July 31, 2005

Energy: Chemicals via Botany

DreamThe links in this article are fascinating. I didn’t realize that liquification was the desired goal, but tree scrap biomass to fuel seems a much better alternative than methanol or ethanol, in the long run.
On What about designing a solar chemical capacitor system – storing energy in plants specifically destined for fuel consumption? If we grow exotic vegetables for sale to support the logistics, then the excess biomass could be divided between fuel consumption and nutrient return. The latter requires roughly 40% by mass, although the more dispersed the product, the lower the total.
Goal Plus, with more inorganic efficiency, we may be able to deliver the products in the proper chemical form. If the source of the raw material is CO2 and H2O from air – then a minimum package of bio-nutrients should be enough to sustain fiber farm production over multiple decades.

July 30, 2005

Roles of the Games

chess, poker, lottery
pick your poison
necessary distractions
between the minutae
of productive focused
work - realize,
true quests never end
people, by grace,
are rarely ever
aquitted the privilege
of ending successful
their life's purpose
lights percolate
in individual units
as info quanta
become congruent
with realization
of how it all fits
together ...
at this level of approach
no greater, no lesser
within the limits of
rules of the game

(c) 2005 lemme howdt

New Blogger - the Eggman

So anyhoo, if you want to talk about rights issues and stupid laws designed to remove our rights (well, that's all those conservatives/Republicans are doing), check out what's happening on the NY transit system post-London bombings. Seems they can now search our personal property at random....you can get busted for stuff that's not terrorism related (like drugs) and if you refused to submit to the search, they can kick you off the train or bus. The ACLU is against it (hmmm....I guess it's time to join up). So where are the marches in Washington or the plot to overthrow the people that are the real problem. Welcome to the US Government of special big business interests to the detriment of the rest of us. Canadian citizenship is starting to sound better every day (although they take 2/3 of your money in taxes instead of our 1/3). I guess we still enjoy more freedom than everyone else....but I think it's only a matter of time before the greatest minds in science and the arts start leaving in droves.

The Eggman is located in New York City - and may or may not represent the Art community, as Dr. Lenny may or may not represent the Science community.

Sad Day for America

CAFTA passed after the Republican House leadership extented the 15 minute voting period and made some dicey, arm-twists to get some folks on board. For those of you who live in Medford and Grant Pass - ask Greg Walden what he scored for the 2nd district - his voted was the decider in a 217-215 count. Since Congress illegally passes laws, does that mean that we shouldn't have to follow them. Cafta is a huge business give-away - wave goodbye to your lifestyle, our economiy is headed further South.

July 28, 2005

Fire

I was complaining about how tough it is to capture fire in a photograph - this one proved to me that i could do it.

EH 18 - Freedom of Speech

Making someone jump through bureaucratic hoops that embody a biased procedure is not due process.

Wendy McElroy brings up a valid point but doesn't take it far enough. How in the world can an individual person have different sets of rights depending on whether he wears the hat of student or employee. And doesn't the first amendment protect our right to free speech even if we are not wearing any hats? It seems the only way to get heard is to take off your clothes, an old hippie trick from the acid reign of the 60s.

July 27, 2005

won weigh howdt

people bonding with people
parellels chemical bonding
depth of mutual attraction
accomodating personal interest
covalency to share images
of futures yet to be created
free thinking, free radicals
learning to promote integrity
aligning support to life's mission
where people reap what they sow
by imitating the process of gaia
in context of educating thinkers
to redile pandora's box of value
toward appreciation of truthful reality
measuring at every level, transparency
activation energy supplied internally
by people bonding with people

(c) 2005 lemme howdt

distribution with attribution encouraged

July 26, 2005

I felt an urgent need for a few more pictures - especially since today is a writing day. The flower is called indian paintbrush - lake pictures, day and evening are from opposite sides of Twin Lake 2




July 25, 2005

Polar Bear Club

The winner of the first Polar Bear Award is Drew Cranley - who made it into the water at 7:32 am. Each year we expect the polar bear to get earlier in the morning - the water temperature was 70F (21C) and the air temperature was slightly cooler. Drew won a copy of the Natural Inquirer, a US Forest Service publication.


