2008 August | TalesOfSendingCards.com

One World, One Dream

By on Friday, August 8th, 2008 | Comments Off

Photo taken on Aug. 8, 2008 shows the fireworks of the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympic Games held in the National Stadium, also known as the Bird’s Nest, in north Beijing, China. (Xinhua/Chen Kai)

Photo: Wu Hong/EPA

I’ve tried, Folks, but I can’t imagine how important the Olympics must be to Beijing and the rest of the Chinese people. I mean, how important is it for any proud, developing nation to present a clean and harmonious face to the World? The only thing comparable we have in Mount Shasta is our Fourth of July Walk/Run event, complete with parade and ‘fireworks’.

Oddly enough, we also had to contend with dirty air this year because of the Northern California Lightning Fires. The same questions loomed large as the ‘big’ day was drawing near: Should the organizers (Mountain Runners) cancel the yearly outdoor athletic event and lose out on all that revenue because of the pollution danger? Should the Veterans against the Iraq War be allowed to march in the annual Independence Day Parade down main street?

For me, the last question was a no-brainer. I’ve always thought our nation was founded on the basic principals of mindful dissent and free speech. And If those who served our country in battle can’t speak their minds, then aren’t we lost as a nation? The first question was more difficult, though, and I was mighty pleased not to be involved in the final decision ( to run or not to run?…). Almost miraculously, though, the air cleared enough for that fateful commemoration of a fateful day.

Speaking of fateful, 8/08/08 is one of the most auspicous days imaginable in Chinese culture, not because it kicks off the International Olympics, though. The number 8 (ba) logs in as one of the most revered in Chinese Numerology. When drawn, it finishes with an upward curve, symbolizing continuous progress. When spoken aloud, I’m told that 888 in Cantonese sounds like ‘business will easily prosper’ or ‘thrice prosperous’. Hence the reason that many Chinese businesses flocked to the San Gabriel Valley of Southern California, the area code in that vicinity being 818 or “prosperity guaranteed prosperity!”

All in all, It’s pretty easy to see why Chinese Olympic organizers chose this numeric combination for Opening Day. For them, it was just a ‘no-brainer’. As Westerners, however, we still might wonder why anyone would choose a time of the year famous for its horrible pollution and temperature inversions, especially since athletic events thrive on clean air. The answer is still the same, though: The Chinese believe in the power of three eights and they were willing to bet the bank on it.

Even mothers of newborn children got into the act. By Chinese estimates, 500 “Olympic babies” will be born in Beijing on Aug. 8, as many as two thirds by cesarean section. I have to wonder, folks, if that much good fortune extends to babies who are cut out with a knife. As I understand it, a sharp instrument in plain view changes the Feng Shui of auspicious moments. I’m no expert, but it seems like babies who come out on their own are more apt to get the thrice blessings.

Now here’s a silly thought: Turn the clock back nine months; can’t you just envision thousands of young, Chinese women, all with a mad driving desire to copulate. I bet thousands of lucky husbands were counting their many blessings too. It’s interesting to me, though, that so many women would knowingly use-up their one-time government sanctioned right to procreate, as China only approves of one child per family. For good or ill, taxes are levied on families who break the one-child rule, though there are ways around the law if one is resourceful enough.

Speaking of resourceful, a 32-year-old Chinese woman named Zhang Lingyun one-upped all the other new mothers by naming her newborn daughter “Olympic” in Chinese. Zhang Yuanping (the Haidian Maternal and Child Care Hospital president in Beijing) said ” ‘rationality must not give way to Olympic enthusiasm’, but no one had asked to undergo a caesarean section at 8:08 p.m. tonight, he added.

Chinese officials reported similar enthusiasm at the marriage registrars office. Many young couples wanted to stamp their union with the Olympic or 8/8/08 seal of approval. More than 1,500 new couples applied to be married on Friday, almost three times the daily August average. “To cope with the influx, the staff was able to reduce registration time from seven minutes to three.”

WOW! Seven minutes to three minutes! Those workers deserve a big round of applause for shaving so much time off an already concise registration procedure. I can’t imagine any of our government workers being able to do that in a crunch. Didn’t I tell you the Chinese were resourceful?

