Tidbits From The Web Tidbits From The Web...: April 2009

Thursday, April 30, 2009

Tidbits From the Web #51



LOST meets Star Trek...
Grilling season is here!...best burgers in the USA...
Kepler...the planet hunter...
LEGO video game mosaics...
The eras of the geek...
Speaking of geeky...some cool Adobe after effects...
And lastly some places to buy geeky t-shirts...
Richard Simmons just flips...
The browser wars continue...
For the hypochondriacs out there...track the swine flu...
Speaking of which...fear of the week!
Crystal Method meets Matisyahu...
Do you know your acronyms?
Obama...and why you should care about eligibility...
And what happened to 'no new taxes' Mr. Obama?
The mysterious "O"...
Portia de Rossi apologizes for being married to Ellen...
Pretty much everywhere it's gonna be hot! (props to Big Drew)
Here comes the nanoneedle...
The coming apocalypse is actually the birth of the 5th age...
Introducing artist Gary Taxali...
Best soccer freestyler...
Don't ignore the company behind the curtain...Goldman Sachs...
Find playgrounds where you live...
Chemtrails...the poisoning of our skies...
Still lovin it now Ronald?
How to go vegan...
For next year's Cinco de Mayo...
Pimp out your magnets...
Basketball through the legs...
Global warming...or really the next big chill?
I too am tired...


From the award-winning documentary, "Playing For Change: Peace Through Music," comes the first of many "songs around the world" being released independently. This amazing version of “Stand by Me” brought a smile to my face, and I hope it will do the same for you. Watch it from beginning to end—you won't regret it. This cover of Stand By Me was recorded by completely unknown artists in a street virtual studio all around the world!
It all started with a base track—vocals and guitar—recorded on the streets of Santa Monica, California, by a street musician named Roger Ridley. The base track was then taken to New Orleans, Louisiana, where Grandpa Elliott—a blind singer from the French Quarter—added vocals and harmonica while listening to Ridley's base track on headphones. In the same city, Washboard Chaz's added metal percussions. From there, it just gets better and better: The producers took the resulting mix all through Europe, Africa, and South America, adding new tracks with multiple instruments and vocals, which were assembled into this final final version -- all done with a simple laptop and some microphones. Amazing!




CREATING A POSITIVE ATTITUDE TO ACHIEVE POSITIVE RESULTS
by Mark Victor Hansen


Your attitude determines the state of world you live in. It is the foundation for every success and every failure you have had and will have. Your attitude will make you or break you.

Attitude creates the way you feel about people and situations. Your actions are a result of your attitude, which, in turn, creates a reaction from others. So, basically, what you think ... you get. It is your attitude toward others and the Universe that determines the resultant attitude toward you. Incorporate a positive, joyful attitude and you’ll have positive, joyful results. Put out a bad, negative attitude and you’ve failed before you begin.

I know it sounds simple, but the truth is….it IS simple!

WHERE DO NEGATIVE ATTITUDES COME FROM IN THE FIRST PLACE?

Negative attitudes come from thinking negative thoughts over and over until they have become a part of your subconscious – they’ve become habitual, a part of your personality. You may not even realize you have a negative attitude because it’s been with you for so long. Once you have a bad attitude, you expect failure and disaster. This expectation turns you into a strong magnet for failure and disaster. Then it becomes a vicious circle. You expect the worst - you get the worst - your negative beliefs are reinforced – you expect the worst – you get …

. . Got the picture?

SO, HOW DO WE SHIFT OUR THOUGHTS AND CREATE A POSITIVE ATTITUDE?

It takes work, but creating anything of value takes work. In order to have a new attitude we have to change our subconscious thinking. How do we do this? By analyzing every thought we have until positive thinking becomes habit. You’re merely replacing an old habit with a healthy habit, much like replacing exercise for smoking.

You can’t just stop being negative – you have to replace those negative thoughts with positive ones.

Some people would say, “But negative situations are a reality. They just show up in every day life.”

This is absolutely not true. Situations are a reality, yes. They do show up. It is your ATTITUDE that makes a situation positive or negative. It’s time for you to realize that YOU are in control of how you think and feel – no one else on earth has this power unless you give it away. Take control of your attitude, and you take control of your results.

“Your state of mind creates the state of your results.”




Lukol

"Lukol, if it's on the Web, we'll find it!" Here's a website that includes all of the major search engines; in fact the LUKOL Directory consists of 4,594,307 sites in over 590,000 categories! The subscriber who submitted the feature comments, "It's wonderful. You can find just about anything you want on this website." Put it in your list of favorites so that you too can find anything and everything on the Web!


Important step taken toward lab-on-a-chip devices

Researchers have designed a lab-on-a-chip capable of being programmed to perform a variety of jobs, a step toward more widespread use of the miniature analytical tools used to measure everything from blood glucose to viruses, bacteria to genes.

Full Article


ListenToYouTube Rips Audio from YouTube Videos to MP3

You find a great video on YouTube and you'd love to save the audio or load it on your MP3 player to listen to later. What can you do? Hop over to ListenToYouTube.

YouTube is full of all sorts of interesting lectures, polemics, diatribes, and other things that could be easily be enjoyed audio-only. If you find some gems on YouTube you'd love to listen to while commuting or working out at the gym, don't skip over them because you can't YouTube on the road. ListenToYouTube is a simple web-based application for pulling the audio out of a YouTube video and converting it to MP3. The service is free and simple: you plug in the URL for the video, it grabs the audio, you download the MP3. Have a favorite way of squeezing more use out of YouTube? Sound off in the comments below. Thanks Nick!






CONCENTRATION/FOCUS

"The best advice I ever came across on the subject of concentration is: Wherever you are, be there. When you work, work. When you play, play. Don’t mix the two." -- Jim Rohn

"If you concentrate on the present, you eliminate what happened yesterday and any apprehension of what may happen tomorrow." -- Denis Waitley

"Determine what specific goal you want to achieve. Then dedicate yourself to its attainment with unswerving singleness of purpose, the trenchant zeal of a crusader." -- Paul J. Meyer

"Our grand business is not to see what lies dimly at a distance, but to do what lies clearly at hand." -- Thomas Carlyle


Quote of the Day

"Everyone is born with genius, but most people only keep it a few minutes."
- Edgard Varese


The more you have, the more you're occupied; the less you have, the more free you are.

- Mother Teresa




LEADERSHIP 101


People underestimate their capacity for change. There is never a right time to do a difficult thing. A leader's job is to help people have vision of their potential.

John Porter


I don't believe leadership can be taught, but it can be learned.

Morgan McCall




SUCCESS

Success is peace of mind in knowing you did your best.

John Wooden


Success is the best revenge.

Michele Jolivette




Whiskey & Gunpowder
By James Howard Kunstler

April 29, 2009
Saratoga Springs, New York, U.S.A.


