Vivaldi/Piazzolla's Eight Seasons in Phoenix

Last Saturday Night, Dr Desert Flower and I were WOW'ed at the Orpheum Theater. The Phoenix Symphony put on a remarkable show there with Antonio Vivaldi's Four Seasons coupled with Argentinian composer Astor Piazzolla's Four Seasons. Michael Christie actually crafted and conducted an impressive program, enlisting the Baroque soloist Robert Meely from Yale to play the Vivaldi pieces, and the vivacious Karen Gomyo (and her 300 year old "Ex Foulis" Stradivarius) to execute the dynamic and intensive Piazzollas.

With previous less-than-spectacular performances in mind, we entered 1929 vintage Orpheum with a degree of trepidation. And when La primacera began, and Christie, Meely, and concert master Steven Moeckel seemed to all be clumsily wrestling for who had the lead, with Meely's ad libbed solos stumbling as he seemed to rush ahead of himself by a note or two, the feeling of dread deepened. However, the Mormorio di fonde e piante, il caprano was a little better, and by the time they reached the Danza pastorale, there was maybe only 1/2 note of minor discordance. Vivaldi is a complex composer, and his works are extremely challenging - expecting perfection is unrealistic, but it's wonderful when it does occur. The Four Seasons have over 300 recordings registered, so they are very well known, and when a note is stumbled across, it's hard to conceal. So I kept that in mind, and did my best to listen receptively.

The first Piazzolla work, La Cuatro Estaciones Porteñas, began with Ms. Gomyo in the first of her 4 dresses, spectacularly attacking the work, wonderfully synchronized with the orchestra behind her. It was a thing of beauty. Dr Desert Flower and I were both left speechless. Summer followed Spring, and then there was an intermission, complete with a personable chat between Ms.Gomyo and the audience. Autumn followed Summer, and Winter concluded the performance, Vivaldi and Piazzolla in sequence, the audience enraptured. Truly a formidable program, executed over-all quite memorably. Christie is redeeming himself in these 2 subscriber's eyes. We hope this trend continues! Bravo! Brava!

Hoosier Mama!

Hoosier Mama pies have made the TOP of "the USA Today's" best pies to enjoy on 'National Pie Day'. (link here) I have had some of these pies baked by Paula, at her and Craig's home. They are the closest thing to culinary bliss that is possible on this mortal coil, pie wise. Everyone should try a Hoosier Mama pie, at least once in their life time. When in Chicago, enjoy one of Paula's amazing pies. (link here) Paula, an under-appreciated former sous-chef for a well-known Chicago chef and restaurant started her own pie company a few years ago. My buddy Craig, her lucky husband, supported her in this endeavor and helped her with delivery, web design, production, etc.

Kudos to my buddy Dave for the story and link!

ad hominem as they are naseam

Last week Thursday, Jon Stewart & his writers called bullsh*t on Keith Olbermann's histrionics directed at Scott Brown. Olbermann, full of indignation the next day, tried to mock Stewart, claim some imaginary moral high ground, praises Ben Affleck's mockery of him last year, and then begs to be invited back onto TDS. He plays the entire Daily Show clip, which Gawker so nicely posted on their site (link here), and then he Almost apologizes. Almost, but not quite.

So once again, to all my Republican friends who so wrongly claim TDS is full of liberals, enjoy this clip.

"Wallow in the fetid swamp of baseless name calling, and as we both know sir, that's my thing! Petty, pompous, pusillanimous, or poopy head."

47 remain

Well, W and Cheney's "round-em up", "smoke-em out", torture every person the Afghan Northern Alliance picked up on a bounty who got sent to Gitmo in 2003 & 2004, from a high of 500 prisoners, are now whittled down to 47. Yep, 47 dangerous, vicious killers. Less than 10% of the original volume. I estimated back in 2004 that perhaps 1/3 of the Gitmo prisoners were evil, kill-as-many-Americans-as-they-can (women and children included) pseudo-jihadists. I was off by a factor of 3. W and Cheney and their torturing buddies were off by a factor of 10. All that torture recruited 1000s of suicide bombers, IED planters, and half-assed insurgents. All that mis-management killed 1000s of American and NATO soldiers, and wounded 100s of thousands more, all because of hubris filled neo-con policies applied stupidly.

It took the Obama administration a year to go through the pathetic, mis-managed records on the remaining Gitmo prisoners, and work the list down to 47. I trust the Obama administration slightly more than W's, in declaring which of the prisoners are dangerous, and which were picked up wrongly, or can be sent back to their countries of origin.

Now, what to do with the remaining 47? If I was emperor of the universe, I'd send these guys to a nice vacation spot in Turkmenistan called Darvaza. It's even considered a "vacation spot" by some - link here. I wouldn't want these 47 to be spectators, but rather, they could be dropped off right in the center of the hot spot. (links here and here).

For those who think it is mean, or unjust to hold 47 un-rehabilitate-able, recidivist, pure evil, distorted fundamentalist pseudo-jihadists indefinitely, I invite you to have some of the 47 over for tea, at your church social, and see how well it goes.

Night On Bald Mountain

Last night's intense storm here in AZ reminded me of a fine work that my high school marching band played when I was the percussion section leader - we used to think we were such badasses in our aussie hats and mirrored sun-glasses.... but I digress.
Modest Mussorgsky's Night On Bald Mountain, as played by the Tehran Symphony Orchestra. Each time I listen to this, certain crescendos still spend shivers down my spine - having practiced it ad nauseam almost 30 years ago.

part 2 is here (link).

Raining Ropes

"It's raining cats and dogs" has different translations in various parts of the world. In France they say "Raining Ropes" - "Il pleut des cordes". In China I have heard "Raining Buckets". An Indian fried of Dr Desert Flower's in grad school once said "it is blowing like the devil!"

A deluge of biblical proportions is happening in Arizona this week. 5 inches of rain are expected. Oak Creek, that runs through Sedona, will crest tonight at 20 feet, and an additional 5 feet of water are expected beyond that.

Here in Phoenix, the New River on the West side of town is raging. The Aqua Fria actually has water in it, in some places, where cement companies have not dug it up for raw materials. Flights into Sky Harbor, that sits on the north bank of the Salt River, have been canceled today with 40 mph cross winds - Sky Harbor handles nearly 1/2 a million flights a year.

It's the weather... so why is it note worthy? "So what" one might say. Well... 5 inches of rain is what Phoenix normally gets in an average year. Flash Flooding is wide spread across the state today. Looks like no hiking for me this weekend.

Fox Hunting Must Be Stopped!

Below is a copy of an email my hilarious God Father forwarded to me. I hope you enjoy it as well. And, the rifle shown is identical in appearance to the very first weapon my father bought with me at Montgomery Ward when I was 12 years old (sans bi-pod) and just learning how to shoot a gun, which made it even funnier to me.

------------------------------------------------------------

While I always agree that hunting is an ethical God given right, I think that I would have to agree with the author on this one... fox hunting in Colorado should be banned!

Please help ban fox hunting in Colorado ~

THIS MADNESS MUST STOP!


Signed,
Peter Cottontail

---------------------------------------------

To Marry, or Not to Marry?

