I always thought it was funny that the entirety of civilization is addicted to and powered by worm shit in the story....and they don't even know it.
Of course, our civilization is addicted to and powered by rotten vegetable matter, so it's really not such a huge leap and is, in fact, a huge improvement.
Shit is better than putrescence, IMO. Apparently Herbert agreed.

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Italy:
Renzi is creating the conditons for a new bubble? Through deficit spending on... what? Unless they start building highways in the middle of nowhere like they did in Spain, I don't see any form of bubble coming out of deficit spending in Italy. The country's been in a major recession for quite some time now, with no light at the end of the tunnel and a massive shortfall in private spending. But meaningful deficit spending requires Renzi to tell Germany and the Eurogroup to pound sand -- not sure his balls have descended far enough for that just yet.

Referendum in Switzerland:
"Vollgeld". That's the German term for what the initiators of this referendum are aiming for: 100% reserve banking. It's monetarism in disguise, and they are adament to not be called monetarists. But that's what it is. Pure old-fashioned monetarism. Even if you don't give a jar of cold piss about all these fancy economic terms and theories, let me ask you this: the currency you use is quite an important part of all your daily life, isn't it? So why would anyone in his or her right mind remove it entirely from democratic control (even constitutionally)?
If you want to get into the economic nightmares of it, here are a few bullet points:
- no Overt Monetary Financing (printing money for deficit spending) means no lender of last resort and complete dependence on the market, S&P can tell you to fuck off and die as they did with PIIGS
- notion that the "right amount of money in circulation" will enable the market to keep itself in balance -- as if that ever worked
- notion that a bunch of technocrats can empirically determine this very amount in regular intervalls
- central bank is supposed to maintain price stability, nothing else -- single mandate, works beautifully for the ECB, at least if you like 25% unemployment
- concept is founded in the notion that the financial economy is the source of (almost) all problems of the "real" economy, thereby completely ignoring the fact that decades of wage suppression have simply killed widescale purchasing power of the masses, aka demand

Visegrad nations:
From a German perspective, they are walking on thin ice as it is. The conflict with Russia never had much support of the public to begin with, but even the establishment is becoming more divided on this issue. Given the authoritarian policies put in place in Poland recently and the utter refusal to take in their share of refugees, support might fade even more. If the Visegrad governments then decide to push for further conflict with Russia, Brussels and Berlin might tell them, very discreetly, to pipe the fuck down.

Turkey:
Wildcard. He mentioned how they will mess with Syria, the Kurds and Russia, but forgot to mention the conflict between Turkey and the EU. As of now, it seems as if Brussels is ready to pay Ankara in hard cash if they keep refugees away from Greece. Very similar to the deal with Morocco vis-a-vis the Spanish enclave. As long as they die out of sight, all is good for Brussels.

I would add France as a point of interest:
They recently announced that the state of emergency will be extended until ISIS is beaten. In other words, it'll be permanent, just like the Patriot Act in the US. A lof of attention has been given to the authoritarian shift of politics in Poland, all the while ignoring the equally disturbing shift in France. Those emergency measures basically suspend the rule of law in favour of a covert police state. Add the economic situation (abysmal), the Socialist President who avoids socialist policies, and the still ongoing rise of Front National... well, you get the picture.

Regarding the EU, I'll say this: between the refugee crisis (border controls, domestic problems, etc) and the economic crisis, they finally managed to convince me that this whole thing might come apart at the seams after all. Not this year, though, even if the Brits decide to distance themselves from this rotten creation.

They've sure come a long way... we used to use our old chain driven potato harvester to dig up carrots after a slight modification. With potatoes sitting in a hill and the tops killed with spray before you harvest, it's a little easier as the front blade just cuts through the hill and you sift out the taters with a series of metal belts and a shaker tray, with one or two folks standing on the sideboards tossing out the rocks, dead animals and rotten ones. To do the carrots, we welded a modified ridging plough blade ahead of the scoop to break the land and free up the carrots, and up the conveyor they'd come. Had to move along a bit slower because the tops sometimes got snagged or bunched, but it worked pretty well, and was easier on the back. The potato harvester we had was built in 1928, lots of cast iron parts but held together for at least 46 years.

