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SHORT RIBS AND RANDOM THOUGHTS Aug 27 2018

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FAREWELL, JOHN McCAIN-  I never voted for him and I’m sure his politics weren’t consistent with mine,  but in this age of sleaze and compromise, I can’t help but respect his character.  Some folks are dissing him.  I doubt they are worth 1/100 of him.

THERE’S ALWAYS A LOCAL ANGLE-  I just got off the phone from trying to reach my brother,  who lives in Jacksonville.  I believe he’s in DC at the moment, which is a better place to be. I’ve been to the Landing a time or two but there wasn’t much to attract me.  My stepmother, when she was in her ‘eighties, asked  us several times  to go to the Hooters there.  I asked her why and she said she wanted to see the owls!  Prayers for those affected.

MORE LOCAL ANGLE-  The new hit movie Crazy Rich Asians,  was directed by a young fellow,  Jon Chu,  who was in my cousin’s kid’s scout troop in Palo Alto. His father,   Chef  Chu,  has had one of the most renowned Chinese restaurants, and my family’s favorite,  in Silicon Valley,  at the  corner of El Camino and San Antonio.  One of Chef Chu’s cooks,  a Mr Liu, emigrated north to Eureka and started  the well-beloved Liu’s Restaurant which only closed recently when he retired. So now you know.

THAT NEW BISTRO – an out-of -towner opined  recently on Yelp that Eurekans must be happy to have a bistro at last.  Actually we’e had several including Brick and Fire and the Humboldt Bay Bistro. I’m always suspicious of places that give themselves grandiose names.  Throw a little wine at a coffee shop and it’s a bistro. Anyway,  the DULCE bistro,   in the old HCAR building at 7th and E in Eureka is the real deal.  They don’t have a huge lunch menu but what they had was pleasing.  I had their vegetable galette which was tasty with a light and flaky crust.  I ordered their carrot soup on a hunch ( I normally won’t eat cooked carrots) and it was very, very good. My friend had a burger and a salad.  We were both impressed and ready to return.

Amazon AND Google AND Facebook- Do you get the idea that giant corporations are taking over your life?  You’re right.  I’ve mostly disconnected from Facebook except for I Remember In Eureka When and Sara Senger’s posts which always seem to pop up  ( I think she’s great.)  But anyone can minimize their time on Facebook, which I recommend. How do you get out from under Google? Each time something on the net “recommends” some purchase I know it’s the algorithms tracking what I bought recently or THOUGHT about buying;  that’s how creepy it’s getting. To make it worse,  I recently had a stellar experience with Amazon Prime and I am now a convert.  There’s nothing like a few months of hobbling around with a cane to show you the advantages of mail-order.  I’ve always bought local but these are desperate times.  If my life has to be run by a giant corporation,   I’ll line up behind Jeff Bezos.

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SHORT RIBS AND RANDOM THOUGHTS, August 6, 2018

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BIEN PADRE-  I am endlessly sad about the demise of Bien Padre, the very model of a well-run, well-beloved local business. I met the owner, Benito Lim, many years ago.  I was probably still working at Redwoods United,  trying to find a job for one of our clients. I recall asking him about vacancies and he told me that no one quit once they were hired.  Everyone I talked to there seemed  to be happy, in contrast to most jobsites, where people would love to complain to a sympathetic listener. Sad!

QUITTING  MAGS- Have you ever noticed how easy it is to subscribe to something and  yet you never seem to get OFF it?  I subscribed to Newsweek for thirty years and stayed with it long after Tina What’s- her name turned it into a chaotic mess.  Now, I’m so glad to be getting TIME instead. The next candidate for the chopping block is Condé Nast Traveler  from which I planned my longish trip to Europe in 1994.  Their photography convinced  me to visit Brittany, for which I will ever be grateful,  but their latest issue, like most of the recent ones, is useless unless you like spending $500 a night  to stay someplace. And their fashion spreads are ridiculous.  If I ever take another travel mag, it would be something like the old Frommer’s which was bought out by Lonely Planet several years ago. I guess everyone’s going online for their travel  info, though.  Not to worry, I’m still subscribing to The Times-Standard, the Mad River Union, the New Yorker, Time, Rolling Stone, Allure, Better Homes, Sunset, the Washington Post (digital  only) , Coastal Living (good for recipes) and a number of train mags and political newsletters. a I will always prefer a paper mag to online because I like slouching in my recliner and I don’t like tablets or anything with a small screen. I wonder what is going to happen with Rolling Stone.  The latest issue weighs a TON,  and although the articles look good, it’s really not user-friendly.  BTW,  Time’s current issue, about the South,  is a must-read.

