Category Archives: Technology
Major Quote of the Day – Do you want to get out of Afghanistan?
You want to end this thing? Send every proponent who thought or thinks this American Military/Political/Business crusade justifiable; every Congress person who voted for this travesty along with their entire family; every Right Wingunt; every Pseudo-patriotic NASCAR sucking holier-than-thou Evangelical Right Wingunt Mother’s son and daughter; every Ted Nugent–Victoria Jackson–Patricia Heaton–Kelsey Grammer–Megyn Kelly-Money grubbing Rush Hudson Limbaugh-Bill O’Reilly-Glen Beck cocksucking bird brained “Let’s you and him fight, but not me” advocate; every unemployed Joe the Plumber who salutes the flag but hates anything non white; every media owner, media personality andpolitical hack; every pajama-clad envelope stuffing/bake sale College Republican Chickenhawk; every money-loving bishop, priest, pastor, reverend who intentionally misinterpret and mouth beliefs different from a true Xtian gawd’s will (and any of their following sheep who thinks their religious leaders saints); every Fatherland Security Employee; every CEO, investor and banker’s child…send them all over there right now with the same equipment and unprepared training assholes like Rumsfeld, Powell, Bush etc. and now Obama thought and still think was and is acceptable…send them all over there – to Democratize and Americanize those heathens; to convert those infidels to American Business Dogma; to allow Americans their inalienable ability to suck all the oil they can suck; to make America safe for rapists, thieves and especially for increased business profits. While we’re at it send their aged, infirmed and invalid, handicapped or otherwise physically and/or mentally challenged parents as well.
I’d give it two days! They’ll all be home!
Related articles
- Was it the Force of George Bush’s Ego that Led to NATION BUILDING in AFGHANISTAN? (goodolewoody.wordpress.com)
- Afghanistan’s Haditha: An Atrocity to End the War (alhittin.com)
- Fury Grows Over Afghan Killings (atwar.blogs.nytimes.com)
- Afghanistan: ‘Several drunk troops behind bloodbath, laughed on shooting-spree, burned corpses’ (redantliberationarmy.wordpress.com)
- Taliban Promise Revenge for Civilian Murders in Afghanistan (wrc559.com)
- Hundreds protest in Afghanistan over shooting of civilians (cnn.com)
Passing on a Disgusting Practice…
Here it goes again… My cousin turned me on to this piece:
Seven Million Pounds of “Pink Slime” Beef Destined for National School Lunch Program
By Sarah B. Weir, Yahoo! blogger | Healthy Living – 6 hours ago
“Pink slime” burger? McDonald’s and Taco Bell have banned it, but now the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is buying 7 million pounds of beef containing ammonium hydroxide-treated ground connective tissue and meat scraps and serving it up to America’s school kids. If you thought cafeteria food was gross before….
Related: What You Need to Know About the New Meat and Poultry Labels
According to TheDaily.com, the term “pink slime” was coined by microbiologist Gerald Zirnstein, formerly of the USDA Food Safety Inspection Service. He first saw it being mixed into burger meat when he was touring a Beef Products Inc (BPI) facility in 2002 after an outbreak of salmonella. “Scientists in D.C. were pressured to approve this stuff with minimal safety approval,” Zirnstein told The Daily.
“Pink slime,” which is officially called “Lean Beef Trimmings,” is banned for human consumption in the United Kingdom. It is commonly used in dog and chicken food. Celebrity chef and safe food advocate Jamie Oliver featured the substance and called for its ban on the April 12, 2011 episode of Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution, which may have influenced McDonald’s to stop using beef patties containing the filler.
Reportedly, Zirnstein and his colleague Carl Custer studied the substance and classified it as a “high risk product.” Custer, who worked at the Food Safety Inspection service for 35 years, says, “We looked at the product and we objected to it because it used connective tissues instead of muscle. It was simply not nutritionally equivalent [to ground beef]. My main objection was that it was not meat.”
Another issue is the ammonium hydroxide, a chemical that is used to kill pathogens such as E. coli. The FDA considers it safe for human consumption but a 2009 expose by the New York Times questioned its safety and efficacy. Some food advocates are asking for meat containing “pink slime” to be labeled. It’s used in about 70% of ground beef in the US. “We don’t know which districts are receiving what meat, and this meat isn’t labeled to show pink slime. They don’t have to under federal law,” Bettina Siegal, a writer and mother of two who created TheLunchTray.com told NBC. Siegel has started a petition to demand the USDA stop using the product in the National School Lunch Program.
