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HuckleB
HuckleB's Journal
HuckleB's Journal
May 13, 2016
"...
There are many great poets, but not all of them alter the ways in which we understand the world we live in; not all of them suggest that words can be held responsible. Remarkably, Adrienne Rich did this, and continues to do this, for generations of readers.
...
Rich claimed, in “Blood, Bread, and Poetry: The Location of the Poet,” from 1984, that Baldwin was the “first writer I read who suggested that racism was poisonous to white as well as destructive to Black people.” It was Rich who suggested to me that silence, too, was poisonous and destructive to our social interactions and self-knowledge. Her understanding that the ethicacy of our personal relationships was dependent on the ethics of our political and cultural systems was demonstrated not only in her poetry but also in her essays, her interviews, and in conversations like the extended one she conducted with the poet and essayist Audre Lorde.
Despite the vital friendship between Lorde and Rich, or perhaps because of it, both poets were able to question their own everyday practices of collusion with the very systems that oppressed them. As self-identified lesbian feminists, they openly negotiated the difficulties of their very different racial and economic realities. Stunningly, they showed us that, if you listen closely enough, language “is no longer personal,” as Rich writes in “Meditations for a Savage Child,” but stains and is stained by the political.
In the poem “Hunger” (1974–1975), which is dedicated to Audre Lorde, Rich writes, “I’m wondering / whether we even have what we think we have / . . . even our intimacies are rigged with terror. / Quantify suffering? My guilt at least is open, / I stand convicted by all my convictions—you, too . . .” And as if in the form of an answer Lorde wrote, in “The Uses Of Anger: Women Responding to Racism,” an essay published in 1981, “I cannot hide my anger to spare your guilt, nor hurt feelings, nor answering anger; for to do so insults and trivializes all our efforts. Guilt is not a response to anger; it is a response to one’s own actions or lack of action.”
..."
-----------------------------------
An absolutely fantastic read. I'd even call it necessary.
CLAUDIA RANKINE On Adrienne Rich’s Poetic Transformations
http://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/adrienne-richs-poetic-transformations"...
There are many great poets, but not all of them alter the ways in which we understand the world we live in; not all of them suggest that words can be held responsible. Remarkably, Adrienne Rich did this, and continues to do this, for generations of readers.
...
Rich claimed, in “Blood, Bread, and Poetry: The Location of the Poet,” from 1984, that Baldwin was the “first writer I read who suggested that racism was poisonous to white as well as destructive to Black people.” It was Rich who suggested to me that silence, too, was poisonous and destructive to our social interactions and self-knowledge. Her understanding that the ethicacy of our personal relationships was dependent on the ethics of our political and cultural systems was demonstrated not only in her poetry but also in her essays, her interviews, and in conversations like the extended one she conducted with the poet and essayist Audre Lorde.
Despite the vital friendship between Lorde and Rich, or perhaps because of it, both poets were able to question their own everyday practices of collusion with the very systems that oppressed them. As self-identified lesbian feminists, they openly negotiated the difficulties of their very different racial and economic realities. Stunningly, they showed us that, if you listen closely enough, language “is no longer personal,” as Rich writes in “Meditations for a Savage Child,” but stains and is stained by the political.
In the poem “Hunger” (1974–1975), which is dedicated to Audre Lorde, Rich writes, “I’m wondering / whether we even have what we think we have / . . . even our intimacies are rigged with terror. / Quantify suffering? My guilt at least is open, / I stand convicted by all my convictions—you, too . . .” And as if in the form of an answer Lorde wrote, in “The Uses Of Anger: Women Responding to Racism,” an essay published in 1981, “I cannot hide my anger to spare your guilt, nor hurt feelings, nor answering anger; for to do so insults and trivializes all our efforts. Guilt is not a response to anger; it is a response to one’s own actions or lack of action.”
..."
-----------------------------------
An absolutely fantastic read. I'd even call it necessary.
May 13, 2016
"...
