hey guys! hope everyone is having a great day today and the weather is beautiful where you are too.
remember last week, I posted a link to a story about the world's hottest pepper? Well, hub wanted us to grow some for the knuckleheads where he works and so I found a great source for the seed. Check out Neil here on this youtube video eating a Trinidad Scorpion. (Butch T strain)this comment in the comment section really cracked me up!
"The universe was created to house your massive balls. "
You watch that video, and you'll probably agree.
you can find seeds for many varieties of peppers at Luke and Neil's site. They're great guys to do business with and Guinness record holders.
Much thanks to RJ at the Global Glass Onion and the Ozarker at Conflicted Doomer for sending in stories today! Do check out their blogs and support their work.
And don't forget to wander over to the forums and put in your 2 cents!
Japan
ENENews: 42% of residents’ radiation exposure tops annual limit — Survey excluded people working in places with high radioactivity — Only used 4 months of data
Telegraph: The world has forgotten the real victims of Fukushima - A natural disaster that cost the lives of thousands of people was ignored in favour of a nuclear 'disaster’ that never was, argues Michael Hanlon.
ENENews: Workers were dropping like flies in the heat while clearing debris and watering reactors
Telegraph: Journalists given tour of Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant
Global Conflict
Hosted: Israel to free Palestinian hunger striker
BlacklistedNews: Riots Hit Saudi Arabia, government vows to end violence with "iron fist"
Atlantic: Israel Deceives Public With Palestinian Refugee Videos
At the end of 2011, Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon, posted the third video in his YouTube series about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. These polished presentations are produced by an Israeli public relations firm in collaboration with StandWithUs, a U.S.-based group that counters criticism of Israeli policies regarding Palestinian.CBSNews: McCain: Iran "supplying arms" to Syrian regime
Rollingstone: Another March to War? - Matt Taibbi - As a journalist, there’s a buzz you can detect once the normal restraints in your business have been loosened, a smell of fresh chum in the waters, urging us down the road to war.LegitGov: 'Iran set to build first cyber army'
Telegraph: Iran launches military exercises aimed to boost nuclear site defence
FT: The drift towards war with Iran
WashingtonPost: Syrian security has upper hand after weekend unrest
Alternet: At least 46 journalists 'killed in 2011': US watchdog
JerusalemPost: 'Sovereign nations act in their own interests'
Alternet: Riot police beat students in Spain protest: witnesses
WSJ: IEA: Oil Market Ready For Iran Loss
LegitGov: Press TV signals jammed in Europe: Report
Reuters: Iran says would act against enemies if endangered
WashingtonPost: Huge crowd of Afghans protests reports of burning of Koran at US base
Alternet: Pakistan receives US surveillance aircraft
Spiegel: A Palestinian Take on the Mideast Conflict: 'The Pursuit of a Two-State Solution Is a Fantasy' - Prominent Palestinian philosopher Sari Nusseibeh believes it is too late for a two-state solution to the Middle East conflict.
WSJ: Afghanistan to Spy on Its Own Soldiers
DailyBeast: The Crazy Rush to Attack Iran
TheAtlantic: The Real Defense Budget
While everyone knows that the defense budget is large -- even in the numbers that the public sees as the formally admitted figures by the Department of Defense -- the truth is that when one scratches beneath the bureaucratic veneer, national security spending is much larger, nearly double the amount US citizens are told.BBC: Nato apologises for Afghan Koran 'burning'
MSNBC: Slingshots, guns fired at Afghan protest over Quran burning
CSMonitor: US military officials urge caution on attacking Iran - The problem is that many of the Iranian targets – buried deeply underground – would be beyond the reach of the Israeli military, in what Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Martin Dempsey calls a “zone of immunity.”
TheOval: U.S. to Israel: Don't attack Iran
Guardian: Iran threatens to extend oil embargo
• More European countries may have oil supplies halted
• Military exercise begins to strengthen key nuclear facilities
• Foreign minister says UN inspectors will not visit sites
MSNBC: Red Cross negotiating pause to fighting in Syria
OWS
PlutocracyFiles: Occupy Prisons Today
Domestic Financial News
Zerohedge: Here Is Why The Dow Just Passed 13,000
BlacklistedNews: Modern Day Robber Barons: Owe IRS Taxes, Lose Your Passport
AbigailCField: The Foreclosure Fraud Iceberg - Secretary Donovan is trying convince the American public that the what the Obama administration is doing is all that can be done to address our housing and foreclosure crisis. That’s farcically false.
