Fragments From Floyd

BLOG IN SPACE ** I've decided what my next step as a writer will be. Earth is too small an audience for my erudite eruptions and mystical meanderings. I will send Fragments into space. Think of it: Tsuga, Space Ambassador to the Stars.

WATER, WATER ** This is surprising and encouraging: an environmental consciousness in China--and a willingness of the government to admit there are any flaws at all in the national fabric. Chief on the list of concerns of Chinese citizens is the availability of clean drinking water. Look for more and more conflict in the future of this crucial limiting factor, especially in the world's growing urban populations (including the US where 85% of people still get their water from public utilities.) Water utilities are increasingly under pressure to resort to privitized management under the ownership of foreign conglomerates. Not good.

SPEAKING OF CHINA ** Maybe you've heard of the 'mysterious illness' now in China. "A pig bacterium" is the official word from the government. "Under control" they reassure. If this is a bacterial disease, it is very odd indeed. Sounds more like a virus. Maybe two viruses that have joined forces.

SEASONAL SEASONINGS ** This piece from Books and Culture discusses the role of the seasons in art and in our psychology of nature and our relationship to it. The author quotes Diane Ackerman:"we’ve worked hard to exile ourselves from nature, yet we end up longing for what we’ve lost: a sense of connectedness."

BOYS TOYS ** Via CoolTools: 1) BugZooka. How could anyone not like a bug-and-spider sucker! 2) SketchUP (rhymes with Ketchup) is beyond most needs for a new toy (at $500) but it sounds really useful for the right needs. And wait! You can download a trial version for free and waste countless hours! and lastly, 3) A fully-functional (backpacking?) origama plate. No, it's a dish. No, it's a bowl. And it's just $6.

MEATING THE NEED ** What to do when chickens, pigs, and cows are no longer safe food sources for a burgeoning world population's protein needs? Prime without the rib. Laboratory-grown tissue-cultured meat! "With a single cell, you could theoretically produce the world's annual meat supply. And you could do it in a way that's better for the environment and human health. In the long term, this is a very feasible idea." I dunno. Vitro-Meat is starting to make tofu sound better.

WHISTLED LANGUAGE ** I'm a whistler. I also play the accordion. So shoot me. Turns out, whistling can be more than a way of making mouth music. It has a wide usage as a language as well, as you can read here, and listen to, here.