From Evernote: Sustainability is back in fashion

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Sustainability is back in fashion by rweinert http://www.iht.com/articles/2009/03/23/style/rsustain.php?WT.mc_id=newsalert

(Illustration by William Rankin) [Enlarge this image] IHT SUSTAINABLE LUXURY CONFERENCE 2009 Sustainability is back in fashion By Suzy Menkes Published: March 24, 2009 NEW DELHI: Call it the death of the "It" bag or the decline of capitalism — either way there has been a dramatic change in the business of luxury. Only a year ago the spread of high-end goods was growing geographically and demographically. But now the credit crunch and bank chaos has halted the grandiose plans of big brands. With Brazil's debts soaring, China coping with layoffs, India's fast-growing economy slowing and Russia's financial status toppling, the BRIC countries, or Brazil, Russia, India and China, are no longer viewed as a luxury utopia. Stores may not be closing yet but, across the globe, the frenetic pace of openings has stalled. The toughest question is not about what is happening in the markets but what is the definition of true luxury — a catchall phrase used to describe a $1,000 handbag or a branded lipstick. But suppose that luxury were separated from fashion, with its constant desire for change and built-in obsolescence? Then the essence of the luxurious would be a private joy in something that was crafted to last. More Coverage Sustainable Luxury: New Delhi 2009 Multimedia Complete coverage: IHT Sustainable Luxury Conference, New Delhi, 2009 » View Video: Anna Zegna on Business Ethics » View Video: A Tour of New Delhi's Emporio Mall » View Today in Fashion & Style Sustainability is back in fashion Stella McCartney on ecology, luxury and life Indian designers make their mark with craft The sari is a fine example of the enduring power of a piece of cloth. Young Indian women may have started to abandon the country's national emblem in favor of Western clothes, or have given the sculpted "cocktail" sari the thumbs up for nuptial celebrations. But at its most tranquil and beautiful, the sari is an object of desire that is nurtured and passed on to the next generation. It has an image that any luxury company would long for. The spirit of the sari is not the only thing that India has to offer high fashion. How can powerful brands teach anything to a country that understands the luxuriant greenery of a Mogul garden or the delicate craft that goes into a hand-loomed shawl? The cultural heritage of India and its vast work force makes it a rare place that can produce handmade goods at the highest level — which is why a haute house like Hermès works with Indian craftsmanship. Two different strands are converging in fashion: a yearning for lasting value and an urge to know more about the way that fabrics are sourced and clothes are made. This is the sea change in a fashion world where the fate of the planet is becoming more of an issue than the latest foibles of  celebrities. "Sustainability" and "responsibility" are the new buzz words. The first is a necessity in a market where credit is no longer as easy to find as a cappuccino. Significantly, Barneys New York has put its dynamic retail force behind sustainable and environmentally friendly clothing. The company, which has always searched for upcoming designers, has now put a focus on organic knits, eco-friendly cottons, grown-to-sewn denim and even recycled gold jewelry. For the forward-looking in the industry, ethics is the new elegance, and doing things right carries more weight than doing things fast. Having the time and the money to care about where clothes come from is set to be a key feature of 21st-century luxury. Responsibility is an emotive word in the fashion world, which is coated with frivolity — even if there is a mighty business offstage. Yet thoughtful designers like Stella McCartney, with her genuine green spirit and environmentally friendly clothing, are behaving responsibly. And while at the Main Street level most companies are more interested in sales figures than philosophy, luxury chief executives should be given credit for signing off on eco-friendly stores with solar panels and recycled fittings. Is all this just another fashion fad, to be thrown into the trash can when the next big idea comes along? Research suggests otherwise, given the current intellectual ethos, the social movements and the concern about climate change. In "Deeper Luxury," a paper published by the World Wildlife Fund-United Kingdom in November 2007, the authors Jem Bendell and Anthony Kleanthous sounded a clarion call to the luxury industry. Its premise was that the affluent, global elite, who are the core luxury consumers, are aspirational — but for a better world rather than just a better-designed handbag. They are looking for deeper brand values that encompass social and environmental issues, the authors said. How does this changing luxury environment fit with India, where the splendor and squalor of seven-star hotels and "Slumdog" shantytowns co-exist? In its soul and in its religious faiths, asceticism and purity have always been prized as much as the opulence associated with the historic Raj or today's Bollywood "bling." It is hard to believe that the arrival in India of big-name brands will threaten social cohesion, especially as they co-exist with upscale local designers. But as the Western luxury companies look for a place in vibrant, expanding, modern India, maybe they will find that there is something to learn — as well as something to sell. Suzy Menkes is fashion editor at the International Herald Tribune.

