4Sep2008
Yesterday I downloaded and installed Google's new Chrome browser to a couple of my machines - both run versions of MS-XP. Generally, I'm fond of Google's approach to software, especially their efforts to keep interfaces clean and not too commercialized. Chrome is no exception; it's clean and functional. My one major gripe so far is that it's impossible to turn off underlining, and that will probably keep me using Firefox most of the time. But Chrome offers some interesting functionality -- here's a link to DOWNLOAD CHROME. Right now it's for windows only. The install is extremely quick and easy and it's free, so there's really no reason not to try it.
I wouldn't watch the Republican convention on a bet. Here's a Rep-Con antidote - Bush Tours America from the Onion, America's finest news source.
3Sep2008
Generally I'm not much of a fan of Larry King Live -- his know-nothing stance just keeps reminding me of Sesame Street's Big Bird. But here's a YouTube viddy of a recent discussion of Sarah Palin on LKL that I found amusing.
Fans of genuine American Rock and Roll are directed to the FabChannel for a fine performance by the Drive-By Truckers live at the Paradiso in Amsterdam just a couple of weeks ago. BTW, they're appearing in Bloomington in November.
Evidence of an fairly extensive urbanized culture have been found in the Amazon rain forest at Xingu National Park. Here's SciAm's short piece: Ancient Amazon Actually Highly Urbanized.
Unemployment rate soars for manufacturing sector [8.15.2008 - WSBT] provides a glimpse of the shocking reality of the manufacturing downturn in northern Indiana, especially in the RV industry. There's no doubt that the workers displaced by the RV downturn are skilled and diligent, but who exactly thought building giant houses on wheels was a sustainable industry? And does this look like an 'economic hot streak"?
5Aug2008 - Photos of Coast to Coast of Indiana 2008
Last weekend saw the running of the 2008 edition of the Coast to Coast of Indiana, a benefit for Cystic Fibrosis research. The year the race ended at the Dunes station of the South Shore Line. The winners were perennial C2C master, 'Rotten Robbies' of Crawfordsville. Here are some photos of the finish.
24Jul2008 - Photos of North Judson - Monterey Trail Grant Ceremony
The growing bipartisan support for rail/trails in Indiana was in evidence yesterday as Gov. Mitch Daniels visited North Judson to celebrate a $450,000 IDNR grant to start construction of the North Judson - Monterey Trail on the former Erie J-K line right-of-way. The event was well attended by local dignitaries of both political parties, trail supporters (and a few who were less supportive). The weather was perfect.
I photographed the event and have posted a public Picasa Web Album:
POSTED HERE.
You can get hi-res versions of the photos with captions by following the link, but below is a smaller version slideshow as an embed.
21Jul2008 - Rail-Trail Action in North Judson
Indiana governor Mitch Daniels will appear at Hoosier Valley Railroad Museum at 507 Mulberry Street, North Judson at 10:00 am CDT Wednesday July 23, 2008 for a celebration of the kickoff to construction of the North Judson segment of a rail/trail on the former site of the Erie Railroad. The 17 mile former Erie JK line right-of-way between North Judson and Monterey (in Pulaski County) has been railbanked. During the first construction phase 2.77 miles from North Judson east will be paved, along with about half a mile from Monterey west.
The public is invited to attend the ceremony. You can DOWNLOAD THE OFFICIAL INVITATION POSTER HERE.
18Jun2008 - Elegy for the Winnebago
Worth reading: Garrison Keillor's Elegy for the Winnebago.
12Jun2008 - Hi-res photos - two wetland plants
The main reason, I suppose, that posts have been so scarce here in the past year or so, is that I've been unsure about how to use the Internet now that it's 2008 and all. It has changed so much since the early days when I was more actively involved in all things netty. But one excellent development is the drastic improvement in Internet speed for most users, and also the quality of display devices. And digi-cams have become much better too.
