Today I continue my chat with author Robert Detman about his new novel IMPOSSIBLE LIVES OF BASHER THOMAS. (Intro here, Pt. 1 here).
Jim H.: Because he’s an observer by nature, it’s hard to empathize with Harry Ogletree’s quest up front. Early on we don’t know enough about him to care. And he seems to defer such closeness. As the book progresses, though, I feel we get closer to him—despite himself. We don’t necessarily like him—and that may be the writer’s intent—but we come to understand what drives him. He's complex and interesting. Some readers, however, feel they can’t enjoy a novel unless they 'like' the characters. Do you have a position on this point?
Detman: I used to believe wholeheartedly that you can’t write about characters that you don’t like, or are unloveable. I don’t think in general that I ever write anyone that terrible, but now my notion is that you come to love a character in the writing, or else you won’t want to invest the time in their story. I have written a number of possibly despicable characters, and in the end, they’re not that terrible. They’ve become complex, through that process. At the worst, they’re fuck-ups, perhaps, but I find them admirable, even heroic in a sense. Writing an interesting character might be aspirational for me as a writer, not that Harry’s life is anything to aspire to, though his curiosity and perseverance maybe is. But I don’t worry too much if people like them or not.
Jim H.: Here’s a question that typically comes up at readings: To what extent is ILoBT based on your own experience? For example, the scenes of wintry Michigan, of underground Paris, of Baja and Yucatan/Guatemala seem so vivid as to be authentically observed.
Detman: I’ll take that as a compliment. I’m from Michigan, and much of the Michigan material was recalling certain places there, but giving the towns different names. Some of Michigan was imagined from parts that I’d driven through over the years. I’ve been to Paris, Baja and the Yucatan, so a lot of those locations are again based on approximations of the actual places. I’ve never been to the Paris catacombs, but read about it in Vollmann. My version of Guatemala was completely made up, though I’ve wanted to go there for a long time—maybe after I started writing about it—so I had some notion of what it might be like. I keep thinking someday I’ll travel down there to find the towns that I made up. I find Google maps a fascinating tool for letting my mind wander to places I’ve never been--but in the original writing, I didn’t have even Google maps (most of this novel was originally written in 2004-2006).
[Jim H.: Interested readers can find my own pictures from the catacombs here. It's really a remarkable place, and I can only imagine what an all-night rave there would be like!]
[Back to ILoBT] Jim H.: The politics of the Reagan-era 1980s is always just out of the frame in the novel but seems to inform much of the action. What is your view of the political role of the fiction writer or the role of politics in works of fiction, if any?
Detman: I’m not sure if there is a political role of a fiction writer. I think in some way you can comment on a situation, and perhaps by the action of your narrative you can highlight some point of view or alternative to the status quo that maybe doesn’t normally get voiced. If anything, the unpopular, the anti-heroic, are more interesting as character studies, and if these seem to be in opposition to prevailing thought, it’s all the more interesting to me as a writer. Basher I think could be seen as a pawn of a system, though his freedom to himself seems apparent, even privileged. And to the liberal Western mind, having a life such as his might seem like an ideal as a creative person, but with such things, there are always darker forces at play, and I think I’ve kept many of these somewhat at bay to concentrate more on the dynamic of the friendship. In general, I would say, “I’m not political in my writing,” but of course, writing about an era—the late 70s and early 80s, the cold war, the central American situation, Jonestown, etcetera,—which is the period I grew up in and recall strangely vividly in the news during my childhood, plays a big part in my memory and imagination, and since this novel is set then, it had to come into play. I think the retrospective act also highlights it. I probably have less to speak of with current events, but as time goes on, you gain a perspective. I think this is why we are seeing more post-war and post 9/11 type narratives that are taking into account a larger perspective. We’re not just seeing it happen, we’ve had years to digest it now and we’re able to process it in a more historical context.
Jim H.: Let me ask you a question as a fellow writer. Something I think about in every piece I read and, more importantly, every thing I write is the overarching emotion of the main character(s), maybe call it their fundamental attitude toward life and the human condition—their stance. From my reading, the overwhelming emotion of Harry's story seems to be one of an obsessive yet confused nostalgia for something he never quite understood at the time and a longing to recapture something of that early experience. Is that a fair reading?
Detman: That’s fair, maybe a bit simplified.
Jim H.: Of course.
