"It's not easy being green" - Kermit the Frog

Kermie may have been onto something.

I am a huge fan of snail mail - I find it to be far more meaningful and personal than e-mail. You can't copy and paste hand-written words - unless you used a photocopier and tape, but that's lame. However, I cannot wrap my head around how much "junk" mail I get. As is commonplace, I get far more junk mail than real mail - but I'm working on changing that.

I'm not going to lie, not all of the stationery I use to send snail mail is printed on recycled or FSC certified paper. But the mail that I send doesn't go directly into peoples' recycling bins or trash cans (or so I hope!) It is generally more wasteful to receive junk mail and recycle it than to not receive it at all. In that vein...

Living in a not-so-metro metro-area of DC, the Washington Post had been sending me a "supplement" in my mail although I was not a subscriber. I found a phone number on the mailing, called, and had myself removed from their mailing list. That was easy enough - I haven't gotten any of these "supplements" in quite some time - perhaps 2 weeks after I called it in.
A few weeks ago, I threw the RedPlum I had received in that day's mail directly into my recycling bin. I Googled "RedPlum Unsubscribe" and after some careful navigation, made my way over to this subscribe/unsubscribe page.
Today, I walked into my apartment building and checked my mail, as I usually do. I opened my mailbox to find a copy of ClipperMagazine. As the name suggests, it's yet another coupon catalog. This is the first time I have received a copy of ClipperMagazine, and seeing as how I'm not really in the market for anything that this magazine would have to offer (I am not a homeowner, and many of the items - window replacements, new furniture, gutter protection, etc. are not things I will be needing at any point in the near future) one of the first things I did when I walked into my apartment was Google "Clipper Magazine Unsubscribe." After some careful navigating, I found myself on this subscribe/unsubscribe page.

Sometimes it takes a bit of digging, but usually, if you Google "[Publication Name] Unsubscribe" you can find a way to remove yourself/your residence from a company's mailing list.

Other things you can do:
- Go to OptOutPrescreen.net to reduce the amount of unsolicited credit card offers I get.
- I also found this post for removing yourself from the ValPak mailing list

And of course, I'll post more as I find them.

Black History In The 21st Century

During the time of Obama's campaign and election win, more than one person I know had the effrontery to question why his campaign/win is so significant. This angers me. If you don't understand the significance, you never understood the gravity of the situation to begin with. I grew up in a predominantly black neighborhood, and every time Kwanzaa rolled around, I heard stories of black suffering. Every time February rolled around, I heard more stories of black suffering. Being one of the few non-black students in my class, by the fifth grade, I thought, "I get it. These people suffered. It sucks." As I grew, I realized that I didn't get it. I never would get it. I never suffered the way they suffered. It's atrocious, the way blacks were treated - and to some extent still are treated. Granted, in the words of Avenue Q, "Bigotry's never been exclusively white," and by no means are they the only minority group that has suffered in this country, but with quite possibly the exception of Japanese internment camps in World War II, I don't think that any other minority group's suffering in the US holds a candle to black history in the country - and arguably the internment camps were far "better" (as such atrocities go) than slavery.
Yes, it's history - over, and theoretically done with. But those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it. In an ideal world, racism wouldn't occur, and everyone would be judged equally and fairly. We don't live in an ideal world. To deny it is to trivialize those who have suffered because of it. In less than 60 years (that's what, 2, 2.5 generations? - a lot of people who lived through those trying times are still alive), the US has come from segregated drinking fountains, schools, seating on buses, seating at restaurants, and so on - things that essentially dehumanized blacks - to an integrated society and electing a black president. (Mind you, the "integrated society" I speak of is far from perfect, and there are areas where people are prejudiced against blacks, or are in general xenophobic.) If racism didn't occur, then we'd have no need to feel proud of this accomplishment. Again, we don't live in an ideal world, and we should feel proud of this accomplishment. If nothing else, it means that more than half our population can make a decision based not on the color of a person's skin, but the content of his/her character.

All I want for Christmas is...

...well, Christmas is pretty much over, but there were only two things I wanted for Christmas:
(1) I wanted for my mother to continue the tradition of giving me home-made pajamas on Christmas Eve. It's a tradition that we've had ever since I can remember, and this year she surprised me with a set of pink pajamas.
(2) I wanted the family tradition of everyone converging on our house to continue... that sort-of happened.

But if anybody's itching to get me anything and you don't know what (because clearly in this economy, I know you are all dying to buy me a present)...
- I started reading this blog, written by the mother of a wounded soldier, about 160 days ago, give or take a few... and caught up on the first 40 or so posts before beginning reading daily. It's simultaneously hopeful and heartbreaking, and I would encourage anyone who can to donate to the "Buy Kevin a House" fund, regardless of your views on war and whether or not we should be where we are.
- One of my coworkers is supporting the Chesapeake Climate Action Network and US Climate Emergency Council by participating in the Polar Bear Plunge. You can sponsor her here.
- Choose the catalog of the country in which you reside (or the country nearest the one you reside in) and buy "me" a goat, or a dozen chicks, or mosquito netting, or school supplies, or raise an alligator, or plant 50 trees or something.