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From Evernote: A sugar-coated remedy for the crisis blues - International Herald Tribune

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A sugar-coated remedy for the crisis blues - International Herald Tribune by rweinert http://www.iht.com/articles/2009/03/23/america/candy.php?WT.mc_id=newsalert

Piper Gray, left, and Amy Lepley shopping at Economy Candy in Manhattan on March 15, 2003. (Chester Higgins Jr./The New York Times) A sugar-coated remedy for the crisis blues By Christine Haughney Published: March 24, 2009 NEW YORK: Raymond Schneider politely elbowed his way through crowds of customers as he made a beeline for the bulk candy bins at Dylan's Candy Bar in New York. Since he was laid off in December, Mr. Schneider, a 33-year-old interior designer, says he has become a "gummy junkie," stocking up on sweets every time he shops for groceries. "Sugar is comforting," he said as he scooped Red Licorice Scottie Dogs into a plastic bag. "There's nothing more stressful than growing financial insecurity everywhere." The recession seems to have a sweet tooth. As unemployment has risen and 401(k)'s have shrunk, Americans, particularly adults, have been consuming growing volumes of candy, from Mary Janes and Tootsie Rolls to gummy bears and chocolates, particularly inexpensive ones, candy makers, store owners and industry experts say. Theories vary on exactly why. For many, sugar lifts spirits dragged low by the languishing economy, store owners and industry officials say. For others, candy also provides a nostalgic reminder of better times. And, not insignificantly, it's relatively cheap. "People may indulge themselves a little bit more when times are tough," said Jack P. Russo, an analyst with the retail brokerage firm Edward Jones of St. Louis. "These are low-cost items that people can afford pretty easily." At Chicago's Candyality store in the Lakeview neighborhood, business has jumped by nearly 80 percent compared with this time last year, and the owner, Terese McDonald, says she is struggling to keep up with the demand for Bit-O-Honeys, Swedish Fish and Sour Balls. At the Candy Store in San Francisco, the owner, Diane Campbell, has tripled her orders for nostalgic candies like Necco Wafers and Mallo Cups in recent months. Many of her customers tell her that even though they are living on less, they're setting aside cash for candy. "They put candy in their actual budget," she said. Many big candy makers are reporting rising sales and surprising profits even as other manufacturers are struggling to stay afloat. Cadbury reported a 30 percent rise in profits for 2008 while Nestlé's profits grew by 10.9 percent, according to public filings. Hershey, which struggled for much of 2008, saw profit jump by 8.5 percent in the fourth quarter. Lindt & Sprungli, which specializes in high-end products like Lindt bars and Ghirardelli, said that even though it expected to close its luxury retail stores in 2009, it would remain profitable because of strong chocolate sales through middle-class retailers like Wal-Mart and Target. "All is well in candy land," said Jamie Hallman, owner of the Sweet Dish candy store in the Marina district of San Francisco. At the sugar-scented confines of Economy Candy on the Lower East Side in Manhattan, the owner Jerry Cohen said he increased his orders by 10 percent in January and February to keep up with demand. On a recent Sunday Mr. Cohen had about a dozen workers in the narrow store trying to keep the candy tables and penny candy bins restocked as shoppers — the majority of them adults — dug their hands into bins of Tootsie Rolls and Bit-O-Honeys. "We have been wiping out inventory," he said. "They're reminiscing about the candies their parents used to have." There may be historic precedent to the recessionary strength of the candy business. During the 1930s, candy companies thrived, introducing an array of confections that remain popular today. Snickers debuted in 1930. Tootsie Pops appeared in 1931. Mars bars with almonds and Three Musketeers bars followed in 1932. Hershey, the dominant candy brand during the Depression, remained profitable enough through the 1930s that the company financed its own Works Progress Administration programs, said Pamela Whitenack, Hershey Community Archives director. "Candy companies are relatively recession proof," said Peter Liebhold, chairman of the Smithsonian's work and industry division. "During the Great Depression, candy companies stayed in business." Nostalgia may also be helping sales, as candy seems to conjure memories of times before bank collapses and government bailouts. Jackie Hague, vice president of marketing for the New England Confectionary Company in Revere, Massachussetts, which makes Necco wafers and other candies, says the company has received more letters, e-mails and telephone calls than usual from customers saying their candies had helped them "flash back to childhood." Increased candy consumption may have already taken a toll on the waistlines of many New Yorkers. As Reba Pardieu, a science teacher, stood at the cashier at Economy Candy on the Lower East Side, she said she has been feeling anxious since her older daughter was laid off in December and her younger daughter, who recently graduated from college, had to settle for work as a dog walker. Budget cuts at her school have also forced her to pay for her own supplies, including the candy she was buying for a student project on D.N.A. 1  |  2  Next Page Terms of Use Back to top Home  >  Americas