Detman: I’d say Harry is nostalgic, perhaps the way I just explained. His sense of his life is from his friend’s dramatic arc through a period of time that he didn’t understand when it was happening. His retrospection is perhaps that of someone finally taking account of their life’s purpose and meaning. I think this is something I do all the time.
[to be continued]
20 January 2015
15 January 2015
The Detman Files, Pt. 1
I'm very excited! Today begins my interview with Robert Detman, writer, blogger, and author of the new novel IMPOSSIBLE LIVES OF BASHER THOMAS ["ILoBT"] published by FigureGround Press. (Introduction to the book here.)
Jim H.: Robert Detman, I loved your book. Thanks for taking the time to talk to me and readers of WoW about your new novel.
One of the first things I like to think about when reading a new novel is the writer's choice of character names. I was particularly struck by the main characters’ names in ILoBT. They resonate somehow. Harry Ogletree: I free-associate that with hairy = mammalian, ogle = see, tree = life. As a filmmaker, he’s an observer and somehow is trying to see and understand life (in general, and his own and Basher’s in particular), yet he’s limited by his physical nature, his humanity—his desires and feelings and longings. Basher’s nickname is stark and establishes him right away as an Alpha male. This hunch, if you will, seems to play out in the book; so much of Harry’s world seems hand-me-down from Basher: from Christiane and Mayor to Harry's career choice (photography—>documentary film) and the places Harry visits. Did you intend such connotations or am I reading too much into it?
Detman: In the original manuscript, there was a section that explained how Basher got his name. I dropped this chapter because I wrote it long before the other material, and it didn’t fit tonally with the rest. I tend to write interesting names down whenever I come across them, and I believe some of the names came from street names in Los Angeles. I sometimes name people I pass on the street (naming them in my head, of course), and this can sometimes suggest a character to me.
I like your notion of Harry’s world being hand-me-down from Basher. I think that works well because so much of Harry’s existence—in the context of the novel—is based on this almost nostalgic childhood impression of his friend he’s never let go of.
Jim H.: You’ve chosen what some might call an experimental or at least a non-mainstream form of narrative technique for your novel. For lack of a better word, let’s call it a pastiche. You employ memoranda, correspondence, transcripts, interior monologue, straight narrative and dialogue, experimental sentence structure, even footnotes. What led you to choose such a mixed presentation? Does it add, somehow, to the richness of the detail? Was it the only way to convey this particular story?
Detman: The mixed-media or pastiche as you’re calling it (though I don’t like that word pastiche, I believe it has a cheap connotation to it) came about through writing this work for my MFA thesis. I was reading a lot of experimental and non-traditional narratives, and at the time I applied my own interpretation of these methods to my work. I was pleased with the result, because it led me to an idea that I’ve used ever since about how to break out of a rut in my writing (what is commonly called “writer’s block”, also a term I don’t believe in, however). I’ve reworked much of the material to bring it closer together and stripped away some of that experimentation, but perhaps the patina is still there. There’s perhaps another 200 pages of this novel that never made it into the final draft.
Also, and this is a kind of justification for this style, I thought it worked quite well for conveying Basher’s itinerant life, using a kind of trove of written and transcribed documents. It began life as an ur-epistolary novel.
Jim H.: What is the word from the art world? Pentimento? The traces of that earlier foray are still there.
I like to think of stories like ILoBT as "Gatsby" stories. The narrator is seeking to understand the life and death of a larger-than-life figure. But, as with Fitzgerald’s novel, when you get right down to it, it’s the Nick Caraways of the world who are at the heart of their stories. Here, it is Harry’s quest that matters. Is that a fair reading?
Detman: Harry’s quest is definitely driving the story. This points to another idea that I was trying to convey, this notion of two lives within a narrative, parallel narratives, so to speak; how Basher is present in his own words, and also mediated through Harry’s skewed impression of him.
Jim H.: Following up on the previous question, does Harry learn something about Basher that causes him to grow or change or, importantly, understand something crucial about himself?
Detman: I think that by the process of Harry’s “excavation,” he perhaps comes away with a sense of resolve about his friend’s life and death, by having made his treacherous pilgrimage; then he’s able to move on and pursue the actual documentary, which may or may not happen beyond the novel.
I like the idea that the novel can give you something beyond what I might have intended, and I feel like if anything, I’d want a reader to come away from this novel with these open questions. What do you think—did Harry come away with anything?
Jim H.: Harry, it seems to me, gains experience, but it's hard to say whether it is authentic or hand-me-down, whether it's a realization that that experience can be meaningless and brutal or that the whole thing wasn't worth the candle. I like that the book leaves that open.
