Lefty Blogs
williampfaff ++ ++
Russian News ++
seaton-newslinks. USA expat in Europe ++
bilegrip Asu spleen ++
us-rockstroh a rant, not a blog ++
aboutmyplanet eco ++
sfgate ++
crookedtimber ++
onthecommons ++
sjlendman ++
....
abutamam freeiraq ++
airamericaradio +
amygdalagf +
angryarab ++
annezook +
antiwar ++
norwegianity
terrorism-news
blogspot
ourtomorrow
politickybitch
welcome-to-pottersville
aviraqi
billmon ++ whiskeyB
consortiumnews ++
dahrjamailiraq
dailywarnews ++
drforbush +
english +
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halcyondays ++
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icasualties
maru
om
boxspinning boxes

jamaicaobserver newspaper
jameswolcott +
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mahablog +++ solid
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messopotamian +7Apr06
monkey ++
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fisk
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rafahtoday Feb05?
rense w= wacko conspiracies
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satiricalpolitical +
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Energring
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slashdot ++techy
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velorution ++ bicycles
org ++Brazil peasants
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warfare.ru +russia military
greenpeace
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antiwar
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axisoflogic ++
blackcommentator
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buggery +
buzzflash ++
changeforamerica
countercurrents
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crisispapers
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csmonitor
dahrjamailiraqhref="http://www.dailykos.com/
davidcorn
democracynow
democracyuprising
dissidentvoice
earthfirstjournal
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granta
grist ??
gristmagazine
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gulf
hizbollah
huffingtonpost ++
informationclearinghouse
infoshop +
inthesetimes x
iranmania x
ivaw
jihadunspun
juancole ++
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lrb ++ Iraqi?
mahablog
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marklynas climate change
mnftiu get your war on comics
motherjones
nilemedia
nybooks
occupationwatch
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palestine
prisonplanet
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rense
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socialistworker
spiked
tblog
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theleftcoaster +
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crowning3
. . . helix
Base
rain radar
Weather
worldtribunal +
worldwatch ++ $ required
zaman + Turkish news
youcantmakeitup + ?
youngfox ????????????
bareknucklepolitics videos?
popdrain videos??
discovery videos??
cs videos??
aegisIraq video??
mariyaguchi video??
iwilltryit video..
baghdadtreasure
ahram cairo newspaper
felbers
thepartyline
jfaughnan 28/04/2006 10:25AM
shrillblog +
thinkprogress +
marchforjustice + pictures
messopotamian + Iraqi not so radical, but scared (also see IraqTheModel which was a USA front, but is now also scared)
scaramoucheblog +
counterpunch
.............
blogads liberal blogs by CPM $ per view
malakandsky ++ stolid?
republicoft + black gay parent??
dailykos ++
rawstory ++
democraticunderground ++
atrios ++
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firedoglake ++
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mydd +
politics1 +
bartcop ++
politicalwire +
sisterstalk black lesbian?
culturekitchen ++
alternet
wonkette +++
billstclair +
freefreedomtoldhere ++ pipe bomb

......
almuajaha defunct
whynot defunct
winstonsmith defunct
samadams dormant
mquinn02 defunct
iraqblogcount ++14Apr06 suspended
iraqicomments most recent: jan2005
iraqidoctor most recent: Aug2005
georgemustgo + moved?
vialls ++Dormant (joe is dead)
warblogging Defunct
hammeroftruth quiescant?
mediastorm quiescant? +
bushwhackedusa defunct
hamasonline defunct
4Jul06

24 October 2008

Nicotine, Sita, Biofuel, wolves legs, DDGS

Nicotine
Mice that received the largest amount of nicotine produced up to 38% less of a protein called DNA methyltransferase 1 (DNMT1), which led to a surge in the protein that produces GABA, (neuroinhibitor)
Please damp down my mind...
sciencemag


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home made bamboo "light" rail in Battambang
nationalgeographic
aab
__________________________________________________
aac
palm oil Sumatra
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aad
soy Brazil
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Jaya Sita Devi! Jaya Ramacandra! Jaya Sita Rama!
aaa
(Sita is traditionally never represented naked)
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Sita
aaa
Hanuman Presents Rama's Ring to Sita Surrounded by Rakshasis
exoticindiaart
Janaka maharaj was ploughing a piece of land and then to prepare it for conducting a Yajna (spiritual sacrifice). He unearthed a golden casket in which he found a beautiful girl and was overjoyed. A land ploughed by the yoke is called ‘Sita’, and so he named the baby as Sita.
....
revered sage Parashurama came to visit king Janaka. He carried a bow with him. He left it at the doorstep of the royal hall and went inside. Sita saw the bow, ran to it and began playing with it as if it was a play-horse. Only those with great physical strength and daring could lift and handle the ‘Vaishnava’ bow. When Parashurama came out, the bow was missing. Ordinary persons could not lift it with ease and he, curiously looking around, spotted Sita playing with it as if it was a play-horse. The sage and the king were astonished.

