 | "There's Justice In The Universe" |
| Posted 8/12/2008 4:33 AM CDT In the international world of paternalism and machismo, women are all too often treated as second class citizens. Though it's much more often a problem in underdeveloped world locales, it's everywhere. Even here in the USA, women haven't had the vote all that long (historically speaking). In nations where overpopulation and poverty is a crushing problem, the treatment of women is a 'mighty big problem'. And the best way to deal with it is to educate girls in these places. One organization that specifically targets this problem is CARE. Even a 'misogynist' can't deny the logical value and importance of such.... although those who oppose contraception will try. http://www.care.org/careswork/whatwedo/education/best.asp |
| Posted 8/11/2008 7:23 AM CDT Mercury contamination comes mostly from burning coal. Coal burned in power plants and cement kilns is the biggest source of mercury building up in our waters and in fish that we eat. Mercury from power plants and cement kilns can be controlled. Our Clean Air Act says mercury must be controlled. Industry knows how to do it. But for decades, EPA has failed to require it. The story on cement plants has been particularly tortured. Cement plants release twice as much mercury as EPA had previously estimated— 23,000 pounds a year. Just a teaspoon of mercury can contaminate a lake. That's a lot of teaspoons and a lot of polluted lakes. Read more: http://earthjustice.typepad.com/unearthed/2008/07/mercury-too-tox.html#more Take Action: http://action.earthjustice.org/campaign/epakilns_0708 |
| Posted 8/9/2008 7:06 PM CDT Because China's increased industrial output is mostly fueled by primitive coal-fired furnaces and boilers, their air and water pollution levels are horrendous. Beijing's smog levels are 40 times worse than Los Angeles's. Beijing and 15 other Chinese cities are among the world's 20 most polluted cities. 70+% of China's rivers are woefully polluted. And China produces a third of the world's garbage with only 10% of it being recycled. As a consequence, widespread health problems prevail. 400,000+ Chinese die prematurely due to the air pollution, birth defects are rising sharply, etcetera. So, I'd say that when the World Health Organization is critical of China's overall pollution and Chinese citizens hold anti-pollution demonstrations, China's totalitarian defensiveness is pathetic. Furthermore, since coal is their major energy source, they should angle towards 'gasification plants' to produce more electricity to use industrially / with an eye towards developing far more renewable energy to produce electricity. In many ways, they're advancing more towards renewable energy than we are already. |
| Posted 8/8/2008 3:59 PM CDT With the number '8' being a 'lucky' number in the Orient, I can only hope that it'll be a good portent for occidentals as well. International peace is a worthy goal & lots of people are praying for goodwill towards all men (which is something of what the Olympics are about). The Greeks would quit warring long enough to battle each other at their Olympic events & we dropped 'club swinging' and 'live pigeon shooting' from our Olympics in the early 1900s. National heroes (such as Plato (Πλάτων) and Jim Thorpe) have emerged. It should be noted, however, that the total solar eclipse that occurred over China & Russia this past week could be taken as a 'portent of misfortune' (if one were to adhere to the beliefs of Chinese emperors). And today's conflict between Russia & Georgia could be seen as an ominous note. If China's 'coming out' from their xenophobic past is too much colored by their memory of the Opium Wars, then the benefits from the Beijing Olympics will be diminished. If Chinese leaders keep on calling the Dalai Lama a terrorist sponsor, then their sponsoring of the Olympics is further tarnished. The list goes on & all nations need to self-reflect -- but the 2008 Olympics are in China. The spotlight is on them. Below is a photo of some rural Chinese watching the solar eclipse. Perhaps its elements portends of China's gradually coming out into the 'light of international scrutiny': http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/image/0808/eclipsechina_buckingham_big.jpg |
