Those NASA Boys According To A Navajo Elder

When NASA was preparing for the Apollo Project, it took the astronauts to a
Navajo reservation in Arizona for training.

One day, a Navajo elder and his son came across the space crew walking among
the rocks. The elder, who spoke only Navajo, asked a question. His son
translated for the NASA people: "What are these guys in the big suits doing?"

One of the astronauts said that they were practicing for a trip to the moon.
When his son relayed this comment the Navajo elder got all excited and asked
if it would be possible to give to the astronauts a message to deliver to the
moon.

Recognizing a promotional opportunity when he saw one, a NASA official
accompanying the astronauts said, "Why certainly!" and told an underling to
get a tape recorder. The Navajo elder's comments into the microphone were
brief.

The NASA official asked the son if he would translate what his father had
said. The son listened to the recording and laughed uproariously. But he
refused to translate. So the NASA people took the tape to a nearby Navajo
village and played it for other members of the tribe. They too laughed long
and loudly but also refused to translate the elder's message to the moon.

Finally, an official government translator was summoned. After he finally
stopped laughing the translator relayed the message: "Watch out for these
assholes - they have come to steal your land."

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

My thanks to dudekrtr of the TSP Forums for sharing this one! - Troy

"What kind of recovery is this? We don't know, but if it continues much longer we'll all be unemployed."-Bill Bonner

"The budget should be balanced, the treasury should be refilled and the pubic debt should be reduced. The arrogance of public officialdom should be tempered and controlled. And the assistance to foreign lands should be curtailed, lest we become bankrupt.  - Cicero, 63 B.C. 

Hooray For Montana!

The U.S Supreme Court decided in 2010 that corporations were people (never mind that you can't put one in jail for breaking the law) and that money was free speech in an abomination to the foundation of our country that the power of government is derived from the people. However the Supreme Court of the state of Montana says, Wait a minute here! Not in our neck of the woods! Good for them! Also, Senator Bernie Sanders from Vermont has introduced a petition for an amendment to the U.S. Constitution aptly named the Saving American Democracy Amendment to nullify the Citizens United ruling. If you haven't already, please go sign it! Again that's the:

Saving American Democracy Amendment


I don't typically get much into the political debates these days because it seems that more and more anytime anyone takes one position or another on any particular issue you are automatically branded a this or a that and buried under a mountain of labels that may or may not apply and usually hurled a pile of personal insults or attacks. Robert Crandall, the retired chairman and CEO of American Airlines, a company I have worked for the past 22 years, said in a piece on his blog Bob Crandall Thinks entitled "Morons Or Something Better" that he remembers a time when things were different in America and although I am much younger than he, I too remember a different time. In his words:

"I remember political arguments too – Dewey and Truman, Kennedy and Nixon, Reagan and Carter, and other memorable contests. There were always conflicting opinions within the family and among friends, and there were lots of heated arguments – but politics was something widely and often discussed. Almost everyone read the newspapers, it wasn’t considered rude to bring up politics at a dinner party and everyone was expected to have an opinion – and some facts to support it. And though everyone felt strongly, most people wanted to be – and were -- polite. "


Therein lies the key, people used to be able to politely discuss their points of view with one another and believe me, I, like anyone else is, am much more likely to listen to an opposing view, and maybe even be persuaded to accept it, if it is presented politely and with strong arguments that are irrefutable. But as soon as someone starts in with personal attacks, name calling, etc. I, like most other people, immediately shut down and don't really care to hear any more that the person has to say because they have already insulted me, my intelligence and or my value as a human being. If you really feel strongly about an issue and you would like more of your fellow citizens to go to the polls and vote in favor of your particular viewpoint you would stand a much better chance of doing so if you can convince them of why your point of view is better for them and the nation as a whole than you will by insulting them.


Now granted, I personally believe that, unfortunately, ever since the terrorist attacks of September 11 2001 a great many pieces of legislation and policies were put into place that have undermined our constitution and democracy.  I, like many Americans, have to wonder if our votes even mean anything anymore when it seems that no matter who we put in office the agenda seems to be the same because someone else seems to be calling the shots. As some have pointed out, we have moved further from democracy (or Constitutional Republic if you prefer) and towards Fascism (No, not Nazism before that even starts). A system of government in which the powers of giant corporations and the powers of state combine to exploit the economic classes of people for the benefit of those in power. I do believe this decision in Montana and the Amendment proposed by Bernie Sanders is a step in the right direction though. Unfortunately, I am not sure if enough of the public can tear themselves away from their favorite T.V. programming and other distractions long enough to make a difference. Even among those who are paying attention and do realize there is something wrong that needs to be fixed, they are too focused on insulting one another to get together on those items they agree on to make a difference. The old, divide and conquer still works as effectively today as it did in the old Roman Empire.


