My name is Jeff Hess and I’m a biblioholic. I own hundreds of books. Not valuable books, mostly Science Fiction paperbacks and text books, tomes rescued by the bag from library book sales. A few years ago, in the interest of not burying myself, I began reading more books from the library and taking notes. My electronic chapbook was born.

This is a passage I copied from Coffee: A Dark History by Anthony Wild.

It is possible to kill oneself with a caffeine overdose: about 10 grams, or the equivalent of a hundred cups of coffee rapidly consumed, will do the trick for an adult, making Balzac”s daily consumption of 60 cups decidedly risky. p. 11

My Soundtrack: Rhythm & Blues Alibi/strong> by Gomez on WOXY.

[Update — 1620, 14 July — If you have access to the New York Times, read Tom Friedman’s analysis of what’s going on. If you don’t Andrew Sullivan has a good paraphrase.]

Among my friends who watch the region there has long been talk that Israel would be used as a surogate to bomb Iran, but there is no easily destroyed equivalent of the Tuwaitah facility in Iran.

Instead, the Iranians have their mulitple facilities deep underground. So deep that only a large ground force or a number of nuclear strikes could eliminate them. Neither Israel nor the United States is in a military position to launch a ground assault in Iran. The remaining option is horrible.

That both Syria and Iran are the bad actors in this there can be no doubt. Would the World stand aside if either or both were put down like mad dogs? Perhaps.

Our World could be about to change. I very much hope I’m wrong.

My Soundtrack: Helpline Operator by The The on WOXY.

First it was a blogger not living where he’s blogging about and then comes this shocker from the Akron Beacon Journal: the ton of butter used to sculpt our state fair’s butter cow is imported from Texas. There has to be some insidious Republican conspiracy at work here. Is there a hidden connnection between Gay marriages and butter?

Will any reporters be brave enough to challenge gubernatorial candidate Ken Blackwell on this? And where does Ted Strickland stand on butter?

My Soundtrack: Free Man by Awesome Color on WOXY.

My name is Jeff Hess and I’m a biblioholic. I own hundreds of books. Not valuable books, mostly Science Fiction paperbacks and text books, tomes rescued by the bag from library book sales. A few years ago, in the interest of not burying myself, I began reading more books from the library and taking notes. My electronic chapbook was born.

This is a passage I copied from Coffee: A Dark History by Anthony Wild.

The most recent manifestation of this tendency was the announcement that a new Genetically Modified coffee is in development that would allow the ripening of coffee beans on to the bushes to be triggered chemically, obviating the need for the labor-intensive process of harvesting the bushes repeatedly by hand as they produce a mixture of flowers, unripe cherries and ripe cherries. p. 10

My Soundtrack: The Man by Pete Yorn on WOXY.

Part of being a good citizen of the blogosphere is visiting, reading and, most importantly, taking the time to leave a comment on other’s blogs. It’s all about the conversation. In the interest of setting an example I’ve decided to link to those blog posts that have compelled me to leave a comment.

1622 The cost of living

My Soundtrack: Mountain Song by Metal Hearts on WOXY.

I know that this is really whacky but stick with me a minute here. If medical costs are out of control because of malpractice lawsuits (and they’re not, but that’s another post) then how about identifying the errors and preventing them instead of capping how much money a patient can sue for if their injured by a doctor? Insane, right?

Well senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama don’t think so and have introduced S. 1784, the National Medical Error Disclosure and Compensation bill.

Writing in Slate today, Ezra Klein said senators Clinton and Obama want to use federal grants to make programs like these below possible nationwide.

Anesthesiologists used to get hit with the most malpractice lawsuits and some of the highest insurance premiums. Then in the late 1980s, the American Society of Anesthesiologists launched a project to analyze every claim ever brought against its members and develop new ways to reduce medical error. By 2002, the specialty had one of the highest safety ratings in the profession, and its average insurance premium plummeted to its 1985 level, bucking nationwide trends.

