafters.

A delightful USDA manual for the identification and processing of 36 leafy and bundly herbs. 52 Pages, bookmarked .pdf file, 36 photographs - 5.4 MB

~ ~ ~

The books in this post were all linked from one incredible resource: Southwest School of Botanical Medicine -- Check it out.

Related: Survival Use of Plants 2 of 3: Edible Plant Identification
The Black Drink
Eat The Weeds: The Hollies

Last week I picked and dried some leaves from a Yapoon holly (Ilex vomitoria) in my yard. Tonight I'll roast them and tomorrow morning I'll be enjoying The Black Drink (tea) for breakfast. ;) - c

Max Keiser: Crash JP Morgan - Buy Silver!

Max Keiser: Crash JP Morgan - Buy Silver!

US Mint Reports Soaring November Month-To-Date Silver Coin Sales Surpass 2010 High Following Massive Rush Into Precious Metal

A record 3,775,000 silver coins have been sold this month!

"Here is hoping Keiser's plan ultimately unravels whatever the RICO suit against JPM and HSBC leaves untouched." -- Tyler Druden

Related: Eric Cantona: Kill the Banks

UPDATE: Max Keiser's Plan To Destroy JP Morgan Goes Mainstream, After The Guardian Posts His "Silver Squeeze" Thoughts

Dream Boat: Electric Hybrid Catamaran

First E motion hybrid Lagoon 500 now offered for sale

Dave Tether's Electric Hybrid Lagoon 47

Dave Tether's 47 lagoon has two 9KW Electric Motors, A 15KW Generator and newly installed Nilar 144V DC system. Follow the upgrades as we show how EMotionhybrids.com provides the solutions for hybrid systems. Read more about electric drive systems at The Electric Wheel (pdf) and Electric propulsion for boats: A century-old technology may just be the wave of the future.

Lagoon 500 Specs - Guided Video Tour

Lagoon 500 Sailing & Video Tour w/o Talking

Have a lotto ticket? ;)

Beware 30-Nov-2010

A few days ago, I added the following observation to the comments of another post. Since then, I've been thinking about this scenario so often that I thought it best to share it with everyone.:

[First, an Anonymous reader said:]

Hmmm, was just thinking about this [possible false flag attack clue] again this morning, and the Simpsons indicate dinner time, and when is most of America going to be celebrating "dinnertime" but on Thanksgiving...

[c:]

You might also consider the “time” reference and look at the Simpson's clock not as signifying a date (6-Nov-2010) but to be read as time -- 11:30 or 30-Nov-2010. Just a thought.

Actually, it was Jeremy Grantham who gave me this idea. He said that the present stock market bubble (engineered by The Fed) will burst “at the very worst time.”

When would a false flag attack cause the American populace the most pain? After Thanksgiving, when unemployment checks cease, appears the "worst time" in the near future. What better time could there be to push nearly three million of the newly poor to enlist in a new war?

Remember, whether a false flag attack happens or not, it remains important to keep focused on reparations from the bubblemeisters responsible for America's economic decline.

~ ~ ~

Has the Fed Been a Failure? (pdf)

A: Hell, yes!

~ ~ ~

Related: Eric Cantona: Kill the Banks [updated]

A Closer Look At FDIC Bank Closures

Via Jim Sinclair's Mine Set

Jim Sinclair’s Commentary

I consider this analysis one of the most important articles ever carried on www.jsmineset.com. I ask you to please read it so you know what a camouflage operation this so called recovery is.

Major congratulation are due to CIGA Richard for all the work he has put into bringing this to our attention.

Look how degraded the Western Financial system is, yet the public sees no wrongdoing in what Western Society has become.

The Piper must, will and is being paid.

Dear CIGAs,

The following analysis covers the 38 banks closed by the FDIC between August 6, 2010, and November 12, 2010. So far this year, the FDIC has closed 146 banks. So far in this crisis, since 2007, it has closed 311 banks.

Collectively, the 38 banks had stated assets of $13.78 billion and deposits of $11.97 billion. The FDIC’s estimated cost of closing all 38 banks was $2.72 billion, about 23% of deposits. That brings the FDIC’s total estimated losses for 2010 up to $21.6 billion.

Loss Share Remains The Rule

In the overwhelming majority of cases (30 closings out of 38), resolution of the failures was accomplished by way of the FDIC entering into loss share agreements covering a high percentage of the assets taken over by the successor banks. In connection with these 30 closings, the FDIC entered into new loss-share agreements covering an additional $8.2 billion in assets.

