Legal Empowerment

Report of the Commission on Legal Empowerment of the Poor
Making the Law Work for Everyone

A new report launched today found that four billion people – the majority of the world’s people – are excluded from the rule of law. The report, by the Commission on Legal Empowerment of the Poor, a group co-chaired by former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright and Peruvian economist Hernando de Soto, called on governments, international institutions and civil society to make legal empowerment a top agenda item in the fight against global poverty. As the global food crisis wreaks havoc on nations across the globe, the new report proposes solutions that focus on the core of the problem...

Hymenoplasty

RARELY has a judicial verdict in a civil court set off so much argument. But the annulment of the marriage of two French Muslims in Lille, granted because the bride falsely claimed to be a virgin, has prompted an outcry, culminating in a riotous parliamentary debate on June 3rd. The verdict touched a raw nerve in France, mixing complex questions of sexual equality, secularism and Islam.

* * *

In Europe, Debate Over Islam and Virginity

The operation in the private clinic off the Champs-Élysées involved one semicircular cut, 10 dissolving stitches and a discounted fee of $2,900.

But for the patient, a 23-year-old French student of Moroccan descent from Montpellier, the 30-minute procedure represented the key to a new life: the illusion of virginity.

Like an increasing number of Muslim women in Europe, she had a hymenoplasty, a restoration of her hymen, the vaginal membrane that normally breaks in the first act of intercourse.

Sexy Beast

El Padre

From the right: Simon, Ziyad, Kofi, and man
wearing thawb, shumagh, and igal.

Saturday Stimulus

On Saturday afternoon Paul arrived via bicycle at our house bearing the following items: salad (garnish), radishes, strawberries, chips, bread, and ribs & BBQ sauce. We sat in the backyard for a while and then we decided to play frisbee golf at Hansen Park in New Brighton. Good times. After chucking the disc, we stopped at the nearby Barley John's Brew Pub, where I bought two growlers, Wild Brunette & Belgian Witbier, for $38.85. Then we progressed to Cafe Latte and I picked up a party-size German chocolate cake and one slice of cheesecake for $22.95. The next stop was Whole Foods. Time for a list...

Pork Tenderloin Caprese
(pork tenderloin, fire roasted tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, pesto sauce, basil, and bacon)
Herbed chicken with parmesan
2 bags of chips
raspberry spritzer 6-pack
3 avocados
4 kiwis
applesauce
$38.42

As if we didn't have enough already, Paul suggested a stop at Thomas Liquors. He bought a 12-pack summer sampler of Summit. Alliteration at it's finest.

Then Paul's high school friend Pat showed up with a watermelon, chips, and veggie burgers & buns. A feast to be remembered.

McCain at the National Small Business Summit

McCain also gave a speech about the economy.

Problems

* tax increases
* secret ballot for union votes
* minimum wage
* corporate tax loopholes
* special interest
* corporate welfare

Causes

* big-spending Republicans and Democrats

Solutions

* low taxes for families and employers
* tax reform for wage-earners and job creators
* reduce the corporate tax rate to aid international competition
* break down foreign trade barriers
* free trade
* aid for displaced workers
* permit first-year expensing of new equipment and technology
* keep the low rate on capital gains
* double the size of the child tax exemption
* phase out the Alternative Minimum Tax
* keep the estate tax low and predictable
* create a simplified alternative tax system
* keep low dividend and capital gains taxes
* low income tax to protect sole proprietorships filing individual income tax
* keep Social Security earnings cap to limit tax on employers
* allow personal, portable health insurance
* provide tax credits to buy health care
* hold big business to the same standards as small business
* prevent and punish corporate abuse
* extravagant salaries and severance deals of CEOs
* veto every bill with earmarks
* thorough review of federal budget
* one-year pause in discretionary spending increases

Quote

My goal, however, is not to denigrate government but to make it better, not to deride it but to restore its good name. Government should be on your side, not in your way. It will be hard work, but it is a cause worthy of our best efforts. And if we do it well, in the right spirit, it will be because we have again put our country's interests before the interests of parties, bureaucracies and self-interest. And then we will finally reclaim the confidence of the people we serve.

Obama Delivers Speech on Economy

On June 8, 2008 Obama gave a speech in Raleigh, N.C. that focused on the economy. Let's divide the speech into three parts: problems, causes, and solutions.

Problems

* Iraq
* climate change
* unemployment rate
* house foreclosures
* price of oil
* cost of health care
* cost of college
* cost of food
* wage stagnation

Causes

* George Bush
* tax breaks for big corporations and wealthy CEOs
* lobbyists
* special interest favors
* corporate loopholes

Solutions

* expand affordable health care coverage
* subsidize education (community or national service for tuition)
* invest in renewable energy
* invest in infrastructure
* invest in science and technology, research and innovation
* another round of fiscal stimulus (tax cuts)
* expand unemployment benefits
* create a foreclosure prevention fund
* create a home score system to increase mortgage transparency
* reform the tax code
* create a credit card bill of rights
* reform personal bankruptcy laws in consideration of medical bills

I am a stimulator

Good news. The economic stimulus package arrived in the mail yesterday. We didn't receive any money for our baby, who was conceived in fiscal year 2007, had a heart beat, had fingerprints, knew Jesus, etc., etc. Isn't Bush pro-life? Doesn't anyone from Congress read billboards?

Anyway, I'm excited to stimulate the American economy. Paul, Tim, and I have tentatively planned a 'Blow Your Stimulus' party for this coming Saturday, which is conveniently Flag Day. USA! USA! I will begin by stimulating a fine local brewery by purchasing a growler. I will visit the butcher at Whole Foods and buy some excellent meats. I will also indulge in a chocolate cake from Cafe Latte. At the end of the day, I will have a life-sized bald eagle tattooed on my back. And that's only the beginning.

I plan on documenting this stimulation and eventually writing to the President and my representatives in Congress, thanking them, and showing them how I volunteered in service to America.

Stuff White People Like

A blog devoted to stuff white people like.

Jimmy Kimmel

From time to time I look at the Dutch newspaper called de Volkskrant. In March there was an article about the success of YouTube, particularly the success of a few Jimmy Kimmel skits.

Matt Damon on Jimmy Kimmel Live

Sarah Silverman's surprise to Jimmy Kimmel

I'm Fucking Ben Affleck

Try clicking refresh a couple of times if it doesn't load at first; it's worth it.

Here's the story... Comedian Jimmy Kimmel often says: "Our apologies to Matt Damon, we ran out of time" near the end of his ABC television show Jimmy Kimmel Live, a gag lampooning instances where shows cannot feature their last guest due to time constraints. On September 12, 2006, after a segment highlighting the running gag and a lengthy introduction by Kimmel, Damon finally appeared on the show, only for Kimmel to apologetically cut his interview and head to credits, as Damon cursed him. Kimmel later confirmed to USA Weekend that the skit was entirely planned and Damon willingly played along. Kimmel's girlfriend, comedian Sarah Silverman, also used this line at the end of the 2007 MTV Movie Awards. This gag was also used again when Guillermo interviewed Damon at the Ocean's Thirteen premiere, with Damon asking "Are you with Kimmel?" Silverman also aired a clip of her singing a song entitled "I'm Fucking Matt Damon" on January 31, 2008 on Jimmy Kimmel Live. Damon appeared in the song with Silverman and at the end when she is apologizing to Jimmy, Damon interrupts her saying, "Jimmy, we're out of time. Sorry." Kimmel himself later responded by showing a music video in which he announced, through song, that he is "Fucking Ben Affleck". The video aired on February 24, 2008 and featured Affleck along with celebrities such as Brad Pitt, Harrison Ford, Cameron Diaz, Joan Jett, Macy Gray, Robin Williams, Don Cheadle, Pete Wentz, Perry Farrell, Benji and Joel Madden, Lance Bass, Huey Lewis, Josh Groban, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Christina Applegate, Rebecca Romijn, Dominic Monaghan, Meat Loaf and various others.

Unfortunately, I think Google is purging unofficial videos of the ABC broadcast because of copyright issues. This message appears on many of the YouTube clips: We're sorry, this video is no longer available. If the link above don't work, visit the ABC website.

Consumer Demographics in Business

The Smiling Curve made me think of the Long Tail...

