Will a New Ground Water Replenishment System Drought Proof California?

From TreeHugger:

picture: JNovak

Visitors to Disneyland likely don't know that when they sip from Disney water fountains that the great tasting aqua treat was once streaming through a public sewer. Not to worry though. That sewer water is actually substantially cleaner and more carefully filtered than the water consumed in the average American household. Moreover, the new system providing Disney's water could be the most viable means of drought proofing a state that faces some potentially serious water issues in the coming years.

Article continues: Weighing the Water Solution, Will a New Ground Water Replenishment System Drought Proof California?

A need for a new auction site for obscure used items as an alternative to eBay?

He makes a good point ...

William Gibson:

eBay is apparently doing everything it can to discourage the kind of auction-based digital flea market it so gloriously was in its beginning. It’s becoming increasingly difficult to use, that way, and many buyers and sellers of wondrous fifth-hand hyper-specialist gomi are getting very discouraged. A market is being created, thereby, for a purpose-built all-gomi auction site, optimized for people who want (nay, need) to buy and sell, say, anonymously designed 20th-century American workwear, one piece at a time. Or, really, whatever. Used. Gomi. Junk. Clinically otaku-searchable, no fuzzy logic messing with your carefully refined strings. Micro-transactions. For dropshipping of boring new merch, there’ll always be eBay.

The business model, basically, would be what eBay was about eight years ago.

From: William Gibson

Our Founders were a wise lot

A little patience, and we shall see the reign of witches pass over, their spells dissolve, and the people, recovering their true sight, restore their government to its true principles. It is true that in the meantime we are suffering deeply in spirit, and incurring the horrors of a war and long oppressions of enormous public debt...If the game runs sometime against us at home, we must have patience till luck turns, and then we shall have an opportunity of winning back the principles we have lost, for this is a game where principles are at stake.

~ President Thomas Jefferson

We have just witnessed the end of the 'witches reign' and we are recovering our true sight and restoring our government to its true principles!

Lesson in Meaness

When you give a lesson in meanness to a critter or a person don`t be surprised if they learn their lesson.

~ Will Rogers

You better believe it ... after the last sixteen years of it from the repugicans, we know meanness.

And I Quote

For in the final analysis, our most basic common link, is that we all inhabit this small planet, we all breathe the same air, we all cherish our children`s futures, and we are all mortal.

~ President John Fitzgerald Kennedy

A Funny One

A kid at a sleep-away camp wrote home,

"Please send me some food. All they serve here are meals."

Ancient Mayan relics discovered

From Reuters:

Rare panels showing monsters, gods and serpents in an ancient creation myth are found in El Mirador, the ruined Mayan city in Guatemala.

Unearthed in Guatemala's northern jungle the panels were created around 300 BC and show scenes from the core Mayan mythology, the Popol Vuh.

The earliest written version of the Popol Vuh was discovered in the early 1700s by a Spanish colonial priest and the panels are the first known sculptural depictions of the main characters in the myth.

Chorus of outrage over millions in AIG bonuses

Leaders of the White House economic team and the Senate's top Republican bellowed about bonuses at a bailed-out insurance giant and pledged to prevent such payments in the future.

From one Sunday talk show to the next, they tore into the contracts that American International Group asserted had to be honored, to the tune of about $165 million and payable to executives by Sunday — part of a larger total payout reportedly valued at $450 million. The company has benefited from more than $170 billion in a federal rescue.

Chorus of outrage over millions in AIG bonuses

Well, do something about them and not just talk!

Northeast U.S. to suffer most from future sea level rise

The northeastern U.S. coast is likely to see the world's biggest sea level rise from man-made global warming, a new study predicts.

However much the oceans rise by the end of the century, add an extra 8 inches or so for New York, Boston and other spots along the coast from the mid-Atlantic to New England. That's because of predicted changes in ocean currents, according to a study based on computer models published online Sunday in the journal Nature Geoscience.

An extra 8 inches — on top of a possible 2 or 3 feet of sea rise globally by 2100 — is a big deal, especially when nor'easters and hurricanes hit, experts said.

Study: Northeast U.S. to suffer most from future sea level rise

Songbird

Fleetwood Mac
(live in 1997)

Teacher of the year gets pink slip

Now this is fine 'How do you do'!

If Ron Zell had a chance to go back in time and decide not to become a teacher, he wouldn't take it.

The 20-year educator, who was Santa Barbara County Teacher of the Year in 2007, feels that way even though he was tentatively laid off last week along with five other teachers in the Buellton Union School District.