| Posted 8/7/2008 12:38 PM CDT On the anniversary of our 'dropping the bomb' on Japan to end WWII, some apologists feel we shouldn't have done so. The men of the generation who actually had to fight the war don't agree. One of my father’s best friends, “Red” Thayne, served as a Marine In WWII. Here are a few stories on the lighter side that bear repeating: 1) While digging a network of foxholes on one island, his Sergeant (who was notorious for his sense of humor & practical jokes) hollered at his troop, “All those who smoke, take a 15 minute break!”. Normally there was no time differentiation between smokers and nonsmokers and since this was five minutes longer than the usual break, “Red” decided that this was a good time to take up smoking. 15 minutes later, Sarge hollered with a grin,” Now, everybody else take twenty”. 2) One day, as his platoon was advancing on their bellies through a huge expanse of high grass, “Red” thought he heard a strange noise in the direction that they were advancing. Quickly, he popped up, saw a Japanese soldier, fired his rifle, and ducked back down. Bizarrely, the enemy had done exactly the same thing in the same instant. What makes this story worth repeating is the fact that their bullets met in midair and ricocheted off one another. If that hadn’t occurred, then both soldiers would’ve been casualties. 3) On another occasion, “Red” was working his way up a hill towards a Japanese strong point. Suddenly, he felt the impact of a bullet hit him in the back. He was perplexed when he didn’t feel any pain or blood seepage. After they took the hilltop, he pulled off his pack to grab his shovel and start ‘digging in’ --- that is when he found a ‘ding’ in his shovel made by the bullet that had impacted him in the back. The shovel had saved his life. 4) The most miserable day he ever spent was advancing through a former plantation that was overgrown with what looked to him like Johnson grass. The weather was hot and extremely humid. As they moved along, the pollination of the grass stuck to every portion of their skin and worked its way under their uniforms. Intense itching doesn’t even begin to describe their tormented suffering. And when they came to the abandoned greenhouse where the former land occupants had grown a garden, the only thing still growing were radishes. When they tried assuaging their hunger by trying to eat them, they were worse off than ever. Suffice it to say, radishes are only worth eating when they’re very young and tender. [p.s., "Red" knew that dropping the bomb was a 'no-brainer'. There's really nothing else we could have done. Apologists who think we really had any other choice live in 'ivory towers'. If they want to apologize for something, then they should reference the 'forced opening of Japan' by Commodore Perry.] |
| Posted 8/6/2008 12:40 PM CDT The oil that comes from offshore drilling is the property of the oil company that owns the lease. They sell it on the world market / just like the oil that comes down the Alaskan pipeline. Multinational firms like Exxon-Mobil are not owned by the US government & do not serve the US citizenry. They're in business to make money. Selling oil from the strategic oil reserve will not help. Opening new offshore oil leases won't help, either. Furthermore, the USA has made the commitment to OPEC that we would buy their oil and in turn they would buy our National Debt (1975s recycling petrodollars). If we stop buying their oil, they stop bailing us out, and, conversely, if they stop bailing us out, we stop buying their oil. The answer is for US citizens and the US government to start 'living within their means'. We're a country of debtors and our country is a debtor nation. The ones loaning the money own the country. Take Action: http://action.citizen.org/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=12018 |
| Posted 8/5/2008 4:30 PM CDT Despite 4/5ths of Americans placing the development of renewable energy sources as their top energy issue priority, U.S. Senators & Congressmen that are under the sway of 'big oil' are successfully blocking the continuation of current incentives for such (despite the fact & partly because of the fact that the big oil leaguers themselves are heavily subsidized). The negative impact of this effects all of us that don't directly share in oil profits. What perturbs the corporations that control fossil fuels is that renewable energy sources can provide almost a limitless supply of energy. The don't care that it's clean and is becoming cheaper. What they see is that in the 'Law of Supply and Demand' they wouldn't be the ones in control / unless they can persuade the federal government to guarantee nuclear power through mega- subsidies & legal protections (with the government dealing with the nuclear waste 'aka' us bestowing this problem