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|4.18.06 @ 8:50AM|#
Ode to Gaia
Some sing songs about you
And call you mother.
Some sings songs to you
Seeking your eternal blessing.
You saved Zeus
Who banned Prometheus
What good were you?
You�re an old woman seeking rebirth
On the destruction of man.
You�ve poisoned the apple
But man keeps eating.
Sacrifice another virgin to the volcano.
Gaia, what do you want from me?
How do you survive in a world of plenty
When one more day
You destroy another ecosystem
And don�t even make a dime?
Gaia, you�re not my mother.
Don�t strip another forest for me.
And today don�t tell me
A pristine wilderness is better
Only so I can watch your destruction.
Gaia what are you doing to me?
Thirty thousand dead in Pakistan,
One more tsunami and millions gone.
And you insist on drinking the rivers dry
Don�t give me another drought,
And leave my mountaintops alone.
Keep your fire to yourself
I can keep warm without you burning the world.
And Gaia, the coastlines are not your own.
I weep when I have to make
A dime on your destruction.
I don�t get how you survive
When everything you do is for free.
Gaia, what do you want from me?
How do you survive in a world of plenty
When one more day
You destroy another ecosystem
And don�t even make a dime?
Gaia, you�re not my mother.
Don�t strip another forest for me.
And today don�t tell me
A pristine wilderness is better
Only so I can watch your destruction.
Gaia, this world is big enough for both of us.
And it�s not as frail as you try to tell.
You deceive my eyes through observation.
What is and what was
Is not what has to be.
Take your ecosystems and environment
I�ll build a better world,
Turn your wilderness into a populated garden.
And Gaia, you couldn�t even build
A fence around the canyon to protect me.
You�re just an old woman
Throwing fits of rage, no mother to me,
And an old woman has got to die.
Gaia, what do you want from me?
How do you survive in a world of plenty
When one more day
You destroy another ecosystem
And don�t even make a dime?
Gaia, you�re not my mother.
Don�t strip another forest for me.
And today don�t tell me
A pristine wilderness is better
Only so I can watch your destruction.
Inspired by Rhythm Corps' song "Mother"
|4.18.06 @ 8:53AM|#
Have the courage of your convictions, buddy. You be the first to go.
|4.18.06 @ 9:00AM|#
It's quite true that mistrust of science is all too common in American society, and the flames of this hostility are fanned by the religious right.
Mmmmmm, true but highly misleading. Anyone who's unaware of the politicization, demonization, and distortion of science by the Left is just not paying attention. It's equal opportunity bullshit.
|4.18.06 @ 9:12AM|#
Has anyone seen the new issue of Vanity Fair with all the stars, including George Clooney, talk about how green they are and how much they're going to change the omniverse via the power of drama/spoken word.
Jesus, Bette Midler is SO UGLY it almost defys the Laws of physics.
|4.18.06 @ 9:13AM|#
Sounds to me like Pianka wants what is best for humanity from an evolutionary perspective. It is difficult to see why any Reasonwriter would be the least bit troubled by that outlook on morality and ethics.
I can see why Pianka would cause consternation over at Faith magazine, but I haven't been to their site lately.
|4.18.06 @ 9:36AM|#
"Anyone who's unaware of the politicization, demonization, and distortion of science by the Left is just not paying attention. It's equal opportunity bullshit."
I totally agree. The left's reaction to E.O. Wilson's Sociobiology is a perfect example.
|4.18.06 @ 10:04AM|#
Mr. Pianka's vision is not new, and not new to UT. When I was a freshman there in 1982, I think before Pianka arrived, I took a basic biology course in which we were required to read "The Voyage of the Spaceship Beagle," by Garrett Hardin. The book is a novel about a colonizing spaceship containing a representative sample of humanity, who repeatedly breed themselves into disaster. The scientific heroes in the book release a deadly virus to kill about 75% of the human population on the ship once. Those scientists are replaced by their descendants, who can't bring themselves to repeat the beneficial culling. I avoided environmentalists for 15 years thanks to that godawful book.
Ms. Young is quite correct that any sensible person believes in policies that preserve wilderness and protect our air and water supplies. Enviros do themselves no favors by embracing those who embrace doomsday.
Warren|4.18.06 @ 10:06AM|#
Put a cork in it Mark. The woman is 61 years old for Jake's sake. She looks just like every sixty year old woman in the entertainment industry, i.e as 'youthful' as modern medicine can achieve.
