birds and oil, oh my

June 5th, 2010

Looking at a photo in the paper this morning of an oil-coated pelican being cleaned up at a wildlife rehab center, made me wonder: what percentage of birds covered with oil are lucky enough to end up at a rehab center where they are cleaned? What percentage of the cleaned birds survive the ordeal? What percentage of the survivors end up back at the oil spill, and get messed up again? How can humans communicate to birds the danger, and to stay away from it?

coffee schmoffee

June 3rd, 2010

photo by frank brown Drinking coffee offers no real benefit as reported by Lewis Page in The Register.

about the oil in the Gulf

May 22nd, 2010

dolphin Beached dolphin at Horn Island, Mississippi

And now a few words from Larry Teich:

“Some thoughts about the oil in the Gulf. We need to stop calling it a spill. That’s a nice little word to decscribe what can be wiped up with some paper towels. It’s an oil gusher, avalanche, contamination or torrential explosion but not just a spill. Whatever the enormity of its effects on wildlife and the environment, people need to not be shocked or numbed into inaction. Doing anything will help even if it’s trying to prevent this from happening again. I’m just sorry that BP was the company involved since i’d like to be calling it the Gulf of Texaco now.”

Here are some links Larry provided about the spew: one is a CBS News story about BP withholding info and the other is a Google map in which you can overlay layers of the spill and its effects by date:

CBS News

Google Map

trippin’ at the sunset tavern

May 8th, 2010

tripwires Rocked out with The Tripwires at the Sunset Tavern in Ballard last night. Opening were Orange Peel, a young pop band from San Francisco, and Spanish for 100, energetic rockers with an insanely hot lead guitar cat.

The Tripwires did not disappoint. They encored with a cover of ‘Crawling From the Wreckage’ — sweet! I never realized before how much the Tripwires sound resembles a hard, tight, hook-laden Rockpile.

obama’s war machine

May 4th, 2010

Read The Pentagon’s game plan by Jack Smith. Scary details emerge about the Nobel Peace Prize winner and his minions’ plans for future wars.

comparing presidents

April 27th, 2010

I was mad at former President Bush when he spent billions of dollars to kill people (in Iraq).

And today folks are mad at President Obama for spending billions of dollars to help people (in America).

Go figure.

oysters are not plants. but…

April 21st, 2010

oyster Christopher Cox makes a case for no-stress consumption of the mollusks in his Slate article with the famously stolen title.

join the coffee party

April 15th, 2010

A new poll of Tea Party (TP) backers, as reported by this NY Times article, says that TP-ers’s “…animosity towards Washington and the President…is rooted in…the conviction that the policies of the Obama administration are disproportionately directed at helping the poor rather than the middle class or the rich.”

Personally I think it’s about time we started providing more help to the poor in this country. There are more now than ever, and most of the homeless folks I run into deserve as much help as they can get. The rich can help themselves, as they always have.

So I’m proposing the formation of a new party, which gives priority to helping the poor. I propose we call it the Coffee Party. We can proclaim our support by buying homeless people a cup of coffee.

microsoft uses chinese child labor

April 14th, 2010

National Labor Committee report

what’s up, seattle?

April 13th, 2010

If you came down to Pioneer Square looking for Elliott Bay Books you may be shocked to discover that the storefront is empty. Signs say they’re moving to Capitol Hill.

Metro 5 riders heading downtown from Fremont should appreciate the new mini bus shelter with iron bench at the stop across the street from Lighthouse Roasters. Especially on days like this morning when it’s raining.