moonrattled returns

More divine petz

2007-12-05T22:36:00.000-08:00

"Elephants pee to keep in touch with family"

2007-12-05T22:19:00.001-08:00

After a phenomenally SHITTY day... that headline made me smile.

By Roger Highfield
Last Updated: 12:01am GMT 05/12/2007

They have a reputation for never forgetting. Now an experiment has shown that even when members of an African elephant family are out of sight, they are far from being out of mind.

Dr Lucy Bates collects an elephant
urine sample

Elephants keep tabs on their family members with the help of urine, according to a study led by Prof Richard Byrne of the University of St Andrews that is a testament to how the creatures not only have good memories but update them too to keep abreast of what their relatives are up to.

Using a clever experiment, reported today in the journal Biology Letters, they show that African elephants keep track of 17 females from their group, and possibly up to 30 family members.

They presented samples of urine from female members of the family to other group members and found the elephants "showed surprise" - reaching out with their trunks to investigate - when they encountered urine from an individual who was actually walking behind them and so could not possibly have urinated there.

Urine from unrelated elephants left them unmoved but they also showed a lot of interest when the urine was from a family member who was far away, said Dr Lucy Bates, team member, who presented urine to 36 family groups of elephants earlier this year.

"The cliche is that elephants have big memories and we wanted to find out what they used them for," she says. "They are keeping track of their family members."

Elephants may find the smell of
urine comforting

Elephants do not mark territories but "they pee quite often and when they pee they pee a lot. I never had any trouble in finding two litres worth," she said.

While the elephant may find the smell comforting, to a human nose, "it is gross." Beyond that, she was not able to distinguish the urine of different elephants. "They all smell foul."

While several animal species have been shown to identify individuals from the scent of urine, this is the first time such an ability has been discovered in elephants.

Professor Byrne explains: "It's hard enough for us humans trying to keep tabs on each other when there's only four or five family or friends out shopping together. Imagine if there were 20 or 30 of you, and not a mobile phone between the lot. For elephants, which typically travel in family groups of that size, the problem is even harder because their day vision is not good. Worse, groups shift in composition from week to week, and individuals don't walk in a fixed order."

The study was done in Kenya with the Amboseli Trust for Elephants, with Katito Sayialel, Norah Njiraini, Dr Joyce Poole and Cynthia Moss, and underlines how the animals have a real society.

Prof Byrne adds:"For most tourists visiting Africa, the least exciting thing about seeing elephants is when they stop to urinate. Yet for the elephants themselves, those urine deposits help them keep constant track of up to 30 other individuals in their large and frequently changing family groups: a memory feat which we can only admire."

Earlier work has shown that elephants, like humans, show compassion after a death of one of their own species, care about other elephants in distress and have a strong interest in the dead - and not only for their immediate kin.

a bear in the house

2007-11-21T23:51:00.000-08:00

Brutus, a four-and-a-half-year-old grizzly bear, will be attending Thanksgiving dinner at the Grizzly Encounter, a bear rescue and educational facility in Bozeman, Montana.

He's a pup and darned cute.

Herbivores kick carniverous butt!

2007-11-21T16:11:00.000-08:00

This is one of the most astonishing things I've ever seen. As Dooce says, " be prepared to experience every emotion on the spectrum."

"A battle between a pride of lions, a herd of buffalo, and 2 crocodiles at a watering hole in South Africa's Kruger National Park."

Maggie update

2007-11-20T18:09:00.000-08:00

Here is the chronology of updates for Maggie, an elephant recently moved from the Alaska Zoo to the Performing Animal Welfare Society's sanctuary in San Andreas.

November 17, 2007 Maggie's Walk on the Wild Side (includes a video of Maggie's stroll, which is truly amazing and wonderful to see. She and the other elephants are developing a close bond and she is clearly entranced with her new expansive habitat.

November 10th - Maggie is settling in nicely - are we surprised? Nope :) Elegals and human residents are bending over backwards to make Mags comfy in her new digs. It takes a village! (of beings who know elephants inside out and these would include elephants, natch!)
November 7th - Pat Derby has a wonderful update. Maggie and the gals are bonding well.
November 5th - Pat Derby has an update!

SAN ANDREAS, Calif. -- Maggie, a 25-year-old African elephant, checks out her new home at Performance Animals Welfare Society, or PAWS, after the journey from Anchorage, Alaska, to here on a Air Force C-17 Globemaster III Nov. 2. Maggie's trainers from the Alaska Zoo said the elephant handled the trip well and will stay at PAWS for several weeks to help her adjust to life in the sanctuary. (U.S. Air Force Photo by Tech. Sgt. Keith Brown) full story

Elephants-A spy in the herd

2007-11-16T00:00:00.000-08:00

A delightful and intimate look at wild elephants from the point of view of "dung" cams, narrated by David Attenborough.

Dungcam, the four-wheel drive buggy, disguised as dung, carries a camera mounted in a revolving turret. Smaller static plopcams and motorised aquatic floatercams were also used. These special cameras captured over 80% of the images.

a ridiculously cute car- the P50

2007-11-14T21:42:00.000-08:00

2007-11-13T18:15:00.000-08:00

November 10th - Maggie the elephant rescued from the Alaska zoo is settling in nicely at PAWS. Are we surprised? Nope :)

Elegals and human residents are bending over backwards to make Mags comfy in her new digs. It takes a village! (Of beings who understand elephants inside out and these would include elephants, natch!)

A message for the troglodytes in Alaska who barraged PAWS with whinemail

2007-11-10T13:11:00.000-08:00

The Alaskans who are in an uproar about being asked to restrict their viewing time should consider the following:

The expense for caring for Maggie is enormous and PAWS is assuming this expense for Maggie’s entire life. Had Bob Barker, a PAWS benefactor, not stepped up to the plate, it’s unlikely the Alaska Zoo would have let her go. The cost of the elecam is being borne by PAWS.

That residents of Alaska would demand that PAWS allow them indeterminate viewing time, as if Maggie is their property, is offensive to say the least.

Maggie never belonged in Alaska in the first place. She is not the property of Alaskans but an individual in her own right who, thanks to PAWS and animal welfare advocates who fought for her, has a home in a suitable place.

While it’s nice that so many Alaskans are eager to see Maggie, if they want to support her, they’ll also support PAWS and kick in some money to pay for that elecam service.

After all, they were willing to pay to see Maggie in the Zoo! Watching Mags on the elecam entertains the viewer; it doesn’t support Maggie.

You'd think Alaskans would have learned something from Maggie's story but I can see, from some of the comments below the article, that it's still all about them. Many of these whiners are the same people who fought to keep Maggie in a jail cell for their own entertainment. Now that she's safe in a sanctuary, they demand viewing time as if she's still their captive. Story follows...

Watch Maggie all you like, PAWS representative says

OOPS: Alaskans swamped the sanctuary with protests after its request to limit Web site use.

By BETH BRAGG
bbragg@adn.com
Published: November 9, 2007
Last Modified: November 9, 2007 at 08:39 PM

Spend as much time as you want watching Maggie on the elephant cam at her new California home.

Three days after a notice went up on the Performing Animal Welfare Society's Web site asking visitors to limit their Maggie fixes to 20 minutes, PAWS is backing down.

They got mail. From Alaskans.

"We are exploring options for reducing our costs," elephant trainer Pat Derby said in a written statement issued Thursday.

"We certainly do not wish to curtail any enthusiasm for (Maggie's) activities at the sanctuary, especially from her many loyal friends and fans in Alaska."

Fat chance of that.

Maggie moved to the San Andreas elephant sanctuary last week. Since then, huge numbers of Alaskans have been watching her adjust to her new life -- so much so that PAWS feared soaring satellite costs.

Tamara Wilder, a PAWS director, said some Alaskans were upset by the notice.

"We want them to know they're welcome to access that camera for as long as they want," she said.

The sanctuary is installing a second Web cam to cover a heavily treed habitat beyond the elephant barn. The animals are now blocked from view by trees when they roam in that area, Derby said.

Meanwhile, Maggie continues her across-the-fence flirting with her four African barn mates: Ruby, Mara, 71 and Lulu. On Wednesday, she reached under the fence to swipe a tree branch from Ruby, according to an update at www.pawsweb.org.

Later, as the elephants settled into their barn stalls for the night, Maggie and Ruby roared at each other.

At one point, "Maggie, Lulu and Ruby were all running around in their separate stalls rumbling, trumpeting, urinating and defecating as wild elephants do when they are excited," says a written report on the Web site. "To add to the excitement, 71 and Mara, who were still outside, joined in the display creating a cacophony which reverberated over the hills. ...We humans who were part of the scene were partially deaf for the next hour."

2007-11-10T00:16:00.001-08:00

army of dude. go support the troop.

Another elephant needs help

2007-11-06T17:56:00.000-08:00

From the date it looks like the petition should have expired but apparently it's still good.

A PETITION TO FREE THE ELEPHANT SAMBA FROM THE CIRCUS WHERE HER LIFE IS UNBEARABLE.

It is routine in circuses for handlers to beat and scream at their wild captives. It's part of the "training" ritual. (Google Tom Frisco for an example. But not while you're eating lunch.)

Elephants (like other wildlife) aren't keen on performing tricks and wearing silly costumes. Beating them into submission is how circuses get them to do it. I'm not kidding. One (now reformed) handler beat an elephant over the head with axe handles for days.

Animal acts will only end when people stop buying tickets. In the meantime...

Signing takes a few seconds.

PAWS: Maggie Comes to San Andreas

2007-11-05T18:40:00.000-08:00

Video by Mike Taylor

Click the play button to start. The video can also be watched on the full screen. Click icon at the far right of the bottom of the video for the options.

Maggie, a nearly 8,000-pound pachyderm who was the last of her species living in Alaska, has safely relocated to San Andreas.

In an unbelievable logistical maneuver, the U.S. Air Force, two cranes and two trucks helped Maggie make her journey to the Performing Animal Welfare Society’s Ark 2000 sanctuary in Calaveras County Friday.

This video, shot by Enterprise reporter Mike Taylor, follows Maggie as she first rolls into the 2,300-acre facility and eventually takes her first steps in the Mother Lode.

Also see Pat Derby's update on the PAWS' web site.

What I want for Christmas

2007-11-04T10:45:00.000-08:00

Devices Enforce Cellular Silence, Sweet but Illegal

By MATT RICHTEL
Published: November 4, 2007

SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 2 — One afternoon in early September, an architect boarded his commuter train and became a cellphone vigilante. He sat down next to a 20-something woman who he said was “blabbing away” into her phone.