Ongoing chapter of the Comcast battle…
Well… here I am after the Comcast installation didn’t show up this morning (although the man they call the site survey came yesterday and said our connection to the cable was there on the outside of the house and we were ready to go.)
Installation was supposed to show up between 8 and 10. At 11, after there was no sign of a Comcast installer, I called the delightful folks and, guess what? They had no record of an installation appointment, nor any record of our address.
So I asked the rep – Devin – (and this was the fourth guy I spoke with after 45 minutes of being on hold with three other people), how did your site survey guy know which address to come to yesterday? Devin said he didn’t know how to explain it… he tried four different ways and our address didn’t come up.
While I was holding on the phone as he checked, I got on line to Comcast.com and found on my billing account that they were billing my old home’s service to my new address… I had him look up my bill and he saw it was so. But he said the address still didn’t come up with any request to reinstall my service.
Finally, after an hour and a half on the phone, he gave me a new work order number, told me he was putting it on an emergency alert and would call me back as soon as it was set up. That was almost 2 hours ago.
I’m still waiting.
We hear so much about Google invading our lives…
Here’s one you weren’t expecting:
A view from much further away.
(Reuters) – A Frenchman took Google to court on Thursday over a photo published online by its Street View application showing him urinating in his front yard which he believes has made him the laughing stock of his village in rural northwest France.
The man, who is aged around 50 and lives in a village of some 3,000 people in the Maine-et-Loire region, is demanding the removal of the photo, in which locals have recognised him despite his face being blurred out.
He also wants 10,000 euros in damages.
“Everyone has the right to a degree of secrecy,” his lawyer, Jean-Noel Bouillard, told Reuters. “In this particular case, it’s more amusing than serious. But if he’d been caught kissing a woman other than his wife, he would have had the same issue.”
The Judge is ruling on March 15th. This will be one to wait for.
Meanwhile, watch what you do in your own yard.
The Daily Scoop: Better-educated Republicans doubt climate change; believe Obama’s Muslim
I’m really impressed by the concept “smart idiots effect” which turns up later in the article (when Mashed Potato Bulletin switches over to Salon.) I had always thought that educated Republicans were reachable about Climate Change, but now I find it questionable. What do you think?
I can still remember when I first realized how naïve I was in thinking—hoping—that laying out the “facts” would suffice to change politicized minds, and especially Republicanones. It was a typically wonkish, liberal revelation: One based on statistics and data. Only this time, the data were showing, rather awkwardly, that people ignore data and evidence—and often, knowledge and education only make the problem worse.
Someone had sent me a 2008 Pew report documenting the intense partisan divide in the U.S. over the reality of global warming.. It’s a divide that, maddeningly for scientists, has shown a paradoxical tendency to widen even as the basic facts about global warming have become more firmly established.
Read more…
Is your food going to be sprayed with Agent Orange?
Right now, Dow‘s Agent Orange corn is being rubberstamped through the approval process at USDA. It has not been adequately tested for our health or safety, and it should not be approved. We have until February 27 to tell the USDA to reject Agent Orange corn. Tell the USDA not to approve this crop!
Big Ag is in an arms race with weeds. Most genetically engineered crops are made to withstand chemical weed killer (e.g., Roundup), but over time, weeds evolve to resist these chemicals.
This means that farmers have to apply stronger chemicals to kill the weeds, and the newest version of this is 2,4-D, a major component of Agent Orange. This is the same horrific chemical that destroyed wide swaths of jungle and killed hundreds of thousands of people during the Vietnam War.
If the USDA approves Dow’s Agent Orange corn, more dangerous chemicals will definitely be used on our crops, we’ll see new resistant weeds and people may get sick. Urge the USDA to reject Agent Orange corn!
Tell USDA — don’t approve Agent Orange corn:
http://action.foodandwaterwatch.org/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=9513
Just got back from a Solar Project lecture at Town Hall
Than Hitt starts it off...
Sustainable Shepherdstown had David Brosch of University Park Solar LLC from Maryland to discuss how that organization created an investor solar project, got some state laws changed, and got small investors involved in solar energy.
This is the project that Than Hitt spoke about on my radio show last Saturday, and the show and a Sustainable Shepherdstown mailing brought in about 30 people (would have been more if the Chronicle had run the release, but it didn’t.)
David Brosch
The concept of setting up a (small) profit-making LLC to get groups of people involved with solar power for multiple locations with a 20 year profit of about 7% (money deducted from the electric bill). It has been successfully started in Maryland and could be done in West Virginia.
