I Claim This Plastic In the Name of Rome....

I don't know about you, but I love my wife for many things. She listens to me, even when my ramblings about life, the universe, and the general inability to do anything about the things that matter most to me. She even does her share towards helping us conserve and save the environment, which is why I'm posting this.



This summer, while waiting in the obstetrician's office, I read an article about the sibling grandkids of Jacques Cousteau, Alexandra and Philippe, Jr. (We'll just call him Jr. for short) They were exploring some of the human impacts of the industrial world on the natural world. Amongst some of the best known impact sites (namely oil spills) they took the reporter of this article to a place known in the North Pacific Gyre to probably the clearest example of defiled water - the Great Pacific Garbage Patch (GPGP).



The GPGP is estimated to be 80% plastic and roughly twice the size of Texas (consider from San Anto, it takes at least four hours to get to the nearest border, skipping Mexico) and about 30 meters deep. Cleanup of this catastrophe would cost in the billions. Not a typo - billions with a B.



So, I claim this plastic in the name of Rome. Future archaeologists will be able to determine this century quite easily, from the layer of plastic.

So, as the world rolls by and I keep riding, this news article caught my eye. Now, a relatively good trader by the name of Cramer said on the National Public Radio a few years ago that the best examply of an economy's health and prosperity is in the cost of gold. Gold as of this blog was $800.00 per ounce. When I graduated college, it was $200.00 per ounce. Quad the price in about a decade. Think about it - Black Friday posted more transactions then last year - that was the big news. The next day, the numbers came out - people bought less per transaction, meaning that the net spending was about equal with last year's Black Friday. Couple that with the scarcity of shoppers the day after Black Friday, less spent than last year. Some pessimistic sources indicate that we will unravel as hedge fund, derivative dealers, and buyout firms will flounder and either enter an economic depression, or suffer a full market collapse. Wow.

And now for something completely different:

The top ten stories in cryptozoology include Nessie (she's perennially there), a wolf/hyena looking monster, the 40th anniversary of Patterson/Gimlin's film of a lady Bigfoot (don't tell me it's faked, there is too much information to be discounted on one guy's flimsy connection to the film) and a chupababra shot in Cuero, Tx. Incidentally, that's about a couple of hours' drive. There was a dwarf killer whale found in Antarctica, a dwarf manatee in Amazonia, and a clouded spot leopard in Southeast Asia. A Nguoi Rung kidnap victim was found and returned - the Nguoi Rung being hairy bipedal man-type things living in the thickets of Cambodia.

Biking was light today - there just wasn't a lot to do. I took the kids out cruising, and ended losing out on dinner. Halfway to Chinese food, the family decided to eat barbeque, and that is a no-no two hours before a martial arts class. So, I'm at home eating chicken breast and greenbeans while others eat brisket and creamed corn (with heavy cream).

The sacrifices we make to stay healthy...

Mago