Hope = Truth

People of good intentions and progressive predilection are scratching their heads wondering just how President Barack Obama managed to turn himself into George W. Bush Lite with sugar-on-top just twelve weeks after that fateful walk down the US Capitol’s east stairway to the waiting helicopter. I’m hardly the first observer to note that Mr. Obama’s actions in the face of an epochal finance fiasco and economic collapse are a mere extension of the pre-January-20 policies, carried out by much the same cast of characters.

The assumption up until now was something about the reassuring value of continuity — if we could just prop up an ailing set of banks for a little while, the US public could resume a revolving credit way-of-life within an economy dedicated to building more suburban houses and selling all the needed accessories from supersized “family” cars to cappuccino machines. This would keep everyone employed at the jobs they were qualified for — finish carpenters, realtors, pool installers, mortgage brokers, advertising account executives, Williams-Sonoma product demonstrators, showroom sales agents, doctors of liposuction, and so on.

This was a dumb strategy for such a supposedly bright group of people surrounding Mr. Obama. That old economy was dead on arrival January 20th. Even the kindest physicians don’t put corpses on life support. This particular corpse has been placed in the world’s cushiest intensive care unit, with transfusions running about a trillion dollars a month — not to mention hefty bonuses for the attending nurses. Instead, a fast and furious wake might have been held, with the corpse of the old economy laid out on a granite countertop for all to toast and bid farewell. President Obama might have led this exercise with some aplomb — even while directing his new justice department warriors to round up a host of suspects in the old economy’s suspicious death.

What it comes down to, apparently, is a leadership elite across all sectors — politics, business, academia, media — that is incapable of processing the truth, and then conveying it to the broad American public. Alas, this also appears to be a common theme in history, with a commonly tragic outcome, which is that elites get ruthlessly dumped and replaced by new elites, often composed of zealots, maniacs, nincompoops, and others generally ill-disposed to the able management of complex affairs. It’s called the “circulation of elites,” and in times of crisis it tends to take on a kind of downward spiraling flavor, with each gang of discredited leaders tossed out for a progressively worse one until a kind of exhaustion is reached — whereupon the archetypal man-on-a-white-horse arrives on the scene.

Mr. Obama looked to be the man-on-a-white-horse — on the exhaustion of Reagan-Bush Jesus-Republicanism — but he’s coming off more like Philippe Égalité (Louis Philippe Joseph d’Orléans, duc d’Orléans) in 1793, with perhaps Newt Gingrich waiting offstage to become Robespierre in 2012 — and some obscure US Army captain now toiling in Kirkuk slated to become the American Napoleon of 2015. As you’ve surely heard a thousand times now, history doesn’t repeat itself but it rhymes. The enormities of Wall Street today are a little like those of the French Ancien Régime at Versailles. If America encounters the sort of disruptions of food and energy supplies that are brewing on the horizon, and unemployment keeps arcing up its current trajectory, civil uproars could easily follow. Readers think I joke about the Ha mptons going up in flames. But the antics of the bankers, hedge funders, the CEOs, the Madoffs, and even the P. Diddy’s of our time, are liable to attract murderous attention as the public mood moves from sour to wrathful.

So, what people of good intention and progressive predilection want to know is how come Mr. Obama doesn’t just lay out the truth, undertake the hard job of cutting the nation’s losses, and get on with setting this society on a new course. The truth is that we’re comprehensively bankrupt, and no amount of shuffling certificates around will avail to alter that. The bad debt has to be “worked out” — i.e. written off, subjected to liquidation of remaining assets and collateral, reorganized under the bankruptcy statutes, and put behind us. We have to work very hard to reconfigure the physical arrangement of life in the USA, moving away from the losses of our suburbs, reactivating our towns, downscaling our biggest cities, re-scaling our farms and food production, switching out our Happy Motoring system for public transit and walkable neighborhoods, rebuilding local netwo rks of commerce, and figuring out a way to make a few things of value again.

What’s happened instead is what I most feared: that our politicians would mount a massive campaign to sustain the unsustainable. That’s what all the TARP and TARF and PPIT and bailouts are about. It will all amount to an exercise in futility and could easily end up wrecking the USA in every sense of the term. If Mr. Obama doesn’t get with a better program, then we are going to face a Long Emergency as grueling as the French Revolution. One very plain and straightforward example at hand is the announcement last week of a plan to build a high-speed rail network. To be blunt about it, this is perfectly ******* stupid. It will require a whole new track network, because high speed trains can’t run on the old rights of way with their less forgiving curve ratios and grades. We would be so much better off simply fixing up and reactivating the normal-speed track system that is sitting out there rusting in the rain — and save our more grandiose visions for a later time.

I don’t like to be misunderstood. With the airlines in a business death spiral, and mass motoring doomed, we need a national passenger rail system desperately. But we already have one that used to be the envy of the world before we abandoned it. And we don’t have either the time or the resources to build a new parallel network.

But grandiosity is just another way that we lie to ourselves about where we’re at and what is really possible. Surely Mr. Obama knows that hope fades where the light of truth doesn’t shine. He is a charming fellow. I don’t especially want to see Newt Gingrich chop his head off.

The Joker in the Deck

Things come out of the woodwork. All of a sudden it’s a mutant H1N1 swine flu, with bird and human DNA accessories. We don’t know where this is taking us. It could be a media blowover, like SARS, or it could be a big deal, shutting down travel and assemblies of humans. It would be a very big deal if it killed, proportionately, as much of the population as the 1918 flu event — the worldwide toll then was roughly 30-100-million out of a global population around 1.7 billion. Now the world population is over 6.5 billion. The only thing anyone can predict at the moment is that there will be a lot of very worried health officials and politicians out there in the days ahead.

This flu epidemic comes just as global economy itself lies comatose in the economic intensive care unit, with IV lines of dollars, euros, yen, and renminbis transfusing its hollowed-out carcass. It’s an odd time for attention to be diverted from that awful spectacle. The cash transfusions have sent the Cable TV gang into raptures of “optimism” — meaning they expect debt securitization to resume as before, along with Yuletide-level credit card shopping sprees in the malls, a mass splurging on new cars, and a renewed frenzy of house-building in the Florida buzzard flats. Those “green shoots” and sprouting “mustard seeds” they report seeing may themselves be a flu-like symptom. I don’t know what the so-called Mexican swine flu will lead to, but the global economy as we’ve known it is a goner.

Even if the Mexican swine flu turns out to be something of a false alarm, it will require billions of dollars in unexpected new outlays for prevention operations here in the USA — reinforcing the false idea that the nation has bottomless resources (the same idea that has been driving the bail-out fiesta). My guess is that the fear emanating from the story will be a potent generator of paranoia in the meantime, leading to widespread closures of things, canceling of events, restrictions on travel (official or otherwise), and a sell off in the financial markets. And that’s if the flu turns out not to amount to anything.