This was a good start and everyone left Town Hall interested to take it further.
Related articles
- Educating Texas – Solar Power Projects For Parents & Kids (txu.com)
- Payback From Federal Center Solar Project To Take Decades (denver.cbslocal.com)
- Bright Days: How India Is Reinventing Solar (thesolarity.wordpress.com)
- You: German cos interested in solar energy production systems (nation.com.pk)
- Community Solar – Trending in 2012 (cleantechies.com)
Finding the things that make you feel old…
I had one of these:
It was made of thin plastic (which meant it would last about a week) and when you put it on it was totally transparent (in the manner of dark sunglasses.)
I wore mine while watching Tom Corbett on television in Bristol, Connecticut in the early 50s.
A sensational discovery “as new as the hydrogen bomb.” Can you believe it? And it made me a “super space cadet” with Tom and Astro and the rest. Whether or not it made me the “hero of (my) town” I don’t know… but I was the big cheese of Brookside Drive.
I listened to Repub candidates propose that we could be invaded from Iran…
…but, although the USA professes itself menaced by Iran, it rather has Iran encircled by military bases:
Stars = US Bases
(thanks to Juan Cole‘s Informed Comment.)
So what I want to know is which of these Repub candidates has any kind of grasp on mid-east policy? Certainly Iran knows that they can be completely wiped out by us with little or no provocation.
Related articles
- US, Europe cautious on Iran offer for nuke talks (sfgate.com)
- GOP candidates take hard line on Mideast (politico.com)
- Can the US stop Iran going nuclear? (americablog.com)
- Russia is preparing to respond to Israeli or US military strike on Iran (irannewpearlharbour.wordpress.com)
Court: Monsanto Guilty of Chemical Poisoning in France
A French court Monday found US agriculture giant Monsanto legally responsible for the poisoning of a farmer with one of its herbicides in 2004.
Paul François, a cereal farmer in the southwestern department of Charente “Monsanto is responsible for Paul Francois’ suffering after he inhaled the Lasso product… and must entirely compensate him,” said the judgement from the court in the southeastern city of Lyon.
In 2004, Paul François, a cereal farmer in the southwestern department of Charente, opened the tank of his pulveriser machine. He inhaled fumes of Lasso, a weedkiller manufactured by Monsanto, and fainted.
He was taken to hospital and stopped work for almost a year, reports radio station France Info. He suffers from memory loss and often feels faint.
* * *
A French court on Monday declared U.S. biotech giant Monsanto guilty of chemical poisoning of a French farmer, a judgment that could lend weight to other health claims against pesticides.
Farmer mixing Lasso, a Monsanto herbicideIn the first such case heard in court in France, grain grower Paul Francois says he suffered neurological problems including memory loss, headaches and stammering after inhaling Monsanto’s Lasso weedkiller in 2004.
He blames the agri-business giant for not providing adequate warnings on the product label.
The ruling was given by a court in Lyon, southeast France, which ordered an expert opinion of Francois’s losses to establish the sum of damages. […]
“I am alive today, but part of the farming population is going to be sacrificed and is going to die because of this,” Francois, 47, told Reuters.
He and other farmers suffering from illness set up an association last year to make a case that their health problems should be linked to their use of crop protection products.
The agricultural branch of the French social security system says that since 1996, it has gathered farmers’ reports of sickness potentially related to pesticides, with about 200 alerts a year.
Now let’s get after Monsanto HERE IN AMERICA!
Related articles
- Monsanto convicted of chemical poisoning in France over Lasso (thebovine.wordpress.com)
- Monsanto Found Guilty of Chemical Poisoning in France (panokroko.wordpress.com)
- Monsanto found guilty of chemical poisoning in France (talesfromthelou.wordpress.com)
- Holy Moly! Here’s the Real Reason Rich American Conservatives Hate France! (johnhively.wordpress.com)
- Monsanto Attempts to Lockout Socially Responsible Shareholder at Annual Meeting… (underthelobsterscope.wordpress.com)
- 300,000 Organic Family Farmers in lawsuit against Agribusiness Giant Monsanto (stillisstillmoving.com)
- Transcript of the Organic Farmers vs Monsanto court hearing #GMO lawsuit (themomu.wordpress.com)
An article that caused me to question…again…our position in the Middle East.
A question I would like an answer to:
Why Are We Fighting On the Same Side with Al Qaeda?
