1/20/2006
1/19/2006
Farm On
When we left the experimental farm we had to catch the number 3 back downtown. While we waited we both notice this snow sheep.
1/18/2006
Pop Music
I think my favourite pop song has to be " Cruel to Be Kind" by Nick Lowe. I first heard it in a compound in Saudi Arabia. The radio then was full of Foreigner, Styx, Queen, ELO, The VIllage People, The Bee Gees, songs from the Wall and a whole lot of obscure (to me at the time) British pop. I'll never forget the lyrics and the chord changes from this song. It sounded so fresh and cool that late afternoon in 1978. Oh and clever:
"You say your love is bonafide
But that don't coincide"
With lyrics like that is it any surprise that Nick Lowe and Elvis Costello were friends?
"You say your love is bonafide
But that don't coincide"
With lyrics like that is it any surprise that Nick Lowe and Elvis Costello were friends?
1/17/2006
Leslie has a near photographic memory and she recalled from her visit in the summer that there was a knitting shop somewhwere along Bank Street. One Friday afternoon we wandered up Bank in search of it, but we didn't find it. We stopped just a block short, where the Queensway overpass dissects the city. We looked it up the next day and found it and many other surprises on the other side of that line including a brew pub and some really good home-made pizza at Nicastro's.
On our way back home we went into my favourite Ottawa pub, the Manx. It's not easy to find a variety of good beer on tap in Ottawa as there seems to be a monopoly by certain brands, however at the Manx they have McAuslan products like their Pale Ale and award winning Oatmeal Stout. (Oh Montreal if for nothing else I miss your true love of good beer!) Other things I like about the Manx is the ambience and the food. Ecletic and healthy fare unlike most pubs in this town.
By the time we left it was dark out. Confederation Park was filled with coloured Christmas lights but the holiday season was coming to a close...
as evidenced by these guys taking down this giant wreath (with the lights still plugged in?).
No flash
With flash
On our way back home we went into my favourite Ottawa pub, the Manx. It's not easy to find a variety of good beer on tap in Ottawa as there seems to be a monopoly by certain brands, however at the Manx they have McAuslan products like their Pale Ale and award winning Oatmeal Stout. (Oh Montreal if for nothing else I miss your true love of good beer!) Other things I like about the Manx is the ambience and the food. Ecletic and healthy fare unlike most pubs in this town.
By the time we left it was dark out. Confederation Park was filled with coloured Christmas lights but the holiday season was coming to a close...
as evidenced by these guys taking down this giant wreath (with the lights still plugged in?).
No flash
With flash
1/15/2006
Christmas
The holidays are over. Leslie is gone home and it's -27C outside with the wind. Time to recall Christmas fun. I managed not to gain any weight back even drinking beer (I just stayed away from everything else for the most part). We were only there for three days but it was a packed three days.
1/14/2006
1/05/2006
The Experimental Farm
We took a trip to the ominous sounding Experimental Farm today (probably why it's referred to as the Agricultural Museum these days). We wandered around the snowy landscape from barn to barn visiting horses, cattle, sheep pigs and a donkey. By the time we were done we smelled of the farm . The nice thing about it was that neither one of us cared. More photographs to come.
1/04/2006
Dangerous
From the The World Question Center:
The Edge Annual Question — 2006
WHAT IS YOUR DANGEROUS IDEA?
The history of science is replete with discoveries that were considered socially, morally, or emotionally dangerous in their time; the Copernican and Darwinian revolutions are the most obvious. What is your dangerous idea? An idea you think about (not necessarily one you originated) that is dangerous not because it is assumed to be false, but because it might be true?
The responses recieved from scientests, philosophers, mathematicians, psychologists and other thinkers provide enough food for thought to feed the world (although I'm not sure what Micheal Nesmith is doing here. Maybe I have underestimated the Monkees).
The Edge Annual Question — 2006
WHAT IS YOUR DANGEROUS IDEA?
The history of science is replete with discoveries that were considered socially, morally, or emotionally dangerous in their time; the Copernican and Darwinian revolutions are the most obvious. What is your dangerous idea? An idea you think about (not necessarily one you originated) that is dangerous not because it is assumed to be false, but because it might be true?
The responses recieved from scientests, philosophers, mathematicians, psychologists and other thinkers provide enough food for thought to feed the world (although I'm not sure what Micheal Nesmith is doing here. Maybe I have underestimated the Monkees).
