John Ludi at Work: One Way Train, Part 2.

The song about 1/2 of the way through it's development, otherwise me just being long-winded and acting silly...it's what I do.

Cheap Solar Cooker

Just what it says...a cheap solar cooker you can make for a few bucks. 

Pluto Radio

It suddenly occured to me that I have not represented Pluto Radio on this here blog yet...so here it is:

http://plutoradio.com/

This is an online radio station started by an old friend of mine that is in the classic free form radio style that used to make radio worth listening to back in the 60's through 80's...and what's more, they also are one of the few online radio stations that plays my own music on a pretty regular basis AND the ONLY station where you will here me functioning as a DJ.  The majority of the music you here on there is from independent bands and artists, many of whom display a serious degree of talent.

So tune in and give it a listen...you never know what you'll hear on there...it's pretty much all over the map, as life should be.

Weekly News Update-05/11/2011

A busy week it's been and is going to be.  So here's some stuff I've been following (I have not been keeping tabs of where I got these, so sorry if I've slighted anyone):



ECONOMICS:

 http://blogs.wsj.com/brussels/2011/05/09/luxembourg-lies-on-secret-meeting/

http://www.zerohedge.com/article/how-cbot-comex-and-cftc-coordinated-break-last-silver-price-surge

http://detnews.com/article/20110510/AUTO01/105100408/Former-GM-execs-sue-for-retirement-benefits 

http://www.businessinsider.com/irish-bombshell-government-raids-private-pensions-to-pay-for-jobs-program-2011-5

ENVIRONMENT:

http://www.pnj.com/article/20110508/NEWS01/105080328/Sick-fish-Gulf-alarming-scientists?odyssey=tab|topnews|img|FRONTPAGE

http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2011/05/09/how-the-mississippi-river-levees-could-fail/?hpt=T2

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-13338174

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703864204576317441172666186.html?mod=WSJ_newsreel_world

POLITICS AS USUAL: 

http://www.truth-out.org/koch-brother-buys-right-interfere-faculty-hiring-florida-state-university/1305128548


COLLAPSE:

http://detroit.cbslocal.com/2011/05/10/crack-pipes-often-disguised-as-novelty-items-at-stores/

OUR RADIOACTIVE PLANET:

http://www.naturalnews.com/032303_tritium_nuclear_power_plant.html 


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/vivian-norris-de-montaigu/deadly-silence-on-fukushi_b_859241.html

http://www.flickr.com/photos/xtcbz/sets/72157626687253144/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dxbm7iJTT8U&feature=player_embedded


INTERESTING DISCOURSE:

http://dandelionsalad.wordpress.com/2011/03/07/this-time-we’re-taking-the-whole-planet-with-us-by-chris-hedges/
 
http://billhicksisdead.blogspot.com/2011/05/peak-exploration-apollo-program-and.html

PARANOIA:

Weekly News Updates-05-03-2011

I'm not going to go on a rant about the whole Bin Laden bit...mainly because I really don't have a side to argue from.  I have been both amused and disappointed by two distinct reactions to the news of the alleged raid:

1-This was a complete sham and a massive PR stunt and if you believe it was for real you are a complete and utter rube and you probably also believe in the tooth fairy...and you suck!

2-This was the pure and unvarnished truth and if you don't believe it you are a crazy conspiracy nut and you believe Elvis crashed at Roswell...and you suck!

Very sad.  Is there no room for REASONED skepticism anymore?  The government has pulled the wool over our eyes so often that I'm surprised we have not run out of sheep...but they don't lie about EVERYTHING.  Just MOSTLY everything.

Like everything else filtered through the funhouse-mirror world of the Internet, before the news was a millisecond old the opinion-factory of the virtual world started spinning like a billion spiders on meth, with only ONE thing in common between the lot of them: practically EVERY purveyor of an angle on this event was ABSOLUTELY SURE they were right and that anyone who didn't buy their worldview 100% was wrong.  Wrong and a gullible sheep ripe for a shearing by The Elites, or wrong and an unpatriotic monster who should be rounded up and gassed to make the planet safe for Democracy.  The insensitivity and vitriol was breathtaking. 

