kicking the bottle

San Francisco city departments are officially off bottled water. Three cheers! Over a billion water bottles end up in California's landfills each year. Bottles of stuff that falls from the sky and costs more per gallon than gasoline. Oh, human folly...

I was skeptical I'd see the day global warming would be all over the media. Now the even less likely is happening -- sci-fi-like proposals to counteract its effects.

Anyone for cycling in California wine country? A Cali version of bar-hopping on bikes...

A mother searches Tijuana for her mentally disabled son, who has been deported despite the fact that he is an American citizen. The picture of pathos.

Are we millions and millions of exuberant monkeys?

worldwide spam decrease?

It's hard to imagine that the arrest of one spammer could decrease spam worldwide, but apparently the arrest of 27-year-old Robert Soloway may have just that effect. The man has made a lot of money via "zombie" computers of unwitting users--enough that "even with four bank accounts seized by the government, he was sufficiently well off to pay for his own lawyer."

The only difference I've noticed recently is that an increased number of phishing attacks have been making it through Gmail's spam filter to my inbox.

architectural social commentary

Dutch architects Willem Jan Neutelings and Michiel Riedijk manage social critique through their Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision while simultaneously preserving what they criticize in ghostly images. But they also subject those who visit and, more importantly, those who work in the building daily to what sounds like a rather harsh interpretation they've placed on media. The building, compared by this journalist to the Beinecke Library at Yale, looks gorgeous, but how will the inhabitants feel about it in ten years? Have the architects managed to balance usability with a flexible social critique?

People buy modern-day ecological indulgences to compensate for driving SUVs while Cindy Sheehan quits the war movement saying that her son "did indeed die for nothing" in a society that cares more about who the next American Idol is than how many troops will die in Iraq in the next month.

And here I am soon to leave the country again...

Remember when Michael Moore shared with us in Stupid White Men that he feels nervous being flown by commercial pilots who make less than the kid at Taco Bell? I don't feel any safer that so many underpaid and undertrained security guards protect our likeliest terrorist targets. How about quality rather than quantity in paranoia? How much training and pay do our favorite friendly folk at the TSA receive, I wonder?

If only people would band together to raise money for causes more worthy than buying $26,000 worth of peanuts in order to get to veg out in front of another season of Jericho.

It still upsets me greatly to think that many of the Americans dying in Iraq are my age or younger. I suppose this isn't the most reasonable or urgent thing to be perturbed by, but it hits close to home.

The man who started the camera phone revolution was really just an engineering nerd whose wife was going into labor.

Some moving stories about Asian American pioneers. Normally I wouldn't resolve to watch a movie because I never watch even the movies I intend to see, but doctor-turned-survivor-turned-Academy-Award-winning actor Haing S. Ngor's comment before his murder, "If I die from now on, OK! This film [The Killing Fields] will go on for a hundred years," makes it just memorable enough to put this film on my list.

the murse

My brand familiarity clearly ranks me amongst the wealthiest in America with an annual income of over $300,000... because unlike all these luxury-man-purse-buying men, I'm familiar with Gucci, Louis Vuitton, and Prada, but I actually had no idea what Coach was until this year. Go figure.

By the way, if anyone ever gets me one of these things, I'll return it. Way to waste your money spending it on the thing you're carrying your money in and that folks will snatch when they realize you have a fortune dangling off you.

I'm still amused at the skinny young Asian woman I saw getting off the bus around Park Avenue one afternoon whose slick pink trenchcoat and giant handbag blared the most expensive brands on the planet. "That girl's rich," the requisite gregarious Commentator at the front of the bus informed the driver after we took off again.

The article asserts that "the luxury handbag is the accessory that defines the wealthy woman." I wonder how that bright green handbag with flowers and grass hanging off it in the Milano subway defined its middle-aged owner, then. I'm sure it was more expensive than any of the handbags I passed by in LV.

</end rant>

Save the Sagrada Familia!

A high-speed tunnel connecting Barcelona and Madrid? Great. Running it 5 feet from the Sagrada Familia despite the protests of everyone from Gaudi's successor on the project to MIT professors? Royally bad idea.

Will Earthly bacteria take over the universe? Or at least some poor unwitting Martian's solar system?

D.C.'s first female police chief dropped out of school and had a baby at 15, yet has come farther than most women in the country. We need more role models like this. Wow.

Also, this is why the death penalty is not only barbaric, but also a waste of precious taxpayer dollars.

We Americans are so bad at trying to look good that it's almost funny. As reported by the BBC:

"We made official apologies on the part of the US government and payments of about $2,000 for each death," [US army spokesman Col John Nicholson] said, after US officials visited some of the families left bereaved by the incident.

US forces were accused of killing the civilians during shooting near the city of Jalalabad.... At least eight Afghan civilians had been killed, with a further 35 injured. Reports said that as they left the scene along a busy highway, the Americans fired indiscriminately on civilians and their vehicles.

Journalists said at the time that US troops confiscated their photos and video footage of the aftermath of the violence.

