So tonights post about the PancakeBot show you just how much fun you can have with microcontrollers (and other bits of technology) once you learn how to use them. A recent SlashGear post is about an Arduino-controlled pancake-printing 3D printer that prints out an Eiffel Tower. The PancakeBot is an open source project, so if you want to 3D print your pancakes, theres information out there to help you put together a slightly-wacky machine that will do just that.
The video for printing the Eiffel Tower is worth watching, if only to see how well-produced the video is and what a great job theyve done of getting the pancake printer to work.
But what I thought was even better was PancakeBots "Breakfast Gallop" video. I went to the projects website and checked out their blog. The video of a pancake horse riding across the countryside would be a priceless memory to make with your kids. After 3D printing the props for the video and after making the video, the kids get to eat the props! How much better can it get?
Our new flock of twenty-five laying chicks (including an all white Leghorn rooster) arrived last week. This coming spring we are striving for higher egg production so we ordered mostly Black Star females with a few Red Stars, Leghorns and Buff Orphingtons added to the mix. We have been looking into raising the chicks on a soured milk diet which means feeding the chicks raw milk that has clabbered or soured, meaning fermented. Clabbering raw milk is easy. We just fill a quart jar or two with some of the fresh milk from the mornings milking (either goat or cow will do), screw on a lid and leave on the window sill for a couple of days until the curds separate from the whey.
Raw milk is loaded with enzymes and probiotics. When raw milk starts to sour, it simply means that beneficial bacteria called probiotics have started to use up all the lactose or milk sugar which casues the milk to no longer taste sweet. Soured raw milk has a higher level of probiotics which have initiated the fermentation or clabbering of the milk. (By the way, this only works with raw milk. When store bought pasteurized milk goes bad it becomes a huge food borne illness risk to consume it and should be thrown out.)
All these probiotics can be used as a prophylactic against disease and illness, boosting the immune system and growing stronger, healthier birds. We are looking forward to an abundance of eggs in the spring. p.s. It is still an amazing thing to think of how much the family cow adds to the homestead, everyone on the farm benefits from the by products!
Have wanted to make up some straw/hay bale garden beds for a while now & am happy I finely have..
The second bed is in the process of being planted & have also started a small no dig straw/hay bed for some potatoes to go into.. I love the idea of being able to grow in the straw as it slowly turns into compost & humus that can be added to other beds once it finishes breaking down...
For more regular updates & pictures from the patch come visit us on our Bits Out the Back Facebook page.. Have a great one All...
Transpicuous News Weekly Report will be LIVE Stream Broadcast ONE HOUR EARLIER this week.
Tonight on CCN, Join me for The Transpicuous News Weekly Review- were going to be running through this weeks major news stories, doing a review of the past 6 weeks ...
...and HEY! ITs September!!!
TN will be broadcast an hour earlier tonight- at 8pm London/Morocco time- thats 3pm EDT
Watch live on CCN: http://www.consciousconsumernetwork.tv/ccn-live/
Or watch right here on RTS, or on the RTS Facebook page.
I have said for almost three years that everything is going to be made very transparent. That everything- all the corruption, the fraud, etc...- needs to be made completely visible to the world....
In the past month, the "Visibility" has reached a whole new level. The question is: WILL PEOPLE PAY ATTENTION?
I said on the Oct 5th One Peoples Roundtable Discussion that the line has been very clearly drawn in the sand. That, in my opinion, there are very clearly now two separate groups of people on this planet: Those who are awake, waking up, or about to waken. And those that will not.
I know that sounds extremely harsh and "judgmental" , but in the conversations I have been witnessing and taking part in, the over whelming data is that there are huge groups of people who are, seemingly, incapable of SEEING or COMPREHENDING what is going on around them. They literally will not LOOK at ANYTHING that is not in their paradigm of belief- they physically will turn away, their eyes glaze over, and they will radically change the subject or walk away.
As I said in yesterday article "The Climate Change Litmus Test",
I honestly think that we could use just this one point- this one topic- as a litmus test for humanity. The complete absurdity of the "Climate Change" rhetoric and agendas is so completely asinine, in that THEIR OWN STATEMENTS contradict themselves- this is the perfect barometer to look at whether people have any chance of shaking the mind numbing koolaid out of their brains and actually use them to logically deduce the bullshit that the "Climate Change" Schtic is.
THIS is yet another Litmus Test. If people can read these next articles and can NOT SEE, NOT COMPREHEND what has, and is, being done right now- right in front of them......
.... then they are in the "forever asleep" group on this planet.
d
US Rejects Hospital Bombing Investigation, Instead Smashes into Hospital in Tank, Destroying Evidence
Posted onOctober 15, 2015byRobert Barsocchini
After changing its story many times, the US now admits that it intentionally threw bombs, for more than an hour, at the now famous Doctors Without Borders hospital, proving accurate the assessment of DWB staffer Meinie Nicolai, who said the US attack was “a premeditated massacre.”
Since initial US claims that the protected DWB hospital was a “Taliban stronghold” and so forth have been debunked as stupid, the US now claims it targeted the hospital because one man, a “Pakistan Inter-Services Intelligence spy”, was inside.
However, Glenn Greenwald points out that the US puppet government in Afghanistan has had it out for DWB for some time because they treat patients indiscriminately, whereas US allies like Israel, for example, discriminate between patients, treating Al Qaeda fighters while targeting members of the UN-recognized Syrian government: “Israel has opened its borders with Syria in order to provide medical treatment to Nusra Front and al-Qaida fighters wounded in the ongoing civil war, according to The Wall Street Journal.”
On October 14th, an “international panel” announced that it was “ready to investigate the deadly US [hospital] bombing”, but would need “assurances from Barack Obama and the Afghan president, Ashraf Ghani, that their governments [would] comply.”
The US rejected the initiative for the investigation, and instead, on October 15th, sent soldiers to smash up the bombed hospital with a tank, “destroy[ing] potential evidence” for the war crimes investigation.
To explain this, the US announced that the tank was carrying the US’s own “investigators”. In the mean time, a whistle-blower has released classified documents on Obama’s global assassination ring that illustrate gross recklessness and confirm that almost one hundred percent of the people being killed are not actual targets – though targeting people and executing them is also criminal.
