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Well Tomorrow is Election Day. Win or lose, this will be the last time I write about Measure Z. Believe me, I'm as sick of it as you are. I cannot think of a single topic more boring than tax policy, or an activity more pointless than voting, but this blog remains the highest ranked Vote No on Measure Z page on the internet, so I have a job to do.
We've dropped a few places since I first reported this phenomena, but lygsbtd remains the only Vote No On Measure Z web site to show up on the first page of search results. However, if you do a google image search, you'll discover that my Vote No on Measure Z memes dominate the image search results, with seven of the top ten images sourcing from this blog. In the image war, I am kicking their ass!
Unfortunately, this battle won't be decided by a google image search. This battle will be won at the ballot box, so here I go again, trying to find an entertaining way to motivate you to go to the polls and VOTE NO ON MEASURE Z.
I don't like telling you to vote. Usually I tell people that voting is for suckers, because voting is for suckers. It takes a special kind of stupidity to believe in democracy. Think about it. How many years did you stay up all night on Christmas Eve, before you realized that Santa Claus was a fraud? Now ask yourself: How long has it been since you've seen democracy actually solve a problem or prevent an expensive, pointless war? We have a word for that kind of stupidity. We call that kind of stupidity: "religion."
Democracy is just the latest fraud religion. Like all fraud religions, it was concocted as a means of extracting money from your pocket, and putting it in someone else'. That's exactly what Measure Z is all about. Humboldt's greediest bloodsuckers are counting on Humboldt's dumbest morons to help them pry more money out of your pocket.
They know that ALL of the greedy bloodsuckers in Humboldt County will vote for their regressive tax measure, because greedy bloodsuckers love to take advantage of people. Even the Libertarians around here (I'm looking at you Fred) can't say NO to screwing poor people. So, they've got the bloodsucker vote wrapped up.
The big problem will be liberals and progressives. Liberals and progressives are the snake handlers and castration cults of the fraud religion known as democracy. They are the dumbest of the dumb. At least the bloodsuckers know that democracy is a game, and they play to win. Liberals and progressives think that democracy has magical powers to solve intractable social and environmental problems, something it has never, ever, done.
Liberals and progressives worship democracy and believe it has supernatural powers. They believe that if the government has more money, its magical powers to solve problems grow stronger. That's why liberals and progressives like paying taxes. They like to think about all the cool things that government would do if it had more power. Like:
Solve global climate change with electric cars and solar powered bullet trains.
Find a cure for cancer, Ebola, muscular dystrophy and Parkinson's disease.
End poverty and homelessness.
I've got news for you. Government is never going to do any of that stuff. In reality, democracy empowers bloodsuckers to rape the Earth, pollute the environment and take advantage of people, and democracy prevents the rest of us from interfering with it. That's what democracy does now, and that's what democracy has always done, but liberals and progressives look back at democracy's almost 250 year history in the US, and they say, "It still looks good on paper. It really should work this time."
No, it won't work, not this time, not next time, not ever. Democracy will never work. Jesus is not coming back, and Santa Claus does not exist. I'm sorry to disappoint you, if I'm the one to break it to you, but professional wrestling is phony too. These are just the facts of life.
Still, these three great frauds, democracy, Christianity and consumerism continue to define our culture, and sometimes it's just easier to just say "Merry Christmas" than to yell, "Santa is dead!" When someone says "bless you" after you sneeze, it's not always helpful to say "Fuck you! Your religion is a fraud and you are an idiot!" By the same token, you can hold your nose, go to your polling place, and cast your ballot to stop this whole evil system from stealing even more of your life, even though you know the system is a complete fraud.
Go ahead. Get it over with. Vote NO on Measure Z.
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Wildlife Matters, a New Public Affairs Show on KMUD
Oh God, is it Tuesday afternoon already? Like I told you last week I've been very busy with a couple of radio projects. I hope you listened to Living Earth Connection this past Sunday. If you haven't heard it yet, you can download it or stream it by clicking the links below:
Living Earth Connection #11 Interview with John Hardin pt. 1
Living Earth Connection #11 Interview with John Hardin pt. 2
It's a really good show. That John Hardin is a pretty bright guy, and he's good at explaining stuff. You could easily find worse ways to spend an hour.
Coming up this Thursday, Sept. 4 at 5pm on KMUD you can hear the other radio project, the one that has kept me too busy to write this past week. Amy and I call this show Wildlife Matters. You might have read about it in The Redwood Times, The Independent, The Times Standard, The Mad River Union, or The Lumberjack. You might have seen it on facebook, or on my Youtube channel. If you missed that media buzz, hey at least I'm giving you a "heads up" 24 hours in advance right here at your favorite SoHum blog.
I fear, however, the show will come as a complete surprise to people who rely on KMUD for information about upcoming KMUD programming. Apparently, the nice promo I sent them, disappeared into a black hole and was never heard from again.
This happens pretty regularly, We have a great staff at KMUD, and some wonderful volunteers, but KMUD is a dynamic organism containing a high degree of internal chaos. I try not to take it too personally.
My partner Amy Gustin and I collaborated on this show, and it will replace, at least in terms of my commitment to it, the radio show I've produced for over four years, The SHARC (Southern Humboldt Amateur Radio Club) Report. After producing 53 half hour shows, at least tangentially related to Ham radio, I am out of ideas and ready for a new challenge.
I wanted to do a show that was a little more ambitious, in terms of production values, and I wanted to work collaboratively. I love working with Amy, and she pitched me a great idea for a show, so here we go. Amy loves wildlife, especially wild animals, and she likes to do research. I like writing, editing and producing. With Wildlife Matters, Amy gets to make a show about the topics she is interested in, and I get to make the kind of show I want to make.
We jumped into this project as soon as we finished last Sunday's Living Earth Connection show. We recorded the interview with Monte Merrick in his office near Arcata a couple of weeks ago when we made a trip up North, to perform, on Theremin and didgeridoo, no less, at the Humboldt Maker's Street Fair in Oldtown Eureka.
It was great to talk to Monte. Monte came to our attention a couple of years ago as "Bird Ally X," the man who came to the rescue of hundreds of oiled, starving and injured pelicans all up and down the Lost Coast.
He became a musical inspiration when we heard him speak at Godwit Days, a birders event that happens every Spring in Arcata. At Godwit Days, Monte reported on this whole pelican disaster, and how they responded to it. To accompany this heartrending story, off-stage a lone banjo player picked out some of the slowest, saddest, dockside pelican conjuring banjo music I ever heard.Amy and I talked about that presentation a bit, and those talks eventually turned into The Big Picture.
Monte came to our attention again, recently, when he asked that the renewal of the County's contract with Wildlife Services be removed from the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors' "consent calendar." In other words, Monte told the Board of Supes, "I know you've been paying this guy to kill animals for almost a hundred years, but maybe it's not really such a good idea, and I think we deserve a chance to talk about it." We talked about it. Unfortunately, the Supes renewed the contract anyway.
That's what gave us the idea for the show. People don't know enough about Wildlife Services, at least I didn't, until Amy started filling me in about their history, their practices, and their political maneuverings.
We asked Monte Merrick for an interview because he obviously knows a lot about Wildlife Services, and, as co-director of Humboldt Wildlife Care Center, he knows a lot about humane alternatives to the trap-and-kill policy of Wildlife Services. He was kind enough to grant us an interview, at the office, on the weekend, and we very much appreciate the time he took with us.
While Amy reviewed the recording, I worked on the theme music and the promo. Amy identified the clips we wanted to use and developed the angle for the show, I worked out the show's format. I wanted to produce a tight, scripted show with dialogue, that would also include unscripted interview excerpts, clips from speeches, sound samples etc.
We hammered out the dialogue together, one bit at a time, then rehearsed and recorded each bit individually, working them around the interview segments. Slowly, we assembled the show. I crafted the intro and ending with lots of animal noises, jungle sounds, and original theme music. Thanks to Patrick Rose for the djembe drum track. Just last night, we finished it, and it sounds pretty good.
This episode of Wildlife Matters looks at Wildlife Services, a shadowy branch of the USDA responsible for exterminating wolves in the early part of the 20th Century, and for killing millions of other animals every year, for over a century, using poisons and other indiscriminate methods. Wildlife Services amounts to subsidized pest control for farmers, ranchers, and rich people in their country estates, and to Wildlife Services, the life of the animal means nothing.
We contrast Wildlife Services with Humboldt Wildlife Care Center, who get no taxpayer funding, but handle the same kind of human/wildlife conflicts with an entirely different approach. We talk to Monte Merrick about the Humane Solutions movement, Humboldt Wildlife Care Center's mission, and about his experiences with Wildlife Services.
