Pirates!!!

Lawlessness and hurt feelings in the Gulf of Aden:

He said that so far, in the eyes of the world, the pirates had been misunderstood.

Translink Blogging

Vancouver has budgeted $2.8 billion for a Sky Train line out to UBC.

Wouldn't it be cheaper to do something like this?

Just kick the cars off 12th Avenue and turn it into a road exclusively for bikes and 99 B-line buses. Seems like a better idea than almost $3 billion, years of construction and all the business along the corridor folding, like along the Canada Line.

Students kicked off Facebook for eating a cat

Holy kitty cat!

Michael Cera interview on Terry Gross

Fresh Air from WHYY, September 29, 2008 · Once known mostly for his sweetly tentative portrayal of awkward, sexually anxious teenager George-Michael Bluth on the cult TV hit Arrested Development, Michael Cera became a bona fide movie star in 2007 with his winningly geeky performances in the hit comedies Juno and Superbad.

Check it out.

Thoughts.

Duuuuuudes.

I've said this like the last 5 times I've posted, but sorry for not ever writing anything on here these days. It's been a very busy time back in the ole' T.O. Lots of shit going down. And thank you, crazy Indiana gal, for keeping this thing going (and giving me good stuff to read). While on the subject, what happened to Capt. Smokestack? Did he go the route of "I'm paid to do this shit now" McConvey??

So I guess today's gonna be somewhat of an infamous day. I thought I would spare a few minutes to share a couple bullet points about...the last 3 months??

• Sarah Palin!!!!

• Here's the thing about this bailout plan failure. I don't think revenge or "i told you so" sentiments are ever a really good idea in public policy. Bottom line is that something needs to be done to restore some sort of liquidity in the markets or shit is fucked. I find it amusing that many Americans are so scared of anything that smells of socialism that they'll stay far away from it even if a ridiculously good investment opportunity for taxpayers (that will ALSO save the country) comes along. So instead, the fat cats will just get bailed out without any upside for taxpayers. Total bullshit, but it's still preferable to full scale economic disaster. Deal with punishments later. It's always hard to explain why populism is kinda bad, but if this bailout failing does what people are fearing it'll do to the economy, this will be a pretty good example. So much for Huckabee '12. Anyways, my point is that since the bill failed I think the best option is to come up with a more PROGRESSIVE bill, which will get most democrats on board, then also catch some populist republicans by putting some superificial-yet-appealing-to-bullshit-populist-politicians shit in there. I'm not an economist or very good at math, but it seems to me like this would be a good idea AND it would have no problem passing in through congress.

• I watched the debate slightly under the influence, but it seemed to me like McCain won. And needless to say, I just mean "won" in the sense that I thought the mainstream media would SAY he won, therefore boosting his poll numbers. Maybe I've just been too conditioned into thinking that there are too many Americans out there that are worried about a potential President seeming "wimpy", even if he's right about everything. I thought they'd be calling Obams 'Dukakis'. This is why I will never be a pundit. I personally thought that McCain dished out way to much of the grumpy old man shit, but I didn't think others would pick up on it.

• Has McCain completely lost his mind? How did he think all that shit was possibly a good idea? 

• I can uncomfortably say that I have no idea who's gonna win this election. If I had to bet I'd still pick Obama, based on the electoral map breakdowns. But still, I have this bad feeling that all it might take for McCain is a good week of smears during the last week of October...

• Is there seriously a Canadian election coming up in 2 weeks?? WTF? Who are the candidates? (alright, seriously though, Bob Rae is my local MPP...and that's kinda cool....but, y'know, fuck the Liberals. Who should I vote for?)

Bailout Plan Rejected, mo-fos!

WASHINGTON — In a moment of historic drama in the Capitol and on Wall Street, the House of Representatives voted on Monday to reject a $700 billion rescue of the financial industry.

Reading the NYTimes item that was just released, one wonders where the (publically traded) newspaper stands on the rejected bailout plan... Geez, could they bury the reasons for rejecting the plan any deeper in the story. They've got like a hundred people voicing up on reasons to accept the plan right up front in the article. The phrasing is so condescending too.

