I know better than to raise an eye to the skyline while in the city. I have seen the beautifully decorated ceiling of Grand Central Station only in pictures. I know this much. After many a trip I still may not know whether I should exit onto Lexington or 42nd to shave a right turn or two toward my destination in SoHo, yet I have come to acknowledge that if I wave down one of the psycho yellow blurs that dominate the roadways of the city that I do not "own" that cab. Even the tame can be feral, and in the city one must be primal.
Instincts have lead to much adaptation in the New Yorker. One denizen I have known in a former incarnation as a yokel in our youths has begun teaching me the hunting, the eking out, the survival strategies of this one wild island. These skills are artfully and individually honed. Let me tell you, the meek will not a bagel receive.
Take for instance, two delis. To the admiring, unassuming early-morning hungry-man they would appear to have the same varied sundries, one an approximate of the other...save the continent of the proprietor's heritage. Not so, says the distinguishing South Houston-ite. One is desirable solely for the bagel, where the recipient must know afore ordering (with no visual cue or clearly posted protocol) to quiet oneself on the particulars of preparation or "shmear" options. It will, God willing, come as it may. One way. Not the other. Coffee is taken from the adjacent deli. prepared and served by self, cream offering God willing.
Yes, one must lose themselves into the mist of uncertainty and embrace the primalities that the vast labyrinth of places sought, shunned and stayed clear of. On my last trip, just this month past, my survival instincts were put to the test in such a way as I could look back on the crucible with angst and consternation or pride and personal growth. I knew this then, and searched my baser needs to answer the enigma.
The four of us, two by two, city mice and country mice, stood shoulder to shoulder awaiting a table. Cloudy mirrors and lengths of brass, this hipster haunt was a destination. And we were destined to wait. As country mice, my consort and i fall victim to one of our many pastimes. Standing patiently for our name to be drawn in the great lotto of dining tables. The city mice stirred.
It was to pass that the 1.5 hour approximated wait served to our party by a darkly bedecked and complexioned host would not do. Would not suffice. My hosting steward and I would venture forth into the night to garner a better offer, at the bequest of our dinner-dates. Prompted on cell phone functions, and pointed in the an appropriate heading, we set out into the night, a table was our fleece, our chalice to hold above all else. We were to be Lewis and/or Clark, whoever would happen upon an open table within a four-block radius. And we were ready to take the quest. Or at least feign a try rather than while the time away gazing in like Tiny Tim at the platters, plates and glasses passed. Wishful.
I have never seen a meth-amphetamine-addicted person. Until that night. The cursing was a tell-tale. The frothing was hard evidence. As my compatriot in this fellowship of open-booth-seeking made the call to arms, the dinner-bell-ring to our significants, still ogling the fed and hearty, signaling a wellspring of seats not two blocks west of our previous locality, I was treated to one of the many side effects of city living. The train-wreck-rubberneck-that is inspired by the open ragings of the lunatic elite that is ever-present in major cities. I will grant this, I was inspired by this particularly "touched" woman's sense of indignity and the courage she embodied, as she spat insults, saliva and acrimonies as the tattoo parlors brightly lit windows...a thin glass layer shielded the gathered occupants whose incredulity grew in direct relation to the gathering of spittle and absurdities that rained across the neon-lit window.
To make matters approximately more unsettling, the woman had just walked out of the very establishment that we had deemed an opportune end to our February night sojourn. It did not bode well, however it did have an open table. Hers?
And so we were met, shown to our table, and comfortably attended to. Though the bottle we selected was not readily chilled, though the entree I salivated for was sold out, the syncretic overtures and simple charm of The Pink Pony, the coffee shop/book haven cum French-Moroccan taste-haven easily and modestly displays its assets. From classically prepared Escargot in garlic and parsley to the Eggplant Napoleon, whose sautéed vegetables barley and green curry sauce transcended the lowly and oft under appreciated station of vegetarian menu fare. From our plush, not posh, round booth at the back of the restaurant, replete with bookshelves and mirrored walls, the mice ate well and comfortably in the care of the Pony. Lest we overlook the F. Scott Fitzgerald's grand message regarding reserving judgment, we did well by not letting the bohemian, coffee house cover, nor the babbling brook of insults issued by the angel-dusted harpy dissuade us from seeing for ourselves what lay inside. Hunger and situation also played a role, but doesn’t it always.
Tuesday, April 08, 2008
Hear and Now
This is the Age of Introversion. Enmeshed with that is the penumbra in which we seek technological means to dissuade others from interacting with us. This is cutting edge. This is what fads obsessions lead us to purchase...it is what the American public at large moves toward as a society, a quieting of Americans as an antisocial-social movement.
The top selling products in America today are almost solely personal electronics. In the great arena of competitive commercial outfits, the names that jump out as contending gladiators are that of Apple, Sony, and all things Blue Tooth. Now, one ,may be apt to utter defiantly that among these electronics producers, the goal of many of the leading products sought after are communication devices; cell phones, internet able "smart phones" and computers. Rightly so. These are all connecting people with a rapidly expanding speed and distance conquering aptitude. Yet what matters is the manner and depth to the communication taking place, or the lack of it.
Around cities across the nation, I-Tuned out youths gambol to and fro. Insulated by their ear buds, they may walk as if ghosts, undeterred by the sites and sounds beyond their own mumbling or humming. No polite words spoken to passersby, taking in the few sounds that nature can interject in our ever-urban realities, these silent masses robotically negotiate their travels to the soundtrack of their hermetic selfs.
Differing from the selectively deaf meandering souls, if only slightly, are the glossolalia plagued Blue-Toothers. Seemingly speaking in tongue, the indifference displayed to those surrounding the babbling schizophrenics is amplified ignobly toward those who attempt to answer awkwardly the speaker-of-tongues or even less sensibly, attempt to entreat the orator to say, place an order, direct the taxi toward a destination or otherwise interact with a person presently in the same vicinity as the blue-tooth baron.
Recently found in in the pages of a suburban high school newspaper was a full-page advertisement for a device so introvert-ably awesome that I presume the internet will be slowed to a trickle at the hurried clamor of click-clack texting, typing and hyping. The inspired cure-all nostrum that will prove to ward off any non-cellular communicant:
"Myvu’s personal media viewer is everything you need for a hands free private viewing experience, at home or on-the-go."
The gimmick is easy: Take one I-pod or other leading brand isolation machine, add one pair dark sunglasses, and enjoy. Text away, watch a video, a movie, your choice. The benefits are incalculable. At once watching a downloaded video, ignoring the people around you and being blinded of the bank teller, fellow diners and oncoming buses; you now appear to be deaf, dumb and blind.
The act is complete. In the pursuit of the latest communications gadgets you have sufficiently drowned out the hear and now. Through popular technology and fad movement , Americans are slowly and selectively opting out of the community. Finding a backward avenue to social pariah has become an achievement that Steve Jobs et al have found to be a financially rewarding antisocial-social movement.
The top selling products in America today are almost solely personal electronics. In the great arena of competitive commercial outfits, the names that jump out as contending gladiators are that of Apple, Sony, and all things Blue Tooth. Now, one ,may be apt to utter defiantly that among these electronics producers, the goal of many of the leading products sought after are communication devices; cell phones, internet able "smart phones" and computers. Rightly so. These are all connecting people with a rapidly expanding speed and distance conquering aptitude. Yet what matters is the manner and depth to the communication taking place, or the lack of it.
Around cities across the nation, I-Tuned out youths gambol to and fro. Insulated by their ear buds, they may walk as if ghosts, undeterred by the sites and sounds beyond their own mumbling or humming. No polite words spoken to passersby, taking in the few sounds that nature can interject in our ever-urban realities, these silent masses robotically negotiate their travels to the soundtrack of their hermetic selfs.
