nibbler

I've already begun saving. Do you guys own a newer model or an older one? If newer, where was it made? Thanks!

I'm there in spirit, and I'll be looking forward to the tapes Brad!

Howard Zinn, historian who challenged status quo, dies at 87

January 27, 2010 07:12 PM

By Mark Feeney and Bryan Marquard, Globe Staff

Howard Zinn, the Boston University historian and political activist who was an early opponent of US involvement in Vietnam and whose books, such as "A People's History of the United States," inspired young and old to rethink the way textbooks present the American experience, died today in Santa Monica, Calif, where he was traveling. He was 87.

His daughter, Myla Kabat-Zinn of Lexington, said he suffered a heart attack.

"He's made an amazing contribution to American intellectual and moral culture," Noam Chomsky, the left-wing activist and MIT professor, said tonight. "He's changed the conscience of America in a highly constructive way. I really can't think of anyone I can compare him to in this respect."

Chomsky added that Dr. Zinn's writings "simply changed perspective and understanding for a whole generation. He opened up approaches to history that were novel and highly significant. Both by his actions, and his writings for 50 years, he played a powerful role in helping and in many ways inspiring the Civil rights movement and the anti-war movement."

For Dr. Zinn, activism was a natural extension of the revisionist brand of history he taught. "A People’s History of the United States" (1980), his best-known book, had for its heroes not the Founding Fathers -- many of them slaveholders and deeply attached to the status quo, as Dr. Zinn was quick to point out -- but rather the farmers of Shays' Rebellion and union organizers of the 1930s.

As he wrote in his autobiography, "You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train" (1994), "From the start, my teaching was infused with my own history. I would try to be fair to other points of view, but I wanted more than 'objectivity'; I wanted students to leave my classes not just better informed, but more prepared to relinquish the safety of silence, more prepared to speak up, to act against injustice wherever they saw it. This, of course, was a recipe for trouble."...

Read the entire article on the Boston Globe website

Getting psyched for this show, just found out Dub Trinity is playing in Peterborough the night after Mutabaruka! Nice!

I've decided to build a Wordpress site, and finding the selection of themes and plugins available on the main wordpress page to be overwhelming. So I began drifting through a sea of google searched themes and plugins, finding it hard to find resources which offer up select picks which have been tested/verified.

Any skanks have any tips or links to share?

...“I think the worms are a little overcooked,†one of my tablemates announces with the authority of a true entomophagist. We’re seated at a long, communal table along with 40 other diners at the mysterious Charlie’s Burgers’ latest anti-restaurant experiment: a 10-course dinner featuring insects.

Eating worms brings new meaning to underground dining.

Charlie’s Burgers is the guerrilla dinner party that features top chefs cooking in unusual venues. As with all its events, a certain cloak-and-dagger mystery surrounds the evening. I am told to arrive at a location just prior to dinner where I will find one of Mr. Burgers’ associates. He is waiting with a box of stinkbug-garnished chocolate cupcakes that he offers along with an envelope in which to “donate†$155 for the dinner, complete with wine pairings, and directions to the event locale a block away. (Despite its unappetizing name, the stinkbug adds only a bit of crunchiness and not a distinct flavour.)...

Read the entire article and SEE THE PICTURES here at the Globe and Mail website

i think we should drop some bombs into inactive volcanoes to get those muthafuckas cookin

With tens of thousands of passenger planes high in the air at any given time, adjusting the gasoline mix to emit the required Sulfur Dioxide would be simpler, cheaper, and result in a more evenly distributed cloud cover.

Without going into too much detail, the chapter is generally about a bunch of polymath-scientist types who don't actually deny climate change - but believe that geo-engineering is a relatively inexpensive and productive way to deal with the situation without screwing up other environmental aspects.

IF this is true... why not geo-engineer?

Entomologists have studied and established that bees navigate using polarized light. A question which the informed entomologist might ask the geoengineers:

What if the recent alarming trend of Colony Collapse Disorder is linked to changes in natural light polarization resulting from geo-engineering cloud whitening and sun dimming projects?

Input from biologists, climate scientists, chemists, bio-chemists, and entomologists to name a few, would be infinitely more reassuring than paid-pseudo science ramblings of "polymath-scientist types" referenced in the book.

It doesnt take a degree in biology however, to understand why geoengineers and multinationals like Monsanto would rather specific questions like this be avoided.

Quite the powerful counterpunch to Avatar!

noone else find it ironic they use jesus quotes on something used to help kill people?

