Monthly Archives: March 2015

Greece's Syriza Could Launch A Libertarian Revolution

Posted on by

If I were to start throwing around solutions for the situation in Greece, they would include:

1) A debt restructuring. Greeces government cant pay the present debt load of over 175% of GDP, so it wont, and shouldnt.

2) A major tax reform. Greeces 45% payroll tax rate, plus its 23% VAT rate, plus a personal income tax system with a top rate of 46% (and the 32% rate hitting at only 26,000 euros of income), makes business activity basically impossible unless you evade the taxes. So, thats what people do, if they want to somehow obtain food and shelter. Others rely on government handouts welfare recipients, government employees, and crony businesses concluding (correctly) that regular economic activity is pointless in this environment.

If all this wasnt disastrous enough, capital gains are taxed as regular income. The new government is also planning a Large Property Tax, or basically a wealth tax. Plus, Im sure there are hundreds of junk taxes on all sorts of nonsense, which always happens in these situations.

3) A major overhaul of government services, aiming to provide the same level of service with much lower cost to the government. This would likely include a major reduction of government employee headcount, probably a restructuring of employment agreements, and eliminating myriad crony deals with government suppliers.

4) Either keeping the euro, or introducing other stable money alternatives such as an open currency policy where people can use any currency they wish.

While I am sure some will accuse me of airy-fairy libertarian fantasizing, I actually think the present Syriza government yes, the communists are pretty close to this strategy already. Lets see what I mean.

1) The Syriza partys main policy platform was basically to break out of the austerity framework imposed by outsiders, and proceed with a debt restructuring.

See the rest here:

Greece's Syriza Could Launch A Libertarian Revolution

LIVE! Shiny Seel in Seafoam Islands after 15,246 RE’s [ALMOST FAIL] (HG/SS) (w/facecam) – Video

Posted on by


LIVE! Shiny Seel in Seafoam Islands after 15,246 RE #39;s [ALMOST FAIL] (HG/SS) (w/facecam)
Wow. I had so much trouble with this hunt in so many different ways. Ughh. This is probably one of my most unprofessional videos to date. Apologies for that everyone. Very sloppy commentary...

By: TheUnderdog2020

More here:

LIVE! Shiny Seel in Seafoam Islands after 15,246 RE's [ALMOST FAIL] (HG/SS) (w/facecam) - Video

Ep. 6 Sailing Cape Verde Islands & CARNIVAL! (Sailing La Vagabonde) – Video

Posted on by


Ep. 6 Sailing Cape Verde Islands CARNIVAL! (Sailing La Vagabonde)
Adventures of Cape Verde before the Atlantic Crossing. A few of our favourite spots. A bit of Carnival in Mindelo. Hope you enjoy! Stay tuned for the ATLANTIC CROSSING. Ps. If you are following...

By: Sailing La Vagabonde

Excerpt from:

Ep. 6 Sailing Cape Verde Islands & CARNIVAL! (Sailing La Vagabonde) - Video

Greek island properties for sale – Properties for Sale in Greek islands – Video

Posted on by


Greek island properties for sale - Properties for Sale in Greek islands
Buy the best Real Estate offers for Properties in all the Greek islands. http://greekislands-properties.com is one of the top Real Estate Offices in Greece and you can choose the best Greek...

By: Santorini Greece

See the original post here:

Greek island properties for sale - Properties for Sale in Greek islands - Video

How the little Channel Islands fox came back from near-extinction

Posted on by

A tiny fox on Californias Channel Islands has made a strong comeback from its path toward extinction, so much so that the US Fish and Wildlife Service may take it off the endangered species list, it was announced this week.

But the little foxs story is a complicated one, illustrating the sometimes-fragile balance in nature that can be disrupted by human intentions and activities. Its a good-news story for now, but conservationists warn of new threats tied to human activity.