So, that's what the show is about, but I'm more excited about how it sounds. I hope you'll tune in, just like you hope I'll write something funny for next week.
Ok, I've had a lot of fun with the whole situation in Garberville, and I think the levity was completely in order, but a lot of people are very frustrated with the situation, and they want SOLUTIONS. So, I'm here to help, seriously, but we don't get to solutions without doing some analysis first, and that includes taking responsibility for the disastrous consequences of our consumptive middle-class lifestyle, and it means taking responsibility for economic policies that have kept wages low, while housing, health-care, fuel and other costs soared. I don't care whether you voted for Reagan or not, if you want solutions, take responsibility, otherwise we can just play the blame game till we're blue in the face.
The middle-class really needs to get over their Boomer era Populuxe expectations, especially the expectation that they will be surrounded by only middle-class people. We can't all be middle-class, and really, not that many of us should be middle-class, ecologically speaking. It takes a lot of working-class people to support a single middle-class person, so we should expect to have many more working-class people than middle-class people. Get used to it folks, there are a lot of poor people around.
On the other hand, it shouldn't suck so much to be poor. Ever since Reagan, we've had this attitude that we should punish and humiliate the poor as much as possible, so that we might thereby motivate them to work harder to become middle-class. In reality, punishing the poor drives down wages and keeps housing prices high for everyone. Seeing desperately poor people on the street makes middle-class people feel less secure, and the super-rich exploit that insecurity.
This is why grown adults with full-time jobs need a roommate to afford an apartment. This is why so many salaried employees put in 60 hour weeks to meet their work load. This is why fewer Americans than ever can afford their own home. This is why so many healthy able-bodied adults have decided that the jobs they can get don't pay enough to be worth their time. That's how the super-rich uses the dirt poor against the middle-class.
Look at where punishing the poor has gotten us. Still we have plenty of resentment to go around. We punish the crazy, because we don't want halfway houses in our neighborhoods. We don't want to see them and we don't want to pay for them. We punish the addicted for their weakness. We punish the young and adventurous because they remind us of our lost youth and we punish the lost and confused because we just don't have time for other people. We punish them all because we see them as blemishes on our middle-class dreams, but the ones we resent the most don't have any excuse, do they?
I'm talking about the healthy young people who have decided that the jobs they can get, don't pay well enough to be worth their time, and that their time is better spent learning to live without a job and without a home. More and more people are making that decision, not because it looks like an attractive option, but because it looks like a better option than any of their alternatives. They would rather sleep outside in the rain and scrounge for food then work themselves to death, and kiss ass all day for a rented room, a TV and enough beer to ease the pain. These people have resentments too. Just sayin'
We all like having someone to punish. It makes us feel better about how much we punish ourselves in this stupid economy. We punish the poor, because we want poor people to suffer more than we do in our struggle to be middle-class. The struggle to be middle-class sucks so much because being middle-class is a totally unsustainable lifestyle. It has nothing to do with the poor, except that every person now struggling to be middle-class makes the whole world poorer, and helps the super-rich enslave us all. That's what middle-class people do. It's nothing to be proud of.
Thanks to three decades of trickle-down economics, welfare reform, and the Great Recession our population of punishable people mushroomed. Despite the economic pressure, despite the social stigma and open hostility, they have learned to live outside of mainstream society, and there are now enough of them that they have their own society. The more they talk to each other, the more they identify with each other. The more they identify with each other, the more they support each other, and the more they support each other, the more insulated from, and immune to the punishments of, the mainstream culture they become. So, we become like the Israelis and the Palestinians, or like Black and White America, two segregated societies that hate each other, living in the same place.
This problem is not going away, and it's never going to get better without compromise, leadership, foresight and understanding. Knowing this community as I do, that means it ain't gonna happen, and instead, things will go from bad to worse. The whole situation is very revealing. Poor people can't afford to conceal their ugliness, and having ugly poor people around brings out the ugliness of the middle-class. We now see just how ugly and dysfunctional American society has become. The situation is so pathetic that probably the best that will come from it was the small amount of humor, and insightful analysis I was able to glean from it for this blog.
But just imagine for a moment… What if we had some thoughtful, enlightened, cultural creatives among our local gentry? What could they do to make the situation better for everyone, and to make Garberville a much better place to live?
Right now the number one need in this community is housing. We need housing more than we need ball fields, schools, parks, roads or anything else. By ignoring that need, in favor of perks for the middle-class, like ball fields, concert venues or the town square, we provide adequate reason for the homeless to despise the gentry. Everything we do to relieve that pressure, will also reduce that hostility, and pay off in better life for everyone in Garberville.
SoHum prides itself as the heart of the "back to the land" movement, where once upon a time, people bought cheap land, and built their own homes without permits. The Boomers now make sure that no one ever gets a deal on land like they got, but a lot of people would still like to build their own tiny cabin, somewhere where a landlord won't evict them, and the cops will not come tear it down.
If you've been to Oregon Country Fair you've no doubt noticed how harmoniously hippie architecture can blend into a natural environment. It doesn't happen by accident. OCF has volunteer building inspectors that look for genuinely dangerous or particularly ugly structures, and cites them, but mostly, people can build what they want. A lot of people would really appreciate an opportunity to build their own little home, and would have a lot of motivation to make it work. Half Habitat for Humanity, half Oregon Country Fair, part campground, part tree-fort residential subdivision, entirely innovative, entirely SoHum, we could make it happen if only someone with some land around here actually gave a fuck.
Even without building a single other structure, we could probably solve our housing problem another way.
Right now, about half of this county's available residential housing has been converted to indoor marijuana farms. Why are half of our residential houses full of marijuana plants, while thousands of people sleep outside? That's insane. Every grow house is a crime against humanity, and a crime against nature, and if there is any role for the cops it should be to bust every indoor grow scene in Humboldt County.
Frankly, I don't think the cops will be much help. Cops aren't going to solve this problem. This is a "crumbling society" problem, not a "law and order" problem. If our social problems could be solved by a pin-headed red-neck with a gun, they'd have all been solved a long time ago. These problems were created by pin-headed red-necks with guns. We need unarmed hippie solutions, the kind we used to have when pot was cheap and it all came from Mexico, before we got greedy and decided we wanted to be middle-class.
The pressure should come from the community. We should hear PSAs on KMUD about how to recognize a grow house, how much damage to the environment comes from growing marijuana indoors, and especially about how many families go homeless because greedy drug dealers have taken over our residential neighborhoods. Homes are for people! Get the pot farms out of our residential neighborhoods. This isn't just common sense, it's common decency.
Another common sense, absolute desperate necessity is a reasonably priced campground with bathrooms and a coin-operated shower. State campgrounds charge $35 a night for camping, which is highway robbery (Fuck You, State of California!). That's why you only find rich retirees camping at them anymore. The county charges $15 dollars a night for their campgrounds. That's closer to reasonable. Reasonable does not mean, "competitive," reasonable means a price that people will actually pay, rather than take their chances finding a place where they can crash for free.
We get a lot of budget conscious tourists who are resourceful enough that they don't ever have to pay tourist prices for camping. Currently, the only people who welcome them are the homeless. If the townsfolk welcomed them with the kinds of services they need at a price they're willing to spend, these tourists would not so quickly identify with, and become a part of the local subculture, and local entrepreneurs would make money from them. Again, this is just common sense.
Here's something a little more ambitious, but desperately needed, an affordable, cannabis-therapy-based treatment and recovery camp. We all know people who have beat serious addictions to alcohol, narcotics, tobacco,cocaine or speed, by using cannabis. Decades of prohibition have deeply enmeshed cannabis users and growers alike into the black-market drug trade. A large part of the money that comes into this county, comes from individuals and organizations that deal in other, more addictive substances, along with Humboldt's finest cannabis.
Addiction is a huge problem both among SoHum's housed community as well as the unhoused. A very rustic, drug-free, cult-like, cannabis intensive retreat, built around a culture of recovery, mutual support, mutual-sufficiency and community service has enormous potential around here. We have the rustic. We have the addicts. All we need is one good Pot Doc with cult-leader aspirations. At the very least, it would help a lot of people quit hard drugs, take a lot of pressure off of the community, and do a lot of research on cannabis and addiction.
And while we're dreaming…. Here's another good idea: Economic diversity, and by that I mean, make space for tiny businesses, and local artists. Support them. Celebrate them, don't just exploit them, or force them out of town.
Eureka and Arcata both have rocking Arts Alive nights every month. Garberville could do it too, but it would take planning, and some commitment to make it happen.