But it isn’t just the simplicity or the significantly improved weed control of the Roundup Ready sugarbeet system that convinced farmers to switch. Conventional sugarbeet herbicides can cause severe injury under adverse environmental conditions. Some growers refer to conventional sugarbeet herbicides as ‘chemotherapy’ for the beets. They injure and weaken the beets, but they hurt the weeds a little more. This is why the conventional herbicides were often applied multiple times at short time intervals. A higher, one-time dose of the herbicides would provide better weed control, but it would also cause more severe injury to the beet crop. As with chemotherapy, the weeds would eventually die after several applications, but the beets would be substantially weakened (like the photo on the left in the figure below). Conversely, Roundup applied to Roundup Ready sugarbeet (photo on the right) virtually eliminated the potential for crop injury due to herbicides.
The improved weed control provided by Roundup Ready varieties led to rapid environmental gains. By 2009, only two years after widespread adoption of GMO sugarbeet, over 50,000 acres of land was converted to some form of reduced or conservation tillage practices in Nebraska, Colorado, and Wyoming. That number is probably much higher now. Conservation tillage practices improve soil health, reduce soil erosion, and preserve soil moisture. Conservation tillage simply wasn’t possible in sugarbeet before the introduction of Roundup Ready varieties, because intensive tillage was needed to obtain adequate weed control in the crop.
The combination of improved tillage, reduced crop injury, and improved weed control has contributed significantly to increased sugarbeet yields in the High Plains growing region. Not all of the yield gains can be attributed directly to GMO, but I would suspect is is a substantial proportion.
So to summarize, GMO sugarbeet has reduced herbicide use, increased soil health, decreased risk of crop injury, increased yield, and has even allowed farmers to spend more time with their families. Knowing all of that, I was struck by the last line of Dan Charles’ piece, where a sugarbeet grower, Andrew Beyer, is quoted:
..."
-------------------------------------
The real-world resulting harms of the anti-GMO movement are about to kick into gear.
As consumers shift to non-GMO sugar, farmers may be forced to abandon environmental and social gains
http://weedcontrolfreaks.com/2016/05/as-consumers-shift-to-non-gmo-sugar-farmers-may-be-forced-to-abandon-environmental-and-social-gains/"...
But it isn’t just the simplicity or the significantly improved weed control of the Roundup Ready sugarbeet system that convinced farmers to switch. Conventional sugarbeet herbicides can cause severe injury under adverse environmental conditions. Some growers refer to conventional sugarbeet herbicides as ‘chemotherapy’ for the beets. They injure and weaken the beets, but they hurt the weeds a little more. This is why the conventional herbicides were often applied multiple times at short time intervals. A higher, one-time dose of the herbicides would provide better weed control, but it would also cause more severe injury to the beet crop. As with chemotherapy, the weeds would eventually die after several applications, but the beets would be substantially weakened (like the photo on the left in the figure below). Conversely, Roundup applied to Roundup Ready sugarbeet (photo on the right) virtually eliminated the potential for crop injury due to herbicides.
The improved weed control provided by Roundup Ready varieties led to rapid environmental gains. By 2009, only two years after widespread adoption of GMO sugarbeet, over 50,000 acres of land was converted to some form of reduced or conservation tillage practices in Nebraska, Colorado, and Wyoming. That number is probably much higher now. Conservation tillage practices improve soil health, reduce soil erosion, and preserve soil moisture. Conservation tillage simply wasn’t possible in sugarbeet before the introduction of Roundup Ready varieties, because intensive tillage was needed to obtain adequate weed control in the crop.
The combination of improved tillage, reduced crop injury, and improved weed control has contributed significantly to increased sugarbeet yields in the High Plains growing region. Not all of the yield gains can be attributed directly to GMO, but I would suspect is is a substantial proportion.
So to summarize, GMO sugarbeet has reduced herbicide use, increased soil health, decreased risk of crop injury, increased yield, and has even allowed farmers to spend more time with their families. Knowing all of that, I was struck by the last line of Dan Charles’ piece, where a sugarbeet grower, Andrew Beyer, is quoted:
“To me, it’s insane to think that a non-GMO beet is going to be better for the environment, the world, or the consumer.”
