RIP
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
RIP That poor baby beluga died
Posted by Gwynedd Stuart on Wed, May 23, 2012 at 4:53 PM
The tiny, unnamed white whale who was born at Georgia Aquarium on Friday, passed away this morning after spending several days in critical condition. A necropsy, which may or may not reveal the cause of the infant whale's death, has already been performed, but the fact of the matter is baby beluga whales have a high mortality rate and first time pregnancies are often unsuccessful.
Basically, there was a good chance the whale would die and it did. Which doesn't make it less sad. Or less interesting to talk about.
On Monday, I put up a pretty benign/flippant post — filled with Raffi references, no less — that sparked a little conversation about the merit of keeping marine life in captivity. Or, rather, the absence of merit. Readers especially "disliked" a comment left by Lori Marino, an Emory lecturer and Ph.D. holder who's studied cetaceans for two decades. She wrote:
Although beluga infants do have a high mortality rate in the wild, to subject Maris to such a heartbreak is cruel and unjustifiable by any standard. The Georgia Aquarium knew the chances of this baby surviving were small and yet they continue their program of breeding so that they can sell more tickets. Shame on them!
Commenter RogerWaters was critical of this perspective (not to mention the overall content and tone of the post):
Answer me this, how many boat trips would it take, and how much of the environment would be compromised to take all of the people who go to Georgia Aquarium each year to see a whale shark or beluga whale in the wild?
So, let me say, I'm torn. I've never been to the Georgia Aquarium (mostly because it's expensive), but I think if I visited, I'd probably really like it. I love zoos. I love having the chance to be close to an animal I wouldn't otherwise get to be close to. That said, if the zoo didn't exist, would I "compromise the environment" by jetting to Africa, then travel in a gas-guzzling all-terrain vehicle to see one on the savannah? No. I wouldn't.
I called Marino to see if she had anything else to say about the little beluga's untimely death (like it or not, "dislikers," she's an expert). Besides agreeing that it was sad — and that there was a good chance the same thing would have happened in the wild — she reiterated the concern that the benefits education and entertainment don't outweigh the harm done to marine mammals kept in captivity. "Kids love dinosaurs. They're fascinated by them, yet they’ve never pet one or seen one. We don’t need to see anything. And if [the whales] are not going back into the wild, they’re not contributiong to conservation efforts."
The aquarium's beluga exhibit is currently closed, but should reopen in a few days.
Monday, January 16, 2012
Media / RIP MLK's 1964 Playboy interview
Posted by Gwynedd Stuart on Mon, Jan 16, 2012 at 2:30 PM
The interview's introduction describes King as "heartfelt and eloquent," but also "gravely serious." And really, really busy: "So heavy ... were his commitments when we called him last summer for an interview, that two months elapsed before he was able to accept our request for an appointment. We kept it—only to spend a week in Atlanta waiting vainly for him to find a moment for more than an apology and a hurried handshake. A bit less pressed when we returned for a second visit, King was finally able to sandwich in a series of hour and half-hour conversations with us among the other demands of a grueling week."
Much of the interviewer's questioning focuses on King's actions in places like St. Augustine, Fla. and Birmingham, but Atlanta also figures prominently, particularly in anecdotes about his first recollection of becoming aware of racial inequality and having to explain segregation to his oldest daughter Yolanda (who passed away in '07) ...
About the latter, King said ...
The family often used to ride with me to the Atlanta airport, and on our way, we always passed Funtown, a sort of miniature Disneyland with mechanical rides and that sort of thing. Yolanda would inevitably say, “I want to go to Funtown,” and I would always evade a direct reply. I really didn’t know how to explain to her why she couldn’t go. Then one day at home, she ran downstairs exclaiming that a TV commercial was urging people to come to Funtown. Then my wife and I had to sit down with her between us and try to explain it. I have won some applause as a speaker, but my tongue twisted and my speech stammered seeking to explain to my six-year-old daughter why the public invitation on television didn’t include her, and others like her.
...
Pleasantly, word came to me later that Funtown had quietly desegregated, so I took Yolanda. A number of white persons there asked, “Aren’t you Dr. King, and isn’t this your daughter?” I said we were, and she heard them say how glad they were to see us there.
He also addressed the necessity to come to terms with the threat of assassination ...
If I were constantly worried about death, I couldn’t function. After a while, if your life is more or less constantly in peril, you come to a point where you accept the possibility philosophically. I must face the fact, as all others in positions of leadership must do, that America today is an extremely sick nation, and that something could well happen to me at any time. I feel, though, that my cause is so right, so moral, that if I should lose my life, in some way it would aid the cause.
And the future plans he'd never have a chance to realize ...
Well, at one time I dreamed of pastoring for a few years, and then of going to a university to teach theology. But I gave that up when I became deeply involved in the civil rights struggle. Perhaps, in five years or so, if the demands on me have lightened, I will have the chance to make that dream come true.