If the flu is the real deal, it will surely drive a stake through the faintly-beating heart of that invalid global economy, and possibly even continental-scaled economies like the US, the Euro-zone, and China — any place where things and people have to move long distances to keep life going. The US, obviously, suffers in this instance from its proximity to Mexico, and the fact that so much of our food comes from places that employ casual Mexican labor. A serious flu outbreak would be a short path to food shortages in the US, with our three-day supermarket inventories and just-in-time shipping methods. It would not be such a bad idea now to lay in supplies of beans, brown rice, cooking oil, onions, and toilet paper.

In any case, the banking-and-investments sector has been on autopilot for a few weeks. Lesser banks are crashing around the country (Idaho, Florida, California last week), but the remaining Big Boyz are still lurching through the landscape like so many Frankenbanks, jazzed up on electric surges of digital cash. There are ever more hints of a peasant uprising against the castle of privilege, but no sign just yet of the flaming brands and shaking fists from the village below. This flu thing will put the schnitz on their distempers for a while.

Regards,
James Howard Kunstler

P.S.: Of high interest to those confused and perplexed over President Obama’s actions so far in the banking fiasco, I commend a great piece by fellow blogger-on-the-margins Charles Hugh Smith: Obama’s Secret Plan. This analysis is low on the paranoia and high on the Machiavellian maneuvering insight.

The basic idea is that Mr. Obama has gone along with all the TARPing and PPIPing because it was tactically the only way that he could give the Wall Street plutocrats enough rope to hang themselves — and that this was the only reality-based strategy that could get public opinion in the mood for real change. It explains a lot, if it’s true. Alternately, it would be very sad to learn that Mr. Obama really believes he can rev back up a securitized-debt-and-consumption fiesta by turning the Federal Reserve into an ATM.

Peace, love and happiness...untile next time...

Friday, April 24, 2009

Tidbits From The Web #50

INTRODUCING THE 50th TBFW EXTRAVAGANZA!



Happy Up Here...
50 of the greatest guitar albums...
Turtle rapes a shoe...
Crocodile cloud...and a fish cloud...
Slick Rick the flight attendant...
If you liked the Watchmen...some comics to follow...
Introducing comic artist Lucy Knisley...
An invisible cloak made in China...
Stunning examples of long exposure photography...
Sad state of houses in Detroit...
How movie stars get paid...
Palindromic video...
22 of the most sensational midgets ever...
Chicken lays bowling pin shaped egg...
Spongebob likes big square butts...
Unique storage preserves golden age of TV...
100 women flash dance to Beyonce...
Art made from cassette tapes...
Burger grease art...
Don't like vaccines?...bring this form on the next doctor visit...
Speaking of vaccines...a real conspiracy here...
Beat the highway cops at their own game...
A tribute to Castlevania...
The only purse a woman ever needs...
Super Mario crochet blanket...
The return of Wonder Woman...
Cancer...and how it is killing us...
Mmmm...breakfast...
Mmmm...homemade bacon...
Awesome wine cellar...
Easter has passed us...here's explaining the scientific death of Jesus...
And featuring the Kit Kat Jesus...
Hula hoop prodigy...
50 of the best TV dramas ever...
Unbelievable X-Rays...
Starbuck...the future dollar?
Beware the Death Star!
Cantina Band from Star Wars...on harp! (props to Boris)
Real life Pacman...
A book worth reading...as history repeats itself...
The real reason to keep the borders closed...
Now that is how you yo-yo yo!
The future of pinball is awesome...
Running shoes are a waste of money...go barefoot!
The many uses of vodka...
Cold wet pussy(cat)...
A 'true' shot glass...
How is your willpower?...read more here...
Fast food...advertisement vs. reality...
I love charts...
Fernando Vicente and his human art...
Food fight!
Muppet madness...




SIMPLY INSPIRING...

It may not be easy, but with the proper training and experience you can achieve results that seem nearly impossible.

No matter what success means to you, make sure you go for it with gusto. It has been my observation that nearly all of us set our expectations too low, usually because of fear or self-limiting beliefs.

Achieving your dreams really can be as simple as taking action, and taking good and appropriate action takes skills … most of which can be learned with a bit of time, patience and perseverance.



"Life Isn't About Keeping Score"


Life isn't about keeping score. It's not about how many friends you have. Or how many people call you. Or how accepted or unaccepted you are. Not about if you have plans this weekend. Or if you're alone. It isn't about who your family is or how much money they have. Or what kind of car you drive. Or where you're sent to school.

It's not about how beautiful or ugly you are. Or what clothes you wear, what shoes you have on, or what kind of music you listen to. It's not about if your hair is blonde, red, black, brown, or green. Or if your skin is too light or too dark.

It's not about what grades you get, how smart you are, how smart everyone else thinks you are, or how smart standardized tests say you are. Or if this teacher likes you, or if this guy/girl likes you. . It's not about representing your whole being on a piece of paper and seeing who will "accept the written you".

But life is about who you love and who you hurt. It's about who you make happy or unhappy purposefully. It's about keeping or betraying trust. It's about friendship, used as sanctity, or as a weapon. It's about what you say and mean, maybe hurtful, maybe heartening. About starting rumors and contributing to petty gossip. It's about what judgments you pass and why. And who your judgments are spread to...

But most of all, it's about using your life to touch or poison other people's hearts in such a way that could never occurred alone. Only you choose the way these hearts are affected and those choices are what life is all about.

This is Kristos, reminding you to choose to help not to hurt, to love, not to hate





THE MIRACLE OF PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT
by Jim Rohn


One day Mr. Shoaff said, "Jim, if you want to be wealthy and happy, learn this lesson well: Learn to work harder on yourself than you do on your job."

Since that time I've been working on my own personal development. And I must admit that this has been the most challenging assignment of all. This business of personal development lasts a lifetime.

You see, what you become is far more important than what you get. The important question to ask on the job is not, "What am I getting?" Instead, you should ask, "What am I becoming?" Getting and becoming are like Siamese twins: What you become directly influences what you get. Think of it this way: Most of what you have today you have attracted by becoming the person you are today.

I've also found that income rarely exceeds personal development. Sometimes income takes a lucky jump, but unless you learn to handle the responsibilities that come with it, it will usually shrink back to the amount you can handle.

If someone hands you a million dollars, you'd better hurry up and become a millionaire. A very rich man once said, "If you took all the money in the world and divided it equally among everybody, it would soon be back in the same pockets it was before."