Which does nothing to diminish the fact that she has an amazing set of pipes. Or the fact that in her prime she was one smoking hot babe.
|4.18.06 @ 10:08AM|#
Sounds to me like Pianka wants what is best for humanity from an evolutionary perspective. It is difficult to see why any Reasonwriter would be the least bit troubled by that outlook on morality and ethics.
Again with this nonsense, Dave? Show me how a mass die-off is good from "an evolutionary perspective".
|4.18.06 @ 10:24AM|#
David,
I see an example everytime I look in the mirror.
|4.18.06 @ 10:26AM|#
Put a cork in it Mark. The woman is 61 years old for Jake's sake. She looks just like every sixty year old woman in the entertainment industry, i.e as 'youthful' as modern medicine can achieve.
Nope. Middler is plain old ugly.
And this is a fact i.e something that can be proven with a Bunsen Burner.
|4.18.06 @ 10:28AM|#
"the havoc mankind has wreaked upon nature"
"We have become a plague upon ourselves and upon the earth..."
Who can spell "anthropomorphism?"
"Nature" doesn't give a rats ass about people one way or the other, and the "havoc" of humans is ziltch compared to the havoc of nature without humans.
|4.18.06 @ 10:34AM|#
Warren,
Seriously - I promise I won't labour the point but check out the link:
http://www.imdb.com/gallery/mptv/1378/Mptv/1378/11459_0002.jpg?path=pgallery&path_key=Midler,%20Bette
And this is her in her prime? She looks like the sort of thing you'd get if a Vulcan mated with a Siamese cat.
And you described her as a 'smoking hot babe'?
Bad call. Bad, bad call.
|4.18.06 @ 10:46AM|#
Bette Midler has never been attractive, and her singing talents are unremarkable.
|4.18.06 @ 10:54AM|#
Looks like Dave W. forgot to take his morning interval.
It's gonna be one of those days.
|4.18.06 @ 11:04AM|#
Bette Midler's career peaked for a brief moment when she sang "Wind Beneath My Wings" with Krusty during his comeback special. The rest of her miserable career is meaningless.
As for Cathy's piece, it was, um, how shall I put this...obvious? Shallow? I dunno, it just seems like it's little more than a blog comment with some hyperlinks inserted. Yipee. She's not wrong, by any means---it's just that this issue deserves a more in-depth discussion, and she barely scratches the surface.
|4.18.06 @ 11:15AM|#
That piece of art on the Reason frontpage -- the one with the beaked dude in the blue attire holding the sickle above his head -- where is that from? I know I've seen it before, but I can't remember where.
|4.18.06 @ 11:17AM|#
"That piece of art on the Reason frontpage -- the one with the beaked dude in the blue attire holding the sickle above his head -- where is that from?"
It was used on the cover of Stephen King's The Stand, IIRC.
|4.18.06 @ 11:23AM|#
Wild -- Darth Chef, I had the same question, and it was driving me crazy.
Then, right before reading SR's comment, I remembered -- "oh yeah, The Stand!!"
Cool.
|4.18.06 @ 11:34AM|#
Much obliged, SR!
Rich Ard|4.18.06 @ 11:40AM|#
The rest of her miserable career is meaningless.
Philistines, the lot of you.
|4.18.06 @ 11:41AM|#
That article was weak.
|4.18.06 @ 11:45AM|#
Dave is making an argument to the brand of morality he thinks we have inherited by believing in Darwinian evolution (i.e. strong = good, period). Nothing to see here, move along.
|4.18.06 @ 11:51AM|#
Pianka sounds like warmed-over Paul Ehrlich with a dash of Rachel Carson. The mystery to me is why anyone spends any energy rebutting this nonsense. Whatever pathetic need that environmental narcissism and misanthropy fills for these people needs to be examined.
Bette Midler is not handsome, but she was great back on the Letterman 2nd or 3rd anniversary show with her song Why Bother
|4.18.06 @ 12:09PM|#
surely I don't have to have linguist, smacky, or VM explain to you why mentioning Bette Midler's looks is entirely irrelevant... you must understand that whatever political stand she takes, however inane, has zip to do with her appearance?
If all you can manage to discuss about a woman is "is she hot?", you're kind of a troglodyte.
|4.18.06 @ 12:20PM|#
If all you can manage to discuss about a woman is "is she hot?", you're kind of a troglodyte.
Yeah. I guess you're right. Thanks for heads up.