GOOD EXPERIENCES- lunch with a friend at Gallagher’s,  which I tend to forget about.  Their halibut and chips just can’t be beat.  Also my first acquaintance  with Conti’s service station on Harris, whose staff is friendly and efficient s and couldn’t have been more helpful replacing my battery.  That is one busy station!!  Finally, when my battery died in Murphy’s parking lot,  one of their staff gave me her cell to call AAA with.  Of course I didn’t bring MY phone!  What can happen only three blocks from home?   Plenty, of course.  Thanks to everyone.

WHY IS ANYONE STILL ON FACEBOOK?  Because they WANT their data to be misused? Because they can’t figure out how to share their cat videos on email?  Someone please explain it to me.  I confess I still have an account but I only use it to check “I Remember In Eureka When”.  Within three or four years, mark my words,  FB will be going out of business and there will be a new platform too which you can migrate your cat videos.

Someone said recently that the President Trump MOST resembles is Nixon and the President he LEAST resembles is Eisenhower. Discuss among yourselves.

I am sneezing from the smoke and my cousin’s cousin lost his home in Redding.  God bless the firefighters!

 

 

Short Ribs and Random Thoughts- May 11 2017

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Thanks for your patience.  I’m not quite well but starting to get there. And SHORT RIBS are on sale at Safeway, $4.99!!!   Had ’em last night. They were great!

OUR FAKE PRESIDENT-  has continued his descent into infamy.  His vile personality, his ignorance, his narcissism-what is there to say? Add his corruption and his utter disregard for the people he was elected to represent and you can understand why my house is a lot quieter  than it used to be since I turn down the sound whenever I see his face.  I can hardly wait till he resigns.

THE ELECTIONS-  I have not been in touch with any of the candidates but I think it’s a darn shame than Mary Ann Lyons’s bid for 4th District  Supervisor is apparently in disarray since she didn’t make the Time-Standard’s deadline for inclusion in their article.  I remember  her from the ’08  election and she was a crackerjack.  Money will apparently talk in this race  and Virginia will apparently get another term.  Does she deserve it?? I’ve been preaching for months that NO ONE should  get more than two terms at ANYTHING.  If you can’t make an impact in eight years, GET OUT!!   This also applies, of course, to the 5th District where Ryan Sundberg, a very nice guy,  is about to be turned out by Steve Madrone.  Re: the 4th, Dani Burkhart, who took on the thankless job of treasurer for the HCCDC, is also a good candidate.  Too bad she and Lyons couldn’t have worked something out. Re:  Jared Huffman’s bizarre endorsement of Ryan,  I don’t know what to say.  When Mike McGuire made that embarrassing endorsement of Rex Bohn  we all put it down to poor staff work. Who do we blame this time?

MICHAEL AVENATTI-  is a media star and good for him. He”s cute as a bug and sharp as a tack and gives me a reason to turn the sound back up.

FACEBOOK_   Are any of you still on Facebook??? For God’s sake, WHY??? Send your kitten photos by email and make your own “friends” list.  Don’t give Shmuckerburg one more cent of your  money!! And I’d hate to think any of you are depending on FB  for your NEWS.  Don’t do it!!!

EATING OUT  is something I haven’t been doing lately but I wanted to say a respectful good–bye to Liu’s.  When I worked at 3rd and D I ate lunch there once a week, always the broccoli beef  They were a solid restaurant, and will be missed. I only ate at the Black Lightning once (hate motorcycles- only tried it because I love the Richard Thompson song ( ..and he gave her his Vincent to ride…” ) but their menu was all paninis- hard to srcew up-  and they were out of their bean soup so I never got to try it. Curious to see what will go into that corner.