It is hard to keep that which has not been obtained through personal development

So here's the great axiom of life:

--To Have More Than You’ve Got, Become More Than You Are--

This is where you should focus most of your attention. Otherwise, you just might have to contend with the axiom of not changing, which is:

--Unless You Change How You Are, You’ll Always Have What You’ve Got--






Audi 3.0 TDI Clean Diesel
http://ct.email.engineeringtv.com/rd/cts?d=33-61345-894-433-2001-2827504-0-0-0-1-2-192 Audi's Günter Schiele elaborates on the 3.0 TDI's downstream exhaust emission control system, which reduces emissions by up to 90 percent. The system uses AdBlue, a biologically degradable, waterborne additive that is injected in small amounts upstream of the DeNOx catalytic converter. In addition to the catalytic converter, the exhaust emission control system comprises the metering module, the AdBlue tank and heated lines, as well as an extensive system of sensors. The additional oxidizing catalytic converter and the highly efficient, regulated diesel particulate filter round off the comprehensive emission control system.


BBC Science and Nature: Space

The BBC has put together this comprehensive site on Space. The highlights include 'The Sky at Night' hosted by Sir Patrick Moore who has been your sky guide since 1957, 'Twinkle twinkle' where you can find out why the little star ditty is really true, 'Mars Travel Guide' where you can see some of the spectacular scenery on the Red Planet and 'Mission timelines' that will enable you to research the various space missions. There are also 'Games,' information on 'Life' and how life starts, 'Deep space' with a section on Black holes, Wormholes and Dark matter. Science and Nature definitely has something for everyone when it comes to the heavens!



LitLinks

"After reading a great story, poem, play, essay, or critical article, you may want to know more. The Internet provides all kinds of information to aid your research, so we've compiled LitLinks — annotated to show you what kinds of information about a work, its author, or period you'll find on each site" is the opening to this featured site. Now you have access to the resources you'll need for your in-depth literary research. The material is organized by authors within genres; as the introduction instructs, "Click on any category and enjoy the ride!" There is one note of caution: "It's important to keep in mind that using the Web is not the same as using the library; anyone with time, inclination, and a message to share can publish online, "so be sure to use this site in conjunction with the published resources." If instructions are followed, your ride will definitely be an informative one!





MSG: Is This Silent Killer Lurking in Your Kitchen Cabinets?
by Dr. Mercola

A widespread and silent killer that’s worse for your health than alcohol, nicotine and many drugs is likely lurking in your kitchen cabinets right now.[1] “It” is monosodium glutamate (MSG), a flavor enhancer that’s known widely as an addition to Chinese food, but that’s actually added to thousands of the foods you and your family regularly eat, especially if you are like most Americans and eat the majority of your food as processed foods or in restaurants.

MSG is one of the worst food additives on the market and is used in canned soups, crackers, meats, salad dressings, frozen dinners and much more. It’s found in your local supermarket and restaurants, in your child’s school cafeteria and, amazingly, even in baby food and infant formula.

MSG is more than just a seasoning like salt and pepper, it actually enhances the flavor of foods, making processed meats and frozen dinners taste fresher and smell better, salad dressings more tasty, and canned foods less tinny.

While MSG’s benefits to the food industry are quite clear, this food additive could be slowly and silently doing major damage to your health.

What Exactly is MSG?

You may remember when the MSG powder called “Accent” first hit the U.S. market. Well, it was many decades prior to this, in 1908, that monosodium glutamate was invented. The inventor was Kikunae Ikeda, a Japanese man who identified the natural flavor enhancing substance of seaweed.

Taking a hint from this substance, they were able to create the man-made additive MSG, and he and a partner went on to form Ajinomoto, which is now the world’s largest producer of MSG (and interestingly also a drug manufacturer).[2]

Chemically speaking, MSG is approximately 78 percent free glutamic acid, 21 percent sodium, and up to 1 percent contaminants.[3]

It’s a misconception that MSG is a flavor or “meat tenderizer.” In reality, MSG has very little taste at all, yet when you eat MSG, you think the food you’re eating has more protein and tastes better. It does this by tricking your tongue, using a little-known fifth basic taste: umami.

Umami is the taste of glutamate, which is a savory flavor found in many Japanese foods, bacon and also in the toxic food additive MSG. It is because of umami that foods with MSG taste heartier, more robust and generally better to a lot of people than foods without it.

The ingredient didn’t become widespread in the United States until after World War II, when the U.S. military realized Japanese rations were much tastier than the U.S. versions because of MSG.

In 1959, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration labeled MSG as “Generally Recognized as Safe” (GRAS), and it has remained that way ever since. Yet, it was a telling sign when just 10 years later a condition known as “Chinese Restaurant Syndrome” entered the medical literature, describing the numerous side effects, from numbness to heart palpitations, that people experienced after eating MSG.

Today that syndrome is more appropriately called “MSG Symptom Complex,” which the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) identifies as "short-term reactions" to MSG. More on those “reactions” to come.

Why MSG is so Dangerous

One of the best overviews of the very real dangers of MSG comes from Dr. Russell Blaylock, a board-certified neurosurgeon and author of “Excitotoxins: The Taste that Kills.” In it he explains that MSG is an excitotoxin, which means it overexcites your cells to the point of damage or death, causing brain damage to varying degrees -- and potentially even triggering or worsening learning disabilities, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, Lou Gehrig’s disease and more.

Part of the problem also is that free glutamic acid is the same neurotransmitter that your brain, nervous system, eyes, pancreas and other organs use to initiate certain processes in your body.[4] Even the FDA states:

“Studies have shown that the body uses glutamate, an amino acid, as a nerve impulse transmitter in the brain and that there are glutamate-responsive tissues in other parts of the body, as well.

Abnormal function of glutamate receptors has been linked with certain neurological diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease and Huntington's chorea. Injections of glutamate in laboratory animals have resulted in damage to nerve cells in the brain.”[5]

Although the FDA continues to claim that consuming MSG in food does not cause these ill effects, many other experts say otherwise.

According to Dr. Blaylock, numerous glutamate receptors have been found both within your heart's electrical conduction system and the heart muscle itself. This can be damaging to your heart, and may even explain the sudden deaths sometimes seen among young athletes.

He says:

“When an excess of food-borne excitotoxins, such as MSG, hydrolyzed protein soy protein isolate and concentrate, natural flavoring, sodium caseinate and aspartate from aspartame, are consumed, these glutamate receptors are over-stimulated, producing cardiac arrhythmias.