And at the Lexington, Ky., Veterans Affairs Medical Center, a program of early disclosure and settlement of malpractice claims lowered average settlement costs to $15,000, compared with $83,000 for other VA hospitals.

Call me crazy, but it looks good to me.

My Soundtrack: Rebirth Of The Cool by The Afghan Whigs on WOXY.

When disasger strikes bloggers are now the first on the scene. Yes, the reports are subjective. Yes, they lack distance and persepctive. Yes, it can be difficult t find the truth. But for those negatives, and I’m sure there are others as well. Can there be more compelling reporting than this or this or this or this?

I have to wonder how dead the canary has to be before people begin thinking that maybe their lives aren’t worth their petro-chemical driven lifestyle. In the tradition of a picture is worth 1,000 words comes The Canary Project, founded by Susannah Sayler and Edward Morris. The organization”s mission is to:

…photograph landscapes around the world that are exhibiting dramatic transformation due to global warming and to use these photographs to persuade as many people as possible that global warming is already underway and of immediate concern.

In addition to providing visual evidence of the changing climate, we also hope to address something more fundamental that possibly lies behind apathy towards the issue in the U.S.: people’s sense of remove from the forces of nature.

When ice laid down thousands of years ago begins to melt, you have to think something’s wrong. Don’t you?

My Soundtrack: Lousy Rep/Nobody Move, Nobody Get Hurt by We Are Scientists on WOXY.

One of the arguments against government regulation of personal choices in the areas of drugs, gambling, alcohol and tobacco has always been: at what point do you draw the line? The common next step has been food. Shouldn’t government protect people from eating bad food, becoming obese and weighing down the health care system?

From the BBC:

Worried by soaring levels of obesity and the health problems that go with it, the city council’s youthful and slim health committee chairman says the time has come to challenge the rampant growth of fast-food chains.

“What I want to do is limit the number of fast-food establishments within specific proximity of each other, and try to give incentives for healthy alternatives, and give people choices,” he adds.

I wonder what the average Body Mass Index is for New York City Council members is?

My Soundtrack: Keep Your Hands Off Her by The Black Keys on WOXY.

It’s been a busy week in Wally World: the universe’s source for cheap plastic crap. Environmentalist and former vice president Al Gore ignited something of a comment storm on The Writing On The Wal by annoucing he would meet with Wal Mart’s exeuctives to discuss the corporate giant’s environmental programs.

AL GORE TO ADDRESS WAL MART EXECUTIVES… I”m betting that there will be a lot of finger pointing over this one from both ends of the political spectrum but if you”re going to foster change in the way American business approaches environmental concerns, start with the big boys. Keep reading…

My Soundtrack: Tenement Teeth by Pela on WOXY.

Last evening the Cleveland Heights Socrates Cafe group met. We asked: is it possible for a person to understand an other person. (Commenters, please elaborate, correct or expand upon my recollection of the question.) We ended the discussion at 9:30. If you had thoughts unspoken, please continue the discussion by leaving a comment.

We all get Spam, both in our email and, if you’re a blogger, in our comments. Typically the spam has something to do with sex, money or sex and money. I use Akismet and Bad Behavior to filter my comments and they do a damn good job. But last night 30 copies of this spam slipped through the filters. (The link is safe, it’s Yahoo News.)

Hellooo

BOMBAY, India – Eight bombs hit Bombay”s commuter rail network during rush hour Tuesday evening, killing at least 147 people and wounding more than 400 in what authorities called a well-coordinated terrorist attack.

Anybody else get spammed with this?

My Soundtrack: Frequency by Super Furry Animals on WOXY.

My name is Jeff Hess and I’m a biblioholic. I own hundreds of books. Not valuable books, mostly Science Fiction paperbacks and text books, tomes rescued by the bag from library book sales. A few years ago, in the interest of not burying myself, I began reading more books from the library and taking notes. My electronic chapbook was born.

This is a passage I copied from Coffee: A Dark History by Anthony Wild.

