Welcome to...

My new hobby is Welcome to...(State name here) signs. Gasp at my handiwork.

Bottled Water

Water, water everywhere...

I always gasp at how many bottled water bottles are tossed into the garbage each day. I often have European customers and I find the excess a little frightening. But of course I realize that some municipal water supplies in the US are far from what would be considered palatable. Chlorine is certainly not the next big table garnish. But we have a one-up on places like Bhopal, India or Chernobyl, where no amount of chlorine will do the trick, really.

I was listening to NPR the other day and on the Talk of The Nation (*to my best recollection) program they stated that 16,000,000 water bottles are thrown out every day and only about 15% of these are recycled (probably in Maine where they have a 5 cent deposit). Still, that seems like a waste of easily collected, fairly pure (it contained water, no cleaning required!) PET (That's polyethylene) stores for re manufacture.

So I did become curious about how this profitable thing called water is bottled, transported, sold, consumed (well, that part I have figured out) and discarded.

These sites about bottled water caught my attention...

http://www.nrdc.org/water/drinking/bw/chap1.asp

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bottled_water#Consumption_by_Country

http://www.bottledwater.org/

http://www.container-recycling.org/mediafold/newsarticles/plastic/2006/5-WMW-DownDrain.htm

What's Killing the trees?

TREES ARE DYING IN SEQUIOA NATIONAL PARK

What is killing them?

My educated guess is the following:

The usual suspects: a trifecta of early snow pack melt, insect damage and increasing springtime and summertime temperatures.

Along the route from Fresno along California 178, more than 15% of the firs and spruces were that red, rusty color the conifers turn after death.

I cruised across US 395 a few times this summer and I was pretty worried about the state of western, and specifically Sierra Nevadan, forests when the entire snow pack was GONE by early may. The Owens River Valley and the foothills on both flanks of Kings Canyon and Sequoia are parched. Six seasons of below-average snowfall and rainfall are making their impact in all senses- visually and biologically.

I wish the National Park Service better communicates the dangers facing our parks' overall environmental health to the general public. Media seem uninterested in any science along these lines.

Meanwhile, spruce bud worms, pine borers, gypsy moths and their ilk are happily and busily working to further decimate the forests that comprise America's western National Parks.

It has been an interesting past few months...

I have been on the road. Recently I drove 3150 miles from Petaluma, California to Orlando, Florida.

Highlights of the trip were:

1. The wind farm in Palm Springs, CA.

2. The landscapes around Chochise Stronghold, AZ

3. Seeing a pal in Houston.

4. An hour in a wholly rebuilt Tombstone. Actually the Birdcage Theater there is original.

5. Awesome flowering cacti in the Sonoran Desert in Arizona.

6. A hike in Castle Crags State Park near Yreka, California. Yreka. It is just so fun to say. Like that Battle from WWI, Ypres. We need more double constanant sounds beginning with Y.

7. Watching Pelicans cruise for fish when traffic on the Mobile, Alabama bridge was stopped when a car burst into flames. I was surprised how agile the big, big pelicans are.

8. The nap I'm about to take.

9. Finding out that my Great-grandfather was a watermelon farmer. Just one of several hats he wore. Also, a Great Uncle let on that during the Great Depression, he drove a 1937 dodge from south Mississippi all the way to the Alaskan goldfields!

Building of Apartments on Port Island, Kobe, Japan (Also known as fill formerly in the form of Seishin Chuo Mountain)

Living on the Grid, Port Island

Tomato Ramen from Kobe Ramen. A Chinese-run Japanese Ramen shop in Kobe. There are four branches around town, each with their own unique decor and odor.

Seen on a cocktail napkin in Taiwan...

"Although in the government of the foreign country,
Also became one of our own cultures slowly.
for 300 years turn into many fine collections
It will protect to stay forever
Until the prosperity can also share these
Historical relics."

North Korea is a sickly child suckling the aged wrinkled teat of a disinterested wet nurse...

Here are some fun NK links!

North Korea: ala Wikipedia

North Korea: ala CIA

North Korea: ala North Korea

North Korea: ala BBC

North Korea: ala Canada

This News Junkie's Recent Discoveries:

I surf a couple of news sites and these photos have been collated just this week.

This cartoon from the Seattle Post-Intellegencer referas to the debacle at Mount Rainier National Park in Washington State. A 2006 flood devastated the park's infastructure and Bush's NPS chief, Gail Norton has not done too much to remind W that:

1. We indeed have National Parks
2. They are quite underfunded.
3. Not all of them have oil beneath them

Prioroties, eh. Heart-twisting to see the USA's environment tank when so much could be done to protect and steward more land, not less.

The Forbidden City Starbucks

When I was there it was told to me that the Starbucks was closed down. Lying Chinese! I had wanted to enjoy roasted, Godly caffeine while enjoying the wonders of "ancient" Beijing. Curses. Now that was the time I should have been able to speak Chinese. On a more happy note, I was able to see the slightly blotty and liquidish embalmed Mao Zedong, whose mausoleum has just closed while they see how to freshen him up for all the expected 2008 Olympic festivities.

