For those of you who know me (and why else would you be reading this blog?!), you probably know that I've had a few chronic pains and bothers over the last couple of years. Repeatable neck pains, intermittent persistent cough, leaky gut, blow outs, etc. Well, I decided that maybe it's time I changed my lifestyle around a bit. I like to think that I'm not getting older, I'm getting wiser, and maybe it's time I took a little bit more direction and discipline to my life. An easy way to do this, I thought, would be a detoxifying fast. I did a little research, and despite the numerous devotees to the "Master Cleanse" fast, otherwise known as the lemonade diet, I decided that I would do a full on water fast. I actually started prepping for this fast on Monday of this week, and have put nothing in my body except water for over 36 hours now. Here's a few reasons that I decided to do this fast in the first place.
Detoxification
First off, it seems to me that if I want to truly get stuff out of my body, I should put into my body the absolute minimum. I've been running myself pretty hard in the last year. I'm sure the lemonade diet would have given me many of the same benefits when it came to cleansing, but I figured that if I'm going to do this, I'm going to DO this. Really, I just wanted to do some sort of a fast that would give my body a chance to kick start back into gear, to reset from a healthy baseline. In addition to only drinking water on my fast, I'll also be doing a daily "salt water cleanse", which is essentially a enema you give yourself by drinking body temperature salt water. It's like flushing the pipes. I'll get more into that later.
Redefine relationship with food
I realize that I have an over indulgent relationship with food. I actually spend a good portion of each paycheck's leisure money on eating well; perhaps a little too well. A fast is a good way for me to again reset a baseline. Coming off of the fast I plan on being careful and picky about what I eat for a few weeks, and try to form some new healthier habits about what I consume. I've tried to form these habits with varying degrees of not-success before, but I'm hoping that this will give me a way to start anew. If nothing else, the last few days have certainly been full of meditation about food and the way I eat.
Spiritual connection with my totem
I know it may sound kooky, and I've seen the way some people look at me when I state this, but I really do feel a connection to my totem, Bear. I often feel like I'm hibernating in the winter, and this year I'm just taking it a step further. During this time when I feel like I need to regroup, I've been hiding in my cave, sleeping a lot, and working on projects that will pay fruits in the spring. In this way I feel like I'm following the path set down for me by my spirit archetype, and getting back to a root that I've been too busy partying to pay attention to.
Heal aches and pains
Fasting, from what I've read, gives your body time to heal and recover from the pains it's built up and just glossed over. A lot of the work that our cells do throughout our lives is spent dealing with the things we put into our body, both beneficial and harmful. Fasting gives the body time to do its own internal housecleaning. That's what I've heard, and I'm hoping for, anyway. Once the body reaches ketosis, where it's feeding off of fat stores instead of sugar, I've heard that the body will start pushing out toxins and knitting wounds that it's been putting aside. Supposedly I'll become aware of the old wounds as my body tends to them. I'm expecting a nice outflux of mucous from my lungs from smoking and running in the cold, a severe pain in my neck from playing rugby, some wicked hangover headaches, and some nice IBS. I just hope that heartache isn't something I can expect; I feel like I've had plenty of that in the last couple of years.
Get a little grounded
All in all, I'm expecting this to be an experience I can use to recalibrate my internal compass. Already, I'm feeling much more lucid and conscious about myself and the direction in which I've been going. I'll write more tomorrow or the next day about my actual experiences with it so far, just in case any of you wackos out there actually think I'm doing something interesting. Personally, there's a voice in my head that's giggling the whole time, calling me a dork. Ah well, little voice, I might be a dork, but I'm the captain of this particular meat ship, so shut the hell up. Anyone else, not currently on board my meat ship, is allowed to laugh all they want.
I read Wikipedia a lot. I love the weird synaptic safaris it takes me on. Come along and see the crazy mind animals!
Thursday, December 6, 2007
Thursday, November 15, 2007
All the Free Phenylalanines You Can Drink
Free Drinks
In an effort to keep their geeks around the office more, and going home less, my work place offers all you can drink sodas in each of the kitchens. In each kitchen in each building, you'll find the same selection of sodas, fruit juices, sparkling waters, and milk. We also have these giant Starbucks machines that will freshly grind, over steep, and dispense a fresh steamy cup of mediocre Starbucks coffee in a minute for you. The beverage service is actually pretty cool, I really like it, and I take advantage of it a lot.
I learned a few years ago, however, that drinking 6 Mountain Dews a day, while it will drastically increase your productivity, is also a quick trip to fatty-ville. If you figure each Mountain Dew is about 200 calories of pure sugar (which it is) and you multiple that by 6, that's a full meal of empty calories for you to convert into lard. Years ago, therefore, I switched to diet sodas, and I've also cut back from 6 to a moderately disturbing 2 or 3 a day. My personal poison of choice is Cherry Diet Coke, because it's sweet enough to cover up that "Just for the taste of it" swill taste.
Phenylalanine
One day while I was sitting in my riveting daily meetings, chugging my third Cherry Diet Coke of the day, I noticed a line on the can that said "Phenylketonurics: contains phenylalanine". WTF, I thought? What is that stuff? I assume it must be great for me, if the FDA requires it's labeling on the side of products containing them.
A quick diversion; has anyone else noticed that chemical posts on Wikipedia were obviously written by people who know chemistry, for people who know chemistry? It can be really tough for my small brain to wade through one of those chemical posts.
But back to it: it turns out that phenylalanine is a naturally occurring amino acid that is one of the 20 amino acids our DNA uses to create proteins. It can also be metabolized into a couple of other amino acids we need. Phenylalanine is also used in sweeteners, like aspartame. Phenylketonuria is the inability to metabolize phenylalanine, a condition that affects in about 1 in 15,000 births worldwide. This is why, in the US and Canada, all products that contain aspartame, or Equal, or whatever, have to label their packaging with "Phenylketonurics: contains phenylalanine". It's because people with Phenylketonuria, abbreviated PKU, have to closely monitor their intake of protein, so as to avoid excessive amounts of phenylalanine.
Strangely, a type of monkey called a macaque recently had its genome sequenced, and it was found that they naturally have a mutation found in humans have PKU.
Macaque
Does this mean that all macaques are inable to drink Diet Coke? I hope not, because they already have quite enough stacked against them already.
In an effort to keep their geeks around the office more, and going home less, my work place offers all you can drink sodas in each of the kitchens. In each kitchen in each building, you'll find the same selection of sodas, fruit juices, sparkling waters, and milk. We also have these giant Starbucks machines that will freshly grind, over steep, and dispense a fresh steamy cup of mediocre Starbucks coffee in a minute for you. The beverage service is actually pretty cool, I really like it, and I take advantage of it a lot.
I learned a few years ago, however, that drinking 6 Mountain Dews a day, while it will drastically increase your productivity, is also a quick trip to fatty-ville. If you figure each Mountain Dew is about 200 calories of pure sugar (which it is) and you multiple that by 6, that's a full meal of empty calories for you to convert into lard. Years ago, therefore, I switched to diet sodas, and I've also cut back from 6 to a moderately disturbing 2 or 3 a day. My personal poison of choice is Cherry Diet Coke, because it's sweet enough to cover up that "Just for the taste of it" swill taste.
Phenylalanine
One day while I was sitting in my riveting daily meetings, chugging my third Cherry Diet Coke of the day, I noticed a line on the can that said "Phenylketonurics: contains phenylalanine". WTF, I thought? What is that stuff? I assume it must be great for me, if the FDA requires it's labeling on the side of products containing them.
A quick diversion; has anyone else noticed that chemical posts on Wikipedia were obviously written by people who know chemistry, for people who know chemistry? It can be really tough for my small brain to wade through one of those chemical posts.
But back to it: it turns out that phenylalanine is a naturally occurring amino acid that is one of the 20 amino acids our DNA uses to create proteins. It can also be metabolized into a couple of other amino acids we need. Phenylalanine is also used in sweeteners, like aspartame. Phenylketonuria is the inability to metabolize phenylalanine, a condition that affects in about 1 in 15,000 births worldwide. This is why, in the US and Canada, all products that contain aspartame, or Equal, or whatever, have to label their packaging with "Phenylketonurics: contains phenylalanine". It's because people with Phenylketonuria, abbreviated PKU, have to closely monitor their intake of protein, so as to avoid excessive amounts of phenylalanine.
Strangely, a type of monkey called a macaque recently had its genome sequenced, and it was found that they naturally have a mutation found in humans have PKU.
Macaque
Does this mean that all macaques are inable to drink Diet Coke? I hope not, because they already have quite enough stacked against them already.
Monday, November 12, 2007
A few things from India
Bhut Jolokia
One of the first times I hung out with Nubbins, he brought a small chili pepper over to my house that I'd never heard of, a Fatali. "Do you like hot food?" he asked. DO I? "Let's chop this up and put it on your leftover pizza." Sure, I thought, I can handle hot food just as well as the next guy. "Be careful," he said as we were getting ready to eat the pizza with tiny bits of Fatali chili on it, "there are probably several hundred thousand Scoville units on that slice right now."
