Monday, July 31, 2006
Monday, July 17, 2006
THIS IS FUN
The red indicates how much of Florida will be underwater if sea level rises 6 meters.Create your own maps of sea level rise courtesy of the University of Arizona Enviromental Studies Laboratory:
Sunday, July 16, 2006
DR. OMED SEES AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH
Yes, pilgrims and seekers, Dr. Omed hied himself to the megamulticineplex to see the movie starring the ex-next President of the United States, An Inconvenient Truth. I gave it to myself as a treat after a long, hot, tiring work day. When I left the workplace at 5:15pm the outside temperature was 103 degrees feloniously Fahrenheit. The A/C in my windowless cubicle in Hell is supposed to keep the temperature pegged at 72 degrees, but when all the equipment is running and the summer sun is blazing down on the flat roof of the building, it just can’t keep up. The idea of sitting in a dark, cool movie theater suddenly became very appealing when I got into my un-airconditioned car, and I yielded to the whim.
I arrived just in time to catch the 5:30 showing, paid eight dollars for the movie, and four bucks for a large diet coke, and was in my seat just in time to catch the last half of the last preview (for Who Killed the Electric Car), the kill-your-babies-and-turn-off-your-cell-phones-you-morons courtesy message, and then the film rolled. I think there were about 8-10 other people in the auditorium, all of them adults (by which I mean I think they were all 40 or above) and not one made a noise through the entire film.
Gore is a very bright man, and deploys his facts (and a light sprinkling of Micheal-Moore-ish factoids) very effectively, eloquently, and with passionate élan. This movie is not a partisan fuckyoumentary in the Moore style, tho’ Gore gets in a few jabs at the hunka hunka burning Bush et alia. It is a substantive and powerful presentation of Al Gore’s crusade, his quest to save his honor, American democracy, and human civilization itself, from itself, with his “slide show.” Gore is a modern Don Quixote with an Apple laptop instead of a lance, but Gore’s windmills really are giants.
The images, graphs, and graphics of this…ultimate hyper-PowerPoint presentation…have a visceral impact, even tho’ I knew most of the information contained in them. At the end of the film, Gore winds up and makes his pitch; he says (I paraphrase here since my verbal memory is one with the snows of yesteryear, like all those glaciers) that we—we, the American people, the greatest environmental sinners in the global passion play—already have everything we need, every tool, every resource, save the will, the political will, to do the job of reversing global warming. Gore says we can do it, we can summon the political will to save ourselves from ourselves in this “era of consequences” and he says it like he believes it.
But as the credits rolled and the soundtrack segued into a Melissa Etheridge song, I sat in the dark with tears leaking out of the corners of my eyes, not because of the sobering message passionately conveyed, but because I didn’t believe him.
I don’t believe we will save ourselves. I don’t think the American people can summon the political will to force the necessary changes on our government and our elites; I don’t think we have time if we could. Fred won’t let me believe it. The movie soundtrack playing in my head was “Man of La Mancha.”
I arrived just in time to catch the 5:30 showing, paid eight dollars for the movie, and four bucks for a large diet coke, and was in my seat just in time to catch the last half of the last preview (for Who Killed the Electric Car), the kill-your-babies-and-turn-off-your-cell-phones-you-morons courtesy message, and then the film rolled. I think there were about 8-10 other people in the auditorium, all of them adults (by which I mean I think they were all 40 or above) and not one made a noise through the entire film.
Gore is a very bright man, and deploys his facts (and a light sprinkling of Micheal-Moore-ish factoids) very effectively, eloquently, and with passionate élan. This movie is not a partisan fuckyoumentary in the Moore style, tho’ Gore gets in a few jabs at the hunka hunka burning Bush et alia. It is a substantive and powerful presentation of Al Gore’s crusade, his quest to save his honor, American democracy, and human civilization itself, from itself, with his “slide show.” Gore is a modern Don Quixote with an Apple laptop instead of a lance, but Gore’s windmills really are giants.
The images, graphs, and graphics of this…ultimate hyper-PowerPoint presentation…have a visceral impact, even tho’ I knew most of the information contained in them. At the end of the film, Gore winds up and makes his pitch; he says (I paraphrase here since my verbal memory is one with the snows of yesteryear, like all those glaciers) that we—we, the American people, the greatest environmental sinners in the global passion play—already have everything we need, every tool, every resource, save the will, the political will, to do the job of reversing global warming. Gore says we can do it, we can summon the political will to save ourselves from ourselves in this “era of consequences” and he says it like he believes it.
But as the credits rolled and the soundtrack segued into a Melissa Etheridge song, I sat in the dark with tears leaking out of the corners of my eyes, not because of the sobering message passionately conveyed, but because I didn’t believe him.
I don’t believe we will save ourselves. I don’t think the American people can summon the political will to force the necessary changes on our government and our elites; I don’t think we have time if we could. Fred won’t let me believe it. The movie soundtrack playing in my head was “Man of La Mancha.”
Friday, July 14, 2006
LET THEM EAT CAKE
On July 14, 1789, the people of Paris stormed the Bastille Prison, where the enemies of the regime of King Louis XVI were held incognito and without trial.
GRENDEL'S LOST SOCK: THOUGHT FOR TODAY
It's only the middle of July, and it's beginning to feel a lot like August, 1914. Kaiser Willehm and Der Dubya are beginning to look like bookends. "The Gods have abandoned us like migrating birds; unburied bodies melt like rendered fat in sun," a Babylonian scribe wrote, once upon a time, 3000 years ago. Happy Bastille Day.
Thursday, July 13, 2006
GRENDEL'S LOST SOCK: THOUGHT FOR TODAY
The best liars are those people who think themselves honest and above board; indeed the best way to lie is by telling the truth, in the same way that the best way to keep a secret is not to tell anyone, including yourself.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
