Racism on the rise as economic pain worsens

NVDL: It's simple. As people are more worried and stressed, they are more susceptible to blame and point fingers at...well, whoever is convenient. This doesn't help their situation, in fact, quite the opposite. It is not individuals that will best weather the difficulties we face, but tighter communities.

clipped from www.sowetan.co.za Almost half of South Africans are less confident about peaceful co-existence with people of other race or ethnic groups than they were in 2007, according to a new survey. At 34% this made it the lowest recorded level of optimism since the survey started in 2003. Hofmeyr said three factors had put pressure on national reconciliation this year. They were: * the global economic downturn and fears of a recession, * the political in-fighting in the country, and * a marked increase in people’s fear for their economic and personal safety.

Blast off from Baikonur [PHOTOGRAPHY]

The spacecraft launched two days after the picture below was taken by photographer Bill Ingalls.

clipped from www.wired.com

Interview with Ryk's sister Jean-Marie [PLUS PHOTO]

Jean Marie ushers me into a sunny room. She has the lithe frame of a swimmer, slim but strong. I’ve seen her on TV, and swimming at the Virgin Active pool, and a few times I found myself swimming while a pink and white swordfish (that I took to be her) went flashing by in the lane beside me.
“Is that Jean Marie Neethling?” I asked a few times...

clipped from www.nickvanderleek.com Many of us, when we think of swimming, have sunny memories, touched with globs of icecream, smears of sunblock and watermelon smiles. Swimming and childhood is mixed together, like silver bubbles in chlorine clear water. But for professional swimmers, a swimming pool is quite different. It’s cold and hard. There are lines on the bottom of the pool that they see in their dreams. It’s living and breathing in the sterile light of a bathroom (especially in winter). The body crushes through the water time-carving a spinal understanding about hydrodynamics. Each session ends with a coarse towel on skin. Above all swimming is about endurance: enduring the cold and coming out smiling and strong. What, I wonder, are the rewards? Jean Marie Neethling provides some insight into what it takes to become a fish.

China Guzzles the World's Coal [GRAPHS]

It's a myth that the world has huge coal resources. Similarly, the coal and oil resources that remain are of inferior (low energy) quality. That means you're increasingly paying more to get less. Which means you have a spirallling energy expense account for as long as you delay the use of alternatives.

clipped from www.theoildrum.com The International Energy Agency expects coal production to nearly double by 2030 in their World Energy Outlook 2008 if no large scale governmental intervention occurs. However, when focusing on China, the country that now produces 41% of all coal, the scenario is unlikely to occur because China possesses insufficient coal reserves to sustain production to 2030 at the level expected by the IEA.

Global Warming: First a Dust Bowl Earth, then a Slush Bowl [FIND OUT HOW AND WHY]

t may seem unlikely that the tropics could resemble Antarctica. They have. If we continue to suffer a failure to imagine the realistic consequences of our actions (even when these may seem unrealistic) we simply draw the possibility of a dustbowl planet followed by a slush bowl closer to us.

Each living creature is part of that process, and there are enough human beings now to play a pivotal role in tipping us one way or another. It is time that we wake up collectively to our connection to our Earth, and begin to modulate our collective behaviour with a sense of conscience and intelligence.

Click on the link below for the full article.

clipped from english.ohmynews.com When the atmospheric cushion surrounding the Earth becomes thick enough, it will cause the Earth to warm enough to melt perhaps all terrestrial and non-terrestrial ice. Imagine that. It would be a hot world with advancing deserts and ferocious storms. Forests would struggle to survive, leading to increased warming and even greater CO2 releases. This feedback mechanism would lead to runaway fires and overall to a more soupy atmosphere, so thick in fact that it would in itself become a barrier to sunlight. As such sunlight would eventually be reflecting at an atmospheric (cloud/smoke) level. This would gradually feed through as less and less solar energy penetrating the cloud level, which would lower the absolute temperature of the Earth. The strain on life, from a situation of no ice to a world covered in ice once again would obviously preclude the existence of most, virtually all species. How Can Global Warming Lead to a Snowball?

10 Years of the International Space Station - WIRED SLIDESHOW

NVDL: Some cool shots. Out of this world, really

clipped from www.wired.com The Soyuz TMA-13 spacecraft approaches the International Space Station with Expedition 18 on Oct. 14, 2008. Visible in the background is the southeastern coast of Tunisia (left), the Gulf of Gabès and the Isle of Jerba (bottom center). Top of the picture points northwest.

Two cops gun each other down - Sowetan

If the cops are killing each other, what does that say for public safety?

clipped from www.sowetan.co.za Mpumalanga police officers were thunderstruck when two high-ranking officers shot each other dead yesterday morning. Rapid gunfire shattered the stillness inside the Mhala police station at Thulamahashe, Bushbuckridge. The shootout led to the deaths of Senior Superintendent Khazamula Freddy Baloyi and Superintendent Boy Alfred Dlamini. Baloyi was the station commissioner and Dlamini the station’s head of investigations.