I think the personal attacks and insults form of "political debate" probably started with talk radio in the 1990s. Sensationalism sells after all. But what are we buying?


Resources:


Alternet Article On Montana Supreme Court Ruling


The Raw Story article on Montana Court Decision


There are other news sources out there. I know those who are very partisan in their politics only accept news from "approved sources". Go see if your news source of choice also has an article. I know main stream media is, these days, pretty much owned and operated by a small handful of people so I take most news with a huge grain of salt and try to find sources from many points of view to try to deduce some kernel of truth hidden in the rhetoric. It's about all we are left with really until more people decide to demand better.


Saving American Democracy Amendment 


Morons Or Somethings Better by Bob Crandall

Investing

What if I was to tell you that I had an investment vehicle you could put $100 into today and for 4 years you get nothing on it....But! From the 4th year forward you would get $200 in return every single year for the rest of your life from your original $100 investment. Would you take it? There's not a mutual fund in the world that has returns like that so where could you possibly get that kind of ROI for such a long period of time? Fruit trees! Yes, fruit trees.

Take your average Peach tree that you can get at a nursery in a 5 gallon bucket ready to plant for about $65 or $70. Now, I couldn't find specific data for here but according to Aggie Horticulture a peach tree growing in the Galveston area will produce about 100 pounds of peaches per year. Looking at the Economic Research Service's Data on Fruit and Vegetable Prices in 2008 Americans paid an average $1.84 per pound for fresh peaches. So that's $184 per year from an initial $70 investment and a few hours of digging a hole and tending your tree now and then. Really not bad all things considered. Don't like peaches? You'll get similar results from most other fruiting varieties. If you really want to get into some money makers check out pretty much any kind of berry producing bush or vine. Blackberries for example averaged $5.18 per pound in 2008. Whether you eat the fruit yourself thereby avoiding having to buy them at the grocery store or take your surplus down to your local farmer's market and sell it off it's still like money growing on trees.

Don't have much space you say? Look into dwarf varieties you can grow in containers on your balcony, patio or in a greenhouse. Can't eat them all at once when harvest time comes? You can freeze some to use later or learn about canning and preserving. There's a lot to be said about the wisdom of our grandparents who knew these skills and lived a much more self sufficient life than we tend to today. Food on the shelf is like money in the bank. When the government tells us what the "core inflation rate" is they strip out the "volatile" food and gas prices to make the numbers look more palatable. Now, how much of your household budget goes into food and gas? When those prices are rising (as they often do at a double digit rate) do you feel that inflationary bite in your budget? Anything you can grow and store yourself today may mitigate that bite later and if you're like most people I know you're going to eat sooner or later anyway.

Most people who know me know that I am big time into supporting your local economy. Not because I have anything against people who live and work in other countries. They need to provide for themselves and their families too and I am all for everyone in the world having an opportunity to pursue their own life, liberty and happiness. But I don't personally know anyone who lives and works in China, Bangladesh or Indonesia. I do personally know people who live and work in the United States and especially in the Dallas / Fort Worth / Arlington area in Texas because that is where I live. So if my buying stuff here helps people here that is all the better in my opinion. Especially when most of the stuff that is hauled in from other places is just making some fat cat who already has more money than anyone would know what to do with all the more rich while exploiting workers by paying barely livable wages in unsafe working conditions that they can get away with in other countries. Anyway, I'm getting off on another tangent here. Sorry about that. My point is that while I enjoy supporting local economies there is no economy more local than the one in your own household.

"Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree"....Martin Luther

Resources:

Aggie Horticulture - Herman Auer Q&A on Peaches and Plums

Economic Research Service's Data on Fruit Prices

National Center For Home Food Preservation

Canning and Preserving Food Recipes

Look At This Quarter

See this dirty old quarter right here? Nothing particularly remarkable about it. Give it to a kid to put in a gum ball machine and it might get you a piece of candy or a little plastic toy that might last 5 minutes. It would take about 12 of them to buy you a gallon of gas if you shop around today. The last time I passed by a QuikTrip station the other day the going price was $3.09 per gallon and just before Christmas it was $2.99. It would take a bunch of quarters to fill up a gas tank.