That brings the total face value of assets covered by FDIC loss share agreements up to about $189 billion. As we have discussed in the past, these loss share agreements typically guarantee at least 80% of the value of assets over a period of eight to ten years.

This is another form of quantitative easing being practiced by the federal government. FDIC loss share agreements place an artificial floor under the value of bank assets. This forestalls the day of reckoning when banks are forced to own up to the decimated condition of their balance sheets.

Failures Show Dramatic Overvaluations

One of the more valuable bits of information we can glean from FDIC bank failure announcements is the extent to which management of the failed banks exaggerated the value of the banks’ assets. These exaggerations were made legal in early 2009 when the Financial Accounting Standards Board repealed fair value accounting requirements.

Taking the 38 failed banks as a whole, they had declared assets of $13.78 billion and deposits of $11.97 billion. The FDIC estimated the closings cost $2.72 billion, meaning the banks’ assets were really only worth $9.25 billion. Overall, bank management overvalued assets by $4.53 billion, around 49%.

Specific examples were far worse:

Maritime Savings Bank of West Allis, Wisconsin, had stated assets of $350.5 million and deposits of $248.1 million. The FDIC estimated its closing cost $83.6 million. Based on that estimate, the bank’s assets were really only worth $164.5 million, and had been overvalued by 113%.

ShoreBank of Chicago, Illinois, had stated assets of $2.16 billion and deposits of $1.54 billion. The FDIC estimated its closing cost about $370 million. Based on that estimate, the bank’s assets were really only worth about $1.17 billion, and had been overvalued by 84%.

Premier Bank of Jefferson City, Missouri, had stated assets of $1.18 billion and deposits of $1.03 billion. The FDIC estimated its closing cost $407 million. Based on that estimate, the bank’s assets were really only worth $623 million, and had been overvalued by 84%.

K Bank of Randallstown, Maryland, had stated assets of $538.3 million and deposits of $500.1 million. The FDIC estimated its closing cost $198.4 million. Based on that estimate, the bank’s assets were really only worth $301.7 million, and had been overvalued by 78%.

Finally, Horizon Bank of Bradenton, Florida, had stated assets of $187.8 million and deposits of $164.6 million. The FDIC estimated its closing cost $58.9 million. Based on that estimate, the bank’s assets were really only worth $105.7 million, and had been overvalued by 78%.

Pace of Bank Closings Artificially Slow

The FDIC’s closure of 38 banks over three months is by no means an insignificant number. However, in the context of the FDIC’s overhang of troubled banks, it suggests the pace of bank closings is being kept artificially low.

As of April 2010, there were about 425 banks operating under serious FDIC enforcement orders that called into question the banks’ solvency. Since then, upwards of 25 new banks have come under such orders each month.

Therefore, closing 13 banks a month has done nothing to reduce the backlog of troubled banks operating in the Country. That backlog could only have grown.

Most likely, the pace of bank closings had been held back artificially by the need to keep up appearances for the benefit of the mid-term elections. With those now behind us, I would expect the pace of bank closings to accelerate considerably.

Respectfully yours,

CIGA Richard B.

~ ~ ~

Related: FDIC Bank Watch List

Eric Cantona: Kill the Banks [updated]

Peter Gabriel - Digging In The Dirt

Peter Gabriel - Digging In The Dirt

Something in me, dark and sticky
All the time it's getting strong
No way of dealing with this feeling
Can't go on like this too long

[Chorus:]
This time you've gone too far [x3]
I told you [x4]
This time you've gone too far [x3]
I told you [x4]

Don't talk back
Just drive the car
Shut your mouth
I know what you are
Don't say nothing
Keep your hands on the wheel
Don't turn around
This is for real

Digging in the dirt
Stay with me, I need support
I'm digging in the dirt
To find the places I got hurt
Open up the places I got hurt

The more I look, the more I find
As I close on in, I get so blind
I feel it in my head, I feel it in my toes
I feel it in my sex, that's the place it goes

[Chorus]

I'm digging in the dirt
Stay with me I need support
I'm digging in the dirt
To find the places I got hurt
To open up the places I got hurt

Digging in the dirt
To find the places we got hurt
[x7]

~ ~ ~

Related: Homegrown Food to be Outlawed in U.S.

Homegrown Food to be Outlawed in U.S.

Senate Bill S 510 Food Safety Modernization Act vote imminent: Would outlaw gardening and saving seeds

by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor

Senate Bill 510, the Food Safety Modernization Act, has been called "the most dangerous bill in the history of the United States of America." It would grant the U.S. government new authority over the public's right to grow, trade and transport any foods. This would give Big Brother the power to regulate the tomato plants in your backyard. It would grant them the power to arrest and imprison people selling cucumbers at farmer's markets. It would criminalize the transporting of organic produce if you don't comply with the authoritarian rules of the federal government.

