Politics and Futures

2005-04-15T23:37:00.000-05:00

So much for "The Buck Stops Here"

Bush on passport plan: 'What's going on here?'
Michael Doyle
Star Tribune Washington Bureau Correspondent
Published April 15, 2005

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- President Bush distanced himself on Thursday from his own administration's proposal to require passports for U.S. residents reentering the country from Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean.

A week after his Department of Homeland Security made public the passport proposal, Bush declared he was uncomfortable with the idea. "When I first read that in the newspaper, about the need to have passports, I said, 'What's going on here?' " Bush told a gathering of the American Society of Newspaper Editors. "If people have to have a passport, it's going to disrupt honest flow of traffic."
............

Bush blamed Congress for the measure, saying "evidently this has been mandated in law." In December, he signed into law an intelligence overhaul that requires tighter border security and was the basis for the passport proposal.
..............
The White House did not immediately say why the president was unaware of the plans announced by his administration a week earlier.
http://www.startribune.com/stories/587/5349402.html

The people who set this plan into motion are under President Bush's authority. A majority of the House and of the Senate belong to his party; while he can't give them direct orders (well, not without the risk of being laughed at), he has a certain amount of influence over them. He signed the bill; he had the option of vetoing it.

I do not find this disclaimer of responsibility admirable.

2005-02-28T16:32:00.000-06:00

Politics in Science Fiction #2 -- Getting Changes Wrong A

In 1965, it was obvious to the meanest intelligence that Barry Goldwater had led American conservatism to permanent defeat.

In 1955, it was obvious to the meanest intelligence that Southern politics would be dominated by segregationist Democrats for at least the rest of the century.

In 1905, Americans moving to Mexico outnumbered Mexicans moving to the US. To the best of my knowledge, nobody speculated that this would reverse five years later.

In the 1950s, Arthur C. Clarke and other British sf writers took for granted that England would remain a world power and would be a leading power in space. By then, it was no longer a major power. (And yes, I mean "England" rather than "United Kingdom." Ask your friendly neighborhood Scottish Nationalist or Welsh Nationalist for the explanation.)

In 1987, Michael F. Flynn's In the Country of the Blind -- set at an indefinite time in the 21st century -- had the Soviet Union as part of the background. (Analog, October and November 1987.) The novel relied on the assumption that social prediction could be an exact science.

In 1988, Flynn had a two-part article which made it clear that he really believed this. ("The State of Psychohistory," Analog, April and May 1988.) The article contained projections for (among other countries) the Soviet Union well into the future.

[In 2003, Tor published a revised version of the novel. The Soviet Union had disappeared from the revision. A revised version of the article was included; it had no mention that the original version had been overoptimistic about the Soviet Union's health. I'm not yet certain whether the 1990 Baen version and the 1993 Pan version of the novel had been updated.]

How can an sf writer avoid getting future politics too far wrong? It's not possible to avoid all mistakes, but there are ways to minimize them.

1. Look to see what's already happened. In the US, the post-WWII baby boom is generally considered to have begun in 1946. By 1948, it should have been obvious that American high schools would have to cope with much larger numbers of students; and that American colleges would have the same problem a few years farther down the road.

In the UK, the post-war continuation of food rationing ought to have been a strong clue that one was not living in a world-power country.

2. Assume that everything which looks strong may be weaker than any sane person imagines. An important industry can become minor. One country's dominance in an economic sector can disappear. Any political party can go the way of the Liberal Party in England, or the Italian Communist Party.

3. Do not read National Review for facts about American politics. Don't read The Nation, The New Republic, or Reason for facts, either. These are magazines of opinion, not magazines of fact.

On the other hand, blogs of opinion are currently better at finding some facts than newspapers and other traditional news media. (For a quick introduction to some blogs worth watching, see http://politicalwire.com/southpaws and http://politicalwire.com/wingers.)

The equivalent is probably true in other countries.

4. Look for American political news at the state level and lower. That's where national changes start. (http://stateline.org has state political headlines and summaries with links to newspapers. http://polstate.com has reports from individuals.)

5. If you're sure you understand another country's politics: pray for humility, have your medication adjusted, or take some other action to reduce your level of certainty. In extreme cases, place large bets on the next election there. (For US and UK elections, see http://tradesports.com.)

2005-02-27T00:29:00.000-06:00

Politics in Science Fiction #1 Politics is People.

Why do engineers write stories with political systems which operate exactly according to specifications? Why does anyone write such stories?

Politics is people. Laws -- written, oral, signed, telepathed, etc. -- produce results only if people enforce them. They produce the intended results only if interpreted as intended. (And only if other things go right, of course.)

Ideas matter only when people use them. Those people don't have to believe an idea; they can use it to cover up their own self-interest or as camouflage for less acceptable ideas.
(How many Southern politicians ever really believed in "Separate but equal?" How many English politicians ever truly believed that Scotland and Wales were equal partners in the United Kingdom?)

And like other institutions, governments tend to place the welfare of people inside the institution ahead of the institution's purpose.

Staff the government with genetically engineered saints, transhumans, artificial intelligences, or frogs with enhanced brains? That simply puts another kind of people in charge; they'll generate the same problems.

Replace government with competing businesses, voluntary cooperatives, Fourieran phalanxes, organized crime, free agreements between individuals? You'll still have the same kinds of problems.

2005-02-25T20:52:00.000-06:00

Friday February 25, 2005. 2/25/2005
National Journal’s Saturday bombshell: DeLay cited with new House rules violations
http://rawstory.com
_____________________
From http://stateline.org:
Alabama: House vote kills Jeffco filibuster
The House of Representatives killed a filibuster Thursday by Jefferson County lawmakers who were trying to obtain state money for a domed stadium or other area projects. By Kim Chandler, The Birmingham News

Arizona: Birth-control pills removed from bill
Arizona women who use birth control pills won't have to search around to find a friendly pharmacist. By Howard Fischer, Capitol Media Services, Arizona Daily Star (Tucson)
Arizona: Legislature spends day in heated debate
A Senate bill mandating school instruction on skin-cancer prevention and a House measure to allow pharmacists to refuse to fill morning-after birth-control prescriptions if they have religious objections dominated an intense afternoon of debate Thursday at the Legislature. By Robbie Sherwood, The Arizona Republic (Phoenix)

Colorado: CU reviewing staff records to ensure loyalty oaths taken
The University of Colorado is reviewing administrative records of all employees to see if they signed loyalty oaths after a controversy was sparked by the school's inability to find the loyalty oath of professor Ward Churchill. By Staff Writers, Denver Post

Colorado: Churchill artwork mirrors artist's
New questions arose Thursday about the professional history of controversial University of Colorado professor Ward Churchill when his artwork was shown to be nearly identical to that of a well-known Western artist. By Arthur Kane, Denver Post

Connecticut: Conn. nears OK of gay civil unions
The Connecticut Legislature is poised to establish civil unions for gay and lesbian couples, which would make the state the third in the nation to offer legal recognition to same-sex couples. By Yvonne Abraham, The Boston Globe

Illinois: Ban of .50-cal. rifles sought in Illinois
Anti-gun lawmakers are seeking a ban on .50-caliber "sniper rifles," saying they're favored by terrorists and can shoot down aircraft from a range of more than 2,000 yards -- though they don't appear to be tied to any crimes here in the last decade, a Chicago Sun-Times analysis shows. By Frank Main and Art Golab, Chicago Sun-Times

Kansas: Kline - Records could ID child sexual abusers
Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline on Thursday defended his secret inquiry into the records of late-term abortion patients, saying it is necessary to prosecute suspected child abusers. By Ron Sylvester, The Wichita Eagle

Kentucky: Sound of silence
It ended, not with a bang, not with a whimper, but with barely a whisper. On the last day of Lexington's last tobacco auction, there was little tobacco, and few tobacco buyers. By Jim Warren, Lexington Herald-Leader

Missouri: Lawmaker wants to ban sex offenders from wearing Santa, Easter Bunny suits
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - An Illinois legislator is once again trying to prevent sex offenders from donning Santa suits or Easter Bunny outfits around children during the holidays, or handing out candy at Halloween. By Kate Thayer, St. Louis Post-Dispatch (Missouri)

New Hampshire: Rochester police cultivate understanding of gay issues, officers
ROCHESTER, N.H. — Local police and members of the Gay Officer’s Action League held the state’s first-ever training session Wednesday designed to help cultivate understanding between straight and homosexual police officers. By Jason Howe, Foster's Online (Dover)

Rhode Island: Lawmakers, neighbors voice coyote concerns
A second bill related to the growing coyote population has been introduced in the General Assembly, even as state residents have been meeting to discuss the problems coyotes create. By Scott M. Lowe Jr., The Providence Journal (registration)

2005-02-23T21:17:00.000-06:00

Wednesday February 23, 2005. Americablog, which helped break the Jeff Gannon story, has this:

WorldNetDaily savages GannonGuckert
by John in DC - 2/23/2005 06:12:00 PM

Jesus. One of the best, BEST, stories ever about GannonGuckertGate and what it means, and why it matters, comes from one of the most - MOST - conservative pro-Bush news sources on the Internet. This guy spells out exactly why this is a story. Exactly why this is so outrageous. And note, his column doesn't even criticize us, the liberal bloggers. It is pure and simple an article about how outrageous Gannon's and Talon's AND THE WHITE HOUSE'S actions were in this entire affair.

WorldNetDaily's story is here: WorldNetDaily
_________________________
From stateline.org:
Alabama: Senate bill upsets Christian Coalition
The Christian Coalition of Alabama or any other nonprofit group that spends more than $1,000 to influence an election would have to disclose the names and addresses of all its donors, under a bill passed Tuesday by the state Senate. By David White, The Birmingham News

Arizona: 78% in poll oppose guns-in-taverns bill
A new statewide poll shows that 78 percent of those asked oppose legislation that would legalize the carrying of firearms into places where alcohol is sold. By Howard Fischer, Capitol Media Services, Arizona Daily Star (Tucson)

Georgia: Ga. State Senate votes to honor frogs
ATLANTA - The green tree frog took a significant leap toward becoming Georgia's official state amphibian Tuesday, with the state Senate voting unanimously to honor the tiny creatures. By The Associated Press, The Washington Post (registration)

Georgia: Bill to ban pit bulls draws fire
A Georgia legislator's bill to ban ownership of pit bulls has angry dog owners howling that the plan is unfair. By Nancy Badertscher, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (registration)

Iowa: State says Iowa inmates' religion is a front
DES MOINES, Iowa - The state is seeking to overturn a 1974 federal court ruling that gave formal religious status to a prison group that officials say is a front for a white-supremacist group. By The Associated Press , Omaha World-Herald (Nebraska)

Iowa: Lawmakers hear how artists, downtowns are improving small Iowa communities
DES MOINES, Iowa — Local artists and vibrant downtowns are elements of improving Iowa’s small cities, according to community leaders from northwest Iowa and Muscatine, testifying before a legislative panel Tuesday. By Dan Gearino , Quad-City Times

Indiana: GOP passes elections bill; Dems walk out
Despite a walkout by Democrats, the Senate Elections Committee voted 6-0 Tuesday for a bill eliminating the bipartisan nature of the structure that now regulates Indiana elections. By Mary Beth Schneider, The Indianapolis Star

Kansas: Monkey trial redux
The Scopes Monkey Trial could be up for a 21st century replay in Kansas. Sometime this spring, three members of the Kansas Board of Education plan to hear testimony from proponents of evolution and intelligent design, in a trial-like hearing with a court reporter and cross-examination of witnesses. By Joel Mathis and Alicia Henrikson, Lawrence Journal-World

Maryland: Study - Smoking ban hurt bar business
Smoking bans in Montgomery and Talbot Counties have hurt bar and restaurant business in those counties, according to a report from the Restaurant Association of Maryland, which compared state sales-tax data for bars and restaurants before and after the smoking bans went into effect. By Julekha Dash, Baltimore Business Journal (registration)

Maryland: Study - Smoking ban hurt bar business
Smoking bans in Montgomery and Talbot Counties have hurt bar and restaurant business in those counties, according to a report from the Restaurant Association of Maryland, which compared state sales-tax data for bars and restaurants before and after the smoking bans went into effect. By Julekha Dash, Baltimore Business Journal (registration)

Maine: Cell phone ban gets one firm's guarded assent
Two cell phone companies are opposing a bill in the Legislature that would prevent most motorists from using hand-held cell phones while they are on the road. By Paul Carrier, Portland Press Herald

New Mexico: Panel OK’s domestic-partnership bill
Separate bills ruling out gay marriage and authorizing domestic partnerships got the go-ahead from a Senate committee on Tuesday. By Deborah Baker, The Associated Press, New Mexican (Santa Fe) (registration)

Virginia: Cell-phone ban is amended
The House of Delegates weakened a bill yesterday that would ban young drivers from talking on cell phones by allowing the use of hands-free devices, a change the Senate sponsor vowed to fight. By Pamela Stallsmith, Richmond Times-Dispatch

2005-02-07T23:30:00.000-06:00

From alt.history.future, some guesses:

2008: In the US Presidential election, the Democratic candidate wins. Democratic majority in the Senate; Republicans hold on to the House, but their majority is seriously eroded. Pundits begin predicting the demise of the Republican Party and of conservatism.

2020: There are men on the Moon, again, and on Mars -- from the European Community, China, and India.

Nevada, Arizona, and parts of New Mexico are no longer gaining population; the cost of providing water has driven up the cost of living. The Plains States are gaining population.

Western Canada has gained enough population that Ontario and Quebec no longer have the majority of Canada's population. And at least one province along the Atlantic coast is unexpectedly gaining population.

2024: The Republican candidate wins the US Presidential election. Pundits begin predicting the demise of the Republican Party and of liberalism.

2050: The Republican Party supports gay rights. The Republican Party has always supported gay rights.

The Russian Federation has fallen apart. Russia itself still exists, and still includes Siberia. However, parts of Russia are economically dominated by EU corporations who've moved in to escape rising labor costs in Ukraine and the Baltic countries. Finnish is being heard again in Karelia.

2005-01-29T15:32:00.000-06:00

Strange Bedfellows

UKIP candidate suspended in probe
Robert Kilroy-Silk Eurosceptic party UKIP have suspended a candidate for allegedly suggesting the criminally insane should be killed.

John Houston, 54, was due to stand in the East Kilbride seat in Lanarkshire at the next election.

But he was suspended after his reported views, including the return of the British Empire, were sent to two Scottish newspapers.

UKIP spokesman Mark Croucher said those who selected Mr Houston knew nothing of his views.

........

Mr Houston is alleged to have said that the organs of the criminally insane should be "made available to law-abiding members of the community" and proposed the legalisation of drugs and the sex trade.

The document reportedly said: "We're looking for the resurrection of the British Empire.

"The problems for the human race - environmental and others - can only be dealt with on a global scale, and that calls for a radical alliance of the English-speaking nations, which they are uniquely able to do."

Mr Croucher said the main issue would be that Mr Houston's reported views had been presented as UKIP policy, which they were not.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/low/uk_politics/4218805.stm

via stateline.org
NWAnews.com :: Northwest Arkansas Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Huckabee blasts immigrant bill as ‘race-baiting’
BY DAVID HAMMER ASSOCIATED PRESS
Posted on Friday, January 28, 2005

URL: full story here

Gov. Mike Huckabee said Thursday that a bill to deny state government benefits and voting rights to illegal immigrants is "inflammatory... race-baiting and demagoguery." He challenged the Christian values of its main sponsor.

The governor said the bill "inflames those who are racist and bigots and makes them think there’s a real problem. But there’s not."

Sens. Jim Holt of Springdale and Denny Altes of Fort Smith, whose Northwest Arkansas region includes the state’s fastestgrowing Hispanic population, filed the measure, Senate Bill 206.

Huckabee, a Baptist minister and a Republican like Holt and Altes, said Arkansans should be welcoming hardworking immigrants of all races.

Holt often talks of his strong Christian beliefs, but Huckabee singled him out, saying, "I drink a different kind of Jesus juice. My faith says don’t make false accusations against somebody. In the Bible, it’s called 'Don’t bear false witness.'"

The governor said Holt’s plan to deny prenatal care to illegal immigrants goes against their shared anti-abortion principles — that unborn fetuses should have a citizen’s right to life
...........
McCutchen accused Huckabee of pandering to "politically correct" interests to better his chances for a position in President Bush’s administration.

From stateline.org
Arizona: Political pressure building to oust Arizona legislator
Political pressure is starting to swirl around a newly elected lawmaker who overspent his public campaign funds by $7,500, setting up a possible constitutional battle over the state's Clean Elections Law. By Chip Scutari, The Arizona Republic (Phoenix)

Georgia: Bill requires challenging evolution
A bill filed Thursday would require Georgia's teachers to introduce scientific evidence challenging evolution. By Mary MacDonald and Nancy Badertshcer, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (registration)

Nebraska: Study - extreme climate swings could threaten Nebraska's future
Extreme swings in climate cycles could jeopardize both social and economic stability in the Northern Great Plains, according to a study released earlier this week by the Energy & Environmental Research Center (EERC), which is based in North Dakota. By Robert Pore, The Grand Island Independent

Nevada: Judge rules woman has right to photocopy election records
A judge ruled that Nevada Secretary of State Dean Heller must let a Reno woman copy records she sought to verify the result of November's presidential election. By The Associated Press, Las Vegas Review-Journal

Washington: Tim Eyman's latest - Hands off initiatives
Professional initiative promoter Tim Eyman is pushing a new measure, one to keep the Legislature from curbing the citizen initiative and referendum tools from which he makes a living. By Staff and Wire Reports, Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Washington: Court ruling OKs store's ads on backs of raincoats
A Kitsap County mattress store's unusual advertising strategy -- paying people to wear bright yellow raincoats emblazoned with the store's name, phone number and news of a half-off sale -- is a matter of free speech, the state Supreme Court ruled yesterday. By Tracy Johnson, Seattle Post-Intelligencer

2005-01-25T18:16:00.000-06:00

From stateline.org

Georgia: Senate gets hopping with state amphibian bill
After a week-and-a-half hiatus, the Georgia Senate convened at 1 p.m. today with the first reading of several pieces of legislation, including a bill that would designate the green tree frog as the official state amphibian. By Sonji Jacobs, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (registration)

Nice to know they're concentrating on the important things.

California: Mentally ill kids incarcerated, study finds
WASHINGTON — Due to a lack of community resources, children as young as 8 are routinely incarcerated in California juvenile detention facilities while awaiting mental health care, according to a House study released Monday. By Elise Castelli, Los Angeles Times (registration)

California: Legislator wants inquiry into plan to open prisons
State Sen. Gloria Romero on Monday called on the Bureau of State Audits to investigate the Schwarzenegger administration's decision to reopen two private prisons, one of which employed a consultant and lobbyists close to the governor's inner circle. By Dan Morain, Los Angeles Times (registration)

California: Study of California gun law finds blacks most likely to face felony charges
A study of California's weapons registration law found that blacks were far more likely to be charged with a felony than whites, who were more often charged with a misdemeanor for the same offense. By Don Thompson, The Associated Press, The San Diego Union-Tribune

Colorado: House takes on school bullying
The Colorado House voted Monday to declare this week "No Name-Calling Week" in schools despite some lawmakers' observations that teasing can build character. By Staff Writers, Rocky Mountain News (Denver)

Colorado: Pill for rape victims stirs reservations
A House committee approved a bill Monday that would require all hospitals in Colorado to notify sexual assault victims of the availability of an "emergency contraception" pill to prevent pregnancy. By Jim Hughes, Denver Post

Colorado: Medicaid funding restored for state's legal immigrants
State lawmakers on Monday approved restoring government-funded health insurance benefits to low- income legal immigrants. By Mark P. Couch, Denver Post

Michigan: Health care company fires employees for refusing smoking test
Four employees of a health care company have been fired for refusing to take a test to determine whether they smoke cigarettes. By The Associated Press, The Detroit News

Missouri: Missouri welfare call center moving back to state
A toll-free call center for Missouri welfare recipients will soon be staffed in Missouri, costing taxpayers $1 million more annually than if it had been kept in India. By The Associated Press, Kansas City Star (registration)

2005-01-19T21:42:00.000-06:00

Wednesday January 19, 2005. This first item was as predictable as snow in Wyoming in December:

In second term, a fight over direction of GOP
Despite the rare advantage of one-party rule, President Bush has to surmount divisions within his own party. By Gail Russell Chaddock
Christian Science Monitor
To the Founders, Congress was king
The inaugural festivities contrast sharply with quiet Congress ceremonies that the Founding Fathers might have considered much more important. By John Dillin
Christian Science Monitor
________________
From EurekAlert :

Public Release: 18-Jan-2005
Florida Department of Citrus responds to URMC's release on grapefruit-drug interactions
The Florida Department of Citrus (FDOC) is seeking clarification on allegations about grapefruit-drug interactions made without appropriate scientific support in a University of Rochester Medical Center's press release dated January 17th. The FDOC's first priority is the health of consumers in regards to possible interactions between grapefruit and certain drugs.

Public Release: 19-Jan-2005
Nature
Breakthrough in climate research
A long standing puzzle that has haunted climate researchers looking at the fate of carbon stored in the world's soils, has now been resolved. The research suggests that climate warming may be occurring even faster than previously recognised.
Natural Environment Research Council

No need to worry -- Michael Crichton and the current US Administration say there's no problem.

Public Release: 19-Jan-2005
University of Manchester makes made-to-measure skin and bones a reality using inkjet printers
Made-to-measure skin and bones, which could be used to treat burn victims or patients who have suffered severe disfigurements, may soon be a reality using inkjets which can print human cells.

Public Release: 19-Jan-2005
Geophysical Research Letters
Arctic rivers discharge more freshwater into ocean, reflecting changes to hydrologic cycle
Far northern rivers are discharging increasing amounts of freshwater into the Arctic Ocean, due to intensified precipitation caused by global warming. This could change the distribution of water on Earth's surface, with important social and economic consequences. It could alter the balance of the climate system itself, particularly the Atlantic thermohaline circulation. This flow helps keep northern Europe at a temperate climate, whereas the same latitudes in North America are sparsely settled tundra or taiga.
United Kingdom Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs under the Climate Prediction Program

If I understand this correctly, the good news is that London may have lots of lovely snow at Christmas. And at Easter, and Mayday.

2005-01-19T21:25:00.000-06:00

Daphne Drewello, frequent contributor to the Stumpers list, found this:
The Exclusion of Black Workers...

The Exclusion of Black Workers from the Social Security Act, 1935

By Mary POOLE

Dissertation Director:

Alice Kessler-Harris

The topic of my dissertation is how and why the 1935 Social Security Act, which laid the foundations of the American Welfare state, was constructed in such a way that it discriminated against African Americans. I try to understand how public policy which is ostensibly “colorblind” can contribute to the construction and reconstruction of racial hierarchy. A prime example of this phenomenon is the exclusion of most African American workers from the two programs created in the act for workers, Unemployment Insurance and Old Age Insurance (now Social Security.) At the time, this exclusion was considered to be racially benign, made necessary for the administration difficulties involved with collecting contributions from African American workers, most of whom were domestic workers and agricultural laborers. Yet, this policy of exclusion had deep and important consequences for African Americans as a group, as the majority of Black workers were denied the main safety net created during the depression years.

