Fish for Friday

To help fight a proposal to list added sugar on food labels,
the cranberry industry over the summer enlisted
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and
then-Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick

Edited by
Morris Dean

[Anonymous selections from recent correspondence]

"Food industry waging a bitter battle over proposal on added-sugar labels." [Evan Halper, LA Times] Excerpt:

Of all the issues the Obama administration is grappling with, a modest redesign of what food labels say about sweeteners might not have seemed among the more controversial. But ever since First Lady Michelle Obama unveiled the plan last year, a lobbying frenzy has ensued....
    The proposal being considered by the Food and Drug Administration would add a new line to labels on packaged products noting how many teaspoons of sugar had been added.
    The furor over the idea reveals the extent to which extra sugar is infused into even the most unlikely foods and the concerns that manufacturers have about consumers finding out. The FDA has received 287,889 public comments on the plan, including many from major food companies and trade associations.
    Nutrition advocates say the strong reaction shows just how much is at stake.
    "They know this will impact how people choose their products, and that terrifies them," said Renee Sharp, director of research for the Environmental Working Group, one of several advocacy groups campaigning for the label change.

A depiction of aurora on Ganymede, as it orbits Jupiter.
Observations suggest that the moon has an ocean under ice.

"Suddenly, It Seems, Water Is Everywhere in Solar System." [Kenneth Change, NY Times]. Excerpt:

Enceladus, a moon of Saturn, appears to have a roiling ocean with hydrothermal vents, while Ganymede, orbiting Jupiter, may have an ocean under ice, researchers report in two new papers.

"Science picture galleries." [The Telegraph] For example, Northern Lights over UK:

Guardian launches divestment campaign. The Guardian, one of the world’s most respected and influential newspapers, is joining the fight to keep fossil fuels in the ground. [On March 16], they launched a bold new partnership with 350.org and have signed on to the fossil fuel divestment campaign in a big way:
    In a watershed moment for the growing divestment movement, The Guardian is setting its sights on the contradictory fossil fuel investments of two of the largest philanthropic health and development organizations: the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation here in North America and the U.K.'s Wellcome Trust. Both are heavily invested in the industry wreaking havoc on our climate, a fact that’s at odds with their missions to create a better world.

The Ocean Conservancy had its heart in the right place when it recently reported that a recent study had shown which U.S. communities are at high risk of ocean acidification:

When carbon pollution from the atmosphere is absorbed into the ocean, the water becomes more acidic...Towns from Maine to Louisiana to Washington state are currently or will soon be feeling the effects of ocean acidification. This threatens the livelihoods of fishermen, local economies, and iconic marine species.
    The group points out that the federal government "only invests $8.5 million annually in ocean acidification research" and asks people to support the White House proposal of a $30 million research budget for fiscal year 2016.

But is more research needed before governments act to reduce and eliminate the use of fossil fuels? Katherine Kolbert, in her 2014 book, The Sixth Extinction:

Since the start of the industrial revolution, humans have burned through enough fossil fuels – coal, oil, and natural gas – to add some 365 billion metric tons of carbon to the atmosphere. Deforestation has contributed another 180 billion tons. Each year, we throw up another nine billion tons or so, an amount that's been increasing by as much as six percent annually. As a result of all this, the concentration of carbon dioxide in the air today – a little over 400 parts per million – is higher than at any other point in the last eight hundred thousand years. Quite probably it is higher than at any point in the last several mission years. If current trends continue, CO₂ concentrations will top five hundred parts per million, roughly double the levels they were in preindustrial days, by 2050. It is expected that such an increase will produce an eventual average global temperature rise of between three and a half and seven degrees Fahrenheit, and this will, in turn, trigger a variety of world-altering events, including the disappearance of most remaining glaciers, the inundation of low-lying islands and coastal cities,and the melting of the Arctic ice cap. But that is only half the story....[p. 113]
    Roughly one-third of the CO₂ that humans have so far pumped into the air has been absorbed by the oceans. This comes to a stunning 150 billion metric tons. As with most aspects of the Anthropocene [the current geological age, during which human activity has been the dominant influence on climate and the environment], though, it's not only the scale of the transfer but also the speed that's significant. A useful (though admittedly imperfect) comparison can be made to alcohol. Just as it makes a big difference to your blood chemistry whether you take a month to go through a six-pack or an hour, it makes a big difference to marine chemistry whether carbon dioxide is added over the course of a million years or a hundred. To the oceans, as to the human liver, rate matters....[p. 123]
    "It is the rate of CO₂ release that makes the current great experiment so geologically unusual, and quite probably unprecedented in earth history," Lee Kump, a geologist at Penn State, and Andy Ridgwell, a climate modeler from the University of Bristol, observed in a special issue of the journal Oceanography devoted to acidification. Continuing along this path for much longer, the pair continued, "is likely to leave a legacy of the Anthropocene as one of the most notable, if not cataclysmic events in the history of our planet."[p. 124]

