Particle accelerators are being harnessed in the fight against cancer, to mixed reviews. It seems a bit excessive to me, but I suppose I might feel differently if I had cancer.

AOL news has an awesome ad out; go watch it. (Hat tip to Brendan, who passed this link on to me.)

ETA is at it again after a period of relative quiet.

A state appeals court has made a ruling on cancellations of insurance plans after patients run up large medical bills. In short, the court ruled that this is not legal, and the California insurance industry is not happy.

Buddhist monks are hitting the bars to reach out to the younger generation.

…to those who celebrate.

As I have said before, Christmas isn’t really a big thing for us; usually I hang out with my father and my Chinese mother, eat some food, and go for a walk, which is pretty much exactly what we did today. However, it was extremely cold and unpleasant, so our walk was rather shorter than usual, and we ended up not getting to the beach, which we usually eventually reach. It’s a pity, really, because I like the beach.

We did get far enough to see a pretty spectacular fairy ring:

My Chinese mother didn’t know what a fairy ring, so my father and I explained. As you can see from the exposure, it was very sullen and grey outside; a far cry from the beautiful sunny morning that opened the day, alas.

I also found a maple with a few clinging leaves:

Behind the maple tree, there’s a tall incense cedar which is leaning perilously. I sense cedarwood in my future.

I hope that those of you who celebrate it are having a pleasant Christmas surrounded by friendly companions and good food. For those of you who don’t, well, er, I hope you’re having an excellent day.

I was injured in a tragic wrapping accident yesterday, so I am not up to writing a normal post; conveniently for me, it happens to be Christmas eve, so I can get away with posting a picture of the gang, who have taken to colonizing my bed for most of the day:

My grandmother made that quilt, by the way; it’s out because it’s been so cold at night that I’ve been needing to layer blankets. My grandmother is a pretty cool lady; she knows more about computers than most geeks you know, because she worked on some of the earliest computers. It’s pretty funny to listen to a bunch of geeks mouthing off and for my grandmother to interject “you’re totally wrong” in her soft old-lady voice.

We hope that you have an excellent Christmas, if you’re into that kind of thing. If not, good luck dodging Christmas carols and stressed out store clerks. I’ve never really done Christmas, although my father and I certainly exchanged presents when I was a kid; we used to open one each on Christmas eve because we couldn’t bear the suspense. We definitely didn’t go to the lengths that some people do, and there was nary a carol to be heard in our house. The cats, incidentally, are fans of the holiday primarily because they get scraps of the goose we’ve traditionally roasted on Christmas; the goose is really the highlight of Christmases past, with the presents being a pleasant side note.

If you’ve been nice rather than naughty, gentle readers, I won’t post a picture of my disgusting mutilated finger!

And in lieu of my sites of interest for today, here’s NORAD Tracks Santa; your tax dollars at work! You should also watch The Happy Dance Project, because it is awesome.

p.s. Does anyone have any tips for typing one and a half handed? Because my left index is so heavily wrapped in gauze that I can only use my right hand and part of my left, and the darn bandage keeps getting in the way. I managed to avoid getting blood on any presents, though. This is one of the times when being self-employed is a real bitch; I don’t get paid sick days for missing work with a gutted finger. Although I guess most people don’t get paid sick days in this country anyway, and who works on Christmas Eve, for Pete’s sake?

“I’m voting for Biden in the primary,” she said, “and in the election I’ll vote for whoever gets the Democratic nomination.”

I’ve been hearing variations on this statement for a few weeks now, and every time I hear it, I get immensely depressed. Not only are people like this the reason that the Democratic party is falling apart, but they’re also the reason this country is falling apart. Their failure to have a spine is why people like George Bush are in office. And it saddens me, because I hear this statement from passionate, intelligent people who really ought to know better.