on all of the generations to follow).... then the corporate magnates could continue to dole out the electricity at prices that suited them. http://www.awea.org/newsroom/pdf/Tax_Credit_Impact.pdf I suggest that people living in Austin seriously consider signing up for Austin Energy's Green Choice renewable energy program. I did so years ago. At first, I was paying a bit more for electricity than I had been when I wasn't supporting wind power... but now, I'm paying less than I would have been otherwise (which is what you're currently paying). Contact Austin Energy and ask them about your entry level & then crunch the numbers to invest in our future.... fuel costs will only go up not down. http://www.austinenergy.com/Energy%20Efficiency/Programs/Green%20Choice/index.htm The fuel charge on your bill will be replaced with a GreenChoice charge at the level determined by when you signed up for GreenChooice: http://www.austinenergy.com/About%20Us/Rates/greenChoiceEnergyRider.htm |
| Posted 8/4/2008 4:20 PM CDT Having absorbed hundreds of billions of tons of greenhouse gases since the start of the Industrial Revolution, the oceans are becoming more acidic... and not just in a few spots. Now the chemistry of the entire ocean is shifting, imperiling coral reefs, marine creatures at the bottom of the food chain (tiny crustaceans, pteropods, etcetera), and ultimately the planet’s fisheries. As carbon dioxide is absorbed by the oceans, it increases its acidity. The acidity of seawater has increased by 30% since the advent of the Industrial Revolution. Most vulnerable to the assault of higher acidity, scientists say, is any creature that makes a calcium carbonate shell. When CO2 from the atmosphere combines with water, it produces carbonic acid (the ingredient that gives soft drinks their fizz) and decreases carbonate ions, a key building block of marine animals’ shells. As the oceans become more acidic, this material becomes increasingly scarce, hindering the ability of shelled organisms to make and maintain their homes. Like human bones whittled by osteoporosis, their exoskeletons will grow thin and brittle or dissolve. Note: The beginnings of this is already being observed by commercial fishermen in Washington and Oregon. http://tinyurl.com/acidoceans http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080521105251.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ocean_acidification |
| Posted 8/3/2008 2:16 PM CDT Almost all oil comes from pressure-cooking dead zooplankton and algae—pond scum, in other words—which are among the oldest and most abundant life forms on earth. That pond scum ultimately produced trillions upon trillions of gallons of oil. But most of it bubbled up to the surface long ago and was consumed by greedy bacteria. [Note: This pond scum is currently a potential source of energy if research & development efforts are succeesful.] By the eighth century, a petroleum industry already existed in the Middle East. The streets of Baghdad were paved with tar derived from petroleum. In oil-rich Baku, Azerbaijan, north of Iran, villagers could once dig a hole in the ground with their hands, drop in a live coal, and start a fire. Americans have laid down 161,000 miles of fuel pipeline in the United States. That’s more than half the distance to the moon. The recipe for gasoline itself is complex. Depending on the blend, it can contain between 150 and 1,000 different chemical compounds. http://discovermagazine.com/2008/jul/20-things-you-didn.t-know-about-oil |
Posted 8/2/2008 1:00 PM CDT
If you want easy access to my blog without going to Statesman.com's homepage, simply type in the URL:
http://tinyurl.com/AsISeeItBLOG and then freely navigate...
OR
tinyurl.com/asiseeit ...
where you can begin to navigate by exploring the Recent Entries & Archives to the right.
But first, perhaps, read below:
Extinction of life on Earth has occurred before due to global climatic temperatures rising too high. Previously, it had been due to long periods of volcanism dumping so much CO2 into the atmosphere that the resultant warming caused oceanic methane hydrate (like frozen natural gas) to be gasified (released) in such quantities that runaway global warming ensued and caused almost all of the plant and animal species on land and in the oceans to die off. Nowadays, the massive amounts of CO2 being pumped into the atmosphere are mankind's doing. And, earlier than predicted, we're seeing methane hydrate being released in the Arctic Ocean as it has experienced temperatures 15 degrees above the seasonal norm.
