I have not posted on aquaDRAMA in a long time! Here are some of the things that have changes over the last couple months:

• Some kind of strange slime as growing on the back of the tank, and when I tried to remove it there was a serious decline in oxygen levels in the tank. This resulted in the death of a wrasse.
• In order to combat this problem, I changed 50% of the water over 2 days by syphoning out the slime as I scraped it.
• About 50% of the live rock was removed, shaken out in bucket of salt water and scrubbed lightly. This was to remove a lot of gunk that seems to be building up.
• I noticed a mantis shrimp living in my tank, I think t is a smashing kind, about 3/4 of an inch. A trap is on the way to help remove it.
• I am still having issues with large day-night pH cycles and this will be my next area of attack.
• Species list needs to be updated

What fuck is this crap?

I live in NJ and we are all pretty sick of strip malls, so all I can say to this is thank G-d!

The consumer spending slump and tightening credit markets are unleashing a widening wave of bankruptcies in American retailing, prompting thousands of store closings that are expected to remake suburban malls and downtown shopping districts across the country.
…
When it filed for bankruptcy, Sharper Image owed $6.6 million to United Parcel Service. The furniture chain Levitz owed Sealy $1.4 million.
…
In most cases, the collapses stemmed from a combination of factors: flawed business strategies, a souring economy and banks’ unwillingness to issue cheap loans.

yeah, so maybe we will actually see a little diversity or even better a little less construction!

On a rare occasion I am proud of my nation, I feel the need to share it, this from the NYTimes:

She would wave the Tibetan flag while carrying the very flame that Olympic authorities had worked so meticulously to keep demonstrators away from, adding extra security officers and occasionally making last-minute changes to the route.

I am glad that people are protesting these games, because just as they are a symbol of unity and cross cultural corporate sponsorships they are also a stage for us to talk about what is not ok with the world. That is the ying and yang of large scale public events like this.

I am proud of you Majora Carter and boo you Coke. Not only have I stopped spending money on companies that sponsor the Olympics, I plan to barely talk about them, not watch them and pretend it isnt happening.

I may not make a dent in this machine, but I certainly will not support it.How can any reasonabley minded person think that these protests do not make a point. China is an awful rapacious regime and they learned well from us.

We have one consolation, as my brother said, we are great at exporting somethings as well, especially our sense of entitlement. Just as China used us to build up fast, and inherited all that is “wonderful” about our economic system, they will soon find out how effective entitlement is at slowing it all down!

Forgive me, as it was a long time ago, but in my 11th grade year I had, for some period of time a teacher named Mr. Souder (forgive the spelling too!). He was a way leftie, as I recall his area of research; how labor unions prevented a socialist revolution from happening in the United States. He was also proud of telling us that our parents and teachers have sex. For the life of me I cannot recall why this is important, but I digress - this is my blog after all.

Among many things he taught me; he would go on and on about the multi-generational impact war has on a society. It struck me at the time that this had little to do with me, I am not sure of a Tableman who has ever been in the military, for that matter anyone within a couple generations in any direction. You will find untold numbers of professionals, not much else.

Interesting question I need to ask my parents, why did my grandfathers never serve, they would be the right ages - again a digression.

War not only deprives us of financial resources, maims - mentally and physically - our citizens and the citizens of the nations we wage war against, we are deprived of the lives of those that die in the war along with all of their potential progeny. Think about this for a moment. It is as if you cut off a branch of a tree. The now detached branch will never bloom and fruit. We are potentially removing from our midst inventors, scholars, activists, hard-working-middle-class-aspiring-individuals, farmers, computer scientists, patent holders, bakers, chefs, strippers…you get the idea. But WAIT, it is not just the single individual, it is as if we lost hundreds more! In 40 year from now, we will be deprived of about 30000 people! That is the size of a medium American town.

I share this from the “celebration” of 4000 dead:

Specialist King. From his April 2, 2007, journal entry: “People used to say to me before coming here, ‘Ryen don’t try to be a hero, just make it home safe.’ I thought to myself that there are only heroes in wars that matter, but now I’m thinking that there were heroes when wars mattered…”

We have so much to learn from this and I have so little hope we will.

I copy this directly from the pages of WikiPedia:

Reinforcing the relative decline in U.S. power and the dissatisfaction of Europe and Japan with the system was the continuing decline of the dollar—the foundation that had underpinned the post-1945 global trading system. The Vietnam War and the refusal of the administration of U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson to pay for it and its Great Society programs through taxation resulted in an increased dollar outflow to pay for the military expenditures and rampant inflation, which led to the deterioration of the U.S. balance of trade position. In the late 1960s, the dollar was overvalued with its current trading position, while the Deutsche Mark and the yen were undervalued; and, naturally, the Germans and the Japanese had no desire to revalue and thereby make their exports more expensive, whereas the U.S. sought to maintain its international credibility by avoiding devaluation. Meanwhile, the pressure on government reserves was intensified by the new international currency markets, with their vast pools of speculative capital moving around in search of quick profits.

Let me make it clearer: Viet Nam = Iraq/GWOT, Mark = Euro, Great Society = Economic Stimulus, Shitty Dollar and declining American Esteem = Shitty Dollar and declining American Esteem

When you were a kid, you had a book fairs at your grade school. I am willing to bet money you did. Somehow I have a feeling that it was slightly different than the Paris Book Fair. Not only in the scope, but in the language, awards, and controversy:

Algeria, Iran, Lebanon, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia and Yemen announced in advance they would shun the fair in response to a call from the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (ISESCO). The Morocco-based organization said last month it had urged the boycott to protest against Israel’s actions against Palestinians.

This begs the question, why do these people hate books so much? It would seem they do not like the fact that the notoriously anti-Semitic French invited 39 Israeli authors for awards.

As I talked about a few days ago, I have become a little obsessed with putting my photos on Panoramio and mapping them to Google Earth. It is kind of fun, I love maps and I love photos! A natural combination.

There is a feature on Panoramio where you can see “all” photos posted in a certain map area. I clicked on it today and found the photo to the left.

I have no idea what animal that is, but is a FREAKING CUTE!!!!! and I also wonder if I would have the nerve to pick that up like that guy did. It looks like a porcupine.

I don’t have much to ad. This sums is all up!

The rulers of Gaza cannot bring themselves to accept the concept of sharing the Holy Land with the Jews.

The best that the rulers of Gaza can do, is to bring an end to hope among their own people and ours as well.

They believe that the Jewish state is temporary, and that they Jews will soon abandon it to Islamic rule.

After all this time, you’d think they’d know the Jews a little better.

Exactly.

Top row: Katie Hoffman, David Zakim, Ida Becker
Lower row: Bluma Goodman, Morris Zakim

These are 5 of the 6 Zakim siblings. Katie is my paternal great grandmother through my grandmother.

Katie Hoffman & Ida Becker

Mara Tableman, Kent Tableman, Kara Tableman

Kent Tableman (Dad)