1/02/2006
Birthday Wishes
Thank you to everyone for your Birthday wishes. I've saved Killer Kane's phone song as it makes me laugh so much. I'll have to try to record it onto an mp3. I'm feeling a lot better whereas Leslie had to go see a doctor today to get some antibiotics. Not too fun for her but surprisingly still cheaper for her than making the same visit in Colorado without insurance.
Photo by Siobhán
Photo by Siobhán
12/31/2005
We drove down and had a nice family Christmas. The kids were excited to see me and were really happy to meet Leslie. My 3 year old niece really liked having another "girl" around and wanted Leslie to sleep in her bed. I managed to be good and didn't put on any weight (I've lost 12lbs since November) even though I drank beer every day. We both ended up very sick though from some kind of bug and Leslie has been sleeping all day. I hope she is feeling better for tonight's activities.
I turned 40 today and it's actually feeling like a big relief. I was more upset when I turned 39. I think that it's because that was the last year of my 30s and now I feel like I'm starting something new. Hurray for 40.
I turned 40 today and it's actually feeling like a big relief. I was more upset when I turned 39. I think that it's because that was the last year of my 30s and now I feel like I'm starting something new. Hurray for 40.
12/20/2005
A Winter Sigh
Dear Leslie is sleeping, curled up under blankets as warm as a bundle of fresh laundry. She is lovely even as she dreams.
12/15/2005
Leslie Day
Im off to the airport soon to meet Leslie who is in O'Hare right now waiting for her flight to Ottawa
or as they say at the Denver airport Oh Tawaugh. Speaking of which she just called. A little bit closer. Her flight however has been delayed half an hour. Well what's 30 minutes when you've waited 3.5 months. Forever that's what it feels like at least. There's alot of snow called for this evening so I'm glad she has a clear day for flying. At least it's clear on this end. Now I better go walk Luna.
or as they say at the Denver airport Oh Tawaugh. Speaking of which she just called. A little bit closer. Her flight however has been delayed half an hour. Well what's 30 minutes when you've waited 3.5 months. Forever that's what it feels like at least. There's alot of snow called for this evening so I'm glad she has a clear day for flying. At least it's clear on this end. Now I better go walk Luna.
12/14/2005
Whoo Hooo!
Like it says above, tomorrow is the big day. To say that I am excited is an understatement. In fact I am too full of energy too focus long enough to write anything here. So I'll just say this. Whoo Hooo!
12/13/2005
The Grin Who Stole Christmas
It was cold outside this morning. So cold that the wires on my walkman (doesn't that sound dated) were as stiff as a coathanger. The sun shone from behind a panel of cut glass blue sky. I woke up a bit later than a normally would having stayed up late finsihing The Haunting of Hill House, a novel from 1959 about strange manifestations in an isolated and unamed location. I've have been reading it roughly following the structure of one night in the story as one nights reading. It is eerie but fun in that way.
The bright day was invigoratingly at odds with the dreary and sullen tones of the novel. I awoke fresh and lively and excited. I love the cold brisk days just before Christmas. This year is extra special. In fact I haven't been so happy in years. What a nice thing to be able to say. I swear as I walked Luna down the street everyone I met gave me a grin. I guess I was grinning first. I must have been, because I checked to make sure my fly wasn't open and it wasn't.
The bright day was invigoratingly at odds with the dreary and sullen tones of the novel. I awoke fresh and lively and excited. I love the cold brisk days just before Christmas. This year is extra special. In fact I haven't been so happy in years. What a nice thing to be able to say. I swear as I walked Luna down the street everyone I met gave me a grin. I guess I was grinning first. I must have been, because I checked to make sure my fly wasn't open and it wasn't.
12/12/2005
Tis the Season to Be Healthy
I've had to change my diet and adopt an exercise regimen recently following doctors recommendations and I have to say it's been a good thing. The results more energy and a loss of 12 lbs of excess body weight over the last month. It hasn't been a difficult switch but that's only one month the hard part will be sticking to it long term. However with Leslie arriving in a few days I will have a good partner to help me stick to my guns through the myriad holiday temptations that await.
12/11/2005
12/08/2005
7 Days
We are now in the final week of the countdown until Leslie arrives. It's going to be "the Best Christmas Ever!" She has a new down filled coat and she's going to need it. It's c-c-c-c-old.
