And here's a quick hit. From today's edition of The World, a story (http://www.theworld.org/2010/02/04/tracking-environmental-footprints/) on tools becoming available to track the actual environmental footprint of various consumer products, including where all of the various components are made. I don't think that these all list the source materials for each of the constituent products, but it's a good start for anybody that has ever caught themselves thinking about exactly where all the pieces of their computer/car/toaster/etc. were mined, farmed, pumped, refined, molded, and put together, or who has fretted over which of two options would be worse environmentally once you go through the entire chain of impacts connected to each choice. Maybe it's just me.
Incomplete, but a step in the right direction.
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Don't ask, don't tell...that you're a jackass.
The past two days, All Things Considered has aired two conflicting views on the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy that our military has employed since 1993. You can probably guess my stance on the issue; I think that if nobody was allowed in the military, regardless of race, gender, or sexual preference, then we'd probably have fewer wars.
This story was aired in three snippets. They can be found here, here, and here.
The first was with Duncan Hunter, an ex-Marine and Republican Congressman from California. Alison has mentioned this guy in the past (in a good way!). I listened to the story in disbelief, although I guess I should be numb to such things by now. Read the transcript for the full on crazy. In his very first reply, he implies that the biggest danger from the military is from those turds and miscreants, transgenders and hermaphrodites! The horror! I bet they're just hammering at the door to get into the military, I am sure. Way to couch the whole issue in terms of minorities of the minority group against whom you are discriminating.
He goes on to make two slightly less-crazy arguments, that I'll note here. The first is that the he believes the majority of young soldiers in the military are from conservative families, and that they don't want gays in the military. Which may or may not be true (more on that later). What it ignores is that the fact that a group doesn't want another group to be part of their organization has time and again been shown to be no reason to actually keep out that group. I'm going to give an example here in terms of both race and gender (which people who argue against homosexual rights claim is an unfair comparison because they actually believe that people choose to be homosexual and be constantly derided by a large number of their fellow citizens and taxpayers). I think this is reminiscent of the Augusta National Golf Club controversy, and similar situations played out at various other country clubs around the nation that don't allow women or some other minority to join. There's still no women at that club, but they're now on the waiting list. Second, prior to segregation, I am willing to bet that a majority of southerners didn't want black people in their schools, or drinking from their water fountains, or what have you, and they especially didn't want black people marrying white people. But our federal government said something along the lines of "Who the shit cares what you want? If what you want is wrong, then it's wrong!" I'm pretty sure it is against the law for a taxpayer-funded group (i.e. our military) to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation, not to mention the moral odiousness of it.
The second only semi-crazy argument that he makes is that somebody coming out to their unit mates decreases the cohesion of the unit (I'll categorize his weird homoerotic comments about showering together with this one too). Now, I can understand how this could be true, if your unit is made up half of gay people and their supporters, and half of intolerant folks. But I don't think that's the way the military works these days. It's way more varied, and soldiers form bonds with other soldiers in battle situations where they feel like they can trust one another. My question is this: how can you possibly have unit cohesion if one or more of your unit members is hiding the biggest secret of their lives, being forced to lie about who they are, and presenting a pretend face to you while you are deployed in the most intimate and dangerous settings possible?
And don't even get me started on the likely amount of buggery going on amongst professed heterosexuals on deployment either.
I'll leave the Hunter section here with this quote, where he puts it all on the line with a full court press of insanity, trying to justify himself by comparing the military to NPR:
To which I say, "Have you ever been to an NPR office? It's just one big gayfest!" And yes, NPR does not care "one way or the other;" the point is that the military does care one way, and it is codified.
So yesterday afternoon they had two more segments. The first was a letters segment, which I only include because not a single opinion read on air agreed with Hunter (shocking!). I liked two in particular.
1. "It's good to know that our representatives in Congress stay cognizant of national security issues. I had no idea that a hermaphroditic takeover of our armed services was a real threat."
2. "I am so glad that Representative Duncan Hunter gave an interview to NPR. His blatant ignorance and inarticulate yet transparent bigotry created some of the best arguments for repealing don't ask, don't tell that I've ever heard." FTW!