Differing from the selectively deaf meandering souls, if only slightly, are the glossolalia plagued Blue-Toothers. Seemingly speaking in tongue, the indifference displayed to those surrounding the babbling schizophrenics is amplified ignobly toward those who attempt to answer awkwardly the speaker-of-tongues or even less sensibly, attempt to entreat the orator to say, place an order, direct the taxi toward a destination or otherwise interact with a person presently in the same vicinity as the blue-tooth baron.
Recently found in in the pages of a suburban high school newspaper was a full-page advertisement for a device so introvert-ably awesome that I presume the internet will be slowed to a trickle at the hurried clamor of click-clack texting, typing and hyping. The inspired cure-all nostrum that will prove to ward off any non-cellular communicant:
"Myvu’s personal media viewer is everything you need for a hands free private viewing experience, at home or on-the-go."
The gimmick is easy: Take one I-pod or other leading brand isolation machine, add one pair dark sunglasses, and enjoy. Text away, watch a video, a movie, your choice. The benefits are incalculable. At once watching a downloaded video, ignoring the people around you and being blinded of the bank teller, fellow diners and oncoming buses; you now appear to be deaf, dumb and blind.
The act is complete. In the pursuit of the latest communications gadgets you have sufficiently drowned out the hear and now. Through popular technology and fad movement , Americans are slowly and selectively opting out of the community. Finding a backward avenue to social pariah has become an achievement that Steve Jobs et al have found to be a financially rewarding antisocial-social movement.
Catch and Release
I would estimate that if I had to keep all the fish I caught that I would still have room in the freezer for last year's Thin Mints. That aside, I know that others may not have such spare lodgings if not for the increasing popularity catch and release. Though it does not effect me, it has become an effective movement to ensure the viability of trout, bass and other sport-suitable specimen but has also drew into fishing a lively folklore.
Considered a sub-genre of fiction, the greatest tool a catch and release artist has in his tackle box is his unique ability to bend a rod under the ghost weight of "big one". Thought to be standardized, many rulers and scales fluctuate on the lilt and loquacious expirations dockside.
An important aspect of the catch and release technique pairs the use of barbless hooks as they allow the fish to be more readily loosed, and the ready use of loose-truths. One cannot be mired by facts under the onslaught of bait eager beauties, almost jumping into the boat, threatening to capsize the vessel under their bountiful weight.
Having to rely on physical evidence, mounted and from head to tail, many ill-fated anglers would be without their due share of tales. One wonders at the quieting of round tables in seaside bars, the firesides of fishing camps and business class airline cabins...
Though there may be some naysayers, the disquieting doubters and some more epic stories may land upon recalcitrant ears, the practice of sending back what one catches into the mother waters from whence it came is unquestionably the most noble and perhaps Nobel of techniques.
Considered a sub-genre of fiction, the greatest tool a catch and release artist has in his tackle box is his unique ability to bend a rod under the ghost weight of "big one". Thought to be standardized, many rulers and scales fluctuate on the lilt and loquacious expirations dockside.
An important aspect of the catch and release technique pairs the use of barbless hooks as they allow the fish to be more readily loosed, and the ready use of loose-truths. One cannot be mired by facts under the onslaught of bait eager beauties, almost jumping into the boat, threatening to capsize the vessel under their bountiful weight.
Having to rely on physical evidence, mounted and from head to tail, many ill-fated anglers would be without their due share of tales. One wonders at the quieting of round tables in seaside bars, the firesides of fishing camps and business class airline cabins...
Though there may be some naysayers, the disquieting doubters and some more epic stories may land upon recalcitrant ears, the practice of sending back what one catches into the mother waters from whence it came is unquestionably the most noble and perhaps Nobel of techniques.
Friday, January 25, 2008
Breeding New Reading
Ponderous opportunities to surround yourself with kindred spirits, voices and other nuisances.
http://www.literature-map.com/
http://www.literature-map.com/
What else do readers of Martin Amis read? Where else can you see Graham Greene, A. A. Milne and Jonathan Lethem rubbing shoulders?
The closer two writers are, the more likely someone will like both of them.
Click on a name to travel along.
Sunday, January 20, 2008
Cryonics, Cynics and Prophetics
Cryonics is “the practice of freezing a person who has died of a disease in hopes of restoring life at some future time when a cure for the disease has been developed.” The currently irreversible practice of lowering the temperature of clinically dead “clients” who wish to be brought back to life in the future at the advent of new medical methods that will cure or treat a condition, disease or otherwise crucial issue that was impacting upon their body. There in lies the ethical questions posed when the subject is researched; Can a dead person be “raised” and still have his soul intact? Is it proper to house a body indefinitely without a guarantee of re-awakening?
The subject may seem cut and dry. What arrangements made post (or prearranged) mortem of a body remains (sic) in control of the person or family of the person. It should stand to reason that a new medical procedure such as cryonics could be an option. Yet there are two things that seem to parry the statement. Ben Best, the Director of the Cryonics Institute avers that cryonics is controversial in two main ways.
“(1) Cryonics cannot be proven to work or proven not to work until some time in the future. Cryonics is dependent on a future technology, and there is no guarantee that the future can create the required technology.
(2) Most people who seek cryonics do not simply want a procedure comparable to heroic surgery. Cryonicists are usually people who want a procedure which can transport them to a future technology capable of restoring youth, and extending youthful life-span hundreds or thousands of years or more.” (http://www.benbest.com/cryonics/cryiss.html#definition)
The questions this raises is that if you, as a medical doctor, promise to re-animate a patient, fix whatever ailment that was previously incurable and then discharge said patient, what does one do from there? Legally, the patient had to have been dead before freezing, thus his assets, social security and else have been forfeited as per the laws that oversee estates and/or social security. What does one do at this point? Who is liable to the patient? These issues will need to be examined.
Also, what occurs if in the process of thawing, the body is injured? Is that malpractice or is that desecration of a corpse? In what way will the body be taken from the morgue? I suspect that most countries have laws on the handling of dead bodies.
On the other angle, what of the needed medical care after the thawing? If the patient died of a then-incurable ailment, what certainty does the doctor have in curing the patient in the future? Such speculation may have social and legal ramifications. If patient’s bodies are held with the indefinite promise to be re-animated once the cure for their particular disease is found, to what extent is the doctor held to find such a cure or to thaw in a fair and speedy manner? Is there a warranty that can be applied?
Many cryonics centers defend their practices firmly. One such facility, run by Alcor Life Extension Foundation seems to take to their pursuits sternly and are quick to defend themselves.
“The people working on organ preservation routinely load and unload organs with cryoprotectant levels similar to what we are using…It is certainly true that our patients are badly injured. So badly injured (by disease usually) that current medical practice has no way to extend their lives (at least with any quality of life).” (http://www.alcor.org/Library/html/MedicalEthicsInCryonics.html)
Though the Alcor folk may stand by their operation, they seem a bit cavalier taking money from patients when Alcor openly states “, all the king's nanotechnology will not bring back a patient's memories and personality beyond some point. We try to do as little damage to the patient as possible, guided by our experience in recovering total body washout animals.” So as it stands, they promise to bring back to life their paying (dead) customers on the notion that they have researched and experimented on animals, and agree with naysayers on their lack of scientific background as to the limits they can attest to their abilities. (http://www.alcor.org/Library/html/MedicalEthicsInCryonics.html)
Another ethical question is that of whether or not such a procedure, if made widespread, will become compulsory. Given that there are laws against suicide, assisted or otherwise, can the state require your body to be cronically interred until a “cure” becomes available? What of the wishes of the departed? Can a religious body intercede? If the process of cryonics proves to be a rational delivery of life-after-death, are all deaths then considered repairable? Even of “natural causes? Can the cryonics firm choose not to re-animate a patient if there has been a failure of the responsible party to make the necessary payments; a sort of blackmail or legal lien on life itself?