US tank enters ruined Afghan hospital putting war crime evidence at risk
MSF says ‘forced entry’ by military vehicle – later said to be carrying investigators into the US airstrike that killed 22 patients and staff – caused stress and fear
Doctors of MSF and citizens move the debris of the hospital in Kunduz damaged by the US airstrike on Thursday. Photograph: Waqif Nasirahmad/Demotix/Corbis
A US tank has forced its way into the shell of the Afghanistan hospital destroyed in an airstrike 11 days ago, prompting warnings that the US military may have destroyed evidence in a potential war crimes investigation.
The 3 October attack on the Médécins sans Frontières (MSF) hospital in Kunduz killed 10 patients and 12 staff members of the group. In a statement on Thursday, the medical charity, also known as Doctors Without Borders, said they were informed after Thursday’s “intrusion” that the tank was carrying investigators from a US-Nato-Afghan team which is investigating the attack. “Their unannounced and forced entry damaged property, destroyed potential evidence and caused stress and fear,” MSF said. The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the reported intrusion, which came as new evidence emerged that US forces operating in the area at the time of the attack knew that the facility was a hospital. US special operations analysts were gathering intelligence on the hospital days before the attack, because they believed a Pakistani operative was using it as his base, according to areport by the Associated Press citing an unnamed former intelligence official. The analysts had mapped the area and drawn a circle around the hospital, the official was quoted as saying. The Pakistani man, described both as a Taliban suspect and as a worker for the Pakistani Inter-Service Intelligence directorate, was killed in the attack, the official told the AP. Of the nearly 200 patients and staff inside the hospital at the time of the attack, more than three dozen were wounded, said MSF, which has called the attack a violation of the Geneva Conventions and a war crime. The group has said some patients burned to death in their beds. Several investigations of the attack are considering whether the separate American teams involved – special operations analysts, intelligence community officers, the military command that ordered the strike – knew the facility was a hospital, whether they gave warning of a strike and what was happening on the ground at the time.
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It is unclear whether the analysts’ knowledge that the facility was a hospital was shared by the command that launched the attack. MSF said GPS coordinates identifying the hospital had been shared with US, coalition and Afghan military officers and civilian officials “as recently as Tuesday 29 September”. Michael Newton, a West Point graduate and an expert on conduct of hostilities issues at Vanderbilt Law School, listed questions a Defense Department investigation would seek to answer. “There’s somebody in some part of the force that knows that’s a prohibited target,” Newton said. “The question then is, what are the fire control measures over that place? “If they were followed, were they adequate? If they weren’t followed, why weren’t they followed? And underneath that, there’s two things. Either, one – they were misapplied. Or, two, there was an exception.” An example of an exception would be a case of self-defense, Newton said. The Pentagon originally said the hospital was struck in the course of a firefight involving US troops. General John Campbell, the top US officer in Afghanistan, later said the strike on the hospital was a mistake. The Pentagon declined further comment on Thursday, citing ongoing investigations. The Defense Department, Nato and the Afghan government are conducting parallel investigations of the attack, while MSF has called for an inquiry by the International Humanitarian Fact-Finding Commission, or IHFFC, a never-before-used investigative commission under the Geneva conventions.
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“It is impossible to expect the parties involved in the conflict to carry out independent and impartial investigations of acts in which they themselves are implicated,” said MSF in the statement on Thursday. “The preservation of health facilities as neutral, protected spaces depends on [an independent investigation].” US and Afghan consent is needed for the IHFFC investigation to proceed. MSF launched an online petition on Thursday calling on President Barack Obama to consent. The White House spokesman, Josh Earnest, said on Thursday that he was “not aware” of the Associated Press report. He declined comment on who gave the order for the strike on the hospital or the motivation for the attack. “All of those are questions that will be considered by the ongoing Defense Department investigation,” Earnest said. “The president’s expectation is that he will see a full accounting of these facts in context.” Newton said the Pentagon investigation would be drawing on a wealth of evidence. “There’s a limited time frame here, it’s a discrete incident, there would be radio logs or at least handwritten notes of radio traffic – I think they’ll absolutely get every relevant fact,” he said. Newton said the White House silence on the issue of whether the attack could constitute a war crime was appropriate. “People say, ‘Why won’t the president just call it a war crime, why won’t the secretary of defense just call it a war crime, let’s be honest, that’s what it was’,” said Newton. “The answer is, because in the US military it is a separate offense – unlawful command influence – if higher-level political officials or military officials prejudge a case and start talking about it in public.” “What actually happened on the ground? That’s the unanswered question.”
Did Obama Bomb Doctors Without Borders for Opposing TPP?