The third was an interview with Major Mike Almy, a former Air Force officer who was discharged under Don't Ask, Don't Tell. I don't have much to say about this one, since I obviously agree with the dude, and don't really have any analysis to add. I'll say this, though. He states in his interview that he would gladly go back into the military at the drop of a hat if he were allowed. Can you imagine wanting to rejoin a company that has treated you with such disdain for who you are? But there you go. In a time when we're fighting two wars (although, of course, there was never a declaration of war), and the military is stretched thin, should we really be kicking people out for this? We're allowing in criminals, and people are not going to be allowed to stay in a job they love because people like Duncan Hunter are uncomfortable with gay men seeing their willies in the shower, or they think that they're going to be taken forcefully by another man? I mean, come on, are we collectively in the second grade? Don't answer that.
This story was aired in three snippets. They can be found here, here, and here.
The first was with Duncan Hunter, an ex-Marine and Republican Congressman from California. Alison has mentioned this guy in the past (in a good way!). I listened to the story in disbelief, although I guess I should be numb to such things by now. Read the transcript for the full on crazy. In his very first reply, he implies that the biggest danger from the military is from those turds and miscreants, transgenders and hermaphrodites! The horror! I bet they're just hammering at the door to get into the military, I am sure. Way to couch the whole issue in terms of minorities of the minority group against whom you are discriminating.
He goes on to make two slightly less-crazy arguments, that I'll note here. The first is that the he believes the majority of young soldiers in the military are from conservative families, and that they don't want gays in the military. Which may or may not be true (more on that later). What it ignores is that the fact that a group doesn't want another group to be part of their organization has time and again been shown to be no reason to actually keep out that group. I'm going to give an example here in terms of both race and gender (which people who argue against homosexual rights claim is an unfair comparison because they actually believe that people choose to be homosexual and be constantly derided by a large number of their fellow citizens and taxpayers). I think this is reminiscent of the Augusta National Golf Club controversy, and similar situations played out at various other country clubs around the nation that don't allow women or some other minority to join. There's still no women at that club, but they're now on the waiting list. Second, prior to segregation, I am willing to bet that a majority of southerners didn't want black people in their schools, or drinking from their water fountains, or what have you, and they especially didn't want black people marrying white people. But our federal government said something along the lines of "Who the shit cares what you want? If what you want is wrong, then it's wrong!" I'm pretty sure it is against the law for a taxpayer-funded group (i.e. our military) to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation, not to mention the moral odiousness of it.
The second only semi-crazy argument that he makes is that somebody coming out to their unit mates decreases the cohesion of the unit (I'll categorize his weird homoerotic comments about showering together with this one too). Now, I can understand how this could be true, if your unit is made up half of gay people and their supporters, and half of intolerant folks. But I don't think that's the way the military works these days. It's way more varied, and soldiers form bonds with other soldiers in battle situations where they feel like they can trust one another. My question is this: how can you possibly have unit cohesion if one or more of your unit members is hiding the biggest secret of their lives, being forced to lie about who they are, and presenting a pretend face to you while you are deployed in the most intimate and dangerous settings possible?
And don't even get me started on the likely amount of buggery going on amongst professed heterosexuals on deployment either.
I'll leave the Hunter section here with this quote, where he puts it all on the line with a full court press of insanity, trying to justify himself by comparing the military to NPR:
BLOCK: But Congressman Hunter, wouldn't you agree that there are gays and lesbians serving in the military right now, they just are not open about their orientation. So the problems that you raise presumably would be problems already. They are in the barracks already. They are in the showers already.
Rep. HUNTER: No, but they aren't open about it, like you just said. Its like if you want to work for NPR, you don't go to work and on the first day say, hey, I want everybody to know that I'm gay. You probably don't care one way or the other as long as they, you know, get their particular job done. I think the military is the same way. That's why don't ask, don't tell works.
To which I say, "Have you ever been to an NPR office? It's just one big gayfest!" And yes, NPR does not care "one way or the other;" the point is that the military does care one way, and it is codified.
So yesterday afternoon they had two more segments. The first was a letters segment, which I only include because not a single opinion read on air agreed with Hunter (shocking!). I liked two in particular.
