Magic mshrooms: "demedicalisation of dying"

I recently read an article about this but it's old hat as this essay from 2004 suggests.

From The Hallucinogenic Way of Dying:

Almost as soon as Dr. Charles Grob secured approval to study the effects of psilocybin on Stage IV cancer patients, he faced another challenge, one nearly as formidable.
...

Psilocybin is relatively safe; significantly safer, in fact, than the drug Grob had initially sought to use for the study, MDMA (otherwise known as "Ecstasy"); according to most research, you'd have to ingest your own body weight in "magic mushrooms" to poison yourself. But it's still a Schedule I drug, regarded by the federal authorities as having a high potential for abuse and no medical application.
...
Grob hopes to find that, in addition to reducing psychological distress associated with impending death, psilocybin is the rare substance that can safely reduce a cancer sufferer's need for pain medication – not because it blunts pain, as morphine does, but because it "changes one's perception of pain."

The whole essay is worth reading but it just confirms my hunch, after thirty years of working in pharmacy that herbal drugs are illegal because they would cut into big pharmacy's profits. They work better and have fewer nasty side effects and they're basically free - god-given.

I have prescriptions for quite a few drugs that have "a high potential for abuse" but they are not classed as Schedule I drug because they are manufactured by big pharmacy. The problem is their side-effects which affect one's "quality of life". Most man-made drugs are two-edged swords. Think about the TV commercials for minor irritations like itches and sneezes. They all end up by saying that there is a "possibility" that you will piss your liver out through your kidneys. I'm sorry; but even nausea and constipation (side-effects of many man-made "painkillers" like morphine and codeine and all opiates) is a "quality of life" issue.

From Using 'magic mushrooms' to reduce anxiety in the final hours of life:

A medical ethics expert has said hallucinogenic drugs could be used to enhance the experience of dying.

The controversial suggestions include using ecstasy and 'magic mushrooms' to encourage closer bonding with family members and reduce anxiety in the final hours of life.

Robin Mackenzie, director of medical law and ethics at the University of Kent, will speak out at a workshop in London today to call for people to be given more choice over how they die.

Dr Mackenzie told the Independent newspaper: 'We have the technology to enhance the experience of dying.'
...
She said: 'My research into the demedicalisation of dying suggests that there is a groundswell of people wanting to exercise choices in dying beyond euthanasia and palliative care options.

'We are encouraged to manage our lives and managing our deaths could be part of that.

'I can see good reasons why doctors don't want to be involved. But that will increase the demand for self-help measures.'

For a "real life" story read Stairway to Heaven: Psychedelics Soothe Dying.

I'm all for the "demedicalisation of dying." Or at least the de-institutionilization of death. It's the difference between dining in a fine restaurant and getting an intravenous infusion of "nutrition" in hospital. Anybody got any "magic mushrooms?"

Occupy Wall Street: the "herbal tea party"

I know where they're coming from - but...

Do you want chamomile or patchouli in your hot water?

I was born and raised in Africa and to me these "impoverished" neo-hippies are risible.

Taylor Marvin checks the math of the above image, which has been making the rounds:

Is this true? Is the income of the bottom 99% of US citizens in the top 1% of world income? Short answer: maybe. From the World Bank, World Development Indicators dataset, in 2009 per capita US income was $45,989, compared to a world average of $8,599. Plugging this into the Global Rich List income comparison tool tell us that the average American falls into the top 1.43% of humanity, suggesting that the 99 Percent graphic’s claim is just off.

Adbusters behind "Occupy Wall Street"

We all know that the kids camping out in NY are "useful idiots" but who are the agents provocateurs Marxist/Leninist puppeteers manipulating them?

Adbusters!

A friend sent me over a well thought-out critique of the event from Mother Jones. When I saw the third word in the article, "Adbusters," I immediately looked away from my screen and said out loud "Oh dear God. The poor kids..." The article clearly states Adbusters' hand in perpetuating this into being, which is exactly the problem. Adbusters makes caviar socialists like Dominique Strauss-Kahn look like the salt of the earth, saviors of the working class. They basically prey on college students and twenty-somethings unsure of themselves but with distrust in authority, selling their massive and expensive glossy magazine. The pages reek of anarchist navel-gazing and wankery and self-important "down with corporations/big business/capitalism" screeds that really say little if anything at all.

