Friday, May 28, 2004

Something Further to Consider Regarding Poverty

About a week ago, I had a few things to say regarding poverty in a post titled “Conjuring Up Poverty." That post was in response to a NYT article regarding alleged poverty here in the USA.

Here’s something additional to consider about the “societal” definition of poverty here in the USA.

"In Haiti’s slums, round swirls of dough can be found baking in the sun. They look almost appetizing until you learn the ingredients: butter, salt, water and dirt.

In a world where the rich spend millions on ways to avoid carbohydrates and the United Nations declares obesity a global health threat, the cruel reality is that far more people struggle each day just to get enough calories.

In Malawi, children stand on the roadsides selling skewers of roasted mice."

From a NYT article titled “When Real Food Isn’t an Option."

Via Tyler Cowen at Marginal Revolution.

There is no poverty in the United States.

Posted by John Venlet on 05/28 at 04:25 AM
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A Movie I Would've Probably Enjoyed

South Park creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker commenting on their idea for filming the movie The Day After Tomorrow.

"We planned to secretly shoot that movie with puppets, word for word, and release it on the same day. We thought that would have been hilarious, but our lawyer convinced us we wouldn’t get it released."

Via Jesse Walker, at Hit & Run, who provides some links on this little story.

Posted by John Venlet on 05/28 at 04:19 AM
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Beating the Bush

I don’t often read Paul Krugman, which is only fair since he, in all likelihood, has never read anything I’ve written, but this morning I was drawn to read his column by the title which heads it.  “To Tell the Truth." A title one must skeptically eye, considering the source.

In the column, Krugman, correctly, questions the veracity of Bush’s integrity in regards to the reasons the United States is currently in Iraq, but it was the following sentence, from Krugman’s column, that triggered a bit of a gag reflex in me as I read it through.

”...Moderate and liberal journalists, both reporters and commentators, often bend over backward to say nice things about conservatives..."

Yeah, right.

Posted by John Venlet on 05/28 at 03:45 AM
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A Return Salvo

Not wanting to be outdone by recent research which seems to show that smoking therapy may be beneficial to some heart patients, the government fired a return salvo by lengthening the list of diseases which may possibly, but not positively, be linked to smoking.

“List Linking Smoking to Diseases Expands."

Link to above story via Drudge.

Posted by John Venlet on 05/28 at 03:29 AM
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Goodshit on a Friday Morning

Fred Lapides site, Goodshit, is a daily stop on my internet journeys, and not just for the eye candy.  Though that sounds like the classic, “I get Playboy for the articles” defense.  This morning, Fred had more than a few items of interest, such as the post below this one, and I wanted to pass on links to two other items Fred posted.

A hand painting of a Bald Eagle.  It’s actually a two handed painting.

And, a review of Wilde’s book A Picture of Dorian Gray. The review is titled “A Poisonous Book." After reading the review, I went and grabbed my 1904 hardcover copy off of my shelves and set it on my nightstand to read again.

Posted by John Venlet on 05/28 at 03:16 AM
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Death by Asteroid or "Verneshots"?

"The idea that mass extinctions are caused by impacts from outer space has been one of the best marketed pieces of popular science—it has even inspired Hollywood movies. It would be ironic, indeed, if Dr Becker’s Australian crater, on the face of things such eloquent evidence for the extraterrestrial nature of mass extinctions, turned out to be a crucial nail in that theory’s coffin."

The above is the concluding paragraph from an article in The Economist titled “Bang and blame." The article introduced me to the term “Verneshots,” which, in a nod to Jules Verne, describes the possibility of volcanic action being able to launch large rocks into space, which is part of a theory which postulates that asteroids did not wipe out the dinosaurs, but large scale volcanic activity wiped out the dinosaurs.  It is an interesting concept.

Via Fred Lapides.

Posted by John Venlet on 05/28 at 03:08 AM
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Thursday, May 27, 2004

That's About Right

Because I’d been thinking about Andy Stedman’s post, at No Treason, on seatbelts, this headline, from The Grand Rapids Press, caught my eye.

“Police prepare assault on those not strapped in."

Assault, that’s about right.

Posted by John Venlet on 05/27 at 11:08 AM
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Drug War Skirmish Statistics for West Michigan

West Michigan’s Drug Enforcement Task Force released some vague statistics recently which were shared with Michigan residents in The Grand Rapids Press. According to the article, drug arrests were up eight percent, giving the enforcers something to crow about.  Caw, caw.  Let’s consider some of the statistics quoted in the article.

642 individuals were arrested, and, according to the article, 99 of those 642 individuals were labeled as “high level dealers.” So, approximately 15.4% of those arrested were “big time.” So, what did the West Michigan Task Force confiscate from these 99 high level dealers, and the other 543 bit players?

600 pounds of marijuana, which adds up to an average of less than a pound per person, if we take the total number of arrests and divide it by the poundage of pot confiscated, plus two thousand plants, which really don’t count because they never made it into the supply chain.  They also seized 3700 grams of coke and 1100 grams of meth.  Notice the large numbers quoted, in grams.  3700 grams of coke is equivalent to 8.15 pounds of coke, and 1100 grams of meth is equivalent to 2.32 pounds of meth.  That’s “high level” dealing, I guess.

