Fly Ash, Toxic? Shocking?

I was wondering how long it was going to take for a story like this to come out. No, it's not because I am inherently cynical, although I have my moments. It's because from the moment the coal fly ash spill occurred near Knoxville, TN onward the Tennessee Valley Authority was spouting what seemed like nonsense.

For starters, fly ash is a residue from coal burning.

Fly ash contains trace concentrations of heavy metals and other substances that are known to be detrimental to health in sufficient quantities. Potentially toxic trace elements in coal include arsenic, beryllium, cadmium, barium, chromium, copper, lead, mercury, molybdenum, nickel, radium, selenium, thorium, uranium, vanadium, and zinc.

Those are some pretty nasty elements you got going on right there. It always seemed to me that if the fly ash retainer failed the potential for groundwater contamination became pretty darn significant. No worries, according to the TVA as quoted in the article above. Maybe there is a wee bit of stuff in the water now, but nothing earth shattering. And if it is more than a wee bit, the treatment plants can filter out those pesky toxins. Drink away East Tennessee.

Mr. Moulton said Friday that the levels exceeded safety limits for drinking water, but that both metals were filtered out by water treatment processes.

Mercury and arsenic, he said, were “barely detectable” in the samples.

I never believed that company line and I know local residents didn't buy it either. Now an article from The Nation calls attention to the shady data generated by TVA following the fly ash spill. It is confirming a lot of what has been feared from the very beginning.

New evidence indicates that in the wake of the disaster, the TVA may have intentionally collected water samples from clean spots in the Emory River, a major supplier of drinking water for nearby cities and a popular site for recreational activities such as swimming and fishing. Third-party tests have found high levels of toxins in the river water and in private wells, while the TVA has assured residents that tap water, well water and river water are safe.

In recent weeks, an inquiry in conjunction with The Nation Institute's Investigative Fund uncovered satellite positioning locations for the authority's water sampling stations inside a TVA dredging permit application. The data were pinpointed on aerial maps and shown to independent experts in an effort to determine whether the TVA skewed its choice of water sample sites.

Donna Lisenby, a river monitor for Appalachian Voices, said the location data gave critics a smoking gun. "You can skew the data by putting testing points in odd locations, such as behind a sandbar or far upriver away from the spill," she said. "The GPS locations show that that is what the TVA has been doing." Bob Gadinski, a former hydrologist for the State of Pennsylvania, said that the TVA's use of only five testing locations was "too few."

Oh The Joys of Living in the South

This makes me sad.

...the racial incident happened because she supports Barack Obama for president

Got Gas? I Seriously Doubt It!

I don't think I have ever seen a case of what you believe will come to pass that surpasses what is going on this very moment with gas prices. If we ever needed proof that we are a society that is utterly addicted to oil, this is it.

I heard rumblings about how Knoxville was going to experience a gas shortage because of Hurricane Ike. I didn't believe it. Sure, gas shortages in the Houston area with all the people trying to evacuate, I get that. But seriously people....a gas shortage in Knoxville as a result, you have got to be kidding me. Oh how wrong I was!

Here is a piece from the local news about the impending local gas shortage. The minute there was a whisper of gas prices going up because of the shut-down of off shore drilling and on shore refining people went nuts. There were people at my work who went out at lunch time with over a half a tank of gas in order to top off. Stupid me thought it was all a joke so I stayed put with my not quite quarter of a tank. On my way home, I saw $3.99 at a gas station that I pass and was pissed. Then I passed another gas station and saw $4.47. I became irrate. The line was 5 cars deep. Hell people, you'd think there was a mandatory evacuation order for Knoxville because of this storm.

OPEC has got to be shitting a glee brick right now to watch the U.S. behaving like a bunch of oil starved maniacs.

Knoxville in the News

That's right...Knoxville, TN has been in the news a lot lately. Church shooting, school shooting. It isn't what is expected around here. And yet, CourtTV is camped out in this relatively small town city now for coverage of the Eric McLean trial.

