“Because of all the places within a year’s ride of here, this is the only place to be.” — World Party

Happy Earth Day, Everyone!

Some say the “Environmental Movement” has itself become a corporation indistinguishable from its foes. Some say that “the people” no longer trust “the movement.” Some even say the movement is irrelevant because everyone is an environmentalist now. Yeah, that last one is especially funny.

Whatever bits of truth float in those views, all of us are coming to realize how fucked up the World has made the Earth. We see the climate change, and the severity of destruction it spawns. We see the diseases that may very well be Earth’s antibodies against humans. We see the end of the Era of Fossil Fuels and the shorter-term sputters of that dying system. We have a good sense of what is wrong, how we play into that, and how we are going to be part of the change. We all *know* that in a single lifetime everything will change dramatically. Our house is on fire. mjh

PS: Wow — I used that analogy 10 months before Al Gore used it. (4/22/06)

mjh’s blog — Hug a Hippie

I nest between a great river and greater mountains beneath a stunning sky. I think Frank Zappa said it best when he said, “It’s fucking great to be alive.” (There goes my parental rating. Sorry, kids.)

It’s not that I’m always high on life. It is obvious that it is far easier — more natural — for humans to destroy than preserve. And the End of Days are going to be hideous and slow. But, optimist that I am, I believe the Earth will rebound and return without out the infection of humankind. (To our successors: Learn from our mistakes, even though we could not.)

Thirty-eight years ago, Earth Day began as an extension of the hippie movement. Yes — thank the hippies! Thank the liberals. Thank Tricky Dick Nixon — whose daughter, Julie Nixon Eisenhower, supports Obama — for bowing to democracy momentarily to support the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts and the establishment of the Environmental Protection Agency and the Endangered Species Act. Every one of those things *infuriates* the Radically Wrong, who would condemn Nixon for his liberalism. (Such insanity may be a consequence of environmental degradation, ironically.)

Peace, love and happiness,

mjh

mjh’s blog — Hug a Hippie

mjh’s blog — How Some People Celebrated Earth Day (updated 5/8/07)

As I do every other day, I walked Lucky Dog around the neighborhood park today. Our park has two soccer fields, both of which are in use most Saturdays and, maybe, Sundays. Today, all around the two fields, I picked up small water bottles thoughtlessly tossed on the ground by players or fans (parents). We tell ourselves many lies, one of which is that “sports build character and discipline.” The evidence of that litters fields all over the world. Another lie: “environmental consciousness has become mainstream.” Or any kind of consciousness, for that matter.

To all the coaches, referees and parents: how about a post-game sweep of the field to clean-up? Show some leadership, teach some discipline, encourage some character. To the athletes: it’s up to you to keep your world from becoming a pigsty. mjh

PS: original blog entry 04/23/07; printed in abqjournal.com 5/8/07

mjh’s blog — How Some People Celebrated Earth Day (updated 5/8/07)

mjh’s blog — A Finger in the Eye

Billboards are a finger in the eye. An erect middle finger. A billboard is a selfish and cowardly statement. It says anonymously, “my profit is more important than the environment.” It places personal gain ahead of community values. Every billboard in the world should be pulled down by angry mobs.

Isn’t this picture beautiful? Doesn’t it make you proud to live in New Mexico? The mighty Tijeras Arroyo is already doomed by Mesa del Sold. In the meantime, enjoy the view. As you drive this stretch with its dozen billboards, notice most are for Clear Channel, the owners of most billboards. Buy stock and demand they get out of this business.

Farther south, Isleta shows what Indians really think of Mother Earth, with their dozens of billboards north of Los Lunas. No stoic native with a tear in his eyes at the sight of all the garbage — those are dollar signs.

Where’s your shame? mjh

mjh’s blog — A Finger in the Eye

Earth Day 2002

I celebrated Earth Day idling in line at the drive-up window. As I burned my part of the world’s resources, I waited for chemical-laden beef raised on clear-cut forest land, served with genetically modified potatoes grown in the desert, watered by rapidly melting polar icecaps. On the radio, the president called for arctic drilling. On the TV, the vice-president called for nuclear power plants. On my cell phone, I called for replacement batteries for my laptop, my digital camera, my CD player, my pacemaker. On my palm-pilot, I wrote “need to get away.” I used a search engine to look for a campground with hook-ups, preferably near a convenience store. mjh

Recycling on Earth Day is a post from: mjh's blog. Thank you for subscribing. Let me know what you think. peace, mjh

Twitter users forming tribes with own language, tweet analysis shows | News | guardian.co.uk

Twitter users forming tribes with own language, tweet analysis shows | News | guardian.co.uk is a post from: mjh's blog. Thank you for subscribing. Let me know what you think. peace, mjh

Windows 8 book authors dish on Windows 8 | Microsoft Windows – InfoWorld by Woody Leonhard

My voice among others is a post from: mjh's blog. Thank you for subscribing. Let me know what you think. peace, mjh

The Forgotten Zeppelin Knot – Modern Homesteading – MOTHER EARTH NEWS

PHOTO 1 & 2:  Place bights of the two lines together, one on top of the other, so that the bitter ends lead away in opposite directions on outboard sides of the bights. PHOTO 3 & 4: Pass each bitter end around its own bight and the other bight, lead them out opposite sides of the knot, and tighten it up.

