short notes: will brady's ruminations

A blog adjunct to rondak.org [click on the globe] | Perspectives on: human rights; environmental concerns; life as a visual artist; 21st century feudalism; progressive politics; aboriginal culture; new urbanism; permaculture; sustainable technology; non-traditional families; achievable utopias

2005-04-16

BOSTON MARATHON

The annual frenzy that is the Boston 26 mile marathon takes place on Monday | My best wishes to my cyber friend, John Strain who has been preparing to take part in this event for at least a couple of years now |
     You can follow John's progress in the Marathon, or anybdy else's for that matter | Participants are wearing a small microchip on their footgear that records time at specific intervals | Go to the website to watch the Boston Marathon | John will be in starting corrals number 9 and estimates "...it will take me 12 minutes to get to the starting line. No problem, because with the advent of the chip, my time will be recorded accurately | My 5K splits will be broadcast live".
     You can also watch live coverage on OLN (Outdoor Life Network). Coverage begins at 11:30 AM on Monday |
     To follow John's progress at the Boston Marathon:
Go to this website You need either his name: John Strain or his Bib Number: 9818 |
     Me? | I'll probably be at work not even thinking about the race until it's over | Good luck, John | Do us all proud |

Posted by: Will Brady / 23:54 (0) comments

FISHING SEASON

A kind of group madness sets in | By eight p.m. Friday night many fisherman had already staked their parking spot along the Salmon River |
Saturday is the first day of fishing season | Almost everyone gets into the act | Even last weekend's Sunday New York Times [10 April 05] made note of the frenzy | On the way home I noticed the the Firemen's Recreational Association Fairgrounds [East

Hampton/Colchester] was filled up with campers waiting the call | And Salmon River State Park had some early risers staking a claim on a valuable parking spot or two |
     The quarry is trout, mostly | Even though written up last year an Outdoor Central article gives a sense what can be expected opening day | Much of what is to be caught is stocked | Mike Roberts recounts getting ready for opening day |
     Opening day has it's challenges | Casting in waters usually empty yet now lined with fishing men and women just about every available edge of the river has little appeal for me | Just don't like the crowds | Though the allure is strangely compelling | Kind of like a Rite of Spring | A rock concert crowd for woodlands folks |
    &True, stocking the rivers makes fishing more like farming, but there's nothing wrong with that | Harvesting one's food has a much more honest aspect to it than grabbing the freshly thawed frozen fish from a package [visualize that for a moment] You are closer to the source of your food and several steps closer to gustatory independence | Speaking of which, once caught, cooking your meal is the next step | There are many recipes for trout | Here's one from Dining at Great American Lodges

1 teaspoon each ground cumin, chili powder, paprika, salt, pepper, and finely grated lemon zest
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
4 red trout fillets
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
4 sprigs fresh parsley and lemon wedges for garnish
In a small bowl, combine the spices, lemon zest, and flour. Spread the spice mixture on a large plate and lightly dredge each trout fillet on both sides in the mixture. Set aside.
In a large frying pan, melt the butter over medium-high heat and add the trout fillets just before the butter browns. Cook for 4 minutes on each side, or until golden brown. Transfer the fillets to each of 4 plates and garnish with parsley and lemon. Serve immediately.
Makes 4 servings

But, remember one thing | If you are going fishing this year, do everyone a favor | Make sure you've got your license |

Not everyone favors fishing on opening day | Human hostile PETA thinks that fishing should be banned altogether, for example |

Posted by: Will Brady / 00:33 (0) comments

2005-04-15

TAX DAY USA

I waited until the last minute to drop off my income tax forms | Expecting to be able to just pop the forms down to the Middletown Office [only a couple of blocks from work] after 6 pm [1800 hours] imagine my dismay when I learned that I had to get the forms to Hartford [20 miles north] if I wanted that valuable Aprilr 15th postmark | So I was off, after stopping my and talkng Bill into going for the drive, got to Hartford |
     I was surprised and impressed with the operation I found once getting off the Jennings Road exit | Signs and traffic cones directing all Post Office traffic into two single lanes of cars | At the end of ther lanes were two postal deliver trucks and a gaggle of Post Office personnel holding those familiar white plastic mail bins so we could all drop off our tax forms | Actually it was knd of amusing and, dare I say it, fun |
     I realize that all those tax scofflaws with millions in their accounts won't be filing this way | If Dubya has his way, the millionaires won't be nearly anything come 2008 |
     Seriously, I don't have any problem with paying taxes, I just get upset knowing that those who bemefit the most from our tax dollars, find it acceptable to go out of their way to be that socially irresponsible | Isn't this just paying tribute to the Sherriff of Nottingham? Could be | Where, then, is our Robin Hood? |

Posted by: Will Brady / 00:10 (0) comments

2005-04-12

EMOTIONS + TECHNOLOGY

Sushil Yadav is trying to get the following researched + conducted in a psychophysiology/ bio-chemistry laboratory. | Sushil Yadav's background is outlined in a letter to Oliver Sachs under the topic " Correspondence with neuroscientists " on the website www.netshooter.com/emotion | It seems a curious and interesting premise, as quoted from his site:

     There is a link between visual / verbal speed ( in perception, memory, imagery ) and the bio-chemical state of the brain and the body.
     Emotion can intensify / sustain only when visual and verbal processing associated with the emotion slows down (stops / freezes).
     The degree of difficulty of an emotion depends upon the degree of freezing (of visuals and words ) required to intensify and sustain that particular emotion.

