When I think of moral and selfless leadership, very few names spring to mind: Jesus, Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Abraham Lincoln, Nelson Mandela. These days "leadership" conjures up the greed and selfishness that characterize a big ego, but very occasionally someone comes along in the tradition of Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King...and that someone of our generation is Nobel Peace Prize winner, Aung San Suu Kyi, who insisted on nonviolent opposition against extreme injustice in Burma. She remained under house arrest in Burma for almost 15 of the 21 years from 20 July 1989 until her most recent release on 13 November 2010. Her earliest years of house arrest were especially hard. She had little money and she scarcely ate. She became so malnourished that her hair started to fall out and she developed spondylosis, a degeneration of the spinal column. She would roam her empty house at night and talk to a photograph of her dead father. But as she would later say, tapping her head:"They never got me up here."
Burma is holding elections tomorrow and voters will fill forty-five seats in elections for the national legislature or parliament. This will be the first vote in the country since the end of almost fifty years of military rule. Late last year, Hillary Clinton became the first American Secretary of State to visit Burma in fifty years. Aung San Suu Kyi says that the elections taking place this weekend would not be "free and fair" but that her party still hoped to win as many parliamentary seats as possible.
Flag of National League for Democracy/Fighting Peacock flag
Here's a photo of Anne (left) - my favorite "ray of sunshine" barista at Starbucks on 53rd Street who is returning to Cincinnati - and Claudia, a former barista at the same place. I'll miss you both...
Stanley Lee only realized something was wrong when wife Peggy told him their back garden, in Dorset, was on fire. The 88-year-old thought he had the small garden fire under control and twice checked that it was 'smoking nicely' before heading indoors. But moments later a spark from it shot onto a wooden fence, triggering a huge fire that engulfed the boundaries of four neighboring properties. The inferno destroyed four garden sheds, a neighbor's 4,000 pounds summerhouse, a children's trampoline, and sections of fencing separating four houses.
According to "Science" magazine, exposure to certain insecticides could be harming bees. Five years ago, a mysterious condition called "colony collapse disorder" decimated honey bee colonies in parts of the U.S. There is new evidence that systemic insecticides, a common way to protect crops, indirectly harm bees. In bumble bees, exposure to one such chemical leads to a dramatic loss of queens which could help explain the insects' decline. In honey bees, another insecticide interferes with the foragers' ability to find their way back to the hive. Researchers say these findings are cause for concern... http://www.sciencemag.org/content/335/6076/1555
"Let’s start with the already famous exchange in which Justice Antonin Scalia compared the purchase of health insurance to the purchase of broccoli, with the implication that if the government can compel you to do the former, it can also compel you to do the latter. That comparison horrified health care experts all across America because health insurance is nothing like broccoli.
Why? When people choose not to buy broccoli, they don’t make broccoli unavailable to those who want it. But when people don’t buy health insurance until they get sick — which is what happens in the absence of a mandate — the resulting worsening of the risk pool makes insurance more expensive, and often unaffordable, for those who remain. As a result, unregulated health insurance basically doesn’t work, and never has."
Ernest Henry Shackleton, Captain Robert Falcon Scott and Dr. Edward Adrian Wilson
On this day (March 29) 100 years ago, Antarctic explorer Robert Falcon Scott scrawled his last entry into the diary he had kept since the start of his ill-fated expedition to the South Pole. “I do not think we can hope for any better things. We shall stick it out to the end, but we are getting weaker, of course, and the end cannot be far. It seems a pity, but I do not think I can write more. For God’s sake look after our people.”
According to this BBC link, he dined on stewed penguin and champagne during this final trip. Seal meat (curried, fried or in soup) plus salted almonds, turtle soup, roast beef, and crystallised ginger featured on the menu. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-17371543
A fire burns outside the Barcelona Stock Exchange, during today's 24-hour general strike against the Government's labor reform. The Government hopes the changes will cut unemployment which is currently the EU's highest at 23%. Nearly half of Spain's under 25s are out of work.
Scientists have obtained a fascinating new insight into the evolution of humans and our ability to walk. It comes from the fossilized bones of a foot that were discovered in Ethiopia and dated 3.4 million years old.
The researchers say they don't have enough remains to identify the species of hominin, or human ancestor, from which the right foot came. But they tell "Nature" journal that the shape of the bones shows the creature could walk upright at times.