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From Evernote: Community-supported fisheries hold promise for consumers and fishermen - The Boston Globe

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Community-supported fisheries deliver the freshest catch to consumers

Community-supported fisheries hold promise for consumers and fishermen - The Boston Globe by rweinert http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/food/articles/2009/03/18/economy_of_scales/?page=2

Economy of scales Community-supported fisheries deliver the freshest catch to consumers. They could also be a boon for a troubled industry. Fishing boat captain Dustin Ketchopulos (above, in Rockport) is interested in a CSF that would sell shrimp. (Pat Greenhouse/Globe Staff) By Devra First Globe Staff / March 18, 2009 Email| Print| Single Page| Yahoo! Buzz| ShareThis Text size – + ROCKLAND, Maine - On the first Saturday afternoon in March, warmer than any other afternoon in recent memory, Elizabeth Cuccinello pulls up to the Good Tern co-op. In the bed of her truck is a big turquoise cooler. Soon people begin to arrive, greeting Cuccinello with hugs and small talk. She opens the cooler and pulls out bag after bag of freshly caught Maine shrimp. They are a bright carmine in their shells, feelers bristling and black eyes bright, many with bluish eggs attached. On the tongue, these shrimp are particularly sweet and tender. People receive the bags into their arms, a gift from the sea. "I'm like the shrimp fairy," Cuccinello says. This is one of seven drop-off points for Port Clyde Fresh Catch, which is a community-supported fishery: Participants sign up, pay a lump sum for the season, then receive a weekly share of seafood caught by the members of the Midcoast Fishermen's Cooperative. Pioneered here last year, the idea is spreading through Maine and beyond, with a CSF in the works for the Gloucester area that could ultimately serve Boston as well. In the winter, Port Clyde Fresh Catch offers shrimp - wild and pulled from Maine waters rather than farm-raised and potentially treated with chemicals, from somewhere as far away as Thailand or Brazil. In the summer, it offers fish. On any given week this could be pollock, cod, hake, redfish - whatever the fishermen bring in. The fish are delivered gutted but whole, the shrimp still in their shells. The tradeoff for freshness is a bit more labor and a lack of choice (the CSF offers filleting instruction and recipes), but also shells and bones with which to make stock or fertilize the garden. If this new model sounds familiar, that's because CSFs work in much the same way for fishermen as CSAs (community-supported agriculture) do for farmers, with many of the same benefits. Consumers get the freshest local food, and the money goes straight to producers, with no middleman. In addition to shrimp and fish, community-supported fisheries for lobster and mussels have now started up. For seafood lovers, CSFs are a boon. For fishermen in a troubled industry, they could be a lifeline. Through Port Clyde Fresh Catch, participants pay $90 for 10 pounds of shrimp a week for six weeks, or $45 for a half-share of 5 pounds. That's $1.50 a pound, considerably less than they'd pay at a market. (As for fish, last summer a 12-week share of 8 to 12 pounds a week was $360, or $2.50-$3.75 a pound.) But for fishermen, it's considerably more than what they get selling to wholesalers, who buy shrimp at just 30 to 40 cents a pound. When the wholesalers aren't buying, the fishermen are out of luck. Page 2 of 2 -- "The mood here is pretty discouraged," says Cuccinello. "Lobstering didn't pay off last year. Shrimp they've been putting quotas on. This is where our future lies." Discuss COMMENTS (7) Though only a small portion of their catch went to the CSF last summer, fishermen really felt the difference, says Glen Libby of the Midcoast Fishermen's Cooperative. "The percentage of income was way up, in some cases 300 percent for low-value species like pollock, say. We got a lot more for them, and people really loved the pollock. A lot of them said it was their favorite fish." The CSF isn't just a win-win for fishermen and consumers. It's good for the environment. When fishermen get higher prices for their catch, they can afford to fish less aggressively. The cooperative requires members to use more sustainable fishing methods, and in advising fledgling CSFs, it encourages them to do the same. "This thing was started as an incentive for fishermen to adopt more conservation-oriented fishing practices," Libby says. "It's tough to go out there and catch less without compensation. This gives average consumers a way to help. They're supporting fishermen doing things a different way. It means something. It's not just lip service." The CSF model is a natural for the Gloucester area, a fishing center where markets are nonetheless often stocked with seafood from faraway lands. "We don't have access to fresh, quality seafood," says Angela Sanfilippo, president of the Gloucester Fishermen's Wives Association, a nonprofit that promotes New England's fishing industry. "Forever the complaint is 'I cannot get a piece of fish off the boat anymore.' Most of the fish doesn't stay locally. What we end up buying probably comes from somewhere else. That's not right. The public should have access to their communities." Cape Ann fishermen face many of the same issues as their