As Newton once said, "If I have seen farther than others it is because I have stood on the shoulders of giants" OR Something to Be Thankful For

My parents are immigrants who lived the American Dream. They aren't exactly the wealthiest, but they definitely have more now than what they came here with. I have had the good fortune of always having a roof overhead and food on a plate. My parents laud my academic achievements, but I feel as though I was only able to succeed because I did not have to worry about general survival. I've recently been accepted into a Master's Degree program, and my relatives were congratulating me on it. I feel like they have paved the way for me (using well-drained porous pavement to reduce runoff), and I am grateful for the opportunities I have been given. In general, I'm grateful for all that I have, even if it makes me seem a bit more materialistic than I ever would have liked to admit. What are you thankful for?

Happy Thanksgiving!

"Learn some God damn knife skills!" OR Kitchen Gadgets You Don't Really Need

I was grocery shopping a few weeks ago and noticed that there were pre-packaged apple slices. Seriously? People are too lazy to spend three minutes with a knife, a cutting board, and an apple to cut their own apples and wash their dishes? It's disgusting. Yes, it saves time, but does it save money? And there's the packaging - the non-biodegradable wrap gets thrown in the trash. With a whole apple, the only part that gets trashed (if not composted) is the biodegradable core. So basically, the laziness of people continues to harm the environment.
A week ago, I was perusing a nearby Le Gourmet Chef with a friend of mine who happens to be a professional chef. She offered useful insight to supplement my perspective, but we happened to agree that there are several kitchen gadgets that could easily be replaced by a knife and maybe another multifunctional kitchen utility.

• Progressive's Bash and Chop - In order to "bash," you can easily use a meat tenderizer. If you're "bashing" a clove of garlic, you can use the flat side of a chef's knife. To chop, you can also use a chef's knife. How about that! The Bash and Chop is a glorified chef's knife.
  
• French Fry Cutters/Onion Choppers/Garlic Choppers - Cut a potato (or other vegetable of your choice) in half, lengthwise, on a cutting board. You then have a flat "side" of the potato to cut into fry-shaped pieces as you choose. As someone who has tried to use a french fry cutter, I found it cumbersome to push the whole potato through the cutter, and found much better success using a knife. Garlic choppers are more of the same on a smaller scale, and if used incorrectly, a garlic chopper may well wind up functioning as a garlic press. There is a marked difference between chopped garlic and pressed garlic.
  
• Quesadilla Makers - A quesadilla maker is a plastic dish that has a lid that will cut the quesadilla for you. You can easily use a skillet to make a quesadilla, and use a knife or a pizza cutter to cut it.
• Rotary Herb Cutters - These things are not only useless, but also can be gross. Take, for example, parsley. When cutting parsley with a rotary herb cutter, a piece of squishy, mushed parsley (which is what you get as you are sawing, not cutting, the herbs) can become stuck to the blade and caught in the housing of the blade. There isn't always sufficient access to the housing of the blade, so you may well have wet organic material breeding who-knows-what in the housing of your herb cutter. This would be fine if you used it only once in a while and let the cutter have time to dry out, but if you only use it once in a while, then why even bother using it when you could just use a knife?

Long story short - learn how to use a knife.

Is Barack Obama Muslin?

Well, is he? This website answers that question.

In seriousness: how could people even possibly think that Barack Obama is Muslim after he had a public falling out with his (now-former) PASTOR Jeremiah Wright? Muslims have imams, not pastors.

That is all.

"If it does not make sense, you must aquit." Or as I like to say,"If it does notmake sense, you must quit."

Here are a few things that don't make sense (with link-referenced goodness):

• I was driving on I-95 and saw a vehicle that had a McCain/Palin sticker that said, "Vote Pro Life." This vehicle also had a "Marines" sticker on it. I understand patriotism and defending your country, but when you promote what I will term "active defense" (ie, deploying troops to other countries and maintaining order by force) whereby innocent bystanders can be harmed or even killed, it is nothing short of hypocritical to demand that people are pro-life.
• I read a CNN article stating that a combat unit will be deployed within US borders in order to perform tasks normally performed by the National Guard. This comes a few years after National Guard troops were deployed overseas. Why not have the National Guard stay at home and send the Army overseas, the way it's supposed to work? Fortunately, the ACLU has also noticed that this not only does not make sense, but also that it has dangerous implications for American civil liberties, and has filed a request for information.
• John McCain was one of the Keating five. Let me rephrase that: John McCain, who suspended his campaign (instead of having his running mate run it) in order to help fix our financial crisis, was one of the Keating five. I know this isn't really new news anymore, but it's still one worth keeping in mind.
• Proponents of offshore drilling neglect to mention the fact that it takes approximately 10 years from the beginning of a drilling project to actually produce any oil. So how does this fix the oil shortages here now? Well, that is, as Marissa Tome elegantly said towards the end of My Cousin Vinny, "It's a bullshit question." OPEC announced that they're going to cut production - If OPEC can cut production, we don't really have a shortage. Incidentally, alternative energy production would take about 10 to 15 years to develop - and we can come up with something sustainable, as opposed to the oil, which will definitely run out at some point. So why drill offshore when we can develop alternative technology in the same amount of time?
  