I believe that voting your conscience is very important, and I hope that I can persuade you to agree. Because if I can persuade you, maybe you can persuade someone else, and maybe we will see some real change at the polls this year. I know that all of you may not feel as passionately about politics as I do, and that’s fine, but surely you can see that politics can be used as a tool for change, and that if you’re going to complain about the way that things are done in this country, you need to be part of a movement for change.

There are a number of reasons why I think that voting in line with your personal beliefs is vitally important. To begin with, I think that it is very important to preserve your self integrity by any means possible, and it’s kind of hard to do that when you capitulate to what is, essentially, blackmail. A large part of the left wants you to think that something terrible will happen if you vote for a third party candidate, and the Democratic party’s entire platform is based on “well, at least we’re not Republicans.” I’m tired of that argument. I think it’s bullshit, and so should you. Don’t let people tell you that “we need to compromise” at the polls; we need to speak at the polls.

I also think that it weakens the Democratic party, which is a point that Brendan made the other night in a discussion we were having. If the Democrats routinely lose elections because the left votes for better liberal candidates, they might learn that their weak candidates aren’t working. They might realize that they need to mount candidates with integrity and strong personal beliefs, rather than people who blow with the wind.

Because, right now, the Democratic party believes in and does what is politically convenient. Is anyone surprised that a lot of Americans turn to the Republicans, who at least pick a party line and stick with it? I might not agree with them, but many Republicans and members of the radical right have at least figured out that voters respond to honesty, to plain talking, to clarity. The Democratic party seems rather weak by comparison, and it is weak. The two front running candidates are not really in line with my values, and I’ll bet they’re not in line with yours. Both of them, for Pete’s sake, have “not ruled out” the option of dropping a nuclear device on Iran. Do you want to vote for someone who is ok with dropping nuclear weapons?

“But they wouldn’t really do that,” people say, “they’re just catering to the hardliners,” and I say I don’t want to vote for someone who lies for convenience, who twists his or her political beliefs to appeal to people. Because then I don’t know what to believe and not to believe. I want to vote for a candidate who gives it to me straight, who doesn’t pander to win an election, and you should be appalled for thinking that failing to stand up for your beliefs to win an election is acceptable.

“But,” people say, “if you vote for a fringe candidate, the Democrats might lose! Then things will be awful!”

Well, yes. This is true. If I vote for a radical left candidate with some integrity, the Democrats might lose, and we might have another four years under a Republican administration. Perhaps even a crazy Republican administration which does a lot of damage. But I think that living in fear of this is a bad decision, because we need to think long term. I don’t vote for myself and the next four years, I vote for my country and the next 100 years. I am willing to suffer and make sacrifices now, if it means that I will see positive change in 20 years.

I am well aware that a single President can do a lot of damage. But at least a Republican candidate is upfront about schemes and plans, while the Democrats are snaky, sneaky, and far more subversive. I don’t trust the Democratic frontrunners because they don’t display any consistency, and I don’t know how they will behave if they are elected. I may not like Republicans, but at least I know what they’re going to do. To think only about yourself and the next four years is selfish, stupid, and ultimately counterproductive, because by weakening the Democratic party, you ensure that change will never come. I argue that by voting for “whoever gets the nomination” out of fear, you are basically shooting yourself in the foot.

If you’ve one of those idiots who thinks that not voting will somehow change something, please go to the polls and vote for a candidate you believe in, any candidate. Your vote does count, it is considered when political parties look at how they perform in the polls, and it is important. If you’re thinking of throwing your vote away on “whoever gets the nomination,” please consider not doing that. Please consider voting for your conscience, for future generations of Americans, even for yourself in the future. If you vote with your heart and not out of fear, we could see a sea change at the polls.

Gap to bail out MRC?

A parking lot in Santa Rosa which illegally charged fines is being forced to pay people back. Note to self: check on the legality of parking fines before paying them.

Rewilding parkland could help to put a stop to global warming? I’m all for wilderness, myself.

