Topic: WE'RE STUFFED!!!

[nichi]

We have to not only survive, but to use these economic and environmental waves to our ultimate benefit. Part of that is to shake off our middle-class dream, and focus on survival. The other part is to take refuge in the Nagual. That means take refuge in Spirit. We pit against the despair of our world, our link to real meaning and purpose in life.

It is no longer a game. We have to begin practising for real what we have only being dabbling with up till now.

We will need every grain of awareness and flexibility we have stored.

[Michael]

responses being predictable...well...they are.

two can play at that game 

[Michael]

[nichi]

Oh shoot -- thought it was a "woman alone"! 

[Michael]

that's the other side 

[Michael]

When the shit hits the fan, we will all have to make our stand right where we are.
There aren't and won't be any safe zones.
I've been giving a lot of thoughts lately, and kind of think of it this way (using the toltec analogy):
In past small groups of warriors formed a group to journey into the unknown, the nagual. While it is a dangerous task, they had the comfort of a safe place they could return to. They journied until the group was able to withstand the definitive journey.
In contrast, now, the nagual, the eternity is coming to pay us a visit. I think it will be much like a judgement day (except that you won't be judged by your sins :p).
We won't have the luxury of safe zones those small groups had.

However what we need to do is not much different.

"There is no decent place to stand,
in a massacre." (LC)

Good point Rudi - the ability to have a safe place to retreat to is very essential, for an individual or a group. It is all very well to say we have to provide for that internally, and that is true. But it is also a strategic necessity to have it in the physical, and I have give much thought to that.

Yet it is also true that it may very likely be a luxury we find ourselves without.

Another quote from Cohen, Julie told me about yesterday, is that he is supposed to have said somewhere, "You think America is bad, wait till you see what comes next."

In all this confusion, uncertainty and speculation, a safe place would be very handy. First we need a place in our own mind, where nothing matters, and we can relax - we are not responsible for the world, nor even our own survival in the final account ... it is all a passing dream.

I would love to find a physical retreat that could slip past the turmoil. I have spoken before of the Sufis, who existed in some of the most turbulent parts and times - they split into three groups to survive:

The first removed themselves, and set up habitation in remote and secret valleys. The second went underground, kept their practices and purpose hidden. The third joined the oppressors, and tried to bring sense and wisdom to their leaders (most of those were killed).

In times like we are contemplating, not all of humanity goes rabid. Many people genuinely seek something of deeper meaning in their life. There is an opportunity for us to play a constructive and beneficial role with such people. It may be some time yet before a collapse, and in that time, we could find for a change, that there is a place for people like us, which did not exist in the mad days of greed, money and fast lanes.

Perhaps the qualities we aspire and value, which have been dismissed and denigrated till now, could once more find favour among the more mature and serious minded. There could very likely be an important task for us, a role to play in the wider arc of humanity.

In there, we may find a temporary safe place. Just don't rely on it too much - we will all have to become children of the wilderness again one day.

[erik]

two can play at that game 

Watson, what would you deduce from this: we are on our beds and looking up and we see a starry sky?
Sherlock, it is a clear and beautiful night!
Yes, Watson, but it also means that our tent has been stolen! 

[erik]

And so comes to an end the networking era - cyberworld becomes too much of a jungle.

I was told a few days ago that the most advanced spyware settles on the boot sector of a computer and cannot be removed even with the change of operation system. In Russia, there is something called Russian Business Network that develops incredibly sophisticated spyware and they sell the service of infecting and enslaving computers. They can also organise cyber assault on any server.

Trojan virus steals banking info

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7701227.stm

By Maggie Shiels
Technology reporter, BBC News, Silicon Valley

The details of about 500,000 online bank accounts and credit and debit cards have been stolen by a virus described as "one of the most advanced pieces of crimeware ever created".

The Sinowal trojan has been tracked by RSA, which helps to secure networks in Fortune 500 companies.

RSA said the trojan virus has infected computers all over the planet.

"The effect has been really global with over 2000 domains compromised," said Sean Brady of RSA's security division.

He told the BBC: "This is a serious incident on a very noticeable scale and we have seen an increase in the number of trojans and their variants, particularly in the States and Canada."

The RSA's Fraud Action Research Lab said it first detected the Windows Sinowal trojan in Feb 2006.

Since then, Mr Brady said, more than 270,000 banking accounts and 240,000 credit and debit cards have been compromised from financial institutions in countries including the US, UK, Australia and Poland.

The lab said no Russian accounts were hit by Sinowal.

