On a lighter note...the Beauty of Design

I could blog about how America hasn't put up a building that has wowed the world since the Chrysler Building in 1930 (imho).
But this blog isn't about how America's economy is so in the crapper we can't afford to build such things. Nope, this is about a designer, Dr. David Fisher, who is building not one but TWO such buildings on the globe.


These are pictures that show that EACH FLOOR independently rotates at the owners command! Imagine being able to catch the sunrise and sunset in the same room. Further, this building generates more electricity than it needs, so it feeds INTO the local grid instead of pulls from it.
Not only that, but these building will go up about 50% faster than traditional buildings due to the 'prefabrication' technique.

Which is how most new homes should be built if you want them to be greener (less materials in the build process), more solidly built and much more energy efficient.

Now, about America's cement problem...ok ok, I promised. :-P

More proof we (would be) are doomed- not a good time to be a vegetarian

I have blogged about this in the past here and here but food people, its getting expensive. Think gas going up 25% in a year is bad, check this out.

According to the Cattle Network (don't ask), here is the list of wholesale prices for food - the big deal is looking at the final column, Percent Change.

 
Field Crops Unit 2007 2008  % Change

Barley       Bu  $3.12  $4.76 52.56%
Beans, Dry   Cwt  $3.08  $5.06  64.29%
Corn         Bu  $3.49  $5.12  46.70%
Cotton       Lb  $0.44  $0.61  37.95%
Flaxseed     Bu  $7.08  $16.60  134.46%
Hay          Ton  $138.00 $166.00 20.29%
Lentils      Cwt  $13.20  $32.70  147.73%
Oats         Bu  $2.49  $3.46  38.96%

If you were planning on going on that new lentil-lemon diet you can forget it.
The only good news, and proof that eating meat might cost you high cholesterol but not high cash - BACON is actually down for the year over year price!

Bacon, Sliced  Lb   3.651  3.637     -0.38%

Of course this is likely due to factory farming I keep ranting about and all I can say is 'thank gawd I don't live near one of these hog farms and the millions of pounds of poop they create'. But c'mon - its BACON!

Update to my last ranting post:

Apparently I was accurate in my portrayal of the speculation market for raising the price of oil and gas. Here, some analysts say it would be cut in half. Worse, here the Kind of Saudi Arabia concurs with this as well...

C'mon people - raise up a ruckus and get to your congressperson to act now.

Waiting for Maddie in the recovery room...

She is just coming out of a shoulder surgery and I am here waiting in a nice waiting room for her.
I appreciate all the well wishers who have sent their love and support for this to go well.

On a lighter side, I have some misc items for you to do some homework on:

1) Oil has gone from $13.80/barrel since Jan, 2000 to its present day $148+ (give or take $15 any given week). Why? Sure it is a scarce property that has most certainly peaked but there are better, more concrete reasons for this sudden surge in pricing. Wouldn't ya know it - Enron is to blame.

2) China - I have blogged in the past about the building boom there - even posted photos that look like they are from some Sci-Fi future movie, but here is something you should see. The upshot is that China has grown in the past two years the entire equivalency of the consumption in the US. In fact, its over 50% of all cement, slightly more than ALL OTHER COUNTRIES COMBINED. Scary stuff.

3) Energy Conservation - remember in the 70's when this was all the rage (Thanks President Carter)? Well, why aren't we talking about conservation again? I mean, LED Light Bulbs are awesome (and soooo much better than CFLs), but every time you replace a functioning thing with a newer, shinier, more efficient one - you are actually COSTING YOURSELF more carbon debt. Much less costing the planet.

Going Green is sexy but really people, use your noggin'. If you are throwing away something already made and working, then you have to carry the left over carbon cost of the item over into the new one. And for fun, calculate your own carbon footprint here, but realize this is only the tip of the melting iceberg for your actual footprint. The more you consume, the worse it gets.