EH 17 - Evolution

If we want Homo sapiens to have a chance at another 10,000 years or so of civilization, we can no longer afford a global economy that's dependent on heavy resource extraction and trashing of ecosystems.

Stan Cox puts the point out clear and simple. I will have an essay at the howdt.com soapbox on timber economics that details an example of this philosophy.



i will put up a twin lake photo with each post for a bit :-)

July 24, 2005

Twin Lakes

The Weekend was awesome and i will post lots of pictures - here is a preview with Dan and Marc overlooking Mt. Thielsen and Mt. Bailey on the hike up to the Lakes. Hoo-yeah, I feel good , ...

EH 16 - Authority

Everybody has, at some time or another, been treated unfairly by authorities. By adulthood, we all ought to know that authority needs to be questioned.

The Highwaters and Unknown News is worth a look-see. I perused their site and was highly impressed.

July 22, 2005

Messing with Time

Congress, in its infinite opposition to progress, has inserted an extra four weeks of daylight savings time into the Energy Bill. This will allow kiddies back east an extra hour of trick or treat on all hallow's eve, but will cost the airline industry $150 million. I would like to know a) where does the airlines industry get such an estimate and b) why kids can't trick or treat at the same time no matter what the clocks say. Meanwhile - as the wars (terror, drugs, iraq, etc) on life continue, congress remains focused on irrelevance.

July 21, 2005

Paradigm Lost

ReadThe whirled economic paradigm shift will take place rapidly, but the social shift will be slower as the vertical hierarchy of both church and state cascade into chaos - a horizontal hierarchy should be the order that arises from the ashes (hopefully, the powers that be will not get that brutal. track record says don't bet against total brutality.) Civilization will rebuild - but generations may pass in the interim.

July 20, 2005

Councils - poetic summary

This is OWEB executive director Tom Byler's commentary to UBWC, as noted below

Watershed Councils

outta salem
meetin folkses
OWEB relies on us
4 community ecology
Oregon Plan
local investments
pump economies
(a fallacy? ah think so.)
making things happen
building bridges
dynamic power
to affect independence
change mediation
of how life gets done
importance beyond
tangible benefit
strength of councils
as water raconteurs

(c) 2005 lemme howdt

Definition - Paradigm

a paradigm is a frame work - a world view of how things work in an organized system. An example is the monetary system of the world, based on the economic theory of John Maynard Keynes, which is the current paradigm that people accept as a way of doing business. That model is falling apart, as we play and pretend to work. The next stage is chaos, whereby everything shuffles around until there is a new apparent order.

EH 15 - Science

"The difficulty is that the sciences can apprehend only the repeatable."

Fred Reed discusses science - Fred is irreverent on everything. Dr. Lenny usually agrees with Fred. Dr. Lenny thinks that Fred is just not politically correct, but only because of the politically. Today he castigates scientists and denials of reality.

Dr. Lenny calls this phenomena : reproducibility mainstreaming. At each point in the process that people look at the picture, they make a value assessment as to whether things are working (hopefully by measuring something) and then make process adjustments to make the system work 'properly'. Repeating measurements to determine accuracy and precision falls apart when the field hands try to see that the data is reproduced in the field. In the field - just write down the numbers and continue - do not think about what the numbers means or if they are correct - except to the extent that you've calibrated the instruments against some measureable standard before using them.
Science needs reproducibility over large numbers of repetitions, not by limiting the measured fields. Small science, done many times, by many people with many techniques, then compared and statistically sorted. Bell shaped curves do have components that lie in the lower probability regions.
The key is in the measurement. You alter things when you measure them. Think about how your measurement affects your process and then you begin to see how things work. Sciences are too mated to models that happen to work. Few of us think, we assume. Bad change. Join Dr. Lenny and Fred and a few others - Start thinking.

July 19, 2005

Coordinator of Councils

John Moriarity, the coordinator of the Network of Watershed Councils and Tom Byler of the Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board were the featured speakers at the annual Umpqua Basin Watershed Council meeting at Stewart Park, this morning. This poem is a summary of key issues of John's talk:

comen golz

autonomy
diversity
councils'
council
training
dealing
contract
scale
promotion
visibility
support-tap
functionality
capacity
increase
information
vacuum
public
support
stories
whatsit
whozit
gotta
tellawl
(egadz)

(c) 2005 lemme howdt

Sports Jury - Should the NBA allow HS players?

