I think that the guy who played Luther was pretty skilled at physical comedy. This fact would often manifest itself in plenty of hilarious situations, like probably when he was trying to grab his coffee or something while he was also on the phone, the phone chord would be just a little too short and then Luther would get all wound up in the chord and then maybe he'd knock over a chair or some trophies or whatever. Then Coach would come in and be all: "On the phone again?" in a perfect dead-pan. This probably brought the house down.
But as often as Luther's physical comedy was used deftly, I seem to remember times when it was employed in totally improbable situations. Like, I think probably there was some episode where Luther was at a fancy cocktail party and someone walked by with a tray of hors d'oeuvres. As soon as he went to grab one a different waitress would come by and then another and eventually he would get all tangled in hors d'oeuvres and probably knock a waitress over and also maybe a bus table. Then I think he would make some comment like: "The bruschetta tastes great!" while he was lying on a waitress on the floor or something.
Hmmm... I actually set out to use the hors d'oeuvres example as an illustration of when they misused Luther's physical comedic talent, but the more I think about it the more I realize that this was probably just as funny as when he would get all caught up in the phone chord.
I guess when it comes to Luther's flailing around and knocking stuff over, you can never have too much. I suppose that is why this device was utilized so frequently.
Opening Remarks
As Nolan Ryan lofted that football and the Eighties drew to a close, the hobby came to a turning point. With the help of Upper Deck, its limited quantity, higher price point and tiny little holograms, collectors came to expect more from sets and the hobby across the board. And the Nineties didn’t disappoint. The next half-decade was a Burdickian nightmare—or wet dream, depending on your outlook towards cards at the end of the iconic, blue chip Eighties.
Starting with the introduction of Upper Deck in 1989, the next five years would see the debut of no less than twelve new products, forever changing the hobby landscape and collectors’ priorities: what they collected, how they collected and how much they were willing to spend.
It used to be that collectors bought every set from a given year. In 1979, this was easy: there was one set (not counting O-Pee-Chee and regionals like Burger King). In 1981 there were three regular sets and a boxed Traded set towards the end of the season. By the end of the decade, ‘Collect ‘em all’ was still a legitimate goal: there were six major sets in 1989.
Just two years later there were eleven sets. By 1993 that figure ballooned to at least fifteen sets, not including end-of-the-year Rookie and Traded sets, nor am I counting the endless stream of insert, parallel and chase card sets that had quickly matured from novelty to necessity for all manufacturers.
As the decade progressed and the landscape expanded exponentially, pack-buying became less about building sets than about simply buying and opening packs. It was during this time that a pack’s ‘Success Rate’ began to be a serious issue. Packs had to be good. Often a collector could only give a new set one or two chances to prove its worth. If the design wasn’t up to par, or the pack failed to produce an insert or simply wasn’t memorable, there were plenty of other sets to try. Thus the availability of inserts and parallels (and later autographs and relics) became a huge selling point for sets (see mid-decade Fleer). Seriously, who can forget hot packs?
Inserts became such a draw that building a base set, once the cornerstone of the hobby, had all but crumbled away. Base cards were for fools and if there was a set you wanted, all you had to do was purchase the whole thing in one fell swoop at a drugstore like Walgreens.
So then how did the hobby survive? You could make the argument that it didn’t (and that it’s been in a spiral of denial ever since). And you can argue the other side, that because of the rise in the number of sets and the abundance of inserts and chase cards, the hobby was just hitting its stride.
New collectors had become involved thanks to the draw of ‘premium’ sets like UD, Fleer Ultra, Leaf, Stadium Club, SP and Finest; sets positioned in the price tier above the standard issues. These new, adult collectors, because they were paying more up front per-pack and per-card, could thus enjoy a second time around with an old pastime, separated from the stigma that might follow an adult involved in something widely considered a child’s hobby.
A point that can’t be argued is that it seemed for a while there that insert cards were more plentiful than base cards—a definite turnoff for many longtime collectors. And though for a few years there manufacturers were able to successfully navigate that shift in the hobby (attracting many new collectors), those collectors lost in the wake gave up hope, never again to return.
The Countdown
It’s felt obvious to me for the past year that a Card Critic Countdown of the Nineties was needed. And every time I started one, I couldn’t get past the enormous scope of the project. The Eighties, for all their bluster, were a manageable 54 sets. But the Nineties? At least 76 different product lines were produced from 1990 to 1994; more if we’re going to count individual sets. That’s almost twice as many as all of the sets from 1980 to 1989, produced in half the time. 
Well, I’m ready now. One thing though: as you can see from the title of this post, the countdown will only consider product lines produced between 1990 and 1994. I’m not including sets from 1995 to 1999 simply because I stopped collecting in 1995 and I’m just not comfortable with ranking sets I don’t have very much experience collecting.
Same rules apply from the Eighties countdown. You can review those rules here. The only change that I’m going to make is that I’m going to rank the product lines from each year, not each individual regular set and its related rookie/traded/update set, because that’s just too much. Instead, the R/T/U sets will be incorporated into each product line. So for example, 1991 Fleer will include the regular set, the update set and the relevant insert sets: All-Stars and Pro-Visions. Likewise, the review and ranking of 1994 Score will include the regular and update sets, the Gold Rush parallels for both and the six insert sets. I think this will be good for the rankings, because strong sets will stand—no matter how many or how few insert sets they have, weak sets may get help from certain strong insert sets and parallels and other weak sets will rank low because they are truly horrible.
#76 to #72 coming soon.
Let's create a list of features -- your "wish" list -- and we will keep re-editing this list as new ideas surface. Some of this info repeats the earlier listing, but this entry will be the edited and re-edited as the definitive input from your comments. (And soon -- but not yet -- we're all going to work together to put these in some kind of priority order.) Hang on:
COMMUNITY-
1) Confused by the random avatar.
2) Wish you could select from a set of prebuilt avatars instead of uploading.
3) Prevent gaming the system by multiple self-voting (i.e. Helpful) in Reviewer pages;
4) Worried these new features will slow down the site experience
5) Sort Movie Reviews by Similarity % (or by date, or by pretty much anything)
6) Be able to find people with high similarity (e.g. the top 5 people similar to me), and hang onto people you've found.
7) Need to edit/delete reviews beyond first page;
8) Email notifications of major changes at the website
9) Able to add movies to Custom Lists directly from the movie page
10) Why truncate nicknames? Why 13 characters?
