http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2073248/Local-cops-used-Predator-drone-arrest-North-Dakota-farm-family-stealing-6-cows.html
QUOTE: Meet the Brossarts, a North Dakota family deemed so dangerous that the local sheriff needed unleashed an unmanned Predator drone to help bring them in. The Brossart's alleged crime? They wouldn't give back three cows and their calves that wandered onto their 3,000-acre farm this summer.
The same aerial vehicles used by the CIA to track down and assassinate terrorists and militants in Pakistan and Afghanistan are now being deployed by cops to spy on Americans in their own backyards.
I began writing a book sometime back about a post-collapse scenario, and in that book I used the idea of Predator drones being used to hunt and kill American citizens. At the time, I thought it was sort of a science-fiction-y idea but you can see it isn't all that far beyond the scope of possibility these days. Reminds one of the Hunter-Killer robots in Terminator...
Monday, December 12, 2011
Thursday, December 1, 2011
Washington Post: Do-It-Yourself Trends a Step Back For Women?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-new-domesticity-fun-empowering-or-a-step-back-for-american-women/2011/11/18/gIQAqkg1vN_story_1.html
QUOTE: But lately, many women (and a few men) are diving into domesticity with a sense of moral purpose. The homemade jar of jam becomes a symbol of resistance to industrial food and its environment-defiling ways. This view has been brewing for a while, a thick stew of Slow Food and locavorism and DIY brought to a boil by recession and anxiety. Suddenly, learning the old-fashioned skills of our great-grandmothers seems not just fun, but necessary and even virtuous.
QUOTE #2: But Paska’s daily life more closely resembles a 19th-century farm wife’s: soaking beans for stews, feeding her backyard chickens and rabbits, drying herbs, baking bread, keeping bees on her apartment roof. Her frugal, home-based life allowed her to leave a desk job she disliked; she now lives on $1,000 a month earned by teaching classes on DIY urban food production and writing about beekeeping and other pre-industrial skills.
QUOTE #3: A few years ago, her friends thought she was nuts. Now, with the economy stagnating and career disillusionment growing, they all want to imitate her.
How can "self-empowerment" of this type be a step back for women? If anything this movement to increase what we would call "self-sufficiency" is one of the best things to happen to women (and families in general) for a long time.
Let's hope it really catches on.
QUOTE: But lately, many women (and a few men) are diving into domesticity with a sense of moral purpose. The homemade jar of jam becomes a symbol of resistance to industrial food and its environment-defiling ways. This view has been brewing for a while, a thick stew of Slow Food and locavorism and DIY brought to a boil by recession and anxiety. Suddenly, learning the old-fashioned skills of our great-grandmothers seems not just fun, but necessary and even virtuous.
QUOTE #2: But Paska’s daily life more closely resembles a 19th-century farm wife’s: soaking beans for stews, feeding her backyard chickens and rabbits, drying herbs, baking bread, keeping bees on her apartment roof. Her frugal, home-based life allowed her to leave a desk job she disliked; she now lives on $1,000 a month earned by teaching classes on DIY urban food production and writing about beekeeping and other pre-industrial skills.
QUOTE #3: A few years ago, her friends thought she was nuts. Now, with the economy stagnating and career disillusionment growing, they all want to imitate her.
How can "self-empowerment" of this type be a step back for women? If anything this movement to increase what we would call "self-sufficiency" is one of the best things to happen to women (and families in general) for a long time.
Let's hope it really catches on.
Central Bank Action Yesterday Merely 'Buys Time' for Europe
http://www.cnbc.com/id/45501391
QUOTE: Europe's already crippling debt crisis is set to worsen in 2012, when many of the region's governments are forced to refinance huge amounts of debt. According to Ilian Mihov, a professor of Economics at the INSEAD business school, Italy alone will have to roll over 400 billion euros ($538 billion) in 2012, about 20 percent of its total debt. With yields on bonds at 7 to 8 percent, that could be difficult, he added.
It was interesting to see stocks sail ever higher yesterday, which is definitely a good thing in the short term. However, with such an 'exaggerated' rise comes the potential for an even deeper drop later so I think it behooves everyone to be a bit cautious about these wild swings up and down. I'm hoping for a strong economic recovery, but keeping an eye on the long-term trends such as the still excessively-high unemployment figures.
QUOTE: Europe's already crippling debt crisis is set to worsen in 2012, when many of the region's governments are forced to refinance huge amounts of debt. According to Ilian Mihov, a professor of Economics at the INSEAD business school, Italy alone will have to roll over 400 billion euros ($538 billion) in 2012, about 20 percent of its total debt. With yields on bonds at 7 to 8 percent, that could be difficult, he added.
It was interesting to see stocks sail ever higher yesterday, which is definitely a good thing in the short term. However, with such an 'exaggerated' rise comes the potential for an even deeper drop later so I think it behooves everyone to be a bit cautious about these wild swings up and down. I'm hoping for a strong economic recovery, but keeping an eye on the long-term trends such as the still excessively-high unemployment figures.
