Thursday, October 30, 2003Mayan Altar
An ancient Mayan altar was recently recovered from looters. I found this story interesting because I have been studying the Maya (and modern interpretations of their calendar) for the past year or so. They are a fascinating culture and much remains mysterious about them.
If you think about history as an exercise in studying the human experience (rather than the school version of memorizing names and dates) it can be intensely interesting. I find it also gives me perspective on the blessings in my own life.
Stolen Mayan altar recovered
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3228117.stm
The altar depicts Cancuen's greatest king, Taj Chan Ahk Ah Kalomte, playing handball with another king in a ritual formalisation of an alliance.
It was originally placed at one end of the royal ball court.
"The importance of the altar is scientific and archaeological, and it happens also to be a masterpiece of Mayan art," said archaeologist Arthur Demarest, who has worked with the local Maya for more than 20 years.
"It really talks about the end, the final days of this kingdom, and its greatest king, its last great king."
The inscriptions on the altar are still being analysed by another expert, Federico Fahsen, who said they bore witness to Taj Chan Ahk's aspirations to expand his authority at a time when most other Maya kingdoms were collapsing.
Historians say they hope that text on the altar will reveal much about the end of the Mayan civilisation.
posted @ 03:17 PM PDT Tuesday, October 28, 2003environmental protection?
Utah's governor (who has a despicable environmental record) has just been appointed head of the Environmental Protection Agency! This could have tragic results, but how many Americans will notice?
Three Cases Speak Volumes about New EPA Choice
http://www.earthjustice.org/news/display.html?ID=661
In the first case, Leavitt excluded the public when he struck a secret deal with the Bush administration to open six million acres of wild public lands in Utah to mining, clearcutting, and bulldozing. The state of Utah and the Bush administration agreed to resurrect a moribund lawsuit that already had been largely rejected by the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals and then promptly settled it. In the settlement, the federal government agreed to Governor Leavitts demand that the Bureau of Land Management remove interim wilderness protections for wild, unroaded federal lands, thus opening them to oil and gas development.
posted @ 09:45 PM PDT Monday, October 27, 2003salt of the Earth
I love salt. It brings out the flavor of other foods, and I get intense cravings for it, which I indulge! I believe that salt isn't bad for you, it's an essential element for good health.
I have a suspicion that the health problems that have been associated with salt have to do with overconsumption of iodine. Most salt is "iodized" which means that iodine has been added to it. This began as a method of combating goiter, an iodine deficiency disease.
Are there side effects to consuming an increased amount of iodine? To be safe I buy old fashioned sea salt instead. It has iodine in a more natural proportion.
Choose top quality sea salt, preferably from a company that still produces it the old-fashioned way. It contains many important trace minerals and if you appreciate salt like I do, it really does taste better!
posted @ 08:51 PM PDT Sunday, October 26, 2003peace = cooperation
A majority of Israelis and Palestians want to live their lives in peace, but extremists on both sides have fueled the fires of this ecsalatingly violent (and ancient) family feud.
A new Middle East Peace project called OneVoice is emerging. It has celebrity and corporate sponsors.
The OneVoice website is also available in Hebrew and Arabic.
OneVoice
http://www.silentnolonger.com
OneVoice is a global undertaking to: - Amplify the voice of moderates
- Empower Palestinians and Israelis at the grass-roots level to seize back the agenda away from violent extremists;
- Achieve broad-based consensus on core issues, configuring a roadmap for conflict resolutions
posted @ 10:30 PM PDT Saturday, October 25, 2003McDownfall?
McDonald's food has been a big contributor to America's escalating obesity epidemic, but are the kids still going to keep swallowing the McMystery meat into the future?
Hold The Fries
http://www.globeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20030221.wmcdonalds/BNStory/Front
That young people are fleeing may be the worst news of all. The company spends many millions to pitch its food to them, but kids today are "dissing McDonald's big-time," says Debbie Gordon, a former advertising executive who holds media-literacy workshops in Toronto schools. "It's become fashionable," she says, and the change in attitude is mostly "from a health perspective."
posted @ 02:38 PM PDT Thursday, October 23, 2003a new school subject
Media literacy teaches about how the media and advertising attempt to influence people, which is an essential survival skill for kids growing up in the 21st Century. I applaud teachers who are working it into their lesson plans!
