Before Christmas fades away, check out the Big Friendly Jazz Orchestra taking a whack at Jingle Bells. Cool! Thanks to Rugosa of Wild Roses for sending me this link.
Saturday, December 27, 2008
Friday, December 26, 2008
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Culvert, aka fish blockage.
As a long time neighbor of the Neponset it's great to see the efforts being made to restore this local resource.
Prius: It’s Not Just a Car, It’s an Emergency Generator - Green Inc. Blog - NYTimes.com
Prius: It’s Not Just a Car, It’s an Emergency Generator - Green Inc. Blog - NYTimes.com: "Said Mr. Sweeney, in an e-mail message to The Press: “When it looked like we were going to be without power for awhile, I dug out an inverter (which takes 12v DC and creates 120v AC from it) and wired it into our Prius.”
According to the newspaper, “the device allowed the engine to run every half hour, automatically charging the car battery and indirectly supplying the required power.”"
According to the newspaper, “the device allowed the engine to run every half hour, automatically charging the car battery and indirectly supplying the required power.”"
Monday, December 22, 2008
Some final thoughts on Warren - Ta-Nehisi Coates
Some final thoughts on Warren - Ta-Nehisi Coates:
"The appeal to history is false, in the first, for the reason that all appeals to history are false. For thousands of years the dominant form of government in the world was a dictatorship--and then we 'redefined government' to make democracy. Was that wrong? But more than that it's false on the the actual facts--historically, marriage has not always been one man, one woman. It's been one man and fifty women. It's been one man and--what we would consider today--one child. One man and five children. One woman and five men. And so on...
No, the objection here is to gays, in particular, which brings me to Obama and Warren. I want to be absolutely clear here. Obama hasn't betrayed anything or anyone. On this issue, he is what I thought he was. One of the first blog posts ever wrote noted the amazing hypocrisy in Obama lecturing black people on homophobia, while himself, holding a position on arguably the most important civil rights issue of our time, which was essentially bigoted. It's my job to say things like that, to, at once, not just carp, but still not simply fall in line."
Saturday, December 20, 2008
Right wing talk jocks - Aneurisms on the rise as Caroline Kennedy Expresses Support for Gay Marriage
I hope they all pop a blood vessel. And good for Kennedy, it's the right thing to do.
""Kennedy left no doubt, though, about her support for gay marriage, staking a position that is contrary to that of President-elect Barack Obama.
She 'supports full equality and marriage rights for gay and lesbian couples,' her spokesman wrote. Obama supports civil unions for gay couples, but not marriage rights."
Caroline Kennedy Expresses Support for Gay Marriage - FOXNews.com Transition Tracker:
Obama signals willingness to respect science
No more bending to greed and superstition, I hope!
"The president-elect warned that promoting science is "about ensuring that facts and evidence are never twisted or obscured by politics or ideology," an apparent reference to the Bush administration's response to research on global warming."
AFP: Obama signals break with Bush in new science team
Sippican Cottage: Hitting Rockbottom With Wallace Nutting
I can go to an auction house website, and get dozens of high-quality photos of all sorts of antiques, along with measurements and a little provenance, and it doesn't cost a penny to look. The auctioneers aren't doing it out of the goodness of their heart. But Adam Smith will tell you it doesn't matter why it happens. The SPNEA website wants to show me a dreadful slideshow using the execrable RealPlayer plugin. No thanks.
Sippican Cottage: Hitting Rockbottom With Wallace Nutting
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
The Pine Leaf Boys - Updated Cajun
I'm not always a big fan of Cajun music but these guys are good. The video comes by way of their performance on American Routes.
Monday, December 15, 2008
The Daily Traveler Travel Blog: Travel Tips, Vacation Ideas, and Breaking News from the Editors of Cond�Nast Traveler
World Toilet Day came and went a month ago but the need for basic sanitation never passes so it's still worth mentioning. The post is quite thorough with a good rundown on the topic as well as convenient links to an array of toilet topics, some not as serious as others.
The Daily Traveler Travel Blog: Travel Tips, Vacation Ideas, and Breaking News from the Editors of Cond�Nast Traveler:
"According to the WTO, some 2.5 billion people, or 40 percent of the world population, lack basic sanitation. And of the billion or so people lucky enough to have sewerage systems, only about 30 percent have their sewage 'treated in an environmentally acceptable way.' The rest flows straight into gutters, rivers, or lakes."
