Mental Map Archives

Mental Map is the blog I started during the summer of 2007, but never really got going. Since Squarespace will take these down as soon as I stop paying for hosting, and since I can’t figure out how to export entries in Squarespace, I’m just going to select some of the more substantive (or bizarre) items posted there in the last six months, and put them on this page.  The photos that appeared with these entries on Mental Map will probably vanish when Squarespace deletes my blog.

• The Environmental Pseudoscience Agency (EPA) strikes again! (Mental Map by MizM, 12/20/07)

The EPA has ruled that states cannot set their own emissions standards. EPA Editor-in-Chief Stephen Johnson assures us:

“The Bush administration is moving forward with a clear national solution, not a confusing patchwork of state rules,” he said. “I believe this is a better approach than if individual states were to act alone.”

Hmm… a few years ago, to avoid taking action, the Bushies touted state initiatives, calling them:

“laboratories where new and creative ideas and methods can be applied and shared with others and inform federal policy - a truly bottom-up approach to addressing global climate change.’’

Observes David Roberts*, of Grist:

When it was a good excuse for the lack of federal action, the Bush administration lauded state initiative. But when it actually threatened one of their corporate contributors, they shut it down. Such is the Republican commitment to federalism.

(*HT to him, also, for the link to the Andy Revkin story above.)

Seems as good a time as any to remind you of this important resource.

Update (12/21): Apparently EPA Editor-in-Chief Johnson even ignored the unanimous recommendations of EPA staff in order to make his entirely political* ruling. The intrepid Henry Waxmas has already launched an investigation.

(*Word omission fixed!)

• My “Not Getting Things Done (NGTD)” System (Mental Map by MizM, 12/2/07)

How often have I promised to get some kind of blogging rhythm going, here? And to follow up on topics briefly posted? I’ve been having some time management challenges this semester. A new (rented) home to settle, and a new longer commute to work and school, new projects with closer oversight at work (which means less, you know, “coffee break” surfing), a hefty fall reading load…

Somewhere along the line I discovered a “new” (to me) blog genre out there - “productivity blogs” such as 43 Folders, Zen Habits, and Lifehacker, and the aggregator Productivity Zen. Most of these seem to be devotees of David Allen’s Getting Things Done (he’s become a Huffington Post guru, now, too), and he seems to have a lot of appeal for webbie/techie types, for some reason. Odd, that, because the “GTD system” is - as I recall - largely paper-based in its original conception. I read the book several years ago but re-sold it after deciding that “GTD” would actually make my life even more complicated.

And yet… whatever I’m doing instead is clearly not working. I can’t count the number and kinds of calendars and planners and notebooks I’ve started over the years. Even when I settle on one for awhile, I don’t use it effectively. I write something on the calendar and then don’t refer to the calendar again until the event or deadline is long past. I keep multiple, slightly-but-not-reliably overlapping “to do” lists at home, at work, and in my school bag - and start a new one whenever I’m not near one of the others. I’ve tried a Palm Pilot (I’m selling it), I’ve tried desktop-based systems (they don’t work well for someone who uses four different computers in a week), I’ve tried internet-based systems (good for someone who works on multiple computers, but a bust if you don’t have an internet connection on one of them)…

How can it be that not one of these “systems” works for me? Could it be… OPERATOR ERROR?! It suddenly occurs to me that any one of them would be quite effective if I simply used it, you know, habitually. I’ve read quite a few books on time management and project management over the years. Anything out there on brain management?

• If the shoe fits (Mental Map by MizM, 10/13/07)

I stumbled across this delightful article on the Book Forum site (which I think I need to visit more often!), when I was hunting down reviews for the completely unrelated The Moral Menagerie: Philosophy and Animal Rights, by Marc Fellenz. I’m afraid this shoe fits me to a “T”:

“I have been intending to write this essay for months. Why am I finally doing it? Because I finally found some uncommitted time? Wrong. I have papers to grade, textbook orders to fill out, a National Science Foundation proposal to referee, dissertation drafts to read. I am working on this essay as a way of not doing all of those things. This is the essence of what I call structured procrastination, an amazing strategy I have discovered that converts procrastinators into effective human beings, respected and admired for all that they can accomplish, and the good use they make of time.”