NakedCapitalism: “Crooks on the Loose? Did Felons Get a Free Pass in the Financial Crisis? “
CapitalGainsAndGames: It's February 21: Do You Know Where The Obama 2013 Budget Is? - I've been in the budget business for a long time, and I have to admit that few presidential budget have disappeared from view as fast as the one the Obama administration submitted to Congress last Monday.
NakedCapitalism: More Foreclosure Mischief: Bankruptcy Hijackings
ItCouldHappenHere: Why Inequality Matters: The Housing Crisis, The Justice System & Capitalism - Extreme economic inequality is among the most destructive forces in a society. As inequality grows, it undermines the effective functioning of the economy, the basic tenets of capitalism, and the foundations of democracy. Unfortunately, the housing crisis and now the housing settlement increasingly look like an example of how this mechanism works. One of the central characteristics of highly unequal societies is that two sets of laws develop: One set for the rich and powerful and one set for everyone else. The more unequal societies become, the more easily they accept the unacceptable, and with each unrebuked violation, the powerful actors at the top of the society gain an ever greater sense of entitlement and an ever greater sense that the laws that govern everyone else don’t apply to them. As a result, their behavior becomes increasingly egregious. In contrast, sustainable capitalism requires that all participants in a contract or bargain believe their interests will be enforced equally by the courts: When powerful players are permitted to alter established rules at will, capitalism ultimately collapses.
FT: America needs its own infrastructure bank
MyBudget360: Cascading risk and economic headwinds – 5 charts examining the coming financial challenges for the American economy. Inflation is much higher than you would expect but Federal Reserve orchestrating greatest banking bailout in history.
NYDaily: GOP squirms in Michigan over auto bailout success
FT: Obama’s Stimulus Plan: What Worked, What Didn’t
WSJ: Jobless Claims Hit Lowest Level Since 2008
Alternet: 84 Percent of San Francisco Foreclosures Fraudulent--Why are Bankers Still Getting Away with Crimes?
CalculatedRisk: Chicago Fed: Economic Growth in January above Average
Salon: America’s last hope: A strong labor movement - The fate of the labor movement is the fate of American democracy.
MotherJones: Who Actually Benefits From Federal Benefits?
CharlesHughSmith: What Happens When Phantom Profits Vanish?
Global Financial News
BusinessWeek: Greece Moves to Second Bailout as Default Risk Spooks Europe
WSJ: Hurdles for Greece After Deal
BeezerNotes: Labor Incomes Must Rise. There Is No Other Option - There’s news today that Foxconn, the huge Chinese manufacturer of many high tech components and products, will soon be raising employee incomes by as much as 25%.
TheAtlantic: The Two Indias: Astounding Poverty in the Backyard of Amazing Growth
With the world's largest democracy in the embrace of a freer-than-free market capitalism, India may prove a bellwether for liberal societies...
Reuters: Relief vies with sense of shame on streets of Athens - Greeks resigned themselves Tuesday to a 130-billion-euro EU/IMF bailout that won their country a last-minute reprieve from bankruptcy at the price of a decade of austerity and humiliating foreign scrutiny of national finances.
Reuters: Exclusive: Greek debt may remain at 160 percent in '20: IMF/ECB
SMH: Rescue plan won't prevent Greek defaultZerohedge: EURUSD Soars On Reuters Report That Greek Deal Is Reached... Which Is Same Deal As July 2011
NakedCapitalism: Satyajit Das: It’s All Greek to Me! - Yves here. In case you managed to miss it, there is supposedly an agreement for Greece to get €130 billion. But then we learn that Greece will still need more dough if it meets its target of reducing government debt to GDP to 120% by 2020 (and why is debt to GDP of 120% seen as sustainable then when it is not seen as sustainable now? And leaked documents further note that Greece might not meet its targets (duh!) and its debt to GDP could instead by 160% of GDP, which would require bailouts of nearly twice the amount now contemplated.