Eight days ago today: "Volcanic ash closes Costa Rica's Juan Santamaría International Airport." [Zach Dyer, The Tico Times ]

Turrialba Volcano registered three explosions on Thursday, March 12, 2015,
spreading ash over the capital San José and causing the
Juan Santamaría International Airport to close at 4 p.m.

"Britons still live in Anglo-Saxon tribal kingdoms, Oxford University finds." [Sarah Knapton, The Telegraph] Excerpt:

Britons are still living in the same 'tribes' that they did in the 7th Century, Oxford University has found after an astonishing study into our genetic make-up.
    Archaeologists and geneticists were amazed to find that genetically similar individuals inhabit the same areas they did following the Anglo-Saxon invasion, following the fall of the Roman Empire.
    In fact, a map showing tribes of Britain in 600AD is almost identical to a new chart showing genetic variability throughout the UK, suggesting that local communities have stayed put for the past 1415 years.
    Many people in Britain claim to feel a strong sense of regional identity and scientists say they the new study proves that the link to birthplace is DNA deep.

Wow, who would have thought the innocent-seeming things we flush could cause such problems? The photo says it all. "Wet Wipes Box Says Flush. New York’s Sewer System Says Don’t." [Matt Flegenheimer, NY Times]

A mechanical rake at the Newtown Creek plant collecting solid waste,
mostly wet wipes, for disposal.

Animals suffer due to tourism all the time – and often it just takes a bit of education, and a bit of thought, to ensure that we, as tourists, don't contribute to the suffering.
    The more people we can reach with this message, the better it will be for the animals. Can you help us fight this campaign by telling people about our website: Right Tourism: Responsible, informed, guilt-free & humane tourism. It identifies ways to ensure being an animal-friendly tourist.

Neighborhood squabble - Aussie style:

Post by Fortafy.

In the 1970s we generally camped on the Atlantic coast of the Bordeaux peninsula in a relaxed camp visited by early Greens from many neighboring counties. I called it The Boot Camp of the Alternatives of Europe. Particularly present were groups of Alternative lefties from Bremen and other north German cities, with their naked kids scuttling about the camp and their women naked on the beach.
    The group from Bremen told me of their intricate cheating of the German unemployment insurance system. A large group of a dozen persons/families collected savings and had bought a run-down farm in beautiful Tuscany.
    To rebuild and repair the farm buildings, where they had all camped in the summers of a half-decade, there was a revolving stream of men between appointments at the unemployment office in Bremen at the beginning of each month, back down to Tuscany to work, using their unemployment pay for subsistence.
    This had gone on well for a number of years without the authorities finding out. When the renovations were finished, a big bad surprise occurred. They had appointed a leader to buy the farm and to get it notorized in his name, to make the transaction look more legitimate than having twelve persons as new owners. This leader summarily threw them off the farm and started to rent it out to well-paying German vacationers.
    They had been screwed by the worst capitalist they had ever met. And it was one of them! Organized German lefties screwing government and getting screwed themselves by one of their own.

"Petraeus won't serve a day in jail for his leaks. Edward Snowden shouldn't either." [Trevor Timm, The Guardian]. Former CIA director David Petraeus is widely expected to get only probation and a fine after a guilty plea of leaking classified information to his then-biographer and mistress. This is in stark contrast to the serious jail time that’s been handed down to other leakers, for arguably less serious offenses, including the disclosure of information in the public interest — like Chelsea Manning. If Petraeus won’t serve jail time, then Snowden shouldn’t either.