$2,000? Is this some kind of joke? Oh, wait. They're Afghans. That means their lives couldn't possibly be worth more... than a 15-inch MacBook Pro.

not funny.

really just not funny.

So this is what happens to recycled rechargeable batteries!

And this is the heartwarming story of what happens to unused paint!

And... this is what happens when a tanker catches fire and destroys some Bay Area highways.

when did comfort = exploitation?

I know there are even more hideous stories around the world, but somehow the thought of 50,000 to 200,000 "comfort women" (what an outrageous euphemism) enslaved by Japan's military in the Philippines, South Korea, and Taiwan during and after WWII, and the explosive popularity of their services amongst American troops during the occupation is the most abhorrent thing I have read in a while. Those women could hardly have fought for themselves, considering the culture they came from and the obligations they must have felt to their impoverished families. Even recently, not a single Japanese woman felt justified or unembarrassed enough to step forward and claim an official apology and compensation from the Asian Women's Fund, which was just closed. But just take a look at the attempts male authorities made at justification: "Sadly, we police had to set up sexual comfort stations for the occupation troops," recounts the official history of the Ibaraki Prefectural Police Department, whose jurisdiction is just northeast of Tokyo. "The strategy was, through the special work of experienced women, to create a breakwater to protect regular women and girls."

British town of 1,500 bans plastic bags

Breaking news: Over 70% of people who read newspaper articles online about towns banning plastic bags would support a ban on plastic bags in their own towns. Wowsers!

Great way for a tiny town to get its name on the international news, now that I think about it.

Is it any surprise that a Dutchman built a new Noah's Ark? Perhaps it is a surprise, however, that a creationist should inadvertently draw more international attention to global warming.

Lois Poppema, visiting from California, said she thought the Netherlands was exactly the right place for an ark.

"Just a few weeks ago we saw Al Gore on television ... saying that all Holland will be flooded" by rising sea levels, she said.

"I don't think the man who made this ever expected that global warming will become (such an important) issue -- and suddenly having the ark would be meaningful in the middle of Holland."
...
[Dutch creationist Johan] Huibers said he hopes the project will renew interest in Christianity in the Netherlands, where churchgoing has fallen dramatically in the past 50 years. He also plans to visit major cities in Belgium and Germany.

Doesn't this sound like an article out of an old DOS version of Sim City?

"WASHINGTON (AP) -- Families victimized by tainted spinach and peanut butter put a human face Tuesday on a recent string of high-profile outbreaks of foodborne illness..."

A better headline, and unexpected: House passes legislation to increase math and science teachers. For real?! I didn't know our legislators were educated enough to realize that this might be important. Perhaps my opinion was recently lowered when somebody told me recently that only about a third of legislators actually possess American passports. *shudder*

I also want to express my excitement about the ambitious and highly worthwhile local startup campaign Critical Brisk Stroll. The cry for help: "I am looking for volunteers to help me organize this event. I propose that we schedule and promote a brisk stroll from the Village Gate to a bar in the South Wedge, occuring at some point within the next month, starting at precisely 7 PM."

Although if pressed, I am likely to admit that I would gladly run any pedestrians off the pavement if I felt the need to cycle on the sidewalk.

the dark side of the tech boom

China continues to crush free speech and as Internet users we're all complicit.

In other news, traveling gourmet dinner parties of strangers in the Bay Area. Something to add to the list of "things I want to visit before I die" list that I started on Tuesday's extra studio class. That list began with "One of the regional 'P.O. Boxes' to which IRS tax forms are sent each April." I envision several warehouses exploding with envelopes arriving by the truckful on the due date rather than your normal cubbyhole-in-the-wall. I don't understand why I never thought to start such a list before. Perhaps even before I learned the news of Virginia Tech, covered surprisingly thoroughly on Wikipedia as John brought to my attention, I had mortality on the mind.

rabbit liberation or massacre?

Five thousand rabbits blocked a highway in Hungary on Monday, tying up traffic after the truck that was carrying them collided with another vehicle and overturned. Neither driver was hurt, but some 500 rabbits were killed. 4,500 were gathered up, and the remaining 100 will run/hop/skip/jump free forever in the Hungarian fields.

real news

Ozzy Osbourne: New album first I've done sober. He didn't want his life to go to "pieces."

In other news of the retarded, a guy tried to yoink an ATM but was unsuccessful because his prosthetic leg fell off.

Yet other mildly thought-inducing stories:
Have spatula, will travel describes the joy of learning to cook local cuisines while traveling. I think this is great, but unless you have the luxury of traveling a lot, would't you want to spend more time exploring the places and enjoying the local food as a restaurant customer?

The Navy has used dolphins to protect harbors for a long time. I had no idea that our government employed marine mammals and gave them retirement benefits. What are the terms of their contracts and benefits?

Although they found a way to not return Ingrid's money to me (quel outrage), the SNCF deserves some credit for setting the world record train speed of 574.8 km/h (357 mph). Hello, Amtrak?

EDRT

The UR has an "Emotionally Disturbed Response Team?" I know the article isn't something to laugh at. But really, is this a typo?

Also typoed: In Brussels, the homeless have had to spend a first night on the streets."