But worst is Adbusters' method of "protesting," called "culture jamming."

It's a cross between an elaborate prank and choosing not to do something voluntarily. "Buy Nothing Day," a protest to Black Friday by buying...nothing? "Digital Detox Week," a protest to technology by not using it for a week? To anyone else, these "culture jams" look really silly. But Adbusters sincerely believes that performing these acts of "protest," rather than confronting and attacking the institutions that harm culture directly, is the best way of changing the culture. Really. And when you ask how the culture should change, they blather without outlining a specific agenda. Hell, Adbusters' whole existence seems bent on the hopes that nobody will notice that when challenged, they are incapable of making a coherent and compelling argument defending their beliefs and politics, or seeing that their actions may not have an impact. They live in a detached fantasy world similar to Sarah Palin's, only much bigger.

Were Occupy Wall Street an organic creation, then I'd be slightly more sympathetic to the cause. But this is Adbusters' wet dream: Twisting and diluting the positive and overwhelming force of the Arab Spring (even name-checking Tahrir in their announcement of Occupy Wall Street), even going as far as warping the definition of civil disobedience, to create a slightly more advanced form of culture jamming that might give them the attention they so crave. Of course the people in Occupy Wall Street don't have clear reasons or goals. Adbusters made it that way. And that alone fills me with rage.

My immediate thought is: Who's behind Adbusters?

Here's their website.

Wikipedia:

Adbusters Media Foundation is a not-for-profit, anti-consumerist, pro-environment organization founded in 1989 by Kalle Lasn and Bill Schmalz in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The foundation describes itself as "a global network of artists, activists, writers, pranksters, students, educators and entrepreneurs who want to advance the new social activist movement of the information age."

The Adbusters Media Foundation publishes the reader-supported, advertising-free Adbusters, an activist magazine with an international circulation of 120,000 devoted to challenging consumerism.

Lasn and Schmalz sound like "useful idiots" too. Where do they get their money? Or maybe just typical opportunistic predators:

In 2004, Adbusters began selling vegan, indy shoes...The V2 is designed by Canadian shoe designer John Fluevog. It is made from organic hemp and recycled car tires."

Even though the founders are "Jews", they have been accused of anti-semitism. Sounds just like the opportunistic "Jews" in Hollywood.

Culture Jam:

Adbusters is the brainchild of Kalle Lasn, an Estonian-born documentary filmmaker. He spent his childhood in a German refugee camp and in Australia. Lasn founded a market research company in Tokyo in the 1960s and eventually moved to Vancouver, Canada. For twenty years, he produced documentaries for PBS and Canada’s National Film Board. Then, as he tells it, a “realization” hit him.

Lasn stood in a Canadian supermarket parking lot frustrated because he had to insert a quarter into a cart to shop there. He jammed his quarter in so that the cart became inoperable. This was the first “culture jam” (quite literally). “I didn’t stop to analyze whether this was ethical or not,” Lasn would later explain in his book. “I just let my anger flow.”
...
Adbusters magazine began as a local quarterly in 1989 with three full-time volunteers and a circulation of 5,000 copies. Now an international bi-monthly (still advertisement-free), it boasts a dozen editors, over 250 freelancers, and a circulation of 120,000. Two-thirds of those readers are American, but there are subscribers in more than 60 countries. The magazine is the top-selling Canadian title in the U.S., and can be found at mainstream outlets like Barnes & Noble and Borders.

Leafing through a copy of Adbusters, however, the typical book-browser is likely to be shocked. The publication is a sort of MAD Magazine for the pretentious -- but much more sinister. There are always parodies and rip-offs of well-known ads. There are articles on how to be a better activist, and justifying the targeting of activism’s latest disfavored industry. And there is art: sometimes obvious, sometimes incomprehensible. One recent issue included a picture of adolescents giving the finger, and a photograph of hair being plucked from a human nipple.
...
At the heart of Adbusters is hatred of big business, in any form. As Naomi Klein writes in No Logo, “Simply put, anticorporatism is the brand of politics capturing the imagination of the next generation of troublemakers and shit-disturbers, and we need only look to the student radicals of the 1960s and the ID [identity politics] warriors of the eighties and nineties to see the transformative impact such a shift can have.”