• Jorge Cham writes one of my favorite comics, PHD. Check out his graph of actual average salaries for employees of higher education institutions. Remember, this is for EDUCATIONAL institutions, not sporting institutions. What's wrong with this picture?
• Digital rights management (DRM) protected media exists to protect the artists - or the RIAA/MPAA. But as webcomic xkcd points out, it doesn't do a whole lot for protecting the consumer. Just remember - if you wouldn't ordinarily buy the same CD twice, why would you try to pay for your entire music collection more than once? (Incidentally, Amazon may or may not have censored anti-DRM reviews of video games.)
• Arts Technica has reported that figures associated with losses from piracy may be inflated. Check out their investigation here. I can see RIAA/MPAA throwing out these numbers to garner sympathy, but they'd be a lot more successful if they embraced the technology instead of fighting it - and that includes producing non-DRM protected media.
• The early episodes of Sesame Street are available on DVD, and as NYTimes Magazine reports, is labeled as being for adults - apparently because Bert and Ernie's living conditions are sub-par, Cookie Monster is still a full on cookievore, and Cookiepiece Theater shows Cookie Monster smoking a pipe. Oh mainstream media, why won't you place the burden of responsibility on parents?
• Alan Greenspan, former chairman of the Federal Reserve, admitted that there is a flaw in his Free Market Economy ideology. He was Chairman of the Reserve for almost 19 years and he's only now coming to this conclusion? Does anybody else find this worrisome?
  

And now for the fun stuff --

• Cracked.com asked their readers to submit cartoons depicting the election the way a 5-year-old might. This is what they came up with.
• The Mavericks are upset that John McCain are misappropriating their name. Incidentally, Gretchen Peters is upset that Sarah Palin misappropriated "Independence Day" - so she's donating her royalties to Planned Parenthood... in Sarah Palin's name.
• I once saw a movie called The Five Obstructions - a movie made 5 times with 5 different sets of conditions. In that vein, I present to you the Four Word Film Review. My favorite? The Princess Bride: Inigo Montoya Researches Polydactylism.
• There's one week until the beginning of NaNoWriMo. Grab your pens and keyboards, and don't take yourself too seriously.
• There are 10 days until the US Presidential election. Get out and vote!
  

Letting the free markets decide...

First of all, let's get one thing straight: when government exists, there is no such thing as a free market in the USA. A free market is defined as, "Business governed by the laws of supply and demand, not restrained by government interference, regulation or subsidy." Even if we deregulated (In case you missed my last post, read the paragraph starting "The $700 billion bailout..." on why that just might not be a good idea) there are plenty of subsidies in place - and without them, a lot of businesses and farmers would fail. So basically, when business is good, the government needs to step off and when business is bad, the government is responsible for fixing it? THAT. IS. NOT. A. FREE. MARKET. So let's stop deluding ourselves and come to the understanding that America does not operate with a free market.

So if we don't have a free market... if we have regulations in place... and if raising taxes will hurt small businesses, here's an idea: let's stop treating corporations as individuals. Why not, instead of treating a corporation as a person, treat it as a corporation? Have a tax bracket system for businesses the same way we have one for people, only on a different scale. That way, the corporations are taxed but can still can afford to stay afloat.

Also, it's less than 15 minutes into the debates, and Joe the Plumber is going to drive me up a wall.

Sarah Palin Makes Me Twitch

I've been MIA for quite some time. You can call it a transitional hiatus, but I'll call it a much needed break.

In case you missed how I felt about cancer, you can reread the first half of this entry. My cousin is participating in an American Cancer Society walk. If you are so inclined, you can donate here. While the minimum donation is $5, every little bit helps.

Now, onto what's on everyone's minds - or at least should be.

The $700 billion bailout and our general failing economy - Once upon a time, there was a man named Ronald Reagan. He began an era of deregulation and created a time to let the "free markets" decide. Ever since then, the businesses used the free markets to their advantage, building up a house of cards, limited only by what regulation remained. As time passed, these businesses, frustrated by the restrictive regulations, lobbied for the regulations to be removed. They got their wish. In 2008, their house of cards is fell, and now they're calling for the government - whom they previously wished to be uninvolved in their affairs - to come save them. And the government answered to their beck and call, and after much discussion and debate, said, sure, here's $700 billion dollars. Throwing money at the problem is like trying to throw a boulder at a black hole to close it up. Instead of putting protective netting around it (that would be regulation), we're only... well... putting a band aid on it. Bear in mind, I'm not blaming Reagan for this - merely stating that he was one of the first to deregulate. The regulations were in place for a reason. How much of the $700 billion is CEO golden parachute money and how much of it will go into economy stabilization? It reminds me of the time after the Enron debachle (does anyone remember that???) when Ken Lay's wife came out and said that they had to cut their expenses, and that the Lay's were hurting too - meanwhile, they still held more assets (liquid and otherwise) than most of America.

