dark side of the sea of fertility

A recent design project of mine, landscaping for the Marina Library, is currently in full bloom. This project involved quite a bit of hydro-seeding of native species. The lupins have come in full force. I am hoping that by the winter the native grasses will take over. Since most natives grasses are cool season species I fear that this project was seeded too late for their establishment this year, but the seeds should sprout in fall/winter.

Here's the latest pictures:

Marina Library Entry Landscaping

Marina Library Rear Landscaping

This is a plug for Project Gutenberg. I discovered this website in 1997-1998 and still regularly visit it. No other website can claim such staying power for my attention. My most recent read was Saxton Pope's Hunting with the Bow and Arrow.

Hunting with the Bow & Arrow

Despite my "do it yourself" attitude I have yet to tinker with my wife's car. I did fix the button on the car's emergency break when it broke, but that doesn't count. Right now the car's engine or carburetor has some sort of timing issue (or at least that is how I would have diagnosed this fifteen years ago when I last did tinker with engines), and the wife is considering sending it to the mechanic - again - the same mechanic who just saw the car and charged double his estimate. This may be the last straw for me. I may have to learn about engines. Being poor is the biggest motivator for me to learn how to fix things.

Part of the reason why I've put off learning how to fix the car is that I don't have a garage. Since I don't know what I am doing (yet), I find it unlikely that I'd finish a project in one day. Leaving parts on the sidewalk overnight does not seem like a good idea. Another reason is that before I got married I swore never to own a car again, an oath I kept for ten years, and so had no reason to tinker with engines. Perhaps the most truthful reason for not working on vehicles is distraction. I spend lots of time tinkering with my computer, an old iMac that I hacked to extend its life. (Unfortunately I can't get the damn thing to take a more powerful videocard.)

My latest distraction (of the past year) is 3d modeling. SketchUp was the gateway software for me. I use it quite a bit at work, and it hooked me. Recently I discovered its shortcomings and transitioned to Cheetah3D for use with Unity3D in my burgeoning hobby of game development. Cheetah is a very nice package at a very low price (10% of the equivalent competition). Blender is more powerful and cheaper (it is free), but even I would rather spend $80 (I got Cheetah at 40% off) than wrestle with Blender's interface.

I started animation this May and recently completed my first completely animated character. I spent about 14 hours on it all together for perhaps 12 animation clips on this model of 300 triangles. Here's the walking animation. Its a 2 second clip that loops as long as the thing is walking (in the game environment).

Ramblin' Cactus Monster

I won't bother you with more of them. I recognize that my work is still quite amateur, and that it doesn't (yet) have that "wow" factor. I didn't even bother to adjust the lighting or shaders for this rendering which was my April breakthrough. Perhaps in June I'll actually move on to game scripting, and get this thing to chase the main character.

Anyhow, that was a brief tour of my digital garage. It is what keeps me distracted from learning how to do "real" stuff like fixing the family car, and why I spend less and less time on Vox. Any time spent on Vox is less free time for tinkering.

I am far from an expert on Global Warming, and unlike the droves who ingenuously claim to be, I promise - for your credit - not to claim the same emotional high ground "they" so often do. As a fellow Voxer with some interest in the issues of Global Warming, all I can honestly promise to you is my opinion.

First, I find the political argument about whether or not Global Warming is caused by human activity irrelevant because Global Warming is occurring and causing problems for us regardless of its causes.

Second, I don't believe that humanity can do anything to restore the range and mean of global temperature to some optimum state measured over the past two centuries because we don't yet even understand the planetary systems that we would have to control.

Third, in light of the very real environmental problems before us which we can realistically address, I have issue with folks that make Global Warming out to be the BIG problem of our times.

In my opinion climate change is going to compound our basic environmental woes, and while we may not be able to control global climate I do believe we have a chance to adapt to the changes that are going to be thrust upon us in the coming centuries if we get to work. I think environmentalists will better serve the rest of humanity by politicizing the real environmental problems that directly impact us right now.

I believe the big environmental problems in need of solutions are water scarcity, declining fisheries, loss of arable land, and the rise of epidemics (which studies have shown are created by humans - not the disease mind you but the epidemic). I am sure the likes of Jared Diamond or Geology Byotch will claim I am missing some critical issues here, and I might even grudgingly admit that loss of biodiversity and deforestation are also major problems in need of addressing for their own sake. But I'm talking political strategy here, and survival. These are the issues that directly impact human survival today. The common person can understand that the problem impacts them, and the experts could conceivable solve them.

