Saltire Rising

[David Yuhas]

Inland Empire, Part LVII...Saltire Rising

http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/profile.php?id=1080511000&ref=profile
(check "Profile" for Railroad Maps.)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_locomotive
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_rail

Proposed Western State Cavalry Railway & Plantation Consortium

Great Western Railway & Great Plains Express Engineering Consortium
$800 million for Land Acquisition & Lay-out

Dwight Beranek, Railroad Designer, Army Corps of Engineers,

Inland Empire, Part LIV...Tips from Alfred & Akbar

William Herzog, Herzog Railroad Construction
Paul Copeland, Beatty-Balfour Rail Inc.
William M. Stout, Atlas Railroad Construction
Jeffrey M. Levy, Railworks Inc
Peter McKenna, Skanska USA
Lorenzo Simonelli, GE Transportation
John Cavanaugh, Electro-Motive Diesel Inc.
Jens Soeby, Vestas Wind Systems
John Krenicki, Jr., GE Energy,
WSC Headquarters & 21 Plantations Consortium

$200 million for Land Acquisition & Lay-out
Michael Graves, Michael Graves Associates, Architect for Cheyenne, WSC
Headquarters, Great Hall Design for 21 Plantations, 31 Passenger &
Freight Train Stations

Wes Jackson, The Land Institute, Plantation Perennials
Prof. Joseph Thomasson, Ft. Hays State University, Greenhouses & Great
Plains Horticulture

Ernie Els, 18-Fairway Plantation Design
Retief Goosen, 18-Fairway Plantation Design

Proposed Honorary, Project Consultants
Mayor of Pueblo, Dave Galli
Mayor of Colorado Springs, Lionel Rivera
Mayor of Denver, John Hickenlooper
City Manager of Greeley, Roy H. Otto
City Manager of Ft. Collins, Darin Atteberry
Governor, C.L. Otter
Senator Mike Crapo
Senator James Risch
Congressman Mike Simpson
Mayor of Idaho Falls, Jared Fuhriman
Chairman of Ft. Hall/Pocatello, Alonzo A. Coby
Congressman Jerry Moran
Mayor of Wichita, Carl Brewer
Governor, Brian Schweitzer,
Senator Jon Tester
Congressman, Denny Rehberg
Mayor of Billings, Ron Tussing
City Manager of Bozeman, Chris Kukulski
Mayor of Butte, Paul Babb
Governor, Dave Heineman,
Congressman Jeff Fortenberry
Mayor of Lincoln, Chris Beutler
Governor, John Hoeven,
Senator Kent Conrad
Mayor of Fargo, Dennis Walaker
Governor, Brad Henry
Congressman John Sullivan
Congresswoman Mary Fallin
Mayor of Oklahoma City, Mick Cornett
Governor, Mike Rounds,
Congresswoman Stephanie Herseth-Sandlin
Mayor of Sioux Falls, Dave Munson
Governor, Rick Perry,
Congressman, Ron Paul
Congressman, Joe Barton
Mayor of McAllen, Richard F. Cortez
Mayor of Laredo, Raul G. Salinas
Mayor of Del Rio, Efrain V. Valdez
Mayor of Midland, Wes Perry
Mayor of Lubbock, Tom Martin
Mayor of Amarillo, Debra McCartt
Governor Jon Huntsman Jr.
Congressman Jim Mattheson
Mayor of Logan, Randy Watts
Mayor of Ogden, Matthew R. Godfrey
Mayor of Salt Lake City, Ralph Becker
Mayor of Provo, Lewis K. Billings
Governor, Dave Freudenthal,
Senator Michael Enzi
Senator John Barasso
Mayor of Cheyenne, Jack Spiker
Mayor of Laramie, Klaus Hanson
Mayor of Casper, Paul Bertoglio
Mayor of Sheridan, Dave Kinskey

Distinguished Friends,

Here are two simple moves that can free up US troops in the Middle East to deal with a more serious threat at home...namely the following...

http://ezinearticles.com/?Mexico-City-Warned-Folks-of-the-Water-Shortage,-Now-it-is-Temporarily-Turned-Off&id=2208910

Between the Mediterranean & the Indian border are two international borders, set up by the British Empire, that currently tie down a couple of hundred thousand, US troops who would be more gainfully employed on our own southern border.

These namely are the Mortimer Durand Line of 1894, today's Afghanistan-Pakistan Border...& the Percy Cox Line of 1923, defining the Syria-Iraq border.

Neither of these lines, by design, corresponds to any modern blood-line border...& this, & little else, is what has made the region volitile

The Durand Line, in 1894 was meant to define the border between Afghanistan & India, (not the border between Afghanistan & Pakistan, which, at the time, did not exist).