“She was using the word ‘like’ all the time. She sounded like a Valley Girl,” said the architect, Andrew, who declined to give his last name because what he did next was illegal.

Andrew reached into his shirt pocket and pushed a button on a black device the size of a cigarette pack. It sent out a powerful radio signal that cut off the chatterer’s cellphone transmission — and any others in a 30-foot radius.

“She kept talking into her phone for about 30 seconds before she realized there was no one listening on the other end,” he said. His reaction when he first discovered he could wield such power? “Oh, holy moly! Deliverance.”

As cellphone use has skyrocketed, making it hard to avoid hearing half a conversation in many public places, a small but growing band of rebels is turning to a blunt countermeasure: the cellphone jammer, a gadget that renders nearby mobile devices impotent.

http://phonejammer.com/ Oh yeah...

Gary Kasparov cuts through the bullshit on Real Time

2007-10-20T09:25:00.000-07:00

Chessbase has the transcript.
Video here.

Shortlived but scary illness

2007-10-20T06:30:00.001-07:00

Yesterday morning at 9:30 I was hit by dizziness so extreme I couldn't stand. My eyes couldn't focus and the room was spinning. It wasn't long before nausea bloomed and from there it was a hell of a ride.

I vomited 15 times, twice so violently my nose vessels burst. My face is also covered in tiny broken capillaries or blood blisters from the pressure. Thankfully these are subsiding.

The ordeal ended as abruptly as it started at 3:00 PM, which seemed odd because stomach flu (or at least all the stomach flus I've experienced) normally lasts between 12 and 24 hours and food poisoning usually takes longer than a 6 hours to overcome.

I hope this hideous experience doesn't typify the bugs that are going around right now. (And I sincerely hope it wasn't the Capers salad bar I dined on Thursday night as I regularly feast on that. One thing is certain: I won't be touching lentils for awhile.)

Meals are rudimentary: oatmeal, home-made chicken broth and mint tea.

I won't be doing ab work for a few days. (Nothing develops a six pack quicker than bringing your stomach through your esophagus.)

On to a pleasanter subject: An interview with Pat Derby at the Performing Animal Welfare Society (and some lovely footage of Pat cuddling Annie).

Click to view

Conservatard at work

2007-10-12T22:44:00.000-07:00

The lamest cop out ever, and Jesus would agree.

President Bullshit talkin' the talk

2007-10-10T18:42:00.000-07:00

words that have been called up to serve at the pleasure of the president

2007-10-09T17:42:00.000-07:00

Private health care works wonderfully for the private contractors

2007-10-07T10:43:00.000-07:00

Dr. Brian Day, the new President of the Canadian Medical Association is prescribing private health care and private health insurance for Canada. The horror stories coming out of the private health system in the US and Canada don't seem to phase Day. He's sure it can work here.

Last week both the CBC and the New York Times reported appalling conditions in private nursing homes. Today the New York Times has a report on the wide-spread abuse by private insurers against their clients.

Tens of thousands of Medicare recipients have been victims of deceptive sales tactics and had claims improperly denied by private insurers that run the system’s huge new drug benefit program and offer other private insurance options encouraged by the Bush administration, a review of scores of federal audits has found.

The problems, described in 91 audit reports reviewed by The New York Times, include the improper termination of coverage for people with H.I.V. and AIDS, huge backlogs of claims and complaints, and a failure to answer telephone calls from consumers, doctors and drugstores.

Horrifying? Certainly. Surprising? No. This isn't news. So why is Day advocating this for Canada. It's simple. Incomes of physicians are enormous in a private system. Insurance companies also employ doctors to make medical decisions and pay them huge salaries and bonuses for saying no to patients.

Dr. Day claims that private care can be successfully integrated within a the public system, but we're seeing evidence that it isn't working for patients. Over the past ten to fifteen years, government has reduced funding for health care. Federal transfer payments to the provinces are no longer sufficient to meet public health care needs and provinces claim they are forced to contract out medical services. (They call it streamlining.) The private companies now running nursing homes in BC have cut services and staff. In several places these facilities are unfit for human habitation. Families report that people are going weeks without baths, aren't receiving adequate nutrition, and in some cases are underfed. Family members report seeing puddles of urine left on floors to dry, Alzheimer patients are not being supervised, patients are left to rot in beds and wheelchairs because there aren't enough staff to attend to their needs and ensure their well being. This is what the government calls "managed private care".

Dr. Day has dollar signs in his eyes. Physicians and surgeons make buckets more money in a private system. The few hundred thousand they make a year in the public system just isn't cutting it for them anymore.

I have a suggestion for Dr. Day and other physicians who aren't satisfied with their upper middle-class Canadian lifestyles. Keep your summer mansions in Canada and relocate your greedy asses to the US where you can become wealthier beyond your wildest dreams.

Don't let the door hit you on your way out.

Sharing the fortunes of the alley...

2007-10-06T23:49:00.001-07:00

Sharing the fortunes of the alley...
Originally uploaded by * Ahmad Kavousian *.

A photo from, I'm assuming, the Downtown Eastside by a newly discovered Flickr member.

Canada's Lynndie Englands in training

2007-10-02T08:54:00.000-07:00

The overall program of training our border officers is a very successful one.'— Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day (aka the man who walked with dinosaurs)

You be the judge.

According to the Customs Excise Union (CEUDA), which represents border services officers, the majority of staffers trusted to guard Canada's borders are either part-time students or new, full-time recruits, many who started as students.

The CBSA hires some 1,200 students each summer. Those being kept on, as full-time recruits, get nine weeks of training.

Part-time students are not issued firearms, but all recruits hired on full-time eventually will be. The minister responsible for public safety, Stockwell Day, has just announced a $50-million expansion of the Rigaud centre, to increase the number of recruits that can be trained.

[...]

In numerous posted photos, new recruits are seen drinking and partying at a Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) centre in Rigaud, Que., where they train to become full-time officers, on taxpayers' money.

One recruit wrote, "My tolerance for alcohol that I built up at Rigaud … is insane."

"It looks like you do a bit of learning and a lot of drinking," Hughes told CBC News.

One photo, apparently taken in B.C., shows a Canada Border Services Agency officer drinking from a keg while in uniform. Consuming alcohol in uniform, on or off duty, is a direct violation of CBSA's code of conduct.

Another alleged officer, also pictured in uniform on the web, posted responses to a quiz — answering that she has cheated on a test, smoked pot and felt like killing someone.

Some of the CBSA recruits at the drinking party were making daring poses at a government training facility in Rigaud, Que.Some of the CBSA recruits at the drinking party were making daring poses at a government training facility in Rigaud, Que.

When a friend apparently asks her, online, if she has been issued a gun, the officer answers, "I think the prime minister should be getting on the phone, and calling a few people and getting that straightened up real quick," said Turner.

The female officer also wrote: "I don't have a gun... YET!!! You will be the first one to hear about it when serial killer Harper gives me one."

It seems she didn't like training in Quebec. In postings, the writer refers to the province as "the land of poutine and frog," and "f---ing French bastards."

[...]

"If they are playing around with Facebook, saying those things, what are they going to do when they get a gun?" asks Hughes. "What kind of jokes and pictures are they going to take with firearms?"

A male officer, who posted his CBSA job title as "Bad Ass," did post a picture of the type of gun he expects to get, with the caption, "Soon enough, baby. Soon enough."

That same officer wrote he is "incredibly excited that he got to arrest someone again." There are pictures of men necking and holding each other down, apparently as a joke. The photos are labelled "Victoria Rape."

"It shows immaturity among people and that's exactly what it is," said Turner. "If this person is going to get a gun I think I would be really nervous if I were the traveller."

The former B.C. officers are also raising alarm bells about how new recruits performed on the job.

"Most of them lack the maturity, they lack the experience," Hughes said. "I've seen so many students that should have been referring so many prime candidates for secondary inspection and have just let them into the country."

Stockwell Day is one of the stupidest creatures alive and his judgement is not to be trusted. It’s astounding this idiot has a cabinet post never mind an MP’s job.

Between the buffoons (neoconservative federal politicians) in charge of the nation and the psychos running the US government I won’t be travelling to the US any time soon.

Maggie is moving

2007-09-15T13:20:00.000-07:00

from this existence:

to this:

After years of living alone in conditions* pictured above (first photo), the Alaska Zoo has agreed to move Maggie, a captive African elephant, to the Performing Animal Welfare Sanctuary (PAWS) in San Andreas, California. The news is posted on the Friends of Maggie website.

There she will share a large habitat with three African elephant gals named 71, Lulu, and Mara.

This decision was made easy for the zoo, thanks to the generosity of Bob Barker who offered to donate $100,000 to the zoo to do with as they wish, and another $750,000 to PAWS for the ongoing care of Maggie. Bob has long been a supporter of PAWS and a fierce advocate for captive wildlife. (My guess is the Price was Right for the zoo! The pressure's been on the zoo for years to move her and they've refused to budge before now.)

Bob Barker's announcement on YouTube.

The state of Maggie in the Alaska zoo:
- Living alone is detrimental to the well being of elephants. They are social, highly complex creatures. In the wild they live in herds and have bond groups. Maggie has been without elephant companions for years.
- Living in a climate that forces her to be indoors for up to nine months of every year. The indoor life means a cement cell with only a few toys and, in Maggie's case, a treadmill for exercise. (Yes, the zoo spent thousands of dollars on a goddamn treadmill thinking that would do the trick. Maggie refused to use it. She has never used it.)

Life will soon be very different, Maggie. Relief from arthritis (caused by standing on hard floors), no more pressure wounds, no more bobbing and swaying, now more rubbing your flesh against concrete until it bleeds, no more grinding your tusks to stumps on a brick wall. No more despair and frustration. No more loneliness. (Oh, and no treadmills, just trails!)

* What you see in this photograph is typical of zoo life for most captive elephants, and indeed most captive wildlife all over the world. Many zoos still operate as if it's the nineteenth century, stuffing animals in inadequate spaces to be exhibited to the public. Although zoos now use the language of conservation and education to market their "product" and their breeding programs, they are first and foremost a business. Not surprisingly, most zoos do not make a lot of money - some barely break even. Most either cannot afford - or are unwilling to spend - what it takes to create a suitable environment for captive wildlife, and they always put the needs and interests of their human visitors first. Genuine sanctuaries are viable alternatives. (Note: unfortunately, some outfits are exploiting the Sanctuary label to make a buck. For example: the Scott Riddle "school of elephant management" in Arkansas. Riddle has a long history of cruelty toward elephants. If an organization is not recognized by TAO, it's probably not a sanctuary. Buyer beware!)

