Eideard

Where does Jimmy Carter live? Well, close your eyes and imagine the kind of house an ex-president of the United States might live in. The sort of residence befitting the former leader of the most powerful nation on earth. Got it? Right, now scrub that clean from your mind and instead imagine the sort of house where a moderately successful junior accountant and his family might live.

It’s what in America is called a “ranch house”, or, as we’d say, “a bungalow”. There are no porticoes. No columns. No sweeping lawns. There’s just a small brick single-storey structure that Jimmy and his wife, Rosalynn, built on Woodland Drive back in 1961 when he was a peanut farmer and she was a peanut farmer’s wife, right in the heart of the town in which they grew up. Though Plains, Georgia is barely a town. A street, might be a more accurate description. A single road going nowhere much…

Strictly speaking, he’s still Mr President, but it’s hard to give the office its true gravitas in what looks like my mum’s living room. And there’s a plain, homespun quality about him that’s reminiscent of that other great Jimmy, the patron saint of small-town American life: Jimmy Stewart. He’ll turn 87 in October, and is recovering from having both his knees replaced this summer, but the dazzling smile that once captivated America is still there. Though it’s a terrible cliché, not to mention patronising and ageist, to describe any octogenarian as “twinkly”, he undeniably is.

He leads me slowly into the family room at the back of the house. Photographs of the children, grandchildren and great grandchildren line the walls, and an old throw covers an even older sofa. Mary, the housekeeper who’s been with the family for 40-odd years, brings Carter coffee in an ancient plastic cup, so old that the “Royal Caribbean” logo on it has faded nearly clean away. (Mary first came to work at the governor’s mansion as a convicted murderer on day release, and – how’s this for living your liberal beliefs? – the Carters asked her to look after their three-year-old daughter, Amy.)…

Jimmy’s early years on the family farm just outside Plains coloured his entire life. As a boy during the Great Depression, he recalls, “streams of tramps, or we called them hobos, walked back and forth in front of our house, along the railroad”. Even more influentially, it was a mostly black community. “I learned at first hand the deprivation of both white and black people living in a segregated community, which was then not challenged at all.” Except by his own mother; thanks to her liberalism all his earliest playmates were black.

RTFA. Long, detailed, even though I never voted for Carter [and didn't vote for that corporate pimp, Reagan, who followed] my respect continues to grow for the man who stands better by his principles year after year since he left office. Criticisms of foreign alliances that he wouldn’t have made in office – that still stand as rote in the Democratic Party – grow and change, altered by events and more understanding.

Commitment to the needs of ordinary working people worldwide guides his life and style. Again, more than it did when he was constrained by representing one of our two corrupt political parties. That headline up top is not something that gets you elected to office – just the respect of a nation that wearies time and again of lying politicians who take advantage of nationalism and patriotism in the game of pillage and profit.

A rare miniature cow with markings similar to a panda bear was born on a farm in northern Colorado.

The so-called “panda cow” born in Larimer County is thought to be one of only about 24 in the world.

The (Loveland) Reporter-Herald reports the male calf named Ben was born Friday morning. His mother is a Lowline Angus cow…

The miniature panda cow is the result of genetic manipulation. A white belt encircles the animal’s midsection, and the cow has a white face with black ovals around the eyes, giving it a panda-like appearance.

The mini-cattle are bred solely as pets. Farmer Chris Jessen says panda calves can sell for $30,000.

Well, it’s almost a panda – sort of.

A farmer unwittingly shot two suspected burglars who were allegedly targeting a cannabis factory, which he didn’t know existed, on his property.,,However, he found himself arrested on suspicion of attempted murder after two men who had ventured on to his land turned up in hospital with gunshot wounds.

The farmer says he had no idea he had injured the men until 16 armed police stormed his home in Crays Hill, Essex, later that day.

Edward Tibbs, 62, who suffers from multiple sclerosis and neuralgia, told detectives he had been awoken by the sound of geese and, after going outside on his mobility scooter, had shot three times into the dark, believing he was firing at a fox.

