text:
"Water, water every where, Nor any drop to drink." Coleridge's words have a prophetic ring to them. We humans need water for life, we love it for leisure, we make art out of it; yet we also waste it, dirty it, privatise it, use it as a weapon and, most dangerously, stir it up brutally in the form of manmade climate change.
The recent Climate Impacts Report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is literally dripping with references to water. Shrinking glaciers, struggling marine species, reduced crop yields, increased flooding, melting Arctic sea ice, drought – the list of water-related climate issues is long. There was no new science in the report, but the language was different – it was more dramatic, especially in terms of consequences for humans.
"Impacts from recent climate-related extremes, such as heat waves, droughts, floods, cyclones, and wildfires, reveal significant vulnerability and exposure of some ecosystems and many human systems," it warned. Or, in the words of Dr Patricia Romero Lankao, one of the report authors, "the polar bear is us."
By Alexis RowellFirst published in Transition Free Press, Autumn 2013
How often have you heard people say: "There's no point in me doing anything on carbon reduction – look at China"? Or "Don't you know the Chinese are building two new coal-fired power stations a week?"
But what if China were to go it alone on cutting carbon? Would it give a boost to movements like Transition that are predicated on a move out of fossil fuels, or to grassroots carbon reduction initiatives like Carbon Conversations or Transition Streets? Would it give national governments a reason to take CO2 cuts more seriously?
By Jason Heppenstall & Alexis RowellFirst published in Transition Free Press, Summer 2013
With the coalition government ready to allow fracking companies to quite literally blow up Britain's countryside in search of a replacement for dwindling North Sea resources, the evidence from the US is increasingly that shale gas is a bubble about to burst rather than a magic bullet.
The first comprehensive study of US shale gas production, Drill Baby Drill by the Post Carbon Institute, appears to lay to rest the notion that shale gas and other unconventional fossil fuels will solve the world's energy problems.
"The best fields have already been tapped," says report author, David Hughes, "and no major new field discoveries are expected." "At best," Hughes concludes, "shale gas, tight oil, tar sands and other unconventional resources provide a temporary reprieve from having to deal with the real problems."
Dear Secretary of State, Minister of State and Parliamentary Under Secretaries at the Department of Transport,
Three years on and I'm still asking you to please reconsider your plans to build HS2.
By Antony Froggatt. First published in The Guardian.
"Two years ago today a huge tsunami devastated Japan, killing many thousands and causing one of the world's worst nuclear disasters. Japan's people will grieve for many years and they will be paying for the nuclear clean-up for many years. Yet, as negotiations over how much subsidy new nuclear power stations in the UK will get from energy customers, the financial liability of reactor operators for accidents remains tiny.
"Things were supposed to have changed following Chernobyl in 1986. The international nuclear community recognised its deficiencies and proposed reform of the governance structures in a number of areas, including international nuclear liability regimes. The definition of damage was to change, with the minimum amount utilities would have to pay in the event of an accident was to increase and the timescale in which those affected could claim damages was to lengthen.
"But 27 years after Chernobyl and two years after Fukushima, the proposed changes to the liability regimes are still to be adopted by the signatories of the international conventions. Consequently, in the UK, the current maximum that a nuclear operator is liable is still only £140m. The government is seeking to revise the maximum limit, but is waiting on the post-Chernobyl revisions to be adopted by other countries. If it is introduced, it will raise the operator's liability ultimately to £1bn.
"As of October 2012, approximately £9.4bn (1,335 bn yen) had been paid out in compensation as a result of the Fukushima accident and this is expected to double in the next year. At this stage the final cost can only be roughly estimated, but the utility company, Tepco, has suggested that cost for compensation and decontamination maybe in the order of £70bn (10 trillion yen).
By Emily E. Adams. First published by Earth Policy Institute.
"As the earth warms, glaciers and ice sheets are melting and seas are rising. Over the last century, the global average sea level rose by 17 centimeters (7 inches). This century, as waters warm and ice continues to melt, seas are projected to rise nearly 2 meters (6 feet), inundating coastal cities worldwide, such as New York, London, and Cairo. Melting sea ice, ice sheets, and mountain glaciers are a clear sign of our changing climate.
"In September 2012, sea ice in the Arctic Ocean shrank to a record low extent and volume. The region has warmed 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) since the 1960s—twice as much as lower latitudes. With less snow and ice to reflect the sun's rays and with more exposed ocean to absorb heat, a vicious cycle leads to even warmer temperatures. Thinner ice combined with rising temperatures makes it increasingly difficult for the sea ice to recover. The historically ever-present white cap at the top of the globe could disappear entirely during the summer within two decades.
"The Arctic plays a pivotal role in large-scale weather patterns. The stark contrast between cold air at the North Pole and warmer air in the temperate zone drives the jet stream over North America, Europe, and Russia. As the Arctic continues to warm faster than the rest of the globe, this contrast diminishes. This can change the path of the jet stream and slow it down, leaving weather systems in the same place for a longer time. A rainy spell that sticks around can turn into flooding, while a sunny spell can turn into a drought.
By Fred Pearce. First published in New Scientist magazine.
"As French troops battled with jihadists in Mali at the start of the year, some people had reason to be thankful for the chaos. Two million fishers, farmers and herders live on the inner delta of the River Niger, a huge wetland on the fringe of the Sahara. They hoped the fighting would end foreign investors' plans for irrigation projects that would suck water out of the river and destroy their livelihoods.
"Even before fighting broke out, rumours of impending insurrection had encouraged the food giant Associated British Foods to abandon a massive sugar cane project. Since then, "land-grabbers" from the US, Libya, China and elsewhere have departed. The Mali government's hope of using the river to irrigate up to a million hectares of desert looks doomed. The wetland – and the people who prosper from it – are saved. For now.
"But the same is not true elsewhere. Wetlands and the people who rely on them are under pressure across Africa. I have interviewed Kenyans angry at a US property tycoon draining their swamp on the shores of Lake Victoria and fencing off their wet pastures for a rice farm. I have also heard the concerns of tribal people in a remote corner of western Ethiopia, where Indian and Saudi agribusinesses are taking their forests and capturing the headwaters of the Nile.
"Usually this is called land-grabbing, but it is as much about water. In a world of drying rivers and plummeting water tables – and where a quarter of farm production is limited by water shortages – water is valuable stuff.
By Alexis Rowell. First published in Transition Free Press, Spring 2013.
If climate change was the global crisis which drew many into the Transition movement, then 2012 was the year it became almost impossible for the rest of the world to ignore the link between extreme weather events and climate change.
There was of course Hurricane Sandy, the most violent tropical storm since Katrina, which ravaged the Caribbean and the US East Coast, killing more than 250 people, and causing widespread flooding and physical damage. But 2012 was also the worst drought in the US since the dustbowl era of the 1930s. And, with 9.2m acres burnt, it was the third worst wildfire season in US history.
The United Kingdom experienced its wettest summer for 100 years and 2012 as a whole was the second wettest year since records began, just a few millimetres short of the record set in 2000. There was also extreme flooding in Australia, Thailand, Western Africa, Nigeria, Pakistan, Argentina and China, plus unusual and devastating temperature lows in Russia and Eastern Europe.
Last year thousands of people signed a petition to the then Director General of the BBC, George Entwistle, calling for better coverage of climate change on the BBC. Major problems, identified by a 2011 BBC Trust report, included too much 'false balance' between climate sceptics (like Nigel Lawson) and the scientific consensus (represented by actual climate scientists), whilst news presenters were found to be ill-equipped to cover science stories effectively.
Since then, a new Director General has taken office, and a second BBC Trust report has been produced on the subject of science and impartiality, which implied that all the problems had been solved. But on the Today programme last Wednesday morning, John Humphrys said: "The Met Office does not believe that global warming will be as severe as it had previously predicted."
That's so misleading that it's almost complete rubbish. The new modelling by the Met Office predicts near-record levels of global temperatures between 2013 and 2017, but says that these will be lower than they would have been because natural cycles will cool surface temperatures, masking the underlying warming trend. Of course, in some of the years to come, natural cycles will work the other way, exacerbating warming. Long term predictions are unaffected. And it should be noted that the Met Office is still predicting that at least two years between 2010 and 2015 will break global average temperature records.
This interview with Kevin Anderson, Deputy Director of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, was conducted by Rob Hopkins, founder of the Transition Towns movement.
Could you share with us your analysis of where you think we find ourselves in terms of climate change and what's our current trajectory if we carry on as we are?
In terms of the language around climate change, I get the impression that there's still a widely held view that we can probably hold to avoiding dangerous climate change characterised by this almost magical 2°C rise in global mean surface temperature. This is the target that we have established in Copenhagen and then re-iterated in Cancun and to which most nations of the world have now signed up to; I think the rhetoric that we should not exceed this 2°C rise is still there.
It's not just about our emissions now. If you look at the emissions we've already put out into the atmosphere since the start of this century, and you look at what's likely to be emitted over the next few years, then I think it tells a very different story. It's hard to imagine that, unless we have a radical sea-change in attitudes towards emissions, we will avoid heading towards a 6°C rise by the end of this century.
Can we for definite, in your opinion, say that this year's extreme weather can be linked to climate change?
Certainly not. I think it's fair to say that it's unlikely we will ever be able to robustly link any particular single event to climate change. Now that's not to say we can't get a greater level of attribution, where we can start to say the things that we are seeing are what we would expect to see with a warming climate. We are struggling to find any other reasons for them and therefore it does seem a high probability that these events are caused, if not exacerbated by, the rise in CO2 emissions and other greenhouse gases and hence the increase in temperature. But I think it's unlikely that we'd ever be able to say that any single event is a 'climate change event'.
But would you say that if we were still at 280 parts [of CO2] per million [parts of the atmosphere] it would be much less likely that we would have had a summer like this?
Yes, I think that would be a fair comment. It would be much less likely. Before this summer, the probability of having this summer's weather would have been less if we had not seen significant rises in greenhouse gases and their cumulative impact in the atmosphere. We are starting now to see events that it's difficult to explain in terms of normal probabilities. We get extreme weather events, we always have had such events; extremes do occur. But if extremes start to occur regularly they're no longer extremes, and what you're then seeing is not a weather extreme, you're seeing change in the climate. But it's hard to say that any particular event in a range of events is a consequence of climate change, and not just an extreme weather event.
Sometimes people talk about this idea of 'a new normal', that the basic conditions around us have changed. In terms of what's happening in terms of the climate, how would you characterise the 'new normal' that we're in given the rise we've had in emissions so far?
I think it would probably be a very short normal, I don't think this is the normal at all. It's the normal for today, but I think the rate of increase of emissions, and there is no sign at all of that rate significantly coming down, would suggest that we'll be reaching a new normal, and then another new normal, and then another new normal. I'm one of the people that concludes that we're likely to experience significant climate change impacts over the next 1,2,3 decades and obviously beyond that point. At the moment, unless we change our emissions pathways and trajectory, the normal will be changing regularly.
Scapegoat-in-Chief: The Race for the Oval Office by Richard Heinberg
The first two U.S. presidential debates have been painful to watch. Both candidates are running on platforms constructed from verbal hallucinations about the nation's past, present, and future. And the American people are being asked to choose between those hallucinations in order to select the best available scapegoat for the next four years of national economic decline.
The race is burning up billions of dollars in advertising money, yet few citizens seem genuinely excited about either candidate, with households evidently viewing the proceedings as a prime-time ritual combat in which it is the winner, rather than the loser, who will ultimately receive the fatal thumbs-down.