GoThe NBA has an image to protect and you can’t have 17 and 18 year olds exposed to terror, like Artest in Detroit. Grumpy old men sitting around a table control the occupational destiny of talented children via million dollar contracts – let’s look at the past.
GoLeon Smith – who? – Leon didn’t do too well – never quite got rid of the Dale Davis attitude. Kwame Brown – number one pick three year ago – just traded to Lakers – not a Shaq yet, not even a Dale Davis yet. Jermaine O’Neal – awesome high school pick for Portland – developed for 5 years – traded for Dale Davis – ah, Blazer patience.
GoNo – the old men say lets make them take a year of college – that’s good for them. Yeah – right. If the NBA were thinking of the youth – then there would be minor league basketball – development tracks for kids that want sports and could care less about worldly knowledge. It works for baseball – but the grumpy old men control the NCAA too, so why pay slaves?

GoI actually like Dale Davis - plays within himself. No insult intended.

July 18, 2005

Get outta Mr.Roger's neighborhood

Oh - let me get this right - you as the press and public have a right to invade the personal space of people like Kenny Rogers with pestering and cameras and obnoxious right to know bullsh*t, but when Mr. Rogers gets upset at this, he cannot display violence or temper from the imposition. And - since he did react with anger and frustration - we will now take away his livlihood for 20 games and subject him to a lawsuit for not being politically correct enough to whine instead of act. Where does it say in his million gazillion dollar contract for playing sports and entertaining the masses that Mr. Rogers has to kowtow to purient interests?

July 17, 2005

River Appreciation

The second overnight was with the folks at Umpqua Watersheds at River Appreciation Day. The float trip drew quite a crowd - as you can see from the raft pile. Strange Attractor was the headline band at the eight hour music fest. Twenty different booths, live music and an awesome river on a hot sunny day. Time with friends and family. Great late fire discussion and drum circle. thanx muchly

Wander the Sand

GoThis weekend involved two overnight campouts in three day - on the dunes and at the river. The photo here shows some shore pine growing in a 2-mile stretch between the edge of the sand and the ocean. Shore Pine and Lodgepole Pine are genetically the same species, but have quite different habitats and growth characteristics.

July 16, 2005

Pathway Changes

ThxAt times in life, i tend to lose my sense of direction and strike forth in a odd path. Yesterday, I deviated on the dunes and took a right rather than a left and carried my backpack around for two hours of sand march. I found a lake which i knew i had never seen, then turned around and found my way back. I needed about 20 more yards from my detour to get the right pathway back to the trailhead. It gave me time to pause and think, what traveling off the beaten path means - a different set of unexpected rewards.
BroToday is River Appreciation Day - the enviro-hippie celebration of life. I can park the crowd thru the morning while journalizing and making greetings, then come home to the honey do list and perhaps convince the fam to rejoin the fray at Whistler's Bend Park in the late afternoon. No expectations, just going to enjoy the day.

July 14, 2005

On Land Exchange

Water we doing
can we one up us
may we trade milltown
for soda springs
one in, one out
that way we would
all give a dam

Whilst we barter
would 25% toast wood
be enough inducement
to preserve the last
decadent expanses
of American old growth
tho we prefer no arson

(c) 2005 lemme howdt

Flexing Time-frames

YoHormones rage – and in our family of six, we have four sets raging, 14 and 17, 45 and 47. I would wager that from symmetrical considerations, that elders undergo a hormonal change in the late 70s – but of unrecognized subtlety since people historically did not age so far.
RoPerhaps we should give serious consideration to expanding the range of life to meet the depth and bredth of life – an added third dimension – start formal school at 10, adulthood at 26, midlife at 45, retirement at 85 – with full obligation for something tangible. People of all ages need to feel included and valued at every age.

EH14 - Verticle vs Horizontal Structure

Go"Creativity has always posed a threat to those who refuse to adapt themselves to more productive alternatives."
YoButler Shaffer hits another nail on the head today. Lemme's poems tend to revolve around similar topics - we're already done mourning the death of big brother and ready to lead off on a tangent.

