Murmur, Instigate, CLAMOR!!
Can one instigate on one's own thread?
Or one must wait to clamor?
One wonders...
"I see all this potential, and I see squandering. God damn it, an entire generation pumping gas, waiting tables—slaves with white collars. Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don't need. We're the middle children of history, man. No purpose or place. We have no Great War. No Great Depression. Our Great War's a spiritual war . . . our Great Depression is our lives. We've all been raised on television to believe that one day we'd all be millionaires and movie gods and rock stars. But we won't. And we're slowly learning that fact. And we're very, very pissed off."
—Fight Club, 1999
Top fun site. Names, dollars, donation of earmarks. See who your congresscritter works for:
http://community.seattletimes.nw...m/favorfactory/
Donors rail against Hillary Clinton's spending
By Alex Spillius in Austin, Texas
Last Updated: 1:52am GMT 23/02/2008
Hillary Clinton's faltering White House campaign spent £2.5 million on consultants, £50,000 on party food in Iowa and £12,500 on rooms at a luxury hotel last month, according to an internal financial report.
# Trail Mix 2008: A word of warning for John McCain
# Full coverage of the US Elections 2008
# Telegraph TV: Why Americans find Barack Obama so inspirational
Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton during a televised debate
As the debate came to an end, Hillary Clinton said she was 'honoured to be here with Barack Obama', and shook his hand
Her lavish spending has prompted complaints of mismanagement and flawed priorities from campaign insiders and donors, while a leading Democratic strategist said she had run a "Ritz-Carlton" campaign.
Cash shortages forced Mrs Clinton to lend her campaign £2.5 million earlier this month, while her campaign manager stepped down after failing to keep a close enough eye on spending. The campaign's financial woes have helped Barack Obama take a seemingly insurmountable lead in the race for the nomination.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/.../
wuspols123.xml
[-Gregory Lyons | 02.23.08 - 10:39 am-]
Excellent link! I saw something on TV last night about that earmarks database, and meant to look it up. Thanks for the reminder.
QDave, it's my understanding that an agitator is someone who has passed into a state of permanent instigation. N'est-ce pas?
Works for me.
I consider myself rather more of a brawler. Does that figure into the progression anywhere?
I just hang from branches and bare my teeth.
I consider myself rather more of a brawler. Does that figure into the progression anywhere?
Gregory Lyons | 02.23.08 - 12:06 pm | #
It's when you are so pissed off you just don't give a shit how ridiculous you look. You just want to hit something.
Sometimes, I throw tractor tires.
More religious sanity:
Lent and Iraq anniversary
For the next four weeks, the US God's Politics group blog will be featuring posts from a variety of voices on Iraq: Iraqis, US veterans and parents, Christians from other countries, pastors, and peacemakers. All will be reflecting on the cost of the war. Together, says GP, "we can dedicate ourselves to a world where war is not the answer."
Jim Wallis of Sojourners / Call to Renewal writes: "19 March 2008 will be the fifth anniversary of the war with Iraq. In this season of Lent, we are called to lament and repent for an ongoing war that is being waged by our country, financed by our taxes, and fought by our brothers and sisters. >/i>
http://ekklesia.co.uk/node/6804
To Rwanda and Back: Liberation, Spirituality and Reconciliation by Mary C Grey
What happens when a celebrated Catholic feminist theologian, whose work has always sought pathways of healing, justice, peace and hope, visits Rwanda? If reconciliation is at the heart of the meaning of the church, how do we come to terms with the terrible truth of the church's complicity in genocide?
Mary Grey's shattering experience led to a re-examination of her understanding of justice and reconciliation. The result is a remarkable book that magically weaves into an interconnected whole ideas from many different religious and ethnic traditions - Hindu, Sufi, Islamic, Korean, Jewish, Yoruba - and many different theological traditions - liberation and feminist theologies and eco-theology.
http://books.ekklesia.co.uk/
prod...roducts_id=2190
Evolution is no threat to thoughtful religion, say US churches
By staff writers
16 Feb 2008
Hundreds of US churches and many thousands of religious believers defied the stereotype that American Christianity is a cipher for anti-science creationism last week, as they marked Evolution Weekend with sermons and seminars on the consonance of spiritual and scientific exploration.
Pastors, theological educators, scientists and lay people also joined together to mark the 199th anniversary of Charles Darwin's birth on 12 February. Darwin, a number of whose specific ideas have been superseded, but whose influence remains vital, is regarded as the founding father of the modern biological sciences.
Educators and clergy have been working together to bridge the popular perception of an inevitable gap between science and religion by organizing an annual teach-in to to coincide with the anniversary.
Together they are working to combat the influence of creationism and its cousin 'intelligent design', which base their rejection of all or part of evolutionary science on discredited biblical interpretation and a god-of-the-gaps idea that the divine is to be sought in the 'holes' or limits of the natural sciences.
http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/6764
Great artist, and a moving song. Thanks for posting this vid..I am off to find his music for purchase 
I have a ton of "pissed off" at my disposal constantly..thanks to BushCo's two terms in office.
What We Should Do About It
As a party, we need to stand up and say, once and for all, that its not only acceptable, but ADMIRABLE for a politician to let his or her faith guide them in their ideology and decision making. When I go to church, when I read the Gospels, I don't see anything about tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans. I don't see anything about preemptive war. I don't see anything about discriminating against someone for their sexual orientation. What I see is an underlying message, the story of someone who I believe to be both God and man. Someone who set an example for us all to live by. Blessed are the poor and the meek and the peacemakers. Love your neighbor as yourself. These, as most moderate to progressive Christians would tell you, are the key values of Christianity. And they are the values of progressives everywhere. When will we move past divisive hot-button social issues, embrace our common ideals, and work together to eliminate the horrible violence of poverty and injustice in our country? I believe St. John Chrysostom, an early patriarch of Constantinople and a master of the art of homeletics, said it best:
"This is the rule of the most perfect Christianity, its most exact definition, its highest point, namely, the seeking of the common good. For nothing can so make a person an imitator of Christ as caring for his neighbors."
This ideal, CARING FOR OUR NEIGHBORS, is our common goal as Christians and Progressives. I await the day that we truly can work together for the common good of this nation.
The Progressive Christian Case for Obama
http://www.raisingkaine.com/show...o?
diaryId=12606
Some nice words I just heard on C-SPAN:
"This hour in history needs a dedicated circle of transformed non-conformists…The saving of our world from pending doom will come, not through the complacent adjustment of the conforming majority, but through the creative maladjustment of a nonconforming minority…Human salvation lies in the hands of the creatively maladjusted."
--Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
What a brilliant, brave, maladjusted man he was.
Gregory, the link you posted shows my very Republican Rep. Radanovich with no ear marks and taking little in contributions. At least that's good to know.
Well, Karol, there used to be lots of decent Republicans. Mind you, I go baaaack a ways. With the current crop of Democrats, it wouldn't take much to completely out-class them.
Guess what?
Somebody likes us.
http://bgalrstate.blogspot.com/2...ippy-
honey.html
hi unrulies! i found you! using husband's laptop.
Hi Jenniloon!
Those are just the Defense Appropriation Bill earmarks (unless I'm mistaken) but it's a good start. Now if someone can extract the earmarks from the other twelve appropriations bills (or whatever the number is) and put them in a database we'll be all set to view their favors writ large.
there is a gang of folks in WDC tracking down earmarks - they were on bill moyers show - one of the first ones when he came back on the air.
?CREW maybe?
Anybody home? 
JOE! i e'd you and you didn't e back!
there is a special rastafari exhibit at the Smithsonian Natural History museum.
Discovered today that my pedometer counts moguls very nicely.... Drove back from Copper Mountain to SE Metro Denver on less than two gallons of fuel. Love that Jetta!
oh La, Unrulies!
PS: Unlike Global Warming, GM's cars and its CEO are crocks of shit. No American car came into consideration on my last purchase and unless they get their collective feces coagulated on building fuel-efficient, trouble-free cars, they won't come into consideration on my next purchase.
Fahrvergnuegen!
Before long the number 1 consumer of American cars will be the crusher.
Hey Jenn, been traveling and therefore outta 'E' so to speak
Thought about you yesterday evening when I was cruising thru SLC eastbound on I-80.
That strange feeling you felt around 10:00 was my positive vibrations passing thru
Doh.... Westbound
joe! i wasn't there! we flew into washington dc yesterday morning!
nosy, i posted this over at the other place too. i am catching up on my old newsweeks, and this was
The Truth about Denial
special issue on the climate change
http://www.newsweek.com/id/32482
k
Anyway, just a drive by post to say Hi
Later
Peace
Despite the facts, no matter what proofs you have, you can't convince someone of something when their paychecks and their fortunes depend on them not being convinced.
Now, after a hard day's downhill demoning, the couch's gravitational field is slowly pulling me in. Down time in this case has nothing to do with change of altitude or direction of travel - I wore myself out today!
omgosh, this air pressure at sea level!
i am off to forage some thai food for supper.
On the separation of church and State, from a Friendly perspective:
http://www.friendsjournal.org/se...hurch-and-
state
I guess that should say "Meetinghouse and State" then, huh...
Nosy, well by my reckoning, that was about a 90 mile drive then? How do you know how much diesel you burned?
and, it was almost all downhill, eh?
Friend of mine has the same vehicle as you, (altho she's converted it to a waste oil burner), but she says she pretty regularly gets 45-48 mpg on the hiway. Diesel or waste oil.
Good to see you popping by, Joe, you home from your travels now?
Car has an MPG indicator on it. Going up: about 42 MPG. Coming back, about 59. It's closer to 100 miles.
There's a 4000 foot altitude difference between Copper Mountain and here. Max altitude attained on the drive is just shy of 11,000'.
Jenn, has the Washington intelligence drain began? Every time I've been there, I've noticed a 20-30 point loss in IQ. It's reversible, though, just drive somewhere outside the Beltway but stay away from Alexandria: There's a five sided dollar sucker there....
Thanks for the welcome back, Green.
Don't know, kinda in a state of flux and I don't have control. So, I'm just doing my deal until then.
