Sunday, February 27, 2011
TOXIC: Linfen, China
Linfen has become a poster child for China’s bloodthirsty quest for industrial supremacy. Simply put, with the exception of war-torn parts of the world, the Shanxi Province city of more than 4 million people is the most hazardous place on the planet. The Blacksmith Institute study on which this article is based ranked Linfen’s pollution levels as the worst of the worst. Inhabitants choke on coal dust, water diversion has decimated once fertile land and lead and arsenic contaminates more than half of the water left. Not to mention the carbon monoxide and toxic compounds that pollute the city on a daily basis.
With no government plans to change underway, despite mountains of evidence that residents continue to grapple with unprecedented rates of lung cancer, skin lesions, pneumonia and vascular disease, the situation in Linfen borders on hopeless.
With no government plans to change underway, despite mountains of evidence that residents continue to grapple with unprecedented rates of lung cancer, skin lesions, pneumonia and vascular disease, the situation in Linfen borders on hopeless.
A River of Waste
A RIVER OF WASTE exposes a huge health and environmental scandal in our modern industrial system of meat and poultry production. Some scientists have gone so far as to call the condemned current factory farm practices as "mini Chernobyls."
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Friday, February 25, 2011
Ice Age Child Found in Prehistoric Alaskan Home
In what's now central Alaska, one of the first Americans—only three years old at the time—was laid to rest in a pit inside his or her house 11,500 years ago, a new excavation reveals.
National Geographic
National Geographic
Would paved road ruin Nine Mile Canyon?
Paving the dirt road through Nine Mile Canyon may be the next step in a landmark agreement to drill nearby gas wells while protecting ancient rock art from dust — though it’s one that some of the canyon’s fans fear would change it forever.
Nine Mile Canyon is a step back in time. The stories of people who lived there centuries ago grace the walls of its sheer cliffs. This canyon, filled with the best rock art in the west, gives a view of the life of the Archaic, Fremont and Ute people. This unique canyon outside of Wellington, is an international treasure.
Article
Nine Mile Canyon is a step back in time. The stories of people who lived there centuries ago grace the walls of its sheer cliffs. This canyon, filled with the best rock art in the west, gives a view of the life of the Archaic, Fremont and Ute people. This unique canyon outside of Wellington, is an international treasure.
Nine Mile Canyon Coalition
I really need a fuckin' Holiday......
....just get away for a few days and watch the world burn......
Something to think about.....
“Anarchism is not a romantic fable but the hardheaded realization, based on five thousand years of experience, that we cannot entrust the management of our lives to kings, priests, politicians, generals, and county commissioners.”
Edward Abbey
Whiskers Draw
A series of alcove dwelling sites in the north fork of Whiskers Draw, a tributary of Cottonwood Creek. This site is not well known, and though a dirt road passes nearby, it is far from obvious there's a canyon to the south, much less a set of ruins.
Not far from here--in this same canyon--is the alcove in which Richard Wetherill discovered, in 1893, the remains of 97 Basketmaker people who had been massacred more than 1500 years before.
This was one of the most important archaeological discoveries in the whole southwest, but the location of this alcove, which Wetherill had called "cave 7," was lost, and it remained unknown until 1990, when archaeologists painstakingly exploring every alcove in Whiskers Draw finally rediscovered it.
Not far from here--in this same canyon--is the alcove in which Richard Wetherill discovered, in 1893, the remains of 97 Basketmaker people who had been massacred more than 1500 years before.
This was one of the most important archaeological discoveries in the whole southwest, but the location of this alcove, which Wetherill had called "cave 7," was lost, and it remained unknown until 1990, when archaeologists painstakingly exploring every alcove in Whiskers Draw finally rediscovered it.
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Something to think about.....
The neon signs which hang over our cities and outshine the natural light of the night with their own are comets presaging the natural disaster of society, its frozen death. Yet they do not come from the sky. They are controlled from earth. It depends upon human beings themselves whether they will extinguish these lights and awake from a nightmare which only threatens to become actual as long as men believe it.