But it was the following information in the article that really caught my eye.

"The bulk of last year’s arrests—436 in total—were for low-level drug offenses, such as possession of less than 10 pounds of marijuana or less than 7 grams of cocaine. Some of those arrests eventually led to catching dealers further up the distribution chain, Porter said."

What the above actually means, is, 436 individuals who were arrested, in all probability, had less than an ounce of pot or a gram of toot.  What a waste.

The drug war is a complete and abyssmal failure which has only resulted in ruining more lives than drug use itself.

“Drug officers net sixth straight year of increased arrests."

Posted by John Venlet on 05/27 at 10:38 AM
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Submarine Races, Fast Attack or Boomers

The title to this post is a term my Mum and Dad would occasionally throw at the boys in my family when we were heading out for the night, on a hot date.  Of course if one was going to the submarine races, one must needs be concerned with those who find individuals at the submarine races to be, how shall I put it, in violation of probity.  Well in Tuscan, Italy, going to the submarine races is now an organized activity, so to speak.

"THE Italian village famed as the birthplace of Leonardo da Vinci has just notched up another invention: the world’s first official love carpark.

Vinci council has set aside 172 parking spaces for lovers to use at night without having to fear arrest for indecent behaviour - or attacks by serial killers."

“Park and ride revs up Tuscans."

Via Ally at Who Moved My Truth.

Posted by John Venlet on 05/27 at 04:03 AM
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Knick Knack Paddy Wack Throw the Dog a Bone

I know Izzi thinks this is ridiculous.

“EU bans giving dog a bone."

"BARKING mad EU officials have banned butchers from giving customers bones for their dogs.

New Brussels rules class bones as a waste by-product and butchers must pay for them to be incinerated.

Britain’s 10,000 butchers are being sent letters by local councils warning them they face FINES if they pass left-over bones to pet-owners in the traditional way."

Via Dave Gross.

Posted by John Venlet on 05/27 at 03:39 AM
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The Newest Witch Hunt

Drudge’s exercising of poetic license this morning reads "Obesity Kills Child Age Three." A headline such as that naturally piques my interest, so I click the link and it leads to a story with the headline “Children in Britain ‘choking on their own fat’, says obesity report." I’m not quite certain which headline has taken more license.  Be that as it may, I read the article with an eye on where the blame must lie.  Drudge states it is obesity which killed the three year old, the article headline states liquid fat is to blame.  But the article quotes a British parlimentary committee report which states the blame should lie with,

"The report slammed the British government, the National Health Service, food manufacturers and advertisers for not doing enough to improve the nation’s health and raise awareness of the risks of being overweight or obese."

Ah, the wonders of collective guilt.  I’m somewhat surprised the British parlimentary committee couldn’t make the obesity guilt more inclusive, you know, to include the everyday man on the street.

Posted by John Venlet on 05/27 at 02:13 AM
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Wednesday, May 26, 2004

Vanity, Vanity, All is Vanity

Another thing I was thinking about today, while laboring in the yard, was a post by Ally at Who Moved My Truth. Ally titled her post “Unreal Reality," and within the post, Ally expresses her thoughts on the culture of perceived beauty that is advertised to the masses.  A thought with similarities to this post titled “Plastic Fantastic."

While thinking about the above, I recalled a passage I had read the other day by Nietzsche, which is from What is Noble, section 261.

“Among the things that may be hardest to understand for a noble human being is vanity: he will be tempted to deny it, where another type of human being could not find it more palpable.  The problem for him is to imagine people who seek to create a good opinion of themselves which they do not have of themselves--and thus also do not “deserve"--and who nevertheless end up believing this good opinion themselves.  This strikes him half as such bad taste and lack of self-respect, and half as so baroquely irrational, that he would like to consider vanity as exceptional, and in most cases when it is spoken of he doubts it.”

Posted by John Venlet on 05/26 at 12:23 PM
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Do You Understand the Connection and Ramifications of These Two Items?

I’ve been physically laboring, most of the day today, and I’ve been thinking about a few things.  This is one of them.

Michael Moore is a liar.  I’d call him a consummate liar, but I think too positively of the word consummate.  Do you doubt my proclamation?  Then read what Fred Barnes has to say about Michael Moore, and a passage from Moore’s book Stupid White Men. Consider the blatant falsity of what Moore included in his book regarding Fred, consider also, other lies spread like a plague by Moore. Michael Moore is a liar.

Now, in the title of this post, I mention connections and ramifications, and the ability to understand them.  The connection is between the information above and these headlines.  “Cannes audience gives standing ovation to Michael Moore film," and this one, “Moore Wins Palme d’Or for Bush-Bashing Doc."

Moore, and his legions of adoring fools, are wallowing in ignobility.  Lower than something I would scrape off the bottom of my shoe.

Posted by John Venlet on 05/26 at 11:52 AM
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Mutant for Nuclear Power

Photo of the interior of an experimental fusion reactor.

Inspiration from the mind of man.

Via Dean, who got it from Kyle, at Dean’s World.

Posted by John Venlet on 05/26 at 04:31 AM
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This, is Fricking Cool

Hang-gliding Mount Everest.

Photos and story.  Sweet.

Thanks, Richard.

Posted by John Venlet on 05/26 at 04:20 AM
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