This about sums up how I feel about CBS’s hypocritical decision to show a pro-life ad but refusal to air a gay rights or pro-choice ads.
Comments rssAnother installment in what will hopefully become a series on my blog, I humbly present you with a list of the most interesting articles I’ve read lately, spanning the gammit from soccer to sci-fi, from penguin health to health-care, from climatology to failed climate talks (see previous post here).
Science, Civilization And The Noble Savage In Space from NPR: there have been a million articles recently about James Cameron’s new movie ‘Avatar’, but this article is interesting because it examines one of the movie’s central themes, the ‘noble savage’ and what it says about our own culture. Also, if you haven’t already done so, subscribe to NPR’s new science blog, 13.7 Cosmos and Culture.
Whaddaya Mean Obama Hasn’t Done Anything? from Esquire: an interesting examination of what Obama has accomplished in 2009 and why both the left and the right only want to focus on the things he hasn’t done instead of his actual achievements, which include items from both the liberal and conservative side. Turns out Obama has achieved a fair amount – give the guy some credit!
Falkland Islands Government guilt in Supreme Court for Human Rights Abuse by Falklands.net: this article delves into the shocking behavior of the Falklands Island government to silence, threaten and harass an environmental conservationalist investigating the deaths of hundreds of thousands of penguins due to the government’s self-serving policies. After reading this, you’ll be shocked to learn that, as the article states,
“… such a corrupt regime operates under the protection of the British government… British servicemen gave their lives in 1982, under the false belief that they were upholding democracy. These servicemen made that sacrifice to ensure that the people of the Falklands would have the right to lead their lives free from political tyranny; free to hold beliefs and opinions without oppression. It is ironic that 22 years after British troops died for democracy in the Falklands, that a British citizen would be forced to flee the Falklands to escape political corruption and death threats, to seek democracy and freedom of speech in Argentina.”
How do I know China wrecked the Copenhagen deal? I was in the room by the Guardian: this behind-the-scenes account of the final hours of the Copenhagen Climate Talks describes how China was able to destroy any chance of a meaningful agreement in such a way that the western nations would take all the blame. According to the writer who was present during the final negotiations between heads of state, China employed a variety of Machiavellian strategies to ensure that it achieved its goals without appearing as the bad guy. It’s a sad and cautionary tale – hopefully western nations will learn to be bit more strategic when they engage in multilateral talks with China in the future. At the very least they should read a Tom Clancy book
And last, if you were snowed in this past week like me due to the biggest December snowstorm to hit the mid-atlantic since 1932, you’ll enjoy reading How Did This Happen? by the Capital Weather Gang. Learn how a “convergence of factors stretching from the North Pole to the equator” created such a powerful storm and how they may continue to affect our weather all winter.
Comments rssSorry this post is a week late: Eli has just been keeping us so busy. Eli turned 9-months old this past week. With that achievement came a visit to the pediatrician. Eli has slimmed down just a bit relative to his peers, weighing in at 21 lbs (50th percentile), but he continues to get taller and taller, topping the charts at 30 inches (90th percentile).
Eli spent much of the past month up on all fours, rocking, and crawling backward. Yes, backwards. This would be quite impressive except that he was actually trying to go forward. We could imagine the frustration of trying to get to your favorite toy/person only to find yourself further away each time? Luckily, a few days ago he figured out how to put in drive and successfully crawled a few steps forward (captured on video below). Now he’s crawling all over the place! He’s also able to get himself into a seated position from laying down.
Eli continues to babble up a storm. He often says things that sound like words but don’t yet have meaning like “mum”, “hey”, “hed”. He really enjoys it when we repeat what he says and will go back and forth having a “conversation” for a few minutes.
Feeding Eli has been interesting this month. He’s not really that into breakfast yet, but for the first part of the month was eating quite a bit of pureed fruits and veggies for lunch and dinner. Within the past two weeks, however, he’s started only eating about half as much as before and then he will try to wrestle the spoon from us after a bit. But he’s started eating more finger foods (puffs, cheerios, cheese, carrots, string beans, etc.) and on Halloween we discovered he’s a big fan of garlic bread.
We thought our sleep troubles from last month had resolved themselves but Eli again started waking up 1-3 times a night and getting up earlier and earlier. Daylight Savings did nothing to help the problem (whoever invented time changes clearly didn’t have a baby). We’ve recently started some sleep training which is having good results. Eli can put himself to sleep at bedtime and naps with only a modicum of crying. He’s slept through the night the past couple of nights from about 8-5:45 (one morning til 6:55!) so now we’re just hoping to move the wake up time to a little later each day. It’s been suggested that, while counter-intuitive, an earlier bedtime will actually cause babies his age to sleep longer so we’re going to slowly try that too.
Eli is currently drooling like a waterfall. We can see two bottom teeth below the gum line and the pediatrician said they should both pop through any day now.
You can find Eli’s Halloween pictures below and see all the pictures from this month on Nicole’s Smugmug site. And I hope to shortly have some videos of Eli up.
Comments rssI just sent a Letter to the Editor to various newspaper on why I support a carbon cap on emissions.
A majority of Americans support a cap on carbon pollution, but you wouldn’t know it from what you read in the papers or see on the news. And right now it’s important that our Members of Congress know we aren’t fooled by the scare tactics.
For more on this issue, read the links in my letter below. If you want to send a message to you local paper too, it’s really simple — just use the tool on Al Gore’s Repower America website: Speakout about the Carbon Cap.
My Letter to the Editor:
The Financial Times heralds the President’s proposals as an “historic step” and I agree. For the first time in history, we actually have a chance of creating a system that will help us as a nation control our pollution problem. This is a classic “tragedy of the commons” dilemma – by not having any cost associated with polluting a shared resource (i.e., our environment), the established energy industry companies have no incentive to clean up their act. Capping carbon pollution will ignite the transition to clean energy and end our dependence on dirty fossil fuels. It will also encourage energy companies to become more efficient.
In addition, a cap on carbon pollution will create tens of thousands of good-paying American jobs that can’t be shipped overseas.
Now is the time for action. The economy can’t wait. The climate crisis can’t wait. I want our leaders to know that here in Virginia we support bold action on climate and energy, including a cap on carbon pollution.
Comments rssThis video was put out by Nancy Pelosi’s office in honor of the launch of http://YouTube.com/HouseHub, a special YouTube page where you can see videos (personal and from TV) of all the Representatives.
While that in itself is pretty cool, it turns out they actually have a sense of humor about it as well. Watch to at least the 40-second mark and you’ll understand what I’m talking about. Congress gets internet memes!
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