The kind of cold where the exhaust from smokestacks looks almost solid. Only 7 days but it is this last stretch that feels the longest.
The kind of cold where the exhaust from smokestacks looks almost solid. Only 7 days but it is this last stretch that feels the longest.
Size Matters
A while ago I was reading up on the construction of skyscrapers and in particular a history of the Chrysler Building in New York. I got to wondering what the tallest buildings in the world were at the present. As it turns out 5 of them are in China and a total of 8 are in the far east. This made me think about the realtionship between power and architecture. The skyscraper was indeed developed not only to eek the greatest value out of the smallest amount of real estate but as a visible symbol of status and physical embodiement of wealth.
There is a certain irony in this comment of Chrysler Building contemporary, Arthur Dewing, "Just as the rulers and great nobles of Europe, the princes of India, and the long line of Chinese dynasts, used architecture to exalt themselves in their publics' eyes, and as the surest monument to their achievements, so do our industrial rulers act today." North American Review (no.231, 1931: 591-6).
I wouldn't be the first person to note the symbolic intentions of the men who brought down the World Trade Center. Not only did their target cause intense physical destruction and emotional pain it hit at what was perhaps the most tangible representation of a nation's preeminance. In bringing it down there was also psychological shock. Neither is it a matter of chance that the proposed redevelopmet of the former WTC site would be dominated by the Freedom Tower which would stand taller than any building today at 1,776 feet high. The symbolic message that height conveys is clear one (1776 should be a significant number to anyone familiar with American history).
The skyscraper is one of the quintessential American symbols. The great cities of America are decisively recognizable sihoulettes of spires. Aggregates of skyscrapers literally create new landscapes that challenge the natural scenery with messages of the nations towering wealth, American technological know-how and sheer power (I haven't even delved into the phallocentricity of the structures). So what does it say to the world that 8 out of ten of the tallest buildings are in Asia, while wealth and production find themselves centered there to a greater extent than ever before? Is it simply that the buildings go up where the money is, or are other nations speaking the American language of status back to America? Are they too competing, as the Chrysler corporation put it in a promotional booklet on its famed building, to reach "into the empyrean... seeking to pierce the ever- unfathomable blue above".
There is a certain irony in this comment of Chrysler Building contemporary, Arthur Dewing, "Just as the rulers and great nobles of Europe, the princes of India, and the long line of Chinese dynasts, used architecture to exalt themselves in their publics' eyes, and as the surest monument to their achievements, so do our industrial rulers act today." North American Review (no.231, 1931: 591-6).
I wouldn't be the first person to note the symbolic intentions of the men who brought down the World Trade Center. Not only did their target cause intense physical destruction and emotional pain it hit at what was perhaps the most tangible representation of a nation's preeminance. In bringing it down there was also psychological shock. Neither is it a matter of chance that the proposed redevelopmet of the former WTC site would be dominated by the Freedom Tower which would stand taller than any building today at 1,776 feet high. The symbolic message that height conveys is clear one (1776 should be a significant number to anyone familiar with American history).
The skyscraper is one of the quintessential American symbols. The great cities of America are decisively recognizable sihoulettes of spires. Aggregates of skyscrapers literally create new landscapes that challenge the natural scenery with messages of the nations towering wealth, American technological know-how and sheer power (I haven't even delved into the phallocentricity of the structures). So what does it say to the world that 8 out of ten of the tallest buildings are in Asia, while wealth and production find themselves centered there to a greater extent than ever before? Is it simply that the buildings go up where the money is, or are other nations speaking the American language of status back to America? Are they too competing, as the Chrysler corporation put it in a promotional booklet on its famed building, to reach "into the empyrean... seeking to pierce the ever- unfathomable blue above".
New species are discovered all the time but often they are insects. A new mammal species is a very rare event. This creature presently dubbed the "cat-fox" was recently discovered in Borneo.
12/05/2005
Who Said It?
Chronic remorse, as all the moralists are agreed, is a most undesirable sentiment. If you have behaved badly, repent, make what amends you can and address yourself to the task of behaving better next time. On no account brood over your wrongdoing. Rolling in the muck is not the best way of getting clean.
