Fish for Friday

Edited by
Morris Dean

[Anonymous selections from recent correspondence]

"Jon Stewart, Iraq War Critic, Runs a Program That Helps Veterans Enter TV." [Dave Philipps, NY Times] Excerpt:

During the surge in Iraq in 2008, Nathan Witmer led an Army scout platoon in a thicket of villages rife with insurgents and roadside bombs. What he really wants to do is direct.
    Or maybe write — or produce....
    Like many troops leaving the military, he was steered instead toward jobs in government agencies that offered preferential hiring or with big corporations that recruited veterans, and he assumed his hope of working in show business would remain only that.
    But after selling medical equipment for two years, he had the chance to join a five-week industry boot camp designed to bring young veterans into the television business. To his surprise, it was run by one of the Iraq war’s fiercest critics, Jon Stewart, the longtime host of Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show.”
    “It was actually inspirational,” said Mr. Witmer, who went on to work at Fox News and then found a job as a “Daily Show” associate field segment producer. “We hear ‘Thank you for your service’ all the time, but here was concrete action, people working to really make a difference. And it changed lives. I’m proof of that.”....
    Mr. Stewart may at first seem an unexpected bridge for a Hollywood-military divide. For years the host built his audience by playing straight man to the often absurd truths of the global “war on terror,” serving up scathing satire on American involvement in the Middle East in his longstanding segments “Mess o’Potamia” and “Crisis in Israfghyianonanaq.” At the same time, though, he has been an advocate for troops, visiting the wounded at hospitals, visiting Arlington National Cemetery and in 2011 doing a comedy tour of bases in Afghanistan.
    “I knew I had very strong opinions about what we were doing over there, and I wanted to visit the individuals who were part of the effort to gain a perspective on it,” Mr. Stewart said. He added: “Most of all, I realized it was unbelievably hot, nothing but sand. I knew we were nation-building there. I didn’t realize we were nation-building on Mars.”....
    “There are well-worn channels into this industry that are closed off to veterans,” Mr. Stewart said. “You get into the television industry generally by going to certain colleges known for having good television programs, getting internships and getting to know people who work in the industry. A lot of veterans never had that opportunity because they were busy at war. This is a way to give them that chance.”
   He added that the veterans he had hired had been assets and “way less whiny” than most of his hires.

Right now, the Arctic is witnessing one of the biggest migrations in the world.
    Bowhead and gray whales, belugas, ice seals, Pacific walruses and an estimated 12 million seabirds are traveling up through the narrow Bering Strait to stay with the sea ice—just as they’ve done for thousands of years.
    But these days, something else is journeying through the Bering Strait: commercial ships.
    Between 2008 and 2012, vessel traffic in the U.S. Arctic more than doubled, and is expected to grow even more in years to come. Every year marine wildlife faces bigger risks: ship strikes, ocean noise and oil spills.
    The U.S. Coast Guard can help protect Arctic wildlife from the threat of shipping by designating key hotspots as “areas to be avoided,” and by supporting speed restrictions in waters used by imperiled species. We have until June 3 to send the Coast Guard a message.
    Tell the U.S. Coast Guard: Protect marine life from Arctic shipping.

"Ireland becomes first country to legalize gay marriage through a popular vote." [Ginanne Brownell Mitic, LA Times] Excerpt:

In a landslide victory, Irish voters have backed the legalization of gay marriage in a referendum to change the Roman Catholic country’s constitution.
    Official results issued Saturday showed a 62.1% "yes" vote for allowing same-sex couples to marry....
    Seventeen other countries, including Britain, Spain and France, have legalized same-sex marriage through legislation or court rulings, but Ireland is the first to do so through a popular vote. The balloting marked a remarkable sea change in a nation where homosexuality was outlawed until 1993 and demonstrates the declining influence of the Roman Catholic Church, which fought the referendum along with evangelical Protestant groups....
    With voters streaming to the polls on Friday, particularly in urban areas, the turnout was more than 60% in a country with 3.2 million registered voters....
    Political analysts who have covered Irish referendums for decades agreed that Saturday's emerging landslide marked a stunning generational shift from the 1980s, when voters still firmly backed Catholic Church teachings and overwhelmingly voted against abortion and divorce.
    “We're in a new country,” said political analyst Sean Donnelly, who called the result “a tidal wave” that has produced pro-gay marriage majorities in even the most traditionally conservative rural corners of Ireland.

This was a ground-breaking spring. Thousands of students, faculty, alumni, and community members across the country stood up for climate justice – demanding that our colleges and universities divest from the companies driving the climate crisis.[1:36]

Factory farms are toxic breeding grounds. Birds packed tightly in horrific conditions have enabled the spread of the deadly Avian flu to epidemic proportions. Read what this can mean for backyard flocks. [Read more.]

