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 759 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 412 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 365 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 919 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 802 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 693 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 914 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 917 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

When I was in Argentina last week I was in line at passport control and they were showing a video on the new digital DNI (national id card that all Argentineans must have) being changed to a digital record of your fingerprints and face scan. They were selling it as a way to prevent terrorists and to be convenient, which perhaps it is. It also gives the government much greater ways to track and control people. "Hermano Grande" (Big Brother) would be proud! (Edit: I have since found this article on the topic)

For example street CC video cameras (of which for example there are 4 million in London - I don't know how many in Buena Aires) can be tied to the face scan to know where you are at all times. People in protests against the government can be identified without arrest and penalized immediately without trial. Entering buildings that require scanning will track were you go too. And if you are "naughty" then forget about being able to enter those buildings which might include not just government services but bank ATM, gas stations and supermarkets. If food rationing occurs in a crisis then you can only get government food if you are "good".

What a great way to control a populations. Now to be clear it is only the digital DNI that I am aware of right now but there is so much opportunity for abuse with this kind of system that I would be concerned if I lived in Argentina or any other county that does this.

PS The US already face scans and fingerprints all foreigners who enter the US - currently over 70 million records are held by the DHS. So don't think that this won't come here. It already is and I predicat that the next big terrorist incident will make this system be extended to US citizens.

This entry was posted on April 21, 2012 at 7:47 PM and has received 479 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

Here are some natural cures that have worked for me to cure back ache

• gentle swimming - the water supports the back and you can move gently in many different directions to release tension
• long walks have helped me in the past
• relaxation yoga (where you lie on piles of blanklets for 5-10 minutes in one pose and breath deeply). I know Thrive yoga in Rockville used to have a class Friday evening of this format. Might be called candle light yoga or some other name
• a massage or shiatsu can help
• acupuncture
• going into a trance or shamanic state and then moving to a crystal house and inviting your back pain to come into the house with you. Then telling it that you love it, thank it for coming and asking if it has any messages for you. Often once the message has been heard the pain goes away.
• related to this is Sedona method where you connect with the pain and allow it to be and allow any judgments or resistance you have just to be. Seeing if you can dive into the pain or double how intense it is ironically can often allow it to dissolve
• If you are into totums you might ask for a power animal to help with the issue and give you information on it.
• EFT is good with releasing pain
• On a spiritual level lower back issue are to do with feeling lack of support, especially around money. The text below is from Louise Hay
  • Back: Represents the support of life. I know that Life always supports me.
  • Back Problems: — Lower: Fear of money. Lack of financial support. I trust the process of life. All I need is always taken care of. I am safe.
    Hay, Louise (1984-01-01). You Can Heal Your Life (p. 207). Hay House. Kindle Edition.
• Which ever the ideas you use drinking lots of water can help during any energy healing to remove toxins from the body

This entry was posted on April 10, 2012 at 10:02 PM and has received 827 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.