http://blogcritics.org/ A sinister cabal of superior bloggers on music, books, film, popular culture, politics, and technology - updated continuously. en Copyright 2005-2007 by the authors Thu, 17 Mar 2005 02:05:44 EST http://backend.userland.com/rss Blogcritics.org custom software http://blogcritics.org/ Phillip WinnSunday, August 26, 2007, marks the switch of all Blogcritics.org article feeds from full-content to short-content. This is the result of several converging factors, and is unfortunately a permanent decision (as permanent as any decision can be on the web, that is). We are aware of all of the reasons that this is a Bad Idea, and we are aware that some of you will be quite upset about having to click on something to read the free content, and we're sorry. Unfortunately, despite great effort, full-content feeds are not currently economically viable. Two other factors are involved: full-content feeds have resulted in an unprecedented level of content theft, with BC content appearing on many websites, usually spam sites, without attribution or permission. This duplicate content causes a cascading set of problems, not the least of which is that search engines generally aren't favorable to duplicate content, and don't always guess correctly. Finally, our RSS advertising partner is strongly in favor of short-content feeds. We hope that you'll continue to subscribe to BC via RSS, and when an article grabs your eye, it's only a click away, still free on the BC website. Thank you for your understanding. Administration0@blogcritics.org Sun, 26 Aug 2007 12:00:00 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/03/17/020544.php majikwahAn article in this month's Discover magazine (read the whole great thing here) outlines the woes of Mercury and what we as a world are and are not doing about it. Tieing most of the mercury woes to industrial waste, and more specifically waste from coal burning power generation plants, the articles is a stunning slap to the noggin. We are ignoring the waste and the effects of mercury at our peril. If we don't take drastic measures to stem that pollution and its long term effects from even small dose exposure to this dangerous chemical vapor, then we face a path of industrial pollution and environmental ruin that may very well be impossible to fix. The Clinton administration proposed reducing mercury emissions in power plants by 90 percent by 2008. But, thinking he knew better, Bush has decided to slow that wagon down and instead is proposing to reduce those emissions by 70 percent by 2018, as well as to shun the Kyoto protocol, a world wide treaty to stem ozone layer eroding emissions (of which mercury is certainly one of) I would hate to think that business and industry concerns from Big Coal and Big Oil guided him in those decisions. But environmental groups, city and state health departments and others are now preparing to sue the EPA to get enforcement in line with the Clinton proposals. It may work. It wasn't too many years ago that we began to understand the problems seen from exposure to lead and asbestos. And the EPA dragged its feet on those issues as well. The courts finally got involved and now lead and asbestos issues are managed and regulated, easing many, many health and environmental issues. If you value eating fish; consuming dairy; breathing air; eating food grown in farms, harvested from non polluted soil or drinking water; if you are concerned about preventing cancer, especially rare and untreatable cancers; if you want to ensure you suffer from no auto immune diseases or want to make sure your children don't develop ADD or autism you have a vested interest in reducing mercury exposure in our environment. Hmm, that list should just about cover everybody. As a kid, I remember the neighbor kid had access to liquid mercury, apparently once used in welding. We used to play with it for hours in the garage. Probably not too wise. And looking at my home town, plagued with lots of Multiple Sclerosis patients, lots of lupis patients, lots of twins (?) and lots of ADHD, I have said over and over again it is all because of the coal dust. With what I am learning about mercury exposure, there just might be something too that.Addendum: Apparently, even my slightly polluted home town is starting to see the light. Politics26856@blogcritics.org Thu, 17 Mar 2005 02:05:44 EST http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/03/05/142142.php majikwah(This is a continuation of a series of posts about my time in the Army, stationed in Germany in the mid-1980s. The previous post can be found here.). I guess the greater part of my Army memories revolve around just living and traveling in Germany and Europe. Small town boy getting down in G-town. Stuttgart, Germany is located in Southeast Germany near the Swiss border. It is about the size of Denver and the automotive manufacturing capitol for Germany. Mercedes Benz corporate headquarters as well as plants making VWs and Audis all occupying office parks and factories.Denver's light rail train system is made in Stuttgart and that train line stretches for miles and miles and makes this scatter shot city of Stuttgart and its surrounding boroughs easily interconnected and efficient. Don't forget German efficiency. It really is a marvel to drive and travel in Germany. It seems as though the car and the road are such a natural part of their world that their coexistence is second nature. The politeness shown by the drivers is unlike anywhere else I have been. Big traffic circles with lanes and lanes of cars and not even a honking of the horn to voice any displeasure. Strict adherence to even the simplest traffic laws like lane changing and traffic lane merges makes the whole system work like the cliche'd clockwork we have all be told.One of my responsibilities while stationed at Kelly Barracks was to share in driving our Colonel around. He preferred to travel in a "CUTV" or in civilian terms, a specially outfitted Chevrolet Blazer, painted in camouflage and equipped with all sorts of radio and telecommunications equipment. It stood out on the Autobahn like a fresh, swelling bruise on Whitney Houston's face. And because of the Colonel's rank and responsibilities, I had to take an "offensive" driving