There is Good News in the World

There is good news in the world. There are good people and bad people everywhere, in every country, of every color, of every religion. The news from Cairo is terrible. At every moment it seems to get worse. Heavy gunfire now rocks Tahrir Square[Independence Square in English] . There are good people there and bad people too. The smell of war, the smell of fear hangs in the air. The sun will rise over Cairo again soon, as it has everyday for billions of years. It'll shine on good and bad equally, a lesson from a star.

From here in BC, where both good and bad people live, many people are traumatized by the needless slaughter of innocent beings in Whistler. Why did they do it, why did they murder so brutally all those wonderful trusting creatures? Because the light of their empathy for all life was crushed by the pressure of their own expectations of material wealth. Because people, even good people, under enough stress are capable of incredible wickedness. There are many kinds of terror, many kinds of fear but no easy solutions.

As i sit here petting my dog Pancho with one hand and typing with one finger of the other, i realize we all have a choice every minute between our good and bad selves, we are all capable of wickedness. So too are we all capable of choosing to step into our fear, to act out of empathy in the face of terror, it's each person's choice each moment.

Partly it's what we see happening around us, but mostly our choices between good and evil are determined not by external forces but by our own inner view of those happenings. There is good news, there is light, there is love, compassion and empathy in the world. Today my best friend and i did our walk in the park, it's always the best part of our day. It seemed like "everybody and their dog was there" as one lady joked. We laughed and talked, listened to the roaring creeks, breathed the oxygen filled air. We met folks with puppies, folks with older best friends, in the park this morning our life was perfect.

There's other good news too, other good people doing deeds large and small everywhere. Some are the doctors and researchers who are trying and learning everyday just how little we know and trying to learn more. One headline in the western press today says Early bowel cancer detected by dogs in Japan. A Labrador retriever has sniffed out bowel cancer in breath and stool samples during a study in Japan, The dogs sniffed out bowel cancer in more than nine out of 10 cases. "The specific cancer scent indeed exists, but the chemical compounds are not clear. Only the dog knows the true answer”, says Dr Hideto Sonoda Kyushu University. i'd add 'to a lot of things'.

Dogs can show us the true answers to a lot of things, they are our teachers, if we'll listen. Dogs live in the moment as part of the totality, they love unconditionally. We have a lot to learn, as a grandparent, i hope its not to late.

Cancer-Sniffing Dogs, Making Sense of the Research
 
Dogs 'sniff out' bladder cancer

100 Healthy Sled Dogs Slaughtered By Whistler Company When Profits Drop

This is the most sickening story ever. Please read the story here and another blog on the story here.

The only good part of this is that over 99% of the comments i've read agree that these assholes must be punished. Here's a few examples:
"I'd like to cull the owners of this outfit for this sick display. Something tells me they didn't try very bloody hard to find homes for these dogs."
"This is not animal cruelty, it is murder."
"Jail time, major fines, revocation of business license, and splash their names all over the media so they will be recognized for the scum they really are. That includes the moron who did the killing. Just following orders? Hmm, where have I heard that before..."

i been looking-searching to find the names of those responsible. Here's what i've found so far. The companies involved are: Outdoor Adventures Whistler and Howling Dog Tours Whistler - now totally owned by Outdoor Adventures Whistler.

Outdoor Adventures Whistler - ph#  (604) 932 0647 - email addresses: info@tagwhistler.com and info@adventureswhistler.com  Their spokesman is Graham Aldcroft. They appear to be from Naniamo BC.
Howling Dog Tours Whistler - at the time of the mass murder was owned by:
Joey Houssian
9459 Emerald Dr
Whistler, BC V0N1B9
ph# (604) 932-3205

i'll wait to name the shooter and give his contact info until it is confirmed. i hope everybody contacts these mass murders of innocent loving sentient beings and to tell them they are sending a copy of their email to every person they know. these assholes should be bankrupted by lawsuits as well as shunned by everyone, they are a disgrace to us all.

here's a copy of my letter to them:
YOU ASSHOLES,
this is absolutely sickening. it's you who should be culled. your company will be shut down, the word will be spread and nobody will have anything to do with a company like yours or any other affiliated companies. the moron who did the killing is just as much to blame. you could have gone to the media or let the SPCA and normal people step in. i can barely stop crying.
all your friends will abandon you, you'll be alone with your money. you might as well buy a one way ticket to the south pole. i hope you get what you deserve, a life of guilt and shame.

Bob Wiley
ed. The Mud Report

Fear Has Many Uses

Fear is a powerful evolutionary response that is hardwired into our reptilian brain. Everyone has fears that are so deep seated, so ancient, that our responses bypass the relatively slower decision making process of reason. Fear has many uses, it can keep us out of danger, out of the jaws of predators, out of harmful relationships, it is such a successful trait that it has been conserved by evolution since the mud first looked up.

Fear can also be used by others to control us. All religion, for instance, is based on fear-fear of the unknown-fear of death. In the case of religion, we are easily manipulated by anyone or any set of ideas that offers a simple panacea to these fears. Once convinced of the simple panacea, a human will do anything to protect/support the relief they now have from their existential angst. "Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from a religious conviction" - Pascal

Fear is a powerful force, it is created by the each of us internally, it is not an uncontrollable externality. When we feel that sinking feeling in our stomach it's our primitive brain, the limbic system including the hippo-campus and amagadyla, pumping adrenaline through us in aid of our immediate 'fight or flight' mechanism. Though very difficult, with practice, a person can sometimes learn to step into their fear and ride its power. Remember the time when water was a frightening place in which to be immersed until you learned to use its buoyancy to float.

Right now i'm reading 'Devil's Game: How the United States Helped Unleash Fundamentalist Islam' by Robert Dreyfuss, it's very timely. In it Dreyfuss details the history of The Muslim Brotherhood and the Great Game that spawned it. Knowledge can provide a way that allows our brain to create the connections between our primitive brain and our prefrontal cortex necessary to take that first step into our fears.

IMO the only way out of Plato's Cave is to harness our fears so as not to be controlled by them and perhaps recognize that we are all victims of the same oppressors.

Monsanto's GE Alfalfa Will Winging It's Way Into Canada Soon

Honeybee pollinating alfalfa flower

The United States said on Thursday farmers could proceed with planting genetically altered alfalfa without any of the restrictions that opponents say are crucial to protect organic and conventional farm fields from contamination. Because GMO products are not allowed in USDA-certified foods, it could become all but impossible to produce organic milk and meat in many areas unless organic farmers switch to less desirable sources of forage.

The USDA did no real assessment of the harm that GE alfalfa could do, and caved to pressure from big agribusiness to approve this genetically engineered crop before the spring planting season. Alfalfa is pollinated by bees and other insects, its pollen can be carried by them for five miles. Insects and wind aren't routinely stopped by Canada Customs so Canadian crops will be contaminated quickly too.