So why - as common citizens - are we making a big fuss about Global Warming in the abstract when we've got tangible problems to address like droughts throughout the United States? I am not asking for an answer for this. The question is asked with eyes raised in frustration at what I see to be stupidity.

Disclaimer: In order to avoid derailment by actual experts taking umbrage at my undermining of Global Warming as "the issue of our times", I must say that I do not have a problem with experts studying the problems of climate change and seeking solutions. I am talking about what I see to be the misplaced focus of us common folk here upon a problem which is - as far as we are concerned - intractible.

I am often surprised that in times like these given the conservative hot button issues that more conservatives don't sing the praises of Cesar Chavez. Oh well, apparently for the contemporary "conservative" unless your last name is Buckley and you're dead you don't have much going on in the frontal lobe.

We need more people like you, Cesar, even if your stance on immigration was controversial.

Like me I suppose, my son puts his world back together through music. Only four months old, he's still got musical preferences and particularly likes the Brandenberg Concertos. This first three concertos have been a lifesaver for my wife and I. When he is particularly inconsolable, we put on the Concertos and he immediately calms down. Whatever works eh? Every kid seems unique in that regard.

Surprisingly I have also grown to like the Concertos. Baroque music did not do it for me when I was younger, but I've learned to appreciate it. My favorite movement of Bach's concertos is the 1st movement of the second. Each of the lead instruments is given its chance to solo, and then ultimately rise over the piece.

Brandenburg Concerto #2, Movement 1

Of course Michael Hedges is still playing regularly too. Here's my latest favorite of his:

Rickover's Dream

Oh, if Hell wasn't a myth, I'd gladly throw any and all who break their agreements into its abyss.

One person is gutting one of our school projects. One person without the authority to make that decision. One petty woman who runs a PE program at an elementary/middle school too small to even have the kind of program she wants it to be. One person who wants nothing at the school but her basketball team. We cut a compromise with her two months ago to convert 8% of the yard to garden education programs, 8% of the yard which she admitted she could not use. It was obvious that she was hostile to the program, but through the meeting we reached the compromise and everyone seemed happy. We had her signoff on the plans and put together the construction documents. Now after our drawings are out to bid, she's changed her mind, and told the principal that she wants to renegotiate.

What does the spineless principal do? He takes back his approval for the greening plans, and says that it all must be renegotiated. What does the school district's project manager do? Bends over and takes it. I suppose she doesn't care about the public money wasted in this process because it isn't hers? She should be fired. The principal should be told that its too late and that no single stakeholder in a project gets absolute authority. Hell, he should also be made aware that the addition to educational programs just might be more important than a minor basketball team that doesn't even compete at a level that scouts care about.

Three years ago, at the same school the PE teacher killed a proposal for a similar project. She's done so every year since, and now is doing whatever she can to limit these improvements. This time she went back on her word and claims that the plan we showed her seems different than the one she agreed to. The plans were identical. I've made it clear to everyone that this is the case. My boss doesn't want to deal with her as we've already overspent our budget meeting with her so he's accepting whatever terms the woman proposes. The district would rather pay for another set of prints than tell the PE teacher that it was too late to change her mind. The Greening Committee at the school doesn't have the guts to stand up for itself.

$100,000 will come to this school for yard improvements involving curriculum that utilize a greenschool yard if the plan goes through. Another $100,000 in educational grants could become available for the curriculum once the ground work is completed. If this project is killed again by the PE teacher, the school gets nothing. And yet the principal doesn't seem to care. As it is with the changes she is proposing the curriculum grants will all have to be reapplied for as the plans are changing.

Financially I am not affected. But I am furious that this small minded bitch can use these passive agressive tactics and everyone just gives in to her. Once someone gives you their word on an agreement, you should be able to trust that they will honor the agreement. And even when someone does not wish to honor the agreement, everyone else invested in it should hold them to their word. None of that happened here.

Nader chose Matt Gonzalez as his running mate. I'm ecstatic. I am ready for Matt to take his politics to the national level. My hope is that after this campaign he'll get back in the ring and run for State Legislature or at least run for Mayor of SF again.

Matt Gonzalez is still to date the only politician that I trust. The first time I voted for him in '99, admittedly I did so because he was a Green. I had not heard of him before, but I knew who the opposition were - Willie Brown's cronies - so it was a simple decision. After he won, I liked what I saw of him on SF's board of supervisors, but I didn't pay him too much mind. I was not as into local politics then as I am now. Then four years later he ran for Mayor against Gruesome Newsome - the typical Californian Democrat, and no one I would ever consider voting for.