Historians of the Social Security Act have either repeated the claim that the exclusion of agricultural and domestic workers was administratively necessary, or, more recently, argued that it resulted from the racist intentions of southerners in Congress to deny economic security to the southern work force. My research into this issue, which was based on congressional and administrative archives, has lead to a different conclusion. I argue that Congress was not primarily responsible for the exclusion of Black workers from the Act, and that there was a great deal of evidence at the time that the exclusions were not administratively necessary. The Act did not create a sound, fair system of Social Welfare from which African Americans were excluded. Rather, through its very structure, the Act reproduced the economic hierarchy that maintained African American workers at the bottom rungs. The Act was not radicalized primarily through the deliberate ‘racist’ intent of particular interests. Instead, it was constructed to express the vision of northern liberal reformers who sought to save the economic system, and the American was of life, by elevating the position of white, male industrial workers. The Act was the product of a particular group of reformers from Wisconsin who had been brought to Washington to enact their visions of a humane social welfare system. Like many liberal white New Dealers, the Wisconsin group assumed the developmental inferiority of African Americans, particularly in regard to their abilities as workers. While they may have believed, ostensibly, in the assumption, which was then made invisible through the ‘colorblind’ New deal environment.

The different chapters of this dissertation describes [sic] the participation of different groups in the development of the Social Security Act, and then analyze the ways that the racial ideologies of these groups factors into their participation, and into the Act that resulted. In addition to southern Congressional leadership and the President’s staff—dominated by the Wisconsin group—I also look at the involvement of the three Black of [sic]interracial organization that lobbied on behalf of Black workers, and at the women of the Children’s Bureau who helped to draft the children’s titles of the Act.
-------------------
The Stumpers list is a place for librarians (and others) to discuss reference questions which they are unable to answer using available resources, including the Internet and local interlibrary loan capabilities.

This site contains information about the list, including how to subscribe to the list, how to send questions to the list, frequently asked questions from and about the list, and some links to list-related resources in other places.
Stumpers

2005-01-18T18:41:00.000-06:00

Political News
From stateline.org

Homosexuality and laws:
Alabama: Same-sex marriage ban: Time is key
Legislators say a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriages can easily pass both chambers, but that measure could stumble if supporters insist on putting it before the voters in the 2006 general election. By Tom Gordon, The Birmingham News

[Explanation: Republicans want it in the general election so it'll bring out conservative voters -- who will, of course, vote Republican. Oddly enough, Democratic legislators who would otherwise support it aren't nearly as pleased by that idea.]

Massachusetts: Bid seen weakening to ban gay marriage
The slim majority that supported the proposed constitutional amendment banning gay marriage last year has been thrown into doubt with the recent resignations of three legislators who oppose gay marriage and a net increase of two gay-marriage supporters in the crop of newly elected legislators. By Frank Phillips, The Boston Globe

Maryland: Session to revisit debate on gay unions
The national debate over same-sex unions lands squarely in Maryland this month, as legislators and lobbyists mobilize for a series of noisy battles over how gay couples will be treated in the eyes of state law. By Janice D'Arcy, The Sun (Baltimore) (registration)

Montana: Bill outlawing bias toward gays, lesbians draws fire
Montanans should be able to discriminate against gays and lesbians because their way of life threatens society and should be kept at bay, some critics said Monday in attacking a bill that would outlaw such discrimination under human-rights laws. By Bob Anez, The Associated Press, Missoulian
________________
Arkansas: Huckabee aid plan for illegal aliens draws 'venom, anger'
Gov. Mike Huckabee's proposal last week to provide college scholarships and loans to illegal immigrants has sparked some emotional talk if not much ink compared to his other proposals. By David Robinson, Arkansas News Bureau

Arizona: Malpractice bill personal for legislator
Toni Hellon's 23-year-old daughter went to the emergency room of a Phoenix hospital in 1989 when she experienced weakness in her limbs and difficulty swallowing. She should have been put on a respirator. Instead, the doctor concluded she was hysterical and administered sedatives. By Howard Fischer, Capitol Media Services, Arizona Daily Star (Tucson)

Florida: Veiled sect hails Bush, Martinez
A mysterious committee backed by members of a secretive religious group whose members are forbidden to vote spent more than $500,000 on newspaper ads last year supporting President Bush and U.S. Senate candidate Mel Martinez. By Lucy Morgan, St. Petersburg Times

Iowa: Iowa professor says enterprise zones overrated
University of Iowa professor Peter Fisher has a theory about tax breaks, enterprise zones and other tools to lure companies on the move or expanding: They're not a big deal. By Staff Reports, KCCI-TV 8 (Des Moines)

North Dakota: Bill would let students carry asthma medicine
Students who suffer breathing problems should be allowed to carry asthma and allergy medicine in school rather than having it locked up, a Senate panel believes. By James Warden, The Associated Press, The Bismarck Tribune

Nebraska: Class I schools have fiery advocates
Mighty Mouse has nothing on Nebraska's elementary-only school districts. Those Class I school districts educate barely one in 50 Nebraska students, but the passion of their supporters has foiled every previous attempt to consolidate or close them. By Martha Stoddard, Omaha World-Herald

South Dakota: Johnson bill bans cattle from Canada
Sen. Tim Johnson, D-S.D., said he will introduce legislation to hold back a "tidal wave of Canadian animals" that could hurt South Dakota ranchers. By Ben Shouse, Argus Leader (Sioux Falls)

2005-01-18T17:24:00.000-06:00

Tuesday January 18, 2005. From a letter from my Congressman, Martin Olav Sabo, Minnesota 5th District:

"Thank you for contracting me to inquire about my vote against the Commercial Space Launch Amendments Act (H.R. 5382). I appeciate the opportunity to address your concerns.

"As you may know, the 108th Congress considered several bills to authorize passenger space flight. I support space exploration. However, I voted against H.R. 5382 because of concerns that its safety and regulatory provisions were inadequate and could result in unnecessary danger to the lives of passengers and crew on private space flights.

"Specifically, H.R. 5382 prohibits the Department of Transportation (DOT) from issuing safety design and operating regulations for eight years or until there is a death of catastrophic accident. This provision seriously limits the ability of the DOT to protect the health and safety of crew and space flight participants, since it exempts not only experimental flights by a manufacturer, but also passenger flights. It is irresponsible to allow the space flight industry to experiment with paying passengers on-board.

"Despite opposition from many members, H.R. 5382 was approved by the House and Senate and signed into law by the President. It is unclear whether the 109th Congress will revisit these serious safety issues.

"Finally, you may be interested to know that I voted for H.R. 3752, an earlier version of the legislation, which was overwhelmingly approved by the House. H.R. 3752 would not have precluded DOT from issuing basic safety standards to protect passengers."

From The Space Review, another view:

Well, shouldn’t they do something to protect the passengers? I have to answer a resounding no. The reason for this answer is that paying customers in the space tourism industry are not the same as passengers in the traditional sense of transportation by air. Instead, it is more appropriate to think of these persons as adventure tourists or reverse skydivers. Suborbital tourists are not paying to be transported from one point to another. In fact, they generally will end up just where they started. Instead, suborbital tourists are paying to be allowed along for the ride. Subrbital space tourism is the ultimate roller coaster ride, not a service designed to transport passengers. While we all want this to develop into a passenger service in the traditional functional sense, for now they are paying for the heart-pounding thrill of the ride and to see the awe inspiring view. Just as is not appropriate to mandate safety for persons who go swimming with sharks or climbing Mount Everest, it is not appropriate to mandate safety for private space flight participants.
My reaction: While "no safety mandates for climbers" is a logical position for libertarians to take, it's not one which governments take. And not because governments abhor a vacuum; because if they don't have safety mandates, they'll be blamed for any deaths. Not to mention that rescuing too-adventuring climbers is costly in money and resources. (And rational as it might be to just let the fools die, it's very bad public relations. "Very bad" as in "I'd like you to hand in your resignation five hours ago.")

Official information on H.R. 5382, including the summary of contents and the full text:
Thomas

A search on Thomas for H.R. 3752 brings up this:
The text of H.R. 3752 has not yet been received from GPO
Bills are generally sent to the Library of Congress from the Government Printing Office a day or two after they are introduced on the floor of the House or Senate. Delays can occur when there are a large number of bills to prepare or when a very large bill has to be printed.

On the basis of the information at hand, I'd say Representative Sabo voted the right way. Given a few weeks of fulltime research, I might change my mind.

Important note: While I'm in favor of space exploration, including private enterprises, I don't think it has to be done in the USA or by Americans.

Comments to dsgood at gmail.com

2005-01-13T16:04:00.000-06:00

Thursday January 13, 2004. See if you can spot what's wrong with this:

[liberal bias turning off readers] will not be a problem initially for many big-city newspapers that both lead and reflect their liberal constituencies. The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Boston Globe and the Washington Post are all pretty much in sync with their hometown sentiments. But there are problems looming for these papers. As the middle class surges into the new exurbia, those liberal and sectarian perceptions will not travel well from the city to the outskirts. Suburban papers, far more attuned to the local sentiments, will be able to seize upon disaffection with the city sophisticates.
http://www.newsisfree.com/iclick/i,68092856,2018,f/

Item: He's predicting for the near future something which began happening over fifty years ago. Americans began the big move from cities to suburbs in the 1950s. "City" newspapers have adjusted so thoroughly that urbanites can feel neglected. (Note: When I want to read New York City news, I look up Newsday -- a suburban daily -- rather than the New York Times.)

And many of the people moving to exurbs or new suburbs aren't from the cities. They're from older suburbs.

Beyond that: People don't automagically become conservative Republicans when they move to suburbs or exurbs. Sometimes they change, yes. But even when they do, the places they move to also change.
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Via http://stateline.org:
Lawsuit: Legislature is unconstitutional
BY KEVIN O'HANLON / The Associated Press

To heck with fighting City Hall, a Nebraska man upset over his property taxes wants a federal judge to declare the state's one-house Legislature unconstitutional.

James Widtfeldt, an attorney in Atkinson, says in a federal lawsuit that Nebraska's unicameral Legislature is not a Republican form of government guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution.

"The abbreviated Nebraska Legislature shortchanges Nebraskans," Widtfeldt argues in the lawsuit against state and local tax boards, which were created by the Legislature.
http://www.journalstar.com/articles/2005/01/12/legislature/doc41e47beaae31f431283620.txt

My prediction: Lawsuit headed for defeat.
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From the India edition of Google News:
HC bans public display of firearms during polls
Times of India - 8 hours ago
PATNA: The Patna High Court, while taking a dim view of poll candidates and their supporters carrying firearms, ordered on Wednesday for a complete ban on display of firearms at the time of filing of nomination papers as also during campaigning.
HC bans public display of firearms during Bihar polls: New Kerala
Don't display firearms during Bihar polls: HC Rediff
NDTV.com - all 5 related »
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12:52 pm - Mowing the lawn in Antarctica http://www.livejournal.com/users/sclerotic_rings/701109.html

Courtesy of linkfrenzy, here's a bit of interesting information with some pretty serious repercussions, depending upon your interpretation. The Times reports on the return of grasslands to Antarctica [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-1415627,00.html]: until recently, only two species of flowering plant were known from Antarctica, and both lived at the absolute tip of the Antarctic Peninsula. According to new information, though, large stretches of land that were previously barren are now supporting grass.

email Dan Goodman
All comments assumed to be for publication, unless I'm told otherwise.

2004-11-29T19:43:00.000-06:00

Monday November 29, 2004. From The Volokh Conspiracy http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2004_11_28.shtml#1101697243

"Sunday, November 28, 2004
[Orin Kerr, November 28, 2004 at 10:00pm] Possible Trackbacks
George Will on Filibusters:

"From his Newsweek column, brought to my attention via Howard
[ http://www.legalaffairs.org/howappealing/2004_11_01_appellateblog_archive.html#1101696016 ]:

"'The filibuster is an important defense of minority rights, enabling democratic government to measure and respect not merely numbers but also intensity in public controversies. Filibusters enable intense minorities to slow the governmental juggernaut. Conservatives, who do not think government is sufficiently inhibited, should cherish this blocking mechanism. And someone should puncture Republicans' current triumphalism by reminding them that someday they will again be in the minority.'"

But some know that they will never again be in the minority; that conservatives and Republicans (who are, of course, identical) will now rule forever in America. See, for example, the September 27 issue of National Review. It has an article explaining how Bush's impending landslide victory will result in the end of liberalism forever.

And there are conservatives who think the government should have no inhibitions whatsoever. For example, John Ashcroft has explained that courts should never rule against the President. (I haven't yet found evidence that he also said this during the Clinton Administration; but surely he did. For Ashcroft is an honorable man.)

A while ago, someone commented in soc.politics that liberals were obviously fueled by hatred of George W. Bush.

I replied that there are two reasons why I don't hate Bush:
1) I'm not a conservative
2) I'm not a Republican

The same applies to most of the current leaders of American conservatism.
______________________________
From http://bna.com newsletter:
LOBBYISTS TARGET PHILLY PROPOSAL FOR CITY-WIDE WIRELESS
Philadelphia's plan to offer inexpensive wireless Internet as a municipal service has collided with commercial interests, including local phone company Verizon Communications. Regional and long-distance phone companies have intensified a national campaign to quash municipal wireless initiatives like Philadelphia's as dozens of cities and towns have either begun or announced such plans.

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http://www.futurepundit.com/archives/002485.html
Chicago, IL. November 8, 2004. Arryx, Inc. announced today that it has added an infrared (IR) product to its line of BioRyx(R) 200 optical trapping systems.....One of the initial applications of their technology is going to be the sorting of bull sperm to select cow gender in order to reduce the number of less valuable male cows (only females can make milk)....Cow semen sorting by sex chromosome will be available in 2005....For information and background on the scientific and technical work that led to the implementation of laser tweezers, feel free to browse Dr. David G. Grier's Web site: http://physics.nyu.edu/grierlab/.

Eventually much easier and lower cost pre-conception sex selection technologies will be available for human use. As it stands now cheap ultrasound technology and selective abortion are already causing large excesses in male births in Taiwan, China, and India. Imagine what will happen worldwide as costs and risks of sex selection drop.

My comments: Science fiction which looks at this includes: James Blish, "This Earth of Hours". Lois McMaster Bujold, A Civil Campaign.

I don't think it will make much difference in India, where the number of adult women has long been held down by treating boys better than girls.

2004-11-27T20:23:00.000-06:00

Saturday November 27, 2004. In the 1950's, English science fiction writers presented a future in which England was still a world power, and had become a major power in space.

By the 1950's, England was no longer a major power. And the signs of this were obvious.

(Note that I said "England" rather than "United Kingdom." The other parts of the UK weren't considered important.)

Today, some of the Russian Federation's policies make sense only if the government is run by people who think Russia is still a superpower. It hasn't been since the Soviet Union fell apart; and the evidence is that it never will be again. Russia is not going to be a superpower; it's not going to be a world power; it quite likely will not be a major power in Europe. And it might not hold on to the rest of the Russian Federation.

Today, many people -- inside and outside the US -- take it for granted that the US is the last superpower standing and will remain a superpower well into the future.

I suspect that being a superpower requires at least one opposing superpower. But even if so, the US is a major world power -- in some ways, the major power.

I wonder how much longer that will be true. And how much time will pass between that and the time when Americans realize we no longer live in the world's strongest country.

By some standards, we aren't now. For example, we're probably second in space to the European Space Agency.
__________________
Covering events in Ukraine: http://fistfulofeuros.net. Digest of blogs commenting on the situation there: http://kinja.com/user/Ukraineblogs

email Dan Goodman
All comments assumed to be for publication, unless I'm told otherwise.

2004-11-23T01:44:00.000-06:00

Monday November 22, 2004. Fifty years ago in the US: Southerners in Congress supported white supremacy -- no matter how liberal they might otherwise be.

Homosexuality was a disease -- that was established scientific truth, and it was also the liberal position.

Advice columnists for teen-girl magazines said firmly that girls should hold on to their virginity before marriage. Now, they say it's a personal decision.

There were no openly-gay men in Congress. Now there are two -- and one is a conservative Republican (Jim Kolbe of Arizona).

Related: From Sightings -- newsletter from http://marty-center.uchicago.edu/

....owners of the Family Christian Bookstore (FCB), a chain of 326 stores, recently decided to open on Sundays, causing their store managers to regularly miss church.

How does FCB legitimate this choice to violate the Commandment? FCB’s CEO Dan Browne called it a “ministry decision." Reminded that Hobby Lobby and Chick-fil-A keep the Sabbath on good evangelical grounds, Browne responded “No one’s going to go to hell for not eating a chicken sandwich,” implying that not being able to buy a religious book on Sunday might mean going to hell. The Berean Christian Stores chain is also now open on Sunday. Its VP, Greg Moore, gave his “higher critical” defense: “There is more value in saving a lost soul than adhering to an Old Testament custom that later became a commandment."

Is there any outrage against this latest assault on God’s Law? Pollsters found that 80 percent of FCB constituents shop on Sunday. Jamie Dean checked inventories of the FCB stores for books “specifically about the Sabbath,” a topic regularly addressed by Catholic and mainstream Protestant spiritual literature. How many titles did he find? “Zero."

Is this how values and morals change: when enough people engage in a new practice, the fight over the divine origin of “custom” or “Commandment” slips from view? Surveys show that something like this also happens on conservative Protestant fronts. Thus, calling divorce a sin and preaching against it, as evangelicals once did -- now it is a "tragedy" that is ministered to in “pastoral care” -- and, increasingly, preaching against gambling is largely off the evangelical screen. Birth control was preached and editorialized against decades ago, and the "born-again" now take it for granted.

What’s next? Women identifying themselves as Protestant obtain 37.4 percent of abortions in the U.S. Catholic women? 31.3 percent, slightly above the general public average. Jewish women? 1.3 percent. As of now, nearly one-fifth of all abortions are performed on women who identify themselves as born-again/evangelical.

If the "born again" number grows, will anti-abortion continue to hold the place it now does on the “values and morals” front? Or will it too fade?
_____________________________
http://www.smartmobs.com/archive/2004/11/22/the_daily_delay.html
Investigative bloggers are taking on Tom DeLay. Following Joshua Micah Marshall's lead in trying to figure out just which legislators voted for the DeLay Rule, David Donnelly has created The Daily DeLay, a weblog for tracking just who voted for the rule, and who opposed it. (The DeLay Rule is a rule change by House Republicans that will allow a legislator indicted by state prosecutors to remain in a leadership post, passed because Majority Leader Tom DeLay may face prosecution in Texas.) This is another case where bloggers won't let a story die: in addition to the Daily DeLay, Technorati shows a number of bloggers that have linked to the CNN version of the story, as well as 3544 entries that mention the DeLay Rule. (I suppose that'll be 3545 after I post this...) (Thanks and a tip o' the SmartMobs hat to Micah!)
______________________
From EurekAlert http://www.eurekalert.org/pubnews.php:
Public Release: 22-Nov-2004
JAMA
Examination of possible conflicts of interest to influence look at suspected adverse drug reactions
A review of the published literature and of internal company documents from the manufacturer of cerivastatin, a cholesterol lowering drug removed from the market in 2001, suggests that information about serious adverse effects of this medication was known to the company within months after this drug was launched, and that company analyses showing substantially increased risk of rhabdomyolysis were apparently not published or disseminated to physicians and patients.
__________________________________
The Tipsheet for November 19, 2004; from http://thehill.com:

New favorite
Simon Rosenberg, who currently heads the New Democrat Network, is becoming the favorite to become the next chairman of the DNC. But the former Clintonite also has a strong following among “outside” Democrats—activists who came to the party via former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean and other Internet voters who read the blogs. Rosenberg’s straight talk about what the party needs to do has been remarkably consistent and his 527’s effort to win Hispanic voters was more successful than expected. Also in his favor: He’s a tireless fundraiser.

2004-11-21T21:54:00.000-06:00

Sunday November 21, 2004. Today's Star Tribune has a column by Dick Day, minority leader of the Minnesota Senate:

"....the one hangover I worry about is the loss of good leaders in the Minnesota House of Representatives.

"Recently, we've learned a lot about what it takes to topple 12 public servants. It seems DFL[1] House Leader Matt Entenza wooed the public with intoxicating amounts of 527 money and plenty of negative campaign attacks.

"In the end, the voters probably did what they thought was right -- after being bombarded with negative direct mail and advertising against Republican House members, how else could they vote?

"....

"The common thread that binds these 12 representatives is integrity. They can go home with the knowledge that they took the tough votes, solved a massive state budget deficit and stayed true to their values."

Tsk -- I forgot to mention which party Mr. Day belongs to. Anyone have trouble guessing?

I don't believe him. Legislators whose integrity is unblemished aren't well-liked by party leaders.
They have the nasty habit of voting the wrong way, every now and then -- without the excuse that doing otherwise would cost them needed support from contributors and voters.

I also don't believe the Minnesota Republican Party is composed of angels who would never stoop to negative campaigning. Nor do I think he honestly believes that.

[1] In Minnesota, the Democratic Party is officially the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party. There was a merger between the Democratic and Farmer-Labor parties. If there's still any trace of the Farmer-Labor component, I haven't been able to detect it.

2004-11-21T21:34:00.000-06:00

News You Might Not Have Seen

Sunday, 21 November, 2004, 01:53 GMT
Anti-terror laws 'may go further'
The home secretary is to spell out proposals for more far-reaching measures to tackle terrorism, amid fears of an al-Qaeda attack on Britain.

David Blunkett will unveil the ideas on ITV1's Jonathan Dimbleby programme.

Proposals include special anti-terror courts without juries and civil orders which could be used against people suspected of planning terrorism.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/low/uk/4029507.stm
________
Via http://politicalwire.com:
ANTIGUA, Guatemala (Reuters) - A U.S. congressman married the daughter of Guatemala's most notorious former dictator on Saturday in a controversial wedding that took place in a high-walled compound ringed with razor wire.

Illinois Rep. Jerry Weller tied the knot with Guatemalan lawmaker Zury Rios Sosa in the compound, just off a dusty road between a building site and a volcano near Guatemala's colonial capital Antigua.

The couple, who met while Weller was on a visit to Guatemala, married in a civil ceremony attended by Guatemalan military, politicians and the U.S. ambassador to the Central American nation, John Hamilton.

Weller was re-elected in November despite questions from his opponent about his choice of fiancee and a possible conflict of interest with some of his government posts.

He serves on the U.S. House of Representatives sub-committee for Western Hemisphere Affairs that sometimes sees legislation concerning Guatemala.

"At the very least he should resign from the committee, it's a potentially compromising relationship, in terms of his foreign affairs activity," said Patricia Davis, of the Washington based rights group, the Guatemalan Human Rights Commission.

