Ari's Planet

The US government, via the copyright office, sets royalty rates for songs. That seems a bit dumb, why is the government determining rates between private parties, other than perhaps setting some fair maximum to avoid excessive restraints on trade (as in increasingly defunct usury laws)? The end result is that instead of artists (via their representatives) negotiating with broadcasters, we have artists petitioning the US government to set particular rates and broadcasters petitioning to have lower rates. Oops, did I say artists?

In the not distant future, people will prerecord dad before he goes off to do battle. While he's away, the kids can be entertained with virtual dad. When dad is killed in a far-off war, the kids can continue to be entertained by their virtually aging father, who will point them in the proper way of future wars. Fortunately, governments will continue to have less imagination but greater resources and will show animations of war-hero dad discovering how women in that-other-place are not treated the way we-would-treat-our-women, and therefore how we must civilize them by all means necessary, to defend the honor of our women. Our honorable women will refrain from any virtual dad activities, and all honorable young men, of course, will have been with dead-dad on the battlefield. Those who ask if virtual dad would like to sleep would soon be shown the place of honor from which dad's electric teeth rattle their protective prayer.

Not having schistosomiasis parasites running around has made the day much fuller of time and energy. So what goes on? Well, not too much really. There's life in a quiet suburban hostel. People come and go. Some stay for months, giving a chance to get to know them. Every evening the kitchen fills up. We take turns, or not, commandeering the one gas stove. This is the preferred cooking area, as the electric stove has two settings on all its burners: off and burn-your-food. One of the most fun things is watching people from different cultures concoct their dinners. Everyone has their own way of eating, Asians use rice flower, Europeans cook heavier dishes in pots, I cook my own measley cuisine (I call it "Ari Cuisine", which isn't saying much). Unfortunately for the continent, Europeans don't know how to make pancakes. They make these thin things without any fluffiness and are sorely deprived of maple syrup and blueberries. Hmmph, I think it is quite obvious why they all want to come to America! Now we're trying to watch the Olympics, but after the opening ceremonies I wonder if anything they show is based on true events.

So John Edwards had an affair. And lied about it. And kept on saying stupider and stupider things. How's that news?

Ever since Google kowtowed to China and started censoring their results I've been looking for an alternative. Yahoo wasn't any better. So much for companies promising to do no evil. It didn't help Google's cause that they pester you with trillions of cookies (these can be shut off, apparently by setting other cookies, which really doesn't address the problem). From what I gather, which is not much, Cuil was started by some ex-Googlers. Since I made sure not to dig too deep, as far as I can tell Cuil hasn't gone and done anything evil yet, like blocking good stuff from folks with the misfortune of having a Chinese-looking IP address. There's also Goodsearch which will donate a bit to your charity of choice. By the way, Google should be well aware that the value of their product is in the switching cost, and since their search product has about zero switching cost, it's not very valuable. Lucky for them they have other products. Hello Cuil.

There's a shop outside the Auckland Fish Market where there are all sorts of interesting fish, some for as little as $8/kg. Many fisheries are badly managed and are unsustainable. I do not want to eat fish that are harvested in an unsustainable way or using methods that harm other marine life. The Marine Stewardship Council recently recertified Hoki as sustainably managed. Reading the page on the Hoki at the MSC, it says that Hoki are caught by bottom trawling, which tends to be a very destructive method. The Royal Forest and Bird Society says to avoid Hoki and that the Hoki fishery is not sustainable, "The main concerns with this fishery are: the bycatch of hundreds of NZ fur seals, albatrosses and petrels each year, plus bycatch of the globally threatened basking sharks and impacts on benthic communities." Is the MSC right or wrong? Why would the MSC be wrong?

Let's play a game: guess the weather. Yes, can you guess the weather in Auckland today?

(keep on scrolling down)

(drum roll)

Yes! Amazing, how did you know it's been rainy and windy today! Oh, so dark and wet, like the underside of a rock mired in a swamp. Hey, look at those little things scurrying around down there, the poor buggers.

Dear Representative Frank:

I am writing to request again that you act to impeach President Bush and Vice President Cheney. These individuals have openly stated that they have violated the Constitution. No further investigation is required. Their actions are beyond the pale of any action acceptable to me as a citizen of the US. To my prior request that you act on impeachment, you wrote that there is insufficient support for impeachment in the House and Senate and that following up on impeachment would alienate what little Republican support there is for other pressing matters, such as ending the war in Iraq and protecting civil liberties.

Live Wires has some nice original drawing greeting cards. There's a tourist shop with a small selection near the bottom of Queen Street in Auckland.

Parasites are wonderful amazing little creatures. Their life cycles, involving multiple hosts and periods in free water, are marvels of natural adaptation. Schistosomiasis, otherwise known as Bilharzia, is a common parasitic infection in tropical regions of the world. There are several varieties, such as Schistosoma mekongi, found in the Mekong river. Indeed, this is probably where I contracted the disease while swimming and bathing in water from the Mekong river. Feeling not entirely well, I stopped by the Travel Doctor clinic in Auckland. The doctor there tested me for antibodies to schistosoma, which came back positive. The test is only useful several weeks after exposure. Treatment is straightforward: two doses in a single day of Praziquantel (brand name Biltricide). Other than a headache and going to sleep a bit earlier I had no ill effects.

