Victhor The Viking

Henry Rollins of Black Flag fame has an article in Vanity Fair about the issues the people in Bhopal still have 25 years after the Union Carbide Disaster.  Great Article.

The roads were littered with the bodies of people and animals, the hospitals were full of the ailing. Many of them died. As you can expect, all hell soon broke loose. Lawyers descended, thousands of claims were made, fingers were pointed, Union Carbide Corporation C.E.O. Warren Anderson was vilified by the Indian people and is hated to this day.

After agonizing years in court, a settlement was reached. Four hundred and seventy million dollars. To this day, soil and groundwater samples taken near the Union Carbide India Limited site and in the surrounding areas show a plethora of poisons. Vegetables are grown in the soil and the water is consumed and life goes painfully on.

via Twenty-five Years After the Disaster, Bhopal Is Still Ill: Henry Rollins | Vanity Fair.

This makes me sad.  Such a beautiful animal being hunted into extinction.  Fuck Idaho Fish and Game.  May you all die a horrible death.

So far, hunters have reached half of the total 220-wolf limit set by Fish and Game earlier this year. Hunting could still close before the March 31 deadline if hunters reach quotas set for each zone.

Montana closed its wolf hunting season Monday after nearing its quota of 76 wolves, or about 15 percent of Montana's total wolf population. Idaho officials estimate the state's population between 800 and 900 wolves.

Environmentalist criticized the decision, saying it has much deeper implications for the health of the region's wolf population. They said the season is now extended into breeding and denning season, when wolves are at their den sites and therefore particularly vulnerable.

via Idaho extends wolf hunting season, environmentalists say it’s a bad move | KLEW CBS 3 – News, Weather and Sports – Lewiston, ID – Lewiston, Idaho | Local & Regional.

Great Interview with Jonathan Safran Foer, author of Eating Animals.  Great Book.

Probably one of the only important news items Fox News has ever put out.

CHICAGO — A disturbing video released exclusively to Fox News by the animal rights group Mercy for Animals (MFA) shows a string of alleged abuses at one of the nation's largest pig farms, including footage of employees picking up baby pigs and tossing them like footballs.

Additional scenes from the video show injured pigs going uncared for, pregnant hogs being kept in very small pens, with several portions of the video so disturbing that Fox News will not show.

MFA is now taking on America’s farming industry, hoping its latest undercover investigation will help create new federal and state laws to ensure better treatment for farm.

via Undercover Video Shows Pig Farm Employees Allegedly Abusing Pigs – Local News | News Articles | National News | US News – FOXNews.com.

This is too cool.  To be able to re-green any desert is very hopeful.  Almost sci-fi-ish.

Lawton and his group were given about 10 acres of extremely salty and flat soil 400 meters below sea level. They designed a system to collect as much of the rainwater as possible into swales (”water-harvesting ditches on contour”), bordered the swales with mulch and, on the uphill side, nitrogen-fixing trees that helped to shade the water and prevent evaporation. Underneath the mulch, they put mini-irrigation systems. On the downhill side, they planted fruit trees — date palms, fig trees, pomegranate trees, guava trees, mulberry trees, and some citrus — mixed in with non-fruit trees and more mulch (very non-traditional agriculture).

via Turning Desert into a Garden/Food Forest : EcoWorldly.

Great Article at TakePart on urban farming.  Good Stuff! On a personal note.  I hear that this is not a viable solution to feeding people (having urban farms) but if people would do two important things it would go a long way:

1. Curb their food consumption.  I personally know the exact amount of food I eat on a daily bases.  (I weigh ever portion out, without exception so I know I eat just enough and don’t over consume.)  Too many people overeat or make more food than they really need.
2. Stop having more humans.  We are over-populating the world and there are too many of us.  If you want a child, adopt.

(Just my personal opinions)

Urban farming has become increasingly popular these days, as more city dwellers search for rooftops, backyards and abandoned lots where they can grow vegetables. In addition to providing fresh, healthy produce where concrete and convenience stores once dominated, these gardens also provide the neighborhood with a restorative green space and a place for community events.

One group that’s committed to bringing the benefits of the farm to the city is The Point, a non-profit community development program in the South Bronx. I just stumbled upon this great video about the work that the organization is doing to get kids excited about growing their own food and teach them about sustainability. Maybe Martha Stewart will stop by one of their gardening projects soon! Check it out:

via Urban Farming In The South Bronx | TakePart Social Action Network™.

Posted via web from victhortheviking’s posterous

Well Issue 2 in Ohio passed-  of course.  Well proponents of Issue 2 made it sound like it was a beneficial to the animals.  But actually what it does is allow the factory farmers police themselves.  Yeah, right.  Like that is going to happen.

Read Greg Baur’s [President and Co-founder of Farm Sanctuary] blog on the issue.

Ironically, the intention of Issue 2 is to prevent meaningful reform by allowing industry officials to define what is “humane.” Agribusiness brought Issue 2 to the ballot in the hopes of heading off legislation proposed by humane advocates to ban some of the cruelest forms of factory farming confinement: veal crates, gestation crates and battery cages. Despite the industry’s effort, change is coming. It has been said that the only constant is change, and this applies in Ohio just as it applies everywhere else.

I bet that most of them are fat americans too.  I think I am going to go and startle fat americans in the middle of the night and see if they have heart attacks and take photos at the same time!  YA!

On the Croatian islands of Cres, Krk, Plavnik and Prvić, protected Eurasian Griffon Vultures (Gyps fulvus) nest just above the sea on vertical cliffs. Tourists flock to the area in boats, and upon reaching the areas below the nests, they clap and shout in order to startle the birds into taking flight – hoping to photograph these majestic raptors.

Tragically, many of the birds are young and do not yet know how to fly. Once they are frightened from their nests, they fall into the water and drown.

read the rest: Tourists Responsible for Deaths of Protected Griffon Vultures in Croatia : EcoWorldly.

Palin made her farewell speech but I believe the way that William Shatner delivered it on the Tonight show was better:

I listened to the podiobook “Eastern Standered Tribe” by written and read by Cory Doctorow.  This book is one of my favorite books to date.  A book set in the near future where the 24 hour life of chatrooms has meshed into tribes that work against each other in the online world.

When I was in Norway for Inferno they had a display for the Anti-Sweden Jeans.  They are basically overpriced black jeans.  But today I came across one of their commercials on Youtube that has a song from Sunn O))).

Video on Youtube of Anti Swedish Jeans

And finally another example of the spirit in the other life froms that tells me there is something special in life and we should do our best to live in harmony with the other life forms on earth

Yang Yun was taking part in a free-diving contest at Polar Land in Harbin, north-east China, in which participants were required to sink seven metres to the bottom of a pool and stay there for as long as possible without the aid of breathing equipment.

Cramped ... the diver said her legs "failed to work" in the Arctic temperatures of the pool. Pic: CEN/Austral