Posted on February 12, 2012 by WashingtonsBlogThe U.S. Is On the Same Side as Al Qaeda In Syria
Reuters notes that the leader of Al Qaeda – Ayman al-Zawahri – is backing the Syrian rebels, and asking his followers to fight the Syrian government.
Some of the main Al Qaeda fighters who overthrew Gadaffi – and now appear to be in control of Libya – are already helping the Syrian rebels.
This is curious, given that the U.S. is considering military options for ousting the Syrian government, American allies Britain and Qatar allegedly already have foreign troops inside Syria, and the U.S. has been planning regime change in Syria for over 50 years.
Mainstream reports also state that the U.S. and its allies are backing Iranian terrorists.
I thought Al Qaeda was America’s mortal enemy. Why are we backing terrorists?
I was asked by a radio caller last week if I thought we should charge back full force into the Middle East a la Rick Santorum and the right wingers. My answer was a simple “No.” Frankly, after the past 15 years or so of wondering what the hell we were doing there anyway, killing off our young soldiers and an immense quantity of Middle Easterners to keep our access to oil, the value of maintaining war there is invisible.
No matter that we have built a huge military industrial economy spread over many states in order to keep Senators and Congress folks voting to spend what’s left of the national wealth on tanks, planes, aircraft carriers and guns,guns,guns… no matter that we have been building a population consumed by fear of attack by Iranian nukes (caught that on the news this morning)… wanting to get out of all of this gets harder and harder.
Like the tri-national divided world in the novel 1984, the enemies of the country change constantly and become social buddies while previous friends become the enemies. It is an international trick to keep people under control. It is not far fetched to see Al Qaeda become our fighting allies.
I will say once again: Get out, get out, get out… oh, why 
bother repeating it? No one in authority listens and no one under that authority seems to be able to do anything about it.
Related articles
- U.S. Officials: Al Qaeda Behind Syria Bombings (huffingtonpost.com)
- World Briefing | Africa: Somalia: Rebels Join Al Qaeda (nytimes.com)
- Somalia’s al-Shabab joins Al Qaeda, leader says (foxnews.com)
- New Video From Al-Qaeda Urges Muslims To Help Syrian Rebels (huffingtonpost.com)
- Another 1991? (guerraedirittiinterazionali.wordpress.com)
- Is Al Qaeda actually involved in the Syria uprising? (csmonitor.com)
- Zawahiri supports Syria uprising in new video: SITE (nation.com.pk)
- U.S. to meet with allies “outside the UN” for solution on Syria (hotair.com)
Under The LobsterScope needs your help to keep going…
…but there’s something in it for you (beyond the daily goodies put out for your enjoyment):
Support this blog with $5.00 or more…
…and get “Bill’s Cast O’ Characters,” a great image font,based on authentic turn-of-the-century ornaments in the Barnhart Bros. & Spindler specimen book, e-mailed to you immediately.
So many of you have been following this blog since 2004 that I feel like a member of a huge web community.
I have enjoyed bringing you The Cartoon or Cartoons of the Week, the Quotes, the Political and Arts News, the Blogrolls to the best sites in America and beyond… They are all a joy to put together. Often we get the breaking political stories before you see them anywhere else. And our wide open communication channels with readers can’t be beat.
Well, once again, I need YOUR help to keep it going. I’m hoping you will make a small 
contribution, by PayPal or credit/debit card, in support of Under The LobsterScope. You’d be amazed at how much $5.00 can do to help me bring more and more to these pages. And it is probably the LOWEST annual subscription fee you will make to any publication… interactive or not.
And for a contribution of $5.00 (or MORE) you will receive a copy of my Picture Font, Bill’s Cast O’ Characters – one of my very favorites and my most used.
You should know, however, that even a contribution of only $1.00 adds to the ability of this unemployed blogger to find things for your benefit, and gives you my heartfelt thanks. By clicking on the DONATE button below, you tell me that Under The LobsterScope makes a difference in your time on the web.
Thanks,
– Bill T.
Germany Decides Genetically-Modified Foods Are Not Welcome
German chemicals giant BASF is closing its biotech division in Germany. The move was prompted by massive resistance to genetically modified food among both the public and politicians. GM opponents are jubilant, while some researchers are complaining this is another case of German hostility to technology.
If Germany can do it, we can, too. Our chemical giant, Monsanto, should be our target… and we shouldn’t quit until its chemicals are banned.