Going to see the 1975 movie "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" tonight at University of Chicago DOC movie theater. I think this was my favorite of the Monty Python movies.
Arthur: I am your king! Woman: Well I didn't vote for you! Arthur: You don't vote for kings. Woman: Well how'd you become king then?
[Angelic music plays...] Arthur: The Lady of the Lake, her arm clad in the purest shimmering samite held aloft Excalibur from the bosom of the water, signifying by divine providence that I, Arthur, was to carry Excalibur. THAT is why I am your king! Dennis: [interrupting] Listen, strange women lyin' in ponds distributin' swords is no basis for a system of government! Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony! Dennis: Oh, but you can't expect to wield supreme executive power just because some watery tart threw a sword at you! Dennis: Oh but if I went 'round sayin' I was Emperor, just because some moistened bint lobbed a scimitar at me, they'd put me away! Dennis: Help! Help! I'm being repressed! Come see the violence inherent in the system! Violence inherent in the system!
Mies Van der Rohe would have been 126 years old today if he had lived until now! Many Chicago buildings remain as part of his legacy. Nazi pressure forced him to close the German government-financed Bauhaus school after 1933...the Nazis rejected his style as not "German" in character. He left his homeland in 1937 and moved to Wyoming and then to Chicago to be head of architecture at the newly established Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT). Here he created the "Second Chicago School" which became very influential in North America and Europe...he believed that architecture should express the essence of its civilization. http://www.miessociety.org/
Jane took this photo of Virginia Bluebells (Mertensia Virginica) on our Wooded Isle walk yesterday. They are in bloom about a month early this year. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mertensia_virginica
“We are all wanderers on this earth. Our hearts are full of wonder, and our souls are deep with dreams. Gypsy Proverb” ...
Parents cop blame: A hooded youth walks past a burning vehicle in Hackney during the London riots. Source: Herald Sun
A report leaked yesterday into last summer's UK riots listed poor parenting among the many and complex causes of the outbreak of social disorder. The report by the Riots, Communities and Victims Panel said a lack of confidence in police, materialism and an inability to prevent re-offending were behind the riots.It also cited the plight of long-term unemployed young people and schools turning out illiterate pupils."We heard from many communities who felt that rioter behaviour could ultimately be ascribed to poor parenting" the report said.
I was a bit shocked when I saw that KLM offer a new service called Meet and Seat....is it frowned upon to enjoy some peace and quiet for even the duration of a flight these days? Perhaps I could add my profile as "miserable old git/antisocial bookworm with body odor" to ensure a quiet journey...
I Love SkyMall, Too!
By Hope Reeves (New York Times Sunday Magazine)
"Ever wish the person next to you on a 12-hour flight could know your birth date, sexual orientation and favorite quotations even before you boarded the plane? Well, geen probleem (no problem)! KLM Royal Dutch Airlines has introduced “Meet and Seat,” a way to post your Facebook or LinkedIn profiles on its Web site so that others can choose you as a seatmate. Or reject you. “Since the launch, more than 400 people have shared their profile,” says Lisette Ebeling Koning, a spokeswoman for the airline."
Seventy years ago, Henry Miller traveled the U.S. after a decade abroad and wrote “The Air-Conditioned Nightmare” to excoriate the bourgeois complacency he saw. “That Roosevelt!” he recalls his dad’s New-Deal-averse neighbors complaining, “as if they were saying, ‘That Hitler!’ ” The book later influenced the Beats, Jack Kerouac especially. And in the 99-percent era, its provocations overshadow “On the Road.”
Henry Miller
"To live beyond the pale, to work for the pleasure of working, to grow old gracefully while retaining one’s faculties, one’s enthusiasms, one’s self-respect, one has to establish other values than those endorsed by the mob. It takes an artist to make this breach in the wall. An artist is primarily one who has faith in himself. He does not respond to the normal stimuli: he is neither a drudge nor a parasite. He lives to express himself and in so doing enriches the world." - Henry Miller
"On the Road" will soon be released as a movie:
“the only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars.”