12/02/2005
12/01/2005
11/30/2005
Akkadian Driftwood
It's stating the obvious to say that dreams are strange. In fact it is normal that dreams are strange. Once in a while a particular dream experience stands out. Last night I was involved in a project with two women in which we were writing a paper on the Akkadians, a people who lived in ancient Mesopotamia. As part of the project I was going to create a timeline that summarised Akkadian history and then create a web page that displayed significant Akkadian cultural artifacts. As in many dreams the goal I set out for myself could not be achieved. I would get on the wrong bus, or be delayed and distracted by people I met. At one point I managed to make it to a reference book and found that there was no entry for Akkadians. There were "Ai" entries like "Airplane" and "Al" entries like "Alberta" but there were no "Ak" entries in the book. Someone asked me if I was sure that the Akkadians existed. I said that I was certain, but then I began to doubt myself. I spent most of the dream night searching for references to the Akkadians. At one point I was in a library/museum and there was a great stone statue in the middle of the room. It had pieces missing from it but from inside came noise. Clanking and humming. It frightened me but at the same time I felt this had something to do with the mystery of the Akkadians. At one point the statue rumbled and we all fled from the building on a cart of hay pulled by donkeys.
I woke up with the strong feeling that my task was incomplete so I looked up the Akkadians on the internet. This is what I found:
The Akkadian Empire was established by Sargon I after the Akkadians conquered the Sumerians. It existed from approximately 2340 BCE to 2180 BCE. The capital was Akkad which may have been located where Babylon later came to be. The language of Akkadina was a Semitic language. After Sargon's death the empire continued to expand until around 2180 BCE the Gutians invaded from the Zagros in the north and Elamites joined them in rebellion paving the way for the creation of the Sumerian empire. At its height, the empire covered the lands from Anatolia in the north to inner Persia in the east, Arabia in the south, and the Mediterranean in the west.
I woke up with the strong feeling that my task was incomplete so I looked up the Akkadians on the internet. This is what I found:
The Akkadian Empire was established by Sargon I after the Akkadians conquered the Sumerians. It existed from approximately 2340 BCE to 2180 BCE. The capital was Akkad which may have been located where Babylon later came to be. The language of Akkadina was a Semitic language. After Sargon's death the empire continued to expand until around 2180 BCE the Gutians invaded from the Zagros in the north and Elamites joined them in rebellion paving the way for the creation of the Sumerian empire. At its height, the empire covered the lands from Anatolia in the north to inner Persia in the east, Arabia in the south, and the Mediterranean in the west.
11/29/2005
Grown
Leslie is always showing me these really intersting web sites with puzzles, illusions and general fun and strangeness. I asked her why she doesn't post links to these things. I said if you don't I might as well. So this weeks borrowed discovery is Grow Cube. Choose the right sequence and watch marvelous things happen.
Any Major Dude
One of the things that always made Steely Dan strange (besides being named after a dildo from William S. Burroughs Naked Lunch) were their lyrics. On the one hand they were the epotomy of LA cocaine smooth production, on the other hand they loved jazz more than rock and wrote songs about deviants, perverts and ne're do wells wrapped in something so palitable you didn't know you what you were swallowing until it was too late. One of my favourite Steely Dan songs is Any Major Dude. A song which Wilco covers live by the way. It's not one of their stranger songs I think.
I never seen you looking so bad my funky one
You tell me that your superfine mind has come undone
Any major dude with half a heart surely will tell you my friend
Any minor world that breaks apart falls together again
When the demon is at your door
In the morning it won’t be there no more
Any major dude will tell you
Have you ever seen a squonk’s tears? well, look at mine
The people on the street have all seen better times
I can tell you all I know, the where to go, the what to do
You can try to run but you can’t hide from what’s inside of you
I never seen you looking so bad my funky one
You tell me that your superfine mind has come undone
Any major dude with half a heart surely will tell you my friend
Any minor world that breaks apart falls together again
When the demon is at your door
In the morning it won’t be there no more
Any major dude will tell you
Have you ever seen a squonk’s tears? well, look at mine
The people on the street have all seen better times
I can tell you all I know, the where to go, the what to do
You can try to run but you can’t hide from what’s inside of you
11/27/2005
Hot Sauce Recipe
Being a hot sauce lover I decided to try making my own hot sauce today. Here is the recipe I came up with:
3 tbsp red wine vinegar
1 tbsp lime juice
1 tsp cayenne powder
1 habanero pepper
1 cubanelle pepper
1 roasted jalapeno pepper
3-4 cloves of garlic
1/2 tomato
sprig of cilantro
fresh ground black pepper
salt to taste
Blend until smooth. For a thicker sauce cut back on the tomato.