Miss France is losing her title over provocative photographs, apparently. Be sure to click through for the goods.

Even the Queen is on YouTube these days.

Tony Blair has converted to Catholicism, and some Catholics point out that that’s a bit hypocritical, given his history as Prime Minister.

A friend of mine gave me a Meyer lemon the other day. She came into Headlands on her way to somewhere else, and said:

“I wanted to give this to you,” and she reached into a paper bag, and at first I thought it was some sort of holiday gift, and I felt guilty for not getting something for her. She pulled her hand out with a perfect, sweetly scented lemon, and she handed it to me like a jewel.

“It’s from my parents’ tree,” she said, “in Chico.”

The lemon had an intoxicating aroma, and I immediately placed it beneath my nostrils and inhaled deeply.

“Thank you, it smells delicious,” I said, and she continued on her way through the evening. The lemon is sitting next to my bed now, because I can’t bear to cut it open, and my whole bedroom smells like sweet lemons, like Greece, like sunshine.

Today is the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year.

The interesting thing for me about the solstice, beyond the fact that it marks a change of seasons and an interesting point in our orbit around the Sun, is that people have been celebrating it for thousands of years. It’s kind of amazing to me that early human cultures were able to calculate the solstices, and recognize that something important was shifting, even if they couldn’t necessarily explain the science behind the solstice. The fact that earlier human cultures were able to build huge structures like Stonehenge which were calibrated in accordance with solstices is even more amazing.

Seriously. We take all of these things for granted, and it’s kind of amazing to think about how far we have come (or fallen, as the case may be) as a society. I could look up the exact time of the solstice (10:08 last night) in about 30 seconds on the trusty El Goog, so I don’t really think about how astonishing it is to figure out things like that with only rudimentary tools.

Many winter solstice traditions involve keeping lights on through the longest night, as a reminder that times of light are coming, and it’s intriguing that this tradition has sort of been borrowed by Christmas, what with light bedecked trees and all. Granted, the Christians kind of stole a lot of pagan traditions in the hopes of getting more people on board with their new religion, so I guess it’s not really that remarkable that Christmas shares similarities with older traditions. I still superstitiously leave a candle burning overnight, because I would hate to be responsible for the sun’s decision to remain in the Underworld for a year or something.

In various corners of the world, people are celebrating the solstice in their own ways; for my readers in the southern hemisphere, this marks the start of the descent into darkness, while we in the north are looking forward to longer days. I feel like I am anticipating shorter nights even more than usual this year; the dark has felt more oppressive, for some reason, than it has in the past. I hope it makes me appreciate the summer all the more. Although I have to say that I am so much happier now than I was at this time last year, it’s kind of amazing. It may be dark and freezing, but at least I’m home and my confused narcissus is blooming and there’s a frosted cake on the counter. Well, actually, in the fridge, because of the ants, but “on the counter” sounds better, don’t you think?

I used to stay up and try to watch the sunrise on the solstice, usually from the headlands at Caspar. I like watching sunrises. The cold stillness, the dew, the waiting as a thin thread of light fingers across the horizon, slowly getting larger and larger while the sky turns more and more pale and then suddenly the sun appears. It reminds me of the scene in The Phantom Tollbooth when Milo tries to conduct the orchestra and ends up making a giant mess of things. Maybe that’s why I like to watch sunrises; I’m secretly hoping for a repeat of Milo’s performance.

Sunsets aren’t half bad either, honestly.

Generation Debt is our new name, apparently. Not as cute as something with a letter, but much more accurate.

Working cats address a rodent problem in New York City’s delis.

Hospitals in Wisconsin are now required to provide emergency contraceptives to victims of rape and sexual assault.

Hacking can pay, as Rick Deacon has illustrated quite elegantly.

Child labour is illegal in most of the world…so why are there child labourers everywhere?

The sale of several types of songbirds is about to be banned in China, although I am skeptical about enforcement.

