Archives: September 2005
Thu Sep 29, 2005
more from John Muir
I have so little time to write these days, and am so loving John Muir when I have time to read. Here's more from "My First Summer in the Sierra." More...
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Wed Sep 28, 2005
The Governator eBay Auction
From our friends in the California Nurses Association: 1 Arnold for Sale.
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Fantastic Do-Gooders of the Week
via Constant Reader BH: Fallen Fruit. It started as an art project, now it is a movement to feed the hungry from on the free food that grows year-round on the streets of Los Angeles. See also: Buddy Bag: a plan for recycling prepared food.
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Sat Sep 24, 2005
The Cherries of McHenry: Gone
Those of you who remember the cherries trees at McHenry Library at UCSC would be as devestated as I was the other day when I came upon McHenry from the south. All the cherries and redwoods on the south side of the building have been removed in preparation for library expansion. I took a photo of it, but you really don't want to see it. Yes, the trees on the north side are still there, but the entire ring of trees has been broken forever. Here's a watercolor of the plan. See that tree there in the corner? It is not an existing tree. See that pinkish tree in the middle? That's an artist's conception of what a cherry tree (more likey dogwood) will look like decades from now. An FAQ answers the question, "What will happen to the trees? More...
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John Muir: My First Summer in the Sierra
I can't believe I have never before read John Muir's diary of his months as a shepherd in 1869. Every Californian should be given a copy of this book at age twelve and pointed east toward our mountains. More...
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Cryptonesiaphobia
The basic idea behind copyright is that the state recognizes the right of artists to commercialize their creations for a bounded period of timefree from fear of thieves. Charles Dickens was one of the first authors to enjoy world-wide fame, and yet he spent many thousands of hours with lawyers and judges defending his works from creators of "derivative works" who copied out his novels and published them in their own newspapers without any fear of legal retribution. Americans stole from him most of all. More...
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Wed Sep 21, 2005
Introducing... The Sun PornStar
I'm a woman who has worked with men long enough to think I know their habits, but after seeing the ad for the Sunfire X4100 in Network World this week, I have to wonder, do men actually fuck data center servers? Do I need to monitor the server cluster for heat and .... ehrm... moisture?
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Tue Sep 20, 2005
OmniOutliner: I'm in love
I tried out a new application this week, and I love it. OmniOutliner costs $35 and it exports to Keynote. It is so amazing. I'm going to use it for everything. I haven't been writing in the blog much, I know. I've been working a lot, and when the day is done, I just feel like reading. Go read Mimi Smartypants instead.
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Sat Sep 17, 2005
Tree City
Last weekend, I finally went to Bonfonte Gardens. I've been wanting to see the Circus Trees for years. Bonfonte Gardens is a really nice park, with an edge of creepiness that makes it special. More...
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Mon Sep 12, 2005
Fear, Faith, and Democracy
Salon has reprinted a speech delivered by Bill Moyers. Brilliant, as usual. More...
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Best California News Portals
I know "portal" isn't a current term of art anymore, I just used it to be funny. Anyway, in addition reminding me about Tim Eagan's genius, Bruce Bratton's column this week also included a list of John Laird's morning news reading list. More...
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Subconscious Comics
You all probably knew this a long time ago, but if you didn't: did you know that Tim Eagan publishes Subconscious Comics on the web? My god! I have years of comics to read through now. Remember back in the 1980s how everyone in Santa Cruz greeted each other on Friday night with: "Have you seen Subconscious Comics yet this week?" Well, I did anyway. I guess I'm a fan. (via Bruce Bratton. Tim is an advertiser.)
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Sun Sep 11, 2005
Electric Streetcar in Santa Cruz
I won this great postcard on eBay last week. Take a look: More...
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New Orleans Detainees
Via Alternet, a first hand account of a NOLA refugee camp, which appears to be run as a federal prison in Oklahoma. FEMA will control access to food, clothing, church servcies, and freedom. It sort of reminds me of historical reports of Indian Reservations of the 19th century. Matthew Wheeland comments on this "Culture of Fear: "The government is deeply afraid of the people that have been displaced by the storm."
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$100 Million for Restoring Wetlands: In Iraq
Here's a great story of how the Bush Administration tried to get Congress to fund the restoration of a wetlands area. We all know that marsh restoration has no priority in the U.S., but Bush wanted to money to restore "Eden." As in The Bible. Adam and Eve. As in "folklore." What next? Searching for Alladin's Lamp? More...
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Cactus Flower
In front of the old Hidden Court last week, I noticed that this forgotten ugly ducking of a cactus had become a swan. More...
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Our Transit Duty
Someone spotted a poster on the train near Washington, DC. The poster says "Watch, Ride, and Report." Is this a joke? Is this guerilla political art? The comments on this post range from the factual to discussions of soviet era art. But I believe this link (pdf). Not only is this poster real, it won an award.