I admit, I have no idea how all of this will affect world markets nor what the indirect effects will be, however I fully support rejection of the plan. Maybe I'm more republican than I thought but it is not MY job (as the taxpayer) to bailout all the rich mo-fos who got us into this mess. We've been anticipating a crash like this for years. Years. This is not a surprise. So the plan should have been in the works long before last week.

There's a reason I don't believe in "playing" the stock market. Most of it is based on a false pretense. Nothing in life is free. Period.

Now, let me get back to clipping coupons...

WTF?!?

I was just thinking yesterday about how funny it would be to hear Sarah Palin's response to a question about the bailout. Well, ask and you shall receive:



I don't think I could have made up a more incoherent answer. It's almost like she just took a "Politics" set of word fridge magnets, dropped them on the floor and read the random sequence of words that resulted.

Yemeni Man Swords

In the West, clothes may make the man. But in Yemen, the ultimate status symbol is a good knife. Just don't call it a phallus.

Chopra - The shady politics of Palin

Obama and the Palin Effect

by Deepak Chopra

Sometimes politics has the uncanny effect of mirroring the national psyche even when nobody intended to do that. This is perfectly illustrated by the rousing effect that Gov. Sarah Palin had on the Republican convention in Minneapolis this week. On the surface, she outdoes former Vice President Dan Quayle as an unlikely choice, given her negligent parochial expertise in the complex affairs of governing. Her state of Alaska has less than 700,000 residents, which reduces the job of governor to the scale of running one-tenth of New York City . By comparison, Rudy Giuliani is a towering international figure. Palin's pluck has been admired, and her forthrightness, but her real appeal goes deeper.

She is the reverse of Barack Obama, in essence his shadow, deriding his idealism and turning negativity into a cause for pride. In psychological terms the shadow is that part of the psyche that hides out of sight, countering our aspirations, virtue, and vision with qualities we are ashamed to face: anger, fear, revenge, violence, selfishness, and suspicion of "the other." For millions of Americans, Obama triggers those feelings, but they don't want to express them. He is calling for us to reach for our higher selves, and frankly, that stirs up hidden reactions of an unsavory kind. (Just to be perfectly clear, I am not making a verbal play out of the fact that Sen. Obama is black. The shadow is a metaphor widely in use before his arrival on the scene.) I recognize that psychological analysis of politics is usually not welcome by the public, but I believe such a perspective can be helpfu l here to understand Palin's message. In her acceptance speech Gov. Palin sent a rousing call to those who want to celebrate their resistance to change and a higher vision

Look at what she stands for:

o Small town values — a nostalgic return to simpler times disguises a denial of America's global role, a return to petty, small-minded parochialism.

o Ignorance of world affairs — a repudiation of the need to repair America's image abroad.

o Family values — a code for walling out anybody who makes a claim for social justice. Such strangers, being outside the family, don't need to be needed.

o Rigid stands on guns and abortion — a scornful repudiation that these issues can be negotiated with those who disagree.

o Patriotism — the usual fallback in a failed war.

o "Reform" — an italicized term, since in addition to cleaning out corruption and excessive spending, one also throws out anyone who doesn't fit your ideology.

Palin reinforces the overall message of the reactionary right, which has been in play since 1980, that social justice is liberal-radical, that minorities and immigrants, being different from "us" pure American types, can be ignored, that progressivism takes too much effort and globalism is a foreign threat. The radical right marches under the ba nners of "I'm all right, Jack," and "Why change? Everything's OK as it is." The irony, of course, is that Gov. Palin is a woman and a reactionary at the same time. She can add mom to apple pie on her resume, while blithely reversing forty years of feminist progress. The irony is superficial; there are millions of women who stand on the side of conservatism, however obviously they are voting against their own good. The Republicans have won multiple national elections by raising shadow issues based on fear, rejection, hostility to change, and narrow-mindedness

Obama's call for higher ideals in politics can't be seen in a vacuum. The shadow is real; it was bound to respond. Not just conservatives possess a shadow — we all do. So what comes next is a contest between the two forces of progress and inertia. Will the shadow win again, or has its furtive appeal become exhausted? No one can predict. T he best thing about Gov. Palin is that she brought this conflict to light, which makes the upcoming debate honest. It would be a shame to elect another Reagan, whose smiling persona was a stalking horse for the reactionary forces that have brought us to the demoralized state we are in. We deserve to see what we are getting, without disguise.