This sign adorns some bar that probably serves overpriced drinks and lame atmosphere. Such obvious inferences did not stop Debuto, an America who indeed "I think I'll turn Japanese" decided Japan needed a white Midwesterner among its population. Debito has fought some good fights against discrimination.

But does the average foreigner really want to enter a business that claims "To enter this shop, you must NOT be Chinese, a permanent resident, partially Japanese, female or anything other than pure male Japanese blood not welcome here."

I would say, instead of pointing out the terribly small world this proprietor lives in, we should lament how sad of an angry, bitter and Hell-bound man he indeed is. More signs to denote businesses Id rather not support would save everyone time and avoid uncomfortable moments that arise when one sees people different from oneself. Hang out that shingle of hate, shopkeepers, for pride and self-inadequacy always wins over compassion and a world view...

The Old Man and the Sea

One of the things that is so intoxicating about travelling is the range of people you meet while on the (road/rails/aeroplane/camel). I met an intriguing fellow a few weeks back while embarking upon a very unsettling ferry journey from Keelung, Taiwan to Naha, Okinawa, Japan.

Though I failed to jot it down to memory, I know the man's name was, well I have forgotten. What I DO remember was that his first and last name were both first names, something like Fred James. He was a grizzled survivor of a WWII stint in the Pacific Theatre and long-term resident of Okinawa, where 70% of all US Forces Japan are stationed.

He had taken the boat down to Keelung to visit a friend of his for a few hours. A good friend, I'd bet if he was willing to try a 14-hour each way jaunt on the choppy Pacific in order to facilitate a meet and greet. He said he was 81 and soon returning back to the US mainland, after a few flights to nearby US military outposts Guam, Saipan and Hawaii on the way home.

Crunching the basic numbers in my head, it made sense to ask him about his wartime experience, as I was keen to learn how he had seen Okinawa change from a wholly scarred hallowed battlefield and into a major tourist and commerce center. Frank told me about some of his friends back in Wooster, Mass, where he grew up. One friend of his died in the fierce battle for the Solomon Islands. That guy's brother was killed in the European side of the war, though I don't think I heard exactly where. Sadly, the boy's mom was beside herself getting a Saving Private Ryan-esque pair of "We regret to inform you..."

As frail as Frank was, it was clear he was wasting no time seeing the world and staying in touch with the people he's known since retiring in the 70s. He has a million stories to tell, a wicked temper still easily provoked (almost Tourettesish) and clearly plans on living another decade for good measure. The Western Mass accent is as strong as ever, refreshing to hear after I had spent 10 days trying to discern the 10 words of Chinese I knew.

Man Mistaken for Nutria

Story here

Another fantastic tale from the Oregon Coast's meth belt!

From the oaken forests of North Carolina's Pisgah National Forest comes....

Haiku from a solo camper.

Semi-foul hiking boots
Long expidition rain-soaked
Definately stank

Flour Tortilla
Top of the carb pyramid
Bad gas on the way

Two group dynamics
Couldn't be more different
Diversity Lives on

Autumn foliage
Squirrels are gettin' frisky
It's time for breeding!

Table Rock skyline
Companion moon hangs above
Photo lacks beauty

The current time for my beloved hometown:

Portland, Oregon.

The Point Card: Consumer Abandon in the Works

At first I shied away from them. It seemed recklessly consumerish, being encouraged to buy more, not less. However to live like the locals I decided I should shop like the locals. I’m speaking of course about point cards. Though the US has a plethora of point cards from such places as Safeway, in Japan the system is out, my friends, out of control. I have point cards for everything. Funeral arrangements, life insurance purchases, cans of near beer, bars, and restaurants. How could anyone keep track of all these paperboard, card stock and delightfully durable plastic jobbers? The short answer is that you can’t!

In my wallet I try to burden myself with the most useful cards- the ones for shopping and daily purchases, such as the aforementioned cans of near beer and, well doughnuts.

The Japanese, you see have become wholly engrossed in the Western idea of more is better. They chucked the less is more concept long, long ago. The doughnut card: This nifty rewritable bit of modern wonder works like this: Each doughnut purchased awards the entitled 6 doughnut points. Arbitrary? Of course! What do all of these 6 point-per-go points add up to? I did some digging and here is what I found. For a mere purchase of 24.5 doughnuts (210 points) you can get a cereal bowl topped by animalistic lid, for placing inside. What else? More doughnuts!

All out of steam....

Nothing makes a man feed a teensy weensy bit down like quitting a job as a company goes down in utter, flamage. However, salvation awaits in something called Asahi Brewing "Prime Time," a new brew and in no way related to TV viewing between 8 to 11p.m. weeknights.