Posted inCurrent affairs

Adventurer of the Year 2012: 65 year old Jon Turk

  Way to go, Jon! At the age of 65, you're nominated for National Geographic's Adventurers of the Year 2012 award, along with Erik Boomer, a youthful 26. (Jon Turk is on the left in the photo above.) You've inspired this 63 year-old. Unlike you, I'll never be the first to circumnavigate Canada's frosty Ellesmere Island, dragging my sea kayak overland for a good share of the 1,500 miles, risking death in ice-choked seas, encountering curious wolves and polar bears. But you've reminded me that us geezers have a lot more living to do, regardless of our Social Security-eligible age. …
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Posted inHumor

“Vancouvria” — sharp satire about the anti-Portland

Man, I'm loving "Vancouvria." This homegrown You Tube'd video satire of Portland's more conservative neighbor to the north, where the dream of the suburbs lives on, is way better than "Portlandia" -- in my utterly subjective yet totally true opinion. Two more three-minute'ish episodes have been released, here and here, each as good as the first. Have a look, and a laugh. (In Episode 2, I really like "Ow...it burns!" and the guy continually texting.)    
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Posted inHome life Salem

Photos of rural south Salem’s snow-pocalypse

Who says the pioneer spirit in Oregon died out with the pioneers? It was alive and well today on what many are calling our state's 2012 snow-pocalypse. Though for some reason, many also are not. Hopefully these photos of my personal snow-pocalypse will change the minds of skeptics who doubt the severity of our recent weather emergency. My better judgment said, "Stay inside during this wild storm." My daring heart, along with a forlorn looking family pet, said "Risk your life and go for a dog walk." Given the inclement weather, even our dog, Serena, looked unsure about our chances…
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Posted inCurrent affairs Humor

In 2012, let’s elect Canada as president

Great news! The Canada Party has entered our presidential race. I'd vote for Canada to be the leader of the United States, for sure.  This is a highly persausive campaign video.   But seriously... (though I hope, oh, I so dearly hope, Canada will run for president), other countries have a hell of a lot to teach the United States. We aren't #1 in anything related to quality of life.  It's a fact. Check out the OECD's Better Life Initiative web site (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development). Quality of life rankings for most of the world's developed economies, along with…
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Posted inHome life Humor

Weight training women, respect egos of older men

Astoundingly, via Google I wasn't able to find a reference to the most important bit of weight training etiquette every buff woman who frequents an athletic club needs to know: Do not, repeat, do not, leave a higher weight on a machine or piece of equipment than the senior citizen men in the weight room can handle themselves. This has bothered me for a long time. Today I learned that I'm not alone. Clearly, the time has come to educate women about proper weight training etiquette -- other than the obvious, like here, here, and here. This afternoon I chatted with…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

Mitt Romney — job destroyer, “vulture capitalist”

Do you think Mitt Romney is a guy who will add jobs to the American economy? Think again. He's a job destroyer, not a job creator. He doesn't care if people get hurt when businesses shut down, so long as CEO's like him make loads of money. Here's the proof: a persuasive video, "When Mitt Romney Came to Town." Watch it and weep... for the workers whose lives were torn apart by Mitt Romney. If you don't have time for the full 28 minute video, there's a three minute trailer.   
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Posted inWeb/Tech

iPhone DiffCase: a lot to like, not quite right for me

I'm a naked iPhone user. Meaning, sometimes we both are, but usually only my iPhone is. I've enjoyed feeling the glassy, metallic sleekness of the iPhones I've owned without a screen protector or case coming between me and my beloved bit of technology. But after dropping my naked phone several times onto the (thankfully) carpeted floor of an athletic club, I decided to look into protection options.  And came upon DiffCase, an aptly named different sort of case. You should look into it if you're an iPhone user who is into tripod-necessary photography, seeks full protection for your phone, and/or…
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Posted inEntertainment