Most of the delusions and fantasies that pervade the debates can be grouped into three baskets: energy, the economy and climate change.
An Illustrated Guide to the Science of Global Warming Impacts by Joe Romm.
In this post, I will summarize what the recent scientific literature says are the key impacts we face in the coming decades if we stay anywhere near our current emissions path. These include:
- Staggeringly high temperature rise, especially over land — some 10°F over much of the United States.
- Permanent Dust Bowl conditions over the U.S. Southwest and many other regions around the globe that are heavily populated and/or heavily farmed.
- Sea level rise of some 1 foot by 2050, then 4 to 6 feet (or more) by 2100, rising some 6 to 12 inches (or more) each decade thereafter.
- Massive species loss on land and sea — perhaps 50% or more of all biodiversity.
- Unexpected impacts — the fearsome "unknown unknowns".
- Much more extreme weather.
- Food insecurity — the increasing difficulty of feeding 7 billion, then 8 billion, and then 9 billion people in a world with an ever-worsening climate.
- Myriad direct health impacts
Remember, these will all be happening simultaneously and getting worse decade after decade. Equally tragic, a 2009 NOAA-led study found the worst impacts would be "largely irreversible for 1000 years". [NOAA: US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration]
The single biggest failure of messaging by climate scientists (until very recently) has been the failure to explain to the public, opinion makers, and the media that business-as-usual warming results in simultaneous, ever-worsening impacts that, individually, are each beyond catastrophic, but combined are unimaginablly horrific.
For these impacts, terms like "global warming" and "climate change" are essentially euphemisms. That is why I have preferred the term "Hell and High Water."
By virtue of their success in promoting doubt and inaction, the climate science deniers and disinformers have, tragically and ironically, turned the worst-case scenario into business as usual.
Don't blame the physical markets: financialization is the root cause of oil and commodity price volatility. An article by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development on how commodity speculators have distorted and taken over food prices.
The sharp price movements of many primary commodities, including oil, have fuelled intense debate about the causes of the price hikes and possible remedies. Growing demand from large developing economies and frequent supply shocks, such as adverse weather and export bans, are generally accepted as more tangible factors that explain volatility, rather than the hundreds of billions of dollars of bets placed on expectations of temporarily rising prices. Despite a growing body of evidence on the destabilizing influences emanating from financial markets, the "real economy" explanations still dominate the debate.
It is not commonly recognized that demand from financial investors in the commodity markets has become overwhelming during the last decade. Of course, supply and demand shocks can still move commodity prices time and again. But with the volumes of exchange-traded derivatives on commodity markets now being 20 to 30 times larger than physical production, the influence of financial markets has systematically transformed these real markets into financial markets. This calls for strong and prompt policy and regulatory responses in the financial markets, rather than in the physical markets.
Global agriculture has changed more in our lifetimes than in the previous 10,000 years. But as with all change, conflicts of interest have arisen. Nowhere is this conflict more poignant than in the story of seed. A new film from the African Biodiversity Network (ABN) and the Gaia Foundation, narrated by actor Jeremy Irons, explodes pervasive myths about agriculture, development and Africa's ability to feed herself.
At the heart of the film Seeds of Freedom is the story of seed and its transformation into the property of agri-business. Africa is under growing pressure to turn to hybrid seeds, fertilisers, pesticides and Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs). Only last month, President Obama launched the New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition, which will see the combined forces of agribusiness giants Monsanto, Syngenta, Cargill, DuPont and Yara investing $3 billion into creating new markets in Africa, amidst nonsensical claims that this will solve hunger and malnutrition.
I started to take climate change seriously when I concluded that the sea ice at the North Pole was melting so fast that the Arctic would be completely ice-free during the summer months in my lifetime.(1)
"Ice doesn't vote. Ice doesn't contribute to any political party. It just melts."(2)
The quote above is from Rear Admiral David Titley, Chief Oceanographer of the US Navy. He was a climate sceptic, but the changing Arctic convinced him too.
A drip-feed of worsening environmental news stored away in the recesses of my brain became a personal tipping point back in 2005 when I read about the demise of the Arctic ice on the front page of The Independent. This was a seismic shift in my understanding of what was happening.
Suddenly I saw the need for change – by me and by human society as a whole. Not because of the polar bears – although the recent news that polar bear cubs are struggling to swim the larger distances melting sea ice implies is tragic - but because the existence of ice at the North Pole is one of the fundamentals of our world and when you start looking behind the melting ice it is clear that we are in deep trouble.
Every now and again it seems like a solution has been found to our energy problems, one that will allow us all to go on consuming (and wasting!) for decades, if not forever. For many years nuclear fusion was billed as the answer. The research began with the hydrogen bomb in the 1950s, but the timeline for rollout to the civil nuclear industry keeps getting pushed out and currently stands at 2040 at the earliest.(1)
In the 1980s Japanese scientists proved that it was theoretically possibly to extract uranium from sea water, which appeared to suggest that a key physical limit to nuclear power – the availability of uranium supplies – was no longer an issue. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately given all the other problems associated with nuclear power) nobody has actually been able to make usable uranium via this process because of the high level of carbonate in sea water.(2)
In the last few years shale gas has bubbled to the top of the pile and is now being widely touted by the oil and gas industry as: a) a clean, green alternative to coal and oil; b) proof that Peak Oil/Gas is many years off; and c) a cheaper use of government subsidies than support for renewables.(3)(4)
Those are pretty mighty claims, but do they really stack up? And even if they don't, might there be some pretty unpleasant home truths in the shale gas story?
It's probably fair to say that most of us remember growing up and that some of our best memories are about the outdoors: playing with friends in the park; going for a walk with the family; climbing a tree or that feeling you get when you're standing on top of a mountain. Remembering those experiences is not just sentimentalism for a time when we were young or had more freedom to explore. Those experiences and a continued relationship with nature were and are essential for our development and wellbeing.
As David Cameron recently wrote in an essay 'In praise of general well-being': "Central to our wellbeing is environmental sustainability. I believe very strongly, that clean, green environment is absolutely pivotal to our quality of life. I am in no doubt how important it is that we pass this inheritance on to future generations".(1)
There is an increasing basis of scientific evidence that shows the value of nature to enhance and improve our levels of wellbeing and happiness. This is not an argument about protecting and preserving the environment, but a framework of evidence which underlines how access to a rich natural environment improves the health and quality of our lives. The implications for policy are that bringing the provision of outdoor space for the enjoyment of everyone, should be at the heart of urban and rural planning, not be set aside in a box labelled "green issues". Bluntly, access to a high quality natural environment needs to be seen as a social and public health issue not an environmental issue.
This will be "the greenest government ever" said David Cameron exactly a year ago. The bar set by the previous Labour government was low. Incredibly, even with the supposedly eco-friendly Liberal Democrats in government, it looks like this coalition will go under that bar.
Environmentalist Jonathan Porritt says of the 77 measures he's reviewed for Friends of the Earth: "the bad and the positively ugly indisputably outweigh the good." And adds that: "All in all, [it is] as close to a nightmare as one can imagine."(1)
The Guardian's environmental commentator George Monbiot argues that, based on the coalition's Red Tape Challenge, which puts at risk every environmental protection law we have: "The "greenest government ever" presents the greatest ever threat to our environment."(2)
Sustainable food expert Prof. Tim Lang says: "I am not alone in being extremely frustrated at the coalition dropping the work that began to emerge under the last government. Goodness knows, it took a long time to get going. It was painfully slow but at least it got going. The Cabinet Office's Food Matters (2008) led to Defra's Food 2030 (2010) and implementation plans were underway only to be parked as the 'bonfire of the quangos' (SDC included) took over."(3)
It's almost impossible to find an academic, a commentator or an environmentalist who is positive about the coalition's environmental record. Which is hardly surprising given what's happening.
It was quite extraordinary and utterly surreal to hear the Chairman of the Climate Change Committee, Lord Adair Turner, on the radio this morning fantasising about nuclear power being a low cost option.(1)
A 2009 Citigroup report said "We see very little prospect of [civil nuclear] construction costs falling and every likelihood of them rising further" and "three of the risks faced by developers - construction, power price, and operational - are so large and variable that individually they could each bring even the largest utility company to its knees financially."(2)
Earlier this year the European Commissioner for Climate Action, Connie Hedegaard, confirmed that nuclear power was more expensive than offshore wind.(3)
The Fukushima nuclear accident has now been upgraded to level 7 in terms of severity, the same as Chernobyl, and the evacuation zone around the stricken plant has been widened to 40km. Not only is nuclear power not safe (see herehere for Dr Helen Caldicott's response to George Monbiot's hysterical conversion to nuclear power), it's not green, it's too expensive, it crowds out renewables investment, it won't come in time, it can only be an interim solution, it will only provide a tiny fraction of our energy needs, it won't reduce our carbon emissions significantly, it's too centralised, the waste can't be made safe, and the industry has an appalling track record of lies and cover ups.
If the forthcoming review of the UK nuclear industry concludes that new nuclear should go ahead over here because: a) we don't have, nor are planning to build, any reactors of the same design as Fukushima; or b) we don't suffer from the sort of seismic activity that Japan does, then that will be a complete whitewash.
There are perfectly good non-nuclear solutions to the climate and energy crises but they all require a lot more intervention than the coalition government seems prepared to contemplate. They are: 1) energy efficiency; 2) renewables; and 3) demand management.
It's great to see another book out there which looks at the myriad ways that local government can take action on the sustainability agenda. But what's particularly good about this one - "Sustainability in austerity" by Philip Monaghan – is that it addresses the fundamental question which is on the lips of most in local government: can you spend money on sustainability in a time of draconian public sector budget cuts?
I'm glad to see that Philip's answer is, like mine, an unambiguous and hearty "yes". His book is packed with examples from around the world of local government policies that have had an impact on carbon emissions or sustainability more generally, but which have been cost neutral in the short or medium term.
Last week's Budget was a wasted opportunity from the man who said in 2009, "if I become Chancellor the Treasury will become a green ally not a foe."(1) Indeed it made it even less likely that the coalition government would be the "greenest government ever" as David Cameron pledged on day two of his administration.(2)
George Osborne's fancy footwork over petrol prices and oil company taxes did nothing to combat climate change and prepare the UK for peak oil. The so-called "fair fuel stabiliser" is a simply a sop to drivers. When global oil prices are high, as they are now, fuel duty will be lowered, with the loss of revenue compensated for by extra tax on profits for companies producing UK North Sea oil and gas. A UK carbon floor price of £16 per tonne starting in April 2013 was announced. But the carbon price in the EU Emissions Trading Scheme rate is already £17/tonne so the proposed UK floor price is meaningless. The floor price is supposed to rise to £30/tonne in 2020, but it would be far more sensible if it rose steadily year on year. The money earned from the carbon floor price will pay off public debt rather than being invested in renewables infrastructure. Scandalously, if it does ever come in, the existing nuclear power operators would make windfall gains on their supposedly carbon-free electricity. So not a great plan all in all.
The Green Investment Bank will start in 2012, but won't be able to borrow until 2015 and then only if the public debt has gone down. Until then it's just a £3bn fund. Nice, but not a Green Investment Bank. At the same time no serious attempt to rein in the conventional banks was announced in the Budget. To put the Green Investment Bank/Fund into perspective, Barclays paid its investment bankers £3.5bn in bonuses for their work in 2010.(3)
