The Weekly Watch

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A Time to Regenerate

The world seems to be between a rock and a hard place. COVID has amplified the problems and made obvious the dysfunction of the system. Meanwhile the money machine goes brrr, funneling ever more wealth upward. The ecosystem is degrading faster than we imagined. People are protesting in the streets around the world. If there is a way out of this mess, I don't see it. Is it really the end times? If so, should we go out with a party celebrating our life, or fighting the system tooth and nail to the end, or perhaps both at the same time? I know this much, I'm going to do my best to live in harmony with the ecosystem as I wrap up my last decade or two. Of course that has been my path for many years now, so why stop at this point. As I stated last week, I feel for the young folks who we are leaving with all this dysfunction. This week I thought I would explore ecosystem restoration because restoring our political, economic, and social systems is beyond my ability.

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As many of you know I was trained as a soil scientist. Soils are a system I understand and can effect in positive ways. Healthy soils yield healthy foods which lead to healthy people. It is a positive feedback loop. Our food production systems like our sick care for profit system are failing us. The thing that put me on this train of thought is an interview I heard this week with the farmer Gabe Brown and Dr. Mark Hyman. Gabe explains why farmers are caught in a negative loop and the farming system is rigged. (1 min)

the entire discussion was interesting and worthwhile
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJ_1oaf778k (1.2 hours)
If Gabe interests you, here's a nice 2.5 hour presentation of his take on farming.

Gabe Brown of Brown's Ranch in Bismarck, ND, shares his transformative journey of cultivating his farm from modern conventional use to a thriving living ecosystem. Through no-till and extensive cover crop usage, Gabe and his family are able to support a diverse array of farm and ranching enterprises that are both profitable and models of sustainability in regenerative agriculture. Learn more at www.brownsranch.us

I've featured some of the videos before, but it's been a few years and I enjoyed watching them all. I hope you you will enjoy the ones you pick and choose.

Soils are the media where the excess atmospheric carbon can be stored. (3.5 min)

Animals are key to restoring our farming systems. Because CAFO's are bad doesn't mean that all livestock operations are bad. In fact grazing animals are the vehicle for restoration and regeneration. Here's an Alabama farmer. (8 min)

We can do better! (23 min)

Modern agricultural systems use massive amounts of glyphosate that are in us, our water, and our soils. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDOzu6mjsuI (20 min)

What is regenerative agriculture?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QxEOeT2Tno (5.5 min)

Carbon farming can make use of many different animal species.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j89Wlop-LPw (9 min)

Regenerative agriculture is a world wide movement. (6 min from Australia)

Here's a some more Regenerative Aussies
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ob_asuZ6OtE (8 min)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vQW8Tl_KLc (13 min)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVFUS_8VYLo (8 min)


Allan Savory
is a leader in the field. He has restored African savanna using cattle.

(12 min)

"carbon cowboys" is a documentary series in 10 parts, directed by peter byck. It tells the stories of cattle ranchers who work with nature instead of fighting her, creating healthy soils, ecosystems, animals and food in the process. (4 min trailer)


“The nation that destroys its soil destroys itself.”
- Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Finding a solution to combat climate change must include a change in our conventional agricultural system from one that depletes our soil to one that regenerates it. We must move away from our current soil-eroding, industrial farming practices, and, instead, return the animals to the land in a managed way to improve soil health and sequester CO2.

I live in the forest. For thirty plus years I've added to it. I do mow and burn patches to promote diversity, so I figure I've been sequestering carbon for these decades. Does it off set what I burn driving to town? I doubt it, but it is a step in the right direction. Though the eastern deciduous forest are a mere shadow of their state in 1700 at European arrival, there are remnants. That isn't the case in Scotland. They've had thousands of years to eliminate their forests. However there is an effort to bring back the ancient Caledonian forests.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nAGHUkby2Is (20 min)

There is a battle to save and restore public lands. (2.5 min trailer)

Despite support from voters across the political spectrum, our public lands face unprecedented threats from extractive industries and the politicians in their pockets. Part love letter, part political exposé, Public Trust investigates how we arrived at this precarious moment through three heated conflicts—a national monument in the Utah desert, a mine in the Boundary Waters and oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge—and makes a case for their continued protection.
The entire hour 40 min film is now available to watch
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGjnIG7puzY

Now that we know how to save the ecosystem, let's have a brief look at the week's news...

Max and Stacy look at the report out of RAND Corporation showing the $50 trillion elephant in the inequality room. After more than forty years of the Cantillon Effect, the top 1% have ‘taken’ $50 trillion from the bottom 99% in wealth gains.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZhr897ou8s (1st 15 min)
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/09/rand-study-how-high-is-inequalit...

Rick Wolff suggests capitalism is in terminal decline.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gy5LH1ZFwFM (36 min)
All I can say is bring it on!

