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Vol. IX, No. 38 September 20, 2003 IN THIS ISSUE:
 Margaret Manning writes about the last leg of one of her best-ever trips: THE U.S.A. We drove through a thunderstorm and then heavy rain all the way to Sioux City. We had a detour when Becky called in on her ex-brother-in-law, who lived in a trailer park. That meant more coffee and donuts at the wrong time of day but a very sociable interlude. It took three flights on three airlines to get me from Sioux City to Oakland as I went via Omaha and Denver. All the taxicabs were scruffy and the drivers even scruffier. My driver had a wild look about him and persisted in turning round to speak to me while in heavy traffic. (Is there any other sort in the U.S.A.?) I was quite frightened, sat as close as I could to the door, and clutched my hand luggage. I had a feeling I might need to jump right out of the vehicle. He took his time finding Travelodge and then told me the fare was $27 and the tip would be 15% minimum. I gave him $30 and fled. After the traumas of quite a long road trip in heavy rain, three flights and the awful taxi driver, all I wanted to do was rest. But I needed to ring another tape pal first. I had visited her in 1972 - she was ill then - but by 1982 she needed 24-hour care. Her husband arranged to collect me the next morning. I spent about three hours with my pal. Then her husband took me on a sight-seeing trip. I saw most of the tourist spots except the area known as Castro, through which my host declined to drive. The sight of the Pacific Ocean made me homesick and I could hardly wait to get on the plane the next day. There was an in-flight competition of some sort en route to Honolulu but as I merely noted the fact, I obviously didn't win. I was supposed to get free transport to my hotel. They did send a mini-bus - I saw it approaching and I saw it slow down. I waved furiously but it sped up and disappeared. So once again I put myself in the care of a cab driver. The hotel was a popular R.&R. stop and there were numerous black servicemen and their families staying there. Their young kids can only be described as "cute" (which I hope is the only Americanism I have adopted). They were all very well behaved but monopolised the pools. I didn't do a lot in Honolulu. I took the bus to the Waikiki shopping area. I needed to change some travellers cheques into cash. There were long queues but a supervisor went along each line asking people what they wanted to do at the bank. In my case, being a traveller, I was given special attention and dealt with ahead of other people. I decided to go on a mini tour which visited Diamond Head Crater, blowholes, and various other attractions. The next day I again went into Waikiki, where I was supposed to get on a bus to take me to the departure point for a cruise on a glass-bottomed boat. Either the transport didn't see me or I didn't see it, so I gave up and went back to my hotel for that rest I hadn't yet had. Then on the plane to Fiji for a couple of weeks before flying home. Phew! On re-reading my hand-written notes, which run to 42 foolscap pages, I don't know how I did it.
Bruce Galway wrote a column about the recent blackout in the east, which has lessons for all of us who depend on a ready supply of electricity: CONSERVE, BUT EMPHASIZE FIXING THE ELECTRICITY PROBLEMS Ten days after the trauma of Great 2003 Blackout, I read in a Toronto paper "things are back to normal". Of course what that means is a matter of conjecture. From my perspective, that would mean normal is: we are a province with an inadequate electricity supply to meet the demands of our lifestyle. On top of that, the power we need is being transmitted to our homes over an inadequate and antiquated transmission grid. There are those who preach conservation as the saviour of our crucial electricity supply and infrastructure. The reasoning goes that the conservation practiced for the last 10 days proves if we just cut back, the system will provide an adequate amount of power required for Ontario. I would suggest that while conservation is a good thing, all it does at best is delay the inevitable, while lessening the sense of political urgency to fix the problem. Secondly, conservation as practiced during the ramp-up after the blackout would change our lifestyle. More importantly, it would make the province a less desirable place to build new or expand existing businesses of every description. Of course, judicial use of our electricity supply is a good idea. But for it to work properly requires a sophisticated metering system to record when the electricity is used. Why? Because only then can charges be applied that that are based on cost at time use. Not only would replacing all meters in the province be extremely expensive (adding to the debt), it does not address the underlying problems of supply and infrastructure. Ownership, be it private or public, of both the supply and the grid is seen as the solution to our problems. Public ownership advocates say we can't trust such a critical component to the whims of profit-oriented private companies, while ignoring the fact that all three provincial parties have had their opportunity to solve the Ontario Hydro problems and all failed. Those who believe in private ownership point to the blackout as proof the private sector is the answer. This ignores the fact it was privately owned supply and lines of 1st Energy Corp. and American Electric Power in Ohio that triggered the last blackout. My personal bias is that ownership of both supply and transmission should remain part of the public sector because it is so critical to the very basis of our economy and lifestyle. Just looking at gasoline pricing for this week is reason enough not to want the control and pricing of electricity to be in the hands of private sector. Natural gas pricing has shown similar lack of control of pricing over the past two years. But public ownership is not a magic bullet. Regardless of ownership, effective and efficient management and effective government controls are mandatory components of any solution. Coupled to this should be long-term plans to increase supply and upgrading of the grid. Pricing concepts such as developed by the IMO must be replaced or the price gouging seen prior to the capping of prices will be the rule of the day. The real emphasis must be placed on fixing the problems of supply and transmission infrastructure frailty. Only then can we have reliable and reasonably priced electricity. Letters of credit to guarantee completion of projects should back any components of the plan provided by the private sector. My advice to the three provincial political parties is: stop pointing fingers, stop telling us about the challenges we face, and lastly, and most importantly, fix the damn decades-old problems.