The great Sage Parashurama, who is a partial incarnation (shaktyavesha avatara) of Vishnu then blessed Sita and said to king Janaka: “My dear king, only a great, and strong person can wed this girl of such capacity. Arrange a ‘Swayamvara’ (where the brides choose their spouses for their prowess) for her and let the most suitable person in the three worlds the marry her.”


_________________________
the fats that heal, the fats that kill
curezone



Palin’s administration announced the $150 bounty for the “left forelegs of wolves


its not nimby, its now Banana:
Build absolutely nothing anyway near anything


Marine clouds as coolers
John Latham of the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, US, and colleagues say that this can be done using a worldwide fleet of autonomous ships spraying salt water into the air.

dvorak
aaa

involves increasing the reflectivity, or “albedo”, of clouds lying about 1 km above the ocean’s surface. The idea relies on the “Twomey effect”, which says that increasing the concentration of water droplets within a cloud raises the overall surface area of the droplets and thereby enhances the cloud’s albedo. By spraying fine droplets of sea water into the air, the small particles of salt within each droplet act as new centres of condensation when they reach the clouds above, leading to a greater concentration of water droplets within each cloud.

Latham and co-workers, including wave-energy researcher Stephen Salter of Edinburgh University, claim that such spraying could increase the rate at which clouds reflect solar energy back into space by as much as 3.7 Wm-2. This is the extra power per unit area that scientists say will arrive at the Earth’s surface following a doubling of the concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide compared to pre-industrial levels — 550 ppm vs 275 ppm (Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A DOI:10.1098/rsta.2008.0137).
New spin on sailing

The 300-tonne unmanned ships used to seed the clouds would be powered by the wind, but would not use conventional sails. Instead they would be fitted with a number of 20 m-high, 2.5 m-diameter cylinders known as “Flettner rotors” that would be made to spin continuously. This spinning would generate a force perpendicular to the wind direction, propelling the ship forward if it is oriented at right angles to the wind (Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A DOI: 10.1098/rsta.2008.0136).

These rotors would be easier to operate remotely than sails and would also serve as the conduits for the upward spray, with the spray consisting of droplets 0.8 µm in diameter generated by passing sea water through micro nozzles. The power for the spray and the cylinder rotation would be provided by oversized propellers operating as turbines.
...
Latham and colleagues calculate that, depending on exactly what fraction of low-level maritime clouds are targeted (with some regions, notably the sea off the west coasts of Africa and North and South America, more susceptible to this technique than others), around 1500 ships would be needed altogether to counteract a carbon doubling, at a cost of some £1m to £2m each. This would involve an initial fleet expanding by some 50 ships a year if the scheme is to keep in step with the current rate of increase in atmospheric carbon-dioxide levels.
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DDGS
“Due to the efforts of U.S. growers to establish the ethanol industry, we made DDGS our top priority in 2006 and since then have seen DDGS exports exceed 2 million metric tons annually.”

wth in the U.S. ethanol industry this year, 22.8 million tons of DDGS were available for global use in 2007/2008... a 50 % increase from the 2006/2007 .. 2008/2009 marketing year, which just began on Oct. 1, will likely experience an additional 50 % increase in the availability of DDGS, reaching 31.3 million tons.
domesticfuel
----------------------
Hershey said that when you take the oil to use as a fuel, you’re still left with every bit of protein from the soybean. “By raising more soy for biodiesel, we actually raise more protein and that’s what the world needs,”
domesticfuel
------------------------------
ddgs
Distiller's Dried Grains with Solubles (DDGS) is a co-product of the distillery industries. Most (~98%) of the DDGS in North America comes from plants that produce ethanol for oxygenated fuels. The remaining 1 to 2% of DDGS is produced by the alcohol beverage industry.

...3.2 to 3.5 E6 tonnes of DDGS are produced annually in North America. Ethanol plants in Minnesota and South Dakota produce approximately 25% of this
But does DDGS negate the food price increase of Biofuel??
, , , , ,

22 October 2008

Ethanol, Oil

What I've been lead to believe:
1) Kosovo was a good war
2) Mugabe is an evil man for attempting land reform
But:

counterpunch
How the Nobel Peace Prize Was Won
During the 1999 war, NATO’s attacks were having little effect on Yugoslav forces. Through the use of extensive camouflage and decoys, Yugoslav troops had managed to emerge largely unscathed by the end NATO’s bombing campaign. U.S. General Wesley Clark led the NATO campaign, and he pressed military and diplomatic contacts from other NATO countries for agreement to widen the scope of bombing. Clark was a strong advocate of bombing civilian targets, and at one meeting he rose from his chair and banged the table with his fist, bellowing, “I’ve got to get the maximum violence out of this campaign – now!” (1) Under Clark’s direction, the air campaign rapidly took on the character of sustained terror bombing.