Alberta Oil & Gas Collateral Damage: She Can Light Her Water on Fire

When Lighting Your Water on Fire Isn't a Magic Trick
Jessica Ernst lives in the village of Rosebud, Alberta, East of Calgary. EnCana, a big oil & gas company, is operating close to her house. The photo above speaks for itself. Read on for her story.
...

In 2005, Ernst noticed something was happening to the water from her well. At first, her dogs wouldn’t drink it. Then, she saw it was fizzing as if it was carbonated. In December, she couldn’t turn her taps off: there was so much gas in her water, it raised the pressure and forced its way through her pipes.
She also discovered she could light it on fire. When lit, a huge blue flame burns on the surface of the water, before turning orange and escaping upward like a flare. 'It still scares me,' she says. 'You never know what the water is going to do.'

Tests on her water revealed high levels of methane, ethane and several other fossil fuels. It also showed signs of heavy hydrocarbons, like the ones used in drilling fluids.

Ron Paul... Keeping the R[EVOL]ution Going

With his endorsement of Constitution Party presidential candidate Chuck Baldwin. Here's a real zinger from Baldwin...

There is another part of the story regarding sexual predators that is not being discussed: the large numbers of young girls today that are themselves sexual predators!

This MTV generation has lost its innocence and virtue, and girls seem to be the ones leading the way. Furthermore, the days are gone when we could depend on mothers and fathers to jealously guard the purity of their own daughters. Today, it seems fashionable for girls to dress and behave like prostitutes. The moreflesh that is exposed, the more everyone (including the girl's parents) seems to like it. Whereas girls were once the prey, they are now the predators. The damning influence of pop culture icons such as Brittany (sic) Spears and Madonna has created an entire generation of girl predators.

Quote of the Day: Bailout on Capitol Hill

NYTimes article about bailout plan reaction by congress has a great quote by Senator Dodd that encapsulates how many of us feel about this business:

WASHINGTON — Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. received an angry and skeptical reception on Tuesday when he appeared before the Senate Banking Committee to ask Congress to promptly give him wide authority to rescue the nation’s financial system.
...
Asserting that the plan would allow Mr. Paulson to act with “absolute impunity,” Senator Dodd said, “After reading this proposal, I can only conclude that it is not only our economy that is at risk, Mr. Secretary, but our Constitution, as well.”

Bear attacks B.C. man after jumping on fishing boat

That's right--a bear attacked a man on a boat...

A bear mauling a man on a boat in Port Renfrew, B.C., wouldn't let go of its victim despite being struck with a gaff, beaten with a hammer and stabbed with sharp objects, one of the rescuers said Wednesday.

"It didn't let go until it died right in his boat," said Bruce Miller, who was the first to try to stop the attack.

Two men were fishing around 5 p.m. Tuesday when a black bear swam towards their boat and jumped aboard, RCMP Sgt. Roger Plamondon said Wednesday.

One of the men threw fish overboard, hoping to distract the bear, but he was still attacked, Plamondon said.
Bruce Miller says he struck the black bear 10 times with a gaff but it wouldn't let go of its victim.Bruce Miller says he struck the black bear 10 times with a gaff but it wouldn't let go of its victim. (CBC)

An unidentified 52-year-old man from Saltspring Island was taken to hospital with bites to his shoulder and arm, police said. He underwent surgery and is expected to fully recover.

Miller said he was working on his boat at the Port Renfrew Marina when he heard a "commotion."

"I just happened to look up and this bear was coming out of the water onto the dock, and right into the back of the guy's boat and went right at him," he said Wednesday.

"I had to take a second look … and the guy's friend or his brother was standing on the dock screaming."

Miller ran over with his gaff, a long pole with a sharp hook, and tried to fend off the attack of the bear, weighing about 136 kilograms.

"I gaffed him probably 10 times and was pulling on him and he wouldn't let go of the victim," he said.

"Two or three other guys came over to help and put more sharp stuff in it and gaffed it and beat it with a hammer and it wouldn't let go. Finally another gentleman came over with his filletting knife and cut the bear's throat."

Police said a conservation officer went to the scene and was investigating what prompted the attack.

Beaverton boy lauded for solar cell invention

12-year-old invents 3-D solar panels, energy crisis averted, go back to your TVs...

