Things that you thought were certain can slip through your fingers today. If there is something that you are wanting, something that you had been planning for, hold onto it tightly today. Be aware of it. Nourish it and care for it, then set out a plan for achieving it. Things are shifting quite wildly right now, and at the present time there are undercurrents of energy and erratic vibratory pulses that can wreak havoc on things that you are setting up. Today is a good day for taking stock of what it is that is of value to you. It is time to recognize the people places, and things that truly fulfill you, that bring you joy, that touch your heart. These are the stepping stones of the new path that you are creating. Yes, you are on your way, but there are many, many forks in the general road. It is time to know which is your particular route, to take to it, and to move forward centered in your heart’s knowing and acting from your core self. There will be assistance along the way. Ask for it.
There is something coming your way, but just as a whisper, as a passage of wind across your cheek, as a flash of light that does not startle but awakens wonder. There is something definitely in the air today. It is time to follow your intuition. Follow your fancy. Follow your fantasy. There is reality in fantasy and fantasy in reality. All three are here today – folly, fantasy, and reality. This is a day in which there are so many hidden messages that if you are truly open to what things mean, you can find yourself overwhelmed. If you are moving in that direction, then take time to focus. That is what this is really all about. Focus. It is time to see, to feel, to know what is truly important, what is truly real. You have the key. You have the vision. It is time to accept that what you feel from deep within, form the core of your heart is real. Basically, it is all about love.
This is a day to be getting through. There will be some bumps along the way that you will need to navigate around. These are reminders of where you have been, what you are doing, and questions about where you want to go. This is a day in the middle of so many things. It is not a day to assume that you will be getting lots of things done. It is important to stay in the moment and take things as they come. By so doing, you will not feel yourself overwhelmed. If you do try to do too much, you can find that your emotions will come rushing out. Each of those little bumps has some emotional residue that can awaken memories and bring you back to that time to which they are attached. If that happens, then remove yourself. Be the observer. Watch. Do not comment. Allow. And then you will see that things were not always what they seemed. You are moving into your power now more and more on a daily basis. Hearkening back to times when you gave your power away can be good object lessons, but those times need to be seen for what they are, and then let go.
Like Shopping at Local Businesses? Now You Can Invest in Them, Too
A newly formed company based in Seattle makes it easy to put your money to work in the local economy.
posted Jul 17, 2013
The team at Community Sourced Capital (left to right): Brent Cochran, Rachel Maxwell, Meryl McDonald, Casey Dilloway, and Alex Mondau. Photo by Community Sourced Capital.
Community Sourced Capital is a newly formed lender that aims to apply the crowd-sourcing model to encourage the growth of locally owned businesses. The company’s founders—Rachel Maxwell, Casey Dilloway, Brent Cochran, and Meryl McDonald—say they were inspired by the growing desire to support local businesses among their friends and neighbors.
A balance between making a profit and building local businesses is essential to CSC’s business model.
“The hardest part is often not attracting shoppers once the project is off the ground,” Dilloway said, “but securing capital to get it started.”
All four founders are graduates of Bainbridge Graduate Institute, the brainchild of entrepreneur and conservationist Gifford Pinchot III and his wife Libba, and the first business school to offer an MBA in sustainable business. It was while searching for an entrepreneurship project that they noticed a gap in the thinking about how people can best support the local economy.
In 2012, the four decided to do something about that and founded Community Sourced Capital. They worked in a shared office space in a converted furniture store in the historic district of Pioneer Square, just south of downtown Seattle. Their idea was to harness the power of the connections that tie local people together—both on social media and in the physical world—to find people willing to loan money to small local businesses.
Lenders make funds available in $50 blocks, up to a maximum of $250 per project, and are acknowledged by the receipt of a pale-blue square card bearing the CSC logo, which identifies them as “Squareholders.” The funds are then made available to borrowers at zero interest, and loans are paid back at a rate based on the company’s revenue. CSC makes loans of up to $50,000.
After repayment, Squareholders can withdraw their funds or purchase a square in another project, allowing them to keep their money at work in their community.
In a number of ways, Community Sourced Capital’s business model departs sharply from that of traditional lenders. Because the staff of CSC aims to create a model that resembles the sharing of money between friends, borrowers are not required to provide collateral. By keeping capital within the local economy and basing their lending in personal trust, they hope to strengthen ties between businesses and their communities.
