Sunday Special

Turn up the volume.  Notes from the poster on the right include a translation of the poem.

A plea from CARE

I received an email through Mother Jones today from CARE.  I pass it along.

Dear Friend,

We are in the midst of a historic global food crisis.

The cost of food is skyrocketing — up more than 80 percent in some countries for staples like rice and wheat — and millions of people all around the world are going hungry. The global food crisis poses an epic moral and humanitarian threat. It has pushed an additional 130 million people into poverty and deepened global hunger, with the gravest impact on pregnant women and children.

The global food crisis is a call to conscience. As Americans, we recognize our moral obligation to do what we can to alleviate the suffering of those who have so much less than we do. We want women and families to thrive — but first we must help them meet the basic necessities of life. Your support will help us do just that by helping hungry families get the food, clean water, and other lifesaving aid they need to survive. Please join us today. Together, we can give hope and help to people all over the world striving for a future free of poverty and suffering.

CARE, a leading humanitarian organization fighting global poverty, is already on the ground helping women, men and children in the world’s poorest countries. We’re providing aid to help families survive right now, and we’re working with communities to create lasting solutions to hunger and poverty. We focus on working with poor women because, when equipped with the proper resources, women have the power to help whole families and entire communities escape poverty for good.

You can do your part by making a gift of $50, $100, $250, or even $1,000. Your tax-deductible contribution to CARE will help save lives and create a healthy future for millions of people striving to overcome chronic hunger and poverty.

Please join us in the fight against hunger and poverty by making a tax-deductible donation right now.

In this ailing economy, the situation is likely to worsen as food prices climb even higher. Your generous gift today can help save lives — and build a better world for all.

Thank you for your support.

Sincerely,

Helene D. Gayle, MD, MPH
President and CEO, CARE

Confirmed: 1969 Meteorite Brought Genetic Building Blocks From Space

by Josie Glausiusz, Discover Magazine Top 50 scientific events of 2008

In June astrobiologists announced they had found a key component of genetic material within a meteorite. The discovery supports the idea that asteroid bombardment four billion years ago may have jump-started the emergence of life.

Zita Martins of Imperial College London and her colleagues identified the organic molecules in the 4.6-billion-year-old Mur­chison meteorite, a carbon-rich rock that fell to Earth in Australia in 1969. Earlier researchers had detected subunits of DNA and RNA, called nucleobases, in the meteor­ite. But nobody could be sure whether the nucleobases were extraterrestrial or were simply soil contaminants.

Martins found the answer by extracting two molecules from the meteorite: uracil, a nucleobase found in RNA, and xanthine, an intermediate in the synthesis of DNA and RNA. She then compared the ratio of the two isotopes of carbon (carbon 13 and carbon 12) in them and found that the heavier carbon 13 predominated and matched the ratio found in carbon-containing chemicals created in space. By contrast, soil samples from the meteorite’s fall site contained uracil with more carbon 12.

“This is the first time anybody has proved that nucleobases in a meteorite are extraterrestrial,” Martins says. The results imply that prebiotic chemistry may be bubbling up in other parts of the cosmos too. “Meteorites and comets bombarded other planets,” Martins says. “So it means that the building blocks of life were delivered to other points in our solar system. If these building blocks were synthesized in space, they could be widespread throughout the universe.”

Robin Williams on Obama, Palin, Bush and more

Sunday Special

As far as we can discern, the sole purpose of human existence is to kindle a light in the darkness of mere being.

Carl Jung

Chicago collage

Rye bread made with cocoa

Edit: The bread isn’t dense at all. Interesting flavor, the addition of the caraway would make it even more complex. Best served with a cheese like Havarti, perhaps even a dill Havarti if that can be found, with thin slice ham or prosciutto.  Not for everyone.

****

I lost a similar recipe years ago, which I remember as one of the best breads I’ve ever made.  How many variations can there be on the theme? Not many, I would think, so I’m trying this one, omitting the caraway.

I’m now waiting now for the second rising, preheating the oven in anticipation.

