Bob Morris @ Sep 2nd 2002 21:20 - Category: Unfiled ;
Armed forces as strikebreakers in CA harbor strike?
Rumors and unconfirmed reports surfacing of troop movements in California heading to the docks where Longshoremen go on strike tomorrow.
Bob Morris @ Sep 2nd 2002 21:09 - Category: Unfiled ;
EU caves in to US over green pact
Sigh, the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) rolled over and said tickle my tummy to oil and corporate interests. Now, you might think with “Sustainable” in their name, they might tilt in favor of renewable energy, but, silly you, they favor oil.
EU negotiators were accused yesterday of capitulating to the United States over renewable energy as governments reached agreement on the wording of the concluding document of the earth summit.
Environmental and development groups were furious that what seemed an imminent deal to set firm targets and a timetable to encourage the spread of wind, solar and other renewable energies in developing countries suddenly was watered down in favour of fossil fuel energies.
Daily Summit thinks the vote was due to lobbying by oil companies and oil producing counties, plus the EU trading their vote for a US vote on sanitation.
Whatever the machinations, renewable energy got dumped in favor of oil. This is not progress.
Y’know, I’d hoped the WSSD would accomplish something substantial, and not get jacked by corporate interests. Silly me.
Bob Morris @ Sep 2nd 2002 10:23 - Category: Unfiled ;
Think you’re smarter than a bear?
On this slow news day (tomorrow the political onslaughts start), a bit of backpacking lore.
Backpackers go into areas where bears are. Bears are attracted to the smells of backpacker food. Thus started the continuing battle of wits between backpacker and bear. Y’see, not only do backpackers not want to be two days out in the wilderness and have a bear, oh, destroy their backpacks and eat all their food, this isn’t healthy for the bear either.
Bears that get habituated to humans and their food lose their fear of humans. Not good for either side. Plus, it can’t be good for the bear to, say, eat six of your sports bars, wrapper and all, then pass the wrappers. Ouch.
Oh yes, bears like sports bars. Toothpaste too. Actually, they’ll eat most anything. Peanut butter is a special favorite (both for backpackers and bears). So, how do backpackers stop bears grabbing their food?
For a while, backpackers tried elaborate schemes like counter-balancing bundles of food high in a tree. This worked for a while, until bears learned to send cubs up to get the food or have mama bear jump up and down on the branch until it breaks, sending the food bundles crashing to the ground. Smart, huh?
Bear canisters do work. These are barrel-like contraptions made of plastic that bears can neither break or open. Just don’t leave it next to a cliff or a river lest the bear bats it away someplace you can’t get to. Many bears have learned to ignore bear canisters. They walk past them at campsites, knowing it’s pointless to try to open them. Learned behavior.
One really cool way to chase bears away from campsites is the amazing, fearless Karelian bear dog. Karelians were bred to track bear. Although they only weigh about 50 pounds, they will attack bears and are too fast for the bear to hit. So, some large campsites now have Karelians, who, when needed (and leashed) will chase bears out of the camp.
The best way to keep bears away is to keep food in a canister. This is good for the bear, and for you. Me, I’m waiting for the first bear to learn that a sharp rock smashed against a bear canister will shatter it. Then the game starts anew.
PS: The above is generally meant for black bear. Grizzlies are a whole different deal. Their Latin scientific name is “Ursus Horribilus”, which should give a hint of their disposition.
Bob Morris @ Sep 2nd 2002 09:35 - Category: Unfiled ;
Who’s on first?
George Bush has moved to distance himself from his vice-president after it was revealed that a sabre-rattling speech on Iraq by Dick Cheney was made without clearing key points with the White House.
In a clear sign of disarray at the top of the US administration it has emerged that Mr Cheney may have gone too far in a bellicose address last week in which he dismissed out of hand the usefulness of pushing for weapons inspectors to be allowed back into Iraq.
Hmmm, maybe. Or maybe Cheney’s bellicose rant was a deliberate testing of the waters by the White House, which backfired. So Cheney got to take the blame for it instead of Bush.
That disarray inside the Bush team was compounded by renewed reports in the US press last night that Colin Powell was planning to leave his job as secretary of state at the end of the president’s first term, potentially threatening Mr Bush’s re-election chances in 2004 by robbing him of a popular and moderate ally.
Reports that Powell no doubt leaked to the press himself. Why a man of his sophistication and intelligence continues to run with this pack of willfully ignorant provincials is a question many (including Powell no doubt) are asking.
Bob Morris @ Sep 2nd 2002 09:27 - Category: Unfiled ;
Maybe Shakel didn’t do it
We have our doubts that there is anything to be gained now by re-iterating that the evidence in the case came from an unreliable, dead drug addict who waited 20 years before coming forward with his story about Michael having told him he could get away with murder because he was a Kennedy, and then came forward to the media, not the police, and then who acknowledged at a pre-trial hearing he was high on heroin at the time of his grand jury testimony, that his memory wasn’t trustworthy and who was dead of a drug overdose by the time of trial so he wasn’t able to be cross-examined (while his prior testimony was orally read to the jury by the lawyers role-playing the parts of questioner and witness as the transcript of his testimony was rolled on the giant overhead screen like it was a movie–really, we were there that day)…. from a former suspect (the tutor) who had been granted immunity…and from other similarly unreliable witnesses whose testimony of purported confessions was disputed by other witnesses…. [TalkLeft: The Politics of Crime]
Bob Morris @ Sep 2nd 2002 09:22 - Category: Unfiled ;
Today’s World Is Inter-dependent.
UK Prime Minister Tony Blair says: We know the problems. A child in Africa dies every three seconds from famine, disease or conflict. We know that if climate change is not stopped, all parts of the world will suffer. Some will even be destroyed, and we know the solution - sustainable development. So the issue for this summit is the political will. We know one other thing. The key characteristic of today’s world is its inter-dependence. Your problem becomes my problem. One country’s war becomes another country’s asylum seekers. One country’s pollution becomes another country’s floods. (09/02/02) [Synergic Earth News]
Subscribe
