Blogs
Daniel Ellsberg weighs in on the NSA leaks
Daniel Ellsberg, leaker of the Pentagon Papers, has a few choice things to say regarding Edward Snowden’s current leak of NSA documents. I find it curious that this issue is being treated as if it is new and suddenly urgent, when it has been a matter of concern...Now that Racism isn't a Problem…
Back from vacation today and I still have sand in my shoes. Takeaway from Connecticut shoreline visit: Connecticut beachgoers love them private beaches. If they only had walk-throughs allowed, it wouldn’t be so absurd. We’re talking razorwire, machine gun...Friday Listening
Two musicians I’ve recently heard for the first time: Bambi Lee Savage and Anna Calvi. They are similar in some ways, offering moody, expansive songs with heavy guitar presence. Calvi sports about as huge a Telecaster plus Vox AC30 tone as you’re likely to...Gun control via actuaries
The experiment begins: here’s what’s happened in Kansas with a new law allowing school staff and faculty to carry concealed weapons– The EMC Insurance Cos. insures 85 percent to 90 percent of all Kansas school districts and has refused to renew...The Plight of the Modern Author: Anakana Schofield
Canadian author Anakana Schofield offers a provocative and scathing takedown of the current plight of the author. She also touches on (in the bold below) the problem all writing teachers face: you simply can’t teach someone to write who hasn’t read. Even...Worldometer
Just stumbled upon Worldometers. It induces a weird sort of urgency to see the numbers, in real time, on things like births, deaths, energy, population, media and more. Check it out, and see if your brain doesn’t go a wee bit wobbly, too.Worldometer
Just stumbled upon Worldometers. It induces a weird sort of urgency to see the numbers, in real time, on things like births, deaths, energy, population, media and more. Check it out, and see if your brain doesn’t go a wee bit wobbly, too.Good Guys without Guns
Somehow I think Wayne LaPierre isn’t going to amend or complicate his binary good guy/bad guy gun talk. It is nonetheless interesting that what stopped the recent gunman in Pennsylvania was a pair of good guys without guns: “[Bernie Kozen and Mark Kresh]...An incredible piece of audio
Listened to the audio of Antoinette Tuff’s 911 call in which she talks down the potential school shooter in Georgia? The woman certainly has a lot of grace under fire. The most astounding thing in it: she tells the shooter she loves him and is proud of him for...R.I.P. Seamus Heaney
One of the great voices of Ireland has died at 74. Here’s the Irish Times piece. Below is the Heaney broadside I am fortunate to have on my wall at home:A Big Bad Bollock
At present, I’m at work on the next Advocate cover story, a catch-up with John Allen of Big Bad Bollocks fame. He’s compiled a set of tales of his English upbringing and pursuit of America called Marmite Cowboy. Along with it, you’ll find this highly...Bad, Broken
Today is a weird day for me: I don’t have cable, so I don’t usually see shows as they are aired. For that matter, I seldom care about any TV show. But today, I am quite in thrall to what is, I think, the best drama on the airwaves since The Wire. Most of...This Does Not Bode Well
It’s hard to pull yourself up by the bootstraps, American Dream-style, if you aren’t clear on the concept. Via AP: In math, reading and problem-solving using technology — all skills considered critical for global competitiveness and economic strength...The Shutdown: brought to you by the Religious Right
The intransigence we’ve seen of late from the Tea Party minority in the GOP is just the tip of the iceberg. The motivations are becoming clearer, and the source of this great “we’re gonna get our way even though we are a small minority”...Showdown at the Blue Mesa Grill: Guns and Lunch
Hard to know quite how to feel about the tempest that resulted when four members of the organization Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense got together for a lunchtime chat at Blue Mesa Grill in Arlington, Texas (a few miles from my own home turf, as it happens). Members...More Complete Numbers on Obamacare
Obamacare is hardly an unqualified success, but the folks who want to return to the status quo are clearly not a majority, despite the current caterwauling. Interesting stuff via a CNN/ORC poll: A CNN/ORC International poll also indicates nearly six in 10 Americans...Gun Control: Homicides, Suicides, Accidents; Raccoon Man for Governor!
Back in the saddle after a mad round of holiday, family, friends, birthdays, and such. Been a good December. Since my most faithtful reader needs a place for his orphan comment, here’s a subject to which his commentary might appropriately be appended. Long story...A New England Question
This morning, I filled up with gas at a station on a busy corner. Across the street were businesses and restaurants. I wore my warmest gloves, but of course holding onto a metal gas nozzle for a couple of minutes when it’s 7 degrees and windy makes your hands...Books–who knew?