One of the first things I wanted to do when I started posting online over a decade ago was to try to make high quality images of natural areas more accessible. I'm going back to that well again, and will be posting large images of natural stuff here in downloadable format, in sizes that would have been impractical not too long ago. As always, I offer images of natural things for free use to students doing reports, and generally license them freely to anybody using them non-commercially to help protect natural areas or to educate the public about them. I offer them for reasonable fees for commercial use too: that's how I pay for my cameras. Of course, you can download them and use them any way you want on your own machine as long as you're not selling them, or otherwise using them commercially.
Here are three images from a jaunt into a prairie/savanna marsh at Lena Park, in Starke County on June 10, 2008. The images are all several meg, so you probably won't want to download these through a slow link.
Osmunda cinnamomea w/ fertile fronds - portrait
Osmunda cinnamomea w/ fertile fronds - landscape
11Jun2008 - Some reading.
I ran across a piece by Ari J. Kaufman recently, Taking the Pulse of the Heartland. I always cringe a little with the 'heartland' thing. I think Indiana might be more like, say, kidneys, if you want to do some kind of internal organ metaphor. Or maybe a pancreas. And to coastal types, heartland is usually just the punch line to some kind of come on -- you know, 'Terror in the Heartland', 'Starving in the Heartland'. That sort of thing.
But Mr. Kaufman's piece, about his socio-political take on his stop off in Winamac is really quite amusing and insightful. I don't share his conservative viewpoint, but he doesn't allow his political leanings to color his observations excessively. It turns out Mr Kaufman is a recent transplant from LA (my least favorite US city, I would have to say). I've added a link to his series in PajamasMedia. I like reading the views from a range of political viewpoints, but it's become difficult to find decent right leaning writers.
On the other end of the spectrum, here's an interesting piece from In These Times: Does the E.U. Hate You?.
I plan to post more often. Really. I mean it. Thanks for dropping by.
24May2008 - Indiana Coast to Coast 2008 format announced
The format for the fifth annual Indiana Race Coast to Coast is announced here. This year the first leg will be from Evansville to Crawfordsville, the same as last year. The second segment, from Crawfordsville to the sandy shores of Lake Michigan will be a time trial this year, a new format for the Indiana C2C. In its 5th year, the C2C is becoming established as one of the premier cycling events in Indiana, and is certainly one of the most challenging team events in the Midwest region.
19Mar2008 - Tulsa case highlights Microbial Source Tracking evidence
People working to clean up rivers, streams and other waterways are, at times, stymied by the difficulty in proving the source of the contamination. It's widely recognized that high e-coli bacteria counts are linked to untreated fecal material in the water, but the source is not so obvious. Is it from manure spread on fields, from failing septic systems, from combined sewer overflows, or wildlife? It may seem intuitively obvious that the huge quantities of manure spread on fields from CAFOs and similar operations are the likely major culprit, but proving it is another thing. And, of course, sometimes the obvious answer turns out to be wrong.
The new field of microbial source tracking (MST) applies scientific methods to attempt to sleuth out the source of microbial contamination. The researchers look for variations in characteristics of microbial populations according to their source and attempt to draw conclusions about the source of contamination. MST remains controversial, but possibly there are people (and well funded companies) who don't want the problem of identifying the wrongdoers to be solved -- it's a bit like the global warming debate.
Recent litigation in the federal court in Tulsa Oklahoma revolves around MST evidence related to the huge poultry industry in Arkansas. The Oklahoma attorney-general contends that manure from the Arkansas poultry industry is polluting the Illinois River (not the same Illinois River that runs through Illinois) and causing damage in Oklahoma. The Oklahoma A-G is seeking an injunction in federal court. The articles linked below, mostly by Robert Smith of the Arkansas Democrat, give a chronological account of the case, and especially the arguments about the MST evidence.
