ATTENTION all who previously requested to be unsubscribed: In revising my address book, in my inexperience with the medium I have unintentionally restored some names that had been previously deleted at your request. However, I have no way of tracking who previously requested being removed from list of recipients. I regret putting you to the trouble, but please tell me once again to unsubscribe. THANK YOU, and my apologies.
___________________
1. Pt Molate: City of Richmond considers extending Land Disposition Agreement
2. Two Nature in the City events: Green Hairstreak Corridor workday/Mt Sutro in bloom
3. Benefit walk for Nature in the City--through the urban jungle
4. Rachel Kesel leads wildflower/bird walk on Bernal Hill this Sunday
5. Northern Spotted Owl Hunting Grounds Restoration
6. Alameda Wildlife Refuge tern restoration workday this Sunday
6a. Claremont Canyon
7. Valero Energy wants to undo California's Global Warming Solutions Act, AB 32
8. A talk by Douglas Bevington: The Rebirth of Environmentalism: Grassroots Activism from the Spotted Owl to the Polar Bear
9. Save the dates
10. Ayurveda out of balance: 93% of medicinal plants threatened with extinction
11. Feedback: Seeking Meanings/birds change their tune
12. No other nation so swiftly wasted its birthright; no other, in time, made such an effort to save what was left
13. The campaign to stop junk mail is not complicated
14. Spring Plant Sales in Sonoma
15. Coast Alive! Teacher Institute/Sierra Nevada teacher workshop
16. Keep your butts off our beaches
17. San Francisco butterflies' demise was premature
18. Humor miscellany
19. Ripe: The Search for the Perfect Tomato
20. What do canine chromosomes reveal about humans?/The fly's revenge: killing endangered plants
21. Givers and Takers: Why Democrats have a steeper hill to climb
22. The OxfordDictionary of National Biography - our willing embrace of an everlasting present
23. Notes & Queries: If we could see nothing, what would it look like?
1. City of Richmond considers extending LDA
The Richmond City Council will be considering a third extension to the Land Disposition Agreement (LDA) that it currently has with Upstream LLC to develop an Indian Gaming Casino. The LDA, originated in 2004, was set tonaturally expire on January 15, 2010. It has already been extended twice with a current expiration date of April 20, 2010. In the six year life of the agreement and two extensions that have been provided, the developer has not been able to fulfill all the conditions required to transfer the land.
The city of Richmond simply cannot afford to continue with this project. $720,000 has already been spent on legal fees (of which the city is responsible for anything over $630,000). We ask all our friends to urge the city council not to vote for an extension. Please write your council members. We have included an email letter which you can download and send to council on our home page:www.cfspm.org. Please visit our site, read more about the council meeting on April 6th, send the email and come VOICE your feelings at the council meeting next Tuesday.
Coalition For a Sustainable Point Molate: www.cfspm.org
******************************
2. Two from Nature in the City
GREEN HAIRSTREAK BUTTERFLY CORRIDOR WORKDAY-SUNDAY, APR 11,10:00 AM to NOON-14th Ave at Pacheco. Visit -http://natureinthecity.org/gh.phpfor details.
____________________________
Sat April 10th, 10:00 AM - NOON-MT SUTRO IN BLOOM-If you have always looked at that mysterious Eucalyptus covered hillside and wanted to know more, Craig will give you the best tour of Mt Sutro you could ask for, revealing its history, hidden gems, trails, and wildflowers. We will meet at the Woods Lot, accessed via Johnstone Drive off of Clarendon Ave. Contact:iris@natureinthecity.org, 415-654-4107 $10-20 Donation requested to supportNature in the Cityprograms and projects.
*****************************
3. Benefit walk for Nature in the City
When: April 18, 1 - 4 pm
Title: Nature, the human habitat, and public policy: A Henry George Historical Society land use walking tour
Description: Nature's busting out all over! It shows in the cracked sidewalks where plants are pushing up, and in the desire by San Franciscans for semi-wild places for soulful recreation. Land use legislation tops the list for how humanity affects nature in busting out in urban quarters. Come along on a benefit walking tour for Nature in the City which explores the core property rights issues in determining public land use policy.
