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Simply Brilliant Sustainable Clay-Fired Desert Architecture: Innovative Buildings from Local Materials

Imagine a sustainable building system that requires only the skills of a potter to complete. A basic earthen structure is formed and finished by traditional clay-firing processes.

There is a series of photos at the link. Differences in decorating tastes aside they seem very livable. It’s not a complicated floor plan which is great for people like me who like to keep things as simple as possible.  The only draw back is that deserts are very attractive yet by definition don’t naturally support large populations because of the lack of local water sources.

chicago pavilion wallpaper 

FBI Deputizes Private Contractors With Extraordinary Powers, Including ‘Shoot to Kill’ 

“There is evidence that InfraGard may be closer to a corporate TIPS program, turning private-sector corporations — some of which may be in a position to observe the activities of millions of individual customers — into surrogate eyes and ears for the FBI,” the ACLU warned in its August 2004 report The Surveillance-Industrial Complex: How the American Government Is Conscripting Businesses and Individuals in the Construction of a Surveillance Society.

InfraGard is not readily accessible to the general public. Its communications with the FBI and Homeland Security are beyond the reach of the Freedom of Information Act under the “trade secrets” exemption, its website says. And any conversation with the public or the media is supposed to be carefully rehearsed.

The FBI denies that they have given any advice or training on matters involving the use of lethal force, but whistleblowers claim otherwise. Another important aspect of this kind of organization is assess to information. Who gets it and who gets it first -Jay Stanley, public education director of the ACLU’s technology and liberty program stated “There’s no ‘business class’ in law enforcement. If there’s information the FBI can share with 22,000 corporate bigwigs, why don’t they just share it with the public? That’s who their real ’special relationship’ is supposed to be with.” It all sounds like some out of control junior astro-ranger program with secret decoder rings and the authority to lethal force.