[to be cont'd]
Jim H.: Robert Detman, I loved your book. Thanks for taking the time to talk to me and readers of WoW about your new novel.
One of the first things I like to think about when reading a new novel is the writer's choice of character names. I was particularly struck by the main characters’ names in ILoBT. They resonate somehow. Harry Ogletree: I free-associate that with hairy = mammalian, ogle = see, tree = life. As a filmmaker, he’s an observer and somehow is trying to see and understand life (in general, and his own and Basher’s in particular), yet he’s limited by his physical nature, his humanity—his desires and feelings and longings. Basher’s nickname is stark and establishes him right away as an Alpha male. This hunch, if you will, seems to play out in the book; so much of Harry’s world seems hand-me-down from Basher: from Christiane and Mayor to Harry's career choice (photography—>documentary film) and the places Harry visits. Did you intend such connotations or am I reading too much into it?
Detman: In the original manuscript, there was a section that explained how Basher got his name. I dropped this chapter because I wrote it long before the other material, and it didn’t fit tonally with the rest. I tend to write interesting names down whenever I come across them, and I believe some of the names came from street names in Los Angeles. I sometimes name people I pass on the street (naming them in my head, of course), and this can sometimes suggest a character to me.
I like your notion of Harry’s world being hand-me-down from Basher. I think that works well because so much of Harry’s existence—in the context of the novel—is based on this almost nostalgic childhood impression of his friend he’s never let go of.
Jim H.: You’ve chosen what some might call an experimental or at least a non-mainstream form of narrative technique for your novel. For lack of a better word, let’s call it a pastiche. You employ memoranda, correspondence, transcripts, interior monologue, straight narrative and dialogue, experimental sentence structure, even footnotes. What led you to choose such a mixed presentation? Does it add, somehow, to the richness of the detail? Was it the only way to convey this particular story?
Detman: The mixed-media or pastiche as you’re calling it (though I don’t like that word pastiche, I believe it has a cheap connotation to it) came about through writing this work for my MFA thesis. I was reading a lot of experimental and non-traditional narratives, and at the time I applied my own interpretation of these methods to my work. I was pleased with the result, because it led me to an idea that I’ve used ever since about how to break out of a rut in my writing (what is commonly called “writer’s block”, also a term I don’t believe in, however). I’ve reworked much of the material to bring it closer together and stripped away some of that experimentation, but perhaps the patina is still there. There’s perhaps another 200 pages of this novel that never made it into the final draft.
Also, and this is a kind of justification for this style, I thought it worked quite well for conveying Basher’s itinerant life, using a kind of trove of written and transcribed documents. It began life as an ur-epistolary novel.
Jim H.: What is the word from the art world? Pentimento? The traces of that earlier foray are still there.
I like to think of stories like ILoBT as "Gatsby" stories. The narrator is seeking to understand the life and death of a larger-than-life figure. But, as with Fitzgerald’s novel, when you get right down to it, it’s the Nick Caraways of the world who are at the heart of their stories. Here, it is Harry’s quest that matters. Is that a fair reading?
Detman: Harry’s quest is definitely driving the story. This points to another idea that I was trying to convey, this notion of two lives within a narrative, parallel narratives, so to speak; how Basher is present in his own words, and also mediated through Harry’s skewed impression of him.
Jim H.: Following up on the previous question, does Harry learn something about Basher that causes him to grow or change or, importantly, understand something crucial about himself?
Detman: I think that by the process of Harry’s “excavation,” he perhaps comes away with a sense of resolve about his friend’s life and death, by having made his treacherous pilgrimage; then he’s able to move on and pursue the actual documentary, which may or may not happen beyond the novel.
I like the idea that the novel can give you something beyond what I might have intended, and I feel like if anything, I’d want a reader to come away from this novel with these open questions. What do you think—did Harry come away with anything?
Jim H.: Harry, it seems to me, gains experience, but it's hard to say whether it is authentic or hand-me-down, whether it's a realization that that experience can be meaningless and brutal or that the whole thing wasn't worth the candle. I like that the book leaves that open.
[to be cont'd]
03 January 2015
The Detman Files
In the spirit of the new year, I'm going to try something new here at WoW. Robert Detman, writer, blogger, and long-time on-line friend of WoW, has published a new novel: IMPOSSIBLE LIVES OF BASHER THOMAS.
'What's it about?' you ask?
Publisher's Weekly gave ILoBT a glowing notice:
Watch this space.