But Beyer says he’ll do it if he needs to. He’ll do what his customers want.
But Beyer says he’ll do it if he needs to. He’ll do what his customers want.
..."
-------------------------------------
The real-world resulting harms of the anti-GMO movement are about to kick into gear.
May 12, 2016
http://www.fastcoexist.com/3059742/social-network-algorithms-are-distorting-reality-by-boosting-conspiracy-theories
"After an anonymous source alleged that Facebook's Trending News algorithm (and human staff) was intentionally hiding conservative news from the social network, all hell broke loose. Congressional hearings have been called. Whether the reports are right—and whether hearings are justified—underneath the uproar is a largely unspoken truth: The algorithms that drive social networks are shifting the reality of our political systems—and not for the better.
Algorithms, network effects, and zero-cost publishing are enabling crackpot theories to go viral. The filter bubble—the idea that online recommendation engines learn what we like and thus keep us only reading things we agree with—has evolved. Algorithms, network effects, and zero-cost publishing are enabling crackpot theories to go viral, and—unchecked—these ideas are impacting the decisions of policy makers and shaping public opinion, whether they are verified or not.
...
The problem is that social-web activity is notorious for an asymmetry of passion. On many issues, the most active social media voices are the conspiracist fringe. The majority of people know that vaccines don't cause autism, and that 9/11 was not an inside job. They don't dedicate hours to creating content or tweeting to reinforce the obvious. But passionate truthers and extremists produce copious amounts of content in their commitment to "wake up the sheeple." Last month, for example, a study looked at the relative percentages of pro-vaccine vs. anti-vaccine content on Pinterest and Instagram; 75% of the immunization-related pinned content was opposed to vaccines. This was a dramatic shift from studies of social networks in the early 2000s, when the percentage of negative content was estimated at around 25%.
...
But we have to start somewhere. As Eli Pariser said: "We really need you to make sure that these algorithms have encoded in them a sense of the public life, a sense of civic responsibility. We need you to make sure that they're transparent enough that we can see what the rules are that determine what gets through our filters." The Internet isn’t separate from the real world; building the web we want is building the future we want."
-------------------------------------
This is a much bigger story than the possibility that some fiction-based conservative sites were not promoted at Facebook.
But...
Social Network Algorithms Are Distorting Reality By Boosting Conspiracy Theories
Talk of Facebook's anticonservative stance is in the news, but the issue of what news social networks choose to show us is much broader than that. Just ask the anti-vaxxers.http://www.fastcoexist.com/3059742/social-network-algorithms-are-distorting-reality-by-boosting-conspiracy-theories
"After an anonymous source alleged that Facebook's Trending News algorithm (and human staff) was intentionally hiding conservative news from the social network, all hell broke loose. Congressional hearings have been called. Whether the reports are right—and whether hearings are justified—underneath the uproar is a largely unspoken truth: The algorithms that drive social networks are shifting the reality of our political systems—and not for the better.
Algorithms, network effects, and zero-cost publishing are enabling crackpot theories to go viral. The filter bubble—the idea that online recommendation engines learn what we like and thus keep us only reading things we agree with—has evolved. Algorithms, network effects, and zero-cost publishing are enabling crackpot theories to go viral, and—unchecked—these ideas are impacting the decisions of policy makers and shaping public opinion, whether they are verified or not.
...
The problem is that social-web activity is notorious for an asymmetry of passion. On many issues, the most active social media voices are the conspiracist fringe. The majority of people know that vaccines don't cause autism, and that 9/11 was not an inside job. They don't dedicate hours to creating content or tweeting to reinforce the obvious. But passionate truthers and extremists produce copious amounts of content in their commitment to "wake up the sheeple." Last month, for example, a study looked at the relative percentages of pro-vaccine vs. anti-vaccine content on Pinterest and Instagram; 75% of the immunization-related pinned content was opposed to vaccines. This was a dramatic shift from studies of social networks in the early 2000s, when the percentage of negative content was estimated at around 25%.
...
