Christmas sparkle, green edition...

The Internet is brimming with tips on green gifts, entertaining, and the like. Of course, it helps to have your place decked out, the better to get in the mood for seasonal festivities. There's no need to empty an already-thin wallet or further foul the planet to make your abode all sparkly for the season.

Reuse

I was walking, walking down the street...and spied something nice on the ground--a lovely winterberry branch--which I promptly took home to stick in a vase.

[Cost=zero, or the cost of picking up the branch off of the ground.] Also free for the snipping, boughs of (evergreen) holly which I have in the yard. Both the wintergreen and other hollies will keep about a week or so indoors.

It doesn't hurt to retrieve a few free finds left over from the year before (or the year before that), such as:

[Cost=zero. However, my chances of finding the above (hickory?) nuts this season would also be zero, because they have been AWOL in this part of Maryland this year!] (Neither have I seen the usually plentiful acorns.)

Recycle

A live tree for a small house--the solution--a small tree! You get the pine aroma throughout the house, but in a size where you can get the tree in the house. (And have a choice as to where in the house to place it.)

When the holiday season is over, this little pine will be broken into small pieces and scattered over the ground to decompose.

[Cost=$10, at Whole Foods. Because I had my own decorations, I was able to stay away from Whole Paycheck's obvious sucker bait, such as the bags of cinnamon-scented pine cones.] However, I wish the store had the little rosemary trees, which appear fuller.

The tiny decorations were purchased last year, from Dollar Tree, which is cheaper than too-chinchy-to-pay-for-security Walmart. (Also, while both chains sell scads of made-in-China trinkets, Dollar Tree has a larger selection of Christmas decorations). Go figure.

All other decorations were saved from the year before--purchased at Target the day after Christmas, at a massive discount, so I spent no more than $6.

Tra-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la!

Sign of the times...

Now, I've seen all manner of feathered critters in the Washington area over the years--the blue heron (at the Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens and perched over the Suitland Parkway), heard and saw a woodpecker here and there (Capitol Hill and Bethesda), as well as the ubiquitous comeback kid, the crow, a wild turkey, off I-295, a thrush, and even a hawk, right near the playground.

But, today was the first time I've ever seen vultures. And not one or two, but about six or seven, on the side of the road heading to FedEx Field, eating from a red fox carcass. Ugh! Of course, I had to look (but not too close, because who wants to get close to vultures?), so an attempt at document their roadside uniqueness (also a bit scary because they seemed persistent--I mean, as soon as a car zoomed past, they resumed their meal--nothing was going to keep them from that!) was less than successful, trying to keep my distance and all:

That black spot in the street near the curb was one of the crafty critters. (The others jumped over the guard rail for a bit.) Again, ughhhhh.

Figures I'd see one of these buggers for the first time during this economic downturn, when industries such as banks and financial services firms have been ravaging the economy for years!

Friday Follies (aka dogblogging)

With the refusal of southern Republicans in the Senate to ratify the auto industry bailout loan package, snarling about the high wages of its unionized workforce (while not complaining about the humongous Wall Street bailout approved previously on top of those extravagant executive salaries), it really makes you wonder, as Hale "Bonddad" Stewart muses in the Huffington Post, whether "The Republicans Want a Depression."

Visible proof of such ridiculous, circular behavior, also exists in the canine kingdom (which at least has the virtue of being humorous when practiced in the house):

What--no white Christmas?

The adorable little snowflakes that plinked down last night were, admittedly, a lovely distraction, at least once I got off the road. (Hmm, how do folks not realize to slow down in blowing snow? Thankfully, it didn't last long, but still.)


Sadly, today's wind was enough to blow much of that little bit of snow away, although there was still a bit on some plants close to home, such as this beauty:



That (ill?) wind, however, apparently blew the wind off some lovely winterberry plants, which I am dying to see covered with snow, as they are the only deciduous holly plants--that's right, their leaves drop off in the fall, leaving clusters of beautiful red berries on the stalks, for people to view and birds to eat.

The beauty below, a winterberry, is showing off, as its leaves have dropped, so those berries seem almost huddled together--



Hope there's a chance of another dusting before Christmas. It would do Washington's landscape a world of good!

(The above winterberry photo is from Oikos Tree Crops.)

Attacking the air? (aka dogblogging)

Perhaps the holiday season is a slow news time, particularly in the transition between presidents--not that that's stopped criticism of a President-elect who's not even in office yet. An apt visual interpretation of such sniping is rendered in the video below, only the perpetrator of its foolishness is cuter than most.

For a few dollars more (about the Walmart trampling tragedy)

Still struggling to think what could possess grown folk to first stand in line, in the cold, in the dark, to save money on, exactly what? Toys for the children, and just as often, shiny electronic toys for the adults. Because, let's face it, the Black Friday sales, like the one where the temporary worker at the Walmart was trampled, are not for boring necessities like food, diapers, or other sundry items. No!

This frenzied crowd behavior is all the more disgusting because it's in contrast to recent events, such as the giveaway of Thanksgiving turkeys and toys at FedEx Field, where, as far as I'm aware, people were behaving civilly, although there weren't even enough turkeys for everyone, because of increased turnout this year. And yes, although apparently there was also a higher than average turnout at the Washington DC Convention Center for its Feast of Sharing this year, there were no reports of beastly behavior there, either.

How sad. Americans have come to the point where we seem unable to distinguish between wants and needs--and will fight to the death over them.

Tuesday Tips (the real deal!)

In trying to be environmentally minded today, I not only took a hot drink with me today in a Starbucks tumbler, then I used the same mug for another cup of tea at a vendor--I asked him to fill the mug up instead of using a paper cup, and he knocked 25 cents off the price of the tea, making it an even buck! Now, this was not at Whole Foods or some other organic emporium, but at the kiosk at a medical center. Small victories!

* * *

Accompanying a relative for a medical procedure, an MRI, I knew that everything metal had to be removed, etc.

What I was unaware of, and even the staff, cordial and helpful as they were, didn't clue me in on just how loud the noises coming out from this modern marvel would be--even with the soft foam ear protection that's provided.

Wikipedia gently alludes to the noise potential in its MRI entry, but I was in the room with the Thing as it was doing its thing (and the lights were on in the room--I might have sworn that I saw fireworks if the lights had been turned off) and, whoa, the noise level was similar to a construction site, with jackhammer sounds, firecracker-like loud popping sounds (the fire swamp, anyone?), and other sound effects, for ten minutes of eternity! Of course, the patient must keep still through this Universal Studios theme park ride, but even I was exhausted after that, and I was there for moral support! (It would seem that anyone with a heart condition shouldn't even be considered for such a test.)

Oh, all's well...

Post-Thanksgiving "Feed" (aka dogblogging)

Yesterday's yummy Thanksgiving feast (followed this morning by the greatest breakfast in the world, a slice of sweet potato pie!) just might mean that today becomes a small timeout from the gorging, a mini-detox, if you will, for the system.

Of course, any true detox course will include plenty of water--assuming that you drink most of it! (Shorty below seems have forgotten the basic need to drink for a few moments. Oh well...)

More Pre-Thanksgiving Prep...to put some pep your holiday step!

Having people for Thanksgiving--been there, done that. Actually, I enjoyed having people over, but then, I planned ahead. Probably what kills many people is trying to do everything in too short a period of time, like the day before as well as Thanksgiving. A more rigid schedule for cooking on Thanksgiving week is listed on FoodieView, but my less structured schedule is below.

