Today, in things that are fucked up...

Holy crap, I can't even believe this bullshit: Bill Gates has solved Africa!

Well, okay, he's figured out how to fix that whole problem they have of, like, starving all the time over there. They just need geneticaly modified seeds and lots and lots of agrichemicals (i.e., petrochemical fertilizer!). You know, so they can kick out bumper crops like farmers over here in the States do! 'Cause it's not like there are any negative consequences to that approach, especially not when rich corporations bring it to the tropics. Jeebus, Bill Gates, what is your deal?! Is it not bad enough that you sell buttloads of imperfect operating systems that bring blue screens and frustration* to people around the world....do you have to export crappy (environment-destroying) industrial farming, too?! (P.S. While it may be historically accurate, don't you think you could've found a better way to talk about the increase in crop yield due to petroleum-based mono-crop industrial agriculture than "Green Revolution"? 'Cause I dunno 'bout you, Bill, but I'm interested in a whole 'nother kinda Green Revolution these days...Plus, what the hell? USA, China, India, Africa: one of these things is not like the other.)

In fairness, though, this sentence in Bill's letter is spot fucking on:

It is interesting how often the impact of climate change is illustrated by talking about the problems the polar bears will face rather than the much greater number of poor people who will die unless significant investments are made to help them.

I totally agree, Bill. I'm not sure, though, that expanding industrial farming techniques to countries that don't use them now will actually help this situation. In fact, I'm pretty darn sure it won't. Now, organic and permaculture resources? Whole different story.

In other news of the wackadoo, apparently someone's printing out the Shared Items from their Google Reader, and calling it a newspaper?? I saw one on the el this morning, and literally turned to my roomie and said, "I think they missed the point." Don't get me wrong, I love the tactile experience of printed media; I will probably always keep a magazine subscription or two, and you'll pry my books from my cold, dead hands. But. It makes zero sense to me to compile a bunch of blogs and print it out like a newspaper. Also? STOP NEEDLESSLY KILLING TREES, YOU THOUGHTLESS FUCKS! Read it on your damn laptop!

Another thing fueling my rage today: TreeHugger's "Vegetarians We Love," which is a list of *dudes* who don't eat meat. 'Cause, apparently, it is totally girly to not eat meat. Don't get me wrong, TreeHugger, I get that y'all are trying to show other dudes that not-eating-meat can totally be manly, since Joaquin Phoenix is totally a vegan and all....but excellent work ignoring the fact that food choices (should) have FUCK ALL to do with gender. And that guys need some kind of extra special prize for not guzzling steak at three meals a day.

Finally, to round out the sad state of the good, green earth and some of her fucked up peoples, it seems that Americans don't really buy this whole "climate change" business, and that if those of us who do buy it and give a damn are going to convince them to change, we're gonna have to dumb it down a bit, 'cause all that science talk is just confusing, or something. I know not everybody wants to pore over charts and data and read scientific studies which are, admittedly, often a little on the dry side...but the evidence is ubiquitous enough these days that we've already boiled it down to stuff like the penguins will all die and global warming is irreversible....I dunno how much less "science-y" it gets than those really plain statements, but apparently Jane Six-Pack still somehow thinks that's not a big deal. Ugh.

Le sigh. Okay, some good stuff to get the brain churning a bit: BFP & Jess' collab called (re)Thinking Walking, which is really interesting food for thought; a manifesto from Jeremy Schlosberg at Fingertips, who I find one of the smartest, fairest and most ethical music bloggers on the web; also, this bit about racism in SF&F is delightfully blunt.

The world is a complicated place, and I rarely find enough time to wrap my brain around even a small piece of it. But I keep trying.

_____________________________
* Note: I detest Microsoft only marginally less than I detest anything Apple-related. Just in case you were thinking I was a Mac person or something. *shudder*

Announcement: Sacred Food, Sacred Body, Sacred Earth!!

Sacred Food - Sacred Body - Sacred Earth
with Jennifer Byers and Tari Follett
A six week exploration of the impacts of food on
individuals, communities, and the planet.

