saw another bear September 7, 2008
Posted by Phineas in : Environment, Outdoors/Travel, Wild Animals , 1 comment so farsaw a small cinammon colored black bear in the parking lot at Paradise Inn on Mt. Ranier the other day. Grabbed some cell phone snaps of bear ass.
bear at Paradise Inn parking lot
bear ass
Yose 2008 vids August 26, 2008
Posted by Phineas in : Environment, Outdoors/Travel , 1 comment so faruploading a bunch more in coming hours/days. Watch this space:
http://www.youtube.com/user/kimbojava
Milky Way as seen from Yosemite high country August 25, 2008
Posted by Phineas in : Environment, Outdoors/Travel , add a comment
Milky Way as seen from Yosemite high country
Not my photo, but this is pretty much what we saw at the end of each evening. That’s Jupiter in the center there.
Blood Red Moon June 14, 2008
Posted by Phineas in : Environment, Irrelevant, Outdoors/Travel , 3 commentsWow it’s a blood red moon out there tonight, about three quarters full. I’ve never seen a red moon so high in the sky before. Usually I see those as the moon rises right at sunset, catching the sun’s setting rays. I guess it’s a similar effect, but right now the moon is high in the southwest sky, and it’s 2 a.m.
Makes me want to kill a goat.
Wottled Butter March 21, 2008
Posted by Phineas in : Environment, Irrelevant, Lies, Political/Editorial , 1 comment so farJust another unnecessary untimely and incorrect rant on the bottled water controversy. I may be writing this because I feel compelled to defend myself. The problems with bottled water are many. So let’s identify a couple main ones:
- bottled water is expensive
- production of bottled water is environmentally damaging in terms of energy to produce and the waste byproduct of the bottles, even though they are “recyclable”
- much bottled water marketing is deceptive in appealing to perceptions that it tastes better or is healthier than tap
- people who drink bottled water are therefore dupes who foolishly believe bottled water is different than tap; and, paradoxically, selfish litterbugs unconcerned with the damage their lifestyle causes the environment.
There are more objections but I think those are the main ones which you see restated in one form or another.
I agree with all of them in principle. Things that are too expensive compared to cheaper things of equal quality suck big time - agreed. Things that have horrific and entirely avoidable environmental damage way do suck. Marketing which is fraudulent or deceptive can go off and suck for all I care. Selfish dupes are such dicks.
But I’m here to say, but on the other hand… just cause I’m ornery. On the other hand, every single statement above could be said of many other things. Butter is more expensive than gasoline, that does not make the dairy industry criminal. Lying marketing scams occur in every retail sector. Waste is inherent in consumer life. It’s bad, it’s all bad.
But I think it goes way too far to claim that people who drink bottled water are fooled, duped, and somehow the same as bird-flipping Hummer drivers. I know for a fact, as much as I know anything for a fact, that the bottled water I buy (San Pellegrino, Aqcua Ferrarelle, Perrier) is NOT bottled at the local Podunk municipal water source. Perhaps worse than that, it’s imported all the way from Europe. I know for a fact that it tastes better and is healthier than what comes out out of the many tap sources I pass buy in the course of my day (the tap from the BART station bathroom? No thanks!). I do drink tap water at home, as well as expensive bottled water. When I stay in hotels I usually drink their tap water. But there are lots of places in between whose taps I won’t trust, so I’ll carry my own. I do bottle my own from my tap, but I’m not going to dehydrate if I run out. I’ll not hesitate to buy a bottle at the convenience store.
There’s plainly a difference between crappy bottle water marketed by liars, and good bottled water not marketed by liars. I just hate blanket generalizations, and I hate moral posturing. I am certainly guilty of it myself (fuck Hummers and the arrogant assholes who drive them!). I recognize that spending a lot of money for water is unsustainable — most people cannot afford it, so that’s a bit of a clue of how out of whack things are. Water is like air and should be cheap and available to all. The evil in question is not necessarily perpetrated by the consumers (although consumers can have a huge impact on the industry).