Note: One type of modern technology that comes in handy, particularly when cooking on Thanksgiving itself, is the alarm clock feature on your cell phone!

If I'm a cookin' for Thanksgiving, my (extremely rough) schedule resembles:

• Sunday--the bulk of the shopping is done today; the only Thanksgiving cooking to be done this evening is making the cranberry sauce. Even if I'm not hosting Thanksgiving dinner, I'm making the sauce tonight to take to the host!
• Monday--if having homemade rolls, make them today, and refrigerate them until the big day. (Storebrought bread for that day already be refrigerated [if yeast bread] or frozen if some other type of bread.)
• Tuesday--purchase or make desserts today. The great thing about desserts (besides the yum factor) is that they can be stored away from the other foods--in a cake pan or something, as most pies don't require refrigeration for a couple of days--so they don't take up refrigerator space, which will be at a premium this week! If cooking a turkey carcass, you should have bought it by now, so that you can begin to defrost it in the fridge.
• Wednesday--prep day! This is the day to either bake most of your side dishes (except for mashed potatoes and greens), or cut up vegetables for dishes to put together quickly for tomorrow. For instance, roasting and cutting up pumpkin if making, say, a pumpkin soup (and cleaning out the seeds beforehand to have roasted pumpkin seeds--umm, umm, good!), making macaroni and cheese, which can then be cooled and reheated on Thursday. If cooking turkey, the deceased critter should be in the process of thawing out by now. Any non-turkey entree should be in the process of being prepared today (thawing out overnight in the fridge, if necessary, etc.).
• Thanksgiving Thursday! Begin cooking at around 10:30 am--preheating the oven, preparing the main event, setting out the desserts and decorations, etc. If cooking greens, they should be in the pot on top of the stove while the entree is in the oven. After the turkey or other entree comes out of the oven, the other baked items should be put in the oven. Also, cut potatoes should be put in boiling water during this time, so that they can be ready to be mashed in 20 to 30 minutes, as fresh mashed potatoes are best made soon before eating. Begin to make the gravy around this time, as well. (This is where your cell phone's alarm clock feature comes in extra handy--to allow you to nap during the time the entree is resting and the sides are baking!)

Whew! What an accomplishment--a great feast, good company, as well as some rest and sanity.

Easy pre-holiday prep..the sauce!

Homemade cranberry sauce is akin to a chutney, and is just as versatile, post-Thanksgiving, because it's easy to handle--just spoon away! It's also easy to make (takes only about an hour to prepare, then let it cool off), doesn't require precision, and is even better after sitting overnight in the fridge. This makes it great if you are doing the holiday cooking, because you can make it a couple days ahead, sparing yourself much aggravation. If you're going to someone else's home, it makes a great gift for the host. Its jewel-like appearance, with chunks of fruit, makes it a grown-up holiday delight!

* * *

Um, thus is born this cranberry sauce "recipe," if you will...a new family favorite! The following makes enough to take some to your host, and some to keep for yourself as well.

• 2 12-ounce bags cranberries (it's OK if you froze them beforehand; no need to defrost frozen ones before cooking, but give a quick rinse first, to remove any stems)
• 1/2 cup or more juice
• an orange, lime, grapefruit, or lemon (zest the fruit first; add the rest of the fruit to the sauce, if you prefer)
• 2 1/2 cups sugar (may need to add more after tasting)
• ground coriander (or ground ginger, ground cardamom, or ground nutmeg--cinnamon, allspice, or cloves are too overpowering to fruit flavors, in my opinion)
• one pear or apple

In a Dutch oven or large saucepan, over medium heat, add the juice, the rinsed cranberries, sugar, then stir. If mixture seems a bit dry, add more juice--any juice is fine.

Add the citrus zest, then chop up the rest of the fruit, and add it to the sauce, if using the entire citrus fruit, then add the spice(s), and stir some more. Finally, chop the pear or apple and add it to the sauce, and stir again.

Stir the pot occasionally to keep it from sticking. The sugar should soon begin to melt within the sauce; after you see this, the berries should soon start simmering, and popping open. (You can assist the process of popping those berries with a wooden spoon, if you're impatient!) Turn down the heat a bit, to keep the sauce from spilling out of the pot.

The sauce is done when it's noticeably thicker than when you began; dip a spoon in it--some of the sauce should remain on the spoon. Taste it at this point; if you think it needs more sugar, add another 1/4 to 1/2 cup, and stir again until this sugar is fully melted into the sauce.

After turning off the heat, let the sauce cool in the pot another hour before spooning it into glass jars and refrigerating; theoretically, it keeps a few weeks, although it's usually eaten up within a couple of weeks!

Fall's last stand

Today's windy, practically freezing chill amidst flurries, seemed the perfect day to go gleaning some of the leftovers from the harvest at Clagett. It seems surprising which crops do last as long as they do, such as:

This broccoli raab looks quite good, as did some of the kale and collards also left, in addition to the mixed lettuces. I can't wait to cook down all those greens!

* * *

Although many herbs are quite weather hardy, I was unaware that so many could, and do, survive chilly weather. This is quite fortunate for the coming holiday season, as it means that many fresh herbs will be available for holiday cooking and decor, such as sage, that favorite for dressing and other fall dishes:


Note the parsley field behind the sage; both the flat-leaf and curly parsley were out in force! It's great that highly nutritious parsley lasts so long during the growing season, as it comes in handy for making soups. (The dried version of this herb is so tasteless as to defy explanation as to why anyone thinks it's worth the effort to dessicate.)

The big surprise in the herb field, because this herb had previously died out, and has apparently come back to life (but not before I harvested some tasty seeds!), is--


This is most surprising, because I assumed the cilantro would be as dead as the basil (which suddenly passed after the first frost) at this time of year, but it recently rebounded (as did the dill). I suddenly hear fresh salsa calling me...

* * *
In addition to the other volunteers and staff at the farm, I will also miss Clagett's canine mascot Cassie, always ready for a belly rub (after running alongside us in the truck or van).

Friday Folly (aka dogblogging, Where's the Love?)

While many people misunderstood Bush's non-public glad handling of other world leaders at the recent G20 summit (because it sure 'nough did LOOK like a snub, even if the reality is different; I mean, how else is not publicly shaking folks' hands going to be perceived? Duh!).

Of course, there is minor miscommunication as well, not just between people. For instance, how did this guy manage to have his dog only respond to him when he's doing a bad Ringo Starr impersonation? Funny though it is, it can't bode well for order at his home...

More good news from the Obama camp!

Today's news about Obama makes me feel even better about our next President. According to the Wall Street Journal online, former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle has apparently accepted the position as Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS). Daschle, a confidant of Obama's with a strong interest in and commitment to health care reform (he's co-author this year of a book on health care titled, Critical: What We Can Do About the Health-Care Crisis) as well as a Hill veteran, is an excellent choice for the job.

* * *

Obama's Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel, is stepping up to the plate, as well. He recently challenged business leaders to support the new administration's efforts toward universal health care, at the Wall Street Journal's CEO Council last Tuesday night. Video below of some of Rahm's remarks:



What more is there to say other than: Go Team O!

We'll be in good hands...

Over a month ago, in the second debate with John McCain, now President-elect Obama stated that health care should be a "right," not a privilege. (Video from The Nation.) That alone is a great reason to breathe a sigh of relief that Obama is our next President, because with an incoming Democratic Congress, there's now a window of opportunity to pass universal health care legislation in the U.S.