This leads Adbusters to its animus: the desire to make corporations extinct.
...
Self-described culture jammers are typically also rabidly opposed to economic globalization and harbor virulent hatred for multinational corporations. Don’t call them “lefties,” though. Lasn thinks the Left is too “establishment” these days.
...
Despite all its bluster about the virtues of an advertising-free world, Adbusters uses the very techniques it excoriates corporations for. It uses marketing to try and kill marketing.
...
Why do Adbusters writers and editors hate personal choice so much? Because their utopia would be a nightmare for most Americans. “What makes you think you have the right to drive around with a ton of metal wrapped around you,” asks the September/October 2003 issue, “the right to twist a tap and get hot water, the right to flick a switch and get your house warmed up?” Were the Adbusters group to get its way, hundreds of years of progress would vanish.
...
Adbusters generally prefers rage to discernment. “Let your anger out. When it wells up suddenly from deep in your gut, don’t suppress it -- channel it, trust it, use it. Don’t be so unthinkingly civil all the time,” Kalle Lasn advises. “Rage drives revolutions.”

The very name of the group implies destruction of private property. This is specifically advocated in nearly every issue of the magazine. Of course, its leaders prefer to couch this directive in lofty rhetoric, thinking of themselves as freedom fighters. “Consumer capitalism is by its very nature unethical,” Lasn writes, “and therefore it’s not unethical to jam it … liberating a billboard in the middle of the night can be a rather honest and joyful thing to do.”
...
The slick glossy has a cover price of $7.95 -- more than twice the price of People, Vogue, or GQ. The Adbusters website features a plethora of products for sale, including videos, posters, calendars, postcards, books, and even a 3x5-foot “corporate” flag -- the American flag with the stars replaced by corporate logos. In 2002, Adbusters suggested substituting its version for the real Stars and Stripes on July 4 in front of stores, schools, and embassies.

Lasn is Estonian i.e. born and raised under Soviet socialism and, just like his fellow former communists, the Russian kleptocrats, is not human but a cockroach. Sadly the "useful idiots" will keep buying his bullshit at $7.95 a pop.

Anders Breivik - "A little learning is a dangerous thing"

Was Anders Breivik a troll?

I’m sorry if that seems a flippant question to ask about a man who killed dozens of Norwegian teenagers, but you can’t read his 1,500-page “manifesto” without being struck by how thoroughly he trawled the web. Whatever the explanation for his murderous actions, this was definitely a brain warped by the blogosphere.

For readers unfamiliar with blogs, I should explain what I mean by “troll”. The word can be used to describe two types of commenters who write underneath published posts. There are simple-minded folk with jokey nicknames who fling insults at each other for hours at a stretch, amusing no one but themselves. My own blog is infested with them.
...
These trolls aren’t confined to the far Left or the far Right: some of the most noxious internet bores turn out to be Liberal Democrats. It’s true that, on the whole, their views tend to be controversial, but the essence of their trolling is their rhetorical style: in particular, an insistence that they know the truth about everything. All they really have in common – apart from an aversion to deodorant – is hysterical omniscience.
...
He knew where to look to find statistics to support his vicious theories. He knew that the far Right can succeed only by exploiting public anger at political correctness and immigration, avoiding the idiocy of neo-Nazism, about which the manifesto is scathing. Above all, he revelled in the special hysteria of the internet, which allows its users to bolt together whatever ideas turn them on, while ruthlessly excluding inconvenient data. (This new hysteria taints even the most trivial internet discourse – you should have seen the way supporters and opponents of vibrato-free Mahler were squawking at each other after Roger Norrington’s Prom on Monday.)

I don’t know why Breivik made the leap from propaganda to mass murder. I don’t think he was mad, in the sense of suffering from psychotic delusions, but there’s no doubt that years spent in the echo chambers of cyberspace can cause psychological damage.