What would you say if the bottling of water could be done much more efficiently? And the recycling of the bottles were 100% effective (no landfill)? And all liars were marched off to Liar’s Island, so only truthtellers remained. Then would it be OK to drink bottled water? What if municipal water supplies could improve to produce much higher quality of water? Just saying bottled water is the same as tap is not quite the same thing as saying tap water is the very best that water can be. Even then different kinds of water have different qualities. It’s the same as wine or air or butter. It’s not all exactly the same. Sometimes I like a sparkling water, sometimes I don’t. Sometimes I like mineral water and sometimes I don’t. Sometimes I feel like a nut. How will these pleasures be satisfied if we’re not allowed to bottle the different varieties of water? I totally recognize how elitist that sounds, but again, it’s absolutely no more true of bottled water than it is of wine. Wine could be delivered to local innkeepers in barrels and only served from there, eliminating the bottling of wine. Maybe the difference between bottled wine and bottled water is scale. You could just drive to a nearby farm and have the butter dumped into your reusable tupperware container instead of buying it at the supermarket. Etc.
My main gripe is really the confusion between the problems of the industry and the consumers who participate in it. If there’s cynicism, deceit, waste in the industry, is it really necessary to demonize the consumer? Isn’t it possible all those statements about the industry per se are true, yet a given consumer could still be making an informed, ethical choice? I feel the same way about cigarette smoking. I am so glad we finally purged that horrible habit from mainstream public space. I am glad we have exposed the cynicism and corruption of cigarette manufacturers and the lobbyists who helped them profit by killing their customers. That said, I sometimes enjoy a cigarette. It’s still possible in spite of everything we know about tobacco, nicotine, and the tobacco industry, that a given individual is making an informed, ethical choice when they smoke. These two things are not incompatible.
How about everything in moderation, (except no Hummers)?
Fausse 2007 November 12, 2007
Posted by Phineas in : Alcohol, Environment, Irrelevant, Music, Outdoors/Travel, Photos, Wild Animals , 1 comment so far 
Lake Fausse 2007 Wrap up:
Gators? Check.
Pelicans/herons/loons, etc? Check.
Varmits? Check.
Paddlefish? Check.
Turtles? Check.
Lizards? Check.
Owls? Check.
Midnight kayaking into the infinity? Check.
Blazing constellations? Check.
Orion pursuing the Pleiades? Check.
Shooting stars? Check.
Copious quantities of expensive beer? Check.
Rock and Roll? Check.
All parties present and accounted for? This was our main failing this year, as the Arcturus was with us only in song.
Saints victorious over the winless Rams? Not so much.
Musicological/sociological experiment? Isolate four drunk middle-aged men away from their googles, wikis and twitters but with the entire Pink Floyd music collection on MP3 (no credits) and pose the question: Who sang what? David Gilmour or Roger Waters? Song by song/line by line. (Why is this hard? Listen to “Mother” from the Wall album. Consider: Waters sometimes sounds like Gilmour, but other times sounds like no one else.)
Photos? Check.
Videos? Check.
Give List 2007 November 3, 2007
Posted by Phineas in : End Of The World, Environment, Giving, Info, Wild Animals , add a commentStill working on this, but here’s my list for 2008.