11) Miss the personal description (bio) part of Profiles
12) Changing the order of movies in Custom Lists (*isn't working)
13) Custom Lists problems adding some titles (ie. need a "MORE" button if the title you want doesn't come up first)
14) Message boards on various movie topics so folks w/o Friends can still chat etc.
FRIENDS-
1) Average ratings for you and each of your Friends;
2) Loved by your Friends and Recommended for you suggestions;
3) An Overview page for each Friend, not just ratings or queue;
4) Edit/Delete Movie Notes with your Friends
5) Disable/control email notices about Movie Notes being created
6) Film level privacy control -- to hide certain movies from Friends or others
7) Persistent notes (a la the old MiniReviews) such that new Friends can see old notes.
8) Notebook organization a bit wonky, and should include more info from the Friends Activity (ie ratings, etc that are mentioned in F.A.) and ability to sort or view only received notes.
9) Options for faster loading of Friends detail pages (ie Queue, Ratings)
10) Hide real name (and location) from Friends. In other words, allow "anonymous" Friends.
11) Bring back the "Purple Dude" icon
GENERAL -
1) Confusing UI with the tabs, subtabs, side nav
2) Visual (spacing) confusion with the wider pages and the new sidebar
3) Better info/filmography (more complete) on actor/director pages
You may notice i'm not listing "non-community" oriented features, but trust that the appropriate people are seeing your ideas, even if they don't get addressed here directly.
We here at Netflix think about these things every day, all day. I can see that some of you do too. I'm somewhat reminded of the adage "many hands make light work" which does seem to apply to online communities. (I wish I could invite everyone over to help me with my yardwork.)You guys are great help. Thank you.
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger arrived in BC today amidst a ceremonial welcome by the provinces First Nations community. Arnold was given three ceremonial gifts before getting down to business with BC Premier Gordon Campbell and signing a five point agreement on fighting global warming.
The two leaders have committed to working together on the issue regardless of the participation of the US and Canadian federal governments.
The memorandum of understanding signed by the pair commit B.C. and California to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, collaborate on clean energies and technologies and build a series of hydrogen- refill stations along the highway linking Vancouver to Baja, California.
California and B.C. will also share data about the health of the Pacific Ocean
The memorandum is also seen as sign that Campbell is prepared to join California's current efforts in setting stiff reduction targets, penalties for companies who don't meet those targets, as well as a carbon trading market enabling "green" companies to sell carbon credits to polluters. However, the weak point in BC's position is still the fact that they have not put their own commitment's in law, and to date the government has only released scant details about how they intend to attain the steep reductions they have promised.
Last year, California legislated a mandatory 25% reduction of greenhouse gases by the year 2020, while in February, Campbell committed BC to a 33% reduction by the same deadline.
But all in, today's announcement is a good beginning.
CBS2.com reports the very sad news that Nadi, a Northern White Rhino brought to San Diego Zoo from Africa in 1972 has died, most likely of old-age.
Northern white rhinos are considered critically endangered. Along with the two remaining at the Wild Animal Park, the zoo says there are six at a zoo in the Czech Republic and as few as five believed to be roaming in the African wild.Link: San Diego Zoo
Blogs are great. We should have done this ages ago. What a fantastic way to hear directly from y'all (and I don't often get a chance to use the word y'all). So, i'm going to repeat back some of your first impressions. This is by no means everything you've sent us, and many of you won't think these are all good, but we like to hear a range of ideas. We can look at the priorities of these later. For now, some of you are...
1) Confused by the random avatar.
2) Wish you could select from a set of prebuilt avatars instead of uploading.
3) Prevent gaming the system by multiple self-voting (i.e. Helpful) in Reviewer pages;
4) Worried these new features will slow down the site experience
5) Sort Movie Reviews by Similarity % (or by date, or by pretty much anything)
6) Be able to find people with high similarity (e.g. the top 5 people similar to me), and hang onto people you've found.
7) Some confusion about the edit/delete reviews functions, timing
Friends repairs (or, perhaps, the return of sorely missed features) including
1) Average ratings for you and each of your Friends;
2) Loved by your Friends and Recommended for you suggestions;
3) An Overview page for each Friend, not just ratings or queue;
4) Edit/Delete Movie Notes with your Friends
How's that? Are these the most important things? What are we missing?
Great feedback for one day. Thanks gang.
6:20pm. Sorry about that.
(Starting to see your new avatars appearing on reviews... that's so cool...)
Here's the Budapest Sun Online with news that the Kempinski Hotel Corvinus Budapest has officially adopted Layla, Lulu's artificially inseminated baby, and said it was "proud to take an active part in facilitating the bringing up of this special animal, and providing support to Budapest Zoo, one of the city's historic landmarks."
"Adopting baby Layla, the Kempinski Hotel Corvinus Budapest proudly joins Budapest Zoo's Foundation to support the operations of this magnificent institution," the hotel said in a statement.Very nice.
"The adoption scheme is integral to the hotel's charity and community work.
"We will organize special zoo walks for the Bolyai Children's Home and the Kempinski Corvinus Junior Club, and recommend the zoo to the children staying in the hotel, according to the Kempinski for Kids program."
While we're on the subject of rhinos, you've got to July 24th if you'd like to make a contribution to our Save The Rhino fundraiser. I've had a number of grateful emails from folks at Save The Rhino for all our efforts, so with one final push maybe we can hit our £500 target. Thanks everyone. 
We're up, we're down. You may have noticed we disabled the Friends features this late afternoon while other folks here were updating some code. (Even for non-Friends users, the Similarity % is gone for the moment.) Sorry for the inconvenience. Be back shortly.
Around 4pm yesterday we released the first bunch of features. It's all very exciting, I must say, but it didn't feel "real" until we showed up on Hacking Netflix this morning(snicker).
There does seem to be some confusion about the default avatars, so here's the deal: they're random. There are a dozen. They are not assigned based on anything about your movie taste, your gender, your age, nor your similar appearance to Nosferatu or any other cinematic character. The idea was only to have a nice array of images in there so the rest of the world wasn't looking at you as a blank face with a question mark. We wanted them interesting and movie-oriented, but not so great that you preferred it to your own creative iconography. The idea is to personalize your profile if you'd like, but not punish the rest of the Netflix community if you don't.