Ingredients

Makes 2 loaves
2 packages active dry yeast
2 1/2 cups of warm water (just barely warm to the touch)
2/3 cup molasses
5 cups bread flour
2 cups rye flour
1 tablespoon salt
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup cocoa powder
2 Tbsp caraway seeds (optional)

Method

1 Dissolve the yeast in the warm water with the molasses. Put yeast mixture into a large metal bowl.

2 Add caraway seeds, salt, vegetable oil, cocoa powder, 2 cups of rye flour and then 2 cups of baking flour, mixing into the yeast mixture after each addition with a wooden spoon.

3 Add more bread flour, a cup at a time, until the dough is not so sticky and it is too hard to mix it with the wooden spoon. At that point, spread a half cupful of flour onto a large, clean, flat surface and put the dough onto the surface.

4 Knead the dough by pressing down with the heel of your hand, stretching it, turning the dough a quarter-turn, pulling the dough back toward you and then pressing and stretching again. Knead additional bread flour into the dough until it reaches the right consistency. Knead for 5-7 minutes, or until the dough is smooth and elastic.

5 Spread some vegetable oil around a large bowl and place the dough in it, turning it so it gets coated in the oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a damp cloth. Let rise at room temperature until it has doubled in size, about an hour and a half.

6 Gently press down on the dough so some of its air is released.

7 Knead the dough a few turns and then divide it by cutting it in half with a sharp knife.

8 Shape each half into loaf. Place dough loafs into either oiled bread loaf pans, or onto a flat baking sheet or peel that has been sprinkled with corn meal, depending if you want to cook the loaves in pans or directly on a baking stone. Cover with plastic or a damp cloth.

9 Let rise again, this time not doubling in volume, but rising by about half of its volume, about 45 minutes, half as long as the first rising. The dough should be peeking over the top of the loaf pan if using a loaf pan.

10 If you are using a baking stone, place the stone in the oven. Preheat oven to 350°F for at least half an hour before baking.

11 If baking on a stone, score the dough a few times on the top of the dough right before putting it in the oven. Put dough in the oven. If you have a mister, mist the dough with a little water the first 10 minutes of baking. Bake for 40-50 minutes, or until done. The bread should sound hollow when tapped.

Soap? Maybe. Maybe it’s another form of petroleum.

One of my friends at Live Journal posted an article today about the history of the marketing of soap. Once upon a time, not so very long ago, people made their own soap.  Until someone decided they could provide the convenience of purchased soap. Out of such humble beginnings the marketing industry was born, not to mention soap operas.

In response I mentioned that soap making has come full circle, it is now a cottage industry for middle class women looking to make a few extra dollars by making “special” soaps and selling them at Farmer’s Markets, street fairs, beauty salons, boutiques, etc. Depending on the the packaging and how ballsy the retailer is, a bar of soap can get quite expensive, and it is unregulated.  Personally, I don’t care for the designer soap, preferring Dr. Bronner’s Original Peppermint Soap. From the moment I first read the label back in the 60’s, I was both amused and impressed. If you’ve never tried Dr. Bronner’s peppermint soap, let me assure you that combined with a hot shower, it is the optimum way to wake up in the morning. Consider that your skin is the largest organ of your body; it absorbs all kinds of toxins. Your choice of soap might be more important than you think.

Turns out that Dr. Bronner’s soap was the subject of some drug controversy, and the company posted a You Tube video about it. It’s both amusing and informative. (Chances are, the soap you’re using isn’t soap at all.)

10 Worst Corporations of 2008

Entire article available at AlterNet

The 10 Worst Corporations of 2008

By Robert Weissman, Multinational Monitor
Posted on November 24, 2008, Printed on December 1, 2008
http://www.alternet.org/story/108321/

2008 marks the 20th anniversary of Multinational Monitor’s annual list of the 10 Worst Corporations of the year.

In the 20 years that we’ve published our annual list, we’ve covered corporate villains, scoundrels, criminals and miscreants. We’ve reported on some really bad stuff – from Exxon’s Valdez spill to Union Carbide and Dow’s effort to avoid responsibility for the Bhopal disaster; from oil companies coddling dictators (including Chevron and CNPC, both profiled this year) to a bank (Riggs) providing financial services for Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet; from oil and auto companies threatening the future of the planet by blocking efforts to address climate change to duplicitous tobacco companies marketing cigarettes around the world by associating their product with images of freedom, sports, youthful energy and good health.