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Hopi Creation Story
In the beginning there were only two: Tawa, the Sun God, and Spider Woman, the Earth Goddess. All the mysteries and power in the Above belonged to Tawa, while Spider Woman controlled the magic of the Below. In the Underworld, abode of the Gods, they dwelt and they were All. There was neither man nor woman, bird nor beast, no living thing until these Two willed it to be.
In time it came to them that there should be other Gods to share their labors. So Tawa divided himself and there came Muiyinwuh, God of All Life Germs; Spider Woman also divide herself so that there was Huzruiwuhti, Woman of the Hard Substances, the Goddess of all hard ornaments of wealth such as coral, turquoise, silver and shell. Huzruiwuhti became the always-bride of Tawa. They were the First Lovers and of their union there came into being those marvelous ones the Magic Twins -- Puukonhoya, the Youth, and Palunhoya, the Echo. As time unrolled there followed Hicanavaiya, Ancient of Six (the Four World Quarters, the Above and Below), Man-Eagle, the Great Plumed Serpent and many others. But Masauwhu, the Death God, did not come of these Two but was bad magic, who appeared only after the making of creatures.
And then it came about that these Two had one Thought and it was a might Thought -- that they would make the Earth to be between the Above and the Below where now lay shimmering only the Endless Waters. So they sat them side by side, swaying their beautiful bronze bodies to the pulsing music of their own great voices, making the First Magic Song, a song of rushing winds and flowing waters, a song of light and sound and life.
"I am Tawa," sang the Sun God. "I am Light. I am Life. I am Father of all that shall ever come."
"I am Kokyanwuhti," the Spider Woman crooned. "I receive Light and nourish Life. I am Mother of all that shall ever come."
"Many strange thoughts are forming in my mind -- beautiful forms of birds to float in the Above, of beasts to move upon the Earth and fish to swim in the Waters," intoned Tawa.
"Now let these things that move in the Though of Tawa appear," chanted Spider Woman, while with her slender fingers she caught up clay from beside her and made the Thoughts of Tawa take form. One by one she shaped them and laid them aside -- but they breathed not nor moved.
"We must do something about this," said Tawa. "It is not good that they lie thus still and quiet. Each thing that has a form must also have a spirit. So now, my beloved, we must make a mighty Magic."
They laid a white blanket over the many figures, a cunningly woven woolen blanket, fleecy as a cloud, and made a mighty incantation over it, and soon the figures stirred and breathed.
"Now, let us make ones like unto you and me, so that they may rule over and enjoy these lesser creatures," sang Tawa, and Spider Woman shaped the Thoughts into woman and man figures like unto their own. But after the blanket magic had been made, the figures remained inert. So Spider Woman gathered them all in her arms and cradled them, while Tawa bent his glowing eyes upon them. The two now sang the magic Song of Life over them, and at last each human figure breathed and lived.
"Now that was a good thing and a mighty thing," said Tawa. "So now all this is finished, and there shall be no new things made by us. Those things we have made shall multiply. I will make a journey across the Above each day to shed my light upon them and return each night to Huzruiwuhti. And now I shall go to turn my blazing shield upon the Endless Waters, so that the Dry Land may appear. And this day will be the first day upon Earth."
"Now I shall lead all these created beings to the land that you shall cause to appear above the waters," said Spider Woman. Then Tawa took down his burnished shield from the turquoise wall of the kiva and swiftly mounted his glorious was to the Above. After Spider Woman had bent her wise, all-seeing eyes upon the thronging creatures about her, she wound her way among them, separating them into groups.
"Thus and thus shall you be and thus shall you remain, each one in her own tribe forever. You are Zunis, you are Kohoninos, you are Pah-Utes..." The Hopis, all, all people were named by Kokyanwuhti then.
Placing her Magic Twins beside her, Spider Woman called all the people to follow where she led. Through all the Four Great Caverns of the Underworld she led them until they finally came to an opening, a sipapu, which led above. This came out at the lowest depth of the Pisisbaiya (the Colorado River) and was the place where the people were to come to gather salt. So lately had the Endless Waters gone down that the Turkey, Koyona, pushing early ahead, dragged its tail feathers in the black mud where the dark bands were to remain forever.