In the months leading up to last Friday’s atrocity, did he join in the internet discussions he read so avidly? Given his verbosity, it’s more than likely. The manifesto is written in the self-righteous, autodidactic style of a troll; it will be interesting to see whether, following Breivik’s arrest, one of the anonymous contributors to Right-wing websites suddenly disappears off the map.

Sounds about right. I actually knew a troll in person. He used to stalk me on the Web after I contributed to an anti-cult Web group. He believed that the government was poisoning us with contrails and a bunch of other paranoid nonsense. My hunch is that Breivik is also some sort of twisted closet case like a child-molester or coprophiliac or something unhealthy like that; not insane but definitely solipsistic, intellectually-challenged and half-educated.

As Alexander Pope (1688 - 1744) wrote in An Essay on Criticism:

A little learning is a dangerous thing;
drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring:
there shallow draughts intoxicate the brain,
and drinking largely sobers us again.

No Medicare for ex-pats so Uruguay is out of the question

I thought I'd better check on whether I can get Medicare as an ex-pat. Nope. Of course the Medicare premium is garnished from SS before you even get paid but Medicare will not pay for any health-care outside the USA. And of course Medicare is mandatory. If you chose not to have Medicare, you forfeit your entire SS. Who the hell thought of this? Stalin? It's no wonder that only the very rich can afford to retire outside the USA.

The Norwegian Nazi

John Derbyshire quotes Ralph Peters' “The ‘Eurabia’ Myth":

Peters prophesied that John/Jean/Josef/José/Giuseppe Q. European will eventually get in touch with his inner fascist:

Don’t let Europe’s current round of playing pacifist dress-up fool you: This is the continent that perfected genocide and ethnic cleansing, the happy-go-lucky slice of humanity that brought us such recent hits as the Holocaust and Srebrenica. The historical patterns are clear: When Europeans feel sufficiently threatened — even when the threat’s concocted nonsense — they don’t just react, they over-react with stunning ferocity.

I lived in Europe for 8 years and soon found that, if you scratch a European socialist deep enough, you'll find a national socialist aka Nazi. The Norwegian nutcase may claim to be anti-Hitler but he is an unadulterated racist Nazi.

Uruguay here I come

I just turned 64. It's time for me to retire. I've lived in Africa, Europe and North America. I think I'm ready for another continent. Uruguay here I come.

From the diary of an American ex-pat in Uruguay:

Uruguay has the second greatest reserves of water, per capita, in the world, after Canada.
...
It is at the same relative latitude as the North Carolina Capes - the climate is perfect for me.
...
On average it goes below freezing about 2.5 days/year and above 90F/32C only 6 days per year. As we all know, the Good Lord did not intend fat men in wheelchairs to live where it is hot!
...
Contrary to my impressions from afar, a high percentage of people speak some English. Between their English and my limited Spanish, we do pretty well.
...
Comment on currency symbols: Uruguayans use the $ sign for their Uruguayan Pesos (UYU), which are about 24 to the US Dollar. Consequently, when you see $ on UY websites, it means Pesos, not Dollars. Dollars are usually denominated as U$S.
...
I guess they haven't figured out how to "sock it to the gringos yet"; maybe their culture is such that they never will. Too easy - too normal; I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop.

I can't take it! Waiting for the other hob-nailed boot to drop is killing me! If this keeps up I'm going to have to leave here because of the stress...of waiting for the big "gotcha" that must be out there somewhere.

This morning, the government-owned phone company, Antel, showed up as promised and installed our two additional phone lines: amazing! The only downside is that if you want more than one jack per line, you have to hire a private contractor for the additional jacks. Earlier in the day, a 20-page tabloid size advertising flyer in full color was delivered in the post. It was from the local 24 hour pharmacy chain. It offered the usual gamut of items from lipstick to hemorrhoid treatment. That, plus free dial-up Internet access and even real street addresses is too much to take. The normalcy is killing me. To paraphrase one of my readers, I'm waiting for the "immigration police to kick in my door", or the transplanted Russian Mafia to kidnap Harry, or something, anything that will burst this bubble of seeming normalcy before I get suckered in again.
...
Another difference is the attitude towards time. After living in the West Indies for a while I learned the system there: whatever time frame was promised would really happen in the next higher time unit: 1 minute is really 1 hour, 1 hour is really 1 day, 1 day is really one week, etc.

