Banff Transition

My Great Hope for the Future

Swany — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 18:14:12 +0000

Do the Math: “EXPECT MORE:
Reading; story-telling; gardening; connection with nature; community; fishing; whittling; lemonade; sitting on the front porch; cross-breezes; seasonal adjustment; blankets; wool socks; sweaters; connection to sunrise/sunset; local governance; mom & pop stores; crafts; goats and chickens; bicycles; train rides; pies cooling on the sill; music; singing and playing musical instruments; rain catchment; canning; craftsmanship; repair; durable goods.

“EXPECT LESS: Waiting for airplanes; commuting; abstract/meaningless jobs; Wal-Mart; fast food; strip malls; four-car families; climate change; dominance of banks; capital gains; disposable junk; junk mail; species extinction; minibar charges; traffic jams; identity theft; freeway noise; advertisements; consumerism; faddish gizmos; cheap plastic crap; outsourcing; industrial effluent; credit card debt.”

Between the Lines [parking]

Swany — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 22:00:29 +0000

Los Angeles magazine: “How to get food, ritual display, territorial dominance—all these things are part of parking, and we’ve assigned it to the most primitive part of the brain that makes snap fight-or-flight decisions. Our mental capacities just bottom out when we talk about parking.”

They Still Cut Ice the Old Way

Swany — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 21:26:45 +0000

Modern Mechanix: “1947: HARVEST time is approaching on the Black River at Carthage, N. Y., where the New York Central Railroad still cuts an annual crop of natural ice. It will cool next summer’s milk cars, passengers’ drinking water, and be used in cabooses for the convenience of freight-train crews.”

There’s no tomorrow

Swany — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 06:32:43 +0000

The Fight of the Century

Swany — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 20:14:50 +0000

Post-Carbon Institute: “As the world economy crashes against debt and resource limits, more and more countries are responding by attempting to salvage what are actually their most expendable features—corrupt, insolvent banks and bloated militaries—while leaving the majority of their people to languish in “austerity.” The result, predictably, is a global uprising. This current set of conditions and responses will lead, sooner or later, to social as well as economic upheaval—and a collapse of the support infrastructure on which billions depend for their very survival. …

“[I]t will increasingly be up to households and communities to provide the basics for themselves while reducing their dependence upon, and vulnerability to, centralized systems of financial and governmental power. This is a strategy that will require sustained effort and one that will in many cases be discouraged and even criminalized by national authorities.The decentralization of food, finance, education, and other basic societal support systems has been advocated for decades by theorists on the far left and far right of the political spectrum.”

Killer Tomatoes and Poisonous Potatoes?

Swany — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 23:13:47 +0000

Science-Based Medicine: “I figure a murderous wife would have to feed something like 67 large potatoes to her husband in a single meal to poison him.”

Also see An outbreak of suspected solanine poisoning in schoolboys.

Build yourself a Drone NOW (before they become illegal)

Swany — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 05:43:27 +0000

Global Guerrillas: “I don’t have to spell out the implications of this. I want to have my drone before the government makes them illegal.”

Capitalism’s destructive car mania detailed

Swany — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 23:45:26 +0000

Green Left Weekly: “There is no such thing as a green car… Unsustainable would barely describe the car’s environmental failure if the rest of the world were to adopt US patterns of car ownership and driving behaviour. So why is the car such a protected species, culturally celebrated and immune from radical policy review? Because, the authors say, the car is integral to the capitalist economy and thus any criticism of the car is taboo. Since 1925, the automotive industry has been the leading sector of the US economy, and, of the world’s 10 largest corporations, three are car manufacturers and six are oil companies.”

The Alternative Energy Matrix

Swany — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 21:12:05 +0000

Do the Math: “A few options are available for the homestead. A passive solar home with PV panels, wind, and some method to produce liquid fuels on site would be a dream come true. Here’s hoping for artificial photosynthesis!

64-year-old tub of lard found in Germany, still edible

Swany — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 21:24:50 +0000

Calgary Herald: “A German pensioner who had kept a tub of lard in his cupboard for 64 years, took it to authorities who pronounced it very much fit for consumption – if a little tasteless.Retired chemist Hans Feldmeier, 87, told AFP he had received the pig fat as a student in 1948 near the northern city of Rostock as part of the post-war U.S. aid program…. Finally, after 64 years, he took it to food safety agents and was astonished at their appraisal.

“There is of course a slight lack of smell and taste,” sniffed Frerk Feldhusen, from the office of agriculture, food safety and fisheries in the eastern state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. Moreover, the lard was “of gritty consistency, difficult to dissolve and looked a bit old,” the officials added. However, “all in all, given its level of freshness and its material composition, the product is assessed as satisfactory,” Feldhusen said, adding it would stand up to today’s definition of being fit for the dinner table.