Blogging from the Bog

   In our globalised economy and lifestyle many things have changed here in Ireland.  The increase in discretionary income has allowed for more frequent travel, a larger variety of exotic food and beverages on our grocery shelves, and some changes in our consumption patterns.  One notable item features high on our new shopping list, wine, the Irish are now in love with the nectar of the vine. 

   Amid all the controversy with global warming, fuel prices, and a slumping world economy the French wine growers, Irish truckers, UK and Scottish fisherman, and others around Europe are reacting to rising costs, EU controls and dwindling profits by holding strikes, slow downs and riots.  Is this a sign of the times and a preview of what is to come?  Or, will we take a pro-active stance, adapt as humans are capable of, and rise to the challenges we face as we approach peak oil?

   In late July a ship will quietly leave a dock in France bound for Irish shores, it’s hold will contain 12,000 bottles of wine for the thirsty Irish market, and it will be using free fuel.  A three-masted schooner, the Kathleen & May, is scheduled to deliver her cargo to the Dublin port on the 25th of July.  Over one hundred years old, the sailing vessel is one of many operated by the Compagnie de Transport Maritime a la Voile, and according to company executives will save nearly 5 ounces of carbon emissions per bottle. 

   Will we again see horse drawn wagons and a return of the canal barges in Dublin?  We can only hope! 

   Nearly 40 years ago Alvin Toffler wrote a sociological discourse in the form of a book called Future Shock, and although I read it some time back with only casual interest, these two themes have stuck with me:  data overload, and too much change too soon.  What way will our lives, cultures, and societies deal with and change during this age of informational and technological onslaught?  What role does affluence, globalisation, and the internet play in the evolution of our species?

   We like to consider ourselves social creatures; but, how social are we becoming?  Where once we banded together in groups or clans who shared the tasks, joys, and disappointments of day to day life we have now become independent, isolated, and intolerant of others.  It is becoming evident by recent news that we cannot handle stress, financial pressures, or misfortune without acting out in violence and abuse or some other offensive/defensive manner.

   The family is of course the basic social group or clan and instead of building on that solid structure it seems to be diminishing in importance to this new human.  Are the successes of Social Networking sites the proof that there is a void in our need to belong? somewhere, anywhere?  I wonder.  Once we have acquired some wealth, or in the process of seeking it, we tend to leave those who have nurtured us, taught us, and shared our burdens.  Do we spend the rest of our lives in search of that sense of belonging? 

   A wealthy, well travelled, and high-tech populace is growing on all continents and within all cultures.  We can communicate instantaneously to all regions of the earth and physically travel to any point on the globe within 24 hours.  We may take these marvels for granted today; but, this is only a recent phenomenon in human history.  Toffler’s future is our present.  How will we change or adapt to handle these changes?  Euro Yank offers the theory that Eastern and Western cultures are fundamentally different in that the West focuses on the independence of man while the East is more concerned with the interdependence of man.  Will one culture surpass the other in it’s ability to adapt?  Or, will the cultures of the world become more homogenous and grow so much alike as to become indistinguishable from one another?

   What price will technology extract from the social, cultural, and emotional qualities of human nature?

   What is all the fuss about?  What is there to know about the Lisbon Treaty referendum?  The answer to this Euro-riddle is as plain as Irish stew!  And for all the eejits out there having a great auld chinwagging session on the pros and cons of our future economy, neutrality, or our small voice in the greater European scheme of things answer me this one question will ya?

   Why, if voting yes for this treaty will make the EU 27 a more democratic union, are they not allowing all citizens to vote in a democratic electoral process throughout the member States?  If this passes in June do you think they will ever allow us to vote on anything again?  Why should they?  For Heaven’s Sake people wake the feck up will ya?

   Only a flock of bloody sheep would vote yes for this shite.  Off ya go!

   View this video, posted by Jazz Biscuit, before you vote!

   The beauty of blogging is in it’s diversity, irreverance, honesty and accessibility.  It is a new art form that is only beginning to crawl from the cradle of keyboards the world over.  Whether they are written from a humourous point of view, a sarcastic one, or an informative one, the fact that voices from around the blogosphere have instant publishing capabilities is fascinating. 

   Freedom of thought and expression is wonderful to see and to read.  Although the quality of the writing varies, as do the topics, each voice has a place in the chaotic choir that is the web, and regardless of the grammar and punctuation, the sentence structure, or the spelling, to criticize the blogging art form is an attempt to crush the free exchange of ideas.  It is a shallow and petty pursuit.

