The exterior for the Peshtigo Fire Museum in Peshtigo, Wisconsin, USA. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
English: The memorial for the victims of the at the adjacent to the in , USA. The fire was the deadliest in the history of the United States. The memorial at the cemetery was the first official state historical marker authorized by the State Historic Society of Wisconsin. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)WHAT IS SUSTAINABLE3 unread articles // actions
Burning an Empire
Long, long ago, around 1910, writer Stewart Holbrook met John Cameron, an old logger who had many stories to tell. Cameron had witnessed the great fire at Peshtigo, Wisconsin (map) which began on October 8, 1871. The town was a booming metropolis of 2,000 souls on the banks of the mighty Peshtigo River, and a hub for enterprises related to forest mining and wood products.There had been little s
A Plague of Sheep
Elinor Melville’s book, A Plague of Sheep, is a scary story about the Valle del Mezquital, a valley north of Mexico City. Spanish colonists arrived there in 1521. Melville describes the tragedy that occurred between then and 1600. The valley is located at high elevation in a tropical region. It has a cool and arid climate. Valle del Mezquital means “a valley where mesquite grows.” It got thi
The Natural West
Dan Flores is an environmental historian. His book, The Natural West, focuses on the region of the Great Plains and the Rocky Mountains. This ecosystem has been radically changed in the last 300 years, and a number of these changes have resulted in irreversible degradation. Flores has a misty vision of restoring the West, and his work explores issues that contributed to ecological imbalances.
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FORT MCMURRAY ADVENTURES9 unread articles // actions
Preparations
Slowly, I'm transitioning into the next phase of my little unexpected summer adventure and starting to focus on my return to Fort McMurray early next month. I have to admit that, thinking about all that this entails, it has been a daunting task at times. I don't have an exact return date nailed down yet though that will be the easy part. After that comes a full inspection of my home, photos of a
Fort McMurray Fire Photos
A couple of weeks ago I wrote about my ordeal with being caught up in the evacuation from Fort McMurray. It wasn't until this evening however that I was finally able to get some of the photos I managed to take posted to the blog. By now, I'm sure you've seen tons of video and stills in the media. At the risk of simply adding more to the mix, here are a few photos from one person's experience.Th
Re-entry Plan
When I saw a seagull flying by yesterday with a giant stick lodged in its tail feathers I had a feeling it could be a rather surreal day. And indeed that is how it turned out as we learned about the re-entry plan for Fort McMurray. After the fire's recent spread and a few set backs I wasn't expecting to hear any good news any time soon. Needless to say, news of this plan gave me a welcome boost. T
Safe From Fort McMurray Wildfire
The past 3 days have been incredibly challenging and difficult in many ways. I'm writing this post tonight from Lac La Biche after been forced to flee Fort McMurray Tuesday evening due to the current forest fire situation. There is much to say and will no doubt be commenting more in the coming weeks. For now, I can assure everyone I am safe. I left work early Tuesday afternoon after learning t
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THE RULES OF EXPOSITION1 unread article // actions
Formatting HTML, a detail
On the econ blog I'm complaining about Martin Feldstein. Yeah you should have heard of him // I'm not gonna say who he is // It doesn't matter anyway.I looked him up on Wikipedia. Copied the first paragraph & pasted into my blog. Pasted it in the "compose" view. That way the links and HTML formatting gets pasted in, along with the text. So I get to see how (in this case) Wikipedi
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VAGABOND SCHOLAR3 unread articles // actions
Memorial Day 2016
Memorial Day is meant for remembering those who died in military service (a worthy commemoration). It's also a holiday that naturally spurs thoughts of civilians killed in war, of living veterans and how they're treated, and how war is discussed in our country. It's only right to pause and remember the dead. And perhaps the best way to honor them the other days of the year is by challenging the
Chain of Title
David Dayen, an excellent blogger based in Los Angeles, has a book out, Chain of Title: How Three Ordinary Americans Uncovered Wall Street’s Great Foreclosure Fraud. His Tumblr blog links his articles and appearances (Salon, The Intercept, The Fiscal Times, The New Republic), but if you've read his work over the years, you're aware of the time and effort he's spent covering this subject. A
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LILITH NEWS2 unread articles // actions
Federal Prison Rehab Program Reduces Sentences
Federal Prison Rehab Program Reduces SentencesAccording to studies and statistics, a large portion of the federal prison population suffers from alcohol and drug dependency. Many offenders have major alcohol and drug problems before they are arrested and convicted for their crimes. To address these problems and help rehabilitate inmates, the Bureau of Prisons initiated a drug treatment program ove
