2012 Awl Over Ewe
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Please Be Welcome 38.107.179.221 to 209.183.141.35/MMXII/INDEX |
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The Prize Cat by E.J. Pratt
Pure blood domestic, guaranteed,
Soft-mannered, musical of purr,
The ribbon had declared the breed,
Gentility was in the fur.
Such feline culture in the gads,
No anger ever arched her back--
What distance since those velvet pads
Departed from the leopard's track!
And when I mused how Time had thinned
The jungle strains within the cells,
How human hands had disciplined
Those prowling optic parallels;
I saw the generations pass
Along the reflex of a spring,
A bird had rustled in the grass,
The tab had caught it on the wing:
Behind the leap so furtive-wild
Was such ignition in the gleam,
I thought an Abyssinian child
Had cried out in the whitetroat's scream.
In the past, some nations have failed because their agriculture systems removed minerals from the topsoil faster than minerals could come up from the subsoil. The people of such nations migrated to new lands and lost their identity as a nation. They left behind deserts.
More often, nations have failed because their economic systems permitted the wealth to become centralized in the hands of a few people. The impoverishment of the rest of the people inevitably resulted in revolution of one sort or another.
In the world today, almost every nation is in the process of failing for both reasons. We not only have to remineralize the earth, but we must design a society which meets everyone's need for survival.
Our present economy is completely autocratic. The wealth has become so highly centralized that a very few men now control the whole nation. If they say we will use fossil fuels for energy, we use fossil fuels. If they say we will use chemical "fertilizers" and poisons on the land, we use chemical "fertilizers" and poisons. If they say we will continue to manufacture billions of pounds annually of non-biodegradable organic compounds, we will continue to manufacture the non-biodegradable organic chemicals even though the waste dumps have already doomed the underground water supply and we have endured untold genetic damage and sickness. If they say to build nuclear power plants, H-bombs, and war material, we build them.
Clearly, the rule of wealth is diametrically opposed to the survival of humanity. Clearly, we must break the power of wealth or resign ourselves to death... John D. Hamaker, The Survival of Civilization, Preface Chapter 7 - Taxes, Freedom and the Constitution, Pg. 175
May 16, 2012
My web server log revealed another minor attack (reconaissance?) earlier today. This time the address from your-server.de which hasn't been seen since May 05 was not automatically flagged by the firewall; as a hacker attempt, this ban is purely manual.
IT isn't difficult to recognize a blackhat at work when a single IP address requests the same file three times per second with three different User-agents as an obvious scripted attack.
The Denmark based hosting provider Hetzner, which services Europe and South Africa from IP addresses 88.198.0.0/16, is now temporarily banned from making requests. And they'll have to excuse me for not paying any attention to their cute little URL's logged as referrals as yet another purely scripted invention. I wipe them from my mind without hesitation and suggest they find another admin while they're phishing for victims.
May 13, 2012
IT was a busy day at the garden Saturday May 12th. Most of this year's gardeners gathered together to haul compost, pull weeds and prepare the soil for planting.
This is the 20 yard pile of compost delivered by the City of Hamilton Waste Management Division.
Gardener Steve arrived early to prepare his plot for planting.
Gardeners taking a well deserved rest from pulling weeds and shovelling compost. That's me in the center:)))
Weed pulling, composting and tilling is almost finished.
This is my plot at the community garden. Background: potatoes and salvaged lettuce. Center: only Dent Corn at the moment. Foreground: struggling arugula.
In addition, I am sharing some images of my Containment Vessel garden sitting on the rooftop above our kitchen.
This is a view from the ground of my rooftop container garden system in it's second year of experimentation. I have placed mulberry sticks from last year's pruning to form a tent for pole beans and climbing peas.
This is a view from the roof. Our backyard has become so shaded, that this is the only sunny spot left to plant.