Cannot upvote on cause of extreme jealousy! Same age, relatively same region, ABSOLUTELY NOT LIBERAL PARENTAGE!!!!!! Spoiled rotten brat!

gwiz Nicki! I am delighted to see your birthday has rolled around again. May you be spoiled rotten

Basically he got tore up by a grizzly, managed to climb on it's back and start knifing it to death, and then fell to the ground when his companions finished it with rifles. The leader figured he was dead soon, so he told the other two guys to bury him when he died and catch up after.

The history is a bit muddled on whether they got scared by Indians or just stole his stuff and left, but either way they took all of his gear and hoofed it. When they caught up, they told the leader that he had died.

So Hugh came to, with no gear, covered in a fresh bear skin they had taken off the bear. He was suffering from a broken leg, the cuts on his back exposing bare ribs, and all his wounds festering. He was 200 miles from the nearest fort, with nothing to help him and surrounded by hostile Indians.

He crawled, surviving on roots, berries, and remains of animal kills. His back became gangrenous, so he lay on a rotten log and let maggots eat the dead and rotten tissue away. Later he was found by a friendly tribe that sewed the bear skin to his back to cover his exposed ribs and gave him some supplies. When he finally reached the Cheyenne river, he fashioned a crude raft and floated down the river to the fort.

Everyone thought he had died, but he recovered fully. Later he decided he would avenge himself on the two that left him behind, but he spared one because he was too young and one because he had joined the army and was kind of untouchable. The young guy was Jim Bridger, who became a famous mountain man himself as he got older.

Here is the documentary 'Man On A Wire' about his world trade center tight rope walk. It's a brilliant film. Rotten Tomatoes gave it a 100% http://dai.ly/x20yzwx

Why is this a food??

What person said, it smells bad, it tastes bad, it's fermented (aka rotten) - Hey, lets eat this!!!??

Nattō is a traditional Japanese food made from soybeans fermented with Bacillus subtilis var. natto. Some eat it as a breakfast food. Nattō may be an acquired taste because of its powerful smell, strong flavor, and slimy texture.

Moving to a government plan is always a poorer plan.
Government controlled anything is always worse than capitalism.

Fully single payer plan is the VA system. I've been going to the VA for over 20 years. They are always inundated with patients. The buildings are outdated. And all are aware of the recent utter failure of delaying seeing patients for over a year and letting them die. The VA should be the shining example of single payer but its is the rotten apple down to its core.

To rely on government is a bad thing. Yes it will work for some but not all.

If the government wanted to cover the uncovered they could have done so with out affecting the current system.

Heart disease, lung cancer, cirrhosis of liver and rotten teeth all in one hipster drink

Well, yes. Now that I understand (everything but the Florida locations), it does sound like we agree across the board.
Oh! I get it now...you meant West coast OF FLORIDA. (To be honest, I was confusing Ft Lauderdale with Tampa...Tampa is the city my relatives live 'near'....and it IS more 'conservative', is it not? You can probably guess I don't spend much time over/down there).
Yes, I DO know what it's like to walk far in August/Florida. I grew up in Houston, just as humid, even hotter! I used to love to ride my bike in the 105 deg summers and get crazed looks from everyone peering out of their air conditioned cars and shops. I can't take that heat anymore now that I'm old and broken, and spoiled by N California.
And I've also had to park far from events...I now drive a rotten 44 year old Bronco. It's mechanically near perfect, but the body is a rusted hulk...and I don't care a bit! It actually helps me in traffic, no one tailgates me, and they move when I come from behind. ;-)
Oooohhhh. Pill heads can suck ass. Sorry to hear it.
Newt

So the fact that the Red Cross had to go to the reserves and declare an emergency means that it's better for the First Nations people? How about all the missing indigenous women that have had little attempts to figure out what's happening to them, or where they could possibly be?

Have you been on any of the reservations in the past few years? Have you talked to anyone about the conditions? You think they'd really fight any kind of change to improve the health and social services on the reserves? Most of the water services are worse quality than Walkerton, when the water was filled with bacteria.

Is it better than the small pox blankets, murder, and "correctional schools" we sent them to? Yes, but it's still substandard living on a lot of the reserves. Is it all of them? No, some are doing quite well, but those are the minority.

Let's also look at the prison population in Canada, where around 30% is First Nations. There's something rotten in the Dominion of Canada when it comes to living standards and treatment of Aboriginals.

Meanwhile the US politicians agreeing to send the weapons to these other rogue states are getting paid by the companies producing the weapons, and/or accepting positions with them after government.

The US government is rotten to the core and many countries, my own included, are trying their best to get in on the corrupt, rotten action.