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 10/06/2015 13:53 -0400
inShare16
By Claire Bernish of AntiMedia Had the President of Nobel Peace Prize-winning Doctors Without Borders not warned us of the “imminent threat to global health” posed by the TPP, would these 22 doctors and patients have lost their lives early Saturday? “I don’t know exactly how long, but it was maybe half an hour afterwards that they stopped bombing. I went out with the project coordinator to see what had happened. What we saw was the hospital destroyed, burning,” describednurse Lajos Zoltan Jecs of the U.S. bombardment of a hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan. Harsh criticism and skepticism surround what is being labeled an errant U.S. bombardment of a hospital in Kunduz that left 22 people dead — many of them volunteers with Médecins sans Frontières (Doctors without Borders, the humanitarian aid agency) — but doubt lingers about the vague official story for a reason. Doctors Without Borders Calls Airstrike a War Crime “Why did they have to blow up the whole hospital?” pleaded Nasratullah, whose 25-year-old cousin Akbar was among doctors killed in the bombing.“We know that the Americans are very clever. If they can target a single person in a car from their planes, why did they have to blow up the whole building?” The ostensible explanation according to rumor centered on reports Taliban forces had entered the location and were using the cover of the hospital to fire on coalition forces. Christopher Stokes, MSF General Director, irately stated, “Not a single member of our staff reported fighting inside the MSF hospital compound prior to the U.S. airstrike Saturday morning. The hospital was full of MSF staff, patients, and their caretakers. It is 12 MSF staff members and ten patients, including three children, who were killed in the attack.” Is something being overlooked? “U.S. forces conducted an airstrike in Kunduz City at 2:15 am [local time] on 3 October against individuals threatening the force. The strike may have resulted in collateral damage to a nearby medical facility. This incident is under investigation,” stated international coalition spokesperson, Col. Brian Tribus. “This attack is abhorrent and a grave violation of international humanitarian law,” declared MSF President, Meinie Nicolai. “We demand total transparency from coalition forces. We cannot accept that this horrific loss of life will simply be dismissed as ‘collateral damage.’” Reports from the scene indicate MSF had not only notified all warring parties in the region of the exact GPS coordinates for the hospital and its outlying buildings, but that doctors immediately notified forces the moment the hospital came under fire from a U.S. airstrike — and, even then, the attack continued for a full 30 minutes. Stokes found that suggestion wholly inadequate, adding: “Under clear presumption that a war crime has been committed, MSF demands that a full and transparent investigation into the event be conducted by an independent international body. Relying only on an internal investigation by a party to the conflict would be wholly insufficient.” So why did the attack continue, much less happen in the first place? Doctors Without Borders Vocally Opposes the TPP If circumstances of any incident appear not to add up, it’s pertinent to thoroughly examine the current narrative for signs the State is attempting to mold public opinion — because it is there you will find the truth that you’re not being told. In the case of MSF, a massive treaty cum trade deal involving U.S. interests in another part of the world from the tragedy in Kunduz can offer, perhaps, insight which might otherwise seem unrelated. As it turns out, MSF have been particularly vocal critics of the impending Trans-Pacific Partnership — and their criticism hasn’t gone unnoticed. As reported in the National Journal in May: “It’s not usual business for us, and the reason is because we’re very worried,” explained Judit Rius Sanjuan, whooversees Doctors Without Borders drug access campaign, in a phone interview. “We are doing anything we can to make sure the public is aware.” Though the Nobel Prize-winning group has actively but reservedly opposed the massive TPP deal for years, recent letters to President Obama and a campaign of subway ads on the D.C. Metro show a more urgent, public push. Sanjuan admitted such a robust effort “is not usual practice for us.” What is so pressing for the public to know that it led the group to abandon its typically subdued tone? Simply, drug costs. Specifically, the intellectual property and patent laws that will favor drug companies should the TPP take effect.
Protecting Profit vs. Saving Lives “It would force them to change the law of many of these countries that are currently negotiating to create new intellectual property protections for pharmaceutical drugs, including but not limited to patents,” Sanjuan explained about the deal as exposed by WikiLeaks in 2013. “The effects of these new obligations would limit generic competition and therefore increase the cost of medicine.” This has put Médecins sans Frontières “at odds with the White House,” as the National Journal delicately described. A recent letter to Obama from MSF clearly alluded to the humanitarian nature of the group’s opposition to the trade deal: “MSF believes this is essential to closing the gap in access to medicines to millions of people around the world. The TPP could be an opportunity to make significant progress toward these goals. Instead, in its current state, the TPP is a threat to the health of millions.” As evidenced in the Kunduz hospital bombing and numerous military campaigns in the Middle East and elsewhere, the human toll likely isn’t the priority first called to mind by the U.S. government. Profit, on the other hand, must be protected no matter the human cost. After this attack, MSF decided to pull its operations from Kunduz for the foreseeable future. As Jecs lamented, “The hospital, it has been my workplace and home for several months. Yes, it is just a building. But it is so much more than that. It is healthcare for Kunduz. Now it is gone. What is the benefit of this? Destroying a hospital and so many lives, for nothing. I cannot find words for this.” With the number of questions being raised, we will continue to look into the incident further. * * * Doctors Without Borders released a statement following the conclusion of TPP negotiations in Atlanta: “Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) expresses its dismay that TPP countries have agreed to United States government and multinational drug company demands that will raise the price of medicines for millions by unnecessarily extending monopolies and further delaying price-lowering generic competition. The big losers in the TPP are patients and treatment providers in developing countries. Although the text has improved over the initial demands, the TPP will still go down in history as the worst trade agreement for access to medicines in developing countries, which will be forced to change their laws to incorporate abusive intellectual property protections for pharmaceutical companies.”
Well well well......more interesting stuff going on..... you know..... over there.
d
Qatari ex-emir’s broken leg sees 9 ‘emergency’ landings in Zurich despite night flight ban Published time: 29 Dec, 2015 08:45
Nine Qatari royal aircraft made consecutive landings over the weekend at Zurich Airport, after the former emir of Qatar reportedly broke his leg at a Moroccan ski resort. The planes were cleared to land despite a local ban on night flights.
*Ds Note: REALLY? Cause I just checked and Ifrane has NO SNOW right now, and super mild temperatures of +13C...... and just what was the "Former" emir doing skiing- considering he abdicated his throne in 2013 due to "poor health conditions"? And since there is no Skiing right now in Ifrane..... how did he break his leg? And why did 9 private planes need to accompany him to Swizerland- including the new emir of Qatar? .... to Switzerland.... in the middle of the night. *
Official state media, the Qatar News Agency, also reported that the current emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, had received a phone call on December 27 from Moroccos King Mohammed VI and discussed "issues of common concern". According to Zurichs Tages Anzeiger newspaper, the first Qatari plane, an Airbus, landed from Marrakesh shortly after midnight on December 26. A second flight landed at Zurich-Kloten at 5:00 am (0400 GMT) the same day, with a third plane coming 15 minutes later, both having originated in Doha, the paper reported. According to Tages Anzeiger, the medical emergency in question was so significant that six more planes linked to the Qatari royal family and government landed in Zurich through the weekend. A Swiss foreign ministry spokesman told AFP on Monday that members of the Qatari royal family were staying in the country, but gave no further details. Sheikh Hamad, who celebrates his 64th birthday on January 1,
Airplane hobbyists and online airplane tracking website FlightRadar24 reported several Qatari flights landing in Zurich around that time, first from Morocco and later from Qatar, raising speculation Sheikh Hamad might have suffered his injury in Morocco. The state-run Qatar News Agency has yet to report on his injury and surgery. However, it said Moroccos King Mohammed VI called Qatars ruling emir on Sunday.