Popout
I don't know much about the National Action Against Obesity and its founder MeMe Roth, but check out this video from Fox News' Neil Cavuto "Common Sense" show.
Arrggghhh (sound of hair tearing from scalp).
Ms. Roth, or should I say MeMe--because it's obviously all about HerHer--is on a rant about how Jordin Sparksshould not win "American Idol" because in her "obesity" she sets a bad example for teens. Okay, let me get this straight. This is a smart, pretty, enormously talented 17-year-old who is not anorexic but, I mean, really, this is a singing competition, right? And we don't want her as an example for our kids.
By this way of thinking, then, I suppose MeMe would think Paris and Lindsay are great teen role models in their anorexic state. (Not pudgy Britney, though.)
How really warped is this line of thinking? Is it just me?
Aarrrggg (more hair ripping from scalp).
Teachers and educators seeking study guides and lesson plans to accompany the film An Inconvenient Truth can visit the Australian AIT site. They offer a downloadable pdf file at no cost.
The Conservatives are facing the first global warming lawsuit every launched in Canada following the failure of their revised, and widely criticized, climate change plan showed that they planned to abandon the Kyoto Protocol.
Friends of the Earth Canada has launched a landmark lawsuit today against the Government of Canada for abandoning its international commitments under the Kyoto Protocol. Filed in Federal Court in Ottawa by Canada’s largest environmental law organization, Sierra Legal, the lawsuit alleges that the federal government is violating Canadian law by failing to meet its binding international commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, the government must abide by its international agreements in preventing pollution. What this means on the ground is that the Harper government is facing an embarrassing lawsuit in front of the Canadian public that largely discredits their rhetoric while revealing how appallingly little they are actually aiming to do with their climate change plan.
Back in April, Jeremy Leon Hance wrote a truly heartfelt article for Mongabay.com on the apparent disinterest in the Baiji extinction story by the media giants in the West. I think I saw more initial coverage than Jeremy makes out (and in some surprising places), but I have to agree that what there was disappeared very very quickly. And now the Baiji is gone, what do you think? **UPDATE** The BuzzDash poll has been posted on the main BuzzDash page with a slight tweak, so I'm showing that version now...
The news came and went with an alacrity that I found alarming, almost jolting. I waited for weeks, faithfully; I could not believe that the initial announcement would be followed by nothing but silence on the issue, no rationalizations, no opinions, no discussions, no outpourings of grief. Just silence.Read the rest of Jeremy's great article at Mongabay.com.
The ‘Goddess of the Yangtze’, the baiji, was gone from this earth and it seemed the extinction equaled the importance of, say, Captain America’s more recent and fictional death. It is during such times that I wonder if people really understand what extinction means. It is not the death of an individual; it’s a species—wholly unique in the world—that will never again grace the planet. Furthermore, this extinction was not brought on by natural cataclysm or selection; this was a species driven to extinction—not even intentionally (i.e. for food or survival) but apathetically and dumbly—by another species. I thought such a global loss deserved a little more press and certainly more feeling.
I don't know about you but I did a lot of commencing with the Muse this weekend. Your Muse might be different than mine. We all have them, and we all learn how to live with them...Well, I leave it at that. I hope you guys had a wonderful Memorial Day.
A leaked document shows that the US remains rigidly opposed to any action on global warming that involves firm targets and timelines. The G8 nations will be meeting next month to discuss new commitments in fighting global warming, but a memo obtained by Greenpeace outlines the firm opposition from the US.
"The US still has serious, fundamental concerns about this draft statement," a red-inked note reads.
"The treatment of climate change runs counter to our overall position and crosses 'multiple red lines' in terms of what we simply cannot agree to," it continues.
"We have tried to 'tread lightly' but there is only so far we can go given our fundamental opposition to the German position."
Meanwhile, Britain and other EU nations are seeking a 60% reduction in emissions by 2050, and last week Japan announced a proposal that would see a 50% reduction by the same date.
But as long as the world is hung up on US buy-in, the entire process needs a wake up call and reality check - in that order.
The US will never agree to real progress on this issue so long as the current administration is holding the presidential reins. The first step other nations need to take is to realize this and start creating solutions that have a chance of working. Step one, send the US away from the negotiating table. Step two, go directly to China and India.
China will surpass US emissions this year. Rapidly growing India is a ways behind but already clocks in at number four (Russia, China and the US are ahead of them for now). At more than a billion people each, and unprecedented annual economic growth, it is essential that these rapidly emerging superpowers are brought into international efforts immediately, regardless of US participation. If the US is throwing a wrench into those efforts, then they need to be sent home. The fallacy of the debate is buying into the notion that the US needs to be there in the first place.
The EU will continue to bring forward aggressive targets and action to curb greenhouse gas emissions. Japan will also. Add the combined clout of the Asian superpowers and formal US participation becomes a side issue. These economies can establish and drive an international carbon market. Once that emerges many US companies will inevitably opt in as a viable carbon market creates new business opportunities. Also, the massive trade deficit of the US means that they'll be purchasing most of their products from other nations with way higher efficiency standards. So the US carbon footprint stands to benefit by proxy, if not directly.
This still leaves the thorny issue of direct US emissions - namely in the form of industrial, energy, and automotive emissions. For this, the best solution is their state and municipal governments. Increasingly, US cities and individual states are forging their own global warming strategies. When the international community begins dealing directly with these institutions and stops banging their head against the Bush administration wall, they will greatly help efforts already going on in the US - and inevitably, Washington will need to follow.
The first from a planned series of wallpapers showing what happens when you don't keep an eye on your Seamour and Marty toy figures.
More Seamour Sheep and Marty Mole at Seamoursheep.com and more about the Seamour and Marty designer vinyl figures at Crazy Label.
Not quite, but it promises to be greatly reduced thanks to a new forestry plan announced by the BC government. In it, Forests Minister Rich Coleman stated that the province would begin shifting harvesting from old growth to second growth timber, and would quickly move to reduce raw log exports from the province.
Whether or not this leads to a more sustainable forest industry will largely depend on what annual allowable cut is set and how effectively the harvest areas are managed - particularly with regard to critical wildlife habitat and salmon bearing waters. Likewise, it is also unclear what this announcement will mean for Canada's endangered spotted owls. At last count, just 16 remain in the province and a recently leaked report stated that the government was choosing to capture and breed the remaining birds, rather than protect the old growth habitat they need for survival.