Dates:        Wednesdays, May 14 – June 25, 6:30 – 9:00 p.m.
                   (no class on June 11)
Location:    Fulton Carroll Center - 2032 W. Fulton, Ste. F-263-A
Cost:          $25-50 sliding scale  (work exchange possible)

E-mail SacredFBE@tarifollett.com with any questions or to register!

Few things in life are more personal and intimate than eating - literally taking something into our bodies in such an intense and permanent (relatively speaking) way. It's surprising how remote we can seem, culturally, from the realities of food. Often, we're not conscious of what is actually in our food, where it comes from, how it affects our bodies, or what the broader impacts of our eating habits might be. Further, because eating is something everyone (with tragic exceptions) does every single day, several times a day, the potential for tremendous impact on the planet is enormous.

Wrapped up in our food disconnects is a related estrangement from our bodies. Pop culture, media of all types, and societal stereotypes and gender norms all feed alleged "ideals" that do not, in fact, reflect averages, health, or happiness...yet every day millions fall prey to advertising smoke and mirrors, sacrificing their mental and physical health (not to mention happiness) and torturing their bodies with insufficient food, toxic chemicals, and other catastrophically harmful behaviors - all in pursuit of an illusion only achievable by a tiny genetic minority.

Addressing all of these issues is the work of several lifetimes, and is most impactful when personally engaged by every individual. Unfortunately, we may not have several lifetimes to tackle these complicated problems - the earth is at a tipping point, and the impacts of our relationships with our bodies and the food we put into them cannot be shifted too soon. Our survival as individuals, as a species, and as one facet of a delicate biosphere depends on the choices we make at the breakfast table.

Our intention in "Sacred Food, Sacred Body, Sacred Earth" is to wade into the confusing morass of issues surrounding food, health, and ecology to broaden perspectives and offer information that will enable students to make wiser, more sustainable choices - for their own understanding of and enjoyment of their food, their bodies, and their planet. What if we knew the life cycle of our food from seed to soup bowl? What if we viewed each bite as an act of devotion to our health? What if we saw ourselves as strong, vibrant, and beautiful - just as we are in this very moment? What if we viewed the health of total strangers as just as sacred as our own? What if every meal was a prayer?

Visit http://www.tarifollett.com/SacredFBE for more information.
E-mail SacredFBE@tarifollett.com with any questions or to register!

The Henge & saving some agua!

Holy cows, they're excavating in Stonehenge!!

Not only has it been 44 years since the last excavation, but they're also filming the whole thing for airing on some BBC history show or other. (Please, gods, let it show up someday on YouTube or something.) There's also a new(ish) theory about the purpose of the monument, which I find very interesting - that it was some sort of healing site that drew visitors from far and wide.

((Damn, could I use a little of that right now. My ass is still firmly in the "kicked" column, gratis more moving adventures over the weekend. I cannot wait until this whole ugly process is done. D-U-N, done. Which won't be for another couple weeks, most likely....but shucks it's nice to think about.))

Another interesting thing I stumbled upon today: it's not just a "carbon footprint" that matters, but also a water footprint. This is something I think it's easy to overlook when considering conservation steps. Sure, we know to turn off the lights (I played my guitar in the dark for an hour Saturday night....what'd you do?) to save energy....but what about water usage? Does anybody else remember that special from, say, 1991, with Bette Midler singing "From a Distance" and a gallon jug being poured out, with one drop of water representing the world's fresh water? (Turns out it was 1990, and featured the Muppets, which I didn't remember!)

My point is that water is way more precious than oil could ever hope to be, and yet it's easy (especially on the shores of Lake Michigan) to take ready freshwater access completely for granted. It's just there when I turn a tap...but just like there's a story behind the Tyson chicken breasts in my grocer's freezer, there's more to water supply than just turning a tap - and becoming conscious of that, and finding ways to reduce usage and conserve resources is just as important when it comes to water. Some suggestions I like:

* Get rid of your grass lawn. I know some people like them, but they require lots of resources to maintain, including watering. If you must have a grass lawn, try planting native grasses instead of whatever funky imported hybrid they use on the golf course. Or, if you're feeling frisky, consider switching to a different kind of ground cover plant - there are lots that require little or no maintenance. (I'm biased on this one - I hate grass, I hate mowing grass, and I hate sprinklers.) (Oh, and if you have to use a sprinkler...please, please, PLEASE do not water your driveway or the sidewalk or a wall. That's just PURE waste.)

