timouse

happy birthday joan!

i've still got invites, d rawk, (or anyone else looking).

blizzards are fatty, white and often full of nuts. just saying.

happy birthday mike!

i call spelling on brad. now that's a birthday surprise for you, mark

new avatar anyone?

happy birthday mr tonin! bands should hire you to come to shows and seed dance floors...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

i would like to subscribe to your newsletter. i have a profit sharing plan at work...each year's contribution is invested by a fund manager. the employees have some marginal choice as to where the money goes, but it's standard north american choice/no choice choice, hold your nose and choose the least objectionable option. so i see your abhorrence...my personal current pet abhorrence of the way things are runs similarly. niffermouse and i have both become increasingly involved in the organic farming and food industry in SoOn over the last few years, to the point that we both want to buy a farm and be part of the solution. the problem? (s)? city folk looking for a monster home surrounded by a few acres of lawn and a long commute have made rural property artificially expensive. industrial agriculture has kept food prices artificially low. taxes and zoning restrictions on rural property close to cities (markets) adds to the challenge of setting up a small sustainable farm. quite often, suitable parcels of land are priced with developers in mind. today's phrase is catch 22.

nice. is that the one with the crazy slot machine sounds during space?

happy birthday(s) steve and shelby!!

^^^^^^^ i can't top that so i'll just say happy birthday!

i abhor a gabor.

nature abhors a vacuum.

^^^^^^ indeed. happy birthday!

people should have to buy a second wristband for their lawnchairs.

fingers crossed more people get whacked by 200 lb. sturgeons while going 40 miles an hour i hear that the sturgeon have resorted to activism in an attempt to save their manatee colleagues. spoil their fun? and how much fun is it for a manatee to catch a prop in the back??

hempseed oil makes quite a nice bio-diesel. personally i really question the wisdom of sucking all the goodness out of the ground and burning it in our cars. nowhere in all this biofuel debate does anyone talk seriously about conserving fuel by changing our transportation habits.

that's brilliant. i would like to see "externality" removed from the dictionary.

OECD new release (pdf) Growing bio-fuel demand underpinning higher agriculture prices Joint OECD-FAO report published Paris/Rome, 4 July 2007 - Increased demand for bio-fuels is causing fundamental changes to agricultural markets that could drive up world prices for many farm products, according to a new report published by the OECD and FAO. The OECD-FAO Agricultural Outlook 2007-2016 says temporary factors such as droughts in wheat-growing regions and low stocks explain in large measure the recent hikes in farm commodity prices. But when the focus turns to the longer term, structural changes are underway which could well maintain relatively high nominal prices for many agricultural products over the coming decade. Reduced crop surpluses and a decline in export subsidies are also contributing to these long-term changes in markets. But more important is the growing use of cereals, sugar, oilseed and vegetable oils to produce fossil fuel substitutes, ethanol and bio-diesel. This is underpinning crop prices and, indirectly through higher animal feed costs, also the prices for livestock products. In the United States, annual maize-based ethanol output is expected to double between 2006 and 2016. In the European Union the amount of oilseeds (mainly rapeseed) used for bio-fuels is set to grow from just over 10 million tonnes to 21 million tonnes over the same period. In Brazil, annual ethanol production is projected to reach some 44 billion litres by 2016 from around 21 billion today. Chinese ethanol output is expected to rise to an annual 3.8 billion litres, a 2 billion litres increase from current levels. The report points out that higher commodity prices are a particular concern for net food importing countries as well as the urban poor. And while higher feedstock prices caused by increased bio-fuel production benefits feedstock producers, it means extra costs and lower incomes for farmers who need the feedstock to provide animal feed. Trade patterns The Outlook also says trade patterns are changing. Production and consumption of agricultural products in general will grow faster in the developing countries than in the developed economies - especially for beef, pork, butter, skimmed milk powder and sugar. OECD countries are expected to lose export shares for nearly all the main farm commodities. Nevertheless, they continue to dominate exports for wheat, coarse grains and dairy products. World agricultural trade, measured by global imports, is expected to grow for all the main commodities covered in the Outlook, but likely by less than for non-agricultural trade, as import protection is assumed to continue to limit the growth in trade. Nevertheless, trade in beef, pork and whole milk powder is expected to grow by more than 50 percent over the next 10 years, coarse grains trade by 13 percent and wheat by 17 percent. Trade in vegetable oils is projected to increase by nearly 70 percent.

mmmm....bandwich....

happy to oblige. i do not doubt that you will get your 26 "how you feelin's" from mr franti do post a review!