Let's Get Critical: A Media Literacy Toolkit For Parents, Kids And Teachers
http://www.mediachannel.org/getinvolved/teachkids.shtml
We're distracted and deadened by home-video slapstick and nightly news splatter, video-game carnage and 15-minute celebrities. To help young people make sense of our ever more mediated world, parents and teachers need to teach kids the basic moves of media self-defense: the critical viewing, listening and reading skills that will enable them to crack the cultural codes and parry the coercive messages bombarding them.
This is the core mission of the growing worldwide movement known as "media literacy," which seeks to educate children to become more critical consumers of information. Best of all, as kids sharpen their critical skills, they learn that media literacy the X-Ray specs that enable critical thinkers to see that the clothes have no emperor is fun.
posted @ 09:47 PM PDT Wednesday, October 22, 2003imperial politics?
Here's a bit of information on a very powerful organization you may not be aware of:
Moveon.org Bulletin: Project for the New American Century (PNAC)
http://www.moveon.org/moveonbulletin/bulletin13.html
Many of us first heard about the Bush administration's plan to invade Iraq last August. However, a small group of political elites planned the takeover of Iraq years ago. With that goal achieved, now is the time to look at who these people are, how they created a war on Iraq, and most importantly their plans for the future.
posted @ 10:54 PM PDT Sunday, October 19, 2003is your milk on drugs?
Should consumers have the right to find out which brands of milk in the grocery store came from drugged up cows, or are Monsanto's profits more important?
Sour Grapes Over Milk Labeling
http://www.wired.com/news/medtech/0,1286,60132,00.html
Farmers who don't use rBST want to advertise that fact on their product labels. But Monsanto officials say labels like "No rBST" or "rBST-free" are misleading, unfair and deceptive. The company has recently sued one dairy for its labels.
Oakhurst Dairy in Maine labels its milk: "Our farmer's pledge: no artificial hormones." Monsanto's lawsuit says the label implies Oakhurst's milk is somehow better than milk from cows treated with rBST, and that unfairly harms Monsanto's business.
posted @ 05:57 PM PDT Saturday, October 18, 2003One Love
Many people point to obscure passages in the Bible to back up their fixed beliefs.
Here's something more essential that's worth taking a look at, no matter your religious identification:
LOVE ONE ANOTHER
John 13:34
A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, just like I have loved you; that you also love one another.
John 13:35
By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.
John 15:12
This is my commandment, that you love one another, even as I have loved you.
John 15:17
I command these things to you, that you may love one another.
Romans 13:8
Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law.
Galatians 5:13
For you, brothers, were called for freedom. Only dont use your freedom for gain to the flesh, but through love be servants to one another.
Ephesians 4:2
with all lowliness and humility, with patience, bearing with one another in love;
1 Thessalonians 3:12
and the Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another, and toward all men, even as we also do toward you,
1 Thessalonians 4:9
But concerning brotherly love, you have no need that one write to you. For you yourselves are taught by God to love one another,
2 Thessalonians 1:3
We are bound to always give thanks to God for you, brothers, even as it is appropriate, because your faith grows exceedingly, and the love of each and every one of you towards one another abounds;
Hebrews 10:24
Let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good works,
1 Peter 1:22
Seeing you have purified your souls in your obedience to the truth through the Spirit in sincere brotherly affection, love one another from the heart fervently:
1 Peter 5:14
Greet one another with a kiss of love. Peace be to you all who are in Christ Jesus. Amen.
1 John 3:11
For this is the message which you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another;
1 John 3:23
This is his commandment, that we should believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another, even as he commanded.
1 John 4:7
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God, and knows God.
1 John 4:11
Beloved, if God loved us in this way, we also ought to love one another.
1 John 4:12
No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God remains in us, and his love has been perfected in us.