But look a little closer. This quarter was made in 1955. Hmmm, I wonder what it would have bought you back in 1955 back when it was brand new? Let's take a look: Prices for 1955 Well how about that! In 1955 that quarter could have bought you a gallon of gas all by itself and leave you a couple of pennies over. Add one more penny to that and you could get a postage stamp. Hmmm, anybody drop a penny around here? Or you could get a loaf of bread and a couple of postage stamps with it. I bet you could get something decent out of a gumball machine too! Interesting indeed. Now here's another interesting fact about this dirty old quarter. It's made of 90% pure silver. If you were to melt this quarter down the silver alone in it today would be worth a little over 5 bucks! Check out the melt value over at Coinflation.com. Now 5 bucks today would buy you a gallon of gas and still have a couple of dollars left over. Hmmm, maybe this dirty old silver quarter has kept it's value over the years after all. Compare what $5 today would buy you with what that quarter in 1955 would buy you and it's easy to see that just the silver alone in that quarter has held up very well over the years.


The Coinage Act of 1965 was passed because the cost of silver compared to the constantly devaluing dollar caused coin shortages. People were taking the silver coins out of circulation because they were worth more than face value. And over time they have continued to hold value against the dollar as inflation has eaten away at it. If you were to stick a bunch of dollars under your mattress for 20 years then take them out they wouldn't buy nearly what they will buy you today. However if you had stuck a bunch of silver away 20 years ago you would be able to sell it at todays prices and be much better off. It might be worthwhile to keep an eye on those coins that pass through your fingers or maybe go to a coin shop and pick up a few now and then. ;-)


By the way... Go back to Coinflation and have a look at the melt value of a modern day nickel. Hmmmm, it's melting at about 100% of face value. Oh my goodness! Look here: Congress has been talking about replacing the venerable nickel with a steel nickel. Ya know, there are a lot of nickels in circulation right now and you can get them for a nickel a piece. Might be something to think about. ;-)

Gardening

After much work in the back yard yesterday and a fair amount of sore muscles this morning the green house is back to being a greenhouse again instead of a storage space for the lawn and gardening equipment. Ever since we cleared the storage building in the back yard out to transform it into Em's backyard solar powered art studio (seen here) most of the stuff that was in there migrated to the garage and into the greenhouse. There is some space behind the building between it and the back fence that we haven't done much with other than keep a compost pile there so I decided to move the pile and use some of the old fence panels we have around here along with an old tarp and put together a simple structure to keep the rain off our lawn and garden tools. It seems to have worked out pretty well and I took one of those $11 grow lights and put it into the green house along with a floodl light (for warmth) with the fern and blackberry plants we have in there now.

According to Farmer's Almanac several of the plants I intend to start this Spring should be sewn the last week of January to the first week of February for my area (for indoor planting). My sister Jeanie told me a week or two ago that our grandfather used to start his tomato plants the last week of December but I'm not going to attempt that this year. We do have a couple of onions going and I tried to get some Spinach seeds from 2009 to germinate indoors under a grow light but no luck. I think they might have been exposed to some extreme temperature swings so I don't expect much out of them. Jeanie and June (another sister who lives in Oregon) want to get together and place a seed order this year so we can pool our resources and get a greater variety. I am planning to take the grapevines out and replace them with a variety of Kiwi's that are said to do well here that don't get the furry peel on the outside like the varieties you see in the grocery stores. They are smaller, about the size of a large grape, but you can slice them up and eat them with the peel on. Did you know Kiwis come from New Zealand? I should have known I guess but I always considered them to be a tropical fruit. Not so! They are said to actually grow quite well here in North America. We'll see I guess. I wish I had paid more attention to my grandfather's when I was a kid. They knew a lot about vegetable gardening (one was a farmer but left the farm and came to work at General Dynamics around World War II the other was a farmer til the day he died). I could have learned a lot from them. My mom always had a green thumb with house plants and I grew up with lots of greenery always around.

