When the Soviet Union collapsed Dmitry Orlov was there observing how the different systems shiftted. He has since lived in the US and in this interesting slideshow he compares the Collapse of the SU empire to the coming collapse of the US empire. Dmitry also has a book out about this called  "Reinventing Collapse"

Orlov has many penetrating insights, couched in his dark humor. Particularly striking is the strong case he makes that the peoples of the USSR were actually better prepared for a collapse because

• they had learned to be more self-reliant
• many crucial functions (like housing and transportation) were taken care of by the state sector which was more stable than a private sector would have been.
• more family and social networks of help

This entry was posted on April 27, 2012 at 2:32 AM and has received 1098 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

Mantra can help you stay positive when things appear to be falling apart around you. This video by Harijiwan dispels some of the concerns that people may have about using mantra and includes a short talk by Yogi Bhajan on practicing mantras.

The mantra he mentions ( "Ek Ong Kar Sat Gur Prasad") is designed for the Aquarian Age, and chanting this mantra will amplify the mind. It can help you manifest your positive thoughts or negative ones. But don't worry -  the negative current is there to remind us of the positive current, so if you find yourself becoming negative just get back to the positive!

This entry was posted on April 27, 2012 at 1:14 AM and has received 1400 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

If the global economy is not heading for a recession, then why is global shipping slowing down so dramatically?  The Baltic Dry Index of shipping volume went down before 2008 crisis and is down again now. Prices to bulk ship cargo have dropped to zero or in some cases below (one shipping company is paying clients to ship with them just to keep the engines turning because after 3 months of inactivity large ships start to fall apart).

I would recommend do some preparation now for a possible deep and long Great Depression to compare to the one in 1929 - 1939. Some suggestions:

• take money out of stocks and bonds
• take money out of large banks such of Bank of America and put in credit union
• put some money in physical gold that you keep hold of
• stock up on storagable food
• have a way to purify water for several days
• Get a second passport
• Improve your skills set
• Improve your social network and community
• Have a way to grow some food if needed
• Consider getting a handgun and dog

This entry was posted on April 26, 2012 at 5:56 PM and has received 1079 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

According to the new DHS report, the following are some of the beliefs and ideologies of American terrorists.... do any of these apply to you or people you know?

-"fiercely nationalistic (as opposed to universal and international in orientation)"

-"anti-global"

-"suspicious of centralized federal authority"

-"reverent of individual liberty"

-"believe in conspiracy theories"

-"a belief that one’s personal and/or national “way of life” is under attack"

-"a belief in the need to be prepared for an attack either by participating in paramilitary preparations and training or survivalism"

-"impose strict religious tenets or laws on society (fundamentalists)"

-"insert religion into the political sphere"

-"those who seek to politicize religion"

-"supported political movements for autonomy"

-"anti-abortion"

-"anti-Catholic"

-"anti-nuclear"

All of the above are direct quotes from the report.

Do any of those beliefs apply to you?

Does your own government now believe that you are a potential terrorist?

Read more here

This entry was posted on April 26, 2012 at 5:54 PM and has received 566 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

You too can report on your fellow citizens for suspicious activities (or if your prefer you can be reported by someone else). What kind of activity counts as suspicious? According to the FBI  the following are included:

"Are overly concerned about privacy, attempts to shield the screen from view of others"

Look, if I am doing some online banking or am composing an email to a friend I don't want someone peeking at my screen.  Aren't most Americans "concerned about privacy" and don't most people want to keep their Internet activity to themselves?

"Always pay cash or use credit card(s) in different name(s)"

We have seen the government warn about this before.  It appears that from now on using cash in America is going to get you labeled as a potential terrorist.  How bizarre is that?

"Act nervous or suspicious behavior inconsistent with activities"

Some people are just naturally nervous.  This kind of vague language could be applied to almost anyone.

"Are observed switching SIM cards in cell phone or use of multiple cell phones"

What if your cell phone battery is dead and you need to use your wife's cell phone?  Does that make you a potential terrorist?