Anyone who knows me knows that this is like telling me that I HAVE to eat the slice of pizza. I had no idea what a Scoville unit was, or how hot that slice was going to be. After a couple of glassfuls of milk I was willing to admit that I wasn't prepared, but that Fatali was my new favorite chili.
Nubbins and a few of the other guys have been growing super hot chilis for a few years now, so when a new hottest chili in the world was announced, he bought some seedlings and has been growing them this year. They're a north eastern Indian chili called Bhut Jolokia or Naga Jolokia, which means Ghost chili. What's not clear is whether they're called that because they were previously hard to find, or because when you eat them you die. The previously hottest chili in the world was the Red Savina Habenero, which clocked in at about 580,000 Scoville units. What does that mean about the hotness of a Red Savina? Just think about this...the hottest jalapeño you've ever eaten would have had a Scoville rating of about 8000 Scovilles. That means that a single Red Savina, which is about a third the volume as a jalapeño, is about 60 times as hot. A bell pepper is 0, a jalapeno is 8000, a Red Savina is 580,000, and a Bhut Jolokia is 1,040,000. Holy crap.
What am I going to do with a pepper that ridiculously hot? I'm going to chop it up and eat it on a pizza, of course. That's what I know how to do. I'm planning on sharing it with my Sikh friend Obiwan, because he has previously seemed to be completely impervious to the scourge of capsaicin. We'll see how he handles the ghost chili.
Dawali
Also from India, although not confined to the North Eastern area, is a holiday called Diwali. It's celebrated all over India by Hindus, Jains, and Sikhs alike. A bunch of the people I work with came back from this weekend waddling around like they'd just eaten Christmas and Thanksgiving dinners combined, and I guess it's because of this festival. Each of the major Indian religions seems to have their own reasons for celebrating Diwali, but it seems to be universally regarded as a celebration of the Goodness in people triumphing over the Evil in people. I can agree with that! Happy Diwali! It seems to be the Indian version of Christmas. Everyone, both secular and devout, celebrates the holiday, and people send out massive mailings of Diwali cards. They eat tons of food, play with firecrackers, and greet everyone with warmth and cheer. I wonder if they also have rampant consumerism, nauseating music, and silly sweaters.
Fasting
To round out this post about the subcontinent, I've been thinking about doing a fast before Thanksgiving this year. "Zart," you ask, "why does fasting have to be from the India? What about Catholics?" What about them, smartass? They abstain from meat one day a week during one season of the year. They've got nothing on the Buddhists or Hindus ascetics. I'm just kidding, the Indians certainly have no corner on asceticism, but they're pretty good at it. I wouldn't really be doing it for spiritual enlightenment, although I assume the discipline required to abstain from food for a few days will show me something about myself. I'm more interested in doing on to clear my body of some of the junk and gunk and toxins that I commonly poison it with. I figure that now that rugby season is over would be a good time.
I looked fasting up on Wikipedia because I always go there to learn surface knowledge about new topics. I've never done a fast before, so I don't really know too much about how to prepare, how to do it, what to expect, etc. I know that at its core, it's just the practice of not eating anything, but my friend Mabooti did one before and it was much more involved. Unfortunately, almost all of the information I found on Wikipedia about fasting dealt with religion, something that I'm fascinated with but averse to. I found a spot where Wikipedia is lacking! If you can find info on there I'm missing, feel free to leave it in the comments.
One of the first times I hung out with Nubbins, he brought a small chili pepper over to my house that I'd never heard of, a Fatali. "Do you like hot food?" he asked. DO I? "Let's chop this up and put it on your leftover pizza." Sure, I thought, I can handle hot food just as well as the next guy. "Be careful," he said as we were getting ready to eat the pizza with tiny bits of Fatali chili on it, "there are probably several hundred thousand Scoville units on that slice right now."
Anyone who knows me knows that this is like telling me that I HAVE to eat the slice of pizza. I had no idea what a Scoville unit was, or how hot that slice was going to be. After a couple of glassfuls of milk I was willing to admit that I wasn't prepared, but that Fatali was my new favorite chili.
Nubbins and a few of the other guys have been growing super hot chilis for a few years now, so when a new hottest chili in the world was announced, he bought some seedlings and has been growing them this year. They're a north eastern Indian chili called Bhut Jolokia or Naga Jolokia, which means Ghost chili. What's not clear is whether they're called that because they were previously hard to find, or because when you eat them you die. The previously hottest chili in the world was the Red Savina Habenero, which clocked in at about 580,000 Scoville units. What does that mean about the hotness of a Red Savina? Just think about this...the hottest jalapeño you've ever eaten would have had a Scoville rating of about 8000 Scovilles. That means that a single Red Savina, which is about a third the volume as a jalapeño, is about 60 times as hot. A bell pepper is 0, a jalapeno is 8000, a Red Savina is 580,000, and a Bhut Jolokia is 1,040,000. Holy crap.
What am I going to do with a pepper that ridiculously hot? I'm going to chop it up and eat it on a pizza, of course. That's what I know how to do. I'm planning on sharing it with my Sikh friend Obiwan, because he has previously seemed to be completely impervious to the scourge of capsaicin. We'll see how he handles the ghost chili.
Dawali
Also from India, although not confined to the North Eastern area, is a holiday called Diwali. It's celebrated all over India by Hindus, Jains, and Sikhs alike. A bunch of the people I work with came back from this weekend waddling around like they'd just eaten Christmas and Thanksgiving dinners combined, and I guess it's because of this festival. Each of the major Indian religions seems to have their own reasons for celebrating Diwali, but it seems to be universally regarded as a celebration of the Goodness in people triumphing over the Evil in people. I can agree with that! Happy Diwali! It seems to be the Indian version of Christmas. Everyone, both secular and devout, celebrates the holiday, and people send out massive mailings of Diwali cards. They eat tons of food, play with firecrackers, and greet everyone with warmth and cheer. I wonder if they also have rampant consumerism, nauseating music, and silly sweaters.
Fasting
To round out this post about the subcontinent, I've been thinking about doing a fast before Thanksgiving this year. "Zart," you ask, "why does fasting have to be from the India? What about Catholics?" What about them, smartass? They abstain from meat one day a week during one season of the year. They've got nothing on the Buddhists or Hindus ascetics. I'm just kidding, the Indians certainly have no corner on asceticism, but they're pretty good at it. I wouldn't really be doing it for spiritual enlightenment, although I assume the discipline required to abstain from food for a few days will show me something about myself. I'm more interested in doing on to clear my body of some of the junk and gunk and toxins that I commonly poison it with. I figure that now that rugby season is over would be a good time.
I looked fasting up on Wikipedia because I always go there to learn surface knowledge about new topics. I've never done a fast before, so I don't really know too much about how to prepare, how to do it, what to expect, etc. I know that at its core, it's just the practice of not eating anything, but my friend Mabooti did one before and it was much more involved. Unfortunately, almost all of the information I found on Wikipedia about fasting dealt with religion, something that I'm fascinated with but averse to. I found a spot where Wikipedia is lacking! If you can find info on there I'm missing, feel free to leave it in the comments.
Monday, November 5, 2007
Two in one day?
No way! Zart doesn't post that often! Well, beloved yet irregular readers, I do sometimes. Those times happen to be a convergence of outrage and the Ballmer Peak. Well, we had a launch party tonight, and I'm approaching my Ballmer Peak, and read a link to the Project Censored list of the "Top 25 Censored Stories of 2008". Despite the misleading name, this list is the supposed to be of censored stories from the 2006-2007 fiscal year. With a couple of exceptions, I found these stories disturbing, but I'm only going to touch on a few of them. I highly recommend going to the list and and least skimming it. I'd already at least heard of most of them, but that's only because I like reading weird stuff from both sides of the American political spectrum.
#1 No Habeas Corpus for “Any Person”
The right of the private citizen to require a government to prove its authority is one of the oldest, most basic, and strongest tenets of law in all of the common law countries, or countries that derive their legal system from Jolly Ole England. This right, named "Habeus Corpus", was much in the news for a brief period this year, but its suspension was only briefly covered. Habeus Corpus, loosely translated, means "show me the body". Essentially it guarantees the right of someone to a trial where the government must prove its authority to hold that person in confinement. Under a writ of Habeus Corpus, if you are being held in jail, then the government MUST present you to a magistrate in order to determine whether it has the authority to continue holding you. Without the right of Habeus Corpus, the government can arrest you and throw you in prison and keep you there without charging you with anything. A good example of this was Jose Padilla, who was held for three and a half years without being tried. A mild stink was made in the media over this issue, but hardly anything was said when Congress in 2006 passed a law that essentially gave President Bush's administration the right to determine whether you were an "enemy combatant" and thus could legally be denied the right of Habeus Corpus.
To sum up, if President Bush decides you're an enemy combatant, you are, and there's really jack squat you can do about it. The government can lock you up and throw away the key and, well, too bad.