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New News Source
I hadn't heard of Sam Smith's Under News until recently when someone sent me this story about how a plan to rebuild New Orleans--for rich christians anyway. The site appears to be a very high quality news digest, and it includes a link to a NYT article reprinted in the Arizona Republic that reports on the same two paramedics who escaped from the cops of New Orleans.
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What If It Were Another Group?
It looks like the violent bigot "Sizzla" is going to sing at the Catalyst after all. I wonder what would be happening right now if a lesbian band sang songs about shooting men dead? More...
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Sat Sep 10, 2005
Jessie St Wetlands Events
At the other end of Barson is a precious little patch of earth we call the Jessie Street Marsh. Maybe some day it will have another name, but that's what we call it. It's a city park, and in the past it has been a dumping ground for garbage and dirt as many tidal wetlands areas are. My neighbors have been trying for years and years to pull together private and government funding to restore this precious area. In September, we're having a few events. More...
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Small Blue Marble
A friend sent this link to a movie taken by the Messenger probe, which is on its way to Mercury. The movie was made from photographs of earth as it left us. It is one of the saddest movies I've seen. I guess I'm not meant for space travel after all.
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Wed Sep 07, 2005
What To Do
I turn to the songs of Phil Och's often when I'm feeling powerless in the face of power-over. I am not a huge expert in his music, and I don't own much of it, but I have memorized "When I'm Gone" and find it an perfect poem prayer. More...
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Make Money Fast
Here's an idea for a product; feel free to use it. If you make money, just give me something that you think is fair: Everyone would buy "Fancy Mixed Nuts and WITHOUT BRAZIL NUTS."
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Tue Sep 06, 2005
A Tale from New Orleans: This Rings True
A Story from the Inside. via daily kos. More...
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Thieves Run Toward Money
Pat Robertson's charity is getting millions in federal aid post-Katrina. According to Sploid.com, a tabloid news site I'm not familiar with, anyway.
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Cholerae and More
via BoingBoing, a letter from Laurie Garrett (UCSC alumna) and disaster reporter. Point 2 of her letter: More...
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Sun Sep 04, 2005
Best New Orleans News Summary
Susie Bright's blog has the best summary of where to go to get the best news about New Orleans.
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The History Western San Francisco
While researching a previous post about the de Young Museum, I came across this site devoted to the history of the western part of San Francisco, Outsidelands.org. People who have never lived in San Francisco don't know that most people who do live in SF west of North Beach, the Haight, and the Castro. Because I didn't have much money or connections, that's where I lived too. (And the Mission was too dirty.) It's a really great site, with interesting stories about the "earthquake cabins," the windmills, Sutro Park, and "Doggie Diner."
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"English is Tough"
There is a poem that exists in various forms on the internet known as "English is Tough" that demonstrates how hard English is to learn when it is not your native language. I found the definitive source for it a few weeks ago. It is very difficult to read aloud, even if you ARE a native speaker. The actual name of the poem is "The Chaos." Here are the first few stanzas: More...
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Just a Coincidence
Four years ago, a week before I started my last "new job," four airliners were hijacked and three of them flew into U.S. icons, killing thousands of people. At the end of August, a week before I start my present new job, Katrina destroys the Gulf Coast. I'm not saying that these events are connected, but I should probably stay put for a while.
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Fri Sep 02, 2005
New Orleans Mayor on the Radio
I don't usually listen to commercial news, but this recording of Ray Nagin, Mayor of New Orleans is not to be missed. He is the leader that you want in times like this. If you can hear the feed, listen. By the end of his statement, both Nagin and the correspondent Garland Robinette of WWL are in tears.
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Thu Sep 01, 2005
Robert Moog
The inventor of the Moog synthesizer died last week. I must have missed it in the news. I think my first experiences of ecstacy--in the sense of "standing outside ones self" --was when I was about fourteen, at a babysitting job, where the parents encouraged me to listen to "Switched On Bach" after the kids were asleep. I couldn't get enough of that sound. This AP story contains something that makes Moog even more endearing: a painted car. More...
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Internet Weather Report (Hurricane Conditions)
This is a graphic of the Internet2 weather report showing the Abilene link between Houston and Atlanta down. The fiber goes through New Orleans. More...
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New Orleans Data Center Blog
A friend at work sent me the link to a blog being posted from a network engineer at an ISP in New Orleans. They still have power and an internet link. Unbelievable.
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Forest Dwellers and Dumpster Divers
There's a great story in this week's Good Times about eco-activists who live lightly (they say) in the forests of Santa Cruz, and a former forest dweller who still scavenges for food.
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Fossil Rabbits in the Pre-Cambrian
The Guardian published a great essay by Richard Dawkins and Jerry Coyne. It succeeds wonderfully as an essay exploring why Intelligent Design does not get to be "one of two sides" in a science classroom. It's also a great example of scientific opinion writing, something seldom done well outside of Scientific American.
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