Some or all of those six teachers could be re-hired for next school year if the district has enough money. That will depend largely on whether California voters approve a set of revenue-raising measures on a special election ballot in May.

Read more Santa Barbara County Teacher of the year gets pink slip.

Ten Times Worse

The oil spill fouling beaches near Brisbane and on the sunshine coast is 10 times worse than originally reported, the Queensland government revealed yesterday.

More in the Sydney Morning Herald.

Marsupials at risk if temperatures rise

Polar bears and penguins are not the only animals at risk of climate change: much of Australia's fauna, including several species of kangaroos and wallabies, may be threatened.

Read more in the Sydney Morning Herald.

The Size of Derivatives Bubble: 1.144 Quadrillion

The global derivatives market exposure is worth

$1.144 QUADRILLION.
That is $190,000 for every human being on Earth. Somehow. I don't think they are worth the hard drive space they are stored on.

Whilst outstanding derivatives are notional amounts until they are crystallised, actual exposure is measured by the net credit equivalent. This is normally a lower figure unless many variables plot a locus in the wrong direction simultaneously. This could be because of catastrophic unpredictable events, ie, "Black Swans", such as cascades of bankruptcies and nationalisations, when the net exposure can balloon and become considerably larger or indeed because some extremely dislocating geo-political or geo-physical events take place simultaneously. Also, the notional value becomes real value when either counterparty to the OTC derivative goes bankrupt. This means that no large OTC derivative house can be allowed to go broke without falling into the arms of another. Whatever funds within reason are required to rescue failing international investment banks, deposit banks and financial entities ought to be provided on a case by case basis. This is the asymmetric nature of derivatives and here lies the potential for systemic risk to the global economic system and financial markets if nothing is done.

The Size of Derivatives Bubble = $190K Per Person on Planet

Everyone remembers the post I made a few days ago showing what a trillion dollars would look like ... well a Quadrillion is 1oo trillion, trillion dollars, so imagine that trillion dollar depiction ... how many times!!!

Shrub library may not be

Shamed by the fact the shrub wants to build his 'library' at SMU, many of the faculty and neighbors surrounding the university are protesting and contesting it's placement there.

Also, no one is willing to donate to the library - even if it were great times, economically speaking ... much less in the current cesspool our economy is in due to the shrub in the first place.

Shame on SMU for even considering having the 'library' in the first place. And a coloring book with part of the pages badly drawn on does not constitute and 'library' anyway.

Snowball War

Donald Duck

And I Quote

I'd rather hear an old truth than a new lie.

~ Chris Bowyer

I'd add I'd rather not hear the old lies as well.

World's easiest quiz

(I passed by the way)

(Passing requires 4 correct answers)
1) How long did the Hundred Years War last?
2) Which country makes Panama hats?
3) From which animal do we get catgut?
4) In which month do Russians celebrate the October Revolution?
5) What is a camel's hair brush made of?
6) The Canary Islands in the Pacific are named after what animal?
7) What was King George VI's first name?
8) What color is a purple finch?
9) Where are Chinese gooseberries from?
10) What is the color of the black box in a commercial aircraft?

All done?
Check your answers below!

1) How long did the Hundred Years War last?

116 years

2) Which country makes Panama hats?

Ecuador

3) From which animal do we get catgut?

Sheep and Horses

4) In which month do Russians celebrate the October Revolution?

November

5) What is a camel's hair brush made of?

Squirrel fur

6) The Canary Islands in the Pacific are named after what animal?

Dogs

7) What was King George VI's first name?

Albert

8) What color is a purple finch?

Crimson

9) Where are Chinese gooseberries from?

New Zealand

10) What is the color of the black box in a commercial aircraft?

Orange, of course.

What do you mean you failed?

They won't let me play 'trivial pursuit' any more because I know stuff like this! 10 out of 10, can I help it if I'm smart! And that I retain every bit of data that I have ever came upon, no matter how minuet.

Our Readers

Some our readers today have been in:

Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Manchester, England, United Kingdom
Izhevsk, Udmurt, Russian Federation
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Calcutta, West Bengal, India
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Lima, Lima, Peru
Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
Leiria, Leiria, Portugal

as well as New Zealand and Belgium

Daily Horoscope

Today's horoscope says:

Connecting with others is so much easier right now in part because you are feeling much more comfortable in your own skin.

That's a good thing - always want to be comfortable.

Unusual Holidays and Celebration

Today is the Ides of March.

It is also Buzzards Day and True Confessions* Day.

(*I didn't know that old 'detective' rag my aunt used to read had a day?)