Zerohedge: Ken Rogoff: Greece Should Be Given A "Sabbatical From The Euro" As Kicking The PIIGS Can Will Just Drag Germany Down Reuters: Relief vies with sense of shame on streets of Athens - Greeks resigned themselves Tuesday to a 130-billion-euro EU/IMF bailout that won their country a last-minute reprieve from bankruptcy at the price of a decade of austerity and humiliating foreign scrutiny of national finances.
Reuters: Exclusive: Greek debt may remain at 160 percent in '20: IMF/ECB
SMH: Rescue plan won't prevent Greek defaultZerohedge: EURUSD Soars On Reuters Report That Greek Deal Is Reached... Which Is Same Deal As July 2011
NakedCapitalism: Satyajit Das: It’s All Greek to Me! - Yves here. In case you managed to miss it, there is supposedly an agreement for Greece to get €130 billion. But then we learn that Greece will still need more dough if it meets its target of reducing government debt to GDP to 120% by 2020 (and why is debt to GDP of 120% seen as sustainable then when it is not seen as sustainable now? And leaked documents further note that Greece might not meet its targets (duh!) and its debt to GDP could instead by 160% of GDP, which would require bailouts of nearly twice the amount now contemplated.
Zerohedge: Back To Surreality - Greek Tax Collectors Told They Need To Be 200% More Efficient - Let's put things back into perspective. Europe is lending money to Greece, which according to latest rumors will at least for the time being be in the form of the dreaded Escrow Account, which in turn means that the only recipients of bailout cash will be Greek creditors, whose claims will be senior to that of the government. In other words, it will be up to Greece, and specifically its own tax "collectors" to provide the actual funding needed to run the country as bailout or not bailout, Greek mandatory (forget discretionary) expenditures will not see one penny from Europe.
Zerohedge: Greek Headline Reality Check - Mainstream media is desperately scrambling to fill copy with stories of collaboration, rescue, heroism, sacrifice, and altruism among the European leaders. The dismal reality facing real people and real participants is quite different and as Peter Tchir points out "How many 'untruths' have become so accepted that they are now treated as facts or axioms".
NYT: E.U. Banks and States Caught in a Vicious Cycle
Slate: Austerity. China. The Housing Market. The Middle East. Four reasons to stay gloomy about the global economy.
Guardian: Eurozone reaches deal on second Greece bailout after all-night talks
Reuters: Analysis: China bid to boost growth a surprise in timing only
ETFDaily: Is Germany Secretly Maneuvering To Kick Greece Out Of The Euro? Bloomberg: Spain Sinks Deeper Into Periphery on Debt Rise
Peak Oil and Energy News
TheOilDrum: Oil Shocks Around the World: Are They Really That Bad?
UPI: Egypt to gain from oil, gas, analyst says - LONDON, Feb. 21 (UPI) -- Revenues from oil and natural gas are some of the few constants in a post-revolution Egypt, an analyst said.
UPI: Apache finds oil in deep U.S. waters
Hosted: Oil above $104 after EU gives Greece bailout deal
EcocnetricBlogs: Gasbag: Why No President Can Bring Us $2 GasolineMarketWatch: Iran + Oil + Consumer Weakness = Bull Market?
UPI: Executive: Speculation driving oil prices
Reuters: IEA says EU could live with abrupt Iran oil halt
SeattleTimes: US, Mexico agree to cooperate on energy - The United States and Mexico agreed Monday to work together when drilling for oil and gas below their maritime border in the Gulf of Mexico.
TruthOut: US House OKs Opening Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to Oil Drilling
OilAndGloryFP: Is there really so much shale gas in the ground?
Bloomberg: Gasoline Futures Rise as Oil Climbs to Nine-Month High on Greece
Commodities/Metals
CommodityOnline: Tax free Gold Singapore's new investment attraction
ETFDailyNews: Record Investment Demand Boosts Global Gold Demand To An All Time High In 2011
Mineweb: China may grab top gold spot as Indian imports fall
ETFDaily: Currency Debasement Should Take Gold Prices Over $6,000/oz and Silver Above $400/oz
Environmental
McClatchy: Sea otters face a growing threat: shark attacks
ANN: 300-million-year-old forest found in ChinaPompeii-like, a 300-million-year-old tropical forest was preserved in ash when a volcano erupted in what is today northern China.