Qatar hunters abducted in Iraq desert by gunmen http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-35112774
Saudi Arabia Carries Out Largest Mass Execution In 25 Years After Beheadings Soar In 2015 http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-01-02/saudi-arabia-carries-out-largest-mass-execution-25-years-after-beheadings-soar-2015
Saudi Arabia Executes Prominent Shiite Cleric Nimr Baqr al-Nimr http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13941012000654
Protesters storm Saudi embassy in Tehran, set it ablaze https://www.rt.com/news/327755-saudi-embassy-iran-protest/
Protesters Set The Streets On Fire In Bahrain After Saudis Kill Top Shiite Cleric http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-01-02/protesters-set-streets-fire-bahrain-after-saudis-kill-top-shiite-cleric
MidEast leaders lash out at Saudi Arabia over Shiite clerics execution, protests erupt https://www.rt.com/news/327705-nimr-execution-saudi-crime/
Saudi Arabias Oil Depots in Asir Province Destroyed in Yemens Ballistic Missile Attack http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13941012000529
DM: Iran to Increase Destruction Power of Missiles http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13941012001300
Turkey Drags NATO Into Quagmire as Iraq Threatens Military Retaliation http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13941011000836
On The Trail Of Dubais Stolen Gold: A Robbed Client Breaks The Silence, And A Fascinating Detail Emerges http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-01-01/trail-dubais-stolen-gold-client-breaks-silence-and-fascinating-detail-emerges
Ready, set, GO!!! Had a great weekend in the patch with a few jobbies being knocked over... Took out the 2 "Washing Machine" Wicking beds from the garden to make room for a few chairs & a small table.. Is nice to be able to sit in the patch with B? away from the spawn for a chat over a coffee on the weekend.. Well, thats the dream anyway.. I like to dream.. **nods**
Sick Fish & Aquaponics... On Saturday morning the goldfish were moved into a small "hospital tank" then treated with a commercial anti fungal treatment... 1/3 of the water in the system was also replaced to counter the growing Ammonia levels as I didnt want to loose any Yabbies... On Sunday morning I hopped onto the BYAP Forum & it was suggested that we salt to 10ppt for 1 hour then do a 50% water change to reduce it to a 5ppt concentration... Thanks Freoboy & all... The fish picked up overnight & now only have a few spots of "growth" on them... Will do another 10ppt treatment today for an hour & see how they look again tomorrow... Not to keen on using the anti fungal treatment after reading the warning on the back about it containing carcinogens...
Update shots... Left is from the 19th of July & the Right is from 10th of August... As you can see there is a bit of growth & will continue to get better from here with Nitrates now being present in the system...The Nitrites are still fairly high but they should settle soon as they are converted into Nitrates..
Todays readings are pH-below 8.2, Ammonia-.25, Nitrites-5+ & Nitrates are 80-160.. Added some Broccoli seed yesterday as it seems to be a plant we just cant grow enough of... Yabby Bum Left &Nippers,Right. They appear to be happy in there by themselves so all is good...
Barrels of fun...
Made up 3 new Wicking Barrels on the weekend, 2 for the Mary Washington Asparagus, Left & 1 for the Jerusalem Artichokes, Right... 2 Asparagus crowns went into each Barrel while the Artichoke corms are still in the fridge for 2 more weeks...
Spuds...
Planted out the Green harvest Potato bags just over a week ago with the Dutch cream Seed Potatoes that were purchased with them.. Decided to plant out another 2 of the black bags on Saturday with some more.. We used one of the removed Washing machine beds & a ½ Barrel for some Kipfler Potatoes..The Desiree up the side of the house are looking rather good as are the 2 bags behind the Tomato Trellis...
Spice Wicking bed... Started to put this together on Friday afternoon & finished it off on Monday... Was a straight forward build & means that I can now get stuck into the Aquaponic set up during the afternoons this week.. This bed acts as a retaining wall for the gravel bedding... Will be letting the Spice bed settle down for a few weeks before planting out...
Compost... Made up what I think will be a few great blends... The first lot was made on Saturday... It has Horse manure, blood n bone, Mineral dust, & water from the Aquaponic set up... It was steaming when I used it in the soil blend for the Spice bed on Monday so I think it will cook down nicely thanks to the AP water & all the goodies in it... 2 bin loads were made up yesterday with a blend containing 2 shovel loads of Mushroom compost thrown in to see how it goes...
Happy harvesting... **Does HUGE Happy Dance** We got our first Capsicums off that didnt contain Grubs from a couple of feral plants that live in the Lime bed.. Can only put it down to the cooler weather... Will be making up some bags to cover the next crops of Capsicum with some bags that we will make up from an old Mozzie net the kids had over their cots.. That should keep the little buggers out this Spring & Summer.. Might have to make some for the Tomatoes as well for when the Turpentine Mangoes fruit.. A lot of people let them drop & rot which causes an explosion in the fruit fly numbers.. The pic also shows some of the first Amish Past Tomatoes we have harvested as well as some Caped Gooseberries & assorted Chillies..
We have also been getting some rather sweet Nantes & Dragon Carrots... Looking at pulling them all from the Bath tub bed soon & freezing them for use later as the I have plans for the Bath... The Mangles (Right) have been used in a few stews.. We are looking at freezing the rest of the large Kohlrabi for stews & casseroles.. The Broccoli is still producing but fear we have lost the climbing Beans due to my negligence & a rust..
Have been getting stuck back into a few jobbies in the patch the past few weeks as Winter is creeping up on us.. One job that we neglected to do for a few of the beds during summer was mulching.. We normally buy sugar cane mulch & top the beds with.. This is then turned into the beds before planting out the following crop.. Was reading on line (a Simple Savings thread from memory) where someone mentioned that sugar cane mulch tend to use up nitrogen when dug through the soil as added organic matter.. This is far from desirable when trying to build up fertile soils.. It wont be turned into the beds from now on & the plan is to make up our own mulch for future use from local resources.. One method of mulching we have become interested in is the “Back to Eden” method that some You Tube gardeners we follow have been using.. This documentary was a great mini refresher course in the ways of mulch that have helped us to rethink our mulching ways.. The core theme of the film is the use of semi composted tree trimmings/wood chips as a thick mulch that can help you to garden on undesirable soil types.. Other ways wood chips/timber mulch can be of great benefit to the health of all soil types are,
Beneficial fungus, worms & bacteria will break the chips/mulch down from underneath working the nutrients into the soil improving soil structure so no tilling is required..
