Cuppacafe

March of the Living

by The Perfessor Posted on Apr 30, 2008 under World Traveler | 1 Comment

During WWII thousands of Jews were forced to march between Auschwitz to Birkenau in what has come to be called a Death March. Jews were starved, beaten, and shot. When they arrived at the Death Camp the were then gassed, given lethal injections, and killed by the thousands. Some 15 years ago Jews decided to change all this and rename what happened here, truning it into an act of affirmation. Now renamed The March of the Living, the event brings together thousands of Jewish Teens from around the world to bring life to a place were there was once only death.

I mention all of this because this year, my son, Dylan is among those teens.

He is just one of 10,000 Jewish teens from all around the world flew into Poland (yeas all on the same day, all at the same airport, literally landing within minutes of each other for a full day). the Teens are then shown around one of the camps, and then marched to another camp. Then, as week later, they are flown out (again all on the same day) to Israel, where they will stay for a week. While in Israel they will be present for Israeli Independence day (the 60th anniversary of the birth of the nation).

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Busy Bees make a blog look empty

by Walt Posted on Apr 30, 2008 under General | No Comment

Sorry about the absence lately. Been running around doing a variety of things, and when I get busy the blog gets neglected.

I visited a friend in the hospital and you’ll hear more about that soon enough.

I’ve been learning a few new non-internet tricks lately, and can’t really talk about them now. If I could use them to get back to getting paid for my geo-science background, it would be nice.

I did have half posts created that I’ve killed because I didn’t have the time to dedicate a decent post about them, such as the underage preggo girls from that polygamist sect compound in West Texas, and today I wanted to relate that to the allegation that Roger Clemens gave thousands of dollars to an underage girl… but I’ll let that pass for now.

I’m off to run a few more errands today, and I have to actually conduct an interview I forgot to do earlier in the month with Myla Jackson, one of two interviews to be posted tomorrow on Access Romance. The other interview to be posted tomorrow is with Gail Barrett who traveled to Europe for some of her book research.

I’ll leave you with one thought to take away today…
Albert Hoffman died yesterday. He is credited with the discovery of the psychodelic drug popularly known as LSD. He took the drug himself. Now… I never took LSD in all of my life, being scared by the publicity that “LSD corrupts your genetic structure”… Albert Hoffman was 102 when he died, so taking LSD certainly didn’t shorten Dr. Hoffman’s lifespan… and as to genetically warped offspring… he is survived by “two of his four children”. Question: How old were his children; were they conceived before Dr. Hoffman started consuming LSD? Has any scientist tested the offspring of Dr. Hoffman for these so-called genetic defects that were speculated on over 40 years ago? Or was that chatter about LSD corrupting the genetic makeup of your offspring just all bullshit scare tactics?

Psychodelic Music Video - Speed Racer

by Walt Posted on Apr 27, 2008 under General, Movies | 1 Comment

If this movie doesn’t cause at least a half dozen LSD flashbacks, I’ll be surprised.

Sound required for nostalgia meets hiphop remix.

Unfortunately, this movie has one flaw: The actors are required to talk.

Look closely at the actor who plays Speed, while he’s driving the car.
Is that determination … or constipation?
I was thinking the Dulcolax ad was going to come on any minute.
Go Speed Racer! Go Speed Racer! Go Speed Racer, GO!! — Dulcolax!

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A little early for Caturday but…

by Walt Posted on Apr 25, 2008 under Video | No Comment

I thought this was cute.

Sound not required,
but there is some crappy music playing in the background
in case you want to hear what the kitties are
getting their groove on to…

Earth Day cynic

by Walt Posted on Apr 25, 2008 under General | 7 Comments

I’m probably what you’d call an Earth Day cynic. I realize that mankind should do more to preserve the life on Earth and more specifically, the way of life we in the Western World have developed, but let’s face facts.

The best way of protecting the planet is to stop making babies. China has tried for a couple of decades to do that, and they’ve barely made a dent in their overpopulation problem. That “One Couple, One Child” concept they rolled out didn’t make them many friends among their own populace either, I suspect. The population on Earth has doubled in my lifetime, and I’m not even half dead yet.