May 12, 2012
My comment to Can Hamilton feed itself? by Amber Hildebrandt
"...hardly any of them had local produce in their cart at the grocery store exit..." Obviously Gooch hasn't seen my cart or heard me complain strongly, weekly, to produce managers at noFrills or Denningers. Show me garlic that isn't grown in China (noFrills) and there's a good chance I'll buy IT. Unless the garlic has a prohibitive price and no country of origin label ($1.29 per mystery bulb Denningers), I will most likely try IT. I have never quite figured out how a basket of cherries from the other side of the continent costs half as much as cherries grown in this province, even when I pick them myself. Alas, I doubt we will ever truly support local until the global gets into some unruly trouble.
May 11, 2012
My comment to When is a slush fund not a slush fund? by Andrew Dreschel
Cash Crop II
The old saying of the sower goes: "One for the mouse and one for the crow, one to rot and one to grow." So, why not plant money trees in community plots? There's room in my 4th ward backyard and there are plenty of vacant city lots! Let's turn the brownfields green, feed all the hungry and make our city gleam. I got no problem with sowing seed money when there is need to be growing things properly.
May 11, 2012
My comment to Award-winning bridge is a waste of money
Pedestrian bridge rises to new heights (May 8) by Janet Melnyk, Hamilton
Like A Bridge Over Troubled Waters
Bridge building is an honourable occupation, but not when taxpayer money flows like water to workers in another nation. That is the terrible waste in our city, that the money we spent left our local economy.
May 11, 2012
Today's Double Play: My comment to Absurd argument by mayor on vouchers
Health board rejects food voucher project (May 8) by Mel Basbaum, Dundas
And Councillors voted against compassion
Health board rejects food voucher project (May 8) by Sally Palmer, Campaign for Adequate Welfare and Disability Benefits
Cash Crop
IT has been said, that if you give a man a fish you'll feed him for a day, but if you teach a man to fish he'll feed himself for a lifetime. The average fee for a community garden plot in this city is about $30 per season. If the gardener is a successful grower, he will reap far more than he would from a $20 voucher and he will learn the ways of the farmer.
May 10, 2012
My comment to Hamilton's Problem Is Not Ignorance by Adrian Duyzer
Hamilton's problem is anonymous indifference.
I CouldaWouldaShoulda be active morning, noon and night, but I find IT hard to schmooze whenever I choose write.
Wicked problems and lack of action, that is our Hamiltonian plight? The judge is winking and I wish I were thinking of some StartupDrinks tonight! But I'm a poor bloke and brokenly spoke - I rarely hoped I coulda forded tha pint:-(
May 10, 2012
My comment to SpecKids Unlimited by RTH Staff
Intimate, frequent and prolonged exposure to nature...
You are absolutely correct Fred STreet, which is why I promote Community Gardens as one possible solution to malnutrition among adults as well as children. Juvenile Diabetes, Cancer, Obesity and ADD are just a few of the maladies affecting our young people today and the main reason for the huge increase in these (and many other) preventable diseases/conditions is really quite simply AN ACUTE VITAMIN AND MINERAL DEFICIENCY. Note: There is love in revolution, no-it-u-lover!
If someone wishes to pursue an idea that brings children into the garden to learn true nutition and thus avoid the rue of modern medicine, you can count me in. Granted, nutritional supplements are great if you can afford them but most of us simply cannot. That is why I make powder from tiny rocks and sprinkle the minerals in my garden plot. When we actually look for the root of a problem, there is always a simpler solution to spot.
"It is always the nearest, plainest and simplest principles that learned men see last." Elbert Hubbard
May 09, 2012
My comment to What would you do if you were a councillor? by Andrew Dreschel
WWJD - What Would Jackson Do?
We receive the divine through wisdom and achieve the earthly with action; What Hamilton really needs are hundreds of community gardens, Jackson! Let us feed ourselves with what's grown on public lands and let us put food in our mouths using our own two hands. "He that tilleth his land shall have plenty of bread: but he that followeth vain persons shall have poverty enough" Proverbs 28:19
Additional land has been tilled to accomondate more plots and gardeners in the Gage Park community. Image from May 7th, 2012
May 05, 2012
My web server log revealed a minor attack (reconaissance?) earlier today, coincidentally, right around the time the system would be rotating logs, only they were a day too early because my logs are rotated on Sunday.