David Dayen: Trump Is the Sweaty Armpit of Monopoly Capitalism
The journalist examines how the greatest danger to American society doesn’t come from the White House, but from a few obscenely powerful corporations.
https://scheerpost.com/2020/09/11/david-dayen-trump-is-the-sweaty-armpit...
(audio or transcript)

People hit the streets again this week after the exoneration of Breonna Taylor’s killers
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/09/26/pers-s26.html

As of this writing, Democratic governors Kate Brown (Oregon) and Andy Beshear (Kentucky) as well as Republican Governor Mike Parson (Missouri) have declared states of emergency in response to ongoing or planned protests. In Illinois, Democratic Governor J. B. Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot have confirmed that hundreds of National Guard troops remain on standby to respond to any allegations of “violent” protests.

In New York City, five UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters with the Massachusetts National Guard, infamous for their role in ferrying US Army Rangers and special forces soldiers to battlefields around the globe, menaced thousands of protesters in the Bronx and Queens boroughs of New York City Friday evening, hovering and collecting intelligence on protesters.

https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/09/26/prot-s26.html

The empire has come home to roost. Amid the protest COVID continues...
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Though cases are trending up, deaths are trending down.

Trying to balance COVID and the economy is a challenge. Chris Martenson discusses those issues this week on his show. He thinks lockdowns are not necessary.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhqQd1frpDs (45 min)

John Campbell discusses global hopes and plans to deal with COVID
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xp8MPwgX-u8 (18 min)

Max Blumenthal and Ben Norton have a funny spoof on a Putin phone tap.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyAom8aDgGo (1st 5 min)
The main point is the CIA anti-Russia talking points are absurd.

Sadly Julian continues to be tortured for revealing US war crimes

Judge Vanessa Baraitser has granted the defense four weeks to prepare it closing argument, saying that her decision would come after the Nov. 4 U.S. election one way or the other. She had been previously reluctant to give more than a week to the defense.

https://consortiumnews.com/2020/09/25/final-report-assange-hearing-day-f...

Along with Julian, Roger Hallam, the co-founder of Extinction Rebellion, is in jail in Britain. Chris Hedges explains...
https://scheerpost.com/2020/09/22/chris-hedges-the-cost-of-resistance/

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I continue to hold up here in the holler. Fortunately there is plenty to keep me busy here. I've gotten out of the habit of riding my bike to town, but I'm planning to return to that outing even though people rarely wear masks here. I've been walking in the woods and I find being in nature restorative. Regenerating fertile soil is a reward in itself and benefits the system in many ways. The fall crops are doing nicely after our almost four inches of rain from storm beta. So my life goes well. I hope yours is too! Have a good week.

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The idea of regenerative agriculture is a positive step. Seeing more people going in that direction in these parts. It is encouraging, tho seemingly daunting in the face of big AG's grip on our soil.

As an aside, the 5 Blackhawks from Mass. flew overhead in formation on their way to NYC to harass
the protesters the other day. It looked like death in the air. Strange times indeed.

Thanks Lookout!

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Lookout's picture

@QMS
As I stated above...
The empire has come home to roost.

And storm troopers police our streets enforcing the neo-fuedal system.

Take care, and be well!

Edit to add:
I meant to include this in the column. I sing this one using the line the farmer is the ONE who feeds us all, because we have lots of women farmers in our community.
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-Il00FDrXQ]

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

@QMS
You should have seen wave after wave of C-119 troop transports flying Southeast from O'Hare Airport during the Cuban missile crisis. It took hours. Lot's of troops in those transports.
Years later I found out that B-47's armed with nukes were also at O'Hare. No one I knew knew that O'Hare was a dispersal point. I bet Khrushchev did.

Later, I worked at Great Lakes Naval Base. My boss was an ex-Nike battery sergeant. He told me most people didn't know that Nike-Hercules had a nuclear warhead and the batteries were right on the lakefront. This was during the public outcry against the ABM with people saying it would make Chicago a target. Also that soldiers would despoil our young women, disregarding the horde of young sailors every weekend on leave, panting to despoil. And the young women similarly lusting to be despoiled.

Look up the movie "Doctor Strangelove" on your streaming service. It almost was a documentary.

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I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.

Lookout's picture

@The Voice In the Wilderness

The world’s nuclear-armed nations spent a record $73bn on their weapons last year, with the US spending almost as much as the eight other states combined, according to a new report.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/may/13/nuclear-weapons-world-reco...

