Boozou Bajou rocks!

Try it! They're described by Dancemusic in an interview as "slow sultry sounds of bass-heavy dub. Superb Jamaican-style blues...can come from all parts of the world-- even Nuremberg, Germany."

Thoughts on the Ganga (heard on NPR)

The other day I was listening to NPR in the morning (these days, for some reason I'm awake at around 530am; then my routine is to have a couple of cups of tea accompanied by the radio). They were going about the world talking to people about pollution and what causes it. This particular piece caught my attention, since it was about the river Ganga, the holiest one in India - and also, in all likelihood, one of the most incredibly polluted.

Of course, industrialization is a major cause of this, particularly with the proliferation of "dirty" businesses like leather tanneries - they use chromium and other chemicals, all of which enter the Ganga. However, industry is not the only source of pollution. About 1 billion liters of raw untreated sewage enters the river flow every day. And then there are the partially burnt or unburnt human corpses floating down the river, as a result of poor or incomplete cremation. And of course, the occasional cow/ goat/ sheep as well.

The conversation on NPR moved to specific causes, and a small but distinctive reason identified was the traditional "dhobis" that use the banks of the river to launder their clients' clothes on a large scale. They use vast quantities of basic detergent and literally beat the shit out of the clothes. One of the dhobis was asked whether he thought it was good for the river or not, all the detergent flowing into it. He replied sincerely, saying that detergent was good for peoples' clothes and so in his opinion, it could only be good for the river - in fact, he thought it would "kill the germs" in the water. Native wisdom, and hard to find fault with!

Regulation works better for industry, I think. Education is the only large-scale effective anti-pollutant for people.

The embrace

One evening I was walking by the ocean. It was a lovely day - warm and calm even out by the water. The sun was making its way home slowly, the surfers were out, children squealed as shaggy wet dogs blundered into sand-castles. I was smiling as I went up a hill, eager to get to the top so I could contemplate the sunset in full.

As I went, I saw a couple locked in embrace on a park-bench. I say "locked in embrace", because that's precisely what it was, fully clothed, entwined. I didn't take pictures, but I did look back as I crested the hill, and they were still there - almost motionless, murmuring to each other. It reminded me of this poem, its an odd little thing but a favorite for sure!:

The Hug (Thom Gunn)

It was your birthday, we had drunk and dined
Half of the night with our old friend
Who'd showed us in the end
To a bed I reached in one drunk stride.
Already I lay snug,
And drowsy with the wine dozed on one side.

I dozed, I slept. My sleep broke on a hug,
Suddenly, from behind,
In which the full lengths of our bodies pressed:
Your instep to my heel,
My shoulder-blades against your chest.
It was not sex, but I could feel
The whole strength of your body set,
Or braced, to mine,
And locking me to you
As if we were still twenty-two
When our grand passion had not yet
Become familial.
My quick sleep had deleted all
Of intervening time and place.
I only knew
The stay of your secure firm dry embrace.

Milk in bottles tastes better than plastic or cartons

I think so, don't you? Maybe it's just memories from childhood or something. Or maybe it's a design thing - the very "bottleness" of a milk bottle makes it attractive. Anyway, a glass bottle can be recycled easily, so that's a good thing! For a change, there's no difficult trade-off, no existential dilemma. Phew!

Straus Family Creamery is a great example of chunky square bottles, I find these aesthetically better than the old cylindrical fellows. And they're quite utilitarian too!

Check this out: Straus Family Creamery

The mad(ness) doctor? (found floating around on the internet)

Medical tourism or not, somehow I don't think Dr. Nambiar's practice is going to be growing very fast! What d'you say? Is there a future in homeopathic treatment of...psychopaths? Umm...I'd probably consider that to be a VERY questionable proposition (though, I do find the informal branding style quite endearing - "send over the nutjobs to your friendly neighborhood psycho clinic, folks!) Well, maybe, and maybe Dr Nam knows better!

Camera Obscura (the band) rocks!

Cool band, interesting sound. Indie pop though, be warned! To be honest, I was intrigued at first just by the album names (note: a wise friend of mine states that the more quirky and interesting a band's albums, the higher the probability that the music is going to be crap. CamObs is the exception that proves the rule, perhaps?).


http://www.camera-obscura.net/index2.htm

Existential Dilemma #21: Yes, I'm concerned about global warming, but...

...damn I like driving fast on the curves!


Does this mean that gas fumes have finally corroded my consciousness, or am I just a running-dog, capitalist death-merchant like the rest of them?! No, that maybe too harsh, just a whiskey priest, perhaps.

One late evening in Pacifica, another lovely sunset slipped by...

...as humanity muddled on.

Folding wetsuits after another day out surfing the woman shakes out her hair in the fading light, a guy unfolding his spare bed for a friend who dropped by, dogmatic scientists and blow-hard industrialists bickering about CFCs and HFCs on the radio, analysts writing books examining the evolution of terrorists as a global profession of people who would perhaps like to blow up the world to make a point, governments quietly planning to blow up the world to make a counter-point, the Catholic church using insurance money to pay damages to children victimized by smiling priests in suits, a girl lying bundled in bed turns desperate as another insurance company denies coverage for her need of pain medication, an overweight man with a twenty dollar cigar nestled in the inner pocket of his cashmere jacket lurches into a gas station cursing at the thought of re-fueling his custom-ordered 2007 Mercedes S500 with special accident avoidance technology, the cost of a barrel of oil rising steadily till it reached about the same amount of money a person in sub-Saharan Africa and remote parts of India has to eat for a year.

Happy Holidays, all.

Revisited: the migratory birds of Shoreline Park

They say that the birds aren't migrating across the planet as much as they used to, anymore. Some think that it's yet another unforeseen fallout of global warming. I don't know one way or the other, really. But I do know that if the birds stop coming to Shoreline Park next winter, life would somehow have become diminished in a significant way. These lovely surprises will no longer be there for us to delight in; there may be no incessant cries from seagulls punctuated by soft splashes of ducks, egrets, pelicans and others diving for breakfast.

There may be only the buzz of insects, the swish of fish in the lake and the awaiting silence of another cold empty morning.