MARS AIR FORCE DENIES STORIES OF UFO CRASH Valles Marineris (MPI) - A spokesthing for Mars Air Force denounced as false rumors that an alien space craft crashed in the desert, outside of Ares Vallis on Friday. Appearing at a press conference today, General Rgrmrmy The Lesser, stated that "the object was, in fact, a harmless high-altitude weather balloon, not an alien spacecraft." The story broke late Friday night when a major stationed at nearby Ares Vallis Air Force Base contacted the Valles Marineris Daily Record with a story about a strange, balloon-shaped object which allegedly came down in the nearby desert, "bouncing" several times before coming to a stop, "deflating in a sudden explosion of alien gases". Minutes later, General Rgrmrmy The Lesser contacted the Daily Record telepathically to contradict the earlier report. General Rgrmrmy The Lesser stated that hysterical stories of a detachable vehicle roaming across the Martian desert were blatant fiction, provoked by incidences involving swamp gas. But the general public has been slow to accept the Air Force's explanation of recent events, preferring to speculate on the "other-worldly" nature of the crash debris. Conspiracy theorists have condemned Rgrmrmy's statements as evidence of "an obvious government cover-up", pointing out that Mars has no swamps.
Nevil Horsfall posted these commandments from JEWISH BUDDHISM *Take only what is given. Own nothing but your robes and an alms bowl. Unless, of course, you have the closet space. *Let your mind be as a floating cloud. Let your stillness be as the wooded glen. And sit up straight. You'll never meet the Buddha with posture like that! *There is no escaping karma. In a previous life, you never called, you never wrote, you never visited. And whose fault was that? *Wherever you go, there you are. Your luggage is another story. *To practice Zen and the art of Jewish motorcycle maintenance, do the following: Get rid of the motorcycle. What were you thinking? *Learn of the pine from the pine. Learn of the bamboo from the bamboo. Learn of the kugel from the kugel. *Be aware of your body. Be aware of your perceptions. Keep in mind that not every physical sensation is a symptom of a terminal illness. *If there is no self, whose arthritis is this? *Breathe in. Breathe out. Breathe in. Breathe out. Forget this and attaining Enlightenment will be the least of your problems. *The Tao has no expectations. The Tao demands nothing of others. The Tao does not speak. The Tao does not blame. The Tao does not take sides. The Tao is not Jewish. *Drink tea and nourish life. With the first sip, joy. With the second, satisfaction. With the third, Danish. *The Buddha taught that one should practice loving-kindness to all sentient beings. Still, would it kill you to find a nice sentient being who happens to be Jewish? *Be patient and achieve all things. Be impatient and achieve all things faster. *In nature, there is no good or bad, better or worse. The wind may blow or not. The flowering branch grows long or short. Do not judge or prefer. Ask only, "Is it good for the Jews?" *To Find the Buddha, look within. Deep inside you are ten thousand flowers. Each flower blossoms ten thousand times. Each blossom has ten thousand petals. You might want to see a specialist. *Be here now. Be someplace else later. Is that so complicated? *The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single oy. *If you wish to know The Way, don't ask for directions. Argue. *Zen is not easy. It takes effort to attain nothingness. And then what do you have? Bupkis.