The phrase The Long Tail was first coined by Chris Anderson in an October 2004 Wired magazine article to describe the niche strategy of certain business such as Amazon.com or Netflix. However, the concept of a frequency distribution with a long tail — the concept at the root of Anderson's coinage — has been studied by statisticians since at least 1946. The distribution and inventory costs of these businesses allow them to realize significant profit out of selling small volumes of hard-to-find items to many customers, instead of only selling large volumes of a reduced number of popular items. The group of persons that buy the hard-to-find or "non-hit" items is the customer demographic called the Long Tail.

Smiling Curve

Alf introduced me to the Smiling Curve a few years ago... It is an illustration of value-adding potentials of different components of the value chain in an IT-related manufacturing industry. The concept was first proposed by Stan Shih, the founder of Acer, an IT company headquartered in Taiwan, around 1992. According to Shih’s observation, in the personal computer industry, both ends of the value chain command higher values added to the product than the middle part of the value chain.

The concept of value-added is very important.

Here's a good article from 2004 about China in transition.
For Whom Does the Smiling Curve Smile?

And lastly, check out some of the slides from this PDF about business growth strategies for Asia Pacific, specifically those starting on page 8.

Hole in the bucket?

In economics, the current account is one of the two primary components of the balance of payments, the other being the capital account. It is the sum of the balance of trade (exports minus imports of goods and services), net factor income (such as interest and dividends) and net transfer payments (such as foreign aid).

The current account deficit should not be confused with the budget deficit, which accumulates as the national debt.

I recommend reading this short essay called A Hitchhiker's Guide to the U.S. Current Account Problem by Owen F. Humpage from the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland. I read it several years ago, but the fundamentals still apply.

Ethanol Fermentation

glucose => pyruvate => acetaldehyde => ethanol

Check out the Renewable Fuels Association for diagrams of the dry milling and wet milling processes. And if you want, peruse the propaganda... Ethanol creates jobs. I can create a job by paying someone to shit in a bucket, but what good is that.

Nuclear-Powered Ships

When I was in San Diego last October, I saw a nuclear-powered Nimitz class aircraft carrier in the bay.

• Nuclear power is particularly suitable for vessels which need to be at sea for long periods without refuelling, or for powerful submarine propulsion.
• Over 150 ships are powered by more than 220 small nuclear reactors and more than 12,000 reactor years of marine operation have been accumulated.
• Most are submarines, but they range from icebreakers to aircraft carriers.
• In future, constraints on fossil fuel use in transport may bring marine nuclear propulsion into more widespread use.
• So far, exaggerated fears about safety have caused political restriction on port access.

Check out these links on Wikipedia:
Nuclear Navy
Nuclear Reactor

Puerto Vallarta

Marye and I recently spent five nights at the Vallarta Palace in Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico. We were there to honor and celebrate el matrimonio entre Kofi and Kate. It was great to see so many old friends. Pictures and experiences will be posted in the upcoming weeks. For now, I can't help but turn my focus to a few of the poolside conversations. Me traigo mas tequila? Si, por supuesto.

Rebuilding the Brave Arrow

I took my bicycle into the Hub back in February.
The overhaul was costly, but easy to justify: it's my vehicle.
Check out the new components:

• one tube & tire
• two wheels
• chain
• chainrings
• cassette
• spacer kit for shifting purposes

Out

I had three of my wisdom teeth removed by an oral surgeon today. I also had a lingual frenectomy. I have nothing to compare it to, but I feel pretty good. Hopefully the quick recovery continues so that I can get back to good eating.

What It Is

Nice.

Cruising While We Can

Last Saturday was a beautiful, sunny day that we started by eating Breadsmith treats while lounging outside of Dunn Brothers. Though many may scoff at the intensity of the early April sun, I do not underestimate the yellow dwarf star once the vernal equinox has passed. Such is the life of the pale force. I can stick my head outside to check the weather and be burned.

With bellies full of carbohydrates, we cycled down the Greenway superhighway, to the Lakes, and back along Minnehaha Creek. It was a leisurely 17-mile ride. Back in the yard, I dragged the table & plastic chairs out of the shed. I set up the rain barrels and checked on the grill.

Marye made a delicious lasagna, which was followed by vanilla icecream and mango. We played two games of Settlers of Catan with Jose, Tim, and Paul.

Employable

Hairs Cut

Shake your head back and forth with brain-jarring speed.
Then take a picture.

Amish Brother

It Began in November

And culminated with this...

Lessons from TV

"If there were no rules, we'd all be living in trees flinging crap at each other. "

Red Forman
That '70s Show

Papa Murphy's

I ate half of a family size pizza last night.

We're going to win Twins...

Monday March 31 was the Twins home-opener against the Angels. The game was held in the Metrodome, but opening day in 2010 will be held in the new outdoor stadium, which is next to the building where I work. The sky dropped 4-6 inches of wet, sloppy snow on Monday. The new stadium will not have a retractable roof, but May through September will be a baseball fan's delight.

This picture is taken from the floor where I work. No zoom is necessary. The stadium is starting to rise from the ground.















This picture was taken from 5th street as I was walking to work in the morning. The large, tan-colored structure on the right-hand side is HERC, the Hennepin Energy Recovery Corporation. HERC burns garbage to generate electricity and reduce landfilled waste. It smells good.

Product Stewardship

Product stewardship is a principle that directs all participants involved in the life cycle of a product to take shared responsibility for the impacts to human health and the natural environment that result from the production, use, and end-of-life management of the product. The greater the ability of a party to influence the life cycle impacts of a product, the greater the degree of that party’s responsibility. The stakeholders typically include manufacturers, retailers, consumers, and government officials.

Minnesota Electronics Recycling Law

What should I do with my old, dusty, analog TV sitting in the garage? And what should I do with my obsolete computer?

Hennepin County operates two permanent drop-off facilities where residents may dispose of their electronics, among other things. After the electronics are collected, they are transported to a recycler under contract with the State. A cooperative purchasing venture allows Hennepin County to use the State contract. The entire cost of the program is borne by the County.

During last year's session, the Minnesota legislature passed the Electronics Recycling Law, which attempts to codify product stewardship of household TVs & computer monitors (video display devices). To meet their obligations under the law, electronics manufacturers will be required to make arrangements for the collection, transportation, and recycling of an amount equal to 80% of the video display devices they sell.

The advent of the new statutes adds value to the collection, transportation, and recycling of video display devices. Now Hennepin County will expect to be offered at least free recycling in exchange for the collection and transportation of electronics.

Netherlands 2008

The renovated chicken shed.














Bicycles at an Amsterdam train station.















De Mug Biercafe

What it was...

New Year

Pimpin' Ain't Easy

We were on our way to Nebraska for Christmas when saw the magic blue bus. I couldn't identify the driver but there is a chance he was a bearded Soren wearing a NASCAR cap. No one ever said it would be easy.

Entertaining Spam

So, I was scanning my spam email. There are many emails about pharma pills, herbal supplements, cheap luxury goods, and requests for my bank account #, but the funniest pertain to penis enlargement. My favorite is the last one. In light of this information, perhaps I should get into the business of selling nostrums to decrease the size of a woman's vagina.

shock the shit out of her when your big cock slams her...
you've waited this long to enlarge your cock?
your prays to have big dick finally came true. Simply follow this metho...
yes it gets big, yes it gets strong, yes you can do it
its no good thinking your dicks big when it aint
if your sick of the girls leaving, enlarge your pole
failed on your first date, because your "friend" was small enough?
remember, everything comes up to a size in this world!
1, 2 oh no 3 orgasms! WOW you can have them too, its simple.
a night on the town? dont get caught out with a wee winky! get a gorill...
hello, I am pretty russian girl, bored tonight. would you like...
its super easy to make your dick big, reap the benefits
your new you will be the dream of all women
want to have true manpower, look in Khamsone maple...
make your lassie tremble in your arms

Football and Marathon

This morning Marye and I cycled into downtown Minneapolis and arrived at The Local just before 7:30am. We watched a dramatic match between Arsenal and Manchester United. Although I prefer to sleep longer on Saturday mornings, the level of play and atmosphere were worthwhile. Then we ate at Hell's Kitchen. I had the bison bison benedict.

Now I'm surfing the world wide web. I looked at the Olympic trials marathon results. Ryan Hall had an incredible day in a race full of talent. Huge props to Jason Lehmkhule in 5th place. NBC showed a half hour of race coverage at 1pm. Wankers.