Monsanto's GE alfalfa is 'Roundup Ready'. That means it can survive massive doses of the herbicide glyphosate, but the competitor 'weeds' can't, at least until they have mutated and become resistant-which they do. Roundup-resistant super weeds require even more deadly herbicides such as 2,4 D to be sprayed. It's a vicious circle designed to enrich Monsanto's shareholders at our expense. Soon Monsanto's lawyers will be suing, Percy Schmeiser like, every alfalfa farmer in North America.

Consumers detest GMO foods, a GMO label is equal to a skull and crossbones, yet our governments and all major political parties in Canada and the US refuse to pass legislation demanding honest labeling because they are in the pocket of the hated corporations that produce the crap. Democracy is a myth, we live in a greedocracy, our governments are totally corrupted by money, GE alfalfa is the tip of the iceberg.

The Canadian Biotechnology Action Network is leading the fight here in Canada to stop the proliferation of GMO contamination. Their online campaign to 'Take Action In Support Bill C-37' is well intentioned but probably cathartic at best. The only real protection we could ever have from these corporate criminals is honest labeling. Don't hold your breath.

The Organic Elite Surrenders to Monsanto

Fear Falls Flat on the Arab Streets

Tunisians showed the way last week, they turned and faced the fear mongers that had controlled them for the last 30 years. They rode the wave of emotion, they chose fight over flight, they've shown millions of young, literate, social media savvy Arabs the road to a new Damascus. The streets of Tunisia are still full of protesters demanding a total end to the US backed dictatorship. Folks in Yemen, Jordan, Kuwait, Algeria and especially Egypt are too.

Today is Thursday here, tomorrow will be a historic day. Millions will leave Friday prayers tomorrow and march against the fear they've been terrorized by all these years. It's all happening so fast because of social networking. Wikileaks started the ball rolling by publishing secret documents about the closed door deals that have impoverished the many while enriching the few. First a brave few protested, then they text messaged, tweeted and facebooked their friends, then it exploded. It's a Wikileaks revolution.

Tahrir Square, in the middle of Cairo, will be the big showdown tomorrow. Egypt's dictators, America's allies, have shut down the Internet as of a few hours ago in an attempt to regain control, but Egypt's young, who are leading the protests here, as they are across the region, immediately went low-tech. They are printing and distributing leaflets throughout the country calling on the army to join them in the streets after prayers. i sure hope they do. Egypt has called in the army to crush protests before but none have been this big, none have had the widespread international support and solidarity of millions before.

Control through fear works until it doesn't then all hell breaks loose. Fear and political repression simply act as a dam to heighten the energy potential of the river of change. We are on the eve of great change in the Middle East, i can only hope it continues to roll around the globe, if it does, i'll be there in the streets of Vancouver demanding an end to our little fascists' follies, a redistribution of wealth-an end to the enrichment of the few-and the end of fear for the many. As FDR said "we have nothing to fear but fear itself".



The Destruction of the Family Farm System

We live in the neolithic age. It began with the first agriculture, the saving of seeds, the taming of draft animals, and the trading of resources between neighbors. Trading and bartering are the original 'market'. They operate without money, value is set on the spot and stuff is exchanged. No paper work needed, no profits for an intermediary, no taxes, no nothing. The direct exchange of goods is a form of commons. This commons, this open space for exchange, is what agribusiness and government are trying to destroy.

Agribusiness has learned the corporate tactics, first figure out everybody that could possibly be a competitor to your bank financed scheme. Then you buy all the politicians you'll need to squeeze out all of 'em with campaign contributions and cushy jobs for their relatives. Next, you get the rules passed you want and watch the dough roll in.

Don't get me wrong. agribusiness is in a tough spot, there's only so much earth to exploit, these limits to 'growth' have the agribusiness community cringing. Added to that is the exploding 'buy local', organic, culture. How then did agribusiness shoehorn itself into the market of common exchange? Fear.

Fear rules in what might be the late neolithic, in this case fear of the 'unknown' toxins hidden, boogie man style, just waiting to get you. Our ancestors traded eggs for produce, they bartered meat for butchering. When i was kid the family next door made cider from their apples and traded it with my grandpa for fish. i helped grandpa fish up at the lake, we caught 'em by the creel full, grandpa would dig the little ones into his garden rows and bring a few larger ones up to the neighbor. We were goin fishin anyway gettin a couple extra was easy, the neighbor had a lotta apples and a big press. Fortunately for me grandpa left the cider barrel with a little ladle hangin outta my mom's sight. Fear...well i guess i feared gettin caught drinkin cider by my mom.

The Milk Warriors of British Columbia - The main reason for this anti farm produce hysteria, like milk, meats etc. is the long planned destruction of the family farm system and its replacement with the big, agribiz, corporate mafia by "conservative" governments.

Animal Health Consultation - Click on the "Discussion Paper" button...

The Rolling, Breaking, Thundering Surf of Pismo Beach-The Perfect Therapy

We last visited the Pismo Beach area in 2008. My daughter flew into San Francisco during her mid-winter break at university. Pancho, our new best friend, and i picked her up and we drove the rest of the way in a shiny rental car. We stayed a week and enjoyed all the old familiar places from our many earlier visits, plus a few new ones. Of course we stayed at the Motel 6 in Pismo Beach, as we had so many times before, where kids and dogs are free, the people are friendly and the price is right- it suits us perfectly.

It was warm a few of the days, at least for Canadians, and we found the neatest ice cream parlour. Doc Burnsteins in Arroyo Grande. Just visited their website, apparently they're hiring.

One day we drove up to Montana de Oro State Park about 45min. away. At one beach area there the twisted and deformed rocks that are part of the San Andreas fault system make up the cliffs and dramatically disappear into the sea. It's very cool. Montana de Oro over looks Morro Bay and the central Calif. coast to the north with Big Sur in the distance beyond.

i was about 3 months into my recovery from a hip replacement surgery when we were in Pismo. The long flat hard sand beach was exactly what i needed, my daughter, Pancho and i walked the beach for miles every morning and evening, psycho and physio therapy free of charge. Our week there flew by, i wish it had never ended. Hopefully, one day i'll drive around that bend in the road a few miles south of SLO and look out over beautiful Pismo Beach again. i know the timeless surf is rolling, breaking and thundering there every minute, always will be... perfect.

The Oceano Dunes - A Commons We All Share

The Oceano dunes lie within the Guadalupe-Nipomo Dunes Complex which contains several distinct regions, the Oceano Dunes State Vehicular Recreation Area [ODSVRA] is one controversial region. Conservation vs. Recreation gets top billing, but jobs-money, endangered speices and pollution play a role. Everything is a matter of perspective. A tourist has one, a local, a conservationist, an ATV rider have others. The ODSVRA is a Rorschach test through which we can catch a glimpse of our culturally pre-conditioned worldview.

