climateadaptation:

In 2010, Thailand dumped 27 army tanks, 273 old train carts, and 198 garbage trucks into the sea. Local fishermen petitioned the government to help with declining fish stocks, e.g., overfishing. In response, the government came up with the idea to dump the decommissioned vehicles into the shallows to create an artificial reef. The “reef,” in turn, would become a breeding ground for fish. This would help the fishermen increase their catch. 

It’s been two years and I’d like to see how the project has fared. Can anyone find a follow up to this story? Send me a link.

Article here. Al Jazeera’s supreme coverage below.

beingblog:

Americans Have More Confidence in the Military than in the Church

by Trent Gilliss, senior editor

What does it say about us Americans when the only institution with “a notable gain in public confidence” is the U.S. military — not churches, not labor unions, not even the U.S. Supreme Court?

The Pew Research Center notes, ”Public confidence in the military surpassed confidence in religious organizations in the late 1980s and has stayed there ever since.” Of the 16 institutions listed in a 2011 Gallup survey, only three have a confidence rating above 50 percent. Here’s the complete list of the percentage of Americans who say they have “a great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in them:

• 78% - Military
• 64% - Small business
• 56% - Police
• 48% - Church or organized religion
• 39% - Medical system
• 37% - U.S. Supreme Court
• 35% - Presidency
• 34% - Public schools
• 28% - Criminal justice system
• 28% - Newspapers
• 27% - Television news
• 23% - Banks
• 21% - Organized labor
• 19% - Big business
• 19% - Health Maintenance Organizations (HMOs)
• 12% - Congress

Cool, people believe in the military twice as much as public schools!

s4mmich:

The marine veterans promised they would be there and some have arrived to protect the citizens and protest.

Twitter updates: @1984__

anarchyagogo:

WikiLeaks: Iraqi children in U.S. raid shot in head, U.N. says

This cell phone photo was shot by a resident of Ishaqi on March 15, 2006, of bodies Iraqi police said were of children executed by U.S. troops after a night raid there. A State Department cable obtained by WikiLeaks quotes the U.N. investigator of extrajudicial killings as saying an autopsy showed the residents of the house had been handcuffed and shot in the head, including children under the age of 5. McClatchy obtained the photo from a resident when the incident occurred.

Alston initially posed his questions to the U.S. Embassy in Geneva, which passed them to Washington in the cable. According to Alston’s version of events, American troops approached a house in Ishaqi, which Alston refers to as “Al-Iss Haqi,” that belonged to Faiz Harrat Al-Majma’ee, whom Alston identified as a farmer. The U.S. troops were met with gunfire, Alston said, that lasted about 25 minutes.

After the firefight ended, Alston wrote, the “troops entered the house, handcuffed all residents and executed all of them. After the initial MNF intervention, a U.S. air raid ensued that destroyed the house.” The initials refer to the official name of the military coalition, the Multi-National Force.

Alston said “Iraqi TV stations broadcast from the scene and showed bodies of the victims (i.e. five children and four women) in the morgue of Tikrit. Autopsies carries (sic) out at the Tikrit Hospital’s morgue revealed that all corpses were shot in the head and handcuffed.”

govtoversight:

Would You Pay $720 million in Late Fees for These? The Pentagon Did

If you’re someone who never returns library books, Netflix movies and rental cars on time—it could be worse! At least you haven’t racked up $720 million dollars in late fees over the last decade. That’s how much the Pentagon owes for failing to return shipping containers on time, according to a USA TODAY report.

Read more about this story on the POGO blog.

Image via Flickr user evenwestvang.