Land use economist and historian David Giesen will lead a very urban hike (through downtown highrises, not through parks) which plums the core social values that drive urban planning. Is land itself, including land under cities, human habitat? How does speculation in land affect land policy and urban growth patterns?
This benefit walk for Nature in the Cityis based on Giesen's long running (12 years) trek through many of the social movements, all land-centered, which have arisen in or moved to San Francisco over the past 200 years. Participants will take away a hefty understanding of urban sprawl, public transportation funding, and public influence in land use policy.
To sign up: For tickets (limited to 20), emailellie@natureinthecity.orgor call (415) 564-4107. 100% of the money received for this walk goes to NTC!
************************************
4. Rachel Kesel is doing a wildflower walk this Sunday at 11AM on Bernal Hill.
Spring is fading fast in San Francisco's grasslands, so don't miss this chance to catch some color before our hills revert to drought brown. Expect to see suncup, blue eyed grass, blue dicks, checkerboom, tom cat clover, lupine and more. I've also become a bird nerd as of late, so we'll be scanning for raptors and sparrows along the way. Binoculars encouraged.
Kids are welcome and I'll try to make part of the walk stroller accessible. Dogs on leash warmly welcomed.
This walk is in collaboration with Succulence, a new plant shop on Cortland Ave. You can hit them up after for snacks and fluid at 402 Cortland.
*********************************
5.
Northern Spotted Owl Hunting Grounds Restoration
A 2010 Golden Gate National Parks Endangered Species Big Year Trip
Sunday, April 11, 2010 -9:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m.
Join Kevin Phuong to remove invasive plants crowding out Northern Spotted Owl hunting grounds and help promote the endangered birds population at Muir Woods. Meet at Muir Woods National Monument main parking lot, Muir Woods National Monument, Mill Valley, CA, 94941. Rain or Shine. Limit of 20 participants only. Must RSVP: Call 415-561-3044. Part of the GGNP Endangered Species Big Year, a race against time to see and save the Parks endangered species. Seehttp://wildequity.orgfor more information.
*********************************
6.
Hello Alameda Wildlife Refuge supporters and friends,
Here is your final chance of the season to volunteer at the Alameda Wildlife Refuge!
Date and Time:Sunday, April 11, 9am to noon.
Group leaders:Friends of the Alameda Wildlife, Leora Feeney
Activity:You will take part in a very important step of replacing the tern shelters back into their grid pattern. All of this has to be done before the terns all return to the site for the summer.
Age Limit:Participants must be over the age of 15
Details:Please dress in layers, as this area is right on the bay and quite windy. Also, dress in clothes you don't mind getting dirty in, including sturdy work shoes/boots. If you have gloves, feel free to bring them, otherwise, the group will have some for your use.
General Directions: Meet at the main refuge gate at the northwest corner of the former Naval Air Station in Alameda. Using Google Maps, find your way to2501 Monarch St.in Alameda, then drive toward the gates to the left of the Creative Technologies building. The far gate will be open, where a volunteer will have you sign-in.
Don't forget to keep your eye out forReturn of the Terns- the only chance the public gets to see these beautiful creatures in their private refuge. This year, it will be on June 19th, registration will go through the East Bay Regional Park District.
______________
6-A Late arrival - addition
This Saturday, April 10, 2010, the Conservancy will join U C's Tom Klatt for the final Headslope Session of the 2009-2010 season.
Since it looks as if we have really gotten the problem of eucalyptus sprouts under control in the logged areas of U C's headslope property, we will turn our attention to removing French broom sprouts in Phase 6 and nearby. The ground is still wet and the sprouts come out easily. Tom will define a space where we can actually clear the area of broom. The issue there will be maintenance in the future.
So, we invite our interested members, friends, and volunteers to meet at Four Corners at 9:30 AM this Saturday. Bring protective clothing, good shoes, gloves, a cutting tool or two, and maybe a couple of plastic bags to haul out the inevitable trash that we will find along the way.
Since this will be the final Headslope Session of the second season, it would be great to meet briefly at the end to assess the results of our work over the past two years and look forward to the fall when Headslope work will begin again.