And on to the vice presidential debates... and Sarah Palin. I am a woman. However, it is not my moral obligation to support her or any of the inanity that comes out of her mouth simply because she is a woman. My general lack of support for her in no way reflects my position on women leaders - I support, the work of Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and in part the work of Senator Hillary R. Clinton (D-NY). However, Palin is setting herself up to be mocked just as much, if not more, than George W. Bush, which says a lot considering she's still only a state governor. If you take 20 minutes and read the transcript of her interview with Katie Couric, you will see, plain as day, that she never answers the questions being asked of her. She did more of the same during the vice presidential debate (transcipts). And if you have any doubt in your mind that she does not answer the questions posed to her, this commentary by Andrew Halcro should clear things right up.
Also, I happened to stumble upon this forum topic - which is nothing short of absurdity. In short:
The Constitution: The Vice President of the United States shall be President of the Senate, but shall have no Vote, unless they be equally divided.
Joe Biden: And the primary role of the vice president of the United States of America is to support the president of the United States of America, give that president his or her best judgment when sought, and as vice president, to preside over the Senate, only in a time when in fact there's a tie vote. The Constitution is explicit.
Forum Poster: Joe Biden is an idiot who doesn't know what the Constitution says.
Me: How does what Joe Biden say differ from what the Constituion says, other than that Biden didn't quote it verbatim and worded it slightly awkwardly (by omitting the word "vote" from his last clause)? Not quoting it verbatim demonstrates an understanding of what it says. Just because he doesn't say it verbatim doesn't make him an idiot.

If you're now as thoroughly frustrated as I am, relax with the movie W. when it comes out (October 17 in the US), and in the mean time, use the Sarah Palin interview generator for some laughs in the mean time. Most importantly, don't forget to vote on November 4. If you are not yet registered, you have until October 14 to do so. Get to it!!!

Life on the Internet

Several weeks ago, I posted a refutation to Fred Engh's call to eliminate All-Star sporting events. Well, parents have finally come to their senses, or so it seems. Now, if they could only promote literacy. I'll be the first to admit - I blog because I would never be able to make it as a real writer. My passions lie elsewhere, but my blog is mine for the creating. I don't face deadlines, I'm not confined to a single topic, and I don't have to keep to a specific topic. I also blog because I've found myself preaching to the choir, so to speak - when I have conversations with my friends, I find that we usually share the same concerns or have similar opinions. This isn't always the case, and the exceptions make for interesting debates and conversations. I have no interest in pouring my heart out to complete strangers on topics I find to be personal, but I do feel the need to spread information as best as I can for things that affect everyone - including topics like health and education.

The New York Times has just started a series on the future of reading in America, and their first segment is entitled, "Literacy Debate: Online, R U Really Reading?" I read it, and almost immediately, "felt" it.

Nicholas Carr sounded a similar note in “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” in the current issue of the Atlantic magazine. Warning that the Web was changing the way he — and others — think, he suggested that the effects of Internet reading extended beyond the falling test scores of adolescence. “What the Net seems to be doing is chipping away my capacity for concentration and contemplation,” he wrote, confessing that he now found it difficult to read long books.

I found this to be most unsettling - mainly because I agree. I had heard about Mr. Carr's article, but after reading this, I chose to read it for myself. I became even more frightened than I already was.

Where does it end? Sergey Brin and Larry Page, the gifted young men who founded Google while pursuing doctoral degrees in computer science at Stanford, speak frequently of their desire to turn their search engine into an artificial intelligence, a HAL-like machine that might be connected directly to our brains. “The ultimate search engine is something as smart as people—or smarter,” Page said in a speech a few years back. “For us, working on search is a way to work on artificial intelligence.” In a 2004 interview with Newsweek, Brin said, “Certainly if you had all the world’s information directly attached to your brain, or an artificial brain that was smarter than your brain, you’d be better off.” Last year, Page told a convention of scientists that Google is “really trying to build artificial intelligence and to do it on a large scale.”

After having several discussions with a friend about people losing their sense of self, defining themselves as something external, I find this idea highly troubling. It's one thing to have all the information of the world at your disposal, but it's another to actually be able to use it. After reading 1984, my friend said --

When people stop questioning and just follow others or fads, they stop engaging with the cognitive aspects of their minds that differentiate them from animals... Most of the people in societies all over the world blindly follow what is thrown at them without questioning or assimilating the knowledge into a form that is applicable to them on a personal level.

And my friend has a point. Take, for example, my blog. I take information and process it - and people can read or skim through it. But when people read my blog, are they really reading it? Have they come up with arguments and counterpoints? I haven't seen or heard any. It leads me to believe that in not only this instance, but also on many other websites, people are not paying close enough attention or thinking critically about what it is that they read.

When people do not think critically about the information they receive, it makes them more gullible. This is substantiated by the claim of the existence of the Tree Octopus.

Web readers are persistently weak at judging whether information is trustworthy. In one study, Donald J. Leu, who researches literacy and technology at the University of Connecticut, asked 48 students to look at a spoof Web site (http://zapatopi.net/treeoctopus/) about a mythical species known as the “Pacific Northwest tree octopus.” Nearly 90 percent of them missed the joke and deemed the site a reliable source.

If people can't tell the difference between fact and fiction, how can we trust them to make thoughtful and well-researched decisions? The fact of the matter is, we can't. And when society gets to that point, it is easy for someone to manipulate people. Look at any cult - people lost their sense of self, defined themselves as their organization, and someone else manipulated them. They became, more or less, mindless robots - and that is a sad state of affairs.

My solution? Limit your time on the computer. Go to your local library and pick 3 books of different genres. Make yourself sit through them and pick the one you liked best. Read more like them. Think about what you've just read - turn it over in your mind and actively engage with it. Start living.