Sometimes the gap between average and CEO salaries can be supersized American-style the other way around -- leave it to Google. You'd think the guys were Belgian (as Wendy's boyfriend assumed). Josh Wolf is finally free after 226 days in jail, 58 more than the last record-setting journalist for refusing to hand over information. Damn.

In terms of public health, New Mexico gets an A and Arizona gets an F.

april fools

Nerdly humor explained.

world record alcohol concentration?

Some Belgian headlines are exciting today. More Flemings are cycling to work and school and whatnot, and more people in Antwerp cycle to work or school than use public transport. While the latter is not so important or exciting in itself, it reflects an attitude towards cycling as the preferred method of transportation that you won't find even in the bike-friendliest American city.

Others are just plain bizarre and/or misleading. "No animals in pet shops," for example. Or "Increase in stalking." Best of all must be "Nieuwpoort man sets record" for the highest blood-alcohol concentration measured, 4.66 % (it is not explained whether this is a national or world record). I enjoy the judge's wit: "Congratulations! You're still alive. You hold the record. Blood-alcohol levels of 4 percent and higher have been measured, but that is usually during a post-mortem." A helpful comparison is also supplied: "A blood alcohol level of 4,66% is equal to drinking a barrel of beer and two bottles of wine in close succession." Could even the Poles or Russians top that?

math that's durned big as Manhattan

Lie group E8: "An international team of mathematicians says it has cracked a 120-year-old puzzle that researchers say is so complicated that its handwritten solution would cover the island of Manhattan."

I didn't know Wikipedia was so groovy about amplitude modulation.

The Germans can't possibly be serious. Limit speed on the autobahn?

It's not only North Carolina that still has funny laws about personal life (and maybe public life as well?) still on the books. Ireland's High Court is doing some spring cleaning after 1,000 years.

Are we better off without our emotions?

Sad and disturbing as it is, innocent fluffy white sheep being spray-painted (ooh a verbed noun!) with swastikas by miscreant German youths is also terribly funny. As is the feigned bemusement of the German authorities, who told the media, "Exactly why the group behaved toward these good-natured beasts in this way is unclear." I am tangentially reminded of Donald Barkin, who addressed his "Writing Portraits" seminar (into which I failed to gain admission) in 2003: "People see being a poet as like being a shepherd. They respond, 'Oh, are there still poets around? Why?'"


The swastika hasn't always been T3h Evil. To give one of many examples, in Buddhism it's a vegetarian symbol. Happy post-St. Patrick's Day!

Finally, something to remedy my aging brain's seive-like memory: exercise!

Somebody is in a hell of a lot of trouble for leaving $20 million worth of MJ by the side of the road. I feel sorry for that truck driver.

After thousands of years, Mayans are still mystical and awesome.

oh the irony: "Belgian Defence Minister André Flahaut chartered a military helicopter to make it on time to a screening of Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth," according to La Libre Belgique.... The two-hour flight from Brussels to Hasselt produced 12 to 20 times more CO2 greenhouse gas than a car journey of the same distance."

DNA analysis has pinpointed the origin of avian flu to the province of my ancestors, Guangdong. Figures.

Santa Monica will be the next city after Berkeley to administer birth control shots to its squirrel population.

Asians seem so harmless that it's really difficult to take the astoundingly offensive article, "Why I Hate Blacks," by self-declared Asian Supremacist (first time I've heard the term) Kenneth Eng (perhaps a cousin twenty times removed) seriously. It's so pitiful it's funny. And now we have to go about passing a San Francisco resolution just to make up for it. Save the paper and trees involved in such officialdom and just TP this guy's house once, folks.

Not sure what to make of the increasing vanity of my generation, however. I don't see it as being prevalent even at places like Eastman and Yale (perhaps Chip would ahem at Juilliard and I at Hahvahd ;), but how could I when I'm an illustrative representative? Might not the same thing be happening in China with the one-child-per-family deal?

So you don't just get fined if you don't vote in Belgium. If you're a student, you're normally required to work the polls. Won't they need more immigrants to work them this year, with students going into exams?

world press photos of the year

Much of the world we inhabit is nothing like what we know, is it? And yet even in horror there is beauty, and in ugliness there is extraordinary love.

I still really, really want to visit Beirut.

Happy Chinese New Year, folks! With apologies to the 125 people reported injured by fireworks in Beijing, including one person who lost their eyes. Partying always has its price.

Especially in a nation of pyromaniacs.

A big HAH to all of you who dare to contaminate your tea with milk: Milk may counteract the healthful effects of tea.

Sunday brunch in Schoen Place after taking the scenic route through brilliant snow-covered Rochester. Warming xocolatl and berry white tea at the natural foods store. Then sweet heavenly goodness at Simply Crêpes. Who could ask for more?

the deep

Massive lakes that fill and drain rapidly under Antarctica, so deep they're not affected by climate change. What an awesome world we inhabit.

another reason PCs suck?

Dell laptop burns down farmhouse. But... Apples have a recent history of going up in smoke as well, so...

who's got the best rack?