NVDL's Christmas Wishlist: Item # 4

Polar FT80 - Get Real, Get Real Results

NVDL: I want one of these!

clipped from www.polar.fi Dedication best describes those who are seriously into their training. FT80 is the most dedicated training partner for the most devoted fitness enthusiasts. This intelligent training computer helps you achieve maximum efficiency and reach your workout targets for both cardio and strength training, plus its stylish design is comfortable during a hot workout or in everyday use. New Polar STAR training program gives you weekly training targets, adapts to your training habits to guide you without being too strict and allows you flexibility during the week Compatible Accessories Universal Bike Mount G1 GPS sensor

Polar FT80 - Give the Gift of Fitness This Christmas

There's no greater gift than good health – so give a Polar training computer this Christmas.

The Polar FT80 is the ideal training partner for anyone who wants to look and feel fit. It helps to achieve both cardio and strength targets, with a streamlined design that's comfortable to wear in each and every workout – the ultimate gift for active people.

To see the complete fitness range, visit www.polar.fi

clipped from www.polar.fi

Yellow is in

The fashion world first embraced orange a few years ago and that has evolved into yellow, which had already been gaining popularity in the home market, too.

clipped from news.yahoo.com NEW YORK – Enough gloom and doom: There's a prediction from a leading color source that cheerful and sunny yellow will be the influential color of 2009. Pantone, which provides color standards to design industries, specifically cites "mimosa," a vibrant shade of yellow illustrated by the flowers of some mimosa trees as well as the brunch-favorite cocktail, as its top shade of the new year. In general, Pantone expects the public to embrace many tones of optimistic yellow.

3 Photographs I Wish I'd Taken

Love the bright colors, the subliminal message of 'space for people' and freshness of these pictures.
Pictures courtesy Topleftpixel.com

Energy Shortages Imminent [PODCAST]

Listen here.

HyperGrowth = HyperInflation = Credit Markets = Mass Defaults = Crash [GRAPHS]

The key word, and the FED's response to the current crisis is GROWTH. Growth as a singular objective without being conscious of sustainable systems (the environment, energy, resources in general) is short sighted policy. Our rampant consumption (without afterthought) including buying houses, cars and all the rest on credit is all based on the delusion that 'Growth is Good no matter what'. Uncheched, unhealthy, unsustainable expansion leads to one thing - overshoot. Corrections. A series of crashes. That's all happening now.

clipped from www.ft.com Over the past year, meanwhile, rapid global economic growth finally hit capacity constraints. Demand for commodities and food continued to exceed supply, forcing prices sharply higher, raising inflation and further undermining spending power in advanced economies. So far, maintaining growth has been the priority. Price rises started in food and energy but have now become widespread, with signs of upward pressure on wages. The Asian Development Bank warned last month of the danger of “repeating the mistakes industrialised nations made prior to the Great Inflation of the 1970s”.

Bernanke's Bluff: "This is nothing like the Great Depression" - er...the US has been in a recession for a year and are still struggling to admit that (The R word) is happening

NVDL: If they can't admit to a recession, you can bet your bottom dollar they can't see a Depression looming. Worse, they're too distracted by their own myopia to do anything useful or practical to stave off a long term crisis. Like what? Investment in alternative transport arrangements - GM should become GR - no longer General Motors but General Railways. And extensive investments in alternative energies. And it should be clear that now, no one can afford to go to war.

clipped from www.ft.com But Ben Bernanke, US Federal Reserve chairman, sought to allay concerns that the US was entering a period of economic stress on par with the Great Depression. “Let’s put that out of our minds,” Mr Bernanke said in a speech in Austin, Texas. “There’s no comparison in terms of severity.” New car sales slumped across the world, including a near 50 per cent fall in Spain. The gloom prompted a near 9 per cent fall in the S&P 500 index, reversing gains made last week, while the 10-year Treasury yield fell to its lowest level for more than half a century.

Philip Morris punitive award approaches $140 million - the largest settlement against a cigarette company in history

Lawyers for Philip Morris are fighting the award based, on, get this, the amount violates the Constitution.
I guess selling addictive, carcinogenic stuff to people on a daily basis and bullshitting them with manipulative advertising is more Constitutional?

clipped from www.bloomberg.com Williams’s husband, Jesse, died at age 67 from lung cancer in 1997. The lawsuit said Jesse kept smoking Marlboros in part because of assurances from Philip Morris that cigarettes don’t cause cancer. The 1999 punitive award by a Portland jury has grown to more than $140 million with interest. The award came on top of $821,485 in compensatory damages, an amount later cut to $521,485 because of Oregon’s limits on awards. In a case now before the justices for the third time, Philip Morris is seeking a new trial and a reprieve from what would be a record payment in a smoker suit. The case is one of two involving Philip Morris on the Supreme Court’s 2008-09 calendar. The justices also are considering whether the company must face Maine smokers’ claims that it fraudulently portrayed “lights” as safer than other cigarettes. The justices are expected to rule by July in both cases.

Zimbabwe's 'Esther' tells what life is really like - BBC

Abductions, extortion, cholera, and a military of thugs - what a nightmare!

clipped from news.bbc.co.uk On Friday I went to one of the 'foreign-currency-supermarkets-with-full shelves' because I needed to buy milk, pasta, salt and some flour. It came to about $16. The equivalent in a supermarket in Johannesburg would cost about 60 rand which is about $6 - and so, you see, you do have to pay a lot more. Prices are really inflated, and it is not down to import taxes because they are supposed to have been removed. It must just be because the shopkeepers know that you need it and so you will pay whatever they mark it as. All these supermarkets charge the same too so there's no such thing as shopping around. People just keep carrying on, like no-one knows anything but struggle.