Flower-eating cat.

Global warming has been receiving an incredible amount of press coverage here the last year. That's encouraging, I suppose. It gets much more in some countries like the Netherlands that are already directly feeling the negative impacts... Like most things in business and in politics, problems tend to get ignored until they become an immediate crisis. Which always struck me as ironic given how often businessfolk and politicians talk about being "proactive" (confession: "proactive is" enemy #1 on my Vocabulary Enemies List).

It's a tough call. Serious reform would probably force the global economy to scale back, at least for a time, but environmental degradation will gradually devastate the global economy, too. Which one is preferable: do WE pay, or do we just hope _really hard_ for a technological miracle that prevents our grandchildren from paying with interest? "Consume with abandon→ miracle happens here→ great-grandchildren will know what a tree is."

One problem with current society is our over-reliance on technology to solve problems without being willing to make any personal sacrifices to achieve a goal. We see it everywhere: shock and awe bombing campaigns, plastic surgery, pill popping, increased fuel efficiency that offsets driving ever larger cars, etc. To go off on a tangent for a moment, this is a problem with all living creatures, not just humanity. Humanity simply has more more means at our disposal...there is a tendency to use up every available resource unless checked by some external force...extrapolating loosely from population biology, we'll keep going until we reach the limits of our ecosystem...technology just keeps expanding the limits and carrying capacity. Eventually, we'll hit a wall, and the population will contract at that point (mass starvation, pandemic, ecological disasters, things like that - we examples on smaller scales in both human populations and natural ecosystems). That's what populations do (not just humans). Let's hope global culture can evolve to a point where legitimate self-sacrifice and self-control is rewarded. Otherwise, I start to wonder if we will keep repeating the following pattern over and over: decline, collapse, primitive existence for a while, the environment will recover, society will rebuild, population will expand beyond carrying capacity, decline, collapse, repeat ad nauseum. (I'm thinking _Canticle for Leibowitz_)

Yeah, it bothers me, but I've come to terms with it (see: Gen X escapism, reasons for). I'm not a social idealist in that I do not expect the majority of people to sacrifice without _some_ reward....I'd just tweak the underlying system of rewards and penalties to achieve social good. Hopefully, we'll all learn to scale back our consumption-oriented lifestyles a bit and find some workable alternate forms of energy.

Which brings me to a neat idea for a story, well, neat if one likes dark post-apocalyptic stories of environmental disaster. Have you heard about that mega seed bank in the Arctic? It's planned for a place that'll still be above sea level and still cold even if the ice caps completely melted...I can see writing a dark, post-apocalyptic story about the struggles of a few people to track down the legendary place where many, many seeds are kept in order to feed the starving remnants of some distant subsistent society that has only distant memories of the past advanced culture (i.e., the coming Dark Ages, with the sort of knowledge the average person in that period had of Rome or Greece). That'd be cool, if somewhat heavy handed. Upside is that I'd been seen as a visionary when society collapses, not that I'd really care, being be too busy gathering my forces to make sure I come out on top of the new feudal system. After all, the best way to be seen as a visionary is to implement one's vision.

Saw a neat lecture on Afghan archaeology last night, had all sorts of neat tidbits and some pics. Turns out that there are ruins of several Buddhist monasteries in Bamiyan, right near where those big Buddhas used to be. The lecturer, Dr. Tarzai (three Ph.D.s from the University of Strasbourg; he gave his lecture in French, and his adult daughter translated), has been working in the area for some time. There was some discussion about the Greek influence in the region, which I found that very interesting. E.g., there are “Buddhist” statues that are clearly Herakles or Alexander, but holding some Buddhist implement. Some of the pilasters had Corinthian leaves, etc. Some heads clearly resembled that sort of standardized Roman consul head form, which Tarzai also noted, although I didn’t get a chance to ask whether that was due to later cultural influence from Rome or something both cultures got from the Greeks. He observed that Kandahar and Jalalabad (sister city to San Diego, if you’re curious), among other cities, were named Alexandria for a time, and apparently a local alternate name for Kandahar retains some obvious root of “Alexander.” There was also a great deal of influence from the East, e.g., India.