Traced bacteria, scientist says - 'Harwood said she tracked a fecal bacteria biomarker, finding it in poultry houses, in fields where poultry litter was spread, in nearby ditches, in groundwater and in rivers. She analyzed 200 samples of water, soil and poultry litter to reach her conclusions.' [2.22.2008 - Smith - Ark. Democrat]
Science key to Oklahoma's poultry litter case - 'Oklahoma seeks a preliminary injunction in U. S. District Court at Tulsa to ban poultry litter spreading on farm fields in the watershed. A hearing on the matter ran from Feb. 19-22 and picks up again for another three days, starting today.' [3.3.2008 - Smith - Ark. Democrat]
Judge suggests he'll treat litter as 'solid waste' - 'A portion of the federal law defines solid waste as 'any garbage, refuse, sludge from a waste treatment plant, water supply treatment plant, or air pollution control facility and other discarded material, including solid, liquid, semisolid or contained gaseous material resulting from agricultural and other types of operations.' [3.4.2008 - Smith - Ark. Democrat]
Expert disputes bacteria findings - Poultry company's expert disputes MST study linking poultry to river contamination; judge annoyed by repetitive evidenced. [3.11.2008 - Smith - Ark. Democrat]
Closing arguments made in poultry case - 'Bacteria from the waste of more than 140 million chickens raised each year in the Illinois River watershed has polluted the land and poses a serious health threat to thousands of people, Oklahoma's attorney general told a federal judge.' [3.13.2008 - Forbes]
Backgrounder: for those ready for deeper waters: Performance, Design, and Analysis in Microbial Source Tracking Studies - [2007 - Stoekel, Harwood - U of S.Fla]
5Mar2008 - Iraq war costs
It amazes me how little attention the US 'news' media is devoting to the debacle in Iraq. The costs continue to mount, and the US economy will be suffering for many years; it's possible the damage is permanent. Here's a little something to think about: The $2 Trillion Nightmare [3.4.2008 - Herbert - NYTimes].
A quote: 'Because the administration actually cut taxes as we went to war, when we were already running huge deficits, this war has, effectively, been entirely financed by deficits. The national debt has increased by some $2.5 trillion since the beginning of the war, and of this, almost $1 trillion is due directly to the war itself ... By 2017, we estimate that the national debt will have increased, just because of the war, by some $2 trillion.'
4Mar2008 - Pew commission warns on CAFOs; IndyStar going green?
On the CAFO front here's a report from the Pew Commission Expert Panel Highlights Threats to Public Health and Environment from Industrial Animal Agriculture Wastes [2.29.2008 - Pew Commission on Industrial Farm Animal Production]. 'As the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) considers lifting a requirement that industrial farming facilities report their toxic gas emissions, a panel of experts today told Congress that the vast amounts of animal waste and byproducts from such facilities pose significant risks to human health and the environment, requiring greater - not lesser - scrutiny.'
On Sunday, the IndyStar posted this Op/Ed: Indiana can't afford to ignore its environment [3.2.2008 - IndyStar] 'How bad is it? Even Forbes, a business publication not known for leaning to the political left, last fall ranked Indiana 49th in the nation among environmentally friendly states. Only West Virginia scored worse. Forbes based its comparisons on air and water quality, waste management, energy consumption and public policy.'
Of course, I applaud the piece. But seriously, if the environment is Indiana's forgotten issue, I would suggest the IndyStar might consider looking the mirror for a responsible party. Maybe they intend to begin viewing the administration's environmental policy a bit more critically. If so, good. We'll see.
6Feb2008 - floods, fields, and the zone of death
The snows and heavy rains of the last couple of days are not going to help conditions on the Kankakee and Tippecanoe Rivers. Yesterday I took a look at the creeks on Big Eastern; they were very high indeed. And the rain keeps coming. Wisely, not too many people live near the Kankakee, so it's mostly farmland that's currently flooded. At least there's no crop in the field now. Here's coverage: Levee breaks could be budget busters [2.5.2008 - Laasby - Gary P-T]. Incidently, props to the Gary P-T for their environmental issues coverage. Northwest Indiana is rich in environmental problems, but also in environmental resources (the resources attracted the problems, to some degree) so this is important stuff. And, alas, the Times of NWI tends to be the little sister of the IndyStar and we all know what that means.
