The Naughties

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Dan Damon of the BBC, during a discussion of what to call the years 2000-2009, called them "The Naughties." I like it.

Tom Brokaw was asked what, in his opinion, was the “defining moment of the decade.” His answer?

He said it was the moment that the Supreme Court threw the 2000 presidential election to George W. Bush. He said it was at that point, everything changed, and that as a result, we later did things we never thought we’d do.

He, further, wondered about what might have happened if someone else had been in the Oval Office when that National Intelligence Estimate came across the President’s desk in August, 2001, warning us that Osama bin Laden was determined to fly airliners into buildings. Someone, perhaps, who would have been less inclined to ignore such a warning.

Yep, "the Naughties" seems about right as the cognomenon of this decade just passed.

First, a stolen election. Then, before we could catch our collective breath, great skyscrapers fell and fell and fell. Followed by meaningless wars in distant countries--for what? Floodwaters came, destroying a great city. And, then unspeakable: "legally" sanctioned acts of torture in American-made prisons such as could not even be dreamed up by Stephen King.

We have seen the sights and sounds of this decade before. But only in horror movies.

The Naughties: may they rest in peace--as long as they rest and leave us in peace.
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Happy New Year!

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That's all, just, Happy New Year!

And, Good Luck to us all.

Boy, do we need it.
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Golden Girls Have Always Been My Heroes

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That just about covers it.

If you didn't watch the Golden Girls when they were first broadcast, you had better catch them as they are re-run. They truly offer the best in life lessons.
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I Want a Tree House !

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Really, I just want a house on a lake. But this tree house would truly make it special.

[PS: I used to be the tree climbing champion of my neighborhood. So that might explain my love of the tree house.]
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New Camp Twin Lakes Treehouse Outfitted with Solar Array, Green Roof

Written by Preston Koerner | December 2, 2009 | read more: Green Roof, Recreational, Solar

The treehouse has a 1,700 square-foot roof garden, domed skylights, 1.4 kW solar array that powers the ceiling fans and misting system, two composting toilets, and a foundation built from wooden telephone poles.

Ms. Leathers' plan was selected from a total of six designs submitted by architects within Lord, Aeck & Sargent's Atlanta, Ann Arbor, and Chapel Hill offices. Her design is hidden in the trees, built with enclosed and screened spaces, and cooled by fans.

Also, students in an introductory sculpture class at Savannah College of Art and Design transformed old telephone poles into totem poles of various animals and elements of nature. The totem poles were placed along the trail leading to the treehouse and two sculptures mark the entry into the new structure.

Photo credits: © 2009 Jonathan Hillyer Photography.

Christmas Wish List

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• All our troops home from Iraq and Afghanistan
• A very short, very mild winter
• Federal civil rights for GLBT Americans, including marriage and abolishment of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell"
  
• A true fix to the damn potholes at the end of my driveway (where the City "fixed" it several years ago)
• Honest answers--not self-serving answers
• An energy policy that sets us free from imported oil
  
• Decriminalization of marijuana
• Healthcare legislation that shows we're at least as compassionate as the rest of the industrialized world
• Without healthcare legislation, at least an end to the exemption from the anti-trust laws currently held by the healthcare insurance companies
• Corporate oversight, which is strict, severe & unwavering, especially among the banksters
• Twenty million good-paying jobs
• No more home foreclosures nor the accompanying evictions
• Fundamentalist Christian church leaders who pray to God instead of playing God
• An end to arrogance

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year
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Hope

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Hope, when it dies, dies in the gutter.
(Steven Weber)

Medicare for All!
[This is a new link to an actual bill introduced in 2007.]

Since it appears that whatever the Senate passes may be the bill the President will sign using the ping-pong strategy, some 1 (one) brave Senator should simply offer "MEDICARE FOR ALL" as a reconciliation bill.

If the Republicans won't ever say anything except "NO," go around them. Leave them standing in the cloak room pouting. Let them--and their DINO compadres--have their temper tantrums.

If you have ever dealt with a two year old, you have encountered the "Tyranny of the Tantrum." Someone in the throes of a tantrum is expressing a great desire for things to stay just the way they are. They don't want to get into the bath; they don't want to get out of the bath. They have trouble with change. When they are unable to keep things just as they are, they throw a tantrum. They cry, they kick and they scream. They go limp, or rigid, making it difficult to move them. They hold on to whatever is handy, and don't let go.

