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March 30, 2005

And you thought our elections were bad. . .

You don't hear about it on the news much, but Zimbabwe is on the eve of a new era in its political life. Tomorrow Zimbabwe will host a national election pitting President Mugabe against the opposition MDC party, which bills itself as the "Party of the Poor". Zimbabwe has been a cauldron of unrest and shady dealings the last few years as it attempts to overcome mass corruption, horrific unemployment (close to 70%) and some shady dealings whereby the government has violently seized commercial farms, then chopped them up and distributed the land to "peasants" who actually turned out more often than not to be Mugabe supporters. The breakup of the commercial farms has created an agricultural disaster in the region. It's simple agricultural science that says once you begin to produce on a commercial farm, the processes (fertilization, irrigation, harvesting etc.) drastically change the way the land and crops behave. Simply redrawing property lines and trying to grow multiple crops on the same plot just doesn't work. The land's chemical properties have been changed as years upon years of commercial production have effectively "scrubbed" the soil of unwanted chemicals, nutrients, minerals, insects and other things that aren't part of the commercial production. When you go in and try to plant other domesticated crops without regard to what the soil has been through, you're just asking for massive crop failure, and that's exactly what has happened. In just over five years, Mugabe has turned a nation from the verge of self-sufficiency to one of abject poverty and borderline starvation (something Venezuela should take note of). All that's well and bad though, lets look at the election.

Mugabe says that an opposition victory in the election "will not be tolerated". This is not the statement of a man confident of victory, in fact it is more the statement of a man who's resigned himself to defeat and who is planning to invalidate the election results if things to not go his way. He has bullied opponents in the past and driven opposition parties underground when things did not go his way, and it looks like he is telegraphing that same intent again.

The EU and the British especially are looking closely at these elections, for the EU, it's another European colony in crisis and they feel the need to "put it on the adgenda" if Mugabe doesn't win a majority and somehow puts down the democratic opposition. For the Brits, it's a little more complicated, most of the farms that have been seized in the past few years have been operated by British companies. Britain hopes that with a Democratic government installed, they can possibly reclaim some of these farms and put them back into operation as viable agricultural production entities rather than the dustbowls they are developing into now. While there is some case to be made of British opportunism, these commerical farms were feeding the people, the re-distributed farms are failing miserably and not putting them back on track soon will lead to widespread famine in the region.

One can't predict what will happen over there tomorrow in toto, but we can be sure of a few things. First, that it won't be major news, although it should be, second, that it'll be bloody no matter how it goes, and third, no matter what the outcome, someone will somehow see fit to make sure that Bush gets blamed for causing this upheaval somehow. I know that last one may seem a stretch, but mark my words and we'll revisit this in a week or so.

Norm has a great write up about these elections that I found while searching on this topic. He's focused on the MDC and their efforts to ensure a fair election. It's a good read.

--Jason

UPDATE: If you don't go read Norm's post, be sure to check out this article he links to from the Scotsman.

Posted by JasonColeman at 3:43 PM | Comments (0)

Icebergs and sunsets

Strangely enough, the one solitary thing that has driven more people to this blog from the "outside" (meaning google searches or stumblers from people I don't know either in the real world or online) is the iceberg B15A.

I'm not exactly sure what prompted me to first mention it back on December 16th, but I'd read some articles about it when it originally broke off an became the "world's biggest iceberg". I can remember conversations and ponderings about the potential for icebergs to provide water to irrigate the world's deserts, change local climates and other harnessing schemes to make use of thes bo-hee-muths of frozen fresh water floating in the briny sea.

Over the weeks and months, I've periodically checked back on B15A and it's antics as it played havoc with penguin colonies and even threatened (not really, but it made for good news) the resupply of McMurdo Station on the icy southern continent. I've even made an online acquaintence with Brien Barnett, who was the editor of The Arctic Sun, the newspaper for McMurdo, and we've exchanged emails about B15A and life on that big block of ice known as Antarctica (he was kind enough to explain what "Fast Ice" actually is and the real story of the penguin's long walks on 2 inch legs). More about him later.

So here's a picture from two days ago showing the position of B15A, you may want to go back and look at some of the earlier posts about this big berg to get some perspective if you're new to the blog or just have absolutely no idea what I'm talking about. If you're too lazy to look at the earlier posts, B15A is the large block near the center of the photo that looks similar to an aircraft carrier.