"It will become the most offensive authority against the cultivation, trade and consumption of food and agricultural products of one's choice. It will be unconstitutional and contrary to natural law or, if you like, the will of God." - Dr. Shiv Chopra, Canada Health whistleblower (http://shivchopra.com/?page_id=2)

This tyrannical law puts all food production (yes, even food produced in your own garden) under the authority of the Department of Homeland Security. Yep -- the very same people running the TSA and its naked body scanner / passenger groping programs.

This law would also give the U.S. government the power to arrest any backyard food producer as a felon (a "smuggler") for merely growing lettuce and selling it at a local farmer's market.

It also sells out U.S. sovereignty over our own food supply by ceding to the authority of both the World Trade Organization (WTO) and Codex Alimentarius.

It would criminalize seed saving, turning backyard gardeners who save heirloom seeds into common criminals. This is obviously designed to give corporations like Monsanto a monopoly over seeds.

It would create an unreasonable paperwork burden that would put small food producers out of business, resulting in more power over the food supply shifting to large multinational corporations.

I encourage you to read more about this dangerous bill at the Food Freedom blog on Wordpress: http://foodfreedom.wordpress.com/2009/06/13/seeds-how-to-criminalize-them/ ...

Watch this excellent video on NaturalNews.TV which explains S.510 in more detail:
http://naturalnews.tv/v.asp?v=9209B7B02D4A5A8EA8B71038D6C18D26 ...

Take action now or lose your right to grow your own food
Sign this petition at Citizens for Health:
http://www.citizens.org/?page_id=2312

Do it today! This is really important.

In addition, the Cornucopia Institute recently sent out an urgent call-to-action email containing the following information: (http://www.cornucopia.org/2010/11/action-alert-act-by-nov-17-on-senate-food-safety-legislation/)

How to protest Senate Bill 510

1) Go to Congress.org and type in your zip code in the box in the upper right hand corner.

2) Click on your Senator's name, and then on the contact tab for their phone number. You can also call the Capitol Switchboard and ask to be directly connected to your Senator's office: 202-224-3121.

3) Once connected ask to speak to the legislative staff person responsible for agriculture. If they are unavailable leave a voice mail message. Be sure to include your name and phone number.

Give them this message in support of the "Tester Amendment" which would exempt small farms from S.510:

"I am a constituent of Senator___________. I ask that he/she support the Tester Amendment to the food safety bill. The Tester Amendment will exempt the safest, small, owner-operator farms and food facilities and farmers who direct market their products to consumers, stores or restaurants. Food safety legislation should not create inappropriate and costly regulatory barriers to family farms and the growing healthy food movement in the drive to crack down on corporate bad actors. Please support the Tester Amendment and market opportunities for small and mid-sized family farms, and small food processing facilities."

You may also wish to explain that you oppose the Food Safety Modernization Act in its entirety, and it is a destructive, freedom-crushing law that will destroy the future of food in America.

Remember, America has already lost control over its money supply to the Federal Reserve (nearly a hundred years ago). America has lost its health due to the medical industry and its profit-from-sickness agenda. Now we may lose our right to grow our own food and save our own seeds if Senate Bill 510 passes.

This is a dangerous, tyrannical law that would thrust the American people into an age of darkness and malnutrition. It would criminalize many of the very people growing our food and turn food production into yet another corporate monopoly.

Please take the time right now to contact your U.S. Senator and voice your strong opposition to this bill.

Thomas: Bill Summary & Status - 111th Congress (2009 - 2010) - S.510

Senate Bill S510 Makes it illegal to Grow, Share, Trade or Sell Homegrown Food

The World According to Monsanto - 10 part series

WHICH SENATORS GOT PAID OFF TO SUPPORT S.510 - THE 'FOOD SAFETY MODERNIZATION ACT'?

UPDATE: S. 510 Reaction: Lots of Yeas, a Few Nays

Tipping Point Day 14-November-2010

Fight Club (end)

~ ~ ~

Failing, falling, flying, fearlessness ...

~ ~ ~

"We are called to be architects of the future, not its victims." – Buckminster Fuller

~ ~ ~

Related: Tipping Point Begins Sunday (14 Nov 2010)

2010 in the Timewave

Tipping Point from Another Source

The Secret of Oz

The world economy is doomed to spiral downwards until we do two things: 1. outlaw government borrowing; 2. outlaw fractional reserve lending. Banks should only be allowed to lend out money they actually have and nations do not have to run up a "National Debt". Remember: It's not what backs the money, it's who controls its quantity.