In 2019, nuclear-armed states spent $138,699 a minute on nuclear weapons.
nuke spending.png

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

@The Voice In the Wilderness

Reminded me of the scores of national guard choppers flying overhead in 1968 to quell the riots in Detroit. It was scary then (what with the 'police action' in Viet Nam raging) and is still scary now. Have a feeling we will be seeing more of this federal force attempting to quell the unrest domestically. Cause, you know, states aren't capable of handling their own issues. Especially in the urban areas. We are being set up for a fight. No question in my mind.

good luck

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@QMS
like a bar fight? I wonder if it wasn't a police action because it wasn't sanctioned by the UN like Korea was. And that one was suspicious. Russia did not veto it. Ambassador slept in? Or Stalin welcomed the fight ala the Spanish Civil war, clandestinely (and not so clandestinely see "Condor Legion") fought between Russia and Germany.

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I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.

Lookout's picture

@QMS

Barton Gellman, whose latest piece in The Atlantic looks at how Trump could subvert the election results and stay in power even if he loses to Joe Biden. “Trump’s strategy is never to concede. He may win, he may lose, but under no circumstances will he concede this election,” says Gellman. “That’s a big problem, because we don’t actually have a mechanism for forcing a candidate to concede, and concession is the way we have ended elections.”
https://www.democracynow.org/2020/9/25/barton_gellman_trump_strategy

Krystal has been talking about it too.
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0gN_oRVya0]

Of course we're being divided by more than the election, but it could be the proverbial straw.

We just need to remain at peace as individuals and community.

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

@Lookout
Not getting candidates to concede before election day and not before the last ballot is counted and the last court challenge settled.

The (un)Democratic Party sickens me. if they sicken me more, I'll vote for Trump instead of Howie Hawkins. Trump sickens me too but the DNC and minions are making it a close race.

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I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.

Lookout's picture

@The Voice In the Wilderness

matters very little...in fact not at all. Trump will win so whatever. I ain't abiding Biden and it doesn't make a difference. Doug Jones is the issue. He's a R with a D by his name so that doesn't give me anything either. I'm wondering why I'm bothering to vote really.

As I said last week, it is two sides of the same corporate coin.

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

@Lookout
Ugh

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I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.

ggersh's picture

Everything that we feared about the GWOT has come true! Under Zero/tRump it has finally come home.

A blast from the past

https://www.reddit.com/r/WayOfTheBern/comments/j0mij8/blast_from_tha_pas...

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I never knew that the term "Never Again" only pertained to
those born Jewish

"Antisemite used to be someone who didn't like Jews
now it's someone who Jews don't like"

Heard from Margaret Kimberley

Lookout's picture

@ggersh

This one isn't as funny but I like the MagaDonald idea...
magadon.png

Have good Sunday!

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

enhydra lutris's picture

@ggersh

be well and have a good one

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That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

enhydra lutris's picture

Can't run livestock in my mini garden, alas, not even chickens. Plus something, possibly crickets, keeps chowing down on everything overnight. Anyway, I will continue to greedily devour the stuff on soil, even though ours is pretty hopeless and following best practices is iffy. Can't leave the soil undisturbed for too many growing seasons because it fills up with roots from outside, invaders, some even from neighbors' yards. Ah well.

be well and have a good one.

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That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

Lookout's picture

@enhydra lutris

Other than the garden and food forest, our place is primarily forest. Been thinking of creating a chicken tractor. We do eat a fair amount of eggs. Would have the put an electric fence around it because of all our predators.

We use a cardboard base as our first mulch layer. Then manure and finally covered with straw. That works well in our situation/ecosystem. No weeds nor root mass other than past crops. We don't pull the roots of past crops out either. Paths and lanes are just cardboard with mulch. Here in the subtropics things rot and turn over quickly.

Have fun in your garden!

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

magiamma's picture

Going on a fast. No news until Monday night. See if I miss much. Getting more done on the swale. Hope to be able to capture a bunch of agua.

People I know are starting to melt down. Hard times for many.

There’s this - food for thought.

A new definition and measure of sustainability

https://medium.com/@stevenspencer_49630/a-new-definition-and-measure-of-sustainability-e874676625ff

The traditional and original definition of sustainable development from the UN — to meet our needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs[iii] — is not achievable without a substantial reduction in global consumption. The problem not only lies in that current generations want the world served on a silver platter and delivered by Amazon, the core of the issue is that even if we truly aimed to only address our needs instead of our ‘wants’, we would still need vast amounts of energy to provide food and clean water for the 8+ billion people on the planet. It is estimated the Habar-Bosch Process provides the fertiliser for every individual over the 4 billion mark. In other words, earth can support around 4 billion people before extra energy is required. [iv] [v] [vi] That process accounts for around 1–2% of the worlds entire energy supply[vii] and is responsible for roughly 1% of global CO2 emissions (around 450 million tonnes in 2010).