On the separation of church and State, from a Friendly perspective:
http://www.friendsjournal.org/se...se...hurch-and-
state
I guess that should say "Meetinghouse and State" then, huh...
QuakerDave | Homepage | 02.23.08 - 6:32 pm | #
Excellent essay, QD, altho I think it doesn't credit the efforts of Friends highly enough on the issue of freedom of religion. Willian Penn, a Quaker, and founder of the PA colony , which was truly revolutionary in this concept and I believe had the first religious freedom law in the late 1600s. Many dissidents of all sorts and religious persuations thus were drawn to PA.
(Penn had been kicked out of Oxford University for refusing to go along with Church of England religious rituals.)
In the colony of VA, Jefferson had a religious freedom law, passed in 1786, five years before the Bill of Rights was passed by Congress.
Regarding the wall of separation, we must remember that President Jefferson was responding to the Danbury Baptists inquiry, and they were, as a minority religion in CT, worried about CT state sponsored religious discrimination against them. Jefferson basically shot a hole thru the concept of "State's Rights" on the matter of religious freedom and discrimination based on religious preference.
It is my firm belief that the US is one of the most religious, and religiously diverse (and, generally tolerant) countries in the developed world, especially as to the variety of Christian sects, precisely BECAUSE of the First Amendment and the Wall of Separation between church and state.
Jefferson rejoiced that Virginia had passed his religious freedom law, noting that it would ensure religious freedom for "the Jew and the Gentile, the Christian and Mahometan, the Hindoo, the infidel of every denomination."
Hmmmm, state of flux, eh Joe? Well, hope you can find some peace, bro.
In honor of Lutz, GM Exec's identification of Global Warming as a "total crock of shit," I suggest we identify some other prominent stoneware containers of odiferous human by-products.
Let's start with GM and Lutz themselves....
Lutz, another dumbass jar-head. (and no, all "ex-Marines" are dumbasses).
GM has included an excerpt from the GM press release. "I done gon drove this here Yuk-on and this here new Cum-aro fer a whol day, and the planet ain't under water! Hot dam, thar ain't no gol darn globl warmin'! Its a total Crock o' Shi-ett!"
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/scien...ure/
7261171.stm
UK scientists working in Antarctica have found some of the clearest evidence yet of instabilities in the ice of part of West Antarctica.
If the trend continues, they say, it could lead to a significant rise in global sea level.
Rise in sea level isn't going to happen because of Greenland or Antarctica - insignificant masses of water compared to the oceans, really. It's the thermal expansion of the water that will inundate most of Florida. And those right-wingers swimming through Miami-Dade County will probably blame it on God's wrath.....
Other crocks of shit? How about Hillary for her rather baseless criticisms of Obama for plagiarism, then plagiarizing most of her closing remarks at the debate?
I have become quite unimpressed with Hillary.
A B-2 bomber went down shortly after takeoff from Guam AFB this morning (10:30 am ?? I'm assuming local time, but I don't even know which side of the IDL Guam is on.)
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/2...ash.html?
ref=us
A board of inquiry will ensue to determine the cause of the crash. Should the pilot be found even peripherally responsible, they'll probably make him give up his commission and walk home. Which isn't that fair when you think of it - it wasn't his decision to squander the taxpayers' money on this flying black hole for cash. At $1.2 BILLION a pop the B-2 is much more a product of the Military Industrial Complex than the child of necessity.
The B-2: Another crock of shit....
The flying wing design is inherently unstable. The computers onboard continually monitor the thing for "uncommanded motions" - Avgeekspeak for trying to go out of control. No hypotheses on what brings down a $1.2bn aircraft (most of that cost is in research and design - the actual airplane is a lot cheaper, but I digress). And Guam is on the other side of the date line.
It's still a crock of shit, as is the F-22 Raptor, a $350m aircraft designed to fight the wrong f****** war.
And coming up, the latest boondoggle, (hey, I liked Ike, an R, he NAILED this shit), the refueling tanker contract.
Boeing Tries to Hold Onto Tanker Deal
By JOELLE TESSLER – 17 hours ago
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Air Force is likely days away from handing out one of the biggest Pentagon contracts in years — a deal valued at up to $40 billion to replace 179 planes in its fleet of aerial refueling tankers.
...
Thompson said the Air Force will eventually buy more than 400 new tankers to modernize its full fleet in "the biggest new aircraft contract anywhere in the world."
http://ap.google.com/article/
ALe...qT7KuwD8UVU1F00
Over the lifetime of the contract, for spare parts, maintenance and such, it's projected to cost over $100B.
And you know that, the B-2 was only recently deployed to Guam, first time at another base besides their home base in the US, as apparently the things are so damn difficult to keep running, until recently, only one base, in the US, was capable of supporting them.
Nosy, another crock of shit, the V-22 Osprey. Good at nothing.
My guess on the B-2 crash? Massive computer failure. Given the pilots both bailed and didn't even try to save the ship, they most likely couldn't. Without the computers on board that beast, no control.
And this is a huge issue here locally, what with assembly of the tanker happening over in western WA (if Boeing gets the deal), and Spokane's Fairchild AFB being the largest tanker base in the AF.
Yep, the V-22. Unflyable, so I've heard....
Oh, and Fairchild AFB is also the largest employer in Spokane, some 4000 military and civilian workers.
A good shiraz and some pretzels, on the other hand, is emphatically NOT a crock of shit....
Good evening, fellow unrulies. How is everyone?
PB! oh La!
I went slumming over at a-blog - the discussion there is definitely starting to become another of our list of crocks of shit.
Hey, Nosy! I've not been to Ablog, not even ONCE since the Transgender incident.
Where is my gravatar? Mercy! I disappear for a bit and my damned gravatar follows me. It must be just a little behind.
I've never seen so many service personnel killed in the development of a new military aircraft, as have been killed in the V-22 Osprey.
The Marines oughta just update and keep flying the Harrier, for a VTOL attack aircraft, same with a VTOL (helo) personnel carrying aircraft.
I drop in every once in a while just to see if anyone of any intelligence posts there, generally to my disappointment. I've never managed to tune my tinfoil hat to those frequencies and am not about to try again.
I went slumming over at a-blog - the discussion there is definitely starting to become another of our list of crocks of shit.
Nosybear Downhill Demon | Homepage | 02.23.08 - 10:21 pm | #
gee, what a surprise.
Hello PB.
The V-22's problem lies in that time between its helicopter mode and forward flight, a time of extremely low airspeeds generally referred to by AvGeeks as a stall.
Once in a while I practice insanity, Green: I try something again hoping for a different result.
Haloscan says there are six online: Who's lurking out there?
Nosy, I took Av ground school many years ago, I know of stalls.
and then about 15 years ago, I got the opportunity to go on a pilot FAA checkout on a Lear Jet. Long story. anyway, unlike prop planes, for jets they do something called "approach to stall". the whole aircraft shakes and jerks around, I thought it was rather cool myself.
they also do "cut an engine on take-off" and see how the pilot trainee handles it. Loved every minute of it.
Oh, and this was up Joe's way. Reno airport.
Greetings, Green!
PB - that's a daylily, not a pansy!
Understood, Nosey. However once Plato/Pastor Man shows up, it's all over. (there are other triggers as well)
Busboy in the mix is like a turd in the punch bowl as well.... There's this new agitator named george, too. Oh, well. There's nothing forcing me to click that link. It's my own damned fault!
Skiing today I saw the prettiest red fox, just lying in the snow just to the right of the run we were on. It was one of those "where is my damned camera" moments. Saw a herd of bighorn sheep cavorting just off I-70 as well - they didn't have their horns just yet....
Love the wildlife around here, except for the raccoons and the coyotes.
Nosy: - I recall reading somewhere that the F-16 was deliberately designed to be inherently unstable, which is what makes it so maneuverable, once the multiple onboard computers compensate for the resulting twitchiness. It makes sense when you think about it, a plane designed to fly a perfectly straight line with no deviations would require more force to take it off of that straight line. With the B-2 the ratio of surfaces reactive to the airstream to control surface area seems a bit extreme. Lack of any vertical control surface has to make it pretty unstable in the yaw axis and its relatively short length would make it unstable in the pitch axis. You must have to be thinking a minute or so ahead to fly the thing.
And the odd time I go over to A-bog it's good to see a few folk, such as Nigel Elliott, who gamely plug on in the face of increasing inanity.
Sad, that's about it.... Yes, the F-16 is unstable and compensated and all for only about $20m per copy! The flying wing was tried in the late 50's, it's a great design for radar evasion - no big reflectors called vertical stabilizers but the problem then is the problem now: No human can fly the damned thing. It's constantly making uncommanded maneuvers. The F-16 at least has wings, elevators and a vertical stabilizer so the computer has less to do. The B-2, once the computer goes, it goes.
Yep, there are still a few A-bloggers who slog on. Not me. I have better things to do with my life than debate nonsense with the intellectually lazy.
You can see my grav?
Yup. A violet day lily with yellow sunburst in the middle.
Yep. Nice daylily! I don't have any that color (daylilies love Denver's climate - they generally start to bloom just after my roses).
It's one of my babies. I love it. It's more of a magenta, but it's hard to photograph.
Know what that one's called, PB?
It's a nice color. I have a bunch - the Denver Daylily Society used to have a sale in August where they sold sets of things they'd bred or had too much of in the garden. No longer. Now instead of $5.00 for a tuber, I have to pay whatever the local garden centers ask.
" I have better things to do with my life than debate nonsense with the intellectually lazy. "
[-Nosybear Downhill Demon | Homepage | 02.23.08 - 10:48 pm-]
The funny thing is Nosy, it's not accurate to call such people intellectually lazy. I have observed such up close and personal, and believe me you can see the effort it takes for them to maintain their bubble of ignorance. Learning new things is relatively easy.
“There is nothing worse than aggressive stupidity.” -- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Hey people. unruly flu/cold thing here. I wob't leave my pabts on the rack like tibes past. Grrr.
Sad, I suppose you're right, I'm just not in a really generous mood tonight. Very tired - wore myself out on about three mountains today.
Sometimes I hang upside down and go ape shit.
My condolences, UC! I've seen that one around here - boss had it all last week - and have so far managed to avoid it.
Chicken soup, sir! It'll cut the cold from seven days to one week!
Thanks bear. What is worthy going on? I don't have the energy to poke around. News? Anything good bad indifferent?
Nosy, I haven't named this one. It's a seedling from Prairie Blue Eyes and some other daylily, not sure of the other - I keep track of the pod parent.
I was being less generous than you were Nosy. As the Goethe quote says, the willfully ignorant are much worse than the merely stupid. Your main point, that it's not worth the effort, is well represented in my quote bag.
"To argue with a man who has renounced the use and authority of reason, is like administering medicine to the dead." -- Thomas Paine
Paine almost seems to have had prior knowledge of George Bush and people like Busboy:
"Let them call me rebel and welcome, I feel no concern from it; but I should suffer the misery of devils were I to make a whore of my soul by swearing allegiance to one whose character is that of a sottish, stupid, stubborn, worthless, brutish man."
By whom he meant King George III. He could have meant a much later King (in his own mind) George.
I suggested earlier that we list crocks of shit in honor of the GM manager named Lutz who has vociferously insisted that global warming is a crock....
First nominee: GM and their crappy cars, crappy fuel efficiency, crappy maintenance record and crappy insistence that building cars that run on e85 fuel (unavailable in most areas) is doing something for the environment.... That much crap should fill a rather large crock, IMHO.
GM designs give me that Donny and Marie feeling.
Second crock of shit from that idea is E85 itself, requires more energy to produce than it produces and its production releases more carbon into the atmosphere than the fuel captures. It's an idea only a politician out to win the hearts and minds of heartland farmers can love. I'd quite frankly rather see widespread nuclear power than E85. So this bit of odiferous stoneware.
P. S., you can get E85 just up Hampden from me for $2.09/gallon. How much of that is subsidy?
Whoa - I gotta absorb all this in a much slower manner than usual.
Y'all gotta forgive me if I come acroos slow or stupid.
UC, take care of that - a lot of people are sinking into pneumonia.
Great Tavis Smiley production on TV today. Dick Gregory was awesome.
Thanks Gar. Oy.
Frickin' biggest crock of shit of all time is the US media. Glenn Greenwald is having conniptions over this set of facts.
1) The Republicans in Congress and the Bush White House have made every effort to block any extensions to the Protect America Act (PAA) -which allows the administration to do an end run around FISA, and illegally wiretap American citizens. Reason they're doing this is to try to force Congress to pass retroactive immunity for the telecoms.
2) They can still conduct all the wiretaps they want, they just have to get warrants.
3) The White House is accusing the Democrats of putting the nation at peril by not extending PAA (which they are perfectly willing to do - they're just not willing to grant retroactive immunity.)
4) The MSM is peddling the WH's brazen lie like day-old doughnuts.
What a CROCK of SHIT!!
Truly deserving of the odiferous stoneware award, Sad.
Tom Morello is a gifted songwriter/musician. Always had a lot of respect for his very political stances with all his bands.
Done for the night, off to bed. Good night, all!
SBT - good god man, do you hate me? I already said I was having probs, and here you go giving me some Glenzilla to digest.
I am going to have to hang up sooner than I thought
Sometimes I hang upside down and go ape shit.
Dave of the Jungle | Homepage | 02.23.08 - 10:56 pm | #
LMAO!
Don't hate you at all UC. This particular article from Glenn is very straightforward, I think deliberately so. By laying things out in their very simplest terms, Glenn makes the unspoken point that the MSM talking heads can't possibly be pushing what is in effect the polar opposite of the truth out of inability to comprehend.
"A man who does not know the truth is just an idiot but a man who knows the truth and calls it a lie is a crook." -- Bertolt Brecht
Green Libertarian | Homepage | 02.23.08 - 11:30 pm | #
No, I know you don't hate me me. It's just for dog's sake I can't believe what I'm reading, once again, even though I know the whole record in this regard.
I got outta bed too soon maybe.
Check out the fear-mongering that the WH is peddling in desperation to get this telecom immunity through.
http://www.crooksandliars.com/20...l-going-to-die/
American current events reduced to the level of an episode of 24.
They can go through FISA and still do whatever they want. Total crock.
I saw that at Gelnzilla's place. It's just too much.
Pretty red foxes? Foxy redheads? I can dig it.
P. S., you can get E85 just up Hampden from me for $2.09/gallon. How much of that is subsidy?
Nosybear Downhill Demon | Homepage | 02.23.08 - 11:05 pm | #
really? that cheap? Never heard of that before.
the subsidy is about a buck a gallon, but I've always heard E-85 price was about the same as petro-unleaded.
If anyone sees Unconbentional Conbentionist, I left a response to him here http://www.haloscan.com/
comments...a=12469#2866013.
Good night.
Sometimes you just wake up.
Sometimes the nightmare continues, as in the case of Abu Zubaydah, one of the few terror suspects who it has been confirmed has been waterboarded. The last six years of his life have been a misery of various types of torture imposed on him by the so-called land of the free and home of the brave.
His story from the Washington Post is enough to make you sick.
If nothing else, the 21st century is proving that torture can take many forms, can take place for decades, and that torture is as subject to scientific expertise and the application of that expertise as any other observable activity.
There are experts in torture, and the USA makes common cause with them, employs their services and applies their expertise to demoralize and drive entire populations insane
Insanity, like most any other disease, can be induced. We see this demonstrated daily.
The Bush administration seems, as the elections draw nearer, to be changing the message from 'fear the terrorists' to 'fear US - we are powerful and without a trace of conscience.' That can't bode well.
It's so reassuring, such a reassuringly sign of stability, that the Bush Administration continues on it's path, secure in the knowledge that the Democratic Party is entirely an object of mockery and abuse, and Congress is a pack of despicable and perfectly predictable millionaires:
http://www.reuters.com/article/
t...eedName=topNews
As speaking of predictably insane acts of injustice, guaranteed to induce insanity:
http://
www.informationclearingho...article2000.htm
[-Gregory Lyons | 02.24.08 - 12:01 pm-]
Man there sure are a bunch of them during the Reagan and Bush 41 years, aren't there?
hi unrulies! is anyone out there ?
Nosy - very shortly, that is.
65 gorgeous degrees in Denver - Nosy's out for a walk!
have a great walk!
Fucking Nader! Handing shit over the the Republifuckers for another four years. Perhaps he really IS a Republifucker.
And why in GAY-HELL can I not see my own gravatar? I paid them for christ's sake! I think I shall just explode. Shitty day. Sitting here at work, billing this exact moment to my least favorite client - my boss - and my pseudo boss.
Only 52 days of hell left - at least this type of hell. It's a good thing that I'm a bad Christian, because working 12 hours on a Sunday is most certainly one of the top 10!
Pansy, FYI yesterday was gay ski day at Copper Mountain....
Nader got 0.2% of the vote last election in 30 states. Not enough to tip the election and this year it will be so laughable as not even to be reported. Obama is so progressive Nader won't even have to turn the microphone on, attendance will be so small at his events.
And your gravatar is still that beautiful daylily. Don't know why you can't see it....
65 gorgeous degrees in Denver, three miles later....
I see my grav in FF. I guess Inter-fucking-net Ex-piece-of-shit-plorer doesn't want to let me see it and I'm not deleting all the shit again because I am sick and damned tired of having to re-enter my form data, etc.
Why can't things work MY way?
And Pansy, McCain gets indicted under McCain-Feingold (wouldn't that be rich?), Nader's inconsequential.
I wonder what it takes to re-start a candidacy? We've had Presidents perform criminal acts in the White House but I think McCain could be the first one indicted while still a candidate....
Imagine, he gets sent up on a law he helped write!
Same question a couple days ago: Cigna's web site won't work using Firefox. So I called them up and reamed about two or three customer service agents for them being so damned lazy as to make their site only work with IE.
Probably wasting my breath and shooting the wrong people but hey, I felt better afterward.
Good for you, Nosy! I chewed out an IRS agent who was just a fucking bitch. Obviously a fat-assed bitch, too. I could hear her chins smacking each other as she bitched at me because of my client. I will not be treated like I am a delinquent when representing a client. I finally hung up on her. I have her badge number - they have to give it to you - and I emailed the TIGTA office with her info. Of course, no one really cares, so it's all moot, but I felt better. I just hope I don't get in trouble. I didn't swear, thankfully. I would hate to have my CAF number revoked!
I chewed out Intuit via email but I think I used fuck about five or six times (in variations). They have yet to respond. I'm still pissed about that one. I'm working on a rage-high these days, but it's the only thing keeping me going, I think.
Just finished a book on service provision - it sucks. There are some ways of improving it but they don't fit well within a mass-production world. Imagine if the service desk agent were highly enough trained and paid to actually solve your problem? And if not, imagine if they were empowered to communicate with exactly the person who can fix the problem and that person fixes it the first time it's reported? Now, current state:
How much work do you actually save by having people wait in queues (and the ones who give up and go to your competitors don't count)?
How much work do you actually save by band-aiding problems rather than fixing them?
How much money do you save by having the worst paid, worst informed people in the company be your initial touchpoint with the customer?
How much does your "service" end up costing customers?
There's a better way and I think the company or companies that discover it will rule the world. Unfortunately, it requires getting rid of the adversarial sales relationship and replacing it with a true partnership, something few companies are willing to experiment with at the consumer level.
I once spend 30 minutes on the phone with someone in Chittagong trying to find out the data transfer rate required for VOIP. I eventually found out - it's about 125k/sec, if you're interested - but with enough pain I didn't get VOIP.
I know I told the poor guy at least 5 times, this probably isn't in your script so you may want to ask someone....
Nosy-- did he introduce himself as Joshua or Trevor? That always cracks me up-- the obvious Indian accent and the perfectly Anglo-Saxon name.
Those call centers are actually high tech sweatshops. The labor rights group I worked for previously is doing a study of that right now. Slave wages, no benefits, union suppression, nasty bosses, long, long hours (18 + sometimes, with very few breaks).
pb!
nosy!
aloha from your nation's capital!
ellie!
what is the name of the place with smores ?
Cosi's, Jenn. They have several locations. Quite well known, so you can ask anybody where the nearest Cosi's is, and they can steer you toward the s'mores! Yummmeee!
I'm glad Mother Nature served up some sunshine for you and your family today, Jenn! It was nice to see Mr. Sun after a gloomy week of sleet, ice, snow, ice pellets, and the "wintery mix".
it was a beautiful day. we dragged / ?drug? the kids around to the post office museum, union station (no men's restrooms though), by the capitol/fortress, supreme court, then air & space !
our hotel is nearly across the street from a trader joe's, across the street from pizza, and next door to thai!!
Jenn-- if you like Malaysian food, and have the chance, try out Penang's on M and 19th.
My son the Air Force pilot LOVES the Air and Space Museum. He gave me a tour once that last 7 hours! He had a lecture on every single exhibit! LOL!
REally good Mexican at The Yellow Banana over by Eastern Market (right off the Metro). Eastern Market is fun for shopping for unusual gifts and crafts. It recently burned to the ground (a tragedy-- as it is was a very historical building), but they are slowly rebuilding, and have opened up sections of it again.
http://bp0.blogger.com/
_sW65ilsk...scotRaceHat.jpg
Wow, looks like she tried to copy Green Lib's gravatar and put it on that hat!
yesterday we went through chinatown, building museum (did you know there was a national building museum?), then natural history.
haven't seen hide nor hair of a monument, except a bit of the washington.
Jenn, since you're staying in Georgetown, you should look for the house where they filmed the Exorcist. I think they give tours. (maybe you don't want to do that with little kids, though). There's always the Watergate Hotel, also. the Kennedy Center has a beautiful statue of JFK and lots of cool things to look at.
Oh shoot, I forgot to tell you, Jenn, that when you "do" Chinatown, the MLK Public Library is nearby--- it has a wonderful mural of MLK's life in the main lobby. I love it there.
we are two stops from arlington - i am taking the kids tomorrow afternoon. and we went right by the kennedy center in the taxi - it's really close.
we're at penn and 25th and k or so, just w of washington circle
i finally found the book for the kids about WDC i've had in my mind for years -
gulliver's travels, a kid's guide to . . .
it is our official homeschool textbook now!
ARlington is always a moving experience. Not just JFK's grave there, but also the Memorial to the Space Shuttle astronauts, and many other interesting people, but I can't recall their names right now.
i took them to the cemetery of the pacific about a year ago? 15 months? and they did really well.
tomorrow is library of congress, supreme court, and post office pavilion tower. (glass elevators)
did i scare nosy and pb away with wdc gushing ?
well, time for a bit of dkos whoring,
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonl.../535/639/
463131
academy awards for liberal! activism!
tomorrow is library of congress, supreme court, and post office pavilion tower. (glass elevators)
jenniloon in WDC | 02.24.08 - 7:22 pm | #
If you happen to see Mr. Scalia while you're there, please flip him off for me, wouldya?
Nah, workout took care of that. I'd like to see Washington gushing, however....
I can think of about 5 Supremes I'd like to see flipped off, flipped or offed. Take your pick.
i'm not sure we'll see the justices - the tour is in the basement of the building!
5? i just want them to all live until jan 20, 09.
That's one more session - when I think of the damage they could do in that time.... An asteroid impacting the building itself (without you in it of course), if there were a God....
...he'd wait until next year. Nosy's slow but he eventually catches on.
i think the dems would block any nomination from now on. i hope.
hello 7 visitors out there ! please say hi!
I need to get to DC. So many things there I haven't seen.
HOWDY!
Almost time for mindless Oscar dribble.
QD! aren't you like just a few miles away ? relatively speaking?
we always have a ball when we're here.
qd, i gave you some mindful things about the oscars in the dkos link! pout pout.
I'm in South Jersey. We've talked about taking the trip down there for YEARS, and haven't made it. Soon, I hope. Yes, we could drive, and I'd love about four days there.
Still waiting for that link to open...
... the dKos link is not opening at the moment: will check it later.
QD-- come to DC and I'll give you and yours the Ellie Tour.
Invitation holds for all the urnulies.
Mmmmm, that would uNRulies. I think uRNulies are entirely different species.
Last time I was in DC I was property of the United States government - chattel, if you will. I was in the Air Force. Had some time to see some sights outside of 700 Independence Ave (FAA HQ).
Hard to see those urnulies - they disappear unless they're in your peripheral vision....
Good gawd, what is wrong with my sentence construction abilities tonight?
ellie, are you in town ?
qd, we stay in suite hotels. this one is the washington hotel suites, and it's about 2 short blocks from a metro station.
Yup, Jenn, I'm in town, for a change. With my new job, I have more control over my travel schedule, for which I am very happy! I don't leave again until mid-March-- a trip to San Fran and Berkely.
dkos is overloaded right now for me too.
this usually happens on primary nights. hmmm.
Jenn, how long will you be in town? I'm pretty tied up at work all day tomorrow,but if you'd like to try to meet up after work, that would be great. Or, if you'll be around on Tuesday, I could probably slip out for a bit for coffee / hot cocoa somewhere.
My office is in Farragut, on M Street-- straight shot to G-town.
so when is my unRuly tour ?
Let's do it, Jenn!
BTW-- I just now played the video on this thread-- I think I'm in love with the Tom Morello. Yup. Definitely love. I'm gonna marry that man.
oh let's do after work tomorrow, ! i'll have the kids with me.
farragut and M. what time should we be there ? husband is tied up until after 6.
we have him tuesday. we're on our own wednesday. and thursday.
Jenn, is 5:30 okay? I'd love to meet you and the kids. Maybe we could catch a bit of the National Geographic frog exhibit (I'm not sure what time they close, but I think they are open until 7 p.m).
we will come by your office at 5:30 then.
Cool! 1726 M Street NW. Send me an email so I can give you my phone #. levym522 at yahoo
Helloo-ooo-ooo....
Hello HAL
Howdy.
Wondering if anyone else was hanging around.
I just woke up from an inadvertent nap. Are the Oscars still on? Not that I care that much, I go to only two or three movies a year, usually of the sci-fi or fantasy genre. If I'm going to fall off the reality wagon, I want to fall all the way off into total escapism.
Absolutely uninterested in the Oscars. Did see "La Vie En Rose," a good movie. Of course, I like Edith Piaf's music....
And Marion Cotillard won best actress. Sweet!
Aaah! So that's why Crooks and Liars has been on an Edith Piaf run lately for their late night music spot. *dawning on me*
Damn is that Tom Morello video ever unruly! Bunches of nice quotes for the revolution. I'm a collector.
"An imbalance between rich and poor is the oldest and most fatal ailment of all republics." -- Plato
"A Government that makes peaceful revolution impossible, makes armed revolution inevitable." -- John F. Kennedy
"It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people's minds." -- Samuel Adams
</random sample>
Good stuff.... Off for wine and pretzels. Marion Cotillard winning Best Actress has me in the mood for something French, unfortunately, none in the house.
Merde!
our hotel is nearly across the street from a trader joe's, across the street from pizza, and next door to thai!!
jenniloon in WDC | 02.24.08 - 7:03 pm | #
PERFECT!!!
well, time for a bit of dkos whoring,
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonl...onl.../535/639/
463131
academy awards for liberal! activism!
jenniloon in WDC | 02.24.08 - 7:33 pm | #
Extremely excellent dkos post. Thanks.
Oh, and Nadir, once a hero of mine, is nothing now but a meglomaniacal nutcase. Sad to see. He has done so much. However, he's also a do as say, not as do, asshole. Crushed a union movement in his own shop. Shady financial dealings. Alienated some of his longest-time collaborators. Very sad to learn this.
Green, Ralphie's a lost cause and has been for some time. The one thing that keeps him going is the jolt to his ego every four years when people start mentioning his name.
He refuses to notice they roll their eyes as they do so.
Taxi to the Dark Side won best documentary feature. Here's hoping that the rule of law is someday restored in America, and the perpetrators of such crimes are brought to justice.
cannot sleep :-(
hi unruly night owls!
A bit insomniac myself. Jenn, still on?
One sheep. Two sheep. Three sheep. Four sheep. Five sheep. Six sheep. Seven sheep. Eight sheep. Nine sheep. Ten sheep.
You're welcome, Jenn.
And I just saw an addy for the world's first full-size SUV hybrid. Gets a whopping 20 MPG!!!. And we wonder why GM execs like Lutz are scratching their heads at why we're not buying their cars.
For reference, my Jetta pushed 60 coming back from Copper Mountain Saturday. If you average the trip up and the trip back, the mileage was over 50 MPG.
thx green.
i'll probably take a warm glass of soy milk for a snack, too.
we are carless this week. i wish air travel didn't eco-suck so much :-(
SadButTrue | Homepage | 02.24.08 - 11:25 pm
I read yesterday that HBO will show it since the Discovery Channel had backed off from showing. it. I wonder if The Discovery Channel will now?
Music question. QDave's video selection of Tom Morello .... we sometimes get video of, I thought, Billy Bragg. But the Billy Bragg I'm pulling up doesn't appear to be the youngish, white strapping lad who sang union type songs in Chicago. Does anyone have a clue who I'm talking about?
And this will be defined as the moment Hillary jumped the shark:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/
20...ar_n_88194.html
word!
have you heard from your lds nephew ?
Warm soy milk? Same effect?
i'm not sure - soy has a lot of the same amino acids as moo milk. is that what makes us sleepy? or is it ritual and habit?
warm is comforting.
I don't even want to hypothesize about that one, Jenn. In any case, I wish you the sleepies soon.
And Jenn, flight is about the equivalent of a 38 MPG vehicle. All said it's NOT that eco-unfriendly.
jenniloon in WDC | 02.25.08 - 12:09 am
Via his mom....he's in Wisconsin, now. He was in Ogden, off to Atlanta for a day or so, and then on to Wisconsin. I've been thinking about him. My daughter got her income tax and put some $$$ in his checking account. I'll put in a sum each month because he's my boy.
" And this will be defined as the moment Hillary jumped the shark: "
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/
20...ar_n_88194.html
[-Nosybear Downhill Demon | Homepage | 02.25.08 - 12:08 am-]
HuffPo asks, "Watch the video from CNN below, and tell HuffPost whether you think Clinton's line of attack against Obama will help or hurt her campaign:"
Hurt. Hurt real bad, even though I agree with her premise that you can't wave a magic wand and have the special interests disappear. But Obama's message of hope will make Hillary disappear, and inasmuch as she serves the special interests, at least part of the job is done.
oh good word!
nosy, our flight was so empty - maybe 1/6 full ?
Nosybear Downhill Demon | Homepage | 02.25.08 - 12:06 am
You know, coming cross country from Ohio to Idaho, my car was truly loaded down AND had shit on the roof, plus a bike rack. I got something like 42 MPG on the highway. Traveling down to Twin Falls (120 miles away) and back - it's about half a tank or so.
Jenn, the 38MPG figure is an average. Next time you're crowded in a full airplane next to the three-hundred-pounder, just think what you're doing for the environment!
"I agree with her premise that you can't wave a magic wand and have the special interests disappear."
And Obama is not saying or implying such.
And Hillary should know about special interests, since so many of them, like insurance companies, back her campaign.
nyt notices talking points memo
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/2...Au/
bgNRjS2HImUA
i hope our next sabattical year can be somewhere between wdc and boston. and i would love wdc.
Ya know, I'm still 'concerned' about Obama's being "out of sync" as I describe (as he seems to me); however, if he takes it at the March 4th primaries, I think Clinton would do well to concede. It will go better for her if she attempts to run again or whatever else she wants to do.
My car was "clean" for the Copper trip. Usually I have the rack and the skis on the roof and I get about the figure you mentioned, sometimes a little more, sometimes a little less. GM doesn't even MAKE a 40 MPG car in this country and Opels (the European GMs) are generally accepted as pieces of shit.
so nosy, are you going to ski utah in march ?
How do we find out what "network political journalists?" I'd be interested in knowing the salaries of the likes of Wolf Blitzer, John King, et.al.
Hey, dealing with "special interests" (read lobbyists) is part of a Senator's job description. Make no mistake about it, Obama is power-mad, otherwise he wouldn't be running for the office. I just hope that second on his list of principles, behind megalomania, is decency.
I'm an alternate delegate for Hillary at the County assembly. It's after Texas and Ohio. I really hope I don't have to vote that commitment but a commitment it is.
Jenn, I probably won't have a chance. SO's Spring break is Holy Week so she has a number of commitments - I'll be in Houston then. How's the April skiing?
per passenger mile traveled, jet airliners, even fully loaded are rather eco-unfriendly, takes a LOT of energy to go that fast. Walking and bicycling are of course the most eco-friendly, next is intercity bus and rail, about the same as an eight person packed mini-van.
there are other metrics to consider, of course.
I really hope I don't have to vote that commitment but a commitment it is.
Nosybear Downhill Demon | Homepage | 02.25.08 - 12:23 am
Exacly, nosy.
april skiing can be good. keep an eye on that snowbird site.
Jenn, TPMMuckraker is one of the few in my 'open me first' folder. I love that feature in Firefox, by the way. Middle click, and the entire contents of the folder open in tabs. For me it's Muckraker, C&L, POAC, and Glenn Greenwald. That way I get the headlines, and the best commentary going. I'm thinking Jonathan Turley may go in that folder soon, his blog is always an interesting read.
Green, facts and data. That seat you're in on the plane consumes about the equivalent of 38 MPG. Unless you have a foreign car, you don't get that kind of fuel efficiency on the ground.
A plane requires a lot of energy to take off. Once it's at altitude, it doesn't need that much at all, just enough to overcome wind resistance and keep speed.
Obama's taken some corporate cash, sure, but it pales in comparison to Hillary's. Most of his money has come from thousands and thousands of small money donors, average folks.
Unless you don't believe in quid-pro-quo, Hillary's much farther on the hook to special interests than Obama is, altho he's catching up just a little, with all the union endorsements.
Basic misunderstanding of physics: It doesn't take any energy at all to go fast. It takes energy to accelerate and decelerate and to overcome friction, as well as to climb (the energy equivalent of lifting the plane 7 miles).
http://www.salary.com/careers/
la...172_Par272.html
up to $4mil
btw, the smithsonian museum of natural history would make huckabee's head explode.
evolution all over the place
Anyone running for President would be an absolute fool not to take corporate money and since we're just getting over eight years of an absolute fool in office, I don't want to repeat the problem. Hillary is getting more corporate money because the corporate leaders think they'll get more out of Hillary, mostly because she was the perceived frontrunner. Now that Obama wears that mantle, the donations will start flowing his direction. They're out to buy, and without publicly financed elections, politicians are out to sell. By any economic definition, that, sir, is a market.
Huckabee's head exploding. There's an appealing visual....
It doesn't take any energy at all to go fast.
Correct. In space and sans gravity.
[- jenniloon in WDC | 02.25.08 - 12:30 am-]
No wonder they're called newswhores Jenn. And with that much on the line, do you really think they care about whether what they say is actually true? No, they just read whatever the boss puts on the teleprompter.
i am slowly learning vista, and using ie on husband's laptop. blech.
is it wrong to install software on someone else's computer ?
oh sbt, i didn't link this one, but just a minute . . .
http://www.pastpeak.com/
archives..._crushes_bl.htm
$quote:
Posted by: jeff at January 8, 2006 08:08 PM
Wolf Blitzer's salary for being a whore on CNN - $150,000; Wolf Blitzer's payments for speaking on behalf of the Republipig party - $Millions; Wolf Blitzer having his brown nose smeared in his own verbal excrement - Priceless.
In air and under gravitational pull, too. Gravity is everywhere, don't forget. It takes a lot of energy to move a plane from A to B but it generally has 150+ people on board.
In an ideal world, there would be a train, say, from Denver to Houston; however, I still couldn't make the trip in the time I have, so I'd still be flying. Would the most energy-efficient way for me to travel there be to walk? I'd need food for the three month trip, and shelter, and clothing and shoes. Everything involves a trade-off. I'll take 38 MPG - my last car didn't get that - and be content with it.
Mobility is a requirement. Trick is to make the best choices that fit the needs.
SadButTrue | Homepage | 02.25.08 - 12:33 am
You don't bite the hand that feeds ya.
(That's my own original saying by the way) 
Heading off to watch 'The Wire.'
I can hardly wait until HBO runs this miniseries (7 parts!) on John Adams with Giamatti (paul) and Laura Linney.
Friends don't let friends use IE, in my opinion. Install Firefox, import your husband's bookmarks from IE, and make Firefox the default browser. He might be irked at first, but after a day or two at most he will be thanking you.
I love FireFox for its feature set and the expandability means you can customize to your heart's content, but the compelling reason everybody should be using it is that it's much less vulnerable to malware than IE, especially if you avoid installation of the AcitveX component.
After you install FireFox you should make sure that you have the Javascript, Flash and Quicktime plugins for the best browsing experience.
the air in a room at the air & space joint weighed 4T.
and they also had a display on the air pressure difference between denver and sea level. eeek, my poor sinuses and ears.
Wolf Blitzer having his nose smeared in someone else's excrement - I'd buy tickets!
Believe me, I would love to drive to a station, get on a train with my skis, get off at the resort (or at another station to take a bus to the resort), ski all day, then ride home and watch the fools in the parking lot that is I-70. Unfortunately, I don't live in that world. So I drive. And fly, when necessary. And don't feel guilty about either.
i put firefox on our home desk machine, and he won't use it. it's so sad.
this is a guy that stuck with macs for years and years. and he has a colleague that uses a linux TE, and sends him doc's from europe, and drives him nuts.
at least he finished HP7, so now we can talk discreetly about the book.
I love Firefox! aboslutely love it. I don't use any other browser.
Here's a link on the John Adams series.
http://www.hbo.com/films/johnada...dams/
index.html
I don't often drive between Denver and sea level (I fly sometimes but that's a different story). When I'm at sea level, I notice I can run forever and never get winded. Legs give out first.... I do drive from Denver to pass-level (5,600' to 11,000'). That's an ear-popping experience, several times, really.
Half sea-level pressure is about 18,000'.
Dude, you can't seriously believe this statement, especially regarding air travel.
"It doesn't take any energy at all to go fast."
OF COURSE it takes energy, and while accelleration and decelleation may take more, relatively speaking, IT STILL TAKES ENERGY TO MOVE AN AIRLINER ALONG AT CRUISING ALTITUDE, encountering friction with the atmosphere, at a speed high enough for the airfoil to function, and in "defiance" of a very heavy and close gravitational mass.
sheesh.
I believe I mentioned all those factors, Green. Bottom line is the equivalent of 38 MPG.
next year, hip hip hooray, my kidlets will attend the same elementary school! yipee!
husband will take them to school, and i will pick them up
green, there does have to be a cost assigned to time, somehow. maybe not ecologically but somehow.
must work on garden plans. when we return. i think i am making progress on the squash in the front yard.
That is wonderful! Now why would there be any doubt? Is SLC on some lottery system?
no, siblings of the students in the school get first admissions.
i could walk to ellie's office and have a great time doing it. with kidlets in tow, we will metro to farragut north. daughter is getting very whiny about why we didn't get a car and she's tired of walking blah blah blah.
Jenn, economically speaking, there's a huge cost associated with time. For example, I travel back and forth to Houston a lot. I fly, I spend an energy-equivalent of 38 MPG over 1100 miles but I'm there in 2.5 hours. Given transportation to and from the airport, make it a 5 hour trip. I could walk. It would take me about three months, during which time I would have to eat, be sheltered, replace, shoes, etc. I could ride my bicycle, again at great savings in MPG but it would take me at least three weeks, again with logistical problems of food and shelter. I could drive, it would take me two days and I'd get around 50 MPG....
There are lots of ideas that work in idealized worlds. In the real world, there are costs associated with any decision, some benign, some not so. Ultimately, every decision comes down to what needs are to be met. I suppose some day I could go to Houston on horseback but that would be for fun.
all those hollywood types doing all that great liberal activism jet all over the place.
travel is important for business, and also opening ourselves to new experiences.
and i hope some of you can enjoy shopping at a trader joe's. it's not local. but it's great stuff, good values.
i try to balance veggie, organic, local, and value.
oh, and the silly kidlets: they acquired plastic bags when they were with their dad! they look so foreign to me now.
In the absence of mass transit for local trips, I'm stuck with my car, my feet or my pedals. This year I'll experiment more with the pedals but it's a 12-mile ride and I do have to meet with people during the day....
And again there's the time factor, although that's not as important locally. It will take me 45 min to ride, 25 to drive - I can live with that. And there's the safety factor. The Pentagon is surely looking into my bicycle helmet - it does make me invisible to drivers....
now if i could just get solar panels. hmmm.
our elec utility gave us new meters a few weeks ago. i think they can now "read" them from the street by just strolling, instead of tramping through sideyards and backyards, past hostile vegetation, etc.
when son was 1-2, husband biked him to daycare and continued to work (i went to work earlier and then picked up son). i thought they would both die. that was so hard on my poor nerves.
I haven't had a meter reader physically look at my meter since moving in. All done electronically.
Dang it, I wonder if Diebold was involved in that system.... No wonder my power bills are so high! I want paper billing again, dang it, and a man with a pad of paper to come by and write it down....
When I lived in Kentucky, we used to read our own meters and send the reading in.
Jenn, the world leader in those kind of meters is here in Spokane.
For one metric regarding travel, greenhouse gasses, there's this:
CO2 Emissions in lbs per passenger per mile.
SUV (1 driver fuel consumption of 15mpg)= 1.57
Average Car (1 driver fuel consumption of 21.5mpg)= 1.10
Jet Travel (Average capacity) = 0.97
Mass Transit (1/4 full) = 0.75
Economy Car (1 driver fuel consumption of 40 mpg) = 0.59
Intercity Trains (average capacity) = 0.45
Carpool (3 people in an average car) = 0.37
Mass Transit (3/4 full) = 0.26
well i guess i don't suck. about 25% alone, 25% with one kid, 35% with both kids. then 15% all four of us in the car.
son is a bit too moody for school bus. and now i'm happy to pack his lunch.
As I said, I'd take the mass transit option, were it available and usable. For example, here I could take the bus to the Nine Mile station, get on the light rail, take it to the Dry Creek station, call the little bus and have it drop me at the office. Now that commute would take about an hour and a half one way. I don't want to give up three hours of my day - four weeks per year - commuting back and forth to work. So I'll take my 42-mpg car, thanks! I do place a value on my time. When it gets warm enough, I'll take the bike a few days a week.
Compare to when I lived in Frankfurt: I walked out of my apartment, got on the train, rode for 20 minutes, walked for 10 and was at work. I wouldn't think of driving my car under those circumstances!
okay i am now fading fast.
a bit of yoga, then a smidge of knitting, and sleep . . .
thx nosy, and sweet dreams to unrulies out there!
word, green, nosy, sbt - and someone visiting quietly
Jenn, of course you can get solar panels, especially easy if you have a (non-obscured) south facing roof or yardspace to use. Depending on state incentives (not familiar with Utah), with normal inflation of electric prices,and federal incentives, payback period would be anywhere from 8-18 years, system life is 30 years. SLC has a fairly good solar resource, as I recall.
(then the company moved from Frankfurt to Neu-Isenburg, adding a transfer from train to train then a final bus leg. The trip went from 20 min to 45 if the planets all aligned, nothing was late (and German trains are sometimes late) and there was weather on top of that. Most often it was over an hour. I stopped taking public transit and started driving again. At some point, hours of life become more important than either cost or environment)
Night, Jenn!
I think I'm off, too. Drowsies kicking in, time for bed....
Night, all!
And to the quiet lurkers out there, good night, as well.
Nosy, if you could get to Houston on a 230 mph bullet train, with a 15 minute check-in, I do believe you'd find that time wise and ecologically favorable.
Hey folks
I've been reading up on Trader Joe''s, 'cause you guys rave about it so.
Waaaaah! I want one near me. Alas, there are none in Canada yet.
My aunt would love some of that gluten free brownie mix. My uncle's allergic to gluten and wheat products.
g'night nosy.
Speaking of ecology, I understand that 'hamburger' Americans all love takes more greenhouse gas to produce than an 18-wheeler going cross country.
Green, did you ever hear about the conspiracy to infiltrate city councils in the '40s and '50s, then have them kill efficient mass transit? It involved Big Oil, the automakers, and the tire industry, who were trying to make sure that Americans literally could not live without a family car.
A bullet train in the NYC to Washington corridor would of course be excellent, but as Winston Churchill said, "America will always do the right thing, after exhausting all other possibilities."
Maximum profit will trump maximum efficiency every time. The idea of the invisible hand of the marketplace breaks down when the biggest players always act to tilt the playing field.
And on that note, I'm off to bed. G'night all.
http://thumbsnap.com/v/Fq9qkoHS.jpg
I just find it odd that it's suddenly MY FAULT that the auto makers and oil companies have worked hand in hand to keep consumption at certain levels.
g'night SBT.
Happy Monday all
Interesting article: The footprint of the cheesburger
http://www.openthefuture.com/
200...heeseburge.html
Yes, SBT, I know all about that REAL conspiracy to kill off mass-transit.
Oh, there are no conspiracies! Just plans between certain groups of people designed to have certain effects on certain other groups of people.
I need a shave and a shower and off to bed.
g'night GL. Peace.
"I fond this very humorous and interesting comment while researching impacts upon global warming. No offense, ladies, ok?
very interesting about burgers, my interest was aroused by my wifes makeup cabinet, i wonder what the carbon footprint is of all the makeup that is used creme on, creme to take it off, eye shadow, liner, lash 'stuff' every one with 10 to 100 different types, styles, colours. Huge multi coloured containers for minute quantities of 'stuff'. hairdressing? shampoo dyes bleaches all going down the drain, plastic curlers fabric curlers, clips beads bangles. then get onto purfume, huge prices for huge bottles of never useable liquid, advertising design manufacture transport. nail varnish a million colours all in highly decorated bottles that 'never' get used up, removal solvents? I would love to see the carbon footprint of all that 90% uneccessary stuff. please please someone find out!
Posted by: David Key | August 7, 2007 10:16 AM
Another article of interest -
DHL Completes More Eco-Friendly Ship Voyage as Industry Comes Under Fire
http://www.greenbiz.com/news/new...fm?
NewsID=55596
.....While it’s an amazing achievement to use a kite to cut fuel use by 20% on a cargo ship, the sad part is that most cargo shipping up until the early 1900’s used U.S. - designed "clipper ships" or "Yankee Clippers" that got 100% of their power from wind, averaged nearly 20 knots on wind power alone, and routinely made the New York to Hong Kong run in a month or just over, BEFORE THE PANAMA CANAL EXISTED. ALL shipping in this era was completely wind-powered.
This means that all clipper ships had to round the Cape of Good Hope at the Southern tip of South America, where violent seas were extremely cold and treacherous. If those ships had been able to use the Panama Canal, they likely would have made the trip in a couple of weeks, using not a speck of fossil fuel and spewing ZERO carbon emissions into the atmosphere. (Modern oceanic shipping is one of the most carbon-emission-intense activities we do.)
and more here:
http://bellaciao.org/en/spip.php...hp?
article16633
[evolution all over the place]
I love that line, Jenniloon!
Sounds like it could be a lyric to a John Lennon song.
Here's a quiz for those who were discussing gas mileage earlier:
http://www.thegreenguide.com/quizzes/gas
Oh, and here is one to test your knowledge of food safety:
http://linkfilter.net/?id=136115
Evolution left and right.
Got most of 'em right Eillie. The manual trans one got me.
Kristol: ‘I Recommend The Politics Of Fear’
http://thinkprogress.org/2008/02...litics-of-fear/
http://www.blacklistednews.com/v...iew.asp?
ID=5697
fear of Iran of course. but no fear about dual nationalists influencing our government for the benefit of another country.
Krisol, such a horrifyingly smug piece of shit.
And so very influential, with such a long career as a blood thirsty ghoul.
Depopulating massive areas of the Middle East is just what they want and just what they have a great deal of help in achieving.
I am hungry and need more brain food.
A new post sometime soon please!
Experts warn of food riots as foreign troops cleared to patrol American cities
http://www.nationalexpositor.com.../News/
1016.html
...The United Nation's World Food Programme cautions today that if it doesn't receive more funding, it will have to halt food aid to developing countries like Mexico and China.
"The WFP crisis talks come as the body sees the emergence of a “new area of hunger” in developing countries where even middle-class, urban people are being “priced out of the food market” because of rising food prices," reports the Financial Times.
Here is something I haven't seen before and would not be surprised that most had not seen it either.
Leon Minetta at the 911 hearings.
Spooky stuff.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b...h?
v=bDfdOwt2v3Y
This article from globalresearch has me pondering too.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/ind...ext=va&
aid=8165
It talks about where a false flag attack might occur.
Wildly speculative yet I make no proclamations of things being crazy anymore. After, THIS IS BUSHWORLD.
As to food safety, it's fascinating what goes on here in tropical Mexico. All the rules which obsess the gringos are broken constantly, with no observable negative results.
My friends and I have been eating from fondas and every sort of food cart, with nothing but happy results.
It must be said that there have been profound improvements in the water supply.
Actually, it's been fun to be here in Troncones, which is a very recent settlement, and where the increasing presence of rich Americans has raised the standard of living for the locals enormously. Water, roads, schools, a library, housing, medical care, the list goes on.
Rense has a great splash
http://rense.com/
This is the best America has to offer?
In Tatters Beneath a Surge of Claims
http://
www.informationclearingho...rticle19405.htm
... Unidentified bodies of Iraqis killed by militias continue to appear in Baghdad and other Iraqi cities. The Iraqi government has issued instructions to all security and health offices not to give out the body count to the media.
....."We are not authorised to issue any numbers, but I can tell you that we are still receiving human bodies every day; the men have no identity on them," a doctor at the Baghdad morgue told IPS. "The bodies that have signs of torture are the Sunnis killed by Shia militias; those with a bullet in the head are usually policemen, translators or contractors who worked for the Americans."
Destroying the hearts and minds.
Ex-Congressman: U.S. Government Created Al-Qaeda, Involved In 9/11
http://www.propagandamatrix.com/
...an_involved.htm
Hola Gregory! A few thoughts on the street stall food in foreign countries and "American's" perceptions.
First of all, I think it is first world arrogance that "these people" are dirty and therefore not healthy to be around. (But why go to a place if you are only going to stay in a Marriott and eat burritos from Taco Bell?)
Secondly, "Americans" obsess too much about germs and dirt. All this baloney about disinfectants and anti-bacterial this and anti-bacterial that-- it has made us not only a bunch of wimps, but it has ruined our natural ability to fight off the bad things. My house is chlorine/ anti-bacterial soap free, and it is clean and I am rarely sick from any kind of cold, flu or stomach bug. I use pure castille soap made from hemp.
[We are not authorised to issue any numbers]
By whose "authority" and what would happen if they did give out the numbers?
Germ phobia sells chemicals. It's an epidemic!
Germicidal soaps breed virulent strains of bacteria in drains and sewers. It's an example of EVOLUTION!
EVOLUTION???? OMG-- it's everywhere!!!!
It can't be!
http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/duty.../
duty_calls.png
My mother doesn't believe that man evolved from apes.
Take a look at yourself in the mirror, lady.
Dave, be nice to your mommy.
No!
Oh dear, we've got petulant primate on our hands this morning!
Sometimes I hang upside down and go ape shit.
It just happens.
If you missed 60 Minutes' expose on the persecution of Don Siegelman, you can watch online HERE.
Frickin' unbelievable story showing not Siegelman's corruption, but the utter corruption of the Bush Department of "Justice."
Once a country starts down the road of utter contempt for the law and is corrupt to the bone, how does it come back from place? Can it come back?
Good question Ellie. In general one has to admit that historically it takes a violent revolution or foreign intervention after the country in question loses a war to restore anything like normality. I can't see how Nazi Germany would ever have come back if they hadn't lost WWII in a spectacular manner.
Dealing specifically with the United States in the present, a lot of people are optimistic that ousting a large number of Republicans from power in the next election will do the trick. I'm skeptical for a number of reasons. Make that highly skeptical for a great number of reasons, and more because I am a realist than because I am a pessimist.
A must read over at 'that other place' raises John Aravosis' credentials a fair bit in my book. "This IS unforgiveable." Damn right it is.
Time to declare war on CNN
At a time when thinking Americans are abandoning FOX "news" for their extreme reight wing bias, what business model is CNN following in copying a proven loser?
ellie ?
Another article of interest -
DHL Completes More Eco-Friendly Ship Voyage as Industry Comes Under Fire
http://www.greenbiz.com/news/new...fm? NewsID=55596
.....While it’s an amazing achievement to use a kite to cut fuel use by 20% on a cargo ship, the sad part is that most cargo shipping up until the early 1900’s used U.S. - designed "clipper ships" or "Yankee Clippers" that got 100% of their power from wind, averaged nearly 20 knots on wind power alone, and routinely made the New York to Hong Kong run in a month or just over, BEFORE THE PANAMA CANAL EXISTED. ALL shipping in this era was completely wind-powered.
This means that all clipper ships had to round the Cape of Good Hope at the Southern tip of South America, where violent seas were extremely cold and treacherous. If those ships had been able to use the Panama Canal, they likely would have made the trip in a couple of weeks, using not a speck of fossil fuel and spewing ZERO carbon emissions into the atmosphere. (Modern oceanic shipping is one of the most carbon-emission-intense activities we do.)
and more here:
http://bellaciao.org/en/spip.php...hp? article16633
Amerikagulag | 02.25.08 - 2:19 am | #
Thanks for that, gulag. Fascinating stuff.
SBT-- I share your pessi.. er realism about the situation. I see no great day of reckoning or day of the Thunderbird in the near future.
The United Nation's World Food Programme cautions today that if it doesn't receive more funding, it will have to halt food aid to developing countries like Mexico and China.
Dude, China hasn't received food aid from WFP in over three years.
Rome, 20 July 2006 - In the same year it stopped receiving food aid from WFP, China emerged as the world’s third largest food aid donor in 2005, according to the latest annual Food Aid Monitor from INTERFAIS, the International Food Aid Information System.
Global food aid grew by 10 percent to 8.2 million metric tons in 2005, a slight upturn in an overall declining trend, according to the INTERFAIS database, which is hosted by WFP to track all donations of food aid, not just those handled by the agency.
China accounted for more than half of the rise in overall food aid donations in 2005, with a 260 percent increase compared to the previous year.
http://www.wfp.org/english/?Key=...66&
ModuleID=137
I wonder what kind of chemical-laden food the Chinese are dumping onto developing countries?
The right-wing has gotten one thing right over the years: CNN really IS the "Clinton News Network." Their built-in, knee-jerk bias toward all things Clintonian is really obvious.
This so-called "poll" is nothing new. And it'll just get worse as the numbers get closer in Ohio. Watch and see.
The best thing to do is simply turn off the "stupid box". You may not convince other to do so. (though I've tried)
If I watch an hour of TV every 2 months it's heavy viewing - and it's someone elses TV
Russia's NATO envoy says U.S. wants to divide and rule.
http://www.blacklistednews.com/v...iew.asp?
ID=5703
Precisely what we're attempting to do with Iraq and will perhaps with Iran also.
The US has simply repeated the Soviet Invasions of other countries albeit based on different lies.
One doesn't really realize just how stoopid the stoopid box is (or how it twists one's mind) until you've been away from it for a long while. When you finally do turn it on, you can see right through the baloney, even how the messages are framed in dramas, sitcoms, and game shows even. It's really quite scary how powerful a messenger the television is.
[Russia's NATO envoy says U.S. wants to divide and rule.]
He's just now figuring this out? what took him so long?
Agreed Ellie. It's plastic. I have no use for it. But it's up to the individual to finally realize there's nothing on TV that anyone NEEDS. Absolutely nothing.
wants v. needs
[attempting to do with Iraq ]
Iraq? Hell, look how the govt. is dividing this country. That's what all the immigrant hate mongering is about. It has ZERO, ZILCH, ZIPPO to do with any "immigration problem". There is no such thing. But they need to manufacture it, to make sure nobody in this country gets any wild ideas of uniting in one huge struggle against them.
It's amazing, A'gulag-- when I see a t.v. drama or sitcom program now, I can pick out all the neocon messages-- anti worker, anti union, anti feminist, anti gay, be scared of the dark skinned people, especially if they speak Arabic, hate the dark skinned people who speak Spanish, the market will take care of everything, lets make money, nothing else is important.
Okay, I'm outta here, gonna catch the Red Line home. Woo! Hooo! All aboard!
This article from globalresearch has me pondering too.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/ind...a/ind...ext=va&
aid=8165
It talks about where a false flag attack might occur.
Wildly speculative yet I make no proclamations of things being crazy anymore. After, THIS IS BUSHWORLD.
Sticks | 02.25.08 - 10:23 am | #
Better yet, the author of that article, one "Capt. Ron May", gives a long interview today to the white supremecist, holocaust denying, Adelaide Institute.
Racist nutcase.
http://www.adelaideinstitute.org...etters/
n369.htm
Bingo Ellie. It's manufactured because the natural divisions between Americans aren't strong enough. We're essentially a country of "mutts" with no real culture but a mish-mash of other cultures. So they must fabricate division.
And the government of Mexico has fostered this same kind of division in that country by feeding on the natural divisions between it's peoples. It's why someone from Guerrero looks with disdain upon someone from Oaxaca and vice versa. It keeps them weak politcally. If the Native Americans of Mexico could unite, they might be able to install a favorable government.
Of course the US has gone one further in using controlled voting machines to insure that in the event that Americans are united in their opposition, the voting machines will make it appear there is division.
And there's always the appearance of two political parties to help the process too.
Woah, there, back this train up. I just got an email with this link. This guy thinks these programs are "socialist" and apparently he doesn't like them:
http://davidkfuller.blogspot.com...dy-have-
do.html
Among them are funding for Spina Bifida sufferers, Violence against women, Water and Waste Disposal programs, Veteran's Employment programs, Veteran's nursing homes, prevention of elder abuse, and services to the deaf and blind.
This motherfucker needs to be taken out and shot. Several times. sorry, but I have zero tolerance for shit these thugs and goons, and I honestly don't believe they deserve any compassion and need to be disposed of. Quickly.
Americagulag-- google "Plan Mexico".
I'm outta here for now.
My apologies for the bad language. That pushed several buttons. Okay, I'm going to go home now. For real.
It can't be!
http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/duty.../ duty_calls.png
Ellie | Homepage | 02.25.08 - 11:29 am | #
"Someone is wrong on the internet"
HILARIOUS!
I think I just found out who it is, too, Green! LOL.
Dangit, I can't get out of here tonight.
Ellie | Homepage | 02.25.08 - 5:47 pm
Say, Ellie - do you post at 'Talk Left?'
Word-- you are the second person to ask me that today. It's not me; apparetnly there is another Ellie in town who thinks similarly to me but not exactly. This is another reason why gravatars are good.
[do you post at 'Talk Left?']
Perhaps I should. My unruly duty suggests that I should go there and stir the pot.
Ellie | 02.25.08 - 7:53 pm
Welllll, that's good to know. At least I didn't become TOO familar, you know, talking about scars, tattoos, et. al.
Yeah - whoever she is, she's about your tack.
Yeah, thanks, Word, for not mentioning that, well, you know. Maybe I have an identical twin that was separated from me at birth.
Hillary looks more desperate and tacky by the day.
hi unrulies!
son has settled down. i am so sore!
jim matheson may have a repub challenger
http://www.dailykos.com/story/20...6310/839/
463932
the air inside the beltway is different. it's a different kind of reality here. pols in suits, working people in all the support places.
The best thing to do is simply turn off the "stupid box". You may not convince other to do so. (though I've tried)
If I watch an hour of TV every 2 months it's heavy viewing - and it's someone elses TV
Amerikagulag | 02.25.08 - 5:31 pm | #
Yup. I'm doing that. It's easier every day.
qdave:
for the ultimate wdc visit, you need to contact your rep ahead of time - this is how you get inside the capitol building, and get white house tours and also supreme court and library of congress.
we are still having a ball - had good weather, so we drug/dragged the kids around lincoln, vietnam, ww2, and washington memorials. son melted after lunch. so we stayed in tonight :-(
i haven't had tv this trip. not even so much web access.
Roger Waters, VAN MORRISON, Comfortably Numb, on the Berlin wall? Who knew?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a...h?
v=aLx3uSwv6VM
My TV has been on once in the past month or so, to watch SNL last saturday night.
Jenn, hve you noticed how our government is run by 20 somethings and ancient old white men?
Green Libertarian | Homepage | 02.25.08 - 9:44 pm | #
Good selection, Green
Thanks, Joe.
Thanks Ellie, I check it out.
Plan mexico.....
'...According to the terms of the security aid package, there is virtually no difference between an international terrorist, a migrant farmworker, a political protester, and a drug trafficker. The most unexpected and pernicious feature of Plan Mexico is that it targets all these groups indiscriminately....."
The Homegrown terrorist prevention act will be coming in quite handy in the near future.
How ironic - the biggest Crime syndicate in the history of the planet claiming to want to crack down on crime - as long as it's not their crimes.
Racist nutcase.
http://www.adelaideinstitute.org...e.org...etters/
n369.htm
Green Libertarian | Homepage | 02.25.08 - 5:42 pm | #
Damn!
Fuckin' internets.
Why would my computer at home suddenly put a block on ALL of my frequently visited websites, even my yahoo email page? It would not allow me to unblock them, either, that's why I didn't post anything last night-- my computer would not let me onto a single website, or to surf even-- every website I tried to go to was blocked.
Ellie, Firewall?
ellie-
i had an experience like this last summer
our virus software knew it had been too long since it updated itself. so it blocked all sites. it couldn't update itself while the computer was turned off for 3 weeks.
does that make sense ?
Sort of, Jenn. What was really bizarre is that I was online at home between 7-ish and 8. Everything was working as it normally does. I came back an hour and a half later, turned it on, and that's when the trouble started.
It also kept giving me an error message that I was not connected, even though my modem said I was, and the icon at the bottom of the screen said I was.
So, what's this about?
http://www.futuregenalliance.org/
My new office has a window that happens to look into the window of another office in our building. The guy in the cubicle there has a poster of Futre Gen Alliance Final Site Announcement.
It seems a little shady to me, as Peabody Coal is involved.
Original Sin may be implicated.
In my computer woes, or the FutureGen thing?
Joe-- yes, I think it was the Firewall that was doing the blocking. A new icon showed up on the screen at the bottom, something about "phishing", and then a second new icon popped up too, an eyeball thingie that said "file security". ????
last summer, the computer itself gave me no clue that it was having this particular issue. it was very obscure to try to discover it.
Morning mes amis et mes amies!
Seen this?
http://www.canada.com/ottawaciti...68687fa&
k=13379
Head of Guantanamo trials quits.
saw that too gregory!
is it really morning? the clock says so.
i will observe congress tomorrow - we have a capitol tour with our congress critter's staff. the house of reps is much more diverse than the senate.
is there no unruly mob-boss who can give us a fresh tuesday debate thread or anything?
new thread new thread new thread
more math more math, some spelling.
Well, I can report on the whale who just passed here, very close to the beach and moving real slow. Heading north. Like me, tomorrow.
Hello, Gregory, my migratory friend! How can you tear yourself away from that wonderful place?
It's not going to be easy, Ellie. This is my first real trip to Mexico... took a couple of weeks in Puerto Vallarta a few years ago, but the gringos were thick on the ground. Stayed in a luxe hotel, etc.
This trip has been very different from that. I've been cooking and eating with the locals. I never would have believed how satisfying a tortilla-based diet could be. Maybe I should say how satisfying a tortilla-based meal could be, since I have the option of buying and eating meat, poultry and seafood as well... and needless to say, the seafood here is superb.
I'm staying with very dear old friends who have been living here part-time for quite a few years. They know everybody in town, their kids, their pigs, their dogs, and their parrots. I love it here. Trying to figure out a way to come here for longer periods of time.
The news in the USA looks so sick, and the weather in Seattle is so dark and gloomy in winter. We'll see how it goes.
Interesting factoid about tortillas, Gregory: the average Guatemalan housewife makes 100 tortillas each day for her family.
Did you learn to make them by hand, or do you have one of those fancy Mexican tortilla presses?
There is a tortilla press here in the house, and I've used it, but I have been watching the hand method. There was a fonda by the side of the road in Patzcuaro where the cook was grinding blue corn on a metate, hand patting it into big tortillas, and cooking them on a stone comal over a wood fire. Needless to say, they were superb. So was everything else she made.
I was looking at tortilla statistics here as well, and I think the figure was 120,000,000 tortillas eaten per day in Mexico.
Some of the tortilla presses are wood. Not very fancy. But the real tradition is by hand and it's an art.
Gregory-- what a wonderful experience you've had! I'm envious, and my wanderlust grows stronger each day (this travel within the U.S. is too confining for me). I'm gonna have to bust out of the borders soon.
I have been tripping on tortillas, comparing them to rice, for example, as a diet staple. I often eat rice as my daily staple, and I find that I've been feeling much better eating all these tortillas instead. Wheat is out as an every day food for me, as for so many people my age.
Tortillas, beans, and chile. And the hand which prepares them!
Ellie....take me wichya?
My homestay "mom" (she was 24 years old) hand made her tortillas. She wouldn't teach me because she said, "You gringas always drop them on the floor!". Which was true.
Come on along, 'gulag. My friends are trying to talk me into Europe in the fall, but honestly, I've got something more rough and tumble in mind-- the Amazon has been calling me for a couple of years now. Mmmm, chocolates in Brussels or coca in Boivia?
Hey GULAG!
I do a fair bit of travel within the US, Ellie, and I never feel like I've been anywhere when I get home. I love languages, and being out of the English-speaking world is a great pleasure for me.
(By the way, I completely screwed up my pluscuamperfecto joke, but let's let it pass, shall we?)
Yes, Gregory, we will let the plucua-whatever joke to pass. Actually, it generated a rather amusing conversation.
You could come with me, Gulag. Of course there would be talk. But there always is...
Maybe we should all go together!
Oh yes, lets! an unruly road trip-- and the unruly part would be guaranteed.
I like hanging out with local people, off the tourist tracks when I go out of the country. But it is also great fun to bump into other travellers/ expats in a bar--- everyone screaming their stories, all at once, because it is such a relief to speak English again!
So, what's this about?
http://www.futuregenalliance.org/
My new office has a window that happens to look into the window of another office in our building. The guy in the cubicle there has a poster of Futre Gen Alliance Final Site Announcement.
It seems a little shady to me, as Peabody Coal is involved.
Ellie | Homepage | 02.26.08 - 9:50 am | #
Looks shady.
There's almost no way, currently, to make coal (from mining to burning) environmentally friendly. "Clean coal" is currently a big ruse.
Okay, I have to go forage for some food. I'll be back later, though I DO need to do some work today .
Green-- I suspected this was the "clean coal" scam. I'm not up on coal issues much anymore, but this has sparked my interest again.
Shall I make faces at him through the window? Gesture?
Ellie, middle finger.
heh heh heh
Good luck on your foraging for roots and grubs.
that was a brutal home school session. now son is in the shower, calming down.
maybe i will let husband take kids out by himself this afternoon. ha. i have them alone all day tomorrow.
ellie, print up a poster for your window and make it face out
clean coal is a lie
GTMO suicides are an "act of terrorism" now.
http://www.wakeupfromyourslumber...r.com/node/
5847
When will this madness end?
Not any time soon, Gulag.
The money's all on the side of the fascists. And our magnificent military ghouls.
Just when you think it can't get any more sick and depraved, whaddyaknow, it gets even more sick and depraved.
Perfidious traitors are sick and depraved. by definition.
Wooo Hooo!
Obama on Israel & Likud!
Obama Distinguishes Between ‘pro-Israel’ and pro-Likud
Monday, February 25th, 2008 in News by Jim Lobe| Comment |
Barack Obama reportedly said something very important and long overdue to a group of some 100 Cleveland Jewish leaders on Sunday — that being pro-Likud and being “pro-Israel” are two different things.
http://www.antiwar.com/blog/2008...-and-pro-likud/
“I think there is a strain within the pro-Israel community that says unless you adopt a unwavering pro-Likud approach to Israel that you’re anti-Israel and that can’t be the measure of our friendship with Israel. If we cannot have an honest dialogue about how do we achieve these goals, then we’re not going to make progress.”
He said even more about the confined nature of the debate over Israel and its security in this country, according to the dispatch in the Jewish Telegraph Agency (JTA). Apparently in defense of his consultations with Zbigniew Brzezinski, who has been harshly critical of neo-conservative influence in the Bush administration, Obama said:
“Frankly some of the commentary that I’ve seen which suggests guilt by association or the notion that unless we are never ever going to ask any difficult questions about how we move peace forward or secure Israel that is non military or non belligerent or doesn’t talk about just crushing the opposition that that somehow is being soft or anti-Israel, I think we’re going to have problems moving forward.”
Fine distinctions showing up again in the public conversation. I like it.
^^^New Thread^^^
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