Category: Flotsam-and-Jetsam

Coronavirus shutdowns have unintended climate benefits: cleaner air, clearer water

It’s like we’ve been saying around here for years; No more humans, no more problem.

“I think there are some big-picture lessons here that could be very useful,” one scientist said.

Tourists on a Venice canal in 2013; Water in Venice’s canals appeared to run clearer in the absence of boat traffic in early March.Getty Images; Marco Capovilla / Venezia Pulita

In Venice, the often murky canals recently began to get clearer, with fish visible in the water below. Italy’s efforts to limit the coronavirus meant an absence of boat traffic in the city’s famous waterways. And the changes happened quickly.

Countries that have been under stringent lockdowns to stop the spread of the coronavirus have experienced an unintended benefit. The outbreak has, at least in part, contributed to a noticeable drop in pollution and greenhouse gas emissions in some nations.

Though grim, it’s something that scientists said could offer tough lessons for how to prepare — and ideally avoid — the most destructive impacts of climate change.

LINK: https://www.nbcnews.com/science/environment/coronavirus-shutdowns-have-unintended-climate-benefits-n1161921

Someone else who gets it

There is a podcast that a friend of mine turned me, who’s creator clearly gets the ethos of this website. It will cost you $5 to dig through the podcast archives and pull these up but trust us when we say, it’s worth it.

#91: Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory of the Black Devouring Star (around the 35-minute mark when he begins to talk about terrorism as art)

#102: Terrorism as Public Art, pt. 1

#103: Mannequins with Kill Appeal (Terrorism as Public Art #2)

#104: He Felt the Marble Rising in His Veins (Terrorism as Public Art #3)

Second monarch butterfly sanctuary worker found dead in Mexico

Body of part-time tour guide Raúl Hernández found days after that of reserve manager Homero Gómez González in Michoacán

A man stands next to the grave of Raúl Hernández, a tour guide working at a famous butterfly reserve in the western state of Michoacán whose body was found on Saturday, at a cemetery in Angangueo, Mexico. Photograph: Alan Ortega/Reuters

Officials in the state of Michoacán said they were unsure if the two deaths were linked – or related to the men’s work in the butterfly reserve. The state has seen a rising tide of violence in recent years, and the region around the monarch butterfly reserve has been rife with illegal logging, despite a ban imposed to protect the monarchs, which winter in the pine- and fir-covered hills.

Some illegal clearcutting is also carried out to allow for the planting of avocado orchards – one of Mexico’s most lucrative crops and an important part of Michoacán’s economy.

The deaths again called attention to the disturbing trend in Mexico of environmental defenders being killed as they come into conflict with developers or local crime groups, who often have political and police protection.

Link: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/feb/03/mexico-second-monarch-butterfly-sanctuary-worker-found-murdered

Night Forest Journal Issue #2

Night Forest Journal Issue 2 is here!

Little over a year since Issue 1 was released, we are happy to bring this collection of poems, short stories, essays and art to you who have found this tribal space.

These words are for rebels, animals, anarchists, aestheticists and those who find the tame abhorrent.

We will let the pieces speak for themselves and encourage you to meet them, not as an attempt to provide something perfect and pure, but as personal works of raw poetic expression.

DOWNLOAD: https://nightforestpoetry.files.wordpress.com/2020/02/night-forest-issue-2-draft.pdf

 

In which we get put on yet another list and are asked for our addresses

Some German moralist organization putting websites on a list and asking for their addresses? Really? Ever heard of freedom of speech? We have neither racist or pornographic content on this site. Violent? Well, yes. We’re guessing they were alerted by one of the many Internet crusaders that send us weekly death threats. 

Please forward this E-Mail to the owner/provider of  the website

Dear Madam/Sir,

the BPjM is an administrative authority of the German government called „Bundesprüfstelle für jugendgefährdende Medien“. Our task is to protect children and adolescents in Germany from any media which might be harmful or dangerous to minors (e.g. racist / violent / pornographic content). This work is authorized by the “Youth Protection Law” (Jugendschutzgesetz – JuSchG). You can find further information about our work in the enclosed form.

A German youth welfare institution has requested the BPjM to examine the site  https://www.thepsychopath.org and to enter its address into the “list of youth-endangering media”.

The owner/provider has the right to defend the website against the charges of youth-endangering content. When the board has decided to enter a product into the “index”, the author/distributor receives the full verdict by letter. As soon as the website is put on the „Index“, German guarding tools are able to deny access to minors. That is why we even put foreign websites on the „Index“, although we know, that our decision might have no effect in their native countries themselves. In all cases we have to inform the provider that his site is put on the „Index“.

We only have to inform you about the proceeding and you have the right to defend the above mentioned site against the charges of youth-endangering content. It is your right to do so, but you do not have to. We would like to ask you to forward us your postal address, so that we can then properly notify you about the request by the youth welfare institution and give you the opportunity to reply within two weeks after the notification.

Should you be acquainted with the addresses of (other) authors or creators of the website, we would like to ask you to give us their postal addresses within two weeks so that we are able to properly notify them as well.

Best regards,                                                                                                                               __________________________

Bundesprüfstelle für jugendgefährdende Medien

Rochusstraße 8-10, 53123 Bonn

Telefon: 0228 99 962103-0

Fax: 0228 379014

E-Mail: info@bpjm.bund.de

Internet: https://www.bundespruefstelle.de/

Bitte prüfen Sie der Umwelt zuliebe die Erforderlichkeit des Ausdruckens.Englisches Benachrichtigungsschreiben

Liminal

Liminal by CameronEd note: One of our favorite reads this year. 