Did a man or women append the comment, "The good news is, breast size is increasing across generations," to the news that "The biggest breasts in Europe are found in Britain, where one in every six women prides herself on cup D or larger. The Danes and the Dutch are the runners-up. Belgian women come in fourth. Only little more than half of the Belgian women wear a bra sized bigger than B."

absurdity

Now that she's shocked the world by being dead, Anna Nicole Smith has everyone in the world coming forward and claiming they've dated and getting into scuffles about it. I wonder what precisely it is about a woman that would bring men to this point.

Are your caretakers at the hospital really as nice as they seem?

Oh, and the next time you think about redeveloping Olmstead's Central Park, just remember that the land costs $627 million an acre, which is "26% more than the entire 2006 U.S. defense budget, or 7 million times the price of Boardwalk and Park Place together."

apocalypse

The Klan is growing, fueled by and fueling anti-immigrant sentiment. Chapters grew 63% between 2000 and 2005 after a drop through the 90's. An ironic form of comfort against the accusation that I was deserting my country by moving abroad until it got better.

Software may well start watching all our (just as I suspected) unwatched surveillance camera feeds, turning America into a true surveillance society. Thanks to London for taking the lead... but it was the US that destroyed itself long before in V for Vendetta.

Our government was brilliant enough to ship over $4 billion in cash, weighing 363 tons, on military aircraft to Iraq in 2003 and 2004 at the request of the Iraqi minister of finance. "'Who in their right mind would send 363 tons of cash into a war zone?'.... On December 12, 2003, $1.5 billion was shipped to Iraq, initially 'the largest pay out of U.S. currency in Fed history'... It was followed by more than $2.4 billion on June 22, 2004, and $1.6 billion three days later." More irony: I and my fellow gamblers were debating at Casino Royale whether there was really $1 million in dollar bills in the educational display box at the RMSC's new Moneyville exhibit. Thanks to that instructive experience, I now actually have a visual image of how these shipments might appear.

13 computers manage global internet traffic (according to who?) and were briefly overwhelmed by hackers. The attacks continue.

Just some tidbits to brighten everyone's day.

45,000 missing

So much for Brussels being rated the best airport in Europe. Last year over 45,000 suitcases went missing. Where the hell could all those suitcases have gone? You can't just miss 45,000 suitcases lying around in some corner. The bending of the space-time continuum is clearly at work here.

pizza for pesos

What is wrong with our country if anti-immigrant sentiments are so strong right now that a pizza chain with a 60% Hispanic customer base receives hundreds of angry emails and even death threats for offering to accept pesos? People don't have time to sit down and write to their government representatives or their presidents about problems such as global warming or overcrowded schools, but they do have time to read this sign, remember it, go home, find Pizza Patron's contact information, and compose extraordinarily unproductive feedback that makes no difference in their communities or lives besides quashing an opportunity for some Hispanics (and tourists returned home) to use up spare pesos lying in their drawers. Wow thank you all for your valuable contributions to this country. I worry about people's attitudes towards legislation regarding immigration, but this incident makes me wonder how dangerous and disturbing those attitudes are in everyday life. Where did extreme nationalism ultimately take some other countries in the 20th century?

andromeda

My question, which could probably easily be answered if I bothered to do some conversions with the data supplied in the article, is how much of the night sky our closest neighbor, the Andromeda galaxy (M31), really takes up for the naked eye. Because UCSC researchers have found that it's much, much bigger than we thought.

In less intellectual but more entertaining news, Mr. Blackwell has assigned the euphemism "style-free and fashion deprived" to Britney Spears (who makes 1st for the 3rd time) and Paris Hilton (who makes 1st for the second time) in his annual worst-dressed list, undoubtedly to the glee of many such as myself. Also rewarding was his inclusion of my favorite Angelina Jolie and even Nancy Pelosi in his list of 10 "fabulous fashion independents." The unfortunate thing about all this style criticism is that any actress can be portrayed as a poor dresser. Taking bad shots of people is so easy, particularly when they're in runway clothes.

It's awfully entertaining to me in my campanologically nerdy way that UC Berkeley's library catalog gives as search term examples on its home page "bell tolls" and "for whom the bell." I apologize for not having resisted sharing that incredibly stupid fact with you.

wanderlust

I'm starting to think about travel again as I work out my European concert tour, and am in the mood to be enticed by other destinations. China, anyone?

The Belgians are getting taller and heavier. Not the most surprising news around the block. But Dutch men are the tallest Europeans, and Dutch women weigh the most in Europe, while Ireland has the biggest difference between the sexes. That's weird.

nerdiness

So I feel justified in indulging in a little nerdiness today. I have time. How's this?

It's a false-color image of colliding galaxies NGC 2207 and IC 2163, space.com's sometime image of the day.

If you're also feeling nerdy, you might try voting for the best space images of 2006. Or reading about the most bizarre satellite ever.

Tiffany Blue

Sweeeeet not only do I have gaudy jewelry and a stinky expensive perfume named after meeeeeee, but also a shade of my favorite color, blue: Tiffany Blue, PMS 1837.

Indiana Jones 4!!!