I don't have a grand point to this post. I think what I want to write about is the whole misguided notion that society seems to have about "it could never happen here". Plain fact of the matter is, it can happen anywhere, anytime. Loading society up with guns wont stop it. If someone is going to go ballistic, they are going to go ballistic Metal detectors in schools? Fine, the shooting will occur right outside the school. Locking our kids up instead of letting them roam free? Fine, the predators will bide time. Monitoring computer usage? Fine, go anonymous. It just seems to me we can't stop a lunatic without stopping the behavior at a very early age.

You know, I suppose some of this comes from my new found jaded perspective of my job. Honestly though, I think I had come to this conclusion a long time ago. We are lost. I don't know how we find our way back, but there are lost souls out there who are going to do crazy things. And none of the rest of us will ever understand why.

Got Records?

I know, I know...everyone is tired of me writing about sprorts. What's a girl to do though when she has just witnessed history? I've mentioned before that I started swimming competetively when I was six years old. I also tried diving, gymnastics, track and field, softball, and basketball before I fell in love with swimming. It was not an uninformed decision for me. So, as an informed lover of the sport let me count the ways that this has been an unbelievable experience for me as a fan.

(1) Clearly Michael Phelps has held the news media attention this year. There has even been talk about how his presence this year has been bad for the sport, but come on people...he just won eight gold medals. Eight! I was two months old when Mark Spitz won his seven gold medals in Munich in 1972. As a ten year old, I had the opportunity to swim in the same pool that the Spitz did when he won seven gold and set seven world records. In fact, I got to swim there with my mom. It gave us both goose bumps. This evening I got to see Phelps break that long standing record.

(2) I do recall watching Janet Evans set a world record at the Olympics some nineteen years ago (the longest standing swimming world record) and last night I got to see that record fall in the 800 freestyle. It was a little sad for me to see that record fall since I did get to see it set, but records are meant to be broken.

(3) I grew up watching Dara Torres and tonight I got to watch a 41-year old heroine of mine win silver in the 50 freestyle (damn that 0.01 second out-touch...I thought she had it). And did you see the joy on Dara's face with that silver? It was so utterly joyous. Then she came right back in about twenty minutes for the women's 4 x 100 medley relay to win silver again. And every member of that team had the grace to say how Australia simply was the better team. Dara's comment after all of that was that she would want to tell her two year old daughter who probably wont remember the evening that you shouldn't put an age limit on your dreams.

(4) On top of it all, Natalie Coughlin just won six medals in one Olympics and that was also a record for a woman.

For me, it has been an amazing Olympics!

Got Olympics?

I have to admit, it never occurred to me that anyone might hate the Olympics. Nor has it ever occurred to me that anyone might question the benefits of intense sporting competition. Allow me to define whom I see myself to be. I am a daughter, sibling, partner, friend, woman, feminist, scientist, depressive, athlete. None of that defines me any more than the other, but they are all part of who I am. I write this particular piece as an athlete.

It truly saddens me to hear that people hate the Olympics. It actually saddens me to the core because it seems to extend beyond the Olympic games into sports in general.

First, the Olympics. I understand how there can be issues with the Olympics. Certainly I did not and still do not necessarily think that Beijing should have received this summer's Olympics. I understand the human rights issues that swirl around it. That is why I think that the U.S. choice for flag bearer was undeniably brave. Lebanon has women on its team. In the grand scheme of things, how amazing is that?! In my mind, there can be no doubt that the Olympics brings about change like nothing out there ever has managed to do. Despite all else, it brings together the world for the briefest of times.

I understand that there may be issues with the commercial aspect of what is supposed to be an amateur event. However, whether we like it or not, the Olympics is a business just like everything else. Film, the arts of any fashion, the corporate world. There may be issues with the money that comes along with being an Olympic athlete. Be it endorsements or money given for a medal in certain countries...I see how that can be hard to swallow. Focusing on those issues, however, fails to acknowledge that an athlete chooses to give their life for a short period of time to all the training that goes into it. In many countries, there is nothing to gain from this. In fact, in many countries athletes live below the poverty line while they are training.

Finally, I understand that there might be questions about how this may or may not be healthy for the children who choose to follow the path of an Olympic athlete. Is it in the child's best interest? I think if the child is talented enough to be an elite athlete, it is. How is it any different from an intellectual child prodigy? How is it any different from a piano or violin child prodigy? If someone has the talent to excel, is it not in their best interest to strive towards excellence?