Surly Darkness

Marye and I cycled to the Blue Nile last Tuesday evening for the purpose of sampling the Surly Darkness, a Russian Imperial Stout. First we ate dinner with our fingers, using the Ethiopian injera bread as utensils. We saw Tim S. and his girlfriend, also there for dinner & Surly. My co-worker John met us there too. I enjoyed 2 of the Darkness and 1 Bell's Batch 8000, which can best be described as an Imperial Witbier. Whoa.

MIAC

Last Saturday we watched the MIAC cross country championships at Como Park in St. Paul. The weather was sunny and about 50 degrees. Macalester was hosting the meet and several of us volunteered to help with the race. But only two of us were assigned the most prestigious duty: assistant starting official. Tim was at one end of the starting line and I was at the other. When the start blew his whistle, we raised a yellow flag and verified all the runners were set. Then we lowered the yellow flag and raised the white flag. Peace dudes. Then the gun sounded and the ground rumbled.

I don't know any of the runners, but it's always fun to watch a cross country race in late October. A Bethel runner went out fast, followed by a Johnnie. Then the Johnnie took the lead and proceeded to annihilate the field. I've never seen a lead like that open so early, and get bigger. I think he won by 53 seconds. St. John's won the team race. Macalester was 8th; I imagine the men are a little disappointed.

After the meet we gathered at Tim's house for the soup cook-off. There were five entries: Tunisian chili, Oma's tomato soup, southwest chicken tortilla soup, beer cheese soup, and the Liz Connor's special pesto, sun-dried tomatoes, cheese tortellini soup. God damn. It was a feast. There was also bread and scotcheroos. And I brought a growler of the remaining Witbier. So full. Need a bigger stomach. Then we played the phrase-pictionary-telephone game. Always good times. Next year I'm having a steak cook-off at my house ; )

Ethics & Self-Interest

"If we are to make properly considered ultimate choices, we must first become more aware of the ethical ramifications of the way we live. Only then is it possible to make ethics a more conscious and coherent part of everyday life." - Peter Singer.

The Economist was first published in September 1843 to take part in "a severe contest between intelligence, which presses forward, and an unworthy, timid ignorance obstructing our progress."

Peter Singer and the Economist. Neither advocates ignorance.

San Diego

I flew to San Diego on Sunday October 7 to attend the North American Hazardous Materials Management Association (NAHMMA) 2007 conference for one whole week. I stayed at the Bahia Resort Hotel. Very nice. The hotel is situated on a little peninsula extending into Mission Bay. And it's only a short walk to to Mission Beach, Pacific Ocean! Before I write about the conference, I have to mention the Monday night sports at the Sandbar: mad drama as the Cowboys defeated the Bills and Cleveland fired the Yankees. So, Monday consisted of a maritime tour. San Diego Bay is home to a United States Naval Base. I saw two aircraft carriers: the Nimitz and Ronald Reagan. I saw many other navy ships being repaired and several being built. San Diego Bay is also a busy port for enormous cruise ships. I also toured the Star of India, the Surprise, and an old school Soviet submarine. The Star of India was built in the 1800s. It carried cargo all over the world and help populate New Zealand. The Surprise was like a Royal Navy frigate; it was actually used in the movie Master and Commander. Our guide was fountain of historical knowledge. After learning more about the life of sailors, it was especially pleasing to imagine Joseph Conrad on the high seas. On Tuesday I toured two household hazardous waste facilities and two electronics recycling facilities. The conference sessions started on Wednesday. I presented on Thursday and festivities wrapped up on Friday. The conference was stellar. I met many intelligent, motivated people who help act as our Earth's immune system. I learned of several initiatives and experiences that I can apply to my job. Good times. Marye and I cycled around on Friday afternoon and Saturday. We toured La Jolla and were almost as lazy as the seals we watched. We also followed a bicycle route into downtown San Diego and visited the Gaslamp Quarter, Balboa Park, and Old Town. San Diego is a place where men and women can coexist in thermal harmony. Warm sun & cool air. Not too hot - not too cold. Big ups. Now I'm back in Minneapolis, dealing with the October monsoon.

21st Century

For the first time in my life I am paying $$$ the world wide web. Amazing. Now I am virtually guaranteed access through the apparatus attached to the light pole on the corner of our lot. We signed up for Minneapolis wireless through USI Wireless. The cost was $179 for one year. We reluctantly chose the slowest speed, but the megabits stream fast enough to watch Conan clips on YouTube. In the year 2000 Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson will become a porn star known as Dwayne "The Johnson" Johnson. Anyway, it's good to have internet. I feel empowered.

Extinction Level Event

Gorillas head race to extinction: Gorillas, orangutans, and corals are among the plants and animals which are sliding closer to extinction

What a sad news story! I am definitely not going to do anything about it.

Lake Street USA

Last week Marye and I went to the opening of the Lake Street exhibit at the Minnesota History Center in St. Paul. Paul, Mary, and Liz were there too. The exhibit, called "Right on Lake Street," will run through March 9, 2008. It is a collaboration of Macalester College and In Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theatre (HOBT). It contains historic photos of Lake Street going back to 1892. Lake Street spans six miles between Minneapolis and St. Paul, covering a busy commercial area and wandering into 14 neighborhoods. HOBT has helped to make the exhibit interactive using its papier-mache techniques. Macalester contributed by having students from 12 classes do projects on various aspects of Lake Street. Go Mac!

The rhythms of Sowah Mensah's African drum ensemble carried four stories and filled the hall with fresh beats.

We listened to the spoken word of Roy McBride. Roy walked us up and down Lake Street over time, shaking a thousand grains against a shell, stroking the prominent spine of a frog with a piece of wood, whirling a tube to produce a winter wind, striking metal, bending the sound quickly and slowly, and reading poems while his companion played the conga drums.

lake street, lake street
it's a great street
straight street
lake street

Then we took a look at the exhibit. It's always good to see historical photos. Who knew there was an amusement park at Lake and Hiawatha back in the day? Wooden rollercoaster anyone?

The finale of the evening was a performance by Kevin Kling, who presented an abbreviated version of his one-person play, 21A. The 21A is a bus line that beings in Uptown where Lake intersects Hennepin, continues across the river, becomes Marshall, detours around the Midway, and goes east on Selby into downtown St. Paul. Kevin Kling portrayed six different people on the bus, one at a time. The audience marveled at the freaks and weaved each singular character’s words into flowing conversations and events.

Enjoining God

This is good...

Nebraska State Sen. Ernie Chambers is suing God. He said on Monday that it is to prove a point about frivolous lawsuits.

Chambers said senators periodically have offered bills prohibiting the filing of certain types of suits. He said his main objection is that the constitution requires that the doors to the courthouse be open to all.

"Thus anybody can file a lawsuit against anybody -- even God," Chambers said.

Chambers lawsuit, which was filed on Friday in Douglas County Court, seeks a permanent injunction ordering God to cease certain harmful activities and the making of terroristic threats.

The lawsuit admits God goes by all sorts of alias, names, titles and designations and it also recognizes the fact that the defendant is omnipresent.

In the lawsuit, Chambers said he's tried to contact God numerous times.

"Plaintiff, despite reasonable efforts to effectuate personal service upon defendant 'Come out, come out, wherever you are,' has been unable to do so,'" Chambers said.

The suit also requests that the court, given the peculiar circumstances of this case, waive personal service. It said that being omniscient, the plaintiff assumes God will have actual knowledge of the action.

The lawsuit accuses God "of making and continuing to make terroristic threats of grave harm to innumerable persons, including constituents of Plaintiff who Plaintiff has the duty to represent." It says God has caused "fearsome floods, egregious earthquakes, horrendous hurricanes, terrifying tornadoes, pestilential plagues, ferocious famines, devastating droughts, genocidal wars, birth defects and the like."

The suit also says God has caused "calamitous catastrophes resulting in the wide-spread death, destruction and terrorization of millions upon millions of the Earth’s inhabitants including innocent babes, infants, children, the aged and infirm without mercy or distinction."

Chambers also says God "has manifested neither compassion nor remorse, proclaiming that defendant will laugh" when calamity comes.

Chambers asks for the court to grant him a summary judgment. He said as an alternative, he wants the judge to set a date for a hearing as expeditiously as possible and enter a permanent injunction enjoining God from engaging in the types of deleterious actions and the making of terroristic threats described in the lawsuit.

New Posts

I suppose it is time for me to start posting again after my summer sabbatical.