Laura signing off.

p.s. Click for Chris if you want information on sendoutcards or you’d like to make your own. So many images and so little time!

pre-show pic by Robert Deutsch, USA Today

They Know It’s Wrong, But What Can They Do…

By on Thursday, August 7th, 2008 | Comments Off

Mount Shasta back in the Spring of 2008— photo by Chris Tatro

Snow…Snow…my kingdom for some snow.

The smoke (not snow) is back, Folks. It’s close to the ground this time, hugging every little crevice and cranny like there’s a temperature inversion. I don’t have to run to the Siskiyou County Pollution to confirm what I smell and see. Nor do I need the WunderMap. That black plume of smoke may look like it’s headed straight up the coast, but it breathes like it’s directly overhead. I can’t help but feel some kinship with the Olympians who are in need of oxygen.

Speaking of which, here are pictures of the roofless Bird’s Nest from Wired Science. They pretty much say it all. The Chinese have tried everything, but the air is subject to the whims of the weather, and there’s nothing the Olympic authorities can do, except give it the OK, of course.

On Wednesday, the IOC issued a statement from Arne Ljungqvis, the chairman of the committee’s medical commission: “The Olympic Committee and the Beijing government are successfully managing the quality of the air in the city. Air quality at Games time will be adequate for Olympic sports events.”

And now for something completely different—this time from Tini Tran of the Associated Press: “The wall of gray haze around the National Stadium and across the city cut visibility down to a mile. On the eve of opening ceremonies, Beijing’s polluted air took center stage Thursday as the most visibly pressing problem for Olympic organizers who had promised to clean up the Chinese capital.”

To the left, is the new China Central Television (CCTV) headquarters building as seen through haze in Beijing Thursday Aug. 7, 2008. (AP Photo/Greg Baker)

I don’t know, Folks. Athletes are not invincible creatures from the planet Krypton. They are living breathing organisms sucking down a ton more air than your average person. Sad to say, Pollution kills. The ‘noxious cocktail’ of athletes pushing themselves to the limit in a dirty atmosphere could trigger a serious -potentially lethal – asthma attack, Murdoch University Associate Professor Peter Dingle said.

It’s too bad the Chinese didn’t put a roof on their Olympic Stadium, I say.

Laura signing off.

p.s. For more information about SendOutCards, Chris is the man. He can fill you in on all the opportunities and fun. I have a free sendoutcard of Mount Shasta or any other picture your heart desires—just waiting to have your name inscribed on the envelope by the Great Printer in Salt Lake.

I’ve Looked At Clouds From Both Sides Now

By on Wednesday, August 6th, 2008 | 2 Comments

Sunrise over Mount Eddy by Chris Tatro www.sendoutcards.com/site

So much rests on the weather. It always has and always will—unless we grow our food indoors and build structures that are impervious to climate changes, that is. Better yet, maybe we should start tunneling underground like a new species of Human Bug.

Coming from the experience of one who just spent all of July behind closed doors to keep out the smoke, I would rather live in harmony with nature than bury myself in a climate-controlled environment.

Speaking of climate control, I wonder if the Chinese officials are going to attempt to milk their clouds—drain them of typhoon moisture before the Olympic Opening Ceremonies (8/8/08). Cloud-seeding sounds so scary to me, especially in light of what happened back in 1952 when the Royal Brit Flyboys triggered a biblical deluge with their secret experimental fiasco. An estimated ninety million tons raged through Lynmouth, England in just one day, sweeping folks out to sea. That’s T O N S, TONS—2000lbs times 90,000,000 (million)!! Unfathomable!

China Daily reports that Friday’s Opening Ceremony at the futuristic Bird’s Nest stadium in Beijing could take place under smoggy overcast skies — and might even see a shower or thunderstorm. Judging from the potential beauty in this rehearsal picture, that would be a crying shame! I can see why Chinese officials are tempted to fool around with the weather. Plus, the rainwater would dispel some of the nasty pollution everyone is buzzing about.

Joel, a blogger at China Hope Live, snapped some telling pictures back in November of 2007 which contrast clear days with smoggy days in Tianjin, location of the Olympic football games.

Now you see it

..Now you don’t.

