|
ARCHIVES
Reading right now:
Recently Finished:
Decided Not to Finish:
|
06/27/01
Endangered Species News
1. Tibetan antelope in danger of extinction
Don't buy that $17K shatoosh shawl, fashionable ladies! It takes about five Tibetan antelopes to make each shawl, and there are only about 75,000 of the animals left. That's 15,000 shawls, enough for only a small percentage of the world's supermodels.
2. Scientists can't untangle rare whale
In even worse shape is the North Atlantic right whale--one of the 300 left is currently tangled in fishing line and will probably die from a related infection. Oddly enough, $300 is the amount of money some Americans can expect to get in Dubya's stupid tax rebate. That's a dollar per whale.
3. Chamois is still common and not threatened
After thoughtlessly buying a chamois polishing cloth, I had pangs of guilt and did some research. Although several subspecies are threatened, the regular old chamois goat, source of the skin used to make "shammys," favored by car washers everywhere, is still OK. Nevertheless, I'll never buy another one. The thought of killing an animal so my mini-SUV can be shiny is awful.
06/25/01
Went to Powell's with my Amazon wishlist in hand and bought a bunch of stuff. More importantly, after leafing through the real things, deleted at least four books from my list. There was nothing on Amazon to indicate that I wouldn't like the books, but when I tried reading them, I didn't like them. Mostly postmodern or metaphysical fiction, which appeals to me in the abstract, but not too often as actual reading material.
06/20/01
Just had my first bubble tea. The fat tapioca pearls sliding up the straw, mixing in my mouth with the cold, sweety, milky tea.... oh dear god. I may never drink coffee again.
06/19/01
Some Thoughts on Automation
Since it's very relevant to me at the moment, this passage from a Charles Stross story ("Antibodies") captured me:
Automation is addictive; unless you run a command economy that is tuned to provide people with jobs, rather than to produce goods efficiently, you need to automate to compete once automation becomes available. At the same time, once you automate your businesses, you find yourself on a one-way path. You can't go back to manual methods; either the workload has grown past the point of no return, or the knowledge of how things were done has been lost, sucked into the internal structure of the software that has replaced the human workers.
Everyone in my life has heard more about this than they ever needed to, so I won't dwell on it too much, but I must mention one consistently parroted phrase that I take great issue with: that humans will be "freed up" to do "more important work" once automation takes over their paid tasks. First, I have yet to meet a human whose first response to the involuntary loss of their job was, "Yippee! I'm free!" (They may come to that emotion later, but that's usually the initial exultation of someone who's managed to quit on their own terms, yes?)
Second, what exactly is this mysterious "more important work?" After all, most of us labor daily trying to sell stuff, or regulate the selling of stuff, or cure the socio-environmental ills caused by the selling of stuff. Most of us aren't artists. We won't use our fabulous new free time to better the lot of our fellows, clean up a mess, or study philosophy. Nope. We'll go look for another job, to pay the rent and keep our fridges stocked with cheese or even to buy the land and seeds and water we need to get off the grid. And the more displaced people there are, the tougher time we're going to have finding paid work for everyone. Unless living becomes free, that's the way it is.
Is it time to put everyone on the dole? Or shall we start with a shorter work-week, or job-sharing, or some such stopgap? Despite all the science fiction I've read, I can't really imagine an automated society that satisfies people.
Love the technology, hate the application.
(Further reading)
06/15/01
It's true--the venerated Oxford English Dictionary has added "Doh" to its virtual pages (the next print edition won't be published for years). The definition:
"expressing frustration at the realization that things have turned out badly or not as planned or that one has just said or done something foolish. Also implying that another person has said or done something foolish."
In other news, Freddie Mercury wasn't just a gorgeous-voiced rock opera singer. No. He was UFO Messenger of the Gods.
To add to the mishmash of today's entry, here's what's going on with me. A little June 2001 snapshot of Therese:
- I'm utterly and completely in love with Jen, and I think we're perfect together
- Surfing is a constant low-level obsession, along with all the warm-weather places where its commonly done
- At work, I'm being replaced by a moronic robot that thinks Where's Daddy? is a fine choice for a Father's Day gift
- I'm growing my hair out, ostensibly for my sister's wedding, although she didn't ask me to, and it's driving me nuts
- I'm drinking coffee again, which makes me jittery but euphoric every morning
That's all.
06/10/01
Awakened early this Sunday morning by an earthquake. A little one, but it shook the bed like a big truck rolling by. My fear level shot up unreasonably, and I observed dispassionately that the Nisqually quake in February seems to have affected my psychology. In several ways. Not least of which is:
This happens every time Jen goes away. I think the earth is trying to tell me never to let her leave my side.
06/06/01
"Heading for the water early to beat the winds, to play in small waves just for dermal salination therapy: the point being, I now know for certain, not at all the thrill of risk or the pride of achievement, but rather the dailiness of well-spent time, the accumulation of moments that will never translate into anything but a private sense of well-being." --Daniel Duane, Caught Inside
There. That's why I surf. That's why I squeeze myself into a cold neoprene seal costume and wade out in freezing cold water on a freezing cold day in Washington state. And even though I loved my SoCal adventure--loved the warm water, the baking sun, and the surfy culture--I wouldn't want to live there. Too many mooks and midriffs, too much trying. So gimme a decent day in Westport and my new tips and tricks (thank you SurfDiva!) and I'll be a happy, if blue-fingered, kook every day I can.
"If there's a relief in discovering the life you most desperately dream of living, there's also a fear in discovering your soul's needs--after all, how then deny them?" --Ibid.
|
Friends and Fiends:
Bloggity:
|