'What's it about?' you ask?
"Documentary filmmaker Harry Ogletree lives in the shadow of his friend Basher Thomas's fame as an internationally renowned photojournalist, but when Basher disappears in the jungles of Guatemala, his life transforms from a mystery into an enigma. Two decades on, sifting through an archive of Basher's effects, Harry will undertake a dark pilgrimage, from Middle East war zones to third world favelas, to create a documentary about Basher's life. Confronting the malleability of memory and the inescapable desires of his past, Harry will ultimately arrive at the site of Basher's death. This masterful and evocative exploration of the IMPOSSIBLE LIVES OF BASHER THOMAS reflects our willingness to reveal truths about ourselves as we search for elusive answers."It is available from Figureground Press and, of course, other commercial outlets.
Publisher's Weekly gave ILoBT a glowing notice:
"Detman pulls together various forms and styles in an ambitious novel composed of transcripts, letters, and footnotes, told in sharp prose. On August 17, 1982, renowned photojournalist Nathan “Basher” Thomas is fatally shot. Decades later, Harry Ogletree, one of Basher’s closest friends, decides to write a screenplay about the murder. Harry visits Basher’s mother to speak with her about the project and collect a box of Basher’s personal effects. The contents of the box spur recollections of a road trip across the Mexican Baja peninsula, arguments in Michigan, and drug abuse in Paris, and also provide insight into Basher’s death. Harry follows these clues to Rancho Nacon, a mysterious Guatemalan jungle villa with an enigmatic caretaker. On his pilgrimage, Harry hopes the people he questions and memories he uncovers will help to deconstruct the mystery of Basher Thomas. Because of the book’s unconventional structure, the narrative is fragmented. Although the disjointedness complements Harry’s fractured search for information and meaning, the story’s momentum is often slowed by passages that are needed to prevent confusion and explain earlier elements of the novel. The best scenes focus on the intimate details and relationships between the characters. Detman’s stylistic choices succeed in the moments when Harry’s memories and Basher’s documents blur into the present, layering various methods of storytelling to create a fresh and intriguing work."Detman, proprietor of the blog The Literary., agreed to sit for an interview, and I am pleased to bring it to you in its entirety in the next several installments.
Watch this space.
31 December 2014
15 December 2014
This Week in Water
The Maldives has run out of fresh water.
Super Typhoon Hagupit slammed into the Philippines.
Despite some much-needed rains (albeit a flooding deluge in some parts), the California drought is the worst in 1200 years and the recent rains have barely put a dent in the dire conditions.
The biggest water agencies in the U.S. West are finalizing an agreement to boost water levels in Lake Mead. The Colorado River is in its 15th year of drought. Lake Powell likewise is at an all-time low.
As confirmed by satellite imagery, Mexico City continues to sink as it continues to deplete its aquifer. The process is called 'subsidence', and some areas of the city are sinking by as much as one inch per month.
Helium travels to the surface of the Earth through its underground aquifers.
This summer has seen the highest global mean sea surface temperatures ever recorded, including El Nino years.
Antarctic glaciers are melting at the rate of a Mount Everest's worth of ice every two years, contributing to rising sea levels.
Melting tropical glaciers in Peru threaten that country's towns and cities.
In 30 years the namesakes of Glacier National Park may be completely melted.
There is an estimated average of 13,000 pieces of plastic litter afloat in every single kilometer of ocean according to the United Nations Environment Programme. This only accounts for plastic on the surface of the ocean.
A morbillivirus has killed over 1500 dolphins along the U.S. East Coast according to officials with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
The FBI filed fraud charges against and arrested Gary Southern, president of Freedom Industries, following a massive chemical spill into the Elk River in West Virginia.
Activists in Mora County, New Mexico, are fighting to preserve its anti-fracking ordinance and prevent Swepi, a subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell, from hydro-fracking it unspoiled landscapes. (h/t Frances Madeson)
Researchers have discovered an ancient settlement in the waters off the coast of Delos, Greece, dating back to the first century B.C.E.
The Rosetta spacecraft has discovered that the water vapor on comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko is chemically vastly different from that found on Earth. 67P is a Kuiper Belt comet. This finding rules this entire class out as a source for Earth's oceans and implicates asteroids in initially delivering water to our planet.
In a related story, Czech chemists claim that an asteroid impact on ancient Earth triggered a cascade of chemical reactions that ultimately led to the formation of the four RNA nucleobases that form the building blocks of life. They claim to have replicated this process by firing a super powerful laser at a specially prepared plasma for a fraction of a second.
