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[22 Dec 2009|01:49pm] |
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tree on fire down the street
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| i laughed myself to sleep |
[21 Dec 2009|06:20pm] |
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they buried a dog at sea, i was back home talking about how existence is a joke
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| Gulfport Beach |
[19 Dec 2009|06:25pm] |
Little Blue Heron doing a sunset pirouette
Great White Egret
Nanday clinging on for dear life :-) (Windy day)
Random dog in the park
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| white skin, blue eyes, blond hair |
[18 Dec 2009|12:39pm] |
very interesting article, by way of www.ranprieur.com, about why northern europeans are pale skinned, eyed, and haired: http://knol.google.com/k/frank-w-sweet/why-are-europeans-white-e1/k16kl3c2f2au/14#
basically tying it in to vitamin d deficiency from the introduction of grains into the gulf stream warmed baltic states.
i think it's fair to add that not only did pigment change but social structure also changed with the introduction of the notion of superiority. white human's hatred (fear) of all things brown and wild and its desire to control (own) it all stems from its perceived evolutionary superiority to its predecessors when it's actually a deficiency! it's almost a karmic joke (if it weren't for the nearing total destruction of it all).
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| Tamiflu |
[15 Dec 2009|08:54pm] |
Interesting piece from the Atlantic. Of course you would have to research who was funding the counter research to get the whole picture. What a messed up world that causes us all to have to become investigative journalists in our spare time...
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200912u/tamiflu
Excerpt:
The Cochrane team eventually concluded that the evidence that Tamiflu reduces complications, hospitalizations, or deaths is weak at best, and if the drug does offer any benefit, it is slight indeed. This is precisely the conclusion of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the UK’s National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE). As we reported in our story in The Atlantic, the FDA directed Roche to state on the drug’s label the following caveat: “Tamiflu has not been proven to have a positive impact on the potential consequences (such as hospitalizations, mortality, or economic impact) of seasonal, avian, or pandemic influenza.” An FDA spokesperson told the BMJ, "The clinical trials . . . failed to demonstrate any significant difference in rates of hospitalization, complications, or mortality in patients receiving either Tamiflu or placebo.” Yet in the wake of the H1N1 pandemic, the FDA gave temporary approval for the drug to be given to hospitalized flu patients, who are at risk of dying.
Another big unknown is just how safe—or dangerous—Tamiflu may be. According to an FDA spokesperson, side effects may include potentially fatal heart problems. If the drug is going to be used to prevent death, it seems reasonable to ask whether or not its potentially deadly side effects are outweighed by potential benefits. We asked the FDA whether it had required Roche to conduct an additional trial or trials looking at whether or not, on balance, the drug reduces more serious complications than it causes. This week, a spokesperson reported back that there has been no such request made to Roche.
All of which leaves open the question of why governments around the world have invested so much—on the order of $3 billion since the emergence of H1N1 last spring, according to investment bank, JP Morgan—in a drug that appears to do so little.
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| A compilation of stuff from this weekend. |
[14 Dec 2009|07:02pm] |
Great Blue Heron wading. Just liked the way the water reflected on his feathers.
Apple Snail - Chestnut Park
One of those random foliage shots - Chestnut Park
Baby alligator - Chestnut Park
White-tailed deer - Chestnut Park
Elegant fungi - Chestnut Park
Pair of Northern Cardinals - Seminole Lake Park
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| Interesting research on possible causes of unexplained chronic pain |
[13 Dec 2009|06:06pm] |
"Researchers report that the human body has an entirely unique and separate sensory system aside from the nerves that give most of us the ability to touch and feel. Surprisingly, this sensory network is located throughout our blood vessels and sweat glands, and is for most people, largely imperceptible. This discovery may shed light on the causes of unexplained chronic pain conditions such as fibromyalgia."
Read more:
http://www.physorg.com/news179482563.html
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| Finally some good news -The World’s Fastest Animal Takes New York |
[13 Dec 2009|09:54am] |
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/The-Worlds-Fastest-Animal-Takes-New-York.html
There is a reason fighter jets and football teams are named after falcons. At their standard cruising speed of 40 miles per hour, peregrines are apace with pigeons and many other birds that are the basis for their diet, but falcons can go into overdrive in an aerial feat known as a stoop. They rise dozens of feet above their prey, tuck their wings in tightly against their bodies, and dive – a furious, feathered mission. The fastest animal on earth, they have been clocked at over 200 miles per hour as they descend upon their target, balling up their talons to stun their prey and then – supremely agile, able to turn upside down with a quick flip of the wing – scooping up their meal.
