The Chinese are At It Again

(This was written in April just before our trip to China. I decided to delay publication until we got back and forgot. Here it is, late but still timely.)

Tiger penis, powdered Rhino horn, bear gall bladders and gods know what else the Chinese eat to improve fertility and erectile function. They must think they have a fertility/performance problem and they are eating their way through endangered species at an alarming rate. Now it is fish swim bladders. Read this:

The totoaba's swim bladder is a tube-shaped organ that fills with gas to help control the buoyancy of the fish, which the U.S. Attorney's Office said can grow over 6 feet long, weigh up to 220 pounds (100 kg) and live to the age of 25.

The United States listed the totoaba as an endangered species in 1979 and they are also protected in Mexico. Officials said the fish's bladder was seen in some Chinese cuisine as a prime ingredient in a type of soup and prized for its supposed ability to boost fertility and circulation. (1)

For a country with billions of people, and cheap Viagra the eating of exotic and endangered species makes no sense at all. I have known many Chinese people over my lifetime, and none seems to have problems with “getting it up”, so to speak. So what is the fascination with eating rare meats. And the growing middle class in China is buying Ivory at an alarming rate. Of course this is illegal trade as well.

It makes me sad to see a great nation like China, with many wonderful people and traditions give in to the demand for these exotic products. The good news is there is a thriving market for fake exotic parts, and they seem to work just as well. Hmmm. The “placebo effect”?


1. http://news.yahoo.com/california-authorities-target-smuggling-bladders-endangered-fish-035423364.html

Image: Same as above.

Sowing and Reaping: We are Sooooo Screwed.

“At 10 p.m. on Jan. 26th, 2014, the temperature in Homer, Alaska of 54 F (12 C) was warmer than any other place in the contiguous United States except southern Florida and southern California.”(1)

And so the discussion of Global Warming and Climate Change moves on to the end game. The warming of the Arctic and melting of sea ice over the past decade has brought the predicted meandering of the jet stream and the consequences also predicted.

PREDICTION: Proposing some future event will/might occur.

SCIENTIFIC PREDICTION: “In science, a prediction is a rigorous, often quantitative, statement, forecasting what will happen under specific conditions- - “(2)

I did say the “end game” didn't I? Because that is precisely where we are in this perturbation of the climate. We have passed the tipping point of atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gasses, we have reached the point of jet stream wandering and we have passed the point of ocean stability (temperature going up, acidity going down, and volume going up).

What is left to us and the future generations is to pick up the pieces of the broken world and move on. The consequences down the road are chilling to say the least and surely include war, famine, genocide and disease. Not pretty is it? The “climate change deniers” will continue to spew their misinformed points of view, some downright lies while others are just ignorant, and the rest of us will suffer with the knowledge that we are all screwed.

The power industries and manufacturing industries of the world will continue to produce more and more pollution while justifying their actions by demand and denial of problems.

If you seriously don’t believe that human kind has ruined the earth for a long time to come by unrestrained production of energy and the pollution of the air and water that results from this, and the unchecked population growth that will be checked by the dire consequences outlined above, then you are among the most pitiful and ignorant humans on earth. You don’t deserve what you will get, but as you sow, so shall you reap.

Image: U.S. National Weather Service Alaska

1. http://news.yahoo.com/does-polar-vortex-mean-39-much-global-warming-003940054.html

2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prediction

Why is Woody so Quiet?

It has been a while since my last blog post. Why? The easy answer is “overwhelmed”.  With what? 

Well, hell, the list of things to comment on is long and often but not always involves the really stupid and/or dangerous stuff the government is doing. The ongoing distortions from Fox News(?) is pretty discouraging from the perspective that the founder and CEO of Fox, Roger Ailes, stated from the beginning that he loved the propaganda mechanism of the Nazis in the 30s and wanted to influence the American public to his very conservative point of view using the same Nazi techniques. And it worked and is working.

Morons increasingly deny climate change in the face of escalating problems relating to it. Morons blamed the current President for the chemical spill in West Virginia, even though: A; they hate government regulations and regulators and B; the regulation of that operation was under the STATE OF WEST VIRGINIA NOT THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT!!!

Morons in Florida love Rick Scott. Misguided FSU fans monopolized the internet for days around and during the big game. Big Deal. And the list goes on.

So I have been catalyzed into inactivity with the plethora of problems to write about. So what about good news? Yes, there is some. Great food to report from Vienna, and some interesting beer as well. The unusual cold weather may kill off some of the bugs that are killing northern forests. I have a clutch of very good students this term. Trip planning for future travels are going well. And that list goes on too.

I guess the problems really relate to the issue of “Zadarum” (http://searchesworld.blogspot.com/2010/10/zadarum.html) and the persistent feeling that what I say and know to be true makes no difference in the grand scheme of things. Things will loosen up a little in the near term, but really guys, the long term is seriously bleak. You conservatives better start praying now more than ever. And it will do about as much good as it always did. None.