The previous government's commitment to zero carbon homes by 2016 is being watered down to a carbon emissions reduction target of 67%. That will make it harder for innovative councils like Milton Keynes who have been seeking planning gain contributions from those developers who fail to hit zero carbon.
The current plan for High Speed Two (HS2), a new railway line from London to the north, is predicated on the idea that it will shift passengers from planes to trains and will therefore produce a reduction in carbon emissions. But it's hard to see how that's likely to happen.
The first thing to say is that, operationally, high speed rail can never be low energy, but it can be low carbon if the electricity used to run it comes from renewable sources. However, based on the government's current plans, renewables are highly unlikely to supply the majority of the UK's power by the time the first part of the line is open in 2025. In other words, whatever else happens in terms of passengers switching from planes to trains, HS2 will be relatively high carbon and very high energy for decades to come.
Nuclear has always been an expensive white elephant. UK taxpayers currently subsidise nuclear directly to the tune of more than £1bn per year. But the indirect subsidies such as decommissioning and insurance are far greater.
The cost of decommissioning old nuclear in the UK is now estimated to be at least £73bn. Surely therefore that anyone wishing to provide new nuclear should have to put that sort of sum into an up-front clean-up fund? But of course they won't. They can't possibly afford to.
If there's a nuclear accident in the UK, then who will pay? An insurance company? Not a hope. Existing UK reactors are insured to the tune of £140m each, which the government is talking about increasing to £1.2bn, but that's still nothing like enough to cover a serious accident like Fukushima or Three Mile Island or Chernobyl.
Nuclear power is uninsurable. It's too risky and the potential payouts are too big. The government, meaning the UK taxpayer, will have to pay as we did to bail out the banks. The free market will never bear the true costs of nuclear.
A report published by the US Union of Concerned Scientists last month said nuclear power had never operated in the United States without public subsidies. The existence of an Office of Nuclear Development at the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) makes a mockery of Chris Huhne's claim that no public money will be spent on new nuclear.
At last there's been some movement on the UK Sustainability Communities Act. This innovative law was designed to help local people to protect or create truly localised and sustainable communities by unblocking obstacles at central government level . It establishes the right for local people and councils to submit proposals for government action. Government is then required not just to consult, but to try to reach agreement on the implementation of those proposals.
When the campaign to introduce the Act began there was strong opposition from the government. A group called Local Works began organising constituency public meetings with local MPs in support of the Act. Local Works National Coordinator, Steve Shaw, takes up the story: "Turnouts averaged between 150 and 200 people, with some meetings attracting 500. MPs were astonished and murmurs rippled through Parliament. When the Act became law in 2007, it did so with full support from all the political parties in Parliament. This was a great success and a victory for grass-roots citizen action."
Last week we visited a Victorian property in Hornsey, North London, which had been refurbished to reduce its energy and carbon use by 80%. The house is owned by Metropolitan Housing Association and was retrofitted by Anne Thorne Architects. Three thoughts occurred to us based on what we saw:
1) Time to address the tension between sustainability and conservation
We need some form of national intervention to move the bar towards what we might call "heritage-friendly sustainability". Planning departments all over the country are refusing to allow the sort of external, rear wall insulation that we saw at the Hornsey house and much credit is due to Haringey Council for allowing this one. External insulation is easier and cheaper to install, and is more effective in terms of preventing heat loss or rainwater penetration. There needs to be some national guidance that moves us forward on these issues.
Perhaps the most astonishing thing about Cancun was how little was expected to come out of it. The bar for success was low and the outcome barely achieved the little that was hoped for. Friends of the Earth called it: "a weak and ineffective agreement but at least a small and fragile lifeline for continued negotiations." In short it revived faith in the UN process – just about.
But there was no agreement on legally binding cuts to keep global warming to under 2°C. The voluntary cuts on the table amount to playing Russian roulette with the planet's climate.
There's to be a Global Climate Fund to provide developing countries with money to tackle climate change, but the pledges of finance are a long way from what's needed. It also feels like madness that the World Bank, one of the largest lenders for fossil fuel projects in the world, should have been given a role as trustee of the Fund. That's a bit like giving your grandmother to the wolf!
The Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, Chris Huhne, has described the Passivhaus comfort and energy efficiency standard as "a watershed moment in our relationship with the built environment" and said he "would like to see every new home in the UK reach the standard." Mr Huhne was speaking at the first ever UK conference devoted entirely to discussion about the Passivhaus standard, which which was held at Islington Town Hall on Monday 11th October.
"It would be an enormous relief if the recent attacks on the science of global warming actually indicated that we do not face an unimaginable calamity requiring large-scale, preventive measures to protect human civilization as we know it.
"Of course, we would still need to deal with the national security risks of our growing dependence on a global oil market dominated by dwindling reserves in the most unstable region of the world, and the economic risks of sending hundreds of billions of dollars a year overseas in return for that oil. And we would still trail China in the race to develop smart grids, fast trains, solar power, wind, geothermal and other renewable sources of energy — the most important sources of new jobs in the 21st century.
This list of UK climate scientists backing the underlying science of manmade climate change is impressive. And this piece by Dr Vicky Pope at the Met Office which was published in The Times is worth reading:
"For Britain's climate science community, the past few months have come as a profound shock. First we had the so-called "climategate" scandal, where e-mails leaked from the University of East Anglia (UEA) showed apparent attempts to thwart Freedom of Information requests.
"More recently we have had a series of reports suggesting that "key" sections of assessments of climate change science by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) were in error.
The Liberal Democrat shadow Climate Change and Energy Secretary, Simon Hughes MP, this week vowed to become the first politician to live in a Passivhaus home so energy efficient it wouldn't need central heating. Mr Hughes, who was speaking before a packed audience of planners, building control officers and architects at the inaugural Camden and Islington Passivhaus conference*, called on councils to introduce the Passivhaus standard into their planning rules.
download the conference presentations here
This story is really quite worrying. According to Professor Igor Semiletov, who leads the International Siberian Shelf Study (ISSS) at the University of Alaska, methane leakage from the Arctic seabed appears to have dramatically increased.
Semiletov's team told the BBC they had recorded methane levels in the atmosphere around the region 100 times higher than normal background levels, and in some cases 1,000 times higher. Methane is 23 times more potent than CO2 as a greenhouse gas in the atmosphere, but 33 times if you include its indirect effect on tropospheric ozone and stratospheric water vapour. The Arctic methane was formerly trapped in water ice (methane hydrates), but global warming, which is far stronger at the poles than elsewhere, is causing it to melt.
A number of people have tried to suggest that this week's snowy weather is proof that global warming is a myth. The Conservative MP Ann Winterton was rightly jeered when she said this in the House of Commons. She's quite wrong, as are those at the other end of the belief spectrum who claim the cold snap is evidence that the Gulf Stream has suddenly stopped.
It's not a literary masterpiece nor is it easy to read, but might it be the most important book ever written? Dr James Hansen, the NASA scientist who has done so much over the last 30 years to try to warn a sceptical United States about global warming, attempts to explain why most climate predictions are understatements.
Here are four key thoughts from "Storms of my grandchildren"...
The Copenhagen Diagnosis is a report which was published to coincide with the UN Climate Change Conference in December 2009. It is aimed at providing policymakers with a synthesis of the latest climate science published since the last report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The report serves as an interim evaluation of the evolving science midway through an IPCC cycle. The last IPCC report was published in 2007 and the next one is due in 2013. The Copenhagen Diagnosis was written by 26 authors, many of whom were lead authors of chapters in the 2007 IPCC report.
See here for the most significant recent findings:
Copenhagen was a catastrophic fiasco. Here's why:
- The US refused to accept responsibility for its historic emissions which amount to more than 25% of all the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere
- The host nation Denmark tried to bounce developing nations into dropping the Kyoto Protocol, under which the developed countries still have emissions reductions commitments
- Denmark was also caught trying to pull together a secret deal struck with only a few rich countries
- The EU failed to lead from the front by offering to increase its emissions reduction target (from 20% to 30%) and is still only offering about half of what scientists say we need by 2020 (a 40% reduction on pre-industrial levels)
- A leaked UN analysis showed that developing countries were offering higher emissions cuts than developed countries
- The money offered to developing countries was woefully inadequate and turned out to be mostly already promised funds or loans
- The rich countries were quick to blame China for the impasse but unwilling to take adequate responsibility for the mess that they have caused
- Barack Obama flew in to universal acclaim but offered nothing new to break the logjam and flew out before the end saying a successful deal had been reached when it hadn't and still hasn't
One of the most important climate change campaigners in the US, Dr James Hansen of NASA, was in London this week for an Environment Agency conference. It was a privilege to hear him speak because he's been the only significant voice in a public position in the US speaking out about climate change over the last eight years. The Bush Administration and NASA both tried to shut him up, but he refused to stay silent.
Two years ago Dr Hansen said: "We have at most 10 years - not 10 years to decide upon action, but 10 years to alter fundamentally the trajectory of global greenhouse emissions." He now believes we have to have to reduce the level of CO2 in the atmosphere to under 350 parts per million. The problem is we're at 385ppm at the moment and rising by 2ppm a year.
Most people now realise that the challenge in terms of housing stock and carbon emissions is not the new buildings but the old ones. 80-90% of our homes will still be standing in 2050. We therefore have to retro-fit them with energy efficiency and energy generation measures if we are to have any chance of hitting the government's new national 80% emissions reduction target. Local authorities have the ability to provide a solution so long as they concentrate not on eco bling like solar panels but on the boring stuff like insulation and double glazing.
At last there is a real debate in high places about how we need to eat less meat to reduce carbon emissions. The highly respected Chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Dr Rajendra Pachauri, has now pitched in saying: "meat production accounts for about 18% of the world' s total greenhouse emissions so among options for mitigating climate change changing diets is something one should consider."
It's good to see that Gordon Brown has apparently ruled out direct cash help for fuel bills and will instead concentrate on energy efficiency measures for homes which is by far the more sustainable solution. But there is another answer - tax energy profligacy not profits.
cuttingthecarbon on the internet
If life gives you lemons...
Transition Free Press - Autumn 2013
1 September 2013
Coffee grounds are gourmet fungi gold
Transition Free Press - Summer 2013
1 May 2013
Green Party & Transition Towns: same aims, different means
The Green European Journal
28 September 2012
Bristol Pound held up at the Bank
Transition Free Press - Preview Edition - June 2012
1 June 2012
Fracking - a tale of gas, greed and global warming
Energy Bulletin
4 July 2011
Actions speak louder than distant targets
The Observer
22 May 2011
The greenest government ever?
12 May 2011
Osborne's greenwash won't wash
Left Foot Forward
28 March 2011
The green alternatives to nuclear
16 March 2011
Another rod to beat the nuclear industry
A letter in The Guardian
15 March 2011
Ten reasons why new nuclear was a mistake - even before Fukushima
Energy Bulletin (reprinted from Transition Culture)
15 March 2011
Keeping sustainability at the top of the local government agenda
The Guardian Local Government Network
21 January 2011
Copenhagen was no Xmas present to our children or to the planet so what now?
A letter in The Guardian
2 January 2010
Three strikes and we're out
International Herald Tribune
22 June 2008
See cuttingthecarbon founder, Alexis Rowell, on video:
Food growing in Camden (March 2009)...
environmental news from The Guardian...
news from the Energy Bulletin...
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environmental news from the ENDS Report...