I've decided to name this flaming delight, Leslie's Flaming Delight after her fiery red hair and delightful personality. I'll have to come up with a label.
3 tbsp red wine vinegar
1 tbsp lime juice
1 tsp cayenne powder
1 habanero pepper
1 cubanelle pepper
1 roasted jalapeno pepper
3-4 cloves of garlic
1/2 tomato
sprig of cilantro
fresh ground black pepper
salt to taste
Blend until smooth. For a thicker sauce cut back on the tomato.
I've decided to name this flaming delight, Leslie's Flaming Delight after her fiery red hair and delightful personality. I'll have to come up with a label.
11/26/2005
Slippery Devil
I went to see "Ice Harvest" the new film by Harold (Crazy Legs) Ramis, this evening. It's being marketed as being by the director of Caddy Shack and Groundhog Day, which is true but misleading, and as the season's Bad Santa, which is just a lie. What it is, is a was a deep dark film about male middle age crises wrapped in Quentin Tarantino violence as humour. It stars John Cusack as a corrupt mob lawyer and Billy Bob Thorton as his pornographer pal. Together they concoct a plan to steal 2 M$$$ and change from one of Cusack's mob clients (Randy Quaid). Shenanigans bleak and sordid follow. I quite enjoyed the film even though in places it slipped (haw haw). When it was funny it was very funny. Cusack's acting does manage to bring a lot of the undertow to the surface especially in his eyes. However it was trying hard to be something it never quite was. The ending reminded me in a funny way of the end of Midnight Cowboy where the Cowboy and Ratso Rizzo are on the bus headed for Florida. Boys who never fully grew up will probably relate to this the most.
11/25/2005
Weird Trees
My server provider for the Glob and Wail goofed up somewhere so I have not been accessible for the last couple of days. The problem seems to be rectified now but they didn't give me an explanation. I'm not at all happy about how hard it was to reach them either however there service is dirt cheap so I guess it's a case of getting what you paid for.
Meanwhile it snowed the other day; real snow. I went walking in it and saw these weird trees down along the Rideau River.
Meanwhile it snowed the other day; real snow. I went walking in it and saw these weird trees down along the Rideau River.
11/17/2005
Let it Snow
Childhood was an intense time full of what now seem extreme emotions and sensations. Fear, horror, anxiety, astonishment, delight, amazement, wonder and magic. Over the years these things for better or worse recede but when the first snowfall comes it still revives that old feeling of something exciting about to happen. Rather than try to put into words, I direct you to this, the last Calvin and Hobbes comic strip published on my 30th birthday in 1995. I know that it's easy to idealize childhood but for me this strip could be biographical.
Things That go Chomp in the Night
It's been a good month for paleontologists. Last week an intact skull of a newly discovered species of giant sea crocodile, Dakosaurus andiniensis, was located in Argentina. This week a relative of the mosasaur was found near Dallas and thus named Dallasaurus. Dakosaurus is dated at 135 million years ago, while Dallasaurus is dated at 92 million years ago.
11/16/2005
Shards
A few weeks ago Dave and I rented David Cronenberg's Spider. I think that it would make an interesting double feature with Mulholland Drive. The thing both films have in common is that the fractured narrative reflects the subjective experience of the main character. Some films will use this technique for dream sequences or other altered states of mind but these usually are at odds with the omniscient observational point of view of the rest of the film. In the case of Spider we are completely dependent on the point of view of Spider himself as to events. Spider however is mentally ill. What this means for the viewer is that fact and fancy are indistinguishable. As a viewer we cannot trust what we see anymore than Spider can trust his own memories. Spider spends much of his time in a halfway home trying to remember events of his past. In another way he is trying to reinvent his past. Like Betty/Dianne in Mulholland drive he seems to be shaping events to remember things as he wants them to have been rather than as they were.
As a viewer we are at a loss to know where the truth ends and the fabrication begins. Just as SPider cannot trust his own memory, the viewer cannot trust what is on the screen. Ultimately Spider struggles to maintain his illusions and as with Betty/Dianne reality bursts into fantasy uninvited. Sir Walter Scott's words "Oh what a tangled web we weave, When first we practise to deceive!" seems to apply to self-deception as much as lies intended for others.