Believing is seeing, one my favorite topics. Some, like me, believe we’re all [flora, fauna, microbes,minerals, forces and faeries] equal partners and that any arrogant destruction by us of 'others' is actually suicide. That none has dominion over another, that it's a self serving delusion to believe humans have a 'special' relationship with the divine or that everything was created as a resource for us, the rogue primate.

Being a tourist my perspective can afford to be long on ideals, whereas if my job or my family's dinner were on the line i fear those ideals would have far less leverage. Plus, being a human, i am a polluter, we all are. We all draw our line in the sand differently, we all do our best [however we each define it], but as a 'sinner' myself i find it hard to throw stones at other people's recreational choices.

Solutions to some of the more contentious problems seem clear. Driving through the creek is stupid, it's a drive through an undercarriage car wash, it seems obvious this should be stopped immediately. From my perspective, so should driving on the beach period. From a conservation perspective, allowing uninterrupted access to and from the tidal flats and stopping the endless belching of the metal monsters would be a huge step. From a local residents' perspective, the picnics might be more pleasant, the beach walks safer and the noise less deafening.

From a recreation perspective, the dunes could still be reached from the rear staging area. Yes, a backdoor is still access-still pollution, but getting gas guzzlers off the beach, even if the ATVs were still in their designated area, would be an upgrade for the creek and the whole beach's ecosphere.

The future of the ODSVRA is uncertain. The future of the eco-tourist business is huge. The Pismo-Grover-Oceano area would attract other types of tourists to its natural beauty if the metal monsters were silenced on the beaches. Parks are a modern commons. Commons is an old word meaning 'what we share'. Anyone can use the commons, so long as there is enough left for everyone else, it offers hope for a saner, safer, more enjoyable future for us all.

The Fresh-Water Lagoon in Oceano is for the Birds

A stop at the fresh-water lagoon in Oceano was a must almost every day. The lagoon is part of a migratory bird habitat at runs around and past the Oceano State Park Campground and Nature Center. Thousands of birds live in the lagoon complex, hundreds of them, all different colors-sizes-shapes, come running and flying to greet you as you approach. The birds and the people have an arrangement, the people provide bread and grain, the birds provide wonder.

Sometimes we'd walk the trail around the migratory bird habitat, it's beautiful especially on a hot afternoon. But mostly we'd feed the multitudes by the lake in the county park, big or small, we fed 'em all. Oceano is a sleepy little place mid-week, mid-winter, but summers and long weekends it's overrun. Some Oceano locals i've talked to through the decades love the dune buggy carnival, some not so much.

Another stop not to be missed is lunch at the Splash Café for a cup or bowl of what some say is the greatest New England Clam Chowder in the world. The Splash Café is on Pomeroy Street just up from the ocean and pier, it's easy to find at lunch time, it's the one with “soup line” wrapping around the block. They serve hundreds, and often times, thousands of bowls daily, more than 15,000 gallons a year for a reason. It's great, it's inexpensive with friendly service. No frills, but lottsa charm for the tourists and locals alike.

The Pismo Clams, now nearly extinct, were as bountiful as the cod on the Grand Banks or the bison on the grassland until they met industrialized 'civilization'. i first visited Oceano in May of '69, we slept on the beach under a billion stars as the surf crashed nearby, it was unforgettable.The stars still shine, the waves still pound. Unfortunately 'civilization' has found Pismo again, this time it'll consume the air and the charm not just the clams..

The Bountiful and Interwoven Life of the Central California Dunes

The Pismo-Grover-Oceano beaches roll landward as a series of dunes. They begin just past the Pismo Beach boardwalk where they support grasses, shrubs and small trees and stretch southward for miles extending further and further inland and supporting less visible flora as they do. Our little team of explorers often bypassed the beach on windy days headed straight off into the dunes in search of just the right protected spot for our adventures.

If we went early enough and if the wind hadn't already repainted the sands we'd see the tracks and paths left in the night by the residents who were hidden during the day. There's the trails of mice and moles left as they hunted bugs and searched for seeds. The mice were being hunted it turn by the hawks and seagulls during the night. Far from a sterile empty terrain, each morning's fresh tracks showed us how bountiful and interwoven life in dunes, like everywhere else, is.

We enjoyed the privacy in the dunes as well. We'd build terraced gardens and castles on the dune sides, play fetch and chase as best friends often do. We'd be warmed by the sun, outta the wind and unable to hear dune buggies and monster trucks. We almost always visited the Pismo area during the mid-week but one year we managed [mis-managed] to arrive there during the week leading up to Thanksgiving. Never again, there were thousands of huge trucks pulling monster 5th wheel RVs who themselves pulled a trailer full of dune buggies. YIKES!

The beach was full of 'em, it was like a freeway, we didn't dare try our usual meander down to the waves, instead we'd leash up Happy, look both ways and make a run for it. It was a whole different feeling, one day the miles of serene beach is home to a few dog walkers and joggers, the next it's wall to wall monster machines and ATVs silencing the surf with mechanical muscle.

Today i've learned a lot from Nell Langford of Safe Beach Now. They are "dedicated to freeing the beaches, Arroyo Grande Creek, and the Oceano Dunes of South San Luis Obispo County, California, from the dangers and egregious depredation caused by uncontrolled and excessive assault by gasoline powered vehicles." Their videos provide background information and a beautiful look at what could be.

On The Road to Pismo, Grover and Oceano's Beautiful Beaches

Once upon a time our best friend Happy, my daughter and i had it figured out how to take road trips each winter down to California and out into the deserts.Year after year we spent 3-4 weeks putting on 4-5 thousand miles down through the southwestern US thereby avoiding the realities of winter in Canada while enjoying the warm and generous hospitality and culture of the folks down there.

One stop we never missed was the Pismo Beach area. We'd stay 3-4 days at the Motel6 there. We'd spend hours at the beach where we flew kites, built outrageous sand structures in the dunes and walked miles of white sand beach each day. We ate homemade Mexican food at a little place nearby that we knew and visited the monarch butterfly enclave regularly.

Pismo Beach and the Central Coast play host to annual spectacle of nature every winter from late October to February when millions of migrating Monarch butterflies cover the eucalyptus trees. The famous Pismo Monarch Grove is part of Pismo Beach State Park, it's a fantastic and educational family outing. The grove is located on Highway 1 at the south boundary of the city of Pismo Beach.

Pismo, Grover and Oceano's easily accessible beaches continue uninterrupted for many miles. Our little team walked miles in the company of little shore birds and the rolling surf. We'd almost always come back down to the beach again at sunset and watch the world turn. They were some of the best days of my life...so far.

Neonicotinoid Pesticides Causing Catastrophic Collapse

The ongoing, accelerating, catastrophic demise of bee colonies around the globe could put our whole food chain in danger. Scientists blame toxic pesticides, neonicotinoids in particular, for the steep decline. Bees, like all of us, don't stand alone but are a strand in the intricate web of life.