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Austrian energy company OMV on Tuesday named Peter Oswald, head of packaging group Mondi's Europe and International business , as the new chairman of its supervisory board.
The 52-year-old, a member of the presiding committee of Austria's industrials body and former board member at Telekom Austria, replaces Rudolf Kemler.
Former European Central Bank official Getrude Tumpel-Gugerell will also join OMV's board.
Reforms this year tightened the government's grip on companies such as OMV as part of an overhaul of how state-held stakes are managed through its holding company OBIB, which owns 31.5 percent of OMV.
Kemler is also leaving his post this year as head of OBIB, which was formerly known as OIAG.
Abu Dhabi's IPIC owns about a quarter of OMV.

subset: commoncrawl


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MIAMI – St. Andrew's quest for its third boys water polo state championship in the past four years ended in the semifinals Saturday.
The Scots couldn't score the tying goal despite several chances in the final five minutes, and lost to Miami-Belen Jesuit 10-9. All six of their losses this season came by one goal. Xander Cohen and Evan Musa scored three times each and John Margas was solid again in goal to lead the Scots (19-6), the state champs in 2010 and 2011.
"We went out there fighting," Musa said. "Obviously, we wanted to win it, and I'm upset. I'm going to miss our seniors. It was a great game and [Belen Jesuit] definitely brought their game today, came guns out. ...I don't think there was really much of a difference [between the teams]. It just came down to who wanted it more. I guess we didn't want it enough."
The teams took turns seizing the lead. After Tristian O'Connell pulled St. Andrew's even late in the third period, Musa scored 26 seconds into the fourth for a 9-8 lead. But Belen Jesuit answered with a goal nine seconds later, and Herzen Cortes scored the eventual winner for Jesuit with 5:01 left.
"When you lose by a goal, it's anybody's game," said St. Andrew's coach Kurt Predmore. "Hats off to Belen. They just played phenomenal."
Predmore used the same word to describe the four-year run by his seniors, three of whom -- Cohen, Quinn Cassidy, Landy Lopez – scored Saturday.
"I couldn't be any more proud of the seniors pulling together this season," Predmore said. "They played together. It was just a tremendous season. Sorry it's over."
Said Musa: "We were waiting for this moment to make it to the state finals. We just couldn't make it, but it was a great season."


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"This place keeps me sane and reminds me what good Latin home-cooking tastes like."
- Andre Alexander
"I order from here on a regular basis. Food is consistently excellent. Ropa is stewed for hours, sauce is rich, goes well over rice with either red or black beans. Very economical and the staff is friendly. Meals come out quick. Smoothies are delicious and inexpensive."
- Preston Talley
"Delicious food, reasonable prices, good service, very clean and nice atmosphere. I would recommend this place to everyone!"
- Gloria Fuerte
"Love the food here, best Cuban/Latin food in town by a long shot. The staff is attentive and friendly, and they have a great selection of latin soft drinks as well...I love Inca Cola!"
- Donny West
"Cheap food, and usually enough for leftovers. My roommate enjoys the palomino steak, personally I go for the Arroz con pollo."
- Avery Segal
"My new favorite place to get Cuban coffee. Menu has a variety of good food!"
- Rochelle Perry
"Great food. Even better prices. Fantastic serving size. This is always my go-to food place!"
- Anastasia Rivera