BEAVERTON, Ore. – A new invention could revolutionize solar energy – and it was made by a 12-year-old in Beaverton.

Despite his age, William Yuan has already studied nuclear fusion and nanotechnology, and he is on his way to solving the energy crisis.

It all started with Legos - after he learned nanotechnology to make robots take off. The seventh grader then got an idea inspired by the sun.

"Solar it seems underused, and there are only a few problems with it," Yuan said.

Encouraged by his Meadow Park Middle School science teacher, the 12-year-old developed a 3D solar cell.

"Regular solar cells are only 2D and only allow light interaction once," he said.

And his cell can absorb both visible and UV light.

"I started to realize I was actually onto something," Yuan said.

At first, he couldn't believe his calculations.

"This solar cell can't be generating this much electricity, it can't be absorbing this much extra light," he recalled thinking.

If he is right, solar panels with his 3D cells would provide 500 times more light absorption than commercially-available solar cells and nine times more than cutting-edge 3D solar cells.

"Which would make solar energy actually a viable energy source for the Pacific Northwest," Yuan said.

Recycling is Re-sexy

Check out Scarlett Johansson and Eva Mendes' stab at using their celeb for the better (green) good: Answer the Call.

ADD druglessly

Here's a good snapshot of how people with ADD can help themselves cope with the everyday tasks of life -- without drugs.

Go here: Learning To Thrive With Attention Deficit Disorder

No Strings Attached

Clinton Secretary of Labor Robert Reich's condition for the bailout:

1. The government (i.e. taxpayers) gets an equity stake in every Wall Street financial company proportional to the amount of bad debt that company shoves onto the public. So when and if Wall Street shares rise, taxpayers are rewarded for accepting so much risk.

2. Wall Street executives and directors of Wall Street firms relinquish their current stock options and this year's other forms of compensation, and agree to future compensation linked to a rolling five-year average of firm profitability. Why should taxpayers feather their already amply-feathered nests?

3. All Wall Street executives immediately cease making campaign contributions to any candidate for public office in this election cycle or next, all Wall Street PACs be closed, and Wall Street lobbyists curtail their activities unless specifically asked for information by policymakers. Why should taxpayers finance Wall Street's outsized political power - especially when that power is being exercised to get favorable terms from taxpayers?

4. Wall Street firms agree to comply with new regulations over disclosure, capital requirements, conflicts of interest, and market manipulation. The regulations will emerge in ninety days from a bi-partisan working group, to be convened immediately. After all, inadequate regulation and lack of oversight got us into this mess.

5. Wall Street agrees to give bankruptcy judges the authority to modify the terms of primary mortgages, so homeowners have a fighting chance to keep their homes. Why should distressed homeowners lose their homes when Wall Streeters receive taxpayer money that helps them keep their fancy ones?

Mark Steyn...

is an idiot.

Options for the Bailout

From a Washington Post article:

Within hours of the Treasury announcement Friday, economists had proposed preferable alternatives. Their core insight is that it is better to boost the banking system by increasing its capital than by reducing its loans. Given a fatter capital cushion, banks would have time to dispose of the bad loans in an orderly fashion. Taxpayers would be spared the experience of wandering into a bad-loan bazaar and being ripped off by every merchant.

Raghuram Rajan and Luigi Zingales of the University of Chicago suggest ways to force the banks to raise capital without tapping the taxpayers. First, the government should tell banks to cancel all dividend payments. Banks don't do that on their own because it would signal weakness; if everyone knows the dividend has been canceled because of a government rule, the signaling issue would be removed. Second, the government should tell all healthy banks to issue new equity. Again, banks resist doing this because they don't want to signal weakness and they don't want to dilute existing shareholders. A government order could cut through these obstacles.

Meanwhile, Charles Calomiris of Columbia University and Douglas Elmendorf of the Brookings Institution have offered versions of another idea. The government should help not by buying banks' bad loans but by buying equity stakes in the banks themselves. Whereas it's horribly complicated to value bad loans, banks have share prices you can look up in seconds, so government could inject capital into banks quickly and at a fair level. The share prices of banks that recovered would rise, compensating taxpayers for losses on their stakes in the banks that eventually went under.

About Those Fat Cats...