"Widespread use of insecticides isn't only affecting bee populations but also causing decline in numbers of birds, butterflies and moths", warns Dutch toxicologist Dr Henk Tennekes. "An ecological collapse is already taking place before our eyes". In his book, Tennekes writes that even minute traces of these pesticides could be fatal to insects, as continued use affects food availability for birds, a lack of weeds resulting in a loss of insects, as well as seeds. This decline is also linked to a lack of larger insects upon which chicks depend for their survival, which in turn affects breeding.

We are all in this together, it's insanity to poison ourselves and risk the uncertainty of catastrophic ecological collapse all in the name of shortsighted profits and the delusion of entitlement. One thing a person can do right this minute is to Sign The Petition at AVAAZ calling for the immediately ban the use of neonicotinoid pesticides. Longer term, don't panic-go organic, quality trumps quantity, hard work in the mud is its own reward, there is no free lunch, turn on, tune in and drop out, etc.

Four European governments have already banned them. The US, Canada, the EU and other governments across the world might join the ban if enough public pressure were brought to force them to bite one of the corporate hands that feeds them. Politicians will act, laws will change, when, and only when, they fear losing their place at the trough in the next election.

"We are witnessing an ecological collapse in all the wildlife that used to live in fields, hedgerows, ponds and streams. All the common species we knew as children are being wiped from the face of the countryside." - Graham White, environmental author

GLOBAL BEE EMERGENCY -- ACT NOW!

Where's The Missing Heat? It's Embedded In The World Around Us.

The oceans are dynamic entities, they don't just suck up heat like a theoretical mass in a formula might suggest, they share it with all they touch. The 'missing' heat energy is contained-embedded in the clouds that once were water. "Recent analysis of Argo data in relation to the historical record show an increase in salinity in evaporate mid-latitude regions and a freshening at high latitudes and tropical convergence zones. This pattern may imply an increase in the global hydrological cycle by several percent"- ARGO. These bigger better clouds increase the earth's overall albedo and are the agent of cooling that probably is the earth's most sensitive thermostat.

Further the oceans are melting ice in the arctic, Greenland and Antarctica and, if i remember my cocktail mixology correctly, the melting ice should be cooling the oceans [ice to liquid also embeds energy within each molecule's structure]. Then there's the salinity-density issue-the salinity is dropping because of all the fresh water melting into the seas, the ocean is expanding much faster because of melt water than thermal expansion.

It's a wonder that the ocean is heating at all. We're in a time of low solar output and only a couple decades ago climate science thought we were headed slowly toward the end of the interglacial period [cooling] why aren't we now? Why are the glaciers not advancing instead of retreating [as they in fact are all over the world]? Must be because there's more heat energy in the system than there is naturally forced cooling. Now that energy doesn't get here on the wings of angels or aliens, it isn't coming from solar output as it's been falling the last 60 years, but it is there, we can all see the effects. Ice has no political agenda-the flora and fauna aren't moving cause they're bored-the clouds and i've looked at clouds from both sides now, as Joni Mitchell says, and they too care none for politics.

The science behind greenhouse gases [re-radiative LW] is well established. The earth has heated up [far beyond what it is now] many times in the half million year ice core data. Every time Gaia's feedback loops contain its climb and reverse it-they will this time too, sooner or later. It might be a bit more difficult this time because we rogue primates have become an atmospheric carbon source. During these huge climate swings untold biological-ecological change happens too. Exactly what change is uncertain, but change it will be.That's where The Precautionary Principle enters the calculus.

Who cares if all we focus on is our lifespan's minuscule few moments. But, being a pantheist, i care about all my cousins cause they're me. Maximizing short term consumption, converting the earth's natural resources to money, is short term thinking, sooner or later the resources will dry up and our descendants can't eat money.

Where's the missing heat? Like the banker explained in Capra's 'It's A Wonderful Life', the money [heat in our case] isn't 'in' the bank it's embedded in the world around us.

Weyburn, Sask. CO2 Leak Is Good News For A Real CCS Alternative

A dead bird lies on the soil on a Weyburn, Sask. farm

A Saskatchewan farm couple whose land lies over the world's largest carbon capture and storage [CCS] project says greenhouse gases that were supposed to have been injected permanently underground are leaking out, killing animals and sending groundwater foaming to the surface. It's a story with global implications, potentially bad ones, for the energy sector.

Governments around the world, along with multinational corporate partners in the fossil fuel industry, are spending billions of dollars to research and develop methods to capture carbon dioxide emissions and storing the CO2 in deep underground wells. The carbon capture and storage project in Weyburn, Saskatchewan, has been cited as a world-leading example and Harper's Tories have bet $2 billion taxpayer dollars on CCS. This failure of their pet CCS project should have the Tories and their oily industry buddies worried.

The fossil fuel industry has one goal, shareholder profits. Governments around the world should have different criteria. This Weyburn project, as with thousands of others globally, was designed to increase the flow of oil whose production was rapidly diminishing. It was never designed as a CCS facility, it doesn't have even the basic impermeable caprock required by geologists. But when the government shovels money in the oily boys have visions of sugar dancing in their heads.

It's the fossil fuel industry interests that limit our governments' field of view. There are other ways to capture and store CO2 and other greenhouses gases that are proven technologies, that are safe and sane. Algal Synthesis offers consumption of the full cocktail of greenhouse gases normally found in smokestack emissions - not just CO2 as is the case with most CCS proposals. Mineral storage is totally safe and has millions of years of data-it is how limestone is formed. Another is the production of methanol from the CO2 already in the atmosphere.

One day perhaps we clever primates will figure out how to dig our way out of the hole we're in, but right now our only choice is to be real conservatives, to conserve, to want less.

Escaping the Culture of Fear

Fear reigns, fear of body odor, fear of bankruptcy, fear of acne, fear of anybody who looks out of place. We live in a culture of fear, every ad plays on one fear or another, fear driven consumption fills the malls and fear drives gun sales through the roof. Gunmakers have accommodated each new wave of fear with the appropriate revolver or semiautomatic.

Fear of the unknown reigns supreme, the 'other' is unknown, 'they' are unknown. Fear divides, us and them, Hatfields and McCoys, you're either with us or you're against us. It doesn't have to be, it's all in what you see. We live in a time and place where problems associated with uncertainty and risk are seen through the prism of fear. Fear leaves little room for the exercise of free will.

Today everybody everywhere grieves for the innocent victims in Tuscon, prays for Congresswoman Gifford and would like to strangle the SOB who did it, me too. The shooter is a nut not a domestic terrorist. Overheated rhetoric and nearly non-existent gun laws don't send the rest of us out to massacre at the mall. He did it, he planned it, he's a nut. Ya can't blame Sarah Palin, ya can't blame Obama or anybody else.