FOUND IN A LINK FROM: Path to Freedom/Journal | Look for the entry titled "LIVING BEYOND OUR MEANS" 06 apr 05 |

Posted by: Will Brady / 07:53 (0) comments

2005-04-11

SCANDAL SHEETS

Tom DeLay, the fierce exterminator for the rabid dog branch of Congress, grows closer to his own extermination each day | The mainstream press don't bother much with the story, but it's happening in spite of this | What could have caused it?
Too much hubris, I suppose | Here's a selection of sites documenting the Roach killer's accomplishments and pitfalls [sometimes the same things]

ongoing - The Daily DeLay
9 apr 05 - London [ENG] Times Cheerleader of the Christian Right and ruthless legislator on its behalf DeLay associates face charges involving $80 million raked in from the casino-rich and gullible Choctaw Indians in return for promised influence in Washington
april 05 - Newsweek: GOP Lobbyist Abramoff says: "DeLay knew everything. He knew all the details" and 'fesses up to the Bug Man's bribe taking efforts
7 apr 05 - Slate's Scorecard to Tom DeLay's Scandals
24 mar 05 - Salt Lake City Tribune: Ethically challenged leader shouldn't hide behind God
26 mar 03 - DeLay created “Texans for a Republican Majority" and illegally used corporate money for political activities.
6 apr 05 - Daily Kos DeLay's international golf trips paid for by foreign agents
Campagin Money Watch Watches DeLay Squirming
Political Strategy says DeLay ought to follow past examples and resign

I could go on but you may have the picture by now | Most of these links, while reporting on things that occured some time ago, are only recently published | Thanks to That Colored Fella for reminding me of this |

Posted by: Will Brady / 00:36 (0) comments

2005-04-10

DIVERSIONS

Limit Your Desires to the Attainable

A lad from Huddersfield, a girl eating ice-cream, a man flexing his muscles, a bull, a chicken ...weird but compulsive viewing with great sounds at Daisychain |

THANKS TO: Mike Power for bringing this to my attention and that lad from Huddersfield for creating it |

Posted by: Will Brady / 23:36 (0) comments

PLANNING FOR AGRICULTURAL PRESERVATION

At some point in the future, we'll have to return to pulling ourselves up by our boot straps and growing our own | Right now, we may feel immune to change, but as the global competition for oil and it's byproducts intensifies, we'll need to look closer to home |

     Some of the "tools" to help protect our agricultural resources have been around for a long time | They include farm preservation trusts | Here’s how it works: A landowner and a municipal government enter an agricultural conservation easement agreement | This legal agreement prohibits non-agricultural residential or commercial development, subdivision, and uses or practices that would be destructive to the agricultural value of the land | The easement is recorded and future owners are bound by its terms in perpetuity | The land remains privately owned and on the tax rolls | The value of a conservation easement is the difference between the land’s restricted and unrestricted value |
     Community Supported Agriculture | CSAs are ystem in which consumers receive food directly from the farmers who produce it | But unlike a farmers' market system, supporters of community agriculture actually share in part of the farmers' risk | The UMASS Extension Program provides a good, comprehensive description of CSAs and their benefits to the communities they serve |
     Getting kids involved, either through conventional programs like Future Farmers of America, and even younger by teaching about farm safety for kids |
     Innovative farm efficiency programs such as zonebuilder or niche farming help in targeting markets while making more profitable use of the land |
     Locally, communities can be more aggressive about developing comprehensive town plans of conservation such as was done for Williamstown, Massachusetts to ensure farmland preservation | Working to create innovative solutions to the social and economic challenges faced by seasonal farmworkers families, and to empower farmworker families and the surrounding community to help bring about necessary changes and improvement are all important tools to develope and hone |

RELATED INFO LINKS: from the Northwest Capital Press | Sustainable Communities Network Agricultural & Food Systems Links | Less directly, but a resource for Grants and resource information would include the National Association of Counties | There's always Plenet Friendly | Finally understanding the priniciples of permaculture planning will also help |

Posted by: Will Brady / 21:44 (0) comments

DISTRACTIONS

How does the tugboat get under that bridge?

The second in a series | Check out the whole shebang

FROM: Wetass Chronicles

Posted by: Will Brady / 20:22 (0) comments

SOCIAL SECURITY
George W. Bush explains his reform proposals

     "See... look... Cost Drivers help on the Red. Make sense?
     "Because the - all which is on the table begins to address the big cost drivers. For example, how benefits are calculate, for example, is on the table; whether or not benefits rise based upon wage increases or price increases...
     "There's a series of parts of the formula that are being considered. And when you couple that, those different cost drivers, affecting those - changing those with Personal Accounts the idea is to get what has been promised more likely to be - or closer delivered to what has been promised.
     "Does that make any sense to you? It's kind of muddled.
     "Look, there's a series of things that cause the - like, for example, benefits are calculated based upon the increase of wages, as opposed to the increase of prices. Some have suggested that we calculate - the benefits will rise based upon inflation, as opposed to wage increases...
     "There is a reform that would help solve the Red if that were put into effect. In other words, how fast benefits grow, how fast the promised benefits grow, if those - if that growth is affected... it will help on the red"