Genetic Roulette? Hershey’s Kisses. US Soybeans. Farmer Suicides. Haitian Farmers Say No. Virginia City Tunnel.

For “Foodie Friday”:
“This is one of the most comprehensive documentaries done on genetically engineered foods and their effect on the health of the human population. If you are a parent, a grandparent or if you are just curious about why all the discussion about food safety, this is the film to watch.”
“10-minute re-mix so you can share the link with friends who may not have the time to watch the whole film.”

Full length version      Available for a limited time.

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Newmark about Hersheys.     “A Kiss is just a Kiss” 
“Let's all ask Hershey's why we can't get more French or Brazilian kisses?”

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Food, Inc. Monsanto control 90% of US soybean
“A short clip from Food, Inc. revealing how powerful Monsanto is in the food industry, which leaves average person no other choice but consume their genetically engineered soy beans.”   http://youtu.be/2P1CJ7IEt0c
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 Indian Farmer Suicides   After GMO BT Cotton Crop Failures

“There have been 125,000+ small farmer suicides in the past decade, and about 4000+/year *REPORTED* in India. In 2006, 1,044 suicides were reported in Vidarbha alone - that's one suicide every eight hours.
Some struggles facing Indian farmers are detailed in the article "Seeds of Suicide: India's Desperate Farmers" on Frontline. The transition to using the latest pest-resistant seeds and the necessary herbicides has been difficult. Farmers have used genetically modified seeds promoted by Cargill and Monsanto hoping for greater yields. Resulting debts from such gambles with genetically modified seeds have led some farmers into the equivalent of indentured servitude. More than 125,000+ farmers have committed suicide, which some claim is mostly due to mounting debt caused by the poor yields, increased need for pesticides, and the higher cost of the Bt cotton seed sold by Monsanto.
Shankara, like millions of other Indian farmers, had been promised previously unheard of harvests and income if he switched from farming with traditional [ORGANIC REUSABLE] seeds to planting GM [GENETICALLY MODIFIED STERILE CARCINOGENIC NON-ORGANIC] seeds instead. Beguiled by the promise of future riches, he borrowed money in order to buy the GM seeds.
But when the harvests failed, Shankara was left with spiralling debts - and no income. So Shankara became one of an estimated 125,000+ farmers to take their own life as a result of the ruthless drive to use India as a testing ground for genetically modified crops.... 'We are ruined now,' said [another farmer's] 38-year-old wife. 'We bought 100 grams of BT Cotton. Our crop failed twice. My husband had become depressed. He went out to his field, lay down in the [GMO BT] cotton and swallowed insecticide [MONSANTO's ROUNDUP]".”  More at: http://bestmeal.info/monsanto/facts.shtml
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Haitian Farmers Commit to Burning Monsanto Hybrid Seeds  Posted: 05/17/10

"A new earthquake" is what peasant farmer leader Chavannes Jean-Baptiste of the Peasant Movement of Papay (MPP) called the news that Monsanto will be donating 60,000 seed sacks (475 tons) of hybrid corn seeds and vegetable seeds, some of them treated with highly toxic pesticides. The MPP has committed to burning Monsanto's seeds, and has called for a march to protest the corporation's presence in Haiti on June 4, for World Environment Day.
The hybrid corn seeds Monsanto has donated to Haiti are treated with the fungicide Maxim XO, and the calypso tomato seeds are treated with thiram.[3] Thiram belongs to a highly toxic class of chemicals called ethylene bisdithiocarbamates (EBDCs). Results of tests of EBDCs on mice and rats caused concern to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which then ordered a special review.
The EPA determined that EBDC-treated plants are so dangerous to agricultural workers that they must wear special protective clothing when handling them. Pesticides containing thiram must contain a special warning label, the EPA ruled. The EPA also barred marketing of the chemicals for many home garden products, because it assumes that most gardeners do not have adequately protective clothing. Monsanto's passing mention of thiram to Ministry of Agriculture officials in an email contained no explanation of the dangers, nor any offer of special clothing or training for those who will be farming with the toxic seeds
Haitian social movements' concern is not just about the dangers of the chemicals and the possibility of future GMO imports. They claim that the future of Haiti depends on local production with local food for local consumption, in what is called food sovereignty. Monsanto's arrival in Haiti, they say, is a further threat to this..”  More at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/beverly-bell/haitian-farmers-commit-to_b_578807.html
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On This Day:

