The New Beginning: 1/13/08

Saturday, January 19, 2008

Is That All You Got to Show Me?
A Tax Rebate Won't Fix This Mess

By DAVE LINDORFF

Polluted Yangtze

Dry, polluted, plagued by rats: the crisis in China's greatest river
Jonathan Watts, The Guardian
The waters of the Yangtze have fallen to their lowest levels since 1866, disrupting drinking supplies, stranding ships and posing a threat to some of the world's most endangered species.

Asia's longest river is losing volume as a result of a prolonged dry spell, the state media warned yesterday, predicting hefty economic losses and a possible plague of rats on nearby farmland.

News of the drought - which is likely to worsen pollution in the river - comes amid dire reports about the impact of rapid economic growth on China's environment.
(17 January 2008)

via EB

David Strahan, The great coal hole

The great coal hole
David Strahan, The Last Oil Shock / New Scientist
A number of recent reports suggest that coal reserves may be hugely inflated, a possibility that has profound implications for both global energy supply and climate change.
published January 17, 2008.

Misc JPop from the 90s and 80s

石井明美　バラード　1997年

Akemi ishii - CHA-CHA-CHA (Japanese cover) Finzy Kontini

1986.10.23　SAY YES!　＆トーク

1986.10.23　接近

1987.5.21 　話しかけたかった

魔女/小泉今日子～青春の忘れ物/堀ちえみ～ED

菊池桃子　卒業－Graduation－

菊池桃子資生堂アクネ卒業篇(卒業graduation)(1985年)

秋ー菊池桃子　もう逢えないかもしれない（１９８５）　Momoko Kikuchi

菊池桃子－Broken Sunset

菊池桃子　ＢＯＹのテーマ　（１９８５）music by林哲司

菊池桃子♪『BOYのテーマ』

Youtube would be excellent at making money off pop culture nostalgia.

1984.11.29　雪にかいたLOVE LETTER

Ashurt577 and Ishtar577 have more vids

Friday, January 18, 2008

Contestants for the upcoming season of America's Next Top Model

plus contestants of past years

official website

While Tyra Banks may have complained about comments made in various gossip rags about her weight, why is she contributing to the problem by picking girls who look like this? At least the girls in Germany's Next Top Model look healthier...

Coming in Spring 2008 from Ignatius Press

The Early Papacy To the Synod of Chalcedon in 451, by Adrian Fortescue; edited by Alcuin Reid

Great!

Spring 2008 titles coming soon from Ignatius Press

Full text of papal speech Italian students blocked

Full text of papal speech Italian students blocked
Students protested Pope's appearance at university after protesters linked him to statements about Galileo

Photos: Bada

From whatever musical she is performing in at the moment... I think I read something about it last year. Anyways, the photos are quite flattering...

Photos of her training? in Paris?

Sneak peek at the Star Trek teaser

You can guess what the source is... posted at AICN.

Initial reaction: it's fine as a teaser, but... there's so much more to the final product than what is revealed by the teaser (which may show nothing at all from the movie).

The movie website.

William Lind, On Side Effects

On War #246: Side Effects

As we observe the slow and increasingly certain disintegration of Pakistan, we should force ourselves to confront an uncomfortable fact: events in Pakistan are to a large degree side effects of our war in Afghanistan.

The January 12 Washington Times headline was “Pentagon spies al Qaeda in Pakistan,” as if this were somehow news. It quotes the JCS Chairman, Admiral Michael Mullen, as saying:

There are concerns now about how much (al Qaeda) turned inward, literally, inside Pakistan…so (the Pentagon is) extremely, extremely concerned about that…

One can only respond, quelle surprise! Of course al Qaeda turned inward inside Pakistan. First, Pakistan is strategically a vastly more important prize than Afghanistan or Iraq could ever be. Second, when guerillas are put under pressure in one place, they go somewhere else. Third, we have allowed ourselves to be put in the position of fighting the Pashtun in Afghanistan, and there are lots of Pashtun in Pakistan. War with the Pashtun is war with the Pashtun, to whom borders drawn in London mean nothing.