I've bought myself a German Hohner Special 20 harmonica in the key of A and signed up for another 5 blues harmonica lessons with Porkchop Slim in April. Here he is playing blues harmonica (aka blues harp):
In the same week that U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner warns Europe against draconian spending cuts, we hear that the Italian labor minister, Elsa Fornero, fears for her life and needs bodyguard protection after proposing changes to the jobs market. The last time someone tried to shake up the Italian jobs market, they were shot dead by the New Red Brigade: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/mar/23/italy-jobs-minister-elsa-fornero
The Guardian newspaper has obtained e-mails she exchanged with her husband, apparently showing they were buying pop music and luxury goods on the internet during the recent bloodshed. Asma, a 36-year-old mother of three and former investment banker, was shown to have a penchant for crystal-encrusted Christian Louboutin shoes and Chanel dresses from France.
As Syria's bloodshed deepens, the British-born first lady has become an object of contempt for many, a Marie Antoinette figure who shops online for luxury goods while her country burns. She is a British national and in London officials said the EU travel ban could not prevent her from entering Britain. "British citizens subject to EU travel bans cannot be refused entry to the UK," a UK Border Agency spokesperson said. The ban would stop her from travelling to the other 26 EU nations, an EU diplomat said.
"She is one of the robbers. The price of her shoes is enough to feed three families in Syria for one year," activist Omar al-Muqdad, now in Turkey, told ABC News. "She is an important part of our pain."
Stumbled upon this amazing video about the Himalayas. Journeying from West to East and following the seasons, the film begins in Pakistan in winter. A snow leopard chases a markhor sheep, wolves hunt for frozen bodies in the snow, and golden eagles soar above searching for prey. As ice slowly slides down the mountains, Hindu pilgrims take a bath in the melted water, worshiping the mountain and the water as a source of life. I was transported to another world watching this...
The Himalayas are home to snow leopards, Himalayan wolves and Tibetan bears. Individual snow leopards like to stay in a well-defined home range but according to researchers they don’t defend their territory aggressively when encroached upon by other snow leopards. Nor will they defend their territory against wolves. Researchers say the relationship between snow leopards and wolves is the same as cats and dogs. A snow leopard will not defend its food but will give it up to wolves in the same way a cat will usually give up to a dog. Snow leopards are generally shy, even within their own species, and will only seek out other snow leopards during mating season.
Party people: Philp Green with two of his party guests, Kate Moss and Gwyneth Paltrow. Photograph: Getty Images/Rex Features/Guardian montage
Guardian: "It's budget week, so what better time for billionaire Sir Philip Green to fly 150 celebrity guests to Mexico for a wildly extravagant party? ...Sir Philip's wife Tina instructed the 150 guests to turn up with their passports and warm-weather clothes to Luton airport last Tuesday, where they were loaded into private jets and whisked off to a swanky beach resort in Cancun, hired by Phil in its entirety.... Naturally, what the Greens do with their money is nothing to do with us – indeed, it's way above the paygrade of the chancellor, what with 92% of Philip's Arcadia Group being in Tina's name, and her being resident in Monaco." More at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/lostinshowbiz/2012/mar/22/guests-philip-green-6m-party?INTCMP=SRCH
Wikipedia: "Green, the Arcadia retail group tycoon, became the focus of anger over the program of government cuts that campaigners said could be avoided if tax dodging was stamped out, bringing in some £25bn a year to the public purse and reducing the national deficit. Taveta Investments, the company used to acquire Arcadia in 2002, is in the name of Green's wife, Tina Green, a Monaco resident, avoiding £285 million in tax that would be payable if a UK resident owned the company." More info:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_Green
NB: The Arcadia retail group includes UK high street stores such as BHS, Top Shop, Dorothy Perkins, Miss Selfridge.
Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images Europe
Philip & Tina Green at 2011 Monaco Royal Wedding
And this is how the Daily Mail covered the story (with some pretty revealing photos):
New Moon walk at the Wooded Isle, Jackson Park, this evening. It was too cloudy to see the New Moon but we did see lots of other things (see photos at link below) including lots of beaver damage as can be seen in the photos:
The neighborhood newspaper (Hyde Park Herald) shows a prescribed burn taking place in Bobolink Meadow last week. Pizzo and Associates, a landscaping firm contracted by the Chicago Parks Department, manage some of the natural areas of the city parks.