#2 Bush Moves Toward Martial Law
The National Defense Authorization Act is something that is reauthorized every year, and as such isn't a big new item. At least, not normally, although it should have been in 2006. You see, the NDAA of 2007 included a stipulation that allows the President to overcome the Posse Comitatus act. The whata-whatmacha act? "Zart," you say, "you're rapidly going getting boring with all these silly words. Are you making them up?" No, I'm really not. The Posse Comitatus act was passed in 1878, mainly to prevent Federal Troops from the North from interfering with elections in the Reconstructed South. Since then it's been regarded as an impediment to the Executive Branch using the military to enforce its will inside the United States. Parts of the NDAA of 2006, however, give the President to use the military inside the United States "where the President determines that,...domestic violence has occurred to such an extent that the constituted authorities of the State or possession are incapable of maintaining public order; suppress, in a State, any insurrection, domestic violence, unlawful combination, or conspiracy.." The problem with that is that it's wildly ambiguous, and could easily be twisted. Hardly anything was said in the media, despite this being an unneeded departure from almost 130 years of law.
To sum up, as long as President Bush decides that the state isn't doing enough to suppress any sort of insurrection or conspiracy, then he is authorized to step in and intervene with the military. This just makes free speech zones and spying on anti-war protesters that much scarier.
# 21 US Seeks WTO Immunity for Illegal Farm Payments
Farm subsidies were established in the US in 1933 as a way to preserve the agrarian way of life, and to help keep the the American farmer competitive. The reasoning is that hard-working farmers are unfairly disadvantaged by the success of other American industries; as the value of our economy goes up, so does the cost of living, and agricultural imports from areas with a lower cost of living become unfairly competitive. The problem is that agricultural subsidies are considered by the WTO to be illegal under a multitude of free trade agreements to which the United States is, if not a principle author, at least a signatory. These subsidies are seen by most developing nations as an unfair barrier to their economic development and a way to keep them in economic bondage. Life and Debt is a great documentary that uses Jamaica as an example of how the US's agricultural subsidies keep a developing nation from developing.
In 2007 the WTO ruled against the US, saying that it's agricultural subsidies are illegal. This is because the "Peace Clause", which allows agricultural tariffs exemption from WTO law, expired in 2004. The US has still been using these tariffs and subsidies, however, and therefore was legally liable to the member nations around the world getting screwed by these tariffs. Because the other member nations of the WTO refused to give the United States a retroactive and permanent extension to the Peace Clause, the WTO talks collapsed. Perhaps permanently!
What I find so enraging about the whole situation is the sheer foolishness of subsidies in this age of corporate farming. According to Wikipedia, in 1933 when subsidies were introduced, 25% of our nation's population lived on farms. Today, only 2% lives on farms. Not only that, but 72% of agricultural subsidies paid in 1997 were paid to large, corporate farms.
To sum up, Conagra and Monsanto get the lion share of subsidies paid out, which allows them to produce agriculture cheaper than undeveloped agrarian countries, which keeps them doing nothing but growing the things we can't grow. For some reason the US thinks we should get a free pass on all of the free market principles we force on the rest of the world.
To Sum Up Summing Up
Read through these, at least the first couple lines of each one. These stories are issues that we, as democracy and freedom loving Americans, should be concerned about, but aren't hearing about from the media for some reason. Are they being censored by a government flunkie with a Sharpie? Are they being censored by a corporate conspiracy that's intent on keeping us dumb and docile consumers? Or are these stories being simply lost in the constant barrage of Paris Hilton updates, new reality shows, and McDonalds ads? The important thing is that stories that should matter to us are being swallowed up and never noticed. What I think is perhaps most entertaining about most of these items is that you'll find the name of Patrick Leahy, that irascible and nonsensical senator from Vermont, in almost every one. Considering how many of these articles deal with the government's ability to make you disappear, that might not bode well for his future. On a more serious note read through them, and if you're not worried about the state of our media and our democracy, you're either too skeptical, too gullible, or too bereft of life.
#1 No Habeas Corpus for “Any Person”
The right of the private citizen to require a government to prove its authority is one of the oldest, most basic, and strongest tenets of law in all of the common law countries, or countries that derive their legal system from Jolly Ole England. This right, named "Habeus Corpus", was much in the news for a brief period this year, but its suspension was only briefly covered. Habeus Corpus, loosely translated, means "show me the body". Essentially it guarantees the right of someone to a trial where the government must prove its authority to hold that person in confinement. Under a writ of Habeus Corpus, if you are being held in jail, then the government MUST present you to a magistrate in order to determine whether it has the authority to continue holding you. Without the right of Habeus Corpus, the government can arrest you and throw you in prison and keep you there without charging you with anything. A good example of this was Jose Padilla, who was held for three and a half years without being tried. A mild stink was made in the media over this issue, but hardly anything was said when Congress in 2006 passed a law that essentially gave President Bush's administration the right to determine whether you were an "enemy combatant" and thus could legally be denied the right of Habeus Corpus.
To sum up, if President Bush decides you're an enemy combatant, you are, and there's really jack squat you can do about it. The government can lock you up and throw away the key and, well, too bad.
#2 Bush Moves Toward Martial Law
The National Defense Authorization Act is something that is reauthorized every year, and as such isn't a big new item. At least, not normally, although it should have been in 2006. You see, the NDAA of 2007 included a stipulation that allows the President to overcome the Posse Comitatus act. The whata-whatmacha act? "Zart," you say, "you're rapidly going getting boring with all these silly words. Are you making them up?" No, I'm really not. The Posse Comitatus act was passed in 1878, mainly to prevent Federal Troops from the North from interfering with elections in the Reconstructed South. Since then it's been regarded as an impediment to the Executive Branch using the military to enforce its will inside the United States. Parts of the NDAA of 2006, however, give the President to use the military inside the United States "where the President determines that,...domestic violence has occurred to such an extent that the constituted authorities of the State or possession are incapable of maintaining public order; suppress, in a State, any insurrection, domestic violence, unlawful combination, or conspiracy.." The problem with that is that it's wildly ambiguous, and could easily be twisted. Hardly anything was said in the media, despite this being an unneeded departure from almost 130 years of law.
To sum up, as long as President Bush decides that the state isn't doing enough to suppress any sort of insurrection or conspiracy, then he is authorized to step in and intervene with the military. This just makes free speech zones and spying on anti-war protesters that much scarier.
# 21 US Seeks WTO Immunity for Illegal Farm Payments
Farm subsidies were established in the US in 1933 as a way to preserve the agrarian way of life, and to help keep the the American farmer competitive. The reasoning is that hard-working farmers are unfairly disadvantaged by the success of other American industries; as the value of our economy goes up, so does the cost of living, and agricultural imports from areas with a lower cost of living become unfairly competitive. The problem is that agricultural subsidies are considered by the WTO to be illegal under a multitude of free trade agreements to which the United States is, if not a principle author, at least a signatory. These subsidies are seen by most developing nations as an unfair barrier to their economic development and a way to keep them in economic bondage. Life and Debt is a great documentary that uses Jamaica as an example of how the US's agricultural subsidies keep a developing nation from developing.
In 2007 the WTO ruled against the US, saying that it's agricultural subsidies are illegal. This is because the "Peace Clause", which allows agricultural tariffs exemption from WTO law, expired in 2004. The US has still been using these tariffs and subsidies, however, and therefore was legally liable to the member nations around the world getting screwed by these tariffs. Because the other member nations of the WTO refused to give the United States a retroactive and permanent extension to the Peace Clause, the WTO talks collapsed. Perhaps permanently!
What I find so enraging about the whole situation is the sheer foolishness of subsidies in this age of corporate farming. According to Wikipedia, in 1933 when subsidies were introduced, 25% of our nation's population lived on farms. Today, only 2% lives on farms. Not only that, but 72% of agricultural subsidies paid in 1997 were paid to large, corporate farms.
To sum up, Conagra and Monsanto get the lion share of subsidies paid out, which allows them to produce agriculture cheaper than undeveloped agrarian countries, which keeps them doing nothing but growing the things we can't grow. For some reason the US thinks we should get a free pass on all of the free market principles we force on the rest of the world.
To Sum Up Summing Up
Read through these, at least the first couple lines of each one. These stories are issues that we, as democracy and freedom loving Americans, should be concerned about, but aren't hearing about from the media for some reason. Are they being censored by a government flunkie with a Sharpie? Are they being censored by a corporate conspiracy that's intent on keeping us dumb and docile consumers? Or are these stories being simply lost in the constant barrage of Paris Hilton updates, new reality shows, and McDonalds ads? The important thing is that stories that should matter to us are being swallowed up and never noticed. What I think is perhaps most entertaining about most of these items is that you'll find the name of Patrick Leahy, that irascible and nonsensical senator from Vermont, in almost every one. Considering how many of these articles deal with the government's ability to make you disappear, that might not bode well for his future. On a more serious note read through them, and if you're not worried about the state of our media and our democracy, you're either too skeptical, too gullible, or too bereft of life.
Thursday, November 1, 2007
Not quite sure yet....