* Shower smarter. Now, the hard-core folks can do it the Depression way - water on, get wet, water off, soap up, water on, rinse off, done. A slightly easier step to take is just try to make your shower more efficient and shave a few minutes off its overall time. Later this season, when I have plants to water, I'm going to stick a bucket in the shower with me to catch runoff, which I'll be ferrying out to water the gardens. Not sure how well that will work, but I'm going to give it a try (this also means making sure you're using biodegradeable shower products). Plus, spend $10 and get a low flow shower head; all the awesome pressure, plus yay for using less water. Also, (though I think this goes without saying) don't leave the water running while you brush your teeth.

* Stop the dripping. This means check your pipes for leaks *and* twist the taps all the way off when you're done running water. (Attn: weird germophobic chicks in my office who can't seem to muster up the hand strength to turn the water all the way OFF.)

Do a little googling, and you can find other, more comprehensive suggestions about reducing water usage (low flow toilets, water aerators, putting filler in the tank of your regular toilet, keeping drinking water in the fridge, saving pasta water, etc.)...these are just the ones I like.

Exactly!

All wisdom begins in wonder.

- Socrates

So, some of you may be aware that I am a total divination junkie. I read Tarot and palms and astrology and runes and just about anything else that will hold still long enough. I've been enthusiastically studying various methods of divination since I was twelve.

Now, as I also pride myself on my science-y-ness and rationality...how do I reconcile these two paradoxical, practically antithetical, perspectives? Basically, I believe that intuition *is* the cold reading skeptics cite, but not in a Sherlock Holmes-ian I'm-so-smart-I-notice-every-detail, Miss Cleo-esque tell-you-what-you-want-to-hear-the-better-to-rip-you-off kinda way.

I think intuition - which can be funnelled through any divination method, or no method at all - is a naturally occurring unconscious thought process. The subconscious mind sees and remembers lots of information that our conscious mind doesn't even register - stuff that our brains categorize as not dangerous or otherwise noteworthy. And I think intuition is what happens when that unconscious process puts together little details and draws a conclusion that shifts those little discarded bits of information into something that suddenly becomes noteworthy.

I think divination is one way of paying extra attention to that process. I think everyone has the potential to tap into this process, and I think people who are "psychic" appear so because they don't dismiss the nudges of this unconscious thought process the way I think most people do.

Today's really cool thing, and what inspired this post? Apparently there's some "science" that backs me up!!

I claim no great powers of prognostication, and I take most of my own intuitions with a grain of salt (since they all come interpreted through my imperfect and inevitably skewed conscious mind)....but I can't deny my own personal experiences in this realm. This is another field where I am hopeful science will someday clear up the woo woo mysteriousness. I think someday, science will explain why certain lines on a hand are tied to certain personality traits and life experiences; I think the way the images on Tarot cards are windows into what we're going through will be parsed and better understood; I think the way human beings tend to interpret symbols in a way that ties their archetypal values into our personal current events will be a clear process and not just fuzzy psychology; and I think that the seemingly magical (and/or coincidental) effects distant planets have on our daily lives will become a function not of belief, but of physics.

Maybe I'm romanticizing science a little (ya think?), but I'm okay with that. Despite my otherwise generally consistent preference for logic, I persist in enjoying the fact that some things are just not understood. I like the way the universe can still surprise me. And I also think that knowing something is total crap doesn't mean I can't also still think it's hella fun and/or meaningful and/or worthwhile.

Just so long as I know I'm making a conscious choice in the matter...

Doomsday!! (Spin strikes again. Ugh.)

So, maybe you know that the Global Seed Vault in Svalbard, Norway is finally open. Maybe you, like me, had a wide-eyed pollyanna optimism about the global cooperation necessary to undertake this project, and the fact that seed populations from around the world were being secured in a country relatively unlikely to be ravaged by war or extreme natural disaster anytime soon (knock wood). Maybe you, like me, were thrilled with the idea that, should World War XXV someday leave nuclear winter blazing across a continent or two, the genetic diversity of the crops devastated by such an event would not be lost forever, but preserved somewhere they could be retrieved and then reintroduced.