The problem is us, we, who should be united, allow ourselves to be controlled, divided and manipulated by fear. Fear worked well for our ancestors when they needed to run from a predator or avoid the rising flood, but this ancient, occasionally useful, tool, this servant, has been turned into straight jacket. Our ancestors also saw themselves as a part of the world just as the lion and the flood are. They saw no 'other'. Freedom isn't fear, its the lack of it. Freedom is joy, freedom is peace and confidence that we are all, flora-fauna-microbes-minerals-forces and faeries, in this together.

At the moment, we all have but one certainty...

Been reading Stiglitz 'Freefall'. His explanations of risk management in chaotic systems, complexity and derivatives reminds me of reading long ago how Wall St. was hiring physics geeks to generate winning formulas. Derivatives as a way to manage risk in a chaotic system, even Scientific American, where i read about it, mentioned how math theory was one thing unrecoverable disaster another.

The Precautionary Principle eh, if ya gotta a few bucks extra after all the bills are paid and you wanna go to the casino its called entertainment, win-lose, no-disaster. But if you're in debt and you're in the casino to win back the rent money you already owe its called idiocy, big-disaster. Never bet what you can't afford to lose no matter how much of an edge you think you've got. When taking smaller risks, making smaller bets, make sure there's compensation enough to cover the risk, just common sense eh.

The same story for lottsa stuff, climate change for instance is where big disaster makes the PP rule, banking too according to Stiglitz, whereas other stuff like being a couch potato may turn out to be a personal disaster or not [you get run over by less buses for instance] therefore each of us chooses our couch riding time with less of an eye on ol' PP, its only logical.

We poor fools who try to use logic, debate, experimentation to inform our worldview can never be 100% certain of anything. We know that once in awhile 'The Black Swan' question arises and that something rare, extreme and unpredictable can happen that changes our worldview. We poor fools hold ideas to be true until some new information comes long that refutes those old ideas and we subsequently form new views. Our ideas and ideals resemble Sideshow Bob's hair, the 'Absolute Certainity' folks sport more of a Pat Boone look

At the moment, we all have but one certainty...

We All Need A Complete Audio-Visual Record Of Police Actions

Another Mountie, this time in Kelowna, is under investigation after he was caught on a cell phone camera kicking a man in the face during an arrest. "There will be an 'outside' investigation" says Kelowna's top-cop. The outside source will be another Police Force, probably RCMP from a different detachment.

The Police should not be allowed to investigate themselves. The investigators and the alleged wrong-doer will be from the same union, and the same brotherhood. The results will always be the same, "Our committee investigation finds no undue procedures or wrong-doing on the part of the arresting officers. Case closed." Makes a person wonder how many other cases like this happen that aren't captured by a witness's cell phone camera.

The Police have a tough job, no doubt. And they themselves would often benefit when unfounded accusations arise as the result of having a complete audio-visual record of all Police actions. So would the public, who the Police serve, benefit. There have been so many incidents here in BC in the last few years it seems like the cops are out of control. They are, but it's not news. Cell phones catching them at it is news. Some cops have felt entitled to beat the crap outta whoever they deem deserving since cops were invented, our present day version are only carrying on cop culture.

The Police must be outfitted with small audio-video cameras, tiny spy cameras [like the one pictured] in their hats maybe-wouldn't get in the way one bit. And cameras inside/outside of their patrol cars. The technology exists cheaply to record or send real time wireless feeds via satellite from anywhere to anywhere. A plan like this would cost million$, create lottsa jobs building all the hardware, lots more setting 'em all up. With a 'Buy Canadian 1st' agenda equipping all the cops with all the gear would be a kinda economic stimulus plan eh. Imagine no more frivolous law suits, no more unrecorded kicks to the head, no more making up stories about confused Polish guys at the airport, no more...

Geothermal, catch the wave of the future.

Canada has the world's largest tar sands deposits, Venezuela is second. These two countries and the extraction methods they allow will dictate the size of the human carbon foot print upon the planet in the future. Canada, because of its oil industry friendly laws, is ahead of Venezuela on the tar sands extraction curve and far ahead of the yanks who come #3 in the bitumen blessing lottery.

Canada and Venezuela both try to be social democracies, the hard part is where the line gets drawn. Canada draws it one place, Venezuela another. Each's huge oil and bitumen reserves and politics make for interesting comparisons sometimes. Venezuela under Hugo Chavez doesn't play ball, he often nationalizes stuff first, then negotiates compensation later. Canada plays ball with the bankers and billionaires, it gave up nationalizing stuff decades ago-sold out PetroCan to the oligarchy for peanuts.

Canadians are some world's best at advanced exploration and drilling technologies, members of the Canadian Geothermal Energy Association (CanGEA) also produce more than 20 per cent of the world's geothermal energy. They just don't do it in Canada...yet. Canada can and must lead the way by investing public money in geothermal energy production in Alberta's tar sands. If they do, the Orinoco in Venezuela will follow, so to will Utah.

Real wealth, real social justice requires ecological sustainability to better our and our family's well being into the future, and isn't that our only real job, bettering the world for those from whom we are borrowing it. Geothermal's got the right stuff, its energy is constantly and evenly available 24/7/365, it's power can just as easily converted to electricity as steam heat, it can crack the water molecule to provide hydrogen for future trains, buses and trucks. Geothermal, catch the wave of the future.
 
"At the end of the day, Alberta's junk crude, a screaming signature of peak oil, remains a strategic resource that should serve as a continental bridge to a low carbon economy. Furthermore, energy transitions take decades not years. This reality alone makes superior environmental performance in the oil sands not a rhetorical luxury or propaganda item, but an issue of critical national importance." -  Andrew Nikiforuk, TheTyee.ca

'HE' is coming, and it's sooner than you think.

What wonderful news, not just any old news, its guaranteed to be 100% right by the Bible. A national radio group says the end of the world is coming, and it's sooner than most would think. They've erected billboards in the Nashville that clearly announce the second coming of Jesus will happen on Saturday, May 21, 2011, just over 4 months.

My thanks to Family Radio, a national Christian group that has put up the billboards throughout Nashville and a host of other cities proclaiming the upcoming Rapture, for the 'good news'. Imagine my delight when i realized i wouldn't have to shovel and haul all that horseshit over to the garden, wouldn't have to turn it into the beds and planters, wouldn't have to expand the little front bed for more finger potatoes, wouldn't have figure out this year's crop rotation, none of it.

This is 'good news', i imagine today will see millions of people making reservations for Las Vegas, millions more going out and leasing that Hummer they've had an eye on. The malls will be overflowing too, what the hell good is money gonna do ya on May 12th? Might as well max out your the credit card-if it isn't already, might as well party like a Russian.