“Portlandia” needs a comedy makeover

My wife and I live in Salem, a.k.a. "So-lame," Portland's dowdy, plain, uncool neighbor to the south. We wish our city could be half as ravishingly interesting as Portland is. No, one-tenth as interesting. Heck, give us any little slice of Portland and we'd devour it hungrily. (Salem just got it's first Trader Joe's store, eons after Portland, Corvallis, and Eugene got theirs. We still don't have a true vegetarian restaurant, much less a vegan one.) So we really want to enjoy IFC's "Portlandia." We watched every episode of Season 1, chuckling only episodically. It kept seeming like Portlandia was on…
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Posted inEntertainment

“House of Lies” resonates with our cynical souls

Damn you, Showtime! Last year I cancelled your half of our HBO/Showtime subscription, because you didn't have on anything we liked to watch.  But last night we took advantage of DirecTV's offer to see Showtime premieres for free. And already we're hooked on "House of Lies."  What's not to like about cynicism, sex, money-grubbing management consultants, dysfunctional relationships, and other reflections of reality? About halfway through the first episode, my wife said "This is our kind of show." A quick review of some early reviews, here, here, and here, indicates that our enthusiasm isn't universally shared. Well, we're used to…
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Posted inSalem

Salem’s Pringle Square development: ugly, unwanted, uninteresting

Oh, man... just what I didn't need so early in the new year -- another reason to be depressed about the prospects of Salem, Oregon being able to ditch it's well-deserved nickname, So-Lame. Today the Statesman Journal newspaper revealed what the Tokarski clan at Mountain West Development are planning for the 13 acre downtown riverfront site which used to house a Boise Cascade paper converting plant and now is to become Pringle Square. Download Pringle Square story PDF  Rental apartments. Unbeautifully stacked in what reminds me and my wife of (1) North Korean housing, (2) Chicago "projects," or (3) a…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

Science supports the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

There are many reasons why Obama and the Democrats were absolutely right to press for a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), billions upon billions of them -- all the dollars that people have lost in the Wall Street-led financial crisis that we've been suffering through since the end of the Bush presidency. Today I came across a persuasive scientific reason for the CFPB in Daniel Kahneman's "Thinking Fast and Slow." (Kahneman, a psychologist, won the Nobel Prize in Economics for his work on decision making.) We Homo sapiens aren't Econs; we are Humans. The distinction between Econs and Humans was…
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Posted inHumor

My favorite dark, twisted (and funny!) Christmas letter

Laurel, my wife, has a friend with a deliciously cynical sense of humor. Every year Nancy, which may or may not be her real name, sends out "The Dreaded Christmas Newsletter."  And every year I rejoice when I read it. It's always my favorite Christmas letter. Somehow I feel much better after reading her twisted outlook on life, than I do after perusing someone else's description of how much they enjoyed their overseas travels, visits with the grandkids, and the joy of growing older. I guess it takes the pressure off when Nancy shows me the lighter side, which, strangely,…
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Posted inMeasure 37 Salem Sustainability

Marion County commissioners owe us an apology

By "us," I mean hundreds of people in our rural south Salem neighborhood who vigorously opposed a 217 acre Measure 37 subdivision proposed to be built on high value farmland that threatened our ground and surface water (wells and community lake). My wife and I led this fight. By "commissioners," I mean Patti Milne and Sam Brentano, Republican county commissioners here in Marion County who did everything they could to approve the Ridge View Estates development. Janet Carlson, the third commissioner, was on the losing end of several 2-1 votes. Carlson, by and large, believed in applying the law to…
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Posted inCurrent affairs Salem

Progressive activists — an unsleepy side of Salem

This afternoon my open house fears turned out to be unfounded. Since I figured that I wouldn't know anyone at the gathering but the hostess, new Salem resident Laurie, my ever-anxious mind envisoned awkward moments standing around with a glass of wine in my hand, wondering what I was going to talk about with strangers other than the weather and if the Ducks were going to triumph in the Rose Bowl tomorrow. I should have known better, because after moving to Oregon from the Boston area, Laurie has found a home among Salem's activist progressive community. She's been a part…
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Posted inHealth Home life

