sidelined by the witchcraft

Which craft, you may ask, I couldn't answer, for I do not know.

What is on the sidelines, anyhow, other than a big barrel of Gatorade and a bunch of players who made the cut but not the field... any chickens?

There are problems currently in Burma (aka Myanmar) where the military government is sequestering monks. Who ever thought of monks as being a force to reckon with?

Speaking of sequestration, who knows if there are enough pockets in the ground into which we can sequester carbon. Our planet is not as big as the atmosphere that covers it, at least, I don't think it is. Mind you, our planet is significantly denser than our atmosphere.

And about a carbon tax, I am all for it if introduced gradually over the span of a decade. Let us ease into a new economical framework that allows for a slow change of our personal, business and industrial carbon-use habits. With respect to a carbon-credit exchange that is internal by country, go for it! Let the winning companies who cut their carbon emissions receive money from the more poluting companies who are unable to cut. In this way even more carbon cutting can take place given the win-fall of cash. With respect to a carbon-credit international exchange, this is a little more tricky. How is the allocation and price of credits controlled such that some international players aren't left out?

I think it is absolutely ridiculous that corn and other forms of bio-fuels are outpacing the growth of produce grown for human consumption as food. Is it more important that we drive our cars, or that people in other parts of the world eat?

According to the CIA World Factbook, Akrotiri's background is described as thus:
By terms of the 1960 Treaty of Establishment that created the independent Republic of Cyprus, the UK retained full sovereignty and jurisdiction over two areas of almost 254 square kilometers - Akrotiri and Dhekelia. The southernmost and smallest of these is the Akrotiri Sovereign Base Area, which is also referred to as the Western Sovereign Base Area.

Akrotiri is precisely one of those places that I never knew existed until I checked the list of places on the CIA World Factbook. Real people live there who have jobs, families, responsibilities, parties, sports, fun and sleep. I wonder if anyone there is thinking of me or people like me who live here.

It is amazing just how many