"WE ARE ALMOST THERE! exults their website. Guaranteed, WOW, i'm going all in, to hell with fixing my van's broken window, the plastic on it will last 'til mid-may easy. No sense in trying to catch the damned mice in my floorboards anymore, they only got a few more months too. Gonna cash in my investments, gonna donate all my dough to the church so i can get a luxury box up in Heaven. After all we're talking the Bible here. How could they, the self-anointed spokes-persons of 'HIM', ever be wrong about the end of the world?

Russians know how to party eh!

Russia's Vladimir Tarasenko (L) shakes hands with Canada's Ryan Ellis (C) and Casey Cizikas (R) after Russia defeated Canada in the gold medal game.

Canada was in mourning this morning. The throngs of Canadians have retreated, Buffalo Ontario is no more. It sure was neat though, the red and white painted faces, the spontaneous singing of 'Oh Canada', 85% the stands from the great white north. And it was, as almost always, the best hockey of the year. It, that nationwide sinking feeling, is part of the true beauty of sport. It's real, anything can happen, there's no script and if you really root for one side then, win or lose, your emotions are along for the ride.

After blowing a 3 goal lead in the third period the Canadian team members hung their heads while the Russian kids shouted slogans and cheers. Apparently the Russian kids continued the party right through the post game interviews, the locker room and back at the hotel into the wee hours. Bet the vodka was flowing, Russians know how to party eh.

Well 6AM comes early and apparently when they showed up this morning they were kicked off their Delta flight because members of the team were still drunk and disorderly. Instead, the team is sobering up at a Days Hotel near Buffalo-Niagara International Airport, the team’s general manager is arranging new travel plans.

The Russian kids deserved the Gold Medal and the grounding, they'll be treated as heroes back home for both. Russian isn't an easy place to have dreams, hockey is a route out of oppressive poverty for a lucky-hard working few but a dream for many more. The Russian kids were hungrier than the Canadian kids last night. We'll get 'em next year or the one after that eh.

Team Russia kicked off airplane - Allegedly drunk World Junior hockey champs grounded in Buffalo

The Buzz of the Bumbly Bee

Yesterday's National Geographic article on the bumblebee extinctions also mentions that bumblebees' high-frequency buzzing is just right for opening a flower's pollen-holding pores. A lot of flowers depend on this large, bumbly bee, unlike honeybees, they are able to forage under cold, rainy and cloudy conditions In the wild, birds and bears depend on bumblebees for berries and fruits.

Both flowering plants and bumblebee ancestors first appear in the Early Cretaceous, about 130 million years ago, scientists point to the link between flowers and insect pollinators as an excellent example of co-evolution. Many of the different types of insects that carry pollen from one flower to another vary in their size, shape, mouthpart structure, colour vision, sense of smell, taste, ability to grip the flower, and a host of other traits. As flowers evolved to become dependent on pollinators for reproduction, so they also started to acquire a whole range of flower forms that were attractive to subsets of all of these different animals.

Bumblebees create their uniquely charming buzz by vibrating its flight muscles, and this can be done while the muscles are decoupled from the wings, especially important in bumblebees, as they must warm up their bodies considerably to get airborne at low temperatures. A bumblebee lands on an anther and vibrates its thoracic muscles in the frequency needed to free the pollen. The wrong vibration fails to produce pollen or produces fairly little. Honeybees do not seem to vibrate very well, bumblebees have better buzz. About 8 percent of the world's flowers, including tomatoes, potatoes, blueberries, and cranberries, require a bumblebee's buzz to serenade the pollen out.

Up here at the hideout i see the first bumbly bees each spring hangin out around the chives. In our long cold spring and early summer the native bees are the only ones flying. Bumblebees seem unaffected by Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), the serious die-off of honey bee colonies across the country. But they are in serious decline around the world from habitat loss, widespread pesticide use and the introduction of some diseases from European honeybees.

Plant heirloom varieties of native flowering plants in your garden. Bees tend to prefer pink, purple, and yellow flowers and need food from early spring to late fall. Chives are among the first productive flowers each spring for the bumbly bees. Now that i know a bit more about their buzz i'm looking forward to hearing it even more.

ANATOMY OF A ROSE -- EXPLORING THE SECRET LIFE OF FLOWERS

GO CANADA GO

It's Canada vs. Sweden today at 1PM [pst], it's on TSN up here in Canada and the arena will be rocking. It's 3+ hours before game time and apparently the border crossing from between fair Canuckistan and Buffalo N.Y. is jammed. A few minutes ago the OPP issued an advisory to warn motorists about a high volume of traffic at the three major crossing points in Niagara headed to the U.S. due to the hockey game that's part of the World Junior Hockey Championships.

Both teams are 3-0, both have handled the competition with equal ease-including the Russians. Today's game will determine which team gets the easier route through next weeks playoffs as well as bragging rights. Canada won the preliminary round exhibition game last week and will be the favorite today, but the Swedes have a good team and great goalie.

i love the buzz up here among sports fans. Usually folks have their favorite team. Most everybody around here roots for their homeys, the Vancouver Canucks, in the NHL. One friend is a die hard Montreal Canadians fan and ya see other folks wearing other gear here and there so ya never know and are always polite about demeaning the opposition.

The WJHC and the Olympics are the exceptions. Today normally reserved Canadians are streaming across the border dressed is red and white, waving their flags, painting their faces, trying to remain polite and trying to drink all the beer in Buffalo. Good luck to 'em, and better luck still to our Juniors. May their powerplay be powerful-may their goalie be hot-may their fans cheers be rewarded.

GO CANADA GO

Bubble, Bubble, Toil and Trouble Coming for Commodities

Bubble is the word that defines any asset that is overpriced because of investment hysteria. Right now all commodity's prices, other than gold and silver which are really currency hedges, are rising far faster than their real 'value' because of renewed speculative activity which keeps pumping up the commodity bubble. There’s a lot of money going into the commodities market and that drives prices through the roof.

Particularly mind numbing is the number of pension funds throwing cash at the commodities market. Pension funds, already hit hard back in 2008, seem determined to make the same mistakes again. Pension funds are under pressure, mandated, to invest. Millions of new dollars flow into their coffers from the paychecks of workers each month and fund managers must produce quarterly profits or perish. Then there's the securitization of commodities, works almost exactly like the securitization of mortgages did during the last bubble, which is the latest of Wall St.'s billion dollar 'free lunch' schemes.

The commodity bubble, like all bubbles, will eventually end. When it does the entire house of cards is going to come crashing down and we are going to experience a very bitter economic collapse. As Guy McPherson says, "You and I didn’t start the fire of empire. But we’re about to see it extinguished."

i don't play carnival capitalism personally, i'd just as soon stick to roulette, but it does piss me off that millions of people who have worked hard all their lives while looking forward to their retirement will once again take a shit kicking when this bubble bursts. The speculators and the banks borrow money at nearly 0% and use it to blow bubbles, they take the 'profits', dividends and fees as the bubble expands then, when the music ends, the security's owner-the pension fund- inherit's the wind.

