scrambler

Henry Rollins has a bit on El Nino in his spoken word work, Think Tank. F'ing funny. Like he says we should rename El Nino to 'the muthaphucker' or to the 'first 4 Black Sabbath albums'. El Nino, the child, just doesn't do it. Did you know that there are corresponding changes in the Earth's rotational rate and length of day? Has something to do with the shift of atmospheric and oceanic mass, and perhaps geophysical changes within the Earth's mantle/core. Really brings a lot of unpredictable weather to the picture. Screws with biota too. Throws a lot of plants out of whack because they're tuned to a particular weather pattern occurring at a certain period of time. Affects biological clocks in other life too. Worse than the '82 El Nino? That's serious shit. So you're thinking it'll screw our winter climbing season?

greasy cold pizza

Slavery is wrong because it's an injustice to human dignity. My point is that the black population should take matters into their own hands if they see it as a political necessity to change things. I suppose one of the questions they have to ask themselves is: "Do these names politicize the schools and does this distract from their primary function?” Revisionism occurs every time society's attitudes change based on our understanding of the world and of our relationship to the world. We judge from today's standands but if you were living at that time you might not have recognized that certain practices or their prohibition were wrong. Most of us are prisoners of prevailing mental attitudes of the time. Few are the people who can stand outside of time with a God's eye view. Only in retrospect can most of us see these things. Slavery was proven wrong but it was once an acceptable practice. Infanticide was another accepted practice although during the ancient world. It's odd too how the extreme cases are gone but don't we still have somewhat similar conditions though different, situations such as economic servitude to corporations and abortion on demand? Personally, I don't know if I entirely agree that history follows a predominantly linear course of enlightened progression. Our minds might be enslaved as much as it was in the past. The evolving developments of technology can just as easily be used to control as it can to liberate.

The odd thing is someone once remarked that had blacks not been brought to this country as slaves, their present day descendants would most likely be living in much poorer conditions with famine, rampant AIDS, water shortage, war, genocide, etc. I would suppose that in communities that are predominantly black the political will and clout would exist to force a change in the names of the schools if they wished. A politician once said that all politics is local. Consistent with that, I think the issue should be debated and resolved at the local level within each city, not something that is imposed by fiat by outsiders

Right, like there aren't any horny women out there with ticking biological clocks? It takes two to tango. The system is set up so that all a woman actually has to do is attract a mate long enough to get impregnated. Look at all the single mothers who have children and a job but probably don't make enough so they have to rely on government assistance. It's not necessarily the man with the most sperm as it is the man who can close the deal. This guy is probably more intelligent or persuasive than others, that's the qualifier and the evolutionary advantage. It is at its basest level, amoral. Look at all of the powerful people who resort to lies and cheating to get what they want and do these things to keep their standing. Powerful people stay that way because they're intelligent enough to work the system. That's not to say that all powerful people are immoral but that many of these people are not limited by a particular belief system to not use lawyers, tax advisors, and such for their advantage. So, why should poorer people think any differently with respect to working the system? You have lofty views of human nature but all of us have a base level of commonality, we are human animals. I don't see why we should necessarily exhibit significant differences from our animal brethren. Biology books are full of nature's stories of deception and other subterfuge used by animals to survive and reproduce. Yeah, this is 'red in tooth 'n claw' sociobiology. It might not be the entire picture but it has enough elements of truth to explain parts of our nature.

So I wonder how the story was modified to make it more palatable for a mass audience or is this more along the lines of an 'art film'? I thought the idea behind the book was impressive but felt that the story was boring which isn't surprising for a personal narrative. It was difficult for me to engage in suspension of disbelief to get into the book. Maybe seeing the magic of film will make the story seem more alive than the book could do for me.

If you're Scarlett, why's your avatar pink?

Was it like this? Or, more like this..?

It doesn't matter what kind of person you are as long as you reproduce and your offspring reach the age of reproduction to continue the propagation of your genetic material. This fellow had multiple wives so his chances of passing off offspring are fairly high. It's all about continuity, passing off your genetic material to produce viable offspring. Even if you were a lousy father and a multiple divorcee, you'd be making your evolutionary contribution by fostering as many kids as possible and letting the system take care of their needs. I'm not talking about whether it's moral in the societal context, if you look at it purely from a reproductive stance, then it's amoral. You do whatever you have to do, for males it's typically the acquisition or access to resources, for females it's the ability to attract a mate.

No threat to the food supply because they "removed all diseased parts before they could enter the food supply." That's nuts in my opinion. Why not destroy the whole cow. They simply removed the brain, spinal cord, intestines, etc. before the sent the rest to be ground into hamburger. From what I know this is what they normally do to cows before grinding them up, so what was different from anyother processing day at the slaughterhouse? Also, BSE and CJD are not caused by viruses. They are caused by prions, an protein organism that is not well understood, and mimics naturally ocurring protiens in mammalian brains in it's chemical structure, it is just a different shape. And it causes the normal proteins to adopt the new shape, causing the disease. It's been compared to an enzyme. Yeah, it's a prion, which I understand to be a self-replicating infectious protein. The terms, carrier and incubation time are applicable in discussing the disease vector. As far as the 'species barrier' this appears to have been breached. Pigs and other animals including fowl can contract prions from other host animals. The reason for not seeing the full blown symptoms is that these animals are slaughtered before the end of the incubation period. The disease is always fatal. Anybody for Russian roulette? We're going to see a lot of spin on both sides of the story.

Bar-B-Que

Here's an interesting but tragic side note: Disorder Steals Soldier's Mind, Life

Very few people have instant respect. Most have to work at it and gain it gradually. Anyone familiar with the old site can clearly see the evolution of someone devoted to climbing. Of course, now he has another more pressing responsibility.

