china's rare earths

china's cutting back on exports for rare earths. http://blogs.wsj.com/source/2010/10/28/chinese-rare-earths-less-muscle-more-growth/

the western response has been that china is playing with them politically, to exert dominance. but maybe china wants the rare earths for themselves too! haha. so if the west perceives that it's good to export to them, then consumerism in the west is acceptable but not consumerism in china? also, a lot of the old mines for rare earths in the west closed when the prices dropped, so that was really short sighted for the long term because now china exports 97% of the rare earths. this has huge impacts because we are increasingly becoming dependent on electronics.

i say recycle and reuse old electronics more, instead of re-opening and starting new mines. and start designing electronics to last longer, that you get the bang for your buck, and break the culture of having to buy the newest gadget, or even the newest version of the gadget. what do people do with their iphones when the next version is released? a piechart of the breakdown would be interesting.

inane things

i am living the life in my life. i am enjoying myself quite a bit, even though i am being inane.

la copa mundial

no soy deportista o fan de partidos, pero recientemente he visto partidos de basquetbol y futbol. fui a un bar en brighton una noche porque tenia hambre y alla hay muchas teles que emitian los partidos americanos, especialmente porque boston tiene equipos famosos: red sox para el beisbol, celtics para el basquetbol, y bruins para el hockey. tambien este mes es el NBA finals entre los celtics de boston y los lakers de los angeles. no soy muy competitiva, pero ver los partidos es divertido a veces. me dan risa las reacciones de las otras personas, como gritando y gemiendo y llorando. me gustan el volibol, el pingpong, el futbol y el basquetbol porque hay trabajo de equipo y tambien los partidos no duran bastante como el futbol americano o el beisbol. si no, que aburrido jeje.

este ahno la copa mundial esta en sudafrica, el primer pais en africa que es la seda de "la ciudad de futbol." la mundial no es muy popular en los estados unidos, pero me gusta porque hay tantos equipos internacionales y los cuerpos de los deportistas son naturales, a veces chaparritos, pero siempre muy fuertes (en las piernas especialmente) y agiles. no me gustan los deportes en que hay presion para tomar drogas para construir un cuerpo muy muscular. el futbol es igualitario porque los pobres y ricos pueden jugar sin articulos deportivos muy caros--pueden usar una bolita de plastico o ropa para la pelota--y tambien las reglas son basicas. vi los partidos sudafrica vs mexico (1-1), francia vs uruguay (0-0), y inglaterra vs eeuu (1-1).

oil spill photos

i kind of want to collect photos of the oil spill in the gulf of the mexico. scientists, engineers, environmentalists, activists, politicians will need to assemble lots of stuff to help us move away from our dependency on oil (oil is sooo useful, not just in terms of burning it for energy usage but also synthesis of so many different materials). photos are a really powerful and moving medium.

pictures of wildlife being coated with crude oil:http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/06/caught_in_the_oil.html

if the oil spill was in my backyard visualization: http://www.ifitwasmyhome.com/

i think i read in the NYT today that maybe if the US government really wanted to make a statement in the power struggle between corporations (especially BP in this case) and itself, it should yank out the contracts for oil that fuel military operations. which kind of leads to all sorts of interesting questions of what areas make the biggest impact in terms of reducing oil consumption.

transportation is a big one. on a personal level for instance, i regularly take the mbta buses from my house to travel around the boston area and as i was waiting, i noticed that the majority of cars driven on the road are only occupied by 1 person, even when the capacity is like 4. we should drive less by using public transportation, walking, biking more often if possible for running errands or going to appointments, rent cars when we need them instead of buying if that's appropriate for our lifestyle as students or people who live near their jobs, or if we need to commute, buy smaller cars like smart cars.

being healthy

lisa and i are slowly but surely training for the amzn race (maybe it'll be the azn race because lisa eats what la westie and i feed her hehe).

-i have developed a nutrition plan based off mypyramid.gov info. highly recommended site. the new pyramid is in vertical slices, instead of horizontal slices these days. you can input your weight and height to customize the daily recommended food intake. the major food groups are grains, vegetables, fruits, dairy, and meats and beans. good to know what a balanced diet is.

-www.caloriecount.com is a pretty useful site that has a database of nutrition info for you. i have started to log my daily food intake there. there is also a physical activity log aspect that i will explore later. good to know your overall calorie intake and overall healthiness of food.

-our exercise plans consist of 100 push ups and 200 situps, cardio, and later weight lifting and zombiefit. lisa is in charge of this great motivation/tracking scheme of angry frowny faces and silver and gold stars.

GO TEAM "Meat is Murder, but Murder is also Murder"!

we have not yet overcome

http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/2010/06/how_would_i_feel_if.html

roger ebert on white racism now and then. read itttt!!

tape for art

http://www.fastcompany.com/1656197/designers-create-spiderman-worthy-cave-from-packing-tape?partner=rss

spiderwebs made from packing tape. pretty cool. i wonder how they dissemble it, as the article says that it goes on tours.