There's a nice short story from Julio Cortazar about axolotls.

"Ce qui vient au monde pour ne rien troubler ne mérite ni égards ni patience." René Char

The tree these goats are climbing in is an Argan. It is a very ancient kind of tree that grows only in the south of Morocco and some parts of Algeria. Its nuts produce a very good oil.

"Ce qui vient au monde pour ne rien troubler ne mérite ni égards ni patience." René Char

The problem is that this means we're not getting rain. The Eastern Pacific is currently experiencing a La Niña effect, which is the opposite of an El Niño - during the La Niña cycle the Eastern Pacific experiences unusually cold water temperatures. This saturates the Pacific Northwest with moisture (they had record snowfall and rainfall over the last month, with the worst flooding in Washington State in a century) and leaves California high and dry.

2007 and 2008 were dry winters, but 2009 is shaping up to be even worse. At a monitoring station in the California delta near Sacramento the rain gauge measured 4 inches - instead of the usual 23 inches. La Niña means the already bad situation will continue to grow worse.

Water rationing is likely in Southern California later this spring and it is highly likely that we'll have more severe rationing here in Monterey - we are not part of the state water system and have been overdrawing the Carmel River for years.

Californians could stand to consume less water, but we're not as profligate as some other parts of the country. The 1986-93 drought led to widespread installation of water-saving devices and practices that are still with us 20 years later, but much more can and must be done. Of course, this comes at a time of profound economic and political weakness for the state, which won't make those problems or solving the water issue any easier.

Global warming is going to exacerbate this - state studies show that the Sierra Nevada snowpack, source of most of our water, will disappear as snow is replaced with rainfall. Snow can be stored all winter; rain can't. In turn this leads to a drier climate, and an increased fire danger from the dead trees and plants that gave up after not getting enough water.

Of course, it could be worse - from approximately 1000 to 1200 California and the Southwestern US experienced a "mega-drought" - an extended dry period. It is possible that California may be entering another such period. Since 1976 we have had more dry years than wet ones, and since 1998 we have only had a few good years of rain (2004-06).

So, while I am enjoying this bit of July in January, I would prefer rain. Lots and lots of rain.

And the world will live as one

Who's going to be Obama's Attorney General, again?

Most economists teach a theoretical framework that has been shown to be fundamentally useless. -- James K. Galbraith

It might -- I don't know what they have in mind, obviously -- also be a rare instance in which a set of top-down idea makes bottom-up organizing more effective in the future, as the grassroots can play on successful ideas from our little band of merry Chicagoans in an effort to make the jump from being effective during campaigns to being effective in influencing lawmakers while governing.

As long as there is reelection, the permanent campaign is inevitable.

Be nice to America. Or we'll bring democracy to your country.

Guardian - John Odum - Democratic Moses

The question that remains is whether the lingering contempt for Dean will be enough to force a dismantling of his legacy at the Democratic National Committee. Although Obama spoke positively of the 50-state project while electioneering, the fact is that the contracts of the 50-state project organisers - more than 200 proven effective political staffers on the ground across the US - were allowed to expire after November, and there is no immediate sign that a recommitment to the programme is forthcoming.

In short, a volunteer signs up. The 25 nearest neighbors who pique the DNC's interest are then mapped out for the volunteer. The DNC also offers a script to use during canvassing as volunteers go door to door, asking their neighbors the degree of their Democratic support or their support for John McCain. The volunteers asks about their neighbors' top issue interests. The aim is to return and later target each person with a specific script based on their previously identified concerns.

Volunteers are ranked locally for their effectiveness and rewarded with invitations to intraparty conference calls or meetings. They are also encouraged to forward invitations by e-mail to friends or family, mimicking the viral success of social networking websites.

The program, which debuted in Kansas in late April, was expanded to Virginia. The DNC plans to gradually roll out the program nationally by mid-summer. ...

The party continues to build the DNC's voter file with some assistance from the Obama and Clinton campaigns, which have been offloading data to the DNC file.

That, in itself, is an accomplishment for a party that brought its voter file in-house for the first time in the 2006 midterm elections. That year, Democrats conducted a pilot program using the data in six states, including Montana, where Jon Tester unseated Republican Sen. Conrad Burns. ...

"A lot of the consumer data helps at the margins," said Keith Goodman, the director of special projects in the DNC's political department. And, as Goodman notes, many elections are decided in the margins.

Best TV show intro ever.

No one could have predicted

The absence of the UK from a representation of europe is also pretty much spot on.

keep to the Fen Causeway

The way we spell the russian currency here is the rouble, when did it become the ruble ? (on its way to becoming the rubble)

keep to the Fen Causeway

Good luck getting this fixed, we miss your comments.

Most economists teach a theoretical framework that has been shown to be fundamentally useless. -- James K. Galbraith