2007 - The Scariest Halloween Yet

Or the end of suburbia as some call it.

America's Big, Fat Housing Inventory: The supply of homes for sale is at a nine-year high, and housing inventories across the U.S. are swelling dangerously

Next Stop: $100 Oil?
Some analysts say record highs are only the beginning. Traders betting on rising global demand could push prices up further

Oil prices jump after inventories fall (right now oil is $93.38/barrel)

The scenario is simple and is happening now. Crude oil production has topped out at 85 million barrels of oil per day while demand growth continues -> Gasoline prices continue to rise -> American consumers get squeezed by paying for their commute to work -> At some point commuting becomes too expensive so families look to move closer to their employer -> There's already a housing glut so these houses don't sell while families who can afford it move into the cities creating an urban housing crisis as there will be more demand than supply -> Businesses go out of business due to energy costs -> America's farmers and urban dwellers get by but suburbanites become isolated without jobs and unable to sell their homes. Sad...

This may be the beginning of The Mega-Nubble. Marketwatch - Global megabubble?

And I'm not the only person thinking about all the scary things today.

This Chart Will Scare You
...let me show you a chart that will really scare the bejeezus out of you …

Arctic News Roundup

Record 22C temperatures in Arctic heatwave that's 71.6 F

Widening Arctic meltdown chills Canadian scientists

A Cycle of Warming Spirals in the Arctic: 2007: A Global Warming Tipping Point?

Arctic Melt Unnerves the Experts

Mainstreaming UFO's

The groundwork has been laid through movies and whispering for many years. I think there will slowly be growing acceptance over the next decade. For example,MSNBC - NASA to search files on '65 UFO incident

And SciFi will air "The UFO Hunters"

Atlas Shrugging?

NY Times - Formal Search for Adventurer Is Halted

First Jim Gray, now Steve Fossett has been lost. If Steve Jobs disappears it'll be time to start searching for a secret canyon in Colorado.

I am not alone in thinking this apparently:
The Lone Sysadmin - Steve Fossett, Jim Gray… Atlas Shrugged?
Through The Looking Glass - BEE-Witched, Bothered, and BEE-Wildered
Could There Ever Be a Galt's Gulch?

Is Sushi The Zeigeist?

So many sushi articles recently... Nashville Nigiri: Is the spread of sushi to middle-class American malls a good globalization story?

Packet Wars

I have a post on another blog about the broadband winners:

tctechnotes.blogspot.com/2007/10/packet-wars-are-over.html

Tasty Books

Epicurious has launched TasteBook, and just in time for the holidays.

TasteBook allows you to create a pretty hardcover recipe book with 100 recipes of your own or those at Epicurious.com.

Looks to feature Web 2.0 drag-and-drop goodness. How to get started.

We Were Thinking It Too

'From Shilling to Schilling'

Fox conducted a hideous, integrated (into the game!) promotion for Taco Bell.
Red Sox minor leaguer and apparent paid stooge Royce Clayton is shown miked the night before telling Red Sox rookie center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury that America gets a free taco from Taco Bell if you steal a base. Then cue video of rookie stealing second, the theft that buys everyone the yummy tacos.
Then Fox goes to Taco Bell's CEO for an "interview" in the stands with "journalist" Chris Myers.
"Great work," Buck says drolly when the "interview" ends.
Meanwhile, Red Sox starting pitcher Curt Schilling is getting ready to pitch to Todd Helton.
After a pitch or two, as I am internally screaming at the television, Tim says what must be said.
"From shilling to Schilling."
Buck replies succinctly:
"Well said. Curt, and the Red Sox, are leading 2 to 1."

"I Am Not An Alcoholic, I Am A Geologist"

Uncylopedia - Geologist

Geologists are 'scientists' with an unnatural obsession with rocks and alcohol. Often too intelligent to do monotonous sciences like biology, chemistry, or physics, geologists devote their time to mud-worrying, volcano spotting, fault poking, bouldering, dust-collecting, and high-risk colouring.

One of the main difficulties in communicating with geologists is their belief that a million years is a short amount of time and their heads are harder than rocks. Consequently, such abstract concepts as "Tuesday Morning" and Lunchtime are completely beyond their comprehension. (This difficulty generates problems particularly when dealing with the girlfriend/boyfriend/spouse and attempting to explain why you were "gone for so long" or why something is taking "so long to occur.")

Related - A NY Times post on Cask Conditioned Ale: Beer, Naturally

North Peak in Traverse City is a good source for cask conditioned ale (when it is not sold out).

Start With Five Organic Foods

NY Times - Five Easy Ways to Go Organic
1. Milk: One recent United States Department of Agriculture survey found certain pesticides in about 30 percent of conventional milk samples and low levels in only one organic sample.
2. Potatoes: A 2006 U.S.D.A. test found 81 percent of potatoes tested still contained pesticides after being washed and peeled, and the potato has one of the the highest pesticide contents of 43 fruits and vegetables tested...
3. Ketchup: About 75 percent of tomato consumption is in the form of processed tomatoes, including juice, tomato paste and ketchup.
4. Peanut Butter: More than 99 percent of peanut farms use conventional farming practices, including the use of fungicide to treat mold...
5. Apples: ...apples are also one of the most pesticide-contaminated fruits and vegetables.

Mother Russia May Be Growing

National Geographic - Russia's Arctic Claim Backed By Rocks, Officials Say

Under international law, Russia could lay claim to the potentially oil-rich seabed under the Arctic ice if it can prove that the ridge is part of the country's continental shelf.