You know, today I learnt something. I learnt that, yes, you should love someone, not for how they look, but for the who they are.
Cue rousing violin music
I learnt that beauty is only skin deep and that just because a woman looks like a squirrel doesn't mean she doesn't have vaild and important political points to make about a whole range of issues e.g economics, fossil fuels and foreign policy.
Now if you'll all excuse me, I'm going to put on some GAP clothing, wack on my Joss Stone CD and go and run around a meadow, skipping and laughing and jumping for joy.
Timothy|4.18.06 @ 12:26PM|#
David,
I see an example everytime I look in the mirror.
Most honest thing Dave W.'s ever said, that's for sure.
|4.18.06 @ 12:32PM|#
"Most honest thing Dave W.'s ever said, that's for sure."
I'm just gonna hold my tongue. Dave W. already knows what I think of him.
|4.18.06 @ 12:33PM|#
I understand that, contrary to how things usually work in the entertainment biz, Midler is actually better-looking in person than in photos.
But she still looks like Blossom's grandmother.
|4.18.06 @ 12:39PM|#
Mark, you're a moron.
A large portion of our single-digit number of female posters at H&R has referred to it as something of a "boys' club". When you consider that nearly every time a woman is even vaguely blogged about in H&R, the discussion is invariably about her hotness or lack thereof, and the fact that some posters go absolutely batshit insane whenever feminism is mentioned, you can perhaps understand WHY they call it a boys' club.
It doesn't take much extrapolation from there to figure out why there are but only a few women posting at H&R.
|4.18.06 @ 12:58PM|#
Mark, you're a moron.
Steven,
This is the first thing you've ever written that I agree with.
In my defence, I actually think I've raised a genuinely interesting question. There are serious repurcussions for standards of aesthetic judgement with this one.
Much like Mona Lisa's smile, Middler is an illusive and worrying entity and a decision must be reached!
Ed - Blossom's grandmother - not wrong.
I wonder whatever happened to Blossom's attractive (but also intellectual, confident, dynamic and serious) friend? Was she called 'Six' or 'Sex' or something?
|4.18.06 @ 12:59PM|#
this was a weak article. who cares what Pianka thinks; while this sort of doomsday environmentalism seems silly and unfounded it's by no means clear what will transpire in the years to come. but more importantly, there's no reason i can think of why this dude shouldn't be allowed to rave and ramble about what he thinks is wrong with the world. it's additionally worth nothing that a. the world doesn't give a rats ass about 'humanity' - it will keep on keepin on regardless of our participation or presence; and b. it's very unlikely that we are acting in a very conscious fashion.
nobody ever gets this uppity about david icke!
|4.18.06 @ 1:02PM|#
err... worth noting
|4.18.06 @ 1:19PM|#
WHOA!
|4.18.06 @ 1:24PM|#
Jesus FUCK fuck-fucking fuckety-fuck-fuck fuck-ass fucking-fuck ass-fuck fuck fuckety-fucking-fuck FUCK!
Why doesn't H&R just start posting notices to the effect that, "Our servers and Movable Type will ACTUALLY BE WORKING today from 9:48 to 10:17 a.m. and from 4:03 to 7:58 p.m. ONLY" and save us all the trouble the rest of the time? The past two days, my ratio of "attempted posts" to "posts that actually got through and posted on H&R" is something like 5 to 1, and I'm not shitting you.
|4.18.06 @ 1:24PM|#
WHOA!
|4.18.06 @ 1:27PM|#
Jesus FUCK fuck-fucking fuckety-fuck-fuck fuck-ass fucking-fuck ass-fuck fuck fuckety-fucking-fuck FUCK!
Why doesn't H&R just start posting notices to the effect that, "Our servers and Movable Type will ACTUALLY BE WORKING today from 9:48 to 10:17 a.m. and from 4:03 to 7:58 p.m. ONLY" and save us all the trouble the rest of the time? The past two days, my ratio of "attempted posts" to "posts that actually got through and posted on H&R" is something like 5 to 1, and I'm not shitting you.
|4.18.06 @ 1:38PM|#
And when a post actually goes through, it shows up about umpteen times.
|4.18.06 @ 1:45PM|#
nobody ever gets this uppity about david icke!
True Joe, however; Pianka is allegedly wishing for the deaths of a lot of people to satisfy his notions of a better world. All David Icke has done is told UFO kooks and conspiracy nuts that the world is ruled by interdimensional lizardmen.
|4.18.06 @ 1:51PM|#
It doesn't take much extrapolation from there to figure out why there are but only a few women posting at H&R.