Do my telomeres look longer? (I’m taking astragalus)

About four years ago I shared my supplements list with a mildly- to un-interested world. Seems like a good time to do it again, since there's been some Big News in the non-prescription nostrums I take every day to keep disability, disease, and death at bay. I've gone from 22 supplements to 19. Gone are two algae oil sources of DHA and EPA, as I've replaced these with Ultimate Omega fish oil. Even though I'm a vegetarian, I decided that consuming fish oil was OK, karma-wise, since there doesn't seem to be an equally good non-animal source of omega-3 fatty acids.…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

More bureaucracy, please. The United States needs it.

Conservatives would have us believe that this country suffers from an excess of government regulation, bureaucracy, and restrictions on free enterprise. Not true, as evidenced by how successful the German auto industry is. High profits. High wages. High involvement of the government in corporate affairs.  In 2010, over 5.5 million cars were produced in Germany, twice the 2.7 million built in the United States. Average compensation (a figure including wages and employer-paid benefits) for autoworkers in Germany was 48.97 Euros per hour ($67.14 US), while compensation for auto work in the United States averaged $33.77 per hour, or about half…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

Dump Go Daddy — I did it two years ago

Tomorrow is Dump Go Daddy Day. If you've got a domain name registered with GoDaddy.com, or some other Internet relationship with Go Daddy, I hope you'll ditch this company.  Two years ago I flew the Go Daddy coop for Dotster, and haven't regretted the move. My reasons were different from why people are dumping Go Daddy now -- mostly because it supported a really bad proposed law, SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act, but it really is more like a Stop Free Speech Act). Pleasingly, Go Daddy lost about 70,000 domains last week. May the Go Daddy exodus continue. Here's a…
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Posted inSalem

Another restaurant-reason why Salem drives me crazy

Geez. As if I needed any more reasons why Salem, a.k.a. "So-lame," keeps disappointing my health-conscious, vegetarian, organic, ethnic-food loving self. A few days ago the Portland Oregonian reported that a mere forty miles or so to the north, in oh-so-cool Bridgeport Village, a vegan restaurant called Native Foods has opened.  Need evidence that plant-based eating has gone mainstream? You'll find it at Bridgeport Village, where this outpost of a small California chain of vegan restaurants opened in November, smack in the middle of the suburban shopping center's busiest crossroad. The vibe is family friendly, as is the accessible menu…
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Posted inPhilosophy Salem

Plant magic mushrooms on your grave for loved ones to enjoy

I haven't spent much time envisioning how I'd like my dead body to be disposed of. But after listening to an episode of Philosophy Talk today, "Is Nothing Sacred Anymore?," I've got an interesting psychedelic option to consider. Here's what a member of the audience said: Hello, my name is Jay Monk. I'm from Willamette University. And first I'll apologize for the asking of this question about a taboo, but I really want to know what your thoughts are. If hypothetically, for my burial, I'd like to be buried in a plot of land that has been inoculated with psychedelic…
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Posted inFamily Home life

Our unreal (really!) 2011 Christmas Letter is unveiled

Every year I struggle, for a whole fifteen seconds or so, to come up with a theme for our Christmas Letter -- which we call, with marvelous political correctness, "Holiday Greetings from Laurel and Brian." Once again it was easy to identify a zeitgeist for 2011. Unreal. Such has become our favorite way of handling reality: treat it as illusion.  [Legal disclaimer: this only works with brain-stuff such as emotions, worries, fears, and such. Ignore a red traffic light and your results almost certainly will differ.] So here's our totally unreal 2011 Christmas Letter, a.k.a. Holiday Greetings. Read it and…
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