First monetary collapse and now this: Suicides have Greece on edge

It has been a rough time for the Greeks.. Turmoil and protests in the streets.. austerity measures.. massive layoffs and hikes in fees and taxes. Economy constantly teetering on the brink of complete mayhem.. And for some, apparently, mayhem took hold and they ended it all: Suic

ides are putting Greeks on edge just before an election..

More from Reuters on the official accounting of this story.. The Reuters report begins,

On Monday, a 38-year-old geology lecturer hanged himself from a lamp post in Athens and on the same day a 35-year-old priest jumped to his death off his balcony in northern Greece. On Wednesday, a 23-year-old student shot himself in the head

Reuters points out that Greece had the lowest suicide rate in the world. Things seem to be changing as the economy falters. And people are taking notice in the nation ..

Reuters continues,

Before shooting himself during morning rush hour on April 4 on Syntagma Square across from the Greek parliament building, the 77-year-old pensioner took a moment to jot down a note.

"I see no other solution than this dignified end to my life so I don’t find myself fishing through garbage cans for sustenance," wrote Christoulas, who has since become a national symbol of the austerity-induced pain that is squeezing millions.

Greek media have since reported similar suicides almost daily, worsening a sense of gloom going into next week’s election, called after Prime Minister Lucas Papademos’s interim government completed its mandate to secure a new rescue deal from foreign creditors by cutting spending further.

The tragic and dire situation that Greece finds itself in has this very real and human element. People are ending it all, people who had decent careers and decent families.. and once decent middle class lives. 

Earlier this year, in January, widespread reporting took place around the world about the horror of Greek children being abandoned on the street by parents who could not afford them anymore..

There seems to be a rise in mental health issues. 
And family issues.
Oh, yes, and money issues too.

Greece, the once great powerful nation. Perhaps the troubles and tribulations that now befall on the good people of Greece are just cautionary tales about how, despite our wealth, we too can lose it all.. And maybe if the richest men are only wealthy in material and now spirit, this cautionary tale becomes a freight train of horror blasting down the tracks for the rest of the modern world…

Life in the universe may not be as abundant as you'd think with millions of potential earth like planets

..so say scientists who ponder if life on earth is a fluke..

And I wonder this based on the pondering of the highly educated: If life on earth is a fluke then it makes me almost have to ask whether the human species is a parasite? Did earth develop a disease named life? Or is it instead a message that somewhere the old debated book we call the Bible is on to something that science is finally realizing: Human are special and in the image of God?

Weighty questions, I guess, for a weekend..?

Interesting political strategy.. While Mitt Romney makes headlines and continues to win states, Ron Paul silently winning lots of convention delegates

Interesting political strategy.. While Mitt Romney makes headlines and continues to win states, Ron Paul silently winning lots of convention delegates

The movies I want to see this year.. what ones are you looking forward to?

For me it’s only three: 

DARK SHADOWS

ABRAHAM LINCOLN VAMPIRE HUNTER

DARK KNIGHT

That’s about it. How about you?

Good luck to the folks at Knoebels today as their spring/summer 2012 season begins. If you’re ever near the coal veins of Pennsylvania, you may want to consider a voyage to the little amusement park nestled in the woods. It’s clean and reasonable.. It’s not huge but what is the need.. and while I get no money for this little text advertisement, I will be spending money there this season accordingly. My son won’t be tall enough for most rides but .. he can watch. 

Good luck Knoebels.

The 'Holy Grail' of planets discovered

We’ve been hearing about potentially millions of billions of trillions of planets existing in the galaxy for months now with the discoveries that Kepler has given us. Finally, it appears that astronomers have found a planet that people could maybe live on. But… Scientists found the planet, Gliese 667Cc, orbiting around a red dwarf star, 22 light years away from the earth. Which is really far away.. So don’t pack your bags yet. You’re confined to the little blue dot for the time being. Future generations though may make it more important to get off this dot depending on how many resources have been depleted by the time we master the art of light year travel..

The 'Holy Grail' of planets discovered

A man describes waking up during a surgery

He said it was a nightmare. I can only imagine. And hope I never experience it. This is a deep fear in me.. and if you think about it long enough it will be a fear for you too.

A man describes waking up during a surgery

Mom says that Facebook flagged a photo of her son with Down Syndrome as inappropriate

Mom says that Facebook flagged a photo of her son with Down Syndrome as inappropriate

Forget SOPA: Enter CISPA. The House just approved it. Obama said he will veto it. But he said he'd veto things before and didn't.. Watch this one..

Forget SOPA: Enter CISPA. The House just approved it. Obama said he will veto it. But he said he'd veto things before and didn't.. Watch this one..

