Sweet 16: Opinion8ed’s 2nd Anniversary
First posted March 18, 2011
What started out two years, 16 issues, and 70 articles ago as an experiment of sorts has grown into habit that has kept me writing and publishing almost regularly. The contents of Opinion8ed2 has certainly expanded and its format has been tightened, spruced, and revamped – most notably morphing into a true blog that inspires three dimensional communication in the blogosphere. In short, Opinion8ed2 has grown up quickly and developed a unique personality. Many of you have stayed on board for the journey and quite a few have offered words of encourgement for which I am genuinely grateful.
There’s so much happening so quickly these days it’s hard to keep up. The peaceful revolution in Egypt spread to Libya- only Qaddafi has no intention of leaving without bloodshed. The Republican governor and legislature in Wisconsin are redefining their contempt for workers and have brazenly and illegally stripped state employees of their collective bargaining rights. The protests and retaliation continue. And the earthquake, sunami, and resultant nuclear power plant failures in Japan are of staggeringly devastating proportions. While these events haven’t gone unnoticed, this issue’s content is a little lighter fare… your comments on all topics are welcome of course.
All aboard for the departure of The Sweet 16 which will be stopping at the following destinations:
I recently had the opportunity to attend an energy summit sponsored by DOE that featured Secretary of Energy Chu, a host of elected officials (and former officials like Arnold Schwartzenegger who was All Pumped Up), scientists, policy makers, and entrepreneurs. I really believe we can reach the challenging goals for clean renewable energy but our technological clock is definitely ticking.
If you’re hungry for a light Indie movie, check out Today’s Special – a movie co-written and starring Aasif Mondi (regular on the Daily Show) which is funny but poignant.
The Gadget Guru Review is back – this time with the Ron Poppeil version of espresso machines, which believe it or not, makes damn good coffee.
Finally, a photo recipe of a classic breakfast dish and Sunday Morning Special in my house both growing up and as an adult.
Enjoy the scenery,
Paul
In honor of this special anniversary, check out this very early “rock video” of a young Chuck Berry playing Sweet Little 16 to a “cross-over” audience at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1958. This was from the movie Jazz on a Summer’s Day by an aspiring young film maker from NY, Bert Stern. Backing Berry on this tune is Rudy Rutherford on clarinet, Jo Jones on drums, and Tommy Bryant on bass. While you can’t see his face, I believe his long-time collaborator, pianist Jonnie Johnson is the one doing those great dancing moves on stage. Below, photo of Chuck Berry still at it almost 50 years later – appearing at a concert in Sweden in 2007.
opinion8ed2 
Paul, I like the new layout. For discussion of this ‘holy grail’ look, check out: http://www.alistapart.com/articles/holygrail
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Happy Anniversary! Good issue – especially like the
DOE conference report as I am firmer now, given events in Japan, that nuclear power is unsafe in it’s given form so we had better do some serious alternative energy options, fast. Liked the movie review until I got way to hungry listening to the description. Thanks!
mary
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Thanks Mary, You’re not alone in worrying about the future of nuclear power, its safety etc. The Japanese nuclear accident should be a wake up call for us to re-evaluate our energy needs and supplies and the relative risks associated with each of them…But we need to be careful to do this in an objective and rational manner. Even as serious consequences of the Fukushima Daiichi disaster unfold it appears that it will be those who are bravely working to get it under control who will be at most risk for serious health consequences. Those people in California who bought up the supply of iodine pills and took them for prevention were ill informed and irrational. The primary pathway of radioactive I-131 to man is through milk from cows who have ingested contaminated grass. Since it has an 8 day half-life, it’s not that difficult to avoid potentially contaminated dairy products until it decays. Nuclear currently makes up about 20% of our electrical power generating capacity and is not a source of greenhouse gases while coal makes up 50% of our electrical power and is the primary source of greenhouse gases. The life cycle of coal is pretty deadly too only its not as sensational as nuclear. There’s plenty we can and must do to reduce our fossil fuel consumpiton and generate new sources of clean energy including wind and solar. But the magic bullet eludes us and we’ll need a balanced approach – it is not realistic to think we can eliminate the contributions of nuclear power overnight. President Obama has ordered a review of overall safety at our current reactors and the proposed new generation of reactors will be more inhernetly safe. Nuclear will continue to be a significant contribution to our energy portfolio until we can reduce consumption and supply enough green technology to meet our needs. Unfortunately that day is not yet on the horizon.
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Another nasty result of the Obama/Clinton service in behalf of the global Corporatocracy is the plight of Haiti. That Carribean island neighbor has long been a colony of the U.S., benignly treated when it was controlled and despoiled by dictator Papa Doc Duvalier and maltreated the two times the Haitians democratically elected Aristide. As Amy Wilentz pointed out in her recent article in the Times, Aristide is still considered to be the leader of the country by the vast majority of the people. This surprisingly good piece was flawed by her inaccurate reports of the two coups and of the roadblocks that have been erected to prevent Aristide’s return to Haiti from South Africa where he has been “exiled” by the U.S. She said that the first unlawful removal of Pres. Aristide was done by the Haitian military with the “tacit approval of the U.S.” (implying a secondary role for the U.S.) when it was the U.S. who manipulated that coup in the first place. She failed to give the true story about the second coup in which Aristide was actually kidnapped by the C.I.A. and U.S. marines under the direction of then Secy of State Colin Powell who was present in Haiti. Aristide was placed on a plane and flown to the Republic of Central Africa, and Powell stated that this was done for his own “protection” because his safety was being threatened. Wilentz complained that if Baby Doc Duvalier was permitted to return to Haiti, then certainly Pres. Duvalier should also be permitted to return, implying that the fault for this was the Haitian government. Had she been reading or listening to Democracy Now she would have known that the Haitian government had issued a return visa to Aristide, but Clinton/Obama was leaning heavily on South Africa to refuse Aristide an exit visa until after the coming election. They evidently expect the new government to revoke Aristide’s visa to return to Haiti. Another rotten mark to join a host of others in the ledger.
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