I plan to post a detailed account of my trip to California. For now, though, a few links.
If it goes into effect, California's ban on plastic bags would be the first statewide plastic-bag ban in the country. Good thing we went when we did. I plan to use and reuse the few bags we got with our purchases.
On the eve of the 49th Annual MDA marathon, a question: Has the Ice Bucket Challenge Turned Us All In[to] Jerry Lewis?
As lava oozes in Puna, the folks at Dumb-Out.net explain what would happen if the supervolcano at Yellowstone National Park suddenly erupted. It would affect the 48 contiguous states. Lucky we live Hawaii.
Saturday, August 30, 2014
There's No Place Like Home
I went to the mainland for the first time last week Thursday and stayed till this Tuesday. Specifically, I went with my father, sister, and a family friend to attend my uncle's funeral. He died earlier this month and, upon getting the news, my family made plans to travel to Sacramento, where my uncle had lived for many years.
This trip was not only my first trip to the mainland, but it was the first off-island one I've taken in the twenty-first century and the first since the TSA was established.
Much more soon.
This trip was not only my first trip to the mainland, but it was the first off-island one I've taken in the twenty-first century and the first since the TSA was established.
Much more soon.
Thursday, August 28, 2014
So Much to Do
This month has been a quite busy one, and I'm still catching up with work. But I hope to share some big news here soon.
Wednesday, August 27, 2014
Tuesday, August 19, 2014
Monday, August 18, 2014
Kunstler: Mr. Bad Example
Kunstler takes on the Michael Brown shooting and the subsequent protests in Ferguson, Missouri. I don't agree with his view.
Kunstler: Mr. Bad Example
Kunstler: Mr. Bad Example
Wednesday, August 13, 2014
Robin Williams: Some Notes
Like everyone else in the world, I know about Robin Williams's death. I found out about it on Monday afternoon on MSNBC. At the peak of his fame (1989-1998) he was everywhere. Hattie points out that he was inspired by Jonathan Winters, but I think he had a style all his own. (Jonathan Winters had a "grandma" character, and I wonder if that led to Mrs. Doubtfire. And Winters appeared on Mork and Mindy as a baby, if I recall.) Much to write about. I remember seeing Dead Poets' Society one Sunday at the movies, and on the way home, as we drove up Ponahawai about to turn onto Komohana, we felt an earthquake.
Other movies of his that I liked: The World According to Garp, The Fisher King.
More later.
Other movies of his that I liked: The World According to Garp, The Fisher King.
More later.
Monday, August 11, 2014
Kunstler: Global Nausea
Kunstler is incredulous that the United States is going back to Iraq.
Any American influence left in Iraq should focus on rebuilding the credibility of national institutions.
– Editorial, The New York Times
Gosh, isn’t that what we spent eight years, 4,500 lives, and $1.7 trillion doing? And how did that work out? The Iraq war is just like the US financial system. The people in charge can’t imagine writing off their losses. Which, from the policy standpoint, leaves the USA pounding sand down so many rat holes that there may be no ground left to stand on anywhere. We’ll be lucky if our national life doesn’t soon resemble The Revenge of the Mole People.
The arc of this story points to at least one likely conclusion: the dreadful day that ISIS (shorthand for whatever they call themselves) overruns the US Green Zone in Baghdad. Won’t that be a nauseating spectacle? Perhaps just in time for the 2014 US elections. And what do you suppose the policy meeting will be like in the White House war room the day after?
Will anyone argue that the USA just take a break from further operations in the entire Middle East / North Africa region? My recommendation would be to stand back, do nothing, and see what happens — since everything we’ve done so far just leaves things and lives shattered. Let’s even say that ISIS ends up consolidating power in Iraq, Syria, and some other places. The whole region will get a very colorful demonstration of what it is like to live under an 11th century style psychopathic despotism, and then the people left after the orgy of beheading and crucifixion can decide if they like it. The experience might be clarifying.
In any case, what we’re witnessing in the Middle East — apparently unbeknownst to the newspapers and the cable news orgs — is what happens in extreme population overshoot: chaos, murder, economic collapse. The human population in this desolate corner of the world has expanded on the artificial nutriment of oil profits, which have allowed governments to keep feeding their people, and maintaining an artificial middle class to work in meaningless bureaucratic offices where, at best, they do nothing and, at worst, hassle their fellow citizens for bribes and payoffs.