The Daily Traveler Travel Blog: Travel Tips, Vacation Ideas, and Breaking News from the Editors of Cond�Nast Traveler:
"According to the WTO, some 2.5 billion people, or 40 percent of the world population, lack basic sanitation. And of the billion or so people lucky enough to have sewerage systems, only about 30 percent have their sewage 'treated in an environmentally acceptable way.' The rest flows straight into gutters, rivers, or lakes."
AIG Sells $39 Billion Securities Stake to Settle Lending Transactions - WSJ.com
AIG Sells $39 Billion Securities Stake to Settle Lending Transactions - WSJ.com: "In the deal announced Monday, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York made a senior loan to Maiden Lane II to buy the residential mortgage-backed securities for an initial purchase price of $19.8 billion. The six-year loan is secured by the $39.3 billion face amount of the securities and bears interest at one-month LIBOR plus 1%.
AIG's life-insurance units used the $19.8 billion along with available cash and $5.1 billion from AIG in the form of capital contributions to settle outstanding securities-lending transactions under its U.S. securities-lending program.
That settlement ended AIG's securities-lending transactions with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York under an agreement announced in October, which totaled about $20.5 billion as of Friday. As a result of these transactions, AIG's October securities-lending agreement with the Federal Reserve Bank and AIG's U.S. securities-lending program have been terminated."
AIG's life-insurance units used the $19.8 billion along with available cash and $5.1 billion from AIG in the form of capital contributions to settle outstanding securities-lending transactions under its U.S. securities-lending program.
That settlement ended AIG's securities-lending transactions with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York under an agreement announced in October, which totaled about $20.5 billion as of Friday. As a result of these transactions, AIG's October securities-lending agreement with the Federal Reserve Bank and AIG's U.S. securities-lending program have been terminated."
Monday, December 08, 2008
History and Amazement in House Race Outcome - NYTimes.com
History and Amazement in House Race Outcome - NYTimes.com:
"The central insight he appreciates from his philosophical masters, the Russian, [Dostoyevsky], and French, [Camus], apostles of existentialism, is the rule for living that “life is absurd but one cannot succumb to the absurdity of it.”"
Thursday, December 04, 2008
Alliance for Climate Protection
Alliance for Climate Protection: "The Chairman of the Board, Al Gore, has been an advocate and leader for climate action for over 30 years.
* View a list of our Board of Directors
* View a list of our Board of Directors
Advisory Committee
* Frances Beinecke, Natural Resources Defense Council
* Pete Cartwright, Former Calpine CEO
* Karen Florini, Environmental Defense
* David Foster, Blue-Green Alliance
* Michel Gelobter, Cooler, Inc.
* KC Golden, Climate Solutions
* Paul Gorman, National Religious Partnership for the Environment
* Jonathan Lash, World Resources Institute
* Bill Mitchell, Flatcoat Consulting
* Billy Parish, Ashoka Fellow
* Carl Pope, Sierra Club
* Jerome Ringo, Apollo Alliance
* Rob Sargent, Environment America
* Read Smith, Smith Farms
* Stephen Smith, Southern Alliance for Clean Energy
Wednesday, December 03, 2008
Foreign TV crew attacked in China - UPI.com
Foreign TV crew attacked in China - UPI.com:
"A representative for Flemish public television VRT said Belgian journalist Tom Van de Weghe and several of his crew members were attacked by a dozen men while filming their HIV awareness footage, The Hollywood Reporter said Friday.
The unidentified representative alleged the men behind Thursday's attack were recruited by Chinese authorities in the province.
The media incident comes months after a CBS '60 Minutes' crew was attacked in the South China city of Shenzhen while gathering footage of toxic waste processing plant."
Tuesday, December 02, 2008
Anti Torture Policy Begins To Take Shape
Generals to urge quick action on torture by Obama | Politics | Reuters:
"Gunn and about a dozen other retired generals and admirals, who are scheduled to meet Obama's team in Washington, said they plan to offer a list of anti-torture principles, including some that could be implemented immediately.
They include making the Army Field Manual the single standard for all U.S. interrogators. The manual requires humane treatment and forbids practices such as waterboarding -- a form of simulated drowning widely condemned as torture.
Other immediate steps Obama could take are revoking presidential orders allowing the CIA to use harsh treatment, giving the International Red Cross access to all prisoners held by intelligence agencies and declaring a moratorium on taking prisoners to a third country for harsh interrogations."
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