To that end, Sen. Ted Kennedy said that he will advance a bill in early 2009 calling for universal health care, according to today's Washington Post. For some reason, however, the article's writer seems to believe that health care legislation is unrelated to our economic woes. Wrong!

The lack of universal health coverage in the U.S. is a prime reason for the cashflow problems that the auto industry is experiencing--and its executives have known this for years! Rep. Jim McDermott of Washington state, a physician and longtime proponent of universal healthcare, has put in the public record, as well as on his website, a 2002 letter sent separately by Ford, General Motors, Chrysler, and the auto workers union to the Canadian government, imploring that government to keep its public healthcare system strong! Makes you wonder why the lavishly paid upper echelon of Detroit hasn't been lobbying the U.S. government for universal health care along with bailout cash, when it knows that healthcare costs are one of the reasons for its current mess. (In addition to their outrageous salaries, and unwillingness to build a wide enough selection of high quality fuel efficient cars, that is.)

Friday Follies (dogblogging)

Now that we have a new President-elect, we still have folks attacking him in a nonconstructive manner, with tired, specious arguments (exhibit A: Ms. Palin's comments at a Republican governor's conference, showing that she's still bitter). Such behavior is about as useful as:

Friday Folly (more dogblogging)

Unfortunately, too many of our Republican friends have forgotten that we are one America, and instead of being proud of our country and happy for our President-elect, are engaging in pointless infighting and other behavior, instead of joining with us in solving our many ongoing problems.

Hence, their failure to be constructive is similar to the odd doggie behavior below--and this guy isn't even the current Presidential pooch:

Mind-Blowing Post-Election "Advice"

If the reality of our new President, Barack Obama, hasn't yet settled in, please take some advice (with tongue firmly in cheek) from David Rees, in his most recent Huffington Post piece, "What To Do When It Finally Hits You and Your Mind: A Safety Guide."

In the meantime, enjoy a classic from the ever-cool (like the new President) Delfonics! That is, if Obama didn't blow your mind already!

Time to celebrate the new President!

Woo hoo! He did it! We did it! America did it! We have a new president, President O--and it won't take a lawsuit to settle it, either! The race is over!

I almost feel as jubilant as the little guy below!

This one's for "Toot"!

So sad to hear that Obama's grandmother (aka "Toot") passed away late yesterday. From what the Senator himself relates, he got much of his practicality and steadfastness from her. What a tribute to her, and to the country, to make sure that her dearest grandson makes it to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in January 2009.

***

In ongoing paranoia to make sure that my vote will count, I went to the Maryland board of elections site to find a sample ballot, as the state was too cheap to mail more than one this year. (And none were to be found at the library, either.) At least the website makes a sample easy to obtain, as its Frequently Asked Questions section has a question, Where can I see a sample of my ballot? After clicking it, it has prompts for first name, last name, zip code of registered address, and date of birth, after which you click on the "Find voter registration information" button; a PDF of an appropriate sample ballot will appear, ready to be printed and taken along to the polls for handy reference. (And in my case, to be signed and dated tomorrow, along with the votes filled out. Just in case, the camera phone is coming along, as well.)

The other two local jurisdiction board of election sites, Virginia and DC, don't make it easy to find a sample ballot. (Perhaps considering the problems that DC is having with its early voting, maybe it's just as well.)

* * *

Remember to get your post-voting tall coffee from Starbucks on the 4th--good for staying wired through the upcoming tense night! (Thanks to wisebread.com for this and other good freebie tips!)

Time to get some shut-eye, for the potentially dragging, er, long day and night ahead.

Making sure your vote counts...

The Internet is chock-a-block with tips on how to make sure that your vote is counted, whether you vote early or on November 4. (Sorry, no early voting for Marylanders, but the issue of whether to allow early voting for future elections will be on the ballot.) Some solid advice comes via Myra Armstrong's Huffington Post article, "Easy Steps to Ensure Your Vote is Counted."

One thing this and others have noted is that you should take a camera with you, if possible, to record possible problems; even Oprah thought she had a problem having her vote recorded, and her bff Gayle intends to take a snapshot of her vote just in case. Because many camera phones have video function, this tip could really come in handy; if you notice any problems, you can then upload the video to videothevote.org or youtube.

An extra piece of security to consider is to get a sample ballot (I'm getting an extra from the library), mark in ink how you intend to vote, and date and sign it--preferably in the presence of a witness. But I'm just paranoid that way...

Wear comfortable shoes, take a good book and music with you to the polls (if you haven't voted already), and have a great 4th no matter what!

Pre-election jitters got you down? (Friday Follies dogblogging)

Like many people, you may be suffering from pre-election anxiety, which is, surprise, affecting African-American women particularly hard, according to Diane Tucker in Huffington Post's Off the Bus, a background nervousness to which I can testify. My current coping mechanism is to turn off the tv, so that I can avoid the ubiquitous political ads.

Because the election is almost here, so close you can almost smell it, I'm almost as frustrated as the cute critters in the video below--

(I think the dog's saying, "Is it over now?")

Relax!

In these tough, tense times, it's nice to know there are easy ways to calm down, to simply relax. One that I enjoy, and which tastes great, is to sip a tisane (hot infusion) made from lemon balm leaves, such as these:

Not only is this herb lemony and delicious, if you decide to grow the weedy visitor (related to mint), know that if you cut or pinch off leaves, the plant will grow back! Laidback yet tenacious--I like it better already!

Moreover, according to the authoritative University of Maryland Complementary and Alternative Medicine Index (CAM) lemon balm (aka melissa officinalis) may also be good for much that ails you, as it is antiviral [perhaps a plus in the coming cold season], calming yet increases alertness.

Time to make a cup right now!

More Tuesday Treasures

This last week in October is the one that launches a full-frontal fall assault. The wind! The rain! The cold! It's enough to make you stay under the covers...but I pressed on (after the rain stopped, that is). Went a-farming, and left with a few seasonal-transition treats, including the following--one is the last of a summer crop, the other a fall favorite:


The peppers are itching for me to make that feisty spread known as ajvar. (I've also got enough garlic to make it worthwhile. Bryanna Clark Grogan's recipe (linked above) turned out well, and should be even better with enough of the accompanying allium to make a vampire faint!)

The spicy salad mix, a fall favorite, is a tasty, quick side to throw together with an entree. It doesn't keep very long, but it's just as well, as I never let it stick around long enough to spoil!

It was worth the hard work (and the chill) to occasionally peer up to get a view such as this!

The power of true green...

In today's New York Times, Tara Parker-Pope reports research that anyone--adults as well as children--can benefit from the restorative powers of nature, that even children in public housing perform better when they have access to a green view.

Of course, this is nothing new. There has long been research to show that even for hospital patients, those who had a window view of the outdoors from their rooms had need for less medication, etc., than patients who only had a view of, say, a brick wall.

Would this make nature the second best medicine?

In these tough times...

P.G. County is taking extreme measures to attempt to make up its budget shortfall, such as furloughs for county employees, including paramedics! 9News Now obtained a (verified) list of county medic units, which contains many of the dates that furloughs will be taking place. (I assume this means that those units are down one or more persons for those stretches. This means no newbies need cook on those days!)

This is seriously scary--although it appears that at least all units will be at full capacity for Halloween, which, I presume, must be a time when all emergency hands are needed on deck. However, one unit will have furloughs taking place Christmas week, which means don't drink too much eggnog that week if you live or party in the Largo area!