Adolf Hitler and Donald Trump Similarities
And the similarities don't stop there. Hitler and Trump have a lot more in common.The context in which Adolf Hitler was elected is that he was first nominated and appointed as chancellor during a period in which multiple political parties were vying for power and there were successive minority governments and coalition governments.At the time Hitler couldn't secure a majority because of a lot of t
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MIDDLE CLASS POLITICAL ECONOMIST2 unread articles // actions
Subsidy Tracker Reaches Major Milestones
Subsidy Tracker, the free subsidy database created in 2010 by Good Jobs First, has reached major milestones in its coverage of state, local, and federal subsidies.This month's enhancements to the database bring it to a once-unimaginable 500,000 individual incentive awards with a cumulative nominal subsidy value of $250 billion! That's starting to add up to real money!I explained two years ago how
Kansas City event analyzes the border war
As I noted last time, there is finally a real possibility that the $200+ million job piracy border war between Kansas and Missouri could have a real, legally binding truce. As we wait to find out if this materializes, American Public Square in Kansas City is sponsoring a public forum Wednesday, May 11, at the Plaza Branch of the Kansas City Public Library at 6:00pm."Cents and Sensibility"
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MIDDLE EAST TODAY1 unread article // actions
President El Sessi Economic Achiements
The election of a new head of state is always scrutinized and somewhat criticized by lay people.Less than two years ago (7/12/2014) president El Sessi was elected by more than 24 million Egyptians who constitute half of the eligible voters.Following the president’s election, negative campaigns by some journalists and politicians started to emerge. They maintained that the new regimes was author
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@ THE CHALK FACE6 unread articles // actions
Principals should be elected to four year rotations
Like a lot of things in today’s pubic schools, the principal is a position that harks back to factory models of schooling. The building principal is a middle-level manager, a waypoint between the rank and file teacher and central management. In highly centralized and hierarchical school systems, perhaps in many urban school districts with highly […]
This is how I feel sometimes #PFKboom
I’m not conflating any issues here. What I am talking about is passion and emotion. This video of a Baltimore activist has popped up several times on my feed. I’ve watched it numerous times with great satisfaction. It’s not that I have any connection whatsoever to what is going on in Baltimore. But there is […]
From Neurons to Neighborhoods
An expansive report on the impacts of trauma and poverty on early childhood development has been making the rounds in some of my circles this weekend. Although originally written in 2000, there have been some updates made to the conclusions and recommendations. This thing is massive and you can download it for free. The introduction is […]
Does schooling today promote a flat affect?
I was intrigued by this recent NYT article, To Help Students Learn, Engage the Emotions. It makes intuitive sense. Of learning in general: This rule holds true even across subjects and disciplines, Dr. Immordino-Yang writes in her book, “Emotions, Learning, and the Brain.” “Even in academic subjects that are traditionally considered unemotional, such as physics, engineering […]
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THWAP'S SCHOOLYARD3 unread articles // actions
Brief Return On harper's Departure
So, stephen harper is retiring and plans to open a consulting group that dispenses foreign policy "expertise" (which is really just a polite fiction whereupon his corporate masters reward him for his services to keep him quiet until such a time, if ever, when they can kill him and whatever secrets he has on them go with him to his grave).**[Unlike most other things, it's impossible to go
On the Apparent Death of "EnMasse.Ca"
I think it was a couple of weeks ago that thread was started announcing EnMasse dot CA's tenth anniversary. I thought about contributing a few words but I had nothing celebratory to say. And very few people I wanted to interact with.Now it appears the site is kaput.Oh well.I did learn a lot from rabble.ca/babble and enmasse.ca and even from b n' r. About gay rights and feminism and about Canadian
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THE STRAIGHT GOODS1 unread article // actions
The Trans Pacific Partnership. Canada And Imperial Globalization. Part I
The Trans Pacific Partnership. Canada And Imperial Globalization. Part IWritten by Robin MathewsA characteristic of Imperial Globalization is criminal manipulation of people and events for the profit of a few. It includes massive ‘disinformation’ about equality, benefits, social development, law, improved standards of living, etc. The disinformation is spread by “authoritative” news sources.