Listening to NPR this afternoon, I found this hilarious excerpt of Darwin's rationalization:
(to see these written on a chalk board in Darwin's hand writing, see here)

"Darwin's notes on marriage are transcribed here:

This is the question

Marry

Children � (if it Please God) � Constant companion, (& friend in old age) who will feel interested in one, � object to be beloved & played with. � �better than a dog anyhow. � Home, & someone to take care of house � Charms of music & female chit-chat. � These things good for one's health. � Forced to visit & receive relations but terrible loss of time. �

W My God, it is intolerable to think of spending ones whole life, like a neuter bee, working, working, & nothing after all. � No, no won't do. � Imagine living all one's day solitarily in smoky dirty London House. � Only picture to yourself a nice soft wife on a sofa with good fire, & books & music perhaps � Compare this vision with the dingy reality of Grt. Marlbro' St.

Marry � Marry � Marry Q.E.D.



Not Marry:

No children, (no second life), no one to care for one in old age.� What is the use of working 'in' without sympathy from near & dear friends�who are near & dear friends to the old, except relatives

Freedom to go where one liked � choice of Society & little of it. � Conversation of clever men at clubs � Not forced to visit relatives, & to bend in every trifle. � to have the expense & anxiety of children � perhaps quarelling � Loss of time. � cannot read in the Evenings � fatness & idleness � Anxiety & responsibility � less money for books &c � if many children forced to gain one's bread. � (But then it is very bad for ones health to work too much)
Perhaps my wife wont like London; then the sentence is banishment & degradation into indolent, idle fool �"

Quite an interesting perspective, from this very insightful scientist, born 200 years ago.

N AZ Snow interstate closings

I-17 and alternate route AZ 89A are closed today between Sedona and Flagstaff due to snow. This is the third time this week they've closed I-17...

I should not be surprised - living in a red state that is running a multi-billion dollar deficit due to regressive tax structure and massively declined revenues, that basic government services can no longer be provided.

An alpine interstate at 6000 ft elevation, and large, moist, Pacific storm fronts move through in January. Who would have known that significant snow fall would accumulate? Duh.

Corporations are now people

The conservative SCOTUS ruled today, that Corporations are people, officially. (link here) They are no longer legal entities different from people. Let the flow of billions of campaign financing dollars begin. The "common man", the "little guy" is no longer relevant.

Greg Palast's perspective (from back in December) here: link
"Supreme Court's Ruling Would Allow Bin Laden to Donate to Sarah Palin's Presidential Campaign"
and...
"The court's expected decision is far, far more dangerous to U.S. democracy. Think: Manchurian candidates.

I'm losing sleep over the millions -- or
billions -- of dollars that could flood into our elections from ARAMCO,
the Saudi Oil corporation's U.S. unit; or from the maker of "New Order"
fashions, the Chinese People's Liberation Army. Or from Bin Laden
Construction corporation. Or Bin Laden Destruction Corporation.

Right now, corporations can give loads
of loot through PACs. While this money stinks (Barack Obama took none
of it), anyone can go through a PAC's federal disclosure filing and see
the name of every individual who put money into it. And every
contributor must be a citizen of the USA.

But, if the Supreme Court rules that
corporations can support candidates without limit, there is nothing
that stops, say, a Delaware-incorporated handmaiden of the Burmese
junta from picking a Congressman or two with a cache of loot masked by
a corporate alias."

Death Metal Rooster

Tip o'the hat to my friend Jason for this hilarious short video link.

GSP is Bigger than PAP

Haiti's Port Au Prince (PAP) airport is smaller than Greenville / Spartanburg's (GSP). PAP has less than 1/6th the number of gates that GSP does, no parallel taxi way. It's tiny.
(Google maps link here - PAP, and here - GSP)

I've flown out of GSP hundreds of times. When I first flew to South Carolina my Sr year in college in the 80s for a job interview, there was a chain link fence around the 1 terminal airport with signs that said "caution jet blast" next to the rental car I picked up. Looks like PAP today is not much bigger than GSP was in the 80s. GSP serves a widely dispersed population of less than 1 million people. PAP is the only Haitian airport that can handle international jet traffic.

Best Use of a Golf Course, Ever

The Petionville Club, a lush golf course on the hills above Port Au Prince Haiti has been taken over by the 82nd Airborne. 50,000 refuges are being helped there. Awesome! (links here and video here)

Why the heck there was a plush golf course in this poorest nation in our Hemisphere, I don't know, but a putting green is an awesome place to land a large helicopter, set up field hospitals, maintain security, etc etc.

Only bad thing is that it's taken 7 days to take over the 9 hole golf course. Would've been better to commandeer it last week.

To My Dear Republican Friends...

Every time I hear a Republican / Libertarian / Tea Bagger / Blogger / Conservative / Pox News 'analyst' / Pundit say that The Daily Show is partisan and liberal, they need to watch this clip:

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/mon-january-18-2010/mass-backwards

[link here, if the embedded video does not work]
And after watching the video, I recommend some mango chutney with their crow, as they Shut Up.
"John Lennon's favorite Beetle, is Mickey Dolenz"
"Curt schilling is a Yankees fan"
"Coakley believes Larry Bird, is a Sesame Street Character"
"Coakley went into the bar at Cheers, and didn't know anybody's name" "Hey, Jerome!"

TDS writers and Jon Stewart are equal opportunity satirists, pointing out stupidity and irony amusingly whenever possible. The monumental stupidity and incompetence of the Bush administration masked the lingering malaise that is the Democratic party from 2000 to 2008. Now, the Democrats are once again proving their inability to win, lead, or execute governance efficiently.

"The reason it will die.... if Coakley loses, Democrats will only have an 18 vote majority in the Senate, which is more than George W Bush Ever Had in the Senate when he did whatever the f#ck he wanted to do. In fact, the Democrats have a greater majority than Republicans have had since 1923."

"See, it's not that the Democrats are playing checkers and the Republicans are playing chess. The Republicans are playing chess and the Democrats are in the nurse's office because once again they glued their balls to their thighs."

"It's not your fault Democratic leadership. No one should have raised the bar of expectations for you. We should just leave the bar on the ground. Wait for you to trip."

In Between Days

In Between Days video

Yesterday I felt so old... Saw The Cure at the Dodge Theater last year here in Phoenix. Terrible venue with pathetic seating, but Robert Smith put on a good show. Dr Desert Flower liked it.

It's the Sealing Surface That Matters

Dr Desert Flower's close friend Kelly in South Carolina got her turned on to drink shakers. We went more than a decade in our home without having any drink shakers, then, a few years before we moved out of South Carolina, there's shakers popping up everywhere.

The Disaronno shaker came in a Christmas gift pack. Notice the white rubber sealing ring in the middle of the photo on the under-side of the black cap. This elastomer blocks bulk liquid from leaking down the side. Essential when making a martini, or other fancy drinks. (I say fancy, because I use a 8 or 12 oz glass tumbler, lots of ice, pour liberally, and then stir with a spoon or butter knife, and it works just as well in my perspective). The red shaker on the left, is also equipped with a black rubber seal around the cap. It doesn't leak.