Resist Fascism Through Small Acts of Resistance

"Fascism should more properly be called corporatism, since it is the merger of state and corporate power." - Benito Mussolini.

The facts are clear, our governments are corrupted by money, the money and the money-changers rule. Robert Scheer's article today at Truthdig nicely summarizes this. But he offers no solutions, no plan of action, no path out. The beginning of the path out for me was to step into the cash economy.

i started to ask for a cash deal everywhere and pay cash for every service. Then to get paid in cash, if you can't, think of changing things so you can. Become a plumber or a gardener or a roofer or a million things that exist in the underground cash economy. Buying local and spending cash is a small way to spit in a banker's beer. The top one percent of the richest have wealth equal to the bottom 90 percent. Action, if not now, when?

All action starts small and grows. Start small, but start. Each time an individual freely chooses the cash economy they take back a little extra money and gain a little self-esteem. Corporate control is so vast that people everywhere are taking action against the reckless corporate steamroller. For me it feels good to have less, to want less, to 'drop out' of the capitalist system that is consuming our mother earth, to read, to learn, to live freely through small acts of resistance

“The first truth is that the liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of private power to a point where it becomes stronger than their democratic state itself. That, in its essence, is Fascism—ownership of Government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power.” - Franklin D. Roosevelt

Neanderthal's and the Assumptions of Authority

For instance, i've just been reading a few of news and science articles this morning about the latest Neanderthal research from researchers in the Department of Anthropology at the Smithsonian Natural History Museum. Their study found that Neanderthals, prehistoric cousins of humans, ate grains and vegetables as well as meat, cooking them over fire. The evidence, from cave sites in Iraq and Belgium, also suggests Neanderthals controlled fire in much the same way as Homo Sapiens.

Anthropologists had long assumed that Neanderthal's were carnivores exclusively and that their restricted diet and inability to cook were major factors in their extinction and that our direct ancestors, Homo Sapiens, survived in large part because of a more varied diet.

When scientists were asked how such a huge error could be made, they answered, "We've tended to assume that if you have a very high value for protein in the diet that must come from meat. But... it's possible that some of the protein in their diet was coming from plants.". Dah. Hunter, gatherer, vegetarian masterchef-Neanderthal's ate a cooked and raw mixed diet of  many plants, including wild grass, legumes, palm dates, roots and tubers.

Expert judgment always plays a large role in the assessment of evidence and the conclusions drawn from it. Here is another example of how the conclusions of science, like all human endeavor, aren't objective, are limited by our current knowledge and our culturally derived assumptions and aren't-by definition-a 'conclusion'. To conclude is to end, good science never ends. We each see events through a unique mindset, we triage incoming information to manage the deluge. We rely on the conclusions of authorities to inform our worldview, but to often forget that authorities are just people and people love to apply nice tidy conclusions that verify their hopes and assumptions. Uncertainty is science's only valid conclusion and the hobgoblin of authority.

Canada Invades Buffalo N.Y.

Yesterday the World Junior Hockey Championship started in Buffalo N.Y. and the borders were busting as the red and white bedecked Canadians jammed the crossings. Over 2/3 of the tickets sold to the 11 day tournament were bought by us Great White Northeners. All of Team Canada's games are sold out in advance. The World Juniors are a huge national event up here, not so much anywhere else.

Yesterday the crowds sang 'Oh Canada' outside on the streets of Buffalo and in the arena. It was a great game in that the Canadian kids and fans got a scare as the Russians scored early, then tied and retied the score through the first two periods. Then we Team Canada fans all got to cheer as the boys showed their stuff and moved on to a 6-3 win in the last 20minutes.. It's early, the first game of 4 in the round robin, but the boys looked good last night thsat's for sure. Click Here to see a full tournament schedule.

Many folks, including me, aren't huge fans of NHL type hockey. Sometimes its good, but so often its fights and intimadation ruin a lot of what is the best part of the game. Hockey isn't golf, but it isn't MMA either. The junior tournament gives north american fans an oppurtunity to see the game played in a more international style, with many international rules. The european countries are always at a disadvantage because the smaller size ice surfaces over here favor tighter checking and far less wide open skating.

Canada and Canadians are known for their calm-polite demeanor in all things...except hockey.

Next up: Canada vs. Czech Republic at 1PM[pst] on Tuesday.

Go Canada Go

On Boxing Day Aussies go to Bondi-Canadians go to the Mall

Living in Canada i hear anthem of 'Boxing Day Sales'. Every year i see millions of Canadians on TV lined up outside the stores in the freezing cold for another fix. The shopaholics, i guess, are so juiced up from their unbridled frenzy that they can't come down cold turkey, they need a little 'hair of the dog', crack addict like they lineup outside the dealer's house.

The conspicous consumption season makes me ashamed and guilty. Ashamed to be a part of this culture of consumption. Guilty because the vast majority of my fellow human beings can barely feed their families yet, zombie like, we the privlidged gorge on what should be everyone's lunch.

Aussie's have a different tradition, they go to the beach. Bondi Beach is the most famous at this time of year. Thousands are there to see and be seen. Aussies are different from Canadians in lottsa ways, bigger shrimp, bigger beer cans, better weather and more sharks being a few. Everyone i've known who's gone there has loved it, the younger the better. Austrailians love to party, Canadians love hockey.

So today, i'll pass on the 'deals', i'll wish the weather was beachy and i'll root for our Canadian kids to beat their Russian counterparts in today's tournament opener for both teams. The World Junior Hockey Championships starts every year on Boxing Day, it's the best hockey all year long. The whole country unites behind our young heroes. If you can't be at Bondi and more consumption isn't your thing, check out TSN [up here in Canuckistan]. Gametime is 1PM pacific, a half hour from now, plenty of time to roll a big fatty and get ready to rumble.

Dealing With The Christmas Blues

Googled Christmas depression this morning, got 80,800,000 results. Guess i'm not as alone as i feel. Christmas is a wonderfully exciting time of year for most people, yet it is the most likely time of year to experience depression. The suicide rate is twice as high in December. What are these holiday blues?

Almost all of the articles written by mental health professionals list the symptoms as sadness, pressure, loneliness, guilt, depression, anger, frustration and bitterness. Almost all say that seasonal affective disorder [SAD] plays a big part in it. Most go on to list financial pressures and keeping up with the Joneses next. They suggest turning up the lights in your home as a remedy.