4) Speaking of green, I was going to finish of item 3 with the carbon cost of food, but that got me to thinking about the TV show '30 Days' with Morgan Spurlock. If you aren't watching it, you aren't expanding your horizons. Not every show is perfect but the concept is this - 'walk a mile in someone else's shoes'. Last episode was about a hunter living with a family of Animal Rights Activists. The end of the show the guy was still going to hunt but was going to do what he could to let folks know of the animal cruelty in what it takes to put food on your plate. You should watch the show.

I also HIGHLY RECOMMEND the book 'Fast Food Nation' by Eric Schlosser. I learned that America did have a street rail system in almost every major city, it was bought out and ripped up by greedy corporate America (they were fined $1 for the dirty deed). It might make you want to avoid Fast Food for a while but that's not the point - you should know how your food is grown/raised and 'manufactured'. You can bury your head in the sand but lets evolve folks.

Sure I like the idea of $1.99/lb beef but somehow to me it makes sense to buy that free range, antibiotic free, zero hormones stuff for $5.99/lb. When I eat it I know that the cows got to walk on their own accord, weren't kept in pens with forced feeding tubes and a mixture of crap so they can digest the 'food' (that they would never naturally eat on their own and there for cannot digest it normally).

Factoid: Factory Dairy Farming - where 90% of US milk comes from (my number, unverified)- keeps the cows artificially impregnated - and if/when they do give birth, the calfs are chained into a pen that they cannot even stand up in and turned into veal (extra tender considering these calfs never even moved). Many of the milking cows die from the sheer shock of being hookedup to this machine all the time milking them. It should come of no surprise why I drink Soy Milk (really soy juice considering). No other animal in the world drinks another animals mother's milk.

I still eat cheese and other dairy stuff, lots of it in fact - I just don't like the idea of milk. What do you think I am, crazy? I am not against farming, its the corpro-idustrial-farming so you can eat cheaply (and poorly, btw) that is killing you. ((2) In 1970, there were approximately 900,000 farms in the United States; by 1997, there were only 139,000.))

Lastly, what started this in the first place. The stupid FISA act is up again (approved in the house today 293-129) and very few of our congresspeople are smart enough to fight it. Even Barack and his constitutional law degree is only marginally opposed and will likely amend and then approve this bill. Tsk tsk.

Worse to me still though is how very few of you even know what this bill is and why its so bad. I suppose taking your civil liberties forgranted is a foregone conclusion in the States these days. But let me tell you - they have been roughshod these past 7 years and don't appear to be getting any relief. I suppose until they are gone for good, you will keep your head down 'like a good patriot'.

Now go eat some chicken and drink a glass of milk and everything will be ok as soon as we start drilling off the coastline to 'reduce the high cost of oil'.

Moroc, the rest of the story (part 2) - Great Dinner

Medina (old city), Rabat Morocco - Excellent Dinner in an alleyway

So a Medina is where all the 'old houses' or original city was. Typically walled in for protection and with lots of twisty alleyways. This was the only marker that indicated I was near the place for dinner. A 5 minute walk following this guy really started to get my Deja Vu feeling in high gear. Sure there were no bicycle cabs and whistle calls but still, where the heck was this place and who was this guy leading me there?

All I can tell you for sure is that easily 50% of the people we passed greeted this man formally (assalamu alaikum) and they weren't saying it to anyone else. Don't know for sure who this respected guy was but he did deliver me safely to the restaurant.

Outside wasn't much to look at - inside it was a lush, sensual dining place that normally (although sadly not this night) has Belly Dancing. I figured it would be touristy but locals where eating there. While it was my Hollywood version of a Moroccan place to eat - the food was FAB-U-LOUS. So just when you think Moroc has little to offer, it drops a big old bomb shell and you have to retract (somewhat) and at least give props when there due.

