Leg cramp
Owww. Last weekend biked 38 miles, 3 hours. Today had some new roads in western Woodford county, did 43.5 miles, 3.5 hours. I was out from 9:20 to 12:45, attempting to beat the heat (93 today), and it wasn't too bad. Still haven't showered (attempting to cool down), napping in the recliner, woke up to a call from my wife visiting our son and his wife in southern California, got a huge cramp along my entire left inner thigh. Ouch.Last summer the official temperature in Lexington never hit 90. So far this summer, 5-10 days over 90, no rain for a week and none expected for 2 more.
Which brings me to the 3rd Jared Diamond book, "Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed". Starts out somewhat depressing, with accounts of the collapse of 6 civilizations (3 chapters on Vikings re the collapse of their Greenland colony after 400 years. He actually refers to "The Vikings" movie, a favorite of mine since childhood!), followed by current trouble spots. Per Diamond, a mixture of 10 environmental failures involved in all of them.
Interesting side note, the Viking colonies in Vinland (Newfoundland) only lasted 10 years because the Vikings usual method of dealing with new or different peoples was to start out by killing a few of them. After they did that in North America, the Native Americans basically drove them out. Go Native Americans!
Book ends on a hopeful note tho. Other interesting points:
- Big oil currently goes out of its way to be eco-friendly. Cleanups such as the one required after the Exxon Valdez are too expensive and bad for business.
- Home Depot and Lowe's both push wood products from suppliers certified by the Forest Stewardship Council, which requires that the logging be done only at replenishable rates, etc.
- Mining is the nastiest. Very low profit margins and generally inability for consumers to trace products back to producers.
- Fishing in the wild also nasty, "the tragedy of the commons" leading most fishermen to overfish, cause "if I don't do it, somebody else will". But, Marine Stewardship Council has a certification process like with the logging and is getting some traction.
- Penultimate chapter has a list of one-liners used to justify inaction on environmental issues, with retorts. The thing that grabs you is that this is clearly a case of "an ounce of prevention", cleanups cost billions, maybe as people realize what they are leaving their children, the tendency towards "rape and pillage" approaches which don't balance the economic equation will decline.
Speaking of which, driving my wife on country roads that I bike where you don't get much above 40 mph, got 65 mpg for 30 miles, a new record! (don't obsess, don't obsess).
"If I don't do it, somebody else will." I found "The Last Waltz" by Martin Scorsese and The Band on DVD at Kroger for $10. I have seen it referred to as The Best Rock Movie Ever Made, it surely does have great music. And, a high point is Dr. John doing "Such a Night", which had the great lyrics: You came in With my best friend Jim. And now I'm tryin To steal you away from him. But if I don't do it ... It reminds me of "No guts, no glory", which I have always used to exhort others into questionable behavior. "If I don't ..." seems like an exhortation to one's self to do something they know they shouldn't.
Music-wise, "Funeral" by The Arcade Fire has definitely gone to 4 stars, track 2 to 5. Got the new Coldplay, "X & Y", after repeated listens still not doing much for me.
Friday night, went to High on Rose. Had noone to go with (:-<), some of my youngest's crowd were there. Ben Lacy sat down and talked during his break, went from Steely Dan to Michael McDonald (backup singer) to the Doobie Brothers. Came home and downloaded 4 Steely Dan albums. I had forgotten how much I liked their 1st, "Can't Buy a Thrill", and "The Royal Scam" as well.
I have all of Steely Dan on vinyl, I have been meaning to try to come up a scheme for getting my vinyl to digital. Any ideas? My iTunes is now at 3900 tracks, 11 days, woo-hoo!
Bad news, High on Rose is being sold. The Japanese woman who was responsible for their wonderfully eclectic menu and her husband are going to sell condiments. The Wasabi Vinagarette sounded good. They want $380K for the building and the works. If it were 10 years from now, I would think about it. I lunched with the guy who brought me to Lexington to work in 1980 a couple of weeks ago, he retires in 1.5 years, he has moved to Champion's and taken up golf. I just can't see myself doing that. I can see myself with a little club with all kinds of music and eclectic (but tasty) food. I could move my library there, see if I could spread some memes as well. Well, we'll see about that in 10 years I guess.
Movie-wise, watched "The Aviator", a testament to the ability of ob-com people to get shit done! Well, that probably wasn't the intended message, but it should be. Last weekend my wife worked 2nd shift both days, so I treated myself to "Electra" (2 stars) and "Blade Trinity" (2 stars -- note, I believe I may have seen every vampire movie ever made). I noticed in "Electra", she was portrayed as ob-com, and one of her symtoms was counting -- steps as she walked was an example. I have counted my whole life, including steps, I am not OCD (nor autistic nor Asperger's) but I am GOOD AT MATH. I don't know, it struck me as part of the plot by the non-mathematical to discrimate against the mathematical. I had a nice visit with my younger brother yesterday, his 2 kids are very bright, 12 and 13, and they were describing to me doing their math homework and having to write out verbal descriptions of their problems. Ach, I'd forgotten about that, it was part of KERA, I had assumed it was gone by now, what a load of crap! Math is not about words, it's about numbers. We're sorry not everybody gets it, but, it is more PC bullshit, deny the gifted their abilities, so everyone can feel special.
Neal Stephenson has a great op-ed piece touching on some of this in the NY Times, someone fwded me the link. (Damn, it's pay-per-view now.) It's funny, but it's also really, really scary.
Oh, we watched "The Incredibles" during my visit yesterday. Very enjoyable, and also touches on this same theme.
I went and saw my dad last Saturday. The last time I'd seen him was in February, he was surprisingly good, didn't repeat himself for 1.5 hours, had some potentially new thoughts. Saturday, he was totally gone. "Nixon can never hold office again." "Dad, tricky dick's been dead 5 years." "Well, he can never come back." "From the dead?" And that was a high point.
It's weird, he'll talk about his wife, the schoolteacher, and his 4 sons and 3 daughters, as if I weren't one of them, maybe he just didn't recognize me or forgot my minor role in the story.
He did talk about the importance of having a living will; how most people refuse to believe they are going to die; how he was ready, had his paperwork all done, had his plot next to his wife ready to go. Not particularly maudlin, just kind of proud that he had figured out what most people didn't and had everything all set.
Oh well. He would occasionally hum and sing a bit. I had a flash of myself in 25 years (Dad's age). My personality would be completely gone, but I would have at last discovered my superpower and become a superhero. I would be "The Human Jukebox" -- name a tune, I sing it for you. I would estimate I have ~10,000 songs in my head, and one of them (or a jingle, or a melody acquired somewhere else) is always playing. I wonder where in my brain that would show up on a CAT/PET scan?. I asked one of my kids to get me a brain scanner for their next gift-giving occasion, seems like it'd be fun to play with ;->
Enough. Time for a shower (phew).
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