SWCAMBORNE

“We have to eat them to save them.”

Sandy Lerner

Belted Galloway Society

In Maine on our hiking trip we saw some Belted Galloway Cows and were delighted with the way they look. I did some research on them and found the Belted Galloway Society.  In their September newsletter they reported on a blind tasting of beef from heritage cows: “On June 20, 2008, approximately 70 food professionals, chefs, food writers, and food connoisseurs gathered at Ayrshire Farm in Upperville, VA, to participate in a blind-tasting which compared beef from eight rare heritage breeds and two widely available breeds of cattle.”  You can read the results here  (scroll down for the article)

Some of you will be pleased to know that you can join the society and can buy “Oreo Cow” art.  I bought the post cards.

  Learning that there are breeds of cows we never heard of and then that there are societies trying to save them is an example of what I like about traveling.  If you keep your eyes open there are so many amazing things to learn.

This article is long but worth the read:

What Makes People Vote Republican

By Jonathan Haidt

 I received it from Michael Schermer at the Skeptic Society.  It should make for some very good discussions between now and the elections. Here is a quote to whet your appetites: “Most democrats don’t understand that politics is more like a religion than it is like shopping.”

Anne E one of our leaders in Maine had this idea.  Why not make a garbage disposal that traps the food waste so that you could put it on your compost pile.  It would be environmental and trendy and because it was groud it would compost faster.  I told a few people about the idea and got two pieces of feedback that where helpful.

The first improvement idea was that the waste could go directly to the compost area via a pipe so that you don’t need to clean and carry.  The second idea was that you need to have a switch that sends meat waste down the drain.  You do not want dead animal parts on your compost pile.

This is a good idea that was improved by being discussed.  The only person that could make money on it will be a manufacturer of garbage disposals or possibly someone who passionately believes in the idea and has a couple of million dollars to spend on it.

This is the first of a series of posts about the trip that Nurit and I are on in New England.

“All that is gold does not glitter

Not all those who wander are lost

The old that is strong does not wither

Deep roots are not hurt by the frost.”

JRR Tolkein

 We started with a walking tour on the coast of Maine.  I’ll do a travelogue when I have access to the pictures I took.  The poem above was the thought I shared with the group at our celebratory final dinner.  It was a very good group with excellent leaders.  We did come up with some excellent product ideaas that I’ll share over the next few days.

“I’ve come to the conclusion that the two most important things in life are good friends and a good bullpen.”

Bob Lemon

Managed the Yankees to the World Series Championship in 1978

If you listen to the politicians the economy is terrible.  But if you look at the Hammacher Schlemmer catalog you have to believe that there are quite a few people with some extra money to spend on solving some of life’s little problems.  Like cleaning out the rain gutters:

Or important weapons for office warfare:

the Marshmallow blaster and

the desktop USB missile launcher (this may be the WMD that Saddam Hussien had)

But my favorite is the diving mask digital camera combination

It remind me of the car boat combination that someone reinvents every few years.  It always turns out to be a bad car and an even worse boat.

They are not selling these products because the economy is bad for everyone and they are selling a lot of them.  They all exist because there are lots of people with surplus income who want something different.  They are willing to spend their surplus on these at best frivolous products but don’t want to pay any more taxes.  It is the dilemma of the governing class.  Meanwhile buy some of this stuff… it could make you happy for a moment before it breaks.

Last year Lillian bought three large polliwogs from Steve at PTF and put them in the pond.  Over the last year we had heard croaking a few times and there were a few splashes that were bigger than fish would make.  But no frogs had ever been seen. I assumed they had been eaten by the koi like everything else.

Last weekend I was standing about 40 feet from the pond when I saw a 5″ frog jump out of the  pond onto a rock and then before I could get Nurit to witness it or get my camera it had gone off up the stream.

I am living in harmony with nature.

A few years ago Katrina devastated New Orleans.  This year Gustav barely missed New Orleans and just as I’m getting ready to go Maine tropical storm Hanna is bearing down on the East Coast. Weather messes up peoples lives but it also gets a lot of attention.

But while some see problems I see opportunities.  Why doesn’t the government sell naming rights to hurricanes and levees.  We sell naming rights to arena and stadiums, parks and freeways are being considered why not hurricanes.  They would get a ton of press for their sponsors.  Imagine: “Tropical storm Dakine (a sports company) is bearing down on Mobile, Alabama I hope the Bank of America Levees hold.”

Since hurricanes are an international phenomenon perhaps the naming revenue could go to the United Nations.  They could sure use the money.   “Hurricane Bank of Dubai has been upgraded to catagory 4 and is heading toward Haiti.”

“Hating the Yankees is as American as pizza pie, unwed mothers, and cheating on your income tax.”

Mike Royko

“Rome wasn’t built in a day, it WAS built the night before it was due”

Thanks to Wally G. for this bon mot.

Douglas Adams on deadlines