There is not a nation on earth that is preparing intelligently for the end of oil — and by that I mean 1) the end of cheap, affordable oil, [Emphasis mine.--P.Z.] and 2) the permanent destabilization of existing oil supply lines. Both of these conditions should be visible now in the evolving geopolitical dynamic, but nobody is paying attention, for instance, in the hubbub over Ukraine. That feckless, unfortunate, and tragic would-be nation, prompted by EU and US puppeteers, just replied to the latest trade sanction salvo from Russia by declaring it would block the delivery of Russian gas to Europe through pipelines on its territory. I hope everybody west of Dnepropetrovsk is getting ready to burn the furniture come November. But that just shows how completely irrational the situation has become… and I stray from my point.
Which is that in the worst case that ISIS succeeds in establishing a sprawling caliphate, they will never be able to govern it successfully, only preside over an awesome episode of bloodletting and social collapse. This is especially true in what is now called Saudi Arabia, with its sclerotic ruling elite clinging to power. If and when the ISIS maniacs come rolling in on a cavalcade of You-Tube beheading videos, what are the chances that the technicians running the oil infrastructure there will stick around on the job? And could ISIS run all that machinery themselves? I wouldn’t count on it. And I wouldn’t count on global oil supply lines continuing to function in the way the world requires them to. If you’re looking for the near-future spark of World War Three, start there.
By the way, the US is no less idiotic than Ukraine. We’ve sold ourselves the story that shale oil will insulate us from all the woes and conflicts breaking out elsewhere in the world over the dissolving oil economy paradigm. The shale oil story is false. By my reckoning we have about a year left of the drive-to-Walmart-economy before the public broadly gets what trouble we’re in. The amazing thing is that the public might get to that realization even before its political leadership does. That dynamic leads straight to the previously unthinkable (not for 150 years, anyway) breakup of the United States.
=======
Later, I might post something about the damage in Puna from T.S. Iselle. In particular, the lack of electricity. This is a taste of the Long Emergency.
Any American influence left in Iraq should focus on rebuilding the credibility of national institutions.
– Editorial, The New York Times
Gosh, isn’t that what we spent eight years, 4,500 lives, and $1.7 trillion doing? And how did that work out? The Iraq war is just like the US financial system. The people in charge can’t imagine writing off their losses. Which, from the policy standpoint, leaves the USA pounding sand down so many rat holes that there may be no ground left to stand on anywhere. We’ll be lucky if our national life doesn’t soon resemble The Revenge of the Mole People.
The arc of this story points to at least one likely conclusion: the dreadful day that ISIS (shorthand for whatever they call themselves) overruns the US Green Zone in Baghdad. Won’t that be a nauseating spectacle? Perhaps just in time for the 2014 US elections. And what do you suppose the policy meeting will be like in the White House war room the day after?
Will anyone argue that the USA just take a break from further operations in the entire Middle East / North Africa region? My recommendation would be to stand back, do nothing, and see what happens — since everything we’ve done so far just leaves things and lives shattered. Let’s even say that ISIS ends up consolidating power in Iraq, Syria, and some other places. The whole region will get a very colorful demonstration of what it is like to live under an 11th century style psychopathic despotism, and then the people left after the orgy of beheading and crucifixion can decide if they like it. The experience might be clarifying.
In any case, what we’re witnessing in the Middle East — apparently unbeknownst to the newspapers and the cable news orgs — is what happens in extreme population overshoot: chaos, murder, economic collapse. The human population in this desolate corner of the world has expanded on the artificial nutriment of oil profits, which have allowed governments to keep feeding their people, and maintaining an artificial middle class to work in meaningless bureaucratic offices where, at best, they do nothing and, at worst, hassle their fellow citizens for bribes and payoffs.
There is not a nation on earth that is preparing intelligently for the end of oil — and by that I mean 1) the end of cheap, affordable oil, [Emphasis mine.--P.Z.] and 2) the permanent destabilization of existing oil supply lines. Both of these conditions should be visible now in the evolving geopolitical dynamic, but nobody is paying attention, for instance, in the hubbub over Ukraine. That feckless, unfortunate, and tragic would-be nation, prompted by EU and US puppeteers, just replied to the latest trade sanction salvo from Russia by declaring it would block the delivery of Russian gas to Europe through pipelines on its territory. I hope everybody west of Dnepropetrovsk is getting ready to burn the furniture come November. But that just shows how completely irrational the situation has become… and I stray from my point.
Which is that in the worst case that ISIS succeeds in establishing a sprawling caliphate, they will never be able to govern it successfully, only preside over an awesome episode of bloodletting and social collapse. This is especially true in what is now called Saudi Arabia, with its sclerotic ruling elite clinging to power. If and when the ISIS maniacs come rolling in on a cavalcade of You-Tube beheading videos, what are the chances that the technicians running the oil infrastructure there will stick around on the job? And could ISIS run all that machinery themselves? I wouldn’t count on it. And I wouldn’t count on global oil supply lines continuing to function in the way the world requires them to. If you’re looking for the near-future spark of World War Three, start there.