Be more polite to yourself. If you had a friend who spoke to you in the same way that you sometimes speak to yourself, how long would you allow that person to be your friend? The way you treat yourself sets the standard for others. You must love who you are or no one else will.

What did the policeman say to his belly button? You're under a vest.

Teachers can learn new things too:

When I received my copy of JT Another Mighty Midyett, by Vic Midyett's cousin Randy Somers, I immediately looked for Vic's "Missionary Kid" stories. They're there, but Randy worked them into the book as though he's telling about Vic and his family in the third person. Interesting take. Randy acknowledges Vic (his name is "Victor"!) in the preface. [Randy's website provides links to the publisher and to Amazon and Barnes & Noble.]

Albert Einstein:

• The hardest thing in the world to understand is the income tax. [This has also been quoted as being a reference to the game of golf.]
• Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.
• The only real valuable thing is intuition.
• A person starts to live when he can live outside himself.

The morning after the party:

Having a bad day?

6th & 7th of 18 Photos from The Smithsonian’s “Wilderness Forever” Photo Contest

Bald Eagle, Glacier Bay Wilderness Area, Alaska
[Image credits: David Bahr]

Meadow of Wildflowers, Grand Teton National Park , Wyoming
[Image credits: John Richter]

Why was six afraid of seven? Because seven eight nine.

Be the Box

You must be able to get your whole body in the box, no matter what it takes. Become one with the box!

"A Christian Nation? Since When?" [Kevin M. Kruse, NY Times] Excerpt:

[T]he founding fathers didn’t create the ceremonies and slogans that come to mind when we consider whether this is a Christian nation. Our grandfathers did.
    Back in the 1930s, business leaders found themselves on the defensive. Their public prestige had plummeted with the Great Crash; their private businesses were under attack by Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal from above and labor from below. To regain the upper hand, corporate leaders fought back on all fronts. They waged a figurative war in statehouses and, occasionally, a literal one in the streets; their campaigns extended from courts of law to the court of public opinion. But nothing worked particularly well until they began an inspired public relations offensive that cast capitalism as the handmaiden of Christianity....
    Accordingly, throughout the 1930s and ’40s, corporate leaders marketed a new ideology that combined elements of Christianity with an anti-federal libertarianism. Powerful business lobbies like the United States Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers led the way, promoting this ideology’s appeal in conferences and P.R. campaigns. Generous funding came from prominent businessmen, from household names like Harvey Firestone, Conrad Hilton, E. F. Hutton, Fred Maytag, and Henry R. Luce to lesser-known leaders at U.S. Steel, General Motors and DuPont....
    [T]he Rev. Abraham Vereide’s...influence spread to Washington. He persuaded the House and Senate to start weekly prayer meetings “in order that we might be a God-directed and God-controlled nation.” Mr. Vereide opened headquarters in Washington — “God’s Embassy,” he called it — and became a powerful force in its previously secular institutions. Among other activities, he held “dedication ceremonies” for several justices of the Supreme Court. “No country or civilization can last,” Justice Tom C. Clark announced at his 1949 consecration, “unless it is founded on Christian values.”
    The most important clergyman for Christian libertarianism, though, was the Rev. Billy Graham...In 1952, Mr. Graham went to Washington and made Congress his congregation. He recruited representatives to serve as ushers at packed revival meetings and staged the first formal religious service held on the Capitol steps. That year, at his urging, Congress established an annual National Day of Prayer. “If I would run for president of the United States today on a platform of calling people back to God, back to Christ, back to the Bible,” he predicted, “I’d be elected.”....
    During these years, Americans were told, time and time again, not just that the country should be a Christian nation, but that it always had been one. They soon came to think of the United States as “one nation under God.” They’ve believed it ever since.

[Note: Kyle Garza counters with a couple of 18th-century documents showing some much earlier Christian roots:

• Text for the first national day of Thanksgiving in America, set for December 18, 1777.
• Continental Congress's declaration for a national day of fasting on March 16, 1776.]

Limerick of the week:

Everyone's said things off the top of his head,
maybe not things that prompt "Lop off his head!"
    but the dumbest things sounded
    are the drivel expounded
when he discharges the slop from his head.

Copyright © 2015 by Morris Dean