Banned Book Week is BACK

What the hell is all the hoopla about any way? Why shouldn’t a community have the right to ban books from their libraries? Why shouldn’t people have the right to demand that books not be sold in book stores in their towns and cities? Or country for that matter?
Oh, I forgot. The same people that want GOVERNMENT OUT OF THEIR LIVES want to tell you what to do WITH YOUR LIFE. Yup, the very same.
“GET THE GOVERNMENT OUT OF OUR LIVES” AND “NO GAY MARRIAGE” AND “NO ACCESS TO HEALTH CARE FOR WOMEN” AND “BAN THE BOOKS I DON’T LIKE”

Sounds a bit moronic, doesn’t it? Yup again. Morons.

FIGHT BACK: READ A BANNED BOOK AND RUN OVER A MORON. (And watch the youtube video below)

Image: http://rlv.zcache.com/i_read_banned_books_tshirt-p235220146716053498q9bn_400.jpg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WoiJ44nSP34&feature=youtu.be

Morons of the World, Unite!!!

(You get some sense of my mood this morning?)
Yup, unite around Perry, Bachmann, Robertson, Romney and the rest of the gang to oppose the evils of Science and Scientists. Why should Science have the moral high ground, when obviously God HIMSELF gives it without reservation to the conservative morons of the world? Go forth and vote for the morons that have nothing at all to say of truth and evidence. Go vote for the politicians who will say and do anything to get elected and reelected, and will take money from anyone and do favors for anyone who pays.
You deserve what you get, but the rest of us don’t. Go vote. Be a real American. Vote without a thought for the consequences or the butcher’s bill. After all is said and done, it won’t make any difference at all. In 50000 years there will be very little trace of us or our resident morons. Maybe less than that. Maybe 1000. Maybe even 500. Maybe it really is the “end time”. Wouldn’t that be a grand joke on all the fundamentalist morons? An environmental end time? The earth rejecting humanity like your body rejects a virus?
Now that end time I can appreciate.
Image: http://blog.jonolan.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/science-and-religion.jpg

Humming birds

Just a short update: the count is now up to six or seven (hard to count when they zoom so much). Never saw this many young before. Must have been a good season.
Image (I wish this were my hand, but alas, not): http://catherinesherman.files.wordpress.com/2008/08/hummingbirds-2.jpg

Hop Devil IPA – WOW!!!

That about sums it up. You know by now that I believe that hops are medicine, good for what “ales” you right? Well this one is up at the top of the pile. Unbelieveable hoppiness. Don’t take my word for it (well, do actually). Try it and see if you don’t feel better, think clearer, walk faster and live longer.
Go for it. And, if you drink it in a Sam Adams glass, you get the aroma too!! Go for it.
Image: http://victorybeer.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/beer_hd.gif
Image: http://estore.samueladams.com/mainstreet/get_image.aspx?domain=bostonbeer.com&item_guid=45f013f8-7d56-4853-8136-cfd1c3ea3a45&size=1

A Treat this Morning.

The air is cool and dry with a slight hint of smoke. The window next to me is open as I sit and think of the day ahead. Suddenly a swooping buzzing sound, then two then three sound just outside the screen. The culprits? Three young ruby throated hummingbirds, all trying for a snack at the 4-flower feeder. They chase and swoop, occasionally dipping in for a quick slurp then off on the chase again. All at once the three of them settle the dispute and each take a perch and have a long and hopefully satisfying feed. Then off again, chasing.
It reminds me of kids at a park or beach, chasing each other is a seemingly random game, not of tag, just of chase. Well, after all, these birds are kids after all. I suspect that their “games” are not so much for fun as for strengthening little wings for the long migration just ahead, and testing out the idea of territory control. They seem to waste so much energy in the pursuit of each other I wonder how they ever store enough fat for the flight to Central America. All but the latest hatchlings do store enough fat for the trip, and those late arrivals try to tough it out on the gulf coast until spring. In cold winters they usually don’t make it.
Hopefully these youngsters are old enough to go south, really south, and will be back next year, swooping and buzzing around my windows once again. Bon Voyage guys. Watch you backs.
Image: http://lancaster.unl.edu/images/GuessIt/september/sept11_big.jpg

Troy Davis: Innocent or Guilty?

Troy Davis (1): Is he innocent or guilty?
Well folks, I surely don’t know. There is a bunch of crappy evidence and several witnesses who have recanted their statements. Davis has maintained his innocence from day one. Charges of police coercion are also involved here. In about a week he is scheduled to die, in Georgia, after having been on death row since 1991.
This case is one more example of why the death penalty should not be used. There is conflicting evidence and testimony. He may be innocent or guilty. If he is guilty, why not life without parole? If he is innocent why not freedom? The bottom line is this: If the State of Georgia kills him, and if he is innocent, he is the victim of State Murder. If he is guilty, he is the victim of State Execution. You want the Bible? How about Romans 12:19? Or how about the sixth commandment? On the other hand, Deuteronomy 13:13-19 clearly indicates that killing of innocents is OK with God.
So I guess Troy is, as we used to say in New York, Screwed, Blued and Tattooed (2).
1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troy_Davis_case
2.http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=screwed%2C%20blued%20and%20tattooed (second definition)
Image: http://change-production.s3.amazonaws.com/photos/4/ty/ax/WaTyaxwFSFyxUxQ-250.jpg?1315681376