I also figured out the time rules in Costa Rica: there are none! If someone is really considerate, they will ring you 45 minutes after they were supposed to arrive to cancel or postpone. If they are from the government telecoms, they will set an appointment and never show up; or they will show up out of the blue and expect you to drop everything to accommodate them.

Time here seems to be understood in an Italianate mode: they try to be on time, but sometimes things happen; and when things happen they are very, very sorry and will do better next time: and they do. Thus far, nothing has slipped more than a day - which amazes me. I waited weeks for telephones in Costa Rica and months for broadband. This place may really be "Eisenhower's America in Spanish". ¡Hasta luego!
...
Well, now I'm really annoyed! It is becoming increasingly hard to remain skeptical when everything is working properly. Both ADSL lines are working (all we did to the first line was reposition the wireless router); the housekeeper has been coming in on time and doing a good job (at $2.10/hour inclusive), and we've been able to buy everything we need locally.

On top of that McDonalds delivers, as do the local mom & pop food shops. They seem to have a fleet of kids on motorbikes; and delivery usually takes no more than 10-15 minutes.

Expat Daily News.

The word Uruguay, coming from the Guaraní language, means "river of painted birds":

Translated into English, República Oriental del Uruguay becomes Oriental Republic of Uruguay; The Eastern Republic of Uruguay; or the Republic East of the Uruguay. The last is actually the only correct literal translation (though probably the least common), as it is named after its geographic location to the east of the Uruguay River. Because of the ambiguity in its meaning when translated, the government of Uruguay normally uses simply Uruguay in English.
...
[O]fficially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, sometimes the Eastern Republic of Uruguay; Spanish: República Oriental del Uruguay pronounced [reˈpuβlika oɾjenˈtal del uɾuˈɣwai]) is a country located in the south eastern part of South America. It is home to some 3.5 million people, of whom 1.8 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area. An estimated 88% of the population are of European descent.
...
The only documented inhabitants of Uruguay before European colonization of the area were the Charrúa, a small tribe driven south by the Guaraní of Paraguay.

The Spanish arrived in the territory of present-day Uruguay in 1516 but the people's fierce resistance to conquest, combined with the absence of gold and silver, limited their settlement in the region during the 16th and 17th centuries. Uruguay then became a zone of contention between the Spanish and the Portuguese empires. In 1603 the Spanish began to introduce cattle, which became a source of wealth in the region. The first permanent settlement on the territory of present-day Uruguay was founded by the Spanish in 1624 at Soriano on the Río Negro. In 1669–71 the Portuguese built a fort at Colonia del Sacramento. Spanish colonization increased as Spain sought to limit Portugal's expansion of Brazil's frontiers.
...
Colonia del Sacramento, one of Uruguay's oldest European settlements, was founded by the Portuguese in 1680. Montevideo was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold. Uruguay won its independence in 1811–28 following a three-way struggle between the claims of Spain, Argentina and Brazil.
...
Montevideo was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold. Its natural harbor soon developed into a commercial area competing with Argentina's capital, Buenos Aires. Uruguay's early 19th century history was shaped by ongoing fights between the British, Spanish, Portuguese, and other colonial forces for dominance in the Platine region. In 1806 and 1807 the British army attempted to seize Buenos Aires as part of the Napoleonic Wars. As a result Montevideo was occupied by a British force from February to September 1807.
...
In 1811 José Gervasio Artigas, who became Uruguay's national hero, launched a successful revolution against the Spanish authorities, defeating them on 18 May at the Battle of Las Piedras.
...
This led to the 500 day-long Argentina-Brazil War. Neither side gained the upper hand and in 1828 the Treaty of Montevideo, fostered by the United Kingdom, gave birth to Uruguay as an independent state. The nation's first constitution was adopted on 18 July 1830.
...
Uruguay is one of the most economically developed countries in South America, with a high GDP per capita.
...
Uruguay is rated as the 2nd least corrupt country in Latin America (behind Chile), although Uruguay scores considerably better than Chile on domestic polls of corruption perception. Its political and labour conditions are the highest level of freedom on the continent. It was the highest rated country in Latin America on Legatum's 2010 Prosperity Index. Reader's Digest ranked Uruguay as ninth "Most livable and greenest" country in the world, and first in all the Americas.
...
Uruguay was the first South American country to legalize same-sex and different-sex civil unions at a national level, and to allow gay adoption. Uruguay and Bolivia were the only countries in the Americas which did not go into recession (2 consecutive quarters of retraction) as a result of the Late-2000s financial crisis. Uruguay is reimbursed by the UN for the majority of its military spending, because the majority of its military is deployed as UN Peacekeepers. In 2009, Uruguay became the first nation in the world to provide every school child with a free laptop and wireless internet. Uruguay was the first nation in the Americas to test hemp cultivation.