counterparts in Maine. "All the shrimp in markets now, it's imported from dirty farms," Sanfilippo says. "And it's expensive. Here, what are they getting, 40 cents a pound for their stuff? Boats cannot go out. To lose this fishery because you cannot sell enough to make it profitable, it's the craziest thing." The Northwest Atlantic Marine Alliance, which works with fishing communities on issues of ocean health, has been a key force in promoting community-supported fisheries. Collaborating with the Gloucester Fishermen's Wives Association and other locals, it's close to getting a Cape Ann CSF off the ground. "We've got the bags and the twist-ties and the scale just waiting," coordinating director Niaz Dorry says. "The goal is to do a shrimp CSF this winter, but it has to happen within the next month. The season closes in May. We're committed to a groundfish CSF in the summer and shrimp next winter at minimum." They expect to find out whether they've secured key funding any day now; more than 100 people signed up to participate at the Cape Ann Farmers' Market last year. Several groups serving the Boston area have already contacted them about forming partnerships. "We feel reaching the population that cares about where their food comes from, and getting them to care about where seafood comes from, allows us to expand the base of support for policy changes," Dorry says. "Fish gets left out of the issue when we talk about food safety and food sovereignty" - that is, producers and consumers determining food systems, rather than markets and corporations. "To change that, we felt the best way is by reaching people through their stomachs and their hearts." That's clearly happening in Maine. "We like the fact that these guys are right down the road from us," says Port Clyde Fresh Catch member Kirk Folk of Rockland. "We get 10 pounds of shrimp a week, which is great, but it also keeps them in business. They're a cool bunch of guys; we've met a few of them along the way." He and his wife, Susan, hope the experience will rub off on sons Zachary, 12, and Luke, almost 8. "Maybe this will inspire them to be local and stay within the community," he says. "I hope they learn that where their food is coming from is important and get a better understanding of what it takes to make that food a sustainable resource. We hope to instill conscientiousness about it." Steve Cartwright, a freelance journalist who lives in Waldoboro, also participates in the CSF. "I love fish, I love fresh, and I love local," he says. That's the stomach part. Now for the heart. "The fisheries are in big trouble. This is one hopeful sign of what could be a comeback in a sustainable way," he says. "And the interactions alone are worth it. It makes you feel like part of a community." For more information, go to www.portclydefreshcatch.com or www.namanet.org. Devra First can be reached at dfirst@globe.com. © Copyright 2009 Globe Newspaper Company. 1 2  Previous   READER COMMENTS (7) Post a comment While browsing at the refrigerated fish case near the Stop & Shop fish counter recently, I picked up a package of "breaded cod fillets." I can't express how shocked I was to see "Product of China" on... Click here to see full comment While browsing at the refrigerated fish case near the Stop & Shop fish counter recently, I picked up a package of "breaded cod fillets." I can't express how shocked I was to see "Product of China" on the back label, in small print. China???? I don't *think* so! I would gladly support local efforts which would provide a bigger profit to the fisherman and safer and fresher fish for the consumer. Can we get one on the South Shore please? by Marysia2 March 22, 3:17 PM Report Abuse Great native shrimp (and many other seafood products)fresh off the boat at affordable prices: Intershell Corporation 52 Commercial Street, Gloucester, MA www.intershell.biz Great native shrimp (and many other seafood products)fresh off the boat at affordable prices: Intershell Corporation 52 Commercial Street, Gloucester, MA www.intershell.biz by OnZRox March 19, 6:39 PM Report Abuse This is a "marketing model"? These so-called community supported fisheries are heavily subsidized by charitable foundations, and are competing directly with other non-subsidized fishermen who are the... Click here to see full comment This is a "marketing model"? These so-called community supported fisheries are heavily subsidized by charitable foundations, and are competing directly with other non-subsidized fishermen who are their neighbors! There are dozens of pickup trucks on the side of the road in Rockland Maine selling shrimp to consumers at very inexpensive prices. by killfish March 19, 8:51 AM Report Abuse This marketing model for wholesome, fresh and affordable seafood can be replicated anywhere. It just takes a dose of cooperation, a sprinkle of goodwill, a dash of hope. Mix it up and let's reviv... Click here to see full comment This marketing model for wholesome, fresh and affordable seafood can be replicated anywhere. It just takes a dose of cooperation, a sprinkle of goodwill, a dash of hope. Mix it up and let's revive our ailing fishery — for the fishermen, for conserving our natural resources, for our health and enjoyment — we're talking very tasty! Contact these groups for more info: www.midcoastfishermen.org or www.portclydefreshcatch.com by saltysea March 18, 7:39 PM Report Abuse VIEW ALL READER COMMENTS (7) >