Mourning Dove flew overhead, calling to some to follow, and those who followed where his sharp eyes had spied out springs and built beside them were called "Huwinyamu" after him. So Spider Woman chose a creature to lead each clan to a place to build their house. The Puma, the Snake, the Antelope, the Deer, and other Horn creatures, each led a clan to a place to build their house. Each clan henceforth bore the name of the creature who had led them.
The Spider Woman spoke to them thus: "The woman of the clan shall build the house, and the family name shall descend through her. She shall be house builder and homemaker. She shall mold the jars for the storing of food and water. She shall grind the grain for food and tenderly rear and teach the young. The man of the clan shall build kivas of stone under the ground. In these kivas the man shall make sand pictures as altars. Of colored sand shall he make them, and they shall be called 'ponya.' The man too shall weave the clan blankets with their proper symbols. The man shall fashion himself weapons and furnish his family with game."
Stooping down, she gathered some sand in her hand, letting it run out in a thin, continuous stream. "See the movement of the sand? That is the life that will cause all things therein to grow. The Great Plumed Serpent, Lightning, will rear and strike the earth to fertilize it; Rain Cloud will pour down waters, and Tawa will smile upon it so that green things will spring up to feed my children."
Her eyes now sought the Above where Tawa was descending toward his western kiva in all the glory of red and gold. "I go now, but have no fear, for we Two will be watching over you. Look upon me now, my children, ere I leave. Obey the words I have given you, and all will be well. If you are in need of help, call upon me, and I will send my sons to your aid."
The people gazed wide-eyed upon her shining beauty. Her woven upper garment of soft white wool hung tunic-wise over a blue skirt. On its left side was woven a band bearing the Butterfly and Squash Blossom, in designs of red and yellow and green with bands of black appearing in between. Her neck was hung with heavy necklaces of turquoise, shell and coral, and pendants of the same hung from her ears. Her face was fair, with warm eyes and tender lips, and her form most graceful. Upon her feet were skin boots of gleaming white, and they now turned toward where the sand spun about in whirlpool fashion. She held up her right hand and smiled upon them, then stepped upon the whirling sand. Wonder of wonders, before their eyes the sands seemed to suck her swiftly down until she disappeared entirely from their sight.
In time it came to them that there should be other Gods to share their labors. So Tawa divided himself and there came Muiyinwuh, God of All Life Germs; Spider Woman also divide herself so that there was Huzruiwuhti, Woman of the Hard Substances, the Goddess of all hard ornaments of wealth such as coral, turquoise, silver and shell. Huzruiwuhti became the always-bride of Tawa. They were the First Lovers and of their union there came into being those marvelous ones the Magic Twins -- Puukonhoya, the Youth, and Palunhoya, the Echo. As time unrolled there followed Hicanavaiya, Ancient of Six (the Four World Quarters, the Above and Below), Man-Eagle, the Great Plumed Serpent and many others. But Masauwhu, the Death God, did not come of these Two but was bad magic, who appeared only after the making of creatures.
And then it came about that these Two had one Thought and it was a might Thought -- that they would make the Earth to be between the Above and the Below where now lay shimmering only the Endless Waters. So they sat them side by side, swaying their beautiful bronze bodies to the pulsing music of their own great voices, making the First Magic Song, a song of rushing winds and flowing waters, a song of light and sound and life.
"I am Tawa," sang the Sun God. "I am Light. I am Life. I am Father of all that shall ever come."
"I am Kokyanwuhti," the Spider Woman crooned. "I receive Light and nourish Life. I am Mother of all that shall ever come."
"Many strange thoughts are forming in my mind -- beautiful forms of birds to float in the Above, of beasts to move upon the Earth and fish to swim in the Waters," intoned Tawa.
"Now let these things that move in the Though of Tawa appear," chanted Spider Woman, while with her slender fingers she caught up clay from beside her and made the Thoughts of Tawa take form. One by one she shaped them and laid them aside -- but they breathed not nor moved.
"We must do something about this," said Tawa. "It is not good that they lie thus still and quiet. Each thing that has a form must also have a spirit. So now, my beloved, we must make a mighty Magic."
They laid a white blanket over the many figures, a cunningly woven woolen blanket, fleecy as a cloud, and made a mighty incantation over it, and soon the figures stirred and breathed.
