tree four five six sewen eight 03.07.08
nine ... six eight nine sewen. A two-year old learns her numbers.
take it with a dose of humor 02.21.08
Gloom and doom with a sense of humor ... that is the slogan of Grist, the environmental news and commentary website where I work. Following the state of the environment could drive you into a state of deep despair if you care about such things as climate, air, water, food, and life on planet earth, so Grist dishes it up with a balance of humor and irreverence ... maybe you'll be inspired to make a difference while you're smiling.
For a year or so we've been offering a version of our weekly summationion of green news (a.k.a. the Weekly Grist email newsletter) as a podcast, edited and read (with many voices/accents) by Assistant Editor Todd Hymas. I've created this gristified iPod at right that can be added to anybody's site with a snippet of code ... it is good, give it a listen. If you like it, subscribe to the podcast at iTunes (it's free!).
Stick this in your page and play it ...take the 2nd Amendment ... please 02.14.08
The news today is once again filled with the tragic loss of life as a gunman on yet another university campus lets loose his rage/madness/insanity. When will we wake up and reform the gun laws in this country in a meaningful way? And don't give me Second Amendment crap about gun rights ... the Second Amendment was written to assure the readiness of a citizen militia at a time when that made sense. The only citizen militias we have around anymore are full of nutjobs that are just as likely to wage war on us as they are to protect us, and the idea of an armed citizenry that might stand up to an over-zealous government is also a joke. It is time to get real and disarm.
3,283 days ago 02.12.08
That's nine years, allowing for a couple leaps ... I got up the nerve to tell a good friend how I really felt. Now we are the sleep deprived parents of two and still happily in love. In the midst off all that seems wrong in the world, there is this wonderful thing that envelopes me and gives me strength and hope and the courage to face tomorrow.
Thank you to my good friend and beautiful wife.
magic circle 09.05.06
I have to write this down and share it before it's lost.
A couple weekends ago Rowan (who starts first grade tomorrow) and I were riding bikes on a little-travelled road near his grandpa's house. As we started down the narrow, tree, cottage and bramble lined road I said, "The air smells like blackberries." Rowan said ...
I think it smells like wildness, and wildness smells like cedar, and cedar smells like Christmas, and Christmas smells like Santa, and Santa smells like magic ... and magic smells like wildness.
Out of the mouths of babes. music to my ears 02.18.06It has been far too long since I have raved about anything here, so I thought I'd share some music that I can't seem to listen to enough. Click the player at right to have a listen.
Beth Orton's Pass in Time - The Definitive Collection, has been playing on my iPod through the last two eye surgeries ... what higher praise can I offer? Orton's unique blend of folk and electronica is mesmerizing whether under anesthesia or not.
The soundtrack of Garden State is fairly new to my most frequently played list. I have not seen the movie The movie was just OK, but this collection of mellow tunes is full of surprises ... from Simon & Garfunkel's The Only Living Boy In New York (how did I not know this song?) to the beautiful ballad I Just Don't Think I'll Ever Get Over You by ex Men at Work singer Colin Hay (you will not recognize him), you will wonder why you didn't know about more of this music earlier. Fortunately, there is still time to appreciate.
intelligent? 11.29.05
I tend to shake my head when I read about the inroads that "intelligent design" is making, which seems to be too often. As I understand it, "intelligent design" has at its root the premise that life is far too complex to be the result of accidental evolutionary processes, and therefore has to have been guided by some "unseen hand" or intelligence. Proponents of this "theory" believe it belongs alongside Darwinism in the nation's science classrooms. Most scientists believe that "intelligent design" is creationism masquerading as science.
Here is my problem: Science should invite questions, explorations, rebuttal, alternate theorems and so on. Acceptance of an "unseen hand" or intelligence requires faith, which by its very nature asks not to be questioned (if you could prove the existence of a supernatural being it would no longer be faith). So until and unless proponents of "intelligent design" encourage questions like "how was this creator created?" and "what is so intelligent about AIDS, cancer, bird flu, ebola virus and the like?" then it certainly has no place in a science curriculum and belongs back in church where faith is not only enough, it is the goal.
throw your bungies away 10.26.05
That's all I wanted to say. Oh, and pay a few extra dollars for polycarbonate lenses, they are worth it. Trust me on this one.
looking for a silver lining 09.21.05
Back-to-back hurricanes forcing millions to flee their homes and livelihoods... Gas prices being predicted to hit $4 or even $5 per gallon after Rita has had her way with Texas oil production and refining facilities... People are scared and angry.
