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1 Jan 2008 @ 09:19, by skookum. Ideas, Creativity
a poem for the new year More >
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 28 Dec 2007 @ 16:03, by judih. Music
musicians coming together to hear ancient rhythms resound More >
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26 Dec 2007 @ 05:43, by skookum. Ideas, Creativity
I have noticed...the number of people finding my blog is.. well.. boggling.. More >
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24 Dec 2007 @ 21:41, by vaxen. Government, Public Sector
For those unaware of the manger scene getting down in NOLA this year I must remind you that it all began in 1984 when 'The City' under Dutch Morial completely closed down the French Quarter so that businesses there would be bankrupted. This was all in preparation for the 1984 Worlds Fair held there that year.
I was General Manager, at the time, for the 'Louisiana Tour Company' and had first hand knowledge of what was going on behind the scenes. I also exibited my 'African Art' in the Cuban Booth at the worlds fair that year.
I finally got so sick of the political shenanigans that I pulled up stakes and fled to Atlanta opening up another business there. We were all promised 'reparations' for the remodelling, the whole 'Vieux Carre' got repaved, of the French Quarter that took place and closed down most all businesses there but...those reparations never came. Now this...
Shock and Tasers in New Orleans
By Naomi Klein [link] , HuffingtonPost (*yuck*) '.' com. Posted December 22, 2007 [link].
The shameless exploitation of poor New Orleans residents to privatize public infrastructure is being enforced by violence and tasers.
Readers of my book The Shock Doctrine [link] know that one of the most shameless examples of disaster capitalism has been the attempt to exploit the disastrous flooding of New Orleans to close down that city's public housing projects, some of the only affordable units in the city. Most of the buildings sustained minimal flood damage, but they happen to occupy valuable land that make for perfect condo developments and hotels. More >
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 24 Dec 2007 @ 08:25, by jazzolog. Children, Parenting
Trust shows the way.
---Hildegard Of Bingen
And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music.
---Friedrich Nietzsche
The invariable mark of wisdom is seeing the miraculous in the common.
---Ralph Waldo Emerson
I was sitting yesterday morning in the balcony with the rest of the choir at Good Shepherd Episcopal Church. In our robes from there each Sunday we sing the Introit, then hustle downstairs to process with the first hymn. It was about 10:30. Marsha Reilly was concluding the second organ prelude, John Ferguson's particularly mysterioso setting of O Come, O Come Emmanuel. That would be our entrance hymn too on this 4th Sunday of Advent. Suddenly my wife appeared next to us up there, urgent but smiling. "You became a grandfather about half an hour ago," she whispered. In the service a bit later, a prayer of thanksgiving went up from our congregation for the birth of Nina Marie.
Winter Solstice and Karen's labor had arrived at the same time, a little after 1 AM Saturday. The Cold Moon was nearly full. When the couple was sure her body and the baby were in agreement about the hour of beginning, quiet helpers were called to their little home. Well, Nina was sort of in agreement about it. She would turn her back on the situation eventually, and require at the last a sure hand to go in and turn her gently around for the final slide into the birthing pool. They were in the water by then, 24 hours had passed, and contractions were in the hours of intensity. Karen said yesterday each exhalation was a battle cry.
Dana, Ilona and I entered their living room of peace and silence at mid-afternoon. Jeroch was in a large chair, holding the baby as you see them here. Karen walked in, radiant and welcoming as always. We felt worshipful here. These young people have matured with the months of the process, guiding us and each other with trusting hands of love. We grandparents had come to know each other quickly and better. Karen's mother, the children's book author Erica Magnus, had flown in from LA a couple weeks earlier. Already we had become friends with her father, David Thomas of the OU film department. Karen's sister and her partner are here from the world of New York theatre. Has there ever been such a wondrous Christmas for all of us! More >
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23 Dec 2007 @ 12:27, by swanny. Environment, Ecology
Just a report I made and gave to the gov...
sir swan
Climate Change and Major Crop Yields
December 2007, Canada by Alfred G. Jonas
The issue of climate change is not new. In fact, studies have shown that climate change
itself, is part of the normal changes that occur on a regular basis on the Earth since its
creation some 4.5 billion years ago. Since that time the climate has varied both to colder and
warmer times and states. This though, has been mostly constructive as it, in good part is what
has given rise to the diversity of life here on the Earth, the life that we now know and enjoy,
in this the 21st century.