When: Saturday, April 10, 2010 9:30 a.m.to noon
Where: Meet at Four Corners
********************************
7. From Kathryn Mazaika:
In 2006, California passed The Global Warming Solutions Act (AB 32), making our state number one in the world in legislating real reductions in the greenhouse gases that cause global warming.
Now Valero Energy -- a Texas-based oil company -- has already spent half a million dollars to fund a deceptive initiative that would destroy AB 32, California's landmark clean energy and air pollution law. Boycott Valero gas and send a message to Valero CEO Bill Klesse.
http://act.credoaction.com/campaign/valero_boycott_ceo/?r_by=8524-771446-dwQuS7x&rc=confemail1
Now Valero Energy -- a Texas-based oil company -- has already spent half a million dollars to fund a deceptive initiative that would destroy AB 32, California's landmark clean energy and air pollution law. Boycott Valero gas and send a message to Valero CEO Bill Klesse.
http://act.credoaction.com/campaign/valero_boycott_ceo/?r_by=8524-771446-dwQuS7x&rc=confemail1
*********************************
8. Join the Center for Biological Diversity for a talk by environmental author Douglas Bevington on his new book,The Rebirth of Environmentalism: Grassroots Activism from the Spotted Owl to the Polar Bear.
Over the past two decades, a select group of small but highly effective grassroots organizations has achieved remarkable success in protecting endangered species and habitats in the United States. InThe Rebirth of Environmentalism, author Douglas Bevington tells for the first time the story of these grassroots biodiversity groups and highlights the Center as a key example.
Dr. Bevington will discuss the evolution of the Center from its humble origins to its current leadership role in addressing the climate crisis, as well as the lessons the Center's history offers to the environmental movement as a whole.
When:Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Pre-talk reception with light refreshments at 5:30 p.m.; talk begins at 6 p.m.
Where:Center for Biological Diversity, 351 California St., Suite 600, San Francisco (three short blocks from the Montgomery Street BART Station; cross street is Sansome)
Please RSVP to Shaye Wolf atswolf@biologicaldiversity.orgor call (415) 632-5301. Space is limited.Click here to learn more about Dr. Bevington's book.
******************************
9. Save the dates:
1. The Yerba Buena Chapter of the California Native Plant Societys6th annual Native Plant Garden Tour isSunday April 25 from 11am to 3pm.
2. San Francisco Butterfly Count June 7(see item 17 below)
3. California Invasive Plant Council 2010 Symposium
October 14-16 (field course October 13)
Ventura, CA --"Weeds and Wildlife: Impacts and Interactions"
Ventura, CA --"Weeds and Wildlife: Impacts and Interactions"
***************************
10. Scientific American:
EXTINCTION COUNTDOWN: Ayurveda out of balance: 93 percent of medicinal plants threatened with extinction
This traditional Indian medicine faces a potential loss of many of its main plant species
We have got things all turned around. We try to manage the whole planet when our own backyard is a mess.." fromEcology of Eden, by Evan Eisenberg
**********************************
11. Feedback
Lewis Buchner:
Jake,I just loved the piece referencing"Seeking Meanings" by Douglas H. Chadwick, inEndangered Species, Vol. 3 #3, Summer 1993.I have a few treasured clips aboutmycorrhizae - they are kind of the "neural network" of the forest.Yes, the soil of the forest is "thinking" ......
How can I get his article? Can you put me in touch with him?
I'm so pleased that I got feedback from someone on this article, as it has long been a favorite story of mine. I posted it to my newsletter several years ago.
Jake,I would love to get a hard copy of the Defenders of Wildlife article as it is no longer available online.The excerpt you posted is so dense that I had to walk around my living room about 20 times acting out the inter-relations:Rust fungus makes dense branching makes needles feeds rust fungus makes squirrel cache for other mushrooms which are fruits of mychorrozae (sp?) of the underground fungus strand network which allows white fir to grow in poor soil since the strands extract nutrients which the root hairs of the trees cannot extract and some sharing goes on which enables the fir trees which provide the shelter for the squirrels which distribute the fruits of the fungus etc etc.
I love the almost? intelligence of it all and the similarity to other neural networks, brain, computer, internet, strands of stars??
I am enclosing one of my favorite tidbits - of a similar vein.
