Time to make some granola!

Via Eat Local Challenge.

First the News-Press, now this?

Many, many years before becoming a News-Press subscriber, I fell in love with the gray, pulpy paper and the grainy photography of the black and white tabloids. I bore the inky smudges on my hands like a badge of honor, and proudly papered my high-school locker with articles clipped from my favorite paper.

Over a year has gone by since I cancelled my News-Press subscription. As much as I loved the paper it was, I don't know that I treasured any of the articles the way I cherished those early clippings from the Weekly World News. It was in the Weekly World News I first learned to fear mermaids. It provided the only reliable source of political critique from the extraterrestrial perspective. News that mattered.

I still mourn the loss of my morning News-Press, the lesser of my journalistic loves. Dark vales of regret cast shadows on the road ahead of me as I learn that the Weekly World News is ceasing publication.

Woe is me. Thank you, Marty, for letting me know that our dear friend WWN is fading out of print, hiding in exile online. I like to think that there's a little Bat Boy inside each of us, plotting a triumphant return.

That sinking feeling

Bus riders are a captive audience, a fact that has not escaped the MTD. Posters line inside of each bus. Some are advertisements, many are public service type ads, often in Spanish, clearly targeting lower income riders: "Stay in School," "discount health services available at...," "Bargain Network has great benefits for single moms," etc. Myself, I'm partial to the posters with local kids' poems...

And then there's this one (with apologies for the poor quality phonetography):


The text is "What You Buy Today... Was On A Ship Yesterday" and "Moving Ships...Drives America's Economy"

Huh?

I'm having a hard time with the logic behind this ad. And who would sponsor such an odd message? I figured it must be the Ship Captains' Union, Order of the Ancient Mariner, or maybe the Pirate's Club.

But hey, it's Uncle Sam! Specifically, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, part of the U.S. Department of Commerce. Apparently from the Committee to Encourage Consumption of Imported Stuff. Golly, what could be more American than that?

Actually, I can think of quite a few things. Buying less, buying local, and buying American all spring to mind. What the heck is this campaign really about? Is this an effort to spread some good PR after all the damning reports that showed how much ships contribute to smog in our area?

Does anyone have any theories?

The Missing Link

We're sorry to see Santa Barbara Newsroom disappear from the list of Fuller Headlines. I know it's not to supposed to feel like they're giving up, but... it kinda feels like they're giving up. We've appreciated SB Newsroom during it's brief life, and we'll miss it.

Who to Woohoo Wednesday: Dave!

Wednesday is supposed to be about the good. Today started badly, as I checked in for my daily Edhat News and read about a savage attack on a pet tortoise. It was one of those "What kind a sick world do we live in?!?" mornings.

As I headed to lunch with my pal Dave, I remembered Woohoo Wednesday. I remembered I was supposed to find some good. Ugh. But I realized, as I was walking with Dave, that we were didn't have to look far. Right in Dave's hands were ceramic bowls for our lunch.

The BYOB-Bring Your Own Bowl Campaign is something Dave and I have talked about for awhile. It grew out of our observation that despite the abundance of cheap student labor (read: dishwashers), University Meals are served on plastic or styrofoam. All the food at the UCen, the Arbor, the Coral Tree, even the brand new Courtyard Cafe--all served on a little slice of petroleum. The Faculty Club is an exception, and I don't know about the residence halls, but for a "green campus" the amount of waste in food services is pretty appalling. I did hear a rumour that the Office of Sustainability was considering biodegradible plates, etc... but face it, those may save a little landfill, but they still require resources in production, distribution, etc. For some reason, the "disposable is better" seems to have spread through much of Isla Vista as well, including one of my favorite places, Naan Stop.

The idea to BYOB isn't entirely without precedent--lots of people bring their own mugs to coffee shops, and I have a reusable Blenders mug at home and at the office (I cringe--and maybe drool--a little to think of how many styrofoam Blenders cups I've thrown away over the years).

So, today, my pal Dave walked up to the guy at Naan Stop and handed him a ceramic bowl, and asked for his lunch to be served in the bowl. Naan Man was confused at first--suggesting that we get our lunch in their styrofoam bowls then pour it into our own bowls, but when Dave explained that the goal was to avoid using and wasting the throwaway bowl, Naan Man finally got it. He dished up some delicious food--I swear it tasted even better than usual.

So here's to Dave, for following through on BYOB, and making a difference every chance he gets. Woohoo Dave!

Help.

Help. That's all that comes to mind, reading about the kidnap and mutilation of a pet tortoise last weekend. I can't stop thinking about how easy it must have seemed to torture a mute animal, one that doesn't scream or yelp, though he certainly struggled.

It was broad daylight. There were witnesses, and more than one assailant. The witnesses are coming forward now, calling the sheriff to report what they saw.

I'm so furious, it takes effort to keep typing. You know what Bob needed more than witnesses after the fact? He needed HELP, someone to shout out that it's wrong to stab a living creature, wrong to drop him, wrong to roll him down a hill. He needed someone to call the sheriff as is happened, not days later.

HELP, people. HELP.

African spur-thighed tortoises are social creatures, more than one might expect. Bob was social enough to coax an autistic child to communicate with the outside world--I suppose a "coming out of his shell" image really works here. I've been lucky enough to share a home with a tortoise like Bob for 14 years. The idea of someone trying to pry him out of his shell, slice off his head and legs... I hardly know what to do with these feelings. One little thing I can do is help Bob's family, the Sullivans, with their veterinary expenses. Generously, Jeanie Vaughan of Turtle Dreams is covering Bob's immediate expenses with a loan, which the Sullivans will pay back. I guess writing a check is all I can do to help. But it doesn't make me any less angry.

