47, an environmental scientist, Italian-American, married, 2 sons, originally a Catholic from Philly, now a Taoist ecophilosopher in the South due to job transfer. Enjoy jazz, hockey, good food and hikes in the woods.
A glimpse into a future world with an ecology worn threadbare? In a village called “shout for water,” where it hasn’t rained for four years, peasants calling themselves “the central fungus commission” illegally rake acres of desert soil, destroying the fragile ecology, to collect a handful of stringy fungus prized by upscale diners – and resulting in dust storms in Beijing, 500 miles away.
continues in SD, with the pro-choice position taking the lead in a recent poll: WashPo
Partisans across the nation are delivering money and tactical advice on an issue that has divided residents of the state. South Dakota’s fight could be a harbinger of political battles across the country should the Supreme Court strike down Roe v. Wade , the 1973 decision that legalized abortion nationwide.
“This has become the focal point in the country for the choice debate,” said Nancy Keenan, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, which is channeling cash into the campaign. “The stakes are very high, especially for us to win in November and again say America is pro-choice, America doesn’t think politicians should be involved in these private decisions, and enough is enough.”
A fresh poll suggests voters are inclined to oppose the law as too severe. In a late-July sounding, opponents of the ban held an eight-point lead, with 14 percent undecided.
Here’s the link, but be aware that there are many pictures on the page. Hey, I have dialup and it was well worth the long download… what a HOOT!
Unknown creature was found by soldiers
This creature was found by Russian soldiers on Sakhalin shoreline. Sakhalin area is situated near to Japan, it’s the most eastern part of Russia, almost 5000 miles to East from Moscow (Russia is huge). People don’t know who is it. According to the bones and teeth – it is not a fish. According to its skeleton – it’s not a crocodile or alligator. It has a skin with hair or fur. It has been said that it was taken by Russian special services for in-depth studies, and we are lucky that people who encountered it first made those photos before it was brought away.
My guess is that’s a young dead whale of some sort, possibly an orca (“killer whale”)? Here is a linkto a skeleton of an orca. It has the same long, very sturdy spine and ribs towards the front you can see in the photos at your link. The skull seems to match an orca better than some other whale types I saw by googling images of “whale skeleton.”
The “hair” might be partly hair (I believe some young sea mammals have more hair than the corresponding adults to help keep them warm until their mass-to-surface-area-ratio becomes more favorable to retaining body heat as they grow), and one link I saw said decomposing blubber has a “fibrous appearance.”
Thanks, Knox. I’ll try to follow the story and see what comes of it when those pics get some Russian scientific scrutiny. My money’s on your assesment.
Yep, an orca makes sense. If it beached itself and died of exposure, that would explain its relatively intact condition and the presence of decomposing flesh (as opposed to it dying at sea when the scavengers would have had a chance to tear it apart).
The Lebanese government forbids its citizens contact with Israelis. But keeping a lid on the Internet is a bit like trying to shovel sand with a sieve. And in the midst of war, scouring online for views from the other side has been one way for Lebanese and Israelis to alleviate the terrible sense of the impotence of standing by as their countries bled. Thousands of people, often posting in English, seem compelled to try to make some sense of the chaos — or, through personal narratives, to help debunk stereotypes and misperceptions.
……
The war, paradoxically, provided the common ground, and blogging — a roughly three-year-old medium unavailable in previous conflicts — offered the space for it.
Israeli and Lebanonese bloggers were communicating with each other — even as bombs were falling. For some, it was the first time they’d ever thought about what life was like on the other side of the border.
The internet has become a tremendous communications resource that reaches across borders instantaneously. Even as Bush was preparing to invade Iraq, Iraqi bloggers such as Salam Pax and Riverbend made Iraq and its culture and political realities and its PEOPLE come alive for hundreds of thousands of readers, with a human voice and heart. International projects like Sorry Everybody and Apologies Accepted provide human faces and expressions of feeling that reach across borders (or in the case of some such sites, anger and defiance).
The more people can communicate, the more they try to UNDERSTAND one another and find common ground for peace… the better the chances become for peace to become reality.
(Props to Joe at AmericaBlog for posting about this originally, I hadn’t looked at the Post yet this morning… )
“The more people can communicate, the more they try to UNDERSTAND one another and find common ground for peace… the better the chances become for peace to become reality. “
What a beautiful thought. Thanks for this, Janet. It’s an interesting take on interaction/communication through the internet. Hey, we just communicated! Peace, Baby. 😉
The build-up of Sudanese troops in the war-torn western Darfur region could lead to a human-rights catastrophe unless United Nations peacekeeping troops are sent to the region soon, Amnesty International warned on Monday.
Witnesses in el-Fasher in North Darfur have told the London-based group that Sudanese military flights have been flying in troops and arms to the region, said Kate Gilmore, Amnesty’s executive deputy secretary general.
“Displaced people in Darfur are absolutely terrified that the same soldiers that expelled them from their homes and villages may now be sent supposedly to protect them,” Gilmore said in a written statement.
The UN Security Council was set to meet on Monday to discuss a draft resolution co-authored by the United States and Britain calling for the transferring of peacekeeping from the financially strapped African Union troops, whose mandate in the region ends on September 30, to a much larger and better equipped UN force.