Rios Sosa's father Efrain Rios Montt took power in a 1982 coup at the peak of Guatemala's 36-year civil war, which pitted the army against leftist insurgents.

She is a high ranking member of her father's Guatemalan Republican Front party, which held the presidency between 2000-2004, and is seen as a possible future presidential candidate herself.

The retired general's de facto presidency is remembered for his weekly sermons broadcast live on television and for a "scorched earth" campaign that killed thousands of mostly civilian Mayan Indians.
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=politicsNews&storyID=6875152&src=rss/ElectionCoverage

email Dan Goodman
All comments assumed to be for publication, unless I'm told otherwise.

2004-11-20T21:45:00.000-06:00

Saturday November 20, 2004. Just because everyone knows it doesn't mean it's true. For example, that American urbanites voted for John Kerry and ruralites voted for George Bush.

Not where I grew up. Ulster County, NY is mostly-rural, and votes Democratic. It used to be reliably Republican; but it hasn't been for several decades.

Farther south in NYState: Roughly speaking, New York City votes Democratic and the suburbs vote Republican. But that's very roughly speaking: Some suburbs vote Democratic, some parts of the city vote Republican. And the city now has its second Republican mayor in a row.

I would be greatly surprised to learn that this is the only anomaly; that everywhere else in the US, city folk and country people voted the way they were supposed to.
__________________
Stirring the Pot
By Susan Q. Stranaha

Journalists are about to embark on an uncommon task in American politics: covering a president's second term. As Ronald Brownstein of the Los Angeles Times wrote recently, only eleven presidents have won a second term since the formation of the modern political party system in 1828.

Bill Clinton did it; so did Ronald Reagan. Now, as George W. Bush outlines his agenda and shuffles his cabinet in advance of Inauguration Day, it seems a good time to ask this question: Will the media, which belatedly conceded that they failed to adequately scrutinize Bush's rationale for the Iraq war in his first term, take off the gloves in the next four years?

"History doesn't give us much evidence of that," says author Mark Hertsgaard. "Look at the Reagan era. The media certainly didn't get tougher in his second term."....
http://www.campaigndesk.org/archives/001133.asp
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From EurekAlert http://www.eurekalert.org/econnews.php:
Public Release: 19-Nov-2004
'Fatally flawed' legal analysis will not stand
Legal scholars advising the Alliance for Taxpayer Access quickly dismissed the faulty analysis made by the American Physiological Society's outside counsel suggesting the National Institutes of Health's public access plan will infringe copyright claims of grantees and publishers. [The claims were included in the APS comments filed with the NIH this week.]
Association of Libraries

2004-11-19T17:04:00.000-06:00

Friday November 19, 2004. I've been expecting the US health industry to begin having interesting times. This might be the start of that:

A veteran Food and Drug Administration safety officer said yesterday at a Senate hearing on the abrupt recall of the arthritis drug Vioxx that five other widely used drugs should either be withdrawn or sharply restricted because they have dangerous side effects.

Describing the agency he works for as incapable of stopping dangerous drugs from entering and staying on the market, David J. Graham, associate director of the Office of Drug Safety, told the senators that the FDA's role in reviewing and approving new drugs sometimes conflicts with its duty to address safety issues.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A61157-2004Nov18.html (free subscription, or go via http://bugmenot.com )
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From the Volokh Conspiracy http://volokh.com:
[Orin Kerr, November 17, 2004 at 3:07pm]
New Blog Following State Attorneys General:

Available here http://tierney.blogware.com/, hosted by James Tierney of the Columbia Law School program on state Attorneys General. Thanks to Susan Crawford for the link.
____________________
From EurekAlert http://www.eurekalert.org/pubnews.php:
Public Release: 18-Nov-2004
Major-party candidates wield the Web, with many challengers still offline
Third-party political challengers aren't using the Web as widely as expected, researchers find.

Public Release: 19-Nov-2004
New sampling method to track HIV-risk behavior
An innovative sampling method, respondent-driven sampling (RDS), developed by Cornell University sociologist Douglas Heckathorn, has been adopted by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) for recruiting and measuring HIV risk behaviors among injecting drug users in the 25 cities with the largest number of new AIDS cases.

Public Release: 19-Nov-2004
Space sentinels track desertification on Mediterranean shores
The severe droughts and forest fires of recent years underline Mediterranean Europe's continuing vulnerability to desertification – 300 000 square kilometres of territory are currently affected, threatening the livelihoods of 16.5 million Europeans. A new satellite-based service is set to provide a continuous monitoring of regions most at risk.

Public Release: 19-Nov-2004
Space sentinels track desertification on Mediterranean shores
The severe droughts and forest fires of recent years underline Mediterranean Europe's continuing vulnerability to desertification – 300 000 square kilometres of territory are currently affected, threatening the livelihoods of 16.5 million Europeans. A new satellite-based service is set to provide a continuous monitoring of regions most at risk.
-------------------------------------------
From http://www.eurekalert.org/econnews.php
Public Release: 19-Nov-2004
Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health
Chernobyl disaster caused cancer cases in Sweden
Chernobyl disaster caused cancer cases in Sweden Study of development of cancer in seven Swedish counties establishes connection A statistically determined correlation between radioactive fallout from the Chernobyl accident and an increase in the number of cases of cancer in the exposed areas in Sweden is reported in a study by scientists at Linköping University, Örebro University, and the County Council of Västernorrland County.

2004-09-24T20:26:00.000-05:00

As of 9/24/04, this blog has gone inactive. The LiveJournal version continues active, at http://www.livejournal.com/users/dsgood/

I'll be leaving this up for about a month. After that, I'll decide whether I want to convert the blog for some other purpose, or shut it down.

2004-09-24T01:50:00.000-05:00

Thursday September 23, 2004. Cartoon: Building with a sign saying "Welcome Arsonists Convention," people in an approaching car. Driver: "You know, it seems like every year we meet in a different place." (Strange Brew, by John Deering)

***I apparently needed to catch up on my dream sleep; I had a four-hour nap.
-------------------
Writing: daily exercise -- Done.

"They Might Be Windmills" -- A bit done.

Old Religion --

Decluttering: A few things thrown away.

Mindwork:
Bodywork:

2004-09-23T23:55:00.000-05:00

GOOGLE NEWS CHINA OMITS CONTROVERSIAL NEWS STORIES
Researchers at Dynamic Internet Technology, a US company that provides technology for circumventing internet restrictions in China, have discovered that the recently-launched Chinese version of Google News omits blocked news sources from its results. DIT accuses Google of reinforcing Chinese Internet restrictions by leaving some sites off its list.

--------------------------
From Google News:
PFIZER EXECUTIVE ACKNOWLEDGES DRUG IMPORTATION IS SAFE
Peter Rost, a VP of marketing with Pfizer, has acknowledged that drug importation from Canada is safe. Rost noted that "the safety issue is a made-up story."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A18917-2004Sep13.html
----------------------------
From EurekAlert http://www.eurekalert.org/pubnews.php:
Public Release: 23-Sep-2004
Nature
Flexible pain relief with morphine-free poppy
A handful of genes in a morphine free poppy could hold the key to producing improved pain management pharmaceuticals.
Horticulture Australia Limited

Public Release: 23-Sep-2004
British scientists zero in on the birth of the universe
British scientists from the University of Cambridge and the University of Exeter discovered that the evolution of the Universe was much slower than previously thought. Dr. Andrew Bunker, who studied images taken by the Hubble Space Telescope, will present the results at a NASA workshop today at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Md.
------------------------
'Code' breakers search Paris for fictional facts
Modern pilgrims prowl the streets of the city, using Dan Brown's novel as a map to the 'truth.' By Peter Ford
http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0924/p01s04-woeu.html?s=hns

2004-09-23T01:31:00.000-05:00

Wednesday September 22, 2004. To Pillsbury House, where I did data entry for the Community Barter Network and Pillsbury House's volunteer program.

***Afterwards, to Uncle Hugo's, where I ran into Nate Bucklin. We talked about first names, among other things.
________________________
Writing: daily exercise -- Done. Posted here, and on a couple of forums.

"They Might Be Windmills" -- A bit of zero draft added. And I saw that I'd introduced one element twice -- the second time as if it was entirely new.

Old Religion -- Started working it out. Besides the Marxist element, there's also stuff from Objectivism, libertarianism, and transhumanism.
_______________
Decluttering: Rearranged how some things are stored. Threw away a few things.

Mindwork:
Bodywork:

2004-09-22T21:17:00.000-05:00

How to Influence Me Politically

A few months ago, a Canadian on soc.politics explained (for the benefit of European posters) that I was a typical American -- that is, I got my news entirely from television, and believed everything the White House said.

Item: I don't own a tv set.

Item: Three of my grandparents were Marxists; the fourth was an anarchist.

Item: I'm opposed to a whole lot of what the current Administration has done. And I live in an area (South Minneapolis) in which the number of people who support Bush might be lower than the number of Ontario residents who voted for him in 2000. (Probably higher than the number who sent in absentee ballots from Nunavit, though.)

However, I do believe that much of what Europeans think they know about the US is inaccurate. And I
don't take kindly to Europeans who lecture on American imperialism -- as contrasted with the saintly histories of their own countries.

(Note: I'm not saying that all European countries have engaged in imperialism. To the best of my knowledge, San Marino and Andorra have never done so. If you belong to another European country, and you're certain yours is in this category, you're welcome to tell me so. But I suggest first checking with citizens of countries which border yours, to begin with.)

I don't appreciate such ignorance and prejudice from Americans, either. I grew up in a rural area of New York State; I don't think kindly of people who "know" that NYState is entirely urban, and inhabited only by liberals. I also don't think kindly of people who "know" that Minneapolis is just like the rest of the Midwest, and therefore irredeemably conservative.

If you want to change my mind about American politics, you'd better do some thinking and investigation about such things.

It would also be useful to avoid insulting any of my friends, relatives, or friendly acquaintances. Which should be simple enough: don't disparage Marxists, liberals, conservatives, anarcho-communists, anarcho-capitalists; Catholics, Fundamentalist Protestants, Jews, "mainstream" Protestants, Orthodox Christians, Unitarians, agnostics, atheists, pagans....

If you belong to a particular political creed, I recommend keeping yourself humble by reminding yourself of the inglorious parts of that creed's history. For example, if you're a liberal, remember that the most racist 20th century President was a liberal Democrat: Woodrow Wilson. If you're a conservative, remember that there's a long history of conservative disloyalty; see, for example, Under Cover, by John Roy Carlson, published in 1943. (And what do you think the Confederate flags Southern conservatives display are a symbol of?)

And do try not to make it too obvious you think you're more intelligent and more knowledgeable than I am.

2004-09-21T23:10:00.000-05:00

Tuesday September 21, 2004. I blame Naomi Kritzer and Arnold Toynbee.

Kritzer's fantasy novel Fires of the Faithful has what seems at first to be the standard "New Religion persecutes Old Religion" stuff. However, this turns out to be very much nonstandard.

The New Religion is paganism; the Old Religion is Christianity. Which I figured out from what the reviews weren't saying, before I read the book. It was almost as easy as figuring out the Great Secret of the movie The Crying Game.

Arnold Toynbee said that Marxism was a Christian heresy.

Obviously, the world needs at least one future-setting story in which Marxism is the Old Religion. It would be no stranger than Neo-Tech, a magical cult based on the writings of Ayn Rand. And one version seems to have started already:

Mao Worshippers Threatened in China

By MARTIN FACKLER, Associated Press Writer, September 26, 2001, 12:50 PM EDT

SHANGHAI, China -- Authorities in Mao Tse-tung's hometown are cracking down on the worship of China's communist founder as a religious figure, a local official said. Several temples where villagers were praying to Mao have been closed in Shaoshan, in the central province of Hunan, said the official, who asked not to be identified further.

Altars in the temples held photos of Mao or statues, one more than three feet high, the official said by telephone from Shaoshan. Thousands of items have been seized from stores and roadside souvenir stands that depict Mao as a halo-crowned Buddhist saint or a Chinese folk god bestowing wealth, he said. The official said Communist Party leaders in the town decided to act from growing alarm at the appearance of "superstitious activities" involving Mao, who died in 1976.

They have also banned the burning of incense and specially printed paper money before images of Mao, he said. Both are traditional Chinese ways of appeasing spirits of the dead. The crackdown comes just before hundreds of thousands of Chinese are expected to visit Shaoshan during week-long celebrations of China's Oct. 1 National Day. The holiday marks the date in 1949 when Mao declared the official founding of the People's Republic of China.
http://home.att.net/~meditation/Mao.html

The problem, I'd thought, was that to write this, I would need to learn more than I wanted to about Marxism. But now I realize that all I really need are catchphrases and other rags. Given a few centuries, hidden religions lose most of their original content.

I've started looking up the Hidden Christians in Japan; the ones who didn't rejoin the Roman Catholic Church when it became safe to be openly Christian. There are major differences from any European version of Christianity. See http://www.uwosh.edu/home_pages/faculty_staff/earns/miyazaki.html and http://www2.gol.com/users/coynerhm/faith.html
--------------
Laurel Winter had a reading at Dreamhaven Books. She writes good fantasy, poetry, and Young Adult fiction.

I recommend her YA novel Growing Wings, with one reservation: I'm not mature enough to get very far into it. (Or, to put it another way, it brings up family matters I'm not yet prepared to deal with.)

_______________
Writing: daily exercise -- Done.

"They Might Be Windmills" -- Added a few words which made large changes in the story.

Other: Marxism as the old religion -- I seem to have committed to this. I need to sketch out the rest of the background. After which I'll need to find a story for the background.
____________
Decluttering: Some trash picked up.

Mindwork:
Bodywork:

2004-09-21T20:37:00.000-05:00

From http://bna.com:
LINUX GROUP DENIES HOLLYWOOD PIRACY CHARGE
Linux Australia President Pia Smith says that the MPAA had issued the organization a notice of claimed infringement, demanding that the group cease providing access to two copyrighted movies--one called "Grind" and the other "Twisted"--and ordering it to "take appropriate action against the account holder." However, Linux Australia says the files in question have nothing to do with those movies. Linux Australia's legal counsel plans to contact the MPAA to inform them of the mistake and the legal implications of their actions.
http://news.com.com/2100-1030_3-5374528.html
________________________
From EurekAlert http://www.eurekalert.org/pubnews.php:
Public Release: 21-Sep-2004
Journal of Forest Products
Study endorses wood as 'green' building material
A new report concludes that wood is one of the most environmentally-sensitive building materials for home construction – it uses less overall energy than other products, causes fewer air and water impacts and does a better job of the carbon "sequestration" that can help address global warming.
US Department of Energy

Public Release: 21-Sep-2004
Geophysical Research Letters
Researchers discover 'hole' in global warming predictions
In the central United States, temperatures may not rise as high in the future, scientists from Saint Louis University and Iowa State University say.

Public Release: 21-Sep-2004
Nuclear power helps protect Japan from high oil prices
Nuclear power contributes to Japan's energy security by reducing the economic impact of an oil price shock. A Rice University study estimates that in the absence of nuclear power, the cumulative impact of a single oil price shock could result in a loss of up to 2 trillion yen in GDP.

Public Release: 21-Sep-2004
Termites could hold the key to self-sufficient buildings
Mounds built by highly-evolved African termites could inspire new types of building that are self-sufficient, environmentally friendly and cheap to run.

Public Release: 20-Sep-2004
Journal of Energy Engineering
Wastewater could treat itself, power city
The energy stored in Toronto's municipal wastewater could be harnessed to run water treatment facilities and contribute power to the city grid, says new U of T research.
Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, Centre for Research in Earth and Space Technology

Public Release: 20-Sep-2004
British Journal of Haematology
Vanilla may have a future in sickle cell treatment
In addition to its popular role in flavoring ice cream, fudge and cake frosting, vanilla may have a future use as a medicine. Recent laboratory research in mice has strengthened the possibility that a form of vanilla may become a drug to treat sickle cell disease.
National Institutes of Health

Fear of Pharming
Controversy swirls at the crossroads of agriculture and medicine
By Alla Katsnelson

Farming, one of the world's oldest practices has suddenly found itself entangled with modern medicine. Imagine this: at your child's appointment for a routine vaccination, the doctor proffers a banana genetically engineered to contain the vaccine and says, “Have her eat this and call me in the morning.” Though still farfetched, the scenario is getting closer to reality, with the first batch of plant-made medicines--created by genetically modifying crops such as corn, soy, canola and even fruits such as tomatoes and bananas to produce disease-fighting drugs and vaccines--now in early clinical testing
http://sciam.com/print_version.cfm?articleID=0003CA37-5C57-114B-9C5783414B7F0000

Ox's Natural Mosquito Repellant Synthesized in Lab
http://sciam.com/article.cfm?chanID=sa003&articleID=00047E27-3B20-114B-B46C83414B7F4945

2004-09-20T22:54:00.000-05:00

Monday September 20, 2004. A thought as I woke up: Suppose there was a practical method of training the poor to be really, really good at predicting the future. What would be the social effects?

***There's at least one course in coolhunting (spotting what's going to be in fashion in the near future): http://www.3fcc.com/3fcc/eng/formcont/cool04.shtml

It occurred to me that the longer-range equivalent (spotting what will be in fashion five, ten, or fifty years from now) would be coldhunting.

Methods of coldhunting? 1) Find out what elementary school children think is cool, and figure out how that correlates with what they'll consider cool when they reach college. 2) Find the people who adopt styles/gadgets too early.

Later, I thought of stalehunting -- finding out what gadgets, styles, etc. will be very much out in the near future, before any of the coolhunters (or their customers) notice.
________________
Writing: daily exercise -- Done: Pregnancy Does Not Exist

Recently, someone on misc.writing.moderated demolished the "writer's block" myth. I think it's time to take on another, more widespread myth: pregnancy.

I have had symptoms which allegedly are signs of pregnancy: weight gain, morning sickness, etc. All have proved to be curable in much less time than nine months, by methods which did not contravene Roman Catholic doctrine.

***"They Might Be Windmills" -- "He who goes forth to fight monsters becomes a monster himself; and if you gaze too long into the abyss, the abyss will gaze into you." Friedrich Nietzsche.

Which, I realized today, has happened to my protagonist. So I've zero-drafted a scene in which he's made aware of this.
_____________
Decluttering: Got some trash out.

Mindwork: Some short meditation.

Bodywork:

2004-09-20T22:11:00.000-05:00

For many Americans, autumn is a time for trying new churches
Factors from warmth of welcome to substance of doctrine influence those shopping for a new spiritual home. By G. Jeffrey MacDonald
http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0921/p01s01-ussc.html?s=hns

States pull prisoners back home
Prison 'outsourcing' is linked to concerns about riots, recidivism, and family hardship. By Christa Lee Rock
http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0921/p01s02-usju.html?s=hns
--------------------------
From EurekAlert http://www.eurekalert.org/pubnews.php:
Public Release: 20-Sep-2004
Journal of Energy Engineering
Wastewater could treat itself, power city
The energy stored in Toronto's municipal wastewater could be harnessed to run water treatment facilities and contribute power to the city grid, says new U of T research.
Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, Centre for Research in Earth and Space Technology

Public Release: 20-Sep-2004
British Journal of Haematology
Vanilla may have a future in sickle cell treatment
In addition to its popular role in flavoring ice cream, fudge and cake frosting, vanilla may have a future use as a medicine. Recent laboratory research in mice has strengthened the possibility that a form of vanilla may become a drug to treat sickle cell disease.
National Institutes of Health

Public Release: 20-Sep-2004
Nano Letters
Green, leafy spinach may soon power cellphones and laptops
MIT researchers have incorporated a plant's ability to convert sunlight to energy into a solid-state electronic "spinach sandwich" device that may one day power laptops and cell phones. At the heart of the sandwich is a protein complex derived from spinach chloroplasts. An electrode layer made of glass that has been coated with a thin layer of gold sits atop it, and beneath is a layer of organic semiconductor and another layer of metal.
Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Air Force Office of Scientific Research, National Science Foundation

Public Release: 20-Sep-2004
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
'Fossil genes' reveal how life sheds form and function
Reading the fossil record, a paleontologist can peer into evolutionary history and see the surface features that plants and animals and, occasionally, microbes have left behind. Now, scouring the genome of a Japanese yeast, scientists have found a trackway of fossil genes in the making, providing a rare look at how an organism, in response to the demands of its environment, has changed its inner chemistry and lost the ability to metabolize a key sugar.

2004-09-19T23:40:00.000-05:00

Sunday September 19, 2004. A drive down the Mississippi River with Pat Craft, which turned out not to show us as much of the river as we'd hoped. In some places, trees blocked the view. In others, industrial structures blocked the view. And sometimes there weren't any public roads near enough to the river.

But the sign near Hasting, MN which said "Visit our burning showroom" would almost have been worth the trip by itself.

In some ways, the parts of Minnesota and Wisconsin along the river are very much like the area in which I grew up (zipcode 12404 and thereabouts). Including touristy/artsy towns, which I would say Hastings and Red Wing, MN definitely are.

We had a bit to eat at the Spiral co-op grovery in Hastings. I noticed several other Spiral-named businesses in Hastings. Turns out they're named after the Hastings Spiral Bridge (demolished 1951).

We ended the trip at Red Wing. It's apparently a good place to buy pottery, though Red Wing pottery is no longer made. Red Wing shoes are still made, and sold, there.
__________________
From a discussion in rec.arts.sf.composition:

Some possibilities:

1) Much of what people do that they think isn't magic actually _is_ magic. Each person has only so much magical power available. If you use yours up on, for example, arranging for political candidates to be struck by lightning, then it could be a while till you build up enough new magical power to use telephones or to write a check.

2) Once, everyone had such abilities. Then came the Skeegle Plague, which killed most of the people who lacked a gene which conferred immunity. That gene has drawbacks; for one thing, it's correlated with a very low level of magical ability. (Another is lack of ability to use flint axes as musical instruments; much of humanity's finest music was thus lost.)

The Skeegle Plague was exterminated for all time in the 19th century, as a side-effect of Jack the Ripper's illfated attempt to invoke the ghost of H. P. Lovecraft. (The history of attempts at summoning ghosts from the future is too long to go into here.) Since then, the number and percentage of people with magical abilities has been rising. They're still a minority; but in a millennium or two, they will be the majority.
________
Writing: daily exercise -- I'm counting the above.

"They Might Be Windmills" -- Combined a walk-on character with a major character.
-------------
Decluttering: Got some trash out.

Mindwork: A bit of short meditation.

Bodywork:
_____________
From EurekAlert http://www.eurekalert.org/pubnews.php:
Public Release: 19-Sep-2004
Nature Genetics
Genes expose secrets of sex on the side
The guys most successful in sowing wild oats passed on the proof in their genes. By using those genetic smoking guns, researchers have new insights into ancient mating and migration patterns in humans.
National Institutes of Health

2004-09-18T23:49:00.000-05:00

Saturday September 18, 2004. "The West Wing of Darkness." I was thinking of Ursula Le Guin's The Left Hand of Darkness, and some part of my mind got it mixed with the TV show "West Wing."

