Monthly Archives: June 2007

History, Poetry

Strange Fruit

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MySpace is best when it’s showing off talent. Not just any talent, and definitely not the sort marked by a giant “approved by WalMart” advertisement, but the sort of talent that jumps forth and exceeds expectations. The value of the record industry is turned on its head when you pare back the layers of smarmy marketing, like eschewing the circus in favor of a troubadour act at the local cafe or pub.

Straight, no chaser, in drink terms, Maya Yianni is one of those to watch. I can’t get over the clarity of her voice.

Interesting that she includes videos of her idols on her page, perhaps for comparison. First is Ella Fitzgerald:

She also has Billie Holliday’s rendition of Strange Fruit, a poem by Abel Meeropol (1903 – 1986) written under the pseudonym Lewis Allan:

Southern trees bear strange fruit,
Blood on the leaves and blood at the root,
Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze,
Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees.

Pastoral scene of the gallant south,
The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth,
Scent of magnolias, sweet and fresh,
Then the sudden smell of burning flesh.

Here is fruit for the crows to pluck,
For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck,
For the sun to rot, for the trees to drop,
Here is a strange and bitter crop.

The hidden irony of this particular song is that while Strange Fruit was popular after Holiday first sang it in a New York club in 1938, the major recording companies refused to produce it. Too controversial for her label, Columbia Records, a small record company (Commodore Records) finally published Holiday’s rendition. Today it is considered her signature song. A recent documentary tells the full story.

Another little bit of trivia is that a record company under the name Strange Fruit was formed in the UK the same year that the poet, schoolteacher and union activist Abel Meeropol passed away.

History, Poetry, Security

The Rape of Europa

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I just saw this, on the recommendation of a friend, and I have to say it was an excellent film.

The Rape of Europa tells the epic story of the systematic theft, deliberate destruction and miraculous survival of Europe’s art treasures during the Third Reich and World War II.

On the one hand it’s a fascinating modern tale of tragedy. The movie does a fine job working within a narrow band of time. However, I couldn’t help but wonder on the other hand about the larger picture (pun not intended) of conquest throughout the ages. For example, many of the items in modern galleries around the world, such as the British archives, were looted from foreign lands during times of conquest and conflict. But I guess the point is that if we limit our scope to the 1930s and 1940s, the Germans (and maybe the Russians) turned out to be the undisputed bad guys of the (art) world.

Needless to say, the movie also focused in on physical objects of treasure but not the ideas of art or the intellectual capital. Countless brilliant poets and their poems were destroyed, but the film made no mention of their fate…

Poetry

A Poem Beginning With a Line by Pindar

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by Robert Duncan

[…]

      On the hill before the wind came
the grass moved toward the one sea,
      blade after blade dancing in waves.

[…]

      the information flows
         that is yearning. A line of Pindar
      moves from the area of my lamp
         toward morning.

      In the dawn that is nowhere
         I have seen the willful children

      clockwise and counter-clockwise turning.

Duncan has numerous interesting comments on political and historical themes in his poetry, but I especially liked these bits most relevant to information security.

Energy, Security

Carbon Footprint Calculator

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The World Resources Institute has put a calculator online that promises fun for all ages:

The average American is responsible for about 20 tons of carbon dioxide emissions each year, a far greater per capita number than that of any other industrialized country. In fact, the US accounts for more than 20% of the world’s total greenhouse gas emissions. You can reduce your carbon footprint by driving a more efficient car, or driving less. You can also plant trees or help preserve forests to offset your emissions, since trees are a sink for carbon.

I guess it is targeted for Americans.

I have often wondered how people calculate their carbon footprint when they talk about offsetting it. I mean the political mudslinging lately seems to have been linked to who has the bigger footprint and what can be done individually to compensate. For example, what is President Bush’s carbon footprint? Is it higher or lower than prior Presidents? Is testing Bush on compliance going to end up down the same road as the “Click It or Ticket” campaign where he promised to support a crackdown on drivers who disobey the law, while he paraded around in disregard?

Bush did not violate Texas law. “On private property, you’re not required to wear your seat belt,” said Tela Mange, a spokeswoman for the Texas Department of Public Safety. She said “it’s fairly common” in the ranchlands of Texas.

Will Bush try to come up with a similar justification for carbon emissions exemptions? Should the calculator have an option “click here if you are a member of the Bush family”?

After all, isn’t the reason for the seatbelt law to prevent some people from causing harm to themselves that others ultimately have to pay for (through the externalities of the insurance and emergency response system)? Or perhaps the Department of Safety is simply saying they have no jurisdiction on private roads, which raises a whole other discussion (libertarians, start your engines) about the “corporal” right to pollute on personal property.

Anyway, it would be nice if politicians could publish their carbon footprint data as a matter of public record, including the impact from private spaces.

In case anyone is interested, the calculator says my footprint is apparently far less than the national average. I suppose that has something to do with driving a biodiesel car that gets almost 40mpg and walking to work on most days.

Seems to me that the calculator should end with “and this is what you can do to offset your footprint: plant x trees…”. And it should perhaps also offer a range, or some measure of certainty, since the calculations are really just estimates.