Many of our life-to-death deals will come into question, both social and legal. What becomes of a marriage if there is no limit on the extension of a beloved’s life? Are you married indefinitely? Can you seek a divorce from a deceased? Real estate handling and co-signatures become tempestuous. “Wake up and sign this paper Honey”! Heirs everywhere beware, your uncle may need that suit back at some point! I cannot imagine the impact on wills, contracts, estates or even the responsibility of parenthood. If a person dies, yet is frozen, does he loose custody of a child? Is he retroactively charged for childcare until he/she is woken? Alas, the worst yet. Is a person held accountable for their actions if they had died yet re-animated? Is a soldier indebted to serve out his remaining service period if he is killed in action, only to be given a second chance at life?
These questions must be worked out morally, politically and legally before the practice of cryonics gets out of hand. The turn of the phrase “A second lease in life” certainly will carry a different allusion and weight in that near future.
The subject may seem cut and dry. What arrangements made post (or prearranged) mortem of a body remains (sic) in control of the person or family of the person. It should stand to reason that a new medical procedure such as cryonics could be an option. Yet there are two things that seem to parry the statement. Ben Best, the Director of the Cryonics Institute avers that cryonics is controversial in two main ways.
“(1) Cryonics cannot be proven to work or proven not to work until some time in the future. Cryonics is dependent on a future technology, and there is no guarantee that the future can create the required technology.
(2) Most people who seek cryonics do not simply want a procedure comparable to heroic surgery. Cryonicists are usually people who want a procedure which can transport them to a future technology capable of restoring youth, and extending youthful life-span hundreds or thousands of years or more.” (http://www.benbest.com/cryonics/cryiss.html#definition)
The questions this raises is that if you, as a medical doctor, promise to re-animate a patient, fix whatever ailment that was previously incurable and then discharge said patient, what does one do from there? Legally, the patient had to have been dead before freezing, thus his assets, social security and else have been forfeited as per the laws that oversee estates and/or social security. What does one do at this point? Who is liable to the patient? These issues will need to be examined.
Also, what occurs if in the process of thawing, the body is injured? Is that malpractice or is that desecration of a corpse? In what way will the body be taken from the morgue? I suspect that most countries have laws on the handling of dead bodies.
On the other angle, what of the needed medical care after the thawing? If the patient died of a then-incurable ailment, what certainty does the doctor have in curing the patient in the future? Such speculation may have social and legal ramifications. If patient’s bodies are held with the indefinite promise to be re-animated once the cure for their particular disease is found, to what extent is the doctor held to find such a cure or to thaw in a fair and speedy manner? Is there a warranty that can be applied?
Many cryonics centers defend their practices firmly. One such facility, run by Alcor Life Extension Foundation seems to take to their pursuits sternly and are quick to defend themselves.
“The people working on organ preservation routinely load and unload organs with cryoprotectant levels similar to what we are using…It is certainly true that our patients are badly injured. So badly injured (by disease usually) that current medical practice has no way to extend their lives (at least with any quality of life).” (http://www.alcor.org/Library/html/MedicalEthicsInCryonics.html)
Though the Alcor folk may stand by their operation, they seem a bit cavalier taking money from patients when Alcor openly states “, all the king's nanotechnology will not bring back a patient's memories and personality beyond some point. We try to do as little damage to the patient as possible, guided by our experience in recovering total body washout animals.” So as it stands, they promise to bring back to life their paying (dead) customers on the notion that they have researched and experimented on animals, and agree with naysayers on their lack of scientific background as to the limits they can attest to their abilities. (http://www.alcor.org/Library/html/MedicalEthicsInCryonics.html)
Another ethical question is that of whether or not such a procedure, if made widespread, will become compulsory. Given that there are laws against suicide, assisted or otherwise, can the state require your body to be cronically interred until a “cure” becomes available? What of the wishes of the departed? Can a religious body intercede? If the process of cryonics proves to be a rational delivery of life-after-death, are all deaths then considered repairable? Even of “natural causes? Can the cryonics firm choose not to re-animate a patient if there has been a failure of the responsible party to make the necessary payments; a sort of blackmail or legal lien on life itself?
Many of our life-to-death deals will come into question, both social and legal. What becomes of a marriage if there is no limit on the extension of a beloved’s life? Are you married indefinitely? Can you seek a divorce from a deceased? Real estate handling and co-signatures become tempestuous. “Wake up and sign this paper Honey”! Heirs everywhere beware, your uncle may need that suit back at some point! I cannot imagine the impact on wills, contracts, estates or even the responsibility of parenthood. If a person dies, yet is frozen, does he loose custody of a child? Is he retroactively charged for childcare until he/she is woken? Alas, the worst yet. Is a person held accountable for their actions if they had died yet re-animated? Is a soldier indebted to serve out his remaining service period if he is killed in action, only to be given a second chance at life?
These questions must be worked out morally, politically and legally before the practice of cryonics gets out of hand. The turn of the phrase “A second lease in life” certainly will carry a different allusion and weight in that near future.
To Clone, Or Not To Condone
In 1996 Science and science fiction met with worldwide ado. Ian Wilmut, a British scientist working in Scotland was able to clone a female sheep using a mammary cell. With wonder or disgust, Dolly took the center stage for the debate on the bio-ethics of cloning. Scientists clone animals by removing the nucleus from an animal egg, and replacing it with the nucleus from a body cell of another animal. This way, the egg develops into an animal that has identical genetic traits as the animal whose cell nucleus was taken. (http://www.time.com/time/2007/cloning/2.html)
This debate, whether we, as humans, have the right to clone humans, animals or otherwise, rides on the crest of many underlying ideas and opinions. As science moves forward into the future, what we decide now on the bio-ethical questions will forever mark the pathways to come.
The big question that comes up is the morality of cloning. Even before we look at the health or environmental or even the custodial principles that come into the gray are of cloning we must first think on this. Is it morally ethical to clone? This question splits into two camps..
Firstly, stepping on God’s turf. At what point of human intervention in the name of life creation, reproduction or interfering is crossing into the ventures of The Creator. “God never intended for people to be cranked off an assembly line like so many pieces of machinery. This is such a fundamental principle that even the most obtuse ought to recognize it.” (http://www.christiancourier.com/articles/read/the_ethics_of_human_cloning) The view from the Christian Courier attacks both the impetus and impact of scientific cloning ventures, stating that “While there is no apparent ethical offence in cloning a carrot, or even a frog, such is not the case with people…humans are not mere animals that have evolved from biological slime. They are creatures specially fashioned by God; which means they are unique in their nature.” The paper goes on to decry the efforts as being beyond the scope at which man should be working in.
The Other side of the moral question is that in our haste to interfere genetically with the organisms on earth that we supercede the natural ways of things, from biodiversity and beyond. A food industry specialist, Professor Andrew Starbird , director of SCU's Institute of Agribusiness states in an interview with Robin K. Sterns, Ph.D. (http://www.scu.edu/ethics/publications/submitted/sterns/doublenothing.html) that “genetic diversity has been lost through cloning-reproduction through cuttings-in grapes and apples. It has been lost, as well, through breeding in beans, corn, potatoes, and several vegetable crops.” This, he avers, will lead to loss of crops from diseases or intolerance to pests. The theory here is that when crops, humans, animals….any group organisms occur naturally, the diversity in their genetic make-up prevents a disease from attacking and killing off the whole lot. If a whole herd of cows all shared too similar a gene sequence, it leaves the whole herd open to a genetic disease that otherwise may only have affected some. This can result in an increase of major loss from disease. Genetic variability allows some individual plants to survive plagues, while genetic homogeneity makes all individuals equally susceptible to disease." (http://www.scu.edu/ethics/publications/submitted/sterns/doublenothing.html)
With these two basic views being looked at, whether a question of human will mixed with a percieved God complication or the genetic recombination waning that could end the lives of large populations through disease, cloning remains a challenge of doctrine, future-science and opinion.
This debate, whether we, as humans, have the right to clone humans, animals or otherwise, rides on the crest of many underlying ideas and opinions. As science moves forward into the future, what we decide now on the bio-ethical questions will forever mark the pathways to come.
