Fortune Cookie

Posted on June 27, 2006

I had breakfast with a friend today at the Golden Phenix. (Yes, the Golden Phenix, not Phoenix. I don’t know the story, but I’m sure it’s a good one.) The Golden Phenix is a nice little Chinese/breakfast place in North Park, San Diego. Pancakes or won tons. Your choice. Anyway, I like the Phenix for many reasons, but one huge checkmark in the plus column is that you get a fortune cookie with your breakfast. If I’m going to have a fortune cookie at any point in my day, it makes much more sense that I get it at breakfast than at dinner. That way I have help deciding if I should brave the day, or simply crawl back into bed. Anyway, I liked this one and think it’s worth sharing:

“What you forgive today will be your compensation tomorrow.”

Global Warming Is Heating Up In The Supreme Court

Posted on June 26, 2006

The global warming issue is heating up (yes, pun intended) and it’s scheduled to hit the floor of the U.S. Supreme Court soon. You see, back in 1970 Congress adopted a piece of legislation called the Clean Air Act. Being one of the first major pieces of environmental legislation, it was largely descriptive, rather than prescriptive, and it took quite a while for politicians and regulators to come up with any type of enforceable standards. Back then, the prevailing wisdom was that pollution was a necessary cost of progress and that environmental protection and economic growth were diametrically opposed. This was particularly true in small rural areas having a single-industry economic base. One local mayor fighting such environmental regs was quoted as saying, “If you want this town to grow, it has got to stink.”

The complicated history of this case traces back to 1999 when a coalition of environmental groups filed an administrative rulemaking petition to the EPA to set motor vehicle emission standards for four major greenhouse gases, carbon dioxide being one of them. Working at record speed (for a snail), the EPA finally got around to denying the petition in 2003. Tenacious, and perhaps a tad accustomed to many rounds of defeat, the environmental coalition brought the decision before the Federal Appeals Court where it was again shot down by a 4-3 vote in July of 2005. That brings us to today and the decision to again appeal, this time to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Backers of the appeal include the state and city governments of California, Connecticut, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, the District of Columbia, the American Samoa Government, New York City, and Baltimore. Environmental groups in the coalition include the Center for Biological Diversity, the Center for Food Safety, the Conservation Law Foundation, Environmental Advocates, Environmental Defense, Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace, the International Center for Technology Assessment, the National Environmental Trust, the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Sierra Club, the Union of Concerned Scientists, and the U.S. Public Interest Research Group.

The coalition argues that the EPA is obligated under the Clean Air Act to regulate carbon dioxide emissions from vehicles because as the primary greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide is a pollutant. Not everyone agrees with this position. For example, industry mouthpieces such as John Felmy, (chief economist of the American Petroleum Institute), say “Fundamentally, we don’t think carbon dioxide is a pollutant, and so we don’t think these attempts are a good idea.” Of course, Mr. Felmy is paid to have that opinion, and what exactly does an economist know about atmospheric science anyway?

I’m not exactly comfortable with the idea of 9 old guys in black robes having the final word on this, and there are more than a few other people in high places who’ll be watching this case with serious vested interest as well. If the lower court’s decision is upheld, it will jeopardize current plans in 11 states to set vehicular carbon dioxide emissions standards. Given the pace of progress in the courts, it’s likely to be a while before a decision is handed down. In the mean time, if you want a quick, and neatly-packaged education in global warming and the need for curtailing carbon dioxide emissions, check out the documentary, An Inconvenient Truth, narrated by former Vice President Al Gore.

Why English is Dumb

Posted on June 20, 2006

Remember in grade school when we were learning to spell? We were taught a few useful little rhymes to help us remember rules. One in particular that I still have to recite when writing is:

Write I before E except after C
or when it sounds like an A as in “neighbor” and “weigh”

So why does the word “protein” get to be the exception? My spelling is atrocious and without spell check and little rhymes I’d look like a complete ignoramus on paper so I absolutely hate words that break the rules.

The Newlyweds

Posted on June 20, 2006

I was home this past weekend for the wedding reception of my darling Anam Cara and her wonderful new husband, Brett. Here’s a great picture of the newlyweds covered in cake. I’ll post some nice pictures later, but for now, I really like this one.

Invisible Nerd Tattoo

Posted on June 16, 2006

On the last leg of my flight from San Diego to New Hampshire on Wednesday, I boarded the plane, settled into my middle seat, and began to read the magazine I had purchased (Scientific American). After a few minutes, the woman whose seat was next to mine arrived, stowed her luggage, and sat next to me. She immediately looked over her shoulder at what I was reading, looked up at me, and says, “Engineer eh?” I was floored! How did she know I was an engineer from my magazine? I wasn’t reading Engineers-Are-Us or anything. I’m thinking that that at some point when I was passed out in the Mad Lab at Syracuse from exhaustion brought on by a double or tripple all-nighter I was branded with some sort of tattoo across my forehead that simply reads, “Engineer.” Maybe even “Enginerd.” Of course this tattoo is invisible to all engineers or is in some color that engineers can’t distinguish (sort of how dogs supposedly can’t see in color). I’m sort of upset that my non-engineer friends never told me about this marking of mine. Perhaps they were simply trying to help me lead as normal a life as possible.