Saturday, December 17, 2011
RIP Slain Atlanta rapper Slim Dunkin addressed violence before death
Posted by Rodney Carmichael on Sat, Dec 17, 2011 at 1:17 PM
Waka Flocka Flame protégée Slim Dunkin died Friday night after a verbal altercation on a video set at an East Atlanta recording studio turned violent, WSB-TV reported shortly before midnight. In a 2010 interview with Ozone magazine, the Clayton County rapper spoke about the trouble that seems to follow he and his 1017 Brick Squad affiliates, boiling it down to the occupational hazards of street life.
Thursday, December 8, 2011
Politics / RIP Former state Sen. Robert Brown has died
Posted by Thomas Wheatley on Thu, Dec 8, 2011 at 7:45 PM
- Senate Press Office
- Robert Brown
According to Bibb County Coroner Leon Jones, the former senator died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Over the years, Brown has advocated for raising the minimum wage and repealing a law that allows Georgia Power to charge ratepayers for new nuclear reactors before they're built, among other issues.
Brown resigned from the upper chamber earlier this year to launch an unsuccessful bid for mayor of Macon.
Friday, December 2, 2011
RIP Troy Davis' sister has passed away
Posted by Gwynedd Stuart on Fri, Dec 2, 2011 at 12:15 PM
- Joeff Davis/CL File
- Martina Correia
After battling breast cancer for more than a decade, Martina Correia, sister of recently executed Georgia death row inmate and international human rights cause Troy Davis, has passed away. She was 42, according to USA Today (Davis was also 42 when he was executed in September).
Despite her illness, Correia remained instrumental in the fight to save her brother's life, arguing that there was too much doubt surrounding his conviction to execute him. In July 2010, Correia told CL she would continue to fight to prove her brothers innocence until she had "no breath left in her body."
Rep. John Lewis issued the following statement upon hearing that Correia had died:
“I am deeply saddened to hear about the passing of Martina Davis-Correia. The agony of this death sentence and execution has killed not just one man, but has decimated an entire nuclear family. After 22 years of struggle, Davis’s mother died in the spring, her son was killed by the state of Georgia in September, and now her daughter has died. Correia was a brave and courageous woman who was her brother’s most stalwart advocate for clemency. She was angel of mercy who sacrificed her health to win her brother’s life.
“For a state which could have used its power to do what is right, the outcome is tragic. But for the Davis family, if it had to be this way, it is an elegant ending. God has finally accomplished what the state of Georgia could not. In his mercy he granted their prayers to be all together again — happy, healed and whole. They leave us the lessons of their lives and a legacy of struggle that strengthened a movement for repeal of the death penalty in this country. I send my deepest condolences to the Davis family and to Martina Correia’s son, who needs our support in this time. May God richly bless you for the sacrifice you as a family have made in the long, hard struggle for justice in America.”
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
RIP Sad things: Oscar the LSD Dog was put down
Posted by Gwynedd Stuart on Wed, Nov 2, 2011 at 1:40 PM
Oscar, the dog who was hit by a car whilst leading his owners on an LSD-fueled naked chase through their Snellville neighborhood has been put to sleep, according to police.
If test results indicate that Oscar was, in fact, tripping on acid, Nicholas Modrich and Jamie Hughes could be charged with animal cruelty, in addition to the drug possession and public indecency charges they're already facing. They definitely don't look like people who'd give LSD to their dog (winky-emoticon-with-tongue-hanging-out):
- Snellville Police
- Nicholas Modrich
- Snellville Police
- Jamie Hughes
But Oscar didn't die in vain! Yesterday's post about the incident sparked an interesting conversation about what drugs are acceptable for pet consumption (weed, beer) and which are off-limits (psychedelics). You guys. I'm serious. Stop giving your pets drugs.
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
RIP / Enviro Ray Anderson, Atlanta carpet company CEO turned sustainability hero, has died
Posted by Thomas Wheatley on Tue, Aug 9, 2011 at 8:45 AM
Ray Anderson, the carpet company CEO who showed that corporations could make money without plundering the Earth, died yesterday in his Atlanta home after a battle with cancer. He was 77.
In 1994, Anderson, the chairman of Interface, the world's largest modular carpet company which he found in the 1970s, was struck after reading a book that noted how large corporations hurt — and could help — the environment. The Georgia Tech graduate realized that industries didn't have to contaminate waterways, clear-cut forests, and suck up every last drop of oil. So Interface embarked on "Mission Zero" with a goal to have no negative impact on the environment by 2020 — while still making a profit. As Anderson said in 1997 shortly after kicking off the intiative:
“If we’re successful, we’ll spend the rest of our days harvesting yester-year’s carpets and other petrochemically derived products, and recycling them into new materials; and converting sunlight into energy; with zero scrap going to the landfill and zero emissions into the ecosystem. And we’ll be doing well ... very well ... by doing good. That’s the vision.”
