Since I nearly started a brawl on the two mailing list I forwarded this article to, I might as well post it here.  Actually there are two stories from the Wall Street Journal, the first is about suburban farming and the second is the near brawl starting article.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120881517227532621.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

Load Up the Pantry

April 21, 2008 6:47 p.m.

I don't want to alarm anybody, but maybe it's time for Americans to start stockpiling food.

No, this is not a drill.

You've seen the TV footage of food riots in parts of the developing world. Yes, they're a long way away from the U.S. But most foodstuffs operate in a global market. When the cost of wheat soars in Asia, it will do the same here.

Reality: Food prices are already rising here much faster than the returns you are likely to get from keeping your money in a bank or money-market fund. And there are very good reasons to believe prices on the shelves are about to start rising a lot faster.

"Load up the pantry," says Manu Daftary, one of Wall Street's top investors and the manager of the Quaker Strategic Growth mutual fund. "I think prices are going higher. People are too complacent. They think it isn't going to happen here. But I don't know how the food companies can absorb higher costs." (Full disclosure: I am an investor in Quaker Strategic)

Stocking up on food may not replace your long-term investments, but it may make a sensible home for some of your shorter-term cash. Do the math. If you keep your standby cash in a money-market fund you'll be lucky to get a 2.5% interest rate. Even the best one-year certificate of deposit you can find is only going to pay you about 4.1%, according to Bankrate.com. And those yields are before tax.

Meanwhile the most recent government data shows food inflation for the average American household is now running at 4.5% a year.

Click here for the rest of the article.

As part of a joint event between Multnomah County's Green Team and Portland Peak Oil, the showing of End of Suburbia went particularly well. McMenamins estimated that we had 250+ people and the Q & A session afterward went well, though it is kinda hard to tell when you are half blind because the lights.

 I had to run out and take a photo of the Bagdad's promenade.

http://wweek.com/editorial/3410/10262/

Impressive, I'm happy to hear about the Willamette Week's concern for groundwater, but talking out of your rear about greywater possibly polluting groundwater is rather off the mark. Showing more concern for the superfund site that shares your name, the Willamette River would seem to be a better use of your time and more helpful to our groundwater.

Psst, greywater isn't sewage. Sewage is blackwater which is an wonderfully appropriative name to be used for a bunch of mercenaries with one of the "Dickheads of the Year" as the CEO http://tinyurl.com/yvfbb8

I started with Multnomah County working as a system administrator this week and aside from all the paperwork, I have been enjoying the new job. I was rather happy to learn that I won't have to be part of the 5am maintenance window very frequently. I had been trying to shift my sleep schedule to being up at 4am and had mixed results, though I'll still need to be getting up about 90 minutes before I did previously.

Something that came to mind after I left the old job is a line from Bilbo, about feeling thin, like butter spread over too much bread. I think the metaphor works on many levels and just the driving alone was kinda driving me crazy, it looks like I'll be able to reduce the driving to 1/5 of previous total and maybe even less then that.