October 26, 2004
the new form of child slavery
Totally copped from Disinfo, but I'm linking to the *full* article, they just linked to the abstract. So there. It's just an interesting idea for anyone writing sci fi novels out there...Makes perfect sense too, the way that add agencies go about attempting to convince kids that their parents are stupid... And the inveitable desire for the government/corporations to role back minimum age requirements for employment...
"Our current concept of childhood is a relatively recent invention. Throughout most cultures throughout most of human history, individuals today referred to as "children" had the right to marry, serve in the army, and even act as the head of state....
...This situation is similar to the subordinate legal status women had to their husbands just a few generations ago. It is in effect a form of slavery, though under the supposed belief that this is in the best interest of those who are enslaved. It was only in 1920 that women finally gained the right to vote in the United States. Prior to this date, it was considered outrageous to propose that these "irrational creatures" could be trusted to have a say in governance."
October 20, 2004
Wendell Berry's mad as hell!
Enviros have compromised too much, says Wendell Berry
Wendell Berry's mad as hell, and he's not taking it any more. If we all love our land like we say we do, why do we accept -- nay, participate in -- its destruction? Why do we pass the keys over to corrupt politicians and big business? Why do we lobby for wilderness areas but abandon the poor and disadvantaged to economic depravation? We compromise too much. It's time to get radical, Berry says -- in Soapbox, today on the Grist Magazine website.
today in Grist: Wendell Berry says it's time to quit compromising
October 19, 2004
October 15, 2004
we ARE in trouble
I hope we're all comfotable with the whole gender bending thing....
Article from Washington Post in Grist today.
POTOMAC DADDIES
Male bass in Potomac River laying eggs
Male bass in the South Branch of the Potomac River in West Virginia are laying eggs. This is not behavior that people in the know typically expect from male bass. While researchers assume that pollutants of some sort are responsible, this particular stretch of the Potomac does well on the usual water-quality tests. "It's counterintuitive to think we would have this type of problem out there," said Patrick Campbell of the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection. The culprit may be "emerging contaminants" -- caffeine, hormones, prescription drugs, endocrine disruptors -- that are not typically tested for, either in river water or drinking water. The U.S. EPA has set no standards for these pollutants, saying more research is necessary. Scientists have only recently developed equipment sensitive enough to detect them. Says researcher Vicki S. Blazer, "We really don't know what's going on."
October 14, 2004
blogalicious
Jackson blogged my blog! So I'm blogging his blog right back. blog blog blog blogblogBLOOOOOOOOGGGGGGGG! BLLLLLAAARRRRRRRRGGGGGGG!
This article totally rocks. (The one so eloquently entitled "yippie")
Fabulous blogging daaarlink, brava.
October 13, 2004
I guess I AM a gay man...
Yet another fascinating article that very well might be complete bullshit from the New Scientist claims that "researchers discovered that women tend to have more children when they inherit the same - as yet unidentified - genetic factors linked to homosexuality in men. This fertility boost more than compensates for the lack of offspring fathered by gay men, and keeps the “gay” genetic factors in circulation. "
And what does Simon LeVay have to say about it? “We think of it as genes for ‘male homosexuality’, but it might really be genes for sexual attraction to men. These could predispose men towards homosexuality and women towards ‘hyper-heterosexuality’, causing women to have more sex with men and thus have more offspring.”
I personally think Simon LeVay is a total boob, in the worst sense possible of the word. He's the mastermind behind both the Gay Gene and the Lesbian InnerEar. Plus he has an AOL webpage. Can we take a scientist seriously who uses AOL? I didn't think so. Plus he lives in Hollywood and the Gay Gene study that made him famous only used ten men as his sample! Although I am not averse to the idea of individuals being predispositioned genetically towards inclinations that might trigger them into the homosexual realm, I'm still a big fan of polymorphous perversity (it's also fun to say).
October 12, 2004
Evolution Osmosificated
Awesome article from Wired. I know I'm such a hippie, but I really love the idea that I have my own personal fauna...
"Most of the cells in your body are not your own, nor are they even human. They are bacterial. From the invisible strands of fungi waiting to sprout between our toes, to the kilogram of bacterial matter in our guts, we are best viewed as walking "superorganisms," highly complex conglomerations of human, fungal, bacterial and viral cells. "
"More than 500 different species of bacteria exist in our bodies, making up more than 100 trillion cells. Because our bodies are made of only some several trillion human cells, we are somewhat outnumbered by the aliens."
October 8, 2004
Boycott CVS!