Zimbabwe's inclusion is timely. Britain and the US are again turning up the heat in an effort to topple the stubbornly independent Mugabe regime. The book details the brutal economic warfare that has been waged against this former British colony over the last several decades. It also debunks and/or explains the many myths surrounding the controversial project of land reform, the cornerstone of Zimbabwe's economic democratization.

Strange Liberators: Militarism, Mayhem, and the Pursuit of Profit (Paperback)
by Gregory Elich
- Zimbabwe also described as an early Oil-Shock devastated nation


Another side of Ethanol..
biofuels: Alcohol is being attacked by OilCapital ??
David Bloom "Alcohol can be a Gas"
Corn: the mash end product from Ethanol production is then fed to animals. The food value is not diminished, only the starch has been removed. So Corn-Ethanol should not increase meat prices, nor compete for land. Is this true?
The recent 'consensus' that BioFuel is a dangerous foolishness that will lead to 1) Destruction of Forests 2) Increase in food prices ... and that the yields can never drive Industry - Bloom suggests that this is propaganda from OilIndustry...
But: Bloome has little Text on his sites, just Videos and plugs for his book and $250 workshops.
My reaction is: Theory is fine but if TropicalForests are actually being cleared, and FoodPrices are actually climbing steeply, then we have an Actual problem.
Are food price increases actually independent of corn for ethanol?
DB says:
Crops for alcohol can be produced from swamps (Raupo is 3 x more productive than maize), dry lands, second grade agricultural land, sewerage ponds, cellulose (timber, hemp…) or starch, even seaweed
• Highest production comes from organic, permaculture mixed species regimes.
• No herbicides, chemical fertilizers or pesticides!
• Water based or marshy production can produce up to 40,000 litres per hectare – that can fire up at least 20 cars for a year

ecoshow
- seems fine, Im not sure that Permaculture acts as a great source for massive starch for massive Ethanol fermenters.
Sewage ponds: algae produce oil, not starch. They can produce high oil yields, but species variations make for large yield fluctuations in open ponds, and sealed units remain in the interesting industrial stage...
Raupo from swamps sounds great, but industrial production from swamps remains to be demonstrated .
A favourite number: 8 Hectares of reeds filter sewage from 1000 people. It would be nifty if the reeds could feed Yeasts for Ethanol, but has it been demonstrated on Industrial scale? Is Swamp harvesting a good idea?
IF permaculture was used THEN biofuels WOULD be great.

DB does seem to be doing the enthusiasts 'splutter' here - chattering about disparate things, throw in 'Permaculture' and 'soil improvement' and 'buy my book'...
I would take Blume with a grain of salt, but never underestimate the Negative-Propaganda potential from OilCapital


guardian
Secret report: biofuel caused food crisis
Internal World Bank study delivers blow to plant energy drive
Biofuels have forced global food prices up by 75% - far more than previously estimated - according to a confidential World Bank report obtained by the Guardian. ... Even successive droughts in Australia, calculates the report, have had a marginal impact. Instead, it argues that the EU and US drive for biofuels has had by far the biggest impact on food supply and prices.


Rapeseed and maize biodiesels were calculated to produce up to 70 % and 50 % more greenhouse gases respectively than fossil fuels. The concerns were raised over the levels of emissions of nitrous oxide, which is 296 times more powerful as a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. ... biofuels released twice as much as nitrous oxide as previously realised. The research team found that 3 to 5 % of the nitrogen in fertiliser was converted and emitted.


- in the end OilCapital is bigger than CarCapital - especially now that GM/Ford/Chrys are about broke - "small cars = small profits" - followed that one too long?

IndustrialCapital - based on Luxury, Indolence, Excitement
Luxury: ............. 100m² per head homes, cooled to 20° (heating may be a necessity, not a luxury)
Indolence:.......... reliance on piped water,power, trucked food
Excitement: .......100kph has nothing to do with transport, its simply excitement, fun, stimulation...


OPEC expects global demand to rise 550,000 barrels a day this year, to 86.5 million barrels a day.
For many analysts, these expectations are still too optimistic. A growing number of independent experts now say they believe that global oil consumption may fall this year, for the first time since 1993.



