Stories below the fold

The news here include that the US is sending drones to Palawan to counter the Chinese navy/poaching fishermen off the coast.

It's all about oil, and the Chinese are the big guys of the area, although they are more likely to get in a war with VietNam than with the Pinoys. The Philippines would probably settle with the Chinese if they would share a cut in the profit for drilling.

Right now, the worry is that the Chinese poachers will decimate the fish by overfishing in the region...

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The real problem is the middle east: Egypt running out of money to subsidize food and gasoline to it's people, and the chaos that would result if the prices started to skyrocket...then there is the Sunni/Shia war in Syria that could spill over into non Muslims being massacred, not to mention civil war in Lebanon and a war with Israel. And they just confiscated funds from a Hezbollah bank account (which might explain what the Mahdi computer virus was doing)

Strategypage has the background: Will Israel Bomb Iran and If So When? - 8/27/2012
Jim and Austin talk about the possibility of Israel attacking Iran before the elections. They, also, talk about how Syria is involved in scenarios between Israel and Iran.
MP3 Download

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Don't just sit there: Print out your new car...

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trying to reforest Luzon...the gov't is encouraging planting trees...Chano bought a bunch of seedlings /planted seeds to grow into seedlings, and gave them to farmers to replant as part of the project...

the bad news is that Ruby planted three of them in our front garden as a school project, so in 30 years our garden will have three huge mahogany trees towering over our house. (they grow a lot slower than the palm tree variations we have now. We also have papaya and banana plants which are huge in our gardens, not to mention hot pepper plants and two small calamansi seedlings.

Chano also bought me some rose bushes: They don't grow well here, so we are keeping them in pots (to stop the ground worms from eating them) but most wither in the hot season or die of rust. Sigh.

And I forgot: Lots of hybiscus and bamboo and bouginvillia plants growing all over.

Since I lived for awhile in Northern Minnesota, I appreciate the fact we have warm weather all year long.

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The "We're all gonna die" post of the day: What do cows and Antarctica have in common?

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Another sign that the end of the world is nigh: Jersey Shore Canceled....