“It was an accident as far as I am concerned. I was out shooting that night on my land and apparently two people got shot there,” he said.

This is not someone I would want for a neighbor here in rural New Mexico. You don’t shoot at an animal – or a person – unless you can see what you’re firing at.

“I didn’t know anyone had been hit. If I did, I would have called the police. Apparently they went to hospital and police were called and they said where it happened. It happened at 4am, but the first I knew about it was when the police came…”

Police later discovered that a cannabis factory had been set up in a rented outbuilding on Mr Tibbs’s farm and it was thought that the two men were attempting to burgle it when they were shot.

Mr Tibbs, who said he had no knowledge of the cannabis plants, was later released without charge.

The injured men, from Basildon, were arrested on suspicion of possessing a firearm but were also released without charge. Two women who were arrested in connection with the discovery of 50 cannabis plants were also freed after questioning.

1. Way too many coincidences.

2. Is there a medical marijuana program in the UK? Mr. Tibbs sounds like he qualifies.

Rowie Meers has found the perfect way to support her melons – using old bras. She whipped out her undergarments to hoist up the fruit after her melon plants started drooping. Supportive customers then helped by sending in more than 40 unwanted brassieres to her farm during the summer. The mum of three says she found the answer to her problem ‘right under her nose’

Har!

A French poultry farmer is suing his country’s defence ministry, claiming that two low-flying fighter jets frightened almost 5,000 of his chickens to death.

Etienne Le Mahauté, a farmer in the village of Pléguien, Brittany, western France, claims that the military aircraft caused a chicken stampede in which 4,800 of the terrified fowl died of suffocation.

Mr Mahauté said he was having lunch on Tuesday when two military aircraft shot over his farm at very low altitude.

“We were in the house eating. When (the planes) passed overhead, we had vibrations in our backs it was so loud,” he said.

He ran straight to the giant coops where the chickens are kept only to find they had rushed into the same side and lay lifeless in their thousands.

“The chickens were terrified. They were stacked up on top of each in several layers on the same side of the three buildings,” he told the newspaper Ouest France. “If we hadn’t been there, it could have been worse. We separated those we could…”

The farmer, who is in charge of 68,000 fowl belonging to an agricultural co-operative, is demanding between 12,000 and 15,000 euros in compensation.

Frédéric Solano, a French air force official, confirmed that two jets had flown past the farm on Tuesday at midday as part of a “scheduled flight at an altitude respecting current rules”…

Last year, Britain’s Ministry of Defence paid out £42,000 to a Staffordshire farmer whose chickens laid fewer eggs because they were frightened by the Red Arrows display team.

I suppose we have to have compensation for animals in our care – although the premises of that care, including the level of stupidity bred into a pursuit of passivity, don’t especially convince me that all farmers deserve payment.

One of the farmers in my family raised “modern” domestic turkeys for a spell. Not to be confused with the crafty, intelligent critters roaming the wild. We always had to wave at them to halt any practice of looking skyward when it started to rain – because they would stand there with mouths open and drown.

A firefighter has been arrested after a farmer was crushed to death by stampeding cows that may have been spooked by a fire engine’s siren and flashing lights, it emerged today.

Harold Lee, of Robins Farm, in Burtle, near Bridgwater, Somerset, was fatally injured when he was trampled by his own herd last August.

His family have alleged the animals were distressed by the emergency lights and sounds of the fire engine that was heading to a nearby emergency.

Lee, who was 75, died in hospital five days after he was left with severe head and chest injuries.

Police launched an inquiry and after six months officers confirmed a 49-year old-man from Somerset has been arrested on suspicion of manslaughter by negligence…

A spokesman for the Devon and Somerset fire and rescue service refused to comment about the arrest. Earlier the service has said the crew was on its way to a traffic collision.

This is so stupid it isn’t even worthy of an attempt at a joke. The farmer’s death isn’t funny. Neither is the absurdity of filing charges against a first-responder driving an emergency vehicle.

Just not in my fracking lifetime!

Ten of the pioneering photos of snowflake crystals US farmer Wilson A Bentley began taking more than a century ago are to be sold in New York.