Excerpts from Frank Zappa's "Dumb All Over" - 1981

...You can't run a country

By a book of religion

Not by a heap

Or a lump or a smidgeon

Of foolish rules

Of ancient date

Designed to make

You all feel great

While you fold, spindle

And mutilate

Those unbelievers

From a neighboring state

...

...The Good Book says:

"It gotta be that way!"

But their book says:

"REVENGE THE CRUSADES . . .

With whips 'n chains

'N hand grenades . . . "

TWO ARMS? TWO ARMS?

Have another and another

Our God says:

"There ain't no other!"

Our God says

"It's all okay!"

Our God says

"This is the way!"

It says in the book:

"Burn 'n destroy . . .

'N repent, 'n redeem

'N revenge, 'n deploy

'N rumble thee forth

To the land of the unbelieving scum on the other side

'Cause they don't go for what's in the book

'N that makes 'em BAD

So verily we must choppeth them up

And stompeth them down

Or rent a nice French bomb

To poof them out of existance

While leaving their real estate just where we need it

To use again

For temples in which to praise

OUR GOD

("Cause he can really take care of business!")

Anybody have one of these beasts? Worth the money?

I am curious about what "team OIL's strategy" is, but prefer not donating my money towards their efforts where possible, so Ill be checking the library. If Levitt's reputation as a paid climate change denier wasn't already well established, I would consider buying his book.

Thanks for the heads up about it.

Raw milk fight becomes a symbol of food freedom

JESSICA LEEDER

DURHAM, ONT. — From Thursday's Globe and Mail

Published on Thursday, Jan. 21, 2010 12:00AM EST

...A Newmarket justice of the peace is scheduled to decide today whether raw (unpasteurized) milk produced by the cows - heritage Canadiennes bred near the town of Durham, Ont., by activist farmer Michael Schmidt - can legally be distributed to the small network of consumers who have bought "cow shares" from Mr. Schmidt in exchange for access to the animals' unprocessed milk.

Although it is not illegal to consume raw milk in Canada, selling or distributing violates laws that require pasteurization of most commercial milk products.

The Schmidt case, which began when his farm was raided in 2006, has captivated food rights academics and advocates in Canada and around the world who argue the court's decision will ripple well beyond the raw milk community. At its crux, they argue, the case is really about the extent to which consumers should be free to buy foods, however rarefied, and whether constitutional rights stretch as far as the grocery basket, farmer's market and the people who own shares in - but do not live on - food producing farms...

Read the whole article at the Globe and Mail website

Awesome!!! I hope the raw milk decision due today follows suit.

When it comes to energy, conservation is so important!

I still can't believe how much better my house traps the heat after I spent a measly $150 on blown-in insulation for the attic this past summer.

I'm in the process of replacing all light bulbs with LED bulbs... so much more efficient than compact fluorescent! The 1 watt warm white bulbs do the trick in most places, I use the 3.5 watt cool white bulbs in the kitchen and my workshop. I can't believe I used to use a 500W halogen light for the workshop, but four 3.5 watt bulbs is more than enough for just about everything.

My household boils lots of water, so I recently invested in an insulated kettle which allows you to set the shut off temperature- now I "boil" water at about 85C which is perfect for making hot drinks, it takes much less time and energy than stove top boiling, or a plug in kettle boiling at 100C.

As a consumer, I wish there were more energy efficient options out there. My kettle buying experience taught me that there are about 40 inefficient kettles for every efficient one available in the marketplace. More pressure from us is essential to bring manufacturers around.

Better start laying the pressure on soon, because smart meter pricing is set to go into effect this year, which is going to screw lots of unprepared people with huge electricity bills!

Oh, and just to tie the big oil conspiracy into this discussion, Check this model example of consumers demanding and receiving more energy efficiency

Intrawest foreclosure a threat to Olympics

By JOSH KOSMAN and MARK DeCAMBRE

Last Updated: 6:03 PM, January 20, 2010

The drama at ski resort and Winter Olympics venue Whistler Blackcomb may go beyond the competition related to the Games...

...Fortress bought Intrawest in a $2.8 billion leveraged buyout in 2006 but recently missed a $524 million debt payment. The hedge fund made a proposal to the creditors that would keep Fortress in control of the company, which also owns Stratton Mountain Resort in Vermont, but creditors nixed that proposal. According to several sources, both sides are no longer talking...