The shiny 18-8 stainless steel shaker on the right (made in China, but I suspect all three of these are made in China, I just can't prove it) is worthless as a drink shaker. Fluid leaks down the side, sprays around the room when you shake it. It doesn't matter how awesome of a H7/g6 sliding fit it might have, or H7/p6 press fit - it's still going to pass liquid. I've seen gallons of compressor wash water come gushing out between heavy duty industrial compressor disks when disassembled that had been pressed together with thermal press fits. Without a conforming elastomer to fill in the minute gaps, the assembly WILL leak. It might be minimally effective as a holy water sprinkler or perhaps as a 2d4 splash projectile weapon to fend off the undead. But I'll take my 12 gauge against zombies instead. =)

Cast Iron Upgrade

Saturday afternoon, Dr Desert Flower and I found a clearance sale at Sur la Table in Scottsdale. Considering that the 22 year old Teflon coated aluminum cookware my parents got us as a wedding gift had finally given up in the center of the pan I use to cook eggs (on the right in the photo). I have enough aluminum in my diet as it is - and I don't want to taunt Alzheimer's - I bought some upgrades. The 12 inch skillet is quite heavy - 8 lbs with a 6 inch handle. It makes it unwieldy to pour hot animal fat into a container easily. With practice, I am sure I'll improve my pouring skills.

Made in Tennessee, Lodge Logic's quality product should outlast my tenure on this planet - if it is well cared for and seasoned appropriately. My plan is for soap to never get closer than 6 feet to the cast iron. The bacon press (which can also be used on burgers) was made in Taiwan, and sold unseasoned... but the seasoning's was remedied last night with some canola oil.

Come visit us, stay over-night, and I'll cook you a delicious breakfast in my new cast iron cookware! If you avoid / abhor meat (as several regular visitors to this blog do), we've got other stuff that herbivores like to eat as well!

I'm going to detach the handle from the old aluminum pan, and recycle the old one, as it's too small to use for anything else - reduce-reuse-recycle.

Wish I Was Ocean Sized

Jane's Addiction, circa '86. Oceansize. I can't find a nicely produced video online... but this'll do.

I'm Not Karen & I'm Not In Massachusetts!!

4 times Saturday (when we were home), 8 times Sunday, and 3 times already today, I have been robo called or push-polled by complete and utter morons who somehow think the 623 area code is in Massachusetts, and my name is "Karen". Idiots.

'Can we count on your vote for Scott Brown this Tuesday?' a female pollster with a very African American accent asks me. Well, first, I'm not in Massachusetts, and secondly, do you have any concept how today's Republican party (in general) and Scott Brown (specifically) has abandoned Lincoln's basic principles? Hell, abandoned Reagan's principles? Do you realize how self-defeating / self-loathing / self-deprecating it is, for you to support a party that at it's core is racist, bigoted, hegemonic & exclusionary? This same woman (identical accent & vocal delivery) has called 3 times. If it's a software voice simulator, it sounds quite natural. I told her this morning, to remove my name from their lists, and not to call again, after my previous lecture had no positive effect.

Then, a robo call from Martha Coakley begins "Hello Karen, I'm Martha Coakley and..." Argh!

I'm not Karen. I'm not in Massachusetts. I am not donating money to the Democrats so that they can run more mis-guided and ineffective robo calls. You want to get the vote out? Drive the poor and disenfranchised to the polling places. Serve them a hot meal at the shelter where they are probably getting their sustenance. They don't have any health care. Work with the community organizers in the individual districts, to get their people out to the polls. Work with actual Christian groups, who care about the welfare of the poor and the sick as their Son of God taught them to be - not the loud mouthed CINOs who listen to/worship/call-into talk radio. Don't robo call people - especially people in time zones and area codes that are no where near Massachusetts.

Moyers' Excellent Program Last Friday Night

Bill Moyers always does excellent work. This year's interviews are no exception. Friday night he spoke with Thomas Frank (link here), and the interview was infuriating to me. "Down the memory hole" indeed.

Then, Bill had a wonderful and uplifting interview with Greg Mortenson (link here), author of Three Cups of Tea (which I have given as Christmas Gifts) and now, Stones Into Schools. the key take aways I got from the Mortenson interview that gave me hope:
1) Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff consults with Mortenson frequently
2) Gen.s Petraeus & McCrystal have read Mortenson's books, require all of their officers to read them too, and have both stated to Mortenson on more than one occasion "there is no military solution in Afghanistan" and "we cannot win here militarily". (There is some hope, if the current administration listens to them, as opposed to how W and Rumy dictated to them and handcuffed their generals, who were lead by the incompetent Franks) ...in acknowledgment of the Greek, Arab, Mongol, British, and Russian past failures over millennium.
3) Afghan village elders LOVE playgrounds and swing sets
4) In 5 areas 100% controlled by Taliban, with no US presence, girls high schools have been built in Afghanistan and are thriving - NOT being demolished or head masters executed.
5) at their schools, they not only teach how to read Arabic in the Qaran (and Dari, or Farsi, or Pashtun, depending on what part of the country they are in) but HOW to Interpret that which they read, so it is NOT just rote memorization and being told what each phrase is supposed to mean, but Opening Up the students' eyes (defeating Fundy Madrassa teachings).
5) Saudi Funding of Taliban has DROPPED in the last 2 years, resulting in Taliban banditry, kidnapping, and things that are odious to the local populace, turning tribal elders (Shuras) and entire villages against the Fundamentalist Sunni advocates of terror.
6) MOTHERS are shaming their sons into quitting the Taliban, after being indoctrinated into it, in Madrasses, as youths. When they get into their 20s, and are becoming common criminals, MOTHERS of these miscreants are convincing them to leave the Taliban and reform their lives (who would've thought it??). Mortenson said that at the schools his NGO has built, they PREFER to hire ex-Taliban as instructors, since ex-Taliban are the STRONGEST and most out-spoken opponents of wrongly interpreted Fundamentalist teachings.
7) Boys who are taught how to read don't teach anyone else, but they don't go off to become Taliban advocates. Girls who are taught to read teach their mothers, their sisters, their villages... and everyone they teach, is a potential powerful force against evil & fearful misinterpretations of the Qaran.

I hope Mortenson's "peaceful insurgency" campaign is successful. For a million dollars (the cost to keep 1 NATO soldier in theater in Afghanistan for a year) he can build and staff 4 high schools. That's pretty damn impressive.

Watching this interview on DVR last night gave me hope.

We shall see.... سنرى

Jesus's Hotrod - Driving Music for Saturday

Ding a-ding dang a-dong a-long ling-long!!!
And if the embedded video fails, this link has it here.