1. "It's good to know that our representatives in Congress stay cognizant of national security issues. I had no idea that a hermaphroditic takeover of our armed services was a real threat."
2. "I am so glad that Representative Duncan Hunter gave an interview to NPR. His blatant ignorance and inarticulate yet transparent bigotry created some of the best arguments for repealing don't ask, don't tell that I've ever heard." FTW!
The third was an interview with Major Mike Almy, a former Air Force officer who was discharged under Don't Ask, Don't Tell. I don't have much to say about this one, since I obviously agree with the dude, and don't really have any analysis to add. I'll say this, though. He states in his interview that he would gladly go back into the military at the drop of a hat if he were allowed. Can you imagine wanting to rejoin a company that has treated you with such disdain for who you are? But there you go. In a time when we're fighting two wars (although, of course, there was never a declaration of war), and the military is stretched thin, should we really be kicking people out for this? We're allowing in criminals, and people are not going to be allowed to stay in a job they love because people like Duncan Hunter are uncomfortable with gay men seeing their willies in the shower, or they think that they're going to be taken forcefully by another man? I mean, come on, are we collectively in the second grade? Don't answer that.
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Reading list update
As you can see to the right, I got a lot of books for Christmas (this doesn't include The Onion Front Pages coffee table book, a new Stairway Walks of San Francisco book, and an organic living book), so my reading list is well-populated again. We'll see how long it takes to get through.
On the subject, I just finished "Galapagos" by Kurt Vonnegut, and he's swiftly becoming one of my favorite American authors.
And I have a blog backlog ("backblog"?) that my company would envy. Oy!
On the subject, I just finished "Galapagos" by Kurt Vonnegut, and he's swiftly becoming one of my favorite American authors.
And I have a blog backlog ("backblog"?) that my company would envy. Oy!
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Sketch of a City Occurrence
As I was walking to the subway from my office, I came upon and passed a group of 8 to 10 young people (am I old enough now to say things like "young people" when referring to twenty-somethings?) walking the same direction as me, albeit more slowly. This was around, say, 7:15 at night. I eventually noticed that one of them was carrying another fireman-style, with two more helping support the carried. He was most assuredly not conscious. Nobody seemed particularly concerned about this, in fact they all were quite jolly. These kids didn't seem drunk, however. The only snippet of conversation I heard was something about leaving him in his office, which it seemed they thought would be a hilarious idea.
I was going to close this by saying that I love the big city sometimes because you see this kind of thing sometimes, but I'm pretty sure it happens with just as much regularity in the small town too. Just they toss the unconscious in the back seat of a car and drive them home.
I was going to close this by saying that I love the big city sometimes because you see this kind of thing sometimes, but I'm pretty sure it happens with just as much regularity in the small town too. Just they toss the unconscious in the back seat of a car and drive them home.
Monday, August 24, 2009
Steps to a Perfect Cantaloupe
1. Go to the Farmer's Market (I went to the one in Noe Valley) and pick up any old cantaloupe. This one was a blue cantaloupe, which unfortunately refers to the tinge of the rind, not the insides.
2. Take the cantaloupe home and put it on your counter.
3. Forget about your cantaloupe, or don't find time to eat it.
4. Look longingly at your cantaloupe every day. This step is important.
5. Watch your cantaloupe until it just starts to get a bit of mold growing on it, where it was taken off the vine.
6. Look longingly at your cantaloupe for a couple more days. These days are critical.
7. Two days after you first notice the moldy growth on your cantaloupe, slice it open. Eat both halves in one sitting because dammit who can resist?
The end.
2. Take the cantaloupe home and put it on your counter.
3. Forget about your cantaloupe, or don't find time to eat it.
4. Look longingly at your cantaloupe every day. This step is important.
5. Watch your cantaloupe until it just starts to get a bit of mold growing on it, where it was taken off the vine.
6. Look longingly at your cantaloupe for a couple more days. These days are critical.
7. Two days after you first notice the moldy growth on your cantaloupe, slice it open. Eat both halves in one sitting because dammit who can resist?
The end.
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Bay Area Backroads #41: Pescadero
We took our first Bay Area Backroads trip this weekend, starting with card number 41 in the deck, because, you know, we're logical like that. Note that card number 1 in the deck is Lassen Volcanic National Park, which is just a bit far away for a day trip if your wife has to run 6 miles in the morning for her Team in Training training (have YOU donated?).