The Chicago Wilderness magazine explains why controlled burns of prairie habitats are a good idea:
I look forward to seeing this new movie, The Hunger Games, which goes on general release tomorrow. The actress (Jennifer Lawrence) who plays the 16-year old heroine (Katniss Everdeen) was amazing in the 2010 "Winter's Bone" movie. The Hunger Games movie is based on the first in a trilogy of books by Suzanne Collins. http://movies.nytimes.com/2012/03/23/movies/the-hunger-games-movie-adapts-the-suzanne-collins-novel.html According to Wikipedia: "In an interview with Suzanne Collins, it was noted that the books "[tackle] issues like severe poverty, starvation, oppression, and the effects of war among others".The book deals with the struggle for self-preservation that the people of Panem face in their districts and the Hunger Games in which they must participate.The starvation and need for resources that the citizens encounter both in and outside of the arena create an atmosphere of helplessness that the main characters try to overcome in their fight for survival. Katniss's proficiency with the bow and arrow stems from her need to hunt in order to provide food for her family—this necessity results in the development of skills that are useful to her in the Games, and represents her rejection of the Capitol's rules in the face of life-threatening situations. The choices the characters make and the strategies they use are often morally complex. The "tributes" build a personality they want the audience to see throughout the Games. Voice of Youth Advocates (VOYA) names the major themes of The Hunger Games as "government control, big brother, and personal independence". The Capitol makes watching the games required viewing. The theme of power and downfall, similar to that of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, was pointed out by Scholastic."
Image: Lionsgate
Here is the author, Suzanne Collins, answering questions about her trilogy:
Not sure why I'm posting this but they were playing it in a shop I was in this morning....and it struck me as a great song...and brought back great memories of growing up in the 1960s in Northwest England, which felt like the center of the universe at the time (with The Beatles singing in nearby Liverpool and Georgie Best/Manchester United playing football in nearby Manchester). Shake it up baby!
Members of the Greek Communist party protest during a rally against the austerity measures outside the Greek parliament yesterday. Photograph: KeystoneUSA-ZUMA / Rex Features
An inspiring story about Dan, my friend Ninfa's husband, who lost a leg but was able to dance at his son's Indiana wedding last year. His right leg was amputated just above the knee due to Diabetes and complications from contact with Agent Orange during the Vietnam War:
And here is a You Tube video of Madonna singing "Into the Groove":
Tammy Duckworth was a Black Hawk pilot who lost her legs when her helicopter was shot down in Iraq. After recovering, she served as Director of Veterans' Affairs for Illinois, where she helped hundreds of returning Veterans find jobs. And when President Obama was elected, he appointed her to serve as Assistant Secretary of the National VA.
My heart sank when I read that the British Government is considering the privatization of UK roads....i.e. selling off and stripping yet another public asset. England's major roads could be run by private firms in a deal compared to the sell-off of the water industry under plans to boost infrastructure spending being set out by David Cameron.http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/mar/19/david-cameron-privatisation-roads
I instantly thought of the privatization of the 157-mile Indiana Toll Road and Chicago Skyway (which I use each week). It took years to complete a recent reconstruction of the Indiana Toll Road around Gary, and the cost of the Toll Road and Skyway has increased considerably since privatization in 2006. Tolls for cars driving the length of the road are now $8.80 as compared to $4.65 when the lease was signed. Tolls for large semitrailer trucks are now $35.20, as compared to $18 when the lease was signed. Meanwhile, we have absolutely no say in the matter.
As you can see from the following Northwest Indiana Times article, the private operator of the Indiana Toll Road could be in danger of defaulting on its huge debt in the near future. The road was leased to a private consortium backed by Spain-based conglomerate Cintra and Australia-based Macquarie in June 2006. And the lending group for the Toll Road privatization led by Royal Bank of Scotland.
The British Government's privatization idea is, in essence, a return to the old turnpike network of roads developed in the 18th Century during the Industrial Revolution in Britain. Local businesses could build and run roads around the country and charge horse-drawn coaches a toll in order to get their money back. Before then, the roads were run by the Church. Roads were nationalized in the late 19th century when people worried about the clogging of roads with the turnpike system being so fragmented and owned by different people.
There are also question marks over the precise way the British government will fund the privatization:
1. private companies will be able to charge tolls on newly-built roads and 2. those running existing roads will be given a portion of the revenues the Government receives from road taxes. While number 1. is a tried-and-tested model, there is evidence from America that number 2. is rather less reliable.