2 John 1:5
Now I beg you, dear lady, not as though I wrote to you a new commandment, but that which we had from the beginning, that we love one another.
from:
http://www.christnotes.org/bible.asp?SearchBible=love+one+another&Version=WEB
posted @ 01:24 PM PDT Friday, October 17, 2003eek
I woke up next to a dead mouse in bed this morning, and as icky as that surprise was, I know it was a gesture of pure cat-perspective love.
People also don't always express their love quite the way we want them to, but it's good to learn to recognize when you're still being loved.
posted @ 09:46 PM PDT Thursday, October 16, 2003"marriage protection week"
Hallelujiah! It's now "Marriage Protection Week" in which homophobes all over America are encouraged to fight gay marriage.
My prediction is that in another 20 years, this sort of thing will be considered as old fashioned and backwards as separate drinking fountains.
Marriage Protection Week
http://www.marriageprotectionweek.com
The sacred institution of marriage is under attack. There are those who want to redefine marriage to include two men, or two women, or a group of any size or mix of sexes: One man and four women, one woman and two men, etc. If they fail to secure legal protection classifying these arrangements as 'marriage,' they want to include all these mixtures under the definition of 'civil union,' giving them identical standing with the marriage of one man and one woman.
Shut Up And Say "I Do"
Rage against those scary gays and invoke an angry God -- it's BushCo's "Marriage Protection Week"
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/gate/archive/2003/10/15/notes101503.DTL
Let's make this perfectly clear: Marriage does not need protection. Traditional marriage does not need any forcible recommitment by right-wing Christian zealots who try to force everyone into little shiny happy heterosexual SUV-sized boxes of sameness and sanctimony and bad rented tuxedos and engraved gravy boats.
In fact, much like the church and the concept of "family" and Jenna Bush, marriage needs to be busted wide open. Marriage needs to be allowed to move and progress and dance as the culture moves, as consciousness progresses, as times and mores change, recognizing along the way that what might have been some toxic nuclear-family ideal in 1953 holds nearly zero relevance today, and in fact only makes us more uptight and rigid and confused.
posted @ 09:05 PM PDT Wednesday, October 15, 2003need a vacation?
When my British friends (who were just out of University at the time) complained that they "only" got four weeks of "holiday" a year I was shocked. North Americans are expected to make do with far less.
Does this really add up to greater productivity or just greater stress?
Vacation Starvation
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=16611
"How do Americans do it?" asked the stunned Australian. He had zinc oxide and a twisted-up look of absolute bafflement on his face, as we spoke on a remote Fijian shore. I'd seen that expression before, on German, Swiss and British travelers. It was the kind of amazement that might greet someone who had survived six months at sea in a rowboat.
The feat he was referring to is how Americans manage to live with the stingiest vacations in the industrialized world: 8.1 days after a year on the job, 10.2 days after three years, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The Aussie, who took every minute of his five weeks off each year, four of them guaranteed by law, just couldn't fathom a ration of only one or two weeks of freedom a year. "I'd have to check myself into the loony bin," he declared.
posted @ 11:09 PM PDT Tuesday, October 14, 2003sunset spit
During the week, the Leslie Spit (aka Tommy Thompson Park) is off-limits to the public, as trucks pull in and out to dump construction waste for $30 a load. A place born of landfill may not sound like much of a park, but it's a refuge for wildlife and (on weekends & holidays) nature girls stuck living in a dense urban environment.
I love the Spit because it's full of contrasts. There are sections of ugly twisted wire and cement, beavers swimming in the inlets, a sailing club, bulldozers, huge colonies of birds, and beaches lined with bricks and stones worn smooth by time and water. It's a place of rebirth where beautiful wild plants grow from smashed up concrete.
This past Sunday, I raced my bicycle out to the end of the Spit in order to catch the sunset. There's a hill with a lighthouse on it there which I climbed just in time. The city looks like a futuristic utopia from that vantage point, and the orange glow reflected on the lake all the way out to the horizon.
posted @ 09:54 PM PDT Monday, October 13, 2003first person reports from Iraq
The embedded journalists have for the most part left Iraq, but reports are still coming out via the Internet. Find out what's happening from the perspective of those living the experience firsthand:
Guerilla News Network: From the Bunker
http://www.guerrillanews.com/bunker
news from a media activist group with reporters on the ground in Iraq.
