Fortune Cookie

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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."

Pastor Dre

While on a beer run last night with a friend, some guys standing outside the corner market were handing out glossy colored fliers for a free event: “Summer Jamz ’06.” The event is put on by Victory Outreach Church and boasts a “live appearance by Pastor Dre.” Now, I’m looking at the flier and trying to figure out which of these guys (if any) is the infamous Pastor Dre. Is it the guy defiantly exhaling the smoke of his cigarette? How about the guy with mucho bling bling holding a wad of cash and leaning against his orange Hummer with a girl at each side? Or could it be the sunglass-clad guy holding the gun? I guess the only way to know would be to go to Summer Jamz, and I don’t see that happening. It’s not that I’m not curious. More that I’m simply afraid.

How Many Does It Take?

I read in the news today about a man in Ohio who is being charged with his 17th DUI! The story begs the question, "What type of enforcement system allows someone the opportunity to go out and engage in this potentially murderous behavior 17 times?" How many instances of DUI does it take to kill someone? One! This guy has 17, and that's only the 17 times he was caught for it. He has a felony DUI case pending in the court system, and he went out and got a second felony charge by managing to get caught for DUI 4 times in one month. By his 5th or 6th DUI it should have been clear to authorities that this guy was not going to stop getting behind the wheel after drinking.

I know he hasn't killed anyone (yet), and believe me, I am weary of imprisoning people on the basis of patterns of dangerous behavior (3 strikes laws, etc.). But at some point we have to put the safety of the general public in front of the individual rights of a few. Especially of those few who apparently believe it is their right to operate a vehicle under the influence.

Thank You Senate

Since its ratification, the constitution of the United States has been amended only 27 times. As far as I can gather from my perusal of these amendments, each of the 27 represents an instance in which the rights of citizens were expanded, rather than curtailed. Of course there is the obvious exception of the 18th amendment (prohibition), but Congress was smart enough to repeal that one with the 21st amendment. And then there are the amendments dealing with presidential term limits, the makeup of Congress, and the government’s right to levy taxes, but these could arguably fall into the category of expanding the rights of citizens because they ensure a democratic process.

So where am I going with this? I’m just gratefully reflecting on this week’s activity on the Hill. The push by Senate Majority Leader, Bill Frist (R-TN) to amend the constitution to bar states from recognizing the right of same-sex couples to marry has failed.

Conservatives supporting the proposed amendment purported its necessity in protecting and preserving strong family values. I may not be a conservative, but I can respect family values. I even bet I have similar ideas about what these “values” should be. When I think about family values, one of the prominent ideas that pop into my head is the notion of accountability. Husbands and wives must be accountable to, and for each other’s well-being, happiness, and to an extent, even actions. Similarly, parents must be held accountable for the health, well-being, education, and happiness of their children. Furthermore, adult children should also accept a degree of accountability for their parents as they age.

In our society, we closely associate the notion of accountability with the institution of marriage. In social contexts, we frequently ask friends, peers, and coworkers, “How’s your husband?” or “How’s your wife?” We hold married couples accountable for each other, and this is important, especially in a society like ours with poorly maintained public safety nets.

Same-sex couples in committed relationships no doubt accept the same degree of accountability for one another as heterosexual couples do regardless of the name ascribed to the relationship. It is the degree of accountability others ascribe to their relationships that is affected by the name granted it. I want to live in a society where personal accountability and voluntary accountability for loved ones are paramount familial, and societal values. For this reason, I am in support of same-sex marriage.

Allowing same-sex couples to marry is not merely an issue of extending the rights of heterosexual married couples to same-sex couples. If this were the case, publicly recognized civil unions would suffice. Allowing same-sex couples to marry subjects them to the same expectations that society holds for heterosexual couples. It holds the couple accountable to one another, and for one another in the public’s eye. If a couple, any couple, is willing to put themselves before society and accept this accountability, I commend them, and I think the fabric of society can only be made stronger by allowing them to do so.

Terima Kasih

Some languages are so beautiful in, not only their audibles, but in their literal translations and origins. In Indonesia, people use the phrase "terima kasih" to say "thank you." The literal translation of this phrase is "accept love." Indonesians believe that to thank someone, is to give them a bit of love. I think that is a beautiful notion.

Mexican Adventure

This weekend, my friends Sarah, Lexene, and I went on an adventure. We piled into Sarah’s car and headed into Mexico. We stopped and had a fantastic lobster and shrimp lunch in Puerto Nuevo and then continued South about 20 miles past Ensenada and drove another hour or so down a little dirt road towards the Pacific. The road ended at an estuary by the beach with a campground (and I use that word very, very loosely) where we spent the night. We gathered driftwood, started a bonfire, and drank a few Dos XXs. There were a few locals camping, families mostly, and we could only imagine what they were thinking of the three gringo chicas camping together sin hombres across the field.

We woke up bright and early Sunday and had breakfast and did some shopping in Ensenada. While out and about, Sarah’s car was broken into and some of my camping gear was stolen. None of my gear was irreplaceable, but there were some clothes in my bag that I’m pretty bummed out about having to part with (camo sundress). The thieves bypassed a cell phone and sunglasses sitting in the backseat and stole only one thing: my backpacking pack. Aside from annoying things like my toothbrush, deodorant, and hairbrush, the bag had my sleeping bag and sleeping bag liner in it. Both were barely a year old. But things are only that…things, and there’s no use in getting upset over material goods. Unfortunately, I’ll have to replace some camping gear, and Sarah will have to replace a window in her car, but we’re not too upset. We had a great trip regardless. Here are a few pictures:

The dirt road towards the beach


Oil drums at the "campsite"


View from the campsite in the fog


Neat foot bridge

Repeat After Me

I've never been good at making decisions from my heart as opposed to from my head. I'm too logical most times to do so. I tend to discount intangibles like security, happiness, and love when weighing them against more concrete possibilities and outcomes. This is a lesson I (hope I) learned from the Reno fiasco. A nagging feeling in my heart told me to stay in San Diego, but my head invoked veto power and Reno it was. Four and a half months later I'm back in San Diego trying to piece things back together.

I was talking on the phone yesterday with a friend about this head/heart dichotomy and my difficulty in working through it. Our conversation went something Iike this:

Friend: Brow, in my many years of experience in these matters (chuckle), I've learned that sometimes you just need to abandon the plan, take a chance, and say, "What the fuck!"

Me: Abandon the plan?! I can't work without a plan! I don't think I can say that.

Friend: You don't have to say it. I did. Now you just need to repeat it.

Cats

I've never lived with, or spent much time around cats. Where I live now, there are two cats, and I'm learning quickly that cats and dogs are completely different in just about every way. I was attempting to unpack a box from my recent move. I turned around for 2 seconds, and looked back to find one of the cats had set up camp in the box. So not knowing any better, I errantly assumed that the type of coercion that would successfully get a dog out of the box, would also oust the cat. I stood about 6 feet back from the box and excitedly called his name and clapped my hands. With dogs, all you have to do is give the impression that something else is more exciting than what they are currently doing. They're suckers. This trick did NOT work on the cat. He simply gave me a look that said, "Do you think I'm a fool? This box is FAR batter than the floor over there. I'm not falling for it." And he rolled over and ignored me completely. I think both the cat and I learned something about each other that day. The cat learned that I'm a silly, excitable human who likes to clap for no reason, and I learned that the cat is clearly in charge.