The Best Ever Salmon

I thought the other day about grilling a piece of fresh, wild caught salmon. That brought me back to the signature event in salmon cooking.
Years ago an old friend, then a part-time salmon fisher in Sitka, brought a big King Salmon with him from Alaska. In a styro cooler. A big-ass cooler. This was a beautiful fresh fish.
Sal and I were living at Rainbow Farm and the house and gardens had not yet been much renovated. The barbecue was a squarish construction of piled bricks on an old concrete pad left over from the DC generator from the ‘20s. It had a grill found somewhere for a cooking surface. It was fine for steaks and chickens, but way too small for the fish, so Bob and I enlarged it with more bricks, making it longer. We put the fish on a piece of heavy duty foil, fueled the fire with wood and some charcoal and cooked it, in the open sometimes, sometimes tented with foil.
After several beers and more or less continuous checking it was just done.
We struggled it off the grill and into the house, where many people feasted on the perfectly cooked flesh. Never was there a better fish.
I never grill a piece of salmon without thinking of that King. And the friends we shared it with. If there were ever “good old days” that was surely one of them.

Image: The guy doesn't look much like Bob, but the fish is the right size. http://fishwithjd.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/Bodega-Bay-king-Salmon.jpg

Please, Smell the Roses.

“Life is too short to miss the sunsets, love and good wine.”
I just sent that thought out to a friend, and immediately got to wonder if all of us, me included, have spent too much time with noses to grindstones when young and energetic to stop to enjoy the world. In my case the answer is probably no. I balanced my academic career with lots of side jaunts into nature, relaxing evenings with my love and great times with my students.
These days we have to look pretty hard to find time or motivation to get around all the bad news and cut loose for a few days, or a lifetime. Still, cut loose we must, or suffer the inevitable spiral of downward expectations and maybe even depression. Yes, the world looks bad and getting worse. But there are pockets of really good things going around all of us. Even from the unspeakable events of 9/11 there are heroic and awesome stories of lives changed forever, and some for the better.
Last night Tallahassee Community College dedicated a new health education center to educate the next few generations of health professionals like nurses and first responders. A very positive and forward-looking event. The Center for Biological Diversity spends it’s days and resources trying to fight off the destruction of species and habitat so animal and plant diversity will go forward into the next generations. An uphill struggle, but one that should be undertaken.
But at the bottom of all this is a simple observation: if you don’t take the time to see the sunset, and love, and enjoy life, then there is no point what-so-ever in all the rest. So go forth and plan, save the world and all in it, but please, don’t forget to smell the roses.
(These thoughts are dedicated to Miss T. Thanks for caring)
Image:http://30.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_l1lv3igDQC1qbb5axo1_500.jpg

Neanderthals: To Screw or Not to Screw?

Ever since anthropologists accepted the Neanderthal as functionally human the controversy continues. By “functionally human” I mean genetically compatible and similar enough in body form and “look” that anyone would conclude that they are human. This specifically leaves out the qualities sometimes associated as human such as religion and art. The question is this: if modern-type humans and Neanderthals mated would they produce reproductively capable offspring? The answer across the range of research is “yes”.
So, did we or didn’t we? Cellular DNA says “yes” in a study and mitochondrial DNA says “no” in a study. I think human nature can answer this question much easier than biochemistry, and here is a scenario to ponder: A band of human hunters attacks a band of Neanderthals, kills the males and older females and takes a few younger females for slaves. The hunters are pumped up and horney. The females are different from the girls back home, but not as ugly as aunt Dolly. Do they screw them or not?
There is an entire branch of psychiatric study involving Zoophilia, the practice of having sex with animals of all kinds. Farm animals, dogs, cats, fish, deer etc. You get the point. If it has an orifice, somebody will use it for sex. There are men and women walking around in Wal-Mart that make the reconstructed Neanderthals pretty by comparison. Uglyphilia is prevalent in the human realm.
Back to the hunters: they have a young female Neanderthal who is better looking than aunt Dolly and the ratty dog they own. What do YOU think these hunters would do? I vote for Neanderphilia. Besides, I know a few people who so obviously carry Neanderthal traits that I don’t need DNA evidence. I bet you know a few too.
Image: http://www.amren.com/ar/2011/02/04b-NatGeo-neanderthal-woman.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoophilia

It’s TAR sand, DUMMY!!

You know the stuff that the black top roads are made of? That is Bitumen. Hard as a rock, heat and weather resistant, right? That is the stuff in TAR sand. Not oil. Bitumen. That stuff must be heated, melted and hydrogenated to make oil, which then can be heated and cracked into various fuels and other products. The processing of TAR sand uses a lot of energy that oil processing does not, and produces huge amounts of carbon dioxide that oil production does not.
Interesting that the Oil Industry, Exxon-Mobile in particular, the Pipeline Industry and the Republicans are trying to rebrand TAR sand as OIL sand. Why is that do you suppose? Hmmm?
I don’t know about you, but where I come from, pig shit is pig shit, even if you call it pate`.
USA Today: Hundreds arrested during pipeline protest at White House
http://usat.ly/rmqklB

James Hansen: tar sands would be "game over" for climate
http://www.columbia.edu/~jeh1/mailings/2011/20110603_SilenceIsDeadly.pdf
McKibben: tar sands are "the great American carbon bomb"
http://www.tomdispatch.com/archive/175417/
Image: http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTAvGCaYBPYavcs6tmVNLOPOJ9rsFV-sS36rdSoZQ5ABrVwNpXYcSwLsmo
Imge: http://www.digitaljournal.com/img/8/7/8/i/3/9/5/o/800px-EVOSWEB_013_oiled_bird3.jpg