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Framed

Mo's orchids

Sammy at the pool

AM Ashley

Check out the playlist: Piano - Jamendo

<div align="center"<object width="200" height="300" classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" codebase="http://fpdownload.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=7,0,0,0" align="middle"<param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always" /<param name="wmode" value="transparent" /<param name="movie" value="http://widgets.jamendo.com/en/playlist/?playertype=2008&playlist_id=77856" /<param name="quality" value="high" /<param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /<embed src="http://widgets.jamendo.com/en/playlist/?playertype=2008&playlist_id=77856" quality="high" wmode="transparent" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" width="200" height="300" align="middle" allowScriptAccess="always" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer"&nbsp;</embed&nbsp;</object</div

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Autism and gut flora...The small Brain

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A taste of the Wild West, for those who can stomach it - International Herald Tribune

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My Life With Cables - A good afternoon chuckle!

Cables: Don’t like ‘em.

You can precipitate my problems with cables by simply calling me. There is a 50 percent chance that you will be greeted by the sound of my desk set banging against a radiator, because the spiral cord of my phone keeps tangling and assembling itself into a compact ball. Why? Am I unconsciously rotating or dancing while talking on the phone?

But my real troubles with cables occur out of sight.

My desk is far from organized, but the mess on top pales compared to the chaos lurking below. I just did a quick inventory and counted a staggering 31 cables running riot down there.

Over the years I have made multiple attempts to tame this mess. All my strategies share one fatal drawback: replacing a single cable means I have to untie the entire arrangement.

This is how I deal with the situation these days: If I get a new device, I just stuff any new cables right into the swamp of existing ones. And if I need to remove a cable, I optimistically pull on it, like a madman.

