March 13, 2012 – 282 days Until Baktun 12

Survivalist Tip:  Every good survivalist has a tent in their cache of goods and therefore, so should you – especially if you plan to be on foot during the upheaval.  A high quality tent is made of sturdy polyester fabric with PVC (polyvinyl chloride) coating.  PVC is the result of recycled paper and beer cans; thus, it’s environmentally friendly.  And, that’s a good thing, considering the Mayan gods are already ticked off with the extreme waste in our society.  Exceptional waste is one reason why most people in Beverly Hills won’t survive the apocalypse.  A tent with PVC coating will stand up to most anything: rain, hail, wind, zombies, politicians, etc.  It will provide you with a sense of security, as chaos reigns around you.  And, while people are fighting off zombies and politicians, you can relax in your tent with  some chocolate and lager!

 

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Fire Destroys $100 Million in Books, Computers

The blaze at its peak the night of March 8. Photo courtesy One Laptop per Child.

This is incredibly heart-breaking.  A fire at Peru’s main state educational materials warehouse last week destroyed roughly half a million textbooks, 61,000 laptop computers and 6,000 solar panels that had been destined for schools in the nation’s poor rural communities.  Education Minister Patricia Salas estimated the loss at $103 million.  The blaze comes just as Peru’s school year begins.  Salas told reporters that the overnight blaze “affects prospects for thousands of Peruvian children to begin classes with the materials and services the state had for them.”

Officials are still investigating the blaze, which broke out around 9 P.M. local time last Thursday, March 8, and took 11 hours to control.

The destroyed computers were purchased from the U.S.-based nonprofit One Laptop per Child Association, which has provided low-cost computers to the world’s most isolated and poorest children for the past five years.  Peru is the program’s largest recipient in Latin America.  The computers are rugged, low-power, white-and-green XO laptops.

Many of the destroyed books were in indigenous languages, such as Quechua and Ashaninka.  They had been written for children ages 3 – 5 living in Peru’s eastern regions where the majority of the country’s native languages speakers are concentrated.  Peru has about 9 million students in a public education system ranked among the poorest in the Western Hemisphere.

The warehouse was unrecognizable afterwards. Photo courtesy One Laptop per Child.

 

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Today’s Birthdays

Singer Jan Howard (The One You Slip Around With, Evil on Your Mind) is 82.

 

Songwriter – record producer Mike Stoller (Smokey Joe’s Cafe, Up on the Roof) is 79.

Actress Leslie Parrish (The Manchurian Candidate, Sex and the Single Girl) is 77.

 

Singer – songwriter Neil Sedaka (Oh! Carol, Calendar Girl) is 73.

 

Singer Donny York (Sha Na Na) is 63.

 

Actress Deborah Raffin (Foul Play, Noble House) is 59.

 

Actress Glenne Headly (Mr. Holland’s Opus, The Purple Rose of Cairo ) is 57.

 

Bass guitarist Adam Clayton (U2) is 52.

 

 

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On March 13…

1781 – English astronomer William Hershel identified Uranus, the first planet to be discovered with a telescope.

 

1865 – In a desperate measure against battle losses during the Civil War, the Confederacy approved the use of Negro troops.

 

1868 – The impeachment trial of President Andrew B. Johnson began. 

1877 – Chester Greenwood of Farmington, ME received a patent for the earmuff. 

1881 – Czar Alexander II of Russia was killed in St. Petersburg by a bomb thrown by a member of the revolutionary “People’s Will.”

 

1930 – Clyde W. Tombaugh discovered Pluto while looking for another planet in the solar system from the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, AZ.

 

1942 – The Quartermaster Corps of the U.S. Army began training dogs for the newly established War Dog Program, or “K-9 Corps.”

 

1987 – Jack Morris, pitcher with Sparky Anderson’s Detroit Tigers, received the largest arbitration settlement in professional baseball.  He was awarded $1.85 million to play for the Tigers in 1988.

 

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Cartoon of the Day

 

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Picture of the Day

Researcher Maurizio Seracini (foreground) views video from behind a Giorgio Vasari mural in Florence.  Art researchers are wondering if an undiscovered painting by Leonardo da Vinci is hidden behind a 16th century mural by fellow artist Giorgio Vasari.  Photo courtesy of National Geographic.

