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The place where the world comes together in honesty and mirth.
Windmills Tilted, Scared Cows Butchered, Lies Skewered on the Lance of Reality ... or something to that effect.


Friday, June 27, 2008

Mexicans protest border fence with trees

The first of 400,000 trees are being planted to form a "green wall" in protest of the fence the U.S. is building along the border with Mexico.

The treeline will eventually stretch for 318 miles along the border between the Mexican state of Coahuila and Texas.

Coahuila Gov. Humberto Moreira Valdes says "our wall is of life, and it competes with shame and hate."

The U.S. government says its fence is critical to security. Critics say it fuels animosity between the two countries and raises environmental and private property concerns.

The mayor of a Texas border town attended Friday's tree planting in Piedras Negras. Eagle Pass Mayor Chad Foster opposes the ongoing construction of 670 miles of border fence.

The Mexicans have the right idea ... trees, not only do they help the environment, they look better to the eye than concrete, steel and barbed wire and they have the added bonus on luring people to them as opposed to frightening them away.


Mother Earth's most extreme 'children'

Fifty ways to Green your life

  1. Replace a regular incandescent light bulb with a compact fluorescent light bulb (cfl)
    CFLs use 60% less energy than a regular bulb. This simple switch will save about 300 pounds of carbon dioxide a year.
  2. Install a programmable thermostat
    Programmable thermostats will automatically lower the heat or air conditioning at night and raise them again in the morning. They can save you $100 a year on your energy bill.
  3. Move your thermostat down 2° in winter and up 2° in summer
    Almost half of the energy we use in our homes goes to heating and cooling. You could save about 2,000 pounds of carbon dioxide a year with this simple adjustment.
  4. Clean or replace filters on your furnace and air conditioner
    Cleaning a dirty air filter can save 350 pounds of carbon dioxide a year.
  5. Choose energy efficient appliances when making new purchases
    Look for the Energy Star label on new appliances to choose the most energy efficient products available.
  6. Do not leave appliances on standby
    Use the "on/off" function on the machine itself. A TV set that's switched on for 3 hours a day (the average time Europeans spend watching TV) and in standby mode during the remaining 21 hours uses about 40% of its energy in standby mode.
  7. Wrap your water heater in an insulation blanket
    You’ll save 1,000 pounds of carbon dioxide a year with this simple action. You can save another 550 pounds per year by setting the thermostat no higher than 50°C.
  8. Move your fridge and freezer
    Placing them next to the cooker or boiler consumes much more energy than if they were standing on their own. For example, if you put them in a hot cellar room where the room temperature is 30-35ºC, energy use is almost double and causes an extra 160kg of CO2 emissions for fridges per year and 320kg for freezers.
  9. Defrost old fridges and freezers regularly
    Even better is to replace them with newer models, which all have automatic defrost cycles and are generally up to two times more energy-efficient than their predecessors.
  10. Don't let heat escape from your house over a long period
    When airing your house, open the windows for only a few minutes. If you leave a small opening all day long, the energy needed to keep it warm inside during six cold months (10ºC or less outside temperature) would result in almost 1 ton of CO2 emissions.
  11. Replace your old single-glazed windows with double-glazing
    This requires a bit of upfront investment, but will halve the energy lost through windows and pay off in the long term. If you go for the best the market has to offer (wooden-framed double-glazed units with low-emission glass and filled with argon gas), you can even save more than 70% of the energy lost.
  12. Get a home energy audit
    Many utilities offer free home energy audits to find where your home is poorly insulated or energy inefficient. You can save up to 30% off your energy bill and 1,000 pounds of carbon dioxide a year. Energy Star can help you find an energy specialist.
  13. Cover your pots while cooking
    Doing so can save a lot of the energy needed for preparing the dish. Even better are pressure cookers and steamers: they can save around 70%!
  14. Use the washing machine or dishwasher only when they are full
    If you need to use it when it is half full, then use the half-load or economy setting. There is also no need to set the temperatures high. Nowadays detergents are so efficient that they get your clothes and dishes clean at low temperatures.