Last Words
Butters sent me a link to the Wikiquotes page, which seems like it may be but isn't necessarily associated with Wikipedia. The Last Words page is fascinating! Some of my favorite last words:
The last words page led me to check out a bunch of different personages, some fascinating, some boring. The last one I read through all the way was the entry on Billy the Kid, which was fascinating. I can't say that I wouldn't have ended up the same way as him, in his shoes. He started off being an outlaw at fourteen by shooting the smith who used to regularly beat him. I can't lie, I fantasized about a lot shooting people at fourteen, and I wasn't being regularly beaten by them. What I found most interesting, however, is that the story of Young Guns, actually seemed to conform on most salient points with what's really known of his life. His launch to true notoriety really came from being a part of the "Regulators", they really were trying to avenge the murder of their employer, and they really did end up getting burned out of a house after a five day siege. What isn't clear is whether they were ever "in the spirit world, you asshole", or whether they regularly shouted "Regulators, mount up!".
Boric acid
Who knew that something so ubiquitous could be so good for us, with so many uses? Boric Acid is found in almost all fruits, in saltwater, and volcanic fissures. The reason I decided to look it up is that a friend, who shall remain unnamed, told me it's good for treating yeast infections. Knocks em right out. Alright, I'll have to trust her on that. It's used for a ton of other applications, however; it's used medically in anti-fungal powders, to treat ear infections, and even in eye drops. It's also used as an incecticide, a preservative, and in nuclear power plants to regulate the rate of fission.
Interestingly, it's also listed by the Merck Index as toxic, although it's lethal dose is less than that of salt. I often wonder about the difference between poison and essential element for life. Even water, which we all know is vital to our well being, can be a poison, in extreme quantities.
Euler's disk
One of the guys who sits down the hall has an Euler's disc (pronounced "Oiler's disc"). Have you ever spun a coin on a table, and been fascinated by the period between when it stops spinning vertically on it's access, and before it finally settles on the table? Well, this is a disc that is specifically designed to maximize the amount of time that the disc oscillates like this on the table. It goes round and round and round forever! It's really fascinating to me. One of the cool things about working with a bunch of uber-geeks is that they have all sorts of uber geeky toys. One of the downsides is that because they're from all over the world, there's a good chance that your reference to the Three Amigos is going to fall flat in meetings. "Hefe, would you say I have a plethora of bugs?" Crickets.
Butters sent me a link to the Wikiquotes page, which seems like it may be but isn't necessarily associated with Wikipedia. The Last Words page is fascinating! Some of my favorite last words:
- "I am about to -- or I am going to -- die: either expression is correct." - Dominique Bouhours, French Grammarian and unbelievable pedant.
- "LSD, 100 micrograms I.M." - Aldous Huxley, author and psychedelic pioneer.
- "In keeping with Channel 40's policy of bringing you the latest in blood and guts and in living color, you are going to see another first -- attempted suicide." - Christine Chubbuck, local anchorwoman, who then blew her own brains out. (cf Budd Dwyer and his suicide video. EXTREMELY GRAPHIC.)
The last words page led me to check out a bunch of different personages, some fascinating, some boring. The last one I read through all the way was the entry on Billy the Kid, which was fascinating. I can't say that I wouldn't have ended up the same way as him, in his shoes. He started off being an outlaw at fourteen by shooting the smith who used to regularly beat him. I can't lie, I fantasized about a lot shooting people at fourteen, and I wasn't being regularly beaten by them. What I found most interesting, however, is that the story of Young Guns, actually seemed to conform on most salient points with what's really known of his life. His launch to true notoriety really came from being a part of the "Regulators", they really were trying to avenge the murder of their employer, and they really did end up getting burned out of a house after a five day siege. What isn't clear is whether they were ever "in the spirit world, you asshole", or whether they regularly shouted "Regulators, mount up!".
Boric acid
Who knew that something so ubiquitous could be so good for us, with so many uses? Boric Acid is found in almost all fruits, in saltwater, and volcanic fissures. The reason I decided to look it up is that a friend, who shall remain unnamed, told me it's good for treating yeast infections. Knocks em right out. Alright, I'll have to trust her on that. It's used for a ton of other applications, however; it's used medically in anti-fungal powders, to treat ear infections, and even in eye drops. It's also used as an incecticide, a preservative, and in nuclear power plants to regulate the rate of fission.
Interestingly, it's also listed by the Merck Index as toxic, although it's lethal dose is less than that of salt. I often wonder about the difference between poison and essential element for life. Even water, which we all know is vital to our well being, can be a poison, in extreme quantities.
Euler's disk
One of the guys who sits down the hall has an Euler's disc (pronounced "Oiler's disc"). Have you ever spun a coin on a table, and been fascinated by the period between when it stops spinning vertically on it's access, and before it finally settles on the table? Well, this is a disc that is specifically designed to maximize the amount of time that the disc oscillates like this on the table. It goes round and round and round forever! It's really fascinating to me. One of the cool things about working with a bunch of uber-geeks is that they have all sorts of uber geeky toys. One of the downsides is that because they're from all over the world, there's a good chance that your reference to the Three Amigos is going to fall flat in meetings. "Hefe, would you say I have a plethora of bugs?" Crickets.
Monday, October 8, 2007
A Rare Update
Oh you Poor Unfortunate Souls
Okay, seriously, I'm sorry to those of you who check this page that I don't update it more frequently. "Stop apologizing," you say, "and just write less but more frequently!" Fair enough, I say. You are a fair crowd. I reckon it'll be easier for me to update more frequently if I don't try to write as much. Also, I reckon I want to use the work "reckon" more. It really makes me feel in touch with my roots. Like a real American.
Wilhelm Scream
I recently saw a youtube video that featured a compilation of movies that all contained the same scream. It was a scream that you would undoubtedly recognize; the exact same sound has been featured in literally hundreds of pieces of popular entertainment. It was first featured in a 1951 movie called Drums of Death, where a heroic Army captain flees from the vicious Seminole into the Everglades where one of his comrades is eaten by an alligator. Decades later, Star Wars sound architect Ben Burtt found the clip and used it multiple times in the Original Trilogy. Since that first Star Wars movie, it's been an inside joke in Hollywood to use that scream in as many places as possible. Just watch that youtube video I linked and you'll see what I mean. It's even been used in video games. What I find particularly funny about it is that it sounds nothing like what I imagine a man being eaten by an alligator would sound like. In my mind, being eaten alive would involve curse words.
Tuskegee Experiment
On a completely different note, have you ever seen the movie "Half Baked"? There's a part where Dave Chappelle's character, in order to get medical grade marijuana from a scientist, claims that his grandfather was part of the "Tuskegee Experiments". I didn't get the joke when I saw it last, so I decided to look it up...whoa. In a nutshell, uneducated black men in the south were denied access to treatment for syphilis so that the progression of the disease, which generally leads to dementia and death, could be observed. Horrible, huh? Guess how long this "study" went on. Take a guess. From 1932 until 1972. FORTY YEARS! About 600 men were involved in the study, with 200 as control subjects. In 1972 information about the study was leaked to the press, causing an uproar, and the study was terminated.
Explosive Decompression
There was an article on the internets about different types of death, and one of them was rapid depressurization. In movies, people who are ejected out an airlock into space blow up and pop like a balloon, due to the lack of air pressure keeping their insides from rupturing their skin. Apparently this is just a fun fiction; in order to pop, you must have gone from much more than 1 atmosphere of pressure to a vacuum. If you were to be ejected into the vacuum of space, you're not going to pop, but asphyxiate. The effects of explosive decompression (charmingly acronym-ized "ED" on wikipedia...isn't that used as an acronym for something else these days?) are much more entertaining. In a diving bell accident on the Byford deep sea rig in 1983, 4 divers were in a depressurization chamber at 9 atmosphere when the safety hatch was suddenly opened; one of the divers was essentially sprayed through the hatch, while the other 3 essentially just had the components of their blood instantaneously boil apart. For all of them, death was thought to be instantaneous, but I'll bet the clean up still sucked.
North Pacific Gyre
Did you know that there's a giant continent sized island of human trash floating in the north Pacific? Yup. There's a spot called the North Pacific Gyre where ocean currents cause trash to accumulate and only rarely escape. Up until the advent of plastic, most flotsom and jetsom in the ocean was organic, and therefore would biodegrade, but now there's a large area where plastic particles outnumber the predominant plankton of the area 7 to 1. Next time the lady at Whole Foods suggests that plastic bags are better for the environment I'm going to sneer at her like I'M the haughty organic grocery store clerk.
Okay, seriously, I'm sorry to those of you who check this page that I don't update it more frequently. "Stop apologizing," you say, "and just write less but more frequently!" Fair enough, I say. You are a fair crowd. I reckon it'll be easier for me to update more frequently if I don't try to write as much. Also, I reckon I want to use the work "reckon" more. It really makes me feel in touch with my roots. Like a real American.