Bob Sullivan
c/o Turtle Dreams
2298 Feather Hill Road
Montecito, CA 93108-1542

Carless Whispers: Week 1

A week ago today, I parked the Whackamole chariot. Since then, I haven't driven. I've been in a car twice: the man drove to a party in Ventura, and we made a trip to Island Seed & Feed to stock up with almost 100 lbs of various seeds and feeds.

We did manage to wobble home from the co-op with an enormous load strapped onto the racks after finding Straus milk and a bulk bag of triticale on sale... but I see a bike trailer in our future.

We did a combo trip to the downtown Farmer's Market on Tuesday, biking 3 1/2 miles to the University to catch the express bus rather than walking 1 1/2 miles to catch the stop-a-block bus. It worked out nicely--we rode the bus with Joaquin Phoenix!

Last night, I hoped to further research in local beer at the Hollister Brewing Co. I also needed some supplies for a painting project, and figured I could get what I needed at Home Depot. The man had taken a loooong bike ride, but gamely agreed to walk up the the bus stop to Camino Real. We strolled past the flower fields, arrived at the stop around 7:30 to find the bus we wanted stopped running an hour earlier. Crud.

The alternative meant following the only route still running to UCSB and transferring to a second bus. Bleh.

By walking another half a mile, we had more options at the Hollister and Kellogg stop, so we walked. Phooey. That bus had also stopped running for the night. Heck, it wasn't even 8:00! Ugh.

We ditched our plans. No beer. No ceiling scraper.

After grabbing a bite at the Habit, we finally caught a bus: the 11, which drove us a half mile back to Goleta Valley Hospital. We walked home. It was a lot of adventure for a little dinner. So, this first week of Carless Whispers ended with a few Carless Grumbles.

I've been thinking a lot about setting up a formal carfree challenge. I think there would need to be a little wiggle room, for the occassional party in Ventura, for example. I also imagine an exception for carpooling in unbussable, unbikeable situations. What else?

Speaking of, Antara is performing at Cold Springs Tavern as part of the Gates & Goodell CD release party this Friday from 7-10 pm. Anyone interested in driving?

Happy Birthgiving Day to me!

And happy birthday to Princess Whackamole Del Fuego, who will be happy to know we haven't gotten any goats during her absence. Yet.

Glad fødselsdag, kid!

Live simply, drink locally

I like big beers, and I cannot lie. We've been trying to eat local foods lately, out of our own yard when possible, so for happy hour, I had this idea to serve some local beer. Lots of smaller breweries don't bottle six-packs, so it was the perfect excuse to open sample some big bottles with friends.

I found a good selection of Island Brewing Company ales at the Isla Vista Co-op. They had other beer and wine, including some from Stone Brewery in my hometown San Diego. I've heard George and Amy raving about Stone for years, so I grabbed a few of those. I found local Telegraph's California Ale at nearby Angelo's Liquor. When George added two amazing growlers from Hollister Brewing (Fairview Farmhouse Ale and what else?), we had a nice sampling of our local beers.

I have to say, the growler from Hollister was the coolest bottle of beer I've ever seen. A growler, I learned, is a half-gallon bottle that allows you to take home draught beers from smaller breweries that may not be bottling. You just get yourself a growler, and they fill it from their tap. The Hollister growler is a rounded glass jug that looks like it holds a magical healing elixir. And it kinda does.

We fashioned a blind tasting of sorts by covering the labels and sampling from nine different brews. It wasn't very scientific, and to be honest, I don't know that anyone other than George and Amy would have been prejudiced by the labels.

This time, the Stone beers were the first to go, in part because I had to uncap them first to preserve anonymity. Next time, no blind: the bottles go naked, labels exposed. I wish I'd tasted more side by side, pale ale to pale ale, to really get a sense of each type and brand of beer. As much as I enjoy beer, I don't really know much about it. An optometrist-style beer tasting would probably work best for me: "Do you prefer A or B? Okay, B or C?" I propose we undertake further research.

In any case, it is a happy happy hour indeed when one can drink locally and enjoy summer evenings with one's favorite people in the company of one's own chickens. Happy summer, every one.

Oh meme, oh my!

It's taken me awhile to get to the meme Amy tossed my way... but let's see if I can think of 8 Fun Facts about me...

Here's the "rules" (like the pirate code, they're more like guidelines):

1. I have to post these rules before I give you the facts.
2. Each player starts with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
3. People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.
4. At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.
5. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

Okay, so, in the spirit of silliness, here we go...

1. Watching baby skunks nibble on grass makes me blissfully happy.
2. I am extremely lucky, especially at electric bike raffles, but jinx electric car raffles.
3. Neo-cons dig my poetry. I donate their checks to Planned Parenthood.
4. The first time I went to college I planned to major in wildlife management. The college also offered a degree in fish hatchery management.
5. I starred as Dorothy in our fourth-grade production of The Wizard of Oz. Since I didn't have any red shoes, I wore red socks. Unfortunately, it was filmed in black and white. It still bugs me that I didn't think of just wearing some other color of fancy shoes—who would have known?
6. I may be Thomas Paine's great-great-great-great-great granddaughter.
7. Mermaids scare me. A lot. Seriously.
8. I've won awards for training a pit bull, for proposing to convert an oil rig into a casino, and for keeping my temper.

I'm gonna reach out and tag locals Cookie Jill, Craig Smith (in case there's a lull in the News-Press drama), the Garden Wise Guy, and Noelle Aguayo.
I'm also going to reach out across the blogsphere to some dedicated folks I've been admiring, in case they want to play a little: Greenpa over at Little Blog in the Big Woods, Phelan at Homesteading Neophyte, my heroes over at Path to Freedom, and Emme at Simple Living (check out the Riot for Austerity 90% Emission Reduction Challenge she's got going!).