I'd like to add that many people who work with animals in these conditions often see nothing wrong with them and believe they are being kind and loving. I've met many zoo keepers and volunteers who genuinely love the animals in their care. (Most are powerless to do anything to change the conditions and merely do their best). What boggles my mind is anyone defending this as a way of life for an elephant. I'm appalled every time I hear someone claiming this is a loving or even an adequate environment when all the evidence screams it is the opposite. We wouldn't treat our dogs and cats this way but think nothing of throwing a huge wild animal in what is virtually a prison cell for its entire life. Who does the cage serve and benefit? Certainly not the animal.

Humans can be very strange and scary sometimes.

If someone put me in a cage and told me it was his or her way of loving me, that it was good for me I'd want to kill myself.

My thoughts exactly

2007-09-09T23:16:00.000-07:00

Pottery Barn Sex
The bland couplings of HBO's Tell Me You Love Me.

If Hollywood produces another show about beautiful dysfunctional soap opera couples, with triple X added of the variety that could only titillate a twelve-year old boy, I will scream.

Why are audiences polite with Bush?

2007-09-09T14:07:00.000-07:00

He garbles his words, he is rarely prepared, he lies to save face, he's a fucking idiot, and people sit there and let him go on and then applaud him politely. He's not the fucking queen.

Boggles the mind

2007-09-09T13:50:00.000-07:00

Whale dies after machine-gunning off Vancouver Island
Sunday, September 9, 2007
CBC News

A whale has died after being harpooned and shot with a machine-gun by aboriginal hunters near Vancouver Island, a U.S. coast guard official said Sunday.

Coast guard Petty Officer Kelly Parker said five people, believed to be members of the Makah band based in Neah Bay in Washington State, killed the California grey whale on Saturday.

Parker said the hunt took place in the Strait of Juan de Fuca, near Washington's western tip.

"The five individuals involved were picked up by police but no charges have been laid," said Parker.

The Makah band has treaty rights to kill whales for traditional, sustenance purposes.

However, the U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) said the use of a machine-gun may not qualify.

No shit Sherlock. Heading out in a motorboat with a machine gun doesn't honour any tradition.

There are a few elders in that tribe who are disgusted by this behaviour. Maybe they can bitchslap some sense into the thugs.

The War on Democracy by John Pilger

2007-09-01T02:32:00.000-07:00

is available in 10 segments on YouTube, beginning here. I've also posted the videos in order below this paragraph. The documentary serves as a much needed reality check, reminding the viewer that what Bush is doing to Iraq is merely a continuation of a decades-long tradition in US foreign policy. The American government's primary interest lies in protecting empire. The War on Democracy shows that the principles of democracy can be found more readily among the poorest people of Latin America than anywhere near the corridors of the White House. It features an exclusive interview with Hugo Chávez and Pilger also speaks to former US government officials who claim the CIA waged covert wars in Latin America. Secret prisons, kidnappings, torture and corruption are not new 'investments' for the United States. Invasion, bloody coups, exploitation and take over is an old, painful, and bitter reality for many countries in Latin and South America, one that continues today. Canadians would do well to pay attention to what is going on there and elsewhere as the US extends its reach for precious natural resources. We'd be idiots to think the US gives a rat's ass about our sovereignty, our social programs, our policies and institutions.

YouTube limits the length of videos so the film is in 10 segments below.

Part 1.

Part 2.

Part 3.

Part 4.

Part 5.

Part 6.

Part 7.

Part 8.

Part9.

Part 10.

Hats off to This Old Brit for providing info about the film earlier this year.

Calling Agent Mulder

2007-08-31T18:31:00.000-07:00

Friday, August 31, 2007

Two right feet, both male and lodged in size 12 running shoes, recently showed up on two islands in British Columbia's Strait of Georgia.

The discovery of the two human feet within the space of a week has prompted speculation that they may belong to men who died in the ocean following a plane or a boating accident.

"We have been informed that it looks like both feet had separated from the body by natural decomposition, possibly while in the water,'' said Cpl. Brian Cox of Oceanside RCMP on Vancouver Island.

The first was discovered Aug. 20 on Jedediah Island by a 12-year-old girl from Washington state, who found a black-and-white Adidas shoe with a sock and foot still inside.

The second was found six days later on Gabriola Island by a Vancouver couple who were hiking along the beach when they came upon a Reebok running shoe with human remains inside.

Cox said a cleanly cut foot would have been very suspicious, but natural decomposition suggests the victims may have drowned.

The B.C. Coroners Service is conducting DNA tests on the feet in a bid to identify them.

Meanwhile, police have been left to ponder the odds against finding two male feet wearing size 12 running shoes within the space of a week. They are so astronomically high, they defy description, Cox said.

playing in Lightroom

2007-08-31T05:51:00.000-07:00

Musical Interlude

2007-08-31T03:18:00.001-07:00

Nils Lofgren performing Black Books

(the guitar solo is gut-wrenching)

Lynn Miles

...hails from Ottawa, Ontario

Recommended: Night in a Strange Town

A little Ian and Sylvia (for you, Mom)

when confronted with wrongdoing: lie, 'forget', and smirk like the smug tool who hired you

2007-08-28T17:50:00.000-07:00

The top ten Gonzales moments from Talking Points Memo.

A big smoochy kiss to Bob Barker

2007-08-28T16:52:00.001-07:00

for his tireless efforts to rescue elephants!

Come on, Alaska Zoo. This is a no-brainer. Release Maggie to PAWS now. (permanent news link)

1.2.3.

2007-08-27T19:05:00.000-07:00

I feel a sick day coming on.

(The antithesis of light summer reading: Cormac McCarthy's bleak, stark, post-apocalyptic novel The Road.)

A little Thurber to lighten the mood.

"What have you done with Dr. Millmoss?" (James Thurber, 1934)

Weekend movies: "The story is very dark, and grabs your deep inner frightens."

2007-08-25T18:29:00.001-07:00

(review of Kontroll on IMDB )

From Hungary: Kontroll - Murder, mystery, romance, just another ride on the subway

From Argentina/Spain: Bombon - a story of destiny and friendship between a man and a dog

From America:
To Live and Die in LA - A Federal Agent is dead. A killer is loose. And the City of Angels is about to explode.

Add Granville Island Pale Ale, turkey burgers (organic natch), the best focaccia in town, and popcorn and you have a heavenly weekend.

Dumbass of the week

2007-08-25T00:18:00.000-07:00

Mike Cassidy, Mercury News Columnist

Unfortunately, there are a zillion thoughtless self-centred fuckwits just like him on the planet.

Elmira's bark should be implanted in Michael Vick's ear for all eternity.

2007-08-23T17:52:00.000-07:00

Elmira

2007-08-23T16:36:00.000-07:00

This "study" implies that for women to be healthy they need to do housework, or more housework. Do they think we're stupid?

August 23, 2007 THE PROVINCE (FINAL)

Housework could change your life, too

CALGARY -- Ladies, start your vacuums.

Pre-menopausal women who are physically active -- especially those who spend a lot of time doing housework -- significantly reduce their risk of developing endometrial cancer, a study has suggested.

About 4,000 Canadian women develop the cancer that attacks the lining of the uterus each year, and 700 die from it.

Christine Friedenreich, a researcher at the Alberta Cancer Board, analyzed results from a study that followed 250,000 European women for six years.

Although all physically active women had some protection against the disease, it was those who spent three or four hours a day working around the house who cut their risk in half.

"In some of those countries, those women were doing an enormous amount of household activity," said Friedenreich. "It does accumulate over the day."

Cindy Young, who manages a cleaning service, said she saw "astounding" health benefits when she became a maid.

"I lost about 60 pounds in a year. Cleaning changed my life," she said.

No, exercise changed your life. Goody for you if you prefer dishwashing, laundry, and vacuuming to hiking, swimming, walking in the park. Me and my uterus prefer the latter. (Endorphins gotta count for something and I don't get endorphins from housework.)

Why zoos deprive elephants of trees

2007-08-20T18:20:00.001-07:00

In the wild, elephants depend on trees for shelter, shade and food. Trees also make handy scratching posts.

The next time you visit an elephant zoo exhibit, check to see whether trees are included, and I don't mean on the periphery where the elephant can't reach or have contact with them. Many elephant exhibits do not include trees because of the risk of damage. I've mentioned the asinine practice before. For example, Tina spent 35 years living in a dreary treeless yard that didn't even have grass. Hers was the most boring space imaginable and it was completely lacking in shade. If she needed shelter from the sun she had to go inside her dingy barn (something she was discouraged from doing during the day as it would deprive visitors who'd paid to see her). Likewise, the Hawthorn elephants were deprived of trees during the time John Cuneo owned them. He felt the elephants would "abuse" his "beloved" trees, so he wouldn't let them near a tree.

I found this little item today in the news. In lieu of shade trees, the Norfolk Virginia zoo has built a canopied misting station to keep their gals cool on summer days. It's a great contraption, one I'm sure the girls spend oodles of time in.

Elephant manager Jody Watkins said the girls are so excited about their $70,000 digs they’ve been coming inside late for dinner.

Other animals’ exhibits at the zoo have substantial shade from trees. But trees were not part of the original design of the elephant yard because of the damage elephants do to them.

I applaud the zoo for building the misting station and incorporating toys and ways to entertain and amuse their girls, but it seems ridiculous that elephants are deprived of trees by design. Ideally, an elephant habitat should not be a treeless "yard" but a richly diverse environment with hills and dales, tall grass, swimming pools (of the natural variety, not cement-bottomed atrocities), mud holes, and lots of trees. A misting station in the middle of all this would be nice, but hardly necessary.

The North Carolina Zoo is an example of what can be achieved for elephants.

Here's an old photo of Jenny (now deceased) communing with a tree at The Elephant Sanctuary near Hohenwald, Tennessee, where elephants and trees don't need permission. Prior to her arrival at the sanctuary Jenny lived the typical life of a circus elephant: chained in a cramped trailer for up to 18 hours a day when she wasn't performing under the "big top."

Getting acquainted with primates

2007-08-18T23:44:00.000-07:00

But first, a sublime photographer.

Steve Bloom's photographs are marvellous! Click on the various projects to view.