It was a beautiful, warm, non-foggy day (note that these terms are all relative; it was warm for here, not necessarily for wherever you are), and we have quickly learned that the direction in which you go depends highly upon these factors; if it is a cold, foggy day, you have to go east, whereas if it's a day like yesterday, you must head toward the ocean and enjoy it while it's enjoyable. So we went west. And south.
Alison wanted to go down to Monterey to see the seahorse exhibit, but the Annual Santa Cruz Mountains Wildfire happens to be this weekend, and we don't want to take the ashmatic lungs through that. However, if you stay close to the city, you're, well, close to the city. What's the perfect compromise? Pescadero, of course!
This town is about an hour away from San Francisco, just a mile or so inland from the ocean, and very typical of small towns in the west. That is to say, everybody knows everybody, there's only a few stores, and the town is full of inveterate racists, misogynists, and homophobes (just kidding about that last one, I'm sure there's only a few of them around!). But that's not where this trip starts.
We totally missed the turn-off to Pescadero, because obviously the giant Pescadero sign was not sufficient. We drove south of the town for a ways, pulling off at one of those brown "Coastal View" signs typical of the Pacific Coast. As far as we could tell, getting to this coastal view entailed traipsing across somebody's property, but there's no arguing with the Man, as they say. Because it was such a strange, out-of-the-way access point, and because it wasn't one of the more developed state beaches, it turned out to be a great, secluded spot. We ate our home-made lunch of peanut butter +/- jelly sandwiches, then went looking in the tide pools. This is one of Alison's favorite activities, searching for anemones and urchins and starfish and crabs and whatnot; "creatures." We saw three starfish (two live, one dead), and got to discover what dead sea urchins look and feel like.
We had the place to ourselves for probably about 30 minutes before anybody else came down, which is probably practically unheard of for the bay area coast on a weekend. Also, these kelp forests were super neat:
After lunch we continued south to visit the Pigeon Point Light Station, the tallest operating lighthouse on the Pacific coast. It was pretty neat, and worth the stop, and the guy in the store was very nice and talkative, but if you're not interested in lighthouses, coastal views, or history, this might not be the place for you. It was built in 1872 and has a hostel onsite that you can stay in.
After the lighthouse we tried going down to the beach right near there, but it was covered in seaweed, flies, and fishermen. We drove back to the north, this time successfully seeing the giant Pescadero sign, and drove inland toward town. Luckily for us, this weekend just happened to be the Pescadero Arts and Fun Festival, a little fair type thing with a bunch of arts and crafts booths, food stands, and a live music stage. It was fun (as advertised), and Alison got some screaming deals on some handbags made out of repurposed fabrics from Ja Ja Ja Purses. The lady in the booth was super nice, and told us all about the purses and such. Hooray for reusing and keeping things out of the landfill! We left after some ice cream in a fresh waffle cone, and visited the business district.
The business district of the town is only a block long, and features one restaurant/bar, a church, an antique store, and a couple markets. We walked past all of the businesses to Pescadero Creek, which was flowing under the bridge. On our way back we stopped at one of the markets and got a steaming hot loaf of garlic artichoke bread (artichokes seem to be a local specialty) from a local bakery and a little thing of soft goat cheese from a local cheesery. We ate them out back behind the store, in a little grassy picnic area next to the creek with some apple trees scattered around. Beautiful. We stopped in at Duarte's, and had a beer at the bar (read the history of the place, it's great...although they don't mention the fire in the early part of the 20th century, during which the fire fighters apparently took special care to save the bar itself from burning; that bar is still in use today).
We left Pescadero, picking up the Echo from its spot next to a pumpkin field, and drove back north toward Half Moon Bay. Our Backroads card mentions the Pescadero Marsh, a prime bird-watching spot, but we're not interested in such things and so skipped it. I wanted to get to the Half Moon Bay Brewing Company for dinner. We stopped near the pier in Half Moon Bay when Alison screamed, scaring the driver before explaining that she'd seen a herd of sea creatures out near the pier. She ran over there and got a picture of the bunch of seals that were lolling about. I ran back to the car for binoculars, and by the time I got there they had moved out further.
