Look Up, Look Down, Look All Around

Greetings, many friends,
Today is the Winter Solstice, the shortest day (and longest night, heh heh, though why be smarmy because I'll be alone anyway) of the year. If you can struggle awake at dawn, you'll see the furthest southern point of the sunrise...mark it on your horizon like the ancients did. Tip up some blocks and build yerself a Stonehenge.

Although winter is just beginning (and so nicely too) the days will grow longer and the sun will move further north and higher in the sky with each passing day. And because of that we shower each other with gifts, get drunk, fight with relatives, act surly, jam malls, pray to the fat man in the red suit, and basically let kids get away with any shit they want to pull.

PS Jesus was born in September, just like me:
http://users.aristotle.net/~bhuie/birthday.htm

In fact, it might even have been, yep, 11 September:
http://askelm.com/news/n011224.htm

Anyway, today's subject for meditation is the condition of our world. This is a nice article about diatoms and other plankton, the creatures at the bottom of everybody's food chain, which are actually pretty weird:
Tiniest Creatures May Reveal Health of Oceans
By Peter N. Spotts
The Christian Science Monitor
http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/122004G.shtml

Good news for planet Earth: more people (and non-Americans) in space:
Match in Space
By Charles Lambroschini
Le Figaro
Long hesitant about Turkey, Europe is decisive elsewhere: today in space.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/122004H.shtml

Not here, though...we can't even fix a 30 year old space shuttle. Nope, this country is sliding back into the Stone Age:
U.S. Waters Down Global Commitment to Curb Greenhouse Gases
By Larry Rohter
The New York Times
http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/122004W.shtml

U.S. Fails in Bid to Kill Off Kyoto Process
By Geoffrey Lean
The Independent U.K.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/122104W.shtml

Technology innovation will take place elsewhere:
Japan Moving toward More Efficient Solar Power
Japan Today
http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/121904G.shtml

Whole nations will suffer our needs:
Eskimos Seek to Recast Global Warming as a Rights Issue
By Andrew C. Revkin
The New York Times
The Inuit, about 155,000 seal-hunting peoples scattered around the Arctic, plan to seek a ruling from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights that the United States, by contributing substantially to global warming, is threatening their existence.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/121704G.shtml

Even our closest allies are against us on this planet-killing issue:
Australia Alters Stance on Climate Change Pact
By Melissa Fyfe
The Age, Australia
http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/122104G.shtml

Even we're against it, thankfully,
Some States Split with Bush on Emissions
The Associated Press
As Bush stands firm against emissions controls, some states flirt with Europe on reductions.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/121804G.shtml

Nope, if I have to decide between my country and my planet, the choice is clear:
The Real Importance of the Kyoto Treaty
By Nigel Purvis
The International Herald Tribune
Leaving America behind.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/121604G.shtml

PPS Since we're all truth-telling here, I found out that picture of the computer was a fake:
http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/hoaxes/computer.asp

The funny thing is, my mom (who worked for Sperry back then) remembered it. Sorry, Mom, but that thing is apparently the control panel of a submarine.

Vive le screed!