Linda Koebner was featured on the PBS Best of Nature (25 years) series. In the film she is reunited with Swing and Doll, two chimps she rescued from a medical research lab 25 years before. She had not had contact for 18 years. Of this experience she writes:

After two days with them, I knew that I would soon have to leave, probably never again to sit close enough to breathe in their smell, touch their soft faces, or tickle them until they chortled with delight. Swing had taken my hand on many occasions, hoping to draw me into a shelter on the far side of the island. I had resisted, because no matter how much I trusted her, I knew the danger of being together in an enclosed space, especially since female chimps are known to wait and plan an attack. But, it was the last day and I felt that if I were to be hurt, it would be worth the risk. I took her hand and went with Swing across the island, away from the cameras and into our own world. We sat together in the cave. Swing put her huge arm around me and drew me close. Then she took my head and turned it to her face, holding it as if it were a fragile bowl. Her hands cradled my face and our eyes met and held. I can only describe the next dozen seconds that passed between us as a lifetime of knowing - knowledge of our children, our pains, our happiness. Thirty years passed between us as a brief union of souls.

The video of their reunion is not available on line - at least, I can't find it, but here's a still:

Monkey World is a marvellous primate rescue centre in Dorset England. The videos are well worth buying and the funds go to a very good cause.

Nyaru Menteng in Borneo rescues and rehabilitates Orangutangs that are being displaced (and killed) by the palm oil industry.

shoot them all!

2007-08-17T12:03:00.000-07:00

I've been walking our gorgeous seawall every day for the past week. As is usual every summer, parts of the park are crowded with tourists and locals. I bust through these bits as quickly as possible because I'm not keen on crowds, but what truly sickens me is the endless littering. Gad, it's unbelievable.

Every few feet there are garbage bins but it's as if they are invisible. Shitheads routinely ignore these and toss their refuse on the beaches, under park benches, on lawns, in the forests and in flower beds. They eat from Styrofoam and paper plates and cups, using plastic utensils and leave these behind. And the smokers! Goddamn. It's bad enough having to inhale the carcinogenic fumes, but seeing hundreds of butts scattered on beaches really pisses me off. Who the fuck do we think we are? Oh I forgot, the Lord's greatest creation evah.

Too many human beings SUCK. The sooner the earth is rid of us, the better off it will be.

2007-08-12T23:53:00.000-07:00

a poignant photo of Tina (who was deprived of contact with grass and trees until she lived at the Sanctuary).

Isn't she darling in her camisole of hay? Kisses, Angelkins.

2007-08-11T22:39:00.000-07:00

A wild lion is reunited with the two men who raised him and set him free. It’s old footage, a little pixelly, but wonderful all the same.

A lion hugs and kisses the woman who rescued him from a cruel circus 6 years before.

YouTubiness and beer

2007-08-03T18:01:00.000-07:00

Some finds this week.

Ray Barretto's Acid. The best salsa music ever. (Video's kinky like your average Republican politician, but the music...man oh man, it's so good)

Flying Dog makes great beer. no shit.

New World Lies. They're all true.

Wedding Thriller Dance

Patton Oswalt on old woman giving birth

Not a pretty picture

2007-07-29T23:33:00.000-07:00

Vancouver is in the middle of a civic workers strike which means there is no garbage collection. Thankfully the non-recyclable waste - the really stinky stuff - is picked up by a private contractor for our apartment so we're covered there. Recyclables (tins, bottles, plastics, newspapers, magazines, cardboard, etc.) won't be picked up until the strike is over. Unfortunately my apartment complex houses a plethora of morons who, under normal circumstances, throw various and sundry trash onto the parking lot and their recyclables into the wrong bins. They're too lazy to wash their cans and bottles before throwing them in the [wrong] bins and enjoy dumping their unwanted furnishings and other personal stuff [like broken computers, keyboards, stereos, bed frames, etc.] near the garbage bins hoping someone will take them away.

The few of us left who care knew the garbage situation would become untenable during the strike so we posted pointed and threatening notices in key places. The first listed suggestions from the City about how to handle garbage during the strike [good cop]. The second, in big bold inflammatory type warned that anyone observed littering the parking lot and disposing of their garbage inappropriately would be reported to the landlord (who happens to be useless, but you work with what you have). The third featured a photograph of the disgusting mess created the first week of the strike accompanied by more inflammatory bold large type [bad cop].

Here's how the garbage looked the first week of the strike. The bins went from orderly to this in five days.

Here's that same photo with a cartoon image of the building manager. (Thanks Simpsons Avatar creator!. The resemblance is astounding.)

Click for the large version.

Ever since the posters went up, the garbage condition has improved 100%. Shame and the fear of eviction in a low vacancy rental market works wonders.

My funny valentine, Sweet comic valentine...

2007-07-23T20:13:00.000-07:00

You make me smile with my heart.

In remembrance of Joanna Burke and Tina

2007-07-20T21:06:00.000-07:00

Joanna gives Tina (a pachyderm I will always hold near and dear) some tender loving care at The Elephant Sanctuary near Hohenwald Tennessee.

They both passed on the same day in different years. Tina in 2004. Joanna in 2006.

A special memorial is planned to mark the anniversary of their deaths on July 21st at The Elephant Sanctuary.

May you together be in the happiest of places with all of the beings you both love and hold dear, those who have come and gone and are free. Know your work goes on and...we miss you.

cucumber pecking order

2007-07-18T10:55:00.000-07:00

2007-07-14T14:47:00.000-07:00

World's tallest man weds (very sweet, this)

71% humidity and holding isn't helping...

2007-07-14T12:39:00.000-07:00

...the prickly periomenopausal creature who sits at her computer like a limp rag with hag etched on her face. (Breaking out in inexplicable extra sweat! grouch grouch grouch.)

But Enough of barely tolerable me.

On the elecam just now a wild deer galloped a few yards in front of Frieda and Billie who were tossing back Timothy hay in one of the pastures. They didn't bat an eyelash.

Speaking of elephants, there was a news story yesterday about two circus elephants escaping from their pen "at the Ray Twinney recreational complex in Newmarket" late one night and walking around town casually munching trees and bushes. The police were called, of course, and "Bunny and Suzi" were escorted back to their cell to prepare for another night's performance.

The article was written to be amusing and cute and elicit chuckles but it made me sad. All captive wild mammals must dream of escape from their cages, electrified pens, and swimming pools but they are doomed creatures. (Suzy and Bunny were able to bust out only because the electricity on their fence was accidentally turned off.)

Shame on Newmarket for still allowing animal acts. Progressive districts, recognizing the cruelty of circuses, have banned them outright. I'm pleased to live in such a place. There will be no more caged elephants here.

Video of the escapees here.

video of Suzy and Bunny inside the circus (the swaying and bobbing is characteristic behaviour of elephants in circus and zoo environments. It is unnatural behaviour, a neurotic response to stress. Elephants should not be in circuses.)

It's like trying to sleep in a dry sauna

2007-07-11T04:30:00.000-07:00

I'm not used to daytime temperatures at night. Tomorrow (now today) it's supposed to be 37 degrees Celsius here which is unheard of. That's a desert temperature. I'm reaaaally not looking forward to it.

My building managers on vacation.

It's amazing how you can create spitting images of the Homer-like individuals in your life using the Simpsons-movie avatar creation gadget.

Slowly going nuts here, but at least I can work from home.

Discovering something new every day

2007-07-06T10:08:00.001-07:00

Lafarge Eco Systems has received a Pangolin.

The Ground Pangolin (Manis temminckii), also known as Temminck's Pangolin or the Cape Pangolin, is one of four species of pangolin which can be found in Africa and the only one in southern and eastern Africa. Although it is present over quite a large area, it is rare throughout it and notoriously difficult to spot. Its scarcity is partly because it is hunted by humans for its scales, which are used in love charms, and partly because it is often burnt in bush fires. It is designated an endangered species by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service,[3] although the IUCN only lists it as "near threatened" on its Redlist.[2]

With the exception of the underside, it is covered in extremely hard scales. When threatened, it usually will roll up into a ball to protect the vulnerable belly. The scales on the tail can also be used as blades to slash at attackers.

Rewenge!

2007-07-06T02:25:00.000-07:00

1. Alan Dershowitz, advice columnist to the wingnuts (Considering I am new to wingnut photoshopping, this isn't a bad effort.)

2. My building manager as a Simpsons character

3. His hapless wife.

Contractors too cheap to buy real toothpaste

2007-07-02T11:07:00.000-07:00

Who's surprised that hospitals, prisons and institutions for the mentally ill bought poison toothpaste?

After federal health officials discovered last month that tainted Chinese toothpaste had entered the United States, they warned that it would most likely be found in discount stores.

In fact, the toothpaste has been distributed much more widely. Roughly 900,000 tubes containing a poison used in some antifreeze products have turned up in hospitals for the mentally ill, prisons, juvenile detention centers and even some hospitals serving the general population.

Uncanny

2007-07-01T02:34:00.001-07:00

To update this post:

In June, lawyers for the defendants made a settlement offer (to avoid court) that I considered generous and I told my lawyer I was inclined to accept. My lawyer thought he could get more and we argued back and forth about this. I hemmed and hawed and finally told him to do whatever he thought was best. (I hired him to look after my interests, he's done a standup job, so why would I start micromanaging the process now?).

My lawyer scheduled a mediation hearing for June 29th at which all the lawyers and insurance whatevers would convene and hash out a final settlement. This meeting ended up being cancelled because an agreement was reached in advance. (Law suits are about money and mitigating costs, not justice, and in the end if the losing side can avoid incurring more costs they will. Like court, mediation hearings cost money. It's cheaper to settle without going through all that.)

As I mentioned, whimsically, in a previous post, my June horoscope said, The month ends with an emphasis on money. You may come into quite a bit of cash at this time. You may be paid a substantial sum for a commission, insurance payout, or bonus. It may be money owed to you or an outright gift or prize.

Since the settlement offer, my lawyer discovered he can get another 5 grand on a technicality so he's going for it. This will delay me receiving the money but I've already waited nearly 4 years; another few weeks won't make a difference.

Here's what my July horoscope says (and I know this is totally flaky but it's just so much fun...)

On the last day of June, just hours before the start of July, a full moon arrived in your house of joint finances. You may have been told about a generous commission, court settlement, licensing fee, signing bonus, or other windfall at the time, but if not, that news may still arrive in the first days of July. Indeed, the universe is about to financially reward you in a big, obvious way, dear Gemini.

Please and thank you, universe.

Sweet little ditty

2007-06-29T22:36:00.000-07:00

When I get my ears by I am Robot and Proud

Blogging my bitch

2007-06-29T17:22:00.000-07:00

My upstairs neighbour (pictured left*) is driving me BATSHIT.

