smart suzy-sunset and i are on the case

Demonstrating that hindsight is sometimes the sharpest lens, the Washington Post has a curious article about an Iranian factory with strangely potemkin qualities in a town called Dinslaken in the Ruhrgebiet, an industrial area near Essen.

Although the quiet day-to-day operations may have been completely innocent and above-board (as Iran says of its nuclear ambitions, perhaps unfairly sullen), since being month-balled just late last month, the closing inventory and performance record has again caught the notice of inspectors and authorities, believing that the factory may have been a front for developing the nuclear programme of their home-country. Iran has been quite forthcoming with concessions and transparency, it seems and more so than is expected of other members of the nuclear club—to whatever purpose. Everyone is entitled to whatever threshold of scepticism that suits them but a coalition of preconceptions do not establish nefarious behaviour nor the strictures of imagination that may have contributed to past oversights—sins of omission. What do you think? Is the suspicion justified or should every do-nothing Döner stand or under-patronized enterprise stand be subject to the same kind of scrutiny?

real and present oder perspektiv

One major news service, incidental to the reporting on the Boston Marathon finish-line bomb attacks, raised an interesting, if not back-handed, sociological question by entertaining one report’s questions concerning the whether the event and terrible carnage were staged as a false-flag operation.

Conspiracy theories pander to the lower denominator, in accordance with the theme of the article and citing terrible school-shootings that seem to proceed at their own accord and without the prompting of policy and agendas, and as historical precedent, the sabotage of the Reichstag in Berlin during Nazi times—overlooking Hawaii or the Gulf of Tonkin Invasion that were too close for comfort. What do you think—are such suggestions (since they’re begging the answer) out-of-line and too raw for the present or does a sort of fearful patriotism and solidarity dismiss questioning?

honey-comb hideout continued or pesticides versus pollinators

Correspondence leaked to Corporate Europe Observatory suggests the furious extent of the lobbying campaign on the part of at least two major chemical and pharmacological concerns against a proposed ban of substances that may be responsible for the widespread decline in the bee population.

Although might be several other likely culprits behind colony-collapse, from parasites, cellular masts to genetically modified crops, and the verdict is not final, British and French field research seems very conclusive that even trace amounts of the pervasive pesticide have devastating effects on beneficial insects. There is currently a moratorium on such treated crops, introduced ab ovo, as seeds, and lingering in the mature plant with the same deleterious effects. The leaked litany of contraindications from the business-sector try at various angles, blaming the farmers for overdosing, badly skewed studies that insist agriculture cannot survive otherwise, and even that the EU is being held ransom by a lobby of hobby apiarists hell-bent on protecting their past-time. Industry pressure may convince European Union member states to rescind the ban and ignore stern warnings and grave consequences.

p.s.a. or ribbon-awareness month

America has a penchant for proclamations and especially tends to cram a lot of education and spangled reflection into those months without federal holidays not already identified with some other cultural or health moment and movement. April is over-burdened as it is, what with the distinctions of being national Domestic Abuse-, Child Welfare-, Alcohol Addiction-, and Stress-Awareness month and all tied together as Autism Awareness Month. That’s already quite a spectrum, and added to it, per a presidential executive order, April is also Distracted-Driving Awareness Month. How is one exactly supposed to honour and be mindful of distractions? What other random virtues and vices would you include in this cavalcade?