Daily Archives: May 6, 2008

Lengthy quote from Willa Cather

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A book I found perusing the “c” section of the library. Willa Cather writes about the wild west, pretty much. This book seemed incredibly tame, until I got pretty far into it. It was about civilization, and set in a college town. How could you get more civilized than a university?

But as I read on, it seemed to be talking about science and striking it rich. That was part of the old west. What is a gold mind but a process using physics?

And what is the railroad all about but science?

Here is a quote, the only one we get from the Professor’s lecture:

“No, Miller, I don’t myself think much of science as a phase of human development. It has given us a lot of ingenious toys; they take our attention away from the real problems, of couse, and since the problems are insoluble, I suppose we ought to be grateful for distraction. But the fact is, the human mind, the individual mind, has always been made more interesting by dwelling on the old riddles, even if it makes nothing of them. Science hasn’t given us any new amazements, except of the superficial kind we get from witnessing dexterity and sleight-of-hand. It hasn’t given us any richer pleasures, as the Renaissance did, nor any new sins–not one! Indeed it takes our old ones away. It’s the laboratory, not the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sins of the world. You’ll agree there is not much thrill about a physiological sin. We were better off when even the prosaic matter of taking nourishment could have the magnificence of a sin. I don’t think you help people by making their conduct of no importance–you impoverish them. As long as every man and woman who crowded into the catherdrals on Easter Sunday was a principal in a gorgeous drama with God, glittering angels on on side and th shadows of evil coming and going on the other, life was a rich thing. The king and the beggar had the same chance at miracle and great temptations and revelations. And that’s what makes men happy, believing in the mystery and importance of their own little individual lives. It makes us happy to surround our creature needs and bodily instincts with as much pomp and circumstance as possible. Art and religion (they are the same thing, in the end, of course) have given man the only happiness he has ever had.

…

The Christian theologians went over the books of the Law, like great artists, getting splendid effects by excision. They reset the stage with more space and mystery…With the theologians came the catherdral-builders; the sculptors and glass-workers and painters. They might, without sacrilege, have change the prayer a little ans said Thy will be done in art, as it is in heaven“

The Professor’s House by Willa Cather

Interesting.

what’s the deal with the rice?

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There is some kind of rice crisis.

 

WSJ says

“

Sam’s Club, Costco Ration Rice Amid Hoarding Worries

By Gary McWilliams and Lauren Etter
Word Count: 474  |  Companies Featured in This Article: Costco Wholesale, Wal-Mart Stores

Two large U.S. retailers slapped restrictions on purchases of bulk rice, bringing home shortfalls across the globe.

Costco Wholesale Corp., of Issaquah, Wash., and Sam’s Club, a unit of Wal-Mart Stores Inc., of Bentonville, Ark., limited consumer purchases of rice at their U.S. stores this week. Wal-Mart said while Sam’s has enough rice for customers, it would limit purchases to four 20-pound bags per visit “due to recent supply and demand trends.” Costco limited purchases in select stores.

Vietnam and India, two of Asia’s largest rice exporters, have placed temporary bans on some rice exports …

“

What? and why? I can’t seem to get a straight answer.

My capitalist/republican type husband says it’s because rice exporting countries are sitting on their rice and not selling it.

My uber-liberal sierra club tree-hugger friend says that she heard an infestation of insects or worms or something is the cause

Which is it? I’m going to take this moment to get to the bottom of it.

This article says that exporters are sitting on their bags of rice, hoping to get a higher price.

This is interesting, an article talking about food being an investment commodity.

some excerpts:

speculative investors are turning to fuels and the food sector as a “safe haven”, driving up prices in the process, say some food security activists.

This is the logical sequence from the transformation of food from a basic human need to an economic ”commodity”, they point out. This has made it a lot easier for investors and trading houses to regard agricultural food as a legitimate target for speculation, hoarding and market manipulation, especially though the futures market.

Critics point out that neoliberal policies promoting the opening up of the agricultural sector and the promotion of cash crops are now coming home to roost. Such policies have led to a loss in food self-sufficiency in many nations.

…Ironically, there is no shortage of food supply either at the global or at the domestic level — though food stocks have fallen. In fact, the International Grain Council (IGC) expects world wheat production to reach 645 million tonnes for the 2008/2009 season, an increase of 41 million tonnes over the previous season.

Global rice production meanwhile is expected to rise by 1.8 per cent — or 12 million tonnes — this year, said the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation in a report last month. Paradoxically, international rice prices have soared 20 percent since January because of “limited supplies available for sale”, given the restrictions by key exporting nations.

Sounds like greedy grasping wall-street types are profiting on the world’s need to eat.

But where are the worms? Let me check…

Here’s something, but it’s from 2006

Okay, this is a story that is recent, and more than a half-million people in India are affected. But that’s superlocal, and in terms of the global situation, a drop in the bucket.

 

This article, I like best. The opening line is not very journalistic, because it is a statement of opinion, not fact. But I forgive the write, because a good analysis of the food sitation in the Phillipines is given with specific actions recommended.

So far, the internet has not heard about any startling bugs that are ruining rice. It is just greedy bastards that are manipulating the markets for gain.

Tree-hugger friend did say she was pretty unsure about the bug theory, not really remembering much. So, I guess I can reassure her that she can blame the neocons and republicans for the truly evil squeeze on rice to get more profit. Ecological disasters are not the issue at this moment.