...The Vancouver Olympic Committee (Vanoc) guaranteed that it would make Intrawest whole for the time that its events take place at its resorts. But now, according to a source, Canadian officials are threatening to pull that roughly $50 million guarantee. That, the source said, has compelled Edens to privately say he has a legal right to keep the Games from taking place at Whistler...

...The fact that Lehman is a creditor is complicating things for Edens. While a typical creditor might be inclined to work with borrower, Lehman, through restructuring firm Alvarez & Marsal, is turning over every stone in search of cash to settle up more than $1 trillion in creditor claims associated with its own bankruptcy...

Read the entire article at the New York Post website

Agreed. Not a chance.

That said - shame on W/B for building that idiotic "Peak to Peak" gondola, at a cost of a zillion dollars, which opened up not a single iota of ski area as a result.

Surprising news? A little; just a little.

Whilst the articles discuss yet play down the remote possibility of Olympic interruptions, recent "too big to fail" corporate bailout experience suggests that the Olympics will go on without a hitch. (i.e. Canadian taxpayers will apathetically foot the bill)

Here's a scenario not mentioned in the articles where the Olympics at Whistler would be stopped:

If the Lil'wat first nation came up with the dough to buy the resort in the auction, they just might pull the plug on the games as soon as the bankruptcy auctioneers' gavel came down.

FAQ: What does 'No Olympics on Stolen Native Land' mean?

... 'British Columbia' is unique in Canada in that virtually no treaties were made in the process of colonization & settlement. Treaties were required under British, and later Canadian, law prior to any trade or settlement (i.e., the 1763 Royal Proclamation). Although today the government seeks 'modern-day treaties' with its Indian Act band councils, the fact is in 'BC' the land is clearly occupied by an illegal colonial system. The slogan 'No Olympics on Stolen Native Land' is a way to raise anti-colonial consciousness about the true history of 'BC'.

Learn more about opposition to the games and British Colombia's unique history of land theft here

Intrawest creditor woes threaten staging of Games at Whistler Blackcomb: Report

BY JOHN BERMINGHAM, CANWEST NEWS SERVICEJANUARY 20, 2010

A U.S. newspaper is reporting that a corporate standoff could threaten the Olympic Games at Whistler Blackcomb.

The New York Post says creditors of the Whistler ski resort owner Intrawest are planning to foreclose on the company within the next 10 days, pushing it into insolvency, and casting doubt on the Olympics taking place at the ski resort.

The impasse arises out of a US$1.4-billion debt owed to creditors, which include the failed investment bank Lehman Brothers, Intrawest's largest creditor.

U.S. hedge fund Fortress bought Intrawest back in 2006 for US$2.6 billion, but recently missed a US$524-million debt payment.

The Post also quoted an unnamed source saying Canadian officials may withdraw a US$50-million financial guarantee to Intrawest. But the boss of Intrawest said the Games are going ahead at Whistler Blackcomb.

"We have a 2002 agreement with VANOC to host the Winter Olympics and have every confidence that VANOC will honour its financial commitments," said Intrawest CEO Bill Jensen. "Intrawest is looking forward to a successful Olympic Games."

Fortress and Lehman officials did not comment for the story, nor did the Canadian government.

Original article here at timescolonist.com

Whistler lenders move to foreclose

Last Updated: Wednesday, January 20, 2010 | 6:18 PM ET

Wall Street financiers say they are going to put the Whistler Blackcomb resort up for sale while the facility is hosting Winter Olympic events next month.

Creditors who have lent $1.4 billion US to the ski resort's owners, Intrawest ULC, have effectively seized control of the company and are attempting to auction off its assets...

..."There's always a chance, but it's a very minuscule chance," Dan Doyle, vice-president of the Vancouver Olympic committee, said Wednesday of the possibility a new owner could interfere with Olympic events.

Indeed, while the possibility exists of an owner refusing to host Olympic events, it's extremely unlikely to unfold, Jones said...

Entire article available at CBC.ca

Muppet Manic low rain is the starter of this thread.

I stand corrected. Thanks Low Rain.

Awesome thread Low Roller- bringing back lots of virtually forgotten music memories!

IMO, fossil/abiotic origins of hydrocarbon fuels is worthy of discussion, but belongs in another thread.

Geoengineering is too large and important a subject to ignore, the Wall Street Journal article I posted above is indicative that the mainstream media has begun tackling this previously secretive topic in recent months.

Why open the door when the furnace is still blazing?

A: To sell more fossil fuels of course.

Never rode there. Is it any good?