"We are the people who run this country. We are the deciders. And every single day, every single one of us needs to step outside and take some action to help stop this war. Raise hell. Think of something to make the ridiculous look ridiculous. Make our troops know we're for them and trying to get them out of there.... We need people in the streets, banging pots and pans and demanding, 'Stop it, now!'"

--from Molly Ivins' Jan. 11, 2007 column "Stand Up Against the Surge"


Columnist Molly Ivins passed away Wednesday, 31 Jan. 2007, after a long battle with breast cancer. She skewered several White House administrations and countless Texas politicians with her barbed wit. You can read editor Anthony Zurcher's tribute here:
http://www.creators.com/opinion/molly-ivins/molly-ivins-tribute.html

Labels: Subversive Ideas, Think Tank

31 January, 2007

"It is very singular how little men seem to realize that they are not caught in the grip of a mechanism from which there is no escape, but that the treadmill is one upon which they remain merely because they have not noticed that it fails to take them up to a higher level."

--from Bertrand Russell's The Conquest of Happiness

What do you think will happen if you step off the treadmill? Is it time to find out?

If you're running in place, it only takes one step to change course.

Labels: Think Tank

A new video of Barry McCabe playing "In the Dead of Night" has just been posted on YouTube. This footage was shot when he played at the Riverfront Hotel in his hometown of Virginia, Co. Cavan, Ireland (last month, I believe). That's Pat McManus playing that fantastic lead, by the way.

Labels: Music

27 January, 2007

A couple of comments on the State of the Union address:

"I am disappointed but not surprised that the president has once again chosen to trot out this same old pig — albeit one with a slightly new shade of lipstick."
- Colorado Representative Tom Tancredo

"I hope we won't act like children. The Democrats in the House, if they're not appropriately considerate of the president of the United States, then that will agitate those of us on our side, and then we'll respond in kind, and then the American people will turn us off."
- Mississippi Senator Trent Lott


...and a couple of comments not specifically referring to the State of the Union address, but nonetheless entirely appropriate to the occasion:

"Democracy is the art and science of running the circus from the monkey cage." - H.L. Mencken

"Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys."
- P. J. O'Rourke

Labels: Subversive Ideas

24 January, 2007

Spiders invaded our workplace here a few months ago, and we did what any red-blooded Americans would do. We declared war....

Read the rest...

Labels: Humor, Subversive Ideas

20 January, 2007

Over the past few days, NPR has been covering the story of how prolonged cold weather in California's San Joaquin Valley has been wreaking havoc on citrus crops. Sub-freezing temperatures this past weekend destroyed about three-quarters of the crop, despite attempts to save as much of the fruit as possible. The loss of revenue has prompted Gov. Schwarzenegger to seek federal aid for the farmers.

We have a different idea: round up some musicians and put together a benefit concert. (Sure, it's tricky to work out logistics and scheduling on such short notice, but it's got to be faster than waiting around for help from the government. Ask anyone who was in New Orleans a couple of years ago how that went.) Do it right, and hey... maybe you could get Robert Plant onstage to sing "Freeze My Lemons."

You can see the NPR story here: California Seeks Federal Aid for Citrus Growers.

Labels: Subversive Ideas

18 January, 2007

The Rainforest Site reports that combined efforts in 2006 protected over 407 million square feet of forestland. That's over 9,343 acres. For folks who need something more familiar to use as a reference, that's over 100 times the size of the Mall of America.

More than 316.3 million square feet of that figure is due to funding generated by clicks on the "Preserve Endangered Land" button, and an additional 90.7 million square feet were saved thanks to purchases made in The Rainforest Site store.

Clicking the button is free, by the way. Take a couple of seconds and go do something good.

Labels: Subversive Ideas

15 January, 2007

Steve Pavlina's latest podcast (#18) discusses how to more efficiently use your visualization skills as you go about creating a better reality for yourself. In essence, this is facilitated by creating a better you -- or at least being able to imagine the better you -- in order to bring about the desired results. But Steve explains it much better, so go on over and have a listen.

