Thanks to Gene Dominique of the Berkeley Camera club for this link to a set of photos showing photographers going to extremes — sometimes ridiculous extremes, sometimes life-threatening ones — to capture that great image.
Feb 07
Class War from Above
Robert Reich sums up the gist of recent Republican electoral politics (while omitting mention of the Democratic complacency) in this short video:
Feb 05
Burrowing Owl is here
The burrowing owl, one of the stranger branches of bird evolution, is back to its nesting area in Cesar Chavez Park at the Berkeley Marina. These owls don’t nest in trees but in burrows made by diggers like ground squirrels, of which there are many hundreds at this location. And this owl has long legs; it can run down ts prey on the ground as well as snatch it from the air. But isn’t it a bit early in the year for nesting? Well, lots of fruit trees are equally confused and are in bloom already (see second photo below, shot yesterday), so maybe the owl is taking its cue from the plant world.
- Burrowing Owl
Among the many trees in bloom this week, this one in the Berkeley Marina attracted a mob of sparrows, one of which posed reluctantly for this photo:
Feb 05
Keystone XL: Telling it like it is
Short video on the XL Pipeline by Van Jones, courtesy of rebuildthedream.com. He’s a sharp communicator, wastes no words, makes his points clear and memorable, and speaks with appropriate emotion.
Feb 05
In Praise of CVS
It isn’t every day that an unreconstructed sixties radical gets to say something positive about a megabillion corporation. But CVS’ s decision to stop selling tobacco products definitely deserves a few words of praise. The rationale — that selling tobacco products contradicts the store’s mission of promoting health — is certainly solid, and the corporation’s PR statements on the occasion have been spot on. The move makes Walgreen and Rite-Aid look positively evil by comparison. But CVS’s decision won’t take effect until October 1, which gives the competition plenty of time to move to the head of the pack by announcing a stoppage of tobacco sales immediately.
As the NY Times reportage points out, the move won’t impact the biggest pipeline through which tobacco products reach the consumer: the corner market. The “mom and pop” that run most of these stores, according to Michael Moss’s book, Salt, Sugar, Fat, tend to be deep in debt to franchise landlords and virtual slaves to major processed food, tobacco, and beverage companies.
Feb 04
Pete Seeger Lives
Monday evening began with a combined Tax the Rich and Stop the Keystone XL Pipeline rally on upper Solano Avenue, Berkeley. Then the crowd lined up outside the Freight & Salvage Coffeehouse in downtown Berkeley, where Holly Near organized and MC-ed a two-hour memorial for Pete Seeger. This video contains a few short samples. The complete program is on KPFA.org.
Jan 30
Koi Motion
Recently I had the opportunity to see a well-kept pool with an exceptionally good selection of colorful koi (Japanese for carp) and took this video. Koi is also the Japanese word for love or affection, and so the fish are prized not only for their beauty but for their evocation of friendship or courtship.
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