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THE HIGH-FAT HEP C DIET2 unread articles // actions
Dietary fat type - saturated or unsaturated - does it make a difference to glycaemic control?
This is a section from a paper I'm writing about hepatic glycogen control, this part concerns the effect of dietary fat type on the insulin response.Carbohydrate feeding stimulates the release of glucagon from delta cells in the gut and pancreatic alpha cells.[1] Glucagon is the hormone that elevates blood glucose by stimulating gluconeogenesis, but this is a delayed response; the most immediate
A brief reading of the report of the new Kevin Hall study
Is the insulin theory of obesity over? Well I'd say it's over when people with diabetes using exogenous insulin to cover high-carb diets no longer have to worry about weight gain, and not before. But this is interesting research, and it proves if nothing else that Gary Taube's NuSci research initiative wasn't just set up to confirm his every thought.Kevin Hall discusses his new study here, with Yo
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PESTICIDE ACTION NETWORK8 unread articles // actions
New GE report misses its own point
Last week, the National Academies of Science (NAS) attracted much media attention with the release of its new report, "Genetically Engineered Crops: Experiences and Prospects." The report assessed a range of health, environmental, social and economic impacts of GE crops. According to report authors, genetically engineered (GE) crops have failed to live up to the hype advertised by
Healthier farming is gaining ground
A batch of encouraging news emerged in the world of healthy farming this week. First off, the Organic Trade Association (OTA) reported that U.S. sales of organics continue to grow by leaps and bounds. Then there's the new study showing that organics bring significant economic benefits to rural communities. And in France, the Minister of Agriculture launched a national celebration of agroecol
Minnesota pollinators, potatoes & pesticides
Long before legislators filed back to the Minnesota Capitol this spring, political analysts were predicting that not much progress would be made in this year’s legislative session. With split control of the legislature and a short eleven weeks to get their work done, folks across the political spectrum anticipated gridlock. So as the dust settles after the end of session this week, how did t
Moms making it happen
On Mother's Day, while eating strawberries out of the garden with my daughter Elia, I was reflecting on all the mamas — fierce, passionate, powerful — who are working to create a healthy food system. As we know from a compelling body of science, pesticides are particularly bad for kids. Growing minds and bodies are more susceptible to chemical inputs and, relative to their size, kids eat, br
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PHILOSOPHICAL COMMENT1 unread article // actions
Is What's Going On in Brazil Politics A (Soft, Light, Paliamentary, Peaceful, Constitutional, Democratic) Coup?
Few, I assume, have missed the high level political developments in Brazil, where this night the Brazilian senate voted to impeach president Dilma Rousseff. Otherwise, some updates are here, here, here, here, to provide just a few. The process have been truly bizarre, as Dilma is ousted by and to the benefit of truly much more corrupt politicians than herself, for a sin which looks like a minor th
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THE GALLOPING BEAVER1 unread article // actions
Rex Murphy and the #ymmfire
Rex Murphy is talking the Fort McMurray fire. Despite a virtually universal outpouring of support and sympathy from across the land for the victims of the fire, he with his exhausting logorrhoea is doing his best to sow division. Referring to anyone of an environmentalist or activist strand who has criticised the Tar Sands, he utters: And just to blow pepper into the sad eyes of those
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REAL HISTORY BLOG1 unread article // actions
Dear Millenials: I feel your pain. You will feel joy, too!