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There's nothing like a well-designed backsplash to liven up your kitchen.
Believe it or not, even on a tight budget, it's an upgrade you can easily do on your own.
Whether you're using whole tiles, mosaic sheets, or any other tile variety, tile installation always follows the same steps.
We recommend ordering 10 percent more tile than you need to account for cutting, breakage, and other unexpected needs.
Here's what you'll need to install your backsplash: A level, tape measure, utility knife, notched trowel (specific for the type of tile you're installing) tile cutter, tile nipper, rubber mallet, grout sponge,rubber grout floats, a drill, mixing paddle, bucket for mixing thin-set and bucket for mixing grout.
You'll also need wall tile, tile adhesive, grout, caulk, pencil, tile spacers if needed, masking or painter's tape, cardboard, or drop cloths and grout sealer.
When taking on this D.I.Y. task, be sure to equip yourself with the proper safety gear.
Throughout the video, we'll alert you regarding when you should and should not use the safety gear.
Step 1: Prepare area Before you begin, turn off the power connected to the area where you'll be working.
Since tiling's a messy job, it's important to take the proper precautions to keep your space,and your belongings, clean.
Be sure to completely clear off your counter, then cover it with card board or drop cloth.
Remove all outlet covers and cover them with masking or painter stape.
Tape off counter and cabinet edges, and touch up any dents or cracks on the wall.
In order for your tile adhesive to adhere properly, wipe down the wall with water and a mild cleaner.
Step 2: Plan layout Planning your layout is one of the most important steps to creating a great-looking backsplash.
We recommend starting at a focal point, such as the center of the backsplash area.
Step 3: Determine midpoint Use a tape measure to determine the center of your backsplash area.
Using a level and pencil, mark the midpoint with a vertical reference line on the wall.
Starting at this point, position your tiles along the counter to check their placement.
If an end piece is too small, adjust your midpoint to allow for larger end pieces.
Step 4: Confirm counter is level Before installing backsplash, you'll need to ensure your counter is level.
To do this,run a level along your counter to find the lowest point.
Mark a point two tiles or a sheet up from this low point, leaving one-eighth of an inch at the bottom for caulk.
Mark alevel line with a pencil across the entire work area.
Step 5: Apply Adhesive Use a notched trowel to evenly apply tile adhesive to the area beneath the horizontal reference line.
Using the notched edge, hold the trowel at a 45-degree angle to create horizontal ridges.
Work in small sections to install the tile before the adhesive dries.
If the adhesive dries before you're able to place the tile, remove it and apply a newcoat.
Since you'll be positioning your tiles next to the reference line, be sure it stays visible.
Step 6: Place tiles With a slight twisting motion, press tiles into the adhesive, making sure to leave room at the bottom of the tile for caulk.
If your tiles aren't self-spacing, use plastic spacers to maintain even grout lines.
Step 7: Install row Continue placing tiles along your reference line.
If your countertop is uneven, you may need to cut tiles that are too tight.
Trim any tiles as needed with a wet tile saw.
For smaller cuts, use tile nippers.
Step 8: Small areas If you need to install tiles in a small area where a trowel won't fit, you'll need to do something called back buttering.
To do this, apply adhesive to the back of your tiles, using the notched edge of the trowel to create ridges on your adhesive as you apply it.
Step 9: Secure tiles To ensure tiles are even and secure, use a rubber grout float to lightly press the tiles into the adhesive, paying special attention to areas that may not be completely flat.
Wipe away any adhesive on the front of the tiles, and check for areas where adhesive may be filling the grooves.
In order to have enough room for your grout, wipe away any excess adhesive in the cracks.
Step 10: Apply grout If you used spacers, remove them from your tile and wipe the backsplash with a damp sponge.
Mix the grout in a bucket according to manufacturer instructions, and apply diagonally agains tthe grout lines with a rubber grout float.
Wait 10 minutes, then wipe the tile with a damp sponge.
You may need to do this several times.
Be sure to use clean water each time.
Step 11: Clean & seal A gray film called a grout haze may form over the tile as it dries.
To remove grout haze,simply wipe with a damp sponge after your grout has set.
Let the grout set for a few days to ensure it's completely dry before sealing.
Once dry, use caulk to fill edges along the countertop,then apply grout sealer.
Once your sealer has dried per manufacturer instructions, your project is complete.
Revel in your beautiful new backsplash!


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- Jichinsai
- The 'ground purification ceremony' held for virtually every new private or public building in Japan. It used to have both Buddhist and Shinto-type forms but is nowadays normally conducted by a Shinto priest for the owners and the construction firm. Once levelled, the site is marked out as a temporary shrine (himorogi) with shimenawa, sakaki branches etc. and then purified in a ritual which appeases the kami of the land and local spirits, calls on their protection for the future occupants and cleanses the site of any undesirable influences. Also called ji-matsuri and toko-shizume-no-matsuri, it is probably derived from Taoism. While few Japanese would see participation in jichinsai as involving religious commitment of any kind and the ceremony does not involve named or enshrined kami, like goshi and the Yasukuni Shrine question jichinsai has been the focus of postwar legal and constitutional controversy when the ceremony has been carried out in relation to public buildings. Citizens of Tsu city in Mie prefecture took legal action against their mayor in 1965, arguing that in paying Shinto priests to perform a jichinsai for a new public gymnasium he had contravened Article 89 of the Constitution which prohibits the use of public funds for religious purposes. This well-publicised action reached the Supreme Court but was ultimately unsuccessful, with possible future implications for the constitutional status of Shinto as a religion.
A Popular Dictionary of Shinto. Brian Bocking.


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Below is our collection of tidbits, odds 'n ends for Fishhook.
We have found 2 communities that share the name Fishhook.
Within Alaska, there is just one other community named Fishhook. Using our Gazetteer, we have found another 1 communities in the United States - with 2 of those located in the United States.
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What is JotForm?
JotForm is a free online form builder which helps you create online forms without writing a single line of code. No sign-up required.
At JotForm, we want to make sure that you're getting the online form builder help that you need. Our friendly customer support team is available 24/7.
We believe that if one user has a question, there could be more users who may have the same question. This is why many of our support forum threads are public and available to be searched and viewed. If you'd like help immediately, feel free to search for a similar question, or submit your question or concern.
JotForm Support
Hello TonerCarAOLcom,
I am not sure how it was in 2010 but we do not have "Setup & Share" tab anymore. We do have "Setup & Embed" tab in the editor toolbar. Please check the screenshot below:
We did have several changes in the last few years. Are you looking for any specific feature? Do get back to us and we will surely help you.
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text:
Long Term Follow-up of Bone Mineral Density in Hormone Treated Turner Syndrome
The recruitment status of this study is unknown. The completion date has passed and the status has not been verified in more than two years.
Verified February 2008 by University of Aarhus.
Recruitment status was: Active, not recruiting
Recruitment status was: Active, not recruiting
University of Aarhus
Information provided by:
University of Aarhus
ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier:
First received: February 19, 2008
Last updated: NA
Last verified: February 2008
History: No changes posted
- Full Text View
- Tabular View
- No Study Results Posted
- Disclaimer
- How to Read a Study Record
No Study Results Posted on ClinicalTrials.gov for this Study
|Study Status:
|This study is ongoing, but not recruiting participants.
|Estimated Study Completion Date:
|June 2010
|Primary Completion Date:
|October 1996 (Final data collection date for primary outcome measure)


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Caring for kids after foster care
WILLMAR -- When Crystal Rader was 13 years old, she was put in her first out-of-home placement in Kandiyohi County.
Bad choices and poor behavior had Rader stuck in a revolving door going in and out of different group homes, foster care homes, shelter houses and secure facilities.
When the petite, dark-haired Rader was 18 years old and no longer eligible to receive foster care, she found herself living in an unsafe environment, drinking and using drugs and not enrolled in college.
Intervention by county social workers, however, put Rader in the Search program, provided by Lutheran Social Service as part of its contract with the county.
The program teaches independent living skills for youth ages 16 to 21. The weekly group meetings also reinforce learning, leadership and team-building skills.
As she stood before the Kandi-yohi County Commissioners this week, Rader said the program has helped her work through a long list of issues like anger management, staying sober, finding a job, transportation and housing and money management and living skills.
Rader, who is now 20, is attending school at Ridgewater College, volunteers in a kindergarten classroom in a local elementary school and is "making a better life for myself."
When asked later where she would be now without that help, Rader said "in jail or on the streets."
Rader's story is an example of why many youth need support after foster care goes away, said Angie Mateski, Lutheran Social Service youth transition coordinator.
Legally, foster parents have no obligation to continue to provide support to youth once they turn 18, she said. Many youth, however, are not able to navigate the challenges of living on their own after leaving foster care.
Often, kids who have graduated from foster care end up homeless, Mateski said.
"According to the most recent statistics from Wilder Research, 64 percent of Minnesota's unaccompanied homeless youth under age 21 have a history of out-of-home placement," Mateski said.
Programs offered through Lutheran Social Service in concert with Kandiyohi County Family Services -- such as their street outreach program, community teen moms program, youth leadership council and housing programs -- have helped youth and young adults live independently after foster care ends, she said.
Last month Lutheran Social Service helped six youth obtain temporary housing and basic needs through its Street Outreach Program, which Mateski said was a "dramatic increase" from previous numbers.
Federal stimulus funding helped Lutheran Social Service provide financial assistance and case management for 64 youth through its housing programs during the last two years.
"This has made a huge dent in our waiting lists and the homeless youth population in our county," she said.
When that funding ends in September, however, the housing program capacity will shrink to 26, said Mateski. "This will leave us with waiting lists of 20 to 30 young people at any given time."
Kathy Nelson, family services supervisor, said new federal mandates that went into effect in August require counties to now offer full foster care benefits to young adults until they reach age 21. The purpose of the increased requirements is to prevent homelessness for youth after they leave foster care, she said.
In Kandiyohi County, three to five youth graduate from foster care each year that could be eligible to receive foster care benefits, including $750 in monthly maintenance payments.
The law contains specific requirements for social workers, but Nelson said there are "gray areas" in how the law is interpreted for some cases. For example, foster care after 18 could be defined as a dorm room.
Just because the county is required to offer the services to age 21, it doesn't mean the help will be accepted. Eligible youth may not want to continue with any kind of foster care services after they turn 18, including regular court appearances on their part, and can opt out.
So far, said Nelson, none of the youth who have aged out of foster care have accepted the additional services.
"A lot of our kids, at 18, don't want to remain in foster care. They just want to be done," she said. But some will need -- and want -- the extra services. "We don't know how this will play out."
Rader, who is not receiving foster care benefits but is enrolled in Lutheran Social Service programs funded by the county, admits accepting help isn't easy, even though she knows without it she would be worse off. She knows she will need that help to stay in school and stay sober.
Rader was congratulated for her six months of sobriety by Commissioner Jim Butterfield who said he will celebrate 31 years of sobriety in July. "So it can be done," he said.