I don’t even want to get started about the endless varieties of cables, chargers and adapters out there. My biggest frustration stems from a much simpler problem: I use a lot of extension cords with multiple sockets. Although these cords are obviously designed to power six cables, I can barely squeeze in three, since most electronic equipment nowadays seems to sport absurdly large plugs. This reminds me of some very inconsiderate folks one so often encounters on the subway.

Adding to the insult: those Frankencables are immorally expensive. I have a habit of losing power adapters when traveling, and spend a small fortune on replacements. When I close my eyes, I can see Mr. Radio and Mrs. Shack living on an island made of solid gold.

I don’t want to complain, though — I am just a designer.

A couple of years back, I tried unsuccessfully to hook up an old drum machine to an electric keyboard. This gave me a glimpse into the terrifying universe of cables that musicians and audiophiles have to deal with.

I am aware that I could reduce the number of cables in my life if I took advantage of all the advancements in wireless technology. The problem: if it’s not attached to a cable, I will lose it.

If my 24-inch computer screen wasn’t connected to the wall with a power cable, it would disappear among the sofa pillows one day.

The most venomous of all cables are headphones. The combination of thin wires and stubborn earplug hooks is an endless source of gordian frustration (notably amplified when combined with seat belts on an airplane).

The true malice of headphones, however, is revealed when they are allowed to mingle with other cables.

Last year, as my family was packing up for our big move from New York, I was stunned at the number of cables I had amassed over the years. I had stuffed them all into a huge box, and was now confronted with one solid knot.

Upon our arrival in Berlin, I realized that there were some extremely important cables woven into miles of headphones and other junk. Untangling this mess was impossible, unless I cut some evil $3 headphones. Then I realized that a crucial cellphone charger had an identically thin black cable: a situation that required steady hands and a bold heart.

The storage issue has been resolved: In a dark corner of our basement I have attached to the wall an eight-foot plank spiked with long nails, and all my cables now hang untangled in neat lines.

I sometimes sneak down there and wallow in memories of battles past.

I am sure that a generation from now, all our hassles with cables will be long forgotten. But I pledge to keep history alive, and look forward to telling my grandkids stories of SCSI cables, unpolarized NEMA 1-15 sockets and DVI plugs.

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Orders for 'Aretha's hat' still going strong

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-The Gray Area Ballet– David DawsonItinerarios en le arte

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Fire season...Everglades N.P.

Watch where you put your feet!

Thoreau's Wine: I could not but notice some of the peculiarities of my visitors

Friday, March 13, 2009

I could not but notice some of the peculiarities of my visitors

I could not but notice some of the peculiarities of my visitors. Girls and boys and young women generally seemed glad to be in the woods. They looked in the pond and at the flowers, and improved their time. Men of business, even farmers, thought only of solitude and employment, and of the great distance at which I dwelt from something or other; and though they said that they loved a ramble in the woods occasionally, it was obvious that they did not. Restless committed men, whose time was an taken up in getting a living or keeping it; ministers who spoke of God as if they enjoyed a monopoly of the subject, who could not bear all kinds of opinions; doctors, lawyers, uneasy housekeepers who pried into my cupboard and bed when I was out -- how came Mrs.
-- to know that my sheets were not as clean as hers? -- young men who had ceased to be young, and had concluded that it was safest to follow the beaten track of the professions -- all these generally said that it was not possible to do so much good in my position. Ay! there was the rub. The old and infirm and the timid, of whatever age or sex, thought most of sickness, and sudden accident and death; to them life seemed full of danger -- what danger is there if you don't think of any? -- and they thought that a prudent man would carefully select the safest position, where Dr. B. might be on hand at a moment's warning. To them the village was literally a community, a league for mutual defence, and you would suppose that they would not go a-huckleberrying without a medicine chest. The amount of it is, if a man is alive, there is always danger that he may die, though the danger must be allowed to be less in proportion as he is dead-and-alive to begin with.
A man sits as many risks as he runs. Finally, there were the self-styled reformers, the greatest bores of all, who thought that I was forever singing,--

This is the house that I built;
This is the man that lives in the house that I built;

but they did not know that the third line was,

These are the folks that worry the man
That lives in the house that I built.