But I am learning now and hope to really develop my skills this season. It's good to grow your own food for several reasons. Better, healthier food for your family, good exercise working with the garden, tastier food with varieties you won't find in the grocery stores and it's a great way to combat foodflation. Yes, I think I just invented that word. At least my spellchecker seems to think so! ;-) While looking over our household budget I realized we actually spend more money on food each month than we do on our mortgage. It is the single biggest expense we have. A penny saved is a penny earned so I'm going to try to offset as much of that cost to us that I can. I'd love to hear from more expert gardeners and folks who want to join me on my journey of self sufficiency so please leave me some comments!

Resources:


Tarrant County Master Gardener Association

Gardening Channel - Gardening in Dallas, Fort Worth, Arlington and North Texas.

Permies - Goofballs That Are Nuts About Permaculture

Aggie Horticulture - Home Vegetable Gardening

The Dirt Doctor Howard Garrett

SquareFoot Gardening - Mel Bartholomew

Solar Ovens

In our family's journey toward greater self sufficiency one of the goals I have set for 2012 is to build at least one solar oven. I first learned about them while reading a blog years ago and always found the idea of cooking with the power of the sun kind of intriguing but never got around to it. But while I was going through The Survival Podcast show archives a week or so ago I heard Jack Spirko mention a guy up in Canada who built one and in February, during the dead of Winter but on a sunny day, with temperatures in the lower 30s this guy cooked a rack of baby back ribs. Granted it took all day to cook them but they came out perfect!

I had always considered a solar oven to be kind of a Summer thing that would be useful on a hot sunny day. Maybe when out camping if there had been a rain and all the wood was wet so a fire couldn't be built. Or another alternative to charcoal and propane grills to use for cooking in case the electricity went out for an extended length of time. But this guy did it on a cold day! Now I'm hooked. I have been digging deeper into these solar ovens and learning more. There are some sites that sell  ready built ones but they seem kind of pricey to me and I love learning by doing it myself. Plus, I've read where some have been put together with cardboard boxes, newspaper, aluminum foil and a piece of glass. So if a rudimentary but working model can be made with so little material that's a pretty handy skill to have in a SHTF scenario.

There are even some sites that have recipes for items you can bake in your solar oven which I will include in my Resources at the bottom of this post. Jack says he likes to use Marie Callender's Cornbread Mix and bake cornbread muffins in his. Well worth a try I'm thinking! After the solar oven I want to try making a solar food dehydrator to preserve some of the excess that we might get from the garden this year if things go well. It should be fun, inexpensive and a good learning experience for myself and the kids. I'll post pictures and maybe a video in the future as I explore this. Check out some of the links I have been researching to learn more:


Resources:

How To Make A Solar Oven on eHow  A nice 13 step instruction article.

Sun Oven International Recipes Page Quite a recipe list!

Making and Using a Solar Oven on Backwoods Home Magazine Someone on the TSP Forums posted this link and it has a pretty good looking, basic cardboard box design that might be a good starting point.

Plans For Solar Cookers on SolarCooking.org

Do You Want A Solar Oven? A lot of video tutorials about Solar Cookers and a good chance to see some of the designs in action.

If The Ad Claims...

If the for sale ad claims... It really means...

rough condition... too bad to lie about

parts car... beyond repair

immaculate... recently washed

contours... recently waxed

engine quiet... if you use 90-weight oil

needs minor overhaul... needs engine

needs major overhaul... Phone the junkyard

burns no oil... (it all leaks out)

rebuilt engine... Cleaned the spark plugs.

Drive it away... I live on a hill.

Drive it anywhere... (within 10 miles)

desirable classic... No one wants it.

rare classic... No one wanted it even when it was new.

stored 20 years... (in a farmer's field)

ran when stored... Won't start.

never apart... Bolts too rounded to loosen.

solid as a rock... rusted solid

restored, with 0 miles... Won't start.

restored, with 2 miles... Won't stay running.

older restoration... First owner washed it.

good investment... Can't be worth much less.

no time to restore it... Can't obtain parts.

95% complete... Other 5% doesn't exist.

Other interests conflict... Spouse's ultimatum: "Either that #!!@&## thing goes or I go!"

Doesn't smoke... when it's out of oil.

New slick racing tires... I burned the tread down to the belts.

Re-upholstered... New K-mart seat covers and floor mats.

Major preformance upgrades... Bolted a new exhaust tip on the tailpipe.