I truly hate smog! That’s one of the reasons I live in Northern California. To me, it’s totally understandable why those Olympic Cyclists from the United States got off their plane wearing Michael Jackson masks, which were given to them by their coaches, by the way. The silly, self-absorbed six have agreed to apologize, though, so this is old news.

Oh me….so many international incidents and so little time!

I sure hope everything goes smoothly. China is baring everything to the World, including its soul. Here is an ancient culture of very proud folks with as many dreams of a prosperous future as everyone else. This country has shyly opened a window to the other nations of the World, hoping to pass inspection in a sea fraught with free internet access. It’s too easy to find fault with a soul that’s laid bare these days. I pass. No more jabs.

Let the country that is without genocide, pollution, racism and illegally imprisoned human beings cast the first stone.

Laura signing off.

Let the Games Begin!

By on Wednesday, August 6th, 2008 | Comments Off

Mount Eddy sunset before the storm, August 2008

Here in our Northern California tinder box, we are giving thanks this morning. Lightning was going off all around us last night, but no thunder, so the storm must have been too far away for sound. To tell the truth, there was mostly wind, but the rain clouds did drop a little moisture; the smell reminds me of a wet ashtray.

News on the web puts the storm track more to the south of us, moving northeast, but I could see strikes in the Northwest, so I’m hoping there’s no new fires lurking that have yet to be discovered.

Happy, to say, our air quality is good today, not because Unit # 93 says so, because the sky has real, rain-filled, honest-to-goodness clouds in it instead of smoke. Check out a sunrise pic of storm clouds over Mount Shasta that Chris took this morning. If it isn’t perfect for a custom sendoutcard, I don’t know what is.

But what of our friends in Beijing? You know, those ones trying to breathe. One picture of a masked U.S Olympian (compliments of the New York Times) is worth a thousand words, I figure. [Yves Herman/Reuters]

Actually, folks, this picture was, and still is, worth a gazillion words. Everyone, from the U.S.O.C. (United States Olympic Committee) to the Chinese government, has criticized the U.S. Cyclists for wearing masks that the U.S.O.C. gave them. According to these Olympic hopefuls, however, the lead U.S. exercise physiologist advised the whole team to put them on before they stepped off the plane.

(Oops, his bad.)

And how did our Olympic Cyclists react to all this hullabaloo? Answer: With sadness, disappointment and surprise. “They told us that the Chinese were mad and that this is a politically charged issue, but we didn’t mean to offend anybody,” Mike Friedman (Cyclist) said. “When they handed us these masks, they never said, ‘Here they are, but don’t wear them. Why we wore the masks is simple: pollution. When you train your whole life for something, dot all your i’s and cross all your t’s, why wouldn’t you be better safe than sorry?”

Friedman went on to say that he would have worn a mask in Los Angeles, too, but it was too late, the damage had been done—broadcast far and wide as a matter of fact.

The People’s Daily Online is strangely silent.

Laura, signing off

Butterfly Effect

By on Tuesday, August 5th, 2008 | Comments Off

Windswept Mount Shasta, August 2008

Fragile Strength

If two or three typhoons are churning their way towards Beijing, how many butterflies have been flapping their wings way out in the middle of the China Sea?

Don’t mind me, folks, I’m just pondering the Butterfly Effect—how something as imperciptible as a butterfly’s wings can set into motion such a huge turbulence, that, by the time it moves through the atmosphere and reaches the shore, it’s a full blown typhoon. The phenomenon is also known as the Ripple Effect.

Speaking of ripples, as you can see by the cloud patterns, we got a windy day here on the western slopes of Mount Shasta. I’m feeling mighty good—breathing clean air and enjoying the views. Why not have a free greeting card on me? Just click for Chris, your friendly, neighborhood expert on SendOutCards. One little click could set into motion the best butterfly effect of your life. And I’m not kidding, either.

Moving on. There are as many as three typhoons headed towards Beijing. According to Guo Hu, director of the Beijing Meteorological Observatory, an official weather forecast for Opening Ceremonies will be provided August 6th. The good news is, rain could clean up the air. But here’s the real question, folks: Is that air in need of one, two or three typhoons?

Two views on clear and smoggy day Check-out the same view in Beijing on a clear day and a smoggy day: Just like I said awhile back, there could be a burning mountain behind that layer of gray crud.