So I keep telling people that I haven't been particularly excited about any movies since Back to the Future and Indiana Jones. (The Matrix and Koyaanisqaatsi excepted.) Well, today's my lucky day: George Lucas has announced that Harrison Ford will be returning for his fourth installment as Indie!

I'll be the first in theaters with my Icee to watch and cheer. If it ever emerges from development hell, I'd also watch Ender's Game.

hypocrisy

It's definitely gratifying for Saddam to have been executed by his own country in a place where he ordered many ruthless executions, but I'm still against the death penalty and I am still sad that my country is so hypocritical as to depose Saddam in the name of justice and then give him the same fate that he gave his enemies.

so what?

John keeps inviting me to join new online things, but my reaction isn't much more than to set up a skeleton profile and then ask, "So what?" I must be an old fogie for sure.

speed

My parents' desktop was insanely slow when I returned home, so I've spent inordinate amounts of time fixing it. I've also gone on a cleaning rampage, dumping out old publications that no longer enchant my inner child, donating books and clothes, and picking clothes to attempt to sell on the Haight with the hope that they'll pity a woman on crutches. And yes, as of right now I finally have this computer going at a normal speed.

I miss my days of stargazing (not that we can see anything from downtown Rochester). There are all sorts of things going on in the sky, history being made that only a few people witness... including "the kind of event that turns young children into Carl Sagans," according to one TV guy. Perhaps if Adrien were here...

I finally get my hands on Charles Burney's journal, "An Eighteenth-Century Musical Tour in Central Europe and the Netherlands," and what should the heading for the first section be about, but "Burney's poor opinion of French music confirmed." He has lots to say about carillons, including the competition between "a remarkable violinist and an equally remarkable carillonneur." I can't wait to find out who drowned out the other.

Another quote: "...and for the serpent, it is not only overblown, and detesably out of tune, but exactly resembling in tone, that of a great hungry, or rather angry, Essex calf." More gems to come in the journal of Tiffany's reading of Burney's journals.

Geckos are superheroes! Soon our cars will be able to scale walls too. I can't wait to hang from the ceilings of belfries.

And Bobby was ahead of his time.

Can one but snicker at the fact that a well-known historical organ resides in Uithuizen, the Netherlands (i.e. Outhouses)?

There is an interesting photography display concerning American outhouses in the Center at High Falls. Most of the doors are labeled with a crescent moon.

artastic ii

Mark had a brilliant reply to the article about art business today I blogged about as artastic.

I think Bourdieu would say, “My name is Bourdieu, and I think the increasing pandering of the art world to the international capitalist class both devalues what art is and clearly represents the need for sociology to function as a martial art to cut through the bulls-t of cultural capital accumulation.”

break the rain

It rained all day, and then suddenly the sun came out and threw golden light on brick façades, and I pulled on my shoes and hurried to the Little Bakery. I ended up stopping along the way into the sketchy corner store to discover it sold all sorts of interesting middle eastern foodstuffs and a few indian spices. Still no produce; can produce really be so unprofitable in downtown Rochester? I bought a Portuguese loaf at the bakery for the first time. The cheerful lady whose name I really need to find out greeted me and told me she was taking the next day off. As I was leaving, she gave me a cookie. It was still sunny, I came in and ate a delicious sweet slice of bread, the only fresh thing I have left, looked out the window, and discovered that it was so overcast it seemed almost as if night had fallen, or at least that nothing had ever happened. So I wrote this as evidence that it did.

bad eurohabit

55% of Belgians buy mineral water and never drink tap water, a European habit that leads to many wasted resources. Not to mention thirsty and puzzled foreigners and expats. I really don't understand how this preference for mineral water arose. I dislike the taste myself.

Then again, in America we buy tons of bottled water (although water is free and falls from the sky -- even better than growing on trees) and then complain about the price of gas, which per gallon is cheaper than the price of bottled water.

wonderful automation

I searched facebook for "Compline" and came up with a fake individual with no network named "Christ Church Compline." Next to it were the standard options: "Send Message," "View Friends," "Add to Friends," and "Poke Christ!"

Furthermore, if you click on the latter option, you will get a screen displaying the following:

Poke Christ?
You are about to poke Christ Church Compline (no network) .

Christ will be informed of this the next time they log in.

Also, if you poke Christ, they will be able to see your profile for one week.

To control which parts of your profile are displayed when you contact someone through a poke, message or friend request, click here.

Click further, and the ultimate result:

You have poked Christ Church Compline.

I await a response from above for my sacrilege.

Meanwhile, if you hit the Back button, you get Christ has not received your last poke yet.
They'll get it the next time they log in. Go back home or return to the previous page.

artastic

Art is being sold, held, and resold at a profit. "Does this mean that art is moving so fast on the market that it may never be enjoyed on a wall and just held as an investment to flip later? Rendell doesn't miss a beat: 'Well yes. But at least it's in very good condition.'"

But what would Pierre Bordieu say about this?