Details of the new policies will be announced in the next two weeks.
There are a few things you don’t know about me.
1. I still can’t get over how great Garbage Pail Kids are. I always kick myself for buying them instead of basketball cards back in 1986, but in all fairness these GPKs are pretty awesome. I heard once that Art Spiegelman of Maus fame did the original artwork for GPK, which is great.
2. I collect other things besides baseball cards. I have over 900 different souvenir postcard folders, a collection I’m quite proud of and for a time had been considering writing a book about. (I even started doing background research at the Boston Public Library, home of the remains of the Tichnor Bros. company assets, including a large collection of glass printing plates in storage). It’s an often-scorned, seldom-visited corner of the postcard hobby. Like sports cards, the postcard hobby is massive. Unlike sports cards, it’s a hobby whose collectors are, from my own experiences at shows, nearly all over the age of fifty. Many times I’m the youngest person at shows, and I’m nearly thirty.
3. I’m not a religious man, but I’m starting to think of collecting cards less as an addiction and more as a well-organized religion. Think about it: there is a God, and his name is Mickey Mantle. Or Ted Williams. Or Babe Ruth. Or Stan Musial. And there are lesser deities, like Sandy Koufax, Warren Spahn, Willie Mays, Carl Yasztremski and Jackie Robinson. Plus don’t forget the many tiers of saints like Clemente, Campanella, Freddie Lynn and Brooks Robinson, Cal Ripken and Kirby Puckett, Lou Gehrig and Mickey Cochrane. The list is endless. And there are those who’ve fallen from grace, like McGwire, Rose and Bonds.
And really the only way to denounce the religion is to tear up the cards, because cards are sacred objects. You can lose interest or give them away, but you’ll always keep them in your heart and find yourself coming back to their memory in an hour of need. Or at least I do.
There are two reasons I bring this analogy up. First, I started reading
The Card: Collectors, Con Men, and the True Story of History’s Most Desired Baseball Card by Michael O’Keefe and Teri Thompson, and while I’m only fifty pages in, they’ve already summed up this analogy (and my obsession) perfectly. So while I knew I was not the first person to elevate baseball or the act of collecting cards to religious experience, O’Keefe and Thompson beat me to the punch by at least six months.
Second, I’ve started thinking of contemplating the possibility of possibly, maybe selling some of my cards. Though I practically revere each and every one of my cards (all 175,000 of them), the thought of selling some of them does not tear at my insides as much as the idea of physically destroying them, or throwing them away. I’ve given cards away before, specifically 1991 and 1992 Score and Donruss in a quart-sized ziplock bag marked ‘Free’ in the mailroom of my apartment building (good luck hunting for Kevin Maas rookies; those suckers are still up in my apartment under plastic), but the thought of ripping up cards or throwing them away, no matter how ugly they are or what year they’re from, turns my stomach.
4. I’ve always regretted not spending the $19.95 plus $1.50 shipping and handling for a sure-to-arrive-oversized Topps sweatshirt. I’m sure I would have been the man of the hour on the junior high dance and party circuit, if only I hadn’t skimped on style. I mean, the sweatshirt had puffy lettering.
How could you not totally score while wearing it?
Audio
Mikey Dread – International Field Marshall – DATC
Jacob Miller – I am a natty – Joe Gibbs
Joe Gibbs & the Professionals – Rasta iration - Joe Gibbs
John Holt & the Aggrovators – You’ll never find another love like mine – Trojan
Keith Hudson – Introduce me – Virgin Frontline
Milton Henry – Who do you think I am? – Wackies
Junior Kigwa – Jah before us – Universal Egg
Abassi All Stars – Chant down Babylon in dub - Universal Egg
Lena – Entomodub 1 remix – Soundsaround sound 19
DJ Delores – O medo do artilheiro na hora - cdr
Wonder – Chi flute – Dump Valve
Ray Keith feat. Top Cat – She’s Gone – Dreak
Kinks - Got love if you want it - Sanctuary
Muddy waters - Mannish boy - rough guide
Emily Hay, Brad Dutz and Wayne Peet - Bean Dip - pfMentum
The national - Boxer - Beggards Banquet
White light circus - Secret operator - DC Recordings
Emma Pollock - Andrenaline - 4AD
Dr echo - Flying Elphants - tanty records
Wailing Souls - War. feat Ranking Trevor - Greensleeves
Bonde do Role - Gasolina - Domino -
Rejekts - Es Kubells - Rejekts
No, I'm not going on a rant about one of my coworkers, or even Paris Hilton.
Skinny Bitch is actually a "diet" book--and I use the term loosely--by Kim Barnouin and Rory Freedman. Once I found it was the diet rage among such celebrity "role models" as Posh Spice, I knew it had to be ludicrousentertaining. Its subtitle: "A no-nonsense tough-love guide for savvy girls who want to stop eating crap and start looking fabulous." The authors are "former models," which means they wouldn't know a weight problem if it bit them on their skinny butts.
This isn't a new book, I discovered--Jimmy Moore did a rant, and rightly so, about it last year. But I missed it somehow. And just in case you did too, here are some excerpts from Skinny Bitch. Draw what conclusions you will, but WARNING: It's pro-vegan and they call anyone who does Atkins a "total moron." Hey, don't Vegans kill their babies?
• "Brace yourselves, girls. Soda is liquid Satan. It is the devil. It is garbage. There is nothing in soda that should be put into your body.… Diet soda is even worse. Aspartame…turns into formaldehyde. Laboratory scientists use formaldehyde as a disinfectant or preservative. They don't f***ing drink it. Perhaps you have a lumpy ass because you are preserving your fat cells with diet soda."
•• Never before has the United States seen such a ridiculous diet trend as the "low-carb" phenomenon. Every restaurant, grocery story, and fast-food chain caters to this utter nonsense...Everyone has jumped on the bandwagon, hoping to capitalize on the trend, whether it is healthy or not. Not."
•• "Another worker at another plant said, 'I personally have seen rotten meat--you can tell by the odor. This rotten meat is mixed with the fresh meat and sold for baby food. We are asked to mix it with the fresh food, and that is the way it is sold. You can see the worms inside the meat."