Kept in garage... The scratches are from my cat.

Pampered/adult driven... I'm 17 and I think it's about to die.

Complete restoration... New Earl Scheib paint.

New paint... Don't let it get wet.

Sporty... It's got a floor shifter.

Family car... There's still food under the seats.

Good school/work car... More dents than a golf ball.

Worth $xxx--sacrifice for $xx... I can't believe I paid $xx for it myself.

Lots of extras... Everything that fell off/out is in the trunk.

Quiet engine... You can't hear it over the broken headers.

Traction control... Starts moving only in 2nd gear.

Race modified... It's got Japanese stickers on the back window.

Exotic... It leaves a funny taste in your mouth.

Precision machined... I used a degreaser.

FAST... -ER than my mom's Geo.

A Country Kid Writes Home

Dear Ma and Pa,

I am well. Hope you are.. Tell Brother Walt and Brother Elmer the MarineCorps beats working for old man Minchbya mile. Tell themto join up quick before all of the places are filled.

I was restless at first because you get to stay in bed till nearly 6 a.m. But I am getting so I like to sleep late. Tell Walt and Elmer all you do before breakfast is smoothyour cot, and shine some things. No hogs to slop, feed to pitch, mash to mix, wood to split, fire to lay. Practically nothing.

Men got to shave but it is not so bad, there's warm water. Breakfast is strong on trimmings like fruit juice, cereal, eggs, bacon, etc., but kind of weak on chops, potatoes, ham, steak, fried eggplant, pie and other regular food, but tell Walt and Elmer you can always sit by the two city boys thatlive on coffee. Their food, plus yours, holds you until noon when you get fed again.It'sno wonder these cityboys can't walk much.

We go on 'route marches,' which the platoon sergeant says are long walks to harden us. If he thinks so, it's not my place to tell him different. A 'route march' isaboutas far as to our mailboxat home. Then the city guys get sore feet and we all ride back in trucks.

The sergeant is like a school teacher. He nags a lot. The Captain is like the school board. Majors and colonels just ride around and frown. They don'tbother you none.

This next will kill Walt and Elmer with laughing. I keep getting medals for shooting.I don't know why. The bulls-eye is near as big as a chipmunk head and don't move, and it ain'tshootingat you like the Higgett boys at home. All you got to do is lie there all comfortable and hit it. You don't even load your own cartridges They come in boxes.

Then we have what they call hand-to-hand combat training. You get to wrestle with them city boys. I have to be real careful though, theybreakrealeasy. It ain't like fighting with that ole bull at home. I'm aboutthe besttheygotinthis exceptfor that Tug Jordanfromover inSilver Lake.I onlybeathim once.. He joinedupthe same time as me, but I'm only 5'6' and 130 pounds and he's 6'8' and near 300 pounds dry.

Be sure to tell Walt and Elmer to hurry and join before other fellers get ontothis setup and come stampeding in..

Your loving daughter,

aluce

Poor People?

One day a father of a very wealthy family took his son
on a trip to the country with the firm purpose of
showing his son how poor people can be.
They spent a couple of days and nights on the farm of
what would be considered a very poor family. On their
return from their trip, the Father asked his son,
"How was the trip?"
"It was great, Dad."
"Did you see how poor people can be?" the father
asked.
"Oh Yeah" said the son.
"So what did you learn from the trip?" asked the
father.
The son answered, "I saw that we have one dog and they
had four. We have a pool that reaches to the middle of
our garden and they have a creek that has no end. We
have imported lanterns in our garden and they have the
stars at night. Our patio reaches to the
front yard and they have the whole horizon. We have a
small piece of land to live on and they have fields
that go beyond our sight. We have servants who serve
us, but they serve others. We buy our food, but they
grow theirs. We have walls around our property to
protect us, they have friends to protect them."
With this the boy's father was speechless. 
Then his son added, "Thanks dad for showing me how
poor we are." Too many times we forget what we have
and concentrate on what we don't have. What is one
person's worthless object is another's prize
possession. It is all based on one's perspective.
Makes you wonder what would happen if we all gave
thanks for all the bounty we have, instead of worrying
about wanting more.