The only way I can get this story out safely is to call it fiction. However, I assure you, it is not. I have written it in the fashion of a movie treatment, thinking this was the best way to disguise its intention. However, things have changed since I wrote this in 2017 and even though it was optioned to be made into a movie, I fear that it was actually optioned in order to be shelved so that this story never sees the light of day. Time is running out, so what you see before you is the act of a desperate man.

This is a warning to all of you out there, something has been unleashed and I must accept responsibility for it. I can only hope that once you have read my confession, that you can forgive me or at least understand how this happened. If you are reading this, you are the recipient of my message in a bottle. Please don’t let all my efforts be in vain. – Cameron

Every kind of ignorance in the world all results from not realizing that our perceptions are gambles. We believe what we see and then we believe our interpretation of it, we don’t even know we are making an interpretation most of the time. We think this is reality. – Robert Anton Wilson

Every man is born as many men and dies as a single one. – Martin Heidegger

Publisher’s note: This document came over our digital transom, stamped with a watermark that indicated that it was originally intended as a movie treatment that was supposedly based on real events. We do not claim any rights in republishing this on various platforms but rather do so in the interest of the free dissemination of important information. Cameron, if you’re out there, please contact us. We have an email just for contact from you. The links in the sidebar list the various outlets where you may download a copy of Cameron’s “treatment”.

Download Liminal PDF

‘Evil Corp’: Feds charge Russians in massive $100 million bank hacking scheme

  • The U.S. Justice and Treasury departments took action Thursday against a Russian hacking group known as “Evil Corp.,” which stole “at least” $100 million from banks using malicious software that swiped banking credentials, according to a joint press release.
  • “Evil Corp.” is a name reminiscent of the nickname for the key malevolent corporation in the popular television drama “Mr. Robot.”
  • In all, the action targets 17 individuals associated with the organization, including Evil Corp.’s leader, Maksim Yakubets. The State Department has offered a $5 million reward for information on Yakubets.

LINK: https://www.cnbc.com/2019/12/05/russian-malware-hackers-charged-in-massive-100-million-bank-scheme.html

That Life as I Knew It Could Collapse: An Interview with Brian Evenson

FEW WRITERS WEAPONIZE a reader’s trust like Brian Evenson. To engage with his brand of “epistemological horror,” as he has described it, is to feel the disturbing pleasure of finding yourself stranded — in worlds less stable, minds less bearable, and uncertainties less resolvable than you’ve been led to expect. His books have a way of bothering you long after you’ve put them down, and a way of making most other fiction seem remarkably safe.

Evenson’s newest collection of short stories, Song for the Unraveling of the World, once again drops readers into a series of unpredictable realities, written in a deadpan style which renders even familiar genres sparser and stranger. In “Born Stillborn,” a patient’s therapist (or is it the therapist’s twin?) begins making mysterious visits in the middle of the night. In “Line of Sight,” a film director senses something imperceptibly wrong with his latest movie. My favorite of the collection, “The Second Door,” defamiliarizes a standard sci-fi setting — a space station is described from the point of view of an orphan who only has his older sister for guidance. He begins to distrust her when the sound of clattering metal replaces her voice. Taken together, the stories probe the tension between unreliable narrators and an unreliable world, amplifying our own uneasiness about what we may or may not know.

Evenson is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship and three O. Henry Prizes. His novel Last Days (2009) won the American Library Association’s award for Best Horror Novel, and his novel The Open Curtain (2006) was a finalist for an Edgar Award and an International Horror Guild Award. Over email, he was kind enough to answer a few of my questions about environmental collapse, the work of Lydia Davis, and the advantages of the novella form.

LINK TO INTERVIEW: https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/that-life-as-i-knew-it-could-collapse-an-interview-with-brian-evenson/

Banksy’s Fake Store Is An Attempt To Abuse Trademark Law To Avoid Copyright Law

You may have seen the headlines lately, saying that famed pseudonymous street artist Banksy was being “forced” into opening up a pop up store in London in order to secure a trademark and prevent “a greetings card company” from selling “fake Banksy merchandise.” Banksy also claimed that the company was “attempting to take custody of my name.” Banksy and Banksy’s artwork are somewhat famous for protesting against commercial incentives and traditional capitalism — so many people rushed to Banksy’ defense, because from the initial description, it sounded like Hallmark or some sappy corporate giant of that nature was trying to rip off Banksy images for its own benefit.

Turns out that the story is very, very different. And doesn’t make Banksy look very good at all once you understand the details. First, the “greeting card” company in question, Full Colour Black, has responded via a Facebook post, and you realize it’s a tiny home-based business and it’s not trying to take anyone’s name or sell fake merchandise at all. Indeed, contrary to some of the reporting, it’s not “suing” over anything. It just put forth a completely legitimate challenge to Banksy’s sketchy and probably illegitimate trademark on the “flower bomber” image (whose official name is apparently “Rage, Flower Thrower.”)

FULL STORY: https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20191007/17291443141/banksys-fake-store-is-attempt-to-abuse-trademark-law-to-avoid-copyright-law.shtml