As you look at the picture, notice that the Ross Sea "Fast Ice" (the ice that forms each winter then breaks up each summer) is solidifying once again as winter takes hold down there. Most of this "Fast Ice" breaks up and floats out to sea in the summer, this year however, this ice was bound up by the presence of B15A and remained in the Ross Sea. Now that it's freezing up again, it seems to be pushing the big berg up and away from the continent. However, if you look closer to the right side of B15A, you can see that more ice is forming up and will be hampering the exit of the berg. What the berg will do is anyone's guess, but thanks to modern technology we can keep tabs on it and follow it's progress. I'll continue to post about it until it melts away to nothing or gets out of the available satellite views.

But what about sunsets??? Well, I did say I'd get back to Brien Barnett later didn't I. You see, Brien was the editor of The Arctic Sun. The paper doesn't publish during the winter because the station is basically abandoned of personnel when the Arctic winter sets in. This year however, our faithful correspondent has secured employment at the South Polar Station, where he's now an assistant cook or something like that. I'm sure he has a few hospitality electives in his C.V. that are serving him well now. Brien will be spending the winter at the South Pole (how cool is that) and just the other day, those intrepid souls down south got to watch the sun set for the winter. He captured a nice photo of the event and put it on his blog. Which I must add is an excellent read (much better than mine, both in style and content). Be sure to take a look at his photos and videos and some first hand accounts of life WAY down under.

--Jason

Posted by JasonColeman at 3:04 PM | Comments (1)

Springtime Slack

Spring has sprung and it brought forth a large amount of slacker behavior when it comes to this blog. I can mostly attribute this to an identity crisis your not so humble author is going through which directly contributes to the number of posts I put up. Over the last few weeks I've logged in numerous times and pounded away at the keys only to look back at my words an realize that they didn't fit with what I wanted this blog to become. Then I further realized that I don't have a vision of what I want this to become. It's simply been a rant space, a place for me to point out this or that, or to comment about someone else's comments. I didn't have a "plan" when I started this and I guess I still really don't. So let's talk about??? Springtime!

Yes, springtime has come to Birmingham and with it comes the desire to get out and do more things that make one feel like and active participant in life rather than just an observer. I'm hoping that this spring will finally be that one where I shave those strokes off my golf game (13 trips to the driving range are in my immediate future, taking only one club each time to try and solidify my swing), I also hope to perfect my skills with a bait-cast reel and I plan on doing some major work on my yard which is battling an identity crisis of it's own much like the author and this blog. More on that in another post.

So there you have it, the ice has been broken and the blog has been updated. Nothing much there to say, but I'll be here in front of the keys for the next hour or so to put up a few more posts. Speaking of ICE??? Wait fifteen minutes or so and check back, I'm going to check on the status of B15A right now and post some new photos of what that "killer rogue iceberg" is doing.

--Jason

PS - There you go Irish, are you happy now?

Posted by JasonColeman at 2:37 PM | Comments (3)

March 12, 2005

New NASA chief to be nominated

President Bush is set to announce the nomination of Dr. Michael Griffin for the top slot at NASA. Griffin would be filling the shoes of John O'Keefe, who left NASA for a gig at Louisiana State University, GEAUX TIGRES!!!!

Griffin isn't a "surpise" nomination, but he was not one of the people considered front-runners for the job. Selection of Griffin says alot about The President's vision of NASA. Griffin was formerly the head of NASA's exploration program and is known in the space community of more of a do-er when it comes to getting things done. He consistently thinks out of the box and looks up and down for unique solutions to challenges in technology, costs and platforms.

The President's Moon, Mars and Beyond vision will be well served by Griffin, and private sector space access is an important goal of Griffin's. Griffin has in the past advocated for private investment in space delivery vechicles and specifically, a private space station. All in all, this appears to be a very very good nomination for NASA and the future of American Space Exploration.

Griffin has a doctorate in Aerospace Engineering as well as five(yep, count them FIVE) master's degrees in aerospace science, electrical engineering, applied physics, civil engineering, and business administration.

Griffin is currently director of the Space Department at the Applied Physics Laboratory of the Johns Hopkins University and will be resigning that position shortly.