When I read this article–“Why I Dropped eBooks”–I didn’t feel older than before I read it, just something like amused. I would have called it “Why I Never Adopted eBooks.” It’s someone discovering that, by gum,...From the Stranger than Fiction Department
If you need some truly wild reading (and viewing), check out this case of supposed possession, documented by case workers, police, and the clergy. And all of it in contemporary Indiana.In which we fix “America the Beautiful” for Republicans
I despise television advertising. I’m convinced watching the stuff lowers your IQ within seconds. However, the conservative collective freakout over Coca-Cola’s “America the Beautiful” ad is entertainment of the first water. No absurd...Music of the Spheres?
Ever checked out the Hieronymous Bosch painting “The Garden of Earthy Delights”? Not one for spawning sweet dreams. We’re talking mangled people, half-animal monstrosities, all manner of disgusting detritus realized on a sprawling, impressive scale....Now we know where they'll remake Logan's Run
Go ahead, guess where this futuristic stage set exists. I know, I know–too easy. It is, of course, Astana, Kazakhstan. German photographer Frank Herfort has travelled all over the former Soviet Union documenting the bizarre and futuristic buildings that have...Guns, Army bases and Clintonian power grabs
Goldang Clinton, undermining the military! Have you heard? Bill C. took the guns away from soldiers–on their own bases! They said so on the TV! However, the Department of Defense directive stating this policy dates to February of 1992. That would be under the...From felgercarb to transcendent
Like a lot of folks who were kids in the Star Wars era, I’ve got a major soft spot for science fiction. It’s the idiot savant of genres. So much of it is bad that it’s hard to hold one’s head high and proclaim love for it, but when it’s...The Future is a Weird Place
You often hear that Tokyo is the closest thing we have to a city of the future. Sometimes that idea leads to a conundrum: are we destined for a future full of bizarre cultural trends, or is that just Japan? There is something singularly odd about certain trends that...From the Department of “If You Can't Beat 'Em, Join 'Em”
I’ve heard of shifiting your platform, but this is more of a political Hail Mary than enlisting Sarah Palin for VP. Truly spectacular. From the Arizona Capital Times: Scott Fistler didn’t have much luck as a Republican candidate. He lost a 2012 write-in...When Frenchmen get riled
Petanque is a serious game. And we’re talking deadly serious. If you don’t know the game, well–and may the saints of southern France forgive me for saying so–imagine bocci, only with pastis and lots of Frenchmen. Oh, and death threats. It is,...Butterfly Effect Indeed
I wonder if the first person to find him- or herself uncharacteristically pale for a human had any inkling what that small and personal mutation would lead to in 10,000 years? Astonishing: All instances of a gene mutation that contributes to light skin color in...Where the Walken Things Are
This is my new favorite thing. Enjoy!Proud?
With today’s release of the details of Bush administration-sanctioned torturing, not to mention the report’s admission that there is not a single case of prevention of imminent threat, the notion of being “proud to be an American” gets yet more...Aspirational Gardening
I used to live in Texas. Well, Austin. We didn’t have quite as many seasons as we do in the north. Up here, you’ve got spring, summer, fall and winter — generally in that order. In Austin there were essentially two seasons hell and bliss. Hell was...Seeding Onions
It’s early March, the robbins in my part of Northampton never left, so I can’t say that they’re a sign of spring. This year, though, we’re getting a traditional New England mud season. We haven’t had one of those in a while. Good thing I...Dungeon Surprise
This time of year I head down to the basement at least twice a day to check on my onions or other seedlings. This evening, I was greeted by a peculiar smell. I sniffed and stepped, then stepped again. I thought, “that smell is very familiar.” Not exactly...Genetically Modified Fodder
I am no fan of big business and I certainly would like to see our country go in the direction of sustainable agriculture. At the same time, I’m not as rabidly against genetically modified crops as many in our not-exactly-humble valley. It’s partly the fact...Pig Farm
As I will hopefully convince you in these blogular entries, I’m trying to live a more “sustainable” lifestyle. I’m really not particularly impressed with my efforts. Yes I bike to work (or take the bus), I grow a fair amount of my vegetables...Children hate vegetables
People who don’t eat their vegetables are only fooling themselves. Animals can’t do the magic. They can’t take CO2 and turn it into sugar. The magic of taking an inorganic gas and turning it into an organic nutrient didn’t make it into the...Plant of the Week: Welwitchia mirabilis
I’m sure many of my legion readers are familiar with the blog Badass of the week or the more subtly titled F.U. penguin. I would like to introduce the plant of the week. What a clever name, yes? This week’s plant could really be a bad ass of the week:...Chaos, order and gardening
I didn’t know them personally, so this is hearsay, but when the first westerners arrived on these shores (oddly coming from the east) they saw untrammeled wilderness. They were misinformed. According to William Cronon in Changes in the Land, it was actually a...Something there is that doesn’t love a lawn.