July 13, 2005

Umpqua Discovery Center

The Umpqua Discovery Center in Reedsport is a happening place to visit, if you are driving the Oregon Coast. The displays show true professionalism and give a realistic sense of finding a livlihood in undiscovered Oregon. The ONRRI Zones are pleased to be able to use the UDC as the central staging location for Coastal Zones. The periscope at the top of the building is real!


Science's Challenge B

Charletains
cumin every flavor
of the rainbow
professions
usurped by coyotes
chasing control of
miasma's
chaotic windmills
release pent fury
in the collapse
of the media
of the media exchange
value production
segregates
entertainers from
sages or clowns

(c) 2005 lemme howdt

July 12, 2005

Measuring Up

ReadAs ONRRI delves into measurement, it will be necessary to develop some real applications that create numbers that people will intuitively understand. The units of measure are extremely important. Putting information into data table and making a display that accurately presents the information helps to pursuade an audience to accept your point of view. There is nothing like good data to prove a point.
ThisTo this end, Dr. Lenny has been collecting spreadsheet data in nearly a dozen different areas. i have two fantasy baseball teams that each have daily statistical updates. The 162 games season is awesome - science league will have a similar diligence. There is gas mileage statistics on the car 150,000 miles and breeding statistics on the satin rabbits. Daily tracking commodity prices for precious metals and internet mail spam counts provide two more data sets. And finally - there are 28 homegrown compost piles over the past six years. We also have data sets for carbon accumulation in trees and the entire ONRRI Zone performance scoring system. Not to mention the Starweb extra long death battle.
PostDr Lenny crunches as many numbers on a daily basis as anyone, beyond the beancounters. i keep abreast of every field that involves chemistry, as a general specialist of first order. Yesterday in Reedsport, at the Umpqua Discovery Center, ONRRI coordinated two fall zones in oceanography and marine biology for the Coos Bay BLM and Reedsport High School. We also discussed a conductivity study to measure the extent upriver of saline effects and dicussed an aquatic botany lake study to assess invasive plant dynamics with the Siuslaw National Forest.

Science's Challenge A

Generalists
suppose they know
a bit, a bit about
everything
Specialists
suppose they know
everything
about a bit, a bit
Human scaffolding
requires general specialists
not special generalists
Bredth needs be
added to the depth
non-commutatively


(c) 2005 lemme howdt

July 11, 2005

Cactus Flower

This Cactus Flower Blooms only once every so often - but I found the time to get a snapshot for posterity.

July 10, 2005

Enlightenment

To watch
the sparkle
in the eye
of a child
upon realization
that higher plane
that existed
uniquely
is inhabited
by like-minded
souls
speaking common
novel language
that fascinates:
potential
thus converted
to kinetic
activity,
such acumen
need be
accompanied
by sheepskin,
as increments
in rate of
learning
are neither
diminished
by age
nor time

(c) 2005 lemme howdt

Fantasy Baseball Talk

BallToday is the last day before the all-star break and i feel sorry for team owners that have Mike Sweeney and Todd Helton. Both these guys are on tremendous tears this week - Sweeney has eight at-bats in a row with hits. So a three day vacation comes - too bad. Let's hope these two perennial all-stars can stay in the Zone while recuperating with their families. They've earned it. My plan is to update the sports link at www.howdt.com with halfway fantasy stats during the BB downtime.