Just when UFO enthusiasts thought they got proof.. in comes the skeptics with facts. Some thought this image showed a space ship near the sun. Others with degrees and most likely huge school loan bills say is a collection of cosmic rays.

So who do you trust.. hubba hubba hubba.. who do you trust?

Labor Department withdraws child labor farm rules

Labor Department withdraws child labor farm rules

Food should not kill you, right?

Tell that to people who make it..

Subways have never been safe.. but now iPhones and iPads on subways are the least safe of all

Subways have never been safe.. but now iPhones and iPads on subways are the least safe of all

Just when you thought you were getting ahead of the game. . . comes this study

Sure, my pudding expires December 21 2012 and lots of other people think people in general will, too. But we can’t lose hope. Fukushima may have blasted the planet with extreme radiation.. others worry about our online rights being suddenly stripped with the next bill that has too long of an acronym to even understand anymore. And the weather is crazy, isn’t it? Slightly maddening cows hopefully didn’t get into our meat supply, even though South Korea banned our imports. We will still eat them. Beef, it’s what for dinner. 20 years later you may go mad, too.

But all that aside, life isn’t that bad, right?

Enter this study: The planet Earth is ready to face a century of disasters.

That’s right.. not just a few weeks, or a month.. or a year or two. No, this report goes all the way: A whole century. But the time humans make it to the 22nd, if we should be so lucky as a species, generations may look back on us in 2012 and say ‘these poor schmucks didn’t know what was about to hit them!’

The Royal Society seems to know. They say world population needs to be ‘stabalised’ (British spelling) in order to take awayeth from the rich nations and giveth to the poor nations.  Yes, indeed. Agenda 21 anyone? Perhaps conspiracy theories of population control are right after all?

What surprised me was that this report didn’t talk much about the most pressing issue set to face our world in the next 20 or so years: Water. Just peruse your local video rental store…..oh wait they are all shut down… Go to Netflix, you won’t find these in the local RedBox: 5 documentaries that you must see to understand the water crisis that we face—in our lifetime.. 

But instead of worrying about clean water and air… let’s frack. Seriously.. Fracking make it all go away.

But it does seem to cause an increase in manmade earthquakes, doesn’t it? If you care. Most of the fracking in rural areas anyway. And what person REALLY cares about the rural area anyway. 

Besides the Obama administration, which wants to limit what farmhands can do. 

Little House on the Prairie. Now regulated!?

Get me Bill Gates! I need a vaccine.

My rambling Thursday morning whatever. Over and out.

-33-
xxx 

So what is he thinking.. the knowing eyes… will he return? Will he stick to shortwave.. Ham is his handle and Coast is the past? Interesting new photo of Art Bell posted tonight by Mr. Bell himself on his Facebook page. Radio equipment in the back, apparently not getting dusty and actually quite clean after the 2011 fire extinguisher incident.


So now what?
Until we know, you can find him hamming it up on Echolink, if you have the technological knowledge to do so.

KING OF THE WORLD!! BILLIONAIRES GONE WILD.. 
X X X 
PLAN TO MINE ASTEROIDS FOR RESOURCES!
Billionaires to pursue riches in the asteroid belt..
It’s not just about mining.. it’s about politics.
And try this: Maybe it’s about hubris, too.. ?

ShortFormBlog: US officials confirm 4th domestic case of mad-cow disease

shortformblog:

The diseased animal “at no time presented a risk to the food supply or human health,” the USDA says. Officials discovered the animal at a rendering facility in central California, which they have not chosen to name. During a briefing in Washington, USDA chief veterinarian John Clifford assured…

At no time.. At no time.. at no time.

No risk at all to food?… No risk.

No risk.

Saying it over and over again makes it all more true, right?

ShortFormBlog: US officials confirm 4th domestic case of mad-cow disease

ACLU: It looks like there is slick little trick brewing in Congress. Supporters of locking people up without charge or trial are getting ready to play yet another trick on the American people.

ACLU: It looks like there is slick little trick brewing in Congress. Supporters of locking people up without charge or trial are getting ready to play yet another trick on the American people.

I am following this story.. you should too: Suspicious stain found in basement search for Etan Patz..

I don’t know where the case is going, but I can only imagine how emotional it is for the family.. the family that probably never got over the day that Etan Patz vanished. 

How do you deal with this type of tragedy? Some may say just end your own life.. but what about the chances that your child may return.. and you’d miss it. Or the chances your child’s abductor may soon be found, decades later?

Are two mysteries linked? I don't know but it's a compelling possibility..

The cycle of destruction? Could it be that there is a common denominator between colony collapse and autism? Birds and the bees and the kids and the trees.. we are all connected after all.. So why wouldn’t chemicals hit us all, too..?