Tir na nOg

QUOTE FOR THE DAY II

2009-10-25T12:21:00.000-07:00

"fast food got me feeling sick
Them crackers think they slick
By tryin to make this bullshit affordable
I thank the lord that my voice was recordable
For soul food"

-Cee-Lo, from "Soul Food"

from before he was making "Crazy" with that mouse dude.

QUOTE FOR THE DAY

2009-10-25T12:18:00.000-07:00

"Whiskey is for drinking, water is for fighting over".

-Mark Twain (he's quite good for the one-liners, you see)

I wonder if dude would be surprised at how prescient that comment was? probably not. seems to have been a pretty crusty, cynical auld bastard.

100% RENEWABLE ENERGY BY 2030

2009-10-25T12:06:00.000-07:00

the cover story in the November issue of Scientific American, by a pair of California professors (one from Stanford & another from UC-Davis) is on transitioning worldwide to renewable energy by 2030. it is well worth reading, mainly b/c it lays out such a transition in a very pragmatic fashion I haven't seen elsewhere, tho that could just be b/c I haven't been looking. unfortunately I don't think it's available on their website and I know most people probably don't read physical copies of magazines these days. so here's a synopsis with most of the main points.

I can't vouch for their #s, of course, though one nice thing is that they focused on technologies which exist right now instead of those which may/may not exist in 10 or 15 years. anyway.

St. Hilary, corner of Bryn Mawr & California

2009-09-30T14:07:00.001-07:00

QUOTE FOR THE DAY

2009-09-27T12:14:00.000-07:00

"Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself."

-Mark Twain

The Hurt Locker

2009-07-23T11:40:00.000-07:00

I recently saw The Hurt Locker, which I thought was fantastic. I've seen some mixed reviews from vets (& Tom Ricks), mostly complaining about errant details & the implausibility of several scenes - but I reckon it's a movie that is more about capturing the feeling which by all accounts it nails. the, I dunno, zeitgeist, weltanschauung, Jungian complex, whatever. which I guess is what all good war movies strive to do. in this case not creeping jungle paranoia a la Platoon or the suffering/triumph combo of many WWII flicks so much as the endless gnawing uncertainty of not just when to shoot but who to shoot and whether or not to pull the trigger in the first place. as well as the uncertainty of why the hell you're there in the first place, what you're doing, who does & doesn't want to kill you, etc. etc. more than anything else I think it communicated really effectively just how great a burden has been shunted off onto a relatively small # of Americans for the last 7+ years.

interesting that it was directed by Kathryn Bigelow whose films I'm a fan of - Point Break still kills it nearly 20 (!) years on - she brought that same twitchy nervous constant motion style to a much more serious topic, the Iraq War, & managed to fuse it w/a pretty high level of emotional complexity. keeping politics out helped a lot as well. the acting is largely fantastic too, all the principals certainly & a bunch of the cameos as well. hiring displaced Iraqis (it was filmed in Amman) to play the Iraqi roles & extras was a good decision.

I dunno I guess it really kicked up a lot of feelings in me - rage, sadness, but above all shame. The other day a friend emailed me a quote from a British counterinsurgency advisor to the effect that "the U.S. military is better than the country it serves". I reckon that's well true. Much, much better than the country it serves.

a few more thoughts on war movies (& hopefully some discussion) here for anyone interested

Infrastructure

2009-07-05T11:37:00.000-07:00

been thinking lately - the American Society of Civil Engineers' 4-year infrastructure report, there's one coming up for 2009. the one from 2005 is absolutely abysmal. I've seen a few stories lately - a current in the news - about the lack of stimulus $ being put towards infrastructure.

also been reading The War Within by Bob Woodward, which goes into some detail about the feeling that many American military commanders & civilian officials had about the way to "win" Iraq being to improve water, electricity, sewage, etc. rather than just kill dudes. which was/is true, of course.

also the failure of Iran to use its oil wealth to invest in infrastructure as a big reason for its shit economy (Russia w/same problem but much worse) & hence a huge factor in fostering discontent.

anyways, infrastructure:

1) is one of the many incredibly important but also very boring things that people don't want to think about. see also: tax law, financial regulation, demographics, military/security (not the sexy stuff, the logistics/procurement end of things), etc.

2) cuts right to the chase - either roads are paved or they aren't. you have electricity or you don't. agendas stop at the door.

