2007-02-09
blips + updates
environment: Status report on Connecticut's Eight-Mile River | On Monday, February 12th at 11 am, Freshman Congressman Joe Courtney [CT-D 2nd District] will announce the introduction of his first bill to Congress: Eightmile Wild & Scenic River designation. This will be followed by an opportunity to discuss with the Congressman the Eightmile project and other environmental issues facing the region today. The event is to be held at the Red Mill at Moulsons Pond, 26 Mt. Archer Rd, Lyme, CT.
The Eightmile is an exceptional natural and cultural resource. Residents of East Haddam, Old Lyme, Salem and Colchester have been seeking to have Connecticut's Eight Mile River designated as a Wild and Scenic river for several years now. The effort has had considerable support from elected officials of all political persuasions. Congressman Courtney is quickly picking up on the good work done by former Representative Rob Simmons. Find out more about this effort...
homeless outreach: Advocate for the homeless and champion of social justice Abbe Pierre died recently | He was 94. Born as Henri-Antoine Groués to a moneyed family, he learned early on of the his moral obligation to help the poor.
He became a Capuchin monk while in his teens; worked with the French Resistance against the Nazi occupiers in the 1930s and 1940s, hiding Jewsih children whose parents had been arrested. After World War II he became active at helping the poor, founding the Emmaus movement pushing for affordable housing and laws preventing landlords from evicting poor tenants during the winter months.
In 1992 he refused to accept France's highest award, the Legion of Honor, because of that government's abysmal treatment of the poor. In an interview before he died he admitted one regret, "Everything I was not able to do. Read his obituray from The Guardian...
Thanks to Moyra Peralta and Alice Earl for reminding me of his passing.
drug wars: FDA gives Big Pharma a break on testing | AlterNet reports that the FDA has admitted that pharmaceutical companies it is supposed to regulate have not yet made good on hundreds of promises to test the safety of drugs already approved for the market.
According to a notice published Friday by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), from October 2005 through September 2006, companies had yet to initiate 71 percent of outstanding "post-market" safety evaluations that companies have promised to undertake for currently approved products they are already selling to consumers. Read the rest of the story...
families: Gay Marriage | NVSH, a grouped based in the Netherlands, has an analysis on the arguement about gay marriage. It's not just about "conservatives" versus "progressives"; it's about the entire set of emotional baggage that huans have about not just marriage, but sexuality in general. Read the rest of the page...
whimsey: Ian's Shoelace Site | Lest my readers think I obsess only about things that are weighty and serious, I had to stop by and wander about Ian's extensive information trove on what some disparagingly referr to as "kindergarten knowledge".
Who'd have thought there was so much technical knowledge and creativity tied up in shoelaces? Most people figure they learned all they needed to know about shoelaces in kindergarten! Ian's Shoelace Site contains all sorts of shoelace information, some of it useful, some just for fun. If you wear shoes with laces (or anything else that does up with laces), you're bound to find something here that they don't teach in kindergarten. Update yourself of everything you've been missing...
Thanks to Lee Fleming, the author of Neurotwitch for exposing me to this lore.
environment: Status report on Connecticut's Eight-Mile River | On Monday, February 12th at 11 am, Freshman Congressman Joe Courtney [CT-D 2nd District] will announce the introduction of his first bill to Congress: Eightmile Wild & Scenic River designation. This will be followed by an opportunity to discuss with the Congressman the Eightmile project and other environmental issues facing the region today. The event is to be held at the Red Mill at Moulsons Pond, 26 Mt. Archer Rd, Lyme, CT. The Eightmile is an exceptional natural and cultural resource. Residents of East Haddam, Old Lyme, Salem and Colchester have been seeking to have Connecticut's Eight Mile River designated as a Wild and Scenic river for several years now. The effort has had considerable support from elected officials of all political persuasions. Congressman Courtney is quickly picking up on the good work done by former Representative Rob Simmons. Find out more about this effort...
homeless outreach: Advocate for the homeless and champion of social justice Abbe Pierre died recently | He was 94. Born as Henri-Antoine Groués to a moneyed family, he learned early on of the his moral obligation to help the poor. He became a Capuchin monk while in his teens; worked with the French Resistance against the Nazi occupiers in the 1930s and 1940s, hiding Jewsih children whose parents had been arrested. After World War II he became active at helping the poor, founding the Emmaus movement pushing for affordable housing and laws preventing landlords from evicting poor tenants during the winter months.
In 1992 he refused to accept France's highest award, the Legion of Honor, because of that government's abysmal treatment of the poor. In an interview before he died he admitted one regret, "Everything I was not able to do. Read his obituray from The Guardian...
Thanks to Moyra Peralta and Alice Earl for reminding me of his passing.
drug wars: FDA gives Big Pharma a break on testing | AlterNet reports that the FDA has admitted that pharmaceutical companies it is supposed to regulate have not yet made good on hundreds of promises to test the safety of drugs already approved for the market.
According to a notice published Friday by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), from October 2005 through September 2006, companies had yet to initiate 71 percent of outstanding "post-market" safety evaluations that companies have promised to undertake for currently approved products they are already selling to consumers. Read the rest of the story...
families: Gay Marriage | NVSH, a grouped based in the Netherlands, has an analysis on the arguement about gay marriage. It's not just about "conservatives" versus "progressives"; it's about the entire set of emotional baggage that huans have about not just marriage, but sexuality in general. Read the rest of the page...
whimsey: Ian's Shoelace Site | Lest my readers think I obsess only about things that are weighty and serious, I had to stop by and wander about Ian's extensive information trove on what some disparagingly referr to as "kindergarten knowledge".Who'd have thought there was so much technical knowledge and creativity tied up in shoelaces? Most people figure they learned all they needed to know about shoelaces in kindergarten! Ian's Shoelace Site contains all sorts of shoelace information, some of it useful, some just for fun. If you wear shoes with laces (or anything else that does up with laces), you're bound to find something here that they don't teach in kindergarten. Update yourself of everything you've been missing...
Thanks to Lee Fleming, the author of Neurotwitch for exposing me to this lore.
Labels: environment, homelessness, news, notables, sexuality
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