Some suggestions on compensation reform from Brad Delong:

- A 100% tax on all personal compensation over $1 million a year that does not take the form of restricted common stock in the entity issuing the compensation, untradeable for ten years.
- A 100% tax on the sale of and income from all securities derived from stock options paid as part of compensation where the underlying was worth less in inflation-adjusted dollars when exercised than when written.

I like these because the objective is to align the financial interests of senior management with the long term financial security of the company. Maybe corporate officers would have a different perception risk in making business decisions if they were actually exposed to risk themselves.

Huh?

I never expected Bob Rae to show up on Matthew Yglesias' blog.

Best Worst Song, Worst Best Song

A science project from the late '90s is making the rounds on the Internet. In it, two researchers named Vitaly Komar and Alex Melamid surveyed 500 people to find out what qualities would be found in their "most wanted" and "most unwanted" songs.

Take a look...

Charge and Rebuttal: GOP lies

The Charge:
This is from an email forward I received...in Canada.

As your doctor starts to perform open heart surgery he tellsyou he has been doing this for 143 days. As your 747 plane pulls away from the terminal the pilot comes on the public address system and announces he has been flying for 143 days. Would you hire a lawyer to defend you 143 days out of law school? Interesting when it's put into perspective, isn't it?

Just think how great a professional of any kind you could be with only 143 days of experience! People want change so badly? . . . . maybe we should lower the experience requirement for doctors, lawyers, airline pilots, etc. This would
cause some change!

Obama's 143 Days of Senate Experience - Just how much Senate experience does Barack Obama have in terms of actual work days? Not much. From the time Barack Obama was sworn in as a United States Senator, to the time he announced he was forming a Presidential exploratory Committee, he logged 143 days of experience in the Senate. That's how many days the Senate was actually in session and working.

The one single Senate committee that he headed never even met once. After 143 days of work experience, Obama belie ved he was ready to be Commander In Chief, Leader of the Free World. I don't think so.

Our children spend more time in pre-school getting ready for kindergarten.

The Rebuttal:
Ridiculous. And I quote...

Fact check:

Senator Obama was sworn in to his first Senate term on January 2005 and joined the 109th Congress.

The Senate is not always in session and it can be argued that only counting session days as 'work days' is a misrepresentation of service done by any Senator.

During this 109th Congress, the Senate met 109 times during 2005 and 109 times during 2006 for a total of 218 days in session.

Senator Obama announced his intent to form a panel to explore a Presidential bid on January 16, 2007. The Senate had been in session for 7 days.

Total days in session during this time period equals 225 days

So even if the author was only counting days in session for Obama (and, conveniently, not McCain), the numbers do not add up.

It is doubtful this mysterious number was based on roll-call votes.

Sen. McCain only had four Senators miss more votes in the 109th Congress (2005-2006). Sen. McCain missed 58 votes but, to his credit, did cast 587 votes. Sen. Obama? He missed 11 votes and cast 634 votes. That's a lot of votes for someone who, as implied by the article, only worked for 143 days.

Further, DailyKos lists all of the bills he sponsored or co-sponsored and all of the amendments he introduced.

In a nut shell:

Senator Obama has sponsored or co-sponsored 570 bills in the 109th and 110th Congress.

Senator Obama has sponsored or co-sponsored 15 bills that have become LAW since he joined the Senate in 2005.

Senator Obama has also introduced amendments to 50 bills, of which 16 were adopted by the Senate.

His record is in fact quite impressive for a junior Senator from Illinois.

Regulation

An interesting article about principled-based regulation by a prof I had.

And an article blaming Alan Greenspan.

Poor man's Wi-Fi

AIG shareholders take note...

REGULATING = BAD!!!

Good piece in The American Prospect on the aspects of deregulation, or lack of regulation, of the financial sector that contributed to the current meltdown.

For example, #2 talks about the lack of conflict of interest regulations for securities rating organizations. Most people have never read a regulation and don't understand what they are, what they do or how they are created. Conflict of interest regulations in the securities arena are common, and meant to protect potential share purchasers from bad faith representations. I think if people knew a little more about "regulation" then reactionary anti-regulatory rhetoric that casts all "regulation" as bad wouldn't be so effective.

Decline and Fall of the U.S. Supreme Court

I'm going to make an effort to start posting again after a long summer off. So lets get things going with a NY Times story on the waning international influence of the US Supreme Court. Especially in human rights decisions. Which makes sense, since the majority on the US court is fundamentally hostile to human rights.

