Ho Chi Minh Golf Trail

Not satire

Pneumonia and swine flu

Many of the problems and complications of swine flu are due to pneumonia. Sue and I recently got standard pneumonia vaccinations which protects against most of the common strains. It certainly can’t hurt.

It also appears that we’ve both had swine flu – and are fine now. Ours was the mild variety, and even with [...]

Canadian grocery chain to use leftovers to generate electricity

Loblaw’s will now send scraps from their 47 stores to StormFisher biogas plants to be converted into energy. Not only does this cut down on carbon emissions, it creates a new revenue stream from something that previously had to be sent to a landfill.

How Moody’s sold its ratings — and sold out investors

A McClatchy investigation has found that Moody’s punished executives who questioned why the company was risking its reputation by putting its profits ahead of providing trustworthy ratings for investment offerings.

This is just more proof, if any still is needed, as to how our financial system has been corrupted.

Moody’s promoted executives who headed its [...]

Offshore wind turbines that also create power from waves

Principle Power just got a grant from DOE to add wave power to its floating offshore wind turbines. The video shows existing turbines, to which they will add wave power capability.

All this anger against the rich may be unhealthy, whines the New York Times

Signs of the coming class war are everywhere. Like this slimy New York Times op-ed bemoaning that the rich are becoming loathed, anguishing about the hideous unfairness of it all. It’s slimy because it deliberately ignores any genuine reasons why people could be angry and instead pretends to care for the them by suggesting [...]

Transient global amnesia

Last night, a good friend was seemingly fine when suddenly his short-term memory disappeared. The emergency room ran a battery of tests and said it was not a stroke but probably the baffling, little known and less understood, transient global amnesia.

Mayo Clinic

During an episode of transient global amnesia, your recall of recent [...]

Giant, mucus-like sea blobs on the rise, pose danger

The noxious, sometimes toxic blogs occur more in the Mediteranean Sea when the water gets warmer. They can be up to 124 miles long.

The blobs are hot spots for viruses and bacteria, including the deadly E. coli. Coastal communities regularly test for E. coli, and its presence is enough to close beaches to [...]

Carbon emissions dropping sharply in U.S.

Since 2007, carbon emissions have dropped 9 percent. While part of this drop is from the recession, part of it is also from efficiency gains and from replacing coal with natural gas, wind, solar, and geothermal energy

More cuts are almost certainly coming due to increased standards for appliances, automobiles, and incentives to develop renewable [...]

98% of banks exempt from new oversight regulations

While Summers piously says the time has come for deep change at banks, the House approves a bill shielding 98% of banks from oversight.

Is he just laughing at us? Has the US government been taken over by the banks? Because the contempt the government and the banks have for the rest of us is [...]