Thursday, December 25, 2014
Wednesday, December 24, 2014
The Cows Are Getting Tipsy on Christmas Popcorn
Hey, they're not my cows. And no, I have not been shopping drunk down in Harvard Square again. Merry Christmas!
Monday, December 8, 2014
Sunday, December 7, 2014
Manzanita in the Oregon Rain
Walking on the beach at Manzanita, Oregon on the Monday before Thanksgiving, iPhone camera in one hand, umbrella in the other.
At Cannon Beach earlier in the day, before the drizzle started.
Mazanita
Killjoy was here.
The fishing fleet at Garibaldi.
Crab rings, for catching Dungeness crabs, the state crustacean of Oregon.
Crabs at the Uwajimaya Asian Food Market in Beaverton. Sadly, I'm allergic to crustaceans.
Wednesday, November 5, 2014
Why Measure 2 to Expand the Bottle Bill Failed in Massachusetts
I think it's stupid that if you buy a carbonated beverage in a can or bottle you have to put down a nickel deposit, but if you buy water or juice in the same container you don't. So I was initially in favor of Question 2, the Massachusetts ballot initiative to expand the bottle bill. Then I thought about the six months' worth of cans I need to back to the store and run through the machine to get my nickels back. It would be so much easier just to put them in curbside recycling.
And then I read the fine print, which wanted to peg the nickel to inflation so that it will go up to 6 cents, then 7 cents, and on and on. I lived in Michigan for 3 years under the 10 cent deposit regime, and am still bitter about that 30 years later. Then, in the voting booth, I read some more fine print that the minimum handling fee would be pegged at 3½ cents. In other words, 70% of the nickel deposit would be lost to handling fees.
I was not alone, the expanded bottle bill failed 26.6% to 73.4%. I still think the distinction between the different beverages is stupid. If the bottlers put up a question to repeal the entire bottle bill, I'll probably vote for it.
Another ballot idea whose time may not have come, at least in Colorado and quite likely Oregon, is mandatory labeling for GMO food products. The idea is to force food makers to stamp the words "Genetically Engineered" on all the scary Frankenfoods. Of course, we already have voluntary non-GMO labeling. I bought this bag of these All Natural Non-GMO Verified Certified Gluten-Free American Vegetarian Association 0 Grams Trans Fat corn chips to watch the election results come in:
Speaking of the results not coming in, there were a number of close races in New England. My favorite was Massachusetts Governor candidate Martha Coakley calling it a night without conceding even though she was trailing by 30,000 plus votes and all the media outlets had called the race. Instead of a concession speech, the local TV broadcast the union guys dismantling the stage as the room emptied out at the Coakley campaign victory party.
And then I read the fine print, which wanted to peg the nickel to inflation so that it will go up to 6 cents, then 7 cents, and on and on. I lived in Michigan for 3 years under the 10 cent deposit regime, and am still bitter about that 30 years later. Then, in the voting booth, I read some more fine print that the minimum handling fee would be pegged at 3½ cents. In other words, 70% of the nickel deposit would be lost to handling fees.
I was not alone, the expanded bottle bill failed 26.6% to 73.4%. I still think the distinction between the different beverages is stupid. If the bottlers put up a question to repeal the entire bottle bill, I'll probably vote for it.
Another ballot idea whose time may not have come, at least in Colorado and quite likely Oregon, is mandatory labeling for GMO food products. The idea is to force food makers to stamp the words "Genetically Engineered" on all the scary Frankenfoods. Of course, we already have voluntary non-GMO labeling. I bought this bag of these All Natural Non-GMO Verified Certified Gluten-Free American Vegetarian Association 0 Grams Trans Fat corn chips to watch the election results come in:
Speaking of the results not coming in, there were a number of close races in New England. My favorite was Massachusetts Governor candidate Martha Coakley calling it a night without conceding even though she was trailing by 30,000 plus votes and all the media outlets had called the race. Instead of a concession speech, the local TV broadcast the union guys dismantling the stage as the room emptied out at the Coakley campaign victory party.
Thursday, October 23, 2014
Another Year, Another Bitter Harvest in Boston
First Church in Cambridge (Congregational, UCC) has been tracking gun violence in Boston and Cambridge for the last couple of years. It's a bitter harvest, white for dead and red for wounded:
September 2014:
September 2013:
The death count looks about the same or maybe a little less this year than last, 44 in 2013 versus 35 so far in 2014 with 3 months left to go. The white flags don't tell the whole story. They flag people who died due to gun violence. If you get stabbed, beaten, choked, or bombed to death, you don't get a white flag.
Here on the Cambridge side of the river, there's been one gun death this year and one last year. That puts us at about the national average for violent crime. Most parts of Boston are also relatively safe, and then there are the parts of the city that aren't so safe.
"A Witness Against Gun Violence and Inequality" is how these flags are billed. Guns and poverty are certainly two factors, but other types of violence and crime associated with drug use, drug dealing, and street gangs also factor in. Still, the national media mostly beats the drum for mass shootings, but it's the week-to-week violence of a murder here or there that adds up.
I don't have any magic bullet solution, but I do know an organization, City Year, that is working the other side of the problem to reduce the school dropout rate. That's what feeds the street gangs, and by the time you have violent young men without too much prospect in life wanting to kill each other, it's too late.
September 2014:
September 2013:
The death count looks about the same or maybe a little less this year than last, 44 in 2013 versus 35 so far in 2014 with 3 months left to go. The white flags don't tell the whole story. They flag people who died due to gun violence. If you get stabbed, beaten, choked, or bombed to death, you don't get a white flag.
Here on the Cambridge side of the river, there's been one gun death this year and one last year. That puts us at about the national average for violent crime. Most parts of Boston are also relatively safe, and then there are the parts of the city that aren't so safe.
"A Witness Against Gun Violence and Inequality" is how these flags are billed. Guns and poverty are certainly two factors, but other types of violence and crime associated with drug use, drug dealing, and street gangs also factor in. Still, the national media mostly beats the drum for mass shootings, but it's the week-to-week violence of a murder here or there that adds up.
I don't have any magic bullet solution, but I do know an organization, City Year, that is working the other side of the problem to reduce the school dropout rate. That's what feeds the street gangs, and by the time you have violent young men without too much prospect in life wanting to kill each other, it's too late.
Monday, October 6, 2014
If This Boston Police Van Is a Rockin' Don't Come a Knockin'
Parked Sunday near Jamaica Pond in Boston. The picture may not do justice to the flashing blue and red lights that lit it up like a party was going on inside. Special operations indeed!
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