The self-proclaimed "radical industrialist" eventually moved away from Interface's day-to-day operations to focus on environmental issues. He became a celebrity among environmentalists, gave more than 1,500 speeches advocating sustainable business practices, and worked with eco-advocacy boards, including the Georgia Conservancy. On Friday he was awarded an honorary doctorate from his alma mater.
Two years ago Anderson told Grist the company's goal to have zero environmental impact was halfway complete. Below is a video of Anderson presenting at that year's TED Conference. (H/T Grist)
Green Building Chronicle's Ken Edelstein — who's published a solid write-up about Anderson — points us to several online videos of the "radical industrialist." Among them: A YouTube clip he recorded for Interface's employees in which he frankly discusses his illness.
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Sports / RIP Four-time Peachtree Road Race winner dies
Posted by Scott Henry on Tue, Apr 19, 2011 at 11:15 AM
Anyone else come of age in the '70s, when the nation's love of disco was matched only by its obsession with running? Remember The Complete Book of Running? Bill Rodgers-brand nylon shorts? Mary Decker's heart-breaking fall during the 1984 Olympics? Frank Shorter's groovy mustache? No? Just me? Lovely.
Anyway, others who grew up during the running craze will recognize the name of Grete Waitz, the appealingly dorky-looking Norwegian girl who proved to be the greatest marathoner of her generation, winning the New York Marathon nine times and Atlanta's Peachtree Road Race four times.
I was surprised to see headlines this morning that she had died of cancer at 57. Just how we all want to start off our day — with a reminder of one's own mortality.
But don't let me harsh your mellow, kids. Get back to your Wii or Facebook!
Monday, April 11, 2011
Guv'ment / RIP Gold Dome's tax reform effort is apparently dead for the rest of session
Posted by Thomas Wheatley on Mon, Apr 11, 2011 at 5:29 PM
Via Tom Crawford of the Georgia Report:
That adjournment effectively would kill the bill, because it would not have enough time under legislative rules to win passage in the House and then receive three readings over three separate legislative days in the Senate.The bombshell development kills for this year any action on a tax revision bill that the legislative leadership had called their most important task of the session.
The bill, which was based on business leaders' recommendations and originally intended for an up-or-down vote, has been nipped and tucked during the legislative session. The most recent version would, among other things, cut the state income tax from 6 percent to 4.6 percent and add sales tax to cell phone and satellite dishes. It was released last night around 8 p.m.
While many Republicans championed the legislation as a boon for manufacturers and taxpayers, others, including Democrats and the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute, said the changes would increase the state budget deficit and actually result in higher taxes for the middle class.
No telling what was behind the move. More details to come.
UPDATE, 7:07 p.m.: So says Ralston via the AJC:
Ralston, R-Blue Ridge, said he and Republican leaders in the House were not confident in the accuracy of projections provided by the Georgia State University Fiscal Research Center and he did not want to force a vote."We're going to call a time out," he said."Tax reform is not dead. Tax reform is delayed."
The legislation could be added to a planned redistricting session this summer or taken up next year.
And Sen. Tommie Williams, R-Lyons, released this statement, which is pretty funny when you read it out loud in a defensive tone.
"We believe strongly in the policy and the direction that the Tax Reform Council has laid out. This issue is not over and the Tax Reform Council will remain active. This is a difficult issue and should not be rushed. The Speaker’s leadership on this issue and insistence that we get this right before moving forward is commendable. We will spend our time out of session continuing to look into ways to improve our tax system and put money back into the pockets of our hard working citizens. However, it will not happen until we are confident that the package we have crafted will be a tax cut for Georgians- not an increase. A fair, flatter tax structure is a key component to true tax reform. We are not interested in a political quick fix. What we want is true tax reform that is based on sound and verifiable public policy. Until we are confident of that we will continue to work to get it right.”
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
RIP Memorial fund established for HERO worker killed while on duty
Posted by Thomas Wheatley on Tue, Feb 1, 2011 at 4:22 PM
A memorial fund has been established for Spencer Pass, the Georgia Department of Transportation HERO worker who was struck and killed yesterday while assisting a stranded motorist south of downtown Atlanta.
GDOT officials say those wishing to assist Pass’ family "may contribute to the Spencer Pass Memorial Fund at any Bank of America branch."
Pass was assisting a motorist on I-85 near Metropolitan Parkway when a utility truck driver left the road and struck the HERO truck, which ultimately hit the 45-year-old Jonesboro resident.
Pass, who'd been with GDOT for three years, was the HERO unit's first worker to die while on duty in the emergency assistance division's 15-year history. According to the Associated Press, the Atlanta native is survived by three teenage sons, and he hoped to start a limousine business.