Josh Wolf: Jailed Journalist

Josh Wolf: Jailed Journalist

Josh Wolf, freelance journalist and independent videographer, is currently in “coercive custody” at the Federal Detention Facility in Dublin, California. He has never been charged with any crime. Wolf was incarcerated for contempt earlier this year after refusing to provide a Federal Grand jury with unedited video of a 2005 G-8 protest in San Francisco. His incarceration is virtually unprecedented for a journalist refusing to give information to a Grand Jury. It is widely believed he will likely become the longest held journalist in U.S. history.

Having covered protests for several years as part of the San Francisco press corps, Wolf has gained unprecedented access to much of the Bay Area’s activist community. Access denied to other journalists. Attorneys have raised concerns that demand for the tape is part of a fishing expedition by police seeking to identify political dissidents and protesters. Wolf has repeatedly stated under oath that his video does not contain footage of the crimes being investigated by the Grand Jury. To make his case, Wolf has offered to let the judge review his tape.

Wolf, 24, is the recipient of the 2006 Society of Professional Journalists award for Journalist of the Year. Advocates from Reporters Without Borders, Committee to Protect Journalists and numerous others have all spoken out in his defense.

What Others Have Said About this Case

"When journalists like Josh Wolf are put in jail, journalism and the public’s right to know suffer. An independent press needs a Federal shield law to protect journalists like Josh." --Judith Miller, Journalist

“He [Wolf] may not have the clout or journalism credentials of some of the other government targets, but Josh Wolf is no less entitled to First Amendment protection. Each day he remains incarcerated represents another small dent in this nation’s basic freedoms.” –San Francisco Chronicle Editorial 8/06

"The Wolf case has absolutely no bearing on national security, the argument used in other tussles between federal courts and journalists who refused to name their sources or surrender their files. Confirmed contempt of court orders against Wolf would mean that the independence of the press - which is based among other things on the right to professional secrecy – is more than ever in danger in the United States. Keeping Josh Wolf in jail would be tantamount to denying the role that the media is supposed to play in a democracy, one of questioning and criticizing. Congress must quickly debate and approve a federal shield law that would uphold the right of journalists to protect the confidentiality of their sources." –Reporters Without Borders

[read on]

turkeys receive presidential pardon

Heaven only knows what turkeys did to merit annual condemnation in the first place, but old Bush seems to have done something right for the first time by granting a full presidential pardon to the National Thanksgiving Turkey, Flyer, and its buddy, Fryer. The only concern now is whether the turkeys themselves might have chosen an early demise over a life of being jeered and gawked at by children in Disneyland.

thanksgiving makes me sad

Maybe you don't really want to know why.

The most common reactions to my decision to be vegetarian are "Don't you miss meat? I cannot live without it!" and "Why?" My primary reason is that it cuts my environmental footprint drastically. Page 7 of this admittedly propagandic PETA postcard gives some of the statistics that lead my conscience to eschew meat: Livestock meant for our plates consume vast amounts of grain that could have provided much less expensive food for the hungry; more than half of the water used in the US goes to livestock intended for people's plates; raising animals uses a third of American energy resources; and the meat industry creates more water pollution than all other industries combined, to name a few.

Our society has developed remarkable systems to hide the environmental consequences of all we do from our daily lives. Only if garbage pickup stopped would we realize how much waste we create; only if animals were raised and slaughtered in the city would we be widely aware of their mistreatment; only if the pollution emitted by power plants was blown into our own homes would we realize how horrible it is to waste energy. Our world is modern, efficient, clean, civilized, and... deceptive.

americanizing european education

"The world is indifferent to tradition and past reputations, unforgiving of frailty and ignorant of custom or practice," [Andreas Schleicher, head of the OECD education directorate] said. "Success will go to those individuals and countries which are swift to adapt, slow to complain, and open to change."

A pretty bleak snapshot of the world.

I worry that a point is being missed. America may boast the largest number of prestigious universities today, but I suspect that your average affordable European university is better than your average affordable American university. Competence is distributed differently. Much like degree prestige and even income in the US--the proportions are outrageous.

I'll be the first to admit how much Yale has done for me. But without a diversity of systems in the world, how will we ever be able to pinpoint a reason when one of those systems fails?

I woke up this morning for unknown reasons thinking of the young friends I've lost along the way to tragic accidents and health conditions. Even after a brush with my own mortality, I still find it difficult to comprehend the deaths of people my age. Take a look at the firefighters who defied the latest California firestorm.

expatica headlines

Sixty days of summer rain, and now that I've left, Belgium may well be set for the hottest fall ever. Life is so unjust.

It's difficult for me to see Europe's need to combat obesity. I never noticed how many grossly obese people walked the streets of the US until I came back from a year in Europe!

Go Belgian housewives!

edumacated city

San Francisco is the second most educated city in the country, following Seattle. I've never been to Seattle, sadly. I'm really overdue for my first visit.

Getting closer to dark matter with Hubble.

The Hollywood film industry creates more pollution than the aerospace manufacturing, apparel, hotels and semiconductor manufacturing sectors. Only petroleum manufacturing belched more emissions.