  15. Take a shower instead of a bath
    A shower takes up to four times less energy than a bath. To maximise the energy saving, avoid power showers and use low-flow showerheads, which are cheap and provide the same comfort.
  16. Use less hot water
    It takes a lot of energy to heat water. You can use less hot water by installing a low flow showerhead (350 pounds of carbon dioxide saved per year) and washing your clothes in cold or warm water (500 pounds saved per year) instead of hot.
  17. Use a clothesline instead of a dryer whenever possible
    You can save 700 pounds of carbon dioxide when you air dry your clothes for 6 months out of the year.
  18. Insulate and weatherize your home
    Properly insulating your walls and ceilings can save 25% of your home heating bill and 2,000 pounds of carbon dioxide a year. Caulking and weather-stripping can save another 1,700 pounds per year. Energy Efficient has more information on how to better insulate your home.
  19. Be sure you’re recycling at home
    You can save 2,400 pounds of carbon dioxide a year by recycling half of the waste your household generates.
  20. Recycle your organic waste
    Around 3% of the greenhouse gas emissions through the methane is released by decomposing bio-degradable waste. By recycling organic waste or composting it if you have a garden, you can help eliminate this problem! Just make sure that you compost it properly, so it decomposes with sufficient oxygen, otherwise your compost will cause methane emissions and smell foul.
  21. Buy intelligently
    One bottle of 1.5l requires less energy and produces less waste than three bottles of 0.5l. As well, buy recycled paper products: it takes less 70 to 90% less energy to make recycled paper and it prevents the loss of forests worldwide.
  22. Choose products that come with little packaging and buy refills when you can
    You will also cut down on waste production and energy use... another help against global warming.
  23. Reuse your shopping bag
    When shopping, it saves energy and waste to use a reusable bag instead of accepting a disposable one in each shop. Waste not only discharges CO2 and methane into the atmosphere, it can also pollute the air, groundwater and soil.
  24. Reduce waste
    Most products we buy cause greenhouse gas emissions in one or another way, e.g. during production and distribution. By taking your lunch in a reusable lunch box instead of a disposable one, you save the energy needed to produce new lunch boxes.
  25. Plant a tree
    A single tree will absorb one ton of carbon dioxide over its lifetime. Shade provided by trees can also reduce your air conditioning bill by 10 to 15%. The Arbor Day Foundation has information on planting and provides trees you can plant with membership.
  26. Switch to green power
    In many areas, you can switch to energy generated by clean, renewable sources such as wind and solar. In some of these, you can even get refunds by government if you choose to switch to a clean energy producer, and you can also earn money by selling the energy you produce and don't use for yourself.
  27. Buy locally grown and produced foods
    The average meal in the United States travels 1,200 miles from the farm to your plate. Buying locally will save fuel and keep money in your community.
  28. Buy fresh foods instead of frozen
    Frozen food uses 10 times more energy to produce.
  29. Seek out and support local farmers markets
    They reduce the amount of energy required to grow and transport the food to you by one fifth. Seek farmer’s markets in your area, and go for them.
  30. Buy organic foods as much as possible
    Organic soils capture and store carbon dioxide at much higher levels than soils from conventional farms. If we grew all of our corn and soybeans organically, we’d remove 580 billion pounds of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere!
  31. Eat less meat
    Methane is the second most significant greenhouse gas and cows are one of the greatest methane emitters. Their grassy diet and multiple stomachs cause them to produce methane, which they exhale with every breath.
  32. Reduce the number of miles you drive by walking, biking, carpooling or taking mass transit wherever possible
    Avoiding just 10 miles of driving every week would eliminate about 500 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions a year! Look for transit options in your area.
  33. Start a carpool with your coworkers or classmates
    Sharing a ride with someone just 2 days a week will reduce your carbon dioxide emissions by 1,590 pounds a year. eRideShare.com runs a free service connecting north american commuters and travelers.
  34. Don't leave an empty roof rack on your car