Keep up the good work,Lewis
The article I sent was comparatively simple and understandable. You retaliated with one that sprained my brain. Recovery may take a long time, if ever. Oy.
Take 2 aspirin - willow bark I think?Rest with your root hairs in the ground.All will be well.
Rachel Kesel:
Hey Jake,First, I thought you might enjoy this article if you haven't already ready it. I've become really interested in birds lately, but I don't know anything about them. When I was in London I would hear birds when I rode my bike home late at night. Apparently they sing at night because they can't hear each other during the day. This article is about SF white crowned sparrows losing the lower notes of their dialects because of urban noise.
(Rachel: I assume you remember the wonderful work done on white-crown sparrow dialects by the late (!!) Luis Baptista of the California Academy of Sciences. The fragmented populations of white-crowns in San Francisco each developed variations in their songs after the fragmentation.)
*****************************
12. No other nation on earth so swiftly wasted its birthright; no other, in time, made such an effort to save what was left.We need to remind ourselves constantly that the land resource itself is what must be saved; that like liberty, democracy, all the freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution, like everything we truly value to the point where we might die for it, the heritage of our public lands is not a fact but a responsibility, and obligation, a task.A pleasure. Wallace Stegner,Our Common Domain
***************************
13. The campaign to stop junk mail is not complicated. Companies send unwanted solicitations in the mail--trashing our forests, wasting our time, invading our privacy, and ignoring the majority of Americans' demands to opt out of junk mail. We want them to stop.
It's time for the worst junk mail offenders to respect our values, and our choice. The companies sending this junk aren't anonymous. We all know exactly who they are.
It's time for the worst junk mail offenders to respect our values, and our choice. The companies sending this junk aren't anonymous. We all know exactly who they are.
Will you stand up to some of the worst junk mailers such as American Express, Bank of America, Capital One, Geico, Discover, and Chase? Take action now.
*******************************
14.
Occidental Arts & Ecology Center
Spring Plant Sales -April 10 & 11, May 1 & 2
Tours of the gardens each day
More information: www.oaec.org/plant-sales
*****************************
15.
Coast Alive! Teacher Institute
Learn all about the geology and ecology of the San Francisco Bay region through this six-day course. Well begin at Tilden Park and then take you to various East Bay Regional and California State Parks where you will participate in local field investigations and engaging activities including seine netting which integrate science, math, and Language Arts standards for upper elementary and middle school teachers. Participating teachers will receive a handful of helpful tools including the Coast Alive! Teacher Guide. There will also be an Encore day on February 26, 2011 where you can share about your experience and receive help integrating institute materials into your curriculum. This institute is a great opportunity because not only will you get all the tools you need to enhance your curriculum, but youll also receive $500 stipend just for completing the course!
Coast Alive! Teacher Institute: Land-Sea Interface
July 11-16, 2010
$65 for Alameda and Contra Costa county residents
$71 for non-residents
CSU Graduate Academic Credit and Student Transportation Grants are also available.
Register: here
July 11-16, 2010
$65 for Alameda and Contra Costa county residents
$71 for non-residents
CSU Graduate Academic Credit and Student Transportation Grants are also available.
Register: here
Sierra Nevada Teacher Workshop: Field Journaling
If you live outside of the San Francisco Bay Area and/or cannot be a part of our Coast Alive! Institute, why not be a part of a professional development course in the Sierra Nevada? There you will learn the difference between drawing a pretty picture and creating a scientific sketch. With the help of our excellent staff, including John Muir (Jack) Laws,.
you will explore the Yosemite landscape and learn journaling techniques that you can then take back to your students. Curriculum will be matched to California Standards in science, as well as strong connections to Language Arts. Geared for fourth through eighth grade teachers, this workshop will help you create your own curriculum that fosters a love of observing the natural world through scientific inquiry.
Sierra Nevada Teacher Workshop: Field Journaling
July 23-25, 2010
$75 includes room and board at the Jack L. Boyd Outdoor School
CSU Graduate Academic credit is also available.
Register: here
July 23-25, 2010
$75 includes room and board at the Jack L. Boyd Outdoor School
CSU Graduate Academic credit is also available.