Now for the first time, I feel really good about not watching movies.

poppy

I've grown up in California, I've lived in Belgium and cycled through its fields, I've spent a day in Ieper playing a concert and wandering the museum and standing beneath the Menin Gate to witness a special Last Post, and I've still hardly seen a single Flanders poppy, that beautiful, tragic symbol that bears no such meaning in California as it does to the Belgians and the English.

First of all, I have to admit both delight and surprise that the American public has voted the Democrats back into office. After 1.5 presidential terms to evidence a dismal track record in voting decisions, I wasn't really expecting much change. And same-sex marriage has been banned in some states. Disgusting. Also funny, and possibly effective, but very dismaying was the Arizona measure to award $1 million to a randomly selected voter in each general election. Do we really have to resort to paying the American people to think about what's good for them?!

We have a funny government. In the Senate, every state has equal representation, and CNN writer Justin Gest points out that "Wyoming -- a state with more cattle than voters -- receives as much of a say as California -- a state with an economy the size of France."

The less serious news is too amazing to summarize when I can quote verbatim:

Producer of dozens of educational films for students dies at 90
11/08/06 08:40 PM, EST
Sid Davis, who produced more than 180 educational films warning youngsters of the dangers of drugs, drinking and running with scissors, has died. He was 90.
FULL STORY

Do that many kids really run around with scissors? Maybe we should let natural selection take its course a little earlier on than 90.

How about this for all of us spice-addicts? Maybe the next time I'm in Belgium missing spicy food, I can just bring a tarantula along for a quick fix.

Tarantulas and chillis share pain target
11/08/06 03:34 PM, EST
Tarantulas and chilli peppers may not appear to have anything in common but an encounter with either the spider or the plant can be a painful experience.

news bites

"Ouch, K-Fed: "There was relatively little taunting Wednesday night from a Chicago crowd that appeared to contain a few genuine fans, though at least one man was led out by security after hoisting a large, cardboard sign insulting Federline's manhood."

I think the man should've been given free tickets to more upcoming bad shows.

Another reason Caltech is one of the more bizarre places in the world (not to imply that this is bad).

Satellite images of Earth from above, one reason to wish one was in DC. Sure, there's Google Maps. But can your computer screen really beat the Smithsonian?

Trains in the US continue to be pathetic. (Not really news, I suppose.

So it is the Dutch who most often evade Belgian speeding fines. No surprise. But doesn't that mean we can ignore our parking tickets in the Netherlands? I know someone on their Wanted List. :)

So whose great idea was it to research the research habits of graduate students?

taal problemen

So Dutch is the 28th most "common" language in the world. But issuing loyalty cards to shopkeepers who speak only in Flemish to their customers? Sounds like a grade school measure. Maybe things have descended to that point.

democracy?

Thirty percent of state candidates running unopposed. Something about our "democractic" system isn't working.

I desperately miss heirloom tomatoes. And now everybody's going to eat them and there will be none left for me!

There aren't a whole lot of numbers, but some surprising insights and sorely needed reasons to feel good about this country in TIME Magazine's "America by the numbers".

salty intrigue

I only saw the Salton Sea once on the way to Death Valley or some other SoCal destination, but I never forgot it. It's vast enough to be mind-boggling, but not so vast that one simply views it as an ocean, as I did on the shores of Lake Michigan. I could never figure out the story behind this body of water, but thanks to a CNN article and Wikipedia article (Wikipedia includes articles on all sorts of things you wouldn't find in other general reference volumes), I finally understand.

The Salton Sea, completely below sea level, was created in 1905 by accident. Its water supply is unintentional and artificial. Its lowest point is only 5 feet above the lowest point of Death Valley. Sometimes thousands of dead tilapia wash up on its shores.

For a while, the Sea was a resort area. Google Maps shows the extensive network of streets built for the Salton Sea. Most of them are empty. (Is my inner photographer screaming to get out there right now or what? It sounds even eerier than Pleasure Beach or Doel.) The sea just got too salty.

Like the Hoge Veluwe, this man-made environment has become essential to many kinds of wildlife. And there are many who are trying to save the sea. There is also thirsty San Diego trying to get at the water that feeds it.

Utterly fascinating. I can't wait for the 3,000-page report due to be released to the public shortly. Well, perhaps I'm being facetious. But I've just found out that a random thing that's always intrigued me is even more strange and otherwordly and controversial and important than I imagined. I wish I could take a couple months to explore and publish a book of photos. Guess I'll have to be content with looking for someone else's.

palm problem

I have a problem with palm trees in California. I love stereotypical images of palms at the beach, and in fact have created a couple of mock-retro ones that I'll try to post if I ever get around to turning on my internal/external hard drive. I have a purse and a bikini with palms, and it's totally for that Cali look. But I never liked the look of palms poking up all over California. They absolutely don't belong in San Francisco, although they line Herb Caen Boulevard and struggle by the new tracks in Visitacion Valley to survive the fog, and they hardly belong in SoCal. Our climate is temperate, but not tropical.

And it looks tacky.

