First off, let me apologize to any of my regular readers. Do you really exist? Are you just a figment of my pride? Regardless, I'm sorry it's taken me so long to post. I'd like to say it's because I've been so dedicated to work, but really I just have a hard time making myself write. Once I get started, however, it's not too bad. Maybe if I got more comments...
Gadzooks called me "Faust" today. I really wasn't sure that was applicable to me, even though I was tempting him. I was just giving him an invitation to come see Tron at Cinerama next Tuesday instead of going to rugby practice. I realize that he was just calling me a tempting devil, but I still wasn't sure that Faust was appropriate. Faust, you see, is a classical story where an alchemist, possessed of his hubris, makes a deal with the devil. He believes that he has outwitted the devil (never a good bet!), but he ends up coming to a bad end. I wasn't tempting him with my services, I don't think that he would come to a bad end just from seeing Tron, and the only hubris that could possibly be involved is his own estimation of his rugby skills.
Hubris, you see, is fatal pride. Unless the rugby game coming up is against the All Blacks, I don't think that there should be any fatalities; if the game were against the All Blacks, I don't think that one practice is going to save anyone unless we spend the whole time doing Duck and Cover. A much better example of hubris, I think, would be if someone were to assume that they wouldn't get in trouble for going to Cuba. If a US citizen, who is restricted from spending money in Cuba, were to then post pictures of their travels to Cuba, that would just be silly.
Why is there an embargo against Cuba, anyway? Mostly, it's in place because of the nationalization of foreign assets that occurred after the Cuban Revolution in 1960. The biggest losers in this nationalization of foreign assets were the United Fruit Company and ITT, two of the biggest and most corrupt of the American corporations involved in Central and South America. The United Fruit Company had extensive ties to both the Truman and Eisenhower administrations, and was involved in propping up corrupt dictatorships not just in Cuba, but also in Guatemala, Costa Rica, and Honduras. They also helped overthrow the democratically elected government of Guatemala, when it looked like they weren't going to continue to support the oppressive policies that allowed United Fruit to stifle competition. ITT was also an aggressively and oppressively monopolistic company with extensive Latin American holdings; they were involved not only in supporting Batista in Cuba, but also in the Pinochet coup in Chile.
Wow. No wonder Castro thinks it's best to continue to give the US the finger! He certainly has a track record of doing that. For example, when Carter said he would accept Cubans who wanted to leave the oppresive political climate of Cuba, Castro promptly sent the US 150,000 criminals. Nice move, Fidel. In fact, Castro has done things like that pretty much every time it looked like the relations between the US and Cuba might be thawing. I personally believe that he must be doing it on purpose, to keep Cuba isolated from the US, so that his personal agenda of revolution and social engineering can proceed without interference from the US. I wonder how long he is going to keep it up; it's been almost 50 years. Is that enough to reshape Cuban society into the image he wants? Will things change significantly under his brother Raul?
In truth things have already changed a lot in Cuba. Foreign investment is rapidly increasing as European companies invest in the tourist industry there. I wonder what it would take for the US to ease it's blockade. According to the 1992 Cuban Democracy Act, it would require free and fair elections, movement to a free market economy, and the possibility for opposition political parties. Even if the market controls the government has in place are eased under Fidel's successors, I don't see that happening anytime soon. It seems really strange to me that we're so restricted in our outlook to Cuba, but we don't have a similar outlook towards the oppressive policies of, say, Saudi Arabia.
Oh yeah, they have oil. Wait, guess what! Apparently Cuba recently found a bunch of oil in their territory. I expect a thawing of relations very shortly. I just hope the dollar is still worth something by the time I'm allowed to travel there.
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Thursday, December 6, 2007
Regrouping
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.
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.
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.
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