Nothing new under the sun? The post-modern sublime treats us to a horror show of flowers. Magnolias blossoms that reached their extravagant, perfumed peak in Brooklyn on the final day of winter are falling already, under record-breaking heat. … [Read more...]

Why is there no word for killing the world?(I ask.)But first you must define what you mean by "the world," the stickler replies.Do you mean the planet? someone else inquires. For your information, the planet's just fine. It's only us who are in trouble. (Us and how … [Read more...]

"Climate change is an unintended consequence of human actions and shows, only through scientific analysis, the effects of our actions as a species. Species may indeed be the name of a placeholder for an emergent, new universal history of humans that flashes up in … [Read more...]

I've written about the fact that one standard reaction to the sign I displayed at Zuccotti Park (BECA-- USE THEY'RE TRYING TO DRIVE OUR PLANET OFF A CLIFF) was a claim of incomprehension. "What does your sign mean?" "Who's they?" Another frequent reaction, and one … [Read more...]

WKCR's BachFest 2011 is underway. They've begun with the St. Matthew Passion, and its exquisite minor chords couldn't feel more appropriate. I'm looking out the window at my latest memento mori, the 50-foot stump of what until yesterday was my backyard catalpa, the … [Read more...]

Did you know that every star in our galaxy revolves around a black hole? That this black hole is named Sagittarius A*? That Sagittarius A* weighs 4 million times as much as our sun and is 27,000 light years away? … [Read more...]

N.Y. Times article today on scientific research into melting permafrost and escaping methane gas: "Preliminary computer analyses, made only recently, suggest that the Arctic and sub-Arctic regions could eventually become an annual source of carbon equal to 15 … [Read more...]

Since I last posted, I've been trying to recover from a nasty respiratory virus that has left me with "a touch of bronchitis"; meanwhile, my computer suffered a truly nasty malware attack and had to have Windows re-installed. This brings to mind a favorite William … [Read more...]

The foreclosure stories of community members, shouted out by the People's Mic like all the other speeches, were invariably poignant. There was the woman who explained how her landlady "turned our building into an ATM for her family" by taking out a couple of … [Read more...]

A number of weeks ago, Black Agenda Report suggested that expanding the Occupation agenda to target "the goods in the hood" (foreclosed homes and shuttered infrastructure, the tangible--and cruelly tantalizing--local evidence of Wall Street's malfeasance) would … [Read more...]