    This can increase fuel consumption and CO2 emissions by up to 10% due to wind resistance and the extra weight - removing it is a better idea.
  35. Keep your car tuned up
    Regular maintenance helps improve fuel efficiency and reduces emissions. When just 1% of car owners properly maintain their cars, nearly a billion pounds of carbon dioxide are kept out of the atmosphere.
  36. Drive carefully and do not waste fuel
    You can reduce CO2 emissions by readjusting your driving style. Choose proper gears, do not abuse the gas pedal, use the engine brake instead of the pedal brake when possible and turn off your engine when your vehicle is motionless for more than one minute. By readjusting your driving style you can save money on both fuel and car mantainance.
  37. Check your tires weekly to make sure they’re properly inflated
    Proper tire inflation can improve gas mileage by more than 3%. Since every gallon of gasoline saved keeps 20 pounds of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere, every increase in fuel efficiency makes a difference!
  38. When it is time for a new car, choose a more fuel efficient vehicle
    You can save 3,000 pounds of carbon dioxide every year if your new car gets only 3 miles per gallon more than your current one. You can get up to 60 miles per gallon with a hybrid! You can find information on fuel efficiency on FuelEconomy and on GreenCars websites.
  39. Try car sharing
    Need a car but don’t want to buy one? Community car sharing organizations provide access to a car and your membership fee covers gas, maintenance and insurance. Many companies – such as Flexcar - offer low emission or hybrid cars too! Also, see ZipCar.
  40. Try telecommuting from home
    Telecommuting can help you drastically reduce the number of miles you drive every week. For more information, check out the Telework Coalition.
  41. Fly less
    Air travel produces large amounts of emissions so reducing how much you fly by even one or two trips a year can reduce your emissions significantly. You can also offset your air travel carbon emissions by investingin renewable energy projects.
  42. Encourage your school or business to reduce emissions
    You can extend your positive influence on global warming well beyond your home by actively encouraging other to take action.
  43. Join the virtual march
    The Stop Global Warming Virtual March is a non-political effort to bring people concerned about global warming together in one place. Add your voice to the hundreds of thousands of other people urging action on this issue.
  44. Encourage the switch to renewable energy
    Successfully combating global warming requires a national transition to renewable energy sources such as solar, wind and biomass. These technologies are ready to be deployed more widely but there are regulatory barriers impeding them. U.S. citizens, take action to break down those barriers with Vote Solar.
  45. Protect and conserve forest worldwide
    Forests play a critial role in global warming: they store carbon. When forests are burned or cut down, their stored carbon is release into the atmosphere - deforestation now accounts for about 20% of carbon dioxide emissions each year. Conservation International has more information on saving forests from global warming.
  46. Consider the impact of your investments
    If you invest your money, you should consider the impact that your investments and savings will have on global warming. Check out SocialInvest and Ceres to can learn more about how to ensure your money is being invested in companies, products and projects that address issues related to climate change.
  47. Make your city cool
    Cities and states around the country have taken action to stop global warming by passing innovative transportation and energy saving legislation. If you're in the U.S., join the cool cities list.
  48. Tell Congress to act
    The McCain Lieberman Climate Stewardship and Innovation Act would set a firm limit on carbon dioxide emissions and then use free market incentives to lower costs, promote efficiency and spur innovation. Tell your representative to support it.
  49. Make sure your voice is heard!
    Americans must have a stronger commitment from their government in order to stop global warming and implement solutions and such a commitment won’t come without a dramatic increase in citizen lobbying for new laws with teeth. Get the facts about U.S. politicians and candidates at Project Vote Smart and The League of Conservation Voters. Make sure your voice is heard by voting!
  50. Share this list!
    Send this page via e-mail to your friends! Spread this list worldwide and help people doing their part: the more people you will manage to enlighten, the greater YOUR help to save the planet will be (but please take action on first person too)!

