July 17th
The 2nd corner has been turned on the Black Melon shawl. Now for the trip down the long side. :)
We are going to be in the 90s again today. It’s sticky and muggy already.
I can report that the washer is working just fine after its encounter with the repairman.
The past few nights we have been having large salads for dinner. . .with homegrown tomatoes. YUM!
I have to get something to eat and then get to work. Have a good one!
Recommended Reading
Acoustic levitation: Chemical reaction lifted by sound
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-23328706
Beaver spotted in Devon's River Otter by dog walker
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-23332669
Why do some people get pimples, some not?
http://www.chicagotribune.com/health/sns-201307090000--tms--premhnstr--k-i20130710-20130710,0,3226753.story
Breeding Bacteria on Factory Farms
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/07/09/breeding-bacteria-on-factory-farms/
Mysterious Manatee and Dolphin Deaths in Florida Confound Scientists
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2013/07/dolphins-and-manatees/all/
Incredible skill of old-fashioned fairground signwriter
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-23313762
Valley fever: An incurable illness in the dust
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-23166839
Amazing High Speed X-Ray Videos Reveal How Bats Take Flight
http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/science/2013/07/amazing-high-speed-x-ray-videos-reveal-how-bats-take-flight/ - ooid=t0c2MwZDrJH43fgLyxkKAk1qX3GhNABb
Why You Should Care About The Drugs Your Doctor Prescribes
http://www.nationalmemo.com/why-you-should-care-about-the-drugs-your-doctor-prescribes/
Exxon Still Owes Government Nearly $100 Million for Valdez Clean-up Almost 25 Years Later
http://www.truth-out.org/buzzflash/commentary/item/18088-exxon-still-owes-government-nearly-100-million-for-valdez-clean-up-almost-25-years-later
Locking Out the Voices of Dissent: Arrests Demonstrate Restrictions on Right of Assembly
http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/17583-locking-out-the-voices-of-dissent-arrests-demonstrate-restrictions-on-right-of-assembly
Teen With Down Syndrome Killed By Cops After Aide Warned of Condition
http://www.alternet.org/teenager-down-syndrome-killed-duty-cops?akid=10698.204376.l7wxSk&rd=1&src=newsletter869477&t=5
The Right’s Racism Is Showing
http://consortiumnews.com/2013/07/16/the-rights-racism-is-showing/
Black hole-bound gas cloud 'stretched like spaghetti'
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-23343563
Nasutoceratops: 'Big-nose, horn-face' dinosaur described
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-23329193
Google Maps wipes out Scottish island of Jura - oops! There is some very fine whiskey that comes from that island.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-23331456
Stevie Wonder boycotts Florida - well done SW!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-23346963
***How Government Cover-Up on Fish Farming Affects Your Health - Canada has a problem. It’s lengthy but worth the watch.
Petitions that need your signature
The Mind Your Own Business Act
http://mindyourownbusinessact.com/?source=Jun13Email
America's top grocers are selling fake honey containing carcinogens, heavy metals, and banned antibiotics.
Get grocers to make sure they're selling us the real thing.
http://action.sumofus.org/a/honey-fake-walgreens/4/2/?akid=1806.65932.QE7P4I&rd=1&sub=fwd&t=3
Tell you Senators to repeal the Monsanto Protection Act
http://act.credoaction.com/sign/monsanto_protection_act
This week, House Republicans are putting forward a bill called the "Northern Route Approval Act." This bill overrides the President's authority to make decisions on the Keystone XL Pipeline.
Whatever you think about the Keystone Pipeline, this bill is blatantly unconstitutional. The Constitution provides for a legislative branch, which creates legislation -- laws of general application. It also provides for an executive branch, which executes the laws. This is known as the separation of powers. The bill that the Republicans are putting forward is a clear violation of this principle.
The bill does one more thing: it bestows special favors on a foreign oil company, TransCanada. It lets the corporation build the Keystone XL pipeline without going through normal government approval processes, and even gives TransCanada a free right-of-way worth millions of dollars. House Republicans have said they want to get rid of Congressional earmarks. Yet here they are, bestowing an earmark anyway.