Happy Birthday To Me: A Toast To Waste

My birthday is coming up soon - very soon, in fact. People keep asking me what I want. I tell them stationery, a la this post. I really don't know what else to say - as it is, I have more clothes than I know what to do with, and tons of things I don't really need or use on a regular basis. Stationery is functional and fun - you can share it with other people. Certainly a CD, DVD, or book would work just as well - but at the same time, I don't really revisit my DVDs all that often - or books either, though I feel books are far more sensible to keep around - and I know I get nervous when purchasing those items for other people because I am unsure as to whether or not they already have what I get them.
But really, one of my biggest peeves with presents is the wrapping. I received a package from a friend that was wrapped with a brown paper bag that had a tear in it and could no longer be used as a bag - and I loved it. (I haven't yet opened the package, as per the instructions written on it, so I don't know for sure what's inside.) But I find conventional wrapping paper to be a nuisance. It requires purchasing a separate item (the wrapping paper) in addition to a present. It has been my experience that there's always a little awkward piece of wrapping paper still left on the roll that is too small to wrap anything. Additionally, a lot of time, effort, and resources that could be put towards other things go into wrapping a present, where the beautiful wrapping job will be destroyed by the recipient within a matter of seconds. It just seems like... a waste. Instead, I take a nice plastic bag that I got from a grocery store or Barnes & Noble and use those to give gifts. The person can then use that plastic bag for a variety of things, including regifting or as a trash bag. People tend to focus on recycling materials - if they even do that at all - and forget there are two other r's that go along with it: reduce and reuse. Using plastic bags in lieu of wrapping paper both reduces wrapping paper consumed and reuses plastic bags. Gift bags work almost as well, though they tend to be too nice to reuse in any manner other than giving it to someone else as a container for his/her gift.

But really, the best present anyone can get me --
If you read this within the next 30 hours, donate money to the cause. If you happen to miss that, buy "me" a "goat" or donate something to the ACS. (You'll benefit too, from the satisfaction of giving your money to something worthwhile as well the tax deduction that goes along with your donation.)

The wheels on the bike go round and round...

Robert Ariail, The State's (South Carolina newspaper) syndicated cartoonist, offers a very creative suggestion for what to do with $4/gallon gas prices.

Bikes are fiscally more advantageous than cars: the initial capital for a bike is significantly cheaper than that of a car, bikes require less maintenance, and you don't have to buy gas for a bike. The Sports Authority website has BMX bikes for men, boys, and girls that range in price from less than $100 to $300, and mountain bikes for men, women, and boys that range in price from $100 to just over $1000. This is one to two magnitudes order cheaper than a $10,000 vehicle - and it doesn't require gas. While bikes require maintenance, such as making sure the gears and chains are in working order, there are plenty of websites that tell you how to do these things yourself.

Certainly, biking somewhere doesn't get you there as fast as driving would, and you actually have to sweat - you don't have the luxury of an air conditioner while cycling and you have to actually expend energy - but considering most Americans consume far more calories (and consequently far more energy) than they actually need and therefore could technically use the exercise, it's a really small price to pay. A friend of mine said to me, "Your bike can only get you so far, though." This may be true, but instead of driving 5 minutes to a store on a weekly basis, you can bike 10 minutes - and the savings will start to add up.

My bike has gears and handlebar brakes - two things I'm not used to. Nevertheless, I am practicing in my backyard (at the moment I have a tendency to run into our fence) so that I can eventually bike more than I can walk.

Speaking of bikes - the last day for donations for Jim Boudreau/24 Hours of Booty is July 11. I encourage you all to donate something.

24 Hours of Booty

Cancer is a disease that affects everyone, either directly or indirectly. There are preventative measures we can take to help ourselves avoid this disease, but there are also a host of other, unavoidable factors: genetics, pre-existing environmental conditions, etc. There is plenty of information out there about the preventative measures people can take, including having your home tested for radon (a basement with radon does not a bad house make - but it lets you know that you need to do something about it), properly using sunscreen when outside, and not smoking. Forbes magazine has an article about cancer and preventative treatments, FoxNews has an article about preventative measures for melanoma, The Economist has an article discussing the relationship between physical health and cancer risks. Even so, the risk of developing cancer is there and it is imperative that we fund research for a cure.

In that vein... The Lance Armstrong Foundation is sponsoring a bicycle tour, 24 Hours of Booty, to raise money for cancer research. Jim Boudreau, father of a friend of mine, is riding in this tour. Please donate whatever you can to him - it is for a good cause. While you're at it, participate in your local Relay for Life when you get an opportunity to. Change doesn't come from one person doing it a lot - it comes from a lot of people doing a little. Donate whatever you can, no matter how small it may be. :)

"We want to control the global food supply."

If you've made it through The World According to Monsanto and still aren't outraged, watch this: Patent for a Pig: The Big Business of Monsanto. If one company controls what you can and can't eat and how it is produced, they can do whatever they want to you. They can kill off thousands of people with impunity. Their PCB dumps in Anniston, Alabama, their production of Agent Orange, their promotion of rBGH use in cows, and other assorted moral transgressions show that they readily and willingly act without compunction - and will do anything to cover-up and hide the negative effects of their products. (Monsanto owned the NutraSweet company for 15 years. Victoria Inness-Brown conducted her own experiment just to see the effects of NutraSweet. While the experiment was conducted after Monsanto had sold the NutraSweet company, the fact that they would promote a product that has these kinds of health effects shows that they are, at best, morally unscrupulous.)