(RSS readers, this post includes a slideshow; click through if you would like to see the images!)

Baxt, Petey, and I went on a cemetery adventure on Tuesday. We ended up going to Caspar and Mendocino, and I got some great shots for my ongoing tour of Mendocino county cemeteries. It was an interesting sort of day, with very sullen, dull light that made getting good pictures rather challenging. There was a palpable air of expectation, as though anything could happen.

We were originally going to go straight to Mendocino, but I remembered on the way about the existence of Caspar Cemetery, which is actually my favorite cemetery in the entire world. If I am buried, that is where I want to be buried. It’s in a quiet grove of trees, and all you can hear is the ocean gently pounding in the background. To get there, you walk along a long, rambling path through the forest, which was positively spooky on Tuesday because of the heavy, overcast sort of day. It’s a calm, quiet, still sort of place. I should look into who manages it to find out what sort of things one has to do to join the Caspar Cemetery club. I mean, other than die.

This cemetery was founded in 1850, and there are a lot of older graves, with a scattering of new ones, and some interesting grave sites, like one marked by a pair of rocks for two couples, and another with a covering made from wooden planks, which I have never seen before. I found a Woodman of the World grave, which was pretty interesting, and the grave of a child whose parents apparently took the Urantia Book to heart. There was one grave covered in a games table, somewhat randomly, and a Jewish grave with a very noble looking lion and a large rhododendron.

My cemetery explorations have uncovered some interesting things, like the story behind the Woodman of the World graves you find in cemeteries now and then. It’s a fraternal organization which also runs a life insurance company; prior to the 1930s, members got tombstones in imaginative log shapes as a death benefit. It’s a pity they don’t do it anymore, because some of the headstones I have seen have been truly amazing.

Like Evergreen, Caspar has some fallen and broken tombstones, and a great many crooked ones, but it doesn’t seem as sad as Evergreen does. The graves are scattered across the turf like stars, and the cemetery is on a gentle hill, and it’s so small that you can see the whole thing from any point. Even the crooked tombstones are more like a gaptoothed smile, and the broken, fallen stones don’t look like they are crying for help. It’s a very well tended place, with a big spreading tree in the middle; the sort of place where one might have a picnic, or read a book on a sunny day.

One surprising thing about the Caspar Cemetery for me was the discovery that my friend Eli is buried there. Eli was killed by a drunk driver right around Thanksgiving in 2002; he was crossing the Noyo Bridge in a pickup driven by a friend and another car slammed into them. After hovering on life support for several days, it became apparent that he was not going to pull through, but he did become an organ, tissue, and eye donor. I remember at his memorial, the recipient of one of his organs sent a letter to be read, and it reminded me that even in death, there is life. Eli’s grave has a beautiful marker and some irises, and it was nice to be able to visit with him. He was a good man and he would have grown to be an even better one if he had gotten the chance.

Flying medics in Brazil are profiled in the Guardian, complete with video.

Six years after Guantanamo opened, we’re finally getting ’round to trying someone. Hooray for due process!

Condi wants “bad people” released to their nations of origin, if those nations will agree not to set them loose, speaking of Guantanamo.

Salmonella to treat cancer? In Italy, yes.

After a crash, a biker dragged himself along the ground with a broken pelvis for two days in the bush. I bow to him.

Given that primary season is rapidly approaching, gentle readers, I decided to dedicate this post to some political thoughts. There are a lot of things to consider when thinking about political candidates, and I am a firm believer in not telling you how to vote, although I will tell you how I intend to vote in the California primary when I write up my voting guide in February. If you are eligible to vote in a primary, I want you to do your research, to think critically about the candidates, and to make a choice based on informed information. Don’t listen to what anyone tells you. Make your own decisions; this post isn’t going to tell you who to support, and why, I simply want to tell you about the things that I think about when I look at candidates for the Presidency.