I think that if they replaced the Reason Pillow Girl and Carpet Humping Guy ads with some photos of tasteful flower arrangements, it would help a lot.
It would be warm and inviting, and would help attract a lot more women to the ideas of libertarianism.
|4.18.06 @ 2:17PM|#
Has anyone seen the new issue of Vanity Fair with all the stars, including George Clooney, talk about how green they are and how much they're going to change the omniverse via the power of drama/spoken word.
George Clooney is a douchebag.
And I liked the movie "Beaches", so I don't want to hear no trash talk about Bette Middler! At least she's better looking than Barbara Streisand.
And thanks, Steven Crane, for making the bigger point, which is that her looks are irrelevant.
Thomas Paine's Goiter|4.18.06 @ 2:21PM|#
Jesus FUCK fuck-fucking fuckety-fuck-fuck fuck-ass fucking-fuck ass-fuck fuck fuckety-fucking-fuck FUCK!
Why doesn't H&R just start posting notices to the effect that, "Our servers and Movable Type will ACTUALLY BE WORKING today from 9:48 to 10:17 a.m. and from 4:03 to 7:58 p.m. ONLY" and save us all the trouble the rest of the time? The past two days, my ratio of "attempted posts" to "posts that actually got through and posted on H&R" is something like 5 to 1, and I'm not shitting you.
I'm at 17 attempts 2 posts since Jennifer irked me.
Thomas Paine's Goiter|4.18.06 @ 2:35PM|#
Jesus FUCK fuck-fucking fuckety-fuck-fuck fuck-ass fucking-fuck ass-fuck fuck fuckety-fucking-fuck FUCK!
Why doesn't H&R just start posting notices to the effect that, "Our servers and Movable Type will ACTUALLY BE WORKING today from 9:48 to 10:17 a.m. and from 4:03 to 7:58 p.m. ONLY" and save us all the trouble the rest of the time? The past two days, my ratio of "attempted posts" to "posts that actually got through and posted on H&R" is something like 5 to 1, and I'm not shitting you.
I'm at 24 attempts 3 posts since Jennifer irked me.
Larry A|4.18.06 @ 2:35PM|#
Oh come on. Someone comment on the subtitle.
Loony prof wants talented tenth to inherit the earth
Plagues don't react to "talent." The tenth left would be those with resistance to the disease in the 90th percentile, period. That could just as easily be the tenth of the population that smokes the most cigarettes, or whatever. Or an otherwise random sample.
(Cross fingers and click "Post")
|4.18.06 @ 2:47PM|#
The title is a reference to a comment by W.E.B. DuBois to the effect that organizations such as the NAACP should concentrate on improving the status of the "talented tenth" of American blacks rather than attempt what he considered to be the hopeless task of uplifting the black American masses as a whole. This led some blacks to comment bitterly that NAACP stood for the National Association for the Advancement of Certain People.
So the title is an allusion to an elitist attitude, I believe.
|4.18.06 @ 3:39PM|#
Actually a flowers add with the text "Is tomorrow your wife's birthday?" might just be the kind of helpful hint a libertarian could use. (Friday BTW.) What do I care how dangerous weight training is? I'm not going to exercise with or without weights (though it seems to have worked really well for the training guy, hat's off to him).
|4.18.06 @ 4:10PM|#
I think one reason the number of women posters sticks in the single digits is that half of the comments on a thread devoted to a wackjob Dr. Doom enviromentalist concern opinions of Bette Midler's looks, which is, at best, tenously related to the subject.
That, and the fact that the server squirrels are very picky about what posts they take.
|4.18.06 @ 4:28PM|#
I wonder whatever happened to Blossom's attractive (but also intellectual, confident, dynamic and serious) friend? Was she called 'Six' or 'Sex' or something?
I now feel dirty for responding to this, but I felt compelled to look it up, and the character of Six was played by Jenna Van Oy, who is now a country singer in Nashville.
She seemed intelligent enough. I don't know how talented a musician she is because I've never heard her music, and I don't like country music anyway. I can't comment on her looks either, because I just remember her as really young. But I'll bet she is a fine person.
|4.18.06 @ 4:39PM|#
That, and the fact that the server squirrels are very picky about what posts they take.
