You've Got Your Smog On The Lens

Quick one today, because apparently I've decided to spend the morning napping. In the 1970's, the just-born EPA hired freelance photographers to catalog the state of the country at that point, during the period spanning from 1971-1977, though mostly towards the start of that timeline. Some 15,000 pictures were taken in a project dubbed "Documerica", many highlighting environmental issues of the day.

Those pictures then more or less sat dormant, until now. You can view them here, picturing every state save North Dakota. The difference between then and now is stark:

*These are the San Gabriel Mountains, just north of Los Angeles, in 1972.
*Lest you think I'm just picking on Los Angeles and going after the low-hanging fruit, here's Tacoma, Washington, also in 1972.
*And Boston, Massachusetts in 1973.
*And Salt Lake City, Utah in 1972.
*Or Louisville, Kentucky in 1972. I promise you there's a city in there somewhere.
*The Maid of the Mist boat at Niagara Falls in 1973 is seen here amidst built-up foam. The foam is not from the falls. It's sewage waste.
*Or to take waterfalls completely out of the equation, here's the Colorado River in 1972.
*Here's an illegal dumping area just off the New Jersey Turnpike, taken in 1973.
*This looks to be an area outside Ogden, Utah, in 1974.
*The Moab, Utah city dump when it closed in 1972. It sits 15 miles from one national park and three miles from another one.
*And, of course, the Cuyahoga River. This picture was taken near Jaite, Ohio, south of Cleveland, in 1975. What are those in the background dipping into the river? Cars.

Documerica has no pictures of the Cuyahoga being actively on fire. That was because it caught fire in 1969, before the project, though that fire was a major factor in the EPA's creation.

EDIT: Apparently, none of those later links actually work, as they came from live search results that worked for me at the time I looked at them but no longer do. The first link, the one leading to the entire archive, does work. You'll have to go to that. Sorry.

They Paid A Bribe

The United States is not exactly famous these days among its countrymen for honesty concerning money, or allowing others to get or keep it. You've got your questionable fees, you've got your much-maligned tax plans, you've got your lobbying, you've got embezzlement and insider trading and every manner of gaming of the legal system. Sing along, you know the words.

It could, however, be much worse. There could be bribes.

In countries further down than the United States on the Corruption Perception Index (and the US ranks 24th out of 183), bribes are a part of day-to-day life. In order to get essential services, get a driving license, avoid arrest for minor offenses or have pretty much any part of your day go right, odds are sooner or later you'll be asked to pay a bribe. (Although it's never outright called a bribe. More like a 'fee' or a 'donation' or a 'fine'.)

One tactic being recently explored as of late is to catalog instances of bribes in an effort to stem the tide through shaming. In India, a site popped up in 2010 called I Paid A Bribe. Anyone who has had to do so for any reason can anonymously tell about it. (You don't get to say who you had to bribe, though, on worries that being able to do that would be easily abused.) The amount paid and where it happened is noted, and statistics kept. People can also, if they've managed to get out of paying a bribe, tell about that too, as well as if they ran into someone honest who didn't make them pay one. The idea has already been franchised out to Kenya, Nigeria, Pakistan and the Philippines, with several other countries clamoring for their own. Bangladesh, Nepal, Russia and Sri Lanka are mentioned in the link. Further searching shows Greece, Jamaica, South Africa and Trinidad and Tobago as also wanting such a site. China also has a spate of sites popping up, though amongst worries of being shut down.

No, there has been nobody, at least nobody that I can find, clamoring for an American equivalent. If someone tried, every last one of these countries- and many others that didn't even get named here- would put the States to shame. Or relief. Or whatever word it is we want in this context.

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree, Get The Hell Out Of My House

I've spent most of the day doing some redecorating. My main bookshelf was on its last legs- as it turned out, it collapsed into all its component boards as it was being hauled out to the curb- and so I had to go get a new one. That's taken up most of my day.

Perhaps you have a similar problem now. Perhaps your Christmas tree is still up; it's entirely possible. What to do with it? If you have an artificial tree, you just take it down and pack it up for next year. But if you have a live tree- one which is likely dumping needles by now and you really ought to be getting rid of if you haven't already- you have a more complicated dilemma.

First off, do not set the tree on fire. I know there's a log in there, but it is not a Yule log.

So now that I've taken away all your fun, what do you do? Probably, it's going to go to a yard-waste site and get converted into mulch or wood chips. But it doesn't necessarily have to be.

*It could get converted into a fishie house. This dropoff, for example, involves the Army Corps of Engineers collecting trees at Riverside Middle School in Evans, Georgia (you can still drop them off through tomorrow), and taking the collected trees to nearby Thurmond Lake. The trees will be bundled and submerged near fishing piers, which will attract fish, which will attract fishing. So more a fishie roach motel than anything. But hey.

Nearby, other trees will be used as brush piles. You just stack them up, leave them on the ground, and let animals use them as shelter and cover from predators.