3) has no quick fixes. you have to put in work & $ continuously. also poor infrastructure leads to poor economy leads to poor infrastructure & so on cycle.

4) often transcends or trumps political/religious/cultural divides. anyone want to recommend some boring but relevant pdfs, books, things to be reading?

here's the ASCE's blog on U.S. failing infrastructure

2009-06-29T21:58:00.000-07:00

In other news:

A military coup in Honduras

Well, great, of course. The first military coup in Central America since Reagan's 1st term! Somewhere Elliot Abrams is rubbing his sweaty palms together in glee (nah, just kidding Elliot). What's that you say? The head of the Honduran military, whom President Zelaya tried to fire, was trained at the School of the Americas (or, I'm sorry, the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation - nice one, PR flacks)? Yes, there's a shock. At least it sounds like it was relatively bloodless. & the Obama admin has taken a surprisingly firm line for the deposed president. Meanwhile Hugo Chavez threatens military intervention. An empty threat, I'm sure - how exactly would his soldiers & equipment get to Honduras? - but even for Chavez that's some cheeky bluster.

Actually, I should most likely shut up w/commentary since Honduras is the Central American country I know least about - tho it is generally troubling re: stability in the region - it always feels like Guatamala, for example, is on the verge of this kind of chaos, but worse. To say nothing of Mexico . More links as things develop if I have time to post. Here's a Honduran-American dude who presumably knows what he's talking about.

In other news the Iranian streets quiet down under the threat of Basij clubs (& worse). It was heartbreaking to watch/follow, a bit like the Prague Spring I imagine, tho that must have been even worse. The fact that I knew down to my bones that the brutal crackdown was inevitable didn't make it any easier to watch, either. Surely the best course available at this point is some kind of non-confrontational (well, not direct confrontation at least) tactic like a general strike. Can't meet the iron fist of the security apparatus head on.

A miracle aside it looks like the clerics under Khameini & the IRGC will hold on. At least in the short run - but Iran is a country w/very serious problems. Crap economy, widespread heroin addiction, plummeting birth rate. Increasingly paranoid security forces that appear to become more devoted to their own existence & power w/each passing day. A large, restless population of young people w/very few bright prospects. It is a very, very precarious situation...

On the domestic front Obama admin's energy bill passes in the House by the skin of its teeth & not even that, really, will not make it thru the Senate. Our elected legislators remain largely deadlocked on energy, health care reform, budget. Senate votes to pay for a bunch of complex & incredibly expensive weapon systems (i.e. alternate engines for F-35) that admin wants to cut out of the budget - a lot of it has the feel of retaining high-paying manufacturing jobs more than anything to do w/security.

Meanwhile, bridges & roads crumble, etc.

Blissed Out Inna Jungle

2009-06-29T21:42:00.000-07:00

man like Woebot w/a promises-to-be stunning ambient jungle mix over at FACT

the real ish too, straight up '94-'96 when Omni Trio & latter Foul Play rubbed shoulders w/Bukem remixing Jodeci (!) rubbed shoulders w/Roni Size & Krust & the Bristol cru. as well as all manner of random stalwarts & chancers like PFM, JMJ & Richie, Intense & Essence of Aura, among others. Early Good Looking/Looking Good, latter Moving Shadow (before it got shite, at least), etc. Legend Records - Q Project, Gwange & Spinback - from LEG 008 on. 4 Hero deserve a lion's share of the credit altho they were already off on their own impeccable journey by that point. They were always 5 or 10 steps ahead of the game anyway, all that "music for people standing around in the rain" that they & Goldie were making back in 1993. That bit in Journey From the Light where the bottom drops out & comes back as a this kind of immutable transcendance, that ray of sunlight breaking through the bleakness, is one of the 2 or 3 pieces of music that can make me tear up.

Other belated heroes = Peshay (before he went Mo Wax overboard), everything Skanna (before he, erm, became a prog house/trance type), & the one & only true king, DJ Crystl. Another before - still - his time dude. As well Photek's more mellow side, especially as Aquarius.

Stunning lushness meets those raw, exploding, frenetic '95 amens. U know the score.

Best music ever made, hands f**kin' down.

Part II after I actually listen to Woebot's mix, which incidentally doesn't have most the names I mentioned - a good thing, of course, nor would I expect anything less.

20 June 2009

2009-06-20T15:53:00.000-07:00