By... Yemen

As the Defense Department prepares to scale up in / invade / attack / open a new 'front' / kill more people in / focus on Yemen, Mark Twain's bitter "War Prayer" comes to mind:

""O Lord our Father, our young patriots, idols of our hearts, go forth to battle – be Thou near them! With them, in spirit, we also go forth from the sweet peace of our beloved firesides to smite the foe. O Lord our God, help us to tear their soldiers to bloody shreds with our shells; help us to cover their smiling fields with the pale forms of their patriot dead; help us to drown the thunder of the guns with the shrieks of their wounded, writhing in pain; help us to lay waste their humble homes with a hurricane of fire; help us to wring the hearts of their unoffending widows with unavailing grief; help us to turn them out roofless with their little children to wander unfriended the wastes of their desolated land in rags and hunger and thirst, sports of the sun flames of summer and the icy winds of winter, broken in spirit, worn with travail, imploring Thee for the refuge of the grave and denied it – for our sakes who adore Thee, Lord, blast their hopes, blight their lives, protract their bitter pilgrimage, make heavy their steps, water their way with their tears, stain the white snow with the blood of their wounded feet! We ask it, in the spirit of love, of Him Who is the Source of Love, and Who is ever-faithful refuge and friend of all that are sore beset and seek His aid with humble and contrite hearts. Amen."

Samuel Clemens / Twain was referring to the escalating US role in the Philippine civil war in 1905 when he wrote it, but it is still relevant today. I'm sure we'll win lots of hearts and minds with drone missile strikes, and wrap-up this war on Terre right quick.

Tip of the hat to my friend JohnK of Carbonne France & South Florida for this link.

SoM - More

This has been running through my head all day yesterday and still this morning. I think it's an endocrine level issue maybe.

Andrew Eldritch and the Sisters of Mercy used to make some excellent 'driving music' that I listened to while traveling in my Honda between SC and IN/OH often, in the 90s.

Truvia IS NOT Stevia

Over the last 3 months, and 20 lbs shed, I've become a Stevia disciple. Back in October I mentioned that I like it, and I was trying it under the advice of my primary care physician. Now, I have it tea, coffee, and I recommend it to friends and relatives. It's delicious AND it is good for you. In South America they've been using it to treat type II diabetes for many years.

But beware - there's synthetic imitators, from corporate America. Coke and Cargill announced the availability of Truvia. PepsiCo and Pure Circle announced PureVia. Both are laboratory inventions, not organic, not natural extracts. Even Monsanto, who bought Searle - inventors of Aspartame / Nutrasweet - is working on a patentable Stevia rebaudiana synthetic derivative. Ugh! But, Trader Joe's Stevia is certified organic, and supposedly Sweetleaf is "100% pure".

I'm gonna stick with the natural plant, not the lab mimic. The plant extract has not hurt the Brazilians for centuries, Japanese and Europeans for generations, and health conscious Americans for the last 20 years. The less refined, and more natural, the better - and, I've always been one to root for the little guy, the under-dog (Chicago Cubs, da Bears). My wallet - and my pancreas & liver - are betting on the organic stevia as I feel healthier today than I've been during the terms of the last 3 US Presidents! [note: a "William Jeff" emailed "Webmaster" (whoever that is) requesting links to "healthynewage" be removed, so the hot links have been modified. The email from "William Jeff" looked very much like spam, so I am not replying to it. Nevertheless, to avoid phishing and snooping, I've modified the hotlines]

On Tap, for Thursday

Big Bottom, From the Spın̈al Tap Classic 1992 Album - Break Like The Wind. "Cracks me up" every time I hear it =P

Best Year Ever! (for Arizona Foreclosures)

Jay Butler of the WP Carey School for Business at ASU has just published a report that 2009 saw a record number of home foreclosures, since Arizona became a state and records were being kept. (link here to the story). He predicts the trend will continue, and 2010 may rival 2009 (link here). Awesome, for being 50% underwater, living on the far side of town away from work, drinking establishments, museums, symphonies, and delicious restaurants. But we ARE close to Cricket Pavilion concerts (1 mile, stumbling distance).

Timing & location are everything, in real estate. Oh well.

Of course, it was Satan!

Genius Pat Roberston nailed it once again with clarity and insight. Haiti's capital Port au Prince, was destroyed by a magnitude 7 quake, because hundreds of years ago the Haitians made a pact with Satan (link here).

Yes, Robertson's vengeful Christian[TM] god thought it was a good idea to kill the Catholic Arch-bishop (Papist!), 1000s of children, 2 hospitals, nearly the entire UN Mission. Soon, Pat will likely be asking for donations to fight sympathy for these Satanists, just as he did against Sally Struthers for an ionic tractor disruptor (link here).

What a stupid, evil, delusional, hypocritical old coot.

Delayed Teabag Outrage

2 months later, NPR (link here) finally catches up with JustJoeP covering Fiore. I had no idea I was so prescient.

1500 comments on NPR's page and an upset Ombudsman (link here).

NPR did not know teabagging had any sexual implications... LMAO!

I'll be sure to check with my ombudsman too!

Balsa Wood and Baby Tears

Balsa Wood and Baby Tears - that's what the largest US banks are made out of! Jon Stewart's "Clusterf#@k to the Poor House" new segment "We Had To!" was an acerbic, poignant, disgustingly accurate summary last night. (clip here). Eliot Spitzer stated it perfectly, and upon hearing him, I thought my head was going to explode. "The banks are the unride-able Hidalgo!"

I'd say it was hilarious, if it was not so incredibly evil, oppressively, irresponsibly despicable and remarkably sad. Geithner is a HUGE part of the problem, along with his lying Goldball Sacks predecessor Paulson. Thanks W for initializing this mess, and thanks Obama for continuing the same policies. Makes me want to get some torches and pitch forks. Grrrrrrrr.

Cash's Rusty Cage

if you listen to the guitar chords, and then play Ghostriders, they're quite similar. Reduce, reuse, recycle. I miss Johnny Cash.

Wary of the Prions

Dr Desert Flower used to be (and still is at heart, somewhat deep down inside) a brain researcher. She worked in a lab that had lots of brain tissue, and was very cautious around them in case they had prions in them. Science doesn't know exactly how prions work, but we know they CAN do really nasty things, like appearing en-masse in subjects with creutzfeldt-jakob disease, and contributing to heart disease, and wreaking molecular level havoc through advanced life forms. Recently, Sciencedaily published a report of how what have been perceived as "lifeless prions" have been seen to evolve. My very lovely and extremely intelligent wife knows far more about brain function, brain biology, and brain disorders than I will probably ever learn, and she has a healthy respect for and acts with complete caution around prions.

When I shared with her the love of eating brains that some of my friends have expressed to me in the last year, she gets a look of dread upon her beautiful visage, as she knows these friends too, and doesn't want bad things to happen to them. Prions can't be denatured by cooking at elevated temperatures. They laugh at heat, at most forms of oxidation. They are persistent little buggers, easily aerosolized, able to live without nourishment or a warm wet environment for long periods of time... very robust little bits of protein, that have been known to do some nasty things to humans, cows, and other large mammals.

So I'm gonna trust my dear wife's wariness of prions, and their sources in the food chain and the environment around us. Brains, industrialized mass produced food laced with animal parts, poor laboratory protocols and loose SOPs... I'm gonna avoid those. For my friends who enjoy eating brains (and who are not yet zombies) I am glad they know their butcher, or sushi chef, or other supplier of organ tissue as food... and I hope they avoid the stray prions as well.

Science Montage Contrast

I got a kick out of this. (link here)


Reminded me of Robot Chicken's Montage skit (link here).