Wilhelm Scream
I recently saw a youtube video that featured a compilation of movies that all contained the same scream. It was a scream that you would undoubtedly recognize; the exact same sound has been featured in literally hundreds of pieces of popular entertainment. It was first featured in a 1951 movie called Drums of Death, where a heroic Army captain flees from the vicious Seminole into the Everglades where one of his comrades is eaten by an alligator. Decades later, Star Wars sound architect Ben Burtt found the clip and used it multiple times in the Original Trilogy. Since that first Star Wars movie, it's been an inside joke in Hollywood to use that scream in as many places as possible. Just watch that youtube video I linked and you'll see what I mean. It's even been used in video games. What I find particularly funny about it is that it sounds nothing like what I imagine a man being eaten by an alligator would sound like. In my mind, being eaten alive would involve curse words.
Tuskegee Experiment
On a completely different note, have you ever seen the movie "Half Baked"? There's a part where Dave Chappelle's character, in order to get medical grade marijuana from a scientist, claims that his grandfather was part of the "Tuskegee Experiments". I didn't get the joke when I saw it last, so I decided to look it up...whoa. In a nutshell, uneducated black men in the south were denied access to treatment for syphilis so that the progression of the disease, which generally leads to dementia and death, could be observed. Horrible, huh? Guess how long this "study" went on. Take a guess. From 1932 until 1972. FORTY YEARS! About 600 men were involved in the study, with 200 as control subjects. In 1972 information about the study was leaked to the press, causing an uproar, and the study was terminated.
By the end of the study, only 74 of the test subjects were still alive. Twenty-eight of the men had died directly of syphilis, 100 were dead of related complications, 40 of their wives had been infected, and 19 of their children had been born with congenital syphilis.It's hard for me to believe that this was going on that recently. Almost in my lifetime! I wonder what other unbelievably horrible things are happening under our very noses.
Explosive Decompression
There was an article on the internets about different types of death, and one of them was rapid depressurization. In movies, people who are ejected out an airlock into space blow up and pop like a balloon, due to the lack of air pressure keeping their insides from rupturing their skin. Apparently this is just a fun fiction; in order to pop, you must have gone from much more than 1 atmosphere of pressure to a vacuum. If you were to be ejected into the vacuum of space, you're not going to pop, but asphyxiate. The effects of explosive decompression (charmingly acronym-ized "ED" on wikipedia...isn't that used as an acronym for something else these days?) are much more entertaining. In a diving bell accident on the Byford deep sea rig in 1983, 4 divers were in a depressurization chamber at 9 atmosphere when the safety hatch was suddenly opened; one of the divers was essentially sprayed through the hatch, while the other 3 essentially just had the components of their blood instantaneously boil apart. For all of them, death was thought to be instantaneous, but I'll bet the clean up still sucked.
North Pacific Gyre
Did you know that there's a giant continent sized island of human trash floating in the north Pacific? Yup. There's a spot called the North Pacific Gyre where ocean currents cause trash to accumulate and only rarely escape. Up until the advent of plastic, most flotsom and jetsom in the ocean was organic, and therefore would biodegrade, but now there's a large area where plastic particles outnumber the predominant plankton of the area 7 to 1. Next time the lady at Whole Foods suggests that plastic bags are better for the environment I'm going to sneer at her like I'M the haughty organic grocery store clerk.
Friday, August 17, 2007
Cromulently gay
Ah! It feels good to be making a post. I've been extremely lax about taking you with my on my mental wanderings, and I feel bad. Whether anyone has missed my cerebral journeys, or will appreciate an update, is a matter open for debate. Feel free to leave comments in either direction.
I've been feeling particularly disappointed in our government of late. Without getting too much into my personal politics (which I'm sure you're aware of, if you're reading this blog), let's just say I think that the people in charge of all aspects of our government are mentally challenged, and that the electorate of our country either has a terminal case of ADHD or is incapable of critical thought. One of the few bright spots that make me smile, however, is that Rick Santorum is no longer in office. While in office he was consistently bigoted, close minded, insensitive, homophobic, and ineffective. Somehow, however, he was third from the top in the Republican party's congressional leadership! He lost his seat (in a landslide, by the way) in 2006, but not before his consistently anti-homosexual stance made him so unpopular with the gay population of the USA that one humorist started a movement to associate his name with an after effect of gay male sex, so that he now can be found on urbandictionary.com(a possibly NSFW link).
This new meaning, according to Wikipedia, is called a "neologism". I think this is particularly funny for a couple of reasons. First, neologism is pronounced so that the last two syllables sound the same as "jism", a slang word for semen, and secondly, because my buddy Ironhorse was bantering around the word "cromulent" this weekend. Cromulent, you see, is also a neologism, created by The Simpsons. According to Websters, cromulent means "fine or acceptable", but it still doesn't show up in my spell checker.
To get back to the electorate and how stupid they (we!) are, I just want to point out that Rick Santorum is certainly not the only Congressman (or former Congressman) to be associated with homosexuality, although the others I'm thinking about are more directly associated with it. Leroy Craig, for example, recently made headlines for soliciting gay sex in a Minneapolis airport restroom. Representative Mark Foley resigned after being caught sending lewd notes to underage Congressional page boys, and Representative Bob Allen was arrested for soliciting prostitution from a male undercover police officer. I can't help but find it ironic that all of these Congressmen were against gay rights. I think it can only be a matter of time before Senator Brownback is arrested for underage lube wrestling with a boyscout troop. Sure, some of the biggest opponents of gay rights are not only secretly gay but huge perverts, but wouldn't it be healthier for them and the voting public if we all just realized it's perfectly cromulent to be homosexual? I really think it would embiggen them to come out of the closet, and it might help show the electorate that it's okay to talk about other things than what's in our pants.
I've been feeling particularly disappointed in our government of late. Without getting too much into my personal politics (which I'm sure you're aware of, if you're reading this blog), let's just say I think that the people in charge of all aspects of our government are mentally challenged, and that the electorate of our country either has a terminal case of ADHD or is incapable of critical thought. One of the few bright spots that make me smile, however, is that Rick Santorum is no longer in office. While in office he was consistently bigoted, close minded, insensitive, homophobic, and ineffective. Somehow, however, he was third from the top in the Republican party's congressional leadership! He lost his seat (in a landslide, by the way) in 2006, but not before his consistently anti-homosexual stance made him so unpopular with the gay population of the USA that one humorist started a movement to associate his name with an after effect of gay male sex, so that he now can be found on urbandictionary.com(a possibly NSFW link).
This new meaning, according to Wikipedia, is called a "neologism". I think this is particularly funny for a couple of reasons. First, neologism is pronounced so that the last two syllables sound the same as "jism", a slang word for semen, and secondly, because my buddy Ironhorse was bantering around the word "cromulent" this weekend. Cromulent, you see, is also a neologism, created by The Simpsons. According to Websters, cromulent means "fine or acceptable", but it still doesn't show up in my spell checker.
To get back to the electorate and how stupid they (we!) are, I just want to point out that Rick Santorum is certainly not the only Congressman (or former Congressman) to be associated with homosexuality, although the others I'm thinking about are more directly associated with it. Leroy Craig, for example, recently made headlines for soliciting gay sex in a Minneapolis airport restroom. Representative Mark Foley resigned after being caught sending lewd notes to underage Congressional page boys, and Representative Bob Allen was arrested for soliciting prostitution from a male undercover police officer. I can't help but find it ironic that all of these Congressmen were against gay rights. I think it can only be a matter of time before Senator Brownback is arrested for underage lube wrestling with a boyscout troop. Sure, some of the biggest opponents of gay rights are not only secretly gay but huge perverts, but wouldn't it be healthier for them and the voting public if we all just realized it's perfectly cromulent to be homosexual? I really think it would embiggen them to come out of the closet, and it might help show the electorate that it's okay to talk about other things than what's in our pants.
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Weapons?
Nubbins explained to me the basic plot of the Arthur C. Clarke inspired movies 2001, 2010, and 2061, and they were fascinating, so I read up on them on Wikipedia. Wow, lesson learned. If you don't want to ruin the experience of watching a movie, don't go reading the synopsis on Wikipedia. The plot synopsis was less of a synopsis then a dry recounting of each scene, shot by shot. (As an aside, I just checked a few other movies to see if they plot summaries are as detailed, and the certainly are. Don't read about a movie on Wikipedia before you see it.) Still, when Cougar got "2001: A Space Odyssey" on Netflix, I watched it and tried to pretend I didn't know what was going to happen. It's a beautiful movie, if overly long, but what I found most compelling about the entire movie was the part right at the beginning where early hominids learn from an alien object how to use weapons. What a fascinating idea: that mankind only was able to set itself apart from other animals with the help of an alien intelligence. Too bad it's been shown that many other animals use tools, and Chimps even use weapons.
Speaking of Cougar, and to follow up on my previous post about going to Acapulco, I brought a few gifts back for everyone, and one of the things I shared with Cougar is a mild case of Montezuma's Revenge. Some quick history: Cortes and his Spaniards made incredible demands of the Aztecs, all of which were met, and they still took the Aztec emperor Montezuma captive. Montezuma was later killed, although whether it was the Spanish or unhappy Aztecs who did it is a question lost to history. My money says it was the Spanish; their track record with captive native emperors isn't so good. So in essence the Spanish obtained enormous wealth, power, and global prestige, while I got a case of traveler's diarrhea. Which I then dutifully passed, along with a really nice pitcher for margaritas and a pair of maracas, to Cougar.