Rules of Games

YoGames are a tool for entertainment and learning. Once the rules of the game are understood, then systematic measurement of the parameters of the game reveals the essence of performance. Youth should be playing the game of school.
YoSports focuses attention on specific athletic achievement, and uses statistics to indicate the relative performance of individuals and their cooperative ability in accomplishing a set of required tasks. A required task would be to cross home plate before three putouts are achieved.
YoYouth are starving for attention and looking for productive means of being noticed. Schools dwell on irrellevance and many bored 10th graders know more substance about the way the world works than their teachers. The meaning of life seems to be to be noticed as productive to society, but youth will settle for being unproductively noticed as long as the noticed part is there.
YoHaving a grand measurement competition between youth in school in different fields of science can help teach math. By teaching measurement and monitoring - competing in events like the Canon Envirothon - youth can be traded attention for providing real, productive service as part of the community.
YoONRRI will provide logistics for running the investigation league that will come forth from the Zone Program. With Redile, cross school teams of common interest bring coordinated partnerships between interested individuals that can empowered youth to compete to their highest potential. As the government downsizes to meet budgetary constraints, picking up the slack in monitoring will enable school aged youth to learn a skill and contribute to the knowledge base while learning. Local youth will be ready to go to college.
YoFor students that find they are not interested in math and science in depth, they can pursue other roles in the scheme of the group that provides support from areas that these youth are interested in. A journalist can report what they saw or a shopper can learn about which equipment to buy and what considerations go into decision making in the purchasing process. This creates a buyer, which is much more valuable than a shopper.
YoMonitoring and measuring are tools that are applicable in any situation. Following the specific protocols correctly make the data comparable to other people's data - which is absolutely necessary for common information. But private information, for knowledge purposes, can be done by any consistent protocol developed with forethought and reason, because once you demonstrate the answer to the immediate question that your research was designed to address, there will always be time for the nerds to collect the data to demonstrate the phenomenon that you just proved. Be certain of the quality of your data by doing the statistical significance measures after the project has been written up intuitively, but prior to the first fact check.

July 09, 2005

Einstein's Last Endeavor

The Russell-Einstein Declaration dated July 9, 1955

"We who sign this appeal are scientists from many countries, of several races, of different creeds, unconnected in politics. Our association is that we have all been privileged to be awarded Nobel Prizes. Our appeal is to all men everywhere. We must recognize that ours is a common fate, that if we are to live, it can only be as brothers. The alternative is that we will die. We have given freely a life-time to the service of science. Science, we hold, is a way to a fuller life for mankind. But we have learned with horror that science has also provided man with the instruments for self-destruction. In an all out war the earth can be made so radioactive that whole nations will be destroyed. Many men and women of neutral countries also might be killed. If the major powers engage in war, where is the assurance that such an all out struggle will not develop? A nation that engages in an all out war thus invites self-destruction and endangers the whole world. We do not deny that at present the peace of the world may be maintained by the fear of these deadly weapons. Still we feel that it is self-deception for governments to think over a long period that the fear of these weapons will prevent war from occurring. Fear and tension have too frequently produced war. Likewise, it is self-deception to believe that minor conflicts can always be settled by the use of traditional weapons. In extreme need, no warring nation will deny itself the use of any weapon that scientific techniques can provide. The independent nations must bring themselves to the decision by which they voluntarily renounce force as the last political recourse. If they are not prepared to do this, they will cease to exist."
It is my humble opinion that Einstein, Russell and the other signators of this letter would come to the same conclusion today. These men were not anti-religious, in fact, they saw no conflict between God and test tube. People can coexist.

Global Warming ?

Since the earth contains all the carbon that it will have, being a closed system with no gain or loss beyond the atmosphere - the question of global warming becomes - what form of material exchange do we need to regenerate 'useful' forms of carbon. Right now fossil fuel to carbon dioxide is causing a problem - what form of carbon should the released fossil fuel carbon be stored in should be the focus of global warming debates.

Tit for Tat

Let me start off by saying that this is nothing personal. It is a means for the american people to send a message to their government and in no way is meant to belittle the service of the hard working government employees that really are trying to do their jobs - i would never suggest doing this to a friend, but when my friends work for agents that work against my goals, then friendship has to stand aside. If you do this, go in knowing that responsibility for your actions rests on your shoulders, as this message does with mine. I generally try not to waste people's time, since time cannot be recovered.

Government workers are the employees of the american public. We the people should be telling them what to do rather than the converse. Try this next time a government employee totally wastes your time. Find a person you know at your own personal level of awareness. Once you have a government employee that you can relate to, start a friendship designed to totally waste their time, but not yours. Do this each and every time another government requirement wastes your time. You can glean information from them for another one of your tasks at hand. Schools qualify as government - but please don't dump on a teacher - keep this action at the bureaucrat level.

July 08, 2005

EH 12 - Objector

"It is "hard work" to face the truth, and it is scary when people who are not afraid to face it begin to speak out. "
YoMonica Benderman's husband is being prosecuted for consciencious objection to the war, after having fulfilled his military contractual obligation and serving a tour of duty. Sad commentary on the state of the world - but change begins one person at a time. Peace.