Obama and squealing pigs

Republicans are the worst, so are the media. I'm glad Obams is keeping a cool head about these idiotic attempts to isolate his remarks out of context and present them in attack ads and in mainstream media. It's important to have SOMEONE advocating for the public and the democratic process. The McCain-Bushes of the world hold so little regard and respect for either.

Salvia Balvia

Interesting (if strange) article in NYTimes on salvia.

Regardless of whatever hallucinogenic properties it may have, the seeds are so delicious on salad!

Slow Food Nation

It's funny that the personal choice I've made to strictly limit my intake of processed (not very tasty) foods in deference to the delish delights of cooking from scratch can be construed as a political decision.

Sure, part of my reasoning to do the "slow food" thing, as it is called, is tied to the gross environmental and ethical implications of eating big industry food that is grown from gmo seeds that only produce for one season (eff you, Monsantos), that is sprayed with pesticides and herbicides (read: poison), that is harvested and processed by people who likely don't make a proper living wage and who must endure the health consequences of being around poison all day (read: brown people), and that is shipped all over the world because oil is still too cheap (yeah, I said it).

But really my main reason for this "lifestyle choice" is that I just love to eat delicious whole foods. I like the way it tastes, I like the way it looks (so colourful!), I like the way I feel when it digests (processed food makes me gasy and bloated, and the sugars and salts in it cause mood swings), and quite honestly IT'S MUCH MUCH CHEAPER TO COOK AND EAT NON-PROCESSED FOODS.

Plus, there's less packaging so less trees are chopped down, less plastic is produced, less garbage ends up in our waters and the landfills are spared one less person's daily dose.

Easy choice.

Obama keeps his cool, O'Reilly proves (again) he's an idiot who doesn't listen

Less logging of BC’s old-growth forests makes more economic sense

SFU study highlights dividends for climate, recreation, endangered species

VANCOUVER – A sophisticated new study by researchers at Simon Fraser University shows that in the vast majority of cases it makes more economic sense to conserve forests than it does to cut them down.

The study uses computer modelling to assess three different conservation scenarios in old-growth forests near Vancouver that are home to highly endangered northern spotted owls. The scenarios range from present-day, relatively low levels of forest conservation to two future scenarios, each involving more forest conservation and less logging.

The researchers conclude that when a conventional, narrowly focused valuation of forests is broadened to assess the value of forests as carbon storehouses, recreation sites and sources of products other than timber — wild mushrooms, for example — increased conservation wins out over logging in most cases.

In 72 of the 81 scenarios considered, the researchers find that increased conservation and less logging delivers higher economic returns than current levels of logging and conservation. And in the nine cases where status quo logging appears to have a slight economic edge, this only holds if log prices do not fall and if little value is given to the role that forests play in capturing carbon from the atmosphere.

“We see clear evidence that conserving these forests is economically worthwhile,” says lead author Duncan Knowler, an associate professor at Simon Fraser’s School of Resource and Environmental Management. “What’s more, we have been conservative in our approach. We value carbon at $20 - $150 per tonne, while other studies have pegged the future price of carbon as high as $350 per tonne. As well, we have yet to consider other important roles our forests play, such as purifying water or protecting fish habitat. Once that is done, we believe the case for conserving more forests will be even stronger.”

“As BC begins to price carbon and participate in a market for carbon credits, Dr. Knowler’s work demonstrates the economic role forests may play as carbon sinks,” said Keith Ferguson, Staff Lawyer at Ecojustice, which sponsored the research, with the David Suzuki Foundation and Wilderness Committee.

“The BC government has always said that the economic costs of protecting forests and the critical habitat of endangered species are unacceptably high,” says Gwen Barlee, Policy Director at the Wilderness Committee. “This study shows that the opposite is true: not only do endangered species benefit from increased conservation of our remaining old growth forests, but it makes economic sense as well.”

“We are excited by these findings, and keen to see what further research on the economic value of forest conservation shows when the full spectrum of forest values, such as protecting water supplies is considered,” adds Dr. Faisal Moola, Science Director at the David Suzuki Foundation.

Entire city of Washington, DC Unemployed

A NYTimes piece today discusses the bump in unemployment over the summer and the number of jobs lost from the U.S. economy. 605,000 jobs have been eliminated since January! That more than the entire population of Washington, DC (pop. 558,891)!!!