Read Grayson’s letter:
http://graysonforcongress.com/sites/default/files/LettertoSpeaker5-21-13.pdf
The Wounded Knee site has been held sacred by the Lakota Sioux since the horrific massacre that happened there in 1890. Now, it's in danger of being sold to the highest bidder, including someone who would build a horse slaughterhouse on the plot.
The current owner has offered to sell the site to its rightful owners, the nearby Oglala tribe, for the cool price of $3.9 million. But The Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, just a few miles from where Wounded Knee is located, is one of the poorest places in the country. To build a horse slaughterhouse on their sacred site after everything the tribe has already suffered would be unthinkable.
http://www.care2.com/go/z/e/AhnMh/zNI6/3R2f
And now a word about Monsanto and others like them. These profit-hungry biotech companies have found a way to exclusively ‘own’ something that freely belongs to us all -- our food! They’re trying to patent away our everyday vegetables and fruits like cucumber, broccoli and melons, forcing growers to pay them and risk being sued if they don’t.
Companies like Monsanto have found loopholes in European law to get away with this, so we just need to close them shut before they set a dangerous global precedent. And to do that, we need key countries like Germany, France and the Netherlands -- where opposition is already growing -- to call for a vote to stop Monsanto’s plans. Go sign the petition.
http://www.avaaz.org/en/monsanto_vs_mother_earth_loc/?bjeIjab&v=23911
Tell Nestlé: Stop trying to patent a natural cure
In a paper published last year, Nestlé scientists claimed to “discover” what much of the world has known for millennia: that nigella sativa extract could be used for “nutritional interventions in humans with food allergy”.
But instead of creating an artificial substitute, or fighting to make sure the remedy was widely available, Nestlé is attempting to create a nigella sativa monopoly and gain the ability to sue anyone using it without Nestlé’s permission. Nestlé has filed patent applications -- which are currently pending -- around the world.
Sing the petition: http://action.sumofus.org/a/nestle-nigella-sativa/11/2/?akid=1601.65932.w0DNPx&rd=1&sub=fwd3&t=4
Maddow features PCCC activism
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7LANHts78c
Tell Congress Social Security is non-negotiable.
http://act.couragecampaign.org/sign/standwithbernie
Amazon is at it again! Please go sign this petition. It is not fair for those of us who make our living by writing. Authors are not libraries and while most of us enjoy the social side of writing we do this to pay our bills. If some one returns an ebook after reading it our royalties get reduced.
I just signed the petition "Amazon Kindle e-Book Return Policy: Stop allowing refunds on e-Books after e-Books have been read." on Change.org. It's important. Here's the link: http://www.change.org/petitions/amazon-kindle-e-book-return-policy-stop-allowing-refunds-on-e-books-after-e-books-have-been-read
North Dakota just passed the most extreme abortion ban in the country. It's just one of some 300 bills across the country designed to take away women's rights and access to health care -- and ultimately to overturn Roe vs. Wade. Don't let lawmakers get away with it, take action today:
http://ppaction.org/WakeUpCall
Click here to tell Obama to veto CISPA:
http://act.demandprogress.org/letter/veto_cispa/?referring_akid=a8234599.655732.Af5Ve3&source=auto-taf
AT&T, Cablevision, Comcast, Time Warner Cable, and Verizon have all agreed to start spying on their users.
The US's largest Internet Service Providers are implementing a new "online infringement" plan to identify and punish, with virtually no due process, users suspected of downloading copyrighted content.
https://act.demandprogress.org/letter/six_strikes_2013/?rd=1&t=1&referring_akid=undefined
Remember CISPA? Well, it’s back - sign the petition
http://www.cispaisback.com/
Oppose Seismic Surveys in the Atlantic - sign it please
http://action.surfrider.org/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=6937
Tell Congress to Dump Monsanto's Riders!
http://salsa3.salsalabs.com/o/50865/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=8644
Bury Power Lines in Cities and Towns, Prevent Long-Lasting Outages, Improve National Security
http://signon.org/sign/bury-power-lines-in-cities?mailing_id=7341&source=s.icn.em.cr&r_by=913515
Protect Global Internet Freedom - go sign the petition
http://protectinternetfreedom.net/
The Sierra Club has a variety of actions to be taken. Just follow the link.