*It could be used as flood control. Some felled trees in England and Wales are being placed along river banks, and then Christmas trees are used alongside them to filter out silt; this is supposed to help cut down on erosion and, in the meantime, keep fish eggs downstream from getting smothered and killed by dirt that would have eroded and landed on top of them.

*It can be replanted. It's possible if you still have the roots, and if you do, there are some places that could use an extra tree or two. For example, the Linton Zoo in Haverhill, England.

*They can be eaten. Another zoo, the Oakland Zoo, has elephants that consider Christmas trees to be really tasty. Oakland, however, generally only wants the trees that the tree farms were unable to sell over the course of the holidays. In Ottawa, elk and goats will eat the trees.

*They can help build beaches. Brazoria County, Texas, is using some of their Christmas trees to line the beaches. The trees attract and hold sand, and as the sand builds up, so do sand dunes. The dunes need restoration and upkeep, as they and the beaches are prone to erosion during hurricanes.

*You can trade it. Sevierville, Tennessee's Department of Parks and Recreation gave the first 100 people to drop off a tree a seedling for a new tree. It didn't have to be a pine, either.

*Okay, fine, burn the damn thing. Tomorrow is January 6, also known as Twelfth Night- as in, the twelfth night after Christmas, when the Three Kings are supposed to have made it to the birthplace of Christ. Although some observe it tonight. Some people believe that it's actually bad luck to leave your tree up after Twelfth Night, so... you know. Hurry up. As part of the observance, some people do in fact set fire to the tree.

*In East Village, Christmas tree set fire to you! Eh? Eh? Vhat a cahntry!

*Finally, you can suck it. If you've "flocked" your tree- if you sprayed it with that fake-snow stuff- most places don't want it for anything. It serves you right for using that garbage. Get a plastic tree next year if you're going to bust out the spray.

Just Browsing

Back in June, we provided an update on the slow, lingering death of Internet Explorer 6, as tracked by IE6 Countdown, which seeks to get global usage of IE6 below 1%, so that developers can feel more free to stop supporting it. I bring it up again because the United States has just dropped below that 1% target number.

As of June, the numbers we reported were 10.9% global usage, with Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland under 1%. Globally, the number is now at 7.7%, with Austria, the Czech Republic, Mexico, the Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Ukraine, and again, the United States. In June, the US was at 2.3%; they're now at 0.9%. Canada sat at 2.7%; they're now at 1.4%. The United Kingdom was at 2.7%; they've also dropped to 1.4%. The bottom five in June were China at 33.9% (still bottom, but now at 25.2%), South Korea at 22.3% (still 2nd, now at 7.2%), Vietnam at 11.6% (now 4th at 5.5%), India at 11.5% (now 5th at 5.4%), and Taiwan at 8.6% (now 6th at 4.9%). Japan is now in 3rd, at 5.9%.

Also, the guy who showed up here using Netscape? Apparently still using Netscape. Or whoever it is that showed up here during the last month. Also, who browses the Web on a PSP? Or a Wii? Really, you guys?

Meanwhile in Browser Land, there's Google Chrome, which Google is voluntarily demoting on its search results for the next two months after violating their own policy. They had been promoting Chrome through sponsoring blog posts which would praise and link to Chrome. You could note the ones they sponsored through the disclaimer "This post is sponsored by Google".

Though if you are using Chrome, while we're bringing it up, there is an app now available called No SOPA. When you use the app, as you're browsing, the app will alert you as to when you're visiting a site run by someone that supports the Stop Online Piracy Act. The app itself is available through that last link. Once you know, it's up to you to determine what to do with that information, though you could probably at least fire off a letter in opposition. To the site, to your legislators, to all of the above if you want.

Rapid-Fire Book Club, Post-Christmas Gift Certificate Edition

Among the other books I got for Christmas, I also got a gift certificate to Watertown Booksellers. That certificate has now been used on two more books.

First is Onion Sports: The Ecstasy of Defeat from the Onion. We shouldn't have to get too much into that; it's a reprint book.

Second is Have Glove, Will Travel: Adventures of a Baseball Vagabond by Bill "Spaceman" Lee and Richard Lally. From 1969-1982, Lee pitched for the Boston Red Sox and Montreal Expos, and drove the management of both teams crazy with a counterculture, down-with-the-man attitude. Eventually, The Man opted to no longer deal with him; after being released by the Expos, no other team wanted him. As a result, Lee went barnstorming. On four continents. And although the book was published in 2005, he's still barnstorming today.

A Roof Over My Head

Last night it finally happened. We got a night of bitter winter cold. It was a long time in coming this winter, not arriving until January, and it's predicted to be at least temporarily fleeting as temperatures creep upwards again, but there it was.