course where I was taught some terrorist avoidance skills and how to do some cool things to a Mercedes Benz on a closed track. I was taught how to make wicked fast turns; how to turn the car around with just the emergency brake; how to roll a car and land it on it wheels successfully; how to handle a car or van traveling at high speed on ice and snow and how to drive pretty damn fast on open terrain through a slalom course of pylons. I never had to use any of those skills but the training was helpful, as I tended to party and drink pretty hard in those days and then crawl into work with a terrific hangover and no sleep. Driving around Stuttgart on autopilot was pretty simple after having advanced driving skills training. I remember once, driving back from Muenchen (Munich) in VW bus full of field grade officers. I had been up for about 28 or 30 hours at that point as part of a field training exercise. Driving the officers back to Kelly Barracks, I must have drifted off to sleep about two or three times - once Major G____ tapped me on the shoulder and asked if I was okay to drive! But they seemed to trust me as no one took me from the wheel and we arrived at the base safe and secure. I ended up working about ten more hours for a grand total of nearly 45 hours straight without sleep. To this day that is a personal record and I really don't think I am up to breaking it any time soon. One thing though, I never drove on off duty. I never took the time to get a European driver's license or a car for off post shenanigans. This probably saved my life and kept me out of jail. I used the bus system and the train system to get virtually anywhere I needed to be on off duty hours and have a stable of good solid friends and roommates with cars for those trips into town with the gang. But the trouble those trips caused is a different story all together. Culture26336@blogcritics.org Sat, 5 Mar 2005 14:21:42 EST http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/02/23/121907.php majikwahStationed at VII Corps headquarters in Germany in the late 1980s, we were privy to some public and not so public operations being conducted in Europe and the Middle East. One of the more public events was the decision to bomb Libya in retaliation for terrorist acts. During the Libya operation, our headquarters was placed on high alert and we were issued our weapons and protective gear.Now, let me remind you, we were a very, very, very rear echelon headquarters, full of clerks and officers and the US Army band. We were not the Band of Brothers, dedicated to fighting the lines to the end.Instead, we are the Band of Lunchers, eager to leave our little desk cubicles and travel out of the HQ building and head down to Burger King for lunch.Well, during the Libya bombings we were on alert and suddenly we were expected to take part in the real Army that we had heard so much about.We were placed on guard duty and handed loaded weapons and most of us were taking turns walking the perimeter with walkie talkies, flashlights and orders to be vigilant for any kind of retaliatory measures in response to our bombing mission.Our commanding general had a Mercedes Benz staff car, this being Stuttgart, and he was driving up the main road of our little German military Casern when he ordered his car to stop. As the window lowered, the general noticed a skinny enlisted man serving as a chaplain's aide, holding a loaded M-16 and shaking a bit, visibly nervous. The general got out of his car and talked with the clerk then traveled up to his office.It wasn't three hours later that an entire brigade of infantry troops and engineering troops was dispatched to our post to take over our guard duties - apparently they had more experience in guard duty and Army stuff than our country club staff .Tents were erected and duty rosters posted. The new breed of soldiers was marching around our base and holding drills and formations. We were, quite frankly, baffled. This was that Army, we gathered, and this was how they did things. And apparently, it involved lots of barking and shouting.After watching most of this ordeal from our office window on the second floor, just a few doors down from the general's office, we decided to head out for lunch at the mess hall.There were three of us and we were walking, talking and laughing along the way. We had a standing, unspoken rule on base to not salute anyone under the rank of Major. There were just too many officers on our post and a guy could give himself carpel tunnel if he saluted every single Lieutenant and Captain he came upon. It was good for the officers and good for the enlisted men if we focused our saluting efforts just on field grade officers. Everyone seemed the better for it.So we were walking down the street, ignoring our officer cadre as usual when a huge, burley real Army sergeant starts barking and yelling screaming at us to halt. We turned and looked at him incredulously. He ordered us to attention and began to explain the intricacies of Army protocol and demanded that we salute all the officers for the remainder of his stay on post. He also demanded that whenever we traveled in packs of three or more that we were to march in formation. He had us on a technicality. These were all protocols we were aware of since Basic Training but our HQ really had no wherewithal to follow them. Marching was a bit foreign to us. We had the 7Th US Army band on our post and it was a generally understood assumption that they would do all the marching for us, since they were in a marching band and all. A few times a week, while rehearsing for some performance around Germany, they would get all dressed up and march the three block square Army post - entertaining all of us along the way. That seemed like a much better use of marching. I did not bring this perfect example of efficiency and tradition up with the sergeant currently occupying the space five inches from my face.So, we marched off to lunchA few hours later I had the chance to tell the story to the Colonel, who laughed and said that until a real war comes around those soldiers on duty outside our building had to train and practice and this would all pass soon. I could only hope he was right. Culture25897@blogcritics.org Wed, 23 Feb 2005 12:19:07 EST