When magnesium stores are low, as we see in athletes, the glutamate receptors are so sensitive that even low levels of these excitotoxins can result in cardiac arrhythmias and death.”[6]

Many other adverse effects have also been linked to regular consumption of MSG, including:

  • Obesity
  • Eye damage
  • Headaches
  • Fatigue and disorientation
  • Depression

Further, even the FDA admits that “short-term reactions” known as MSG Symptom Complex can occur in certain groups of people, namely those who have eaten “large doses” of MSG or those who have asthma.[7]

According to the FDA, MSG Symptom Complex can involve symptoms such as:

  • Numbness
  • Burning sensation
  • Tingling
  • Facial pressure or tightness
  • Chest pain or difficulty breathing
  • Headache
  • Nausea
  • Rapid heartbeat
  • Drowsiness
  • Weakness

No one knows for sure just how many people may be “sensitive” to MSG, but studies from the 1970s suggested that 25 percent to 30 percent of the U.S. population was intolerant of MSG -- at levels then found in food. Since the use of MSG has expanded dramatically since that time, it’s been estimated that up to 40 percent of the population may be impacted.[8]

How to Determine if MSG is in Your Food

Food manufacturers are not stupid, and they’ve caught on to the fact that people like you want to avoid eating this nasty food additive. As a result, do you think they responded by removing MSG from their products? Well, a few may have, but most of them just tried to “clean” their labels. In other words, they tried to hide the fact that MSG is an ingredient.

How do they do this? By using names that you would never associate with MSG.

You see, it’s required by the FDA that food manufacturers list the ingredient “monosodium glutamate” on food labels, but they do not have to label ingredients that contain free glutamic acid, even though it’s the main component of MSG.

There are over 40 labeled ingredients that contain glutamic acid,[9] but you’d never know it just from their names alone. Further, in some foods glutamic acid is formed during processing and, again, food labels give you no way of knowing for sure.

Tips for Keeping MSG Out of Your Diet

In general, if a food is processed you can assume it contains MSG (or one of its pseudo-ingredients). So if you stick to a whole, fresh foods diet, you can pretty much guarantee that you’ll avoid this toxin.

The other place where you’ll need to watch out for MSG is in restaurants. You can ask your server which menu items are MSG-free, and request that no MSG be added to your meal, but of course the only place where you can be entirely sure of what’s added to your food is in your own kitchen.

To be on the safe side, you should also know what ingredients to watch out for on packaged foods. Here is a list of ingredients that ALWAYS contain MSG:

Autolyzed Yeast Calcium Caseinate Gelatin
Glutamate Glutamic Acid Hydrolyzed Protein
Monopotassium Glutamate Monosodium Glutamate Sodium Caseinate
Textured Protein Yeast Extract Yeast Food
Yeast Nutrient

These ingredients OFTEN contain MSG or create MSG during processing:[10]

Flavors and Flavorings Seasonings Natural Flavors and Flavorings Natural Pork Flavoring Natural Beef Flavoring
Natural Chicken Flavoring Soy Sauce Soy Protein Isolate Soy Protein Bouillon
Stock Broth Malt Extract Malt Flavoring Barley Malt
Whey Protein Carrageenan Maltodextrin Pectin Enzymes
Protease Corn Starch Citric Acid Powdered Milk Anything Protein Fortified
Anything Enzyme Modified Anything Ultra-Pasteurized


So if you do eat processed foods, please remember to be on the lookout for these many hidden names for MSG.

Choosing to be MSG-Free

Making a decision to avoid MSG in your diet as much as possible is a wise choice for nearly everyone. Admittedly, it does take a bit more planning and time in the kitchen to prepare food at home, using fresh, locally grown ingredients. But knowing that your food is pure and free of toxic additives like MSG will make it well worth it.

Plus, choosing whole foods will ultimately give you better flavor and more health value than any MSG-laden processed food you could buy at your supermarket.




TOOLS FOR CHANGE


[W]e are changed by what we read. Close that book, and you are not the same person anymore. Because of what you just read, your worldview--your understanding, your compassion for others, your ability to engage intelligently with others--has expanded a little. Books help us grow….

Pat Williams


No matter what anybody tells you, words and ideas can change the world.

Tom Schulman
Dead Poets Society



FREEDOM



The earth is the mother of all people, and all people should have equal rights upon it. You might as well expect the rivers to run backward as that any man who was born a free man should be contented when penned up and denied liberty to go where he pleases.

Chief Joseph


Freedom is the right to choose the habits that bind you.

Renate Rubinstein





BELIEF

"So great has been the endurance, so incredible the achievement, that, as long as the sun keeps a set course in heaven, it would be foolish to despair of the human race." -- Ernest L. Woodward

"Whether you believe you can do a thing or not, you are right." -- Henry Ford

"It is not so much what you believe in that matters, as the way in which you believe it and proceed to translate that belief into action." -- Lin Yutang

"Never talk defeat. Use words like hope, belief, faith, victory." -- Norman Vincent Peale

"To be known and loved is a transforming experience. It calls us from skepticism to belief, from caution to action, from despair to hope." -- Larry J. Peacock



TRUST

"Only trust thyself and another shall not betray thee." -- William Penn

"Trust your hunches… Hunches are usually based on facts filed away just below the conscious level." -- Dr. Joyce Brothers

"Those who trust us educate us." -- T.S. Eliot

"No man is wise enough, nor good enough, to be trusted with unlimited power." -- Charles Caleb Cotton

"To be trusted is a greater compliment than to be loved." -- George MacDonald


Today's Quotes

Enthusiasm is the greatest asset in the world. It beats money and power and influence.

When you fall in a river, you're no longer a fisherman; you're a swimmer.
Gene Hill
Writer and editor

The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails.
William Arthur Ward (1921-1994)
Educator


LIFE LESSONS

You can get all A's and still flunk life.

Walker Percy

Trust life, and it will teach you, in joy and sorrow, all you need to know.

James Baldwin







The Big Takeover: A Must-Read from Rolling Stone's Matt Taibbi

taibbi777xxddert.jpg

I've always admired Matt Taibbi's writing and I've followed his byline from his hilarious early efforts at The eXile, a Moscow-based free paper for ex-pat Americans to his stint at The NY Press, and now at Rolling Stone, where he's been published for some time. Jann Wenner's smart patronage of a fine writer like Taibbi is ample proof of Rolling Stone's continuing relevance in a world of 24/7 news cycles and instant internet publishing.

This article is Taibbi at his best. It takes no prisoners!

It's over — we're officially, royally fucked. No empire can survive being rendered a permanent laughingstock, which is what happened as of a few weeks ago, when the buffoons who have been running things in this country finally went one step too far. It happened when Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner was forced to admit that he was once again going to have to stuff billions of taxpayer dollars into a dying insurance giant called AIG, itself a profound symbol of our national decline — a corporation that got rich insuring the concrete and steel of American industry in the country's heyday, only to destroy itself chasing phantom fortunes at the Wall Street card tables, like a dissolute nobleman gambling away the family estate in the waning days of the British Empire.

