Irony of Technology
cn | 15 May, 2007 09:31
I love the Discovery Channel, especially now that I have the pleasure of watching DiscoveryHD - the high-def version of the channel. It has some programs that are simply amazing.
This morning, for instance, I turned on the TV and tuned to the Discovery Channel to find that Sunrise Earth was just starting. In Sunrise Earth they filmed a location with a number of cameras over a span of perhaps 3 hours from the pre-dawn darkness through full sun-up. There is no narration and there are no commercials. All you get are breathtaking shots of the subject for the day and the natural, accompanying sounds. For instance, today's show was titled 'Yellowstone's Geysers' and throughout the hour the scenes shifted from location to location within the park as the sun rose. It can be a breathtaking experience just to watch it on TV!
And therein lies the irony! I love the outdoors, love nature, am awed by its grandeur. Through the marvels of technology I can sit in my climate-controlled living room behind my computer, sipping my microwave-heated tea, and get a pseudo-experience of watching the sunrise in the vastness of the great outdoors. Yet here I am. In my living room. Experiencing what it's like to watch nature on TV. And to me it seems that I'm somehow missing something. Which is a good thing.
On the one hand, watching a show like this inspires me to get up and get going - get out there and experience it for myself...yet on the other hand, it's like a surrogate experience - now that I have a pseudo-experience of nature, why go out when I have so much work I could or should be doing?
Not to mention the fact that the show is on at 10am, so in a reality-twisting way I'm experiencing sunrise at 10am, and I'm nowhere near the arctic circle...
Regardless, check out the show on DiscoveryHD if you have a chance, if only because there aren't any commercials!
Posted in Computers/Technology, Ecology, World Culture/Travel . Comment: (0). Trackbacks:(0). Permalink
Bizzare Demands By 'Animal Rights' Guy
cn | 20 March, 2007 08:44
There's a polar bear cub born that was born in a zoo in the UK who has stirred up a hornets nest of news and debate. The cub's mother ignored him after he was born and the zoo staff decided to raise the cub rather than let him die. As a result, the cub has become dependent on humans for its survival and would most likely not survive in the wild (which doesn't seem like it would be much of an issue, being that he lives in a zoo...).
This dependency prompted one animal rights activist so proclaim (from CNN.com):
"Feeding by hand is not species-appropriate but a gross violation of animal protection laws," animal rights activist Frank Albrecht was quoted as saying by the mass-circulation Bild daily, which has featured regular photo spreads tracking fuzzy Knut's frolicking.
"The zoo must kill the bear."
Now what I want to know is which bizarre animal right is this individual trying to protect for this cub? The right to be killed?
This is not a statement by animal rights activists in general, as many have come out to condemn the above statement, but it does highlight the potential issues that arise from blind zeal, no matter what the content point is (environmentalism, animal rights, economy, etc). And the statement is just a bit scary....
Posted in Ecology . Comment: (0). Trackbacks:(0). Permalink
January 23rd - Fact of the Day
cn | 23 January, 2007 12:03
The average home creates more pollution than does the average car.
source: http://hookedonfacts.comSo when the politicians finally convince everyone that we need to destroy our automobiles, will the go after our homes next? Note that it is the politicians who are doing the convincing, not the scientists...
Posted in Ecology, Facts, Quotes, and Whatnot . Comment: (0). Trackbacks:(0). Permalink
Survivalist in the Adirondacks
cn | 12 January, 2007 19:04
Just up there in the Northcountry the police captured a guy who claims to have been living in the woods for the past 20 years and the cops think he's been breaking into seasonal homes and stealing survival gear like sleeping bags while leaving valuables.
From wten.com:
For over a year, Warren County Sheriffs Deputies and State Police have been looking for a man living in camps in the middle of the woods, stealing items here and there from camps in northern Warren County.
"A lot of people seen him and whatnot, but they just weren't able to catch up to him," says Paul Smith, with the Horicon Highway Department.
Until Wednesday, the arrest of 59-year-old Alan Como came on the heels of a Tuesday morning tip from two Horicon snowplow operators who saw something that just did not look right.
"2:30 in the morning, somebody is out on a bicycle and there is two-inches of snow on the road...something is going on," says Mark Younes, with the Horicon Highway Department.
It's an interesting story, but there is a disconcerting aspect to it which is overlooked because the man the authorities caught is believed to be a criminal - that aspect is that it is now grounds for tracking you down and arresting you if you ride your bike late at night in the snow. This in and of itself might seem suspicious, but is not illegal, and did it warrant the following action...
The plow operator followed the tracks in the snow until they went over the snow bank and left the road.
"They sent up some investigators...Mark and I went up to show them where he went over the bank, and they took it from there," says Smith.
After two days of scouring the woods, on Wednesday, deputies found Como's latest campsite.
Now there may be mitigating circumstances which would actually justify such an intensive search, but if there are the media fails to make that connection clearly, and if there are not, is it really justifiable for the police to spend two days searching the woods for someone?
Read more about the story here and here.
Posted in Ecology, World Culture/Travel, Speeding Towards a Police State . Comment: (0). Trackbacks:(0). Permalink
Daily fact for January 6th
ben | 06 January, 2007 17:21
More than 25% of the world's forests are in Siberia.
source: http://www.hookedonfacts.com
Posted in Ecology, Facts, Quotes, and Whatnot . Comment: (0). Trackbacks:(0). Permalink
The American Police State
cn | 23 June, 2006 20:39
From AlterNet.org we have the Top 10 Signs of the Impending U.S. Police State!!! It's a good list and head over to the site for the even better longer descriptions.
1. The Internet Clampdown
2. "The Long War"
3. The USA PATRIOT Act
4. Prison Camps
5. Touchscreen Voting Machines
6. Signing Statements
7. Warrantless Wiretapping
8. Free Speech Zones
9. High-ranking Whistleblowersx
10. The CIA Shakeup
Posted in Ecology . Comment: (0). Trackbacks:(0). Permalink