African Wildlife Foundation
Washington, DC Animals: Wildlife Conservation |
American Civil Liberties Union Foundation
New York, NY Public Benefit: Advocacy and Civil Rights |
American Red Cross
Washington, DC Human Services: Multipurpose Human Service Organizations |
Amnesty International USA
New York, NY International: International Peace, Security, and Affairs |
Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International
Atlanta, GA Animals: Wildlife Conservation |
Doctors Without Borders, USA
New York, NY International: Development and Relief Services |
DonorsChoose
New York, NY Education: Other Education Programs and Services |
Jane Goodall Institute
Arlington, VA Animals: Wildlife Conservation |
The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society
White Plains, NY Health: Diseases, Disorders, and Disciplines |
Marijuana Policy Project Foundation
Washington, DC Public Benefit: Research and Public Policy Institutions |
The Sierra Club Foundation
San Francisco, CA Environment: Environmental Protection and Conservation |
Southern Poverty Law Center
Montgomery, AL Public Benefit: Advocacy and Civil Rights |
United States Fund for UNICEF
New York, NY International: International Peace, Security, and Affairs |
USA for UNHCR
Washington, DC International: International Peace, Security, and Affairs |
Yosemite Fund
San Francisco, CA Environment: Botanical Gardens, Parks, and Nature Centers |
Bagged Glacier Point October 22, 2007
Posted by Phineas in : Environment, Irrelevant, Lies, Outdoors/Travel, Photos, Psycho/Spirit, Wild Animals , add a commentThis weekend I bagged Glacier Point. By “bagged” of course I mean I rode the bus up to the top and hiked down the four mile trail.
[ Earlier this summer, Terry and I bagged Mt. Hoffman. We were on a seven day high country loop and we stayed at the May lake High Sierra Camp on day 4. The evening after dinner, many of the campers were hanging out on a ridge watching the sunset, sipping hot cocoa. I was completely fatigued, and although hiking to the summit of Mt. Hoffman was on the itinerary for the next morning, I was secretly thinking I might not make it. Terry later revealed that he was also feeling a little intimidated by that peak, given how exhausted he was feeling. This guy was standing nearby with his party, a little older than us I think. He was staring longingly at the summit and said, "There's another peak I'd like to bag." After a short pause, his wife lets him off the hook saying, "Yeah, but maybe on another trip." "Yeah," the dude says. I wonder how many other peaks he'd like to "bag", but doesn't. Why would he say it, but not do it? It's like a 2-3 hour hike up from May Lake, and we're all staying the night there. If you're ever going to "bag" it, now would be the right time. By claiming to want to but being let off the hook like that, it's almost like he gets credit without actually earning it. Kind of annoyed me. So Terry and I the next morning felt a lot better and decided not to be that guy, and went ahead and did the hike. Mt. Hoffman is in the bag.]
October is a wonderful month to go to Yosemite. There are lots of fall colors going on — yellow maples and red dogwoods. Even the evergreens were browning (I guess from the drought). The temps were cool and comfortable. There are no crowds. I’ve hiked hundreds of miles of trails in Yosemite, although my least favorites are the valley ones. I’m not a big fan of staircase switchbacks, whether up or down. But I only had a few free hours (we took some out of town guests up for a quick visit and they weren’t hikers). I had never done this trail so it seemed like a good candidate for a quickee.
Glacier Point is such an awesome view. I love being high up like that. The Valley is cool, but I prefer looking down on it than up from it. And I loved seeing all the peaks I really did “bag” (hopefully this term will become meaningless soon): Half Dome, Cloud’s Rest, Sunrise Mountain, Mt. Hoffman. I did not bag Echo Peaks, but I sort of humped it once. I took some sunset shots the evening prior and now got some morning video before slogging down the trail.
No bears, although a big grey squirrel scared me.
After the week I had workwise, Yosemite is such fantastic therapy.
Not Katmai, but… August 17, 2007
Posted by Phineas in : Bears, Environment, Irrelevant, Outdoors/Travel , 1 comment so far
We took a little boat from Telegraph Cove on Vancouver Island in British Columbia, to here in Knight Inlet on the mainland to watch grizzlies feeding on the salmon running upriver. It was early in the salmon season, so the bears were not yet as bulked up as they would later get. We saw tons of eagles and other birds just waiting for the bears to drop scraps of fish. We saw four bears in all.
Highlight of my day/week/month/year.
More videos to come.
Here’s What We Missed July 17, 2007
Posted by Phineas in : Environment, Irrelevant, Outdoors/Travel , add a commentWhile Terry and I had Sunrise Mountain and Mt. Hoffman all to ourselves, here’s what we missed down on lowly little Half Dome:
