Anthony Weiner Vs. the GOP

Lovely.

Between him and Grayson, could there be a bit of chutzpah growing in the dems possibly? Possibly?

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Enjoy not holding your breath but glorying in the moment anyway,

Bp

[via Kipp, good catch sir]

Tibetan Yogis on film

Ran across this archival footage on Boing Boing. A Frenchmen named Arnaud Desjardins took the images, they are just scenes from the movie "Message of the Tibetans."

I am posting the third video of the series, because it's such a visual trip. To see the eyes of the yogis as they practice is quite a thing. It turns out that the first two of the last practitioners depicted are heroes of mine. They all rock, of course, but these two gentlemen I have a connection with from back in the day. Here is the list from the description of the video:

1) His Holiness Dudjom Rinpoche, head of the Nyingma lineage in India

B) Venerable Kalu Rinpoche, great realized master in the Kagyu lineage.

C) His Holiness, the 16th Karmapa! The head of the Karma Kagyu lineage.

Here is a link to the first of the youtube videos, and here is the second:



Enjoy running across blasts from the past,

Bp

National Do Not Call Registry -- Register Your Cell Phone Now

There is an email circulating that claims all our cell phone numbers are about to be distributed to telemarketers. This doesn't appear to be true. But the rest of the email is true -- it gives information on the National Do Not Call registry. Below is the information to get your phones put on that list:

Call this number: 888-382-1222 with the phone that you want on the list and register on the National Do Not Call registry.

Or you can go to the National Do Not Call Registry to register multiple numbers at once. I think I'll be doing both... you know, just to be safe.

Enjoy opting out,

Bp

[via Richard and T.]

Family saved from burning car

I don't watch television, so I miss stuff like this. Here is another side of humanity that reside in this country (in contrast to the last post I made).



Enjoy seeing what it looks like to do the right thing,

Bp

[via Neatorama]

Possible cure for Colony Collapse Disorder?

According to this article in Science Daily, scientists in Spain have isolated a specific parasite, Nosema ceranae (Microsporidia), in two separate apiaries inflicted with CCD. They treated the remaining bees in the apiaries and the bees recovered from the affliction.

This is only the first study, but you can be sure that this success will be tested many times over.

A cure for CCD affects us all. Even though other news items have grabbed the spotlight, if we lose our bees a massive hit in agricultural production is guaranteed.

Even though the cure used wasn't organic, if it works then we have avoided a serious, real catastrophe (unlike hysterical over-reaction to the "catastrophe-that-isn't-yet" like the swine flu).

Enjoy a chance that worldwide agriculture was saved by a couple microbio geeks in Spain,

Bp

[Photo credit in linked article, "Pig plague and Twitter" article via Uncle Ted]

Little Dudes: Noble's Pygmy Frog -- Noblella pygmaea

Discovered in the Andes, Noble's Pygmy Frog may be the world's smallest. For a great article on the frog with details, click here for the Discovery News article. For my part, lets see some pictures. It's all about the cute around here anyway lately.



Enjoy new discoveries, especially cute ones,

Bp

[photo credit in linked article]

First confirmed Wolverine sighting in California in 80 years!

A male wolverine was still-photographed last year and video'd this year on Sierra Pacific timber land in Northern California. Genetic tests have shown that it is a male, and the same animal in both instances. The video footage was captured by a cameras set up at baits by SPI on their land.

The individual shares more genetic similarity with animals in the Northern Rockies around Idaho or Montana than those from California's past. For more details, check out this article at Redding.com.

Check out the handsome fellow below:



Enjoy seeing some of the rarer aspects of the ecosphere creep back into the lower 48,

Bp


[via Uncle Tom, source Redding.com]

Straus Family Creamery making its own electricity, from Poo

Poo has been a bit of a subject lately on the blog. It's useful stuff, I may have to create a whole new label for the blog.

Straus Family Creamery (organic, btw) down in California's central coast, has gone green for their electricity production. They use methane digesters to generate both electricity and compost for their pastures.

I've been hollaring about this for years -- why not use the poo created in feedlots and animal facilities of all kinds to produce methane? It cleans up the waste, when it comes out of the digester it is even better fertilizer than before, and reduces greenhouse gas emission enormously.