But we have to start somewhere. As Eli Pariser said: "We really need you to make sure that these algorithms have encoded in them a sense of the public life, a sense of civic responsibility. We need you to make sure that they're transparent enough that we can see what the rules are that determine what gets through our filters." The Internet isn’t separate from the real world; building the web we want is building the future we want."
-------------------------------------
This is a much bigger story than the possibility that some fiction-based conservative sites were not promoted at Facebook.
But...
May 12, 2016
As it should...
U.S. plan to lift Yellowstone grizzly protections faces mounting opposition
Source: Reuters
A U.S. government plan to lift Endangered Species Act protection of the grizzly bear in and around Yellowstone National Park drew a torrent of criticism from environmentalists and Indian tribes as the public comment period for the proposal came to a close on Wednesday.
Much of the discontent has focused on the prospect of grizzlies in the region becoming open to trophy hunting under state management plans put in place once federal safeguards are removed.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service formally proposed in March that grizzlies in the Yellowstone area - spanning parts of Wyoming, Montana and Idaho - be removed from the list of threatened species, citing data showing their numbers have rebounded to healthy levels.
Some 700 grizzlies currently frequent the Yellowstone area, up from as few as 136 bears when they were listed as threatened throughout the Lower 48 states in 1975, after decades of being hunted, trapped and poisoned to near-extinction.
Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/usa-grizzlies-idUSL2N1882A9
As it should...
May 11, 2016
The Female Ghost Buster Who Rooted Out Spiritual Fraud for Houdini
How Rose Mackenberg took on phantoms and fakes.
http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/the-female-ghost-buster-who-rooted-out-spiritual-fraud-for-houdini
"...
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of the famously rational Sherlock Holmes, embraced Spiritualism and became its most strident and effective propagandist. But his influence was countered by the famed magician and escape artist Harry Houdini, who put together a team dedicated to crusading against the "ghost racketeers" that posed as spirit mediums to con money out of vulnerable, grieving people.
Into this milieu stepped Rose Mackenberg, who was ultimately to become one of the most enduring and prolific ghost busters of the early 20th century. By her own account, Mackenberg grew up in New York City during the first decades of the 1900s. As a teenager, she developed a belief in Spiritualism that lasted until she was introduced to Harry Houdini, probably during the late 1910s.
When Rose first encountered the master magician, she had already been working as a private detective for several years. Their initial meeting came about when she consulted with Houdini regarding one of her own investigations, which involved a case of "spirit fraud."
Impressed by her faculties of logic, resourcefulness and quick wit, Houdini invited Rose to join the team of about 20 salaried undercover investigators that he referred to as "my own secret service." This clandestine team traveled ahead of Houdini's touring schedule, visiting towns and cities where he was due to perform and infiltrating the local Spiritualist "scene" to gather evidence of fraud. These details were passed on to Houdini, who would then expose the fraudsters during his shows.
..."
---------------------------------------
A fantastic story, IMO.
May 11, 2016
"HOW CAN YOU resist a headline like “Quebec teen may have discovered long lost Mayan city”? Alas, the story going viral today is too good to be true, according to archaeological experts. The supposed lost pyramid? More likely an abandoned field.
This much is true: William Gadoury, now 15, won a contest to present his theory that Maya cities were correlated with constellations at a conference a few years ago. He happened to be next to a booth of the Canadian Space Agency, where scientists took notice and decided to help the kid out. So Canada turned its RADARSAT-2, a satellite that usually tracks sea ice and shipping in Canada, to a remote corner of Mexico—right where Goudry’s constellation theory predicted a city would be. Lo and behold, those images seemed to show manmade structures.
Satellite imagery can be a powerful tool for studying the ancient world. “Space archaeologists” like Sarah Parcak want to use readily available data like this to lower the barriers to entry in science, and a teenager finding a long-lost city would be a pretty stunning proof of concept. But that isn’t what the images show.
The square in the CSA’s satellite images is probably an abandoned field, and another spot may be a small dry lake or clearing in the jungle, says archaeologist Ivan Šprajc. Gizmodo, in its updated story, has noted the same about the square structure.