It's absolutely fascinating to see how the artwork incorporates elements from so many cultures. It’s also incredibly tragic, though, because so many of the sites have been destroyed or looted. For instance, Hadda was an open-air museum/excavation of sorts (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hadda has some details and pics, including some demonstrating very strong Hellenistic influences)…during the Soviet era, the communists lost control of the site for *two* days and, during that time, the site was stripped of most of its valuable statuary, gems, etc. Even large features like giant stupas have been obliterated and recycled for building material. I gather similar things have happened at most other sites. To add insult to injury, although Tarzai has cataloged and published his finds, many identifiable antiquities he's cataloged were subsequently looted and have ended up in museums and collections everywhere from NY (the Met has at least one piece for which Tarzai claims to have proof that it legally belongs to the Kabul Museum), Japan, Saigon, France, Pakistan (sounds like most of the antiquities flow through there, unsurprisingly).

The saddest bit, I thought, was that the museum in Kabul was destroyed, and so they had to excavate the remains of the museum itself then reassemble the broken bits of pottery and statuary they were able to salvage. I gather, the best stuff already gone. Imagine the horrors of seeing all that work lost.

I guess the last season at Bamiyan was pretty much a loss because, after arriving, they discovered the entire site had been mined. Heavily mined – we saw a picture of the site with all the cleared mine flags, and there must have been dozens or hundreds in a fairly small area. It took a while before the UN could hire companies to remove the mines; the odd thing is, apparently no one knows how the mines got there, because the site is reasonably secure, and there weren’t any mines in 2004-2005.

Starts to make Indiana Jones seem staid and dull, no? One good sign, however, is that it sounds like the archaeological community is very supportive of archaeological efforts in Afghanistan, and the Japanese, French, etc. have all been leading expeditions there as well. Here's to hope for the future.

Finally managed to get a shot of the highlight of the baby cat's day, a hummingbird. Mally comes running when she hears the whirr of hummingbird wings. Occasionally, I'll her crouched in front of the patio door, waiting hopefully for a hummingbird to come. Sometimes I see her there at midnight, eagerly awaiting the next flyby (one never knows, after all).

The baby cat on her Christmas present:

Just went to try to pick up a Nintendo Wii for a little cousin. Her mom is kicking herself for not pre-ordering from Amazon, but who knew to expect this artificially-induced Wii insanity, inanity. I drove by several local retail stores, and you can imagine what the scene was like: gamer upon gamer in camp chairs and tents. Gamers were camped outside Target and playing baseball in the parking lot outside Best Buy. The guys at Fry's actually looked a bit like the evil undead; Fry's had the shortest line, but I assume this was because of some sort of Darwinian struggle in which the weakest were quite possibly eaten. Or perhaps sacrificed to dark gods, uncertain. Even Amazon is sold out, and disgruntled and frustrated people are writing negative reviews of the Wii to blow off steam after several hours of refreshing their browsers to see if Amazon miraculously had more Wii in stock. I wasn't interested in waiting in line, but it was intriguing to see the frenzy in action. I'm curious to see how much Nintendo is going to try to manipulate the market and how long before they ship additional units. The La Mesa Walmart had only 20, which seems a small number for a major retail outlet. Someone was reselling a Wii on Amazon for $800 and it's already been purchased. Sheer madness.

Some days, it seems that my inbox fills itself...

Have been doing some hiking and walking, quite often with Gosia, we went to law school together. Today, we went to Mission trails, and I took a photo of the Mission Dam:



The Mission dam is California historical landmark #52, see http://ohp.parks.ca.gov/default.asp?page_id=21478 for details.