The latest bailout came as AIG admitted to having just posted the largest quarterly loss in American corporate history — some $61.7 billion. In the final three months of last year, the company lost more than $27 million every hour. That's $465,000 a minute, a yearly income for a median American household every six seconds, roughly $7,750 a second. And all this happened at the end of eight straight years that America devoted to frantically chasing the shadow of a terrorist threat to no avail, eight years spent stopping every citizen at every airport to search every purse, bag, crotch and briefcase for juice boxes and explosive tubes of toothpaste. Yet in the end, our government had no mechanism for searching the balance sheets of companies that held life-or-death power over our society and was unable to spot holes in the national economy the size of Libya (whose entire GDP last year was smaller than AIG's 2008 losses).

So it's time to admit it: We're fools, protagonists in a kind of gruesome comedy about the marriage of greed and stupidity. And the worst part about it is that we're still in denial — we still think this is some kind of unfortunate accident, not something that was created by the group of psychopaths on Wall Street whom we allowed to gang-rape the American Dream."


Whiskey & Gunpowder

by Samantha Buker

April 21, 2009


Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.A.


Why Tea Time Won’t Work This Time

Not only was this populist tea fest diffuse, it was also as much a same-old “pay no attention to the man behind the curtain” game. Everyone was attacking Obama either explicitly or implicitly, when the whole boondoggle — and the thing you’re paying $42k for — and seeing 25-cent returns on the dollar for — started way before he ever took that oath to the Constitution. We’ve really got to grow up, get smart, and dig ourselves out of the manure heaped on us. Seeing Network last weekend made me wonder, did we ever even begin to get away from the Carter-era slump? Or did we just get buried under a pageant of free-market falsity, global asset bubbles, and great showmanship? (We went on to elect an actor in 1980, after all.)

Is it just a simple matter of “voting all the bums out” — as a few signs advocated?

I don’t believe in man qua corporation as having a soul — and that’s a sticky snaggle for libertarian conversions in my book. We’ve got these corporations on our hands. Lots of them. And we’re saving them right now. Of course, we don’t wanna, because in the world according to Darwin, they don’t deserve it. And that’s what a couple of signs said.

Yet other than taxes, what pitchfork have we with which to attack this capital gains-loving Marie Antoinette of Manhattan? If one were to write Revelations today, one could send the Whore of Babylon with Roman corruption and kings at her breast into early retirement. The Whore of Manhattan, we’d make, with Blankfein and Vikram, sucking away.

Examine this pseudo-biblical snatch from Network and its corporate demon, Arthur Jensen:

“Am I getting through to you, Mr. Beale? You get up on your little 21-inch screen and howl about America and democracy. There is no America. There is no democracy. There is only IBM, and ITT, and AT&T, and DuPont, Dow, Union Carbide, and Exxon. Those are the nations of the world today. What do you think the Russians talk about in their councils of state, Karl Marx?…We no longer live in a world of nations and ideologies, Mr. Beale. The world is a college of corporations, inexorably determined by the immutable bylaws of business. The world is a business, Mr. Beale. It has been since man crawled out of the slime. And our children will live, Mr. Beale, to see that...perfect world...in which there’s no war or famine, oppression, or brutality. One vast and ecumenical holding company, for whom all men will work to serve a common profit, in which all men will h old a share of stock. All necessities provided, all anxieties tranquilized, all boredom amused.”

You see, tea baggers, We the People are not the Geneva-loving Rousseau’s Corsica or Poland, starting with a new constitution afresh. We have no democracy. We have only the media, chattel of the corporations that are hoping to eek one last ounce of profit from the old dead horses called newspaper and broadcast TV. Why do you think we see so much of Obama on our late night and Geithner on our sacred Sunday mornings?

How do I know that Mr. Jensen’s speech is not what pure libertarianism would look like if thrust atop this ugly, brutish state? Would I be happy there? Would I be tranquilized?

I’m thinking the best you and I can do, dear reader, is defect…make nice paper-dollar profits on the IBMs and Dows and their tiny brethren…and depart after turning it into gold. Go somewhere with cheap land…and buy cattle, sheep, goats.



After all, who among us really has the nads, the arms, or sufficient belief in mankind to rewrite the social contract of these United States?

(Hush, Texans like Rick Perry, we hear your clamor…but do we believe it?)

How the Rest of the World Sees Tea Baggers

Always ask: What do our fellow nation-states make of all this? After all, what is diplomacy but a massive PR campaign? And how will we know which country will harbor us gold-bearing exiles the best?

Here’s a headline courtesy of Agence France-Presse: “Anti-Barack Obama ‘Tea Party’ Protests Mark U.S. Tax Day.” The article juxtaposed the words “modest crowds” with “several thousands.” It admitted the protest had a “catchy theme,” but questioned the strength of the “mostly Republican forces” whose party has “been in disarray since Sen. John McCain lost the White House” — a party whose senior figures “appear lukewarm” to the tea parties.

Maybe that’s just because they have issues with verbal jokes that mix them up with “tea bagging” — the sex act — which we all laughed about the morning after. Strategically, there’s no reason for the Republicans to ignore the voice of the Ron Paul fringe, which is getting louder…they’re still doing worse than Obama in Gallup polls, and they’re up for re-election first.

We all know it’s good to ride the faux-populist express… Just look at who ran it straight up to the door of the White House last year.

I know die-hard Dems who voted Reagan into office his first year…for fiscal conservatism, and fiscal conservatism alone. Look how well that turned out! Running from one platform and party to the other is as dizzying as a dog chasing its own tail.

Americans need to stop being twits first and foremost. Posthaste, Patriot…keep your brain for yourself!

Regards,


Samantha Buker

P.S.: An unfortunate slip of dyslexia had us write “324” crates of tea were bashed up by the Sons of Liberty. So as not to offend history stalwarts, we amend that number: it’s 342. [My fault—ed.] If you want the amount of tea in tonnage...know that we’re talking about 45 tons of tea the colonists refused to drink.


Peace, love and happiness...until next time...





Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Tidbits From The Web #49



Play that funky music...
Seen a clone lately?
Mel Blanc's (R.I.P.) vocal cords...
I say I say...causes of brain fog...any of this getting thru to you son?
UFOs in NY/NJ area...
And why wouldn't there be...our galaxy alone has billions of Earths...
A new world currency...
Chaos, confusion, and civil war...
Introducing artist Anthony Pontius...
Why Facebook is evil...
The evolution of religions...
Languages are disappearing...
Bunnies that have made it big...
Top 10 aphrodisiac foods...
Can you hear this now?
Retailer's first locations...
Another reason not to trust our media...we're ranked 36th!
Top 10 scariest games of all time...
8-bit Guitar Hero!
Must see sights in Google Earth...
Stunning views of the Universe...
Unbelievable time required to travel the Universe...
Space Invaders creation...
Wacky water bug...
I should know...video games are wasting my time! (props to Boris)

SAY NO TO FLUORIDE!