Thankfully, my firewall correctly identified these as hacker requests and automatically thwarted the attempts. However, as a precautionary measure, I have included these four IP blocks (from the Ukraine, Latvia & Russia) into my temporary drop packets locker:
188.190.96.0/19
188.233.12.0/22
193.105.210.0/24
195.191.54.0/23
May 05, 2012
Tracy showed me this poem this morning from Moira Blackburn of England:
Let the Wealthy & Great,
Roll in Splendor & State,
I envy them not I declare IT:
I eat my own Lamb,
My Chickens & Ham,
I shear my own Fleece & I wear IT
I have Lawns, I have Bow'rs
I have Fruits, I have Flow'rs,
The Lark is my morning alarmer:
So jolly Boys now,
Here's God speed the Plough.
Long Life & Success to the Farmer.
I also shared this prayer at Cold snap may have "wiped out" fruit growers. And shortly thereafter, there appeared this letter to the Spectator editor.
May 05, 2012
My comment to Why good journalism matters by Paul Berton
Our Daily Miracle?
Now we've seen IT all apostle Paul, including the tithe at your temple's pay-wall.
May 04, 2012
Interestingly, I have pulled exactly 54 pages from the Hamilton Spectator's website since April 30th and I have not encountered the supposed pay-wall yet, even though they claim a 15 page view maximum is all that I am allowed to get.
Now I commented about this already in the article above and also here and here.
The means by which I opted out of theSpec.com pay-per-view scheme was pretty easy for an IT guy like me but is not so simple for most people as you shall see; when I finally feel like sharing all the details, eventually.
May 04, 2012
My comment to Hamilton Joins Global Day of Action on Climate Change by RTH Staff
...we were in a hurry.
I understand my friend.
As for soils, it's now clear that they're as large a source of carbon emissions as industry. Careless tilling or exposure to sunlight causes the humus (carbon) in soils to break down and offgas, which not only pumps the atmosphere full of CO2 and methane, but also seriously depletes their ability to grow things.
Humus is actually dead skins of the soil's microorganisms and not correctly identitfied as strictly carbon. Although I totally agree with regards to careless tilling and over exposure of agriculural soil, you make no mention of our existing and diminishing forests and their condition. Nobody wants to talk about "acid rain" anymore, you'd think IT just went away. The truth is the rain is like vinegar with a dash of Fukushima nowadays. The acids in the rain have leached most of the essential trace minerals from the soil that both plants and animals depend on for healthy vigorous growth. A lack of minerals is what seriously depletes the soil's ability to grow things.
A serious effort at sequestering carbon in our topsoils could take our atmosphere back down to levels seen around the beginning of the industrial revolution, not to mention doing wonders for farmland.
I cannot agree more Undustrial Alex. The problem is that a mineral deficient soil produces weak and spindly, mineral deficient animals and plants. We must feed the microorganisms in the soil first because they provide the nutrients (humus) that plants digest and in turn, through their fruits and vegetables, that animals and humans ingest.
A sick soil will not sequester sufficient amounts of carbon in the plants (trees) grown therein. Only a healthy soil can reproduce Eden. Which is why I smash rocks into powder and then sprinkle them in my garden. I don't have time to wait for glacial soil restoration, which takes 90,000 years to complete, once IT begins.
PS - I wish to acknowledge my non-supporters at St Joe's, HHS's and others whom I won't mention (because I've done the research just in case you were wonderin') for their continued childish propensity for down-voting my nutritional commentary. Clicking on an arrow is kinda cowardly and IT is a pity they are too blind to see the plain and simple truth I try to share, to improve the health of my city, because I truly care.
May 03, 2012
My comment to Hamilton Joins Global Day of Action on Climate Change by RTH Staff
Hey Alex, when I bumped into you the other day in the alley you didn't even introduce me to your partner and baby. What's up with that buddy?
How much worse does this have to get before we acknowledge the obvious?