Labels: Think Tank

14 January, 2007

Nearthwort Obtain (the multidimensional adventurer's handbook) has a new podcast interview with ufologist Nick Redfern. Nick's more than just a UFO expert; he's knowledgeable about all sorts of Fortean phenomena. In this interview, he shares some insightful remarks comparing the British and U.S. press response to events such as the recent UFO sighting above O'Hare airport. He also discusses his new book, which is due out next month.

Labels: Think Tank

12 January, 2007

"Please pardon my levity, I don't see how to take death seriously. It seems absurd," writes Robert Anton Wilson.

I agree. From a certain perspective, death is no more than getting out of your car. It's moving from one house to another, or changing trains. Sometimes you need to move; you outgrow your one-bedroom apartment and need more space to stretch out. This death and dying bit is nothing more than that, just a sidestep into a larger reality.

Labels: Think Tank

11 January, 2007

We've added more options for subscribing to News & Updates; you'll find the new buttons in the "Subscribe" block to the left.

Labels: Site Updates

10 January, 2007

Made a couple of minor tweaks to address some formatting issues on the blog; if you're viewing it onsite rather than through a subscription service, this (should) put the navigation buttons up along the left side for everyone now instead of hanging around down at the bottom as they were doing in some cases. Also made a couple of minor adjustments to the front page, mainly in the area of the Google search bar.

Labels: Site Updates

I guess since I'm eating at the grownups' table now, so to speak, I should do a test post. I've been meaning to scan this in anyway; this is a manual that came with a piece of exercise equipment a friend got. I didn't catch this part on the scan, but I think it's pretty dumb that this (and apparently MOST home fitness equipment) has a disclaimer saying that it won't hold more than 250 lbs. If you weigh more than that, I guess you can forget about working out, which is probably for the best anyway if you check out the big !WARNING! on the front of the manual.




In case that's showing up too small for you to read, it says, "WARNING! Exercise can present a health risk." So there you go: a perfectly legitimate excuse to break that New Year's resolution. Grab what's left of that box of fudge and sack out on the couch with a good book.

Labels: Humor

08 January, 2007

Erin's blog has been hijacked by spam pirates, so if you've seen any peculiar entries floating around in the blogosphere that don't look like her usual rants and raves, that's why. We're attempting to save the archives so that you'll still be able to access them from our site. She'll be joining us here at the News & Updates blog instead of setting up a new one, so you can watch for future posts from her here.

Labels: Site Updates

07 January, 2007

There's an interesting article in the current issue of Wired about an enigma regarding the Inca civilization. According to most researchers and historians, the people who built Machu Picchu and developed a system of high-altitude roadways and messenger service spreading across a 3,000 mile empire somehow never learned to write. Harvard anthropologist Gary Urton is exploring the possibility that they may have simply had a very different system of recording things -- one involving bundles of knotted strings called khipu.

The article is intriguing, and it made me start to wonder: why should it be assumed that an advanced civilization would necessarily need to write?

Think about it. Why do we write in the first place?

Read the rest...

Labels: Think Tank

05 January, 2007

It's time for the 7th Annual Weblog Awards. There are lots of categories; you can cast your vote in as many or as few as you like.

We would never try to tell you who to vote for, of course, but our URL is http://www.gatewoodjournal.org/newsupdates.html ... you know, just in case you'd like to copy and paste it in there somewhere. :)

Cast your votes here: 2007.bloggies.com.

Labels: Site Updates

04 January, 2007

We've just made a couple of minor modifications to the coding for this section to deal with an RSS feed issue. I think it's fixed now.

Labels: Site Updates

We've just added options for subscribing via Bloglines and Yahoo! You'll find the new buttons in the "Subscribe" box to the left. We're still testing out the links on our subscription services and made a couple of adjustments this evening; it appears that everything is working properly now.

Labels: Site Updates

03 January, 2007

We're happy to announce that we can now offer you the ability to subscribe to our "News & Updates" blog, which is where most of our new material is posted before it finds its way to a regular spot on our site. In addition to that, of course, we post notices of changes and updates to the site as well as interesting links, quotes and so on.

You'll find the subscription area over in the left-hand column below the navigation buttons. This service is offered through Feedblitz; it's free and they don't share your information or send you a lot of junk mail to clutter up your box. You'll get an e-mail in your box on days when we post an update (which is generally about once a week or so).

Labels: Site Updates

01 January, 2007