Watch a peregrine in full dive mode:
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[12 Dec 2009|03:41pm] |
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she asked me "why can't you do what i want?" that's what i would ask someone else if i was stupid
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| time.... |
[11 Dec 2009|01:03pm] |
ok. ya. so, time... it was weird for me when i did the madness thing. i heard this analogy before, think it was by alan watts... we look through a hole in a fence and see a cat's head, then a body, then a tail. then we see it again walking in the other direction. head, body, tail. so, having a rational mind, we guess that head must cause body which leads to tail. but if we could jump the fence and really look at it, we'd see that really it's all one. i think maybe, all existence is like that. flows together in a way that is much more fluid and continuous than we normally think - things mutually arise, rather than fall like dominoes. based on resonance (like in music) and connections that we sometimes see and sometimes don't. if time is just a human construct, and if everything really is in the midst of its happening... then everything would affect everything else. the past would affect the present which would affect the future. (wagging the tail would affect the eyes of the cat) but also the other way around too. (the eyes of the cat would affect the wagging of the tail) our present, our actions, thoughts, feelings, everything, affects every other thing in existence, the future, the past, other times and places. maybe other dimensions too. so i think rather than waiting for a heaven, whether its a million years from now or after we die or whatever, knowing that it exists now, even though i might not be able to see it, and that my crying and dancing helps it in its birth of itself. :)
*from a conversation i had with carol*
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| word. |
[10 Dec 2009|08:22pm] |
Artists: Raise Your Weapons
by Stephanie ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) mcmillan
In this time of escalating exploitation, poverty, imperialist wars, torture and ecocide, we don’t need a piece of art that consists of a mattress dripping orange paint, cleverly titled “Tangerine Dream.” In this time, as countless multitudes suffer and die for the profits and luxuries of a few, as species go extinct at a rate faster than we can keep track of, we don’t need an orchestra composed of iPhones. In this time, when the future of all life on Earth is at stake, spare us the constant barrage of narcissistic tweets juxtaposing celeb gossip with quirky food choices.
If we lived in a time of peace and harmony, then creating pretty, escapist, seratonin-boosting hits of mild amusement wouldn’t be a crime (except perhaps against one’s Muse). If all was well, such art might enhance our happy existence, like whipped cream on a chocolate latte. There’s nothing wrong with pleasure, or decorative art.
But in times like these, for an artist not to devote her/his talents and energies to creating cultural weapons of resistance is a betrayal of the worst magnitude, a gesture of contempt against life itself. It is unforgivable.
The foundation of any culture is its underlying economic system. Today, art is bullied to conform to the demands of industrial capitalism, to reflect and reinforce the interests of those in power. This system-serving art is relentlessly bland. It is viciously soothing, crushingly safe. It seduces us to desire, buy, use, consume. It entertains us and makes us giggle with faux joy as it slowly sucks our brains out through our eye sockets.
The system exerts tremendous pressure to create art that is not only apolitical but anti-political. When the dominant culture spots political art, it sticks its fingers in its ears and sings, “La la la!” It refuses to review it in the New York Times or award it an NEA grant. Political art is vigorously snubbed, ignored, condemned to obscurity, erased. If it’s too powerful to make disappear, then it is scorned, accused of being depressing, doom-and-gloom, preachy, impolite, and by the way, your drawing style sucks. Also by the way, you can’t make a living if your work’s not vacuous, cynical and therefore commercially viable, so go starve under a bridge with your precious principles.
We’re taught that it’s rude to be judgmental, that to assert a point of view violates the pure, transcendent and neutral spirit of art. This is mind-fucking bullshit designed to weaken and depoliticize us. In these times, there is no such thing as neutrality -- not taking a stand means supporting and assisting exploiters and murderers.
Let us not be the system’s tools or fools. Artists are not cowards and weaklings -- we’re tough. We take sides. We fight back.
Artists and writers have a proud tradition of being at the forefront of resistance, of stirring emotions and inspiring action. Today we must create an onslaught of judgmental, opinionated, brash and partisan work in the tradition of anti-Nazi artists John Heartfield and George Grosz, of radical muralist Diego Rivera, filmmaker Ousmane Sembčne, feminist artists the Guerrilla Girls, novelists like Maxim Gorky and Taslima Nasrin, poets like Nazim Hikmet and Kazi Nazrul Islam, musicians like The Coup and the Dead Kennedys.
The world cries out for meaningful, combative, political art. It is our duty and responsibility to create a fierce, unyielding, aggressive culture of resistance. We must create art that exposes and denounces evil, that strengthens activists and revolutionaries, celebrates and contributes to the coming liberation of this planet from corporate industrial military omnicidal madness.
Pick up your weapon, artist.
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/12/10-1
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[10 Dec 2009|08:10am] |
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last night i was writing letters to friends and talking to friends on the phone and was feeling pretty sad and lonely i ended up calling this girl im friends with and we made plans to go play pool we were drinking and kissing a little but nothing too sexy or romantic or anything when i was driving her home she started kissing my neck and rubbing my pants and then started doing that one thing while i was driving it was pretty intense i was having a hard enough time driving straight before all that i turned into this nice neighborhood and was driving really slow and looking at all the christmas lights that was a first for me though then when i got home me and my brother talked for hours about this weed smoking competition were gonna have this sunday i had a dream that me and these two girls were driving around smoking and it was really foggy and early in the morning and we were hungry and went to mcdonalds and it was closed so we had to break in i just broke a glass door with a big rock and they made coffee and i went in the back and started to cook hamburgers and stuff then cops showed up and ordered all kinds of different things from me then they went and sat with my friends and they were flirting with them and i got really jealous and poured myself a beer from an icecream dispenser and i was drinking that and spitting some of it on the grill and watching it boil and steam and soak into the burgers now i cant sleep i feel sore down there im all scraped up from teeth sundays going to be for real crazy i havent smoked in like 8 months
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