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Ministry of Justice has proposed eight witnesses to testify against the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, when his trial on 13 counts of false assets declaration before the Code of Conduct Tribunal resumes.
A top secret list has shown eight proposed witnesses who were said to have been involved in the investigation of the four forms in which Saraki had allegedly made false declaration of his assets between 2003 and 2011 during his two terms as governor.
The list of witnesses has now been filed along with charges instituted against Saraki.
The document bears the signature of a then-Deputy Director of the Federal Ministry of Justice, Muslim Hassan (now a judge of the Federal High Court), who had also signed the charges.
The trial of the Senate President is expected to commence any next week following Friday's judgement of the Supreme Court affirming the validity of the charges against him and the jurisdiction of the CCT.
Following the apex court's judgement, the Danladi Umar-led tribunal is expected to issue a hearing notice to parties to enable the prosecution, led by Rotimi Jacobs (SAN), to open its case against Saraki.
Those listed by the prosecution to testify against him are:
Yahaya Bello, Michael Wetkas, Mustapha Abubakar Musa, Nura Ali Bako, Adamu Garba, Samuel Madojemu, Abdulrahaman Bayo Dauda and Nwachukwu Amazu.
Some of the witnesses were said to be detectives who secretly investigated Saraki without him knowing.
Saraki, who was said to have submitted four assets declaration forms which were investigated by the CCB, was found to have "corruptly acquired many properties while in office as Governor of Kwara State but failed to declare some of them in the said forms earlier filled and submitted."
He also allegedly made an anticipatory declaration of assets upon his assumption of office as governor, which he later acquired. Just imagine that!
He is also accused of sending money abroad for the purchase of property in streak of property in London.
Saraki initially refused to appear before the tribunal prompting it to issue a warrant for his arrest.


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The Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT)was found in 1944. This school has been around for 69 years,and when this school first opened, there were around 100 students and it was located on the top two floors of the High School of Needle Trades, the school is also public. This school is a college of Art, Business, Design, and Technology connected to the fashion industry. This is college is ranked as one of the top five fashion schools in the world.
The year 1959, was when the school got it's official home- a nine story building on Seventh Avenue. FIT is located on West 27th street between Seventh and Eighth Avenues in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. It takes 41.1 miles to get to FIT from Stamford which is about 56 minutes. This is an Urban campus that was built for 1,200 students, by the time 1963 came around, there were about 4,000 students. To this day there are around 10,000 students attending this school.
FIT is responsible for as much as 6,400 undergraduate students and 112 graduates. The ratio is 1:17 and there is a estimated percent that 85% of females and 15% are males that have attended. The percentage of Blacks/African American 8.76%, White/Caucasian 46.84%, Asian 10.06%, 2 or more races 3.19%, Hispanic/Latino 15.4%, American Indian or Alaska Native .09%, and last Native Hawaiian /Pacific Islander .4% are the races that have attened (majority of them are estimates).
There are 60 student clubs available and there is also community service opportunities, and last there are 8 different major sports to choose from.All of the unisex sports include Cross Country/Half Marathon, Dance Company, Table Tennis, and Track and Field. For females only they also have soccer and volleyball. The most recent acceptance rate recorded in 2010 is 43%.Over the last year over 4,000 students applied for this school and approximately 1,400 were accepted. Come to find out, only 850 of the admitted students actually enrolled for the coming Fall semester.
The estimated price for in state is $18,516 and the out of state is around $26,464 (which includes everything; tuition, on campus room and board, books, and fees). I really enjoyed finding out more information then I expected about my dream school. I really love all of the activites and sports that's available at the school. I really feel as if there are many students that are qualified to stay there, but they might not try as hard as they think. I say this because if they did then there graduating percentage would not be as low. Even though there is a low rate in graduated students I feel that the school is still a great school for what ever students that are willing to go there and are determined to get there work done, and graduate. I still would say that this is still my top school that I would want to go to.
King George the 2nd of England founded Columbia University. Columbia is only 259 years old. Columbia is located in New York, NY. Columbia is a though school to get in because it is a private school. In the winter the climate is harsh in New York, but in the summer I get a little warm. Columbia is not that for from here. Its only 40.7 miles so its not a long ride if your from Connecticut. Undergraduate enrollment is approximately 4,500 in Columbia College and 1,500 in The Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science. Columbia is approximately 51% male and 49% female between the two undergraduate schools. Columbia undergraduate students are guaranteed housing for all four years. Nearly all undergraduates live on campus all four years.
Columbia University competes at the NCAA Division I level (Division I-AA for football) as a member of the Ivy League. Columbia sponsors varsity teams in 31 intercollegiate sports in addition to many intercollegiate club and intramural teams as well. My opinion on this collage is that it is convenient because it is close to where I live. The dislikes on this college is that it is a private school. My overall thought about Columbia university is that it's a good school.
Syracuse University was founded in 1870. It's 143 years old and is known for the physical sciences and modern languages.
Syracuse University is located in South Crouse Avenue Syracuse, NY and is about 261 miles. Syracuse is a private school that has about 14,000 undergraduate students, has about 4,600 graduate students, has a 44:56 male to female ratio, and has over 300 clubs and organizations. Minority students represent 25.1 percent of the total student population of 21,029. This is 7.6 percent African Americans, 6.9 percent Asian Americans, 8 percent Hispanics, 0.6 percent Native Americans, and 2.0 percent of two or more races. The full-time undergraduate tuition is $37,610 per year plus housing, meals, and expenses. It has many sports in division 1 and 1a.
Syracuse University is has diverse environment, plus a lot of clubs a organizations and sports in division 1. I would recommend this school for anyone who wants a diverse environment or wants to participate in activities since there are a lot to choose from.
67 year old Binghamton University was founded in 1946, and is located in a small city in Binghamton, NY, which is 193 miles from Stamford. Binghamton is a public university which is known for its interdisciplinary education with an international perspective and one of the most vibrant research programs in the nation.
With a sunny but cloudy area and a suburban, there are 15,308 students that attend Binghamton University. 12,356 of these students are undergraduates and the other 2,952 are graduates. Being surrounded by different racial diversities there are about 11% Asian/Pacific Islander, 5% Black/Non-Hispanic, and 7% Hispanic/Latino.
Binghamton University has about 27,248 students that apply per year and 10,918 are selected. This is like 78% that get accepted. The tuition is $5,270 in state for a full year and $13,380 out of state for a full year.
If wanting to find something to keep you occupied, Binghamton University campus has 39+ clubs and organizations that you can be part of, such as Animation club, Dance Dance Revolution, Fashion Industry, Pirate club and many more. If you are a sports player, or want to be part of a sport there are 25+ clubs and sports you can find, there is Division I.
I like how Binghamton University has so many clubs and organizations that student can be part of. The weather is very calm and lovely. I feel like this school is a really good school. I would recommend to students that loves schools that are in small city and is a suburban. Students that enjoy being part of different varieties of club. Classmates that enjoy playing many different sports. Students that like being surrounded by different racial diversities and making new friends.
Fairfield University was founded in 1942, is 70 years old, a private school and known for educational excellence both regionally and nationally.
This campus is located in Fairfield County, Connecticut. It's about a 45 minute drive from Stamford in a Suburban setting. Its home to 3,879 undergraduates, and has a female to male ratio of 6:7. The school is not very diverse with about 2% Black/Non-Hispanics, 2% Hispanic /Latinos, 1% Asian/Pacific Islanders and 0% American Indian/ Alaskan Natives.
Even though Fairfield is not very big, I think an attractive campus with student engagements activities, such as 29 clubs and 47 sports, and some diversity will meet many future students' expectations. I would recommend this school to anyone who desires an academic challenging environment.
Norwalk Community College
Norwalk Community College was founded in 1961, it's a public school. Norwalk Community College is known for being the first public, 2 year college established in Connecticut.
This school is located in Norwalk, Connecticut. It is 6.8 miles away from Stamford. The weather around Norwalk is usually cool/average temperature. It's located in an suburban area.
Around 14,732 students attend Norwalk Community College in credit and non- credit programs. There are about 5,015 undergraduate students. The male to female ratio is 59% female and 41% male. There are 45% whites, 15% blacks, 11.9% Hispanic, 11.4% unknown, 9.9% non-resident, 4.2 % Asian, 2.1% two or more races, and 0.2% American Indian.
There are over 70 clubs at NCC. There are no competitive sports and there are no fraternities and sororities. NCC, has no reported acceptance rate. In state tuition is $6,980; out of state tuition is $20,860.
Hofstra University is located in Hempstead, NY, and was founded in 1935. For not being so famous, Hofstra is a pretty big University with 115 buildings as well as 240 acres. The university is located in a suburban environment but it is a private school. The good thing about Hofstra is that the in and out of state tuition fees are the same which is $35,950, and of course they have scholarships, grants, student aid programs, etc. Also the male to female ratio is 47% male and 53% female. There are many different races in Hofstra 62% white, 9% black or African American, 7% Asian, 11% Latino or Hispanic, 5% are unknown, 2% are non-residential aliens, and 3% are two or more races.
Also if you're looking for an education close to Stamford then Hofstra isn't so bad compared to most of the other schools out there. The drive is about an hour away from Stamford which isn't really much for those people who would like to go home on weekends. There are about 6,893 undergraduates and 4,130 graduates enrolled. In Hofstra there are 22 clubs, 23 sports clubs, fraternities, and sororities. The acceptance rate at Hofstra is about 56% which when you think about, isn't all that bad. I mean they get around 20,000 applications and of those 20,000 they accept about 11,000 so the chances aren't that bad.
Personally I believe that Hofstra is a really good learning environment for people who just got out of high school. There are many good points about Hofstra that catch the eye like how they charge the same for in and out of state tuition. The only thing I don't like is that there required GPA is a 3.13 which is pretty easy it should at least be a 3.25. All in all it's a pretty good school considering all the majors they offer.
Boston University was founded in 1839. Boston University has been around for 174 years and it is one of the top Ivy League schools in the U.S.
Boston u is a private school located in Boston Massachusetts on bland ford St. Boston u is 176 miles from Stamford CT, a 2 hour drive. Bu is an urban school with a 40/60 male: female ratio. 32,603 students that attend the school and 18,306 of them are under graduates. The diversity of the campus is well about 49% are white 14% Asian 9% Latino and 3% Black. This is a good mixture of people of different races.
At BU on average 37,795 students apply for the school but only 22,101 gets in to school. That's 58.40% of the total number of students that apply per year. The tuition is fairly reasonable. There is a $75 application fee and $650 deposit. The in state and out state tuition is $43,970. I'm prity sure that BU give out many scholarships.
Boston U is an really interesting school to look up if your a sport lover. B U has 14 division 1 sports and 23 different clubs. B U also has fraternities and sororities. The school has an huge wide spread of activities to fit the needs anyone.
Boston University is a fairly good school. I recommend it to any one that loves sports and want an academic challenge. Its an ivy league school with a lot of open opportunities.
Quinnipiac University was founded in 1929. This private school has been around for 89 years being well known for its 5 year BA/MAT program in elementary and secondary education is to prepare graduates with the perspectives, knowledge, and skills to become master educators
Being an hour away from Stamford, Quinnipiac is located in Hamden, CT. So weather isn't very different from how it is in Stamford. Quinnipiac is in a suburban area. Quinnipiac has a total of 8,430 students enrolled in it. There are 6,262 undergraduates and a little over 2,000 graduates. The male to female ratio is 63% female and 38% male so girls get accepted more frequently than boys. There is diversity at Quinnipiac but not very much. 78% White, 4% Black, 7% Hispanic, 25% Native American, 2% Asian, .11% islander.
There are many clubs that Quinnipiac has to offer. Activities and clubs include a campus newspaper run by students, drama/ theater group, a student radio station, a student television station, and choral groups, but Quinnipiac doesn't have a marching band. There are a total of 22 teams most of them are division 1. There are 10 fraternities and sorties at Quinnipiac. The acceptance rate is 63.1%. Quinnipiac gets a total of 18,651 per year, but only 11,772 get accepted. The in state out of state tuition Is the same for everyone being $38,000.
I think Quinnipiac is a great school that has various activities and clubs, good sports teams, and is located in a great area for those of you who don't want to be too far from home.
Ithaca College was founded in Ithaca, NY as the Ithaca Conservatory of Music in 1892. This is a private school with several buildings merged together, located in the Finger Lakes region of NY roughly between Manhattan and Toronto. The location is rural. From Stamford Ithaca is 230 miles and about 4 hours away. The climate not that warm, as there is an average temperature of about 46 degrees and an annual temperature of about 56 degrees F. At Ithaca the scientific study of old age is what the school is known for. 6,442 students attend the school; there are 6,281 undergrad students and 475 graduate students. Out of the 13,813 applicants to this college only 101 are selected. There is not much racial diversity at this college, mostly people from the Northeast region and the state of NY will attend. On campus there are 18 clubs and 17 division 3 sports. There are no fraternities or sororities at Ithaca College due to an incident resulting in death in 1980. The tuition for this college is $37,000.
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I work at a bank; he is a law student at my country and will be returning home to the usa in the next 2 months. Although he is very sweet and loving and keeps inviting me out to dates I have a problem with him as in the beginning when we were dating he picked me up in a jeep he said he shared with his roommate. Now that we are a bit more official he wants to pick me up from work with his scooter rather than the jeep. Now I have no problem getting on if I am dressed casually but on a weekday I dress in formal clothes to attend to work, with the company's logo. I just feel like it is a bit disrespectful to be riding around in the back of a scooter with heels and a suit. Since I am not certain if this relationship may endure long distance I don't wanna take any chances of being too public with it. For if we split I will find problems getting another native island fella to date me as I have dated outside my race.
Now, I really like this fella and I don't want to lose him how can I tell him about the situation without sounding too rude snobbish or bossy
Most Helpful Guy
You simply go to him, and say that it's nice for him to pick you up in a scooter, however your dress really makes you comfortable when you're riding behind his back.00|00|0