Gerrit de Leeuw sends this story which illustrates the importance of knowing religious rites: CATHOLIC HORSES Mitch, a hard-shell Southern Baptist, loved to sneak away to the race track. One day he was there betting on the ponies and nearly losing his shirt when he noticed this priest who stepped out onto the track and blessed the forehead of one of the horses lining up for the fourth race. Lo and behold, this horse - a very long shot - won the race. Mitch was most interested to see what the priest did the next race. Sure enough, he watched the priest step out onto the track as the fifth race horses lined up, and placed this blessing on the forehead of one of the horses. Mitch made a beeline for the window and placed a small bet on the horse. Again, even though another long shot, the horse the priest had blessed won the race. Mitch collected his winning and anxiously waited to see which horse the priest bestowed his blessing on for the sixth race. The priest showed, blessed a horse, Mitch bet on it, and it won! Mitch was elated! As the day went on, the priest continued blessing one of the horses, and it always came in first. Mitch began to pull in some serious money, and by the last race, he knew his wildest dreams were going to come true. He made a quick stop at the ATM, withdrew big money and awaited the priest's blessing that would tell him which horse to bet on. True to his pattern, the priest stepped out onto the track before the last race and blessed the forehead, eyes, ears and hooves of one of the horses. Mitchell bet every cent, and watched the horse come in dead last. Mitchell was dumbfounded. He made his way to the track and when he found the priest, he demanded, "What happened, Father? All day you blessed horses and they won. The last race, you blessed a horse and he lost. Now I've lost my savings, thanks to you!!" The priest nodded wisely and said, "That's the problem with you Protestants ... you can't tell the difference between a simple blessing and the last rites.
Garrison Keillor has an interesting slant on natural beauty: WALKING DOWN THE CANYON As a child, I was instructed to look out the window of a moving car and appreciate the beautiful scenery, with the result that now I don't care much for nature. I prefer parks, ones with lots of people with radios and a pop stand selling hot dogs and Eskimo Pies. I believe that most people would agree with me, whether they dare say so or not. Deserted rocky coastlines are not that interesting, or beaches: you just wind up staring at the ocean, a blank screen, and wondering if you should check your e-mail. Forests are nothing but trees. Deserts are beautiful for about fifteen minutes, but they're always located out in the middle of nowhere. And they're teeming with deadly snakes. As for mountains, an occasional range is nice, but after awhile it becomes a sort of continuous piece of Bad Art, like a painting you'd see at the periodontist's. And mountain people are such a pain. They make you feel bad for coming. Vermonters, Coloradoans, Montanans, Utahovians - they all tend to be very sniffy about who is worthy to set foot in their midst and use their toilet facilities. In Minnesota, we are astonished and gratified if anyone visits us, we can't do enough for them, but then this is a flat state and we are Christian people. My favorite scenic attraction is the canyon, or reverse mountain, especially when it occurs on a flat surface, such as the Grand Canyon. You get the best of both worlds here. Levelness, or platitude, and de-elevation, and when you go visit, you don't run into flinty-eyed people busily despising you because you happen to be wearing yellow-plaid walking shorts and a T-shirt that says, "Save the whales. Trade them for valuable prizes". The Canyon belongs to the world. You put on your whale T-shirt and shorts and walking shoes with thick socks and a pack with a bottle of water and a bag of trail mix, and head down the Bright Angel trail from the South Rim. This is a splendid experience. You pass through a phalanx of men standing on the Rim videotaping the Canyon, panning from left to right and then right to left, and plunge down the trail, which is broad and not too steep and studded with mule droppings, and a hundred or so feet down, once you come around the second switchback, all of the hubbub of the Rim vanishes and you enter into a magnificent silence. In a few hours, you have gone from galoothood to moral gallantry. What is a vacation for, if not to make you feel better about yourself?
IT'S GETTING AROUND TO THAT SEASON OF THE YEAR... HeroicStories recommends http://www.WarmWishes.org for a story on an organization that donates warm clothing to homeless people. Or you can read about it and the man who founded it at http://www.HeroicStories.com.
Keith Elliott sends this sad story: REASON ENOUGH A man called his mother in Miami. He said to his mother, "How are you doing?" She said, "Not too good. I've been very weak." "Why are so weak, mama ?" "Because I haven't eaten in 38 days." "What, you haven't eaten in 38 days?" said the son in wonder. "Why not?" His mother paused and said, "Because I didn't want my mouth full of food when you called."
No one is fool enough to choose war instead of peace. For in peace sons bury fathers, but war violates the order of nature, and fathers bury sons. - Herodotus (485-425 B.C.) |