A few clips from our recent trip.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Month: April 2010
why I bought carrot sticks …
Christmas day I weighed a svelte 160lbs. I had just gotten back from a 17-day hike around Mt. Everest.
By March I was feeling about as svelte as the Baron Harkonnen.
I blame this guy.
Do you know Jack?
The “founder, CEO, and ad spokesman, … a savvy, no-nonsense businessman”.
Though I’d likely never entered any of his fast food joints in my life, on a one month driving trip in March, my parents and I were in them constantly.
Jack in the Box is the best of the McDonalds clones, in my opinion.
For one thing, the newer franchises list the caloric content of each item prominently. It could not be more transparent.
My go to meal there is the Chicken Teriyaki Bowl, not the combo. That’s less than $5 and a satisfying lunch or dinner.
I know what you’re thinking: Eat food, not too much, mostly plants.
I’ve never worried much about nutrition in my lifetime. What I eat seems to make very little difference. But, perhaps, getting older, I’ll experiment with nutrition.
Instead of eating Werther’s (100cal for 3 candies) while driving, I’ll snack on baby carrots. Or Craisens. (Can you buy craisens without added sugar?)
Instead of the tasty, fairly nutritious, fast, inexpensive Chicken Teriyaki Bowl, I’ll shop for unprocessed goods at Whole Foods Market.
Leave a comment if you’ve healthy fast food to recommend. Thanks.
Their business model is to buy the same stuff as Costco, repackaged with old fashioned green labels. And, conspicuously, the catch word “Organic”.
That way they can charge twice the price.
I’d avoided grocery stores like Whole Foods in the past. But picked up some Organic granola. (Is it really any better than regular granola?)
By the way, If you’re ever looking for pretentious California superwomen, look for them at Whole Foods. By the pained expression on their faces, you know they’re disappointed by everything in the Universe.
Dune: House Harkonnen
Prelude to Dune is a prequel trilogy of novels written by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson, set in Frank Herbert’s Dune universe.
The series takes place in the years leading up to the events in the original novel Dune.
* Dune: House Atreides (1999)
* Dune: House Harkonnen (2000)
* Dune: House Corrino (2001)
I’ve just finished the second, Harkonnen, as an audio book read by the masterful Scott Brick.
It’s superb, though not as good as Atreides. There are a few questionable plot points.
Highly recommended to any fan of Dune. I can hardly wait for Corrino.
Ryanair now charging for AIR
That discount airline sucks so bad, even I won’t fly them.
They’re not charging for air, … yet.
When Ryanair Airlines announced plans to begin charging to use the airline’s in-flight lavatory, the response was immediate. …
Ryanair has come under criticism for its new bathroom policy.
“The whole idea of making people pay for a bodily function is crazy. There are easier ways to make an extra Euro.”
…He was shocked when Ryanair announced its partnership with Boeing to reduce the number of bathrooms from three to one, and plans to investigate coin-operated locks in their planes’ bathroom doors. …
Weird News – Potty Policy Has Air Travelers Holding It In
related post – worst airline in the world – RyanAir
Bill Gates: Steve Jobs can’t win
Bill Gates is neither stupid nor evil.
But my God he got a lot of things wrong in his tenure as world’s richest man.
This quote, recently released, from an interview 12yrs ago on Cringely:
…
“What I can’t figure out is why he (Steve Jobs) is even trying (to be the CEO of Apple)? ” wondered Bill. “He knows he can’t win.” …
[picapp align=”center” wrap=”false” link=”term=Steve+Jobs&iid=8462780″ src=”f/b/d/2/Apple_Unveils_New_5a84.jpg?adImageId=12304335&imageId=8462780″ width=”500″ height=”337″ /]
…
TechCrunch – What Happens When Apple Passes Microsoft In Value? Yes, When.
Apple recently passed Walmart to become the 3rd “richest” company in the USA.
Next, Apple will surpass MS. Then fade as more open source products, especially Google, win over your hearts and minds.
iPad – my review
I stopped by Steve Job’s place in Palo Alto … to check out the iPad, in person.
• much more impressive hands-on than in the videos
• screen is very responsive
• sound surprisingly good
• many apps don’t rotate the screen from the inferior page view to the superior horizontal view
• it’s heavy (1.5lbs) … needs to be about .75lbs, ideally
As everyone should have known all along, this thing will be a huge hit. Perhaps 7 million sales in the first year. Better devices will have problems competing. (As the Zune has problems competing with the iPod.)
I’ll never buy one myself, but it’s perfect for millions and millions of casual users, worldwide. Much better than a phone, by comparison.
offline the next couple of days
… hiking The Lost Coast Trail in California.
UPDATE: … Survived. Trip report and photos to come.
the truth about blogs …
Thanks Kate.
Dad’s fishing boat for sale
Look for the ad on Kijiji.ca
Kijiji Vancouver > cars & vehicles > boats, watercraft > powerboats, motorboats > Ad ID 196007537
542 SERIES EXPLORER HARD TOP – 100 HP YAMAHA
If this one sells, he’s thinking of buying another. Slightly smaller.
Update – here’s the link to the ad on Kijiji
sustainable Health Care?
Initially keen on following the American Health Care reform process, … I eventually lost interest.
Once the bill was signed I waited on two sources to dissect the result:
• Slate Political Gabfest audiocast
• Economist magazine audiocast
On Slate, the post-mortem by John Dickerson, David Plotz, and William Saletan was terrible, their worst broadcast yet.
Economist was good, perhaps the best summary I’ve heard to date.
Over half of Economist analysts feel that having the bill passed is slightly better than it not having passed. It’s a “marginal improvement“.
The complaint of Economist magazine is that the biggest problem was not addressed in the bill, the ludicrous cost of Health Care in the U.S.A. … It’s more expensive than anywhere else in the world, with no evidence that the service is any better.
… In spite of the amount spent on health care in the U.S., according to a 2008 Commonwealth Fund report, the United States ranks last in the quality of health care among developed countries.
The World Health Organization (WHO), in 2000, ranked the US health care system 37th in overall performance and 72nd by overall level of health (among 191 member nations included in the study). International comparisons that could lead to conclusions about the quality of the health care received by Americans are subject to debate. The US pays twice as much yet lags other wealthy nations in such measures as infant mortality and life expectancy, which are among the most widely collected, hence useful, international comparative statistics. …
What America has gained with the bill passing, perhaps they’ve lost in making the nation even more divided than ever between Democrat and Republican. Recent polls still show over half of Americans against the Obama bill.
I highly doubt the Republicans will ever repeal what’s been gained, but they should if they believe even 20% of what they’ve been saying to the media. (I made a special trip to bypass Searchlight, Nevada the other day.)
What should the Americans have done?
Here’s the Rick McPlan:
1) All citizens must have Health insurance. Failure to do so results in an escalating series of warnings, fines and stints in a “work camp”.
2) All insurance companies must offer to insure any citizen. None can be declined for any reason. Any insurance company not wanting to do business in the nation, we show the door.
3) Private companies can offer any Health Care product … under license.
4) Phase out government health care services over 20 years, or so.
… Let the free market sort it out. But with a good safety net for anyone and everyone willing to pay for insurance.
Obviously a percentage of the population are too incompetent or stupid to ever get themselves insured. They’ll be cleaning highways and removing graffiti for the rest of their lives. (That’s the biggest downside to my scheme, so far as I can see.)
Switzerland is the nation, so far as I’ve heard, most closely using this kind of simplified scheme. (It’s the second most expensive in the world, though.)
Should the Americans simply have adopted the Canadian model? … HA!
God no. Ours is totally unsustainable over the long term.
Rick McCharles 