Uruguay's only land border is with Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, to the north. To the west lie the Uruguay River and to the southwest lies the estuary of Río de la Plata with Argentina only a short commute across the banks of either of these bodies of water, while to the southeast lies the southern part of the Atlantic Ocean. Uruguay, with an area of approximately 176,000 square kilometres (68,000 sq mi

Uruguay's climate is relatively mild. Located entirely within the temperate zone Uruguay has a climate that is fairly uniform nationwide. Seasonal variations are pronounced, but extremes in temperature are rare. As would be expected by its abundance of water, high humidity and fog are common. The absence of mountains, which act as weather barriers, makes all locations vulnerable to high winds and rapid changes in weather as fronts or storms sweep across the country. Both summer and winter weather may vary from day to day with the passing of storm fronts where a hot northerly wind may occasionally be followed by a cold wind (pampero) from the Argentine Pampas.

Uruguay has a largely uniform temperature throughout the year, summer being tempered by winds off the Atlantic, and severe cold in winter is unknown. The heaviest precipitation occurs during the autumn months, although more frequent rainy spells occur in winter. The mean annual precipitation is generally greater than 40 inches (1,000 mm), decreasing with distance from the sea coast, and is relatively evenly distributed throughout the year.

The average temperature for the mid-winter month of July varies from 12 °C (54 °F) at Salto in the northern interior to 9 °C (48 °F) at Montevideo in the south.[5] The midsummer month of January varies from a warm average of 26 °C (79 °F) at Salto to 22 °C (72 °F) at Montevideo.[5] National extreme temperatures at sea level are, Paysandú city 44 °C (111 °F) (20 January 1943) and Melo city −11 °C (12.2 °F) (14 June 1967).
...
Uruguayans are of predominantly European origin with an estimated 88% of the population being of European descent. A 2008 survey by the Instituto Nacional de Estadística (INE) of Uruguay requesting the respondent to self-report their predominant ancestry (only one choice was allowed) found that 95.4% reported a predominant white ancestry, 3.4% Black or African, 1.1% Indigenous and 0.1% Asian or Amarillo ("yellow"). Another INE survey, also conducted in 2008, found that 10% reported having some degree of Black/African ancestry, 5.5% partial Indigenous, and 0.3% partial Asian ancestry.

Most Uruguayans of European ancestry are descendants of 19th and 20th century immigrants from Spain and Italy (about one-quarter of the population is of Italian origin)[7] and, to a much lesser degree, from France and Britain. Earlier settlers had migrated from Argentina and Paraguay. Few direct descendants of Uruguay’s indigenous peoples remain, and mestizos account for less than one-tenth of the population. People of African descent make up an even smaller proportion of the total.
...
Uruguay has no official religion, church and state are officially separated and religious freedom is guaranteed. A 2008 survey by the Instituto Nacional de Estadística of Uruguay gave Catholicism as the main religion, with 45.7% of the population, 9.0% are non-Catholic Christians, 0.6% are Animists or Umbandists (an Afro-Brazilian religion) and 0.4% Jewish. 30.1% reported believing in a god, but not belonging to any religion, while 14% were Atheist or Agnostic.
...
Uruguay [is] the most secular country in the Americas. Uruguay's secularization began with the relatively minor role of the church in the colonial era, compared with other parts of the Spanish Empire. The small numbers of Uruguay's Indians and their fierce resistance to proselytism reduced the influence of the ecclesiastical authorities.