Apparently it's given her quite the case of flatulence at work. Maybe I should have also brought her a pair of panties that will capture the release. Or maybe she should just become a Fartist! No really! Apparently in ancient times, before the invention of television, you could actually make a living with fart jokes! I guess I was born a little too late.
My favorite story of a fartist from wikipedia is of the Japanese "fart dancer" Oribe, who tricked his rival into trying to mimic him, which led to his rival "soiling and thus disgracing himself". No really. It was like the Zoolander and Hansel walkoff on steroids.
Now, just to bring it full circle, remember that part in Zoolander when Derek and Hansel are trying to use the computer, and banging and hooting like apes? It's a parody of 2001, when the apes learn to use weapons. And I'm going to fart.
Speaking of Cougar, and to follow up on my previous post about going to Acapulco, I brought a few gifts back for everyone, and one of the things I shared with Cougar is a mild case of Montezuma's Revenge. Some quick history: Cortes and his Spaniards made incredible demands of the Aztecs, all of which were met, and they still took the Aztec emperor Montezuma captive. Montezuma was later killed, although whether it was the Spanish or unhappy Aztecs who did it is a question lost to history. My money says it was the Spanish; their track record with captive native emperors isn't so good. So in essence the Spanish obtained enormous wealth, power, and global prestige, while I got a case of traveler's diarrhea. Which I then dutifully passed, along with a really nice pitcher for margaritas and a pair of maracas, to Cougar.
Apparently it's given her quite the case of flatulence at work. Maybe I should have also brought her a pair of panties that will capture the release. Or maybe she should just become a Fartist! No really! Apparently in ancient times, before the invention of television, you could actually make a living with fart jokes! I guess I was born a little too late.
My favorite story of a fartist from wikipedia is of the Japanese "fart dancer" Oribe, who tricked his rival into trying to mimic him, which led to his rival "soiling and thus disgracing himself". No really. It was like the Zoolander and Hansel walkoff on steroids.
Now, just to bring it full circle, remember that part in Zoolander when Derek and Hansel are trying to use the computer, and banging and hooting like apes? It's a parody of 2001, when the apes learn to use weapons. And I'm going to fart.
Monday, June 18, 2007
The high price of middling fame
My friend Ibis is turning what she terms "Dirty Thirty" in a few days, and decided to have her birthday party in Acapulco, Mexico. I really don't know too much about what there is to do in Acapulco, so where did I look? You guessed it.
Acapulco has been a travel hub for more than a millennium. Somehow it managed to avoid being gobbled up by the Zapotec, Mixtec, and Aztec Empires, and was an independent city state until the Spanish conquered it, forever enriching the lives of the natives with smallpox and enforced catholicism, while simultaneously freeing them of their culture, language, and pesky left feet. There's a ton of stuff to do there, apparently, as long as what you like to do involves water sports or lying in the sun. I'm really hoping to do some snorkeling, and maybe find a gold peso or two from a Manila Galleon. Briefly, the Manila Galleon was the Spanish money ship that would sail from the Phillipines to Acapulco every year, laden down with gold. The Manila Galleon carried so much gold, that when Thomas Cavendish finally succeeded in capturing it for the English, it severely depressed the London gold market.
What I thought was most interesting, however, was the story of the man who actually discovered the Trade Winds that made the Manila Galleon possible, Andres de Urdaneta. The guy was an Augustinian priest, but was also somehow a captain in the Spanish army and became a famous explorer. All part and parcel, I guess, for a country and time where the preferred method of conversion was deception and torture. He was apparently the first one to consider that if the tradewinds in the Atlantic went clockwise, they might do so in the Pacific, as well. Despite have the perspicacity to come to this realization, he didn't think to provision properly, and most of his crew died en route back to California. Only Andres and Felipe de Salcedo, nephew of Andres' patron Legazpi, had enough strength to cast the anchors on reaching California. I'm sure this is because Andres and Felipe had amazingly robust aristocratic constitutions, and not because they ate and drank well while the crew starved to death. In any case, the lives of a few peasant bred sailors is a reasonable price for the immortality of being a footnote to history.
Seriously, though, can you imagine what the outcry would be if that many people died on a regular basis while exploring space? Because your chances of dying a horrible death of scurvy or beri-beri or gangrene were pretty high back then on transoceanic voyages.
As a side note, perhaps what Ibis really calls the celebration is "DiRRty Thirty". For those of you who might not be into pop music, "Dirrty" is a Christina Aguleira song, and apparently the video includes scenes of mud wrestling and stethnolagnia, which is defined as "sexual arousal from a display of muscles". If that's the case, I'm awfully excited about the mud wrestling, but am going to give the stethnolagnia a miss.
Acapulco has been a travel hub for more than a millennium. Somehow it managed to avoid being gobbled up by the Zapotec, Mixtec, and Aztec Empires, and was an independent city state until the Spanish conquered it, forever enriching the lives of the natives with smallpox and enforced catholicism, while simultaneously freeing them of their culture, language, and pesky left feet. There's a ton of stuff to do there, apparently, as long as what you like to do involves water sports or lying in the sun. I'm really hoping to do some snorkeling, and maybe find a gold peso or two from a Manila Galleon. Briefly, the Manila Galleon was the Spanish money ship that would sail from the Phillipines to Acapulco every year, laden down with gold. The Manila Galleon carried so much gold, that when Thomas Cavendish finally succeeded in capturing it for the English, it severely depressed the London gold market.
What I thought was most interesting, however, was the story of the man who actually discovered the Trade Winds that made the Manila Galleon possible, Andres de Urdaneta. The guy was an Augustinian priest, but was also somehow a captain in the Spanish army and became a famous explorer. All part and parcel, I guess, for a country and time where the preferred method of conversion was deception and torture. He was apparently the first one to consider that if the tradewinds in the Atlantic went clockwise, they might do so in the Pacific, as well. Despite have the perspicacity to come to this realization, he didn't think to provision properly, and most of his crew died en route back to California. Only Andres and Felipe de Salcedo, nephew of Andres' patron Legazpi, had enough strength to cast the anchors on reaching California. I'm sure this is because Andres and Felipe had amazingly robust aristocratic constitutions, and not because they ate and drank well while the crew starved to death. In any case, the lives of a few peasant bred sailors is a reasonable price for the immortality of being a footnote to history.
Seriously, though, can you imagine what the outcry would be if that many people died on a regular basis while exploring space? Because your chances of dying a horrible death of scurvy or beri-beri or gangrene were pretty high back then on transoceanic voyages.
As a side note, perhaps what Ibis really calls the celebration is "DiRRty Thirty". For those of you who might not be into pop music, "Dirrty" is a Christina Aguleira song, and apparently the video includes scenes of mud wrestling and stethnolagnia, which is defined as "sexual arousal from a display of muscles". If that's the case, I'm awfully excited about the mud wrestling, but am going to give the stethnolagnia a miss.
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Russians, Canadians, and Barns
Rus
A bunch of the people I work with are Russian, for some reason. On my team of 10, 6 (and the primary drivers of our project) are Russian. We had a 7th, but everyone hated him, and he hated everyone, but particularly me. I guess I stole his keyboard or something. I give you this background to explain why, when I saw and article about campaigns by the Rus in the Caspian Sea, I was interested. I'd heard of the Rus, the tribe that founded Russia, and decided to read up on them.
Apparently, the Rus were a Scandinavian tribe (also known as Vikings!) who were drawing tribute from a group of different tribes, mostly Slavs, in present day Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus. At some point, the Slavs threw out the Rus, but fell to fighting amongst themselves. A charming little passage, which I think is a great example of the victors writing history, tells the story of how the Slavs invited the Rus to come rule them.
Red Barns
When Cougar, Flipper, and I went to Canadia for the Vancouver Half-Marathon, we saw a ton of barns along the freeway, and we started wondering my they're traditionally painted red. According to the Wikipedia article on barns, it's probably because the ferric oxide that was used to create red paint was the cheapest coloring available. It might also be because the ferric oxide acts as a barrier against molds and fungi. So there you are.
Canadian migrant workers
When we actually got to Vancouver, there was a noticeable lack of people of Mexican ethnicity. It surprised me because there are plenty of Mexican people all over Washington, and Vancouver has large populations of other immigrant ethnicities, including Chinese, Punjab, Sikh, and Filipino. Why wouldn't there be more Latin American migrant workers? If we have such huge numbers of them in the United States, why don't they in Canada? Wikipedia is mostly silent on this issue. All I could find was a blurb stating that there is no good source of information about illegal immigrants in Canada. That seems strange to me since they have better social benefits than the US, lots of agriculture, and are not difficult to get into from the US. Strange. I can only speculate that the Canadian government is more effective in enforcing labor laws then the notoriously lax US government.
