Mayor Menino and the Greenway

I find this interesting:
“I don’t want to have the Greenway be made a canyon, Manhattanized,” he said. “The idea behind the Greenway, besides suppressing the roadway, was to connect the downtown with the waterfront. If you have big structures there, you lose the significance of the connection.”
The move comes after city planners faced criticism from neighborhood [...]

Pirates Are the Coast Guard?

It’s always tempting to think in black and white terms. The pirates from Somalia who take ships are bad. Well yes, but it’s not quite so simple. Somalia has been a ruined country for decades now and things have taken a turn for the worse this past year–the choice for many people is now letting [...]

Banned Book Week

I’m one of many, I hope, who mention that this is Banned Book Week. How does one celebrate? Why reading a book that people want to ban:
1) “And Tango Makes Three,” by Justin Richardson/Peter Parnell
Reasons: Anti-Ethnic, Sexism, Homosexuality, Anti-Family, Religious Viewpoint, Unsuited to Age Group
2) The Chocolate War,” by Robert Cormier
Reasons: Sexually Explicit, Offensive Language, [...]

No Bailout

I’m not an economist so I’m not exactly sure what we should do about the financial crisis. That means I lean on people I trust, Paul Krugman believes the best thing to do would something similar to the short term nationalization scheme by Sweden in the 1990s. I also believe that Democrats would not have [...]

Plastic and the Environment

The Boston Globe magazine has an interesting article about how plastic compares to other materials in terms of the environment. It notes that plastic, even though it’s made from oil, uses less oil than many alternatives because it’s so much lighter and is a good insulator (it’s also much better at many jobs such as [...]

Religious Revolt

I would really love for this to happen:
Defying a federal tax law they consider unjust, 33 ministers across the country will take to their pulpits this Sunday and publicly endorse a candidate for president.
They plan to then send copies of their sermons to the Internal Revenue Service, hoping to provoke a challenge to a law [...]

World News 9/26/08

Just because our economy may be on its way to a meltdown, doesn’t mean I can’t talk about stuff happening in other parts of the world.

The first could be an even worse problem. It seems that CO2 levels are increasing faster than expected. Developing countries now account for half of the CO2 released, which means [...]

Songs to Write to

I’m too lazy to make a story out of song titles this week, so it’s up to you. Anyways, here’s a random 10:
Ruby Tuesday The Rolling Stones
Needle Time Elvis Costello & The Imposters
Waiting For The End Of The World Elvis Costello
Rise Above Black Flag
Almost Saturday Night Dave Edmunds
My Love is a Flower Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers
Love Me Two Times The [...]

Walking in Space and the Lack of Black Holes

China has now sent up another manned space mission. This one is supposed to involve a space walk, moving China one step further in the space race–the space walk is supposed to happen on Saturday.
In other tech news, it seems that the Large Hadron Collider will be out of commision until next April, so any [...]

More About Chinese Regulation

Here is an example of what I was talking about yesterday:
A year ago, Li was in the middle of the toy recall and product safety scare, telling reporters that the blame for dangerous toys from China lay with U.S. designers and importers. His office was also at the center of an urgent effort last year to [...]

China and Milk

I forgot where I first read this analogy, but it seems more and more apt: China now is similar to the US in the late 1890’s and early 1900’s with the UK in the place where the US is now. The US then and China now, have had a series of scandals in terms of [...]

Bailout

It seems that all sides agree that there needs to be a huge bailout of banks and other financial institutions, but Democrats are starting to push for more regulations and oversight. One such is a proposal by Senator Dodd:
The Bush administration is proposing a $700 billion plan to buy devalued assets from investment firms to [...]

Marriage and Craziness

The discussion (over at Pandagon) of this:
Last month, Rachel Bird exchanged vows with Gideon Codding in a church wedding in front of family and friends. As far as Bird is concerned, she is a bride.
To the state of California, however, she is either “Party A” or “Party B.”
Those are the terms that have replaced “bride” and [...]

More Fenway Neighborhood Stupidity

I really shouldn’t read about what’s happening in my old neighborhood, the Fenway, it just upsets me. The latest proposed development will continue the evolution of a mixed-income neighborhood into a luxury one built around the Red Sox:
The plan disclosed by Steve Samuels and city officials yesterday is the next step in transforming the gritty triangle [...]

Musical Story

Ok, let’s play with this random 10 thing. First here’s my random 10:
Whatsername (Green Day), Hurricane (Bob Dylan), Love Is A Long Road (Tom Petty), St. Teresa (Joan Osborne), Motel Room in My Bed (X), Secret Garden (Bruce Springsteen), Love Is a Losing Game (Amy Winehouse), Carbon Monoxide (Cake), Surround (American Hi-Fi), I’ll Feel a Whole Lot Better (Tom Petty), Dumb (Nirvana), Whipping Post (The Allman Brothers Band)
The [...]

Around the World

I’ve been busy the last month or so and haven’t put up much about what’s happening in other countries. Here’s the latest in some of the countries I follow:

Mugabe has agreed to share power with Tsvangirai which should help out the situation in Zimbabwe, but it’s much too soon to celebrate as this shows:

While the [...]

It’s the Economy Fred

Let’s see, Senator McCain is one of the biggest believers in deregulation and weak regulation has led to a housing crisis that just seems keep expanding. What to do? Pretend you’re a populist, but give no specific measures you would support:
At a rally here, Mr. McCain vowed to take aim at what he called the [...]

We Need a Law and Order Candidate

I don’t have a subscription to the New York Review of Books, so I can’t look at this article about The Big Squeeze by Steven Greenhouse. This means I will shamelessly steal bits from Hilzoy:
the story of a man named Drew Pooters, who served in the Air Force for 14 years, got out, and eventually ended [...]

Prepremonition

It’s today and today is it. Go rap on someone’s window and rap with them about rap. Random. 10:
The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin’ Groovy) Simon & Garfunkel
Watching The Clothes The Pretenders
Change The Lightning Seeds (it starts with a bit of an interview)
I Can’t Be With You The Cranberries
Tangled Up in Blue Bob Dylan
Nothing Lasts Matthew Sweet
Different People No Doubt
Johnny Hit And [...]

McCain, Palin: Go By What I Say, Not What I do

Hmm,

McCain says he is working to guarantee equal rights for women:

We haven’t done enough. We have not done enough. And I’m committed to making sure that there’s equal pay for equal work. That there is equal opportunity in every aspect of our society. And that is my record and you can count on it.
but he doesn’t [...]