Notes on a Monday Morning

-Science and the mass extinction theories: go here (Hell on Earth by DarkSyde) for a pretty dramatic demonstration of global warming and its causes. The writing is good; the vids are even better. Did you know that mass extinction events have happened six times on our planet?

-Spent some of yesterday's afternoon watching The Insider with Russell Crowe and Al Pacino. From Netflix:

One man told the truth. Another reported the story. Both paid the price. The Insider -- a true tale about a Big Tobacco scientist (Russell Crowe) who exposed industry secrets, and the newsman (Al Pacino) who fought corporate forces that would have squelched the story -- offers a glimpse into power, media and money in America. A thought-provoking and thrilling film.

It's a very powerful movie and one which depicts events that occurred a scant thirteen years ago - 1996. Of course, people have been claiming all sorts of dastardly things about tobacco usage for decades - if not centuries. But it was in that year that Big Tobacco was caught in its own lies and held liable for the health impact its products had on millions of people. Bless the day.

-60 Minutes, which played a major and disappointing part in The Insider movie (they bowed to corporate pressure and did not air its interview with Jeff Wigand), had an economic segment on last night that tells of the near despair of folks in Wilmington, Ohio. Its major employer, DHL, a goods delivery system, is closing down its operation which employed 8000 people. Wilmington is a town of 12000 so you can imagine the impact of that closing - would be like Crane and the gypsum plants closing in our neck of the woods. One point of the program: the billions of dollars that have been shelled out by Washington in bailout money is nowhere to be seen in the lives of these men and women on Main Street America. Are we hunkering down yet? Against the cold of the winter months and the dismal economic conditions that appear to be growing more dismal with every passing day?

Gotta stop - this is all black news - extinction events, tobacco lies and corporate malfeasance, economic firestorms. Would be a good time to go play golf if the temperature outside was about thirty degrees warmer. Alas, it's not. Maybe some stretching and some weights and situps and a walk around the neighborhood? The goldfinch and the chickadees and the cardinals are at the feeders - they don't seem to be too concerned about anything but maybe getting a sunflower seed or two.