Beauty Hill Disc Golf

Posted on June 16, 2006

Today was my full day in NH on a quick visit home and my folks and I went to a brand new disc golf course in Barnstead, NH called The Woods at Beauty Hill. The course just opened a few weeks ago and is basically out in the sticks. The course is the brain child of two friends, Lisa (who owns the property) and Blaze, who started off by making a “frisbee golf” course on the hill with hula hoops attached to conduit pipes. At the time, the course was also accompanied by a big hay maze. Wanting to attract more people to the land, they decided to open an 18 hold disc golf course and began construction in January.

The course is wonderful and quintessentially New Hampshire complete with a old barn and even older stone walls meandering off into the woods. It’s challenging and mostly in the woods with thoughtfully laid out fairways and different tees for pros and ams. There was even a self serve/honor code ticket booth complete with score cards and a courtesy supply of bug spray. It was a great course in a very friendly place. I’m sure I’ll visit it again soon.

Post Office Debacle

Posted on June 13, 2006

I went to the post office this morning to mail a few things to a friend in Montana. I stuffed my little flat rate box and brought it up to the counter where the nice neighborhood post office lady (from here on referred to as the NNPOL) begins to assist me. Our dialogue (inner, and outer) went something like this:

NNPOL: Good morning.
Me (outer voice): Morning.
Me (inner voice): Gawd, I hate mornings.
NNPOL: Does your package today contain anything fragile, perishable, liquid or hazardous?
Me (inner voice): All of the above.
Me (outer voice): Ah, liquid. And maybe perishable. I don’t know.
NNPOL: Um, so what is it?
Me: (inner voice): Shoot, you probably aren’t supposed to mail alcohol. But is that for interstate commerce reasons because if so, it wouldn’t apply. Home brew. Shoot.
Me (outer voice): Cider. From Julian, CA. And a candy apple.
Me (inner voice): Man, I suck at lying. Nice touch with the candy apple ya candy ass.
NNPOL: Is the cider alcoholic?
Me (outer voice): No.

NNPOL calls over another NNPOL and asks if it’s OK to mail cider. NNPOL2 asks me what state I’m sending it to (though I’m not sure how that could matter) and I say Montana. NNPOL2 says “sure.”

I hand over the 8 bucks and get out of there just in time to prevent the no-so-nice neighborhood parking cop (NSNNPC) from writing me an $85 ticket. The curb specifically said “mail drop only”. If I’m in the post office, isn’t that exactly what I’m doing?! Anyway, I digress.

This whole story really starts out about two months ago in Reno, NV when my friends Ilka, Andrea, Logan, and I took a few days to get all hippyed out, walk barefoot through the park, and make dandelion wine. Well now the fermentation process is finished, the wine is ready, and I promised a bottle to Logan (now in Montana) for setting aside his manhood and picking dandelions in the park for an afternoon with a couple hippies. It didn’t dawn on me until I was already standing at the counter with the package that the USPS doesn’t allow you to mail alcohol. I had them stamp “fragile” at least 15 times all over the box so I am hoping it makes it to Montana in one piece. Otherwise, someone may need to bail me out of jail for some US mail related offence. Next time, I’m going to FedEx.

Reasons to Avoid Florida

Posted on June 13, 2006

It’s starting again, and even earlier this year. Alberto is the first storm of the Atlantic Hurricane season and its sights are set on Florida. Of course, that’s no surprise. What does surprise me is that Florida remains the retirement destination of choice for so many older Americans. I was looking at some census data from 2000 to 2005 and discovered the population of the self-proclaimed “Sunshine State” increased 11.3% as compared to a national average of only 5.3%. When you breakdown the data down by age, the only group in Florida showing statistically greater growth than the national average is the 65+ group. This perplexes me for many reasons.

Go online and do a search for reasons NOT to move to Florida. A surprising number of websites are dedicated to cataloguing just this thing. Most lists include the following: mosquitoes, hurricanes, humidity, and dangerous wildlife (ie. snakes and alligators). The irony lies in the fact that these detractors are all of biggest concern for who? That’s right…the elderly! Let’s address each of this in more detail.

Mosquitoes. Mosquitoes are vectors for disease, but for most people, they are not cause for alarm. The folks that public health agencies warn to wear their deet and keep out of the swamps are the immuno-compromised and the elderly because their bodies are less capable of combating diseases that are associated with mosquitoes.

