WE’RE not talking pocket change, but we are talking ongoing rather than “thank-God(dess)-we’ve-made-it-so-far” climate change. And as it progresses, the possibility of abrupt directional switches at some point instead of extraordinary warming, extreme cooling, wind and humidity as well. After all, it is called climate “change.”

Personally, I’ve noticed that in addition to the usual climate change (and climate change denial) there’s another kind of climate change/denial going ...

SHOULDN’T that read, “The ages of man?” Nope. Several weeks ago, I was given the opportunity of appearing on a TV series as a photo double of a major actor. After accepting, having never done such before, I traveled to the set to find that the fellow I was photo-doubling for had VERY short, salt-and-pepper hair and no mustache. Awe! After receiving my military style hair cut, having what little hair was left spray painted, and my beloved mustache shaved completely off, I left makeup in ...

Just to be clear, I’m not referring to that little switch that maintains a car at a select speed. I’m talking bit time cruise control here, being a cruising enthusiast and baffled about when it’s really safe to return to cruising. The answers run the whole gamut from totally safe (no COVID test needed, no masks, no special onboard infection controls necessary to its simply not safe to crowd together on a cruise ship).

According to Bloomberg — https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletter...

IT’S officially the hurricane season in the Pacific and what’s brewing at this moment is hurricane Frank. Hawaii hurricanes typically begin off Baha California, traveling West-Northwest along with tons of tourists, the hurricane slowly weakening on its way. This year’s hurricane forecast for Hawaii, I’m told, is low both in numbers and intensities, much like income projections for US citizens. Then again, in terms of weather and economics, anything can happen along the way.

If you be...

Something’s going on with the two tomato plants growing on my porch: They’ve suddenly stopped turning red! OMG, does that mean they’re gonna turn blue before November? Ha, ha. No, really, there’s actually lots of GREEN tomatoes remaining green, and they aren’t likely to turn red or blue in the near future. Can plants join political parties? Can they even party at all?

Maybe they’re pondering onion-izing alongside Amazon and Starbuck workers, but instead of going for more water, f...

I’M posting today out of necessity about flying. Airline travel used to be something I looked forward to with delight. No more. Airlines, in my opinion, were already flying the wrong direction before COVID, and, despite the pandemic “shot across the cockpit” continue to make flying something I now purposefully avoid. I’m talking here about flying “regular” or coach class, not Business, First Class or by personally chartered airplane. While “high end” choices that are relativel...

JUSTICE “is a concept on ethics and law that means that people behave in a way that is fair, equal and balanced for everyone,” according to simple.wikipedia.org. On the other hand, legally, justice can be be equally defined as, “n. 1) fairness. 2) moral rightness. 3) a scheme or system of law in which every person receives his/ her/its due from the system, including all rights, both natural and legal” according to Law.com, an online “legal dictionary”. The whole idea of justice ca...

IT all started with lunch. One of my personal favorite lunch recipes is Japanese-Alaskan Potato Salad. Whoa, there! I can hear you saying, so here it is, basically: Yukon potatoes (boiled with skin on), cucumbers (very thinly sliced, the juice squeezed out), mayo (we use veggie mayo for a more adult taste), carrot (again, very thin sliced), white onion broccoli and/or celery (again very thinly sliced), a sprinkling of roasted sesame seeds. The object is to keep it simple. Yum. On the other ha...

WHEN was the last time you picked a tomato, cucumber, carrot or peach right off the plant and thanked the plant for sharing its bounty? During my last trip to Japan, just before COVID set in, I visited the apple orchards of Iida, Nagano Prefecture, and walking a field with the farmer, heard him thank the tree after picking an apple for me to sample. And what an apple it was. Large, ripe, succulent and sweet. When I asked him his secret to success, he said it was because he always thanked the ...

I hear a lot these days about how “unfair” autocratic folks, foreign and domestic, feel they’re being treated these days. The popular saying, “truth hurts” as well as Khaled Hosseini’s famous quote: “better to get hurt by the truth than comforted with a lie” say it all. In my opinion, the best defense against autocracy is truth, exactly what U. S. President Biden seems to be doing to defend against a Russian invasion of the Ukraine.

The problem, even in countries relatively i...

FIRST, it’s important to establish a few assumptions. Number one: The world isn’t necessarily fair. “Shit happens.” Number Two: This is especially the case when money and power are regarded as sin qua non. Thirdly: Humans are all basically the same in terms of impulsivity, intent, actions and responsibility. Finally: All actions are the inevitable result of outside causes-and-effects (“I had no choice”), though in the epitome of this style of thinking — violation, war and “no-...

REALLY! I’ve heard enough whining from the airlines about how now that the pandemic is almost over, we need to resign ourselves to tolerating those cramped, crowded conditions that make flying an undesirable necessity. The singular value of the pandemic, in my opinion, was that it was the proverbial shot-across-the-bow about the failure of “crowd sales” and the necessity of developing “individual service.” Too expensive? Ha! I’ve heard that one before. Everything’s “too expens...

DELIGHTFUL to fly! To soar in luxury above the clouds! To climb aboard and then exit in another part of the world! Gone are those days and what’s more, there’s no likelihood that airlines will ever “get it” and restore the level of excellence we used to know and expect, except for taking money quickly and efficiently, and creating new ways of not giving it back where deserved without a fight. Sorry to say this, but if there was ever an industry hopelessly wedded to “crowd sales” i...

THERE’S really only two issues at the heart of human existence: plants and, I’m guessing you already guessed it, water. Without these humans can not exist. The heck with petroleum, nuclear energy, money and power. The first two represent limitations of contemporary knowledge, the latter two, human illusions. But plants, which regenerate air, potable water and provide basic food for all things animal, and their principal product, namely, organically enhanced potable water, are and will rem...

YESTERDAY I offered a rather unique post entitled, “Do Plants Like Vegetarians?” Today, I’d like to follow it with a bit of an ode to those stalwart lifeforms upon whom our lives solely depend and much more. Yes, they provide oxygen, clean drinking water and food simultaneously, and, yes, we thank them by systematically harvesting them for that biggest illusion of humankind: lucre. And by applying a worldwide pogrom consisting of purposeful, selective genocide. Go figure.

And while it�...