Image: http://www.livinginmillington.com/site/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Give-Up.jpg

Religious Freedom and the Public Space or, Be Careful What You Wish For.

 
"Very Interesting", said Artie Johnson. And it is. The Constitution proscribes the support of any Religion by the "State" but guarantees the freedom of religion in public and private spaces. Your home, church, mosque or even the street corner. You can wave signs touting your religion, hand out literature, get a soap box and harangue until the end of times. You just can't do it on any "State" property. Now we both know this is an oft overlooked situation. Prayers start almost everything that is a "State" function. The congressional sessions, the swearing in of most officials etc. Even icons affixed to "State" buildings.
Now enter the age-old manger with the Baby Jesus, Mary, Joesph and a bunch of animals, children and men. Clearly a Christian symbol. Now enter Florida. In order to legally display such an icon on "State" property, the property must be declared a "Public Space". The legislators, a majority of whom are conservative and Christian, designated the Capitol Rotunda of the State of Florida a "Public Space", clearing the way for the crèche. One was immediately installed and when the ACLU was asked, they said it was fine. No problem in a public space. But they also said that the State better be prepared to extend the same, the EXACT SAME access to anyone asking for it. And now the gates have opened, and how they opened indeed: Jews, Atheists, and a Festivus worshiper have asked for and gotten access.
Now a legitimate Satanic Church has asked and the conservatives are going batty. Next the Flying Spaghetti Monster will petition for a slot. And there will be more. And, they must be granted access by the same rules that allow the others.
I can't wait to see how the conservative members react to their constituents when the Anointed Ones visit the Rotunda and see Satan next to Jesus next to a pole of PBR.

Image: http://www.robertbenchley.org/2012_competition/arte-as-german.jpg

Drill and Export? Gas Should be CHEAPER!!!

Does it strike anybody else as wrong? What? Well this: for years we heard "drill baby drill" to get American Oil and Gas to get us off of foreign energy.
And now the big oil companies, having found oil and gas and ruining OUR LAND getting it out, are EXPORTING it over seas. To FOREIGN POWERS.

What the HELL is WRONG with this picture? Is it me or are the oil companies of the world raping us and laughing while they do it?
Oh Yeah. I hear them laughing.
Image: http://images.huffingtonpost.com/2010-03-04-Oilspillwink.jpg
Image: https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTLVQJou_RV0ikPw94ChRrSCzP9UX5tqbi-SVIery0_abMVF9ny8A 

Certainty: Where Does a Bear Sh**?

Fresh Bear Poo, about the size of a small cantaloupe

When I was growing up (not so long ago and still growing) we used two expressions to indicate certainty. “Is the Pope a Catholic?” and “Does a bear shit in the woods?”.

The Pope, the latest one anyway, is certainly a Catholic. And he is a simple Christian man as well. I think he knows exactly WWJD, and does his best to do it. I like the guy. Now about the bear.

Certainly most bears shit in the woods. But where they roam the streets of Lanark Village they most definitely shit anywhere they want. So maybe we should change the old certainty to “Where does a bear shit?” You know the answer. Just outside our gate in Lanark (Gulf Terrace actually) yesterday sometime just before 9AM we saw a large black bear walking down our street, quite far from our gate. No sign of poop anywhere in sight. Later in the day, around 3, we returned to find the pile pictured above right by the gate. In fact, not far from our dog Millie, lying on the other side of the gate. If only she could talk. From the size of the pile, the wetness of it, the feel and smell, it was very recent and deposited by a large animal. Probably the one we saw earlier just coming back down the road.

So I know at least one bear who doesn’t shit in the woods. (just kidding about the feel and smell).

Image: Bear Pile at the Gate at Lanark.

Remembering the gang

I got an e-card from an old high school friend and was reminded of my co-conspirators again. In another posting (http://searchesworld.blogspot.com/2011/11/last-man-standing.html) I reminisced a bit about the core group of friends who hung around in High School. For some reason the fab four came to mind today. Maybe it was the card from Harriet and the death last week of Steve E., a nice guy but not one of the core. Maybe it was the report this morning about the actor, Richard Griffiths (played Harry Potters Uncle Vernon), dying at age 65. Don’t know. But here is another part of the tale of the foursome, promised in an earlier post. The Great B & E escapade. Leaving out the details, let’s just say that the four of us attempted a b&e of friend's house when they were away on vacation. We wanted something his father had. Two of us got caught, Me and Max (aka John, but we called him Max to avoid confusion), and John and Murph didn’t. Since we were under 16 and the father spoke up for us, the penalty was a kind of probation and very stern warning not to get into trouble ever again. None of us did. John and Murph died in their early 20s, Max in his late 60s, and I am still going. That incident, the b&e, left us all with a profound sense of something akin to fear, but not really fear. We knew for sure that one more brush with the law and we would be up to our eyeballs in trouble. The fear was unknowingly doing something and getting “caught”. We walked a much different line after the trial, all of us, and to the day they died and I didn’t, we were better for the experience.