Hurricanes. Aside from the devastation and loss of property they cause, hurricanes also pose more of an issue for the elderly than for your younger buck. Many elderly can’t drive and are unable to evacuate a threatened area without assistance of some sort. Furthermore, it is going to be considerably harder for an 80 year-old man to nail 4 X 8 sheets of plywood over his windows, or stand in a sand bag-filling line by a swollen canal than it would be for a younger fella.

Humidity. Florida is pretty darned humid. Medical professionals will tell you that too much humidity should be avoided because excessive humidity provides an optimal environment for bacteria, dust mites, and fungal growth, all of which pose a heightened health risk to the elderly because of age-related decreases in respiratory function. The recommended humidity level for optimal health is 20 to 45% (American Academy of Family Practitioners). In Florida, relative humidity levels of 70 to 80% are the norm.

Killer Wildlife. Florida is home to numerous varieties of poisonous snakes and insects, not to mention alligators. With such rapid population growth, development in Florida pushes wildlife out of their homes and into people’s backyards. All the development changes the ecosystem’s natural ability to handle rain events so flooding ensues. The flooding sends even more dangerous wildlife into residential neighborhoods where they can eat the family dog, and if you’re really unlucky, you as well. If you ask me to take bets, I’d give the displaced alligator 10 to 1 odds over grandma and her walker. I’d even give the under 5 child better odds, say 8 to 1, cuz the kid is less likely to have humidity-related respiratory problems and can scream holy hell thereby either attracting help or frightening off the alligator.

So given all of this, why are old folks still retiring to Florida? I know I don’t want to wait out my golden years wheezing on my deck, swatting off mosquitoes, listening to hurricane warnings on the weather channel, and keeping my poodle safe from the local alligator population.

And one last thing. How does Florida get away with calling itself the “Sunshine State” without offering up any proof. You’d think there’d be a verification or a validation process that a state motto would have to go through before being accepted. States should be allowed to see the motto candidates of other states and cast a yea or nay vote. This would hedge against outright lies set forth by Chambers of Commerce to drum up tourism. Most existing state mottos are safe, as far as I can tell. I don’t think anyone who’s ever been to Montana, for example, would deny its use of “the big sky state” motto. However, I’ve been to Florida on several occasions, and I would contend that “the sunshine state” is false, and misleading.

The climate data back me up on this one. In terms of which states catch the most rays, there are five states that beat out Florida. These states are Arizona, California, Nevada, New Mexico, and Texas. Furthermore, Florida has more days where between 20 to 70% of the sun is blocked by clouds than anywhere else in the continental United States. Even Miami-based meteorologist, Jim Lushine contends, “We ought to call ourselves ‘the partly cloudy state’ instead of ‘the sunshine state.’ ” He acknowledges, however, that his suggested motto probably wouldn’t get the Chamber of Commerce’s vote.

Poetry Corner

Posted on June 11, 2006

One of my favorite poets of all times is Pablo Neruda (1904-1973). I spent part of this evening rereading some of my favorites of his. Here are a few poems and poem clips of his that resonated strongly as I read them tonight.

I Do Not Love You Except Because I Love You

I do not love you except because I love you;
I go from loving to not loving you,
From waiting to not waiting for you
My heart moves from cold to fire.

I love you only because it’s you the one I love;
I hate you deeply, and hating you
Bend to you, and the measure of my changing love for you
Is that I do not see you but love you blindly.

Maybe January light will consume
My heart with its cruel
Ray, stealing my key to true calm.

In this part of the story I am the one who
Dies, the only one, and I will die of love because I love you,
Because I love you, Love, in fire and blood.

Clenched Soul

We have lost even this twilight.
No one saw us this evening hand in hand
while the blue night dropped on the world.

I have seen from my window
the fiesta of sunset in the distant mountain tops.

Sometimes a piece of sun
burned like a coin in my hand.

I remembered you with my soul clenched
in that sadness of mine that you know.

Where were you then?
Who else was there?
Saying what?
Why will the whole of love come on me suddenly
when I am sad and feel you are far away?

The book fell that always closed at twilight
and my blue sweater rolled like a hurt dog at my feet.

Always, always you recede through the evenings
toward the twilight erasing statues.

A song of despair(excerpt)

Oh the mad coupling of hope and force
in which we merged and despaired.

And the tenderness, light as water and as flour.
And the word scarcely begun on the lips.

I Crave Your Mouth, Your Voice, Your Hair (excerpt)

Oh, may your silhouette never dissolve on the beach;
may your eyelids never flutter into the empty distance.
Don’t leave me for a second, my dearest,

because in that moment you’ll have gone so far
I’ll wander mazily over all the earth, asking,
Will you come back? Will you leave me here, dying?

Ponderables

Posted on June 9, 2006

Some notions to ponder from a Discovery Channel special I saw last night:

“They say the true test of maturity is being able to imagine the discomfort of others.”

“Immagination is all about questions, not answers. Questions change. Only the answers remain the same.”

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