Suppresses the weeds from growing & the ones that germinate on the surface are easy to pull due to the loose nature of the mulch layer..
Insulates the soil from the extremes of cold & heat.
It can be used in many styles of farming/gardening.. Orchards, veggie plots, pots on a deck or veranda could all benefit from a layer of mulch..
Fertilisers such as composted manures & garden waste can still be added as a top dress..
Liquid fertilisers like seaweed, worm cast tea & fish emulsion are a great to use as not only do they add nutrients but the action of the liquid will move nutrients from the decomposing top layer into the soil below..
The wood chips hold water & release it when the ground around it dries out..
Our mulching progress.. We have been slowly processing a ½ rotten mango from our neighbours yard in the electric mulcher with some of this mulch already being added to bed #’s 5 & 9.. There is still more to mulch & we might play around with it in a few different mulch blends yet.. The mango tree in the chook yard & some Chinese elms have been pruned then mulched up to run a few experiments.. The aim of all is to find which will breakdown the best into a usable wood mulch.. 2 barrels were set up with a mix of the different mulch, some lawn clippings, a large bag of off spinach leaves from a store & a bag of well composted horse manure that had a few worms inhabiting it.. Some castings full of worms were then added straight from a worm farm into 1 barrel to see how the 2 compare.. On Good Friday morning we purchased a Tumbleweed Composter from Gumtree then set about mulching the rest of the elms.. The mulch was used in 3 different tests to try some other methods of composting.. A barrel was set up with a mix of dried & fresh Chinese elm mulch with about 500g of Dynamic Lifter to add some extra nutrients to see how it will go.. The Tumbleweed was also filled with the same mix as the barrel.. The last batch of mulch was left in a pile to decompose naturally with no additives & exposed to the weather on the spot of last year’s Good Bug Mixgarden..These will all be left until mid May when a comparison of all batches will be made.. Hopefully we will get some nice nutrient rich blends to use in the patch.. We shall continue to use sugar cane trash while we build up our stores of tree mulch.. (We will swap to Lucerne hay once the S/Cane runs out) Since mentioning it on the Brisbane local Foodsite a fellow member (thanks Even) pointed me in the direction of Jean Pain& his Brush wood composting methods.. Jean goes a few steps further using the heat from the composting mass to heat water as well as collecting gas to run vehicles & cooking equipment.. These other bi products from the composting process have interested me greatly but I fear Bianca will not agree with modifying the car to run on methane from compost just yet.. The clip bellow runs through our progress with the different set ups & some of the results so far..
Thanks for reading if you made it this far.. Feel free to leave suggestions if you can see where we could improve in our methods.. Have a great one…
Well folks, this whole "Mandela Effect" shit just jumped to a WHOLE new Level!!
If youve been watching the One Peoples Roundtable Discussion on Monday nights, then you know Lisa harrison and I have been discussing the so called "Mandela Effect" for months now. And over the past month or so, there was a decidedly new level seen in this mess, as we talked about on this weeks show- with us now seeing very blatant changes in modern history.
Specifically, the Iraq War in 2003-07. In a completely different conversation in the UnFuckers facebook group, someone brought up that Mongolia had fought in the Iraqi war.... and I said "No fuckin way". So I went to check and sure enough, according to our "new" history/timeline/matrix fuckupery, yes, Mongolia actually sent troops to fight in Iraq in 2004!! Im not going to get into the whole discussion from Monday night about Mongolia itself, but rest assured we have a VERY different view of Mongolia from what is being now portrayed in the Media/news now- please listen to the show for more on that, HERE.
But I went looking for the lists of coalition forces that supposedly were in Iraq during the war.... and I just about fell off my chair!
If there is one topic that I have read quite a bit about over the past 5 years or so, its the Iraq War- being the backdrop to the purported "IQD RV" , so when I saw this list I knew immediately that there was no way that: Mongolia, El Salvador, Tonga, Singapore, Thailand, Philippines, Honduras, Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, South Korea, Fiji, Iceland AND Japan had forces IN Iraq during the Iraq War! The other countries listed you might be able to kinda sorta maybe see as having participated.... but not these countries.
Japan.... Ive been reporting on Japans Defense Forces and the HUGE change to Japanese Law that Abe pushed through their government, on Transpicuous News several times this year alone. Japans military is ONLY Defensive, and has been ONLY defensive since WWII. When Abe pushed through a new law- this spring 2015- that would allow the Japanese Defense Forces to act OFFENSIVELY, and to LEAVE their country to support their purported "Allies", the Japanese people had a serious freak out. One man even lit himself on fire in a public square, and immolated himself as a show of outrage against this new law. When this was going on I did several house of research into this law, and into the background on the Japanese Defense Forces.... so I know for a FACT that they were NOT in Iraq in 2004.
With this information, on this area of change, it showed a definite jump in level of what sort of Mandela effects were seeing.
Then today in the UnFuckers group, someone dropped a bomb that nearly knocked me over. Not just in the bare HUGENESS of this change, but what this change signifies.
Just about every child who was raised in a christian household knows the Lords Prayer. Lets face it, even non-christians know the Lords Prayer. You know it, right? Can you recite it right now, in your head?
What if I were to tell you that its now changed?
Continue reading at the new Home of Removing the Shackles on UnFuckers Unite: http://www.unfuckersunite.com/removing-the-shackles/mandela-effect-just-jumped-to-a-new-level
It really cant get more simple that this barrel farm.. I call it a dump & walk barrel as that is how I feed it.. A catcher or 2 or lawn clippings get dumped into the barrels & I walk away, its as easy as that.. The prunings & old plants from the veggie bed in the patch go in whole if they are small enough or get the once over with the lawnmower to chop them up a bit if they are to large..
A great type of farm to have under a fruit tree as any nutrients that leach out will feed the tree.. One like this will be added to a new bed we are making out the front soon..
For more regular updates & pictures from the patch come visit us on our Bits Out the Back Facebook page.. Have a great one All... R?b..