* * *

Speaking of needing to cut back on expenses, I've been able to cut down ~$40 last month on my electric bill, and $40 the month before that, as well as money on the gas bill, dough which has come in handy.

How did I do it? (And yes, I do use lights in the house when needed.) For one, I've become more careful about how lights are used--not every room needs to be lit in the evening; maybe one room in the front, another in the back, but not both back rooms--just the one that I happen to be using.

I also turn off the computer when leaving for extended periods, which means turning off the monitor as well (which people seem to forget to do in business settings), and switching to the "off" position on the PC's power strip.

When cooking, I often partially or fully cook something, like potatoes, in the microwave, then transfer the goods to the toaster oven to crisp. For a household of two, this greatly cuts both time and gas used! I've used that toaster oven to make a small tray of homemade biscuits, homemade cornbread, and other things that I couldn't be bothered to warm up a large over for. Apparently, other folk have latched onto the wonders of the little appliance that could. I consider the toaster oven a wonder of the modern green kitchen...

However, I'm not about to give up the microwave, not when I can use it to make a five-minute miracle like the aptly-named Absolutely Divine Microwave Chocolate Cake. This deliciously rich, yet dairyfree dessert has a permanent place in my culinary repetoire, if only because you can whip it up from scratch from what you may already have at home, and is perfect for any time of year, as there is no need to heat up an oven to make this small cake. (My only gripe is that after the initial 1 minute heating, you need to cook for an additional 3 to 4 minutes, so that overall cooking time is about 5 minutes. Overall preparation time should be 15 minutes or less.) Yum!

Friday Follies (aka dogblogging)

With the presidential election coming up within two weeks, it can't come soon enough, so that we can finally be done with it! All of this tension, being on pins and needles, can't be good for the nervous system, et al.

However, the following behavior is NOT recommended for dealing with the stress, tempting though it is...

Say What? John McCain has black relatives?

Yes, you read that right. Yesterday's South Florida Times had an article about the absence of John McCain from ongoing reunions between his family and their black relatives. Sadly, it notes that the only person invited who has neither bothered to respond nor attended is, you guessed it, Senator John Sidney McCain himself. (The photo is of John's brother Joe and one of their relatives.)

Is this the October surprise?

Friday Follies (aka dogblogging)

How sweet, to be this blissed out...

Saving Green, Two Ways!

Running errands, my Staples Rewards coupons come in handy. Today, they effectively enabled me to purchase an inkjet cartridge for free! Even better is that you get rewards points two ways--by making a purchase, of course, or when you return used ink cartridges for recycling. Actually, I think you get more rewards points for turning in the used cartridges, as you get three rewards points each.

Best of all, the quarterly rewards coupons can be used toward the purchase of practically any type of office supply at Staples. Woo hoo!

* * *

I had stopped using a trusty push lawn mower a few years ago, after a screw fell out. However, in desperation, I tried the old Handy 38 comfort mower again a few weeks ago, in hopes that it might do something. Although it had not only a screw gone, but a wheel had (recently) fallen off, like a Timex watch, it kept going and going! I've used it again a few times since, and am impressed with its toughness, and pleased that I don't have to worry about electrical outlets or batteries for this device, or gas fumes.

Time to Choose Civility?

Today's Oprah show featured the topic of civility and rudeness in society. After various audience members swapped horror stories of bratty behavior, one of Oprah's guest's was Dr. P. M. Forni of Johns Hopkins, who wrote Choosing Civility. (Hmm, this might explain the two Choose Civility bumper stickers I saw this weekend; perhaps these people were coming from such a workshop in Howard County.) An unspoken undercurrent of Dr. Forni's soothing words is the implication that without civility, society itself unravels.

* * *

An odd coincidence is that the final presidential debate is tonight--a forum that will be a referendum, in part, on John McCain's civility toward Barack Obama in particular, and the American public in general (or lack thereof). Apparently, McCain's rudeness toward Obama--in the previous debates, ads, and stump speeches--has come back to bite him, as today's New York Times reports, "Poll Says McCain Is Hurting His Bid by Using Attacks."

Let's see which McCain comes out tonight--for if he behaves like McNasty, he will lose, whether or not he wins the election. (Thank you, Wonkette!)

Political season silliness...more polling place shenanigans!

I was under the impression that locally only DC residents were restricted from wearing and carrying election paraphernalia to the polls. But no, Virginia election officials decided to join in the silliness and ban its residents from carrying or wearing campaign paraphernalia (clothing, buttons, stickers) as well. Ugggggghhh!!

Nonetheless, although Maryland residents are allowed to have such items, as it is not considered to be electioneering, I wouldn't--you never know if a poll worker might be able to tamper with your vote, knowing that you plan to vote for ???

* * *

Regardless of your state's polling regulations, make sure to get there on November 4, as part of your own anti-poverty initiative--especially if you're voting for That One!

A small step in the fight against poverty...

The issue of poverty has become even more serious as of late, here in America and around the world, as we have all been blindsided by high food prices lately, and increasing numbers of Americans are using food pantries and food stamps. It's bad enough in the US of A, so it's distressing to hear about the poor in other countries, who have it even worse--in Haiti (where the poor are reduced to eating clay cakes), Afghanistan, etc.

Such bad news is enough to make someone feel depressed and helpless. So, one small way that you can help alleviate hunger in countries around the globe is by playing a game. That's right--something you already do, can helps someone else as well. FreeRice was developed by someone who wanted to help a child improve vocabulary; the game has the added twist of contributing 20 grains of rice to the United Nations World Food Program every time you correctly guess the meaning of a word! Woo hoo!

Of course, the more you play, the more you contribute to that UN program, and you become smarter in the process as well--a true win-win situation!

Tuesday Treasure(s)

Time to go up the road, to do the hard work of helping with the harvest at Clagett; of course hard work has its rewards, such as this view!

Oddly enough, there has been abundant eggplant this month, odd because eggplant is generally considered a warm weather crop. (There were also a few string beans to be had, and the tomatoes are on the way out. Boo!)

* * *

A quick, tasty side dish to make with those string beans and tomatoes: boil the string beans in salted water for as long as you wish, then drain in a colander or strainer. Toss with salt, chopped tomatoes, and torn fresh basil, then eat. Simply delicious!

"Old soldiers never die, they just fade away"--Gen. Douglas MacArthur

Seeing the most recent presidential "debate" brought MacArthur's aphorism to mind, because if recent actions and non-actions are any indication, such as the pulling of his campaign out of Michigan, we are seeing John McCain beginning to fade into the political twilight.

Another example of this possible pullback is the (blessed!) lack of television campaign ads from the McCain camp in the last few days; considering that Virginia is now also known as a battleground state, you'd think the DC airwaves would be inundated with Republican mendacity, but there's been relative silence.

Thus, I can see why even moderate and conservative political insiders are now whispering that McCain may have effectively given up the campaign ghost. (Via the Guardian's Michael Tomasky, reporting from Washington.)

There's only one thing left --to go to the polls in November to put the nails in the coffin of McCain's presidential bid!

Dressing the part for the polling place?

Like wildfire, rumors have been spreading--via the radio as well as the Internet--that voters wearing candidate paraphernalia--Obama t-shirts, political buttons--may be turned away from the polls for electioneering. This debate-within-a-debate, to dress up or not, has more legs than a centipede. In fact, the Maryland Board of Elections had to put a "Rumor Control" section on its website in order to address such speculation!

