DSL Update

Hey,

My DSL is back up and running. The problem? Well it seems that ATT (actually PacBell) placed a small transistor in the junction box a few decades ago to remotely test the line. Turns out these little devices wreak havoc with DSL signals. So, if your DSL goes off when you pick up (or hang up) the phone or otherwise acts odd, call ATT and have them come out and yank that sucker.

Late to the car park

David Brooks (who I am trying to read more of- as an act of exposing myself to thoughtful opposing viewpoints) has an insightful column today. What struck me most was his characterization of GM as being in the restructuring business. To wit,

Some companies are in the steel business, some are in the cookie business, but General Motors is in the restructuring business. For 30 years, G.M. has been restructuring itself toward long-term viability.

It reminded me of a course I took many, many years ago as an undergraduate back there in the Middle West where I grew up. I cannot remember the exact course title, it was one of those upper division special topic courses. It might have been the course on the history of capitalism, not sure. In any event the course reading list included Brock Yates masterful account of Detroit's major business entitled The Decline and Fall of the American Automobile Industry. Published in 1983, it is almost eerie how little has changed. Which is odd considering that all of the managers who drove GM off that particular road are long since retired. In fact most of the new guys running the place are in their early 50's. Perhaps it cannot all be blamed on the management, after all, the share holders, unions and board own some of this. But, I am reminded of a definition of insanity that remains popular: repeating the same experiment, the same way and expecting different results.

Duh!

Can working or going to school near fast food make you fat? Well some recent studies suggest that having fast food outlets within 500 feet of a school will drive up obesity rates. The LA Times did a follow up article. It would seem to reinforce the idea that no one should be eating edible non-foods, no matter how tasty, cheap or convenient.

More that I didn't know

The NYT has a fascinating profile of Freeman Dyson, a guy who seems to embody the word "polymath". I had never heard of him, but then again I have only a passing familiarity with high end physics. If you want to talk about historians, well then that's another story.

Anyhow, I found this piece interesting not only for his take on global warming (although unqualified to offer an opinion- I think we should work towards controlling it) but for the amazing place he works at. It puts the tank in think tank. Imagine if you had an opportunity to just sit around and think about different problems all day. No need to publish, grade papers or even lecture. As the bratwurst commercial says, "heaven on a bun".

Read the whole profile here

Back from Sac Town

I just spent the last 24 hours in Sac Town (otherwise known as Sacramento CA). I have to say having been there before, this might be the perfect time of year to visit. First off, everything is in bloom: trees, flowers, people (well, they are marching around in less clothing). Second, it has not gotten crazy hot, which does happen as I remember well from summer time visits in the past. Summer in that part of the state is like a real time add for air conditioning. Hot, muggy and like a similar climate in Kansas City (where I lived for a few years) not a beach in sight.

But having said all that, Sacramento is a great walk/bike around town. Now, this time I was staying downtown as opposed to hanging out in Carmichael (where I have relatives) and I was really struck by how mellow it all was. The landscape is perfectly flat which has allowed the growth of a huge cruiser/single speed scene with people wandering around at all hours of the day and night on fixees, chopper bikes and all manner of non-hill climbing machines. There is also a nice bar and restaurant scene around town both near the convention center and also over near Fort Sutter.

Now if they could do something about those summers, I would start looking for jobs up there.

Oh, and a quick nod to Brew it Up, for their marvelous double IPA

Outage

My DSL is acting up, as a result I will be posting less until it gets resolved. I have now checked every damn cable section from the modem back to the pole, so its ATT's problem. They promised to be out on Tuesday (Tuesday!) to fix it.

Thanks, "your world delivered"- my ass!

What's your adventure setting?

Outside Magazine has an interesting article on people's disposition towards either adventure or stasis. Although my using that terminology probably tips my own hand on the subject you can find your own rating with their handy on-line tool. Take this test and find out if your comfort level can tolerate my cooking.

Tool: outsideonline.com/adventurespectrum

The article isn't online yet, so let me tell you how the scoring works according to the editors:

2- Mini golfers
3- Hacky Sackers
3.5- Bocce Players
4- Soccer Players
5- Cyclists
6.5- Skiers
8- Kayakers
8.5- Alpinists
9- Big Wave Surfers
10+ BASE Jumpers (people who jump off cliffs with parachutes)

BTW, I scored at 10, but I do not have a parachute.