"Now, let us make ones like unto you and me, so that they may rule over and enjoy these lesser creatures," sang Tawa, and Spider Woman shaped the Thoughts into woman and man figures like unto their own. But after the blanket magic had been made, the figures remained inert. So Spider Woman gathered them all in her arms and cradled them, while Tawa bent his glowing eyes upon them. The two now sang the magic Song of Life over them, and at last each human figure breathed and lived.
"Now that was a good thing and a mighty thing," said Tawa. "So now all this is finished, and there shall be no new things made by us. Those things we have made shall multiply. I will make a journey across the Above each day to shed my light upon them and return each night to Huzruiwuhti. And now I shall go to turn my blazing shield upon the Endless Waters, so that the Dry Land may appear. And this day will be the first day upon Earth."
"Now I shall lead all these created beings to the land that you shall cause to appear above the waters," said Spider Woman. Then Tawa took down his burnished shield from the turquoise wall of the kiva and swiftly mounted his glorious was to the Above. After Spider Woman had bent her wise, all-seeing eyes upon the thronging creatures about her, she wound her way among them, separating them into groups.
"Thus and thus shall you be and thus shall you remain, each one in her own tribe forever. You are Zunis, you are Kohoninos, you are Pah-Utes..." The Hopis, all, all people were named by Kokyanwuhti then.
Placing her Magic Twins beside her, Spider Woman called all the people to follow where she led. Through all the Four Great Caverns of the Underworld she led them until they finally came to an opening, a sipapu, which led above. This came out at the lowest depth of the Pisisbaiya (the Colorado River) and was the place where the people were to come to gather salt. So lately had the Endless Waters gone down that the Turkey, Koyona, pushing early ahead, dragged its tail feathers in the black mud where the dark bands were to remain forever.
Mourning Dove flew overhead, calling to some to follow, and those who followed where his sharp eyes had spied out springs and built beside them were called "Huwinyamu" after him. So Spider Woman chose a creature to lead each clan to a place to build their house. The Puma, the Snake, the Antelope, the Deer, and other Horn creatures, each led a clan to a place to build their house. Each clan henceforth bore the name of the creature who had led them.
The Spider Woman spoke to them thus: "The woman of the clan shall build the house, and the family name shall descend through her. She shall be house builder and homemaker. She shall mold the jars for the storing of food and water. She shall grind the grain for food and tenderly rear and teach the young. The man of the clan shall build kivas of stone under the ground. In these kivas the man shall make sand pictures as altars. Of colored sand shall he make them, and they shall be called 'ponya.' The man too shall weave the clan blankets with their proper symbols. The man shall fashion himself weapons and furnish his family with game."
Stooping down, she gathered some sand in her hand, letting it run out in a thin, continuous stream. "See the movement of the sand? That is the life that will cause all things therein to grow. The Great Plumed Serpent, Lightning, will rear and strike the earth to fertilize it; Rain Cloud will pour down waters, and Tawa will smile upon it so that green things will spring up to feed my children."
Her eyes now sought the Above where Tawa was descending toward his western kiva in all the glory of red and gold. "I go now, but have no fear, for we Two will be watching over you. Look upon me now, my children, ere I leave. Obey the words I have given you, and all will be well. If you are in need of help, call upon me, and I will send my sons to your aid."
The people gazed wide-eyed upon her shining beauty. Her woven upper garment of soft white wool hung tunic-wise over a blue skirt. On its left side was woven a band bearing the Butterfly and Squash Blossom, in designs of red and yellow and green with bands of black appearing in between. Her neck was hung with heavy necklaces of turquoise, shell and coral, and pendants of the same hung from her ears. Her face was fair, with warm eyes and tender lips, and her form most graceful. Upon her feet were skin boots of gleaming white, and they now turned toward where the sand spun about in whirlpool fashion. She held up her right hand and smiled upon them, then stepped upon the whirling sand. Wonder of wonders, before their eyes the sands seemed to suck her swiftly down until she disappeared entirely from their sight.
Friday, February 11, 2011
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Something to think about.....