So, in Maryland, voters CAN wear all manner of campaign paraphernalia to, and into, the polling place. However, once you are done voting, you cannot loiter or linger behind the polling place. The vagueness of the election law as written is probably what gave rise to such rumors, as it does not define "electioneering." Also, commentors on the DailyKos website have commented that sometimes they have been hassled for wearing campaign articles to polling places. I wouldn't want to take a chance that a poll worker might find a way to tamper with my vote somehow, after having broadcast my intended choice via my clothing.

Maryland's elections website has also had to inform voters via rumor control that foreclosure does not keep one from voting. (However, such voters will need to update registration before October 14 in order to vote in this year's general election, as that is the deadline to be registered to vote in Maryland.) Folks voting by absentee ballot need to have a request in by mail or fax before October 28.

The last day for Virginia residents to register to vote is the close of business October 6. An application for an absentee must be received by the voter registration office by October 28.

However, DC voters should watch themselves! Not only is the DC board of elections' website woefully vague regarding registration deadline dates (or has buried them deep undercover), according to the ruling, Marlin v. District of Columbia Board of Elections and Ethics, 236 F. 3d 716 (D.C. Cir. 2001), DC voters CAN be stopped from voting if wearing any kind of campaign paraphernalia. The gentleman at question in the above court case, David Marlin, was a DC resident who went to his polling place to vote wearing his sticker in support of mayor candidate Anthony Williams, but was informed by a poll worker that he "could not cast his ballot while wearing the sticker." He was told that he would not be permitted to vote in the general election if wearing "any sticker, button, emblem, or clothing that showed support for a candidate." Whoa!

Unfortunately for Mr. Marlin, the court ruled in favor of the Board of Elections.

* * *

Skip the drama, vote for Obama, but don't let your clothing do the talking for you!

Rockin' that Vote...

It's crunch time for real in the election cycle. I mean, the storied young people who are supposed to be turning out in droves for the upcoming election--do they know that not only should they be registered, or register NOW--but they should also, if in college, ask about getting an absentee ballot? That way, even students who are unsure of whether they might be able to make it home to vote on that Tuesday can still vote, with plenty of time left over to continue studying. (That would be a benefit, right?)

The one caveat is that absentee ballots must be completed and mailed back two weeks or so before the general election in November, if I remember correctly (having voted via absentee ballot back in the dark ages), so you have to get the process started of getting the absentee ballot sent to you NOW. The life you save may be your own.


Saving More Lives?

While there has been much recent promotion of a new website, http://www.saferoadmaps.org/, a site designed to help people find which streets in their region have the most collisions, and their causes of said crashes, an admirable aim, the public might be unaware of the shortcomings of the data compiled, possibly leading to a skewed view of the factors most likely to cause, and contribute to, collisions in the first place.

Kent Sepkowitz of the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City recently opined that speed as a factor in automobile fatalities is grossly underestimated, as states analyze auto fatalities in differing ways, often leading to low-balling of speed as a factor in these crashes.

***

Another day, another collision into a building (the third within the past month in the Washington area)--this time, into a townhouse in Clinton. It's believed that the driver may have fallen asleep while driving--a common, dangerous practice--which may have caused the driver to lose control. Unfortunately, this person seems to have been badly injured, in addition to making the house uninhabitable.

Also unfortunate is that there seemed to be quite a bit of yard in front of the townhouse before it was plowed into, enough that if the driver had been driving the speed limit for a residential area before nodding off (you know, 35 miles per hour or so), the car might have simply rolled a few feet onto the grass, and been well clear of the house when it finally stopped.

I am convinced that speed is a contributing, if not causal, factor in many of these crashes, which seem to be more frequent. (They seem to have been fairly rare before the middle of the 1990s.) Not so much because people occasionally lose control when they drive, but that they seem to hit something, or someone, hard when this happens, which is inevitable at high rates of speed. Just sayin'...


Going Dutch...

Now, you'd think that the Dutch Village Farmers' Market in Upper Marlboro would be an odd place to find culinary bargains, and you'd be right. However, there are deals to be found there, as there are at any other store. (However, the most dangerous bargain was the most heavily promoted--the giveaway of two free glazed donuts with any purchase from the bakery!)

While it's true that there were pricey canned goods, such as specialty jellies and conserves, my attention was captured by healthy cheap eats, as well as cheap sugar traps.

As for the healthy stuff, there was a surprisingly large selection of flours, seeds, etc., in bulk sizes. There were bags of both regular and golden flax seeds for less than $3, a true find, as well as tubs of natural peanut butter for about $2.50. Of course, around the corner from the healthy goodies were all the candies you remember from childhood--pixie sticks, giant swirly lollipops, twizzlers in all flavors (grape, orange), as well as fudge, chocolates, and caramel (some pieces for 35 cents each).

The lines for the various prepared hot foods snaked around inside the building, so I avoided them; the bakery was my real goal in the first place, and it did not disappoint. The prices for the goods was quite reasonable, and would make a good place to pick up rolls for the holidays, or a nice pie or layer cake. The bakery also offers many half-cakes and pies for sale, which is great for small households; apparently, caramel icing is a specialty, as there were many signs proclaiming "caramel frosting" and such on the layer cakes. Yum...

Oh, and the market has good-looking fresh produce as well as meats, so greens were on the menu again (rape greens, a hard-to-find delicacy ever since a local health food store was forced out of business by its landlord).

Had I known that such a commercial item existed at the time, I would have looked for Vrapple, vegan scrapple, when I was there. Oh well...

***

Regarding meat and the environment, Dr. Rajendra Pachauri, an economist who is the chair of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC, which won the Nobel Peace Prize, along with Al Gore), said that people should have at least one meat-free day a week, as one effective, yet relatively easy action (among many) to help curb global warming. (The Observer, via The Guardian.) Unlike Al Gore, however, Dr. Pachauri is a vegetarian, so he at least practices what he promotes.

Pachauri's views are confirmed by a study put out by the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization in late 2007, Livestock's Long Shadow, a 407-page report detailing the stresses that commercial livestock agriculture places on the environment, in terms of methane emissions, etc. (Methane is an even more drastic global warming agent than carbon.)

To quote Dr. Pachauri, "In terms of immediacy of action and the feasibility of bringing about reductions in a short period of time, it clearly is the most attractive possibility. Give up meat for one day [a week] initially, and decrease it from there."

Even the UK's chief scientific advisor for the Department of Environment Food and Rural Affairs, Professor Robert Watson, said that his government could do more to help educate the public about the benefits of eating less meat, in that "Eating less meat would help, there's no question about that, but there are other things."

Food for thought.

Make It Stop!

I'm as keen as the next person to have intelligence and sanity restored to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue next January, so I look forward to Barack Obama taking the oath of office of President. (It would be doubly great if John Edwards also was to be sworn in as VP.)

However, our money-driven campaign finance "system" has one immediate effect--nudging me ever more closely to not watching television, so as to get away from the omnipresent political commercials, which pop up multiple times during every commercial break!

Can you say, campaign finance reform with teeth?

Bang, Bang?

On one hand, it's gratifying that some gun shops near DC (as there are none in the city proper, nor has there been for decades) are finally verifying whether potential handgun customers are from the District, at least until the DC City Council passes legislation specifying the conditions under DC residents can lawfully own the weapons.

However, why the heightened sense of responsiblity now? The DC handgun ban was in effect for thirty years, as everyone is well aware. Why didn't suburban gunshop owners feel a civic duty to verify customers' residence while the ban was effect, before it was struck down by the Supreme Court? This conscience-come-lately stance is hypocritical, at the very least, if not downright disgusting.

