In the last decade the population of Las Vegas has grown from 400,000 to 2,000,000, and they’re quickly draining their only resource for water.
” …the reservoir that supplies 90 per cent of Las Vegas’s water is fast disappearing and desperate attempts to save Sin City are under way … Lake Mead has slowly been drained of four trillion gallons of water and is now well under half full. Mr Barnett predicts it may be a “dead pool” that provides no water by about 2036.”
BOLIVIA SALT FLATS PHOTOS
The unique geography lends itself to some cool photo perspectives.
*Click the image to enlarge.
Some other great natural landmarks in Central and South America here
CONSPIRACY 2015: Malaysian Airline Disasters, Auto-Pilots, Bush-Cheney War Crimes, And Banksters Caught (But Who Cares)
A great way to start the year: For those of you who enjoy a good conspiracy theory, see #1 below. And for those of you who just know there’s nothing to all the goofy conspiracy theories going around, check out #2.
#1
First there are those Bizarre Chinese forum posts predicting the AirAsia Flight disaster here
… then we hear that AirAsia CEO Dumped Shares Days Before Flight Disappeared here
… next someone points out that the Boeing Uninterruptible Autopilot (BUAP) system allows an aircraft to be remotely controlled from the ground here
… and someone else points out that one of the most secretive U.S. military installations outside the US is on the island of Diego Garcia … in the Indian Ocean here
…then someone puts a wrap on it by suggesting all of these disasters for Malaysian airlines because … Malaysia War Tribunal Finds Bush, Cheney Guilty of War Crimes here
Jeez, that was exhausting! And now #2, because there are no real conspiracies, right?
#2
2.1: How mega-bank HSBC hooked up with drug traffickers and terrorists. And got away with it. here
2.2: How JPMorgan, British Petroleum, and Bank Of England Were Caught Rigging International Currency Markets here or summary here
There, now let’s all go back to sleep.
HOW to LESSEN your FEAR of TERRORISM
Mark Twain said, ” “If you don’t read the newspaper, you’re uninformed. If you read the newspaper, you’re mis-informed.” Substitute ‘main stream media’ for ‘newspaper’ and nothing has changed.
Fireball in Banff
Fireball in Banff.
Great photo by Calgary photographer Brett Abernethy, taken December 20, 2014. His Flickr site here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/brettabernethy
WHY WEST INDIANS ARE ALWAYS LATE
From a West Indian friend, so I guess no one will be upset if I post it?
NORTH KOREANS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR SONY HACK, SAY EXPERTS
NORTH KOREANS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR SONY HACK, SAY EXPERTS
Some of the world’s leading cybersecurity experts, as well as prominent hacking groups like Anonymous, say North Korea is NOT responsible for hacking Sony. And Anonymous now threatens to hack Sony if they DON’T release the Seth Rogen movie online. (My favorite comment below the article: “Guardians of Peace blackmail Sony into not releasing the movie so Anonymous will blackmail them into releasing the movie. What to do, what to do…”
TORTURED REASONING
Any politician (or journalist) using the term “Enhanced Interrogation Techniques” should be waterboarded, ‘rectally rehydrated’, and forced to stand in an agonizing position until they soil themselves. And then asked if they’re now ready to use the correct term – torture.
And Canadians shouldn’t get too smug about thinking the CIA torture techniques wouldn’t be used here.
Considering the overheated frenzy of nationalism that swept the country after a lone crazed gunman attacked parliament hill, I wonder how quickly Canadians would support ‘torturing a few folks’ if we suffered carnage akin to 9/11.
But full credit to the American government for releasing the CIA torture report. I can’t recall Mr. Harper’s government mustering up the integrity to admit to doing anything wrong. Ever.
USA TORTURE MASTERMINDS PAID $81 MILLION
The two psychologists who devised and tested the CIA torture tactics were paid $81 million.
And the American Psychological Association didn’t see this as a problem. More here
CIA TORTURE WHISTLEBLOWER ONLY ONE IN PRISON
“John Kiriakou, who worked for the CIA between 1990 and 2004, stepped forward in 2007 and confirmed to press outlets some of the first details about the agency’s widespread use of torture.
Among Kiriakou’s revelations was an account to ABC News of the repeated water-boardings of Abu Zubaydah—a man currently imprisoned in Guantanamo Bay without charges whose 12 years of torture and abuse at the hands of the U.S. were further exposed in the Senate report.
In 2013, Kiriakou—a father of five—was prosecuted by the Obama administration under the Espionage Act for allegedly revealing classified information to a reporter. He was sentenced to 30 months in prison, which he is still serving. His incarceration came after the Obama administration refused to prosecute any of the higher-up government officials who designed, authorized, or otherwise took part in implementation of the torture program.” More here
AND FINALLY, AND PERHAPS MOST DISTRESSING …
VAGINA KAYAK & PENIS PARADE
Yeah, that title got your attention, huh? We lived in Japan a couple times, once for 3 years, and developed a love/hate relationship with the place. (Probably mutual.) And these 2 pieces give you a sense of why:
JAPANESE POLICE ARREST WOMAN WHO MADE KAYAK MODELED FROM HER VAGINA – AGAIN
“A woman who 3-D printed her vagina and rendered it into a giant yellow Kayak, has been arrested — again — by Japanese police for allegedly trying to show people her “Pussy Boat.” (more here)
And yet, at the same time, the annual Kanamara Matsuri parade:
So, penises … okay.
Vaginas … not so much.
TWITTER-QUITTER CONFESSION
THERE IS NO BUDDHA IN TWITTER
Love this from a recent Twitter Quitter: “… I was becoming unconscious over at Twitter. I’d wrapped myself into a stream of inane blather that is extremely habit forming but ultimately becomes rote, superficial and turns you into a mental mirror, rather than a sentient being. There is no Buddha in Twitter.” (More here)
He has since rejoined for some specific usage, but with a new account that he is determined to use very sparingly, saying: “I’ve re-joined Twitter, but … On October 12th I decided to close down my Twitter account as an experiment. I could see it was taking up too much of my time, on the other hand I found it useful for certain things and I wanted to see what difference not having it around would make to my working life and life in general.”