The model:
oil price (op) reduced by starting up spare capacity
op increased by demand
op reduced by recession
recession inc by oil price
but there is a floor, a minimum that industrial society needs???
but some large demands are frivolous : eg 100kW cars, 10kW airconditioners ???, 'needed' only to perpetuate the machine.

Question: Capital-ism starting with double-entry bookkeeping in Florence/Venice C15?
developed as 'Pirate' system with wooden sailing ships training canon on the non-iron world?
Then as Oil-turbine ships launching cluster-bomb jets on wedding parties ashore.
How much is present Capital actually Oil-Capital, how much Pirate Capital?


org
Lack of investment in new production projects, plus ongoing depletion and rising decline rates, probably ensure that we’ve now seen the all-time peak. It was in July 2008. Mark your calendars. That month was probably also, as I wrote here, the end of aggregate world economic growth as it has thus far been defined.

Just post my 60th birthday. Last few years I have been charting the coming fall, but I foolishly only recently realised that the final years will require a few hundredK$ to survive with any grace, as compassionfatigue withers the western soul. Absent that capital, I am heading for the Dock of the Bay, watching those young seals play...
compare 1984 Aid concert concern with 1994 Rwanda/Congo indifference, now in 2009 who gives a shit? [but aid is in the Irrawady delta?]


Recessions as devices designed by the top-layer to shake out the lower layers??
eg Venezuela suffers when op drops below $70 ??
lots of $E8 investors get shook but the $E9 investors hang on?? is collapse deliberate?


As I've often said, Capital has it over CentralPlanning because Corporations can fail.
The startup is not much different: Either a grey banker, or a grey commissar gives the go-ahead for a project. But under Stalinism-CPE the enterprise can't ever fail. Under Capital, we end up with the best shoes. Bad shoe factories fail. But if Capital ties all its lenders together with credit-swap-hedges and becomes too big to fail, then where are we gonna get those nifty trainers?
(I buy mine in 3rd World knockoff markets for $8, beats the $150+ asked in the 'Advanced West' for the 'genuine' brands.
Can we continue treating Capital Corporations as persons with privacy? Glastnost, has it ever worked?

the International Monetary Fund said in August that Iran would face unsustainable deficits should prices for its oil fall to $75 a barrel.
___________________________________________________
aaa
Democrat Barack Obama said Saturday the winds of change were blowing across America as he roused monster crowds totalling more than 175,000 in the Republican "red" state of Missouri.
Imagine the feeling when BHO is Diebold-Defeated?
Still, it wont make much difference in Gaza. The same permanent bases will grow in Iraq.
Still 'n' all I'm impressed by BHO's origins. Interesting to see him up. But not a 'Green New' Deal guy
__________________________________________________
,

19 October 2008

Babylon, Ponsonby, Barry Linton, Maternity risk

Babylon your throne gone down
aaa
bestcyrano
Why are we still listening to finance "experts" at this point?

___________________________________________________________
Vitamins
economist
(The molecular receptors for GABA are the target of tranquillisers such as Valium.) But glutamine levels can be restored, and production of GABA boosted, by the consumption of an amino acid called N-acetylcysteine (NAC) that is found in nuts and seeds
NAC cant be bought in NZAus, mail order from USA... good for Alcohol and parecetemol ODs


vitamin D below 5 ng/mL = deficiency, 20 ng adequate 30 ng/mL is ideal.
400 units adults ages 51 to 70, and 600 units for those 71 and older.
10,000iu/daily is absolutely safe. Amounts up to 40,000iu/daily are safe for short periods


aaa
Ponsonby history
Urban Village: the Story of Ponsonby, Freeman's Bay & St Mary's Bay (Paperback)
Jenny Carlyon
Mandrax Mansion - Jenny Carlyon reckons Dragon lived there, I recall it was Hello Sailor.
_______________________________________________________
Barry Linton
aaa
coca
listener
September 27-October 3 2008 Vol 215 No 3568 Comics Drawn into the culture by Tim Bollinger
Comic art pioneer Barry Linton is as adventurous as ever in his latest work.
"Barry Linton is a graphic artist with a poet’s voice. His comic strips span the cosmos, from the distant past to the far-flung future."

I recall Barry in the One Tree Hill house drawing "Evenings are: too long, not long enough, Just right"
_________________________________________________
More on Maternity risk in NZ
Health and Disability Commissioner Ron Paterson ... Perinatal and Maternal Mortality Review Committee
RP came on radio and said there is a lack of 'evidence based' standards for maternity services, but that they are as good as others (evidence?)
2006 preliminary report says 12 maternal deaths ... that seems significant ... confusing ChCh figures, plenty of midwives, but GP's only recommend a few??
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