Super Typhoon Hagupit slammed into the Philippines.
Despite some much-needed rains (albeit a flooding deluge in some parts), the California drought is the worst in 1200 years and the recent rains have barely put a dent in the dire conditions.
The biggest water agencies in the U.S. West are finalizing an agreement to boost water levels in Lake Mead. The Colorado River is in its 15th year of drought. Lake Powell likewise is at an all-time low.
As confirmed by satellite imagery, Mexico City continues to sink as it continues to deplete its aquifer. The process is called 'subsidence', and some areas of the city are sinking by as much as one inch per month.
Helium travels to the surface of the Earth through its underground aquifers.
This summer has seen the highest global mean sea surface temperatures ever recorded, including El Nino years.
Antarctic glaciers are melting at the rate of a Mount Everest's worth of ice every two years, contributing to rising sea levels.
Melting tropical glaciers in Peru threaten that country's towns and cities.
In 30 years the namesakes of Glacier National Park may be completely melted.
There is an estimated average of 13,000 pieces of plastic litter afloat in every single kilometer of ocean according to the United Nations Environment Programme. This only accounts for plastic on the surface of the ocean.
A morbillivirus has killed over 1500 dolphins along the U.S. East Coast according to officials with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
The FBI filed fraud charges against and arrested Gary Southern, president of Freedom Industries, following a massive chemical spill into the Elk River in West Virginia.
Activists in Mora County, New Mexico, are fighting to preserve its anti-fracking ordinance and prevent Swepi, a subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell, from hydro-fracking it unspoiled landscapes. (h/t Frances Madeson)
Researchers have discovered an ancient settlement in the waters off the coast of Delos, Greece, dating back to the first century B.C.E.
The Rosetta spacecraft has discovered that the water vapor on comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko is chemically vastly different from that found on Earth. 67P is a Kuiper Belt comet. This finding rules this entire class out as a source for Earth's oceans and implicates asteroids in initially delivering water to our planet.
In a related story, Czech chemists claim that an asteroid impact on ancient Earth triggered a cascade of chemical reactions that ultimately led to the formation of the four RNA nucleobases that form the building blocks of life. They claim to have replicated this process by firing a super powerful laser at a specially prepared plasma for a fraction of a second.
03 December 2014
Devolution: Opening Shots
A few weeks back, I commented on what I take to be the world-historical trend of devolution, namely the decentralization of political power from empire and crown and potentially authoritarian central command governments to regional and local authorities. This in the context of the Scottish referendum in which a majority voted against independence from the United Kingdom. In my opinion, for regional, ethnic, and historical reasons, this vote did not signal a counter trend.
I appended a discussion of an apparent anomaly involving U.S. conservatives' promotion of devolution of power to the States. This is contrary to the historical meaning of conservatism. The conclusion I drew was that U.S. conservatives, in the wake of Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher, favor a concentration of economic power in the hands of fewer and fewer corporate powers. This explains the privatization mania so endemic to both U.S. and British conservatism and marks the central fault lines for future political divides: centralized political power vs. concentrated corporate economic hegemony: Big Government vs. Big Corporate, in short.
This is our new world, the 21st Century landscape with which political theory must contend. Analysis of world conflict in terms of political power which omit consideration of corporate influence on the process are antiquated and, accordingly, inadequate.
The future of war will be different, as well. We get a hint of battles to come in the news this week. There is increasing suspicion that North Korea launched a massive cyberattack against SONY Pictures, a subsidiary of a Japanese multinational corporation. [Follow the story here.] This comes shortly before SONY Pictures's release of The Interview, a comedic film—clearly a farce—starring James Franco and Seth Rogen as a couple of bumbling U.S. TV personalities are recruited by the CIA to attempt to assassinate Kim Jong-Un. This is either the first skirmish in the oncoming war of Big Gov't vs. Big Corp, or it's one helluva (let's call it) 'guerilla' marketing campaign by SONY.
How will SONY respond? Will it recruit the U.S. and Japanese governments to investigate and retaliate politically against the reclusive, repressive mysterious Asian State? Will it launch further, more serious filmic attacks on N. Korea's pudgy dictator? Will it bask in the glory of its FREE! FREE! FREE! international publicity?
Then what will be North Korea's next move? Will it fire some missiles to fizzle out in the ocean? Will it encroach South Korea's territory on some God-forsaken island? Will it call on its Chinese and possibly Russian benefactors to forestall international sanctions?
