An idea whose time has come

By Carol Gee

From the Clinton Climate Initiative: Many of us are unapologetic Bill Clinton fans. This is one of the reasons why our support has remained strong for so many years: The headline in the 5/16/07 Scientific American reads, "Clinton, cities, unveil $5 bln buildings energy plan." To quote a bit from the story:

Five global banks will raise $5 billion in loans to make existing buildings up to 50 percent more energy efficient with New York, London, Tokyo, Sao Paulo and Johannesburg among the first 15 cities to take part.

Under the plan, unveiled on Wednesday by former President Bill Clinton, city governments and building owners will repay the loans plus interest with savings made from reduced energy costs created by the energy-efficient retrofit.

This is my first post as an invited co-blogger at The Reaction. I feel honored by the opportunity and humbled by the potential increase in readership. Because I am a fan, a frequent reader, a "linker," and a comment poster at The Reaction, Michael and I have been exchanging various types of communication for some time.

For a couple of years I have been among the ranks of those I call the "little bloggers," with my political writing at South by Southwest. There I have various interests to which I regularly turn, including global warming, citizen activism, Congress and our current president (OCP -- the term makes him seem more temporary), the situations in the Middle East, and the European Union, and the space program.

Thanks again to Michael for his vote of confidence. I hope I am able to be up to the good standards of my fellow co-bloggers.

It's funny because it's true

By Heraclitus

Well, it's that time of year again. As some of us drain the academic year to its bitterest dregs (or something), I feel the noose of impending unemployment drawing ever tighter around my neck. Like Tuco at the beginning of The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, I sit here on an indifferent ass that has seen better days, waiting -- or, more accurately, hoping -- for some obliging department to come along and shoot through the rope before I'm left hanging. At this point I'd gladly take a 6-6 at Cal State Fullerton teaching political theory, American government, criminology, Japanese politics, environmental theory and policy, computer programming and an evening class in calligraphy. Hell, I'd just teach Kafka in all of them. "Professor, this is Constitutional Law. Shouldn't we be learning about habeas corpus or The Bill of Rights or something rather than reading The Trial?" "Look, kids, your naivete is touching, but those things aren't going to be around by the time you graduate. Trust me, this'll be much more useful in the world you're going to be living in."

So, do I have a point here? Not especially, though I do want to warn any of our readers who may be considering the folly of graduate school (*cough* Lily *cough*) just how dark their future is. (While you're fearing for your sanity a few years down the road, definitely read this as well.) Actually, that's not even true. By the time those just beginning graduate school leave, that whole generation of baby boomers should be retiring, or at least dying off. So, really, I just wanted an excuse to post this cartoon, which is quite droll.

More wingnut parody

By Heraclitus

Last fall I wrote a post here pretending to be an open letter to the GOP from someone concerned about the insidious influence on our national character of children's cereal characters. Although I'm usually ambivalent (at best) about what I write, I think it was pretty droll, and others seemed to agree. Anyways, it's been reposted or cross-posted now at the WAAGNFNP blog; if you missed it before or want to revisit it, you can read it there.

Blogging announcement

By Heraclitus

I just have a brief announcement about my activities as a bloggerino. I'm now also a blogger at the new We Are All Giant Nuclear Fireballs Now Party Blog, aka the WAAGNFNP blog. You can read a little about this perhaps strangely named Party here. My "Against Centrism" post was cross-posted there earlier today, with an extra introductory paragraph, and is getting some good comments. Basically, I don't expect to post much there that isn't cross-posted here, although some of the things I write for the WAAGNFNP may be too inside-jokey for The Reaction.

It's a good blog, and I would encourage all of you to check it out, not just the ones who enjoy my high-spirited snarking (okay, there may be no one who fits that description). The first post, for instance, on the relation between science and religion was quite good, as was this post on how blogging changes the way we usually think about the process of writing and composition.

Lamb recipe

By Heraclitus

As you can probably infer from the picture, I got that digital camera I was mentioning a few weeks ago (by the way, apologies to our vegetarian readers). I bought it from this site, which was good, though they did try, successfully, to sell me a packet of accessories only a few of which I needed. In any case, now that it's in my possession, I promise to do everything in my power to make The Reaction one of those navel-gazing blogs that are all about what the bloggers ate for dinner. To wit:

Roasted Leg of Lamb

To those of you whose elementary butchering skills are better than mine, who own a sharper knife than I do, or who are just generally less lazy than I am (okay, that last group includes everyone), start with a leg of lamb and trim the fell (that stiff white coating), the fat, and anything else that's white (gristle, tendons, etc.). This, of course, can be difficult if the lamb is already in a net or webbing. I didn't do these things, and it cooked fine, but it would definitely be a more pleasant eating experience if the lamb were perfectly trimmed. In any case, once you've done that, put it in the tray. In a mixing bowl, combine the following:

1 tablespoon large grain sea salt, or 1.5 teaspoons of ordinary table salt
1-2 teaspoons of black pepper
1.5 tablespoons of rosemary
1 teaspoon mint

I usually always use a bit more of whatever spices a recipe calls for, but only a few shakes (you definitely don't want to be doubling the amount of salt in this, for instance). Add some olive oil to this mix, which will make it easier to spread over the lamb and will make it stick better. Somewhere between one-fourth and half a cup should be good. Rub the mixture (don't forget to actually mix it--look, this is a recipe for all levels of cooks) all over the lamb. Set the oven to 350 (make sure to let it preheat). If the leg weighs upwards of 4 pounds, cook it for 15-20 minutes per pound for a medium rare leg. If it's less than four pounds, go with 12-18 minutes per pound. Obviously, the sooner you take it out, the rarer it will be. I didn't have an exact weight for mine, but cooked it for about forty minutes. You can poke around at it; don't be alarmed if the blood runs red (I had red blood spilling out of mine at the slightest jab, but it was cooked all the way through). Unfortunately, I can't give you more precise times than those. Once you take it out of the oven, let it sit for about ten minutes covered (you can just fashion a crude dome out of tin foil if you don't have anything else). It's then ready to be served. It's delicious.

Digital cameras

By Heraclitus

Hello, readers. I've been wanting to get one of these digital cameras I keep hearing about (yes, I know, I am teh lame), but I don't know much about them. I'd mainly like to use it to take pictures outside, not just snap shots of family birthday parties and so on. What should I expect to pay? I notice the cheaper ones on Amazon are a little under $100. Are these going to be pieces of crap? The digital camera review sites I've seen mainly review cameras costing several hundred or even thousand dollars. I don't need anything that nice (read: I'm not paying anywhere near that much), but how much should I expect to pay for a decent digital camera that can take good outdoor photos? Thanks.