The Forgotten Zeppelin Knot – Modern Homesteading – MOTHER EARTH NEWS

Airships are coming back (really!).

Massive NASA-funded airship prototype takes off for the first time | The Verge

Earlier this month, Aeroscraft — a 36,000-pound airship prototype — successfully lifted off for the first time at its California hangar. Funded by DARPA, NASA, and the US Department of Defense, the 230-foot long lighter-than-air vehicle’s frame is made of aluminum and carbon fiber, and is covered in a reflective Mylar skin. The Aeroscraft works by pressurizing helium — the blimp-like aircraft is less buoyant when the gas is condensed, but when the helium is released, it displaces the heavier air and lifts the Aeroscraft.

The Aeroscraft uses about one-third of the fuel of conventional aircraft, and because it can lift off and land vertically, it has no need for runways or ground personnel.

Massive NASA-funded airship prototype takes off for the first time | The Verge

The Forgotten Zeppelin Knot – MOTHER EARTH NEWS is a post from: mjh's blog. Thank you for subscribing. Let me know what you think. peace, mjh

I’m reading A Game of Thrones as an e-book. For the most part, I like e-books, especially for highlighting, note-taking, and searching. I miss knowing instantly and physically where I am in the book. 

A couple of my books are available for Kindle; most are not. peace, mjh.

San Antonio’s Launching the First Completely Bookless Public Library by Eric Limer

Books, who needs ‘em? Libraries? Not anymore they don’t. The first public, bookless library is coming to San Antonio soon and, possibly, to a (dystopic?) future near you.

The new book-free library, called "BiblioTech," is intended to open in the fall and is part of a an entire bookless public library system planned for the entire county of Bexar. And it’s not "bring your own device" either. The library will actually lend out e-readers (of an unspecified brand) for two weeks at a time. There will also be computers and the like, but no books, and presumably no card catalog (!) either.

San Antonio’s Launching the First Completely Bookless Public Library

San Antonio Launching the First Completely Bookless Public Library is a post from: mjh's blog. Thank you for subscribing. Let me know what you think. peace, mjh

Ernestine Hinton loved all kinds of fabric. She frequented fabric stores, buying yards of cloth she liked, which she piled in an out-of-the-way corner solely to paw through, no specific project in mind. She loved sensual materials like satin, silk and velour. She loved color and was happy to put colors next to each other that some might call daring. When she remodeled the house — transformed it, really — she brought together golds, yellows, reds, greens, sage and Chinese lacquer, all unified by a carpet that might have pleased Jackson Pollack, a studiously patternless palette of color blotches that gave every first-time viewer pause. She wanted you to be comfortable but never complacent and she trusted you to know the difference.

Ernestine was a natural hostess, welcoming everyone with such genuine charm. Out and about, she spoke to people most others ignore, extending courtesy to everyone equally. She worked to improve the lives of many and was outraged by those who did the opposite. She did not suffer fools. She would be appalled by what we’ve become in the first decade of 2000. And she would be overjoyed to see Obama become president.

She preferred to be called Teen, but I could only call her Mom, or in occasional shock, Mother! And shock me, she did. She was her own woman and expected to be accepted as such. In conversation, she was alive and witty. She could turn a deft phrase to knock you off your feet and then pick you up and dust you off and make sure you were still OK. She was brilliant.

Although Teen was a feminist role model before that concept emerged, she loved being a mother and loved children without reserve. There was nothing more important or valuable than nurturing children. We make our future by teaching our children and by loving them.

Mom taught me to love quick wit, language and laughter. She taught me to despise ignorance, the root of hatred and most of the ugly things we do to each other. She taught me empathy and compassion and patience. She taught me to speak out when I see the emperor has no clothes. She believed everyone’s life would be improved by a little more gentle affection, even between strangers. She was kinder and more gracious than I’ll ever be. Many people and events have shaped me; she did it first and gave the world what there is to work with.