I guess it's a little more complicated than that.

Now, I totally get that the GSV is obviously easier to access for global organizations, like national governments and scientific collectives, than poor farmers without surplus resources. I totally get the concerns some NGOs have about seed populations not evolving while in cold storage, which could lead to less viable crops that aren't as prepared for the environment. I think it's absolutely valid to remain concerned, and to keep the folks running the GSV honest by asking lots of questions.

However, I have to laugh. The vault itself (while certainly built to withstand natural disaster and nuclear strikes and thus a useful failsafe if such a broad-ranging crisis were to occur) it not necessarily intended as some sort of seedbomb timecapsule. Its purpose, rather, is to act as a backup for individual local genebanks - many of which are located in countries and regions vulnerable to war, political strife, or natural disaster (since war and natural disaster seem to be so damn common, these days).

The media have been calling it the "Doomsday Vault" - because sensationalism sells. People don't want to read about help for local farmers and regional genetic researchers and seed breeders - they want to read about "food is safe if nuclear bombs kill all the plants." I mean, sure, that's partly the actual case....but a gross misrepresentation of how the seed vault will most likely be used. And while I think the social justice concerns are valid, and I hope the UN entity tied to the administration of the seed vault will go out of its way to ensure that poor farmers have access - I think some of the concerns are only valid in a doomsday scenario. If an existing local seed bank is regularly adding to its backup collection at the GSV, there should be no concerns about evolving seeds, since the most recent evolutions will be stored. (Or at least that's the way I'm understanding the administration to work.)

Anyway, yet again, the media creates the idea of a crisis where there is none. Spin, spin, spin.

More info:
GSV @ Wikipedia
WikiNews Story on GSV
Global Crop Diversity Trust

Mmmmm.....braaaaains.....

Zombie jokes aside, I love me some brains. (Not to ingest, although I have eaten brians before, and didn't really care for them. Like watered down liver-flavored jelly. I know, sounds good, right? Only not.) I am completely enthralled with how damn interesting brains are, and I consider neurology one of the most exciting frontiers of modern science.



Last year, TIME Magazine published a special series of articles on the brain and its anatomy and function. It examined both the anatomical and behavioral sides of studying the brain, as well as tackling the idea of consciousness and what modern brain science has to imply about the soul. Fascinating! (I recently went back to re-read it and have fallen in love with the issue all over again.)



My favorite article from that series is here. It's a little challenging in some ways, but thought-provoking in the extreme.

Headlines.

There's this one at Scientific American, talking about quantum circuitry. Really interesting, and there are parts of it that remind me of Madeleine L'Engle storylines. Fascinating!

Also from Scientific American, there's this fabulous look at the hows and whys of making out. As an enthusiastic (if not skilled?) osculator, I was riveted. Mmm. Kissing is fun.

On the social justice front, I really was intrigued by this tidbit. It's interesting to consider the idea of limiting arts/media exposure to those sources that speak from my own perspective....but then again, I've yet to run into anything created by another urban-dwelling poor-white-trash-from-the-country fat chick pagan musician. And I utterly reject the notion that the dominant culture speaks to much of my experience, even if I am technically "Caucasian." Really thought-provoking, though, and a worthwhile experiment. It also reminded me, yet again, that I am very lucky, even if I still have to fight the patriarchy every day.

This synthesis of some recent findings (about how fatties don't necessarily cost more for healthcare, plus shaming them doesn't help them lose weight OR get healthier) was also nice to read. There are a few points I'd quibble over, but the point is right on the mark. Yay!

Dark matter, dark energy...now dark fluid!

For those who may be unaware of my deep and abiding love for advanced physics, please note that you may want to skip this post. I'm gonna ramble for awhile about science geekery.