Now, I expect most of the people who own land around here to think: "Why should I do anything for them?" Here's why: Doing all of these things helps to shrink that "problem population," and it creates the illusion that people actually give a fuck about their fellow human beings. That makes it harder for people like me to make fun of the situation, and it gives people more options, which makes it harder to take sides. In reality, it's a diabolical strategy designed to subdue insurgents. They call it Psy-Ops.
Every time you put someone in a home, you cut the homeless population by one. Every time you get an addict off of drugs and into a cult, your problem shrinks. Every time a tourist sees an entrepreneur bending over backwards to accommodate them, the less likely it is that they will camp with the homeless, get to know them and and decide to stick around. And of course, every artist who can count on reliable local work because someone at the C of C makes Arts Alive a priority, means one sarcastic critic with a sharp pen, has something better to do.
Pisaster Disaster
This starfish wasting syndrome is not funny folks. In case you haven't heard the story, an epidemic of disease among Pacific starfish, specifically pisaster ochraceous, or Ocher Starfish, the big orange "stars" of beaches and tidepools, is causing them to waste away, fall apart and die in alarming numbers.
Humans have adored these strangely beautiful creatures for eons, and their popularity hasn't waned one bit, but within the tidal ecosystem, the ocher starfish is a feared predator, at least to the degree that a bivalve mollusk can experience fear.
Frightening or not, the ocher starfish plays the same role in the intertidal zone as lions do on the Serengeti, or that wolves do in Yellowstone National Park. The ocher starfish is the apex predator of Pacific tide-pools. In fact, scientists have learned a lot of what they know about apex predators, like lions and wolves, from studying ocher starfish.
Ecology, especially ecosystem ecology, is a very new field of scientific inquiry. It seems hard to believe today, but before World War II, nobody really gave a rats ass about how ecosystems worked. The story of civilization has been one of "plunder first, ask questions later," and so it goes that the science of studying ecosystems didn't get under way until well after most of the world's ecosystems had been severely impacted by industrial exploitation. As a result, we may never know how a healthy ecosystem operates. In a sense, studying ecosystem ecology today, must be a lot like trying to learn about antebellum life and culture by observing a confederate field hospital towards the end of the Civil War.
Still the nascent field of ecosystem ecology can teach us a few things about what happens to an ecosystem when you remove a keystone species. In fact, one of the landmark studies in the field of ecosystem ecology looked at the effects of removing just this particular species, pisaster ochraceous from a tide-pool ecosystem.
The scientist in this study, Robert T. Paine, marked off two equal sized patches of tide-pool habitat. A couple of times a month, Robert would go to one of those marked off areas, and within it he would meticulously remove every single ocher starfish from that area, and hurl them, as far as he could, into the surf. In the other marked-off area, he did nothing but observe.
Every two weeks or so, for a year, Robert went down to his little marked-off areas and began chucking starfish. Doesn't this make "ecosystem ecologist" sound like a pretty sweet job? Spend your days splashing around on the beach skipping starfish across the water. How do I sign up? I guess his hands got pretty torn-up from the abrasive skin of starfish, but it still sounds like a pretty good job to me.
Over the course of the year, Paine observed the results of his strange new obsession. In the area where Paine had removed all of the ocher starfish, the ecosystem collapsed. Initially Paine observed dozens of different species living together in that area. Within a year, half of those species had disappeared completely, and those that remained, did so only tenuously. Before long, all but one species completely vanished from the experimental area.
The only species left inhabiting the area, had completely taken over. Every square inch of the marked off area was covered with large mussels, mytilus californianus, the ocher starfish's favorite prey. In absence of starfish, nothing could stop the mussels from squeezing everyone else out of the picture, leaving a desolate monoculture where there was once a thriving, diverse ecosystem.
Paine published the results of his experiment in 1966 in the scientific journal American Naturalist, and it has become a foundational work in this emerging new field. Paine's experiment revealed that certain species, specifically predators, have a greater effect on their ecosystem than their numbers suggest.
Paine's work with starfish eventually led to federal protection of keystone predators like the spotted owl, and to the reintroduction of wolves into Yellowstone National Park. Paine had demonstrated that predators are critical to maintaining healthy ecosystems, and that without them, complex and diverse ecosystems quickly collapse into desolate wastelands overrun with pests.
Like I said, ecosystem ecology is a new field, and its progress has been greatly compromised by the impacts of industrial exploitation. As a science, ecosystem ecology remains in its infancy, especially regarding marine ecosystems, but when it comes to the question "What happens to intertidal ecosystems when ocher starfish disappear?" thanks to Robert T Paine, science can give us a pretty good answer. Unfortunately the answer itself is neither pretty nor good.
Forget Schools, Declare California "For Adults Only"
I was glad to learn that our local school bond, "Measure N" failed in our recent primary election. Schools seem like a lost cause to me. Really, why should taxpayers waste their money on subsidized daycare for the offspring of people who are too stupid and irresponsible to use birth control. With 7 billion+ people on the planet, I don't think it makes sense to subsidize parenthood.
Seriously, what are the chances that anyone stupid enough to bring children into a grossly overpopulated world, in the midst of the greatest extinction event in 65 million years, at a time of unprecedented government surveillance and economic oppression, has enough brain power to participate in a meaningful way in their child's education? No amount of school funding will ever help stupid, selfish, irresponsible people raise smart, generous pillars of the community. Besides, public school is what made their parents into the dimwitted monsters of capitalist conformity that they've become.
We should remember that, just like short people, who have kids solely to make themselves look taller, stupid people have kids specifically so that they will have someone dumber than them around, to make them feel smart. As long as we continue to subsidize moron and midget reproduction through taxpayer funded public schools, we'll remain locked in a race to the bottom, both in altitude and intelligence.
What do we think we have to teach kids anyway? We should know by now that our way of life is destroying the planet, and that we have no freaking clue how to live sustainably. Children raised by wolves would have more survival skills than today's high school graduates, but of course, there are no wolves around here anymore.
I think we should put a "wolf bond" on the ballot. If it passes, the school board will spend $10 million to reintroduce wolves into Humboldt County. Then parents could tie a pork chop around their kid's neck, send him out to stand in the woods and tell them to wait for the school bus. Let the wolves decide who's worth educating. Problem solved.
School bonds are such a ripoff anyway. It makes no sense to borrow money from a bank, and then have the taxpayers pay it back with interest. Taxpayers end up spending two, three or five times as much money as they get value, while bankers make a fortune from these low-risk investments.
It makes much more sense to pass a school levy. In a school levy, the taxpayers finance the schools directly and cut the bloodsucking banksters out of the equation, but thanks to Prop. 13, no one can muster the votes necessary to pass a school levy. Prop. 13 has turned California from the best state in the nation for public education into the worst.
Really, if you want decent public education, move to Mississippi or Alabama.
People come to California for the sunshine, the surf, the gay sex and the drugs, not because they want to get smarter. If we were smarter, we'd declare California an "Adults Only" state.
Think about it: Surfers don't have the time, or sense of responsibility, to raise kids. Gay people have a foolproof method of birth control and drug addicts make terrible parents. In short, nobody in California should be having kids.
If we made California "Adults Only," we'd never have to spend another dime on public schools. We'd never get stuck behind slow school buses that stop every 300 feet. They could sell cigarettes and candy from the same display rack, and put porno magazines out with the comic books. We could leave loaded guns, Draino and dangerous pesticides anywhere we felt like, and we wouldn't continue to ignore homeless adults while we built more playgrounds and ball-fields for kids with no future.
Instead of listening to parents whine about their kid having to walk past a homeless adult, who might be smoking or drinking, homeless adults could report any children they see to the proper authorities, and a cop would pick up the kid and put him on a bus to Alabama. Pregnant women would still have a choice: abortion or deportation.
I am so sick of irresponsible parents thinking that they have a right to tell grown adults what they can and can't do, because of how it will affect their children. The time to change the world is BEFORE you have kids, not after. If you didn't want your kid to see a naked schizophrenic humping a stuffed giraffe on the sidewalk maybe you shouldn't have gotten knocked-up in a world as crazy as this one.
If you can submit your kid to the horrors of this sick world, then your kid should also see what this sick world does to people. If you aren't willing to do anything to make the world better for the people who are already here, then you shouldn't bring any new people into the world, at least not until we pass the wolf bond.
You Don't Have to Call It God, but Don't Pretend It Doesn't Exist
As you may have guessed, I'm not a religious man. I think about religion the way I think about classical music, only more so. That is: I've heard it. I've played it. I know what it's all about, but it's been done to death. I know some people still love it, but to me it seems antiquated and irrelevant.