Today is the 28th anniversary of my Mother’s death. My Mom told Mer she knew I’d be angry about her death for a long time. I’ll never stop being angry about that, though I do better understand the burden of anger after all these years. Anger is a poor memorial. She deserves better. mjh

[originally posted Sun 01/14/07 at 6:27 pm]

mjh’s Blog: Cut (2004)

Mom is a post from: mjh's blog. Thank you for subscribing. Let me know what you think. peace, mjh

Tonight we steal an hour from the Future! Bwahahaha. The fools will never know. Oh, wait, if we know, they know, too. is a post from: mjh's blog. Thank you for subscribing. Let me know what you think. peace, mjh

By Dick Minzner / Albuquerque lawyer on Mon, Oct 29, 2012

There is no doubt that a professional football career shortens a player’s life expectancy appreciably. Even if life is not shortened, serious injuries frequently impair the quality of life after football. More than two thousand former players are suing the National Football League over brain injuries they allegedly suffered while playing.

These players voluntarily played football, which they probably loved, earned more money than they could have earned elsewhere and must have understood there were risks of injury. A common reaction to the suit among the public and commentators seems to be that the players made their choices and should accept the results of these choices.

An alternative common observation is that players deserve compensation if they received inadequate medical treatment or information from team doctors, and there should be better treatment and information available in the future. Nobody, however, responds by advocating the outlawing of football, even though serious injuries are inevitable.

Most Americans accept that in a free society adults can choose to do things that endanger their health, even if they seem unwise to others. Professional football is not the only, or most extreme, example.

Less visible but more tragic are the deaths of over four thousand motorcyclists per year and the serious injuries to many times that number. In boxing and other combat sports the purpose of the activity is to cause disabling injury. In college and high school sports and in unorganized sports and activities, injuries are common, some with long-lasting effects.

It is widely understood that alcohol and tobacco are proven killers and that some fast food diets can be unhealthy. We accept the decisions of adults (including, in some cases, parents of underage children) to decide whether to assume all of these risks.

There is, however, a notable exception. We spend tens of billions of public dollars annually to prevent Americans from choosing to consume marijuana and other drugs. This effort has many negative social consequences. Incarceration of criminals takes money from other needs such as education and health care. Law enforcement is diverted from other efforts. The judicial system becomes overcrowded.

Very profitable activities go untaxed, benefitting criminals at the expense of honest citizens. Our prohibition policy enriches criminal organizations and corrupts law enforcement in this country and others.

Further, marijuana prohibition has proven ineffective. Probably most adults and many high school students, if so inclined, could readily obtain marijuana in spite of its illegal status.

We should have a public discussion about whether the health risks of marijuana are clearly greater than those of alcohol, cigarettes, motorcycles, boxing and football. If not, then at least as to this drug, perhaps adults should have a choice, even if they make an unwise decision.

Are there reasons that potential marijuana purchasers in a free society should be denied the same freedom of choice to risk their health that cigarette smokers, alcohol consumers, motorcyclists, boxers and football players have?

Marijuana prohibition is, in essence, a large, ineffective government program with very substantial costs in terms of dollars, freedom and the empowerment of criminals. In an era of lean public budgets, it diverts resources that could be made available for other purposes.

Any other public program with a similar record would face substantial political opposition from both liberals and conservatives. It is time for a re-examination of our policy.

Dick Minzner is a Democratic former member of the New Mexico House of Representatives. He also was a Cabinet secretary for the Department of Taxation and Revenue.

ABQJournal Online » Marijuana Review Is Warranted

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Top 10 Safest & Most Dangerous Cities to Drive In

10 Most Unsafe Cities to Drive In

According to the new findings, the 10 most unsafe cities for driving in the U.S. are:

1. Orlando, Fla.
2. Memphis, Tenn.
3. Glendale, Tenn.
4. Miami, Fla.
5. Las Vegas
6. Birmingham, Ala.
7. Sacramento, Calif.
8. Tampa, Fla.
9. San Antonio, Texas
10. Jacksonville, Fla.

Top 10 Safest & Most Dangerous Cities to Drive In

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Second, after being immersed in green, I understand the reaction so many visitors have to the bleak and barren aspect of Albuquerque. Mind you, I will always love the expansive vista (and much more about home). It’s not just dry here — it’s exposed, naked, raw. I say this as someone who doesn’t find a deep woods comforting — I’d rather see the enemy coming from a distance, thank you. (Or hear them, in the case of all you fools with ATVs.) But steeping two weeks in innumerable shades of green from foot to a hundred feet overhead makes our tiny patch of green outside the kitchen door look like a smiley face sticker on the side of the Death Star.

See, home barely 12 hours and I’m stressing out. Did you miss me?

And we’re back … is a post from: mjh's blog. Thank you for subscribing. Let me know what you think. peace, mjh