Register: here
***********************************
16. From Environment California
They're gross, they're annoying, they can harm or kill animals, and they even contribute to the Pacific Garbage Patch.
I'm talking about cigarette butts, the most common form of beach litter. How common? On one day in 2009, volunteers pulled 340,221 cigarette butts off California beaches. [1]
That's why we're joining the call to ban smoking on state beaches. The ban has already passed through the Assembly, but the governor needs to decide whether or not to sign this ban -- so far he's kept mum.
Cigarette butts are designed to take a host of poisonous chemicals out of the cigarette smoke. But these chemicals accumulate in the filter, and when that filter is floating in the ocean those toxic chemicals leach out and harm animals. An San Diego State University study found that "just one filtered cigarette butt had the ability to kill half the fish living in a 1-liter container of water." [2]
Many smokers incorrectly believe that cigarette filters are made of biodegradable cotton. In fact, cigarette filters are made with cellulose-acetate, a type of plastic that never fully decomposes.
I'm talking about cigarette butts, the most common form of beach litter. How common? On one day in 2009, volunteers pulled 340,221 cigarette butts off California beaches. [1]
That's why we're joining the call to ban smoking on state beaches. The ban has already passed through the Assembly, but the governor needs to decide whether or not to sign this ban -- so far he's kept mum.
Cigarette butts are designed to take a host of poisonous chemicals out of the cigarette smoke. But these chemicals accumulate in the filter, and when that filter is floating in the ocean those toxic chemicals leach out and harm animals. An San Diego State University study found that "just one filtered cigarette butt had the ability to kill half the fish living in a 1-liter container of water." [2]
Many smokers incorrectly believe that cigarette filters are made of biodegradable cotton. In fact, cigarette filters are made with cellulose-acetate, a type of plastic that never fully decomposes.
**********************************
17.
News from the community and the natural world, by Aleta George
Excerpt fromBay NatureApril-June 2010
In 1910, Francis X. Williams predicted...that San Francisco's bugs and butterflies were "destined to become a thing of the past," victims of recent development covering the city's western sand dunes; the small market farms replacing the verdant valley of Laguna de la Merced; the frequent fires consuming Lone Mountain; and the exotic Monterey cypress and pine, acacia and eucalyptus trees crowding out native vegetation. He could find only 30 butterfly species in 1910, he said, whereas 43 species once inhabited San Francisco. "Before a decade has passed away, there will be little left of the insect fauna of our city," he concluded.
"All in all, his prediction of butterfly loss was incorrect," says Matt Zlatunich, a butterfly enthusiast who's also a San Francisco firefighter. What Williams hadn't counted on in 1910, says Zlatunich, were private gardens and the lands eventually preserved and even restored in various parts of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, the Presidio, and sections of city parks managed by the Natural Areas Program...He joined fellow amateur lepidopterist Liam O'Brien on a three-year butterfly survey at the Presidio, where they counted 31 species. O'Brien, who has also surveyed a dozen other spots in the city, is up to 35 species citywide....His count isn't too far from Williams's historical number, though the species are different. Some species once considered common are now rare, and at least one, the Xerces blue, has gone extinct.
In addition to his ongoing surveys, O'Brien leads the annual San Francisco Butterfly Count in conjunction with the North American Butterfly Association. All butterfly enthusiasts can join this year's count. Just show up at San Francisco's Randall Museum on Monday, June 7.
*******************
18. Humor miscellany
It's the law in Memphis: A woman can't drive without being accompanied by her husband. The man must go ahead of the car waving a red flag.
(Heard on Says You)
Al Franken:
If I make any mistakes in what I say, I got them from British intelligence
If Bush were president in 1942, the internment of Japanese-American citizens would beknown as the Japanese Family Leave Act
Orange Alert is the highest alert to be declared when its still OK to go to the shoppingmall
The French adored Bill Clinton because he had every American virtue and every French vice.
Starting in 1950s, scientists have debated notion that beer, not bread, was actually the impetus for the development of agriculture. Beer is nearly as old as civilization itself. (But OF COURSE--how else could civilization begin? JS) fromScience News2 Oct 04
The best authority on calendar-making and the writing of chronologies is Alice in Wonderland. The issue before the court was, Who stole the tarts? The Hatter addressed the jury.