 

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Quote of the Day

“I am trying to say y’all and I like grits and things.  Strange things are happening to me.” 

— Mitt Romney joking to a Mississippi audience last week and apparently trying in vain to appeal to Republican voters there and in neighboring Alabama. 

It’s bad enough the Republican Party has a virtual stranglehold on the Southeastern U.S. – mainly because of the 1965 Voting Rights Act that dared to guarantee Negroes and Indians the right to vote – but then politicians have to prove their insincerity with this kind of goofiness.

 

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Self Publishers Unite!

Chris Faraone starts off with a great piece of business advice from his father: “develop a compelling product, sling it like your kid is starving, and never trust distributors.”  I couldn’t offer better wisdom to any kind of business entrepreneur – especially to us writers.  Self-publishing – once the bastion of desperation for writers – has become more than fashionable; it’s become competitive.  It’s now a viable alternative to any scribe who’s tired of trying to appeal to the right book agent or publisher with just the right proposal at just the right time.  Self-publishing is a leech on traditional book publishing – but it’s the proverbial “Holy Grail” for the independent writer.  It puts the power of publishing in the hands of the right people – the writers themselves.  It doesn’t make the actual task of writing any easier; nor does it simplify the equally difficult job of marketing.  But with self-publishing, writers at least have complete control over their work.  Faraone learned about the business from his father who, ironically, operated his own book publishing company.  And, although the younger Faraone concentrates a good deal of his editorial on the “Occupy Wall Street” movement, I see a perfect analogy.  If you don’t like the way something is, work to change it!  That’s how progress is made.

 

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1973 Oil Crisis

Those of you age 40 and over (yes, this means you, too!) should remember the oil crisis of 1973.  It started in October of that year when the member nations of the Oil Exporting Countries (OPEC) abruptly decided to stop exporting oil to the United States and several other countries.  The U.S. was most affected, however, because we’d already developed an addiction to driving by the 1970’s, and the average vehicle earned less than 15 miles per gallon.  There’s always been a love – hate relationship between the U.S. and the nations of the Arabian region.  American geologists discovered oil beneath the sands of the Saudi deserts in the 1930’s, but full-scale production didn’t begin until after World War II.  That coincided with the rise in automobile usage in the U.S. and the construction of the massive interstate highway system.  The Saudi people moved from a feudal-type existence into the modern world – and got rich in the process.  But, the governments of the various OPEC nations despised the U.S. for its liberal ideals, such as allowing women to vote and drive the vehicles that needed all that oil and its support of Israel.  This latter factor has always been a sore point between the U.S. and the OPEC countries – then as now.  And, it was actually the primary reason for the OPEC embargo.  Egypt unexpectedly attacked Israel on October 6, 1973, and the U.S., of course, took Israel’s side.  The embargo lasted into 1974 and made Americans more conscious of their energy consumption.  I remember scenes like those depicted in these photos.  They’re not what one would call “sweet memories.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

Source: David Falconer / EPA

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March 12, 2012 – 283 days Until Baktun 12

Survivalist Tip:  Rice is another one of the many foods you’ll need to survive in the aftermath of the apocalypse.  It’s one of the oldest grains on Earth and feeds at least half of the world’s current population.  That means some 3.5 billion humans subsist on this very precious cereal crop – mainly because there aren’t any nearby pizzerias.  Scientists don’t know where and when rice was first cultivated, but the ancient Mesopotamians are the most likely candidates.  The people of Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq and Iran) were highly civilized and ambitious, just like their counterparts – the Mayans.  Unfortunately, when Islam came to rule, the Mesopotamians suddenly got stupid.  The same thing happened with Christianity and Judaism, but that’s a different subject.  The ancient Mayans made rice a staple of their diet, and the crop spread northward into what is now the United States.  The indigenous peoples in these regions – from the Cherokee in the southeast all the way to the Hollywood in the far west – quickly adapted and made it part of their daily menu.  Rice is not very high in protein, but it is a very sturdy plant and very filling.  We don’t know how long things will be in an uproar after the initial apocalyptic wave strikes; thus we don’t know how long it will be before you can start shopping for groceries again, or when your favorite pizzeria will re-open.  But, rice will save you from going hungry!

 

 

 

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