The big question that comes up is the morality of cloning. Even before we look at the health or environmental or even the custodial principles that come into the gray are of cloning we must first think on this. Is it morally ethical to clone? This question splits into two camps..
Firstly, stepping on God’s turf. At what point of human intervention in the name of life creation, reproduction or interfering is crossing into the ventures of The Creator. “God never intended for people to be cranked off an assembly line like so many pieces of machinery. This is such a fundamental principle that even the most obtuse ought to recognize it.” (http://www.christiancourier.com/articles/read/the_ethics_of_human_cloning) The view from the Christian Courier attacks both the impetus and impact of scientific cloning ventures, stating that “While there is no apparent ethical offence in cloning a carrot, or even a frog, such is not the case with people…humans are not mere animals that have evolved from biological slime. They are creatures specially fashioned by God; which means they are unique in their nature.” The paper goes on to decry the efforts as being beyond the scope at which man should be working in.
The Other side of the moral question is that in our haste to interfere genetically with the organisms on earth that we supercede the natural ways of things, from biodiversity and beyond. A food industry specialist, Professor Andrew Starbird , director of SCU's Institute of Agribusiness states in an interview with Robin K. Sterns, Ph.D. (http://www.scu.edu/ethics/publications/submitted/sterns/doublenothing.html) that “genetic diversity has been lost through cloning-reproduction through cuttings-in grapes and apples. It has been lost, as well, through breeding in beans, corn, potatoes, and several vegetable crops.” This, he avers, will lead to loss of crops from diseases or intolerance to pests. The theory here is that when crops, humans, animals….any group organisms occur naturally, the diversity in their genetic make-up prevents a disease from attacking and killing off the whole lot. If a whole herd of cows all shared too similar a gene sequence, it leaves the whole herd open to a genetic disease that otherwise may only have affected some. This can result in an increase of major loss from disease. Genetic variability allows some individual plants to survive plagues, while genetic homogeneity makes all individuals equally susceptible to disease." (http://www.scu.edu/ethics/publications/submitted/sterns/doublenothing.html)
With these two basic views being looked at, whether a question of human will mixed with a percieved God complication or the genetic recombination waning that could end the lives of large populations through disease, cloning remains a challenge of doctrine, future-science and opinion.
Invading, North and South
Bill Bigelow leads his students in Portland Oregon south, toward the Rio Grande, and deep into areas of critical thinking. Bigelow addresses the disconnect that high school age students have between the Mexican immigrants and NAFTA and the intertwining history that America shares with the Mexican nation. Through role playing that asks students to take on personas both historical and current, the students will better grasp perspectives that are overshadowing the news and topical discussion today over the borders.
One of Bigelow’s contentions in his American History course is that the text books in his curriculum, which are probably representative of the US as a whole, seem to make a hasty mention of the poignant past transgressions the US has made against Mexico as well as the effects of NAFTA on both parties. By asking students to assume roles that may or may not coincide with their presuppositions on the subject of Mexico there will be more room for critical thinking on an individual student standpoint.
I believe that Bigelow’s views are quite correct in that the youth (and adult) population of the United States take on the Mexican influx in our population, the reasons behind this trend and the impacting precursors to this movement. What the media has created in the wake of these trends is a stereotype, fear and a general misplaced apathy to the bigger issues at stake on the US and Mexican border dispute.
“As educators, our job is not to hand students conclusions about the border. But especially because this history does not figure prominently in the traditional curriculum in the US schools—and students are unlikely to be exposed to it on the nightly news—it’s up to us to introduce some critical voices.”
The current ado over the Mexico issues at hand is the perfect example of when history, albeit sometimes shadowed by misinformation or lack of it, and current events tangle. The curriculum in American history may not be forming a strong enough basis for students to begin tackling the subject matter in terms of their own lives and current problems or events. Bill Bigelow is attempting to bring about a more round-table and empathic approach to current affairs by broaching the historic content that affects the present. I agree wholeheartedly with the implementation of role-playing in the classroom as a means of perspective gathering and critical thinking. Certain historic eras, events or ideals are somewhat slighted or undervalued in terms of generality or stereotyping. I wonder on the impact of a more in-depth look at the USSR during the 1980’s when I was in school, on the stance that I took on the Nation. Would I have had the rock-imbedded images of cold oppression that I carried in my head or would I have had a well thought on and “arrived” opinion on the subject if I had been offered more perspectives on the topic.
The relevance of this timely book is plain to see in my opinion. A better-rounded critical and up-to-date mind needs to be forged in the halls of education. The media should not be able to paint on blank canvasses with stereotypes, generalities and idolatry. These pictures should be drawn from a historical AND current evaluation of the information facing students in all arenas; whether on the Mexican border, the middle east, Trade treaties, Ecology……the list goes on. Bill Bigelow sums up why this should be a growing trend in education by his ending comments.
“Our job is to offer students imaginative ways to engage the historic, social, and economic background that will equip them to think carefully about the lines between us and the bonds that connect us.” RETHINKING Globalization: Teaching for Justice in an Unjust World
One of Bigelow’s contentions in his American History course is that the text books in his curriculum, which are probably representative of the US as a whole, seem to make a hasty mention of the poignant past transgressions the US has made against Mexico as well as the effects of NAFTA on both parties. By asking students to assume roles that may or may not coincide with their presuppositions on the subject of Mexico there will be more room for critical thinking on an individual student standpoint.
I believe that Bigelow’s views are quite correct in that the youth (and adult) population of the United States take on the Mexican influx in our population, the reasons behind this trend and the impacting precursors to this movement. What the media has created in the wake of these trends is a stereotype, fear and a general misplaced apathy to the bigger issues at stake on the US and Mexican border dispute.
“As educators, our job is not to hand students conclusions about the border. But especially because this history does not figure prominently in the traditional curriculum in the US schools—and students are unlikely to be exposed to it on the nightly news—it’s up to us to introduce some critical voices.”
The current ado over the Mexico issues at hand is the perfect example of when history, albeit sometimes shadowed by misinformation or lack of it, and current events tangle. The curriculum in American history may not be forming a strong enough basis for students to begin tackling the subject matter in terms of their own lives and current problems or events. Bill Bigelow is attempting to bring about a more round-table and empathic approach to current affairs by broaching the historic content that affects the present. I agree wholeheartedly with the implementation of role-playing in the classroom as a means of perspective gathering and critical thinking. Certain historic eras, events or ideals are somewhat slighted or undervalued in terms of generality or stereotyping. I wonder on the impact of a more in-depth look at the USSR during the 1980’s when I was in school, on the stance that I took on the Nation. Would I have had the rock-imbedded images of cold oppression that I carried in my head or would I have had a well thought on and “arrived” opinion on the subject if I had been offered more perspectives on the topic.
The relevance of this timely book is plain to see in my opinion. A better-rounded critical and up-to-date mind needs to be forged in the halls of education. The media should not be able to paint on blank canvasses with stereotypes, generalities and idolatry. These pictures should be drawn from a historical AND current evaluation of the information facing students in all arenas; whether on the Mexican border, the middle east, Trade treaties, Ecology……the list goes on. Bill Bigelow sums up why this should be a growing trend in education by his ending comments.
“Our job is to offer students imaginative ways to engage the historic, social, and economic background that will equip them to think carefully about the lines between us and the bonds that connect us.” RETHINKING Globalization: Teaching for Justice in an Unjust World
Frankenstein, Science or Fiction
Frankenstein or, The Modern Prometheus as it is also known, was first published in 1818. Written by Mary Shelley, this well-known tale challenges the reader to suspend hi or her disbelief, to paraphrase Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and bear witness to the “birth” of a piecemeal man, a man whose re-animating seems less than probable. Or Does it?