Construction begins on the Sutro Tunnel in Virginia City, Nevada, Oct 19, 1869:

“On this day in 1869, the famous Prussian-born mining engineer, Adolph Sutro, begins work on one of the most ambitious western engineering projects of the day: a four-mile-long tunnel through the solid rock of the Comstock Lode mining district.
One of the richest silver deposits in the world, the Comstock Lode had been discovered by prospectors in 1859, and it quickly became the focus of the most intensive mining activity in the West. But as miners sank shafts ever deeper into the rock in search of more silver and gold, they began to encounter large amounts of water that had to be pumped to the surface at great expense. If only some means could be found to drain the water horizontally, the mining companies would save a fortune.
Adolph Sutro's tunnel was intended to do just that. Sutro-who had already demonstrated his technical brilliance by inventing a new way to extract silver from waste rock-proposed to blast a large horizontal tunnel right through the rock of the neighboring Mt. Davidson and straight into the heart of the Comstock mine. Mine water would thus drain through the tunnel without need for expensive pumps, and the mining companies would also be able to use the tunnel to move men and ore in and out of the mine, greatly reducing transportation costs.
While all involved agreed that technically Sutro's tunnel would be a boon to the Comstock, progress on the project was continually slowed down by resistance from some of the major mining interests who feared that Sutro would use his tunnel to take control of the entire lode. Only after securing European capital was Sutro able to complete the $5-million project in 1878.
Every bit as successful as promised, the Sutro tunnel drained some two million gallons of water from the mines per year and greatly reduced transportation costs. Unfortunately, by 1878, the richer sections of the Comstock Lode had been tapped out, and the mine had begun to steadily decline in profitability. Sutro, though, succeeded in selling his tunnel in 1879 at a fantastic profit. He moved to San Francisco where he became one of the city's largest landowners as well as the city's mayor from 1894 to 1896.”
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Yesterday:
When Misty and I went to get Jay, we also took some Borax and Diatomaceous earth.  I sprinkled some all over Claudia’s carpet, just in case there were any flea eggs in there.
When we were back here, Jay and I went through the things that we had cleared out of the storage bins in the workshop the other day.  It was mostly containers that I had saved over the years for different things.  We use metal coffee cans for cleaning paint brushes, and keep some chemicals in glass jars in the shed.  Sometimes you need acetone, or Xylene, for cleaning different brushes.  But I had collected too many, so we sorted them out into containers to take to the recycling.
Then the kitten needed to be fed, so Jay and I were playing with her, and taking pictures. 

 














As I was using my old camera which doesn’t take good pictures inside, we took Prissy out onto the screen porch.  She eats well, is gaining weight.
Then we measured my guest house which is on Lot 1, as I am thinking about selling one part of my property.  We had to see if it abided by the restrictions for the allowed sq.ft for one lot.  
Many years ago, when I bought Lot 2, it had a shed on it, which I bought too.  It contained a lot of paperwork from one of the sales offices, so I have some of the original maps of this subdivision, which I kept.  I dug out those maps, and we looked at Lot 1’s property dimensions and measured the lot.  The lot line goes right down the middle of my RVport, but that can be dismantled.
Yes, I think I can divide the property again, sell my house, and retain ownership of the guest house, so Ray can stay there.  I have been doing a lot of thinking lately.    I have way too much stuff for my daughter to contend with when I am gone, so I need to lean stuff out.  I am looking at a 8x40’ Park Model travel trailer, with 2 slides, that I can park in Lot 3’s long driveway, move into, and move off when my house sells.  I would be going full circle as that is what I started out with on Lot 1 all those years ago, after the flood of 1994 demolished my other place.
Jay was also interesting at looking at the dimensions of his lots, so we didn’t get much work done yesterday.