For the first time, I've found people who agree. "'They don't provide the same benefits as the other, more leafy trees,' says Paula Daniels, a Board of Public Works commissioner who is heading up the planting effort. Their tall, bare trunks make them inferior when it comes to providing shade, Daniels said, and some experts believe their scant leaves make them less effective at trapping air pollution. And while sun-dappled palms lining a freeway may look good in the movies or on a postcard, Dunlap said people standing beside them can feel as if they are next to a telephone pole." So she's not worried about re-foresting SoCal with palms when plenty of native species are available.

According to one CS grad alum, the mega palms lining the main driveway into Stanford University cost about $100,000 to maintain each year.

fashion = fertility?!

Women, it's time to question your motives when you find yourself scouring your wardrobe for your best outfits: "Women dress to impress when they are at their most fertile, U.S. researchers said on Tuesday in a study they say shows that signs of human ovulation may not be as mysterious as some scientists believe."

So they convicted Scott Dyleski just as everyone expected, but neither the explanations given by the defense or the prosection seem adequate for such a brutal and seemingly premeditated murder.

high-voltage ceramics... or the devil??

Maybe I'll wait on that hybrid after all... for a ceramic power source for electric cars!

Comparable in cleverness to the French-Dutch comeback (link to come): The Rev. Jerry Falwell quips, "I hope she's the candidate, because nothing will energize my [constituency] like Hillary Clinton. If Lucifer ran, he wouldn't." The Rev. Barry Lynn, director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, retorts, "Maybe the devil made him do it." Another line of worth from the article: "Attendees also were assured during the prayer breakfast that God would preserve a Republican majority in Congress."

Another curious news line: "Gibson's appearance at the [Fantastic Fest] was reminiscent of a similar appearance he made at Knowles' Butt-Numb-a-Thon, which offered one of the first public previews of 'The Passion of the Christ.'"

Like record labels, publishers are scared silly of opportunities to reach new audiences in the information era.

the roundup

It's pretty exciting to be part of the annual count for Belgium. I'm glad I made my lasting contribution!

Maybe something good can come out of the absurdity of everyone suing everyone in America: California sues car firms on fumes.

double entendre

Doctor gives stripper a hand

haunted by bordieu

Somehow I ended up writing in my Fulbright CV about stuff I read in the equivalent of Sociology 101 Yale-style, taught by Joseph Soares, a professor with a powerful personality and unconcealed agenda for his students. Heaven knows my understanding of sociology is in no way advanced, but as I turn every corner and find more spectacular opportunities waiting to be seized, I can't help but wonder when I derailed off the track I should have been in with my Little Vis peers and instead ended up on the path of the privileged. Where I stand in Pierre Bordieu's fields I cannot say, but I know Yale put me pretty high up without my even realizing it. Just the other day, I finally figured out that I can talk to politicians and officials without feeling uncomfortable because Yale invited me to free fancy dinners with famous people and let me do business directly with university deans and secretaries. I took advantage of these opportunities for fun and ambition, but at no point did I realize the incredible level of social training I was inadvertently receiving.

Where am I in the field? An article about Harvard's bizarre move to end Early Action until it sees that other Ivies don't follow suit gives an idea: "At the most selective schools, a 2003 study found, 3 percent of students came from the poorest socio-economic quarter of families, while 74 percent came from the richest."

Nor was I aware that Soares is an exemplary follower of Bordieu's belief that "sociology is a combat sport"--presumably because he never metnioned that Bordieusque idea to us. It always seemed fitting to me that he would be the odd one out in an elitist institution like Yale. I just want to see him get tenure at Wake Forest or wherever he decides he can fight his fight.

litterbugs in space

According to the National Transportation Safety Board, "The number of fatalities [amongst motorcyclists] is outpacing the increase in ridership." Industry, what are you going to do about that?? (Recruit younger riders, I guess.)

Usually Apple redesigns things to look more futuristic and sleek. And then only they can top the design with a new one that makes old models look dated. But the new iTunes looks like some app from a couple years back. Maybe they spilled ice cream from Google It's-Its on their good sketches.

I never thought about it, but even the smallest piece of space junk orbiting the earth at high speed could potentially kill an astronaut. And there are 100,000 pieces space junk orbiting the Earth, including lots of copper needles launched by some idiot American plan.

more wisdom from loveline

Lovely Dr. Drew from Loveline brings us more wise but "doh" news: All members of western culture considered, celebrities love themselves the most. It's puzzling to me that they're low on empathy, though. How can you have a magnetic personality if you can't feel for others?

Sometimes I suspect that I have more celebrity syndrome than my share, and I can't decide whether that would be good or bad.

internet-happy

Unlike television, the internet now makes us happier. Good news for us internet-addicts. It can also inspire wanderlust. But television still makes us dumber, unless new studies have been done contradicting this (which I doubt, since television programing seems to have gotten dumber in general). Does the internet also make us idiots? Or does it make us more well-informed? Or do we just have a maximum comfortable capacity for knowledge, the focus of which has shifted?

To quote Tom's excellent news commentary: "This struck me as beyond hilarious--a Belgian researcher looking at effects of sunlight."

Also entertaining: The Canadians beat the French in fleeing and surrendering... at the threat of two Californians headed their way.