The concept of competition as a zero sum scenario misses the point for me. I started competing as a swimmer when I was six years old. I tried all sports out there before finding that swimming was it for me. Never was I destined to make it to the Olympics. I think I realized that fairly early on. However, I always had the goal of being the best I could be in the venue that I loved. How is that any different from what anyone ever does in whatever endeavor they choose? It isn't always win, lose, or go home. For me, and for most athletes I know, it was do your very best. When I fell short, I was disappointed, but I learned from that disappointment. I learned that you can't always be the best there is, but you can always be the best you can be.

I know for a fact five things. (1) All the times in my life when I suffered from a major depressive episode coincided with when I was not swimming. (2) All the times in my life when my grades suffered was when I was not swimming. (3) Swimming taught me discipline, focus, and grace in victory or defeat. (4) Swimming gave me a sense of community...with my teammates, with my school, with my family and friends. (5) Swimming gave me a way to express myself. I don't see how that is any different than anything else anyone else identifies with at a deep level.

To the very core of my being I believe that the athletes at the Olympics are there to have the chance to be the best in the world and if not that then to be a heroine/hero for their nation just by competing. Does the media make more out of it than they should? Probably. When do they not? But like it or not, the world identifies with sport. In the end, I honestly believe that, medal or not / money or not, an athlete competes because it is the ultimate acceptance of the gifts that they have been given. Regardless of how one feels about all the hype that surrounds it, to not accept the talent would be far worse a fate.

My Famous Little City

It isn't often I get to brag about Bartlesville, Oklahoma. The town has never quite recovered from the pull out of Phillips Petroleum Company. It's hard when an oil town no longer gets to be an oil town. Surprisingly though, Bartlesville still has its own unexpected claim to fame. Bartlesville is proud owner of its very own Frank Lloyd Wright building. Even more, the Price Tower still manages to provide a bit of wonder to those few people who still find themselves passing through Bartlesville, like Wayne Curtis did, which he writes about here.

I grew up about ten long Oklahoma blocks away from the Price Tower. I saw it every day as I walked to swim practice downtown. Green copper paneling, triangle structure...how can you not love it? The last time I was in town was when I was there packing up my mom from the house I grew up in following my dad's death. I'm not sure when I might make it back there since no family remains in the town, but it is nice to know that there will still be a little bit of fame waiting for me if I do.

(Photo courtesy of: The Price Tower Arts Center)

Tour de France is a Tour de Farce

Sigh...I am disillusioned.

While I was able to make a post about Tour de France teams tackling the issue of doping here, it seems that not all teams are trying to do what Team Columbia and Team Garmin-Chipotle are doing. That is because, as of yesterday, three riders have been caught, one team has dropped out entirely, and another team sponsor will quit following the Tour because people still refuse to ride clean.

Riccardo Ricco, Manuel Beltran, and Moises Duenas Nevado are all gone from this year's Tour. Ricco's Saunier Duval team has since pulled out in disgrace. Team Barloworld, sponsor of Moises Duenas Nevado, will quit after the Tour ends, refusing to endorse a dirty team.

Honestly, I just don't get it. I don't understand how a person can be so "committed" to winning that they are willing to cheat to do it. Further, I don't understand how someone can live with such a win.

My parents taught me early on about the concept of a clean win. Agincourt and I have started playing gin these days as a break from our cribbage war. It is hard for me because it makes me miss my father. Gin is the first game he and I played together. He showed me no mercy, even as an eight year old little girl. He watched every card I threw away and would go out of his way to not play into what I needed. It took me forever to learn how to remember what cards had been played, but I did eventually. And eventually I was able to beat him.

My mom did the same thing for me. She was a swimmer before I was. She taught me everything I know. In fact, she is probably more in shape than I am because, at age 82, she is still a competitive Master's swimmer. Back when I was a wee thing, she and I would race. She would never ever let me win. I hated it. I hated every minute of it. I thought she should let me win something just because. Looking back, it was the best of lessons. She knew I could eventually beat her on my own. She knew that I would work to do it on my own. She never gave me an easy way out. I am a stronger person because of that.

This is where I have such an issue with what cheating riders in Le Tour are doing. I learned the hard way. Train hard, be dedicated, and win with what you can do on your own. If you can't win, then accept that...don't cheat to make it otherwise.

