Category: Eric

Taken For A Ride

*white* knuckle bus ride to Logan
A Literal WHITE Knuckle Ride From Portland to Logan Airport Monday En Route To The Tropics

Yes, I *know* that it’s SO annoying to hear that Eric and Alison are traveling to some exotic location to learn about exotic food. Again. That said, most of you have heard that Alison was selected as an artist in the US State Dept. Arts Envoy Program and sent to Doha, Qatar to spend a week teaching painting. THAT will have to be the subject of another possible set of posts by Alison — I’ve seen only the photos she’s been emailing around, and occasional TXTs checking-in. Her trip brought her within an easy flight of India, which triggered my suggestion to finally have a look at The Jewel.

On Thursday Alison will leave Doha on a direct flight to Bengaluru/Bangalore (local/English names which appear here interchangeably (admittedly I’ve stuck to the western friendly areas so far) but I will call it Bangalore from now on) to join me on yet another food adventure. We will spring-board from this new MegaTechCity to the West through Karnataka toward the intersection with Kerala and Tamil Nadu states at the paint drip end of the Indian sub-continent.

I have just arrived after quite an incredible journey (from the perspective of how a modern system of amazing logistics in the era of terrorists targeting travelers operates more or less efficiently) from Boston through London Heathrow’s Terminal 5 Habitrail then on through the night to land in Bangalore where my fun “Welcome To India” story begins…
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Maine Hops by Eric

Eric planted hops at the new house in Maine.
The hops vine climbs up two thin wires as an ornamental screen in front of our windows.
The hops are perennial plants, so they’ll be back with vigor next year.
Here’s what they look like in September.

Go Jump In A Wake

Here’s a regional pastime on the Maine Coast: summer residents — primarily but not exclusively the younger residents — of the outer islands in Casco Bay will often meet the Ferry at the dock in their bathing suit when it arrives for one of its several daily visits. They will patiently wait for the eager visitors unloading, the sad visitors embarking, and for any pallets of cargo to be landed and removed. Then, after the gangplank has been raised, and the ferry captain has nudged the nose of the ferry away from the dock, he will FULL the engines to scoot toward the next stop while a dock load of thrill seekers jumps into the milky turbulence behind the ship. At low tide this can be over a ten foot jump — some increase their decent by climbing on top of one of the piers.

Cliff Island Ferry Jump

Cliff Island Ferry Jump

Cliff Island Ferry Jump

Cliff Island Ferry Jump
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Spring, Maine Style

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POSTSCRIPT: Yesterday the “Nor’Easter Bomb” went off farther out into the ocean that had been initially predicted, so we got ONLY the wind (not the snow) from it: steady 30 mph winds with gusts up to 50 mph…which has “settled down” this morning to 15 to 25 mph winds, while the thermometer read 2 degrees.

The Ice Storm Cometh

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This was all supposed to leave by 9am Sunday…it continues to add ice as of now at 10am Monday, and they say it may not clear out until tonight…or later…

Our power went out yesterday around 3pm but came back on at 7pm…it’s now begun to flicker again, and if it goes out it could stay out for a while given how wide the iced area seems to be. We will have light and heat without grid power but we have stored as much water as possible in buckets and jars…the cows drink about 30 gallons a day…

Day 2
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Genius

I just got an unsolicited robo-call on my landline asking me to sign a phone petition (press 1) because I hate ObamaCare and want to end the death panels and socialized medicine before they can start. This spew of lies and hate *does* mention that “America’s Next Generation” wants to help defeat ObamaCare with me.

Obviously this pisses me off, but there’s really no way to scream at them. Still my head is jangling so I can’t get any work done, and all I can do is follow my sick curiosity by using The Google to find out that the America’s Next Generation SuperPAC was formed after the Citizens United decision by the executives of a telemarketing company in Akron, OH called InfoCision. I bet you won’t guess where 97% of the funds that this SuperPAC raised during the 2012 election went to…InfoCision. What’s worse is that InfoCision was recently sued by 318 employees for failing to pay overtime, minimum wage, and in some cases ANY wage at all.

So not only is a SuperPAC being used as a deadbeat telemarketer’s sales tool to further enrich members of the 1%, but they are spewing extremist lies and hate into the public on a wide-spread level simply as a way to get enough people riled up to send them $25. And it works. And when the few folks who actually Press 1 to “sign” the petition probably the only thing that’s done is their phone numbers are added to a list that is sold to other like-minded telemarketers to insure that these folks continue to be bombarded with lies and hate and asked to “donate.”

And we still wonder how our public discourse has been poisoned?

Don’t Take My Word For It

Here’s an excellent overview of the Uighur situation by the NY Times, which concludes that through its heavy handed repression of the Uighur population in Xinjiang, the Chinese government “could unwittingly radicalize a generation of young people, said Nicholas Bequelin, a researcher for Human Rights Watch who is based in Hong Kong. ‘The entire Uighur ethnicity feels asphyxiated, having become suspect as sympathetic to extremism,’ he said. ‘Xinjiang is trapped in a vicious circle of increased repression that only leads to more violence.'”

I wonder, however, if the Chinese government’s efforts are the opposite of “unwittingly” because as soon as there is a violent incident that is indisputably linked to a Uighur resistance group, the government will then have “license” to wipe out all but a few token Uighur communities, and their assumption of this HUGE region will be complete, claiming outright their only petroleum reserves and an increasingly crucial trade link to the rest of Asia and Europe.