You don't come across too many funny-but-wise poems in the world today, for whatever reason. Sharp, cutting, intense, brilliant, shocking poems, sure, but funny? Not so much. So here — let's celebrate one such surprise winner, from Poetry Daily: Disgust There's a preponderance of dog shit in Paris but no one says so, attracted toContinue reading “Funny-but-wise poem about Paris and dogs”
Monthly Archives: January 2010
Red sky at morning (on the coast, before today’s storm)
From the often-beautiful photoblog of Veronique du Turenne, taken early this morning along the coast: The supposedly "unrelenting" storms for SoCal this week, which were said to have the potential of as much as 15-20 inches of rain, have so far been quite moderate: two inches in our area today. But tomorrow we have flashContinue reading “Red sky at morning (on the coast, before today’s storm)”
The duty to nature (great enviro speech of l990)
Mr. Chairman, since the last World War, our world has faced many challenges, none more vital than that of defending our liberty and keeping the peace. But the threat to our world comes not only from tyrants…it can be more insidious though less visible. The danger of global warming is as yet unseen, but realContinue reading “The duty to nature (great enviro speech of l990)”
The Pantheism of Avatar: Good? Bad? A Simple Truth?
The reviews for Avatar have been overwhelmingly good, except from conservatives such as columnist Ross Douthut, who complains bitterly that: “Avatar” is Cameron’s long apologia for pantheism — a faith that equates God with Nature, and calls humanity into religious communion with the natural world… If this narrative arc sounds familiar, that’s because pantheism hasContinue reading “The Pantheism of Avatar: Good? Bad? A Simple Truth?”
A raindrop’s journey
The Los Angeles Times continues to be devastated by cutbacks, but nonetheless the book section under David Ulin continues to discover great works overlooked in the rush to the obvious bestsellers. Today, perfectly timed for our weather, comes word of a California poet, Don Thompson, who lives in Buttonwillow and writes so quietly that evenContinue reading “A raindrop’s journey”
El Nino 2010: Small, medium, large…or wanna-be?
The infamous El Niño, bringer of warm winters and rain to Southern California, is back, NOAA says, and thanks to a surprisingly wet November, we're still ahead of normal in our total rainfall for this water year. Wouldn't you like to know what that really means? The truth is, no one knows. But for theContinue reading “El Nino 2010: Small, medium, large…or wanna-be?”
Lindzen’s Holy Grail — a negative feedback — and Hansen’s translation
The first difficulty with climate science for the public — and this is true whether or not you believe that the climate is in trouble — is that it's so monstrously huge and long and difficult to understand. The second difficulty is that most scientists themselves aren't very good at explaining the difficulties. The thirdContinue reading “Lindzen’s Holy Grail — a negative feedback — and Hansen’s translation”
Having fun with fundamentalism
On an Economist site, the blogger known as DIA bemoans what happens to an Alabama politician who dares question the possibility that every single word in the Bible might not be true. DIA wrote: "EVERY politician says something he has to walk back once in a while. In the case of Bradley Byrne, a RepublicanContinue reading “Having fun with fundamentalism”
What if journalism today included the real news?
Noticing the incredible lack of hard news in today's journalism, the great artist Steve Brodner proposes a solution. In his words: The problem with main stream media is that sometimes the news is hard to find. What if "journalism" were sponsored by journalism? We could then expect some kind of product placement in the show! Continue reading “What if journalism today included the real news?”
The sexiness of plants (or not)
From the rarely-so-thoughtful-but-often-fun Overheard in New York: So Yada Yada Yada, We Spent the Night in the E.R. Twin sister #1, indignantly: I tried to get him the least sexual plant I could find. I mean, a cactus, how much less sexual could you get? Twin sister #2, thoughtfully: You really can't get any lessContinue reading “The sexiness of plants (or not)”
Kit Stolz 