Independent sensor readings and photographs taken in Beijing tell us that efforts to clean up the city’s air just aren’t working, at least as of yesterday they weren’t. Today, there are some reports that the air is better, hopefully enough better that the Bird’s Nest (Chinese Olympic Stadium) in this gray picture will shine like it’s supposed to.

Actually, you can check out the ongoing pollution for yourself. There is a real-time, alien’s-eye-view of Beijing (WunderMap) complements of Beijing Airblog. See what you think.

I’ll tell you what I think, though. It’s going to be very difficult to clean up Beijing’s air, especially with all the recent Olympic construction and 2006 dust storms.

Plus it’s Summer there—stinky hot and wet as a dish rag—a very nasty combo that often gives rise to temperature inversions. Being from the South, I’m very familiar with late Summer temperature inversions. We call ‘em the ‘Dog Days‘; and we mope around with hang-dog expressions. We do not, I repeat do not go outside until the sun goes down, much less exercise in the heat of the day. That’s just pure suicide!

Laura signing off.

p.s. Here’s a scientific illustration of temp inversions. Oh yea, did I mention how they trap automobile exhaust.

Treading Water—the Newest Olympic Sport?

By on Monday, August 4th, 2008 | 1 Comment

Greetings from Mount Shasta! If you would like a real greeting card, the kind that you can hold in your hand, just say the word and I’ll get the Great Printer of SendOutCards right on it. Yesterday’s clear sunset (above) has set the tone for today. We are so grateful for clean air!

Speaking of which, it is time to check-in on our friendly, neighborhood pollution monitoring station in Weed: WOW! I’m excited! There’s a new kid on the block and it offers real-time info! Hourly Air Quality Data (unit 92 in Fort Jones, unit 93 in Weed)

What about our friends in Beijing, though? Has James Reynolds of the BBC updated his pollution readings? Answer: No, today’s thoughts from James are more concerned with freedom in China or the lack thereof. Not that this isn’t a worthy subject. It’s just that I am still intent on finding out how the Olympic athletes are simmering in that wet stir fry of Nitrogen Oxides, ozone and small particle pollution.

Not so good, if you ask Erin Smart, a fencer on the U.S. Olympic Team. Fine, if you ask U.S. weightlifter, Carissa Gump. Both have asthma but will be thankfully competing indoors. The I.O.C. (International Olympic Committee) has promised to postpone outdoor endurance competitions if the pollution levels get too bad.

Bad is an oh-so-relative term. Just whose Bad will the Olympic Committee be using? Beijing monitoring stations that don’t measure Nitrogen Oxide levels? Beijing levels that back in ’06 dropped the two lowest scores from their data collecting?

In my mind, folks, it pretty much comes down to this: Will the I.O.C. let the Chinese save face at the expense of the athletes? Speaking of which, the athletes are packing some serious heat—everything from specially designed filter masks to air purifiers, asthma puffers, eye drops, nasal sprays and throat lozenges. I guess all the efforts to spin air quality are not fazing participants overly much.

The fact is, U.S. runners are training at the seaside; ‘Ruskies’ are staying indoors; Japanese Olympians have been fitted with industrial grade face masks; ‘Ausies’ are flying in at the last minute and at least half are skipping Friday’s auspicious opening ceremonies (8/8/08).

To make everything more interesting, Beijing forecasters are predicting rain for the next few days. Moisture from the heavens is expected to do one of two things—either clean the air nicely, or rain-out the opening ceremony entirely:

“We estimate two or three typhoons will hit China’s coastal areas during the Games,” said Qiao Lin , a senior weather official at the China Meteorological Administration. “They might have Olympic Village, Hong Kong and Shanghai in their paths. We will closely monitor and issue early warnings if they do develop into a substantial threat.”

That’s enough from the weather-woman. Could we hear from Zhang Qiang, the Beijing weather manipulation official? How about draining those typhoons with a little sexy cloud seeding, baby? Not to worry, Zhang Qiang assures us; her team is quite prepared to intervene in the weather for the opening ceremony with cloud seeding if necessary.

Cloud Seeding? Typhoons? Holy Deluge times three! Me thinks the athletes should have brought inner tubes, blow up rafts and life-jackets in their carry-ons, instead of all that breathing gear.