1-Charlie enjoys the atmosphere
2-An interior door - amazing craftsmanship
3-Some mood lighting, dramatic

So if you ever find yourself in Rabat and are hungry (and you will be hungry trust me) - please get into a cab and have them take you to this place. You won't be sorry - not one bit. And with all the rose petals everywhere and the great food, you won't even think for a minute about the smell of...
(yes, its the tea I wrote of in the first post from Day 1 in Rabat...)

Moroc, the rest of the story (part 1)

So I was probably not all that fair to Rabat (and this post to Casablanca) in my initial post. However, there was *very little* charm to either of these cities. Many of the Moroc Nationale told me over and over that Marrakesh was the place to go to see a charming city.

But that was too far and Casablanca was less than an hour away via a $4 (equivalent) train ticket purchase. As the train pulled into Casa, there was a man leaning against the wall relieving himself. For a moment I wish I had taken a picture, then thought to myself - that wouldn't be very lovely a blog pic. (It's sad when you only want to commemorate bloggable items and are constantly asking yourself 'is this bloggable'?)

Got off the train at the center of town in Casa and PEE-YEW did it stink. It stunk of hundreds of years of human and previous camel pee mixed with rotting fish from the wharf. Yup - welcome to a city that could have been the middle eastern equal to Trenton, NJ. The smell never left so it wasn't as if everyone in town used the same wall for a urinal that the man I saw was using. A city of 13+million people and at least that many run down cars as petite cabs.

After taking a few pics of the third largest (or as the locals say 'World's largest Mosque, number three') Mosque in the world. It was big and these pictures don't do it justice.

Casablanca Mosque, Moroc, R. Mann (c)

Well, after walking around and having a so-so breakfast of 'traditional Moroccan pastries' (awful sweet) and more walking around, I had the pleasure of 'sharing' a cab (common in Moroc) and being dumped no where near where I wanted to be. Lovely. More of that smell later and some trashy tourist shopping places to avoid, I found another cab at the local Hyatt. This was the traditional nicer Mercedes 190D that is used en mass in this country to signify a higher level of cab-ness.

This guy took me everywhere - all without a meter running. How nice of him. He waited patiently at each spot I wanted to stop and take pictures or look around. He greased the palm of some local Police agent so I could 'tour' this palace:


The policeman waved at the taxi driver as we pulled out - all very kind of this town. Then the cabbie said I should see ALL of Casa (what the locals call it when speaking to tourists, dropping the blanca and not calling it by its real, longer, harder name).

This meant taking me to the local meat market where I could see this (among other things I couldn't bear to take pictures of):
Yup, that's a camel head. 'Our viagra' he tells me. MAN WHAT CHARM I am getting exposed to... Then the cabbie dropped me at my final stop (below) and I ask 'What do I owe you?' for all his generosity and time driving. He says "Its up to you, whatever you'd like." so I pull out a 200monopoly money bill and some odd ends. He says "More please, 500." WTF? I paid a cab in Rabat for a trip and waiting all of 200. Oh well. Funk you very much Casa.

Anyway, after going by 'Rick's Cafe' (from the movie, opened about 5 years ago) where I got a picture of the waiters looking over a bill. To my 'lens' it could look sinister so I snapped this quick photo of them: Rick's Cafe - Casablanca, Moroc - R. Mann (c) 2008
After paying *WAY* too much for a mug ($26 after I *again* mess up the exchange rate in my head) it was definitely time to escape....er, head back to Rabat. Grab the train (they ran every 30 mins and were efficient I gotta point out) and viola, back 'home' for one more night.

And just as I was about to write of Morocco, I had one of the best dinners of my life. Certainly in the top 15 anyway. And it was classic from the start. Cabbie drops me off at the outskirts of town, waves to a man who then asks if I am there for dinner. I say yes and before anything else could be said, we are walking down the inner city alleyways.

Now those of you who have been reading this blog might say this sounds familiar. Going to a secretive dinner location, being taken there by a local, alleyways to be maneuvered... (See previous post for the story in Beijing). Read more of the story after this short (recharge the laptop battery) break...

