PlasticBoy

Searching for Extraterrestrials: Where Are They? [via Slashdot]

Nobel prize–winning biochemist Christian de Duve has gone so far as to conclude, “Life is almost bound to arise … wherever physical conditions are similar to those that prevailed on our planet some four billion years ago.” So there is every reason to believe that the galaxy is teeming with living things.

Julia Butterfly bashing. [via Robot Wisdom]

“We were wrong about Julia. She makes it appear as if the tree-sit were her own endeavor when in fact Earth First! organized it, raised the money necessary to make it happen and did all the media contacts that brought public attention to her,” Cherney told The (Santa Rosa) Press Democrat.

<sarcasm>Ah, I’m sorry, so Earth First! lived in a tree for two years, not Julia Butterfly. Now I understand.</sarcasm>

Redherring.com - Dealflow: Granitar might be the next gem in the computer services industry.

E.O. Wilson: Living in shimmering disequilibrium.
The naturalistic view, though, requires that we consider the broader meaning of the sacred: the deep sense of spirituality about each other and about our natural environment. And to sacralize, to make sacred, is in my view the end product of evolution in our moral and aesthetic reasoning. It proceeds from mere preference and liking, to custom, to ritualization, to law, all the way to ascribing that behavior or perception to a profoundly important source.

Antioxidant in beer may be better than soy or citrus.
Sounds promising, you say? The only problem with xanthohumol is that you’d have to consume some 2,000 liters (of beer) per day'' in order to ingest the 10 milligrams or so of daily xanthohumolto get the effective concentration for antioxidant activity,” Buhler pointed out.

Danny Goldberg of Artemis Records.
The most-common category in Washington, however, is the straight-up philistine, epitomized by Lieberman and his chum William Bennett and much of the Washington press corps and affiliated academics.

                 Philistines really hate popular culture. The best among them have some idealized notion of ''America'' that is
                 constantly being undercut by actual Americans, the messy, coarse folk who laugh at Farrelly Brothers
                 movies, watch wrestling and listen to rap music. They really believe that the country would be a more
                 moral, compassionate place if people didn't curse so much. I don't believe that they're all bad people --
                 they just have no idea how most normal people experience art or entertainment.</i>

Interesting Gore Vidal interview in Salon.
I don’t see any progressive movement coming from anywhere in the United States. The country is locked up by corporate wealth, by the fact that it’s a totally militarized society. And there’s not a chance on earth of demilitarizing it under any of the candidates, least of all Ralph Nader, who comes in with no power base. These others have the backing of corporate America, which owns the country.

Got back from Glacier yesterday, uploaded unedited pictures, going to Atlanta for a week tomorrow. Maybe I’ll be able to blog, maybe not.

No, I haven’t been on vacation for a week, I’ve just been playing Deus Ex on my new Inspiron in all my free time. However, I am going on vacation in Glacier tomorrow, so you probably won’t hear from me for another week.