July 07, 2005

Measurement of Laws

SoWhy do scientists measure things? If the theory works, then the philosophy should be useful for application. We like to test our theories and need some sort of criteria by which to evaluate whether we know what we are talking about. The idea of an experiment or a test gives us a subjective counting unit that can be interpreted with a score that measures performance of our test model to real life situations. Tried and true theories are accepted as immuntable laws - such as gravity or conservation of matter.
SoBut are these laws valid under the current conditions? Did we take the time to identify and validate the assumptions that went into the derivation of the theory? Did we integrate new information that was added since the previous tests? Does the idea pass the sniff test - does it make sense with what we already know? Did we control all the variables involved so that we are measuring apples with apples?
YoIsn't it time to hold people responsible for their actions by asking some of these questions when things no longer make logical sense? What about beyond the science domain?

July 06, 2005

Aunt Tis Sip 8 Shun

ReadLeadership is marching to that drumbeat when everyone else has caught another tune, when the beat persists. Globalization of life is an excuse for public elite to pry into personal affairs of those subject to their demand. By breaking the commonly accepted social contract, they have lost the respect of the middle class necessary for continuance.
ThisYet as the hierarchical structure implodes in resounding fury, what will occur in each enclave of wisdom that picks itself up and dusts itself off and rolls up their sleeves to recreate what has yet to be created -a working bottoms-up government of the common man. What a fool believes is that today could continue - gather back to your individual strengths and check to see that your bases are covered.

EH11 - Chaos and Order - Rules of the Game

SoEric Ecklund presents the application of chaos theory to economics. Dr. Lenny applies the same theory in action to science in natural resource fields.
SoThe idea that order comes spontaneously from chaos (after order) is the basis of both science (big bang) and religion (god created). ONRRI Science Zones will have the latitude to pursue the direction that the zone investigation takes - the rules, the metrix scoring and the levels are coming together - the best games are those with the simple directions. If the new order is not forced, but true - it should hold for quite a while until new conditions force it's eventual decay. The decision on which level to play the game will be crucial - the morphing occurs with the mixing of the talent pool - gradually, the rise through the ranks will provide motivation through competition, and wealth through cooperation. Let the games begin. (No - still self -assembling)
GoEmbedded in the rules will be the peter-minus-one (P-1) principle. Once somebody peters out - they may decend to their prior successful level and become npc - a non-playing character or functionary. Functionary characters do not score points - they get paid honest wages for the technical support they can provide to scientists - and dealing with functionaries is a very important metric in the scoring system.

July 04, 2005

Zina's Poem

Tiger Cubz
Get'n Biggr
Grownin Growlf
Ulf Purr Purr
Sandpaper Tongue
Stalk Noisily
True Striped
Unique Look
Giant Pawz
Boyz Chow Down
Metabolize Quik
Keepin an Image

Claws Out
Fierce Kitty

Not, Naught Knot

(c) 2005 lemme howdt

Zina - Siberian Tiger @ 7 months

Money

YoInformation is what you make of it - Doonesbury took a shot at blogging yesterday and missed the point completely - if people blogging were interested in putting their time into 'constructive productive use' (whatever that means), then we would be focused on building businesses and value for accumulating net worth. But in a society where effort and reward have been delinked - where the accrual on the value of a home is greater in a month than the salary for working 40-hour weeks - where the Peter Principle creates fifedoms of moral incomprehension - where the benefit of one's work is not returned, but distributed - don't you think we would be doing it.
YoThe old world used to have barriers to publishing, and all knowledge went through 'the filters'. So much so, that now I am questioning the knowledge base - and trying to find the points where we deviated from productivity in the chase for money. 1913 stands as the key date in physical science - when tesla, einstein and heisenberg peaked prior to the machinations for wwi. If you know your field and can evaluate the when - i'd like to know for a bit of research into science myth (history).
YoTo this end - it takes money to live. Dr. Lenny will publish a series of pamphlets that apply science to any topic. If you join ONRRI for $100 per year and mention the 'name the topic special' - i will write a pamphlet with you as a co-author in your topic of interest. The hope is to establish the Dr. Lenny brand name as a marketing tool for ONRRI science. (Authorship of pamplets pays residuals based on direct sales and is subject to contract.)