Fourteenth of March, I think it was, he said.
Fifteenth, said March Hare.
Sixteenth, said the Dormouse.
Write that down, the King said to the jury; and the jury eagerly wrote down all the three dates on their slates, and then added them up, and reduced the answer to shillings and pence.
They seem to have been debating the correct date of Easter. (Time the Familiar Stranger by J.T. Fraser)
Haiku (from a soy milk carton)
Soy cows do not moo
They are udderly silent
Unless they stampede
*************************************
19. (Garrison Keillor: "Tomatoes they stripmine down in Texas.")
The book whose author Marketplace host Kai Ryssdal is interviewing actually doesn't sound very interesting, but I never lose an opportunity to vent my anger at industrial agriculture and what it has done to some of our foods. Of all the fruits and vegetables, none has been more grievously wounded--almost destroyed--than the tomato.
"...a ton of tomatoes in 20 seconds...a ton of tomatoes in 20 seconds...a ton...." That IS what it says, isn't it?
The story behind tomatoes in the U.S.
Allen:Close to two-thirds of all the tomatoes that are grown commercially in the United States are harvested with machines. They have thick skins, they ripen all at once, and you can watch these harvesters pick them. They pick about a ton of tomatoes in about 20 seconds. They go on to these big gondolas, and they get shipped right to a cannery and turned into a paste within a couple of hours. So they're actually made into paste, they're very fresh right from the field. And then they can be stored in these bins, which keep out contaminants for two years.
Ryssdal: ...you know what my first thought is? It needs a little salt. It needs something on it. It's rare to find a tomato that you can just eat and have it be in and of itself a thing you want to eat more of.
ALLEN:Absolutely. And I mean that's the point of all these people who have done all these things to convert tomatoes into something that's bred more for production than for flavor. In the end, the basic tomato flavor is what you need. The rest of it is going to come from salt and pepper, and your oregano, and the mozzarella cheese you serve it with. And I think there's a lot to that. I mean, in my book, a tomato needs friends.
Ryssdal:Arthur Allen. His book is called "Ripe: The Search for the Perfect Tomato."
(Search for the perfect tomato? Perhaps they've already found it: Dry-farmed Early Girl, available at most farmers' markets in season. Close, anyway. JS)
ALLEN:Absolutely. And I mean that's the point of all these people who have done all these things to convert tomatoes into something that's bred more for production than for flavor. In the end, the basic tomato flavor is what you need. The rest of it is going to come from salt and pepper, and your oregano, and the mozzarella cheese you serve it with. And I think there's a lot to that. I mean, in my book, a tomato needs friends.
Ryssdal:Arthur Allen. His book is called "Ripe: The Search for the Perfect Tomato."
(Search for the perfect tomato? Perhaps they've already found it: Dry-farmed Early Girl, available at most farmers' markets in season. Close, anyway. JS)
*************************
20. Scientific American
NEWS: A Tale of 2 Species: What Do Canine Chromosomes Reveal about Humans?
They say dogs look like their owners. Now scientists are uncovering the genes that give dogs--and humans--their traits
EXTINCTION COUNTDOWN: The fly's revenge
Are cadmium-contaminated insects killing endangered meat-eating plants?
