A Fathers call for Mother Solidarity

As featured in the Jack Rabbit Speaks, the Fire in the Belly folks are trying to make this incredible piece of art happen. For all of you who have children, for all of you have had a miscarriage and for all of you who hope to someday have children, please consider a small donation. Even 5 bucks helps. This is a beautiful thing they're trying to do, and they're running out of time to do it. I know of several women who've had miscarriages before or during the event in years past, and this installation will no doubt see a lot of carthasis surrounding it's burn.

Just had to share

Just had to share that today Todd at Cleverchimp.com was able to ship out my STOKEMONKEY kit! YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If you don't know what a stokemonkey is, click HERE and see what it's all about. As soon as I get the rig and get it set up, I'll be posting photos and blog entries about it. In fact faithfull reader (all 2 of you), you'll probably be SICK of hearing about the stokemonkey very shortly and will discontinue reading my blog until I start talking about something else. Never fear! I only drone on for a few hundred entries before finding new things to carry on about. *smirk*

Tangled Webs

You know, every time I link to something I found somewhere, I realize that the world wide web, really is just that. A web. Though I may wax pedantic, stay with me here for a second.

I went to a lecture hosted by the Long Now Institute on March 10th at Fort Mason in San Francisco. Kevin Kelly spoke about recursion (among other things). Listen to the MP3 of the lecture HERE. I've been thinking about it ever since. Take this post for instance: I found today's link at the cleverchimp blog, who in turn found it ( I assume ) on the Letter from Hen Waller site, who was linking to an article entitled "Supermarkets and Service Stations Now Competing for Grain" written by Lester Brown of the Earth Policy Institute. That article can be found HERE.

More ammo for a push towards bicycling. As Holly at Letter from Hen Waller says, the soft pedaling approach to the hard truth (the increasing and insatiable need for internal combustion engine fuels in America) is a cop out. Yes, the efficiency of all personal vehicles needs to rise at least 20%, but we also MUST reduce demand, and fast. So as I like to say, RIDE A BIKE, WALK, TAKE A BUS/TRAIN, or maybe just STAY HOME!

As for my own car usage, it's mostly centered around my business in SF. It sucks for a commute. It's about 35 miles each way by bicycle, about 28-29 by car/motorcycle. Hopefully in the next week, Todd at Cleverchimp will send me my stokemonkey! Within a week of THAT, I should be commuting to work by BICYCLE! YAAAAAYYYY! Currently, I only drive when I can't ride, and every week I'm managing to make fewer trips by car. It's the best feeling I've had in years (well, since my son was born anyways).

Damn Birds

Well, this is the first time I've ever posted a link to an online game. First time I've really played one! On a trackpad, Damn Birds is pretty damn challenging, but I think if I had my turbo mouse, I could kick some a$$. A lot of fun, especially if you've just been $hit on by a bird recently. You are a pissed-off statue with a gun and it's time to let the birds HAVE IT!

Having a dad with a sense of humor…

Wow. Not one for the kiddies, but you adults should get a good laugh or perhaps cringe out of this one. For full disclosure, I found this at webegeeky.com which of course belongs to the highly esteemed Chris Gleason.

I never saw this ad on TV, but then again I don't watch much (significantly less than an hour a week), and I have a feeling this got banned rather quickly.

*Smirk, Snort*

Report a Marin County pothole or road hazard!

Reposted from the Marin County Bicycle Coalition's newsletter. I kept meaning to post this as a link to a valuable resource, so finally, here it is:

MARIN COUNTY BICYCLE COALITION (MCBC), WEEKLY BULLETIN, July 6, 2006

POT HOLE OR ROAD DEBRIS GOT YOU DOWN?
Call someone who can help!

Riding on poorly maintained road facilities can be dangerous. When road shoulders and bike lanes are littered with debris or extremely rutted, cyclists are forced to take the lane for their safety. If drivers are not aware of cyclists' rights to be in the lane, road rage and reckless passing by drivers often occurs.

Save your own skin (and that of your cycling friends!) by reporting all road hazards that you encounter to the proper jurisdiction. Those of us who ride the roads are the best eyes available to see and ask for conditions to be made safer. No one wants to maintain a liability, so call the right person from the list below.