“The loans are simple enough that owners won’t get weighed down in complications,” Maxwell said, “which doesn’t make sense for a $50,000 loan anyway.”
And then there’s that part about zero interest. That may seem too good to be true, but president and director Casey Dilloway explains that CSC’s loans aren’t entirely free. Borrowers pay a campaign fee and a flat monthly membership fee when using the CSC platform, a system that Dilloway believes is more equitable than traditional lending schemes, as the fees allow CSC to make a profit without burdening their borrowers with interest payments.
That balance between making a profit and assisting its clients is essential to CSC’s business model. As a “social purpose corporation”—a company with social goals written into its articles of incorporation—CSC has a mission that goes beyond just making money. As the company’s mission statement puts it, “CSC provides a simple way for community members to lend money to the local businesses where they find the most value. Our unique take on crowd funding aggregates many small loans and turns them into one big loan for a business. We call those small loans Squares and the lenders Squareholders.”
In May 2013, CSC successfully funded two projects: Bainbridge Island-based Eleven Winery’s campaign for the planned automation of its bottling process, and Harmon Brewing Company’s new restaurant location at the Tacoma Narrows Airport. Both campaigns raised $20,000 from more than 60 squareholders.
As of mid July 2013, CSC has two active campaigns. For one, they hope to raise $15,000 to enable the Adrift Hotel on Washington state’s Long Beach Peninsula to add solar hot water and rainwater catchment systems and thereby lower their environmental impact. That campaign was less than $1,000 away from full funding at the time of this writing. The second campaign is for a Seattle deli called Delicatus, which aims to raise $9,000 to purchase new refrigeration units, beverage storage, and new hardware for their sales system. That campaign has already raised more than $6,000.
David Rutherford wrote this article for YES! Magazine, a national, nonprofit media project that fuses powerful ideas with practical actions. David is a blogger and a graduate of Bainbridge Graduate Institute.
There is a song you have to sing, partly because it is your rightful song and partly because it is time it message was heard. There are those who are wanting, needing to hear what it is you have to say. You have been holding it in for long enough, and if you do not soon allow it to burst forth, then you can find yourself beset by all sort of ailments, physical, emotional, and otherwise. There are those who are out there waiting to hear it. They are part of your community. Their tunes harmonize with yours. This is a time for coming together, and today gives you the opportunity to open up to those like energies that are there for you. It is time for all of you to work together and form your place of comfort, understanding, and belonging. Be brave today. Know your power. Stand in your power, based upon the deepest knowing of your heart and your connection to the Universal Consciousness. Speak your truth and watch as you see, hear, and feel the reverberations around you.
This is a day for being strong in WHO you are. There are many challenges about today, and they are not merely limited to one area. Step back from it all, and observe. Each challenge brings with it a message of what is going on outside you and how those things are attempting to influence you in one way or another. As the challenges come, go within and take a new perspective. This is not a good time for seeing things from a narrow point of view. As the pattern takes shape, more and more pieces are being added. In order to get a better sense of what is forming in the pattern, you need to move back, to see more. Remember the tale of the blind men and the elephant! (Here’s a link if you want to check it out: http://www.jainworld.com/literature/story25.htm) Tis can be a great day of celebration, as your new perspective brings along with it some well deserved ah-ha’s!
This is a day for records in many areas. These can include your own abilities, activities, etc. You can be surprised by just what you can do. All of this is a reminder of just that – that you are powerful. It is time to accept that fact and allow yourself to step into your power. This will involve some work with centering, grounding, and allowing. It is time to know that you are part of All, and as such, you can accomplish whatever you so desire. Manifestation is merely a process of allowing the energetic vibrations of your own heart directed power to take form in this 3D world. You need to open yourself to that deep inner knowing of your own core that says I AM. This statement is an affirmation of your connectedness and your capability. It needs to come form the deepest areas within, from the core of the heart, from the point of connection with the Universal Consciousness. Vision and visions are changing.
June 2013 was the 15th warmest June in the contiguous U.S. since record keeping began in 1895, said NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) in their latest State of the Climate report. Six Southwest U.S. states had a top-ten warmest June on record, and no states recorded a significantly below-average June for temperatures. Over three times as many record warm highs and lows occurred than record cold highs and lows during June. For the year-to-date period January – June, both temperature and precipitation over the contiguous U.S. have been above normal, ranking in the upper 33% and 23% of years, respectively.