Fluoride, one of the most consumed drugs in the United States, is deliberately added to about two-thirds of U.S. public water supplies, theoretically to reduce tooth decay, even though there’s no scientifically-valid evidence proving either safety or effectiveness.

In this video, Dr. Bill Osmunson, general and cosmetic dentist for 30 years, talks about how he came to change his mind about water fluoridation, which he promoted aggressively for the first 25 years of his practice. He thought he saw the benefits, but it wasn’t until he actually reviewed the information for himself that he began to realize that fluoridation is a serious problem.

Why Does Toothpaste Carry a Warning But Fluoridated Water Does Not?

One of the first things he did was look at a tube of toothpaste, which clearly carries the warning: “Do not swallow,” and “in case of accidental ingestion, contact the poison control center.”

The amount of fluoride they’re talking about is a quarter milligram of fluoride, contained in a pea size amount of toothpaste.

But here is the kicker, This is the same amount of fluoride you find in 8 oz of water. Yet toothpaste carries a “Do not swallow” warning, whereas you’re typically told to drink eight 8oz glasses of water each day, without any concern for the amount of fluoride you will ingest.

One of Dr. Osmunson’s main concerns is water fluoridation for infants. The American Dental Association (ADA) and the Center for Disease Control (CDC) recommend that infants NOT receive fluoridated water for drinking, nor for making their formula, as fluoridated water contains 250 times more fluoride than mother’s milk.

“We shouldn’t fluoridate water and harm our most vulnerable,” he says.

Personally, I also strongly advise you do not give your children fluoridated water.

Unfortunately, the only way to ensure your water is pure enough to drink is by installing a good water filtration system in your house, such as a reverse osmosis filter that can filter out fluoride and other dangerous water contaminants like disinfection byproducts (DBPs). Bottled water also typically contains fluoride, even though it’s not stated on the label.

Dental Fluorosis – A Clear Sign of Excessive Fluoride Intake

The next thing Dr. Osmunson looked at was dental fluorosis. These are the white and brown spots on your teeth. The only thing that causes dental fluorosis is fluoride – typically due to ingesting too much fluoride during your developing years, from birth to about 8 years of age. According to the CDC, about one third of children and adolescents 6 to 19 years have enamel fluorosis on their teeth.

When dental fluorosis occurs, it can be an indication that the rest of your body has been exposed to too much fluoride also, such as your bones and the rest of your organs, including your brain.

So, are there actual benefits of water fluoridation?

Depending on the source, water fluoridation has been said to reduce tooth decay by anywhere from 20 to 80 percent. But when you compare the statistics between different countries, you see that no matter whether they fluoridate their water or not, tooth decay has steadily been reduced by the same amount.

Likewise, when you compare states in the U.S., you find that increased amounts of fluoride in the drinking water make no difference. We have the same amount of good healthy teeth, regardless of water fluoridation.

So, if there’s no benefit, WHY are we fluoridating?

Why Do We Fluoridate Drinking Water if It’s Not Healthy?

The evidence points to it being little more than a well-orchestrated PR stunt to aid an industry in trouble – a fascinating story in and of itself, as described so well in Christopher Bryson’s book The Fluoride Deception and in one of the best web sites on this topic, Fluoride Action Network (FAN).

Other pro-fluoride advocates go so far as to try to make you believe that fluoride is a nutrient that naturally helps build strong teeth and bones. One such example is the Directive 2002/46/EC of the European Parliament and the Council, which lists “fluoride” as one of only 28 vitamins and minerals permissible for sale for human consumption within the European Union.

But let’s make this point clear: fluoride is NOT an essential nutrient. The fluoride added to your drinking water is in fact a chemical waste product! It is NOT something you should use as a supplement to your diet.

There are plenty of studies showing the dangers of fluoride to your health, such as:

Increases lead absorption

Disrupts synthesis of collagen

Hyperactivity and/or lethargy

Muscle disorders

Brain damage, and lowered IQ

Arthritis

Dementia

Bone fractures

Lowers thyroid function

Bone cancer (osteosarcoma)

Inactivates 62 enzymes

Inhibits formation of antibodies

Genetic damage and cell death

Increases tumor and cancer rate

Disrupts immune system

Damages sperm and increases infertility

The Key to Healthy Teeth is in Your Diet!

If you’re wondering how to keep your teeth healthy, remember that fluoride was never the answer in the first place. Instead, look to your diet for naturally healthy teeth. In fact, most people whose diet includes very little sugar and few processed foods have very low rates of tooth decay.

Limiting, or eliminating sugar, and avoiding processed foods -- along with regular cleanings with your natural dentist -- will ensure that your teeth stay healthy naturally.

What You Can Do to Help Eliminate Water Fluoridation

Dr. Osmunson suggests you talk to your dentist and health care provider about water fluoridation. For example, ask them if they’ve seen the National Academy of Sciences report on fluoridation. You can help educate them by giving them information they may not have on water fluoridation and excess fluoridation exposure.

He also suggests that professional health care providers and dentists take the time to look at both sides of the issue. If you are a professional in the field, you may also want to add your name to the online Professional Statement at www.FluorideAlert.org. As of April 2009, 2,221 medical and environmental health professionals have signed this statement, calling for an end to water fluoridation.




How Everyday Things Are Made

"If you've ever wondered how things are made - products like candy, cars, airplanes, or bottles - or if you've been interested in manufacturing processes, like forging, casting, or injection molding, then you've come to the right place." So states the introduction to today's feature, How Things Are Made. What better place than Stanford University to get the true skinny on the manufacturing process for over 40 different products. No problem with the complexity of the processes; the site is 'targeted towards non-engineers and engineers alike.' Now you can take your own virtual factory tour, all the while enjoying your 'introduction to the world of manufacturing!


OCD patients may benefit from implantable device

Patients may soon have access to a new treatment for obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), thanks to an implantable device that delivers intermittent electrical therapy deep within the brain.

Full Article

GE, Intel announcement is big, really big

When GE, the world’s 12th-largest company by revenue ($176.6 billion in 2008) according to Fortune magazine, announced it is joining with the world’s largest chip maker, Intel, to develop home-based health technologies, it signaled the continued transformation of an American icon. The financial commitment by both companies is big. So is the market potential.

Full Article

miRoamer Internet Car Radio
http://ct.email.engineeringtv.com/rd/cts?d=33-61463-894-433-2001-2838055-0-0-0-1-2-192 miRoamer has partnered with Blaupunkt on a pair of new car stereos
capable of streaming tens of thousands of internet radio stations using
a 3G network and your Bluetooth enabled cell phone. miRoamer also offers
the ability to browse genres or stations and customize preferences,
providers and search options online at miroamer.com. The Internet
portal also allows users to add media that is not currently offered on
miRoamer, by simply providing the URL and adding it to their favorites.