It appears achieving sustainable development, with a population that requires energy to simply sustain itself, is a non-sequitur. I would continue that line of argument to propose that whenever a civilisation begins to rely on an external energy source to sustain itself or grow, as is highlighted above by the Habar-Bosch Process, it becomes inherently unsustainable.

Thanks for the ww. Take good care.

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Stop Climate Change Silence - Start the Conversation

Hot Air Website, Twitter, Facebook

Lookout's picture

@magiamma

Glad to hear the swale is coming along. Projects may take awhile to create, but payoff for decades.

I did a three day fast last week. I try to do at least one water only fast every month for me to feel healthy.

Harvested lots of peppers today. Still need to chop and freeze. Figs are sporadically ripening. Okra seems always reliable and prolific. Have to add Bt to the cabbage and broccoli this evening...they're getting eaten. Just started last night.. I recently learned this year that sunlight will kill the bacteria and make it ineffective.

Be well and take care! Hope the smoke has dissipated and the fires quelled.

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

magiamma's picture

@Lookout

Going on a news fast. Not enough body weight to fast. Heh

The days are hot now all over the state. Big waves coming in which means probable rescues. Hot wind also. Worrisome re fires. I am putting in boards to hold the gravel in for the path in front of the bioswale. Hard labor. Slow for me. Perseverance furthers. Never gonna be a day laborer. Those guys (all) work so hard.

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Stop Climate Change Silence - Start the Conversation

Hot Air Website, Twitter, Facebook

Lookout's picture

@magiamma

I watched all of the public lands film. It is kinda difficult to take but should be required viewing nation wide.

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGjnIG7puzY]

Several years ago I read about John Wesley Powell. He was the one that pushed for so much western public lands because there simply isn't enough water to support more people.
https://nevada-today.com/john-wesley-powells-rules-for-water-management/

Best of luck with your project and don't work too hard!

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Unabashed Liberal's picture

of photos, thanks for posting the color photo of the (old) Monroe County Courthouse 'Courtroom.' I took the liberty of reposting it at Friday's Photography Thread, since my photo was black and white.

Mr M and my gardening days sorta ended in Interior Alaska. But, we totally enjoyed it during all the years we were there. Our North Star Borough summer "Fairs" had competitions for farmers/gardeners who produced the largest vegetables. It was wild, since so many varieties grew to be humongous--with 20 or so daylight hours at summer solstice.

I'm trying to check out some of the proposals (stemming from so-called Executive Orders) coming from OM's Administration Thursday. So far, it appears that some, if not all of them, might be executable without a formal law. But, I'm still checking, and will report what I find later.

Dr Sanjay Gupta (CNN) stated that we simply can't have "guaranteed issue"--meaning, the pre-existing condition coverage in the ACA--unless, we surrender to the likes of insurance industry lobbyist Liz Fowler. Obviously, he doesn't name her, but, he states that insurers are in charge, how dare we cross them! (meaning, unless we have a mandate to purchase a policy, we cannot demand guaranteed issue)

The Administration claims they can 'leverage' insurers participation in our healthcare systems--Medicare, Medicaid, ACA Exchange, etc., to get that concession from insurers. We'll see. (if it's possible, and, if they have the political will)

Glad the summer has been such a productive one for you and yours (gardening). Take good care as you make your way around a 'no mask' locality. Obviously, since we've not taken the 'risk' of traveling south, so, can't say if folks on the Eastern Shore are as allergic to them, as it sounds that your locale may be. (I've read that Mobile has a mask mandate, or did.)

(here in TN) When we venture out in very limited way--drive-thru ATMs; occasionally, drive-thru pharmacy, although we can get mail service (just to get out!); drive-thru Library, etc., our observation is that 'about half' the people he sees are wearing some kind of face covering. (at best) There is one food store (Food Lion) that is not mandating face masks--go figure. (saw it on their website--we're staying out of all of them, for now)

Hey, have a nice evening, and, stay safe.

Mollie

“If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die, I want to go where they went.”
~~Will Rogers, Actor & Social Commentator (1856-1950)

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Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.

Lookout's picture

@Unabashed Liberal

was a vow to send $200 prescription drug discount cards to 33 million Medicare beneficiaries “in the coming weeks.”

https://news.yahoo.com/donald-trumps-much-hyped-health-015454078.html
it continues:

However, the President said the $6.6 billion outlay needed to fund this program would have to come from savings from his “most favored nations” drug pricing proposal, which he announced on Sept. 13, and which experts say would be close to impossible to implement before the November election.

Bunch of nothing I bet.

Like you we're staying close to home. We are going to see some friends at the Cloudland Canyon State Park near Trenton, GA. We're meeting for an outdoor picnic. I feel pretty safe outside where the sun's uv can do its job, and air is moving. So, take care and be well. We'll try to do the same.