She's been moving out of her apartment for the last month and yesterday she woke me up first thing in the morning crashing, banging, dragging, and clomping, after having kept me awake all hours the night before and the night before that crashing, banging, dragging, and clomping. Bleary-eyed and fuming, I stomped upstairs to ask what the hell? She said she'd be out in an hour. (Liar who is still her umpteen hours later packing and hauling shit.) She's too - cheap? unable? - to rent a moving truck so she's selling what ever she can and dragging everything else to the trash. (This is typical of the newer tenants. Instead of hiring 1-800-GotJunk or taking items to Goodwill, they just toss them in the alley hoping some random person will recycle their crap. I loathe people who litter...looooooathe.)
How much can one person accumulate in a one bedroom apartment (that they need a full month to unload it?)

Too bad it's not the Middle Ages when people pissed in buckets because I'd be sorely tempted to empty one on her from my balcony.

Update: 10:30 PM: Incredibly, she is still moving out. 29 days and nights of moving out. Noah packed his ark in less time.

*create your own Simpsons avatar

Another day at the office

2007-06-27T17:53:00.000-07:00

Die Hardly Working

This was the best feature "On the Lot" last night.

Hot Salsa

2007-06-24T04:37:00.001-07:00

I command the godz to give me talent like this in my next life. Holy freakin' moley.

Anya Garnis and Pasha Kovalev (Link)

Yes, do click to play.

This is a wonderful reminder (to women) that it is possible to have meat on your legs, hips and bellies and still be drop dead sexy. Never mind that this woman is also outrageously fit and capable of athletic feats that defy the imagination. Indeed, none of the women in this dance competition are sticks. How refreshing.

(The song used in the choreography.)

Kicks dad in the pants. Wake up, your kid's a masterpiece.

2007-06-23T17:33:00.000-07:00

My father doesn't support me dancing. He hasn't seen how I've progressed in the art... I'm using this opportunity to show him how dance can be appreciated by every community, especially the Latin community which a lot of of fathers don't appreciate or support. - Jesus Solorio

Holy Mother of God, can this guy dance. If you can get past the intro (60 seconds), watch this guy's audition. He's breathtaking.

2007-06-23T15:58:00.000-07:00

Holy Molar!

Bravo, Joyce Poole

2007-06-23T00:46:00.000-07:00

One of the most powerful, moving, and magnificent speeches I have ever read.

The next time somebody says (to me, as a certain somebody did recently): "But do you sacrifice the sanctity of the national parks in order to allow enough people come to love the wilderness? Do you sacrifice the quality of life for individual animals by keeping them in zoos where enough people can see them to WANT to protect them in the wild? At the end of the day, my answer is yes." I will point them to David Hancocks, architect and former director of the Seattle Zoo:

Today, zoos boast about their green revolution. The new zoos, sans cages, make visitors feel better, but it is all deception. The animals typically have no contact with living plants, separated from them by electric wires. Many "natural" features are made of disguised, unyielding concrete. The restricted dusty spaces the animals inhabit are often of no better quality than the old cages. Good zoos promote animal needs; in mediocre zoos they are the first to be compromised.

The simplistic aim of too many zoos is to attract hordes of visitors, to whom they offer non-organic, non-free-range food items, and entertain them by revealing little more than the size, shape, and colour of the animals.

Zoos often claim, however, to be conservation centres. But "conservation" for most zoos just means "breeding", which is merely basic zoo business: zoos must breed their animals to preserve their collections. Hardly any animals born in zoos are introduced to the wild.

They nonetheless loudly position themselves as leaders in wildlife conservation. In truth, government and non-government agencies are most successful in restoring habitat and reintroducing wild species. Zoos play an occasional minor role - and want all the glory.

and to Joyce Poole, who addressed the Elephant Manager's Association as follows:

Now to the tricky question that you would probably prefer not to ask me but as keynote speaker I am allowed to ask myself: What do I feel about elephants in zoos? I feel sad when I see elephants in zoos and I have seen a lot of sad elephants in zoos. On the basis of all I have learned about elephants my personal feeling is that those zoos that cannot provide a full social experience for elephants do not have the moral right to keep them. I don't feel that any of the zoos I have visited meet the standards that we should aspire to.

I would like to pose some questions to all of you. How many zoos today provide their elephants with a basic family unit? How many provide elephants with enough space? How many allow elephants the freedom to be themselves? These are some of the most basic elephant needs. How many use protected contact? Of those zoos with captive breeding programs, how many have thought about the long-term future of the elephants they produce? Do they have plans for the social, emotional and physical needs of the calves and mothers? Will they keep the calves with their mothers? Do they intend to form families and herds? Of zoos that have produced calves how many have kept those calves with their mothers? What provisions are there for the social needs of bulls in captive situations? How many of you have reflected on the emotional impact of the various invasive procedures you use?

I'm sure that you can give me a long list of reasons why things are done the way they are today, but I would argue that as long as elephants are confined in small spaces, behind bars, in barns, on chains, moved with electric prods and bull hooks, kept in socially deprived conditions, social misfits will be produced. You cannot raise intelligent, socially and emotionally complex beings under socially deprived and emotionally abused conditions and expect to produce normal individuals. It won't work. Your musth males will continue to kill people, and other elephants. Your females will kill people, and be unable to raise their own young. It is a vicious circle.

I know that everyone is trying their best to make things better for elephants in captivity and I am not blaming anyone for the situation that exists today; it is a product of our collective historical perspective on the acceptable treatment of animals. Society's views on animals have evolved extremely rapidly in the last few years and it isn't easy economically or conceptually to keep abreast of changing attitudes. But I would like to see a day in the future when a limited number of zoos in the country keep elephants and that these facilities allow elephants the freedom to be together in situations where they can interact in natural family groupings, where they can be allowed to mingle with males on occasion, to reproduce without artificial insemination and to care for their own calves in the context of their families. I think this concept will be difficult, but I do believe it is possible. And I challenge you as a group to think dynamically and move forward.

Anyone who has spent as many years as I have watching elephants in total freedom has a responsibility to say something about the way elephants should be treated. I don't have any reservations about saying that elephants are highly intelligent and that they have complex and deep emotions. We have moved way beyond worrying about being labeled anthropomorphic. We know too much about elephants. The argument simply isn't relevant.

I love what Joyce said about elephant emotions being an indisputable fact. That takes guts and I'm so glad she said it. Though people love their dogs and cats and feel bonded to them, many people continue to be uncomfortable with the idea that wild animals have emotions. But I guess empathizing might get in the way of our inhumane slaughter of food animals, our sport hunting and culling, our need to stroll to the local zoo with hordes of other humans to gawk at animals in cages. We wouldn't subject our precious pets to such a life, but see nothing wrong with imprisoning what we call "exotic" animals. And although we claim these exhibits educate and inspire empathy, we continue to call the human savages among us animals.

The more we learn about the lives of those we subjugate and harm the less comfortable we become. The discomfort is growing and spreading, thank God.

John Pilger's War on Democracy opens in Britain June 21st

2007-06-19T00:23:00.000-07:00

The War On Democracy examines the false democracy that comes with western corporations and financial institutions and a war waged, materially and as propaganda, against popular democracy.

The trailer:

Let's hope and pray this film wends its way here soon.

John Pilger is a world-renowned journalist, author and documentary filmmaker, who began his career in 1958 in his homeland, Australia, before moving to London in the 1960s.

He regards eye-witness as the essence of good journalism. He has been a foreign correspondent and a front-line war reporter, beginning with the Vietnam war in 1967. He is an impassioned critic of foreign military and economic adventures by Western governments.

"It is too easy," he says, "for Western journalists to see humanity in terms of its usefulness to 'our' interests and to follow government agendas that ordain good and bad tyrants, worthy and unworthy victims and present 'our' policies as always benign when the opposite is usually true. It's the journalist's job, first of all, to look in the mirror of his own society."

He believes a journalist also ought to be a guardian of the public memory and often quotes Milan Kundera: "The struggle of people against power is the struggle of memory against forgetting."

John Pilger's web page.

Credit: This Old Brit, a very fine blogger.

Memorial for Jenny

2007-06-17T11:34:00.001-07:00

Since this is on Youtube, I thought I'd share it here even though Jenny passed last October.

Dear, sweet, triumphant Jenny. She was love on four great lovely legs, (one of them permanently injured by a circus).

I want one of these

2007-06-16T21:06:00.000-07:00

i'm in ur pond stalkin' ur bait
(from the Daily Puppy)

Rediscovered, but sadly lacking updates: the adorable Cricket.

Doug MacLeod performing The New Panama Limited

2007-06-16T01:24:00.000-07:00

One of the greats.

MacLeod is one of the last remaining Bluesmen who learned from the old masters, lived the music, survived the life, and now continues to carry forward that valuable tradition. Within the blues world, MacLeod is known for his quality recordings which feature superb songwriting, guitar wizardry, warm soulful vocals, wit, and unforgettable live performances.

Born in the pines of Virginia, MacLeod's unique, unorthodox, and powerfully rhythmic style of acoustic guitar playing is tempered by his early years as a blues bass player, and honed by his subsequent journeys into jazz and electric blues.

The way it is

2007-06-15T23:45:00.001-07:00

We Can't Make it Here

Right Here Now is another great one by James McMurtry.

2007-06-13T21:27:00.000-07:00

My new favourite webby place.

"June 12, 2007 -- Your keyword for the day is Excitement, or maybe Enjoyment, or even Excess."

2007-06-12T17:50:00.002-07:00

What's strange about having been born on June 12 is sharing a birthday with George Bush (Senior, not Junior. Thank heavens for infinitesimally microscopic mercies, I guess.) On a brighter note, Anne Frank was also born on June 12th.

So far the day is going swimmingly for my taste buds (2 pieces of carrot cake, chocolate mousse, and some whipped cream on a cookie concoction) and badly for my intestines.

There isn't a single chore that can rely on me today. Well...I did water three plants.

IF TUESDAY, JUNE 12TH, IS YOUR BIRTHDAY
By SALLY BROMPTON
June 12, 2007 -- Because you possess such an independent mind you tend to steer clear of causes and groups that aim to change the world but you will find yourself attracted to one such movement over the coming 12 months. Get involved by all means but don't lose your ability to think critically. Your thoughts must always be your own.

Just once I'd like it to say "If you were born today you'll be winning a multi-million dollar lottery this year."

Satellites

2007-06-05T02:24:00.000-07:00

the voice of an angel...Rickie Lee Jones

Are you alright?