The climate change we are experiencing is a direct result of soil mineral depletion and a natural occurrence (there have been 5 in the last million or so years) as we move from the interglacial (current epoch) into the glacial (next ice age). Warmer mid-latitude temperatures move atmospheric moisture to the poles which precipitate as snow. Eventually the albedo affect of snow-pack will lower earth's temperature which leads to more snow-pack and growing glaciers. Glaciation is the means by which the earth remineralizes the soils from which all life depends for good health. The planet is sick or in other words, the earth has gotten a cold and what we are experiencing are hot flashes.
The CATCH editor and the Hamilton 350 group are seriously misguided in their efforts to con-front this climate change phenomenon. There is only one way to prevent the coming ice age and that is with a massive global soil remineralization project, nothing else will have any affect. Mankind has accelerated our move into glaciation by perhaps a few hundred years but our burning of fossil fuels cannot even begin to compare with the pollution levels of burning boreal forests and volcanism's perilous dearth that is verily upon us.
GAIA has begun to remineralize because we have not done IT yet. Unfortunately, her methods are very unpleasant.
May 03, 2012
Here are a few images from the past week in and around my gardens:
City workers preparing to cut sod to add more garden plots at Gage Park April 25, 2012. NOTE: Brian the Groundskeeper on the mower in the background is hung up on the fence. There was some rain that morning and the machine apparently slipped.
This season I planted arugula and flame lettuce in the Tracy Toob Salad Bar along with creeping thyme in the center, the sole survivor from last year. Image from April 30, 2012.
Our youngest male cat Basil just cannot keep still. Image from April 30, 2012.
May 03, 2012
My comment to Any lane with a cyclist is a bike lane by Paul John Phillips, Dundas
A Bicycle Is A Vehicle
I absolutely and unequivocally agree PJP. When I ride my bike, I ride in the center of the lane that's beneath me. I do not like being squeezed between a curb and two tonnes of metal moving a kilo-a-minute while trying to avoid broken glass and uneven pavement. The best thing we can do to protect bicyclists is to lower the city's speed limits and to educate bikers as well as motorists in the merits of our common-streets sense. Cheers
May 03, 2012
Here are some Eat-Local food related links from the Hamilton, Ontario area of Canada:
It’s Farmers’ Markets time
Ottawa Street food frenzy Friday
Community garden opening in Burlington Central Park
Food truck rally has gained a lot of weight
May 02, 2012
My comment to Speed Limits are a Public Health Issue by Ryan McGreal
While I'm taking your comment apart, I find much we can agree on, Robert.
...quite a bit of solid research has been done ... yet the peanut gallery notwithstanding ... policy cannot move forward until a discussion ... on urban health begins. This is good use of this forum. [Poetically Dissected and with Emphasis Added]
Slow Down --> Smell Coffee --> Healthy People --> Healthy City
May 01, 2012
My comment to Speed Limits are a Public Health Issue by Ryan McGreal
Wow man, I actually find myself agreeing with McGreal's slow intervention! I live on a street that motorists use as a short-cut to avoid a traffic stop at a major intersection. We often see cars, small trucks and motorcycles whizzing down our residential street when the light turns red and I might add, that there is another public health factor which should be considered bad: When internal combustion engines are placed in demand and a vehicle accelerates, excessive exhausts in the air will accumulate. High speed is a risky factor indeed, but air pollution is clearly another we breath and is something I just thought I should mention, to my brotherly bicycle creed;-)
May 01, 2012
My comment to Head of CBC News visits Hamilton by Samantha Craggs
I am also looking forward to CBC Hamilton Tiger-Cats, because as most of you already know, the Hamilton Spectator has incorporated a highly restrictive "pay-wall" in an attempt to force online users into buying a $6.95/month subscription. I ask, how will this encourage competition? Then again maybe this is a good thing for CBC Hamilton, a kind of blessing for an old friend as disgruntled readers seek other avenues for local news which they can depend.
May 01, 2012
Welcome to May
Continuing this month, this site will remain more informational than instigational. I hope to comment on blogs a lot less and let gardening be my primary focus while at the same time providing canonical fodder for Internet robots:
The Hamilton Spectator
Steve Quayle's World
Alex Jones' Infowars
Jeff Rense
Aircrap
James McCanney Science
Remineralize The Earth
Soil And Health Library
CBC Hamilton Digital Flagship