"Drive-by downloads"

RSA described the Sinowal as "one of the most serious threats to anyone with an internet connection" because it works behind the scenes using a common infection method known as "drive-by downloads"."

Users can get infected without knowing if they visit a website that has been booby-trapped with the Sinowal malicious code.

Mr Brady said the worrying aspect about Sinowal, which is also known as Torpig and Mebroot, is that it has been operating for so long.

"One of the key points of interest about this particular trojan is that it has existed for two and a half years quietly collecting information," he said. "Any IT professional will tell you it costs a lot to maintain and to store the information it is gathering.

"The group behind it have made sure to invest in the infrastructure no doubt because the return and the potential return is so great."

RSA's researchers said the trojan's creators periodically release new variants to ensure it stays ahead of detection and maintain "its uninterrupted grip on infected computers."

While RSA's lab has been tracking the trojan since 2006, Mr Brady admitted that they know a lot about its design and infrastructure but little about who is behind Sinowal.

"There is a lot of talk about where it comes from and anecdotal evidence points to Russia and Eastern Europe. Historically there have been connections with an online gang connected to the Russian Business Network but in reality no one knows for sure."

That he said is because the group is able to use the web to cloak its identity.

Infection

In April 2007, researchers at Google discovered hundreds of thousands of web pages that initiated drive-by downloads. It estimated that one in ten of the 4.5 million pages it analysed were suspect.

Sophos researchers reported in 2008 it was finding more than 6,000 newly infected web pages every day, or about one every 14 seconds.

RSA's fraud action team said it noticed a spike in attacks from March through to September this year.

That is backed up by another online security company called Fortinet. It said from July 2008 to September 2008 the number of reported attacks rose from 10m to 30m. This included trojans, viruses, malware, phishing and mass mailings.

"The explosion in the number of attacks is alarming," said Derek Manky of Fortinet.

"But trojans are just one of the players in the game wreaking havoc in cyberspace."

Remedies

While attacks are on the increase, there are some simple steps that users can take to protect their information besides using security software.

"We have a saying here which is 'think before you link,'" said Mr Manky.

"That just means observe where you are going on the web. Be wary of clicking on anything in a high traffic site like social networks.

"A lot of traffic in the eyes of cyber criminals means these sites are a target because to these people more traffic means more money," he said.

RSA also urged users to be wary if their bank started asking for different forms of authentication such as a social security number or other details.

"People think not clicking on a pop up or an attachment means they are safe. What people don't realise now is that just visiting a website is good enough to infect them."

RSA said it is co-operating with banks and financial institutions the world over to tell them about Sinowal. It has passed information about the virus to law enforcement agencies.

[Jahn]

One of my friends used to prance off gaily into the bush saying, "I never think about snakes, and they don't appear."

Good luck with that one, I used to think to myself - there was no point in telling her as she didn't like being told anything.

   

Blinders on.

[Michael]

Strangely I meet her again only recently, after many years. She didn't look like she had been bitten, but there was definitely something not right.

[Jahn]

Strangely I meet her again only recently, after many years. She didn't look like she had been bitten, but there was definitely something not right.

Perhaps a case in line with the Law of attraction, meaning she had the blinders on in other areas too, and suddenly Life made an example that that narrow sight is not how we navigate in reality. there must be some decent acknowledgement to our inherited patterns.

I am Mr pre-Cautious to the verge of silliness, waistbell and suspenders is my melody. Low exposure to the level of being dull ... might consider a higher risk level after all ... all these years ... as alive I mean.

[TIOTIT]

A link to a site that's worth a quick read

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=10783

[Michael]

This Global Cooling theory:

I have been keeping an eye out to see if main-stream science responds to it, but to date have seen very little. It remains a very marginal view within the scientific community, although it does not seem to attract to it the ulterior motive questions that the Global Warming sceptics do. (The sceptics have jumped on the bandwagon but not sure if that is the main characters or only the hoi polloi.)

I assume the reason is because most science concerned with the global warming issue are involved with empirical research. The empirical evidence is currently overwhelmingly in support of a warming crisis spiralling out of control. I heard of a new study only recently which exacerbates the problem by many degrees over previous estimates.

One area of interest has been that the South Pole ice cap has not been melting at the speed of the North, and they believe this is due to the hole in the ozone layer, which is closing.

The Global Cooling theory, is just that - still largely a theory. Primarily a prediction based on sun activity observations and past records.  I have seen one critique of this theory, in which the science was disputed - not the basis, but the degree of effect needed to produce the cooling consequence.

