Book and more. Rain day, to some, and it’s not like the thunder boomers and sheeting rain is not entirely unwelcome, although, it does mess with my plans. But not too much.
How much?
How does that song go?
Come and listen to a story ’bout a man named Jed
Poor mountaineer barely kept his family fed
Then one day he was shooting for some food,
And up through the ground come a bubbling crude
(Oil that is, black gold, Texas tea) – Flatt & Scruggs
As noted before, I’ve been wondering about the amount of oil that goes into everyday events. I don’t have the link at the moment, but a while back, on the net someplace, there was an article that pointed out that a big, honking Ford Diesel pick-up running bio-diesel had a smaller ecological footprint than one of those cute, sexy hybrid cars. Then, while it was raining, and while I was avoiding work, I stumbled across an article that detailed just how much oil went into breakfast.
I didn’t fact check, or contact the author, and that makes some of the material – perhaps – a little suspect. But it’s an engaging question.
My coffee wasn’t fancy Left Coast stuff, but I think there’s a fair-trade sticker on the bean’s bag. The oatmeal was plain, American, from a bulk package, and the electricity was probably generated with natural gas, from either the plant just east of here, or, perhaps at little further east of here, but both those plants, as far as I know, are gas-fired.
Assuming it’s that branded, “fair-trade” coffee, and as corporations go, it does have a decent reputation, the cup is only about “10% post-consumer waste” recycled material, and that means the other 90% is from dead trees. Plus the plastic top? Probably 50% of the material in the lid originated in the Middle East, and the cup’s coatings? Again, 50% from over there. Energy used to farm, raise, harvest, package, transport, repackage, roast, and sell retail, for those beans? Good guess, but I’d put that at close to 50%.
Point being? Maybe I don’t have a point. Just wondering, how much oil is used, even on morning when the rain and thunder drives me inside?
Books – A Dirty Job:
[style=floatpicleft][/style] Literary invention is good. Some of the Christopher Moore filler material refers to the author as a “cult hero,” and I wouldn’t argue that. His material is fresh, slightly off-center, and in his latest, A Dirty Job, there’s the invention of a new term. Maybe it’s been around. Maybe it’s one of those pop-culture items that I miss, living, as I do, in a bucolic little backwater town.
Behold: the Beta Male. Everything an Alpha Male isn’t, and more, much more. Running gags are hard, like living in a trailer park, and Moore has a knack with characterization that makes me weep. And laugh. Important, too. Finally, I’m thinking, as a Beta Male, we have a hero.
Most of Moore’s work is pretty good, and of the lot, the only one I’m less enamored of is Fluke, but that one delves into a little too much “magical realism” for my limited world-view. On the other side of that, though, there’s his other work that does involve vampires, myth, magic, Jesus and the supernatural – and to me – that stuff is pretty much normal, everyday material. Less “magical realism” and more just a part of my day-to-day life and experience.
So make death funny. Laugh at death? There’s a weird kind of vibe with the book, something in the rhythm of the text that is gothic and macabre, and yet, at the same time, there’s a thin satirical edge. Plus mirth.
So, yeah, death is funny that way.
(click to visit)
Eclipse notes:
Astrology is the supporting cause for the site, so I figured, as long as I wasn’t being productive, I could be productive. My ephemeris said “March 29, 2006, 10:12 PM GMT, 4 degrees, 7 minutes Aries, Total Solar Eclipse.” Unless I’m reading it wrong, and I’m not usually concerned with minutia like minutes and so forth. Since I work on a weekly schedule, not a minute-by-minute method, I tend to look at how an event will impact a large population, as described by individuals.
My own software shows the eclipse at 4:11 AM, local time.
As noted before, I think this week’s audio / video message captures the spirit rather well.