In the meantime, monitoring is still an ugly word: Beijing’s air-pollution index for this Monday rose above the World Health Organization recommended maximum for the first time in four days. (Bernardo De Niz/Bloomberg News)

Having breathed a lot of awful air lately, it all looks rather glum to me. Sad to say, everything might boil down to an unbiased reading of convoluted pollution levels or three of your ordinary typhoons. Nothing much can be done about acts of god/Buddha etc., but, as for air quality, perhaps we should have loaned the Chinese one of our three state-of-the-art air monitors.

Here’s an example of real time data from Pollution monitoring station #93, more affectionately known as Weed, California. Happy to say, that anyone with free internet access can get a reading at any time, compliments of Homeland Security.

Air Quality Index – Current Conditions
µg/m³	0		40.0		80.0		175.0		300.0		500.0
1 HR	4.0 µg/m³
		Good		Moderate		Unhealthy Sensitive		Unhealthy		Very Unhealthy		Hazardous
24 HR	8.0 µg/m³
µg/m³	0		15.4		40.4		65.4		150.4		250.4

Excuse Me, While I Kiss the Sky!

By on Sunday, August 3rd, 2008 | Comments Off

Mount Shasta sunrise sans smoke by Chris Tatro (www.sendoutcards.com/site)

Chris and I are trumpeting a clear sunrise here on the western slopes of Mount Shasta. Irrational Exuberance is definitely the flavor of the day!

This morning we were awakened at daybreak by many joyful cries of the migrating bicyclists. Once a year seven hundred or so of this pedaling species of bipeds converge on our area to participate in a choice of scenic races. Upon reaching the top of the last ridge before the Shasta Valley (where we live), they like to yell into the quietude. “Wow, look at the view! Oh god! What could be more perfect! It’s so peaceful! …” And did I mention that all this happens around 6 A.M.?

Don’t get me wrong now. Chris and I humbly appreciate their enthusiasm for our neck of the woods. We probably even matched it on this particular morning, as it feels mighty fine to be breathing smoke-free air, gazing at smoke-free views and absorbing the vibrancy of colors that only live in a smoke-free atmosphere.

The first thing I did was rev up the camera and head for the great outdoors. The sun was barely touching Mount Shasta, and Chris got the best shot by just pointing his lens out the window. He left most of the fun close-ups to me, except for a portrait of this huge, indolent, wing-ed, yellow and brown striped bug. He wanted me to put it in my hand, but I wasn’t irrationally exuberant enough to ignore the large pincer-looking things. Ive sent this picture to the bugman in the hopes that he will let me know if I had a close brush with death or not.

I’m thinking it might be nothing more than a “June Bug”. As I recall, they live in the ground. My daddy use to stick a long blade of grass down their holes and twiddle it like he was fishing. When one bit he’d jerk it up and fly it around his head like a miniature airplane, complete with sound. That was in Mississippi, though, and I didn’t know we had any “June Bugs” in Northern California.

I’m going to have to make him a card of this creature. Seriously folks, who gets a picture of a “June Bug” on a greeting card! Answer: People who design their own SendOutCards, and their lucky friends. That’s what I love about this company! The possibilities are as endless as your imagination; plus you make folks happy. I just know my daddy will get a kick out of a “June Bug” card.

Speaking of which, Chris is on a cortex thickening kick. After reading somewhere that meditation thickens the frontal area of the brain, he’s a regular. Don’t get me wrong, now, ’cause I’m all for it. The thicker the cortex, the better the focus, so I’ve heard. Besides, cortex thinning is linked with all sorts of unbalanced states—everything from schizoid behavior to alzheimers to ADD.

Oh yea, have I mentioned what a great day it is here in Northern California. We can’t even tell that our state is burning. I finally found more info about how the Yosemite Fire started. News sources in the States weren’t that forthcoming, oddly enough. But the People’s Daily Online (Chinese internet news service) reports that”two men and two women went into remote woods to shoot rocks with a rifle”. Now there’s some frontal lobes that could do with some serious thickening… rifle, live ammo, drought, sparks, hello!#@?