Prepper Links and Stuff

So, because I don't believe the current economic model we've been running under for the past few decades is going to be sustainable for much longer and at some point the problem's our leader's (both the dog and pony show that we "elect" once in awhile to sit in political offices and the deep pocketed "captains of industry" who own them and tell them how things are really going to be run), anyway, those problems will eventually come home to roost and we (the majority of working class Americans) will likely see a huge change in our standard of living. Not to mention the poisons now being sold to us that they call foods and medicines in the stores.

For quite some time Em' and I have been looking at getting some land out in the country and setting up a homestead that works more the way my grandparents farm down in Whitney used to run but with some modern touches. We would like to use some forms of permaculture to grow our own food, produce our own energy and water and generally live off the land save for a few things which we can't produce ourselves. We think this will provide us with a much healthier, happier and sustainable lifestyle than the use it once and throw it away culture that predominates today.

To that end I have been spending a lot of time lately learning more and more about foraging, gardening, preserving food, etc. and have been learning a lot of really cool things that I would like to share here. To start off, here are some links I would like to recommend real quick:

The Survival Podcast - Jack Spirko does a daily podcast in which he talks about things you can do to prepare if times get tough, or even if they don't. Well worth listening to at some point in your daily routine. I have been listening on my commute to and from work.

Prepper Podcast Network - Jack's show is carried along with several other great shows on this network. So it you want more you can find plenty here.

Merriwether's Guide to Edible Wild Plants of Texas and the Southwest - A great place to learn about the many useful plants that you might see, trample on, pull up and throw away or otherwise disregard that actually have some great uses.

That's just a few to get started but I also have more I will post later on subjects such as aquaponics, hugelkultur, rocket mass stoves and heaters, etc. But for now, I need to get down to the Downtown Arlington Farmer's Market to grab some grub.

Google Plus Shared Circle Database

Looking to get up and running quickly on G+? Want to add a bunch of people who post things on topics you're interested in? Have you tried G+ but got bored because none of your friends from other social networks were getting on and posting things? Well friend, you need the Google+ Shared Circle Database.

>>>>>---Click Here------>       TRY IT NOW      <----Click Here----<<<<

In it you will find circles with lots of people posting on topics such as:

#Animals #ArtDesign #Authors #Aviation #Business #Celebrity #Comedy #Companies #Education#Entertainment #FashionStyle #FoodBeverage #Games #Geeks #General #Geography #Hobbies #Music #News #Occupation #Philosophy #Photography #Politics #RealEstate #Religion #Science#SocialMedia #Social #Sports #Tech #Web #Women #YouTube

This has been a Public Service Announcement by Primal Troy brought to you by the letter Y and the number 145,176,875,923,758,795.

I Just Deactivated My Facebook Account

I took a 1 week hiatus from FB right after they implemented their interface changes and announced their new stalking you all over the internet protocols but because a great many of my friends were still hanging on over there and not making the move to Google+ I went back and started seeing what people were up to and finding some cool things to share over on G+ as well.

Now as many of you know there has been a lot of posting lately about the Occupy movement and I have been very into that because there are a great many injustices that I think should be addressed regarding small businesses having the ability to compete effectively against multinational corporations and the odds of a kid born into a poor family still having the ability through hard work and education to rise up and realize the American Dream.

So, up until about 4 days ago my posts, both regarding Occupy issues and humorous ones were getting some thumbs up, comments, etc. Then all of a sudden, nothing, nada, zilch. Not one single post I made on FB since 10/10/2011 received any feedback whatsoever.

Now understand, I have over 900 friends on my friends list and have been on FB for several years now and that has never happened. I always get at least some kind of feedback.

I checked and saw that I am still seen when I comment to posts others have made but my own wall posts were apparently no longer being seen at all.

So, was I being blocked by all of my friends for being too spammy? Considering the content of my posts I could see that being the case were it only my friends who get all of their news from NewsCorp sources and believe everything MSM tells them but my more progressive minded friends would not be likely to do that.

Had someone reported my content to FB and they put a throttle on my posts? Possible I suppose although I didn't post anything particularly offensive and had in fact predominantly reshared posts others had already posted there so that didn't seem likely but who knows.

Had FB itself taken it upon itself to EdgeRank me into non-existence? Ya know, at the risk of sounding a bit paranoid, Mark Zuckerberg is a 1%er and could be engaging in some social engineering. Hmmm.

A bit odd indeed. Anyway, if anyone cares to keep up with me find me on G+, check my blog or email me. Of course I will still be on Digg, Reddit, LinkedIn (occasionally) etc. too.