* * *

It's hard to figure out which is more worrisome--the manner in which the DC handgun ban was overturned (the fact that it was DC's law which made it to the Supreme Court suggests that DC is being made an experiment, yet again), or the reasoning underlying much of the public support for overturning the ban. The fact that some of the many groups which filed amici briefs in the case (District of Columbia v. Heller) believe that a person holding a handgun would be able dial 911 with the opposite hand, means that like much of the general public, ostensibly educated people place too much faith in the ability of handguns alone for self defense.

While it is true that under the right circumstances, you can defend yourself adequately with a handgun, there are too many caveats with gun possession to make it a first line of self defense.

For instance, late last year, a gun store in the region was robbed. Sadly and shockingly, such a situation is not that unusual, as many of the guns used in crimes are stolen; however, before that robbery, I was previously unaware that many guns are stolen from gun stores as well as from homes. Such a state of affairs would seem to suggest that if you sense a need to acquire a gun to protect yourself at home, you should take other measures first, such as having an alarm system installed, and using that alarm system; unfortunately, only half of homeowners having such systems actually turn them on, negating the purpose! Of course, other preventive security measures should be used as well, with any thought of acquiring a handgun as a last resort.

In the words of Ice-T's song, the best lethal weapon is your mind.

Get the Lead Out...

If you need another reason to convince you to slow down while driving, how about so that you don't end up driving into someone's house?

A man's car hit a house at the corner of Wheeler and Alabama Ave., SE, finally perching in the living room, after also hitting a pedestrian. The driver had to be cut out of his vehicle, the pedestrian also was rushed to the hospital, and one of the home's resident's was trapped in the living room by the errant auto for a while.

Just how fast must you be driving to go airborne and land in someone's home? You can bet the driver was zipping along faster than the typical 30 mile per hour speed limit for urban residential areas! In recent years, with increasingly depressing regularity, there seems to be a spate of drivers slamming into buildings, residential and commercial, at least once a month somewhere in the US. I wouldn't doubt that distracted drivers play a large part in this dubious uptick of a trend, but excessive speed would be the main culprit. After all, if you're driving the speed limit, it's hard for your vehicle to go much past the curb, much less fly like the General Lee of the Dukes of Hazzard. Just saying...

* * *

Back to the Future?

According to WUSA9, Virginia Senator John Warner (Republican) has recently written to the Department of Energy (DOE) to ask the Bush administration to support possible congressional efforts to re-establish a national speed limit of 55 miles per hour.

Warner noted that the potential petroleum savings would be greater now than back in 1974, when a national speed limit was first enacted (and remained in effect until 1995).

Sadly but unsurprisingly, a DOE spokeswoman repeated the administration's position that Congress should expand domestic oil production.

W--the American Nero.

Green Your Ride...

If you must drive in these gas-conscious times, please drive at or below the speed limit --it's one thing you can do--today--to easily and significantly reduce the amount of gas you consume. Driving the speed limit also makes it easier to do one of the other things that save mucho gas while driving, as it's easier to avoid jackrabbit starts and just-in-time braking if you're already driving at a reasonable speed.

* * *

In the meantime, let's hope that Metro gets the sorely needed increased funding for maintenance and better communications, sooner rather than later, as our public transportation options are needed now more than ever. Perhaps the phrase "dedicated funding source" should become a new Metro mantra. (One small victory--Metro has ditched its boneheaded plan of converting the seating on the trains to bench style! Woo hoo!)

Also on the local public transport front, Metro has recently rolled out the senior SmarTrip card (a bright yellow, as opposed to the blue SmarTrip cards), an easier way for seniors to get their discount when riding the bus, rail, or both. All SmarTrip passengers can add value to the card at any Metrorail station or on any Metrobus; however, the latter option, loading value to your card as you board the bus, seems challenging if there are other passengers behind you, also trying to board.

In one respect, Metro is getting savvier. For the first time, I heard a Metro radio spot last month highlighting the benefits of using a prepaid card like SmarTrip for commuting. What a way to go!

Pamper Yourself for Earth Day...

It's easy to live an environmentally friendly lifestyle without a great cash outlay, and be good to yourself at the same time!


Looking good

Zuzu Luxe Cosmetics (found online and at Pangea in Rockville) and Ecco Bella (online and at Whole Foods Markets) make high-quality cosmetics which are equivalent in cost to what you'll find at the grocery store or drugstore, as makeup isn't exactly cheap anymore. The lipstick from both brands glide smoothly and have a wide range of colors for all complexions.


Smelling good

You can smell good and save serious cash by switching the type of fragrance you purchase, from a commercial brand to a fragrance oil. Aromas set in oil last longer than those set in alcohol, as the commercial ones are, so a little goes a long way. The Attar Bazaar line of fragrance oils, available online and at Whole Foods, comes in tiny vials at $8 apiece, but then you only need a drop at a time. You can even try them at the store to see which one(s) you like before you buy. What a deal!


Feeling good

If you enjoy scented container candles, particularly the environmentally responsible soy or beeswax container candles, you can be both frugal and pamper yourself. When the wick is almost burned down to the metal wickholder, where you can almost see it through the wax, light the wick, blow it out, then quickly fish out the wickholder before the wax turns cold; soywax tends to be warm, but not burning hot, so this is OK. [Unfortunately, I'm not sure how to re-use the wickholder.] Put the wax in another container, like your mother did back in the day when she saved bacon grease. Use this wax on your hands for a personal, paraffin-free hand treatment! Of course, other parts of your body would appreciate this spa treatment, particularly when the weather turns cold, as candlewax softens the skin like nobody's business yet is not greasy like baby oil. You can do this with many candle brands, such as Method (whose grapefruit pear scent is now, unfortunately, only available online), not just particular brands touted as being massage oil candles.

This is Earth Day done right: kicking back, sitting pretty, and saving bucks!

Here he comes...

Pope Benedict XVI, that is. While it's not the Pope's intention to tie up traffic on the streets and byways in and around Washington this week, it's a natural consequence of his visit. (His arrival inadvertently proves the usefulness of getting around town on Metro.)

Although G.W. Bush claims that he greeted Pope Benedict at Andrews as a sign of "respect" for the pontiff, it's interesting how W has ignored both the current pope's views on the Iraq war, as well as those of Benedict's predecessor, John Paul II. What would constitute disrespect on W's part, if this is how he treats people he claims to respect?

* * *

Just in time for Earth Day comes word that the Vatican is making efforts to become greener, by such measures as installing 1,000 solar panels in the Paul VI Audience Hall (Vatican City's main auditorium), and providing prayer books made with recycled paper at a youth festival. I hope such efforts mean that Catholics can breathe easier, in that the Vatican is taking seriously the major issues of the day, the environment as well as the child sex abuse scandals that have rocked the Catholic church in the past few years. One can only hope...

Five Years of Foolishness

What a tragic anniversary--that today marks five years of war-for-nothing. Sure, today's protests in downtown DC opposing our involvement in Iraq will get slightly more than the usual scant coverage on the evening news, but after that, what?

A recent article in The Nation, "The Iraq War is Killing Our Economy," (via Alternet) describes the sickening siphoning of money down this war drain, which makes me wonder whether the cynical intent of the our involvement there is to shrink the non-military sector of the government to a size where it can be drowned in a bathtub, to paraphrase conservative ultra-strategist Grover Norquist.

