(G.E. Long photo: The site of King Phillip's death in 1676.)Sharif's invitation inspired me to share some perspective I've gained while reading Nathaniel Phlibrick's book Mayflower (New York: Viking, 2006). Philbrick presents the voyage of the Pilgrims as essentially one looking for a place to be left alone. However, they landed in a region peopled by a multitude of native tribes with their own politics and traditions. Because of the hardships the Pilgrims underwen... Read Full Story
Sharif Abdullah writes:
Many of us have done our own personal “shadow” work: courageously looking into those places where we do not live up to our own potential, when we fail our own standards.
Now, it’s time to take the next step: to look at our communities and our nation. This is not to DWELL on our past, but to RELEASE ourselves from its grip. Race: This nation was founded on the highest principles of our Founders – the notion of the inalienable rights of humanity, includ... Read Full Story
(Svadilfari photo.)As I read the background on the Fort Hood shooter, Nidal Malik Hasan, a familiar pattern emerged. He was the son of immigrants-- Palestinian in this case. He moved a lot, attending three colleges in different parts of the country (including, ironically, Virginia Tech) before joining the military. And, according to his family, he had few friends. This pattern fits many recent shooting-spree perpetrators, from Virginia Tech to Salt Lake City.But t... Read Full Story
(Mike Licht image.)
McClatchy reports that small banks are failing at an alarming rate: 155 so far this year. And the banking system is so unstable that the FDIC, which tries to place the assets of failed banks with solvent banks, can't find enough solvent banks. It has changed its rules to allow private equity funds to buy up the remains of bank failures.Does this bother you? It should. When there aren't enough solvent banks to support the system, we're in ... Read Full Story
(Pieter Musterd image.)My bank, a small, local institution, posted the following on its website this week:
Today (11/5/2009) around noon SBSU was targeted by a cell-phone text messaging scheme. The bogus message claims that your "ATM card is suspended" and asks you to call a 1-877 phone number and input your card information. While these attacks concern us, we trust that you recognize a phishing scheme when you see one. Criminals want your entire card number, expiration date and PIN, which ... Read Full Story
(New Scientist image.)The Week reports on a new book, Time to Eat the Dog?: The Real Guide to Sustainable Living. Says the Amazon.com review,
"Challenging the orthodoxies that underpin our entire economic system, this is one subversive read."
Among it findings: the average medium dog kept as a pet requires more land to grow its food than the average person in Vietnam. According to the book,
"it takes slightly more than 2 acres of land to produce the roughly 360 pounds of meat... Read Full Story
(Paul Williams photo: Dust Bowl ghost town.)
"Climate change and increased populations around the world are problems that are all tied together... They all point to a world that's living beyond its means." --NPR
Since 1976, Wes Jackson has been working on a solution to the 10,000 year old problem of unsustainable farming. He's come up with a solution: a cross between wheat and prairie grasses that's perennial, meaning it doesn't require the soil to be re-plowed every year. That keeps soil ... Read Full Story
California, desperate for money, has made employees an offer they can't refuse: starting this week, the State will withhold 10% more taxes from employees' checks. That's not just State employees, but every employee in the state.Essentially, that's a non-consensual, interest free loan. If a private party did that, they'd call it extortion.In theory, taxpayers will get a refund when they file their tax return is April. But as we've seen in the past, just because... Read Full Story
Cindy47452 photo: An Amish barnraising.
Over at Jackrabbit Ranch, we've started a Wiki: the Self Reliance WikiResource. It will cover such topics as:
Renewable energy
Self employment
Gardening
Making cheese
Preparedness
Cooking & recipes
And more...
It's not exactly an encyclopedia, because it will contain personal experience as well as facts. So we're calling it a resource.
At present it only has a few pages. I'd like to invite you to add something, or edit someth... Read Full Story