I did not fear the hen-harriers, for I kept no chickens; but I feared the men-harriers rather.
I had more cheering visitors than the last. Children come a-berrying, railroad men taking a Sunday morning walk in clean shirts, fishermen and hunters, poets and philosophers; in short, all honest pilgrims, who came out to the woods for freedom's sake, and really left the village behind, I was ready to greet with -- "Welcome, Englishmen! welcome, Englishmen!" for I had had communication with that race.

HDT (Walden)

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He began seeing strange rashes on his patients, starting more than a year ago.

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The late Tom Anderson, the family doctor in this little farm town in northwestern Indiana, at first was puzzled, then frightened.

He began seeing strange rashes on his patients, starting more than a year ago. They began as innocuous bumps — “pimples from hell,” he called them — and quickly became lesions as big as saucers, fiery red and agonizing to touch.

They could be anywhere, but were most common on the face, armpits, knees and buttocks. Dr. Anderson took cultures and sent them off to a lab, which reported that they were MRSA, or staph infections that are resistant to antibiotics.

MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) sometimes arouses terrifying headlines as a “superbug” or “flesh-eating bacteria.” The best-known strain is found in hospitals, where it has been seen regularly since the 1990s, but more recently different strains also have been passed among high school and college athletes. The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that by 2005, MRSA was killing more than 18,000 Americans a year, more than AIDS.....

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A Dirty Pun Tweaks China’s Online Censors

The popularity of the grass-mud horse has raised questions about China’s ability to stanch the flow of information.

A YouTube children’s song about the beast has drawn nearly 1.4 million viewers. A grass-mud horse cartoon has logged a quarter million more views. A nature documentary on its habits attracted 180,000 more. Stores are selling grass-mud horse dolls. Chinese intellectuals are writing treatises on the grass-mud horse’s social importance. The story of the grass-mud horse’s struggle against the evil river crab has spread far and wide across the Chinese online community.

Not bad for a mythical creature whose name, in Chinese, sounds very much like an especially vile obscenity. Which is precisely the point.

The grass-mud horse is an example of something that, in China’s authoritarian system, passes as subversive behavior. Conceived as an impish protest against

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The "Grass Mud Horse" video

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There is still so much to know...

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Nearly 400 years after his death, William Shakespeare appeared in a new and more handsome guise Monday

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Book Cover

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Emanuel Derman expected to feel a letdown when he left particle physics for a job on Wall Street in 1985.

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La mirada de Katsushika HokusaiItinerarios en le arte

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At digs in Kazakhstan, signs of the early horse - International Herald Tribune

A mare being milked in Kazakhstan in this undated handout photo provided by the journal Science. (Alan K. Outram for Science via The Associated Press)

At digs in Kazakhstan, signs of the early horse

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Music for a Friday afternoon

Thursday, March 5, 2009

Posted by Rick at 7:49 PM 0 comments

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I can stand as remote from myself as from another

 I only know myself as a human entity; the scene, so to speak, of thoughts and affections; and am sensible of a certain doubleness by which I can stand as remote from myself as from another. However intense my experience, I am conscious of the presence and criticism of a part of me, which, as it were, is not a part of me, but spectator, sharing no experience, but taking note of it, and that is no more I than it is you. When the play, it may be the tragedy, of life is over, the spectator goes his way.
It was a kind of fiction, a work of the imagination only, so far as he was concerned.

HDT (Walden)

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Posted via web from rick's posterous

A dutch oven in use in the Everglades 2/09

Camp cooking

via thoreauswine.blogspot.com

Posted via web from rick's posterous

ddrummer: Low res. digital photo shot while in motion

Low res. digital photo shot while in motion

via rweinert.blogspot.com

Posted via web from rick's posterous

Nata's Birthday Party in Homestead FL

Sammy and Abby slept on the sofa a few nights ago

Cycling last Saturday

Delicate zen influenced sculptures to contemplate on Sunday morning

via delrocks.com

Posted via web from rick's posterous