According to NOAA’s U.S. Climate Extremes Index (CEI), which tracks the percentage area of the contiguous U.S. experiencing top-10% and bottom-10% extremes in temperature, precipitation, and drought, June extremes were about 10% below average, and the year-to-date period January – June 2013 has been 20% below average.
Figure 1. Historical temperature ranking for the U.S. for June 2013. Six Southwest U.S. states had a top-ten warmest June on record, and no states recorded a significantly below-average June for temperatures. Image credit: National Climatic Data Center (NCDC).
Wet June on the East Coast raises hurricane flood risk
It was a very June for the contiguous U.S., ranking as the 13th wettest June since 1895. New Jersey and Delaware had their wettest June on record, and sixteen other eastern states had a top-ten wettest June. The very wet June has brought some of the highest soil moisture levels ever recorded for July along much of the coast from Florida to Maine, increasing the chances of extreme flooding should this region receive a hit from a tropical storm or hurricane during the coming peak months of hurricane season. The latest 2-week forecast from the GFS model keeps the East Coast under a wetter-than-average weather pattern into early August, and the latest 1-month and 3-month precipitation outlooks from NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center also give above-average chances of wetter than average conditions. Lake Okeechobee in Florida is 1.4′ above average for this time of year, and 5′ higher than two years ago. While this still puts the lake 1.2′ below what is considered high water, Lake Okeechobee water levels will need to be watched as we head into the peak part of hurricane season.
Figure 2. Historical precipitation ranking for the U.S. for June 2013. New Jersey and Delaware had their wettest June on record, and sixteen other eastern states had a top-ten wettest June on record. Utah had its driest June on record, and Arizona, Colorado, and Wyoming had a top-ten driest June. Image credit: National Climatic Data Center (NCDC).
Figure 3. Soil moisture for July 14, 2013, expressed as percent average of the soil moisture observed between 1916 – 2004. Portions of Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, New York, Vermont, and New Hampshire are near their highest soil moisture levels on record for this time of year, increasing the odds of extreme flooding in those states should a tropical storm or hurricane hit this year. Image credit: University of Washington Variable Infiltration Capacity Macro-scale Hydrological Model, which includes soil moisture, snow water equivalent, and runoff.
Drought conditions remained relatively unchanged during June. According to the July 9 Drought Monitor report, about 45% of the contiguous U.S. is still in moderate or greater drought, compared to 44% at the beginning of June. The U.S. Seasonal Drought Outlook issued on June 21 calls for little overall change in the U.S. area covered by drought conditions during the remainder of summer. Approximately 1.2 million acres of land burned in the U.S. during June, which is above average. However, the year-to-date total acreage burned is the second lowest in the past ten years.
Quiet in the Atlantic
There are no tropical cyclone threat areas in the Atlantic to discuss today, and none of the reliable models for tropical cyclone formation is predicting development during the coming seven days.
Sabancaya volcano area earthquake, Southern Peru – at least 3 injured and 20 collapsed houses
Last update: July 17, 2013 at 10:26 am by By Ashish Khanal
Update 04:09 UTC : USGS has even increased the Magnitude from 5.9 to 6 now. USGS is further expecting a MMI VII or very strong shaking directly near the volcano. Such a shaking will be very damaging and serious injuries and even fatalities cannot be excluded.
Update 04:03 UTC : A strange situation as IGP Peru is not confirming the M6.0 (all 3 international agencies are reporting M5.9 !), but is reporting a Ml5.1 at a depth of 15 km. This means NO direct eruption related earthquake (15 km is too deep) but one of the similar earthquakes on the volcano so far.
A big eruption of the volcano would have certainly be heard in Arequipa, a big Peruvian city. The earthquake was however well felt in Arequipa.
Update 03:51 UTC : The earthquake was not even felt in Arequipa as we expected but we ara still worried about the people close to the volcano. We will certainly get more information when daylight arrives.
Local press thinks to now that the earlier, weaker, earthquakes today were not related to the volcano, but confirm that the M 5.9 was one very close to the volcano. The 5 earlier today were close to Arequipa.
Update 03:48 UTC : Even without the volcano erupting, this earthquake will be damaging for the surrounding villages where weaker earthquakes did inflict damage earlier this year.
