Baron Dave Romm
Earth Hour 2009
By Baron Dave Romm
Shockwave Radio Theater podcasts
Earth Hour 2009
Saturday, March 28, 2009CE was the third annual Earth Hour. At 8:30pm, local time, everyone was encouraged to switch off their lights for an hour. I took this symbolic gesture to also mean turning off unnecessary power drains, and wound up turning off the computer.
I went up to the roof of our building, which has a view of Minneapolis, MN from the South. What follows are four pictures. Two taken earlier to show you what Mpls looks like in the day and on a normal evening. The latter two taken Saturday night.
Minneapolis, MN during the day. May
21, 2008CE
Minneapolis, MN during a normal (if stormy)
evening. June 11, 2008CE
Minneapolis, MN just before Earth Hour 2009,
8:30pm
Note Wells Fargo building (yellow, in middle) all lit
up;
Target building (colored lights to left) still on, but the
building in center right has lights off
Minneapolis, MN during Earth Hour 2009,
9:30pm
Note that Wells Fargo, Target and other buildings with
lights off.
Spring Cleaning: Looking Back at Predictions
My prognostication batting average in 2008 was pretty good, largely because I didn't make many predictions. My biggest predictions regarding the 2008 presidential race both turned out to be true: Hillary Clinton was not the Democratic Nominee (which I'd been saying since 2004 and Rudy Giuliani would not be the Republican nominee (though I had grand visions of a race between former NYC mayor Rudy, NY Sen. Hillary and current NYC mayor Bloomberg).
While I didn't go out on a limb and say Obama would be the candidate, when push came to shove he was my guy from my first vote on the subject, the Minnesota Caucuses.
And while I didn't specifically say that McCain would be the goppie's choice, I pretty much poo-poo'd all the one-time frontrunners like Fred Thompson and Mike Huckabee, saying that McCain would be their strongest candidate.
I warned that Bush and co. were about to steal more votes and were putting a potential military coup in place. While my worst fears were not realized, I do think it's because of people like me that the election went off as well as it did. As it was, the GOP tried to screw around a lot. Here in Minnesota, the Senate race is still in legal limbo as of this writing, 3/29/08. When the election results were first reported, the GOP candidate was up by a thousand. When the ballots were looked at closely, the Democratic candidate won by more than 200. Why are all the "mistakes" always in favor of the Republicans?
And to come full circle, my worst prediction was about Hillary Clinton. I predicted that she would rather be a powerful senator than president... or Secretary of State. But she took the job at State. Well, it's too early to comment on her tenure, but she seems to be doing okay. Her departure has thrown New York politics in a tizzy, which is not necessarily a bad thing.
A few predictions
I predict Obama will lay his New Foundation... eventually. Obama's been doing pretty well picking his fights. In a few months when all his team is in place and we've purged the Bush-era incompetent ideologues from positions of power, he can start using his bully pulpit and carry a big stick.
Conventional wisdom:
Conservatives are people who
haven't figured out that they've lost.
Liberals are people who
haven't figured out that they've won.
We're seeing the Conventional Wisdom played out. The GOP wants as much money for support personnel in Congress as they got when they had 20% more goppies actually elected. I don't mind them fighting for their principles (though I wish they had some), but I do think it's the height of arrogance to continue to act like they control the reins.
Unfortunately, Democrats don't act like they are in power. They've let the far right change one of the most important of Obama's messages: He ran on a "post partisan" platform, which the extremists have morphed into an insistence on "bi partisan" legislation.
We should ignore people who were wrong and pay attention to people who were right. Issues like Global Warming, Iraq, the economy, torturing prisoners, no-bid contracts, sleaze and corruption in the Bush administration and many more need a firm and objective leader.
And Obama isn't quite there yet. It's still early, but so far he's done what Bill Clinton did wrong: He proposed the compromise. The extremists than took the initial proposal and pushed it further to the right. This is how we ended up with, among other things, the deregulation that is at the heart of the financial crisis. Obama's going to have to play smarter.
There will be a terrorist attack on the US in a few months. I hate to agree with Dick Cheney, but that's how it's worked for decades: The bad guys like to test out the new president's resolve.
Reagan cravenly made a deal with the Iranians that got our hostages out, and that was a disaster: More American hostages were taken and not all of them made it out alive. Al Queda was trained and funded by the cold warriors. Soon after, the terrorists blew up the American Embassy in Beirut. Reagan cut and ran as fast as he could. And then quickly mounted a nonsensical "rescue" of Grenada.Poppy Bush wasn't president yet, but had won the election and clearly Reagan was out of the loop when Libyans bombed Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland. The US eventually sent bombers to scare Qadaffy (and kill his son), but other countries were scared too and didn't let the flight from English bases pass over their country.