CHUCKLES


There is a theory which states that if ever anybody discovers exactly what the universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened.

Douglas Adams


Reality is that stuff which, no matter what you believe, just won't go away.

David Paktor





BUSINESS

"Even in the worst depression, 25% of businesses are booming – in your industry find out what they’re doing and do it." -- Mark Victor Hansen

"Major Clue for employee: Poor attitude can come from places other than work. Major Clue for employer: You can't change people's home life, but it's to every employers best advantage to make the atmosphere inside the workplace a fun one." -- Jeffrey Gitomer

"Just as there are three R's there are also three A's of business life. They are: Ability, Ambition, and Attitude. Ability establishes what a worker does and will bring him a paycheck. Ambition determines how much he does and will get him a raise. Attitude guarantees how well he does." -- Wilbert E. Sheer

"Keep asking yourself, ‘Knowing what I now know, is there any part of my business I wouldn't start up again today if I had to do it over?’" -- Brian Tracy





KEEP RAISING THE BAR

Personal growth and increased confidence take place when we are testing the limits of our lives.

Tom Payne


He who stops being better stops being good.

Oliver Cromwell



FINANCIAL ADVICE:

"Once in awhile I like to focus on the larger trend to clarify my views as to where we are in the market, and what I believe is ahead. Below is a weekly chart of the Dow with the count I have as my primary count, based upon other technical indicators I use to help me stay objective in my analysis. As the chart shows, the low on March 6th was the end of wave 3 and we are currently in a 4th wave rally which should last several months before turning down in a 5th wave to new lows. That low would be the end of the larger wave 1 or A, and a rally lasting almost a year would begin to form a larger wave B before turning back down for wave C to even lower lows and the end of the bear market.

My secondary count says that the recent low was the end of wave 1, and we are in a wave 2 rally. The short term difference is of little consequence to most investors, but the pattern will be more complex if my primary count is correct. Under my primary count the market should rally to about 9700 sometime later this summer to early fall, then the decline in the 5th wave would begin. I will discuss targets for the 5th wave low once the 4th wave top is in. If the count is my secondary count, the rally will like reach a higher level around 11250 and the wave pattern a more simple ABC or Up-Down-Up. Either way we are in a period where the surprises are likely to be to the upside until the rally is over. There is one other count which is much more bearish and I will discuss it should the market action dictate a change in my analysis regarding the 2 counts discussed in this update.

The main point I want to drive home is that this is just a BEAR Market Rally. The LOW is not in and we still have several years of overall market declines to come if my analysis is correct and I believe it is. I would like to be wrong, the economic stimulus works, the economy turns up, and everything is great again, but history and common sense says it won't. To put it in a more simple analogy, I liken the stimulus program to telling someone who is deep in debt that the answer is to borrow more money and spend his or her way out of debt when common sense says it will only delay the inevitable bankruptcy. Such is the madness in Washington.





Whiskey & Gunpowder
by Don Stott
April 13, 2009
www.coloradogold.com


Hoover and FDR


It seems as though history continues to repeat itself. During the first 'great depression,' Herbert Hoover was President at the outset. He instigated the things FDR would later enlarge upon, none of which worked. Now we are in the beginning of the second 'great depression,' and it's almost exactly the same scenario. George Bush started the plunge downhill with his $720 billion TARP nonsense, which most of the Republicans voted for, including John McCain, but not of course, Ron Paul. Now, with Obama as President, he is enlarging the things Bush started, just as FDR enlarged the things Hoover began, and history is repeating itself. Now, instead of $720 billion, it's said that it will be $10 trillion before it's over, and I hope being "over" doesn't mean the entire US economy, but it might well be. As in the days of Hoover and FDR, none of the 'stimulus' worked, as it still won't. Henry Morgenthau, FDR's Secretary of the Treasury, said that all the spending "hasn't worked," and he was correct. It took WW II to get us out of the first great depression, and we can pray that it won't take the same to get us out of the second great depression.

One big difference, as I have written before, is that during the Hoover-FDR first great depression, there was absolutely no inflation. None. Why? Because the dollar was backed by gold! It was illegal to print trillions of paper dollars during the first great depression. That's why FDR tried to get everyone to turn in their gold. He could then spend more gold-backed dollars. Also, there were no credit cards, no interstate roads, and virtually no air travel. Stocks were being sold with little or no down payment, just as homes were being sold for the same requirements during the second great depression. During the first great depression, there were no trillion-dollar credit card debts. During the first great depression, stocks plunged as they have done now, but perhaps a little bit further. Then, there was no PPT or plunge protection team to keep the stock market artificially high; and you can bet your bottom dollar that the PPT has been busy of late.

Speaking of stocks, can anyone give me a reason why they have gone up a thousand points, other than the PPT? 650,000 or more each week are getting laid off, businesses by the thousands go bankrupt or close each week, prompting even more layoffs, and the chain reaction continues. One of my clients says that stocks are going up because during a hyperinflation, everything goes up, and that is a good point, but there are no profits anywhere, so I think that argument my not be totally true. I honestly do believe that gold and the Dow will cross eventually, with the Dow on its way down and gold on its way up. Gold and silver will NEVER go to zero like paper assets (sic) can and have done and will continue to do. With hyper inflation, gold and silver will be made to go up even further than other prices, I believe, because more and more people are seeing the beauty of tangible beautiful, historic money, in the form of gold and silver, and there is only so much of it out there. As it becomes more and more difficult to get, due to increased demand, prices of metals will have to go sky high in dollars.

We drove over 3200 miles the week before last, mostly in Texas, and going to and from there. The Blue Bonnets are out and beautiful, but even in Texas, the economy isn't good at all. While Texas houses haven't plunged like Las Vegas, California, and Florida, it's because they never got that high in the first place. Still, layoffs are plentiful, and tourism, motels, and other non-essentials are hurting...even in Texas. Closed auto dealerships are plentiful, and in one wonderful German restaurant, which used to have people waiting around the block on a Friday evening, we were seated instantly. The second great depression is going to leave an unemployment rate of close to 20% before it's over and all the spending and bailouts are merely postponing the inevitable, and making it worse with hyperinflation. The term "trillion" was unheard of a couple of years ago, as far as deficits are concerned, and now that term is thrown around like penny candy at a fair 50 years ago.

Silver is down a buck an ounce from a week ago and gold a hundred bucks. Great buying opportunity, because they won't stay there. Silver is an unbelievable bargain. In 1980, when gold was $850, silver was $50, or a 16 to one ratio. If the ratio were 16 to 1 now, as it was then, and has been throughout history, silver would be $55 an ounce, not $12.25. It will happen because history cannot be denied. It you've got the place to put it, get silver!

Peace, love, and hapiness...until next time...