Read more: Conscious Consumer, Diet & Nutrition, Eating for Health, Eco-friendly tips, Environment, Food, Green, Green Kitchen Tips, Health, Natural Pest Control, Nature, Videos, Videos, Videos, Videos, Videos, Videos, Activists, agriculture, Annette Schavan, BASF, biotech, Biotechnology, food, foods, Friends Of The Earth, genetic-engineering, genetically modified crops, genetically modified foods, genetically modified organisms, germany, GM, GM crops, GMO, GMO Crops, GMOs, Greenpeace, Heike Moldenhauer, news, organic farming, organic food, science, Science News, Scientific Research, Scientific Research News, Stefan Marcinowski
February Pitch for Blog Support…
Under The LobsterScope needs your help to keep going…
…but there’s something in it for you (beyond the daily goodies put out for your enjoyment):
Support this blog with $5.00 or more…
…and get “Bill’s Cast O’ Characters,” a great image font,based on authentic turn-of-the-century ornaments in the Barnhart Bros. & Spindler specimen book, e-mailed to you immediately.
So many of you have been following this blog since 2004 that I feel like a member of a huge web community.
I have enjoyed bringing you The Cartoon or Cartoons of the Week, the Quotes, the Political and Arts News, the Blogrolls to the best sites in America and beyond… They are all a joy to put together. Often we get the breaking political stories before you see them anywhere else. And our wide open communication channels with readers can’t be beat.
Well, once again, I need YOUR help to keep it going. I’m hoping you will make a small 
contribution, by PayPal or credit/debit card, in support of Under The LobsterScope. You’d be amazed at how much $5.00 can do to help me bring more and more to these pages. And it is probably the LOWEST annual subscription fee you will make to any publication… interactive or not.
And for a contribution of $5.00 (or MORE) you will receive a copy of my Picture Font, Bill’s Cast O’ Characters – one of my very favorites and my most used.
You should know, however, that even a contribution of only $1.00 adds to the ability of this unemployed blogger to find things for your benefit, and gives you my heartfelt thanks. By clicking on the DONATE button below, you tell me that Under The LobsterScope makes a difference in your time on the web.
Thanks,
– Bill T.
McDonald’s drops use of gooey ammonia-based ‘pink slime’ in hamburger meat
Thanks to MSNBC:
Treating scrap meat with ammonium hydroxide creates a pink goo that is used to extend meat products like chicken and beef and to kill bacteria.
By M. Alex Johnson, msnbc.comMcDonald’s confirmed that it has eliminated the use of ammonium hydroxide — an ingredient in fertilizers, household cleaners and some roll-your-own explosives — in its hamburger meat.
The company denied that its decision was influenced by a months-long campaign by celebrity chef Jamie Oliver to get ammonium-hydroxide-treated meats like chicken and beef out of the U.S. food supply. But it acknowledged this week that it had stopped using the unappetizing pink goo — made from treating otherwise inedible scrap meat with the chemical — several months ago.
Besides being used as a household cleaner and in fertilizers, the compound releases flammable vapors, and with the addition of certain acids, it can be turned into ammonium nitrate, a common component in homemade bombs. It’s also widely used in the food industry as an anti-microbial agent in meats and as a leavener in bread and cake products. It’s regulated by the U.S. Agriculture Department, which classifies it as “generally recognized as safe.”
I’m constantly amazed at what the Department of Agriculture declares to be recognized as safe. Perhaps it is because of chemical industry lobbyists, or campaign funds from McDonald’s or phenomenally non-scientific evaluation programs.
There’s more in this good article… go read it HERE.
Not everyone recognizes true talent…
I found this little graphic on Facebook this morning:
Of course, I read it with no trouble, but the comment of being a pointless talent means the idiot who wrote it would probably have been a failure at old time typesetting.
In the days of moveable type, all words and sentences were set backwards (and often, in the old time newspaper production area, upside down as well.) If you couldn’t read – and write – backwards with clarity, you were prone to typos and would not hold a job very long.
This may be a talent which the time of desktop publishing by computer has relegated to specialty shops, but a talent it certainly is. It also promotes discipline and concentration, something we have
very little of in the work-a-day world these days.
Thanks for your Donation:
My thanks to Crystal Adkins for today’s donation to Under The LobsterScope. Watch your e-mail, your Bill’s Barnhart Ornaments font is on the way!
– Bill
If you’d like to help us out at Under The LobsterScope (and we hope you will), go HERE.
Under The LobsterScope needs your help to keep going…
…but there’s something in it for you (beyond the daily goodies put out for your enjoyment):
Support this blog with $5.00 or more…
…and get “Bill’s Barnhart Ornaments,” a great image font,based on authentic turn-of-the-century ornaments in the Barnhart Bros. & Spindler specimen book, e-mailed to you immediately.