Unfortunately, inducing anorexia in the federal government is having the side effect of putting the rest of the economy out of kilter, because the relationship between government and the private sector, which conservatives are loathe to admit, has been a symbiotic one in the years following World War II, as have all Western nations since that time, as Richard Nixon aptly (but reluctantly) remarked, "We are all Keynesians now." Conservatives have been trying to sidestep that truth ever since, to the detriment of American society, and subsequently, the economy.

* * *

A recent local example of conservative meddling, in unfortunate opposition to the public good, concerns the stalling of the extension of Metro to Dulles, in the Washington Post article, "Letting the Market Drive Transportation," (via truthout.org). Today's protests, and the traffic conundrums they create, perfectly demonstrate, if inadvertently, the great need for increased infrastructure investment in public transport. The article details the lengths to which upper level political bureaucrats, motivated by a desire to increasingly privatize the transportation sytem as a way to decrease congestion, rather than upgrading public transportation.

* * *

Where could the frenzy of privatization lead us? How far can a nation fall when services that used to be considered a public trust become privatized? One unfortunate answer comes from Patrick Elie, in an interview with a Canadian journalist in Haiti Analysis, describing the extreme extent of privatization in that country, of formerly public resources being turned to private hands. Suffice it to say that Haiti's situation is so dire that dirt cakes are actually on the menu for many people in that nation.

The Great Debate

Resolved:

The new movie starring and directed by Denzel Washington, The Great Debaters, is a stirring, heartfelt depiction of the struggles of the esteemed poet Melvin Tolson and his students (the ones at his college's debate team) at Wiley College during the mid-1930s. In lesser hands, this fictionalized account of the trials of the teacher and his charges could have been boring, but the fine performances of veterans like Washington and (Forest) Whitaker are as affecting as the stellar turns by the younger actors Denzel Whitaker (no relation to either Mr. Washington or the other Mr. Whitaker), Jurnee Smollett (best known for her work in Eve's Bayou), and Nate Parker.

Three of the younger actors were at a (packed!) screening of the film at the historic Lincoln Theatre in Washington, DC this past Sunday, answering questions from the audience after the screening. Applause broke out several times during the movie, as well as after (most often after one of Ms. Smollett's scenes). The youngest actor, Denzel Whitaker, portrayed a young James Farmer, Jr., a few years before he founded the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), and the other debaters portrayed were composites of other people. While there were a few liberties taken to make it based on a true story, and the mention of the anachronistic Willie Lynch (hoax) could have been left out, it was otherwise a fine rendering of conditions during the Great Depression, and how it afflicted the nation, especially black Americans.

Although the screening was free, I intend to pay to see it a second time! The Great Debaters opens on Christmas day.

* * *
Although I was intrigued by Denzel Washington's performance as Harlem drug kingpin Frank Lucas in American Gangster, I prefer his performance in The Great Debaters; however, I would not be surprised to see him nominated for either movie.

Washington's Local Flavor...

Not only are we Washingtonians fortunate to have excellent restaurants and farmer's markets, but other excellent local food purveyors and providers, a fact which can save your bacon this holiday season, when you can't, or don't have the energy, to prepare food.

Henry's Sweet Potato Pie (from Henry's Soul Cafe in Oxon Hill) is a fantastic, homemade tasting dessert. (Persnickety alert: Like my mother's sweet potato pie, Henry's is properly flavored, with nutmeg, not overpowered with cinnamon as most other pies are. The same is true of the heavenly nutmeg-scented peach cobbler from Gist Family Caterers in Washington, another local soul food provider.)

The gluttony regarding Henry's pies followed another glutton extravaganza, a (free!) year-end tasting at Biagio Chocolate on 18th Street. Sweet! Attending such an event (which was primarily attended by the fit and trim, who were served by the even more fit and trim) was possibly an example of a flash mob in action, as there were only a handful of folk in the choco-boutique before 6:30 pm, and near pandemonium only ten minutes later. The occasion? The introduction of new flavors from local chocolate-maker extraordinaire, Christopher's Confections. While the vanilla rum was fine, the margarita packed a wallop, and the peanut butter caramel was delightful, the almond chocolates were swoon-worthy--possibly the best chocolate I've ever had. (Next to Christopher's own citrus caramel chocolates, of course.) Unfortunately, I haven't yet had the pleasure of tasting food from the catering company, Basikneads, whose commercial kitchen Christopher uses to create his chocolate masterpieces, so I must attempt to rectify that situation!

Even mom-and-pop businesses like Scrumptious Entrees Catering and Cakes help in the important work of making life sweeter, especially with the party favor cakes made by Maria Smith, which resemble large petit fours (if such a thing could exist). Not only are they moist, but the fresh citrus used in the fondant pops out at you, giving a refreshing tang to the treats.

A relatively new, but already famous, food purveyor that I haven't yet had the pleasure of visiting is Uncle Brutha's Hot Sauce Emporium. Samples of some of his sauces were recently offered at the Whole Foods Market on P Street, and were remarkably thick and rich, as well as providing the necessary heat. The green sauce was almost chunky, and had a wonderfully complex flavor. Can't wait to head to Capitol Hill to try and buy a few of his bottled heat treats!

Sound and fury

Lively. Intelligent. Contentious. From all quadrants of the District, as well as Maryland and Virginia, came a professor and scientist, a Sierra Club spokesman, students, workers, activists (this being D.C.), and other commuters to the hearing at Metro headquarters regarding the proposed fare increases, a standing-room only affair last night. Oh, and Metro General Manager John Catoe and D.C. council member Jim Graham attended, with Graham moderating; to their credit, both stayed the entire time, almost three hours.

Considering the number of activists from the ANSWER Coalition who spoke (one of whom, Ms. Mills, patiently held a banner until it was almost time for her to speak), and the heated emotions and differing viewpoints present, the proceedings were surprisingly orderly, with fifty (count 'em) people altogether, including moi, who gave testimony.

And what testimony it was! Included with the complaints regarding fare hikes were shoehorned criticism of the war in Iraq, as well as pointed remarks about the appointed, unelected nature of the board. One interesting fact that was justly thrown back in Metro's face was that Metro riders pay the highest percentage of the system cost for rail relative to passengers in other North American cities, so there should be some consideration of that fact in any fare increase that comes down the pike. Mr. Greenberg of MetroRiders.org gave testimony to the generous indirect subsidy for highway driving as opposed to more meager funding for public transit. A number of speakers spoke to the need for the future, for Metro more aggressively pursuing greater funding from the federal government, as Metro transports many of these employees to work, as well as the need for a dedicated funding source, as Metro is the only major city transportation system lacking one.

Of course, I knew the evening was going to be cooking when, before it even began, one guy from actfortransit.org in Montgomery County, MD was passing out flyers which pointed out that it's unfair to raise Metro rates without increasing the gasoline tax as well.

Whew! I'm just coming up for air now...

Sparks will fly...

After complaints by Metro that the first of its meetings regarding proposed fare increases was sparsely attended (what did it expect when it scheduled one in Reston, a location which barely has Metrobus service?), it has publicized tonight's meeting at Metro headquarters, near the Verizon Center. This one should have reasonable attendance, with the extra publicity boost; I might attend just to see if it's better attended than one I went to earlier this year. (Metro frankly doesn't publicize its hearings far enough in advance, and could use a communications department that knows how to use eye-catching graphics in its posters and other methods of communication.)

The need for rate increases because of rising costs must be balanced with Metro's goal of getting some suburbanites out of their cars; if the price rise is too steep, many current riders may decide to drive into town, which would be a tragedy all around.