The Tour de France, the Olympics, baseball, football...all of these sports...if you want to be an athlete then be an athlete. Don't be a cheater. A cheater cheats themselves. A cheater cheats everyone else.

Simple as that.

Tour de France Teams Become a Tour de Force in the Fight Against Doping

I am a Tour de France fanatic. I think it started back in 1986 when Greg LeMond became the first American to win le Tour. I've watched it since then and my passion has increased in the last ten years. However, I am not immune to the doping scandals that have almost brought the cycling world to its knees in recent years. I find myself skeptical when it comes to my favorite athletes in the sport (yes, I do mean Lance Armstrong).

This year, thankfully, there are some teams fighting the doping status quo. There are two American teams in this year's Tour. This alone is feat. However, what is more, these teams are ramping up the doping testing in order to return the event to a clean one.

Both Team Garmin-Chipotle (Slipstream) and Team Columbia (Highroad) have signed on to this radical notion. Both teams are now under their own testing parameters monitored by the Agency for Cycling Ethics (ACE). The concept behind the testing done by ACE is both revolutionary and simplistic. Rather than simply testing an athlete after the race or on a few random occasions throughout the year, ACE is recreating the entire notion of doping testing:

Each Slipstream rider is tested not for the illegal substances, but for the body’s reactions to doping. To do that, riders are blood-tested 50 times a year, at least five times more than usual. In the program, they are also urine-tested 50 times a year

In Slipstream’s program, each rider’s blood and urine samples would be tested by an outside lab, then sent to an independent agency to be analyzed. That agency would then compile a biological record of each rider, including his levels of hemoglobin, naturally occurring steroids and red blood cell count. Over time, the information gathered would show what was normal for each individual. Team management has asked WADA to audit those results.

If any part of a rider’s biological record changes markedly — for example, if his natural steroid level skyrockets — it could be an indication of doping, or of a drug for which there is not yet a test. In that case, the athlete has agreed to sit out for two weeks to undergo further drug testing to see what caused the anomaly.

This means that there is a physiological profile for each rider on the team. Use a substance, your body reacts to it in many a subtle way. By monitoring not only the presence of the illegal substance, but also the body's natural, and unnatural, reaction to its presence a doper can be caught almost immediately.

A person can figure out how to fool a drug screen. It is almost impossible to fool the body. Even if you think you have, the body knows. This is what ACE is testing. Brilliant!

When A Maus Attacks!

Right then. Casmall had his chance here. LaPH had her chance here. That two day deadline she threatened with has long since passed. So, leave it to a wee little Maus to take over the Armchair world. And one never knows what topic I may focus on because I'm crazy like that.

I just finished reading an excellent little blog post that made me laugh. Agincourt was just looking at me funny as a result. A previous post of mine introduced you all the new Speedo LZR racing suit that the world is sporting these days. Now, over at swimnetwork.com, there is a hilarious blog post by Obnoxious Swim Mom. She details the agony that can go along with donning the LZR.

I can only imagine the difficulty. The initial creations of fast suits that I was able to wear was indeed a challenge. To get it on, I almost had to adopt a pee-pee dance motion to pull that thing up. And heaven forbid you had to try and get it on if you were wet. And getting it off was no piece of cake either.

Ah...such fond memories!

When Amazons Attack!

I know that this is supposed to be a blog for all, run by Casmall. I respect that. But...

I'M TAKING OVER!!!

Well, let me rephrase that in a kinder, more gentle way:

If no one breaths some life into this half-abandoned little blog, I'm cannibalizing it. You will all soon be contributors on a feminist blog, like it or not!

You have two days.

My Suit is Better Than Yours

Here is my attempt to give some love to The Journal of Modern Armchair Philosophies. I'm not sure if anyone will find this intriguing, but I do. I was a swimmer. I started at age 5. I was on my first team at age 7. I swam on a high school team that was state champs for 13 straight years, until we lost my senior year. I swam in college. All told, over ten years of my life was spent in the pool. I can still recall the first "fast" suit I had in high school. My mom said it was too revealing. I can still recall the "fast" suit we got in college. It was the first neck style body suit and it was awesome. I don't know if the suit made me faster, but I can assure you it sure made me *feel* faster...and sometimes it is all in your head.