Pass the popcorn and watch this space.
I appended a discussion of an apparent anomaly involving U.S. conservatives' promotion of devolution of power to the States. This is contrary to the historical meaning of conservatism. The conclusion I drew was that U.S. conservatives, in the wake of Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher, favor a concentration of economic power in the hands of fewer and fewer corporate powers. This explains the privatization mania so endemic to both U.S. and British conservatism and marks the central fault lines for future political divides: centralized political power vs. concentrated corporate economic hegemony: Big Government vs. Big Corporate, in short.
This is our new world, the 21st Century landscape with which political theory must contend. Analysis of world conflict in terms of political power which omit consideration of corporate influence on the process are antiquated and, accordingly, inadequate.
The future of war will be different, as well. We get a hint of battles to come in the news this week. There is increasing suspicion that North Korea launched a massive cyberattack against SONY Pictures, a subsidiary of a Japanese multinational corporation. [Follow the story here.] This comes shortly before SONY Pictures's release of The Interview, a comedic film—clearly a farce—starring James Franco and Seth Rogen as a couple of bumbling U.S. TV personalities are recruited by the CIA to attempt to assassinate Kim Jong-Un. This is either the first skirmish in the oncoming war of Big Gov't vs. Big Corp, or it's one helluva (let's call it) 'guerilla' marketing campaign by SONY.
How will SONY respond? Will it recruit the U.S. and Japanese governments to investigate and retaliate politically against the reclusive, repressive mysterious Asian State? Will it launch further, more serious filmic attacks on N. Korea's pudgy dictator? Will it bask in the glory of its FREE! FREE! FREE! international publicity?
Then what will be North Korea's next move? Will it fire some missiles to fizzle out in the ocean? Will it encroach South Korea's territory on some God-forsaken island? Will it call on its Chinese and possibly Russian benefactors to forestall international sanctions?
Pass the popcorn and watch this space.
21 November 2014
This Week in Water
Want to keep up with the on-going ravages of the historic California drought? The Pacific Institute is a good place to start. [Hint: things are not pretty.]
San Diego is spending $2.5 billion to see if it can successfully turn sewer water into drinking water.
Meanwhile, hydrofracking oil and gas companies pumped nearly three billion gallons of waste water into California's underground aquifers, contaminating water that could have been used for drinking or irrigation.
Fracking sites in the U.S. guzzled billions of gallons of water (between 10 and 25 million gallons each) between April, 2010, and December, 2013, many of which are in drought-stricken Texas.
Fracking will now be allowed in the George Washington National Forest which sits atop the Marcellus shale formation that runs from upstate New York to West Virginia.
Seems fracking doesn't just pollute the groundwater, but contaminates the air near the sites as well.
There is, apparently, a waterless method for fracking which avoids most of the pollution problems typically associated with this form of extraction; it's just that no one seems to want to use it.
Detroit's water inequities continue.
An oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of New Orleans blew up, killing 1 and leaving 3 injured.
Turns out it is a virus epidemic that has been melting the starfish along the coast from Mexico to Alaska. No one is quite sure what caused the outbreak.
Frasure Creek Mining company may have been falsifying tens of thousands of measurements of the amount of pollutants it has been dumping into the waters of Kentucky's coal country. And not on the low side. Kentucky regulators are defending their failure to catch these violations.
Global warming is heating up groundwater, not just the Earth's atmosphere and oceans. No real surprise there.
The population of the Republic of Kiribati, a remote Pacific island nation halfway between Hawaii and Australia, is seeking to relocate as sea levels continue to rise unabated and drinking water becomes evermore contaminated.
Tons of ocean garbage seems to end up in the pristine Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument in Hawaii, one of the largest marine refuges in the world. NOAA is working to clean up the mess and prevent further pollution.
Factory waste "evaporation ponds" in China have turned out to be environmental disasters.
Japan has cut its whaling targets in the Antarctic by two-thirds in a bid to resume its annual whale hunts.
Some scientists are developing carbon nanotube technologies to extract usable quantities of water from the humidity of the air.
Others have come up with tiny man-made islands that suck the pollution out of the water.
Fontus is a solar-powered, self-filling water bottle that turns air into water as you ride your bike.