*****************************
21. Excerpts from: "Givers and Takers", by Daniel H. Pink, TheNew York TimesOP-ED, Friday, January 30, 2004.
Each of the Democratic candidates vying to replace George W. Bush has a serious electability problem. The problem has nothing to do with their biographies or temperaments -- and everything to do with a significant, but unnoticed, structural divide in American presidential politics. Each year, the Tax Foundation, a nonprofit research group, crunches numbers from the Census Bureau to produce an intriguing figure: how much each state receives in federal spending for every dollar it pays in federal taxes. . . Using the Tax Foundation's analysis, it's possible to group the 50 states into two categories: Givers and Takers. Giver states get back less than a dollar in spending for every dollar they contribute to federal coffers. Taker states pocket more than a dollar for every tax dollar they send to Washington. Thirty-three states are Takers; 16 are Givers . . . The Democrats' electability predicament comes into focus when you compare the map of Giver and Taker states with the well-worn electoral map of red (Republican) and blue (Democrat) states. You might expect that in the 2000 presidential election, Republicans, the party of low taxes and limited government, would have carried the Giver states -- while Democrats, the party of wild spending and wooly bureaucracy, would have appealed to the Taker states. But it was the reverse. George W. Bush was the candidate of the Taker states. Al Gore was the candidate of the Giver states. Consider: 78 percent of Mr. Bush's electoral votes came from Taker states. 76 percent of Mr. Gore's electoral votes came from Giver states. Of the 33 Taker states, Mr. Bush carried 25. Of the 16 Giver states, Mr. Gore carried 12. . . . Republicans seem to have become the new welfare party -- their constituents live off tax dollars paid by people who vote Democratic. Of course, not all federal spending is wasteful. But Republicans are having their pork and eating it too . . . Meanwhile, Democratic voters in the coastal blue states -- the ones who are often portrayed as shiftless moochers -- are left to carry the load. For President Bush, this invisible income redistribution system is a boon. He can encourage his supporters to see themselves as Givers, yet reward them with federal spending in excess of their contribution -- and send the bill to those who voted for his opponent. It's shrewd politics. And it puts the eventual Democratic presidential nominee in a bind, should he try to rally those who believe they aren't getting a fair shake from Washington. If the Democratic candidate won all 16 Giver states plus the District of Columbia in November, he'd collect only 254 electoral votes, short of the majority needed to capture the White House. The electoral votes of all the Taker states, by contrast, add up to 273 -- two more than Mr. Bush won in 2000 . . .
__________________
"A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul" George Bernard Shaw
The mind of a bigot is like the pupil of the eye. The more light you shine on it, the more it will contract.- Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.
************************
22.
The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
Oxford University Press 60 volumes 7500 English pounds
One of the great institutions of British life - a National Trust of human quiddity - the Dictionary of National Biography (DNB) was founded in 1882. It was originally projected, by publisher George Smith, as a dictionary of world biography. Later, Smith agreed to narrow his vision and focus on the lives of the men and women who have been important in British life. From the outset the DNB's scope was catholic: not only politicians, kings and queens, writers, lawyers, philosophers, scientists and diplomats, but adventurers, gardeners and assassins. Quite a few assassins, actually.
One of the many dangers of our time - it is part of the current disorder in Iraq - is our willing embrace of an everlasting present. [As was remarked]... in the House of Lords debate on the DNB: "We live in an unhistorical age. I do not mean that history is not read, but I do not think that we any longer think historically in the way that we used to."
The great gift of the new DNB - without doubt the publishing event of the year - is that it reminds one forcibly that the human condition in all its shapes, from the tragic to the comic, with infinite degrees of variation, existed in bygone times. Having no alternative, the sun, as Samuel Beckett (1906-89) opens his novel Murphy, must shine each day on "the nothing new"; but we humans need shades by which properly we may see and understand history as it streams past us. Those shades are sometimes nothing less than the ghosts of dead men and women, as collected here. Long live their lives.
www.oxforddnb.com
Excerpted from book review in Guardian Weekly 8-14 October 2004
****************************
23. Notes & Queries, Guardian Weekly
When nothing turns out to be really something
If we could see nothing, what would it look like?
This is a complex question. There are people, known as agnostics (ie "not knowing") who have had brain damage to the visual cortex, such that they retain perfect vision, but are quite unable to recognise anything that the eyes present to them. You could say that they see no things at all; the visual field, though vivid in detail, presents an unreadable chaos to them.
The great German psychologist, Hermann von Helmholtz, suggested this experiment that should answer your question: when out in an open landscape, turn round, bend down and look between your knees at that landscape. You will discover that, with that upside-down view, you are to some degree like the agnostic, for you will be unable to identify confidently some of the things you are looking at, and you will also misjudge their distance from you.
Even for normal persons, there is much within their field of vision, and, even within the boundaries of recognised things right in front of their eyes, that escapes identification. We don't see everything that is to be seen; otherwise detectives would be out of a job, nor would anyone else be able to point out to you something you have missed seeing.
Edmond Wright, Cambridge, UK
No comments:
Post a Comment