experimenting with "macro"

lemon:

more fall

Open Congress

Enabling democracy: to the extent that the services like this are available on the Internet, and improved over time, we will all benefit.

See OpenCongress.org

Global Environmental Outlook

The UN released the 4th Global Environmental Outlook, GEO-4.

Climate change, and related changes put humanity at risk. In my opinion, serious changes will be needed to sustain human growth and development while caring for the environment. We need to treat the natural environment as an investment and not as a wasting resource to be exploited.

Snippet:

• decline of fish stocks;
• loss of fertile land through degradation;
• unsustainable pressure on resources;
• dwindling amount of fresh water available for humans and other creatures to share; and
• risk that environmental damage could pass unknown points of no return

Its the last that particularly concerns me. What tipping point we will we reach unexpectedly?

fall

A recent photo nearby:

deer

recent local nature photos

These photos were snapped nearby over the course of the last week or two. There would also have been a picture of a rabbit who had started living under our deck, but his own carelessness was taken advantage of by a local hawk. Yum.

The Climate Change Peril That Insurers See

From WashPo: The Climate Change Peril That Insurers See

While I think action is required at the national government and international level as well regarding climate change, I wouldn't underestimate the rationality and power of the insurance industry.
Snippet:

Lloyd's has warned: "The insurance industry must start actively adjusting in response to greenhouse gas trends if it is to survive." The Association of British Insurers has called on governments to "stem ominous weather related trends" by cutting carbon emissions. U.S.-based companies AIG and Marsh -- respectively, the largest insurer and broker -- have joined with other corporate leaders to urge Congress to reduce U.S. greenhouse gas emissions 60 to 80 percent by mid-century. AIG's policy statement on climate change "recognizes the scientific consensus that climate change is a reality and is likely in large part the result of human activities that have led to increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases in the earth's atmosphere."

Update: About governmental action being that the government needs to take it.... From WaPo: Bush's EPA Is Pursuing Fewer Polluters. Snippet:

"The Environmental Protection Agency's pursuit of criminal cases against polluters has dropped off sharply during the Bush administration, with the number of prosecutions, new investigations and total convictions all down by more than a third, according to Justice Department and EPA data."
...
"The number of civil lawsuits filed against defendants who refuse to settle environmental cases was down nearly 70 percent between fiscal years 2002 and 2006, compared with a four-year period in the late 1990s, according to those same statistics. "

music podcasts

Here are a few podcasts and related sites I enjoy and can recommend:

Dub Session, with podcast URL: http://feeds.feedburner.com/Dub_Session

Radio Three Sixty, with podcast URL: itpc://www.threesixtyrecords.net/podcasts/radiothreesixtymp3.xml

blogariddms, via weareie, with podcast URL: http://www.weareie.com/audio/blogariddims/Blogariddims.xml

can't forget Duke Listens!, Idolator, Pitchfork, and Fluxblog. All link to downloads from time to time; the Idolator podcast seems spotty (or it has moved.)

I subscribe to the podcasts via iTunes, and either burn them to CD to listen in the car, or download them to my shuffle.

William Gibson on fora.tv

Thanks to fora.tv, here is video of William Gibson reading an excerpt from Spook Country and handling questions during his book tour (at Codys).



A question about the influence of Joseph Cornell led me to find this WebMuseum site.

Gibson, a big favorite of mine for his cultural insights as well as his fiction, has been blogging his trip.

UPDATE: While we are on the topic of Gibson, here is a transcript of an interview with him in The Guardian, titled "Space to Think".