Vic Midyett's cousin did a great job on the promo for his book about Vic's father:

“Five for five.” That's what you can say when get into an Uber car in order to avoid having to act charming or otherwise curry enough favor to earn the driver's 5-star rating. You're promising to give them five stars and expect them to give you five stars. [For an explanation of how ratings in Uber work, see Maureen Dowd's May 23 NY Times column, "Driving Uber Mad."]

Environmentalist Stiv Wilson has helped
lead the fight against microbeads

Rats! And I love Crest toothpaste! "Fighting Pollution From Microbeads Used in Soaps and Creams." [Rachel Abrams, NY Times] Excerpt:

Stiv Wilson is not much of an exfoliator.
    Mr. Wilson, a 42-year-old environmental advocate, lives on a sailboat, wears flip-flops and doesn’t care much for personal care products like fancy creams and moisturizers. But to the companies that make those products, some of the largest corporations in the world, Mr. Wilson tends to be more abrasive than the scrubs they sell.
    For more than two years, Mr. Wilson, director of campaigns at the nonprofit group The Story of Stuff Project, has helped lead the fight against microbeads, tiny plastic balls used in face washes, moisturizers and toothpaste, which activists say wind up in the nation’s lakes and rivers. On Friday, the California State Assembly approved a measure to outlaw the use of the particles in what could become the strictest ban in the country.
    Microbeads look like tiny, colorful dots suspended in cleansers and other personal care items. Manufacturers like Johnson & Johnson and Procter & Gamble advertise their exfoliating power, offering consumers a little luxury in the form of a D.I.Y. mini-facial.
    But when the beads are rinsed off, they flow through pipes and drains and into the water. By the billions.
    The effect is similar to grinding up plastic water bottles, other products of concern to environmentalists, and pumping them into oceans and lakes. But because microbeads are small enough to be ingested by fish and other marine life, they can carry other pollutants into the food chain....
    Water treatment plants cannot process the nearly 19 tons of microbeads that may be washing into New York’s wastewater every year, according to a recent report from the office of the state’s attorney general, Eric T. Schneiderman. The State Assembly has approved a proposal from Mr. Schneiderman’s office to ban microbeads, but the bill has stalled in the State Senate.
    Four states — Illinois, Maine, New Jersey and Colorado — have enacted legislation to restrict the use of microbeads, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures, while bills are pending in others, including Michigan, Minnesota, Washington and Oregon. If the California bill becomes law, the state would ban not only synthetic particles but the biodegradable ones that many companies have been developing as alternatives.

The average American eats a sliver
of California avocado each week.
It takes 4.1 gallons of water to produce.

The average American consumes more than 300 gallons of California water each week by eating food that was produced there. "Your Contribution to the California Drought." [Larry Buchanan, Josh Keller, and Haeyoun Park, NY Times]. Excerpt:

California farmers produce more than a third of the nation’s vegetables and two-thirds of its fruits and nuts. To do that, they use nearly 80 percent of all the water consumed in the state. It is the most stubborn part of the crisis: To fundamentally alter how much water the state uses, all Americans may have to give something up.
    The portions of foods shown [in the article] are grown in California and represent what average Americans, including non-Californians, eat in a week. We made an estimate of the amount of water it takes to grow each portion to give you a sense of your contribution to the California drought.
    The estimates include the amount of water used to make derivative products. For example, grape consumption includes not just fresh grapes, but also wine, jam, and juice.

Without stopping to take a look around, we can sometimes miss the transition of our surroundings from summer to autumn. Photos that compare various locations before and after they change into their autumn colours are revealing.
    Besides the nip in the air, the scarves, and the delicious autumn fruits and vegetables, the changing leaves are probably the greatest sign of autumn that there is. Chlorophyll, which is the green pigment in leaves that produces energy for trees, gradually breaks down in the fall, revealing the many other colors that also exist in leaves. That's where we get the rich browns, oranges, yellows and reds that we associate with the season.

Tu Hwnt I'r Bont Tearoom in Llanrwst, North Wales

Gapstow Bridge, New York, USA/td>

Japanese Maple

Neat break-dance performance in Berlin in 2012, a cross-current event in a top national venue. [9:51]


Two calves find friendship at Farm Sanctuary....

I respect people who are generous toward those whose beliefs differ from theirs. I had an elderly Polish neighbor lady whose extended family perished in Poland under the Nazi regime share a quote with me. I do not know who authored it or even if I have it correct, but I kept her written note on my refrigerator door for a long time: “Those who know not that they know not, are lost. Those who know that they know not, are the hope of the land.”

You can eat the box after you finish eating the chocolate:

Limerick of the week [recited (or sung) to the beat of the Beatles song, "Lovely Rita," with syllables fairly detached from each other]:

Lovely Rita, meter maid, Sgt. Pepper's gotcha,
how could those boys, those four, ever live withoutcha?
    We've heard and sung the strains
    so many years, our brains
remember fully now everything aboutcha.

[Monday will be the 48th anniversary of the release of the Beatles's Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album, which includes "Lovely Rita." A few of Moristotle's characters will post reflections Monday on what the album has meant to them.]

Copyright © 2015 by Morris Dean