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Online Food Storage Calculator
http://www.deepcreeksurvival.com/food-storage-calculator.html
I get asked the following question quite frequently: "How much food do I need to store for my family?" Well, the easy answer is that it depends on the size/ages, etc. of those in your family. However, a more specific plan can be generated by a good Food Storage Calculator, such as the one linked above. I don't know a lot about the web site, which is obviously trying to sell products in addition to providing the Calculator, but as a useful tool for figuring out how much food you need to stock it could be a good resource.
I get asked the following question quite frequently: "How much food do I need to store for my family?" Well, the easy answer is that it depends on the size/ages, etc. of those in your family. However, a more specific plan can be generated by a good Food Storage Calculator, such as the one linked above. I don't know a lot about the web site, which is obviously trying to sell products in addition to providing the Calculator, but as a useful tool for figuring out how much food you need to stock it could be a good resource.
Blog: Tens Of Millions Of American Families Are Living On The Edge Of Desperation – And The Economy Is About To Get A Whole Lot Worse
http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/tens-of-millions-of-american-families-are-living-on-the-edge-of-desperation-and-the-economy-is-about-to-get-a-whole-lot-worse
QUOTE: Have you ever been so poor that you had to live in your car? Have you ever been so low on funds that the only place you could afford to live was a rat-infested motel? Have you ever spent a night living in a tent city or sleeping in the streets? If not, you should consider yourself to be very fortunate.
QUOTE #2: Not only that, 2.6 million more Americans fell into poverty last year. That was also a new all-time record. As you read this, one out of every seven Americans is on food stamps and one our of every four U.S. children is on food stamps. Tens of millions of American families are living on the edge of desperation. In many communities across the United States, there is so much despair in the air that it is almost tangible. When you look into the eyes of many Americans these days, it almost seems as if all the hope has been sucked right out of their hearts. Economic despair is at epidemic levels, and unfortunately the economy is about to get a whole lot worse.
You may have come across this article online as I've seen it in a couple different places. I can say in regards to the basic theme of the article that in our area we're seeing more and more signs of the desperation talked about. Others must be seeing it as well if the following threads at Survivalistboards.com are any indication (people living out in the woods and increasing crime levels). At this point you almost have to feel "but for the grace of God go we..."
QUOTE: Have you ever been so poor that you had to live in your car? Have you ever been so low on funds that the only place you could afford to live was a rat-infested motel? Have you ever spent a night living in a tent city or sleeping in the streets? If not, you should consider yourself to be very fortunate.
QUOTE #2: Not only that, 2.6 million more Americans fell into poverty last year. That was also a new all-time record. As you read this, one out of every seven Americans is on food stamps and one our of every four U.S. children is on food stamps. Tens of millions of American families are living on the edge of desperation. In many communities across the United States, there is so much despair in the air that it is almost tangible. When you look into the eyes of many Americans these days, it almost seems as if all the hope has been sucked right out of their hearts. Economic despair is at epidemic levels, and unfortunately the economy is about to get a whole lot worse.
You may have come across this article online as I've seen it in a couple different places. I can say in regards to the basic theme of the article that in our area we're seeing more and more signs of the desperation talked about. Others must be seeing it as well if the following threads at Survivalistboards.com are any indication (people living out in the woods and increasing crime levels). At this point you almost have to feel "but for the grace of God go we..."
Report: Mysterious blast in Iran's Isfahan damaged key nuclear site
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/report-mysterious-blast-in-iran-s-isfahan-damaged-key-nuclear-site-1.398671
QUOTE: According to the Israeli sources, there was "no doubt" that the blast had damaged the nuclear facility, and that the explosion was not an "accident."
File this one under "hmmmmmm" with everything else going on in the world. (Related to Monday's post: http://thechippermonk.blogspot.com/2011/11/report-explosion-rocks-iran-city-of.html )
QUOTE: According to the Israeli sources, there was "no doubt" that the blast had damaged the nuclear facility, and that the explosion was not an "accident."
File this one under "hmmmmmm" with everything else going on in the world. (Related to Monday's post: http://thechippermonk.blogspot.com/2011/11/report-explosion-rocks-iran-city-of.html )
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
1979? 1979? Is That You Again?
http://news.yahoo.com/iranian-students-storm-british-embassy-tehran
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iran/8922993/British-embassy-attack-in-Iran-live.html
Wow. Talk about history repeating itself. I was a bit young in 1979 to really grasp what was going on but have seen the ramifications play out over the past 30 years.
Seems like a definite escalation of the whole Iran Nukes issues, although the conspiratorial-minded will likely wonder if this was encouraged by foreign intelligence services to garner support for military action.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iran/8922993/British-embassy-attack-in-Iran-live.html
Wow. Talk about history repeating itself. I was a bit young in 1979 to really grasp what was going on but have seen the ramifications play out over the past 30 years.
Seems like a definite escalation of the whole Iran Nukes issues, although the conspiratorial-minded will likely wonder if this was encouraged by foreign intelligence services to garner support for military action.
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