Found some Halloween merchandise on sale today. Ended up getting a foam pumpkin, so that I could finally use a pumpkin carving design I found last year. I'm pleased with the result, although it needs some smoothing work on the edges (the foam crumbles a bit).

A few weeks back, I received a postcard from a very old and dear friend. We knew each other when I lived in Mastershausen, Germany. He sent me a postcard celebrating the town's 950th Anniversary. I used to live very close to the church shown on the right. What memories it brings back!

Visited the Stephen Birch Aquarium. Ended up becoming a member. Here are some pics.

Leafy Seadragon




Weedy Seadragon


Misc Fish

Inspired by an online contest to "interpret" the name of an epiphyllum hybrid, I used Djali as a model...his entry is going to represent either "Buccaneer," "Pirate" or "Ostrich Feather."

Just saw the Da Vinci Code. Cheesy, but enjoyable on a very basic level. This is a movie that will make you feel really smart, as the movie presupposes the audience has the knowledge of a bunch of inbred three year olds raised by gazelles. The characters’ amazement when these puzzles are figured out is pretty entertaining. It seems I’m smarter than a cryptologist, a British scholar, a Harvard professor and scores of law enforcement officers – they all missed those websites, video games, books and TV shows about the sangreal, I guess.

For instance, they surely did not see websites such as the one belonging to Roslyn Chapel (it has cheery Scottish music on its main page: http://www.rosslynchapel.org.uk/), which contains a link to a website about Templars in Scotland. As if that weren't amusing enough, that link leads to the international Templar website: http://www.osmth.org/ At least they admit they’re not directly descended from the original, simply stating that their organization is based on shared values with the original Templars (taking Jerusalem?).

Looking at the website, the organization does indeed promote Christianity in the Holy Land: their goals are “to improve the Christian presence in the Holy Land…and perpetuation the Christian spirit and ideals that impelled the early Templar Knights to dedicate their lives to similar causes.” Uh…yeah…”similar.”

Have you ever noticed that EVERY decent and lengthy conspiracy theory involves the Templars at some level? Not just the Masons or other ostensibly secret societies, but the _Knights Templar_ themselves, if only you dig deep enough.

Okay, here is the take home lesson: It AIN’T a secret organization if it has a website talking about it...linked from a website for a chapel well known in grail mythology. They’ve even trademarked their logo! Although, of course, if one were so minded, I suppose one could argue that such a commonplace exterior would be the perfect cover...sigh, now I'll have to keep watch for the black helicopters.

Here is the list of membership requirements: http://us.osmth.org/ I can see the posters: “Are you ecumenical in thought? Do you deport yourself in an honorable and chivalrous matter? If so, we need you!” I'm intrigued by the thought of "secret" society that wants a copy of one’s resume to determine if one qualifies. What should it list? Prioress, secret society (name withheld), 1977-Present? At least they apparently accept women. Maybe I should submit a resume...

To quote Father Ted's standard answer to visiting bishops on any questions involving faith, "That would be an ecumenical matter."

What do you mean, it's not a punch card ballot?

Ladybug baby.

One of my flowers bloomed yesterday, an epiphyllum hybrid named Fruehling's Gold.

The bud right before it opened.
And the flower. Very fragrant, the scent filled my entire balcony.

Went to the Wild Animal Park to look at the epiphyllums, which are now starting to bloom. Here are a few of my favorite shots:

I like the flower, and I like how the sparse stamens emphasize the shape of the flower.
I like the play of light through the white petals.
Interesting color combination.
Beautiful color.
Don't the stamens look like a fountain, or fireworks?

Finally made it to the Wild Animal Park for this year's Butterflies and Orchids exhibit.

Butterflies...






And some paphs...


And the epiphyllums are just starting to come into bloom...

I’d say when a principal can’t tell the difference between a nuclear attack and a student walkout, the school district is a dead loss: http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/04/17/immigration.classroom.ap/index.html