What is preposterous is that the local and national government of the United States of America is in Monsanto's back pocket! Through deregulation and general looking-the-other-way, we have oursourced our jobs, our consumer goods production, our welfare and safety. Now the goverment is selling us up the river with crops that may have harmful health effects that will take years to show, all because Monsanto can get away with hiding their records and findings. They can deny what they do all they want without a vast majority people thinking twice. At the risk of sounding like a broken record, buy locally grown produce from a farmer's market - and ask your farmers not to use GM foods that haven't been thoroughly tested and that have unknown effects. If you don't know where one is in your area, seek it out - the internet is a resource that you should use to your advantage. If you have time, go to a Pick Your Own farm - those can be fun family events where you choose your produce and your children get to see where it comes from. Don't shop at grocery stores where the labeling isn't always present and the workers won't be able to answer any questions you may have.

The bottom line is: if we don't take action now, Monsanto owns us.

"If we don't have any winners, then we're all losers."

A friend of mine said that in a conversation we were having about society softening in the worst possible way. Children nowadays are having functional coping mechanisms stripped of them before they even have a chance to develop. There was a time when playgrounds were made out of wood and slides made out of metal - you learned not to slide on the slide when it was hot (or you learned to tolerate butt/leg-burn) and you learned what to do if you got a splinter. Nowadays, in our hypersanitized society, playgrounds are made out of plastic - it eliminates the burn and the splinters... it also eliminates children learning how to deal with pain.

Thanks to this article by Fred Engh, the city of Beachwood has decided to cancel this year's Little League tournament. The kids who worked hard and practiced often so that they could be selected are now being denied the opportunity to showcase their development and skill.
To an average American who was formerly a child (and still is at heart - yours truly) Engh's arguments and parallels are specious.

There’s nothing like sticking a dagger into a youngster’s self-esteem the first season he plays the sport by letting him know that he’s not good enough or considered worthy to be part of this elite group of teammates. That’s not the message we want to send to children who are already less active and more obese than any previous generation in history.

Really? So it doesn't teach children that experience and time are teachers? If the children are less active, then maybe competition should motivate them to practice more and be more active so that one day, they may join the ranks of the All-Star players. Instead of coddling them and telling them that they're just as good as the people they aren't actually as good as, we should introduce them to reality. There are always going to be disparities in life - economic, social, etc. There are things that they can do to bridge the gap - if they aren't that good this year, then maybe another year or two of practice will make them good enough.

Just think for a moment how preposterous All-Star games are, especially in T-ball or beginning-level programs. In kindergarten classrooms across the country, do we take the kids who are learning letters and numbers quicker than their classmates and announce that these kids are special and give them extra attention and cool extracurricular activities to participate in? Of course not! That would destroy the others’ confidence and make them feel insignificant.

I don't know what kind of school Engh went to, but in my kindergarten class, when my teacher recognized that a classmate of mine and I had a better grasp of English than many of our classmates, she sent us to the first grade class for reading. In the first grade - since I technically had already passed first grade reading - another girl and I went to the second grade class for reading. When you're six - hell, even when you're 21 - playing video games seems a lot more appealing than reading a book. But there are trade-offs. If you play the video games, you don't develop your reading skills. If you don't develop your reading skills, you can't be the best reader in the class. It taught the kids that you can't have your cake and eat it too.

All-Star games make about as much sense as taking a vegetarian to a fancy steakhouse, or hitting an all-you-can-eat buffet with a friend who is struggling to stick to a diet.

It teaches people self control. If someone takes a friend who is struggling to stick to a diet to an all-you-can-eat buffet, the dieter has the choice of what and how much they can eat. If the dieter is serious about the diet, then whether they go out for tapas or to an all-you-can-eat buffet shouldn't matter. If the dieter isn't serious about the diet and therefore won't control him/herself, that's not the friend's fault. Likewise with the vegetarian - just because a person is at a steakhouse doesn't mean that he/she has to eat anything at the stakehouse. Water is always an option. If the primary purpose of the experience is to be social, then let the social aspect take center stage - everything else is just subterfuge. So too, are the all-star games - the team games and competitions are the social experience; the all-star game is just the icing on the cake.

It doesn’t take much to figure out that kids who mature quicker than others are going to be stronger, faster and probably more productive on the field. So, we’re simply recognizing players whose bodies have developed faster in many cases.

Oh really? Engh is essentially saying here that an 11-year-old who has begun maturing and does nothing to practice or train outside of the teams' practices has an inherent advantage over an 11-year-old that has not begun maturing but practices and trains outside of the team practices.

The entire process is twisted. I’d love to know the percentage of kids who are chosen for these All-Star teams who have a parent involved in coaching. Mom or Dad justify choosing their own child--even if he’s clearly not one of the better players--because they’ve surrendered a lot of their free time to volunteer to coach.

Well if that's Engh's big concern, he should have just said so earlier. It is unnecessary to throw the baby out with the bathwater. Professional baseball players have stats - if the little-league coaches kept track of the stats of their players and used the stats to evaluate them for the all-star team, then that would be a far less biased means of choosing players. Attending parents could corroborate the statistics for quality control purposes. Additionally, it can highlight the player's weak points and show what areas the player needs to work on and develop for the next season.