"The highest form of Human Excellence is to question oneself and others."
- Socrates

I suck at chemistry. I have taken exactly one chem class in my life, and it was the ONLY topic in my entire life that I ever spent more than a few cursory minutes studying. I crammed for chemistry. I reviewed equations and proofs and read chapters over and over. I ran through practice questions until I was certain I knew exactly how things worked. And then I would try balancing a chemical equation, check my answer, and realize that I was fucking clueless. I thought I understood what I was doing, and I was wrong.

I was forced to admit that chemistry is beyond me. I don't know why. It shouldn't be; chemistry is about substances and forces that exist in nature and follow natural law, which is painstakingly bound by specific laws and rules - and yet I just don't get them.

Physics, on the other hand, is completely instinctive to me. I took physics class after physics class, and half the time didn't even crack a book. For some reason, I just intuitively understand physics. Physics makes sense to me intrinsically. I truly believe that someday, scientists will discover a Unifying Theory of Everything that ties all our understanding of the universe - string theory, chaos theory, gravity, relativity, space-time, matter and energy and how they interact, alternate dimensions - into one neatly wrapped package that will enable us to change the way we move through the universe.

Don't get me wrong - I don't think it's going to be some Magic Dust-fueled portal into another dimension from whence cometh all sin (a la The Golden Compass), or anything. I'm just saying we might be able to try intergalactic space travel, or possibly teleportation, or something cool like that.

Anyway. What sparked this little tangent today was this article, talking about the idea of "dark fluid" as a replacement and/or unifier for the dark matter and dark energy that physicists have hypothesized to explain certain features of the landscape of the universe. Fascinating!

First, I love how similar this is to the idea of light acting as both a wave and a particle. I really enjoy when aspects of the universe refuse to be bound by our definitions of them. (Hell, I live my life dedicated to that principle.) I also find it really cool that scientists have put together two of the mysteries of modern physics - dark matter that we assume somehow exists based on our observations of gravitational fields and which apparently makes up most of the mass of the universe (despite our not being able to see it or interact with it - it's kinda like God in that way); and dark energy, that thing we think is somehow speeding up the expansion of the universe and in fact makes up the majority of the energy contained in the universe (even though - again - we can't actually see it or interact with it: still like God!).

In that "the wise man knows that he knows nothing," the (obviously Socratic) philosopher in me adores the fact that we so readily acknowledge that we have no explanation or observation for most of the mass and energy of the universe. This is another area of science where the volume of what we don't know so greatly exceeds what we do, that there are still untouched shores to explore - still vast tracts of understanding waiting, untapped, for us to discover - still so fucking MUCH to learn. That is exciting.

I like the concept of dark fluid more than the individual components, not only because obviously it seems to fit more elegantly with the previously observed data, but also because it makes fewer assumptions about the nature of what we don't yet understand. We don't know what is behind the data we've observed. We don't know if there are two things behind the unexplained phenomena, or two hundred, and at this point, there's no way to figure that out. So, rather than create an equation with a determined number of variables, we simplify to the elegance of just one. Brilliant.

Mixed bag.

For the science geeks, there's this story about old stars giving birth to a new generation of planets. This is noteworthy in that planets are usually born early in a star's lifetime. (Make your own joke about Larry King.)

Also, there's this really fascinating rundown of a new sleep theory postulated by some University of Wisconsin science types. It jives with my anecdotal experience of being a human being with a brain who sleeps. That's always nice, eh?

This headline ("Dow drops 465 then gains most of it back") caught my eye this morning. Made me think of dieting and how that works. Funny, that.

Yesterday, a study came out showing that caffeine doubled a pregnant woman's chances of miscarriage. Today, a study says that caffeine reduces the risk of ovarian cancer. This story looks at the contrasts in those studies. In my mind, all of this proves only one thing: science doesn't have all the answers. Apparently, human bodies, the way they interact with their environments, and all of the myriad factors that can influence one or the other or both....are complicated. Go figure.

And, to round things out with something cynical and infuriating, there's this little gem bemoaning the fact that there aren't enough pregnancy drugs being developed. You know, the sector is underserved. Which really just means....pregnant women have money that big pharma hasn't tried to take from them. I'm so glad this kind of health reporting is out there, keeping the world informed of important health developments, like the lack of drugs.