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| 16 Aug 2009 02:36:53 am |
 El curso |
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When the decision was made to grow Las Vegas, outward growth of the suburban model was implied, not upward growth with increasing urban population density. Reasonably priced suburban housing of the subdivision model required fairly large scale conversion of public land to private property. A tradeoff was that some of the money would be transferred to conservation efforts with the implication that both large tracts of single family housing and whole, intact, functioning desert ecosystems could exist together. This is the hypothesis we are testing, now that the subdivisions exist on the landscape; many upside down on their bank mortgages.
With the increasing human population came many of the benefits and problems the public land managers are now dealing with: gangs, graffiti, trash, illegal off-road travel, invasive species and so on. Some of the funding is used simply to clean up after these activities. More of the funding is expended on projects that are essentially perpetual maintenance needs, such as invasive species control. Other projects gather information, so that we know what the situation is. But there the project ends and actual mitigation requires significant additional funding. Gradually, then, but inevitably mitigating the effects of urban growth becomes dependent on continued urban growth.
Some trends are easy to track. The outward expanse of Las Vegas jumps out on satellite photos. The expenditure of SNPLMA funds is accounted for and the number of deliverables counted. Some trends are not so simple but seem real. The number and status of threatened and endangered species seems to be getting worse. The number and status of invasive species seems to be deteriorating. The health of ecosystems, if such a thing could be measured, doesn’t seem to be improving. Although cause and effect is impossible to prove, it seems based on the evidence that mitigation money doesn’t actually prevent adverse effects of large human population concentrations on desert ecosystems. No net unmitigated loss of habitat may be a good slogan but it’s not a fact |
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Category : General
| Posted By : cassandra |  Comments[27] |  Trackbacks [0] |
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| 09 Aug 2009 01:36:08 am |
| La verdad |
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One of the endearing features of our world is its complexity. Hardly anything is as simple as we’d like to believe. In fact, a characteristic diagnosis of a demagogue is simple answers. “All we have to do is …” “if the democrats would only …” It’s popular, easy to understand, easy to believe, and seldom true. Case in point is the intersection of peak oil and the current financial situation. Peak Oilers predicted for years a collapse of the economy, financial first, once peak oil arrived. Then peak oil arrived cerca 2005 to 2008, The Bubble Years, and the economy pitched financials first into the pits right on schedule. But then a funny thing happened and oil on the market suddenly became abundant. We were once again awash in (relatively) cheap gas. Relative that is to the trillions squandered in our names spent bailing out the bankers. And an even funnier thing could happen. We could in fact be awash in cheap gas all the way back to the stone age. All that takes is an economy collapsing faster than the oil supply. Suppose the oil supply declines at 5% and the economy declines at 6%. The economy will fall away from the supply. Of course we don’t know what’s really happening now, whether peak oil is really here or not. We certainly don’t know what will happen in the future. And much is lost due to memory. No memory, no perception, no vision. !Qué lastima!
Lo del Mundo que me gusto más es la verdad. ¿Pero donde se la encuentra? ¿En el periódico del supermercado? “Dr. Phil is a Fraud” grita las titulares. Es verdad. Aun El Diablo puede hablar la verdad ¿Mira para la verdad en las noticias? Sí, será estúpido. Allá ver la propaganda solamente. ¿El Gobierno? No me hagas reír. Es maquiavélico. Todos parecen mientras.
Ahora tenemos el pico del petróleo enfrente la bancarrota de los bancos y colapso del mundo financiero. Hace mucho años unos pocos sabios dijo que la fin esta cerca del petróleo y esa podía conducir una descomposición mundial monetario. Lo y mirar, ha pasado. ¿Es verdad, correctamente? O no, nunca era tan simple. |
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Category : General
| Posted By : cassandra | Comments[0] | Trackbacks [0] |
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| 02 Aug 2009 02:38:47 am |
| Buenas noticias |
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Tal vez sean buenas noticias, tal vez no. By now you’ve heard that the hard times are over and the good times are rolling again. Can’t you tell? For one thing the banks are back in the black thanks to our money and a little book cooking. As New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo points out:
Quote : “JP Morgan earned $5.6 billion, paid $8.69 billion in bonuses and received $25 billion in TARP funding. Goldman earned $2.3 billion and paid out $4.8 billion in bonuses, while Morgan Stanley earned $1.7 billion and paid $4.5 billion in bonuses. Each of those two former investment banks received $10 billion in TARP funding.”
Doesn’t that make you feel good? Something like five thousand Wall Street bankers got million dollar bonuses in 2008. If your unemployment checks are about to run out or if you’re still employed and decided not to retire because your pension is nearly gone all you have to do is think about those bankers and you’ll feel better.
I’ve often wondered how the Land of the Free and Home of the Brave would react if it were raped and pillaged. Now we’re finding out – like a pen of turkeys before Thanksgiving. Wait for the farmer to pour out more feed, get a little fatter, cluck and strut around, peck at other turkeys, and believe all is well. Pero muy pronto van a ser carne asada. Lo mismo como nosotros.
This isn’t just another opinion, it’s a testable hypothesis. As life gets harder for the peasantry the scams will become more open, the collusion of the politicians more obvious, and the payola more obscene. Why bother? It’s pretty much over for the herd. About all that’s left is the skinning and butchering. Even if we wanted to do something about it we couldn’t. Úsanos y nos han matando. |
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Category : General
| Posted By : cassandra | Comments[25] | Trackbacks [0] |
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