January 28, 2014

What's for dinner? Use the interactive tables in this Oxfam article to see where the USA ranks with regard to food and health-related data categories: overall, enough to eat, affordability, quality, and diabetes & obesity. Where the US ranks depends on the category: very good, food quality; not as good as you would suppose for enough to eat; very poor, for diabetes and obesity. You can highlight (yellow box) your country of choice. http://www.oxfam.org.uk/what-we-do/good-enough-to-eat

Define torture? Ever since the so-called “war on terrorism” began and we started to detain supposed terrorists, defining “torture” has been much debated. As Ralph Nader notes, even before the fateful day of 9/11, Americans have been unwilling to confront a long-used practice that many groups/nations/organizations consider torture: it goes by many names, but most often it is known as “solitary confinement.” The practice is rampant in every US state and territory. https://www.commondreams.org/view/2014/01/22-10

Living together in relative peace. In a column this past weekend, Thomas Friedman made note of the seemingly insurmountable problem faced by a majority of Middle Eastern nations: the inability to manage pluralism in a democratic way. Rather, he says, pluralism there is built around religion, ethnicity, clans, regions, and sheer force – all destructive forces.

Coming soon, Sochi....  As if the chances of terrorism and warm weather were not enough bad news, the cost of the coming spectacle has mounted to more than all 21 previous Winter Games. The linked article below (from the appropriately titled Interpreter magazine) examines the waste and corruption that have driven up the costs. There are also other web-wide stories detailing the rampant pollution and citizen dislocations that have accompanied the construction of the Sochi facilities. http://www.interpretermag.com/navalny-and-the-interpreter-on-sochi/

     As for the future of the Sochi buildings, I can tell only tell you that in the early summer of 1984 I personally witnessed the destruction of all the dormitories constructed for the 1980 summer olympics. Truck-load after truck-load of concrete blocks were being hauled away from the only four year-old Olympic village. Even our official Intourist guide (in today's parlance, our "minder”) had to admit the obvious: these buildings were simply no longer safe and had to be demolished.

Not a pretty picture.  Chris Hedges's latest column in truthdig paints a dismal outlook for the future. http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/chris_hedges_jan_27_column_transcript_collapse_of_complex_societies_2014012

     For the literati among my readers, note Hedges's opening references to Melville's Moby Dick. It has been a “good year” for Melville. I might also add that recent articles about the Oscar-nominated film Twelve Years a Slave have made note of Melville's other classic, Benito Cereno [Cerraño].

Two signs seen in Breckenridge this weekend. In a local coffee/ski shop, appropriately named the Mug Shop, a sign advertising their pastries, “Guilty Pleasures” and in the town library, “Keep Calm and Read On.”

The International Snow Sculpture contest in Breckenridge. I would guess that if you are reading this blog you missed this annual event: intricate snow carving done by very cold fingers in the equally cold outdoor studio (aka a town parking lot).  The winner, for only the second time in 24 years, was the local Breckenridge team. “Fun in Winter” was their theme: a father, son, and the family dog tubing down a snow mountain created by the Norse god of snow, Ullr who was carved in the background). Fascinating! Perhaps you can plan on seeing next January's competition; you can watch the entire process from the massive snow blocks being loaded through the carving process.  There is even a prize awarded by you, the visitors. 

     Each sculpture is formed from a massive, dense block of snow, front-loaded into a huge box, 10 ft wide, 10 ft long, 12 ft high. No power tools are permitted, all sculpting is done with hand tools, large and small, ranging in size from time-honored, muscle-powered cross-cut ice saws to ice climber's pickaxes to dental tools.

     Hopefully, the picture of winning creation will come through with this link.

http://www.summitdaily.com/news/9921790-113/breckenridge-team-snow-sculpture

Thank you for reading. Have a good week.