Granted, cow poo works better than some, so is a good place to start.

I did run into folks talking about problems with pig poo because there are sulfur compounds in the gas, making it a problem to burn. It is the sulfur in coal that creates acid rain, and burning pig offal methane could release the same compounds. However, it appears there is a viable method of scrubbing the gas before it is used, so maybe pig poo is viable after all.

Anyway, I just wanted to put up some props for Straus for having pulled off the electrical facility on their farm. I think it's absolutely fantastic that folks are getting this much-needed and very reasonable technology off the ground.

PS: No I'm not advertising for Straus -- I just like their butter, yogurt and their stewardship, what can I say.

Enjoy watching real-life, sane answers to some of our problems come about,

Bp

[picture credit on Straus Creamery website]

Catalina Island fox makes a comeback

Catalina Island was a magical place when I was a kid. It look long enough to get there by boat that it was a huge deal to be able to go, and happened very rarely. I always knew it was out there -- surrounded by clear blue waters swarming with fish. The small town on the island, called Avalon, was what I would think of now as a tourist trap. But when I was little, it was the best combination of Disneyland and some small remote Spanish village.

As is usual for islands, the ecology on Catalina is very fragile, especially with its small size and large human influx. I had no idea there was an endemic species of fox on the island. According to this L.A. Times article, the native Catalina fox is making a heartening comeback after some strokes of good luck, weather-wise, and lots of effort by wildlife biologists. It's a cute little scupper.

Enjoy good news from childhood fantasy destinations,

Bp

Holder recommended for Attorney General

Let me rephrase the title, "The Guy who stated Unequivocally, under oath, that Waterboarding Is Torture, recommended for Attorney General by Senate, who apparently have recently grown a Spine."

For more information, click here.

Enjoy watching a sinking ship beginning to slow the water its taking on,

Bp

[photo credit in linked article]

Michael Pollan live at the Schnitz

The Wife and I saw Michael Pollan speak at The Schnitz last night, and really enjoyed it.

As I was trying to describe the talk to T. when we got home, it was almost Pollan's attitude more than the information that I appreciated the most. He's of course very well read about his subject matter (for those of you who haven't heard of him, the subject matter is food, and all the myriad implications around our decisions about food), but he doesn't present at all as someone defeated by the enormity of some of the problems he's exposing. He very much conveyed the sense that any of the problems lined out during the talk were not too large to deal with, they were conceptually graspable, and very much available for positive change.

His positivism wasn't pie-in-the-sky, either. He was realistic in his assessment about, for instance, the strength of the agri business lobby in Washington and its effect on the policy decisions of the Obama administration. But then turned around and gave examples of public movements and outcry creating the political will to get large tasks done.

Here is a video in which Pollan covers some of the same subject matter as he did last night at the Authors@Google series of lectures. Maybe you have the time to sit down with him for a bit, I think it's worth it.



Enjoy learning and being inspired about the important things,

Bp

George the Ginormous Lobster set free

I'll let CNN speak for itself:

NEW YORK (CNN) -- A giant lobster named George escaped a dinner-table fate and was released Saturday into the Atlantic Ocean after a New York seafood restaurant granted him his freedom, according to a statement from the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.

The lobster, which PETA said was 140 years old and weighed 20 pounds, had been confined to a tank at City Crab and Seafood restaurant in Manhattan when two customers alerted the animal group.

The PETA statement did not say how the extraordinary age estimate was determined, but restaurant manager Keith Valenti told CNN that lobsters can grow a pound every seven to 10 years, and he put George's weight at 18 to 20 pounds.

"I've been here for 12 years, and that's the biggest lobster I've ever seen," Valenti said.

He said the lobster had been "sitting in the restaurant's tank and acting as a sort of mascot," but when PETA got involved and requested the release, it "seemed like the right thing to do."

Enjoy knowing one of the big bugs is now crawling around on the ocean floor again,

Bp

[via Estu, photo credit in linked article]

Algae farming and biofuel production

I'm cleaning out old emails. Way way back, I received this video about farming algae for biofuels. The presentation is by Glen Kertz of Valcent products. He makes some huge claims, which to me are encouraging. Not because they're necessarily feasible, but because if he's even 100% off in his estimates, it still looks to be a good deal.