Mass Wasting

Mass wasting, also known as mass movement or slope movement, is the geomorphic process by which soil, regolith, and rock move downslope under the force of gravity. Types of mass wasting include creep, slides, flows, topples, and falls, each with their own characteristic features, and take place over timescales from seconds to years. Mass wasting occurs on both terrestrial and submarine slopes, and has been observed on Earth, Mars, and Venus.

When the gravitational force acting on a slope exceeds its resisting force, slope failure (mass wasting) occurs. The slope material's strength and cohesion and the amount of internal friction between material help maintain the slope's stability and are known collectively as the slope's shear strength. The steepest angle that a cohesionless slope can maintain without losing its stability is known as its angle of repose. When a slope possesses this angle, its shear strength perfectly counterbalances the force of gravity acting upon it.

Mass wasting may occur at a very slow rate, particularly in areas that are very dry or those areas that receive sufficient rainfall such that vegetation has stabilized the surface. It may also occur at a very high speed, wuch as in rock slides or landslides, with disastrous consequences. Factors that change the potential of mass wasting include: change in slope angle; weakening of material by weathering; increased water content; changes in vegetation cover; and overloading.

Wedding and Vacation

Marye and I were in Berkeley over the weekend of June 23 for the wedding of Kevin Shively and Renee Shank. Andrea, Tim, John & Jo, and Brandon & Emily were representing the Macalester familia. We also visited with Pete briefly while we were in town. Then we rented a car a drove eastward to Yosemite, joined by Tim and Andrea for several days. Spectacular. We arrived back in Minnesota Sunday morning on the red eye. This weekend we will be traveling to Hastings, Nebraska, for my ten-year high school reunion. Sweet. If I had been thinking ahead, I would have grown a huge skanky mustache.

Sperm Stoppers

In a commercial for Trojan condoms that has its premiere tonight, women in a bar are surrounded by anthropomorphized, cellphone-toting pigs. One shuffles to the men’s room, where, after procuring a condom from a vending machine, he is transformed into a head-turner in his 20s. When he returns to the bar, a fetching blond who had been indifferent now smiles at him invitingly.

Fox and CBC rejected the commercial.

Fox said “Contraceptive advertising must stress health-related uses rather than the prevention of pregnancy.”

“It’s so hypocritical for any network in this culture to go all puritanical on the subject of condom use when their programming is so salacious,” said Mark Crispin Miller, a media critic who teaches at New York University. “I mean, let’s get real here. Fox and CBS and all of them are in the business of nonstop soft porn, but God forbid we should use a condom in the pursuit of sexual pleasure.”

Amen.

Most Emailed from BBC Website

If you guessed people were busy emailing stories about the chaos in Gaza or the seven men jailed for key roles in an al-Qaeda-linked plot to kill thousands of people in the UK and US, then you were wrong. Here are the most emailed stories from the BBC website when I looked today.

Woman jailed for testicle attack
'Aftershave drink' kills Russians
Men suffer from phantom pregnancy
Condoms 'too big' for Indian men

And my favorite which periodically finds its way to the top of the most-emailed rankings even though the story was reported many months ago: Sudan man forced to 'marry' goat.

High School Reunion Questions

The Hastings Senior High class of 1997 reunion is the weekend after Independence Day. Here are the questions we should answer:

I am currently living at...
I work at...
My family...
Since I graduated High School 10 years ago I have...
My biggest achievement or my biggest mistake in the last 10 years is...
If I knew in High School what I know now I would or would not...
Who from our class have you connected with since HS that you did not know well 10 years ago?
What was one thing you thought so important that makes you laugh now?
The craziest place you have been in the last 10 years?
Additional comments or something I want to share...

I am open to fictitious suggestions.

Maillot a Pois Rouges

This summer will mark the debut of a new road race: The Jersey with Red Peas 8K+. This year the race will commence at the lowest point in Minneapolis, where the Minnehaha Creek pays tribute to the Mississippi River, and finish at the highest point in Minneapolis, where the witch's hat water tower sits atop Prospect Park. The winner will have the chance to set the course record. Participants will receive Coke and Little Debbies after the race. The date of this event has not been established yet. Please leave a comment to register for the race.

Fin de Semana

We went to the Minneapolis farmers' market on Saturday morning and loaded the car with:

• tomatoes (regular, cherry, and roma)
• cucumbers
• bell peppers (red & green)
• thai dragon pepper
• anaheim pepper
• rhubarb
• herbs (cilantro, basil, rosemary, mint, etc.)
• plants for the window box and urn

Rain Barrel

I bought a 55-gallon rain barrel from the City of Minneapolis for $45. The purpose of the rain barrel is to reduce stormwater runoff and conserve the water to irrigate plants and the yard. Urban areas are characterized by impervious surfaces. Rain lands on your roof, sidewalk, garage, driveway, etc. Water collects debris, chemicals, shit, dirt, pollutants, and even small babies. These are not things we want flowing down the storm sewer into our rivers and lakes.

City Cruisers

About one month ago Marye and I bought two used bicycles from Sunrise Cyclery. These bikes are old school. The joy of riding an old school bicycle is the upright posture, the thicker tires, the large, forgiving seat, and the overall sense of leisure imparted by the feel and design. My light blue Schwinn Collegiate is in excellent condition and was only $100. It features a left handbrake, a back-pedal brake, and is equipped with a rack for my panniers. Why do I have two bicycles? One is for biking to work at high speeds on narrow tires and a light frame, risking genital numbness while jockeying with drivers of internal combustion engines. The other is for running errands, visiting friends, going to restaurants, and urban exploring. The general idea is to use the city cruisers in lieu of the car during this hospitable season in Minnesota. Similar to running, there may be reluctance to get out the door, but there are rarely regrets.

Amputee Sprinter

An Amputee Sprinter: Is he Disabled or Too-Abled
Manchester, England

from the New York Times

Oscar Pistorius was born without the fibula in his lower legs and with other defects in his feet. He had both legs amputated below the knee when he was 11 months old.

Sprinting on a pair of j-shaped blades made of carbon fiber and known as Cheetahs, Pistorius has run the 100 meters in 10.91 seconds, the 200 meters in 21.58 seconds, and the 400 meters in 46.34 seconds.

As a result, Pistorius is a searing talent who has begun erasing the lines between abled and disabled, raising philosophical questions: What should an athlete look like? Where should limits be placed on technology to balance fair play with the right to compete? Would the nature of sport be altered if athletes using artificial limbs could run faster or jump higher than the best athletes using their natural limbs?

Disc Golf

I played disc golf at Bryant Lake Park in the prairies of eden last Saturday with Marye, Liz, Christina, and Paul. The 12-hole course offers varied terrain and good views. The most dramatic hole is number 11 where the tee is atop a massive hill facing a sweeping valley. The idea is to launch your disc over the road at the foot of the hill and watch it float down, down, down onto the grass. Marye had a huge drive. Simply huge. Paul's second shot hit the pole beneath the basket and the group ahead of us voiced their accolades. 'Nice'. I shot from the same area and smashed up the chains with a super long strike. 'That was better', according to the group ahead. It is by far the longest shot I have ever made.

I used the round on Saturday to experiment with my throwing technique. I'm a big fan of the forehand, which seems to require less balance and coordination, but in an effort to improve my backhand, I used the ole rusty backhand the whole round.

The plan for this summer is to visit a few different disc golf courses around the metro area. I made a Google map of the courses. Also, check out this website. It's incredible. There are pictures of each hole.

Fietsen

From mid-October through the end of April my mode of transportation to work is a bus and train combo. On May 1 I pumped up the tires of the Brave Arrow, sprayed a little 'Water Displacement-40th attempt' on the chain, fastened the panniers to the rack, donned my helmet, and sped northwest on the river road into downtown. I enjoy biking to work, and not just because I derive great pleasure from keeping pace with traffic or swiftly passing idling cars. My bicycle is a green exercise machine! Gaia is thankful, I am fighting terrorism, and my legs are, without a doubt, sexier. These are all important.

At this point I would like to recognize our neglected 1996 Ford Escort. Good job. We bought petrol yesterday for $3.29 per gallon, our first purchase since April 22. The Escort traveled 322 miles on 10 gallons. That's right, 32 mpg.