Godspeed Dr. Griffin!!!

--Jason

Posted by JasonColeman at 12:28 PM | Comments (4)

March 11, 2005

Things that make you go HHHMMMMMM.

I wonder about those people who get locked up in a room writing fortune cookiees. I never extended the same thoughts to the people that have been coming up with the cutesy sayings on the Taco Bell Border Sauce packets.

This packet was found in Birmingham today. I have to say it's either marketing genius, a great prank or someone got or will be fired. It's damned hilarious and I just thought I'd share. Here is a larger version and the image before cropping.

--Jason

Posted by JasonColeman at 10:11 PM | Comments (0)

March 3, 2005

Democracy and wine

For those under that rock:

The past couple of weeks have seen the development of what is being called the "Cedar Revolution" in Lebanon. Thousands upon thousands of pro-democracy activists and general citizens have taken to the streets to demand that Syria withdraw it's troops and leave Lebanon to rule itself in peace.

It should be noted that Syria already agreed to leave Lebanon due to U.N. demands, over two decades ago. Boy, those middle eastern despotic regimes sure do sit in awe of U.N. decrees don't they.

Anyhoo, Peace is breaking out all over the Middle East. From Egypt to Afghanistan, the world is becoming a better, and safer place.

YAY DEMOCRACY, and Hot Chicks!

In other news, the Supreme Court has been busy lately; Striking down the death penalty for juveniles convicted of murder as adults, supporting the ban on sex toys in my home state of Alabama and they're working on that bastard Roy Moore's 10 Commandments case.

They are also expected to be ruling soon on a significant case regarding the personal sale and shipment of wine across state lines. Which I'm anxiously awaiting. I have a bunch of wines that are primed to drink but I have too many of them and want to trade some or sell some to buy other stuff to put in my cellar.

SCOTUS geeks can follow recent Supreme Court actions with this link.

--Jason

Posted by JasonColeman at 10:25 AM | Comments (0)

March 1, 2005

Perspective

I've been reading VodkaPundit for a while. I'd thought that I had put that site on my blogroll, but I was mistaken. I've fixed that oversight and wanted to point readers to THIS ARTICLE comparing and contrasting Iraq and Iwo Jima.

--Jason

Posted by JasonColeman at 12:55 PM | Comments (0)

Traffic Report

Friends and Family have been asking "Who's reading your blog?" So I figured I'd start writing a report monthly about the most interesting things (to me anyway) coming off my site statistics report. Rather than go back and hash out the first few months, I'm starting with February.

The site got 1360 Unique visitors in February; readers came from over 25 different countries. I was surprised to see a few different visitors from Estonia and Mauritas.

I also received a number of hits from the US House and Senate intrawebs, I'm not sure why. When I try to track back and see where the links were coming from I hit a couple of password protected pages/sites and apparently there was a brief spat where emails were being passed around the House and Senate linking back to my site.

My 30 seconds of fame for the month came with the Blogger Babe of the Week selection (Beth was right, it did drive some traffic to the site). The series of posts about the B15A iceberg was the most popular "news type" issue I discussed, and the "Philosophy of Liberty" flash animation was pretty popular.

Some of the stranger search phrases were:

Sexy Bergy Bits (there are some strange puppies out there)
1103629729296 (I guess that number has some significance, it's been searched for more than once)
Swimmingpool nudity (no idea why that returns me)
e.t. coleman (do people thing I'm an alien? Actually it's cause of this)
sexy bergy-bits (I guess the hyphen added something)
rave pics space philadelphia (the connection eludes me, but I'll take the hit)

My favorite was victor hill idiot, and YES, he is an idiot.

Then there was the search for www.how, I'm figuring that was just a mistake.

So there you have it, a not-so-brief report of what's happening in this little corner of the web.

--Jason

Posted by JasonColeman at 12:54 PM | Comments (0)

Coming soon to a theatre near you

Gunner Palace is opening on Friday. Hopefully a theatre near you is showing it. Of course it's not getting as many theatres for it's opening as Farenheit 9-11, but I'm hoping more people will see it than Michael Moore's bashumentary.

Quicktime Trailer One
Yahoo Movies! Exclusive Trailer

Posted by JasonColeman at 12:53 PM | Comments (0)