News
April 2006
2006.04.24–Alfred, Ohio. Michael Hewitt-Gleeson wrote back and gave me permission to reprint Lesson 17–The Truth does not exist in science from his School of Thinking. His lesson has been carefully designed and crafted to cause a brain ripple or two in anyone who reads it. Enjoy. Thanks Michael!
2006.04.23–Cincinnati, Ohio. Had a nice visit with my Dad and Aunt Pat. Dad has a bird feeder in his back yard and keeps the birds fed year round. He built a small lean to for the cat about ten feet from the bird feeder. I was surprised when Dad filled the feeder this time. One scoop went into the feeder. Another he sprinkled on the ground around the feeder and then carefully poured a line directly to the lean to. Dad says that his cat has to have some fun too.
The weather was spectacular for a quiet drive home.Read an article about thinking tonight that I thought was very well done.
2006.04.22–Alfred, Ohio. Heading down to Cincinnati to visit with my Dad today.
Permit my mind to wander a moment. You know there was a time when spices (pepper in particular) caused great political turmoil and was valued more than gold. Once a reliable supply was established, everything changed. I still like pepper and pay a pretty good price for it but nothing like the days of old.
Sugar followed. Vast fortunes were made with sugar. The Caribbean was fought over in part to establish sugar plantations. I’ve seen the remnants of old sugar mills in Hawaii. Today they have all moved to poor countries where it can be made cheaper. The supply overwhelmed demand so the price collapsed. Today you will find it in nearly everything you eat.
Tobacco is the same story. Growing these golden leaves are to this day highly regulated by our government in part to support the price. Big bucks are involved. The old money of the South is tobacco money and it is huge. Our own civil war was in part fought because of the influence of tobacco and the need for the plantation owners to have cheap labor.
Today, the world likes black gold. Does anyone notice a similarity or pattern? If history indeed repeats itself, we should see the price spike because of demand. Countries in great turmoil even to the point of fighting wars or establishing colonies to assure a supply of it. Fortunes of unimaginable size being made. Does any of this sound eriely familiar?
Well, here is the silver lining of my story. Inevitably, the price will collapse. When the price of anything reaches a certain threshold, production will soar and alternatives will begin to appear. Europe learned to make sugar from beets and learned to sail to the spice islands rather than take the land routes of Marco Polo. The government stepped in to help prop up the tobacco industry so we don’t really know what would have occurred with free markets but I suspect that tobacco would sell for less than the price of dirt in a free market.
Oil production is a little different in that we can’t easily grow more. True, but… we aren’t interested in the least bit about anything intrinsic about oil, we value the energy contained within it. Other sources of energy will be developed
This begs the obvious question, what will be next? I suspect it will be water.
2006.04.21–Alfred, Ohio. Joe, Angie, Jeanie, and I ate Chinese last night and then came home and played cards and drank Rum. Good to see them again. Everyone admired the lilac bush. It has never been in such a full bloom or been so fragrant. Usually the frost nips it back a bit. This year the weather must have been perfect for it.
I read an interesting article in the Washington Post today about the generals who are talking about secretary of defense Rumsfield. The point of this article is to remind us that civilians rule our military and the author, Charles Krauthammer, provides a good historical context for his argument.
“Lincoln didn’t listen to McClellan, and fired him. Truman had enough of listening to MacArthur and fired him, too. In our system of government, civilians fire generals, not the other way around.” Even though I personally think Rumsfield should go, I couldn’t agree more with this basic idea that the generals should not be attempting to sway policy. That is VERY dangerous.
Our lilac by the driveway is in bloom and every so often the scent of it wafts through the window. Ahhh…
2006.04.20–Alfred, Ohio. I read a very interesting article today about illegal immigrants in a magazine devoted to promoting diversity. In a nutshell, it claims that the U.S. economy would collapse without these people. Here is the reality our our current situation. Approximately one out of twenty U.S. workers today is an illegal immigrant. Compound that with the reality that a third of the U.S. workforce today is made of of baby boomers and are nearing retirement age.