My ride to work is about 5.8 miles and it almost always takes less than 20 minutes. Then I take a shower in a makeshift locker room. Including the shower as commuting time, the bike ride is faster than public transit. In general, transportation to my work building is becoming more and more difficult as the construction season progresses. The new Minnesota Twins baseball stadium will be built next to our building. In addition, the Light Rail Train track is being extended past our building and the new North Star commuter train line will terminate by our building. Chaos.

Fermenting

Yesterday I brewed a Witbier, started a Chilean Merlot, and bottled my Irish Draught Ale, which should be ready in two weeks. The Witbier and Merlot are sitting next to each other in the guest room, an effervescent duet as CO2 escapes from the airlocks. The descriptions of the ales and wine are below.

Irish Draught Ale

Irish ales fall somewhere in between English and Scottish brewing traditions—mildly fruity and often brewed with sugar adjuncts like English bitters, but malty and lightly hopped like Scottish ales. Like Irish stouts, they're sociable session beers with a low alcohol content but substantial body. Inspired by beers like Caffrey's and Smithwick's, our Irish Draught Ale pours with a deep red color and tan head over a caramel-like malt character with roasty and fruity notes. As a bow to Ireland's meadmaking past, clover honey lightens the body and boosts the gravity of this recipe, while a small dose of oats adds creaminess to the mouthfeel and a hint of grain to the flavor. Serving our Irish Draught Ale on a Homebrew Nitrogen system (KX10 or KX11) will enhance this beer's satiny, mouth-filling drinkability so much you'll swear you're hiding from the wind and rain inside a cozy pub in Ireland.

Witbier

Literally, "white beer," this wheat beer originated near Louvain and got its name from its extremely pale, cloudy haze. Witbier was originally made by blending hopped wort with unhopped, bacterially infected wort, which gave it a tart, acidic taste. Fortunately, the Wyeast culture in this kit gives you all of the tartness with none of the bacteria. Light in color and extremely quenching, Witbier's unique flavor is also enhanced by coriander and bitter orange peel.

Chilean Merlot

Originating from the world famous Maipo Valley wine region in Chile hails this great addition to our Passport Series. This reputable Merlot is a soft and supple variation with powerful fruit and spicy flavors. Renowned for its ripe cherry character, the Merlot is a perfect partner for red meats, lamb, and hearty stews. A must have on those crisp autumn evenings.

Better by Design

An Innovation Guide: Using Natural Design Solutions

“The core idea is that nature, imaginative by necessity, has already solved many of the problems we are grappling with. Animals, plants, and microbes are the consummate engineers. They have found what works, what is appropriate, and most important, what lasts here on Earth. This is the real news of biomimicry: After 3.8 billion years of research and development, failures are fossils, and what surrounds us is the secret to survival.”

— Janine M. Benyus, author Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature

Landfills

Landfill

Landfill Basics: How They Are Constructed and Why They Can Fail

EPA: Landfills

Minnesota Landfills

Zero Waste: Landfills

Fresh Kills Landfill

Elul

Elul is the twelfth month of the Jewish ecclesiastical year and the sixth month of the civil year on the Hebrew calendar. It is a summer month of 29 days. Elul usually occurs in August–September on the Gregorian calendar.

The month of Elul is a time of repentance in preparation for the High Holy Days of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. In Aramaic (the language spoken by Jews living at the time that the months were given names), the word “Elul” means “search.” In Hebrew, Elul is an acronym that stands for "Ani L'dodi V'dodi Li". Elul is seen as a time to search one's heart in preparation for the coming Day of Judgement, Rosh Hashanah, and Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur.

Mazel Tov

Mazel Tov is a Hebrew word meaning "good luck" but is often used in place of "congratulations." The expression comes from the Akkadian language manzaltu, mazzaztum, "position of a star," from izuzzu, "to stand." This descended to the Mishnaic Hebrew mazzal, meaning "constellation" or "destiny." Adding the word tôb, meaning "good," a direct English translation would be "good destiny" or "good fortune."

Like other blessings it is often said frequently and sometimes loudly at Jewish weddings as well as Bar Mitzvahs. It is commonly used within the Jewish community.

The Chuppah, and breaking the glass

The couple are joined in matrimony under the chuppah, in the ceremony of nissuin, symbolizing their setting up house together. Very often the chuppah is made of an outstretched tallit (Jewish prayer shawl), but it can be any sort of canopy.

The ceremony reaches its climax with both the bride and groom drinking wine. The groom then steps on the wine glass to break it. The origin of this custom is shrouded in mystery, and various understandings of this custom exist:

The oldest source seems to be from the Babylonian Talmud, tractate Berakhot 31a; it has a story about the wedding of Rav Ashi's son. When the celebrants began to get carried away, Rav Ashi brought out and broke a crystal glass in front of them. The interpretation by the Tosafot (early medieval Talmudic commentators) is that even during moments of great celebration, one must maintain proper decorum. It may be related to the belief that it is best to temper one's joy, in order to avert inviting bad fortune.

The breaking of the glass represents the Jewish community's continuing sorrow of the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem; no celebration is totally complete without the Temple.

Among Kabbalists (adherents of Jewish mysticism), this custom is said to be a reminder of the broken fragments of Creation, and our need to engage in Tikkun Olam, the repairing of the world on a spiritual level.

*

Chuppah (also spelled huppa, huppa, chupah, or chuppa - plural chuppot) is a canopy traditionally used in Jewish weddings. It consists of an embroidered cloth -- sometimes a tallit ("prayershawl") -- stretched or supported over four poles, and is often carried by attendants to the location where the ceremony will take place. It is meant to symbolize the home which the couple will build together.

A traditional Chuppah, especially within Orthodox Judaism, recommends that there be open sky exactly above the Chuppah. If the wedding ceremony is held indoors in a hall, sometimes a special opening is built to be opened during the ceremony. Many Hasidim prefer to conduct the entire ceremony outdoors.

The word chuppah originally appears in the Hebrew Bible (Joel 2:16; Psalms 19:6). The chuppah represents a Jewish home symbolized by the cloth canopy and the four poles. Just as a chuppah is open on all four sides, so was the tent of Abraham open for hospitality. Thus, the Chuppah represents hospitality to one's guests. This "home" is also initially devoid of furniture as a reminder that the basis of a Jewish home is the people within it, not the possessions.

Historically, in Talmudic times, Jewish weddings in the past comprised two separate parts. The first of which was the betrothal ceremony. The second part was the actual wedding ceremony. These two ceremonies usually took place about a year apart. The bride lived with her parents until the actual marriage ceremony, which would take place in a room or tent that the groom had set up for her. Later in history, the two ceremonies were combined and the marriage ceremony started to be performed publicly. At this new ceremony, the chuppah, or the portable marriage canopy, was included as a symbol of the chamber in which the marriage originally took place.

In a spiritual sense, the covering of the chuppah represents the presence of God over the covenant of marriage. As a man's kipa (skull cap) served as a reminder of the Creator above all, (also a symbol of separation from God), so the chuppah was erected to signify that the ceremony and institution of marriage has divine origins.

Highlights from Past Weekends

dinner with Tim, Groveland Tap with Jose, Tim, and Lucy
lazy times at John & Jo's
run, brew Cream Ale, first grilling of season, bocce

run, dinner @ John & Jo's, Risk, Mason Jennings @ First Ave
bought city bikes, dinner at Laura's
rain
Seder @ John & Jo's (they must be tired of us)

Chicago

Jose, Marye & I drove to Chicago on Friday afternoon. Then the festivities began at the house of Kofi & Kate (who are engaged, if you didn't know). We relaxed, watched March Madness, ate Giordano's Pizzeria from Logan Square, and generally enjoyed the reunion. On Saturday we went to Anne Sather's for brunch. Damn. Then we rode the train from Argyle into downtown (State Street). We saw the green river and then after assessing the lines of 20+ people at every bar, we decided to go back to Andersonville where we engaged in the democratic process of electing the best beer at the Hopleaf Bar. For me, Pauwel Kwak. Then we received a call from Ziyad and Jenny, who had made the drive from Madison. Rendezvous. Good times. We ate Ghanaian food for dinner, briefly lapsed into a food coma, and then progressed down Armitage to the cuban restaurant Cafe Laguardia for drinks. We talked about Castro and cigars rolled on the thighs of virgins. Then walked down the block to the Map Room, a source of tremendous beer diversity. While micturating in the bathroom at the Map Room I noticed the room was lit with a compact fluorescent bulb. Go green. I also noticed bathroom stall graffiti: Love + Herpes = Problems. We capped the night with a conversation of great gravitas, as one could have expected. In an age of self-interest, how are we to live? On Sunday we ate brunch at Hot Spot. I had the Segundo Primo Breakfast Burrito. Then we drove Kofi to the airport for a business trip to Atlanta and continued on our way back to Minnesota. The End.