Here for your reading pleasure is an article from a You Tube friend of mine.. Was such a great article that I asked his permission & have posted it here for your reading pleasure.. If you would like to check out more of Dales clips you can find his You Tube channel Easy Grows It here, & the site that the article come from goes by the same name & can be found at easygrowsit.com .
How to save time and money when starting tomato plants for your garden
By Easy easy@easygrowsit.com February 24nd, 2013 If you, like many of us, grow lots of tomato plants for your garden every year, you start them from seed. Starting from seed can be tedious, time consuming and sometimes quite frustrating. You have to plan ahead so your little crop is ready to plant when the time is right. This usually means starting your seeds from 6-8 weeks before it’s time to plant them in the garden. To start our seeds, some of us use 10? x 20? trays with cells for each seed. Others use anything from solo cups to microwave dishes from their last frozen dinner. It doesn’t matter what you grow them in, you’ll need to make sure they always get the proper amount of water, light and warmth to start them right. It requires a certain amount of attention at this stage and mistakes can set you back to the point of having to start over. Forget to water your little tomato plants and you could end up with plants that are stunted or dead and you could have to start all over. At some point in the process, you’ll need to transplant the little seedlings into larger containers at least once. Depending on how large you want them at planting time, maybe twice. As I said above, it can get a little tedious and time consuming, especially if you’re doing the same with other plants like peppers at the same time. The obvious alternative to growing tomato plants from seeds is to go buy small plants from a local nursery or home improvement store just before you need to put them out in the garden. Depending on how many plants you need, it can be quite expensive. If I remember correctly, last year the price of small tomato plants at home improvement stores were about US$3.50 each in 4 inch pots. If you bought a dozen plants, you were looking at around $42 plus tax. How many tomatoes would it take to make up for a $42 investment? That’s assuming all your plants survived to produce tomatoes. So, starting tomatoes from $1.50 worth of seeds is easily more economical although much more risky and difficult. Buying plants somewhere is much less risky but much more expensive. What if I told you that you could have the benefits of both choices without the huge monetary outlay and without having to monitor dozens of baby plants from seed? Would that be something that might interest you? If it is, please read on. For those of you that do not know much about tomatoes and tomato plants, let me give you a little background information before I move on. Tomatoes are actually a fruit, not a vegetable. I, like many, was not aware of this fact for quite some time and I was quite surprised to hear that. Tomato plants are actually vines, unlike, say, a bell pepper plant, which is technically a tree. Vines are interesting plants. Some if not most vines (I don’t claim to be a vine expert or any kind of expert for that matter) will sprout roots when buried in soil. More roots means more water and nutrients for the plant as well as having a stronger base in the ground to support the plant. You can actually plant a tomato plant, with proper preparation, horizontally in a trench leaving just the very top of the tomato plant sticking out of the ground. It will develop many more roots than with the typical planting method and it will be much more strongly rooted in the ground as well. This is called the trench planting method. If you’d like to see exactly how this works, here’s a link to a You Tube video my friend Bobby (Mhpgardener on You Tube) did showing how it’s done…Planting Tomatoes – A Quick Tip Tomatoes grow new baby plants at the intersection where a branch and the main stem meets. This intersection is typically called a crotch and the new baby plant that develops there is usually called a sucker. I am sure there is probably a more scientific name but gardeners usually call it a sucker because it takes energy away from the main plant to grow this new baby plant. Remember, a tomato plant is a vine and vines like to spread all over. Some tomato growers remove these suckers and others like to leave them on. I’ll leave that subject for another article.
Picture of a sucker growing from a tomato plant courtesy of mhpgardener of You Tube.
At this point, you might be saying to yourself, “This is all very interesting and good but what does all this have to do with how I get a bunch of tomato plants to plant in my garden?” I appreciate your patience dear reader and now that I have explained enough background information, let’s get to the point. Suckers, as I said, are baby tomato plants. It’s like a another tomato plant growing out of the main tomato plant, which is called the mother plant. If you would snip off a decent sized sucker (six inches long or longer with a few full sets of leaves) from the mother plant and stick the bottom of the sucker in water, in a matter of three days to a couple of weeks, depending on the variety of tomato plant, you should see roots develop under and at the water line. Once they start to develop roots, those roots will grow at a very rapid rate. This is called “rooting” a plant. It’s also called “cloning”. After the roots get a few inches long (don’t let them get too out of hand) you can transplant the new tomato plant into soil and it will grow like any other tomato plant in soil. Now, the really amazing as well as useful part of this whole process is that not only does the new sucker derived plant give you a whole new plant to grow, it doesn’t know it’s a new plant. To it, it’s a fully developed tomato plant, not a 6 week old baby plant that grew from seed and is still maturing. If the mother plant is three months old, the sucker is just as mature, just smaller. It’s ready to put on flowers and start bearing fruit right away unlike it’s six week old, grown from seed counterpart. So now, let’s put it all together. If you needed a dozen or so tomato plants, instead of planting twelve seeds 6-8 weeks ahead of time, you could grow one or two mother plants a month or two earlier than that so they have suckers a few weeks before you needed plants to put in the garden. Not only will the sucker derived plants be more mature and ready to start producing right away, you’d be using less seeds and can still get more suckers later from the mother plant in case something terrible happens to your garden such as hail storm. The mother plant will continue to keep making suckers for you in case you need them. I almost forgot! There’s another reason to generate plants this way. Not only will the mother plant give you lots of baby plants, chances are, depending on when you started your mother plant, it will also give you tomatoes as well by the time you start setting your new plants out in the garden.
Dont forget to check out Dales You Tube channel & Web site..
Last week ## edit now already 3 weeks ago## of the project with the Bronx Writing Academy and Citizen Schools was quite eventful!
A student taking interest in her schoolmates accomplishments
This last week was the WOW! The WOW! Is the culmination of the programs that Citizen Schools offers, and plays out in a unique show, product or showcase by the students. For the Hydroponic apprenticeship, the WOW! was planned to be a public showcase, right in front of the school, to show the community what the students had accomplished.
We started by taking the last measurement for the plants, and finishing the graphs showing the growth of the lettuce and the cilantro. Then the "fun" began, moving the systems from the 3rd floor classroom, down to the street. By fun, I mean the kids had fun spilling the water from the system, and Amrita, the schoolteacher, and I had the fun of apologizing to the janitor. It was a bit of commotion but at the end, everything -the 2 systems, the posters crafted by the students, a couple of tables, and flyers- was taken down to the front of the school, reassembled, and ready to showcase!