A bunch of the people I work with are Russian, for some reason. On my team of 10, 6 (and the primary drivers of our project) are Russian. We had a 7th, but everyone hated him, and he hated everyone, but particularly me. I guess I stole his keyboard or something. I give you this background to explain why, when I saw and article about campaigns by the Rus in the Caspian Sea, I was interested. I'd heard of the Rus, the tribe that founded Russia, and decided to read up on them.
Apparently, the Rus were a Scandinavian tribe (also known as Vikings!) who were drawing tribute from a group of different tribes, mostly Slavs, in present day Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus. At some point, the Slavs threw out the Rus, but fell to fighting amongst themselves. A charming little passage, which I think is a great example of the victors writing history, tells the story of how the Slavs invited the Rus to come rule them.
The four tribes who had been forced to pay tribute to the Varangians — Chuds, Slavs, Merians, and Krivichs drove the Varangians back beyond the sea, refused to pay them further tribute, and set out to govern themselves. But there was no law among them, and tribe rose against tribe. Discord thus ensued among them, and they began to war one against the other. They said to themselves, "Let us seek a prince who may rule over us, and judge us according to custom. Thus they went overseas to the Varangians, to the Rus. These particular Varangians were known as Rus, just as some are called Swedes, and others Normans and Angles, and still others Gotlanders, for they were thus named. The Chuds, the Slavs, the Krivichs and the Veps then said to the Rus, "Our land is great and rich, but there is no order in it. Come reign as princes, rule over us". Three brothers, with their kinfolk, were selected. They brought with them all the Rus and migrated[1].HAHAHAHAHA oh that's rich. But no really, that's their story and they're sticking to it. Good for them. But when was the last time in world history where you were able to find a nationality who invited another nationality to come rule them? Oh, those Russians, they're so good at re-writing history.
Red Barns
When Cougar, Flipper, and I went to Canadia for the Vancouver Half-Marathon, we saw a ton of barns along the freeway, and we started wondering my they're traditionally painted red. According to the Wikipedia article on barns, it's probably because the ferric oxide that was used to create red paint was the cheapest coloring available. It might also be because the ferric oxide acts as a barrier against molds and fungi. So there you are.
Canadian migrant workers
When we actually got to Vancouver, there was a noticeable lack of people of Mexican ethnicity. It surprised me because there are plenty of Mexican people all over Washington, and Vancouver has large populations of other immigrant ethnicities, including Chinese, Punjab, Sikh, and Filipino. Why wouldn't there be more Latin American migrant workers? If we have such huge numbers of them in the United States, why don't they in Canada? Wikipedia is mostly silent on this issue. All I could find was a blurb stating that there is no good source of information about illegal immigrants in Canada. That seems strange to me since they have better social benefits than the US, lots of agriculture, and are not difficult to get into from the US. Strange. I can only speculate that the Canadian government is more effective in enforcing labor laws then the notoriously lax US government.
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Genocide or Progress
There was a short segment on NPR (National Public Radio, pretty much the only radio I listen to) the other morning about Cambodia, talking about how the genocide of the Khmer Rouge regime is hardly taught in schools anymore. In ninth grade, Cambodian students have all of 5 sentences about the genocide in their textbooks. It's unbelievable that an event as huge as the genocide of the uh...Khmer Rouge? should be glossed over like that.
Who are (or were?) the Khmer Rouge? And why is their genocide being glossed over? Why do I not really know much about them?
The Khmer Rouge weren't killed off, they did the killing. They were a Communist party that ruled Cambodia from 1975-1979, and, as a function of percentage of population, were the best regime in the 20th century at killing off their own citizens. Of an estimated population of 7.5 million, they are estimated to have killed between 850,000 to 3 million people through starvation, execution, or forced labor. Wow. That's anywhere from around 10 to more than 33 percent.
There's a few disturbing links between the U.S. and the Khmer Rouge in the article, although it's lacking attribution for them. According to Wikipedia, the Khmer Rouge would not have gained power if it weren't for the carpet bombings of Cambodia during the Vietnam War. More disturbingly, the article claims that the US assisted Cambodia during their preemptive invasion of Vietnam in 1979, which ultimately led to the fall of the Khmer Rouge regime at the hands of the Vietnamese. (Talk about irony!) I know that the US was blindly anti-Vietnam at the time, but to support a regime that was killing off a minimum of 10% of their population?
Why were they killing off so much of their population in the first place? They wanted to turn Cambodia into a classless agrarian utopia. Unfortunately, a lot of people didn't want to be farmers. Solution? Kill some of them, and force the others to become farmers. Of course, since they don't know anything about farming, a lot of them might die of starvation. Oh well. It's all in the name of progress!
I started wondering...if the Cambodians were the most lethal as a percentage of population, where do they stand on the list of genocides judged sheerly on scale? They couldn't be too far behind the Nazis, could they? Turns out they are pretty hum-drum as far as genocide goes on a sheer numbers scale. The Turks killed an estimated 2 million Armenians, about 1 million died in Rwanda, and Americans killed at least 1 million Filipinos in the Phillipine American War. Still, it's nothing to sneeze at, as people got all upset about Bosnia, and there were only 8,000 killed at Srebinicia. Even high estimates of casualties from the Bosnian genocide are only 200,000. Pshaw.
No, for a real idea of what's possible in mass fatalities, we have to look to China under Mao, for the estimated 20-30 million who died during the Great Leap Forward, and the Soviet Union under Stalin, where through a combination of executions, famine, and forced labor, up to 30 million are thought to have died. An interesting note is that both Mao's and Stalin's high death scores are due to attempting to rapidly industrialize their nations, where Cambodia and the Khmer Rouge's impressive score came from an attempt to de-industrialize and return to some fanciful agrarian ideal.
To be fair, neither Mao nor Stalin were "genocide" so much as "politicide". No, to find longest running and highest death toll in actual "genocide", in history, we need to look at the Native Americans in the post-Columbus period, notably including the United States. Oh yes. Once again, we're number 1.
Oh, and since we're thinking about such an uplifting subject, don't forget that up to 2 million people have been killed, and more than twice that displaced, in Darfur in the Sudan right now.
Who are (or were?) the Khmer Rouge? And why is their genocide being glossed over? Why do I not really know much about them?
The Khmer Rouge weren't killed off, they did the killing. They were a Communist party that ruled Cambodia from 1975-1979, and, as a function of percentage of population, were the best regime in the 20th century at killing off their own citizens. Of an estimated population of 7.5 million, they are estimated to have killed between 850,000 to 3 million people through starvation, execution, or forced labor. Wow. That's anywhere from around 10 to more than 33 percent.
There's a few disturbing links between the U.S. and the Khmer Rouge in the article, although it's lacking attribution for them. According to Wikipedia, the Khmer Rouge would not have gained power if it weren't for the carpet bombings of Cambodia during the Vietnam War. More disturbingly, the article claims that the US assisted Cambodia during their preemptive invasion of Vietnam in 1979, which ultimately led to the fall of the Khmer Rouge regime at the hands of the Vietnamese. (Talk about irony!) I know that the US was blindly anti-Vietnam at the time, but to support a regime that was killing off a minimum of 10% of their population?
Why were they killing off so much of their population in the first place? They wanted to turn Cambodia into a classless agrarian utopia. Unfortunately, a lot of people didn't want to be farmers. Solution? Kill some of them, and force the others to become farmers. Of course, since they don't know anything about farming, a lot of them might die of starvation. Oh well. It's all in the name of progress!
I started wondering...if the Cambodians were the most lethal as a percentage of population, where do they stand on the list of genocides judged sheerly on scale? They couldn't be too far behind the Nazis, could they? Turns out they are pretty hum-drum as far as genocide goes on a sheer numbers scale. The Turks killed an estimated 2 million Armenians, about 1 million died in Rwanda, and Americans killed at least 1 million Filipinos in the Phillipine American War. Still, it's nothing to sneeze at, as people got all upset about Bosnia, and there were only 8,000 killed at Srebinicia. Even high estimates of casualties from the Bosnian genocide are only 200,000. Pshaw.
No, for a real idea of what's possible in mass fatalities, we have to look to China under Mao, for the estimated 20-30 million who died during the Great Leap Forward, and the Soviet Union under Stalin, where through a combination of executions, famine, and forced labor, up to 30 million are thought to have died. An interesting note is that both Mao's and Stalin's high death scores are due to attempting to rapidly industrialize their nations, where Cambodia and the Khmer Rouge's impressive score came from an attempt to de-industrialize and return to some fanciful agrarian ideal.
To be fair, neither Mao nor Stalin were "genocide" so much as "politicide". No, to find longest running and highest death toll in actual "genocide", in history, we need to look at the Native Americans in the post-Columbus period, notably including the United States. Oh yes. Once again, we're number 1.
Oh, and since we're thinking about such an uplifting subject, don't forget that up to 2 million people have been killed, and more than twice that displaced, in Darfur in the Sudan right now.
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Popcorn, Dietary Fiber, and Scabby Bronchioles
I recently moved upstairs to a new office, and it turns out that the kitchen on the 3rd floor has a popcorn machine! Not one of those cheesy air poppers that my dad would buy once a year at a garage sale, but a big monstrosity of glass and metal that you'd see in an old movie theater. I've been eating popcorn almost every day at work ever since moving up here. "What sort of effect is this having on my body? Is popcorn nutritious at all?" I asked myself. "Check Wikipedia!" I answered myself.