On today's 'required reading' list, all midwesterners who care about the environment and want to stay truly informed on the issue should take a look at the USGS' study Differences in Phosphorus and Nitrogen Delivery to the Gulf of Mexico from the Mississippi River Basin [1.31.2008 - Alexander et al - USGS]. The study links excessive nutrients released into midwestern rivers to the large 'dead zone' in the Gulf of Mexico, and (naturally) shows Indiana to be one of the worst offenders. The study overview has excellent maps and graphics, making it easy to understand. [note -- I found this link on a newly revitalized Kemplog - great to see you posting again Thomas!]
The study conclusively shows that the predominant source of the problem is corn belt agriculture: '66% of nitrogen comes from cultivated crops, mostly corn and soybean'. Animal manure is the primary source of phosphorus. Large, free flowing rivers (i.e. ones without reservoirs) tend to deliver more nitrogen and phophorous. Reservoirs tend to impede nutrient delivery, at the cost of water quality in the reservoir.
Obviously, one thing that would help would be if more fertilizer stayed on the fields for crop uptake, and therefore out of the rivers. Chemical fertilizers cost money, so I don't think you'll find many farmers who disagree with that. But more will need to be done, and the obvious answer is that we need more wetlands, and that runoff from agricultural areas needs to go through those wetlands, not just speed by in a straight line ditch. Filter strips (buffer zones of perennial vegetation along streams) help too, but those that include hydric environments are bound to be more effective than a mowed strip of grass. And even when a filter strip is in place, if the water from the field is bypassing it through an underground drainage tile, the filter strip isn't in a position to do much filtering.
There's also plenty of room for debate about the wisdom of the whole corn/soybeans/meat system. But, truth is, I don't expect to see corn lose its crown in the corn belt anytime soon. There's some reason for optimism though. Not so many years ago, here in North Judson, skies darkened from wind erosion in an annual rite of spring. No-till agriculture has drastically reduced this problem. Now farmers are embracing filter strips, thanks to government subsidies. We still need more wetlands, especially riparian wetlands.
One more thing: the Legal Environmental Aid Foundation provides legal representation in cases involving public environmental issues in northwest Indiana. On the site attorney Kim Ferraro provides public access to some of the documents from current cases, and finds a little time after work to host the 'green drinks' get togethers in Valparaiso.
4Feb2008 - it's a dirty story of a dirty state
IDEM's list of 'impaired waterways' is quite a bit shorter this year, as a result in a change in criteria for listing. It appears likely that the move is intended to get Indiana off the hook with EPA regarding remediation efforts -- that's what critics are saying anyway. Here's an opinion piece by Deborah Chubb criticizing IDEM's new listing criteria: IDEM's latest failure to protect public needs more scrutiny [guest commentary, Chesterton Trib] -- here are couple of additional links: Conservation group angry at how Indiana now tracks polluted waterways [1.31.2008 - Handelman - Medill Reports] -- Indiana Seeks to De-List Contaminated Waters [Alliance for the Great Lakes] -- Toxic water cleanup lags [1.28.2008 - Laasby - Gary P-T]
In other dirty Indiana news, yet again the Indiana legislature, it appears, will fail to take any action to control environmental and neighborhood impacts by CAFOs and other industrial animal production facilities -- here a link:
CAFO slowdown is needed - Op-Ed by retired registered nurse Barbara Sha Cox. [Richmond Pal-Item - 2.3.2008]
Hog CAFOs and Sustainability, a study by the Iowa Policy Project, is 'must reading' for anybody trying to decide if industrial hog production would be a good thing for their community. The study looked at Iowa counties with expanding hog CAFOs and found, among other thing, an increase in adults without high school diplomas, a significant decline in home selling prices, more manure spills, more fish kills and more impaired waterways. The study concludes that the opportunity costs to rural areas may be substantial, and that in portions of Iowa, growth of hog CAFOs 'may have hampered rural tourism, recreartion and destination retirement development.
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