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Men's FLEX ESC Snowshoe Kit
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DescriptionLearn more about FLEX technology
The men's FLEX ESC kit is the perfect introduction to snowshoe tech for the beginner who wants to take full advantage of winter. This Tubbs kit comes with one pair of men's FLEX ESC snowshoes, one pair of 2-part adjustable snowshoe poles, and one pair of men's Tubbs gaiters.
All inclusive kit contains:
One pair of men's FLEX ESC Snowshoes
One pair of 2-part adjustable Tubbs Snowshoe Poles
One FLEX Series snowshoe tote bag
Sizes Available: 24
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|FLEX ESC Kit
|8" x 24"
|3.6 lbs
|Optimal Load
|One Size (lbs)
|Surface Area
|165 in
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FLEX Tail
The ergonomically and biomechanically designed FLEX Tail absorbs shock from heel strike, reducing the amount of stress on your joints and allowing you to snowshoe farther, longer and with less stress on your body.
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Tubbs' advanced Torsion Deck™ design adapts to variable snow conditions underfoot. The decks allow torsional articulation throughout the body of the snowshoe, enhancing traction, biomechanics and comfort on uneven terrain.
Rotating Toe Cord - Rotation Limiter
Rotating Toe Cord design enables the tail of the snowshoe to drop and snow to shed off the tail, reducing cardio-respiratory strain by 7%. The underfoot pivot point also allows the toe traction teeth to bite deeply into the snow when weighted. A rotation limiter prevents over-rotation and shin bang.
QuickFLEX Binding
Molded, asymmetric QuickFLEX™ binding is gender specific with patented Control Wings™ to center the boot. A dual pull strap system secures fit while a cinch pull strap makes entry and exit easy. Heel strap pulls tight against boot's rand, centering and securing the boot in position.
Traction Rails
Carbon steel toe crampon, ergonomically placed under foot, maximizes weighted traction and responsiveness while 3D curved Traction Rails ensure superior side-hill grip in hard or icy conditions. Progressive molded Snow Brakes, on the deck as well as the Soft Strike zone, improve weighted traction.


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This luxurious 100% cotton twine comes uncut, so you can snip to the exact lengths you need. Pliant and soft to the touch but still durable, it is easy to work with and will not easily break. This sixteen-strand twine is wrapped in three-ply twists — two of white and one of an accent color, which makes a fresh, attractive presentation. Perfect for attaching favor tags, and for tying gift boxes and bags.
10 meters / 11 yards
2mm, 3 ply, 100% cotton
10 meters / 11 yards
2mm, 3 ply, 100% cotton
As a guideline, if you cut the strings into 11" lengths, you should have enough for about 36 tags. Want more twine? Go to the twine page and add bundles to the cart.
Actual size is 1.25" x 1.25"
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Small Diamond Hang Tags ship within 1-2 business days. $2.99 flat rate shipping within the U.S. See delivery times and options.
Labels on rolls ship separately to U.S. addresses only. See shipping rates.
Bonjour, mon ami! So happy to see you! This easy-going style is alive with lightly flecked bright colors and a big, friendly brushstroke script. Bonjour is effortlessly warm and welcoming, making it a great choice for celebrations and adding lots of cheer to anything you're labeling. Customize Bonjour tags today!


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Stealing Snow
Author : Danielle Paige
Publisher : Bloomsbury USA Childrens; Advance readers soft cover edition
Release : September 20, 2016
Genre : Science Fiction & Fantasy
From Danielle Paige, the New York Times bestselling author of Dorothy Must Die, comes a re-imagining of "The Snow Queen" fairy tale.
Seventeen-year-old Snow has spent the majority of her life within the walls of the Whittaker Institute, a high security mental hospital in upstate New York. Deep down, she knows she's not crazy and doesn't belong there. When she meets a mysterious, handsome new orderly and dreams about a strange twisted tree she realizes she must escape and figure out who she really is.
Using her trusting friend Bale as a distraction, Snow breaks free and races into the nearby woods. Suddenly, everything isn't what it seems, the line between reality and fantasy begins to blur, and she finds herself in icy Algid–her true home–with witches, thieves, and a strangely alluring boy named Kai, none of whom she's sure she can trust. As secret after secret is revealed, Snow discovers that she is on the run from a royal lineage she's destined to inherit, a father more powerful and ruthless than she could have imagined, and choices of the heart that could change the fate of everything . . . including Snow's return to the world she once knew.
This breathtaking first volume begins the story of how Snow becomes a villain, a queen, and ultimately a hero.
"A lush and addictive fantasy woven from threads of magic, romance, and adventure by a master storyteller. Danielle Paige raises the bar with Stealing Snow."
–Kami Garcia, #1 New York Times bestselling coauthor of Beautiful Creatures & author of The Lovely Reckless
"A magical, exciting adventure full of secrets, thieves, and witches, with a unique, fresh twist on an old legend."
–Jennifer L. Armentrout, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Wait for You
"Just as a blizzard turns a familiar landscape into something both dazzling and deadly, Stealing Snowtransforms the 'Snow Queen' into an adventure that's hauntingly beautiful and dangerously seductive."
–Kass Morgan, New York Times bestselling author of The 100
"Eerie, edgy and enchanting, Stealing Snow will transport you."
–Amie Kaufman, New York Times bestselling coauthor of Illuminae
"One of my favorite fairy tale retellings! Danielle Paige is a master storyteller!"
–Melissa de la Cruz, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Isle of the Lost
Langue : English
File size : 2 MB
Format : EPUB, MOBI
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The 58th Du Ba Du Programme organised by Siasat Daily and MDF scheduled on Sunday, May 1, at Manneguda has been postponed.
According to Vice President M A Qadeer the next date will be announced shortly. However parents residing at Manneguda, Viqarabad and surrounding areas are requested to register names of their sons and daughters at MDF office, Siasat premises, from 11 am to 5 pm.
Siasat news