I don't worship a God of any sort, but nor would I call myself an Atheist. Atheism is a reaction to religion. Atheists renounce religion, and with good reason, I think, but I'm not about to deny the existence of a force greater than myself in the Universe when science makes it so plainly evident.
Anyone who accepts Einstein's Theory of General Relativity, buys the basic premise of Darwin's Origin of Species, and can agree on a definition of "organism" would have a hard time arguing against the existence of, if not God, then at least something like God, or something that might have been called God for a very long time, for lack of a better word. I don't have a better word either, but if you have a moment, and don't mind stretching your mind a bit, I'll introduce you, and you can decide for yourself what to call it.
We'll start with the hardest thing to get your mind around: Einstein's Theory of General Relativity. Everyone recognizes the formula E=MCsquared, and knows that atoms are packed with energy, and that's why we can build nuclear bombs.
That's not the really interesting thing about relativity. The really interesting thing about General Relativity is that it demonstrated that space and time only exist in relation to an observer.
Einstein wasn't the first person to figure this out, by the way, the first physicist, perhaps, but not the first person. Immanuel Kant deduced the same thing, about 200yrs ago, logically, based on the a-priori nature of math and geometry. Einstein did the math and geometry and arrived at the same conclusion.
If you want to check Einstein's math on this, you are welcome to do so. I know I'm not up to it, but I have read Kant's Critique of Pure Reason, and it seems like an airtight case to me.
This is a very different way to think about space and time than we are used to. To us, space and time appear unified, inexorable and absolute. We think of ourselves as inhabiting space, and passing through time.
For example:
I live in Ettersburg, East of Shelter Cove, South of Eureka and West of Garberville, I've lived here since the turn of the 21st Century. That is how I would ordinarily orient myself in space and time. Abe Lincoln, on the other hand, lived in Washington, DC during the 1860's. So, it appears as though Abe Lincoln and I are separated by space, some 3,000 miles, give or take, and by time, 150 years or so.
General Relativity tells us that we don't inhabit space and time so much as space and time inhabit us. In other words, I live in a very special place called "here" at a time called "now", and in my experience, Abe Lincoln is a character from the distant past. During his life, Abe Lincoln also lived in a place called "here" at a time called "now", but in his experience, I did not exist at all.
Abe Lincoln and I both perceive space and time, as the central character in our own experience of here and now, but the idea of a larger space and time in which we both exist at different times, and in different places, is just that, an idea. Ideas, like space and time themselves, do not exist outside of our perception of them. That's what Kant and Einstein told us.
Space and time only exist within observers. That's not how the world looks to us, and we cannot even imagine what existence outside of space and time is like, but that's how it is, and that's where we live. Still don't believe me, take it up with Einstein or Kant. I recommend Kant's The Prolegamena to Any Future Metaphysics for a good first step. If you're still with me, try to stretch your mind around that for a moment.
You can't really comprehend anything outside of space and time, but that is where you live, weird as it seems. You secrete space and time in order to make sense of your experience, and you build a concept of the world based on what you experience. So, space and time, as well as a concept of the world, in which you, and every other creature on Earth, inhabit space and time, only exist in relation to the observer who experiences them, namely, you.
OK, that's the hard part. Let's take the definition of "organism" next:
An organism is a complex system of interdependent parts, such that the structure and function of each part is determined by it's function within the whole, and the whole of an organism is always greater than the sum of its parts.
That seems pretty straight forward to me. A cell is made of many parts, but they all function together as one organism. Many cells can function together to form a larger organism, like a plant or an animal. Many organisms can function together to form a still larger organism, such as an ecosystem. Organisms are not objects, nor are they machines. Organisms are alive. Organisms live.
And finally, What's the gist of Darwin's Origin of Species?
In the tiniest nutshell, I would say that the crux of Darwin's biscuit is that all of the organisms that have ever existed on Planet Earth, are related to each other. Does that sound right? There's a lot more to biological evolution than that, but for our purposes, that's enough.
Now, imagine all of the organisms that exist on Earth now, and have ever existed in all of history. Imagine the 7 Billion+ humans living now, plus every human who has ever lived, all of their pets, all of their livestock, all of their ancestors, all of the wild animals that have ever lived, all of the dinosaurs, every fish, bird, insect, plant, and mushroom, and don't forget all of the tiny microscopic organisms like yeast, protozoa, and bacterium. Don't leave anyone out.
All of those organisms, Darwin would expect us to believe, are related, by birth, to every other organism, including those of you now reading this essay. Now go ahead and throw in all of the organisms that will exist in the future, even though we have no idea what they will look like or how many of them to expect. We're talking about a lot of organisms now.
What separates this collection of individual organisms from each other? The answer is space and time, of course. Some of these organisms come from the past, others from the present, still others from the future. Some come from Africa, others from Asia and still others from Australia, and so on. No two organisms can occupy the same space and time. This you remember from geometry, and it corresponds to your experience of space and time in the real world. So, all of these organisms, though related, remain separated by their positions in space and time.
What were we just saying about space and time? We went over how Einstein demonstrated that Kant was right when he deduced that space and time do not exist outside of the observer who perceives them. What does that mean for all of those organisms? It means that outside of our perceptions, all of those organisms are not separated. Outside of space and time, where perceiving organisms actually exist, all life on Earth remains undivided. In other words, every organism on Earth, past, present and future, are, in some incomprehensible, but very real way, parts of a single organism, that exists outside of space and time.
What did we just say about organisms? "An organism is a complex system of interdependent parts, such that the structure and function of each part is determined by it's function within the whole, and the whole of an organism is always greater than the sum of its parts."
So I ask you, "What would you call an organism made up of every single organism on Earth, such that the structure and function of every single organism on Earth was determined by it's function within the whole, and the whole of that organism was even greater than the sum of its parts?"
Thanks to Kant, Darwin and Einstein, we know this organism exists. Without it, we wouldn't exist. We know that we are a part of it, but what should we call it? Gaia?, The Big Organism?, God?, Bruce? Does it matter what we call it? You are never going to mistake it for anything else, and you're never going to be able to talk about it any more coherently than this, so maybe it's best not to call it anything. Still, I don't think it makes sense to pretend that it doesn't exist.
In fact, I don't understand why we don't teach this in schools. The Critique of Pure Reason has been around for over 200 years. General Relativity has been around for most of a century. We teach evolution, and we teach relativity, at least to the degree that most teachers understand it, but but they never quite put it together. Instead, they teach that civilization, the economy and the "rule of law" is what unites us …against the rest of nature.


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subset: commoncrawl


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Mon-Fri: 7am-1am EST / Sat-Sun: 7am-11pm EST
ApplianceFrigidaire Refrigerator
Level of DifficultyReally easy
Time to do repairLess than 15 mins
Age of Appliance1 - 4 years
Simply snapped into place. For anyone that reads my response I wanted to add that PartSelect operates in my opinion an easy to understand and searchable website, in additon I recieved my item within two days of order placement. They give ecommerce a good name.
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Sewage water overflowing from the underground drainage on the tenth cross street in Sundaram Nagar on Medical College road in Thanjavur is polluting the area.
Sewage water is flowing like river on the road. "Stench emanating from the sewage and the ensuing pollution raises apprehensions of an impending epidemic " say residents.
The problem remains unresolved for the past one week and our representation to the Tamil Nadu Water Supply and Drainage Board (TWAD) which has to maintain the system and plug leakages has not yielded any result, said the residents.
Enquiries with TWAD Board reveal that there is a separate sub-division to maintain underground drainage. But the maintenance work has been handed over to a contractor who has to attend to the defects.
It is learnt that contractor doesn't have adequate machinery or manpower to attend to leakages. A motor has to be fixed at the Booster Station on Medical College Road near Rajappa Nagar, but that has also not been done. Sewage overflow from the manhole on Medical College Road located opposite to the Excise department office is also a common sight.
Underground drainage work was completed after six years in the town and now there are six pumping stations and eleven lifting stations. Pipelines have been laid to a distance of 240 km. There is a sewage treatment plant at Marimamman Koil. There are nearly 10,000 connections now.
TWAD engineers, when contacted said that they are attending to the leakage.
Keywords: Sewage water, Underground drainage


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GOOD MORNING: If only Dad were here, this Father's Day would be so happy
I would love to throw my arms around my dad and say, "Daddy, I love you." I lost my dad when he was quite young. He smoked, even though he was told it was killing him. I guess after fighting in the South Pacific for more than two years in World War II, dying was not a fear of his.