We moved on to the Half Moon Bay Brewing Company, where we wanted to sit outside, but were thwarted by the 45-minute wait (despite the fact that at least 3 tables were empty, cleaned, and reset with fresh tableware). We opted for the bar area, where there was no wait, and sat down to a table with a nice view. After waiting about 10 minute for anybody to acknowledge my presence, I went to the bar to ask if we were going to be served, where I was made to wait by the bartender while he finished having a conversation with another group of guests (conversation's fine, but when somebody comes up to actually get some service, and you aren't doing anything important, well, the service is more important). Menus in hand, I thought we were sure to get served...after another five minutes we just left. They missed out on our custom that day, their loss.
We stopped one last time on our way back to the city at a farm stand to get some fresh produce. They had all sorts of organic stuff, but we started getting suspicious when Alison spied some mangoes and bananas, neither of which is grown locally. Apparently only a few things in their stand were actually grown by them, which seems kind of terrible for a farm stand. Another couple got there a few minutes after us, only to be told that the farm stand was "closed." What?
The results of this trip: Pescadero was neat, a nice little town with lots of picnic tables and people sitting around and chatting. Half Moon Bay was not neat, and seemed to be populated by people who couldn't be bothered. Go to Pescadero, skip Half Moon Bay. Especially for next year's Arts and Fun Festival!
It was a beautiful, warm, non-foggy day (note that these terms are all relative; it was warm for here, not necessarily for wherever you are), and we have quickly learned that the direction in which you go depends highly upon these factors; if it is a cold, foggy day, you have to go east, whereas if it's a day like yesterday, you must head toward the ocean and enjoy it while it's enjoyable. So we went west. And south.
Alison wanted to go down to Monterey to see the seahorse exhibit, but the Annual Santa Cruz Mountains Wildfire happens to be this weekend, and we don't want to take the ashmatic lungs through that. However, if you stay close to the city, you're, well, close to the city. What's the perfect compromise? Pescadero, of course!
This town is about an hour away from San Francisco, just a mile or so inland from the ocean, and very typical of small towns in the west. That is to say, everybody knows everybody, there's only a few stores, and the town is full of inveterate racists, misogynists, and homophobes (just kidding about that last one, I'm sure there's only a few of them around!). But that's not where this trip starts.
We totally missed the turn-off to Pescadero, because obviously the giant Pescadero sign was not sufficient. We drove south of the town for a ways, pulling off at one of those brown "Coastal View" signs typical of the Pacific Coast. As far as we could tell, getting to this coastal view entailed traipsing across somebody's property, but there's no arguing with the Man, as they say. Because it was such a strange, out-of-the-way access point, and because it wasn't one of the more developed state beaches, it turned out to be a great, secluded spot. We ate our home-made lunch of peanut butter +/- jelly sandwiches, then went looking in the tide pools. This is one of Alison's favorite activities, searching for anemones and urchins and starfish and crabs and whatnot; "creatures." We saw three starfish (two live, one dead), and got to discover what dead sea urchins look and feel like.
We had the place to ourselves for probably about 30 minutes before anybody else came down, which is probably practically unheard of for the bay area coast on a weekend. Also, these kelp forests were super neat:
After lunch we continued south to visit the Pigeon Point Light Station, the tallest operating lighthouse on the Pacific coast. It was pretty neat, and worth the stop, and the guy in the store was very nice and talkative, but if you're not interested in lighthouses, coastal views, or history, this might not be the place for you. It was built in 1872 and has a hostel onsite that you can stay in.
After the lighthouse we tried going down to the beach right near there, but it was covered in seaweed, flies, and fishermen. We drove back to the north, this time successfully seeing the giant Pescadero sign, and drove inland toward town. Luckily for us, this weekend just happened to be the Pescadero Arts and Fun Festival, a little fair type thing with a bunch of arts and crafts booths, food stands, and a live music stage. It was fun (as advertised), and Alison got some screaming deals on some handbags made out of repurposed fabrics from Ja Ja Ja Purses. The lady in the booth was super nice, and told us all about the purses and such. Hooray for reusing and keeping things out of the landfill! We left after some ice cream in a fresh waffle cone, and visited the business district.
