The large seed companies make genetically modified seed and lock farmers into a cycle of dependence and monoculture. And they refuse to let scientists do research on their products. Getting as bad as the tobacco companies. From
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/20/business/20crop.html
Archive for February, 2009
Seed Companies Block Research
Friday, February 20th, 2009NASA Spots Huge Gamma-ray Blast
Friday, February 20th, 2009from NASA
Astronomers using NASA’s Swift satellite and Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope are seeing frequent blasts from a stellar remnant 30,000 light-years away. The high-energy fireworks arise from a rare type of neutron star known as a soft-gamma-ray repeater. Such objects unpredictably send out a series of X-ray and gamma-ray flares.
“At times, this remarkable object has erupted with more than a hundred flares in as little as 20 minutes,” said Loredana Vetere, who is coordinating the Swift observations at Pennsylvania State University. “The most intense flares emitted more total energy than the sun does in 20 years.”
The object, which has long been known as an X-ray source, lies in the southern constellation Norma. During the past two years, astronomers have identified pulsing radio and X-ray signals from it. The object began a series of modest eruptions on Oct. 3, 2008, then settled down. It roared back to life Jan. 22 with an intense episode.
Because of the recent outbursts, astronomers will classify the object as a soft-gamma-ray repeater — only the sixth known. In 2004, a giant flare from another soft-gamma-ray repeater was so intense it measurably affected Earth’s upper atmosphere from 50,000 light-years away.
Scientists think the source is a spinning neutron star, which is the superdense, city-sized remains of an exploded star. Although only about 12 miles across, a neutron star contains more mass than the sun. The object has been cataloged as SGR J1550-5418.
While neutron stars typically possess intense magnetic fields, a subgroup displays fields 1,000 times stronger. These so-called magnetars have the strongest magnetic fields of any known object in the universe. SGR J1550-5418, which rotates once every 2.07 seconds, holds the record for the fastest-spinning magnetar. Astronomers think magnetars power their flares by tapping into the tremendous energy of their magnetic fields.
“The ability of Fermi’s gamma-ray burst monitor to resolve the fine structure within these events will help us better understand how magnetars unleash their energy,” said Chryssa Kouveliotou, an astrophysicist at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. The object has triggered the instrument more than 95 times since Jan. 22.
Using data from Swift’s X-ray telescope, a team led by Andrea Tiengo of INAF-IASF (Milan, Italy) captured a series of “light echoes” from the object. Images acquired when the latest flaring episode began show what appear to be expanding halos around the source. Multiple rings form as X-rays interact with dust clouds at different distances, with closer clouds producing larger rings. Both the rings and their apparent expansion are an illusion caused by the finite speed of light and the longer path the scattered light must travel.
“X-rays from the brightest bursts scatter off of dust clouds between us and the star,” said Jules Halpern at Columbia University. “As a result, we don’t really know the distance to this object as well as we would like. These images will help us make a more precise measurement and also determine the distance to the dust clouds.”
The Russian KONUS instrument on NASA’s Wind satellite, the joint NASA-Japan Suzaku mission, and the European Space Agency’s INTEGRAL satellite also have detected flares from SGR J1550-5418.
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., manages the Swift satellite. It is being operated in collaboration with partners in the U.S., the United Kingdom, Italy, Germany and Japan. NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope is an astrophysics and particle physics observatory developed in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Energy and with important contributions from academic institutions and partners in France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Sweden, and the U.S.
To see the related images, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/swift/bursts/gammaray_fireworks.html
For more information about the Swift satellite, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/swift
For more information about the Fermi mission, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/fermi
Gamma-ray
Gamma-ray
Use Less Fertilizer!
Friday, February 20th, 20091/3 the usual amounts. We really don’t want excess nitrogen flushing down waterways and creating algal toxic blooms in the deltas of the world, as is happening in the Gulf of Mexico. Here is news from China:
Scientists urge Chinese farmers to use fertilizer better
and the original paper is here:
http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2009/02/13/0813417106.abstract
Paul says stimulus a bad plan
Thursday, February 19th, 2009By John Lowman
TheFacts.com
Published February 19, 2009
LAKE JACKSON — On his week off from Congress, Ron Paul is enjoying riding his bike, signing some books and letting the federal government know he believes the economic stimulus package is the wrong way to go.
The former Republican presidential candidate from Lake Jackson had a book-signing Wednesday attended by about 60 people at Hastings. Home from Washington until Monday for Congress’ annual President’s Day recess, a jacketless Paul appeared relaxed in a blue shirt and red tie.
Read More….
http://thefacts.com/story.lasso?ewcd=3af14ea2bde22887
USA Housing Bill: Examples
Thursday, February 19th, 2009From the US Treasury, some examples of mortgage modifications:
http://www.treas.gov/initiatives/eesa/homeowner-affordability-plan/HousingExampleSheet.pdf
Fertilizer prices drop worldwide.
Thursday, February 19th, 2009Farmers are getting a small break. Urea: US$815/ton to US$247/ton. Diammonium Phosphate: US$1218/ton to US$469/ton. Potash prices still high: Murialte of potash trades at US$875/ton.
From
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-12/i-wfp121608.php
Tooth Fairy Economics
Wednesday, February 18th, 2009February 18, 2009
Dear Friend of Liberty,
Yesterday, Barack Obama signed the $787 BILLION “stimulus” bill into law. This marks his first major legislative action, but just one of many already broken campaign promises.
He promised transparency and accountability in the legislative process, but the details of the bill were negotiated in closed-door sessions. Then, only a very limited number of physical copies were made available.
In addition, lawmakers had less than 24 hours to review the over 1,000 page bill before the vote was taken, hardly enough time to read a bill with such critical implications for our economy.
