From The News….
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SCIENTISTS have discovered that going veggie could be bad for your brain – with those on a meat-free diet six times more likely to suffer brain shrinkage.
Vegans and vegetarians — such as Heather Mills — are the most likely to be deficient because the best sources of the vitamin are meat, particularly liver, milk and fish.
Vitamin B12 deficiency can also cause anaemia and inflammation of the nervous system.
I have not been writing much about Washington Mutual because I did not have any good way of explaining why it was important. But Nemo provides good explanation of why this is not just another bank failure in the making.
According to the local state agriculture organisation, the drought had inflicted losses of more than two billion dollars by July.
“The problem is that in autumn there will be no water for next year,” said Mansour Rashidi, a provincial ministry of agriculture expert.
“The underground water table will not be replenished. We will be hit with the lowest amount of water ever because we have used up all the reserves.”
Tehran has allocated nearly five billion dollars to fight the drought nationally. Even arch-foe the United States, often referred to in Iran as the Great Satan, is helping out.
To cover demand, Iran needs to import five million tonnes of wheat to make up for this year’s drought-induced shortfall.
According to a recent US Department of Agriculture report, Tehran has bought 1.18 million tonnes of American hard wheat, commonly used in breads and pasta, since the 2008-2009 crop season began in June.
Many more Nigerians than British citizens blame AQ for 9/11.
Instapundit links has linked to this 9/11 tribute every year since it happened. It is mostly pictures and it is quite long.
From the Belmont Club….
It is said that when one of the newly damned arrived at the gate of the netherworld he heard a gale of whispering, but he could not make the words out. As he came closer he saw an endless vista of suffering souls immersed nearly to their nostrils in excrement. Then he understood what they were whispering and moreover, why. The damned were saying, “don’t make waves. Don’t make waves.”
From the San Francisco Chronicle
Pension spiking (e.g., retroactive increases in pension benefits or pre-retirement promotions that qualify workers for bigger pension benefits), has been a major trend in California since our dot-com boom. It has saddled state and local governments with serious fiscal problems ever since (e.g., Orange County has a $2.7 billion pension deficit, and a 2005 review of California’s biggest government agencies found pension, health care and workers’ comp commitments more than $100 billion under-funded), even leading to bankruptcy by the city of Vallejo.
100 billion dollar short fall in one state. That is not pocket change.
The seeds of giant ragweed are 47% crude protein. That is very, very high, much higher than any cultivated grain. What’s more, these seeds, which the plant produces in prodigious amounts, provide, in the words of Roger Wells, a certified wildlife biologist and national habitat coordinator for Quails Unlimited, “the highest amount of metabolizable calories, more even that corn, soybeans, wheat, or any other grain that we know.” What that means is that the seeds are very digestible. Quail or pheasants, in a good stand of giant ragweed will double and triple in population. (You can find all this and more at QuailRestoration.com on the Internet.) And what is the corn and soybean farmer’s second worse dream? Now you can actually buy giant ragweed seed by the bag if you want to plant some to increase wildlife on your farm.
I always figured that Ragweed seeds were edible. But I am surprised they have such a large protein content.
According to the US Department of Energy, “The Strategic Petroleum Reserve exists, first and foremost, as an emergency response tool the President can use should the United States be confronted with an economically-threatening disruption in oil supplies.”
In response to disruptions caused by Hurricane Gustav, the DOE has indicated a willingness to release reserves from the SPR. Unfortunately, due to a continuing power outage – also caused by Hurricane Gustav – the DOE is unable to pump oil from storage.
The original rational for the strategic petroleum reserves was the fear of limited war that disrupted oil supplies. So it does not surprise be that the SPR can’t operate without power. Its still kind of funny though.