A new "Durand Line", in the spirit of the old one, creating, perforce, an Islamabad-centered Afghanistan, would be a stabilizing force for the region.

Pakistanis have much to offer Afghans...the reunification of the Pashtuns, access to the sea, a modern capital, a stylish flag, an international airline & smart military uniforms.

Afghans, likewise, have much to offer Pakistanis...a name with history, & the scale needed for a respectable, Muslim, western neighbor of ancient India &,,,sadly lacking in Pakistan, a famous, National Hound..

The Percy Cox Line, unlike the Durand Line was not negotiated but, in the Latin language, "ex parte"...meaning without regard to the affected, local populations

The purpose of the Cox Line, back in 1923...putting the Syrian Desert on the Iraqi side of the Syrian-Iraqi border was to increase the number of Sunnis in the newly-founded Iraq through which the Brits could rule Baghdad. The Ottoman Empire, which had preceded the Brits in Baghdad, being itself a Sunni State, did not need any large numbers of indigenous Sunnis on the ground, as it supplied its own.

All cities west of the Tigris-44, Mosul, Tikrit, Tel Afar, Haditha, Ramadi, Faluja & Abu Ghraib having faced Damascus for more than a thousand years, remain today, an integral part of eastern Syria...not western Iraq.

The 2000-year-old Christian community, chased out of Iraq (when Gen. Ray Odierno brought al-Qaeda into the country), & now, living as refugees in Syria proper, are profoundly ethnic Syrian. Saddam Hussein, born in Tikrit & a member of the ethnic Syrian, Baath Party, was himself, an ethnic Syrian...not an Iraqi...which explains much.

Iraqis living east of the Tigris-44 Line, by contrast, have always faced Baghdad...& for more than 2000 years have never been out of the orbit of Persia. Calling the Tigris-44 the "Umayyad-Abbasid Line" after two historic Caliphates, Damascus-centered & Baghdad-centered, would not be far off the mark.

It is notable that Charlemagne, back in the year 800, referred to the Shia of Baghdad by the same term as did Saddam Hussein when he was on the gallows..."Persians".

As neither the Shia, Kurds nor Baathists can abide al-Qaeda, "al-Qaeda in Mesopotamia" could be expected to leave Mesopotamia as soon as Syrian troops moved east to the Tigris-44.

This new border is something Syria could achieve as part of a deal involving Israel & Iraq...namely...if Syria agreed to waive its claim to the Western Slope of the Golan Heights, Syria would receive both the Eastern Slope of the Golan plus the Syrian Desert unto the Tigris-44.

This should be the thrust of the major diplomatic initiative currently being planned for Syria.
Rather than sending, a certain Martin Indyk, (code name "Warlike Finger"), to trade a wheelbarrow load of mortgage-backed securities in return for Syria's breaking ties with Iran, we should send the two favorite singers of the Syrian President...Faith Hill & Shania Twain (at least a smart as Indyk anyway), to negotiate the trade off on the Golan & the Syrian Desert.

Throughout the entire history of the United States, with the exception of the Southern States in the Civil War, war, to Americans has been viewed as a kind of foreign adventure, a spur to the economy & a Rite of Passage for of young American men. Any US President who could not deliver a decent foreign war...any kind of foreign war, is one who has been easily forgotten.

One problem with these foreign wars of choice in recent years, is that the sacrifice is easilty forgotten. Who today, under the age of 30, can tell you anything about the war in Vietnam...or even has any interest in hearing about it.

60,000 US dead, one would think, should at least be worth viewing a video about it.

Troops in Iraq & Afghanistan today should know that Americans in front of the TV...given a choice of a program about their current activities...on the one hand...or "Dancing with the Stars" or "Whacked-out Sports" on the other, don't have a chance.

Upcoming issues of Inland Empire will deal with this reorientation of US Defense policy

Regards, Boulder, Neo Confederate

David Yuhas

p.s.
There is a British magazine I read called "Farmers Weekly" which has an annual competition in a dozen categories...one of which is "Arable Adviser of the Year". It's basically only for Brits...& one is supposed to nominate oneself. Normally this is something I would stay out of...but...as the sponsor of the "Arable" category is Firestone...& as my hobby is scrap-tire engineering in the service of agriculture, I thought I would give it a go.

So the following is the last installment of my application for "Arable Adviser of the Year"

(What Firestone doesn't know...is that a few years ago, I wrote a song about Firestone tires)

********************
Under the radar of meteorologists has been a discovery of mine...the "Terresphere"...the earth's atmospheric layer lying below knee-level.

This is the realm of saltating dust clouds...the first phase of dust storms, that no woody seedling can withstand.

