Hammer Mill Days

Pass the all-spice. Now the dried currents. Okay, now shake this up. Shake harder! HARDER! That's good. Okay ... now we need five coconuts, cracked like hen's eggs. Hurry, hurry! Jebus Christmas. It's so hard to get good ingredients this time of year. How the hell am I supposed to make Madagascarian ratatouille without five coconuts cracked like hen's eggs? What the hell are we supposed to eat between now and St. Swithun's day? Coal dust? Hammer handles? (Actually, they're pretty close to corn on the cob if you close your eyes ... and your mouth.) It's a bit of an issue. Aside from working on the next episode of THIS IS BIG GREEN , our podcast, and the various songs contained therein, we do try to keep busy here inside the abandoned Cheney Hammer Mill as the snow falls in sheets, covering the rolling farmland of upstate New York like a bedspread. It seems to slow everything down to a crawl this time of year. And yes, that is a lame attempt to blame the l

Just a few short takes on a variety of subjects. A lot to focus on, so I'll try not to focus too much on anything. ISIS Killing. The so-called "Islamic State" burned a Jordanian captive alive this week. In retaliation, the Jordanian King executed some prisoners. Meanwhile, we dropped some bombs on some nameless people, some of which, quite possibly, were burned alive (though not in front of a camera). Your pick as to who is the biggest asshole here. On points of style, it's a toss up. On volume, we win hands down. Ukraine. The reporting on this crisis has been abysmal, though not surprising. Mainstream media, including left-leaning outlets like MSNBC, have been toeing the administration line by and large. When we hear from them about casualties on the Kiev side, it's in graphic detail. Deaths on the separatist side are somehow authorless, with the persistent question of whether they might be the result of bad aim by the separatists. This is a tremendously da