Father's Day is always sad for me because I used to go nuts with cards, ties and records wrapped up for my dad. He taught me to love music. I know the words of songs that were famous before he even met my mom. If Daddy was home, the stereo was on.
He took me to see the Dodgers when I was too little to know about the game. I knew by the age of 3 that the Dodgers were the team I loved. Of course, my mom and her whole side of the family had always been New York Giants' baseball fans. You see, I was Daddy's girl. He loved chocolate, so I did as well. He loved Chevys, so I was a Chevy lover. He loved Brooklyn, so I did as well. The rest of the family could eat vanilla in their Pontiacs in the Bronx. I loved what my dad loved.
I miss the way he would always tease me. I miss the way he would sing old standards such as "Ghost Riders in the Sky." He had the horrible singing voice that I inherited. I loved it, though.
I wish he was here with me and Father's Day would be so happy. He loved animals so much. I remember my mom being furious because on Easter he brought home a bunny. We had a little apartment and little money, but at the time I thought she was so mean.
My dad would come into my room when I was scared and made me see that there were no spooky things lurking about. Every night that was not a holiday or birthday we would say "happy." I forgot how that started, but in my prayers I still say "Happy Daddy."
Kiss your dad for Father's Day and cherish having him. I envy you.
To my dad, Charlie, Happy Father's Day. I love you and miss you. I wish you could come check my room for spooky things just one more time.
—Julie Rosenbaum-Engelhardt
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Berlin, Germany
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Great guide Alex gave us a very comprehensive tour ,well paced with lots of tips on what to do in Berlin.
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Innovator teaches companies how to solve problems by using creative tools like brainstorming
Q: Describe your work flow: the setting, the noise level, the tools, the process.
A: I get started usually under intense time pressure. I usually put things off until the very last minute. I sit on a sofa with my feet up often in my jammies actually, laptop on my lap, you know, and then music on. And it's really pretty nice. I do use a pencil and paper. I'm one of those people that believes in that. We usually work on paper initially because it's a little less constraining than a screen, but then I'll finish on the computer.
Q: What's the biggest obstacle to innovation?
A: I think censorship is the biggest. Most designers censor themselves. They actually will have many, many ideas, very few of which will be shown to anyone else. And that, I think, is a great shame. Some of the ideas shouldn't be shown, for sure. And you can kind of tell. But most ideas should be. Very few actually make it to the next level of scrutiny. There's hundreds of thousands of people (who) just can't wait to censor you. Above you, typically, but often below as well. One constraint that's pretty common is, "People will never accept that." That's almost always stated early on, before anything's been made. I think you have to be confident in your own work. If you're confident in the work and you can explain why you think something is good, you're already more than halfway there.
Q: When is criticism productive?
A: Judgment is necessary, but at the right time. There's this notion of very rapidly assessing something and declaring it good or bad. And that's hugely disastrous. It's far better in the early stages to hold judgment for a later time. In brainstorming, for example, you never want people to judge things, because it's too early to tell whether that's good or bad. You waste a lot of time attacking or defending an idea and it's just an idea: It doesn't hurt anyone. It doesn't have any value yet. It's just an idea: Let it go. Later on, when you want to narrow from perhaps 100 ideas to five, OK, now you have to use judgment.
Q: When you're struggling with a concept, how do you get unstuck?
A: I go and do something else. I actually ride a Ducati sport bike, so that takes your mind off everything because it requires a lot of attention to riding without killing yourself. For me it's very, very involving. Very visceral, physically, emotionally, intellectually. Usually not thinking about something helps you when you come back. Sometimes it doesn't work. In that case, especially under time pressure, I'll just start, in a sense, vomiting things out to see what happens and hope that something worthwhile comes of it. Without thinking or judging. And then when I've got it off my chest, I'll go back and see if there's anything worthwhile. And hopefully there is.
Q: Is innovative thinking a learnable skill or a talent?


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Kirby's Dream Collection: Special Edition
Poll: Best Feature of the Game
What is the best feature in this compilation? - Results (42 votes)
6 Classic Kirby Games
33.33% (14 votes)
New Challenge Stages
16.67% (7 votes)
Kirby's History
4.76% (2 votes)
Celebration Book
4.76% (2 votes)
Soundtrack CD
7.14% (3 votes)
All of Them! I can't choose one.
33.33% (14 votes)
This poll is now closed.
To summarize the best feature, Kirby's History is my pick because it shows all the Kirby games released in the US, video footages of all the US Kirby games, interesting random facts (such as Nintendo consoles), 3 episodes of the anime, and the music video of the chamber music exclusively for US version only.
It is just walking down the memory lane. Good times!
Mario Party and Kirby!
It was my first time since 1999.
new challenge stages alone almost warrant an entire new game on its own.
6 GAMES IN ONE!!!!!!!!! KSS references FTW!
Ahem. Ahem Ahem Ahem *coughs* NEVER GONNA GIVE YOU UP!
The games themselves and the CD are the ones that stand out the most, but I chose the last option. Every feature does a great job complimenting everything else to make the collection seem like a celebration of everything Kirby.
I for one,liked the book
Jesus is the TRUE savior.
People who agree:9
I took the cop-out answer of "All of them." >_>
But really, the thing that makes this collection so much better than Nintendo's typical compilation efforts truly IS that it's such a great total package. So saying "all of them" is true, this is a great collection and I like virtually everything about it pretty equally: from the classic games, to the challenge stages, to the list of Kirby games and videos, to the soundtrack CD, to the neat artbook.
My name is Mottman, and I approve this message.
"Champions don't whine, they win!" - Xenoblade Chronicles
Another reason to play Superstar, in addition to the bottom choice on the poll.
Tim Curry is the final boss of Chrono Trigger.


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Three Years In The Life Of A Wikipedia Article
Pull the slider from left to right to speed through years of painful textual surgery.
NYU Tisch student Kate Tibbetts has compiled three years of a Wikipedia article's activity — hundreds of edits — into a simple visualization tool. You know that fake-sounding factoid about how all the cells in the human body are replaced every ten years? Turns out Wikipedia pages are kind of like that.
The only part of the story this doesn't tell is the end: Apparently, the "2012 Doomsday Predictions" article has been deleted and its contents folded into a significantly less-cool-sounding article called "2012 Phenomenon." It's a shame, because I'd already marked my calendar to check back in with this page on January 1st, 2013.


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With one week until Hanukkah begins and two weeks before Santa arrives, there's still time to get the perfect gift for the coffee lover in your life. From the coffee curious to the barista champ-in-training, there's something on this list for everyone. Just like in years past, the DCILY gift guide is a selection of the most desirable products I've come across that any coffee lover would be stoked to have. Grab a fresh cup and your credit card and enjoy the 2014 edition of DCILY's Coffee Lover Gift Guide™.