As recently then perhaps as 2,000 years ago it has been documented that a little ice age
may have occurred in the British isles and that somewhat more distant, about 8,000 BC a
warming on the North American ice shield may have caused a great flooding in the
Mediterranean which could have accounted for the Noah’s ark reference in the record of the
Holy Bible. So yes, climate change happens and has happened fairly regularly on Earth and
on a somewhat short though long in human terms, basis. It is perhaps safe to say too that the
changes that have occurred have probably been of somewhat different degrees and lengths
of climate temperature difference diversely around the globe.
Recently though as of the last decade or so some have been suggesting that a somewhat
novel situation is occurring, that being the case of where climate change is actually being
caused or contributed to by a particular species of planetary life via the cumulative activities
of their daily living. The historical evidence of this is kind of occurrence is somewhat rare if
not mostly nonexistent but this is what is said to be occurring right now as a result of the
activities, developments and technologies of us, the planets human species. These
contributions are said to be the cause of a current gradual warming of the Earth that has been
building perhaps over the last 250 years or so. A global warming due to the excessive
creation and production of CO2 gases in the planets closed atmospheric system, thus trapping
more heat than the normal checks and balances of the planet permit. This situation is thus
altering the planets natural “carbon cycle” and causing an apparent 1 to 3 degree Celsius
increase in the mean global temperature or more specifically an increase in its global
radiative forcings.
Is this true? Well given that we are certainly by our modern activities and technologies
creating a somewhat large amount of CO2 gases and if CO2 gas does as it is said to, and acts
somewhat like a global gaseous insulation that does not permit the planet to mitigate and
moderate the suns incoming radiations as it normally does then most likely a slight rise in the
whole planets temperature is happening. It thus seems possible that humans have created a
situation somewhat akin to the somewhat common but unnatural introduction of a species
into an area where it has no natural predators or competition, such thus disrupting the natural
harmony, checks and balances of the area. In this a climate case though, it is our somewhat
advanced and unnatural activities and technologies that are disrupting the natural carbon
cycle and causing global warming. Findings to date seem to suggest that this carbon cycle
disruption may thusly require stoppage or reductions of certain human actions to restore and
or find a new mutual harmony, cycle and balance. Certainly a large number of the scientists
of the day say that this is with 90% certainty what is indeed occurring and thus requiring
immediate attention and compensatory measures by the global human community to
counteract.
Why the concern though we might ask? Well there are many consequences to this but
offhand one major one might be the effect of global warming on the global food production
for society. In that regard I recall seeing a TV program some years ago, that explained that
the demise of many past great civilizations occurred mostly due, not to war or disease or
economic collapse but likely to large famines from simple successive crop failures. One chief
example given and shown was that of the Mayan civilization of around 300 AD which is said
to have failed to recognize the insidious demise of their crops over a fairly long period and
which thus rendered there cities and civilization unsustainable. The old adage coming to
mind on this of being “an army marches on its stomach” thus with no or little food, there are
no full bellies and hence no army. This thus would indicate and reinforce the need then for
global food security and that it is an important consideration to assess in regards to the
possible effects on food production from any and all global climate change.