..."
-------------------------------------------
In a world of click-bait, one has to wait a couple of days, at least, to assess for the validity of any story, it seems.
Patience.
That Long-Lost Mayan City a Teen Found Isn’t Lost … or a City
http://www.wired.com/2016/05/long-lost-mayan-city-teen-found-isnt-lost-city/"HOW CAN YOU resist a headline like “Quebec teen may have discovered long lost Mayan city”? Alas, the story going viral today is too good to be true, according to archaeological experts. The supposed lost pyramid? More likely an abandoned field.
This much is true: William Gadoury, now 15, won a contest to present his theory that Maya cities were correlated with constellations at a conference a few years ago. He happened to be next to a booth of the Canadian Space Agency, where scientists took notice and decided to help the kid out. So Canada turned its RADARSAT-2, a satellite that usually tracks sea ice and shipping in Canada, to a remote corner of Mexico—right where Goudry’s constellation theory predicted a city would be. Lo and behold, those images seemed to show manmade structures.
Satellite imagery can be a powerful tool for studying the ancient world. “Space archaeologists” like Sarah Parcak want to use readily available data like this to lower the barriers to entry in science, and a teenager finding a long-lost city would be a pretty stunning proof of concept. But that isn’t what the images show.
The square in the CSA’s satellite images is probably an abandoned field, and another spot may be a small dry lake or clearing in the jungle, says archaeologist Ivan Šprajc. Gizmodo, in its updated story, has noted the same about the square structure.
..."
-------------------------------------------
In a world of click-bait, one has to wait a couple of days, at least, to assess for the validity of any story, it seems.
Patience.
May 11, 2016
"People who believe in conspiracy theories are more likely to be suffering from stress, a new study by British researchers has found.
The study, led by Anglia Ruskin University's Professor Viren Swami, is the first to analyse the relationship between psychological stress and belief in conspiracies.
During his resarch, Professor Swami recruited 420 participants from the ages of 20 and 78, and asked them how strongly they believed in conspiracy theories like the supposed faking of the 1969 moon landing, or the alleged assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. by the US government.
He then assessed their levels of stress, gathering information on their general mental states and the number of stressful experiences they had gone through recently.
..."
------------------------------------------
Wow! So Drumpf must be really, really stressed out!
(I won't be surprised to find out that this study is quite weak and/or worthless, but nonetheless.)
People Who Believe In Conspiracy Theories More Likely To Be Suffering From Stress
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/conspiracy-theories-stress-psychology-study-anglia-ruskin-a7023966.html"People who believe in conspiracy theories are more likely to be suffering from stress, a new study by British researchers has found.
The study, led by Anglia Ruskin University's Professor Viren Swami, is the first to analyse the relationship between psychological stress and belief in conspiracies.
During his resarch, Professor Swami recruited 420 participants from the ages of 20 and 78, and asked them how strongly they believed in conspiracy theories like the supposed faking of the 1969 moon landing, or the alleged assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. by the US government.
He then assessed their levels of stress, gathering information on their general mental states and the number of stressful experiences they had gone through recently.
..."
------------------------------------------
Wow! So Drumpf must be really, really stressed out!
(I won't be surprised to find out that this study is quite weak and/or worthless, but nonetheless.)
May 10, 2016
Superficial coverage of medical errors could leave erroneous impression with readers
http://www.healthnewsreview.org/2016/05/superficial-coverage-of-medical-errors-could-leave-erroneous-impression-with-readers/
May 9, 2016
"...
At a time when skyrocketing rents are pushing low-income residents to the city's edges, ROSE's multifamily Woody Guthrie Apartments will actually go up a few blocks from the address where the guitar-strumming Bernie Sanders of his day lived in May of 1941.
The old four-plex at 6111 S.E. 92nd Ave., located on the cusp of Interstate 205, still stands. Ironically, nothing outside the building acknowledges that one of America's greatest songwriters created some of his greatest work with three children at his feet in a cramped apartment on the second floor.
...
