31 January 2005

Corporate Ecological takes of 2005

Logging Into Oregon Old Growth Reserve
By JEFF BARNARD, Associated Press Writer

GRANTS PASS, Ore. - A timber company plans to start logging next week in a burned area that had been reserved as old growth forest, setting up a confrontation with environmentalists who believe leaving the dead trees standing is better for fish, wildlife and the forest.


(AP Photo/John Gress) The Chetco River Valley is shrouded in smoke
from the Biscuit Fire near Brookings, OR, Aug 12, 2002

John West, president of Silver Creek Timber Co., said Friday he was just waiting for formal imposition of an appeals court order issued earlier this month that had cleared the way for logging some old growth reserve burned in the 500,000-acre Biscuit fire, which threatened 17,000 people in Oregon's Illinois Valley in 2002.

Under pressure from the timber industry, the Forest Service expanded its original plans to harvest only in areas designated for logging under the Northwest Forest Plan, which settled lawsuits over the northern spotted owl by dividing federal forest land into areas for logging, and fish and wildlife habitat.

The ruling by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals lifted an injunction that had barred logging on two timber sales in an old growth reserve until a lawsuit brought by environmentalists is resolved.

Silver Creek Timber, based outside Grants Pass, bid $1.1 million for one sale totaling 14.5 million board feet. CLR Timber Holding Co. Inc., affiliated with South Coast Lumber in Brookings, bid $545,408 for 12.8 million board feet in the other old growth timber sale.

West said he plans to dispatch the first of up to 85 loggers to begin cutting what's known as the Fiddler sale once the 9th Circuit's order is filed, which could happen any day.

"We really don't want to have a big fight over this," said West. "It's dead, burned timber. It's going to create jobs. We are hiring, hopefully, as many local people as we can. It will add to the truck and fuel business, be good for mills."

Don Smith of the Siskiyou Regional Education Project, an environmental group based in Cave Junction, said his group was planning peaceful, lawful protests, and was not in touch with anyone planning to block logging by putting up barricades or camping out in trees.

"We have accepted some level of logging, but when it comes to Fiddler, that's where we draw the line in the sand," said Smith. "That is due to its ecological value and its economic importance to the Illinois Valley."

The appeals court is scheduled to hear environmentalists' lawsuit challenging the logging in old growth reserves on March 22.

Smith said timber companies want to log before the hearing "so that it's moot, so the damage is over with." West, however, said he didn't expect logging to be finished until June.

Smith said activists have seen no signs of anyone preparing to log the other old growth sale, known as the Berry sale.

The current plan for the Biscuit fire area calls for logging 370 million board feet of dead timber from 19,465 acres, less than 5 percent of the area burned by the fire. More than half of it comes from roadless areas, which the Bush administration hopes to open to timber harvest after changing a Clinton administration policy that had barred logging there.

29 January 2005

28 January 2005

Noise Pop 2005 in SF; Feb 22-27

The Noise Pop Schedule looks tempting!


I'd not miss:
Joanna Newsom
Mates Of State and Smoosh

The Walkmen
Ted Leo & The Pharmacists

And maybe:
Comets On Fire
Amon Tobin

27 January 2005

"Enfant-Terrible" of American Architecture

Philip Johnson - Dead at 98
Architecture's Restless Intellect


Philip Johnson 1906-2005

Often considered the dean of American architects, Mr. Johnson was known less for his individual buildings than for the sheer force of his presence on the architectural scene, which he served as a combination godfather, gadfly, scholar, patron, critic, curator and cheerleader.

Story(s) here:
A short Video here:

26 January 2005

Braking to Look at Car-Accidents v.1



I hope he's okay. The wreck looked pretty nasty.

20 January 2005

19 January 2005

Iraqi Election "Debates" Heat-up

Three Candidates and 26 Others Killed

Spreading Freedom and Democracy to the Rest of the World!

A suicide bomber struck the Baghdad headquarters of Iraq biggest Shiite political party Tuesday, killing three election candidates, as the government announced plans to close borders and restrict movements to bolster security in the national election. The three candidates were slain as insurgents intensified their campaign to subvert the ballot.

