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Engineered Shortages

Another weirdness. Military police deployed in China to stop farmers growing crops they didn't approve:


I mean, heck, they are just growing food... but somehow that's wrong?
The stupids are definitely in charge now.

While I'd generally approve of using Military police against farmers this seems OTT. Anybody aware of background info regarding this?
 
While I'd generally approve of using Military police against farmers this seems OTT. Anybody aware of background info regarding this?

ls this related?

“China reins in rural 'enforcers' amid outcry over backyard vegetable-growing ban

A ban on backyard plots of melons, squashes or beans sparks fears over Mao-era agricultural controls.

China's propaganda machine has been scrambling to soothe public anger amid reports that local "agricultural management" officials threatened to uproot backyard fruit and vegetable plots as part of a rural "beautification" campaign.

"Due to the need to create a civilized environment, the planting of climbing vegetables like beans or melons and squashes in front and backyards is strictly forbidden," a notice placed in a village near the northern city of Xian dated April 1 said.

"That includes cucumbers, tomatoes, loofahs, pumpkins, zucchini, etc," said the notice, which caused an outcry after it was photographed and posted by a social media user from the village.

"The village committee will be sending personnel to carry out spot checks, and to destroy any [forbidden crops]," said the notice.”

https://www.rfa.org/english/news/china/garden-ban-04192023130559.html

maximus otter
 
ls this related?

“China reins in rural 'enforcers' amid outcry over backyard vegetable-growing ban

A ban on backyard plots of melons, squashes or beans sparks fears over Mao-era agricultural controls.

China's propaganda machine has been scrambling to soothe public anger amid reports that local "agricultural management" officials threatened to uproot backyard fruit and vegetable plots as part of a rural "beautification" campaign.

"Due to the need to create a civilized environment, the planting of climbing vegetables like beans or melons and squashes in front and backyards is strictly forbidden," a notice placed in a village near the northern city of Xian dated April 1 said.

"That includes cucumbers, tomatoes, loofahs, pumpkins, zucchini, etc," said the notice, which caused an outcry after it was photographed and posted by a social media user from the village.

"The village committee will be sending personnel to carry out spot checks, and to destroy any [forbidden crops]," said the notice.”

https://www.rfa.org/english/news/china/garden-ban-04192023130559.html

maximus otter
It does seem to be connected with that.
What is the real motivation behind this? I find it to be illogical.
 
It does seem to be connected with that.
What is the real motivation behind this? I find it to be illogical.

To make the area look pretty. It's not unusual in the West (especially in the USA) to have ordinances against growing vegetables etc in front gardens.
 
To make the area look pretty. It's not unusual in the West (especially in the USA) to have ordinances against growing vegetables etc in front gardens.
Sure. It keeps the property prices high.
The USA also has some odd ideas... for example, not allowing people to collect and store rainwater in some states and counties.
 
Over here (UK) you can have a nice collection of mattresses and old car parts and no one gives a toss.
True at the moment. Not for much longer, I suspect.
 
Another weirdness. Military police deployed in China to stop farmers growing crops they didn't approve:


I mean, heck, they are just growing food... but somehow that's wrong?
The stupids are definitely in charge now.
"Dutch Farmers"
 
I don't really have much to say about the conspiracy to engineer shortages however I do believe that many large corporations are price gouging in order to make up for losses made during the pandemic in particular energy companies
 
Neil McCoy-Ward again, exposing the sheer lunacy behind the drive to shut down Dutch farms:

 
I'm damn sure that supermarkets are too.
On the news this morning, it seems potatoes are on the list, i.e. means that chips will probably have to be increased in price! Who would have dreamt years ago that one day the British staple - fish & chips would one day cost over £10:00 eh?
 
Sure. It keeps the property prices high.
The USA also has some odd ideas... for example, not allowing people to collect and store rainwater in some states and counties.
We can collect rainwater here, when I was a kid my Dad always kept a drum under the leader coming from the roof gutter, in order to catch all the rain, and my Mum would water the vegetable garden with that. We had a huge yard full of trees and flowers.
These days, I don't see anyone doing that - then they whine about the price of water increases!
 
We can collect rainwater here, when I was a kid my Dad always kept a drum under the leader coming from the roof gutter, in order to catch all the rain, and my Mum would water the vegetable garden with that. We had a huge yard full of trees and flowers.
These days, I don't see anyone doing that - then they whine about the price of water increases!
Some states have areas where it's not allowed.
It seems just ludicrous.
It may be because the local water companies have bought somebody off. Or something like that.
 
