INSENSITIVITY BREEDS

SOME THINGS YOU DON'T JOKE ABOUT

Lara Logan, shown here in 2005, is chief foreign affairs correspondent for CBS News. (Ruth Fremson/The New York Times)

     I felt compelled to join a Twitter based conversation that swirled around comments made by Nir Rosen an NYU fellow and writer.

    I will not repeat his indiscretions, but will note they were made about the brutal assault on CBS Correspondent Lara Logan in Cairo.

    I am a loud advocate of the First Amendment and believe that a commitment to free speech must, some times, suffer the excesses of zealots and idiots. There is however, an however an in my thinking.

    I learned from my parents, free thinking, politically sophisticated, well read and wise people, there are some things you just don't joke about.  Civility, decency, good manners do matter, even if we seem to inherit an increasingly course and unsophisticated age.

    I'm including my comments about Rosen, as posted at a couple of places.

Brutality to a journalist while trying to report is no laughing matter. Insensitivity breeds. Rosen should know better. Now he understands that loutish behavior should be called out.

     The nature of the attack on Logan only makes Rosen's comments all the more reprehensible.  Rosen wrote an eloquent apology, to which I responded on SALON.

Knowing Better

Yours words are compelling. Your lack of judgement was disgusting.

I too have been in tough places, on assignment. You've been there, you should remember always to keep your wits.

My greatest disgust is, in knowing that you have been in danger, to see you make light of it. Yea, I know about the fatalistic self defense of men and women under pressure and in danger that emerges as humor. But when one of our own is down, it is never, NEVER a source of humor.

Insensitivity breeds. A journalist under attack is never a laughing matter. That is the lesson. Sorry for your plight, but how would have it?

    Rosen enjoyed the right to say and write what he thought, however ill conceived. The school was right to make it clear his behavior was unacceptable. 

     If this is an issue for which you have passion or interest, you might check here.

JOAN WALSH AT SALON.COM NOTES OTHER NEANDERTHAL THINKING ON THE ISSUE.

     I don't believe it is a matter of right or left, despite some opinions to the contrary. 

I think it is really a matter of decency. 

     What do you think?  Did the school do the right thing?  Should we not be offended by 

comments like those of Rosen?

      Leave your thoughts.   See you down the trail.

NEW UNDER THE SUN? SOLAR FLARES-COSMIC TROUBLE?

            ARE WE PAYING ATTENTION?

       NASA

    MASSIVE SOLAR X FLARE                                                         

       An ultraviolet image from NASA'S Solar Dynamics Observatory on Valentines Day captured what is said to be the largest flare since December 6, 2006.

       The X-flare is an intense extreme ultraviolet emission of radiation coming from a sunspot on the surface of the star. Strong flares can have an impact on communication and electronic grids on earth. The British Geological Survey issued a geomagnetic storm warning. 

       The sunspot that is the source of the flare is reportedly growing rapidly. Already displays of Northern Lights have been seen further south than normal.

       Solar flares can affect satellites and satellite navigation systems. A 1972 geomagnetic storm crippled long distance telephone service in the Midwest. In 1989 a solar flare set off a geomagnetic storm that knocked out power to 6 million Canadians.

        There is what is called a periodicity of sunspot activity, greater activity every 11 years, and as NASA scientists say the sun is awakening to a new period of greater activity. Some experts believe the greatest geomagnetic storms will come in 2012.  

        Scientists differ on the seriousness of the likely impact, but the world is more dependent on communication and computer systems and satellite based technology than during the last period of solar storms.  There have been calls for the United Nations, an international scientific consortium and leaders of of governments to begin planning possible defensive measures and preparing for what could be massive disruptions.

THE NASA SITE IS A GOOD LINK TO MORE INFORMATION FROM THE SOLAR DYNAMICS OBSERVATORY TEAM

BRITS TAKING THIS SERIOUSLY

The British government and media have devoted significant time and attention to the upcoming cycle of solar flare activity.

FOLLOW THIS LINK TO A RATHER SOBER REPORT ON THE POTENTIAL HARM AND DANGER OF THE COMING SOLAR STORMS.

DEATH IN DEATH VALLEY

BE NOTHING BUT SERIOUS

     As spring deepens and summer nears, more adventure seekers will point toward Death Valley. That is an equation for danger.
      It is an extraordinary span of the planet, but you must take it seriously.  You may remember scenes from old westerns where survivors crawl across great expanses of sun baked sand, passing bleached horse or cattle skulls, looking desperately for water.  Well, the inspiration was Death Valley.
       We had our own near miss.  As you can see in these series of photos, a blow out put us off to the side of the road and look at the road.

Photo by Linda Rendleman

  Fortunately it was early enough, so the temperatures were not yet lethal.  We had trouble however.  The last tire rotation was done with an automatic lug bolt tightener, making it impossible to loosen with only the jack handle/lug nut tool.

Photo by Linda Rendleman

         We were traveling with a couple of friends, Jim and Linda, and their presence was comforting, but still of no help.  The nearest semblance of civilization was some 20 miles away, and in Death Valley that is an incredibly long hike.  We were spared that task though by a young man from Chicago.  He wore a Chicago Firefighters T-shirt and while his wife and two young children sat in their car, he opened his tool chest, produced a hammer, a better jack than those provided by the auto maker, and soon he had helped us replace the blown tire and was off on his way.  

Photo by Linda Rendleman

     If Death Valley is on your travel agenda, prepare for it.  Make sue your tires are up to the challenge of heat and rough roads.  We thought we had.  I'd suggest a small took kit, a lubricant, patch repair, a hammer or top of the line lug wrench and/or jack. You should travel with plenty of water, food supplies, clothing and/or protection from heat and cold, first aid or medical supplies, make sure someone knows your intended route, and stay on marked roads. It is a remarkable, but forsaken area.  Problems can arise and people experience trouble.  When we drove into the only service station in hundreds of miles, seven other cars drove in or were in line as we purchased a spare.