The Secret of Oz

Bike Generator Geared for Human Power

Hydrogen Bike Generator HHO Human Power 255 Watts

255 watts. This is HHO being generated with human power.

More on this project: Bike Generator Geared for Human Power

How To Make Natural Yeast and Bread

How To Make Natural Yeast

Would you like to make your own yeast? While commercial yeast is readily available, some bakers feel that wild yeast gives their bread a richer flavor. Miho shows us how to make natural yeast from fruit.

Ramacipan (pan means bread)

More Miho From Japan

Quantitative Easing Explained

Quantitative Easing Explained

What the Federal Reserve is up to, and how we got here.

h/t: Karl Denninger at The Market Ticker

~ ~ ~

"The Fed has spent much of the last 15 years manipulating the stock market." -- Jeremy Grantham

2010-11-11 - Jeremy Grantham - Interview Part 1

CNBC's Maria Bartiromo interviews GMO strategist Jeremy Grantham who discusses the Fed's policies and its effects on the stock market.

2010-11-11 - Jeremy Grantham - Interview Part 2

2010-11-11 - Jeremy Grantham - Interview Part 3

Spring Snare Trap, Knife, Paracord and Bankline

Spring Snare Trap Request & My Knife Set Up

Paracord VS. Bankline

Tipping Point Begins Sunday (14 Nov 2010)

Guinness Tipping Point Commercial

~ ~ ~

"The emotional tension level plateau is has grown. It had been previously forecast to start on the 8th, but now shows as beginning on November 5, 2010, at approximately 2:30 PM Pacific Coast Time (UTC =+ 8). Further, the plateau of building emotional tension now extends out further to the 14th of November instead of the 11th. This is the last building tension to accrue. Expect the level to stay maddeningly the same until the breaking point.

"The 'break' in the tension values that indicates the tipping point after which we (the planet of humans) is into emotional release language starts on November 14th at 6:50AM Pacific Coast Time (UTC=+ 8). Repeat - Tipping point starts on 11-14-2010." -- clif high, Half Past Human

New Tipping Point numbers .... <-- full story

~ ~ ~

Related: Space Goat Farts!

~ ~ ~

Related: Tipping Point Day 14-November-2010

Avalanche at Biloxi Dome Gulf of Mexico - BP Oil Spill Live Feeds

Avalanche at Biloxi Dome Gulf of Mexico

A new phenomenum in the Gulf! A small avalanche has just started to occur in the crater, presumably at Biloxi Dome. If we are to believe that we are being shown on BP LIVE CAMS.

I've not seen this happen before. Anything out of the ordinary worries me at the scene of the world's greatest oil disaster. Footage: November 8th 2010 - Biloxi Dome -

BP LIVE FEEDS: http://www.bp.com/sectionbodycopy.do?categoryId=9034366&contentId=7063636

Eat The Weeds: Ivy Gourd, Tindora

Eat The Weeds: Ivy Gourd, Tindora

A cultivated vegetable in warmer areas of the world, the Ivy Gourd (Coccinia grandis) is an escapee that is quite tasty. It has vitamins A and C and is high in beta carotene when ripe. (Recipe is on Green Deane's website.)

Simon's Cat in 'Lunch Break'

Simon's Cat in 'Lunch Break'

A naughty cat causes mealtime mayhem.

Missile! - UPDATED 12-Nov-2010

Mystery missile caught on video near L.A.

ALERT: Mystery Missile Launch Seen off Calif. Coast 11/09/2010

The Pentagon said Tuesday that a missile launch off the southern coast of California remained “unexplained” and that its mysterious origins meant that it was not possible to rule out any threat to the homeland, Fox News Channel reported.

Earlier Tuesday, NORAD (North American Aerospace Defense Command) and NORTHCOM (United States Northern Command) officials told Fox there was no threat, but Pentagon Spokesman Col. Dave Lapan would not confirm that because the military does not know what the missile was or where it came from.

Lapan added that the incident did not appear to be a regularly scheduled test, as no warnings to mariners or airmen appeared to be issued ahead of its launch.

The contrail was caught on camera by a KCBS news helicopter at around sunset Monday evening, approximately 35 miles out to sea and west of Los Angeles.

The missile appeared to be launched from the water, and not from US soil, Lapan added.

The military was trying to solve the mystery using the video from KCBS as there was no indication that NORAD and NORTHCOM were able to detect it independently.

According to Fox News, NORAD and NORTHCOM would only say they were aware of the launch.

However one unnamed senior defense official added: "There was no threat to the homeland."