The article provides chilling historical comparisons to the Irish immigrants of 1900’s era, the desire to “keep them out” mentality embodied by the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act that U.S. President Herbert Hoover signed into law on June 17, 1930, and the resulting collapse of the world economy and the Great Depression in the U.S. that followed.
2006.04.19–Alfred, Ohio. Jeanie and I have always had to watch how we spend money and yet we have always had an understanding that relatively small purchases needed no discussion or justification to the other. Let me give you an example. If I want to purchase a book or CD, I just go ahead and do it. Of course I wouldn’t do that every day, just now and again. However, if I need to buy anything substantial (a new suit, tires, another vehicle, a computer, etc), we would discuss it before hand, look over our finances, and either save or otherwise figure out when to purchase it. Jeanie has always extended me the same courtesy. It has worked out well for us.
We have never set a dollar threshold and relied more on common sense and the amount of money we have available. Even though the amount of money we are willing to spend without discussion has gone up over the years, I never imagined having this conversation before heading out to work in the morning… “Honey, I’m thinking of buying gas today.” “That’s fine, have a nice one.” “I was thinking about filling it up.” “Gasp!”
Give this one a try. It will help you shop for gas. Another thought on this obscene topic. I was talking with an older fellow the other day and he mentioned the price of gas. He is living on a fixed income and I suspect he doesn’t really have a lot. He asked if I knew how much profit Exxon made last year. I didn’t know the figure but knew that it was the most profit that any U.S. Corporation has ever made in history. The old guy surprised me. He knew the number (rounded to the nearest billion) and said that he would NEVER buy from Exxon again in his life. Sounds like a decent plan to me.
One more comment that I heard recently. It went something like this. “I wouldn’t mind the price of gas if we were getting healthcare or something for it.” Huh? I inquired. “We are paying European prices (where petrol is highly taxed to provide social programs) but getting nothing in return.”
2006.04.18–Alfred, Ohio. Tell me I didn’t read these right.
“…a report in New Yorker magazine said this month the Bush administration was considering the option of using tactical nuclear weapons to knock out Iran’s underground nuclear sites.” – Reuters
Neil Young has released a new album. One of the songs? Let’s impeach the president. – Rolling Stone
2006.04.17–Alfred, Ohio. Finished reading The DaVinci Code tonight. It is OK. I waited until the paperback came out. I once saw it on sale in the hard back edition for about ten bucks but I was determined to wait for the paperback. I saw it in a Walmart down South AFTER we had checked out of a lengthy line for around five bucks but there was no way I was going through that line again. Saturday, I picked up the paperback at Borders for 20% off (about $12.50). :(
The book brought back memories of a number theory class I once had in college. Some numbers, equations, and sequences are absolutely fascinating when you delve into them a little. Phi ((√5+1)/2) is one such number.
2006.04.16–Alfred, Ohio. Happy Easter!
2006.04.15–Alfred, Ohio. Fired up the lawn mower for the first time this year. Unfortunately, it started right up. The weather is in the 80’s and everything is getting green. Wonderful weather!
Terry and I had lunch together in Parkersburg today. Nice to visit with an old friend, even if it is only briefly.
Here are a few of the photos from our Eastern Caribbean Cruise.
2006.04.14–Alfred, Ohio. The local frogs are “in season”. This morning was rainy and wet so it really got them stirred up. What pleasant sounds they make in their serenade.
I gave away one of the scenes that I’ve had in mind for my book on the forum today. The idea is a couple of years old by now. It didn’t seem like it would ever materialize so I decided that I could at least make it happen in the story I’m writing. Maybe with the help of the forum it will become a reality one day.
Google announced their calendar project (http://www.google.com/calendar) yesterday. I signed right up. This morning I shared my calendar with my immediate family and had Google send them invites. I’m thinking this could be a handy reminder tool. I recall really liking the iCal calendar but couldn’t absorb the cost of it for use on Frogtails. Google provides similar functionality for free. Yah Google! If you have any interest in sharing my calendar or you have one that I may join, just let me know.