"Travel illogical distance to use Internet Café"

A lot of times people will use Internet cafes when they are out of town on a trip.  Is there something inherently suspicious about that?

"Evidence of a residential based internet provider (signs on to Comcast, AOL, etc.)"

Why in the world would this be considered to be suspicious activity?

"Use of anonymizers, portals, or other means to shield IP address"

These are lots of people out there that take Internet security very seriously and that use things like this.  And how would a casual observer know that these kinds of things are being used?  You would have to be watching someone pretty closely to know that something like this is going on.

"Suspicious or coded writings, use of code word sheets, cryptic ledgers, etc."

What would "suspicious or coded writings" include?  Again, this is very vague language and could include a vast array of different things.

"Encryption or use of software to hide encrypted data in digital photos, etc."

So nobody should use encryption anymore? How do we protect from hackers?

"Suspicious communications using VOIP or communicating through a PC game"

What exactly would fall under the category of "suspicious communications"?

Also, if you are talking to someone through a PC game, there is a good chance that it is a very violent PC game and that you would say something that you normally wouldn't say in real life.

"Refuse cleaning service over an extended time."

This is something that I have done for years.  I don't want a maid to wake me up at the crack of dawn.  If I refuse cleaning service will that get me put on a list somewhere?

"Use entrances and exits that avoid the lobby."

Many hotels have entrances all around the building so that you don't have to walk a mile to get to your car.

If I walk out a side door directly to my car does that make me a potential terrorist?

"Abandon a room and leave behind clothing and toiletry items."

How many of us have ever left something behind in a hotel room by mistake?  Sometimes I triple check the room and still manage to leave something behind.

"Do not leave their room."

Sometimes when you have a day off you just want to stay in bed all day.

Or if you are newly married you may not want to leave your room for a few days.

Should newly married couples be reported to the government as potential terrorists?

Read more at According to the FBI

This entry was posted on April 26, 2012 at 5:45 PM and has received 505 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

Fiona Fey was in a corporate job she didn't enjoy and decided to leave. On a car trip afterwards she asked who is God? She shares the answers and consequences in this interview with spiritual web TV journalist Lilou Mace. Fiona wrote the book "Who is God? You are" and talks about overcoming old conditioning and how to be happy from the inside out. If you don't know Lilou she is traveling the world interviewing spiritual teachers from Wayne Dyer, Caroline Myss to Fiona.

This entry was posted on April 25, 2012 at 8:13 PM and has received 1245 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

Some great metaphors and quotes in this article from Sovereign Man blog (my bolding inline)

Roy Ward Baker's 1958 classic film A Night To Remember, recounts the final night of the RMS Titanic based on survivor interviews from Walter Lord's 1955 book of the same name.

One scene from the movie depicts a lounge in one of the upper class quarters of the ship as it slowly sinks beneath the waves. Notwithstanding the vessel listing alarmingly, a motley band of toff revelers are determined to go out in the finest style. Some continue to play at cards with a fatalistic resolve while others determinedly quaff spirits direct from the bottle.

Having considered for some time the most appropriate metaphor for the current market environment, we think this may be it: one may be doomed, but one can still party on.

Having already hit the iceberg, one major problem we see is the common perspective for both investors and the asset management industry to view debt and equity as the entire universe of investor choices available.

The reality is (a) that investors can pursue other distinct types of assets (we would single out real assets as an obvious and relevant alternative), and (b) that there can and will be times when both debt and equity markets together underperform, in both relative and absolute terms (the relative benchmark being cash since developed government debt can in no way now be considered a risk-free asset class).

We may be fast approaching a macro environment that threatens conventional portfolios with exactly that outcome-- a bear market in both stocks and bonds simultaneously. In other words, the authorities could attempt to throw a bull market party for both bonds and common stocks, but nobody would show up. The ticket to entry is simply too expensive.

Having long exhausted the armory of conventional policies to keep the unsustainably indebted show on the road, increasingly desperate politicians are doing increasingly desperate things, be that gifting money to the IMF in a brazen display of fiscal denial that we can ill afford (US, UK) or simply stealing from other sovereigns (Argentina).