Laura singing off.

p.s. Do you like this close-up I took of an ehcinacea? I can send you a real card of it. For more information about SendOutCards and all the fun opportunities it can open up, click for your friendly cortex-thickener, Chris Tatro (Om Mani Padme Hum)

echinacea enjoying the sunrise…photo by Chris Tatro

Power To The People Right On

By on Saturday, August 2nd, 2008 | Comments Off

No, this is not today’s picture of a Mount Shasta sunrise. I was just nostalgic for the good ole days is all.

Moving on. What do Beijing and Northern California have in common? Answer: Polluted air. While our bad air stems from wildfires, Beijing’s is the result of automobile and factory emissions mixed with construction dust.

The Chinese government is racing like hell to get Beijing’s air under control, though, or, at least all information concerning the data under control. Meanwhile, the IOC (International Olympic Committee) holds its neutral stance: The Olympics is a sports event, they say, and clean air is political. (cough cough)

But many are criticizing the IOC for such a lackadaisical approach to the health of athletes. Seven years ago when China won the bid to host the 2008 Olympics, the People’s Republic made at least two promises—clean air and full internet access to foreign journalists. Have they lived up to either?

Since the IOC is biting its wimpy tongue, the only accurate reorting of Beijing’s pollution levels hails from the Brits. Naturally, China is not allowing any contrary info to penetrate its Great Firewall, and this includes any BBC websites that mention poor Beijing’s poor air quality. Wonder of all wonders! In one fell swoop, China has reneged on two promises—clean air and free internet access!

How do they do it…those inscrutable Chinese officials? How do they block free internet access to their millions of online citizens, not to mention 23,000 foreign journalists? Answer: They treat their citizens like children.

Government filters work pretty much the same as home filters that stop children from accessing porn. And do these watchful parent-figures ground their naughty citizens for sneaking past filters? Yes, in a manner of speaking they do: Two to four years in a state prison, where, if the bad boys and girls happen to die, their bodies can be harvested for spare parts. Ugh, ugh ugh not a happy thought.

In his article The Great Firewall of China, Stephen Hutcheon reports that The Great Firewall of China - or the Golden Shield Project is solely aimed at keeping criticism of the Chinese Government out of print. Not as difficult as you might imagine, though, since almost all internet traffic between China and the outside world squeezes through one of three points near Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. Hutcheon goes on to say that content filtering technologies primarily rely on lists of banned sites identified by their unique internet protocol (IP) addresses. Plus Chinese offiicials are hip to the use of keywords. Can’t you just see all those millions of Websites biting the delete dust at the border?

In the “Atlantic Monthly” (February 2008 issue), James Fallows, reported that the Chinese have also installed a device called a “tapper”, or “network sniffer”, which copies every single bit of data that comes in through these three gateways, shunting it through the surveillance computers for inspection. “If the data fails to pass muster, the censor’s computer interrupts the process of connecting the user’s computer to the website, resulting in what is known as a 404 error: “site not found”.

And it all happens in a split second, Folks.

With this in mind, I am offering the accurate pollution levels for the city of Beijing, as collected by James Reynolds of the BBC . I can just see our hero roaming Beijing with his trusty handheld device taking air samples. Carry on, James. We of the free world are watching.

Saved

And now for something completely different supplied courtesy of the “People’s Daily Online”. I would like to close with this opinion of our very own Nancy Pelosi.

“ Once in a long while in History you get an anti Chinese Like Pelosi who have never experience spritual beings and culture. So, when she met the Delai Lama her feet got sweep off and she is drowned by an usual human beings in saffron robes. She went under her magical spell and is not in her usual sanity. A person of her standing suddenly became an illiterate and no history of what the Delai Lama came from. To her from heaven. So, to her just look down on her as a piece of shit garbage.”

To ameliorate the hate of that last image, I offer for your delight this beautiful dahlia that reminds me of a Chinese Chrysanthemum. Chris brought it home for me Friday in a bouquet. How would you like a SendOutCard of this blossom to arrive in your snail-mailbox? It can be arranged. I have contacts with The Great Printer in Salt Lake City.