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

Unabashed Liberal's picture

@Lookout @Lookout

[Edited: After I re-read this comment, wanted to clarify that none of this so-called proposal/vision is my 'preferred' healthcare policy reform--by a long shot. Only intended to indicate that I found a few policy points worthy of discussion, and, possibly passage--until a decent reform package is passed/implemented.]

coupon card, so, I've heard about it. And, like you, I'm very skeptical.

Having said that, Time magazine didn't mention the most likely avenue to fund it--called a "402 Demonstration."

Also, called a 'test pilot program.' Used for years for testing/setting policy for federal healthcare programs, including, Medicare. See below.


Sending coupons to that many Medicare beneficiaries would cost at least $6.6 billion. Two senior White House staff said the money can be used as part of a Medicare program, called the 402 demonstration, that tests innovations that could save money or improve the quality of care in Medicare.

I'm really pushed this evening, but, will expound on this process some time next week at EB.

People may recall that the ACA set up beau coup of these test pilot programs. They are a common mechanism for implementing many, if not most, major policy changes.

Remember - Bernie/Jeff Miller/John McCain--used a 'test pilot program' to privatize the VA healthcare system.

(it was a 3-year test pilot, leading to a permanent change)

Hey, it's obviously a naked appeal to 'seniors' at election time--not doubt about it. (also, one that won't work on me and Mr M Smile )

Having said that--if it does come to fruition, we'll gladly take it!

Biggrin

Per Kiplinger's, here are the other faucets, or goals of the so-called "America First Health Care Plan,"

~~Continue health insurance coverage for pre-existing conditions;

~~End "surprise billing" for medical costs that patients had no meaningful ability to plan for in advance;

~~Dedicate significant resources for COVID-19 therapeutics and vaccines, as well as for treatments for other serious illnesses and conditions;

~~Provide access to health coverage tailored to individual needs;

~~Establish transparent pricing for medical procedures and drug prices;

~~Lower prescription drug costs;

~~Improve access to innovative arrangements like direct primary care;

~~Enhance patient control over medical records;

~~Expand telehealth options; and

~~Cut Medicare waste, fraud and abuse.

Four of them I could support--if, I agree with the means to the end, so to speak. Maybe, a couple more--if I knew more.

Others are "market" solutions--NO THANKS!

Mollie

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Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.

Hi Lookout, thanks for posting all the links and embeds about healing some dysfunctional chaos with the magic of dirt making. Just now the question popped inside my head, what is the carbon cost of scripted video consumption versus plain text and photo communication? I doubt it would take a cloud of 99+ servers to spew plain text and photos. How much do the advertisements burn? I don't know, but submerging entire data centers to dissipate heat should give some clue to their unhealthiness.
---

Today was a "spare the air" smoke day in Sonoma County because of the Glass fire in Napa I guess. We have a Red Flag Warning too, the winds are gusty. My farmer friend up on Pine Mountain Road recently wrote about their garden producing zilch during the smoke days, not even the tomatoes would ripen. I still have two scrawny plants downstairs trying to ripen about six pieces of fruit. wah
Wildfires Taint West Coast Vineyards With Taste Of Smoke

From the Associated Press, By ANDREW SELSKY:

TURNER, Ore. (AP) — Smoke from the West Coast wildfires has tainted grapes in some of the nation's most celebrated wine regions with an ashy flavor that could spell disaster for the 2020 vintage.

Wineries in California, Oregon and Washington have survived severe wildfires before, but the smoke from this year's blazes has been especially bad — thick enough to obscure vineyards drooping with clusters of grapes almost ready for harvest. Day after day, some West Coast cities endured some of the worst air quality in the world.

No one knows the extent of the smoke damage to the crop, and growers are trying to assess the severity. If tainted grapes are made into wine without steps to minimize the harm or weed out the damaged fruit, the result could be wine so bad that it cannot be marketed.

The wildfires are likely to be "without question the single worst disaster the wine-grape growing community has ever faced," said John Aguirre, president of the California Association of Winegrape Growers.

Bummer. Covid-19 ravaging the immigrant workforce is a worse disaster if you ask me, but nobody ever does. I saw an Oxbo 6030 for the first time last week, to go with the Pellenc robot picker I saw last year. MATH
---

My Medicare & You 2021 handbook arrived stuffed full of Advantage insurance options. Feh! I have Parts A and B, that is what comes with Social Security unless I pay a private insurance company $extra$. Trump is only bribing those with Advantage Plans DEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXY and Z, not A or B so thanks for nothing Trump. Ha ha, you and mimi have provided me with my own fine dental insurance which Parts A & B did not cover at all, TYVM (thank you very much)!

I'm down with OAP 4 all, or maybe even the SandersJayapal bills, but no more Medicare 4 All talk, those are weasel words I think. "Be careful what you ask for" is always good advice... in retrospect. LOL oh well. Have fun.