As any responsible voter should, I dug into the candidates' records. There are many contenders each year for Mayor in SF, and so I had my reading cut out for me. Fortunately my interest in local politics had greatly increased by then. It was clear after I had been through the voting records the first time that Gonzo was the man. Never before have I seen such a clearly principled public servant in public office. When it comes to integrity no politician I know has anything on him. I campaigned for him. Talked to people about him. He destroyed Newsom in the debates - who had no recourse but soundbites and thus too much time with too little to say. Only support from the reactionary editorials of the Hearst owned Chronicle, with back up from Gore, Clinton, and Pelosi (on top of his 10:1 spending ratio) allowed Gruesome Newsom to survive and take the mayor's office. It surprises me to this day that no one of substance challenged him in the recent election. Sometimes I think that Gonzo left a vaccuum in City Politics that no one has the balls to fill.

Here's what he has to say about Obama: The Obama Craze: Count Me Out This entire post is meant as a frame for this article. Read it.

Now while I would rather have Obama than John "Another 100 Years" McCain in the White House. Obama needs to be taken to task just as Gonzo has done, and I hope Gonzo and Nader continue to do so. Obama is very very likely to be our next president, and he is frighteningly inconsistent. As I've been telling my wife and friends, his voting record does not match up with his pretty speeches. Someone needs to call him on it. Unfortunately Hillary is right, Obama has received a pass so far.

I do wish that Nader was still relevant in a national election. My hope is that by some miracle the real left shocks the Democrats into actually doing what they say they will do. And maybe just maybe... Gonzo's #1 issue, voter reform and Ranked Choice Voting, will get some more national attention. Until this kind of reform makes it to capitol hill, the presidential election is a farce.

Once again the irrational and the insane draw up behind their "leaders" and hurl epithets at one another. It sounds like time to elect a president. Woohoo! I might as well cheer. Electing the POTUS is as all-American as the Super Bowl. Yay! I am waving a flag, I swear.* On the upside, this process seems to  occupy the time and energy of a fair portion of this nation's loud mouth schnooks who if undistracted by this spectacle would otherwise be causing more serious problems. Unfortunately, as also happens during the Superbowl, these blathering idiots receive an undue amount of air time, and so it is impossible to ignore them. And then there are the politicians.

I would really like to care about who is elected. I would really, I swear. But you see the problem is that I never like any of them. The "our team vs. your team" thing inevitably strips elections of any meaningful discourse - something which in times like these is sorely needed. Furthermore after what Cheney inflicted upon our Constitution through his Bushy proxy - I'd rather not have a president at all, which brings up the point of all of this: What the hell does "Conservative" even mean anymore?

To call any of the field of Republicans a Conservative - with the exception of the frighteningly libertarian Mr. Paul - seems at best a slur upon Conservatives. Hell, even calling them Republicans is often a poor fit. Milton Friedman's preachings have seen well enough to subvert that since the early Reaganomics sermons. The reason why I care is that without honest Conservatives, Liberals are dangerous. Why do I say that? Well despite being a self-proclaimed Liberal and Progressive, I am neither a fan of Direct Democracy as a means to govern a nation of our size nor do I care for the institutional train wreck brought on by the Progressive Party nearly 100 years ago. The Conservatives should be in place to check this sort of thing. And conversely when those that call themselves Conservative rape our freedoms, the Liberals should be standing up for our freedoms. So given that obviously Liberals don't defend our freedoms, and Conservatives don't protect the republic - what the hell do these names that we call each other mean?

I am sorry to say that this was meant as a rhetorical question, because I can hardly expect the Vox blog monkeys to come up with an intelligible answer, but I have run out of time to continue this and so with the audacity of hope I put another question to you monkeys anyway: when the Liberal-Conservative dialectic fails are we only left with Anarchism as the intellectually honest alternative?

* -  The flag I wave however is dominated by an "A". Since I normally prefer the state as a means for individuals to protect their best interests, I hate to admit that I am losing hope in ours. I hope this is but a temporary bout of insanity brought on by the election.

I got into Michael Hedges back in '84 with his album Aerial Boundaries. He's been my favorite guitarist ever since. I didn't get a chance to see him perform until Feb or March of '97 which wasn't long before his untimely death in December of that year. During the intermission a friend and I were sitting at the edge of the stage both of us guitarists marveling at the performance, then HE sat down right next to us and shared a few words before he resumed the show. I wish I hadn't been so tongue tied. I would've liked to have asked him about his music, how he practiced, etc.... Anyway... I recently found some performances on YouTube and thought them worthy of a share. I hope you enjoy.

Michael Hedges - All Along the Watchtower

Michael Hedges - Aerial Boundaries