Read:
http://www.celsias.com/article/methane-begins-erupt-arctic-permafrost/
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/exclusive-the-methane-time-bomb-938932.html
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/hundreds-of-methane-plumes-discovered-941456.html
My Previous Related Blogs:
http://www.statesman.com/sitelife/content/sitelife/persona.html?newspaperUserId=5790037&plckPersonaPage=BlogViewPost&plckUserId=5790037&plckPostId=Blog%3a5790037Post%3aad4c56b7-2bbe-4beb-97ef-d88a7cda85a1&plckController=PersonaBlog&plckScript=personaScript&plckElementId=personaDest
http://www.statesman.com/sitelife/content/sitelife/persona.html?newspaperUserId=5790037&plckPersonaPage=BlogViewPost&plckUserId=5790037&plckPostId=Blog%3a5790037Post%3a0308964c-3961-4968-8e13-d509af7b0b91&plckController=PersonaBlog&plckScript=personaScript&plckElementId=personaDest
http://www.statesman.com/sitelife/content/sitelife/persona.html?newspaperUserId=5790037&plckPersonaPage=BlogViewPost&plckUserId=5790037&plckPostId=Blog%3a5790037Post%3ac09ddcf1-6864-4aab-828a-1970f9e892d9&plckController=PersonaBlog&plckScript=personaScript&plckElementId=personaDest
Note: As the human population increases and the animal, plant and mineral kingdoms decrease, it's only a matter of time before the 'Universal Law of Cause and Effect' triggers the "Reset Button". Christians may refer to it as the Apocalypse (the world burns up) & scientists as Anthropogenic Extinction -- I call it 'poetic justice' (ye shall reap as you have sown; Galatians 6:7) that our own pigheaded unwillingness to change our ways will force us (actually our offspring) to take more extreme adaptive measures in order to survive.
[I just hope God doesn't hit 'Replay'.]
http://tinyurl.com/AsISeeItBLOG and then freely navigate...
OR
tinyurl.com/asiseeit ...
where you can begin to navigate by exploring the Recent Entries & Archives to the right.
But first, perhaps, read below:
Extinction of life on Earth has occurred before due to global climatic temperatures rising too high. Previously, it had been due to long periods of volcanism dumping so much CO2 into the atmosphere that the resultant warming caused oceanic methane hydrate (like frozen natural gas) to be gasified (released) in such quantities that runaway global warming ensued and caused almost all of the plant and animal species on land and in the oceans to die off. Nowadays, the massive amounts of CO2 being pumped into the atmosphere are mankind's doing. And, earlier than predicted, we're seeing methane hydrate being released in the Arctic Ocean as it has experienced temperatures 15 degrees above the seasonal norm.
Read:
http://www.celsias.com/article/methane-begins-erupt-arctic-permafrost/
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/exclusive-the-methane-time-bomb-938932.html
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/hundreds-of-methane-plumes-discovered-941456.html
My Previous Related Blogs:
http://www.statesman.com/sitelife/content/sitelife/persona.html?newspaperUserId=5790037&plckPersonaPage=BlogViewPost&plckUserId=5790037&plckPostId=Blog%3a5790037Post%3aad4c56b7-2bbe-4beb-97ef-d88a7cda85a1&plckController=PersonaBlog&plckScript=personaScript&plckElementId=personaDest
http://www.statesman.com/sitelife/content/sitelife/persona.html?newspaperUserId=5790037&plckPersonaPage=BlogViewPost&plckUserId=5790037&plckPostId=Blog%3a5790037Post%3a0308964c-3961-4968-8e13-d509af7b0b91&plckController=PersonaBlog&plckScript=personaScript&plckElementId=personaDest
http://www.statesman.com/sitelife/content/sitelife/persona.html?newspaperUserId=5790037&plckPersonaPage=BlogViewPost&plckUserId=5790037&plckPostId=Blog%3a5790037Post%3ac09ddcf1-6864-4aab-828a-1970f9e892d9&plckController=PersonaBlog&plckScript=personaScript&plckElementId=personaDest
Note: As the human population increases and the animal, plant and mineral kingdoms decrease, it's only a matter of time before the 'Universal Law of Cause and Effect' triggers the "Reset Button". Christians may refer to it as the Apocalypse (the world burns up) & scientists as Anthropogenic Extinction -- I call it 'poetic justice' (ye shall reap as you have sown; Galatians 6:7) that our own pigheaded unwillingness to change our ways will force us (actually our offspring) to take more extreme adaptive measures in order to survive.
[I just hope God doesn't hit 'Replay'.]