After independence [In 1811} anticlerical ideas spread to Uruguay, particularly from France, further eroding the influence of the church. In 1837 civil marriage was recognized and in 1861 the state took over the running of public cemeteries. In 1907 divorce was legalized and in 1909 all religious instruction was banned from state schools.
...
A dense fluvial network covers the country, consisting of four river basins or deltas; the Río de la Plata, the Uruguay River, the Laguna Merín and the Río Negro. The major internal river is the Río Negro ('black river'). Several lagoons are found along the Atlantic coast.

The highest point in the country is the Cerro Catedral whose peak reaches to 514 metres (1,686 ft) AMSL in the Sierra Carapé hill range. To the southwest is the Río de Plata, the estuary of the Uruguay River which forms the western border, and the Paraná River.

Montevideo is the southernmost capital city in the Americas, and the third most southerly in the world (only Canberra and Wellington are further south).
...
From 1963 to 1985 an estimated 320,000 Uruguayans emigrated. By far the most popular destination for Uruguayan emigrants was Argentina followed by the United States, Australia, Spain, Brazil, and Venezuela. In 2009, for the first time in 44 years, the country saw an overall positive influx when comparing immigration to emigration. 3,825 residence permits were awarded in 2009, compared with 1,216 in 2005.[83] 50% of new legal residents come from Argentina and Brazil. A migration law passed in 2008 gives immigrants the same rights and opportunities that nationals have, with the requisite of proving a monthly income of $650.

Metropolitan Montevideo is the only large city and has around 1.3 million inhabitants. The rest of the urban population lives in about 20 towns. Uruguay is less densely populated than Argentina and Brazil
...
Uruguayan Spanish has some modifications due to the considerable number of Italian immigrants. Immigrants used to speak a mixture of Italian and Spanish known as 'cocoliche' and some of the words are still commonly used by the population.
...
The folk and popular music of Uruguay shares not only its gaucho roots with Argentina but also those of the tango. One of the most famous tangos, La Cumparsita (1917), was written by the Uruguayan composer Gerardo Matos Rodríguez.
...
Asado is a popular traditional dish in Uruguay, a kind of barbecued beef.

Beef is fundamental to Uruguayan cuisine and the country is one of the world’s top consumers of red meat per capita. Popular foods include beef platters, steak sandwiches (chivito), pastas, barbecued kidneys and sausages.

Locally produced soft drinks, beer, and wine are commonly served, as is clericó, a mixture of fruit juice and wine.[5] Uruguay and Argentina share a national drink called mate. Grappamiel, made with alcohol and honey, is served in the cold mornings of autumn and winter to warm up the body. Often locals can be seen carrying leather cases containing a thermos of hot water, the traditional hollowed gourd called a mate or guampa, a metal straw called a bombilla, and the dried yerba mate leaves. Sweet treats, including flans with dulce de leche and alfajores (shortbread cookies), are favourites for desserts or afternoon snacks.

Other Uruguayan dishes include: morcilla dulce, a type of blood sausage cooked with ground orange fruit, orange peel and walnuts; milanesa, a breaded veal cutlet similar to the Italian cotoletta; snacks such as olímpicos (club sandwiches), húngaras (spicy sausage in a hot dog roll), and masas surtidas (bite-sized pastries).
...
Motto: Libertad o muerte Spanish for "Liberty or Death".

Uruguay has the same population as Oregon (3.5 million) but is smaller: 68,037 sq mi. (Oregon is 96,000 sq mi.)

FAQs.

Uruguay has a large (and wealthy) expat community.

Expat forum on Immigration requirements.

Investing: Ease of Doing Business rank is 114 out of 183 countries, with Standard and Poor’ currency risk rating of BB-.

I haven't yet checked out commercial real estate.

Land in Uruguay is not cheap. The average price for a hectare (2.7 acres) of farmland in Uruguay during 2010 increased 13% and reached 2,650 US dollars.

There are some bargains (gambles?) Winery Plus Vineyards (12 Acres) $50,000.