Dear Millenials: Here's what I learned on my first political campaign, whose campaign I joined in 1991 because he said money in politics IS the problem, and to make his point, he refused to accept more than $100 from any one person. He had an 800-number, the equivalent of the fund-raising machine of Bernie Sanders nowadays: 1. The Democratic Establishment HATES populists. (So do the Republicans,
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THE ERGOSPHERE3 unread articles // actions
The kabuki corpses of failed Green ideas: dead, but preserved and weilded by puppeteers
Atomic Insights has what appears to be a new Green troll. He dredged up the tried-and-discarded concept of shrouded wind turbines from a post at NBF. Such ignorance deserves derision, and I gave him some: Check this out. http://nextbigfuture.com/2011/08/japan-has-wind-lens-turbine-design-that.html Oh, look, a rehash of a concept from the 1970's that went nowhere then for the same reasons it
Watts Bar Unit 2 has gone critical
Local article: Licensed reactor operators at Tennessee Valley Authority's Watts Bar Unit 2 project reached a major milestone at 2:16 a.m. EDT, Monday when the unit's reactor achieved its first sustained nuclear fission reaction. Also known as achieving "initial criticality," TVA says Unit 2 is now generating heat under its own power....
Quote without comment
... in our modern world it does not take too much time to learn enough about almost any topic to be able to recognize propaganda and sift interest group messaging from more accurate information. You don’t need fancy degrees or position titles. You don’t even more than very moderate resources. All you need is honest curiosity and the ability to pay attention to the world around you. — Rod Adams
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SCREW YOU GUYS, I'M GOING HOME1 unread article // actions
Hey, Frontier: Suspending Women For Breastfeeding Is Illegal
The story about Frontier Airline's treatment of female pilots who are breastfeeding and need to pump while at work wasn't very surprising to me, because employers still get the whole pumping-at-work thing wrong. Here's what the four pilots who just filed with EEOC say happened:"Rather than support me, company management questioned my parenting choices as well as my commitment to my career. Th
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SYRIA COMMENT9 unread articles // actions
The ‘Martyrs’ of Liwa al-Sayyida Ruqayya (The Ja’afari Force)
By Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi Current emblem of Liwa al-Sayyida Ruqayya. Top: “If God supports you, no one can overcome you” [Qur’an 3:160]. Centre: “The Ja’afari Force: Liwa al-Sayyida Ruqayya.” Bottom: “The Islamic Resistance in Syria.” Readers may be familiar with the previous post on this site about Liwa al-Sayyida Ruqayya (Sayyida Ruqayya Brigade, named for the Sayyida Ruqayya shrine in Damascus
General Gouraud: “Saladin, We’re Back!” Did He Really Say It?
Gouraud: “Saladin, We’re Back!” Did The French General Really Say It on Conquering Syria in 1920? by James Barr @James_Barr For Syria Comment, May 27, 2016 “Saladin, We’re Back!” So France’s general Henri Gouraud is said to have declared when he entered the Kurdish warrior’s tomb beside the Umayyad Mosque in August 1920 after the French had seized Damascus. French general Henri Joseph Eugène Goura
The Local Defence Forces: Regime Auxiliary Forces in Aleppo
By Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi Emblem of the Local Defence Forces. On top: “Homeland, Honour, Sincerity.” Below: “Syrian Arabic Republic. The army and armed forces- Local Defence Forces.” Besides the well-known National Defence Forces (NDF) that were set up in 2012 with oversight from Iran to act as a counter-insurgency force and auxiliary militia network for the Syrian army, there exists a similarly
A Day in The Life of The Jungle: Syrians Camped out in Calais
A Day in The Life of The Jungle: Syrians Camped out in Calais by Tam Hussein – @tamhussein For Syria Comment, May Apart from the odd father attending to the needs of their families, most Syrians sleep in late in the Jungle in Calais. They are wrapped up inside their tarpaulin and plywood hovels resembling one of those Hoovervilles from Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath. Sometimes new arrivals, exhausted
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