This behavior is one thing in a two year old, but in an adult it resembles nothing so much as insanity. Now, I get the whole "insane = disconnected from reality" definition. But there’s a huge difference between an illness that disconnects you from reality as a result of neurochemical processes and the condition of being willfully disconnected from reality because you don’t want to have your opinions challenged. One is an illness, the other is a character flaw, and the two ought never be confused. The problem is a lot of our terminology quite purposefully does confuse the two.

Remember, a bill sent to the floor as a reconciliation bill takes only 51 votes.

All in. All over. All done.
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HeroRats

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Are you intrigued? HeroRats? Really? Really. Rats as heros? Really? Really


Seems as though rats can be trained to detect unexploded land mines.

And they work for peanuts--and bananas.

Rats are currently only sniffing out landmines in Mozambique, but negotiations are underway to expand the project into Zambia, Congo and Angola.

Seems the rats are ideal candidates for detecting landmines because they are easily trained, possess superior senses of smell and are too light to actually detonate the explosives themselves.

Once again, low tech is the answer. Cheap, too.
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Yummy, Yummy for the Tummy

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These are the very best, most tender, never tough pancakes you will ever make and eat. They are also so simple you will never need a mix again.

Best of all you know exactly what is in them. And there are no preservatives (beyond what are in the flour).

PANCAKES

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 Tablespoons white sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt

1. Lightly spoon flour into a dry measuring cup; level. Combine (this means stir with a fork) the flour through salt in a 4 cup measuring cup; make a well in the center of the mixture.

1 cup low-fat buttermilk
1 Tablespoon vegetable oil
1 large egg, lightly beaten

2. Combine buttermilk, oil and egg (I use a 2 cup measuring cup); stir with a fork.

3. Add wet ingredients to the flour mixture. Stir lightly until almost smooth (a few lumps are not a bad thing--just make sure all the dry ingredients in the "corners" are drug out into the batter).

4. Spoon about ¼ cup batter onto a medium-hot nonstick griddle or skillet coated with cooking spray. Turn pancakes when tops are covered with bubbles and edges look cooked. Yields 9 (4-inch) pancakes.

(5. To make plate sized pancakes, I pour about ¼ the batter onto the skillet then smush the mixture out to the size I want--I can then only cook 1 at a time. They are done just like the smaller ones--when the tops are covered with bubbles and the edges look cooked.)

Enjoy! And I know you will.

Really, break out your real maple syrup and try them.
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A Better Celebration

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Think about how you celebrate the season.

Do you spend too much? Eat too much? Does each year bring less and less satisfaction? More and more frustration? More debt? Less happiness?

Change things. You can do it. Probably everyone around you will be grateful. Be a hero.

Get your everlasting Christmas tree from possibiliTree. Or use a live tree that can be planted in the yard, or get a tree that can be recycled. Many places offer to pickup trees after the holidays, or they give you a chance to bring in the tree for chipping (and take home some of the chips to use as mulch in your yard). Even better, pick a live tree already in your yard and decorate it for the whole neighborhood to enjoy, and skip the cost of a tree altogether. Festoon your yard tree with suet blocks and seed balls and berries and un-buttered, popped popcorn edible by the birds.

Look for bazaars or craft shows in your area where you can get locally made (or locally grown) gifts. Buying locally not only supports your local economy and keeps smaller businesses going, it also reduces your gift-giving carbon footprint by avoiding items that have been shipped thousands of miles to get to your door.

Visit thrift and consignment shops for your gifts, especially for things that are outgrown quickly (like toys and children's clothing). You may be able to get brand-new (with tags) home décor items, even high-end clothing.

Give donations rather than gifts, especially for family and friends who don't need the basics. Just remember to make the donations in their name, and to choose a charity they would want to support -- especially if there is a cause that is near and dear to their hearts. Don't know what charity to donate to? Send them a card that includes a certificate for a donation to their favorite charity, and ask them to send you the charity's information so that you can arrange it. If you do this remember to enclose a self-addressed, stamped envelope if family and friends are far away. Or ask them to send the info via email. Remember, you want them to know you actually made the donation!

