August 12, 2009 archive

Wednesday Morning Science Supplement

Wednesday Morning Science Supplement is an Open Thread

From Yahoo News Science

1 ‘Toxic’ seaweed spreading on France’s northern coast

by Clarisse Luca, AFP

Tue Aug 11, 7:08 am ET

SAINT-BRIEUC, France (AFP) – Mounds of putrified green algae are building up on France’s northern coast, releasing poisonous fumes blamed for the recent death of a horse and the collapse of the rider.

Part of the coastline has been declared off-limits as local authorities acknowledge they are unable to get rid of the decomposing seaweed that has washed up on shores in more than 80 communities across Brittany.

Green groups accuse President Nicolas Sarkozy’s government of turning a blind eye to an “environmental cancer” caused by the algae and blame intensive farming for producing nitrates that feed the seaweed’s toxicity.

Muse in the Morning

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Muse in the Morning

2009 Poems:  Dreamcatcher


Dream Catcher #3

Blooming Bliss

Bliss created

from stardust

memories

seeds coalesce

from strands

of time

and shed

their husks

creating space

to weave

the threads

in the tapestry

of existence

–Robyn Elaine Serven

–March 12, 2009

The Dark Knight of the Soul: Part 1 (draft)

This is a draft of part one of a post I long promised to write here.  For a variety of reasons, it has been a long-delayed labor, which is already extremely long and broken into several sections.  I am posting this draft here because as this has become a piece of writing which is significantly larger than my regular blogging endeavors in both size and ambition, I would greatly, greatly appreciate feedback to let me know how it can be refined for maximum readability and comprehension, and indeed for intrinsic worth (meaning if you think this is stupid, uninteresting bullshit, let me know before I waste any more time and effort).  Thank you in advance for your time.

CAUTION: Spoilers, for the films “Watchmen” and “The Dark Knight”, as well as the books Watchmen, The Dark Knight Returns, The Killing Joke, and much of the rest of the Batman canon, abound in this post.

In contrast to the simplistic opposition of good guys and bad guys, spy thrilers with artistic pretensions display all the “realistic psychological complexity” of the characters from “our” side. Far from signaling a balanced view, however, this “honest” acknowledgement of our own “dark side” stands for its very opposite, for the hidden assertion of our supremacy: we are “psychologically complex,” full of doubts, while the opponents are one dimensional fanatical killing machines.

~ Slavoj Zizek, In Defense of Lost Causes

Truth is a well-known pathological liar. It invariably turns out to be Fiction wearing a fancy frock. Self-proclaimed Fiction, on the other hand, is entirely honest. You can tell this, because it comes right out and says, “I’m a Liar,” right there on the dust jacket.

~Alan Moore  

Shut the Golf Courses Down

The sport has come a long way from it’s Scots roots baby, to where it’s mostly just an eco disaster, stealing water, dumping chem lawn, and totally for fat drunk rich guys who can’t even walk around or carry their own clubs.

In Venezuela they’re doing something :

In Maracay, officials are considering building low-income homes on the golf course or turning it into a campus of Mr. Chávez’s Bolivarian University. In Caraballeda, plans are advancing to turn the course into a park for children.

Mr. Chávez, for his part, said he had no plans to outlaw golf. “I respect all sports,” he said. “But there are sports and there are sports. Do you mean to tell me this is a people’s sport?”

He then answered the question: “It is not.”

NYT

This is what golf has become in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina (which was once a very unique and beautiful place, believe it or not) :


Dinner and Darts with the Gecko 20090812

Most of you might not realize it, but Gecko Vo and I are very good friends.  He comes to visit me in the summer because I do not run the air conditioning, and, at 79 degrees F and 80% relative humidity, he is very comfortable.

He visited last night, and whilst I ate some chicken, I sat Vo onto the deck and turned on the light to attract insects.  We both ate our fill about the same time, and turned to conversation and darts.

Night is here… the Whiskey in the cup

So, GM is unveiling a new car that is electric/gas and gets 230 mpg.  Given the time from the mandate, to the new announcement, to the unvieling (late ’10), who doesn’t realize that they have been sitting on this technology?

My next rant: The State newspaper in South Carolina gets punked by Associated Press.  Why is the AP doing better journalism than the newspaper who has access to every record, and person, involved?

Harder rant:  An Illinois Judge sentences court member to 6 months of contempt over a yawn, while giving said offender’s cousin

PROBATION

for FELONY DRUG CHARGES.

Ok… another drink… more words… after the fold…

Hundred Man Chess

Thats what they used to call it. Amusing, I guess that was before “Stratego” or “Risk” was invented.

Hundred is a joke, too… we flux between 30 and 50 now, eliminating players as quickly as new ones pop up. Truth be told, it certainly is more like chess than either, I have to think as I sit here in the Caymans waiting for my meeting.  And really, there are only ten at the top.

Its a decent, unobtrusive bar, and in my yuppie uniform of khaki shorts and a polo, I blend easily with” the little templars” as I like to call them, useful pawns of wealth and power more fleeting than they could possibly understand. Billionaires are a dime a dozen, and as expendable as the rest. At least the ones here are a level up from those American “The Family” guys; most of them are useful ideologues we let act unrestricted for a while… but Good Lord, they travel with entourages and such obvious, tacky excess the real players hate to even meet with them.

They absolutely cream themselves, preening and posturing when they come to our Palaces officially, and would walk by me right now, sit and boast loudly at this bar in their suits and gold, ignoring me, their very creator.

They wouldn’t even see my contact, with his print shirt and dark skin, they would just see two middle aged men, lessers, unworthy of notice.

Chump Change

By now it should be pretty apparent to all but the most ignorant (this means you Birthers)that the only type of change that has come to America courtesy of the Obama administration is chump change. Oh, the Wall Street financial mafia, especially The Great Satan (Goldman Sachs) has seen plenty of change for the better (with the government assisted hit job of rivals Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers) and bonuses for the parasitical scum will be approaching record levels this year while the a good amount of the rest of the populace is still jobless, homeless, hungry and fucked but hey..is this a great country or what?

In fact, what really has changed from the more honest version of Fuck You, I Got Mine attitude of the Bush-Cheney-Rove Axis of Evil? Obama’s Chief of Staff, a foul-mouthed, ass-faced, stab you in the back little swine named Rahm Emanuel has come out and called ads by liberal and progressive groups against the corrupt Blue Dogs as “fucking stupid”. Now this has naturally incurred the wrath of many bloggers and justifiably so, Emanuel is nothing but a malodorous, dual loyalist agent of supreme corporate corruption, think Al Capone was a bad dude, well he had nothing on Rahm Emanuel when it comes to being a Chicago gangster. I remember a few years back when our local entrenched Republican, C.W. ‘Bill’ Young was ripe for a takedown during the 2006 mid-term elections and was being challenged by a scrappy insurgency by a very progressive, anti-war, independent minded ‘democrat’ named Samm Simpson. At that time, the vermin Emanuel was head of the DCCC and didn’t give her one fucking dime, not a fucking dime choosing to instead stay with the Republican more in line with corporatist values.

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