How can you be moral

Human morality may be severely limited by having evolved as a way of banding together against adversaries, with moral restraints being observed only toward the group, not toward outsiders.

The profound irony is that our noblest achievement -- morality -- has evolutionary ties to our basest behavior -- warfare. The sense of community required by the former was provided by the latter.

Morality is a sense of right and wrong that is born out of groupwide systems of conflict management based on shared values.

Household Hazardous Waste

EPA: HHW

Leftover household products that contain corrosive, toxic, ignitable, or reactive ingredients are considered to be "household hazardous waste" or "HHW." Products, such as paints, cleaners, oils, batteries, and pesticides, that contain potentially hazardous ingredients require special care when you dispose of them.

Improper disposal of household hazardous wastes can include pouring them down the drain, on the ground, into storm sewers, or in some cases putting them out with the trash. The dangers of such disposal methods might not be immediately obvious, but improper disposal of these wastes can pollute the environment and pose a threat to human health. Many communities in the United States offer a variety of options for conveniently and safely managing HHW.

Turkish court bans YouTube access

Access to the popular video-sharing website YouTube has been suspended in Turkey following a court order. The ban was imposed after prosecutors told the court that clips insulting former Turkish leader Mustafa Kemal Ataturk had appeared on the site.

According to Turkish media, there has been a "virtual war" between Greek and Turkish users of the site, with both sides posting insulting videos.

The clip prompting the ban reportedly dubbed Ataturk and Turks homosexuals [gasp].

Insulting Ataturk, the founding father of modern Turkey, or "Turkishness" is an offence which can result in a prison sentence.

The offending videos sparked a storm of complaints to YouTube and the clips were removed, but the court order goes further, blocking all access to the site.

Freedom of speech

Turkish visitors to the site are now greeted with a message in English and Turkish reading "Access to www.youtube.com site has been suspended in accordance with decision no: 2007/384 dated 06.03.2007 of Istanbul First Criminal Peace Court".

Paul Doany, the head of Turk Telecom, the country's largest telecoms company, said that they had blocked access to the site as soon as the court order came through.

"We are not in the position of saying that what YouTube did was an insult, that it was right or wrong," Mr Doany told Anatolia news agency. "A court decision was proposed to us, and we are doing what that court decision says."

Mr Doany said that for its part Turk Telecom will continue to enforce the ban as long as the order stands.

The European Union, which Turkey is hoping to join, has long called for an easing of Article 301 - the law which prevents insults to Turkish culture - arguing that the law places severe restrictions on free speech in Turkey.

About 50 writers in the country have been put on trial for allegedly contravening the rule, including Nobel prizewinner Orhan Pamuk, though most cases have eventually been dismissed by the judge.

Headlines

This would have been more humorous:
General Stands Behind Stance Against Gay Troops

NAHHMA

North American Hazardous Materials Management Association

NAHMMA is a professional organization dedicated to pollution prevention and reducing the hazardous constituents entering municipal waste streams from households, small businesses and other entities that may be exempt from local, regional or national regulations.

Our hope is to create a membership-based, professional organization that unites the diverse entities that influence or have an interest in hazardous components of municipal waste streams (product manufacturers, government regulators, provincial, state and local waste management programs, waste handling businesses, non-profit environmental organizations and others) in an active, engaging association that promotes information sharing and cooperative problem solving. We strive to build consensus and foster public/private cooperation.

Feb to present rekapp

Moti Mahal
Orchestra - Sibelius, Beethoven's 5th (more punch than a 5th of jack)
Hexagon Bar
Nordkapp (by Tofte on the North Shore)
Dulonos
Midtown Global Market (Andy's has supreme malts)
The Departed
Weisman Bob Dylan exhibit
Longfellow Grill
sledding (down Town and Country golf course hills)
Khyber Pass
Finding Neverland
Wisconsin with the Klinkers
North Carolina vs. Duke
and...
Great Waters Brewing Company
* Golden Prairie Blonde
* Saint Peter Pale Ale
* Brown Trout Brown Ale
* Imperial Wit
* Sun Dog Pilsner
* Great Waters House Ale
* Black Watch Oatmeal Stout
* Mr. Smooth

Picture of the Week

Wheel of the combine.

Weekend Update

Here's a quick recap:

On Friday evening we ate burritos with Liz and chatted. On Saturday we ate brunch at the Birchwood, camped out on the fourth floor of the Minneapolis central library, and watched Inspector Morse. On Sunday we watched the Super Bowl at our house, joined by Meghan & Dylan, Eric & Chanda, and Paul & Mary. Paul and Mary brought pulled pork and coleslaw. Nice. On Monday, we joined Liz at the Kitty Cat Klub and listened to JoAnna James and Chris Koza.

The average temperature so far in February is -2.7 degrees. This limits one's resolve to leave the house and partake in any activities that require exposure to the cold. Once the temperature reaches 15, I will be wearing short sleeves.

Related to the cold, Paul informed me of a story he heard on the radio. There is a Minnesota family who commemorates the occasion of the Super Bowl by running around the block while wearing only boxers and a t-shirt. This year, the reasonable members of the family concluded it would not be in the best interest of their bodies to participate in this tradition. However, the member of the family having 17 years of age and little regard for his feet decided to uphold the hoary rite. He returned to the house with gloriously severe frostbite on his bare feet.

Economist Picks

Climate change
The greening of America

Green America
Waking up and catching up

Health care
The right medicine

India's special economic zones
A peasant surprise

Iraq
May the government at last curb Shia militias?

Mobile phones in Africa
Roaming wide

Electricity in South Africa
Power struggle

Pharmaceuticals
Billion dallar pills

Picture of the Week

Enforcement must feel a little neglected. Sorry enforcement.

Eat food. Mostly plants. Not too much.

Good article from the NY Times magazine by Michael Pollan, author of The Omnivore's Dilemma.

Easy Chickpea Curry

I added a new recipe to our website.
It's called Easy Chickpea Curry.

By the way, I'm not at work today.

Economist Picks

AIDS in China
Blood debts

Afghanistan and Pakistan
They walk the line

The Palestinians
It’s the little things that make an occupation

Special report: Executive pay

Global terrorism
On the march, not on the run

Microsoft
Peaks, valleys and vistas

Vista and Office
An end to that blue screen of death?

University endowments
The ivory trade

The Minnesota We Know

We are in the midst of the coldest days of winter right now. Cold is a week where the high temperature will not reach 10 degrees. Cold is a week where the low temperature will reach at least 14 below. Cold is a week where I look at the weather in Yakutsk. Here's the warmest day in Yakutsk over the next ten days: high -32 / low -41. Yeah baby. It's hot in Minnesota.

In related news, I used the thermometer I acquired when I purchased my brewing equipment to measure the temperature of the tap water. Any guesses? 35 degrees. That is refreshing tap water from the mighty Mississippi.

Humanity

At times I think humanity can be explained by this headline:
Bear Determined to Defacate in Woods.

Weekend Update

Friday was one of those nights where the work hangover renders you useless. By useless, I mean somebody else cooked for us, we stared at the TV, and then we went to bed.

On Saturday we went to church, which was followed by fellowship at our house with Tim, Paul, and Mary. In addition to the human element, fellowship included eggs, potatoes, bacon, and donuts. Later in the day my parents arrived and we spent the rest of the day at our house.

On Sunday we toured the state capitol. Very nice. The capitol designed by Cass Gilbert and completed around 1905 at a cost of $4.5 million dollars. The structure features marble from Vermont, Georgia, Italy, France, Greece, and Egypt. If the capitol were built today I imagine it would somewhat less extravagant; the tour guide would be telling you about the craftmanship of the joint compound spread over the drywall. The capitol has a rathskeller, which is a cool word for a basement restaurant/tavern. Literally it means cellar council. After exploring the capitol we visited Garrison Keillor's bookstore called Common Good on Selby and Western in St. Paul. I bought a book of poems by Alex Lemon called Mosquito. Marye's mom joined us and we went to dinner at the Barbary Fig on Grand Avenue, where we saw Lucy. As if dinner were not satisfying enough, we ate cake at Cafe Latte.