42 acres for $155,000 with two buildings.

50 inches of rain a year spread throughout the year!

Estancias (cattle ranches):

Please view our current listings here farmland for sale Uruguay. An Estancia in Uruguay could be an alternative for you if the following aspects attract you :

- owning land that has real agricultural potential (as opposed to southern Europe where agriculture is hardly viable once subsedies stop)
- temperate climate, not tropical, but with distinct seasons, reverse to the northern hemisphere. Roughly a mediterranian climate with more summer rain.
- Rural estates with stately mediterranian, late 1800s, architecture (patio with well/cistern, wrough iron, high ceilings), elements you would expect from a historic cortijo in Andalucia. One needs patience to find one in Uruguay though.

Panagea estancia - pics of a real ranch.

Or maybe a polo ranch?

[T]he Polo heartland, a heaven for raising horses with mild climate and natural pasture year round.

Distance to Polo locations like Buenos Aires, Montevideo/Carrasco, Punta del Este is in the 1-3h drive range.

Or a hotel like ESTANCIA PARADA ARTEAGA.

One of the Easiest Countries to Gain Residency and Citizenship:

The income requirement is fulfilled by proving that you have a yearly income of at least US$6,000.
...
Uruguay does not require that you own property or have investments in the country, in order to grant residency. On the other hand, owning property does not eliminate the income requirement.

Punta del Este:

Just a one-hour flight from Buenos Aires, Punta del Este and surrounds are full of pristine Atlantic beaches, bronzed beauties, and great food.

Estancias for sale.

45% of the population lives in Montevideo. 70% of the population lives in the cities on the south coast such as Montevideo, Punta del Este and Piriopolis which remind me a lot of Durban in South Africa where I was born and raised.

Great amateur non-tourist pics here.

Anders Behring Breivik: Norway's McVeigh?

From the Daily Mail:

Police have said the Norwegian terror attacks do not appear to be linked to Islamist terrorism.

The 32-year-old Norwegian man arrested for gunning down children on the holiday island of Utoya has been named locally as Anders Behring Breivik.

Described as 6ft tall and blond, he is reported to have arrived on the island of Utoya and opened fire after beckoning several young people over in his native Norwegian tongue.

Reports suggest he was also seen loitering around the site of the bomb blast in Oslo two hours before the island incident.

From his Facebook page:

Director at Breivik Geofarm

Religion - Christian

Politics - Conservative

Sports - Hunting

Music - Classical

Books

William James

Consequences of Pragmatism

On Liberty

Nineteen Eighty-Four

The Trial

War and Peace (Leo Tolstoy)

The Iliad and the Odyssey

Critique of Pure Reason

The Prince

The Wealth of Nations

An Essay Concerning Human Understanding

First Folio (Shakespeare)

Leviathan (Hobbes)

The Prince (Niccolò Machiavelli)

The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri

The Republic by Plato

Movies

Gladiator

300

Dogville

Television

Caprica

True Blood

Stargate Universe

Dexter

The Shield

Activities

Founding and developing organizations

Reading and Writing

Interests

Socializing

Traveling

Freemasonry

Working

Gaming

Partying

Fitness

He already has a Wikipedia page:

Anders Behring Breivik (born 13 February 1979) is suspected of being the perpetrator of the 2011 Norway attacks. On 22 July 2011, he allegedly approached a Labour Party youth camp, posing as a police officer. He then proceeded to open fire on the 13 to 25 year old youth present, reportedly killing at least 10. He has also been linked with the bomb blast that took place approximately two hours earlier, and is now in police custody.

Behring studied at the Oslo Commerce School, and is described by newspaper Verdens Gang as Conservative and nationalist. He is also described as a one-time freemason. He expresses his sympathies for Winston Churchill and Norwegian anti-nazi World War II hero Max Manus on his alleged Facebook profile. He owns the company Breivik Geofarm.

PS I just went back to his FB page to confirm that he played World of War (or some such teenage crap like that) but the page has since been removed. I had a hunch that might happen which is why I copied and pasted so much from it. That was quick.

Top pic from his Facebook page; bottom pic, of him in his masonry drag, from the Daily Mail: