:: Archipelapogo ::

:: 28.7.04 ::

Readings

Work is still sucking the everloving life out of me, leaving me useless and lethargic. So, in the interest of posting something semi-substantial, I'll share with you what I've been reading over lunch this week:

Grist Magazine's interview with philospher/environmental ethicist Andrew Light.

This Economist Article on the roadway through the Amazon that is attempting to strike a valid balance between growth and conservation.

Mario Cuomo's speech from the 1984 DNC, which Jason posted in a comment this morning.

and for tomorrow (or more than likely, it'll be my bedtime reading tonight):

This Grist article on the environmentalism of this year's DNC

Environmentalism is descending on the Democratic National Convention this week in the form of biodegradable balloons and recycled confetti -- and that's just the beginning.

All of the electricity powering the festivities is coming from renewable sources or an onsite fuel-cell generator. Local Massachusetts farms are supplying food for a handful of the convention events, and leftovers are being donated or composted. Greenhouse-gas credits will offset the carbon-dioxide emissions generated by convention delegates as they travel to and from Boston, and hybrid gas-electric buses are shuttling people between events.

This is the handiwork of the Coalition for Environmentally Responsible Conventions, a new organization that has collaborated with the city of Boston and the Democratic National Convention Committee to pull off what CERC Executive Director Daniel Ruben boasts is "certifiably the greenest presidential convention that's been organized in modern history!"

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Believe the Hype

So, intermittingly doing the wash and watching the DNC on PBS (OMG! LOL!1!1). I hate big events like National Conventions. They reek of a cross between televangalism and the MTV Music Awards. Bring in the new acts to hype them up. Have everyone screaming for everyone, whether they know anything about them or not.

But damn. Obama is good. Well, once he got past the "here I am, here's my life story" thing. For a freaking State Senator, the guy is very well spoken, very calm, charismatic in a non-threatening way. No wonder the Repubs in Illinois are getting desperate.

That was a well written (by whoever) and very well delivered speech. I can see why the Dems are getting behind him. He must be making some of the old guard of the GOP shit their Depends.
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HeatWave Good times in Austin at the Texas HeatWave Auto Show and Texas Psychobilly Bloodfeast II at the Red Eye Fly. Not a whole lot of commentary, but I took some pictures. Check 'em out here

front, passenger side Originally uploaded by ufez.

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Lest you get the wrong impression

To anyone that happens to be spending their holiday in Dallas and happened to go to the West side of downtown today:

No, there's not always a big tent revival at the Kennedy memorial. No, you can't always hear praise and worship music for a half-mile radius. No, there aren't always old men in fancy suits standing on every corner pushing pocket-sized Bibles and tracts at you.

Yes, I'm as stymied as you are.
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Explosions in the Sky US Tour

Sweet. If that Houston date weren't on a Wednesday, I'd head down and catch both the beginning and end of the tour. As it is, I'll have to settle for Denton. But go catch 'em if they hit your local locale. And if you're of the type likely to do so, it may be good for you to wear earplugs.

I've got a little wall calendar in my cube on which I'll highlight dates in green for shows. Between this and the Cramps/Hank III show at GTR in September, I'm beginning to get excited filling up this Fall, when it seems all of the national bands I'd like to see come around.
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New Tagline for Bush/Cheney

I'd been tossing around my head how to bring it up, but Charles's post Iran, Sodomy, and Ted Nugent kind of seems like a good time. Specifically, the part on Iran.

In 1968, Governor of New York and Republican Candidate for President Nelson Rockefeller took a moderate stance on many issues, including Vietnam, from which he was pro unilaterally withdrawing. He was heralded as a strong centrist against the more extreme views of Dick Nixon, and looked to challenge Nixon very strongly. Unfortunately, he took a pretty risky campaign strategy that wound up backfiring on him.

Early-ish in the campaign, March of that year, to be specific, Rockefeller announced that he "(was) not a candidate". This led to many editorials, including one ran by the NY Times, begging him to reconsider, which, of course, he did. Unfortunately, by the time he re-announced his candidacy (and most historians will say he was always a candidate), many of the delegates at the RNC were already backing Nixon. It was a pretty stupid move that backfired not only on himself, but, in the words of said NY Times editorial, left Republican moderates "leaderless and impotent", something many political historians and scientists will say is still true (many cite 1968 as the year that the Republicans turned on the moderates and began pandering to the Religous Right and neo-conservatives).

At any rate, during that campaign, when questioned about Vietnam, Rockefeller called it "a commitment looking for an excuse".

I think that should be Bush and Cheney's campaign slogan this year.

(ed note: I learned this story, and many others, from Mark Kurlansky's excellent book 1968: The Year That Rocked The World. It was just one of those quotes you write in your notebook because you know it'll become germane someday. Highly recommended book, btw)
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I told you my catnip addiction was getting out of hand...
This post courtesy some serious procrastination.

Cheap Instant Flash Fun!

Open an Excel document. From the drop-down menus, select "View", then "Page Break Preview". Scroll over a bit until you can see the grey area.

Now, select a random cell. Hold down your Ctrl Key and begin selecting other random cells, all over the page. Hit them up, down, back, forth, build small columns, etc. When you've got a good number selected, let go of the Ctrl Key and your mouse and all of the columns that you selected should be a darker grey save one highlit one. Now, hold down your enter key.

Wheeeeeeeeeeeeee! Instant visuals!
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Your Daily Dose of Depressing News

Shame of slavery blights Brazil's interior:

An estimated 25,000 people are working as slave labourers in Brazil clearing the Amazon jungle for ranchers, or producing pig iron in the forest using charcoal smelters, according to a study.

An unpublished report for the Geneva-based International Labour Organisation (ILO) concludes that despite the best efforts of the government of President Luiz Ignacio Lula da Silva to free slaves and prosecute offenders the level of lawlessness in the country's interior means that the practice continues.

The report also uncovers a new area of labour "analogous to slavery", where men, women and children who are illegal immigrants from Bolivia, Peru and Paraguay are working in sweatshops in Sao Paulo.

The Guardian was passed a copy of the report because anti-slavery campaigners feared that the ILO was suppressing it.

They believe that officials are nervous of criticism of the organisation's failure to make an impact on the situation.

The report is also sensitive because it shows that the US is directly benefiting from the proceeds of slavery.

It says 92% of the pig iron produced in the forest is exported to US mills. Much of the smelting is done by forced labour, which contravenes section 307 of the US tariff act of 1930, which prohibits the "import of merchandise that has been produced in whole or in part with prison labour, forced labour, or indentured labour in the penal system".

But Roger Plant, head of the ILO's forced labour programme in Geneva, denied the report was being withheld. He said it had been held back to include more statistics and it would be updated and published next year.

The ILO employed five researchers to travel to the remote parts of Brazil. Ms Rocha says in the introduction it was impossible to read the reports of government inspectors and interviews with workers "without feeling profoundly ashamed that in the 21st century so many Brazilians are being treated not like animals, but worse than animals".

She describes how slave workers live in hovels under plastic sheets without sanitation, with the job of clearing the forest for soya bean plantations and cattle. In the charcoal smelters they work without protective clothing in extreme heat.

"They work from dawn till dusk, sometimes seven days a week. They have been recruited with the promise of good pay, but they find themselves trapped into debt."

The report concludes that the only way slavery will disappear is if everyone regards it as "a national outrage" and ranches and businesses are confiscated as a punishment.

As a first step every worker should be registered, given documents and educated about their rights.

The US customs said there was no one who was familiar with the problem available to comment.

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Dallas NewsAnchor Team You're Most Likely to find a Porn Torrent of

Fox 4's Steve Eagar and Heather Hays. Let's observe the facts:

The names are too good to be true. She's a former Miss America contestant, he's a former baseball player. They both look like they've got tanning booths in their dressing rooms and take more botox than I drink water. Plus, they've got chemistry. I'm telling you, they're definitely hitting it. And taping it.
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Enlightenment

Growing up in South Tulsa, there was a locally owned video store on the corner of 101st and Sheridan. In our old house, we could walk there without having to cross any streets, and we frequently did so, especially during the summers. The people there knew my sister and I and treated us like adults, something that just tickles little kids to death.

They had a rather simple operation. You'd pay $25 in advance and when you'd go to rent a video, they pull your index card out of a recipe box and debit it until it ran out. This was great for our family as we could just run up there and leave without having to shell out any cash (something I think I got in trouble for doing unauthorized more than once).

When BlockBuster decided to move into Tulsa, they built two locations in our area: One a mile East of our local store and then one two miles off (one mile north and west). Needless to say, our local store didn't last long under that chokehold and were summarily bought out by blockbuster which then ensued to turn it into yet another Blockbuster. Yes, you can start from the BB at 91st and Yale and drive three miles to another one, passing yet another along the way.

Having the business acumen of a pre-teen when this happened, I figured something was wrong but couldn't quite put my finger on it. Years later while learning about the big box stores moving into small towns and putting the locally owned specialty shops out of business, I recalled the experience of my little video shop and saw it as a touchstone for education about the big-business model.

Since our local video shop closed, I've harbored a pretty deep resentment for BlockBuster, who like to remain the only game in town. Sure, I had no alternative for quite some time but to rent from them if I wanted to watch a tape.

So when I finally got myself a DVD player, I wasted little time in signing up with NetFlix. I've been a member there for quite a while now and have always been impressed with what I've found. There are few movies available on DVD that they don't offer, the distro center is not far off, so I usually get a two-day turnaround time, and the website, while not being the prettiest out there, is pretty functional. I've set foot in a BlockBuster exactly once since I joined NetFlix, and that was to rent a game.

Now Blockbuster (and Wal-Mart, incidentally) is launching their own NetFlix service. For the time being, it's a little cheaper, and you get some free in-store rental coupons. Whatever. I'm not even going to look at their site. Blockbuster has a pretty large corporate office in Downtown Dallas, so I frequently ride the train with some of their employees. Listening to them talk, it sounds like the company is in a small bit of trouble, and many of them are nervous. Blockbuster is putting a lot of hope in this new service, and I can't be the only one hoping they fall flat on their face.

Tangentally related: Some suggestions for Netflix that will help keep them at the top. (via).
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The Great Thursday Linkdump

..::From Russia, With Love - The Guardian remembers Anton Chekov on the 100th anniversary of his death::..

..::How to Cook an Alien - for your daily dose of WTF?::..

..::The Economist takes a look at low-cost airlines - I know I'm far from alone in lamenting the blackballing of these airlines by DFW and their protectionist stance regarding American. That said, I do believe ValuJet is flying out of DFW now. The only place I know for sure you can get to directly is Atlanta::..

..::It's damn hot in the Iberian peninsula::..

..::I wish I remembered more from Tulsa TV Memories, but I always preferred books as a kid. That said, the page for Uncle Zeb is fantastic::..
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Battleground America: Update

If you'll remember, I posted some time ago about the Wall Street Journal and Zogby Interactives bi-weekly polls in swing states. I checked the site again today, and while they haven't fully reported the July 12th standings, the little graphs next to each state have been updated. Results as follows:

Two States (Arkansas and Iowa) have converted from Bush to Kerry since the May 24th report. One state (Nevada) has converted from Kerry to Bush. Tennessee, orginially a Bush state, appears to be tied as of this report.

The total electoral college votes for Bush's two states: 10.
The total electoral college votes for Kerry's 13 states: 156.
Tennessee represents 11 unclaimed votes.

If you look at the graphs though, you can see that the June 21 poll was the strongest by far for Bush in almost every state, with either his lead increasing or his defecit shrinking.

I'll try to keep the 'pogo updated on this poll every other time for now, and then every two weeks starting in Oct. The last poll before the election should be on Oct. 25th.
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Pinchy got all dirty in the yard chasing birds, but don't worry, I put him in a nice, hot bath

The Atlantic interview with Trevor Corson, author of The Secret Life of Lobsters. Trevor spent two years working on a Lobster boat doing research for this book. Apparently, there are some racy bits:

After copulation, the female huddled in a corner of the shelter while her new shell hardened. In exchange, she left her old shell as a postcoital snack for the male. He began nibbling a few minutes after dismounting—the lobster equivalent, perhaps, of edible underwear.

This is posted just for those of you that need to fact-check your crustacean-themed Letter to Penthouse.
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Pissed...Livid

Officials discuss how to delay Election Day

Newsweek said the discussions about whether the November 2 election could be postponed started with a recent letter to Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge from DeForest Soaries Jr., chairman of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission.

Ridge warned Thursday that al Qaeda terrorists were planning a large-scale attack on the United States "in an effort to disrupt the democratic process."

I fully understand that if an attack were to take place on election day, or even the day before, a contingency plan would be necessary. That said, if they pull this off two weeks in advance under the auspice that the terror level is heightened, you'd better join me in the streets screaming like a banshee, no matter where your politics lie. Period.
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Dallas in 1,000 Words

As seen in the parking lot while walking back from the corner store.
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Things I've Learned This Week

1) An alcohol headspace gas chromatograph system will set you back $120,000

2) An autopsy saw, however, will only cost you $1,600

3) I, apparently, secrete feline pheremones. This is a scientific study in which two different cats, in different locations, could not keep their paws off of me.

It's odd really, I've never been a big cat person, although I've not got anything against them. But I felt like a crowd-surfing coed at a Limp Bizkit concert the way they were pawing me. It didn't bug me to much until one of them dug their claws into my belly trying to knead a soft spot to cuddle in. That hurt like a bitch.