One of the claims is that using 1/10th of the land in New Mexico, the U.S. could fulfill all its energy needs with just algae production.

Kertz states that an acre of corn produces 18 gallons of oil per year, palm produces 700 - 800 gallons, algae up to 20,000 gallons per acre per year. And, that's not using a vertical grow greenhouse system, which Valcent calls a High Density Vertical Bioreactor.

Here is an embed of the above video, I'll let Kertz speak for himself:



Enjoy keeping abreast of developments that could help diversify our energy sources,

Bp

Rethink the shark

I was cruising one of my favorite blogs The Chumslick, and found this awesome advertisement in defense of sharks. Kudos to the Save Our Seas Foundation for coming up with such a cogent and effective education campaign.



Enjoy seeing something done right on the tube,

Bp

Musicians telling government to stuff it over Guantanamo abuses

Can you imagine being a rural goatherd or something, then being flown across the word, put in constraints that don't allow you to touch the ground except by your tippy toes, doused with water daily, and to top it off barraged with Eminem's Slim Shady for weeks on end?

I know I'd lose it.

Apparently, many musicians are telling the government to stop using their art for torture. See this MSNBC article for more.


Bp

[photo credit: MSNBC website]

Billboard apology for Prop. 8

A little something to prop up your faith in humankind -- just a bit. Here is the blog post over at San Diego:Dialed In for some writing on the subject, and the exact text if you can't read it off the photo.

Enjoy folks standing up against bigotry,

Bp

[via my Canukistani operative "Yuri"]

A forest all the way across Scotland.

Here is a cool Guardian.uk article about the creation of a continuous forest all the way across Scotland. Technically the project isn't finished yet, but it's damned close.

Here is a link to the slide show, if you want to skip the article and just look at the pretty pictures.

Enjoy ambitious projects that bring beauty to a whole country,

Bp

[via Babs]

Marcy Kaptur, my new political hero, keeps on keepin on

Marcy Kaptur, who lit up the intarwebs in this fierce video denigrating the bailout bill and how it was being pushed through Congress, is still on my radar. She's one of my heroes in politics, so I will be giving updates when I see something interesting from here on out.

Updates like this dandy Guardian blog post about her, titled Toledo Fightback. An example:

Kaptur became something of a YouTube folk hero in September when she took to the floor of the Congress for a series of fiery speeches denouncing the proposed taxpayer-funded bailout of "Wall Street's big banking boys." These "plunderers of our economy", she declared, were "now are running home to mama" for government help. "They want mama to make it all better."

Enjoy finding new heroes, most especially in government of all places,

Bp

[thanks Babs]

Generation We video

My Mom sent me this. Despite the rah rah, Pepsi-co kind of feel to it, it makes some very cogent points. For instance, this is the first generation that is inheriting a USA in decline on all fronts: economy, jobs, civil rights, education, and of course environment.

By 2016, they will be the largest voting block in the United States. That is an enormous amount of power, as we well know from the Boomer generation's stranglehold on politics for the last 25 years or so. As that one generation changed, so did the face of politics in America, right along with them. As the "We" generation comes of age, there will be another change.

I'm not sure I'm quite willing to sign on with the rah rah optimism depicted in this video, but it does give me fodder for thought. Might for you too.



Enjoy the barest twinkle of possibility in some of these thoughts,

Bp

Wake up, freak out, then get a grip

There is some straightforward, rational explanations of positive-feedback loops within the "climate change" arguments in this video. For that alone, it's worth watching. But it has a nice feel about it as well -- not hysterical, not doomsday, not too pedantic. It presents what is known and at least a beginning picture of how to digest and act on the information.

I normally shy away from climate change stuff, but this one made it through my defenses and may be a change from what you've seen as well.


Wake Up, Freak Out - then Get a Grip from Leo Murray on Vimeo.

Enjoy learning in a less-fundamentalist way about our current world state,

Bp

[via Nessa]