Pick a local cause and have a "community service" holiday. Your whole family can get involved for one day -- a shelter or food bank the family can work at, an adult living center or rest home where you all can volunteer time, or even pick a neighbor who's been under the weather and needs her yard prepped for the coldest part of the year. Coming together to offer service to your community can bring a family together in ways nothing else can, and it can remind us that putting the focus on giving of ourselves, rather than on getting more "stuff," is healthier for all of us (and the planet). Your children will always remember that you gave of yourself and encouraged them to do the same.

Don't buy gift wrap. Many gifts don't need to be wrapped -- a bottle of wine is beautiful all by itself, simply add a bow. You can also make your own gift wrap out of used and outdated paper maps, hand-painted or hand-stamped butcher's paper (you can get the kids to make this for the family's gifts), or even fabric scraps or bandannas. You can also use part of the gift as the wrapping paper -- a kitchen towel with a loaf of bread inside, or a washcloth that bundles hand-made soaps, are both attractive and useful.

Make all your holiday gifts -- even if you don't have any craft skills, a gift that is created by hand can make a heartfelt addition to the recipient's holiday. Food is always a wonderful gift, especially for people who are hard to shop for! Gift certificates that offer your skills to help with repairs or upgrades around the house would be a truly wonderful gift.

Share some of your time. Possibly the most valuable gift we can give is the gift of our time, and it's the one gift that everyone appreciates. Babysitting, pet care, house cleaning, or even just helping to plant a garden or repaint a kitchen can be amazing gifts to an overworked, under-funded, busy person or any of your older relatives.

If you simply must give purchased gifts, look at the Green Gift Guide. Pick something from there. Actually, there are several really nifty things to see--including a "lump of coal" soap in a muslin sack. Put that in the stocking of someone you love!


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Only the Healthy Can Be Strong

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“This great free enterprise system of ours has made it possible for more Americans to have more things, more of the good things of life, than any people anywhere on earth or anywhere in the history of the world. Can it now also make it possible for every American to protect his health? I would not call such a goal socialism. I would call it a goal of enterprise. American free enterprise. Meeting the health needs of our people is one of the most important ways we can make our American promises come true. It’s also one of the mainstays of national defense. Only the strong can survive and only the healthy can be strong.” Harry S Truman

Medicare For All

What if cancer in the United States has less to do with overuse of insurance or improved diagnostic tests and more to do with contaminants in our water or air -- or in certain aluminum and plastic containers in our kitchens? What if the rise in asthma and childhood leukemia reflect, in part, the poisons we put into and on ourselves and our children?

More than 80,000 new chemicals have been developed since World War II, according to the Children’s Environmental Health Center at Mount Sinai. Yet, the center says, of the major chemicals, fewer than 20 percent have been tested for toxicity to children.

One class of chemicals that creates concern is endocrine disruptors, which are often similar to estrogen and may fool the body into setting off hormonal changes. This used to be a fringe theory, but it is now being treated with great seriousness by the Endocrine Society, the professional association of hormone specialists in the United States.These endocrine disruptors are found in everything from certain plastics to various cosmetics.

What can you do?

Avoid microwaving food in plastic or putting plastics in the dishwasher, because heat may cause chemicals to leach out. For storage opt for using “safer plastics"--those marked (usually at the bottom of a container) 1, 2, 4 or 5. Throw out--RIGHT NOW--those numbered 3, 6 and 7 (unless they are also marked “BPA-free”).

Be healthy.

Be strong.

Survive.
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God Bless Texas

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Icy roads where I live this morning!

I just love technology that makes lives better. Long live research.

And why isn't it available here and now?

BLIZZARD-bound motorists won't have to wait for a salting truck or snow plow to clear the way if a "self-heating" road takes off.

While salting disperses ice and snow, the salty run-off corrodes the steel rods that reinforce roads and bridge decks, and also damages vehicles. With the US government striving to improve its road infrastructure after a fatal bridge collapse in Minnesota in 2007, new methods to clear snow without damaging structures are being sought.

