The Secret - Planet Earth

This was a pleasant surprise in my early morning e-mail.

No Stopping Santa Fe

I thought the rolling California stop was crazy, but this beats them all. Those of you that walk or bike ride through Santa Fe beware of this crossing somewhere on Galisteo.

Multinationals make billions in profit out of growing global food crisis

We have all seen the news lately, somehow connecting the world food shortage crises and the price of oil. But the truth be told that "speculators blamed for driving up the price of basic foods as 100 million face severe hunger" The London Independent reports, that the Multinationals are making billions in profit out of growing global food crisis.

The World Bank says that 100 million more people are facing severe hunger. Yet some of the world's richest food companies are making record profits. Monsanto last month reported that its net income for the three months up to the end of February this year had more than doubled over the same period in 2007, from $543m (£275m) to $1.12bn. Its profits increased from $1.44bn to $2.22bn

. Greed, anger and ignorance, greed is the most difficult to overcome.
Read full story here

A Brave Taos Confrontation

The old story linked here is about a pair of Taos residents. They are Jeff Conant and Donald Rumsfeld. Yes that one. The article is over a year old and was written by Jeff Conant.
I smile at this man's fortitude or as he called it, adrenaline rush. His article was published in "CounterPunch" an online newsletter. "Greeting Rumsfeld in Taos"

My reason's for posting this are twofold. In the early 80's I was visiting a friend's family in Mexico City. The infant of my friend's sister happened to be critically ill and with no resources, the prognosis was devastating. Fortunately I was able to help. Fast-forward 20 years. The young man is now living and working in the US, joins the Army and is horribly wounded by a roadside bomb in Iraq about a month ago. He will never be the same. He is not getting appropriate care. The second reason again in the same family, this time the mental trauma far exceeds the horrible shrapnel wounds and again this man is not receiving the proper mental health care from the Veterans Administration.

As a side note a bravo, goes to the Taos residents for this mock trial in 2006. Rumsfeld Convicted

Yes it is curious why these to stories were never picked up by the national media.
Believe me, my personal compassion for all these men is never ending.

Santa Fe Architecture

The architecture of Santa Fe is probably one of the draws of the tourism industry. I've always enjoyed the variety of home styles throughout the community, but it was never real clear at what style I was looking at.(sorry about the "at") I found a great pdf booklet within the website for the new Oshara Village sustainable community which will be located adjacent to the Santa Fe Community College. With photographic examples this booklet makes it very easy to distinguish Craftsman, Territorial, and Pueblo revival styles.

Spaghetti crop?

I remember seeing this video years ago and never forgot how funny it was. Believe it or not some of my childhood friends believed this British (fake) documentary. Spaghetti farming in Switzerland
This takes a few seconds to upload.

Blip.TV

Have you every logged on to Blip.TV? These are very high quality videos on a variety of topics. Getting to the point, I typed in Santa Fe and found this wonderful 10.5 minute video called New Mexico 2004 from Ed & Sue's XLnt Adventures. Backed by some flute music, perhaps by Carlos Nakai, it was a very pleasant desktop getaway. Would have been nice to hear Ottmar in the background.

Cat owners have a 30% reduction in heart attack risk. Here Kitty, Kitty.

This goes for dogs and probably all meaningful pets.
Whether it's a frisky kitten or a tubby tabby, a cat at home could cut your heart attack risk by almost a third, a new study suggests. I have a cat and a visiting cat who knocks at the back door, I'm not kidding and if he can't get my attention he goes to the front door and pulls down on the thumb release on the lockset, until I open the door, it's funny but not at midnight.
Read full report at Health Day.

Bento Box diaries, conclusion

This is it. A Bento Box-like place setting neat, simple and one dish. With a ceramic liner that can be warmed or hold very hot food and then dropped into a bamboo box.
The beautiful traditional bento boxes are made of lacquered wood or plastic with plastic liner trays. Well that wouldn't do, I needed a Bento Box that would also serve as a dish for Mexican, Italian, Chinese as well as Japanese cuisine, hot or cold. It had to have at least 3 compartments that could take the heat. I found these at a local cook store chain. So far these have worked out well. They are heavy in weight and awkward to take out & remove from the box but make it easy for portion control. And since 90% of time we eat with our eyes, this makes a beautiful presentation with all cuisines, and especially Japanese.