    If you like, you are free to republish, adapt or translate the list and post it in your blog, website or forum as long as you give us credit with a link to the original source.
    Thank you.
(Thanks to usmc1 for this list)

Be sure to pass it along - especially to the Haters and Deniers, maybe one will open their eyes and reality will flood in ... yeah, I know but it COULD happen.

North Carolina student was kidnapped, robbed, shot

Search warrants unsealed Friday describe what may have been the final terrifying moments in the life of a promising college student: Kidnapped after choosing to stay home and study, taken in her own vehicle to be robbed at an ATM, and shot multiple times.

Despite strong objections by defense attorneys, Superior Court Judge R. Allen Baddour released six warrants that helped police arrest Laurence Lovette, 17, and Demario Atwater, 22, both of Durham. Both are charged with first-degree murder in the fatal shooting of Eve Carson, the former student body president at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Lovette's attorney, Karen Bethea-Shields, said the warrants largely rely on hearsay from a confidential informant that could unfairly taint potential jurors in the high-profile case.

"Things that you get, you must make sure that you understand these are just allegations and evidence will come from the courtroom," she said.

Jonathan Brown, a defense attorney for Atwater, said: "This is obviously a terrible tragedy, and we have great sympathy for the family and friends of Eve Carson. At this time, we just want to have the legal system do its job and avoid any rush to judgment."

The warrants contradict the original accounts of the slaying, which first appeared to be a random carjacking in Chapel Hill.

One warrant said a confidential informant told police that Lovette and Atwater entered Carson's home through an open door, took her and her vehicle to an ATM, and used her pin to withdraw money from her bank account, totaling $1,400 over two days.

Investigators found a Bank of America receipt from Carson's account during a search of her vehicle when it was found a day after she was killed. There was a partial shoe print on the receipt, and investigators said they have seized several pairs of gym shoes from the suspects' homes, the warrants said.

The informant said Carson was shot multiple times by Lovette and was later shot by Atwater. An affidavit signed by State Bureau of Investigation special agent Brian Fleming said the informant's statements were corroborated because two separate weapons were used in the shootings.

A warrant also says police took blood, hair and saliva samples from the suspects to investigate if a sexual assault took placebut Orange County District Attorney Jim Woodall said Friday the tests are standard and there's no reason to believe Carson was sexually assaulted.

Carson was found dead March 5, laying in the middle of a residential street in Chapel Hill about a mile from campus. Police have said the Athens, Ga. native had been shot multiple times, including once in the right temple. The autopsy report remains sealed but was expected to be released next week.

She was last seen alive earlier that morning, around 1:30 a.m. when she stayed home to do schoolwork while her roommates went out, authorities said. Officers found her body in the street after neighbors reported hearing shots around 5 a.m.

Police received hundreds of tips after releasing surveillance photographs from an ATM machine and a convenience store. Atwater and Lovette were arrested within a week of Carson's death.

Lovette also is charged with first-degree murder in the death of Duke University graduate student Abhijit Mahato, who was found dead Jan. 18 in his apartment near the university's campus in Durham, about a 20-minute drive from Chapel Hill. An autopsy showed Mahato, 29, had been shot once at point-blank range in the forehead. Stephen Oates, 19, of Durham, also is charged with murder in Mahato's death.

*****

Attorneys worried about tainting the jury pool in a high profile case - so what else is new?!

Here's a clue for you - the jury pool already knows most of the particulars of this case and the further tainting of it isn't your biggest problem having guilty clients is.

Second NY millionaire gets prison in slavery case

Mahender Sabhnani a millionaire convicted along with his wife of virtually enslaving two female Indonesian housekeepers has been sentenced to more than three years in prison.

Convicted in December of counts including forced labor and involuntarily servitude. He was sentenced today to three years and four months in prison.

The workers testified that they were beaten with brooms and umbrellas, slashed with knives, and forced to take cold showers by Mrs., Sabhnani

Yesterday, Varsha Sabhnani received an 11-year sentence for her treatment of the women.

Crowd watches Pakistan militants kill two Afghans

AP Photo


A gang of Pakistani militants executed two Afghan prisoners in front of thousands of cheering supporters Friday, beheading one man and shooting the other after accusing them of aiding a U.S. missile strike.

The executions in the Bajur region highlighted the power of local Taliban forces in lawless tribal areas near the Afghan border.

Also Friday, a top U.N. official expressed fears that Pakistan's peace deals with militants were sparking a wave of similar abuses.

Militants calling from the loudspeakers of mosques summoned people to the banks of a stream outside the town of Khar, about 120 miles northwest of Islamabad. At least 5,000 people gathered to watch the executions.

Masked militants pulled the two blindfolded Afghans from a car and forced them to kneel on the ground.

Waliur Rehman, a local Taliban commander, told the crowd that the two men had confessed to aiding in the strike on a house in the border town of Damadola that killed 14 people last month. The men disclosed the names of others accused of involvement, who would be killed as well, Rehman said. Pakistan's army lodged a formal protest to "allied forces" in Afghanistan after saying Pakistan had concluded the attack was launched by drones from across the border. The U.S. did not comment on the incident.

"Whoever, for the sake of money, for the sake of America, harms the interest of the Islamic world will meet the same fate," Rehman said.