[---]

“The key idea is that procrastinating does not mean doing absolutely nothing. Procrastinators seldom do absolutely nothing. They do marginally useful things, like gardening or sharpening pencils or making a diagram of how they will reorganise their files when they get around to it. Why does the procrastinator do these things? Because they are a way of not doing something more important … The procrastinator can be motivated to do difficult, timely and important tasks, as long as these tasks are a way of not doing something more important.”

[---]

“(S)tructured procrastination requires a certain amount of self-deception, since one is, in effect, constantly perpetrating a pyramid scheme on oneself … “

Ouch. The Guardian writer describes this as a philosophy “paper.” I tracked down said “paper” and it is one of a series of entertaining essays by philosopher John Perry, with whom I also apparently share the “horizontal organizer” gene.

•  My “come to Dennis Kucinich” moment (Mental Map by MizM, 10/6/07)

A friend sent an interesting link to a quiz (based on one developed by Minnesota Public Radio) that tells you “which candidates are most aligned with your views and opinions.”  I took the quiz at the first link, then compared the second one (which has a few more questions).  In both, Dennis Kucinich was my “ideal candidate.”  At the first quiz link, Kucinich was followed by Mike Gravel, and then Chris Dodd.  At the second, longer quiz link, John Edwards bumped Dodd from #3.

For some reason, I was surprised by these picks.  My Better Half responded, when I reported the findings, “well, of course.  When you think about Kucinich’s positions, you agree with them all.”  True.  So why haven’t I jumped on board?  I guess it’s because (full disclosure that will earn me the slings and arrows of long-time Kucinich supporters) I don’t see him as a viable candidate.  Ideal, yes, but unlikely.  He really hasn’t been on my radar.  (Likewise, Gravel and Dodd.)  I’ve been bouncing back and forth between Obama and Edwards, instead.  When did I get so pragmatic?  Why don’t I practice a little idealism, here, and get behind the candidate who best represents my views?

Now this mostly entertaining quiz (”Results are not scientific.”) has me pondering the comparative merits of pragmatism and idealism.  And while I don’t really have time to ponder anything that hasn’t been assigned to me, I plan to get back to you on this…

• The biggest rat will leave the sinking ship at the end of August (Mental Map by MizM, 8/13/07)

Karl Rove will leave the Bushies at the end of August. (I’d put an unflattering picture of him here, but then we’d have to look at it until it rolls off into the Archives.) He says it has nothing to do with the congressional investigation of his actions, and that may be true since King George cloaked him in Executive Privilege. (Although I’m not sure if that follows him forever. Does it?)

He probably needs to devote more time to rigging the 2008 election. But first he’s going to go to West Texas and blow small birds to smithereens, then drive to the beach with his wife. Isn’t that sweet?

• Here’s hoping we have an election in 2008, Pt 2 (Mental Map by MizM, 8/1/07)

Recall my inaugural entry… Harvey Wasserman & Bob Fitrakis, the Freepress journalists who have uncovered so much evidence of electoral tampering in Ohio in 2004, ask if Bush will cancel the 2008 elections:

The Bush Administration has both the inclination and the power to cancel the 2008 election.

The GOP strategy for another electoral theft in 2008 has taken clear shape, though we must assume there is much more we don’t know.

But we must also assume that if it appears to Team Bush/Cheney/Rove that the GOP will lose the 2008 election anyway (as it lost in Ohio 2006) we cannot ignore the possibility that they would simply cancel the election. Those who think this crew will quietly walk away from power are simply not paying attention.

The real question is not how or when they might do it. It’s how, realistically, we can stop them.

Please read the rest! I’ll get back to the Humane Farming issue later this week, I hope. I’m back and trying to catch up from my few days out of town.

Update: More here on Ohio’s conveniently missing/destroyed 2004 election records.

• Humane Farming (Mental Map by MizM, 7/26/07)

I’m heading out of town for a few days, so I’ll leave you to ruminate on this NYT story about humane farming (registration sometimes required). Then hop over to the Tribe of Heart site and read about their remarkable documentary “Peaceable Kingdom.” They have a sneak preview up and I (ahem) heartily encourage you to watch it. I saw an earlier version of this film, and I can assure you even these two minutes will make you a more thoughtful consumer.

We’ll chat about all of this when I get back!