So many of you have been following this blog since 2004 that I feel like a member of a huge web community.
I have enjoyed bringing you The Cartoon or Cartoons of the Week, the Quotes, the Political and Arts News, the Blogrolls to the best sites in America and beyond… They are all a joy to put together. Often we get the breaking political stories before you see them anywhere else. And our wide open communication channels with readers can’t be beat.
Well, once again, I need YOUR help to keep it going. I’m hoping you will make a small contribution, by PayPal or credit/debit card, in support of Under The LobsterScope. You’d be amazed at how much $5.00 can do to help me bring more and more to these pages. And it is probably the LOWEST annual subscription fee you will make to any publication… interactive or not.
And for a contribution of $5.00 (or MORE) you will receive a copy of my Picture Font, Bill’s Barnhart Ornaments (I send you the True Type versions for both Macs and PCs by email). I regularly sell this font for $29.95. (See the Sample Below.)
You should know, however, that even a contribution of only $1.00 adds to the ability of this unemployed blogger to find things for your benefit, and gives you my heartfelt thanks. By clicking on the DONATE button below, you tell me that Under The LobsterScope makes a difference in your time on the web.
Thanks,
– Bill T.
Toxic botulism in animals linked to RoundUp
Now that the Holidays are over and the Republican Primaries are becoming increasingly boring, it’s time to get back to our ongoing discussion of the threat to our life and food by chemical companies like (ESPECIALLY like) Monsanto.
Here’s a video you should take a look at… watch the WHOLE hour:
Dr Mercola recently interviewed Dr Don Huber, whose letter to the USDA warning that Monsanto’s RoundUp, a broad-spectrum “herbicide” that has been linked with spontaneous abortion in animals, continues to be ignored by food and environmental safety authorities. In this important hour-long discussion, Huber, a plant pathologist for over 50 years, explains how RoundUp is destroying our healthy soils by killing needed microorganisms.
Not only did his team discover a new soil pathogen, but he reports that animals are coming down with over 40 new diseases, like toxic botulism.
Want to help do something about it? Go to MILLIONS AGAINST MONSANTO and find out how.
Related articles
- Round-Up Ready. (learningfromdogs.com)
- Toxic botulism in animals linked to RoundUp (foodfreedom.wordpress.com)
1984: Zappa lectures at the Palace of Fine Art in San Francisco
From YouTube:
Frank talks about his upcoming release, his opinion on the synclavier and how he uses it to compose music . He talks with Charles Amirkhanian about his music and there is a small read done by Calvin the editor of the Pink Section of the San Francisco Chronicle about a small puppet show play written by Frank called “Fransesco” from 39.03 mins.
Enjoy that? Here’s today’s Music Piece:
From the album Francesco Zappa here’s Frank on the Synclavier doing Opus 1, No.4, 2Nd Movement Allegro:
Please… your help is needed to keep Under The LobsterScope going…
…. and I’m repeating my request for support (for which you will receive a FREE FONT!)
Since a lot of you are bloggers like me (and graphic designers/desktop publishers as well), I’d like to offer one of my original picture fonts, Bill’s Modern Diner, for the last decade one of the most popular.
I sell this font, for both Mac and PC, for $29.00. I will, however, send you a complete copy with keychart and both Mac and PC versions, for any donation to Under The LobsterScope of $5.00 or more.
Here’s a font sample:
This is a font I use for menus and food articles and I’ve had occasion to use it just about every week since I created it.
So if you sign on to see Cartoon(s) of the Week, or Quotes, or views on Theatre and the Arts or any of the Political stuff presented on UTL, your contributions make all of these possible. I need to raise $300.00 by January 1 to make my goal.
If you feel you can support this blog,Please send a donation of $5.00 or more (more is better ) via PayPal:
Thanks for considering this…
– Bill
The Season the Electric Company Yearns for…
Walking the dogs this evening, I noticed how many of my neighbors had covered their homes and their lawns with blinking lights, light icicles and other electric holiday ornaments… this on the same day we received our electric bill.
So it got me to thinking: somewhere in the caverns of the Electric Company’s office complex there is a group of accountants who can’t wait for this season to come upon them. No more do we hear calls for conservation and saving our resources. This is strictly a season for getting the electric meter to sprint forward to new and much higher levels.