CVS now has "conscience" or "refusal" clauses for their pharmacists that allow health care providers to refuse to provide certain services or information against their own narrow belief system. Most often, pharmacists use refusal clauses to justify refusing to fill women's birth-control pill prescriptions. But a new federal version is working its way toward a House-Senate conference committee, and it would allow all health care entitities to refuse to even provide information about abortion to women who ask.
During the past legislative session, 13 states introduced or considered refusal clauses that would allow pharmacists to refuse to dispense certain prescriptions based on personal “moral” objections. The majority of those bills would permit a pharmacist to refuse to fill a prescription for simple contraception. South Dakota, Arkansas and Mississippi already have refusal clauses on the books. The South Dakota law goes so far as to specify that pharmacists may refuse to fill prescriptions for any medication they think will cause an abortion, regardless of the scientific facts.
October 7, 2004
talk about sexual selection...
This is CRAZY! It's all about the technologies available for you to be able to choose the gender of your baby. They weed out the X-chromosome sperm from the Y-chromosome sperm. Apparently in the West 77% of request have been for female babies.
They also talk about how in China, the ratio of males to females born is 121:100 for reasons I'm sure you are familiar with. But a new book predicts that this will have grave consequences for the future because it "will create a hoodlum army of 30 million single men that by 2020 will be a menace to world peace." They're effectively breeding an army.... I would not want to be a woman in China in 15 years... I wonder if they will resort to polygamy... or just mass rape... or tons of gayness? The book is from MIT press so you know it's legit.
This is the article specifically about the future of tilted sex ratios. It getting worse becuase of ultrasound and selective abortion. You don't even have to deal with messy infanticide anymore! It's messed up world, man.
Interesting quote: "Anthropological studies have found, for example, that female infanticide and son-worship sometimes emerge in warring nomadic communities that frequently lose many men in battle, or that are vulnerable to having their women and children kidnapped by a rival group. In such situations, the theory goes, a group can preserve its integrity by tightly controlling the number of women within it."
October 5, 2004
Invisible Suit!
Yes, it has problems, but DAMN! Very cool. Think of of the ninja possibilities... black is SO 500 AD.
October 4, 2004
Survival of the Weakest
Think, lap dogs....
Humans Affecting Evolution of Other Species (Article from CSM)
Lay scientists tend to think of evolution as a glacially slow process, with changes measured in hundreds of thousands of years, not decades. However, growing collaboration between ecologists and evolutionary biologists is highlighting a phenomenon called "contemporary evolution" -- and it ain't pretty. Turns out, by culling the largest, healthiest, and most robust specimens from a species, human beings can precipitate a sort of rapid devolution, an evolutionary trend toward smaller, weaker populations that works over generations, not centuries. The phenomenon can be observed across the animal world -- for example, hunters have left mountain sheep in Alberta, Canada, shrinking, along with their horns -- but it is particularly perspicuous in the world's fisheries. Some scientists trace the precipitous decline of the cod population to fishing practices that value the largest fish; the result has been a population of fish that mature earlier and smaller, are unable to produce robust offspring, and lack the genetic diversity to breed their way out of trouble. Researchers recommend a broad rethinking of practices for protecting endangered species and managing wildlife habitats, fisheries, and hunting ranges.
October 3, 2004
Boys won't be boys
This is an article from The Globe and Mail from GRIST months ago about this band of natives in BC are having more female births than male. They think it's due to chemicles that mimic female hormones, which is a HUGE problem that not many people are paying attention to yet. Many insects and crustations in lakes are being born female due to estrogen human females take that then travel down the sewer. On average, 90% of medications we take end up in the environment adn then back in our drinking water, even things like Prozac... It's as though people imagine their toilets to be black holes, in which everything flushed enters another dimension from which it cannot return...
Canadian Native Group Near Chemical Plant Has More Female Births
In most developed countries where such things have been studied, the ratio of girls born to boys born has been slowly and steadily rising for decades. Those unimpressed with the results of male world domination to date might find this heartening news, but the details aren't pretty. Some researchers suspect that environmental pollutants are behind the feminization of industrialized countries -- particularly chemicals, like dioxin, PCBs, and hexachlorobenzene, known to mimic female hormones. The plight of Canada's Aamjiwnaang First Nation seems to lend credence to the theory. The Aamjiwnaang live surrounded by chemical plants, smack dab in the middle of an industrial area that contains 20 percent of Canada's refineries. For the last five years, the band has produced nearly two girls for every boy; in addition, women report a higher number of miscarriages and schools report more learning disabilities. No definitive link to chemical exposure has been established, but the band is pushing for further study.