Interesting article in the WSJ about how Detroit drove the American automotive industry into the ground . The American car companies are losing money hand-over-fist while the Japanese, Korean, and German...  Will an Obama campaign allow more-sustainable alternatives to move forward, or will it "protect" American business by propping up dying industries and regulating nascent ones?  Time will tell.

I have several rants stored up. Who knows what order they'll come out, but here's number one, inspired by Colin Beavan's blog entry and its follow-up. Okay people, I'm tired. It's not just the travel...- symbolising 'In' (Japanese equivalent of the Chinese 'Yin'), 'Yo' (Yang) & 'Mu' (No-thing-ness). Also representing, among other things, the interrelationship between Heaven, Earth & Human(kind)

Originally published at Hypermodern - Pete Ippel 1999-2008 . Please leave any comments there. I from 1997-1999 I worked at the Paleontological Research Institution as a collections assistant before...state issues”. Weblog entry. Melissa Rogers: thoughts on news about religion’s intersection with public affairs. 23 Aug. 2008. http://melissarogers.typepad.com/melissa_rogers/2008/08/biden.html .

(This is old, but it's still funny.)

Spreading Manure over Astroturf: Why Ad Men Hate Brown Interesting article. The writer is commenting in part on the way Sharon Astyk's and some other folk's efforts at living a lower impact life are...are no easy bucks anymore. People have to choose wisely and live within their means. That isn't green or brown and it doesn't have to be a deprivation if you change your mindset, it's just commonsense

...be some ballance between "ends justifying means" and "means justifying ends"? No. I actually prefer something completely different. I'm in favor of something that is orthogonal to this debate: sustainability. What do I believe in for an energy policy? Sustainability. I want to see a replacement for oil and coal because I believe there are alternatives that are more sustainable for our world...

Saturday I was still kind of tired so I didn't go to the Fiber Twist marketplace. I did make it to the last day of Ashfield's farmers market though. I was going to get a few more squash and ended up getting... shelling beans, etc. Then off to get a few things in Holyoke and then to pick up L, whose train was a little early. Happily so was I, so I only had to wait a couple of minutes for him. Life is good :

Dear friends,   Radical Caring's Facebook group will be closed within the next 7 days. Peace Communities is now open.   The reasoning behind this are as follows:    Recently, Facebook has...Caring Facebook group will be closed within the next 7 days and we hope you will join Peace Communities.   Keep up the great work everyone!   Love for all, -Radical Caring Members

I ran across this the other day.  It is a long but good read.  http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/12/magazine/12policy-t.html?em   (This one does not seem to require sign in.) http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/12/magazine/12policy-t.html?partner=permalink&exprod=permalink  (Same article, but this link is theoretically permanent--seems to require login though.)

...feel pretend to be good people for the sake of making money off of meat. This story developed further, and the NYTimes Magazine ran an article recently called Kosher Wars , which discussed ideas of sustainability and general morality as parts of kashrut, something which is met with differing warmth by various groups of Jews. Sustainability, as some of you know, is rather important to me.   And...