Turns out that popcorn has been around for a long long time. Archealogical samples of popcorn have been dated back 1800 years. Before I even got to the nutrition section I assumed it must be good for me if the Native Americans were eating it, but then I don't really know if they also ate deep fried buffalo rinds. Popcorn really is pretty good for you, it's 15% fiber. Of course, the way that Americans eat it, covered in artifically butter flavored grease, detracts a little from the health benefits from eating popcorn.
So it's 15% fiber...so what? What does that really do for you? I hear all the time about how we need to eat more fiber and get more whole grains in our diet, but why? Insoluable fiber just passes through and softens stool (which is good because no one likes anal fissures!) but soluble fiber gets fermented in the large colon and turns into short chain fatty acids that are really good for you. Luckily it also turns into flatulence, which makes me giggle. So ha! Farting really is good for you.
Back to the concept of popcorn only being good for you if you're not putting a ton of artificially-butter-flavored-grease on it...you don't have to worry about the affects of butter flavor on yourself, but also on the poor sods who are putting it in your microwave popcorn. A chemical named diacetyl is often used for butter flavoring, and it causes a condition called Popcorn Lung in workers who are over exposed. It causes the the bronchioles, the little tubes in your lungs that let air get to your air sacs, to grow closed. Gruesome! It's often misdiagnosed as emphysema. Only treatment? Lung transplant. Next time your annoying coworker cooks up that microwave popcorn, make sure to warn them.
Don't go getting all angry at diacetyl, however. It's a naturally occurring byproduct of yeast fermentation. Still, it's a shame to think that when it's taken out of it's natural context and introduced to popcorn, it's can cost some poor yokel a lung. Crazy.
Turns out that popcorn has been around for a long long time. Archealogical samples of popcorn have been dated back 1800 years. Before I even got to the nutrition section I assumed it must be good for me if the Native Americans were eating it, but then I don't really know if they also ate deep fried buffalo rinds. Popcorn really is pretty good for you, it's 15% fiber. Of course, the way that Americans eat it, covered in artifically butter flavored grease, detracts a little from the health benefits from eating popcorn.
So it's 15% fiber...so what? What does that really do for you? I hear all the time about how we need to eat more fiber and get more whole grains in our diet, but why? Insoluable fiber just passes through and softens stool (which is good because no one likes anal fissures!) but soluble fiber gets fermented in the large colon and turns into short chain fatty acids that are really good for you. Luckily it also turns into flatulence, which makes me giggle. So ha! Farting really is good for you.
Back to the concept of popcorn only being good for you if you're not putting a ton of artificially-butter-flavored-grease on it...you don't have to worry about the affects of butter flavor on yourself, but also on the poor sods who are putting it in your microwave popcorn. A chemical named diacetyl is often used for butter flavoring, and it causes a condition called Popcorn Lung in workers who are over exposed. It causes the the bronchioles, the little tubes in your lungs that let air get to your air sacs, to grow closed. Gruesome! It's often misdiagnosed as emphysema. Only treatment? Lung transplant. Next time your annoying coworker cooks up that microwave popcorn, make sure to warn them.
Don't go getting all angry at diacetyl, however. It's a naturally occurring byproduct of yeast fermentation. Still, it's a shame to think that when it's taken out of it's natural context and introduced to popcorn, it's can cost some poor yokel a lung. Crazy.
Wednesday, May 9, 2007
Woo hoo! First post!
I can't promise I'm going to update this with any sort of frequency, but it can't hurt to write something up and throw it into the blogosphere. I was just talking with my friend Cougar today about how much information I take in from heterogeneous sources and subsequently incorporate into my world view. The internet in general has been one of those biggest heterogeneous sources, and Wikipedia has become a great source for instant gratification of curiosity.
By writing up this blog I'm hoping to illustrate how the free and open flow of knowledge and information can lead to exciting new viewpoints of the intellectual landscape. The ability to crawl along a web of knowledge like a synthesizing spider is so exciting!
Today I had a pretty tame Wiki experience...I read about the origins of the word "Frak" that is used as an expletive replacement for "fuck" from the show Battlestar Galactica. Apparently the new "re-imagined" series actually took it from the original series. I don't remember hearing it as a kid at all; weird. Anyway, it lead me to learn about Thomas Bowlder, whose name has been made famous for prudishly censoring literature. He created an edition of both Shakespeare and Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire that he considered fit for women and children.
Interesting that women back then needed some jerk to censor their literature for them. I guess that both the dispositions and the intellects of the fairer sex have come a long way since the early nineteenth century. It's also amusing that Shakespeare was censored for kids, considering that the first time I read Romeo and Juliet was when I was in 8th grade English class.
Growing up as I did, with one unusually liberal minded and one unusually conservative parent, I was frequently aware of censorship. Somehow, however, I'm still often surprised by it, just as I am frequently surprised to hear that women still make consistently less in the workplace than their male counterparts. Is it myopic of me to be surprised? I shouldn't be surprised; Lord of the Flies was required reading for me in 8th grade, and yet just a short time (by history's standards) ago it was considered unfit. Still, I'm consistently boggled when confronted with censorship. I don't think that most people are aware of the breadth and ubiquity of it. The American Library Association has a Banned Books Week that it uses to highlight the issues of censorship, and when I checked it out I was amazed at some of the books that are currently being challenged!
Harry Potter is a perennially challenged series. A book about gay penguins is being challenged. Books by Toni Morrison are being challenged. Notably absent this year are Of Mice and Men, The Adventures of Huck Finn, and Catcher in the Rye. I just want to shake these people. How can they think that the world would be better without this literature? How can they think that their children's lives would be better off without these pieces? I posit to you that if someone is truly going to be swayed by a piece of literature, they would do far worse by reading the Bible. How many times in the Old Testament did a man lie with a woman outside of wedlock, or did God tell his people to go forth and commit genocide? At least Steinbeck gave insight into the characters and motivations that led to bad things happening in Mice and Men, whereas in the Bible it's just horrific things happening for no reason.
Wow, this first post turned out to be a lot longer than I intended. I promise in the future to keep them shorter. It's not my place to tell you what to think, and not my intention. What I'd like to do with this blog is just to demonstrate a direction that a mind can end up going in when presented with a nearly infinite fount of knowledge. Have a great day and I'll see you next time the inspiration takes me.
By writing up this blog I'm hoping to illustrate how the free and open flow of knowledge and information can lead to exciting new viewpoints of the intellectual landscape. The ability to crawl along a web of knowledge like a synthesizing spider is so exciting!
Today I had a pretty tame Wiki experience...I read about the origins of the word "Frak" that is used as an expletive replacement for "fuck" from the show Battlestar Galactica. Apparently the new "re-imagined" series actually took it from the original series. I don't remember hearing it as a kid at all; weird. Anyway, it lead me to learn about Thomas Bowlder, whose name has been made famous for prudishly censoring literature. He created an edition of both Shakespeare and Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire that he considered fit for women and children.
Interesting that women back then needed some jerk to censor their literature for them. I guess that both the dispositions and the intellects of the fairer sex have come a long way since the early nineteenth century. It's also amusing that Shakespeare was censored for kids, considering that the first time I read Romeo and Juliet was when I was in 8th grade English class.
Growing up as I did, with one unusually liberal minded and one unusually conservative parent, I was frequently aware of censorship. Somehow, however, I'm still often surprised by it, just as I am frequently surprised to hear that women still make consistently less in the workplace than their male counterparts. Is it myopic of me to be surprised? I shouldn't be surprised; Lord of the Flies was required reading for me in 8th grade, and yet just a short time (by history's standards) ago it was considered unfit. Still, I'm consistently boggled when confronted with censorship. I don't think that most people are aware of the breadth and ubiquity of it. The American Library Association has a Banned Books Week that it uses to highlight the issues of censorship, and when I checked it out I was amazed at some of the books that are currently being challenged!
Harry Potter is a perennially challenged series. A book about gay penguins is being challenged. Books by Toni Morrison are being challenged. Notably absent this year are Of Mice and Men, The Adventures of Huck Finn, and Catcher in the Rye. I just want to shake these people. How can they think that the world would be better without this literature? How can they think that their children's lives would be better off without these pieces? I posit to you that if someone is truly going to be swayed by a piece of literature, they would do far worse by reading the Bible. How many times in the Old Testament did a man lie with a woman outside of wedlock, or did God tell his people to go forth and commit genocide? At least Steinbeck gave insight into the characters and motivations that led to bad things happening in Mice and Men, whereas in the Bible it's just horrific things happening for no reason.
Wow, this first post turned out to be a lot longer than I intended. I promise in the future to keep them shorter. It's not my place to tell you what to think, and not my intention. What I'd like to do with this blog is just to demonstrate a direction that a mind can end up going in when presented with a nearly infinite fount of knowledge. Have a great day and I'll see you next time the inspiration takes me.