Here is a 2007 article entitled "Roads to Riches" in Bloomberg Businessweek magazine -- on why investors are clamoring to take over America's highways, bridges, and airports -- and why the public should be very nervous: http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/07_19/b4033001.htm
Today is the first day of Spring. The vernal equinox, or spring equinox, is one of two times during the year when the length of day and the length of night are just about equal. Since last Wednesday temperatures in Chicago have exceeded 80 degrees, breaking all records. It's a running joke around the Windy City that we don't have a spring or fall but we are certainly getting a Spring this year - and just about everything is in bloom already! Yesterday I visited the Osaka Japanese Garden on the Wooded Isle and took the following photo of magnolia blossom....which has appeared about a month earlier than usual!
Just returned from a nature walk at the Wooded Isle in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. There is a Native Woodland habitat restoration in progress. The goal of the Chicago Park District for this area is to eliminate invasive woody and weed species and restore the area using native vegetation. Seeding the areas with woodland species will begin immediately and perennial plugs, shrubs, trees will be installed. This restoration will eventually increase both plant and wildlife diversity according to the CPD. It has been controversial because the island now looks quite bare compared to previous years, and won't be anywhere near as good for bird watching...
Yesterday's Sunday New York Times magazine has a feature on Haworth in Yorkshire -- home of the Brontë sisters....Charlotte, Emily, Anne. This trio drew inspiration from the surrounding wild and windswept moors. None of them lived beyond the age of 40. Anne died of TB aged 28 and she was buried by the sea at Scarborough. She was the youngest sister who wrote Agnes Grey, based upon her experiences as a governess. Her second and last novel was The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. Charlotte was the eldest sister who wrote Jane Eyre, Shirley, and Villette. She died from TB, along with her unborn child, at the age of 38. Emily wrote Wuthering Heights and died from TB at the age of 30. Charlotte and Emily are buried in the family vault of St. Michael and All Angels in the village of Haworth, where their father had preached. The family parsonage is now a museum about their lives: http://www.bronte.info/ http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/18/t-magazine/bronte-country-beckons-a-writer-back.html?pagewanted=all
Charlotte, Emily, Anne painted by their brother, Branwelll
I was born about 50 miles from Haworth and we would go for day trips and walks around that area. I soon understood how this wild landscape had fueled their imaginations, despite their protected and religious upbringing. You can follow in the footsteps of the Brontës and discover the dramatic landscapes that inspired their work with this link to walks around Haworth: http://www.haworth-village.org.uk/walks/walks.asp
Here is Kate Bush performing "Wuthering Heights" in 1978:
It's amazing to think that Bob Dylan (American musician, poet, artist) released his first album 50 years ago today -- on 19 March 1962. It was entitled BOB DYLAN and released by Columbia Records, featuring folk songs and two original compositions. What a huge talent! He has somehow never lost his enigma or mystique, even after five decades! His position in popular culture is unique.http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2012/mar/18/bob-dylan-debut-1962-anniversary
That floats on high o'er Vales and Hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd
A host of dancing Daffodils;
Along the Lake, beneath the trees,
Ten thousand dancing in the breeze.
The waves beside them danced, but they
Outdid the sparkling waves in glee: --
A poet could not but be gay
In such a laughing company:
I gazed—and gazed—but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:
For oft when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude,
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the Daffodils.
Listening to this song on "Sound Opinions" on WBEZ Chicago radio this weekend: Nick Lowe and "What's So Funny about Peace, Love, and Understanding":
A pivotal figure in UK punk rock and new wave, Lowe has recorded a string of well-reviewed solo albums. I associate him with the pock band The Damned (he was their producer) and their first album Damned, Damned, Damned from 1977. I guess he's moved on from that punk era...haven't we all?....
Wow - one of my favorite American actors (John Cusack) and favorite American writers (Edgar Allan Poe) involved in a gritty new thriller "The Raven"....a satirical nightmare about a washed-up Edgar Allen Poe taking on a serial killer who is inspired by his stories. Release date of 27 April 2012.
Photo: Karen Robinson for the Observer
John Cusack talks about himself and the movie in this Guardian piece :