***Feeling much better today, but not well enough for several events I was interested in.
_____
zarabee 2004-09-16

'Something I figured out late last night: when writing fiction, I do better thinking in terms of process rather than plot.

'I don't know why, and dictionary definitions of "process" and "plot" don't help.'

Is there any possibility of you unpacking this a little, and furnishing it with examples, perchance?

=)

*hopeful*

First try at unpacking
dsgood
2004-09-18

I'm still working this out; and I need better terminology. What I called "process" is, in some ways, close to what E.M. Foster called "the shape of the novel" in Aspects of the Novel.

It's closer to historical processes as seen by those historians who believe in historical cycles; more particularly, as seen by Arnold Toynbee. Given such-and-such initial conditions, this is the expectable sequence of events. The Empire's upper class and intellectuals see it as being eternal at this point; but it's falling apart.

Or, in fiction: The romance heroine and the man who drives her up the wall are fated to fall in love. The lazy detective will frame someone for the murder so he can get the job over with, and by sheer accident the real murderer will confess. The man with a magic gun which shoots the moment an antagonist puts his right hand on his gun will run into a left-handed shooter. Oedipus will kill the man he doesn't know is his father, and marry the woman he doesn't know is his mother.
_______________
Writing: daily exercise -- I'm going to count the above.

"They Might Be Windmills" -- Took a speech away from the viewpoint character, and gave it to a walk-on character.

Decluttering: Did laundry. Picked stuff up.

Mindwork: A bit of meditation.
Bodywork

2004-09-18T21:56:00.000-05:00

From EurekAlert http://www.eurekalert.org/pubnews.php:
Public Release17-Sep-2004
Students build submarine to track Octopuses
Marine biologists want to find out more about the Giant Pacific Octopus, but this elusive creature doesn't willingly reveal its secrets. Divers can follow the octopus for short periods, but what's really needed is an undersea robot that will wait patiently outside the creature's den, ready to shadow its every move. University of Arizona engineering undergraduate students along with students from two other universities are building a mini-sub to answer this need.

Public Release17-Sep-2004
Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry
Therapy for Alzheimer's in sight?
Immunoglobulins which are already being used to treat multiple sclerosis may also be able to help patients with Alzheimer's. This, at least, is the finding of a pilot study on five patients at the University of Bonn. The results are set out in the forthcoming edition of the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry (vol. 75, pp. 1472-1474), which also devotes its editorial to this discovery.

Public Release17-Sep-2004
Chemistry & Biology
22nd amino acid synthesized and added to genetic code of e. coli bacteria
Two years ago, researchers surprised the scientific community by announcing their discovery of a 22nd genetically encoded amino acid. Now they've successfully synthesized the amino acid - L-pyrrolysine - and shown that bacteria can incorporate it into new proteins - the biological components which do most of the work in cells. This explains exactly how the 22nd amino acid is incorporated into. The genetic instructions to put pyrrolysine into proteins follows a traditional path many scientists hadn't predicted.
National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, US Department of Energy, Sloan Foundation

Public Release16-Sep-2004
Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition
Humans not irrational, just wary
Psychologists often conclude from research subjects' behavior in psychological experiments that humans are irrational. New research indicates that humans are in fact quite rational; they just do not trust what people in lab coats tell them.
National Science Foundation

2004-09-17T23:51:00.000-05:00

Friday September 18, 2004. Still recovering from whatever I had.

________
The American Dialect Society mailing list is discussing "The Worms Crawl In" -- not the folk song I would expect to be discussed there.
_______________
althistory.blogspot.com:
[September 17] in 1923, gospel singer Hiram Williams was born in Mount Olive West, Alabama. While his youth was somewhat misspent, he turned to the Lord in 1943 when he was nearly killed in Italy during World War II. He wrote and sang such beautiful songs as I Saw The Light and Are You Building A Temple In Heaven.
[In our timeline, he was known as "Hank".]

2004-09-17T23:06:00.000-05:00

From EurekAlert http://www.eurekalert.org/pubnews.php:
Public Release: 16-Sep-2004
Applied Physics Letters
A traveling-wave engine to power deep space travel
A University of California scientist working at Los Alamos National Laboratory and researchers from Northrop Grumman Space Technology have developed a novel method for generating electrical power for deep-space travel using sound waves. The traveling-wave thermoacoustic electric generator has the potential to power space probes to the furthest reaches of the Universe.

Public Release: 16-Sep-2004
Tips from the Journals of the American Society for Microbiology
This issue includes: Combination of cranberry and oregano extracts may inhibit bacteria in meat and fish; bacteria in dental plaque of children may predict gum disease as adult; refrigerating milk harms cheese-making bacteria.

Public Release: 16-Sep-2004
Health Affairs
US child health worse than other industrialized countries
According to new research from a Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health researcher, the health of U.S. children is worse in virtually all categories when compared to children in other industrialized countries. However, the United States can improve the health of American children by changing some of our health care policies and adopting new Institute of Medicine recommendation.
Bureau of Primary Health Care, Health Resources and Services Administration, US Department of Health and Human Services, JHU Primary Care Policy Center for Underserved Populations

2004-09-16T22:59:00.000-05:00

Thursday September 16, 2004. Something I figured out late last night: when writing fiction, I do better thinking in terms of process rather than plot.

I don't know why, and dictionary definitions of "process" and "plot" don't help.

***I woke up earlier than usual, feeling much better. I've still been a bit shaky today, but I was able to get out and go places.
_______________
Writing: daily exercise --done
"They Might Be Windmills" --
___________
Decluttering: Took out some trash

Mindwork: Short meditation
Bodywork:

2004-09-16T21:35:00.000-05:00

There's been a multi-LiveJournal discussion of Fiction of Manners (including Fantasy of Manners). So far, there's agreement that some people like it, some people don't like it, and some people like some of it. And participants have been saying why they personally feel the way they do about it.

I have no idea whether this will be of any use to those in the discussion:

I think of human society and culture as being continually recreated by the way people act and speak -- and the way others interpret their acts and speech. (For "human" you can substitute "dragon" or whatever.) This can be seen as a marketplace of behavior, or as a dance of behavior. There are rules, which people often see as being immutable -- but the process of determining what the rules are, and how they're to be interpreted, is part of the negotiations/dance.

One book on American children's games discusses a difference between the way British and American children play. In Britain, the local rules have generations of tradition behind them; most of the children have grown up in that small area, and they accept the rules as being immutable -- or at least "How we've always done it here." (The rules do change, of course.)

In the US, many of the children in a neighborhood are likely to be from other places. Negotiation over the rules is an important part of the game.

(Knapp, Mary and Herbert. One Potato, Two Potato: The Secret Education of American Children. Norton, 274 pp., 1978.)

American adults often go through similar negotiations on the rules of the game. A current example is discussion of how debates between Presidential candidates should be run.

Fiction of Manners requires a social background closer to the British model of children's games. Most fictional backgrounds of this kind have pronounced class or even caste differences, but I don't think this is essential. Lois McMaster Bujold's sf universe includes Betan society -- egalitarian, but with firm notions of proper behavior. At least one attempt was made to overturn the rules: the introduction of hermaphrodites. It didn't work; the rules changed to allow for them, with minimal disturbance.

The dance of manners is formal, but the stakes are usually the same as in the least formal social dance. Some people will get rich, some will have enough to live on, some will end up with nothing.

I can't remember who said that American actors drink whiskey on stage, but you know it's really tea; British actors drink tea on stage, but you know it's really whiskey.

In Fiction of Manners, the characters are shown drinking tea. Some readers know (and enjoy knowing) that the characters are really drinking whiskey -- or blood, or the ichor of the Sons of the Bird. Some readers know this, but like their fiction to cut closer to the bone. Some don't see it at all.

2004-09-16T17:51:00.000-05:00

From Google News:
Rembrandt was cross-eyed
ABC Science Online - 1 hour ago
Renowned 17th century Dutch artist Rembrandt may have been cross-eyed, according to US researchers. They say this form of stereoblindness, which occurs when someone's eyes are not aligned when looking at an ...
Wall-Eye May Have Helped Rembrandt's Vision Reuters
Did Walleye Make Rembrandt a Master? Forbes
Health Talk - Miami Herald (subscription) - WebMD - all 65 related »
---------------
Via the India edition of Google News, two American words I hadn't encountered before. "Celebumom" is probably a newspaper-clever coinage, but "skeezy" seems to be a word used by real people.

Mom: Brit's not trashy (at least from feet up)
Arizona Republic - 31 minutes ago
Celebumom Lynne Spears says the media have been way too harsh in their criticism of daughter Britney's habit of walking barefoot into public bathrooms and looking generally skeezy.
________
Does your arm ache from using a mouse to control your PC? Soon, you may be able to use your nose instead. The new system lets users shift the cursor on screen by waving their nose in the air. What's more, blinking the left or right eye twice takes the place of mouse clicks. The "nouse" could provide more intuitive ways for people to explore computer-generated environments or play 3D games, as well as making using a PC easier for some people with disabilities...MORE http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99996400

'Ghost bugs' could help cut pesticide use
The empty shells of bacterial cells can be filled with chemicals and will stick to leaves and stems even after heavy rain
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99996403

China's changing farms damaging soil and water
Rapid urbanisation is destroying China's agriculture and its ability to feed one-fifth of the world's people
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99996399

China's GM trees get lost in bureaucracy
China has planted a million genetically modified trees to tackle desertification and flooding - but no one knows for sure where they all are
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99996402

2004-09-15T20:40:00.000-05:00

Wednesday September 15, 2004. Still sick, but getting better. By late evening, I was up to cooking with complicated ingredients like teabags.

***New toy department: Win32pad, a freeware text editor. I type faster in it than in others I've tried so far.

In my experience, freeware programs are usually superior to commercial programs. I suspect this is largely because with commercial software, the decision-making process is screwed up.

Business people don't do what works; they do what they think works. For commercial software, this seems to include designing software on the assumption that it will be used by people who think national governments are insufficiently bureaucratic.
_____________________
Writing: Daily Exercise -- Done.

"They Might Be Windmills" -- Some things I thought were firmly-set morphed on me.
_____________
Decluttering: Got some trash out.
________
Mindwork: Short meditation.

Bodywork:
_______________
Head to head: Bush vs Kerry
Now the party conventions are over, it's a straight race to the tape between President Bush and his challenger John Kerry. In this free news@nature.com interactive special, the two candidates talk exclusively to Nature on where they stand on the big issues in science. Plus, in depth analysis, the election science blog and e-voting.
http://info.nature.com/cgi-bin24/DM/y/eQNM0BfwT60Ch0SVM0AP
___________________
Brief Communications
Nature 431, 262 (16 September 2004); doi:10.1038/431262a

Ecology: Ultraviolet reflectance by the skin of nestlings

VIOLAINE JOURDIE*†, BENOÎT MOUREAU*, ANDREW T. D. BENNETT‡ & PHILIPP HEEB*

Birds can perceive the reflectance of ultraviolet light by biological structures. Here we show that the skin of the mouth and body of starling nestlings substantially reflects light in the ultraviolet range and that young in which this reflectance is reduced will gain less mass than controls, despite low background levels of ultraviolet and visible light in the nest. We suggest that this ultraviolet reflectance from starling nestlings and its contrast with surrounding surfaces are important for parental decisions about food allocation.
http://www.nature.com/cgi-taf/Dynapage.taf?file=/nature/journal/v431/n7006/abs/431262a_fs.htm
_____________________
In the flea market's rise, an economic saga
Part hobby mecca, part Five and Dime, the flea market takes its place as an 'informal economy' thrives. By Patrik Jonsson
http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0916/p03s01-ussc.html?s=hns

We were unintended integrationists
A small but potent act of rebellion against the racial status quo. By James Patterson
http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0916/p18s02-hfes.html?s=hns

2004-09-15T16:39:00.000-05:00

The St. Paul Pioneer Press had an explanation of all the changes they've made To Better Serve Your Community. I emailed a comment:

Subject: My community is not being served

I live in Minneapolis. Evidently, the Pioneer Press does not consider Minneapolis to be within its area.

Please let me know if you ever decide to have a Minneapolis edition. Meanwhile, I'll be reading the Star Tribune -- even though in many ways I prefer the Pioneer Press.

Answer: "Dan -- I appreciate the note. I would love to put out a Minneapolis edition; I don't think it's in the cards very soon. The Pioneer Press has always had as its mission serving readers in the East Metro. That requires us to cover Minneapolis for people who live in East Metro, and I think our arts, business, sports and other coverage shows that. But we do try to stick to our knitting and give the bulk of our resources to covering news about communities on this side of the river. Glad to hear that in some ways you prefer us."

___________________
You think your state leads in political flakiness? New York State is a strong competitor:

Meanwhile, a Republican effort to hold onto a crucial State Senate seat suffered a major blow last night in a fiercely contested primary for the seat formerly held by Guy J. Velella, the once-powerful G.O.P. lawmaker who was convicted of felony bribery charges. Stephen B. Kaufman, a Democrat who planned to sit with Republicans in the Senate if elected, was defeated in yesterday's Democratic and Republican primaries, a loss that could whittle the Republican dominance of the Senate.

Mr. Kaufman was defeated by Jeffrey Klein, a fellow Assemblyman who said he was running as the true Democrat. Mr. Kaufman also lost the Republican primary to John Fleming, but he will be on the Conservative Party line in November.
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/15/nyregion/15york.html

2004-09-15T11:07:00.000-05:00

Tuesday September 14, 2004. Primary voting was more trouble than usual.

I went to Walker Methodist old age home, on Lyndale between 37th and 38th. The greeter couldn't find my name on the list. Looked up my street address, and said I should be voting at the Church of New Life, on Nicollect between 35th and 36th. This was annoying; Walker Methodist is closer to my home, and it has an aviary and a reasonably good eatery.

At the Church of New Life, I was told I should be voting at Painter Park. Painter Park sent me to Walker Methodist.

I did not scream or curse when I returned to Walker Methodist.

This time, my name was findable on the list.

The partisan portion of the ballot didn't much matter. There were two offices listed. For Congress, the DFL had a choice between the longterm incumbent and someone whose hobby is running for office. For lower house of the state legislature, there was one candidate for the nomination. I think the Republicans had no contests; the Greens had only a state House of Representatives candidate with no opposition; the Independence Party had no candidates.

The nonpartisan portion -- one person for District Judge, three for Minneapolis school board -- had a lot more competition.

[Later: Everyone I voted for in the primary won.]

***Then I went home, and slept off the cold or whatever I've been having.

From a Usenet post: "It is a fine tradition in Germany that the literature list of any dissertation (PhD/M.A.) should contain a fictional reference."

Writing: daily exercise -- Done, posted here.

"They Might Be Windmills" --
Decluttering:
Mindwork:
Bodywork:

2004-09-15T01:03:00.000-05:00

Tam Lin's Descendants

The last seven of Tam Lin's children were legitimate. He also left many illegitimate children in our world and in Elfland. The number of those children in two worlds (three, if one believes certain stories) is uncertain, to put it mildly. (See the newsgroup soc.genealogy.elfland for discussion of this.)

But now genetic testing is underway. It won't resolve all questions; not all those who claim descent from Tam Lin have consented to being tested, and those who would rather not acknowledge him as an ancestor are very unlikely to consent. (Or, in many cases, to be asked.) But it's a good beginning.

2004-09-14T01:04:00.000-05:00

Monday September 13, 2004. "Rapunzel has shaved her head" is a line I've had in the back for my mind for several months. Early this morning, I realized it could fit nicely into the current story.
_________________
Writing: daily exercise -- Done. Posted here.

"They Might Be Windmills" -- One scene advanced from zero draft to first draft. "Rapunzel has shaved her head" added.
______________________
Decluttering: Got rid of some more stuff. Took out trash. Bagged trash. Bought trash bags.

Mindwork:
Bodywork:

2004-09-13T21:18:00.000-05:00

Liberalism and Conservatism in 2034 America

Around the time of the English Civil War, there were radicals who believed in universal suffrage. That is, the right of all Englishmen above the rank of servant to vote. (Note: the definition of "servant" was different back then; applied today, that definition might include everyone who gets a steady paycheck.) Nobody in England (or anywhere, so far as I know) was radical enough to suggest giving women the vote.

This is no longer a radical position.

In the early part of the 20th Century, it was respectable in the northern United States for a liberal to be a segregationist; Woodrow Wilson, for example. Today, it's not respectable for any American liberal to be a segregationist. For that matter, it's not respectable for a conservative to be openly segregationist.

Who will hold what political views thirty years from now? I don't know. But I do know that conservatives and liberals will believe in ideas which no one would associate with those labels today.

Straightline extrapolation -- assuming that ideas will pass from radicals to liberals to conservatives -- can provide answers. Whether it can provide accurate answers is another question. Under this assumption, American conservatives should now be Marxists.

Extrapolation from the eternal principles of conservatism or liberalism? I'd say that history shows there are no such eternal principles.

2004-09-13T17:36:00.000-05:00

Tiny transmitters may change farming practices
Gerry Gilmour, The Forum
September 12, 2004 HARVEST0912

FARGO, N.D. -- Tiny sensors planted in a sugar-beet field south of Fargo gather data vital to helping the crop reach its harvest potential.

"It can influence everything -- from the timing of fungicide or deciding whether to use it at all," said Alex Warner, president of the fledgling Pedigree Technologies.

Warner recently demonstrated the potential of "smart dust" to representatives of American Crystal Sugar Co.

Smart dust is the industry tag given to radio frequency identification technology taken to a new level. The same technology that will reshape the retail world -- replacing UPC codes with tiny transmitters -- is expected to invade all aspects of commerce through the use of wireless sensor networks.
http://www.startribune.com/stories/462/4975258.html
__________________
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http://olympiapress.com/catalog/

From http://althistory.blogspot.com:
[This day]in 875 AUC, Emperor Hadrian visited Britannia, and considered building a defensive wall along the northern boundary to protect his northernmost border against the Picts. A general among his staff argued against it, though, promising victory against the Picts within the decade if the emperor would grant him all the resources he required. This general, Cornelius Scipio Aemilianus, defeated the Picts in 881 AUC, only 1 year behind schedule, and consolidated the entire British island for the empire.

[September 13] in 1321, Dante Alighieri begins his final journey through Hell, Purgatory and into the Divine Choir. The story of this journey was told in The Divine Comedy – II, which he dictated to fellow Italian author Giovanni Boccaccio in 1358.

[September 13] in 1916, alternative history writer Roald Dahl is born in South Wales. Dahl’s award-winning story Kiss, Kiss, in which a young mother worrying that her child will die of illness is revealed at the end to be Adolf Hitler’s mother, led him into science fiction and the rich field of alternate history, much like Winston Churchill and so many others.

[September 12] in 1844, after corresponding for almost 3 years, Edgar Allan Poe and Elizabeth Barrett met in London at Miss Barrett’s home. Poe swept the reclusive Miss Barrett off her feet, and together they eloped to Italy, where they were wed in a chapel in Naples. The Poes collaborated on many works of poetry afterwards, and their love speaks through their words even today.

2004-09-12T23:42:00.000-05:00

Sunday September 12, 2004. I did archeological fieldwork in my home. Slept more than usual.

***Went out for a while, and found the worst-run garage sale I can remember. To begin with, they weren't entirely sure what they wanted to keep and what they wanted to sell.

But I found something very useful among the stuff they'd thrown out.

On my way home, I encountered another garage sale. This one was mostly collectables; for example, a whole lot of salt shakers, pepper shakers, and sets of salt and pepper shakers.

A sign said there would be another sale next weekend -- for charity, proceeds going to the
Imperial Court of Minnesota. This one would have household items, clothing, and other more practical stuff.

A bit farther on, stuff left over from another garage sale had been left at the curb for garbage pick-up. It included several lamps which had been priced at $10.00. I remembered that someone in my building had mentioned wanting a lamp; I told him about it.
__________________
Writing: daily exercise -- Done, posted to this journal.

"They Might Be Windmills" -- One small change.
___________
Decluttering: Got rid of some stuff. Filled a couple of trashbags while doing archeology fieldwork.

Mindwork: Resisted the temptation to just peek at http://dem.conventionbloggers.com and http://rnc.conventionbloggers.com. There are saner blogs than most of the ones digested there.

Bodywork:
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Thanks to http://www.livejournal.com/users/goddes/:
What If Bush Wins
Predictions on the likely consequences of a second term for President Bush.
By a panel of 16 writers
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2004/0409.bushforum.html
-----------
On Crooked Timber, Henry Farrell reviews Susanna Clarke's Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell: A Novel.. Crooked Timber concentrates on social/political/economic matters, and this review takes a different approach than other reviews are likely to.
http://www.crookedtimber.org/archives/002484.html
----------
What's wrong with this?:
Bush takes his of-the-people style to rural voters
Bush is working hard to woo voters in small towns to overcome Kerry's
advantage in bigger cities. By Liz Marlantes
http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0913/p01s01-uspo.html?s=hns

Answer: In most of the US, "rural" and "small town" are not the same, any more than "urban" and "suburban." In some areas, long-standing antagonism between "farm people" and "town people" is reflected in voting patterns. This is probably less common than it used to be.

2004-09-12T20:28:00.000-05:00

If You Think You're Part of the Solution, You're likely Part of the Problem.

They really are crazy. Perhaps they aren't clinically insane; but at least in their political writing, they put on an excellent imitation of it.

"They" are the most partisan political bloggers. The ones convinced that newspapers and the major networks are part of the conspiracy. The ones who know for certain -- without having to check -- that any evidence their party and their Presidential candidate have done wrong is forged. (Sometimes it is. "A stopped clock's right two times a day." But these people are twenty-four-hour clocks.)

Unfortunately, there are people working for each of the major parties who share this paranoia. Even more unfortunately, some of these party faithful are fighting (delusional) fire with (real, if usually incompetent) fire.

2004-09-12T13:20:00.000-05:00

Saturday September 11, 2004. Clutterers Anonymous meeting at Pillsbury House.

***To the Mnstf meeting at Linda Lounsbury and Phil Martin's. The house is old, for Minnesota; built in 1913. The original bathroom fixtures are still in place, as is what I think is the original laundry chute.

A good meeting, with good discussions.
_____________
Media types are Democratic, of course, but one is dismayed to learn that two-thirds of employee donations at Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation went to Democrats. Whatever happened to company loyalty?
http://nytimes.com/2004/09/11/opinion/11brooks.html?hp
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Writing: daily exercise --
"They Might Be Windmills" --

Decluttering: Some trash taken out. Attended the CLA meeting.

Mindwork:
Bodywork:

2004-09-10T23:30:00.000-05:00

Friday September 10, 2004. I've mislaid some important stuff. This is not a good way to start the day.

Still not found. This is not a good way to end the day.

Whether or not it turns up, I need to make some changes in the way I live my life.
______________
Writing: daily exercise --

"They Might Be Windmills" -- Ending tweaked, which probably qualifies as cat-vacuuming rather than useful writing.