The ultimate defender of woody stems on desertified landscapes is the scrap, car tyre...keeping off the wind, moderating the temperature, conserving moisture, holding mulch...& indirectly also aerating the soil by attracting worms & bugs.

Arguably the toughest thing made by human hands, tyres may be dropped over a remote area by plane (of for that matter, even by spaceship) without damage.

A stack of two tyres held in place by two 18" rebars is recommended for tree seedlings. Above that level, the young tree can usually fend for itself.

For the purpose of demarcating international boundaries in remote drylands, let me here suggest the planted "Gallery".

First chisel two furrows, 8.6 metres apart, 100 metres long. Then take a Planters Line, non-stretch, 100 metres long, loops on either end & marked black, red, black, red on the five metre marks.

Take two species of woody seedlings of complementary conformation...say a tree & a shrub...& in one row plant "tree-shrub-tree-shrub"...& in the next row plant, "shrub-tree-shrub-tree.... Place a stack of two tyres around each seeding...& surround the seedling with crumpled newspaper. As the plants grow, by Pythagoras, they will lock like a zipper in 10 meter triangles.

Plant 100 Galleries in a row, & irrigate with a 5000 gallon tank truck with 6 spigots driving up the middle of the Gallery. A driver followed by a team of six Aquarians with gallon buckets gives each seedling a gallon.

As there are 42 plants in a Gallery...& as 6 goes into 42 seven times, this makes seven watering stops in every Gallery...100 Galleries, 700 watering stops in a days work.

Planting on the metre mark has a major advantage over free form...not only in making one's water budget easier to calculate...but even more importantly, as a deterrent to pilfering saplings. UN sponsored free-form plantings in Africa, for example, only encourage the notion that "only two or three" saplings taken out of a million planted are not going to be missed.

Then, after a couple of years, a million plantings are down to 10,000...& nobody knows anything.

An artistic planting on the metre marks will guarantee that anything pilfered will indeed be missed.

My Great, Tomato Experiment

A few years ago, I performed an experiment on a horse ranch, on the south face of a mountain in Gold Hill, Colorado...altitude 3000 metres.

I cut 16 notches into the mountain side, & filled the notches with a combination of sand, pine needles & horse manure. Then I planted a cherry tomato plant in each. Then I encircled each plant with a stack of three scrap tyres...each tyre filled with, four, 2 litre, plastic water bottles. Then I covered each stack with a sheet of burlap acquired from the local Celestial Seasonings tea company. Then taking clothes line I tied down the burlap to make drums out of the stacks. This was early in May.

A couple of weeks later the drums were buried in a snow storm, where they remained buried for a couple of weeks. While the tomatoes did not grow during this time (&, in fact had turned a little blue) these, most cold-sensitive of plants began to grow shortly thereafter.

By the end of August I had the most spectacular crop of cherry tomatoes I had ever seen...a veritable Hanging Gardens of Babylon...which brings me to my final subject

Recreating the Hanging Gardens of Babylon on the Plains of East Anglia


The principle of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon is a simple one...& can be recreated through the use of large, scrap tyres...all of the same size.

First, to get the idea, purchase about 5 or 6 packs of Lifesavers. These are your tyres. Then get a hand full of drinking straws....& lay them out on a table.

Run a drinking straw through a stack of Lifesavers...& next to it, another stack with one less Lifesaver...& a third & a fourth until you are down to a "stack" of one.

The principle here is that the individual stacks are planted in vines...& that water pumped up a pipe through the centre stack, waters all of the plants as it circles down the ramp.

To make a Hanging Gardens out of earth-mover tyres, you "Mint" or drill the sidewalls with four holes in each side, run rebar through the holes & lock the rebars together with chain.

To fill the sidewall completely with sand or a "wet mix" pry each sidewall with four steel pegs that can be pulled loose with chains once the tyres are full.

Let's say you want to set up a wildlife park in Norfolk that would include animals that like to climb. A Hanging Gardens would be a perfect solution.

This complete my application for Arable Adviser of the Year.

David Yuhas, Boulder, Colorado, USA


p.p.s.

YouTube - Jennifer Nettles - Who Says You Can't Go Home: Closed Captioned, Duet With Jennifer Nettles Of Sugarland (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_PnfITxnhM)

p.p.p.s.

If Wall Street is not American enough for Texas...

http://www.celluloid-dreams.de/content/images/kritiken-filmbilder/harry-potter-und-der-stein/harry-potter-1-2.jpg

the same might be said for the entire Endecanese.

President Obama may soon have to choose between the Anecdotal Insurance Group & Eleven Western States....being "tested" in this regard as Joe Biden predicted.

p.p.p.p.s.

Jesse, Jesse
What the heck
Go see Norm
& snap his neck