There is also some question about the man who began the whole thing - that his ideas have been wildly extrapolated beyond his original paper. All that is outside my expertise, so I can't judge. But apparently he was highly critical of everyone jumping to assume every twist in climate was due to global warming - I admit I am inclined to do that myself.

One thing that does provide some empirical data is that apparently the rise and rise of global warming over a very long time, took a dive in 2007. This is exactly where the Global Cooling people step in - it is supposed to begin from 2007 I read.

However, the reason for a drop in the acceleration of warming in 2007 is not considered by most scientists as a result of sun activity or lack there of. It is attributed to the SOI - La Nina cooling of the southern ocean.

For myself, I would love to see a cooling, as the current trend is alarming to say the least. I can only rely on the experts in the field, and they are 99% backing the warming version.

[Jahn]

A link to a site that's worth a quick read

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=10783

"Global warming (i.e, the warming since 1977) is over. The minute increase of anthropogenic CO2 in the atmosphere (0.008%) was not the cause of the warming—it was a continuation of natural cycles that occurred over the past 500 years."

Forget it, (read - bs)
 I've got a lot info on my own plus inside information from a guy that work with climate policy. He is a leader for a scientific center that work with climate changes, also a national expert and as such frequently consulted in International work how to change pollution patterns.

 He says, that it is no doubt among scientists what is going on. However the scientific community always welcome alternative explanations. But today no such alternative explanation has been recognised as valid.

In my opinion we are lucky if the temperature cycle is moving toward an ice age that would compensate a bit for the human induced warming.

What many forget is to look beyond the temperature rising and also count the increase of extreme weather events. More flooding, more dry periods, more hurricanes etc. The extreme weather events has risen most significant the last 10 years.

[erik]

Ozone hole over Antarctica grows again

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/nov/04/poles-climatechange

John Vidal
guardian.co.uk,
Tuesday November 04 2008

Stratospheric levels of harmful CFCs will take between 40 and 100 years to dissipate and have only dropped a few per cent since reaching a peak in 2000, scientists warn


The ozone hole on November 1: the hole is recovering from its September minimum. Image: Nasa

The ozone hole over Antarctica grew to the size of North America this year – the fifth largest on record – according to the latest satellite observations.

US government scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) say this year's ozone hole reached its maximum level on September 12, extending to 10.5m sq miles and four miles deep. That is bigger than 2007 but smaller than 2006, when the hole covered over 11.4m sq miles.

Scientists blamed colder-than-average temperatures in the stratosphere for the ozone hole's unusually large size this year. "Weather is the most important factor in the fluctuation of the size of the ozone hole from year to year," said Bryan Johnson, a scientist at NOAA's Earth System Research Laboratory in Boulder, which monitors ozone, ozone-depleting chemicals, and greenhouse gases around the globe. "How cold the stratosphere is and what the winds do determine how powerfully the chemicals can perform their dirty work."

The main cause of the ozone hole is human-produced compounds called chlorofluorocarbons, or CFCs, which release ozone-destroying chlorine and bromine into the atmosphere. The Earth's protective ozone layer acts like a giant parasol, blocking the sun's ultraviolet-B rays. Though banned for the past 21 years to reduce their harmful build up, CFCs still take many decades to dissipate from the atmosphere

The 1987 Montreal Protocol and other regulations banning CFCs reversed the build-up of chlorine and bromine, first noticed in the 1980s.

"These chemicals – and signs of their reduction – take several years to rise from the lower atmosphere into the stratosphere and then migrate to the poles," said NOAA's Craig Long, a research meteorologist at NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Prediction. "The chemicals also typically last 40 to 100 years in the atmosphere. For these reasons, stratospheric CFC levels have dropped only a few per cent below their peak in the early 2000s."

"The decline of these harmful substances to their pre–ozone hole levels in the Antarctic stratosphere will take decades," said NOAA atmospheric chemist Stephen Montzka of the Earth System Research Laboratory. "We don't expect a full recovery of Antarctic ozone until the second half of the century."

Starting in May, as Antarctica moves into a period of 24-hour-a-day darkness, winds create a vortex of cold, stable air centred near the South Pole that isolates CFCs over the continent. When spring sunshine returns in August, the sun's ultraviolet light sets off a series of chemical reactions inside the vortex that consume the ozone. The colder and more isolated the air inside the vortex, the more destructive the chemistry. By late December the southern summer is in full swing, the vortex has crumbled, and the ozone has returned – until the process begins anew the following winter.