Long time no blog... farming again!

Subject lines never my forte, so bear with me.
Finally, it is time to write something:

As many readers know, for the first time in 2-years I am working on a farm for fun, and free food rather then a living. My living is and for the foreseeable future remains the bakery. Yay for consistency! Oh yeah, I gather a bit here and there from sales of stuff on eBay and Craigslist.

Initially hesitant towards getting my hands dirty working with mother Gaia. I acquiesce after partaking in some farm projects, discovering this will truly be different. A real community effort where we work mainly to produce food for ourselves and not our customers, though some produce will be sold to help pay for start up and costs of production next year.

On another note: I am now part of the initiating group for Transition Lancaster. I became interested in discussing transition in seeing how just focusing on green technology and shifting our consumption habits to green stuff is not the way to go. I know about peak oil, and I know that with the world's oil consumption, and the fact that we are likely to endure horrific shortages first, and not have a science fiction world of solar panels and wind turbines powering everything.

Green goods are useful yes. Though regardless of recycled content, we still need substantial energy to get those materials to us.

Despite the increased environmental awareness experienced lately. Our society as a whole sees green as optional, and a fringe thing. It shouldn't be. It should be mainstream, but the mainstream needs to change. Even if every piece of clothing in the mall is organic cotton, and all the lights showing them off are CFLs, and you drive there in a Prius, this is hardly progress. The mall culture even if greened up is hardly an aspect of the past we want to maintain. As green consumerism is still that consumerism.

Floyd confesses...

Did you hear the news? After four years of claiming he always rode clean, Floyd Landis admit he lied!
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/21/sports/cycling/21landis.html?pagewanted=1

Four years of lying, two million dollars in legal battles to clear his name, declare his innocence and now he comes clean.

Landis even wrote a book, which I read the first chapter, with the title Positively False to vindicate himself and show the world he rode clean. Great title for a book with a false message of innocence. To bad Landis' story is now as we've learned, Positively False.

In recanting his claims of riding dirty, Landis is bringing down others with him, so the article says. Why Mr. Landis, why? Will your conscious be so clean after trying to dirty the names of others?

As a resident of Lancaster county, and finding a new love for bicycles, one not experienced in several years. What a joy when a local boy won the Le Tour Du France. Yet disappointed, seriously so, when his title had been stripped because he tested positive for performance enhancing drugs. Not a part of his culture, not something that he'd do, etc. etc. Not true, none of it, he did so, now he admits it, after years of fighting to maintain a lie.

Am I against doping? Honestly yes, in the case of professional sports, because it can deliver unfair advantages to athletes, not just cyclists. Today's society with it's stance on zero-tolerance shouldn't play favorites, especially in the case of athletes like Landis and others who are paid professionals.

coal and evil will go hand in hand

Disclaimer: I am guilty. Every watt powering this laptop, writing this blog and the music, sometimes Rachel Maddow segments, playing may have come from coal, or nuclear, or methane. Not sure exactly, but more to the point, it's not like I generated my own clean, sustainable power for this laptop. And because of that, I am guilty of using coal as well. Conscious of it? But being conscious of my role in creating a problem is not the same as being pro-active in stopping it.

The transition away from coal will be long and hard, but it'll be made all the worse if we do not start immediately. Long and hard is better than agonizingly slow and painfully hard.

Much like how the coal industry violently repressed workers calls for living wages, and not quite as dangerous working conditions in eras past, and now. The wealthy heads of these coal companies have found a new enemy: those that speak the truth about the foul black rocks from the bowels of the Earth. It's not the CEO's fault coal is dirty, but they are are at fault for profiting from it.
So long as people make money from destruction of planet, MTR, climate change, coal ash spills, and populace, billions in health care costs, lives lost from mining accidents, we must all ask, when will it stop? When will society break free from as David Roberts of Grist.org put it, "the enemy of the human race."??

Recent news: two people I know from Lancaster, far from West Virginia, have been arrested for minor civil disobedience, with no destruction of property much less peoples livelihoods, and are being held with $100,000 bail! One of the charges is "littering" Littering?! I don't condone littering, but how is it these coal companies get away with destroying mountains legally? A piece of paper or empty plastic bottle can be picked up and thrown into a recycling bin, or such, but a mountain top can never truly be restored. Reshaping and planting some pine trees is not restoration.

Once humanity stops dealing with our enemies, the dinosaur energy sources of oil, coal and natural gas, and start resorting to friends, the earth, (geothermal) sun, moon (tidal energy) and wind, a better, healthier future will be in our hands. Time, sacrifice, and effort will have to be made, but the end result will at least last us a lot longer, and not destroy the environment we depend on.

The issues with coal are not only seen in scientific graph charts and tables in books and presentations done by people with PHDs at Universities. It is seen in our health care bills from bad air, soil and water. It is seen in West Virgina, and other places in America where the sounds of nature are drowned out by explosives destroying nature in the name of cheap electricity.

Nigerian scams and a rant on suckers.

It's just a nasty part of life, wherever you go, there are rotten people all over and all they care about is a fast buck, pound, Euro or ruble, no matter how slimy the methods. These scammers and spammers have bilked good but naive people out of a ton of money, the exact figures are not available.

Young, 17, but not so dumb, opening up my email as usual the beginning of the day. An email from some guy who claimed to be the auditor general of S. Africa and in exchange for simple favors I'd get a lot of money!
Right... not as skeptical as I should have been, I at least looked up who said Auditor General of S. Africa is, and it's not the guy that sent me that email. So I deleted it immediately.