Modern times bring with it fresh scientific perspective. Through advances in medical methodology, genetics, and surgical strategies, the Frankenstein monster seems closer to fact than a imagined fiction. Following are what I have found in examining possible courses to take in the construction and re-animation of a human body.
Galvanism
Named for the Italian scientist, Luigi Galvani who studied the effects of electricity on nervous system and muscles. The idea behind this study was that if one could apply just the right amount of electricity to a dead animal that you could re-animate it…or at least it would twitch a lot. (http://web.fccj.org/~ethall/electro/electro.htm) Though galvanism is still practiced, it is now the term used for the physical therapy technique. Chiropractors such as Dr. Ann Raymer “a circuit of a sine wave current passes through two strategically placed pads creating a rhythmic contraction and relaxation of muscles on each side of the spine. This massaging effect helps eliminate toxins by aiding the de-congestion of the lymph system and increasing circulation. This is often used to help with sore muscles, and to rehabilitate and strengthen injured muscles.” (http://users.moscow.com/araymer/therapies.html)
Test Tube Organs
If Dr. Frankenstein had been able to conjure the correct amount of electricity to course through his patient, he would still have had to fill the body with viable organs. Well it seems that some university scientists “took cell samples from several patients with conditions that cause a weak bladder. In the lab, the researchers coaxed the cells to grow into new bladders. The lab-grown organs were then transplanted into the patients. Four years later, the bladders are functioning well and relatively free of problems common to implanted bladders cobbled together from intestinal and other tissues.” (http://www.soundmedicine.iu.edu/segment.php4?seg=836) With this newly emerging medical science, Frankenstein would have been able to generate new versions of the dead organs that he had harvested from whatever dubious point of origin. Not dealing now with lifeless lungs and gangrenous livers, but newborn lungs and livers would have greatly increased the vitality and viability in his creation. Important still, would be that if he could use as whole of a body as he could find, he would also limit the rejection of foreign proteins regarding the differing body parts negotiated into one whole. Although many new drugs are available (Thymoglobulin® et al) that aid to lower the incident of acute rejection, Use of organs and tissue grown in a test tube from the same cadaver would be best used to prevent issues. Skin synthesis or a type of “cultured skin” has been much sought after in repair of skin tissue. In a July article, appearing in Technology Review (MIT) Carolyn Strange writes that “According to its manufacturer, Organogenesis of Canton, Mass., when the living-skin tissue was used in clinical studies on patients…57 percent of patients who had battled their ulcers for more than a year saw their wounds close completely, compared with 17 percent of those receiving conventional treatment.” (http://www.technologyreview.com/Biotech/11575/) Perhaps Dr. Frankenstein’s creation would not have been so unbecoming had he had a way to achieve “…skin looks, feels, and behaves like normal human skin. When wounded, it can even heal itself.” (http://www.technologyreview.com/Biotech/11575/)
Nerve and Plastic Reconstruction
As for the nerves and their reconstruction, we simply need to ask the folks at The Institute for Advanced Reconstruction whose surgeons “can restore a healthy, normal appearance to patients who have suffered some type of trauma. Our plastic surgeons have mastered a wide range of techniques that can help give you back a normal life.” Because “developments allow patients to regain function and restore appearance in ways that were almost unimaginable in the not-too-distant past.” (http://www.advancedreconstruction.com/) What Frankenstein did not have available was surgical procedures such as brachial plexus reconstruction, bells palsy treatment, radial and ulnar nerve surgery, and foot drop treatment. In these treatments, grafts may be taken from other areas of your body and placed into the needed connections, transplants from a donor can be used in longer severe-ages, though they will need immunosuppression such as was with the organ donation.
Limb Reattachment
Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center asserts that surgeons now can reattach amputated limbs to bodies. The good Dr. would be rolling in his grave had he known that in the future that doctors can now reattach limbs in such a way as we do now. Paired with the nerve repairs and skin graft/growth, he could have made a far superior monster in both medical and aesthetic terms.
“Remarkable advances in microsurgery have made it possible to reattach amputated limbs. Special microsutures and microscopes have been developed which allow a microvascular surgeon to repair the blood supply to the reattached limb. Microvascular surgeons have developed new techniques for repairing these very small blood vessels. These surgeons, originally trained in orthopaedic, plastic and general surgery, receive additional training in this highly specialized area.”
(http://www.hmc.psu.edu/plasticsurgery/services/adult/recon/microsurgery.htm)
Special microsutures and microscopes have been developed which allow a microvascular surgeon to repair the blood supply to the reattached limb.
Analysis
When we look at the problem at hand, (being how to produce a living, breathing, monster with a modicum of reliability and sustainability) we must forgive Dr. Frankenstein for the appearance, mismatch and motility of his creation. In this, the 21st century, many new and innovative medical procedures are at the beck and whim of the well-trained army of surgeons from around the globe. Whether it be gene therapy to conquer diseases, grafts, transplants or even genesis of tissue, organs or limbs, the current monster would be surely a heartier specimen.
Modern times bring with it fresh scientific perspective. Through advances in medical methodology, genetics, and surgical strategies, the Frankenstein monster seems closer to fact than a imagined fiction. Following are what I have found in examining possible courses to take in the construction and re-animation of a human body.
Galvanism
Named for the Italian scientist, Luigi Galvani who studied the effects of electricity on nervous system and muscles. The idea behind this study was that if one could apply just the right amount of electricity to a dead animal that you could re-animate it…or at least it would twitch a lot. (http://web.fccj.org/~ethall/electro/electro.htm) Though galvanism is still practiced, it is now the term used for the physical therapy technique. Chiropractors such as Dr. Ann Raymer “a circuit of a sine wave current passes through two strategically placed pads creating a rhythmic contraction and relaxation of muscles on each side of the spine. This massaging effect helps eliminate toxins by aiding the de-congestion of the lymph system and increasing circulation. This is often used to help with sore muscles, and to rehabilitate and strengthen injured muscles.” (http://users.moscow.com/araymer/therapies.html)
Test Tube Organs
If Dr. Frankenstein had been able to conjure the correct amount of electricity to course through his patient, he would still have had to fill the body with viable organs. Well it seems that some university scientists “took cell samples from several patients with conditions that cause a weak bladder. In the lab, the researchers coaxed the cells to grow into new bladders. The lab-grown organs were then transplanted into the patients. Four years later, the bladders are functioning well and relatively free of problems common to implanted bladders cobbled together from intestinal and other tissues.” (http://www.soundmedicine.iu.edu/segment.php4?seg=836) With this newly emerging medical science, Frankenstein would have been able to generate new versions of the dead organs that he had harvested from whatever dubious point of origin. Not dealing now with lifeless lungs and gangrenous livers, but newborn lungs and livers would have greatly increased the vitality and viability in his creation. Important still, would be that if he could use as whole of a body as he could find, he would also limit the rejection of foreign proteins regarding the differing body parts negotiated into one whole. Although many new drugs are available (Thymoglobulin® et al) that aid to lower the incident of acute rejection, Use of organs and tissue grown in a test tube from the same cadaver would be best used to prevent issues. Skin synthesis or a type of “cultured skin” has been much sought after in repair of skin tissue. In a July article, appearing in Technology Review (MIT) Carolyn Strange writes that “According to its manufacturer, Organogenesis of Canton, Mass., when the living-skin tissue was used in clinical studies on patients…57 percent of patients who had battled their ulcers for more than a year saw their wounds close completely, compared with 17 percent of those receiving conventional treatment.” (http://www.technologyreview.com/Biotech/11575/) Perhaps Dr. Frankenstein’s creation would not have been so unbecoming had he had a way to achieve “…skin looks, feels, and behaves like normal human skin. When wounded, it can even heal itself.” (http://www.technologyreview.com/Biotech/11575/)
Nerve and Plastic Reconstruction
As for the nerves and their reconstruction, we simply need to ask the folks at The Institute for Advanced Reconstruction whose surgeons “can restore a healthy, normal appearance to patients who have suffered some type of trauma. Our plastic surgeons have mastered a wide range of techniques that can help give you back a normal life.” Because “developments allow patients to regain function and restore appearance in ways that were almost unimaginable in the not-too-distant past.” (http://www.advancedreconstruction.com/) What Frankenstein did not have available was surgical procedures such as brachial plexus reconstruction, bells palsy treatment, radial and ulnar nerve surgery, and foot drop treatment. In these treatments, grafts may be taken from other areas of your body and placed into the needed connections, transplants from a donor can be used in longer severe-ages, though they will need immunosuppression such as was with the organ donation.