HFC - High Fructose Corn Syrup

So, there are several articles on the NY Times over the weekend the refer to the local food movement, eating better, and our good friend HFCS.

This alongside the commercials that the Corn Refiners Association (who knew such a thing even existed?) is running on TV and it might be worth going back to the main question about HFCS. The question should not be about whether the stuff is good for you, get a high enough dose of anything and it could kill you. No, the real question should be about what it takes to get all the cheap corn syrup in the first place. Michael Pollan lays out in glorious detail what it takes to grow that corn in his opus, The Omnivore's Dilemma. The impact on our environment to grow that corn, refine that corn and then shove it into a plastic container filled with, as Pollan puts it "edible non-food" is enormous. Now, it might not be a better deal in oil consumption to suck down Coke made with cane sugar, but it will be a better deal for the farm land of Iowa, the Mississippi river basin and therefore for everyone living there.

Want to do something? Urge Congress and the Ag Dept. to undo the Nixon era changes to corn subsidies and restore some sanity to the marketplace. Right now farmers are rewarded for planting more and more corn. Lets try this on, less corn more pasture and other crops. If this means that the cost of corn goes up- then they might have to stop feeding it to cows, who cannot digest it without being loaded up on drugs and mashed into tight pens. The cost of a steak might go up, but at least it would taste like a steak again.

My fantasy come to life

Not many know this, but I have a half developed idea for opening a small lunch/dinner place. I want to go with quality food, fresh prep and of course decent lunch time prices (less than ten bucks). So here we, are with the Atlantic declaring it a trend. Great, anyone want to invest in a Taco Truck with me?

Locovore Steak

I was chatting with a freind on BART today and she told me about the meat CSA that she and her husband had just subscribed to, she was waxing poetic about the quality and taste of the meat so I pressed her for details of who the CSA was and what were the particulars of it. She then mentioned to me that she had just read a write up of meat CSA's in the Contra Costa Times that mentioned serveral different ones that served the area. So, having arrived home and deleted all my spam, I surfed over and here it is.

So, my friend subscribes to Marin Sun (www.marinsunfarms.com) and swears by the tastiness of the meat. I might have to check it out for myself.

Republicans in Cali

Salon.com has a long and interesting summary of the GOP's state of affairs on a state by state basis today. While I was interested in some of the reports about states that I had lived in or near, the one on California struck me as clearly off.

CALIFORNIA

PRESIDENTIAL VOTE 2000: Gore 53-42 2008: Obama 61-37
U.S. SENATE 2005: 2D 2009: 2D
U.S. HOUSE 2005: 33D-20 2009: 34D-19
STATE HOUSE 2005: 48D-32 2009: 51D-29
STATE SENATE 2005: 25D-15 2009: 26D-14

In the state that has always the nation's leading indicator of social trends, recent Democratic dominance has been based on the same coalition of urban liberals, suburban social moderates, and minorities that elected Barack Obama last fall. After a few wipeouts, the GOP learned how to survive in that environment and nominated Arnold Schwarzenegger, whose politics would make him a Democrat in most non-coastal states. With the voting population getting less white by the day, there's probably no turning back for California Republicans, though conservatives keep trying. The decision by six GOP lawmakers to side with the Democratic majority in the state Legislature and pass a state budget containing tax increases brought demands for censure from the party's conservative base. State chairman Ron Nehring urged conservatives to cool off and concentrate on growing the party instead. In 2010, when Arnold is termed out, expect eBay exec Meg Whitman and Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner -- both suburban, business-oriented, moderate millionaires -- to fight for the Republican gubernatorial nod.

Memorable quote: "We have to get out of the doldrums from the November election. We need to rally people." -- State GOP vice chairman Tom Del Beccaro

Here is the problem, the GOP did not nominate the Governator, they never would and never could have. For those with short political memories the recall was a wide open election with dozens of candidates running against Gray Davis. Schwarzenegger simply won the most votes in an open field with no party primary beforehand. That was the key, Schwarzenegger couldn't have won election to represent the California Republicans for dog catcher, let alone governor. I would suggest that both of the candidates fighting to carry the Republican banner in 2010 will have shot themselves badly in the foot with moderate voters after doing what is required to win a majority of the state's Republicans. The best thing the Republican party could do for itself in the next year is try to become a bit more pragmatic about the budget before people start heading to Sacramento with pitchforks.