Call for Transparency in Legislation Amendment, force politicians to repeal the laws they defund behind closed doors. | The White House

https://wwws.whitehouse.gov/petitions/%21/petition/call-transparency-legislation-amendment-force-politicians-repeal-laws-they-defund-behind-closed/h1ZHb638?utm_source=wh.gov&utm_medium=shorturl&utm_campaign=shorturl

Fresh Off The Easel

Lady Moon Gazing Upon Mother Earth is an acrylic painting on a stretched canvas measuring 12" x 16" for $100.

Glass Pyramid is an acrylic painting on a gallery wrapped canvas measuring "16 X 20" for $250

Fruit Of Peace was raffled off at CommuniTree on September 24th 2011 to raise funds for Earth Rhythms.

This new hand painted sign was recently completed as a commission for our friend Sherry Blue who will be using it to promote her business. Thank you Sherry! :)

This hand painted sign was recently completed as well and will serve as the logo for our friend Alana to use in promoting her business.




Stay tuned for more!

Transfer Your online Life From Facebook to Google+ | Simplified transfer from facebook to Google+

Here's a simplified tool to transfer your stuff from Facebook to Google+ and get you started nice and easy!

http://www.homeforgeeks.com/social/transfer-your-online-life-from-facebook-to-google-simplified-transfer-from-facebook-to-google/

First Barbary War

While reading the comments to an article on Digg today I ran across this comment which caused me to look into a piece of our history I was admittedly not familiar with. Interesting reading indeed...

 You've probably heard the hymn of the US Marines which includes the words "to the shores of Tripoli". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Barbary_War

 No oil involved, they just assumed the US were too weak to defend themselves. Oh boy, did the Barbary Arabs get a rude awakening. Pirate ships and crews from the North Africa's Berber states of Morocco, Tripoli, Tunis, and Algiers (the Barbary Coast), although nominally governed by the Ottoman Empire, were the scourge of the Mediterranean. Capturing merchant ships and enslaving or ransoming their crews provided the Muslim rulers of these nations with wealth and naval power. In fact, the Roman Catholic Trinitarian Order or Order of "Mathurins" had operated from France for centuries with the special mission of collecting and disbursing funds for the relief and ransom of prisoners of Mediterranean pirates. The war stemmed from the Barbary pirates’ attacks upon American merchant shipping in an attempt to extort ransom for the lives of captured sailors, and ultimately tribute from the United States to avoid further attacks, much like their standard operating procedure with the various European states...READ MORE

What the Mayan Elders are Saying About 2012 by Carlos Barrios

Seri-Worldwide, http://lettertorobin1.site.aplus.net/id435.html Carlos Barrios, Mayan elder and Ajq’ij (is a ceremonial priest and spiritual guide) of the Eagle Clan. Carlos initiated an investigation into the different Mayan calendars circulating. Carlos along with his brother Gerardo studied with many teachers and interviewed nearly 600 traditional Mayan elders to widen their scope of knowledge. Carlos found out quickly there were several conflicting interpretations of Mayan hieroglyphs, petroglyphs, Sacred Books of 'Chilam Balam' and various ancient text. Carlos found some strong words for those who may have contributed to the confusion: Carlos Barrios: "Anthropologists visit the temple sites and read the inscriptions and make up stories about the Maya, but they do not read the signs correctly. It's just their imagination. Other people write about prophecy in the name of the Maya. They say that the world will end in December 2012. The Mayan elders are angry with this. The world will not end. It will be transformed."

Just Say No to GMO

This text will be replaced by the player

Where does gold come from?

Cosmic crashes forging gold: Nuclear reactions in space do produce the heaviest elements


(PhysOrg.com) -- Collisions of neutron stars produce the heaviest elements such as gold or lead. The cosmic site where the heaviest chemical elements such as lead or gold are formed has most likely been identified: Ejected matter from neutron stars merging in a violent collision provides ideal conditions. In detailed numerical simulations, scientists of the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics and affiliated to the Excellence Cluster Universe and of the Free University of Brussels have verified that the relevant reactions of atomic nuclei do take place in this environment, producing the heaviest elements in the correct abundances.

Mortgage rates fall to lowest level since 1950s, few qualify

Oh! Check out what the next headline says. Gee ya think?

http://m.usatoday.com/article/money/50319086