Earth Day April 22, 2009

Here's a good site on MSN on climate change things happening around the world. the site tracks places like the Great Barrier Reef, Napa Valley Wine growing areas, and other valued natural areas around the world that are being affected by climate change. It is updated periodically also.

PBS Video Site

This is new and a good, courageous business move by the PBS folks.

Fighting the Taliban

Photo by Tyler Hicks, NY Times

Pinned Down, A Sprint to Escape Taliban Zone

The link above is to a recent NY Times article about US forces in Afghanistan and a fight they got into in a small village in ALIABAD. It describes an ambush set up by a local village elder that the Americans had visited with. One US soldier got killed. The article has some good photos taken by Tyler Hicks of the NY Times, who was with the American Platoon for this mission. He is a brave photographer for sure.
And the soldiers are brave as well. Reading the article you can see that it's not a picnic being where they are and doing whatever it is they are trying to do.

Here's a short quote from the article that describes Aliabad:

"Afghanistan is myriad wars within a war, with varying terrain, climates, economies and insurgent groups creating a puzzle of shifting contests for influence. The Korangal Valley is the center of one of the most vicious contests of all.

Relatively few Arabs or foreigners come here, the company’s officers say. But the Korangalis, a hardened and isolated people with their own language, have managed to lock the American Army into a bloody standoff for a small space for more than three years.

The Korangalis have fought, the officers say, in part because they support the Taliban and in part because they are loggers and the Afghan government banned almost all timber cutting, putting local men out of work."

So my questions are: WHAT THE HECK ARE WE DOING OVER THERE? WHY ARE WE IN THIS KIND OF PLACE, SPENDING ALL THE MONEY WE ARE AND LOSING LIVES AND ALL THE REST?????

I respect our military. My dad was an airforce pilot so I grew up with the Vietnam and Korea wars that he participated in. I get a sense of what that's all about. But I never have understood what we are doing in places like Afghanistan, or Iraq. And if someone were to tell me that we're protecting freedom here in the US, I say that's a laugh.

I'm all for defending our own borders and responding to provocation. But I think we have no business trying to be the world's policeman, going to other people's countries and waging war. I don't get that and never will.

There are so many problems and things to work on here at home. Let's use our best and brightest here at home to work on those things and to make ourselves more agreeable to the world at large. I believe that if you treat others with respect you will get respect back... or at least be left alone.

We have MORE than retaliated for the 911 bombings. We lost 3600 approx lives in that and have been responsible for over a million deaths in Iraq alone. When do we call it EVEN? And was Iraq responsible for 911? I don't think anyone can say that anymore.

Elephant in the Room

I have a little political commentary to share this morning. There's been alot of talk about US/Mexico relations recently and lots of talk about the drug war going on in Mexico and US. Both the US and Mexico are saying they realize it's a joint problem (no pun intended) of both countries. So far so good. But then the elephant comes into the room when they start talking about how to deal with this issue. What I've heard so far from Hillary, President Calderon, and Obama is this: more helicopters and military support for mexico; better interdiction efforts against US weapons and cash going into mexico; and cracking down on drug use here in the US. I have heard Hillary and Obama both CLEARLY say that they recognize demand for drugs in the U.S. is a big part of the problem. Then, I've CLEARLY heard them both say that drug use needs to decrease here. They both used their own words for describing this but they both CLEARLY have got decriminalization or legalization OFF THE TABLE. I've not heard even one small mention about that possibility. And I don't get it. The ONE THING that could impact the cartels the most, and that would help us manage this problem the best, would be legalization and/or decriminalization in both countries. I am having a hard time understanding why, at this point in our history, with all the support for legalization, and understanding of the consequences of PROHIBITION, that our leaders cannot even bring up the subject in any fashion.
I say END PROHIBITION NOW!

Earth Day April 22, 2009

Happy earth day week everyone. I'm attaching a nice video courtesy of the Heart Math folks. Boy, I can say for myself that the earth is my friend and I consider myself a friend of the earth. I love the stability, beauty, strength, delicacy, intimacy, and life-giving properties of earth. I would like to suggest that as we breath in to think of receiving from the earth those qualities which we admire, and as we breathe out to think of getting rid of anything we don't need. The earth is great at absorbing what we give it and composting it into new life. Viva la Tierra!