The state represents violence in a concentrated and organized form. The individual has a soul, but as the state is a soulless machine, it can never be weaned from violence to which it owes its very existence
Mahatma Mohandas K. Gandhi
waste/waste
Death of a river: The Colorado River Delta
In August, Alexandra Cousteau's Expedition Blue Planet crossed over the Arizona/Mexican border to follow the Colorado's dry riverbed to its historic mouth in the Upper Gulf of California where its nutrient-rich waters no longer reach the sea. This short film tracks the ghost of a mighty river that used to run free over this land half a century ago.
The stately Colorado, that same iconic river of history that carved out the Grand Canyon and made the deserts bloom in the American southwest now ends in hypersaline mudflat rather than a punctuation mark of aquatic biodiversity.
The Colorado's once-lush estuary is no longer a nursery for marine life. The people whose lives were intertwined with the river's wealth in its flood plain are now culturally bereft.
Colorado River Delta
Saturday, February 5, 2011
TV's got them images TV's got them all.......Nothing Shocking....
Old friends....gone....good times, good tunes, good buds.....
Friday, February 4, 2011
"A patriot must always be ready to defend his country against his government"
Ed Abbey once said: “At some point we must draw a line across the ground of our home and our being, drive a spear into the land and say to the bulldozers, earthmovers, government and corporations, “this far and no further.” If we do not, we shall later feel, instead of pride, the regret of Thoroeau, that good but overly-bookish man, who wrote, near the end of his life, ‘If I repent of anything it is likely to be my good behaviour.'
MISBEHAVE
Bhopal India Gas Leak
During the night of December 2–3, 1984, large amounts of water entered tank 610, containing 42 tons of methyl isocyanate. The resulting exothermic reaction increased the temperature inside the tank to over 200 °C (392 °F), raising the pressure to a level the tank was not designed to withstand.
This forced the emergency venting of pressure from the MIC holding tank, releasing a large volume of toxic gases into the atmosphere. The gases flooded the city of Bhopal, causing great panic as people woke up with a burning sensation in their lungs.
Thousands died immediately from the effects of the gas and many were trampled in the panic.
This forced the emergency venting of pressure from the MIC holding tank, releasing a large volume of toxic gases into the atmosphere. The gases flooded the city of Bhopal, causing great panic as people woke up with a burning sensation in their lungs.
Thousands died immediately from the effects of the gas and many were trampled in the panic.
MORE
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Wet Desert: Tracking Down a Terrorist on the Colorado River
Grant Stevens braced for the explosion. He felt tightness in his stomach and
up the back of his neck. He glanced sideways at his friend Bruce Godfrey and
saw wild eyes and a tense smile. Bruce stared unflinchingly at the bombsite across
the canyon. Neither of them would have missed this for the world. Grant looked
back just in time...........
Wet Desert
Something to think about.....
"Every actual State is corrupt. Good men must not obey laws too well."
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Blowing Smoke – Ancient Pipes from Las Capas
On the grounds of Pima County's Ina Road waste water treatment facility, archaeologists have unearthed the remains of an ancient farming community that could potentially rewrite the history of human settlement in the Southwest.....and they had cool pipes too....
3-D interactive
Center for Desert Archaeology
NEW GUIDANCE FROM INTERIOR DEPARTMENT WOULD GIVE WESTERN ICONS A SECOND CHANCE:
Colorado’s Roan Plateau, New Mexico’s Otero Mesa, Arizona’s Aravaipa Canyon and many
other magnificent, wild landscapes throughout the West that have been proposed for wilderness designation have been vulnerable as a result of the “No More Wilderness” policy.
Numerous BLM land use plans issued after the 2003 policy and before the end of the Bush administration left wilderness-quality lands riddled with roads and open to oil and gas drilling.
If the No More Wilderness policy were not revoked, these plans will extend the Bush administration’s antiwilderness policies for another 15-20 years, the lifespan of the plans.
other magnificent, wild landscapes throughout the West that have been proposed for wilderness designation have been vulnerable as a result of the “No More Wilderness” policy.
Numerous BLM land use plans issued after the 2003 policy and before the end of the Bush administration left wilderness-quality lands riddled with roads and open to oil and gas drilling.
If the No More Wilderness policy were not revoked, these plans will extend the Bush administration’s antiwilderness policies for another 15-20 years, the lifespan of the plans.
Wilderness Icons
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