*Ahem* - Greetings from Morocco

So far it's not that bad. Sure the cabbie reminded me of the guy in Casablanca (the movie, not the town, although I am only 20 miles away) that was gonna slip a scorpion in someones bed for some dinar (maybe it was the Hitchcock movie with Jimmy Stewart where he is on holiday and gets wrapped up in a murder/spy thriller...I can never remember the name and I am writing this 'offline' so no access to imdb.com - but you can look that one up. Or if you are Maddie reading this, you are saying the name loudly and frustrated I can't hear you...

Some of my impressions thus far
There is a constant smell of incense in the air although I cannot see where it is wafting in from. Sadly, the 'credit card' machine is down and I cannot check into the hotel yet so I am hanging out in the lobby. The tile motif (pictured above) is in all these alcoves and the hotel is serving free 'tea' to all of us waiting. The tea looks like something someone expelled and smells a bit like they ate some (A LOT) mint to get rid of the potent asparagus they had for lunch. Oddly enough - it taste better than that but those bubbles on the warm side won't go away and there is some sediment in the bottom of the cup.

Yup, not in Kansas anymore - or Paris for that matter. It might not surprise you to learn I have changed my late Friday afternoon flight out into a VERY EARLY Friday morning flight. From the airport here is what I know so far: there are palm trees everywhere, people are just milling about walking everywhere (even through what looked like private fields and yards), hitchhiking is apparently not illegal (when was the last time you saw a hitcher?) as I saw several folks doing this and the way to show someone you are in a hurry is to ride on their bumper for a while, and I mean ON THEIR BUMPER. I thought we were taking paint samples but no, we were just letting the slower folks in front of us know we no longer wanted to be behind them.

It seems desert-y except there are small bushes and trees of a few sorts and a pleasant wind is constantly about (at least so far). I recently realized the 'deserty' part is the fact that there is no grass to speak off anywhere. So while there are bushes and small trees, its the lack of grass that makes a desert, no? (Apparently there is grass but not the kind you walk on but turn into hashish. Haven't seen that yet thankfully)

This definitely feels like a foreign place and I feel like I stick out like an American arse in my shorts (I didn't get the 'everyone here wears cheaply made thin suits' memo) and my 'english' speaking tongue. Man have I got to learn French. Se la vie, I am here and going to enjoy this conference for all its worth. (will let you know what it was worth in a few days)

Then I am going to go back to my croissants and Musee D'Orsay just as fast as Air Chance...er France can get me there.

Paris in the Summertime...

I wont say how many shots I took to get this 'effect' but suffice it to say I was lucky to be alone.

Today I landed in Paris. Not yet hot, not yet full of tourists (but starting to show up) and the receptionist, who upon asking me 'Poly vou françois?', replied to my 'no' with "I am sorry."

Now, that could be considered rude but really its just being Parisien. Truth be told, I am sorry, too. Something to work on right after re-honing (and improving greatly) my Spanish.

After checking into Le Meridien Etoile and taking a power nap and then jet lag cleansing shower, I took Charlie and walked around a bit. Turns out Charlie wanted to see some of my favorite places and he was hungry, so I took him to 'Cafe Deux Magot'. This is my favorite area in Paris and one where I would like to get Maddie to agree to purchasing a studio flat in. Man oh man is this be best location:


View Larger Map

Its the arty district, right next door to the Latin Quarter for the music; EASY walking distance to both the Louvre and the Superior Musee D'Orsay. Lots of funky cafes (including my favorite) and now loads of high brow shopping: Louis Vuitton, Dior, Tiffany - all on the same 'corner'. (It's a five way intersection - there is a load of 'corners').

So after a Croque Madame, we (Charlie and I) wandered over to get a few shots of the Arch de Triumph. Paris knows how to light up a night time sky. I will spare you the hundred other shots I took that are almost identical to each other. No really I will.

Expect some updates as tomorrow I head to Morocco and then return to Paris for more fun. Check the Picassa page for more pics of Charlie and Paris.