But we’ve never had a year like 2008.

The financial crisis first gripping Wall Street and now spreading rapidly throughout the world is, in many ways, emblematic of the worst of the corporate-dominated political and economic system that we aim to expose with our annual 10 Worst list. Here is how.

Improper political influence: Corporations dominate the policy-making process, from city councils to global institutions like the World Trade Organization. Over the last 30 years, and especially in the last decade, Wall Street interests leveraged their political power to remove many of the regulations that had restricted their activities. There are at least a dozen separate and significant examples of this, including the Financial Services Modernization Act of 1999, which permitted the merger of banks and investment banks. In a form of corporate civil disobedience, Citibank and Travelers Group merged in 1998 – a move that was illegal at the time, but for which they were given a two-year forbearance – on the assumption that they would be able to force a change in the relevant law. They did, with the help of just-retired (at the time) Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin, who went on to an executive position at the newly created Citigroup.

Deregulation and non-enforcement: Non-enforcement of rules against predatory lending helped the housing bubble balloon. While some regulators had sought to exert authority over financial derivatives, they were stopped by finance-friendly figures in the Clinton administration and Congress – enabling the creation of the credit default swap market. Even Alan Greenspan concedes that that market – worth $55 trillion in what is called notional value – is imploding in significant part because it was not regulated.

Short-term thinking: It was obvious to anyone who cared to look at historical trends that the United States was experiencing a housing bubble. Many in the financial sector seemed to have convinced themselves that there was no bubble. But others must have been more clear-eyed. In any case, all the Wall Street players had an incentive not to pay attention to the bubble. They were making stratospheric annual bonuses based on annual results. Even if they were certain the bubble would pop sometime in the future, they had every incentive to keep making money on the upside.

Financialization: Profits in the financial sector were more than 35 percent of overall U.S. corporate profits in each year from 2005 to 2007, according to data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Instead of serving the real economy, the financial sector was taking over the real economy.

Profit over social use: Relatedly, the corporate-driven economy was being driven by what could make a profit, rather than what would serve a social purpose. Although Wall Street hucksters offered elaborate rationalizations for why exotic financial derivatives, private equity takeovers of firms, securitization and other so-called financial innovations helped improve economic efficiency, by and large these financial schemes served no socially useful purpose.

Externalized costs: Worse, the financial schemes didn’t just create money for Wall Street movers and shakers and their investors. They made money at the expense of others. The costs of these schemes were foisted onto workers who lost jobs at firms gutted by private equity operators, unpayable loans acquired by homeowners who bought into a bubble market (often made worse by unconscionable lending terms), and now the public.

What is most revealing about the financial meltdown and economic crisis, however, is that it illustrates that corporations – if left to their own worst instincts – will destroy themselves and the system that nurtures them. It is rare that this lesson is so graphically illustrated. It is one the world must quickly learn, if we are to avoid the most serious existential threat we have yet faced: climate change.

Of course, the rest of the corporate sector was not on good behavior during 2008 either, and we do not want them to escape justified scrutiny. In keeping with our tradition of highlighting diverse forms of corporate wrongdoing, we include only one financial company on the 10 Worst list. Here, presented in alphabetical order, are the 10 Worst Corporations of 2008.

Rest of the article available at AlterNet.

Don’t want to keep anyone in suspense.

Sunday Special – The Wild Trees

Had 8 or 9 hours on the road over Thanksgiving, plenty of time to listen to the story of the “discovery” of the coastal redwoods over the past 35 or 40 years. It is a fascinating story! Look at the book cover, you’ll see men climbing big trees. Turns out the the canopy of a redwood forest is a fascinating place, and there are a variety of ways to get there; all of them will make your stomach churn and wonder again and again if these people are suicidal. The tree they’re most interested in are the oldest and/or largest trees, most over 325 feet tall.  The canopy is another world with its own sense of time and its own ecology, this is a contemporary story of scientists exploring part of the environment never seen before; the discovery of a world we could see but no one ever understood what they were looking at.

I downloaded the book from Net Library, available through the library system to anyone who has a library card. Free, just like any other book in the library. Check with your local library for availability.

Mr. Preston has a web page, but it’s much more fun to visit after you’ve read or listened to the book and know the characters.