As we’ve noticed recently, the fight for resources is on. Everyone’s assumed that it’s all going to be over oil. I’ve told everyone since I was twenty that the fight may concern oil, it’s really over what oil can provide you. Mainly, food.

Food, water, and air are the most important things for survival. In the immediate situation, the world’s problem is food. The price of corn has gone up because of the demand for biofuels. Every time you fill up with ethanol, you’re helping to support the high price of tortillas in Mexico. Wheat is at near record production, but several months ago, prices spiked because of weather fears. Yes, it was mostly speculators that drove the price to record highs. The weather issues didn’t pan out, and the price of wheat has dropped significantly in recent days. And with rice… well, news reports of average people buying up 50 pound sacks of rice at Costco made me chuckle.

50 pounds of rice? Hell, I watch Survivor and if those contestants have nothing to eat but rice for more than two weeks, those guys go stark raving mad! How long is it going to take you to go through a 50 pound bag of rice? Idiots. Are these the same folks who ran out to buy a truckload of dried beans when the Y2K problem loomed menacingly on the horizon?? What ever happened to all those beans, anyway?

Okay, so what did happen with rice production? As far I can tell, nothing. It’s not like the world started growing less rice. The problem is, there’s too much demand, too many people demaning rice to eat.[NYTimes.com]

Yes, overpopulation. That same demand by everyone for more oil that causes the prices to go up is related to the demand for food.

Simple enough, don’t you think? More people, demand for more food. Rice is being grown in record amounts. Did you know that China is in Africa, looking to invest money for development? If you had asked me, I would have said, yes, they’re in the Sudan, looking for oil deals. But China is also looking ahead for food production, too, and is willing to pay for it:

Africa: China Earmarks U.S.$5 Billion for Food Production on Continent
The NEWS (Monrovia) [via AllAfrica.com]
23 April 2008

A visiting Chinese delegation headed by the Chief Executive Officer of China-Africa Development Fund says about 5 billion United States dollars have been earmarked for the production of food and cash crops in Liberia and other African countries over a 50-year period.

Mr. Chi Jianxin, at a head of a Chinese delegation, is in the country to explore investment opportunities in the agricultural sector.

Chi said his company has the financial capacity and expertise to develop and stabilize the food situation in Liberia “particularly in rice production and other cash crops”.

[via Salon.com]

China is so large, why would they want to plant in Africa? It’s the control and access to more food, even if they have to invest outside their own continent and later pay for the rice that’s produced. (It’s like the US first going to war to protect Kuwait from the invading Iraqis, and later taking over Iraq itself. The US still has to pay full price for the oil, but at least the gas station is open when we get there.)

A side note: Cuppacafe Central is located near the City of Katy, Texas, once known for rice production, but rice growing requires a lot of water, and ever since the 1980s, pulling water from the local aquifer became cost prohibitive. Water for agricultural or industrial use is restricted or regulated, due to subsidence. A large parcel of land near me was used as late as 1990 for growing rice now grows new rows of houses. (Yes, brand new - what real estate bubble?)

To sum, I’ve never held much stock in growing trees for Earth Day. In my neck of the woods, growing trees (in a tree farm) is used mainly as a lucrative tax dodge, a way of holding land as cheaply as possible while the price of the land itself goes up. Trees grown on state right-of-ways need so much watering and additional maintenance that I wonder if more fuel is used in their care than the trees could ever absorb in pollutants.

The nearby city of Houston spends $2 million a year on running the trucks for the plastic/glass/paper recycling program. They sell the bundled up recycled materials, and save on landfill costs that would otherwise be used if the recycled material was trashed. Unfortunately, the city only makes $750,000 in selling the recycled materials and saves perhaps $250,000 in buying the additional landfill space. So, Houston is essentially wasting $1million on fuel and additional labor so the city can feel good about recycling some plastic jugs. Sure, if everyone in Houston recycled, those same trucks on those same routes might, just might, be able to collect enough plastic and paper products to break even.

Thinking about getting a hybrid car? Those save fuel, don’t they? Sure, they can. But there’s more resources that goes into one of those cars. It’s not all just extra profit for the car manufacturer — there’s a few pricey extras that make a hybrid car a hybrid. In theory, all those extra resources aren’t made out of oil, but other valuable ingredients, like lead for the extra batteries and perhaps copper wiring for the electronic motors… well, hell, like I would know what goes into one of those things. The fuel saved by a hybrid would decrease our dependence on foreign oil, but increase our dependence on, say… copper… which is at an all time high lately, too. Go fig.