A navy spokesperson previously told KCBS that no navy activity was reported in the region.

A sergeant at Vandenberg Air Force Base in Santa Barbara County said a Delta II rocket was launched from the base last Friday, but insisted there were no launches since then.

On viewing the footage, former deputy defense secretary Robert Ellsworth speculated on KCBS that the launch could be a show of military muscle.

"It could be a test-firing of an intercontinental ballistic missile from a submarine ... to demonstrate, mainly to Asia, that we can do that," Ellsworth said. -- New York Post

Tyler Durden at Zero Hedge sums it up best with help from Karl Denninger at The Market Ticker.

Interesting reader comments from ZH:

by tahoebumsmith
As I said on the other string, My son reported seeing 2 stealth bombers flying over head in Nor Cal just before dusk. I questioned him on what he saw and he informed me they were the black triangles we saw at the air show and were hovering for a moment and then shot towards the coast??? Happened about the same time?? I'm wondering if it was related?

by Peterpaul
NOTAM for LA.
KZLA LOS ANGELES A2832/10 – THE FOLLOWING RESTRICTIONS ARE REQUIRED DUE TO NAVAL AIR WARFARE CENTER WEAPONS DIVISION ACTIVATION OF W537. IN THE INTEREST OF SAFETY, ALL NON-PARTICIPATING PILOTS ARE ADVISED TO AVOID W537. IFR TRAFFIC UNDER ATC JURISDICTION SHOULD ANTICIPATE CLEARANCE AROUND W537 AND CAE 1176. CAE 1155 WILL NOT BE AVAILABLE FOR OCEANIC TRANSITION. CAE 1316 & CAE 1318 WILL NOT BE AVAILABLE FOR OCEANIC TRANSITION. CAE 1177 WILL BE AVAILABLE FOR OCEANIC TRANSITION. W537 ACTIVE, CAE 1176 CLOSED. SURFACE – FL390, 09 NOV 20:00 2010 UNTIL 10 NOV 01:00 2010. CREATED: 08 NOV 20:52 2010 [I cannot verify this NOTAM. - c]

What are they trying to cover up?

Peterpaul is not the only one playing games in this story.

First Pentagon Spokesman Col. Dave Lapan calls the incident an “unexplained” missile launch and that it was not possible to rule out any threat to the homeland. Then he adds that the missile appeared to be launched from the water. Bet this guy’s getting chewed out now. Way to alarm the populace, bonehead… or was that the plan?

Next, a Navy spokesperson reports no Navy activity in the region, but that’s not entirely true. The Navy has been war gaming there. (See page 55)

Then, the LAX tower further attempts to calm things down when it reports no record of any high-speed targets within the ADIZ. See, our government has this all under control. Nothing to see here. Move along.

Finally, the MSM begins calling the whole thing an optical illusion (an evolving persistent contrail.) Kinda reminds one of that mirved rocket thingie that other time Obama was out of the country, doesn’t it? It sure is a relief that the MSM told us a few days ago that Obama has a nuclear launch button over seas with him. Hey, why did they tell us that?

Why so much drama? It’s not as if a Chinese sub just surfaced in the middle of the Navy’s playground and shot Bernanke an EMP-type bird… ...is it? How does that old saying go?... “If it happened before…”

Related: Ordinary Days

Golden Phoenix Preps L.A. for Nuclear Attack

VIDEO: Mystery contrail-mania [MSM on crack]

How to Make Moonshine and Herbal Tinctures

how to make moonshine (part 1) the mash

how to make moonshine (part 2) the still

The producer of these videos adds some important tips:

How to make a still and make yer shine!..DO NOT use an aluminum pressure cooker!!!..or it will poison ya..Use only stainless steel..porcelain or copper! DRINK RESPONSIBLY AND WITH MODERATION!..As with all high percentage alcohol it can be LETHAL in high doses..be careful my friends :)

Also, throw away the first distilled cup -- it's true methanol poison... and don't let your mash boil -- it could cause your still to explode!

Pure grain alcohol is the best ingredient to use in the manufacture of herbal tinctures, making valuable healing herbs last and last -- if properly stored. ;) - c

How to Make Herbal Tinctures

This is an herbal tincture recipe using Valerian root (Valeriana officinalis). Valerian tincture is a calming herb and a good herbal insomnia remedy. Valerian root tincture is also a good home herbal remedy for anxiety. Making a tincture is a great way of preserving these medicinal constituents since tinctures will last on your shelf for several years. Tinctures are also a very convenient way of getting herbs into our systems. This recipe uses dried bulk organic herbs from Mountain Rose Herbs.