Decluttering: A good deal of stuff sorted through.

Mindwork:
Bodywork:

2004-09-10T22:30:00.000-05:00

Friday 10 September 2004
Special Feature: Global to Local: The Social Future as seen by six SF Writers
Organized and with commentary by John Shirley

Cory Doctorow, Pat Murphy, Kim Stanley Robinson, Norman Spinrad, Bruce Sterling, and Ken Wharton address the environment, copyright, social trends, terrorism, war, world government, and the upcoming Presidential election
http://locusmag.com/2004/Features/09_ShirleySocialFuture.html

From the UK edition of Google News:
Ion power takes spaceship to Moon
Telegraph.co.uk - 7 Sep 2004
A spacecraft engine with echoes of Star Trek has been taken on its first test drive across the solar system, scientists said yesterday.
Ron Ferguson The Herald
Noah's Ark plan from top Moon man BBC News
CNN International - Betterhumans - Novinite - China Daily - all 9 related »

From the Canadian edition of Google News:
Cafe continues to sell pot after raid
Vancouver Sun - 1 hour ago
VANCOUVER (CP) -- A cafe that had been selling marijuana off its menu for about four months was doing a booming business before media attention and then a police raid shut it down briefly, police said Friday.
Vancouver pot shop busy again CBC British Columbia
Police raid Vancouver pot café The Globe and Mail (subscription)
CBC News - Vancouver Province - Winnipeg Sun - Canoe.ca - all 21 related »

From EurekAlert http://www.eurekalert.org/pubnews.php:
Public Release: 9-Sep-2004
American Journal of Psychiatry
Recreational gambling appears to be associated with good health in older adults
There appears to be an association between recreational gambling and good health among elderly persons, unlike younger recreational gamblers, according to a Yale study.
NIH/National Institute on Drug Abuse, American Psychiatric Association, National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression, National Center for Responsible Gaming, Women's Health Research at Yale

2004-09-09T22:57:00.000-05:00

Thursday September 9, 2004. Google News now has three Chinese-language editions: China-centric, Taiwan-centric, and Hong Kong-centric.

***"Free Range Chicken Broth" -- that startled me at first, till I came awake enough to realize it was the chicken that had been free range. Free range broth would be an interesting sight.

***Reread: Jorge Luis Borges, Seven Nights. Among other tidbits: Writers with alternate-world memories of older writers' work. That is, they remember clearly things which aren't to be found in any version of the actual fiction or poetry.

Reading it opens my mind.
________________
Writing: daily exercise -- Done; free-writing.

"They Might Be Windmills" -- About half a scene converted from zero draft to first draft.
____________
Decluttering: Picked up, sorted, threw some things away.

Mindwork:

Bodywork: Exercises.
___________________________
From http://althistory.blogspot.com:
[September 8]in 1974, President Richard Nixon is convicted at his impeachment trial, and removed from office for tampering with the election of 1972. Vice-President Gerald Ford is sworn in as the 38th President of the United States. Ford refuses to pardon Nixon for his crimes, and fires almost all of Nixon’s staff. “Cleaning house is the only way the nation’ll trust our party again,” he told Republican activists.

[September 7]in 1935, physicist Richard C. Tolman published his paper, Parallel Universes & Their Consequences On Our Own, detailing his proof that alternate universes had to exist. While this part of his paper is generally accepted among the scientific community, the second part, which predicted random crossovers from other universes into ours, was largely ignored. It is possible that the reason behind that was the cult that Tolman began in the 40’s, which claimed to be able to control these crossovers.

2004-09-09T18:27:00.000-05:00

Thursday September 9, 2004. Julian Day (JD) = 2453258
Panj-shanbeh, Sonboleh 19, 1383 in the Afghan calendar.
Hingshabathi, Hori 16, 1454 in the Armenian calendar.
Istijlal, 'Izzat 2 (Jalal), year 9 (Baha'), Vahid 9, Kull-i-Shay 1 BE, until sunset, in the Baha'i calendar.
Menga, Pasah, Sri, Wage, Tungleh, Wraspati, Ludra, Dangu, Suka in the Balinese Pawukon calendar.
BryhoshpotiBar, Bhadro 25, 1411 BS in the Bangla calendar.
Day 25, month 7, year 21 (Jia-shen), cycle 78 in the Chinese calendar.
Ptiou, al-Nasi 4, 1720 AM in the Coptic calendar.
Tybi 21, 2753 in the Egyptian calendar.
Hamus, Paguemen 4, 1996 EE in the Ethiopic calendar.
Yom hamishi, Elul 23, 5764 AM, until sunset, in the Hebrew calendar.
Brihaspatvara, leap month Bhadrapada 25, 5105 KY, from sunrise, in the old Hindu lunisolar calendar.
Brihaspatvara, Simha 25, 5105 KY, from sunrise, in the old Hindu solar calendar.
Brihaspatvara, Sravana 25, 2061 VE, from sunrise, in the Hindu lunisolar calendar.
Brihaspatvara, Bhadrapada 24, 1926 SE, from sunrise, in the Hindu solar calendar.
Brihaspatvara, Bhadrapada 18, 1926 SE in the Indian national calendar.
Yaum al-hamis, Rajab 24, 1425 AH (approx), until sunset, in the Islamic calendar.
Thursday, week 37, 2004 in the ISO calendar.
Thursday, August 27, 2004 CE in the Julian calendar.
12.19.11.10.15 in the Mayan long count.
18 Mol in the Mayan civil haab calendar.
8 Men in the Mayan religious tzolkin calendar.
Mayan Lord of the Night G8.
Shehrevar 23 (Daepdin), 1374 in the Parsi Fasli calendar.
Ardibehest 21 (Ram), 1374 in the Parsi Kadmi calendar.
Fravardin 21 (Ram), 1374 in the Parsi Shenshai calendar.
Panj-shanbeh, Shahrivar 19, 1383 AP in the Persian calendar.
Veervaar, Bhadon 25, 536 in the Sikh Nanakshahi calendar.
Wan paruhat, Gan-ya-yon 9, 2547 BE in the Thai solar calendar.
Day 25, month 7, year 21 (Jia-shen), cycle 78 in the Vietnamese calendar.
Modified Julian Day (MJD) = 53257
Lilian Day = 154098
Rata Die (RD) = 731833
CEP - 244904

2004-09-09T15:47:00.000-05:00

Thanks for this one to http://www.livejournal.com/users/epi_lj/:
Smelly robot eats flies to generate its own power
Designed for working in high temperature, toxic environments
Reuters
Updated: 1:17 p.m. ET Sept. 8, 2004

LONDON - British scientists are developing a robot that will generate its own power by eating flies.

The idea is to produce electricity by catching flies and digesting them in special fuel cells that will break down sugar in the insects' skeletons and release electrons that will drive an electric current.

"Called EcoBot II, the robot is part of a drive to make "release and forget" robots that can be sent into dangerous or inhospitable areas to carry our remote industrial or military monitoring of, say, temperature or toxic gas concentrations," New Scientist magazine said on Wednesday.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5941187/
______________________________
From the UK edition of Google News:
Opik warns of violence triggered by hunting ban
ic Wales - 1 hour ago
VIOLENCE and civil unrest will take hold in the countryside if the Government forces through a ban on hunting with hounds, a Welsh MP has warned.
Blair gambles on ban delay Guardian
Hain to Give Commons Date for Hunting Ban Vote The Scotsman
Telegraph.co.uk - Scotland on Sunday - ic Berkshire.co.uk - ITV.com - all 106 related »

....Welsh Liberal Democrat leader Lembit Opik, co-chairman of the Middle Way Group, warned Labour would have more to worry about than lost votes if the Hunting Bill became law.

He warned that young men would resort to violence if "the only way of life they know" is criminalised while others would risk imprisonment or heavy fines to defy the ban.
http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/newspolitics/tm_objectid=14620234&method=full&siteid=50082&headline=opik-warns-of-violence-triggered-by-hunting-ban-name_page.html

If those young men can't think of anything else to do with their time, that might help explain the falling British birthrate.

Note: Lembit Opik isn't a typical Welsh name. Turns out his parents were Estonians. (And the last name is actually Öpik.)

2004-09-08T23:58:00.000-05:00

Wednesday September 8, 2004. To Pillsbury House, where I did data entry for the Community Barter Network and Pillsbury House's volunteer program.

***I volunteered as Organizer for the Minneapolis scifi Meetup, and meetup.com accepted me. I started putting various sf-related events on the web page.

I'd already volunteered for the local Declutter Meetup. I added a couple of local Clutterers Anonymous meetings to that event listing.
________________
Writing: daily exercise -- Done.

"They Might Be Windmills" -- Some things added, some deleted.
____________________
Decluttering: Some stuff given away, some thrown away.

Mindwork: Short meditations.

Bodywork: Freeform exercises.
______________________
*New Technology Estimates Fast-Food Demand*
Sep 8, 12:19 PM (ET)
By CHARLES SHEEHAN

PITTSBURGH (AP) - Do you want fries with that? Never mind, we already know. A Pittsburgh startup, HyperActive Technologies Inc., is testing technology at area fast-food restaurants designed to give kitchen workers a good indication of what customers want before the hungry souls even get close enough to place an order.

The system, known as "HyperActive Bob," is in place in several restaurants around Pittsburgh in a primitive form: It tells employees when they are about to get busy, even how much food to put on the grill.

The system uses rooftop cameras that monitor traffic entering a restaurant's parking lot and drive-thru. Currently, the system is all about volume: If a minivan pulls in, there's apt to be more than one mouth to feed.

By this time next year, HyperActive Technologies expects to have in place software that keys on the type of vehicle entering the parking lot to determine whether the customers they bear are inclined to order, say, a burger over a chicken sandwich.
http://www.newsday.com/business/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-mcprofiling,0,1753910.story
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From http://bna.com:
DISNEY LOSES SOUTH AFRICAN SONG CHALLENGE
Walt Disney has lost its bid lost to set aside a lawsuit filed by a local Zulu family in South Africa for royalties from the hit song The Lion Sleeps Tonight. The family of the late Solomon Linda, who composed the original Zulu tune for the song, is claiming 10 million rand (about $2.17 million)in damages from Disney.

The ring of life provides evidence for a genome fusion origin of eukaryotes
MARIA C. RIVERA & JAMES A. LAKE
http://info.nature.com/cgi-bin24/DM/y/eQJW0BfwT60Ch0SDC0A2

2004-09-08T18:02:00.000-05:00

Tuesday September 7, 2004. Most important today: something which didn't happen. I had three opportunities to panic, and passed them up.
______
There was supposed to be a scifi fan Meetup at Betsy's Back Porch. (Coffeehouses didn't use to have names like that.) Since only one other person had RSVPd on Meetup.com for the Minneapolis Meetup, I figured there would be no meeting.

There was, but not the Meetup. The North Country Gaylaxians were there, discussing David Gerrold's novel The Man Who Folded Himself.

North Country Gaylaxians is a good sf-discussion group, and Betsy's Back Porch is a coffeehouse I find comfortable.

***Train of thought: from the song "Yellow Submarine" to "Captain Jenks of the Horse Marines" to the possibility of combining them to the phrase "corpse marines."
______________________
Writing: daily exercise --
"They Might Be Windmills" --
__________
Decluttering: Some stuff thrown out.

Mindwork: Short meditations.

Bodywork:

2004-09-08T01:04:00.000-05:00

Tuesday September 7, 2004. "When the student is ready, the teacher will appear. I am your teacher."

"Thank God! I thought you were Death."

"I am."
-------------
Posted to rec.arts.mystery: There are vampire mysteries and culinary mysteries -- why not a vampire mystery with recipes for blood sausage?

A werewolf mystery with recipes for steak tartare.

And, of course, historical mysteries with historical recipes.
__________________________
From EurekAlert http://www.eurekalert.org/pubnews.php:
Public Release: 6-Sep-2004
Current Biology
Recent evolution at a single gene may have brought down heart disease risk in some human groups
Heart disease is Europe's leading cause of death, but new research shows that the disease's toll would be much greater had natural selection not shifted the frequency of susceptibility genes over the past few tens of thousands of years. The work underscores the role of ancient natural selection in shaping contemporary public health.
National Science Foundation, NASA, Leverhulme Trust
________________
Wednesday, 8 September, 2004, 00:20 GMT 01:20 UK
Noah's Ark plan from top Moon man
By Pallab Ghosh
BBC Science Correspondent

The European Space Agency's chief scientist has said that there should be a Noah's Ark on the Moon, in case the Earth was destroyed by an asteroid or nuclear holocaust.

Europe's first lunar probe is due to land in November Speaking exclusively to BBC News at the British Association Science Festival, Dr Bernard Foing said that the ark should be a repository for the DNA of every single species of plant and animal.

Dr Foing is head of Europe's Moon missions, so his thoughts on matters lunar should be taken seriously.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/low/sci/tech/3635972.stm

2004-09-06T21:51:00.000-05:00

Monday September 6, 2004. Personal challenge: Stop letting political news sap my strength. I'm not going to cut myself off from it; but I'm going to stop reading the more partisan political bloggers.

Till after the election, that is. Then I'm going to enjoy reading the ones who were on the losing side.

Decades ago, there was a mainframe computer program which could be set to give either kneejerk conservative or kneejerk liberal answers to any political question. (I don't believe it was dignified with the term "artificial intelligence.") Sometimes I think descendants of that program are hard at work in the blogosphere.

Yes, I have a preference. I'm voting for Kerry.
________________
From EurekAlert http://www.eurekalert.org/pubnews.php:
Public Release: 5-Sep-2004
How pride and prejudice blur men's view of the glass cliff
Accepting a fact as scientific is not a simple matter of whether the methodology is sound - what matters is whether the science that underpins it is compatible with our stereotypes and prejudices.
Economic and Social Research Council
___________________
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
Subject: The Kapp Awards
From: ___ (James Nicoll)
Date: 6 Sep 2004 17:25:57 -0400

The Kapps are the annual award given to the best work of science fiction, fantasy or related work not published in the previous year. They are named after Donald Kapp, whose astounding hat trick of Hugos (1965, 1966 and 1967) was only prevented by the fact that he died on the Rueben James in 1941, six years before his writing career started. The Kapps are intended to honour those works that might have reshaped SF, had they only existed.
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From http://althistory.blogspot.com
[September 6] in 1847, David Thoreau left his meditative sanctuary at Walden Pond, New Hampshire after hearing of the German immigrant, Karl Marx. After a meeting which found the two quite compatible, they collaborated on a series of political pamphlets, including their Communist Manifesto of 1851.
________
Writing: daily exercise -- Done, posted here.

"They Might Be Windmills" -- Worked on it using a different text editor (Copywriter rather than Metapad). Sometimes that makes writing easier for me; this is one of those times.
_________
Decluttering: Got some trash out.

Mindwork: Some meditations.

Bodywork: Worked on small stretches.

2004-09-06T18:48:00.000-05:00

Monday September 6, 2004. This is my view of social reality:

American society is not what it was an hour ago. It changes (or stays the same) as individuals act or speak -- and as other individuals react to their own interpretations of what these individuals do and say.

There are also changes when objective reality changes -- or when new information comes along. But these aren't direct changes; they have to be interpreted.

American culture also changes, though probably more slowly.

Over an hour's time, these changes are usually slight enough that nobody's planning has to change. But over a two-year House term, a four-year Presidential term, or a six-year Senatorial term, the changes can be very large. Large enough that what worked well enough to get someone elected last time might not work at all this time.

Artistic taste, comparative popularity of recreational drugs, economic demand for certain foods -- these are also constantly changing.

And so is what suppliers think the customers want. Writing how-to-write in the 1980s, Lawrence Block had to explain what tie-in novels had been; they'd stopped being published. Now they're being published again; sometimes the majority of sf/fantasy novels on the shelves are tie-ins. Did the saleability of tie-ins actually change? I suspect not.

In the newsgroup rec.arts.sf.written, the question "Where are the boundaries between science fiction and fantasy?" comes up now and then. For some people, there are sharp boundaries -- ones which are part of natural law. Others see large gray areas: some fiction is definitely sf, some is definitely fantasy, but a lot is a bit of both.

I'm likely to say "This week, if there are spaceships in it, it's science fiction. Regardless of how much magic and how many elves are in it." I then explain that at one time, a novel with both sf and fantasy elements would probably be classed as "science fantasy." And that the classification might change again.

Does it matter that I see things this way? I think so. It means I don't react the same way as people who see Eternal Social Truths; or those who see conflict between classes as the major force in history.

2004-09-05T21:33:00.000-05:00

Sunday September 5, 2004. "He who goes forth to fight monsters becomes a monster himself; and if you gaze too long into the abyss, the abyss will gaze into you." Friedrich Nietzsche

That's been one of my unexamined assumptions for a while. It's probably time to examine it.

From Cheryl Morgan, editor of Emerald City:
Sunday, September 05, 2004
The Backlash Begins
Well it didn't take fanzine fandom long to note that I'd won a Hugo. I've just received multi-page email full of vitriol from someone called rich brown....
# posted by Cheryl @ 11:42 AM
http://www.emcit.com/blog/2004_09_01_blogarch.shtml#109440993680326645

rich brown (not to be confused with Rich Brown) is (or was when I knew him) a nice person with many good qualities. Unfortunately, he has given his loyalty to a group which believes it owns sf fandom in general and fanzines in particular. That kind of loyalty corrodes the mind and corrupts the soul.

For the part about corroding the mind, see: Political history. History of art. Culinary history. Discussion about the effect on speculative fiction writers can be found by going to http://groups.google.com, and searching rec.arts.sf.written for "The Braineater."
_____________________
Writing: daily exercise -- Done: The Undecided

Undecided voters are likely to decide who wins the US Presidential election. Unfortunately, both major parties are dominated by people with decided views. So are the minor parties.

Perhaps we need a political party for this important bloc of voters. A party whose political platform will say, for example, "We haven't decided whether we want same-sex marriage to be legal or illegal; and we're also not sure yet whether we want heterosexual marriage to be legal or illegal."

***"They Might Be Windmills" -- One background detail altered. The Nietzsche quote added as a note; it will probably turn up in dialog, but I'm not at all sure where.

Decluttering: Got some trash out.
______
Mindwork: A bit of reminding myself that things which went wrong decades ago don't matter. One part of my mind keeps saying "1. Sweat the big stuff. 2. It's all big stuff." I'm getting better at quieting it.

Bodywork: Tried the trick of moving much more slowly than usual. Which is supposed to be part of what tai chi is about.

2004-09-05T19:18:00.000-05:00

From http://althistory.blogspot.com
[September 5] in 1997, Albanian actress Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu died in Hollywood, California. The Oscar-winner was best known for her performance as Mother Maria Elena in the holocaust drama None Shall Return, in which she played a Catholic nun who sheltered Jews against the Nazis.

[September 5] in 1847, Jesse Woodson James, Missouri’s first Communist governor, was born in the state. James was captivated with President Whitman’s oratory and scouted for the union as a teenager during the Southern Rebellion. This led him into work with the state Communists, and election to the state legislature, U.S. Congress, and finally, the governorship in 1892.

[September 3] in 1752, the adoption of the Gregorian Calendar disrupts the space-time continuum and 10 days vanish for England. People riot in protest at the government’s reckless disregard for the sanctity of time.
_____________________
From the UK edition of Google News:
Scientists Show Babies Have Innate Sense of Beauty
Reuters - 37 minutes ago
Beauty may not be just in the eye of the beholder after all because a sense of visual attraction is hardwired in the brain at birth, a British scientist said on Monday.
How beauty fascinates from birth Guardian
Everyone loves a pretty face The Scotsman
Independent - all 7 related »

2004-09-05T01:13:00.000-05:00

Saturday September 4, 2004. Three yard sales, bought two things for a total of 35¢. Both of them actually useful.

And then I bought a bunch of stuff at Steeple People. The shelves are useful and needed; the rest is useful, but I could get along without it.
____
I didn't want to know this department: Hostess Twinkies sushi http://www.twinkies.com/recipebox/?cmd=view&id=84 Thanks to http://www.livejournal.com/users/supergee/

Actually, I think it would taste pretty good if you left out the Twinkies.
________
Writing: daily exercise -- Done: Things I've Learned From Shakespeare

Vienna is Italian-speaking, or at least it was in Shakespeare's time. (Measure for Measure)

Bohemia used to have a seacoast. Since it now doesn't, obviously the land-sea boundaries in Europe have drastically changed. (The Winter's Tale)

"They Might Be Windmills" -- Inserted one piece of information. Otherwise, just a bit of rewording.
______
Decluttering: Filled trash bag. Took out trash.

Mindwork:
Bodywork:

2004-09-04T01:26:00.000-05:00

Friday September 3, 2004. "Try using the fact that sin is periodic." Dan Goodman -- the one who teaches mathematics at Warwick University in England.

A bit startling till I realized he was talking about mathematics rather than theology.

In The Tides of God, Ted Reynolds postulated that religious belief is periodic. Someone could probably get a story out of the idea that sinfulness is periodic. Of course, this requires explaining the lack of historical support for sin-free periods.
__________
I woke up this morning with the realization that I'd become as good at seeing people's strengths as at seeing their weaknesses.

This may not yet be entirely true, but it's a lot closer to being true than it used to be.

____
Writing: From a post to rec.arts.sf.composition: The current story begins with people. Any idea which doesn't fit those people, I'm weeding out. Any Cool Background Detail which doesn't fit those people, I'm weeding out. Any plot twist which doesn't fit those people, I'm weeding out.

daily exercise --

"They Might Be Windmills" -- More zero draft added; including the idea of people gene-engineered as forecasters.
__________
Decluttering: Did laundry. Took out trash. Figured out a place for some things which were usually in the way.

Mindwork:
Bodywork:
______________________
Worldcon panels -- not just for attendees anymore! From Kate Nepveau:

TNH [Teresa Neilson Hayden] reported that Steve Brust says that explanations are always an opportunity to get in an argument with the reader. Never explain, describe: not how it works, how you use it. DD [Debra Doyle] added, what happens when it breaks down.
September 03, 2004
Panel Report: "As You Know, Bob: The Positives and Negatives of Infodumps in Writing"
http://noreascon4.blogs.com/live/2004/09/panel_report_as.html
____________________
China faces future as land of boys
In the past two decades in China, female births have declined markedly compared with male births. By Robert Marquand
http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0903/p01s03-woap.html?s=hns
_______________________
From the UK edition of Google News:
Make games not nukes: DTI outsources to Russia
ZDNet.co.uk - 14 hours ago
The UK government is hoping an ambitious scheme to outsource UK software development to former Russian nuclear scientists will encourage the weapons experts to remain in-situ rather than seek work with foreign governments or terrorist networks.
Nuclear scientists turn game makers DMeurope.com
Russian Nuclear Scientists Take Aim at Internet Reuters
Scotland on Sunday - PublicTechnology.net - all 12 related »

2004-09-02T23:21:00.000-05:00

Thursday September 2, 2004 (continued).