A few studies have been done somewhat in this regard and they have found that current
temperature changes can and do indeed seem to be stressing major global crops and thus
effecting their yield and that most of the current major global crops overall seem to be
smaller. One study even took into account the benefit of the fertilization capacity of the
added CO2 and still saw a reduction in crops. So thus the global 1 to 3 degree increase in
temperature (not noticeable without instruments) is causing a certain amount of major crop
reductions, at least in its initial stages. A couple of additional developments are also
compounding this emerging situation. One is the increase in demand for food crops for use
in the bio fuel industry, which is seem as one way of reducing CO2 concentrations and as
well the inefficiency of feeding grains to livestock in terms of transfer of caloric energy for
food value, as well too as the emerging suggestions that some of the current arable
agricultural lands may have to revert back to new forest lands to help offset the lack of
sufficient carbon sinks left on the planet to aid in the reduction and absorption of the excess
CO2 in the planets disrupted carbon cycle.
Thus in conclusion then, global warming with a 90% certainty of many of the planets
climate scientists does seem to be occurring and the stress of this is causing a reduction in the
yield of global crops which is being compounded as well by the increasing demands for food
crops from new and inefficient old technologies and too the possible need to surrender crop
lands for carbon sink purposes all of which seem to point to a dire emerging situation if not
crisis for human society to address and resolve. This though might point to a need or
opportunity for some brave entrepreneurs to develop a new type of farming, i.e. “space
farming,” where by food crops and suitable arable crop lands could be found and monitored
by remote sensing and other methods to ensure an adequate and future supply of sustenance
for humanity and the planets other creatures and our mutual continuance.
REFERENCES:
The Great Grain Robbery, 1970s between USSR and USA, NASA Landsat
TV Program on the Demise of Ancient Civilizations, broadcast around 1997, Author?
Global Crop Production Review, 2005 USDA’s Joint Ag Weather Facility
IPCC WG1, 4th Assessment Report, 2006-2007 United Nations Climate Change Committee
Global Scale Climate-Crop Yield…, 2007, David B. Lobell & Christopher B. Field
Bio Fuel for Transport, 2007 Worldwatch.org ISBN 9781844074228
The First State of the Carbon Cycle Report, 2007, Climate Change Science Program, Acting
Director W. J. Brennan
..................................
Wow and exactly
Ecological Economics
Couldn't have said it better than wiki...
wiki
Concept
The objective of ecological economics (EE) is to ground economic thinking and practice in physical reality, especially in the laws of physics (particularly the laws of thermodynamics) and in knowledge of biological systems. It accepts as a goal the improvement of human wellbeing through economic development, and seeks to ensure achievement of this through planning for the sustainable development of ecosystems and societies. It distinguishes itself from neoclassical economics (NCE) primarily by its assertion that economics is a subfield of ecology, in that ecology deals with the energy and matter transactions of life and the Earth, and the human economy is by definition contained within this system. In contrast, NCE has historically assumed implicitly (and, more recently, explicitly) that the environment is a subset of the human economy. In this approach, if nature is valuable to our economies, that is because people will pay for its services such as clean air, clean water, encounters with wilderness, etc. It is largely this assertion which allows for NCE to claim theoretically that infinite economic growth is both possible and desirable. However, this belief disagrees with much of what the natural sciences have learned about the world, and, according to EE, completely ignores the contributions of natural capital to the creation of wealth. Natural capital can be considered the planetary endowment of scarce matter and energy, along with the complex and biologically diverse ecosystems that provide goods and ecosystem services directly to human communities: micro- and macro-climate regulation, water recycling, water purification, storm water regulation, waste absorption, food and medicine production, pollination, protection from solar and cosmic radiation, the view of a starry night sky, etc. More >
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 22 Dec 2007 @ 13:11, by jazzolog. Performing Arts
Four years ago I wrote an article about a radio production of Dickens' Christmas Carol that my father constructed in our hometown back in the 1940s. He had based his presentation on an RCA Victor set of 4 12" 78 RPM records of the story, produced by famed radio personality Ernest Chappell in 1941. Nothing I've ever written has yielded such a prolonged response. Google still carries it and eventually Wikipedia picked it up in its entry about Chappell.