The Stimulus is Paving the Way

I live in Richmond CA. Richmond has many points of interest to the outside observer. It has been called the most dangerous city in California. It is home to Chevron, complete with oil refinery and an odd smell in the air nearby. It was the site of the first day care/preschool operations in the USA (during WWII, when women were working at the Kaiser shipyards), and to go along with that home to the Rosie the Riveter Museum. It also has its own brand of politics, the mayor is liberal. By local standards that tells you that she is a member of the Green party (really) and the more conservative city council is populated by Democrats (it is the Bay area).

More striking for me, is that I think I can see the Obama Stimulus at work outside my living room window this morning. A few years ago Richmond was so broke that the city teetered on the edge of bankruptcy and real financial ruin. The replacement of the city administrator and a number of other senior level civil servants seemed to put that city back on a path to solvency. However in the ensuing year, many city services and programs had been cut back to subsistence levels. One of these was street paving. In fact the Contra Costa Times ran an article describing how Richmond had, by downsizing its street maintenance operations created a situation where they would never catch up on street repair, given the normal course of attrition to a city street.

Indeed the road that runs past my house was so riddled with potholes that when a crew came through two years ago t fill them people stopped and applauded as they worked their way down the street- when was the last time you saw anyone applaud a street crew?

Right now, even in the midst of what must surely be a huge revenue shortfall, there is a crew outside laying down shiny new pavement (not to mention that its raining). I can only attribute this continued to commitment to spending money on the stimulus package. Without those promises of funding from the state and federal level I cannot see my fair city blithely spending away like this. While my street was pretty awful, it was not a matter of life or death by any means, and if nothing else it slowed folks down a bit, making it safer for kids in the neighborhood.

Where I get quoted in a real newspaper

I was pulled up to the Costco gas pumps the other day, just filling up the tank on the family car and this woman strides up to me and says, "I see you're a biker, can I ask you some questions". Now, normally there is not a lot of chatting at Costco gas. You pull up, do your thing and move on- more like the men's room than a coffee house. But I had been stopped just the week before by a fellow who wanted to ask me about the bike rack I had (its a hitch rack) so I was less startled than I would be normally.

It turns out she had no interest in my bike rack, rather she is a reporter for the Contra Costa Time and she wanted to ask me for my thoughts on the current state of gas prices. I always feel torn in those moments, because I know that people are not looking for a full blown lecture on the impact of the recession on commodity prices, or why we should as a society be using this moment to retool in ways that make us less dependent on fossil fuels while the costs associated with that change are lower. So, I struggle to create some concise and meaningful comments that would fit into a small piece in the paper.

I must have succeeded because a quick Google News search a few day later kicked up this:

Bay Area gas prices edge down

The quote:

"If we're smart, we'll figure out ways to use less of it (gas) while the price is cheap so we're using less of it when the economy gets running again," said Gordon Gladstone of Berkeley, who said he has been getting around by bicycle more often. "The price of gas went down because people are driving less often, but at some point that will turn around and the piper will have to be paid."

Now, if I could get booked on a cable news show...

Single Speed

I own two single speed bikes (keeping with my motto of more bikes than I need, fewer than I want). One is an old rigid mountain bike stripped of everything but brakes and a single cog. The other is one of the pseudo track bikes that are very popular these days. Mine is a Schwinn Madison, not a true track bike since it comes with brakes, but for those of us who fancy our bodies as younger than they really are- its fine.

For the last year or so I have been riding it as my commute bike. The rear wheel came built with what's known as a "flip-flop" hub. That is, one side of the hub has a freewheel (allowing coasting) and the other is a fixed gear. A fixed gear bike ties the pedals and the rear wheel together so that one cannot move independently of the other. If the bike moves, the pedals move, and your legs move.

If look carefully around town you will see folks riding these rigs with real grace and without the benefit of brakes (they brake by locking their knees, thus stopping the rear wheel and riding a skid to a halt). Its pretty impressive. Less impressive was my own riding when I decided to flip my wheel over earlier this week and ride to meet a friend for lunch.