Perhaps it would be more acccurate to say “someone there is who doesn’t love a lawn: me” The lawn of the American house is a new thing. Before the advent of the gasoline mower it really was difficult to keep a perfect mono-culture going in the yard....
Peregrinations
Peregrinations Many Saturdays I have the job of keeping the six and three year olds from causing irreprable harm to themselves or others. So far I have succeeded. I usually try to find other children of similar ages and pen them up together with plastic bags and other...
Symplocarpus foetidus
How could you not love a plant named skunk cabbage? It’s one of the first flowers of spring and the blatant eroticism of the spadix and spathe would make Georgia O’Keefe blush — perhaps it did picture of flower from the online? It’s an arum, so...Planning
Planning overhead picture of garden Good planning=good gardening Good fences=Good neighbors Practice=way to Carnegie hall I’ve been lax on planning. I’d much rather be standing in the garden than drawing a picture of it. For me this is even true when the...Cross cycling
A house near me is getting the architectural equivalent of a boob job and botox: vinyl siding. It’s also getting new more efficient windows; that’s probably more like a gym membership. It does look a lot nicer though: it’s all gleamy and has plump...Orchids
I don’t think people’s passion for orchids can be overstated (c.f. adaptation). I do not collect orchids; in fact I own no orchids, but they do thrill me somewhere outside of the concious mind. This week’s New Yorker features an article by Jonathan...The Birds and the Peas
The Birds and the Peas Garden pic The other morning the older of our two indigent boarders noticed a “black thing” near the swingset. Closer examination revealed a decapitated robin. Good morning, happy spring! Bird watching was not a popular past time for...Fagus sylvatica
Fagus sylvatica Thus far in my ruminations about plants, I have kept my dorkitude focused on smallish plants. True Welwitschia (https://valleyadvocate.com/blogs/home.cfm?aid=13287)can get pretty big, but it’s kind of a weird shrub really. The dominant plants in...Peas in a cup
Peas in a cup The peas are in a cup because they germinate much better if I soak them overnight. This seems to work with all the big fleshy legumes: beans and peas. I mentioned the peas last week because I’d been worried about birds. One variety has come up. The...Critters
critters According to most dictionaries, the word “creature” was pronounced “critter” in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries — when the colonies were being founded. It now has a sort of jokey valence and brings to mind creepies,...Trillium erectum
This spring beauty has some very peculiear adaptations and some really lovely common names. Pointy-headed taxonomists call common names “trivial names.” Some don’t strike me as trivial in the least. These names are often informative. TheTrillium...Solanum lycopersicum
I think the proper botanical clasification is in fact Lycopersicum esculentum. The beloved garden tomato. It goes really well with this other favorite that’s looking good at the moment: garlic. Last night I finally got around to seeding my tomatoes. The process...Maple Pollen
The last few weeks have been very rough on the boss’ respiratory system. She is allergic to tree pollen. Many of the trees around here do their reproduction in the spring and a lot of these trees use wind to spread said pollen. That’s all well and fine...When lilacs last in the dooryard bloomed
WHEN lilacs last in the door-yard bloom’d, And the great star early droop’d in the western sky in the night, I mourn’d—and yet shall mourn with ever-returning spring. From Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass....Gallus gallus
I have long shown myself incapable of resisting any little breeze of conformity. And so it is that on Thursday I drove to Amherst Farm Supply to pick up chicks: six buff orpingtons to be exact. Here’s a picture of red hot chick on chick action. Well a few of the...cut worm
A few weeks ago I transplanted several lovely brassicas to the garden. I put in 10 or so broccoli plants, ran a soaker hose (hasn’t really been so necessary) and mulched with leaves. I also put in some flowering kale (Happy Rich F1 from johnny’s), cabbage...Amateur Day
Spring has now taken full possession of the valley. The trees have fully leafed out and in my yard mosquitoes swarm to me like lemmings to a cliff. The plants in the garden, wanted or not, or growing fast and furious. I suppose that should be quickly and furiously,...Roughly one day
start with control tower A few decades ago an All-American Hero Ronald, the Gipper, Reagan saved America by firing a whole bunch on ungrateful flight traffic controllers. These experienced professional union hacks were replaced with people who would accept more...Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.
The noodly one certainly decided to introduce us to the summer with a slap to the face. It was perfect weather for sipping fermented beverages and slapping mosquitoes, and I surely took advantage of that. I also got to see a parade as the indigent boarders insisted....
Soil Testing
Because a recent passer-by asked me how long I’d been gardening I gave it some thought. I think I planted my first plot in Austin in around 1995. Since then I learn new things about plants and growing plants constantly. I’ve also learned to be humble both...E-Edition
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