Project 'End Up Like Japan' continues to advance well throughout the western economies. The euro zone continues to perform like a group of drowning men lashed together for buoyancy.

Here in the UK, the Bank of England has the dubious privilege of being able to print money with abandon, and it is taking every opportunity to duly abuse the purchasing power of Britons with savings. We continue to hear Mr Takashi Ito's sad refrain, published as a letter to the FT back in August 2010:

"...after a huge housing bubble bursts, there is nothing to do except suffer many years of economic indignity."

Politicians, of course, are not in the business of sitting idly by while the country collectively suffers that economic indignity (the savers, at least). They must be seen to be doing something.

The ironic triumph of the Keynesians means that, in trying to save the economy, our central bank may end up destroying it completely by means of the printing press; as a consequence, we now get to experience some of the full-on horror of the Japanese malaise.

As the debt burden and currency debauchery game rise together toward some form of climactic end-game, the sense of politicians simply not getting the point is almost comical. Just when it were most needed, evidence of urgency from government is invisible.

So in a portfolio sense, we close all water-tight doors. Debt holdings are restricted to those of only the most objectively creditworthy borrowers. Equity exposure is kept modest and restricted to only the most defensive. (Sustainable and relatively high dividend yields help.)

We diversify further into the highest quality currency available, namely bullion. That this approach has not necessarily delivered whopping returns over the past 12 months is not an immediate cause for concern to us since we're most focused on straightforward survival.

We also repeat our increasingly urgent suggestion that investors in debt and equities (especially debt) enjoy the party but dance near the door. Developed market debt investors have enjoyed a 30+ year bull trend in interest rates (and credit creation), but the fat lady in the next room has started tuning up.

To put it another way, the ship is listing badly but has not yet sunk. Do you have a lifeboat, or a bottle of brandy?

This entry was posted on April 25, 2012 at 12:32 AM and has received 1148 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

I read about Earth Day on the Heathmath blog and the article there had a link to the Global Coherence Initative:
http://www.glcoherence.org/monitoring-system/about-system.html

One thing on the site jumped out at me:

A number of important findings already have emerged. For example, changes in the earth’s magnetic field are associated with changes in brain and nervous system activity; performance of athletic, memory and other tasks; sensitivity in a wide range of extrasensory perception experiments; synthesis of nutrients in plants and algae; the number of reported traffic violations and accidents; mortality from heart attacks and strokes; and incidence of depression and suicide. It’s interesting to note that changes in geomagnetic conditions affect the rhythms of the heart more strongly than all the physiological functions studied so far.

when I read this I felt a wave of love and compassion towards the Earth and a little teary for all the things humans have done to the Earth and how I have contributed to them by for example buying lots of stuff and throwing away the plastic wrappings. Then I felt compassion for myself and others who harm the Earth.

This entry was posted on April 23, 2012 at 11:06 AM and has received 1045 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

I do yoga every day and some of the poses are held and create shaking, which my yoga teacher always said was a good thing. I recently learned about TRE (Trauma Release Exercises) - there is a good book and video about them. They use stress positions very much like the ones in yoga to release deep stress from the body. So not only are you strengthening yourself when you do this kind of exercise you are releasing old stress or PTSD too. Which is good for your overall health and not just muscle strength!

Here are some links on TRE
http://www.traumareleaseexercises.com.au/
http://www.amazon.com/The-Revolutionary-Trauma-Release-Process/dp/1897238401/

This entry was posted on April 22, 2012 at 6:24 PM and has received 1262 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

I am pretty careful what I say in email and online to not be hurtful or mis-communicate and sometimes I forget. So this blog post by Evernote and Getting Things Done writer Daniel Gold was a great reminder.

I would also add that not just the words in email matter but the tone does too and even the intent behind the email. I was happy to discover a few years ago that I could communicate my intent behind the words and it would be picked up at some level by the reader of the email...

I would also add that just like the old time attorney who didn't like angry faxes, if I am feeling upset an in person talk or phone call is a much better way to clear up the situation than an email.

This entry was posted on April 22, 2012 at 5:50 PM and has received 1295 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.