ScientificAmerican: Warmer Planet Could Be Dominated by Mosquitoes, Tics, Rodents and Jellyfish
Ancient plants resurrected from Siberian permafrost - Fruit tissue still viable after 30,000 years
SkepticalScience: Global Extinction: Gradual Doom as Bad as Abrupt - About 252 million years ago, at the end of the Permian period, Earth almost became a lifeless planet. Around 90 percent of all living species disappeared then, in what scientists have called "The Great Dying."
ExtinctionProtocol: Expanding Philippine sinkhole likely linked to 6.9 earthquake says local geologist
HuffingtonPost: The Origin of the Heartland Documents
FDL: Post-Fukushima, Obama gives Nuclear Industry an $8.3b loan guarantee bailout, as residents die of cancer - In a little noticed story from a few weeks, Obama’s NRC just approved two brand spanking new plants near two other nuclear plants owned by Southern Company, outside Augusta,...
But it gets better: theGrio: Environmental racism: Is nuclear plant causing cancer for poor black residents of Shell Bluff, Ga.? if nuclear reactors are really economic shots in the arm, why is Burke County still one of the poorest corners of the state a quarter century after Southern Company brought its first pair of local reactors online in 1987?
GreenEconomics: Moral Hazard and FEMA and Adapting to Sea Level Rise
TriCitiesNews: 4.0 earthquake shakes 4 states
MSNBC: As black bear numbers increase, so do hunts
GlobeAndMail: Canada’s oil sands: Not so dirty after all
EnergyBulletin: Confusing climate study actually makes strong case against tar sands — If we want to avoid catastrophic global warming
Ecocentric: Climate Expert Peter Gleick Admits Deception in Obtaining Heartland Institute Papers
Guardian: Climate change increased likelihood of Russian 2010 heatwave – study - The extreme Russian heatwave of 2010 was made three times more likely because of man-made climate change, according to a study led by climate scientists and number-crunched by home PC users. But the size of the event was mostly within natural limits, said the scientists, laying to rest a controversy last year over whether the extreme weather was natural or human-induced.
America in Decline
DeclineOfTheEmpire: Millennials Are Up The Creek Without A Paddle
MattWeidnerLaw: America is Being Stolen, One Piece of Land At A Time...Who Is The Wizard Behind The Curtain? Matt Weidner - Fighting For The American People
RawStory: Wheelchair-bound man arrested for robbing convenience store
BillHicksIsDead: U.S. Prisons Are Becoming Old Age Homes - For what exactly do you do with an aging prisoner who has been behind bars for half a century, whose health is failing and who is no longer a threat to anyone. Do you let them back out on the street where they likely have no remaining living relatives or friends, let alone any ability to care for themselves? It's a very tricky issue that is about to get trickier, as reported last week by Digital Journal: A dramatic increase of aging prisoners in the United States is leaving prison officials stretched in providing proper housing and medical care, and now find themselves operating “old age homes behind bars,” a new report reveals.
NYPost: Jobless disability claims soar to record $200B as of January - Standing too many months on the unemployment line is driving Americans crazy — literally — and it’s costing taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars. With their unemployment-insurance checks running out, some of the country’s long-term jobless are scrambling to fill the gap by filing claims for mental illness and other disabilities with Social Security — a surge that hobbles taxpayers and making the employment rate look healthier than it should as these people drop out of the job statistics.
Zerohedge: Infographic On The Greatest Gun Salesman In America: President Obama
(while I'm sure that there are some people that bought guns because they think Obama is going to take their gun rights away, the majority of people that bought guns recently, did so because they fear social unrest because of financial collapse. That's why most people I know have guns.)
SeattleTimes: For boomers, it's a new era of 'work til you drop'
BottomLine: Tough times keep older workers from retiring
ScientificAmerican: Smile, You're on (Digital) Camera: TASER's New Police Minicam and the Cloud
Food and Water
Grist: How many of us are vegetarian or vegan? - In the course of writing my two recent posts on vegetarianism, I came across some interesting data. According to a 2011 poll conducted by Harris Interactive:
CommodityOnline: Global sugar surplus to be 6 mn tons in 2011 12 to impact prices
CityFarmer: ‘Schaduf’ sets up rooftop urban farms for low-income families in Egypt
PopSci: FYI: Will People Ever Evolve Out of Craving Unhealthy Food?