Of course, John and Murph didn’t have “strike one”, but they were sobered just the same. Now both are dead. Neither had children and probably their parents are long dead, so I am probably the vessel who holds their stories.  At least some of them. Max did marry and we stayed in touch to the end. His wife never wanted to discuss our “bad boy” days, and didn’t want their children to know the stories. Pity really. Max was a good man, father and husband, and part of why was his history. My children probably know most of the stories of the old days, some of which are in this blog in other places. And they probably have heard some about me and the old days that aren’t true. In any case, we are who we are precisely because of our history. Total history. The good, bad and ugly.

So on the eve of Easter and well into Passover I remember my mates fondly and sadly. Fondly because of all we experienced together and sadly because they are no longer here to remember with me. Just a thought for the day.

Image: http://www.mptv.org/pics/shows/i_remember/i_remember.jpg

Holder, Tea, Guns and Rednecks

It really burns my ass to see the Republican House pissing away time and money on vendettas. What now? They are going to try to impeach the attorney general, Eric Holder. Of course led by the Tea Party morons, this is just another racist diversion from what they should be doing: the REAL PEOPLE’S BUSINESS. Why caps? Because Boehner and Boys keep saying they are “doing the people’s business” when the try to legislate women’s health or repeal the Affordable Care Act. They are not. They are doing their own business and their business is to crap on the majority of Americans.

I really hope the bastards get voted out next time around.

Oh, and another thing. Exactly when is “Obama coming for your (my) guns”? Or, maybe a bunch of ignorant rednecks got taken in by the NRA and Gun Lobby to buy millions of guns and rounds of ammo. Which is the more credible possibility?

Morons.  Can’t live without them. Who would we have to talk about?

Image: http://chorpenning.files.wordpress.com/2010/07/white-trash-redneck-white-trash-gun-trailer-demotivational-poster-1217614619.jpg

Image: http://frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/holderbumfuzzled-259x350.jpg

HUGE SNAKES and tiny horses?

“As terrifying as the thought of a gigantic snake might be, or as precious as the thought of a football-size horse might be, don't go looking for them any time soon. These changes take centuries, not years. But you might want to leave your great-great-grandchildren a heads-up note, just in case.”

And so ends a pretty informative article on the relative size of animals as a response to environmental temperature. Warmer favors larger reptiles and smaller mammals and the converse for cooler. So far so good.

Then, is a classic case of total misunderstanding of the evolutionary process, the author makes the classic blunder: “- - - - centuries, not years.” The process would actually take millennia at the least, and more likely millions of years to actually come up with snakes the size of school buses and horses the size of small dogs. But wait, don’t we have mini-horses and gigantic anacondas already? Yup. And the anacondas live in tropical places and the horses live in apartments. How long did it take to get these out sized animals? Millions of years in the case of the snake, and dozens in the case of the miniequines. Problem is that snakes are already at the limit of their size or they would be bigger, and the horses are classic inbred freaks who wouldn’t last 10 minutes in nature.

So don’t worry. No bus-sized snakes for your grand kids or mouse-sized cattle either. Evolution takes longer than that, and besides, the conservatives assure me that there is no such thing as climate change.

Image and quote: http://news.yahoo.com/a-snake-the-size-of-a-school-bus--it-happened-before--and-could-happen-again-153534343.html

Wolf Killing Cowards

 

The photo pretty well says it all: A bunch of northern rednecks just in from a wolf kill and afraid to have their faces seen. Why? I would guess (hope) at least some of them are embarrassed, but somehow I doubt it. More likely they are just afraid to face others in the community who oppose the slaughter of wolves.

Who cares about wolves? You should. As mankind eliminates the top predators the effect on the structure of the ecosystem below them is dramatic. In the case of removing wolves, immediate growth in population of the large animals they cull results in overgrazing of the landscape and a cascade of other ecological changes. Reintroduction of wolves in the west is reestablishing the important balance, and the wholesale slaughter of wolves will simply reverse decades of progress in ecological restoration.

So who are these assholes? Real Men? Oh I don’t think so. Kill a wolf at 300 yards with a 30-06 then pose with the corpse in a mask? No, these are cowards. Plain and simple. For more information look up the Center for Biological Diversity website.

Image:http://action.biologicaldiversity.org/images/campaign_images/2013/Masked_wolf_killers.jpg
Center for Biological Diversity:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Center_for_Biological_Diversity