Fungus and Diesel

Did you hear about the fungus that creates Diesel? A scientist, Strobel, found this fungus, Gliocladium Roseum, in the Patagonian trees and (after storing it in his freezer for a year) he discovered that this fungus creates real diesel...it's the genuine product and would run your car. Strobel is speculating that perhaps this fungus is responsible for some of the diesel that we have depending on, helping to process the biological matter from fossils... If we were able to use this fungus for commercial production of diesel fuels then it would mean that we were able to drastically reduce the carbon emissions created from the refining of diesel fuel. However, I wonder if this benefit would be undone by the increase in demand for diesel. If diesel is easily gotten goods and everyone starts burning more and more of it, who cares how cleanly we first came by it?

Studs Terkel: Oral Historian

The mainstream media (incl CBS, ABC, and NBC) only gave a brief summary of the life and passing of Studs Terkel. I think his work illuminating the struggles of working Americans deserves much more coverage. Here is more from BBC.

Super Obama

It's a Beautiful Night!

That quickly finished election was such an unexpected scenario for me. I am so much more optimistic about the world now than I was when I woke up this morning. Senator Obama not only won the election, and is therefore the president-elect now, but he won by an amazingly large number of electoral votes. Everyone did it! We did it! And after my disappointing phone calls this morning I was very glad to hear that he won Florida too. Thank you to all the people who believed that this could work and voted for Obama in every state. Today is beautiful and tomorrow will only be more so.

What to do on Election Day.

I made calls to Florida all day while at work...whenever I had a minute then I made another call. But it was really a waste of time. The people I called were clearly very conservative and probably most of the phone numbers were disconnected or otherwise changed. I also experienced this when I was teaching. The kids from the most disadvantaged backgrounds, the ones that most needed me to be involving their parents in their schoolwork, were the hardest to contact. They sometimes didn't have telephone numbers at all but even when they did they changed often.

Anyway, I am no longer following the election news...until there is an answer. I guess I'll listen tomorrow morning but even then I doubt there will be a definite answer. It is all so stressful. One of my sisters came over and baked an election day cake. Delicious. And we watched Wall-E, a movie I really enjoy.

What Have I Done?!

There's No One More Irish Than Barack Obama

Calling Party

I went to a voter call party... We used multiple pages of numbers from Moveon.org and called people in Tampa, Florida to ask if they could volunteer this Saturday or Sunday. We got a lot of answering machines but the people who actually answered their phone had all already voted (for Obama) except for one woman who said that she was having trouble voting because of the long lines. Unfortunately, I was the only one who got people to agree to volunteer...luck of the numbers I guess.

Check out this resource from PBS' Now.

Oh My

http://www.rickeypac.org/

Little Mosque on the Prairie

Can you believe some people are still saying that Obama is a Muslim? If they didn't equate Muslims with terrorists then this might not matter so much to them. Little Mosque on the Prairie is a television show making a real difference in how people see their Muslim neighbors. I have often wondered why we can't have television like this popular sitcom here in the United States... I hear, however, that an American version is in the works. Hopefully it will not lose it's intelligence and originality in translation.



It has an ongoing storyline and I think you can watch the show from episode I on Muxlim.com.


Rayyan, one of the primary characters on the show, is described on the CBC website as a "headscarf-wearing, forward-thinking, Muslim, feminist doctor. She's like a young, good looking Maude. Rayyan embraced her faith in university and is much more devout than her parents. She often prays she's adopted." Except for that last sentence, it's a very good description of her character. And her parents do often get in trouble with her for doing non-Muslim things like playing the lottery (gambling).

Will Your Vote Count?

Talk of the Nation will investigate whether our votes will be counted this time around. Listen in today at 2pm Eastern time on your local NPR radio station.

Tumult builds over alleged ‘Lose your home, lose your vote’ scheme

Botswana's former President Festus Mogae has won a $5m (£2.8m) prize to encourage good governance in Africa.

Click on the title of this post to find out more...A reminder to keep Botswana on my travel list. Not all African governments are corrupt, as one might be apt to think watching the limited coverage of Africa in the national media (whose stories are limited to the aids and violence that plague too many countries in the continent).