1. The World Atlas of Coffee -$35- A gift for the mind. James Hoffmann is a former World Barista Champion, co-founder of Square Mile Coffee Roasters in London, prolific internet writer and now author of this comprehensive hardback about coffee. If a class about coffee were taught in school, this would be its course book. The chapters range from farming to brewing to origin profiles—with a little bit of Hoffmann's own heart and soul sprinkled throughout. Shop for The World Atlas of Coffee
2. Gino Glass Dripper -$24- A gift for the minimalist. The Gino Glass Dripper and its matching server are a beautifully minimal pour over set that utilizes the flat-bottom paper filters made by Kalita. The double-wall borosilicate glass pour over device was made by NotNeutral, who are most well known for their unique Lino line of coffee cups. The flat bottom style dripper is more forgiving than a V60 or Chemex and works great for those just learning about pour over coffee. Shop for Gino Dripper
3. Mayven Pins -$8- A gift for the flamboyant. Add more flair to your bespoke, leather detailed apron with these coffee-themed enamel pins from The Maven. Represent your favorite coffee icons on your lapel while working behind bar or out on the town. There are four different styles to choose from, or collect them all—Chemex, kettle, V60, and an AeroPress. Made in the USA. Shop for Mayven Pins
4. Master & Dynamic MH30 -$350- A gift for the music lover. Very few things pair as well with a great cup of coffee than the perfect music to fit the mood. Whether it's in the morning while others are sleeping, on your urban commute, or sitting at your desk in the office; a pair of great headphones will transport you and your coffee to the place you'd rather be. Master & Dynamic are designing really well made headphones with a sound quality to match the quality you desire from your coffee. Metal and leather construction paired with crisp, balanced sound. Shop for MH30 Headphones
5. Pergtamp -$170- A gift for the professional. Matt Perger has won the World Brewer's Cup, World Coffee & Good Spirits Championship and placed both 2nd and 3rd in the World Barista Championship. He knows a thing or two about making great coffee and he is constantly asking questions and looking for solutions to the problems he encounters as a barista. Perger's high-profile use of the EK43 grinder has made some think about espresso in a new way, leading to the development of his own tamper that's meant to maximize the use of an EK43 grinder and VST baskets for espresso. It's meant to improve efficiency, consistency and extraction. Shop for PergTamp
6. Tanner Goods Coasters -$25- A gift for the homestead. The perfect coffee table should have some protection from your perfect cup of coffee. A well furnished house can remain well-kept with a little bit of care. Using effective accessories like these stamped leather coasters will keep your Noguchi coffee table spotless. Tanner Goods is a Portland, Oregon based company specializing in beautiful leather goods for the outdoors and the home. Made in the USA. Shop for Tanner Goods Coasters
7. Acaia Pearl Scale -$129- A gift for the well measured. The digital scale is one of the most important tools you can use to brew consistently delicious coffee. The power of the scale will help you to repeat your brewing successes and properly measure coffee beans that have varying densities. The Acaia scale began as a Kickstarter project and has continued to be refined since the first model was released. Apart from being the nicest looking scale you can buy, it has an incredible sensitivity and fast refresh. The scale also links to an app on mobile devices for mapping your brews. Shop for Acaia Scale
8. ThemoPop -$29- A gift for the meticulous. Brewing coffee can be as simple as pouring hot water over grounds or as complex as using precise water temperatures, honed kettle pouring techniques and specific extraction ratios. The rabbit hole goes as deep as you would like to follow it. For those beginning to care more about the specifics, the ThermoPop is a fantastic and affordable thermometer. I've found myself using this more than its expensive older sibling, the ThermaPen. There is a large backlit display that rotates, easy toggling between C°/F°, and a probe that's thin enough to fit in the holes of a Hario Buono kettle. Read times are about 6 seconds. Shop for ThermoPop
9. Wilfa Svart Precision -$250 to $330- A gift for the parents. Maybe not just your parents, since you'll enjoy it every time you visit. This auto-drip coffee maker from the Norwegian company Wilfa is the sharpest looking machine you will find. Apart from its unique design, it also maintains incredibly consistent water temperature, which is a key detail that most home coffee makers lack. The Precision offers a lot of clever features and brews consistently tasty coffee. Shop for Wilfa Precision
10. KeepCup Brew -$24 to $34- A gift for the ecological urbanite. The KeepCup has always been a convenient way to avoid using paper cups on-the-go. In the past, they were made from plastic, but have recently launched a new glass version. The KeepCup Brew comes with a colored silicone band or a limited edition natural cork band. It shouldn't be thought of as a thermos, but simply a reusable take-away cup. They also work great for brewing with an AeroPress. Shop for KeepCup Brew
11. MistoBox Subscription -$114 to $180- A gift for the coffee-curious. Coffee beans are a key ingredient to your home brew, but choosing which coffee beans to buy while you're still finding your way around the vast world of coffee can be equally daunting and exciting. A subscription from MistoBox will allow you to explore a variety of coffee from new roasters shipped to you each month—including coffee from specialty roasters, both big and small around the US. Shop for Mistobox
12. La Marzocco Gs/3 -$6900 to $8275- A gift for the aspirational. Whether your loved one plans to open their own shop, cater events, or compete in a barista competition, the GS3 is for the most dedicated espresso enthusiasts. La Marzocco is known for some of the best professional grade espresso equipment and their GS3 is small enough to fit on your kitchen counter. Design your own at the newly launched La Marzocco Home website or let the professionals at Clive Coffee take care of the details. Comes in manual paddle or auto volumetric models. Shop for La Marzocco GS/3
13. Maak Lab Coffee Soap -$9- A gift for the dirty. This all natural olive oil-based soap is the perfect companion for washing up before and after brewing your morning coffee. It's hand poured, just like your favorite cup of coffee and scented with botanicals, essential oils and ground coffee. Just the thought makes me want to get dirty. Made in the USA. Shop for Maak Lab Coffee Soap
14. TRVR Waxed Apron -$95- A gift for the well dressed. A well dressed barista needs to protect his and her threads. No need to worry when you're wrapped up in this beautifully crafted apron handmade in South Korea by TRVR. The leather pockets can hold your tasting notes and tips along with a loop for your pen. Made for getting dirty, easy to wipe clean. Shop for TRVR Apron
For more gift inspiration, browse past DCILY gift guides:
2010 Gift Guide | 2011 Gift Guide | 2012 Gift Guide | 2013 Gift Guide
*Buying from local shops is highly encouraged, but for those without the luxury of well-stocked businesses nearby, shopping through DCILY's curated Amazon Store and sponsors help support this site and the content you enjoy.*]]>
Next Saturday in the capital of Lithuania, a unique inspiration-driven coffee conference called "Dark Times" will take place for its second year in a row. The event, organized by Emanuelis Ryklys, founder of the Lithuanian micro-roaster Crooked Nose & Coffee Stories will take place all day at the Vartai gallery in downtown Vilnius on October 25th.
Dark Times is not meant to be a coffee industry or insider-only experience, but one that is approachable by anyone who enjoys coffee and the culture that surrounds it. The list of speakers range from those working directly with coffee, to those who have an outside perspective, but still love it all the same. There will be five presentations by Lithuanian speakers, along with three international speakers, including myself.
Ryklys, who use to work in the world of advertising and design before starting Crooked Nose, understands the inherent value of coffee rituals and the stories we share with each other over a cup. Each bag of coffee he sells comes with its companion story and the design for both Dark Times and Crooked Nose combine a bit of the mysterious curiosity found in Lithuanian folklore. The conference celebrates the theme of stories by inviting a diverse collection of speakers who can provide a variety of perspectives with their own unique coffee experiences.
The list of speakers include:
Domas Ivonis and Ieva Malijauskaitė – Founders of Vilnius-based Taste Map Coffee Roasters, both Domas and Ieva have been successful in the Lithuanian Barista and Latte Art competitions and will be sharing a presentation on a variety of coffee tastes and their subtle aromas.
Eglė Mačerauskė – Editor-in-Chief and photographer of the Lithuanian food magazine "Virtuvė". Eglė will share her love of coffee and the stories from her flavor-filled journeys.
Ralf Berlit – Co-Owner of the café "No Fire, No Glory" in Berlin and Barista Camp instigator, Ralf will share stories from his experience with the coffee culture in Berlin.
Wouter Strietman – The Dutch creator of the Strietman ES3 espresso machine will talk about his machine that brings together design, craftsmanship and coffee.
Andrius Bagdzevičius – Brewer at the experimental Lithuanian beer brewery "Raudonų Plytų Alaus Dirbtuvės," Andrius will talk about his process of developing a new beer infused with coffee and discovering the nuances in the taste.
Brian W. Jones – A designer, writer and founder of "Dear Coffee, I Love You," a specialty coffee website that shares coffee experiences from all over the world. Brian, who was born in the US and now lives in Sweden, will discuss the visual side of coffee, specifically packaging design.
Minoru Ooya – Founder of a roastery and two cafés in Kyoto. Mr. Ooya is a coffee roaster and master with nearly 30 years of experience and will share stories of coffee culure in Japan.
Kristupas Sabolius – A philosopher and writer, whose script for "The Gambler" was awarded Film of the Year in Lithuania this year. Kristupas will talk about coffee as a source of creative inspiration.
Find out more about Dark Times on their website and Facebook. If you will be in Vilnius or interested in visiting a great city this weekend, you can buy tickets for the event at Bilietų Pasaulis.
I moved to Sweden from the United States over three years ago and during that time I've grown to love many things about life there. From the proud embrace of nature to the prevalence of modern design, there is an inherent appreciation of simplicity and functionality woven into the fabric of Swedish society that I truly admire.
Two aspects of Swedish culture that I encounter daily are the tradition of fika (having coffee and a small snack) and Volvo. Not only does it seem as if every other car on the road come from the assembly line in Gothenburg, but the public buses, the semi-trucks and even the machines building the roads bear the company's iconic ironmark on their grills. As for fika? How can you not love twice-a-day coffee breaks with a side of cinnamon buns?
As a way to celebrate the both country where I was born and the country I now call home, DCILY has partnered with Volvo to combine these characteristic icons of Swedish life with one from America—epic road trips. Over the next two weeks, I'll be driving a 2015.5 Volvo V60 T5 Drive-E along the west coast of the United States. I'll be visiting some of the most well known coffee shops and searching for lots of hidden gems along the way. From Los Angeles to Vancouver and back again—arriving just in time for the Big Western Barista Competition in Rancho Mirage.