Writing: daily exercise -- Done, posted to rec.arts.sf.written: If I am Ever The Dragon:

1. Whenever I feel a compulsion to amass gold and jewels, and do nothing with my wealth except count it to make sure it's still there, I will seek psychiatric help. Preferably from a psychiatrist with expertise in dealing with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, subcategory Checkers and Hoarders.

2. I will pay for all domestic animals I eat, and will pretend to be inept at haggling over the price.

3. I will look into the possibility of using my wealth to start a bank.

4. I will insist on paying taxes; this will greatly reduce the King's enthusiasm for having me killed. I will also discuss the possibility of military service.

5. Instead of kidnapping princesses to serve me, I will advertise my willingness to employ low-born female orphans.

"They Might Be Windmills" -- Sketched in the changes some characters undergo. Changed the final scene from notes to zero draft.
________
Decluttering: Trash taken out.

Mindwork: I've been using the new toy (see previous installment).

Bodywork:

2004-09-02T21:43:00.000-05:00

Thursday September 2, 2004. Google News now has Japanese and Korean editions.

***Ooh, shiny: Steeple People thrift store's clothing bag sale was down to a dollar. Most of the men's clothes had been cleaned out; but I found enough to mostly fill a bag.

And then I looked at cheap jewelry. I sometimes use such things to focus my mind, and there was a box of 50¢ stuff.

Looked at one thing, got a bit lost in looking at it. Yes, this would be useful as a meditation focus!

From the free box, I got a cup. One side has a picture of a cute elephant labelled GOP and the words "5th District IRs ON THE GO!" (For a while, the Minnesota Republican Party was officially Independent Republican.) On the other side: "You can not build /Character and courage /By taking away people's /Initiative and independence," attributed to Abraham Lincoln.

I agree with this; I merely happen to think Republicans and conservatives are more likely to do this more than Democrats and liberals.

http://www.cincinnatiskeptics.org/blurbs/lincoln-cannots.htm
But alas! Lincoln did not say these things. They were written in 1916 by the Rev. William J. H. Boetcker, a Presbyterian clergyman and pamphlet writer. In 1942, a group called the Committee for Constitutional Government gave out a great many leaflets entitled "Lincoln on Limitations" that contained on one side a real Lincoln quote and on the other side the 10 Boetcker statements. Boetcker was credited with his statements on the leaflet, but their proximity in print to one real quote by Lincoln, plus the title of the leaflet, led people to think that Lincoln had said the ten listed statements. They were repeated in many printed sources, and are still regarded by many as authentic Lincoln quotes. Carl Sandburg, Lincoln's most famous biographer, dismissed them as spurious.

***Across Lyndale Avenue to the Wedge. Their ATM (which doesn't charge a fee for Twin City Co-op withdrawals) was out of order. I decided to go to TCC's Minneapolis office, and use one of the ATMs there.

Note for those who like Emma Bull's War for the Oaks: the "witch's tower" is across University Avenue from the credit union.

On the way, I noticed that one bar had a sign saying "Cash Recycling". I looked again, and it said "Cash Machine."

2004-09-02T20:25:00.000-05:00

These hexes, together with the kit’s ceremonial candle, black magic 'GW' doll, witch's finger, chili powder, spider and more are guaranteed to drive the Bush Administration from public office this November. Send Bush back to Crawford TX with the BushBashBanishment, the Rumsfeld Scream, the Cheney Howl, the Kyoto Revenge and other black magic spells.

100 million Americans and the entire rest of the world can’t be wrong – Bush has got to go!

Light your candle, grab your black magic doll and cast these spells on Oct 28, 2004 (full moon!), November 1 (election eve) and after you vote on November 2. Do your part for America: Vote. Hex. Send the Bush Administration packing.
http://www.bushblackmagic.com/

I'd say this is dumber than George W. Bush Ketchup (for Republicans who don't want their money going to John Kerry's wife). On the other hand, there are people selling the ketchup on eBay -- fully confident that potential buyers won't realize they can get it cheaper from the original sauce source.
________________
From the UK edition of Google News:
Mozart behaving badly
Guardian - 18 hours ago
I'm not the first person to suggest Mozart suffered from Tourette's syndrome. The idea was mooted by a Scandinavian scientist who based his theory on the scatological tone of Mozart's letters.
UK Documentary Suggests Mozart Had Tourette's HealthCentral.com
Composer studies what made Mozart tic Norfolk Eastern Daily Press
News-Medical.net- Webindia123.com - Big News Network.com - The Scotsman - all 14 related »
__________
From EurekAlert http://www.eurekalert.org/pubnews.php:
Public Release: 2-Sep-2004
US plans take-away nuclear power plants
A small, sealed, transportable nuclear reactor could meet the energy needs of developing countries without the risk of by-products getting in the wrong hands for weapons programmes. The sealed units, being developed by the US Department of Energy, would be delivered to a site, and collected when the fuel runs out after about 30 years. Its tamper-proof cask would be monitored and heavily alarmed.

Public Release: 2-Sep-2004
Science
Chimp-sized hominid walked upright on two legs six million years ago
Recent fossil evidence suggests that a hominid, the size of a chimp, walked upright on two legs in Kenya's Tugen Hills, over 6 million years ago --- about 3 million years earlier than "Lucy," the most famous early biped in our lineage.
American Philosophical Society , Sigma Xi

http://researchnews.osu.edu/archive/neander.htm
NEANDERTHAL LIFE NO TOUGHER THAN THAT OF “MODERN” INUITS

COLUMBUS, Ohio – The bands of ancient Neanderthals that struggled throughout Europe during the last Ice Age faced challenges no tougher than those confronted by the modern Inuit, or Eskimos.

That’s the conclusion of a new study intended to test a long-standing belief among anthropologists that the life of the Neanderthals was too tough for their line to coexist with Homo sapiens.
“Looking at these fossilized teeth, you can easily see these defects that showed Neanderthals periodically struggled nutritionally,” Guatelli-Steinberg said. “But I wanted to know if that struggle was any harder than that of more modern humans.”

And the evidence discounting that theory lies with tiny grooves that mar the teeth of these ancient people.

2004-09-01T22:10:00.000-05:00

Wednesday September 1, 2004. The Thrift Shop Donation Fairy from ARC picked up the stuff
I'd placed on the curb, and left a receipt on the porch.

***Mail: Einblatt -- newsletter for Mnstf, the oldest Twin Cities sf club.

***To Pillsbury House, where I did data entry for the Community Barter Network and Pillsbury House's volunteer program.

***"Before attempting to penetrate the Evil Overlord's Invincible Fortress, the practical hero will seriously examine the option of maintaining a safe distance and picking him off the ramparts with a long-range weapon.
"-HANDBOOK OF PRACTICAL HEROICS
"by Robert Taylor"

These are the opening words of Heroics for Beginners by John Moore. Recommended, with two reservations: 1) It's best read in small doses; 2) There really ought to be some acknowledgement of the many people who've contributed to the "If I am ever the Hero" List.

***Tangent from the above -- I see the need for an "If I am ever the suicidal Hero" list.
___________
From National Journal's RNC email newsletter:
Gotta Be Nice To Those Volunteers
Democrats did brisk business outside the Garden Tuesday, offering pedestrians the chance to donate to the Kerry campaign via credit card, check or cash. One young man listened earnestly and then clasped hands with the staffer. "I really appreciate all the work you're doing out here," he said -- an odd comment, given that he was clad in the green polo shirt of an RNC volunteer.
___________
Lashing out
Don't blink! Visit the world's first eyelash bar. By Carly Baldwin
http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0902/p12s01-lign.html?s=hns
____________
Writing: daily exercise -- Done.

"They Might Be Windmills" -- Converted more zero draft to first draft. Decided on the ending. I need to develop two more major characters.
___________
Decluttering: Donations to ARC got picked up. Took out some trash.

Mindwork:
Bodywork:

2004-09-01T20:29:00.000-05:00

From http://bna.com:
FED CIRCUIT COURT OF APPEALS UPHOLDS SKYLINK DMCA DECISION
The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has upheld a lower court decision involving garage door openers and the DMCA. The court ruled that a dismissal of the case was appropriate, concluding that "contrary to Chamberlain's assertion, the DMCA emphatically did not "fundamentally alter" the legal landscape governing the reasonable expectations of consumers or competitors; did not "fundamentally alter" the ways that courts analyze industry practices; and did not render the pre-DMCA history of the GDO industry irrelevant." Case name is Chamberlain Group v. Skylink Technologies. Decision at
http://laws.findlaw.com/fed/041118.html

FLORIDA OFFICIALS DEFY JUDGE'S E-VOTING RECOUNT RULING
Election officials in Florida say a new rule barring hand recounts in 15 counties with touchscreen voting systems will remain in place until after today's primary, despite a judge's invalidation of the rule. The officials plan on keeping the rule until a 30-day appeal period expires.
http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/9540316.htm
_________
From EurekAlert http://www.eurekalert.org/pubnews.php:
Public Release: 31-Aug-2004
Conservation Biology
Modest climate change could lead to substantially more and larger fires
The area burned by wildfires in 11 Western states could double by the end of the century if summer climate warms by slightly more than a degree and a half, say researchers with the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service and Pacific Northwest Climate Impacts Group at the University of Washington.

Public Release: 1-Sep-2004
Social Science History
Men from early middle ages were nearly as tall as modern people
Northern European men living during the early Middle Ages were nearly as tall as their modern-day American descendants, a finding that defies conventional wisdom about progress in living standards during the last millennium. Men living during the early Middle Ages (the ninth to 11th centuries) were several centimeters taller than men who lived hundreds of years later, on the eve of the Industrial Revolution.
National Science Foundation
______________________
Nature 431, 47 - 49 (02 September 2004); doi:10.1038/nature02884

Inscribed matter as an energy-efficient means of communication with an extraterrestrial civilization

CHRISTOPHER ROSE1 AND GREGORY WRIGHT2

It is well known that electromagnetic radiation—radio waves—can in principle be used to communicate over interstellar distances. By contrast, sending physical artefacts has seemed extravagantly wasteful of energy, and imagining human travel between the stars even more so. The key consideration in earlier work, however, was the perceived need for haste. If extraterrestrial civilizations existed within a few tens of light years, radio could be used for two-way communication on timescales comparable to human lifetimes (or at least the longevities of human institutions). Here we show that if haste is unimportant, sending messages inscribed on some material can be strikingly more energy efficient than communicating by electromagnetic waves. Because messages require protection from cosmic radiation and small messages could be difficult to find among the material clutter near a recipient, 'inscribed matter' is most effective for long archival messages (as opposed to potentially short "we exist" announcements). The results suggest that our initial contact with extraterrestrial civilizations may be more likely to occur through physical artefacts—essentially messages in a bottle—than via electromagnetic communication.
http://www.nature.com/cgi-taf/Dynapage.taf?file=/nature/journal/v431/n7004/abs/nature02884_fs.htm

Animal behaviour: Use of dung as a tool by burrowing owls
DOUGLAS J. LEVEY, R. SCOT DUNCAN & CARRIE F. LEVINS
http://info.nature.com/cgi-bin24/DM/y/eQFI0BfwT60Ch0RsN0Ag

2004-09-01T09:42:00.000-05:00

Tuesday August 31, 2004. One condition of Utah becoming a state was that the LDS political party had to be dissolved. Mormons became Democrats and Republicans. (The opposition party presumably died a bit later.)

I think American politics would be more interesting if that party had lived. Presumably its members in Congress would caucus with one of the major national parties -- but which one? Possibly it would depend on whether the Republicans or the Democrats offered a better deal that year. And there's the possibility that Senators of that party might caucus with one party, and Representatives with the other.

It probably wouldn't have been practical in the real world. But something similar could be made plausible in fiction.
___________
To Midtown Market, where I bought tomatoes at one stand and stringbeans at another.

Back home via the Hiawatha light rail line -- which now has wastebaskets in the stations.
I have no idea how wastebaskets got left out of the original planning, but apparently they were.

***A truck from ARC was due in my neighborhood in the morning. (ARC used to be the acronym for Association for Retarded Citizens. Now it doesn't mean anything, and they call the people they serve "developmentally disabled." They have thrift shops.)

I looked in a couple of storage things to see if anything in there could go. Decided the storage things could go; they were taking up more space than they saved.
________________
Writing: daily exercise -- Done. But since it's on politics in the world of "They Might Be Windmills," I'm not counting it here.

"They Might Be Windmills" -- See above.

Decluttering: Putting stuff out for ARC.

Mindwork: Various small things, mostly reminders to myself. Sanskrit probably has a word for this.

Bodywork: Reminding muscles to loosen up.

2004-08-31T16:46:00.000-05:00

http://althistory.blogspot.com
[August 30]in 1797, the mother of the science fiction genre, Mary Shelley, was born in London, England. Her novels Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus, Icarus, and The Seed of Cain brought into the world of literature the ideas of robots/cloning, space travel and genetic modification, respectively.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2004-08/uor-stm083104.ph
Public release date: 31-Aug-2004
Contact: Jonathan Sherwood
jonathan.sherwood@rochester.edu
585-273-4726
University of Rochester
Short term memory's effectiveness influenced by sight, sound
For decades scientists have believed that people can only remember an ordered list of about seven items at a time--such as seven grocery items or seven digits of a phone number--but new research from the University of Rochester has shown that this magic number varies depending on whether the language used is spoken or signed. The results in the cover story of the latest issue of Nature Neuroscience have important implications for standardized tests, which often employ ordered-list retention as a measure of a person's mental aptitude.
______________________
From Scientific American:

Some physicists are proposing that the universe's mysterious dark matter consists of great big particles, light-years or more across. Amid the jostling of these titanic particles, ordinary matter ekes out its existence like shrews scurrying about the feet of the dinosaurs.
http://cl.extm.us/?fe851d7273670c787c-fe3117727760037d771076\

2004-08-30T23:08:00.000-05:00

Monday August 30, 2004. I solve crossword puzzles by answering one clue, then working outward from there as far as I can manage. If the first answer is across, then I try to do the down answers which share letters with it. Then the across answers which share letters with them, etc. When I can't go any farther, I look for another clue I can answer and start the process again.

I used to use the standard process of doing all the across answers I could first, then down answers, etc. I think I've developed my personal process in the past year.

That's how I write fiction -- except that for me, a story is like a five-dimensional diagramless crossword puzzle.

Today, it occurred to me that this is probably a good way for me to do a number of other things -- from decluttering to mindfulness.
_____________________________________
A step closer to suspended animation!
From EurekAlert http://www.eurekalert.org/pubnews.php:
Public Release: 30-Aug-2004
Patented process preserves transplant tissues/organs
Body tissues such as blood vessels, cartilage and skin -- even whole organs such as kidneys, livers and hearts -- could become more widely available for transplants as a result of a patent issued recently to Organ Recovery Systems of Chicago for a method to chill body tissues and organs well below freezing without forming ice crystals. The new process for tissue "vitrification" was developed with support from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Advanced Technology Program and the National Institutes of Health.
National Institute of Standards and Technology, National Institutes of Health
-----------------------
Public Release: 30-Aug-2004
Journal of Molecular Biology
Humans march to a faster genetic 'drummer' than primates, UC Riverside research says
A team of biochemists from UC Riverside published a paper in the June 11 issue of the Journal of Molecular Biology that gives one explanation for why humans and primates are so closely related genetically, but so clearly different biologically and intellectually.

Writing: daily exercise -- Done; what I want my life to be like five years from now.

"They Might Be Windmills" -- A bit more zero drafted.

Decluttering: Some trash out, including stuff from the refrigerator.

Mindwork:
Bodywork:

2004-08-30T20:03:00.000-05:00

Monday August 30, 2004. "Ken Porter noted the existence of 'Black to the Future,' an organization for Black SF and fantasy writers, and asked 'Do we really need a separate branch of fandom?' This led to some discussion, which was eventually postponed for a discussion program someday." LASFS (Los Angeles Science Fiction Society) minutes, July 8, 2004. De Profundis, September 2004, p. 4.

Wrong question -- a group for sf/fantasy writers is part of sf prodom rather than sf fandom. (I understand that when Science Fiction Writers of America was founded, some writers were very intent that this distinction be understood.)

For both prodom and fandom, I would say it's a matter for the marketplace. Christian Fandom and the Gaylaxians continue to exist in fandom because enough people in the target groups join and are active to keep them alive. Broad Universe exists in prodom for the same reason.
--------------

To HealthPartners Uptown for a fasting blood test. This time, I remembered to eat right afterwards.

On to Steeple People and the Wedge.

--------------------
Email: Harper Collins Eos newsletter. This is one book I won't bother to read:

RADIANT James Alan Gardner
*Advance Review Title*
ISBN: 0060595264, $23.95 US/$36.95 Can., HC original

Explorer Third Class Youn Sue is sent to rescue the Cashlings from the highly-dangerous Balrog. But how do you defeat an alien intelligence so advanced that it literally knows what you will do before you do? When the expedition goes horribly wrong, Youn is saved by none other than the fabled Admiral Festina Ramos, only to discover this is just the Balrog's opening gambit...

"Cashlings" could be a good coinage; in a fantasy novel, it would do nicely for Libertarian elves. In an sf novel, it raises the suspicion that this author doesn't know what he's doing when he makes up names. "Balrog" comes from a well-known three-volume fantasy novel.

I'm mildly interested in knowing how a villain which sees the future so accurately is defeated. But only mildly; so far, this book doesn't sound as if it will include a good answer.

2004-08-29T22:50:00.000-05:00

Sunday August 29, 2004. Planned: A trip with Pat Craft to Taylors Falls. We also ended up seeing various other places along the St. Croix River.

On the way, we passed through a series of towns which had Swedish sister cities. Oddly enough, a high percentage of that area's white settlers had been Swedish-born.

The area along the St. Croix River is more like where I grew up than anything else I've seen in Minnesota. Hilly enough to attract rock climbers, second-growth forest in what used to be fields, most of the towns rather small, etc. It doesn't have nearly as much poison ivy as the Catskills area, but that's not among things I'm nostalgic for.

Taylors Falls was smaller than I'd expected. And the public library building was the smallest one I can remember seeing.

We went to a lookout to see the river -- and found there were too many trees in the way.

Had coffee at a place in Taylors Falls called Coffee Talk. Music was provided, all by the Beatles.

We looked around Taylors Falls, then went across the St. Croix into St. Croix Falls, Wisconsin -- a rather larger town. I think this is where we went into a mini-shopping-area devoted to crafts -- about half taken up by a mostly-clothing store, the other half by smaller crafts sellers.

We took a different route back. Stopped at a food stand; as one result, I now know that the official Canadian French for "dry pint" is "chopine séche." (This seems to be used only for bilingual labels on US products.)
______________
Writing: daily exercise -- done:
What Comes After Mammals?

Assumptions: Most or all mammals above the size of a rat become extinct. Possibly as the result of something a particular primate species has done which turned out to be a very, very bad idea.

And the animals which evolve to fill now-empty niches aren't mammals as such.

Possible sources: 1) Small mammals.

2) Birds. They have better brains than mammals do, relative to body size. So if one line
reaches human-level intelligence, they might do so faster.

But they have at least one disadvantage: They would be unlikely to evolve hands. They could probably use feet and beaks to manipulate objects; but they would still need their feet as feet. It's possible that wings could become arms of a sort, in some flightless species.

3) Some new kind of animal developed artificially before humans became extinct. For example, some kind of six-limbed flying creature; two legs, two wings, two hands.
---------------
"They Might Be Windmills" -- Added more zero draft.
_______________
Decluttering: Threw away a few things.
----------------
Mindwork: Bought small pieces of agate to use for focusing.

Bodywork: My body has loosened up noticeably more. I'm not sure why or how.

2004-08-29T12:13:00.000-05:00

From War-Torn to Wonderland
Honduras and other Central American countries once embroiled in war have become hot markets for affordable beachfront property.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A42639-2004Aug28.html
_______________________
[Eugene Volokh, August 28, 2004 at 5:27pm] Possible Trackbacks
Negative campaigning:
On NPR this morning, Jim Nayder, host of the Annoying Music Show, quoted this gem from William H. Harrison's campaign against Martin Van Buren:

Who rules us with an iron rod?
Who moves at Satan's beck and nod?
Who heeds not man,
Who heeds not God?
Van Buren, Van Buren!

Thanks to those readers who pointed me to the NPR archive and to Jim Nayder's identity (the original version of this post did not identify him), and to Michelle Dulak and N.Z. Bear who transcribed for me the text of the second stanza, which reads:

Who would his friends, his country sell
Do other deeds too base to tell
Deserves the lowest place in hell
http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2004_08_28.shtml#1093728430

2004-08-28T23:17:00.000-05:00

Saturday August 28, 2004. Deadbeat? Deceased? Credit no problem! Today's mail included a pre-approved credit card offer from a catalog company.

***Around the corner to Southwest Senior Center for this month's Fare for All food.

Someone from Fare for All's headquarters came by to ask the site volunteers how things were going. Answer: too many substitutions this month. The warehouse had run out of green peppers and onions, and had substituted extra potatoes.

There were also ten-pound bags of potatoes as an extra for people who wanted them. I began to get the feeling there's a lot of potatoes available this month.
-----------
"The sociological method of social constructionism is to look at the ways social phenomena are created, institutionalized, and made into tradition by humans. Their focus is on the description of the institutions, the actions, and so on, not on analyzing causes and effects. Socially constructed reality is seen as an on-going dynamic process; reality is re-produced by people acting on their interpretation and their knowledge of it. It can be seen here that social construction describes subjective, rather than objective, reality - that is, reality as we can perceive it rather than reality as it is, separate from our perceptions."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_constructionism

That's how I view human society: an ongoing dynamic process among individuals. (Constrained by objective reality -- a limitation not all social constructionists accept.)
___________
Writing: daily exercise -- Done.

"They Might Be Windmills" -- Notes carrying the story farther. A bit of rewording.
____________
Decluttering: Trash out. Dishes washed.

Mindwork:
Bodywork:

2004-08-28T20:04:00.000-05:00

http://www.governing.com/politics.htm
Organizations in both political parties think New Hampshire is a prime place to elect openly gay men and women, and they are sending money and people into the state like never before.
MORE: Concord Monitor http://www.concordmonitor.com
-----------------
From the UK edition of Google News:
RAF join city's Gay Pride parade
BBC News - 10 hours ago
The RAF was taking part in Manchester's Gay Pride parade on Saturday in the hope it would persuade more homosexuals to sign up.
RAF targets Manchester's gay pride festival in recruitment drive Guardian
RAF Officers Join Gay Pride Festival The Scotsman
Washington Times - Ananova - PersonnelToday.com - Scotland on Sunday - all 36 related »
--------------------
[Mathematics]
A Better Distorted View: The physics of diffusion offers a new way of generating maps
The mathematics used to describe diffusion can also be used to generate maps based on population data.
http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20040828/bob8.asp
---------------------
From http://althistory.blogspot.com
[August 28] in 1938, Northwestern University awards an honorary degree to Edgar Bergen’s dummy Charlie McCarthy. The jocular mood of the occasion is broken when the “dummy” comes to life and flees the stage, leaving a dead Edgar Bergen behind.