Neither movie attempts to resolve the narrative. Endings are as open-ended as dreams both Spider and Betty/Dianne remain lost in their own worlds built out of guilt, disappointment and obsession.
The Fisher King might also serve as an interesting companion piece as a very different way of telling the story of a mentally ill individual. Whereas that movie romaticizes the illness, Spider is bleak and unsentimental and therefore the more disturbing of the two by far.
As a viewer we are at a loss to know where the truth ends and the fabrication begins. Just as SPider cannot trust his own memory, the viewer cannot trust what is on the screen. Ultimately Spider struggles to maintain his illusions and as with Betty/Dianne reality bursts into fantasy uninvited. Sir Walter Scott's words "Oh what a tangled web we weave, When first we practise to deceive!" seems to apply to self-deception as much as lies intended for others.
Neither movie attempts to resolve the narrative. Endings are as open-ended as dreams both Spider and Betty/Dianne remain lost in their own worlds built out of guilt, disappointment and obsession.
The Fisher King might also serve as an interesting companion piece as a very different way of telling the story of a mentally ill individual. Whereas that movie romaticizes the illness, Spider is bleak and unsentimental and therefore the more disturbing of the two by far.
11/15/2005
Gal Pal Val
Valerie came to visit last Tuesday evening, getting a ride up from New York with her friend also named Val. We hadn't seen each other for over two years but we picked up right away as if it had been two weeks. It was a lot colder here than she had expected so I had to lend her a heavy sweater and hat for trucking around outdoors.It was really nice having company, working and eating together. And great conversation! I'm really glad she was able to make it here and to boot we made a lot of progress on developing her new web site. I hope that it's not another two years before we meet in person once more.
11/12/2005
Glob & Wail Celebrates the 1000th Post
When Valerie heard that the Glob and Wail was celebrating it's 1000th posting she roared up on her private jet from NYC. Here she is in front of the Parliament building explaining what the Glob means to the future of mankind. I won't share the specific words since it wasn't very flattering.
I was going to right a big reflective essay on what the blog has meant to me to commemorate this occassion but that would require more effort than I'm willing to put in. However I will say that the Glob has been a means to rekindle old friendships, a way to make new friends. It opened the door to this wonderful friendship with Val. It was the the blog that brought Leslie, the love of my life, and I together. I can honestly say without a word of exaggeration that this blog was the conduit by which dreams have come true.
A special thank you to Bob for encouraging me to start this Blog in the summer of 2002.
I was going to right a big reflective essay on what the blog has meant to me to commemorate this occassion but that would require more effort than I'm willing to put in. However I will say that the Glob has been a means to rekindle old friendships, a way to make new friends. It opened the door to this wonderful friendship with Val. It was the the blog that brought Leslie, the love of my life, and I together. I can honestly say without a word of exaggeration that this blog was the conduit by which dreams have come true.
A special thank you to Bob for encouraging me to start this Blog in the summer of 2002.
Miscalculation
Ooops I noticed that I was mislabelling the posts. This is actually number 999 and tomorrow is the big number 1000th post. And boy do I have a surprise.
11/10/2005
11/08/2005
11/07/2005
11/04/2005
Imagine if the Internet were a Newspaper
I'm sure you are familiar with the World Weekly News. It was the template for about 75% of the internet with it's stories on conspiracies, aliens, girly pin-ups, freaks, bizarre sex, right wing inflammatory politics (ed anger), miracles and all sorts of pseudo-science and new agey hokum. It also seems to have served as inspiration for the X-files and our contemporary version of Pravada. Whether the WWN was serious or not is an open question, but my dear Grandmother (still reading newspapers at 91) believed. Especially in the religious miracles articles. She was never a believer in evolution and would probably be quite pleased with the path education in Kansas is taking these days. Bat boy is real dammit!!!
By the way only 6 more posts before the big 1,000. I still am not sure how to celebrate except maybe to climb to the top of the peace tower, guzzle down a bottle of Green Chartreuse and unfurl a Glob and Wail banner while I puke all over it. Does anyone NOT have any better ideas?
By the way only 6 more posts before the big 1,000. I still am not sure how to celebrate except maybe to climb to the top of the peace tower, guzzle down a bottle of Green Chartreuse and unfurl a Glob and Wail banner while I puke all over it. Does anyone NOT have any better ideas?