You can share your recommendations with @DCILY on Twitter and follow the journey on Instagram where I'll be posting to both @DCILY and @VolvoCarsUS.
See you on the road or over a fresh cup at your favorite west coast coffee shop soon.
Meet the Svart Presisjon (Black Precision) from the Norwegian housewares company, Wilfa. You may have seen photos of it floating around the internet, wondering what planet it came from and how to get your hands on one. Its unique, modern design sets itself apart and made it a new contender for the best automatic coffee brewer on the European market—and now it's finally available in the US.
Wilfa has been around since 1948 and has a catalogue of products that include everything from waffle makers to air conditioners to coffee brewers and grinders. Until recently they were barely known beyond the Nordic region. But that all changed two years ago when they launched the Wilfa Svart Manuell with the help of former World Barista Champion, Tim Wendelboe. That product, was an attempt to offer an all-in-one package for customers who were curious about manual brewing, but overwhelmed by all the options and tools needed to begin. The Presisjon maintains a lot of the same design DNA as the Manuell but its a much more practical product for the average coffee consumer.
Before debuting the Svart Manuell, Wilfa made a strategic decision to enter the specialty coffee market with some innovative new products of their own. With Nordic people consuming more coffee per capita than most other countries, mostly drip-style, it made sense to focus on a great home brewer. From the beginning, Wilfa has worked with coffee professionals to make sure they were designing great products with coffee quality in mind. From partnering with Tim Wendelboe to demoing the products at the Nordic Barista Cup, there has been a lot of feedback from professionals. The result has been products that look and function very differently from most other existing products.
The most noticeable feature on the Presisjon is the unique water chamber design. This clear tube detaches from the base so it can be filled easier with clean water from the tap. There are also recommended coffee ratios and water volume marks printed on the side of the chamber, which are quite accurate without the need of a scale. The water is then pumped out from the bottom of the chamber leaving it completely empty at the end of each brew, making sure that there is no water left sitting in the machine to cause problems in the future.
One of the biggest shortfalls of most automatic home brewers is water temperature stability and an even saturation of the coffee. For a long time, the Moccamaster was one of the only brewers able to do these things, making it the only option recommended by baristas. Recently, new models from Bonavita have also added reliable choices with a more affordable price point along with a more standard coffee maker design. The Presisjon also has remarkably stable water temperature, even when being used repeatedly for multiple batches of coffee. Within seconds of the brew cycle beginning, the water is in a range of 197–205°F (92–96°c) and stays there consistently throughout brewing.
The Presisjon filter holder fits a standard No.4 Melitta-style filter and can be fully detached for easy cleaning. It has a removable lid to maintain the temperature of the coffee slurry and it's also outfitted with a unique aperture system that allows you to adjust the flow rate of the liquid based on the volume of coffee you are brewing. This allows you to better control the extraction rate when brewing two batches of different volumes. The flow rate is increased for larger batches (up to 1.25 liters) and decreased for smaller batches (250ml). When the coffee is done brewing, you can close the filter holder completely which prevents drip before removing the carafe—a much appreciated detail.
While this has taught me to appreciate an automatic brewer, there are some things I would like to improve, namely, the carafe. It's a pretty standard glass carafe with a coffee stirring funnel in the lid. I'm not a fan of the shape of the handle, or the way the glass connects with the plastic lip, which creates a small reservoir that always catches a small amount of liquid, making it harder to clean and dry than it should.
The carafe also sits on a hot plate that can not be independently turned off so you need to remember to turn off the machine once it's finished brewing to prevent the hot plate from burning the coffee and making it bitter. Ultimately, you won't be leaving coffee sitting around for too long—brew less and enjoy it fresh.
I've personally been using a Presisjon that Wilfa sent me to test out for over a year now in various situations. I've used it at public events to brew large batches for 50 people at a time and I've used it at home for dinner parties and guests. The machine's one button simplicity is easy for anyone to use but it's quality and consistency is good enough that it can still be appreciated by coffee geeks as well. Thanks to the brewer's unique design, you are also able to explore using it as a water delivery device for other brew methods like the Chemex, V60 and Kalita Wave—with great results. Surely something that will make coffee enthusiasts quite happy.
After more than a year of only being available in Europe, the Wilfa Svart Presisjon has now found its way to the US exclusively through Williams-Sonoma. The Presisjon comes in two finishes, aluminum and a slightly more affordable matte black polymer version. Designed by the Danish firm, Designit, the Presisjon also won a prestigious Red Dot Design award, something that few products in the coffee industry can claim. Its form is a striking departure from pretty much every other home brewer available and every time I've used one around other people, they ask questions about it.
Williams-Sonoma is selling the black polymer Presisjon for $275 and the premium aluminum version for $363 on their website and in their stores. This is definitely an expensive home brewer, but it's in the same range as a Moccamaster and still less than the forthcoming, albeit US-made, Ratio Brewer. If you're in the market for an automatic coffee brewer and appreciate great design, this is definitely worth looking into alongside the other options available.
As the resurgence of considerate batch brewing is finding its place in more top coffee shops around the world, the automatic home brewer has also become less of a device to be loathed, and instead is one to be enjoyed on lazy weekends. With the proper technical attributes provided by the latest home brewers, combined with the knowledge of brew ratios and access to better, fresh roasted beans, a quality automatic brewer like this Presisjon can yield fantastic and consistent results.
Check out a video of Tim Wendelboe demonstrating the Presisjon below:
Commonwealth Coffee is a new coffee roaster based in Denver, Colorado, founded by Jason Farrar and Ryan Fisher. The pair got things started last fall and I had the pleasure of meeting Ryan in Seattle at the SCAA Event in April. He sent me home with a stamped brown bag of their Ethiopian coffee that was one of my favorites on the post-SCAA cupping table and assured me that they had new bags coming out that would be fantastic. After seeing a couple process shots on his phone, I knew they were going to stand out—and that, they do.
The branding and the bags for Commonwealth are the work of notable designer and typographer Kevin Cantrell, whose intricate work looks like its from the bygone era of Freemasons and royal charters. The design is meant to reflect the core of Commonwealth Coffee, which represents unity between the quality of product and service. On the back of each bag is a quote from Thomas Hobbes' "Leviathan which argues for the value of the social contract:
This is more than mere agreement or harmony; it is a real unity of them all. They are unified in that they constitute one single person, created through a covenant of every man with every other man… -Hobbes, Leviathan
The detailed line work wraps the entire bag in gold patterns, filling nearly every inch of empty space between the custom, typographic logo. Laced between the patterns and the flourishes you will find details of the coffee. Each country of origin also has be assigned it's own custom typographic treatment that is just as well crafted as the logo itself. The details are tremendous. If Baz Lurhmann made a modern period film about coffee, this would be his bag of choice.
Enjoy the photos here and then head over to Kevin Cantrell's site to view much more of the design development. Order a bag of your own from Commonwealth Coffee.
For the past couple of years, Florian Döring has been producing some of the best short coffee films around the web for brands like Coffee Circle and Probat. Many of his videos have been featured here on DCILY, including the hugely popular MacGyver AeroPress, starring Hannes Fendrich.
Recently, Döring and Fendrich teamed up again to create a video of their own, bringing to life Fendrich's own coffee-themed vision of The Verve's "Bittersweet Symphony" music video–"The Coffeesweet Symphony." As the star of the video, Fendrich comes off just as dickish as Richard Ashcroft did in the 90's, performing flawlessly while brewing a French press on the streets of Berlin.
The film features several coffee heroes as well, with cameos from Cory Andreen, World Cup Taster Champion from Cafe CK and the newly opened Mockingbird Hill in Washington DC as well as Kris Schackman, from Five Elephant Coffee.
Also, just in time for summer holidays, Döring has released a short film capturing a relaxing journey into the wilds of Beerwalde in eastern Germany, enhanced by the joy of drinking fresh brewed coffee with a friend. Caution: this video will inspire you to stop whatever you're doing and head for nature.
More from Florian Döring and his company Flughand Produktion on Facebook]]>
With the recent—and unexplainable—trend of "cat cafés" there seems to be a rise in these concept-driven (value-added?) ways to get people into a shop to sip coffee. While I think a cat café sounds like an incredibly awful and hair-filled experience, I would happily sit at a table with a large stuffed Moomin and enjoy a delicious cup—something that you can actually do in Japan.
If you haven't heard of the Moomins, they are a family of hippo-esque creatures who live in Mumindalen and go on great adventures. They are the central characters in a collection of books, comics and cartoons from the Swedish-speaking Finnish illustrator, Tove Jansson—and they are simply fantastic.