Now, Speedo has unveiled its fastest suit ever. The Speedo LZR; it's a body suit with plastic panels that hit all the parts of a human body that inherently create drag in the water. The problem? Well, some say that it is technolgical doping. Others say it is an unfair advantage because not everyone can afford the $500 price tag.

World records are dropping like flies. The Olympics this summer are going to be a swimming sight to behold. So, is it cheating to have the best suit ever? FINA has given the suit its okay. Is that enough? Or is it really cheating? I'd have to say no. Any number of sporting events add in technological advancements. At least it's not drugs, right?

We're Doomed.

It's supposed to be Monkey vs. Robot - not Monkey AND Robot!

Someone Else's New Year's Resolutions

I find myself undecided about New Year's Resolutions. Maybe it is because they never seem to change for either myself or any number of people who try to make them. It should not take the change of a year to commit to exercising more. Nor should it take me five changing of years to quit smoking. Why on earth do we wait? No, let me be more appropriate...why on earth do I wait?

So, since my resolutions are the same as they were last year, I am offering up someone else's resolutions because some of them made me chuckle and I find that a grand way to start 2008.

The Junk Mail Stops Here

Mail time at home has become an effort in futility for me these days. 90% of the mail is worthless junk mail. It infuriates me. I spend a good 15 minutes opening this crap so as to pull out my personal information for shredding. The remaining portion is directly recycled. While I have followed the opt out procedures for telemarketers, it is almost impossible to manage the same feat with junk mail. Enter my new best friend. Greendimes is a for-profit group that does the work for you to stop unwanted junk mail from ever reaching you. It saves paper. It saves water. They plant ten trees when you sign up. I just joined this group so cannot comment on the true extent of its effectiveness. It apparently can take up to three months to see the full benefit. However, if this removes even a fraction of the junk mail that arrives at this house, I will be a happy little Maus.

That Crazy Global Warming Myth

I've lamented to friends about the wall I run smack dab in to at work concerning the "crazy notion of global warming." I often find that I have nothing to say. This is not because I have nothing to say, but because I find that I simply cannot combat them. Seriously, if a group of otherwise intelligent people want to discount mounds of valid scientific data supporting global warming, what is a girl to do? How does one debate when the bottom line the enemy uses is that this is simply normal environmental cycling...even when it clearly is not?

What I find as one option is to use not the valid scientific evidence, but rather the real-life evidence provided by those among us who are living through the actual effects of global warming. If life was one way for a consistent period of time and now it is not and in fact it is not on such an extreme scale, well...I think we should listen. I think we *all* should listen. Honestly, whether you believe in global warming or not, *something* is happening to our environment. At the very least, we should respect the signs. We should respect the tales that our world neighbors are telling us...even if the tales are coming from developing countries. Perhaps that is why the effects are being discounted so much? I say, regardless of where the main effects are being seen right now, we should all start to accept it and do something about it because I assure you it is only a matter of time before it is on all our doorsteps. Mind you, I am one of the few at my work that feel it already is.

Is this for real?

Really, I want to know. 'Cause suggesting that teen girls use their, ummm... feminine charms for cash would be pretty weird for any store, but particularly for one that only sells edited versions of pop music. If anyone can prove or disprove the existence of these undies, which Feministing claims are being sold in the juniors departments of some Wal Mart stores, then you win... my thanks. But, really, is it real?

UPDATE: Yep, they're real.. but they've been, ummm..., removed from shelves in recent days.

Ayumu the Chimp is Smarter than You

Via.

Water Misers Sounds Dirty

I enjoyed this AJC article about the water conservation steps taken by one Roswell, GA couple who is making good use of gray water and rain barrels. Never willing to pass up even the weakest pun, though, the AJC subtitled the article "The Miser's Touch," a title that sorta insults the couple even while introducing an article which ostensibly seeks to promote responsible water usage during the drought.

Sigh.

Anyway, here is how the clever rain barrel chain works:

Let The Games Begin!

Right then. I was chastised for not having posted a sufficient number of blog posts as of late. Woe to those who challenge me.

Here is my news of the utterly bizarre courtesy of a friend in Scotland. We've seen one Haggis already. Game on. Who is gonna beat us?