Category: Everything Else

Speaking of Commuting

I bow in humble thanks before the Goddess of Commuting that my commute doesn’t go anwhere near the utter mess that’s been made of the East Bay / Bay Bridge. And it didn’t even take an earthquake, just one fool in a tanker truck.

[Highway] 580 at Interstate 80, located near Emeryville [looks] to be completely destroyed. The tanker explosion caused the upper deck of a connector ramp to collapse onto the lower deck, according to a California Highway Patrol dispatcher.

Interstate 580 is closed approaching the Bay Bridge, according to the dispatcher.

The dispatcher said eastbound Interstate 80 to eastbound Interstate Highway 580 collapsed after heat from the tanker explosion on the westbound Interstate 580 at Interstate 80 rose and melted the upper roadway.

The East Bay in general has sucktastic traffic; this isn’t going to help any.

Another NY Loss

On a purely personal note, this sucks:

This weekend will be the last time riders can rent horses from Claremont Riding Academy to take on Central Park’s bridal path.

The academy is the oldest continuously operated stable in the country but decreasing ridership and increasing development on the Upper West Side is forcing it to close.

That business has been in my mother’s family for many decades. It’s sad, sad news that the end has come.

UPDATE 4/24 The news that Claremont is closing is mostly a NY story, but Pravda, of all places, has picked it up too.

I’m still pretty bummed about the news. I know everything comes to an end eventually, and that 100+ years is a really great run, but that’s cold comfort.

Happy Earth Day

Here’s some of the most sane writing I’ve seen on the subject:

It is not possible to for an average person to live a reasonably prosperous North American (or even European) lifestyle and reduce their footprint to one planet by themselves.

This point is worth pausing on, because so much of the green marketing BS around us tells us that the planetary crises we face are our fault, that it is our responsibility to fix them and that buying products which are marketed as “green” will fix that problem. The myth of individual lifestyle responsibility is so strong, most of us don’t even comment on it anymore. But in many ways, it’s a lie. What most needs to be changed in the world are the systems in which we are all enmeshed, and we ourselves, acting alone, are almost powerless to change those systems. To do that, we need better information, stronger connections and new ways of thinking.

Oh so true. Replacing your lightbulbs or recycling your cans is great, truly, but what’s really going to turn this planet around is not what individual people do in their own homes, it’s what happens in the factories and the oil refineries and in the boardrooms of companies across the world. You want to see real change? That’s where it needs to happen. Organizations like Forest Ethics get that. Some others don’t.

Go, buy some new CF lightbulbs today if it makes you feel better. Just don’t mistake that for an action that’s really helping the planet.

Only a Matter of Time

Only yesterday, I was saying maybe it is time to start rethinking how much “industrial” food we buy for the household humans, as well.

Well, what a difference a day makes. By way of Litbrit @ Shakes’ place:

It was only a matter of time before this happened: melamine has been detected in the feed and body fluids of pigs meant for human consumption, and California authorities have issued both a quarantine and an advisory to not consume pork from at least one farm; others may follow, since the tainted feed was also shipped to New York.

Yes, it’s only one farm, and one that does not resell pork, so maybe this is Not That Big A Deal. But how much more of this stuff might be out there, unreported?

This issue of where our food comes from is not going to go away soon.

Oh, And What Jill Said

how can a mentally ill person walk into a store and buy semi-automatic guns with no questions, background check or wait period but an average “joe on the street” can’t walk into a drug store and get a couple of drugs to ease post nasal drip without having to show proof of i.d. and getting their name, address and phone number put on a national medication database to make sure that they don’t buy more within a certain time period.

something is really freakin’ wrong with our society.

Yes. And it’s our complete refusal to deal with mental illness in anything resembling a sane fashion (pun intended). Either mental illness is a joke, or it’s not “real”, or it’s a sign that the person is not to be trusted. There’s almost no middle ground.

And then to make matters worse, people who dare to speak up and talk about their struggles with mental illness do so at the risk of losing their ability to earn a living. It’s small wonder that the few who do generally wait until they’re rich enough, famous enough or respected enough that people are willing to overlook it. Someone less rich or successful who is open in the workplace about their illness risks losing any ability to further their career at that (or any other) company — the ADA notwithstanding. That’s a really good reason to keep your mouth shut and let the stereotypes perpetuate.