Economist Picks

Chinese business
Truth from facts

Israel and the Jews
Diaspora blues
Second thoughts about the Promised Land

Venezuela
With Marx, Lenin and Jesus Christ

Health care
Pyramid power

Chinese accounting
Cultural revolution

Buttonwood
Oil's not well

America's money-transfer business
Check for cheque-cashers

Economics focus
How good is the World Bank's research

Neuroeconomics
The triump of unreason?
(my nucleus accumbens made me do it)

Picture of the Week

Check out this radical beard.

Weekend Update

It was an eventful weekend. I bottled 27 1/2 bottles of Italian Pinot Grigio. It tastes good. And apparently the isinglass helped clarify the wine nicely. Isinglass is made from the air bladders of fishes, such as the sturgeon. The word comes from the Dutch word huizenblas, which I think literally means house of the bladder.

Marye and I watched our first movie of the year: Apollo 13. Before the movie, we ate dinner at the Town Talk Diner on Lake Street. I ate a half-pound burger, garlic fries, and a chocolate shake. Yes.

On Saturday we went cross country skiing in Minneapolis for the first time ever. We completed two 4.1km loops at the Hiawatha public golf course, which is next to Lake Nokomis. The cost to ski is $3 or $15 for a season pass. Hiawatha is flat, a good place for me to become more acquainted with my big feet. I always enjoy being outdoors in the winter when the sky is blue, the sun warms your body, the wind is calm, and the temperature is around 17 degrees. After skiing, we stopped at a Baker's Wife and bought many tasty pastries. Good times. In the evening we had people over for a chili dinner. Then we progressed to the Town Hall Brewery, where I consumed a sampler: Black H2O, Masala Mama IPA (cask and keg), Bright Spot, Wee Heavy, and Retreating Darkness. We culminated the night by visiting the Nomad World Pub. The three bands we heard were the Casados, Brass Kings, and Chris Koza. The Casados were a young married couple from Champaign, Illinois. The husband played guitar and sang and the wife played the harmonium - sweet. They were very honest and provided me with a dose of contrast, which is good. The Brass Kings consisted of a fiddle, washboard, steel guitar, and wash tub bass. The wash tub was turned upside down and had a piece of rope extending from the bottom of the tub to the top of a mop that served as the back of the instrument. The bass player wore work gloves, plucked the rope, and pressed the rope against the mop handle to change the pitch. Awesome. Then, in an effort to remind me I am old, Chris Koza started after midnight. It was fun.

Sunday was all about being lazy, which naturally included watching several hours of football americano and reading the Economist during commercials. Before indulging in one of the seven deadly sins, I went to church and then Marye and I went to the Longfellow Grill for brunch.

New Content on Our Website

I added Lists and Recipes to our website.

Lists will track restaurants where we have dined, movies we have seen, and books I have read.

Recipes provides links to pdf version of recipes I have tried. At the moment, all of them are from one vegetarian cookbook. I encourage you to try the vegetable moussaka.

Economist Picks

The United Nations
-A chance for a safer world
-Mission impossible?
-Call the blue helmets

Saddam Hussein
-The blundering dictator

Emerging Markets
-The global rusher

Obesity and Bacteria
-Greedy guts?

Here are some excerpts:

The new secretary-general of the UN: Ban Ki-moon.

Some of the worlds problems: Rising nuclear demons in Iran and North Korea, a haemorrhaging wound in Darfur, unending violence in the Middle East, looming environmental disaster, escalating international terrorism, the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, the spread of HIV/AIDS.

When the UN was created in 1945, its founder-nations—the four main victors of the second world war, America, Britain, China and Russia, plus France—allocated to themselves the only five permanent seats, with veto powers, on what was then an 11-seat Security Council. The other members, all elected by the General Assembly, held two-year non-renewable seats without a veto. Since then, the number of the UN's member states has almost quadrupled from 51 to 192, two-thirds of them in the developing world. Yet apart from the addition of four more non-permanent seats in 1965, membership of the Security Council, the only UN body whose decisions are binding, has remained unchanged. The system is not only undemocratic, anachronistic and unfair, but also—as Paul Kennedy, professor of history at Yale, suggests in his new book, “The Parliament of Man”—outrageous. Yet it cannot be changed without inviting a veto from one of the very nations whose powers might be diminished.

poverty, mortality, illiteracy

Thanks to an overhaul of the organisation's department of humanitarian affairs and much better co-ordination with NGOs in the field, the UN's once shambolic relief operations are now regarded as second to none. Around 30m people in some 50 countries currently depend on its services for survival.

Kofi Annan, the former UN secretary-general, liked to say that the UN is the only fire brigade that must go out and buy a fire engine before it can respond to an emergency.

* * *

Saddam's rule coincided with a huge surge in oil revenues. During the 1970s, a relatively peaceful interlude when he exercised real control as second-in-command to a weak president, dozens of ambitious projects swiftly created a first-class infrastructure of expressways, power lines and social services. In neighbouring countries, the oil boom generated garish consumption and commission billionaires. Iraqis could fairly claim that their national wealth had been used instead to create a broad, home-owning middle class, the symbol of which was the “Brazili”, a stripped-down Volkswagen bought by the million from Brazil. Generous state subsidies lifted even the very poor out of need. Corruption was unknown.

* * *

When Thailand's introduction of capital controls sent its stockmarket plunging a few days before Christmas, you could have been forgiven for thinking, “Here we go again”. It is almost ten years since the start of the Asian financial crisis, when capital flight on a huge scale caused financial markets and economies in the region to collapse. The problem that Thailand and other Asian countries face today, however, is the exact opposite: how to stop capital flowing in.

Resolutions

The new year is an opportunity to share with others the directions I am going. Here are a few areas of knowledge I have been pursuing and will continue to pursue:

1. PHP and MySQL Web Development
PHP is a free programming language and MySQL is a free database. I've already learned a little HTML and I've learned a little about CSS. I need to learn how PHP and MySQL communicate with each other. I know enough about databases that MySQL will be easy, but the PHP learning curve will be steeper. I want to create an e-commerce site and I want to create a few applications for things I do at work.

2. Chemistry
I like textbooks. And observing life in relation to elemental properties provides a great deal of fascination and satisfaction to me.

3. Certified Hazardous Materials Manager (CHMM)
At some point in the future I hope to become a chum, not for the initials at the end of my name but because I think the base of knowledge necessary for the distinction will benefit me in my work duties.

4. Feynman Lectures on Physics
Who doesn't want to know more about physics, especially electricity and heat.

5. Dutch
This resolution is very susceptible to failure. While I have good intentions, my guess is that my proficiency will remain only with formalities, food, and beer.

6. Economist
This weekly magazine is my commuting literature. Good stuff. I think I will be a subscriber for life.

7. Books
I want to read a few more books than last year. I just finished reading The Autobiography of Malcolm X. I also finished Nostromo by Joseph Conrad.

The Arbiter Says It's New

Happy New Year humans!

I am currently reading "The Autobiography of Malcolm X".
Malcolm X lived from 1925 to 1965.
In a similar theme, here are some other authors and books I have read:

Frederick Douglas (1818-1895)
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas

W.E.B. Du Bois (1868-1963)
The Souls of Black Folks

Richard Wright (1908-1960)
Native Son
Black Boy

Ralph Ellison (1913-1994)
Invisible Man

Post-Modern Capitalism: Deconstruct This

* fragmentation of narratives
* the individual's ability to be the artist of his own life

In “The Long Tail”, an analysis of the impact of the internet on the music industry, with wider ramifications, Chris Anderson describes the “shattering of the mainstream into a zillion different cultural shards”. The post-modern “fragment” becomes a “niche” and the mass market is “turning into a mass of niches”. “When mass culture breaks apart,” he writes, “it doesn't re-form into a different mass. Instead, it turns into millions of microcultures which coexist and interact in a baffling array of ways.”

blogs, podcasts, youtube, myspace, etc.

Forgetting Yourself in Function

A happy state arises most often in work that stretches a person without defeating him; work that provides clear goals, unambiguous feedback, and a sense of control.

Status Anxiety

Vervet monkeys at the top of their social tree enjoy more mates and bananas as a result, but they also exult in their position for its own sake.