Limb Reattachment
Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center asserts that surgeons now can reattach amputated limbs to bodies. The good Dr. would be rolling in his grave had he known that in the future that doctors can now reattach limbs in such a way as we do now. Paired with the nerve repairs and skin graft/growth, he could have made a far superior monster in both medical and aesthetic terms.
“Remarkable advances in microsurgery have made it possible to reattach amputated limbs. Special microsutures and microscopes have been developed which allow a microvascular surgeon to repair the blood supply to the reattached limb. Microvascular surgeons have developed new techniques for repairing these very small blood vessels. These surgeons, originally trained in orthopaedic, plastic and general surgery, receive additional training in this highly specialized area.”
(http://www.hmc.psu.edu/plasticsurgery/services/adult/recon/microsurgery.htm)
Special microsutures and microscopes have been developed which allow a microvascular surgeon to repair the blood supply to the reattached limb.
Analysis
When we look at the problem at hand, (being how to produce a living, breathing, monster with a modicum of reliability and sustainability) we must forgive Dr. Frankenstein for the appearance, mismatch and motility of his creation. In this, the 21st century, many new and innovative medical procedures are at the beck and whim of the well-trained army of surgeons from around the globe. Whether it be gene therapy to conquer diseases, grafts, transplants or even genesis of tissue, organs or limbs, the current monster would be surely a heartier specimen.
Dolphins of Taiji, a Murder Suicide
With great alacrity do these noble fishermen, spear held aloft, carry on their hunt. Though not dressed in traditional garb or manning the small thatched canoes of their ancestors, roughly 26 men clamber into vessels at the edge of their steep, rocky shoreline. This year, as in every year, the small seaside village of Taiji at the southernmost reach of Japan's great archipelago prepare for what some may see as the most barbaric and savage of seasons. Though tradition metes out sometimes harsh realities upon our gentler and more prosaic lives, even this seems a bit harsh and out of character from the honorable people who brought us the serene sounds of haiku and nature worshiping Shinto. Nets and loud noises are used to coral these creatures, at once regarded for their poise and intelligence and their copper-like, moist flesh, into a shallow cove where they are at once beaten, speared and eviscerated. With salacious gusto, barbed gafs are employed by the men, as is threshing the very waters, to stab, pinion and pierce the writhing beasts. Hoisting them into their boats, laden with the flesh and disembodied death-mates, clicking-their dying calls. These are the last rites of what most would consider our closest cousin ( of the swimming kind).
This has not gone unnoticed. An onslaught of of publicity and the requisite public outcry met these fishermen and their grand tradition. Many conservation, animal protection and environmental activists have swum to the aide of the dolphins. In trying to interject themselves between boat and bottle-nose, many have found themselves at the intersection of the end of a spear and the end of their life.
"Thus, it was a traumatic experience that our values were attacked fiercely by western environmentalists and animal right activists." S. Hamanaka, Mayor and The People of Taiji
If the honorable Hamanaka-san is terrified by the ado stirred by the blood-roaled waters, he may want turn away, eyes cast geisha-like down when the boats come to port, bearing fins and flippers and the mercurial ire of the global community.
So we come to the grand irony, the symbolic gest. If like ours, the dolphin's proto-hand, under all the pressures of aquatic Darwanism, had taken to fingers as swimmingly as humans, they would be raising a solitary digit to these clandestinely suicidal fishermen and their compatriots who will purchase, consume and be poisoned by the very meats that they are taking such heat for partaking of.
ScienceDirect.com reveals that according to the Japanese ministry of health has found that the mercury levels found in the liver and other tastier and sought after organs "exceeds the permitted level by approximately 5000 times and the consumption of only 0.15 g of liver" and offers "the possibility of an acute intoxication by T–Hg (mercury concentration) even after a single consumption of the product."
So,the fishing village of Taiji finds itself in one clandestinely satiric situation. The very act of thumbing their nose at the conviction, conventions and custom-culling modern society will be the literal death of them. Very poetic really. In order to stave off the demise of their traditional fishing rights, they continue to kill the dolphins, which spells certain death to the villagers. If one was to view this as an outsider, as every man, woman and child outside of this piteous, execrable little far off land does, it would be lauded as the single most insane and Socaratic-ally suicidal venture in man's great fallible riddled history.
Yet, in the words of the mayor, espousing great philosophy in his A Message from Taiji, addressing the International Whaling Commission and other critics of the slaughterings ..."We are proud of our own heritage and want to hand it down to the next generations." (See mercury poisoning=no next generation.) "We believe we know more about our own sea in Taiji than anyone who lives hundreds or thousands of miles away from us."
Speaking for the dolphins posthumously, that remains to be proven.
This has not gone unnoticed. An onslaught of of publicity and the requisite public outcry met these fishermen and their grand tradition. Many conservation, animal protection and environmental activists have swum to the aide of the dolphins. In trying to interject themselves between boat and bottle-nose, many have found themselves at the intersection of the end of a spear and the end of their life.
"Thus, it was a traumatic experience that our values were attacked fiercely by western environmentalists and animal right activists." S. Hamanaka, Mayor and The People of Taiji
If the honorable Hamanaka-san is terrified by the ado stirred by the blood-roaled waters, he may want turn away, eyes cast geisha-like down when the boats come to port, bearing fins and flippers and the mercurial ire of the global community.
So we come to the grand irony, the symbolic gest. If like ours, the dolphin's proto-hand, under all the pressures of aquatic Darwanism, had taken to fingers as swimmingly as humans, they would be raising a solitary digit to these clandestinely suicidal fishermen and their compatriots who will purchase, consume and be poisoned by the very meats that they are taking such heat for partaking of.
ScienceDirect.com reveals that according to the Japanese ministry of health has found that the mercury levels found in the liver and other tastier and sought after organs "exceeds the permitted level by approximately 5000 times and the consumption of only 0.15 g of liver" and offers "the possibility of an acute intoxication by T–Hg (mercury concentration) even after a single consumption of the product."
So,the fishing village of Taiji finds itself in one clandestinely satiric situation. The very act of thumbing their nose at the conviction, conventions and custom-culling modern society will be the literal death of them. Very poetic really. In order to stave off the demise of their traditional fishing rights, they continue to kill the dolphins, which spells certain death to the villagers. If one was to view this as an outsider, as every man, woman and child outside of this piteous, execrable little far off land does, it would be lauded as the single most insane and Socaratic-ally suicidal venture in man's great fallible riddled history.
Yet, in the words of the mayor, espousing great philosophy in his A Message from Taiji, addressing the International Whaling Commission and other critics of the slaughterings ..."We are proud of our own heritage and want to hand it down to the next generations." (See mercury poisoning=no next generation.) "We believe we know more about our own sea in Taiji than anyone who lives hundreds or thousands of miles away from us."
Speaking for the dolphins posthumously, that remains to be proven.
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
To Green, Or Not To Green?
“The bottom line is that consumers do not know all the questions associated with pesticide use. Most important, no one has all the answers--not the manufacturers, not the EPA” Andrew Cuomo, Attorney General of New York State (1995)
Hybrid cars, renewable resources, conserving energy, organic foods and holistic health products-in the midst of an ever-greening populace, suburbanites are turning green with envy over the verdant and lushly loathed lawns of their neighbor. The irony lies just under foot, literally.