This is a recipe I adapted from a simple recipe for dhal, or lentils, made Indian style. I simplified and reduced the quantities to make cooking simpler while traveling and when lacking refrigeration to store left overs. I've also modified it by throwing pretty much anything and everything in the pot.

Lentils and vegetables:
Lentils, 1 cup. You can use red lentils or brown lentils, but brown lentils need more water.
Two medium potatoes. Rinse and cut into cubes. I don't bother peeling, which saves time and retains nutrients.
Two onions, cut into pieces. I love onions in this stew. Yum.
Two fresh tomatoes, chopped, or a can of chopped tomatoes.
Two carrots, cut up. Again, I rinse and throw in without peeling, just like the potatoes.
Two courgettes, cut up just like the carrots. Please do not peel these!
About 4 large fresh cloves of garlic, chopped. Garlic is great.
(The original recipe calls for ginger, but I ended up skipping this.)

Meat (optional):
Lamb cubes go great with this stew.

Spices:
Cumin 1 tsp.
Turmeric 1 tsp.
Coriander 1 tsp.
Garam masala 1 tsp.
Chili powder ~1/3 tsp.
Salt to taste.

What a storm. It rains, it suns, it rains, it winds, its suns. A typical day. This weekend we have a proper storm, 130 km/h winds, rain.

"Furthermore, we have not even to risk the adventure alone; for the heroes of all time have gone before us; the labyrinth is thoroughly known; we have only to follow the thread of the hero-path. And where we had thought to find an abomination, we shall find a god; where we had thought to slay another, we shall slay ourselves; where we had thought to travel outward, we shall come to the center of our own existence; where we had thought to be alone, we shall be with all the world." -- Joseph Campbell The Hero With a Thousand Faces p25.

Members of Congress refuse to impeach President Bush or VP Cheney. Congressman Dennis J. Kucinich has been trying to move impeachment forward. Only a small number of representatives have shown support for impeachment. I find it intolerable that other members of Congress have refused to act on impeachment, including my current representative, Barney Frank, and my former representative David Price. I have written to both Frank and Price and told them I would oppose their reelection should they fail to act to impeach. They have both replied that they will not impeach. I propose to create a web site where people can indicate that they will not vote for a representative due to his or her failure to act on impeachment. The number of people indicating their position will be available to the public and, more importantly, to the representatives, so that they can directly see a lower-bound on how many people will no longer vote for them due to their failure to impeach.

I've uploaded a bunch more photos from Abel Tasman NP, Cape Foulwind, Marlborough Sound, Nelson Lakes, Punakaiki, Tongariro, Wellington,

My knee is hurting, so I decided to hang out in NZ until it is back in decent shape. This meant canceling my flight on Qantas, leaving me with a NZ$100 credit to get me out of the country. This whole buy the return ticket before coming to the country shtick that NZ forces the airlines to comply with is really annoying, as I would not have purchased a return ticket if it was not required, and would not have had to deal with this cancelation fee.

Once, these hills were covered in giants. They moved through the air, lifted by rarely seen wings full of color, until the ground sucked at their softened flesh. Warmth gave them their new life, slow with the rising and setting of the sun, they watched the constellations circle, burst into fire and die out, they grew their muscles and came to hold in crooks of outstretched arms flowers offered to the light, reaching beyond the dark land below, swallowed in mist.

Rep. Dennis J. Kucinich is gathering an online petition to support his articles of impeachment of George W. Bush that he presented to the Congress. He will even hand-deliver your comments to your representative if you so request.

This is what I wrote in the comment section: "It is inexcusable for Congress to not impeach the president and vice president, as well as any other members of the government who have violated the constitution in such a terrible manner. I have written to Representative Barney Frank that I will oppose his future reelection and will not vote for him in any future election; I will do the same for any incumbent member of congress who has failed to promote impeachment, in any district in which I am represented in the future. The president, and members of his administration, have been carrying out war crimes, torture, abduction, illegal surveillance of US citizens, to name just a few of their grievous acts of terror and wanton evil. America does not need a dictator, it needs a president who obeys the law."

A bird sings, unhinged, or so I impute to it meanings it does not posses. Brown fern leaves drape tree trunks. All is covered in green moss. Fern trees rise in midstory, beach filter cloudy light of late fall. Chip, chip, chip--fast and slow, birds and rain, unhinged. Into a painting of Gondwana that hung on childhood walls. At any moment a shaggy moa will emerge into the world from which it vanished, into the lost world, a dinosaur will crash through the ferns.

Clouds move, dissipate, I do not recognize the return walk. These plants were here, but this burnt piece of wood, charred in a volcanic eruption, that peak covered in snow?