ETFDaily: Wheat Prices Are Set For A Short Term Spike
BigPictureAgriculture: Midwest Farmland Prices Update for the Year 2011
Internet and Online Privacy News
ArsTechinca: Google tricks Internet Explorer into accepting tracking cookies, Microsoft claims
BlacklistedNews: SOPA replacement uses child porn as excuse to spy on 99.7 percent of Americans
Alternet: Obama fights to keep unconstitutional warrantless wiretapping powers
Science and Technology
ScientificAmerican: Raising the Dead: New Species of Life Resurrected from Ancient Andean Tomb - Ecuadorian scientists have revived a new species of yeast from pre-Incan tomb, illuminating prehistoric life
MSNBC: Search continues for secret stamp honoring John Glenn's historic spaceflight
4-cent 'Project Mercury' postage stamp sold in 1962 was a surprise
ScientificAmerican: Fermilab Set to Reveal 'Interesting' Higgs Results
NewScientist: Parasite-plagued flies self-medicate on booze - Ever been told to take a swig of whisky to ward off a cold? Boozing fruit fly larvae do something similar: they seek out alcohol to kill a parasitic wasp that lays its eggs in their bloodstream.
ArsTechnica: Recent formations say the Moon's not (tectonically) dead yet!
PopSci: How We're Creating "Terminator Vision" in Your Future Contact Lenses
CosmicLog: How monkeys handle moral outrage
CNN: Can Braille be faster than QWERTY? App developer thinks so
NewScientist: Rare amateur video captures Challenger tragedy up close
Medical and Health
MSNBC: Hepatitis C deaths up, baby boomers most at risk - 1 in every 33 baby boomers is living with hepatitis C infection
TheChart: WHO: Bird flu data still on hold
TodayHealth: How much sleep do teens really need? Maybe less than you think
Doomsteading, Gardening, Urban Farming
NoTechMagazine: Solar Cookers That Work At Night
PreppingToSurvive: Wheat, part 1: What kind do I need?
Just about every preparedness guide will tell you to store wheat and lots of it. What many do not say is that there are different types of wheat...
ModernSurvival: Bleach, Definition, and a few Uses
BackdoorSurvival: Weighing in on the Doomsday Preppers
Permaculture: Replanting hedgerows using permaculture design
BackdoorSurvival: Weighing in on the Doomsday Preppers
Permaculture: Replanting hedgerows using permaculture design
Other News
Reuters: Jury selection to begin in Philadelphia church abuse scandal
LAT: Mexico prison brawl was cover for jail break, authorities say
USNews: It’s Washington’s Birthday—Not Presidents' Day
IBTimes: 90-Year-Old Grandma Dancing to Whitney Houston's ‘I Wanna Dance With Somebody’ Goes Viral [VIDEO]
(this dancing lady made my day!)
Telegraph: Man who gave birth fears reaction of his parents
Politics
Reuters: For Santorum voters, he's a candidate like them
CBSNews: Santorum: Democrats are "anti-science," not me
WashingtonPost: As Romney sticks to economy, Santorum leaps on abortion, church, other hot ...
LAT: Strauss-Kahn questioned over suspected hotel prostitution ring
Alternet: Why Is the ACLU Helping the Richest Americans Buy Our Elections? CNN: Does 'secure the border' mean 'keep America white'?
In case you plan to see Wednesday's GOP debate, allow me to offer up some crib notes so you don't get lost.
Forums
TinfoilPalace: The Trillion Dollar Lawsuit To End Tyranny.
TinfoilPalace: alien implantsTheOilAge: $26 billion foreclosure agreement
TheOilAge: Icelandic Anger Brings Debt Forgiveness
HubbertsArms: Abercrombie & Fitch to Close 180 Stores
HubbertsArms: Can a return to the drachma save Greece as unemployment soars?
SilentCountry: Don't you petty peons ever challenge our authority! Got that!
SilentCountry: Diseases Impossible to Treat
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