The Professor, on the drum kit

In my opinion, this is still the best drum solo I've ever heard, and have tried to play - albeit without a double bass drum pedal and only 1/4 of the hardware available. Neal Peart, now in his 36th year with Rush.

Not News - 11Jan10

It is not news that FaceBooker and resigned ex-Governor Sarah Palin joined Pox News. It IS surprising she is not a peroxide blond like her new colleagues, or that anything she says or thinks or comments on could be called "news".

It's not news that Mark McGwire finally admitted he used steroids while playing MLB. It IS surprising he's not had a heart attack, or needed a liver or kidney transplant yet.

It's not news that Ford's market share rose last year. It IS surprising that GM still exists, at all.

Must be a very slow news Monday.

Beware the Jumping Cholla

There's a species of cactus in the Sonoran Desert that I had no idea existed before I lived here. I dismissed stories of their insidiousness as exaggerated myth, until last Saturday, when I had the stupidity to hike through a steep incline of a mountain's southern face that was densely covered in them. They resemble something that Dr. Seuss would have put in his books, but would really be more at home as part of Dante's horticulture around the City of Dis on the 6th circle of Hell, or on the shores of the boiling blood of the 7th level. The Jumping Cholla, Opuntia bigelovii, aka the evil misnomer "Teddy Bear Cholla".

These guys grow from about 1 to about 6 feet tall, and thrive on very rocky soil, even "no soil", growing up between refrigerator sized rocks sometimes. From far away, they are "cute" and give off a 'glow' when lit in bright sunlight. They don't really "jump" off the main plant, but they readily, easily, stick to you if you brush against them even the slightest amount. They drop seed pods (around the base of the one pictured above), that are spiny-er than sea urchins, and once they stick into human flesh, has a sort of barbed-anti-withdrawal mechanism. Wearing gloves insures the spines will stick into, and often through, the gloves when you try to withdraw them from another part of your body.

I accidentally kicked one of the seed pods that was laying along a marked trail that a horse likely had knocked lose previously, or the wind had blown there. I kicked it with my trailing right foot, into the Achilles tendon of my advanced left foot. Ow. On level ground, it was an exercise to extract. Towards the middle of my extended hiking day, I faced a slope covered in these cute little guys.

I wrongly rationalized, that I could circumvent these clusters, sticking to the barren ground around the Saguaros. See, the Saguaros are the dominant cactus species with roots that kill most other smaller plants close to them, capturing all the available water before the other plants can. A mature Saguaro (over 50 years old) will leave a radius of plant corpses around it for 20 or so feet. So I foolishly ascended the slope, thinking "it won't be so bad".

Once I got near the first summit, I looked back at the cholla mine field I had just negotiated. The picture below was taken at about a 60 degree downward slope. It was just a wee bit stressful to ascend a large rock formation, get to the top, and see a 5 foot cholla above you, it's dropped seed pods millimeters from your gloved hand. Ah the dumb things white people do!

Now, one thing to keep in mind, is that the Jumping Cholla seed pod is hardy, until stepped on, or once it punctures your skin. Then it transforms into something more annoying than the droid drop fighters from Star Wars Episode III. Breaking apart, in little spider shapes, spines remaining in leather or flesh, they're really not any fun.

To give you an idea of just how many of these self scattering, readily puncturing seed pods a mature Opuntia bigelovii can drop, one needs to examine a jumping cholla corpse after its life-cycle is complete. The photo below shows a pile of spiny seed pods, in a heap. I took it on my stagger back to the parking lot, energy reserves (and water and electrolytes) depleted as the sun was setting. I did take three 16 oz bottles, but the day long hiked drained those by 430pm. Earlier in the day, I'd see MUCH larger piles than this 2 foot high, 6 foot diameter one.

On level ground, so what, walk around such a pile. But when scaling large boulders on a steep incline, that are resting on friable, gravelly, somewhat unstable soil, and pulling yourself up to find such a pile-of-pain close to your fingers, face, or other body parts, it instills a very healthy respect for the plant.

In the future, when faced with a slope covered with jumping cholla, go around, not through. It's not worth it.

Luckily Jumping Cholla need vast amounts of sunlight to thrive, and tend to not grow very well on northern facing slopes in this hemisphere, where ocotillos, tall Saguaros, and palo verdae do much better. Descending the northern slope was alot easier than ascending the southern.

Positive News... if it doesn't Implode

Andrew Sullivan had this story last week, that I kept meaning to post & refer to, but have neglected to do so until today (link here). No combat deaths in Iraq in December 2009, the first month this has happened, in 6 years. 6 years of un-needed, meaningless, avoidable deaths. So there is a glimmer of hope... if the situation there does not implode on sectarian lines, again this year. Il faut voir.

Monday Morning appropriate

Back to work...

Ammonia, mmm so yummy

My buddy Ron has a interesting (and disgusting) link here, on Ammonia injection being approved by the FDA (link here). Yeah, that's awesome Science based decision making, Obama driven FDA. I'd expect this out of W's FDA.... man.

Another reason to avoid mass-production origin beef, if you can afford it.

Sunday Night Music - with Madness

One Step Beyond!

Arizona Hiking Perspectives

There's two main schools of thought on hiking in Arizona: On Trail, and Off Trail.

On Trail is traditional, follow the rules, don't stray from the path. It's legal and accepted. People must yield to horses. Bicycles are supposed to yield to both people and horses, but rarely do. Horses yield to no one, and empty their descending colon frequently where people are supposed to walk, usually on the crests of steep slops leading into and out of a dry wash.

Off Trail is forging off on your own, blazing a trail, but in most Arizona park areas it is explicitly illegal, enforced and punishable by various city, county, state, or Federal regulations. Below are my thoughts about the two, after hiking from 8:15am to 520pm yesterday, January 9th, at a spectacular mountain park near my home. I saw not a single soul the entire day, and had an extraordinary experience - physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually-communing-with-nature-and-my-own-mortality.

On Trail
no uncertainty, lots of following imposed constraints, no real decision making
there's a map, for comfort, and direction
lots of horse poop
lots of cigarette butts, food & beverage trash, discarded by lazy assholes
lots of noisy, boisterous, loud humans
have to stand aside as bicyclists and horses as they pass you
very low chance of injury, rock slides, getting lost
no where to empty one's bladder legally, unless you're not a homosapien (eg: equine or canine)
the precious cryptobiotic soils will not be disturbed, so the delicate Sonoran symbiotic balance of life can be maintained


Off Trail
very zen to be away from all humans, and commune directly with nature
lots of javelina, bobcat, jack rabbit, coyote, and small rodent tracks & droppings
sightings of whip tail and spiny lizards, jack rabbit (surprised), coyote (distant), hawk, sparrow & wren
many bird calls & coyote howls heard
higher chance of rock slides, resulting in injury or death
no horse poop to step in or smell
no dog poop to step in, or curse
no trash to be seen
no bicycles to avoid
no certainty about precisely where to go (as there is no trail)
many demons of uncertainty & some of self doubt to wrestle when climbing
no safety net
it's illegal, in Arizona parks (city, county, state, and national)
higher level of risk of being perused or caught by law enforcement, and fined or prosecuted
the entire desert is an arid place, that welcomes mammals occasionally emptying their bladders to help nourish moisture starved plants
stepping on rocks, to maintain the delicate cryptobiotic balance is not always so easy, but foot prints are far less destructive than the park ranger's ATV tracks.
doing your best to avoid the jumping cholla mine fields, is not easy
you get to see sites, rock formations, vistas, that most other people never do
the risk of encountering a rabid wild animal is far higher
a far richer experience than rotely following a pre-planned, extremely boring trail