Lawns, lawn mowing and lawn care products alike contribute to the very environmental dilemmas that Americans are so popularly strident in fighting. In the sake of going green, we must look closer to home in making even subtle changes in our daily lives. Some of these changes may be in long strides such as deciding to invest in energy efficient home building materials, purchasing a hybrid car, forsaking the backseat (and large shopping purchases from the natural food source of one’s choice.) Others may simply choose to reuse shopping bags, bicycle to work and forgo personal hygiene chemicals and hang their laundry on a line. All viable and widely practiced “go green” solutions, yet whether holding an earth-praise rally on the city greens or spreading a blanket, lowering to sit and unwrap your organic veggie pocket in the local park, we must consider your act as a regression, a transgression against the very movement you follow to the farmer’s market.
According to Environment &Human Health Inc, a non-profit that is made up of doctors, public health professionals and policy experts committed to the reduction of environmental health risks to individuals, the maintained lawn as we know it covers 30 million acres in the U.S., over which 80 million pounds of pesticides are poured. That is ten times the amount of chemicals per acre that the American farmer uses to secure his crops for the family table. The EHH also reports that common lawn and garden chemicals handled directly by the household have been linked to mutations, birth defects and reproductive issues alike in lab animals. Ewe!
So health conscious and are we, those that would allow our children, pets and peers tread on chemical laden lawns, some of which are frequently watered, allowing the poisonous runoff seep into our streams, rivers and estuaries, further harming our environs. Not only are we affecting ourselves and immediate neighbors (check your wells), the animal world is also feeling the trickle. Two headed frogs and the dead bird (a Canadian study linked pesticides to 3 deaths per acre on farmlands) on your lawn wish to have a word over their polluted homesteads.
The University of Michigan Health System reported in 2003 that 75,000Americans, of which 10,000 are children, are injured by lawn maintenance equipment. In an ABC News segment airing in September of 2007, Young Henry Burmester had a harrowing and avoidable ordeal, an ordeal which most would not be as courageous in countenance after.
"I was behind the lawn mower," Henry said. "It backed up. I tried to push it back, but it was too strong. It pushed me down.", "At least my other foot got saved. But my toes -- they're way up in heaven by now."
If only Henry’s father had fought the societal pressure placed upon him to manicure his lot, to cultivate and nurture what really never belonged underfoot in the first place. The typical grass seed used, and researched in the early 20th century by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Golf Association, is a mix of Bermudan, African and European grasses.
Not only is the lawn mower an accident statistic tally-ticker, it has been an unforgivably polluter of our atmosphere. A Swedish study reported in 2001 that a typical lawn mower, ran for one hour, emits about the same amount of air pollutants as a 100 mile automobile trip. Without the aid of proper emission control devices commonly found in a car, these small engines produce big clouds of carbon monoxide and other nasty air pollutants. Imagine, every homeowner, in every neighborhood, in every town taking a Sunday drive…a 100 mile Sunday drive, every weekend. Yes, and that omits those of us who mow more frequently.
To green, or not to green, can we be ecologically friendly without having to embrace the earth-tones of a dirt lawn, a bark-mulch moat around our abodes? Earth Easy.com, a environmental sustainability website offers many cost effective (taking in the eco-costs of a lawn already expressed) alternatives to the traditional and trendy turf lawn. Clover, which needs no mowing, is excellent groundcover that requires little and remains green even through harsh conditions…May also provide luck. Results may vary.
Native flora, wild grasses and flowers can be charming. What coziness could be found on a bad of an expanse of moss? Go Zen with a rock garden. Get rustic with hay, make a second income with alfalfa. Strawberries can be sweet yard filler while a blackberry bramble can provide much sought privacys.
From land, sea and air, the lawn mower to the emergency room, lawns and lawn care can be the source of trauma, both physical and environmental. To end this rein, to cause a great “green” coup would be a bio-boon. Whatever you choose, the cleaner air, silent afternoons and the quieting of phantom limbs everywhere will be your reward.
Hybrid cars, renewable resources, conserving energy, organic foods and holistic health products-in the midst of an ever-greening populace, suburbanites are turning green with envy over the verdant and lushly loathed lawns of their neighbor. The irony lies just under foot, literally.
Lawns, lawn mowing and lawn care products alike contribute to the very environmental dilemmas that Americans are so popularly strident in fighting. In the sake of going green, we must look closer to home in making even subtle changes in our daily lives. Some of these changes may be in long strides such as deciding to invest in energy efficient home building materials, purchasing a hybrid car, forsaking the backseat (and large shopping purchases from the natural food source of one’s choice.) Others may simply choose to reuse shopping bags, bicycle to work and forgo personal hygiene chemicals and hang their laundry on a line. All viable and widely practiced “go green” solutions, yet whether holding an earth-praise rally on the city greens or spreading a blanket, lowering to sit and unwrap your organic veggie pocket in the local park, we must consider your act as a regression, a transgression against the very movement you follow to the farmer’s market.
According to Environment &Human Health Inc, a non-profit that is made up of doctors, public health professionals and policy experts committed to the reduction of environmental health risks to individuals, the maintained lawn as we know it covers 30 million acres in the U.S., over which 80 million pounds of pesticides are poured. That is ten times the amount of chemicals per acre that the American farmer uses to secure his crops for the family table. The EHH also reports that common lawn and garden chemicals handled directly by the household have been linked to mutations, birth defects and reproductive issues alike in lab animals. Ewe!
So health conscious and are we, those that would allow our children, pets and peers tread on chemical laden lawns, some of which are frequently watered, allowing the poisonous runoff seep into our streams, rivers and estuaries, further harming our environs. Not only are we affecting ourselves and immediate neighbors (check your wells), the animal world is also feeling the trickle. Two headed frogs and the dead bird (a Canadian study linked pesticides to 3 deaths per acre on farmlands) on your lawn wish to have a word over their polluted homesteads.
The University of Michigan Health System reported in 2003 that 75,000Americans, of which 10,000 are children, are injured by lawn maintenance equipment. In an ABC News segment airing in September of 2007, Young Henry Burmester had a harrowing and avoidable ordeal, an ordeal which most would not be as courageous in countenance after.
"I was behind the lawn mower," Henry said. "It backed up. I tried to push it back, but it was too strong. It pushed me down.", "At least my other foot got saved. But my toes -- they're way up in heaven by now."
If only Henry’s father had fought the societal pressure placed upon him to manicure his lot, to cultivate and nurture what really never belonged underfoot in the first place. The typical grass seed used, and researched in the early 20th century by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Golf Association, is a mix of Bermudan, African and European grasses.
Not only is the lawn mower an accident statistic tally-ticker, it has been an unforgivably polluter of our atmosphere. A Swedish study reported in 2001 that a typical lawn mower, ran for one hour, emits about the same amount of air pollutants as a 100 mile automobile trip. Without the aid of proper emission control devices commonly found in a car, these small engines produce big clouds of carbon monoxide and other nasty air pollutants. Imagine, every homeowner, in every neighborhood, in every town taking a Sunday drive…a 100 mile Sunday drive, every weekend. Yes, and that omits those of us who mow more frequently.
To green, or not to green, can we be ecologically friendly without having to embrace the earth-tones of a dirt lawn, a bark-mulch moat around our abodes? Earth Easy.com, a environmental sustainability website offers many cost effective (taking in the eco-costs of a lawn already expressed) alternatives to the traditional and trendy turf lawn. Clover, which needs no mowing, is excellent groundcover that requires little and remains green even through harsh conditions…May also provide luck. Results may vary.
Native flora, wild grasses and flowers can be charming. What coziness could be found on a bad of an expanse of moss? Go Zen with a rock garden. Get rustic with hay, make a second income with alfalfa. Strawberries can be sweet yard filler while a blackberry bramble can provide much sought privacys.