Student explains how they recorded the plant growth
A local taking time to ask questions of the students work
The system was positioned right in from of the school, in the triangular section of grass where the flag post is (and a couple of raised bed that were planted last week or so). We asked the kids to try to talks to the passer by, and get their interest up, to bring them by the system. After a few shy attempts, a few of the students became bolder and started to bring people over, and zealously presented their work, the system, the plants growing in it, the nitrogen cycle and etc... We had planned a quick conversation with JT Bear so give him an update and show our set up, the kids where happy to show their work (again) they have accomplished. They showed around the plants, called the basil lettuce (;-) and commented on the posters they had made. MANY THANKS AGAIN TO JT BEAR!
To be honest I was a bit weary on how it would turn-up, the week en before, I went to the few community gardens I knew about in the neighborhood, and "advertised" the WOW! To try to get some of the community garden member to come up. I was not sure if that was the right strategy, as they first responded by saying how they would be happy to show their garden around. To be fair though, these community gardeners have jobs, and therefore my not be able to show up. So I was happily surprised when I recognized a member of these community gardens. I was even happier to see that not only middle schooler leaving the school took an interest in their schoolmates work, but also members of the community from all ages. It was quite nice also (personally) to have a few people walking up to the kids and shaking their hands congratulating them on their work.
We finally brought everything back up, for a "end of project" wrap-up, including some awards for the students that did the most progress, and showed the most interest. This was a great experience, and I hope it can keep going in the fall, but at this point I do not know yet if it will be possible. In the mean time, I found a restaurant owner that agreed to allow me to put the system in his patio area, so plants can keep growing over the summer. So I will keep recording what is going on in the comparison fertilizer vs compost tea over the summer. Also the herbs produced will be shared with the restaurant. Finally, Many thanks to (not in order):Agnieszka Tuszynska (my lovely partner who was supporting the idea from day one), Amrita Kalsa (BWA teacher) , Alex Black, Maddie Oliver,Morayo Faleyimu, Molly Cohen and Katerine Mott (Citizen schools) , JT Bear, Bronx Writing Academy and his director Kasmar Samuels , Greening Forward and Margarita Vigodner (My boss).
The time for kid gloves, political correctness and worrying about bruised feelings and "triggering" people is well and truly over. No more nicey nicey. No more sugar coating. No more mincing words. Its time for the cold harsh reality of what the fuck is going on right now.
Tonight Lisa and I will be joined by Lily Earth and ohhhhhh boy! We have a lot to say. Tonights menu of topics will include Mind Control, "AI", Programming and Rituals, the use of auto suggestion and blatant programming by Hollywood, and ..... the Savior Meme.
This will not be a lovey dovey, feel good, sweeping strings while we frolic through fields of flowers on unicorns kinda night.
Join us tonight on the Roundtable Discussion, LIVE Stream on CCN at 11pm BDT/ 6pm EDT
http://www.consciousconsumernetwork.tv/ccn-live/
Or Watch live and join us in the Chat Room on Lisas website:
Was blown away by how well the broccoli & cauliflower did last year after trying this simple technique.. I came across this method of planting out brassicas last year & was very pleased with the results.. The plants that were planted in loose soil only did fair to average so decided to plant them all into firm soil this season..
Updates on how the plants all go will be included in the Autumn & Winter walk around clips.. For more regular updates & pictures from the patch come visit us Bits Out the Back onFace Book
Chinese stocks DESTROY 45 billion in US wealth. That can mean a lot of different things, and this article itself is a glaring piece of fluff (Like most of the financial articles this week, lol). Most of the stocks mentioned in this article were pushed up in value at hyper speed since they started trading on the US market. Who made the money off of the inflation of the value of these stocks? Now, "suddenly", their "value" is plummeting. Why? Because they are being sold off, or "dumped". So, who is making the money off of that?
Now..... if the hyper inflated "value" of these stocks was bogus to begin with- and well use the example of the several "billionaires" that lost their shirts in China over the past 8 months when their companies stocks were hyper inflated and then dropped radically in reflection of their true value- the questions is the same: who made money off the hyper inflation of the stock prices to begin with? And then who made money off the crashing of those stock "values"? And Note the use of the word "Value" and "wealth" in this article..... not money.
The US financial media is pushing the "China is the problem" envelope as an explanation for all the current apocalyptic crashing that is happening in the western (actually, global) financial arenas. Yet who were the ones pushing everyone to "Buy buy buy" in the China markets just over a year ago? Who were the ones selling the propaganda that "Investing in the new untouched market is the gold mine of the year!", pushing middle and lower end investors who had already taken a beating in the US markets to "test their luck" in the china markets? Now what has happened?
....basically these guys lost their shirts. But again, the question no one answers is: to whom? If were talking about actual "money", it doesnt just disappear..... if someone "lost it" then it stands to reason that if was "found" by someone else. The question is: who found it nicely and neatly tucked into their pocket when they walked out of the trading arena?
All you ever needed to know about the current bullshit, you can learn simply by watching the movie "Trading Places". Only...... its not the "good guys" or the "under dogs" that are winning this one.
d
ps: This also applies to "climate change spending " and "National debts", etc - If someone has to PAY a hundred billion in funding climate change policies..... that means someone will MAKE $100 billion. If countries "owe" Trillions of dollars in "debt"..... who do they owe it TO? ..... Just sayin
Chinese stocks destroy $45B in U.S. wealth
USA TODAY 5:49 p.m. EST January 7, 2016
There might be one thing tougher for an American than learning to speak Chinese: Owning Chinese stocks. The 141 Chinese-based companies with shares listed on a major U.S. exchange have shredded $45 billion in market value - just this year, according to a USA TODAY analysis of data from S&P Capital IQ. These stocks are already down 5.1% on average this year. Its a stunning destruction in wealth that seems to only be getting started. The Shanghai Composite Index dropped 7.3% Thursday before trading was halted after less than an hour of trading. Investors are braced for more selling to continue. Chinas pain is also spreading into U.S. markets. The Dow Jones industrial average closed down 392 points to 16,514 Thursday and is off 4.8% this year. Pain is already being felt - in a big way - by investors brave enough to buy into U.S.-listed shares of Chinese stocks.