Much Better than the Ice Cream Man

I am on my patio, wondering when Dr Desert's Flower's late Friday afternoon staff meeting might end - on ne sais jamais. A delicious glass (1/3 bottle left) of Aquila D'Oro, and I can HEAR (as well as see) the Anna's, Costa's, and Black Chinned hummingbirds, dog fighting above the yard & pool, drinking from the feeder, and one brave & determined Anna's hummingbird male perching in the lemon tree proclaiming my verdant & crimson landscape of flowers and nectar feeders as his own, while the January sun sets in a wispy cloudy sky.

If you want to hear them too, go to this whatabird link (here). and go down the left side to the sound files.

The hummingbirds' buzzing, chirping, and singing are a welcomed audio improvement over the seemingly omnipresent ice cream man truck's cacophony.

For more audio links go here, here, and here.

I find it fun to play bird call wavs on my computer with the volume Cranked UP... and it confuses the territorial males. LOL! In SC I used to play calls that a mocking bird would hear, and repeat, thrice in defiance, as I enjoyed sunsets on the deck there with a glass of wine as well. ALOT fewer bugs here though... and mold... and Fundamentalist Baptists... and moisture... and Klan members...

The sky's turned a shade of magenta in the west... yep, not a bad Friday so far.

Woke up with this in my head...

and have been humming it all morning. I think it was used as exit music on an NPR story as my alarm went off. Sub-conscience embed.

The Dracula video is kind of funny. Better than just a static Cake album cover.

Iran's new application of violence...

Foreign Policy ran a good article yesterday (link here) about how the Green Movement's opposition is slowly winning over time. Then today, automatic weapons are fired at opposition leader Mehdi Karroubi's car - he survived (link here). Up to now, opposition leaders had not been the targets of regime violence, just their supporters have been. Has ignition of this highly volatile mix begun? I really hope there's no massacres =(

Slow changes over time, that are organically nurtured, and which become inexorable are much better than violent, bloody, revolution, in my opinion.

Trader Joe's 85% Tumaco Columbian

Trader Joe's 85% Cacao "the dark Chocolate Lover's Chocolate Bar" is tasty... but it's too small. I have 2 or 3 small "wafer thin" squares around lunch, and another 2 or 3 around dinner, and you do this 4 or 5 days in a row, and the bar is all gone!

Indeed the 85% is better for my health than the 72% thick Belgian "1 Pound" bar, but the 1 pounder (found over the freezer section at my local Trader Joes) lasts longer, is about 4 times thicker, and is more satisfying.

There's a 75% 3-pack mini chocolate bar, sold in the check-out aisles, ideal for gifting to your US Mail Carrier, or taking on short trips, which is also good.

Dr Desert Flower's favorite Trader Joe's chocolate are the "Trader Joe's Dark Chocolate Mocha Crunch Squares" 70% cacao. They are yummy, but they stick to my teeth, so I'll leave them to my better half. Ingredients include: cacao dark chocolate (chocolate liquor, sugar, cocoa butter, vanilla extract), mocha (sugar, rice syrup, butter [milk], coconut oil, coffee, caramel color, soy lecithin) - 60 calories, 12.7 grams each each; calories per gram: 9 fat, 4 carb, and 4 protein.

Not expensive. Good for your heart. Nice anti-oxidants, and soooo delicious.

The Persian Room, Scottsdale

The night before our son went back to SC last week, we had dinner at The Persian Room in Scottsdale. It was fantastic.

The service started off a little slow, after the onion and fresh cut basil house appetizer was brought to the table, but once our waiter realized we were an easy table to serve, he dove right in and provided a wonderful culinary feast to our hungry family. We started off on the hummus & dolmeh combination plate appetizer, which was the best humus we've ever eaten - we all three agreed. Then, we moved onto the Tour of Persia: "Combination of barg, cornish, koobideh and gheymeh bademjan served with Zereshk polo and Basmati rice. (Serves three)" - WOW. The cornish hens were succulent, flavorful, and fell off the bone. The barg & koobideh kababs ( کباب کوبیده) were mouthwatering. The gheymeh bademjan ( "Eggplant and Lentil Stew") I used as my rice substitute, but Christopher and Dr Desert Flower thorough enjoyed the Basmati.

And the whole meal with tip and drinks for 3, was less than $75. Delicious, and economical.

We could have gone to Cracker Barrel.... LOL!

Yummy Bacteria, MMMMM

Everyday in Arizona, I try to drink 2 at least 2 or 3 glasses of reverse osmosis (RO) filtered tap water to stay hydrated (in 10% RH) and to keep my kidneys from over-loading on tea. Back when I used to work at a urethral stent manufacturer in the midwest, they talked about "tea season" in the southern US, leading to a sales surge in stent sales after kidney stone removal surgery. As a major stent manufacturer, they saw a correlation, real, or imaginary, I dunno, but a few glasses of water are not going to hurt me, and the frequent trips to the rest room are good breaks from continuous computer work.

Sometimes, I forget my glass in my office, and earlier this week, I left a nearly full glass of water overnight (pictured to the right). The small gas bubbles seen here, on the inside of the glass, are residual waste products from the bacteria who began to thrive overnight, multiplying in their nurturing aqueous environment.

It's a good idea to wash your water glass, coffee cup, re-usable drink bottle, every few days. Granted, a few hundred (or hundred thousand) bacteria in a glass of RO water that has touched only my lips, and been exposed to only the air in my home office, are probably not lethal or too harmful, but we do have one cat in the house who thinks she is part raccoon. She dips her paw into glasses and then licks off her pads. I really do not want to drink residual litter box bacteria that have spawned in my water glass! MMMMM

No Jenny, it's not the vaccinations

NPR's ATC yesterday had this interesting report (link here) about a California study on autism cluster, where researchers have looked or environmental factors that cause a 70% higher incident rate of autism diagnosis than surrounding communities. None were found. What was found:

"HAMILTON: ... parents' age and race had a relatively small effect, but the effect of education was huge. In most areas, a child whose parents completed college was four times as likely to be diagnosed with autism as a child whose parents did not finish high school.

Dr. HERTZ-PICCIOTTO: It doesn't necessarily mean that higher education causes autism, but that it gets you the diagnosis more frequently.

HAMILTON: Hertz-Picciotto says that's partly because educated parents are more likely to request services for children with autism.

Dr. HERTZ-PICCIOTTO: It may also have to do with people with more education are just better able to navigate a very complicated and possibly arcane health system.

HAMILTON: But she says parents weren't the only factor affecting diagnosis rates.