Each year I get requests from people in at least the English-speaking world for CD copies of that old RCA release, which of course is long gone in its original form (although EBay sometimes offers one I understand). In my original essay, I offer to make a copy for anyone---and that offer still stands.
In honor of radio drama and all the actors who made a living in that unique format---and who had such a huge impact on my life---I've decided to re-post the article...and some of the comments that have appeared since. My main motivation is the interactions with those people who want a copy, and the stories they tell of how much this production meant to them and their families. Hopefully the search engines will be reinvigorated and other people will get some answers---and maybe provide more!
The image accompanying this version is of the cover of the original set of records. It was sent to me by a contact this year in Ontario. The photograph I refer to at the beginning of the essay can still be seen at the original printing here [link] . More >
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21 Dec 2007 @ 13:57, by vector8. Spirituality
During my bus journey this morning, a lady I usually see in the neighbourhood got on the bus. I smiled and said hello.
"Compliments of the season," she said.
"Same to you," I said.
After a while I said, "Have you done all your Christmas shopping then?"
She frowned.
"Do you celebrate Christmas?" I said.
"I haven't even decided what I'm doing," she said. More >
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20 Dec 2007 @ 16:18, by skookum. Ideas, Creativity
I want to extend my heartfelt best wishes to all here on NCN. More >
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18 Dec 2007 @ 16:43, by anniewarmk. Environment, Ecology
During this holiday season I find myself bowing out of the common life of America...most days it feels hollow and bankrupt. Each morning I seem to wake up to the WOUB radio just as they issue the war report, and even less hopeful the global warming report. Over my morning tea I try to make some sense of it, but I find there isn’t any sense to be made so I decided to put together my own credo for the future. Here’s hope for the future – for our precious children and their children…Annie
1. Politicians, I repeat "POLITICIANS" (American ones anyway) are not going to stop what is happening with global warming. There are no big companies representing global warming, solar or wind renewable energy in a position to pay for their causes in the halls of Congress. AND if the person in office has been there for any time at all they are owned by corporate America so it is absolutely fruitless to waste one ounce of energy in their direction.
2. We must work on our local elected officials – the ones who haven't had enough opportunity to become politicians. Focus on township trustees - most folks don't even know who they are in their area. Focus on city council and county commissioners. They control your life!
3. Many reports say to change your household light bulbs to compact fluorescents but doing that alone is like spitting into the wind. That's not to say we shouldn't change out the old light bulbs, but it isn't the message we can promote and expect change. Folks change their light bulbs, then they drive their SUV to shops 10 times that day for something made in China, something they forgot on the first five trips or another electric-guzzling appliance.
We need to focus on those locally elected folks to get them to make town centers where it is possible so that transport by car isn't necessary, and show them how to work towards community gardens, rehabbing existing buildings instead of tearing them down, and on and on and on.
4. The Earth has the ability to heal itself if given the opportunity. I'm hanging onto this mantra for dear life.
5. We owe it to our children to teach them through our example about peace with our land, our homes and our relationships. In order to do this - THEY must hang out the clothes on the line, THEY must do the dishes by hand (dishwasher is a job description, not a machine), and THEY must sit down with us at mealtime and talk about their day.
6. We must never stop visualizing in our minds and hearts that there is hope for the earth because right now everywhere we turn we are saying there isn't any. Our children are the ones who will suffer from this thinking - and most of the rest of the adults aren't really listening. They are too busy shopping for those new-fangled light bulbs or buying that cheap food that has ingredients no one can pronounce.
7. So just for today (and tomorrow and all the days after that) I am going to visualize a world of peace, filled with trees, and bees and flowers and people who aren't shopping, but instead are savoring what they already have.
Annie Warmke is the co-owner of Blue Rock Station Science Center, a writer, a scientist and a grandmother who milks goats and never stops talking about how much she loves the Earth. More >
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