Belvedere - Bob Branz, 435-4744
Corte Madera - Dave Bracken, 927-5120
Fairfax - Debra Sue Johnson, 453-0291
Larkspur - Hamid Shamsapour, 927-5017
Mill Valley - Wayne Bush, 388-4033 x113
Novato - Glenn Young, 899-8963
Ross - Mel Jarjoura, 453-1453 x119
San Anselmo - Rabi Elias, 258-4623
San Rafael - Andy Preston, 485-3359
Sausalito - Tom Birse, 289-4176
Tiburon - Tony Iacopi, 435-7399
Marin County - George Buckle, 499-7512
Caltrans Southern Marin - Lynn Houston, 289-2951
Caltrans West Marin - 663-1176
North Bay - 707-762-6641
Golden Gate Bridge - bridgecomments@goldengate.org

This list is available year-round on the MCBC website's (www.marinbike.org) Resources page.

Sunday Bloody Sunday

While looking for Andy Dick's "Presidential Speechalist" a humorous parody of a behind the scenes look at GWB's speech writer, my friend Rob and I came across THIS video. Someone spent a LOT of time piecing this one together, and it's definitely worth a watch. Max Headroom move over (sorry kiddies, some of you won't get that one), GWB's here to sing. Bono, don't worry, your day job is safe.

I'm going to be sick…

I've been a fan of Peter Gabriel's music for years. He's a fabulous musician and a brilliant, amazing performer. I've only seen him live twice, but his Growing Up tour was hands down the best live show I've ever seen. I've seen a lot of shows in my day, but the stage show for the growing up tour took everything I've ever seen to a whole new level. In concert, His crowd interaction was very genuine and made the show feel more intimate and personal than any show I'd ever been to. Blown away doesn't even begin to describe my experience.

Peter was instrumental in the creation of WOMAD.

Basically, I've got a lot of admiration for the guy.

Tonight I'm lying in bed reading my email while my wife is watching TV. I hear "Solsbury Hill", but a bastardized version, and look up to realize that cingular wireless has bought the rights to use the song in their ad for a "family talk" plan. Ugh. Cough, hack, sputter… the horror. I feel nauseous. As far as I know, Peter's never sold his soul to corporate interests, especially not to a souless corporation like cingular wireless, which is owned by the even more insidious AT&T. YUCK!!!!!!!

Maybe he's taking the profits and giving them to WOMAD. Maybe he's giving them to needy children. God, I hope so, because Solsbury Hill has always been a really beautiful song that held a lot of meaning for me, and it's been commodified, chopped up (and no, not in a good "remix" kind of way) and stripped of it's soul and meaning so some lame cellular company can have some background music for a meaningless ad that no one cares a rat's ass about. Dear lord I despise the corporate commodification of art.

Frontlines Fact from the NRDC

I've been a member of the NRDC for several years now. I receive their onearth magazine and with the bevy of other reading material I inevitable have in front of me, it usually takes me a while to get around to reading through it. I noticed this little factoid they threw in the middle of an article called "Voyage of the Sorcerer", which in in of itself deserves a blog entry.

"200 state food-safety and public-health protections were removed in April [2006] by the National Uniformity for Food Act. Since 2000 the American food industry has contributed more than $81 million to congressional campaigns."

onearth, Volume 28, Number 2, Pg. 9

"What" you might ask, "is the National Uniformity for Food Act"
You might need some time for this if you don't already know about it.

Read the speeches that were given in the House HERE

HERE'S what the Food Industry had to say about their victory.

HERE'S what the Organic Consumers Association had to say.

HERE'S what the Sierra Club had to say.

As far as I can gather, H.R 4167 makes states comply to federal law inre: food safety. Example: if California law says that the allowable level of mercury in fish is .05mg and the federal level is 5mg, the federal law supercedes the state law. There are other aspects to this law, but basically, consumers and states get the shaft. Guess who supports this law? Yeah, mostly republicans and the food industry. Who opposes? Democrats and Consumer advocacy and protection groups. Did it pass? UNFORTUNATELY, YES. Basically, the food industry is LESS accountable than before. Lovely. Of course, if most people knew about this when it was happening, they probably would have called their representatives and said "VOTE NO!". I mean, who wants to eat contaminated or dangerous food? I can't think of anyone (unless they were pathological or suicidal) that would want to eat things that could kill them or harm their children.

The word "DUH!" comes to mind here… and a double dose of that to me for not knowing about this when it was happening.

CURRENT MUSIC: The Raconteurs: Broken Boy Soldiers