Weather Underground will say that the conditions in Watertown last night showed a low temperature of 28 degrees, wind gusts up to 37 miles, and no precipitation. I have two things to say to that. First, don't tell me there was no precipitation. Snow was absolutely coming down, blowing sideways at that. It may not have been the heaviest snowfall, only barely enough to cover the ground and even then leaving the occasional blade of grass to poke out its head as a reminder of our unusually mild winter, but it was snow nonetheless. Second, the numbers, on a night like that, don't adequately describe the conditions. There is no weather statistic for 'bitter'. There is no statistic for "howling". You can only rely on feel to obtain those descriptions, like it was in the days when people were forced to predict weather through animal behavior and popping joints.

Whenever I observe a night like that- when you can hear the wind, when the cold seeps weakly through the walls of your house as the snow makes its futile attempt to batter them down, when the windows are frigid to the touch- there's one thing I find myself saying every time, almost to the word. 'This is one of those nights where you're glad you've got a roof over your head.' In fact, I said it right here last winter.

Of course, you ought to be glad every day that's the case, but typically, in milder weather, you don't really think about it much. Unless you've actually spent time homeless, you're probably not spending a May night where it's 68 degrees outside and it was sunny all day long being glad for a roof. In fact, in those conditions, there are some people who will deliberately spend the night outside. But on nights where the light fades early, when the dull roar of the wind aches to make itself heard, when you're chilled almost to the bone the second you step outside, and nobody really wants to go outside for anything because of that, I for one become a whole lot more grateful to be able to not be outside.

Imagine spending the night out in that. Just one night, let alone for now every night. The closest I can come is the November night I spent waiting in line for a Wii, and even then, there was no snow, it wasn't below freezing, there were plenty of people around to share supplies with and family and store employees to check up on me, I was out of the cold by 6 AM, and besides, at the end of it, there was a brand-new Nintendo Wii waiting for me. Those are not normal circumstances. Under normal circumstances, if you're homeless and can't find a shelter- which is entirely possible- you're out in it all night, and then all day, and then, potentially, the next night as well, and the next, and the next, until you find a place to stay or until you die of exposure.

How long do you think you'd last? It wouldn't be long. Think to all the times you hear- and you probably hear it about once or twice per winter- about someone, usually elderly, that died because the heating in their house failed. All that's needed to kill them is the cold. No wind, no snow, just the drop in temperature. Add in the wind and snow, and it's not hard to figure out what can happen to someone who has to spend their nights out in it, very possibly alone and at the mercy of whoever passes by. Maybe they're offered shelter. Maybe they're shooed away to go be cold somewhere else. Or maybe they're simply left to endure the continual dropping of their body temperature and, in turn, life expectancy.

Every night you have a roof over your head is a good one. In fact, as I note the wind continuing to make its presence known and felt outside in the early afternoon, so is every day. But there are some days and nights when you're happier to have it than others.

I'll close out by putting up a link for the National Coalition for the Homeless. Do with it what you will.

Los Angeles Is Burning

Reminder, I am going to be in Los Angeles later this month, from the 25th to the 31st. Things are a tad eventful there at the moment. In Pasadena, there are Recall Walker petitions being circulated by visiting Wisconsin Badger fans. In Hollywood, everything's on fire; an arsonist or perhaps a group of arsonists have now set more of the city ablaze than at any time since the Rodney King riots. And in South LA, some guy fired a gun into the air to celebrate New Year's and the bullet crashed through someone's roof and hit another guy in the leg.

Meanwhile, a lot of laws take effect on January 1st; it's a convenient default date when something isn't supposed to take effect immediately, so when they don't, that's generally going to be the go-to date. Because clearly we're focusing on California today, here is a rundown of what takes effect today in California. Among the highlights (the full list is here in a PDF file):

*Californians can't carry handguns openly in public anymore.
*They can't buy alcohol at the self-checkout.
*You can't sell beer to which caffeine has been added as a separate ingredient, on the basis that that stuff will mess you up good.
*You can, however, inject fruits and veggies into the drink now.
*Health insurers have to cover autism.
*You can't sell shark fins for food (except for the ones you bought prior to January 1).
*You have to put your kid in a booster seat until age 8 or until the child hits a height of 4'11".
*If a state park's about to be closed for budgetary problems, nonprofits can step in and save it.
*$4 million is made available to start work on high-speed rail from Los Angeles to San Diego.
*Employers can't look at credit ratings anymore when making employment decisions.
*Food stamp recipients no longer have to be fingerprinted.
*Farmers get a tax credit for donating crops to food banks.
*You can't sell expired baby food or baby formula.
*Schools can suspend students for cyber-bullying.
*A third DUI in a ten-year period can now result in your license being revoked for up to a decade.
*You can't sell live animals on the side of the road.
*Doctors can't prescribe anything to workers-comp patients where they have a financial interest.
*Missing-persons reports have to be filed for people 21 or under now, as opposed to the previous 16 or under.
*If you're an elected official and you get caught claiming military decorations you don't have, you're fired. Technically it's a forced resignation, but in essence, you're fired.

Which totally crimps my vacation plans to sell arson-smoked de-finned pet sharks to a food bank on Hollywood and Highland, complete with self-serve double-caff minibar.