Maybe I should stop snorting catnip.
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Counting Beans

Sorry for all the unexplained downtime. This just so happens to be the illustrious time of the year when the evil forces at work cram their slimy tendrils into my ears and suffocate the sections containing creativity and will to live. Things should resume to normal sometime in the forseeable future.

Go read vidiot's blog. He's had a ton of exceptional stuff in the past few days.

Also, if you're in the DFW area and have nothing to do Saturday night (or even if you do have stuff to do, screw it, this is better), go see Jurassic 5 for free at the Taste of Dallas festival. They put on one hell of a fun show.
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The Living Room Candidate

The museum overhead finally has another good special exhibit on the 7th Floor, The Living Room Candidate: A History of Presidential Campaign Commercials 1952-2004.

As the 2004 presidential campaigning gets into full swing, The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza presents The Living Room Candidate: A History of Presidential Campaign Commercials, 1952-2004 featuring some of the most memorable and historically significant presidential television commercials from 1952 through 2004.

From July 2, 2004 through January 2005, The Living Room Candidate is a multimedia a look the political image-making process, where the way a candidate is presented to the public is as important—if not more so—as his stand on the issues. More than 200 commercials will be screened in their entirety on monitors throughout the Seventh Floor along with analysis, historical background and results from each election.

This looks very cool, and the first special exhibit worth seeing since they had the Pulitzer Prize Winners some year and a half ago. Must check this out. Those not in the Metroplex, or those that tend towards hermitage, can check out The Living Room Candidate's website, where you can view old commercials, here.
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Shrinkage

The BBC has got a very disturbing story on the disappearance of the Aral Sea and the consequences it's having on the populations of Uzbekistan and Kazakstan:

A new study has now found high levels of DNA damage that could explain the region's abnormally high cancer rates.

This comes as the latest estimates say the Aral Sea is receding so rapidly it could vanish within the next 15 years.

Once the world's fourth largest inland body of water, the sea has been drained by a poorly managed irrigation system that supplies water to cotton crops.


(image on left from 1989, on right from 2003)

In the last eight years, the sea has fallen another 5m (16ft) and soon you can expect official confirmation that the larger of its two parts has been divided again.

What is left when these seas retreat is a vision of environmental apocalypse: vast stretches of desert, laden with heavy doses of salt and burdened with a toxic mix of chemical residues washed down over the decades from the farms upstream.

Dust blows everywhere and carries with it toxins that enter the food chain.

Most alarming is a rate of a particular form of cancer - cancer of the oesophagus - that is the highest in the world.

Up to 80% of cancer victims in the region suffer this form of cancer.

For years the likely cause has been suspected to be the intensive use of pesticides and herbicides on the vast cotton fields to the south of the Aral Sea. Now new research appears to provide support for that.

While not an option for most of the world, sadly, the reasons for buying organic in the Western World are stacking up.
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Because they know what's best for your soul

Anti-abortion advocate W. David Hager has been reappointed to the FDA's Advisory Committee for Reproductive Health Drugs. Some choice excerpts for those not wanting to read the whole article:

In a letter to President Bush, a bipartisan group of representatives who support abortion rights said Hager should not be reappointed to the FDA's advisory panel on reproductive drugs because he "allowed his personal views to overshadow his duty to both the FDA and the American people."

Hager, an advocate of some forms of religious healing and a former spokesman for a group that petitioned the FDA to rescind its approval of the abortion pill RU486, was appointed in 2002 over similar protests.

"Dr. Hager's blatant opposition to so many safe and legal options makes him unfit to serve on this key advisory committee," said the letter, signed by Reps. Louise Slaughter, D-N.Y.; Diana DeGette, D-Colo.; Nancy Johnson, R-Conn.; and James Greenwood, R-Pa.

The letter also strongly criticized Hager for being one of four panel members who voted to recommend against approving nonprescription sales of the emergency contraceptive Plan B. The 24 other panel members favored over-the- counter sales, but the FDA rejected the application.

The application to make Plan B available over the counter was the first major recommendation involving Hager. Despite the overwhelming vote of the advisory panel for the application, the FDA decided in May there was insufficient information to approve it. "Americans rely on the FDA as a trusted and objective safeguard," said Scott Spear, national medical committee chairman of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America. "When science comes second, public health suffers. President Bush should appoint an unbiased expert who values science above all."

Oddly, this is the second time this week I've seen Conn. Republican Nancy Johnson linked to something that can be considered progressive. She was highlighted in the Sierra Club Magazine (that I ripped links from below) as being one of the more environmentally friendly GOP-ers. I may have to do some more research on her, but as the work gods have decided to inflict major pains in my thorax as of late, that'll have to wait a while.
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