Meal of the weekend

sausage, eggs, grilled peppers, spinach, onion, cheese, and cornbread covered with hollandaise sauce

Horny Manatee

The Conan O'Brien skit called "New College Mascots" featured a character called the "FSU Webcam Manatee". The manatee was rubbing itself while music played in the background: when I think about you I touch myself. Conan then mentioned a fictitious website: "HornyManatee.com". After the show, the standards department for Late Night explained to Conan that if he mentions a web site that doesn't exist, NBC is legally bound to buy the domain name. Late Night then created the website, giving it the appearance of a fake porn site. The website was introduced on the next show, and Conan asked viewers to submit pictures. A week or so later, the site has received 4.5 million hits and many images, poems, flash games and other media submitted by fans. Check out the Fan Art.

Tom Waits - Road to Peace

I just heard this on 89.3, The Current:

Young Abdel Mahdi (Shahmay) was only 18 years old,
He was the youngest of nine children, never spent a night away from home.
And his mother held his photograph, opening the New York Times
To see the killing has intensified along the road to peace

There was a tall, thin boy with a whispy moustache disguised as an orthodox Jew
On a crowded bus in Jerusalem, some had survived World War Two
And the thunderous explosion blew out windows 200 yards away
With more retribution and seventeen dead along the road to peace

Now at King George Ave and Jaffa Road passengers boarded bus 14a
In the aisle next to the driver Abdel Mahdi (Shahmay)
And the last thing that he said on earth is "God is great and God is good"
And he blew them all to kingdom come upon the road to peace

Now in response to this another kiss of death was visited upon
Yasser Taha, Israel says is an Hamas senior militant
And Israel sent four choppers in, flames engulfed, tears wide open
And it killed his wife and his three year old child leaving only blackened skeletons

It's found his toddlers bottle and a pair of small shoes and they waved them in front of the cameras
But Israel says they did not know that his wife and child were in the car
There are roadblocks everywhere and only suffering on TV
Neither side will ever give up their smallest right along the road to peace

Israel launched it's latest campaign against Hamas on Tuesday
Two days later Hamas shot back and killed five Israeli soldiers
So thousands dead and wounded on both sides most of them middle eastern civilians
They fill the children full of hate to fight an old man's war and die upon the road to peace

"And this is our land we will fight with all our force" say the Palastinians and the Jews
Each side will cut off the hand of anyone who tries to stop the resistance
If the right eye offends thee then you must pluck it out
And Mahmoud Abbas said Sharon had been lost out along the road to peace

Once Kissinger said "we have no friends, America only has interests"
Now our president wants to be seen as a hero and he's hungry for re-election
But Bush is reluctant to risk his future in the fear of his political failures
So he plays chess at his desk and poses for the press 10,000 miles from the road to peace

In the video that they found at the home of Abdel Mahdi (Shahmay)
He held a Kalashnikov rifle and he spoke with a voice like a boy
He was an excellent student, he studied so hard, it was as if he had a future
He told his mother that he had a test that day out along the road to peace

The fundamentalist killing on both sides is standing in the path of peace
But tell me why are we arming the Israeli army with guns and tanks and bullets?
And if God is great and God is good why can't he change the hearts of men?
Well maybe God himself is lost and needs help
Maybe God himself he needs all of our help
Maybe God himself is lost and needs help
He's out upon the road to peace

Well maybe God himself is lost and needs help
Maybe God himself he needs all of our help
And he's lost upon the road to peace
And he's lost upon the road to peace
Out upon the road to peace.

Oenophile?

I have 6 gallons of Italian Pinot Grigio undergoing primary fermentation in the basement. To begin the process I mixed bentonite and hot water. Then I poured in the juice and topped the fermenter up to 6 gallons. The specific gravity was 1.075 at this point. Finally, I sprinkled the yeast on the surface of the solution. As of Sunday the SG was 1.024; it must be 1.010 or less for me to transfer the juice to my carboy for secondary fermentation. When the specific gravity is 0.996 or less, I will add metabisulphite, sorbate, and isinglass. After a couple weeks, the wine will clarify and be ready for bottling -- 30 x 750ml bottles.

hear hear

I believe that when I die I shall rot, and nothing of my ego will survive. I am not young and I love life. But I should scorn to shiver with terror at the thought of annihilation. Happiness is nonetheless true happiness because it must come to an end, nor do thought and love lose their value because they are not everlasting. Many a man has borne himself proudly on the scaffold; surely the same pride should teach us to think truly about man's place in the world. Even if the open windows of science at first make us shiver after the cosy indoor warmth of traditional humanizing myths, in the end the fresh air brings vigour, and the great spaces have a splendour of their own.

-Bertrand Russel, What I Believe

Summary

Time does not respond to my entreaties, so there is no time for details.

Mason Jennings concert
Herkimer - Red Fly Marzen
Good times with Ziyad & Jenny, Jose, and neighbors
My first all-grain brew
Bought a wine kit that makes 30 x 750ml
Borat
Chocolate and wine tasting at International Market Square with the Klinkers
Beer extravaganza at John & Jo's at 11:11 on 11/11

List of Beers:
Ichabod Pumpkin Ale
Archadia IPA
Stella Artois
Big Sky Crystal Ale
Anchor Steam Liberty Ale
Pyramid Thunderhead IPA
James Page Burly Brown Ale
Summit Great Northern Porter
Bell's Stout? The head was brown!
I'm forgetting one.

In other news Paul, Tim, and I have formed a denomination that meets every Sunday morning.

Marye and I leave for Nebraska after work today. We will stay the night with the Ritz house in Ames, progress to the Living History Farm race, continue to Omaha, and finish our journey in Hastings, Nebraska, where we will consume mass quantities of food.

Halloween with Conan O'Brien

I watched Conan on October 31. The sound was a rerun of a previous show but the people were replaced with skeleton marionettes. Brilliant.

In the year two thousand...

In an effort to eliminate the middleman, White Castle will start grinding up meat and spraying it directly onto the inside of toilets.

Cut Chemist

On Wednesday night 89.3 The Current played 30 minutes of uninterrupted fresh beats from guest DJ Cut Chemist, who has a new CD called The Audience's Listening.

Butt Sex

The Rev. Ted Haggard, the former president of the National Association of Evangelicals and one of the nation’s most influential Christian leaders, has conceded that some of the accusations that led him to resign are true, a church official said today.

What are the allegations?

A former male prostitute in Denver said in television and radio interviews that he had had a three-year sexual relationship with Mr. Haggard.

Mr. Haggard, who is married and has five children, had initially denied the accusation, saying in a television interview: “I am steady with my wife. I’m faithful to my wife.”

He also said he had never met the man making the accusation.

The evangelical association states on its Web site that homosexual sex is condemned by Scripture, and Mr. Haggard has advocated passage of an amendment to the United States Constitution to ban same-sex marriage.

Macalester Is Wonderful

Friday evening we attended the Macalester men's football match versus the Hamline Pipers. It was the first time I had seen the new artificial turf. That's right, no more grass.

Final Score
Macalester 3 - Hamline 2

"The mighty hoof of Dark Goat descended from the skies and answered our prayers. And there was much rejoicing." --Andrew "Grimace" Virden ('96), Leader of Mac Soccer Superfan Society

Grimace was at the match, inspiring future generations of superfans.

I heard few new cheers. Here are two of them:

Macalester's the besticle.
Punch them in the testicle.

Yo baby, yo baby, yo baby, yo
you gots to be a Scot or you gots to go

Here are some other good ones:

give me an S
S
give me an ampersand
ampersand
give me an M
M
what's that spell
domination

who ate all the pie
that fat bastard, that fat bastard, he ate all the pie

And of course the classic:

drink blood
smoke crack
worship satan
go mac

The fans count down to 4:20 on the scoreboard clock, which then shows graphics of balloons and streamers.

Notables in attendence...

Mr. Furious and Mrs. Happy
Tim
Paul
Derek and Kat
Ian Ritz (who imposed on the silent cheer by talking informatively about the transportation amendment)

After the game, we progressed to the Groveland Tap, where we enjoyed Summit Winter Ales. After leaving the bar, I was tempted to look in the dumpster at SuperAmerica. I didn't see any donuts but I did see a few cookies. I ripped open the garbage bag and procured an M&M cookie. Somewhere along the thought process, I decided the cookie was a frisbee and I threw it at Tim. I didn't intend to strike him directly below his left eye; however, several winter ales apparently do not tolerate inaccuracy. Sorry Tim. Hopefully you can remove the eyepatch soon. Kids, don't operate heavy machinery or throw cookies if you are under the influence of a few beers.