• A dog’s life (Mental Map by MizM, 7/20/07)

In light of the dog-fighting atrocities described in the Michael Vick indictment, I find myself thinking about the short, sad, terrorized life of a pit bull bred for fighting. Apparently, a lot of people are now thinking about it, and that might be a good thing for pit bull dogs.

Years ago I read Vicki Hearne’s Bandit: Dosier of a Dangerous Dog (which appears to have been revised/reissued under this more marketing-friendly title) I wanted to convince myself that pit bulls are the publicity victims of a brain-dead mass media that cannot headline any pit bull dog-bite story without the trope “pit bull mauls” (Google that and see what I mean; here’s more*), that bad owners make bad pit bulls, and that I should be willing to adopt a rescued pit and bring it into my own home. In my first grad school life, I was an animal behaviorist. I have a pretty good sense of the contributions of nature and nurture to temperament.

But my self-enlightenment efforts got only so far: I believe pit bulls are the victims of bad publicity and bad breeders and “trainers,” but I still can’t bring myself to adopt one. I just don’t trust their genes. I don’t think I’m right about this, but I can’t seem to override the “gut feeling.”

That’s why I’m so glad there are effective and creative pit bull advocates in the world, because I think those dogs need folks like this in their corner, and I’m not “big enough” to be one of them. In the San Francisco Bay Area, a group called BAD RAP (Bay Area Dog lovers Responsible About Pit bulls) coordinates rescues and adoptions, and educates the public and the media about pit bull dogs.

And Law Dogs USA, despite their home page enthusiasm for the Department of Homeland Security’s color coded terror advisory system, really impresses me. They adopt rescued pit bulls, train them in narcotics and explosives detection, and provide them to law enforcement agencies around the country, giving the dogs life-saving (in every sense of the word) work. Their program is intensive and expensive, but it gets pit bulls off death row. Donate if you can.

(By the way, that Dog Press column linked to a very informative feature story on pit bulls.)

(*Many advocates argue that pit bulls don’t bite any more often - and in fact, perhaps less often - than other breeds. But the fact remains that many “pit bull mauls” stories do describe maulings — numerous, disfiguring bites. Are pit bull bites more likely to be serious than other dog bites? That Dog Press media analysis column suggests not. I’d be curious to see other statistics.)

• Doncha hate it when that happens? (Mental Map by MizM, 7/20/07)

Actually, the whole reason I started another blog was to have a place to link to this. Go ahead, read it. I’ve been saving it since February.

Isn’t that one of the most fabulously grotesque household cleaning problems you’ve ever heard about? (HT to Pharyngula)

• Here’s hoping we HAVE elections in 2008… (Inaugural Mental Map post by MizM, 7/19/07)

If you’re not scared, yet, you REALLY aren’t paying attention. Remember those three branches of government you learned about in 8th grade Civics? Looks like your kids won’t have to memorize two of them…

Confronted with his own political impotence, the president has decided to govern exclusively by Executive Order, which allows him to completely evade judicial and congressional checks and balances. This week alone has seen one order allowing the government to block the assets of anyone deemed to be undermining democratic “reform” in Iraq, or to be threatening the Iraqi government’s stability.

“The part where they reserve lots of discretion to themselves is the list of conditions that goes beyond determination of acts of violence. ‘Threatening the peace or stability of Iraq or the Government of Iraq,’ that could be anything,” says Ken Mayer, an expert in executive orders and a University of Wisconsin political scientist.*

(*Italics mine.) Then he issued an order declaring that the Justice Department “will never be allowed to pursue contempt charges initiated by Congress against White House officials once the president has invoked executive privilege.” This effectively hogties Congress just as they begin to expose the extent of corruption in the Bush White House.

Paul Craig Roberts, a Reagan-era Assistant Secretary of the Treasury described by Raw Story as an “old-line conservative,” recently talked with historian Thom Hartmann, and even he is alarmed:

“When Bush exercises this authority [under the new Executive Order] … there’s no check to it. It doesn’t have to be ratified by Congress. The people who bear the brunt of these dictatorial police state actions have no recourse to the judiciary. So it really is a form of total, absolute, one-man rule. … The American people don’t really understand the danger that they face. … Something’s in the works,” he said, adding that the Executive Orders need to create a police state are already in place.

(That Raw Story feature links to the audio of the interview on Hartmann’s program.) All due respect Madam Speaker, impeachment really needs to be “on the table.”