Gunmen with daggers then pounced on one of the men - identified as Jan Wali, 36 - decapitated him and waved his bloody head to the cheering crowd, according to an Associated Press reporter and AP Television News footage from the scene.

The militants then argued over how to kill the other man because he may have been a teenager, before one lost patience and shot him with an assault rifle.

The crowd erupted in cheers of "God is great!" and gunmen fired in the air in jubilation. The celebratory gunfire killed two bystanders and wounded six, local official Fazal Rabbi said.

There was no immediate reaction to the killings from U.S. or Pakistani officials.

The recently elected Pakistani government has supported negotiations that would give local tribes and militants broad authority over some tribal areas. The U.S. says those deals will only give Taliban and al-Qaida forces in the border region more freedom to attack Afghanistan.

A deal has not yet been reached over Bajur, but the militants are clearly able to operate freely in the area.

U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour said Friday she was concerned that the peace deals undermined state authority and left residents vulnerable to a range of human rights abuses, including extrajudicial killings.

"The government has the responsibility to ensure the protection of civilians," she told reporters in Islamabad. She did not refer specifically to the executions in the Bajur area.

Minorities and women were particularly in danger, she said.

Hours before Arbour spoke, suspected Taliban militants torched two girls schools in the Swat region, the latest in a string of attacks on the female education system in the area, police said.

The attack on the schools cast doubt on efforts to shore up the collapsing peace deal in Swat. Local government officials said talks Thursday with representatives of a pro-Taliban cleric were a success, however both sides acknowledged serious disagreements remained.

Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani met with Arbour on Friday to discuss the human rights situation in the country.

A statement released by his office did not directly address her concerns about abuses in tribal areas. However, he told her the U.S.-led war on terror had badly damaged Pakistan's economy and the country needed to take action, the statement said.

The government was talking with "the moderate elements who have laid down arms" and would resort to military force if the agreements were violated, he told her according to the statement.

He also assured Arbour he was committed to women's rights and to ensuring that girls have access to education, the statement said.

Arbour also expressed concerns about the human rights violations in the government's counterterrorism operations, including the disappearances of hundreds of people.

She also called on the ruling coalition to resolve its dispute over reinstating dozens of senior judges fired by President Pervez Musharraf last year, saying the crisis was paralyzing the government.

(From the AP)

My Library

Some views around my Library ...
Okay, so those are not views around MY library but after going through my library and cataloging everything last April it sure seemed like the photo collage above was appropriate.

Now moving the entire collection into the 5,000 square foot building that is being converted to house my library when it is completed next month may make me think the above photo collage is an underrepresentation.

A lot of people are unaware of just how heavy books can be and books are not the only thing contained in a library ... being an Archaeologist and Historian I have quite an extensive collection, not to mention the art pieces.

It will be a joy to move it all - or that's what I keep telling myself and those who are helping with the move.

The Games at Grandfather

Don't forget the Annual Highland Games and Gathering of the Clans at Grandfather Mountain is fast approaching.

It is the place to be for all Scots and Scots lovers. There are some odd Welsh and Irish running about among the Scots every year.

There have been reports of English sightings at the Games but none have been confirmed.

NUDIST CLUB GAVE THE SHIRTS OFF THEIR BACKS FOR CHARITY

Sky Farm, located in scenic Basking Ridge NJ, held their “Dare to be Bare for Breast Health” Open House on June 21, 2008 to raise money and awareness for the Avon Foundation for Breast Cancer.

Under beautiful blue skies, members and visitors enjoyed a wonderful afternoon while clothed in the sun. There was live music and a barbeque lunch. Many members and visitors went home with fabulous door prizes including a pink boxing glove autographed by former heavyweight boxing champion Larry Holmes.

Sky Farm and its members sponsored a local woman Sherri Lynn of Manville as she continues her quest to participate in all 9 Avon Walk for Breast Cancer cities.

*****

How many of you would do the same?!

Carolina Naturally is read in ...

Belfast, Ulster, Ireland
Durham, North Carolina, USA
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Yonkers, New York, USA
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Portland, Oregon, USA
Bowling Green, Kentucky, USA
Walden, New York, USA
Toledo, Ohio, USA
Heerlen, Limburg, Netherlands
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Random Photo


Somehow I think he doesn't give a twit about it ... do you?