European authorities have certified the use of a salt-water powered car on its roads. The Quant e-Sportlimousine purportedly has 920 hp and a top speed of 217.5 mph and can get 373 miles on a tank. The German-built vehicle uses electrolyte flow cell technology. [h/t to the always delightful writer/activist/blogger/cyber-friend Frances Madeson]
According to a University of Texas geoscientist, a major tectonic event opening up a deep oceanic gateway between the predecessors of the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans may have triggered a rise in sea levels, a change in ocean chemistry, and an upsurge of nutrients from the deeps during the Cambrian era which would explain a controversial surge in evolution that resulted in the sudden appearance of almost all modern animal groups.
San Diego is spending $2.5 billion to see if it can successfully turn sewer water into drinking water.
Meanwhile, hydrofracking oil and gas companies pumped nearly three billion gallons of waste water into California's underground aquifers, contaminating water that could have been used for drinking or irrigation.
Fracking sites in the U.S. guzzled billions of gallons of water (between 10 and 25 million gallons each) between April, 2010, and December, 2013, many of which are in drought-stricken Texas.
Fracking will now be allowed in the George Washington National Forest which sits atop the Marcellus shale formation that runs from upstate New York to West Virginia.
Seems fracking doesn't just pollute the groundwater, but contaminates the air near the sites as well.
There is, apparently, a waterless method for fracking which avoids most of the pollution problems typically associated with this form of extraction; it's just that no one seems to want to use it.
Detroit's water inequities continue.
An oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of New Orleans blew up, killing 1 and leaving 3 injured.
Turns out it is a virus epidemic that has been melting the starfish along the coast from Mexico to Alaska. No one is quite sure what caused the outbreak.
Frasure Creek Mining company may have been falsifying tens of thousands of measurements of the amount of pollutants it has been dumping into the waters of Kentucky's coal country. And not on the low side. Kentucky regulators are defending their failure to catch these violations.
Global warming is heating up groundwater, not just the Earth's atmosphere and oceans. No real surprise there.
The population of the Republic of Kiribati, a remote Pacific island nation halfway between Hawaii and Australia, is seeking to relocate as sea levels continue to rise unabated and drinking water becomes evermore contaminated.
Tons of ocean garbage seems to end up in the pristine Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument in Hawaii, one of the largest marine refuges in the world. NOAA is working to clean up the mess and prevent further pollution.
Factory waste "evaporation ponds" in China have turned out to be environmental disasters.
Japan has cut its whaling targets in the Antarctic by two-thirds in a bid to resume its annual whale hunts.
Some scientists are developing carbon nanotube technologies to extract usable quantities of water from the humidity of the air.
Others have come up with tiny man-made islands that suck the pollution out of the water.
Fontus is a solar-powered, self-filling water bottle that turns air into water as you ride your bike.
According to a University of Texas geoscientist, a major tectonic event opening up a deep oceanic gateway between the predecessors of the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans may have triggered a rise in sea levels, a change in ocean chemistry, and an upsurge of nutrients from the deeps during the Cambrian era which would explain a controversial surge in evolution that resulted in the sudden appearance of almost all modern animal groups.
14 November 2014
Druid Dancing Day
Today is the day all the leaves fall off the sacred Gingko tree in my neighborhood. 'Tis a holy day for Druids, a day to dance the day away. And so a Druid-themed pic cascade.
[As always, click pic to embiggen; mouse over for 'secret' message.]
Speaking of hawks:
Bonus pic:
Speaking of Druid dancing:
Spinal tap - Stonehenge by samithemenace
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* This morning when I let the dogs out, Lily went charging out into the dog run barking like a fiend. A largish hawk took off and alit on a nearby tree branch. When I went to get the dogs after their and my breakfasts, Bruno had a squirrel's tail in his mouth. It disappeared down his gullet before I could wrest it away from him. I suspect the above hawk could be the same one that was in my yard earlier, now so fat and stuffed with squirrel that it doesn't even bother to fly away when approached by camera-bearing folks. A real Druidic-type omen, for sure.
[As always, click pic to embiggen; mouse over for 'secret' message.]