The injury factor. Stress fractures, trips to specialists and surgeries come into play when these seasons are extended with extra games and practices. They take a toll on young bodies and lead to an avalanche of overuse injuries.

Here Engh makes a sweeping generalization and doesn't cite studies or figures. Even so - part of being human is getting hurt and coping with it. Once again, coddling children and having them live in a bubble without pain doesn't gradually introduce them to the realities of life. Skinned knees happen. It's a dangerous world out there - doing things that prevent them from getting hurt makes them unable to cope.

On top of all this, the National Standards for Youth Sports state that leagues should not engage in choosing post-season All-Star teams. The standards were put together by some of the nation’s top recreation professionals and are the true voice of reason when it comes to youth sports.

Where do I find this? I came across this, which makes no mention of post-season All-Star teams in the coaches' code of ethics. Ironically enough, there is a nomination form for Coach of the Year. Basically, the children, who we want to develop and grow with these sports, can't have their achievements recognized, but the adults, who, in theory, have grown up and know how to handle competition, get rewarded.

The solution is clear and simple--ban All-Star games. Singling out players for these teams smothers the purpose of recreational youth sports leagues, where the emphasis should be on participation and learning.
Yes, many parents nationwide will no doubt cringe at this stance because All-Star games are a great source of pride when a child earns that distinction, but the kids could care less. What 5 year old, who can’t even tie his shoes yet, gains any extra satisfaction from being chosen for these teams?

Not really. If the goal is to emphasize participation and learning, then it would be most logical to promote the all-star games. Use it as an opportunity for the kids to get excited about the competition - to be one of the lucky few. If a kid will feel left out for not making the team, then encourage them to practice and try again. Preventing kids from even tripping doesn't allow them the opportunity to pick themselves up and dust themselves off and try again.
If a child isn't gaining satisfaction from being chosen for the team - if it's that unimportant to him/her - he/she likely won't be selected. A child who wants to be on the team will work hard for it - if a child doesn't care, just as workers in business, their performance will be mediocre and not merit being selected.

I’ll bet your recreation department is involved in All-Star games in some way. If you don’t step forward to push for change, who will?

Someone who thinks that the solution to dealing with their child being upset isn't to make their child a stronger person by teaching them to cope. Someone who doesn't know how to tell their children no, who doesn't know how to teach their children that disappointments are a part of life and that one must take the good with the bad. Someone who is in dire need of a reality check.

If you’re feeling reluctant to do something, consider all the children who feel hurt, left out and embarrassed by being passed over every season.

All the children who feel hurt, left out, and embarrassed by being passed over every season can have their parents keep track of and independently audit the baseball statistics. The statistics can be multifunctional - it can show if the coach is covertly employing favoritism in selecting the all-star team, or, as mentioned before, it can highlight areas that require improvement.

Youth sports aren’t meant to single out only a handful of kids; they’re about making every child feel special, including those who won’t make the All-Star team.

If a child doesn't feel special regardless of whether or not they make the All-Star team, then there is a more grave underlying issue - namely, the coach is bad. If the coach can't or won't help a child overcome his/her weaknesses and play to his/her strengths, then the coach isn't doing his/her job.

Incidentally, this is a screen-capture of results from the poll on the NewsNet5 website: Apparently I'm not the only one who thinks this is a bad idea.

The Corporation (Part 1)

After a suggestion from a friend, I added The Corporation to my Netflix queue. (This was, of course, before I realized that Mark Achbar had courteously uploaded the entire thing to YouTube and solicited donations on the website.) I began to watch it today - I didn't have time to watch the whole thing; only the first half hour. After watching the first half hour, though, I must say - I've lost all desire to consume. It isn't as scary as The World According to Monsanto, but realizing that they've managed to indemnify themselves as much as they have leaves you wondering - if everybody is an externality, who wins?

Let me draw your attention to some numbers. Now, I understand that being in upper management has its rough patches and the people who work in the high-tier positions need to be compensated for what they do, but quite honestly, it's obscene! What in the hell does someone do with $10 million per year? Even after taxes, it's more than most people make. Yes, that may well be the advantage of being a CEO, but all the same - when the economy is in such a state that the (in debt) government has resorted to sending out checks to taxpayers in order to "stimulate the economy" it seems as though the CEOs should have their salaries halved, and use that half to pay the workers. Don't get me wrong, I am all for free money, but you wind up paying through the nose. The US trade deficit decreased slightly last year, but proceeded to go right back up earlier this year.
Trade deficit for what, exactly? Oil and consumer goods, mostly. I remember a time, not so long ago, when people used to emphasize "Support your country" and "Buy American." These days, it's been replaced with bigger/faster/stronger/cheaper. Subsidized US cotton exports to African countries makes it fiscally advantageous for people in those countries to purchase American cotton instead of locally grown cotton. The end result is that the cotton farmers there don't turn as great of a profit as they ought to and have to struggle to make ends meet... the same thing has started happening to the US. We want cheap, and we're getting it - from everywhere other than the US. For people on a tight budget, that's all well and good - but it doesn't really stimulate the US economy.
A few days ago I was reminiscing with a friend about flea markets. There used to be a few near my house - now, there are none. They've been taken over by big business - surprise, surprise. We've abandoned mom and pop stores for the lucrative offers of department stores that wooed us with their low prices that gradually increased. We've abandoned our ability to bargain for fixed prices.