     Every month some one gets into some kind difficulty and some are not so fortunate.

DEATH BY GPS-AN EXCELLENT AND RIVETING STORY BY TOM KNUDSON OF THE SACRAMENTO BEE

Have a great adventure, but keep in the mind the old scout motto-
"be prepared."
We'll see you down the trail.

SOCIAL REVOLUTION BY SOCIAL MEDIA & THEN CLOUDS!

THE NERDS ARE WINNING

OR

REVOLUTION BY THUMBS

     I had a politically active and satirical friend who, in the '70's, made a point of inverting the lyric of the Gil Scott-Heron song by offering sardonically "the revolution will be televised."  Scott-Heron's tune was "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised" but my friend would watch news coverage of protests, demonstrations, street marches or combat footage from Viet Nam and punctuate the moment with his version.
     As we covered the fall of the Berlin Wall, we knew by then that in fact the revolution had been televised.  Arguably the presence of cameras has fueled upheaval and change since America watched black citizens and civil rights activists being fire hosed, beaten, set upon by dogs and southern police thugs. 
    But the universe has shifted in the line from Selma to Cairo.  Old media, those cameras, microphones and the print reporters, observed.  Yes the sound, images and the story lines inflamed as well as informed, but the relationship was of chronicler and player.
        
     As the fervor spreads through the mid east, even as you read this, revolution isn't simply being televised, it is being orchestrated by tweets and enabled by smart phones as well as being sent to you that way. Those little screens are agents of change.
    Consider what has happened in the last month alone.  Now governments everywhere in the world are trying to come to grips with the political power of social media. 
     In the age of old media time moved by news cycles. In this era of social media, things happen in a flash.  It is a world of instantaneous force.

DAY BOOK

JUST WATCHING THE CLOUDS PASS BY

     One summer vacation when I had complained to my mom there was nothing to do, she surprised me by saying "why don't you just lay on a blanket and watch the clouds?"

     I've been a cloud watcher ever since.  That is part of our eco family we see up there, kindred energy on this terrestrial sphere.  Always a fascinating show. Always relaxing and therapeutic.  Sometimes more dramatic than others.

Watching change, subtle subtexts of both color and light.

Of course, you have to look up and not down. But that's good for us as well.
It is not a screen, large or hand held.  It is a dance of nature.  Light at play.
LIFE

See you down the trail.

MANIPULATION

GOUGING AT THE PUMP

     There is pain at the pump, again!  Prices are creeping back up.  In California, where gas is more expensive due to the extra processes necessary  for clean air, it is getting closer to $4.00 a gallon.  We are getting jacked around.

      Five years, when I was a news executive and ran a large organization I tasked our investigative unit to explore yet another swing in gas prices.  Our award winning unit was headed by a former FBI agent who I had hired to lead the team.  He spearheaded our months long inquiry.  The bottom line on their work is that gasoline prices in the US are a product of manipulation often arbitrary and without good reason other than profit.

     You've heard the talk about running out of oil, well we are a long way from being there.  Some of that talk is disinformation, propaganda designed to affect political policy, but that is the topic of another debate on another day.  Where gas prices are concerned the primary shortage is in refinery capacity.  Our ability to refine has not been significantly increased for years, essentially because the oil industry likes it that way.  With the ability to exercise control, or manipulation, at the step between raw material and finished product, the oil companies are able to exert huge influence on what you and I pay at the pump. 

      We could easily increase the volume of gasoline and keep a lid on prices, but that is not in the best interests of the oil industry is it?  And big oil is big power in the world. So as you watch prices rise, realize we are being played again, but we must not care.  At least not enough to change efficiency of internal combustion engines, or auto design, or to find alternative sources.
      I have bumped up against this topic countless times over the years in my work as a journalist, documentary producer and investigative reporter.  For my money one of the best sources of reason and intelligence on the energy question is The Rocky Mountain
Institute.  If you care about this topic, you should be aware of RMI and Amory Lovins.  
LINK HERE TO SOME OF THE BEST INFORMATION AND INTELLIGENCE ON ENERGY

AND HERE IS AN AMUSING SIDE BAR

 Morly Safer, the urbane CBS 60 Minutes Correspondent vs. a changing order in an old boy's (and old girl's) Club

THIS IS WORTH AT LEAST A CHUCKLE OR TWO-LINK HERE

CHEERS, AND SEE YOU DOWN THE TRAIL.

UPDATE ON EARLIER POST

MORE MOTO

     Cris Conner, subject of the WEEKENDER :) Post is a visual artist and photographer.

You can see more of his creative mind at work at his web site.

LINK HERE TO ENTER THE WORLD OF MOTO GROOVE

GENTLE IN SAN DIEGO

SOFT AND GREEN 

     San Diego is one of America's great cities and true to California, it is expansive spreading almost from the Mexican border north and inland. Its suburbs are forever growing as well.  

     But San Diego is also city of many neighborhoods, like little towns or villages.

Each district shares California's most nearly tropical climate.

We are partial to the area around Bankers Hill and Hillcrest,

the home area of our friend and gracious host.

This is a wonderful neighborhood for walking, which we always do when visiting.

It is only blocks from Balboa Park one of America's great urban offerings.

Museums, gardens, restaurants and plenty of gentle and vibrant green space fill Balboa Park.  It is not surprising then to find this signature memory of what took place across the planet in Cairo in the last days.

Graffiti is rare in Balboa Park, and soon this will be white washed over on the 

bridge over the 163 freeway, but for the time it remains

it too is a gentle bloom of sorts, a reminder of the hopes that

have flowered in Egypt.

See you down the trail