The Bush Administration and Iraq is just a big fucking disaster.
Iraq is WAY worse than Vietnam ever was.
Military officials are now admitting that even as Bush kept asserting that we were making "good progress in Iraq", the insurgency was growing in numbers and effectiveness, and that the Army Reserve is "rapidly degenerating into a 'broken' force," and oh, by the way, we'll need to spend at least another $100 billion to pay for war expenses and replace damaged equipment. But the accountability moment, says Mr. Bush, is behind us.
As proven yet again yesterday with CondiRice, the Bush-Liars-Team have no credibility, no integrity and are not fit to hold ANY of the offices: President, Vice-President, Secretary of State, Sec. of Defense, etc.

Four more years people, 4 more years.

17 January 2005

The results are in from The Golden Globes...

And who fucking cares?!!?

Please...enough. Just stop all this...Please?
Do you suppose people should reexamine their valuable time spent obsessing on these kinds of things? Maybe think about their adoration of completely self-absorbed people like this, the exaltation and emulation of the clothes they wear, and on and on. It's REALLY insane, when you think about it.

I mean...if Brad Pitt and that Friends girl can't fuck each other anymore, and live committed to each other in all their "interestingness"...what hope do the rest of us have?

The next awards show...let's not pay attention, ok? Deal?

15 January 2005

First Images from Titan


Scientists are exultant ! This raw image was returned by the ESA Huygens DISR camera after the probe descended through the atmosphere of Titan . It shows the surface of Titan with ice blocks strewn around. The size and distance of the blocks will be determined when the image is properly processed.

More images here


14 January 2005

Other Minds Music Festival in SF

The 11th Other Minds Music Festival (OM11) which takes place February 24-26, draws together cutting-edge composers and illustrious guest performers from around the world for premiere performances, artist talks, and master classes, and offers a rare opportunity to hear important new works—including four world premieres—by nine of today’s most innovative composers, all of whom will attend in person. The 2005 festival also includes a centennial tribute to a gifted but forgotten American composer, Marc Blitzstein, known for his legendary 1937 musical The Cradle Will Rock.

The impressive Other Minds #11 schedule


Fred Frith
.

07 January 2005

KJC stories

"I know it's a silly story, but I will never forget it."

The quote above is from Craig Bork, who hit it on the head. (He sent me an email with a great Kellie-story that I've shared at the bottom.)

There's an old Hindu proverb that goes: "Tell me a fact and I'll learn. Tell me a truth and I'll believe. But tell me a story and it will live in my heart forever."

Besides my own (rather lengthy) post about Christmas Day, Kellie stories have appeared on other blogs this past week: Jon T's, Terry Moe's, Bridget's, to name a few.

On this post, I'm asking people to share their own Kellie stories, or thoughts, or whatever.

If you're on the main page: Click the (#) comments link (at the bottom of this post) and you can first read what other people have shared. (If you're on the permalink page, you will already see people's comments below.) At the bottom, you can Post a Comment. A sign-in box will ask you to enter username/password (if you have a blogger account) or just click the: Or Post Anonymously. A box for typing in your story appears and when you're done, hit Publish Comment. (You might have to hit your browser refresh button to see your comment posted) Whaddya waiting for?

Also, for those who asked:
Kellie's SF Chronicle obit is linked
here

.

Craig's Kellie Story
When Kellie, Tim Lyons and I were all in Phoenix and you in SF, Tim and Kellie decided to visit me late at night while I was living at my parents house. I was about to go to sleep when a tap comes on the bedroom window from the hand of Kellie. I got her to the front door and Kellie and Tim were there seeking to get high. Went and grabbed a baggy of weed and headed down to Clarendon school where we proceeded to head out onto the field to toke up. I had the baggy in my hand and was proceeding to fill up a pipe when a police light shined directly on us. We were directed to come to the cop, I stupidly stuffed the baggy in my pants (if I were only smart enough to have poured it out) and when we reached the cop, he asked me to produce what was in my pants and then set me in the back of his police car. Tim and Kellie were mortified. Kellie was begging the cop to let me go, (telling him that) it was her idea to rouse me in the first place. And it turned out, the cop did let me go. On the way back to my house Kellie still wanted to gey high, so I went inside, got somemore pot, we got stoned and I went to bed. I know it's a silly story but I will never forget it.