I wonder whether the squirrels might be sexist. For all we know, there could be legions of women who have repeatedly attempted to post here, but the server squirrels may let only a tiny percentage of their posts through, while allowing almost all posts by males. Eventually, most of those women give up and leave in frustration and disgust. (Lord knows I'm about to.) Maybe the server squirrels are just too used to this place being an Old Squirrel Boys' Club, and they want to keep it that way. "Women have their own clubs and no one says anything about it. Why can't we have a place to ourselves, where we can relax and be manly squirrel-men, free to swim in the nude and play with our nuts?" they protest in mock dismay and disengenuity.
Well, let me tell you, you sexist server squirrels -- you disgust me.
Oh, go ahead -- I know you probably won't let this message post. But I will not be silenced. The people, united, can never be defeated. A day of freedom and equality will come, my bushy-tailed rodent friends.
Our day will come.
Captain Holly, who is grateful|4.18.06 @ 5:00PM|#
All David Icke has done is told UFO kooks and conspiracy nuts that the world is ruled by interdimensional lizardmen.
"Interdimensional lizardmen"? Are they Masons?
|4.19.06 @ 3:55AM|#
Le Mur,
"Nature" doesn't give a rats ass about people one way or the other, and the "havoc" of humans is ziltch compared to the havoc of nature without humans.
Are you -- possibly -- one of those god-awful People First types? :)
Anyway, it was a pretty shallow article. Cathy has done better. But she started hitting on a good vein that deserves more fleshing out here.
But we should also beware of zealots in scientific garb who can only give ammunition to the enemies of science and reason.
I think this is a very under appreciated problem in general.
|4.19.06 @ 4:16AM|#
Crane,
If all you can manage to discuss about a woman is "is she hot?", you're kind of a troglodyte.
Sure. Then I'm one of them things.
Considering the intellect of the average celebrity, it's really hard to judge them on the basis of anything but their looks. If you want to see them in anything resembling a positive light, that is.
It doesn't take much extrapolation from there to figure out why there are but only a few women posting at H&R.
I don't believe the Boy's Club has ever slowed down Jennifer. But maybe I'm wrong, and Jennifer has actually shriveled up inside due to the crudeness and crassness of it all here on H&R. I mean, people say things like this around here!
She looks like the sort of thing you'd get if a Vulcan mated with a Siamese cat.
I'm sure that Jennifer, her very own self, would never ever say a thing like this or even think it.
Maybe it's got Jennifer all shriveled up inside. And maybe, the planet is actually ruled by pan-dimensional lizard men.
In my experience, any gathering of people that leaned libertarian has always been dominated by men (and somehow, that makes things lean towards "men talk"). I suppose someone will tell me it's just because I've lived a sheltered life, but I tend to doubt it.
Sometimes the Boys Club talks about how women look. But I don't think it's often enough to drive women away en mass. I think, the "en mass" has a pretty small number of women to it. For whatever reason.
|4.19.06 @ 4:38AM|#
Considering the intellect of the average celebrity, it's really hard to judge them on the basis of anything but their looks. If you want to see them in anything resembling a positive light, that is.
Funny, I don't see any discussion of Clooney's looks on this thread, or any other male actor's.
At any rate, is it really too much to expect people at H&R to be able to discuss a woman in any terms other than "hot or not"?
Libertarian-types should really try to be a bit smarter when it comes to women. They do make up a little over half the population, after all, and y'alls need all the help you can get in the voting department... and, very likely, in the getting-a-date department as well.
The Wine Commonsewer|4.19.06 @ 1:50PM|#
Stephen, are you out of your mind? hot or not is perfectly valid.
Funny, I don't see any discussion of Clooney's looks on this thread, or any other male actor's. that's because what's his name (with a daily handle and sex change) got hisself banned for pooping in Cavanuagh's lunch one too many times.
Here's one for you: I don't think Demi Moore's sweet little hussey is all that good looking. She could do much better in that department. In fact, even as old and bald as he is, Bruce Willis is a much better looking, manly man, sort of guy.
The Wine Commonsewer|4.19.06 @ 1:56PM|#
BTW, little Kevin Bacon name dropping here. I actually know Eric Pianka's former sister in law who says that:
He lives alone in the middle of Bumfuck Texas on a ranch with bison and a huge collection of snakes and lizards. One weird cat, although probably harmless himself. The scarier thing is he apparently got standing ovations when he presented his bright ideas to his scientific colleagues.
Just nice to have these personal insights--don't you think?