Bentley (1865-1931) is credited with capturing the first images of single snowflakes on camera. He made thousands of the jewel-like prints, no two alike.

His photomicrography technique involved a microscope and a bellows camera.

He caught pneumonia in a blizzard and died just weeks after the publication of his book Snow Crystals…

The sale of his crystal images is a rare event…Chicago art gallery owner Carl Hammer is selling them along with 16 of Bentley’s winter scenes at an antiques show at New York’s American Folk Art Museum.

“They’re remarkably beautiful,” said Mr Hammer.

Snowflake expert Kenneth G Libbrecht said the photos did not meet modern standards because of the “crude equipment” Bentley used. “But he did it so well that hardly anybody bothered to photograph snowflakes for almost 100 years,” Mr Libbrecht added.

Beautiful, beautiful. A man dedicated to nature, recording beauty and light.

A groundswell of support Thursday left a Tees farmer “overwhelmed” with gratitude, his lawyer said following a brief court appearance.

Brian Russell Knight, 38, reserved his plea through his lawyer Jim Dixon on seven charges, including the most serious of criminal negligence causing bodily harm.

The provincial courtroom, which seats about 70 people, was jammed to capacity with another 60 people standing in the two aisles before Judge John Holmes.

Knight was charged on March 26 after it was alleged he chased down and shot one of three men with a shotgun blast. It’s alleged the men were discovered in Knight’s farm yard early in the morning attempting to steal an ATV.

The injured 30-year-old man was taken to an Edmonton hospital, treated and released on a promise to appear in court. He has been charged with theft but his name hasn’t been released yet because the information hasn’t been sworn, Sgt. Jim Lank of Bashaw RCMP said later Thursday. The Privacy Act prevents police from releasing the identity of an accused until the information is sworn.

Lank also said it appears the other two men alleged to be involved in the theft will be charged…

The large throng waiting outside the courthouse following the appearance cheered and clapped when Knight finally emerged flanked by his wife and Dixon…

“We came to show our backing and to give him some money because rural people are not always cared for quickly by the police,” said Colleen Korbisser. “He’s the victim. He was protecting his property.”

Rock on. Self defense, defending yourself and your family against thieves is a legitimate use of firearms – in my humble opinion.

Click photo for interview

I find myself accused of a number of heinous acts including “infecting” Wales with GM, acting irresponsibly and possibly of breaking the law. Not bad for a Welsh peasant who simply wishes to try – with the support of the scientific community – to facilitate the introduction of a new and valuable technology into Welsh agriculture.

So what is the precise nature of my supposedly “ill-informed”, “illegal” and “irresponsible” behaviour? The seeds I planted are maize varieties on the EU’s “common list” of approved crops. As such, my legal advice is that it is lawful to plant them within the EU. But according to some of my detractors those rules apparently do not apply in Wales.

Then there is the charge that I have “infected Wales with GM“. With what I ask? Genetic modification is a process as opposed to a product and as such cannot be bought or sold any more than “keyhole surgery”. The analogy of GM technology as a contagion is simply false.

Have I removed consumer choice? Again, I believe not. That choice was taken away several decades ago – unless you choose to survive entirely on wild fruit and nuts. We are all either wearing or consuming plant products that have been bred using technology that involves artificially manipulating plant genes. I can’t think of a single crop plant in the UK that has not been bred by artificially mutating its genes using chemicals or radiation. The group of techniques that are commonly referred to as genetic manipulation are simply more precise and safer ways of doing the same thing…

Read the rest of this entry »

The chocolate company Mars has announced that it is to decode the genetic structure of the cocoa tree.

Understanding the tree’s DNA could make crop production more resistant to pests, diseases, and water shortages that may come from a warming climate.

Howard-Yana Shapiro, Mars’ global director of plant science, said African farmers stood to benefit the most as they accounted for nearly two-thirds of world cocoa production.

The research would “ultimately improve cocoa trees, yield higher quality cocoa and increase income for farmers”, he told BBC News.

Some of us have a real appetite for this kind of research. Har!