CI: Kang Su-jung to Wed

From Chosun Ilbo:

TV Presenter Kang Su-jung to Wed

The TV presenter Kang Su-jung will marry a Hong Kong-based fund manager in March, her agent said Sunday.
According to DY Entertainment, the bridegroom is a Korean-American and a Harvard graduate with a master degree in business administration. Identified as Kim, he works as a fund manager for a Hong Kong financial firm. The wedding will be held in Hong Kong, where the groom and his family live.
Rumors about their impending marriage started to spread after the couple was spotted in a restaurant in southern Seoul at Christmas 2006. The two met at the introduction of a fellow presenter of Kang’s three years ago. Since then, the two have dated whenever Kim visits Seoul. They introduced their families to each other and selected the wedding date last month.
However, Kang is likely to continue her career after marriage and live separately from her husband for the time being.
Graduating from Yonsei University, Kang joined KBS as a TV presenter in 2002. She rose to stardom after appearing on the entertainment program “Heroine” and went freelance in 2005.
(englishnews@chosun.com )

Ren Xiaolei

Ren Xiaolei (R), who has won the 23rd China Drama Plum Blossom Award, spits fire during a performance in Changle, Fujian province, January 15, 2008. Picture taken January 15, 2008.

REUTERS/China Daily (CHINA) CHINA OUT

Bobby Fischer passes away

Chess Master Bobby Fischer Dies at 64
FIDE to post obituary on its website following Robert Fischer's death
Chess master Bobby Fischer dies at 64

photos

World Chess Federation
bobbyfischer.net
Bobby Fischer - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
World Chess Champion Bobby Fischer Interviewed over the Radio

鈴木保奈美 vids

鈴木保奈美　CM　東京証券

【CM】鈴木保奈美 JR東日本

JR東日本イオカードCM　鈴木保奈美

Honami Suzuki-Japan CM kanebo 鈴木保奈美　カネボウ

Panasonic Video Camera "burenbi" Suzuki Honami

Panasonic Video Camera "burenbi" Suzuki Honami 2

Panasonic Video Camera "burenbi" Suzuki Honami 3

Panasonic Video Camera "burenbi" Suzuki Honami 4

CM 0041　鈴木保奈美　田村正和　よいこ

キリン　ドラフト　1991

Panasonic　ブレンビー①　1990

Panasonic　ブレンビー②　1991

カネボウ　レビュー　1994

Once again the opening song for Tokyo Love Story:

愛という名のもとに

Extra:
パナソニックテレビデオ(Panasonic TeleVideo) CF

【CM】日本リーバ・POND'Sダブルホワイト・柴咲コウ・鈴木保奈美 30s 2000年

I've just noticed today that they don't say the pledge of allegiance here either... now one may be opposed to the recitation of the pledge for various reasons, such as an attachment to states' rights or to the old South and so on... but I can't help but think that this is a social experiment related to the hippie communes of the 60s. Maybe I just don't know much about hippie communes. But the lack of formality and the implicit egalitarianism... it does annoy, and I can't help but think that it is the "small" things like this that lead to bigger problems later in character development.

Bells aren't used to mark time, either. Is this an attempt to make teachers and students more aware of time? Or to make school seem less "institutional"?

They make use of class meetings here, which are run by the students themselves. This isn't the first time I've seen this... students have an agenda and they can use the time to address problems and issues. They also pass a doll around, during which time they can compliment other students.

And there is the "counseling" board, on which students can put up notes, both to remind themselves to make better choices. (There are also notes for contacting parents and praising "star students.") But even this strikes me as being "beaureaucratic" and hence institutional. At least there aren't group sessions in which students critique themselves in front of others, like in Mao's China.

Thursday, January 17, 2008

Carolyn Baker, Tranforming communities through locally grown food

Tranforming communities through locally grown food
Carolyn Baker, Speaking Truth to Power
All the stereotypes of Rutland, Vermont as "backward" and "too conservative" to relocalize its economy through local agriculture are fading into the dustbin of history. (Interview with Greg Cox of Boardman Hill Farms.)

Today I was at Windmill Springs, where students call teachers and the principal by their first names. Well, I didn't have any of that. However, the class was well-behaved, one of the best I've seen so far, so I was surprised by that.

The Dell case is definitely not user friendly, not like the last case I had, and adding new components takes much work. I had to remove the power supply before I could put in a new DVD drive. Bah. I hope it lasts for a while, I wouldn't want to do this regularly.

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Mark Wegierski on Russell Kirk

a review of The Postmodern Imagination of Russell Kirk by Gerald J. Russello: Postmodern, Not Hypermodern: Russell Kirk

The Bank Job trailer

Does it give away too much?
(alt)

The niece's nightmare

Kylee had a nightmare this afternoon, and she was shoting "Go away!"...

My mom asksed her what she was dreaming about: "Little boy? Little girl?"
"No. Little boy. Bible."

So my mom opened up the Bible, and Kylee pointed to the devil tempting Christ.
What was the devil doing? Hitting [whom?], "da da."
Kylee said "Go Away!"

My mom: "You see Jesus too? What did Jesus say?"
"Jesus said: 'Don't!'"