Laura signing off.

p.s. with this internet post, I have probably sacrificed all visits to China. Now there’s a strange thought…

Beathe Deep, While You Sleep Breathe Deep

By on Friday, August 1st, 2008 | Comments Off

Just another orange sunset in Northern California, 7/31/08

Hip hip hooray! I’m breathing the sweetest natural perfume in the free world—unlimited internet access suffused with gardenia. My little potted plant just bloomed today. This courageous life form has elected to flower in spite of all the bad air it’s been breathing lately. Speaking of which, our pollution level for Friday morning is under 100! We’ve got a Beijing Blue Sky Day!

Sad to say, the rest of Siskiyou County is not so lucky. Reported levels are choking in at 176 (Yreka) and 179 (Fort Jones), or, well above Chinese safe.

Yesterday, I asked two people in Mount Shasta how they were coping with all the smoke? The first said nothing could be done, so she was ignoring it. The second said toxic vibrations from psychic sources were of more concern.

I figure both of these answers ring true enough. It’s just that on bad air days I have trouble ignoring what I’m breathing or even noticing the vibrations from psychic sources. When the Siskiyou County Air Pollution people advise me to lay low and quit taking deep breaths, I tend to get depressed. That’s why I’ve decided to go on an internet pilgrimage to collect some hope and enlightenment. See what you think:

Blue sky does not mean clean air. Our friends at Greenify Earth (who also like to breathe) define ozone as a colorless gas that can irritate the respiratory tract, produce impaired lung function and cause throat irritation, chest pain, cough, and lung inflammation. They also say that it is the most injurious pollutant to plant life.

Particulate matter, like that caused by wildfires, industrial processes, smelters, automobiles, woodsmoke, construction, road dust, agricultural ground breaking etc., hangs out in the air a long time. It’s the smaller particles that are more hazardous, because they are easily absorbed into the lungs and into the blood stream where they can cause premature death.

In general, though, any form of toxic air pollution damages our natural environment and jeopardizes public health. Air toxins accumulate in the air we breathe and work their way up the food chain, eventually winding up in the food we eat. Eating contaminated food, like fish, and breathing contaminated air from wildfires, traffic, factories and construction, can cause cancer, birth defects and other serious health problems—or, so says The Sierra Club.

After struggling to find something hopeful about this gloomy information, I have arrived at an uplifting thought: At least we have free access to gloomy information. In China, for example, they don’t. And neither do foreign journalists covering the international Olympics. How can the Chinese government be so irreverent when it comes to promises!

Just like its promise to clean up the Olympic air in time for festivities, China had also promised the IOC (International Olympic Committee) to lift its censorship of the internet, or the Great Firewall. But guess what, Folks–they are going back on that promise, too. I know there are those who do not wish to follow links, so I have lifted information about China’s internet ban from the guardian.co.uk.

Journalists at the press centre for the Beijing Olympics. Photograph: Guang Niu/Getty Images

China has reneged on a pledge to provide journalists covering the Beijing Games with unrestricted internet access, Olympic officials have admitted.

Kevan Gosper, a senior member of the International Olympics Committee (IOC) who is overseeing the games, said yesterday that the only uncensored websites journalists at the event would have access to were those related to “Olympic competitions”.

The admission contradicts China’s promise to grant the international media “complete freedom to report” at the games, which it made seven years ago when bidding to host the Olympics.

The blocks on internet sites in the main press centre, which will house about 5,000 journalists, and other Olympic venues will make it difficult to retrieve information, particularly on political and human rights stories the government dislikes. Journalists at the main press centre yesterday found they were unable to access sites such as Amnesty International or any site with Tibet in the URL.

Speaking of Tibet, if you want to get the People’s Republic of China’s perspective, click on the banner across the top of the People’s Daily Online:

Appropriately enough, this link is provided at the top of an article touting their clean air.

And now we have come full circle— back to the subject of “air” and my delicious smelling gardenia! Here is a picture from Wikipedia, large on the page but brave and small against the pollution. I think it will make an inspiring sendoutgreetingcard.

Laura signing off.

p.s. Information about SendOutCards, along with all the opportunities therein, is one click away. It really is easy to design your own sendoutcard, complete with a personal message.

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Categories

One World, One Dream

They Know It’s Wrong, But What Can They Do…

I’ve Looked At Clouds From Both Sides Now

Let the Games Begin!

Butterfly Effect

Excuse Me, While I Kiss the Sky!

Power To The People Right On

Beathe Deep, While You Sleep Breathe Deep

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