Watch TV online

Well I just watched an episode of the TV show Office on Hulu.com I love that show and I missed last night's episode because I am now playing in a Thursday night Tennis doubles league. Well, I saw the entire episode with only a few short commercials and it ran great on my laptop. So that's a great thing to know, that we can watch our favorite shows and probably find alot of other cool shows to check out (in one's spare time:)

I'm Twittering

I'm now officially Twittering (though not yet through my phone). Click here to see my latest posts. I want to see how this can be used as a business tool. Speaking of that, I have a business venture going called Your Site Build. Check it out sometime and let me know if you or someone you know needs a website. Chow!

Learning Guitar to make new friends

I've been checking out DIGG finally and immediately found this cool video on playing guitar. It's a crackup! Click the link above to see the video or click here:

Creating a World Without Poverty

Muhammad Yunus, author of "creating a world without poverty", winner of the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize.

Muhammad Yunus' unique approach to eradicating poverty is a triumph of practical innovation. Here he demonstrates how Grameen Bank and the Grameen Family of Companies offer viable solutions to age-old challenges. He illumiates next steps for the global microfinance revolution. He envisions a new kind of capitalism.

This is a beautiful video with outstanding insights and compassion and the realization that "social businesses" can still earn a buck.

Appalachian Mountains, Weather, and Music 4-11-09

Hi friends. This post today encompasses my experiences since last Sunday the 5th of April, through last night the 11th. It started with a trip down to Georgia for some hiking on the Appalachian trail.

The Len Foote Hike Inn at Amicalola Falls State Park
Rosemary and I went here last week. 5 mile hike in from the falls and trail head. Stayed 2 nights at the Inn.Dinner and breakfast are served family style. Educational and entertaining programs are conducted in the Sunrise Room after dinner most evenings. Programs consist of everything from worm composting to storytelling. Books and games are also available. The Sunrise Room (as you would expect from the name!) is an excellent place to observe the sunrise in the morning.
http://hike-inn.com/default.asp


Day 2 we awoke to a snowstorm and cold temps. Ate breakfast group style and then met some folks in the sunrise room who were going to Springer Mountain, snow storm or not. Those were our kind of people. We signed on to that trip, as we were going to do that ourselves anyway and off we went.
See my pictures here:


This plaque is embedded in the rock at the Springer Mountain Appalachian Trailhead at Springer mountain. It reads: “A footpath for those who seek fellowship with the Wilderness”

The other plaque is shown below with a map and trail marker.


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Appalachian Trail
Georgia to Maine

1954
Georgia Appalachian Trial Club

The trail, in the Chattahoochee National Forest, flows from Amicalola Falls State Park to Springer Mountain is a microcosm of the natural history of the North Georgia mountains. It follows the high eastern ridge of the Appalachian Mountains. Much of the trail is covered with snow in the winter. Spring melts give way to many of the wildflowers common throughout the mountains including bloodroot, trillium, and azalea. Laurel and rhodedendron "hells" bloom in the early summer and cover much of the clear areas of the trails. Forests are mostly second growth hardwood with hickory, oak and poplar dominating. Read more history here.

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After returning to Nashville on Wednesday, we attended the Bela Fleck show at the Ryman auditorium. He performed with 4 men from Africa (Toumani Diabate, Vusi Mahlesela, D'Gary, and Anania Ngoliga) I can say that this was fantastic. One highlight was a performance of one of the most important musicians in Africa, Toumani Diabate.

Toumani plays the kora, a harp unique to West Africa with 21 strings, which 71 generations of his family have played. This instrument sounds so beautiful. The countries represented were Tanzania, Mali, Uganda and The Gambia. Heads up you Tucson fans. This show (or a version of it) will be at the Rialto theatre June 17th and then they'll be heading up to Telluride on the 19th!!!!! for the Telluride Music Festival.