Guthrie had been hired by the Bonneville Power Administration to write songs promoting the building of new dams along the Columbia. In 30 frantic days, he wrote 26 songs and recorded nine of them, earning $266.66 — or $10 a song.
...
Greg Vandy, a Seattle radio host and author of the new book "26 songs in 30 Days: Woody Guthrie's Columbia River Songs and the Planned Promised Land in the Pacific Northwest," said Guthrie worked on some of his most iconic songs in the apartment.
...
In January, when the apartment on 92nd Avenue was between tenants, the manager let me in to snoop around. I brought a portable record player and the "Columbia River Collection" on vinyl.
In the middle of the living room, I dropped the needle on "Pastures of Plenty," a subversive ballad about migrant farm workers in America's bread basket. The ghostly echo of Woody's rambling, chant-like drawl bounced off the plaster walls, throwing out lyrics that still speak truth to power.
..."
-------------------------------------
It's nice to see such a memory acknowledged...
Visiting Woody Guthrie's small Portland apartment 75 years later
http://www.oregonlive.com/history/2016/05/woody_guthries_tiny_portland_a.html#incart_2box"...
At a time when skyrocketing rents are pushing low-income residents to the city's edges, ROSE's multifamily Woody Guthrie Apartments will actually go up a few blocks from the address where the guitar-strumming Bernie Sanders of his day lived in May of 1941.
The old four-plex at 6111 S.E. 92nd Ave., located on the cusp of Interstate 205, still stands. Ironically, nothing outside the building acknowledges that one of America's greatest songwriters created some of his greatest work with three children at his feet in a cramped apartment on the second floor.
...
Guthrie had been hired by the Bonneville Power Administration to write songs promoting the building of new dams along the Columbia. In 30 frantic days, he wrote 26 songs and recorded nine of them, earning $266.66 — or $10 a song.
...
Greg Vandy, a Seattle radio host and author of the new book "26 songs in 30 Days: Woody Guthrie's Columbia River Songs and the Planned Promised Land in the Pacific Northwest," said Guthrie worked on some of his most iconic songs in the apartment.
...
In January, when the apartment on 92nd Avenue was between tenants, the manager let me in to snoop around. I brought a portable record player and the "Columbia River Collection" on vinyl.
In the middle of the living room, I dropped the needle on "Pastures of Plenty," a subversive ballad about migrant farm workers in America's bread basket. The ghostly echo of Woody's rambling, chant-like drawl bounced off the plaster walls, throwing out lyrics that still speak truth to power.
..."
-------------------------------------
It's nice to see such a memory acknowledged...
May 9, 2016
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/man-restraining-order-god-a7016791.html
"An Israeli man has petitioned for a restraining order against God, claiming the almighty has been particularly unkind to him over the years and that the police are unable to do anything.
The man, named by Israeli news site NRG as David Shoshan, represented himself at a court hearing in Haifa, a port city in the north of Israel. The report noted that God was not present to defend himself.
The court heard God had been particularly unkind to Mr Shoshan, treating him "harshly and not nicely", though no specific details were given about what exactly had happened to make him feel this way.
Mr Shoshan claimed he made several attempts to contact police to report God’s alleged crimes, and that patrol cars had been sent to his house on 10 occasions.
..."
---------------------------
OK, then.
Man seeks restraining order against God
Mr Shoshan claims he was treated 'harshly and not nicely' by the deityhttp://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/man-restraining-order-god-a7016791.html
"An Israeli man has petitioned for a restraining order against God, claiming the almighty has been particularly unkind to him over the years and that the police are unable to do anything.
The man, named by Israeli news site NRG as David Shoshan, represented himself at a court hearing in Haifa, a port city in the north of Israel. The report noted that God was not present to defend himself.
The court heard God had been particularly unkind to Mr Shoshan, treating him "harshly and not nicely", though no specific details were given about what exactly had happened to make him feel this way.
Mr Shoshan claimed he made several attempts to contact police to report God’s alleged crimes, and that patrol cars had been sent to his house on 10 occasions.
..."
---------------------------
OK, then.
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