The World Trade Center was bombed on Feb. 26, 1993, just as Clinton was coming into office. (Odd that the radicals blame Clinton for the first WTC attack, barely a month into his presidency and also blame him for the 9/11 attacks, which took place months after he left and happened largely because Republicans ignored the advice of the outgoing administration.) Clinton went after the terrorists, and got them. Without demeaning the country by torture, he tried and convicted the thugs who did it. Al Queda was growing in power thanks to oil money, but they never succeeded in an attack on US soil until the Bush screw ups.
I won't recap 9/11 or the incompetence before, during and after, except to note that the new president was tested. And failed.
So yes, I think Obama will face a terrorist attack in the near future. What that attack might be or in what form, I don't know. But I'm certain he'll handle it better than Bush/Cheney. That won't be the hard part. The hard part will be dealing with the issue thoroughly and regaining world leadership.
I hope I'm wrong about this.
The economy is going to get worse before it gets better. Not much of a prediction, really. We can see some light at the end of the tunnel and Obama is handling the situation about as well as can be expected, but the problems are institutional and will take a while to sort out and longer to effect a permanent solution.
Global Warming/Climate Change will become worse and more evident but the extreme right will dig in harder in denial. The conservative "culture of death" is at its worst with the deniers. Too many on the right are utter morons, but that's not the problem: The problem is that sphincter conservatives don't have the shared values of true Americans. They have dug themselves into a hole. and they don't have the balls to admit they were wrong. This is the issue that may doom the Republican Party as we know it.
Baron Dave Romm is a conceptual artist and a noble of Ladonia who produces Shockwave Radio Theater, writes in a Live Journal demi-blog maintains a Facebook Page, plays with a very weird CD collection and an ever growing list of political links. Dave Romm reviews things at random for obscure web sites. You can read all his music recommendations from Bartcop-E. Podcasts of Shockwave Radio Theater. Permanent archive. More radio programs, interviews and science fiction humor plays can be accessed on the Shockwave Radio audio page.
Thanks to everyone who has sent me music to play on the air.
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
MAUREEN DOWD: Blue Eyed Greed? (nytimes.com)
With the Obamas in the White House, brown eyes may finally and rightfully overtake blue as the windows of winners.
Froma Harrop: Springtime for New England Republicans? (creators.com)
Contrary to myth, New England is not firmly sewn in the Democratic bag. Three of the states - Connecticut, Vermont and Rhode Island - have Republican governors. Meanwhile, independents make up huge voting blocs throughout the region.
Susan Estrich: Looking for the Line (creators.com)
Nothing gets people's attention faster than picketing them at home - which is not necessarily a reason to do it. Last week, at the height of the furor over the AIG bonuses, activists managed to locate the homes of a number of those who momentarily received bonuses, and brought their protests home.
HEATHER ROBINSON: Granny's Got Your Back (curvemag.com)
Older activists who refuse to take injustice sitting down are taking to the streets.
Brian Juergens: Interview with the next drag superstar BeBe Zahara Benet (afterelton.com)
Meet the winner of "RuPaul's Drag Race"!
Oxford Literary Festival: Ian McEwan on language and inheritance (timesonline.co.uk)
Ian McEwan reveals the influence of his childhood on his work and how he used to struggle with language.
Charlotte Abbott: "Cheever's Demons: A Conversation With Blake Bailey" (advocate.com)
In the life of fiction master John Cheever, biographer Blake Bailey finds a haunting tale of mid-century homosexual self-loathing.
Dana Stevens: Driving Mr. Crazy (slate.com)
A great movie about a Senegalese cab driver and a suicidal old man.
Roger Ebert: GOODBYE SOLO (NO MPAA RATING; 4 stars)
Two actors. One from Africa. The other who was a bodyguard for Elvis. Who but Ramin Bahrani would find these men and pair them in a story of heartbreaking depth and power? Bahrani is the new great American director. He never steps wrong. In "Goodbye Solo," he begins with a situation that might unfold in a dozen different ways and makes of it something original and profound. It is about the desire to help and the desire to not be helped.
Joe Weider: Using Exercise to Fight Cellulite (creators.com)
Tip of the Week: Never train on a full stomach, or an empty one.
Kathy Freston: "The Weight Loss Hype: Why Counting Calories Never Works" (huffingtonpost.com)
We've known for more than a decade that the key to weight-loss is to consume fewer calories than you're burning--in other words, eat less, exercise more, or both.