Can't Tell Me Nothin'

What a shame about Kanye West's mom's untimely death, all for cosmetic surgery, for someone who didn't appear to need any, as she appeared youthful. (And the weeks in recovery from plastic surgery are the same number of weeks that hitting the weights in the gym might have toned a tummy up instead of getting a tuck.) The irony is that this incident spotlighted a trait which served Donda West well most of her life, her stubbornness (which Kanye obviously inherited), but which turned on her in her insistence on having surgery even after her initial (apparently honest) surgeon balked at performing it at the time. (So, apparently Kanye's not the only one in his family who can't be told nothin.')

Some good may yet come out of this tragedy, if only because it may snap folks into remembering that plastic surgery is actual surgery, with all its attendant risks. Also, it's bizarre that Dr. Jan Adams could have a Beverly Hills practice, and programs on cable, but not be board certified? (Which means that much of his affluent clientele and cheerleaders never bothered to take a close look at his credentials, such as they were, even boosters such as Oprah, who's having a run of problems herself lately.)

* * *

Unfortunately, such focus on the death of a celebrity's mom has eclipsed reflection on the lives of luminaries who have recently deceased, such as the late Congressman Augustus "Gus" Hawkins, one of the founding members of the Congressional Black Caucus and a champion of civil rights, who recently passed away. (He had recently celebrated his 100th birthday.) Oh, the things he must have seen and experienced in this past, free-flying century.

The Green Capital?

Like many other areas, the Washington, DC region is its own set of paradoxes. By some measures, the area is one of the "greenest" in the nation, with the greatest number of Prius owners, etc. (although the high Prius ownership is due, in large part, to the ridiculous [and now former] Virginia law which permitted hybrid vehicles to use the high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes, even when the driver was the sole passenger, which negated the purpose of having HOV lanes)!

Other environmental factors typical in America are true for the D.C. area. Our notorious air quality problems, for instance, partly stem from the fact that, like the rest of the nation, much of our electricity comes from coal. (A peek at the periodic PEPCO statements, which inconspicuously mention the sources of the electricity generated, tells the story.)

The traffic conundrum will take many steps to fix, and attitudes to change. Certainly, Metro's management needs to return to its senses and remember that one of Metro's original goals was to encourage suburbanites to leave their cars behind; thus, its proposed rate increases must not be too drastic, so as not to drive us away.

Another piece of the traffic puzzle, proposed for a different city might help D.C. if proposed and approved. (Dream on!) Bloomberg's suggestion of a congestion tax for Manhattan might work in D.C., if...only because the number of lone drivers coming to D.C. to work from Maryland is staggering. When I used to take the marathon 30-bus route into D.C., countless times I noticed, almost to a car, individual drivers sitting in traffic, which can't be a good thing for air quality. As many of these folk are headed to a relatively small geographical area, and Washington is a city with a huge percentage of suburbanites coming into the city, second only to New York City, our current traffic situation is a tragecomedy. More realistic proposed solutions, such as extending the Maryland Rail Commuter line (MARC) to weekend hours--a long overdue change--might take a decade or more to implement!

Sure, events like the recent Green Festival are fantastic, and a great starting point for getting ideas and encouragement in living a more environmentally friendly fashion (this year's unofficial green festival theme seemed to emphasize local living, with panels on subjects such as funding local businesses, which had Cakelove owner Warren Brown sharing the stage with local lenders, how to install your own green options, etc.), but it's everyday living patterns that will improve the quality of life, and make everyone's space greener.

Solar Sprint (the Solar Decathlon, or Green Festival part deux)

As you might have imagined, there was quite a crowd at the Solar Decathlon, when I meandered to the Sunday session of the event. With all the information, as well as being able to tour the demonstration homes that 20 university teams trucked to Washington was impressive.

However, I only bothered to see the insides of three of the five homes that I was interested in viewing. One of them, built by Team Montreal of the Lawrence Technological University, was closed. Nonetheless, its friendly bilingual guide, Sylvain, tried to explain some of the external features of the home, including the plants growing from the side of the house, which are used to supplement the insulation! (Now, the University of Maryland's home had a similar feature, but had a different use for its plants, which appeared more vigorous.)

Carnegie Mellon's house had a spacious kitchen, which, like many of the others, had a range that used magnetic energy, which is supposedly the most efficient way to cook. (It came from KitchenAid.) It could have been more spacious in feel, had there been more fortuitious decorating choices. The container plants at the backwall help shore up the insulation, as well as collect rainwater (or, at least that's the future intention).

MIT's house had a great design, inside and out. Its panels didn't "look" solar--they look almost like plain shingles. Its living room had a glow wall, composed of layers of superinsulated material, as well as tubes in the front of the house to heat the water. (The tubes themselves were cool to the touch, however.) One feature that had us gawkers intrigued was the grass growing in the containers surrounding the house, which the docent explained was the Ecolawn, which only needs to be watered to establish itself, and then doesn't require any more, nor needs to be mowed, as it only grows to 9" tall, and flops down. The Ecolawn is quite green, with thin strands, which flop over like someone's hair.

Penn State's house, the Morningstar, had an even roomier vibe than MIT's, if that were possible, and is the one with the glass dairy jugs to help control the amount of light that comes into the living area.

By the time I wandered over to the home built by the University of Maryland team, I had a feeling not unlike being at an amusement park, after standing in line after line and you're at the point of dropping...which was unfortunate for me, as I really wanted to see it, along with apparently 200 other people at the time. It looked nice from the outside, and its plant panel is used to help keep down the runoff into the Chesapeake Bay, not insulation.

Oddly, with all the high-, low-, and medium-tech technologies and material, such as the Pennsylvania black slate used on part of Penn State's house, none of the windows of the houses I peeked at seemed to have the simple low-tech feature of screens for the windows. In this context, I think of screens as being environmentally friendly, as they keep me from having to kill critters!

We're Number One!

There are some lists that, well, you don't want to be at the top of. Unfortunately, America is at the top of one such heap, in that Americans own more guns than citizens of any other nation, according to a study by the Small Arms Survey. Woo-hoo! Considering the historically high levels of violence plaguing this country, to which guns contribute more than a bit, I regret not being able to make a rally at a local gun store, just over the line from D.C., a store which is a source of many of the guns used in shootings in Washington. (As handguns are illegal in D.C. itself.) I wonder, do county police stake this store, to see, and stop gun buyers with D.C. license plates that return to D.C.? Greater city-county police cooperation might reduce the amount of crime in this part of the Washington metropolitan area. (Or at least, better police cooperation might have saved me from having to waste time in D.C. traffic court, in which I finally beat a ticket stemming from a license plate stolen from my car, which someone was seen driving in D.C.)


Not a pretty shade of green...

Here we go again--another bagged spinach recall, but this time, the microbial culprit is salmonella, generally associated with subpar chicken. Now, I haven't eaten bagged spinach since the last recall (hate to be so blase!) because, when you think about it, eating a raw food that's been sealed in the condensation-producing environment of the plastic bag is, frankly, an open invitation to the microscopic beasties to party in your intestines.

"America in miniature"

The contrast in incomes in the state of Maryland, whose slogan is "America in miniature," proves the truth of that slogan, as it has now been found the state whose overall income is the highest in the nation, albeit with persistent pockets of poverty. Such income disparity, unfortunately, is just like America--for better and worse.

Things are the same--no magnified, just across the line in Washington, DC, where white Washingtonians earn well over the national average, while the average income of black Washingtonians trails far behind.

Plus ca change...