Please note the bold quote below.... I just about fell of my chair laughing. But, really.... what do you expect from American Media and Financial "Experts", lol
This isn’t a stock-market crisis; it’s an outright ‘selling stampede’
Published: Jan 7, 2016 2:13 p.m. ET
Jeff Saut says such stampedes tend to last 17 to 25 sessions
The market is currently in panic mode. Investors across the globe are wading in a sea of deep red, sparked by concerns about slumping global growth — otherwise known as China.....
Saut told MarketWatch he’s sanguine about the long-term prospects for U.S. stocks in the face of another plunge in China’s Shanghai Composite Index SHCOMP, +1.97% and the subsequent trading halt. Hours after the market closed, Beijing suspended its so-called circuit breakers (which come into play if the market falls by a certain measure), but it isn’t clear whether that move will serve to calm the markets.....
“The U.S. has solved many of its long-term problems,” Saut said. “Banks are less leveraged, the deficit is under control, balance sheets are strong.” ....
Saut is "Sanguine" is he? Interesting turn of phrase. One might wonder if his optimism is due to his blood(line)? Or is he just blushing profusely due to his outrageous lies that not even he can swallow?
sanguine
/ Sæ??w?n /
adjective
1.
cheerfulandconfident;optimistic
2.
(espofthecomplexion)ruddyinappearance
3.
blood-red
Middle English: from Old French sanguin(e) blood red, from Latin sanguineus of blood, from sanguis, sanguin- blood.
OH and heres the only point worth paying attention to in this Zerohedge article- again, note the underlined Bold sentence:
"It couldnt be worse," exclaims one manager who started his fund mid-year in 2015, blaming Chinas equity market carnage on its newly-created circuit-breakers (as opposed to the fact that the Chinese market trades at 64x P/E and there are sellers everywhere). "Panic will eventually turn into a buying opportunity," hopes one strategist while another proclaims "poorly-designed" circuit breakers need to be adjusted to 10% (seriously).
Last week when I tested the compost tea, There was a quite high reading of nitrite and nitrate. The interesting thing is, Even if I gradually increase how much compost I add for the tea, i didnt see it increasing progressively. One thing was quite different though: we had a guest at home, so i got to brewing the tea only on Sunday late in the evening, and let it brew only for about 2 hours. So it got me thinking: what if, there is some nitrate at detectable level in the compost, but that it is used in some way by the living organisms during the brewing process ?
Yesterday, I set my compost tea to brew, with a timer on the side for 1h, 2h and then the next morning (about 12h from the set up time). I also "sacrificed" a strip to measure the water - molasses mixture before adding the compost to get a baseline. Here are the results:
Time
GH
KH
Ph
NO2-
NO3-
0
30
80
6
0
0
1
180
120
7.5
10
200
2
180
120
7.5
10
200
12
180
120
7.5
0
0
So It seems that my tap water was slightly acidic (at that time) and does not contain significant amounts of nitrates. An hour and 2h after adding the compost to the mixture it does not seem to be different, but by 12 hours all nitrite and nitrates are gone. I cant measure how much ammonia there is - as I have only drop type tests for ammonia and the compost tea is pretty dark. Obviously, and as expected, the GH and KH increase a lot by addition of the compost. So where does this nitrogen go ? If nitrates are consumed by denitrification, my pH should increase to some extend. Denitrification is the biological process in which bacteria and fungus are transforming N03- into N2. This process consumes H+ ions [http://www.umich.edu/~lehnert/denitrification.html], which should raise the pH. Most hobby website would mention that denitrification is an anaerobic process, but in fact, some organisms can function in both aerobic and anaerobic modes [http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2FBF00408378], but is less efficient in aerobic environment. The pH seems stable, so I would want to say that this is not happening, but possibly the amount of change would not be reflected in the strips measurements. I cant test that without an actual lab. Also I have aeration going in the tea, which should slow down the process if occuring. My hope Is that bacterial activity is fixing nitrogen into their proteins, which would keep the nitrogen in the system. Some bacteria are able to use N03- as a nitrogen source for their protein synthesis [http://www.bashanfoundation.org/cyli/cylisporocarps.pdf].
Conclusions for me at this point : I will brew my compost teat only for an hour or so from now on. Also, I will not add systematically molasses as there will not be a focus on increasing bacterial life.
But what I thought was even better was PancakeBots "Breakfast Gallop" video. I went to the projects website and checked out their blog. The video of a pancake horse riding across the countryside would be a priceless memory to make with your kids. After 3D printing the props for the video and after making the video, the kids get to eat the props! How much better can it get?
Took out the 2 "Washing Machine" Wicking beds from the garden to make room for a few chairs & a small table.. Is nice to be able to sit in the patch with B? away from the spawn for a chat over a coffee on the weekend.. Well, thats the dream anyway.. I like to dream.. **nods**
Update shots... Left is from the 19th of July & the Right is from 10th of August... As you can see there is a bit of growth & will continue to get better from here with Nitrates now being present in the system...The Nitrites are still fairly high but they should settle soon as they are converted into Nitrates..
Todays readings are pH-below 8.2, Ammonia-.25, Nitrites-5+ & Nitrates are 80-160.. Added some Broccoli seed yesterday as it seems to be a plant we just cant grow enough of... 
Made up 3 new Wicking Barrels on the weekend, 2 for the Mary Washington Asparagus, Left & 1 for the Jerusalem Artichokes, Right... 2 Asparagus crowns went into each Barrel while the Artichoke corms are still in the fridge for 2 more weeks...
We got our first Capsicums off that didnt contain Grubs from a couple of feral plants that live in the Lime bed.. Can only put it down to the cooler weather... Will be making up some bags to cover the next crops of Capsicum with some bags that we will make up from an old Mozzie net the kids had over their cots.. That should keep the little buggers out this Spring & Summer.. Might have to make some for the Tomatoes as well for when the Turpentine Mangoes fruit.. A lot of people let them drop & rot which causes an explosion in the fruit fly numbers.. The pic also shows some of the first Amish Past Tomatoes we have harvested as well as some Caped Gooseberries & assorted Chillies..