Hey if George Bush is really a born again Christian and he truly lives by Christian principles then shouldn't he advocate forgiveness so life imprisonment rather than death for the evil Saddam? Isn't promoting the death penalty reverting back to Old Testament justice? Can't be Christian unless you take into account the new gospel. WWJD? Shows you who his real master is.

Well yeah, you're talking about two different biological entities, different suborders. Suborder Ruminantia (ruminants - having a 3- or 4-part stomach) Family Bovidae - antelope, cattle, goats, sheep Suborder Suiformes Family Suidae - swine (pigs, hogs) It's like that example a number of years ago where a baboon heart was implanted into a person. The person's immune system rejected the foreign transplant soon thereafter. Would have made more sense to use a more closely related animal such as a chimpanzee to see a longer span of time before tissue rejection as stated by Steven Jay Gould in Natural History mag. Anyway, my point is, shouldn't you inject the cow BSE into cows rather than pigs?

We're doomed!! Seriously though, I'm reading from the original story that there is no threat to the food supply so domestic consumption is not fatally threatened rather the impact will be felt economically in trade. The crux of the problem is the long incubation period between initial infection and subsequent deterioration. So, an infected animal that does not exhibit visible symptoms is the host carrier. Why isn't there some sort of early warning test to determine the presence of the virus? Will implementing this be too costly in itself, for example, price beef beyond the reach of ordinary consumers?

I think it's great if someone has a business idea and the passion to pursue that idea in what may or may not turn out to be a successful venture. I'm not familiar with copyright law but this may fall under the Fair Use provision--portion of the work rather than entire work, not directly used for generating revenue, etc. But, I'd also err on the side of caution for a money making venture exposed to the general public through the Internet. Probably won't show up on anyone's radar screen but...

Yeah, free range animals, leaner and promotes growth of vegetation. Wouldn't work today on the same scale as buffalo had in the pre-settler days with our land crisscrossed with roads, fences, etc. I like beef but the current system of raising beef and slaughtering fosters the spread of mad cow disease. Maybe organic beef?

John Stauber and Sheldon Rampton wrote a book in 1997 titled Mad Cow U.S.A.: Could It Happen Here? (available now as a pdf file here ). Important reading... Also, Jeremy Rifkin has written some insightful and thought provoking words in Beyond Beef: The Rise and Fall of the Cattle Culture. For instance, "...cattle aren't destructive but the way in which they are reared and the scale to which they are reared is destructive." With regard to the potential for affecting our food supply, he relates this historical tidbit: "These men [the buffalo hunters] have done . . . more to settle the vexed Indian question than the entire regular army has done in the last thirty years. They are destroying the Indians' commissary; and it is a well-known fact that an army losing its base of supplies is placed at a great disadvantage. Send them powder and lead if you will; but for the sake of lasting peace let them kill, skin, and sell until the buffalo is exterminated."

Hmm...a simple surgical but workable solution similar to the laser surgery available for correcting eye vision. I'd imagine the surgery is expensive at the scale it's currently performed but maybe will drop in price as availability becomes more widespread and if insurance covers it as a procedure. Seems symptomatic of our society's need for the quick fix. Yeah, the expectations-substitute gratification hypothesis sounds like more of the same liberal blame the system, not take personal responsibility syndrome. I don't believe it's either-or, rather I believe that it's a combination of both that must be addressed to effectively deal with these problems, another reason I'm not a one party animal.

Just a thought but I think that our society is bombarded by unrealistic images of how life should be. This imprints high expectations on people who will never be as rich, as beautiful, or as successful as, for example, the imaginery people as seen on TV and print ads. So when the reality does not meet the expectations, do these people (the real ones) imbibe in substitute gratification such as overeating, overspending, uncontrolled gambling, and/or drug abuse? Suppose someone is not getting as much satisfying sex or love as is depicted on a particular tv series or such, will that person substitute that with the immediate gratification obtained by eating? The disappointment generated by the disconnect between reality and expectation may also manifest in other ways such as bulimia, etc. which could easily be seen in the upper middle class or the rich. Just speculation but it seems that the picture is more complex regarding obesity and other societal problems. Seems simplistic to say that the people are obese because they're lazy. If this is true, it follows that these people should work harder, or more, or be more disciplined. Well, sometimes doing these things do not matter as other things such as being well-connected with influential friends or having a college pedigree. Just seems a lot of people are working to an early grave or not actually living life because they're too busy trying to make it, or to achieve their idea of success based on the images presented in media.

If I remember correctly the dissolution of the Soviet Union was preceded by Glasnost (openness) then followed by Perestroika (restructuring). So it looks like the Chinese are doing it with economic changes first perhaps to be followed afterwards by free speech, etc. Seemed like there was a lot of social turmoil in the former Soviet Union caused by allowing the people to criticize the government before introducing economic reform.

"My contempt for the masses knows no bounds. When I see the man-on-the-street he looks about this tall, just about the size of a chess piece." --remarks by Cheney after successful game hunt

Yeah I read that second link concerning the use of IQ as a measure of intelligence. I think using IQ as the sole measure of intelligence is old school and unfairly categories a number of people as essentially worthless. I think the article mentioned that some people have such low IQ that they are permanent wards of the state, i.e., welfare whores. A much better assessment was put forth by Martin Gardner who proposed the idea of the existence of multiple intelligences that can be broken down into: linguistic, logical-mathematical, musical, bodily-kinesthetic, spatial, interpersonal, and intrapersonal. A climber can have one or more of these separate types of intelligence, e.g., as seen on this board a particular climber may have bodily-kinesthetic, interpersonal, and spatial intelligence but he or she could be seriously lacking the linguistic. howard gardner, multiple intelligences and education Now, morality that's another story...

Napolean pocket. Works good also for quick access to sunglasses and GU.