Send the congress a letter here: http://action.sierraclub.org/site/Advocacy?pagename=homepage&id=9962
Do you really own the smartphone or computer you’re using to read this email?
If you sold your computer, would you be breaking the law? A federal court in New York says you would be.
It's unbelievable, but trademark and copyright holders really are trying to take away your right to sell things that you own. Please click here to fight back:
http://www.youvebeenowned.org/
The First-Sale Doctrine gives us the right to sell most property we own. But if the Supreme Court supports the lower court’s decision, we won't really “own” anything if it's from a different country. We expect them to issue a ruling later this year.
The President can urge the Court to side with consumers; then Congress will probably weigh in on the issue, no matter how the Court rules.
If we lose this fight, anybody who wants to resell foreign products, from Macbooks and iPhones to our clothing and textbooks, will have to ask copyright holders for permission first. And they'll have the right to deny it!
It's bad for so many reasons: It'll undermine Craigslist and Ebay, hurt the environment, increase incentives for manufacturers to move jobs off-shore, and effectively ban the traditional American yard sale. Just click here to email your lawmakers right away:
http://www.youvebeenowned.org/
There are two very bad internet bills that you need to be aware of. The first concerns making streaming content a felony. Read about it here:
http://act.demandprogress.org/letter/ten_strikes?akid=700.450896.5hVZPC&rd=1&t=1
and the second is the Protect-IP Act that gives the government power to censor search engines and browsers. Read more about it here:
http://act.demandprogress.org/sign/protectip_docs
Both of the above pages have a petition to sign so please do so.
The non-existent tags
weather, knitting, gardening, global warming, environment, politics, Repugs, scumbags, quilting, petitions, CISPA, health, Exxon, oil spills, Monsanto, evil, people, tar sands, privacy, GMOs, fish, fracking, food, health, animals, APC's, archaeology, sound, WTF?, bats, Exxon, police, racism, astrophysics, dinosaurs, oops!, boycott
Change the world one loan at a time - visit http://www.Kiva.org to find out how
We are going to be in the 90s again today. It’s sticky and muggy already.
I can report that the washer is working just fine after its encounter with the repairman.
The past few nights we have been having large salads for dinner. . .with homegrown tomatoes. YUM!
I have to get something to eat and then get to work. Have a good one!
Recommended Reading
Acoustic levitation: Chemical reaction lifted by sound
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-23328706
Beaver spotted in Devon's River Otter by dog walker
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-23332669
Why do some people get pimples, some not?
http://www.chicagotribune.com/health/sns-201307090000--tms--premhnstr--k-i20130710-20130710,0,3226753.story
Breeding Bacteria on Factory Farms
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/07/09/breeding-bacteria-on-factory-farms/
Mysterious Manatee and Dolphin Deaths in Florida Confound Scientists
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2013/07/dolphins-and-manatees/all/
Incredible skill of old-fashioned fairground signwriter
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-23313762
Valley fever: An incurable illness in the dust
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-23166839
Amazing High Speed X-Ray Videos Reveal How Bats Take Flight
http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/science/2013/07/amazing-high-speed-x-ray-videos-reveal-how-bats-take-flight/ - ooid=t0c2MwZDrJH43fgLyxkKAk1qX3GhNABb
Why You Should Care About The Drugs Your Doctor Prescribes
http://www.nationalmemo.com/why-you-should-care-about-the-drugs-your-doctor-prescribes/
Exxon Still Owes Government Nearly $100 Million for Valdez Clean-up Almost 25 Years Later
http://www.truth-out.org/buzzflash/commentary/item/18088-exxon-still-owes-government-nearly-100-million-for-valdez-clean-up-almost-25-years-later
Locking Out the Voices of Dissent: Arrests Demonstrate Restrictions on Right of Assembly
http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/17583-locking-out-the-voices-of-dissent-arrests-demonstrate-restrictions-on-right-of-assembly
Teen With Down Syndrome Killed By Cops After Aide Warned of Condition
http://www.alternet.org/teenager-down-syndrome-killed-duty-cops?akid=10698.204376.l7wxSk&rd=1&src=newsletter869477&t=5
The Right’s Racism Is Showing
http://consortiumnews.com/2013/07/16/the-rights-racism-is-showing/
Black hole-bound gas cloud 'stretched like spaghetti'
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-23343563
Nasutoceratops: 'Big-nose, horn-face' dinosaur described
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-23329193
Google Maps wipes out Scottish island of Jura - oops! There is some very fine whiskey that comes from that island.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-23331456
Stevie Wonder boycotts Florida - well done SW!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-23346963