Are there ever newspaper articles that say “Save money. Daylight paper decorations only”? Hardly. We encourage this kind of thing. Towns give prizes for best decorations (and they publish maps so you can drive your carbon sputtering cars around town looking at them all.)
And deep in the chasm of the Electric Company is the dreaded coming
of February when people try to conserve again. Brrrrr.
Please help support Under The LobsterScope… and get a free gift:
Hi friends. It’s getting more and more expensive to keep Under The LobsterScope operating daily and I know that many of you return every couple of days to see what’s new.
Since a lot of you are bloggers like me (and graphic designers/desktop publishers as well), I’d like to offer one of my original picture fonts, Bill’s Modern Diner, for the last decade one of the most popular.
I sell this font, for both Mac and PC, for $29.00. I will, however, send you a complete copy with keychart and both Mac and PC versions, for any donation to Under The LobsterScope of $5.00 or more.
Here’s a font sample:
This is a font I use for menus and food articles and I’ve had occasion to use it just about every week since I created it.
So if you sign on to see Cartoon(s) of the Week, or Quotes, or views on Theatre and the Arts or any of the Political stuff presented on UTL, your contributions make all of these possible. I need to raise $300.00 by January 1 to make my goal.
If you feel you can support this blog,Please send a donation of $5.00 or more (more is better ) via PayPal:
Thanks for considering this…
– Bill
For all you GASLAND fans and activists…
New Video from Josh Fox and Bill McKibben:
JOSH FOX and BILL McKIBBEN’s Special Appeal to VP Biden: Save the Delaware!
WATCH THIS VIDEO JOSH FOX AND BILL McKIBBEN HAVE CREATED FOR JOE BIDEN AND THEN PLEASE TAKE THE STEP BY STEP ACTION BELOW:
EASY ACTION STEPS:
1) Send a FAX to the key targets listed below by clicking HERE.
2) Open a new email, copy the letter below, and paste the letter into the email. Next, copy the emails listed below for Joe Biden and the others below (except President Obama) and insert those addresses into the address bar in the email. Sign it and send it.
3) One last step: Open a window to contact President Obama (link below) and paste the email into the window and send it.
VP JOE BIDEN:
Phone: 202-456-1414 (ask to leave a message for both VP Biden AND Pres. Obama)
Fax:202 456 3455
COPY THE LETTER BELOW:
TO: Vice President Joe Biden
CC:
President Barack Obama (http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/submit-questions-and-comments)
Jo Ellen Darcy, Army Corps of Engineers for President Obama (ASACWPOC@conus.army.mil)
Governor Jack Markell (Mary.darby@state.de.us)
Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden (Attorney.General@state.de.us)
Nancy Sutlley, Council on Environmental Quality (chair@ceq.eop.gov)
Dear Vice President Biden-
DON’T FRACK THE DELAWARE
We respect your integrity, your strength, your leadership and most of all your environmental record.
I am writing to urge you to unequivocally reject the Delaware River Basin Commission’s (DRBC) proposal to allow gas drilling within the Delaware River Basin. The DRBC received 69,800 public comments on their proposed draft regulations which were overwhelmingly against fracking. They have ignored them and in the process ignored the democratic process. Commissioners who vote to allow fracking are on the wrong side of history and will be held accountable.
Hydraulic Fracturing – or Fracking – is a highly dangerous method of drilling for natural gas that risks the safety of our air, water, and food, and threatens the health of our families, communities, and environment and will undoubtedly put into jeopardy these critical considerations in the Delaware River Basin. In fact, the U.S. Department of Energy Science Advisory Board’s own Subcommittee on Shale Gas Production recently recommended “[p]reservation of unique and/or sensitive areas as off limits to drilling. . .”
I urge you to say no to fracking in the Delaware River Basin. The charter of the DRBC calls for it to protect water quality in the basin, and clearly calls for nothing else to be considered above this mandate. There has been more than sufficient evidence, through widely documented incidents of contamination, to overwhelmingly convince any individual willing to look at the facts that a practice as potentially catastrophic as hydraulic fracturing should not be considered in a such sensitive area, the drinking water supply for 15.6 million people.
Do not think that a yes vote on these regulations will go unnoticed or unchallenged in the media or in the public sphere. The New York Times, Pro-Publica, and HBO’s GASLAND 2, to name a few media sources will report on fracking in the watershed and organizations with a very wide reach such as 350.org, Democracy for America, NRDC, Environmental Working Group, Catskill MountainKeeper, Delaware RiverKeeper and literally hundreds of others will be extremely vocal about any drilling allowed in the Delaware River Basin. If the regulations pass and the river basin is industrialized beyond recognition and contaminated, it will be forever the legacy of those who voted yes.