Most of the anger that the media has thus far covered has had to do with the slow (and in some cases, lack of) response by our federal government to Katrina and her victims. As Rita rolls in the various governments (city, state, fed) are quick to declare that they have learned their lessons and won't let the same kind of tragedies occur. I hope they can. But there is more to be mad about.
When are people going to realize that the other government failure has been in ignoring the warnings about global warming and the impact that it is going to have on coastal communities? Has our own government's denial of global warming (and refusal to join in international efforts to get it under control) played a role in creating stronger hurricanes? And in the face of such vulnerability to our domestic oil suppy, why hasn't our government set higher standards for fuel economy for the automotive industry and taken other energy conservation measures? It seems to me that much could have been done well ahead of any specific hurricane to make us safer, and our government -- this administration in particular -- has betrayed the common good for the sake of bigger profits for its friends in the energy and automotive industries. Get mad about that.
Oh, yeah, the silver lining... you are right, I almost forgot where I was going with this rant. I hope that people will get mad about this too, mad enough that politicians will have to listen and take some action. Perhaps in the wake of the destruction and chaos of this hurricane season our government will finally be forced to act responsibly. Join the Kyoto Treaty. Set 50 mpg fuel standards for cars, and make it happen yesterday. Our president is fond of tax cuts, how about giving them for using mass transit, car pooling or buying hybrids? Maybe a little good can come from all this sadness and loss. With a young son and another on the way, I have to believe that it is not too late to make things better.
time to walk the walk 06.10.05
Wired.com recently ran a story about web-hosting companies operating on clean, renewable energy. My site is not big nor does it generate a lot of traffic, but the server that it resides on must run 24/7 nonetheless. Those who know me know that I talk the green talk -- here was another opportunity to walk the walk. I checked out the companies mentioned in the Wired story and was happy and surprised to find that there was no premium to pay to make a responsible choice -- they were generally very competitive with more traditionally powered companies.
After looking them all over I decided to move my site to SustainableMarketing.com, a California company running on wind power. At $10/month they save me $3 and provide 850MB more space than my old hosting company and offer many great open source add-ons as well. It is not everyday you get to make a decision that makes such good sense and is good for the planet too. If you have a site, get on over there and check them out -- you'll be glad you did.
unless? 05.24.05
Last night Rowan brought me The Lorax to read before bed. I have always liked this Seuss book, but it had been long enough since I last read it that I had forgotten how timeless and relevant the story is -- perhaps even more so today than when it was written (1971).
Pick up a copy and read it to your kids.
"But now," says the Once-ler, "Now that you're here, the word of the Lorax seems perfectly clear. UNLESS someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not." - Dr. Seuss
vonage 05.15.05
Woo Hoo! Some people do stupid things, like pay too much for phone service... you've heard of them?
We had been thinking about dumping our DSL in favor of a cable internet connection, but the price was just too steep. I got a call from Comcast making the pitch for cable and I explained that our decision was based on what was affordable, and the guy mentions Vonage. "Once you switch to cable you can sign up for broadband phone service for cheap and stop sending all that money to the phone company, then cable is affordable." He got me interested. I asked, "But don't I have to have a computer running all the time to make VOIP work? We have PowerBooks [that is a laptop to the pc impaired] and put them to sleep when not in use." "Not a problem," he said, "your phone plugs into a router, no computer is necessary." Who was this guy working for? I said, "OK, sign me up." Then I called Vonage.
It has been a month, and I am very happy with the decision. You really do get unlimited local and long distance calling for $24.95 per month, but you also get some great features. I love that I can log into my account and have my call forwarding changed in under two minutes -- when we are not at home I set it to forward immediately to my cell phone. When we are at home I have it forward to my cell if it hasn't been answered in 15 seconds. People don't have to leave voicemail for us anymore, they get us! If I wanted to I could set it to ring up to 5 different numbers simultaneously. Don't like call waiting? Turn it off. Change your mind? That's OK, turn it back on -- it just takes a minute.
Money wise, it is probably a wash, but our connection is twice as fast as it was, doesn't go out on us regularly like the DSL did, and I have a phone service that I can't stop telling people about. (Go sign up, tell them Tom sent you :^)