But lets just talk about the fuel cost differences for a moment. How long does it take to pay off the difference in the price between the normal car and the hybrid version of that same car?
Autobloggreen.com ran the numbers. Using $3.50/gallon prices for gasoline, they asked two questions:

There are currently 17 hybrid models available in the U. S. market and all but one have a corresponding non-hybrid counterpart to compare with. As part of our Earth Day coverage today, we took a closer look at the following two questions:

* Question #1: How far can we drive with a hybrid powertrain compared to a non-hybrid?
* Question #2: When will the hybrid investment pay for itself through gas savings?

For most of the cars, you indeed can travel more on a full tank of fuel. Score one for the hybrids.

But the time it takes to have that investment in a hybrid get to the break even point? Well, go and read the article for all the different options, but if all you did was drive your Toyota Camry in the city, it would take you 70,000 hybrid city miles to break even with the economics of driving a normal Camry. If you were driving highway miles, the breakeven point is a whopping 300,000 miles.

The Ford Escape/Mazda Tribute breakeven point is somewhere above 80,000 miles city, 200,000 highway.

And the luxury Lexus? Oooooh! Let’s just say that if you’re buying a Lexus hybrid, you probably aren’t too worried about breaking even with anything.

– —

So, no, I don’t plant trees for Earth Day. I plant food crops. This year it’s onions and tomatoes. And my personal breakeven point on tomatoes this year is about $2.00/pound. Yep, I spend about as much on tomatoes I grow as I would on the same amount of hothouse tomatoes. So why do I do it? Because I hate paying $2/pound for tomatoes at the grocery store.

I’d rather pay all that cost up front and then think I’m saving money when I go to the backyard and bring back a fresh tomato for dinner.

Paying all that money up front for something I may not break even on?

Maybe I should buy one of those hybrid cars…

The career making moment

by Walt Posted on Apr 22, 2008 under American Idolize | 3 Comments

Some people go their whole lives without crossing the one threshold that sets them apart from the rest of their peers. This is fine for many people, as there’s a kind of stage fright that occurs when you realize that everyone is hanging on your every nuance, your every meaning…

But then there are others that seek the spotlight. They never find their moment.

But perhaps you do try to reach out, to do something that sets you apart from yourself.

You may surprise yourself, doing something so important that you realize later that what you did surpasses everything you have ever done before. Perhaps not to yourself, though. You can take a private memory, either good or bad, and that’s YOUR private excellence, but we’re not talking about how you view yourself here. We’re talking about how others view you, how perhaps you’ve just changed the way that everyone sees you.

Like I said, not everyone gets that kind of moment. But I witnessed one today, and figured I’d share it with you.

Chances are, you witnessed it too, if you watch American Idol.

And now that I’ve said that, perhaps you can also guess who I’m talking about.
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Random Thoughts April 21st

by Walt Posted on Apr 21, 2008 under Cuppabits | 1 Comment

Thoughts and links, because you deserve it.

—

ATTACK OF THE HEATHERS

The following is sliced out of context so please go read the whole thing, addressed to a major author:

[...] a blog is not a personal journal. It is a statement for any one out in the public to read, consume and comment on. If you did not want public feedback, why not have a diary that is kept at home for no one else to read? Or why not lock your posts so that only a select few are privy to your thoughts? To blame someone else for the consequences of your own actions seems very irresponsible.

You’ve stated very offensive and demeaning things towards readers in the past, in essence implying that they are smart enough to spend money on your books but not smart enough to provide any reasoned critique.

Tess Gerritsen is pulling her blog down after Dear Author and a comments thread there got critical and then got out of hand. “Pulling her blog down” isn’t correct. Putting on hiatus without removing the posts is more accurate.

I haven’t followed the controversy to date, so I’m in catch-up mode. But the deeper I look into this, the more I don’t want to know. I’ll occasionally read Tess’ blog, but only because I enjoy her sense of humor. Apparently, it’s a humorous remark that made Tess seem like she was defending someone … well, apparently it’s a deep subject and I won’t say more.