David Bruce: Dante's "Paradise": A Discussion Guide (lulu.com)
Free download.
ATC (A Touch of Class): Until (youtube.com)
Hubert's Poetry Corner
Class Reunion Surprises?
A sign of the times for ALL?
The Weekly Poll
The next Poll will be April 7th - BadToTheBoneBob's 'out state' on vacation.
On the TV series 'Star Trek', how many times did Captain Kirk say "Beam me up, Scotty"?
Who is the only actor to appear in both pilots of the original "Star Trek" (1966) TV series?
noted:
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Mostly overcast and gray.
Kids' Choice Awards
Winners
Winners from the 22nd annual Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards:
• Favorite Movie: "High School Musical 3: Senior Year."
• Favorite Movie Actor: Will Smith, "Hancock."
• Favorite Movie Actress: Vanessa Hudgens, "High School Musical 3: Senior Year."
• Favorite Animated Movie: "Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa."
• Favorite Voice from an Animated Movie: Jack Black, "Kung Fu Panda."
• Favorite Song: Beyonce, "Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It)."
• Favorite Male Singer: Jesse McCartney.
• Favorite Female Singer: Miley Cyrus.
• Favorite Music Group: Jonas Brothers.
• Favorite TV Show: "iCarly."
• Favorite Reality Show: "American Idol."
• Favorite TV Actress: Selena Gomez, "Wizards of Waverly."
• Favorite TV Actor: Dylan Sprouse, "The Suite Life of Zack and Cody."
• Favorite Cartoon: "SpongeBob SquarePants."
• Favorite Male Athlete: Peyton Manning.
• Favorite Female Athlete: Candace Parker.
• Favorite Video Game: "Guitar Hero World Tour."
• Favorite Book: "Twilight" series.
Winners
In Malawi
Madonna
Madonna toured an impoverished village and discussed plans Sunday for building a new school in Malawi, the central African nation where officials said she would begin proceedings this week to adopt a young girl.
Madonna, casually dressed with a white fedora, walked through the village of Chinkhota holding the hand of her 12-year-old daughter, Lourdes. Dozens of reporters looked on.
The 50-year-old pop star refused to answer questions about reports that she was in Malawi to adopt a four-year-old girl. She said it was "amazing" to be back in the country where she runs a charity organization and from where she adopted her son David, 3, last year.
A security guard with the convoy said Madonna was speaking to villagers about building a school there, and she was seen looking at an artist's impression of the proposed building. Hours earlier, Madonna landed at the airport in the capital of Lilongwe.
Madonna
Kosher Tequila
Agave 99
A New York businessman is launching a new kosher tequila in time for Cinco de Mayo. Martin Silver says Agave 99 will be on the market in time for the holiday that celebrates Mexico's defeat of French forces on May 5, 1862. Silver, president of Long Island-based Star Industries, says he wants to satisfy the craze for high-end tequila with one that observant Jews can drink.
Silver says a half million cases of the 99-proof kosher tequila are being produced at a Mexican plant using methods certified by a rabbi. It will retail for $41.95 a bottle.
The product launch - with Mexican songs sung in both Yiddish and Spanish - is set for May 5, but it will also be sold earlier for Passover, which starts at sundown on April 8 this year.
Agave 99
Narrates Documentary
Sean Penn
Oscar winner Sean Penn has narrated a new TV documentary, which chronicles the injustices surrounding dozens of parents who were jailed on bogus child-abuse charges in Bakersfield, California in the 1980s.
The actor didn't hesitate to get involved in the project, called Witch Hunt, because he wanted to expose those in public office who had made decisions that wrecked innocent families.
Penn hopes the film, which will air in America on 12 April (09), prompts people to question the evidence in high-profile cases and stand up to those in office who encourage and benefit from public hysteria.
"The public hysteria that surrounded this case is every bit as essential to discuss as the public corruption. These lightning-rod crimes tend to challenge our lawful assumption of innocence until proof of guilt."
Sean Penn
Urban Attacks On Rise
Coyotes
A coyote ambling into a Chicago sandwich shop or taking up residence in New York's Central Park understandably creates a stir. But even here on the high plains of Colorado, where the animals are part of the landscape and figure prominently in Western lore, people are being taken aback by rising coyote encounters.
Thanks to suburban sprawl and a growth in numbers of both people and animals, a rash of coyote encounters has alarmed residents.
Wildlife officials are working to educate the public: Coyotes have always been here, they've adapted to urban landscapes and they prefer to avoid humans.
"Ninety-five percent of this problem is a human problem, and we really need to focus on that 95 percent to solve it," said Nicole Rosmarino, wildlife program director of the environmental group WildEarth Guardians.