•• "Mother Nature is no fool. All species, including ours, have just what we need to get by. She did not intend for grownups to suck their mothers' t**ts. We don't need our mothers' milk as adults, just like grown cows don't need their mothers' milk anymore. We are the only species on the planet that drinks the milk of another species. We could be putting gorilla milk on our cereal or having zebra milk and cookies."
•• "Fruits and vegetables are the answer. And unless you are an idiot who wants cancer, obesity and enlarged organs, organic is the way to go. You are what you eat."
•• "If we had a penny for every time some meathead asked us, "So where do you get your protein?" we'd be richer than Oprah. Have you ever, ever, ever in your entire life heard of anyone suffering from a protein deficiency? Did you ever see an elephant, moose or giraffe jonesing for a protein fix? It's a complete myth that we need a massive amount of protein."
And I must know: How do they KNOW the moose down the block isn't jonesing for a protein fix? Or a bite of cheese?
Today marks the official birthday of The Conscious Earth. When I began this blog on May 25th, 2006 it was done primarily as a way to write on a consistent basis. Choosing to explore the environmental challenges of the modern world as subject matter was a natural, givent that it's always best to write about what you know and love.
One year later, a growing subscriber base of close to 300 and more than 5,000 monthly vistors have chosen to share in this exploration of sustainability and in a hope for a healthier planet. To everyone who has taken the time to stop by, read a post, leave a comment, or link to these pages, I offer you my heartfelt thanks and appreciation for bringing so much success through this first year.
Looking back on the past 12 months, here is a short snapshot of the people who supported the site, as well as the highlights from a busy - and possibly revolutionary - year in environmental awareness.
Highlights from Year 1:
Thanks to the sites below for your support in sending readers this way:
May 30, 2006: The Flogging of Corn Cob Bob
Jul 05, 2006: Oilcaholics Anonymous: Klein vs. Gore
Jul 19, 2006: Will Ferrel as George W. on Global Warming
July 27, 2006: Leaked Memo Reveals Coal Industry Propoganda Plan
Aug 20, 2006: Gore Cracks the Conservative's Lies
Sep 29, 2006: Suzuki to Dion, "Take My Research"
Oct 19, 2006: Ta Da! Tory Clean Air Plan Unveiled
Nov 27, 2006: An Inconvenient Truth Squeezed from Classrooms
Nov 22, 2006: Ex Monsanto Employee Says GMO Crops May Cause Disease
Jan 17, 2007: Global Warming Shifts Doomsday Clock
Feb 01, 2007: Right Wing Think Tank Climate Report Leaked
Feb 23, 2007: The Environment - A Religion of Fact
Apr 23, 2007: Global Warming Gaffe
BoingBoing
DeSmogBlog
TreeHugger
Liblogs
The Influence Machine
Free Range Living
Posthuman Blues
Downtown Eastside
The Green Geek
Eco Chick
Thank you once again for all of your support.
The article's headline reads "The Demonized Head", which makes you wonder whether that applies to the drawing or to the article... I'm very glad the drawing fits though, I didn't have much more than the book title "Devil's Fare" to go on. But I did a very stupid thing this time. Or rather, I didn't do a very stupid thing. I always upload my file to my ftp, and put a little 600 pixel preview on a web page linking to the file. This time I forgot the link @#$%^&*!! So I'm afraid they printed the 600 pixel jpg, but I am kind of hoping somebody has been bright enough to find the file even without the link. I can't really tell from the digital newspaper. Anybody care to tell me if the paper version turned out okay?
I wanted to upload today's newspaper when I realized I forgot last week's. So sorry! Here's the page.
Remember that old song by the Archies? "Sugar. Oh, honey, honey. You are like candy, girl,and you got me wanting you." And what a stupid idea for a band were the Archies anyway? Did Jughead sing backing vocals?
But I digress. Check out this amazingly intelligent article from The Economist about rat poison. No, I don't mean my pal Jimmy Moore's total characterization of sugar as rat poison, but instead what I believe to be the worst of the many types of rat poison: high fructose corn syrup.
Anyway, this little Economist piece rightly, I think, points the finger of blame at HFCS and its effects on Americans in particular for any number of a host of health problems. The combination of Japanese technology, and flawed American agricultural policies in the late 1970s, has been a killer. Literally.
Yeah, yeah. I know. Eat more chicken and fish. Eat more veggies. Pork is the other white meat.
But don't you just love a good steak?
I have trouble finding a good steak, frankly. I can buy one that looks nicely marbled and it still end up tougher than John Wayne's boot leather despite my best marinades and pre-grill TLC.
I have ordered from Omaha Steaks before but when you live in a city that could double as a blast-furnace between May and November, getting anything frozen delivered is sort of a joke.
But there's a new player in the mail-order beef biz: The Donald. Just check out Trump Steaks. Ah, yes, this has the makings of a joke all over it. But, alas, no.
And it makes a great Father's Day gift, according to the Sharper Image folks, who are selling the steaks online. There are Filet Mignons, New York Strips, Cowboy Bone-In Rib Eyes, Porterhouses and Trump Steak Burgers. You can get four of each type of steak and 24 burgers for a mere $1,000.
Okey-dokey. Back to Wal-Mart for me.
The people at RealClimate have saved us all a great deal of work by putting together a one-stop post for climate change information.
The article highlights key information for novices and experts alike, and also provides links for debunking the bogus arguments of skeptics. To their list, I would add the following two resources:
1. DeSmogBlog's Denier Database: offers a thorough and ongoing investigation of the 61 signatories to an anti-climate-change petition sent in April, '06 to Canada's Prime Minister. Supporters claim it is signed by "60 leading scientists." DeSmogBlog reports on their credentials and their connections (or their lack of connections) to the oil or tobacco industries.
2. SourceWatch: This is my first stop whenever a new anti-global warming claim hits the press. SourceWatch is a wiki environment documenting the PR and propaganda activities of public relations firms and public relations professionals engaged in managing and manipulating public perception, opinion and policy. It also includes profiles on think tanks, industry-funded organizations and industry-friendly experts that work to influence public opinion and public policy on behalf of corporations, governments and special interests.
As any reasoning person knows, understanding who is making a specific claim can be as important as the claim itself. DeSmogBlog and SourceWatch provide two excellent sources for the background of key deniers, and for discovering who writes their pay cheques. RealClimate is THE blog for global warming science.
Happy debating!