The business district of the town is only a block long, and features one restaurant/bar, a church, an antique store, and a couple markets. We walked past all of the businesses to Pescadero Creek, which was flowing under the bridge. On our way back we stopped at one of the markets and got a steaming hot loaf of garlic artichoke bread (artichokes seem to be a local specialty) from a local bakery and a little thing of soft goat cheese from a local cheesery. We ate them out back behind the store, in a little grassy picnic area next to the creek with some apple trees scattered around. Beautiful. We stopped in at Duarte's, and had a beer at the bar (read the history of the place, it's great...although they don't mention the fire in the early part of the 20th century, during which the fire fighters apparently took special care to save the bar itself from burning; that bar is still in use today).We left Pescadero, picking up the Echo from its spot next to a pumpkin field, and drove back north toward Half Moon Bay. Our Backroads card mentions the Pescadero Marsh, a prime bird-watching spot, but we're not interested in such things and so skipped it. I wanted to get to the Half Moon Bay Brewing Company for dinner. We stopped near the pier in Half Moon Bay when Alison screamed, scaring the driver before explaining that she'd seen a herd of sea creatures out near the pier. She ran over there and got a picture of the bunch of seals that were lolling about. I ran back to the car for binoculars, and by the time I got there they had moved out further.
We moved on to the Half Moon Bay Brewing Company, where we wanted to sit outside, but were thwarted by the 45-minute wait (despite the fact that at least 3 tables were empty, cleaned, and reset with fresh tableware). We opted for the bar area, where there was no wait, and sat down to a table with a nice view. After waiting about 10 minute for anybody to acknowledge my presence, I went to the bar to ask if we were going to be served, where I was made to wait by the bartender while he finished having a conversation with another group of guests (conversation's fine, but when somebody comes up to actually get some service, and you aren't doing anything important, well, the service is more important). Menus in hand, I thought we were sure to get served...after another five minutes we just left. They missed out on our custom that day, their loss.
We stopped one last time on our way back to the city at a farm stand to get some fresh produce. They had all sorts of organic stuff, but we started getting suspicious when Alison spied some mangoes and bananas, neither of which is grown locally. Apparently only a few things in their stand were actually grown by them, which seems kind of terrible for a farm stand. Another couple got there a few minutes after us, only to be told that the farm stand was "closed." What?
The results of this trip: Pescadero was neat, a nice little town with lots of picnic tables and people sitting around and chatting. Half Moon Bay was not neat, and seemed to be populated by people who couldn't be bothered. Go to Pescadero, skip Half Moon Bay. Especially for next year's Arts and Fun Festival!
Bay Area Backroads
Those of you who read my wife's blog are likely familiar with her wildly successful City Walks SF series, the result of a gift from KEC of the deck of City Walks Deck of San Francisco (highly recommended!).
A few weeks ago, while out shopping around, we happened upon the Bay Area Backroads Deck, also from Chronicle Books, our local book publisher. This deck features 50 day trips from central to northern California, stretching from San Luis Obispo to the Oregon border. The deck was put together by the show Bay Area Backroads, a local program that features local trips you can take to see interesting sights in the area. We watched the show a few times before we willfully lost access to the airwaves, and enjoyed it.
As we have done with our City Walks (almost finished!), we are going to try to go through all of these trips, seeing the northern half of our new home state. I'm going to write about each one here, talking about what we saw, and what we liked and didn't like, and what have you. Hopefully it will be worth all of our times.
A few weeks ago, while out shopping around, we happened upon the Bay Area Backroads Deck, also from Chronicle Books, our local book publisher. This deck features 50 day trips from central to northern California, stretching from San Luis Obispo to the Oregon border. The deck was put together by the show Bay Area Backroads, a local program that features local trips you can take to see interesting sights in the area. We watched the show a few times before we willfully lost access to the airwaves, and enjoyed it.
As we have done with our City Walks (almost finished!), we are going to try to go through all of these trips, seeing the northern half of our new home state. I'm going to write about each one here, talking about what we saw, and what we liked and didn't like, and what have you. Hopefully it will be worth all of our times.
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