Follow the Successful Model

JoinThis approach to the fathers is exactly the same approach that we have toward data collection at ONRRI. The data base has been built and as each person establishes continuous monitoring on a monthly basis at a single location, more data will accrue. The Umpqua Basin Watershed Council Monitoring Program is the leading organization in this effort. The current monitoring coordinator, Sandy Lyon, has established implementation of reproducible protocol and documentation with complete quality assurance. The UBWC can work with landowners in confidentiality, or work with DEQ and EPA in fully transparency. Kudos go to Matt DeVore (a RARE volunteer) for pulling together the initial focus from Dr. Lenny's scattered offerings and to Bob Kinyon for the leadership to enable the project. Monitoring properly, without bias, is ONRRIs domain. Join us. www.ubwc.org

July 03, 2005

Countering Sheeplethink

One of the yins that really gets my goat is the sheeple assumption that we have common morals, even though it is quite obvious that we don't. The yang is that we can decide our individual ethics, even though we need to be able to trust each other. Isn't this bass ackwards?

Wouldn't it be more effective for living sanely to share a common ethic and allow morals to be private, in order to maintain freedom and liberty ? Today, the political gang bashing of all the crack heads and pedophiles of the world is really maintaining a loud and deliberate front, because nobody will defend a druggie or a pervert. But major social and economic crimes of the past century have gotten public winks and nods because of the appearance of propriety by those leading the attack.

DeLay is a large scale example, or Adelphia - it goes on in every human organization - the loudest screamers of common good violations tend to be people hiding their own major common good violation. They hide behind 'let he who is without sin cast the first stone', knowing that human nature ensures no stones to be cast. Political Correctness keeps sheeple in line - What do you do if you find PC offensive? Steal ribbons?

Sheeplethink cannot be tolerated - please think for yourself. Keep your morals personal and share your ethics - bad ethics disappear when not tolerated by a group using the shun and dun. People make mistakes and can be forgiven - but systematic lying, cheating, thieving, etc. seems to have become the norm for sheeple society - i'm not playing sheeple games any longer.

July 02, 2005

Solving the World's Problems

readEmbedding math as the common language of all science and demystifying the whole game will be the key to solving some of our more pressing social issues. Facts must be based on measurement using defined, arbitrary criteria. The more people that can come up with the same answers based on different methods and terms of proof, the more likely the phenomena is true. Let's let truth be taken as truth only when tested with the proper rigor of measurement.
thisSports works, because the statistics of sports reflect the ability to measure the action properly. Politics doesn't work currently because we have no standards of measure for the profession. Too many so-called professionals in all fields are frauds, in the game for the status of the profession, rather than the workload. There is much to be done.

Ciro in profile

Ciro, a 30 lbs 3 year old Serval shares his cage with Kawaii, a 3 year old Caracal (see below). Because servals look like cheetahs but are a lot smaller, their furs have more value than their meat (which has more value than their being). Bad for Servals as a species, which are 'listed as threatened'. Perhaps a good long look at the Endangered Species Act with respect to how the act has been implemented and whether the results are desirable is in order. And also a glimpse at how and what we value.

July 01, 2005

Some Cats




What Would Jesse Do?

Can we convince the Oregon legislature to do this? Please ? Look very closely to this and see if there is any real crisis or if the people get along just fine. It's too bad Jesse Ventura isn't still the governor - cause he woulda been talkin summer vacation for the entire state.

EH10 - ghetto culture

"The kids look at this system and conclude: "There is more money for me in a gang than at City Hall." This is a correct conclusion, until the police arrive, or a rival gang."

Gary North is the first EH columnist to hit the board twice. This piece is dead on. Instead on waiting for something to happen, we just have to make things happen, one person at a time.

Things have to change today, so read Oh, the Places You Can Go, but the eminant philosopher Dr. Seuss (one of Dr. Lenny's favorites). Remain independent, but join organizations that reward participation and effort. Use competition and cooperation to build consensus and be party to the change rather than watching from the couch. Earn responsibility and share it with people that you trust. Network within your community to provide a unique service or product and don't take crap from anyone who doesn't hold themselves personally accountable for the crap their dishing howdt.