I hope that my thoughts get you thinking, and I wouldn’t mind hearing some of yours. I believe in establishing clear, rational reasons for voting in a particular way, and in being able to back those reasons up with sound logic. I wish that more voters felt this way, that campaign spending was curtailed, that people made choices on the basis of who a candidate is, rather than what the other candidate says in an ad.

Like everyone else, I have an assortment of issues which are especially important to me: gender, the war, health care, and the environment are the big four for me. “Gender” is a pretty big label, so I thought I would take a moment to define it, because I’m lumping a lot of things under that heading. It’s about freedom of gender expression, equal rights for people of all genders and sexual orientations, and control over your own body. I believe in the right to choose, I believe in the freedom to marry, and I look for candidates who share these beliefs with me, or who are at least open to them.

As you might have guessed, I am opposed to the war, I support universal health care, and I would like the environment to not be broken, which requires taking some responsibility, as a nation. I also lump my concerns about the agriculture industry in with “environment,” since farming is very much tied in with the health of our environment.

When I evaluate candidates, I prefer to look at what they do, rather than what they say. If you haven’t followed any of my numerous links to Project Vote Smart before, I recommend that you do so now. The project has complete voting records for the candidates, along with profiles, speeches, and NPAT results, for candidates who took the political courage test. Incidentally, out of Clinton, Obama, and Edwards, the three major Democratic candidates, only Edwards took the test. None of the major Republicans have taken it, including that rebel web darling gynecologist Ron Paul.

If you actually start researching voting records, you may come up with a nasty surprise: Edwards, Obama, and Clinton regularly fail to show up for votes, especially on contentious issues. In some cases, they merely mark themselves present, and in others, they just plain aren’t there. This is a source of constant irritation to me, and it should be to you, as well, especially if you live in a district which is represented by one of these candidates (Edwards is not currently in the legislature, but there are a lot of “NVs” on his record from his previous term). Not only are these candidates failing to represent their districts, they are also failing to take a stance on major issues, and that is not acceptable to me.

Kucinich, my personal favourite of the Democrats, shows up reasonably regularly, and he has a lengthy voting record. That’s a point in his favor; he’s obviously not afraid to alienate some potential voters because he’s committed to doing his job, which involves voting on pieces of legislature which shape the form of our nation.

Among the Republicans, Romney, Giuliani, and Huckabee have no voting records because they have never been legislators. Both McCain and Paul show up and vote on a fairly regular basis, which is encouraging, even though I don’t necessarily agree with all of their votes. Only Paul bothered to cast a vote on a Farm Bill; a NO, I note.

Courage is as important to me as a position on issues which matter. The Republican candidates are all so awful that I’m only really considering the Democrats. Kucinich at least backs up what he says with his voting record; it’s harder for me to gauge Clinton, Obama, and Edwards because they haven’t provided me with enough information. I cannot in good conscience support a candidate who cannot back up the lofty claims of speeches with action. Especially when candidates waffle on major issues.

When I talk about waffling, I’m not talking about a change in opinion. I think that a change in opinion is entirely reasonable, and it makes a candidate more human for me. It shows that the candidate is willing to rethink issues and that the candidate is not afraid to be public about changing personal views. We all make mistakes, we all rush to decisions and later regret them, and I think the politicians are only human. If you supported the war before and you don’t now, and you don’t in a clear, public way, bully for you.

Waffling, to me, indicates a failure to commit. It’s not the candidate is changing his or her opinion, it’s that no clear opinion has been stated. The candidate is clearly afraid of losing votes on one side or the other over an issue, and that shows weakness for me. I want a candidate who is committed, firm, and clear, not someone who is too afraid to speak up about an issue that matters.

The President is a figurehead, but a figurehead with powers. I do not want to vest the powers of the Presidency in someone who is a pussy; I would rather vote for a candidate who disagreed with me on some points than a candidate with unclear views, because at least I know what I’m getting. How come no one is running on the “I’m not a weenie” platform?