Ohio Decides to Make a Change

Yesterday was the last day for one stop registration and early voting (at polling place or by mail) in Ohio. So, I called several voters there in the morning and encouraged them to take advantage of the opportunity. One woman hung up the phone as soon as I said I was calling on behalf of Barack Obama but everyone else (whose number was still in service) said they were planning to vote for Barack Obama, though not early. I could usually tell before I asked if they would be able to commit to voting early. Almost everyone was taking precious time out of their workday or family life to talk to me and I really appreciate their generosity in doing so. One woman was feeding her daughter while she was talking to me. Another guy on his way to work said, when I asked him who he was planning to vote for, "No way am I voting for that old guy." I lived in Cleveland, Ohio for a couple of years when I was very young and I very much hope that this group of voters is representative of how Ohio will vote this time around. If Obama can win over the working class families of Ohio and get them to get out there and vote then I think he really does have a chance at winning this election.

Can We Bring Democracy to the United States?

I would like to devote my efforts to raising awareness about our broken voting system for the remaining month in this election season. If I do post, it will mainly be on this topic.

END POVERTY NOW

Would you like to open a checking account with Goldman Sachs?

Last week, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley were the only remaining investment banks in the country. This week, they are officially federal "bank holding companies." That means that they can play with money directly from us little people who will make deposits at the commercial banks they can now legally open. Says MorganStanley in a Sunday press release,

Morgan Stanley sought this new status from the Federal Reserve to provide the Firm maximum flexibility and stability to pursue new business opportunities as the financial marketplace undergoes rapid and profound changes. The Firm will pursue initiatives to expand the retail banking services it offers its retail clients and build a stable base of core deposits. Morgan Stanley has more than 3 million retail accounts and had $36 billion in bank deposits as of August 31, 2008.

Free checking with Morgan Stanley! Open a saving account with Goldman Sachs and receive $10 free. They are opening their first national bank in Utah (actually converting their Utah industrial bank to a national bank).

We are supposed to feel comforted now because (thanks to all the deregulation in Wall Street spearheaded by McCain and friends), even with those 3 million retail accounts and $36 billion in bank deposits, they weren't under the watchful eye and regulatory power of the Federal Reserve before...not like they have to be now. Still, they want us to believe that business goes on as usual for them,

The Firm does not expect significant adverse tax or accounting effects from this new status, nor does the Firm expect there to be limitations on its activities that would have a material impact on Morgan Stanley’s overall business.

A number of my college classmates went to work for these investment banks. I can't tell you how glad I am that I didn't. I'm not interested in the cold calculations for maximum profit. When the world is looking a little rosier again, I'm sure these big banks and their friends will be crying for less regulation again..."Save us, little people, save us..."

Fabricating Reality

I am just started out with Blender. So far, I can only aspire to one day be able to make material of this quality. Even with the skills, it takes a lot of work. One estimate being 70 hours for 10 seconds of video. The Republicans have proven much faster at fabricating reality.

Opening Eyes, One Film at a Time

I was asked to compile a list of upcoming movies worth watching and that's why I am on this tangent right now. But there are several very promising looking films coming out including the documentaries Trouble The Water (a documentary filmed by a couple while they fought to survive Katrina and then after), Flow (about the privatization of the world water supply), and I.O.U.S.A (about the compounding debt the Republicans are leaving us). Except for Flow, whcih already came out on the 12th of September, these films will all be released on Monday. Stealing American: Vote by Vote, has already been released. Those are just a few of the additions to my list of films I'd consider spending precious time viewing. I definitely want to see The Lucky Ones (out next Friday)...Tim Robbins is back! Yes. And if the trailer is any measure, he and his costars (Michael Peña and Rachel McAdams) do not disappoint.

When is this Movie Coming Out?

W by Oliver Stone

Afterthought: I do not know anything about this movie except what was in the preview. In the trailer, Bush and folks looked like the idiots and A-Holes they really are, if you ask me. But maybe I'm reading more into it than is really captured in this movie?