From land, sea and air, the lawn mower to the emergency room, lawns and lawn care can be the source of trauma, both physical and environmental. To end this rein, to cause a great “green” coup would be a bio-boon. Whatever you choose, the cleaner air, silent afternoons and the quieting of phantom limbs everywhere will be your reward.
Lemmings To The Cliff
The keys rattle. The hand reaches. Yes, yes. Leash is off the hook….and the crowd goes wild. The beasts are at the gate, gnashing and moaning. As the knob turns all eyes are on the door. At the first stir of the hinges…. BANG, they’re off! Three unique tom-tom tattoos of paws on the stairs beat in rapid succession. I am pulled along not only by the tenacious sense of mission imbued by the rushing, yelping team, but also by the tensile tethers of these fervent mongrels.
The mission reads like a need-to-know dossier. As the Cerebus yanks me toward the awaiting chariot, these three dogs-become-one do not register that their deliverance to an unwelcome future lies within the windowed confines of the Ford. One-two-three, in they go, each grinning, cheeks held upward with the wild thoughts running behind puppy-dog eyes. The Alpha male, outwardly serene against the high-pitched whine and cry of his companions, shoots me a “The troops will be ready for anything” look across the faded, grey bench seat. Yes, good soldier, no bridge too far. Right.
While we make our way through after-school traffic, with the windows cranked and the radio’s music being carried out, sharing the wind with tri-colored sheddings, the two smaller dogs scramble at the passenger window. Click. Clack. Click. Clack. The door locks are aptly placed for paws. Looking over at the baby of the bunch, he stares through me as if catatonic, his lines blurred with the tremors of potential energy trapped inside. The few miles to the groomer is uneventful, though to hear it from my passengers it was akin to any amusement ride. In fact, for these three unknowing victims, this rollercoaster ends in their own personal hell (of which, I as their betrayer belong in the ninth circle next to Cain).
As I drift the truck into the parking lot, I sneak a glance at these three poor lambs, eyebrows raised, noses searching the air for what lies ahead. Is it naiveté that emboldens them? Is it bravery, that fire under their collars that stirs them forward against the window? Or is it a madness, yes, truly that look, the foaming, open, maniacal grin they wear, begging me, willing my hand to reach for the door latch. “Put me in the game coach, I’m ready!” I have to turn my eyes away, I am shamed.
Pop! Like a pan of hirsute Jiffy-Pop, we explode onto the scene. The truck’s door releases, the dogs come out of the shoot running. The whirling of the three retractable leashes buzz into the afternoon’s calm. Had my seatbelt still been buckled my arms would have felt as Hemingway’s did on the Marlin hunt. But unlike game fish, these dogs are creatures of scent and must pause frequently and as the groomer did not spare the expense of good landscaping I am quick to regain control of the situation.
Even as we approach the door these courageous canines retain their intensity. Pulling, leaping at the glass door, sluicing it with their juicy curiosity, they still remain dim to what lies just on the other side. I cinch the leashes tighter and step behind them, it could occur that one or more may attempt a coward’s getaway once inside. The barbarians are pounding at the gate; scraping, pawing and gnawing, the invaders seek entry. Gaining it, they rush forth, sounding off in anticipation of loot, booty and fortune. Surprise.
What these seekers find on the other side is the sing-song siren call of a dog-loving receptionist, whose brainsick smile gains her no quarter . In fact, her earnestness in addressing the arrival of dogs is so unsettling in its tempo and decibel that I, myself am uneasy. Moonstruck, touched, gaga perhaps, she rushes out, her grin too big, her eyes too wide, and takes a leash. Like a reluctant and furry balloon, plucked from its bunch, one dog at random is whisked to the back room. In all truth, this may well likely be a dog’s House of Pain, a twisted and tortuous laboratory where God knows what happens…though you’d think the regularity of our visits would give insight to the goings on. The backward glance, the pleading eyes of each dog in turn; it would seem otherwise.
One, two, three, they go in, they come out. What evils befell them behind the closed doors is forgotten as soon as I lead them, closely clipped and coifed toward the exit. Their step sprightly, the wide, toothy, grinning masks back in place. The truck in the parking lot gleams to match the sparkle in their eyes. What magical and wondrous places will it take them? Home? The park? Donut shop? The veterinarian? Whatever awaits them, it will be met with unmatched and unquestioned zeal. Like lemmings to the cliff, these three adventurers will march arduously onward to whatever lay ahead
The mission reads like a need-to-know dossier. As the Cerebus yanks me toward the awaiting chariot, these three dogs-become-one do not register that their deliverance to an unwelcome future lies within the windowed confines of the Ford. One-two-three, in they go, each grinning, cheeks held upward with the wild thoughts running behind puppy-dog eyes. The Alpha male, outwardly serene against the high-pitched whine and cry of his companions, shoots me a “The troops will be ready for anything” look across the faded, grey bench seat. Yes, good soldier, no bridge too far. Right.
While we make our way through after-school traffic, with the windows cranked and the radio’s music being carried out, sharing the wind with tri-colored sheddings, the two smaller dogs scramble at the passenger window. Click. Clack. Click. Clack. The door locks are aptly placed for paws. Looking over at the baby of the bunch, he stares through me as if catatonic, his lines blurred with the tremors of potential energy trapped inside. The few miles to the groomer is uneventful, though to hear it from my passengers it was akin to any amusement ride. In fact, for these three unknowing victims, this rollercoaster ends in their own personal hell (of which, I as their betrayer belong in the ninth circle next to Cain).
As I drift the truck into the parking lot, I sneak a glance at these three poor lambs, eyebrows raised, noses searching the air for what lies ahead. Is it naiveté that emboldens them? Is it bravery, that fire under their collars that stirs them forward against the window? Or is it a madness, yes, truly that look, the foaming, open, maniacal grin they wear, begging me, willing my hand to reach for the door latch. “Put me in the game coach, I’m ready!” I have to turn my eyes away, I am shamed.
Pop! Like a pan of hirsute Jiffy-Pop, we explode onto the scene. The truck’s door releases, the dogs come out of the shoot running. The whirling of the three retractable leashes buzz into the afternoon’s calm. Had my seatbelt still been buckled my arms would have felt as Hemingway’s did on the Marlin hunt. But unlike game fish, these dogs are creatures of scent and must pause frequently and as the groomer did not spare the expense of good landscaping I am quick to regain control of the situation.
Even as we approach the door these courageous canines retain their intensity. Pulling, leaping at the glass door, sluicing it with their juicy curiosity, they still remain dim to what lies just on the other side. I cinch the leashes tighter and step behind them, it could occur that one or more may attempt a coward’s getaway once inside. The barbarians are pounding at the gate; scraping, pawing and gnawing, the invaders seek entry. Gaining it, they rush forth, sounding off in anticipation of loot, booty and fortune. Surprise.
What these seekers find on the other side is the sing-song siren call of a dog-loving receptionist, whose brainsick smile gains her no quarter . In fact, her earnestness in addressing the arrival of dogs is so unsettling in its tempo and decibel that I, myself am uneasy. Moonstruck, touched, gaga perhaps, she rushes out, her grin too big, her eyes too wide, and takes a leash. Like a reluctant and furry balloon, plucked from its bunch, one dog at random is whisked to the back room. In all truth, this may well likely be a dog’s House of Pain, a twisted and tortuous laboratory where God knows what happens…though you’d think the regularity of our visits would give insight to the goings on. The backward glance, the pleading eyes of each dog in turn; it would seem otherwise.
One, two, three, they go in, they come out. What evils befell them behind the closed doors is forgotten as soon as I lead them, closely clipped and coifed toward the exit. Their step sprightly, the wide, toothy, grinning masks back in place. The truck in the parking lot gleams to match the sparkle in their eyes. What magical and wondrous places will it take them? Home? The park? Donut shop? The veterinarian? Whatever awaits them, it will be met with unmatched and unquestioned zeal. Like lemmings to the cliff, these three adventurers will march arduously onward to whatever lay ahead
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