Eco-rection

I don't really get it... Eco-rections, that is.

I get THAT they happen. I can understand that people have reasons. I just don't identify with them. There's plenty of reasons why people get aroused over "green-ness", being eco-friendly, trying to change the world.

I can understand that people really and truly believe that the single most important thing to do "in all the world, right now" is to clean up the environment. That they believe it is more important than all other political, economic, religious, technological, etc. issues.

I can understand that the pleasure of a personal crusade. How it gets ones nipples pert and erect with excitement over having a project, doing something, affecting the world. Some people want to make the world better, some people just want to affect the world. Others want to preach to others from a position of superior piety about how they are pure and proper and right in the world and therefore better than someone else who they've deemed inferior due to their different choices, or life, or situation.

But the thing that I really don't get is why people derive personal internal pleasure from "being green". I roll it over, looking at it from different angles, and it still doesn't trigger anything in me. If you choose to live your life in a way that consumes less, pollutes less, etc... that's fine. It's the way you live your life, and everyone lives their life, neh? You can make choices or have a plan for yourself and make changes. But if you're not actively organizing, or advocating, or trying to be holier-than-thou, or preaching-and-screeching, then why does "reducing my carbon emissions" become a source of pleasure in and of itself?

Where does all this come from, you ask? I was emailing with a friend that also rides a bike, and as the topic diverged from the original conversation, I made some sort of comment that "I just like bikes, that's enough for me". And she came back with how she loves that when she's riding her bike that she thinks about how good it is for the environment, and how it reduces traffic congestion, and all of that.

I'm trying to put myself in her head and understand what it is about that - what kind of pleasure or satisfaction she gets and how I can understand it by comparing it to my own experience. There's all kinds of pleasure that I can identify - a lively discussion, a job well done, a good cup of coffee, an elegant solution to a difficult problem, pleasant company, a delicious meal, swimming in the aromas of fancy beers, a hard workout, a beautiful vista, sex, friends, cool widgets, cool friends with sex widgets...

But the "I enjoy my reduced carbon footprint" pleasure? I'm just not built that way.

the world is purty today

I'm sure it comes as no consolation to the 35,000 people in SE Michigan that woke up to a power outage this morning, but it sure is pretty out in the world today. At the Arb all the trees are all silvery, the rhododendrons are all twisty and swirly.

of spaceships and chariots

Can't *not* post a link - how apt it is. Regardless of how contorted you might think the reason for something is, it's not necessarily whimsy, even if it has roots in ruts.

I love the idea that it's essentially an average-actual rut width essentially based on the mean of all wagon traffic, with the distribution biased by, but not controlled by, the influence of a "standards organization" like the Roman Empire

Radiolab/morality

Michigan Radio has been re-broadcasting old radio segments from WNYC's program RadioLab on Monday nights. I caught the one on morality (origins and development), and while I think the editing/production of RadioLab is a little too snarky for my tastes, there were some interesting points to be made. Specifically: that fMRI studies have shown that there's an area of the brain that mediates those instinctual vs. analytic thoughts (id vs. superego). That there's a cooperative evolutionary basis to "moral" sharing behavior (it improves the survival of the community and therefore the species). That even children as young as 2 can tell the difference between rules that are rules for rule's sake and those that are because of a deeper underlying meaning. Check out the audio archives here.

random notable stuff :
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Non-Thanksgiving food note: ever tried Peppadews? Next time you're in a grocery store, have a look and see if they have an olive bar/antipasto selection. Not hot at all - pickled and sweet. Almost like the gherkin of the pepper family - give 'em a try.
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Mobile PET/CT/MRI facilities? How cool is that? Take a gagillion dollar device based on anti-matter (you know, positrons) and put it on a trailer so that it can be taken to places that can't afford to have one installed.

Panama Canal opening anniversary

As feats of engineering and logisitics go, the Panama Canal is a pretty good one. It also turns out that today is the anniversary of the first day it opened to traffic - courtesy of Wikipedia's "On This Day" section. Interesting thing - I had no idea that that canal had so much competition out there. I would have thought it posessed a fairly unique purpose and position in the world. Goes to show - there is no such thing as job security, even for geographic features.