One such method, being developed by Christiana Chang at the University of Houston, Texas, and colleagues is to incorporate electric heating elements into concrete roads or bridge decks. When cold weather is forecast, the element can be fired up to heat the road and prevent ice forming.... using sheets of carbon nano-fibers to heat the concrete.

Nanofibers comprise lengths of cone-shaped nano-tubes nested "like paper cups stacked on top of each other", says Chang. She bonded multiple layers of nano-fiber-embedded paper beneath a chunk of road concrete that was 10 centimeters thick and 25 square centimeters in area. It warmed from -10 °C to 0 °C in 2 hours while consuming just 6 watts of electrical power (Smart Materials and Structures, DOI: 10.1088/0964-1726/18/12/127001). Heating the block slowly reduced power consumption.

"It's an interesting technique, but scaling it up to cover whole roads will require enormous power," says Derek Carder, an engineer with the Transport Research Laboratory (TRL) in Wokingham, UK.

The Houston team, however, say that their method is [not too] complex and that as sheets of paper embedded with nano-fibers are already used to make electronic components, they are readily available and cheap. They add that savings made on salting and snowplow labor could make their low-maintenance design viable.

We probably won’t see entire roads covered in self-heating concrete any time soon, but spots known for being icy or snowy might be ideal locations for carbon nanofiber-based heat--the crest of hills, streets that are consistently shaded by buildings.
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The Cost of Afghanistan and Iraq

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---> Go here.

Watch the numbers roll by.

Enter your state.

Watch the numbers roll by.

We have to stop this insanity.

This country is deeply in debt (Thank you, George Bush 43 & Company), our infrastructure is crumbling around us. Unemployment is high with extremely high numbers in some areas. We alone among the industrialized nations can not find a way to pay for what should morally be a human right for our citizens--health care.

Over 5000 of our troops have given their lives for vengeance because of 2976 victims killed on 11 September 2001. We are upside down in this escapade. We need to to get out.

In addition, our surviving soldiers are deeply hurt by this engagement: too many stop-loss notifications, too many PTSD cases, too many traumatic brain injuries, other injuries/conditions that have not even been identified yet, suicides, family violence & murder, loss--so much loss. We need to get out.

30,000 additional troops to hunt down 100 al-Qaeda members? I don't know where the General that thought up this exercise studied, but apparently there was not even a short course in common sense. (Remember, McChrystal is the same general who tried to cover up the friendly fire death of Pat Tillman. How can McChrystal be trusted?) We need to get out.

"And it's - ONE! TWO! THREE!
What are we fighting for?
Don't ask me..."
(Country Joe and the Fish, I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-to-Die Rag, 1967)

It's deja vu all over again!

And it is not worth it this time either.

Afghanistan. Afghanistan.

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Just for the record, if any one doubts my position, I think we should declare victory and bring our troops home. Oh, and, BTW, let the contractors (this means BlackWater, KBR/Halliburton, etc) find their own way home--then fine them substantially. Then, subtract the cost of replacement equipment--Humvees, tanks, tents, anything--we are forced to leave in situ, from their next payments to be received from us (the US Govt).

In addition, we (this country) must take care of the returning veterans for years and years.

"The true cost of the war in Afghanistan, like all wars, must include a lifetime of support for veterans and their families. As important as the number of planes, trucks and weapons allocated to Afghanistan are the number of surgeons, psychiatrists and case workers resourced at home. The men and women who serve in Afghanistan, hundreds of thousands of whom have already served multiple tours, cannot afford another Walter Reed-type situation."

Postulate: in WWII, we won against 2 advanced military powers in 4 years, but we can't defeat the Taliban in 8!

Now--

More U.S. military personnel have taken their own lives so far in 2009 than have been killed in either the Afghanistan or Iraq wars this year, according to a Congressional Quarterly compilation of the latest statistics from the armed services.

Moreover, the total number who have killed themselves in 2009 is probably higher than 334, because the figure does not include unavailable suicide statistics for 2009 for Marine Corps reservists or veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan who have left the service.

Thank about that.

Let it sink in.

Now, go back and read this post from 7 March 2009.

"And it's - ONE! TWO! THREE!
What are we fighting for?
Don't ask me..."

(Country Joe and the Fish, I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-to-Die Rag, 1967)

It's deja vu all over again!

And it is not worth it this time either.
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