Another, this time very strong, earthquake near the Sabancayavolcano in Southern Peru.
12km (7mi) W of Chivay, Peru
84km (52mi) NNW of Arequipa, Peru
148km (92mi) SW of Ayaviri, Peru
150km (93mi) NE of Camana, Peru
393km (244mi) WNW of La Paz, Bolivia
Most important Earthquake Data:
Magnitude : 6
Local Time (conversion only below land) : 2013-07-16 21:37:45
GMT/UTC Time : 2013-07-17 02:37:45
Update 10:23 UTC : Landslides are blocking various road in the area. People in Cabanaconde are using the Plaza de Armas as a safe retreat. We expect more news the following hours as we are getting in the morning hours in Peru (daylight)
Update 06:52 UTC : The Civil Defense services of the Caylloma province report that 20 houses collapsed, five in Huambo and 15 in Canabaconde. This news is coming out in the middle of the Peruvian night. Only at daylight the full damage impact will be visible. We expect the damage to further increase the coming hours. Number of injured had increased from 2 to 3.
Update 05:45 UTC : El Commercio Peru reports at last 2 elderly people injured in Cabanaconde (Caylloma province). Currently we know about 15 destroyed houses and a number of collapsed walls.
The report also states that people at Cabanaconde left their houses for a nearby local school.
We fear that the damage reports will increase further later today.
Ingemmet (Geológico Minero Metalúrgico) indicates that the increased activity in the area may be related to the Sabancaya volcano.
Update 04:45 UTC : Our Volcano specialist Rodger Wilson wrote this yesterday evening UTC : Larger magnitude earthquakes are now occurring within the current earthquake swarm at Sabancaya volcano (Peru) (station SAB). He was definitely right ! This was the seismogram from yesterday.
Update 04:32 UTC : We consider it very good news that somebody from Chivay was able to go on the internet and tell the world that the shaking was really bad. Able to use the internet is at least that he is OK and that telecommunications are still working.
Update 04:15 UTC : We have so far NO direct news from Chivay, Peru a tourist village very close to the volcano. As the hypocenter was very shallow (USGS reports 6.6 km) the main problems might be coming from an area as narrow as 25 km around the volcano.
Based an the recent seismogram from Sabancaya, we think it did NOT erupt. NO continuous tremor can e seen on the seismogram, only the series of earthquakes.
Dangerous earthquake in Nord d’Algerie – 11 injured
Update 09:57 UTC : Radio Algérienne is mentioning a report from the Protection Civile (Civil Defense) that 11 people are now recorded as treated for slight injuries. Also slight damage at an number of houses like cracks in the walls.
Update 08:37 UTC : we are continuously searching for more news but so far only what we have reported below.
Update 06:34 UTC : According to national radio, the earthquake has so far injured seven, four in Algiers and 3 in Blida. The earthquake also caused cracks in several houses, according to the same source added that the inhabitants of Hammam Melouane (epicenter) complain about the lack of emergency services on the site. The radio reported the presence of the army and the gendarmerie in Hammam Melouane.
Update 05:20 UTC : Earthquake-report.com considers this earthquake as an ongoing reports and will add more updates as time is passing by.
Update 05:18 UTC : CRAAG reported that the epicenter was located at 4 km from Hammam Melouane. Civil Defence groups are currently assessing the situation. So far we have 3 injuries hurt by falling objects and 2 threated for secondary shock reasons. Algeria has always been an active earthquake area as a major fault runs along the coast.
Update 04:38 UTC : We think that more information will be available in a couple of hours, but we are almost sure that damage will be generated. So far NO news about it.
Update 03:42 UTC : This is a VERY populated area and houses in Algeria have almost no resistance against earthquakes. Weaker earthquakes have been generating damage a few weeks ago.
Moderate to strong earthquake in Northern Algeria. Epicenter close to Chebli.
This was an early wake up call in Algeria.
Slight damage possible as this is a very populated area.
3km (2mi) ENE of Bouinan, Algeria
4km (2mi) W of Bougara, Algeria
4km (2mi) SSE of Chebli, Algeria
8km (5mi) SW of Sidi Moussa, Algeria
23km (14mi) S of Algiers, Algeria
Most important Earthquake Data:
Magnitude : 4.9
Local Time (conversion only below land) : 2013-07-17 04:00:56
David Rutherford wrote this article for 