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| A specimen Gingko Biloba, golden carpet |
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| All the leaves fall in one day! |
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| Who else is watching the Gingko leaves fall? |
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| A fat* Red-shoulder Hawk, that's who! |
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| Hawkery! |
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| @ The Highland Games, Stone Mtn. |
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| "That'll do, dog." |
Celebrate:
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| Atlanta Ferris Wheel |
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| Same, different angle from inside The Tabernacle |
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| Architectural pic from inside The Tabernacle, Atlanta |
Bonus pic:
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| "If I were about 40 lbs heavier, I could jump down from here and eat you." [And, yes, that's a WFMU lunch box with Mickey Mouse and the gang doing 'The Last Supper' up on top of my fridge.] |
Speaking of Druid dancing:
Spinal tap - Stonehenge by samithemenace
---------
* This morning when I let the dogs out, Lily went charging out into the dog run barking like a fiend. A largish hawk took off and alit on a nearby tree branch. When I went to get the dogs after their and my breakfasts, Bruno had a squirrel's tail in his mouth. It disappeared down his gullet before I could wrest it away from him. I suspect the above hawk could be the same one that was in my yard earlier, now so fat and stuffed with squirrel that it doesn't even bother to fly away when approached by camera-bearing folks. A real Druidic-type omen, for sure.
13 November 2014
The Literary. Giveaway
Blog buddy, Robert Detman, proprietor of the blog The Literary., is giving away a copy of his new novel, Impossible Lives of Basher Thomas, to the first five people who contact him and jump through some simple social media hoops. Check it out.
I've entered, and you should as well.
@literarydetman
#ILoBT
I've entered, and you should as well.
@literarydetman
#ILoBT
06 November 2014
This Week in Water
Is Earth having a temper tantrum in response to humanity's indifference to global warming and pollution? Deep, historic levels of drought in Brazil, California, and Texas (among others); major hurricanes and typhoons; tsunamis; and rising sea levels and other similar calamities might indicate that this is the case—or at least a metaphor for the case.
Sea levels have risen 20cm since 1900, the highest rise in at least 6000 years.
According to NASA satellite data, depletion of groundwater aquifers worldwide is happening at unprecedented rates that cannot be naturally replenished.
There is so little available water in California's reservoirs that the state's ability to generate hydropower has been cut in half.
South Africa is running out of water. As is Sao Paulo.
Are beavers and the dams they construct a good potential defense against the withering effects of a warmer, drier climate?
Scientists have described for the first time a new genus of ocean animal that cannot be classified to any existing animal group. Called Dendrogramma, it is shaped like a mushroom and could "completely reshape the tree of life, and even our understanding of how animals evolved, how neurosystems evolved."
Researchers have developed a greener, more efficient method to produce ammonia using only air and water. Ammonia is critically important in the production of fertilizers which improve crop yields and sustain large populations. As a byproduct, the reaction also produces hydrogen which would be suitable for use in hydrogen fuel cells.
A solar-powered water wheel may be the first truly feasible device to help reduce the billion tons of plastic in our oceans.
Researchers have created a tool to determine whether fracking fluids have polluted a given water source.
Man-made islands of vegetation may help cleanse pollutants from water, according to Scottish scientists.
Seaworld has announced changes to the way it treats the killer whales, or Orcas, it continues to keep in captivity. This in response to the documentary film "Blackfish".
According to scientists, the rotational "wobble" of Mimas, one of Saturn's moons, makes it increasingly likely that it may have an underground "life friendly" ocean.
Sea levels have risen 20cm since 1900, the highest rise in at least 6000 years.
According to NASA satellite data, depletion of groundwater aquifers worldwide is happening at unprecedented rates that cannot be naturally replenished.
There is so little available water in California's reservoirs that the state's ability to generate hydropower has been cut in half.
South Africa is running out of water. As is Sao Paulo.
Are beavers and the dams they construct a good potential defense against the withering effects of a warmer, drier climate?
Scientists have described for the first time a new genus of ocean animal that cannot be classified to any existing animal group. Called Dendrogramma, it is shaped like a mushroom and could "completely reshape the tree of life, and even our understanding of how animals evolved, how neurosystems evolved."
Researchers have developed a greener, more efficient method to produce ammonia using only air and water. Ammonia is critically important in the production of fertilizers which improve crop yields and sustain large populations. As a byproduct, the reaction also produces hydrogen which would be suitable for use in hydrogen fuel cells.
A solar-powered water wheel may be the first truly feasible device to help reduce the billion tons of plastic in our oceans.
Researchers have created a tool to determine whether fracking fluids have polluted a given water source.
Man-made islands of vegetation may help cleanse pollutants from water, according to Scottish scientists.
Seaworld has announced changes to the way it treats the killer whales, or Orcas, it continues to keep in captivity. This in response to the documentary film "Blackfish".
According to scientists, the rotational "wobble" of Mimas, one of Saturn's moons, makes it increasingly likely that it may have an underground "life friendly" ocean.
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