So where are all the people who used to work those jobs working now? Are they the answer to the deficit of service workers? Is the U.S. heading the way of the Phillipines or Mexico or some other Central American country, and will its next persona be that of top service-industry professionals, shipped all over the world to work in the kitchens of China's and the Saudi's elite restaurants, paid less than a working wage and given no benefits?

No. It turns out they'll be the nurses taking care of our parents as they age and break:

Gains came in the education and health care industries, which added a total of 55,000 jobs.
...
The jobs data is considered the most reliable snapshot of the nation’s economy in any given month.

Are you fucking kidding me?

Really, with the dozens of political advisors and media people and image consultants, no one thought to avoid this??




Summer's over. Blogging to resume soon.

The Best Food Garden In Vancouver Contest

Here's a piece from the Georgia Straight (appeared September 2000) about the best food gardens in Vancouver. Lots of fodder for a wish list! Arugula! The three sisters! Guava?

It's funny how all the winners are either Italian for have Italian sounding names... does something in the culture manifest as a green thumb?

Lawns are yawns. Grass is passé. That's the message coming out of a recent contest masterminded by City Farmer, a nonprofit urban agriculture group that set out this summer to uncover the best food gardens in Vancouver. The contest attracted only 26 entrants, but, organizers say, the idea came late in the season evolving from earlier efforts to organize a food-garden tour. Entries revealed that gardeners are modest folk: many competitors (including all the winners) were nominated by their neighbours. Gardeners are also proud folk: arriving unannounced, with only a street number to guide them, the City Farmer judges soon found themselves being guided through the greenery, says program coordinator Spring Gillard, and in one case they were even fed chicory, harvested on the spot, rushed to the kitchen, cooked, and drizzled with oil and vinegar.

How space was utilized, crop diversity, whether or not there was a composting system, overall health of the vegetation, and visual appeal, plus "an emotional response that's hard to grade", all influenced the marks allotted. Only the narrowest of margins separated the three winners: Rocco Calogero, Manuel Arruda, and Tarcisio Pasetto.

Filled with, at different times, chicory, radicchio, basil, tomatoes, kiwis, figs, grapes, prunes, pears, and corn, Calogero's garden occupies two back yards and much of the front yard. It produces something different every week, says his daughter Lucy: "[My father] has been growing vegetables since he moved from Italy over 30 years ago. My mother makes enough tomato sauce for the family year-round, and sends some to my sister in Victoria."

In second place was Manuel Arruda, whose garden includes an orangery with oranges, lemons, tangerines, and guavas all flourishing; three different pear varieties on one tree (many food gardeners graft); and a thicket of densely planted beans. The Pasetto garden includes, according to Gillard, "what looked like a field of radicchio. He eats salad twice a day, and says, 'Some people watch TV 16 hours a day. I garden.' " An honourable mention went to graduate student, farm activist, and UBC Farm caretaker Derek Masselin for his personal garden on the UBC campus. (Tours of his garden are available weekdays. Call 822-3560. Organizers hope winner's gardens will form a larger tour next year.)

Entrants spanned socioeconomic, ethnic, and geographic boundaries. A new Canadian family on the East Side raises the "three sisters" - beans, squash, and corn - all ripening companionably together. A doctor in Shaughnessy grows salsify, Jerusalem artichokes, and a guerrilla squash that climbs from his compost bin and clambers over the garage roof. A Kitsilano roof garden rewards its owner with cucumbers, chard, arugula, basil, and heirloom tomatoes, all grown in containers.
For many, moving away from the traditional grass lawn is a health issue; for some, it's a way of socializing. "A lot of gardeners use their front yards [for food gardens]," Gillard says. "They're not hidden away at the back." And a front yard bursting with tomatoes is a topic ripe for conversation.

Vancouver's food gardeners also get marks for environmental awareness. All entrants practise composting and organic growing, and many have water-collection systems. Conscious of the ongoing wheel of the seasons, all routinely save their own vegetable seeds for the following year.

They are

Hilarious quote of the day (okay, of Aug 29):

Above all, should [Sarah Palin] really be the backup quarterback to a 72-year-old man of ever-declining health?

Are they out of their fucking minds?