2007-06-04T22:57:00.000-07:00

Lucinda Williams' album West is on repeat right now.

Gotcha

2007-06-04T01:16:00.001-07:00

Love love love Patricia Barber...

how long can the sky rain shit?

2007-06-03T02:14:00.000-07:00

WASHINGTON - The Bush administration said Tuesday it will fight to keep meatpackers from testing all their animals for mad cow disease.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture tests fewer than 1 percent of slaughtered cows for the disease, which can be fatal to humans who eat tainted beef. A beef producer in Kansas, Creekstone Farms Premium Beef, wants to test all of its cows.

Larger meat companies feared that move because, if Creekstone should test its meat and advertised it as safe, they might have to perform the expensive tests on their larger herds as well.

President Bush is as mad as a hatter and one sick fuck. (Take a look at who he's just nominated for the Surgeon General's job. Fred Phelps Light.)

The earth is DYING in part because of the meat industry.

"The ammonia that the livestock industry discharges into the air is the single largest source of acid deposited on Dutch soils --- doing more damage than the country's cars or factories." (National Institute of Public Health and Environmental Protection, The Netherlands)"

Rain forests are burned to create grazing land for cattle. Massive amounts of excrement are dumped into estuaries. Animals are tortured and abused in factory farms and slaughter houses. Hormone injections, antibiotics, animal protein in feed for herbivores. The meat industry is sick sick sick.

A reliable site for news about the food industry and genuine sources of organic food is organicconsumers.org. (Safeway's "O" Organics brand is not to be trusted.)

My lawr suit and my horoscope

2007-06-01T20:28:00.000-07:00

Writing about matters such as lawr suits on the intertubes is risky so I'll refrain from revealing too much, but Holy Macaroni, Batman, things seem to be coming together for moi!

The defense lawyers have made an offer that I think is reasonable but my lawyer scoffed and advised me to reject it and proceed through mediation. (The companies named in the suit have the ethics of Enron and Halliburton and they've made my life hell so I'm heeding his advice.) I will say that although the defense lawyers - well one of them - tried every way from Sunday to intimidate me in discovery and did at one point bring me to tears, their clients turned out to be a dream for us. One called in sick the day of the hearing and didn't show up. The other one made a huge show of swearing on the bible and then proceeded, under oath, to corroborate all of my testimony. He didn't contradict a thing. In fact, his description of my accident was much more dramatic than mine. He admitted creating a hazard, failing to post warning signs, witnessing the accident and then not lifting a finger to help me for no good reason. (An equivalent scenario: You're crossing on a green light and the defendant runs over you with his vehicle. He stops, gets out of his car and stands over bloody mangled you with cell phone in hand but doesn't dial 911 because your crying offends him. Then he drives away. I'm not even kidding.)

He also described me as "a fat lady" and when my lawyer motioned in my direction and asked him if he recognized me, he said no. (Add another 10 grand to the tab for the slur!)

I launched this out of a need for justice but law suits are about money and mitigating costs (as it's been hammered in to my head). So now we're in the settlement phase where every expense has to be itemized and an amount for pain and suffering is determined.

The mediation hearing is set for the end of June. Like discovery, mediation costs money so the lawyers may agree to settle beforehand.

Here's what my horoscope says for June:

The month ends with an emphasis on money. You may come into quite a bit of cash at this time. You may be paid a substantial sum for a commission, insurance payout, or bonus. It may be money owed to you or an outright gift or prize, or it may be that you get approval for a loan, mortgage, special sponsorship, or venture capital. No matter what it is, it will give you the luxury of choice - and that's sure to be one of life's great pleasures. One way or anther, your fortunes should increase at this full moon, June 30.

I read that and my heart sings.

2007-06-01T18:43:00.001-07:00

"Wanpen has amazing control of the brush and will carefully create a variety of brushstrokes upon the canvas. She is always very careful when applying paint to the canvas and keeps her eyes fixed straight in front of her the entire time, whether she is making the downward stroke of a tree trunk or the single dot of a flower bud."

Wanpen is an elephant. More here.

"Michael had a dog named Apple, with whom he loved to play "chase." He executed the painting from memory using black and white pigments, the color of Apple's coat, though he had a large selection of colors to choose from."

Michael was a gorilla who lived with Koko, who also paints.

Elephonic Rhapsodies
Astonishingly beautiful music made by elephant and man together. (Elephants play percussion instruments and express through their voices with "almost no editing or studio tricks".)

Elephant toll booth

2007-05-28T21:12:00.000-07:00

He may be shoving his weight around - (though, please note, without harming anyone) but this is what happens when human beings rob wildlife of their habitat.

Elephant roadblock irks motorists
Reuters | Tuesday, 29 May 2007

NEW DELHI: An elephant in eastern India has sparked complaints from motorists who accuse it of blocking traffic and refusing to allow vehicles to pass unless drivers give it food, a newspaper reported.

The Hindustan Times said the elephant was scouting for food on a highway in the eastern state of Orissa, forcing motorists to roll down their windows and get out of the car.

"The tusker then inserts its trunk inside the vehicle and sniffs for food," local resident Prabodh Mohanty, who has come across the elephant twice, was quoted as saying.

"If you are carrying vegetables and banana inside your vehicle, then it will gulp them and allow you to go."

If a commuter does not wind down his window or resists opening the vehicle door, the elephant stands in front of the car until the driver allows him to carry out his routine inspection.

Forestry officials told the newspaper that the elephant is old and is therefore looking for easy food.

"So far, it has not harmed anybody," said Sirish Mohanty, a forest ranger working in the state.

"We are telling commuters regularly not to tease the elephant. But if people don't heed to our advice and harass the tusker, then it can retaliate."

Elephants are a protected and endangered species in India, which has nearly half of the world's 60,000 Asian elephants.

But conservationists say its population has fallen rapidly in recent years because of loss of habitat as a result of human encroachment into forest areas.

Almost summer

2007-05-28T20:26:00.000-07:00

Some fleurs near my place. (This is kinda spectacular when clicked on.)

Temperatures are expected to rise to 26 degrees Celsius, or 79 Fahrenheit tomorrow. No excuse now for not taking the camera with me where ever I go.

And here's an aw3esom3ly c001! discovery.

Reuters WASHINGTON -- Army ants tired of potholes will throw their bodies into rough spots to make a smoother road for their sisters, British researchers reported Sunday.

They found that army ants of Central and South America match their own bodies to the size of the hole they want to plug. Several may plunge together to fill in bigger holes, they report in the journal Animal Behaviour.

Scott Powell and Nigel Franks of the University of Bristol studied an army ant species called Eciton burchellii, which march across the forests of Central and South America in swarms of up to 200,000.

These raiders always remain connected to the nest by a trail of other ants. But this highway of living ants can be extremely uneven as it passes over leaves and branches on the forest floor. So a few of the ants climb into the dips to make a smooth road. "When it comes to rapid road repairs, the ants have their own do-it-yourself highways agency,'' Franks said in a statement.

"When the traffic has passed, the down-trodden ants climb out of the potholes and follow their nest mates home,'' Powell added.

"Broadly, our research demonstrates that a simple but highly specialized behavior performed by a minority of ant workers can improve the performance of the majority, resulting in a clear benefit for the society as a whole.''

Powell and Franks conducted experiments in the lab to demonstrate this behavior. "We inserted planks drilled with different sizes of hole into the army ants' trails to see how well different sizes of ant matched different sizes of pot hole. Indeed, they fit beautifully,'' said Franks.

"I think every road user who has ever inwardly cursed as their vehicle bounced across a pothole -- jarring every bone in their body -- will identify with this story,'' said Franks.

Most ant species are believed to live in large colonies of sisters, all with the same mothers. Males are also sometimes produced, but only under certain circumstances.

I'd rather be single, celibate, and holed up with 50 cats for the rest of my life than compete to be some wooden asshole's trophy wife.

2007-05-23T00:15:00.000-07:00

The Bachelor has to be the worst reality show, ever.

So why are we not treating sewage?

2007-05-22T07:23:00.000-07:00

Estrogen that goes down Canadian toilets -- some naturally from women, some from the Pill -- is enough to make entire fish species too feminine to reproduce, a seven-year Canadian study shows.

Fish scientist Karen Kidd dripped small amounts of estrogen into a clean lake in northwestern Ontario over several years, just as if urine with the female hormone were running in via sewage from a nearby municipality.

This constant hormone bath made male minnows produce eggs in unnatural, part-female sex organs.

And even after she stopped adding estrogen and the water turned clean again, the minnows almost completely disappeared for several years.

Even small concentrations of estrogen can decimate wild fish populations, the University of New Brunswick biology professor concludes, even at levels found in some Canadian waters. She wouldn't name individual rivers. (link)

2007-05-21T13:46:00.000-07:00

Best critterblogger.

Now to the most boring subject in the universe: exercise.

Who wants a body? Not me. (If I had my druthers I'd be a gourmet-food-snarfing, video-watching sloth.) But since I can't exist without one and I can't bear to live in a body that's out of shape and unhealthy, I make an effort to stay in shape. In the past year this has involved power walking a few times a week. Lately I've wanted more definition in my muscles and walking doesn't fulfill that bill. I briefly considered joining a gym, but a quick recall of my loathesome experience with Fitness World nixed that idea. (The sweat smell, the hiphop music, the lineups for equipment, having to wipe other people's sweat off the equipment, having to drag myself there and home, the monthly $30 fee - the gym experience is not for me.) After reading Linda's review of Turbo Jam, I decided to invest in some DVDs.

Chalene Johnson's Turbo Jam workouts are invigorating, particularly Punch, Kick, and Jam and Lower Body Jam. (LBJ hardened up my legs in less than two weeks.) She combines Brazilian dance and martial arts moves into an interesting and challenging workout. It takes some time to learn the steps, but once you've mastered them the workout is rather enjoyable and the time flies.

I'm also doing the boring but highly effective Burn it Up by Debbie Siebert. It's part of her "Slim in Six (Weeks)" package that comes with three workouts, from mild to advanced, and two "bonus" videos: a 12 minute ab routine and an 11 minute stretch and relax. Burn it Up is the advanced segment. Each workout features cardio, strength, and endurance, an ab workout, pushups, and stretch and relax.

TurboJam and Slim in Six are sold by a site called beachbody-dot-com (which has a reputation for ripping people off). I recommend buying them from eBay or Amazon.

You need light weights, resistance bands, and a mat, but these are best bought from a local store, not beachbody-dot-com.