And there is one thing that they also have in common: none of them KNOW shit about the true FACTS of the subject.  I know I don't.  I was not there.  If indeed there WAS a "there".  I personally have my doubts...serious doubts...but that's ALL they are...I lack facts...and for some strange reason I seem to be able to live with this.

But since I also doubt the foundational existence of physical reality as the ultimate base of existence overall, doubt is part and parcel of my every worldly observation...and increasingly I find myself very much alone in that regard.  At a time when I had wished for some sort of an expansion of a multi-layered approach to thinking and perception in the human species, some sort of awakening consciousness that can function in a non-linear mode, even the smart people are turning into narrow-minded little hermit crabs scrabbling around in the flux of the multiverse looking for just the right confining little shell to wedge themselves into.

And I find myself increasingly of the opinion that I do not belong on this planet.


Anyway...here's a start on this week's accumulation...check back for updates throughout the week:


ECONOMICS:

http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/a-dollar-collapse-no-way-the-u-s-dollar-rocks-propaganda

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-gets-c-credit-rating-lower-than-mexico-2011-04-28

http://www.oftwominds.com/blogmay11/managed-perception5-11.html

http://www.zerohedge.com/article/and-scene-cme-hikes-silver-margin-third-time-7-days-raises-initial-maintenance-margins-12

(Where PMs go tells you more about the fate of the dollar then most other indicators...ALL currencies are now fiat currencies.  When you see PMs rise the way they have, despite various efforts to suppress them, you know the game is afoot.)

ENVIRONMENT:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42873438/ns/weather/

(h/t to Sue)

POLITICS AS USUAL:

http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/05/blackwaters-new-ethics-chief-john-ashcroft/

(h/t to Spin)

COLLAPSE:

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/world/2011/0429/1224295673147.html

OUR RADIOACTIVE PLANET:

http://news.sciencemag.org/scienceinsider/2011/04/government-adviser-quits-post-to.html?ref=hp

http://www.nuclearfreeplanet.org/where-is-all-that-fukushima-radiation-going-and-why-does-it-matter.html

http://english.kyodonews.jp/news/2011/05/89047.html

INTERESTING DISCOURSE:

http://guymcpherson.com/2011/05/this-must-be-a-nightmare/

http://www.zerohedge.com/article/guest-post-circus-clowns-and-sideshow-freaks

http://kunstler.com/blog/2011/05/lying-is-the-new-normal.html
 
PARANOIA:

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2011/04/CIPAV_Post

A brief note on moral ambiguity.

I posted this on one of my favorite forums, but I thought I'd put it up here too.  I was responding to a spirited back-and-forth regarding the Bin Laden issue.  Some people believe what we were presented with last night and some emphatically don't.  As for myself, the very manner and timing of the presentation itself aroused my suspicions...as did the news this morning that the body was already disposed of...but do I know one way or the other?  Nope.  

I do feel that the reasons why this event could be used as a pretext for any number of things from any number of sectors are sadly obvious:

"The war machine is one of the lynchpins of our current economy (disgustingly enough)...and just like anything else in our growth-driven economic model, there have to be new sources of expansion to keep that machine going. The more enemies we make, the more we can spend on the arms industry, the more we bolster the overall economy and keep utter collapse at bay.

It's probably one of the most horrific catch-22s we have ever created. It's too bad we didn't devote that huge slice of our economic pie to alternative energy, building schools, and growing organic produce...but here we are. The amount of people employed directly and indirectly in that industry is staggeringly huge and that pin can't be pulled without imploding the whole system.

Sad and sick, isn't it? That which keeps us alive does so by killing people.

We are exactly where Eisenhower warned us we would be headed. 

Imagine being infected by a parasite that eventually grows large enough to replace several of the vital organs you require to live. Imagine also that the ultimate fate you await is that that parasite will eventually become so large that it's intake of nutrients will starve you as the host.

What do you do?

And it's the same thing with the TBTF banks: sure they are amoral bastards, a lot of them, but at the same time their sudden absence would tank our economy. And because they have a need to constantly expand, we let them play the games that will ultimately kill our economy anyway.

Bombs and banks: can't live WITH 'em...can't live without 'em.

We are in a global catch-22 and the only way out is down.

Happy birthday."