Nobody 2020
Peace and Love

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Lookout's picture

@eyo

We had a fair crop this year, but nothing like last year. I think our summer was a little too cool for high production. I think we put up 5 gallons, so that's not too bad.

Peppers are today's chore. Chop, bag, and freeze...boy are they easy. We've got enough for winter I think. Lettuce, cabbage and so on are doing pretty well and they will make it till next year...maybe even over winter depending on severity. So I have those kind of things to fill my days.

Best of luck with your tooth fix. Hope that (and the smoke) resolves in the near term.

The streaming video expenditure is nothing compared to mining for bitcoin.
All the best! Take care and keep healing.

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

@Lookout hi, my little tomato crop was just about the perfect amount for consumption but no preserves. (Oh man the wind gusts are freaking me out right now, branch cracking leaf storms. The in/out thermometer went UP from 81/83 around 8PM to 85/88 around midnight.)

Update: Fire crews protect homes in Piedmont Heights, St. Francis as Shady fire burns homes in east Santa Rosa

If times don't end up here in Cloverdale I might try some kind of mild green pepper plant next year, not so many tomatoes. The yardlong beans were great too if I hadn't broken any bones, that really harshed my "chop wood carry water" buzz.

Moi tooth and jawbone feel as good as ever, I am saving the cash for another emergency. Like, what if I had broken my leg or wrist bone? Not sure a sling and ice packs for two months would be adequate, would it? IDK (I don't know) and let's not find out. LOL

Peace and Love

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Pluto's Republic's picture

But do we have to pull from the same gene pool?

The farming and soil cultivation was really inspiring, Lookout. I haven't looked at all the videos yet, but I like this topic very much. It's both practical and philosophical. An almanac and an oracle. And, I suppose, a prophecy for those who dare to look.

Our food production systems like our sick care for profit system are failing us.

.

At some point, I came to accept that our systems cannot be reformed. They are too twisted and flawed to be safely regenerated. They need to be re-evolved from the bottom-up and designed to serve the needs of humans, first and foremost. The wellbeing of the people and their environment must be the first principle of people who work in government. Or, perhaps you were saying the same thing.

I don't know how to fix the fact that the American people, as a whole, have profoundly devolved into Orcs. How will they ever make restitution for the murder and mayhem and all the death and suffering they have caused throughout the world? They haven't a shred of self awareness, which has made them very susceptible to Covid-19. Several damaged generations will have to die off, unless the mental defect is epigenetic.

::

I spend my days studying our pandemic viruses. I call them the Virutopians. They are masters of adaptability and have several different ways to do the same thing. Lately they have been covering their spikes with sugar granules to become more enticing. They clearly group think. A person can breathe in several live viruses, which will stick to the mucosa lining the nose and throat. But viruses will not attack. The viruses remain inactivated until they reach a quorum, or Viral Load. (Only they know the exact number.) Meanwhile, the mucosa slowly moves them to the back of the throat for elimination. Most people become infected this way, especially front line Doctors and Nurses. I imagine we all pick up viruses when we're out around people. There are aerosol clouds floating at face level, even outside. The kind of masks people are forced to wear offer no protection. If you can smell perfume through your mask, viral aerosols can pass right through them.

A hundred years years ago, during the Spanish Flu pandemic, people also wore masks. They washed their hands, stayed away from crowds, disinfected surfaces, and did all the same things that we do today. But they also knew how to wash the virus out of their oro-naso-pharynx mucosa before the viruses could built up a Viral Load. This is what curbed the infection rate for the US armed forces, and gargling became something of a national pastime for school children, factory workers, telephone operators, nurses, and families everywhere. Whole towns got rid of the infection this way. At the moment, it is the most effective prophylaxis available, based on a quadruple blind study, designed initially to save the lives of Front Line medics. But nobody has paid much attention. Perhaps that's because the study is not yet peer reviewed, or because the study was done in Pakistan. (It was funded by MIT, but that's not apparent.) Maybe the study will be ignored because there is nothing to patent, and the pharmaceutical companies all have expensive prophylaxis inhalers in the pipeline. However, if I know about this highly-effective 100 year old solution, and the US Public Health Cartel does not know or does not tell — then we probably are doomed as a civilization.

This is what I meant about not wanting to regenerating our systems. They are bad to the bone and exist only for the sake of their bureaucrats. As one US physician penned in an opinion piece I saw today:

The research infrastructure in the US continues to be far too inflexible and far too slow to address basic research questions quickly in a pandemic…. We should have learned about the benefit of masking in March, not July. We should have learned about convalescent plasma in April, not September. Medical journals are still reviewing a Mayo clinic study 5 weeks after it was submitted. How about a 24-hour review when more than a thousand people are dying daily?