I just ordered Get Moving - Walking for Weight Loss. A video sample can be found here. Her AM/PM Stretch video looks good, too. What appeals to me about these videos are the natural settings - she's always outdoors in a beautiful landscape - and the easy going personality of the trainer.

Deryk Schlessinger is either as mean as his mother, or someone's out to get him

2007-05-19T22:34:00.000-07:00

Dr. Laura son linked to lurid Web page

Site contained violent, sex-oriented images one official called 'repulsive'

Seems the little munchkin, a rabid Republican like his ma, enjoys beating up protesters.

More about the apple of his mother's eye on Wonkette.

Laura's sordid history.

Human beings are destroying bees - surprised?

2007-05-19T12:02:00.000-07:00

Pesticides, antibiotics, and forced migrations have wiped out bee colonies across North America.

Honey bee crisis tied to farming, expert says

Explanations for the crisis range from the plausible -- over-use of pesticides and the infestation of different kinds of fungus and mites -- to the far-fetched -- that cellphone frequencies are somehow interfering with bees' homing instincts.

Especially when the answer, says Simon Fraser University bee expert Mark Winston, is probably as simple -- and as complex -- as farming itself.

What's to blame, Winston says, is what's wrong with Western agriculture everywhere -- a system that relies on chemicals and over-managed monocultures at the same time as it eschews natural systems and biodiversity.

Or in a nutshell, "it's agriculture practices in general that are at fault," Winston says.

Even the bees used to pollinate most crops in the U.S. -- and to an extent in Canada as well -- aren't even native to North America. Honey bees were imported here in the 15th century by European settlers who missed honey on their toast. Never mind that North America was home to tens of thousands of native bees that had been pollinating native plants for centuries.

They were, in the minds of those settlers, the wrong sorts of bees, so the artificial cultivation of honey bees took over and eventually overtook the wholesale pollination of crops everywhere.

And as soon as you become dependent on one species for anything, you become vulnerable.

But it was the intensification of farming in the mid-20th century, says Winston -- when it ceased to be farming at all, and became agribusiness -- that exacerbated and focused the problem.

Antibiotics were given recklessly to beehives to prevent the onset of disease. And that, says Winston, has led to widespread antibiotic resistance.

(The same system applies in other forms of livestock cultivation, from beef to pork to chicken. In fact, more than two-thirds of all the antibiotics produced in North American today are given to livestock.)

Added to that, chemical pesticides were introduced to beehives to control the spread of mites, says Winston, but with that wholesale use came more resistance.

[...]

Since so many native species have been displaced both by a lack of diversity and honey bees imported from Europe, we now live in a world where bees are trucked like migrant workers from one part of North America to another to pollinate crops as they grow. Thus, explains Winston, the same colony of bees might be in Florida in March, California in April and Maine in May.

What's more, this is how most large-scale beekeepers make their money -- by charging farmers "pollination fees" that earn them four or five times as much money as producing honey does.

But the danger of this system, Winston says, is two-fold. First, because bees are allowed to pollinate only a certain kind of crop at a certain time -- first almonds, then apples, then alfalfa, for example -- they don't get the nutrients they would from eating a more varied diet while they pollinate, and that can make them sick and more vulnerable to parasites and other forms of disease.

"A bee will only live 30 to 40 days, so each generation of bee may only be receiving one kind of major pollen source," Winston says.

And finally, there is climate change. When it gets warmer, bees stay active longer.

The problem with that is the longer they're active, the more sugar they consume -- sugar that should be set aside for winter when there is no pollen for them to gather. So they starve to death.

Add it all up, Winston says, and is it any wonder bee colonies are collapsing? An agricultural system that turns its back on nature and natural systems is bound to harm the very natural processes it depends on.

We are dandy little creatures, aren't we?

Dog love

2007-05-13T11:53:00.000-07:00

Doesn't this just melt your heart?

Meet the antithesis of the Bush Administration: the inventor of Mother's Day

2007-05-12T15:15:00.000-07:00

Mothers Day was NOT invented by Hallmark. Or by 1-800-FLOWERS or even Sees Candies. In fact, Julia Ward Howe, the woman credited with initiating Mothers Day in 1870, would have been appalled by its crass commercialism. Were she alive today, Julia probably would have told her kids to dispense with the roses and chocolates, and instead join her in an anti-war rally. Yes, Julia Ward Howe was a peacenik.

While best known for writing the Battle Hymn of the Republic and her stance against slavery, Julia was horrified by the carnage and suffering during the Civil War and the economic devastation that followed. She was also heart-broken by the outbreak of war between France and Germany in 1870, with its ominous display of German military might and imperial designs. She used her poetic gift to pen a proclamation against war, a proclamation that birthed Mothers Day.

“Our husbands will not come to us, reeking with carnage, for caresses and applause,” Julia wrote. “Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn all that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience. We, the women of one country, will be too tender of those of another country to allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs. ” Her solution? Women should gather together to “promote the alliance of the different nationalities, the amicable settlement of international questions, the great and general interests of peace.”

This year on Mothers Day weekend, May 13-14, CODEPINK: Women for Peace is organizing a gathering in Washington DC in the spirit of Julia’s original proclamation. Recognizing that our nation and our world is in crisis and that we, the women, must intervene, we will be gathering for a 24-hour vigil in front of the White House.

We’ll be calling for an end to the occupation of Iraq and for stopping an attack on Iran. We’ll spend our time strategizing about how to promote citywide resolutions, state orders to bring home the National Guard, legislation to cut off funds for the war, campaigns to support disaffected soldiers, global efforts to stop the next war, and people-to-people ties with Iraqis and Iranians. Our weekend plans also include a performance of the historic antiwar play Lysistrata, an evening concert, antiwar films, writing letters to Laura Bush, a pink pajama party, an interfaith service on Sunday morning, and a visit to Walter Reed Hospital to deliver roses to mothers/wives of injured soldiers.

This Mothers Day, we’ll be echoing Julia Ward Howe’s plea: “Disarm! Disarm! The sword of murder is not the balance of justice.” Instead of trinkets and breakfast in bed, we’ll be giving our mothers and the mothers around the world the greatest gift: our energy, our passion, our commitment and our determination to stop the violence and build a world without war. (link)

It's the little things that make a gal happy

2007-05-11T21:46:00.000-07:00

Like this Trailer Park Boys clip.

Contrary to mythes populaires

2007-05-11T19:08:00.001-07:00

Dr. Gabe Mirkin's Fitness and Health e-Zine May 13, 2007

Most Exercisers Do Not Raise Metabolism

Many people believe that exercise controls weight by increasing your metabolism so you burn extra calories all day long. A review of the world's literature from the University of South Australia in Adelaide shows that you have to be in very good shape to exercise vigorously enough to increase your metabolism (Journal of Sports Science, December 2006). This means that most exercisers are not able to exercise hard enough to burn extra calories for a significant time after they finish exercising, so increased post-exercise metabolism does not cause most exercisers to lose weight.

Researchers monitor changes in metabolism by measuring how much oxygen your body uses over a period of time. The maximum amount of oxygen that you can use during exercise in a given time is called VO2max. To increase the amount of oxygen that your body uses after exercising, you must exercise at an intensity of at least 50 percent of your VO2max, which is too much for casual exercisers. You have to exercise very vigorously to increase your oxygen consumption and body temperature for more than a few minutes

This study shows that if a person wants to increase his metabolism for from 3 to 24 hours, he must exercise for more than 50 minutes at 70 percent of his VO2max, or more than 6 minutes at 100 percent of his VO2max. You need to be very fit to be able to exercise at these levels. For most people, weight control depends on more on how long you exercise, and far less on the extra calories that you burn after you finish exercising.

There's no time like now to get started.

Jane Fonda, rockin' at 70. You go girl!

2007-05-10T23:28:00.000-07:00

"Jane Fonda...insists [her new] beau is very different from the alpha males she has been attracted to her whole life. Taking a swipe at her ex-husbands Roger Vadim, Tom Hayden and Ted Turner, she adds,"

"Unlike some of my other husbands who will remain nameless, he doesn't suck up all of the oxygen in the room. Like a lot of women, all of my life, I never felt that I could kind of hold my own space. I always thought I had to be with an alpha male that, you know, that would sort of validate me. I could never be validated on my own."

"And I outgrew that. It took me a long time. Into my 60s. But I don't need a man to validate me anymore. I could be with just a really nice guy who is capable of showing up and loving me and that feels really good. It's a nice thing for me to be able to feel this when I will be 70 in December, and, you know, the wisdom is that after a certain age, you can't have a really fulsome sexy, loving relationship. And hey, I'm here to prove that's not true. It just can get better." [link]

Blaring from the front page of today's paper, a headline too ludicrous to be real

2007-05-08T07:01:00.000-07:00

May 8, 2007
Canada boosts pesticide limit
More residue to be allowed on fruit, vegetables to match U.S. levels; current strict rules pose a 'trade irritant'

OTTAWA -- Canada is set to raise its limits on pesticide residues on fruit and vegetables for hundreds of products.

The move is part of an effort to harmonize Canadian pesticide rules with those of the United States, which allows higher residue levels for 40 per cent of the pesticides it regulates.

Differences in residue limits, which apply both to domestic and imported food, pose a potential "trade irritant," said Richard Aucoin, chief registrar of the Pest Management Regulatory Agency, which sets Canada's pesticide rules.

EVEN THOUGH science suspects pesticides are contributing to the decline in bee and songbird populations.

Oh, but do read on and weep as you go, for even Indonesia has a better track record than Canada and the EU is way ahead in banning pesticides.

Comparing 40 U.S. limits with those set by Canada, the European Union, Australia and the World Health Organization, [David Boyd, an environmental lawyer and author of a 2006 study of international pesticide regulations] found the U.S. had the weakest rules for more than half of the pesticide uses studied.

In some cases the differences were dramatic: The U.S. allows 50 times more vinclozolin on cherries as the E.U., and 100 times as much lindane on pineapples.

Canada fared no better: For permethrin on leaf lettuce and spinach, the Canadian and U.S. limit was 400 times higher than in Europe, and the Canadian cap on methoxychlor was 1,400 times the European limit.

Both countries also allow pesticides that have been banned not only in Europe but also in some developing countries, Boyd noted.

Methamidophos, for example, is permitted in Canada but banned in Indonesia and other developing nations, he found.

(We must be well and truly mad. But what else is new?)

A Pennsylvania bee farmer has a theory that genetically modified crops engineered to produce a naturally occurring pesticide are either killing off the bees or negatively affecting their immune systems.