   A psuedo-intellectual columnist from the Irish Times, and "That’s Ireland’s" pick for "Eejit of the Year 2007", John Waters is just the kind of shallow and petty pundit who would consider blogger bashing, if only to get the spotlight to shine on himself for a time, something that his writing usually fails to do.  No word wizard himself, his frequent dicacious diatribes demeaning blogs and bloggers in particular, and the internet in general, is in character coming from this bellicose bellows.  It is without a doubt a farcical attempt at free publicity.

   Journalists of every ilk and order have never before been so open to criticism and commentary.  Some can take it, some can not.  No longer are the readers limited to the small spaces of the Letters to the Editor page for their expressions of congratulations or contempt.  Blogging has arrived. 

Blog On!

   It is estimated that 80% of the world’s population will live in urban areas by the year 2020, another prediction has the population of the planet approaching 10 billion, a 150% increase over today’s numbers, by the year 2050.  Today, we can all see that the unsustainable use of critical resources, ie. water, food, and energy, can no longer be taken for granted and that we will need changes in our behaviour, thinking, and practices to enable future generations some chance of survival. 

   Change will also be needed in the way we build and inhabit the cities of the future.  Food, clothing and shelter (the big three), employment, services and entertainment must be readily available and within easy reach of the future city citizen.  The success of these futuristic cities will be measured by the voluntary abandonment of the automobile, the efficient use of resources, waste management, and co-operation between the crowded individual and the needs of the masses.

   William McDonough designed the first solar powered house in Ireland in 1977 and was named Time magazines "Hero of the Planet" in 1999 for his ecological design concepts.  With three decades of imaginative thinking, creative architecture, and re-inventing the box (never mind thinking outside of it) behind him, McDonough’s team has recently come up with a "living" structure that will, according to them, do everything but replicate itself.  A mixed use building, the "Tower of Tomorrow" uses bio-mimicry, in that it will create oxygen, distill water, produce energy, change with the seasons and provide shelter for housing, work and entertainment! 

   Norman Foster, another architect, and his company Foster & Partners, are the creative geniuses behind the 6 million square metre walled city of Masdar, to be built in Abu Dhabi, that is a carbon neutral, zero waste, and an automobile free community.   Foster and McDonough will both unveil their projects next week at the World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi.  This monumental event is being shunned by the Irish government.  Why is that?

   Dickson Despommier a microbiologist from Columbia University is ploughing ahead with his ideas of vertical farming.  In these cities of the future there will need to exist an easily accessible supply of food.  The Vertical Farm Project plans to do just that by building high rise gardens of Eden for the city dwellers to "grow locally" all their dietary needs.  A firm in the Netherlands, MVRDV, has envisioned a Pig City in the sky; but, if raising chickens for food in confined factories is causing a lot of drama at the moment I can’t imagine that pigs using elevators is going to catch on.  Maybe there is less meat in our future?  Things are looking up!

   The depths of winter will soon be upon us as November comes to a close, the daylight hours will continue to dwindle for still another month, and already the leaves have abandoned the trees here in the bog.

   Most cultures in the Northern Hemisphere mark the dark season of the year with some sort of event or celebration in either a spritual or natural way and have done so throughout the millenia.  Many of us today will spend time this season visiting friends and family, exchanging greetings cards and gifts, enjoying the fruits of the year’s labour, and looking forward to the rebirth of nature in the spring.

   A lot of us will also spend more time on the PC and Internet over the winter months what with emails, blogs, social networking, online poker, and alas even work for those of us that cannot hibernate like Grizzly bears.  Usually each winter I also contract at least one monster cold or virus that turns me into a bear for at least a week or two.  With all the online communicating going on this winter there are other viruses to watch out for…the computer ones.

   There are few in CyberSpace that have less knowledge than me when it comes to things technical; but, you don’t have to be a physician either to know the effects of pneumonia.  A dear friend of mine is struggling with one such virus now, it is called  NewDotNet and it is raising havoc with her Word documents.  I also found on Charnell’s blog a post about the Storm Worm virus which is a curiosity in that it causes no apparent harm to your pc but it is slowly accumulating millions of linked computers into it’s network and apparently under it’s control.  What would they do?  What could they do, with millions of linked up computers?

   One vector for the Storm Worm is through blogging and another is EGreetings cards so be careful this winter, drink lots of fresh juice and pay attention to suspicious emails and blog entries!