THE OKIE-  Of all the horrible cabinet nominations made by Our Fake President the worst may be Scott Pruitt who is dismantling the EPA as fast as he can.  No less than TEN investigations have begun into his crazy spending  of YOUR MONEY.  And Trump stands by and does nothing  while cutting children’s heath insurance. The THEFTS continue.  They are all acting like Okies set loose in a treasure hunt. What a spectacle!!

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SHORT RIBS AND RANDOM THOUGHTS Feb 10 2017- Our Fake President Wants Tanks On The Streets

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WE WERE OFFLINE for a couple of days.  Google told me to change my password and everything stopped working. Thanks to wonderful Cory from Cornerstone Computers, we’re back in business. 

SPACEX- What a pleasure to have some good news! That was really fun!! I take back everything  I said about  Elon  being a  goofball.  Still not too sold on those flamethrowers, though.

TRUMP WANTS A PARADE to honor him and his glory.  He’s looking more like Mussolini every day. And the cretins in the White House who enable him should burn in the deepest circle of Hell..  I didn’t used to believe in Hell, but a year of Trump is changing my mind.

NEW AT COSTCO- a wonderful snack food from British Columbia called InnoFood Coconut Clusters.  They’re NOT overwhelmingly sweet or cocoanut flavored and  ARE organic, gluten-free wheat-free etc.  You can’ t stop eating them. In the freezer, they are now selling BB GO dumplings that you microwave in a plastic tray.  Darn good.

CURMUDGEON CORNER-  When did “drop the mike” become a thing? I was a Broadcasting student at San Francisco State and have a whole 2 units of Audio Studies under my belt and I can tell you, any of us who had dropped a mike would have been escorted out of class.  We got to work with the old classic broadcast mikes, the ribbon mikes on a stand. They would have killed us. Mikes must be cheaper nowadays.  But they’re not any better.

AND ANOTHER THING-  While we’re talking about annoying commercials, what about those Farmers ads–“WE ARE FARMERS! DUM DE DUM DE DUM DUM DUM”  that sound like they’re sung by the Russian Army Chorus.  Then they show Asian people following JK Simmons around an insurance museum. What a horrible idea!  Someone should set them free.  Does anyone actually buy insurance because of these ads?  Do women,  who control most families’ pursestrings?  I doubt it.

CARTER PAGES’ HAT-  Carter Page,  the goofball who loves being in front of the the  camera and may be looking at jail time for his excessive friendliness with the Rooskies,  has one thing going for him: THAT HAT.  It’s like someone took a deerstalker hat and cut some of it off. Remember the old vaudeville song,  “Where did you get that hat boy? Where did you get that hat?  I must have one like that!”  I want one. I don’t want to WEAR it, I just want one.   BTW. I goggled “Carter Page’s  Hat” and got a site showing him wearing a RED hat, not what I would want at all.

ARE YOU STILL ON FACEBOOK? WHY????  You like having your every keystroke sold to merchandisers?  Too lazy to make/keep REAL friends so you settle for the FB version? Too lazy to keep up with the news so you settle for someone  else’s news feed?  Make your own news feed! Are you aware that FB sold ads to the Russians during the 2016 campaign? I have a FB account which I use when I have NO other way of reaching people but I’m limiting myself to five minutes a day, most of which goes to “I Remember In Eureka When…”

According to POLITICO,  Tony V is now within 2 points of Gavin Loathesome in the gubernatorial polls.  And Tom Steyer is hiring 50- that’s FIFTY- campaign workers.

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Why I Stay Off Facebook

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Are you still on Facebook?  Why?  Does it make you feel warm and fuzzy that everything you purchase or clock on  becomes fodder for the marketing  machine?  I still have an account but I only spend about five minutes a month on FB. Too annoying, too  much garbage about things I don’t care about about.   Why am I getting messages from Mike Pence????  I didn’t sign up for that!

The Silicon Valley Business Journal recently wrote about the data brokers that Facebook works with.  

Read about it HERE.

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Which Five Companies Earned 70% of Internet Sales?

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That uncanny feeling of deja vu  is understandable. You really DO see the same names over and over. THIS LINK explains it.  Amazon, Alphabet/Google. Facebook and eBay are all familiar names,   Liberty Interactive is the John C Malone–owned  firm that owns QVC and Zulilly. This is really depressing if you think about it a lot.