Neil Oliver's take on the issue:

 
Some states have areas where it's not allowed.
It seems just ludicrous.
It may be because the local water companies have bought somebody off. Or something like that.

I think in some US states this is goes way back to the settlement era - when land rights and water rights were established as different economic entities. Rainwater is effectively deemed to be groundwater in waiting - and therefore belongs to the owner of the latter, not the person who happens to just live under where it falls. I believe I've read somewhere that there's at least one state where it's legal to sell and own a rainwater butt - but not to fill it. It seems utterly bonkers, but it's really just a product of historical frontier capitalism.

I think the issue with greywater is possibly more to do with the potentially harmful effects of impurities - like, for instance, detergents - if the water is not treated properly or is reused inappropriately.
 
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This article gets a 'WTF' reaction from me:

https://www.eutimes.net/2023/06/13-nations-agree-to-abolish-farming-in-order-to-save-the-planet/

13 nations have agreed to abolish farming!
What effect will that have? Oh yes, mass starvation.
Bit dubious about the"EU Times" and their agenda.

Reduction in beef farming may reduce methane emissions, no bad thing. (IIRC farming Bison is better as they fart less or summat. If they were good enough for the Comanche they're good enough for me) I think some de foreststion is to enable cattle farming as well.

Alternatively it would work by causing starvation and thus reducing the human population and helping to save the planet!
 
Bit dubious about the"EU Times" and their agenda.

Reduction in beef farming may reduce methane emissions, no bad thing. (IIRC farming Bison is better as they fart less or summat. If they were good enough for the Comanche they're good enough for me) I think some de foreststion is to enable cattle farming as well.

Alternatively it would work by causing starvation and thus reducing the human population and helping to save the planet!
OMG, Tunn11 has been 'got at'!
You might find yourself being one of the people who gets starved to death. Are you OK with that?
 
I don't know anything about it. Is it an EU mouthpiece or something else?
Is what they are saying true or not?

Organs of high-quality journalism tend not to have mastheads like this.

SmartSelect_20230724_214204_Samsung Internet.jpg


Unless they've timeslipped to 1995.
 
I don't know anything about it. Is it an EU mouthpiece or something else?
Is what they are saying true or not?

The European Union Times is a dubious source. This is what Mediabiasfactcheck.com says about it:

  • Overall, we rate The European Union Times as a far-right-biased conspiracy website that also publishes fake news and promotes hatred toward immigrants, minorities, and Jews.

Rationa Wiki has this:

Upon closer inspection, however, it is little more than a regurgitator of news stories that paint blacks, Hispanics, and Jews in a bad light. Beyond that, it is a particularly unpleasant far-right blog with the information standards of InfoWars. The reporting is, without exception, shockingly unprofessional.

They don’t provide the names of any of their ‘journalists’ - it’s entirely opaque - not exactly usual for a reputable news source. Have a look at this article on their site to see where they’re coming from.

https://www.eutimes.net/2018/11/are-antifa-anarchists-really-communists-or-just-satanists/
 
OMG, Tunn11 has been 'got at'!
You might find yourself being one of the people who gets starved to death. Are you OK with that?
Well, no but I'm guessing that the gist of the article was about moving away from farming animals to vegetables with a greater yield per acre, but it was badly written and perhaps deliberately sensationalist hence my comment about being dubious about the source.

Of course if steps were taken to stabilise or reduce the population, over time then there wouldn't be as much of a need to change farming methods in terms of food production (distribution is another matter)

However I think that methane is more of a problem than CO2 in terms of its effect on climate so finding methods of reducing methane producing farm animals may be a better idea than trying to switch everyone onto electric cars and heat pumps, etc.

I wonder what effect, if any, did huge herds of farting Sauropoda have on the late Mesozoic climate? :)
 
The European Union Times is a dubious source. This is what Mediabiasfactcheck.com says about it:



Rationa Wiki has this:



They don’t provide the names of any of their ‘journalists’ - it’s entirely opaque - not exactly usual for a reputable news source. Have a look at this article on their site to see where they’re coming from.

https://www.eutimes.net/2018/11/are-antifa-anarchists-really-communists-or-just-satanists/
More than just dubious now!

Edit to add: I guess that an initiative to encourage farmers away from farming methods that produce a lot of methane (whatever you think of that idea) has been spun to "abolishing farming" (a real WTF idea as @Mythopoeika said)
 
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I wonder what effect, if any, did huge herds of farting Sauropoda have on the late Mesozoic climate? :)
That was probably one of the main causes of global warming then. Along with massive volcanic activity and wildfires.
 
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