Kryptonite.

aka    Mauer Im Kopf.

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An IMPORTANT upcoming event in Toronto. See also: Eco Sanity, GreenHeart Education, Compassionate Climate Action, & Bill McKibben. Juan J. Salinas, Carleton University Engineering: There have been three JJs for me (so far): Jealous Jim, a Sun Life programmer who taught me how to sight-read in HEX; JJ Cale (naturally); and, JJ Salinas who used Kryptonite to characterize perfectly strong structural elements - "Stronger than Superman!" he would say. Of course Kryptonite isn't 'really' stronger than Superman - it removes his strengths rather than outright overpowering him. The flip-side of "the force that though the green fuze drives the flower," as it were. If the Grail is a green stone that renews, Kryptonite is a green stone that drains and enervates. There are a number of interesting hypotheses as to why humanity is not addressing current dire environmental threats - primarily related to CO2 emissions - despite conclusive scientific evidence that we are well on our way to making planet Earth uninhabitable: fear, greed, complacency, belief in technology ... faith, hope, forebearance ... the list goes on ... But the incontrovertible fact is that ... humanity is not addressing current dire environmental threats. The forces I am thinking of today are the programs of misinformation from the likes of the Koch brothers, UKIP, a variety of national environment ministers - notably Peter Kent & wazizname? ... the current UK guy ... Owen Paterson ... all of them really, except maybe the Dane, Martin Lidegaard. Mauer im Kopf / The Wall in the Head: And equivalent structures elsewhere: I am stretching a point I know. Costica Bradatan's essay: Scaling the ‘Wall in the Head’ (archive copy here); is about immigration and geographic security features such as Hadrian's wall and the US/Mexico border fence; and I am (completely unjustified in) mis-applyinging the core phrase, willy nilly, to the likes of preconceptions based upon fear and self-interest and other impediments to clear thinking. But there are a few valid comparisons to be made ... and 'Mauer im Kopf' is ... so ... evocative.   :-) And there is a recent Paul Krugman editorial in the New York Times, in which he does not use the word 'growth' even once. A-and (of course) Cisco routers are emphatically NOT being hijacked by the NSA for their petty purposes. Dirty Money: Coke, Koch, Koch, Koch, Pet, Petcoke, Koch: Bankety bankety bank: (This altered logo is intended to convey 'balls deep in sacks of gold'.)   Nigel Farage and his UKIP are a joke. So are Nigel Lawson & Roger Helmer. They will all disappear in time simply because their ideas do not relate to the facts. In the meantime the 'media' have picked up on the Newark by-election and probably figgure to to sell news copy and related advertising for more unnecessary stuff. The election is today. When I can find results I will post them. Update:   See Wikipedia & the BBC. Ukip made large inroads but didn't win. Keep in mind that if UKIP are near the bottom of the barrel, the other mainstream parties are only marginally better. Conservatives: 45%; UKIP: 26%; Labour: 18%. So 'not quite the worst of a bad lot' beat 'not quite the worst of a bad lot'. The point (!) is that these fricken' dinosaurs - the lot of 'em: Koch brothers, bankers, politicians - will not lie down. For them it seems to be some kind of glorious gesture that they will not give up their obstinate stupidity. The simple result is that necessary actions are inevitably delayed - with what may well be devastating effect. Approximately unrelated (but not 'really' unrelated): Even the fricken bought'n-paid-for Senate chokes on it. tOad pits economic and military might against physics - to humourous effect. If you are interested you can find your own translations. I aced JJ's structures course, I remember getting 100% but maybe it was just close. So when the bottom fell out I asked him if he would help me figgure out what to do. He didn't answer. The only two other lights there - Jim Strutt & Gulzar Haider - well, I asked them too and they didn't answer either.

 
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