This happened in 2000, and yet we still hear of these scammers! And it's all through email! People really think a real inheritance will come from an email? Not a law office getting in touch through certified mail? These scams will not affect as many if everyone just had more sense for f-sake! I don't like scammers. Period. Yet, you'd think with all the news reports, investigations and oh the fact that you of all random, forgettable people gets an email from someone saying you have millions, they just need you to send lots of money first, and you fall for it? Hmm... remember thine Barnum, there's a sucker born every minute, though in today's society, that number has grown to multiple suckers per second.

What to write...

when you do not feel like writing?

Alvious the writer, his thoughts on coal power, bicycle parts and green living have been put out here already.

How about something I haven't written about yet? Hippie holidays back to back! April 20th, the infamous 4/20 for fans of what is in some circles a medicinal spiritual herb and others an evil, evil substance that only corrupts youth and destroys society. Very persuasive arguments exist arguing for legalization, which I am a supporter, since American society discovered long ago alcohol legalization, with regulation, became a boost, not drain to our economy.

After that holiday, is of course Earth Day 4/22 tomorrow on Thursday.

This invites some reflections on Earth Days past and present.
My plans for this Earth Day? Ride my back, maybe go farming, here's hoping, and enjoy that.

I first really remember learning what Earth Day means some 15-years ago. Then a young Eartho-phile, (yes, I made that up) much like the writer of this blog, age 10+1. Influenced by age appropriate books showing humanities disregard for our planet and the people, animals and plants thereof. Another influence, thanks to Cartoon Network reruns, came in the form of earth! fire! wind! water! heart! with the combined powers of these annoying, but goodhearted, teenagers we get Captain Planet! These teenagers fought flat, exaggerated capitalists, working to wreck the environment for their own benefit.

The show always, kind of bland, flat and dorky overall, never failed to entertain. Or did it? Entertain without much intelligence and insight for sure, but whatever! Still fun stuff!

The worst Earth Day ever?
April 22 2005, I wrecked a car, and felt like shit for a long time, on top of other difficulties in my life from the time. Getting to see Sin City, one of my all-time favorite movies that night helped me feel a bit better. I loved the movie, but still felt awful for a while. So far, no car accidents, my fault or otherwise, a serious bike accident since then, so I take that as a real blessing, as the whole ordeal rather sucked.

Best Earth Day? Not sure, the first one I remember was kind of fun thanks to the Captain Planet marathon mentioned earlier. Two years ago: did farm work with two great friends and got a job offer to do my summer stint with DigIt! A valuable opportunity, that really taught me a lot about myself. Though very stressful.

As the wheels turn...

To cap off the last month touched by winter and welcome warmer weather and the return of the leaves on the trees a friend and I embark on a bike ride.

A few miles outside Lancaster, hills feel steeper than they did before. Carrying extra dead weight from cold months of sedentary activity, focused on arts, the mind and not my fitness. Suffice to say, the ride would be harder than originally thought.

The place? Undecided at first, then we agreed: The Pinnacle. Hundreds of feet over the Susquehanna, and a gorgeous place to hike once there. Also, a nice trip through lovely, lovely southern Lancaster county.

The trip up the Pinnacle, Lancaster's highest point proved harder than thought. The Bridgestone's drive-train, with it's nice long crank-arms and what I thought were nice low range cogs and chain-rings that handled hills in Delaware County, felt way to high on the hills in Southern Lancaster County. The hills won in my case, I unlocked from the pedals and walked the bike. At first in the shoes, which are still not walking shoes and finally barefoot. The roads weren't so rough to walk in, though it killed the pace as the buildup of lactic acid finally got to me and forced me off the bike as well as the steep hills.
(yeah, the hills in SoLanCo are babies compared to some, but I'm not part of the pro-peleton so leaveth me alone!)

Despite the lactic acid, lack of breath and the hills, I carried on. My friend, much more in shape than me, tired as well, could keep going. Cycling back, we rested, ate banana and granola, still wanting to truck on. The Pinnacle is becoming gorgeous at this time as we finally arrive. Staying 30-40 minutes, not sure exactly.

Oh the descent back! Descents are my strong point, thanks to a heavier frame I always fly down any hill without real effort. Marvelous the feeling always, yet scary at the same time. The tires are training tires, light and quick, but not the strongest. Always the worry of a blowout or other accident flying down these hills. Yet, they never failed.

On the ride back, the ascents, though not as hard as before, still present challenges as I'm definitely not as energetic as before. The lactic acid and shortness of breath are still apparent. Not thrilling I imagine my friend who patiently waits as I hold him up from getting back to lovely Lancaster. But we trek on. The ride back still takes much less time than the ride there.

In the future, another ride there.

Thoughts on this ride after-wards:
Ordered another cassette for the rear wheel, something with a few more teeth to better handle the ascents. Speeding up the hills is not my goal, just getting up them.
The tires used, the racing tires mentioned earlier, are wonderful on smooth roads, but I'm thinking beefier, slightly thicker tires are in order eventually.

health care "reform" an Alvis raving...

Health care reform has been signed into law. Finally! But oh what reform we get! Instead of looking world-wide, or what do you know looking at two "socialist" systems we have here at home, Medicaid and the Veterans Administration, we instead come up with a huge new "reform" plan that allows private, for profit, insurers their way.
Recall term here, for profit. Basically, as insurance companies have been known to do in the past, and will do in the future.

Arguments against govt. rationed health care, while certainly of concern, always seem to neglect that every time insurance companies deny care, for whatever they choose, that is the same thing as rationed care. Or denied care.

This new health care "reform" bill, which will not go into effect until middle of this decade, just shows one thing: In America, corporate, for profit policy does rule everything. It would be so nice if our medicine didn't have a profit motive either. But sadly, it has gone from something insurance corporations bullied their way into over the last 60-years to govt. which I thought is supposed to protect the American people from corporate bullying and profiteering has not only protected, but in essence legislated.
If the best America can come up with since the end of WWII is this, when will we listen to the sick, and not the rich for once?