Thursday afternoon I went into the dentist to get a cracked molar worked on. I got a crown and wasn't that fun? Good to get it over with is all I can say. I go back in 2 weeks for the permanent crown and a "deep cleaning". Doesn't that sound fun also? As you can see I'm not much into going to the dentist. The dentist I'm seeing now is Edwina at Aqua Dental. She was nice to me and did a good job for me. It was expensive though as dental work always is. Even with Dental discount coverage it still costs alot!!!! I don't think there is such a thing as good dental insurance. It never covers very much. A special thanks also to Rose for accompanying me to the dentist and waiting for me. It helped my attitude knowing she was in the waiting room while I got worked on. Thanks Rose!!
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Friday afternoon was all about weather. A woman and her baby died in a nearby Tornado. Got big thunderstorms and then the Tornado Sirens went off. There's one just down the street from where we live in Brentwood. And they are all over Tennessee as far as I know. So we turned on the TV to the local weather, where they have great technology now to see what's happening and where. They pointed out the "hooks" and the "swirling winds" which represent possible Tornadoes. We got "tornado warnings" which means at least one actual tornado has been spotted in our area. So we went into the basement (Rosemary's office is our official shelter because it doesn't have any windows, it's downstairs and so that's where we go). There's a tv down there too so we watch the weather, listen to the sirens and ride out the storm. Well, the tornadoes that day were east of us and one did bad damage and caused 2 deaths in Murfreesboro. Click here to read the story published in the Tennessean about it. And here are more pictures from the Tennessean. Tornadoes are something I never had to worry about living in Arizona and around the western US. They are pretty wild and unpredictable and scary, and deadly.
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On a lighter note.........
Friday evening Rose and I went out to hear some great music.

We went out for music last night. First we went to 3^rd and Lindsley for a Cello performance by Matt Haimovitz an Israeli-born cellist now based in the United States and Canada. He is known not only for his outstanding technical and musical skill, but also for his highly unusual concert career and repertoire choices. He mainly plays a cello made by Matteo Gofriller in 1710. It was outstanding. He played all kinds of different stuff that I can’t even describe. I can only say it sounded really neat and looked pretty complex. I know he played some Bach stuff. The night before this show he performed at Elgar’s Cello Concerto with the Louisville Orchestra. He says his current small-venue tour is a reconciliation of his two home countries (US and Canada), in celebration of recent U.S. electoral results. His program for what he calls his “listening-room” concerts features contemporary American composers Elliott Carter, John Corigliano and Christopher Rouse alongside Canadians such as Anna Sokolovic and Serge Provost. This is a man of many talents. Read more about him here:

http://www.thelongplayers.com/ Saw this Rolling Stones imitation show last night at Mercy Lounge featuring the 1978 Some Girls Album done in it’s entirety. Rocking great show. Lots of older folks like us at the show.

Check out this bio on Bill Lloyd, one of the main guys from The Long Players: http://www.thelongplayers.com/blog/billlloyd.html This guy has quite a musical history. Last night’s show featured many local Nashville performers each doing a different Mick Jagger, lead singer performance. John Cowan (original member of New Grass Revival) played bass for a while. Then he swapped out with the bass player for Cheap Trick. Ho Hum. Another night of music in the Music City!!!

Other shows we didn’t see last night include: Ten out of Ten, featuring Katie Herzig, Butterfly Boucher and Matthew Perryman Jones. They have signed on as part of a new music website called Brite Revolution. A subscription gives users exclusive access to stuff that isn’t available already everywhere else on the internet. Check out the website here: http://www.briterevolution.com/

There was also a Bob Dylan vs Tom Petty Tribute at a local hole in the wall called The Basement.

Anyways, that gives you a very small sample of some of the typical, any night of the week music around here in Nashville.

Well, that's "a week in the life of Curtis and Rosemary". It's been my pleasure to share this brief snippet in time to my friends and family!

Adios for now!
Curtis

Conspiracy of the Rich

This is an eBook by Robert T. Kiyosaki, author of the best-selling financial book ever (Rich man, Poor Man). Now he's writing this book on the New Rules of Money and he's doing it online and soliciting our help. Check it out as it gets written here:

Savage Gulf State Natural Area of Tennessee (video)

Cumberland is a hikers paradise with a selection of trails to suit almost any interest and physical capability. South Cumberland has spectacular bluff overviews in Savage Gulf, Collins Gulf, at Foster Falls, on the Fiery Gizzard Trail, at Greeter Falls and on the Buggytop Trail to Carter Cave. http://www.friendsofscsra.org/hiking.htm#top And check out these photos of the area!

Percy Warner Park Nashville photos

Here's a link to my photos from a recent hike to Percy Warner park. It's between Nashville and Brentwood (my home) and is a beautiful area for hiking, biking and horseback riding. Rose and I hike the Mossy Ridge trail regularly and it's a 4.4 mile loop trip. Can't beat it for close access to home. The golf course I play is in the area also and there's a great little drive from there into Nashville that goes through some neat older areas of sw Nashville.