Our slow and clunky research system was most evident with the September release of the CDC's small survey study of 314 people concluding that dining out raised COVID-19 risk. Why are we getting these results in September and not April? We should have learned about the massive benefit of steroids during the New York outbreak, rather than in June from a U.K. trial -- in which US researchers declined to participate because it did not meet their elaborate standards.

Similarly, the FDA should be able to respond faster to the needs of a health emergency. For example, they should not be requiring 6-month stability testing before releasing a novel vaccine. The NIH should post grant RFPs (request for proposals) within 24 hours of a newly declared pandemic. And insurance companies should stop denying payments for care related to research during a health emergency.

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The Virutopians believe that the potential for intelligent life exists only on planets with extreme diversity. Diversity is what supports complexity, and complexity reaches out toward the One Absolute. They say if environmental diversity begin to shrink, planetary life is tipped into extinction. It sounds like a Viral Load to me.

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Lookout's picture

@Pluto's Republic

Virology is really interesting. QMS wrote about an iodine mouth rinse which destroyed Sars-Cov-2. Here's a bit about it.
https://today.uconn.edu/2020/06/uconn-health-researchers-find-simple-ora...

The fact that TPTB are not pushing Vit D is negligent too. And who have you heard speaking of ivermectin? https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/noida/ivermectin-to-be-used-for...

Cheap generic drugs are not going to be pushed. This pandemic is being managed for profit.

Thanks for your thoughtful insightful comment!

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

Pluto's Republic's picture

@Lookout

...so much, but they are used regularly around the world. There's also been a big breakthrough using statins, and D3 is also showing antiviral capacities. Some foreign hospitals give patients D3 when they show up. Cyrcadium rhythm turns out to be a big deal, and melatonin turns out to be a Covid Swiss army knife with massive inflammation control

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s13063-020-04634-2

Actually, came back to drop off the above link to the gargle study I'm watching. What makes it interesting is that random SARS-CoV-2 passengers can be managed. It's trapped by its viral load. So, one can just flush the virus several times a day. The US has a suicide infection rate, according to some medical journal I read. The virus is coming for us all. I think there are ways to outsmart it.

I am surprised and amused that, so far, everything that is effective against Covid-19 is either a home remedy, an old medicine in the public domain, or an over-the-counter pill or supplement. Those drug companies and their investors must be squirming.

Anyway, you are always up to speed on this. That's very good. Stay well.

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Lookout's picture

@Pluto's Republic

So I'm happy to see you come back by to clarify. I couldn't agree more:

I think there are ways to outsmart it....I am surprised and amused that, so far, everything that is effective against Covid-19 is either a home remedy, an old medicine in the public domain, or an over-the-counter pill or supplement. Those drug companies and their investors must be squirming.

Be well and happy!

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magiamma's picture

@Pluto's Republic
For those. Would love to pass on. Thx.

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@magiamma good day, my search fu revealed this linky for those quoted paragraphs above:

https://www.medpagetoday.com/blogs/marty-makary/88730

hope that helps have a nice day
Peace and Love

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Pluto's Republic's picture

@eyo

I personally enjoy reading the comments by the doctors at the bottom.

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magiamma's picture

@eyo
Just checking this now. Heh. Hope you ate safe from fires snd smoke.

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is an interesting idea, one which I had not heard of being in practice during the Spanish Flu.

Searching the “tubes” on the subject I was surprised to find news of a “gargle and spit” test for COVID that may soon replace those diabolical long nasal swabs.

If this is a reliable way to flush out COVID virus samples for testing then it stands to reason that gargles the virus does not tolerate could intercept a incipient infection in the sinus making its way to the lungs.

My conspiratorial mind wonders if the splash of coverage on the gargle test is meant to deflect from any interest in regular gargling as a preventive regime.

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Capitalism is the extraordinary belief that the nastiest of men for the nastiest of motives will somehow work for the benefit of all."
- John Maynard Keynes

Lookout's picture

@ovals49
5.5 min
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZWuyvBAWWQ]

Here again the FDA won't approve it because it isn't expensive nor profitable.

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@Lookout
I’ve forwarded to all (3) of the nurses and doctors in the family.

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Capitalism is the extraordinary belief that the nastiest of men for the nastiest of motives will somehow work for the benefit of all."
- John Maynard Keynes

Lookout's picture

@ovals49

So many easy preventatives never discussed nor pushed.

Take care of yourself and be well!

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@Lookout
Or it could also be that they simply like making money off a pandemic much more than they like helping other people stay alive.

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Capitalism is the extraordinary belief that the nastiest of men for the nastiest of motives will somehow work for the benefit of all."
- John Maynard Keynes

TheOtherMaven's picture

@ovals49

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There is no justice. There can be no peace.