When you have been riding for years, there are little habits that become ingrained, like coasting up to a stop sign, or down a hill. This is not an option on a fixed gear bike and each time you try to pull one of those little stunts your legs get jerked around by the pedals with surprising amount of force. I can only imagine what I looked like in those moments, a scarecrow on the end of a fishing pole perhaps. A few of those incidents and suddenly you are paying more attention to your riding than you have in years.

My knees and calves are sore- still, but I am probably going to leave this set up in place until I either decide that its really going to hurt me badly, or I master it to some degree. Just don't expect me to take the brakes off anytime soon.

A visit to an Oakland School

I have been doing some part time work for a social service agency that coordinates volunteer projects in the Bay Area. Today I was out on a site visit for an upcoming project at one of Oakland's elementary schools. To say that these schools have seen better days physically would be understating the situation dramatically. The playground I stood on had a set of climbing bars that I remember from my own childhood, and that was 30+ years ago. The auditorium was small, dark and in need of not just a fresh coat of paint, but really of being brought into the 21st century altogether.

Now, its not all bad. The staff I met struck me as caring, hard working and determined to make a difference in the lives of their students. The fact that California leads the country, perhaps the world, in so many intellectual fields (Cal, Silicon Valley, etc) but lags so far back in public education is amazing. That it seems to be the norm among upper middle class folks to send their kids to private school is mind boggling.

I been told that a good chunk of the education system's problems can be traced back to Prop 13 and the distortion it inflicted on school districts revenue stream. This in turn has made all school districts dependent on the state for funds and we all know how well that is working out these days.

Of course in some schools and some districts the PTA steps in and funds all those "luxury" items- like art, music and sports. It seems so odd that a state that is so progressive on so many issues (environment, work place laws, etc) could be so regressive in hurting the most at risk for the sake of insulating folks from the true costs of the communities they live in.

That's my rant for the day. Thanks for reading.

Ode to Liver

I recently enjoyed a meal of chicken livers. For many of you that might not sound too tasty, but for me chicken liver represents comfort food of the highest order. Liver is fatty and high in cholesterol among other things, but its a childhood favorite and few things are as tender, tasty and yes fatty as liver.

Another issue is the fact the livers tend to accumulate all sorts of nasty toxins (yours included). With most chickens you might have second thoughts about ingesting them with the antibiotics and all of the other novel things they feed to them. So, let me suggest going with the organic/free range variety available at Whole Paycheck Foods and other places (if you can find something in a true free range bird so much the better).

The traditional preparation in my Ashkenazi family is chopped chicken liver, a nice mash of liver, onion, seasonings and perhaps a bit of wine for good measure. But on this occasion I was out to recreate a truly faboulus sandwich I had eaten a several weeks ago in New Orleans. It was a fried chicken liver poboy with a topping of coleslaw and a light mayo dressing. Since that particular sandwich could have fed a family of four I decided that something smaller was in order.

Thus, I created the chicken liver slider. Directions below, enjoy:

Chicken Liver Sliders
(feeds 2-3)

1 lb organic chicken livers
6-8 small dinner rolls
1 lb coleslaw (you can make your own, but this is a quick lunch)

Place livers on plate, pat dry with paper towel, season with salt, pepper, and a dash of creole seasoning if desired.
Heat a cast iron pan to med-high heat with a small bit of oil (peanut is best)
[don't own a cast iron pan?? Go to Target (WalMart for Democrats) and pick one up, less than 20 bucks and it will last you a lifetime]
Place livers seasoning side down in pan, set timer for 3 minutes.
While the livers are cooking (and do not move them) toss the rolls in the oven at 300 to warm up.
Turn livers and cook again for 3 minutes.
Remove livers from pan to a cutting board and allow to rest for 3 minutes.
Remove rolls and slice open and place on plates.
Slice livers into bite sized pieces and distribute on rolls evenly.
Top each sandwich with coleslaw and serve.
Toss out your iron supplement- you don't need it now.

Reset

Control-Alt-Delete

Sometimes known in computing circles as the three finger salute (not to be confused with its single digit cousin)it represents a gesture of reset or reboot. In the past I was blogging professionally. From here forward this blog is strictly for my own amusement, if you- the reader- also enjoy any part of it then so much the better.

Enjoy