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I have seen numerous discussions regarding the inadequacies of the purchasing module, but no solutions seem to be in the near future. I feel this is a major drawback to the useability of Spiceworks. As with many others who have posted, I feel that a system to generate PO numbers, have the ability for multiple items on a single purchase window, and a good way to tie it all together is essential for a good IT ticket tracking system.
Our accounts payable department requires all invoices to be properly coded with the category type of the purchase, the GL account to be charged, and a way to verify the correct Vendor, items purchased, amounts, who approved the purchase, and that all items were received.
I can create custom fields and reports do to most of this, but what I can't do is generate the PO number that is automatically tied to the ticket or have the ability to enter multiple items on a single purchase page.
I saw one post that called this a "shopping list" rather than being part of the purchasing system. I disagree. All this is needed to be easily accessible to properly create PO's and track purchases. As it is now, I have to use another system to create my PO's with all the needed data and have the AP department use that to get the information they need to enter invoice into our accounting system.
I'm not looking for some kind of work around to kinda "make it work"... I'm looking for a good purchasing/PO system that will integrate seamlessly into the ticket creation process.
thank you
This topic was created during version 5.1.
The latest version is 7.5.00101.
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May 19, 2011 at 7:02 UTC
This might help a little. The PO feature is new to Spiceworks. The devs work with the feedback to improve Spiceworks. So I'm sure your feedback will help it get better. If you rewind the clock a year the system had a lot less capability so don't worry it really keeps getting better.
This discussion has been inactive for over a year.
You may get a better answer to your question by starting a new discussion.


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"Absolutely fantastic staff and hospital"
About: Nuffield Health, Plymouth Hospital Nuffield Health, Plymouth Hospital Plymouth PL6 8BG
Posted by Anonymous
My partner recently has to have open surgery to fix his hernia. We would like to thank every person involved with the stay that he had as it was absolutely outstanding service. Thank you very much for everything you have done for us. You are amazing people who truly care about your patients
Response from Nuffield Health, Plymouth Hospital 2 years ago
Thank you very much for your truly glowing feedback. We strive to provide excellent service and standards for all our patients, with the understanding that any visit to a hospital can be an anxious time, so it is a delight to hear your kind words. I hope your partner is making a good recovery from his operation, and if there is anything more that we can do for you at this time, please write to me directly at the Hospital. Kind regards, David Houghton Hospital Director


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Her mother's Jewish ancestors originated from Russia and Poland.
Alexis appeared in the 1998 horror film Bride Of Chucky, and is smothered by the red headed doll by a pillow, then met his fate once again in 1999's Midnight 5. He played Sidney, and was shot in the face by William Voight.
Alexis was upset with the way that actor Neil Patrick Harris handled the 'coming out' of his sexuality, he thought it was a cowardly way to hide out who he really was for so long, and publicly admonished him.
Alexis would like to host his own daytime television talkshow.
Alexia appeared in a music video for Extra Fancy's 'Sinnerman' video, which was a featured soundtrack on the television show Mega Man in 1995.
Alexis revealed the big secret that his brother and sister-in-law were keeping on The Sharon Osbourne Show in 2004, when he disclosed that the couple were expecting a baby.
Alexis and his family were all honored with the American Film Institute's 6th Platinum Circle Award on May 10th, 2006. Previous acting families to win the award are the Fondas and the Penns.
Alexis ia an underground cartoonist in Los Angeles. Nico's Mobile Mole is his most famous strip, about his friend, actress Nico Petrakis.
Alexis's favorite movies include: Carrie, Psycho, The Big Hit, True Romance, and The Hunger.
Alexis starred in the 1998 independent I Think I Do, which opened Houston's 2nd Annual Gay & Lesbian Film Festival.
Alexis is also known by his birth name, Robert Arquette. His parents named him after the last emporer-to-be of Russia.
Alexis appeared as himself in the documentary about New York's famed 'Outfest' in 1995's Wigstock: The Movie.
Alexis makes a cameo appearance in the Adam Sandler hit comedy The Wedding Singer, as a Boy George-esque musician in 1998.
Alexis holds a well-known second job as a drag queen performer by the name of 'Eva Destruction'.
Alexis has portrayed a variety of characters, such as a a gay university student with a crush on a straight friend in 1994's Threesome to an unfortunate gunman shot in the chest by John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson in 1994's Pulp Fiction.
Alexis made his big screen debut in a small part in the 1986 comedy Down and Out in Beverly Hills, his first breakthrough came when he played Georgette, a young man with a sensitive side, with a crush on the neighborhood thug in The Last Exit To Brooklyn in 1990.
Alexis appears in a photography art book by Greg Gorman, titled As I see It.
Alexis appeared at age twelve in the 1983 music video from The Tubes, 'She's a Beauty'.
Alexis is the grandson of vaudevillians, and son of veteran character actor Lewis Arquette, and poet Mardi Arquette.
Arquette posed as the Hindu god Krishna for a controversial cover for Genre Magazine (a gay men's publication).
Alexis: I applaud the outstanding job that Kathleen Turner put out there on her appearance as Chandler's father on Friends. She straight tore that part UP.
Alexis: I must say. That I enjoyed my time with Florence Henderson on The Surreal Life. I felt motherly over her though, especially when Tawny started messing with her, I felt like I needed to step in and rescue the lamb from the wolf.


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It only takes a minute to get started. Fill out our uncomplicated sign up form and login to the website.
This step is noncompulsory but will seriously multiply your chances of people actually reading your profile and contacting you. Introduce yourself, your pasttimes and attach any nice photographs of yourself.
Use our website's advanced search to spot members who satisfy your needs. Or just leaf through listings and spot folks that you find attractive.
Discovered someone who you're attracted to? Send a note to them or just a wink and await their reply. With a little luck you'll be on your way to true love.
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Employed and Unemployed Both Feel the Pinch
It ain't really news that employment is falling along with the economy falling off a cliff because everybody is up to their freaking eyebrows in debt and people and businesses are naturally reluctant to be rushing out to borrow more money will-nilly to spend more, and more, on more and more Cheap Consumer Crap (CCC), and businesses sure don't need a lot of employees to make or sell less stuff.
So I was only mildly shocked by the AP headline "Jobless Rate Bolts to 8.5 Percent, 663K Jobs Lost", which is getting to that point where you will want to curl up into the fetal position just cry, cry, cry your little eyes out until your mommy finally comes along and tells you to shut the hell up because everything is going to be "fine."
Well, AP is not as childish and immature as I am, and they bravely go on, squarely facing worse and worse news, like, "Since the recession began in December 2007, the economy has lost a net total of 5.1 million jobs," which is pretty bad, but which is, in reality, much worse than that, with "almost two-thirds of the losses occurring in the last five months" and which is supposedly the worst unemployment rate in a quarter of a century, or something. Yow!
Their use of the word "bolting", however, to describe the abrupt change in the unemployment rate is very upsetting, especially if you are one of the 1-in-12 workers who has lost his job and is looking for a new one.
And it is almost as upsetting to people like me, who look at this and incredulously ask "All those people have been fired, but I still have a job?", which is surprising in that I am probably the most incompetent and lazy worthless employee I ever met, and if my boss was doing her job, she would have fired me years ago, but who is also probably looking at the fact that 1-in-12 workers has been fired in the last year and she thinking to herself "All those people have been fired, and Mogambo still has a job? What in the hell was I thinking? They should fire me for being such an idiot!" and then instantly realizing that now is the time to let those kinds of revelatory sleeping dogs lay undisturbed, and at least wait until things blow over a little bit, which gives me a little wiggle room!
This is a good move on her part, because she knows I will make a loud stink about my wrongful termination, a strong legal case built upon the firm foundation that although the company knew I was a lazy, incompetent lunatic, they did not make reasonable accommodations for my disability by somehow altering my job duties (or providing an assistant. A cute one!)
And there was nothing in the AP report about the debilitating stress that is affecting the millions of us marginal workers who still, somehow, have our stupid jobs and who suddenly think we feel the sharp blade of a guillotine tickling the back of our necks.
As bad as this is, there is enough misery to go around, as only later in the article we learn that even people who have jobs are feeling the pinch, and "The average work week in March dropped to 33.2 hours" which is down 17% from the standard 40-hour workweek, which is, in case you were wondering, "a new record low". Yikes!
This doleful news goes along with how a record 5.7 million people are currently filing for unemployment benefits, and how Reuters.com reports that "A record 32.2 million people - one in every 10 Americans - received food stamps at the latest count."
The double-whammy is that not only are the number of people getting food stamps growing to record levels, but the allowance itself will immediately rise a "temporary" 13% (another $80 a month for a household of four), which is part of the federal government's "economic stimulus" deficit-spending.
Well, increasing the demand for food by $80 a month times 8 million households ain't a lot, I guess, but a $640 million addition to the aggregate demand for food is sure NOT going to make prices go down, if that is what you think!
And it is this very same idea that "prices go up when the money supply goes up" that makes me tell you, seemingly for the thousandth time, to buy gold, buy it right now, and buy lots of it, because prices for lots of things will go up, and up, and up from here, and for a long, long time, a time you will, if you own gold, come to know as "And they lived happily ever after."