A Minute Longer: A Soldier's Tale
http://www.rooba.net/will
An American soldier's Iraq diary.
Electronic Iraq: Iraq Diaries
http://electroniciraq.net/news/iraqdiaries.shtml
diaries from from an Arab-focused media group.
posted @ 09:12 PM PDT Sunday, October 12, 2003eat your vegetables
One of the cheapest and easiest ways of having fresh vegetables in the house is to grow your own sprouts.
Many health food stores sell sprouting seeds in small packages, but the best thing to do is buy them direct. I get mine from Mumm's, an organic seed company in Saskatchewan, Canada. A $40 order lasts me for 6-8 months, and I eat sprouts almost every day. They keep for a long time. There are other companies that sell sprouting seeds online as well.
The easiest method of sprouting is to simply soak the seeds in a jar for 6-8 hours. Cover the top of the jar with mesh or a piece of pantyhose material attached with a rubber band. Then simply drain the soaked seeds, rinse and drain again, then place the jar on a rack mesh side down and at an angle. Rinse the seeds daily (to keep them moist) and put them back on the rack until they grow into sprouts. It takes 3-5 days depending on the type of seed. It only takes a few seconds of my time each day.
I've had good luck with sprouting the following kinds of seeds: broccoli, alfalfa, clover, mustard, radish, canola, garlic chives, and fenugreek. Bean sprouts (the big white ones you get in many Chinese restaurants) are also good, but they need to be grown in the dark.
I don't like the alfalfa sprouts available in most grocery stores in plastic containers. If that's the only kind you've had, you haven't truly tasted their potential. Fresh sprouts are still alive and growing, and like vegetables just picked from the garden, they're vitally delicious.
posted @ 09:55 PM PDT Thursday, October 9, 2003Total Recall
So Arnold Schwarzenegger is going to be governor of California.
Here's an article about why this surreal event makes sense:
No, California Is Not Falling Into the Sea
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=16924
Forget what the talking heads tell you: California is not falling into the sea, people. And if this is a sign of the coming Apocalypse, it is only the latest of its type. Or have you forgotten the kind of folks we elect here on the left coast? Ronald Reagan, Jerry Brown, George Deukmejian, Pete Wilson, Gray Davis those are the governors that have run things here since I was born, and I'm not sure how Arnold could be much worse.
posted @ 08:59 PM PDT Wednesday, October 8, 2003word games
If you like word puzzles and have a good vocabulary, these are worth looking into:
http://www.m-w.com/game
posted @ 07:00 PM PDT Tuesday, October 7, 2003Dude, where's my country?
Michael Moore's new book, Dude, Where's my Country? comes out today!
His last book, Stupid White Men has been a bestseller for over a year. His last film, Bowling For Columbine, was the most successful documentary ever.
Though to me Moore's tactics are often reminiscent of a bull in a china shop (see his Oscar speech) he's been wildly successful and obviously knows what he's doing. The fact that there's such a strong appetite for his work gives me great hope for the future!
posted @ 03:06 PM PDT Monday, October 6, 2003is organic food worth the price?
Here's my first Q&A, please feel free to write in with your own questions!
Dawn from Baltimore writes...
There's a question Ive been searching for the answer to for some time now with no luck and wondered if you might be able to share some insight on the subject (as, despite a steady effort for an answer, Im at a complete loss.) What Im wondering is, when products are marketed as organic, animal friendly, or fair-trade, how can a consumer verify that these products are indeed organic, fair-trade, etc. and not just conventional products being sold at an inflated price? Any ideas on this subject would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance for your time and be well.
Most kindly,
Dawn
Part of the reason that organic (fair trade, animal friendly, etc.) food costs more is that the certification process costs money. There are other reasons (such as the fact that "normal" food is heavily subsidized by tax dollars) but the certification process requires organic farmers to pay a third party certification agency and spend a lot of time on paperwork. This adds to the cost of producing the food and bringing it to you.