[August 22] in 1485, the War of the Roses ended at Bosworth Field as noble King Richard III defeated and killed the pretender to the throne, Henry Tudor. The Lancastrians still remaining alive after that day had the gall to spread rumors that Richard had murdered his two nephews in order to gain power; Richard responded by holding a victory banquet in London where his nephews were honored guests. After this, the Lancastrian branch of the Plantagenet family withered.

2004-08-28T00:00:00.000-05:00

Friday August 27, 2004. "You're not what I expected the Queen of Air and Darkness to be like."

"You got the Summoning a bit wrong. I'm the Queen of Beer and Car Keys."
__________
Steeple People had useful-looking shelves for $1.50. I've now emptied two boxes of books onto those shelves.

***The frying pan I got at a rummage sale seems to be a crepe pan. I intend to go on using it for the wrong foods.

****News from the area where I grew up:

State Police, Ulster County Sheriff’s deputies and Village of Ellenville Police located the men a short distance away hiding in tall gross.

***Detroit Fights California Bid to Open Car Pool Lanes to Fuel-Conscious Import
By DEAN E. MURPHY
Aides to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger say he will sign legislation that could allow up to 75,000 hybrid drivers to use car pool lanes even when taking to the road alone.
http://nytimes.com/pages/national/index.htm

I think they mean drivers of hybrid cars.
______________
Writing: daily exercise -- Done; posted here.

"They Might Be Windmills" --
Decluttering:
Mindwork:
Bodywork:
__________________
From EurekAlert http://www.eurekalert.org/pubnews.php:
Public Release: 27-Aug-2004
Behavioral Neuroscience
Study suggests stress of task determines if estrogen helps cognition
Does estrogen help cognition? Many women ponder that question as a quality-of-life issue while deciding on estrogen therapy since it has been linked to potential disease complications. Now, a new study at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign suggests that the stress of any given task at least partially determines if hormones will help the mind.
National Science Foundation

2004-08-27T23:15:00.000-05:00

Some Reasons for the Way I'm Voting

When the elder George Bush failed to get re-elected, one thing I said was:

"When Reagan spoke I remembered that I was an American. When George Bush speaks, I remember that I'm a Democrat."

And when this George Bush speaks, I also remember that I'm an agnostic of Jewish (not "Judeochristian") ancestry; I'm a city-dweller; use more of my income to pay medical expenses than I like to think about; and opposed the Vietnam war.

More recently, I've said that there are two reasons why I don't hate George W. Bush: 1) I'm not a conservative; 2) I'm not a Republican.

I don't consider the present administration (the President and his apparatchiks) up to the standard of honesty I expect from politicians. Nor do I consider them competent.

2004-08-26T23:15:00.000-05:00

Thursday August 26, 2004. My hips are noticeably more flexible today. I have no idea what I did right.

Spam: ad for a way to stop spam.

Mail: Uncle Hugo's newsletter.

***Today's big project: retrieve boxes of books stored in someone's basement. Transportation provided by another member of the Community Barter Network.
___________
Writing: daily exercise -- Done: Welcome, political refugees from the 21st Century!

Apologies to those who left instructions to be brought out of suspended animation only when your political philosophy had been accepted world-wide. With one exception, all the political philosophies of your time are as outdated as the conflict between Guelfs and Ghibellines. While anarchism has not triumphed, the anarchists among you will find co-religionists in today's world. They will be glad to help you through the procedure of obtaining government certification, and otherwise help you adjust to the 23rd Century.

The rest of you -- and those anarchists who wish to participate -- will be given a basic education in current political theories. Only a rudimentary understanding of calculus and quasi-string theory will be required. To help your socialization, you will be in the same class with persons born in our time. Please don't take it personally if they seem impatient with your rate of learning; six-year-olds do tend to be that way.

***They might Be Windmills" -- Added some notes which mention Superiors Anonymous.
_____________
Decluttering: Not sure if I'm going backward or forward.

Mindwork:

Bodywork: Got exercise moving the boxes.
____________
From EurekAlert http://www.eurekalert.org/pubnews.php:
Public Release: 26-Aug-2004
New research set to reveal similarities between terrorists and tourists
New research from the University of Warwick is set to reveal some striking similarities between the actions of groups of people who travel on flagship airlines, seemingly at random, between the major cities of the world. An ongoing research project into airlines and international tourism shows in many cases it is only motivation that distinguishes the terrorist from the tourist, and may be the cause of big headaches for the world's national carriers.
The Leverhulme Trust

2004-08-25T21:33:00.000-05:00

Wednesday August 25, 2004. "Vampire Mermaids" -- title of an amateur erotic horror story at http://www.literotica.com. I think that's a new combination.

***Pillsbury House had hired a new Volunteer Coordinator, after several months of people handling parts of the job in their spare time.

I'd expected some glitches before I got down to doing data entry for the Community Barter Network and Pillsbury House's volunteer program. I hadn't expected the ones which turned up.

***To Uncle Hugo's; and then to Uncle Edgar's. I found a used copy of Dashiell Hammett's
The Maltese Falcon, and looked through it a bit. Argh!

The style was okay, I guess; and it didn't grate on me too much. Characterization seemed to be mostly tags and quirks.
_______
Political blog watch: Democratic bloggers look forward to the Kerry landslide victory; see http://dem.conventionbloggers.com. Republican bloggers look forward to the Bush landslide; see http://conventionbloggers.com.

Things to watch for: Wednesday November 3rd, those on the losing side will explain that the loss was due to
1) Excessive moderation; the majority who agree with us would have been energized by a more principled stand.
2) Media bias; it's obvious that the media slanted everything in favor of Those Bastards.
3) Voting fraud.
4) Alien Space Bats.
_______________
Writing: daily exercise -- Done. See above. Also posted to soc.politics.

"They Might Be Windmills" -- Added some notes. Advanced older notes to zero draft.
_________________
Decluttering: Got a bunch of trash out.

Mindwork:
Bodywork:

2004-08-25T18:55:00.000-05:00

From EurekAlert http://www.eurekalert.org/pubnews.php:
Public Release: 25-Aug-2004
Geophysical Research Letters
AGU Journal highlights - 24 August 2004
In this edition: Cloud drop charge may affect precipitation; Remotely detecting Arctic cloud properties; What caused the 2002 major Antarctic warming?; Alternative water source for water in Martian channels near Tharsis; Magnetotail on Saturn's Titan; Magnetic field map for Mars; Midlatitude ionospheric disturbance likely initiated from space; First principles of new deep-Earth mineral; Pumping iron in the Southern Ocean; Atmospheric distribution of bromine monoxide.
___________________
From http://thisisrumorcontrol.org
Ridge's Watch List (8)
Rumors
Posted by Apone on August 25, 2004 - 11:07am

The appearance of Senator Ted Kennedy's name on the "terrorist watch list" is not a mistake - it's a "gotcha" cooked up by the Department of Homeland Security because of Kennedy's alleged ties to the Irish Republican Army. (8)

Assessing the Draft
The News Today | US Foreign Policy | The Draft
Posted by Hicks on August 25, 2004 - 9:39am

What if they had a draft and nobody came? That's the question asked by the Alliance for Security (AFS) in a press statement accompanying the release of the results of a fascinating poll on American attitudes on military conscription. The poll was released today. "Our country could face a crisis in military capacity with an unprecedented number of draft eligible adults stating they will actively seek deferment or refuse to serve if a draft is reinstated," the AFS press statement said. "Moreover, a growing number of parents say that they would not want their child to serve if called to duty today."....

2004-08-24T23:30:00.000-05:00

Tuesday August 24, 2004.

Newsgroups: soc.politics
Subject: Re: Affirmative action is offensive!
From: Dan Goodman
Date: Tue, 24 Aug 2004 22:34:28 -0500

Richard < > wrote in

> Funny how visible minorities like Orientals and Asian Indians, Arabs seem to do fine in > the U.S.

Funny how all Americans of British ancestry are rich, and all Americans of German ancestry are religious pacifists.

> while Blacks and Latinos (note the work ethics of the first groups versus the second)
> need help. I guess there is no discrimination against people who want to
> WORK FOR A LIVING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Your knowledge of American history is sadly deficient. There were laws intended to prevent "unfair" competition by Orientals and Blacks, within the lifetimes of people still living. Major League baseball had rules to keep Blacks from taking jobs away from white players merely because they were better. Unions had rules to protect white members from Black and Hispanic competition.

There was also discrimination against Whites who belonged to the wrong religion. But of course, everyone knows that Mormons, Jews, and Catholics are incurably lazy.

As for there being no discrimination against Arabs -- you haven't been reading the news, have you?
______________
Writing: daily exercise -- Done: Reducing Hand Damage From Typing

Take breaks and do something else with your hands. Play with modeling clay. Roll two golfballs in the palm of your hand. (Or you can spend more money on Chinese exercise balls.) Play with pet toys.

My current favorite: a length of chain which I think is a short dog leash. I toss it from hand to hand.

If you can, change the way you type every now and then.

Meanwhile, cooking can be easier with equipment designed for people with hand problems. In the US, I recommend Oxo or Good Grips (made by the same company). I use an Oxo can opener because I'm lefthanded and open cans righthanded. (I've tried using a lefthanded can opener, and couldn't make the switch.) I don't really need Oxo soupspoons and such, but I like using them; and they show up in thrift stores for prices as low as a quarter.

The Oxo tea kettle (secondhand, about three times the price of other kettles) is an extravagance for me.
----------------
"They Might Be Windmills" -- Zero-drafted some dialog, for a scene beyond what I thought was the end of the story.
________
Decluttering: Picked up some trash.

Mindwork:
Bodywork:

2004-08-24T22:38:00.000-05:00

Thanks to http://www.livejournal.com/users/sclerotic_rings/ for the Time Travel Fund link:
http://www.timetravelfund.com/index.html

A: We establish a fund in current time. You make a small contribution to the fund, and in a few hundred years that small amount grows to a very large amount. From that fund, moneys will be taken and used to retrieve you, perhaps seconds after you join, perhaps even moments before your recorded death, perhaps some other point in your lifetime. Further, the fund may even pay to have you "rejuvenated" medically (assuming this is scientifically possible at that time,) and support you financially for a number of years. (Note: Retrieving you just before the moment of death is just one possible scenario, but one that would avoid any Star Trek(TM) type paradoxes. There are an unlimited number of other possibilities, and we do not know what they will do, we can only make reasonably informed guesses.)
_____________________
From EurekAlert http://www.eurekalert.org/pubnews.php:
Public Release: 24-Aug-2004
Psychology Today, APA Monitor
UVM psychologists to follow up study of first civil union couples
University of Vermont psychologists Sondra Solomon and Esther Rothblum, who three years ago conducted the first-ever demographic study of gay and lesbian couples joined in civil unions in Vermont, are launching a follow-up study to discover what has changed among study participants since they exchanged vows.
American Psychological Foundation

Public Release: 24-Aug-2004
Space houses on Earth
An ESA-designed house that uses technology designed for space could become the basis of the new German Antarctic station, Neumayer-III. The new station has to meet stringent laws set up to protect the Antarctic environment, which is where the use of space technology comes in.

Public Release: 24-Aug-2004
International Conference on Materials for Hydrogen Energy
Vast new energy source almost here
Australian researchers will tell an international conference on solar hydrogen this week that the means to extract hydrogen fuel from water, using solar energy should be ready within about seven years. Vast supplies of clean, pollution-free energy would then become available.

Public Release: 24-Aug-2004
Inorganic Chemistry
Bright idea could doom cancer and viruses, say Purdue scientists
A team of scientists has developed a group of rhodium-based compounds that, when exposed to light, can kill tumor cells and deactivate a virus closely related to the West Nile. Unlike the ordinary substances used for chemotherapy, these chemicals are not harmful to the body in general - they only become lethal to DNA when activated by light.
National Institutes of Health

2004-08-24T00:21:00.000-05:00

Monday August 23, 2004. Tapestry Folkdance's September/October calendar arrived. The information on getting there by bus hadn't been updated to include the light rail line and the changes in the #23 bus schedule. (It runs later at night, which makes it much more useful for getting home from evening events.)

I called Tapestry about this. And then I expressed interest in volunteering for office work.

Result: They'll probably be emailing things for me to proofread.

***Steeple People had a bag sale on clothing. I got enough to last me a while. Now I need to weed out older clothing.

At the Wedge, I noticed lactose free soy milk. I hadn't realized that ordinary soy milk contained lactose, but it makes sense. Otherwise, the tofu calves wouldn't get their needed nourishment.

I bought dried peppermint and chicken livers. The livers are cheaper than in conventional groceries.

Peppermint tea turns out to give me the same lift as catnip tea; and peppermint is cheaper.
____________
The story is going to be at least twice as long as I'd planned.

Yesterday, I posted the opening of "They Might Be Windmills" for crits on rec.arts.sf.composition. Today, I found out that what people found most interesting was two things peripheral to the story I'd planned. Both of which are tied in with the intended story -- but I hadn't planned on doing the things which would make that clear.
_____________________
Speaking of a unified world, one of my American students confided in me after a trip abroad "they don't seem to have a cafe culture in Italy, do they?" 'What?," I stammered. 'Well, I didn't see a single Starbucks all the time I was there."
http://charlotte-street.blogspot.com/2004/08/panegyric.html

____________
Writing: daily exercise -- Done, posted to this journal.

"They Might Be Windmills" -- See above.

"History Line" --
"Port Useless" --
"Well Met, Well Met, My Own True Love" --
____________
Decluttering: Some things thrown away, some put away.

Mindwork: A few mini-meditations.

Bodywork:

2004-08-23T22:10:00.000-05:00

Dealing with Depression -- And Other Bad Feelings

I'm not clinically depressed, and I'm not trained to treat depression. But I do have to deal with Generalized Anxiety Disorder -- which means having a constant feeling that something unspecified is about to go very, very wrong. I also have acrophobia -- which means I often feel as if I'm about to fall far enough to get hurt. The acrophobia can kick in when there's no realistic likelihood of that happening.

The medication I take for ADD/ADHD also has the side-effect of considerably reducing anxiety. But I still sometimes have to deal with it.

What I do is very simple, though not always easy. I keep in mind that the way I feel doesn't necessarily have anything to do with reality. And that this particular feeling has a track record which indicates that it most likely isn't triggered by anything in the real world.

2004-08-23T17:56:00.000-05:00

http://courttv.com/trials/peterson/082304_ctv.htm
[Scott] Peterson stared across the courtroom toward the 29-year-old blonde as she recalled how her best friend, Shawn Sibley, met Peterson at a fertilizer conference and decided to play matchmaker.

"Both of them had talked about some intimate details about relationships," [Amber] Frey testified. "He was somebody, she felt, for me. Somebody she wanted to introduce to me."

Dressed in a gray suit and pink top, Frey kept her eyes on Geragos and never looked toward her former lover.

"God, protect me from my friends. I can take care of my enemies."
______________________
From http://www.bna.com:
CRIA WON'T SPARE A DIME FOR CANADIAN CREATIVE COMMUNITY
My regular Toronto Star column focuses on a recent application for a new Canadian copyright tariff on ringtones. The application by copyright collective SOCAN has generated some surprising opposition, with the Canadian Recording Industry Association actively opposing the request for ten cents per ringtone. CRIA, which questions whether composers are entitled to any compensation for ringtones, argues that the proposed tariff is "excessive, unwarranted and unreasonable" and that the royalties are "neither fair nor equitable." Column at

OLYMPIC WEBSITE WANTS TO LOWER THE BAR ON LINKING
The Olympic organizers in Athens are seeking greater control over websites that link to the official Games site. According to the "hyperlink policy" listed on the Athens 2004 site, anyone wanting to post a link must first send a request that includes a description of their site, reason for linking and length of period it will be published.

THE PIXIES TO DROP RECORD COMPANIES FOR NET DISTRIBUTION
The Pixies, one of the more popular bands of the 1990s, has announced plans to break from the recording industry and adopt its own system of distribution using the Internet as well as generating income selling live CDs.

__________________
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2004-08/uonc-nrr082004.php
One of the most debated hypotheses in evolutionary biology received new support today, thanks to a study by a scientist at the University of Nevada, Reno. Elissa Cameron, a mammal ecologist in the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Science, has helped to disprove critics of a scientific theory developed in 1973.

At that time, ecologist Bob Trivers and mathematician Dan Willard said that large healthy mammals produce more male offspring when living in good conditions, such as areas where there is an ample food supply. Conversely, female mammals living in less desirable conditions would tend to have female offspring.

According to Cameron, the hypothesis demonstrated the idea that having more male offspring leads to greater evolutionary success for mammal parents, if living conditions support larger populations. Should conditions be less desirable, having female offspring would be a better investment for mammal parents.

"Male zebras can father more than a hundred offspring in a lifetime, whereas female zebras are constrained to minimal reproductive rates--about one a year," Cameron said. "Sons, therefore, offer higher breeding rates to zebra parents, while female offspring are a lower-risk investment.

It could all boil down to the amount of glucose, or blood sugar, in a female mammal's body around the time of conception, Cameron said.

She conducted an analysis of 1,000 studies that examined the Trivers-Willard hypothesis and sex ratios in mammals. Her study found that female mammals that were in better body condition during the early stages of conception were more likely have male offspring. Body fat and diet can affect levels of glucose circulating in a mammal's body, and Cameron suggests that the levels of glucose around the time of conception could be influencing the sex of the animal's offspring.

"A high-fat diet can result in higher levels of glucose, thereby supporting the hypothesis that glucose may be contributing to the sex of the mammal's offspring," Cameron said.

This finding is key to the Trivers-Willard debate, and if supported in future studies, Cameron's theory could have dramatic influence on wildlife control and animal production.

"If you can get dairy cows to have more female calves, it would have huge implications for the dairy industry," she said.

2004-08-22T23:08:00.000-05:00

Sunday August 22, 2004. "Would you buy it for a quarter?" The frying pan I bought at yesterday's rummage sale turns out to really be nonstick -- rather than sorta-nonstick, which in my experience is overwhelmingly more common.
__________
Writing: daily exercise -- Done.

"They Might Be Windmills" -- Put the opening up for crits at rec.arts.sf.composition. Advanced a bit more from notes to zero draft.

"History Line" --
"Port Useless" --
"Well Met, Well Met, My Own True Love" --
______________
Decluttering: Got a bunch of trash out. Washed the backlog of dishes.

Mindwork:
Bodywork:

2004-08-22T20:44:00.000-05:00

http://conventionbloggers.com now shows bloggers accredited to the Republican National Convention; till today, it showed those accredited to the Democratic convention, and you had to go to http://rnc.conventionbloggers.com to see what Republican bloggers were saying. The Democrats are at http://dem.conventionbloggers.com.
__________
Beyond this, there are unkind comments about Republicans and conservatives:

"All political parties die at last of swallowing their own lies."
John Arbuthnot (1667-1735).

Maybe. The Communist Party, USA is still alive. It no longer needs to parrot the Soviet Union's lies, which reduces the need to avoid telling truths. But its leaders are now saying, for example, that there's absolutely no way US Communists could have known about Stalin's crimes.

And the Republican Party is not only alive, but likely to retain some power.

George W. Bush has his good points. He made the right decision about Afghanistan; it's too bad things have been mishandled there since the Taliban's defeat. But truthfulness is not among them. Nor is it common in his Administration.

Remember when a couple of Democratic Senators made the shocking discovery that there was a secret DARPA project to set up a market in terrorism futures? An honest Administration would have pointed out that it wasn't particularly secret. That reports on it had been made to both Houses of Congress -- as was stated on the DARPA website. (Which would have made those Senators look stupid.)

What they did was to disclaim all responsibility. This had never been authorized; they were shocked to hear about it. (A report had also been made to the White House.)

They lied when it would have been smarter to tell the truth. I don't expect them to tell the truth when a lie might work better.

Nor, unfortunately, do I expect the Republican bloggers to care more about truth than about which side they're on.

Take their reactions to evidence that the Swift Boat people are somewhat less than fully truthful in their main charge. 1) Talk about charges which the newspapers haven't disproven yet, involving events much less likely to have left official records. 2) Complain about the media's liberal bias; for example, say that the media are treating the accusations against Kerry differently than they treated the accusations that Bush was AWOL
from the National Guard.

Recently, responding to a Usenet post by someone commenting on liberal hatred of Bush, I gave two reasons why I don't hate Bush: 1) I'm not a conservative. 2) I'm not a Republican.

Some ideas I will not take seriously:

1) Rock music is the real folk music of our time. This was plausible, once -- using a nonstandard definition of "folk." But today, rock is a much smaller slice of popular music.

2) The US Civil War wasn't about slavery. I considered that marginally possible, till I read some of the declarations of secession.

3) American conservatives are more loyal to the United States than American liberals are.
I'll believe that when Southern conservatives stop displaying the Confederate flag.

4) North American and European Marxists deserve have their ideology taken seriously.

2004-08-22T17:28:00.000-05:00

Time Magazine says the Swift Boat accusations against Kerry are contrary to fact:

Kerry In Combat: Setting The Record Straight
By MITCH FRANK
http://www.time.com/time/election2004/article/0,18471,686045,00.html

Via Google News.

_________
It's now on the legal record that Fox News tells reporters what to say, and that this takes priority over the facts:

Thanks to http://www.livejournal.com/users/jmhm/
Last summer, with Walter Cronkite testifying on Akre's behalf, in a case not very widely reported, a Florida jury ruled that Fox News "acted intentionally and deliberately to falsify or distort the plaintiffs' news reporting" and unfairly terminated their employment when they threatened to report the station to the FCC, violating the state's whistleblower law. Akre was awarded $450,000 in damages. Fox is appealing the decision.
http://www.mediabistro.com/content/archives/02/05/28/

2004-08-22T12:51:00.000-05:00

From http://www.todmaffin.com/futurefile/
DIFFERENT PEOPLE, DIFFERENT ADS
The Human Locator creates dynamic billboards and window displays that change based on who is watching them. Developed by Montreal-based Freeset Interactive, the Human Locator uses off-the-shelf PC computers and cameras to track people (say, at the mall), analyzing their location, speed, and movement in real-time, then can appropriately tweak a battery of LCD projections, video monitors, even stereo equipment and water fountains to best catch their eye. Human Locator even tracks the number of people passing by, keeping tabs on who notices the ads, and can deliver these stats to its clients online.
--> http://www.freeset.ca/locator/

SEE YOUR PHONE CONVERSATIONS
It's surprising how much of our work day we spend immersed in an audio-only medium: the telephone. But at the MIT Media Lab, researchers have built a device that bridges that gap, adding a mesmerizing visual component to phone conversations. Don’t think picture-phones, which have repeatedly flopped with consumers: instead the Visiphone displays abstract symbols representing the sounds made by each speaker over time. (via MIT TechReview)
--> http://web.media.mit.edu/~kkarahal/projects/visiphone/

From Google News:
Alcohol inhaling machine goes on display in New York
Capital News 9 - 9 hours ago
A new machine that allows bar hoppers to inhale liquor instead of drinking made its debut in New York City Friday night. There's already an effort to get it banned.
Alcohol inhaler revolutionizes drinking Channel News Asia
Alcohol inhaler cuts ice, mixers ABC Online
Newsday - San Francisco Chronicle - KAIT - The Scotsman - all 295 related »
_____________________
Public Release: 22-Aug-2004
Journal of Experimental Social Psychology
Eyewitness recall accuracy affected by mood - UNSW research
People in a negative mood provide more accurate eyewitness accounts than people in a positive mood state, according to new research. The surprise finding, which is to be published in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, is the first to assess the effect of mood on memory and human thinking. "This supports the idea that mood states are evolutionary signals about how to deal with threatening situations," says study author, Professor Joe Forgas. "A negative mood state triggers more systematic information processing."