Dr. HERTZ-PICCIOTTO: A couple of the clusters were found actually fairly close to a treatment center in California."

So if you are geographically close to a specialty treatment center and educated, you're in a "cluster". As Dr Desert Flower used to do autism research, this subject has a place near and dear to our hearts.

Link to the audio, here.

Yes, a brand new bed!

Flashback to 1980... with Bad Manners.

I like the sound of the harmonica on a Korg better. =)
Lorraine, Lorraine, Lorraine....

If Air Travel Was Run Like Health Care in the US

Tip of the hat to Andrew Sullivan for this hilarious - yet sad - analogy.

Git Yer Guns!

My favorite Uncle and Godfather in the Chicago suburbs forwards me guano nut case emails from his friends and neighbors, many of them focused upon how "Obama wants to take your guns." Now, my Uncle is a gun owner & gun rights advocate, as am I - not an absolutist as the NRA likes to claim all of their members are (link here, to moderate NRA polling results), but reasonable ones. My Uncle doesn't believe any of the Birther, Muslim, Higher Taxes (for those making less than 1/2 a million a year) malarkey, but he is more prone to believe the anti-gun rhetoric, due to proximity to Chicago and the restrictive laws that Illinois is considering.

So I did a little bit of a mining project today online. All of the references to Obama being anti-gun are from right wing nut jobs & mouthpieces that reveal no credible evidence about President Obama, or from the NRA and gun advocacy groups who want to spin up gun sales and fervor over an imagined threat (can you imagine being forced into a shotgun gay marriage!?!?). As a Senator, and in debates with trounced fundamentalist Alan Keyes (75% margin) Obama did state he was for reasonable laws on gun safety, but not confiscation.
Gunowners of Umerikah tell their followers that Obama is going to issue a "No Guns" Decree on no factual basis (link here)
Tea Party Organizers encourage their devotees to bring guns to angry protest rallies, most recently in New Mexico this week (link here).
Guano Beck, O'Falafel (O' فلافل‎ ), Hannity-insanity, and other mouthpieces inspire their followers to commit violence against unarmed innocent people they fear (link here).

This is not new, before he was elected, right wing lobbyists were singing this song loudly
(links here, here, here, and here, for just a few). What is new, is the level of intensity of the rhetoric, the real shortages of ammunition on store shelves as the paranoid grab it up, the rise in gun & ammo prices (supply & demand, the manipulated hand of the market), and the frequency that guns are being brought to enraged public rallies, not to mention the body count in PA, OH, Arkansas, DC, and elsewhere, murdered by devout believers who buy the books and believe the rhetoric of the windbags above.

I don't want my ammo to be so ridiculously expensive. I don't want Unitarians to be shot in their churches. I don't want security guards to be shot at Holocaust museums or in Vegas federal buildings, or police officers to be blasted by delusional right wingers in OH and PA. And I don't want some Secret Service sniper, to put a slug into an angry armed protester when the enraged - whipped up by rhetoric [akin to 'FIRE!' in a theater] begins to threaten the safety of the legally elected Chief Executive of the United States.

Robin Williams - consistently hilarious

If you have not seen Robin William's recent HBO Comedy Special "Weapons of Self Destruction", recorded in Washington DC, it is remarkably funny. Highly recommended. We watched it over the Christmas vacation holiday, and laughed extremely hardily. Video link here. "Free Range" comedy.

Poignant Observation from a British Comedian

John Oliver was interviewed on WHYY's Fresh Air today, and it was quite a hilarious dialogue. One Extremely Disturbing part of the segment, was when Terry Gross asked John about his interviews at Palin rallies. This British comic, who had been working in the US on a temporary work visa until a few days ago when he finally got his green card after 3 years, said the following:

"Mr. OLIVER: The people's fear, again, is real. That's the thing. I guess the most extreme - I would actually go back to the Sarah Palin rally. We went to a Palin rally in Scranton and so there were people turning up there and their fear was real. But when you talk to someone and they look you in the eye and say he is a Muslim. And not only do they mean that but they mean that they believe that to be a problem. And they then go on to say this country is going to be overrun by terrorists. They're not joking, now. They mean that and their fear is real. They're not faking it, you know, they've - if you gave them a pulse rate you would see their pulse quickening as they said it. And that was the problem with that whole end to the McCain-Palin campaign was it's so cancerous. The hate - the poison opening out there, you know, the - even after the election, they're terrified, these people. They're terrified of this man. Now, there's no reason for them to be, but they don't feel that."

John Oliver is hilarious. We saw him in Scottsdale last year do stand up and it was genius. He's also a very keen observer. Not being an American, he's able to see the guano crazy among us Americans more clearly (I think) than polarized Americans can.

The silence of the t's and s's

Le ver vert va vers le verre vert. (The green worm goes towards the green glass.)

Pronounced (en francais):

Le v-air v-air va v-air le v-air v-air.

I do enjoy speaking French, but I appreciate consonant sounds that are pronounced, so that everything doesn't have to be "en contexte" or par liaison.

How to be a Successful Private Business

Since moving to Arizona, I've been noticing a trend, and I propose a theorem for a successful private business:

Happy Workers + (Quality Goods or Quality Services) + Benign Management = Success

Lemme 'splain. Compare this list of companies (A):
Trader Joes
Costco
Nearly Every Veterinarian we've ever had
Most Starbucks
Bed, Bath & Beyond
Fed-Ex delivery & Store personnel
Sprouts
South West Airlines
Small Family Owned Mexican Restaurants
Google
Goodman

...to this 2nd list of companies (B):
US Air
NW Airlines
American Airlines
United Air Lines
Linens & Things
Circuit City
UPS
Airborne Express
DHL
AOL

Companies listed in A and B are the Happy vs Unhappy employees. Every employee in list A that I have spoken to, enjoys their job - some more than others certainly. I've spoken to many. It's kind of a hobby of mine, to ask people "how do you like working here?" Almost every employee in company list B I have spoken to, is an unhappy worker, driver, flight attendant, clerk, etc. Many of the companies in list B no longer exist. Others, in list B, should become extinct in the future, if my theorem is true. If they do not become extinct, then they at least will not thrive. They will struggle to maintain market share, at best.

It is NOT just adequate to have happy workers who provide quality goods or awesome services. Looking at lists of companies who used to supply quality products, but who had terrible / incompetent / evil management proves this aspect of the theorem: (list C)
Onedia
Chrysler, Lear Systems,
DeLorean,
Levitz furniture,
Montgomery Ward,
Iridium,
Owens Corning (except for their leaky breast implants)
W.R.Grace

If the management is benign, and it nurtures the happy workers who are making quality goods or who are providing quality services, then the business is going to do well. Maybe it does not need to "nurture" but at least it should not oppress, berate, belittle, disrespect, or disenfranchise them. It does not need MBAs advising it, or marketers trying to lure in customers. It doesn't need consultants trying to optimize it, or unsustainable expansion for expansion's sake.