By the way, the US is no less idiotic than Ukraine. We’ve sold ourselves the story that shale oil will insulate us from all the woes and conflicts breaking out elsewhere in the world over the dissolving oil economy paradigm. The shale oil story is false. By my reckoning we have about a year left of the drive-to-Walmart-economy before the public broadly gets what trouble we’re in. The amazing thing is that the public might get to that realization even before its political leadership does. That dynamic leads straight to the previously unthinkable (not for 150 years, anyway) breakup of the United States.
=======
Later, I might post something about the damage in Puna from T.S. Iselle. In particular, the lack of electricity. This is a taste of the Long Emergency.
Sunday, August 10, 2014
PressCriticism.com
I just found this link today. PressCriticism.com deals with reviews of journalism, and I might add this to my list of links.
Saturday, August 09, 2014
Election Called for Ige
Not all the results are in but there is such a wide percentage gulf between David Ige and Neil Abercrombie (67%-32%) that HawaiiNewsNow has called the election for Ige. If this holds and Ige wins the Democratic primary, it will make Abercrombie the first incumbent governor in Hawaii to lose re-election.
Friday, August 08, 2014
Thursday, August 07, 2014
Alyson Williams, "She's Not Your Fool" (Embedding disabled by request.)
Iselle comes today. Stay safe.
Iselle comes today. Stay safe.
Wednesday, August 06, 2014
"America's Press Needs to Stop Fawning Over Big Donors
"America's Press Needs to Stop Fawning Over Big Donors." Yes they do.
In other news, a hurricane watch has been declared. Yet the sky is still blue.
In other news, a hurricane watch has been declared. Yet the sky is still blue.
Tuesday, August 05, 2014
On Livestock Facing Extinction
Rare Breeds Of Farm Animals Face Extinction.
"A ‘livestock meltdown’ is occurring as hardy African, Asian and Latin American farm animals face extinction."
THE STATE OF THE WORLD’s ANIMAL GENETIC RESOURCES FOR FOOD AND AGRICULTURE>
Rapid losses of Africa's native livestock threaten continent's food supply, experts warn.
"A ‘livestock meltdown’ is occurring as hardy African, Asian and Latin American farm animals face extinction."
THE STATE OF THE WORLD’s ANIMAL GENETIC RESOURCES FOR FOOD AND AGRICULTURE>
Rapid losses of Africa's native livestock threaten continent's food supply, experts warn.
Monday, August 04, 2014
George Michael: "Too Funky"
5 August update: The video's director, the French-German designer Thierry Mugler, originally had a racier version, unreleased till early 2013.
Saturday, August 02, 2014
Get On Up
Armond White's review of Get On Up.
It looks much better than Transformers, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Lucy, or Guardians of the Galaxy.
Will the movie include this?
It looks much better than Transformers, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Lucy, or Guardians of the Galaxy.
#Getonup is Movie of the Week maybe of the year. 2014 performances, too. http://t.co/De8486YNY2 pic.twitter.com/TZ95JK70LH
— armond white (@3xchair) August 2, 2014Will the movie include this?
Friday, August 01, 2014
Take Back The Times
I've just found this blog,TakeBackTheTimes, about The Los Angeles Times. The blog is no longer updated and its author, a former writer for The Times, has died, but it is still online.
Big Island Weekly Closes
On Wednesday I noticed the new issue of Big Island Weekly was out. Its headline read "Bye Bye, Big Island." At first I thought it was a cover story on people leaving the Big Island. As I picked it up I saw the subheadline: Your Alternative Weekly is Pau.
A Big Island Chronicle commentary on the closing of Big Island Weekly.
More later.
A Big Island Chronicle commentary on the closing of Big Island Weekly.
More later.
Kunstler on Gaza and the World at Large
This is a belated posting of Kunstler's two columns on the 2014 Israel-Gaza conflict. Kunstler takes an extremely harsh view of Palestinians, one I disavow. But if you're interested in a very contrary, and frankly, wrongheaded, perspective, here it is. Take it with a grain lump of salt.
Kunstler: Excuse Me for Living
Kunstler: War Zones
==
And this is today's column,
"All Hell," where Kunstler says everything is to going to Hades in a handbasket.
Kunstler: Excuse Me for Living
Kunstler: War Zones
==
And this is today's column,
"All Hell," where Kunstler says everything is to going to Hades in a handbasket.
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