11/03/2005
Top Ten Useless Limbs and Other Vestigial Organs
As compiled from Livescience.com
10. Wings on Flightless Birds
09. Hind Leg Bones in Whales
08. Erector Pili and Body Hair on Humans
07.The Human Tailbone (Coccyx)
06. The Blind Fish Astyanax Mexicanus
05. Wisdom Teeth in Humans
04. The Sexual Organs of Dandelions
03. Fake Sex in Virgin Whiptail Lizards (Vestigial Behavior)
02. Male Breast Tissue and Nipples
01. The Human Appendix
My biggest question is why are there so many examples from humans? It seems to me that male breast tissue and nipples in the great apes is equally vestigial. Is the appendix truly vestigial just because the body can function when it's removed? The pinkie can be removed, even a whole hand and a person can still live. Perhaps the function of the appendix is subtle. Not knowing somethings function is simply not knowing the function. In 1893, Robert Wiedersheim identified 86 human organs that had no known function as being vestigial. As for human hair pubic hair and armpit hair probably does have functionality. The idea that something can be designated useful/useless like an on /off switch is questionable to me. I think it's probably more useful to speak in terms of degree of importance. Just as one can live without a legs it does make life more difficult. A person can't live without a heart. A person can live quite easily without eyebrows, but they are convenient. Being non-essential is not quite the same thing as being useless and therefore vestigial. While many creationists like to take apart the concept of vestigial organs for obvious reasons my beef is not with evolutionary theory, rather it is with the taxonomy of things.
10. Wings on Flightless Birds
09. Hind Leg Bones in Whales
08. Erector Pili and Body Hair on Humans
07.The Human Tailbone (Coccyx)
06. The Blind Fish Astyanax Mexicanus
05. Wisdom Teeth in Humans
04. The Sexual Organs of Dandelions
03. Fake Sex in Virgin Whiptail Lizards (Vestigial Behavior)
02. Male Breast Tissue and Nipples
01. The Human Appendix
My biggest question is why are there so many examples from humans? It seems to me that male breast tissue and nipples in the great apes is equally vestigial. Is the appendix truly vestigial just because the body can function when it's removed? The pinkie can be removed, even a whole hand and a person can still live. Perhaps the function of the appendix is subtle. Not knowing somethings function is simply not knowing the function. In 1893, Robert Wiedersheim identified 86 human organs that had no known function as being vestigial. As for human hair pubic hair and armpit hair probably does have functionality. The idea that something can be designated useful/useless like an on /off switch is questionable to me. I think it's probably more useful to speak in terms of degree of importance. Just as one can live without a legs it does make life more difficult. A person can't live without a heart. A person can live quite easily without eyebrows, but they are convenient. Being non-essential is not quite the same thing as being useless and therefore vestigial. While many creationists like to take apart the concept of vestigial organs for obvious reasons my beef is not with evolutionary theory, rather it is with the taxonomy of things.
11/01/2005
Vote Wal -Mart
When a corporation models its relationship to the public along the lines of a political campaign it's long past time to pull on the reigns. Coming after the popuar success of "Super-Size Me" comes the activist documentary, "Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price". In response Wal-Mart has commissioned its own film, "Why Wal-Mart Works & Why That Makes Some People Crazy." They even have there own blog just to show you how grass-rootsy they are. Although at the time of this writing they don't have a very good Google presence (I almost wrote web-presence and the fact that it may amount to the same thing is another story). Most of the references after a quick google are in reference to the movie "Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price." If my own home town is any indication, people in small towns do love Wal-mart. This of course is a distinct issue from whether they run an ethical business. How different is it from anyother large North American corporation in its practices? Is it a paragon or a parasite or none of the above.
In a sense this is typical marketing in that Wal-Mart is getting it's message out. However the interesting thing to me here is that they are responding to a perceived threat and then incorporating the threats method as it's own. Another way to look at it might be that they are being forced to play on the battlefield as defined by their foe. That is what I think is different. Fighting the battle "over there" so it doesn't have to be fought "over here" doesn't seem like it always works however.
In a sense this is typical marketing in that Wal-Mart is getting it's message out. However the interesting thing to me here is that they are responding to a perceived threat and then incorporating the threats method as it's own. Another way to look at it might be that they are being forced to play on the battlefield as defined by their foe. That is what I think is different. Fighting the battle "over there" so it doesn't have to be fought "over here" doesn't seem like it always works however.