The fox, about the size of a house cat and averaging some four pounds, mates for life and feeds on mice, ground-nesting birds, insects, and plants. As far back as anyone can remember, the fox inhabited the islands free of predators. Over thousands of years, genetically distinct subspecies of foxes evolved on six of the Channel Islands San Miguel, Santa Rosa, Santa Cruz, San Nicolas, San Clemente, and Catalina.

But in more recent decades, another species feral pigs descended from domestic stock began populating the islands. This attracted golden eagles from the California mainland, which began feeding on foxes as well as pigs.

Nave to aerial predators, the foxes made easy targets, resulting in a rapid decline in population, according to The Nature Conservancy. The [Santa Cruz Island] fox population fell from 1,500 to fewer than 100 animals in less than a decade a95 percent reduction of the fox population.

It was a classic case of a nonnative, human-introduced species pigs directly causing decimation of a native species. Canine distemper on Catalina Island (thought to have been introduced by a raccoon stowed away on a boat from the mainland) added to the overall loss.

In 2004, the little fox was officially listed as an endangered species under federal law on four of the islands (Catalina, San Miguel, Santa Rosa, and Santa Cruz), which required a recovery plan.

Since then, nonnative golden eagles have been relocated to northern California, pigs were killed by professional hunters, native bald eagles (more interested in fish than in foxes) were reintroduced, and a vaccination program was credited with reducing the incidence of distemper. The Island Fox Recovery Program a partnership of The Nature Conservancy, the US Fish and Wildlife Service, the National Park Service, and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife also included captive breeding of fox pairs.

As a result, the Santa Cruz Island fox population is back up from fewer than 100 to 1,354, according to the Fish and Wildlife Service, and the total Channel Islands fox population is an estimated 4,677.

Due to the remarkable success of the Endangered Species Act, recovery actions by land managers and conservation partners have led to dramatic population increases on all four islands since listing, effectively bringing the species back from the brink of extinction, Steve Henry, field supervisor of the Fish and Wildlife Services office in Ventura, Calif., said in a statement. To date, it appears that this is the fastest population rebound due to recovery actions and ESA protections for any land mammal in the United States.

Read the original:

How the little Channel Islands fox came back from near-extinction

How the little Channel Islands fox came back from near-extinction (+video)

Posted on by

A tiny fox on Californias Channel Islands has made a strong comeback from its path toward extinction, so much so that the US Fish and Wildlife Service may take it off the endangered species list, it was announced this week.

But the little foxs story is a complicated one, illustrating the sometimes-fragile balance in nature that can be disrupted by human intentions and activities. Its a good-news story for now, but conservationists warn of new threats tied to human activity.

The fox, about the size of a house cat and averaging some four pounds, mates for life and feeds on mice, ground-nesting birds, insects, and plants. As far back as anyone can remember, the fox inhabited the islands free of predators. Over thousands of years, genetically distinct subspecies of foxes evolved on six of the Channel Islands San Miguel, Santa Rosa, Santa Cruz, San Nicolas, San Clemente, and Catalina.

But in more recent decades, another species feral pigs descended from domestic stock began populating the islands. This attracted golden eagles from the California mainland, which began feeding on foxes as well as pigs.

Nave to aerial predators, the foxes made easy targets, resulting in a rapid decline in population, according to The Nature Conservancy. The [Santa Cruz Island] fox population fell from 1,500 to fewer than 100 animals in less than a decade a95 percent reduction of the fox population.

It was a classic case of a nonnative, human-introduced species pigs directly causing decimation of a native species. Canine distemper on Catalina Island (thought to have been introduced by a raccoon stowed away on a boat from the mainland) added to the overall loss.

In 2004, the little fox was officially listed as an endangered species under federal law on four of the islands (Catalina, San Miguel, Santa Rosa, and Santa Cruz), which required a recovery plan.

Since then, nonnative golden eagles have been relocated to northern California, pigs were killed by professional hunters, native bald eagles (more interested in fish than in foxes) were reintroduced, and a vaccination program was credited with reducing the incidence of distemper. The Island Fox Recovery Program a partnership of The Nature Conservancy, the US Fish and Wildlife Service, the National Park Service, and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife also included captive breeding of fox pairs.