If ever there were a time to buy local, it would be now. There's a saying -- Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way when you criticize them, you are a mile away from them and you have their shoes. Learn where your food and clothes come from - where they really come from. Learn what it takes to grow a bushel of corn or sew a shirt.
Don't just buy things that were made in the USA - buy things that were locally produced. Buy locally grown produce from a farmer's market. If you don't know where one is in your area, seek it out - the internet is a resource that you should use to your advantage. If you have time, go to a Pick Your Own farm - those can be fun family events where you choose your produce and your children get to see where it comes from.
Even better - buying local reduces the amount of fuel required to transport your food to the grocery store. It should be a bit cheaper and it inherently uses less oil. Less demand for oil should mean lower prices.
Cook your own food. McDonalds doesn't care about you or your family - the health effects their customers face are their externalities. When we let the economy turn into a service economy and the service just doesn't cut it, we're bound to face heavy repercussions.

One of the scariest things you'll ever see...

A few months ago, I stumbled upon a video that was one of the scariest I had ever seen. No, it wasn't a horror flick. It was a documentary - The World According to Monsanto. Before you watch, it may be helpful to do a little research. Now, I know Stephen Colbert's feelings on Wikiality, and I agree with him - but consider these things starting points: Glyphosphate, RoundUp, and, of course, Monsanto.

Watch it soon - for soon it may be gone.

I'm gonna wrap myself in paper...

A friend of mine has recently shared with me the joys of writing snail mail. Well, really, she subtly coerced me into it - though I don't know that coercion is necessarily the right word. I was a willing participant in her attempt to use up her stash of stationery, but I didn't realize just how fun it was. The first time she sent me something, I wrote back. I dropped of one envelope in the mailbox just before I got to work the Monday immediately after. She responded to my response. I wrote back. But I found myself wanting to write more. There's something so glaringly impersonal about e-mail that disappears when you read someones' penmanship. Even if it's chicken scratch, as mine is. So, the following Monday, just before work, I deposited four envelopes in the mailbox. And another this afternoon, as well.

Mind you, I'm sending these envelopes to people I talk to on a semi-regular basis. All the same, receiving snail mail is quite nice. Receiving snail mail that you aren't expecting is even more fun. And writing is a process into itself. In the words of Sir Francis Bacon, "Reading makes a full man; conference a ready man; and writing an exact man." Of course, he may well have been referring to books - but it seems as though writing letters is becoming a lost art. In my house, at least. Apart from the correspondence with my friend who got the ball rolling, the only mail I receive is bills and bank statements. Oh, and those pesky credit card companies that want me to open an account with them. My parents are more or less the same way - bills, statements, magazines... nothing from actual people. But now I know there is at least one person I can count on to make my mail meaningful. And that makes all the difference.

I hear in my mind all this music and it breaks my heart...

I bought a digital album today for the first time in my life. I do not normally purchase digital music. It made me kind of nostalgic and reminded me of my younger days. We had always had a tape deck, as long as I can remember (I was born in the later half of the 1980's), but I very distinctly remember making the transition from records to compact discs. In fact, we only have a handful of store bought tapes - the majority of audio tapes in my house are mix tapes made from -- surprise, surprise -- records and CDs. I loved records - they were more sensual than anything else; certainly the audio quality was never as good as it could be digitally, but all the same, there is something to be said for other experiences associated with them.
As an environmentalist, I despise excessive packaging (especially when it makes it so hard for you to access the item that is packaged excessively), and that would seem to be a point in favor of digital downloads. But cardboard - cardboard with paper liners - that's renewable! (I'm all for saving the forests too - but when there are paper tree farms, it makes the point seem kind of moot. In any case, in terms of renewability, it is far more renewable than the hard plastic encasing tapes and CDs that some people horde in their homes.) Not only is the packaging renewable, but also it contains the album artwork! The cover art is a visual experience on its own. When tapes came around, the record companies had to finagle a way to merge the album artwork with the track list all on a tiny piece of paper. Granted, music videos (available from sites like YouTube and Google Video) provide a visual experience, but the simplicity of album artwork allows the listener to interpret it in their own way within the context of the music and without bias. Videos are merely passive observation of someone else's interpretations.
There was also a tactile experience involved with records - though it was advised against, you could feel the grooves on the surface of the records. Audio cassette tapes and CDs offer little more than hard plastic; CDs occasionally offer paper in the form of liner notes that the listener can thumb through, but eventually even those all start to feel the same. There is no such thing with digital downloads. There is nothing to feel, there usually is nothing to see - unless you buy the video. In fact, the fact that it was advised against to touch records gave them an element of fragility that is lost. Back then, in order to preserve your music collection, you had to clean the dust off and make sure the needle was in good shape. Now, all you have to do is a simple copy and paste from one medium to another. We've lost the ability to engage with our music.
I'll be the first to admit that I don't regularly go around smelling or licking LPs, or CDs, even - and if there is any sort of odor coming from my computer it is the frightful smell of electrical burning, which is never a good sign. None the less, the fact that we have allowed ourselves to have the experiences associated with three of the five senses whittled down to 1 and be okay with it just because we cannot find a better alternative to sticking it to the RIAA is slightly disappointing.

Disclaimer

This blog is in no way, shape, or form related to the band Rage Against the Machine, save for the part where I themed the blog with their lyrics.