Dawn's Meta's picture

prevention ideas. We are now using sea salt (a little goes a long way) to gargle and sinus rinse with. Have been taking D3 (not sure how much is good). Lots of bone broth free range chicken and beef dishes. Mask wearing; washing hands; sanitizer in the car for after anywhere there are people.

Looking at new masks. My cloth one provided by the mayor's office from ladies in the area making them at home, fogs my glasses. Therefore I know that I can contaminate and get contaminated because the mask doesn't conform to my nose.

Any ideas we can do at home are welcome. I read somewhere Zinc may be helpful?? With anything else? Oh, Elderberry syrup. I also steam with a mix of essential oil to calm my lungs and respiratory plus bring up anything lingering. We have Nettles growing in our yard and dried nettle for tea. Also Ginger and Curcuma with peppercorns for tea with some wild honey.

Mr. M drinks hot lemon water all day. We both take powdered Vit C (ascorbic acid).

Pet the dog, and two abandoned kitties now five weeks old. Visit the creek and hug a tree.

Luckily we have few distractions aside from the continuous work of moving into our much cleaner house. Trying to mop up construction dust, old mold floating around using many methods of cleaning. It's a full time job.

So there you have it. Many thanks for all the reminders. I too feel if we all took some moderate measures, we can at least give ourselves and our friends, families and contacts a fighting chance. And we might be able to enjoy some things like making music which give us so much joy.

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A society grows great when old men plant trees in whose shade they know they shall never sit. Allegedly Greek, but more possibly fairly modern quote.

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Dawn's Meta's picture

Regenerative Agriculture. Carbon Cowboys has a ring to it. This sort of thing actually gives me hope. Keep them coming. Repeat as often as you like. We need all the encouragement we can get.

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A society grows great when old men plant trees in whose shade they know they shall never sit. Allegedly Greek, but more possibly fairly modern quote.

Consider helping by donating using the button in the upper left hand corner. Thank you.

Lookout's picture

@Dawn's Meta

Not a recommendation but I take 250 micrograms of D3 daily. The capsule also contains 1500 micrograms of Vit K.

Ideally you get a blood level D test to see if that gets you into the ideal range, but I'm avoid med facilities for awhile.

Two or three times a week I take 50 mg of Zn with a gram of Quercetin which acts as an ionophore to get it into your cells.

As to masks. I'm using one of these. They're pricey at about $16 each delivered, but makes me feel safe.

There is a new mask that can help prevent you from getting this virus that cost about $12.50 each. https://n95maskco.com/collections/n95-masks
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7cVsWBfupE (10 min)

Just like a regular N95, such as this one that we use in the hospital, made by the company 3M, this mask will filter out particles as small as 0.3 microns. It’s also listed on the CDC’s website of NIOSH-Approved N95 Respirators. It’s also FDA approved. So what sets this mask apart from a regular N95 mask? Several things, actually. For one, it's much more comfortable to wear. You’ve probably seen pictures of health care workers with marks and lines and even bruising on their faces as a result of wearing N95s. And from my personal experience, they’re just not comfortable, especially for more than an hour or two of use. The company also claims that it can “inactivate up to 99.9% of particles within minutes,” So not only trapping viruses and bacteria but destroying them too.
This new KN95 Respokare mask has 4 layers, and the innermost layer is built of soft materials to ensure comfort during periods of long-wear, and is also water-resistant, which is also nice. On top of that are 3 more layers, that serve to not only trap fine particles, but one of the layers contains copper and zinc ions which serve to destruct viruses and bacteria. Also, the outermost layer has an acidic coating, creating a low pH environment, which helps to destroy viral and bacterial proteins.

Hope that isn't too much information, but that's my current strategy.

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

and thought you might be interested. https://www.commondreams.org/views/2020/09/28/what-do-when-world-fire
The author has quite a few links. Like him, I am not interested in giving up the wilderness in favor of high tech with it's questionable and dubious outcome.

Thanks for your great Sunday compilation. As always, it is full to the brim.

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Lookout's picture

@randtntx

Hope all is well in your world. I always liked Aldo intro line...

“There are some who can live without wild things and some who cannot.”

I think he continues with something like - this book is for those who cannot.

Saw a bobcat this AM when I came in from Trade Day. It is cloudy and dark here. It is rare to see them out during the day. Deer and Turkey are common everyday in our world.

Take care and be well!

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Unabashed Liberal's picture

for "gargling" info.

Hi, Eyo--thanks for plug for OAP! Glad you're doing/feeling better! Take good care of yourself.

Mollie

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Lookout's picture

@Unabashed Liberal

you might have been exposed. Though we all have COVID fatigue, we need to keep on with good habits this winter as cases continue to increase. Deaths always lag by two + weeks.

Stay well!

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”