3.31.2001

Sometimes the operations of society become so insidious, so tyrannical, and so intolerable that you have no other choice but to lay your own body down on the spinning gears of society in order to stop the movement. And by doing so, you are indicating to the leaders of society that you will no longer accept their rule, that you are now free and will not recognize their positions of power for another minute.

Why this angry, political rhetoric? Because we, the citizens of this world must resist Daylight Savings Time.    8:49:42 PM

I think scientists are generally doing a service to the world in devoting their lives to research, but, sometimes I think they should get out of the lab and give some thought to what they're doing before experiments like this happen.    10:14:49 AM

3.30.2001

Pie for you!!    9:43:58 PM

3.29.2001

Bush on the environment: "I will explain as clearly as I can today and every other chance I get, that we will not do anything that harms our economy, because first things first are the people who live in America."

Translation: In a time-honored tradition of using populist rhetoric when trying to espouse right-wing ideas, Bush is attempting to appeal to the common person by making the point that we shouldn't really give a damn about the environment, hell, he didn't in Texas and look where it got him, right?

Bush (continued) : "It's in our national interests that we develop a strong energy policy with realistic common-sense environmental policy."

Translation: Under Bush's Texas, the state was #1 in emission of ozone causing air-pollution chemicals, toxic chemical releases into the air, deep well injectors as method of waste disposal, Environmental Justice Title 6 complaints and production of cancer causing benzene and vinyl chloride.

With such a stellar record, it is time to bring his "common sense environmental policy" to the nation at large, so that we may all reap the benefits.    4:10:11 PM

I'm confused, isn't carbon dioxide a pollutant, isn't it a leading contributor to global warming? Aren't our petroleum and coal supplies running out? Apparently not. While I'm at it, it should be noted that God created fossil fuels, and not only that, but they're "One of [His] greatest gifts to mankind."    2:04:36 PM

For anyone who enjoys reading this site, I would kindly ask that you send an e-mail to Charlene who lent me her umbrella today, allowing me to walk to the post office, the pet store, and the grocery store today in the heavy rain that has continued to fall.    12:42:00 PM

3.26.2001

Anyone with a television should check out PBS's Trade Secrets, an expose on the chemical industry whose actions seem very close to those of the tobacco industry in terms of covering up the terrible health risks associated with their products.

Char wrote to me:

".. was just watching a program on pbs called 'trade secrets' about a worker harmed by vinyl chloride who later died of brain cancer. Another worker's finger bones were dissolving from repeated contact w/ the chemical, while the company he was working for had files on this possible side effect marked 'confidential.' At the end of the program, the president of the EWG and a spokesman from the American Chemistry Council were debating... and the chemistry guy was defending his trade by saying that chemistry's contribution to the advancement of science was involved with the successful surgical procedure of the show's host."

A fascinating perspective on this show can be found in the chemical industry's attempt at "damage control".

Some illuminating (in how the industry attempts to skew the argument) propaganda can be found at this site (complete with smiling children and the tagline 'better, healthier, safer'), which is created by the American Chemistry Council, whose scientific and neutral-seeming name seems to be an attempt to disguise its role as the chief lobbying group for the chemical industry.

One might note that this is the same industry group that led the $100+ million dollar campaign to discredit Rachel Carson when her book, Silent Spring came out. Anyhow, kudos to PBS for showing such a corporate-unfriendly show.    8:24:39 PM

3.23.2001

Scenes from a skate to the mailbox and back. It's hard to ollie and get a picture of it (witness upper right photo).    3:07:01 PM

Created this site, start to finish yesterday. It's been frustrating to figure out how I want to be laying out pictures on this site, since this current way doesn't work very well, if anyone has suggestions, I'd like to read them.    7:19:18 AM

3.18.2001

Visited Asbury Park today and found a small window that lead us to the inside of a long abandoned building. We walked on broken wood and mud and found this beautiful, quiet place... I'm totally in awe, many more pictures coming.    3:13:12 PM

3.16.2001

I really am trying to figure out a better way of presenting pictures.    7:01:08 AM

3.15.2001

Rainy days.    10:44:12 PM

3.13.2001

Get your bids in, very funny.    8:09:49 PM

To the left of this single gravestone is a small graveyard and a white, stone church. I don't know why this gravestone (and a few others) get slowly overgrown while the others have the grounds around them kept neat and clean.    7:23:10 PM

Sears-Robuck Barn, built 1932, picture 1 of 2     7:17:08 PM

Sears-Robuck Barn, built 1932, picture 2 of 2    7:15:35 PM

    7:12:48 PM

Vote for your photo of the year.    7:15:30 AM

3.10.2001

This is one of the best articles that I've read about the Zapatistas in Chiapas, Mexico. It gives a history of their uprising, and current news on their march to Mexico City. The article is moving and really just amazing.    2:37:40 PM

3.9.2001

These recent school shootings have been getting a lot of media coverage, and people are quick to assume that schools are getting more and more violent. The truth is that the media likes milking these stories for all they're worth (plus a lot more), and that school violence has actually been decreasing every year since 1992.

To back this up, I suggest looking at the National School Safety Center's report on School Associated Violent Deaths, here in PDF form, which shows (among a lot of other things) 54 cases of school related violent deaths in the 1992-1993 school year, down to only 16 in the 1999-2000 school year.

The issue these stats bring up is to what extent the media controls our perceptions of how things are. Schools are safer than they were 10 years ago, but the mass media, being more interested in dragging out what they perceive are good stories, continue to cover these recent school shootings in a way that suggests that school violence is becoming an epidemic, when the truth is exactly the opposite.    4:16:22 PM

3.8.2001

I generally don't have anything to do with painting, but my computer animation course necessitated it, so I got out my $0.99 watercolor kit and proceeded to get watercolors all over my bed (and some on the canvas).    1:00:55 PM

Nice sky last night.    7:14:35 AM

Site's been down for whatever reason, I don't know.     6:42:31 AM

3.6.2001

Nine hours standing in the darkroom, my vision is blurry, hands dry, and feet achy. Pictures later.    8:59:42 PM

3.5.2001

 
Painted face and bathtub.     9:06:47 PM

    8:47:23 PM

Hidden away in the back alleys of the city is where I find its most beautiful places.    8:04:59 PM

The beginning of a flurry of picture posting, all taken today. This is earlier, as the storm just began to fade, and became wetness instead of the much hoped for snow.    7:48:08 PM

3.4.2001

Most of the time, I get around by walking, and have to deal with people like these every single day. Lance, you said it perfectly.    5:38:08 PM

Something new.     1:07:01 PM

The cages at zoos seem way too small.    7:49:13 AM

3.1.2001

6:06 PM, 19th and Dupont, NW

Cities are full of lonely people, some by choice, some by circumstance, and some by occupation.

I see him once or twice a week, walking the streets around the circle, but I think he's there every night.

He's carrying maybe a dozen roses for sale, at $5.00 apiece, and all night he threads his way through crowded restaurants. Stopping at each table, he presents the roses with a slight flourish, gripping the stem bunch in one hand and letting the roses rest across his other arm, giving them just a touch of elegance.

But the image that really stays with me is like this picture, roses in hand, head bent down, walking down an empty street to another restaurant. He'll thread his way through the clusters of tables, seeing shaking heads, hearing, "No thanks," all night long, and then leave again, to move onto the next place. At some point each night, the restaurants and streets will become quiet, and it'll just be him, gripping his flowers, walking alone.    9:21:47 PM