***How Government Cover-Up on Fish Farming Affects Your Health - Canada has a problem. It’s lengthy but worth the watch.
Petitions that need your signature
The Mind Your Own Business Act
http://mindyourownbusinessact.com/?source=Jun13Email
America's top grocers are selling fake honey containing carcinogens, heavy metals, and banned antibiotics.
Get grocers to make sure they're selling us the real thing.
http://action.sumofus.org/a/honey-fake-walgreens/4/2/?akid=1806.65932.QE7P4I&rd=1&sub=fwd&t=3
Tell you Senators to repeal the Monsanto Protection Act
http://act.credoaction.com/sign/monsanto_protection_act
This week, House Republicans are putting forward a bill called the "Northern Route Approval Act." This bill overrides the President's authority to make decisions on the Keystone XL Pipeline.
Whatever you think about the Keystone Pipeline, this bill is blatantly unconstitutional. The Constitution provides for a legislative branch, which creates legislation -- laws of general application. It also provides for an executive branch, which executes the laws. This is known as the separation of powers. The bill that the Republicans are putting forward is a clear violation of this principle.
The bill does one more thing: it bestows special favors on a foreign oil company, TransCanada. It lets the corporation build the Keystone XL pipeline without going through normal government approval processes, and even gives TransCanada a free right-of-way worth millions of dollars. House Republicans have said they want to get rid of Congressional earmarks. Yet here they are, bestowing an earmark anyway.
Read Grayson’s letter:
http://graysonforcongress.com/sites/default/files/LettertoSpeaker5-21-13.pdf
The Wounded Knee site has been held sacred by the Lakota Sioux since the horrific massacre that happened there in 1890. Now, it's in danger of being sold to the highest bidder, including someone who would build a horse slaughterhouse on the plot.
The current owner has offered to sell the site to its rightful owners, the nearby Oglala tribe, for the cool price of $3.9 million. But The Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, just a few miles from where Wounded Knee is located, is one of the poorest places in the country. To build a horse slaughterhouse on their sacred site after everything the tribe has already suffered would be unthinkable.
http://www.care2.com/go/z/e/AhnMh/zNI6/3R2f
And now a word about Monsanto and others like them. These profit-hungry biotech companies have found a way to exclusively ‘own’ something that freely belongs to us all -- our food! They’re trying to patent away our everyday vegetables and fruits like cucumber, broccoli and melons, forcing growers to pay them and risk being sued if they don’t.
Companies like Monsanto have found loopholes in European law to get away with this, so we just need to close them shut before they set a dangerous global precedent. And to do that, we need key countries like Germany, France and the Netherlands -- where opposition is already growing -- to call for a vote to stop Monsanto’s plans. Go sign the petition.
http://www.avaaz.org/en/monsanto_vs_mother_earth_loc/?bjeIjab&v=23911
Tell Nestlé: Stop trying to patent a natural cure
In a paper published last year, Nestlé scientists claimed to “discover” what much of the world has known for millennia: that nigella sativa extract could be used for “nutritional interventions in humans with food allergy”.
But instead of creating an artificial substitute, or fighting to make sure the remedy was widely available, Nestlé is attempting to create a nigella sativa monopoly and gain the ability to sue anyone using it without Nestlé’s permission. Nestlé has filed patent applications -- which are currently pending -- around the world.