So far, one thing is clear from these early weeks of the Obama administration:
Barack Obama has brought no real change to Washington.
He is continuing the reckless spending and out of control debt of the last administration. He is playing the usual Washington games of partisan bickering and exempting those who work for him from standards
required of every other American. His “stimulus” is packed with lobbyist payoffs and special-interest pork.
Barack Obama is right about one thing — we ARE facing a serious economic crisis. But he is wrong that only government can break the vicious cycle.
Big Government economic policies are the cause of the cycle, not the solution!
Reckless spending and socialist meddling will only prolong the economic turmoil our government has created. We cannot allow the new administration continue down this same destructive path.
Only fiscal restraint, free markets, and individual liberty can return us to stability and prosperity.
Click here to see Dr. Paul
discussing this pork-laden spendfest and its hurried passage on CNN’s American Morning.
And for an interesting explanation of the problems with these Keynesian policies, read best-selling author
Tom Woods’ Campaign for Liberty featured article Tooth Fairy Economics.
In Liberty,
John Tate, President
Campaign for Liberty
P.S. Real change requires Revolution, not empty promises. Campaign for Liberty is dedicated to relighting the fire of our Founders’ Revolution.
Holy Cow! Meat Pollution?
Wednesday, February 18th, 2009with quotes from Agence France Presse
Many scientists believe the raising of meat for human consumption is a major source of green house gases. “That’s because beef is such an incredibly inefficient food to produce and cows release so much harmful methane into the atmosphere,” said Nathan Pelletier of Dalhousie University in Canada.
“Meat once was a luxury in our diet,” Pelletier said. “We used to eat it once a week. Now we eat it every day.”
“Given the projected doubling of (global) meat production by 2050, we’re going to have to cut our emissions by half just to maintain current levels,” Pelletier said.
“Technical improvements are not going to get us there.”
That’s why changing the kinds of food people eat is so important, said Chris Weber, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Carnegie Mellon University in Pennsylvania.
Food is the third largest contributor to the average US household’s carbon footprint after driving and utilities, and in Europe - where people drive less and have smaller homes - it has an even greater impact.
“Food is of particular importance to a consumer’s impact because it’s a daily choice that is, at least in theory, easy to change,” Weber said.
“You make your choice every day about what to eat, but once you have a house and a car you’re locked into that for a while.”
The average US household contributes about five tons of carbon dioxide a year by driving and about 3.5 tons of equivalent emissions with what they eat, he said.
“Switching to no red meat and no dairy products is the equivalent of (cutting out) 8,100 miles driven in a car … that gets 25 miles to the gallon,” Weber said in an interview following the symposium.
Buying local meat and produce will not have nearly the same effect, he cautioned.
That’s because only five percent of the emissions related to food come from transporting food to market.
“You can have a much bigger impact by shifting just one day a week from meat and dairy to anything else than going local every day of the year,” Weber said.
For more information on how to eat a low carbon diet, visit www.eatlowcarbon.org.
On Reinstating the Draft
Tuesday, February 17th, 2009Texas Straight Talk by Dr. Ron Paul (R)
U.S. Congressman - TX 14
Much has been made by the new administration of the idea of national service and volunteerism. While service to one’s community is certainly admirable, it is not the federal government’s place to “encourage” or promote volunteerism. Moreover, there are troubling signs that national service could transition from voluntary to mandatory, or de facto mandatory, such as the requirement of service in order to be granted a diploma, or something along those lines.
Involuntary servitude was supposed to be abolished by the 13th Amendment, but things like Selective Service and the income tax make me wonder how serious we really are in defending just basic freedom. The income tax enslaves workers for nearly 4 months out of a year by garnishing what amounts to all their wages in that period of time. A military draft could demand your very life, without your consent. This should be unthinkable in a free society.
Proponents of reinstating the draft claim it is needed to protect liberty from enemies abroad. But what about the enemies of liberty right here at home? I am convinced that there are more threats to American liberty within the 10 mile radius of my office on Capitol Hill than there are on the rest of the globe. If we would get our troops off of foreign soil, those perceived enemies of our liberty abroad are much more likely to stand down and let us be. We have more than enough troops to mind our own business and defend ourselves. It is only for world domination that we have a troop shortage.
Nevertheless, some think recruiting for our military is too low and that the younger generation will not answer the call of duty willingly, and must be drafted by force. I take extreme exception to this characterization of young people today. First of all, I believe they correctly see that foreign policy, as unpopular as it has been under Bush, is not significantly changing under Obama, and has little, if anything, to do with defending the United States, and certainly not the Constitution. Second, many see friends and acquaintances who have voluntarily enlisted, and have taken note of how the soldier, the veteran is treated. Perhaps rather than blaming younger generations for being selfish, older generations should remember their promises to those who volunteer for military service and be mindful of how they are treated. Every homeless vet by the side of the road, every suicide, every report of substandard conditions in veteran hospitals is a sign of how we let our military down. Perhaps we should look to those issues if we have problems with military recruitment, rather than to trample freedom in the name of protecting it.
If that is not enough reason, consider that most in the military are against a draft. There is a vast difference between serving alongside another volunteer, and serving alongside a reluctant conscript. Americans need to be on the lookout for any propaganda trying to ease us back into the draft. Too often a flawed foreign policy prompts the need for a draft. Abolishing the Selective Service is one thing we could do to counter those efforts.
What Goes Around, Comes Around
Monday, February 16th, 2009Radioactive materials shipped to the Third World return. “One commentator said that some western countries have been dumping their toxic wastes in India, with the Indian government having turned a blind eye. This time, the material has gone back to the western country.” Indeed we all live downstream. From
http://www.domainb.com/economy/environment/20081108_indian_company.html