Whilst there was a perceived threat of creeping Communism in the coffee-producing countries of Central America, it was in the best interests of the USA to support the International Coffee Agreement in order to help defuse social unrest in its backyard: but with the break-up of the Soviet Union this raison dӐtre evaporated and the ideological driven policies of laissez-faire capitalism was given full reign. p. 5

My Soundtrack: Farewell To All My Friends by Oh No! Oh My! on WOXY.

Part of being a good citizen of the blogosphere is visiting, reading and, most importantly, taking the time to leave a comment on other’s blogs. It’s all about the conversation. In the interest of setting an example I’ve decided to link to those blog posts that have compelled me to leave a comment.

0856 I’ll have my church and state separate, thank you

1104 Einstein’s theory of infidelity

1110 Random bullets ala Parts-n-Pieces

My Soundtrack: Drain Cosmetics by Serena-Maneesh on WOXY.

The story of Jill Greenberg’s End Times photos doesn’t seem to go away. I’ve had several long discussions with friends about them and this morning one friend told me that reactions seemed to dividing along gender lines. I’ll withhold my reaction until tomrrow, but I’m very interested to know what my readers think. Please share your view.

[Update — 1701, 12 July — And here’s another piece to consider: my friend made the observation that among her co-workers, the women did not think what had taken place was abuse and the men did. Granted, this was a tiny, not-statistically significant sample, but does that in any way change your perspective on the how photographs were taken?]

My name is Jeff Hess and I’m a biblioholic. I own hundreds of books. Not valuable books, mostly Science Fiction paperbacks and text books, tomes rescued by the bag from library book sales. A few years ago, in the interest of not burying myself, I began reading more books from the library and taking notes. My electronic chapbook was born.

This is a passage I copied from Coffee: A Dark History by Anthony Wild.

Instant coffee is 85 percent of the market in the UK. p. 3

My Soundtrack: Analyse by Thom Yorke on WOXY.

Part of being a good citizen of the blogosphere is visiting, reading and, most importantly, taking the time to leave a comment on other’s blogs. It’s all about the conversation. In the interest of setting an example I’ve decided to link to those blog posts that have compelled me to leave a comment.

Thugwatch…

Jews and Joe Lieberman, or how I vet and why I cite…

Jews feel need to flee local school district due to proselytizing

Food as power

My Soundtrack: Songs Of The Ancient by Helvetia on WOXY.

A generation ago Republicans called on President Richard Nixon and told him it was time for him to resign. At what point will this generation’s Republican leadership make that lonely trip to the Oval Office and ask President George Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to submit their resignations?

Nearly six years into his disastrous presidency, there are few who have not awakened to the realities of the lies. The president who promised to restore honor and integrity to the White House has instead laid a mantle of shame over our First Residence.

From Andrew Sullivan:

The second fascinating and completely convincing narrative is about the remarkable decision of Muammar Ghadafi to give up his entire WMD program. At the time, the president credited it to the psychological impact of the war to depose Saddam. He claimed it scared Ghadafi into compliance. Back in the days when I trusted president Bush’s words, I echoed this analysis. It was a lie. I apologize to my readers for echoing it. It turns out Ghadafi had been entrapped by careful intelligence work long before the Iraq war was launched. The timing of the announcement was choreographed coincidence.

In the last few years, I have gone from lionizing this president’s courage and fortitude to being dismayed at his incompetence and now to being resigned to mistrusting every word he speaks. I have never hated him. But now I can see, at least, that he is a liar on some of the gravest issues before the country. He doesn’t trust us with the truth. Some lies, to be sure, are inevitable — even necessary — in wartime. But when you’re lying not to keep the enemy off-balance, but to maximize your own political fortunes at home, you forfeit the respect of people who would otherwise support you — and the important battle you have been tasked to wage.

I know that Sullivan will be vilified for this statement. I know that there will be some crawling things that will poke their heads out from under their safe rocks and impugn his words because he is a gay man. I know that he will be tagged as someone who was only posing as a Republican while plotting to aid our nation’s enemies.

I don’t care. Reasonable people can no longer justify what President Bush has done to our nation.

My Soundtrack: I’m Ready by The Twilight Singers on WOXY.