Sudanese President Omar el-Bashir opposes such a UN force on Sudanese territory, and has said he plans to send Sudanese troops to Darfur to pacify the region. On Sunday, Sudan rejected a final push made by a senior US envoy in Khartoum to win approval for the UN peacekeepers.
The discovery that a maze of canyons in Antarctica was formed by the drainage of subglacial lakes 14 million years ago raises an important new question in connection with global warming – could it happen again? And what would the effects on ocean currents and climate be from the sudden drainage of, for instance, Lake Vostok – similar in size to Lake Ontario?
Four more dwarf galaxies have been discovered orbiting the Milky Way, suggesting dozens more await discovery.
Doctors at the University of Virginia Health System have shown for the first time that getting rid of a toxic form of RNA (ribonucleic acid) in muscle cells can reverse myotonic dystrophy, the most common type of muscular dystrophy in adults. The mechanism causing the RNA toxicity, which may be related to an inability of the molecule to exit the cell nucleus, is under investigation, in the hope of developing new treatments or a cure.
This was interesting: Preliminary research appears to support the hypothesis that asbestos exposure is associated with autoimmune disease.
More Climate Change and Alternative Energy Roundup:
Ice Age evidence confirms that a doubling of greenhouse gases could drive up world temperatures by about 3 degrees Celsius (5.4 Fahrenheit), causing havoc with the climate, a study showed on Friday. Researchers used information on carbon dioxide levels and climate change at the end of the ice age to check the validity of models projecting future climate change, ruling out some predictions of more massive (6 or 7 degree C) climate change if carbon dioxide levels double… And on Thursday night, Sen. Diane Feinstein unveiled a Democratic plan to combat global warming. It’s not bad as a down payment on the kind of changes we’re going to have to make… Meanwhile, insurers are coming to realize that climate change is not just a risk, but also potentially a money-making opportunity, and the wind turbine industry scrambles to keep up with booming demand… …Which is good, given that nuclear power continues to stumble as an alternative power source: Nineteen U.S. nuclear reactor sites report leaks of tritium or other radioactive material to groundwater, according to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Nuclear Energy Institute, an industry association. Fortunately, all but one of the plumes of contaminated groundwater were within were facility fences, and most were below drinking water limits.
continues in SD, with the pro-choice position taking the lead in a recent poll: WashPo
Here’s the link, but be aware that there are many pictures on the page. Hey, I have dialup and it was well worth the long download… what a HOOT!
This creature was found by Russian soldiers on Sakhalin shoreline. Sakhalin area is situated near to Japan, it’s the most eastern part of Russia, almost 5000 miles to East from Moscow (Russia is huge). People don’t know who is it. According to the bones and teeth – it is not a fish. According to its skeleton – it’s not a crocodile or alligator. It has a skin with hair or fur. It has been said that it was taken by Russian special services for in-depth studies, and we are lucky that people who encountered it first made those photos before it was brought away.
My guess is that’s a young dead whale of some sort, possibly an orca (“killer whale”)? Here is a linkto a skeleton of an orca. It has the same long, very sturdy spine and ribs towards the front you can see in the photos at your link. The skull seems to match an orca better than some other whale types I saw by googling images of “whale skeleton.”
The “hair” might be partly hair (I believe some young sea mammals have more hair than the corresponding adults to help keep them warm until their mass-to-surface-area-ratio becomes more favorable to retaining body heat as they grow), and one link I saw said decomposing blubber has a “fibrous appearance.”
Thanks, Knox. I’ll try to follow the story and see what comes of it when those pics get some Russian scientific scrutiny. My money’s on your assesment.
Yep, an orca makes sense. If it beached itself and died of exposure, that would explain its relatively intact condition and the presence of decomposing flesh (as opposed to it dying at sea when the scavengers would have had a chance to tear it apart).
Link to an educational map where you name the countries. It was fun… I got more correct than I expected to, but I admit that I made some good guesses.
That was a humbling (yet unsurprising) experience…
Here’s an interesting bit from today’s Washington Post:
Blogging Under The Radar
Israeli and Lebanonese bloggers were communicating with each other — even as bombs were falling. For some, it was the first time they’d ever thought about what life was like on the other side of the border.
The internet has become a tremendous communications resource that reaches across borders instantaneously. Even as Bush was preparing to invade Iraq, Iraqi bloggers such as Salam Pax and Riverbend made Iraq and its culture and political realities and its PEOPLE come alive for hundreds of thousands of readers, with a human voice and heart. International projects like Sorry Everybody and Apologies Accepted provide human faces and expressions of feeling that reach across borders (or in the case of some such sites, anger and defiance).
The more people can communicate, the more they try to UNDERSTAND one another and find common ground for peace… the better the chances become for peace to become reality.
(Props to Joe at AmericaBlog for posting about this originally, I hadn’t looked at the Post yet this morning… )
(Gah, please excuse typos, I proofed it and they still snuck by me… I need more coffee.)
“The more people can communicate, the more they try to UNDERSTAND one another and find common ground for peace… the better the chances become for peace to become reality. “
What a beautiful thought. Thanks for this, Janet. It’s an interesting take on interaction/communication through the internet. Hey, we just communicated! Peace, Baby. 😉
Potential human-rights catastrophe in Darfur
Is it just me, or do we have a margin problem with this diary? It seems to be overlapping the ads on the right…
Looks fine to me, KP (in Firefox).