SAD sufferers might well jolly up a bit by turning up the lights, but not moi. i used to go stand in the halide lights in my basement each day as Dec. 25th approached but the intense light made no difference though smoking the dried flowers growing there did. i'm feeling quite down today [guess that's why i started this exercise]. Another recipe the pros recommend for dealing with the Christmas Blues is to reach out and call someone, not to bum them out but to try to communicate with someone outside the 'blue room'.

i will call my daughter, i will-as soon as this is published-roll and partake in a big fat joint, i will go for a long walk in the park with my best friend Pancho. Don't know what i'd do without my best friend especially on mornings like this with the rain pouring down and the wind blowing it sideways. Everyday Pancho greets me with kisses and wags. We live our little lives together, she gives me her unconditional love and i do my best to return it in kind. This morning as i sat petting her and getting kisses i told her that all this is temporary, that this too shall pass.



Buy Less, Buy Logical, Buy Local

The pressure is on, jingle bells, batman smells, buy-buy-buy all the way. The culture of more creates endless pressure, more always needs. Less lightens the load, less creates fullness, lowers pressure. Of course we all live complicated lives and we all must buy stuff, but when we do why not be logical about it, why be driven by the advertising industry's emotional manipulation. Buy only what you need, live within your means, if you need something and can't make it yourself, buy logically, buy locally.

Food is a large fraction of every one's budget and definitely a need. The rise in awareness of the benefits of buying local organic food is exponential and almost everywhere people have some choice. Expanding those choices, producing and marketing more food locally means new jobs in your neighborhood, dollars pumped back into the local economy, lowered greenhouse gas emissions in both transportation and production.

On another level organic cultivation sequesters carbon back in the soil where it belongs. "The extent of carbon sequestration found and the impressive ability of organic systems to capture carbon are important results that should be used by policy makers when planning future agriculture development." Paul Hepperly, The Rodale Institute's research manager.

La Via Campesina is leading the charge of the small scale organic peasant revolution internationally but its up to each of us as individuals to change the world by changing ourselves. Wanting and buying less, buying logically and locally when we must buy creates real long term wealth in our communities.

Create a Local Food Bill

Local Food Plus (LFP)

Organics 4 Orphans-Transforming Agriculture in Africa

"Without a transformation of agriculture in Africa, how will future generations ever raise themselves out of poverty?" - Organics 4 Orphans. Their initiative seeks to address extreme poverty by helping African communities move from food reliance into conditions of self-sufficiency – even into surplus.

They’re doing this by equipping small-scale farmers with the resources and knowledge to farm organically and productively, and then asking those farmers to help the orphans in their communities. By alleviating the strain of food insecurity in poor, rural areas, Organics 4 Orphans creates capacity in those communities to care for orphans, the most vulnerable of the extreme poor.

Their strategies center on rural farming communities, because they believe Africa's future depends on its ability to transform agriculture. Because organic agriculture projects are central to their strategy, they're also contributing to a greener environment for orphans to inherit. The program is low-cost, community-based and sustainable. To learn more about this small group evolved by reading: 'In the Beginning...'

Organic farming can become a significant sink or sequestration pool for greenhouse gasses, literally sucking excess greenhouse gases out of the atmosphere and sequestering them safely in the soil, where they belong. Organics 4 Orphans works to help make the transition to organic farming in Africa that the Africans need to sustain their lives and that we all our children worldwide will benefit from in the future.

"Every seed is awakened and so is all animal life. It is through this mysterious power that we too have our being and we therefore yield to our animal neighbours the same right as ourselves, to inhabit this land." -Sitting Bull

The winter solstice another turn in the procession of the spheres.

The sun-goddess Amaterasu of Japanese mythology emerges from her seclusion in a cave. Tricked by the other gods with a loud celebration she peeks out to look and finds the image of herself in a mirror and is convinced by the other gods to return, bringing sunlight back to the universe


It's winter now, our giant home has just a few minutes ago passed its maximum axial tilt. We're now slowly tipping back, our little hideout is now facing the sun a bit longer and the sun is a bit higher each day, the big picture. There have been December celebrations in almost all northern hemispheric cultures down through history to mark this auspicious day.

The Mesopotamians were likely first, with a 12-day festival of renewal, designed to help the god Marduk tame the monsters of chaos for one more year. The Stone Age 'Newgrange' monument in Ireland dates to around 3200 B.C., making it 500 years older than the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt and a thousand years older than England's Stonehenge. Almost every ancient culture built their greatest architectures - tombs, temples, cairns and sacred observatories - so that they aligned with the solstices and equinoxes.

Reading about the ancient myths associated with the winter solstice today led me to realize that the return of the sun was and is part of each culture's creation myth. Winter was a very difficult time for people in the northern latitudes in pre-historic times. On the winter solstice they would have had reason to celebrate as they saw the sun rising and strengthening once more. Although many months of cold weather remained before spring, they took heart that the return of the warm season was inevitable. The concept of birth and or death/rebirth became associated with the winter solstice.

Here in coastal BC we missed the full eclipse of the moon last night, it was raining, imagine that. And today must be near 10C, so mild i think my dog is starting to shed-again. This kinda weather can stick around all winter in my opinion. The winter solstice another turn in the procession of the spheres.

The rising of the sun
The running of the deer,
The playing of the drum,
Sweet music to the ear.

Tar Sands Producers Should Shift To Geothermal Power

The Alberta tar sands consumes huge amounts, gigajoules, of natural gas to create steam. This gas consumption is one of the main factors that opponents refer to when they oppose existing the tar sands projects in Alberta and proposed ones in the western US states.

The first commercial geothermal facility in the Alberta oil sands could be pulling heat out of the ground and displacing the use of natural gas as early as 2012, according to the head of an oil-company consortium established to investigate the emission-free energy source. Sounds good, to good, eh. It is a long term prospect, and these are tiny baby steps aimed more at the PR department than Engineering.

"Canadians are some world's best at advanced exploration and drilling technologies. Not surprisingly, members of the Canadian Geothermal Energy Association (CanGEA) also produce more than 20 per cent of the world's geothermal energy. They just don't do it here. The almost complete absence of government support means that all of this green energy infrastructure in being installed somewhere else. That's right -- the total geothermal energy capacity in Canada is zero." - Mitchell Anderson

As a resource glutton the size of the U.S. becomes increasingly dependent on Canadian oil the independence and security of Canadian resources for Canadians will evaporate. Without a Canadians-first long term policy the resource that could-should power Canada well into the future will be squandered in the name of bullshit for billionaires. The growth in production and resultant destruction of the ecology needn't happen, conservation, regulations that demand the use geothermal power to produce steam and a national energy policy that gives the shafta NAFTA would convert the tar sands from Canada's albatross to its horn of plenty.

Instead Albertan and Canadian officials, politicians and oil sands corporations are teaming to oppose climate change laws across America. In Canada's fight to stop individual states from lower fuel carbon standards like Calif. is doing.

Nikiforuk Pores Over Royal Society's Oil Sands Study - What the scientists got right, and missed, in their high-profile, largely damning report.