A Few News Articles
I've been wanting to put up a few of these articles but usually forget, get tired and/or have too much to say and don't want to make a Post of Doom.
1500 year old church found in Israel about an ancient Byzantine church that has been uncovered. Antique thieves have already started plundering it so archaelogists are recording and Doing Archaelogist Things before covering it for protection. They'll eventually open it as a tourist site once they have funding. 9 picts here, original link from the article
Working Group on Savings in NZ comes up with some suggestions. Yes, while I agree we need to save more, I found it unbelievable that a working group that states straight out that the average Kiwi can't afford to save then goes on to suggest the GST (sales tax) be raised to 17.5%. WTF??? If people can't afford to save how does raising tax (which is included on everything, including food) then get people to save? Granted, they suggested a switch from income to GST taxes along with this but yeah, I can't ever see that being put through by either major political party. I don't know if any of the minor parties would suggest, let alone, support it.
Liam Dann: Sowing the seeds of a food price crisis I found this editorial interesting. A previous article I'd seen mentioned up to an estimated 90% of Queensland's banana crop had been wiped out by the cyclone. But the wheat and sugar crops are staples in so much of our food, especially processed food, as well as biofuels that these losses will have a large impact. I'm afraid it's going to make food even more expensive not just here but possibly world-wide due to shortages in these commodities. What will happen to the poorest nations when food prices skyrocket and this food that was destroyed is harder for rich nations to get, let alone poorer ones?
Oysters being wiped out around the world" is sad. "More than 85 per cent of their reefs have been lost through overfishing, a study says.
The decline of the mollusc is so severe that three-quarters of the world's remaining stock can be found in only five locations in North America." Wow. 3/4 of the world's stock in only 5 locations in one region? That's not good. There's the food aspect, the environmental aspect, the cultural aspect, the craft aspect (you know, because we do our beading). Granted, food wise it's more of a luxury food these days so it's not a staple but what are the environmental aspects of having this class of filter feeders taken out of their native environments? And here's another quote from the article I found interesting: "During the time of the Roman Empire, they were abundant enough to keep the English Channel crystal clear. As recently as the late Victorian era, they were thought of as a staple food of the working class."
And last but not least, something positive. This from Terry_terrible at LJ: gorgeous colour photos from appx 1900-1912 Russia. Check it out! They are amazing.
More comment(s) at Red_trillium's Dreamwidth journal. Come join the conversation! You can comment there using OpenID or ask me for an invite to create your own account.
1500 year old church found in Israel about an ancient Byzantine church that has been uncovered. Antique thieves have already started plundering it so archaelogists are recording and Doing Archaelogist Things before covering it for protection. They'll eventually open it as a tourist site once they have funding. 9 picts here, original link from the article
Working Group on Savings in NZ comes up with some suggestions. Yes, while I agree we need to save more, I found it unbelievable that a working group that states straight out that the average Kiwi can't afford to save then goes on to suggest the GST (sales tax) be raised to 17.5%. WTF??? If people can't afford to save how does raising tax (which is included on everything, including food) then get people to save? Granted, they suggested a switch from income to GST taxes along with this but yeah, I can't ever see that being put through by either major political party. I don't know if any of the minor parties would suggest, let alone, support it.
Liam Dann: Sowing the seeds of a food price crisis I found this editorial interesting. A previous article I'd seen mentioned up to an estimated 90% of Queensland's banana crop had been wiped out by the cyclone. But the wheat and sugar crops are staples in so much of our food, especially processed food, as well as biofuels that these losses will have a large impact. I'm afraid it's going to make food even more expensive not just here but possibly world-wide due to shortages in these commodities. What will happen to the poorest nations when food prices skyrocket and this food that was destroyed is harder for rich nations to get, let alone poorer ones?
Oysters being wiped out around the world" is sad. "More than 85 per cent of their reefs have been lost through overfishing, a study says.
The decline of the mollusc is so severe that three-quarters of the world's remaining stock can be found in only five locations in North America." Wow. 3/4 of the world's stock in only 5 locations in one region? That's not good. There's the food aspect, the environmental aspect, the cultural aspect, the craft aspect (you know, because we do our beading). Granted, food wise it's more of a luxury food these days so it's not a staple but what are the environmental aspects of having this class of filter feeders taken out of their native environments? And here's another quote from the article I found interesting: "During the time of the Roman Empire, they were abundant enough to keep the English Channel crystal clear. As recently as the late Victorian era, they were thought of as a staple food of the working class."
And last but not least, something positive. This from Terry_terrible at LJ: gorgeous colour photos from appx 1900-1912 Russia. Check it out! They are amazing.
More comment(s) at Red_trillium's Dreamwidth journal. Come join the conversation! You can comment there using OpenID or ask me for an invite to create your own account.