As a result, the Santa Cruz Island fox population is back up from fewer than 100 to 1,354, according to the Fish and Wildlife Service, and the total Channel Islands fox population is an estimated 4,677.

Due to the remarkable success of the Endangered Species Act, recovery actions by land managers and conservation partners have led to dramatic population increases on all four islands since listing, effectively bringing the species back from the brink of extinction, Steve Henry, field supervisor of the Fish and Wildlife Services office in Ventura, Calif., said in a statement. To date, it appears that this is the fastest population rebound due to recovery actions and ESA protections for any land mammal in the United States.

Originally posted here:

How the little Channel Islands fox came back from near-extinction (+video)

Huge cyclone bears down on tiny nation of Vanuatu

Posted on by

A satellite image shows Cyclone Pam churning just off the eastern coast of the Vanuatu islands in the Pacific Ocean, at 6:14 a.m. GMT, March 13, 2015. NOAA

WELLNGTON, New Zealand -- The small Pacific archipelago of Vanuatu on Friday issued a red alert to its residents and urged them to take shelter as it braces for Cyclone Pam, which was expected to graze the islands with winds of 115 miles per hour.

Authorities feared the category-5 cyclone would destroy homes as well as cause landslides and severe coastal flooding. The full impact was expected to be felt in the capital Port Vila late Friday.

The cyclone has already destroyed homes and caused damage to other Pacific islands including Kiribati and the Solomon Islands.

David Gibson, acting director of the Vanuatu meteorology and geo-hazards department, said Pam was packing maximum sustained winds of 143 mp) at its center, which was expected to pass out to sea just east of the capital.

He said if the winds were as strong as his department predicts, they would cause severe damage to buildings.

Alice Clements, a spokeswoman for relief agency UNICEF who is in Port Vila, said the capital was like a ghost town as people took shelter. She said the rain was pelting down and coming in horizontally with the wind.

"The weather has been getting progressively worse for the last two-and-a-half days," she said. "They've put the deck chairs at the hotel I'm staying at into the swimming pool to stop them blowing away. It's quite surreal."

She said many people in Vanuatu live in flimsy shelters, especially those on the more remote outer islands. She said those people were in an extremely vulnerable situation.

She said she expected a huge cleanup and urgent medical needs after the storm passes. Priorities would include making sure drinking water supplies were safe, she said, and ensuring children can get back to schools.

See the original post here:

Huge cyclone bears down on tiny nation of Vanuatu

Endangered Fox Brought Back from the Brink of Extinction

Posted on by

CHANNEL ISLANDS, Calif. -

After being on the verge of extinction the Channel Islands fox is now once again thriving in its natural environment.

Officials announced Wednesday that the Channel Islands fox may be ready to come off the list of endangered species, and that they have started the review process to do just that.

The Channel Island fox, is a relative of the mainland gray fox and is unique to the Channel Islands, with six distinct subspecies living on each of the six largest California Channel Islands.

The fox is smaller than a house cat weighing only 3 to 4 pounds and each sub species has different genetics as well as physical differences.

Tim Coonan, a wildlife biologist with the National Park Service, started at Channel Islands National Park in 1992, when these foxes were a common site on the islands, but within a few years things drastically changed.

We didnt know what the problem was at first but then we discovered the majority of our radio collard foxes had been killed by Golden Eagles which are very stealthy birds they dont normally breed on the islands and they never had until the 1990s in fact we went from 450 foxes on San Miguel to 15 in 1999, said Coonan.

The fox populations on Santa Rosa, San Miguel, Santa Cruz, as well as Santa Catalina, declined by 90 to 95 percent by 1999-2000. These four fox populations were federally listed as endangered in 2004.

The major reason for the decline of island foxes on the northern Channel Islands was a consequence of hyper-predation by golden eagles a non-native species to the island.

To prevent the foxes from becoming extinct immediate conservation actions were taken to address the threats and prevent the island foxes from extinction.

Link:

Endangered Fox Brought Back from the Brink of Extinction