Sing the petition: http://action.sumofus.org/a/nestle-nigella-sativa/11/2/?akid=1601.65932.w0DNPx&rd=1&sub=fwd3&t=4
Maddow features PCCC activism
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7LANHts78c
Tell Congress Social Security is non-negotiable.
http://act.couragecampaign.org/sign/standwithbernie
Amazon is at it again! Please go sign this petition. It is not fair for those of us who make our living by writing. Authors are not libraries and while most of us enjoy the social side of writing we do this to pay our bills. If some one returns an ebook after reading it our royalties get reduced.
I just signed the petition "Amazon Kindle e-Book Return Policy: Stop allowing refunds on e-Books after e-Books have been read." on Change.org. It's important. Here's the link: http://www.change.org/petitions/amazon-kindle-e-book-return-policy-stop-allowing-refunds-on-e-books-after-e-books-have-been-read
North Dakota just passed the most extreme abortion ban in the country. It's just one of some 300 bills across the country designed to take away women's rights and access to health care -- and ultimately to overturn Roe vs. Wade. Don't let lawmakers get away with it, take action today:
http://ppaction.org/WakeUpCall
Click here to tell Obama to veto CISPA:
http://act.demandprogress.org/letter/veto_cispa/?referring_akid=a8234599.655732.Af5Ve3&source=auto-taf
AT&T, Cablevision, Comcast, Time Warner Cable, and Verizon have all agreed to start spying on their users.
The US's largest Internet Service Providers are implementing a new "online infringement" plan to identify and punish, with virtually no due process, users suspected of downloading copyrighted content.
https://act.demandprogress.org/letter/six_strikes_2013/?rd=1&t=1&referring_akid=undefined
Remember CISPA? Well, it’s back - sign the petition
http://www.cispaisback.com/
Oppose Seismic Surveys in the Atlantic - sign it please
http://action.surfrider.org/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=6937
Tell Congress to Dump Monsanto's Riders!
http://salsa3.salsalabs.com/o/50865/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=8644
Bury Power Lines in Cities and Towns, Prevent Long-Lasting Outages, Improve National Security
http://signon.org/sign/bury-power-lines-in-cities?mailing_id=7341&source=s.icn.em.cr&r_by=913515
Protect Global Internet Freedom - go sign the petition
http://protectinternetfreedom.net/
The Sierra Club has a variety of actions to be taken. Just follow the link.
Send the congress a letter here: http://action.sierraclub.org/site/Advocacy?pagename=homepage&id=9962
Do you really own the smartphone or computer you’re using to read this email?
If you sold your computer, would you be breaking the law? A federal court in New York says you would be.
It's unbelievable, but trademark and copyright holders really are trying to take away your right to sell things that you own. Please click here to fight back:
http://www.youvebeenowned.org/
The First-Sale Doctrine gives us the right to sell most property we own. But if the Supreme Court supports the lower court’s decision, we won't really “own” anything if it's from a different country. We expect them to issue a ruling later this year.
The President can urge the Court to side with consumers; then Congress will probably weigh in on the issue, no matter how the Court rules.
If we lose this fight, anybody who wants to resell foreign products, from Macbooks and iPhones to our clothing and textbooks, will have to ask copyright holders for permission first. And they'll have the right to deny it!
It's bad for so many reasons: It'll undermine Craigslist and Ebay, hurt the environment, increase incentives for manufacturers to move jobs off-shore, and effectively ban the traditional American yard sale. Just click here to email your lawmakers right away:
http://www.youvebeenowned.org/
There are two very bad internet bills that you need to be aware of. The first concerns making streaming content a felony. Read about it here:
http://act.demandprogress.org/letter/ten_strikes?akid=700.450896.5hVZPC&rd=1&t=1
and the second is the Protect-IP Act that gives the government power to censor search engines and browsers. Read more about it here:
http://act.demandprogress.org/sign/protectip_docs
Both of the above pages have a petition to sign so please do so.
The non-existent tags
weather, knitting, gardening, global warming, environment, politics, Repugs, scumbags, quilting, petitions, CISPA, health, Exxon, oil spills, Monsanto, evil, people, tar sands, privacy, GMOs, fish, fracking, food, health, animals, APC's, archaeology, sound, WTF?, bats, Exxon, police, racism, astrophysics, dinosaurs, oops!, boycott
Change the world one loan at a time - visit http://www.Kiva.org to find out how