If you remove the actual details of this situation, I’ll attempt a meta point here. The masses of readers on the internet will tend to bunch up in clumps, and sometimes those clumps become cliques. Yes, cliques, just like back in high school. Authors, when they choose to become public figures by chatting with their friends and readers online can unknowingly be a part of their own clique — but also they can become targets of other cliques.

Cliques around blogs and bloggers form, just like they can around authors. Mark Cuban, rich guy and blogger with a certain level of idiocy, attempted to ban other bloggers from the locker room of his NBA basketball team. However, the bloggers who Cuban sought to ban were also credentialed with legitimate news agencies, the NBA overruled him. So Mark Cuban has people he hates in his locker room throwing questions at him, all up close and personal. [NewYorkTimes]

The thing about cliques, however, is that there’s less loyalty there than you think, and the criticism they might throw out has the lifespan of an ant bite.

– — –

NO FOOD FOR OIL!!

Europe was going to be an area completely free of “genetically modified foods”… well, until the price of food started rising fast with no end in sight. Japan and Korea had the same idea, but apparently they’ve buckled under the pressure of high prices and started buying genetically engineered corn for use in food products like soft drinks and snacks. [NYTimes]

Question: When you fill up your car with gasoline containing 10% ethanol, are you stealing corn tortillas from the people of Mexico?
Related: SaveOurTacoTrucks!

– — –

A Part Time Dog?

British people wonder about it, but in Tokyo Japan, it’s been available for a while.

In other pet news closer to home, I noticed the distinct lack of our neighbor’s cat in the last few weeks. That changed when I heard our neighbor’s loud voice chastising the cat for not being a good mommy cat and leaving her newborns all over her back yard. Yes, this is the second litter of cats for our neighbor cat. Obviously they never watched Bob Barker.
Here’s a 30 sec. You Tube that expresses Bob’s and my thoughts on our neighbor cat:
[Let's Get Neutered Song]

– — –

The Amazon Kindle is back in stock, so you can quit following those Ebay Kindle profiteering auctions

The Kindle is still overpriced, even without the Ebay auctions.

– — –

Got a hankerin’ to call someone in India beside tech-support?

It’s $9.95 a month for all the international calls you want [Chron.com]

– — –

I’ve upgraded a few WP blogs under my control to the latest version, 2.5. Unfortunately, some things got moved around, including some stuff that’s supposed to be to the right of the posting window in the admin section. Here’s a fix for that.

Not critical for you the reader, but it’s a pesky thing for WP bloggers.

– — –

And finally, a story about a dog named Snickers

– not our dog also named Snickers–

A Cocker Spaniel that was adrift with her masters for three months before washing up on a South Pacific island, but being prevented from going home with her owners and facing the possibility of a death sentence [LATimes]

photo credit: AP

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Snickers the Sea Dog is barely more than a pup, but he’s already an old salt.

The 8-month-old pooch spent three months adrift in the Pacific with his owners and a parrot until their 48-foot sailboat ran aground in December on tiny Fanning Island, 1,000 miles south of Hawaii. Snickers and Gulliver had to be left behind as their owners hitched a ride on a cargo vessel.

Then in March, the SOS was sent out in a boating journal that the orphaned critters were to be destroyed on Fanning, one of 33 scattered coral atolls that make up the remote island nation of Kiribati.

As word spread, a bevy of people worked to rescue the cocker spaniel and the macaw, including a man who desperately wants to adopt them: retired Las Vegas resident Jack Joslin.

“I love animals,” Joslin told The Associated Press on Friday. “I had two dogs up until the middle of March. Then I had to have my border collie euthanized. The day they called saying the ashes were back was when I read the story (about Snickers). It occurred to me I could do something.”

On April 9, Norwegian Cruise Line workers rescued Snickers from Fanning and dropped him off on Oahu island, Hawaii, where he will remain in quarantine until he is flown to Los Angeles.
[2news.tv]

It’s not over yet, because of the issues of the McCaw parrot are stickier (American importation laws) so the parrot is at risk of being … uh, a dead parrot…

But as far as Snickers goes, all I can say is

AWWWWWW…