This watershed provides drinking water for more than 15 million people, delivering 1,803 million gallons of water every day to public water supplies. That’s about 5% of the nation’s population – including New York City and Philadelphia – who are depending on this relatively small watershed for safe drinking water every day. From massive water withdrawals to leaks and spills of toxics-laden frack fluid to the generation of millions of gallons of wastewater – sometimes laced with radioactive substances – the for gas drilling to pollute our water is grave. Specifically, and documented in the New York City Department of Environmental Protection’s Hazen and Sawyer Report, slick water horizontal hydraulic fracturing uses around 350,000-400,000 pounds of chemicals per well, many of these extremely toxic and cancer causing. To allow such obviously carcinogenic and dangerous activity near the sole or primary drinking water source for millions of Americans is nothing short of an invitation to disaster.
Moreover, the Delaware River Basin is vital to our ecology and quality of life. Its national park recreation areas are so treasured that 5.4 million visitors come each year to hike, camp, boat, or swim. Drinking water for millions, habitat for wildlife, and recreation for millions: one is hard-pressed to find meaning in the DOE subcommittee’s phrase “unique and or sensitive areas” if you do not apply it to the Delaware River Basin. With this clear and defining policy statement, how could one actually move forward to drill and inject so much chemically laden water into such a sensitive and vital American Treasure?
Moreover, oil and gas industry claims that drilling will aid economic recovery are patently false. In fact, drilling will damage the Basin’s existing economic value. The value of its water supply alone has recently been calculated by a University of Delaware study at $3,767,000 in annual economic value. Looking at the many aspects of economic value that the River provides, this study concludes that “[t]he Delaware Basin contributes close to $22 billion in annual market/non-market value to the regional economy…” Much of that value derives from forests, water supply and high water quality. These are the very assets at risk if natural gas development moves ahead in the Marcellus and Utica Shales, located in the Upper and Middle Delaware River Watershed. More so, many families in Pennsylvania, are already finding that after contamination, the value of their homes has dropped precipitously to what it once was. This is not the economic benefit that, during such a time of economic hardship, should be even be considered.
Surely you have noticed that the only contingents interested in pushing forward with fracking are ones that stand to benefit financially, who consistently dismiss the economic hardships and environmental degradation caused by the collateral damage incurred from this risky practice. This sort of omission and faulty economic analysis leaves the greater public liable for the true costs of contamination in numerous, and painful ways. Giving a yes vote to something that could potentially harm the general public in such a way would be nothing short of granting license to harm millions of Americans for the economic prosperity of a few.
There is an out, just as New York has urged no drilling in its watersheds which serve huge populations (the watersheds for New York City and Syracuse) the Obama Administration and the state of Delaware can vote to disallow fracking in the Delaware river basin which also serves a huge number of people with drinking water.
Currently New York Attorney General has filed suit against the commission for failing in its obligation to complete a cumulative impact study of hydrofracking on the river basin, which is required of the commission by the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). This means that the DRBC would be violating the law in allowing gas drilling regulations. We urge you to reject all drilling in the river basin flat out, but, at very least, the DRBC is required to do a multi-year cumulative impact study, which would truly assess the impact on the river basin, by federal law.
I strongly urge you to reject the proposed regulations to drill and call on you to protect the Delaware River Basin from fracked gas drilling. Please stand with this National Wild and Scenic River, its communities and habitats, and the more than 15 million people who rely on the Delaware for their water. To do otherwise could be catastrophic, and would surely cement your historic decision to reflect alignment with the polluting fossil fuel industry for generations to come. We voted you into office to serve and protect all of the people, not just the few who wish to profit at all costs.
Please make sure the DRBC votes no on the proposed regulations and insist on a ban in this fragile, scenic, historic, and critical watershed that serves millions of Americans.
Thank you,
Sincerely,
THANKS FOR ALL YOU DO!
Josh
As you know, this blog came out against fracking months ago. We support Josh Fox and Bill McKibben.
Waiting for Comcast to call…
Rick, my Comcast salesman, is supposed to make one more attempt at getting someone from Comcast over here to re-install or re-configure their internet setup…the last chance they are going to have before I get this non-working setup pulled out and return to my old one (which I hardwired myself to last night… hence this post.)
Of course that means I can’t get out to do grocery shopping or other
things which usually make my Mondays. I hope this gets over pretty soon.
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