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Standing Up While You Work Is Good, Facebook Is Depressing, Jerry Brown and Bill Clinton Thrive

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In the first few hours of our Federal government shutdown, it would be nice if I could come up with some POSITIVE things to say about Our Current Situation but I really can’t think of any. The impact on Humboldt County, with our huge Federal holdings such as Six Rivers National Forest and Redwood National Park, plus all that BLM land, will be huge. Anything that hurts tourism hurts us all.  Let’s hope for a quick resolution. Elsewhere in the news…

STAND AND DELIVER: Have you been getting a lot of online ads for treadmill desks? The ads I get are for models starting at about $1200 and I see one in my future. I had a couple of colleagues when I worked for the State who used standup desks because they had back problems but I’ve seen about five articles lately indicating that working on your feet is a healthy choice for everyone. Churchill, Hemingway and Leonardo da Vinci did it.  The evidence is mounting that, as the Economist puts it, “Prolonged periods of inactivity are bad regardless of how much time you also spend on officially approved high-impact stuff like jogging or pounding treadmills in the gym.”  Even just standing up instead of sitting is a low-level activity that uses a different set of muscles than does sitting.

The evidence is scary. A study from England found that the individuals who are least active at work or otherwise are twice as likely to develop diabetes as the most active, are twice as likely to die of a heart attack and are 250% more likely to develop cardiovascular disease. These results seem to be independent of the amount of hardcore gym exercise that the study subjects did. A different study, on rats, indicated that immobilizing them led to a dramatic drop in their HDL levels, which is undesirable as low levels of HDL promote heart disease. The good news for humans is that breaking up long periods of sitting with two minutes of walking every 20 minutes can lower your blood glucose level by 30%.

So what does this mean to an employer?  You might want to speak to your workers’ comp carrier about a break in your rates if you install standup desks and walking paths. Anything you can do to encourage your employees’ low-level activity, like walking, may turn out to be a lifesaver.  Now I’m going to get up and walk around.

FACEBOOK IS DEPRESSING:  I never miss a chance to bash Facebook, so here’s this week’s news. Two recent studies studied Facebook users. The first was a joint venture by the University of Michigan and Leuven University in Belgium, which studied 82 teens and young adults over a two-week period by means of questionnaires.  They found that the more an individual used Facebook during the study period, the worse they reported feeling.  On the other hand, the more real-world interaction they had, the more positive they reported feeling. The  other study, by social scientists at Humboldt University (NOT Humboldt State) and Darmstadt Technical University, both in Germany, surveyed 584 Facebook users in their twenties and found that the most common emotion associated with Facebook use was: ENVY. I don’t doubt it, since looking at all those doctored photos and “status updates”  which consist mainly of bragging could well affect a person. So, employers, Facebook is not only stealing your employees’ time, it’s making  them feel inferior. Try to encourage something more positive. Like Angry Birds. 

JERRY BROWN: A new biography  by Chuck McFadden, Trailblazer, reminds us that when he was elected Governor he was the youngest Governor in the nation. Now he’s the oldest, at 75, and is apparently planning to run for another term. He’s still jogging three miles several times a week and his Prop 30 has apparently calmed the States’ budget crisis. His wife, Anne Gust, former CAO of the GAP, is a strong partner in his administration.  The “crazy” ideas he espoused in his first term that earned him the nickname “Governor Moonbeam” – communications satellites, space exploration, solar energy etc etc- have become mainstream.  The book makes the point that Brown’s three (or four) terms as Governor added to his father’s two terms back in the ‘fifties (he left to become Chief Justice) are a very long run. And he shows no signs of slowing down.

BILL CLINTON: I may have been the last to hear about it, but it has been brought to my attention that Bill Clinton- the Bill Clinton of the fried chicken and pork rinds – THAT Bill Clinton has, for the past three years, been a VEGAN. I’m still trying to process this, but if that’s the reason he looks so good lately, I may become a convert. Cheaper than a standup desk in the short run. Last October, on a road trip, we passed through Little Rock and  I insisted on visiting  his then-favorite lunch spot, Doe’s Eat Place, ( I’m not kidding) .  It was closed but I’m willing to bet they don’t serve vegan. All things change. Both Jerry and Bill are inspirations for those of us who are, shall, we say, getting on in years.  More power to both of them. 

Now if we could just resolve this darn shutdown…