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So, my original spring break plans for traveling to Europe didn’t work out, which is just as well; it’s given me the opportunity to get some stuff done at home. But, I am going to do it between graduation and first day on the job, which allows me a much longer time there. I’m planning on 3 weeks. This makes my plan for more than one destination not-insane. Currently considering London, Oxford (Ro), Amsterdam, Scott in Dusseldorf, possibly ljers in Germany if they’ll be around/available, Prague, and/or Copenhagen. I don’t think I’ll try to see more than 4 cities. Any recommendations? Who wants to meet me while I’m out there? Anyone want to travel with?

I saw memoirs of a geisha. It was … enh. I was sorta primed to view it this way, but it reminds me a bit of the movie I’ve bitched about alot recently: In & Out. Both movies may be about a particular culture, but really, they’re for an audience that is not particularly aware of that culture, and only wants to be entertained, not challenged, educated, or introduced to anything terribly significant about it. A movie by white americans, for white americans about the japanese (starring chinese and malaysian actresses, but really, what white american knows the difference?) It was entertaining. At $2 and a couple hours of my life, I do not feel robbed. And I enjoyed the company I saw it with. But I doubt I’ll ever watch it again.

I saw Capote last night with QGPA. That was a much better done film, but not a treat to watch. It follows a profoundly self-absorbed writer as he gathers information on a set of murders in Kansas, primarily from one of the murderers. Neither of the main characters provides a rewarding target of empathy. You’re left to choose between an egomaniac who lacks empathy, and a murderer. The actors do a great job. The writing was not bad. Another movie I don’t plan on watching again, but for very different reasons.

“Senator, when you took your oath of office, you placed your hand on the Bible and swore to uphold the Constitution. You didn’t place your hand on the Constitution and swear to uphold the Bible.”

-Jamie Raskin, testifying Wednesday, March 1, 2006 before the Maryland Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee in response to a question from Republican Senator Nancy Jacobs about whether marriage discrimination against gay people is required by “God’s Law.”

Putting down “most gay men” is not an endearing opening. Especially if it’s “I’m not X, like most gay men.” Where X is some negative stereotype. Even more so when that applies to a very small minority of gay men. What is wrong with you?

Well, I did my last midterm exam yesterday. It blew, but it’s in the past.

I’m 87.5% of the way to graduation, on a pure temporal scale. Judging by the number of units, and giving half credit for incomplete courses I’ve done I’m more like 84%. I hope to have that up to 91% by the end of spring break.

I still feel a tremendous sense of relief. Season affective disorder, or reduced schedule burdens, I don’t care. =)

Here is my final class version, I am going to need to compress it before I submit it to the paper.

I think it’s probably the best piece of writing I’ve ever produced. It goddamn well better be after the time I’ve spent on it. Of course, I can still find plenty of faults in it, I’m just not as sure how to improve them.

I’m not lj-cutting it because, well, you all ought to read it. Here goes.

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As neighbors and citizens, we have a duty to reduce our own emissions and to lead others to follow our example. As we emit waste into the air, we harm ourselves and everyone nearby. Therefore we have a moral obligation to clean up our act. Reducing our emissions provides small benefits to everyone and prevents terrible misfortunes to a few. But no person, state, or country can clean up the air alone. We must work together to produce meaningful results.

Every time we burn something we produce air pollution; and we are always burning something. We burn coal to produce the electricity which lights our streets and cools our offices. We burn natural gas to cook our food, heat our water and our homes. We burn oil products every time we commute to work, ship a package, or take a trip on a plane. We rely on fire to maintain our current way of life, and the smoke is choking us.

Emissions from these millions of fires invade our bodies, disrupt our climate, and cloud our skies. The biggest byproduct, carbon dioxide, spreads out through our atmosphere to trap the sun’s heat, raising temperatures and increasing climate volatility: freezing Moscow, thawing Minneapolis, and increasing the frequency of events like Hurricane Katrina. But other emissions damage us more directly and more locally. Carbon monoxide, particulate matter, and other toxic emissions interfere with our metabolisms, cause lung disease, and produce cancer. Still other emissions, like unburned hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxides contribute to smog and ozone formation, creating locally unhealthy air conditions and obscuring our skies. We continually degrade the air we breathe, and we are not slowing down, let alone reversing the process.

We can reap tangible, short term rewards from cleaning up our act. The immediate health benefits directly improve our lives and increase worker productivity in addition to improving life for future generations. These benefits inevitably extend beyond our borders, allowing us to build better international relations while repairing damage wrought by prior U.S. foreign policy. Countries interested in sustainability will buy our research advances, creating high quality jobs and opportunities to export valuable technology.

Some of us blame greedy corporations for environmental woes. While this story contains some truth, it lets many people forget that not all corporations are greedy or lazy. Some are ahead of the curve while others lag behind. Our markets do not reward companies for operating more cleanly. While our legal system sometimes punishes those corporations that harm citizens, it does not prevent the damage. We must reward and praise companies looking out for the common good and stop those that indiscriminately harm their neighbors. We can structure our market to help this, taxing emissions and rebating environmental improvements.

We can make small improvements easily, but obtaining the real benefits requires tremendous work, change, and sacrifice. Technology fixes get us part way there; generating electricity from wind and sunlight, improved building efficiency, and running vehicles on biodiesel and ethanol can all reduce the damage we do to the environment. But we must also learn new ways of life. To reduce our emissions, we must reduce the fires we burn.

We can reduce our emissions while building more connected communities. Carpooling can cut personal commute emissions in half, or even more, while reducing congestion and increasing time with others. When buying a home, choosing a place closer to work and closer to school gives us more time to spend at home with family and friends, reduces our energy bills, traffic, and emissions. Rather than pushing our neighbors away with larger lot sizes in isolating subdivisions, accessible only by lengthy drives, we can live closer together and know one another better, in places with tree-shaded sidewalks connecting us and our neighbors. We can have a higher quality of life and a better environment, but it requires us to value our families more than our commutes, our neighborhoods more than our houses, and our health more than our cars.

Emitters cast long shadows, causing small damages to everyone. It is a death by a thousand cuts. No single action damages any individual enough to inspire a personal, self interested response or to leave anyone aware of their guilt. We are all contributors and we are all victims. Some will continue in harmful behaviors and ignore the costs to others, regardless of what they hear. This highlights the importance of cooperating with people who care and intervention in the actions of polluters.

We must realize that these benefits will not arise from individual, self-interested action, but that we can work together for the common good. We can reach out to our neighbors, our families, and our leaders to make ourselves heard. We can educate ourselves on the issues and engage with community groups to make collective efforts for a better future, groups that support politicians who work for cleaner air and push legislators to tax emissions. We can choose a better life and a better environment at the same time, and I ask you to join me in doing so.

Midterm and final presentation given. Take home final remaining today. Another midterm thursday morning, and a final paper (should be very easy) thursday afternoon. take home due by friday.

Then, smoother sailing. Sweet.