Unsafe At Any Speed?

IHT - NASA withholds results from U.S. pilot safety survey

NASA is withholding 24,000 responses to safety questionnaires supplied by airline pilots and others to avoid shaking public confidence in the air transport system, over the objections of the survey's designers.

Star Wars Animation Television Series Getting Closer

TV Guide - George Lucas, Episode II: Star Wars Strikes Back — on TV

Barbecue In Your Slow Cooker

As winter gets closer the prospects for grilling decline. About.com lists some recipes for making barbecue in your Crock-Pot

The Grandmother Hypothesis

Exit the Hygiene Hypothesis (IHT - Have a nice shot)

Enter a new pet hypothesis - the Grandmother Hypothesis.

NY Times articles:
-Evolution’s Secret Weapon: Grandma

-Theorists See Evolutionary Advantages In Menopause

Picky Eaters

The NY Times reports on toddlers with picky eating habits - Picky Eaters? They Get It From You

The most interesting item from the article is:

Most children eat a wide variety of foods until they are around 2, when they suddenly stop. The phase can last until the child is 4 or 5. It’s an evolutionary response, researchers believe. Toddlers’ taste buds shut down at about the time they start walking, giving them more control over what they eat. “If we just went running out of the cave as little cave babies and stuck anything in our mouths, that would have been potentially very dangerous,” Dr. Cooke said.

A natural skepticism of new foods is a healthy part of a child’s development, said Ellyn Satter, a child nutrition expert whose books, including “Child of Mine: Feeding With Love and Good Sense” (Bull Publishing, 2000), have developed a cult following among parents of picky eaters.

Each child has a unique set of likes and dislikes that Ms. Satter believes are genetically determined. The only way children discover what they are is by putting food in their mouths and taking it out over and over again, she said.

As an aside, one way "coasters" (Americans who live on the East or West coast) are different than the rest of us is they have an overinflated sense of self importance. They're like Christopher Columbus in that they live in an isolated sphere and believe they're the first people to discover something. In the article above Mrs. Jerry Seinfeld is credited with writing an entire cookbook about how to sneak vegetables into kid's food.

Her new book, “Deceptively Delicious” (Harper Collins), outlines a series of recipes based on fruit and vegetable purées that are blended into food in a way that she says children won’t notice. Half a cup of butternut squash disappears into pasta coated with milk and margarine. Pancakes turn pink with beets. Avocado hides in chocolate pudding and spinach in brownies.

Fascinating... I'm sure no parent in history has ever thought of this before. Come On! - even the rubber stamp U.S. Patent Office would have to reject this due to its obviousness. Reminds me of another brave NYC writer/conqueror of new lands, Judith Levine, who wrote a book on living without shopping for a year. And by "not buying it" she meant not going out to eat as often as she did, borrowing instead of buying wax for her downhill skis, getting rid of a superfluous old pickup truck, but still visiting the house in Vermont. Come On! She wasn't going to live like a savage.

Alton Brown Interview

There's a magazine for everything. Restaurants and Institutions Magazine - Web-Exclusive Interview: Alton Brown

Mostly about the new show, The Next Iron Chef.

Arrested Development Love Forever

Jason Bateman, Michael Cera from "Arrested Development" Back Together in Movie

Exclusive Interview with Jason Bateman

For the record, Bateman has yet to dismiss the possibility of an Arrested Development return. "That is certainly on the table and not dead yet; I just don't know when the right time will be," he says, adding that the surging careers of fellow castmembers Cera and Arnett could actually help the effort. "Maybe by virtue of us doing well, it makes the idea of a re-visit -- whether it be in a movie or whatever -- a little bit more of a viable scenario. Because if none of us had careers after Arrested Development, it would kind of reek of 'Oh, these poor people couldn't let it go,' or 'They need to make a check.'"

Eleanor At The Dinner Table

And I Always Thought Watermelon Was Mostly Water

From WH Foods - Breakthrough News: Watermelon: High in citrulline, an amino acid our bodies use to make another amino acid, arginine, which is used in the urea cycle to remove ammonia from the body.

Have You Heard Of Plato, Aristotle, Socrates, Kenny Lofton Doubters? -Morons!

On July 27th the Indians were a half-game out of first place. Kenny Lofton played his first game July 28th. Cleveland went 36-22 from then until the end of the season and were one game away from the best record in baseball. Kenny was and is the difference.

Bob Harris, - this is better than 1994, you idiot were wrong. Because there isn't a stat for a player smart enough to score from second on a Randy Johnson wild pitch in the eighth inning of a decisive game. Kenny is on playoff teams because he is a winner.

The most recent example: Lofton's sac fly in 12th tops Mariners

The weekend before the trade Tom Hamilton was lofting praise upon Kenny during the broadcast, just about every inning. Upon those rumors I ran into the house to tell Miss Kitty Lofton.


When the Indians got Lofton back I knew then that they were headed for the playoffs. I should have made a bet...

Eco-Lawn

Eco-Lawn:
The Ultimate Low Maintenance Lawn!

Environmentally Friendly!
Drought Tolerant!
No fertilizers or chemicals required!
Less vulnerable to grubs!
Grows in full sun, part shade and even deep shade!
Reduces mowing time or don't mow at all!
Saves you time and money!

And do not taunt Happy Eco-Lawn.

I want to be skeptical of these claims, but they're Canadian and if you can't trust a Canadian then is life really worth living?

Growing Potatoes And Broccoli In Greenland

CS Monitor - In Greenland, potatoes thrive as seal hunting wanes