Anything's possible because, really, Big-Agri doesn't know what the hell it's doing when it messes with Mother Nature, except that what it does increases profits in the short term. Ooops, there go the insects we depend on to have crops....oh well.

(God couldn't have created man, it would have been counterintuitive.)

I love Heather Mallick, but I think this may be a false nostalgia

2007-05-08T06:38:00.000-07:00

Resigned to stay
Whither the principle of ministerial responsibility?
HEATHER MALLICK
May 7, 2007

"I resign. I did my job badly. I take responsibility for my shortcomings."

I only have it in quotes out of a mad hope that one day someone might actually say such a thing. But they won't.

As of this writing (I include this qualifying phrase because my middle name is Pollyanna), I await the resignation of the following:
Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor for his professed ignorance that prisoners handed over to Afghan forces by Canadians were being tortured.

Gen. Rick Hillier for his rush to sign the handover agreement in the first place.

U.S. Attorney-General Alberto Gonzalez for politically wringing-out federal attorneys and then forgetting about it while under oath.

World Bank president Paul Wolfowitz for twisting bank rules to pay the one woman on the planet willing to sleep with him.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert for defying his nation's contempt (a banner in a huge demonstration reads "You failed, go home") over the Lebanon disaster.

Former CIA director George Tenet, who won't even give back his Medal of Freedom for puffing up a war that he knew at the time was based on false intelligence.
The list goes on.

[...]

Nora Ephron wrote in the Huffington Post last week that she could not remember anyone resigning over a point of principle since Attorney General Elliot Richardson quit 33 years ago rather than fire a prosecutor at Nixon's request.

I admire Ephron, but it saddens me to see how the myth of American exceptionalism infects even their cleverest citizens. In 1982, after the Argentinian invasion of the Falklands, Lord Carrington quit over the failure of the Foreign Office to foresee the event. So there.

Still, I take her point. People stopped quitting. They hung in there. They stayed if they thought they could get away with it, weathered the storm, and embraced the passive tense, as in the eternal "mistakes were made."

And, amazingly, from the Bonfire of the Vanities 1980s through the late '80s era of mass layoffs (to raise stock prices and CEOs' salaries) to the current era of the hedge fund, neither politicians nor businessmen quit because they were incompetent or venal, or, dare I say it, sufficiently rich.

Nobody resigned over anything, ever.

Why should this be?

You get the point, but read on if the post is still up. I can't think of a time when a politician or CEO or anyone up to his neck in lies, deceit and avarice owned up at the first opportunity. They resign the moment they realize it's the only viable option available.

Mud Spa

2007-05-07T17:41:00.000-07:00

Dulary gets down!

Yes, Dulary appears to be enjoying Sanctuary life.

Dulary's old life documented here. Not a pretty picture.

Made in China? I think I'll pass

2007-05-06T13:04:00.000-07:00

First it was melamine in pet food, then melamine in the feed given to chickens being bred for human consumption, and now it's contaminated pharmaceuticals.

The syrupy poison, diethylene glycol, is an indispensable part of the modern world, an industrial solvent and prime ingredient in some antifreeze.

It is also a killer. And the deaths, if not intentional, are often no accident.

Over the years, the poison has been loaded into all varieties of medicine — cough syrup, fever medication, injectable drugs — a result of counterfeiters who profit by substituting the sweet-tasting solvent for a safe, more expensive syrup, usually glycerin, commonly used in drugs, food, toothpaste and other products.

Toxic syrup has figured in at least eight mass poisonings around the world in the past two decades. Researchers estimate that thousands have died. In many cases, the precise origin of the poison has never been determined. But records and interviews show that in three of the last four cases it was made in China, a major source of counterfeit drugs.

Panama is the most recent victim. Last year, government officials there unwittingly mixed diethylene glycol into 260,000 bottles of cold medicine — with devastating results. Families have reported 365 deaths from the poison, 100 of which have been confirmed so far. With the onset of the rainy season, investigators are racing to exhume as many potential victims as possible before bodies decompose even more.

Panama’s death toll leads directly to Chinese companies that made and exported the poison as 99.5 percent pure glycerin. (New York Times)

Here's the problem with unrestricted, unregulated global capitalism: people will do anything to make or save a dollar and they don't give a rat's ass if the planet is polluted beyond all recognition in the process or if the ingredients disable or kill people. China's safety regulations are lax beyond belief and countries importing ingredients aren't testing them for quality or safety.

Forty-six barrels of the toxic syrup arrived via a poison pipeline stretching halfway around the world. Through shipping records and interviews with government officials, The New York Times traced this pipeline from the Panamanian port of Colón, back through trading companies in Barcelona, Spain, and Beijing, to its beginning near the Yangtze Delta in a place local people call “chemical country.”

The counterfeit glycerin passed through three trading companies on three continents, yet not one of them tested the syrup to confirm what was on the label. Along the way, a certificate falsely attesting to the purity of the shipment was repeatedly altered, eliminating the name of the manufacturer and previous owner. As a result, traders bought the syrup without knowing where it came from, or who made it. With this information, the traders might have discovered — as The Times did — that the manufacturer was not certified to make pharmaceutical ingredients. (New York Times)

An examination of the two poisoning cases last year — in Panama and earlier in China — shows how China’s safety regulations have lagged behind its growing role as low-cost supplier to the world. It also demonstrates how a poorly policed chain of traders in country after country allows counterfeit medicine to contaminate the global market.

Libertarians and conservatives who advocate free unrestricted trade and believe corporations will regulate themselves, are idiots. The market can't be fucking trusted, ever. Our safety depends on strict incorruptible regulation. If don't have that, we will end up with this.

2007-05-06T01:52:00.000-07:00

Can't wait to see this little gem.

Elephant sandwich

2007-05-05T13:44:00.000-07:00

Rough and tumble Misty (center left) stands protectively close to Dulary (center right). They are fast becoming best friends. After all Misty's been through in the dreadful circus industry I could hug her to pieces. She's constantly joyful. Winkie and Sissy, another bonded pair, stand on either side.

It must be amazing to work and live with these animals.
All the news here.

Another pachyderm arrives in paradise

2007-05-03T19:49:00.000-07:00

Asian elephant Dulary (left) is befriended by Tarra, the Elephant Sanctuary's first resident and official greeter of all newcomers, and the first Asian elephant Dulary has seen in over 40 years. The heartwarming story of Dulary's journey from zoo to sanctuary can be read here.

Dulary explores a fraction of her new 2700-acre world.

Here she'll find forest, pastures, hills, and a 25-acre lake where catfish jump and one beaver nests. She'll share this land with wild deer, coyotes and turkeys, rescued dogs and cats, and human caregivers whose sole purpose is looking after the animals who live here. She'll have access to a spacious, solar-heated barn filled with natural light whenever she decides she needs it. But for now, it seems, Dulary is content to sleep under the stars with her new family.

Kudos and then some to the Philadelphia zoo who listened and put the needs of their elephants first.

All Chuck needs is a pill box hat and he’ll look like JFK’s girlfriend

2007-05-03T17:50:00.000-07:00

Demure eyes and lady-like.

Another photo of the day:

An octopus named Octi attempts to open a bottle using its tentacles to get to the food inside at the National Aquarium of New Zealand in the town of Napier.

Success!

Cube-farm mate shows up on x-files episode

2007-04-28T23:17:00.000-07:00

So I'm watching the last episode of Season Five of the X-Files and see a guy who is the spitting image of someone whose desk was beside mine for a year and a half. I looked up the episode and lo and behold it is him! I never knew the guy was into acting.

Naturally I can't link because of Google searches and so on, but how much bloody fun is this?

Truth in advertising

2007-04-28T15:29:00.000-07:00

British Heart Foundation campaign
Click for the large version.

We don't need no stinkin' variation of George Bush in Canuckistan

2007-04-28T14:06:00.000-07:00

TORONTO — The Conservatives' new environmental platform is a “complete and total fraud” that is “designed to mislead the Canadian people,” former U.S. vice-president Al Gore said Saturday.

[...]

The Conservative government strategy focuses on reducing greenhouse gas emissions and improving air quality. But the plan failed to spell out precisely what many of its regulations will look like.

“In my opinion, it is a complete and total fraud,” Mr. Gore said. “It is designed to mislead the Canadian people.”

Mr. Gore acknowledged he is not a Canadian citizen and said he has “no right to interfere in your decisions.”

However, he said, the rest of the world looks to Canada for moral leadership, and that's why this week's announcement was so “shocking.” (Globe and Mail)

With neoconservatives in power, I wouldn't look for moral leadership from Canada any time soon. In fact, just forget our feds. They've been sucking for years. It'll be cities and provinces showing leadership on environmental issues. Oil companies couldn't care less about the environment, and conservatives have, until very recently, balked at the science behind global warming. It wasn't until a poll showed a majority of Canadians view global warming as their number one concern that Harper started pretending he cared. Before that he pretended to care about public health care. And we know how well that's going.

A lethal combination

2007-04-28T13:16:00.000-07:00

From the what was I thinking? department.

Cheesies, popcorn, licorice and oatmeal chocolate cookies consumed close together are guaranteed, apparently, to create a colossal toxic gas bubble in one's gut that has hideous side effects, not the least of which is the most vile sensation: nausea.

Thankfully the agony lasted only an hour or so.

I blame the cheesies and vow never to eat that Republican food again!

Photo of the day

2007-04-27T17:35:00.000-07:00

Eli, an Australian cattle dog, leaps off the back of his owner, Josh Mumme, while chasing a disc at Riverside Park in Grand Rapids, Mich.

Smiles all around!

2007-04-21T21:49:00.000-07:00

Photo and video (below) by Janice Clark

Well it finally happened. The last of the Hawthorn elephants are now free. Gypsy (right) and Nicholas (who is still a relative youngster) are now living at the Performing Animal Welfare Sanctuary in Galt and will soon be relocated to the PAWS' Ark2000 Sanctuary in San Andreas. There they will share a vast and beautiful home with five other freed Asian elephants: Winky, Wanda, Annie, Minnie, and Rebecca.
Updates, photos and videos here.
More of the story here.

Lota, you can relax now. Your tribe is free!

Gypsy and Nic playin' in mud, mud, glorious mud:

It's hard to imagine that these elephants were, until their rescue, living in a fetid windowless barn, chained up to 18 hours a day when they weren't performing in circus acts.

Haircuts and foils may be a quarterly treat...

2007-04-21T05:00:00.000-07:00

I still wouldn't trade places with this "Prozac Burp".