December 6, 2008 archive

Couple of essays on safety, one from me and one from NLinStPaul.

See, I’ve been conditioned, and now seems to be a good time to confront that conditioning and knock it over like … well it’s  like one of those bouncy dolls, you knock it over and it bounces right back up and gets in your face.

Every time I think I got a handle on the news of the day, something new happens and blows that handle all to hell.

So I’ve been thinking about this notion of safety, and through some conversations here have expanded my view.

First, the word itself, “safety,” has been corrupted almost beyond repair.  After the actions of those in power we see “security” as a police state and “safety” as smothering our voice, our body and soul.

Now’s a good time to detour, for some body and soul, Coleman Hawkins (don’t know the personnel, and it’s not complete, but it sounds so nice), courtesy of YouTuber anvasquez:

.

^{Horsehead Nebula by NASA.gov}

David Bowie – Space Oddity (original video)

Interesting version – Bowie is a sweet young thang!  

^{Ed White – First American Spacewalker by NASA.gov}

Lemon Jelly – Space Walk  

A nice piece of electronica featuring voices of the Apollo astronauts.  Beautiful!

Steve Miller – Space Cowboy  

Betcha weren’t ready for that!  

Burning the Midnight Oil for Energy Independence also in Orange

For the last eight years, development of Energy Independent transport has been faced with a dog-in-the-manger administration fighting furiously to move forward into Cartopian vision of endless crude oil fueling endless road works so people can drive endless hours to actually get wherever they need to go to do whatever it is they need to do.

However, there is hope. This year, the Amtrak funding bill included substantial funding for restoring the North East Corridor to an adequate state of repair. On November 4, California passed Proposition 1A, providing $9.95b in bonds for the California High Speed Rail (HSR) and connecting infrastructure. And then, on November 19, John Kerry and Arlen Specter introduced the a bill for funding High Speed Rail projects:

Titled the High-Speed Rail for America Act of 2008, the bill would provide money for tax-exempt bonds to finance long-stalled high-speed rail projects.

So let’s look at the projects that are on the drawing boards.