Yikes. Getting a lot of feedback around here -- no one likes the expression "Similar 2U". People are telling me it sounds like an old dude trying to use hip youthful expressions, and just sounding idiotic. Okay, okay... we'll spell it out, dawg...
Another 7", a split with satanic deathmetal heroes NUNSLAUGHTER and weird-rockers SLOTH.
Sloth means luiaard in dutch, and they do a song about ninja's, so there you go..
It will be released on Wicked Witch records, just 50 slabs of vinyl; very cult indeed!
A truly astounding story in the Wall Street Journal (only available by subscription online) tells what the recent rise in corn prices has done to our meat supply. Or, actually, what the ranchers and farmers are doing to pigs, cows and chickens.
Now, think about it. If your Miss Piggy and Mr. Cow and Henny Penny were all used to eating corn but all those nasty environmentalists who wanted ethanol to run their machinery and reduce their carbon footprints were hogging all the corn, what would you do? Well, what's cheap? Hmmm. How about JUNK FOOD?
So, the WSJ article quotes a livestock nutritionist who are supplementing their grain with other items. "Besides trail mix, pigs and cattle are downing cookies, licorice, cheese curls, candy bars, french fries, frosted wheat cereal and peanut butter cups," said David Funderburke, a livestock nutritionist at Cape Fear Consulting in Warsaw, N.C. "Some farmers mix chocolate powder with cereal and feed it to their baby pigs. It's kind of like getting Cocoa Puffs."
Idaho ranchers aren't doing much better. According to the article, they are feeding their cattle uncooked french fries, Tater Tots and hash browns by the truckload.
Grass, people. Have you ever heard of GRASS?
I'm still steaming over this story about a gang-rape case in England in which the attorney for the rapists claimed the 16-year-old victim "may have been glad for the attention" since despite recently losing weight she still weighed 174 pounds. Now, I realize it's just another sleazy legal maneuver to blame the victims--reference was also made to the clothing being worn not just by these girls but by young teen girls in general. I mean, really. Can anyone be that stupid? Apparently so.
Here's a quite amazing video of a titanic battle between a herd of Buffalo, a pride of Lions and a couple of crocodiles thrown in for good measure. Place your bets please...
Topps has announced its checklist for Topps Series 2, and lo and behold, Yadier Molina is #660, a spot historically reserved (at least across the mid 1970s) for a superstar like Hank Aaron. It's an important number for Topps, as many of its sets end on 660. So why not put together a quick card of Barry Bonds? For all the crap that Bonds has gone through over the past five years or so, Topps has almost always stood by him, and now that he's back under contract, it just makes sense that he'd come in at 660. I mean, if Topps has the wherewithal to correct the Jeter card, you'd think they'd be able to seed in one of Bonds.
Another big shock: Daisuke Matsuzaka gets a 2nd tier number on his first card (#630). That's big, especially since it took Roberto Clemente something like five or six years to get his first.
Read all about Topps Series 2 here.
I'm heading home for a couple of weeks! It is a whirlwind visit, and we have a geeky spreadsheet co-ordinating which one of us is supposed to be in which part of London at what time, seeing who. We're that busy. I may be able to update the blog at my parents' house, if I can bat my father away from his beloved laptop for long enough.It's going to be a blast! I'm going to get drunk with old
The Assault on Reason, the new book from Vice President Al Gore, is now in stores. Though he departs from the firm environmental focus he's shown in recent years, the implications of this work for all US policy - including global warming - is vivid.
"Why do reason, logic and truth seem to play a sharply diminished role in the way America now makes important decisions?" The persistent and sustained reliance on falsehoods as the basis of policy, even in the face of massive and well-understood evidence to the contrary, seems to many Americans to have reached levels that were previously unimaginable.
The truth of the excerpt above is tangible whether discussing the ongoing war in Iraq, or the campaign of deceit being waged by climate change deniers.
You can order The Assault on Reason online from Chapters/Indigo or Amazon.
Stylized 3D illustration regarding automation of data about criminals using a computer database.
While there is a moment to breathe, I wanted to point out a couple little elements on the site -- both of which are predominatly for those of you who REVIEW movies. Both are part of our first steps toward improving our "Reviews & Lists" page. For instance, here's how you can see your old reviews:
Notice that you can now delete old reviews, or edit them (on the spot). This is nice if you are like me and type fast and spell poorly.
Perhaps more fun is the improved CUSTOM LISTS feature. This is where you can compile a list of movies that may be useful to other (less movie-savvy) members: Your lists can be simple ("Greatest Date Movies") or complex ("Movies I loved in college and hate now"), but now they are much easier to create and manage.
We've had this feature on the site for years, but it was almost impossible to use. Now it's better. In short order, you'll be able to find the most current or most popular lists, as well as export lists to your own website or blog.
Time to run.
Think that predictions of rising greenhouse gas levels are alarmist? Think again.
New research is showing that worldwide CO2 emissions rose at a faster rate between 2000-2004 than the worst-case scenario imagined in this year's UN reports on global warming.
The rise over the first four years of this century is also greater than in the 1990s - 3.1% a year between 2000-2004, up from an average of 1.1% a year during the 1990s.
This is faster than scenarios developed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), suggesting even its most alarming predictions of the effects of climate change may not tell the whole story.
The group responsible for those UN reports, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), represents 2,500 scientific experts from around the world. However, they have been baselessly accused of taking an alarmist position by climate change 'skeptics'. Now it is turning out that the groups conservative predictions have not gone nearly far enough.
A paper to be published today will reassert the commitment of Britain's Labour government to nuclear power, despite legal challenges and continued public opposition.
An energy white paper published today will promise further consultation on the issue as demanded by the high court following a challenge by Greenpeace, but industry secretary Alistair Darling will make clear his belief that nuclear is essential if the UK is to meet growing energy demands and meet its Kyoto treaty commitments on C02.
The government insists that new nuclear capacity will be needed to reach their targets for cutting greenhouse gas emissions, but they have so far failed to convince voters. In the Guardian's most recent public poll, 48% of those surveyed continued to oppose nuclear power while 44% were in favour. Interestingly, 62% of men support it while the same can be said of just 27% of women.
Although nuclear power emits no greenhouse gases, the disposal and storage of nuclear waste remains the biggest concern of both citizens and governments. Put another way....
Sorry for "falling down on the job" lately--some things going on I don't want to jinx by writing about yet. Hang tight.