2004-08-21T23:34:00.000-05:00

Saturday August 21, 2004. During the night, I found my mantra. "Shed the poison" would probably sound more impressive in Sanskrit. It works for me, which is what matters. That is, it triggers a certain useful response.

***Mail: Flyer from ARC; they'll be picking up donations for their thrift stores on September 2nd.

E-spam: "Raw Food Retreat In Jamaica!"

***An organization called Paying It Forward was having a rummage sale a few blocks away. As I went out the door, I saw a "Garage" sale in the yard next door.

I bought Modern Greek Folklore and Ancient Greek Religion, by John Cuthbert Lawson.
("Modern" means a bit over a century ago, in this case.) With other things I bought, I spent a dollar.

I passed another sale -- one where the house was for sale. Not on the same terms as smaller items; there was a box in which people could leave their bids. And it wasn't likely to be put in the free box if it didn't sell that day.

At the rummage sale, I found a very nice T-Phal frying pan. Nice enough that I decided to take it home, and get rid of another one to make room for it. I found a few other things I wanted, for a total of four items. Two, including the frying pan, didn't have price stickers.

The young woman taking money looked at the stuff, asked if $1 for all of it was okay. Fine with me; the frying pan had probably cost a good deal more than that when new.

Home again. The sale next door was now half-price. I spent another 50¢.

***The Mnstf meeting was at Carol Kennedy and Jonathan Adams's, three blocks away.

I came away from the meeting feeling a lot better than when I'd arrived.

Conversation topics included: Legal language. The natural laws of the Star Trek universe. (During this one, I realized that the regular characters of the first incarnation were vampires.) Flying cars, the paperless office, and other wonders of the near future.
______________
Writing: None.

Decluttering: A couple of things gotten rid of.

Mindwork: See above.

Bodywork:

2004-08-20T23:40:00.000-05:00

Friday August 20, 2004. Late Thursday night: Notebook is a personal wiki program. I'd gotten it and kept it partly because I thought it would be useful for outlining.

I decided to start outlining "Port Useless". Got Chapter 1 and the beginning of Chapter 2
down in outline.

I find personal wikis easier to use than other types of organizing programs, and Notebook easier to use than others I've tried. Your mileage may vary.
___________
For the first time in months, I made French toast. My cooking block seems to be gone.

Writing: daily exercise -- Done. Posted here.

"They Might Be Windmills" -- Sharpened the end. A major character who seems to trust people unrealistically is now shown to be more realistic.

"Port Useless" -- See above.

"History Line" --
"Well Met, Well Met, My Own True Love" --
____________
Decluttering: A few things thrown away.

Mindwork:
Bodywork:
__________
From http://althistory.blogspot.com
[August 19] in 1913, author H.G. Wells releases the followup to his game Little Wars, Little Warriors. In this game, the players are able to take on the role of the individual warriors in a battle, while a War Master plays the part of enemy combatants. It is even more successful than Little Wars, and spawns a new genre of games called role-playing games.

[August 17] in 1786, statesman David Crockett was born in Tennessee. Woodsman, legislator and hero of the successful battle of Texican forces at the Alamo, Crockett returned to Tennessee and American politics in 1838 by winning the governorship of his home state. The Whigs nominated him for president in 1840, but he lost by a narrow margin to Martin Van Buren, who was widely considered one of the worst presidents America has ever elected. Crockett was nominated again in 1844, and won, but died before taking office. His vice-president, John Tyler, took office in his place.

2004-08-20T21:30:00.000-05:00

2004-08-20T19:20:00.000-05:00

Wednesday August 4, 2004. Writing: daily exercise -- Done. A piece on why explaining what "conservative" and "liberal" mean is complicated. I may post it here after some revision.

(Anonymous) 2004-08-08 01:37 (from 63.151.1.115) (link) Select
Hi Dan!

I'm Jimmy Scott from alt.comp.freeware, just browsing about.

You have a very interesting page here. I may be reading your entries way back .

I wanted to say hello and I saw your writing exercise:

[cut, cut]

Jimmy Scott

dsgood 2004-08-20 17:09 (from 209.98.3.203) (link) Select
'While I do not allow labels to dictate my behavior, I would have to label myself as listing to the port side. This was certainly true in my youth and the ship is correcting itself as I age, the list is smaller today I suppose. I also believe in many "conservative" values, such as personal responsibility. I say conservative, yet without fully understanding what each label means, I use my inner understanding of these terms and I might well be completely incorrect.'

Political dictionaries don't give clear definitions of these terms. Here's how I see it: Roughly speaking, "conservative" is 1) a label whose truthfulness and accuracy aren't guaranteed. 2) Any of several more or less related frames of mind. A conservative may place the most emphasis on preserving the best of the present against change. Or may want to preserve even the worst of the present: "Better the devil you know than the devil you don't" or "Better the devil you know than the angel you don't know." Or may want to reverse some changes. 3) Membership in a loose group, or a more cohesive sub-group.

By the way, in my area (South Minneapolis) there are no conservative or liberal candidates. Democrats (technically, Democratic-Farmer-Labor or DFL) have campaign literature which says they are social progressives and fiscal conservatives. Republicans say they are social moderates and fiscal conservatives.

'To me liberal means to be open minded, tolerant, and caring of others.'

Up till some time in the 1960s, there were liberal politicians who were openly racist. In some cases, this was what they believed in; for example, Woodrow Wilson. In other cases, it was what they had to say (and how they had to vote) in order to be elected and stay in office. (This was common in the South, but not exactly unknown in the North.)

'While I am not gay, I have nothing against those who are. I am concerned about the spread of HIV, regardless of sexual orientation. It is an individual right, as I see it, to choose. I don't really like to see men in public, but here is no right not to be offended.'

A lot of Americans, whatever their political labels, would disagree with you on this.

'The fiscal conservative holds that there is a right to accumulate wealth while ignoring the costs of living in a society. I disagree here. We cannot simply allow those without to perish, because they have not the means to eat properly or to afford insurance, and refer to ourselves as a civilized society. There is a debt to live in a society. The Welfare programs of the 70's are certainly not the answer, still a debt does linger.'

That term means two things. What candidates who call themselves fiscal conservatives mean is that they'll hold back government spending and reduce taxes if possible.

'The social conservative, as I understand, seeks the same. That is, marriage is between a man and a woman, because this is the way it has always been. Slavery would be valid today if this line of reasoning were prevalent. Again, I disagree. Change is very necessary and has led us to this point in time.'

There's another issue here -- the people who say "Marriage has always been between a man and a woman" are wrong. Confining that to "the Judeo-Christian tradition" (a term which annoys some Jews, me included), the claim that it's been that way for five thousand years contradicts the Christian Bible. Polygamy is common in the Old Testament, and is most definitely not condemned.

In the European branches of Judaism, prohibition of polygamy dates back a bit over a thousand years, I believe. And I don't think Yemenite Jews, for example, ever prohibited it.

'While none of these very broad categories provides an answer as to what is the most rational way for an individual to think and act, there are principles in each that bear merit. Individuals should seek a point near the center and utilize the principles that hold water from any source.'

Maybe. The problem is that, looking back, I can see times and places where the conservatives closest to the center accepted too much radicalism. For example, the German conservatives who thought they could control Hitler. And others where the cutting-edge radical leftists were way too conservative: the English radicals of Cromwell's time who wanted full voting rights for all English men above the rank of servant, for example. Or Rousseau, who saw no point in educating women or otherwise distracting them from their duties in helping men.

2004-08-19T22:21:00.000-05:00

The Swift Boat "nonpartisan group" political ads are almost certainly inaccurate. I'm basing this on the relative silence of the side which would benefit if they had proved to be true.

Democratic political bloggers have been talking a lot about the accusations that Kerry's military honors were based on lies. They've been saying what one might expect, and about what they've said before. (See http://conventionbloggers.com, home of bloggers accredited to the Democratic National Convention.)

On the other hand, Republican political bloggers seem to have turned their attention to other topics. And when they do discuss this, they don't say the Swift Boat ads are true. They say that it's an outrage for the media to have treated this differently from the questions about Bush's military service (or lack of it). Or that Swift Boat is no worse than Democratic-boosting 527 "nonpartisan" groups. (See http://rnc.conventionbloggers.com.)

2004-08-19T21:05:00.000-05:00

Thursday August 19, 2004. Were there any Jews at the Alamo?, someone asked on soc.genealogy.jewish.

Answer: At least one -- on the Mexican side; a mercenary named Sam Drebbin.
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Mail: Fred Lerner, Lofgeornist 76 (August 2004). Account of a trip he and his wife made to St. Petersburg via Finland and Karelia. St. Petersburg seems to be in the shape the Russian Federation's medical statistics (particularly the low life expectancy of men) would suggest. Any sf writer who wants to know what life is like after an industrial civilization crashes should probably study Russia.

Or maybe wait a bit longer, to see if the Russian Federation breaks down farther.
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Writing: daily exercise -- Done: Political Snarkiness

If you're a Moderate, why are you screaming about conspiracies?

If you're a Conservative, why are you advocating so many new ideas? Oh, sorry -- your suggested substitute for income tax isn't that new; and it's done interesting things to Canada's economy. And term limits aren't a new idea; Mexico's had them for almost a century.

If you're a Liberal, why are you so opposed to trying anything new?

If you're a Libertarian, why are you trying to restrict immigration?

***"They Might Be Windmills" -- Added essential background. Combined two characters. More zero draft wordage.

"History Line" --
"Port Useless" --
"Well Met, Well Met, My Own True Love" --
______
Decluttering: Got file folders; now to actually put files in them. Threw some things away.

Mindwork:
Bodywork:

2004-08-19T16:26:00.000-05:00

Sex Change Can Cause Headache
Wed Aug 18, 2004 04:24 PM ET
By Karla Gale

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - New research involving male-to-female transsexuals lends further credence to the theory that sex hormones are involved in migraine generation, physicians report in the medical journal Neurology.
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=CA0ZVGBEXZNFCCRBAE0CFEY?type=healthNews&storyID=6011007
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Retro America vs. Metro America
Self-made billionaire John Sperling is financing a $2 million advertising campaign that’s intended to highlight the differences between "Metro" America and "Retro" America, USA Today reports. Sperling, who’s also known for his plans to clone his dead pet dog and his project to extend human life, will point out in the ads that "Retro America, marked by religious fundamentalism and militarism, is the irretrievable bastion of Republicans... The metro states are the home of racial tolerance, economic dynamism and growth, which should serve as a roadmap for Democrats to retake political power."

Sperling discusses this polarization in more detail in his new book The Great Divide.
http://politicalwire.com/archives/2004/08/19/retro_america_vs_metro_america.htm
__________________
DNA technique protects against ‘evil’ emails
The latest weapon to weed out spam emails uses a technique originally designed to analyse DNA sequences
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99996292
______________________
From EurekAlert http://www.eurekalert.org/pubnews.php:
Public Release: 19-Aug-2004
Psychological Science
First solid evidence that the study of music promotes intellectual development
The idea that studying music improves the intellect is not a new one, but at last there is incontrovertible evidence from a study conducted out of the University of Toronto.
International Foundation for Music Research

Public Release: 19-Aug-2004
American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene
Improved nutrition could reduce malaria burden worldwide
A new report from researchers from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health found that a large percentage of child deaths related to malaria are attributable to undernutrition and deficiencies of vitamin A, zinc, iron and folate. Improving child nutrition could prevent more malaria-related illnesses and deaths than previously thought.

Public Release: 19-Aug-2004
Science
Study of obscure Amazon tribe sheds new light on how language affects perception
Members of the Pirahã tribe use a "one-two-many" system of counting. This study explores whether speakers of this language without number-references can appreciate larger quantities without the benefit of words to describe them, addressing the clasic Whorfian question about whether language can determine thought.

Public Release: 19-Aug-2004
Science
Scientists reinvent DNA as template to produce organic molecules
By piggybacking small organic molecules onto short strands of DNA, chemists at Harvard University have developed an innovative new method of using DNA as a blueprint not for proteins but for collections of complex synthetic molecules. The researchers will report on the prolific technique, dubbed "DNA-templated library synthesis," this week on the web site of the journal Science.
NIH/National Institute of General Medical Sciences, Office of Naval Research, Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation, Searle Scholars Foundation, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, Bristol-Myers Squibb, National Science Foundation

2004-08-18T21:46:00.000-05:00

Wednesday August 18, 2004. To Pillsbury House, where I did data entry for the Community Barter Network and Pillsbury House's volunteer program.

They've hired a new Volunteer Coordinator. Good news; the job has been vacant for a while, with other people doing bits of it in their spare time.

***New word of the day: phytoneurology; the study of plant nervous systems. Thanks to my subconscious for coming up with that one.

On the other hand, it also came up with "Coca-Cola Postmodern."
_____
Thinking out a society: Twenty percent of the local population is "experimentals" -- they were gene-engineered and brought up to be an advance on "wild" humans. (While most were designed to rule, some were designed to be good serfs and servants.) About half still belong to the groups they were born into. The others have left, or are survivors of
groups which imploded.

There are also "designer kids" -- designed individually or in small batches to the specifications of one set of parents.

They aren't superior to "wild" humans, for the most part. Partly because most ideas of what would produce people better at certain things are wrong. Partly because the general population has undergone genetic upgrading to eliminate hereditary disease.

But also: the experimentals aren't good at working with people who having been raised in the same sub-societies they were. And belief in their superiority comes across to the people they feel superior to.

And the designer kids mostly have dysfunctional parents.
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Writing: daily exercise -- Done; see above.

"They Might Be Windmills" -- The above is background for that story; but I probably shouldn't count it twice.

"History Line" --
"Port Useless" --
"Well Met, Well Met, My Own True Love" --
__________
Decluttering: Some things donated. Some things put in the trash.

Mindwork: Mini-meditations

Bodywork: Working at more awareness of my body.
______________________
From Google News:
Major nations' population expected to fall by 2050
Casa Grande Valley Newspapers - 2 hours ago
The annual study by the private Population Reference Bureau found that, while the world's population will increase nearly 50 percent by mid-century, Japan will lose 20 percent of its population in the next 45 years, while Russia, Germany and Italy will ...
British population forecast to rise to 65.4m by 2050 The Scotsman
World population to double by 2050, says report IrishExaminer.com (subscription)
Los Angeles Times (subscription) - Guardian - International Herald Tribune - USA Today - and 153 related
___________________________
Communications: Quantum teleportation across the Danube
RUPERT URSIN et al.
http://info.nature.com/cgi-bin24/DM/y/eP5R0BfwT60Ch0Q7M0AV

2004-08-17T21:37:00.000-05:00

Tuesday August 17, 2004. The Greater Lake Country Food Bank sells food at relatively low cost. I decided to give it a try.

It's in an industrial area of Minneapolis which I'd been near but not in over the years, close to Olsen Memorial Highway.

The canned and boxed foods are about the same quality as at So Low (which specializes in damaged freight) -- higher than So Low had when it was Steve's Warehouse. Prices ranged from very cheap to sorta cheap.

The frozen chicken drumsticks I bought had some freezer burn, but seem to be higher-quality than the poultry Rainbow used to sell before Roundys bought the chain.

I had a five-percent-off coupon. And they threw in two large cartons of organic, ultra-pasteurized milk (sell-by date September 15) and a frozen bake-it-yourself pie.

I don't drink milk. I do eat French toast; and there are other recipes with milk as an ingredient.

***Home to drop stuff off. Then to the Wedge, where among other things I bought a large loaf of bread suitable for use in French toast.
______
Thoughts on political partisans -- the ones certain everyone on their side is a saint, and everyone on the other side is a totally stupid evil genius:

They're certain they represent a majority of the US population. Evidence to the contrary is obviously fabricated. This seems to give them a feeling of power.

At the same time, they're certain that the media is overwhelmingly biased against The Truth. There's a slight difference here: the conservatives see Fox News as a shining exception, and all the other networks (and newspapers) as toeing the Liberal Party Line.
The liberals see Fox News as openly biased, and the other networks (and newspapers) as less openly advancing the conservative agenda.

I wonder what it would be like to live in a saner society? I'll probably never have the chance to find out.
__________
Writing: daily exercise -- Done.

"They Might Be Windmills" -- A bit more zero-drafted. Some notes removed; I don't need them any longer.

"History Line" --
"Port Useless" --
"Well Met, Well Met, My Own True Love" --
____________
Decluttering: Some stuff thrown away.

Mindwork:
Bodywork:

2004-08-17T18:51:00.000-05:00

From EurekAlert http://www.eurekalert.org/pubnews.php:
Public Release: 16-Aug-2004
Stem cell research targets cerebral palsy
Natural chemicals that assist healing may one day help transplanted adult stem cells integrate into an injured brain, helping children with cerebral palsy recover lost function, according to researchers at the Medical College of Georgia.
American Heart Association

Public Release: 16-Aug-2004
Biomaterials
Nerve cells 'guided' to repair spinal damage: Technique
University of Toronto researchers have designed a method to facilitate nerve cell repair that could ultimately lead to treating severed spinal cords.
the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada and an Ontario Graduate Scholarship in Science and Technology

Public Release: 16-Aug-2004
Personality & Social Psychology
Anxiety not a barrier to a satisfying life, study says
Depression has a tremendous impact on a person's sense of satisfaction with life but anxiety does not, research from the University of Toronto shows.

Public Release: 16-Aug-2004
American Sociological Association 99th Annual Meeting
Ethnic solidarity doesn't give Mexican workers advantages in U.S. labor market
Mexican workers in the United States do not receive labor market advantages from their ethnic solidarity, according to a Rice University sociologist. But familial and friendship obligations do help Mexican workers find better jobs. The study compared Mexican workers employed at Mexican firms to those employed at white firms to assess whether Mexican immigrants working at Mexican firms earn higher wages, are more likely to be employed within the informal economy and work longer hours than those working at white firms.

Public Release: 16-Aug-2004
British scientists exclude 'maverick' colleagues, says report
Scientists in Britain tend to exclude controversial 'maverick' colleagues from their community to ensure they do not gain scientific legitimacy, new research has shown. A Cardiff University study has found that British scientists' attitudes differ considerably from those of their counterparts in Sweden, when managing dissent.
Economic and Social Research Council

Public Release: 17-Aug-2004
Geophysical Research Letters
Siberian forest fires partly to blame for Seattle area violating EPA ozone limit
Siberian forest fire smoke pushed Seattle's air quality past federal environmental limits on one day in 2003, and a University of Washington scientist says rapidly changing climate in northern latitudes makes it likely such fires will have greater effects all along the West Coast.
National Science Foundation, Office of Naval Research, National Aeronautics and Space Administration
_________________
Study Finds Climate Shift Threatens California
By DEAN E. MURPHY
A scientific study released on Monday presents an alarming view of climate changes in California, finding that by the end of the century rising temperatures could lead to a sevenfold increase in heat-related deaths in Los Angeles and imperil the state's wine and dairy industries.

The study, published in the online version of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, offers the most detailed projection yet of changes in California as temperatures rise around the world because of building concentrations of heat-trapping gases.
http://nytimes.com/2004/08/17/national/17heat.html
_________________
Moroccan public schools return to the use of Berber, the country's native language, for instruction. By Kent Davis-Packard
http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0817/p14s01-legn.html?s=hns
___________________
Candidate alert! A new, heretofore unidentified group of untapped voters has emerged, waiting for wooing. This weekend, 175 members of the North American Anarchist Convergence (what, you expected a convention?) decided they would break with tradition and go to the polls this November.

This was far from a unanimous decision....
http://www.campaigndesk.org/archives/000825.asp

2004-08-16T23:40:00.000-05:00

Monday August 16, 2004. Deceased? Nonexistent? Credit no problem!

A credit card offer to someone who doesn't live at my address. He might have lived here years ago; or may have never existed.

Heading of an insert: "Bank of America [artwork] Higher Standards" Higher than what? The extent to which SPAM meets vegan standards?
_____________
Writing: daily exercise -- Done, posted here.

"They Might Be Windmills" -- The ending is now properly zero-drafted.

"History Line" --
"Port Useless" --
"Well Met, Well Met, My Own True Love" --
____________________
Decluttering: Dishes done. laundry done. Some things put where they belong, some others in the trash.

Mindwork:
Bodywork:

2004-08-16T22:30:00.000-05:00

Monday August 16, 2004. Woke up thinking about the Wild Hunt:

My name is Herne the Hunter,
I'm the leader of a band.
And though we're few in number,
The fear we cause is grand.
(Tune: McNamara's Band)

And it occurred to me that a few centuries from now, the Wild Hunt might be led by Margaret Thatcher (aka Iron Maggie).

***Part of my reply to a post on an sff.net newsgroup:

> And what do you want to see?

An alternate-world version of the Star Wars movies done after the first one. One in which
Luke turns out to be a farmboy of ordinary birth, he marries the princess, and it's Chewbacca who turns out to be Darth Vader's son.

***There's a discussion of "How do you come up with ideas?" at Ursulav's LiveJournal -- she being another idea-rich person. "What I can never articulate on the spot, of course, is that I don't know how other people AREN'T having these ideas, and in fact, I assume that everyone else is, in fact, having these random thoughts at any given moment, and perhaps just has better things to do with their time than pursue them in paint. Imagination, like most other muscles, responds to exercise."

What I think is that some of us really, really are better at coming up with ideas. And some are better at not suppressing them before they reach the conscious level of the mind.

But these don't guarantee success (in arts, business, or whatever). What's also important is the ability to choose among the ideas; and to build with them. Otherwise, Phillip K. Jennings would be earning far more from sf sales than Robert Silverberg.

Laurel Winter has a very good imagination; it shows in her poetry and in her fiction. But the major ideas of her YA novel Growing Wings (Firebird 2002) have been used before. People with wings, coping with a world in which most people are wingless? In sf, that goes back at least to Edmond Hamilton's 1938 story "He Who Hath Wings." (I don't know if Leslie F. Stone's 1929 "Men With Wings" is about this.) On another level, the book is about changes which come with adolescence -- not a theme entirely new to Young Adult fiction. And it's about family secrets, which has also been used a few times in YA fiction.

I don't think the book would have been anywhere near as good if she had refused to use any idea ever used before.