Coyotes
Welcomes Sudan's President
Arab Summit
Qatar's leader embraced Sudan's president in a red-carpet welcome Sunday as he arrived to attend an Arab Summit in his most brazen act of defiance against an international arrest warrant on charges of war crimes in Darfur.
For host Qatar - a key U.S. ally that is home to American warplanes and more than 5,000 U.S. troops - the Arab League meeting beginning Monday also showcases its desire to stake out a prominent role in regional affairs even at the risk of angering the West.
Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir had promised to attend the 22-nation gathering after assurances from members they would not enforce the International Criminal Court's arrest order issued March 4. But his lavish arrival sent an apparent message that al-Bashir will have a center stage role at the two-day meeting.
It was a low-risk trip for al-Bashir with high symbolic value for his Arab backers, who argue that carrying out the ICC's arrest would further destabilize Sudan as the Darfur conflict between the Arab-led government and ethnic African rebels enters its seventh year.
Arab Summit
Australian Fest
Cane Toads
Thousands of poisonous cane toads met their fate Sunday as gleeful Australians gathered for a celebratory mass killing of the hated amphibians, with many of the creatures' corpses being turned into fertilizer for the very farmers they've plagued for years.
Hundreds of participants in five communities across northern Queensland snacked on sausages, sipped cold drinks and picked up prizes as the portly pests were weighed, measured and killed in the state's inaugural "Toad Day Out" celebration.
The toads - which can grow up to 8 inches (20 centimeters) in length - were imported from South America to Queensland in 1935 in a failed attempt to control beetles on sugarcane plantations. Trouble was, the toads couldn't jump high enough to eat the beetles, which live on top of cane stalks.
The toads bred rapidly, and their millions-strong population now threatens many local species across Australia. They spread diseases, such as salmonella, and produce highly toxic venom from glands in their skin that can kill would-be predators. The toads are also voracious eaters, chomping up insects, frogs, small reptiles and mammals - even birds. Cane toads are only harmful to humans if their poison is swallowed.
Cane Toads
More Wangs
Name Game
The number of people in Britain with surnames like Cockshott, Balls, Death and Shufflebottom -- likely the source of schoolroom laughter -- has declined by up to 75 percent in the last century.
A study found the number of people with the name Cock shrank to 785 last year from 3,211 in 1881, those called Balls fell to 1,299 from 2,904 and the number of Deaths were reduced to 605 from 1,133.
People named Smellie decreased by 70 percent, Dafts by 51 percent, Gotobeds by 42 percent, Shufflebottoms by 40 percent, and Cockshotts by 34 percent, said Richard Webber, visiting professor of geography at King's College, London.
Webber also found that between 1996 and 2008, the names Zhang, Wang, and Yang and experienced the fastest growth. Zhang rose by 4719 percent, while Wang grew by 2225 percent.
Name Game
Weekend Box Office
'Monsters vs. Aliens'
DreamWorks Animation's action comedy "Monsters vs. Aliens," which features creatures from 1950s flicks in a showdown with invading extraterrestrials, launched itself into the No. 1 spot with a $58.2 million debut, according to studio estimates Sunday.
It was the biggest debut so far in 2009, topping the $55.2 million first weekend of "Watchmen" in early March.
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Media By Numbers LLC. Final figures will be released Monday.
1. "Monsters vs. Aliens," $58.2 million.
2. "The Haunting in Connecticut," $23 million.
3. "Knowing," $14.7 million.
4. "I Love You, Man," $12.6 million.
5. "Duplicity," $7.6 million.
6. "Race to Witch Mountain," $5.6 million.
7. "12 Rounds," $5.3 million.
8. "Watchmen," $2.755 million.
9. "Taken," $2.75 million.
10. "The Last House on the Left," $2.6 million.
'Monsters vs. Aliens'
In Memory
Maurice Jarre
Maurice Jarre, Oscar-winning composer of music for films including "Doctor Zhivago" and "Lawrence of Arabia", died overnight Sunday in Los Angeles aged 84.
The death of Jarre, who won a third Oscar for his score for "A Passage to India", was announced to AFP by the manager of his son, electronic music pioneer Jean-Michel Jarre.
The elder Jarre wrote the music for more than 150 films by great directors including John Frankenheimer, Alfred Hitchcock, John Huston and Luchino Visconti.
In 1952 he wrote his first score, for the short "Hotel des Invalides," at the request of director Georges Franju.
Maurice Jarre, who settled in the United States in the mid-1860s, also wrote symphonic music and music for theatre and ballet.
Maurice Jarre
| CURRENT MOON lunar phases |