Really good products and helpful / effective / friendly services, sell themselves. Now a days, "word gets around", faster than ever before. If there's something that is desirable and worth paying for, people will find a way to get it. Word of mouth, word of text, the inter-tubes, proven performance, will speak more loudly than any contrived marketing campaign. If there's not some clueless upper level manager guiding his ship into an iceberg - or, as Neal Stephenson's drunken tramp steamer captain intentionally crashed into Norway in Cryptonomicon - the company will very likely thrive, or survive a rough economy to thrive another day.

Yes, every company will have its ups and downs. Different economies will surge and fall, sure. But if the product is crap, or if the workers are unhappily producing what used to be a good product (see list B), or if the management is negligent / incompetent / evil, it won't survive long (see list C). However, if you hit the trifecta (quality product, happy workers, benign management) it is much more difficult to fail.

If anyone disagrees, please let me know. I've been mulling this theorem over in my head for several months now, talking to more and more service providers, shop keepers, and observing their behaviour, and I think it's sound. Having worked with and for European based companies, large and medium sized US based companies, massive multi-nationals & small consulting firms, this theorem is easily applied in my experience, and proven true, repeatedly.

Comments are ALWAYS welcomed and encouraged.

Panilonco - Thanks Trader Joes!

I stopped in Trader Joes Saturday afternoon, following my hike, and they were having their weekly wine tasting. Last weekend's selection was the tasty and cheap Panilonco Reserve 2008, D.O. Colchagua Valley, Chilean Merlot / Malbec. The thimble full in the store convinced me that it's worth the $4. The bottle consumed with soaking bath and dinner, was delicious.

Others agree, here, here and here. Again, good drinkable wine does not have to be expensive.

The nasty bottle of St.Emillion I got at Fresh & Easy mentioned in the cork-screw posting was sadly lost at our Gilbert AZ hosts' home, but I shall be trying it again from F&E, hoping that the turned bottle was just a one-off. Cork migration hinted that it might have been, but taste and smell made that $7 Bordeaux undrinkable.

Co-worker exposure?

I am curious, from those who have their own blogs here, do your co-workers know you have a blog?

If you have direct reports, do they read your blog?

Does your manager / management read your blog?

I've got some peers who are - or used to be - aware of this blog. I don't think they check it much anymore. Google Analytics shows geographically, that they rarely do, and the official inter-tube corporate police based out of Hyderabad has BANNED all blog access from the office, so no casual office surfers can see it on a company connection. I never mention my employer by name, as I know of others in my multi-national who have been fired for what they've said on their personal blogs in reference to / criticism of / editorializing about their professional office work.

I'm curious, what kind of awareness of peers & co-workers that the visitors, friends & acquaintances here have on their personal blogs.

Please be so kind as to comment =)

Stubborn, Hypocritical Republican Minority

Tip of the hat to Andrew Sullivan for this interesting link (The Snitty Right). I just roll my eyes.

Pepper for Monday Morning

Phoenix radio (103) picked up a proclivity for this classic last weekend. It's been ringing in my head ever since hearing it Sunday morning on the way to da Bears game.

Chinese Quality vs Italian Form & Substance

On New Years Eve, I tried to use a Chinese made cork screw to open up a bottle of wine at a friend's house whose party we were attending. I'd brought a bottle of Bourgogne (Burgundy), Bordeaux (From Fresh & Easy, a St.Emillion which had turned sadly), Pinot Grigio, Cava, and a Prosecco. We went for the Maconais Bourgogne Pinot Noir first. I tried to use the "Dragon Seal" sommelier cork screw, which I got at a Chinese hotel mini-bar years ago and had never used. It failed miserably (photos attached).

Luckily, our NYE party hosts Tory & Allen had a large stationary rabbit cork puller that worked quite well. Back at home, I have The WORLDS BEST cork screw (pictured in black steel, alongside the Chinese turd). About 7 or 8 years ago - approx 1000 bottles ago - my son got me this Italian cork screw from Brookstone as a thoughtful Christmas gift, shopping with Dr Desert Flower. It's worked flawlessly, pulling cork after cork; good corks, bad corks, migrated corks that have disintegrated, artificial corks, you name it. It's sleek, stylish, heavy duty - in both form and function. My parents got me a hand held rabbit kit the year after my son got me this fine Italian work of art, and I re-gifted the rabbit to my buddy Ryan and his wife in Atlanta. They have since told me that they had to replace the screw after 50 corks. 50 corks? That's like 5 or 6 months of bottles chez nous! I'd be on my 16th or 17th screw by now!


So quality matters. And though I don't like to admit it, style matters too. The Italians, they "get it" about style. Their cars, their wine, their art, their national airline, their opera, their food, their motorcycles, even their light fixtures and plumbing fixtures in their hotels... like tiny works of art... yes, their trains don't always run on time (or run), their politicians are extremely corrupt or lecherous (or both), their banking is questionable, they have draconian laws that the Vatican loves on stem cell research & reproductive rights over your own uterus, but they GET style AND function. Form and substance.

What do the Chinese get? don't get me started. As my dear friend Gary (who is Chinese, but who also lived and worked int he US for about 3 years in Connecticut) said to me many years ago as we were driving 3 hours back from an investment casting supplier in SE China: "Centuries ago, we were at the top of the world, we invented paper, poetry, philosophy, explosives, silk, had the best warfare tactics... and now look at us after 'cultural revolution'... ugh" ...of course, that was after a 12 hour work day and a great deal of alcohol. As far as goods produced with steel? This (link here) is more typical of Chinese quality. There are many wonderful people in China, and when managed carefully and scrutinized closely, Chinese workers and companies CAN produce good quality goods. "Dragon Seal" wine, and cork screws, are not amoung that limited population of high quality - link here to Jan09's glowing review of Chinese wines. Ew!

Using my magnifying glass, I was able to discern the following tiny markings, cast into the Italian Cork Screw:
Lumezzane
F68
Brevettato
Italy

Googling this, I found exhaust pipes made by Brevettato - even Italian Exhaust pipes have style! See! And on Ebay... there's an identical cork screw for $174, roughly 9 times more than what my son paid for it! At least something we own has appreciated in value! LOL! Meanwhile, the Dragon Seal cork screw will go in the recycling bin.

Thunderbird Hike, checked off the list

I hiked Thunderbird Recreation Center Hedgpeth Hills this morning from 830am to 1. Started off at 45F, an d finished at 65F - shed layers! 10% RH, made evaporation work for me =) Started at Trails H1A, H2, then over the foot bridge to H1, H3, H3a, up to H4, H4b, and then back to the parkinglot via H1. Up and down 400 and 500 feet, multiple times, running/jogging on the flat areas and downward slopes. Hiking on the inclines. Not sore at all this evening (of course, a whole bottle of Trader Joe's Malbec has helped! - more to come on that tomorrow).... and a long soaking bath with no shortage of stretches before the bubbles all went away. Added magnesium sulfate (yes, Epsom salt) to the bath water at the advice of my desert living Godmother who has been in Tucson for nearly 15 years. And I am back down to my pre-Christmas weight - screw the carbs! Viva la protein!

Thunderbird was a nice hike - too many "New Years" hikers, trying to fulfill their short-term resolutions, ambling along the trails. Next month it'll be better. I'm looking forward to Piestwa / Dreamy Draw next week!