2006.04.13–Alfred, Ohio. We stopped in to visit with Joe and Angie last night for a little pizza party and a couple of games of foosball. Always good to see them. Looking over our pictures, the blue colour of the ocean appear to have been the favorite. It is really a sight to behold.
2006.04.12–Alfred, Ohio. Still beautiful weather, but no time to spend in the sun… or have fun. Worse, my tan is fading! Oh well, I had six rolls of film developed and a few good pictures out of the bunch.
Note to my Jewish friends: Passover begins.
NOTE: I'll fill this in more as time permits and put up a few pictures when they are developed. I just wanted to get a few things down before I forget them.
2006.04.11–Alfred, Ohio. Went to work today and forgot to take the film with me. Drat! Work was OK and I didn’t much mind being there. The weather was warm and sunny here today.
2006.04.10–Alfred, Ohio. We made it home without incident. It was another lovely drive without a cloud in the sky. It was late Spring or early summer this morning in South Carolina and early Spring here.
2006.04.09–Rock Hill, South Carolina. We were off the boat and on the road by 9:00 a.m. this morning. We headed North and drove through another beautiful day. South Florida is tropical of course but even the Northern part and all of Georgia looked and felt like summer. It was only in South Carolina when the sun was getting lower that I noticed that the trees were a lighter shade of green like in the Spring.
I finished reading 1421 today.
2006.04.08–Nassau, Bahamas. We spent five and a half hours here. A couple of hours shopping and a couple of hours at a beach. There were five cruise ships docked and way to many people in this little town.
2006.04.06–Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas. We took a walking tour of Blackbeard’s castle and then headed over to Magen’s Bay. It is rated as one of the top ten beaches in the world.
2006.04.05–Philipsburg, St. Maarten. We took another tour. Our guide Jeet was pretty interesting. He took us to the French side of the island and let us look through a rum plantation. Nothing like we imagined. It was just for tourists but I don’t think Jeet had anything to do with it. He took us to the town of Marigot for an hour of shopping. We then heading to Boo Boo Jam beach and had lunch there. We walked through other beaches named Coco, Waikiki, and then over to Orient. It was interesting. Orient beach for those who are not familiar is a place where clothing is optional.
2006.04.04–San Juan, Puerto Rico. We took a tour of the old fort and then walked and shopped a little in old San Juan.
2006.04.03–at sea. The morning was pretty windy so we didn’t stay out to long. Good thing. I found a small spot on my ankle that must have been missed with the sunscreen. It burned pretty good. Fortunately, Jeanie had planned for this and we already had some aloe vera. I was out long enough to get a real good start on a book that I brought along titled 1421. We watched a comedian for the evening show and then went back to see his adult version at midnight. He was one funny dude and not at all vulgar. My hat is off to him.
2006.04.02–Miami, Florida. We drove to Miami without incident and had plenty of time so we dropped off our luggage early and then went to a small mall near the port to kill an hour or so. It was nice weather and we didn’t have much to be concerned with. At 2:00 p.m. we boarded the Explorer of the Seas for a seven night Caribbean Cruise with a real surprise. We have another port of call in Nassau that we didn’t know anything about until we boarded.
We spent the remainder of the day checking out the ship (one of the bigger ones around), eating, setting sail, and watching a variety show. We had another day of beautiful weather.
2006.04.01–Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. Happy Anniversary Diane and Gary!
Congratulations and best wishes to Steve who begins his new job at Forrester today!
Good luck to Neil (Steve’s old boss) in your start up. We have never met, but what I’ve heard of you has been very favorable. Thanks for taking my son under your wings and teaching him a little. I hope your new business is prosperous. Continue to keep your feet on the ground and remember what is important in life in spite of great success. Cheers!
Today we started made a pretty easy drive through the remainder of South Carolina (saw a North bound traffic jam that went on for probably 50 miles), through Georgia, and an easy drive through Florida to Ft. Lauderdale. Beautiful weather all the way and could not help noticing that the leaves on the trees were all coming out and a lot of early flowers were beginning to come out.