In the meantime, there's been a lot of (the usual conflicting) health news out recently. A recap:
•• The diabetes drug Avandia is about to join Vioxx in the lawsuit game as researchers are finding a correlation between the drug and heart disease. I took Vioxx at a high dose for arthritis a while back, and finally quit taking it because of heart palpitations. And THEN I heard about the problems. So the FDA contends with that constant tug of war between making drugs available quickly to people who need them vs. longterm testing for safety.
•• Arrgghh. This study coming out of Calgary is making the rounds to reinforce those belonging to the Church of Low-Fat Dining. According to the study, women who consume a high-fat diet while pregnant pass on a greater possibility of their children becoming diabetic. Well, the women's diets were low fiber and no info as to sugar. Duh.
•• So, according to Chicago's public health commissioner the reason so many kids these days are obese is because their moms work outside the home. Yep, moms staying home baking cookies with the rugrats would certainly solve that problem. Sheesh.
•• Just in case you don't want to eat sugary Jelly Bellies but would like to smell like them, here's a companyproducing a new line of Jelly Belly colognes. They already have some candy-scented colognes. Which brings me to the whole question of the psychology of a person who wants to smell like blueberry muffins. I mean, am I missing something here? What type of suitor would a woman wearing Hot Fudge Sundae cologne attract? I guess someone more interesting than the one attracted to another of their scents, Dirt.
I'll catch up more, later.
I made this one for the first 7" of fryslan skate-thrashers STRAIGHT A'S. Young dudes, great old skool sounds. Check them out!
Say it in the style of Jack Bauer: DAMN IT!!**American Idol Spoiler Alert for Kiwis**I accidentally discovered that Melinda has gone home.Even if you despise American Idol and all that it stands for, I beg that you watch this video. The sound runs slightly behind the vision (YouTube's fault - I assure you, that's no lipsynching) and you can fast forward through the first 40 seconds involving
Well, it's almost Memorial Day, the Sox are building their yearly gigantic lead on the Jays and the Yankees and the good weather is pulling me outside and away from updating this here blog. And it's not for lack of ideas; I've plenty and I've also been putting off following up on ideas from over a month ago. One thing I haven't been skimping on is reading.
Other fans have found joy in putting together a good sports library, and I'm no different. That's why I offer this small list of baseball-related books, bios and memoirs that I've read over the last year or so, as a help to others looking for a way to put off more pressing things in favor of a good summer read.
Bill Lee and Dick Lally, The Wrong Stuff
Jim Bouton, Ball Four
Roy Campanella, It's Good to be Alive
Buster Olney, The Last Night of the Yankee Dynasty
Robert Whiting, You Gotta Have Wa
Bob Lemke, The 2007 Standard Catalog of Baseball Cards
Leo Durocher with Ed Linn, Nice Guys Finish Last
Don Dewey, The Black Prince of Baseball: Hal Chase and the Mythology of the Game
Robert Peterson, Only the Ball was White
Seth Mnookin, Feeding the Monster
Peter Gammons, Beyond the Sixth Game
Bill Veeck with Ed Linn, Veeck--As In Wreck
Don Olson, Bambi's Bombers
Michael Coffey, 27 Men Out
Ken Kaiser with David Fisher, Planet of the Umps
John Gall and Gary Engel, Sayonara Home Run!
The United States generates almost 5 million tonnes of e-waste each year. Now the world's largest office products company has launched a US-wide recycling program that should begin to reduce that number.
Staples new nationwide computer recycling program will accept all brands of computers, regardless of where they were purchased. Small items such as keyboards and mice will be accepted at no charge, while larger items will be charged $10 to cover handling, transport, product disassembly and recycling. The move adds to an existing program that already accepts smaller devices like cell phones, pagers and digital cameras free of charge, and Staples is insisting that the recycling will be done both domestically and responsibly.
Staples said its program will ship the devices for domestic recycling by Vestal, N.Y.-based Amandi Services, which Staples calls "one of the country's most experienced and innovative electronics recyclers." Amandi complies with federal standards for electronics recycling and will take steps to ensure personal data stored on old computers aren't compromised, Staples says."We're not shipping products overseas, and we have a strict chain of custody to make sure we know where these materials are going," Buckley said.
Some critics are calling for them to drop the $10 charge and perform the service for free, but let's be realistic. Staples is a business not a charity, and the fact that they are offering this program free for most items is good news. Also, seeing as most computers are purchased as replacements for outdated models, it's fair to say that if you can afford to drop $1,000 on a new computer, you can also afford another $10 to ensure that the toxic waste from your old model does not end up in an Asian garbage dump.
Details of the program as follows:
- Customers drop off their old equipment at the customer service desk at any Staples store, 7 days a week during regular store hours; (TV’s and large, floor-model copiers are not accepted).
- Staples will recycle any manufacturers’ products, regardless of whether or not it was purchased from Staples, and there’s no limit on the quantity of equipment that can be recycled.
- A recycling fee of $10 per piece of large equipment is charged to cover handling, transport, product disassembly and recycling. Smaller computer peripherals, such as keyboards and mice, will be recycled for free.
- Staples Easy Techsm service is on site in all stores to transfer data from an old computer to a new one for a fee.
Another shield-shaped drawing, made for a CD with music by the Bugs, an Amsterdam punkband that played a lot of support-acts in rock-venue Paradiso around the year 1980. I was sent two photo's of the band to portray, both equally unfit for use. Knowing they had a girl on bass , a drummer with a tie and a singer with peroxide hair I came up with actual bugs sporting these features.
This weekend I was invited to the CD-presentation and a comeback-gig, in the Paradiso-basement. I went. I shook my head some. Shook some hands from the past, too.
My drawing was nowhere to be found in the inlay. Due to a misunderstanding about me (or their friend, the one that commissioned me to make the thing ) wanting the front-cover or nothing?!
What can I say? Fuck the buggers.
So: here for your eyes exclusively: my CD-coverdrawing ...
I'm kinda behind on this story, which is really inexcusable since it's news out of my own back yard. A Tulane University PhD candidate has found that an ingredient in cocoa powder is a better tooth-decay fighter than the old standby, fluoride. Turns out, not just a little better--but a lot.
But just in case people rush out to find a Snickers Bar, the British Dental Association found it necessary to remind people that chocolate bars are also made with sugar, which sort of defeats the purpose.