Generally, foods labeled as organic have to be produced using no pesticides, herbicides, anti-fungals, ripening agents, or other chemicals used on "conventional" food. Genetically modified foods are often excluded as well.
There are many organizations out there that do the certifying, and it can be extremely confusing as standards vary. The United States government has created a "USDA Organic" standard, which many people consider not strict enough. Check the label to see which organization did the certifying. Ask your store's manager if it's not clear.
If organic food is too expensive for your budget, eating locally grown food in season and/or buying directly from farmers can make it more manageable.
I'm personally not perfect about eating organic, but I avoid the most contaminated types of "conventional" food and do the best I can, as it's not always convenient to eat right. The extra price is usually worth it to me (I avoid some ridiculously priced specialty items) and I also believe strongly in the environmental reasons for eating organic. It also tastes better to me and has improved my health enormously.
Hope that helps!
posted @ 09:21 PM PDT Saturday, October 4, 2003plant stories
This beautiful book is about four plants and the stories of their relationships with humankind: apples, tulips, potatoes, and marijuana. It's a thought-provoking and engaging read.
The Botany of Desire
We give ourselves altogether too much credit in our dealings with other species. Even the power over nature that domestication supposedly represents is overstated. It takes two to perform that particular dance, after all, and plenty of plants and animals have elected to sit it out. Try as they might, people have never been able to domesticate the oak tree, whose highly nutritious acorns remain far too bitter for humans to eat. Evidently the oak has such a satisfactory arrangement with the squirrel--which obligingly forgets where it has buried every fourth acorn or so (admittedly, the estimate is Beatrix Potter's)--that the tree has never needed to enter into any kind of formal arrangement with us.
The apple has been far more eager to do business with humans, and perhaps nowhere more so than in America. Like generations of other immigrants before and after, the apple has made itself at home here. In fact, the apple did such a convincing job of this that most of us wrongly assume the plant is a native. (Even Ralph Waldo Emerson, who knew a thing or two about natural history, called it "the American fruit.") Yet there is a sense--a biological, not just metaphorical sense--in which this is, or has become, true, for the apple transformed itself when it came to America. Bringing boatloads of seed onto the frontier, Johnny Appleseed had a lot to do with that process, but so did the apple itself. No mere passenger or dependent, the apple is the hero of its own story.
posted @ 02:31 PM PDT Friday, October 3, 2003similarities between Iraq & Vietnam
Here's an article written by a former U.S. Senator and Vietnam vet comparing the current Iraq crisis with the Vietnam war:
Welcome to Vietnam, Mr. President
http://www.tompaine.com/feature2.cfm/ID/9036
Instead of learning the lessons of Vietnam, where all of the above happened, the president, the vice president, the secretary of defense and the deputy secretary of defense have gotten this country into a disaster in the desert. They attacked a country that had not attacked us. They did so on intelligence that was faulty, misrepresented and highly questionable. A key piece of that intelligence was an outright lie that the White House put into the presidents State of the Union speech. These officials have overextended the American military, including the National Guard and the Reserve, and have expanded the U.S. Army to the breaking point.
posted @ 04:59 PM PDT Thursday, October 2, 2003reclaim the streets
Reclaim the Streets is an unorganized phenomenon that consists of people coming together to take over a public space by throwing a big party.
People go to these events for various reasons. Some think of it as a protest against consumerism, against cars, or against authority. Others simply see it as a celebration of community and humanity. I think it's fabulous that this is catching on so widely all over the world.
Sometimes it's great fun and other times the police just don't understand. I was at one of these events last Friday and it was an example of the latter. Here's an article about what happened:
Dancing in the Dark: We're in a Two-Step With Chief Buzzkill Fantino Over Who Wins the Heart of the City
http://www.nowtoronto.com/issues/2003-10-02/news_feature.php
"You're lucky we're letting you use public space this long," said one officer. I think it best to just let that one speak for itself, but I will say that he's lucky we keep coming back.
posted @ 08:49 PM PDT
home
|
|
|