Note to self, I've just discovered "Panarchy" theory. There is an article about ithere. I haven't read the article in full and this may all be a load of hooey, but it looks interesting. Unfortunately the rush of selling our house and looking for another in Miami is consuming all of my time and attention, so I don't have time to pay attention to the article or the concept. However, when things quieten down, I want to go back and read about this.

Tags: philosophy
Current Mood: contemplative

Tags: gardening
Current Mood: awake

This is my third year of trying to grow vegetables in the company of the pesky squirrels. I never has this problem in Durban, South Africa. There, our problem there was monkeys, but squirrels are an even more persistent menace of the temperate climates. Well, if you've done battle with the squirrels like I have: watched them eat tomatoes covered in chili pepper spray, chomp straight through chicken wire, this article will probably make you cry with laughter. It certainly touched a nerve with me.

Tags: gardening, squirrels
Current Mood: amused

Just finished a good article published here.

People are wondering what to do about the low energy future. Somebody says put up a clothes line. But this is some sort of stupid home owners association community, so they won't allow it. Then somebody else says "So we won’t call it a clothesline, we’ll call it a solar dryer." I like that.

Tags: energy, environment
Current Mood: amused

Finished watching "An Unreasonable Man." Note to self, don't forget this amazing line: Ralph Nader's father talking to Ralph: "So what did you learn at school today? Did you learn how to believe or did you learn how to think?" What a perfect question! How many can honestly answer the latter rather than the former? Not many I think. I was lucky. I had one math teacher in grades 9 and 10 where I could say "I learned how to think," but that's it, apart from my history teacher, maybe.

Tags: education
Current Mood: surprised

Here I am, bitching about no tax breaks for commuter cyclists and lo and behold, I run into this article. Jung called it synchronicity, but I say "ask, and the universe shall provide."

Two of my bicycles. The ciocc (pronounced "choach," rhyming with "coach") was for racing, when I used to race, the bianchi is a hybrid cross bike for commuting.

When the weather is decent, I ride to and from work every day, need I say more?

I do have to rant a little at this point, but don't want to offend any Prius drivers, nudge, wink. So it's great that drivers of hybrid cars get a tax break. People should be encouraged to save energy. However, how is it possibly fair that a driver of a hybrid car gets a tax break and I don't get anything for riding my bicycle? I feel like I should be protesting on the mall in Washington DC.

Tags: bicycle, energy, environment
Current Mood: amused

How's this for a bizarre chain of events?: Yuhfen asked our neighbor to remove her jungle of mulberry trees from her back yard. Surprisingly she dutifully did so! We're doubly overjoyed, because it has removed one of the rabbits' primary hiding spots. So double bonus, more sunlight into the yard and fewer rabbits. Then today, we were standing in the middle of our vegetable garden, watering the plants and doing stuff when we were overrun by a swarm of hungry fleas, eating us alive. Now it may be a bit of a stretch, but my guess is that removing the trees, which removed the rabbits, left the fleas with no food source and they've been migrating outwards, looking for animals to feed on.

Current Mood: itchy

I'm reading this book entitled "Educating Esme" by Esme Codell. To cut a long story short, she's describing her experience of teaching fifth grade in a south-side Chicago public school. And in the particular episode in question she's trying to teach the kids conflict resolution skills.

So the kids have learned this structure to raise and resolve conflicts. They have to start it with "I didn't like it when...." followed by "it made me feel..." followed by some more stuff I don't remember. In the story, the one boy (let's call him Johnny) stands up and, after some help, manages to say, "I didn't like it when Billy kissed me." The teacher, Esme, then says, "and how did that make you feel Johnny?" Johnny replies "it made me feel gay." I'm not sure why I find this so funny, but anyway, I don't know how I would have been able to keep a straight face if I was the teacher in that situation.

Current Mood: amused

Gotta get this one out of my system. I noticed this ad on TV the other day. It might have been for AIG, I don't remember. It was about investing money for retirement, and the punchline was something like, "We'll make sure you never out-live your money."

I'm imagining the follow-up line. Something like "Oh, your money ran out, our professional assassins have been dispatched to your house to kill you... We'll make sure you NEVER out-live your money."

Current Mood: amused