I say, not if you try some of the absolutely yummy sugar-free chocolates, especially those made without nasty maltitol, that are available today.
My heart goes out to the Topps lackeys: for some reason Ryan Howard does not keep a rack pack display box of 2007 Topps fully stocked in his locker.
Also, Tom Gordon is quickly becoming my hero: not only is his ability no longer on par with his nickname, but his locker features an obviously well-arranged display of action figures.
Ryan Howard's Locker
After years of fruitless searching, I have finally procured the perfect pair of boots:I have carried the mental image of the perfect pair of boots around in my head for so long that the boots became like the Holy Grail. No shop had something that fit the bill. Oh, bits would be satisfactory, like the colour. But there would always be a glaring departure from the image: a four-inch
LaKisha went home instead of Blake, and I am bereft. I had predicted a LaKisha-Melinda finale, and I'm never happy when I'm proven wrong.So now we are stuck with Blake and his fake-trendy self for another week. His 'Unique' Selling Point is wearing thin, and his clothes get odder as the weeks go by. I don't actively dislike him, but I don't think he's nearly as cool as he thinks he is (or,
Seamour will be ready for a special place in your room by the end of July 2007, along with his trusty companion Marty Mole!
Click on the image for the full-sized version, and stay tuned to Seamoursheep.com and Crazy Label for the latest news!
This has to be one of the most despicable acts of cowardliness I've ever heard. The BBC are reporting that 200 rebel Mai Mai militia fighters have attacked a nature reserve in DR Congo, killed one ranger, critically injured another three and are now threatening to slaughter a group of endangered Mountain Gorillas if the government try and bring them to justice.
WildlifeDirect director Emmanuel de Merode said the Mai Mai attack may be a reprisal for a government clampdown.Full story at: BBC NEWS - DR Congo rebel threat to gorillas.
"Our understanding is that this was a deliberate attack on the Congolese wildlife authorities," he told the BBC's Focus on Africa.
[...]
"The efforts of the Congolese rangers to protect these have been quite successful but at a huge human cost."
"Over 97 rangers have been killed in Virunga National Park since the war started in 1996," he said.
London music group Vega4 have joined the fight against global warming with a contest that will offer one lucky fan two tickets to the Live Earth concert in San Francisco later this summer.
Fans and concerned citizens are being asked to film their own earth conscious video or slideshow featuring the band's latest single "Life is Beautiful". The best video gets the tickets.
Conserving energy, using public transport, driving fuel efficient cars, petitioning local governments and demanding that they support bills and laws that hold companies accountable for their actions, and supporting those who are actively changing their corporate policies to make this rock under our feet a better, safer place for us now and in the future.Completed videos can be uploaded to the Vega4 Youtube Group prior to the contest deadline of May 31st. Visit the group's MySpace page for more info, and click the player below to hear the contest single "Life is Beautiful". It's a great track.
About Live Earth: Live Earth will bring together more than 150 of the world's top musicians for 24-hours of music from 9 concerts across all 7 continents. Live Earth will bring together an audience of more than 2 billion at the concerts and through television, radio, film, and the Internet. That audience, and the proceeds from the event, will create the foundation for a new, multi-year global effort to combat the climate crisis led by Vice President Al Gore. Kevin Wall, Worldwide Executive Producer of Live 8, is producing Live Earth.
Audio
DISRUPT - Selassi I Continually (Werk Discs)
ANDREAS TILLIANDER - Bonnarock (Repeatle)
MAX ROMEO - Birth Of Reggae Music (Wackies)
MACHINEFABRIEK - Oi Polloi (Lampse)
WOUTER VAN VELDHOVEN - Kaspar (Self Released)
SOCCER COMMITTEE - Here I Go Again (Morc Tapes)
MACHINEFABRIEK - Monster (Lampse)
ANDY STOTT - Massacre (Modern Love)
SVEN WEISEMANN - Spheric Wave (Meanwhile)
THE ACE OF CLUBS - Benefist (First Cask)
FENNESZ & SAKAMOTO - Haru (Touch)
PORN SWORD TOBACCO - U.S. Saloon Props (City Centre Offices)
PAN SONIC - Haiti (Blast First Petite)
LIZ GREEN - French Singer (Humble Soul)
SAMAMIDON - Head Over Heels (Birdwar)
DENIS JONES - Four Water (Humble Soul)
IGNATZ - The Dreams (K-raa-k3)
CLOAKS - Anti-Virus (Werk Discs)
DQ1 - Structive (Tectonic)
MATTY G - 50,000 Watts (Loefah Remix) (Argon)
SASQUATCH - Doll's Eyes (Senseless)
Not so long ago, in fact a week ago to be exact, I was a student. While there are downsides to the academic lifestyle there can be benefits as well. For one, software retailers tend to give you discounts that they deny to the general public. For instance, I purchased from two separate retailers, a copy of Windows Vista Home Premium edition for $70 U.S. That price included shipping. So, for
It's always fun to delve into the food customs of other times, so the book DaVinci's Kitchen: A Secret History of Italian Cuisine, while not actually focusing on DaVinci per se, does have some fascinating food history from 15th- and 16th-century Italy. For example, did you know that the higher your status when invited to dinner, the more likely you were to be seated with your back to the fireplace? Gotta keep that royal "hiney"ess warm, you know. Or that the first cookbook, in the modern sense of the word, was handwritten by Maestro Martino about 1460 and was called Libro de arte coquinaria, or "Book on the Art of Cooking?"
In researching the book, author Dave DeWitt went through Leonardo DaVinci's copious notebooks, looking for food references and even found Leo's salad dressing recipe! He also found DaVinci's Philosophy of Diet, as follows:
- Do not eat when you have no appetite, and dine lightly.
- Chew well, and whatever you take into you should be well-cooked and of simple ingredients.
- He who takes medicine is ill advised.
- Beware anger and avoid stuffy air.
- Stay standing a while when you get up from a meal.
- Make sure you do not sleep at midday.
- Let your wine be mixed with water, take little and often, not between meals, not on an empty stomach.
- Neither delay nor prolong your visit to the toilet.
- If you take exercise, let it not be too strenuous.
- Do not lie with your stomach upward and your head downward.
- Be well covered at night,and rest your head and keep your mind cheerful.
- Avoid wantonness and keep to this diet.