The Moomin Bakery and Café is located at Tokyo Dome City, an entertainment complex in the Bunkyo neighborhood. The bakery offers Finnish-style bread and lots of other food shaped like Moomin Characters to create a Finland themed café in the heart of Japan. While I can't speak to the coffee quality, but does it really matter when you're sharing a table with a giant Moomintroll?
Moomin Bakery & Cafe Tokyo Dome City
Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 1-1-1 Tokyo Dome City LaQua 1F
[photos via Business Insider]]]>
London's Workshop Coffee Co. first opened its doors in 2011 as the European cousin to Australia's St.Ali—sharing the same name. But in April 2012 the company rebranded (full disclosure: I worked with them on their rebrand) and they've since become a household name in London's specialty coffee scene. The first two Workshop locations were always high on my list of recommended places to visit in London and their wholesale accounts have grown considerably since my last time here.
Last week, Workshop's third retail location opened at Holborn in the bottom of the new Amazon headquarter building and it's quite an amazing coffee bar. When you arrive, large front doors open to a bright and spacious area with ample room to place an order or form a queue once Amazon is fully staffed with their employees.
When you enter to the left, there's a large mirrored logo that casts a glow on several high standing tables and a wall mounted bench reminiscent of the trams in Sweden. This half of the space is designed to accommodate shorter stays and quick shots of espresso, while the back half of the shop offers a more lounging environment where several groups of people were having casual business meetings.
The bar is literally split in two, providing the ability to close off the back of the space with a sliding gate for private events, while keeping the front half open to the public. The back bar also provides the resources to speed up service during rush periods.
The front and back bars are both outfitted with La Marzocco Linea PBs, Mazzer grinders and Uber Boilers. If you're interested in filter coffee, you can choose from a selection of single origins brewed on an AeroPress or a quick cup of batch brew from a dialed-in Fetco. To accommodate employees operating the well-equipped bar, the space behind it is almost equal to the space in front of it, giving baristas a luxurious amount of room to work with, which everyone seemed very happy about.
The new Workshop feels entirely different than the previous two locations, which are unique from each other in their own right, creating three very distinct experiences depending on where you go. This shop feels like it was designed for speed and efficiency, likely anticipating the rush from Amazon employees and the heavy foot traffic on the street outside. But it also has a very fresh and modern feel in stark contrast to the rustic, wood heavy aesthetic of the Clerkenwell café.
With the growing number of choices to drink delicious coffee in London, the new Workshop offers a refreshing take on the experience that provides a more energizing environment. It feels Scandinavian, without feeling too homey and cozy without putting you to sleep. There are elements that remind me of my favorite coffee bars around the world, like Koppi in Sweden and Saint Frank in San Francisco, all while making its own unique mark on the London coffee scene.
Workshop Holborn Coffeebar
60A Holborn Viaduct
Mon–Fri 7am – 7pm (closed weekends)
With spring on the horizon, the dreams of leisurely bike rides under blossoming trees and lounging in grass covered parks is almost within reach. If you'd like to add a fresh cup of coffee to the equation, your options for safely transporting it can be limited. Just in time for better weather, the Swedish cycling accessory company Bookman, known for their portable and powerful bike lights, has just launched a new cup holder for your bike to make your coffee's journey easier.
The simple and utilitarian design attaches like a clamp and can be quickly and easily removed. The company claims that it will remain firmly in place, even over bumps—just be sure you've got the coffee's lid on tight. The two rings are different sizes allowing you to flip the holder to accommodate a small or medium sized cup of coffee. I'm not sure if they can fit a KeepCup, but that would make them even nicer. Once they're available, I'll be sure to test them out.
Pre-order now at Bookman
Following the devastation and poor management of relief to the hurricane Katrina victims in New Orleans, Mississippian Michael McDaniel was determined to develop a solution that would prevent inefficiency and waste in future disasters and avoid making things worse for the victims. The goal of his company Reaction over the past 8 years has been to improve the quality and cost of post-disaster shelters for victims. With the inspiration of a styrofoam coffee cup, McDaniel came up with the idea for the lightweight, stackable, and cost effective Exo Housing System.
According to the company's website, the shelters are light enough to be moved by hand and strong enough to stop bullets. While the average cost of a FEMA trailer, the current post-disaster shelters, is around $20,000 each and designed for a single use, the Exo will be sold for about $5000 and can be reused. Apart from the cost and construction, they can also be stacked, just like coffee cups, fitting 28 housing units on one semi trailer that can only transport one FEMA shelter.
The shelters are also more than just a roof over the inhabitants heads, they are wired with modern technology to allow victims charge phones and stay connected with updates through an integrated app called Populous. The company just finished raising $50,000 to send shelters to Syria and they are beginning the process of manufacturing on a large scale to make these available to all the areas in the world that desperately need them.
Fast Company just published this nice video interview with McDaniel about the Exo shelter's creation and its potential for doing good in unfortunate circumstances. Disposable coffee cups are often one of the downsides to coffee's popularity, but in this instance, a disposable coffee cup's inspiring impact has the potential to do a lot of good for a lot of people around the world.
Read more: Reaction Housing


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Atria Manresa Senior Apartments85 Manresa Rd., Annapolis, MD 21409 View On Map
Located in a quiet and peaceful neighborhood in Annapolis, Atria Manresa affords residents the opportunity to live an enriched retirement in Maryland. Scheduled, comfortable transportation allows residents easy access to community events, places of worship and wonderful local attractions like the Severn River and the Bay Bridge. You will also want to take time to explore the Maryland State House, the beautiful surroundings of Quiet Waters Park, and the William Paca House and Garden. Atria Senior Living offers more than simply a place to live, creating vibrant communities that give seniors companionship, comfort and safety. When people come to Atria Manresa, they are taking the first step toward leading a richer and more fulfilling life. Each of our communities is a big family, and we invite individuals seeking senior living to consider joining us. Featured Amenities Residents thrive when presented with our wonderful selection of activities and events, carefully planned for them by our full-time Engage Life Director. With over 200 monthly opportunities to get involved in community life, seniors enjoy the chance to learn new skills and form lasting friendships. Residents get a choice of lavish private suites. These spacious units come well-equipped and feature a 24-hour emergency call system for complete peace of mind. A delicious menu of wholesome cuisine is served in our sumptuous, restaurant-style dining room, while complimentary snacks and beverages are availab
Atria Manresa is a senior apartment community located in Annapolis, MD. View this 55+ apartment on a map.
Pricing & Floor Plans
|Floor Plan
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Features & Amenities
- 1-Bedroom Units
- Assisted Living
- Emergency Call System
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- 24-Hour Staffing
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Professionally Managed By: Atria Manresa


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A condition precedent was the issue in Preston Exploration Company, et al v. Chesapeake Energy Corporation. This opinion was the result of the parties' second visit to the federal Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. In the first trip, the issue was whether the Purchase and Sale Agreement between the parties in a $110 million transaction satisfied the statute of frauds. The court ruled in that opinion that it did. (See this post discussing that opinion.)
Condition precedent: An event or condition that must be performed by one party before he can require the other party to perform. (Looking to get righteous? Check out Mathew 7:3.)
Before closing, Chesapeake objected that Preston did not have good title to certain properties. Preston responded that it would give marketable title at closing. Cheasapeake refused to attend the closing and litigation ensued. The court, referring to its 2012 opinion for details, determined that the condition precedent – to have marketable title, that is, title that a reasonable and prudent person in the industry would accept - had been satisfied. The trial court's judgment for Preston was affirmed, and the parties were put out of their litigation misery.
For our musical interlude – unrelated to the issues in the post – let's evaluate tawdry, guilt-driven extra-marital escapades. We have two choices:
A different take on an old favorite of mine and
a country standard.
DISCLAIMER: Because of the generality of this update, the information provided herein may not be applicable in all situations and should not be acted upon without specific legal advice based on particular situations.
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Leadership problems exposed with contractor in Fairfax hospital prisoner escape
Md. native Alan Gross: 'It's good to be home' in U.S. after 5 years in Cuban prison
Joseph Medina escapes from police custody after medical treatment
Joseph Medina was receiving care at Inova Fairfax Hospital on Wednesday afternoon when he got away from his police escort at about 5 p.m. and ran away, authorities say.
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VVM understands that it has to play a significant role in the support and education of various social and environmental causes. VVM as a company is fully committed to lessening its carbon footprint on earth and protecting and supporting all initiatives to protect planet earth and all its inhabitants (animals, plants, air and the ocean).
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This post was modified from its original form on 21 Jun, 3:02
Something worth reading
A good example of a nature-friendly project.